Nuggets of entrepreneurial wisdom from Harry Sanders

Work hard. Find your purpose. Step out of your comfort zone. These are the three main lessons that Harry Sanders, founder and director of StudioHawk, a Google Marketing Specialist SEO company, learned in his experience as a businessman. Harry established his company during his teens, and he found that the entrepreneurial journey is full of challenges. Yet, the hardships moulded and strengthened him to be what he has become today.

Resilience is the biggest factor that enabled him to move forward and continue on the journey. “I knew that it was a make-or-break situation, either I would find a way to make the business work or I was going to remain where I was. There was no fallback or backup plan. During the journey, however, I faltered many times, wondering what I was doing and even wanting to give up on it all. In the end, what got me through is the resilience to keep going when every part of my body wanted me to stop. I recovered by persevering and crushing it for the clients that I had, which generated mass referrals,” Harry recounted.

Three major lessons on the journey

The challenges and milestones that Harry faced since he decided to hit the entrepreneurial road have brought him many lessons that he will always carry in life. He shares three major learnings that he got out of his experience.

1. Hard work. Harry found that there is no substitute for hard work as there is no “get rich quick” formula to a successful entrepreneurial journey. One has to work hard and for a long time to reach one’s goals and take them further towards bigger goals.

2. A deeper purpose. “If you are in this just to make money or hoping to strike it big quickly, you will need to dig deeper to find your purpose. Mine was to provide opportunities to others. Find out why you do what you do other than for money,” Harry said. Most businesses are born out of a particular need, and their products and services provide solutions to such necessities.

3. Stepping up and stepping out. “Be uncomfortable. Step up. Do that speaking job. Do that thing that you’re not sure if you are ready for it. The most consistent success that I have seen has been when I stepped outside of my comfort zone,” he remarked. Becoming an entrepreneur is not just creating a product or making an idea into reality. It also calls one to become a leader, a motivator, a mentor, a marketer, a sales specialist, and so much more. Someone who wants to enter the entrepreneurial world must be ready to take in as many roles as possible to achieve his mission and goals.

Two core values to keep the business running

For Harry, he found that these couple of core values have done well for him in managing his business and facing the challenges of entrepreneurship.

1. Passion. When things get tough, passion is the fire that fuels one’s drive to brave the difficulties. According to Harry, “Always be passionate about what you do. If you are not passionate about it find out what makes you passionate and pivot accordingly.”

   He also advised that other tasks in the business that you do not have the expertise or drive to do, such as administrative work, should be delegated to other team members to maximise your time for the most efficient areas of the business.

2. Win-Wins. Coming up with solutions that are mutually beneficial to your business and your clients can contribute to the longevity of your venture. “Every relationship that we have, whether it be with a client or a partner, needs to be a win-win. Anything that isn't geared towards that will be temporary at best and can be detrimental to your reputation at worst. We also find ways to make sure that the other party benefits from anything that we do, something that was taught to me very early on in the business,” Harry imparted.

One goal of SEO

To demonstrate domain expertise and knowledge is the key goal of SEO, according to Harry. It is what gets brands to the top, not to put keywords on pages or acquire tons of backlinks.

He further states, “SEO is a simple thing that a lot of people make complex. Essentially you want to make sure that you have:

1. Strong technical SEO as how Google perceives the website and which issues it can see like broken links, poor structure, among many others;

2. A good backlink profile with strong, niche-relevant websites referring to you. For example, having a gym talk about your SEO business is not niche-relevant. So, even if it's from a massive gym brand, it will still not help;

3. Good search intent. Make sure that you are answering that query that users are looking for and that the answer is structured in an easily digestible way. This could be through your services pages, or often through a blog and content.”

Becoming part of EO Melbourne

The hardships of the entrepreneurial journey become bearable when you take it with like-minded individuals who can support you along the way. As an entrepreneur, Harry found many additional knowledge, insights and learnings in EO Melbourne.

“It's been a great experience, meeting up and connecting with other successful business owners. Understanding through the activities helps further things that we could be doing as a company to push the envelope and innovate,” he quipped. Harry may be young, and there are still more things ahead on his journey, yet he has acquired so much wisdom through the years. Even so, he continues to learn and develop himself to serve his business and clients in the best way he can.

The advantages of attending conferences, talks and seminars

Not many may adhere to the thought of leaving their workspace and be with several other people, mostly strangers, to listen to a speaker. Others may prefer to read books, watch videos or listen to podcasts in the comforts of their offices or homes rather than going to a venue, which may be a bit intimidating. However, there is a great benefit in being in that space where you absorb the energy of experts and other like-minded individuals.

Consider seminars, talks, conferences and learning events as an investment to your growth and personal development. Choose the events you’ll attend that can add value to your entrepreneurial journey. Some of them may come for free as a benefit of being a member of a group like EO Melbourne. Not only is it a mental exercise but it is also a social activity that can help hone your skills. Such advantages can be listed down, but not limited to:

Change of environment

To spark the creative flow within you, you often need to have a change of scenery and get out of your comfort zone. Of course, you might need to be away from your work, and that’s the cost of attending a conference, apart from the fees you have to pay to participate. But having more people around you can spike up your competitive spirit. You get to see how others react to the speakers and gauge their response vis-a-vis your way of receiving the information.

Networking with various entrepreneurs

You’ll be surprised at what you will get when you expand your horizon and meet new people. There are different personalities with various backgrounds that come to conferences and seminars. Acquainting with them can lead you to know more people from different industries and businesses where you can deepen through a mutually beneficial relationship.

Face-to-face interaction

Seeing an expert talk to you face-to-face is different compared to just watching him on a screen or hearing him from an earphone. You can ask questions and get answers instantly. Also, you can receive additional hints from non-verbal signs like gestures, intonation and facial expressions. There may even be workshops where you get to apply what you heard and check your output with a group that can guide you on the right way to do things.

Use of your five senses

The main benefit of attending a learning event is the lessons, information and stories that you pick from the speakers and people present. You get to listen to them, to see them and the surroundings, and experience the whole thing. There’s instant gratification that you get when you feel the energy and excitement that come together in such a venue.

Fun learning experience

More than anything else, being surrounded by people with the same passion and enthusiasm can be a fun experience. You get to learn and meet new friends. Look around the exhibits and check out the side activities. The event may only last for a day or two, but the energy you’ll take from it is enough to re-charge you for months.

Although not all experiences may be pleasant and some may fall short of your expectations, you still have the choice to make the most of it. Stay positive so that you can bring the learnings and energy back to your business and your team. The best way to nurture the lessons you receive from the event is to pass it on and share it with others. When you repeat and explain what you have learned from the speakers, you get to understand it better. Moreover, it will also help improve your team.

The language of entrepreneurship for Costa Vasili

EthnoLink’s founder and CEO Costa Vasili is a son of migrant parents. His father, who was born in Cyprus, moved to Australia at 13 years of age. It is where he met Costa's mother, who is also of Cypriot descent, and where Costa was born. To ensure that Costa had the best chance of success in Australia, his parents spoke to him and his brother mostly in English rather than in Greek. While this decision had a positive impact on Costa's English language skills, it impacted Costa's ability to speak Greek.

For example, Costa had great relations with his grandparents, who spoke almost exclusively in Greek, but he struggled to have in-depth conversations with them because of the language barrier. With that pain point in mind and with an opportunity to be introduced to the language services industry during his university years, Costa went off and started his translation company at the age of 20 years old, while still in university.

His company provides professional document translation services by certified translators to new migrants and travellers who want to apply for a visa, university admission or car rental services. They also serve Australian businesses and government agencies in translating legal contracts, manuals and marketing materials.

It was a blind leap of faith for Costa as he had no previous experience in owning and running a business. Although he had a few years of working in a corporate setting, he found that in shifting to the entrepreneurial space, there was no playbook or roadmap to becoming a business owner. He had no traditional business mentor when he was starting out, relying mostly on self-belief to get him going.

Costa found inspiration from his parents and the people he met in EO Melbourne. “From the EO community, I look up to so many people who are doing incredibly well. Because I can speak to them at a peer-to-peer level, I've been able to develop an appreciation for what they do. I have seen how remarkable these people in the EO community are, based on what they're doing with their lives and their businesses,” he said. Through those years, Costa has learned a few things that have helped him improve himself and his business.

4 business values of EthnoLink

According to Costa, “We have four values at EthnoLink. They are: better every day; real relationships; openness and honesty; and customer service excellence. The last one will always be part of our values. Even as our business and values may change over the years, that one will always be there because, without our customers, we don't have a business.”

He was able to develop a team that is values-driven, who have bought into the vision of helping to break down language barriers for individuals and businesses. As such, they are focused on their customers, ensuring that they are acting in the best interests of the people they serve.

3 things to note in translation and business

Understanding the meaning, having clarity, and giving attention to detail are three things that are essential in translating documents and in running a business. Costa explained, “First and foremost, we have to understand the meaning of the source text so that we can translate accurately into the target language. We apply this in the business context when we try to understand what our customers need to solve their problems. Secondly, clarity. One of the biggest reasons why translation projects fail is because the source text is not clear, which leads to ambiguity. In the business space, you need to be 100% clear in your communication with your team to ensure that they are acting on your advice or direction. The other part is attention to detail. In translation, it is a core skill because sometimes the slight nuance of a question or statement, if not translated accurately, can alter the entire meaning. In business, it is also a core skill because it can ensure excellence in the service you provide.”

2 qualities of an entrepreneur

Entrepreneurs can develop a myriad of qualities that can help them in successfully bringing their business towards its goal. However, Costa underscores two important ones. He cited perseverance for the non-technical quality, and then sales and marketing for the technical one.

“Entrepreneurs need to have the quality of perseverance. You cannot give up in business. If you don't build the mindset of perseverance before you start a business and while you're starting an early-stage business, then it's destined to fail. On a more actionable skill that business owners or entrepreneurs can build up, I would say marketing and sales because they are key at the start of most businesses. You need to focus on driving sales at the start, and that begins with having a strong understanding of what your customers want and need and help them understand that the solution you're providing is the right one for them. You also have to know where your customers are hanging out so that you can market to them,” he remarked.

1 major takeaway in his entrepreneurial journey

“Your life and the business journey are a matter of micro-choices or decisions,” declared Costa. He learned this from his philosophy class in university, which has become a pivotal moment in his life. The facilitator gave a difficult and uncomfortable scenario, to which Costa responded. As he was probed deeper, he ended up saying, 'I have no choice.' The facilitator corrected him and told him that he always has a choice.

“I realised very clearly how powerful I am as an individual because, in every moment in my life, I have a choice. Whatever the case, make the decision, own the decision, own the outcome, and own the consequence. I believe why I got into the business is because it gave me the strongest ability to make my own choices in my life,” he added.

Part of those choices is for him to take action and accountability, which he learned from the EO Accelerator Program. Surely, Costa has adopted the language of entrepreneurship. As he continues to learn, he shares this insight for others to pick up. “In my opinion, the number one thing that stops small businesses from growing quicker is their choice not to take action and not to execute. We all have strategies and ideas, but the difference between businesses that grow fast and those that grow slow is the ability to execute and put things into place. Within 12 months of entering the accelerator program, we doubled our revenue. For me, it shows that taking action has a huge impact on the success of your business,” he stated.

Know more about Costa Vasili through his LinkedIn profile. Read more on EthnoLink at https://www.ethnolink.com.au/.

Jacob Spencer keeps it clean, lean and simple

In life, we often accumulate things that we need, want or like. Over time, these items are no longer necessary for us, yet we still keep them and allow them to occupy space and collect dust. Jacob Spencer’s business, Mobile Skips, comes in handy for those who do some spring cleaning, DIY jobs or moving residences or offices to take out the non-essentials and keep spaces neat and orderly. 

Mobile Skips is a business that Jacob acquired from the original owners two years ago. Although he spent most of his career in the food and hospitality industry, he found that the rubbish business is simple to understand and manage. He still has his fingers dipped in the food space because of his involvement in the non-profit social enterprise, called Streat. However, he is more focused now on Mobile Skips, bringing to the venture all his learnings from his previous experiences.

His business is helpful in discarding garbage, which is a growing concern for many areas around the world. Even in various aspects of our lives, we need to sift our thoughts and emotions to rid ourselves of excess baggage. In the business journey, decluttering the turmoils and focusing on substantial things are helpful in running an enterprise. Here are some actions you can take to get you to do some entrepreneurial clean-up so that you can fix your eyes on the essentials of business.

1.) Decide to give it a go

The primary impediment to doing some spring cleaning is the failure to make a decision. It is often stalled and pushed at the back of our mind until more items arrive that make the task seem unattainable. In the entrepreneurial journey, decision-making and risk-taking happen almost at every turn.

“You've got to have a go. Fail small and fail lots of times small, and try things new the first time because you will learn by doing that. You've got to fail at even the tiniest thing and keep going until you get success. When you succeed at that one new thing, it'll build some confidence and some belief. An old mentor of mine said to me once, 'You'll never regret doing something. You'll regret not doing something.' So, even if you do it and it doesn't work, you'll learn something from it,” Jacob imparted.

2.) Put a system in place

So as not to be overwhelmed by all the chaos and topsy-turvy things, put a system on how to organise your things, where you separate those you need to retain from those that you have to throw away. The same way when you manage a business, having a structure and systems keep things manageable.

“We've built a brand new booking and operating IT system, which means that we can run everything remotely. We've embraced technology to allow us to automate a lot of the processes in our business, which has been great and has helped us enormously,” he said. That includes making the process easier for their customers. Jacob cited the need to understand the needs of their customers and walk in their shoes for them to build a good product or service and provide solutions to their problems. They have also enforced a system for their franchisees to connect and communicate better through a network.

3.) Discipline yourself

The key to overcoming the tedious task of spring cleaning is having the discipline to tidy up things regularly. For Jacob, “One of the biggest learnings has been the discipline to do a little bit every day on improvements. Sometimes, the big goals seem insurmountable.”

Challenges like cash flow and time management can be a burden. But Jacob found that having restraint and control in managing cash and time can help ease the load. “What you need to do is to put in discipline practices that allow you to solve problems, move forward, and get stuff done in the shortest time possible to the best quality, so then you can go and enjoy the rest of the day or the week with your family or your friends and have some balance,” he quipped.

4.) Learn and enjoy

Make decluttering a fun and learning experience. With all the challenges and hard work in running a business, the entrepreneurial role can be a lonely place that can give you sleepless nights. “It takes up most of my thinking. As a business owner, you never stop thinking about your business. You never stop dreaming about it, waking up in the middle of the night. It's important to me that it's enjoyable and doesn't take up all my time,” he said.

Jacob needed people who could understand his circumstances and give objective insights. He found a remarkable group through EO Melbourne, where he gets to meet other entrepreneurs. “It's great to see that there are so many other business owners that have similar challenges but also have been so successful. When I started to scratch underneath the surface of EO, it looked like it's a place that could solve that problem for me.”

5.) Eliminate the rubbish

The hardest part of cleaning up is letting go of things. We hold on to items we no longer use or want because we have a sense of ownership over them. Similarly, in business, there are things we need to let go to keep things simple and lean.

“Things we want to throw out are unnecessary egotistical costs. You grow and add more things, having bigger offices and more meeting rooms. We don't need them. We're challenging ourselves to throw that stuff out and reduce where we don't need,” he remarked.

Now, it’s time for you to take a look at your enterprise and see where you need to simplify things to keep your business neat and orderly at all times.

Know more about Jacob Spencer through his LinkedIn profile. Read about Mobile Skips at https://mobileskips.com.au/.

Ashley Woodcock’s message signs for entrepreneurs

RPM Hire owner and director Ashley Woodcock began his entrepreneurial journey while he was still at university, starting with only three signs for hire. He had low expectations for the business. Never has he imagined that he would grow his venture into a successful enterprise and enjoy the experience along the way.

Supplying variable message signs (VMS) is the core of Ashley’s business. For over seven years, he has expanded his company by doing other product lines and services and now has over 400 signs and other products for hire. It’s a niche industry, but Ashley found huge significance in what he is doing, serving not only their clients but the general public as well. “If we’re giving the public a warning, it allows them to change their habits, take a different route, or use another mode of transport for that day. During road closures, our signs are dotted along a detour route to help them navigate around the closures,” he explained.

Now, Ashely is sharing some message signs for upcoming entrepreneurs to help them navigate through the business journey, which may be full of potholes, mounds and twists and turns.

1.) "The best time is now"                    

Ashley was in university doing an entrepreneur class when someone came to him and said, “If you want to start a business, the best time to do it is now, when you don't have a mortgage and family pressures.” Starting a business requires one to put in a lot of time and often not take a lot of money out as initial profits are put back to finance the growth. While it is advisable to start the journey young, it doesn’t mean that it is not suitable for those who are beyond their youth. Regardless of age, it is always better to start sooner into the journey rather than to stall time until it’s too late.

2.) "Work smarter and harder"

He quoted a common saying that states, “work smarter, not harder”. Although Ashley somewhat agrees with it, he believes that it is better to be both working smart and working hard. With such a combination and with many opportunities available, he finds it as a winning recipe for success.

3.) "Stick to your values"

His values of honesty, operating with integrity and a level of openness, and putting their customers first meant that Ashley runs his business with good intentions. He pointed out, “We don't hide the fact that we're there to make money, but we're going to do it the right way and not rip people off or take advantage of them if they're in a desperate situation. I guess it starts with being a good person, leading right from the top and providing the best possible service.”

