Offering Her Staff a FOUR DAY Work Week, While Building One of the Fastest Growing New Media Agencies in Australia

On Episode 53 of the?“Future of Australia”?podcast, I speak with?Marilla Akkermans , the Founder and Managing Director of Equality Media , which?grew 129% last year, to do over $3.2 million in annual revenue.

This made?Equality Media, on the Financial Review list of 100 fastest growing new companies in Australia, one of the FASTEST GROWING new businesses in Australia.

[Click Here to Listen to the Podcast in SPOTIFY , or?Listen in iTunes , or?Listen in SoundCloud , or search 'Future of Australia' or 'Derek Stewart' in your iPhone or Android podcast app]

We Discuss...

• Did not want to go to university to study something she did not feel passionate about, fell into media, like many people do
• Spent 5 years in a big global agency, considered it her apprenticeship, loved to be a generalist, liked to know the process
• The shock of going client side, learning how a client would pick a goal or an audience, the battles they would face on a daily basis, how to plug into external resources

• Being a workaholic, coming back too soon to the office with a 16 week old baby, and realising that she did not want to go back into full time work and feel guilty
• “There is no balance, and you cannot switch off when it is your own agency”
• “We are accountable”, and why that is a key thing that she promises her clients and her staff
• Not allowing work life balance for herself or her staff in the early days, and now doing a 32 hour work week, making it flexible, can be four or five days a week
• “We are an honest and transparent agency, charging for time, rather than for rebates or zero dollar fee clients”
• Being profitable every month in business, despite paying more than the market rate of $40,000 for entry level staff, because no one can live on that
• “Trying to find the right staff has been the biggest challenge”, being quick to let someone go if it is not working for the whole organisation
• Asking herself what she would think of her own policies if she was an employee at her company, running through ideas with the team, treating people as adults
• The hard part of getting women back into the workforce after having kids, and how to make a sustainable workplace
• Why a four day work week is so polarising, and people are so conditioned to be on 24x7, and even if they are half dead, and not as fresh or creative
• Being flexible with work for new parents who work for her, to making staff as supported as possible, while not penalising those who never have kids, valuing commitment

[Click Here to Listen to the Podcast in SPOTIFY , or?Listen in iTunes , or?Listen in SoundCloud , or search 'Future of Australia' or 'Derek Stewart' in your iPhone or Android podcast app]

Podcast Episode History:

Episode 1:?"Family Business & Real Estate: How Husband and Wife QLD Entrepreneurs Found A Gap in The Market "

Episode 2:?"Law & Accounting Firm A.I and Automation + Doubling Revenue TWICE in 12 Months "

Episode 3:?"Expat Entrepreneurship & Maximising Your Marketing Dollars "

Episode 4:?"Turning a Hobby Selling Quirky Gifts Online Into a Multi-Million Dollar Business "

Episode 5: "Owning 20+ Properties In His 20s to Buying 40 Per MONTH for Clients "

Episode 6: "Engineering Entrepreneurship and Managing BILLION Dollar Assets "

Episode 7: "One Day Away From Shutting Down to 1000% Annual Growth "

Episode 8:?"From Losing Your Co-Founder to 59% Growth the Next Year "

Episode 9: "Female Entrepreneurship And Starting a Business 11 Days After Giving Birth "

Episode 10: "From Door-To-Door Salesman To $11 Million Annual Revenue Within FIVE Years "

Episode 11: "From Podiatry Intern to 60+ Employee Health SuperCentre "

Episode 12: "From Selling Burned CDs to $350mm in Annual Revenue "

Episode 13: "Developing a Growth Mindset and Perth Entrepreneurship Going Global "

Episode 14: "From Army Officer to $23mm Annual Revenue Canberra Consultancy in 3 Years "

Episdoe 15: "How High School Best Friends Created One of The Fastest Growing Media Agencies in Australia "

Episode 16: "Creating Entrepreneurs, Corporate Innovation and Helping 10 Year Olds Make $1000+ Per Month "

Episode 17: "From $200,000+ in Credit Card Debt to Seven Figure Annual Income "

Episode 18: "How Construction Consulting Became a Multi-Million Dollar Niche Success "

Episode 19: "Why A Fast Growth Law Firm Embraces Tech and Teaches Its Entrepreneur Clients How to Negotiate "

Episode 20: "From Neuroscience PhD to 70 Employee Fast Growth Consultancy "

Episode 21:?"From Inspirational Facebook Posts to the Fastest Growing New Apparel Business in Australia "

Episode 22: "From Sleeping on the Factory Floor to 3rd Fastest Growing New Business in Australia with $40mm+ Annual Revenue "

