How do you build a business so strong in relationships that you never have to make a cold call or do business development again? In this archived episode of Origin to Ambition, host Sean Dunne sits down with Kim Eveleigh, Founder of Ivy Recruitment, to discuss the power of mentorship, long-term planning, and relationship-first business growth.

Kim shares how having an experienced sounding board and a phenomenal accountant helped her navigate the early days of recruitment firm ownership. She reflects on the one piece of advice she wishes she had received—the importance of a 5-to-10-year business plan—and reveals how operating with absolute integrity created a thriving, 100% referral-driven business.

Key Takeaways:

• The Power of a Sounding Board: Why every new business owner needs an experienced mentor, adviser, or sounding board to guide them through the early hurdles.
• Peer Generosity: Why fellow business owners (and even industry peers) are surprisingly generous with their knowledge if you reach out authentically.
  
  
• The 5-to-10-Year Plan: Why having a long-term roadmap prevents partnership drift and gives founders a clear framework to fall back on.
  
  
• Core Values That Drive Growth: Why integrity, honesty, and genuine enjoyment of your work are essential for long-term client retention.
  
  
• The Zero-Cold-Call Model: How prioritizing relationships over transactional recruitment results in ongoing, repeat business and client referrals.

Memorable Quotes:

How do you build a sustainable business when you don't have the capital for high-end advisers at the start? In this episode of Origin to Ambition, host Sean Dunne sits down with Tom McCarthy to discuss the vital role of peer networks, long-term client relationships, and staying grounded through business ups and downs.

Tom shares his core philosophy—Relationships Over Profit—explaining why short-term transactional thinking damages business longevity. He also opens up about the fear of the traditional 9-to-5 desk job, the importance of celebrating wins instead of constantly chasing the next goal, and why every mistake in business is simply an opportunity to learn.

Key Takeaways:

1. The Power of Peer Networks: Why surrounding yourself with fellow business owners and relying on peer "war stories" is crucial when starting out.
2. Relationships Over Profit: Why prioritizing long-term client partnerships creates sustainable, compound success over short-term transactional gains.
3. The Profit Reality Check: Why businesses can't run on "rainbows and unicorn farts"—balancing value-first principles with the necessity of turning a profit.
4. Celebrating Wins: Why entrepreneurs must stop only looking forward and take time to reflect on how far they've come (jobs created, freedom earned).
5. Winning or Learning: Embracing mistakes as learning opportunities, owning them immediately, and ensuring you never make the same mistake twice.

Memorable Quotes:

What happens when you turn your deepest insecurities into your greatest competitive advantage? In this episode of Origin to Ambition from the archive, host Sean Dunne sits down with Stuart Barnes to discuss self-doubt, accountability, and the psychology of continuous improvement in business and life.

Stuart shares how feeling "not good enough" became his catalyst for relentless preparation, public speaking training, and personal growth. They explore why successful companies (like Nokia) fall into the "Hungry in Paradise" trap by resisting change, how to combat overwhelm using the "One Thing" rule, and the critical difference between mentoring and pure coaching when helping people overcome deep-seated fears.

Key Takeaways:

• Insecurity as a Catalyst: How acknowledging your vulnerabilities can drive you to prepare better, learn faster, and master new skills.
• Radical Personal Accountability: Stopping the blame game, looking in the mirror, and taking 100% responsibility for your outcomes.
• The "Hungry in Paradise" Trap: Why past success can blind businesses to market disruption (using Nokia vs. Apple and T20 Cricket as examples).
• The "One Thing" Rule: Why attempting 12 tasks at once leaves everything half-finished, and how focusing on a single priority eliminates 3 AM anxiety and open loops.
• Pure Coaching vs. Mentoring: Why true coaching isn't about giving answers, but about asking the right questions so individuals uncover their own breakthroughs.
• Overcoming Resistance to Change: How to help leaders trace fears back to their root origin and rewire limiting beliefs.