4.) "Be your customer’s partner"

“We look to partner with our customers as opposed to working for them. If we can take some of the heavy liftings off their shoulders, then we will do it. We've built ourselves as experts in the area. It goes right to even the small tasks. We are doing the hard work, understanding their pain points and making it easy for them,” he professed.

His business ethics of providing quality service to their clients and giving them value for their money have helped him to prosper in the industry. Ashley goes the extra mile, sometimes taking calls in the wee hours of the morning and answering them with a smile. To be the biggest or the cheapest business on their playing field is not his goal. For him, it is to be the best partner for his clients.

5.) "Find a solution to every challenge"

Getting and retaining good staff members and maintaining a positive cash flow are some of the major challenges for his business. RPM Hire is service-driven and needs high capital investment, so Ashley has to make sure that he has the best resources to deliver good service to their customers.

“Challenges are opportunities, opportunities to build a solution that highlights our values and strengthens relationships, and often lead to opening up further opportunities in the future,” he quipped. According to Ashley, you can come up with a solution if you are not afraid to think outside the square and do not regard the status quo as the best way to do things. He also stressed the need to match your business model with your strategy. He learned to resolve issues by sticking to his values, staying firm and moving past the negatives.

6.) "Enjoy the journey"

Despite the detours and road closures, what kept Ashley still on the track after all these years is that he enjoys whatever he is doing. There were a lot of long nights and after-hours phone calls, but he found all these exciting and gratifying. He added, “The highs have been watching the business grow and develop and turn into something so much bigger than myself. Watching the staff grow and take on the values of the business, and our customers giving great feedback about that as well, I find it fulfilling. So, yes, it's been a wonderful journey.”

7.) "Continue to grow"

What he enjoyed most in his being an entrepreneur is the journey of growth. With more than seven years on the journey, he still finds a lot of things to absorb and learn, which has brought him beyond the startup stage. “If you're willing to keep on learning and developing and pushing through, then that five-year mark is exciting, as it was for me,” he said.

Part of his continued growth is joining EO Melbourne in November last year. “I've enjoyed the experience. The events have been amazing, especially with the quality speakers and presenters. The forum experience is awesome because of its encouraging and motivating environment. There’s a diverse range of people, all with similar goals and parallel challenges in business, even though our businesses are very different.”

Moving forward, he wants to continue with that growth, focusing on his personal development and staff development. He wants to provide them with opportunities to grow and have a rewarding career. For his business, he plans to open up interstate later this year, with hopes to transition towards a national footprint five years from now. Because he knows his clients well, he is familiar with their pain points and the systems and processes that they need. “It's going to be a challenge for sure, but an exciting one,” the passionate entrepreneur said.

Know more about Ashley Woodcock through his LinkedIn profile. Read more on RPM Hire at http://www.rpmhire.com.au.

Alex Louey’s lessons on entrepreneurship through smartphone apps

With millions of apps available online that are increasing each year, an average smartphone user has a wide array of options on which ones to use that correspond to his needs. For Appscore co-founder and Managing Director Alex Louey, whose company has been developing apps, websites, cloud solutions, Internet of Things (IoT), and other technology-based products, it’s more than just building a software. Its mission is to create great customer experiences for their clients and make their lives easier every day.

“We started off as a mobile app company. But now, we've progressed from being very focused on apps to focusing on making our customers’ lives easier and better for them to do things,” Alex quipped. “It means that we don’t look into a particular technology. Rather, we look at the problem to be solved and the appropriate technology to do it. We look at the entire life cycle. We look at the customer experience and the problem that they're facing. Then, we build the software and look at what we can do to help clients engage customers and get the customers to use their business software,” he added.

Although Appscore is a technology company, Alex admitted to not having any IT background. He built his career on project management, working in various banks. It was not until he and his mate, Nick Bell, one of the co-founders of AppsCore, decided to start a business that he got into this industry. His parents, who were Chinese immigrants that ran restaurants, had advised him to get an education, work for somebody, and not get into the restaurant business. “It’s true. I'm not in the restaurant business, but I am working for myself,” he countered.

With the challenges that come with owning and running a business, Alex shares his insights and some entrepreneurial lessons derived from smartphone apps.

1.) Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp: Communication is key

“I use this a lot because it's a way that I communicate and talk to a lot of people. The idea is when you start a business you've got to talk to a lot of people. Even with existing clients, you've got to go out, talk to them, take them out to lunches, find out their future objectives. And it's all about communication. It's all about building relationships,” Alex explained.

He emphasised that the key is having the right networks and the right relationships. By engaging various stakeholders in the business, it allows him to understand the values that are important to their customers and staff. “As the company grows, I continue to learn how to communicate with a broad range of people. You need to speak to them in their language. Different people process communication in different ways. Some are very visual, while others are very auditory. As I’ve learned recently, some challenges that I’ve had was not about others being difficult, but it’s the way I communicate with them. They don’t understand because they don’t process information the way I do. So, I’ve had to change the way I communicate to get my message across.”

In communicating with different kinds of people, Alex underscored the need to be genuine about it to show care. He receives and exhibits care through his engagement with EO Melbourne, where he found value in talking to people who share similar experiences with him and can empathise with his concerns.

2.) Angry Birds: An exercise on frustration

Alex believes that there is no entrepreneur or business person, whether successful or unsuccessful, that can say their journey has been smooth sailing, without problems or stressful situations. But he learns to deal with those circumstances and move forward with the lessons. “When you start a business, you're going to be frustrated and have setbacks. There are going to be hurdles that you can't initially work out. But if you persist with it, even how hard they come, you'll eventually find a way through. Out of all the five stages of Angry Bird, I think I got up to stage three, and I spent about three hours playing on the plane,” he laughingly shared.

3.) YouTube: Continuous learning

“YouTube is quite entertaining and also very educational. TED talks are one of my favourites. Sometimes it tells me stuff that I already know, but it reinforces the things that I need to focus on or the skills I have to learn. As an entrepreneur, you can't stop learning. I don't think there is anybody who is good at everything. You'll always learn because there is no playbook to be an entrepreneur. For every step you take and every way you advance, you create new ground,” imparted Alex.

To learn continuously, they send their key executives on training courses to learn about the newest and greatest stuff. Since Alex didn’t have any sales background, he had to learn that skill by reading books and talking to other people. He also found various learning opportunities from EO Melbourne.

4.) Instagram: Know the trends and tell your story

According to Alex, “It is important to look at how other people are doing things. Instagram is great at that. I follow people on a whole range of topics, whether business or personal. If you're interested in a particular topic, you can see how other people are doing it. It’s the same with business. There are always people that do worse than you, and those that do better than you. As an entrepreneur, always look at what other people are doing better than you and learn it.”

He stated, “Businesses, especially in the technology field, need to be on the lookout for new trends. With technology, you can easily be superseded the next year, even if you are the best last year. When processes change, customer expectations also change.” He also stressed the importance of marketing and being able to tell your stories to your customers. Culture and corporate values also play a major part in attracting people to the business.

5.) ANZ Bank app: Tight control over money

“Cash flow is king” is a line commonly heard from business people that Alex echoed. He expounded, “You are responsible not only for the company’s success but also for everyone that relies on you for their livelihood. It's important to keep an eye on what your business is doing financially. It is good to spend money to grow, but you have to make sure that you get a return on the money before you start to splurge, thinking you can hire fifty people if there's no sales pipeline to refill.”

For the next two years, Alex aims to double the size of the company, create more services, and grow the consulting space and resource sector. He wants to continue to push at the forefront of the various technologies that are coming out in the market while strengthening their core business of building software for their customers.

To Alex, the entrepreneurial journey has highs and lows. But what he found helpful is having a good team around him that can help him refocus when he’s down. “I don't think an entire company can rely solely on a single person to drive it forward. The important thing is you have a good team to make up for your shortfalls. If you have a good team, and you are honest with your team and transparent with your leadership team, you can make anything happen,” he conveyed.

Know more about Alex Louey through his LinkedIn profile. More on AppsCore at https://www.appscore.com.au.

Jason Scher’s energy boosters for entrepreneurs

Speaking from experience, VÖOST co-Founder and Orange & Green Director Jason Scher affirmed that there are many difficulties that business owners encounter along the entrepreneurial journey. “Every single day, you're going to be challenged with something that will make you think, ‘I'm not good enough. It is not working.’ Then, you start to have those thoughts of quitting,” he said. It takes a lot of effort, time, resources and inspiration to start a business and see it through.

“Anyone that hasn't started a business or managed a business entirely has a different perception. It's like the swan analogy where it all looks graceful above the surface, but under the water, the legs are paddling furiously. Some of my friends see our products in different supermarkets and outlets, and they think it must mean everything's going well. But there's a lot of hard work, a lot of long hours, and a lot of stressful moments that people don't see,” described Jason.

To stay consistently on track, he has shared several insights which can be vitamins or energy boosters for entrepreneurs that can help them last longer on the journey.

Inspiring stories and positive feedback

To begin with, Jason got the idea for his business when he was standing in a pharmacy in Germany. “I noticed that the Germans had a full range and dedicated category of effervescent tablets, tablets that dissolve when you put into water, as opposed to the traditional tablets in Australia where you have to swallow them. And I don't like swallowing tablets. I realised that in Australia, there's a huge gap in the market for this type of format for all your vitamin and mineral needs,” Jason narrated. That incident and realisation gave birth to VÖOST.

Starting with five products sold in only 200 shops, it has grown to more than 40 product lines in around 2,500 stores in Australia’s leading pharmacies and supermarkets and now internationally. “Today, we're in South Africa, Hong Kong, China and the UK. The business has been growing steadily over the last five years,” according to Jason. As the business has expanded, he has encountered random instances wherein people, including total strangers, recommend the VÖOST products to him, not knowing that VÖOST is his business.

“It's nice when you see consumers enjoy the VÖOST range. It’s the same when people take time to write to us to tell us how good they find VÖOST and thank us for that. For them to take time out of their busy day and share that appreciation, it is inspiring. It makes me want to do more,” Jason confessed.

Persistence, passion, and other qualities

These qualities of an entrepreneur are like multi-vitamins that provide a healthy dose of energy to business owners and people around them. When thoughts of giving up are on the horizon, Jason’s recommendation is this, “You need to persevere. You must persist and go past those thoughts because it's worth it.”

It’s filled with various ingredients, such as honesty, creativity, discipline, which make the journey not only enjoyable but also fulfilling. “We take our business seriously. We're very professional, and we care. But you need to have a passion. You must love what you do. If you don't love what you do and not passionate about it, you'll never be able to have the success that you might dream of. For me, it's about having fun. It's about enjoying the journey,” he remarked.

People to bounce ideas off

“The challenge is that you sometimes feel a little bit isolated when it comes to not having other people to bounce ideas off. I think that's where EO Melbourne has become an amazing forum because it allows you to have that confidential platform to have those discussions that are relevant to you,” Jason said.

“EO Melbourne reminded me that there are many others that have had financial pressures, staffing pressures, customer and supplier issues, etc. Discussing ways to handle those pressures and situations become incredibly valuable. That feeling of isolation can quickly diminish purely from this forum platform, and it’s a bonus when you can learn from your peers’ experiences regarding the pressures they face,” he added.

Exercise and meditation

To release the tension and stress of running a business, Jason keeps his body and mind healthy and fit. “I feel that the more I exercise, the more energy I have. The times when I feel a little bit anxious and stressed or worried, I would always try and put half an hour aside and go for a run. Exercise, I feel like it's quite therapeutic. Mindfulness is also very important. I started meditating two-and-a-half years ago. It helped me not only recharge mentally but also feel a more centred, a little bit more focused. So, between physical exercise and meditation, it keeps me switched on and ready for what the day brings,” he professed.

A sense of purpose

The main thing that gives Jason energy is the knowledge that he has made a difference to countless of lives that have benefitted from VÖOST. “It's not about money. It's not about turnover. It's not about profit. It's not about the number of employees or the building. If you're inspired only by such superficial measures, then you're not going to have a strong foundation. There needs to be a little bit more substance to it. It's the knowledge that you've helped somebody or could help somebody new. That's quite powerful,” he imparted.

As he continues with his entrepreneurial journey, he hopes to grow his business and keep helping people by allowing them to feel better every day. He also wants to establish his businesses more firmly where he can have more time with his wife and kids. For Jason, “I want to explore the world with them. In five or six years’ time, I want to still be inspired, to have that drive to keep VÖOST on pleasing its consumer base.”

Know more about Jason Scher through his LinkedIn profile. Read on VÖOST at http://www.voost.com.au/.

Hannah Vasicek and her meaning of success

“Success means nothing unless you're giving back.” Hannah Vasicek, Founder and Director of Francesca Collections, lives by this philosophy, which has also become the tagline of her business. More than just making jewellery, Hannah subscribes to the belief that her business is also meant to create an impact on people’s lives.

Hannah’s entrepreneurial adventure began when she was still a child. Imagine this young lady, who at 12 years old, already started her first little business selling lollies, where she earned around one or two hundred dollars a week. A year after, she ventured into making jewellery, which became one of her greatest passions that later paved the way to her Francesca Collections. “I started making jewellery when I was about 13 years of age. I lived in a rural town in New South Wales, and I had nothing to do. So, my mum took me to a beading store, and that's when I started making jewellery,” Hannah narrated.

She then began selling the jewellery she made. Her first little market store was when she was 13, selling $5 earrings and whatever her hands could create. When they moved to Tasmania at 16 years old, she supplied a merchant with her jewellery. However, because of the huge markup on her items, she decided to cut them out of the supply chain and switched to selling directly to her customers in Salamanca Market, a famous market in Tasmania. At that time, her business was called Handmade by Hannah.

Her family is one of the influences on the cultivation of her entrepreneurial spirit. Her dad worked in the music business and was quite entrepreneurial because he was good at selling. Similarly, her brother runs a business, while some of her uncles and aunties are business owners.

Upon finishing school, Hannah proceeded to university studying two degrees – science and law, retaining her jewellery business on the side and selling at the markets one day a week. At that point, she was still learning the ropes of discerning the pulse of her customers and the effective means of selling to them. Halfway through her five-year university degree, she re-branded her venture to Francesca to capture the younger market segment.

At the final year of university, Hannah made a breakthrough. “I applied for the Global Student Entrepreneur Award, which is run by EO. I got in the finals a week before my final year of law and had to fly over to Melbourne to present the business. I ended up winning, which was awesome. That was my first introduction to EO. Part of that award was to fly to New York and present the business at the world finals. I didn't win, but I met many EOers in New York. A lot of them said that I should pursue my business,” she said.

But when she graduated in 2012, she received an offer for an amazing law job. She was given a month to choose between her business and the job. “I decided that I wanted to do the business and give it a crack,” Hannah quipped. However, she received comments from other people telling her, ‘You're giving up five years of study to do your business,’ or ‘You're wasting your brains’ and things along those lines. Despite those discouraging feedback, she stood by her decision and took her father’s advice at heart. She called her dad on the day she got the job offer, who then told her, ‘Do what makes you time-rich.’ That was one of the reasons why Hannah chose to do the business over her law job. She knew that only business would allow her to have the flexibility of time to work on things she loves to do.

Even though she was zealous about what she was doing, it wasn’t entirely a bed of roses for her. At the beginning of her venture, she was multi-tasking and doing everything her hands and brain could do. “I was making the jewellery, selling it, marketing it, and making social media,” she described. It was only later when her sister joined Francesca and took the lead on the creative side of the venture.

Since she had no prior experience in running a business, Hannah had no clue on the other aspects of managing it like hiring staff and handling finances, for instance. She learned most of these things as she went along the journey. Hannah recounted, “I had to teach myself how to hire someone because I didn't know how to do it. Then the biggest thing has been the access to capital. I wanted to grow the business, but then I had to pay the bills. While starting out, banks won't look at our business because we were new. And I was a sole trader. So, every single bit of cash was going back into the business. And I think one of the biggest challenges was learning things early on.”

When it comes to finances, revenue has not been consistent. “As we've grown, cash flow is such a challenge. Not only are we growing and needing more resources, but our revenue spikes and decreases seasonally. So, we would do 20% of our revenue in the month before Christmas, and then we'll go down during our slowest month by having about 4%,” explained Hannah.

In the early days, she also had to survive through the various challenges to keep her venture afloat. But experience has taught her how to surpass those hindrances. According to Hannah, “I solely relied on the markets since I was 18, living out of the home. Sometimes there were problems, such as markets were cancelled due to bad weather, and I was without income for a week. I had to be always thrifty and ready for unexpected things. There has been that risk involved in losing it all. I think that's what has driven me to succeed. If things were easy, I might have become complacent. I once heard this great woman speak, and she said, ‘Always run your business as if it's going to have a massive problem tomorrow because then it makes you plan for those things.’”

One of those unexpected incidents was a burglary in her first store, which Hannah considers as her biggest heartbreak as a business owner. About six months into the opening of their first store, they got robbed. Hannah could still remember the day when she went to her store on a Sunday to get something out. “When I opened the door, I found all the jewellery gone. I thought someone was playing a prank on me. It was a huge challenge because I was very trusting. I didn't think through the risks of such things. We were under-insured, and it took us ages to recoup all of the jewellery lost.”

