Keep learning, keep adapting
FIRST JOB — AND WHERE ARE YOU NOW? My first professional job was with the former Albert Shire as an environmental officer. I loved it as there were so many challenges internally and externally. It was a time when environmental planning issues were starting to be given greater weight by government and the community. I worked with so many great people. There are only a few remaining now but it is so good running into them. I left council 17 years ago after realising there was a real lack of experts who were able to deal with the changes happening in the planning and environmental areas. I started Planit Consulting, which has grown to more than 40 staff, and now offers landscape and engineering services. We work across Australia for companies and state and local governments. It is great to go to a meeting as the expert planner or environmental consultant in Melbourne or Sydney as there are so many negative preconceptions still out there about the Gold Coast. This is changing as the city is increasingly being recognised as an important centre.
BEST BUSINESS ADVICE YOU’VE RECEIVED? Believe in yourself and work hard. My family is from a small business background so thankfully some of this determination to succeed has rubbed off on me.
WHAT YOU WISH YOU KNEW WHEN YOU FIRST STARTED OUT? I’m from the Gold Coast and there are plenty of sketchy people out there. I would have avoided some of these people had I known what I know now. However, I have learned from these experiences and it has made the business stronger.
YOUR GOLDEN RULE IN BUSINESS? Back yourself — it is a competitive industry — and continually learn and adapt.
A LONG LUNCH — A WASTE OF TIME OR ESSENTIAL? EXPLAIN I view them as necessary as a business needs to engage with new or existing clients at different levels and in varied settings. Long lunches help foster understanding and build trust.
WHO IS ON YOUR BUSINESS MOBILE’S SPEED DIAL? A lot of people, but the most frequently used numbers, are my wife and our five children. I’m an unofficial, unpaid Uber driver for the kids.
Planit Consulting director Boyd Sargeant,
IF YOU HAD A $1 MILLION SPARE, WHAT INDUSTRY WOULD YOU BE INVESTING IN NOW? Real estate still offers good opportunities now, and if you target the right location and type of development, it will pay off, so that is where I would put my money.
WHAT SHOULD GOLD COAST PRIMARY STUDENTS BE STUDYING? The most important aspect is for students to study what they enjoy. If you don’t enjoy it, you won’t do a good job.
YOUR BIGGEST FRUSTRATION DOING BUSINESS ON THE GOLD COAST? AND HOW TO FIX IT? I have two. The first is daylight savings. Unfortunately no one wants to look at this cost and impediment to business. My second is dealing with professionals who refuse to engage and don’t look for solutions. This can lead to poor outcomes being delivered. Experience goes a long way to addressing this one. SMALL fish are sweet, as property investor Peter Batley has found in Southport.
Ten months ago he rolled up at an auction of State Government-owned land used as a carpark and bought it for $1.71 million.
He did some math on putting an 11-level office building on the site, which is in the Priority Development Area.
He decided that exercise was too costly, put the land on the market, and has sold it for $2 million.
Peter, who hails from Canberra where he ran a kitchenmaking business, is in the process of auctioning a property overlooking the beach in Surfers Paradise.
It’s a house on The Esplanade, near Cavill Mall, and Peter is the only person with an occupied home on the strip dominated by apartments`.
He’s no doubt hoping that he’ll get another sweet result when the property goes under the hammer next Saturday.
The two-storey property was formerly a four-unit block which he spent $400,000 transforming into a seven-bedroom, six-bathroom home.
Small deals, sweet deals