We’ve all heard of an ‘overnight success’- you know, that extremely successful company that seems to come out of nowhere. What you don’t commonly hear is the amount of time, effort, trials and tribulations a company faces before they even get out of the starting gate.

Unlike in the movies where years of work can often be summarised in a short, cheerful montage (cue upbeat soundtrack) the journey from burgeoning idea to successful product is not only difficult but interwoven with many failures. Other than ingenuity, it seems the driving force behind many an entrepreneur’s success is their tenacity, determination and bull headed ability to persevere.

The driving force behind an entrepreneur's success is their tenacity, determination & bull headed ability to persevere. Click To Tweet

Here are some examples of Australians who took the road less travelled (and a bumpy one at that).

Jock Fairweather 

When Jock Fairweather launched Little Tokyo Two, he didn’t even know what co-working was, only that he, and some like-minded friends, would benefit from having a shared workplace where they could help each other solve business problems. Initially starting as a simple home-share, the concept proved so successful that Jock went on to purchase a bigger share space, inundated with offers before the doors even opened.

Unlike with his first business (a shoe brand he designed before selling to a Swiss conglomerate) Little Tokyo Two grew so rapidly that Jock had to employ another person almost immediately, the workload too much for just one person. Though the business blossomed at first, Jock had to continually network, amassing 3000 one-on-one meetings within the first year alone. Often dismissing Jock due to his age (and penchant for floral pants) Jock had to tirelessly promote the benefits and values of LT2 to numerous influential people in Brisbane, going on to earn him the respect of some of Brisbane’s most prolific business men and women.

Michael Trusler

In 2012 Michael Trusler was a civil engineer doing FIFO work in North Queensland. Tasked with sourcing equipment for different sites, Mike found the task trying at best, and downright frustrating the majority of the time. Seeing an opportunity to do things better, Mike partnered up with tech savvy friend Mike Davis, formulating a concept plan that employed technology over traditional methods.

Six months (and 20,000 phone calls later) PlantMiner was born, the largest online construction marketplace in Australia and New Zealand. Raising $10 million in 4 rounds of capital raising, including a $1 million grant from Private Investment Vehicle, Jingella Resources, PlantMiner employs over 70 people and, in an industry worth $4.5 billion, has seen an exponential revenue growth of 424% in three years.

Ryan Tattle

Ryan Tattle, Co-founder of U-thermic, had a vision where the human experience was not limited to temperature but enhanced by it. Formulating a cold screen lotion with his brother, Alex, U-thermic saw 37 iterations before it was launched and relied solely on $200,000 from crowdfunding. Rather than deriving directly from focus groups or market research, U-thermic engaged with over 8000 people, liaising with them every step of the journey to make certain the durability of the product. It was through this engagement that the Tattle brothers continued to refine and improve the cold screen, ensuring that by the time the product was on the shelves it was 100% tried, tested and quality proven.

This process took 2 years and was tried in various climates, spanning 25 testing locations and 10 countries. With a goal of a 50% acceptance rate (which is considerably high) what separated U-thermic from other competing products was the attention to detail, dedication to customer experience and persistence in perfecting a product.

Maha Sinnathamby

What might be Brisbane’s most impressive rags to riches story is that of Maha Sinnathamby, entrepreneur and visionary extraordinaire of Greater Springfield. Born of humble beginnings in Malaya, Maha went from driving taxi’s, to pedalling houses, to becoming a master developer of Greater Springfield; a venture that earned with a worth of $850 million. Originally buying what was considered a ‘barren’ land, with business partner Bob Sharples, Maha was unsuccessful in getting investors and had to borrow from the bank- an agreement that was contingent on securing $3,000,000 in just one year.

With a long time vision of creating what would essentially be an entire city, Maha’s scheme was often disparaged, with setbacks including planning delays, financial problems and reluctant investors. Deemed an economically depressed region, very few believed in Maha’s dream of creating a master planned community.

Attributing his success to his boldness and strength of character, Maha believes that his determination is what finally got people to reconsider their preconceived ideas of the space and, eventually, invest. Now home to over 20,000 residents, including hospitals, trains stations and shopping metropolis, it is estimated that Greater Springfield will have grown to 105,000 residents by 2030.

Photo and Blog Credit: Little Tokyo Two – Spring Hill