FOCUS: MEN’S THRIVABILITY
On the cacao plantation outside Namatanai , New Ireland Province, Papua New Guinea in 2015 , working on a coconut oil project
Craig in Tasmania in 2013 working on commercialising the production of human
grade Omega 3 from the heads and frames (waste) from the local salmon fisheries
that cool things happen. It’s usually when the big learnings happen and its usually when I have the most fun. I think I’m doing okay now –
successful business, second marriage is going well, and golden child seems well adjusted. But I have had some spectacular
failures over the years. Spectacular! At 21, landed my dream job –
executive chef on a resort island. Lasted a little over a year; then got island fever and the sack. Landed back on the mainland, broke
and a bit down about it all, with only enough cash for about two tanks of fuel in my 1968 Landrover (what a car), but ended up in Cairns, got a job flying round Cape York selling catering equipment (best job ever) and met my first wife. One door closes and another opens. Years later (and some more failures
along the way) I was sacked by the new partner in the family business, which at
8 SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2017
the time, having just got married again and bought a new house, seemed like the worst kind of failure. 12 months on saw me launching
my current business, which today employs 12 people and turns over millions of dollars in the complementary medicines game. And still the learning continues.
Thousands of dollars and lots of time in trying to make therapeutic grade salmon oil out of heads and bones in Tasmania. It fell over at the eleventh hour after two years of work. Or the coconut oil project two years ago in Namatanai, a small village in Papua New Guinea. It was going to change the world, improve the lives of villagers and make a great new product. Both of these projects failed, horribly,
financially and practically, but I got to go somewhere in the world and see something I would have never seen, and learnt so much more than I knew before about both kinds of oil… and the best kind of learning, learning about people.
As part of my job today I get to travel the country seeing customers. A few months ago I had the pleasure
of doing a tour de force around the country with what seemed like the United Nations of Vitamins. On the way I was trying to think of
a joke that involved a Norwegian, an American and an Australian who walked into a bar, but the Norwegian told me he didn’t think that was very funny… It was a good solid week on the
road, lots of crappy airport food (really Sydney airport, can that even be called food?), early mornings, late nights and some good meetings. In other words, it seemed like a typical trip. It wasn’t though. I began to notice that, in the wake of the recent changes in the complementary health industry, there was an aura of fear. This is coming from an industry that I am proud to say has been among the most innovative in the world, even in the face of tighter regulations. It’s a bit of a concern.
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