How I Made It

In this week's episode, Precision Group founder Shaun Bonétt chats to Julie-anne Sprague about becoming one of the country's most successful entrepreneurs. A journey that went from home schooling to buying his first shopping centre at just 24 years of age.

To ask a question, email howimadeit@afr.com 

This podcast is sponsored by Commonwealth Private

To find out more about Commonwealth Private click here

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How I Made It is back for a 4th season and this time we're giving you can chance to ask a Rich Lister a question yourself. 

Are you building a company and want to scale up, do you want advice on funding your growth or have you just got an idea and you want to know what to do next, well here is your opportunity. Send a question to howimadeit@afr.com and we’ll get a Rich Lister to help you. 

Episodes drop fortnightly starting with our first episode on April 22.

This podcast is sponsored by Commbank.

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His parents moved to Australia with just $90 to their name, raising their young family in a housing commission flat in Melbourne. It was there Ruslan Kogan honed his selling skills, making a buck selling golf balls and washing cars. He’s now worth about $300 million after creating online retailer Kogan.com.

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The How I Made it team is on a summer break but have curated a special summer series featuring some of our favourite episodes. 

In this third episode, Simon Beard joined Julie-anne Sprague in 2022 to chat how he and his wife Tah-nee started Culture Kings as a market stall on the Gold Coast. They’d go on to cut a deal that valued their retailer at $600 million. In this episode, Simon shares his routine - from getting up at 4am to taking ice baths. 

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The How I Made it team is on a summer break but we’ve curated a special summer series featuring some of our favourite episodes. 

Our second episode in this summer series features Tammy Hembrow who joined the Julie-anne Sprague in August 2022 where she shares her story of being told her life was ruined when she unexpectedly fell pregnant at 19. She’d go on to develop a fitness app and clothing brand that put her on the Young Rich List with an estimated $38 million fortune. 

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Happy New Year! The How I Made it team is on summer break but for your listening enjoyment they have compiled a collection of some of their favourite episodes from our rich catalogue of interviews with the nation’s Rich Listers.

The first episode in this summer series features Jack Cowin, the Canadian door-to-door salesman who left of Australia and opened fast food chains KFC and Hungry Jack’s. He’d go on to invest and grow pizza group Domino’s. In this episode, he shares the extraordinary story of taking on a global giant in a legal bun fight and all the lessons he’s learnt in becoming the nation’s 22nd richest person.

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Sam Kennard always had ambition to work and grow the family company. But he never expected his dad to give him total control when he was just 24 years of age. 

This podcast is sponsored by Superloop.

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In this week's episode How I Made It podcast, Icon Group founder Cathie Reid chats to Julie-anne Sprague about wanting to be a typist. Instead she became a pharmacist before spotting a gap in the market and becoming an entrepreneur alongside husband Stuart Giles.

This podcast is sponsored by Superloop.

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This week on How I Made It, Julie-anne Sprague chats to Young Rich Lister Kevin Gosschalk, the co-founder Arkose Labs on the challenges of going head to head with Google in offering companies solutions to thwart cyber criminals.

This podcast is sponsored by Superloop.

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In this week's episode, Julie-anne Sprague chats to investor and corporate adviser Mark Carnegie on how being born with a silver spoon and having a chip on his shoulder has  motivated him to succeed in business. 

This podcast is sponsored by Superloop.

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This week, Nigel Satterley joins Julie-anne Sprague to chat about his journey from Levi's salesman to becoming Australia’s biggest private land developer whose company, Satterley, is worth more than $500 million.

This podcast is sponsored by Superloop.

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Follow The Australian Financial Review’s newest podcast offering called15 Minutes with the Boss.

It’s a weekly podcast, in which AFR’s Boss Editor Sally Patten sits down with one of the country's top CEOs and asks them to share all the valuable advice and wisdom they’ve gained during the course of their careers.

They’ll chat about their successes and failures and everything in between.

Here’s a little preview of our latest episode featuring Sydney Swans CEO Tom Harley. He chats about everything from sharing the lessons he’s learned through failure, how he tackles conflict and plans to remove his phone from the bedroom.

At the end of the preview, just search 15 Minutes with the Boss to hear the rest of the show.

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In 1983, Sam Hupert and IT specialist Anthony Hall joined forces after meeting at a wine tasting. Their brainchild, Pro Medicus is now worth $9 billion with shares recently hitting an all-time high of $83, marking a spectacular return for early investors who bought in at $1.15 per share in 2000.

This podcast is sponsored by Superloop.

