How did I get here – here I mean 56 years old and broke – I have always been in business since I was 14 years old when I started a mowing business – I used to walk the neighbourhood with my mums mower knocking on doors and getting work – mmm seemed easy enough so whenever I needed some cash for things I used to get the Mower out and go knocking. Typical young fella and had lots of distractions so didn’t take it too seriously but learned very young that it was relatively easy to create your own wealth if you put your mind to it.
In my younger years, around 18, my Dad trained me in furniture manufacture, before it went off shore, mainly out door BBQ style furniture but in a big way as we supplied some major chains. That was when I was a lad – 10years ago – long story short, I was producing some very nice Bars – BBQ’s and Bits like Bali huts with built in bars, BBQ’s, refrigerators and 2 or 4 burner stoves.. AWESOME STUFF. But there was no money in it – I started to travel around Queensland doing shows – Home shows – Garden Shows – Farm Shows and Agricultural shows. Carting the bits my oldest son and I had made (he left school and joined Dad). We would go to show and sell what we had then race back to Mackay (where we lived at the time) and busily build more for the next show the next weekend and to fill orders. Man we used to work to midnight to get it all done and drive 1000 klm to the next show on Friday morning to load in at night. We were so fit and strong at the time, wow.
One home show in Brisbane a guy came up, another exhibitor and offered us a hardware product to sell – it was an attachment for a whipper snipper we had 50% margin in it. We liked the product and thought it made more sense to market this than to continue with all the late nights hard work which didn’t have a great return.
I was off and full steam ahead – first show Gladstone and wow did quite well by this stage we had moved to Rockhampton to get a little closer to Brisbane after 13 years in Mackay. We did a 3 day show in Mackay and turned over 8k for the show – this is what we are talking about. Not only did I do a heap of shows, I set up stands, as I moved around in shopping centres throughout Queensland. Other suppliers soon started to want me to market their products so ended up with loppers, slicers, dicers and peelers of all sorts. Best week was in a small shopping centre in Rockhampton 18K not too shabby for 6 days nice…. That was my Christmas week at home.
The problem, I was never home – working seven days a week travelling Queensland all week every week – I set up several agents throughout the state and was going really well until – the boss says “no good”. Introducing my beautiful wife Anita, as it turned out I was lucky to be home 2 days in six or eight weeks. We had a great income, we were literally a couple of years off owning our house with plans of buying second. This went on for two years and our youngest son, a baby at the time was growing.
So time to look at options – I looked at setting up a permanent stand at a Gold Coast Shopping Mall – I started to monitor what people had at the shopping malls whilst I was set up there. Two things stood out big time – Mobile phones and Food – they were either on the phone or feeding their faces or both – this was consistent throughout Queensland and Northern NSW, so I put it to Anita FOOD OR PHONES.
Time to go to work – will come back and continue later have a nice day
Morgs
