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own Boss
BIG Making it in business
Australians tell
how they created
their own careers
SARAH
JAMES
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Be Your
Own Boss
Making it big in business
By Sarah James
Australia
This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research,
criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part of this publication
may be reproduced by any process or by any means, electronic, photocopied, recorded or
otherwise without prior written permission of the copyright owner. Inquiries for reproduction
should be addressed to the publisher, Career FAQs Pty Ltd.
Published by
Career FAQs Pty Ltd
Suite 76, The Hub
89–97 Jones Street
Ultimo NSW 2007
+61 2 9282 9383
www.careerfaqs.com.au
James, Sarah.
ISBN 9781921106446.
1. New business enterprises – Australia – Planning.
2. Entrepreneurship – Australia. I. Title.
658.110994
Career FAQs acknowledges the following copyright owners for permission to reproduce their
work.
Every effort has been made to contact copyright owners and obtain permission. However,
should an infringement have occurred, Career FAQs apologises for the omission and
requests that the copyright owner contact them.
Disclaimer
The opinions and statements made by people who contributed to this book are not those of
Career FAQs. The publishers do not claim to represent the entire extent of the professions
included and extreme career choices. The aim has always been to provide a broad overview of
the possibilities available.
As such Career FAQs Be Your Own Boss does not purport to be a true and accurate record of
the different industries mentioned in the book, relying on the voices of those who tell their
stories. Inaccuracies may arise as a result of the nature of this book. Users should follow the
links to actual websites of organisations for latest accurate information.
Deciding to go out on your own is likely to prove over time to be either Andrew Bassat,
one of the best or one of the worst things you have ever done. For many, Joint CEO and co-founder,
SEEK
the experience will be one characterised by positives such as being in
Andrew is responsible for overall
control of your destiny and reaping more directly the fruits of your own strategic direction, progress
of expansion opportunities,
labour. For others, however, the increased pressure and risk levels will acquisitions, strategic alliances
dominate and sour the experience. Being alive to the pros and cons with key partners and online
marketing at SEEK. He leads
and understanding whether you are personally suited to the boss road the strategy and business
development team and is also
are worth thinking about before you press the button. responsible for SEEK Learning.
Prior to co-founding SEEK,
There is a saying, reputedly from the Russian army, to the effect of ‘I’m Andrew was a management
consultant with Booz Allen &
the boss, you’re an idiot. You’re the boss, I’m an idiot’. This may well Hamilton and prior to that worked
be true, but from personal experience, it is possible to spend a large as a solicitor at Corrs Chamber
Westgarth. Andrew holds a BSc
part of the initial period once you start on your own venture thinking (Comp Science) degree from
that the idiot is you! A maze of issues can confront you even before the University of Melbourne, an
LLB (Hons) degree from Monash
your first sale: business plans; structural, legal and accounting issues; University and a MBA degree
from Melbourne Business School.
how to structure the venture; raising capital; hiring people and so on
and so on! The more help that you can get to navigate this maze, the
better off you will be.
iii
Andrew Bassat
iv
Go nuts! 25
Brent Hall – Bush Rat Enterprises 26
Make an impression 33
Adrian Bold – Bold Impressions Ltd 34
Write it right 43
Jill Farrar – Muse Copywriting 44
Taking off 49
Paul Pingiaro – TrackAir Adventures 50
Look hear! 57
Mike Straight – 2-Sense Productions 58
On your marks 67
Leonie Nichols – Athlete For Your Event 68
Cheers! 97
Cath Willcock – Wine for Dudes 98
vi
Rugrats 145
Anita Gleeson – BugRugs 146
vii
viii
You also find out how to stand out from the crowd and get that dream
job, with our industry-specific résumé, cover letter and interview tips
and examples.
I know that our books can make such choices easier by giving
our readers the information they need to find a career that
meets their dreams and aspirations.
>>
ix
Our range covers the usual career areas, as well as moving well
beyond ordinary categories into careers you may never have
thought of. There’s a great job out there waiting for you and we
can show you what it is and how to get it.
A big thanks goes out to the many people who have taken
the time to talk to us and shared their experiences with our
readers, as well as to the many eminent Australians who have
written forewords to our books, sharing the insight and wisdom
that has helped take them to the top.
With Career FAQs you have all the tools to find your dream job.
Good luck!
Will Santow
Managing Director
Career FAQs
The big picture gives you an overview of the current environment for
budding entrepreneurs in Australia. It explores the available support
networks for startup businesses and some of the awards and grants
that are given to innovative new businesses.
Ready, set, go for it! You’ve read the stories, you know how they got
there – now it’s your turn. Where to start? This section gives you the
lowdown on how to get funding, write the business plan, hire staff and
more.
fyi
To help you navigate through the text and also find information
Many words, phrases,
beyond this book, the following icons are used throughout.
abbreviations and
acronyms are defined in
buzz words at the back of
is a snapshot of each interviewee’s career this book.
cv pathway – it shows some of the stepping stones
along the career path that led to their current
position
xi
xii
If you’re the sort of person who’s always coming up with new and
exciting ideas and revel in making them happen, you’re just the type to
be your own boss. You’ve probably been honing your entrepreneurial
skills since you were selling biscuits in the school playground for five
cents apiece. But now it’s time to turn professional.
There’ll be no making coffee behind the scenes for you – you have the
power to determine your own professional direction. The key is to turn
your passion and your business nous in a profitable (and hopefully
worthy) direction. The good news is that in today’s day and age, success
is more accessible than ever. Anyone sitting at home in their pyjamas
can turn a profit as long as they’ve got a computer in front of them.
Being your own boss is all about taking an idea and turning it into a
reality. You have to be able to think independently, calculate and take
risks and redefine business boundaries. Going it alone can be hard,
but it can also be very rewarding – financially, mentally, socially and
emotionally. Below are some of the upsides and the downsides to
being your own boss.
Pros Cons
■ independence ■ long hours
■ feeling of self-worth ■ sleepless nights
■ ability to define your own lifestyle ■ uncertainty
■ business recognition (read: the ■ no or few colleagues
potential for fame and fortune)
■ cash flow concerns
■ creative freedom
■ the potential damage to your ego
■ power to hire and fire people if it all goes awry
■ luxury of delegation (unless you ■ financial liability (this is the
have no other employees to scary one!)
delegate to!)
■ ultimate control
I think being on call 24/7 and the initial cash flow are the things
that kill you. In a new business you’re always worried about cash
flow, and whether you’re going to break even, or make a profit
or loss.
But on the flipside, the only people you take orders from are
yourself, and when something goes really right and you see that
total customer satisfaction it gives you a fantastic feeling of
self-worth and achievement.
Paul Pingiaro, TrackAir Adventures
The best news for any budding entrepreneur is that the blueprint for
being your own boss cannot be reduced to statistics on age, race,
gender, social status, educational background or industry experience.
Instead, it is determined by a personal mindset of innovation, success,
hard work and perseverance. But be prepared to work under pressure!
Whether you are a graduate of university or the school of life, you
alone determine your success.
Many budding entrepreneurs face the same issues when first starting
out. While the great idea is bursting to be realised, the challenges
of securing your cash flow and building a customer or client base
affect all who take the plunge and choose to run their own business.
Needless to say, this can cause a fair bit of stress!
Michael
re ss ed ? E ntrepreneur k hear”
What, me st o is interviewed in “Loo
h
Straight, w
This doesn’t mean lazing around in thongs and stubbies all day
watching re-runs of Jerry Springer while you collect Centrelink
benefits. Being your own boss – and being successful at it –
essentially means being a go-getter.
If you are considering starting a business, checking out the facts and
figures on small business in Australia is a good place to start.
MYTH
Where are the market a business is not a
But before you start packing up your home in Coober Pedy to move
to the big smoke, take a look below. As you will see, the number of
small businesses in each state is directly relative to its population
throughout Australia.
% of
% of Number
Australian
State Population Australian of small
total of small
population businesses
business
NSW 6 774 200 33% 372 500 37%
VIC 5 022 300 24% 273 900 27%
QLD 3 964 000 19% 216 800 21%
SA 1 542 000 7.5% 80 000 8%
WA 2 010 100 9.8% 126 000 12%
TAS 485 300 2.3% 23 700 2.3%
ACT 352 200 1.7% 23 700 2.3%
NT 202 800 0.9% 9 100 0.9%
Total 20 352 900 999 700
The best way to reduce your risk and get started is to utilise your
special business skills, experience and your know how.
One thing to keep in mind is that your long-term business success will
depend on knowledge – your knowledge. Just as you wouldn’t turn up
under-prepared to an exam, you should never kick-start your business
with a half-baked idea. Unless you have the capital to outsource
specialist tasks, you need to know how to handle them yourself. This
means researching all sorts of areas you’re not quite on top of, be it
budgeting, marketing or computer literacy. It’s not always feasible to
call on the nerdy IT guy to retrieve your lost files, especially when you
10
To succeed as a business owner, you need to know the ins and outs
of your:
■ product/service
■ target audience
■ business competition
■ financial position.
11
Government
With online resources and practical support – surprise surprise,
the government can actually do something for you. Stranger things
have happened.
Smart Start
Smart Start is a government website that informs people starting
their own business about intellectual property issues. These include
patents for new inventions and trademarks for names and logos.
On the website, you can find information about these issues and case
studies of how they apply to different businesses.
find out
You can also apply for a trademark or a patent through the site. more
There are also useful tools for budding entrepreneurs, including a www.workplace.gov.au
13
Private
There are many organisations and networks you can join that can
support you in different ways, be it online, through workshops or even
via mentoring opportunities.
