‘Overnight’ success requires long-term planning, insist four of australia’s top SME leaders

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NAOMI SIMSON,
OWNER, RED BALLOON DAYS

Naomi Simson, owner of online gift retailer Red Balloon Days and Sydney EO president, took up serious networking in 2004, after launching her home business in 2001.

“I didn’t actually ever consider myself to be an entrepreneur. I was just a business owner,” she says.

With Red Balloon Days now turning over about $20 million a year, and 100,000 experiences delivered in 2006, mixing with her entrepreneurial peers has taught her it’s okay to have fun in business, which has changed her marketing style.

“Before that, I used to have this thing of being very serious, because we sell to corporates through their reward recognition programs,” Simson says.
Some 500 entrepreneurs across Australia and New Zealand attend monthly EO Forum sessions, which run like formal board meetings with eight to 12 members. At the meetings, personal or business issues may be raised. High-profile speakers – including the likes of recruitment guru Julia Ross, Dick Smith’s right-hand man Ike Bain and US businessman Jack Daley – address whole city meetings.

The experiences provide access to high-level business networks, according to Simson.

“Sometimes you think you’re the only person in the whole world experiencing struggles with merchant gateways or the Christmas retail campaign. And who else can you talk to?

“Entrepreneurs on the whole have to be very frugal. So having access to high-calibre people is great. And the return comes to those people in the long run. When you’re bigger, doing more stuff, then you’re going to turn to those who supported you with information as you grew. You know them best.”

And what has networking has taught her?

“You can’t do everything on your own. You learn more from other people’s experiences than from any book. You can ask questions as well.”