MOUNT Gambier’s budding entrepreneurs received an inspiring talk from Thankyou co-founder Daniel Flynn yesterday during his visit to the Blue Lake city.
Hoping to instill a drive in others to pursue their dreams, Mr Flynn shared his journey from building a small idea into a growing organisation which is helping to combat the global drinking water crisis.
In 2008, alongside his best friend Jarryd and now wife Justine, he began the evolution of Thankyou, a line of bottled water and hygiene products, with profits continuing to fund water projects overseas.
“I was in first year university, sitting at the computer and I read a statistic that said there are 900 million people in the world that still don’t have access to clean water yet the Australian bottled water industry was worth an estimated $600m a year,” Mr Flynn said.
“Then I had a little idea – what if there was a brand of bottle that gave 100pc of profits to funding water projects?
“And in that moment it kind of felt possible.”
With no business experience, Mr Flynn rallied together his best friend and girlfriend and together they began their mission to change the world.
However, it was a bumpy journey with many struggles along the way and it took three years before the organisation really began to thrive.
“Our first three years were pretty tough, we were volunteering 30 to 50 hours a week to get it off the ground and it wasn’t working, we felt like professional failures,” Mr Flynn said.
“People ask me ‘why did you stick at it?’
“At Thankyou we believe why you do what you do is so important that it gives you the strength to get up and try again.”
Stepping outside his comfort zone, Mr Flynn and the other co-founders decided to approach things a little differently.
“We didn’t change the idea, we didn’t change the product, we didn’t change the cause, we just found a way to change how we communicated with people,” he said.
Using social media as their tool, the team at Thankyou created a video and reached out to whoever they could to help them secure a deal with 7 Eleven.
From there food and body care ranges were created with all profits going to food and health projects overseas.
The organisation also managed to secure a deal with Coles and Woolworths and complete a book titled Chapter One which shares the journey so far.
Now seven years on, the organisation continues to grow with plans to extend products into other countries across the world.
“We all do have the power to make a difference,” Mr Flynn said.
“The key to all of this for me personally comes down to five words – ‘get out and stay out’.
“I once saw a picture come up on Facebook of a circle and it said ‘this is your comfort zone and here outside of the circle is where the magic happens’.
“The great challenge we all face is that it is not just getting outside of our comfort zone, it is having the courage to stay there.”
