Born in 1975, Jim grew up in Armidale, NSW. “I grew up

in a loving family. My dad’s a pretty special guy - he was a

radiologist - and my mum was a pre-school teacher, which

gave me what I would deem a really good early childhood

with no lack of love.”

Following his three elder academically capable sisters meant

Jim’s education was probably a little bit more frustrating for

his teachers. He looks back on those early days realistically.

“I wasn’t a bad child but I was a somewhat distracted

one. My family was part of a closed secular religion which

meant I had a predefined pathway, so I didn’t really focus

on school as much as I should have. Religion was a very

significant part of our lives, and it was my parents’ absolute

reason for being.”

Jim openly admits that “I don’t think you ever truly

complete your parents’ expectations, I don’t think anyone

ever does. Perhaps parents expect too much of their kids at

times. Most certainly, a lot of values that I have today, and

that I’m now sharing with and guiding my children, have

been derived from my parents.”

Who Jim has become, and how he has come to be there,

are mostly definitely the product of his parents’ input. “My

dad’s an incredibly bright man and he has an incredible

humility about him. Very few people would truly understand

his capacity. My mum was always positive, and told us to

count our many blessings one by one, and she also worked

on the principle of do unto others as you’d have them do

unto you. So a lot of those things have certainly affected

who I am today.”

CEO – Modern Star Group

At just 20, Jim Craddock left his family home and church behind, drove four hours to Sydney with no money, no job and no idea about his future. It was a tough start, but twenty years later, Jim has gone on to be the CEO of the most successful educational resource supplier in Australasia.

Businessheroes

Unsung

Jim’s parents are community-minded

and caring people who didn’t seek

recognition. As Jim recalls, “for example

they’d recognise families in need, and

drop off groceries on their veranda, not

knock, and not look to be recognised

or take any credit. That sort of stuff is

pretty powerful.”

As a country medical practitioner,

Jim’s father is highly respected, which

came from treating all people equally,

irrespective of who they were. “Dad’s

now 78, but he still goes out of his way

to help people every day. He probably

helps more people every hour than I

do in a week.”

In retrospect, Jim was always going to

work for his dad’s business. His father

had set up a business for his sons

and son-in-law Graeme, in hospitality

supplies in Armidale, and Jim went to

work there straight after school. Jim

says “I remember my dad coming up

the stairs the following morning after

my last high school exam, and he said

‘James I think the Lord would expect

you to go to work today’. Further

education wasn’t part of the church,

you just got on with it.”

At the end of 1995, Jim had a parting

of the ways with the church - as he

puts it “a coming together of heads,

more than hearts.” Jim regrets the

bridge with his family won’t ever be

mended, given the church is pretty

defined in their views. “It’s a challenge,

of course, because my kids don’t have

grandparents as such, but it also

makes you who you are, so you’ve got

to embrace anything that makes you a

little bit stronger.”

Jim admits to desperate times and

desperate actions to make that move

away from the only life he’d known.

“I broke into my parents’ house

one Sunday, when my folks were at

church, because I had no food, no

money, and I knew my Mum would

have prepared a feast, she simply

was the best cook ever. While there,

I opened the Sydney Herald and as

the pages fell open, right there was

an advertisement for exactly my job

in Armidale, but based in Sydney. I

rang the owner, who responded that

if I could be in Sydney the following

morning, I could have the job, if I was

as good as I said I was.”

Having coerced one of his dad’s

workers to give him a company car,

Jim drove to Sydney, got the job, and

drove the car home the following

night, only to then hitchhike back to

Sydney, and the rest is history.

The company which took Jim on

was called Northpak, then owned

by Lindsey Galloway and George

Stavropoulos. Jim worked there for

about six months, selling hospitality

supplies to cafes, recalling that “they

were very good to me. I followed

one of their employees to a company

called G&M Packaging, working for

Burt Johnson and George Sofokleous,

for two years.”

In time, Jim had heard about a

company called Modern Teaching Aids,

which sold great products to schools.

All that quiet time in the school

holidays sounded too good to be true

to Jim at the time! Jim responded to

a recruitment ad for that company,

however the sales manager, Graham

Kapinga told him he’d already had

70 applicants and didn’t really need

anymore. Jim recalls “I really wanted

that job, so I just made sure that he

absolutely knew I was his guy. I made

sure I was the person that influenced

his day, and influenced his sleep. You

do certain things out of fear and need,

and basic competitive behaviour.

There’s no downside in going hard at

it and making sure you’re there to be

counted; last man standing principle.”

Of course, Jim got the job working for

Modern Teaching Aids in 1998, and

was soon selling educational resources

throughout a large area of Sydney and

country NSW. Jim looks back on those

days with great fondness; “I had the

privilege of seeing some of the most

extraordinary places, and meeting the

most extraordinary people, many of

whom are still good friends.”

