Remarkable Regional Business

Jacqui Naunton, White Deer Graphic Design (Part Two)

Remarkable Regional Business – Episode 47 (Part Two) 
Guest: Jacqui Naunton
Business Name: White Deer Graphic Design
Website: https://whitedeer.com.au/
 
She runs calls at 10am, 1:30pm and 8pm on the same day every fortnight. Because her clients are in Australia, Europe and America. All from her hometown in Bendigo.
In Part Two of this conversation on Remarkable Regional Business, Caleb Maxwell continues the discussion with Jacqui Naunton from White Deer. The conversation gets into the detail of how each of her three offerings actually works, what people pay, how the Co-Creation Design Club runs, and the marketing channels that have built her a global audience.
Jacqui also shares the business philosophy that has underpinned everything, from how she thinks about consistency and showing up even when she doesn't feel like it, to why she acts on ideas within weeks rather than sitting on them for months while other business owners are still ruminating.
Topics Covered
/ The full breakdown of each offering
The DIY course for newer businesses, the Co-Creation Design Club for businesses wanting ongoing support and co-creation, and the done for you studio for clients who just want it handled.
/ How the Co-Creation Design Club works
Unlimited Slack access, live calls across three time zones every fortnight, screen recordings, live design sessions and coaching all included, and why no one has ever overstepped what Jacqui thinks is fair.
/ Price points and how they are structured
How Jacqui has anchored each offering to a different stage of business and why the model works across a wide range of clients from solopreneurs to businesses with teams and VAs.
/ Marketing channels that are actually working
YouTube, Facebook ads, Instagram, email list and podcast, what each one does, which ones bring the most clients, and how she knows.
/ Building a global audience from a regional base
How Jacqui has grown audiences across multiple platforms simultaneously from Bendigo, and what she has learned about what works and what doesn't.
/ The business philosophy behind it all
Show up consistently. Act on ideas quickly. Put it out there and fix it rather than sitting on it for six months. And keep doing the monotonous things even when you don't feel like it.
Watch Part One to hear how White Deer started, why Jacqui flipped her business model six years ago, and how she sold a course she hadn't written yet from a family holiday in Tasmania.
// Links
https://whitedeer.com.au/

Jacqui Naunton, White Deer Graphic Design (Part One)

Remarkable Regional Business – Episode 47 (Part One) 
Guest: Jacqui Naunton
Business Name: White Deer Graphic Design
Website: https://whitedeer.com.au/
 
She sold a course she hadn't written yet, from a family holiday in Tasmania, to 55 people she'd never met. And that was just the beginning.
In Part One of this conversation on Remarkable Regional Business, Caleb Maxwell sits down with Jacqui Naunton, owner and founder of White Deer, a design studio based in Bendigo that is serving clients all over the world. But this is not a traditional graphic design story. Six years ago Jacqui flipped her business model entirely and started teaching business owners how to do their own design, because she could see that Canva was changing everything and most people were using it wrong.
What followed was a business that now operates across multiple income streams, reaches global audiences across YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and podcast, and allows Jacqui to work only a couple of hours a day while being mostly at home with her growing family.
Topics Covered
/ What White Deer actually is
 A graphic design business with three distinct offerings, done for you design, an online course, and a membership, and why the combination of all three is what makes it work.
/ Why Jacqui started teaching design to business owners
How a suggestion from a business coach turned into a business model, why she initially thought it was career suicide, and why she did it anyway.
/ The first course launch
How Jacqui built an email list, ran a masterclass from a family holiday in Tasmania, sold 55 spots in a course she hadn't written yet, and then created it live week by week as people went through it.
/ Passive income in quotation marks
Why Jacqui wanted a business model that didn't trade time for money, and how that desire shaped every decision she made in the six years that followed.
/ Building an online audience from scratch
Five and a half years of podcasting, two to three years of YouTube, and how consistent content creation became the engine that drives everything.
/ Understanding what clients think they need versus what they actually need
Why most business owners think they have a design problem when they actually have a brand problem, and how Jacqui positions her offerings to meet people where they are.
This is Part One of the conversation with Jacqui Naunton from White Deer. Continue to Part Two to hear the full breakdown of each offering, the marketing channels that are actually working, and the business wisdom that has kept her growing.
// Links
https://whitedeer.com.au/

