A journalist for 12 years, in 1988 Lady Jane Edwards decided she wanted a career change. After running the communications team for the World Expo 88 in Brisbane, she realised there was an opportunity to start her own business.
Edwards was at the forefront of what is now the thriving public relations industry. She noticed there was a niche for a company to work with clients who wanted to be profiled, or who wanted to raise awareness of their business.
So, in 1989, Edwards founded her own PR consultancy, now known as BBS Communications.
“It was interesting because people didn’t really understand what it was,” Edwards says.
“When you told people you worked in communications they thought it was connecting telephones.
“I had to tell them from the beginning what communications was and how it could help them to do business, it was a big education process.”
For the first 10 years Edwards had to approach journalists she thought could be interested in moving out of the profession in order to build her team, but now times have changed.
Edwards never imagined how successful the business would turn out to be and doesn’t feel she was “naturally cut out for business”. However, the firm is now one of the largest across Australia, New Zealand and the Asia-Pacific.
“Now, 25 years later, I can say I took financial risks I would never contemplate taking, I just thought everything would be okay,” she says.
But the risks paid off and the business is now turning over around $3 million a year. Edwards spoke to SmartCompany about weathering two financial crises and balancing family and business.
Mornings
Edwards admits, unlike some entrepreneurs, she’s not a “notoriously early” riser.
“I’m in the office around 9am, but I wake up at 6.30am and check my emails and have coffee with my husband,” she says.
“Each morning we go to the same coffee shop and we bump into all the same people. It gives me time with him in the mornings, so if I’m busy in the evenings at least we’ve spent time together.”
While Edwards doesn’t arrive at work until 9am, she says her staff tend to start around 7.30am. When Edwards arrives she meets with all the teams and her two senior employees.
“I then look at the books and see if there’s any slow payers, before sitting down and retuning phone calls from our client base,” she says.
Daily life
While her role has changed a lot since the late 1980s, Edwards says she is still highly involved with clients.
“I see our top 10 clients at least once a week. While I have the most wonderful staff in the world, who are all very committed, sometimes the client just likes you to come and show you’re interested,” she says.
“I also spend a bit of time coaching and mentoring the senior partners about how they can develop their profiles better. They’re so overwhelmed with work they don’t have a chance to work on their profiles, but it’s a critical part of business development.”
One of her proudest accomplishments to date is that the business has weathered two recessions.
“For someone not naturally born to be in business, but who is dogged and determined, it’s the survival instinct which kicks in,” she says.
“The fact we flourished in spite of the economic hurdles is a source of enormous pride. The other thing I feel quite emotional about is the number of wonderful staff we’ve had who I’ve chosen and mentored.”
But having seen the effects of two recessions, Edwards is not complacent.
“One of the things that keeps you leaping out of bed in the morning is the fear of things collapsing, so I’ve never felt completely sure of our future, which sounds odd after 25 years, but it’s a great motivator.
“Looking back, the fact I’m always looking to see where the next work would come from has sustained us well. But it was probably about 10 years in when I realised there would be a continuous work stream and there would be people to employ.”
As well as always being on the hunt for new work, Edwards has also kept a close eye on the financials of the business, which has helped the company stay on track.
“I have a wonderful financial controller who works closely with my accounting firm, so even though we deal with communications I think great scrutiny of the books is very important.
“You have to make sure costs aren’t blowing out and I think one of the biggest problems for firms has been getting people to pay their bills, which makes it hard to pay staff and rent costs, so meticulous attention to cash flow of the business is needed.”
In 25 years of business Edwards has never retrenched a single staff member and has survived the financial downturns by asking people to work part-time until business picked up.
The company has also adapted to a changing marketplace.
“I look at which industries are doing well and which industries are falling by the wayside. For example, if I see there is movement in master plan communities for retirement living, I’ll see if I have contacts in that area and package up some information demonstrating our skills.”
For Edwards, a happy workforce is a productive workforce, so she always strives to make the working environment enjoyable.
“If I’m working with people who are miserable or unmotivated that would make me miserable and unmotivated. I invest a lot of energy into making it a casual, larrikin, irreverent, playful atmosphere,” she says.
“There is a lot of offbeat humour and it’s just crazy fun. I encourage this because we have a strong corporate governance underpinning the company, but people in this line of work tend to be creative and I want to bring out their flair and individuality and encourage them to think in a creative and broad way.”
As well as striving to create an enjoyable environment, Edwards also recognises the importance of a flexible workforce.
“As the workforce gets older… a lot of staff are dealing with an elderly parent or someone who is not well and that flexibility is important. This is why I always put the clients with teams of at least two people.
“This way, the client gets great service. In the long run it’s cost effective and it means the people at BBS can have a life. There are staff members training for triathlons and others doing post-graduate studies. I encourage them to take on something which broadens their horizons, so I let them come in early to go home early and have a life.”
Leisure time
Outside of the business, Edwards is also a member on a number of boards and committees and involves herself in projects which help her to keep up with what’s happening in the city.
She also works as an adjunct professor at Queensland University and sits on the City Future Fund and is honorary consul to France.
“Three or four nights a week I’m out at an event or meeting talking to people. I have a big network of corporate social activity, which goes on in most capital cities,” she says.
Edwards has also been happily married for more than 25 years.
“For me, my husband, my marriage and my household comes first,” she says.
“After that, it’s work. If you’re committed to owning a business you have to be in it 100%. I don’t think there’s any such thing as work-life balance.”
Future
Edward wants to grow BBS Communications in profit, but not necessarily size.
“BBS is the perfect size for the market we operate in. My sense of growth is to grow profit and to grow the expertise of the staff and to grow the quality of work we take on so we get better and better,” she says.
“I’d like to bring some of my senior people through and work in a different way. Not necessarily stepping back from the business, but there will be an evolution in my career.”
But while Edwards is thinking of mixing up her workload, she thinks she’ll still be working when she’s 70.
“It’s natural, I enjoy it and it enlivens me.”