Eloise Monaghan from Honey Birdette

Founder and owner of Honey Birdette ‘Sensuality Boutiques’ – www.honeybirdette.com.au

Eloise is the founder and co-owner of Honey Birdette “sensuality boutiques”, up-market adult stores for women.

Honey Birdette was founded in 2006 by friends Eloise and Janelle. The pair met while both working in the United Kingdom and discovered they had a mutual interest in the lingerie available in European high streets. It wasn’t until Monaghan, had returned to Australia and went shopping for a friend’s hen’s night that the idea for Honey Birdette began to grow.

Tired of not being able to find provocative lingerie and luxury bedroom toys they set out to inject a sense of sensuality into the Australian bedroom. With their lingerie inspired packaging and suggestively named products, Honey Birdette boutiques are flirty, playful and unapologetically sensual.

What began as a one off boutique in West End has become a multi-store chain for two Brisbane businesswomen. With 3 stores in Brisbane, Honey Birdette is set to open two more stores later this year as part of a plan to grow the business’s nationally.

Eloise is also working on Honey Birdette’s own lingerie label  that will hit the shelves this month.

Far from having a background in the adult industry, Eloise started in marketing, and made the jump to entrepreneur when she realised how far the Australian market was lagging behind the UK and how good the opportunity was to start her own store.

A well known Brisbane entrepreneur, Eloise is a stand out example of someone who has taken a good idea and adapted it to a new market, persevering and putting in the hard work to make it a success.

* Register Free at http://www.thehive.org.au & Become a Fan of The Hive Brisbane on Facebook *

See you there!

Mike Boyd, Nick McIntosh & Walter Haas
The Hive Brisbane Team

If you’re on Twitter make sure you follow @TheHive & tweet using the #HiveBris hashtag.

Guy ‘Yug’ Blomberg

Creator and owner of the Mana Bar – http://www.ManaBar.com.au/

The first cocktail and console video game bar in the world – Guy ‘Yug’ Blomberg has managed to bring his passion for drinking and playing video games out of the lounge room and into the public conscious. Makes sense now, but the creation of the Mana Bar is an epic tale of hopes, dreams, conflict, romance, danger, and entrepreneurship.

Not just the pretty face of the Mana Bar however, ‘Yug’ has been a graphic designer for the better part of a decade – working his way up from the depths of the adult industry to the suit & tie respectability as a Creative Director, and everything in between.

He also created and operates one of the largest independent video game websites in Australia – www.AustralianGamer.com, and has been through the highs and lows of bringing a video game network TV show to life – www.GameDamage.net.

Respected as a gaming journalist, acknowledged as an accomplished graphic designer, embraced as a champion for the local game development industry, and unanimously toasted for his crazy ideas that somehow become reality – he guarantees at the very least some entertaining stories and will shout you a drink at his bar!

* Register Free at http://www.thehive.org.au & Become a Fan of The Hive Brisbane on Facebook *

See you there!

Mike Boyd, Nick McIntosh & Walter Haas
The Hive Brisbane Team

If you’re on Twitter make sure you follow @TheHive & tweet using the #HiveBris hashtag.

Nat Duncan from QLD Film Locations

Nat Duncan started her own film locations company in 2006.

With little knowledge of the film industry but a strong desire to test her abilities and “jump off the deep end” she has managed to develop a strong company with an impressive database.  Queensland Film Locations services overseas, interstate and local production companies. Nat is very interested in young entrepreneurs and the approach they take in business and digital life.  She recently co-managed Upload – Young Entrepreneurs Camp in January andJuly 2009 and January 2010.

Blog: QLD Locations

Project: Precinkt

Twitter: @NatDuncan

Web: www.qldfilmlocations.com.au

* Register Free at http://www.thehive.org.au & Become a Fan of The Hive Brisbane on Facebook *

See you there!

Mike Boyd, Nick McIntosh & Walter Haas
The Hive Brisbane Team

If you’re on Twitter make sure you follow @TheHive & tweet using the #HiveBris hashtag.

Yaro Starak from Entrepreneurs-Journey.com

Yaro Starak is a professional blogger, best known for www.Entrepreneurs-Journey.com, a blog that teaches people how to start a successful Internet business, read by over 90,000 subscribers.

A true entrepreneur, in the last ten years Yaro’s started an English school, an online proofreading business, bought and sold websites for profit and consulted on Internet businesses.