Michael Robertson & Marc Smith, JL King & Co (Part Two)

Remarkable Regional Business – Episode 46 (Part Two) 
Guest: Michael Robertson & Marc Smith
Business Name: JL King & Co
Website: https://www.jlking.com.au/
 
By the time they moved back to Bendigo they had already outgrown the new facility. And they hadn't even moved in yet.
In Part Two of this conversation on Remarkable Regional Business, Caleb Maxwell continues the discussion with Michael Robertson and Marc Smith from JL King and Co. The conversation moves into greater detail of how to build and run a food manufacturing business at a serious scale.
Michael talks through the chaos of operating across six different sheds around Bendigo before the new facility was built, how the Simply Tasty brand came together, and the process behind developing and launching new products. Including a crazy lasagna soup that came from a Chicago supermarket visit but flopped in Australia.
Marc brings his perspective as the recently appointed CFO on what the business needs to get to the next level, from systems and data to taking some of the load off a managing director still emailing late into the night.
Topics Covered
/ The Simply Tasty brand
How the name was chosen by a vote of ten people and what the product range looks like today across salads, baked dishes, pasta, Asian style meals and pub meals.
/ Contract manufacturing at scale
How JL King and Co produces 24 products for IGA's private label brand and manufactures a Woolworths salad line up the entire east coast of Australia.
/ New product development
How trends, overseas travel, buyer relationships and customer feedback drive the product pipeline, and what happens when a Chicago-inspired lasagna soup flops in 6 months.
/ Building and outgrowing the new facility
The chaos of six different sheds, the decision to build, and what the move to the new site has made possible.
/ Letting go as an owner/operator
Why Michael still holds on to more than he probably should, why the new facility made him want to hold on tighter, and what Marc’s role is helping to change that.
/ What's next for JL King and Co
Systems, data, sustainability, solar expansion, packaging improvements and the growth strategy taking shape right now.
Watch Part One to hear the full origin story of JL King and Co, how a competitor's phone call changed it all, and how customer demand turned a produce wholesaler into one of regional Victoria's most significant food manufacturers.
// Links
https://www.jlking.com.au/

Michael Robertson & Marc Smith, JL King & Co (Part One)

Remarkable Regional Business – Episode 46 (Part One) 
Guest: Michael Robertson & Marc Smith
Business Name: JL King & Co
Website: https://www.jlking.com.au/
 
He got a phone call from the man he was competing against. “Come and have a chat.” And that one conversation changed a whole lot for JL King and Co.
In this conversation on Remarkable Regional Business, Caleb Maxwell sits down with Michael Robertson, managing director and owner of JL King and Co, and Marc Smith, the recently appointed CFO. JL King and Co is a family owned food manufacturing and distribution business based in Bendigo that has been part of the region for over a century. Today it produces more than two million meals a week and distributes across the entire country from Broome to Hobart.
Michael traces the journey from an eight pallet truck running to the Melbourne market twice a week with docket books and a calculator, to one of the most significant food manufacturing operations in regional Victoria. The business grew one request at a time, from slicing cabbage to cooking potatoes to building a full manufacturing operation from the ground up.
Topics Covered
/ What JL King and Co is today
A Bendigo based food manufacturing and distribution business producing more than two million meals a week and supplying customers across every state in Australia.
/ The history of JL King
Over a century in Bendigo, from the King family through to the Quinn family, and how Michael Robertson came to take over the business as a competitor in 1997.
/ How manufacturing started
The customer led evolution from fresh produce wholesaling to coleslaw, to cooked potatoes, to a full prepared meals operation with its own chef and product range.
/ Simply Tasty and the brand story
How a vote among ten people produced the name that now appears on shelves in IGA, Woolworths and delis across Australia.
/ Community investment in Bendigo
From sporting club sponsorships to the McKean McGregor Ball raising close to a million dollars for the hospital are just some of the ways JL King and Co supports the Bendigo community.
/ Why they chose to stay in Bendigo
Despite supplying more prepared food into Queensland than Victoria and even conversations with the Queensland government about grants, Bendigo was always the place to be.
This is Part One of the conversation with Michael Robertson and Marc Smith from JL King and Co. Continue to Part Two to hear how the Simply Tasty brand came to life, what it takes to build a food manufacturing operation at scale, and where the business is headed next.
// Links
https://www.jlking.com.au/

