Peter Freedman

Hollywood has always made us green with envy thanks to the maxim: There’s no business like show business. They named a movie after it. There’s even a song.

Are they right? Sure. Because show business is their business. They are passionate about making movies, even movies like Fantastic Four – a movie that can only have been made with passion, because it was terrible and no-one went.

But they are only half-right, because there is absolutely something better than show business. Your business. There is no business like your business. If you can take something you’re passionate about and make it the core of your business, then there is no other business like it. Your business becomes your passion. Excellence becomes your passion.

If you are as fortunate in business as I have been, then that combination – business and passion – delivers rewards on many levels: personally, for your family; for your team, your community; and, with export – which should be your goal – the country’s bottom line. This may sound lofty, but, as Treasurer Scott Morrison goes to great pains to emphasise, every single dollar counts. Therefore: Success is a civic duty!

Your business is more than just income received for work. It’s the centre of a world you create, from which benefits flow, or are exported (if you like). The rewards for you? These extend beyond the financial; the money can be sensational, but it should never be the sole focus. In my experience, if money is your sole focus, you’ll never make any.

The first and most crucial step to starting your business is to know yourself. What are your skills? How do your skills marry with your passion?

If you’re a gifted salesperson with a great product who is terrible at the numbers – employ the best accountant you can afford. If you’re terrible on the tools, get out of the factory. Instead, do what you do well: stay at the handshake end and make the sales.

Adapt these principles to yourself. What are your talents? Whatever they are, make those talents the cornerstone of your business and recruit the best people to make your vision a reality.

I was lucky to be born into a pro audio business, because that’s what my parents did. I am a professional audio nerd. But all my life I have also been equally obsessed with the science of sales and marketing. And that’s a major reason for my success.

My father began Freedman Electronics in 1967 and I grew up around pro audio products and installations, watching people like Tom Jones from side of stage, while Dad mixed the sound.

A fortunate birth and blind passion rarely guarantee success, though – unless you’re Paris Hilton perhaps. I am a case in point. After working for the company for a decade I took over Freedman Electronics in 1987, after my father passed away.

I borrowed big – about $3million in today’s money – to steer the company into a direction focusing on audio, video and lighting installation. Then the financial crash of the era arrived. It was a disaster and very nearly bankrupted us.

My wife and I had two small kids and we owed the bank a million dollars. We were hit with an interest rate of over 20%.

We lost our house, sold our car, had to put groceries back on the shelves, more than once. I walked to work. (An upshot of this was I lost a lot of weight!) Trying to pay back that debt was like attempting to fill the Grand Canyon with a shovel.

It was humbling, obviously. But it was also a vital lesson: we are all completely fallible. I thought I was a rolled-gold-genius before this.

There’s real truth in the notion that you only learn from failure. I know now that I’m not rolled in gold. Life is an incredibly hard teacher, you get the test first and the lesson after.

In 1992, basically broke, we modified some Chinese-made studio microphones with new componentry and put them up for sale, here in Australia. I thought, ‘If we can sell 500 of these per annum we’ll be alright.’

That began a long, wild journey that now sees us manufacturing and exporting microphones for music recording, live performance, broadcasting, podcasting and filmmaking to over 100 countries. The dream of those 500 microphones 25 years ago has become a reality of a million products a year. I still can’t quite believe it.

There was no real plan, except to keep looking forward, trying to make some money – and never give up. Of course, when it became obvious we had the makings of a business, we invested: in technology; in research and development; in machinery and automation; in the world’s best marketing. RODE mics are made right here in Sydney: Australian-made and proud of it.

We have been very lucky. It’s true that luck can be defined as “opportunity meets preparation”, but sometimes the stars do just align. With our first microphone, we were broke, but the world needed low-cost studio microphones and we could deliver them. Ten years later, social media revolutionised customer communication. We were able to utilise it thanks to smart marketing, intuitive video content and unrivalled engagement, for a ridiculously low price. For the selfie generation, RØDE is their microphone.

Did we see it coming? No. But we made absolutely sure to create and maximise our advantage when the opportunities arose. We endure because quality is the cornerstone of our business and we sell to the world.

So, despite higher labour costs in Australia – and they should be, as this is the best country in the world – through innovation and disruption in concept, design, production and smart strategic marketing, RØDE makes microphones that deliver, and we deliver them to world.

How that comes home is by providing jobs. On the surface it’s pretty simple, but the effects are real. By creating and maintaining a vertical production process, the jobs at RØDE cover a variety of disciplines, trades and professions – industrial design, manufacture, research and development, warehousing, financial, logistical, video production and more.

Every person at RØDE – currently numbered at 200 globally and growing – contributes to that success. This success enables us to reinvest, create better, cooler products and keep giving our customers what they need – and what they don’t know they needed. The RØDE brand now sets the agenda. All of that collaboration is deeply satisfying. And it’s fun. THAT’s the fun part.

A successful business also affords you the opportunity to invest in your community. For me, among the other smaller, charitable outlets, it’s the Sydney Festival.

In January, this culminated in a stunning performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony by the acclaimed Belgian orchestra Anima Eterna and the Australian Brandenburg Choir. We road-tested some experimental new microphones, which was very exciting.

RØDE’s Sydney Festival sponsorship is a personally satisfying way for me to invest in the cultural heart of this city; it’s also good business. And it’s impossible to do without a good business. 

Ultimately you’ll make your own stories, your own mistakes and, hopefully, experience the kind of fortune I have. Thanks to this great place you have an incredible start.

I’m often asked what I believe success is. To me, it’s simple. To love someone, to have someone that loves you in return, and to have something to look forward to.