A fairy shop in Hobart, a beautician in Launceston, a hearing clinic in Rosny Park and a martial arts academy in West Ulverstone have all been selected as finalists for the Tasmanian Telstra Business Awards.
Husband and wife team Nick and Heidi Modrovich are the owners of Audioclinic Tasmania, which provides hearing assessments for adults and children and specialises in heading aid fittings for adults. The business is currently a finalist for the MYOB Small Business Award.
According to Nick, the two audiologists had no previous business management experience when they first bought the business in 2007, forcing them to upskill outside of their own expertise early on. Among their other challenges were learning how to juggle their work and personal lives as a married couple, in addition to developing long-term relationships with their customers, staff and suppliers.
However, the last few years have also brought joy to Nick and Heidi. In fact, one of the highlights has been “the personal satisfaction of being able to deliver exceptional service to our patients the way we want to, and the freedom to readily embrace world class clinical practice without the red tape of being in a large corporation.”
Meanwhile, Stuart Clayton runs the Tasmanian Wing Chun Academy and is a finalist in the Business Owner Micro-Business and Social Responsibility categories. Since Clayton first launched the Academy over 10 years ago, his business has been heavily involved in helping donate money to Camp Quality and the Ronald McDonald House. The Academy is also used by at-risk kids from the local high school and the Aboriginal community. Another part of the business involves working with job seekers to become personal trainers and gym instructors through government-funded courses.
“On a business level, [social responsibility] can create some very positive publicity which is great for business, but if you were to do it for that reason alone, it wouldn’t work. It’s personally satisfying,” said Stuart of his work. “Every business is a people business. We’re dealing with people’s physical well being in what we do, and you can see that people are happy to be involved and give a little bit, knowing that we’re trying to help a lot.”
View all our Telstra Business Awards 2011 articles
Here is the full list of 2011 finalists
Business Owner Micro-Business AwardAmbiance Skin & Body Centre, Launceston
The Faerie Shop, Hobart
Jump Tours Pty Ltd, Mornington
Plants Management Australia Pty Ltd, Dodges Ferry
Tasmanian Wing Chun Academy Ulverstone, West Ulverstone
MYOB Small Business AwardAudioClinic Tasmania Rosny Park
M & J Baker Farms, Kindred
Tas Petroleum, Invermay
AMP Innovation AwardPlants Management Australia, Dodges Ferry
Yellow Pages Social Responsibility AwardTasmanian Wing Chun Academy Ulverstone, West Ulverstone