Well, I’ve met people would claim that life dealt them a lemon right from the start: being born into a family of 9 kids, being raised on a pig farm, would entitle them to special treatment… On the other hand, people such as our newest Corporate Member Paul Smith, have had the slogan “Have a go!” inculcated into their DNA from an early age. In his teenage years, his father convinced him to save his money and - - buy a pig. “Well, I sold it for $250.00 and that paid for my first car, a Holden…!” Thus was born an Entrepreneur.“But when I was a young bloke, all I wanted to do was play Golf”, Paul declared. “We lived near a Golf Course in Queanbeyan (Canberra), and I got my handicap down from 27 to 9.” He completed a Golf Pro Apprenticeship for 3 years, then played in every major tournament in Australia. Quite an achievement, considering that there were some 1,500 applicants and only 140 players can make it.
But professional golfing didn’t “keep body and soul together”, he said. His father decided to go into the Funeral Director business. He learned the trade in somebody
else’s business, then the family embarked on their own. And for the first 12 months, they didn’t have a single body to bury… Paul’s father passed away in 1980 and he became Managing Director. Within 10 years their business was doing about 450 funerals a year, had a flower shop and also included the biggest monumental masonry business in Canberra! Paul recollected some quite amusing stories too – sorry, you should have been there! He sold the business and moved to sunny Queensland.
Getting bored after about 12 months of leisure, he briefly worked for the Coolum Hyatt to run the Pro Shop, but “being employed was not my ideal situation”. Space does not allow to fully elaborate, but in essence: he convinced the GM at the Hyatt to spend $300,000 on improvements so they could have major sporting and entertainment events which his company managed. This led to major clubs such as the Brisbane Bears, Carlton and Adelaide play practice matches and Rugby teams quickly followed. The Brisbane Broncos, Raiders, St George and Canterbury played a double header. And then came the managing of Entertainment Events: Michael Crawford, Marcia Hines, Kate Subrano, Anthony Warlow… And the managing of sporting greats. One of these included Simon Black, now his co-owner of the Southport Branch of the Bank of Queensland. “I didn’t really know anything much about AFL, and I asked ok, who is this Simon Black?” And the answer came straight back: well, he just won the Brownlow Medal…
Asked which of his various enterprises would have been the most satisfying, Paul’s answer came straight: “Being a Funeral Director. Taking care of people, helping them when they are at one of their worst stages of their lives, is immensely fulfilling.”
Photo above: Paul Smith (left) with Cole Todd from Wilsons Advisory, another of our Corporate Members.