Another major challenge for Hannah is the location of her business. Being based in Tasmania was not easy for her to find a group of people where she could bounce off ideas related to business. She is grateful for EO Melbourne because being part of a forum helped her overcome challenges. In her determination to accumulate more knowledge, she flies to Melbourne every month to go to EO.

She credits EO for its positive effect on her venture and entire entrepreneurial journey. Hannah professed, “I honestly could say that I wouldn't be in business without EO. My ultimate goal was to join EO. I think that having a support network is so important, especially that I’m quite isolated because I am in Tasmania. I would have given up because there's a lot of things that come up and challenge me. Unless there is someone there to say they've been through it and they've gotten through it, it's disheartening. EO Melbourne has been fundamental in supporting me during my business growth. Just having people to bounce ideas off and support me through cash flow struggles and other concerns have been amazing.”

Because of her passion for work, learning, and growing the business, Hannah has harvested impressive wins from the early stages of her venture up to the present. “When we opened our first little store, I worked a 2-day a week law job to fund the rent for the store. After six months, I didn't need to work the law job anymore because we were making enough money. Then about 18 months after opening the little store, we opened a big store in Hobart. The revenue quadrupled as soon as we opened its doors. In 2014, we got invited to the Golden Globes to do the gifting suite. I went over to Hollywood and gave jewellery to celebrities. A year after, we won the Telstra Business Awards Business of the Year for Tasmania, which was awesome. In 2016, we opened our Melbourne store,” she enumerated.

Hannah discussed a few points that helped her achieve successes, big or small, in her business journey. “Now that we are successful in some people's eyes, I get a lot of people asking me how they can start a business. They think that they're going to make heaps of money as soon as they start a business. I have three things that people need to be able to run a successful business. My number one is passion. My philosophy is never to do something unless you love it and would do it for free because most of the time, it’s hard. You're just going to give up unless you're passionate about it. My second one is perseverance. You have to want to work hard and not have any reward back until you push through. The other one is the conviction to do it because that's another thing that I struggled when I had to choose between the law job and the business. If I didn't believe in my work, there's no way that other people would. If you have the conviction to do what you love to do, that's going to resonate through the whole company,” the young jeweller-entrepreneur stated.

Most of all, Hannah has the conviction to put purpose in her venture. For many years, her company, Francesca Collections, has been helping various charities. Their company tagline speaks volumes of what is in Hannah’s heart. “Our tagline ‘Success means nothing unless you're giving back’ can mean anything. It can mean empowering our staff, creating social change, or generating a lot of awareness or funds for charities. I think that a lot of people are so focused on success, and they think they're going to feel good when they get there. But it means nothing to have just nice things and not feel like you've made an impact on the world. My biggest legacy would be to show you that you can have a sustainable and profitable business as well as give back to the community.”

Her passion for her business and her causes makes Hannah look forward to the future full of excitement and positivity. She aims to expand the business in a slow, steady and sustainable growth, where she can maximise time and profit and enable her staff to have some flexibility at work. Apart from that, she has a long-term goal to have a better work-life balance and work outside of the business. Right now, she and her husband have another venture, called Apostl, which sells luxury leather goods.

For Hannah, business is not just about earning a profit. Her venture, Francesca, is not only about making and selling jewellery. There’s a lot more to it than just the goods. Her pieces represent the love she has for what she is doing and their emotional significance to the customers. “You only get one chance to do what you love. Make sure that you're living the life that you love. You shouldn't just go to work because you have to. You should go to work because you love everything that you do. I think success is when your actions are in line with your values. For me, I value giving back and making a difference,” Hannah remarked.

Know more of Hannah Vasicek through her LinkedIn profile. Read about Francesca Collections at https://www.francesca.com.au/.

Ben Stickland adds value to people’s lives

“My philosophy is I want to find a way for everybody to win. There are some cultures where you only win if other people lose. I want to do business with people and want them to have a great experience. I want to be able to meet every client that I've worked within 20 years’ time and make them feel that they got good value. It's one of the core values I have that I add value to people's lives and not take away,” declares Alliance Software CEO and Owner, Ben Stickland.

Solving problems, family and his Christian faith are some of Ben’s great passions. He admits that he does not have any entrepreneurial background in his family, but he has always been into ventures since he was a kid. “I was born in a small country town and then moved to a regional city before I became a teenager. I had a very good family life to middle-income parents and a couple of older sisters. My dad was a teacher, and my mum was a nurse. They have no entrepreneurial background,” he began.

He even remembers his childhood wherein he was embarrassed that his father was a champion knitter who made jumpers and placed them in exhibitions. Ben grew up in a tough little town where everyone played football and fathers displayed masculine and macho prowess. Now that he perceives things differently, Ben believes that people should do what they want to do, as his father did in knitting and him in taking the entrepreneurial route.

“Even from a young age, I was always trying various entrepreneurial ventures. When I was little, I bought myself a saxophone and a windsurfer by selling pot plants on the side of the road, doing things like that. I was always trying to do weird things to make money as a kid, and lots of them failed spectacularly. But, it was a hobby of mine as a child,” Ben continued.

It goes to show that he has exhibited the entrepreneurial spirit at an early age. In fact, he started Alliance Software when he was still in university. Except for his service in the church, Ben never had a full-time job in any company. He immediately took the business journey when he had the opportunity. He narrated, “I worked with the church for two or three years and did that at the same time I've had some other part-time roles. I was passionate about the youth work that I was doing with the church where I was involved. I effectively started my business out of university. I've never had a real job.”

Alliance Software was the banner under which he did contract programming for other businesses while he was still studying. “The reason I started it was because it was convenient, and I could make better money than I could in doing student jobs. I think it's easier to start a business while still young because in my case, I didn't need much money since I was living with my parents. Then I got married quite young. My wife was on a good income, and I was running Alliance Software,” explained Ben.

At the end of his Master’s course in university, he got a job offer from a company called Accenture, a large multi-national consulting firm. The offer was great and tempting. At that time, Ben took a Master’s degree, as he thought he would get a real career, and it seemed Accenture was the answer. But he seriously pondered the kind of life he and his family would have if he accepts the offer. He recalled that fateful night, “My wife and I went out for dinner, and I remember we were looking over the sea and talking about it. We knew people who worked at Accenture and the lifestyle they had. That was the night when we decided to reject the offer and try to be a real business owner.”

While Alliance Software is his primary business, Ben has also dabbled in other enterprises as well. Another business he put up was Noble Samurai, which is a tech startup. He also built Web2TV, a business in the age care space, which he sold to a publicly listed company. He’s also looking at establishing another venture, although he’s still fiddling with the new business concept.

Since there are low barriers to entry in the industry where he is operating, it was not a difficult space for him to found an enterprise. It is true that Ben found it easy to start some businesses, but there were tougher times along his entrepreneurial path. Making a business flourish is a huge challenge in itself. His Noble Samurai business started very successfully and was popular in its category as an SEO tool. But the industry collapsed, tools in that trade became less popular, and competitors were fleeing. It was an exciting venture that made lots of money that fell into a crashing failure. Ben and his team had to endeavour to rebuild it from the ground up to keep it running.

Then he was embroiled in a legal battle with a customer, one of the lows he experienced as an entrepreneur. Still, he regards himself a person who tries to find amicable solutions to a whole range of problems. There are also misconceptions about businesses and business owners that others see differently. “People look at businesses and think they’re all well-run, orderly, organised, and efficient. As I've gotten to know more businesses, I've realised that a lot of businesses are not well-run. The other thing is that most business owners are dysfunctional in some way or another. They generally have significant weaknesses in certain areas of their life. They only succeed because they set up processes that don't need them to be strong in those areas. A lot of business owners are just holding on by the seat of their pants. I can only think of two or three people, who I would consider genuinely well-rounded and can excel across five or six different business functions where they are involved. I'm not one of them. Business people are not as clever or capable as I thought they would be when I started my business,” Ben declared.

On the flipside, one of the highs of his entrepreneurial adventure was when he launched one of his businesses fruitfully. He also felt euphoric when it brought in a huge income. The last few years, he has been happy that his ventures are doing well, especially when it continues to grow, earning solid revenues and good profits.

For Ben, the two key factors that provided him with continuous growth are the books he reads and the people who surround him. In fact, he regards the two books he read in EO, Scaling Up and Traction, as good tools that he was able to use for his businesses. “Both are business process books and are excellent, in my opinion. We’ve implemented a lot of the principles, such as deciding our target market, deciding how we’re going to run the business with people, and deciding how we’re going to execute the processes. At a pragmatic level, they’ve been very good, and I highly recommend them,” he stated.

With regards to EO, Ben shared an anecdote about his entry into the organisation. Two of his clients were both EO members and recommended him to be part of this group. “I joined, paid my dues and turned up without knowing what it was I was joining, which was in hindsight, a little bit silly. There are other obvious ways to assess it and get some input. But that was my experience. I got a couple of suggestions from people I trusted, and I paid up and came along,” he laughingly recounted.

Nevertheless, he has received great value from becoming a member of EO. For him, “It has been an opportunity to see how high-calibre business owners approach problems and work through situations. It is like having a sounding board to talk those through with them. Seeing how other people wrestle with challenges, and the kinds of actions they take, it gives you a whole different perspective on how you act. It allows you to upgrade your mental operating system to the way that different people would operate, rather than just seeing things the way they always seem.”

From books, people and experiences, Ben has established rhythms in their business that have become some of their best practices. They have daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, annual rhythms of setting goals, strategy, and check-ins to identify where they are off and what are the problems present. Because Ben believes that people are not lazy and will want to work when given the proper motivation and environment, he leads his team towards their goals through right incentives and rewards, recognition, clear directions, celebrations during victories, and good corporate values.

Managing a business and the people in it may vary from one business owner to another. Ben has structured his business where he doesn’t have to work crazy hours so he can spend more time with his wife and two children. He’s normally home by 5:30 at night and takes dinner together with his family. His son, who is 12 years old, shows that he can be an adept computer programming by learning free stuff on the internet. He stressed how individuals, especially business owners, can learn from the internet without shelling out a lot of money. “I heard this crazy story about the guy who was the world record javelin thrower. He got to the position of being the best in the world, but he never had a coach, he never had a lesson. He had learned everything about javelin throwing from YouTube,” Ben shared.

Ben pointed out that training can be low-cost nowadays because of the various resources available online. In fact, they are training their staff on a particular technology at the moment, and they found a great training resource at a very low price. He hopes to grow his businesses to become a bigger version of what they’re doing now. He wants to increase the number of staff and do more startups, probably some joint ventures with his existing staff that he has good relations to be his business partner.

It was not so long ago when Ben found himself at the beginning of his entrepreneurial journey. Now, he has built a company that is almost two decades in operation and several other ventures along the way. To those who want to become entrepreneurs, his suggestion is this, “Keep your costs low. Take a job where you have to sell to make money. Don't beaver away building something in your garage for two years before you go and sell it. Take the idea and go and pitch it to people first. Then get your first customers to help pay for the product to be created or pay for the service to come into existence.”

Different strategies and management styles can be applied depending on the kind of business model one has. But the simple things new entrepreneurs should know, according to Ben, is to buy a thing or create a product or do some work and then sell that product or service for profit. It only gets complicated once the business grows due to higher demands of work. There’s no need to perfect everything. For him, even it’s half-baked, one should take the risk and test its viability in the market with the least possible cost. Then take the metrics to evaluate where one can improve and develop.

Most of all, he cited the need for a business owner to be curious and humble enough to accept that there are more things to be learned as one continues in the entrepreneurial journey. Ben expressed something about himself, “I like to surround myself with smart people. I want to be curious. I want to be learning new things. For me, that's a big passion. That is what drives me. I enjoy the learning process. I enjoy the discovery. I enjoy figuring stuff out. I like working with people who are thinking in different ways. There's no grand message in the realities of the journey. The journey is still pretty young in many ways. I feel very fortunate, and I think I'm very lucky to be able to have this business, which has given me something that I enjoy doing where I get to work with good people.”

Know more about Ben Stickland through his LinkedIn profile. More on Alliance Software at https://www.alliancesoftware.com.au/.

Ina McCorkell’s food for thought on business

“The customer is king. Cover your back. Always do what you say you will do.” These are just a few of the business philosophies that Ina McCorkell goes by, Owner and CEO of EasyChef. For over two decades in the business, Ina imparts her grains of thoughts and nuggets of wisdom on how to overcome the challenges of the entrepreneurial journey.

Both of Ina’s parents were self-employed, so taking the entrepreneurial route seemed a natural progression for her. “When you grow up in an environment where people create their destiny, it encourages you to see it as normal. It's a lot easier if your family are already doing their own thing. Four of my siblings do their own thing,” she professed.

Supplying Australian food to Asian market was something she saw as an opportunity because their family had farms. Ina pointed out, “We grew up knowing that Australia had a natural advantage with food because we have land. It's quite a big country, so we have different seasons. We have variation because Australia is tropical and temperate.”

Before she set up her venture, Ina first worked as a trainee in a supermarket chain in Taiwan. “Working at the coalface of retail in Taiwan, I saw an interest in Western food, as explained by the locals, and an opportunity for good Australian food, in particular,” she cited.

From her love of food and travel, Ina started in 1995 their own food export business, EasyChef, with her husband Maurice, who was a graphic designer from Barcelona. But when Maurice was diagnosed unwell in 2013, Ina took over the reins of running the business by herself. Since their children are in their teens, they also help out, especially the eldest who is working part-time in the business. But Ina says there are still no signs that they are serious about doing this as a profession.

The children have a good business foundation because they grew up with Ina and Maurice already involved in EasyChef. Ina described how it was when they had the children four years after they started their venture. “It was good because when you run your own business, you have a lot of flexibility in your time. For the first ten years, I had an office at home, and the staff were in the rear of the house in a converted garage. The children were in the house, and the office was in the back garden.”

Starting a business was a tough ride, but Ina and Maurice pressed on. Ina recounts the early days, “We started the business and funded it by having part-time jobs in a petrol station. We probably continued juggling work at the petrol station and starting the business for about three to six months. Within a couple of months, we started getting regular repeat orders. I think we employed our first staff member within the first year.”

As they began in the fruit and vegetable export space, they had to contend with long working hours to get the business going. They would start their day by going to the wholesale market at one o’clock in the morning, working till midday, sleeping in the afternoon, then resuming work at night. “It was long hours, but the business moved very quickly. All the businesses we provided were overseas, so we only exported. The value of the consignment we were doing from the beginning was a minimum of five thousand to ten thousand dollars shipments. It was quite a large value for a small business starting out,” Ina proclaimed.

But as much as they put a lot of hard work on the business, there were things beyond their control. The political turmoil overseas, particularly the crisis in Indonesia in 1999, had a huge effect on their enterprise. The currency has devalued rapidly, and some customers were unable to repay their balance. What scared Ina then was not having enough cash flow and getting into debt.

Good thing there was credit insurance to counter the risk of trading overseas. “That was probably our best backup. But that was more for larger debts. For day-to-day cash flow, we structured our suppliers to be paid around our payment receipt days since some of our customers pay us only twice a month. We made sure that the suppliers were paid in batches after the receipts come in from overseas. We also went into diversification so that we are not too reliant on one customer,” Ina disclosed.

During the initial years of the venture, Ina admitted that they lacked direction and accountability, as EasyChef was run more as a lifestyle than on strategy. It was only in the last three years when they implemented budgets and business plans. Also, Ina felt that the business controlled her as they were starting out, unlike now where she feels more in control of it. “I think when you're young, and you first start a business, you feel like you have to please everyone and work with everyone and do whatever is required. When you get older and wiser, you learn to say no, and you put boundaries around who you work with and what you are doing. Now, I completely decide where the business is going, who I want to be our partners, and what type of people I prefer to engage in the business,” explained the food-loving entrepreneur.

Running a business requires constant effort that Ina found it very hard to switch off. She stressed, “I think the other challenging thing is that for me, it never stops. Because I like my business, I tend to think about it all the time. It's quite engulfing even after so many years.”

The great sense of responsibility can be overwhelming for Ina. She expounds this by saying, “The negative also is that the buck stops with you. When there are issues, there's no one else to fix it except yourself. Sometimes you have to do the challenging parts of the business that no one else wants to do, such as chasing the money, firing or disciplining a staff member, or whenever everything gets too hard. That's when the fires are too big. That's when they need the CEO.”

Despite the challenges, the ability to evolve and adapt to the changing landscape is something that she has learned in her journey. “If something challenging happens, you can't sit and continue to do things the way you always did it. I think challenges are the best lessons. When you face challenges, contemplate what you can do better and how you can handle it better. Then put procedures in place for the next events. When you learn your lessons, you can move forward,” Ina counselled.

She has also learned a lot from being part of EO Melbourne, which was introduced to her by her younger brother, Bill. What she found valuable in EO is the camaraderie and the environment of continuous learning and development. “Everyone is trying to do better. We're always learning from each other. Because the cohort is ambitious, it also makes you ambitious. It's fun because most people that run their businesses tend to have a sense of adventure. It can be lonely when you're running a business on your own, that's why EO is good,” Ina said. She added that EO also taught her discipline and provided her with tips for improvement. Likewise, she drew inspiration and drive from the group.

