The Perfect Pitch Show

Find Out How a Seasoned Executive and MIT Alumni is Helping Entrepreneurs Beat Their Business Challenges

Welcome back to another episode of the "Perfect Pitch Show" where Brandon Burns, Head of Community - Runway Virtual, interviews small business founders / entrepreneurs about the secret sauce to their successful start-up journey.

On today's episode we're excited to sit down with special guest and Australian Entrepreneur, Murray Smith. Murray is a professional EOS implementor (Entrepreneurial Operator System) who heads Grip6 Implementation. He is based in Melbourne, Australia, and boasts an impressive background. In addition to his studies abroad in the US at the eminent Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), he has accrued an impressive fifteen-year career as a police officer. His experiences have helped him become the result-oriented individual he is, and he continues to use this expertise to support other entrepreneurs to grow their business to its full potential.

What He Does

To put it simply, Murray helps entrepreneurs get what they want from their business. By employing a holistic, systematic approach, he helps organisations define their purpose, and operate as a functional cohesive team. He admits that although his method may be simple, the difficulty is in executing and integrating all these elements simultaneously. He boils them down to their core:

•Vision - know where you want your business to be, at what point in time, and how it will get there. Ensure everyone else is well-aware.

•People - put the right people in the right positions.

•Data - measure performance using objective data, as well as processing an influx of data.

•Issues - learn to resolve issues as they occur, that also offer a long-term solution.

•Processes - documentation of processes to deliver consistency between staff and customers

•Traction - design goals that are executable steps and create accountability.

Be Comfortable Being Uncomfortable

Murray thinks fondly about his days at MIT and all that he learnt during his time there. A particularly important lesson he continues to apply in his daily life is to become comfortable being uncomfortable. Entrepreneurs often must learn to do tasks for the first time, and this can be unnerving. He also emphasises the necessity of attending to responsibilities that may not be particularly enjoyable, such as filming podcasts or videos. He reminds audiences to regularly ask themselves, "What do you want to achieve?" and "What have you done today to achieve this goal?". Murray recommends attending to at least one task each day that drives you closer towards your vision, whether it is that one email you've been dreading, or that conversation you've been avoiding. Always continue to move forward.

Regrets & Bad Advice

Murray confesses that he regrets doubting himself and his own abilities. His insecurities and risk-aversive attitude prevented him from taking the plunge into entrepreneurship for years. He wishes that he had enough confidence to get started earlier. Although, he'd like to reassure others that it is never too late, according to Murray statistics show that people who become entrepreneurs in their 40s are more likely to be successful.

When asked about the worst advice Murray has received or heard given to others, he recounts a meeting with a potential client. While preparing in the conference room, he noticed a message scrawled on the board "What product are you selling?". Murray, disturbed by the question, rewrote it as "What problem are you solving?". A common and incorrect approach is to position the product before th...

On

Aussie Entrepreneur Campbell Walshe on How to Scale a Business from Anywhere in the World!

Welcome back to another episode of the "Perfect Pitch Show" where Brandon Burns, Head of Community - Runway Virtual, interviews small business founders / entrepreneurs about the secret sauce to their successful start-up journey.

On this episode, we are excited to bring back a beloved guest, Campbell Walshe. Campbell has over 10 years of experience as an Entrepreneur, having founded multiple start-up businesses. He's proudest achievement to date is his involvement in CNSDose, a health tech start-up that relies on DNA predictors to curate the appropriate anti-depressive medications for individuals suffering with depression. He is one of Australia's most talented start-up mentors, and his most recent endeavour has seen him take on the position of director at Pitchblak. In this role, he utilises his expertise to consult early-stage Entrepreneurs and support them on their journey from turning an intangible idea into a scalable business model.

The Ideal Candidate

Campbell developed Pitchblak as a service that guides founders on the process of raising capital, tips on how to go about pitching to investors, and the research behind creating an awesome brand.

