Swerve

On this episode of the show we had the privilege of chatting to Australian Entrepreneur, Shannan Gove. Having recently returned from the USA, Shannan spent 5 years there seeding and growing his business Rosterfy, which services clients right across North America and Europe. Shannan was kind enough to share his journey from humble beginnings studying Sports Management at Deakin University all the way to working with brands such as the NFL Superbowl, NBA, Tough Mudder, Virgin and the ICC cricket world cup, to name a few.Shannan's business Rosterfy was born out of a need to solve the problem of managing large workforces for major events, with specific schedules and in some cases for only 1 day! From solving this problem themselves, they decided to license their white labelled workforce management technology worldwide.Shannan talks about their recent capital raising round and the intended growth for Rosterfy over the coming 12 months. We also got a great understanding of how he will continue to head up the operation from Australia, having just moved back with his young family from America.Shannan shared the key ingredients to the rapid growth and success with funding the operation as it enters scale-up mode and how this is relevant for aspiring founders and startups alike.To find out more about Shannan and Rosterfy you can head here:https://rosterfy.com/contact Shannan directly here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shannan-gove-b1313b26/

Ryan Chamley is a true renaissance man. A writer, director, producer and actor, he started out with one DSLR shooting golfing tournaments, then founded a corporate video company, to now writing and directing a workplace comedy for Netflix and channel 7 Mate - he is an incredible talent!⁠Hearing about Ryan's journey with his television show in particular, it became abundantly clear that he has adopted many of the lean start up principles along the way. Ryan has a particular flair for understanding his audience, hacking his way to building and testing audience growth across social-media and using this feedback to grow a massive following and has been rightly rewarded with syndication across Netflix and Channel 7 mate.⁠So let's look at the numbers, as this story is truly amazing. Ryan has generated over 1 million views on Youtube and generated 382,000 followers on facebook. Listening to how he tested his content on the audience and iterated accordingly is incredibly beneficial to startups listening. This is so crucial in informing you of what to do next and validating your product.To find out more have a look here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbGZHp6POEw

On this episode of the Swerve we sat down with entrepreneur and social-media influencer Rebeccah Vivian. Having successfully started and grown a hair salon with a massive social media following, Rebeccah has now focussed her efforts on growing her brand, venturing into cosmetics and public speaking.Her journey is a great lesson for all, as it hasn't been without it's fair share of ups and downs. She gave a great insight into her failures and successes, what makes her business work so well, how she actively engages and stimulates her team and how she is always looking to innovate.Check out more about her here: https://www.blondie.net.au/

Check out our interview with Upstate Studios amazing Co-Founder and female entrepreneur Gail Asbell. We were so grateful to be able to learn from her story, the journey of growth she is on both personally and in business and what she has planned for the future.Gail is a guest speaker for our Clever and Creative series speaking on branding and social-media for business. She has an intricate understanding of her client, places massive importance on her staff and culture and has a massive passion for yoga, pilates and wellness.We love her story and you can find out more about her and her amazing business here: https://upstatestudios.com.au/

On this episode of the show we got to sit down with the amazing Sandi Zaljevic who has successfully built and grown an instagram following of around 112k and a business to envy. Sandi has been constantly evolving her instagram game and have weathered quite a few changes to social-media over the years.Sandi talks about how she first discovered instagram and how she quickly mastered the platform building a successful brand and influencer profile. Sandi talked about timing, strategy for content and the opportunities that come with constantly evolving and providing value to her audience. Sandi does great work in the community and her and her amazing daughters Bella & Gigi have a great fun vibe.To find out more check out:https://www.instagram.com/kidsfashionblogger/

Hospitality entrepreneur and all round nice guy Robbie Lecchino from the hugely successful King of the Castle Cafe talks to us this week. Robbie was kind enough to share with us his journey so far, where it all began, the ups and downs of re-inventing his business and brand, and how he leverages social-media and his brand to feed into his success.Robbie gives us an up and close look at how he manages to keep his business exciting for his audience and customers and how social-media has played a huge part. He takes us inside the first 6 years of his business and talks about the overwhelming success he encountered early on when his cafe was just a small hole in the wall to now dominating Pakington Street as a huge cafe precinct (and with other locations in tow).He gives us his personal take on how to use social-media for his business and how it all sits with him. He is super conscious that people eat with their eyes and so it is interesting to hear how he is reinventing his menu and keeping his customers intrigued.His biggest achievement to date was winning the Geelong Business Excellence Awards and Golden Plates and receiving kudos from his peers for inspiring them on their journey also.To find out more about Robbie check him out here: http://www.kingofthecastlecafe.com.au/