However, the best advice that she remembered was the one that her grandfather gave her, which is to be a person of her word and to pay her debts on time always. It’s the same advice she wants to impart to her children, should they later decide to take the entrepreneurial journey. “The best advice to the children is the one on being a person of your word. Be honest. Be reliable and trustworthy. I also think that you need to be flexible and agile. You need to plan, but you also need to plan to change. So, if things aren't working out the way you want it to work, you need to look for another path.”

There are instances when there are forces that would go against you. But Ina prefers to focus on the positive. “You have to be brave and follow your instinct. People around you can be negative and pull you in a different direction. I think when your instinct is strong, you should follow through with them,” Ina added.

Armed with all these learnings, Ina hopes to bring her company to greater heights. Having served the company for 24 years, she wants to take an advisory position in the company in the future than being involved in the day-to-day dealings. With her vision, goals and hopes for EasyChef, she envisions a better tomorrow for the venture. Ina stated, “I would like to see the business to be much more automated, and the staff to have more ownership over what they're doing. There will be a need for this type of business, but I think the platform in which we do the business will be more automated and faster.”

On the other hand, Ina likes to take time off from work whenever she gets the opportunity. In fact, she looks forward to spending holidays with her family, travelling, and visiting the farm. She’s also involved in helping set up a charity, called Electrosensitivity Australia. For now, she enjoys the business journey, taking to mind the benefits that the entrepreneurship brings to her. “The advantage is ownership and flexibility, especially for a working mum. I think it's good. It’s creating your destiny. It's very creative having a business because you can design where you want the business to go,” Ina quipped.

And for those who plan to enter the entrepreneurial world, Ina has an added food for thought, “First, plan the life that you want to have. Then, build a business around meeting your personal goals.” These are wonderful words from the EasyChef head, which can nourish the business mind, heart and soul.

For more about EasyChef, visit http://easychef.com.au/.

Getting fit with Aaron Smith

All these years, Founder and CEO of KX Pilates, Aaron Smith, has been advocating for physical fitness. As he went about his entrepreneurial journey, he found that he can also help people become financially fit through his business. “Empowering people to make positive changes in their lives is fantastic. That's why I got into franchising as well. I always have a general nature of helping people. Whether it be in fitness or business, it's satisfying to me, that's for sure,” he stated.

Aaron was in his late teens when he got into fitness and personal training. In fact, he majored in exercise physiology during his university years. His passion for travelling, personal training and snowboarding led him to America where he stayed on and off for two years until he moved to London. While in London, he learned of Dynamic Pilates and immediately fell in love with it. “I always had the dream to bring the style back to Australia and create my brand. So, I left London in 2009 and started KX Pilates in February 2010,” Aaron narrated.

At a young age, he already has the entrepreneurial spirit within him. He affirmed, “I knew in my teenage years that I wanted to start my own business. I was pushed by my father, who had been in business for forty-five years, that business was the best way to get ahead in life, financially. So, I set that goal that I always wanted to have my own business.”

But when he got back from overseas, he incurred $20,000 of debt from his father, who had been paying off his travel credit card without Aaron knowing it. He went back working in bars and gaming to pay his father back. “After about 3 or 4 weeks, I was sick of it. I sat my father down, asked him and told him my dream of starting KX. He was like, 'Right, not a problem.' So, he was the guarantor on my first business loan. Six months later, we opened up KX Pilates in Malvern, Victoria. It was a really interesting time because boutique fitness was still non-existent then. It was hard in the beginning,” he explained.

His family, friends and now-wife lent their support when he was laying the foundation for his business. He recalled those times on how they helped him face the ordeals of starting an enterprise. “Looking back, it wasn't very fun. To an extent, I hated it. I was waking up at 4:30 every morning and wouldn't get home until 10:00 at night. I was working seven days, teaching 40 classes per week, on top of doing everything else the business required of me, paying myself only $200/week for the first 18 months. My parents supported me by allowing me to live back at home rent-free. My Father loaned me his car, and Mum would cook and prepare my meals. Even my now-wife Andi used to open the door to her apartment only to see me standing there with a bag of the whole day's dirty sweat towels that she would help me wash and fold, ready for the next day. So, everyone was helping me out.”

Aaron cited some of the stumbling blocks he had to face at the initial stage of his business. His studio was offering a new style of fitness, while people were still used to box gyms, not to mention the rise of 24/7 industry. He also had no idea on several aspects of running a business, namely accounting, finance, and marketing. “When I opened the doors, I didn't know pre-marketing campaign! So very few even came through the doors on the first day,” expressed Aaron.

While Aaron had to learn from the ground up how to get the word out, what he knew was that people would come back after they would experience his classes. He was confident in his ability as a trainer and could provide an amazing personalised experience. Still, he did the best he could to bring people to his studio. “I did everything possible: letter drops, flyers, network with local businesses, ads in local papers. Then digital marketing was on the rise so Google ads SEO were standard. I also joined a few entrepreneur and business groups to learn as much as I could,” he recounted.

One of the groups he joined was Entrepreneurs Organization (EO) Melbourne. He was first a member of EO in Sydney, where he joined in 2014. He moved back to Melbourne when he and his wife had their first child, so he also transferred to the EO Melbourne chapter. He found great value in EO. “Just being around entrepreneurs and business owners is a great feeling, especially the positivity and the encouragement they give because they’ve been in the same position.”

Another thing he learned from EO was to focus on his strengths more than his weaknesses. As such, he devoted the majority of his time making his strengths stronger. As to his weaknesses, he hired those who are experts in those fields to do those things for him.

He admitted that finding the right people and managing those within the team was one of the hardest parts of running an enterprise. However, Aaron attributes positive attitude and vibrant personality over anything else in choosing those who join his company. Moreover, he allowed the trainers to put their personality into their classes.

It was also from people where he learned the most. Aaron imparted, “Protect and stay close to your first followers, especially the people who believe in your vision. Without them, nothing would ever have happened.” He learned the hard way that he needed to align his employee's goals with the company goals. One time, his training manager for about four years decided to have a studio of her own (outside of the KX network). While it was heartbreaking for Aaron, he acknowledged that it was important for her to go off on her own. Twelve months later, he let the past go and got her back as National Training Manager, as well as a franchisee by transforming her independent studio into a KX.

Aaron has come to adapt to the changing landscape around him, as they continue to innovate. But the compass that keeps them in accord with their goals and direction is the vision and values of the business. “I created this company with four value pillars. ‘Respectful relationships’ speaks for itself. ‘Vibrant positivity’ is about always being happy and upbeat. ‘Going above and beyond’ extends to clients, franchisees and staff. The last one is ‘evolution through innovation’ because the learning never stops.”

With a vision of becoming the most well-known boutique fitness brand in Australia for customer experience and profitability for his franchisees, Aaron and his team work together on a mission of achieving goals and reaching full potential. Still, they continue to better themselves every day.

As they are heavy on service, they provide a personalised experience for their clients to re-engage them to the brand. They keep up with the trends in the fitness industry and adapt those trends in their business. On the other hand, Aaron is now more careful with his decisions as he moves KX Pilates forward. “I was probably overly ambitious in the beginning. When I first sold my first three franchises, I had a bit of money,” he recalled. Instead of investing it back into KX Pilates, he tried opening fitness studios specialising in other things. He added, “I had all these grand plans, but I made the mistake of changing my focus even when I haven’t yet laid the foundation of KX Pilates properly. Those businesses have now dissolved or re-branded because I needed to focus on KX Pilates.”

To take this a step farther, Aaron hired his COO last year to take charge of all operations. It allowed Aaron to focus more on his new priorities. “I'm happy to take a pay cut to put the important things first, being my family. My wife and I have worked extremely hard over the past eight years on KX. It’s now time to enjoy life as a family. Previously, I wanted nothing more but only to grow KX and work in the company. Now, although I am still passionate to grow the business, I only want to be an amazing dad,” the father of two shared.

Since their first studio in 2010, KX Pilates has 47 studios in almost all states of Australia at present. Aaron has wonderful plans for his brand. He gives us a preview of what’s to come. “We're looking at international expansion. We’re all set to open in Jakarta, Indonesia in the next couple of months. We’re also looking at an education arm of the business as well as product development. It’s an exciting time!”

Through those years and experiences, Aaron has absorbed valuable lessons that made him even better as a business owner. He realised the importance of tenacity, being able to get up each day and face the challenges ahead. The first 12 to 24 months of his business was far from easy, but he kept his eyes on the prize, while he shut off voices that were telling him he was going to fail. Financial stress was also a huge burden he carried, but he kept pushing himself and never gave up because he subscribed to the adage that only people who fail are the ones that give up.

Applying the principles of fitness training to entrepreneurship, Aaron highlights the need for discipline and consistency to be able to reach one’s goals. Similarly, as he helps people to be physically healthy through exercise, his method of franchising has also provided a means of livelihood for trainers and clients.

“I'm still passionate about fitness. But when I became passionate about business, it turned into an avenue not only to grow my brand but also to get others reach their goal of owning their own business. With our brand, systems, expertise and advice, we can help people achieve their financial freedom. It’s an amazing feeling helping people grow, develop and reach their full potential, especially when even they didn’t think it possible.”

Aaron’s energy was overflowing as he shared his story with us. Indeed, he is truly passionate about helping others.

To know more about Aaron Smith, check his LinkedIn profile. Read more on KX Pilates at https://kxpilates.com.au/.

Keeping pace with Frunch Nazzari

Francesco “Frunch” Nazzari is what he calls himself a serial entrepreneur. “I love starting a business. I love to see an opportunity. But not only do I love an opportunity, as all entrepreneurs do, I also love to see a niche, an actual community. I like to have a visceral experience around that community,” the Managing Director and Co-founder of Rooftop Cinema declared.

There are eight to nine businesses under his tutelage, not to mention that he’s a family man, an EO Melbourne member, a cinema lover, a publisher, and a runner. It seems he is always on the go, and those who want to run with him have yet to increase their pace to keep up. But Frunch has not achieved his full speed yet. Besides, the finish line is still nowhere in sight. What he knows, however, is that he committed himself to this path of becoming an entrepreneur, and there’s no turning back.

Frunch may have found his tempo along the entrepreneurial track, but it is not an easy race. In fact, there’s nothing easy with either a race or the entrepreneurial journey. Both are challenging. But Frunch does them, anyway, because he is passionate about the things he brings himself to do. “Being in business is like running a marathon. You’ve got to prepare yourself. You have to put a lot of training to have the endurance and stamina to go the whole way,” he opined.

One can say that the business route is an inevitable road for Frunch because the entrepreneurial spirit runs through their family. It also exhibited early on, as he already wanted to work and earn money during his teens. When he came of age, he followed his brothers to a job where they were working part-time, but things turned out differently, which became a motivation for him to do things on his own. “I was quite angry about not getting that job. I made a little promise to myself that I would never go through that again and that I would carve my path in life. And so, I forged my way. So, yeah, from a quite young age, I started thinking about how I could make money,” Frunch narrated.

He started his career as a promoter for various events. “I slowly built my way up from there. But that taught me the spirit of hustling. So, I became a little hustler from a young age,” he quipped. In the events and promotions space, he progressed to a sole trading capacity. “I started working my services and selling my networks. I started off in events, and then I went off to study media, which then led me down the path of setting up communications agencies and that kind of things,” he added.

Among all the businesses he owned and founded, Rooftop Cinema is the longest-running one. According to Frunch, “Rooftop Cinema is the jewel in my crown. I love that business because it personifies me. It is the creative use of space. It is about community, and it's just a beautiful business. It is the longest relationship that I've had with a business. I think I'm into my 11th year of the cinema as founder and as managing director. And I'm still obsessed with that business as the first day that I was running it.”

Before that, Frunch worked in his 20’s for a company called Moonlight Cinema, where he was able to merge his skills in events promotions and sales. In that company, he met his would-be business partner. They discussed various ideas, such as how to improve experiences in the city, audiences, and niches. “Then we were talking about the fantasy of having a cinema on a roof. We started expressing that to people. All of a sudden, we were told that there was an opportunity on a building in the city. And we looked at that. Lo and behold there was Rooftop Cinema,” he recounted.

The idea kept rolling despite his reservations. Frunch remembered how it was back then. “I was always the glass-half-empty kind of business partner, whereas my other business partner was like glass half-full. He's like, 'this is going to happen.' I'm like, 'this is never going to happen.' Nine months later, we launched  Rooftop Cinema, which is arguably the world's most beautiful outdoor cinema experience. It's unparalleled in this country.”

The journey was not always smooth-sailing. There were heartbreaks, missteps, hiccups, potholes and stumbling blocks that were constant issues on the entrepreneurial lane. Frunch was not spared of these as well. For him, “There are not many entrepreneurs who haven't had failed. I probably had more failures along the way, than I have had successes. I've had multiple initiatives and ideas that have lost me money. I've had some that have made me great money.”

He’d been on the brink of bankruptcy and other difficult situations. Nonetheless, Frunch learned to accept these as the realities in the life of a business owner. He pronounced, “I could tell you tomorrow I'll have a low, and I'll probably have a high on the same day as well. That's just the way that comes with the entrepreneurial journey.”

But he used those challenges to flex his entrepreneurial muscles and build himself up. “I've learnt my lessons. There's not necessarily a particular experience that I look back and say, 'Oh, I failed,' because each one of my failures has defined me as a person. I look at all of them, and I can say that there's something I've taken from every single one. They shaped me,” he bared.

One of the major concerns he encountered was cash flow, a ceaseless worry among business owners because it is the fuel that keeps a business running. Frunch points out that apart from money, lack of knowledge, experience and expertise are factors that can also pose a huge challenge, especially when starting out a business.  “Having a particular understanding of your industry is very important. You need to understand what it is your expertise that you're selling and also the community that you're trading within,” he commented.

That mindset is useful to Frunch in starting more businesses. While there are some who are aggressive in setting up a venture, he sees himself as more of a businessman who lays the foundation slowly and steadily. Then, he looks at opportunities and adds value to them. “Over the years, that's led me down a path to becoming a publisher and looking at the media industry. I think what's important is understanding what it's going to take to get a business up financially,” Frunch articulated. He iterated as well the significance of understanding the product one is selling and knowing all about intellectual property.

With regards to best business practices, Frunch considers Entrepreneurs Organization (EO) Melbourne as a huge advantage to his journey. “I thrive within the EO environment. Sharing my business stories and successes with like-minded individuals and being able to give back to those individuals have been wonderful for me,” expressed Frunch. Surrounding himself with the right people has helped him in his growth. His openness to learning new things also enabled him to get as much value from all his EO experiences.

These learnings he brings to his businesses and applies them to his enterprises. Frunch acknowledges that people are the biggest resource of a company. He explains, “The greatest asset that an entrepreneur has is the people that he surrounds himself. It is important because you need to build a team. I see myself as a coach.” Despite having several ventures to oversee, he can cope because of people that seamlessly fit into his team. He has a group, composed of individuals with businesses that provide similar service or product offerings. “Predominately, we're within media, and we are speaking to a very clear-cut audience. We know the products we're selling, and then we work as a group to develop efficiency,” he added.

They divided their responsibilities into different areas: strategy, execution, and distribution. “Instead of running everything under one banner or one brand or one business, what we've done is we've built a group. I work with these like-minded individuals. They share the same vision and passion as I do. Then, I've got them responsible for one area of the business. I'm only as good as the people with whom I work. And I work with some amazing people – people that I think are better than me and stretch me every day. We have a fantastic team,” he enthusiastically said.

Thus, working efficiently with one another allows them to engage in their other undertakings. For Frunch, it means time with his family and other interests. “I love my family. Being Italian, we're all about family. I'm very much involved in my family, and they're a big part of who I am. The reason why I have these opportunities is that they helped me and lifted me up to where I need to be. So, that's something that I'm passionate about.”

He’s also passionate about publishing, films, niches, communities, and running. “I love running. It's something that I've found recently. One of the challenges that I put to myself was to run a marathon. Off the back of that, I saw an opportunity to create a running publication,” he shared.

As he runs towards his goals, Frunch has a clear vision of what’s ahead of him within the next three years. “We're just focusing on our cadence, and how we can increase our tempo and feel more comfortable with moving faster and being swifter,” he stated.

For Rooftop Cinema, they were at a point many years ago when they were considering doing multiple venues. But Frunch felt that developing a network of cinemas wasn’t right. Recently, they underwent a refurbishment, which has cemented their place in the outdoor cinema sphere. “So, I'll continue to work on building that business and making it the best it can be.”

He also has distinct plans for his other ventures. “From a media network perspective, we will continue to create relationships with like-minded publications and launch publications that the market wants. And then from an agency perspective, we will work with brands to make them the best potential publishers for themselves. We want the service offerings of our business, which is called Single Double, to help brands turn into publishers. We're in an era of content, and that's what we're going to do. That's where we're going over the next three years.”

Frunch looks forward to taking the rest of his entrepreneurial journey. He strives to continue to grow and become better to be able to offer greater products and services. “Where will I be in three years? Hopefully, a very successful businessman who has built a very successful group of companies,” he imparted.

If one would sit back at the Rooftop Cinema to watch Frunch’s entrepreneurial story on film, or browse through the pages of a publication that features his experiences, the moviegoer or reader will find that the theme of Frunch’s journey is all about passion. “Be passionate about what you're doing and love it because things are going to get tough. If you don't love what you're doing, don't do it. Have passion and everything else becomes endurable. It's going to be hard no matter what you do,” he advocated. And that’s how you will find your pace on the path of entrepreneurship.