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Alex Tomic quit university after just six months, to create a company to sell teeth whitening kits with his childhood friend Alex Mirkovic. Almost a decade later, the pair are closing in on $1b in sales, cementing their place on the Young Rich List as chase a global expansion, which has had a handy boost after Kim Kardashian posted to her gazillion followers about how much she just loves their products. 

This podcast is sponsored by Superloop

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Carolyn Creswell’s company Carmen's dominates the supermarket shelves. But it didn’t start that way. In the early days, she had to come up clever ways to get ahead.

This podcast is sponsored by Superloop

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How I Made Itis back for a third season.

From the Australian Financial Review,How I Made Ittakes you inside the world of the country’s top entrepreneurs. They'll share insights on what makes them tick, their business advice and how they overcame the odds to grace one of the AFR's Rich Lists. 

If you want to know how business empires are made, join host Julie-anne Sprague on Monday September 11 and follow How I Made It. Episodes are released fortnightly. 

Subscribe to the Australian Financial Reviewhere.

This podcast is sponsored by https://www.superloop.com/business/internet

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Super Fierce founder Trenna Probert chats to Julie-anne Sprague about her bold mission to close the wealth gap between men and women.

This podcast is sponsored by Cartier Women's Initiative. To learn more, go to: https://www.cartierwomensinitiative.com/awards 

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From an initial $50,000 investment and regularly sleeping on a blowup mattress on the factory floor, Hannah Drury is now looking to expand her fragrance empire with her own perfumery.

This podcast is sponsored by Cartier Women's Initiative. To learn more, go to: https://www.cartierwomensinitiative.com/awards 

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Gabrielle Manning chats with Julie-anne Sprague about quitting her job in her 30s to set up her own business alongside her two sisters. But a decade later it nearly collapsed as they got distracted by the critics.

This podcast is sponsored by Cartier Women's Initiative. To learn more, go to: https://www.cartierwomensinitiative.com/awards 

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In 2014 Bec Jefferd and Ava Matthews met in a carpark. Fast forward to today, their skinscreen line Ultra Violette has completely changed the way we view sunscreens. 

This podcast is sponsored by Charter Hall, to learn more visit www.charterhall.com.au/investments/new-to-investing/getting-started-in-commercial-property-investment

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Priscilla Hajiantoni suffered from skin breakouts. She’d tried everything and nothing seemed to work. So she set out to make her own. Priscilla now runs a multi-million dollar skincare business that's on the cusp of going global.

This podcast is sponsored by Charter Hall, to learn more visit www.charterhall.com.au/investments/new-to-investing/getting-started-in-commercial-property-investment

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This week, entrepreneur Jo Horgan invites Julie-anne Sprague into the nerve centre of Mecca to reveal how her love for English literature led to her founding the international cosmetics giant.

This podcast is sponsored by Charter Hall, to learn more visit www.charterhall.com.au/investments/new-to-investing/getting-started-in-commercial-property-investment

Background reading: 

How two Melbourne entrepreneurs stole the beauty market

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In 2008, Tania Austin took a risk buying five retail stores under the Decjuba banner. 15 years on Decjuba is now a women's fashion powerhouse with more than 140 stores across Australia and New Zealand.

This podcast is sponsored by Charter Hall, to learn more visit www.charterhall.com.au/investments/new-to-investing/getting-started-in-commercial-property-investment

Background reading:

Meet the three new women set to join the Rich List

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Kristy Chong revolutionised personal care products for women all over the world by creating an underwear range that absorbs leaks. The company she founded in 2013, ModiBodi, sold for $140 million last year and now Chong is turning from entrepreneur to investor. But there’s a caveat. The companies she’s backing must be founded by women.

This podcast is sponsored by Charter Hall, to learn more visit www.charterhall.com.au/investments/new-to-investing/getting-started-in-commercial-property-investment

Background reading:

How an Aussie entrepreneur turned leak-proof undies into $140m in cash

Three's a party for Quadrant's new Growth Fund

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Starting March 20, you’ll hear stories from women who’ve faced down enormous challenges to take a simple idea and build a business.

Some would go global.  

They’re changing the face of Australian business and paving the way for a new generation of female leaders.

We’ll uncover the daily hacks they use to get ahead and they’ll share some unique challenges that, rightly or wrongly, get thrown at them simply because they’re women.

Join us fortnightly here on the How I Made It feed, as we reveal how these entrepreneurs got their businesses off the ground and the sacrifices made in the relentless pursuit of success.  

