Angie Taylor a finalist in the 2013 Telstra WA Business Women's Awards Angie Taylor, director of Beaufort Street Merchant, is a finalist in the Telstra business awards. DON'T be afraid to employ people who are smarter than you. That's the advice from Angie Taylor, one of Perth's most successful restaurateurs. The 38-year-old runs three thriving Perth hospitality businesses with her brother Scott - including the Beaufort Street Merchant coffee house and The Trustee Bar and Bistro on St Georges Tce. Ms Taylor said surrounding herself with the right people was crucial to success. "I live by a couple of mottos," she said. One is employ on attitude and not experience and make sure you have the best possible people around you because you can't do it all yourself. You have to have a great team around you. I think a lot of people are afraid of employing people who are smarter than them, or better than them, because they don't want to feel inferior. Ms Taylor was this week announced as a finalist in the 2013 Telstra WA Business Women's Awards. Other nominees include Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts director Amy Barrett-Lennard, Retirees WA chief executive Margaret Thomas and Sue van Leeuwen from Leadership WA. Ms Taylor has a PhD in paediatric allergy and immunology, but entered the hospitality business in 2005 with her brother. They transformed a liquor and grocery store into a thriving coffee shop, taking a chance on the Highgate-end of Beaufort St when no one else was. "There was nothing down this end, I guess everything stopped at The Queens (Tavern) and Must (Winebar)," she said. They were confident they would succeed, but reality hit home for the "bright-eyed and bushy tailed" entrepreneurs on their first day of trading. "Between six and eight that (first) evening which was a Saturday night we did not see one customer," she said. We looked at each other and went, 'oh my god what have we done. It's Saturday night and it's a liquor store, what is going on here'. They started renovating the next day. Last year they opened The Trustee restaurant and the Obsesso Espresso coffee house in the CBD. A finalist in the private and corporate sector award category, Ms Taylor said she was "blown away" by the accolade. The winners will be announced on September 27.