Read about Frunch Nazzari on his LinkedIn profile. More on Rooftop Cinema at https://2017.rooftopcinema.com.au/ and Single Double at https://singledouble.co/.

Timo Karnath’s positive energy

“Everything is possible. I'm not taking 'no' for an answer. I stay positive, and I look for solutions until I succeed. I truly believe that many people who have a clear vision of something, if they stay true, it can be achieved.” Such is the unwavering faith, optimism and energy of Timo Karnath, TCK Solar’s Director and Founder, when it comes to getting things done.

Raised in Germany, Timo started his career as an industrial engineer and worked for a solar panel manufacturer, Solon. That provided him with a thorough knowledge of solar energy and its benefits to our planet. While implementing a new Enterprise Resource Management (ERM) software for the whole corporate, he worked with external consultants that somewhat ushered him to the world of entrepreneurship.

“It sparked my interest in people running their show and working at other ones. There was particularly one who shared his story of starting his own business when he was 30 years old. I somehow thought, at that point, that I would like that. Then, of course, I always have lots of ideas I wanted to do, but they remain ideas. When this idea came up, and the opportunity arose, I just took it,” he expounded.

Through that exposure, he found he had the entrepreneurial spirit within him, although it was not something he imbibed from his family since his parents were never business owners. He had a grandfather who was an entrepreneur, but Timo never met him because he passed away before Timo was born.

However, before he crossed over from being an employee to becoming a businessman, Timo had to experience a lot of transitions in his life and learn things by experience as they came along. First, he and his then-girlfriend got married while they were in Germany. Then, five days after their wedding, they made the big move to Australia. When they settled in this new country, they both first worked in an environmental company before Timo decided to start his venture.

Those life changes were never a walk in the park. As immigrants, Timo and his wife had to deal with all the documents and visa requirements. When they arrived in Australia, the first thing they did was buy a camper van and travelled around the country. After three months of doing that, they realised they needed to settle someplace and earn fixed income. With a new environment, new people and new systems, there were hurdles to surpass in trying to make a living.

Good thing that Australia is a country that has helped them through the changes. “I think, overall, Australia made it fairly easy to transition, such as opening bank accounts, and all the other things, which might become an issue. Australia is helping people to make that easy,” Timo declared. Also, his optimism helped them through the adjustments. “Some people find it annoying that everything is different, and you have to learn everything new and find your way. I always found it very exciting to find new ways and see people do it,” he added.

After two years of working for an environmental consultancy, a big break came for Timo to trudge his path in the entrepreneurial space. “Suddenly, there was a whole group of people interested in doing something in the solar industry. That's, of course, my business, doing high-end solar solutions,” he began. But out of the five people who were interested in this endeavour, it came down to only two of them who started the business. At first, they were doing it part-time as they both continued with their respective jobs. Eventually, they went full-time and focused their energies on their enterprise.

Along the way, the business also underwent a few changes. From importing products from Germany to Australia and installing them, they later moved towards wholesaling. Like in any other business landscape, the balance tilted to their advantage and their disadvantage. “We had good years with that, and we had bad years with that. After a few years, our main supplier from overseas allowed too many competitors into the market. It destroyed the margins, the risk got way too big, and the return wasn't enough. We then decided to close down the wholesale side, with a large amount of stock – about over two million dollars’ worth in stock – sitting there at that time. It took us nearly two years to sell off that remaining stock,” Timo revealed.

The time also came for him and his business partner to split paths. “The good news is that we didn't have a single fight over this. We just decided to go our respective ways. So, I took over his half of the business at that time. Since we had closed down successfully the wholesale side, we focused back on the installation side and the energy concepts for our customers. From there, it was all on me to rebuild the business with one focus, and that's what I've been working on very hard for the last two years,” the young engineer cum industrialist explained.

As he walked the entrepreneurial journey, he discerned things others perceived about business owners that were not entirely true. People thought that entrepreneurs like him have total freedom and are rich. “You know what, I have less freedom than being employed. I can't just clock off and go on holiday, then come back and say, ‘whether it worked or not, that's not my problem.’ It is my problem. If I go on holiday and things start falling apart, I pay for it. And I have to tidy up afterwards for weeks and months to bring it back on track,” he iterated.

“You're exposed because you invest your own money. You put your house down as security and whatever else there is to make this happen,” Timo added. Despite having to work round the clock, since he has to deal with suppliers from overseas, he is still passionate about what he does. For him, whether he is working as an employee or running his business, he puts his 100% in all his efforts.  But doing things on his own gives him a different kind of energy and excitement because he can carry out his ideas the way he wants it to be.

“What excites me is to push boundaries and find new ways to arrive at new solutions. With that, I create things others haven't done before. I go to customers and share my ideas with them. Most of them take these ideas on board and say, 'That sounds great. Let's give it a go.' Then, I source all the components – I design it, I install it, I commission it, I make it happen. Afterwards, the way my systems work, I've got full control of them. Even years after, I can verify that what I've designed and come up with is working. So, for me, that’s the rewarding bit,” Timo excitedly shared.

Apart from the opportunity to create things and find solutions to problems, another area where Timo gets his energy is the Entrepreneurs Organization, where he is a member of the EO Melbourne chapter for about five years already. “The key ones for me, in general, are the speakers and the events that EO is organising. They fill me with energy every time I go,” he disclosed. Although there could also be less exciting activities at times, he still makes sure that he stays after the event to get some value from that gathering and take home something that he can apply to his business or personal life.

“The first thing that hit me from day one was the discussion on my values, vision, and goals. I never thought about that before. Working on that for years and drilling down on my 'whys' and ‘whats’ – why I do things, what is motivating me, what are the beliefs of the business, what do we stand for -- that helped me a lot,” Timo said. As such, his guiding philosophy in his business is the core values of his venture, which is aiming for nothing but the best, selling only ethical and environmentally beneficial products and services, and providing a hundred percent customer satisfaction.

“Customers being happy is number one for me. If I get a text message from them months later or years later or two days later, saying, 'Your team is fantastic, and your product looks amazing,' that is important and rewarding. I look at those houses, often classified as modern castles, and they can have all the luxury they want. As long as they are carbon neutral, they take the other key part that is driving me, which is helping save this planet,” the man with a mission quipped. Saving the planet is one of his aims, and he wants to make sure that he and his team are all working towards the right direction.

When it comes to the future of the business, Timo has a different path from those that are preoccupied with expansion. His tack is to focus only on one state, which is Victoria, and ensure that he is the best supplier and installer of renewable energy solutions in the area.

“I have more to do. I still need to double the business to create a more stable environment, financially. The solar industry is fluctuating a lot. There are busy times and quiet times. It's very hard to predict when what is happening. We are also involved in lots of building projects. They take years to become a reality. We need to feed the funnel with leads and nurture the leads very heavily. So, yeah, we still need to grow,” he elucidated.

Apart from the industry challenges, there is still a need to educate people about renewable energy. There are those that sell solar panel systems without thorough training or knowledge. Since TCK Solar only provide high-quality products, Timo understands that their price points are not for everyone. Despite these limitations, he already has a map planned out for his business on where he wants to take it in the next few years. He wants to reduce the company’s dependency on him as he prefers to focus more on business development rather than on the day-to-day operations.

When it comes to the personal side of things, Timo and his wife have a 20-year plan laid out, as triggered by EO. “We want to travel around Australia with our kids. We realised that it should happen probably in about two years because school-wise, that's where it fits best. So, that means, in two years’ time, I need to be in a position to be away for three months without having things fall into pieces.”

As to his children, he wants only the best for them. “Growing up, they, of course, saw me how I was working and how demanding the job was. If they want to walk after me, I would tell my kids to find their passion, stay focused and don’t forget to enjoy living. Like EO is promoting, find the right balance between work, family and personal. Only with all of them in sync, we can be truly happy,” he advised.

All these things that he strives to do are for his children, their future, and that of our planet. Even with the realities happening in our environment today, Timo stays positive that we can still do something to find a solution to our ecological problems. “I think there's no alternative but renewable energy. Those who still haven't realised what trouble we are in, as a world, with climate change and everything, will eventually see that there is no plan B. There is no planet B. It's only one. We need to save this one. And renewable energy is the only way we can do that. Now, it will be a very large, strong growing industry, and the products available in that industry will keep developing rapidly to make this happen. There will be a long future in that field,” Timo imparts.

Read more about TCK Solar at http://tcksolar.com.au/.

Jamie Lingham braves the entrepreneurial waves

Jamie Lingham, CEO of Absolute Immigration, has a deep affiliation with the ocean. His love of the seas makes him enjoy swimming, surfing and paddleboarding. That affinity with everything related to the waters also brought him close to environmental causes. Braving the crashing waves and coming out after being struck by its force bring a different kind of thrill that Jamie can liken to the entrepreneurial journey.

“When you’re surfing and paddling out the big waves, sometimes they smash you back a bit. But then, once you get through the back end, you can surf the wave. It's amazing. That's like life. Life keeps hammering, and you're trying to get to the prize at the end. It's tough and hard. Sometimes, you want to give up, but you've just got to keep going. And then, eventually, you'll get out, bounce back, and enjoy the ride,” the highly passionate global immigration strategist stated.

That brings him to his teenage years when he would sell mangoes at Bondi Beach. “I used to get my mum's car when I was about 17. I would go to the fruit market and buy three boxes of mangoes. I would chop up the mangoes into halves, and I'd go and sell them on Bondi Beach. I buy them for 60 cents, and I'd sell them for a dollar and a half. Then, I’d go surfing for the rest of the day. So, there's always been little things that I did. I always had ideas for making money and doing little ventures,” he recalled.

It may seem that the entrepreneurial spirit has exhibited in him since he was young. When he was just five years old, he would go with his brother on paper rounds to help sell newspapers. Many years later, he also worked in the marketing and public relations field and spent some time in the hospitality industry as a waiter in fine dining restaurants.

How he got into the immigration sector is no big mystery as he was familiar with the ins and outs of this trade, especially that his father had been doing it for almost two decades. “I'm on immigration, and my dad was doing it for about 20 years. But he dealt with a lot of people in detention. He kept saying to me that I should get involved in the business. I was always reluctant to do it because I didn't want to deal with this type of people. But he would have been the influence of me getting into it. However, I didn't go into business with him. I started my own business,” Jamie explained. Sadly, his dad later passed away.

During the time Jamie began with his venture, he found a mentor in a Jesuit priest, named Fr Michael Kelly. According to Jamie, Fr Michael is “unbelievably ethical and fantastic in business. He's an entrepreneur himself. He started a business that now turns over about over hundred seventy million dollars a year. He's from nothing. He's fantastic, and he’s got a wonderful moral compass.”

Although Jamie has been running his business for 17 years already, he admits that the challenges never stop. The early hurdles were trying to carve a name for himself as he was building the foundations of his venture, striving to get a client and wondering how to do the work. “When you start a business, you're like a puppy chasing everything. You chase people. You chase kids on scooters. You chase bicycles. You chase cars. Whatever you can, you jump at it. But as you get older and more experienced, you chase things like a double-decker bus full of tourists. You don't get off the porch for anything less. You learn not to run so much and be a bit smarter on what you're targeting,” he said, reflecting on his beginnings.

Not having enough money and failing in his business were the scary bits of running a business. One time, he had an executive assistant who stole a lot of money and committed fraud. At the same time, the global financial crisis occurred. He was close to going bankrupt. “I think you sail close to the wind a lot of the time as an entrepreneur, especially when you're investing in your business and people to grow,” he uttered.

To recoup his loss, he had to work 12 hours a day, seven days a week until he got his business back on track. “I did that for six months. I just worked like crazy,” Jamie narrated. It was a difficult time for him because he lost some staff members that he was left to do all their work as well.

While being an entrepreneur is a lot of responsibility, others look at it through rose-coloured glasses. Behind those glasses, however, is an entirely different picture. “Everyone thinks the boss is making all the money. Sometimes, that's not true. I've gone through times where I've paid all my staff and not myself. I know lots of entrepreneurs who've done the same thing. It's a misconception that they think we turn out loaded and make a lot of money. We work for that. Even 17 years later, I still go through my periods, my ups and downs. It's the roller coaster of entrepreneurship. It's a great ride. It's fun. But it is a roller coaster,” he clarified.

Being a business owner is no easy position. As a leader, he needs to brave the hardships and be strong for his people. On top of that, he has to make sure that he brings them towards the finish line. “We're going through a whole process change at the moment. We’re making sure that everyone's on the same page. You have to keep reinforcing and leading by example, making sure that everyone understands how you operate. You need to be available and have proper conversations with people to let them understand what the goal looks like, and what's needed to get to that goal,” the passionate entrepreneur remarked.

With all the weight he carries on his shoulder, the journey can often be lonely. Reassuringly, he found solace in EO Melbourne. Jamie realised that with EO, “there are so many different learnings. The life of an entrepreneur can be quite isolated. To have a support network of peers who understand what I'm going through and have been through it themselves, just having that level of connection and support is important.”

The pertinent ideas and lessons he took from EO have helped him swim through high waters. Their industry is hard-hitting, and competition is stiff, especially with over 7,000 migration agents offering immigration assistance. The players are too many, and the tide can abruptly change against his favour. “The biggest thing that affects our industry is government regulation. With regards to migration, they can turn the tap on or off. We can have a significant law change that can affect our business. And so, it's finding new ways to continue to be in business, not only to survive but also to thrive,” opined Jamie.

He had to reinvent and innovate in his business to rise above the flow and get ahead of other swimmers in the ocean. A strong relationship with his clients is another key component that keeps his business going. Absolute Immigration’s tagline is ‘People, Not Paper,’ and there’s a good reason for it. For Jamie, “I've always gone by the rule of making sure I give the best possible advice to clients. If I stay true to that, my advice is going to be the best. I don't hold anything back.” According to him, it comes down to the level of strategic thinking they offer, which is going beyond the transaction. He always pushes himself and his team to give more effort each time, to exceed expectations, and to get the right results.

In the 17 years of his business, as much as there were many disappointments, Jamie also had lots of victories and big wins. He may have been on the brink of bankruptcy, but the highs still keep coming. “What a victory looks like changes the longer you go in business. Winning a client that is a medium-sized company at the start might be a fantastic feature for you. Then winning a big company down the track might be the next victory. And things like buying a building and a warehouse for our office are great victories to celebrate,” Jamie described.

To get to those highs, it’s an arduous ascent. Jamie likens it to scaling Mt. Everest. “You think your high is Basecamp. But it's not really. There's still a journey to go. Once you get to the top of the mountain, there's another mountain to go behind,” he illustrated. Despite how rough and daunting the entrepreneurial rollercoaster cycle is, he sticks to it because he found it satisfying.

“An important thing to do is to understand that each day is a brand new day and then reset yourself for that day. It is not taking where the problems have been from your defeats the day before. You don't take them to a new day. You may get knocked over yesterday, but tomorrow is another day, and you're still pumping the same vision,” the determined entrepreneur imparted.

Looking towards the future, Jamie is keen to know how they can change the nature of work for immigration professionals. It all comes down to technology. “You could be doing my job and then working on the beach in Byron Bay, Mexico or Boracay. I think that the days of working in big firms until late at night are about to end. And so, I see us pioneering in our space in changing the way people work,” he thought deeply.

Apart from business, Jamie also has personal aspirations on how his future will look like several years down the road. Paramount to that is his family. Talking about his children brought a twinkle in his eyes. His joy was evident as he mentioned his two sons and two-year-old daughter. “We call her boss baby because she runs the house,” Jamie fondly said, referring to their youngest child. “Yes, she runs the house, the boss baby. She's hilarious.”

Hence, he hopes to be able to devote more time to his family in the years to come. “I want to make sure that I continue to have lots of time with my kids. I don't think they would want to hang around with me all their life. I think that period is only going to be very short. Making sure that I can always be available to them and spend time with them is important to me. But also, I want to look further and see how I can get more involved with environmental causes and help look at sustainability and things like that.”

With his past, present and future laid down before him, Jamie learned one particular thing that could have changed his entrepreneurial path. He believes that saving 10% of his income would have made a huge difference in his life if he had done that from the start. He may not be able to turn back time and redo things, but it’s a lesson that budding entrepreneurs can also learn early in their journey. Still, he believes that money always comes, just like the oxygen in the air. “You don't have to breathe in all the oxygen in the room. It'll come, and it'll go. But I think if you put ten percent away from that, it'll be amazing what can happen.”

As an ocean lover, Jamie knows the dangers of the raging waves and the strong currents. But they enable him to stretch his muscles and taste the fun of being in the water. His entrepreneurial journey is like surfing in the ocean. Armed with a vision, and the commitment and resilience to accomplish it, he was able to handle thousands of doors slammed on his face. That is why he keeps pushing, no matter what. He never gives up in the face of difficulties and bounces back stronger than ever. Such determination and tenacity allow him to get on his board, stand tall, and feel the thrill of the ride. “There are lots of people that will tell you that you can't do it or it will feel hard. Some days, you'll feel beaten up and defeated. But come back and do it again the next day. Don't stop until you've got to your goal,” he counselled.

