Amanda Walker is the founder of WA HomeStay, an online booking platform for WA holiday accommodation. She is passionate about promoting sustainable tourism and value based business practices. As a female founder of a tech startup, Amanda has overcome many entrepreneurial challenges and is currently moving WA HomeStay to scale.
Amanda was named 2020 Business News 40 Under 40 Winner, won Silver for the 2020 Ausmumpreneur WA-SA People’s Choice award for Making a Difference – Community, finalist in WA Tourism Awards 2019 “New Business” Category, finalist in INCITE “Start Up of the Year” Awards 2019. She is also an Alumni of WA Leaders.
When did you start your business?
June 2018.
What was the inspiration behind starting this business?
With a family of 5 we have always loved using holiday homes when we travel. After managing our own holiday home in the South West I saw an opportunity to create a local booking platform. The international booking platforms we were using had increased their fees and decreased their customer service. Our mission was to create a platform that was fair for both owners and guests and gave back to WA at the same time.
What are you most excited about in your business?
The fact that we are starting to scale. After fighting the hard start up battle for the last couple of years it is exciting to see the business starting to grow.
What has been the most challenging thing about starting your business?
As we are a bootstrapped startup, I was using our family money to fund the business. The stress of this along with the ups and downs of startup life and juggling family life was certainly the most challenging aspect.
What advice would you give to other women thinking about starting a business?
If you can bootstrap yourself, do it. Growing slowly takes patience but retaining control of your business idea and growing at the pace that suits you and your family means it is worth it in the long run.
Why did you enter the AusMumpreneur Awards?
An ability to connect with other amazing mums in business and marketing purposes.
What did you enjoy the most about being part of the awards?
I enjoyed connecting with the other entrants in my category. Due to Covid we could not participate in the Ausmumpreneur weekend which was a shame but Peace and Katy did an amazing job flicking to an online event.
What surprised you most about the awards?
The reach of the awards and how many amazing businesses were involved.
How did the awards help you in your business?
It helped confirm that we were on the right track and that our community appreciated the work we were doing.
What advice would you give to others mums thinking about entering the awards?
It is a great experience and an opportunity to meet other incredible entrepreneurs.
What’s happening next in your business? Any big plans for the future?
Very big plans for the future, we’ve got some exciting new partnerships that are to be announced in the next week or so…. watch this space!
To learn more about WA HomeStay, please visit the website, LinkedIn, Instagram or Facebook.
All images featured here are from Amanda Walker.
2021 GLOBAL BUSINESS MOTHERS AWARDS
The 2021 Global Business Mothers Awards recognise the best and brightest mothers in business globally, acknowledging success in business & innovation.
>> Nominations are OPEN! Nominate an incredible mother in business here <<
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