If you drive past road works, complete with the ‘stop go’ sign holding workers, you may well think that they are council employees.
But this kind of work is, in fact, contracted out to businesses such as Macro Traffic Control, which keeps the traffic moving around major works by providing labour hire as well as equipment hire of vehicles and temporary signs.
Anthony Moncada was working as an accountant before he decided in 2010 to “make some of my own money rather than counting my clients’.”
Realising there was a growing need for safe management of road works, Moncada spent $80,000 to establish the business, hitting $1 million in revenue in his second year.
Having carved out a lucrative niche for itself in Queensland, the business still presents numerous challenges to Moncada, not least through the time demands of dealing with hired labour and staff rather than simple numbers.
“This eats into the time that should be spent doing the other things that need to be done to keep the business on track and growing,” he says.
That said, Moncada says being his own boss provides him with a “greater sense of direction and control”.
“I know that the things that I can control are being managed. I am responsible for the success of my business and I am responsible for overcoming challenges.”
