{"id":47134,"date":"2023-10-20T15:52:33","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:52:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/how-tammy-may-created-my-budget-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:52:33","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:52:33","slug":"how-tammy-may-created-my-budget-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/how-tammy-may-created-my-budget-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"How Tammy May created My Budget – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Name:<\/em><\/strong> Tammy May<\/em><\/p>\n


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Company:<\/em><\/strong> My Budget<\/em><\/p>\n


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Location:<\/em><\/strong> Adelaide, South Australia<\/em><\/p>\n


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When young Rich Lister Tammy May was 22, she took a leap of faith. She left her comfortable job at an Adelaide law firm and founded her own business.<\/p>\n

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She\u2019d been working in the firm\u2019s debt collection department when she realised the impact debt was having on people\u2019s lives. Recognising that people, regardless of the amount they earned, couldn\u2019t afford to pay back their debts motivated May to found a budgeting service, to help people work toward their financial goals.<\/p>\n

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A few months later, at the end of 1999, My Budget was born. Little did May know that she would go on to became an EY Young Entrepreneur of the Year, South Australian Business Woman of the Year and the owner of a Fast 100 company.<\/p>\n

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May sees starting the business in her early 20s as an advantage. \u201cSometimes you\u2019re braver when you\u2019re young and I figured if it didn\u2019t work out I\u2019d have plenty of time in the future to recover. I wanted to take the risk because it was making such a big difference in people\u2019s lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Since starting, the business has grown at 50% year-on-year, but carving out a whole new market had its challenges. May had to educate the market about My Budget\u2019s service and why it was important. It gained customers through referrals from clients and other financial businesses and now its main clientele is people and couples in their early 20s to mid-50s.<\/p>\n

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In the year to June 30 the business turned over around $24 million and it\u2019s now on track to reach $34 million in 2013-14. May spoke to SmartCompany<\/em> about how she\u2019s managed My Budget\u2019s fast growth and how having a family improved her business.<\/p>\n

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Mornings<\/h3>\n

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Mornings largely revolve around May\u2019s kids, but at the latest she\u2019s up by 7am.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI get up, get organised for work and then get the kids organised for school. We have breakfast and then I drop the kids to school on the way to work,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019m in the office just before 9am and then we have a daily executive meeting that goes for an hour once a week, but 15 minutes daily.\u201d<\/p>\n

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May\u2019s day is generally filled with marketing, sales, finance and HR meetings.<\/p>\n

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\u201cMy day is largely spent meeting with department heads and also the executive team in general. I also have a daily meeting with all of our interstate managers.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Daily life<\/h3>\n

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When May started My Budget she used to be in more of a hands-on role, but now she takes on a senior management executive position.<\/p>\n

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\u201cNow it\u2019s more about strategic thinking and planning. I used to do a lot more of the work, as well as the strategic planning, but as it has grown I do less and less of the day-to-day type work,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt was very much a natural progression to mentor staff who have worked with me into a position where they could take on more and more responsibility. It wasn\u2019t daunting, it felt very natural to delegate.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Unlike some business owners, May acknowledges that sometimes jobs can be done better by others.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI know we always think it\u2019s done best by ourselves, but I feel fortunate in having people around me who are great at their jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n

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My Budget now employs around 250 people and to ensure all management are performing at their best May provides them with regular training.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe provide senior management with both in-house and external training. There is a culture of learning at My Budget.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe hold quarterly professional development days and during those days it\u2019s all about team building, sharing stories about clients and ourselves and sharing stories about our values and our value system. This brings the whole team together.\u201d<\/p>\n

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May believes the sharing of stories and communicating the My Budget values helps to build a positive company culture.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s like a big family\u2026 a lot of this is fostered through our development days and then we have a social club which runs activities. We have casual days, sausage days, and the majority of the boys are doing Movember,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

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Story continues on page 2. Please click below.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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