Lisa Messenger is an entrepreneur for entrepreneurs, living her life out loud, proving anything is possible; and as an author, speaker and owner of Collective Hub, she is forever dreaming up ideas for business extensions or book opportunities (the notebook she carries with her is testament to that). While on the Sunshine Coast recently for the Back Yourself event in Noosa, Lisa caught up with Profile to have the Last Word.

I grew up in … Coolah in central west New South Wales on a 4500 acre property, riding horses and motorbikes when I was six and then I went to boarding school in Sydney. I grew up in the middle of nowhere, well before the internet, so I was very isolated, but it was very grounding.

My first job was … a horse riding instructor in England, I left school and went overseas to teach horse riding – they didn’t like my style very much, the English are far more polished!

I would like to be a better … dancer. If I wasn’t running Collective Hub I wanted to be a dancer, but that didn’t work out. I’m really good at freestyle!

When I am not working I … try and have as much down time as possible with my cavoodle Benny. I live in Bondi so I spend a lot of time on the beach and mooching about with friends, trying to lead as normal a life as possible. And I love cooking and having friends over; when you have a really big, busy life and you’re travelling so much it’s good to be able to ground down.

My most embarrassing moment … I’m always having embarrassing moments, but I think the thing in life is you can’t take yourself too seriously, I’m very self deprecating and very happy to laugh at myself.

I’ve rediscovered … my love for photography. It’s ironic I own a magazine and media and very rarely take photos myself. I did seven years of photography at school and have done lots of photography courses since, but I have never used any of my own photography in anything, so I think you’ll be seeing a bit more of that.

My favourite part of my job ... I do so many different things, but I can tell you what I can’t stand – operations, details, systems and processes, it’s a necessary evil. I love being the visionary and strategist, coming up with big ideas and dreaming really big. I love connecting with our community, people’s stories blow me away every single day and I never take that for granted.

The last thing I do before I go to bed is … journal. I won’t say check my social media, I try not to do that now. For three years I’ve plugged my phone in the kitchen so nothing comes near the bedroom, because it’s the worst habit rolling over and looking at that. I’ve been journalling forever, I find it’s a really good way to get whatever thoughts are in my head out, some of them make it into books.