I started my consulting business on 01 February 1968 and have traded with normal ups and downs ever since.
More importantly, I am still married to my best friend Helen we tied the knot on the 1st June 1968, having been mates for the previous 5 years, and we are still married and still best friends.
We have traded under several personal and company names and my early experience was as an agricultural consultant. Our first company was Preslane Pty Ltd which still trades as Trustee for The Palmer Family Trust.
I was awarded a Federal Government contact to train horticultural producers in Supply Chain Management to help them open export markets. I won a NSW Government contract to train Regional NSW business owners in small business development. And another contract with Queensland Government to help qualifying Queensland businesses to survive the financial crisis at that time and retain staff, rather than having to put them off.
One public company, to which I was contracted, had a $250k/year research budget, which I invested in cooperative research at University of Western Sydney – Richmond. The result was redevelopment of that company’s organic and biodegradable spray oil (to control pests and diseases of crops) and its registration in China for control of a major pest of citrus. Currently, the area planted to citrus in China is approximately 40x the area planted in Australia, so the results of that research were significant.
I have worked with, been contracted to, and been employed by hundreds of organizations and individuals. I have introduced private equity funding; raised over $4m in Federal and State Government Grants for business and community; and, as a result of the results I achieved in Australia, was offered a Marketing Management position, based in Berlin Germany, to manage the development and commercialisation of a safe fungicide technology for disease control in crops.
(And just to add a bit of trivia – in 1979 I became quite good at pregnancy testing pigs with ultrasound, all round southern and central Queensland. Only a me and a few thousand sows think that was significant and ought to have been included in my CV)
I have focused on client financial management, completing many businesses’ financial projections for owners, start-ups, investors, bank applicants, etc. as well as business and strategic planning for local and international businesses.
I have worked through several financial crises; stock market collapses; interest rates of 18-20%; interest rates of <1%; globalization economics; multiculturalism, the war on terrorism, the Vietnam war; 15 Australian Prime Ministers; 6 times the Australian Government changed between Coalition and Labour, and
- financial management and particularly cashflow management remain the prime responsibility of business owners, to ensure lomgevity.
- we are still married, and our business is not only surviving, but now, in this digital age, prospering.
We changed the name to Michael Palmer Consulting less than 12 months ago to focus more on specialized client service in financial management – looking ahead with improved management systems and controls to help clients do better business, enjoy it more and be more richly rewarded.
MISSION
My Mission is to help 200+ more businesses overcome financial stress and anxiety, regain their enthusiasm for their business with a financial plan detailing an exciting business future so they have clarity as to where they are headed.
VISION
My vision and my legacy is to help reduce workplace stress and its impact on other parts of the business owner’s life, including family.
I am aware that family financial anxiety, whatever the source, can result in terrible outcomes, that are reported all too often.
Part of the revenue from this business is being set aside for charities involved in supporting victims of family tragedies.
