We catch up with Essendon rookie Brendan Lee who has been elevated to the club's senior list to find out more about the 24-year-old midfielder.

How have you found your first season atEssendon?

I’m loving it! To have the opportunity to be at abig Victorian club is great. We are blessed with having quality people andquality programs, which is a perfect environment for developing players.

You've been in some really good formplaying for Bendigo, do you feel like you are pushing closer towards a seniorgame?

I have been reasonably happy with my form thusfar but I still see a lot of scope for development in a few areas. Playingsenior footy is why I am here and what I have been working towards for longerthan just the time I have been at Essendon, although I’m definitely not one toget too consumed with worrying and stressing. The feedback I received fromHayden Skipworth pretty early on was invaluable. He spoke about enjoying theride and your time at the club, whether its 1 year or 10 years. I probably was guilty of focusing too much onthat senior game early on, I was glad for the feedback. Feedback is what itsall about. And to answer the question I would like to thinkI am more closer every week than I was the week before.

You were drafted to the club as amature aged rookie, how did it feel to finally get your chance at AFL?

I think surreal would be the right word. Ifsomeone told me 4 years ago I would have the box seat to learn off guys likeJames Hird and Jobe Watson it would have been a good laugh. Rookie Draft daywas one I wont forget, Pick 78 or pick 2 million I couldn’t have cared less, Iwas just glad the club saw something in my game that was enough to pick me up,I was always confident I could work at my game and show them the rest.

Tell us about your football journeysince playing in the U18 competition?

I definitely have had a different pathway thanmost. I never played in the U18 competition. I am from Busselton about 2 hourssouth of Perth and decided I would stay and play another year of league footydown there. Sounds like an ordinary decision for my footy but for me my footyand my body wasn’t anywhere near it would have had to been for me to press forthe State side and personally this would have been the only reason for me toconsider moving to Perth and playing. The following year in 2006 I moved toPerth to attend Uni and I think that was the thing that got me to WAFL. To cuta long story short in the next 6 years I played about 60 WAFL reserves and 60league games. Although I was probably unlucky at stages to play that amount ofreserves games, for the first 3 years I don’t think I really had any idea ofwhat it really took to play at a high level. Through the combination offeedback and the breaking up with my girlfriend at the time definitely saw mechange a lot of habits and how I went about everything, not only footy. Thenext 3 years at WAFL level was a massive contrast to the first and I willalways be greatful for those teachings.

While playing in the WAFL, you werealso studying?

I attended Curtin University and completed myBachelor of Commerce Accounting and Business Law Degree and then went on tofurther Postgraduate studies in Property Investment and Development.

How has this led to the start of yourbusiness?

Working in Accounting following my studies Idefinitely saw a need to help small and medium businesses grow by improvingtheir cash flow. Cash Flow is a big business killer and it’s not just whensales are declining. Businesses that are growing and expanding are also takingon further costs, whether it be wages, stock or ATO payments these businesseshave to hold these costs until their sales are paid, sometimes this can be upto60 days.

These businesses need help closing their cashflow gap and that’s where I come in. FIFO Capital Essendon is helping todeliver cash flow solutions to the SME space, so if you have invoicereceivables, we can help!

How can small and medium businesses getinto contact with you?

Flick me an email at brendan.lee@fifocapital.com

I am launching our twitter @FIFOCapitalESS on the20^th of August, it will contain news and stats to keep SME’s updatedso they can grow and prosper!

Now you're balancing life as aprofessional footballer and running your own company – how hard is that?

I wouldn’t say hard. Does both keep me reallybusy of course it does but I am passionate about my footy and passionate abouthelping small and medium businesses grow. I have definitely learnt thateveryone is busy, I just think that make sure you are busy with things thatmatter and that you care about. Extra recovery, extra game footage orresearching the next business you can help. The so called boring things add up.Boring definitely equals profit in business. Footy is no different.

What is the goal for the remainder ofthe 2012 season?

Senior footy iswhat I am building towards. But the second half of the year I have put amassive focus on helping to develop the younger guys at our club. Helping tomake Bendigo FC a stronger force coming into finals is the goal. We have somegreat kids with huge talent and I have loved watching them develop in such ashort time.