Today, Yaro is focused on his passion – blogging.  He consistently earns over $20,000 per month from his blog and coaches others how to earn a living from blogging.

Yaro spent 8 months of 2008 traveling around the world, visiting 25 different cities including London, Paris, Amsterdam, New York, Chicago, Toronto, Montreal, Dubai and Singapore, all the while writing to his blog from each city and running his business.

Yaro truly lives the 2-hour work day lifestyle, with ample freedom to enjoy life while making a well above average income thanks to the Internet.

* Register Free at http://www.thehive.org.au & Become a Fan of The Hive Brisbane on Facebook *

See you there!

Mike Boyd, Nick McIntosh & Walter Haas
The Hive Brisbane Team

If you’re on Twitter make sure you follow @TheHive & tweet using the #HiveBris hashtag.

Lenard Poulter founder of Lenards

With 191 franchised stores in his back pocket, a reputation as one of the country’s foremost lateral thinkers and an insatiable passion for all things gastronomic, Lenard Poulter appears to have the world on a string.

As founder of the hugely successful Lenard’s franchise, Australia’s leading retailer has found a niche in the highly competitive fresh food market that satisfies the needs of today’s time short consumer. Lenard’s extensive range of pre-prepared, value-added meals and the “easyliving” pre-cooked range seems to have a taste for everyone.

With more than 35 years experience in the industry, Len continues to direct his knowledge and hands-on retailing skills toward ensuring the future growth and direction of his company. With Lenard’s now extensively positioning itself inside supermarkets and expanding at a rapid rate through Australia, Len constantly pursues his vision of “more Lenard’s chicken on more tables, every day.”

Len’s next major challenge is to expand the franchise into other lucrative overseas markets and to constantly look at any avenues that may better distribute the Lenard’s product and brand to a wider audience of consumers.

Above all else, Len is extremely passionate; passionate about his business, about experiencing the pleasures of good food and wine, about football and his beloved Brisbane Lions, in fact about all things Australian in general. Really you’d be hard pressed to find anyone more passionate about life.

* Register Free at http://www.thehive.org.au & Become a Fan of The Hive Brisbane on Facebook *

See you there!

Mike Boyd, Nick McIntosh & Walter Haas
The Hive Brisbane Team

If you’re on Twitter make sure you follow @TheHive & tweet using the #HiveBris hashtag.

Tom Potter founder of Eagle Boys Pizza

Tom Potter, founder of Australian owned Eagle Boys Pizza, left school at 15 and found himself jobless at 23. He opened his first pizza shop in Albury, New South Wales in 1987 and proceeded to build the business to become Australia and New Zealand’s largest privately owned pizza company.

Tom is a country boy, starting his business with a minimal education and very little money behind him. Tom built Eagle Boys to become one of Australia’s home-grown retail and franchise successes, through radical change, innovation and at times unusual business and marketing tactics. Along the way, Eagle Boys won various National Franchising Awards and Tom was awarded with the Australian Financial Review’s Young Business Person of the Year. He was chosen to give the valedictorian speech at his graduation class at Harvard Business School.

Tom is one of Australia’s most outstanding retailers, entrepreneurs and inspirational leaders and his straightforward, no nonsense approach endears audiences to be inspired to change and cut through the clutter to achieve higher results at all levels.

Tom’s website is: www.tompotterspeaker.com

We invite you to join Tom and The Hive team at our March event at Greystone Bar (Little Stanley Street- South Bank) on Tuesday, March 30 at 7pm (Sharp!). This event is FREE but you buy your own drinks.

* Register Free at http://www.thehive.org.au *

See you there!

Mike Boyd, Nick McIntosh & Walter Haas
The Hive Brisbane Team

If you’re on Twitter make sure you follow @TheHive & tweet using the #HiveBris hashtag.

Who: Fedele Crisci from

The Sit Down Comedy Club

• Founded Comedy Club with Business Partners at age 21
• Now boasts 20+ venues QLD wide including 3 PNO Oceanliners
• Attracts headline acts from around the globe

At the young age of 21, Fedele Crisci and his business partners founded the Sit Down Comedy Club at Snug Harbour – Dockside Bar & Restaurant, which was begun in an effort to provide alternative entertainment mid-week for a six-week trial, however it proved so successful, it never stopped!