Memorable Quotes:

What does it take to build a thriving business completely through word-of-mouth—without relying on active social media marketing? In this archived episode of Origin to Ambition, host Sean Dunne sits down with Laurie Alonso to discuss perseverance, values-driven leadership, and the power of team dynamics in small business.

Laurie shares her journey through the grueling early years of business ownership, how she reframed her hatred of traditional "networking" into genuine customer service, and why her background in competitive team sports became her greatest leadership asset. She also reveals why prioritizing people over profit ultimately leads to financial success as a natural byproduct.

Key Takeaways:

1. The 2-Year Milestone: Why surviving the initial two-year grind requires unwavering belief, grit, and an acceptance that the early stage will be tough.
2. Reframing Networking: How introverted or shy founders can reframe "sales and networking" into problem-solving, active listening, and customer service.
3. Referral-Driven Growth: The secret to building a business entirely on referrals, trust, and client satisfaction without relying on social media campaigns.
4. You Can’t Do It Alone: Why surrounding yourself with trusted advisers (lawyers, accountants, planners) and leaning on industry peers is essential for survival.
5. The Team Sports Advantage: How playing and coaching team sports (soccer, hockey) builds emotional intelligence, adaptability, and leadership skills that directly transfer to business management.
6. People over Profit: Why staying motivated by staff well-being and client impact naturally results in financial sustainability.

Memorable Quotes:

Is bigger always better in business? In this archive episode of Origin to Ambition, host Sean Dunne sits down with Adrian Bortignon, Managing Director at Kongo Industries, to discuss how modern technology, lean operations, and rock-solid values are reshaping business success.

Adrian shares how leveraging AI tools delayed Kongo Industries' need to hire additional staff by 12 to 24 months, allowing them to remain agile, profitable, and focused. He also breaks down the four core values that guide his business, the importance of face-to-face mentorship, and why being present for his family beats chasing short-term business flips.

Key Takeaways:

• The Shift to Lean Operations: Why headcount is no longer a metric for success, and how staying lean creates resilience and higher margins.
• AI as a Capacity Multiplier: How integrating AI and automation allowed Kongo Industries to delay hiring by up to two years without sacrificing output.
• The 4 Core Values at Kongo Industries:

Great Value over Great Margin

Long-Term Partnerships over Transactions

Current & Accurate Advice (Never Recycled)

Simplification as a Discipline

• The Power of Face-to-Face Mentorship: Why asking experienced founders out for a coffee chat is still the best business advice you can get.
• Old-Fashioned Customer Service: Maintaining high availability and personal connection in an increasingly automated world.
• Defining Values Early: Why every founder should articulate their non-negotiable value set early to guide decision-making during tough times.

Memorable Quotes:

Why do elite athletes like Serena Williams, Roger Federer, and Tom Brady still have coaches? Because even the best in the world can’t see their own blind spots. In this episode of Origin to Ambition, host Sean Dunne sits down with Jason Andrew, Managing Director of Island Spirit and former financial adviser.

Jason breaks down how his background in financial advice, strategy mapping, and competitive sports shaped his approach to building impact-driven businesses. From the driving purpose behind changing thousands of lives through permanent residency to the discipline of role-playing and accountability, this episode is a masterclass in treating your business like a professional sport.

Key Takeaways:

• The Universal Need for Coaching: Why every entrepreneur—regardless of experience—needs advisers and mentors to bounce ideas off and stay accountable.
• Driven by Contribution: How a pivotal line from the movie Meet Joe Black inspired Jason’s belief that business must be about more than just profit—it must make a genuine contribution to people's lives.
• The "Athlete" Business Framework: Why successful founders approach business like professional athletes—focusing on training, research, role plays, and turning up every single day.
• Living Your Strategy Plan: The difference between creating a static business plan and using a living strategy map to regularly review, adapt, and pivot.
• The Sports-to-Business Pipeline: How competitive team sports instill essential entrepreneurial traits like discipline, team accountability, resilience, and health.

Memorable Quotes:

Welcome to another Bonus Archive Gem of Origin to Ambition! In this episode, host Sean Dunne sits down with  Ashleigh Alsadie  the founder of The Primadonna to discuss what it really takes to launch and scale a business from scratch when you have no "Plan B."

