BIOGRAPHY-PERSONAL/BUSINESS
BUSINESS OWNER 28 YEARS
When Steven was just 16 he was not particularly fussed about school and wanted to leave. His father gave him a strict order over the dinner table one night, “if you get an apprenticeship son, then you can leave”. The next day Steven wagged school and walked the streets looking for work, the first place he went into he was offered an apprenticeship and started the next Monday.
This was the start of his new career, in the first year of his apprenticeship at 16 he was already doing his own jobs out of hours and making money on the side, and by the time he was 18, he had a registered company and his own part-time staff working for him out of hours. When he completed his apprenticeship Steven already had his own client base and staff ready to go, this of course was the start of his “full-time” business adventure.
BUSINESS COACH
Steven has owned and run his own successful sign company for over 28 years, hiring many staff and dealing with all the highs and lows.
INVENTOR
After running Sign FX for many years, Steven had times where he was looking at moving on.
CAR ENTHUSIAST
Steven purchased his first car at 16. In these early days it was not possible to buy a new car so the best option was to buy a rusty old bomb and “do it up”. At first he bought 2 old cars and learnt how to paint them and then went on to do complete restorations over 2 years on a Morris Minor panel van and a Morris Minor tray utility. These two cars had some extremely funny events take place, first was when his brother kind heartedly decided to take one for a test drive the day before he was going for his license and “smashed it”…. the second incident was when Steven and his father were working on one in the garage and it caught fire. This was a massive drama and certainly something to look back on and laugh about now. Note: All photos are of the actual cars he has owned.
1962 Morris Minor panel van (Burgundy)
Porsche Boxter (Black)
28 Ford Pick up Hot Rod (Blue)
VOLUNTEER
Even though Steven was in business for so long he was still able to make time for others and decided that is was time to also give back something.
WATER COLOUR ARTIST
From a very young age, Steven always From a very young age, Steven always obviously a hidden talent and part of a creative make up he had.
SIGNWRITER
Steven had a talent for drawing at an early age, and was always scribbling and drawing cartoons etc. One day and drawing cartoons etc.
TRAVEL
ADVENTURER
Due to Steven being in business so young meant for a long he really never had the chance to travel much. He had done some domestic travel around Australia but had never ventured overseas. In 2011 Steven had the opportunity to work in Darwin for a few months as a “business coach”. When he completed this task the owners offered him a return ticket to Bali to say thank you. Steven took the opportunity and went for a “so called” 3 day trip. This then ended up turning into just over 7 months.
ARTICLES &
WRITE UPS
Over the years Steven has accumulated many write ups and various newspaper and magazine articles. Some of these were to do with his business, some to do with his volunteer work, and the main one to do with his invention. Steven also had a weekly comic strip in a local newspaper in Kilmore when he was only 16. Unfortunately, not all of these have been recoverable or have been found, we have supplied the ones that were kept and preserved as best we could. Please excuse the quality, some of these articles are over 28 years old
Note: All write ups are of the actual events and achievements involving Steven. To see more about Steven’s inventions, please click on the following link Inventor
TV DOCUMENTARY
At 23, Steven was already well into running his business, hen out of the blue he was contacted by a TV media production company and was asked if he would be happy to be part of a television documentary on the “Sign trade”. The concept was that it would screen at random on various television networks throughout the year and would be promoted as a rental “Video” at all CES (Now Centrelink) offices for any unemployed persons to borrow and watch to see and learn more about our trade. The production company wanted 3 participants, the largest company in Australia, a medium sized company, and a “New company” that had just started. This of course was Steven’s business “Sign EFX Pty Ltd”.
Below are the links to the video, one is full length at 10 minutes, the other is edited to just a few minutes.
Note: Please excuse the poor quality as this video was produced over 26 years ago.
Contact Steven
If you would like to talk to Steven about Business Coaching or anything related to this website, please fill in the form and submit.
Meetings are available by appointment only.
Office address:
1832 Sydney Rd. (Hume Hwy)
Campbellfield Vic. 3061
