My First Two Years in Business

The Lows, Highs and Learnings

4 Shore Projects Pty Ltd, My Little Construction Company, who’s 2nd birthday came and went in late September last year without too much fuss. In reality, we were far too busy delivering projects to pay this significant milestone much mind.

I’ve written previously about the first weeks of setting the company up in my Medium Article, ‘I Was Made Redundant, Time to Step Up’, and I thought I’d continue on to share the next stage of the journey and how it’s changed me.

I’ve discovered that when people in business refer to owning a business as ‘hard work’, it’s not in the way you’d expect. Yes, there were long days and working into the night to submit and pay invoices, complete quotes by tight deadlines and all of that. But I was a hard worker anyway and have always poured everything I had within reason into my work. I always treated my employer’s money as if it were my own. Making sure that family was not disproportionately neglected in my role to provide for them. It was always for them. But the hard work to me really was the uncertainty and the massive shift in perspective toward money, calculated risk, and the gamble that is contracting. I can only assume that the definition of the ‘hard’ is whatever area you are weakest in.

The emotional roller coaster is real, very very real. I can see why people burn out and have to give it away if they are unable to compartmentalise. Literally in the one day there could be soul crushing rejections and defeat, followed by huge wins and feeling of ultimate elation. Deep self-questioning, through to fist pumping the air and feeling like you’re invincible! I’ve lost 10’s of thousands in a single afternoon and made the same back in a similar timeframe. I’ve been told I was unsuccessful with a $400k tender, only to be contacted 6 months later and be told that the job was now mine. Mind blowing what can happen in a single day. If you think you can plan it out, you’re kidding yourself haha.

My difficult and abusive start to life really did set me up well with all the coping mechanisms and strategies I needed to get through these times. One of ‘The Benefits of Adversity’ as described in my Medium article of the same title. My poverty fear was always niggling in the back of my mind and I knew that if I wasn’t forced into this position, I most likely would never have started in the first place.

I take providing for my family very seriously and there is no way I would have risked losing the house or not being able to provide properly by setting up a business had my family stayed together. But after my wife left to discover other apparent opportunities, I was left with nothing to lose. This changed everything. I was now only responsible for myself and feeding the kids and I knew I could do that even if I failed miserably and went back to a menial job.

In my first year my only goal was to make the same amount of money that I was being paid in my Salary Job. I did just that. But only after being very close to having to do contract supervision through a labour hire company to prop me up. My $50k redundancy payout whittled down to $3500 before I won an awesome project that changed the entire landscape of the next year. It gave me just enough to squeeze through the next 12 months with only minor jobs won but again, was reduced to almost nothing before the next round of larger projects rolled in.

I drove around industrial estates and cold called the Leasing Agents on the sign boards asking if I could tender on End of Lease Make Goods or Lease Take Up building modifications. I called in and spoke with Operation Managers to see if they had anything coming up I could help out with. I offered up my skills on an hourly rate basis for way too cheap as a supervisor, but I needed something, anything. I knew that every dollar I made was helping me hold out long enough for a good opportunity to present itself. At a time when I had no money, I had to open up with zero margin loss leaders to try and get in. I was taken back to being 18 years old, when I did anything I could get my hands on to survive. I knew that eventually; my attitude and skill set would be recognised and I would be up and running. But I had to hang on till that happened.

I went from managing large 200+ worker teams and $120mil worth of projects at a time, to jackhammering holes to uncover reo bars for investigation during night shift on my own. I swept, vacuumed, took trips to the tip, acted as the spotter, but also quoted, delivered, invoiced, and paid my accounts payable invoices individually. I wasn’t afraid to start at ground zero.

I could wear the RM Williams with a nice shirt and pants in the morning, and be covered in dust and dirt in the afternoon. Somehow I knew that this was the making of me, again. I’d done it before and I could do it again. It was extremely important at this time to follow my life theory that I was not above anything or any task. This was key in that first year. I know this is a massive inhibitor to many looking to start their own operation. You can’t walk into your own company at the top unless you have a couple of lazy $mil to drop on it at the start.

