Pauline Rumley considers it a blessing in disguise that she was laid off from her job at a mining company four years ago.
She had worked there for 14 years and admits to initially feeling "a little lost" after her retrenchment.
But it soon enough gave her the motivation she needed to start her own business — a children's play centre in Joondalup.
"I think I had been stuck in the role for a while and needed new inspiration," she said.
"Taking the time out with a redundancy and then trying to figure out what I wanted really has been wonderful. I just wouldn't look back."
The idea came from Ms Rumley's love of children and the flexibility it would give her to spend more time with her family.
But starting a business, a world away from her previous career, was not easy.
"I love being with the kids all day, it's been amazing, but going from a big income to a little income was initially very hard to adapt to," she said.
"But knowing I could drive this business to earn enough money to support my family has been wonderful.
"It's been challenging but worthwhile ... I wouldn't change it for the world, I love working for myself."
'Courage and good ideas'
Ms Rumley is one of a growing number of people considering taking their job into their own hands, with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) saying a trend seemed to be emerging.
"Since the global financial crisis, if there's an increase in the unemployment rate, there's a following year increase in the number of businesses being registered," CCI chief economist Rick Newnham said.
"So we wouldn't say that it's a direct cause, but there's certainly a correlation there between unemployment and business registrations.
"It is a positive sign for the entrepreneurial spirit that exists within WA.
"People are finding themselves unemployed but then have the courage and good ideas to go and start a business."
Side project becomes full-time career
Sandra Spasojevic was made redundant twice last year.
It was the push she needed to turn a side project into a full-time career, and she now runs her own public relations business.
"I came to realise that I didn't have security working for someone else," she said.
"I used to think having a full-time job was security but then [after] being made redundant twice, I thought the security that I'm going to have is working for myself and knowing what my income is going to be based on how much work I do.
"I think personally it's the best thing that has ever happened to me and I have turned a really negative situation into something really positive."
The Small Business Development Corporation said the number of people attending its business skills workshops after taking a redundancy had risen in the last 18 months.
"We are pleased to see that people in this situation who are new to the world of small business ownership are taking the right steps to learn what they need to know about running a business, before they spend any money on their new career choice," WA's small business commissioner David Eaton said.
"They have nest eggs and want to use the money wisely to create their own jobs."
The CCI advised those thinking of doing the same to research their chosen sector first and seek some training on how to run a small business.
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