The Sit Down Comedy Club opened in 1992 and was produced as a Thursday night show by entertainment producers and friends Fedele Crisci, Roger Beames, Jenni Kubler and Tony Auckland.

The Sit Down Comedy Club relocated in July 2000 to a larger venue – McGuire’s Paddo Tavern, where it continues to produce high quality comedy shows.

Fedele, Kelli, Anj & Roger

20 years later, Fedele Crisci and his only remaining founding partner, Rodger, now manage over 20 comedy venues around Queensland including 3 permanent shows on PNO Ocean liners.

From a young age Fedele had the entrepreneurial spirit and knew that if he wanted something he had to go out and get it. Starting work at a local Paddington deli at age 12, Fedele, grew to be the first manager of the iconic LA Dolce Vita Restaurant on Park Rd at Milton. Working the hospitality industry was his life outside of university, where he studied degrees in Maths, Drama and Teaching.

The Sit Down Comedy Club presents a new show every week with Local, National and International performers that have featured on Radio or Television. Some of the acts that have graced the Sit Down Comedy stage are Carl Baron, Dave Hughs, Jimoein, Judith Lucy, Mick Molloy, Wil Anderson and many more.

We invite you to join Fedele and The Hive team at our February event at Greystone Bar (Little Stanley Street- South Bank) on Tuesday, February 23 at 7pm (Sharp!). This event is FREE but you buy your own drinks.

*Register Free at http://www.thehive.org.au

See you there!

Mike Boyd, Nick McIntosh & Walter Haas
The Hive Brisbane Team

If you’re on Twitter make sure you follow @TheHive & tweet using the #HiveBris hashtag.

We would like to thank our national sponsors:

Deloitte Digital http://www.deloittedigital.com
RMIT University http://www.rmit.edu.au

You can watch the podcast of the event here

Martin Duncan opened the original Freestyle Tout 13 years ago in Rosalie (tout meaning everything or all), as a gallery and florist with coffee and dessert. Since its inception, Freestyle Tout has grown into a dessert café with an iconic reputation throughout Brisbane and Australia.
www.freestyletout.com.au

In December 2004, Martin opened Freestyle Tout at Emporium, 1000 Ann St in The Valley.

In May 2009, Freestyle Tout in West End opened.

Each calendar month, Freestyle Tout restaurants showcase a new artist.

Martin is a keen advocate for charities such as the Abused Child Trust, Starlight Children’s Foundation and the Children’s Hospital in Brisbane.

He is regularly featured in the media promoting the hospitality industry, consults to several magazines and does radio interviews.

Martin is continually helping to promote QLD food events, such as the Celebration of Australian Food & Wine Noosa Style, Hilton Masterclass and Smartfood.

Queensland Food & Beverage Industry

www.qldfbi.com.au
In March 2005, Martin launched the Queensland Food Beverage Industry (FBI), the perfect vehicle for networking in the hospitality industry.

In 2007 FBI extended to the Sunshine Coast with the events held in both Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast 4 times a year (seasonally) to showcase local produce for each season to chefs, restaurateurs and media.

Freestyle Escape

www.freestyleescape.com.au
Freestyle Escape is located in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland with three private houses, Escape, the Arthouse and Omaroo, providing luxury accommodation to discerning clients. Art classes and special food events are also held on the property.

We invite you to join Martin and The Hive team at our October event at the Star Cafe Bar (Little Stanley Street- South Bank) on Tuesday, October 27 at 7pm. This event is FREE but you buy your own drinks.

*Register Free at http://www.thehive.org.au*

See you there!

Mike Boyd, Nick McIntosh & Walter Haas
The Hive Brisbane Team

If you’re on Twitter make sure you follow @TheHive & tweet using the #HiveBris hashtag.

• Started CarAdvice as a blog with $35
• Now Employs 10 staff
• Largest Independent Auto website in Australia

Having made his first $250 at the age of 12 from selling advertising on his hobby website, Alborz spent the next 10 years running over 20 different websites, a webdesign company and even an internet cafe.

He finally came to the conclusion that in order to be happy and successful he has to mix his love of cars with his specialty in creating online businesses and hence CarAdvice.com.au was born.