“Maximise the moments, and the rest takes care of

itself.”

Unsung Business heroes Jim Craddock

allows customers to create some of the steps for children to

take toward adulthood.

Jim oversees a company of some 230 staff in all. “The

human component is never easy, because everyone’s world

is their own. People everywhere want to be valued and

acknowledged. They want to be part of a greater purpose,

have some clearly defined objectives and understand why

we are who we are, and where we’re going, and no one

should be precluded from that. It doesn’t matter where they

are in an organisation, the process should be enjoyable.

I love seeing my colleagues having fun. It’s important.”

When asked how he motivates his staff, Jim goes back to the

fundamentals of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. “It starts with

a sense of belonging, safety, security and certainty. Being

part of a team and understanding the business is going well

and that it’s sustainable is all important. Allowing people to

feel they’re contributing, and how that can be measured

so they can understand their own success, is also critical.”

The overall sense within the business is that “we’re a team,

we work to a common goal.” Jim’s delighted to boast that

“we’ve got an incredible array of staff here. My colleague

Len will celebrate 40 years with us next year. He’s been with

the company since I was 8 months old! We’ve got long-

serving reps on the road, like Harry in Adelaide, who last

month celebrated 35 years, and other reps with 25 years.

There are so many good, long term relationships.”

The underlying principle is that “business is about

partnerships, it’s understanding what your customer really

needs to achieve their outcomes, and also understanding

what your suppliers can bring to you. If you have a vested

interest in what your customer’s trying to achieve, you can

find it, or create it and this business does it really well on

both counts.”

Jim’s proud to claim that 63% of revenue last year was

from either exclusive products or those which have been

fully developed in-house. He notes “there are products

in the business continually supplied up to today, from

partnerships from before I was born. You then become a

custodian of those partnerships and relationships. It’s that

blend and respect of continuity that makes this business

really successful in what it does.”

Of course, it’s not smooth sailing. Some big contracts have

been lost over time, which really hurt; particularly when it

can ultimately affect the ability to employ certain people

or teams. As all small business owners know, “having the

economic climate move around you and having to make

hard decisions, that’s never easy.”

Success in Jim’s life is determined by multiple parties. He

has investors, and other people to whom he answers, who

obviously measure success in terms of profitability, but also

want a good sustainable business. Jim explains his own

view; “Wellbeing and working in that principle of ‘doing

unto others as you’d have them do unto you’ means success

in my mind isn’t purely monetary. People who are truly

content quite often are happy with less and so my measure

is more of a fabric. It’s about getting lots of little things

right, feeling good about it, and making sure that you’re

not burning anybody or anything on the way through.”

Jim believes there’s no substitute for hard work. “You can

have all the degrees in the world, but if you’re not willing to

put in the effort, it probably won’t transpire into anything.

I don’t expect my daughters to go to university. I assume

they will, but it’s certainly not imperative to their success.

The school of hard knocks is where common sense comes

from, for sure. That’s probably one of my dad’s comments.”

In 2002, the business was bought by two English brothers, Neill

and Simon Wiston. “They asked various layers in management

about who they thought had a good eye for new product,

and I was very fortunate that the previous owner, the sales

manager and the state sales manager all put my name

forward. I suppose it was just those little things that you do

along the way which delivers that extra mile. The old owner,

John Herrington, was leaving the business and he was taking

with him a lot of good product knowledge and that critical eye

for good product. I was fortunate… right time, right place.”

Jim was promoted to a product management role on the

education side, and soon after that the retail product

manager left suddenly, so he was asked to take on the

entire product management role across all their channels.

“That gave me a chance to be fully integrated into the

business and to thoroughly learn all the aspects of it. That

was in 2004. After more than a few all-nighters, and a lot

of long weeks, I was offered a more commercial role, and

joined the board in 2005.”

Jim has never asked for a pay rise. “My view is, if you work

hard, focus on making your boss rich, that’s going to pay

dividends for you.”

From 2005 through to 2014, Jim worked very closely with

owners Neill and Simon, and a colleague, CFO Rob Davis.

“We worked hard at building a really good business, and in

that time, it more than quadrupled in size. Neill and Simon

decided it was the right time for them to exit.”

Jim comments “this is a business totally vested in its customers’

needs. We have three core customers; educational institutions

in our education channel; toy retailers in our toy channel; and

parents and kids in our consumer channels. And our aim is

to maximise and efficiently deliver what they’re all trying to

achieve as their ultimate outcome.”

It’s a source of great pride that “next year is our 60th year,

and I’m merely one custodian having been here nearly 18

years. Our business has multiple positive forces. We have

really good supplier partnerships. We have great products,

and great customers, with really great reasons for being.”

