At the
tender age of 22, with $300 in her bank account and four failed attempts at
University behind her, Tess Robinson decided to channel her creative energy and
love for design into a business venture. Six years later and that young entrepreneur
is now Creative Director and Owner of Smack Bang Designs, a successful design
agency in Sydney’s Surry Hills with 15 creatives under her. For a 22-year-old
to skip university, bypass any type of industry experience, and go straight to
business owner was no easy feat. But as Tess says, “nothing worth having comes easy”.
Having just
moved to the beachside town of Bronte in Sydney, the 29-year-old is taking a
step back from the full-time grind to focus on starting a family and living the
slow life. However, she says it took six years of long days, sleepless nights,
teary eyes and 70-hour work weeks to finally be able to let the business go a
little.
Throughout
her twenties, she watched her friends hit the town every weekend, travel the
world, buy designer clothing and do what normal twenty-something year olds do.
Nevertheless, Tess spent all her time and money on her passion – starting a
business from scratch and watching it flourish into an agency with 500 clients
worldwide (P.E Nation, Orchard St. and Elle Macpherson Body to name a few) and
nearly 2000 different projects. Having accepted no external investment, the
business has gone from $300 in 2011 to a turnover of $1.5 million this year. At
the same time, she also founded website templates e-commerce platform First
Flight Studio and landscaping service Urban Growers, and is creative director
of the magazine Start-Up Creative.
In addition
to being a super successful entrepreneur, her life literally looks like an Instagram
highlight reel. Her humble sunlit abode in Bronte looks like it belongs on
Pinterest and the Smack Bang Designs studio is any employees dream work space.
With natural lighting, raw textures, plenty of plants and tunes cranking all
day, who would want to leave? However, Tess is a massive believer in work-life balance
and has a strict policy that no one stays in the office after 5:30pm. “The thing we work hardest at is hiring good
people, so we want them to stick around and have a good balance between work
and family and the rest of the important stuff in life. Giving our team a
healthy balance of work and play is not just a bonus, it’s a priority”.
Tess’s story
is proof that there is no linear root to
success. Although she loved school and applied herself to all aspects of it,
university wasn’t for her. Instead she had the determination and self-belief to
start her own business and with a clear vision for what she wanted her life to
look like it helped ensure she was always heading in the right direction.
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