Q
TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOUR
BUSINESS AND HOW HAVE
YOUR SURVIVED?
I had entertained the idea of
starting my own business in
1998, whilst I was studying an
MBA, as I believed I could make
a difference in the way clients
connected with consumers.
When I first started Ruby
Cha Cha, the GFC hit, we had
to shrink budgets that sent
some companies to the hit the
wall. Tough times just make
you stronger and we rode the
storm. Throughout all of this,
the business has retained its
humour, energy and reputation
for strategic, actionable research
to put consumers at the heart
of decision making – which
is our value proposition. We
built a strong and memorable
brand. To this day, clients ask us
how we got our name, love our
unique caricatures as well as our
strategic insight and planning.
We have embraced the rise of
digital research – one of the first
businesses in our industry to
use social listening and research
platforms and continue to
innovate in this area as well as
writing papers on the disruptive
impact of digital qualitative
research. In the early days, we
were award focused and we won
quite a few, including BRW Fast
Starters for a couple of years in
a row, The Anthill Cool Company
Awards, and research industry
awards. A strong business
needs more than awards, it
needs a strong culture and great
work, and we have all of that,
even surviving the ‘great server
meltdown of 2012’ which we still
talk about, when we can’t find a
document!
WHAT THREE PIECES OF
ADVICE WOULD YOU
GIVE TO SOMEONE WHO
WANTS TO BECOME CEO?
1) The title is not the job and
you need to be prepared for not
only ‘elbows in’ hard work but
making and implementing really
tough decisions. You do need to
find some courage as you cant
delegate everything.
2) Get an advisory board – you
can’t do it all on your own. You
need a qualified CFO in your
corner as well as legal advisor
and boilerplate legal docs. If
you can, get a good HR advisor.
Don’t be afraid to pay – this is an
investment.
3) Never stop learning. Continue
to be a student of your industry,
but also of business, strategy and
anything that intersects.
WHAT HAVE BEEN SOME
OF YOUR FAILURES AND
HOW DID YOU LEARN
FROM THEM?
All failures are lessons. All the
good ones are very expensive.
1) Being idealistic and thinking
you can make things different – I
have found that there are reasons
for boilerplate procedures and
protocols and you are much
better off financially, morally and
emotionally by using these.
2) Always get references on staff
and document all behaviours
(good and bad). I made the
mistake of employing a guy from
the UK who not only ripped off
the business but also drove a
toxic culture.
in the clique
should never have started the
business with 3 people, and we
paid enormously for that.
BUSINESS I ADMIRE THE
MOST....
The business I admire greatly
is Aesop - a great story of a
small business that has taken
on the world. There are so many
skincare products out there, but
Aesop has great marketing and
lives its brand philosophy.
WHAT WOULD YOU SAY
ARE THE TOP THREE
SKILLS NEEDED TO BE
SUCCESSFUL IN BUSINESS?
1) Be a business person not
just a great technician – this
means you need to learn about
HR law, business law, financials,
operations and much, much
more.
2) You need to know your
financials inside out. Cashflow
forecasts, sales forecasts, Profit
and Loss etc will become the
best way you have of making
business decisions.
3) HR is a key skillset if you need
to employ people. They will likely
cost a third of your budget (if
you are doing well) and you need
to manage this tightly. You also
need to be good at balancing
the emotional and economically
rational. This is not as easy as it
sounds!
See Top Five Brand Ambassador
Campaigns featured in this issue.
3) Early buyout of a founding
partner was expensive. We
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