Campbell describes the ideal candidate as an individual who is likely currently working a full-time job. They may have a great idea but are not sure where to begin or how to start raising capital for their business venture. Campbell would like to reach out to the founders who have an eagerness to learn, willingness to work hard, and able to take on some risk to see through their idea. Although he prefaces that Pitchblak helps to develop these invaluable traits, individuals who enter the program with a close-minded attitude are significantly less likely to achieve their goals.

Campbell is not necessarily concerned with accruing a database with hundreds of founders per year. Instead, he would rather focus on working with exceptional founders to produce great start-ups. Campbell specifies that he welcomes big ideas from any industry, ranging from healthcare to fashion. It is also worth noting that regardless of the stage that a founder may currently be in, Pitchblak can support them in how to move onto the next step.

Things to Avoid as an Entrepreneur

Campbell paints a picture of himself as a young and inexperienced entrepreneur. He admits that his biggest mistakes sprung from his tendencies to make assumptions. Often, he would come to conclusions without validating them and wrongly believe that these were correct. Campbell was enlightened to a different tactic when he began working with founders from a scientific background. Their approach was clinical, where they continuously developed methodologies to test and validify their hypotheses. Campbell began to find success as an entrepreneur once he started to incorporate this methodology directly to his other start-ups. He advises that not asking questions, and more specifically not asking the right questions to validate each assumption is an easy way to cripple your business's growth towards success.

Many prospective entrepreneurs are hesitant to pursue their ideas because may feel overwhelmed with their lack of knowledge. Campbell reassures that having this attitude can work to their advantage, as opposed to stepping into the field with the mindset of believing they know everything.

The Importance of Research

It is critically important to acquire as much information about your potential customers as possible. Campbell suggests that directly speaking with people to gauge their behaviour and pain points is a great place to start. Being open to...

Welcome back to the "Perfect Pitch Show" where Brandon Burns, Head of Community - Runway Virtual, interviews small business founders / entrepreneurs about the secret sauce to their successful start-up journey?

Disability advocate and founder of Accessibility Business Consulting Ainslee Hooper is a member of the Runway community and started our accelerator program in November 2019. Ainslee is a qualified Anthropologist having graduate from Deakin University back in 2015 and is using her expertise to consult and guide businesses to ensure they are giving their consumers an excellent experience. She has firsthand experience with living with a disability having been born with Spina Bifida and hopes to use her knowledge to help other companies grow and expand holistically.

Ainslee and the team here at Runway Virtual hope that her story will inspire and motivate our regional and remote readers to act and not let anything hold you back. Personal experiences are a wonderful way of identifying potential problems in your communities and using this understanding to remedy the issue.

A Holistic Approach to Accessibility

Ainslee is part of the 20% of the world's population that is living with a disability and it is her goal for more businesses to expand their accessibility. Ainslee's company Accessibility Business Consulting understands that when most people think 'accessibility' they think on the physical or practical side, such as ramps, wide doors and accessible bathrooms. She believes, however, that accessibility doesn't and shouldn't stop here. Ainslee likes to look at everything through a holistic lense as she believes all the moving parts of a company influence accessibility. Her company aims to examine your business using this holistic approach to put together a package of advice that will help you increase profit and provide the best experience to your consumers possible.

Being an anthropologist gives Ainslee further insight on humankind and helps her understand and appreciate our differences, similarities and needs in order to provide an excellent service. Doing so she is able to help other businesses and companies recognize what their customers need and/or want for a completely accessible experience. They will tailor a package that is directly suited to you and your business as everyone is different and so are your business needs. Ainslee's approach is all about the experience of your customers and consumers and how you can improve your services accordingly.

The Process:

Accessibility Business Consulting uses a variety of techniques in order to identify and examine the strengths and weaknesses of a business. Ainslee and her team don't look exclusively at what the business does for the consumer but the experience surrounding it. In order to effectively assist, they spend time researching and collecting feedback from the business's consumers directly. This is done via a few avenues including focus groups, surveys and one-on-one interviews with your customers to learn their needs and desires from you. The aim through these processes is to identify what your strengths are and the gaps preventing your business from being completely accessible to your consumer.

