Nicson White is the dynamic Founder and Managing Director of BRW top 100 Fast Starters company Health Protect International. Through creativity, marketing and savvy management, Nicson has grown HPI from a humble start up in 2005 to a network of over 130 Licensees across Australia and New Zealand today within three years. Nicson’s company has serviced over 15,000 domestic homes, more than 4,000 hotel rooms and has won multiple awards including the current My Business Magazine Small Business of the Year.

With a background in Licensing, International Business and Languages, Nicson has represented HPI on the Sky Business TV Channel and operates the company alongside his business partner and mother, Janice White. Nicson is also responsible for the Healthy Hotels Program. A hygiene/marketing initiative which helps hotels to leverage from the latest consumer trends with a more profitable and hygienic room offering as a result.

Nicson, What do you think are the advantages to being young and in business?

The advantages of being young in business are diverse and in reflection, quite encouraging. Firstly, one of the most important ingredients of a successful and particularly a new business is energy. It takes a lot of time, effort, learning and application to maximise even the best of ideas in most cases and having youth on your side fits this need perfectly.

I often hear more mature business people reflect on the days where they could work fifteen or eighteen hour days and how they can’t or don’t want to do it anymore! This makes sense and what better opportunity to put fresh energy to use than in a business which requires it in the early stages.

Another key factor which I have personally enjoyed is the forthcoming advice and mentorship of people with more experience when asked. Whilst I don’t believe this is exclusive to the younger people in business, it certainly doesn’t hurt to be closer to the start of your journey to get mentors attention to help you. Even after my brief time in business, I love nothing more than to provide younger people with direction and advice when they ask me and there is nothing better than watching them achieve something as a result of following your recommendations. I believe this is where being a younger business person under guidance provides an added kick to any mentor because it provides them with a strong sense of contribution which seems to be a common theme in anyone of business achievement.

I'm a firm believer that the most successful people fail more often than others, but learn from it and come back bigger and better. What would you say is something you've failed at and how have you become a better person from it?

Not having an extended time in business myself I have literally had to learn from not only others advice but their mistakes as well. Whether through observation and reading their biographies or by being advised direct, I simply haven’t had the time in business to make a lot of mistakes and as much as I agree that many success stories often make and break themselves along the way, I truly believe there is such a wealth of advice and learning already available from others that to accept this is the only path to success is possibly mistaken.

Further to this point, I have prevented a lot of very significant mistakes by maintaining a prudent and unwavering memory of the core mistakes I have already seen others make before me. In fact, this was a part of my initial motivation to start the company we run today. The elementary nature of the mistakes being made by people of experience and certainly maturity whom I used to work for and consult to seemed so glaringly obvious to me that I couldn’t help but prove it for myself that if you listen to the people around you who are experts in their field it’s a much faster and more sustainable way to grow. That said, I have definitely made plenty of my own but to this date I have been fortunate enough to escape any major deal breakers!

I've heard on more than one occasion that those who pursue entrepreneurial endeavours to a large degree at a young age, like you obviously have, tend to miss out on some of their youth. Do you feel this way at all and if not, what have you done to mitigate this?

This couldn’t be further from the truth and when I hear young people say things like “I want to have fun first” or “why wouldn’t you just enjoy yourself while you’re young?” I take great pleasure in smashing this truly mistaken point of view. Another motivator for me to start a business was freedom of life in the form of having enough money to run things how I wanted and enough time to enjoy the things which matter most. In the last three years I have had more fun, travels, made more friends, had more parties and enjoyed the beautiful things that our wonderful country and world has to offer than in all the years leading up to them. (and I had a very nice upbringing!)

The two things which impact quality of life in today’s society are time and money and an almost ever present lack of the two.

Every time I hear someone say “I’d love to but we just can’t afford it” or “I really want to but can’t get any more time off” I just smile and think about how worth it all the hard work has been. You can’t live an empowered life in a modern society and spend your time the way you want to without a certain amount of wealth, it’s not an opinion it’s a fact. Anyone who doesn’t accept this is more than likely simply too afraid to accept the reality of their own situation which in our resulting opportune society is a lot of people!

Not only does business at an early age open your eyes to just what is possible in life, but for me it has been the single most challenging and enjoyable endeavour I have ever had the opportunity of being exposed to. Nothing excites me more than making a sale or watching your own creativity achieve results, it is the best feeling and a natural high that can’t be compared to anything.

I once heard someone say, “money is like a magnifying glass, it simply expands on the values which are already there” if you value wealth and nothing else, then you’ll have a low quality of life no matter how much money you do or don’t have. That said, if you have an appreciation of the things which matter most (which typically are the people you are closest to and spending time with them) then more money and freedom is just going to give you more opportunities to appreciate them in the short time we have in life to do so.

Who are your role models (in business or otherwise)?

Bill Gates because for all the controversy their early growth and development is just inspiring.

What are your favourite books?

1. Double or Nothing
   
   
2. Bill Gates’ Biography
   
   
3. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Biography

Steve Ballmer because he’s the perfect mirror profile to offset my weaknesses!

What was your earliest childhood ambition?

Freedom to spend my time in the way that I wanted and for no one to ever change that.