50 Favourite Entrepreneurs

What does it take to be an entrepreneur? These big success stories are as different as the people who made them happen, but they do share some crucial qualities. We take a look at 50 of our favourites, to find out what makes them entrepreneurial.

We asked experts to help us come up with 50 favourite entrepreneurs, identifying what it is that makes them entrepreneurial. Our panel was sourced from: Swinburne University’s Australian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship—Dr Alex Maritz, Professor Tom McKaskill, and Dr Michael Liffman—Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Awards, the Australian Businesswomen’s Network, and Suzy Brien of EO (Entrepreneur’s Organisation), Sydney.

Here’s what our combined efforts came up with, in no particular order.

Maureen & Tony Wheeler

Lonely Planet

Travel junkies Maureen and Tony turned their passion into an international publishing phenomenon that started 35 years ago when they turned their travel diaries into a book. Lonely Planet is now the world’s largest independent travel publishing company, with some 650 titles under its belt.

Sarina Russo

Sarina Russo Group

A determined attitude is what turned Russo from a frequently sacked typist into creator of a multi-million dollar empire. The various training and recruitment businesses within the Sarina Russo Group turn over approximately $60 million a year, with Russo now also a successful mentor, author and investor—featuring on the panel of TV’s Dragon’s Den.

Suzi Dafnis

Australian Businesswomen’s Network (ABN)

Serial entrepreneur, Dafnis is well placed to chair the ABN having co-founded successful personal development education business Pow Wow Events, as well as a separate business around Robert Kiyosaki-inspired Rich Dad investment seminars, here and in the US. She also now has such a substantial property portfolio she requires staff to manage it.

Shelley Barrett

ModelCo

The Ernst & Young 2005 Young Entrepreneur of the Year, Barrett launched ModelCo four years ago to develop quick-fix beauty solutions. The brand has since achieved significant recognition globally, with the company enjoying a 350 percent turnover growth.

Sean Ashby

aussieBum

In 2001 Sean Ashby invested his $20,000 life savings to develop a swimwear range that no Aussie retailer would buy. He didn’t give up, he launched the cheeky brand online and went global. aussieBum is now a multi-million dollar company exporting to 75 countries, and growing 20 percent every quarter.

Diana Williams

Fernwood Women’s Health Clubs

In the early 90s Williams recognised an untapped market for a women-only gym. With co-founder John Clow, the pair were just in time to beat overseas competitors to the market, and rolled out the hugely successful Fernwood franchise, which now boasts 75 locations around Australia.

Janine Allis

Boost Juice

Allis launched the juice bar craze in Australia when she started Boost in 2000, and she’s now spread the love for smoothies around the world. There are more than 170 stores throughout Australia, and now three in Chile, two in Indonesia, one in Kuwait and Singapore, with many more in the pipeline.

Luke Baylis & James Miller

Sumo Salad

Two young IT professionals took the humble salad and cooked up a multi-million dollar business. Despite their lack of retail experience, the duo are building a fast food brand to rival the big boys. The first Sumo Salad store opened just three years ago, is one of the fastest growing franchises in Australia, and it’s already going global.

Graeme Wood

Wotif

Founder of the phenomenally successful wotif.com, Wood is a creative thinker who took an idea about marketing discount accommodation online and made it work. Within seven years, the brand is recognised in more than 32 countries and has gone public recording a 2005–06 net profit of $16.5 million.

Jim Penman

Jim’s Group

Penman started his own mowing business in 1982 with a second-hand lawn mower and a trailer. Today, Jim’s Group is one of the largest home service franchises in the world with Jim leading 20 divisions, totalling 2,300 franchisees in three countries.

Peter Alexander

Peter Alexander

From humble beginnings selling pyjamas from his mother’s kitchen table, Alexander has spent 20 years developing his self-named brand to grow his mail order, retail, wholesale and online pyjama empire to what it is today.

