“Sit down, Annette’, I was ordered as I walked in. He looked nervous. Actually, he looked like he was about to cry.

“I’m really sorry Annette, but we have decided due to financial reasons to make your role redundant. You finish up today,” he told me.  

I was lost for words. “Go pack your desk up and we’ll walk you out.” As I packed up my desk, trying not to cry, the EA stood over me before escorting me to the door. Clutching a sad little box of my personal stuff. I felt humiliated, like I’d been sucker-punched.

This hit me like a ton of bricks, especially since the CEO had literally just told me what a fantastic job I was doing. I’d poured everything into that job, really trying to make my mark. 

The next seven months were a blur of job applications during a time when the Queensland government slashed over 12,000 public service roles. I was 43, feeling too old, too out of touch, and honestly, too broken to land another job. I spiralled into depression. Binge watching Dexter, I started plotting elaborate revenge fantasies against the people who had let me go. It was unfair. 

A few months down the track, and no Dexter episodes to watch, a friend dragged me out of my cave of self-pity. She practically forced me to attend this weekend seminar about using webinars to build a business. Now, going into business for myself was something I had never even considered. I come from a family of blue-collar workers—people who work hard, keep their heads down, and are loyal to their jobs. The idea of starting my own thing? That just wasn’t on my radar.

There I was, sitting in this seminar, arms crossed, legs crossed, probably even my eyes crossed, while the speaker droned on how amazing webinars are, how much money we could all make, and how great he was. It seemed like one of those overly hyped-up network marketing events, and I was just not buying it.

Then something unexpected happened. The speaker asked if anyone in the room considered themselves an expert in their field. Now, at that point, the only thing I felt I was an expert in was being a loser nobody wanted. But my friend? She had other ideas. She elbowed me, I’m sure I still have the bruise marks, grabbed my hand, and shot it into the air.

“My friend here,” she announced to the entire room, “has been a journalist and worked in corporate comms. She knows a lot about getting into the media.”

I thought “WTF? Doesn’t everyone know how to do that? Seriously, that’s not an expertise… is it?”

Over the next two days, something started to click. I realised that what I had always taken for granted—my ability to navigate the media, tell a story, and get it noticed—was actually a valuable skill. It was something I could use to carve out my own path.

The audience had to vote on 15 ‘experts’ ideas for a webinar. I stood nervously at the front of the room (all those eyes, after being home by myself for months, it made me feel scrutinised like an ant in an ant farm.  When the microphone was handed to me, I nervously pitched my idea – 5 Secrets to Get Free Publicity. To my shock, one of the presenters from the back of the room shouted “Oh my god, I love that.” The crowd loved it and voted for me to be the guinea pig to show in practice how webinars worked.  I had to do a 60-minute webinar live to the audience and the speaker’s database.

After seven months of hiding in my own misery, I was terrified. One minute I was pumped to do it, and the next, I was coming up with every excuse under the sun for why I couldn’t. But in the end, I did it. I sold 9 PR Mastery programs, making $6k, which was helpful given my redundancy payment was almost done and I got a $70 parking fine.

That was almost 12 years ago. Since then, I’ve run a successful PR agency for over eight years, won loads of awards for my work and for my clients, and secured millions in publicity for them. Then I pivoted and ran a successful award writing agency for almost four years, where I won a Telstra Best of Business Award in Queensland for Accelerating Women and six Grand Stevie Awards internationally.

Now, I’m back out on my own again, helping people share their stories through articles, content, and awards.

Life can throw you some serious curveballs. You can feel lost, humiliated, and completely unsure of your worth. But sometimes, all it takes is someone else to see something in you, even when you can’t see it yourself, to spark a change. It’s about finding that one thing you do so naturally that you don’t even realise it’s special—and realising that this could be your ticket to creating something amazing.