Within two years of starting her disability support business, Amy Hall had a thriving enterprise and had garnered several accolades.
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But as Banksia Support Services grew Ms Hall found herself working 14-hour days, and when she had to return to work just days after emergency surgery in 2023, she knew she needed to change up her business.
It was a transformation that forced her to rethink her idea of success but Ms Hall's achievements are now being recognised on the global stage - and all before her business turns three.
She has been named a finalist in two categories of the international Women Changing the World Awards: disability leadership, and rural and regional impact.
Ms Hall started Banksia after the premature birth of her child Grace, knowing her daughter would need support but availability was limited in the Shoalhaven.
Ms Hall established Banksia as a clinic that offered multidisciplinary care for children with disability, wanting to provide a service that parents and their children - especially those who were told their needs were too complex - did not have to travel to access.
"But what happened was I became a business owner who was no longer able to be the practitioner because I was managing staff and that wasn't what... I wanted to do," she said.
"I wanted to be someone who was on the ground, who was supporting people, who was working alongside clients."
After making the decision to shake up her business, Ms Hall helped move clients to other providers.
She still has some clients of her own, but as an advanced specialist she also trains and mentors 45 other behaviour practitioners nationwide, an approach that maximises her reach in way that is sustainable for her and her business.
Ms Hall said she also got to be a mum again to her two children and spend more time with her husband.
But it was a difficult decision to make and one that challenged her perceptions of leadership and success.
She said she felt like a failure, but discovered that failure was an opportunity to learn.
"I think that's been the biggest transition for me, is transitioning my belief that being a leader in your community is having a big staff, a big team," Ms Hall said.
"For me leadership is seeing a gap and plugging it, and telling people about it and helping people know more and do better.
"That's my brand of leadership."
Ms Hall uses her business as a vehicle to advocate for people with disability and it is this work that makes her so happy to be recognised in the Women Changing the World Awards, a program presented by Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York and Dr Tererai Trent, a champion for women's empowerment and education.
"I was chuffed... it doesn't matter whether I in it, it's just the recognition that people who are disability advocates fight a bloody uphill battle," she said.