The awesome part about starting from the beginning and once again at the bottom, is that you develop an intrinsic understanding of all the steps and factions of operation. You don’t have to be good at them all, but you need to understand them all. You will never be able to fully understand or appreciate a labourer’s job and what they need to efficiently carry out their work, if you haven’t humped bricks all day every day for weeks. The same goes with paying invoices, quoting, preparing safety plans and Safe Work Method Statements. Becoming familiar with where the money goes and what you need to allow for.

In my Company’s second year I just wanted to crack the $1mil turnover bracket, and let’s just say, we smashed that! And this year is looking like we could crack the $3mil turnover milestone. I truly can’t believe it. All the hard work is paying off. Not without significant risk of course.

COVID caused me to lose $500k in turnover from Feb 2020 to the end of June and I really didn’t know what I was going to do. I’d resigned myself to the fact that if it had worked out before, it was going to again. All I could do was my best in each day before me. Once the Commercial Distribution Sector realised it was a winner in all this COVID shambles, it started spending. In the first 3 months of the 20/21 Financial Year, I’d already surpassed the entire previous years turnover. I’d employed my first wonderful person into a Project Management position and we were away. That trajectory has not slowed down yet and there are no signs it will.

There is no way I could have handled the massive influx of turnover if I hadn’t set the company up to be ready to operate large, even when it was earning pennies. I knew what a large-scale commercial construction company needed to operate, I’d been doing it for 26 years from the ground up, and that is what made it all possible. I realised that my company’s recipe for success had started way back in 1994 when I did my first day of Work Experience for my Carpentry Apprenticeship. I’d been building my experience and my Personal Brand since then with consistency, only now it was worth actual money. Not just money to my employer, but directly to me via my company.

It’s at this point that I’d like to acknowledge the support that helped me ‘not fail’. I’m a Builder, I build things, fast and well, but still building. I have zero understanding of Balance Sheets, Tax Law, Company Structure options or the best ways to be set up for future flexibility. Zero. The single most valuable source of support was my Bookkeeper. We found her on Airtasker and she used to do my tax calculations back when I was on Salary but she expanded her services over time to include business support in many other ways. I didn’t need them to start with, but in setting up this business, and as it grew, I needed every last bit of her full offering of services. Xero accounting, BAS calculations and submission, Payroll & HR, Superannuation, accounts receivable and payable, setting up progress claims for partial % claim amounts, the list goes on. Then there was a really good accountant that set my PTY LTD and GST registration the right way in the very beginning. These services were the key to me not falling over before the race had even had a chance to start. I cannot highlight enough how important this is.

There were so many times I could have stopped, retracted and gone for a job offer. There were lots of them. There were some Clients that seemed to be offering contracts but were really after an employee. It was often difficult to identify these situations, but I went by gut feel and was right every time. Offerings that appeared too good to be true to suck you in, only to have the seemingly awesome offering stripped down to a salary offering with use of my Open Builders Licence in the mix. Once negotiations had started, it was hard to back out, and they knew that. But what I had on my side was a firm vision for where I was going. This was my chance to set up a Construction Company that operated in a way I could 100% morally support. I wasn’t about to turn incoming customers down for a period of 6 mths to work for the equivalent of less than my previous salary! It surprised me that people would even ask me to do that!

Saying no to potential opportunities because they didn’t feel right was extremely difficult, but I got better at it. Each time I did it, they eventually showed their true colours. They didn’t care if my saving their loss meant I’d lose my company and everything I’d worked so hard for. They just wanted to be spared their loss. There are ways to back out gracefully and there’s no need to be rude. You never know who they might talk to or know. Firm diplomacy is key.

My positive, respectful, honest and grateful attitude toward Clients and Subcontractors was one of the key contributing factors to my ongoing company growth. This might seem obvious but it’s almost so rare in the industry that it’s basically my Point of Difference. I’ve been called a “Client Lover”, and a “Subbie Lover”, in the past in a derogatory way simply because I was acting in a fair and honest way.

Of course I’m a Client Lover! They’re the ones with the money! They are not the enemy! But they are also humans in every sense. They are such a vital part of the team, and while every link in the chain is vitally important, they are the starting point. Transparency, respect, connection, free offering of advice, not charging for every tiny little thing, accepting that sometimes your knowledge and advice will be used to form a scope that others will tender against you on and win off you, is all part of the deal. Bitterness, resentment and not losing gracefully will destroy your company’s chances of forming a genuine working connection with your client.

