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Good Enough Never Is: 
Lessons from inspirational businesses in rural Australia

 By Peter Kenyon

January 2005
RIRDC Publication No 04/137

Executive Summary
Good Enough Never Is is simply a story book. It highlights that wonderful saying of Muriel Rukester—‘The world is made up of stories, not atoms’. It is stories, not concepts, that have that unique ability to demystify, teach, enthuse and motivate. Good Enough Never Is delivers the stories of ordinary rural people who dared to be different and have become out-of-the-ordinary rural entrepreneurs.

Rather than being endowed with unique and mysterious qualities, these people have discovered and developed attitudes, behaviours and skills that set them apart from most business operators in rural and remote Australia.

 Winston Churchill believed that penning a publication involved five states. At stage one it is just like a novelty or toy, but by stage five it becomes a monster ruling your life, and just when you are about to become reconciled with the tyrant and accepting of your state of servitude you kill the monster and throw it to the public! I am sure that, without the inspiration and teachings of the stories and characters in this publication, and the willingness of so many rural people to so generously offer their time and opinions, for me the monster would have won.

The importance of regional and rural business enterprises was well summarised in a recent Australian government–instigated report, Regional Business: a plan for action: Regional Australia has made and continues to make a major contribution to our national economy and to our way of life, indeed to our culture and our identity as a nation. Regional businesses contribute half of our national export income and regional Australians have a fine track record as innovators. Our future prosperity and social well being as a nation depend to a significant degree on creating the right environment for thriving and dynamic regional business … Regional Australia can only survive on the back of strong, growing businesses that create strong, vibrant communities. It has been highlighted to us that regional small and medium businesses are the wealth creators and job providers for regional Australia. More than half a million businesses operate in regional Australia, and in many respects they are the backbone of their communities. (Department of Transport and Regional Services 2003, pp. iii–iv) Good Enough Never Is is simply about rural business success—why it appears so easy for some yet so elusive for so many others. What makes this difference? The publication is intended for three main groups.

Firstly those people who have already chosen to operate an enterprise in rural and remote Australia or are contemplating doing so. There is no doubt that self-employment is one of the hardest careers to pursue. At present there are 1.25 million small businesses in Australia, and the number is growing (National Business Bulletin, August 2003, p. 61).

However, the failure rate is very high, and few such businesses translate into third or fourth generations, especially in rural and remote Australia. There must be principles and practices that can increase the chances of success, and surely the best place to identify these is among those entrepreneurs who, despite what is often perceived as a locational disadvantage, have achieved a national, even an international reputation for their business success.

The second group of intended readers consists of rural leaders and community builders who are keen to learn more about the dynamics of local economic development and the vital contribution made by the local business community. Between 60 and 80 per cent of all new jobs in any community do not come from new business creation: they come from existing businesses ‘doing better and expanding’. Similarly, it is existing businesses that are usually responsible for over 70 per cent of new investment in a region. It is essential that community builders and leaders understand ‘what gets the tills ringing’ and become supportive of community policies and strategies that encourage and reward positive business behaviours and attitudes.

Finally, this publication is aimed at young men and women in rural and remote areas of Australia. The future of rural and remote communities hinges on their young people creating business and social opportunities for themselves and others, beyond traditional primary industry pursuits.

This publication is a resource for such educational initiatives as C.R.E.A.T.E.—Creating Rural Entrepreneurial Attitudes through Education—which seeks to encourage young rural people to consider the self-employment option; maybe in many rural and remote communities it is the only viable way of achieving a satisfactory and stable income that enables these people to stay in or return to their home community. A number of case studies highlight the achievements of young people who have chosen to create and develop their own business enterprise.

The stories told here are quite diverse and cover a wide range of industry sectors—retail, manufacturing, hospitality, tourism, value-adding and service provision. The enterprises are found in every state and the Northern Territory. Although most of them operate within traditional business structures (for example, as companies, sole traders or partnerships), there are six community-owned and -operated enterprises, where the local community has not only achieved substantial financial returns but also created enormous social benefits.

As noted, choosing which businesses to include was very difficult. The following selection criteria were used in an effort to choose the 20 ‘best of the best’:

I hope this interesting range of case studies and their lessons will encourage other rural dwellers to believe that it is both possible and necessary to create successful and exciting businesses in rural and remote areas. The fundamental message is that the motivation and success of the enterprises described here can be emulated by others in rural and remote Australia.