As I sit here, having just finished preparing our Family in Business feature I this month’s edition, it got me thinking… does everyone really know where the journey of Lusanna and Ant from Meg + Me started, and how we got where we are today?
Probably not. So, let’s take a little trip down memory lane together this month.
Our story goes all the way back to 2010, when we first hit Port Macquarie, fresh faced and full of anticipation for what I expected would be a 12 month “reset” before returning Home to Hobart. Famous last words.
The minute we arrived in Port Macquarie I could see Ant beginning to grow roots here. It wasn’t long before I realised that this temporary sea-change, was going to become permanent. So, it was time to find employment!
Ant being Ant found himself employed within 15 minutes of arriving in town… as a Barista. Although never having an official background in coffee, his exceptional personal skills and unparalleled passion landed him a job with the Holy Goat Team, in the newly established Holy Goat Coffee Lounge at the Private Hospital.
Winning the hearts of patients, staff, visitors and his employers, it was clear that Ant had found his next vocation. All the while, I was still finding my feet. It’s fair to say the transition from Hobart to Port was far more difficult for me than it was for Ant.
My background in tourism, accounting and real estate just didn’t seem the right fit here and in my mind I wasn’t staying… so I was happy to find a temporary position, which landed me in Retail.
This was my first ever retail sales position and I can honestly say I didn’t love it! I didn’t enjoy the pressure that is all too often associated with sales positions, targets, KPI’s you name it, it just wasn’t me.
After a few false starts in other industries, I really needed to find something, so back to retail and I reached out to the then owner of Meg + Me to see if she had any casual positions available. Sitting there chatting over coffee, thinking I was going quite well with my interview, I was surprised at what I heard next; let’s just say after this conversation I went home to Ant and said: “Well, I didn’t get the job… but I think I am going to buy the business!”
Now Ant is used to me spinning curve balls and pushing boundaries, and to his credit he always throws his full support behind a good idea. So there we have it, in July 2012, we became the proud owners of Meg + Me.
Now owing a small business can be tough. It presents so many challenges, many of which you never anticipate you will have to deal with. But as I covered in our Family in Business feature, when you are in it together you support each other through it all and somehow things work out. It may take time, persistence, creative thinking, sweat and lots of tears (mine not Ant’s), but it always works out.
Over the years our motto has always been “small steps, with the future in mind”. In practice, this means we never over extend ourselves by taking on too much unnecessary risk, but we always have the big picture in mind and adjust and pivot as necessary.
This “business plan” has served us well, as we quickly outgrew the original location of the business, and had the opportunity to add Ant and his espresso bar into the business in 2014.
After working hard for many years to establish a good solid reputation, we took another calculated risk and opened our Gift + Homewares space in 2021.
Fast forward to today, we now proudly sit amongst many other iconic locally owned businesses, surrounded by an exceptionally supportive community that we are grateful to now call our own.
It’s true small business ownership is a journey, but we wouldn’t have it any other way…
