The original idea for Children’s Guide was inspired by a job I was doing for a client (actually, my local council) some years ago. Having worked on council projects in the past, my events & communications company at the time was contracted to help develop a Residents’ Guide and Go Local Directory which was printed and 50,000 copies distributed for free to the whole community. It was a great guide to the various services provided by council and other local community organisations, sports facilities, health services, retailers, tradesmen and so on.
I did think, however, that it would be fantastic to have a similar publication directed at families.
As a parent I regularly collected dozens of flyers and brochures which ended in cluttered, collapsing piles, visited difficult to navigate websites, and tried to decode directory and search engine terms, just wishing I could have everything accessible in one place and simple.
My council wasn’t in a position to publish another book so soon, so between my two kids and running my business I wrote a proposal and approached other organisations. With no interest and no takers I decided to write the book myself and away I went.
Looking further out of just our local area to the whole of Sydney’s inner west, I turned my proposal into a project plan, received advice and familiarised myself with copyright, publishing and advertising laws, got printing quotes and prepared a budget, and designed info packs and registration forms for local businesses. I displayed it all beautifully in folders which I put in the bottom of my 2 year old son’s pram and started pushing. We walked up and down the streets of Ashfield, Balmain, Leichhardt, Rhodes and more, saying hi to businesses and telling them of my grand idea. Many of them were infected by my insanity enthusiasm and signed up.
I found an amazing graphic designer and photographer and ran an art competition amongst local schools in search of a cover picture, pulled it all together, sent the book to print and Children’s Guide was born.
We were also expecting another birth as I was pregnant with my 3rd child. The largest and most uncomfortable pregnancy of all my 3 kids, I suffered morning-noon-night sickness and woke up with a headache every single day for 8 and a half months. This was during the time that I was pushing the pram, phoning businesses, doing a lot of data entry and setting up a basic website, mostly laying on my side on the sofa with the laptop because I just felt so blah and yuck!
Children’s Guide was launched at the Sydney Pregnancy Babies & Children’s Expo. 3,000 copies of the book were delivered to our home along with posters, flyers and the first newsletter. With the help of some of my designer’s friends, at 7 months pregnant I stood around the PBC Expo for 3 days with serious heart-burn and a lot of pride. I’d written a book! It really was the worst time not to be able to drink champagne.
Books were distributed to newsagencies throughout the inner west and I spoke and presented at various parent group and a few weeks later I got a phone call from the City of Canada Bay Council saying that I’d been nominated for the most child friendly business category in their annual Sustainability Awards. Mr Guide and I took our 2 week old son to the ceremony and I won! I never found out who nominated me but a massive thank you, I am eternally grateful!
Armed with an award and a book I had considered either preparing similar books for other areas or developing a website and started on a project plan. However, I was still running my business, had three kids and over time I spent eight and a half years volunteering for a charity, four years on a Board and had several personal and family issues which took priority. So Children’s Guide was just this cool thing I once did.
But a lot happens over time. Kids grow and become more independent, numerous experiences are had, work, volunteering, health and priorities all change. Family still comes first, but I remember how much I loved working on my little book so over 2019 I wound down all my previous work and commitments and spent half the year writing a business plan and preparing to focus solely on Children’s Guide, build up a team and work on it full time.
Communications, media and the internet and how we access information has also changed very significantly since my original collapsing piles of brochures, but what hasn’t changed is the struggle so many parents still have finding details and options amongst every other parenting decision.
For any families who thought they’d figured out “normal”, along came 2020 bringing the challenges of fires, floods and COVID-19.
At the end of February of 2020, after weeks of paperwork and agreements, I proudly signed a two year commercial lease on one of the only two offices on Cockatoo Island in Sydney Harbour, and a few weeks later my “non-essential” business had to temporarily close. Then open, then close, then open, then…. and we all know what the rest of 2020 and 2021 looked like. Then my lease ended, my staff got other jobs, I packed up and many things are still in boxes.
Despite the challenges and delays, the original business plan I wrote before the multiple 20/21 rewrites still remains. I am applying my book’s original themes of Community, Safe, Healthy, Nurtured and Happy and developing a comprehensive resource for families. I want to establish Children’s Guide as a trusted resource which is up to date, relevant, informed and independent.
I firmly believe that a community resource should be community driven, I’ve received fantastic insight and feedback from other parents and businesses about what what they would like to see in Children’s Guide. There is a lot to work on, but a little rest for now, taking boxes out of storage this year then small steps into 2025.
Julia Marshall
Founder, Publisher
