People had concerns when Jacqui Thomson got into the flooring business

Ms Thomson worked for her parents for eight years before deciding to buy the business from them as they were looking to retire in 2018.

‘‘My parents were a bit hesitant because I’m a woman running two businesses in such a male-dominated industry,” she said.

“But they soon came around when they realised I was serious about it and they thought I was capable. They were pretty happy to keep it in the family.”

Ms Thomson is upfront about the challenges she faced in the months since taking over the business.

‘‘The flooring industry doesn’t exactly spring to mind when thinking about female friendly industries,” she said.

“Some men don’t like being told what to do by a female and I have to do that with contractors who are very set in their ways and haven’t ever had a female boss before,’’ she said.

‘‘But people get used to it — in my team anyway. I’ve got a good team and everybody respects each other.”

Through the challenges, Ms Thomson has relied on the support of her family and a tight circle of friends, one friend in particular.

‘‘I’ve got a really close friend who is just the smartest human being on the planet and she knows the answer to everything,” she said.

“She is really good at going back to the start and figuring out why I’m thinking like that. And she’s really good at solving the negativity if any pops up.

‘‘Our shop in Euroa flooded once and mum and dad were away. I didn’t know what to do so I rang one of my uncles and said, ‘I need you here’. And he was there in a flash and he helped me sort everything out.

Ms Thomson’s advice for young entrepreneurs who are still in school is to at least finish Year 12 but she also acknowledged that university isn’t for everyone, herself included.

‘‘I like that I can take a day off when I want to or plan a long weekend and not have to ask anybody. I just work around it,” she said.

‘‘You can’t know what you want to do at the age of 15. I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I was 30.

“I was 35 when I bought the business. I was 33, 34 when I realised that this was what I want to do and that I was going to make it happen.”