• About Us
  • Advertise with Us
  • Contact Us
  • Events
  • Newsletter
  • Podcasts
  • Digital Magazine
  • Home
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Self Development
  • Growth
  • Finance
  • Marketing
  • Technology
  • Sustainability
  • About Us
  • Advertise with Us
  • Contact Us
  • Events
  • Newsletter
  • Podcasts
  • Digital Magazine
NZBusiness Magazine

Type and hit Enter to search

Linkedin Facebook Instagram Youtube
  • Home
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Self Development
  • Growth
  • Finance
  • Marketing
  • Technology
  • Sustainability
NZBusiness Magazine
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Self Development
  • Growth
  • Finance
  • Marketing
  • Technology
  • Sustainability
Inspiration

Small goods, big dreams

The success of Rob Beard’s Hawke’s Bay-based salami and smallgoods business pushed him to the edge. But now he has transformed his business, and in doing so he has redefined his idea of success.

Glenn Baker
Glenn Baker
October 29, 2021 4 Mins Read
1.3K

The success of Rob Beard’s salami and smallgoods business pushed him to the edge. He suffered a heart attack and hit a wall, mentally. But with the right help and support, he has transformed his business, making it stronger and more resilient, and in doing so he has redefined his idea of success.

Rob Beard grew up in rural Hawke’s Bay, and was always a keen hunter, so it seemed natural to him and his wife Lara to process their wild game into meat products, and share them with friends and family.

Their goods started to get a glowing reputation, which encouraged Rob to step up his hobby into a full-time business, and Wild Game Salamis was born in 2011.

Rob built it up the business from scratch, gradually adding facilities and infrastructure until it was in full production, but the problem was – Rob was doing most of the work himself.

He often worked 12-14 hour days, seven days a week. He’d make the goods, pack them, put them in his car and deliver them himself. He was aiming high, winning awards, and the business was doing well – each month they added more and more stockists.

Then, aged just 38, Rob had a heart attack.

The long hours, loneliness, and being rushed off his feet had taken a toll.

“Starting a business … that’s probably the most lonely existence you can possibly think of,” Rob says.

“Especially when you’re by yourself and your brain just doesn’t stop – how am I going to make this happen? How am I going to spend time with my kids, and my wife? How can I give this business 120 percent? It was totally unsustainable.”

Doctors advised him to take it easy for the next six months, but within two weeks, Rob was back at it, because he had to be.

Rob wasn’t one for slowing down – he and Lara created a new small goods business named after their sons – Beard Brothers.

Around this time, Rob had a chance meeting with business consultant Bill Ritchie, who saw the couple were under pressure, and he agreed to come on as a business mentor.

“When your business grows really quickly, and you don’t have good resources around you and it’s your first foray into your own business, you can reach a point where taking that next step becomes something you have to do, rather than what you want to do,” Bill says.

Then, in early 2020, Covid-19 came along. The team were already busy producing goods for bulk orders, but demand continued to build, almost doubling during that period.

Even after the first lockdown ended, demand was strong.

At that stage, they were still producing bulk orders to be packaged in-store by the butchery department for a fee, so Rob invested in a label machine to do the packing himself.

Rob admits he’s not the best businessman in the world, and perhaps not the best with technology either – his passion is making sausages.

One day, it just got to be too much. Rob went home, closed the curtains, and went to bed – totally and utterly burned out, and experiencing deep depression.

“If you’re sleeping two hours a night for ten nights, which was what I was getting, something’s got to give,” Rob says.

“I should have listened to people like my mates who told me I was working too hard, or too much – I should have done heaps of things but, pig-headedly, I didn’t, and thought I’d be OK.”

As Rob recovered, Bill stepped in as General Manager, and advised Rob that things really had to change this time.

Rob needed to step away from the day-to-day of the factory, and stop shouldering the entire burden of a rapidly-growing company.

This time, Rob listened. He now focuses on marketing and sales, and with Bill’s help, they’ve implemented a neater business structure that spreads the load evenly.

ANZ NZ CEO Antonia Watson is among Rob’s biggest supporters, and first visited Beard Brothers when she was the bank’s Managing Director of Business Banking. She even tried her hand at sausage making.

“Rob’s infectious passion for what he does rubs off on people – he brings people in, and you want to see him succeed, and we’ve certainly done all we can to support the growth of his businesses,” says Antonia.

She applauds Rob’s decision to simplify his business and focus on his strengths.

“You can’t do everything yourself, and being prepared to let things go is actually an important step on your leadership journey,” she says.

Rob says the bank has been “absolutely fantastic”, including through the early days, when it stepped up to provide credit where other banks would not.

Now, things are looking up for Wild Game Salamis and Beard Brothers – they are developing and releasing new products, with their recent pork and puha sausages proving very popular.

“I think we’ve grown 220 per cent in the past 12 months,” Rob says, “and it wouldn’t have happened without getting help.”

“With the right people behind us, it’s just exciting again – and if you look at the time I can spend with the kids and Lara now – that’s real success.”

This year, Rob ran a fundraiser for Mental Health Awareness Week, where 50 cents from each pack of sausages would be given to Lifeline, and raised more than $10,000 for the cause, so even more Kiwis can get the help they need in tough times.

 

Republished with permission from news.anz.com

Share Article

Glenn Baker
Follow Me Written By

Glenn Baker

Glenn is a professional writer/editor with 50-plus years’ experience across radio, television and magazine publishing.

Other Articles

Future Bars James Ace (L) and Bert Haines
Previous

Margo’s celebrates first birthday in Queenstown

Emma Oliver and Sarah Ferguson
Next

Kapiti Coast business brings Christmas cheer to children

Next
Emma Oliver and Sarah Ferguson
October 31, 2021

Kapiti Coast business brings Christmas cheer to children

Previous
October 29, 2021

Margo’s celebrates first birthday in Queenstown

Future Bars James Ace (L) and Bert Haines

Subscribe to our newsletter

NZBusiness Digital Issue – March 2025

READ MORE

The Latest

The big AI learning curve: Here’s where business owners can start

May 20, 2025

From redundancy to resilience

May 16, 2025

Episode 16: Bryce Marsden on sustainable impact through education, youth and environment

May 15, 2025

The high cost of leadership neglect

May 14, 2025

Why making Auckland a Tech Hub makes sense

May 14, 2025

Is AI making us happier? Why some Kiwi leaders would trade coffee for Generative AI

May 13, 2025

Most Popular

NZBusiness Digital Issue – June 2024
Understanding AI
Navigating economic headwinds: Insights for SME owners
How much AI data is generated every 60 seconds? New report reveals global AI use
Nourishing success: Sam Bridgewater on his entrepreneurship journey with The Pure Food Co

Related Posts

Compassion in motion

March 31, 2025

Kiwi nutrition brand Two Islands expands into China

March 14, 2025

From tech start-up to AI leader

February 21, 2025

Innovating in business and sanitary solutions

February 12, 2025
NZBusiness Magazine

New Zealand’s leading source for business news, training guides and opinion from small businesses to multi-national corporations.

© Pure 360 Limited.
All Rights Reserved.

Quick Links

  • Advertise with us
  • Magazine issues
  • About us
  • Contact us
  • Privacy policy
  • Sitemap

Categories

  • News
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Growth
  • Finance
  • Education & Development
  • Marketing
  • Technology
  • Sustainability

Follow Us

LinkedIn
Facebook
Instagram
YouTube
  • Home
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Self Development
  • Growth
  • Finance
  • Marketing
  • Technology
  • Sustainability