By Davina Richards
There’s one man from Rotorua who doesn’t need to fake or force his motivation when it comes to business. This entrepreneur is compelled to chase ideas like a cat chases its own tail and, more importantly, intends to see it through.
His first company went into liquidation when he was just 23, but he says failure is what drives him. Fast forward 12 years and today he’s a force to be reckoned with.
With a myriad of successful businesses already in his resume, the mastermind behind Finda.co.nz, Sella.co.nz and GrabOne has launched his latest venture, Pet.co.nz, New Zealand’s newest online pet store.
Davina Richards speaks to Shane Bradley, the online entrepreneur who comes to work and tries his hardest every day because “I give a shit that the business will be better at the end of the day than it was at the start”.
Think less, do more
Part of the excitement of being an entrepreneur is not knowing if you’ll succeed. Freedom, change, accomplishment, control, opportunity, impact and legacy are all factors in the field of success.
But unless this field is sown with a good idea and harvested via hard work, any new business could potentially flop and you may find yourself disappearing over the hill with your tail between your legs.
A common thread in business start ups is that many people have the big idea, but struggle to turn it into a tangible business. Many business owners, or aspiring business owners, mull over ideas too much and for too long, but businesses do not materialise unless you grab the reins and go for it and this is where the entrepreneur’s crop turns into cash.
When I pose the question to Shane Bradley about what the process is between having a business idea and making it a reality, he simply replies, “Actually just doing it – I speak with too many people who have great ideas, but lack the follow through. Sounds simple but ‘do shit and shit will happen’ is a philosophy I follow”.
When Shane recruited a new member to his family, a golden retriever named Cooper, in 2011, he noticed a gap in the online market for pet goods and thus Pet.co.nz was born.
“New Zealand’s internet pet care sales are currently only around one percent so there is huge room for growth. Pet.co.nz offers the broadest range of products available in New Zealand, an advanced level of personalisation on the site and superior customer service – it’s going to be a game changer for the way Kiwis shop and care for their pets,” he says.
New Zealand’s largest online pet site launched in March and is launching across the pond in Australia mid-September. It doesn’t sell fluffy animals, but it does sell food, treats and toys sourced from 280 local and international brands. It also offers free freight on purchases above $39, overnight delivery and a 7am – 7pm customer service desk.
“The biggest difference with Pet.co.nz is the physical product side of the business. We have over 6,000 product lines in stock and this will only grow.
“I didn’t like spending hours stuck in traffic, driving to a store to buy the products my pet needed – I wanted them delivered, ideally for free. Kiwis are more likely to be nipping out for pet food than we are a bottle of milk.
Pet.co.nz will provide that one stop shop for every Kiwi pet owner by eliminating any of the hassles that can come with pet ownership,” he says.
Pet.co.nz has been built to work seamlessly across smartphone, tablet and desktop computers to ensure customers get the same user experience across all devices.
Business basics
The best piece of advice Shane received was from his parents. “Business is quite simple, you just have to sell something for more than it costs you to make. Sounds very basic, but in essence that’s what business is,” Shane says.
“My parents ignited my passion for business from an early age. They supported my decision to leave school in 6th form even though I was reasonably studious. Best decision I have ever made. I was always helping them with cashflows, business letters – I was really the only one in the house who could use a computer. From a young age they gave me an ‘on the job’ education which will be something I do with my kids.”
This ‘on the job’ education allowed Shane to enter into his first taste of business when he set up an aluminium window business in 1997. Maybe it was his inexperience and lack of knowledge for a then 23 year old, or just pure bad luck that his first business went into liquidation. Either way, failure was not the end, merely the first step on his path to success.
“I had 45 staff but got hit by a number of companies which went broke and in turn owed me a lot of money. This taught me my biggest lesson, that profit isn’t profit until the cash is in the bank. Likewise, you will see that most of my businesses since then revolve around the fact that people have to pay me before we send them the products,” he says.
Shane masterminded the online business directory Finda.co.nz, founded in a spare bedroom in 2004 and later sold to Yellow Pages Group in 2009. Sella.co.nz was founded in 2008 and sold to APN News and Media in 2012 andGrabOne.co.nz, built in just four weeks in 2010, also sold to APN News and Media in 2012.
“With anything I get into I always aim to make it as big as possible and bigger than the last thing.”
The face behind the game
While being a successful businessman, the entrepreneur, originally from Rotorua, lives with his wife and two children in Auckland.
It is evident Shane treasures his family; he puts them first above all else, they are never an after thought and most definitely never a compromise. So when he’s not running a business, you’ll find him where his presence matters the most, at home with his family.
“It’s been my wife who I talk to the most about business. Just her listening to me has been a great help. And now it is totally the kids, they drive every decision I do, in other words, what’s best for the girls in 10 years time. I just want to be a good dad, be around them as much as possible. I see the kids every morning and I’m there every night to tuck them in and have dinner; so that has driven my decisions a lot in the last couple of years,” he says.
“I’m lucky that work for me is my hobby. So if I am not working, which I don’t class as work, I just hang with my girls. Ultimately I try not to go out too much, or travel too often. A lot of people said ‘why don’t you try and do an international business?’ But for me, I decided early on that I wouldn’t do that as it would mean too many trips away from home, which I honestly don’t think is worth it.”
He makes balancing work and family life seem easy, but to be fair, a little down time is probably overdue having worked 70 hour weeks for 16 years. But all the hard work has paid off and rightly so.
We move away from the topic of family and gravitate towards the subject of one of his greatest successes, GrabOne. We all love a bargain, so it’s no surprise the daily deal operator which celebrated its third birthday in July, has sold more than eight million GrabOne coupons and sees one Kiwi buying a GrabOne voucher in New Zealand every seven seconds.
“It was a big part of my life for two and a half years and now I am into my next adventure with Pet.co.nz. I think the daily deal business is here to stay; it’s just another form of advertising for businesses. Will it take over the world? No, but it won’t die away as some people predict.”
Running a business, whether it is large or small, can take its toll on someone in charge. Having started out in a small business himself, Shane is well attuned to how a business can easily be affected and says that in small business you have nowhere to hide.
“If you are in a 5,000 person business, you can have the odd day off and still get dragged along. In a four person business that you lead, if you have an off day, it can throw the whole week or month out the door.
“Having been in small businesses a lot of my life, I think that business owners are the heroes of the New Zealand economy.”
Smelling of roses
Going into business can conjure up a cold sweat you’d expect to find if you’re standing before a panel of judges on Dragons’ Den, but if it ticks all the boxes and it works out, you’ll sit comfortably in the field of success, rubbing shoulders with other creative thinkers and doers.
Every entrepreneur has a story to tell and if there’s one thing we can take away from Shane Bradley’s entrepreneurial vision is that to go above and beyond in business is priceless.
“Not many people get up and really give a shit about what they are going to do today. I get up, do some exercise because I give a shit about wanting to be healthy. I come to work and try hard every day because I give a shit that the business will be better at the end of the day than it was at the start. Giving a shit means caring about what you are doing – caring and trying your best.”
Looking back on his years in business, he concludes our interview with a reflection on lessons learned.
“The three biggest lessons I have learned in life is;
1) profit isn’t profit until it’s in your bank;
2) cash is king and;
3) take care of your customers, then the rest will happen.”