 John Ilhan

Crazy John’s

John Ilhan’s crazy marketing ideas have paid off; with Crazy John’s now the largest independent phone retailer in Australia with some 120 retail stores across the country. Ilhan himself was valued in the 2006 BRW Rich List at $300 million.

Tony Kinnane

Runge

Mining services company Runge has remained at the forefront of new technologies and software development for 23 years, and now boasts offices in Brisbane, Singleton, Johannesburg, Calgary and Santiago. Tony Kinnane heads up the company, which, last year, was recognised as the smartest in Queensland at the state government’s Smart Awards.

Tom Potter

Eagle Boys

Jobless at 23, Tom Potter borrowed the money to open his first pizza shop in Albury, NSW. Twenty years later he has expanded the Eagle Boys Dial-A-Pizza franchise to some 180 stores Australia- wide, with a current annual turnover in excess of $110 million. 

Julian Tertini

Fantastic Furniture

Julian Tertini founded both Freedom (since sold) and Fantastic Furniture empires. His achievements were recognised as a divisional 2003 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award winner, and he made the BRW Rich 200 list in 2004, with estimated wealth of $168 million.

Tim Pethick

Founder of nudie juice

With a target market of one—himself—he developed a product that wrote the book on developing a niche. Before nudie the juice market was relatively unexciting. However, with Pethick’s mix of savvy and humour, the company quickly became one of the country’s biggest brands. Pethick is now looking for the next challenge for his magic touch.

Graham & Wendy Erhart

Founders of Withcott Seedlings

Taking a backyard operation into a million dollar seedling business, Graham and Wendy used the country’s water crisis as a catalyst for further innovation and success. Developing new systems and new products, the company continues to grow. And not without accolades, with Wendy named the 2005 Veuve Clicquot Business Woman of the Year.

Emma Brown

Founder of Business Chicks

Staff It, the business Brown founded at 18, was named 2005 Small Business of the Year, as well as Australia’s favourite recruiter at the SEEK Awards. Selling her shares in the business, Brown took over networking organisation Business Chicks, which continues to go from strength to strength, and shows this is one chick who just won’t stay still.

Dr Peter Farrell

CEO and co-founder of ResMed

When Farrell was presented with a new innovation to treat sleep apnea in the mid-eighties, he saw its potential, so along with some colleagues, bought the rights and ResMed was born. From very early days, Farrell’s global approach to business now sees the company selling 97 percent of its sales overseas.

Les Schirato

CEO of the Cantarella Bros

Previously working for the marketing side of the business under his father-in-law and brother, Schirato stepped up to CEO and took Vittorio coffee beans from retailing to cafes and delicatessens into supermarkets, discovering a major new sector for the product. His branding experience has clearly worked for the company, named Family Business of the Year (second generation) in 2004.

Belinda Fraser/Melanie Bourne

Founders of endota spa

Long-time friends, Fraser and Bourne hatched the idea for a day spa when they ran into each other at a barbecue. They started the business with two credit cards and a belief in their concept. Young and female, they’ve had to persevere to be taken seriously, but the result is worth it: a thriving franchise with 24 locations around Australia.

Paul Cave

Founder of BridgeClimb

It took almost a decade to get the business off the ground, but the Bridge Climb has now seen almost two million people climb to the top of Australia’s most famous icon. Cave battled bureaucracy and red tape, as well as trying to sell the concept to prospective investors. With what he learned, he’s now looking abroad for further bridges to climb.

Napoleon Perdis

Founder of Napoleon Perdis Cosmetics

Despite studying law and marketing, he began teaching women how to apply makeup before launching his own brand of cosmetics. Now his self-named line can be found at more than 550 points of sale around Australia, including 52 concept stores, and seven makeup academies. His multimillion-dollar line can also be found in New Zealand, Canada, Europe, and the US.

