Let's Get Visible® Podcast · Season 2, Episode 3

The Three F's: Flexibility, Freedom & Family with HR Expert Esther Colman

Leaving corporate HR to run her own business, and the three reasons behind it.


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Welcome to Episode 3 in Season 2

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In this episode I'm joined by Esther Colman, Director of The HR Dept Eastern Suburbs Sydney, which provides outsourced HR support to small and medium businesses. We recorded this in the thick of COVID in 2020, so you'll hear a few throwbacks to life as it was then, and I found myself reflecting on how much we've learnt since.

Show notes

Esther has more than 20 years of generalist HR experience, including senior roles in Australia and the UK. She holds a BSc in Management Studies and a Diploma in HR Management, and is a trained facilitator and mediator.

We talk about the three F's (flexibility, freedom and family) and Esther's passion for helping small businesses thrive with practical, personal advice on the everyday people problems they face.

Episode highlights

Taking risksBeing challengedGetting out of your comfort zoneWearing many hatsFreedom to make choicesBuilding relationships

"My reasons are threefold, and it all begins with F. Flexibility, freedom and family."

Esther Colman

In Esther's words

Looking for a new challenge

"It was a couple of years in the making, while I was in my last corporate job, which I really loved. But I found that with corporate roles, I'd come in, get some quick wins, make some changes, and then it would tend to become maintenance and business as usual.

I was looking for a new challenge. In the last year of that job I did an advanced leadership program and upskilled myself in contemporary leadership practices. That really ignited me to take on something new, and to use my expertise to see if I could run my own business."

It all begins with F

"Preparing for this podcast, I realised my reasons are threefold, and it all begins with F. Flexibility, freedom and family."

Freedom means handing over some hats

Esther's business exists because small businesses shouldn't have to become HR experts. The same is true of visibility. Running your own business means wearing many hats, and SEO and AI search don't have to be one of yours.

If you'd rather hand that hat to someone who wears it every day, that's my SEO services, and The Visibility Accelerator™ for one-on-one work, which is by application with a maximum of five clients at a time.

Esther Colman, HR expert and Director of The HR Dept Eastern Suburbs Sydney

Meet the guest

Esther Colman


Esther is Director of The HR Dept Eastern Suburbs Sydney, providing outsourced HR support to small and medium businesses, with more than 20 years of HR experience across Australia and the UK.

Connect with Esther on LinkedIn, Facebook and X.

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