As well as founding Job Capital, Burston has created four other companies and she says this entrepreneurial spirit stems from her problem-solving ability.
“The beauty of an entrepreneur is that we’re visionary and we can predict where problems will occur in markets. A true entrepreneurial skill is to fix those problems commercially.
“I can strategise and design solutions to fix those problems. We’ve just launched a new company called big-data.net.au, and I’ve taken the traditional recruitment process and transformed it to a cloud-based platform,” she says.
Other businesses Burston has founded or co-founded include Cleaning Maid Easy, ClaimYourTax.com.au, MyOzJob.com.au and SignEzy.com.
Through experience, Burston says she’s learnt to control her ideas process “or else it gets out of hand”.
“I talk to people and think ‘OMG, I know how to solve that’. I used to run away with a lot of ideas, but now I’m a lot more controlled and centred.
“I’ve learnt too to start with the end in mind. If I’m just fixing a problem, I have to think about if it is really scalable, can I take it global, who would be the ideal customers, what the end game of the company is and if it would be an initial public offering or a trade sale.”
With this in mind, Burston says her ultimate goals are established from the beginning.
“If you have an idea which doesn’t strike a purpose, then it’s still an idea. I can’t do things unless I know I’m making a difference,” she says.
Burston says increasingly workplaces need to become “truly global” and she aims to facilitate this through Job Capital and her new business big-data.net.au.
“The intelligence of companies is being lost by people walking out the door, but there is no reason the CFO and employees shouldn’t be able to run the company from anywhere.
“One of the largest barriers to companies in Australia is the cost of staff, but when you can outsource and chunk processes to a global workforce, all of a sudden the success of a company is that bit more likely,” she says.
When it comes to Burston’s own hiring practices, she looks to hire from Australia first, but employees need to be able to grow with the business.
“With a fast growth company, the challenge is to have the right people, in the right place, at the right time. There are people who can adapt really well to the environment, and people who it isn’t right for.
“It’s really hard. In any business the hiring and firing part of the organisation is one of the most strenuous. I was really lucky to be approached by a number of people who wanted to work in the company, including the ex-CFO of recruitment company Randstad and he’s now my CFO,” she says.
Aside from people who are motivated to work in a fast-growth environment, Burston favours hiring people who already know each other.
Ultimately, Burston says it’s her role as an entrepreneur to create the vision and the people around her – the executives and managers – become the soldiers to deliver the vision.
Burston epitomises the saying, “if you need something done, give it to a busy person”.
The day before SmartCompany spoke to Burston, she was at breakfast with Richard Branson in Adelaide as part of an Entrepreneurs Organisation event, and the next night she was hosting a dinner event.
Being an entrepreneur, Burston says, gives her the flexibility to make her own schedule, while “still working very closely on the critical parts of the business”.
Her busy schedule, she says, “can be hard for family and friends to understand”.
“I’ve distanced myself, but I make sure the time I do spend with my family is quality time.
“My partner is an entrepreneur and we have bipolar type skill sets; we’re at opposite ends of the spectrum, but very complementary. So at dinners we talk about business and what we want to do to change the world,” she says.
Burston believes the term “work-life balance” is overrated.
“I don’t think it fits in this day and age. I love what I do and why do I have to do something else on the weekend if I love my work.
“I know how to prioritise what’s important and how to give time to the people which are important, but the rest of it I really enjoy doing,” she says.
In the future, Burston hopes to have all her businesses “off the ground and have executives in place to run them”.
“I’d like to spend a certain amount of time on each business and build it to a point where someone else can run it or get it to the end game of that business,” she says.
Burston says throughout her business career so far she’s had “many helping hands” and she’ll always remember the people who helped her get to where she is.
“One of my great mantras in life is to give without remembering and to receive without forgetting.”
To aspiring entrepreneurs, Burston advises learning the nuts and bolts of the business by being able to read balance sheets and cashflow charts, joining an organisation which provides peer-to-peer support, and making friends and loved ones aware of the journey you’re on.
