Episode 14: Nick Shelton, founder of Broadsheet, on what it takes to build an empire; trusting your gut, adhering to cost discipline and believing in yourself
At just 24, Nick Shelton saw a gap in the market for quality recommendations when it came to enjoying the best a city had to offer. Using nothing but initiative he set off to close this gap. Ten years later he has not only succeeded, but created an empire with Broadsheet, a company that incorporates online and print publications, books, restaurants, cafes, collaborations and so much more. In this interview, he discusses how exactly he built Broadsheet, why he has never sought out investment and what he thinks makes for a strong leader.
Topics discussed in this episode:
Introducing Nick Shelton
What is Broadsheet? [5:32]
How did the company's online publication come about at a time when print publication was still the popular choice? [6:50]
Did Nick have a hospitality background? [8:08]
On how the concept of Broadsheet start to develop prior to starting the business [8:46]
On Contacting People Who Could Really Help Their Business [10:53]
On selling the idea of "Broadsheet" [12:20]
Who else is involved in Broadsheet? [14:07]
On the process of deciding what to do [16:28]
On things that haven't gone to plan for Broadsheet [19:09]
On getting energy from other people or from yourself [21:15]
On the people Nick reaches out to. [22:58]
On the books and podcasts Nick recommends [24:40]
On his favorite quotes/mantras [26:05]
On writing his business plans. [27:23]
On Broadsheet's legacy [29:30]
On keeping the public's love and trust for Broadsheet. [30:58]
On his achievement [32:19]
Conclusion [33:20]
Resources mentioned in this episode:
The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO [25:47]
Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of NIKE by Phil Knight [25:37]
Transcript:
Cost discipline is something that has been a big part of the success. It wasn't about saying this is going to cost two million dollars to build a machine on raising money and spend it. It's about saying, how much can I afford to operate within? First step of the business was can we build this into a sustainable business? Can this business pay for itself? That's the first thing it's going to do. And once it does that, can we then grow it? And I guess that's been the journey.
What is Broadsheet?
Broadsheet is the product and the brand. Broadsheet Media is the business that publishes. So Broadsheet is really at its core it's an online digital media brand that covers the best things to do in your city. We operate in Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide and Perth. We cover all the great lifestyle and culture components of the inner city. So it's restaurant. It's bar. It's fashion. It's travel. It's entertainment. It's theater, it's music, it's arts design. It's even now sort of active. So the way we practice yoga and bloodies and go for hikes, go swimming and biking. So it's really everything to do with making life in your city great. And then beyond just the website, we have a quarterly print publication. We publish cookbooks featuring the city's best restaurants. We do pop up bars and restaurants. We really do sort of anything that's about connecting our brand and audience through city lifestyle.
You initially launched online and then shortly thereafter had a print publication. But print publication was still interesting there for an online publication to go online first then print. How did that come about? Did you have any experience in publishing or in publication?
No experience whatsoever. The idea was really always about having a print publication. It was all born out of my frustration that I wasn't getting that sort of content. The media wasn't covering Melbourne in the way that I as a 24-25 year old really wanted to be covered. There was no online resource. I get online and say I want to go and find a cool place for breakfast with some friends in Fitzroy. So the online component was always the piece I saw first, but then quickly realized that if you, you know, you just set up a website doesn't mean that people can find it. So the print publication sort of started as a, well, why don't we print some fliers and put them in some cafes where people are? Well, we have all this great content, so why do we put some content on the fliers? Well, now we're talking about a little book we'll call Broadsheet. So it sort of evolved in that way. It was really just a marketing thing. It was about getting our brand and our content that we thought was we were proud of and it was great to where people were. And that's in cafes and bars and shops and restaurants. So we started there. It was really always about building the brand and the driving people back online.
And so in terms of the actual restaurants and cafes, did you have any kind of hospitality background?
