Ned Dwyer interviewed Michelle in a newsletter for The Hive - I thought I would copy / paste it for you. Update: The latest Apple TV Commercial features the EAT.sydney app, watch it on Youtube.
Michelle Matthews (@secretshq) is the founder of Shopping Secrets and publisher of Deck of Secrets, a guide to the best bars, restaurants and shopping around Australia, Asia and Europe.
What was your first entrepreneurial venture?
My first business was a telco before they became fashionable back in 1992. Major Pagers had a fleet of beepers, which were rented out on a monthly basis to flight attendants, pilots and male models. The business had a limited lifespan due to the introduction of affordable mobile phones at which point I traded my entire fleet of beepers for one mobile phone.
How did shopping secrets come about? How did you get started?
Shopping Secrets started in 1998. I was visiting friends in Amsterdam and on their coffee table was a book called Mike’s Original Fun Shopping Guide. I tried to contact Mike to create the guides in Australia but when I didn’t hear back from him I started my own publishing company called Shopping Secrets. I produced guides to unusual and interesting shops in Sydney and Melbourne for six years and then came up with the idea for Bar Secrets Melbourne in 2003. At first I knew absolutely nothing about publishing but this turned out to be an asset in the early days.
If you had your time again what would you have changed?
Instead of printing 10,000 books because that’s how many I needed to sell to make a profit I would have printed half the amount and significantly lowered my costs. 10,000 books is a lot for any title to sell, even 5,000 is considered a success so 10,000 was always going to be one notch along from optimistic. I would have called up a small publisher and asked them lots of questions about how the industry works and find out if they had any advice for me. I get these kinds of calls and often spend an hour giving advice that would have greatly helped me in the same position.
How is your work life structured as someone self employed?
I keep roughly normal hours, plus periods of late night and Saturday morning contact with Europe and North America and lots of great events like bar openings, networking events etc. It’s incredibly flexible so I take time during the day when necessary and work on weekends when I choose. So much of what I do is now a part of my lifestyle that it doesn’t really matter if I label something work or leisure.
What advice would you give to up and coming entrepreneurs?
Most ideas will have variations already in existence somewhere in the world so discover and learn from them. Ask for advice from those who are experienced and kind. Be careful of those who tell you it can’t be done. A fired up entrepreneur can achieve almost anything. Don’t give up too soon. The journey is the best part so if you’re lucky it will be long and varied. Find a good general lawyer who is available to create contracts and agreements on your behalf. Use contracts and agreements anytime you work with others in anything other than a standard supplier/customer arrangement.
What’s next from Michelle Matthews?
In 2009 the focus will be on expanding and promoting our suite of iPhone applications. We have five paid and one free app available at the moment on iTunes and will be releasing more for London and Dublin in February. A licensing agreement is just about to be signed with a North American company, which will see the release of four titles in that region in the first half of the year. We will also be busy updating and creating new guides for Australia, Asia and Europe.
3,361 people have read this since it was posted April 2009. Keep reading?