On this episode of the show we got to sit down with start up founder of Australian fashion start up "Wevour" and program manager Eleni Nott from Runway HQ. Eleni was kind enough to share with us her experience to date in business, personally and the rapid change and experience she has witnessed from being a part of the start up ecosystem here in Australia. Her journey is a unique one and has had it's share of ups and downs and we really appreciated getting to hear her first hand experience of navigating the start up world.She mentioned that having too much emphasis on high-level business structures and best practices can be very easy to get caught up in and can paralyse your business. Otherwise known as perfection, she really wanted to outline the ability to take action and move the business forward rather than being paralysed by fear. The other piece of advice she mentioned was actually on the topic of advice itself. She mentioned being cautious and validating advice you receive as a founder as the key to separating out the good from the not so good.She talked candidly about her battles with anxiety as an entrepreneur and some strategies she uses to combat the pressures that come with being a founder.You can check out more about this amazing entrepreneur below:https://www.linkedin.com/in/eleni-nott-2b465856/https://wevour.com/

Ben came from humble beginnings in rural Victoria, and made it all the way to the top end of Bourke Street with KPMG.After recently heading up the Marketing at GenU and being part of the winning team that took out the 2018 Geelong Business Awards Business of the year, Ben has successfully transitioned to the Chamber and is already having a great impact of the wider Geelong community. Ben talks about one piece of advice he wouldn't give start ups, "you need to spend money to make money", proving that the lean start up methodology is a winner. Ben shares with us the upcoming finalists for the Geelong Business awards and the importance of the awards and the amazing business community we are all building.

We talk to young screen and media students from Diversitat about their insights into digital trends and social medias. Millana Anello, Caden Cazaly, Alice Lancaster, Benjamin Adema, and Xavier Van Der Chys, discuss the range of features and possibilities platforms such as Instagram, Twitch, Snapchat, Twitter, Tik Tok and YouTube offers and how they can be used by businesses exploring new methods of online marketing and monetization. Hear directly from a younger generation of consumers about their own experiences with these platforms and the potential they offer for businesses seeking to target a broader audience.

Since selling global payment gateway eWAY in 2016, Matt Bullock has founded Spinify, a digital leaderboard platform. He talks about the trials and tribulations of selling one business and starting another - which has a lot to do with energy and faith, and giving back. Matt gives back by being a Pledge 1% ambassador, and as such donates 1% of revenue to Ronald McDonald House.

Nicole Ashby is Program Coordinator for Upstart, an accelerator and mentoring program for secondary school students. She explains how the Upstart team encourages and inspires the next generation to have a go, develop critical thinking skills and connections, and discover their inner changemaker.Upstart: https://www.upstarthq.com.au/

We sit down with one of Australia's youngest and most successful entrepreneurs, Nick Bell. Having founded & co-founded over 12 companies both locally & internationally, Nick founded his first digital agency with $400 in 2008 and now his group of companies exceed revenues of $100 million. But that's not what makes him so interesting; what is particularly valuable about his journey so far is his focus and attention to his business strategy.Nick reveals how his latest venture, Removify, will help people and businesses fight back against the growing problem of negative or fake reviews. To summarise, "they’re here to level the playing field – to fight back against the trolls and haters, the unreasonable customers, the fake reviews and unscrupulous competitors. We’re here to clear your name, so that you can put your best foot forward.”Check it out here: https://removify.com.au/

Peter Dostis is co-founder and CEO of Runway, a regional startup accelerator, unearthing and supporting new business in fast-growing regional centres of Victoria. Peter explains to Janelle Ryan, Runway's Director of Stakeholder Relations, the reason behind Runway's formation, and how it helps small business collaborate with larger corporations, industry, government and educational institutions.