Ricardo: What is Wombat Hollow exactly?
It's a number of things. First of all, it's our home and we live here and we do all the things here that amount to home life but we do a few other things as well. We run something called the Wombat Hollow Forum which is a fairly eclectic program that ranges from politics and current affairs through to the visual arts, performing arts, literature. We do some artisan markets. There's sort of something for everyone and on top of that we do some weddings and charity days. There's a fair bit happening here one way or another.
I think a lot of people are fatigued by traditional events spaces. There's only so much of hotels and convention centres and there is a sameness about them. This has been a journey of discovery for us and I guess one of the main discoveries has been people love getting out into the bush. They love experiencing something that has a strong rural touch about it and a little bit of wilderness but it's certainly more than just an events space.
I am a serial collector. I cannot help myself. I love collecting.
The satisfaction and the buzz of seeing what is really in the eyes of most people - a bit of junk, turned into something that could grace a beautiful lounge room. and I get a real kick out of that because it's sort of making something out of nothing.
Ricardo: Why start this in the first place?
Michael Yabsley, founder of Wombat Hollow. Source: SBS
I would like to think that what we have created here is a distillation of things that throughout my life I have most enjoyed doing. I had some pretty serious health problems going back five or six years and I think there's nothing like a health challenge to make you think what am I going to do with the rest of my days. I don't want to say that in a morbid sense but you just realise you don't have another 50 or 60 years left on earth so you better make the best of it. And I'm doing the things that I most enjoy - events, collecting, doing the lamps, and enjoying the Australian countryside at Wombat Hollow.
Ricardo: How's it grown so far?
It has certainly grown. But as we know, in the world of business, growth doesn't necessarily translate into profitability and so we have many, many people coming here for events, or to look at the lamps or buy the lamps but there's a bit of tweaking to do with the business plan.
Ricardo: In a previous life, you were a politician, tell me about that.
I had a fairly brief but exciting political career. I was in NSW Parliament for ten years. I was very young when I was elected and still very young when I retired from politics, but it was what I had always wanted to do and, interestingly, [when I got there], I decided I didn't want to spend the rest of my life doing it and in fact, I only wanted to spend a relatively short period of time doing it.
So, after politics, I set up a government relations business and that was my day job for the best part of 20 years and that business went very well. I sold down my last parcel of shares in that only about four years ago again when I had some health issues and decided it was time to head to the country.
Ricardo: Challenges with this business?
This has been a really interesting insight into the challenges for a small business. At the top of the list, I wish the internet could be sorted out. The internet drives me nuts. It's a bit of a case of don't get me started. And I just hope the NBN will be rolled out and sort of day to day problems that we have here where for hours at a time you're really stranded - emails don't send and all of that sort of thing - so that's number one. I would say a close second is the issues surrounding compliance and that means everything from bush fire prevention and emergency evacuations plans through to liquor licensing to the usual bookkeeping that goes hand in hand with running a small business and I've got to say in my electorate office I would hear a lot of these gripes from constituents frequently and it's interesting to now be involved in your own small business.
Ricardo: What’s the one piece of advice you'd offer to other small business owners?
Well, I think you've got to have a passion in relation to what you're doing otherwise I don't think anything works particularly well. If you feel like every day is a chore then I don't think it's going to work, or work particularly well. I think you've got to be organised. You've really got to have your act together and doesn't that apply to life generally.
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