More about Jamie Lingham on his LinkedIn profile. Read on Absolute Immigration at http://www.absoluteimmigration.com/.

Michael Clark wants to make the world better

Michael Clark, Crisp Solutions Founder and Lemon Wedge owner, is guided by these business philosophies: make the world better, don’t take no for an answer and never give up. His deep awareness of both the good and the bad forces in life drive him every day. The positive is a never-ending inspiration and the negative elements are a powerful teacher where strength and experience can be found. Thus, out of the opportunities and the challenges his environment and life posed before him, Michael has emerged as a formidable businessman.

The Younger Years

Born and raised in the suburbs of Melbourne, Michael was a happy, determined and capable kid. He loved all sports and was particularly obsessed with basketball. “I loved people, making friends and doing fun things with them. I was always hardworking on weekends, doing jobs for family and friends to earn some pocket money, such as washing cars, gardening, mowing lawns, or working at our family business, filling bags with mulch or rocks for sale to customers,” Michael described. Alongside these affirmative attributes in his early years, he was also battling some undesirable surroundings.

In the space of about two years in the early 90’s recession, the family business failed and the family went bankrupt, with the bank taking the family home as a result. His Dad then left, placing his mother in a very difficult financial situation with two young children, no home, a low-income job and no financial support. “We were literally left with nothing financially – zero. There was a lot of intense emotional, sad and scary times. Mum did everything she could to keep a roof over our heads and single-handedly got us through this tough time.” Living every day in an environment where money was scarce and was seemingly the cause of all the world’s problems burnt many lessons into Michael’s mind. As a 12-year-old, he made a lifelong commitment to himself to do everything in his power to make the world better for himself and everyone he cared about.

In addition to the family complications, there were also rough times in school which were not ideal. Fortunately, again his mother was there to guide him through this uncertain scenario. “She was instrumental in keeping me at school and not going completely down the wrong path - as much as I tried,” Michael intimated. The school environment was not helping, with kids that were doing the worst things deemed as the cool ones. “It was a pretty rough school environment and I was getting in a lot of trouble. There was zero incentive to do the right thing or study hard. Anyone with ambition or academic success was brutally cut down and bullied,” as Michael puts it.

“Amongst all the craziness, I did still manage to stay focused on working hard and earning money. I had jobs every weekend and after school. I worked as much as I could to earn money and save up for things. I was always living by my own high moral and ethical code, but in reality, I was in a lot of high-risk situations. Without realising it, I was in a huge struggle not to become a product of my environment,” he related.

The Turning Point

The major turning point in his life was when he took a TAFE course in Business Marketing. “I met with a guidance counsellor who presented a TAFE course that was called an Advanced Diploma in Business Marketing, and I had just enough marks to get into it. Like many 18-year-olds, I had no idea what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I also had no idea what Business Marketing was, but when the counsellor told me it could be applied to any industry, a light bulb went off. If I took this course, I could defer a big part of the decision about what I wanted to do, which sounded perfect. That conversation with the counsellor had put me on the path to where I am today,” he narrated.

Attending the course each day presented a whole new environment for him. Michael recalled, “I met people that were loving life. They were a different kind of cool for completely different reasons than what I had been exposed in my earlier school. They were getting good marks in the course. They were ambitious, positive, outgoing, and hardworking. These kids had different family units and were into sports, things I had never tried before, like wakeboarding and snowboarding. It was truly a foreign concept to me. I loved it and immersed myself in all of it. I started to get good marks and enjoyed learning everything about marketing.”

At the TAFE course, Michael met some role models that ushered him to a positive journey in his life. He became close mates with his classmate Richie, who welcomed him into his family. Richie’s dad, Robyn Bray, became his inspiration and one of his mentors. “He was a successful entrepreneur, and his lifestyle engaged me completely. He was killing it in business, and he still had time to hang out with us and go wakeboarding or snowboarding a few times a week. Lucky for me he shared his experiences with me, with nothing being off-limits. I remember sitting in his office at his home for hours on end and asking thousands of questions to which he sat there and gave me time and energy in answering every single one of them.” That got Michael inspired with all the lessons that he found invaluable.

After some success in the TAFE course and some difficult negotiation with the University, Michael managed to get himself into a Business Marketing Degree course at Swinburne University, Hawthorn. In his 3rd year of study, they had an assignment on product management, which could have been just another random assignment. But, in fact, it turned out to be a pivotal moment. At that time, he was doing the standard part-time job in retail on days off and weekends. In the hope of landing a marketing position in the company’s head office, he started studying the business model and the customers’ behaviours and came up with different product ideas. The 3rd year university assignment was the perfect opportunity to put his ideas to the test. The research from the assignment reinforced Michael’s thoughts on how well the product ideas would work if he could get the product developed and ready for market.

The Deal of a Lifetime

From here, the real entrepreneurial journey began. Michael recalls hitting so many seemingly game-ending brick walls. But after two years of not taking no for an answer and applying many creative tactics, he had a product that was ready for market. The product was great for the stores, great for the customers and, with the right business model behind it, had an upside for Michael, too. After presenting the idea to the owners and directors of the national retailer, the long and tough negotiations began. Imagine the 22-year-old University student at the table with three experienced successful businessmen. The odds were not in his favour. When Michael walked out of the retailer’s national head office with a signed contract in his hand, he had achieved an awesome win-win deal for the retailer and his brand-new business. So long as he kept his end of the deal, he had secured a revenue stream for his business for a time period longer than he had been alive. “Can you imagine how I felt when I left that meeting? I sat down in my very average car, in a suit that I borrowed from my sister’s boyfriend, coming from a challenging upbringing, looking at a contract in my hand with signatures on it and a deal to last longer than the years I had lived on this earth. It’s safe to say there were a few tears. I will never forget this moment.”

Start Up Problems

With a contract in hand, Michael had to execute the operations to bring the business to life. Often, starting a business has some difficulties. Michael had to contend with those who were dissuading him to pursue his plans, telling him it was a crazy notion. Another major consideration was the capital. In the beginning, with no money, no access to finance and no knowledge of where to get it, he had to work things out creatively to get his ideas off the ground. It was a huge risk, and so much hard work was already put into his ideas. He could have given up, but he realised the potential of his business far outweighed the risks involved.

“My whole life, I dealt with being told ‘no’ and being around negative people. So, I pushed through it and did not give up. Financially, I attempted to borrow money from banks, my family and family friends. The majority said no, and the options on the table were not favourable, as I did not think it fair to give up a large portion of the business. In the end, I made it happen by bootstrapping everything and structuring the initial deal so that I could effectively make it happen with no money down,” Michael revealed.

His first business transaction was still vivid in his mind. To make both ends meet, Michael worked out a deal with the retailer and the supplier to get him through the financial challenges. He settled with the retailer to have a suitable minimum order per store that would give him enough gross profit to cover the cost of his expenses. “I negotiated shorter payment terms on this initial order of 14 days from delivery,” he said. With regards to the supplier, he bargained for a smaller minimum order quantity for the first order and a 90-day payment term from the date of delivery. “Effectively, this made the business cash flow positive from two weeks after delivering the first order,” he added.

The Entrepreneur

From these beginnings, Michael then pushed forward, determined to make the most of the opportunities now in front of him. He has been involved in many exciting businesses, ideas and partnerships. At present, he has two enterprises where he is active in the operations and management of the business – Crisp Solutions and Lemon Wedge. These are in addition to property businesses in the UK and Australia where he doesn’t involve himself on a daily basis.

As he grew his businesses, he has had to hurdle more stumbling blocks. Cash flow was a constant challenge, particularly with some unproductive transactions and unforeseen circumstances. Plus, of course, he had to build a solid team to make his ideas happen. Moreover, he needed access to knowledge and systems to execute his ideas.

Good thing that he got a little help from certain areas. One of these is EO Melbourne. “I am a believer that you are the average of the five people you hang out with most. EO gives unlimited access to improve that average. I love learning from experts and others that are successful. EO gives me great opportunity to learn in this way. To me, experiences are among the most important parts of life. Mexico and India University have provided life-changing experiences that I will keep forever,” he quipped.

He also honed his skills of running a business effectively through audiobooks, books, podcasts, thought leaders, mentors, and experts. “Richards Branson’s book Losing My Virginity was a massive influence. And his attitude of making anything happen, regardless of the circumstances, was a big player in my early career,” according to Michael.

When he had people already working for him, Michael learned the importance of open communication. He imparts to his team his big visions and goals, along with clear expectations. They have Daily and Weekly Huddles, Weekly Wassups and Monthly Mirrors. He listens to his people and provides a platform where everyone is heard equally and recognised.

With their company vision of “Make the world better”, Michael offers his team an environment that can make their world better, both in their personal lives and careers. “Everyone knows what it is: Make the world better. It’s a simple and fun motto. It applies to all suppliers, partners, team members, and customers. It is ingrained in our daily routines and habits. We make it a huge part of our recruitment. We do what we can to make sure that anyone who wants to be part of the team has the right mindset and knows what they are getting themselves into. We then keep it a big part of the day-to-day culture through daily processes, reminders and things like gratitude journals.”

From his experiences and the knowledge taught to him by those who were ahead of him in the game, Michael formulated pertinent qualities of an entrepreneur that others may also find helpful. For him, it is important to “Find out what people or businesses want. Give them more of this than anyone else does, and you win. Learn how to learn. Get as many skills as you can, as they will all come in handy one way or another, often when you least expect it.  Learn about marketing, finance, mindfulness, focus, communication, and life balance.”

Life

When it comes to life balance, Michael loves being a dad to his two kids and “the best partner in the world” to their mum. He also finds time for his other interests, such as sports, training, snowboarding, socialising, travelling, and learning. “It never stops. I will be learning until my last breath,” he uttered.

Michael looks back and relishes the things he has done as an entrepreneur. He happily named his achievements as, “Living every day, creating products, building businesses that run without me, and changing people’s lives.” Then, with eyes set on the future, he has grand plans for the rest of his entrepreneurial journey. “I am aiming for five businesses to run with the little requirement on my time. I would expect to be turning over anywhere from 20 to 100 million dollars across those businesses.”

To those who intend to take the entrepreneurial road, he has this to say, “Spend time improving who you are as a person, as well as your knowledge base so that you can continually improve your levels of happiness, and the same for those around you and your businesses.” And if he could go back in time and convey some words of wisdom to his younger self, this is what he would tell the novice Michael, “You can do it, bro. Don’t lose too much of your energy to the stress about it not working out. Keep learning, and surround yourself with others that are winning and achieving more than what you are, to make your world even better.”

Learn more about Michael Clark on his LinkedIn profile. Read more about Crisp Solutions at http://crispsolutions.com.au/.

The strength of time for Graeme Goldman

The adage "time is gold” may be a bit of a cliché, but not to Graeme Goldman, who is in the business of selling timepieces. Graeme is the founder and owner of Lion Brands, a multi-brand distributor of Swiss-made watches, and the love for this item grew in him since childhood.

“Ever since I was about seven or eight years old, I always had watches around and was always enthralled by watches,” Graeme began. He remembered his grandfather who had several of those timepieces. Back then, the young Graeme wondered why older people were so fixated on time.

Growing up in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, they didn’t have television at that time because it didn’t arrive early in Africa. “For us, we would finish school at midday, and then we would have hours after hours where we couldn't sit in front of a computer or a TV set. We just played outdoors. So, we had six or seven hours to mark. I was always fascinated as to why adults were always worried about time. They needed to have this thing on their wrist, telling them that I had less time left. Whereas as a kid, time was irrelevant,” he pondered.

From an early beguilement of that object, it evolved into a hobby where Graeme was buying and selling second-hand Swiss watches during his teens. “I was always wheeling and dealing, swapping things, buying things, trading stuff, swapping a goldfish for a bicycle, all that sort of stuff for the friends of mine. So, to me, it was just an extension of my hobby,” narrated Graeme. Instinctively, because he wanted to make more as well as not lose on a deal, he continued trading until he became good at it.

After university, Graeme first worked in companies as a chartered accountant before he trudged on the entrepreneurial road. But because he was dissatisfied with the politics and unhealthy dealings in large corporations, he left the corporate world in 2004 and went on his own. “I decided to leave (the corporate) and not die wondering how it is to run my own business. I thought, ‘let's see whether it's worth it or not, whether I have the ability to do something or not.’ And it all started there,” was how he described his early beginnings.

The shift from corporate to entrepreneurship was an adjustment for Graeme. For one, he had to do everything by himself, from packing boxes in the warehouse to heavy lifting. Another adjustment is the lack of companionship, from having over a hundred staff members in the corporate, down to only about three of them in his venture, which meant not having enough people to bounce ideas off. “It's like travelling at 400 kilometres an hour, and then suddenly stopping and starting to walk. You feel the inertia pushing behind you, but there was just no momentum. So, it was the lack of having a sounding board, the lack of interaction with people, and the lack of advisors or people that you could lean on just for a different opinion,” Graeme expressed.

Not having any mentor when he started his business was one of the struggles he experienced in the early part of his journey. “That's why I joined EO Melbourne because I found it exceptionally lonely. There were a lot of other issues an entrepreneur faces that I never anticipated I would face, being shielded to a certain degree by big corporates,” he explained. Graeme found great company in his EO Forum. “To quote one of our forum members, 'we're like a band of brothers and sisters that no matter what, we are here to watch your back in a safe non-judgmental environment.' And to me, I've been lucky enough to experience that,” he said.

The main issue that Graeme realised business owners face is cash flow. “I wasn't well-funded,” he disclosed. The second issue, according to him, is staffing. And then, third is partnership issue.

“Staffing is hard,” according to Graeme. “Although I shouldn't complain. I've got a phenomenal core team around me that that have been here for a long time. So, overall, that core is fantastic. But as you get further out, it gets more and more difficult as to their understanding of how the business works. They have expectations of what they want to do, how little they want to work, and how much they want to get paid,” he added.

How Graeme approaches his role as a business owner is like being a captain of a rugby or football team. “It's not a matter of me sitting in some ivory tower dictating to people what to do. I still go score goals myself. I still have to be part of that team.” He doesn’t think of himself as a good leader or a bad leader. Rather, he learns from his previous bosses, retaining the good and refusing to pass on to those reporting to him the bad habits that he was a recipient before.

But the lowest of lows for Graeme is the betrayal by a business partner. He started his business with partners from overseas. But three years into the partnership, they had to part ways. “Their values were not quite the same as mine. Values are very important,” he quipped. Plus, he brought in a concept that was not as well accepted in Australia as it was back in South Africa. With his divorce from his previous partners, Graeme brought on board one of his colleagues whom he met through business. They became friends over time and set up three businesses: a retail store design venture; a wholesale import distribution Swiss watch business; and multi-brand Swiss watch stores.

It is also tough that the retail industry is a fast-paced world. One of the biggest challenges is marrying the retail experience of brick-and-mortar to the convenience of the digital technology. Graeme finds it frustrating to have old-school retailers that don’t want to change and are holding back the business. At the same time, it is an opportunity for him and his team to lead in the industry through innovation.

Since being a business owner takes so much time and effort from Graeme, he admits that he has not been a poster boy for work-life balance. He has missed out on several things with his children because he was working in the corporate and travelling during their formative years.

They are now grown up, and Graeme talked about them with a father’s pride. His youngest son has shown signs of interest towards the business world, with a lot of promise of becoming a successful salesperson. But Graeme still wants to give him the freedom to explore the world outside of their business, gather as much experience as he can, and choose what he wants to do in the future. “He needs to go out to the big wide world first. If he does come back, he was meant to come back. If he doesn't come back, that's life,” the father and business owner shared. For now, his son works part-time in their retail business. Graeme applauds his son’s interaction with the team because the staff don’t regard him as the owner’s son. “It’s a testament to his character,” Graeme said.

Even with the possibility of having a new generation taking over the business, Graeme still sees himself very much involved in his ventures. “You know, growing up, it was always, 'Oh, I'm going to get into a business. I'm going to get a job. I'm going to make money. And then, I'm going to retire.’ There was always this romantic notion of retirement. I don't see myself sitting on a beach one day, stopping from work. I see myself as always being involved in something to do with business, whether it's this current business with my son's involved in it or we sell it. Who knows what happens?” Graeme thought.

He knows that getting old will eventually slow him down. He might reduce his work days from something like seven down to four, and spend more time with his wife and family. While he still pictures himself working in the future, he will no longer be working like a madman as when he started his businesses.

Graeme also acknowledges the risk of the business falling apart without him there. So, he needs to put up a structure wherein they can still sustain itself even when he’s no longer around. “I'm not saying this because I'm very important. But, because it's me who runs a business, I sometimes forget that I need to separate the business from myself. I need to build the business in a way that it can operate without me there, which is possibly the biggest challenge. It's one of the biggest things that we were looking on for the next three years, which is to build the business around the team as around me,” he professed.

While he likes to do big-picture dreaming and plan long-term, Graeme believes that many things can still happen in ten years’ time, given the changing economic landscape, particularly in the segment where their businesses belong. But within five years, he wants to strengthen the brand experience of their customers in the actual physical setting and the online sphere. He hopes to have a dominant position in both online and offline platforms.

For those who also want to enter the entrepreneurial space, these are his words of advice, “It always takes longer than you think. It always costs more than your budget. You're going to have bigger and greater problems then you can ever believe possible. But if you don't give up and continue to believe in yourself even during the dark times, when you come out the other side and taste the sweet nectar of success, it's a truly pleasing time. You forget about the darkness you've gone through in the past. So, stick with it.”