Yeah, I had some sort of casual hospitality background, like so many of us do in our early 20s, worked for a catering company at uni. And then when I was living in London, I was working as a barista. So I was never "give me a career in hospitality" person, but I always loved the industry and I had a real affinity for it. I didn't really know what was going to do next. So I've been living in London for about two years in my early 20s and came back, not really sure what to do next. Always like the idea of running my own business. I had this idea and just thought, well, if I'm not going to do it now, we never will. So let's give it a go.
One of the things that I really admire about the way this business was done was that you went out and found people you could talk to prior to starting Broadsheet. How did you go about doing that? Was that something you just thought of yourself like, "Hey, I can find these places for breakfast, so I'm going to create something? Hey, I had to do that. I'm gonna find people to talk to." Did your parents suggest that? Did you talk about the concept with friends? Did someone suggest it?
I think it was probably a combination of really not knowing anything about digital media and so having to learn it somehow. As well as suggestions from parents. So I remember having the idea and having a really clear idea what that would be. I have a really clear vision coming back from London. I was probably sitting in the car somewhere talking to my dad about this idea and he thought, "OK", well, I think he just told me, "OK, why don't you speak to X, Y and Z? And those we're family friends. You may have something to do with technology or media or something." And then from there, it was really working backwards on a business plan. So when you write a business plan, so go to these headings. You know, this is the top line plan is a marketing plan, is a competition. All the basics. Right. And then thinking, all right, well, I need to do a financial model as well. I've got I need some assumptions to put in here and I need to validate those assumptions or even even begin to know where to put that assumption. So it was just about going out and finding, you know, validating those assumptions, asking questions. Helping fill up the blank part of the business plan. How we're going to fill that up? So I would just cold call, send e-mails. Never leave a conversation without two more people to speak to. And I spent about a year doing that. And then so compiling that into a business plan, which I never actually showed anyone. It was never something that I took out and said is my business plan we funded or anything like that. It was about saying really just almost more of an intellectual exercise, wanting to kind of clarify Mum on what actually what I doing.
A lot of people I work with still find it difficult to shoot off an email to an editor or contact the person that they know could really help their business. Was it just blind ambition? Was it being super young? Did you get nervous contacting these people?
I probably did at the beginning looking back on it, I mean, we're talking a while ago now. But yeah. Especially when you're like it's different if you own a business. Now, I have no problem that. I relish that. I think that's an amazing way to build networks and relationships, which is ultimately just nothing but helpful. At the time, it really took me. You know, there's something I procrastinate against. You know, I pick up the phone, call the managing director of a media agency. You only have to do it one or two times before you realize it. All they can do is not answer your email or say no. Which, of course, happened a couple times. But I think also someone told me this once. They said you're naive and that's a benefit because people won't hold strange things against you, like strange requests against you. They'll just say, "Oh, he's a naive 24 year old. Good for him." And I was told, like, "you'll have that for three years. But after three years, you're gonna have to get to know your shit", which is obviously naturally what happens. But, yeah, I think just getting on the phone to people and chatting people, most, you know, nine out of 10 people were really happy. Yeah.
How did you go about initially selling the idea? I’m assuming that advertising was the main [method].
It was. But it wasn't the focus for a while. For probably a year. So really, the first challenge with in terms of selling it was that selling the concept to even those people that I was talking to who had nothing to buy, it was really just about trying get their attention. And what I found was when I was talking about it, they would dismiss it and say, well, not all of them. And many would say, oh, it doesn't already exist. I think I've seen that somewhere or, you know, at Zagat already does that in New York. "No, it's not. I've got to mind. It's actually something different." But as soon as I could illustrate it. And so I, I worked with a design agency called Studio Round. And I was really fortunate to work with them because they not only understood what I was doing, but they added a lot of value to it. They sort of brought it to life and in a way beyond what I could imagine, even in some respects. So once I had I had an A3, I think it was three A3 print outs. This is the home page. This Is an article page. This is what a directory looks like. And then you would show that to people and they'd say, "oh, this is cool. I could see this. I can really imagine how it'll work." Like you help them visualize it. Yep. It doesn't matter how senior people are. Not many people are great at that creative visualization. They just kind of they revert to back to what they've already seen. So. So once I had that, that was really helpful in terms of kind of getting that first step up. And then in terms of advertising, we were really fortunate to work with a couple of people at the NGV, the National Gallery Victoria, who love the idea. And, you know, at the time we thought it was a decent budget. I don't know what it was. But, you know, looking back, it's very tiny. But it was enough to sort of. Okay, well, now I can spend something on X Y Z and it just sort of grew organically. And then I hired an ad sales person who is terrific at that sort of selling the vision and sign the product.
