It’s not where you start but where you finish
(Lesson for Business & Life)
Copyright © David Schwartz 2013
First Published in Sydney, Australia 2013
ISBN 978-0-9871354-5-2
Project Manager: Ruth Ostrow
Managing Editor: Morris Kaplan
Layout + Cover Designer: Bogdan Oprisan, Romania
Cover Photographer: John Slaytor
All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including, but not limited to, electrical or mechanical devices, including photocopying, recording, via computer, magazine or newspaper, or by any information or retrieval system, without permission of the publisher, except for reviews and critiques of no more than three hundred words.
Condition of Sale: This book is sold on the condition that it shall not in any way be resold, hired or lent out in any form whatsoever other than in the cover and binding that it is printed.
DISCLAIMER AND LEGAL NOTICES
While every attempt has been made to verify information contained in this book, neither the author nor participants in the content of the book or the publisher assumes any responsibility for errors, omissions or inaccuracies. Any slights on people or organisations are unintentional.
The content given here is general educational and not advice. An individual is urged to seek independent advice before making any financial decisions based on information in this book. The services of a properly qualified professional should be sought by the reader for any legal, financial or tax advice.
The author and his manager, editor, publisher and the publisher’s contractors, disclaims responsibility for any liability, loss or risk – personal or otherwise – which has occurred as the direct result of the publication of this book. Neither the author, nor his contractors, nor the publisher shall be liable for damages arising herein.
Publisher, RainmakerMedia.com.au
INTRODUCTION
Foreword
Preface
PART 1: STARTING OFF
1. It’s all in the mind
2. The psychology of success
3. Hanging up your shingle
4. Taking risks, not chances
5. Choosing your partners wisely
PART 2: GROWING YOUR BUSINESS
6. Panic in advance
7. Selling yourself
8. Becoming the encourager
9. Blood is thicker than water
10. Lessons from buying property
PART 3: LIFE WISDOMS
11. Balancing it all
12. End words
13. David’s Top 100
I am eternally grateful to my wife Melanie and our children Marc, Gabi and Shira. I thank my parents Percy and Reva Schwartz for their support and uncompromising belief in me. I am indebted to all my partners, family and friends for their friendship and wisdom. I feel grateful to have lived such a blessed and privileged life.
LAUNCHING his first business, an exotic fish breeding business (financed by his Bar Mitzvah money), at the age of 13, David Schwartz is no stranger to hanging up his shingle and going for it.
In this book David shares with us the secrets of his success, providing us with pearls of wisdom that few could emulate. Given such an entrepreneurial childhood, it is no surprise to those of us who know him that he is one of the founders of Primewest, a $2 billion property syndication company, as well as being behind a swathe of other diversified interests including chemical manufacturing, optical manufacturing, retail and consumer product distribution.
In my work both as a contributing journalist for The Australian newspaper where I have written profiles of entrepreneurs, and as author of bestselling books including Beating the Banks and now running business publishing house, RainmakerMedia, I have seldom come across a person as formidable as David Schwartz.
David Schwartz came to Australia in 1990 as a youthful 36 year old with his wife, Melanie, and young family. Leaving behind his family business and networks is one thing, but re-establishing himself so successfully here is impressive. Not just because he has been successful. It’s the breadth of his work and interests, and his approach to business and life that is nothing short of amazing.
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David Schwartz’s businesses interests now span property development, syndicated property management, chemicals manufacturing and product distribution as well as interests in financial services.
Born in 1953 in Pretoria, South Africa, David came from a furniture retailing background. His father Percy and his grandfather Morris Schwartz were furniture store owners. Joining the family business as a 17-year-old and then spending some 20 years ‘cutting his teeth’ in retail gave him broad experience which also included property development.
Since arriving in Australia, he has either founded or jointly founded a host of businesses in fields ranging from retail to product development and manufacturing. Within a very short period he and two partners established the South African Nandos franchise in Australia which was successfully expanded to 12 stores and then sold out for a healthy profit. Shortly after, he co-founded a property syndication and management company, Primewest.
An astute builder of businesses through acquisitions, mergers as well as start ups, his first acquisition in Australia was a tiny twoman business ‘filling bottles with methylated spirits’ together with his brother, Ian. This enterprise, Pascoe’s, is now a major supplier to the retail sector, distributing more than 1,000 different products to all supermarkets and hardware stores around Australia.
The multi-talented father-of-three, grandfather of one, and husband for an impressive 33 years, has lived in Australia for more than two decades. He was drawn here by a desire to give his family a future in a country free of apartheid.
Rather than the ‘one big break’, David Schwartz’s business career is a case study in cautious yet relentless growth based on prudent investments with a strong focus on building long-term partnerships.
