Solid-gold tips on building wealth from three of Australia’s highest fliers
IN YOUR 20s
Jack Delosa: 28, Young Rich List Member; Founder of The Entourage (Headquartered in Sydney, The Entourage is Australia’s largest educator of entrepreneurs.)
Make Friends With Failure
In the real world, failure’s an inevitable step to success. I was terrible at school and dropped out of university. You won’t find anyone – be it Einstein, Edison, Newton, Jobs, Branson – who didn’t fail more than they succeeded. My view: if you want to become successful twice as fast, double the amount of mistakes you make.
Don’t Get Hung-Up On Talent
When you study great people, you realise they’re just as human as you are, with the same insecurities, shortcomings and self-doubt. Einstein said he had no special talents – he just stayed with problems longer. When I started in business at 18, I didn’t know what an invoice was. They keys are to work hard, commit yourself to something and ensure you’re always stretching yourself.
Woo A Mentor
Find someone who’s been there, done that in your field and approach them with humility and respect. I’ve got mentors from sending them messages on Facebook or an email through LinkedIn, offering to buy them dinner anywhere, anytime. This approach led me to spending a week on Necker Island with Richard Branson.
Own A Career
I have a mantra I live by: everything’s my responsibility, nothing’s my fault. You career is not the responsibility of your boss or HR department. It’s yours, so take ownership, without beating yourself up for the failures.
IN YOUR 30s
Kris Cochrane: 30, Founder and Director of Rapid PT (A Sydney-based company that outsources PTs to gyms. Established in 2012, it now turns over $250,000 a month.)
Sacrifice For Success
My motto is: bite off more than you can chew – then chew harder. You have to do the work that needs to be done. If that means working 80-hour weeks – sacrificing holidays, relationships – then so be it. Yes, it’s an unbalanced approach, but you have to look at it as short-term suffering for long-term benefits. It’s not for everyone, but that’s how I’ve done things.
Maximise Time
You have three things you can invest in your own business – time, energy and money. You might not have money, but you’ll always have time and energy. So you need to look at where you spend your time and energy and outsource things that aren’t priorities. I outsource cooking and cleaning, and that gives me the time and the energy to devote to my business.
Say Thank-You
If you have a vision, it’s easy to move forward like a bulldozer – but you’ll leave a lot of damage in your wake. Throughout my journey, I haven’t always treated my staff as well as I should have. But as an entrepreneur, you have to be able to align a team of people to one goal. The moment you forget to say thanks or give praise, you risk losing your team.
Own Your AM
Morning rituals are really important – if you win the morning, you win the day. I get up at 5am on the dot and make my bed. That’s a big win for me – cleaning my space. Once I’ve done that I’ll meditate for 10 minutes using the Headspace app.
IN YOUR 40s
Jonathan Hallinan: 40, Founder and Company Director BPM (A Melbourne-based construction and development company specialising in high-end apartments, BPM has $1 billion of work in the pipeline.)
Refuse To Be Pigeonholed
I grew up in a family that was very academic. But I didn’t fit that world. I had an entrepreneurial mind. When my friends were going to university, I went into carpentry because I saw it as a way of getting into the construction world. At the age of 19 I bought my first house with an $11,000 deposit. After subdividing, I made a $200,000 profit.
Be Clear On Risk
I’ve always thought the risk of being out of the property market is greater than the risk of being in it. I saw the market was moving up faster than I had the ability to earn at the time, and that scared me. I felt a level of comfort once I was in.
Turn Motivation Into Pain
My father had strong opinions and didn’t truly value my move into carpentry. But one of the secrets to my success is the ability to turn a negative into a motivator. I believed I could change my father’s opinion. I believed I could go on and create something truly amazing from the abilities I had.
Get The Details Right
I’m fastidious. Little things like not painting over hinges. People can walk into a space and know it looks fantastic, but they can’t tell you why. It’s all in the details.
Just Do Your Thing
I don’t look at an area and try to suit our developments to what’s there now. We bring our standard to the market. If you look at real leaders – Apple, for example – they create and inspire people to be a part of their brand.
Follow Your Passion
So many people say to me, “I can’t follow my passion because I won’t be able to afford to pay my rent and eat. I think the opposite. If you follow what you truly believe in, and it’s in your DNA, you’ll find a way to eat.