Episode 23: "From Graduate Finance Job at 18 to Growing Revenue $55 MILLION in 12 Months "

Episode 24: "Paying Drivers MORE The Secret to the Fastest Growing New Logistics Company in Australia "

Episode 25: "From Kicked Out Of High School to Published Author Running A Multi-Million Dollar Digital Growth Agency "

Episode 26: "From $1,000,000+ in DEBT to 6th Fastest Growing New Business in Australia

Episode 27: "How EMPLOYEE-OWNED Consultancy Became 10th Fastest Growing New Business in Australia "

Episode 28:"From Cold Calling in a New York City Phone Booth to Australian Public Company CEO "

Episode 29: "How a Direct-To-Consumer Leak Proof Underwear Business Became The 8th Fastest Growing New Businesses in Australia "

Episode 30: "Why Helping People Lose 6kg+ in TWO WEEKS Made Shark Tank Invest "

Episode 31: "From Road Tripping Around the USA in a Van to Running One of The Fastest Growing Digital Media Agencies in Australia "

Episode 32: "How Predicting Technology Trends Enabled Vamsi to Build One of The Fastest Growing New Businesses in Australia "

Episode 33: "Becoming One Of The Fastest Growing New Recruitment Businesses in Australia While Having Two Weddings and Five Pregnancies in the Founding Team "

Episode 34:"From Making $1,000,000+ Mowing Laws at 17 to Becoming One Of The Fastest Growing New Engineering Businesses in Australia "

Episode 35:"How Tony Turned a Struggling Digital Gifting Company Into a Fast Growth Success Story Selling 400,000+ Gift Cards per MONTH "

Episode 36: "Using Automated Disinfecting Lights and Robots to Tackle COVID-19 and Becoming The Fastest Growing New Healthcare Business in Australia "

Episode 37: "Becoming One of The Fastest Growing New Management Consultancies in Australia by Doing The Opposite of The Big Four "

Episode 38: "Being The Solution to Climate Change, with a BILLION Dollar Goal and Turning That Into a Fast Growth Success Story "

Episode 39: "From Starting a Restaurant in Germany as a University Student to Creating The Fastest Growing AirBNB Management Business in Australia "

Episode 40:"Making Impact While Making Millions, With the Fastest Growing New Social Enterprise in Australia "

Episode 41:"Qutting a Dream Job at Google to Build One of the Fastest Growing New Businesses in Australia "

Episode 42:"Building The Fastest Growing Commercial Real Estate Buyers Agency and Moving Away from Residential Property Investing "

Episode 43: "From Princess Diana’s Personal Trainer to Creating the Fastest Growing Fitness Franchise in Australia "

Episode 44: "Transforming an Idea for Gluten Free Beer to 1700+ Locations, Creating One of The Fastest Growing Beer Brands in Australia "

Episode 45: "Solving BILLION Dollar Supply Chain Problems and Why COVID Changed Everything "

Episode 46:"From Wales to Sydney, Seeking Autonomy as The Motivation for Starting one of the Fastest Growing New Recruitment Companies in Australia "

Episode 47: "Creating Websites at 10 Years Old, Working in a Top Tier Law Firm, to Founding the Fastest Growing New Legal Tech Business in Australia "

Episode 48: "Borrowing $500,000 To Win His First Client, Becoming the Fastest Growing Marine Consultancy in Australia with 35 Staff in Three Years "

Episode 49: "Helping Aussie Brands Go Global, Building One of the Fastest Growing New Freight Companies in Australia "

Episode 50: "From 100 Hour Weeks In a Wine Bar, to Machine Learning Algorithms for Real Estate, and Creating One of the Fastest Growth Tech Companies in Australia "

Episode 51:"From Driving Brand and Business at Nike & Levi Strauss in Europe, to Private Equity, before Starting One of The Fastest Growing Strategy Consultancies "

Episode 52: "From Studying Philosophy and Astrophysics to Starting one of the Fastest Growing New Publicly Traded [ASX: WZR] FinTech Companies in Australia "

Hi, my name is Derek.?"FUTURE OF AUSTRALIA"?is a project I am running to interview the Founders, CEOs and Entrepreneurs behind the?FASTEST GROWING new businesses in Australia.?

It has been voted one of the?top Australia business podcasts .

"FUTURE OF AUSTRALIA"?is about interviewing, celebrating and sharing the knowledge, aspirations, struggles, goals and achievements of these people with a broader audience.

If you are interested in contributing, learning more of keeping in the loop with our updates and email newsletter, email me at?[email protected] , or give me a call or text on?0404 689 897.

www.FutureOfAustralia.com