Starting with just $500 in the bank and a basic website, the guest shares how she built a successful marketing and prospecting agency through raw cold-calling grit, competitive mindset techniques, and eventual hard-learned financial lessons. From conducting uncomfortable business audits to setting firm boundaries around client psychographics, this episode is packed with practical wisdom for any founder navigating the early-to-growth stages of business.

Key Takeaways:

• The "No Plan B" Philosophy: Why taking the leap and "building the airplane on the way down" forces focus, resilience, and rapid momentum.
• Mastering the Sales Mindset: Viewing cold calling not as a chore, but as a competitive game against yourself to test limits and win.
• Future-Tense Visualization: A practical mental trick for sales targets—writing down your desired outcomes on paper as if they have already happened.
• Numbers Don't Lie: Why creative founders must audit their business numbers to uncover true margins, overheads, and appropriate pricing.
• Evolving Your Rules of the Game: Shifting from taking every client out of desperation to standing in your power and turning down bad-fit clients.

Featured Quotes:

Connect with Sean Dunne & Dominium Capital:

Website: dominiumcapital.com.au

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Welcome to another Bonus Archive Gem of Origin to Ambition! In this bite-sized excerpt, host Sean Dunne sits down for a deeply candid conversation on what it truly means to be coachable, stay curious, and navigate the demands of leadership and entrepreneurship.

Using the metaphor of extreme endurance cycling (the "3-Peaks" ride), the discussion explores why so many people love the identity and purpose of success, but falter when confronted with the actual work required. They also tackle a fundamental question: Is entrepreneurship really for everyone?

Key Takeaways from This Episode:

• Curiosity vs. Unlearning: Learning requires curiosity, but letting go of old habits and beliefs takes genuine courage.
• The "What" of Success: Most people focus on the Who, Why, and How of a goal. However, true commitment comes down to answering one question: "Am I prepared to do WHAT it will ask of me?"
• Self-Directed Drive: The most telling job interview/coaching question: "What is the best thing you’ve ever taught yourself?"
• Redefining Entrepreneurship: Entrepreneurship doesn't have to look like building an empire—it can simply be finding an opportunity to do what you love with a viable commercial model.
• Staying Vibrant: How creative outlets (like art and storytelling) help leaders maintain perspective, energy, and joy as they age.

Featured Quotes:

Connect with Shaun Dunn & Dominium Capital:

Website: dominiumcapital.com.au

Subscribe: Don't forget to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss a weekly bonus episode!

What do you do when you are the top-performing biller in your agency, but you are still subjected to toxic micromanagement and rigid KPIs? For Kim Eveleigh, that was the exact catalyst she needed to fulfill her childhood dream of "being a boss."

In this episode of Origin to Ambition, host Sean Dunne sits down with Kim, founder of Ivy Recruitment Partners, for a deep dive into her 20-year career in specialized financial services recruitment. Kim shares the raw story of co-founding her first agency in her mid-20s, navigating a surprise pregnancy on her honeymoon just as the business launched, and designing an irresistible $3,000 offer to gain market traction while working around strict non-compete restraints.

Kim discusses the difference between transactional sales and relationship-based recruitment, her decision to establish Ivy Recruitment Partners to support her family lifestyle, the invaluable support of having an accountant who acts as a business consultant, and her exciting new venture—developing a technology-driven temporary recruitment app.

Connect with our guest, Kim Eveleigh:

Website: Ivy Recruitment Partners

LinkedIn:  Kim Everly's LinkedIn Profile

Key Takeaways from the Conversation:

1. Protect Your Top Performers: Micromanaging highly effective team members who are already meeting their targets is a fast way to drive them to start their own businesses.
2. The Power of the Irresistible Offer: When launching a startup against massive, established competitors, offering a low-barrier, high-value trial can help you secure early market share and demonstrate your capability.
3. Rely on Expert Sounding Boards: Having a trusted advisor—such as an accountant who acts as a business consultant—is crucial for making big decisions, structuring transitions, and planning for growth.
4. Scale Your Expertise with Tech: Kim didn't get distracted by unrelated business ideas; instead, she used her deep industry knowledge of recruitment to design a scalable technology platform.
5. Authenticity is a Referral Engine: Building a business on integrity and relationship-based communication means you don't have to constant do cold outreach; your clients will organically refer you.

