Meet Mr EBIT

Episode Description Mark Holloway is a working class guy from Birmingham in England, who is not just football crazy, but is himself a very decent centre-forward. His life changes direction when Sydney Croatia spots him and bring him to Australia to play semi-professional football. At that point, this cryogenics engineer switches to sales and becomes a very effective troubleshooter, nicknamed Mr. EBIT, for his consistent ability to make profit! He then gets to work on building a very successful eyewear company. He is currently the owner and director of Shades of Pale-sourcing antiques for over 20 years in France, Belgium, Sweden & beyond. About Mark Mark Holloway is the owner and director of Shades of Pale- Sourcing antiques for over 20 years in France, Belgium, Sweden & beyond. They specialise in French antiques, homewares, interiors, architectural & garden pieces. Follow them @shadesofpalestore on Instagram. Contact Mark: [email protected] Points of interest Life journey from football to eyewear entrepreneurship. (0:10) Upbringing, sports, and business success. (1:21) Career progression from engineering to sales management to business ownership. (3:16) Leadership and company issues. (7:43) Liquidation and survival in the fashion industry. (11:50) Overcoming business challenges in the eyewear industry. (16:35) Selling a business to a supplier. (21:13) Business ownership and sale. (25:37) Selling a business and transitioning to a new role. (31:17) Turnarounds, brands, and entrepreneurship. (36:33) Transcript Note: This has been automatically transcribed so is likely to have errors! It may however help you navigate the points of interests for you. Mike: Welcome to the Troubleshooters podcast with me your host Mike McGrath. My guest today Mark Holloway has a great story working class lad from Birmingham in England, who is not just football crazy, but is himself a very decent centre-forward. His life changes direction when Sydney Croatia spots him and bring him to Australia to play semi-professional football. At that point, this cryogenics engineer switches to sales and becomes a very effective troubleshooter, nicknamed Mr. EBIT, for his consistent ability to make profit! He then gets to work on building a very successful eyewear company. So, sit back and listen as I delve into Mark's fascinating story. So, Mark, welcome to the podcast. Let's go back a bit. So, you come from Birmingham, originally, working class sort of upbringing? Yeah, yep. Tell us about that. And you were mad on football. I mean, everybody was where I came from, say, my street in Solihull, you either supported Aston Villa or Birmingham City. And you played football all the time. Mark: Exactly and that's right, Michael. Well, I am from a working class background. You just mentioned Solihull. I came from Mutual's there was a big difference there. So it was a classic, you know, terraced home, to up to down. My father was a mechanic. But he he had to take work as a truck driver in the end to you know, to make ends meet. Mom did two jobs. So it was a brother, one brother, two sisters. It was football was all really we had. And schooling took a second sort of position for me, which was a problem for my parents. Because all I was bothered about was football at that stage of my life. Yeah. So my parents at the age of 11 thought it was a good idea to send me to a Rugby School. But all all that did was was give me another sport to fall in love with so, I came a tragic rugby player and football, but football or soccer, as we call it here in Australia was my my first love. Yeah. Mike: Okay. So look, just looking back before we move on, right? What did you get from your upbringing? And what did you get from sport? Right, that sort of set you up for t