Of course I’m a Subby Lover! They’re the grunt behind my success. Forming an honest, tight and transparent relationship with my Subcontractors has been key. It always has been. Even when I was on wages it was still key and what set my projects apart from the others. Creating a healthy and positive working environment where everyone feels appreciated is paramount. It’s the only way to get the best, and maintain the best teamwork scenario with your Subcontractors. As with Clients, Subbies are humans too. Openly communicating my appreciation for them and their efforts doesn’t cost a single cent, but it is invaluable. I love paying my Subbies, absolutely love it. I don’t begrudge it in the slightest. I feel proud that I have managed to win contracts in which we can all work together for our mutual benefit. One of the best things ever. This is how you build a working community.

The only reason I’ve had to stop this working relationship with any of my past Subbies is if they take advantage of the opportunities we’ve created together. If they stop caring, act disrespectfully toward other members of the team, repeatedly take the piss, then of course they have to go but it was their doing and ultimately their choice. I strive to make my working zone of influence a privilege to be a part of. I feel privileged to be a part of it and so only those that respect that working team have the chance to continue to benefit from it.

I flex my gratitude muscle. Gratitude manufactures joy. Give back, give forward, give sideways… Unashamedly show your appreciation to every part of the team from Clients to Employees to Subcontractors to Consultants, service providers, ancillary workers, Client Representatives, the whole lot. Yes you might have something unique and amazing to offer, but without every link in that chain around you, you have no target for your offerings and no vehicle with which to deliver them. You are all equal. Furthermore, I can guarantee that any offering of appreciation will come back to you 1000 fold. That should not be the motivator for it but it is a wonderful by product. Create the kind of working environment you’d want to stay in indefinitely. This has been one of the best things I’ve been able to create with my business and I can now prove it works.

One of the best things about having my own business is that ability to be able to brainstorm out of tricky situations and really create a wider team that hummmms like a well oiled machine. Being part of a team that is worth believing in. I’m sure there will be disappointments along the way and betrayals etc, but if you don’t strive for 100%, you have no chance of even reaching 90.

So now my reality includes assessing the past year to look for strengths and weaknesses in the operation in terms of net profit assessed as a %age of Gross Profit or as a %age of Sales! Blows my mind! Thank you, Melody Tucker, (my first employee and team member), for your skills in this area as it’s all a blur of numbers to me. This is a huge part of growth, employing people with complementary strengths, employing people that are better at things than you are. This also means being confident enough in your own value and unique skills to really let others soar.

One of my other favourite things about having my own business has been the freedom to be able to donate to and sponsor ACT for Kids. A Charity that supports neglected and abused children. They provide trauma informed counselling to the kids as well as support the family around them. This is one the main motivators for me to succeed. I want to help them more. It feeds my soul. And that is part of what offers fulfillment to us as connected humans. We can bash away at something and even succeed in a practical sense, but fulfillment is what brings the joy. I feel so grateful that I’ve been able to find something to be a part of that brings this to me. It’s the best win win.

There have been some disappointing side affects to having my own business, especially as it starts to really take off. One is the jealousy of some of the people around me. I think when we are suffering, struggling and just scraping by, we are in a safe place in comparison. When you make a break for it and it starts to pay off, you prove it can be done and it begins to tear down the restrictive narratives that some people around you hide behind. The truth I can see now is that not everyone is cut out for this mode of operation. I have everything on the line! I don’t own a house, I don’t have a partner, I don’t have any back up financially besides what I’ve made myself and right now that is all in. I am all in. If this goes down I’ve lost everything. But the jealous ones don’t appreciate that, they just see the signs of success and think to themselves it could have been them. Maybe it could have been, maybe it still will be, but not before some significant risk and soul searching, humiliation and a sense of desperation has been passed through. I can see that in the near future my friendship circle will change as I change. This has already started. Who I am now is not the same person I was when I started this off. I’m more acutely aware of everything I am yet to learn and there is so much I don’t know.

Overall, my survival to date has been a combination of good forward planning, luck, caution and calculated risk in equal measure, and ultimately, perpetual hard work. But ‘hard’ takes on a whole new meaning.