Diploma study paves the way for self-employment

The Kerikeri-based landscaper has been self-employed before (a paving business with her partner which they put on hold during the 2007-2008 Global Financial Crisis). But she’s now preparing to put her heart and soul into a brand new venture.

“I do think the diploma has added to my confidence,” she explains. “I’m quite lucky in that I’ve got all my qualifications, I’ve got all my own tools and my truck and trailer. If I need to borrow money I’ve got a business plan, thanks to my diploma study. It will just need a quick bit of editing and I can take it straight to the bank.”

The 41 year-old mum of two has spent the past 11 years cultivating the gardens at a local retirement village while studying with Primary ITO part-time.

During each 10 week semester, she tackled one key module of the diploma course: financial management, agribusiness planning, resource management, human resource management and an agribusiness report.

Classes were held in Whangarei once a week and Leanna had to complete assignments in her own time – working incredibly hard to achieve four A+ and one A for her efforts.

“HR was great,” she recalls. “I really like factual things and that’s all about legislation. I enjoyed being able to research and get definitive answers rather than just give my opinion.

“I really enjoyed resource management too. Things you take for granted daily like naturally occurring rocks or water, I never actually looked at them as resources before. They were just there. I didn’t look at their value or what they can add or how they can enhance your business.”

Leanna says she now better understands why it’s important for landscapers to work in certain ways.

“You need to work with your climatic conditions and with what you have and not fight it. If you’re coastal, roll with that for your planting plan. A lot of people think ‘oh but I love flowers’ but it doesn’t work because you get battered by the sea breeze.”

The financial management module proved the most helpful, teaching her how to prepare an annual budget, work out her costs and fully understand her tax and GST obligations.

“Last time I was self-employed we were just so immersed in the day-to-day paving work that we just paid the accountants so much money to take care of everything for us. There’s a lot of lessons I’ll take out of all the semesters I did and apply to whatever I do in the future.”

To conclude her diploma study, Leanna and her classmates had to prepare a comprehensive business plan. Dairy, sheep and beef farmers usually analyse their farm (or someone else’s) so Leanna’s tutor gave her a fictional gardening business to work on instead.

The project proved somewhat prophetic, as that’s exactly the line of work Leanna hopes to now pursue.

“The retirement world is all about keeping elderly people in their own homes for longer. So my diploma case study was on a business based on maintenance and gardening and making their homes in the community safe and accessible.

“It was a fictional business but I’m going to use that plan… I know that with my diploma skills I can go into any industry really. The semesters I spent studying and the knowledge I gained can now be translated into any type of business. Once you know how to do budgeting and spreadsheets, it’s the same no matter what your business.”

Leanna says she’s always enjoyed working outdoors doing physical jobs. Hard landscaping has become her passion – building structures and garden features out of timber, concrete, paving and sleepers.

“It’s the bones. I love the immediate and permanent change. It adds to clients’ environment and lives. When you’re doing hard landscaping, you’re usually overcoming an issue and finding a solution through landscape design. You could be trying to get water away from a particular area through drainage, or improving aesthetics or access.”

In addition to launching a new landscaping business, Leanna is contemplating a move into eco-tourism. She recently bought a 30ha slice of native forest that was once part of her great-grandparent’s farm.

“It’s a magical spot. We might build some bush shacks down the hill and look to market the hunting opportunities that are on offer,” she says.

While Leanna is delighted to have now completed her diploma, she admits the biggest challenge was coming from a horticultural background. Most of her fellow students were dairy, sheep and beef farmers which provided some interesting classroom discussions. “I know lots about farming now too,” she laughs. “I had to learn that language first before I could flip it into hort. KPIs and milk solids and all that sort of stuff.”

Her Primary ITO tutors went out of their way to help translate the course content into a horticultural context for Leanna, and she was impressed by the support on offer. “They brought me lots of books, websites and resources. When you’ve been in an industry for so long you get quite closed and it’s hard to think laterally. They opened up my brain up for learning.”

After two and a half years of study, Leanna now feels she’s ready to take the leap of faith required and launch back into self-employment.

“My learnings out of the diploma make me feel so much more confident than I ever have.”