Connect with Sean Dunne & Origin to Ambition:

Website: https://dominiumcapital.com.au/dominium/

LinkedIn: https://au.linkedin.com/in/sean-dunne-76067429

Thank you for tuning in to Origin to Ambition!

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. It helps us reach more aspiring entrepreneurs just like you. 

What if the biggest issues in your business aren't the immediate crises you see, but the procedural errors that happened five steps prior? In this episode of Origin to Ambition, Sean Dunne sits down with Tom McCarthy, co-founder and director of Husset HR.

With a background forged in the high-energy world of hospitality and 15 years in business consulting, Tom shares the realistic, unvarnished story of building Husset HR. He discusses taking the leap of faith in his mid-20s, the "rude awakening" of the early years, and celebrating their first major client contract with champagne at Siglo while quietly wondering how they would pay for it.

Tom explains the core philosophy behind Husset—the human asset—and why they chose an implementation-focused, fixed-fee partnership model over traditional, hourly consulting. He breaks down the importance of root cause analysis, why "relationships over profit" is a sustainable business values framework, and the challenges of transitioning from a hands-on "operator" to an "owner" while trying to balance the high highs and low lows of what he describes as a "wild" entrepreneurial journey.

Connect with our guest, Tom McCarthy:

Website: Husset HR

In This Episode, We Discuss:

• [01:00] – Tom's hospitality background and how the service mentality translates to professional consulting.
• [02:24] – The winery dream and his early paper round at age 12.
• [05:38] – Shifting from Greek literature to economics and finance at university.
• [07:09] – The birth of Husset HR: Partnering with small businesses through fixed-fee, active implementation.
• [09:28] – The "Five Steps Prior" Framework: Addressing the root causes of business problems rather than just treating the symptoms.
• [12:37] – Taking the leap into self-employment in his mid-20s.
• [15:00] – Celebrating the first win: Champagne at Siglo and the importance of recognizing milestones.
• [18:25] – Sales is not a dirty word: Relentless prospecting and learning from different clients in the early days.
• [22:00] – The power of a peer-to-peer founder support network for navigating the tough days.
• [25:59] – What motivates Tom: Staying out of the 9-to-5 desk and building something tangible.
• [27:41] – Core values: Relationships over profit, and supporting clients through crises like COVID-19.
• [33:32] – The next 5-10 years: Solidifying Husset HR as the mid-market leader for people issues.
• [35:56] – Transitioning to "owner" mode: Reclaiming time and the reality of slowing down (the "440" concept).

Key Takeaways from the Conversation:

1. Analyze the Root Cause (Go Back Five Steps): True operational improvement doesn't just address immediate crises (like unfair dismissals); it analyzes the systemic breakdowns (poor training, lack of communication) that allowed the crisis to happen.
2. Focus on the "Human Asset": A successful business must balance profitability with the genuine care and support of the people who build it.
3. Prioritize Relationships Over Profit: Choosing long-term partnerships over short-term transactional gains builds resilience and loyalty during market challenges.
4. The "Operator" to "Owner" Transition is Hard: Reclaiming your time requires implementing scalable systems and delegating responsibility, even if the transition is challenging.
5. Leverage Peer Networks: Surrounding yourself with other founders who understand the high highs and low lows is vital for navigating the isolating moments of business.

Connect with Sean Dunne & Origin to Ambition:

Website: https://dominiumcapital.com.au/dominium/

LinkedIn: https://au.linkedin.com/in/sean-dunne-76067429

Thank you for tuning in to Origin to Ambition!

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. It helps us reach more aspiring entrepreneurs just like you.