Along with it, he cites the qualities of honesty, integrity and fairness as important tools in running a business. In the same way, he counsels others to be discerning in choosing and surrounding themselves with good people that have positive values. These qualities are some of the ingredients that brought Graeme to the road of success.

The victories, big or small, are what Graeme gets going. Whether it’s selling and exiting a business or assembling a great team, he sees them all as a reward for all the hard work he has put into his ventures. So, he takes time to relish on those wins. “With the passage of life and lack of time, we tend to let the successes go by unnoticed. As it's always human nature, we look at the negatives, the troubles, and the problems. We don't always look at the successes. Sometimes, it's just the small things that are right in front of you that are the most successful. When you sit back and reflect on those, it makes your work more than just a number. When they happen, they're sweet,” he remarked.

As every second is vital to complete a minute, Graeme takes on every success, challenge and learning event that helped mould him to be the entrepreneur he now is. He began his entrepreneurial walk early on, trudging a long, arduous path, which continues to this day, not knowing when it will end. With all his experiences, Graeme has been tested and strengthened by time. And he is set to spend the rest of his entrepreneurial journey doing what he is most passionate about, which revolves around time.

Read more about Graeme Goldman on his LinkedIn profile. More on Lion Brands at http://www.lionbrandsaustralia.com.au/.

Anou Khanijou’s concept of self-belief and endless possibilities

“Believe and act as if it were impossible to fail.” This quote from inventor Charles Kettering is the life and business motto of Anouconcept Founder and Owner, Anou Khanijou.

“I believe that nothing is impossible. The word in itself says, 'I'm possible',” the “powerhouse” business owner said. Her entrepreneurial story is one of courage and determination that helped her shape her space in the business world as she started her ventures on her own, regardless of the odds.

Anou’s business journey exhibited a boldness that propelled her forward. It also showed the entrepreneurial spirit she inherited from her parents, who made their living through tailor-making garments. Her father used to sell newspapers on the streets and worked hard to build his empire. Coming from an Indian-Thai ancestry, the family arranged her for marriage at the age of fifteen, something which Anou opposed. Wanting to escape such predicament, Anou ran away from home, came to work in Club Med Cherating Beach when she was only 16 years old and continued working at Club Med across the world.

Despite being a minor, as it was prohibited to hire one, she was still provided with work because she easily proved her impressive value to the company, given her ability to speak fluent English as a great advantage. Among her tasks was to teach people how to do basic computer programming, which was one of her strong suits. Coding was something she enjoyed when she was young, something she learned from the courses she attended in her spare time. Anou quickly learned the ropes of the trade and exhibited her sharp understanding of people and how the fabric of society is put together through her constant interaction and engagement with them.

“In another bold move, I met some wonderful families holidaying from Australia who offered me some great opportunities in their country,” she revealed. She grabbed the chance and decided to go to Australia. As a young girl travelling on her own, without any parents, she went through an intensive interview with the Immigration Department. “I was very lucky that I encountered these great people during my Club Med experience. They vouched for me to the Immigration Department. Through their generosity, I was able to come to Australia,” she added.

Because of her proficiency in various languages – English, Thai, Japanese, French, Hindi – she got a job at the duty-free shops as she could communicate well with various international tourists. “At that time, tourism was booming. And this was going back to 1987. So, I did very well out of that and saved money with the aspiration to start my own business one day,” explained the resolute business owner.

With the help of a close friend who she later married, Anou got the opportunity to start a business of her own. Not knowing what business that would be, he suggested a Thai restaurant so she could share her talent for cooking delicious Thai food. Nearing the age of 18, she opened her business, amidst many feelings of nervousness and fear. “I had no money the day I opened the doors. I had only $49 in my bank account when I opened the restaurant,” Anou shared.

As it turned out, the restaurant was a big hit. On top of that, the stock market crashed in the 1980’s that kept people from travelling, adding a boost to the restaurant’s performance. From what she accumulated from that venture, she opened another business with a group of people that she had met through owning the restaurant. “It was part of Melbourne's very exciting nightclub called The Carousel in Albert Park. I met a lot of people through that again, people in the music and the entertainment industry, and established myself in that space,” Anou recalled.

This venture introduced Anou into the world of entertainment. It led her to her next business, an advertising agency, which she opened when she was about 25 years old. Through that agency, she handled large clients, including energy companies that helped her carve a niche in that sector. One day, while at the advertising agency, a close friend she had made in the nightclub industry approached her, asking her help for a film opening. This opportunity paved the way for the birth of Anouconcept, which is her experiential PR and events agency.

Alongside her creative agency, she also went into the manufacturing trade, providing uniforms for schools and corporations. Anou knew that segment very well from growing up with her family’s business in the garments industry.

While Anou found the entrepreneurial world a comfortable space for her, her journey, however, was not a trouble-free start. When she began her first venture, not having enough capital was a huge risk that got on her nerves. “I was very scared when I was young. But now, I think that with the creative work that I do, money follows. It is not the biggest motivating factor in my life because I love creating businesses and building them well. I work very hard to ensure that we're always innovative and different and ahead of the game,” she disclosed.

The business environment was full of challenges, but Anou felt there were no hurdles too high for her to overcome. “I've never found any difficulty starting a business. I just wanted to do it. I jumped with my two feet in, put the best foot forward, and was able to convert them. So, my difficulty was being scared. It is being scared of not being successful. The fear of not achieving. The fear of not having money. The fear of not getting there. If you believe in what you're doing and have extreme self-belief, it overrides everything. That's the case for me. I truly believe in what I do and am very focused on it. That's been the reason why I’ve always been able to drive myself and whatever business I carry forward,” admitted the serial entrepreneur.

Running several businesses and starting a family was also not easy for Anou. Still, she was able to find a solution to her situation. “When I had children, my biggest thing was that I felt I was disconnected.  To overcome this, I made sure I worked very, very close to home. Currently, my large offices are less than a hundred meters walk from my house, so I can be connected to my two beautiful daughters as well as keep my businesses going,” she quipped.

Nonetheless, her entrepreneurial journey also had heartbreaks. “I went through a very scary patch when I had the advertising agency, and I broke away to do the fabrics,” she intimated. She thought it was a fantastic idea to be doing children’s clothing. However, she lost a lot of money, which scared Anou, yet made her even more determined to change the business into something meaningful. “Business is about passion and understanding the market, then connecting your client’s vision with their customer to create a lasting memory,” Anou imparted.

She also had to contend with the changing landscape of the industries where her businesses belong. Even in the manufacturing sector, she has to be innovative and dynamic because of market shifts. To be ahead of the changes, Anou continues to be responsive when the market is changing or when there are disruptors. For example, they have not only converted their plastics into biodegradable plastics, they have also set up a virtual fitting room for customers and clients.

Anou believes that the learnings never stop and that she will always be a student of life. One of the avenues that helped nurture her capabilities is EO Melbourne. Apart from the interesting people she met in the organisation, the learning events also opened her eyes to different directions. Listening to the inspiring stories of other business owners helped expand her thoughts. From what she has picked from the experiences of others, she then brought them to her businesses and applied the lessons accordingly.

Those lessons also moulded her to become an effective leader. Now, with a large number of people in her employ, Anou has been motivating her team based on their varying needs. For her staff in Asia, she provides language sessions, often inviting celebrity teachers to teach them English. Even her team in Australia, she grows them through continuous learning. There are spaces in their office for children and pets, who are always welcome. She cares for her people and, in turn, for their families, being a wife and mother herself. Anou shared, “Whether it’s a film, an event, a product or a garment, the same care and love since we established Anou Thai still live within our team. We love what we do, and our culture truly embraces our family values.”

When it comes to the drive, the passion, the vision, and the ability to see something and create it, Anou is a role model for the younger entrepreneurs. “If you believe in yourself, the courage comes. If you do the right thing in your business, money comes. It's all a byproduct of your doing. And it all starts with you, as an individual. Always,” she conveyed.

Continuing with her entrepreneurial journey, Anou looks ahead to the future full of positivism, determination and benevolence. “I want my businesses to be meaningful. In the growth sector that we're doing, we'll dominate the space. It's not always about how many millions each business may make. It's about leaving a legacy,” the dynamic businesswoman imparted.

Learn more about Anou Khanijou on her LinkedIn profile. Read http://anouconcept.com/ for more on Anouconcept.

Donna Guest on preparing for life challenges

An accidental entrepreneur. That is how Co-founder of retail company Blue Illusion, Donna Guest, describes herself. It was not something that she envisioned when she married her late husband and then business partner, Danny Guest. Moreover, becoming a CEO of a company was not something she contemplated when they started the business 20 years ago. She came into the position when Danny passed away suddenly last year.

Losing a business partner is one thing. The demise of a spouse is another matter. It was like a double tragedy for Donna. Someone who’s been a huge part of her life has departed. Business-wise, the difficulty was that she was more responsible for the creative side of the venture. Negotiating contracts, overseeing leases, and transacting with banks were Danny’s responsibilities. With the turn of events, Donna has to be comfortable with various aspects of the business.

This uneventful circumstance left Donna to rely on her executive team. This strong team quickly picked up the pieces and helped her run the company. Donna found it fortunate that her People and Culture manager that is handling HR is also a personal friend for the last 30 years. “She was mourning as well because she was very close to Danny. But she could nurture the rest of the team because I couldn't. So, it was an interesting time. I look back now, nearly eleven months, we're just starting to get out our pace and energy back, and celebrating the wins again,” Donna quipped.

The Guests started their business 30 years ago and grew it into a brand that has a presence in Australia, New Zealand and the US. Donna and Danny were already husband and wife when they started Blue Illusion, which marks its 20th year as a retail business. However, they were ten years into wholesaling before they shifted to retail. “My husband had a little business with his mom. Then she wanted to retire. I was pregnant with our second child. I came into the business, and we just we just hit it off. We knew what we wanted,” she narrated.

The independence and lifestyle of running a fashion business drew Donna on the entrepreneurial journey. But more than that, the obligation to provide for the family also brought her and her husband towards this career. “We wanted to send our children to private schools, and the only way we knew how was to work hard and be successful. It was our driver. But it was more of that we just loved what we did. Then we learned more about running a business as the years went along. We did every course I think known to man. We just had that spirit that there were no limits. We'd set our goals every year, and we'd achieved them. Then we would set another larger goal. It just grew and grew and grew. Before we knew it, we had 120 stores and a lot of employees,” shared Donna.

Donna and Danny were not born into wealth. Their humble beginnings and similarities in their upbringing bonded them together. They both had a huge drive. “We worked from very young, both of us. We were working from the age of 14 or younger, whether it was newspaper rounds or working at the supermarket or Danny working for his mom sewing. In our day, it was either you were educated and became a lawyer, or you left school young and followed your passion,” she stated.

That passion blurred any boundary there was when it comes to chasing their dreams. The possibilities became unlimited. “When you're passionate about something and super focused on it, it gains momentum,” Donna pronounced. That same passion kept them driven towards achieving their goals, regardless of the challenges and stumbling blocks.

The early stages were tough as they had to do everything. They also lacked organisation and focus on the things they were doing. “When we first started the business, my husband and I used to crossover roles. When we got bored of an area, we would swap. One minute he was the salesman or the sales manager, the next minute I was the sales manager. One minute he was doing designs, the next minute I was doing the design. It was until someone sat us down and told us to focus on our respective strengths,” she recalled. Donna then oversaw product and marketing, while Danny supervised the sales and all other aspects of the company, such as finance and operations.

Having this single-minded focus was one of the key learnings for Donna throughout her business experience. “Find something that you're seriously great at, and just focus on that,” Donna imparted. Thus, in aspects of the business which are not her strength, she employs people who are good in those areas.

As in most startups, difficulties were always present. Insufficient funds were among their major considerations. Also, there were so many things that they wanted to do straight away. Being new in the business at that time, they haven’t protected their business enough. One of the heartbreaks that Donna remembered they went through was having well-trusted employees stealing their intellectual property. “You put in all this work to learn and grow the ideas. I think it’s heartbreaking when that happens. It’s very disappointing, and it shakes your world a little bit,” she expressed. To address this concern, they had to put in systems and agreements in place.

Through the years, they had contractors who have helped them grow and develop their business. One of their role models, who is also their mentor, is Craig Kimberley, Just Jeans founder. “Craig Kimberley was the chairman of my advisory board. He was a great role model, a success story with the Just group. He was in our lives for a good ten years, mentoring us,” Donna said.

“Being part of EO Melbourne also enabled us to learn how to organise and lead our team efficiently. We recently did a learning activity with my executive team after attending the Verne Harnish’s strategy for the year. That was great because it pulled the team together, and we had great ideas. The executive team constantly communicates and congratulates their people when they achieve something and provides them with opportunities to grow,” she stated. However, Donna realised that while they were able to encourage the team, motivating a team through disaster was a lot tougher.

Continuous learning is one of the tools that Donna has found helpful throughout their entrepreneurial journey. She finds the EO international events and universities fantastic. “You’ve always got to look at what’s going on and learn,” Donna commented. She admits that she wasn’t good at networking, while her husband was a natural networker. He would communicate with various people to get ideas and stay on top of what’s happening in the marketplace. “I think that’s something that I’ve had to go outside my comfort zone to do. I'm quite happy with the fact that it's so worthwhile. It’s always great to hear other people’s experiences. So, networking is always a good thing, as well as studying and going to courses.”

With the company’s three pillars of fashion, lifestyle and community, Donna and her team are heavily involved with charities. They support six charities and hold day events for them. Similarly, their managers and staff also fundraise for charities that are of importance to them. “Normally, a lot of our ladies don't have the opportunity or the finances to donate a lot. But when they want to hold an event in store and raise money for charity, it's something special to them. They get a lot of joy from it,” Donna revealed.

Now that Donna is suddenly thrust to the helm, she rallies her people behind her. “We launched the vision of the company back in September because we felt that everyone wanted to understand where I would take the business.” She may have big shoes to fill, but she is stepping up to the challenge.

Her advice to business owners on facing unexpected predicaments like hers is this, “In my experience, for anyone in business, especially if they are a partnership, they should talk the ‘what ifs’ and work out what they would do in case a sudden crisis happens. I think if Danny and I had discussed this earlier when we were healthy and thought of a plan if there was some emergency or crisis, it would have been helpful.”

Their husband-and-wife business partnership worked perfectly well for them. Donna credits her other half for the success they have both achieved. “I know that there's a lot of entrepreneurial women out there that started their businesses and had huge success. But I can't say that I did all these on my own. I relied on my husband to support me and encourage me to take on the role that was not my natural ability. And now, in memory of him, he's challenging me to do it, and I'm learning to enjoy it.”

For Donna, her story is not complete without Danny. His legacy still lives in the heart of Donna, their family and the many people he touched. By sharing their entrepreneurial journey, Donna hopes to honour Danny and give him the acclaim of being such a wonderful entrepreneur.

Read about Donna Guest on her LinkedIn profile. More on Blue Illusion at http://www.blueillusion.com.au/.

The curious case of Bernie Fernandez

Curiosity ignited something within Bernie Fernandez, Executive Director and Founder of Agero Group, to start a business. That curiosity has constantly made him yearn for more. There are pros and cons to it, he fathoms. The thirst for knowledge can often be insatiable. Nevertheless, it is this same curiosity that has led Bernie to a perpetual quest for learning.

In the beginning, Bernie didn’t regard himself as curious. The discovery was quite peculiar. It was on his wedding day when it was his best man’s turn to give a speech. The fellow started highlighting his various characteristics. “I never met a more curious person in my life than Bernie,” the best man said about the groom. Bernie never realised he was a curious person before that. Those words just hit him in the face.

Another incident that reinforced that description of Bernie was when someone came up to him and asked if he had taken an online character test, the VIA strengths, where he would find out his top 24 strongest characteristics. So, he did. Remarkably, Bernie’s results generated curiosity as his number one character strength. This curiosity was a significant key to his entrepreneurial journey.

Bernie didn’t have any entrepreneurial background in his family to lay claim to, as they were the working-class type. His father was an orphan who left his life in Spain to come over to Australia when he was a young man. His mother’s family, which was very conservative and risk-adverse, was from Chile. Growing up in an immigrant household that included his maternal grandmother and uncle, Bernie developed a diversity in his character. He found in himself aspects of both his dad and his uncle, who were very different people.

“I feel like double. I feel like I’m the benefit of being twice as diverse. Dad was an immigrant orphan. He was hardworking and head down. As an orphan, he struggled with his emotions. He was very loyal. A very nice guy. He was such a hard worker, which was a bad thing if you think about it, as he passed away because he worked so much. On the other hand, my uncle from the Chilean side was politically privileged in the Chilean society. He got amazing awareness of culture, food, dress sense and habits. For example, he would take me to the ballet and the orchestra. Through my uncle, I know how to do a tie and how to wear a suit. And that's the salesperson in me,” Bernie explained.

As a youth, he recalls being frustrated and rebellious. “I didn't do well in high school. I left my university degree before I finished it because I knew I was going to hate it.” But the frustration also drove him to constantly strive for something new as he started entering the workforce. At 15, his first job was at Coles as a cash register. But he got frustrated that it made him want to do different things to be better. From there, he moved on to find his place in the food and hospitality industry.

