The Beginning, the start of PS Creatables

Jambo, Namaste G'day!

This is the first time I am trying my hand at blogging, so forgive me for any errors.

My name is Poonam Shah (Pronounced Poo-nuhm). I am the owner of PS. Creatables.

Why a micro-enterprise? Why the one and only owner?

To understand this, you need to know a little about me.

I am a Kenyan born Indian. Growing up in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, was a great learning & living experience. I migrated to Perth, Western Australia with my family (mum, dad and sister) in 2000. Whilst studying in high school & university, my sister & I worked 3 jobs to help our parents pay off our education fees, home mortgage & other related bills. We did not mind, as we were learning life skills along with meeting people & learning the Australian way of life. During this time, my sister fell ill & was diagnosed with a rare brain disease, NeuroSarcoidosis (NS).

I completed my education in Perth. I graduated with an Undergrad degree in Business. I studied

Accounting & Hotel Management.After graduating, I worked in the accounting departments of various hotels in Perth, like Grand Chancellor, Hyatt, Ibis & Mercure. I loved this experience, as I got to meet a lot of people from different cultural backgrounds.

My life changed completed in June 2014, during my last gig with the Accor hotels.

I underwent a brain biopsy to find out why there were swellings in my brain. During this biopsy, I suffered a venous stroke, I died on the operation table. The right frontal lobe of my brain had gone blue. To save my life, the surgeons had to remove the lobe. This stroke left me paralyzed on my left side of the body. the removal of my frontal lobe meant that my left arm would NEVER work (That is what the doctors said at-least!, Did I believe it, though, God No!!)

I was only turning 30, I still had a long life to live ahead of me, I still had places to visit, people to meet, food to eat!!

After a 3 month gig away from home (a month in hospital & 2 in rehab), I went back home. As a family we continued doing all the things we loved, went to footy games, tennis matches, attended musical shows, family holidays.

I also went back to my last employment before the surgery for a 3 month work trial, hoping to get employed again. I know I did great during those 3 months; Little did I know, they wanted to get rid of me! They sat me at the back of the office with me facing the wall. This was disgusting, but I had HOPE. I did not even let the family know of this. I just completed my 3 months, continuously living in HOPE. I did not even get a Thank you at the end of the trial, just a list of so called "errors", that I didn't make. I kept records of my own every time I left work. A few months later, after an awesome trip to Exmouth, I got a phone call from the HR lady letting me know that they had to terminate me. COOL! WHY!!

Oh well, Life goes on! I lived off welfare for a few months as nobody wanted to employ me. I went for 4 interviews during this time, and the reactions I got when walking in with a cane was disgusting. then the interviews were fast tacked. I then sat down, wrote down my strengths & weaknesses. One day I got help from a lady who helped me get work experience (WE) at a tax company. I did a year of voluntary work there. Then one day, the boss asked if I wanted to do casual bookkeeping for them. I took up her offer. 5 years on I am still working as a contract casual bookkeeper.

In 2017, I looked into getting back into a childhood hobby of mine, as a form of therapy. I met an 89 year old lady who taught me the ancient form of art, pyrography! My first few pieces were easy simple ones; trying to get the hang of the soldering machine. I created a pony & a teddy bear. Over the year as I grew more confident, I tried to create a Country Church, which had almost all the soldering techniques used in it. After this I was confident enough to create the King of the Jungle. This was the first piece that I sold as an artist to a former work colleague. She bought it especially for her son, who has an intellectual disability. She told me that the creation gave her son strength t o come out of his room and get back in conversation with the family. This is when I realized that my disability was actually my ability to be able to create art as a form of therapy, not just for myself, but for others who view it.

In 2020, I was contacted by Rachel, a Business Advisor who worked for a not for profit company, Valued Lives. This business looks at a person's ability, not disability.

This saw the start of my micro enterprise "PS Creatables". She made me believe that I am capable of much more then creating art & hoarding it at home. I was worth selling my art. She made me believe that "I am worthy". For the first time since the stroke & losing my job, I felt that I am just as important as able bodied people. I am still able to help our family financially.

I was now the OWNER of my own business

She helped me create a Business Plan for the business. This was an eye opening situation as I don't normally brag about myself. She made me dwell into my strengths, weaknesses, likes & dislikes. My mother was very helpful in this stage of the process.

I cannot believe that from then on I did not need to depend on Welfare alone.

I now had my own bookkeeping business & my art business.

My bookkeeping business is my sidekick, in-case the art business fails.

"Let the fun begin"