One of the most powerful ways to grow a business is by learning from people who have already built successful brands. What helped them stand out? What lessons did they learn the hard way? And where did the right support make all the difference?
For winners of CommBank’s Business Backing Business competition, that support comes from people who know what it takes to build a brand. Chef and television host Adam Liaw, ecommerce entrepreneur Brittney Saunders and landscape designer Jamie Durie are visiting the winning businesses and helping share their stories with a wider audience. Here are three founders having a pinch-me moment.
Growing from side hustle to serious business - Little Jobs Group, SA
Michael Cole turned a side project renovating investment properties into Little Jobs Group, a thriving property maintenance and pre-sale overhaul business. He met with Jamie Durie to discuss scope for expansion.
Michael Cole is the first to admit that he’s not in the habit of winning competitions. “For me it’s always been about hard work. My mates and I always joke about the fact that I came second in the under-fives ‘best-looking baby in Whyalla competition’,” the director of Adelaide-based Little Jobs Group laughs. “So when I discovered I’d won Business Backing Business, I was shocked.”
In 2013, the then mine worker and his wife, Allyce, started buying, renovating and flipping investment properties. That side hustle has since turned into an Adelaide-wide property-maintenance business that also conducts pre-sale cosmetic renovations. “It took one local agent to give me a shot and I just ran with it,” he says.
Michael’s lesson: passion keeps you moving. “You can’t grow a business unless you’re passionate about what you do. Find your motivation and harness that power to keep moving forward. I’ve found that fortitude is everything.”
The growth of the business has been steady rather than explosive, with Michael admitting that he didn’t fully recognise its potential, nor trust others to represent the brand. Cash flow was also a constant challenge and, like many small business owners, he found himself chasing invoices week-to-week in order to pay his ever-increasing staff (Michael now employs a team of 16).
“With real-estate agencies there’s usually only a mid-month payment and an end-of-month payment so if they missed a cycle, we’d have to wait a fortnight,” he says. “There were times where I’d go weeks without paying myself and rely on Allyce’s income to keep us afloat.”
If this sounds familiar, it may help to explore ways to optimise your business cash flow.
The turning point came when he switched accountants, moving from a more traditional approach to someone who understood the realities of modern cash flow. After 18 months, the accountant – so invested in what Michael was trying to create – asked to buy into Little Jobs Group as a shareholder. With sharper financial systems in place, growth accelerated. “We more than doubled the business over the next three years.” Today, the company has clear divisions across property management and pre-sale makeovers.
With an eye on potential interstate expansion, Michael says the Business Backing Business recognition has provided exposure and confidence at a critical moment for the business. “To have an opportunity to meet a businessman of Jamie Durie’s calibre and to have him showcase our business is unbelievable. I’m so very grateful.”
Turning setbacks into a stronger brand - Poco Posy, QLD
Bec James turned a redundancy into a thriving floristry business, overcoming early mistakes, floods and a pandemic. As she scales up, entrepreneur Brittney Saunders is on hand with advice regarding social media.
Risk and compliance training might not be the most obvious pathway into floristry but when the GFC cost Bec James her job in finance, the redundancy payout offered an opportunity to ask the question: what if? “I was a single mum and my son had just moved out so it was probably the first time in my life I could afford to take a risk,” says Bec.
