IB Woman
Issue No. 29 - June/July 2006
Linda puts the ‘I’ in achievement
Linda Austin
by Penelope Herbert
Winning a major annual franchise award on the strength of just six months of trading figures — and increasing annual turnover by 56% and profitability by 52% in just 12 months — is all in a year’s work for serial business developer and self-proclaimed ‘trouble-shooter’ Linda Austin.
Linda has worked for some of Australia’s most recognised brands. Her foray into business ownership brought her to Adelaide from Brisbane less than 18 months ago as the owner of a Harvey Norman computer and IT franchise, one of only six female Harvey Norman franchise owners from a total of 155 Australia-wide.
“Being in business is about balance, not martyrdom,” says Linda, who also has raised her two children as a single mother for the past 14 years.
“Men tell me that I don’t think like a woman, whatever that means to them, but I do know I have un-limited thinking.”
That un-limited thinking has seen Linda bring to Adelaide her own brand of Aussie dynamism. She says it’s an ‘I’ thing – but the ‘I’ must stand for individual – and Linda is certainly that. There is a sparkle and genuine ‘I can take over the world (and make it a better place)’ tinge about her.
Whilst some women are borderline apologetic about their successes, Linda is confident, unreserved and very personable. Yet her business savvy can be broken down to two basic principles; vision, and her absolute commitment to team building.
Even walking in to her offices nestled behind the bustle of the computer and IT division of Harvey Norman’s Enfield store, one wall is peppered with A4 white sheets of paper. Each sheet has the bold red headline ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?’ with indicative temperature gauges representing a variety of the different stock offered in the store. And each sheet has the name of one of the 26 staff members.
It’s a game; it’s motivational, and it works.
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