One way that the ACCI can help people when setting up their business
is their literature including newsletters and survey results that are
available to all on their website and which can help business owners
to make decisions about the future of their business.
14
Italy
referably at a cafe in
et as you can - p
research on the Intern
Do as much
15
These include a toll free advice line service for young people in
business; the Micro Finance Fund supporting young entrepreneurs
entering the business world; funding of the Youth and Enterprise Legal
Centre (YELC), providing a legal information service for young people
and small business owners; and Law Sense, a series of free seminars
aimed at assisting young entrepreneurs to understand their legal and
compliance obligations in running a small business.
The SBN website has many articles and downloads that are free
of charge to everyone. They also run live events that are open to
everyone to attend.
16
Get a leg up
Most people need a bit of help getting the business idea out of their
heads and into the real world. There are lots of local and national
grants, scholarships, schemes and competitions all around Australia
designed to reward promising start-up businesses with the necessary
financial boost. Here are a few of your options, so start sharpening
your pencils and downloading the application forms.
For a full list of entry requirements and an official entry form go to:
http://auspost.com.au/BCP/0,1080,CH3959~MO19,00.html
17
Voting opens in mid June with nominations accepted online via the
business awards website, local newspapers and printed coupons
distributed around the community. Next begins a two-stage qualifying
process. Anonymous mystery shoppers get sent out to assess
individual nominees for things like presentation, customer service,
quality of product and value for money. Finalists qualifying from this
round proceed to the main stage of the judging process, where things
get really tough. Everything from layout and design to staff attitude
and knowledge is scrutinised in detail to source a winner.
Winners will not only be well recognised in the community for their
contribution to a cleaner, greener Australia, but will also benefit from
media coverage and community support.
18
Many of the people interviewed for this book have qualified for NEIS
assistance and speak highly of the program. Check out what they have
to say about this excellent program.
19
There are five categories in the program and the winner of each is
eligible to be named the State or Territory Telstra Business of the
year. On top of this, the award provides businesses with a range of
benefits that money just cant buy – extensive promotion and publicity,
the opportunity to promote your achievements to the broader
community and the media and the opportunity to build new business
relationships. Oh, and for the things that money can buy, there’s also a
share in a substantial national prize pool.
Past winners of the Telstra Business Award have all said that the
find out prestige associated with this award, coupled with the rigour of the
more application process, has been an invaluable venture.
www.nescafebigbreak.com.au
www.telstrabusinessawards. Universities
telstra.com
www.enterprize.uq.edu.au/ Lots of universities and colleges run their own business start-up
www.rmit.edu.au/bizplancomp competitions, including University of Queensland’s Enterprize scheme,
www.griffith.edu.au
RMIT’s business plan competition, the Griffith Innovation Challenge
and the AGSM’s student-run Connector competition. All of these
www.agsm.edu.au
competitions require at least one member of your business team to be
www.australian-universities.com
enrolled at the university.
20
What is it?
The Australian Innovation Festival is Australia’s largest industry
festival comprising hundreds of events nationwide over a
two-week period. There are industry workshops, open days,
networking breakfasts, forums, exhibitions and seminars. Events
are held in every state and territory capital city and regional
locations such as Alice Springs and Cairns.
21
Since 2001, the Australian Government has pumped $8.3 billion into
science and innovation programs. The New Industries Development
Plan (NIDP) gives grants and scholarships to deserving start-up
agribusinesses. Clearly, Australia is very supportive of
agri-entrepreneurs.
So now you just need to come up with a brilliant idea for your own
agribusiness. How about a cow shaker, which allows the production of
pre-frothed milk for cappuccino? (That idea is a freebie. It’s all yours.)
cv part-time workshop
Brent Hall – Bush Rat Enterprises
hand >> full-time workshop Brent Hall has always enjoyed the
hand >> owner, Bush Rat challenges of engineering. After hand-
Enterprises harvesting macadamia nuts from the
ground on his grandparents’ farm one
year, Brent saw the need for a machine
to assist farmers in collecting ground-
harvested nuts such as macadamias
and pecans. He started to develop the
Bush Rat Nut Harvester as his 2003
HSC major design project for Design
and Technology.
After Brent’s work was put on display at his school, a local farmer
bought the Bush Rat prototype. Pretty soon Brent was fielding
enquiries from other nut farmers about his new invention, so he
decided to build another one. At just 20, he now runs Bush Rat
Enterprises.
q&a
What exactly is the Bush Rat?
It’s a small, motorised, walk-behind machine that collects and sorts
macadamia and other ground-harvested nuts.
While it is designed for use in all nut orchards, it can help small
farms where the entire orchard is hand-picked or large orchards
where labourers are employed to hand-pick the areas inaccessible
to conventional harvesters. The Bush Rat is most beneficial to small
plantations that can’t justify the purchase of a large harvesting machine.
26
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27
Did you supply the initial business capital for Bush Rat?
The $50 000 supplied by Nescafé was enough to set up my business
and get me into production. The Bush Rat now maintains itself but
having that initial startup capital was invaluable.
28
bright spark
Brent is a
29
ry
at, in all its glo
The Bush R
With the benefit of hindsight, is there anything you would
have done differently in your entrepreneurial career thus far?
No, not so far – but it’s early days and I still have a lot to learn.
30
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31
In all fairness to Ken, back then most computers were hideous beasts
that could take up a whole floor of a business premise if not the
glossary
whole building. These days, they are slick, smooth machines – and
this reflects what they’re capable of as industry tools. Without CGI, CGI means:
the Lord of the Rings trilogy would have had a marionette Gollum. – Computer-generated
imagery
Without ProTools, music producers wouldn’t be able to make today’s
pop artists (you choose a name) sound like they do. Without Microsoft
Office, this book would have to be written with a typewriter and no
spell-check frunction. Thanks Microsopft!
33
q&a
What is Bold Impressions?
We are one of the first three companies in Australia providing 3D
visualisation, and I’m happy to say that many of our clients (who
had previously used our competitors) testify that we are the best 3D
visualisation company in Australia.
34
Why did you choose to start your own company rather than
work for someone else?
When I was about 17, I had a vision of running some form of design
company. I just knew that my part to play in this world would evolve
into a project director kind of role, creating new ways of marketing
clients’ products or services.
Personally, I didn’t like the idea of having to work in a stifled, big ad
agency to achieve this, and I guess I just thought through some baby
steps as to what kind of design and solutions I was going to offer.
closed
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35
d images
dimension al generate
One of Adrian”s three-
36
37
sense of perfectionism that I believe tells the real story to new clients.
In my industry, word-of-mouth is the best form of advertising – you
have to exceed clients’ expectations so much they go and tell the
world about you. We’ve used it successfully for five years now and it’s
great – it’s dead cheap, and because it’s not from your own mouth but
from trusted third parties, it’s by far the most effective way to grow
credence, brand and recognition in the services industry.
38
o
impressio n at an exp
G iving a bold
39
40
41
See if you can spot the error in this sign for a Teppanyaki restaurant
in Japan – ‘Before your cooked right eyes’. A simple error of syntax
is one easily avoided by employing a professional copywriter and
proofreader.
43
cv handbag sales
Jill Farrar – Muse Copywriting
assistant >> waitress After finishing a Social Inquiry degree
>> barista >> tutor >> at UTS, Jill wasn’t sure what she wanted
publishing product manager to do next, so she went travelling and
>> freelance writer >> then moved to Melbourne. There she
owner, Muse Copywriting found a job with a publishing company
producing audio books.
find out Then she signed up for NEIS, a government initiative to get people
more who are unemployed into their own businesses. The support and
Interested in NEIS? education she got from the scheme made her realise that she could
www.workplace.gov.au/NEIS run a successful small business. She’s currently working on marketing
and expanding her client base.
q&a
What’s Muse and what do you do?
Muse is a copywriting and copyediting business. I do everything. I’m
the cleaner, the typist, the proofreader. Apart from the actual writing
and editing jobs, I also do the marketing, PR and admin, and I network
and deal with clients.
44
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45
What’s been the best part about starting your own business?
I love that what I’m doing is going towards something that I really
believe in. Not working for someone else, not having to answer to
anyone – except your clients – is great.
Also, when you work for yourself, you’re in control of the means of
production, which is mainly you, and that’s really empowering. If I ever
need to regularly employ someone, I’d rather that they were either a
part owner of the business or a freelancer. I want others to enjoy that
freedom too.
And I like being able to start work whenever I want to. That’s really
good.
46
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47
There’s a lot of Australia to see, and what better way to see it than
from the air? There’s more to aviation than just international travel
– flying is an efficient and picturesque way to arrive at secluded
destinations Australia-wide.
49
q&a
When did you first come up with the concept of
TrackAir Adventures?
When I was learning to fly, my father and I would go on these amazing
fishing trips – flying up to the Kimberleys or Arnhem Land, Kakadu,
Cape York, even down to Tasmania. I made some fantastic business
associates on these trips and I really started to believe that there was
a market for this kind of tourism.
50
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51
Then I entered the Nescafé Big Break competition in 2004 and was
one of five national winners to receive $25 000, which was brilliant!
