Invented the only product in the world which can air transport live fish with oxygen, a dangerous good. 3 other businesses in the group. Profit growing 5-7% each year. 2 FTE to 65 now 12 after strategic refocus (Episode 60 - Gavin Hodgins)
In this episode, I interview Gavin Hodgins, the CEO at FloatPac Pty Ltd, a company that offers technologies to a diverse range of pioneering ideas and products across air, land, and sea. The company was founded in 1982 and the founders were making lift bags for the Australian army, pioneering high-frequency welding. Gavin started out in the company in 2002 as a welder aged 22 and is now the group CEO. They are the Mercedes Benz of fish air transport, the only company in the world with a product to transport fish with oxygen (FishPac). They also have other products like Flexitank Australia fish farm liners, pillow tanks, bladders, inflatable marker buoys, and lift bags, and RainPac under house rainwater bladder tanks, and in 2015 they launched a floating solar business (FloatPac)
When Covid hit, to be able to keep all their team members, they pivoted to producing face masks while fish transport stopped overnight. Demand was so high that they had to add 50 more team members. People on their website at any one time grew from 500 to 100,000 after being featured on two news channels. Their full-time employees grew from 2 to 65, and are now down to 12 after changing strategic focus and giving their manufacturing to a partner in Queensland so they can focus on their strength; marketing. Their profit growth has been 5 to 7% year on year, and they have funded their business purely from profits and a few research grants.
Gavin felt he had succeeded when they got through Covid with a massive pivot and he feels that the hardest thing about growing a small business is intestinal fortitude. The one thing he says he would tell himself on day one of starting out in business is, “Build your website and spend the first eight weeks so you don’t need to touch it for a while after that” There’s a lot to learn from Gavin’s awesome business ownership story, so don’t miss this episode.
This Cast Covers:
- Starting out as a plastics business (lift bags) and diversifying into revolutionary products that have seen the business thrive since 1982.
- Joining the company as a welder and moving up the ladder to become CEO.
- Diving into the huge solar (Renewable energy) market in Australia with a brilliant product.
- Making water transporter liners for the billion-dollar Salmon industry while focusing mainly on the coral trade industry.
- Facilitating an environmentally friendly way of shipping through their products.
- How they went into the manufacturing of reusable face masks when Covid-19 hit.
- The seven seconds of fame that had traffic to their website blowing up so much that they had to get a dedicated server to keep it from crashing.
- Maintaining a strong position all through the Covid-19 recession brought about the pandemic.
- How going into a joint venture with a manufacturing business has enabled them to grow their business by focusing all their efforts on marketing.
- Reducing their workforce from 65 to 12 and helping their outgoing employees find other jobs.
- Navigating through the loss of their revenue streams within 24 hours to pivot and succeed.
- Discovering the effectiveness of email marketing and the huge return on investment they get from it.
- Funding their business with a combination of profit reinvestment and R&D grants/refunds.
- Running a strict line of credit, only dealing with clients who pay deposits and are excellent payers, and how that has helped them build great relationships.
- How diversification ensures their continuous ability to keep the business running sustainably.
- People who do their job well versus people who are invested in their job.
- Learning and enjoying sales before building his skills in marketing.
- Why employing people is what he loves most about growing a small business.
- How he has been able to get rid of impostor syndrome while also knowing where his place is.
- Finding out that potential employees may look good on paper but not be the best candidate.
- Building a great company culture by buying everybody coffee every day.
- Having a hard time achieving some work-life balance but making sure he doesn’t work weekends.
- His fascination with reading the biographies of big business people like Richard Branson and Bill Gates.
- Why they moved away from using MailChimp and settled on ActiveCampaign.
Additional Resources:
Quotes:
“Revenue growth means nothing if you’re not making any money” – Gavin Hodgins
“Cashflow is absolutely the number one stress point” – Gavin Hodgins
“Find something that you can do almost every day with your staff” – Gavin Hodgins
“Balance is one of those things I still struggle with” – Gavin Hodgins
“Be prepared to back yourself” – Gavin Hodgins
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