First off, I’d like to thank you for agreeing to have your real-life story featured on Nursingpreneur. I’m building a high-quality resource platform for all budding nursing and midwifery students. Therefore, your experiences, thoughts, preferences, and suggestions are immensely valuable for Nursingpreneur’s growth.
To that end, I must say that it’s great to have you here.
Now, I’d like you to answer the following questions so that we can shed light on your story and experiences in an engaging way.
Let’s start! Shall we? (Write as much as you want, there’s absolutely no limit)
Could you please tell us a bit about yourself? How has life been treating you?
My name is Asha M Osman and Im 23. I was born in Marburg, Germany on a cold July lol! I’m a qualified travel AIN (ASSISTANT IN NURSING). Basically, travel to different hospitals around Perth WA in many different wards and areas around the region. I’ve been in the healthcare industry since 17 it’s been 6 years now and it has been the best thing that has happened to me, to be honest, I didn’t expect to be here at 17 at all I feel like young Asha would be proud 100%. Also founded a makeup brand at 19yrs old called aGloss cosmetics Australia during the pandemic in November 2019 alhamdulillah it’s been the best and most humble thing that can happen. Even tho it was very up/down it was so fun and now I’m reaching a new audience and made a community of makeup/self-care fanatics all around the world alllahuma barik man life has been amazing being an entrepreneur and doing health at the same time it goes hand in hand with so many things
How did you get into your current field? And do you enjoy doing it? (E.g. of Fields such as nursing, and midwifery)
I’m currently a qualified AIN as stated before since I was 17 alhamdulillah. Didn’t know what I was doing at first but it was fun and hands-on and the lecturers were so supportive when I started.
Yes! I do enjoy it alhamdulillah talking to different patients and communicating with patients I feel like it’s my purpose or something to basically help people from all ethnic backgrounds and help people in my community as well.
Could you please tell us about your favorite nursing or midwifery moment? (keeping things confidential for clients involved).
Omg last year in Ramadan a morbidly obese person (sorry).fell in from the mosque during Taraweeh prayer he fell in front of the deck of the masjid at my local mosque at the time it was also the last 10 days of Ramadan he made dua for us and we helped him to and from his xrays It was one the most iconic moments in my career tbh 😀 it was so cute but the employees were rude to him which wasn’t nice so we made him feel welcome as soon as he saw us he was filled with joy! mashallah
What is the most striking moment of personal “failure” you’ve experienced in nursing or midwifery?
Not finishing high school and getting my WACE cert it was my dream to graduate high school with A’s ☹. But MY DEEN/Faith made me stronger and made me bounce back from all my failures and ups and downs so yay!
How did you cope with your failure?
Talking to my mother me and her are like besties and I’m her favorite since I’m the oldest we bond a lot and relate to a lot of things
Okay! Let’s have a little insight into your entrepreneurial life.
AKA MY FAVE PART 😊
First things first, what comes to your mind when you think about entrepreneurship, in general?
A LOT OF WORK AND LONELY NIGHTS LOL! I’M A ONE-WOMAN BAND AND IM CONSTANTLY GLUED TO MY PHONE WHICH IS NOT THAT GOOD SOMETIMES LOL
And, what comes to your mind when you think about entrepreneurship in relation to nursing/midwifery?
INDEPENDENCE AND ATTENTION TO DETAIL 100%! I think that sentence speaks for itself.
How do you think entrepreneurship or business per se associates with a nurse’s/midwife’s life? (Influence on midset/expansion of opportunities, etc.)
The biggest challenge with running a small business in Australia is the cultural differences. We have different cultures here and it’s not easy to market products when you don’t understand the needs of your customers. You need to know how they think and what they want, but also you need to be able to relate well with them. The language barrier is another big challenge because we speak both English and Somali languages, so sometimes it can be hard for us as we are not fluent in either language (especially when trying to communicate via social media).
We also face difficulties when it comes to understanding our customers’ needs. Customers from different backgrounds don’t always understand each other or their needs may change depending on where they live or work
‘’Be patient, take your time, and make sure that you’re doing what’s right for yourself and your brand. You can’t rush into things. I think if you rush into things, it’ll just make everything more complicated than it already is’’
When I started out, I made the mistake of rushing into things without having the knowledge or experience to back me up. This meant that everything became more complicated than it needed to be, which resulted in wasted time and money.
Nowadays, I’m much more patient and don’t rush into anything until I know everything about it. If you’re trying to start a business from scratch yourself, then please don’t make this same mistake! You need patience so that you can learn everything about running a business before taking any action at all; otherwise, there’s no way your brand will succeed!
Now, let’s get into the most asked questions.
How did/do you maintain consistency in your doings?
I found that even though I was in a very stressful situation (trying to get my business off the ground), I still had to make sure that I got enough sleep and took care of myself. Making sure that we were doing things that made us happy helped us cope with the stress of running a start-up.
It’s also a good idea for other entrepreneurs and creatives who are working on their own projects to make sure they’re taking regular breaks and looking after their mental health.
How do you set priorities in your work?
Yes, I think the biggest challenge for me was to raise money for my cosmetics business. It was very difficult because it’s a new industry, and no one knows about the industry. If you go to a bank or financial institution and tell them that you want to run a cosmetics company, they will look at you like ‘what are you talking about?’ We have been in business for 2 years now and we still don’t have any partners because there is no market here yet. That was our biggest challenge but we overcame it by doing some things on our own like getting sponsorships from local businesses who wanted to be part of what we were doing before they even knew what we did! So yes, that was challenging but I wouldn’t call it difficult because I am grateful every day that my business exists because without it there would be no aGloss Cosmetics!
How do you overcome these difficulties?
One of the best ways to overcome these difficulties is to talk about them. You’re not alone in this, and seeking out help is a great way to get through those tough times.
The other thing you want to do is build a support system for yourself. This can be friends, family, or even your customers! It’s important that you have someone who cares enough about you that they’ll listen when things aren’t going well.
One other thing that’s really important is self-care! You need time away from work and whatever else life throws at you so that you can recharge and keep going strong!
Social media has been one of the best things ever created because it allows us all around the world to connect with others who love what they do just as much as we do (or maybe even more). It’s also made learning about new companies easier than ever before which may be helpful if there’s something specific holding back growth within your current business model such as marketing strategies etc. It’s also nice seeing how other people run their businesses too!
If you had one piece of advice to give an aspiring nursing and midwifery student, what would it be?
’Be patient, take your time, and make sure that you’re doing what’s right for yourself and your brand. You can’t rush into things. I think if you rush into things, it’ll just make everything more complicated than it already is’’
The most important question coming your way.
Caffeine or not caffeine for shift work?
None I’m a tea drinker and chai latte girl
Where can people reach out to you? (social media and email) insta and tiktok both axsha.o
Email: ashaosman560@gmail.com
Instagram: axsha.o
Website: https://aglosscosmeticsaus.mystrikingly.com/
If you want to learn more about Ashia and her journey, go here and get all your answers about entrepreneur life.
Thank you for answering all these questions. Wishing you all the very best in your future endeavors.
