How to develop a winning mindset – from the mind behind Gloria Jeans
Earlier this week, over 100 investors, entrepreneurs and professionals gathered at Ironfish HQ to pick the brain of Peter Irvine, one of the co-founders of global coffee franchise Gloria Jeans.
Peter has over 50 years of high-profile business experience; in addition to bringing the Gloria Jeans brand to Australia, he was also part of the team at DDB Needham which launched McDonalds into the Australian market in 1971.
Having sold the Gloria Jeans business in 2014, Peter now travels the globe speaking and presenting at a range of business and leadership events and workshops. He is the author of “Win in business” and “Building our business, your people, your life.”
At the event on Thursday night, presenting on the theme of: “how to develop a winning mindset” Peter described his entrepreneurial journey of building the Australian chain of coffee shops from the ground up.
This began with a trip to the United States in 1995 to test out Gloria Jeans brand – and having very little knowledge of the coffee business – to purchasing franchise rights and launching the first Gloria Jeans outlet in 1996 in the Sydney suburb of Miranda.
Back in 1996, following the opening of the Miranda store, Peter’s vision was to launch 25 more stores in 10 years. Today, there are over 400 Gloria Jeans outlets across Australia. The road hasn’t been all smooth sailing, though.
In 2002, the company’s future looked uncertain after an accidental fire destroyed the head office and coffee warehouse. Peter shared some great insights into how the company managed to bounce back and become the ubiquitous brand it is today, with approximately 800 coffee shops in 39 markets worldwide.
Peter’s tips for budding entrepreneurs include:
- Establish your own set of business values
and mission in order to identify your long-term direction / development goals - Identify any of your own shortcomings and pain points to help break the bottleneck
- Take timely action
- Always maintain a positive and optimistic attitude
Peter believes the last point is the most important of all – and forms the crucial element of developing the ‘winning mindset.’ It’s a point which Ironfish CEO & Founder Joseph Chou, also emphasises strongly.
“I know there are only two things I have full control over: the first is my attitude and the second is hard work. When I first immigrated to Australia, the country was just coming out of a recession and I had no local career experience or any advantage in job market. A positive attitude and willingness to work hard were qualities that I relied on to get me through those early days and have formed the foundation of my own career and business development,” Mr Chou said.
While coffee shops and property investment might seem like two entirely different businesses, to successful entrepreneurs, it seems, having a “winning mindset” is universally applicable and an essential factor in any business’ success.
Ironfish holds regular events across the 5 major capital cities in Australia, inviting a range of thought leaders, and investment experts to present to our investors.
If you missed out on attending Peter Irvine’s workshop and would like to book your place at our next event, sign-up to our mailing list or book your seat via our seminars page.