One of Australia’s most successful tradies has a message for any budding entrepreneurs struggling under the weight of their rapidly expanding business – you can do it.

 

Having grown Usher Group from a one-man operation into a painting, rendering and signage company that employs more than 500 people, Theodore Vairaktaris has shared an intimate insight into his early mistakes, biggest lessons and ultimate success.

 

The 42-year-old has also revealed how he survived an almost crippling five-year period he calls ‘The Nightmare Zone’.

 

“I spent a few years growing the business but then found myself in a position where I was getting overworked, burning the candle at both ends and I just couldn’t see the light,” said Mr Vairaktaris, a finalist in the 2018 Australian EY Entrepreneur of the Year Awards.

 

“That was ‘The Nightmare Zone’, that period when you’re taking the step from being a contractor with up to 20 staff to becoming a large company but you’re carrying the entire weight yourself.

 

“I was doing everything myself - checking every contract and payment schedule, doing the invoices, dealing with all the clients, trying to build new revenue streams – and I just felt like I was getting nowhere.

 

“That was, without a doubt, one of the hardest stages of my career.”

 

So what changed?

 

“If you have a lack of structure, you’re never going to break out of ‘The Nightmare Zone’,” Mr Vairaktaris said.

 

“I needed to address a few key issues to help me emerge out of that small business mentality. This included developing business systems and processes and the manuals that guided them. I also reached out to someone I respected and asked him to become my mentor.

 

“However, one of the most crucial things I did was accept I could no longer do it all on my own. There is help out there. To this day, I sometimes find myself wavering and need to remind myself why I’ve got to where I am today.”

 

Mr Vairaktaris said he looked for three key attributes when it came to identifying the key staff he needed to help take his business to the next level.

 

“Talent is everywhere but I looked for passion, loyalty and hard work,” he said.

 

“When I first moved into larger premises to accommodate my new team, I had a message printed on the wall of the Operations Department that read ‘Passion + Action = Results’. If you instil that in your staff and build your systems around them having a passion for doing quality work, you’ll do well.

“It took me five years to employ the right people in the right jobs and it’s now reached a point where I no longer have a specific role and can focus on the bigger picture.”

 

Mr Vairaktaris said he was passionate about young tradespeople realising they had the potential to follow their business ownership dreams.

 

“If I could give them anything, it would be the confidence to have a crack,” he said.

 

“If you’re even thinking about it, it means you have the passion. I’m a big believer that fear can be the thief of success and that’s why I try to eliminate it from all aspects of my life, particularly business.”

 

Leaving words of wisdom for those who are still on their entrepreneurial journey.

 

“One of the most important lessons I’ve learned and pass on to both the people in our organisation and budding entrepreneurs is ‘don’t expect to be successful without learning lessons’.” He said.

 

“Failure is part of the journey towards success, it shapes you and betters you. Everyone fails at one time, don’t think of it as a negative, think of it all as an experience, you just need to make sure you learned what you were supposed to from the experience. Like it or not these experiences move you one step closer to your own successful vision.

 

“We all have goals, dreams and ambitions but I’ve always just focused on worrying about the next episode - where I wanted to be next, what division I wanted to grow next, what revenue stream I wanted to target next. I just immerse myself in the next challenge.

 

“We dream big at Usher Group but the way we ultimately make those dreams come true is by focusing on the task at hand and nailing it.”

 

Based on the Gold Coast, Usher Group specialises in all major painting, rendering, signage and decorating services for private, public and commercial projects in Australia and New Zealand.

 

For more, visit www.ushergroup.com