A business success coach who learned the hard way

When Stefan Kazakis turned 18 his parents gave him a brand new BMW two door coupe. The gift rewarded his efforts at high school and acknowledged his achievements as both a student and a young leader. With a place secured to study accounting and economics at a prestigious Melbourne university, Stefan was in a prime position to launch his adult life. Six years later Stefan found himself alone, reluctantly in charge of a run down hotel in Mount Gambier. As he watched headlights come and go, plans to gain an EU passport and live overseas similarly started to pass him by. Stefan was at the heart of a significant journey that would transform both his sense of self and his life purpose.

Family and education foundations in Melbourne

Born 1st February 1969, Stefan grew up in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. He enjoyed a happy childhood where he and younger sister Marie reaped the benefits of a close knit and supportive extended family. Moving around in these years, Stefan attended four different primary schools. He remembers the sense of change this brought and sees now that his extroverted personality and ability to adapt was in place from a very early age!

Stefan also began showing signs of natural leadership while at school. Popular across the board he made friends easily and stepped into both formal and informal positions of influence. During his years at East Doncaster Secondary College Stefan was Sports Captain and House Captain. He was the only one of his friendship group who had a strong ambition to attend university. He combined these rather mature attributes with a range of regular teenage interests, including soccer, martial arts, dating and having fun.

A self-described ‘neither A grade nor E grade student’, Stefan achieved a fair result for his final Higher School Certificate. He admits to getting by largely on natural ability and less so on dedicated application in his school and early years of tertiary study. Someone who has always sought to enjoy all that life has to offer, Stefan liked living on the edge as a young man – testing his own limits and that of the world.

Personal and social values to last a lifetime

Strong, family values steeped in social conscience were at the centre of this adventurous personality. Having a secure place from which to roam, Stefan established his personal boundaries early on and has created a life out of stretching the edges of those boundaries rather than always staying comfortably at their centre.

Stefan enjoyed the company, stories and wisdom of the older generations in his family. He describes his upbringing as taking place in an amazing environment where life lessons were passed on and he was encouraged to be all that he could be. Stefan’s parents – Steven and Effie – came from the same village in Rhode, Greece and brought with them to Australia a proud heritage of family dignity and integrity. Stefan’s passion for family and personal philosophy of respect has its roots in these village origins. While neither his mother nor father came from a wealthy family, they both came from families that had enormous social status and community reputation.

An inherited entrepreneurial spirit

The story of Stefan’s parents and their life in Australia is inextricably linked with his own journey both personal and professional. As new immigrants in the 1960s, Effie worked as a piece sewer and Steven as a foreman on Melbourne’s wharves. By the 1970s, Effie had developed ambitions to start her own business manufacturing garments. With a few dollars in her wallet and a single sewing machine at home Effie started to figure out how she was going to make this proposition work. Starting something from nothing planted the entrepreneurial seeds for what her son would do in a Mount Gambier hotel some twenty years later.

The home business developed quickly. Steven resigned from his wharf job to assist in its growth. The family team was a great success and the business went from strength to strength. By the late 1980s the business was thriving. Employing around 80 people, Steven and Effie had nearly paid off their family home, owned several other properties and were heading towards a semi-retirement while still only in their late forties.

Stefan recalls a mixed response to his parents’ business as he grew up. The early years especially saw he and his sister home alone quite a lot. While their parents put in the sort of hours that a growing business demands, Stefan and Marie kept the home fires burning – taking on a great deal of responsibility and the day to day running of the house. Stefan had a stark introduction into the realities of business, being self-sufficient and in doing what you have to do in order to get ahead in life. At times he hated the fact that personal family time was sacrificed for the business. On the other hand, as the business grew, so did the family lifestyle improve and both children reaped the benefits of their parents’ hard work.

Maturing through life experience

The 18th birthday BMW was a symbol of Steven and Effie’s success, pride in their son and in their own achievements. While maybe not aware of this at the time, Stefan acknowledges that some people in his circle may have thought he was spoiled for receiving such a gift and that life was being handed to him on the proverbial silver platter.

Stefan’s attitude to life and study continued into his university years. He transferred from his accounting subjects into law and moved through his Bachelor of Social Science with his usual easy approach. Stefan cites one of his first ‘taps on the shoulder’ as being when he was nearly asked ousted from university for not achieving good enough results. Having been a ‘cram until 6am the night before an exam’ kind of guy, this wake up call changed his work ethic forever. It made him realise that luck was neither a random event, nor something to be taken for granted. That you have to be prepared in order to make it happen. This was the beginning of Stefan being driven by clarity of purpose and a 100% commitment to all of his endeavours.

Straight after university, Stefan headed off on what was to be a three month trip around Europe with friends. The friends started their journeys separately – many visiting family homes of origin. This took Stefan to the island of Rhodes where he landed a job as a bar man. Four months later he had earned more money than he’d arrived with and was living a life of work, new friends and parties. He identifies this time as forming part of his ‘rocking chair’ memories – the great times and special moments a person looks back on in later life.

