Holly Deane-Johns

Back in those days, there weren't mobile phones, so the women carried beepers.

So mum would beep one of the girls, relay the job, the address, etc.,

The girl would go out and do the job, come back to our house and drop off mum's cut of the money.

So mum had this business for many, many years and

It was very, very lucrative.

Like we always lived in mansions.

Mum always drove the latest Mercedes.

She went out one day and brought a Rolls Royce just because she felt like it.

You know, mum would think nothing of going into a dress shop and spending $5,000 on a dress.

That just gives you some sort of idea that money wasn't an issue for us.

Typically, the women would start work at, say, six in the evening.

But if one or more girls wanted to work during the day, I just said to mum, look, I'll take bookings if the girls want to work.

Just pay me $10 a booking.

So, yeah, that's what I did.

I mean, looking back now, I should have asked for more.

So, yeah, I was doing that when I needed some money.

And, yeah, that was just our life.

Yeah.

Unfortunately, because of that lifestyle, as a teenager, I wanted to bring friends home, of course, but I couldn't be a normal child because how am I going to explain three phone lines ringing, women coming in and out all night?

On the odd occasion I did bring a friend home, I just said that they ran an import-export business.