Hard work reaps business rewards

Two Pilbara-based businesses won awards in the GWN7 WA Regional Small Business Awards.

Site Pics won the first award of the night for Best Home Based Business.

Owner Margaret Bertling was surprised and delighted at the result. “It was just an unbelievable honour, it was just amazing,” she said.

“You hear the profiles and then I heard my business (announced as the winner) and when someone else says it, it just didn’t seem real especially in front of all those people, it was just amazing.”

Site Pics is a Karratha-based company and specialises in industrial photography for many of the resources companies in the region. Ms Bertling said a lot of work had gone into establishing the business.

“I’ve worked seven days a week, I’ve done little tiny jobs, I’ve done big jobs and I’ve driven for thousands of kilometres… and I’ve had a huge learning curve, so it has been relentless,” she said.

Ms Bertling said the calibre of businesses in the finals was so diverse.

“It just showed me that untapped resource, that there are so many other businesses just waiting to be born,” she said.

“You work all your life and then you reach a point where you can do something you really love and I’m really lucky that I not only do something that I really love but people trust me to do that.”

Portacrete SX5, which has been highly successful this year, won Best Aboriginal Business at the awards.

The award capped off a great year for the concreting company after winning Business of the Year and the Indigenous Business Award at the Karratha and Districts Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Business Excellence Awards earlier this year. Small Business Minister Simon O’Brien said all the winners should be very proud of themselves.

“The nominated and successful businesses are the ‘best of the best’ small and medium-sized businesses in regional WA and are a great example of the creativity and innovation of the small business sector in this State,” he said.

West Australian Regional Newspapers sponsored the awards.