Introducing: Entrepreneur in Residence and World-Class Mentor, Jo Burston.

Jo Burston is many things. Powerhouse, leader and visionary for starters. She is the brilliant mind behind greatly successful companies such as Job Capital, Startup.Business and more recently Rare Birds. Jo reveals that despite being a late bloomer to running her own business she is only just reaching the pinnacle of her success. She is the serial entrepreneur that shows us it is never too late to make your mark.

This month we are thrilled to welcome Jo Burston as our newest Entrepreneur in Residence, and to connect her with our Freelancing Gems members to support, empower and encourage you to reach your business goals.

How or when did you know the entrepreneur life was for you?

I was very much a late bloomer running my own businesses. It was not until I was 32 that I launched Job Capital after a chance meeting with a serial entrepreneur in Melbourne, who after just one meeting and six weeks of planning, became my business partner, investor and mentor. His support, guidance and mentoring gave me the business acumen, confidence and backing to believe I am capable of solving big, complex problems with commercial outcomes.

I have launched seven businesses, some terrific successes like Job Capital, Inspiring Rare Birds and Startup.Business, and then some failed miserably due to bad timing or a lack of funding. However, through those experiences I am now highly astute at seeing opportunities and business modelling them to create a valuable organisation. At 48, I feel I am just coming to my prime as an entrepreneur and it is certainly a life that suits my way of being, enabling me to have a life by my own design and give back to other new entrepreneurs by investing in start-ups.

What is your favourite business quote that inspires you?

My life mantra is: “Give without remembering and receive without forgetting”. I am a naturally generous person that gets great joy from watching others succeed and flourish.

I heard Jack Cowen recently say, “When you can’t tell the difference between work and play you are in the right place.” That resonates so deeply for me as I do get to choose every day what I want to do, with whom, and also what direction I want to take personally and professionally. Business has afforded me choices. And that’s a privilege.

What does your typical workday look like?

To be honest, the new framework that COVID-19 demanded of the workplace has been something I have taken great advantage of. I have so much more mojo to work with, without the commute to and from an office every day.

I live by the beach, so my days usually start with a walk, accompanied by my two mini dachshunds, Vincent and Pipi. My mind is at its clearest in the morning after some exercise, so I have started working by 8.00 or 8.30am. My teams are highly organised, self-reliant and individual agents of change, so mostly my interaction is to help them solve some of the bigger issues or share my vision for upcoming plans. My role is mainly business development, so that keeps me on the phone predominantly client facing, which I absolutely love. As my mind is fresh and clear in the AM, my BD work is usually done by midday.

I then work on projects that are assigned for me to execute for the team. That ranges from reading contracts, to reviewing financials to liaising with external partners and suppliers. In between work, I am watching the crypto markets, share markets and researching real estate for my next build. I am very focused and disciplined with my time and have a strong belief of doing one thing at a time to completion. People often are amazed when I tell them I cannot multitask.

By 2.00pm I am usually done for the day and spend some time catching up with friends and family over the phone. I also only work four days a week these days and have done so for the past 18 months. When I first started out, I was working seven days a week and crazy hours – literally did whatever it takes. Number one rule in business: “Stay in business.” I spend most of my time communicating with the person that keeps me on track and enables me to stay focused on the big picture, my EA.

What can we expect from your term as our Entrepreneur in Residence?

Freelancing Gems is such a powerful, uplifting and purpose-built business model with a proven and highly entrepreneurial founder, Fleur. I am here to share as much of my wisdom as possible with you. Traditionally an EIR helps accelerate growth of a start-up, I also see this role as a way for our respective communities to flourish together.

I’d love to invite the women involved as staff, clients and freelancers to be a part of the Rare Birds community, where they can access free tools and education to support their growth and the growth of our mentees. We are often providing scholarships to our programs, funded by government and private enterprise and we will certainly be offering those opportunities to apply to the Freelancing Gems community.

I am sure we are going to find some creative and exciting ways to work together.

Jo Burston has been recognised as one of Australia’s top entrepreneurs for the past six years and is a leading authority on global women’s entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship as a whole, and SMB markets. She is an active mentor for fast growth entrepreneurs and is passionate about encouraging young Australians to endeavour to find out exactly who it is that they want to become and create their own jobs to achieve this.

We are delighted to connect Jo Burston with our community as the Entrepreneur in Residence, and for our Ruby and Emerald members, make sure you ask her all your burning questions this month.

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