Maggi Miles and Gary Lines

Founders of Byron Bay Cookie Company

After working in the fashion industry here and in the US, Miles and her partner Lines started baking cookies for local markets in the Byron Bay area while deciding on their next business venture. High demand soon showed that they’d already found it, and local and international success has followed for one of Australia’s pioneers in the gourmet cookie industry.

David Bassau

Financial entrepreneur and founder of Opportunity International Australia

His work in the field of micro finance has given assistance to budding small business entrepreneurs in developing countries. He established Opportunity International Australia in 1971, and the business operates in almost 30 countries (current average loan size: $213). Now retired from the company he works in a consulting capacity, finding new ways for governments and organisations to help others grow.

Collette Dinnigan

Fashion designer

One of Australia’s most successful fashion designers, Dinnigan has dressed everyone from homegrown talent to Hollywood stars. Accolades include the 1997 Louis Vuitton Business Award and Australian ‘Designer of the Year’ in 1996. Recently celebrating her 10th fashion show in Paris, Dinnigan has shown that style combined with savvy can mean longevity in the fickle world of fashion.

John Casella

Managing director of Casella Wines

You’d be hard pressed to find someone who’s not familiar with the Casella Wines’ Yellow Tail brand, the brainchild of Casella. Coming into the family business as managing director in 1994, with a focus on new technology and up-to-date developments in the winemaking process, Casella has seen the business become one of the country’s top wine exporters.

Roger Gillespie

Founder of Baker’s Delight and Brumby’s bakery chains

The man knows his dough. A fourth-generation baker, he started his first bakery to help fund a local school in 1975. This became the first Brumby’s. In 1980 he launched Baker’s Delight, to great success, and the stores kept coming. There are now 700 franchisees here and in New Zealand, Canada and the US.

Brad Sugars

Business coach

From teaching business in his suburban bedroom, Sugars’ company Action International now has nearly 1,000 offices in more than 20 countries teaching business owners how to be their best. Having learnt the ins and outs of business after owning and operating several of his own since leaving university, he’s made a very large piece of the business coaching pie his very own.

Mark Bouris

Founder of Wizard Home Loans

Seeing the time was ripe for non-bank home loan providers in the late 90s, Bouris took advantage of the property boom, and attracted powerful backers including Kerry Packer, eventually seeing turnover grow to $100 million annually. Recently selling the company for a tidy sum, he remains a non-executive chairman and has a plethora of new projects in the pipeline.

Andrew and Paul Bassat

Seek

Together with Matt Rockman, brothers Andrew and Paul Bassat revolutionised the online employment market, and currently have a stake in the online job market of about 60 percent. Their site attracts more than 1.3 million visitors, with projected revenue for the first half of 2007 at more than $70 million.

Peter Irvine and Nabi Saleh

Gloria Jean’s Coffees

After bringing the coffee chain down-under in 1996 and making a big success of the brand, co-owners Peter Irvine and Nabi Saleh purchased the international franchise rights from its US parent company and now export into 20 countries worldwide. All coffee is roasted in their state-of-the-art facilities in Sydney.

Graham Turner

Flight Centre

Turner’s first Flight Centre shop was opened in Sydney in 1981, growing quickly to become one of the world’s fastest-growing travel businesses, listing on the Australian Stock Exchange in 1995. The founder and managing director led the charge to buy back the company, but settled for part privatisation earlier this year. Last year’s sales revenue exceeded $1 billion.

Linda Lowndes

Microskin

Lowndes created a business nine years in the making, based around an innovative idea and commitment to making a difference. Her Microskin formula creates a simulated second skin that covers up visible skin conditions, scars, birthmarks and burns. Her award-winning business now has 15 staff, with more than 600 patients coming from around the world.

Sue Ismiel

Nad's

Launched in 1992, Ismiel transformed a homemade product for her kids into a hair removal giant. The turning point came in 1993 when she sold out of the product in four minutes after a TV infomercial aired. When entering the competitive US market a few years later, infomercials again proved a triumph in getting the word out.