Who else was involved?
At the very beginning, it was just me and I would write half the stuff. And the other half was written by like friends or local freelancers that didn't mind not getting paid much or anything at the time. And there would be just three or four of them that were maybe writing blogs at the time. And if we're looking for a bigger platform and that was maybe six months of it, and then I managed to hire and then of course, we could see around who I worked in their office. They were real collaborators and brought a level of finish to it that I wouldn't be able to achieve otherwise. And then I hired my first editor, Caroline Clements, who really shared the vision and again, sort of took that to another level. And then you just sort of get this momentum where all this and you're writing more and you're publishing more, and then there's more advertising dollars and there's more audience.
Did you get investment at the start? No. Decided not to go down that path because it was really just a let's test and see if this works. And if it does work, then we can look at raising some money. But then decided never to do that because there was enough to manage to keep costs low enough to operate within the revenue we had. It was like a $20,000 overdraft in the bank guarantee up my parents house, you know, that they were like " Okay, here's 20 grand." And then that was enough to design and build a website and it just sort of went from there. I didn't pay myself the first two years.
No, I didn't even have a job. I was living at home, not taking a salary. Costs were very, very low. And then the idea of building is cost discipline and something that has been a big part of the success. It wasn't about saying this thing's going to cost two million dollars to build functioning on raising money and spend it. It's about saying how much can afford to operate within. I was used to look at the first step of the business was can we build this into a sustainable business? Can this business pay for itself? That's the first thing it's got to do. And once it does that, can we then grow it? And I guess that's been the journey.
Can you talk through the process of deciding what to do? What is the process for you and for your team for "We should do this!" into actually translating into the product or an offering?
I mean, it has probably evolved a lot in the last decade. It's pretty more sophisticated now than it was back in the day when we first started doing things like public cafes. It was a couple of things. Most of the time they were "We need to continue to build a brand and do interesting things. But can we do that in a way that covers down costs?" Because we don't have tens or hundreds, thousands of dollars to go build a restaurant. But if it covers on cost, then we can do that. There are certainly pros and cons of doing that, especially when you're small. Like, the first time we did it, we were really a four person business shuts down the whole business for that group time. You know, a month or two months or whatever it is. But it really did for us help us build a brand. And I guess our approach to all these projects is as a modern media brand, it's not about having a website. It's about having a brand and an audience and a connection between those two things. And however we connect our audience, our brand and the brand's point of view, that's media. So cookbook's media. A restaurant can be media as well. So it's been the approach.
Now, what we look at is we're very clear on what our goals are for the year and for the quarter. As a company and then each division has its own goals that that led us up objectives that led us up to the to the team goal to make sure that we're heading in the same direction and world. You know, the commercial team is playing its role and getting the business to where it wants to be. And the editorial teams playing its role in the marketing team is playing it role. And so we now have a sort of special projects team and they answer a couple of different things. It can be a commercial outcome, commercial goal that we are looking for what could be a marketing goal or brand goal. But we sort of look within that framework of what are we doing this quarter. What are we doing this year? And does that help us get there? We just didn't have the money to go on wasted, you know. So it was really about like, do we really want to do this. And what's this going to add and kind of pay for itself.
