I left school just after my 16th birthday with no qualifications – not even School Certificate. As I type today I own a small speaking bureau as well as now a director of the True Colours Group – which has three companies: training, recruitment and female speaking agency. Not bad for a girl who was voted the least to succeed in life from school.

I have always been an adventurous risk taker. It’s part of my natural make-up and I had to take risks and leave secured paying jobs to start two different businesses. It’s not for the faint hearted, but if you don’t leave your security at times, and try for something bigger how will you ever know?

During my path to today, I have endured three major crisis’s in my life. 1998 my brother took his life, in 1999 I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease and in 2001 I separated from my husband. Of course since then to 2010 as I write this, I have had many other dramas as well, however to me they don’t compare to the first three. Building my first business, nearly sent me bankrupt yet I never gave up. I never gave up my vision for myself, my ability to laugh at life and myself and keeping a positive mindset. Most recently in 2009 I was put in hospital as my Crohn’s flared up and I was in a bad way. I refused medication and put myself into a frame of mind that made me believe, without a doubt, that if I drastically change my diet I will be better. In just under a week those close to me were in awe of how I had put myself back into remission. I put it down to mindset and diet.

I see many people, particularly women, who are trapped in lives they don’t love. Whether it is in a marriage they feel they can’t leave, a job they hate, the dream they have to own their own business but can’t take the risk, wishing they could lose weight, wishing they could follow their dream of being a singer and the list goes on. The reason they don’t do it is because they are too scared. They are too comfortable being stuck, miserable or whatever. It’s easy to keep the status quo.

When I joined forces with my business partner, Tanya, to start True Colours Group I left a job I had as an Executive Recruiter and we were in a recession. Recruitment is the worse business to start up in a recession, but I could see how we could do it by offering a value-added service. It worked! Today we are now launching programs on Women in Leadership as well as a female speaking agency. We see a great need to help women get into leadership and well paid roles.

With my illness, I could have gone ‘oh woe is me’ and focused my whole energy on how sick I was. Instead, I decided to focus my energy on becoming extremely fit. I believed that fitness would keep my Crohn’s Disease in remission, and it did! The only reason it flared up again last year was because I had slackened off my strict diet and run myself down.

Losing my brother to suicide was the most horrendous thing I have gone through, however, someone once gave me some good advice. He said, “Don’t put your brother behind you, put him beside you and walk on.’ That is exactly what I did.

There were times when I was building the first speaking agency that I had no income and was living by myself. I worked 14 hour days, I didn’t sleep and I was in a bad way. However, I kept going and going and eventually an opportunity arose where I was trained in Recruitment. I could see how this could be a valuable skill for me. Today I combine the two and run a recruitment company.

My advice to anyone who wants to step out of their comfort zone is this. Do it! However, be prepared to fall and pick yourself up time and time again. You may not have to, but if you do and you learn from your experiences I can guarantee you that life becomes much more interesting for you. Learn by your mistakes and move on, after all mistakes are just experiences. Life is one big adventure, and it can be a happy one if you choose to follow your dreams and take risks.

Debbie Carr is a director of the True Colours Group and Coyote Management International. You can find her at www.truecoloursrecruitment.com, www.truecolourstraining.com, www.truecolourskeynotes.com and www.coyote.com.au/debbie_carr.html and you can read her story at www.seemingly-sane.com