2021 leaver and local business owner Harrison Strickland says he never really had a plan.

"It was always, 'we'll see where it goes'."

Since finishing school at Rolleston College almost three years ago, the 21-year-old has built on skills he learnt in his preferred subjects including digital arts, photography and filmmaking, and started his company, ApertureHD, a real estate photography and media service.

An example of Harrison's work. Photo supplied

"I didn't pass my business class at school. At the time I had no interest in the subject, and struggled to focus on the work. Here I am, three years later, and business is one of my favourite topics!"

Harrison says if he were to change anything, it would have been to pay more attention to where he wanted to go.

"It wasn't until about six months before graduation that I started thinking about what I wanted to make of myself."

He's learnt many lessons on his journey, and says that accountability has been key for his development as an entrepreneur and as a person.

"Life becomes far less stressful once you take accountability for everything—good or bad—happening in your life," he says.

"You can play the victim and blame circumstances, and other people, for the bad things happening, but once you take accountability, and working on the things you can control, life becomes easier, more freeing."

Harrison shared that he recently lost his father to illness.

"It's an extreme example. It's one of the hardest things I've ever gone through, but I haven't let it get the best of me. I can't control that loss, however I can control how I react to it."

Acknowledging the grieving process, he says that "I've continued to build my business, go to the gym, and make sure I'm healthy every day. I'm doing what would make him proud."

Harrison encourages our current learners to find and develop a skillset they enjoy, then find people willing to pay for it.

It hasn't necessarily been an easy pathway.

"I have definitely made some mistakes which have cost me both mentally and financially over the last few years, but they've all been lessons which have made me a better entrepreneur."

"Don't panic," he adds. "In the next few years, you will most likely be in a place that you couldn't have imagined you would be on your last day of school."