Is there anything that hasn't gone to plan for Broadsheet?
mean, yeah, every day. But I don't think there's been anything major that's really not worked. I think we're pretty disciplined with what we're doing. And if something's not working, we're learning from it and we're pulling it back pretty quickly. Some things haven't worked as well as we would've liked, but as long as you're learning from it and then you don't continue to throw good money after that, I think you look back on it and say, well, it's not that that didn't work. It's just that we had to evolve into a changed direction. That is as we might think, an approach we've taken is to be very flexible with our path of how we'll get somewhere. This is where we want to get to. This is how we can get there. OK, well, these obstacles come up. Let's shift around it and reassess how we're gonna get there. And that's fine. And that's just been a part of being flexible, adaptable business.
Do you get your energy from people? Do need to do it yourself?
Definitely both. I'm I'm pretty balanced in that respect. But I don't think running a business is about being the most outgoing person in the world.
... It's about having confidence in yourself, in your vision and in your team. And if you've got confidence, then as long as it's not misplaced, then there's nothing to stop you. I think it's insecurity and it's doubting yourself, doubting a team or doubting that the resources you have around you - that's what's going to get people in people's way. ... A big outgoing personality is driven by insecurity. And that's a terrible, terrible outcome. It can be when you're running a business. But if you if you're confident and you're clear and you know you're going and we want to be. And I think okay.
But do you have people that you seek out, like you said at the very start, you know, you talk to your parents, your parents... Or do you have mentors? Do you have a business coach? Are you part of an entrepreneurs' organization?
No, I'm not. I haven't done really any of that. And I haven't got formal mentors. It's probably I try to identify people who can help with something, depending what that is. And then I really I guess maybe even those early days out before I don't have a problem, pick up the phone and sending an e-mail and saying, "hey, would you have an hour for a cup of coffee?" or "Can you introduce me to someone who might know about X Y Z?" I try to tell myself to do this more and more and more because I just find it's it's so helpful. But just meeting people in different fields always leads to do good things. If I look back on the things of the opportunities we've had or the bits and pieces that come out of left field, it's usually because I was introduced to someone at some party or an event or or, you know, such and such. Sent me an email and said, I think you two people would be interested in knowing each other, I look at someone and think, "oh, you're an interesting person. I should call for a cup of coffee." You know, I've heard of people who say that they try and have a conversation or a cup of coffee with someone new every week or two. And that's such a great idea. I wish I had the discipline and the time.
Are there any books or podcasts or anything that has been key to you? Is there anything that you would suggest to other business owners listening to this podcast?
There's really not one specifically, but I I'm a bit dorky like that. And when I do get a chance to read a book, it's often like a biography. I've read a few and I just find that, you know, if you're on a holiday and you might switch off from the day to day of work, reading an interesting biography. ... So it's I think it's not like I read this book and it's changed the way I think about things. It's more that I try and read widely and pick up bits and pieces. And, you know, you don't even remember you read such, you know, at this point from such a book. It's more that it's sort of just the osmosis seeps in my brain.
Do you have any quotes or mantras you live by?
People regularly ask me like, what's one thing you've learned along the way? And what I come back to quite a lot is don't blindly accept conventional wisdom. And I think that that's what I had to tell myself when I was starting this thing, that sort of first year because you'd go talk to these people and say what is right? And I'm a 24-year-old about to get the digital media. And that was the time when digital media hadn't really taken off yet. The print media was declining, and nine out of 10 people would say, like, you know, this is interesting, but like you're nuts don't do it, you're crazy. But I think having a really clear vision and understanding about, like, it was just about blindly dismissing the advice it was taking the advice on in that process and through a filter of, "OK. Do I understand that?" You know, what they're telling me is that is that something that I already know and have considered or that's something that, you know, the whole premise of this concept is about avoiding that very piece of advice or obstacle. But just because it has been done before doesn't mean it can be done.