Margot Spalding

Jimmy Possum

The 2006 Telstra Business Woman of the Year, Spalding attributes the success of her family furniture business to passion, focus, hard work, and a desire to create products of the highest quality. Named after a turn-of-the-century primitive furniture maker, the business combines naturally sourced products with European-inspired designs that have captured a niche market.

Sonia Amoroso

Cat Media

A former Ernst & Young Young Entrepreneur of the Year, Amoroso founded her health and beauty company with products like FatBlaster, Vein Away, and Horny Goat Weed. Turning over more than $35 million, and employing around 100 staff, Amoroso now exports to 15 international markets. In 2002 she was listed 29th in BRW’s Fast 100.

The Wiggles

The Wiggles

If there’s anyone in Australia, indeed in many countries around the world, who hasn’t heard of The Wiggles—wake up! The four geniuses in skivvies (plus the many sidekicks and behind-the-scenes brains) came up with a simple act in 1991 that has revolutionised the children’s entertainment industry, not to mention becoming a merchandising mammoth. They even franchise the brand in other countries.

Shane Yeend

Imagination Entertainment

With several Australian and international industry awards under his belt, Yeend lives up to his company name. Although in business for more than 20 years, Yeend reinvented the business in recent years, pioneering the DVD games category. Selling into worldwide retailers, Yeend leverages off partnerships that include Channel Seven Television and E! Entertainment Television.

Tim Anderson and Paul Wiegard

Madman Entertainment

These self-confessed geeks turned a passion for Japanese anime (as in animation) into an entertainment empire. The masters of entertainment distribution, these guys have brought Australia everything from Dragon Ball Z to the monster-hit film Kenny—not bad for a business started in Anderson’s bedroom. Annual turnover now comes in at around $50 million.

Craig Winkler

MYOB

When Winkler founded the business in 1991, he projected sales of just 700 copies of MYOB Accounting. By 1995, he had 35,000 Australian customers. When the GST was introduced, 300,000 customers used MYOB to help adapt to the new tax system. Markets now include Asia, New Zealand, the US and the UK, servicing a 450,000-strong customer base.

Naomi Simson

Red Balloon Days

Since launching her ‘experience’ business in 2001, the self-named chief experience officer offers packages from more than 1000 suppliers. In the early days, with monthly turnover hitting just $2,000, she risked $15,000 on representation at a corporate gift show. It paid off, and she picked up a client that is now worth $300,000 per year.

Siimon Reynolds

Photon Group and Love Communications

The advertising brains behind many hit campaigns in the 1980s—who can forget the Grim Reaper ads—Reynolds started his first agency aged 23. Now he is creative director of Love, as well as co-founder of Photon, and his combined interests are valued at around $500 million.

James Stevens

Roses Only

With a name that says it all, Stevens turned a small family business into a multi-million dollar empire. His marketing smarts saw the brand leverage off partnerships with luxury brands, and he challenged traditional ordering methods to evolve into a largely online business that now operates internationally.

Justin Herald

Attitude Clothing

With $50 in his pocket and sheer determination, Herald turned his modest t-shirt business (featuring slogans with ‘attitude’) into a multi-million dollar hit. The author, speaker and entrepreneur wants to make it his mission to arm would-be entrepreneurs with advice he wished he’d received in the early days.

IT To The World

With a credit card for the start-up, this dynamic duo took quantum leaps to turn their business into the fastest-growing software company in Australia.

Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar met at uni and decided they didn’t want to follow many of their classmates to the big end of town. Knowing they wanted to earn enough to be on par with fellow graduate salaries, the pair formed a business, Atlassian, relying on the meagre limit of a credit card.

At just 27 years of age, this dynamic duo has competed with the big boys in a variety of arenas, even taking out the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year (EoY) gong last year. As we talk, Farquhar’s quite excited about the trip to Monte Carlo for the international event.

On top of the EoY awards, the duo have been ranked in BRW’s fast-growing list, coming in as the number-one fastest growing software company in Australia. They are all ringing endorsements about a company that Farquhar says is "mostly commonsense".

