In the happy land where PlanBig dreams come true, Lisa Fox has been rocking the Collaborative Consumption movement in Australia with her and her partner Duncan’s take on finding new ways to reuse our old stuff, the recently launched peer-to-peer rental website Open Shed.
Open Shed recently won the Nokia In Hindsight competition, beating 100 other Aussie entrepreneurs to take the main prize.
[Aside: if you want to have a beer with Lisa or any number of fantastic PlanBiggers like Bek from Varity Vampire (full disclosure: I'm on the Community Advisory Board of PlanBig) we'll be at the Alexandria Hotel on Thursday 15 December for an end-of-year, festive-themed Meetup from 5pm - 7pm. You'll find us by looking for the person wearing a ridiculous Christmas Tree tinsel hat, complete with red baubles (that would be me). More details here.]
Back to business… here’s lovely Lisa. Take a sneak peak into an Aussie social entrepreneur’s busy bee mind.
Describe yourself in three words.
I LOVE talking!
What do you do?
Co founder and Director of Open Shed, Australia’s newest peer-to-peer to rental site.
What are you passionate about?
Spreading the word about the growing Collaborative Consumption movement in Australia.
Collaborative Consumption is the age-old behaviours of sharing, swapping, bartering and renting which technology is now enabling in new and exciting ways.
Learning AND sharing what I learn. I have always liked collecting information, cool ideas, experiences, other people’s awesome life stories etc and then sharing these with others. There is a rumour that my first words were “guess what?”
What are your feelings about social media and communities online?
Love it. Social media is why I’m doing what I’m doing!
I was a latecomer to Twitter – August 2010, but I quickly became obsessed. Twitter introduced me to so many awesome things and people.
Twitter also introduced me to a couple of great blogs and it was through Twitter that for the first time I became a blog follower. However, fairly quickly being just a blog follower wasn’t enough for me – I wanted to be part of the blogging community, not just an observer – so in September 2010 I created my personal blog, Outside of the Box.
My blog became my creative outlet and suddenly I was thinking very differently about the world and all the endless possibilities that were out there. Through twitter I was encountering everyday ‘ordinary’ people pursuing their ‘big ideas’ and dreams. I felt liberated to give my idea – Open Shed – a go, and in late December 2010 that is exactly I did!
I am constantly astounded that it really is just over 12 months ago that Twitter, the blogosphere and the amazing PlanBig community came into my life and helped me change my life FOREVER!
Who do you credit for getting you to your current place in the world?
So many people, but if I had to limit it to three:
1. Me! Open Shed was my idea and I pitched it to Duncan, he loved it, and so we began this awesome journey.
2. Duncan because he believes in me and loves me.
3. My mum because she believes in me, loves me and has been my advocate ALWAYS.
What excites you?
Everything and anything! (See answer to question three)
What disgusts you?
Australia’s refugee policies. Too much time, energy and money is being spent devising ways that we can get out of our international obligations. Our policies show no empathy forpeople who are fleeing war, persecution and violence and come to Australia looking for refuge.
Do you have a secret to getting things done?
Stop talking (its a struggle! See answer to first question) and just get on with it.
If you could work with anyone, who would it be?
I’m very lucky I already get to work with my favourite person in the world – my fabulous and talented partner Duncan. Dunks and I have been together for almost four years and I’m so pleased we randomly met each other in a pub in Kingston, Canberra. We make a great team, he is an IT whiz and I… like to talk.
Finish this sentence. “If I could turn back time…”
…if I could find a way…
In all honesty, life is so much more fabulous looking forward than back right now. Life is AWESOME!
Favourite quote:
So many favourites, but one that is close to my heart this year is, “Leap and the net will appear.” - American naturalist John Burroughs
Here’s how to connect with Lisa online:
Twitter: @_lisafox @openshed
linkedin.com/in/lisafoxau
facebook.com/openshed
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Blatant Promo Time
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Yes, sign me up for the ‘2012 is coming and I’m not going to be left behind‘ hour of social marketing power!
FANTASTIC LISA. FABULOUS DUNCAN. PHENOMENAL OPEN SHED!