The three month trip extended into an eighteen month sojourn. Lindos – the village in Rhodes were Steven and Effie came from and where Stefan was working – had become a dynamic tourist hub. Two thousand people came in and out of the village each week. Stefan filled up his little black book with names and spent the next year travelling through Europe, tapping into a multitude of ‘circles of influence’. He did a second summer in the Greek isles and decided to relocate permanently to Europe. This would mean undertaking a year of military service in Greece in order to gain citizenship and therefore a European Union passport.

Family crisis takes silver spoon but delivers golden opportunity

In October 1992 Stefan landed back in Melbourne for what he thought would be a brief visit, primarily to celebrate his sister’s engagement. He found a family in crisis. His parents’ business was on the rocks and they were on the verge of losing the family home. The excesses of the late eighties, culminating in ‘the recession Australia had to have’ had hit the Kazakis family business hard. From being the spoiled Greek kid with the world at his feet, Stefan was now part of a family facing bankruptcy – financial security and future dreams in dire straits.

Six weeks later Stefan was supposed to be returning to Greece. Instead he was driving to Mount Gambier. The family owned a couple of properties in the area, one of which was a hotel/motel whose tenants had failed to pay rent for six months. The tenants had been evicted and Stefan was asked to relocate to the site for a couple of months to oversee the clean up and organize a fire sale. Stefan recalls driving into the town with his cousin George – who couldn’t get out fast enough. Stefan didn’t have the same luxury of choice and so ended up for the first time facing a challenge he had no idea how to tackle. And facing that challenge alone.

Sitting on his own in a neglected hotel with restaurant, convention centre, forty rooms and a ten acre lot, Stefan came face to face with himself. He knew no-one in town, had no-one to talk to and no-one to approach for advice. It wasn’t military service, but those first four weeks alone in Mount Gambier were a true coming of age. They formed the cornerstone of who Stefan was and what he would become. As the headlights flashed by and no cars pulled in, Stefan found himself in the transit position his mother Effie had occupied on her bus ride to Flinders Street – forming the first of many business questions: ‘So – what do I do here?’

A neo-entrepreneur is born

Getting the restaurant up and running was the obvious place to start. From being a person who ‘didn’t know how to butter toast’, Stefan was getting paid to make people’s breakfasts within two weeks. He decided to make the restaurant into a social hub and knew in order to do this he would need great people on board. He advertised for a chef and for waitresses (being a 22 year old male he figured female waiting staff would be the best crowd puller!) and created the first of what would become a multitude of entrepreneurial concerns.

Seafood Smorgasboard on Friday and Saturday nights were punctuated by Stefan putting on ‘Zorba the Greek’ and dancing for the oldest ladies in the room. This became a feature of the hotel, especially between dinner sittings as the place started to be fully booked twice over in a night. Within two months, the hotel was among one of the ‘places to be’ in town. With his family back in Melbourne asking when he was coming back, Stefan made the decision to stay for 12 months and really make his mark in the local industry and community. He cites an epiphany moment as when he realised that while Mount Gambier was far from the glamourous lights of Europe, it was a good place, he was running a good business and it was a place he was happy to stay in. It was a significant moment of maturing – both capitalizing and building upon Stefan’s existing business acumen and skills.

In October 1993, Stefan sold the business – back to the person his parents had bought it from but for $300,000 less. It was one of his early business lessons – that sometimes you have to do what you have to do. Not every moment or decision can be perfect. Driving over the Westgate Bridge on his return to Melbourne, Stefan remembers a feeling of trepidation. It was the first time he had felt scared when approaching a city. The time in Mount Gambier had acclimatized him to regional life. Having built a significant success out of what was supposed to be a 3 month wind down process, he also now had a lot more at stake in terms of his personal, family and business ambitions.

Stepping up to run the family business

At the age of 23, Stefan made a very clear decision – to take on the family business. This had not been part of his life plan to date and in a perfect world he would not have chosen to get involved. However, having made the decision Stefan committed to the business heart, soul and mind. He resolved that he would not ‘build a castle on sand’. He would take the time to re-build the family textile manufacturing business on solid foundations.

At this time Stefan formed a crucial relationship with an older gentleman called Basil Port who had a long and illustrious career in the textile industry. In later years Stefan would identify Basil as a mentor. At the time that word was not so common. Stefan just knew that he needed someone with a great deal of expertise to advise him about the many aspects of running a business and working in textiles. Just as Stefan had loved sitting around the family table as a boy, listening to the words and wisdoms of his elders, his working life continued to reinforce this philosophy. Surround yourself with people who are more skilled and more learned than you are and understand your position within that schema. It can be one of the fastest and most efficient ways to learn and get ahead.

One of the key pieces of advice Stefan recalls was about decision making. As a leader, sometimes you have to make decisions that don’t necessarily please other people – in this case, Stefan’s family. Luckily Stefan was in the rare position of being a second generation family business director with 100% ownership of that directorship. In many cases, second generation family directors are curtailed by having to clear all decisions with their parents. Stefan initiated – and his parents agreed – that the only way to make the business viable was for him to have full decision making autonomy.

