Sue finds her love for business at Carers Queensland Be Your Own Boss Marketplace

Published On: 4 March 2022Categories: NDIS, News

Sue has combined her love of crocheting and wanting to develop her own business by taking part in her first ever market stall at the Ipswich Carers Queensland Be Your Own Boss Marketplace in December.

The North Booval local, who has a psychosocial and physical disability, sold her handmade crochet wind spinners to eager marketgoers after only learning to crochet six months earlier.

“I have tried to learn to crochet on and off over the years and I found a crochet group in the Ipswich area and they taught me how to crochet,” Sue said.

“Then I saw these wind chimes on YouTube and I started making those as I thought they were kind of quirky. And so, I just thought I'll make lots of them and sell them.

“Making these actually helps with my mental health and keeps my mind calm.”

Sue said when she found out about the Carers Queensland Be Your Own Boss Marketplace from her Local Area Coordinator (LAC) she was excited to take part.

“The Marketplace was good. A bit nerve wracking at first, but I had Precious (my recovery coach) with me, so she sort of helped calm me down,” she said.

Since the December Marketplace, Sue’s confidence to sell more of her products has seen the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) participant take part in other local markets too.

“I am also going to try the twilight Ripley Markets, which should be good,” she said.

Sue said she believes the Marketplace was a great way to support local businesses run by people with disability.

“When you are on your own in business, it’s tough to just go out and do something; but having the support of Be Your Own Boss means we aren’t on our own,” she said.

“We've got people helping us, guiding us in the direction that we need to go for whatever we're doing. And I think you know, there's always power in numbers.”

Not stopping at just selling crochet windchimes, Sue is also considering expanding her business to include other craft works.

“It's not just the crochet that I want to do, I like all sorts of craft; paper mache is something that's on the agenda and I’ve been getting people to save newspapers for me,” she said.

“I want to do paper mache torsos, paint them or cover them with different fabrics and paper or glass tiles.”

Sue said she was looking forward to taking part in future Be Your Own Boss Marketplace events, as well as finding out more about further establishing her business with Carers Queensland support.

“I’d like to learn things that I don't know about and meet other people,” Sue said.

“I think it's great having that support, because Carers Queensland – being a big organisation – will have more knowledge of who's out there to help me with different things; to guide me on the right track.”

Sue received assistance to apply for and implement her NDIS funding from Carers Queensland’s NDIS Local Area Coordination Partner in the Community Program for the Ipswich region.

Carers Queensland can support you to find out more about the NDIS, to apply for funding and to help you get started with the NDIS.

If you have a disability but are not eligible for the NDIS, Carers Queensland can help you identify and link to options for support in your community.

You can also contact Carers Queensland on 1300 999 636, or cq.enquiries@ndis.gov.au