Farquhar thanks the internet for being able to get their business model off the ground, and for such a small initial investment, and reasons that it’s not hard to get started in IT.

The internet may have helped make the software readily available across the globe—there are more than 5,000 clients around the world—but it’s been the word-of-mouth and the "internet community" that has made a real difference to the success of the business.

The pair developed two key products: JIRA, bug tracking, issues tracking and project management software; and Confluence, an enterprise collaborating wiki that makes it easy for enterprises to communicate with their team.

With clients based around the globe, including just about every major investment bank in America and big name technology companies like Microsoft, the company growth rate is at around 30 to 40 percent per quarter, with turnover around $15 million.

These days, though, like many IT businesses, the pair face an uphill battle with staff shortages. "There just aren’t enough people enrolling in IT at uni," says Farquhar. And while the shortages are already being felt now, he worries about what the future may bring. That’s why staff culture is so important to the guys now.

Focusing on retaining staff, rather than looking for new recruits, Farquhar and Cannon-Brookes strive for a friendly and relaxed environment, and challenging the staff they have. Obviously to lure staff they need to ensure they offer competitive salaries and bonuses, but more attractive to recruits, Farquhar discovered, was the interviewing process. "We have been told that the questions we ask at the interview show a good understanding of the business, which makes us an employer of choice."

Farquhar believes what makes him and Cannon-Brookes entrepreneurial is their belief in each other and what they can achieve. "It’s a belief in yourself and that you can improve, and persistence to follow through."

So for them, this is about providing the simplest software with the best customer service, and relying on viral word-of-mouth marketing to get their message across. If you look at the testimonials on the website, so far it’s worked, but it’s supported by careful online marketing strategies. Farquhar says Google ads have proved very effective.

Another driver for growth is that the customer comments in terms of improvements to the software are taken onboard and implemented wherever possible. And as Farquhar says, when a new company trials their product, they have a 10 percent conversion rate into a sale. "In IT, that’s huge."

They’ve learnt the hard way the old adage of hire slowly, fire quickly, and have learnt to be more careful with money over the years, moving from a ‘haphazard’ accounting system to a more structured system where everything is accountable.

And although in business to make money, core values of the business are reflected by the free software and service they offer to some not-for-profit and charity organisations.

Farquhar recognises that every partnership has a time span, but says his with Cannon-Brookes is far from looking to be over.

Anna Kluczewska

AION Diagnostics

Biotech Biz

In business terms, there aren’t too many industries as intrinsically linked to innovation as biotechnology. And in entrepreneurial terms, Anna Kluczewska is a perfect example of how to take an innovative product to market, and thrive.

With a background in dentistry followed by a fellowship in cosmetics, Anna Kluczewska had no idea she would end up running a global diagnostics company. But timing, an interest in diagnostics, and a clinical frustration with the services available put her on the path to becoming a biotech entrepreneur.

After just six months practising dentistry, Kluczewska felt it was too "mechanical" and left to do a three-year internship with Baxter Healthcare, becoming global product manager at Baxter Healthcare's BioSurgery division. She knew in the longer term that she wanted to run her own business, and after moving to nano-technology company, pSivida, Kluczewska took the helm of AION Diagnostics, a company set up to promote the early detection of disease. (Three weeks prior to the interview, AION completed a spin-out from parent company, pSivida, and is now a wholly-owned subsidiary).

According to its website: "AION Diagnostics is a global research-based imaging company whose vision is to enhance the delivery of care through early detection and diagnosis of disease. Our focus is on prevention rather than cure."

In a nutshell, AION was established to take advantage of the discoveries of porous silicon, creating its core product mpSi—a modified silicon product that acts as an imaging agent to highlight early disease detection.

Traditionally, materials have been produced to show up on different imaging products. The breakthrough with mpSi is that it shows up on x-ray, CT, PET and MRI scans, making early detection of disease a reality.

