With the Landing Pad space for entrepeneurs here in Newcastle it's something very practical we can do to try and help de risk, by having a partnership like the landing pad with the University of Newcastle and the amazing facilities that it brings just to make it that little bit easier for somebody thinking of relocating to a regional city to take advantage of the better quality of life that a city like Newcastle is able to bring.

I can speak from personal experience as someone who has moved from Sydney to Newcastle 12 years ago that, you know, one of the reasons why we wanted to relocate was housing affordability, we love the beach, and we wanted to be close to the beach.

But if we wanted to stay in Sydney, we just seem to get further and further away from it. And the commute time. So I would take public transport, and it would be one hour each way from where I lived in suburban Sydney to Alexandria. And I was like is this what my life is going to be like, especially with young children but i had luckily married a Novocastrian.

And it was a somewhat easier transition to a leap of faith to move to Newcastle because I was sort of familiar with the layout, when you Newcastle initiative was up and running at that point, which supported creative entrepreneurs to access space for them to be able to operate from and that really interested me, but otherwise, I had no networks up here. And my background was marketing.

And, you know, while the COVID and hybrid work opportunities or being able to work 100% remotely, has really opened up the doors, I think, to people to consider moving to regional locations like Newcastle. And that's been demonstrated by those figures that Declan just outlined, yes, working from home is fantastic.

We all like being able to be in our pajamas while we take zoom calls or put a load of washing on during during lunch break. But ultimately, at the end of the day, were connected humans that need to be able to be in person with each other. And that's what the landing pad ultimately ultimately is able to provide is that face to face interactive connection into humans and people that are going through the same journey you are, particularly if you're starting a new business.

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