What will you be doing IN FIVE YEARS?

It’s one of those questions you expect to be asked at a job interview. You know the ones ... you know it’s coming, you can see it on the interviewers face. And when it does, you rack your brain looking for something prolific and inspirational. Should you tell them you’ve got your eye on their job? Or tell them you’re content just being a part of the team?

Five years ago, I had a newborn baby, Audrey, and three other kids aged under six. I also had another business, and a FIFO husband. It seemed like a perfect time to start a new business and launch a bimonthly magazine.

With Oasis Magazine celebrating it’s 5th birthday this issue, I’ve been thinking a lot about how quickly the last five years have passed by, and just how much has happened in that time. I recall many meetings with clients and suppliers in those early days, where I was rocking my newborn’s capsule with my feet, and furiously banging my ideas into the keyboard of my laptop. There were sleepless nights. And there was coffee. So. Much. Coffee.

Yes, some people may question the sanity of a person in my position starting another business at that time of their life … and some people may be right! Ha! There was defintely an element of insanity in those early days, coupled with lashings of adrenaline, excitement and all those other groovy characteristics that drive most small business owners, and convince them to invest so much of themselves into their passion.

Baby Audrey, who was being rocked in the capsule during the start up of Oasis, is now a very grown-up Preppie. “The days are long, but the years are short.” Indeed.

And, as the pages of each new calendar flicked over, each milestone and success of my little baby known as Oasis Magazine was celebrated and marvelled, like a parent celebrates their child’s successes. With each new milestone, and each birthday cake, we marvelled as Oasis progressed. We hosted birthday parties, and experienced the apprehension as the very first employee joined the team.

There was that time that my little baby Oasis moved out of home (read: home office), and moved into a flat (aka: a shared office) with three other flatmates (ie small businesses). Like any nervous parent would, the reputation of those flatmates was investigated to ensure Oasis was in with the right crowd. (FYI - she totally was!)

There was the subsequent parental concern of little baby Oasis being able to afford to pay the rent each month. And we watched as Oasis Magazine changed it’s name to Oasis Media, and spread her wings to include social media management and graphic design, opening up a new world of opportunities. Another year later, the time came for Oasis to move out of that share office and, with three extra staff members in tow, settle into her very own space.

Like a parent gushing with pride, my little baby Oasis, has given me so much joy over the past five years. And like any child, there’s been heartache. But mostly joy. It’s given me passion and purpose. It’s offered me opportunities to meet a swag of inspiring locals from so many different areas of the community, many of whom I’m now lucky to call friends. It’s allowed me the honour of supporting so many of this city’s fabulous events and businesses. And at the same time, it’s allowed me to be supported by a super cool team of people, who I have come to think of as family. You can meet that team on Page 6, where we give you a slight insight into what day to day life is like here at Oasis HQ.

To the Oasis team, whom I’m so lucky to hang with each day, I want to say a massive THANKS. Some may say you deserve a medal for humouring me and my whacko ideas on a daily basis … and some people may be right! Ha! You make it fun! You make the tough times less yucky! You make me love when Mondays roll around!

So yeah … a lot can happen in five years. The embryo of an idea that started life as an exit strategy from another business has grown into a creative business hub of ideas and excitement, and brimming with community spirit and one that I’m proud to be the parent of.

So tell me, what will you be doing in five years? Jules xx