“I started in a café, and I loved it. Then, I ended up working at fine dining restaurants and being a manager and enjoying it,” he recalled.  Since he started settling down to work, he always wanted to work in the architectural industry. Bernie worked his way from the bottom and quickly rose through the ranks in different roles and responsibilities. From being an architect, he graduated to become a designer and then later a project manager. He then found himself making sales, which he thoroughly enjoyed more than anything, as he worked for only four hours a day and did quite well. This point in his career was what he described as “a truly balanced, fantastic life as a salesperson”.

“And then, this frustration inside me came about again that I wanted to feel my worth, my value at work,” Bernie expressed. He aspired to be a partner in the company where he was working. From the first day of his job, he told his employer that he would dedicate himself to the business because he wanted to be a shareholder. That never happened. With the desire to satisfy his need and knowing he wouldn’t find a better employer, Bernie decided to go on his own and start for himself.

“When you get to the top, you realise there’s nowhere else to go. But I have to get to the next. With work and business, when I have covered the technical skills and the management and sales side, the natural next step for my curiosity is to start a business.” Since he has built his career in this area of expertise, he founded a business focusing on interiors construction.

Bernie didn’t experience a lot of difficulties starting a business because of the business acumen he honed over the years of his employment and the low barriers to entry. “It's relatively easy to generate good cash if I have a sales pipeline. I know mine is going to come in through the door. I’ll have a low cost (of expenditures), and I’ll be good. The only thing that can truly scare you is failing. And you can't fail if you keep having jobs. The real challenge is starting now for me. The more I have to manage a business, the less I sell, the business starts to hurt. To be honest, I’m now in the midst of my first very big challenge, I think,” he surmised.

Still, difficulties were never absent in life, especially to business owners like Bernie. Having invested everything he had in the business, including his time, there were aspects of life that were bound to hurt. “The hardships were that my relationships have suffered. My body is what has suffered the most because I’m not as active as I used to be. The best version of me in business was when I worked four hours a day. That’s when I sold the most and performed the best. I didn't have to worry about anything, other than selling, finding opportunities, and having fun with clients. I’m working through hardships now. There are people hardships, such as hardships of trying to keep staff. I’m not a very good manager of staff. So, the real hardship is that I’ve lost staff because they come and go. And I get bigger projects.” As if these were not enough, Bernie underscored the major hurdle in his path. “The biggest hardship is meeting my own expectation. I get frustrated when I’m not growing,” he disclosed.

Moreso, the construction industry is quite volatile. Bernie pointed out the labour market as a difficult factor. “I have to compete with bigger construction businesses that continually increase wages because they have to get people. There is a big labour shortage in construction,” he declared. He has come to terms that he is not going to win in the labour game. To counter that, he keeps his staff to a minimum, with only three people under his wings.

Because he has a few people on his team, Bernie has devised a way to guarantee effective delivery of their services to clients. “The best practice I’ve ever done was, with the three of them, have a strategy. We execute a rhythm of meetings where we would focus on accomplishing certain things that are outside of our day-to-day technical life.” He has also kept strong relations with his clients, and they have remained loyal to him.

In retrospect, there are things that he would like to change if given a chance to do things differently. “I probably wouldn't do my business as it is in its current format because it's a project-based business. I don't like the fickleness of it. There's no value to my business. There's no recurring income. There is no sticky client. But, now, with this business as it is, what I would do differently is that I probably would have taken a bigger risk and pay for better staff for better performance,” Bernie contemplated.

Having experienced being employed and running a business, he can now measure up the challenges and rewards both have given him. “Well, working as an employee certainly gives you a certain level of bliss because all you have to worry about is what you have to do and that's it. I got so good as an employee. But that frustration crept in. That curiosity crept in.”

“The benefit of having my business is that, aside from growing my business, I, myself, as a person, have grown exponentially. I almost argue that my growth for the last five or six years has been bigger than I could ever remember. I have a thirst for knowledge that I never had at school. I never had school. I want to improve myself and my level of awareness. Spirituality is back into my life. My communication skills alone have been worthwhile. I was a shy kind of guy. I never understood girls or how to communicate with them. Now, my wife and I, even though we had tough times, I think we can communicate better than ever. I’m forever improving. I’m the best version of who I am because of having a business and because of having that curiosity, so much in so many other ways. The bad side is like I’ve said, it’s very consuming. The biggest spiritual challenge right now is how to bring balance back into our lives so I can have my family, so my body doesn't turn shoddy because I sit down so much all day. That's my challenge.”

Outside of work, Bernie focuses on self-improvement and family. Although he yearns for golf and he knows he needs exercise, he doesn’t have the luxury of time anymore. He’s trying to work on some bad habits, such as watching television and not guarding the food he eats. He was unmindful of their effects on his body until the books he reads and the talks he attended in EO Melbourne opened his eyes to these things.

With more than two years as part of EO Melbourne, he has learned a lot of insights that he can infuse into his business and personal life. He may not regard himself as an entrepreneur yet, but as a business owner, he admits that EO has taught him a lot. “I think one of the biggest values for me as a young business person (I avoid using the word ‘entrepreneur’) is the content. The educational content is superb. And as I mature and have more and more psychological problems with running a business, the support network is going to be great. I can see it. Over the first one or two years, I never had much to contribute or even take from the support it gives, but I’m getting there.”

It was in EO Melbourne where he learned to accept the scenario that he’s in. “I guess I’ve recently reached a level of understanding, which has given me a lot of comforts that I’ve come to accept, that my business is a cash flow business. That will never have value. But what cash flow businesses can do is potentially open up opportunities to look at other businesses. So, in other words, I’ll take the cash from here and look at a recurring-income business, then I have two businesses,” Bernie quipped.

Another significant lesson he picked from EO is to be grateful for things every day. And the one thing he is most grateful for is the best treasure he now possesses – his son. “In my life, the happiest I am is because of my son, my little boy. When I am with him, it's absolute bliss. I don't think about work. What work buys and the money I make has no impact on my happiness with my son,” Bernie articulated.

There is no doubt that his son is his ultimate joy. But when he looks at the business side of his life, he feels he doesn’t have wins yet.“I look around. I have a great office and relatively good life,” he admits. While there are things he still wants to do, there is also a part of him that doesn’t want to work. “I'm Spanish, right? I don't want to work. I’d rather play golf and spend time in some amazing beach. But you know what, life is going to happen. Let's say I achieve that goal. I don't work, and I play golf for a year. I'll get another stimulus or some other idea that will make me follow that. It's a bit on the spiritual side. I don't want to be driven by the next thing.”

The future may seem far ahead, but he looks at selling his business and expanding to other ventures. “Selling my business is very important for me because it is the point in time that I know that I've succeeded,” he conveyed. Since he didn’t finish his degree, this is the one thing that can give him that approbation he warrants. “I didn't have a point in time where they say, ‘You know what, you got your degree, you got there, and all your hard work paid off.’ For me, selling my business is that point in time when it happens,” Bernie revealed.

After that, he would probably start a new business again. In fact, he’s working on another one right now. When that takes off, Bernie thinks he can officially call himself an entrepreneur. He believes he is more attracted to startups, founding them, growing them and selling them. But he does not also discount the idea of going back to employment and taking on a leadership or directorship role. Wherever his journey leads him, he is curious to find out what else is in store for him.

When asked if his curiosity on starting a business has led him to some answers, he has this to share. “I found the state that I was looking. It’s the state of perpetual improvement. There were no answers after a state of being. This curiosity thing, it’s perpetual learning. I still want to be somewhere where I can continually improve myself.”

Know more about Bernie Fernandez on his LinkedIn profile. Read about Agero Group at http://agero.com.au/.

Ross and David Fastuca: a family (partnership) that works

Working with family is something that one must avoid at all cost, some people warned this duo. But for cousins Ross Fastuca and David Fastuca, Locomote’s Chief Information Officer and Chief Marketing Officer, respectively, it is something that has thrived very well for them. For 16 years of working together in various ventures and businesses, Ross and David have shown that they are a formidable figure when it comes to building a company and steering it to success.

“David and I have always done business together since we were kids,” Ross remarked. “But I think we did it at such a young age that we probably learned through the years how to completely argue and be very candid and then not take offence to it. That's how we work together. We banter so much because we know it comes from a place of care. It doesn't come from ego.”

As business partners, they have established how to make the partnership work. There is no question when it comes to the delineation of roles. As David puts it, “that’s pretty easy because we both have different skill sets. My skill set is design and marketing, whereas Ross is more on the product management and technical side. I mean, we do give each other advice and give each other opinions on what each person is doing. So, we never had that issue of who does what.”

“With business decisions, we just agree either violently or not violently. When it comes to skill set, yes, we’re different. But with business decisions, I don't think we ever made a decision that wasn’t mutually agreed. It’s either we mutually agree or yell at each other for two hours until somebody quits. And it's not a win either. We just go, oh yeah, you're right,” Ross clarified.

From design to fashion to entertainment, and now, travel and information technology (IT), the duo has dipped their fingers into different industries. They have started off with businesses that provided services until they found more comfort in product-based endeavours. It seemed that David and Ross have been doing business their whole lives. Both have their close-knit family to thank for when it comes to setting the stage for their entrepreneurial debut.

Their grandfather’s coming over to Australia was a typical Italian migration story. The entire family – Ross’ father, David’s dad, who passed away when David was about three years old, and five other siblings – grew as new generations of Fastucas came into the picture. When David had a christening for his daughter, the party that was composed of their immediate family already totalled to 80. And it is still growing.

Ross grew up with his dad working from six in the morning until nine in the evening, which happened much throughout his childhood and for about 25 years. His father started a milk bar in Werribee. “We lived at the back of it while David lived down the street. So, we grew up like right next to each other, went to the same school, went to the same primary school, same secondary school, same higher education. We're basically like brothers,” Ross attests.

Their parents and all their uncles had small businesses. “I can't think of an uncle that doesn't have his own business,” Ross commented.  Although they weren’t poor, they lived basic lives and worked very hard to earn a living. That had a great impact on David and Ross because even as kids, they were doing something to make money. Ross remembered that time when his dad would give him a box of chocolate to sell at school instead of giving him money by doing chores. On the other hand, David recalled how they were working after school and during weekends, doing things from the kitchen table at Ross’ mum’s house.

Starting things and putting their ideas into something tangible were not always smooth-sailing for them. Ross described how they did things during those days. “To be honest, at the very start, when we started doing pretty much everything that we've done, we had no idea how to do any of it. We just took on opportunities as they came along and then learned them by brute force. It's not like learned and then do it. We got the opportunity and then learned based on whatever that opportunity was. At that time, we were doing so many different random things.”

One time, David was able to lock a project for a family friend. From there, his desire of starting his venture started taking root. He had business cards printed out, made up a name for his enterprise, and pretended he ran his own company. He told Ross about it, who exclaimed, “That’s not how you start a business!” Eventually, Ross, at 19, and David, at 16, teamed together to put up their first design agency. At that young age, nothing scared the two of them from diving into the entrepreneurial waters and testing the extent of their capacity. “We looked at it at that time as something as what’s the worst that could happen?” David explained. “At that age, we were so young. We just tried anything. We didn't truly care,” Ross added.

“My dad used to tell me and David that there’s no such thing as a word “can't”. So, I was brought up with that mentality that if you want to do something, just do it,” Ross intimated. Despite their exposure to entrepreneurship at an early age, the Fastuca cousins also encountered roadblocks and stumbled on obstructions throughout their entrepreneurial journey.

One particular misfortune was a business deal that got nipped in the bud. “We came up with a brilliant idea that we pitched to an investor. The investor said yes. They loved it. They were going to give $500,000 to start the project,” David recounted. However, the investor got embroiled in an embezzlement situation. “It was crippling at that stage. It was our first big project. It was something that would have made us say, ‘Yes, we made it. We're going to build something.’ And then the next day, we got nothing,” David continued.

For them, the greatest challenge is the build mode. Ross finds it as the most stressful stage when it comes to having your own business. While they were out trying to build something, they also had to worry about getting the right funding, making sure their business model works and growing their team.

David shares the same pressures with Ross, too. “A lot of stress is on ensuring that you’re building the right thing. It’s a good kind of stress, as opposed to not having enough money to pay off staff,” David opined. To which, Ross expounds,“One of the biggest stresses is when you have a bunch of employees in your company. Especially as a technology company, you need funding. You don't make a lot of money in the first few years of the company. The biggest stress is making sure that you have enough money to pay people because they are relying on you to live. So, you need to be on top of your game to make sure that you can fund what you're doing and that you don't leave people out in the lurch.”

How they built their venture Locomote was interesting. The duo got introduced to a travel consultant that led them to a large mining company. As they sat down with this company, they discovered the problems in the travel booking segment. “They explained to us how they manage their travel and I couldn't believe that people would manage anything that way. It was so old and antiquated and disjointed,” Ross related. They went out and talked to other corporations of different sizes to figure out if they, too, have the same problems. And they did.

They then put their heads together, came up with a solution and presented their ideas through a PowerPoint presentation. “We went back to this big mining company and said, ‘This is what we think will solve your problem. If we build it, will you use it?’ And we got them to agree. We got them to sign a contract to have it free for the first 12 months and then pay for it after that. We did that before we even had anything. We didn't have any funding or anything to build this product.”

Good thing that one of their partners introduced them to Travelport, which pays an incentive to travel companies that transact through their platform. To overcome their stumbling block, they went to Travelport and asked, “If we can get this big company to put all their bookings through Travelport, will you pay as an incentive to fund this thing that we want to build?” Although the idea of a small company convincing a giant mining company seemed ridiculous at that time, Travelport agreed to it. Things fell into place. David and Ross got the funding they needed to build their product, which became successful. In the end, they sold Locomote to Travelport. It went full circle. Building Locomote and selling it was the most amazing thing that has happened to the Fastuca partners. And it all started with just a PowerPoint presentation.

In retrospect, Ross recognised that surrounding himself with mentors – people who were already ahead of their game – earlier in his entrepreneurial journey would have made things a lot easier for him.  “Find some mentors who have accomplished things that you want to accomplish.” That is the one thing Ross wants to do if he could just press the reset button. That is the same thing he would tell his younger self if he could travel back in time.

David concurred with Ross. He realised it’s a good thing that they have each other. According to David, “Find people who are going to be blunt, upfront and honest. We've been lucky that we've been each other's sort of that person. Having someone that tells you the truth is rare and hard to find.”

Lady luck must truly have been looking kindly on them because they have found like-minded individuals in the bosom of EO Melbourne. “It was really good timing for us to surround ourselves (with like-minded people) and to put our network and meet other people,” David enthused. Through EO, he learned to give less advice and give more experience. To this, Ross added, “Certainly, for me, it's a good sounding board. You learn a lot from it. It's like having your mentors but a little bit more practical.”

Ross and David like to be around people who have the same passion and persistence as they do. These are two qualities they believe entrepreneurs should have. “If you don't have persistence or passion, it will never work,” quipped Ross.

That is why David likens their entrepreneurial journey to someone digging for diamonds and not stopping until he hits the treasure. In contrast, a man who stops digging might just be a few inches away from the diamonds. But he wouldn’t know that because he already quit. He said, “If you believe in what you're doing and have the passion for it, then do not give up. There were times when we could have given up.  Just keep pushing through the hard times because you never know when you're in the corner of hitting that success.”

For Ross, the journey is something that is comparable to chaos. While most people think of it as a straight line from one end to another, the reality is that the line has many twists and turns.  “It's like the line goes all over the place. There’s craziness. It goes up and down, backward and forward, and then it goes to the end. It’s like the craziest rollercoaster you can ever imagine. You think it's all going to collapse. And then, it becomes amazing. You like to do it over and over again. When it's amazing, enjoy it. When it's about to collapse, try to work it out and keep it together.”

Now, the Fastucas are looking positively to the future, especially that Locomote is gearing for global expansion. It now has a presence in the U.K., Singapore and Japan and they are eyeing the U.S., Malaysia and South Africa as their next targets. David and Ross are no longer shareholders in the company but are still very much involved in the business. “We have an attachment to Locomote, having sunk five years of our lives into it completely, and sacrificed a lot of things to make it happen,” Ross shared.

But beyond business, Ross and David have some personal plans as well. Last year, they joined Project Gen Z and its team of entrepreneurs to Cambodia to teach the next generation on how to be entrepreneurs. They ran some workshops there that inspired the children to dream big and achieve things. It is something that the cousins plan to be involved in as they will be going back to Cambodia this year to continue what they have started.

In work, in volunteerism, and in life, David and Ross are partners till the end. “We're one family. We just do everything together. We invest together. We invest in property together. We invest in our business together,” Ross pointed out. “And it isn't just at work. I mean, inside and outside work and life, in general, we spend a lot of time. So right now, literally, I can throw a tennis ball to David’s house. Our wives are very close. I've got a son and another baby on the way. David has three kids. Our kids play and jump into the pool together.”

As they say, “a family that plays together, stays together.” But for the Fastuca cousins, a family that plays and works together succeeds together. David and Ross are truly fortunate to have each other in their entrepreneurial journey. Indeed, they have proven that blood is thicker than water.

More about Ross and David on their Linkedin profiles, Ross Fastuca and David Fastuca. Check the Locomote website here http://www.locomote.com/.