Phil McConachy, The Mill Castlemaine (Part Two)

Remarkable Regional Business – Episode 45 (Part Two) 
Guest: Phil McConachy 
Business Name: The Mill Castlemaine 
Website: https://millcastlemaine.com.au/
 
Don't let the humility fool you. Phil McConachy is a mastermind.
In Part Two of this conversation on Remarkable Regional Business, Caleb Maxwell continues the discussion with Phil McConachy from The Mill at Castlemaine. The conversation shifts from what The Mill is to how Phil got there, what shaped his thinking, and what it actually takes to build something that becomes a genuine asset to a regional town.
Phil talks through the years of farming and raising four sons in Castlemaine, how the skills from his earth moving days turned out to be exactly what he needed when he bought The Mill, and the philosophy behind everything from how he looks after tenants to how he supports the local community.
Topics Covered
/ What the earth moving business taught him
Problem solving, communication, and paying people well enough that they give blood when you need it.
/ Moving to Castlemaine and the farming years
How a compass on a map between two sets of parents led Phil and his family to Castlemaine in 1999, and what twenty years of farming and raising four boys taught him.
/ Community investment and why Phil doesn't see it as an exchange
From footy club sponsorships to indigenous organisations to the Botanical Gardens, how Phil thinks about giving back to the town the Mill calls home.
/ The flood mitigation system nobody asked him to build
Why Phil designed a full flood protection system for one of his buildings before he would morally rent it out.
/ The future of The Mill
What is being built right now, who is moving in, and what Phil hopes the site looks like in fifty years even if he won't be around to see it.
/ Business wisdom from a man who built something remarkable without a plan
Human resources as the biggest challenge and the biggest opportunity. Communication as a craft. And why Phil always tells new tenants to dream big before they worry about what it costs.
Watch Part One to hear the full story of The Mill at Castlemaine, how it came to be, and the remarkable collection of businesses that call it home.
// Links
 https://millcastlemaine.com.au/

Phil McConachy, The Mill Castlemaine (Part One)

Remarkable Regional Business – Episode 45 (Part One) 
Guest: Phil McConachy 
Business Name: The Mill Castlemaine 
Website: https://millcastlemaine.com.au/
 
He had no grand vision. He put a sign on the fence saying places for lease and just waited to see who came.
In Part One of this conversation on Remarkable Regional Business, Caleb Maxwell sits down with Phil McConachy, the owner and developer of The Mill at Castlemaine. Seven and a half hectares, nine thousand square metres of buildings and forty five tenants ranging from a world class cafe and brewery through to clothing makers, potters, knife makers and a vintage bazaar with over 118 stall holders. All built from a former woolen mill that started in 1875 and burnt down three times.
Phil is one of the most remarkable people Caleb has sat down with on this show. Phil was a house dad and farmer for twenty years who needed to get back into the community and use his skills for good. What he built in the process is one of the greatest and most loved regional commercial precincts in Victoria.
Topics Covered
/ What The Mill at Castlemaine actually is
A town within a town. How 45 tenants across food, health, education, trade and retail came together on a heritage site over eleven years.
/ The origin story of The Mill
How a multinational decided it no longer needed the site, and how Phil ended up with it after some negotiation and a bit of luck.
/ How Phil selects tenants
No grand plan. A sign on the fence, a gut feel, and a commitment to the planning scheme.
/ The Castlemaine Vintage Bazaar
How 118 stall holders operate within a simple square meterage and commission model, and what separates the ones doing really well from the ones just there for the social side.
/ Tenant success stories
From Shed Shaker Brewing to Wonder Pants to Caboose Chocolates, businesses that have grown on the site and what they have in common.
/ Phil's background before the Mill
Fitter and machinist at Ford at sixteen. Earth moving business owner at twenty five. Farmer and house dad for twenty years.
This is Part One of the conversation with Phil McConachy from The Mill at Castlemaine. Continue to Part Two to hear how Phil's earlier business life shaped everything that came after, what he has learned about running a place like this, and where The Mill is headed next.
// Links
https://millcastlemaine.com.au/