Winning that competition probably put me ahead about two years
financially, because for any business you need to think about
insurance, marketing, stationery, travel expenses, all those little
things that eat up your cash.
ak
is Big Bre
Paul gets h
I was also part of the NEIS program, which is a very well-run scheme. It
was enormously beneficial for me, though I need to say that the money
itself (for NEIS participants) really only supports you when you’re
writing your business plan and getting established in your first year.
52
Is there an upside?
Definitely. The only people you take orders from are yourself, and
you’ve got total independence to run the business as you see fit. So
when something goes really right and the result is total customer
satisfaction, it’s gives you a fantastic feeling of self-worth and
achievement, because that happiness is basically there because of
you and your actions.
53
54
55
56
It seems that, as technology develops, so too does our appetite for it:
we want it bigger, brighter, brassier. But the audio-visual reality is not
restricted to the domain of entertainment. Think video-conferencing,
interactive museum exhibits, lecture theatres – all these and more
harness the power of audio-visual technologies.
If this all sounds a bit like a march to a brave new world, there are
more sentimental ways we can take advantage of this trend, on a
personal level. That fuzzy old home video from when you were in
nappies? Well, now it can be transferred to DVD and preserved for a
long future of embarrassment thanks to the guys who started 2-Sense
Productions.
57
q&a
What is 2-Sense?
Well, 2-Sense is an audio-visual production business. We tried to
encapsulate this in the name itself – the ‘two senses’ of sound and
sight. In essence, 2-Sense provides dynamic audio-visual solutions to
a range of professional and domestic clients.
From converting old home movies to DVD to comprehensive video
production, editing and media authoring services.
58
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59
60
in pyjamas!
e offfi fiice - not
M ichael in th
What are your business goals for the future?
Well, I’ll keep striving to achieve the ambitious 2-Sense mission
statement, ‘to bring audio-visual harmony to the outer reaches of the
universe’.
Having said that, I do have a few other goals in the meantime.
Ultimately, I’d like to become more entrepreneurial in my work,
carefully acquiring and developing investments that are self-sufficient
and profitable, but just as importantly – that are ethical. I want
to manage an investment portfolio with a healthy cash flow and
conscience.
On a more personal level, I’m attracted to the idea of creating passive
streams of income so that I can travel without exhausting my savings
– and reinvest into other projects, including some concepts for TV
shows I’ve been toying with for a while.
61
tor.
r. Boooo om ... opera
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62
Of the jobs you’ve done, are there any that stand out as
particularly interesting?
For sure. We’ve had some fantastic jobs in our time, and recorded a
few milestones along the way. Back in 2003, we produced, shot and
edited a video for jazz trio ‘Misinterprotato’. It was included on their
release ‘Now for the Free’ – and became the first jazz CD to come out
of Australia featuring a video element.
We shot a music video amongst a sea of entirely nude bike riders,
protesting against tunnels proposed for construction. In the spirit of
the event, we filmed from a tandem bicycle, but only stripped down to
our boxers. The video culminated in the inner-city arrest and removal
of the protestors’ mysterious, wiry and naked leader.
63
64
65
Do you have any advice for anyone wanting to start their own
business?
Firstly, ensure that you’ve chosen a field that stimulates your interest
and that you’re excited about committing to.
Make sure you give yourself credit where its due by celebrating all of
the minor victories and achievements you have along the way, and
recognising how these steps, however minor, fit into your overall plan.
Lastly, try to avoid becoming complacent and simply accepting the
jobs that fall into your lap. The whole idea behind starting your own
in business is a state of mind, really – you’re taking control. So, why not
brief take greater control over the jobs you do and the clients you work for?
Michael Straight,
Most of all – enjoy the journey and take pride in the sense of
2-Sense Productions
achievement that comes from forging your own path.
age 26
hrs/wk Pick a number! Do you have a life motto?
quals Bachelor of Fine Arts It’s not as punchy as I’d like, but basically it’s this: I’m not so vain as to
(Film and Television),
QUT; Certificate
think that one day there’ll be a book written about me – but I try to live
IV in Business my life as though one day there will be. I’d like to make it a good read.
Management
life–work a challenge! And you’re never too young? Even if you’re 13 years old?
Exactly. Or too old. Just make sure you register the business!
Mo n
–Fr i
• Ch
e ck e
mail ,
• Wo re v ie
r k ! (w w s ch
e di t i or k in e du le
ng g
o r ad , c o nc e p o n a sh o o
min d t de v t
• Lu u t ie s e lo pm ,
n ch, ) ent
f o l lo
• Pla we d
n s ch by m
e du le o re w
fin a l f or n or k
emai e xt d
• TV l c h e ck a ay,
p re s e n d le
n t i ng ave w
wo r k or k
S at–
Sun
• Mo
re wo
• Go s r k ! (m
k a te os t w
boar eeks
di ng )
with
f r ie n
ds
66
For adults parties you could hire a band, DJ, comedian, performance
artist or an Elvis impersonator.
It works for the athletes too – the life of an athlete is about more than
just competing. They need to work on their image and reputation to
establish their own persona if they want to land certain sponsorship
or advertising jobs.
q&a
What is your professional background?
I have worked quite extensively in marketing, PR and events
management. In the lead-up to the Olympics in Athens 2004, I was
working full-time as a brand manager for Nu Skin (a cosmetics and skin
care company) and training four to six hours per day in the water as well,
which has proven to be good training for running my own business!
68
else you can think of, we make the event unique and provide the ‘wow’
factor, if you like.
Basically, my hopes for the business are that it will help raise the
profile of athletes and their sports in Australia while also providing
unique and memorable occasions for event organisers.
know
l t/ o: Don’t
Annua yet!
Athlete For
st me
Your Event No. of s
taff: Ju
uests
azzle g
Owner: v is io n: To d profile of
Biz the
aising
Leonie chols
Ni while r lia
Au a
s t r
sport in
g
workin
l y o ur own
cont r o lon rge
h e b oss you u p w orking
‘… as t n en d
] I ofte
... [but
hours ver!’
than e
hours t.c om
oryo ureven
thletef
www.a
69
Sync or swim
70
71
72
M o n–F
ri
• 7.30a
m st a r
t wo r k
• Re sp o
n d to e
m a ils
• Atte n
d m e et
in g s
• B u s in
e s s dev
e lop m e
nt
• Lu n c h
tim e c la
s s at g y
• Ma rk m
etin g w
ork
• Me et
w it h c li
e nts o r
at h lete
• 6.00p s
m fin is h
wo r k
S at–S u
n
• G o to
the be a
c h/g y m
• Ha n g
o u t w it
h f r ie n d
s
73
So how can you make your financial services company stand out? By
offering better and more personalised service to your customers.
The big banks are big for a reason – they do their job well – but many
people would much prefer to be served by a vibrant local firm than
a multinational corporation. And imagine how good you could be
at superannuation, BAS statements or managed investments if you
focused on just one of these areas?
75
cv very young
Jacob Waks – RiskProtect Pty Ltd
entrepreneur (est. profit- Jacob had been working in fitness and
making lolly business in health for several years when a friend
Yr 9) >> personal trainer working in the life insurance industry
>> sports therapist >> life approached him with the offer of
insurance adviser >> owner, working in financial services. Hesitant
RiskProtect Pty Ltd at first, Jacob decided in 2001 to commit
to this new opportunity and says that
he has never regretted his decision.
q&a
What is RiskProtect?
RiskProtect is a business that specialises in life insurance and
corporate superannuation. We provide advice to individuals,
businesses and families seeking help with their insurance.
76
r than
l t / o : Bette
Annu a ht it
I thoug
b e
would
ve
RiskProtect than fi
s t a f f : Fewer
Pty Ltd No. of To crea
te
B iz vision: at is well
Owner: Jacob Waks ess th
a busin r servicing s
know n fo e need
le ’s in suranc
peo p
a
on with
h ea lthy pers e rior
that a r sup
re is n o doubt ffer c lients a fa
‘The able to
o
aholic.’
d life is y work
balance un h ea lth
than an
service
77
Do you think you have made any mistakes along the way?
I made many mistakes along the way! Probably the major one was that
I didn’t look after my health and my own finances during the tough
phase of the business. I didn’t have an outlet and would work a few
17- or 18-hour days in a row.
viding a
a big part of pro
Research is e
great servic
78
Did you supply the initial business capital or did you have
outside investors?
I supplied the set-up costs. As RiskProtect is a service provider rather
than, for example, a product-based retailer, the initial capital was not
as high as that required for other businesses.
Are there any attributes that you think are common amongst
entrepreneurs?
I believe persistence is the most important aspect of business; there
were many times where I thought it would be easier and obviously
less stressful to go back to a good income as an employee but I
persisted with my own business. This persistence led to greater
self-belief, which is I believe, the most important attribute that an
entrepreneur can possess.
When you think about it, without self-belief most potential
entrepreneurs will not even give themselves a go, and if they decide
to start up a business without really believing in themselves and their
abilities, then they’re not giving it a fighting chance.
Apart from perseverance, self-belief and the ability to adhere to basic
market principles (for example, finding out what the customer needs)
– you also need to be flexible enough to change the original concepts
of the business if needed.
79
80
81
The greatest business resources for me are books. I have many books
on life insurance, sales, business, personal development, marketing
and other areas. For me, the best thing about reading different
business books is that each author has a different perspective. If
reading a book gives me one new idea or inspires me to do something
differently, then it’s worthwhile. Too many people look to books for
specific answers – the secret is to keep an open mind while reading a
book and often it will inspire a new idea within you.
