Hartmut (Hart) Veit has lived many lives.
The German/Australian - who has university and postgraduate qualifications in nursing, disability, graphic design, marketing and contemporary art - spent 30 years in the corporate design and advertising industry working across property, branding, financial services, government and more.
But in 2008, Hart left the corporate world - and the business he had built - to co-found the Melbourne Insight Meditation (MIM) centre; a ‘not-for-profit organisation and secular community of meditators practising in the tradition of Insight (Vipassana) Meditation.’ After years of facilitating mindfulness meditation services through MIM, in January this year Hart went one step further to open Stanley Ave Studio; a place for art, yoga and meditation.
“In response to the growing mental health crisis in the community due to the pandemic, multiple lockdowns and increasing Zoom fatigue I am focused on delivering ‘old school’ face-to-face classes with the new business,” he explains.
“The intention is to build an inclusive community and supportive environment that nourishes creativity, personal growth and transformation. [I want to] help people re-connect and transform their relationship with self, other and the living world through the three different modalities that I practise and hold dear: art, yoga and meditation.”
As an experienced and adaptive business owner, Hart has been able to apply many acquired skills to his new business. But the ‘why’ behind Stanley Ave Studio goes well beyond the balance sheet.
“This new venture is much more than a business for me. As a socially engaged artist working with the community, it’s a way of life. In the past, my art practice focussed on creating artworks, social engagement and performances with coal in Victoria's Latrobe Valley to create conversations with residents whose lives and livelihoods were intertwined with climate change,” Hart explains.
“Within the context of the current climate crisis, my mission with Stanley Ave Studio is to integrate the imagination and creative arts into contemporary Dharma practice as an authentic path to deeply inquire into the nature of the mind and lived experience.”
Knowing the internet’s power to reach masses, Hart has promoted his business online since the beginning.
Growing online with the Digital Solutions Program
Wanting to improve his operation and optimise his online presence, Hart joined the Digital Solutions Program in order ‘to benefit from an impartial outside view and gain assistance with upgrading my website.’
“What became apparent is I have to completely overhaul my website and digital strategy to truly reach my audience. The new strategy will be to redesign, restructure and rewrite my current website and then focus much more on local advertising via Google Business and local Facebook community groups,” he explained.
“The key thing I have learned from the Digital Solutions Program is that businesses today increasingly require a range of IT skills and online proficiency in order to attract and compete - even if they are, like myself, delivering old fashioned face-to-face services.”
“I found the subsidised assistance from the Digital Solutions Program very valuable to get me started in reviewing my website as it is a confronting, big and expensive task that I would have put off much longer, which would have been to the detriment of the business.”
Would Hart recommend the program to other small businesses?
“Definitely. I’ve done so already.”
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