In 2005, Tony Simmonds turned his passion for cycling into his profession. His business JetBlack Australia, is an importer, distributor and manufacturer of cycling parts and accessories.
"We started initially in a tiny little storage facility in Dural (a semi-rural suburb in south-west Sydney), with two rows of pallet racking, and I remember looking at the pallet racking and thinking, 'wow, we're a real business',” Mr Simmonds told Small Business Secrets.
"Right back in those early days, within the first two or three months of the start of the business we grew very very quickly, and so that placed a lot of pressure on us in the early days to capitalise the business - find new facilities, get the distribution up and running, and put our staff into the business as well."
JetBlack quickly established itself across Australia, and now exports to countries including the US, UK, China, Korea and Japan. It is particularly popular with cycling nations across Europe, including Germany and Spain.
Booming pressure
But Tony Simmonds explains that as the business boomed, so too did the pressure.
"Back in the early days, as with any startup, you're putting in very long hours, you're very focused on growing and driving the business, so very early on, in the early years, that came at the expense of our families and our relationships,” he said.
“To grow the business we were very very focused. In hindsight, I would spend more time in a bit more of a balanced approach with our family. For us, the growth was quite tough on my personal relationship and marriage, and that definitely [was] strained as I was focused on growing the business."
Online competitors cut into JetBlack’s profit margins, while staff cutbacks also caused Mr Simmonds much distress. But the emotional pressure culminated early last year.
His marriage ended at roughly the same time as his two business partners, who were a married couple. And, two weeks after his divorce, his six-year-old daughter Keziah was diagnosed with Leukaemia.
“We were really fortunate that the prognosis was good, but it was hard to go through the journey and see her lose her hair and get really really sick,” Mr Simmonds described.
Entrepreneur Tony Simmonds' life was rocked when his then six-year-old daughter, Keziah, was diagnosed with Leukemia. She has since made a full recovery. Source: Supplied
“But fortunately, today she's perfectly healthy and moving forward in life."
Mr Simmonds wasn't officially diagnosed with depression, but says there were some serious low patches.
"Along the physical side, along with working and growing the business, I put on quite a lot of weight, and I thought I was fit, but in reality I was a heart attack waiting to happen,” he said.
“High blood pressure, high cholesterol, and I reached a stage where I had to take stock and take accountability for my own physical wellbeing, and I really started a journey which I've been on now for 3-4 years of prioritising exercise, prioritising a healthy diet and a healthy way of eating."
Dealing with the pressure
Mr Simmonds credits his support networks with helping him through the tough times.
"You have to mentally be very very strong. One always needs to be, no matter what's happening, have a very positive outlook and be focused on the future,” he said.
“It's important for me as a leader that I'm whole across each of the primary spheres of life, and for me that includes a spiritual dynamic, includes a relational dynamic, includes a physical dynamic of staying healthy, looking after oneself, and it includes a financial dynamic. And if one is balanced across all of those areas then it's easier to be positive and successful."
Tony Simmond’s journey led to a serious shake-up of JetBlack's operations.
"It started out with a small simple thing like providing free fruit and items for healthy eating and healthy smoothies. So we find most days a good percentage of the people that work at JetBlack come in and take advantage of that,” Mr Shippard said.
“It's quite exciting for me to see that trend changing, a few years ago lunchtime used to revolve around junk food and fast food, and it's been really interesting to see how that has changed within our own organisation.
“It's such a small investment, but with great results."
Healthy mind, body, business
Staff were also given longer breaks to exercise, with some choosing to cycle at work with the boss.
"That can include working out on our own trainers, on our own products, or can be as something as simple as having a run,” Tony Simmonds explained.
“As everybody is working out and adopting that lifestyle of health and fitness, we see that translate into an increase in productivity."
“It just changes the dynamic outside of the formal office relationship and really enables us to hang out and have great fun as a team."
“At the end of the day we spend more time here at work than we do with our families. So it's important from a relational point of view that we're all comfortable, that we can all relate, and not only work and accomplish great things locally and internationally together, but also have fun along the way of doing that."
JetBlack Australia founder Tony Simmonds with daughter, Keziah, and son Jethro. Source: Supplied