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The traits of the entrepreneur and successful business builder are not mysterious – intelligence, hard work and persistence. They certainly apply to David. He is a master strategist of the highest order, putting together extraordinary teams of people and guiding businesses to great success.
But he has also demonstrated an enviable ability to form successful partnerships – more than 25 to date, and still counting. Another characteristic of a great business leader is the uncanny ability to see around corners, a characteristic which has helped make business leaders such as Frank Lowy, Harry Triguboff, the late Kerry Packer and others so successful. David refers to this quality in one of his lessons – ‘Panic in advance’. It has served him well.
Many of David’s sayings and lessons resonate. One that resonates for me and will for many readers is the book’s title, It’s not where you start but where you finish. In these 11 words he captures the essence of his entrepreneurial mindset: that the act of declaring you are now in business to the world, is a basis of building a successful business. How?
Because setting your visions and goals is everything. In David’s view, being in business means you say “Yes” to opportunity. This willingness to be in the frame is characteristic of David’s approach to his business ventures.
At first I treated David’s claim to me that he has never had a fight with a partner with some skepticism. Anyone who has been in business partnerships knows that they are fraught, full of tension, unmet expectations, resentment and disappointment. But, I soon discovered that it is indeed true that you can have a fight-free zone in a partnership. David declares that the only time he had a fight with his partners was when he and his partners disagreed over their first year’s profit from Primewest. It was the grand sum of $14,000 and the partners didn’t at first agree on how to divide this relatively small profit. They got over that and have never fought since. He says he learned, “When you keep yourself calm and focus on moving forward, you can resolve most issues.” He also believes that the main ingredient of successful partnerships is to make sure you give more than you take.
With multiple partnerships under his belt (many of which are still current) and none with the dramas and energy wasting that beset most partnerships in business and indeed marriage, David can quite literally run the Master Class in what it takes to form and maintain a successful partnership. It does seem too that this translates to a wonderful life partnership with his wife, Melanie.
He has been in partnership with his father, his uncle and with his brother, for over 40 years now. That’s something to crow about. Yet, when reviewing the book with David, and reflecting on this, he said “I can’t really tell you why I have had so many successful partnerships. There is no single answer, each is unique.” I said. “Yes, but there is one common denominator You!”
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I have interviewed more than 200 entrepreneurs, business owners and business leaders. Most required no encouragement to speak of their achievements. With David, on the other hand, it was more a case of teasing out his stories, such is his humility. Most of my journalistic case studies have been cast as ‘success’ stories, yet few compete with David’s success when it comes to a breadth and depth of his enterprises. Whereas many entrepreneurs, especially those in the early years of their emerging business, can be felled by problems and challenges, David doesn’t yield to adversity. He says: If you can fix it with money it is not a problem.
This is yet another sampling of his wisdom. His sayings form the tapestry of his success, and reveal the secrets that made him a great role model.
Over the past six months I have enjoyed being in the trust of David through this project and I can only say that he is one of the most astute of leaders, modest and charming. In the following pages are his pearls of wisdom, sprinkled with explanations and stories.
I often felt like a dentist tugging away at a stubborn tooth, but I did discover David had a profound willingness to share his messages and strong commitment in order to see other people, especially young people, succeed. I also noted his passion for philanthropy of the quiet, unassuming variety.
He says his interest in seeing others succeed is something which is very important to him as a business leader, because those starting off in their careers are seeking strong leadership. He may be reticent to talk about his successes but he recognises these can be an inspiration and education for the next generation of entrepreneurs, from all walks of life.
There are many books written by successful people and there are clever books by clever academics, but David’s lessons and the candid and revealing stories behind them are a must-read, bringing to life his tried-and-true business formulae. It is a powerful guide to living a fulfilling and successful life.
Morris Kaplan,
Publisher, Contributor to The Australian
I SPENT 43 years doing what I love. And I am conscious of the fact that I am indeed incredibly fortunate to have been in such a privileged position. I have been fortunate also to have worked with many wonderful people – family, partners, as well as friends in business and customers, clients and advisors. All these people and my wonderful family are what makes my working career such a joy.
So why have I written this book?
Over the years I have spoken to, guided and helped many people. These people would come to me after and thank me for the guidance I’d given them, very often not realising the impact it would have on their lives. I would often think that I should remember to teach the same lesson to my children when they are old enough and mature enough to appreciate the value of my experience. Over the years I have done that, writing those lessons down and collating them into this book.
Some might say it’s an indulgence to write a book such as this. I have been humbled in my life by people who have helped me on my journey. I have learned from great masters in life and in business, and they include my father Percy, my mother Reva, my Uncle Jack, my grandparents Morris Schwartz, Harry and Joey Jacobson, and my business partners of whom there are many. In addition to the lessons I’ve learned from them, my own preparedness to observe, adopt their ideas and to back myself and my judgment in building businesses, has brought me to where I am today.
