Behind Belinda's Desk

You Don't Have to Quit Your Job to Build Your Dream

By Belinda Birt

One of the questions I'm asked surprisingly often is:

"Why aren't you always at Your Secret Closet?"

It's a fair question.

After all, I started the business. I own it. Surely I should be behind the counter every day?

The truth is a little different, and it goes right back to the very beginning.

When I launched Your Secret Closet ten years ago, I honestly had no idea whether the business would work.

Dress rental was still a very new concept in Australia.

There were a couple of online businesses beginning to appear, but the idea of opening a physical boutique where women could touch the dresses, try them on and receive styling advice was almost unheard of.

It was exciting.

It was also incredibly risky.

My husband and I sat down and had a very honest conversation.

We had two young children, a mortgage and all the usual family expenses. Walking away from a secure full-time income simply wasn't an option.

So instead of taking the leap that so many founder stories talk about, we made a different decision.

I kept my day job.

I remember sitting down with my manager and explaining what I wanted to do.

I told them I believed there was an opportunity to build something special, but that in those early days I might occasionally need to duck into the shop during quieter work periods. I promised that my responsibilities would never suffer and that if I ever fell behind, I'd make the time up after hours.

Looking back, I know how fortunate I was.

They trusted me.

They backed me.

And they allowed me to build a business while continuing to deliver in my role.

I'm not sure many workplaces would agree to that today.

Without their support, I'm honestly not sure Your Secret Closet would still be here.

Those first couple of years were hard.

Really hard.

People forget that rental wasn't mainstream back then.

Some customers genuinely asked whether every dress had been worn hundreds of times.

Others couldn't understand why anyone would rent clothing instead of buying it.

There were weeks where we were lucky to take a hundred dollars.

That's not profit.

That's total revenue.

At the time, it would have been easy to look at those numbers and decide it simply wasn't going to work.

Instead, my salary gave us breathing room.

It meant we could keep believing in the business while it slowly found its customers.

Over the years my career evolved, and so did Your Secret Closet.

I moved into relationship management within aged care and was once again incredibly fortunate to work for leaders who supported my business rather than seeing it as a distraction.

They judged me on my results.

As long as I continued delivering for my employer, they were happy for me to continue building something of my own.

That trust has never been something I've taken for granted.

Today, I work as Head of Relationships for an aged care provider, a role I genuinely love.

On paper, fashion and aged care couldn't look more different.

But they're actually surprisingly similar.

Both are about relationships.

Listening.

Building trust.

Helping people feel seen.

Finding solutions.

Whether I'm helping a woman find the perfect dress for a black-tie gala or working with healthcare professionals to improve outcomes for older Australians, the common thread is people.

And I genuinely believe each role has made me better at the other.

Of course, juggling two careers isn't always glamorous.

There are school commitments.

Family life.

Work travel.

Stock deliveries.

Busy event seasons.

And yes... there are still those terrifying retail months.

Anyone who owns a retail business knows exactly what I'm talking about.

May, June and early July can be incredibly quiet.

There have been moments where I've looked at supplier invoices and wondered how we were going to get through another winter.

Those are the moments people rarely see on Instagram.

Having another income has given our family, and the business, a level of stability that has allowed Your Secret Closet to survive those quieter periods.

It has meant I could continue investing in new collections, support Australian designers and keep building the business for the long term rather than making short-term decisions out of panic.

Would I love to spend every day in the boutique?

Of course.

I absolutely love helping women find dresses that make them feel incredible.

But I also love the work I do outside these four walls.

I love using the psychology degree I spent years studying for.

I love meeting people from completely different industries.

I love that I get to use different parts of my brain.

And perhaps most importantly, I love that over the past ten years I've never had to choose between having a meaningful career and building the business I dreamed of.

People often think success means taking one giant leap.

For me, it looked very different.

It looked like taking lots of small steps.

Working nights.

Working weekends.

Building slowly.

Making careful financial decisions.

Accepting help when it was offered.

And being incredibly grateful to the employers who believed in me long before most people believed in dress rental.

If you've ever wondered why I'm not always in the boutique, now you know.

I'm not absent because Your Secret Closet isn't important.

I'm absent because this business was built carefully, responsibly and sustainably, and that's exactly why it's still here ten years later.

Sometimes the dream isn't about quitting your job.

Sometimes it's about having the courage to build your dream while keeping one.