Tammy Cook
My name is Tammy, I am 49 years old, a mum of three awesome daughters (24, 20 and 10 years old), I am married, and I work full time. Like many women, this means I am exhausted most of the time (both mentally and physically) and am constantly run off my feet – caring, advising, debating, driving around, cleaning, cooking, working. It never ends!!
This is just how it is, right, being a wife and mother and working full-time?
I often dreamed of having a housekeeper or a personal trainer or going on holidays, but these are luxuries we just just can't afford, especially with interest rates skyrocketing and the cost-of-living pressures affecting our household, like many other families.
Through one of my workplaces (male dominated mechanical workshop) (note, I am a Bookkeeper who works in many businesses), I was constantly hearing about prizes that were targeted very heavily towards the blokes – hotted up cars, Harley Davidson motorbikes, quad bikes, fishing boats, more hotted up cars, etc.
My brain started ticking – what about us girls???
And then it hit me - what if I did something similar but ‘for the ladies?’ I started to give this some serious thought (late at night, in bed, when I am supposed to be sleeping, which is where I come up with a lot of great ideas and inspiration). What would I like to win if I had the chance??? Like many mums, I am tired and constantly worrying about money, so here are some of the ideas I came up with…
Through one of my workplaces (male dominated mechanical workshop) (note, I am a Bookkeeper who works in many businesses), I was constantly hearing about prizes that were targeted very heavily towards the blokes – hotted up cars, Harley Davidson motorbikes, quad bikes, fishing boats, more hotted up cars, etc.
My brain started ticking – what about us girls???
And then it hit me - what if I did something similar but ‘for the ladies?’ I started to give this some serious thought (late at night, in bed, when I am supposed to be sleeping, which is where I come up with a lot of great ideas and inspiration). What would I like to win if I had the chance??? Like many mums, I am tired and constantly worrying about money, so here are some of the ideas I came up with…
- My groceries being paid for would take off some financial pressure…
- As would a lump sum towards my mortgage…
- A housekeeper would be amazing…
- A family holiday would be sensational…
- A personal trainer would be awesome – I have put on weight over the years and I’m not even sure I could stretch anymore, let alone exercise!!
- I am not much of a shopper but I did imagine how fun it would be (and stress free) to win a shopping spree - I'd get massages, pedicures and I would shop till I dropped!!
- I also started thinking back when I was first starting my family - it would have been life changing to win some money to buy all of those much-needed baby items - a bassinet, cot, change table, car seat, pram, baby monitor, nappies, clothes, etc.
I did my research and in NSW, there were two ways I could try to do this - trade promotion or a draw lottery. To make it easy to understand:
- if I did a trade promotion, among other rules, I would get to keep all of the money I make from selling a product or service (ie. a ‘membership’) which would give you a free ticket to win one of my prizes
- if I did a draw lottery, among other rules, I must conduct the draw lottery on behalf of a charity or not-for-profit as well as give at least 40% of the gross profit to the charity or not-for-profit I was representing.
My decision was instant. I was doing all of this to help my fellow ladies, so a trade promotion was out of the question.
My next question was ‘which charity or not-for-profit that supports women am I going to represent?' I thought this part would be so easy - afterall, I will have a large sum of money from each of my draws ready to pass on to a reputable charity or not-for-profit. Unfortunately, this was far more complicated than I thought as it came with many complicated rules (and red tape, in my opinion). Just as it was starting to become 'all too hard', I wondered if I could start my own charity or not-for-profit??? I could then use the money to help women in whatever capacity I wanted. And I would be legally bound to use the money for it's intended purpose - to help women.
My next question was ‘which charity or not-for-profit that supports women am I going to represent?' I thought this part would be so easy - afterall, I will have a large sum of money from each of my draws ready to pass on to a reputable charity or not-for-profit. Unfortunately, this was far more complicated than I thought as it came with many complicated rules (and red tape, in my opinion). Just as it was starting to become 'all too hard', I wondered if I could start my own charity or not-for-profit??? I could then use the money to help women in whatever capacity I wanted. And I would be legally bound to use the money for it's intended purpose - to help women.
And as it happens, my not-for-profit was born.
I am so unbelievably passionate about this venture and have such big plans to help women. This is all very new but my plans include helping in some capacity with endometriosis (my eldest daughter suffers terribly from this); fertility issues; cancer; domestic violence; poverty; even helping single mums. Having my own not-for-profit means I know the money I raise will be used accordinly and I cannot wait to share all of this on my website.
I also want to make the chance of winning an awesome prize a real possibility for everyone who buys a ticket. There are only 3,300 tickets in each of my draw lotteries which means if you purchase one (1) ticket in one (1) draw, your odds of winning that draw are 1 in 3,300. By comparison, for example, the odds of winning the jackpot in Powerball (5 numbers + Powerball) is 1 in over 290 million (1 in 292,201,338 as per lottoland.com.au).
Please remember though - although you are supporting some great causes, buying a ticket in one or more of my draws is a form of gambling - for more information on being gambling aware, please click here.
So, that’s everything. You now know who I am, and why I created Something for the Ladies, as well as It's all about the Ladies.
Good luck, and I hope to see you on the Winners page soon!