Flexibility and innovation came to the fore when Ruth Griffin arrived at MTC Australia’s Fortitude Valley site seeking assistance. Ruth was not the typical jobseeker and her circumstances demanded a different approach.
With her original career plans derailed by the Covid shutdowns, Ruth took the leap into self-employment. Motivated by the small business incentives announced in the 2020-21 budget and inspired by a desire to work in and engage with her community, Ruth grabbed onto the idea of opening a coffee bike in the local park.
The seeds of Precious Coffee were sown, and Ruth was supported through a federal government program for the first nine months of operating her new business. But as with many small businesses, Precious Coffee was still finding its feet when the assistance stopped, and Ruth was moved to Job Seeker payments. She needed to engage with a Workforce Australia provider and as she said “Fortunately, I found MTC!”.
“MTC as a group listened to my feedback, and Chris, my Senior Health and Wellbeing Coach went above and beyond to understand my business,” Ruth said.
Ruth found the meetings with her Employment Coach were a great opportunity to talk about concerns, bounce ideas, and share triumphs.
“It has been invaluable as a micro business owner to have that business ‘partner’,” she said.
Together Ruth and her Employment Coach Chris troubleshot ideas and put in place short and long-term goals in a way that helped Ruth stay focused and keep growing.
MTC also provided Ruth with support for the cost of food safety training cost as well as regular post-placement check-ins and mentoring to help her maintain self-employment.
Ruth thanked her Employment Coach Chris for the support and guidance provided and said the only downside of her business becoming self-sustaining was that it meant her meetings with MTC came to an end!
Ruth has recently been referred to Self-Employment Assistance provider Birdifi Bridge to provide ongoing support for her small business.