Challenging the Status Quo

I was able to get a job cleaning tables and saved some money which I used for my English course.

Petra Novakova Founder & CEO—Koruna Assist

I grew up in a small town in the Czech Republic where life was relatively simple. Having a secure, ideally office-based job is the goal for most people. I am a patriot. I listen to Czech radio every day. I watch Czech movies. I cook Czech dinners most nights. I love everything Czech. More now than ever I admire our culture, our depth and our life values in general.

So, why was this not enough?

As a teenager, I didn’t really enjoy school. I always found a way to work smarter rather than harder. I wasn’t a bad student but when it came to deciding to go to university, I couldn’t see myself being ‘stuck’ there for another five years. So, I asked myself what was I going to do? How could I secure that office job? I knew I needed to do something differently. At that time in my hometown, not many people spoke English, so I thought it would be a good idea to spend six months in London where I could learn English to use back home. That way I would be able to offer more value to an employer.

When I went to London, English was difficult for me. I was fresh from school and had no idea about the world out there. I had a friend there who was renting a single room near the city, so I stayed with her, sleeping on the floor next to her single bed. I was just trying to figure out what to do with my life. I always felt that I could do anything if I really wanted to. I know it sounds cliché, but I proved this to myself on every occasion. Was it easy? Nope.

But I knew it was true.

Fast forward two years and I was able to speak, read and listen in English. So, the next step for getting my ‘dream job’ was to get qualified. So, that’s what I did. I went to college to study finance and accounting—IN ENGLISH! Someone told me that I would never be able to get an office job in London. Three years later I got it! I got the job. I was fluent in English and the only foreigner on my team.

I made it.

But what do you do when you’ve made it? You start dreaming again. My goal was to have the most awesome resume so that I could choose the best job in Czechia. And what could look better on my resume than qualification and experience from Australia? Challenge accepted. A new dream was alive!

I loved the nervous feeling of the unknown. The excitement. The urge to cry, laugh and scream at the same time. Within three months I left my job and my dream life in London and got a visa and a one-way ticket to Australia.

I remember standing in Darling Harbour the first night after arrival thinking, ‘This is going to be my home for six months’. That was seven-anda-half years ago.

I was fortunate enough to get a job in a well-known company. It was the secure office job that I had always wanted. But something was missing. I liked my job. I lived by the ocean. I was driving a nice car. I had it all. Despite that, I had the feeling inside me that it wasn’t ‘it’.

The biggest change came when one summer night my mum called me crying. She told me my stepdad had cancer and he had to undergo chemo. I knew I wanted to go back home and I didn’t want to ask for permission. Even though I was allowed to go on leave as much as I needed, I never wanted to feel that way. I’d lost my sense of freedom and I felt like I was not in control of my life. As a sister, daughter and woman, I felt it was my responsibility to make changes in my life so I could be with my family any time I needed to.

I had two options. Leave Australia, cancel my sponsor visa, leave my partner of five years and my dream life and go back to the Czech Republic. Or create something bigger and find a way to have it all. So, that’s what I did.

I knew my job could be done 99% online. So, my first idea was to freelance and offer back-office services to Australian clients. The need was there. I saw business owners working ridiculous hours— weekends and holidays—with no time for their families, slaves to their own businesses as they chased the big bucks. Most of them started to work for themselves to gain more freedom but in reality, they just became busier. There is a big difference between being self-employed and a business owner. I wanted to help them to become business owners, CEOs and experts, rather than technicians.

Then I had a second idea. What if I had a team that would provide back-office services to Australian clients? It would tick all my boxes—a secure job, online, 100% flexible. I’ll do it! (And I did!)

I am a strong believer that women are great leaders mainly for their ability to be empathetic and caring. We naturally value relationships and the feelings of others which allow us to have more understanding of what drives people around us. The most important thing I have learned though is that respect is not given just because you have the title of ‘boss’. It’s earned by who you truly are and how you show up as a human being.

I remember three years ago, when something unexpected happened, and I called my client trying to fix the issue. I couldn’t change what happened, but I tried my best to find the right solution. The client said to me, ‘Petra, sh*t will happen. That’s business. That’s life. It’s not about how many mistakes you make. It’s about how you show up in these situations and how much you value your clients. That’s what will determine your success’. And I will never forget that.

Based on my own values, one of the main purposes of a woman’s life is to be a mother. With that comes the responsibility of wearing a few hats at once. We are the cook, the best friend, the homemaker, the cleaner, the nurse, the carer and the list goes on and on. Women naturally adapt their multitasking abilities to the business world, and this definitely helped me when I was starting out.

The ability to nurture our relationships in both negative and positive situations is what ultimately matters.

The finance industry is overwhelmingly male-dominated, and when I started out, I thought I needed to show up as a strong, almost emotionless woman to protect myself in the big world. However, over time, I learned the opposite is true. The best decision I ever made was to show up as myself, the Czech girl with a funny accent, gentle, feminine and, at times, vulnerable. People do not buy services—they buy services from people they want to work with. So being your true self, being genuine is the biggest power you have.

Isn’t it pathetic that the first thing many people imagine when someone says ‘business’ is a man in a tie? We women have been conditioned to think that we are the homemakers. We stay at home, we look after the kids, we cook and clean. This definition has been presented to us for hundreds of years. I would love to break that perception for all the women out there who are scared to start dreaming bigger.

It’s amazing to be a woman in business. We’re powerful in our own way. The feminine, gentle and caring way.

At Koruna Assist, we help time-poor SME owners remove the bottlenecks in their business by optimising their back-office workflows and offloading low-value tasks so they can spend more time doing what they do best.

Utilising our proprietary ‘Koruna Assist’ methodology, we were able to work with a leading financial services franchise and help them reach number one in the country, winning six national awards and achieving over 400% growth within three years. We offer companies financial planning, mortgage brokerage services, loan applications, customer service, financial analysis, accounting and general executive and administrative services.

We do this by identifying the most time-consuming tasks that are getting in the way of our clients’ businesses and help them outsource and commoditise this to our team of Koruna experts, giving them more time to do what they love. Our process is designed to allow us to take a systemised approach to define where the bottlenecks are in your business and ensure we can create the best path to help you get the right virtual assistant.

Back in 2018 when Koruna Assist started, our team was composed of three VAs but now we have over 100 full time employees. Managing to onboard loyal and committed VAs who share the same goals and values with Koruna Assist allowed us to reach rapid growth.

Koruna Assist’s helping hands aren’t limited to our clients but also reach out to the community in Cebu. We have built a tradition of giving back to the community during our anniversary. Our annual charity events are focused on children in the poor areas of Cebu. It’s great to build a successful business but it’s greater to give back. As a team, we share this passion, and it bonds us together.

I can’t express enough how proud I am of the team we have right now. Everyone brings different views and ideas into the team which helps us to create the dream business. My priority is and always has been to make Koruna Assist not only a great company to work with but also to work at by providing our team with great work culture, benefits and appreciation.

My team is like my family and the most important thing I’ve learned in the past years was that by listening we learn. And listening to my team’s suggestions and feedback has allowed me to improve on so many levels. Professionally and personally as well. We are strong and we support each other.

And that makes me happy.