Humans of the Wheatbelt - Prabhjot Singh Bhaur (Jot)

I, with my brother own a small business in Northam - Avon Spice - we have been here since May 2019. We bought the business from a lovely Malaysian/Indian family (Jane & David). Over the years, they have set a very good reputation for Avon Spice.

I belong to a Sikh family and grew up in Punjab - it's a state in northern part of India. In a small town called Banga. We used to own a dairy farm and had over 50 cows and buffaloes. So yeah, I grew up in all the cattle and wheat fields. Just like Northam.

I have been married for five years. My wife is from the United States - she is also Indian. The funny thing is my wife and I spent our childhood living close to each other in the Punjab. The families knew each other. She graduated in Aviation Logistics from Texas, US and is working at the Perth Airport.

I migrated to Australia in 2007, studied Graphics Designing and then moved to Perth in 2009 with my brother. Over the time, I have worked at different workplaces, mostly in Food industry. While in Melbourne, I worked at an Italian Restaurant as a Restaurant Manager.

Once I moved to Perth, I started working for a French Food Importer (Eustralis Food Co.). Over the period of six years with Eustralis Foods, I started off as a Warehouse Assistant and was soon appointed as Deputy Warehouse Manager. In 2012, I was sent to Melbourne to establish a new branch for the business as Operations Manager. In 2015, I resigned from my job and moved back to Perth.

I worked for a Spices & Herbs company (Whittingtons) for a year as Logistics & Production Manager before stepping into my own business.

I started a Premium Car Detailing business in Perth - it was a first experience as a business owner, and I learned a lot in two years from that and from my mistakes. I believe you can only make a mistake if you try something new and life is all about exploring and trying new things.

I love to work for the betterment of community. I volunteer as Youth Coordinator for Sikh Gurdwara Perth, Bennett Springs (Sikh place of worship). My role is to organise various events such as Camps, sports events, religious events, social events and more for the young generation. I also do a lot of freelance designing work when I have the time.

I am trialing the business here in Northam, but I would love to move to Northam. For me, family comes before anything else. I live in a joint family with my brother. He has two kids (a boy & a girl) and I have a five-month-old daughter. It is a great feeling to live in a joint family. You can achieve much more when you are all together and hold each other up in hard times. Hopefully, we might all be able to move here together in the future. I would love to do that.

The best moment of my life was the birth of my daughter. It is an amazing feeling to be a father. My wife is a great mother.

The worst moment of my life was last year when I lost my grandparents within two months. It is heartbreaking when you are away from your family and such things happen. We are trying to get my parents and my sister's family to migrate to Australia so we can all be together and closer to each other.

My advice would be to set your goals and focus on them. You can't just be running around and not knowing what you want to do. Over the time, I have achieved many things just by settings my goals. I try to guide people who are going through the same phases I have been through with my past experiences. Just so they can avoid the mistakes I made and achieve their goals.

I would love to set my next goal as meeting many new different people. I like to learn practical knowledge, rather than from books. I like to gather information, keep learning and building towards a harmonious environment for everybody.

Human - Prabhjot Singh Bhaur (Jot)

Interviewers - Paula Whittington & Anna Cornish

Photographer - Anna Cornish