Playing at work

The couple saw their two-year dream come true by opening the Run M Ragged Indoor Play Centre and Café a few weeks ago.
They initially gave themselves eight months to get their new business up and running, but had to overcome several obstacles.

The couple and their three children moved to Geelong two years ago from Wagga Wagga in NSW where they had worked in property investment. Tony had been an army officer for 12 years and Tracie had a secretarial/PA background.

"We sat down and made a list of what we wanted: Near the coast, a major centre, close enough to family - Geelong was the only place that fitted all the criteria," Tracie explained.

"We were looking for a business to buy but saw nothing that took our fancy: We didn't want to just open another coffee shop.

"Wagga had a great indoor play centre, but there was nothing here to match it, so we decided to do a start-up indoor play centre."

The pair developed a business plan that showed the centre to be viable. "We guesstimated it would take us about eight months to find a location and open up shop but it was not to be so easy."

On two occasions they thought they had pinned down a site, only to have them fall through at the last minute.

"We did the rounds of all the real estate agents, but one day Tony was driving past here and saw a little sign saying factories for lease. We went in and talked to the manager of the complex and ended up entering into a private lease.

"This used to be a wholesale warehouse for hair products and is part of the old woollen mills. It turned out great because we had height requirements for the play equipment.

"It was meant to be; in hindsight this the best place we could be. We couldn't have asked for better," Tony said.

Despite securing a site, the couple had a lot of work to do. Not only did the site require a lot of work, the permits to make the changes took a long time to process.

The site works and the free car park at the rear attracted several objections, resulting in the development going to a City of Greater Geelong council panel. "Days just seemed to whiz by while nothing happened," Tracie said. "We had builders and contractors lined up but thankfully they were patient."

"There seem to be some inherent constraints in the process holding things back," Tony added. "The Council staff tried hard to help us but they seem to be quite understaffed. Having looked all round Geelong, it also occurs to me that there is a lack of zoned areas for these sorts of developments."

Once the permits were in place, attention turned to the site itself. "It was what you'd call an ugly site," Tony confessed. "It needed lots of work and it took a fair bit of vision to see the play centre in it. But it has come up beautifully."

The Dickson's saw the fact that the centre was part of a bloc of businesses as a positive. "There's 12 or 15 other businesses around the area, including an indoor rock climbing facility very close by. We see that as complementary to our business; there's also a children's photographer here. The critical mass of businesses means we create traffic at this end of Pakington St for each other."

The delay in getting the centre up and running created tension for the couple as they saw their finances draining away.

"It's an expensive project; finance is crucial and hard to get. We went to many banks and finance brokers. There's almost $250,000 worth of play equipment installed, plus fit out costs. We worked on it with no income for 12 months. It's scary, we thought about pulling the pin a few times. But you get to the point of no return and after putting so much in for so long, you think: If we don't do this, what else do we do?" Tracie said.

The Dicksons said they made use of inspirational business talks and advice, gaining strength from the stories of others who survived massive obstacles to achieve their dreams.

"You could call us high risk-takers," Tracie said. "But we've learned so much. We discovered that you need to burn your bridges or you'll fall back into your comfort zone.

"You need a good team of people behind you - not just your staff but your business support - your bank, finance broker, fit out contractors, suppliers - you are dependent on them so make sure you have good ones."

And the Dicksons ended up opening a café after all, albeit part of the play centre. "The café is upmarket, because we wanted to cater more to the parents; they are our really customers. We made sure we included lots of healthy options. The layout is great for parents to sit and chat, we have party rooms and have introduced annual passes to make it as easy as possible for our customers."

A conservative estimate of the initial response has been more than fulfilled. Even at this early stage, the Dicksons are thinking ahead: "We want to expand," Tracie said. "We've got the big picture in mind, and I can see a franchise system of Run M Ragged centres in the future."

Big kids: Tracie and Tony Dickson.