I inherited a business with six weeks of cash and millions in debt. I was 30. I rebuilt it by being the best salesperson in the room. Eight years later, I'm still that person, and I'm trying to change it before it changes me. This is what that actually looks like.
My dad built a real estate business in the Adelaide Hills. He was good at it. He was also emotionally unavailable, image-obsessed, and completely unable to talk about anything that mattered. When he died at 57, there was no plan. Just debt, six weeks of cash, and a business that needed someone to step up.
That someone was me. No leadership experience. Just a sales background and the stubbornness to not walk away from something my dad spent his life building. I kept the lights on by being the best salesperson in the room, and slowly, painfully, rebuilt it into something real.
"I didn't just rebuild the business. I built the same trap my father built. And I'm standing right in the middle of it."
My mum died at 55. My dad at 57. I'm 38. I have a wife and two daughters. I want my wife to work because she wants to. Not because she has to. I want my girls to know me in a way I never got to know my parents. I want to build something that outlasts me, and actually be present for the life I'm building while I'm still in it.
I'm figuring it out in public. No polished arrival story. No framework to sell. Just a business owner trying to step back from a machine he built around himself, and everything he's learning along the way.
Leadership, sales, culture, team-building, and the honest cost of building a business around yourself. What I'm working through as a CEO and leader, written as it's happening. No polish, no hindsight.
Leadership
If I told you that I went to business school and had a smooth handover to CEO role, or that I had no leadership experience but learned it all in real-time when the business had 6 weeks of cash left, which story would you like to hear more? It’s likely the latter, which is my […]
Read →Numbers
Lead generation is one of the biggest issues for any business. I’ve said this before that leaders who also know how to drive revenue have a unique skillset. This was certainly the case when I took over Nitschke. I was a leading salesperson with a deep understanding of what drives deals. If you want to […]
Read →Operator Mode
Struggling with an operational issue? Book a free 15-minute strategy call and let’s figure out your next move. In business, your vision will constantly change. It’s important to interrogate it as a team at least once a year. Your values and guiding principles remain unchanged, but what you do and how you get there will […]
Read →30 things I wish I knew when I became CEO at 30. Short, direct, and honest. The mini MBA nobody gave me when I inherited a failing business and had to figure it out fast. No fluff. No scripts. Just what actually worked, and what didn't.
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The story of what actually happened when I stepped into a failing business: what I broke, what I learned, and what it cost.
This isn't a leadership framework. It's what really happened. And it's the most honest thing I've ever written.
I'm not a consultant with a slide deck. I'm a business owner working through the same problems. One step further in. Here's how we can work together.
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