The Founder's Journey
Two decades of running small businesses in the field, and the hard times that taught me how to build them back up.
I've spent well over two decades running small businesses, and most of that time hasn't been in an office. I ran Pigout Catering for over 20 years. I've had Elphinstone Enterprises since 2011, and I built Fencing Solutions Tasmania from the ground up. Between them they've taught me the long hours and the cashflow squeezes, the mistakes that cost money and the fixes that turned things around. Today Fencing Solutions runs on systems I built: leads come in, quotes go out and follow-ups happen automatically while the team is on the job.
"A backburn clears the way before the fire arrives."
— Darren, Founder
Not all of it went to plan, and I've never pretended otherwise. In 2016 our New Zealand business, Elphinstone & Morris, went into liquidation. In 2022 Elphinstone Enterprises went into administration. I know what it's like to lie awake doing the numbers and wonder if there's a way back. There was. Elphinstone Enterprises has fully recovered and is stronger for it.
I know the true cost, too. It cost me relationships, and for a while my health. I don't want any owner to go through that alone. That's why I work the way I do with every owner who's under pressure: no judgement, straight talk, and a clear plan.
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I've sat on the other side of the table as well. For about three years I was the North West Tasmania representative for AusIndustry's Small Business Field Officer program and the Business Enterprise Centre in Devonport. I worked face to face with owners across the region on their books, their plans and finding the right support.
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So I know business as an advisor, an owner, a director, and as someone who's been through the worst of it and come out the other side. Backburn Advisory brings it all together. It's practical advice that's been tested in real businesses, from someone who knows the North West and knows exactly what it feels like when things get tough.
Board Expertise
For the past six years, I've served as a Director on the Board of Cancer Council Tasmania. I bring that governance discipline to every business I work with, just without the suits.
At a Cancer Council Tasmania function, Government House, Hobart.
University of Tasmania
I hold a Bachelor of Regional Resource Management from the University of Tasmania and was twice placed on the Dean's Honour Roll. The degree focused on how businesses and communities survive and grow in regional economies like the North West.
Governance discipline, without the suits.