And as a new field, and as the only product in the market, there is little competition. But it does mean IP protection is paramount. "We currently have 44 patents," Kluczewska says of the products and technology they have come up with. And while she says it’s an easily controlled market, the downside is that it takes four-five years to get to market from the time of invention.

And this is about more than seizing opportunities, she adds. "I believe you create your opportunity." In medicine, she admits the demand for forecasting is easy; the hard part is making sure the pitch is where investors want to be.

One of the biggest challenges Kluczewska faces when coming up with an innovative product is getting the word out, to the public and to investors. Firstly, she needs to translate the lab trial into commercial value to get the investors onboard, and then it’s about another two years before it gets to the public.

While she’d prefer to keep the company private in the early years, expansion necessitates international investment. "Bio-technology is an international market," she says.

"The Australian market is interested in resources," Kluczewska says of our local investor climate. "Overseas companies are interested in nano-technology."

While she doesn’t see herself as particularly entrepreneurial, Kluczewska admits that she excels in doing what is required to get the job done. "The challenges are hourly—in my mind if I can’t solve them now, I will later—so I think it comes down to a bit of creativity."

As an entrepreneur, Kluczewska needs to be an effective leader and manager, and finds one of the toughest parts of her role is when she isn’t having regular contact with her core team of four, and around 55 consultants. "I feel torn by wanting to spend more time with them working on the projects, but I need to manage the business.

"The onus on a small bio-tech company is on finances," Kluczewska says, adding that in the early days, for a period of four to six months the business existed day-to-day not knowing if they were going to make it to the next day.

With as many ups and downs as a business can face, Kluczewska acknowledges that the biotech industry can be like a roller-coaster, taking the discoveries and the ups with the failures and the downs. Not that she’d have it any other way. "The journey is so worth the result."

Catherine and David Harris

Harris Farm Markets

Fairness & Fair Dinkum

Starting a business is one thing, having to start it a second time is another! But these partners in life and work used the experience to make the business stronger and much bigger.

After graduating from commerce degrees together at uni, Cathy and David Harris had no idea they were going to end up being fruiterers. After graduation, the pair got married, went on honeymoon and came home to start the fruit and vegie empire that was to become Harris Farm markets.

Although they didn’t know this was going to be their business for the next 30 or so years, coming from entrepreneurial families they had a good idea they were going to be entrepreneurs. "David’s father told him to do something that none of the big boys do well, that doesn’t need much cash to start, and to make sure it’s a cash business," Cathy says.

Their first shop was a roadside market in Sydney’s Villawood. David ran the shop while Cathy honed her retails skills at Grace Bros. And although Cathy says David is more entrepreneurial, she admits they complement each other like "yin and yang". The formula worked, and soon there were another two shops opening up.

After trading for a few years, Cathy and David were in Canada, where they learnt more about the self-service, supermarket-style of business not yet seen in the fresh fruit and veg industry in Australia. They liked the concept and brought it back.

While Cathy admits she loves technology and gadgets, she says David is behind the innovative technology that set the business apart from others in the industry. This technology means they are able to track turnover, sales, and wastage at all times. A computer in the bedroom means they can be on top of tomato sales at all hours, too, much to Cathy’s chagrin. "Technology hasn’t been a driver, but has been an integral part of our success," she says. "The value of the business is its ingenuity."

Cathy took a backseat role when she started raising their family of five sons, but even during the time away from the business she was entrepreneurial. She started a screen-printing business, selling her printed t-shirts to Grace Bros.

But their journey hasn’t all been smooth sailing. In the early 80s, when it was clear the business had grown too quickly, they sold 50 percent of the business to a public company, Panfida Foods. Keen to grow exponentially, Panfida borrowed extensively to grow the business. It soon became clear they were in trouble, and Panfida collapsed, taking Harris Farm with them.

