Thousands of people arrive on the Sunshine Coast every year seeking a life change.
Julie Holland and Greg Peeler were not unlike them when they moved to Noosa from Melbourne back in 2007.
“My youngest son had left school and gone to England for a gap year. We both decided we needed a change of lifestyle and location. I guess a fear of continuing to do the same old-same old was very strong at that point,” Julie says.
“We are a full-circle couple who dated at school, then reconnected later in life. Greg has four children and I have three (nothing like The Brady Bunch, though). All the kids were on their own paths, we had holidayed in Noosa, so thought, ‘This will be an adventure for us oldies’. And it has been.”
Within three years, Julie and Greg were operating an art gallery and homewares store on one of Australia’s premier tourist strips.
Hearts and Minds Art has been a mainstay of Hastings Street for 15 years, an impressive feat for any small business. The achievement is even more interesting given it came about almost by accident.
Julie and Greg were out for a walk one day when a pop-up shop caught their eye and led them down the path of opening their own business.
“Greg and I had no idea what a pop-up shop was when we walked past one in Hastings Street, but we enquired with the owner, signed a lease and so started our journey in retail,” Julie says.
“It was a little store opposite the driveway to where we currently are now. Tiny. We expanded our range, got approval from next door’s shop owner, knocked through the wall and made Hearts and Minds Art twice as big.
“Then, when our current shop became available, we moved across the driveway.”
Prior to opening the gallery-store, Greg and Julie ran a stall at Eumundi and Portside markets, selling inspirational verses, photographic prints and a book of inspirational verse written by Julie, A Nest Twice Built.
Like Hearts and Minds Art, the market stall was a little unexpected.
Greg was working as a real estate agent at Peregian and Julie thought she was going to be starting a job as a management assistant, but it never eventuated – the company went broke.
Looking for something to fill the void, Julie, who had worked in public relations and also written children’s books and newspaper columns, drew on her creativity to put together the stall.
Greg, a hobby frame-maker, built frames for Julie’s photographs and the frames proved so popular they sold them, too.
Julie remembers the markets as not necessarily an easy existence, but she is also grateful for the path it put them on.
“You meet some lovely people from all walks of life, living the market hours and expectations for so many different reasons,” she says.
“It’s so conditional on weather, market trends, economy… as all small business is, but it also has a physical toll as well to set up [and] take down if you don’t have a permanent space.
“It was a definite stepping stone for my inspirational writing.”
Opening the gallery was a huge leap of faith for the couple.
“Huge, mainly because of the financial commitments and time constraints to do other things, but here we are 15 years later,” she says.
“I guess, as with all creatives, there is a lack of confidence in your ability at times and I’ve definitely felt that.”
“We have learnt as we go along, with I guess me being the creative one and Greg being the business side, i.e. all the invoices.”
Julie says much of what they have done with the gallery has been by “gut feel” with the support of terrific landlords and customer comments.
The gallery has settled over time into what it is today – a characterful-space filled with original art and limited edition prints, photography sculptures, ceramics, bespoke furniture, jewellery and homewares.
“We originally went to gift fairs, but haven’t for years now,” Julie says.
“We want to be different to what everyone else stocks. I don’t see the point in everyone having the same products, particularly in the small Sunshine Coast market.
“It was essential for customers to feel inclusive, so we space our display furniture to welcome prams and wheelchairs, and we say hello to everyone who enters our store.
“People say our space has soul, which is so nice.”
Julie says being surrounded by the creativity of others encourages creativity.
“We witness market trends every day – some we like, some we totally dislike, so we just stay in our own lane,” she says.
“I get a buzz when young artists come in for inspiration and try to help them with their own understanding of a work.
“This in turn spurs me on or makes me look at something differently. I have a couple of very creative sons, so I send them ideas, with mixed results.”
Julie and Greg split gallery duties, each working there three days a week. They are assisted by two other staff members.
Julie, who once had the opportunity to write for Mills & Boon, spends her non-work days writing contemporary fiction.
She has written and published three novels, Here-After, That Summer in Nautilus Cove and Full Circle. She has recently pitched a fourth book.
While some writers are planners who know what they are going to write before they begin their books, Julie is a “pantser” who allows the story to evolve as she writes.
“My books have the same premise – mid-late age female protagonist and all the decisions of that age and stage,” she says
“I want readers to take away a feel-good reaction and a belief that anything is possible, even in later age. That’s where my thinking starts and then I put that person in a situation.
“With That Summer in Nautilus Cove, I wanted to locate the story on the Sunshine Coast, so I had to get her here.
“I wanted to include a ghost in Here-After, so who is it? In Full Circle, the character is a lottery winner but as the story unfolded, I realised money wasn’t really the issue so that was a definite ‘pantser’ outcome.”
Having gone part way down the road of submissions and publishers, Julie has self-published the books, saying it is not the “no-no” it once was.
She even did the plant drawings for her book of inspirational verse, republished as Seasons, and rough sketches the covers for her books to ensure she gets the looks she wants.
“I feel it’s important for an indie author to spend the dollars on professional printers, editors, layout and cover designers to make the books the best they can be. It’s expensive but worth it.”
She denies her writing is a metaphor for her life, pointing out there has been no lottery win as per Full Circle.
However, just as one thing leads to another when she writes a book, one thing led to another with Hearts and Minds.
“Starting our business has also confirmed with me that it’s worth giving something a go, to try something new,” she says.
“It’s a theme of my books actually – that life isn’t over in later years.
“It’s hard, no doubt about it, and the sand is always shifting under your feet, but that’s life and we are so, so fortunate where we live and the opportunities we have. I never forget that.”