82
People want to share their experiences, their photos, stories, art and
thoughts, and they need help doing it. There’s room for more of these
websites, so get thinking. Maybe people need a space to share their
glockenspiel-centric covers of Metallica classics. (Then again, maybe
not.)
83
q&a
Where did the idea for Bugbitten.com come from?
After developing a close-knit group of friends during my time
at university, I was determined to stay in touch. Once I started
researching my travels, I realised that there weren’t any easy to use
available websites to help share my photos and blogs. I had just
bought my first digital camera and was keen for my mates to see my
fun adventures. So I created a site to help travellers keep in touch.
84
After this we asked a friend to design our logos and basic graphics,
and although the bugs look quite different today, it gave us enough to
start promoting the idea to friends. In the early days I can remember
checking the daily website statistics and if we managed to have one
person sign up I was ecstatic!
Since these early days we have continually revised our brand and
website to ensure that simplicity and useability are core to our site
being the leading travel photo and blogging site. Since Bugbitten’s
initial conception, the online world has developed rapidly and we have
continually reviewed our products and added new tools and services
to the site. Members can now send real printed postcards using their
own images, send SMS, search thousands of tours, adventures and
hostels worldwide and create their own online hub called ‘my stuff’
where they can add and customise everything from news (locally and
internationally), sport (any sport from around the world), horoscopes,
weather, and travel deals.
om!!!
t / o : We’re a .c
l
Annua
e all up
Bugbitten taff: nin
No. of s no. 1
be the
.com B iz v is ion: To ity for travel
n
commu gs,
online hare their blo .
Owners: Travis and bugs t o s
perien
c e s
and ex
Shawn Pittman p h o t o s
r
ellers fo
ilt by trav ry day
ha s been b u
th e site e e
v
itten till u se ations
‘...Bugb h aw n and I s s ea rch destin
ers. S to r e
travell gs and ugs.’
re p ho tos, blo ot he r travel b
to sha s of
erience
sing t he exp
u o m
ug bitten.c
www.b
85
86
What’s been the best part about running your own business?
Driving business development and having the freedom to convert my
ideas into reality.
87
rations
second bir thday celeb
Travis at Bugbitten”s
Shawn and
Does the job offer much in the way of flexible working hours
detour and conditions?
My working conditions and hours are often flexible. If for some reason
Interested in an Internet I have to stay in the office for an extra couple of hours the night before,
career? Check out Career
I’ll treat myself to a bit of a sleep-in the day after to help recharge
FAQs Information Technology
the batteries. Another fortunate thing about my business is that it’s
www.careerfaqs.com.au
web-based and essentially means that if I have my laptop, a wireless
internet connection and a headset, I can do my job from anywhere in
the world. I use an online communication tool called Skype every day
to keep in contact with business partners, and highly recommend you
set up an account to take advantage of their free products.
88
Can you give us an idea of how much the company turns over
each year?
Turnover? We are a .com! glossary
What’s your life motto?
Carpe diem means:
Carpe diem. Live life today like there is no tomorrow. There are too
– ‘seize the day’ in Latin.
many opportunities out there to enjoy yourself in this life to sit down
and let them pass you by.
89
90
More and more people are joining sporting clubs, fitness classes
and gyms in the pursuit of optimum physical fitness and/or a free
backpack. When it comes down to it, living well can be as simple as
going for the occasional walk – no, not a walk to the fridge, I mean a
real walk.
And who better to tell us all about healthy alternative fast food than
Luke Baylis from Sumo Salad. It’s time to pass on that deep-fried Mars
Bar for breakfast and eat your greens!
91
q&a
What is Sumo Salad?
The concept behind Sumo Salad is creating a strong brand and
offering a healthy fast-food alternative.
92
lion
12 mil
l t/o: $
Annua Austra
lia
Sumo Salad f s t a f f : 25 in a i
No. o b
and Du
00
have 3
Owners: Luke Baylis Biz vision: To res and to be
to
and James Miller Australian s al brand
rg lo b
a majo es was
e t e d ourselv
d ma r k “Luke
w en t out an h a d called it
‘The wa
yw e d. If w e t ended
u s get notice o u ld h ave jus
ade ew
what m Bar” w
am es ’s Salad o re.’
and J er st
ano th er corn
up as .com
lad
umosa
www.s
How much did the reality of Sumo differ from your plans?
A lot. We’ve really tried to let Sumo evolve and grow as a business.
Originally the idea was just to ‘design your own salad’ but now it has
evolved to a total healthy fast-food concept with mass-market appeal.
Because we had a small budget our focus from the start was really
on giving great customer service and listening to all the feedback we
could get from customers, staff, and suppliers.
93
How did you prepare the business for the franchise system?
Well, we had to decide how all the sites would run, so we created
manuals for everything: training, quality assurance, hazards,
marketing, how to use the intranet, account payment procedures,
dealing with suppliers – you name it, we’ve got a manual for it.
The manuals are so important for us because they govern how each
franchisee is running the business and how effective each business
will be. If you leave things a little ambiguous, it can go either way, so
every manual is really detailed and precise.
It took us about six months to write out the manuals for the basic
operations of the business and we still spend a lot of our time
updating them as the business continues to evolve.
94
95
96
Some business ideas fill glaring gaps in the market, giving people
what they want. Others offer the customer something they never knew
they wanted. The distribution of many new foods and drinks fit into
the latter category.
Wine-tasting tours will never be the same again with Gen Xers
on the prowl for a good drop. Cath Willcock’s business, Wine for
Dudes, proves that however you go about it, spotting and reversing
demographic trends can make for an extremely successful business.
97
cv marketing wines
Cath Willcock – Wine for Dudes
>> wine sales, London >> Cath Willcock grew up with wine – her
owner, Wine for Dudes parents had an amateur vineyard when
she was growing up and her sister is
now a wine-maker so it’s not surprising
to hear that she loves wine and
everything to do with it.
q&a
What is your background?
When I finished school, I did a communications degree and then
worked in marketing for wine companies, first in Perth then in Italy.
In 2000, I moved to London and started working in wine sales and
basically came up with the idea of Wine for Dudes whilst I was working
there because I realised that I really didn’t enjoy working in an office.
I moved back to Perth in late 2000 with the idea for Wine for Dudes
in my head, so while I worked for a wine company in Perth I wrote my
business plan and basically started up a year and a half later, in 2003.
How did you come up with the name ‘Wine for Dudes’?
It’s a funny name so I get asked questions about it all the time.
Basically, it’s a way of saying that it’s wine for everyone. I was in Italy,
and I noticed that, over there, everyone drinks wine. Not just people in
suits and dresses. I’d see a bunch of tradesmen coming into my local
cafe every day and ordering a glass or two of wine with their lunch.
And for me it was like, ‘they get it, they really get it,’ so I thought that
I’d try to take wine off its pedestal a bit here in Australia and help
people get stuck into it.
98
- we’ve
/ o : Good
Annu a l t made
always
!
Wine money
er
ne driv
Fo r Du des st a f f: Me + o
No. of
Owner: make
ion: To to
Biz vis e accessible
Cath Willcock win e m o r
eople
more p
’s your
kie because it le for it
t chuck a sic o’s responsib
n’t jus the one
wh
‘You ca you’re
ss a nd
busine day.’
the e nd of the
at om
.c
inefo rdudes
www.w
Did you supply the initial business capital or did you have
outside investors?
Wine for Dudes is great because the startup costs were pretty
minimal. I supplied some of the capital so I only had to borrow a really
small amount from the banks which made it a lot easier.
99
hip
s of her en trepreneurs
Cath enjoy ing the fruit
Do you think you have made any mistakes along the way?
No, not really. I mean, there are always little things that can be
improved but in terms of mistakes – honestly, no.
100
For me, I think it’s important as a business owner to know your own
weaknesses and acknowledge them. My biggest weakness is number-
crunching; I hate it. But my brother works in finance so he does the
books for the business which helps me sleep a lot easier at night.
101
ur
l mystery to
The magica
Cath Wilcock, Wine For Dudes And your favourite business motto?
age 29 Work to live, not live to work.
hrs/wk 40+
What interests do you have outside of wine?
quals BComm
life–work awesome Um … wine tasting (!), dinner parties, reading, going to the gym,
playing tennis and going to the beach.
102
But the Internet has been around for a relatively short time so
it’s unlikely that the private sector is using it to its full potential.
Innovation is the basis for business success, so if you can combine
new technologies with your field of expertise, you have the
opportunity to market and distribute a unique product.
103
q&a
What is Marketing Results?
glossary We specialise in helping businesses and independent professionals
Sales leads means: generate sales leads using the Internet. In other words, we’re Internet
marketing consultants.
– telephone enquiries or any
response to advertising that When did you first come up with your business concept?
may lead a salesperson to a
It has been a process of evolution. In my previous marketing job I
potential consumer.
learnt a lot about effective marketing methods and saw that many
businesses struggle in the marketing area. I also wanted to work for
myself rather than someone else, and marketing consulting seemed to
be an obvious option.
I started up the company in June 2003, but things weren’t exactly
plain sailing at first. I learnt that anyone can be a marketing
consultant – but it takes a really smart person to sell marketing
consulting services. I had to become more specialised and offer a
specific solution to a specific problem for a specific type of customer.
Over time, this has evolved into our current service offering, which is
helping companies generate more sales and sales leads from their
website and online marketing channels.