Once the research has been conducted, Ainslee and her team will work to identify the needed areas of improvement from all of the gathered feedback. They will then put together a report for the business in question that will contain both insights and recommendations on areas of improvement. From there they will discuss strategies with the business and suggest changes that can be implemented in order to provide a better experience for the consumers.

Finally, in order to ensure the success of the business and that the recommendations made have...

The Pros and Cons of Running a Business on Your Own. Belinda Eden Opens Up on Life as a Solo Entrepreneur.

Welcome back to the "Perfect Pitch Show" where Brandon Burns, Head of Community - Runway Virtual, interviews small business founders / entrepreneurs about the secret sauce to their successful start-up journey.

Hospitality is one of the biggest industries with new businesses and events popping up constantly, Belinda Eden is working on bridging the gap between employers and job seekers. Belinda is the solo founder of Troop Employment, an agency built for the purpose of helping businesses in hospitality connect directly with active job seekers in regional Victoria. Troop Employment now has a portal that provides business owners with a search application recommending staff based on availabilities, location, qualifications and experience, making finding staff even easier. Belinda has been a part of Runway's Accelerator Program in both Ballarat and Geelong and has found the experience to be rewarding and eye-opening on life as a business owner.

We hoped Belinda's experience and insight will provide our regional readers some inspiration and advice on setting up their own businesses. Belinda shares her biggest achievements, smallest wins and the challenges she faces as she braces the world of solo entrepreneurship.

About Troop Employment

Troop Employment is a recruitment agency that specialises in a better process for job seekers and businesses in hospitality to find each other. With the new online portal, job seekers can make profiles outlining what they have experience in and are looking for and then businesses are able to filter through and find the staff they need. Troop Employment can be used to find permanent staff, or staff for a quick fill-in when someone is on leave. Job seekers can lay out their availabilities, whether it be weekend only work or evening only work, they can specify their needs. It works for semi-retired people who might want to work in a winery for a week or help out at a local event that's coming up, it's completely tailored to your requirements. Businesses can read reviews from their past places of employment and it is direct to the person. No middleman!

Troop Employment is a membership platform, and anyone can sign up. For businesses there is a subscription fee that provides you 24/7 unlimited access to local staff profiles on their smart phones and computers. Job seekers can create profiles for free and be contacted directly by potential employers who want them!

The Hardest Part About Doing It Solo

Being a business owner is hard work, and even more so when you're the doing it alone. Belinda is the solo founder of Troop Employment and she knows the difficulties that comes with this. It is easy to get overwhelmed with all the tasks you know you must get done, but there are easy ways to take a step back and keep yourself grounded. Belinda participated in Runway's Accelerator Program and has learned a lot from the seminars and classes we put on, and one of the most important things she learned was the 'Brain Dump'. Les Watson gave the advice to get everything down, write it on paper or type it up but get it out of your head. It's a lot easier to keep track of what needs going and what needs to be done when you can see it physically in front of you. Belinda loves lists, and in practising this method she found that most of the items on her lists would be 5-minute jobs and every seemed a lot less daunting once she had a plan. Once it's in a list type format and you can begin checking things off, you will really be able to see how much you have accomplished and how long it took you. Belinda found that this was the most effective way in making sure she didn't get too overwhelmed doing this on her...

Entrepreneurs Can Change the World. Thomson & Scott Founder Amanda Thomson Shares Her Success Story

Here we have another article from the "Perfect Pitch Show" where Brandon Burns, Head of Community - Runway Virtual, interviews small business founders / entrepreneurs about the secret sauce to their successful start-up journey.

Today's society is obsessed with what we're eating and what we're putting in our bodies, aiming to be fit and healthy but many of us love a drink from time to time. We don't, however, stop to look at what's in our bottles of wine, do we?

