As offers for 2023 tertiary courses continue, and young people weigh up their futures, the achievements of one micro-business owner illustrate there are multiple pathways to life success.
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That said, the road to one's goals can often be rough.
Emma Beel, the sole operator behind the blooming Emz Cakes & Catering, has overcome numerous challenges on her personal and professional journey to her current place of contentment.
Come this March, Ms Beel's homegrown baking enterprise, stemming from humble roots, will have been in existence for nine years.
"I started it as a hobby business, having it on the side while I was doing full-time work," Ms Beel said of Emz Cakes & Catering's origins.
"It was hard; when you're working 70-plus hours a week, you don't really have time to be running your own business."
Persistence has unquestionably paid dividends for the softly-spoken character with the number of orders received for her mouth-watering treats increasing.
"This last year was so good," Ms Beel enthused.
"2022 saw the most wedding cakes in a year I'd ever done.
"That was awesome."
The rare skills of Ms Beel are sought for a range of events in addition to weddings.
"Obviously, you have birthdays, engagements, baby showers, any occasion where you need something," Ms Beel outlined.
"Since COVID, it's made people more aware to do more celebrations together, celebrations with family.
"I am collaborating with a friend who's doing picnics.
"I have done a divorce cake before, but just for the one side!"
Demand for the accommodating service and its delectable delights is coming from more distant locales, like Ballan, Bacchus Marsh, and Maryborough, as well as from the traditional target market of Ballarat.
"People are willing to have me travel to them to deliver," Ms Beel, whose registered kitchen is based in her home, said.
Ms Beel's trek to her flourishing foodery began when she and her family made a bold move regarding her secondary education almost two decades ago.
She and her twin sister, Minty, had been enrolled at Ballarat Clarendon College since prep, but for Ms Beel, the feeling was it was no longer for her.
"There was nothing I was good at," Ms Beel said.
"Every class, I seemed to be failing; I had no interest in the classes I was put in.
"I was never good at music; I was never good at sport.
"When my brother started Year 7 at Ballarat East Secondary College, our family had a talk.
"Dad mentioned 'What if you go to a different school?'
"(Ballarat East) had food programs and other hands-on classes that seemed more interesting to me."
As a student at Ballarat East Secondary College, and its Barkly Street campus, Ms Beel embraced practical subjects, such as food technology and hospitality.
So focused was Ms Beel on this different realm, she successfully gained a chef apprenticeship in September 2006 while finishing Year 12.
She went on to complete her apprenticeship and, in her third year, undertook a patisserie course as well.
As a developing chef, Ms Beel gained vast experience in some of Ballarat's busiest venues.
"I was helping the head chef out, helping run the kitchen," Ms Beel said of one lengthy tenure.
"(I experienced) a wide variety of different things.
"I would help do all the ordering, call workers in if people called in sick, run the kitchen if the head chef was off or busy doing functions.
"It was pretty crazy when you think about it."
During Ms Beel's secondary school days, she was known for her introverted nature, a characteristic generally not associated with those in the hospitality industry.
"I still am (such a quiet person)," Ms Beel admitted.
"It was definitely a struggle (working in a hotel kitchen), having to call out docket numbers.
"We had a board; you could write down the number of the table.
"Most people in the kitchen couldn't hear me shouting it out so they would just look at the board or there would be someone else cooking near me and they would shout out what I had just said!"
While much was learnt and gained during Ms Beel's time in the hospitality industry, the period was not without its difficulties.
She has only recently spoken of her experiences with harassment to her family.
"It wasn't always great," Ms Beel acknowledged, referring to instances of workplace bullying.
"I just took it and I never complained to anyone about it.
"For a long time, I didn't tell anyone. I was too embarrassed.
"(I thought) it was obviously me (at fault), that I'd done something wrong."
Ms Beel still has clear memories of one traumatic instance, early in her time as an apprentice.
"There was one time (colleagues) Glad-Wrapped me to a trolley," Ms Beel said.
"Then they put a face mask, like a horror mask, on me; wheeled me out to the front; and then shut the door behind me.
"I was stuck in the street waiting for someone to bring me back in.
"I just got used to copping that.
"I think a lot of male chefs don't like female chefs who are good at their jobs," Ms Beel suggested.
Not yet ready to entirely move into her own enterprise, but wanting to leave the industry which had provided her with some dark times, Ms Beel took on a role as a chef in a childcare centre, a position she held for three years.
"I wasn't quite game enough," Ms Beel said of her uncertainty about going full-time into her own initiative at that period in time.
"I didn't know what would happen or if I would be able to support myself financially.
"That's why I got the childcare job."
Alone cooking for 120 children, and dealing with those who were anaphylactic or who had different allergies, was not necessarily straightforward, but it provided a much-needed change.
"It was great; I really loved it," Ms Beel fondly reflected.
"I got to see all the kids every day; they'd ask me what was for lunch or what was for afternoon tea.
"Obviously, I started early in the morning, but I finished in the afternoon so I still had half a day to be able to do cake orders."
Ms Beel reached the stage of wanting to make a true fist of Emz Cakes & Catering and she fully committed to the cause in December 2020.
"It got to a point where I wanted to take it further," Ms Beel said.
However, even though the threat global pandemic had seemingly subsided, it was not to be, and the ramifications of COVID-19 health crisis were significant for Ms Beel's burgeoning operation.
"It was horrible; it was so stressful," Ms Beel said.
"It was out of our control.
"Because lockdowns would hit so suddenly, you'd go from having weeks of being fully booked with orders to, all of a sudden, having to message everyone to say, 'Do you still want to go ahead?'
"A lot of people would cancel.
"It took me a while to get JobKeeper. It was pretty much just using whatever savings I had.
"I don't know (how I made it through)."
As it stands, it is all about the road ahead for the Ballarat-born artistic chef.
"I literally work seven days a week now. I don't have time to have a day off!" Ms Beel admitted without regret.
"I love the baking side of it and getting to create what people want, to be able to put my creative spin on orders."
Based on her incredible culinary inventions, and the increasing desire for them, there is little doubt Ms Beel has found her niche with her treasured venture.
"It means everything," Ms Beel revealed of her work.
"I get to do my dream job every day."
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