Lynette Prince-large

Senior Associate and Town Planning Consultant BCERT Consulting What gave you the idea for your business? My husband decided to leave working for councils and start his own business. Initially I was just assisting him, but having been a teacher for some years, I decided on a change of career. Graham suggested town planning as it was so closely aligned to building certification. What were the early years like? They were hard work as I was learning a lot more about building certification, had a young child at home with me, and was studying as well. There was no time to spare…ever. Looking back, what advice would you give to your past self? Running a business can be both rewarding and exhausting both at the same time. One big piece of advice I would give myself is to try and have more breaks from the business to recharge the batteries. We are the first business that people go to when they have an issue, even if the problem is the builder’s. What have you learnt from the experience? I have learnt so much about the building industry. I’m now regarded as an expert. Builders ring me with the most bizarre questions and I usually get it right. I’ve also learnt that our builders can be some of the most wonderful people that you could meet, and often they are really, really smart, despite them thinking that they are not. How do you juggle work and home? Not very well. My son constantly begs us to stop talking about work. Studying whilst working was even harder. The downside of running your own business is that you never stop working, even when you try. What do you do for leisure? I love reading and I play silly phone games. I don’t have very much ‘me’ time though. Where do you see yourself in ten years? I’d like to be retired and living on a desert island, or maybe Melbourne, with my darling husband and direct access for my son (and a bit of shopping as well).