Amanda Thomson is the CEO and Founder of Thomson & Scott, has made it her goal to be truthful about what is in her wine and most importantly, make it organic and sustainable. Recently, Amanda has taken a step further and created the first organic, vegan and alcohol-free sparkling wine "Noughty". She has achieved incredible feats in the wine industry and has opened up to us about her plan to take her brand further, aiming for a partnership to bring it here to Australia! Amanda is passionate about delivering the truth and being completely transparent about what goes into a bottle of her wine and hopes that more brands will make the switch and produce organic wine.

To our regional Victorians, we hope Amanda's story will motivate you and prove that entrepreneurs can change the world. Her dream is to impact the world, inspiring and changing the industry to a more sustainable system and bringing back the beauty of wine.

Transparency and Sustainability with Thomson & Scott

Amanda wanted to party but wanted to feel good in the morning, but the wine industry had taken a bad turn. We are unaware of what goes into a bottle of wine, and part of it is because there isn't any proper labelling on most bottles. We're unaware of how much sugar goes into a bottle, how many harmful chemicals we're ingesting when we're trying to have a fun night or a casual drink. This is something Amanda wants to change and therefore she stressed the importance of transparency with her brand.

In 2020 industries such as fast fashion are ruining the economy and more importantly, they're not sustainable. Unbeknown to most wine drinkers, is that the champagne and wine industry has taken the same term and faded out the traditional methods of making wine. Amanda's always said she wants to "drink beautifully or not drink at all" at her brand is the definition of beautiful drinking, returning to these old means of producing wine to create an elegant tasting, organic champagne. She found it was difficult to be in the wine industry and make your product organically, and this shocked her when she first started her business, opening her eyes to the problems the industry is facing.

Marketability with Provocative Products

Amanda knew that in order to shake the world with her product and cut through the market she would need something that was provocative. Amanda had to reach out to the CIVC (Comité Interprofessionnel du vin de Champagne) the old Champagne Governing body. She campaigned to them for the permission to use the word "skinny" alongside the word "champagne" because this has never been done. This was the provocative element she needed to take her brand to where she wanted it to go, and when they agreed she got the world asking the important questions. "How much sugar goes into your wine?" The term "skinny champagne" and a delicious and sustainable product made Amanda's efforts going viral.

But first, she needed the product. Amanda was passionate about making the perfect champagne and made that her first goal, reaching out to high quality champagne makers in order to make this a reality. The maker she contacted was well known...

Do You Need a muMEcation? Alison Smith Talks About Being a Woman in Business, Starting Her Own Company and the Importance of Collaboration

Welcome to our "Perfect Pitch Show" where Brandon Burns, Head of Community - Runway Virtual, interviews small business founders / entrepreneurs about the secret sauce to their successful start-up journey.

Today we are proud to introduce Alison Smith, Founder of muMEcations, a passionate mother of two daughters she understands the importance of taking the necessary time to relax and get a break from daily mum-duties. Alison and her company are based in Geelong, Vic, Australia and has been taking part in our Start-up Incubator program. She has over 12 years of retail and corporate travel and has carried these skills over to further her own goals and aspirations.

During her interview Alison was very open with us and discussed her motivations and experience in managing growth and expanding her own business. She is dedicated to working with women for women and creating an accessible revenue for mothers and carers to rest and rejuvenate with like minded individuals.

Her Vision

As mentioned, Alison has over 12 years' experience with retail and commercial travel having previously worked with not for profit organisations where she would organise weekend getaways for young adults living with disabilities. Through this work she connected with the families of these young people and she found that often times the primary carers and mothers of these young persons would need or want a vacation of their own. Coupled with her own experiences as a mother and getting the chance to take some time for herself the idea for muMEcations was born. Alison began to dedicate her time and resources into building a support network and a chance for mothers like her to get that break that they need.

muMEcations was established as an opportunity for mothers and primary carers to get away for a weekend or extended holiday within Australia. Her business is set apart from the usual health retreats by tailoring the trip to mothers who just need a break, some Me time. Her vision was to create an experience that encourages downtime and social connection for groups of mothers and individuals, allowing them to participate in activities of their choosing. Alison believes it is important for Mums to remember that it is okay to take time out to focus on your own health and well-being and is determined to create a safe space for them to do so. muMEcations has various packages including accommodation, spa and dining experiences in a calm and soothing environment, encouraging her guests to focus on themselves with an 'all about me' mentality.

