John Strahan, 50, is from Melbourne, Australia. He started his online and retail furniture business, Outdoor Living Direct, in 2010. Outdoor Living Direct is Australia’s largest online, outdoor furniture retailer. Operating from a showroom and warehouse in Cheltenham, Melbourne, they market their furniture online, and distribute around Australia.
Starting the Business
Q: Where did the idea for your business come from? Where were you in your life and career?
A: After an almost 30-year corporate career, I was made redundant from my executive management role. After a busy, but brief period job hunting, I decided I wanted to work for myself, as I was heartily tired of corporate politics. My wife owned a gift store, and we travelled to China to visit the Canton Fair, a massive trade fair in Guangzhou. The idea was to import and wholesale giftware to retail stores. However, I became quickly despondent as I realised I had no affinity for the gift trade at all.
Luckily, at the same fair there was a smaller area that offered outdoor furniture, and I gravitated toward that because (a) I had always liked it, and (b) our feet were sore from three days of gift fairs and we wanted to sit down! We started talking to the suppliers and before we’d left, we’d ordered 4 containers. We then returned to Australia to work on a website and lease a warehouse!
Q: What was the biggest challenge you faced when starting out?
A: There are heaps of challenges with a start-up, however the major one is the sheer worry of whether what you’re putting your heart and soul into is going to work, or will you lose your house. That’s the biggest challenge.
Q: What is the one thing you know now that you wish you knew when you started the business?
A: At the start, I wanted to do everything myself. Literally everything – I’d answer the phones, take the orders, then go and pack the order and call the courier. Then, after work, I’d try and do the company books, and work on the website until I started falling asleep. If I had the time over again, I’d invest in a couple of key roles early – like a bookkeeper, and maybe a storeperson – and spend my time growing the business through sales and marketing. I’d be further ahead if I had done that.
Q: What would you consider your first big success in the business?
A: I think when I first saw the entire forecourt of my small warehouse completely full of pallets to ship to customers. That was the first time I thought, ‘this might just work’
Q: What is the toughest thing about getting to the top / staying on top in your industry specifically?
A: Getting to the top is just hard work – which is why many growing businesses have young management teams. They’re prepared to do the 80 hour weeks that are required early on. I did it too, but found the going hard at times because I was in my 40s. Staying on top – because we’re an online business, the market is changing rapidly, and constantly. Things that worked 3 years ago just don’t work anymore. So we’re constantly trying to find ways to differentiate our offering in the market.
The Future
Q: Where do you see your industry heading in the next 5 years?
A: I was only the second company offering a full e-commerce offering for outdoor furniture. Now there’d be more than 30. Each of these has taken market share from traditional retailers, and many of these have closed. One challenge is to move away from online ‘cheap rubbish’ – many of our competitors offer really cheap furniture, and retouch photos to make these items look great. Customers buy them, and are disappointed. This potentially damages the industry – so our task is to move (as we have started to do) toward offering better quality products online. I think traditional retail will continue to struggle unless they can augment their offer with online sales, as is our business model.
Q: What do you plan on doing / changing in order to keep growing in this time period?
A: Differentiate through innovative marketing offers; unique products that are great quality, but still affordable; opening more retail outlets to supplement our online presence. Many of our online enquiries are customers who still want to see the products, to touch and feel them. I don’t think this will ever completely change.
Q: What does ultimate success look like to you? How will you know when you’ve achieved it?
A: Great question. For me, personally, I’d like to continue to grow toward the $10M mark – definitely no bigger than that, too many dramas. Then I can ‘pick and choose’ the parts of the job that I like, and recruit to service the other parts. This would give me great flexibility, and a fantastic job! I guess I’ll know I’ve got there when I can be away for a month at a time!
Q: What do you think will be the biggest challenge facing entrepreneurs in the near future?
A: I think we’re heading for a quieter growth period, and many businesses already are reporting negative growth. The challenge will be to continue to grow in a more careful market, in the face of increasing competition.
Q: What one piece of advice would you give to someone just starting out in your industry and wanting to make it to the top?
A: A great piece of advice I’ve recently heard is that successful entrepreneurs concentrate fundamentally on the passion of growing the business, and don’t worry about the trappings. Be passionate about being the best in your industry and the trappings of success will arrive. In addition, I think it’s very important to maintain a work-life balance. It’s easy in your own business to work every day – but that will come at a cost to your relationships, happiness, and health. There’s no 38 hour weeks when you run your own business, but ideally you should aim to work no more than 10 hours a day, 6 days per week. As the business becomes more successful you can reduce that as well, but at least you’ll have some kind of life along the way. And, frankly, if the business can’t survive with that level of effort, there’s something wrong with your business model.