The lessons here are not intended to be prescriptive or any kind of step-by step manual in launching or starting a business or career. Rather, because I know there are so many ingredients and choices that present themselves which can derail the best of businesses, I thought, why not try and distil all that I know into a book written in a way which takes the reader on a kind of journey?
Don’t read this book if you want the secret to success. There is no secret. No shortcuts.
People who succeed in life and business do so because they work at it and have the right attitude and mindset. Intentionally, I talk about mindset at the beginning. This forms the essence of Part One of the book. Success is an inside job, but it isn’t as simple as: “Positive thinking will overcome all hurdles.” It’s about doing some work even before you write your business case. You need to discover your passion. What would make you jump out of bed at 5.00am every morning to work on your idea or business? You need to discover your skills and, most importantly, accept that you don’t know it all and can’t do it all and therefore look hard at who you need to seek help from in pursuit of your vision.
I do believe that we all have some entrepreneurial spirit in us and we sometimes need the encouragement, help and guidance to start. That’s why hanging up your shingle, proclaiming to the world that you are “Open for business” is the most important thing you can do as an entrepreneur. It isn’t important what that shingle says at the beginning. This is one of my core beliefs and the title of this book. It’s not where you start, but where you finish.
In Part Two of the book you’ll read my views and experiences on growing and building businesses. I have turned businesses, that have had next-to-no capital, into multi-million dollar enterprises. How I have done this is exemplified in some of the pages here.
Finally, in Life Wisdoms, I give you what is most dear to my heart. Hard-won wisdoms on how we can find balance between work and family and also live with integrity, compassion, charity and openness.
In order to make the lessons clear and simple, I sprinkle them throughout each section and they are italicised. I also distil them into a summary at the end of each chapter and the book.
The goal of this book is to share what I have learned on my journey in business. I hope you enjoy this journey as much as I have.
David Schwartz
Perth, Australia.
There is always a beginning to every journey. In this part David introduces his book with lessons on the importance of mindset and attitude.
These are lessons that he learned from his early days of starting a business when he set off to “find my own path” and separate from the family business. Within just a few years he had made enough money out of property investing to venture into some larger development projects.
He would go on to do multi-million-dollar deals soon after. A truly remarkable achievement.
I STARTED my first business with my good friend Yehudi. We had both been given tropical fish tanks for our 13th birthday.
I noticed I had baby fish in the tank one day and quickly read up on what to do with them. The advice was to separate them from the adults because they would otherwise be eaten. Yehudi and I then figured out if we could buy a second tank and grow the fish to a size where we could sell them we could pay for the tank just with the babies I already had. Some two years later Yehudi and I had 30 tanks and became a supplier to one of the biggest tropical fish stores. That was in the late 1960s.
By age 15 we sold out of the business. A successful exit!
As an adult aged 20 I started my own venture. This was in the early 1970s and I used capital of my own. By the late 1980s I was doing multi-million dollar property deals and already had a number of business partnerships in play. But I realised that even before you hang up that first shingle and launch yourself into business, you have to conquer your mind and harness your thinking. As Eastern philosophy teaches: “The most important thing is how we think. It is all in the mind.”
I always try and look at what is the positive side of an issue.
It’s a simple story, but the other day a man came up to me and said, “Opportunities never come my way.” He looked forlorn, beaten by years of struggle. And he wasn’t the only one. Many people have said similar words to me in recent years.
The truth is, people often have negative thoughts about things. Instead of seeing the positive they believe the negative and so don’t attract good people and ideas to themselves.
Since I was very young, I have never had this problem because my mind is focused on looking for opportunities. I am a positive thinker. I believe I can do it. I am constantly on the lookout for great ideas whether it is by watching TV, reading a magazine or shopping in the supermarket.
Strange how opportunities present themselves, but only if you have the mindset. Very recently I had a call from my daughter Gabi. She had need for a special tinted optical lens. They were hard to come by. The lens she was using became unavailable as the manufacturer had closed the operation. The supplier of the lens was CIBA who was manufacturing out of Puerto Rico. Surely there was an opportunity to fill a gap in the market for the type of contact lens my daughter was seeking? Could I buy the lens maker? Clearly there was an opportunity to get a licence to manufacture the lenses or to use our own technology and start making the lenses, taking advantage of the new-found opportunity.
Now we proudly make these tinted lenses and sell them on the world market. We now not only sell the lenses but we have also entered into a joint venture with a former head of R&D at a large global corporation. When I heard that this person had left the company, I asked my partner in the lens business to find out how we could get them interested in joining our small growing business. Yes, we now have another partnership setup to develop new technologies in lens manufacturing.
People ask me, “Why does it happen to you?”