By Nick Giles
Around 16 years ago I plucked up the courage to ditch the suit. I had always been employed and got sucked back into it when I moved to New Zealand. I knew it wasn’t right for me, so I quit the ‘9 to 5’ with the mad idea of buying a cafe.
It was a daunting thing to do as I had no experience (at the time) but I wouldn’t be writing this if I hadn’t done it – so it was, actually, the best thing I’ve ever done.
Over the past 12 years at Link Business Brokers I have found an affinity with a group of people I like to call ‘corporate refugees’ — industrious souls who have just had it with working for the ‘man’.
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These people feel there is something more out there, somewhere rewards are directly tied to their performance and efforts. More importantly – somewhere their self-esteem and sense of achievement are pampered daily.
Most of the hospitality businesses I have sold, certainly in the upper price range, have been to these corporate refugees.
They are people with a good set of transferable business skills, a dream of breaking free and a passion for something to do with hospitality. A perfect example are Scott and Deborah Lawson.
Four years ago they inquired about a listing for a coffee company.
Scott had worked in IT and ran a team of people focussed on telecommunications, data centres and infrastructure engineering. Deborah had worked in brand management for major magazine titles at Bauer Media before kids.
They had a passion for coffee and the stars aligned for them to buy Toasted Coffee Roasters on Auckland’s North Shore, a highly respected company with over 20 years of history and countless awards.
For people with no experience in the field they have done an outstanding job and the company has grown significantly since they bought it.
Scott says: “We were in a solid personal financial position and were looking for an opportunity where we could combine our skill sets to achieve success as a couple in business together.”
Deborah adds, “We have absolutely no regrets. Our business has experienced steady growth over the past four years and whilst business ownership comes with its challenges, we both find the business and the lifestyle incredibly rewarding and are fortunate to have the backing of a stellar team.
“What’s not to love about spending days surrounded by positive energy not only with our cafés but our wholesale family and bringing folks together over tasty brews and banter?”
It's amazing to see people like Scott and Deborah not only achieving such business success but also seeing them enjoying and being passionate about what they do for a living.
I’m a firm believer that life is short and doing something that you are passionate about is vital for a balanced life. It’s also tantalising to think that you can achieve far greater rewards than you often can within the confines of employment and a ‘career’.
Not only do you earn along the way (with all the tax breaks that only a self-employed person can enjoy) but there’s a juicy carrot of capital gain (tax-free, of course) when you sell your business empire.
I have sold businesses to people from all sorts of backgrounds but all had a dream of achieving something under their own steam — and New Zealand is such an easy country in which to be able to do this.
The hospitality sector is a resilient thing, come Covid or shine. There are many interesting and diverse opportunities to tempt you from that office chair you’ve become stuck to.
- Supplied by Link Business Brokers
