What is the 30under30?
30under30 is an Anthill initiative launched in early 2008 to encourage and promote entrepreneurship among young Australians.
Each year, we invite our readers to nominate young Australian entrepreneurs deserving of recognition for their outstanding entrepreneurial endeavours. More.
Isobel Crumblin, 23 (NSW)
Name: Isobel Crumblin
Age: 23
Gender: Female
State: NSW
Isobel Crumblin believes entrepreneurship is in her bones!
She was eight years old when she ran a summer business outside her house in Coogee. She sold refreshing, thirst-quenching snow cones to passers-by walking to and from the beach. She then used the money to shop at Toys ‘R Us!
So, it surprised few when she embarked on a real business when in law school at Sydney University, oblivious to prospects in the legal profession. Thus was born Fly By Fun, a company that organises children’s entertainment at private parties and large-scale corporate and community events. After only a year of running the business, Isobel was named one of six national finalists for the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards in 2010.
It wasn’t all fun and games. Behind the façade, there was a lot of hard work to be done. The logistics could be a nightmare. Getting your jugglers to the right park at the right time is not as easy as it might seem. Isobel says she had to put in place a lot of tech – Zoho CRM, Google calendars, Xero accounting software etc. – to make it work.
Still, it didn’t quite. Isobel was quick to re-brand Fly By Fun – and that did the trick.
Isobel rallied entertainers, put them in costumes and sent them to playgrounds, parks and beaches around the eastern suburbs on weekends. She handed out lollipops and Fly By Fun promotional stickers to children, and flyers to the parents. This exercise brought in the buzz Fly By Fun desperately needed. “Targeted + Free + Effective = Win!” as Isobel terms it.
Over the past two years, Fly By Fun is growing at over 300% annually, landing large corporate clients such as Lend Lease, Henry Davis York, Nestlé, AMEX, Moët Hennessy, Gloria Jeans and Gumtree. It has gone from putting smiles on hundreds of faces to quite literally tens of thousands of children’s faces.
To Isobel, it’s all about perception and attitude, and she couldn’t be more correct. She personifies it.
“You’ve got to think outside the square and be creative in your approach,” she says. “Being genuine and honest have been the most important factors in sales for my business,” she adds.
And then there is her sunshine demeanour.
“I feel as though I constantly have luck on my side. I always find myself in the right place at the right time with regard to getting new business and meeting new clients,” she insists.
Anthill asks: Isobel Crumblin, what is your super-power and why?
“I am insanely efficient, so I can achieve a lot in very little time. Much more than the average homo sapien. It is by far the most important superpower because there are only 24hrs in a day. Time doesn’t discriminate. Everyone is on a level playing field. Some people run business empires in those 24hrs and some people complain incessantly about not having enough time!”
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