Archives For Numbers

“Revenue sounds great but being profitable is a lot more difficult. You’ve got to understand the details and the reality is that if you are in a business, or starting a business, you really need to understand the backend of things. It can’t just be just about turning over a lot of revenue and thinking, “I turned over $4M and that means I’m great.” No, it’s not like that at all.” – Jeffrey Gore

“People have fantastic brand ideas or business idea, but don’t put in a lot of commercial thinking. This is where people get caught out; they’re in that fun phase of launching an idea and seeing it come to life, but then quickly discover that they have to think about cash flow. We’re the first to admit that we fell into that trap.” – Mia Klitsas

“You need to understand the things you’re not good at and the things that you don’t know, then don’t try to do those things. Find people who know that stuff and talk to them the best way you can, or hire them if you can. It took us a long time to figure out. There are certain things that we are not good at yet we try to do them because we’re the boss and we try to do everything. However, it’s not our core skill set and it is better to pay someone to do it.” – Jeffrey Gore

“As a tradesman, you don’t know anything about online marketing or websites. Once I reached out to a company to build for the business a website. We burned $90,000 that year and it nearly sent the business bankrupt.” – Tom Harley

“Sometimes you just have to go out and learn things. Now I know more about digital marketing now than most people and now have an in-house digital marketing team.” – Tom Harley

“Doors started to open once I reached out to other people; people who have their own businesses; accountants and friends whom I went to school with. What we need to know is not in here, it’s out there.” – Tom Harley

“It was once just three of us; my dad, my brother and myself. Once I started collecting knowledge from others, doors started to open. After my first business coaching class, I went home and sat in front of the computer and just wrote for three hours. Twelve months later we have 15 staff and are doubling year-on-year.” – Tom Harley

“I use to throw $5,000 at a marketing initiative and would sit back and hope that it worked. But testing and measuring is smarter. If you put $200 on something and the leads come in, you must log where the leads are coming in from and find out what the leads cost. What does it cost to acquire a customer? Once you get good at testing and measuring, everything opens because you know with certainty which customer acquisition channels work.” – Tom Harley

“I started as a student and I really knew nothing. Arguably now, 13 years in, I still know nothing. I’m good with that because it means that I am constantly pushing myself and challenging myself. I don’t for a second think that I know everything because the minute that you get into that headspace, disruptors come in.” – Mia Klitsas

“I am always learning and believe that you can learn from anyone and everyone. Just be open because learning is everywhere.” – Mia Klitsas

With thanks to

Mia Klitsas & Jeff Gore are co-founders of the feminine hygiene brand Moxie. While they have solved the problems of tampons getting lost in handbags, they have created a few challenges for themselves that have been difficult to overcome. Mia and Jeff point out the importance of profit over revenue and focus on what’s important.

Tom Harley is the co-founder of Harley & Sons Roofing. After rounding up his plumbing brothers to work with his dad, Tom has led the way in developing a business that is doubling in size each year. Tom says if you don’t know something you have to get out there and learn it.

About Masters Series by WeTeachMe

Masters Series is a show about inspiring entrepreneurs, creative thinkers, and visionary dreamers, and the stories behind how they built their companies.

Subscribe to show

Show brought to you by

Masters Series is presented by WeTeachMe.

Our strategic alliance partners: MYOB, SitePoint, and Entrepreneur’s Organization.

Our media partners: Startup Victoria and Digital Marketers Australia.

Our content partners: Written & Recorded.

The views expressed by the contributors on this show are linked websites that are not necessarily endorsed by the publisher.

Question of the day

What was your favourite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.

“It’s very really important that you feel your business, that you have an understanding of [yourself], your community, and network, and that you create your own network. For me, I’m a media person and I come from an events background, and that’s why I talk about my promoting; it’s because I learned how to hustle doing events. And then whilst studying media I learned the value of an audience and of a community, and how to commercialise that.” – Francesco Nazzari

“[On decision making and the fear of the regret of making a wrong decision], we’re always going to have regrets; I have heaps! But the commitment to a decision, and the making of a decision in itself is really powerful. Whether the decision is right or wrong, to learn from the decision is what’s really important. Don’t sit and stew or get stuck. Make the decision.” – Francesco Nazzari

“I failed accounting twice in university, and now I am responsible for all the finance in the business. Numbers drive the business’ action and strategy. I look at the numbers every single day; it’s what I need to look at to determine how the business performs, and my job is to decipher the numbers so that it tells a story. For example: Your cost of goods are running at 35%; what does that tell you? There is an inefficiency somewhere and you then start to dig deeper into those problems to answer questions like: (1) where are the inefficiencies?; (2) what is happening here?; and (3) could it be a problem caused by a supplier? Numbers drive everything.” – Thin Neu

“Pay for good advice early on. Sometimes you cheap out on advice, and it costs you more mistakes and more money in the future. For example: If I didn’t have a good lawyer helping me at the very beginning (who happens to be my best mate now), I’d be paying 10-20% more on my leases, and I would not know about fit-out contributions (where shopping centres give you money to help you build stores). Other examples include: (1) how do you reduce bank guarantees; and (2) how do you get your employment contracts right. Get good advice early on even if you need to pay a little bit more for it because it will save you more in the long run.” – Thin Neu

“One of my biggest personal drivers was borrowing that money from my parents. Once I did this, there was no possibility of failure in my head because there was no way I was going to lose the money. If you have to wake up at 4 am to do your job, you go do it. If you have to find innovative ways to draw more markets into your business, you go do that. Work on that higher purpose; it helps motivates you to get out of bed every single day, helps you take that next step, and helps take away the fear.” – Thin Neu

“I spend a lot of time with staff. Having a business is challenging in so many areas, but you have to dedicate time to work with the people in your business. You have to sit down and invest your time in your people because they are the one who help you run your business. I spend a lot of time with my staff and finding out what it is that they want, and what it is that they want to achieve, and then I find a way to help them achieve their goals and dreams. Hopefully those goals and dreams align with Cupcake Central.” – Thin Neu

With thanks to

Francesco Nazzari is the founder of Rooftop Cinema on the top of Curtin House in Melbourne’s CBD. Since 2003 Rooftop has been showing movies under the stars with the best views in town. Frunch shudders when he thinks about the moment in his mid-twenties that he called the city council to get a permit to show movies on the roof.

Thin Neu is the Co-Director of Cupcake Central, building a business is a bit like following a recipe. His advice is to have the right people in place to help you and never cheap out on getting good advice.

About Masters Series by WeTeachMe

Masters Series is a show about inspiring entrepreneurs, creative thinkers, and visionary dreamers, and the stories behind how they built their companies.

Subscribe to show

Show brought to you by

Masters Series is presented by WeTeachMe.

Our strategic alliance partners: MYOB, SitePoint, and Entrepreneur’s Organization.

Our media partners: Startup Victoria and Digital Marketers Australia.

Our content partners: Written & Recorded.

The views expressed by the contributors on this show are linked websites that are not necessarily endorsed by the publisher.

Question of the day

What was your favourite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.