Alison can also offer customised getaways and itineraries for members of a group who want to travel together. She is passionate about getting as many mothers as she can to come on her trips or to at least be inspired to book their own well-deserved vacation.

Women in Business

Alison is passionate about working together with other aspiring businesswomen and Mums in business and providing an avenue of support for them. She has recently become a coordinator for the Mums in Business Association, which was founded in the UK but now expands across nine countries. Alison coordinates events and monthly catchup sessions in and around the Surf Coast Shire, Vic, Australia for the local women. Through this organisation, Alison loves to organise networking events for mothers wanting to meet like-minded people and receive or provide some mentoring assistance to those in need. She has met and collaborated with some amazing people through this avenue and would love to incorporate more women in business.

When organising her muMEcation trips, Alison loves to use this...

Young Aussie Entrepreneur Adam Stone has Built a Revolutionary Business in Speedlancer and Scaled it to the US.

Here's another episode of the "Perfect Pitch Show" where Brandon Burns, Head of Community - Runway Virtual, interviews small business founders / entrepreneurs about the secret sauce to their successful start-up journey.

Today we are excited to introduce you to Adam Stone, Founder of Speedlancer and was one of the members on the 2017 Forbes 30 Under 30 list! Adam found Speedlancer off the back of another business he owned as he quickly discovered the weaknesses and gaps to finding talented freelancers to outsource. He then decided to devote his time to building a team that was hand picked and solely dedicated to producing quality work for their clients. Now based in Los Angeles in the United States of America, Adam started off in Victoria, Australia and wants to promote the wonderful resource that is his platform.

Speedlancer isn't his first business but he believes it is his best, and a lot of that success has come from his previous attempts at changing the world through entrepreneurship. We hope our regional and remote Australian entrepreneurs will take some inspiration in Adam's story and potentially utilise him as an excellent source of information, resources and experience.

Why Speedlancer?

Adam isn't a novice at running a business, and it was through his trials with previous attempts that he found the need for a company such as Speedlancer. Speedlancer is the product of Adam's desire to bridge the gaps in the world of outsourcing talent, it definitely isn't the first website of its kind but is certainly a different approach on this kind of platform. Speedlancer consists of hand-picked teams that are tailored to a specific area, for example they have a Content Marketing team, a Design and Development team and a Thought Leadership team, but this barely grazes the surface on the resources Speedlander has to offer. These teams will then work together to deliver the highest quality product to fit your needs.

Instead of merely hiring a writer for a content campaign you will have access to a full team that will also work on strategy and how to implement this, increasing the effectivity of the work they are putting out. All teams have a base cost which can be seen on their website, a link to which you will find at the bottom of this article. However, if you're wanting to start a little smaller and don't want to commit to hiring a full team just yet, you can begin with hiring for individual tasks at a lower cost.

Adam and his team know that your time is valuable and so Speedlancer helps to eliminate the lengthy recruitment process when trying to find a new talent to add to your team and is more reliable than most freelancer-based websites. As the teams are hand-picked it is much easier to find reliable work of a high quality with all members having been previously screened. You no longer need to scroll through the abundant number of members on other similar platforms or reading through their reviews to try and find the perfect fit for you, Speedlancer has already taken care of that for you. Additionally, the platform includes a concierge service that will manage your projects for you, eliminating an extra process of administration and allowing you the freedom of knowing your work is in good hands.

Who is Using Speedlancer?

Speedlancer is a platform that is beneficial to all sizes of businesses, but Adam has found that most of their clients come from small to medium sized businesses. That being said, we can really see the potential aid this platform could bring for our remote and regional entrepreneurs just starting out. Runway Virtual is building a platform for these entrepreneurs to gain access to mentors and coaches, and we believe Adam's company and...