Three and a bit years later, CarAdvice now receives over 1,500,000 unique visitors per month and has become one of the largest independent Australian publications for automotive news, reviews and advice. The business has been independently valued at over five million dollars and continues to grow on a monthly basis.

In that time Alborz has flown all over the world and driven the world fastest and most exclusive cars, having his videos aired on discovery channel and free to air TV in Australia, plus over 1 million views on youtube. The business currently has offices in Sydney and Melbourne with other staff also based in Brisbane and Perth.

Alborz says his desire to do what he loves came from an underlying fear of being stuck in an office every day! He now spends his days further developing and expanding the business whilst also test driving his favourite cars.

Mike Boyd, Nick McIntosh & Walter Haas
The Hive Brisbane Team

If you’re on Twitter make sure you tweet using the #hivebris hashtag.

• Mike O’Hagan – Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2004 & 2007.
• Started MiniMovers with just $200 and a Ute.
• Annual turnover now exceeds $30million employing 400+ staff.

After being raised on a Dairy Farm in New Zealand, at the age of 18 Mike arrived in Australia with a few hundred dollars in his pocket and a pack on his back. Over the next 8 years he worked for 35 different employers. In his words “I’m a product of the many really bad, and the few good, employers I worked for”.

This background helped to influence Mike to “do it differently” in business.

His business career started with buying and selling goods as a second-hand dealer. Four years later the entrepreneur in Mike surfaced when he launched a short distance furniture removal business. This evolved into MiniMovers.

MiniMovers has evolved into an innovative market leader, growing from an initial investment of $200 and a Ute, to an annual turnover exceeding $30 million with over 400 employees. Now 22 years old, MiniMovers currently moves over 1200 homes and offices a week in Southeast Queensland, Melbourne and Sydney.

Through various government sponsored assistance/mentoring programs Mike has helped many hundreds of businesses. As a result Mike has developed some very alternative views of the success factors that drive people and businesses. Mike sees his strengths in his basic commonsense approach – “out of the box” thinking, leadership, systems, marketing, people management skills, workplace culture, innovative products, and creative customer service strategies.

It’s been thirteen years since Noodle Box’s doors first opened and the original noodles in a box are more popular than ever. Noodle Box now operates 72 stores nationwide and is the fastest growing noodle franchise in Australia. The company expects to open its 100th store in 2010.

• Josh and Dave established Noodle Box with less than $60,000. The company now turns over more than $42m per annum.
• Noodle Box is still a 100% privately owned Australian business.
• In an average week, more than 75,000 noodle, rice, salad and soup boxes are served at Noodle Box stores across Australia.

Dave, an intrepid traveller in his early twenties, first conceived the idea for Noodle Box while on a working holiday in Europe. He was on a very small wage at the time and could only afford to eat fast food, which � to his delight � was served in convenient, yet quirky boxes.

During a stopover in Singapore, where he witnessed chefs cooking on flaming woks for the first time, Dave uncovered the missing ingredient for his burgeoning business idea. He loved the theatre of the wok�style cooking and realised there was a great opportunity in the Melbourne market for this style of food.

Thirteen years on and with more than 70 Noodle Box stores under his belt, Dave is still as involved in the business as he was back in 1996. He has no regrets and believes the lessons he’s learnt along the way have got him to where he is today.

“Both Josh and I have a genuine appreciation for how much time and work it takes to build a small business. It’s been the greatest learning curve of my life and has supplied me with a great platform for future projects,� Dave said.

In his spare time, Dave loves boating, running, architecture and design. He also has a passion for all things music and regularly attends live gigs and summer music festivals.

Have you ever wondered:

• What makes an Entrepreneur tick?
• Are Entrepreneurs natural born risk takers?
• Is there such a thing as Ethical Entrepreneurship?
• Is it normal for Entrepreneur’s to feel lonely?

Michael Doneman, Director of Edgeware Creative Entrepreneurship will answer all these questions and many more for The Hive Brisbane on Tuesday, June 30.

Michael is the founding Director of Edgeware Creative Entrepreneurship a freelance consultant, facilitator and entrepreneurship coach. Michael is one of Queensland’s best minds in the creative business field and understands all the highs and lows of being in business.

Edgeware recently facilitated an open panel discussion on Creative Entrepreneurship at the Brisbane Ideas Festival and regularly host their own conferences, workshops and retreats for entrepreneurs right throughout Queensland.