It was a devastating blow for the family, and it was only through the bank’s cooperation in allowing them to sell off the stores that they avoided bankruptcy proceedings. Selling three stores to three friends got them out of trouble and they were able to start again—"they ended up making millions, by the way!" she adds about their saviours.

They’ve not only had to build a business and a brand to compete with the big chains, they had to do it again, and convince everyone they were a good bet. "Banks wouldn’t touch us then; now they’re lining up at the door."

When Cathy came back to the business after the collapse, she brought to the table a strategic vision for the business, ensuring a better infrastructure to grow more strategically, with a greater focus on corporate governance and protecting IP than previously. "It taught us that we needed to focus on the margins," she says. "And ensure that we’re not growing too fast."

According to Cathy, David is fanatical about detail, and this attention to details is reflected by all of his managers and buyers. And although not terribly good at maths at school, she adds, his head for numbers, which comes from a deep understanding of the business, has made the business the success it is. She also attributes the fact that some of the workers and suppliers who have been with the company almost 30 years have done so thanks to David’s leadership and their focus on a mixture of "fairness and fair dinkum".

"David knows more about fruit and veg than anybody in Australia," Cathy boasts. "And this business is about providing good quality produce."

When running the business, she says, you have to go back to your core values, but just as importantly you have to verbalise them. These values include a commitment to helping employ intellectually disabled workers. The joy Cathy sees on the faces of such employees is very rewarding.

Driven by the enthusiasm of her sons in the business (three are currently working in the business) she looks forward to handing the business over to them, and seeing her values carried on.

Peter Sheahan

Generation Y expert

Smart & Flexible

He makes mistakes, but he learns from them, is constantly evolving, and he never quits. Just a few of the reasons why Peter Sheahan is an expert in his field.

Reading the press on Peter Sheahan, you might think he had big tickets on himself and all he has achieved. Chatting with the workforce trends expert, though, nothing could be further from the truth. Sure, the guy has confidence and attitude in spades, but it comes from a complete assurance and a ‘nothing’s gonna stop me’ attitude, so when he comes across the right opportunity he’s ready to "exploit" it.

This is an attitude reflected in the Generation Y group that he has become so linked to—he’s part of the group and understands how they think. "Generation Y have the advantage of suffering from delusional optimism," he says. "They’re ideological enough to believe their idea will work."

After leaving school in 1997, he decided to do a cadetship in an accountancy firm, where he was paid to combine work and study. He lasted eight days.

Not afraid to get his hands dirty and try anything, his next gig included cleaning toilets at a local bar. Within 18 months, he was manager. So at 19, he found himself managing around 30 staff. "I noticed they didn’t know how to meet employer expectations," he says, recalling an interview with a potential employee who turned up in jeans and t-shirt.

Realising there was no one in schools offering practical advice on how to prepare to enter the workforce, he started approaching schools to offer his tutoring services. He was met with a discouraging response—his age and inexperience were too big a barrier. "The reason why they were saying no was the reason they should have been saying yes." Getting one school to commit, on the promise of a money-back guarantee, was all it took before his little side business went "berserk".

It was about four years ago that he decided to take his message to the employers. Now his day is taken up with travelling around the world for speaking engagements and to meet with leaders on trends and generational changes. At the time of this interview, Sheahan had just arrived from a four-city tour of the US, followed by back-to-back engagements in Brisbane and Melbourne.

Sounds hectic, but this suits Sheahan’s enthusiasm for life, in work and play. "It’s that old adage of work hard, play hard." And meeting with thought leaders and powerful decision-makers, the charismatic Sheahan never feels intimidated because he prides himself on learning from everyone he meets.

His young family helps to keep him grounded, too, as well as inspiring him to continually strive to improve. "The way I look at my work, I’m constantly evolving," which he says means age and perceived inexperience matters little. And although he made his name as a Generation Y expert, his knew book, Flip, talks about how much of what is said about Gen-Y is increasingly reflected in other generations.