104
00K
l t/o: 5
Annua
six
f staff:
Marketing No. o ow
: To all
Results Biz visionowners to
ss o
busine n autopilot s
Owner: William o p e r a t eo
e a lt hy,
Swayne n live w ves
they ca d balanced li
p p y a n
ha siness
a s m aller bu
to ow n her
better ave hig
th e end, it’s o n th than h
‘… In fit each
m
g a pro t.’
turnin ss p fi
ro
even ue and le u
r om.a
esults.c
eting-r
ww w.mark
Did you supply the initial business capital or did you have
outside investors?
It was 100 per cent supplied by me.
105
106
rketing
well su ited for ma
William is
107
108
M o n-F
ri
• Ma ke
ph o ne
c a lls
• A n sw
er ema
ils
• Ma ke
s a le s
• Co nsu
lt w it h
c lie nts
S at-S u
n
• Do ma
r tia l a r
ts
• Re ad
b u s in e s
s b o o ks
• G o h ik
in g o r jo
g g in g
109
There’s more demand now for alternative therapies than ever before.
Perhaps people have stopped trusting all those little blue pills, maybe
they’ve started to recognise that it’s better to stay healthy than to
treat sickness, or maybe they just like incense – whatever the reason,
now is a good time to be offering an alternative to the local GPs and
their rubber gloves.
Marisa Camilleri is someone who’s well into the idea of wellness and
it just do happens that her business in wellness is, well, doing pretty
well as well.
111
q&a
What is the Melbourne Naturopathic Wellness Clinic?
glossary Well, it’s changing a little this year, in that there are some new
Modalities means: practitioners coming on board who specialise in different modalities.
Essentially though, we are a holistic wellness centre with a focus on
– therapist specialty, such as
naturopathy, homoeopathy improving clients’ wellbeing through natural remedies and a dietary or
and so on. lifestyle overhaul.
I mainly work with herbal remedies, specialising in educating clients on
the importance of diet and lifestyle for fitness, health and weight loss.
A lot of people want to lose weight and have a healthier life, but I’ve
found that there is a lot of misinformation in the public arena about
effective weight loss, so working with clients to improve their diet and
lifestyle is really satisfying for me because I’m teaching people how to
take care of themselves, see the big picture, and make the change to
a healthier life.
112
50K
l t/o: $
Annua red
f f : M e + sha t
Melbourne No. of s t a
recept
ionis
Naturopathic
lping
Wellness Clinic i z v i s ion: He imum
B t
gain op
Owner: clients and vitality
ss
Marisa Cami lleri wellne
seeing
foc us ing on an
e key: ther th
t itu de is th sp e rson ra .’
‘A posit
ive at
busin es arrie s
r
a su c cessful n d po tential b
lf as sa
yourse obstacle
g on all the
focusin u
.com.a
ellness
athicw
aturop
www.n
Did you supply the initial business capital or did you have
business funding?
It was all self-funded!
113
So, what is the best part of owning your own business for you?
Where do I start – there are just so many of them!
The freedom of choice, of doing what I love and being my own boss;
I mean honestly, if I won the lottery tomorrow, I’d still want to work
in naturopathy.
My business is my baby and here I am, watching it grow and knowing
that I am making a positive and profound difference to my clients’
lives – that’s a pretty good feeling.
114
115
M o n–F
ri
• Cons
u lt w it h c li
e nts
• D ia g
n o se p ro ble m
s
• Atte
nd n et wo r k
in g eve
• Org a nts
n is e ma rk
etin g a
nd
ad m in is
t ratio n
tasks
• A ns
we r c lie nt
e n q u ir ie
s
S at–S u
n
• Wo r k h
a lf S at u rd
ay
• Re la x,
re g e n e
rate
• G o to t
he be a c
h
• Re ad, c
h il l o u t
116
117
cv stable hand/horse
Lara Fletcher – LaRoo
riding teacher >> waitress Growing up in a small business
>> graduate marketing environment (her father owned and
trainee >> office temp >> managed retail stores), Lara says that
brand manager >> owner, she always planned to start her own
LaRoo business; the biggest challenge for her
was to find the right product!
q&a
What is LaRoo?
We design, sell and market Mocks (mobile phone socks), a type of
cover that helps protect your mobile from getting scratched and at the
same time lets you personalise it.
We have recently launched iMocks, which are basically the same, but
for MP3 players.
118
g for
l t/o : Aimin illion
Annua $100 m
: Me +
LaRoo No. of staff ers
five oth
ome a
ra io n : To bec wn
Owner: La Biz v is
ny kno
compa un
Fletcher global ive and f
ovat
for inn
ts
produc offices
in
o a l is to have 1 00
g $
rs, my d turn
over
n d o f 10 yea n ey a n
e yd
‘By the n and S
Yor k, Londo e b rands.’
New r with fiv
ay ea
million .au
m
ocks.co
www.m
119
120
Are there any characteristics and skills that you think young
entrepreneurs need to succeed?
To succeed in business, you need to be a good communicator and to
build a long-lasting rapport with your clients, suppliers and colleagues.
You also need to be passionate about what you’re doing, and driven to
succeed, because owning your own business isn’t always going to be
a bed of roses.
It helps if you are willing to forgo your own ego and ask for help and
advice because you can’t know everything about creating a successful
business – no-one can. But if you don’t ask questions when you’re
unsure, you could end up making some very costly mistakes.
In terms of skills, I think having a sound grasp of general business
skills such as communication, number-crunching, and knowledge of
the different things that make the business run are all very important.
I think that experience in working for someone else is very beneficial,
so that you will know how you don’t want to do it!
121
122
M o n–F
ri
• 8.30
am arr
ive at w
ork
• Ta lk to
s upp lie
rs
• Update
c o mpa
ny we b
• Ta lk to s ite
c u sto m
e rs /re sp
• Ma ke o n d to
the ac c q u e r ie s
o u nts b
• Atte n a la n c e
d n et w
ork fu n
ctio n s
• Pla n fo
r b u s in
e s s exp
• Check a n s io n
out com
p etito r
• 6.00 p p ro du c
m fin is h ts
wo r k
S at–S u
n
• Re ad
• B ox
• Wa lk
o n the
b e a c h/
sw im
• S o c ia
lise w it
h f r ie n d
s
123
But who makes these? Enterprising men and women, that’s who. And
it’s not just about choosing between cotton and polyester. In fact, it’s
quite a hi-tech industry – with innovations in design, manufacturing
and new fabric development.
Is all the hard work, sweat and tears worth it? Ben Beard from
Codewear knows what its like to take a business from startup to
finely-tuned operation, lycra or no lycra.
cv garden nursery
assistant >> pizza deliverer
Ben Beard – Codewear
>> dye house manager
>> sales representative >> At 32, Ben has realised his childhood
state sales manager >> dream of running his own business. But,
equity partner and manager by his own admission, it involved a lot
>> managing director, more than dreaming.
Codewear. As with many young Australians, Ben
took a gap year after school and worked
in a garden nursery and in a pizza shop
at night. He resisted the temptation to
go into partnership in the pizza shop
and returned to education, completing a Bachelor of Marketing
Communications at Bond University on the Gold Coast.
His first job after university was as the Dye House Manager
for a tannery in Queensland which gave him some grass-roots
manufacturing experience. After a stint in sales, he joined Arnott’s
and in short time was made State Sales Manager of Campbell’s Soups
(Division of Arnott’s). But the dream was always to own his own
glossary
business so it was off to Adelaide as an equity partner in a combined
Sublimation means: tannery, sports sublimation business. Then came the realisation of his
– a form of printing that dream, Codewear.
uses a heating process to
vapourise the dyes so that Ben is married to Lou. They have two young children, Charlie and
they permeate the fabric Ruby, and live in their hometown, Brisbane. ‘Family is what life is all
or other surface.
about. The business is the means. I never forget that.’
q&a
What’s your professional background?
I come from a sales and marketing background. I studied a business
degree that specialised in marketing communications at university,
but I wasn’t too interested in marketing. While at uni, I knew that I
would start up my own business eventually, so I basically used uni as
a starting point to get a job. After uni, I was involved in manufacturing
to start with, and then I realised I needed sales experience so found
a job that would give me that. Everything has evolved around getting
enough experience to start my own business.
126
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Owner: Ben Beard of the A e apparel ma
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on
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127
talogue
ns from a Codewear ca
Sp orting desig
128
process and holding your nerve is essential. Knowing you have a great
product that people want helps.
What’s been the best part about starting your own business?
There’s nothing enjoyable about starting your own business. It is the
hardest two years that I’ve ever experienced. But you always look
to the big picture where long term, hopefully we’ll have a lot more
financial freedom than we could possibly have working for someone
else. We also have a lot more flexibility in our hours, my wife and I. So
it gives us more time to spend with the kids and each other. And that
was the big attraction for me of owning our own business – if you can
get it right, it gives you the opportunity to have more freedom in your
decisions and the life that you want to live.
129
large ...
Making the
130
The best way to get clients in business is through referrals but also to be
able to present your company professionally. We spent a lot of money
on design, on company profiles, and presentation pitching to clients.
I’ve worked in the business now for some time, and know many
people in every sector. I have established good working relationships
with many people who trust me and know that I deliver quality
products on time.
small
... and the
131
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132
Sarah Bickford tells how she and her husband, Paul Lucas, have found
ways to make homes work for people and the environment.
133
q&a
When did you first come up with the concept of Modabode?
In England a few years ago the government was offering incentives to
architects who could come up with more innovative and effective ways
glossary of building houses.
