Key takeaways

If you were successful in your previous corporate career, then bring some of the things you learned with you to your own business.

Consider bringing in experts to help with your business even if you can’t employ them all the time.

Former senior corporate executive Tim Deane raised a few eyebrows among the business community when he bought the heritage sock business, Norsewear, over a year ago but he explains his reasoning.

“I always wanted to run my own business and I’d spent a lot of time exporting New Zealand commodities to places where the brand value was captured off shore. As New Zealanders we’re very good at selling great commodities and others making money from them,” he says.

Norsewear was started over 60 years ago by a Norwegian, Ola Rian, a Norwegian army captain turned diplomat who married a Kiwi and who launched the brand in the Hawkes Bay town of Norsewood.

Today, the Norsewear brand ranges from workwear socks, beloved of farmers, as well as dress and active socks, baby socks, slipper socks and apparel selling in stores and on the company website.

The hard work begins once you buy the business

When Tim bought the company the heritage business needed significant investment.

“We did detailed due diligence but you never find out everything and you also underestimate what you don’t know,” says Tim.

Norsewear owner Tim Deane entrance (1).jpg

One of the first things he did was buy the brand name back which was sold in 2007 so the business was paying a royalty to use it.

The new owner also reviewed his key skilled people in the company and realised he had a succession problem coming up with his sock engineers with his two senior engineers in their sixties. He brought in two younger engineers, one partly trained and they work closely with their senior colleagues. He also brought in an honours textile design graduate to work on product development.

What a corporate background teaches a new business owner

Tim says his approach to problem solving is different from your typical small business owner thanks to his career in the corporate world.

He is open to taking advice and bringing in experts when the situation calls for it.

“There’s a bit of a psyche in New Zealand small business driven by our No.8 wire mentality, that thinks doing it all ourselves will deliver a better result. I don’t believe that,” says Tim.

He went to experts to build an excellent website and has no regrets.

“I’m not saying hire people to do everything but figure out when you need to get good people to help you and use them when you need them,” says Tim.

"I work with someone who used to be a senior executive at Icebreaker to help me on the export side. I’ll use a seasoned executive like him for a specific purpose,” he says.

The businessman is surprised at how many small businesses don’t do cash flow forecasting, looking out two, three and five years ahead. He relies on an excellent accountant and a great bank manager to help with this, he says.

The former corporate executive doesn’t feel he has all the answers.

“I think I’ve found the challenge of doing this more than I’d anticipated but the opportunity is also much bigger than I’d anticipated,” he says.

For the full article in Stuff go here.

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