For any doubters sceptical about what makes him such an expert when he’s so young, it’s pretty clear that this is a guy dedicated to finding the latest trends and bringing about change in Australia. How does he find them? "I get to hang out in conferences, I read two books every week, I have researchers, and I work closely with clients and form strategic alliances."

He attributes his success to his ability to come up with a market gap before anyone knew it was a market gap, and this is a key lesson he passes on to other entrepreneurs.

Not that he thinks he’s perfect. "I screw things up every week!" he says, and he embraces failure and having other experts critique his work. "My ideas around my current book went through about 30 reviews."

That said, his success, and the success of other notable entrepreneurs, centres on behavioural flexibility. "As markets shift you have to be prepared and ready to change." And of course, being smart. "Don’t put all your money into the business. Invest well, and insure yourself up to the eyeballs."

Kirsty Dunphey

Property Entrepreneur

Walk The Talk

Semi-retired at the grand old age of 28, this entrepreneur is now a teacher, helping others to turn their dreams into huge success stories.

Kirsty Dunphey has been in the real estate game since she was 15 years old. She’s only 28 now and, considering how far she’s come in so few years, it’s clear why Dunphey has made our list of favourite entrepreneurs.

Knowing she wasn’t going to be an employee forever, Dunphey wrote a checklist about her ideal job, and decided she was quite good at the casual job in real estate she had after school.

So, after finishing school, she started selling real estate. By age 20, she was ready to start her own business, and with two business partners and an eight-month wait to get her licence, Dunphey started her empire.

That first agency grew into three, then franchised. She’s since sold her agency—remaining a silent partner in one franchise—to focus on her public speaking and training career, as well as getting a new internet business up and running.

Even at her young age, starting a business wasn’t new for Dunphey. She had two start-ups in school, but neither held long-term appeal. What she excelled at, in those businesses, was her extreme organisational and admin skills, often a neglected area for entrepreneurs. Of course, she adds, there was the "raw enthusiasm" that pushed her to limits.

Although she claims the likes of author and speaker Robert Kiyosaki as inspiration, another motivator for Dunphey in the early years was money. Not so much about making a mountain of it, or as a motivator in how she makes decisions, but the bankruptcy she saw her parents go through was something she never wanted to see happen to her.

She admits she was very lucky in the industry, and that by having so many mentors wanting to help her, thanks largely to her inexperience and age, she was able to blossom in a male-dominated industry. "When I started there were female salespeople, but few female agency owners."

If she was to start again now, it would be tougher in terms of the property market plateau, but she says there are more and more agencies owned and operated by women these days. Much of Dunphey’s success hangs largely on her ability to identify how cultural shifts can bring out the best in her team. Thanks to her own energy, she created a fun, energetic environment that appeals to staff.

She involved them in decision-making processes so team members feel they have ownership of the business, celebrating sales with the whole team, not just the sales team. To get the right staff in the first place, though, she handpicked all of them–looking at their attitude and how they would fit into the culture she had created, before judging them on experience.

To position her business from others in the market, Dunphey focuses on customer service. "I realised that real estate agents earn good money, but could look more closely at customer service." One of the key ways she did this was by involving the sales and admin teams in the handing over of keys on settlement, having a mini-party with every new homeowner when they would come in to pick up their keys.

Although she calls herself a "uni drop-out", Dunphey is dedicated to learning, continually educating herself by reading books and asking people she meets "a million questions".

What makes her entrepreneurial, she believes, is her readiness to take risks, but what makes her successful is that she always has a fall-back in case she fails. "You’ve got to be prepared to fail and learn from the experience."

She is also constantly on the lookout for new opportunities, for the next big thing that she can turn into another massive success.

Now, at the ripe old age of 28, Dunphey is semi-retired, managing her property investments together with the various speaking engagements, here and overseas, and helping mentor other entrepreneurs as they start their own business. Now, as a teacher, Dunphey’s key to success is simple: "You need to accept and embrace change."