At the time, the concept of quality pre-fabrication was generating a
Pre-fabrication means: lot of publicity and interest. Pre-fabrication reduces the costs, hassle
– manufacturing parts in and time involved with building and renovating, but traditionally pre-
one location, ready to be fabricated houses are quite dull and uninteresting.
assembled in another.
The idea behind Modabode is to provide an affordable and eco-
friendly housing solution that is also practical and attractive.
Paul and I looked into the business and thought that Australia could
be a great place for this product because it is still fairly easy to buy a
block of land in the bush or on the coast and erect a simple weekender
or holiday home. In the UK and other parts of Europe building land
is almost non-existent and planning rules are very restrictive. It’s
extremely unusual to build a home from scratch – most new houses
and flats are bought from developers.
So then it was basically a matter of trying to tap into this new
business and seeing how we went!
134
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Sarah Bickford Biz v is io
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an d o nvenie
n
a n d c
n
solutio he
that’s t
pr o duce – r
duct to ercli o
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p licated pro it w e r e a pap
om wish
‘It is a c times I
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someth om
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135
tion!
location, location, loca
a House forecourt -
On the Oper
136
Cool design
137
Bode.
bodes wel l for the e-
Everything
What characteristics do successful entrepreneurs need?
You have to be quite patient, flexible, able to mix and match projects
to fill in time and money as needed. You also need to be resourceful,
resilient and proactive.
138
It’s all about marketing. If you’re selling a new action figure plaything
– the Robotronomatic 3000 with infrared laser and spring-loaded
missile launcher action – you won’t make much money marketing
it to fifty-to-sixty-year-olds. By the same token, if you’re selling
health products – Wrinkles Away 3000 with anti-ageing, skin-firming
collagen-boosters – it’s not much good marketing it to schoolkids,
unless it also has spring-loaded missile launcher action!
Amanda Stevens knew exactly who her audience was. She’d done the
research and decided there was an opportunity to build a company
specialising in marketing to women.
139
q&a
What is Splash Consulting Group?
Initially, it was a mixture of direct marketing, brochures and PR with
quite small clients, but the business has changed a lot in the past
11 years. As it grew in size, we started offering a broader range of
marketing and attracting some bigger clients. It got to a point in 2000
where we had grown so much that we couldn’t really go on with that
glossary rate of growth without offering some kind of specialisation.
So I spent about six months looking at the option of vertical
Vertical specialisation means: specialisation, but the problem for me was that I thought it could get
– concentrating on just one quite boring just working with one industry.
facet of an industry.
After a lot of research, I relaunched Splash in 2001 as She-Marketing
consultants.
140
2.5 to
l t/o: $
Annua $3 milli
on
Splash
taff: 15
Co ulting
ns No. of s
be
Group ion: To ne of the
Biz vis a s o
ognis e d orities
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le a d in g auth
en
world’s ting to wom
Aman da St ev en s a r ke
on m
w
ears no
ere fo r five y
en h
e’ve be
he fact that w here to s
tay.’
‘… t t we ’re
ved tha
has pro
.au
ro up.com
plashg
www.s
141
142
143
I think successful entrepreneurs are the ones who haven’t given up,
who’ve been knocked down but got back up.
144
There are some entrepreneurs, however, that have found the right
balance. No, they didn’t take their families on the road as a travelling
band. These entrepreneurs work from home. Yes, that’s right – staying
in your pyjama pants all day, as many nap breaks as you need, and
no-one to interrupt you at business meetings … what’s not appealing
about that? Not to mention lower costs and a more relaxed work
environment.
Working under your own roof means working under your own
management and on your own terms. Which is great!
Anita Gleeson’s business idea came from being at home with her
young son – so it was sort of fitting that the business itself stayed
there.
145
q&a
Where did the idea come from?
The original idea came from necessity, really. I had a two-year-old with
a wooden floor in his bedroom. I couldn’t find a rug to put on his floor,
and I realised that this was a big gap in the market, that high quality
children’s rugs were not available.
146
0K+
t/o: 10
A nnual
BugRugs taff: Ju
st me
No. of s ea
provid
iz v is ion: To rtable play
Owner: B n, safe, comfo children
fu nt for
Gl ee so n e n v ironme
Anita y.
to enjo iness
g row the bus
to
fer idea risk
a m uch sa v e rd o it and
‘I think
it’s
ather t
han o ing out
ly ... r ll y a n d burn
low cia
more s lf finan
nd in g yourse
exte
nally.’
emotio
m
ug rugs.co
www.b
147
alk
om or harb our board w
e bedro om, play ro
Rugs for th
148
149
150
The new lifestyle has to not only work efficiently but must also appeal
enough for people to want to change their ways. A bathwater-sharing
service probably won’t cut it.
You’ll need to talk to people in your target market to find out exactly
what appeals to them and when it gets tough, just think about all the
future generations that will still have a bit of ozone layer left thanks to
you! Or you could just ask Nic Lowe how his driving ambition led him
to start the innovative GoGet Car Share.
151
q&a
What is car sharing?
The concept of car sharing has been around for about 15 years in the
United States and Europe. The idea is that if you drive less than 10 000
kilometres a year, you’re better off sharing a car than owning one.
It’s a mixed bag, really; I guess the philosophy behind car sharing is
based a lot around reducing the economic and environmental impact
of owning a car for inner-city residents.
It’s also about removing that sense of ‘I need to own a car’ – the
important thing for our members is not so much the fact that it’s a car,
but that it’s a way of getting where they need to go, which means it
becomes more about usage than ownership. It’s called post-materialism.
152
g going
a l t / o : Gettin
Annu rs
rt-time
four pa
GoGet No. of staff: efits
he ben
Car Share v is io n: All t the hassle
Biz ut
– witho wning one!
r: Ni c Lo we o f a car o f o
Owne n d expe
n s e
a
and Bruce Jeffreys iness in
respon
se
u r b u s
ge yo . if your
to chan aying ..
b e prepared s ar e s eed to b
e
‘…
ur c u stomer fe r e n t you n
yo gd if
to what methin
ers want so needs.’
cust om
e to meet t ir
h e
chan g
able to
oget.c om.au
www.g
Did you supply the initial business capital or did you have
outside investors?
We approached a number of finance companies with no luck, but then
a finance broker actually contacted us with a few options to finance
the project which was quite fortuitous.
153
154
a car!
et a job. But share
Get a life. G
How hard is it to strike a balance between the demands of
work versus life, relationships, family and friends?
Getting the support of our families was one of the most important
elements in the beginning. Starting a business is hard enough on its
own, and if we didn’t have the support of our families it would have
been a lot harder.
155
Now, it’s pretty good. I try to work mainly office hours (Monday to
Friday, 8.00 am to 6.00 pm), with only a few extra hours of work on
the weekends.
156
While most people are aware of the foundation set up by Bill and
Melinda Gates to help world’s poor, many not-so-prominent business
people are using their professional and entrepreneurial skills to help
those less fortunate than themselves.
Kylie Taylor and Valerie Khoo are role models for other Australians
– and others in prosperous countries. They’re not just giving money,
but working with people in underprivileged countries to help improve
their health, wealth and living standards.
So, don’t wait until you have billions of dollars, all you need is love
(and a sense of style).
157
cv Kylie (left):
Kylie Taylor and Valerie Khoo,
public relations consultant Taylor & Khoo
>> head, public relations
Kylie and Valerie both
firm >> business owner have professional day jobs
– Kylie studied a degree in
Valerie (right): mass communications, and
accountant >> public followed it up with the hard
slog of starting at the bottom
relations consultant >>
in a PR consultancy and
head, Sydney Writers’
gradually working her way
Centre >> business owner
to the top. She now runs a
public relations firm. Valerie,
meanwhile, did an economics
degree and worked as an accountant before studying a graduate
diploma in communications. She now runs the Sydney Writers’ Centre.
In 2003 they started Taylor & Khoo, a fashion and homewares label
that plows 100 per cent of its profits straight back into the orphanage,
paying for food, medicine and all the other daily necessities.
Taylor & Khoo also sources all its labour from disadvantaged
Cambodians, offering them the chance to earn money without having
to work in a sweatshop.
q&a
What is Taylor & Khoo?
Taylor & Khoo is a fashion and accessories label, and a 100 per cent
social cause enterprise. We gain no income from it and our work
supports 120 children in an orphanage in Siem Reap, Cambodia. All of
our products are made in Cambodia with the aim of providing jobs and
opportunities for people with disabilities who live in poverty.
We wanted to create a self-sustaining business model that would
glossary continue to support the orphanage in the years to come. We also
NGO means: wanted the business to provide jobs for people who really need them
– so we don’t use factories but work with individuals and NGO-run
– non-government
organisation. workshops. This means that the people who need the work actually
get the work.
158
100K+
l t/o: $
Annua
taff: 2
No. of s e
enerat
Taylor & Khoo v is io n: To g n d
Biz ans a
r orph s
Owner: Kylie Taylor funds fo ith disabilitie
w
and Valerie Khoo people poverty in
living in
dia
Cambo
aving a
th e g ood of h
t’s
l...Wha
rk et ing is vita about it?
’
‘… Ma o-o ne knows
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oo.com
aylor andkh
www.t
fyi
Taylor & Khoo’s shop
What stages did you go through before starting up
at Sydney’s Pitt Street
Taylor & Khoo? Mall has two paid staff
Kylie: We started by doing research from Australia, and then moved members and three
to Cambodia for three months. We would meet daily with stakeholders volunteers.
to better understand their needs and the sort of partners and services
we would need to create a working supply chain. For us, the most
important pre-startup stage was building the supply chain – piece by
piece. We also had to understand all the relevant regulations in both
Australia and Cambodia, such as customs, taxes and so on.