A flair for leadership

Stefan looked very closely at what had happened with the family business. He knew that a change in direction would be necessary to breathe new life into it. As he observed: one definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. So he made a significant change in the key working partnerships of the business. Where previously the business had sold directly to large retail chains, Stefan decided to align the business with brands. This simple but crucial shift proved to be an enormous success.

Their first big client was Nike. It was a case of clear vision, good planning and serendipitous timing. Stefan was successful in securing a contract to be the exclusive manufacturers of Nike’s first toddler range. It was 1993 and all of the top sports brands were expanding into new product ranges. Soon after, the business was securing contracts with brands such as Adidas, New Balance, Puma and many more.

Having got to a point of near bankruptcy in the early 90s, the family business – under Stefan’s clear and inspired leadership – was a multi million dollar enterprise by the early 2000s. And all of this Stefan had pretty much taken on as a project. He knew in his heart that the family business was not his first passion. But the time he took to rebuild the business and the lessons he learned were invaluable to his own development as a business leader.

Stefan teams up with his life partner

In 1997 Stefan secured perhaps the most important partnership of his life – getting married to Terri. Together Stefan and Terri began to build a home and a life together. They even went into business together. By this stage the family business was at a point where it was running smoothly. So Stefan and Terri took time to develop a unique fashion label and concept store. It was another valuable learning curve. The label and store both attracted a lot of interest but did not take off in the way Stefan had hoped. He sees now that a decision to locate the store in a lower market, lower rent retail strip in Melbourne (to play it safe financially) was a mistake. And that the higher risk of locating the store in the heart of Melbourne’s trendiest fashion strips would have served the business better. As with all of his life and business lessons though, Stefan became neither despondent nor defeated. He chalked it up to experience, noted how the process could have been improved and moved on.

This ability to be dispassionate is one of the key strengths Stefan identifies as crucial to running a business. He attributes the reduced success of the concept store to the fact that he was too emotionally involved in the decision making and therefore could not see the big picture clearly.

Spreading wings

By 2003 the family business was at a thriving peak once again and Stefan made a clear decision to sell it. His parents were financially secure again and had entered a phase of semi-retirement. They started to split their time between Melbourne and their home island of Rhodes – thus bringing one aspect of their story full circle.

With the business sold, Stefan began applying his skills to a number of different ventures. He began with promotional products – coordinating merchandise for a range of major international golfing events. This allowed him to travel the world – focusing particularly on events in Las Vegas and supply chains in China. From this, Stefan moved into e-commerce. He negotiated a deal with Sony Australia to supply merchandise in conjunction with their television shows such as ‘So Fresh’.

A natural progression for Stefan was to branch into brand development coaching. It was becoming clear to him that he was in a great position to combine his passion for business with his powerful skills at communication and inspiring people. Meanwhile Stefan and Terri had started a family, sons Stephen and Harris born in 2002 and 2004 respectively.

A life changing encounter

In October 2005 Stefan met Bruce Doyle – the owner of the master license for the ActionCOACH franchise in Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania. Bruce invited Stefan for a meeting, which Stefan chose to have at his own office. He wanted the meeting to take place where his impressive business track record would form part of Bruce’s first impression. Bruce invited Stefan to be part of his team. Stefan remembers saying to Bruce that he would only want to join the team if the opportunity existed for him to reach Bruce’s position. It was the first time Bruce could recall anyone articulating such a clear ambition.

This brought about a period of intense deliberation for Stefan. Over the next few months he carried out a number clarity exercises and consulted his business mentors. Stefan wanted to be sure the move was going to be right for his personal ambitions and purpose. He had already spent many years attending to his family business and was now forging great success with his own name. He wanted to be 100% certain before aligning his name with a larger brand. He came to the conclusion that it was still an individual venture, drawing on his personal credentials, integrity and skills. In February 2006 he signed up as an ActionCOACH and cites this as a fantastic decision.

Flourishing as a business success coach and business coaching in Melbourne

Stefan had unprecedented success for a rookie coach. Within three months of practise he had achieved platinum status (which normally takes around three years). At the ActionCOACH global conference in 2006 (which was an invite only event), Stefan was given the Action Man award – after only six months as a coach. He went on to win rookie of the year in both Australia and Asia Pacific in 2006 and Victorian coach of the year in 2007. In 2007 Stefan was one of only three coaches nominated for the prestigious Asia Pacific coach’s choice awards.

In December 2007 Stefan became a master licence partner to Bruce Doyle. After just 18 months he had achieved his goal to be in the same position as Bruce. With an amazing client retention rate (25 clients in two and a half year as opposed to the usual 50 or so), Stefan is widely respected and sought after for his ability to inspire, his tenacity and his skills at helping clients achieve business success.

Stefan is once again in a position of growth, change and acceleration. His current business endeavours Board of Directors12 program, he has an interest in a developing entertainment business and a global allergy friendly cleaning business as well. His deepest commitment is in being a great father to 2 young boys. Stephen and Harris and a devoted husband to his wife, of many years, Terri.

With his current mission to assist 50 individuals become unencumbered millionaires by 2020, Stefan is on track to keep creating and achieving significant personal and business goals for himself. Goals that mean his story is far from over – there is simply a whole new range of chapters about to begin.