Michael has 20 years of experience in education and community cultural development, which inspired work in communities (including Indigenous and rural-remote communities) in enterprise development, vocational education and training, and information technology. In the course of this he developed expertise in informal education, and the just-in-time provision of skills, networks and interactions.

He is a longtime supporter of Denmark’s KaosPilots business school and a member of the KaosPilot International Board. Michael was a Senior Research Fellow at Queensland University of Technology from 2002-2005 and consults with the ATN University network’s e-Grad School on knowledge transfer and research commercialisation. He founded the Edgeware model of ethical entrepreneurship education in 2006, and co-edits Edgeware’s blog, On the Edge.

If you’re in business in Queensland and don’t already know Edgeware… you need to.

Ever wondered what it’s like to grow a business from scratch and wind up in BRW’s Fast 100 list two years in a row? Ever wondered what it takes to win Ernst and Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year award? How about what it’s like to manage a company whose product is consumed A MILLION TIMES EACH DAY by Australians?

Why not ask Phillip Di Bella of Di Bella Coffee at The Hive this month? In the true spirit of The Hive, we’re proud to give our members the opportunity to connect with Phillip’s many years of experience and entrepreneurial wisdom for FREE.

The Hive team is delighted to welcome Phillip as May’s guest entrepreneur. Phillip created his coffee empire from nothing, working alone with only two wholesale clients and using another company’s coffee roasting equipment. After 7 long years he now heads up Australia’s fastest growing coffee company at the ripe old age of 33.

His ability to fill a niche, deliver an integrated service and networking system that allows clients to access products, machines and accessories, training and maintenance all at fair prices has set him apart from his competition. Di Bella Coffee also connects at the ‘grass roots’ level through it’s presence at Jan Power’s Farmers Market, at New Farm every second Saturday and, the weekly Brisbane City Mall Market.

An important aspect of the company is its support of philanthropic and community work globally. This includes sponsoring children in the Philippines, motivational speeches and mentoring at high schools. Di Bella Coffee also donates all coffee products to Cafe One on Wickham, which is a project of Mission Australia.

Watch the podcast of the event here, and read a member review.

Hot off the success of Brisbane’s first ever event in March, The Hive team would like to introduce Andrew Cooper from dstore as April’s guest entrepreneur.

Andrew’s background in online retailing spans the dot-com boom, the subsequent 2001 dot-bomb clean out and continues into the current period of resurgence. In 1998 Andrew and his brother Tim started HotShed, a software house providing ecommerce systems to large retailers including Rebel Sport, Angus & Coote, Blockbuster video and The Perfume Connection.

In 2001 an opportunity arose that saw Andrew and his team leading the charge by purchasing dstore.com.au out of the hands of receivers. After making drastic changes to the business model and applying HotShed’s software and systems the business has risen back near the top of the online retailing tree.

Andrew is an entrepreneur with a varied business background. Along with his software and online retailing businesses he also owns video stores, car washes and property interests. He actively fosters entrepreneurship and is president of the Brisbane branch of Entrepreneur’s Organisation, a global network of over 10,000 entrepreneurs.

We invite you to join Andrew and The Hive team at our April event at the Fox Hotel on Tuesday, April 28 at 7pm. This event is FREE but you buy your own drinks! If anyone is interested in sponsoring the event, please contact us.

If you’re on Twitter make sure you tweet using the #hivebris hashtag.

The Hive Brisbane is very excited to be kicking off the year with guest entrepreneur Richard Eastes from Vroom Vroom Vroom!

Richard took a risk when he spent his life savings on VroomVroomVroom – a travel startup that was booking a mere 20 online car rental reservations per day. He quickly grew it from his Brisbane bedroom into Australia’s fastest growing travel company. Winning various business awards such as Deloitte FAST50, it now generates close to $5m in sales each month. The company is expanding globally and is poised to becoming a great Australian export.

As a project to compliment VroomVroomVroom.com’s carbon neutral car rental, Richard started GreenLogo which has calculated that the internet produces approximately 1200 tonnes of CO2 per hour. GreenLogo reduces this by tracking the CO2 produced by a website and then pays for its carbon credits using sponsors.

Richard loves networking nights, innovative employees, touch rugby, social media sites and is addicted to Twitter. Follow him on twitter at @eastes

Read Ross Hill’s review of the event here, and watch the podcast on Youtube.