Derv McGowan, Anther Geelong Distillery (Part Two)

Remarkable Regional Business – Episode 44 (Part Two) 
Guest: Derv McGowan 
Business Name: Anther Geelong Distillery
Website: https://anther.com.au/
 
They lost 80% of their business overnight. Their response was to give away gin every week and go door to door delivering bottles to strangers.
In Part Two of this conversation on Remarkable Regional Business, Caleb Maxwell continues the discussion with Derv McGowan from Anther Distillery in Geelong. The conversation picks up at the moment COVID hit, when Anther was about to press go on building their own distillery and the bottom fell out of the industry they'd spent four years building a business in.
What came next is a story about resilience, diversification, and finding out what you actually know that other people will pay for.
Derv also shares two of the most remarkable product collaborations you'll hear about on this show, one with the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne for their 175th anniversary, and one with the Australian Gynecological Cancer Foundation that has educated thousands of people about cancer at a gin tasting.
Topics Covered
/ Surviving COVID as a small distillery
How government support, a rebuilt website, doorstep gin deliveries and a weekly cocktail competition kept Anther alive and connected to its community.
/ Building the distillery during a pandemic
How the generosity of the Hamilton family and their network of trades made it possible when nothing else was moving.
/ Diversifying beyond gin sales
Contract distilling, recipe development, agave spirits research and safety consulting, how Anther turned its accumulated knowledge into new revenue streams.
/ The current state of the gin industry
Why the post COVID recovery never fully arrived for boutique spirits, what is happening at retail level right now, and why Anther has pulled back to protect the brand while it waits for the market to turn.
/ Leadership lessons from building a business
Knowing yourself, knowing your business partner, and why fitting the right people to the right roles took longer than it should have.
/ The collaborations
Fluorescence with the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne and the gin that has raised awareness of gynecological cancers at thousands of tastings across the country.
Watch Part One to hear how Anther started, how gin is actually made, and what the golden years of the Australian gin boom really looked like from the inside.
// Links
https://www.anther.com.au/

Derv McGowan, Anther Geelong Distillery (Part One)

Remarkable Regional Business – Episode 44 (Part One) 
Guest: Derv McGowan 
Business Name: Anther Geelong Distillery
Website: https://anther.com.au/
 
She went from a six figure salary managing brands for a big liquor company to three days a week on a very low wage. And she'd do it all again.
In Part One of this conversation on Remarkable Regional Business, Caleb Maxwell sits down with Derv McGowan, co-founder of Anther Distillery in Geelong. Anther is a small family run business started in 2016 by Derv and Sebastian Reaburn, when the gin industry in Victoria had fewer than ten distilleries. Today there are over six hundred nationally.
Derv had just finished a PhD in molecular microbiology. Sebastian had spent years working in bars and managing liquor brands. Neither of them were happy where they were. So they walked away from good careers, took a punt on a category nobody fully understood yet, and spent ten months developing their first gin from an eighteen hundreds gazette recipe because nobody was going to hand over theirs.
The conversation covers the full origin story, from the chance connection that led them to craft distilling, to winning best gin in category at the Australian Distilled Spirits Awards just two years in, to the moment Dan Murphy's came calling.
Topics Covered
/ What Anther Distillery is and where it sits in the market
A small family run gin distillery in the Federal Woolen Mills precinct in North Geelong, and what makes it different.
/ The origin story
How a PhD in molecular microbiology, a business partner steeped in the liquor industry, and a very beautiful copper still in a Collingwood bar changed everything.
/ How gin is actually made
Heads, hearts and tails, temperature control, reflux, botanicals and why bergamot nearly ended them.
/ Developing the first gin
Ten months of trial and error, an eighteen hundreds gazette recipe, and the scientific method applied to a cocktail bartender's instincts.
/ The gin boom of 2016
What it felt like to enter a market where the product sold itself and everyone wanted to be your friend.
/ Growing the brand through
Dan Murphy's How trophy wins opened doors, why being kind to staff made more difference than any marketing budget, and the spreadsheet that helped them focus their limited resources.
This is Part One of the conversation with Derv McGowan from Anther Distillery. Continue to Part Two to hear how COVID nearly ended everything, how they rebuilt smarter, and the remarkable collaborations that have defined the brand.
// Links
https://www.anther.com.au/