Find Out How Capricorn Power is Using Technology to Combat Climate Change with Their Scale-Up

It's time for another installation from our "Perfect Pitch Show" where Brandon Burns, Head of Community - Runway Virtual, interviews small business founders / entrepreneurs about the secret sauce to their successful start-up journey.

In this article we break down the inspirations and methods utilized by Co-Founder of Capricorn Power, Geoff Andrews. Geoff has been passionate about technology and the environment from a very young age and enjoys the challenge of finding and implementing new technologies. He is a pioneer in combating climate change with technology to conserve resources and find alternative solutions of energy production. He is also the engineering He has been in the business of energy conservation for a number of years and has chosen to share some of his experiences, incentives and the upcoming plans of Capricorn Power.

We hope Geoff's vision will help raise awareness to our regional communities about the various possibilities in the way of energy consumption and conservation. We believe his advice will provide valuable to small business owners and aspiring founders and provide some tips and tricks to the scene.

What Does Capricorn Power Do?

We asked Geoff what Capricorn Power was and what they have to offer. Capricorn Power was built to modernise the way heat can be used to create power. Geoff and the team work together and through dedication and perseverance they were able to create their product, the Barton Engine. The Barton Engine was designed to convert waste heat into energy and do so at a fraction of the cost of similar products on the market. This product allows for consumers and business owners to create clean energy on their own premise that won't cause disruptions to any other business operations. The Engine was built, and the concept proven in Geelong back in 2018, and thus they were able to bring their product to the market.

Capricorn Power and their product is environmentally friendly and safe and has won various awards, most notably the 2018 Australia Technologies Competition (New Energy). These are big accomplishments that Geoff and his team have been able to achieve thanks to their team of dedicated individuals who are all share a common goal. Teamwork is imperative to their success and in discovering new ways in which they can further their technologies. Ultimately their goal is to provide a way for businesses to create their own clean energy from the heat waste they produce.

For a more technical analysis of what the Barton Engine does and what Capricorn Power strives to achieve, visit their website which will be linked at the bottom of this article.

Managing Costs

We asked Geoff how he handles the costs that goes into an endeavour such as this one. Geoff advised that to begin with they used a lot of their own funds to get their business up and running. He believes that the longer you can get by using your own funds the better off your business will be. Fundraising, though necessary, can take away from needed time to focus on your product or your idea and give it the time it needs to flourish. His experience has shown him that a lot of scale-ups spend majority of their time trying to fundraise rather than trying to keep up momentum for the company. It is vital to be able to balance both, and thankfully Geoff has used his time at Capricorn Power to further his fundraising skills.

Geoff also talks about Capricorn Power's small team and how having a condensed number of staff helps you reduce the costs of running a business. He knows it is important to ensure you have all of the staff you need but that being able to expand in a sustainable way is important to...

Getting to Know One of Australia's Most Active Angel Investors and Why He Thinks Regional Startups Have so Much to Offer - Robert Lederer

Continuing with our "Perfect Pitch Show" where Brandon Burns, Head of Community - Runway Virtual, interviews small business founders / entrepreneurs about secret sauce to their successful start-up journey.

In this article, we introduce you to Robert Lederer, Angel Investor and CEO of RTL Group Investments, his private investment company. Robert and his company are set up in Sydney, NSW, Australia but he has an international presence with investments in over 25 start-ups around Australia, USA and Israel. He is an experienced investor and advisor and loves to connect with founders and their team to help their business grow, all whilst entertaining his four children.

Typical Day for an Investor

Robert gave us some insight on what a day in his life is like. He likes to begin with a run at around 6 in the morning if he can, before diving into the day's work. He says that it's not about the time of day you begin, but how much effort you put in. Robert's day consists of meetings with various start-ups via voice calls, zoom calls and face-to-face meetings. His aim is to connect with founders and their teams, consult ideas and provide advice. Sometimes, he may decide a start-up isn't right for him to invest in, however he still likes to provide guidance and assistance where he can.