Valerie: We spent a lot of time developing our understanding of tax
legislation, especially the legislation associated with importing goods
from developing countries, so that we would know what issues to be
aware of right from the start.
159
Did you supply the initial business capital or did you have
outside investors?
Valerie: There was no outside funding. Basically we funded ourselves
to live in Cambodia for three months and we funded all our initial
outlays for stock and production.
160
Sydney
in Pitt S trett Mall,
Khoo”s store
Taylor and
161
in Cambodia
ned babies
Kylie wit h two orpha
Valerie and
Valerie: Seeing for ourselves that this business idea, our idea,
really can make changes in people’s lives. It’s amazing to see the
improvement you can make to a disabled woman’s self-esteem when
detour she is earning her own living and able to support her family.
162
163
164
In the fresh juice market, Boost Juice has managed to capture the
attention of fruit juice connoisseurs with their colourful branding and
their friendly, fun-loving, fresh approach to business.
165
q&a
When did you first come up with your business concept?
I’d seen stores similar to Boost when I visited the USA in 1998 (there is
actually a well-defined juice and smoothie bar market over there) and
I thought that the concept would work well here in Australia.
I knew from my own experience how difficult it could be to find a healthy,
tasty snack – especially when I was in a rush or had my sons with me,
and I realised that it must be the same for a lot of other people.
The catalyst came when I was on maternity leave. It’s often like that
– you’re not really aware of everything that’s going on inside you until
something happens where you have time to reassess your life.
I realised that I really wanted to create something that I could be
proud of and, quite honestly, I didn’t believe that a part-time job
would be stimulating enough for me in the long term, so I decided it
was time to start my own business.
166
What is Boost?
The point of Boost is that it’s not just a fast-food business that serves
healthy food; it’s also about having fun, being healthy and loving life.
Did you supply the initial business capital for Boost or did
you have outside investors?
After a lot of number crunching, we calculated that we would need
$200 000 to get the first store up and running, so we approached a
few of our colleagues and friends and between the six of us, raised
the capital.
on
0 milli
n u a l t/o: $7
An of
50 (as
o . o f s tores: 1 rch 2005)
N Ma
Bo os t (inc.
t a f f : 3000
.o f s ises)
Juice Bars No franch
n,
have fu
Owner: Janine Allis iz v is ion: To v e life
B lo
hy and
be healt
a busi-
is c r ucial to need to
le u
ht peop ess owner, yo he right
a v in g the rig b u s in w it h t
‘… h s s. As a p eople
s u c c e r ig h t
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attitud ars.com
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167
ok ...
The Boost lo
168
ile!
ice with a sm
... and serv
What are your business goals for the future?
At the moment we’re working to expand Boost both nationally and
internationally. We already have three stores open in Chile, two in
Indonesia and one in Kuwait, and we aim to open stores in South
Africa, the UK and Singapore in the near future.
169
170
171
Champion clothing is one such global product that has licensed the
brand in Australia to the Australian company, RMG.
173
cv co-founder, LA
Vaughan Richards – RMG Pty Ltd
Shirts Pty Ltd >> owner, In 1989, Vaughan Richards and three of
12 retail sportscard stores his fellow students decided to start a
>> managing director, clothing import company, LA Shirts. Their
Jonathan Sceats Eyewear business concept was a well-established
& Tower Optics >> founder, one – to source shirts cheaply from the
RMG Pty Ltd United States and sell them for a profit in
Australia.
q&a
When did you first start in business?
glossary
I was studying a Bachelor of Commerce at ANU and fell in with an
ANU stands for: American exchange student, who has since gone on to buy and run
– Australian National a company called Bagel House. At that time, I was supplying T-shirts
University. to students in the college we were living in, and we started thinking
about how he could source them cheaper in the US and sell them for a
good profit in Australia.
174
illion
a l t / o : $25 m
Annu prox 7
5
Richards o . o f s taff: ap diverse
N own a
Mark ng Group
eti
Biz vis
io n : To
ssful
Owner: e o f succe
rang
sses
Vaughan Richards busine
r
sible fo
a t e ly respon nts you
im me
u’re ult ommit
m y m ind, yo set and the c
‘In ou
rities y in life.’
the prio usiness and
b
make in
m.au
on usa.co
hampi glossary
www.c
Economies of scale means:
– savings made from
How long was it before you started seeing a profit? producing more items
less often, as opposed to
It took about three years to make LA Shirts profitable, and we
producing fewer items more
achieved that mainly through increasing market share and taking often.
advantage of the economies of scale.
Aged debtors means:
How hard is it to maintain a successful importation company? – customers whose
payments remain
We are in an extremely competitive industry, and the pressure on us
outstanding for a certain
to maintain strict business guidelines – such as the payment status of period of time.
aged debtors – has increased in the last few years, with a number of our
175
So what is RMG?
I bought out the three other partners of LA Shirts in 1996 and RMG is
a follow-on from that business. I’ve set up as a separate entity in order
to own licences for the brands Champion and Sergio Tacchini.
Essentially, it’s a sportswear-distribution company specialising in
sporting apparel and footwear.
ion
of a champ
The brand
Do you think you have made any mistakes along the way?
I think my biggest mistake has been listening to other people and
going along with their ideas even when I knew instinctively that it was
the wrong approach for my business.
As a young entrepreneur, you have to have 100 per cent confidence
in your own judgment and abilities, which can be a tough act when
you’re first starting out.
176
success revolves around the idea and 50 per cent the management.
The first business I invested in was during the Internet boom. I was
sold on a great concept, but I hadn’t given proper consideration to
who was running the company and it turned out that the management
was terrible – the business lasted less than 12 months.
However, being part of that meant that all the shortcomings in the
set-up of the business were revealed to me. This means that with any
business I’m involved in now, I look carefully at the set-up in order to
protect myself should the worst-case scenario arise.
One example of this is that, if you are using your own money to start
up a business, you should ensure you have a registered mortgage
over the business. This gives you the best chance of recovering your
money in the event the business falls into trouble.
177
178
M o n-F
ri
• A r r iv
e at wo
r k 8.00
am
• Ma n a
g e st af
f S at-S u
• Est a b n
lis h a n d
p o li c ie s imp le m • Wo r k
a n d p ro e nt n ew b ot h da
c e du re ys if n e
s cessa r
• Pla n fo • G o bo y
atin g
r f u t u re
b u s in e s • Play p
s expa n o ke r
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s upp lie ll e a g u e s, • Re la x
rs a n d accou n at my b
ret a ile rs t a nt, each ho
• Play g use
• Le ave o lf
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• Ta ke la • Sp e n d
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me a nd ily
wo r k t h • E njoy
e re li fe
179
RMIT084
Do I need qualifications?
Yes and no – anything goes in the world of being your own boss! You
would have seen from our interviews that the secrets of becoming a
successful entrepreneur simply aren’t learnt by reading textbooks.
Most people interviewed said they have learnt from the mistakes
they’ve made. The fact that they’re still in business shows that this is
not such a bad thing!
On the other hand, if you’ve had your heart set on experiencing the
uni lifestyle, or you actually love to study – going to university and
getting a degree will certainly help.
University courses
You can take undergraduate courses in business at just about every
university in Australia. These degrees usually span three years and
can be taken in conjunction with other degrees as well – if you’re
extra keen, you might spend five years doing business combined with
communications or commerce, just for that extra edge.
■ Accounting
■ Finance
■ Management
■ Marketing
■ Human resources
■ Law
■ International business
184
Below are some examples of the different types of degrees that can
equip you for a career as the boss.
185
186
The course content typically covers all the relevant areas of starting and
owning your own business, including finances, innovation, management
strategies and staff development. Like other business degrees, it is three
years full-time, though, at the Entrepreneurship Institute of Australia,
advanced students can do it in two under certain circumstances.
187
Postgraduate courses
If you’ve already completed an undergraduate degree or have been
in business for a couple of years now, you might be looking for a
postgraduate course to cement your entrepreneurial prowess. Many
Australian universities offer graduate certificates, diplomas and full
Master’s programs specialising in entrepreneurship.
These courses tend to span either one or two years. You can usually
choose to do a research-based postgraduate degree which consists
primarily of writing an extensive thesis on a related topic, or a
coursework degree. Coursework subjects covered in these courses
include:
TAFE courses
TAFE campuses throughout Australia offer courses in small business
operations from entry-level statement of attainment courses through
to Certificate IV in Small Business Management. These courses are
designed to train new and established small business owners in the
essential skills needed for successful business ownership.
188
■ business administration
■ frontline management
189
find out This course, or similar courses, can be found at most TAFE campuses
more across Australia. It involves 335 hours of study, including face-
TAFE websites
to-face classroom hours and independent study. Applicants must
have completed Year 12 or TAFE Certificate III in related business
www.tafe.nsw.edu.au
competencies to be accepted into the course.
www.tafe.vic.gov.au
www.tafe.qld.gov.au
www.tafe.tas.edu.au
Professional development and
www.tafe.sa.edu.au industry courses
www.tafe.wa.edu.au
Professional development courses are short courses designed by or in
www.centralian.nt.edu.au
collaboration with professional industry advisers. They aim to provide
www.cdu.edu.au
participants with new skills and knowledge, or update existing skills.
www.cit.act.edu.au
Education providers such as the Australian Institute of Management,
Seek Learning, Open Learning Australia and the Open Learning
Institute of TAFE all offer professional development courses, as do
industry associations such as the local Junior Chambers of Commerce
groups, Australian Business Ltd, and the Australian Chamber of
Commerce and Industry.