Brought to you by The Australian Financial Review. Follow us wherever you get your podcast.

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A weekly podcast from The Australian Financial Review that examines the biggest stories in business, markets and politics, and why they matter, explained by the best financial journalists in the country.

Search The Fin and follow us wherever you get your podcasts.

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Australia’s most prestigious business column is now a podcast. Chanticleer is a weekly news breakdown of all things business, finance and markets.

Every Friday, Australian Financial Review columnists Tony Boyd and James Thomson go behind the doors of corporate Australia to give you their unvarnished analysis.

The first episode drops 5pm, Friday September 16.

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His parents moved to Australia with just $90 to their name, raising their young family in a housing commission flat in Melbourne. It was there Ruslan Kogan honed his selling skills, making a buck selling golf balls and washing cars. He’s now worth about $300 million after creating online retailer Kogan.com.

Background reading:

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aaron Hornlimann bred guinea pigs to earn a buck as a kid. By his early 20s he was developing a text messaging system for Jetstar and now, at 35, the Young Rich Lister worth an estimated $34 million, is growing Elenium, a company making things easier for people to get in and out of airports.

Background reading:

How I Made Itwebsite here. Email us at howimadeit@afr.com

For more stories about success, subscribe to The Australian Financial Review here.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Simon Beard and his wife Tah-nee started Culture Kings as a market stall at the Carrara Markets on the Gold Coast. Last year they cut a deal to sell their company for more than $600 million. Here’s how they did it.

Background reading:

How I Made Itwebsite here. Email us at howimadeit@afr.com

For more stories about success, subscribe to The Australian Financial Review here.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

At 25, Robbie Ferguson is the youngest person to make the list since it began in 1983. He and his brother James have a combined wealth of $1billion thanks to the success of their crypto business Immutable. 

Background reading:

How I Made Itwebsite here. Email us at howimadeit@afr.com

For more stories about success, subscribe to The Australian Financial Review here.

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Sarina Russo failed high school English classes and was fired from her job as a legal secretary. She’s proof that determination and perseverance can triumph after joining the Financial Review Rich Women List earlier this year with an estimated $267 million fortune. Listen to how she did it.

Background reading:

How I Made Itwebsite here. Email us at howimadeit@afr.com

For more stories about success, subscribe to The Australian Financial Review here.

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After dropping out of uni and with starting out with $400, Tammy Hembrow has built online fitness app Tammy Fit and clothing brand Saksi Collection into businesses that's given her an estimated $38 million fortune.

Background reading:

How I Made Itwebsite here. Email us at howimadeit@afr.com

For more stories about success, subscribe to The Australian Financial Review here.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

David Tudehope quit working for CBA at 25 to start a company with big ambitions. Macquarie Telecom would take on Telstra. It’s been so successful he’s found his way onto the Financial Review Rich List. Tudehope shares his secrets for success, which includes something they’ve developed called the Noah’s Ark.

Background reading:

How I Made Itwebsite here. Email us at howimadeit@afr.com

For more stories about success, subscribe to The Australian Financial Review here.

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When Grant Petty was growing up in Shepparton in Victoria’s Goulburn Valley, his family didn't have much money so he took to 'rorting' the system to fund his early education in electronics. Petty went on to start Blackmagic Design, a company that designs cameras and editing systems for the entertainment industry that turned over ¾ of a billion dollars in 2021.

How I Made Itwebsite here. Email us at howimadeit@afr.com

Background reading

For more stories about success, subscribe to The Australian Financial Review here.

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Australian Financial Review's Julie-anne Sprague takes you inside the world of the country’s top entrepreneurs. They'll share insights on what makes them tick, their business advice and how they overcame the odds to grace one of the AFR's Rich Lists.

If you want to know how business empires are made, listen to How I Made It. Season two premieres Monday July 18. 

Subscribe to the Australian Financial Review here.

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Michael Heine, 72 and his son Matt, 42, together run Netwealth, one of Australia’s fastest growing wealth management businesses. They come from a long line of entrepreneurs, never finished university and the family is now worth around $2.8 billion.
They talk about taking on Australia's big banks, working with family, risking it all for a good idea and Dolly Parton.

Background reading: The 150-year making of Netwealth

How I Made Itwebsite here.

For more stories about success, subscribe to The Australian Financial Review here.

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Jessica Sepel, 32, went from working at Priceline after school to creating one of their fastest growing brands JS Health Vitamins. She’s a nutritionist and wellness blogger who quit her day job and is now worth an estimated $426 million. She talks about her struggle with food, getting scammed by manufacturers, how to deal with the social media haters, and one lesson she lives by: “Life is suffering.”

