Sophee McPhee, 2009 Anthill 30under30 winner

What is 30under30?

30under30 is an Anthill initiative that was launched in early 2008 to encourage and promote entrepreneurship among young Australians. Each year, we invite our readers to nominate young Australian entrepreneurs deserving of recognition for their outstanding entrepreneurial endeavours. Anthill’s editorial team then trawls through hundreds of applications and identifies and profiles the top 30 Australian entrepreneurs under the age of 30. The process culminates in an event held in Melbourne where the 30 winners will network and celebrate. We’ll be releasing this year’s Anthill 30under30 winners over the next couple of weeks via our Twitter account – youngest to oldest.

Name: Sophee McPhee
Age: 22 (1987)
State: QLD
Industry: Media
Companies: QCG Magazine, Cookie Cards

Launching an independent niche magazine as the economy is nose-diving would be daunting enough, let alone doing so as a 22-year-old student.

But that’s just what Queenslander Sophee McPhee did in 2008 when she became as the Founding Editor of Queensland Calendar Girls Magazine (QCG Magazine).

According to McPhee, QCG Magazine exists to “connect, inform, inspire and celebrate Queensland women (aged 45+)”.

McPhee, who is completing her final full-time semester of a Business Advertising/Media & Communications degree at Queensland University of Technology, says being a young student entrepreneur makes it difficult to win people’s trust and respect in the business world.

However, she also believes it bestows some unique advantages, such as free access to mailing lists, reports, expert advice from lecturers, student volunteers, networks, etc., and, most importantly, being under-estimated by other business people.

QCG magazine is already proving to be a success, breaking even with its first edition during a slow economy. To bring it together, McPhee enlisted 25 contributors and generated publicity in eight different media channels.

As a second business, McPhee also runs ‘Cookie Cards’, operating in the edible gift market.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP ACCORDING TO SOPHEE:

What motivates you as an entrepreneur?

• Life’s too short not to be exceptional (try your best).
• Happiness comes from helping others.
• Be the change you want to see in the world (i.e. don’t complain about it, do something about it).
• Being an only child, I’ve been able to create an awesome family (QCG Community).
• Fear of boredom/being unproductive.
• The game, baby! The triumph to tribulation to triumph roller-coaster is exhilarating – the best high there is.
• Desire to make mum proud and show her that her sacrifices did not go to waste/unnoticed.

Believe that nothing is impossible.

MULTIMEDIA

To check out the spoils of McPhee’s toils, scroll through our sample edition of QCG Magazine below.