From telecom engineer to baker and back again!

Tien, DL student

Tien was a telecom engineer in Vietnam for 17 years.  When he first came to Australia it took him 4 months to get a job as a production operator in an electrical company.  He liked his job because he could work in his field and he already had a lot of knowledge about electrical products.

Tien spent 10 months working on a casual basis in this company but the work started to drop off.  So he decided to do something completely different. He and his brother started a bakery business!

Tien said that his brother had been a baker for 8 years but this was the first time he had owned a shop himself. Tien is excited about the new challenge as there are lots of things to learn such as which ingredients to mix, how to bake cakes and different types of bread.  Tien has even learnt how to make donuts!

Tien also has the opportunity in the shop to practise his listening and speaking skills when he talks with customers and is learning a lot of new vocabulary to do with setting up a business. His DL teacher, Meredith, helps Tien with his pronunciation and with the language he needs to communicate with the customers. She says that Tien's English has improved a lot and he can now understand most of what he hears and can keep a conversation going.

Tien is hoping that their business will grow quickly and that he will be able to become a baker by next year.  In the meantime, he has had good news from his old company.  They rang him about a month ago and asked him to start work there again, so now he has two jobs.  He works for his brother in the morning and then does a shift in the factory from 3-11 pm.  Let's hope he gets some sleep sometimes!

Congratulations to Tien for the progress he made both in improving his English and settling into Australia.  We wish him all the best for his business ventures.

• What are the benefits and challenges of having your own business?
• Would you prefer to have your own business or be an employee in a company? Why?
• Have you ever been involved in a family business and what was that like? 
• If you were to start your own business, what would it be and where would you get help?

We'd love to read your comments to any of the above questions or to Tien's story.

Neesa starts her own business

Neesa, DL student

My name is Neesa and I come from Thailand.  I met my husband in Thailand and we started a relationship after he visited me many times there.  I came to Australia in 2010 and we got married in 2013.

I was very excited but also nervous at the same time because everything was new and I wasn't familiar with the language or the culture.  It took me a long time to understand the Australian accent so my husband always helped me with that and I now can understand English better than before and have become more confident and independent.

I improved English by studying English at Southbank TAFE for a year in 2011.  After school I went to work every day.  I enjoyed my studies and made lots of new friends and I also talked to many people at work.  Learning English is a never ending story for me.  I am now studying English by distance with the DL program at Navitas.

Before I came to Australia I worked as a massage therapist in Thailand for a year.  This helped me improve my English because I had a lot of English speaking customers that I had to talk to.

In Australia, I worked in a Thai Day Spa in Brisbane for 3 years before starting my own business.  As a result I gained enough experience and confidence to be able to work on my own.  I now work from my home doing Thai massage.  I am planning to grow my business in the future, recruit some staff and have my own shop.

My advice to my migrant friends is to relax and enjoy Australia and the new lifestyle.  They shouldn't worry if at first their English is not great as many new arrivals are in the same boat.

Congratulations to Neesa on improving her English and starting her own business.  We wish her all the best for the future.

• Do you find it hard to understand the Australian accent?  
• How long do you think it takes to gain confidence in English?
• What do you think about Neesa's advice to new migrants?
• If you were to start your own business, what kind of business and what steps would you need to take?