Background reading: Wellness couple fight back from failure to join Young Rich List https://www.afr.com/young-rich/wellness-couple-fight-back-from-failure-to-join-young-rich-list-20210913-p58r87

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Wes Maas, 41, was doing “okay” playing in the NRL for the South Sydney Rabbitohs but knew he was never going to be in the top 20 per cent. So the “workaholic” from Dubbo went home and bought a bobcat for $14,000 and borrowed $25,000 to buy a tip truck. His company employs over 600 people, listed on the ASX last year, and Wes is now knocking on the door of the nation’s billionaires club. He adopts his business philosophy from sport: work hard, build a great team and play to win. He talks about why Dubbo is the most connected place in Australia and why every team needs a “mozzie”.

How I Made Itwebsite here.

For more stories about success, subscribe to The Australian Financial Review here.

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Graham Turner, 72, grew up on an apple farm in Queensland and attended a one-teacher primary school where he had to make up numbers on the netball team. He’s a trained vet who went from driving double decker tour buses around Europe to starting Flight Centre with a couple of mates.

It’s now one of the world’s biggest travel agencies with operations in 24 countries. Flight Centre put Turner on the Rich List for 20 years until the pandemic knocked the share price from $61 to $9. Turner says it’ll take the company 3 to 5 years to recover and while he has no plans to retire, he is looking forward to an overseas holiday. 

How I Made Itwebsite here.

Background reading: ‘Cash is everything’: Skroo’s 8 lessons for life; How Graham Turner built Flight Centre and survived COVID-19

For more stories about success, subscribe to The Australian Financial Review here.

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The Australian Financial Review started tracking Australia’s 200 richest people in 1983. Back then, they were worth a combined $4.7 billion. Fast forward to this year and the total value of Australia’s 200 richest people sits at $479.6 billion.

In this bonus episode of How I Made It, host Julie-anne Sprague is joined by Rich List co-editor Michael Bailey and Chanticleer columnist James Thomson to dissect how they find candidates for the list, how the nature of wealth has changed over the last 38 years, and what investors can learn from the way fortunes are being made today.

How I Made Itwebsite here.

Background reading: Meet this year’s 26 new Young Rich Listers

For more stories about success, subscribe to The Australian Financial Review here.

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Tony Walls, 57, is a Wollongong boy who went straight to work from Port Kembla High School, attended university at night and spent all his spare time programming computers. 

He started his own business right before the early ‘90’s recession from a bedroom in his parent’s house. Objective Corp now employs over 400 people and Tony is one of Australia’s newest tech billionaires.

Walls, a reluctant member of the Rich List, says leaders have to be careful not to believe their “own BS too much”; talks about why he races a McLaren 650s GT3 on weekends, and hasn’t sold a single share in his company in 20 years.

How I Made Itwebsite here.

Background reading: How the nation's newest billionaire built a software giant; Rich Lister Tony Walls has nine tips for success in business and life

For more stories about success, subscribe to The Australian Financial Review here.

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Jane Lu, 35, started fashion retailer Showpo in 2010 after scoring her dream job at a big consulting firm and realising she would "never be a good accountant". Showpo now sells 6000 styles, employs over 100 people and Jane - who has been on the Financial Review's Young Rich list since 2017 - is worth around $50 million.

Lu talks about starting school in Australia without speaking any English; how failing in business can be the "best education"; and why you can achieve a lot more in life if you believe you're just "not that special".

How I Made Itwebsite here.

Background reading: Quitting EY made this ex-accountant a $50m fortune; Jane Lu's 7 tips for success.

For more stories about success, subscribe to The Australian Financial Review here.

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Jack Cowin, 79, is the fast food billionaire who brought KFC and Hungry Jacks to Australia and then turned $400,000 into more than $2.6 billion by investing in a pizza business called Domino's. But he also had a failed career as a professional athlete, studied psychology and sold trees door-to-door while at university.

He talks about how his first KFC store almost never happened because of a football rivalry, his battle with Burger King, and why, as Australia’s self-confessed biggest burger eater, he’s now investing millions of dollars in plant-based meat.

How I Made Itwebsite here.

Background reading: How Jack beat Burger King and his 13 rules for life.

For more stories about success, subscribe to The Australian Financial Review here.

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Stories of building wealth from the ground up and business advice from members of the Australian Financial Review Rich List.

How I Made It premieres October 10th 2021.

Subscribe to the Australian Financial Review here.

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