James went from running one of Australia’s largest podiatry businesses to broke in a few weeks.
“I lost everything, my professional reputation was in tatters. But my friends and family encouraged me to try again and keep going.
“When you go through something like that you have no energy and you don’t quite know who to trust. But I knew if I walked away from the industry my reputation would remain in tatters. I promised myself that this would be the making of me.”
Instead of running away, James took responsibility for what had happened and had “one more crack” at rebuilding his business.
“I enrolled in a masters of entrepreneurship and found a trusted mentor who I’m still working with now. I gave myself 18 months to build something special. We established incredible recruitment processes, great systems and strengthened the fundamentals in every part of the business,” he says.
“Being punched in the nose like that was part of my development. I still believe in people and I haven’t become cynical, but I am a bit more wary,” he says.
Now, James makes sure he has the best staff possible.
“I have some significant weaknesses, so the only way to grow is to get people in who complement the strengths and the weaknesses.
“We’ve done a battery of psychological and communication-style tests so we can identify at our core what we are and aren’t good at. You need to get people who are the very best at those roles.
“You need to identify what your personal make-up is and you need to appreciate what other people are good at and what their make-up is,” he says.
When it comes to finding the right staff, James looks for people who do the right thing, try their best and always have a smile.
“We really only want to employ team members who are motivated by our vision, so we look for people with these qualities,” he says.
“They’re people with golden hearts. We’ll start out with a group interview and at that stage it’s about cultural fit, not competency.
To help motivate the staff, they celebrate birthdays, do community-building activities like writing to their veteran clients on ANZAC day and James has recently implemented a superstars and legends program.
“We set up the program to recognise and reward behaviour in line with our core values. It’s a monthly award and the managers make a nomination based on the value the employee has shown in their work,” he says.
“For example one person went in and played bingo with the residents at an aged care facility over the weekend.”
Aged Foot Care has won a number of awards to date including the Smart50 and BRW’s Fast 100, but he says what he’s most proud of is his team.
“What I’m most proud of is just being part of a lovely team of people who are making a difference every day to people’s lives. They’re a bunch of high performers who are good fun as well.”
Outside of the business, James loves fitness and car racing.
“I’m quite into my fitness, I train six days a week. I also love car racing and it’s one of the few activities where I’m not thinking about anything else other than the guy in front or behind me – there are usually more in front than behind,” he says.
“Another one of my biggest passions is Richmond Football Club.”
Looking forward, James believes setting goals for anything beyond three years is wishy-washy.
“We’re growing at 40% a year, so anything beyond three years is hard to say. Our overall goal is to move closer to our vision [improving the quality and experience for people in aged care],” he says.
“On a personal level, I want to be a better leader and business owner. We’re on a journey and there is a long way to go yet.”
James says the most important thing a person can do as an entrepreneur is to set aside time away from the business to reflect.
“It’s an intellectual sort of activity and every Sunday night at 6pm I answer a series of questions about the business. I have a dedicated thinking chair and a thinking pen, I go into the zone.
“The questions are designed to help me see invisible things like threats, weaknesses or even opportunities, and if I spot anything I’ll build it into my next 90-day plan. What you can’t see kills you. So making that a priority when my brain is fully recharged is really important.”
