2020 felt a little bruising for everyone but particularly so for the business folks of the world. And before we start getting beaten by 2021, we thought to bring you some good tales from the turbulent twenty. The Work inc crew took to the warehouses for a chat with some business leaders and owners about their standout takes of the year that was.
Despite living through some of their darkest times these bruised battlers pulled off some incredible feats, and it’s down to many things but importantly, a supportive, dexterous network behind them.
Hear their stories:
“Stocard achieved a milestone of 60 million global users”
Radinck Van Vollenhoven, Managing Director AU/NZ – Stocard
Stocard is the wallet of the future – turn your phone into your wallet, add all your loyalty cards into one app, collect rewards points, buy gift cards, browse deals, and offers from your favourite retailers.
COVID proved to be a challenging year for retail in Australia, but despite the economic headwinds, we delivered over 200 targeted marketing campaigns across the 12 months for our retail partners. As a team, Stocard achieved a milestone of 60 million global users this week and over 4 million of them are in Australia, making it one of our most successful markets! I’m very proud of the results we delivered as a team last year and look forward to taking on 2021.
“To date, we’ve almost sold 10 studios… and we only started the process in September 2020”
ADALA BOTLO, founding director – zadi boutique studios
ZADI Boutique Studios is a female-specific fitness franchise business. We created a movement for extraordinary women & ‘Make Exercise Science Sexy!’
Last year we had to shut our studios for months but with laser focus, team resilience and complete confidence in the ZADI brand we powered through with our world class franchising systems, so much so, that to date we’ve almost sold 10 studios with much interest all over Australia and internationally and we only started the process in September 2020! When gyms shut, we quickly invested time and finances into shifting the quality ZADI experience online, staying true to our purpose and values, prioritising these relationships with clients and that’s a reason why we’ve kept most of our clients and our investors have seen this and stayed onboard despite gym shutdowns for two months. We channelled our brand slogan, ‘Get Sh*t Done,’ and it’s paid off! We’re not surprised at all that our brand and product speak for itself and will be the next big thing in fitness franchising, we’re already seeing it happen.
“We helped the Dry July Foundation raise over $10M in 2020”
BRETT MACDONALD, Managing director – ezy raise
The Ezy Raise fundraising platform helps non-profits scale their online fundraising events. Our platform is the tech solution behind the success of the Dry July campaign.
Our platform is the tech solution behind the success of the Dry July campaign – Last year the target to raise was $3M but with the smarts of our fundraising platform, we helped the Dry July Foundation raise over $10M in 2020 for the numerous cancer charities they support. With lockdowns in place, we were aware people were drinking more alcohol but socialising outside less so we figured they’d be less receptive to going ‘dry’ than under the normal circumstances, however, we saw really great participation numbers and a big lift in donations. Given the lockdown restrictions, it was apparent people wanted to get involved by doing something good for themselves whilst supporting their local cancer organisation and it came to be a really rewarding year for us. These fundraisers are making such a big difference to the lives of people affected by cancer.
“I’m proud of staying positive and being able to embrace technology so that we are now able to coach people virtually in more countries than ever”
Tony Bulmer, Founder & Coach – Bulmer Group
We specialise in enhancing presentation impact for business people at all levels, across diverse industries both in Australia and offshore. We unlock people to be more themselves when presenting.
I’m proud of staying positive and being able to embrace technology so that we are now able to coach people virtually in more countries than ever. (At 58 I have suddenly become contemporary!)
We’ve always worked with medium to large companies here in Australia, including Volvo, NAB, Toyota, etc. But technology has changed the game. Part of staying upbeat was the encouragement shown by clients to experiment without fear with the new technology and it’s been a success. Last year we won a project with Citi in India and we are working with a pharmaceutical all throughout Asia. Bulmer Group is also launching a separate division offering ‘public’ programs in both Australia and Asia and come July we’ll be in the UK.
And a side note, the energy and enthusiasm of the Work inc team and fellow members have played a pivotal role in me staying upbeat. In fact, being here led me to meet someone who now works for me! A huge thanks to everyone, life is great.
“90% of our member-companies stayed with Work inc through the thick and thin of 2020 and are still here with us today. We’re incredibly proud to have achieved that – It’s no easy feat.”
Kristy Bannister, Operations Director – Work inc
A coworking space unlike any other – we are not your typical landlords nor a real estate company, we pride ourselves on good personalised service with a beautiful workspace that really does enhance the way you work.
It was all looking like an exciting year, we had just invested in renovating our café, Bay Ten Espresso, as well as expanding into neighbouring Bay 5 warehouse, with 20 new offices and a custom-built reception area, all before February 2020. Then it all got a little tricky for businesses, including ours. However, 90% of our member-companies stayed with Work inc through the thick and thin of 2020, and are still here with us today. We’re incredibly proud to have achieved that – It’s no easy feat.
We felt our community strengthen throughout this time and we put that down to our empathy and dedicated work with members, individually helping where needed. Our purpose here is to enhance the way we work and it’s obvious for us that community really does make business better. Work inc remains in business because of business so if our members didn’t make it through, then neither would we, so we had to step up. We’ve always been sounding boards for our members but during this period we were also the hearts that felt, ears that listened, and hands that held on. Our team consists of entrepreneurs and founders who have experienced that kind of struggle and success, and we understand that things go awry so it was always important to us to hear people out and see how we could help.
Going through something like this with our members was tough on all sides but we pulled through and I’m not only proud of our team for stepping up to the challenge far beyond the expectation but also our members for the inspiration they’ve given us, last year we honestly saw it all in way of business.
“Our highlight was launching a new Google event in Singapore”
Paul Hewett, Co-Owner & Commercial Director – In Marketing We Trust
We’re a digital marketing and analytics agency working with enterprise companies across the world. We provide a scalable performance marketing solution.
Our biggest achievement was turning the challenging economic conditions into a positive force for change without delay. As a company with deep roots in online travel, we made a number of bold strategic decisions and stood behind those decisions. Today we have a much stronger business as a result of the changes we made in the first days and weeks of the pandemic.
I’m being a little cheeky here and including another achievement because we had plenty of proud moments in 2020. Our highlight was launching a new Google event in Singapore. We had to quickly pivot this to an online community and event which has been successful for the business during 2020. However, the reason this was a great moment for us is because it was the last time our small but global team worked together in person.