■ business planning
■ research and analysis
190
And unlike university and TAFE courses, you can’t get Centrelink find out
benefits to ease the way. On the other hand, these courses sometimes more
last only a few days, and the knowledge and contacts you get can be www.aim.com.au
invaluable. www.seek.com.au
www.open.edu.au
www.acci.asn.au
Government programs
The Federal Government’s program to support innovation and
technology is known as ‘Backing Australia’s Ability’. Under this
program, information, mentoring and training programs are now
available to young entrepreneurs, such as ‘Building Entrepreneurship
in Small Business’. This encompasses many programs that provide
merit-based funding to successful applicants.
191
find out Upon completion of the training program your business plan must
more be approved by certified assessors for you to open shop under the
You’ll find the NEIS website at: guidance of NEIS. From there, you may be eligible to receive income
www.workplace.gov.au/neis
support payments for the duration of your first year of business.
192
■ Do your research
Maybe when you’ve done all that you can buy those really shiny
shoes … in fact, you should be able to afford to have someone shine
them for you!
When it comes to writing your business plan, the Internet is your best
friend. Many websites have ideas for business plans and how to write
them, as well as free samples and templates to have a look at, so be
sure to make the most of the Internet for research purposes.
193
■ Marketing plan – how will you get your product noticed? And, once
you get it noticed, how will you get people to pay money for it?
■ Financial plan – you need to spend money to make money, but you
might want a slightly more detailed plan than that. We’re talking
financial records and statements.
Before you do that, though, make sure you’ve read all the rest of
this chapter!
Write your thoughts down and flesh them out. Make sure you’re able
to answer all the basic questions.
■ What is it? (You won’t get very far if you’re not able to answer
this one.)
■ Who is it for?
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Do your research
So, you’ve got your heart set on a product and think you can leave the
competition for dead. What next?
Well, that great idea you’ve got for self-buttering toast has to go down
well with the public. This is where market research comes in. Market
research is a method of defining consumer opinion and demand
for a product or service – in a nutshell, the idea is to figure out how
consumers will react to your product.
195
Then it’s time to figure out the best way to get any extra funding you
need. You might have to approach a bank or private investor – in
which case, leave the balaclava and sawn-off shotgun at home – or
apply for a business grant.
196
■ cultural enterprise
197
198
Private investors
The most common ways of securing financial support from private
investors are through what are known as business angels and
venture capitalists.
Business finance
The most common way for Australian small businesses to receive
funding is through a business loan from a bank, credit union, building
society, finance broker or finance company. Before you approach a
bank you need to be sure that your business plan is in good order,
you’re well-prepared and well-presented – you wouldn’t give money to
just anyone who wandered in off the street and neither will they!
199
Meet an expert
To find out the finer points of financing a business, we spoke to the
chief operating officer of one of the big four banks in Australia.
q&a
How important is financing when starting a business?
It’s very important – getting your cash flow right is the key to making
a success of any newly-established small to medium enterprise, and
how you finance your business will impact your cash flow.
200
201
Check with the Office of Fair Trading for any licences or registrations
fyi
that you may require for your business to operate legally.
Many people interviewed
stressed how important You might also want to find out about the various taxes such as Fringe
their accountant is – the Benefits Tax and GST. Check what you need to do in relation to paying
person who helps
GST by going to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) website. Filling
minimise their stress!.
in Business Activity Statements (BASs) each quarter is one of the pet
hates of many business people – but necessary to stay in business.
Next you should think about your business itself. Where is your office
and/or workshop going to be located? You might need to consult
glossary a lawyer before you sign the lease or bulldoze an apartment block.
If you’re building, check with the local council about zoning, health
GST means:
– goods and services tax. regulations and whether you need to lodge a development or building
Awards means:
application.
– legal documents that set out Then there’s the people stuff. If you’re going to have employees you
minimum rates of pay, hours
of work and other conditions. need to be well versed in how to steer clear of the legal issues that
OH&S means: can arise from, well, people. Make sure you know the difference
– occupational health between an employee and a contractor, and the ins and outs of writing
and safety.. contracts, paying wages, state awards, workplace agreements and
OH&S regulations.
202
■ Create a logo for your business that is eye-catching and easy for
consumers to remember. Think McDonald’s golden arches, or glossary
the Nike ‘swoosh’, or even Apple’s, well, apple. You’ll also need a
tagline. it should be no more than 10 words. Again, think ‘I’m lovin’ Tagline means:
it’, ‘Love life’ or ‘Just do it’. – a short, catchy phrase that
describes your product or
■ Make your name/logo/marketing campaign easy for consumers to vision and piques consumer
remember – and keep in mind that in marketing, familiarity breeds interest.
203
You’ll find that one of the main issues in running a company website
is how to get people to come to it. If you’re in a position to, it might be
an idea to think about brokering deals with large Internet companies
find out
more to put links to your site from their sites to draw consumers across.
Another possibility is to run competitions with donated prizes or
Check out the examples
of website pages in the incentives to encourage people to log on to your site and get surfing.
appendix of this book.
Running your business online
While most business owners consider a website to be a good
investment, businesses that offer a web-based service have another
set of factors to consider.
■ database/server security
■ data backup (very, very important so ask your server host what
options you have)
204
■ join Google Adsense and start putting their ads on your site – it’s
free to join and you will notice a steady increase in revenue as
traffic increases.
Employers can tell you some true horror stories – from applicants
who simply get up and walk out mid-interview without saying a word,
to an interviewee who started reading a porn magazine while being
questioned. Another interviewee announced that he had a bomb in
his suitcase and would let it off if he didn’t get the job. Needless to
say, he didn’t get the job, and the interviewer lived to tell the tale.
Hiring the right people is something that can make your business.
Hiring the wrong people can break it! If you’re in a position where you
can start taking on employees, there are two things you should be
looking for in your applicants.
Make sure that they are actually qualified to do the job you’re hiring
them for – it’s no good hiring your best mate, the bus driver, to do
your accounts. The second is a question of attitude and compatibility.
205
The best teams are those of like-minded people who like and respect
each other and will pitch in to help out when the going gets tough.
As the boss, you can choose your team, so think about what types of
people you prefer to work with.
cter!
ire any old chara
Don’t just h
Have your applicants email their résumés and cover letters through
to you so that you can select a few of the best to meet in person. If
they spell your name wrong or appear to have sent generic documents
without bothering to tailor them to your job ad, you can bet they’re
not great when it comes to attention to detail. Make sure they
have addressed your selection criteria thoroughly and assess their
motivations in applying for the job.
206
And then … stop. Stop thinking negatively about the obstacles ahead
and the long hours you’ll have to work.
Most business owners out there will tell you conditions will never be
exactly perfect for going it alone, but that it’s a labour of love. And
yours can be too.
You should live and breathe your business plan. Then, when you’ve
thought it through, turned it inside out and upside down, do
something crazy. Actually do it.
Good luck!
207
Buzz words
ABN Australian Business Number (Also Australian
Businesswomen’s Network)
aged debtors customers whose payments remain outstanding
for a certain period of time
agribusiness a business involved in the production, processing
and distribution of agricultural products
ANU Australian National University
ASIC Australian Securities and Investment Commission
ATO Australian Taxation Office
awards legal documents that set out minimum rates of pay,
hours of work and other conditions
B2B business-to-business
BAS Business Activity Statement
Business Enterprise community-based business assistance
Centre organisations
that offer practical assistance to the micro and
small business sectors.
Carpe Diem ‘Seize the day’ in Latin
CDMA A digital moble phone, GPS and satellite system
– the letters stand for ‘code division multiple
access’
CGI Computer Generated Imagery
corporate branding creating a long-term, easily recognised identity for
your business
creative equity equity received (partial ownership) in a business in
exchange for the value you add to it
economies of scale it’s cheaper to produce or import in bulk less
frequently, as opposed to producing or importing
small amounts often
equity the cash value of your assets, such as your home,
which banks or investors can use as leverage if
they need to squeeze money out of you later
flexible delivery off-campus, external, online or distance education
learning – because of Australia’s huge geographic
mass, many universities and colleges offer flexible
delivery as a study method
FBT Fringe Benefits Tax
GST goods and services tax
inventory finance money that can be borrowed from a financial group
to pay for stock without the need for the recipient
to use property as security
invoice factoring releasing cash from invoices as soon as they are
issued. Usually you would have to wait a set period
– 30 days or so – which can make things tight for
the cash flow of small businesses.
209
210
Appendix
Sample websites
sh
site look fla
ke your web
ense site, can ma
ke this one on the 2-S
A nimations, li
211
212
Photo credits
A big thanks goes out to everyone who generously supplied photos for
this book.
213
Coming soon
@gov.au Publishing
Accounting Victoria Scientific Pursuits
Banking Teaching Victoria
Be Your Own Boss The Art World
Beauty & Fitness The Sporting Arena
Digital Media Working from Home
Education Working with Animals
Industrial Design Working with Children
Journalism
Going Global
Want to work overseas? The world’s your oyster and Career FAQs Going
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eople realexper
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their
Australians tell
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Do you want to make a difference while you make a dollar? From
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