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WHAT’S NEXT: GOING GLOBAL

As I’ve alluded to a few times in this book, you never know what conversation will be the next life-changing one — in your career, in your business, in your life.

In early 2017, I made contact with Andrew Banks from Shark Tank. We spoke a fair bit and I also formed a great connection with his PA, who was an incredible support base. Coincidentally, both Andrew Banks and Richard Branson mentioned a man to me who had led Virgin’s global operations and was coming back to Australia. We connected and he was quite interested in what OTG had to offer.

While he was finding his feet back on home soil, he mentioned he was getting involved in a business that could be a big ‘white label’ opportunity for us, specifically because of our technology. (‘White labelling’ is essentially using your software, or your business’s product or service, for another brand. For example, most of the auto industry brands are made in the top four car companies’ factories. For us it was a great opportunity to reach a bigger audience, and a bigger sales team, and create our products and software for other companies — so they give us the volume and we can focus on what we do best!) That business turned out to be Wesfarmers Ltd, one of Australia’s top 10 companies, with tens of billions in market capitalisation. It’s the parent company of retailers such as Officeworks, Kmart, Target, Coles and Bunnings. One of its businesses is Workwear Group, Australia’s largest and leading uniform company ...