Peninsula Voices | Lorena Gaxiola + Gallies
Published: December 7, 2023
Peninsula Voices is our way of shining the spotlight on our clients and their stories. This month, we had a chat with Lorena Gaxiola, interior designer, and business owner. Coming from the US and starting a business from scratch in Australia was one of the biggest challenges she was facing, and add to it, employment contracts, and understanding independent contractors agreements. An empathetic creative, for Lorena, it was essential that she get support with flexible contracts and policies that benefit her and her employees. She relies on the 24/7 advice line available exclusively for clients to get any answers she needs from experts in employment relations.
Read Transcript
I manage an interior design practice.
We specialize on designing products
for property developers
in hospitality, residential
and also in the private sector.
I started my business
when I was 24 years old,
so I just learned
the California laws of employment,
every state has different laws.
When I decided to move my practice
permanently to Australia,
it was just the complete opposite.
The way to employ, the documentation
and it was just again
having to start from scratch.
I picked up the phone, I googled
and I thought, I feel
really lost and alone
and not really understanding
what my rights were, as a business owner.
When I contacted Peninsula,
I love that it was 24/7
and I told them what I was going through
and they coached me
and they told me exactly
who I needed to speak to.
Creatives are a whole new animal.
We like to be original
in our way of thinking.
We also like to be quite independent
in our way of living.
Some creative individuals
like a lot of Freedom.
Peninsula has definitely been
a factor for me
to navigate through all those changes
with that single employee
the whole way through
and allow them to grow.
They interviewed me.
They asked me
what sort of business I had
and where I wanted to move forward.
I wanted to be flexible.
I wanted to attract
people that wanted to work part-time
or be casual
or be consultants or be full-time,
and, they have been instrumental
at helping me to be
able to grow my business.