About me: Sarah Colgate
I work with business owners who want to run things better, smoother, more profitably, and with less stress.
Not from a textbook. From the seat you are sitting in right now.
Eight businesses. Twenty years. Five industries.
Over the past 20+ years I have owned and run eight businesses across retail, e-commerce, importing, tourism and hospitality.
A retail book store. An online jewellery business. A bead and craft importer. A hair accessories boutique. Three tourism operations across the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast. And my current business focused on the tourism industry, Exceptional Experiences.
Five I built from scratch. Two I bought and turned around. The four retail and e-commerce ventures I sold profitably. Some ran as side hustles while I was Managing Director elsewhere. The tourism businesses exited through management buyouts, an outcome I am very happy with.
All of them taught me the same lesson: the problems business owners face are more similar than they are different.
Cash flow. Pricing. Staff. Systems. Marketing that actually pays for itself. Knowing which number to look at first when things feel off.
I have carried the risk, made payroll, chased debtors, and stared at a bank balance wondering how to get through the next month. Every piece of advice I give comes out of doing the work myself, not reading about it.
Operator, not consultant
Most business improvement advice comes from people who have never run a business. They know the frameworks. They do not know the reality of what it takes to change how a business actually operates.
I work differently.
When I sit across from you and look at your numbers, I am seeing shapes I have seen in my own businesses. When I recommend a change, I have made that change before, in my own operation, with my own money at risk.
I work best with owners of businesses turning over $1.5M or more who know something is not quite right. Profit is thinner than it should be. The team is not as sharp as it could be. The days feel longer than they used to. You are ready for an outside view from someone who has been where you are.
What operator thinking looks like
When I took over Aquaduck on the Gold Coast, the previous owners were certain the ticket price could not go above $40. The market would not wear it, they said.
I sat with the numbers, worked through a proper pricing strategy, and moved the price from $36 to $50 per passenger. Revenue increased 36% in ten months. Net profit per passenger doubled. Online sales went from 4% of turnover to 47%.
That kind of shift is not a marketing trick. It is what happens when someone who has run the business sits down, does the maths, and makes the call.
The industry does not matter. The thinking is the same whether you sell tickets, coffee, jewellery, professional services or industrial equipment.
How I work
Everything starts with a Business Analysis. It is a full 360 look at how your business is actually performing across operations, finances, customer feedback and team.
We use your real numbers and your real data to find:
What is working
What is holding you back
Where profit is leaking
Where the biggest opportunities are
From there we prioritise. Right things, right order, right strategy. No fluff. No guesswork.
I am trained in the ProfiTune Business Analysis methodology, the basis and starting point for every Business Analysis I run.
Recognition and industry roles
I have served on the Destination Gold Coast Board and on the committee of Skal International Gold Coast. I currently sit as Deputy President of the Gold Coast Central Chamber of Commerce and as a Board Member of the Gold Coast Waterways Authority.
In 2022 I was a finalist in the Gold Coast Women of the Year Awards, and Aquaduck was a finalist in both the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast Business Awards in the same year.
Ready for a conversation?
If you are running a business turning over $1.5M or more and something is not sitting right, that is exactly the conversation I am here for.
Speak to Sarah today.