Five hundred metres above sea level, surrounded by ancient rainforest, the place they call “the mountain” is just over an hour’s drive from the Brisbane CBD but feels a world away.
That journey inspired him to set up a shop selling shirts, superfood snacks and healing balms, all made of hemp. For Chanter, it’s more than just a way of paying his bills. Where most parts of south-east Queensland have one or two of these businesses for every 100 residents, the Gold Coast Hinterland – made up of the towns of Springbrook, Canungra and Beechmont, along with Tamborine – has more than 11.
“I just wanted to get my kids away, so we could teach them how to be self-sufficient, to be mindful of what you’re doing every day, not just being in the rat race running around a wheel.”Credit:“The mountain” offered her family a different lifestyle. Here, she could get a massage from her neighbour and pay with eggs from the chickens in her backyard.
Further GoDaddy research found Queensland entrepreneurs were more likely to be female, more likely to have finished formal education with high school, and less likely to be earning more than $100,000 from their businesses.