Do you go back to your business plan? Do you still write down something for your eyes only?
do. And I don't. It depends on like I'll do them for projects sometimes. Like if it's a really big project with a lot of money spent. And it's become almost sophisticated model and it's not something that's really other people's consumption. I've never really seen the idea of getting a consultant to come in and build a big business plan to make much sense to me because you don't absorb it the same way. But if you're creating it and it's it's really just an intellectual exercise. So if you got these headings and says, like marketing, you should marketing, what about marketing and actually forces you to stop and think about the marketing plan and something will come up and upscale company. I didn't even think of that before I actually addressed this in my mind. I often think the business plan for me starts with a spreadsheet where I go. I just start putting in numbers and putting assumptions and supplying within go like, OK, well, if we need to do, you know, this is going to cost X and then we can't change that cost. So we need to have revenue that does that allows for that. Oh God. As a lot of revenue. In order to get that on revenue, we need to speak to as many people. We need to have marketing do a good job or, you know, X, Y and Z job. If marketing's gonna do X, Y and Z job, we need to spend ABC on it. So as soon as you put these numbers up, other numbers start appearing, and it helps you kind of figure out the scale of something or you know, or if you change this assumption, what does that do to the to the rest of the business? And then from there, you can then sort of start writing down, "OK, well, this is what we've addressed. This is what the numbers behind that marketing. This is what is behind those numbers in the days." And you can express yourself and then you can talk to your team and you can go back. Can you convert to this document, say, like this is why we're doing this in a certain way.
What kind of legacy do you want Broadsheet to leave?
Well, I don't know. I'm just so focused on running it at the moment. For me, it's about having this brand that people love and that's really important that people are adding value to people's lives. And so I don't really know what the future will hold beyond the next two or three years beyond wanting to make sure it's continuing to add value whose lives and obviously its connection to the city is really important. But it could be you know, this is what is the idea that sort of out there idea that I was there to talk about is like we could do a hotel somewhere. Wouldn't that be cool? And it would make sense because we could design it with local designers. The restaurant downstairs could be, you know, done by the local, like we could kind of pool and curate those things together. Same way we do online. But in a physical space. So that's something we're working on. But it's an example of whatever I sort of talk about, the media could be anything - connecting a brand and the audience. That's an example. As long as we're continuing to do that and adding value people's lives in a meaningful way and doing it with.
How do you keep that love? Not only just the love, but the trust? How do you keep that going when your business gets bigger?
Yeah, well, it's about having a team that share a vision. You know, our editorial director, Katya Wachtel, she and I see this in like the same way. We hired her because, you know, not only is she a phenomenal journalist and editor, but, you know, if if I think of one person that I would really want to recommend, I have a recommendation from a you know, whether it's a theater or not, exhibition or a restaurant, you know, Katya is someone that I know with impeccable taste. And then so she kind of trains her editorial team under her with fifteen on that team in that sort of decision making ability. And we don't always get everything a hundred percent right. But we kind of we we use that as an option to look through. And I get why we why do we say that or do this? Long as we're learning as we go, then that is okay.
Do you ever sit back and think, "Well done, Nick!"?
I mean, yes and no. It's like the way I view and I think we at the business view our goals and ambitions and vision is that it's like a horizon line. You don't ever achieve the goal. You don't stand there and go like we're done. We did it. But it's more about saying as soon as you get closer towards it, you sort of think about the next thing. And that's what continues to move away. So we never really give ourselves like a bunch of high fives and say we've completed our mission.
We do like to take opportunities and and reflect and appreciate each other and do all the things that make it more motivated, including motivating yourself. So the answer is yes. We are going to have like a big event at some point early in the new year to to sort of thank our readers and and thank our audience and all the sort of cultural community around us who have helped us achieve it. So that'll be a nice moment to sort of stop, reflect and, you know, take account.
Thanks for listening to My Daily Business Coach podcast. If you want to get in touch, you can do that at mydailybusinesscoach.com or hit me up on Instagram - @mydailybusinesscoach.
If you're not already following them, you can check out at broadsheet.com.au or you can find the guys on Instagram at @broadsheet_melb or @broadsheet_syd.
And you can also find Nick Shelton himself on Instagram at @nick_shelt
Send me a DM or tag me on Instagram at @mydailybusinesscoach.
As always, you can find all the links mentioned in the show notes which are at mydailybusinesscoach.com/podcast/14
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