It’s a hard task to be anything but joyful when in the presence of the colourful Canberra businesswoman and author, Serina Bird.

Brightening up a dreary Monday morning at the quaint Kingston bookstore, The Book Cow, Serina unapologetically and proudly held up her latest book, The Joyful Startup Guide. Sitting down for a coffee and chat with CW, she recounted moments of inner turmoil over intuition verses doubt, reflects on being unashamedly a writer for women, and the remarkable innovation within a local café.

“The Joyful Startup Guide is not a textbook,” laughs Serina. “I had someone who read it recently and they went ‘OMG! I bought it because I knew you, and I thought it was going to be boring, and it wasn’t what I expected.”

Being a Canberran, Serina has completed her fair share of time in the Australian Public Service, and she thanks her most recent stint for the birth of the latest brainchild in her Joyful book series.

“People kept asking me at work ‘Oh, I’ve always wanted to start a business, but I don’t know how’ and ‘How do you get the courage to do this?’,” says Serina.

“I was also thinking about the skillsets you need for the public service compared to being in business – they are quite different. For example, the ability to make snap decisions quickly, the ability to take risks, knowing how to use accounting software…

“So, I was having all these side conversations and I thought ‘Well, I may as well write a book’.”

Serina essentially describes the book as a fluid and honest “how-to guide” with minimal telling the reader what to do. There’s a chapter on how to get started, and how to create an ABN, what company structure is right for you, and which tax bracket to tick, but she wouldn’t dare write “you should do this”.

“It’s unashamedly aimed at women in business, and that’s a really significant thing because I believe about one third of small businesses are now owned by women, and it’s one of the fastest growing demographics,” Serina says.

“It’s also aimed at a slightly older women demographic because that’s what I am. We often think of women business owners as being young, but there’s a growing group of older women where the kids are now grown, they’re financially ready, they’ve reached the glass ceiling at work and are no longer getting anywhere, and have always desired to do something with some idea they have.

“It can still be read by men, but I guess the difference about writing for a female audience is it’s a bit more empathetic. It also has things in it like affirmations, which you wouldn’t usually find in a male ‘how to do business’ book,” Serina smiles, “so lots of positive affirmations to guide you on your journey.”

Another aspect of the book is the “real and authentic” case studies Serina sourced to share their stories of failing and succeeding in business as women.

“There’s this lovely lady in Melbourne called Rachel Service who has just got such an inspiring story. She basically burnt out and she took herself to New York to see a Beyonce concert, thinking that would solve all her problems,” says Serina, with an all-knowing smile.

“On the subway home, she found herself crying uncontrollably and realised things have to change, so she shared some of her wisdom in The Joyful Startup Guide about starting up her own business. She actually continued working at a coffee store as she was building her business, because she just wanted that security to know she could pay for the wages of other people.

“The more we’re honest about not expecting everything to be totally perfect in the startup phase, how it’s normal to be a bit strapped for cash, and how you emotionally and practically have to deal with those things, is really important.”

Another imperative skill Serina would yell from the rooftops so every woman could hear would be to “listen to your intuition”.

She uses her own book as an example and says some early publishers she spoke to said “no one would be interested in that because of Covid”.

Nevertheless, Serina listened to her intuition telling her people are dissatisfied with their lives right now, and Covid instead has been a “wake up call”.

She remembers thinking that the people who are unhappy sitting in an office every day will want to find joy elsewhere, and that could be with their own small business.

“We don’t often talk about it but when you ask people ‘how did you get the idea for that’, they’ll often say the idea came to me suddenly. Oh, and they would probably be at a café – cafés are an amazing place for innovation, too. The amount of ideas that have been on a napkin in a café …” Serina smiles.

“Guys tend to talk about hunches or how they just knew it, but with women it’s often intuition. So, when we get these nudges, and others don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, remember the dots will all come together later.”

Serina has been over the moon from the support she’s received from the Canberra community and wants to especially thank the Canberra Innovation Network and The Book Cow.

“The Canberra community is just amazing like that. We have a particularly collaborative innovation system here and I’ve had other people say it’s much more than others. Canberrans are really willing to help other Canberrans, and it’s just lovely,” Serina says.

The Joyful Startup Guide is available now at The Book Cow in Kingston and other local retailers. 

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