How Sydney woman Dominique Grubisa went from riches to rags to riches again in just three years

BEFORE the GFC hit, Sydney parents Dominique and Kevin Grubisa were living it up with a thriving, seven-figure business renovating and selling property.

But in 2008, everything fell apart.

The couple had around 15 properties at the time, and were drowning in “tens of millions of dollars” in debt.

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Once the GFC was in full swing, the banks pulled finance from the Grubisas which meant they couldn’t afford to build on or rent out one of the sites they had planned to develop.

Mrs Grubisa said it was the “straw that broke the camel’s back”.

With three children under five, the pair ended up homeless and were forced to move in with Mr Grubisa’s parents around Christmas 2008.

“We were really lucky that my parents-in-law took us in — but with all five of us living in a little place, they were really dark days,” she said.

“We were in an absolute tailspin, it was flight, flight or flee.

“I was surviving on adrenaline, just responding to debt collectors on the backfoot.”

Luckily, Mrs Grubisa was an experienced, qualified lawyer, and out of sheer “self-interest” she turned her attention towards a little-practised area of law: debt law.

She used her legal expertise to negotiate and get some debts reduced while she also used the law as a “holding strategy” to “tread water” and make arrangements with some creditors.

Eventually, interest rates came down and the Grubisas were also able to claim some hardship provisions to “buy some time”.

They sold some properties, held onto others and put tenants into several others and in 2010, the family moved into one of the properties they had managed to keep.

Eventually, by 2011, the dire situation had stabilised and the family were “self sufficient” once more.

But Mrs Grubisa said it wasn’t until around April of that year that she finally didn’t need to worry about where her “next meal” was coming from.

She said she had spent days on end crying on her mother-in-law’s lounge room floor during her darkest moments.

“It was a very, very isolating experience — I was so ashamed and terrified, but debt is something no one talks about,” she said.

“I went to barbecues and pretended everything was all right and talked about other things.

“No one ever really knew, especially my law friends. That was the most terrifying part of it, living two lives and pretending everything was fine.”

Mrs Grubisa went on to write a self-help book to help others struggling with debt.

She also appeared on television speaking about debt, and was contacted by 3000 desperate people.

It was then that she found her real calling.

“I didn’t realise it was such a widespread issue ... I then found a massive purpose, to help people, and show them debt is nothing to be ashamed of because heaps of people have the same problem, and it’s not the end of the world — it’s a temporary cashflow problem,” she said.

“It is fixable; everything passes and can be dealt with.”

Mrs Grubisa also founded her business, DG Institute, which is dedicated to helping clients grow wealth through property education, as well as providing legal services.

Today the business is turning over “tens of millions of dollars” in Australia and internationally, and the couple have also turned their attention back to property investing and development.

Over the years, Mrs Grubisa said she had bought, sold and held more than $50 million in property.

“I am incredible grateful for what I have ... the obstacles we face are often the things that define us, and I think it ended up being an opportunity in disguise,” she said.

“I love what I do now, but looking back, what we were doing then was wrong — we were tens of millions of dollars in debt and my husband would worry and not sleep at night.

“I used to tell him not to worry, and that the property market only ever goes up — but it was one big Ponzi scheme and we were living off debt. Now I feel at peace, I feel I’m adding value to other people.”

alexis.carey@news.com.au

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