By Belinda Williams
It's not unusual to find imaginative people offering the latest money-making scheme or wacky invention.
But being prepared to take a gamble in the real world is the point where many fresh ideas are relegated to the too-hard basket.
Backyard inventor Alex Gransbury with some of the Dreamfarm gadgets.
Alex Gransbury is a backyard inventor who started creating simple, innovative products with the aim of making everyday, mundane tasks faster and easier.
“I'm not interested in making dust collectors,” he said.
Dreamfarm's award-winning 'Clongs'.
The 28-year-old navigated the pitfalls of starting a small business – including sacrificing a regular income – to establish his kitchenware design company, Dreamfarm.
Seven years later, Dreamfarm turns over $1 million annually, has just launched six new products – and Alex can finally take home a wage.
Dreamfarm sells and distributes novel products such as 'Clongs' – tongs that click open and shut with one hand and have a kink in the handle to keep dirty ends raised off the bench when cooking. Earlier this year, Dreamfarm received an international red dot award: product design 2010 for the tongs.
“We were just a small fish up against companies like Tupperware, Apple and Dyson – basically, it's the Oscars of design awards,” Gransbury said.
Dreamfarm's sleek range is a far cry from the original prototype ('Grindenstein', a dispenser for used coffee grinds) that the commerce graduate hand-made in his back shed. Carved from materials purchased from Bunnings, his biggest risk back then was slicing off his arm with a compound saw. He admits his handiwork was largely based on a penchant for problem-solving rather than any formal trade.
“One of my favourite sayings of all time is: 'aerodynamically, the bumblebee should never have left the ground, but he doesn't know that, so he just keeps on flying anyway',” he said.
“The first time I sold a product, I thought 'wow, someone actually wants to pay for my stuff!”
A local kitchenware retailer asked to sell 'Grindenstein' in their store. Confident this approval would be mirrored elsewhere, Gransbury began “pounding the pavement”. He raided other brands' stockists lists. Mail-outs and cold-calls were painful, but necessary.
The thrill of his first sale, demand from local retailers – and the need for cash to buy beer and concert tickets – kept the university student focused. Paying loans back to banks and increasingly nervous family members was a fair motivator, too.
During the first three years, Dreamfarm relied on the sales from 'Grindenstein'.
“Every cent we made was going into stock,” he said.
“You eventually get yourself into so much debt that you have no option but to succeed.”
Austrade (the Australian Government's trade and investment development agency) helped Gransbury secure an overseas distributor before he employed his own sourcing and distribution agents. Dreamfarm products are now manufactured in China and distributed in more than 35 countries, including the United States, Canada, Japan and across Europe.
Dissatisfied with larger retailers' terms and conditions (such as paying for your own shipping or being charged for lost income if stock ran out) Dreamfarm lent towards “Mum and Dad retailers" interested in finding out how the products worked.
Despite his 'have a crack' mentality, the self-confessed perfectionist didn't jump head-first into the small business world with a gut feel alone. A finance and accounting background and sense of commercial reality told him he needed more than just ideas. He had no intention of becoming an accountant by the time he'd finished his degree, but said it prepared him for prudent decision-making.
He was conscious of other backyard business hopefuls who underestimated the costs involved.
“They say, 'I buy the t-shirt for $10, then I put my print on it, and that only cost me $5, and therefore I sell a t-shirt for $25 and I'm making $10 – but you've still got to have premises, materials, pay your wages…suddenly you're making nothing'.”
Based in Albion, Queensland, Dreamfarm has six full-time employees in Australia and two full-time sales staff overseas. Sixty per cent of those staff are sales-focused.
“If you don't have money coming in the door, it's over,” he said.
The past year has been easier, financially. For the qualified numbers man, this was no surprise. The expanded product range has been funded by sales from eight existing products – as opposed to the beginning when new designs relied on sales from just one or two products.
“Last year was the first year I actually took money from the business,” he said.
He's even had breathing space to initiate a green policy, whereby Dreamfarm plants a tree for every product made. Since 2009 they've planted 375,000 trees.
Retail is the next challenge. So far Gransbury he hasn't questioned his journey.
“As soon as you start questioning it, pull the pin and get out,” he said.
“Your resolution to succeed is more important than any other thing.
“Is it worth it? I hope so. But if not, it's been a great ride.”
Link: www.dreamfarm.com.au.