Valentina Coin, Via Technology (Part Two)

In Part Two of this conversation on Remarkable Regional Business, Caleb Maxwell continues the discussion with Valentina Coin from Via Technology. The conversation shifts from what Via Technology does to how Val got here, where her thinking came from, and what she has learned building a business alongside her husband from the ground up.
Val traces her journey from working in her aunt's villa in Italy at fourteen, through managing a group of hospitality venues on the Sunshine Coast, into a software startup building platforms for the disability industry, and finally into the advisory business she runs today. Along the way she shares the concept that changed how she thinks about growth, creativity and building anything worth building.
The conversation also goes deep into change management, why nobody wants to buy it, why everyone needs it, and how Val delivers it without her clients even realising it is happening.
Topics Covered
/ How Val built the knowledge and experience behind Via Technology
The journey from hospitality in Italy to software startups in Australia and what each chapter contributed.
/ Working in business with your life partner
What Val and her husband learned the hard way and why getting those lessons early was a gift.
/ The concept of liminal spaces and why boredom is a business tool
How creating emptiness and slowing down is often the fastest way to find clarity and speed up growth.
/ Change management in disguise
Why resistance to change is human nature, how to work with it rather than against it, and why co-creating solutions with the people who have to live them makes all the difference.
/ The Kubler Ross Curve applied to business
How the stages of grief can be used as a practical team tool when implementing new systems or technology.
/ Three pieces of business wisdom from Val
Slow down to speed up. Build a circle of trust. Lead with curiosity.
Watch Part One to hear how Via Technology works, the types of businesses it serves, and why most technology problems are not really technology problems at all.
// Links
https://viatechnology.com.au/

Valentina Coin, Via Technology (Part One)

Most businesses think they have a technology problem. Valentina Coin from Via Technology says the technology is usually the last thing that needs fixing.
In Part One of this conversation on Remarkable Regional Business, Caleb Maxwell sits down with Valentina Coin, founder of Via Technology on the Sunshine Coast. Via Technology works with growing businesses to build what Val calls strategic business systems, combining people, process and technology to help organisations scale without things falling apart.
The conversation starts with what Via Technology actually does and why it is so difficult to explain. Val unpacks why so many businesses mistake a technology problem for what is really a people or process problem, and why solving all three together is the only way to create lasting change.
Val walks through real client examples, from a business with three weeks to migrate its entire operation off a decommissioned platform, to a couple who purchased a business with no systems and all the knowledge walking out the door with the previous owner.
Topics Covered
/ What Via Technology actually does and why it is hard to categorise
Why strategic business systems go far beyond software implementation.
/ The types of businesses Via Technology serves best
Why operational complexity, not industry, is the key indicator of a good fit.
/ Real client journeys
Three examples of how Via Technology has helped businesses at very different stages and with very different problems.
/ Choosing the right technology for the right stage of business
Why the software that serves you today will not be the software that serves you in five years, and how to plan for that.
/ The process Via Technology takes new clients through
How a self-assessment tool helps diagnose whether the real problem is people, process or technology before any solutions are proposed.
/ Why change management never sells but everyone needs it
How Val embeds change management invisibly throughout every engagement so clients get the outcome without knowing they needed it.
This is Part One of the conversation with Valentina Coin from Via Technology. Continue to Part Two to hear how Val built the business, where her thinking came from, and the three pieces of wisdom she would pass on to any business owner trying to grow.
// Links
https://viatechnology.com.au/