Juliet Potter is the brains and the beauty behind the website www.autochic.com.au, a website devoted to women and cars and everything in between and is widely credited with feminizing the Australian auto industry.
She has two children: Ashley (boy) aged 8 and Lola, aged 3 and works full time from her home in Sydney's Northern Beaches.
C4K: When did you go back to work after having your children?
JP: As I own an internet company which is basically 24/7 and run from home, I never stopped working. I even took my laptop to hospital!
C4K: What were your main motivations to return to work?
JP: Money! Having a baby unfortunately doesn't mean the bills stop coming in! ;)
C4K: What was the hardest thing about returning to work?
JP: Nothing was hard to be honest! I am really lucky because I love my work, it's my business and I really enjoy it so there was nothing hard about it at all. It just required a bit more organisation or my time! It's much easier being a mum when you work from home I think.
C4K: Who looks after the children when you work?
JP: On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday Lola goes to a fantastic day care centre that we absolutely love. On Thursday and Friday I juggle her and work at the moment. My son is in year 3 at the local primary school.
C4K: How did you find your child care?
JP: Word of mouth. I was very lucky as it is extremely difficult finding child care in our area (Northern Beaches of Sydney).
C4K: What were your main priorities while you were looking for child care?
JP: Really simply that my daughter loved it and to be honest, I was just happy to have a placement! The centre she attends has fantastic facilities and a great playground, and as Lola loves art, regular painting and drawing sessions are a must!
C4K: What would you do differently if you were looking for child care again?
JP: I wouldn't do anything differently really although I wish the process wasn't as hard as it is sometimes when there just aren't enough places on the days you need them. The main difficulty for me was just finding a place. There were children on the waiting lists of local day care centres from before they were born, so places were limited! And this put me in a position of putting my children into 'any old' day care centre I could get them into, not necessarily where I felt I may have wanted them to go. We all love to have a choice, don't we?
C4K: What are the main benefits of your child care arrangement?
JP: It allows me to work so I can provide for my family! Gone are the days where a man is always the main provider or bread-winner and as a side note - wages should reflect that too (another reason why I decided to work for myself!). Good childcare should be mandatory and easily accessible!
C4K: Have you any amusing or heart-warming child care experiences?
JP: My fridge is covered in my Lola's artwork. I have kept all of my son Ashley's artwork too - it is all in a box! I love hearing about Lola's day when she comes home. She has a love/hate relationship with her ‘friend' Hester and always has a Hester story to tell me at the end of her day at ‘school'! I have found both of my children are very social and people - savvy and I truly believe much of this can be attributed to their childcare.
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