He explains he will sometimes invest in start-up despite knowing little of the field if he believes in the idea and its value. Robert says for every start-up he invests in he gets more experience in the area and is then able to use that knowledge to help foster even more opportunities.

What Stands Out to Potential Investors?

Robert Founded RTL Group Investments, a private business that invests in a variety of start-ups as well as private debt deals, private equity and hedge funds. When prompted to give some insight on what he looks for when deciding to invest, Robert was able to give our audience an understanding on how to stand out. He says it is about how big he thinks the business can be, and Robert admits sometimes an idea may not look appealing at first glance but continuing to read the facts and learning the situation may allow him to uncover great ideas that turn into great businesses.

A good start-up, Robert says, is built on a good team and good founders, ones that he can connect with and put value into. But most importantly, he advises, that a successful business will be born of a need and not a want. If you can find a problem and then solve it, this will be the strong foundation needed to build a great business.

The Benefits of Being a Regional Start-Up

During our interview with Robert, we asked him what the advantages of being a remote founder were and how to best capitalise on this. Robert had no shortage of advice to give and provided us with some helpful insight. He says, the biggest advantage is that being based in regional areas means that you will see the problems firsthand and have a better understanding on how to fix it. This ties in with his earlier point on establishing a business to satisfy a need, he says, to solve a problem that founders in major cities won't even know existed.

Following on from that, Robert states that being in a regional area also means you have less competition going after the problem you are trying to solve. With less competition comes less distractions, and he says remote business tend to be more grounded and more passionate thus lending more strength to the founders. This, he says, allows regional teams to be more driven by achieving their outcome than they are about just bein...

From the Royal Flying Doctor Service to helping stranded Aussies all around the world!

Meet Erin Lord one half of - Aeromedical solutions

Welcome back to the "Perfect Pitch Show" where Brandon Burns, Head of Community - Runway Virtual, interviews small business founders / entrepreneurs in their respective fields about the secret sauce to their successful start-up journey.

In this article, we break down the stories from our interview with Erin Lord , Director of Business Development, Aero Medical Solutions. Erin manages the client relationships and business development strategy and has got more than 12 years of experience in the aeromedical space including her work with the Royal flying doctor service. Erin has got extensive experience in cultural change and business process improvement. Solving business problems and making the most of her network is what keeps Erin motivated every day.

During our interview, Erin shares heart touching stories of her customers. We believe these discussion topics will help start-ups in regional Victoria with tips & tricks in setting up small businesses. Our breakdown of Erin's insights begins with the introduction of her business.

Elevator pitch of Aeromedical Solutions

Erin says, Aeromedical Solutions is the only medical repatriation brokering service in Australia which aims to take the complexities out of a situation you never want to be in - being overseas or interstate, under or uninsured, unwell or injured. Erin continues, the mission of Aeromedical Solutions is to reduce the vulnerability of her clients by providing solutions that ensure the best care is given at the most competitive cost. With over 12 years of experience in the aeromedical industry, the team at the Aeromedical Solutions have partnered with over 100 aeromedical providers around the world that are vetted and they trust. Erin and her team were able to achieve significant savings for her customers by utilising patient pooling opportunities and empty return legs.

Unique value proposition

Erin narrates, a familiar story of "someone overseas on the adventure of a lifetime and they are overcome by illness or involved in an accident. Their insurance won't cover them, they're away from home, the quality of care is unknown, large costs are looming and their friends and family are on the other side of the world while they recover. In this situation, typical response would be for people to call up the department of foreign affairs & trade only to realise that the department would not bear the burden of the cost.

Erin and her business partner Steve Mclaren's strong network through their work at the Royal Flying Doctor Service helps patients with the best possible care at an affordable price.

North star

Erin has an audacious goal to position Aeromedical solutions to as many insurance providers as possible. This would include Aeromedical solutions being part of every response every insurance company has to its customers. Erin says, the tender process would get seriously interesting and making the insurance market wide open to get the best deal for the customers.

Display 10x growth

Aeromedical Solutions make money by charging commission to the patients who need to be repatriated Erin says. The lesso...