Photo: CRAIG SIMCOX

UpfrontAA

SECRETS OF SUCCESSSerena Star-Leonard was just 30 when she decided to retire with a sustainable income.So, she gave herself a year to make it happen, writes Tom Fitzsimons.

It’s not a get-rich-quickscheme; I’veworked reallyhard to makethis happen.But, yes,anyone can doit, that’swhat’s so coolabout it.SERENA STAR-LEONARD

It’s almost too Generation Y. Barelya decade into her working life,Serena Star-Leonard, an energetic

young businesswoman earning plentyand living well, decided she wanted toretire. She was 30.

‘‘So I set myself this challenge andwent, ‘OK, well, what if I could create anincome, using all the skills that I havelearnt, which meant that I only had towork for one day a week, fromanywhere in the world’.’’

To make sure it wasn’t all talk, shedecided to blog regularly on herprogress – ‘‘having a big publicdeclaration, there’s no procrastinationbecause you want it to succeed’’.

And then she got to work, with a12-month deadline and an earningstarget of $2000 a week.

Originally from Palmerston North,now living in Melbourne, Star-Leonarddropped out of school and moved toWellington in the late 1990s. ‘‘I neverreally liked school,’’ she says while backin New Zealand visiting family.

She did like work though – or, at least,she had a willingness to do it. At onepoint in Wellington, she divided her dayinto shifts for two different telemarketingcompanies. ‘‘Then I’d babysit my cousinin between and I’d just run from job tojob.’’

Five years on, she moved toMelbourne, where she landed a job in ITsales with a major US company. The

money was good (at its peak, somethingin the region of $150,000 a year), and sowere the perks – ‘‘all-expenses-paidholidays in Puerto Rico and Maui andBarcelona’’.

But she always yearned to be doingsomething else. She’d already beendabbling in not-for-profit work –organising a music festival promotingracial harmony, for instance. (It was a abig hit, drawing 8000 punters instead ofher goal of 1500).

So she quit her job and started up apromotion tool for charities andindependent musicians. Sadly, that wasdoomed when its expensive website tookso long to develop it was outdated beforeit was launched.

‘‘And that’s when I first started going,‘OK, websites are really important formost businesses’.’’

So she changed direction again, thistime towards coaching small businessesin how to use the web. That’s what shewas doing when ‘‘retirement’’ beckoned.

Linking up with a friend with moretechnical expertise, they came up with awebsite that would continue the sameidea – helping small companies get onthe web.

Star-Leonard attracts readers to thewebsite by offering a free blog on thesubject, and then makes money througha range of tools – everything from sellinge-books and web seminars to endorsingother people’s products and taking acommission if her readers buy them.

When the one-year mark rolledaround, she was making $1500 a week,

which she’s happy to call a success evenif it is under her initial target.

The other part of the goal has beenachieved in full; she’s successfullywhittled her work hours down to about aday a week. To keep it that way, she andhusband John are about to embark onthree or four years of travel, probablycombined with charity work.

The year that set up her retirementhad another bonus, too: Australianpublisher John Wiley & Sons gotinterested in her blog. Star-Leonard’sbook about the experience – How toRetire in 12 Months: Turning Passion intoProfit – is out now in New Zealand.

So what’s the trick? Is this earlyretirement thing really a possibility?

The internet has been transformative,she says. Unlike traditional businesses,which typically need large amounts ofcapital to get started, anyone can createsomething on the web.

As long as you choose somethingyou’re passionate about – ‘‘that you cantalk about for hours and hours’’ – thenyou’ve got a chance of turning it into amoneyspinner.

The numbers don’t have to bethrough the roof – her own website onlyattracts about 1500 visitors a month. It’sall about building a sense of community,and, yes, finally, getting them to opentheir wallets.

‘‘It’s not a get-rich-quick scheme; I’veworked really hard to make this happen.But, yes, anyone can do it, that’s what’sso cool about it.’’

6 YW SATURDAY, JULY 9, 2011 ■