Entrepreneurs of the bush: Bec Fing of Goondiwindi, Qld

“You can have it all, but you don’t have to do it all.”

It’s a motto Bec Fing lives by, she explains as she drives through Toowoomba, Queensland, having departed a three-day business retreat hours before the farewell breakfast. She left Byron Bay before 5am and is hoping to arrive in Goondiwindi by mid-morning. She’s eager to get home, because a shipment for one of her labels, Meld Fashion, has just arrived, and she can’t wait to see the floral blouses and pyjama sets — all her own designs.

“After that, my cup and my heart are going to be that full; I don’t need a hobby,” she says. We’d been talking about downtime, of which Bec, 45, doesn’t have much. Not only does she have her own fashion, accessories and homewares labels, she also has a store and a consultancy service, helping rural business owners — farmers mostly — professionalise their operations. 

“How I make it all work is I’m very molecular on my resources,” she says. “I know how much time I’ve got. I know how much money I’ve got. I know how much energy I’ve got. And I trade them off.”

By way of example, Bec tells me about the garden at her place, a 2.4 hectare property just out of town, where she and her husband, Luke, have raised three children (Ali, 18, is studying nursing at university, while Harry, 16, and George, 14, are at boarding school on the Gold Coast).

“We love our garden, but between visiting kids and work, we don’t have a lot of time to give to it. Luke works hard in it but it’s a big job,” says Bec, telling me of the hedges and 120 “absolutely beautiful” lime trees they inherited from the previous owners. To make sure this tranquil oasis is always looking its best, she admits they get some help to keep things in order.

“That harks back to my original point,” she says. “You can have it all, but you don’t have to do it all.”

The same goes for the store. Bec doesn’t spend much time at Meld Lifestyle; her focus is on designing and sourcing for her brands GreyBird and Meld Home, and creating artwork for Bec Fing Designs, the label under which she produces homewares and giftware. Store manager Vanessa Gleeson takes care of operational matters, leaving Bec to do what she excels at.

“I love the business strategy side of things,” she explains. “I love building a brand and a business that we can be proud of, and putting the right people in place to make it happen. Our beautiful team, led incredibly by Vanessa, is the reason Meld is what it is.” 

Bec grew up in Dirranbandi, Queensland, a small town about 250 kilometres west of Goondiwindi. Her parents were entrepreneurial; having both left school in Year 10, they went on to launch a successful bulk-freight business and later became first-generation farmers. They purchased properties in Dirranbandi and near Tamworth, New South Wales, two of which are now home to Bec’s sisters and their families. 

After school, Bec studied rural science at the University of New England and gained qualifications in human resources and workplace safety. At just 23, she founded House Paddock Training and Consulting and has since travelled to more than 700 farms across the country, for workshops and one-on-one consultations. 

“We do a lot of work in work health and safety, strategy and HR, but also we help people manage themselves, because you can’t manage a business if you can’t manage yourself,” she says.

“That’s where time management, planning and understanding the value of your time comes in: knowing what you’re good at and leaning into that.”

Bec Fing Designs is her creative outlet. She did it on weekends and after hours, selling goods — most of them handpainted — at markets, events and online. That changed in 2023, when she and her husband, Luke — an agronomist turned senior manager who works for a rural supply company — were looking for a business they could quietly invest in alongside their current roles. They considered all kinds of options, from a fast-food chain to a tyre shop.

“I’ll never forget the conversation with our financial planner,” says Bec.

“We were looking at our direction and he said, ‘If you’re going to invest in a business, that’s a business that needs to be invested in’, and he pointed to the profit-and-loss statement for Bec Fing Designs.’” For a side-hustle, the figures were pretty impressive.

Bec hired Vanessa, “the best in the business”, and within 12 weeks the two opened a 160 square metre shop in downtown Goondiwindi. The aim of Meld was to bring together unique and special items, without the price tag. Today, they also run a thriving online store, and almost half of the stock is Bec’s own designs or pieces she has sourced and imported exclusively.

Of her own products, Bec says she’s most proud of the oilcloth range, a collection of tablecloths bearing her whimsical paintings. The first shipment — some 2000 metres of fabric — almost sold out in three weeks. “We had bought what we thought was a 12-month supply, including being able to wholesale it,” says Bec. 

She describes the store as “a big pot of goodness”, a place where her own sunshine-filled products sit alongside sequinned loafers and Australian-made straw hats. Most pieces are afford-able luxuries, which is important to Bec, who sees Meld Lifestyle as a place for everyone. “We’ve got more in that shop under $50 than over $200,” she says.

She mentions two sisters who recently dropped in, having just lost their mother. “They said, ‘We just knew if we came in here, we’d feel happy.’ Ness and I ended up in tears; it was a moment that confirmed to us that we had created a beautiful space.” 

The Meld Lifestyle store is at 82 Marshall Street, Goondiwindi, Qld. To shop online, visit Meld Lifestyle or go to @meldlifestyle

We’ve partnered with Meld Lifestyle to offer a bonus pearl ring, cuff or pendant from Bec’s brand, GreyBird, with every new subscription (gift valued at $49). Subscribe here.