David Lowe

David from Gippsland (Victoria, Australia)

<p>I started my first business when I was 24, thinking I was a "really smart cookie". After all, I'd learned heaps (or so I thought) being a retail store manager. If I knew then what I know now (at the age of 57), I might never have taken that first audacious step!. But I'm glad I did, risky though it was when I look back and think about how much I didn't know.</p> <p>More than 30 years later, I've been able to learn a whole lot more, and it's time to pass on that learning to those who need it most: business owners who need the know-how to ensure their companies&nbsp;become and remain successful.</p> <p>Over the decades, I've been a franchisee, owned and run several different small companies, managed a $2 billion division of a public company and&nbsp;been a&nbsp;general manager&nbsp;or director of five different major corporations.</p> <p>I've seen the best things large companies do and know how to apply them for the benefit of small business owners. Equally, I've seen really&nbsp;bad practices in large enterprises - especially their management of people - and know how to avoid them.</p> <p>Along the way I've invested heavily in my own education, studying at the Melbourne Buisness School (Australia), INSEAD (France) and the Norwegian School of Management, where I did my Masters in Management. It was all very significant learning, and helped me to round out my practical knowledge.</p> <p>In 2005, I "retired" to our beautiful country property in Gippsland. It was great - for about three months. Former business colleagues kept ringing me up to get advice on some project or plan they were thinking about. I got itchy feet and decided I wasn't really ready for retirement. Since people wanted my advice, why not have a business that delivered it?</p> <p>So I set up a Business Advisory Practice. My aim was to&nbsp;find other smart people&nbsp;who wanted to live in the country and&nbsp;had the commercial nous to be Advisors. We succeeded, and over the years, twelve people have joined the Practice. The youngest today is in her mid-twenties, and I'm the oldest, approaching 60.</p> <p>Everyone who joins our business becomes an equity&nbsp;Partner with equal voice. Regardless of how much of the company he or she owns, every Partner has one vote. So everyone contributes and everyone has an equal say in our direction.</p> <p>Seven years later, we continue to prosper. We have made a significant profit every year, and we have no debts. We have developed an enormous amount of intellectual property and we have a Client list that is the envy of anyone who hears about it.</p> <p>Our Clients range from Australia's largest food exporter to a small physiotherapy practice which is yet to reach seven figures of turnover - and many, many businesses in between. They have all benefited from our involvement, some in direct financial terms, others in development terms, many in creating a better business culture.</p> <p>We're a bit different from most companies. Each Partner has an obligation to participate in local community activity, donating her/his services free of charge for the benefit of a not-for-profit organisation. Some of us serve on Boards, some of us volunteer as hands-on workers on specific projects. But we all get involved, because we believe in Community.</p> <p>In many ways, that thinking has lead to the development of this project. The Business Master Class will be a way for us to provide our leaning and experience to the people who might (otherwise) not be able to afford it.</p> <p>We have the knowledge. We plan to make it accesible and affordable to business people anywhere and everywhere.</p>

About Me

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