A family business success story
To give us an insight into a wonderful family small business success story is Dean Salakas, Chief Party Dude of The Party People. Starting out in Sydney, The Party People are now Australia’s largest stockist of party supplies with over 25,000 products ranging from themed decorations, to balloons and costumes.
Dean’s childhood entailed his mum Mala dressing up as a clown on weekends, part of her home-based kids party business. Her risk taking and entrepreneurial outlook made for a fun childhood and now, Dean runs The Party People with his brother Peter. He candidly shares what it’s like to run a family business and what it took to launch an online presence in the late 90s at a time when many retail brands weren’t even online, let alone had a functioning website.
Join us in the Amex Lounge to hear from Dean about:
- The truth about what it’s really like running a family business
- How being an e-commerce early adopter paid off
- Critical insights and lessons learned running an SMB
- Empowering staff to freely contribute ideas
- How not to regret your business decisions
- A glimpse into an exciting tech trend
- Refreshing advice for SMB’s when going online
- Their future expansion plans