Jim describes the three channels of the business as having “a

great, can-do attitude” and one where “we’re often delighted,

and we’re rarely satisfied. Across all channels we think about

what the customers are trying to achieve.” Modern Teaching

Aids in the education sector is the most prolific business

element, and the supply business into the toy retail channel

and there are also businesses like child.com.au which is an

education superstore for parents and a mail order business

which supplies direct to consumers.

A self-confessed “big kid”, Jim believes this is an integral

aspect of the business; “understanding the value in the

concept of learning through play is very valuable as part

of the overall mix. Kids like to play, and in turn when they

play they learn. Good learners have greater chances of being

strong, resilient adults who make good decisions. I like that we

can play our part in that process.”

There is plenty of satisfaction for Jim in seeing the practical

application of a product his team has developed, which

“There’s no downside in going hard at it, and making sure you’re there to be

counted; last man standing principle.”

Unsung Business heroes Jim Craddock

Giving advice to someone starting up a new business is a

tough one for Jim, “because good business is osmosis,

you’ve got to find something that you enjoy and if you

can, find something that you love. Stick with it, really it’s

never always positive, but if you focus on anything long

enough, and you become empathetic to your cause, you

will achieve success.”

When asked to nominate who he respects, Jim says, “There

are a number of people in my life I respect and have a great

appreciation for what they do. My darling wife puts up with

me no end. I’m an abstract human being, to say the least. I

also often think of my parents, and the contribution they’ve

made to me. Those important virtues they extolled which

have been instilled into me, make me who I am today, and I

get to pass them on to my kids, which is magic.”

Jim also has much admiration for the business’ former

owners; “Wim Hartman really built this business to what

it became. He was a turning point and had entrepreneurial

spirit. John Herrington, who bought a majority stake,

brought a lot of value to the business, and the most recent

owners and business partners for more than a decade, Neill

and Simon Wiston who I respect to no end.”

Giving back

The credo of ‘doing unto others as you’d have them do

unto you’ is clearly well inscribed in Jim’s psyche, and

he’s very conscious of the need to pay it forward. He says

though that “it’s difficult in a commercial business to always

support every bit of goodwill you’d like to.”

The business has been aligned for some time with Stewart

House, a nearby charity at Collaroy which works with children

who aren’t as privileged as many others. Jim notes there are

300,000 teachers around Australia, who often want to do

something even more special, so every week there are ad hoc

requests which the business does its utmost to support.

On a more direct basis, Jim recounts that “once a month

we provide a barbeque here at head office and the staff

provide a gold coin donation. The company gives some

additional funds as well, and the staff chooses the charities

they would like to support. Recently, we had an ex-staff

member who lost her premmie baby, so she asked us to

support what they call ‘cuddle cots’ which are specifically

used when you lose a baby. Our barbeque ended up

contributing more than 50% of one of those cots. We try

to be a good-hearted organisation.”

CEO – Modern Star Group

address PO Box 6614, Frenchs Forest, NSW 2086

phone +61 2 9907 5279web www.modernstar.comweb www.chalk.com.auweb www.parentdirect.com.auweb www.teaching.com.auemail sales@modernstar.comvideo http://ubh.lc/JimCraddock

www.parentdirect.com.auwww.modernstar.com VIDEOwww.teaching.com.auwww.chalk.com.au

Jim CraddockConnect With

“It starts with a sense of belonging,

safety, security and certainty.”

Daniel’s parents divorced when he was born and his early

years were quite turbulent. His stepfather was a bikie, and

not a particularly ‘nice’ fellow. Being exposed to alcohol

and drug abuse together with domestic violence for the

first 13 years of life was far from ideal. A number of his

male relatives also went to jail.

Clearly unhappy with the state of his life, Daniel decided to

turn that around and independently moved out of home at

a very young age. “By the time I was 13, I wanted to get

out. I’d had my first job at 10. From there I learnt I could

be independent and I had started earning some income.

I had three casual jobs outside of school hours and that

gave me enough money to move out of home. I just rented

a room and got out of the place. Although it was really

challenging, it was also a big relief.” Daniel recalls.

In all, Daniel attended 13 schools before reaching Year 7.

Daniel didn’t like school and refers to those years as “my

13 years of hell - like a jail sentence. I couldn’t wait to get

out.” When Daniel finally left school in 1996, like many

others, he was quite confused and didn’t know what he

wanted to do.

CEO - Gallop Solutions

Daniel Davis left home at 13 after surviving a family background of domestic violence, drugs and alcohol abuse. Remarkably, he finished school and built a thriving business. By 23 he had a seven figure income and owned three service stations. He now shares his experience coaching other start-ups.