Decision delivered the goods

By JULIE MIDDLETON

Denise McBeth knew her life had to change the day in late 1998 she asked herself five "hard-hitting questions" about her job - milk distribution in Hawera, Taranaki, with her husband - and answered no to each of them.

The posers were: Do I have financial freedom? Do I smile every day? Do I have job security? Am I passionate about my job? Do I balance work and life?

The negative results of the self-examination were galling, says McBeth, a relentlessly optimistic, chatty 37-year-old. "So I made myself redundant."

It was the start of a journey that led, last Saturday, to Auckland's Waipuna Lodge conference centre and the title HerBusinessbusinesswoman of the year.

Hawera-born McBeth, 37, who left New Plymouth's Spotswood College after fifth form for secretarial jobs, and her former boilermaker husband, Murray, 38, own 50 per cent each of postal services company Pete's Post, and work in it full-time.

(The answer to your instant question, "how does she cope living and working with her husband?" is, in short, "most excellently" - elaboration later.)

And the pair have defied critics who said they wouldn't survive in the deregulated postal market. Check the figures: they have sold nine Pete's Post franchises, which includes a master franchise and the operations it covers - New Plymouth, Hamilton, Napier, Hastings, Gisborne, Wanganui, Palmerston North and Taranaki District.

The McBeths directly run Wellington, Auckland (opened last June), and Christchurch (opened January). Whangarei opens at the end of March.

Stamps are 35 cents for local delivery as against New Zealand Post's 40 cents. National postage is 40 cents.

Each franchise pays a royalty per stamp sold and the group handles 20 million postal items each year.

There are 125 full-time staff in all - posties, sorters, graphic designers, secretaries, managers and sales reps. McBeth runs the office and is the contact, backup and support for franchise holders.

The company is "very profitable", says McBeth, coyly citing commercial sensitivity when pushed for figures. But what's not in dispute is that turnover rocketed from zip in 1999 to $1.2m in the year ending March 2000. At the end of this month, the McBeths expect to record a $10 million turnover.

The goals are ambitious: a chain of post shops and private boxes, appointing an international master franchisee for Britain, and setting up Pete's Post internet cafes.

Call it good timing, label it fate. As McBeth was mulling over her future, the Government deregulated the postal industry.

Jobless New Plymouth man Peter Bell set up Pete's Post, delivering mail locally. McBeth used his service for her domestic mail and was pleased with it.

When it came up for sale, the McBeths were in. Says Denise: "I knew all the risks but also that this could make my dreams into a reality ... to be able to answer those five questions in five years with a yes."

But they knew it would be hard, taking on what at that point was just the New Plymouth office: at times it seemed if every step was cursed.

Finding a printing company with the right ability - and security gear - to print stamps was just one hassle.

"There's more to making a stamp than meets the eye", says McBeth. Suppliers in long-time, cosy relationships with NZ Post were wary of the newcomers.

People who thought the team at Pete's was on a hiding to nothing just got ammunition when the other pretender to the postal trade, National Mail, folded nine months after the McBeths bought their business. Two hundred people lost their jobs. Worse, some confused sorts thought it was Pete's that had failed.

Different story now: "We've got suppliers chasing us," says McBeth.

Also very pleasant - at least, to an Aucklander used to the rather dour monopoly - is the company's love of the local.

Suppliers, as much as possible, are local companies. Stamps are mini-billboards plugging local firms. Pete's Post backed the much-loathed New Plymouth City Council millennium year project - the erection of a Len Lye wind wand, which looks like a tall, bendy pole with a glowing ball on top.

When the wand lost its head, unimpressed locals made their own front-yard wands from domestic materials. Pete's put the 10 most popular wands, as voted by locals, on postage stamps - you can see and buy the winners on the company website.

But tragedy struck. The couple's only daughter, Jasmine, then 10, was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in her jaw a year after her parents took over Pete's Post.

The whole family, which includes son Steen, 12, moved to a rented house in Wellington, so Jasmine could receive a year of live-in, aggressive treatment at Wellington Hospital.

"We decided as a family that cancer belongs to us all and if Jasmine has to be in hospital then we all must stay united," says McBeth.

It was an "extremely heart-wrenching time ... but being able to manage my own time I was able to support Jasmine 100 per cent but stay focused and enthused for work."

She converted a room in the house to an office, looking after Jasmine on the rare occasions she was out of hospital, and launching the Wellington arm of Pete's Post.

Talk about a test of character. In several phone interviews, McBeth comes across as a woman with a steel backbone: up-front, bluntly honest and unwavering in her focus.

"Our personal life and business life was thrown into survival mode and I wrote a completely new business plan on how I was going to control cancer in my business life," she explains.

Time management became even more important: then, as now, says McBeth. "I don't let the daily obstacles ... let me take my eyes off my vision and goals."

Now back in New Plymouth, on Ngamotu Beach, they're a play-together, stay-together family, spending a lot of time on the water, swimming, waterskiing and jetskiing.

The secret to living and working with one's partner, says Denise McBeth - the pair met at secondary school and have been married 17 years - is respect. (And that's why Murray doesn't feature in this story and refused to be photographed - it's Denise's time to shine, he says.)

Work disagreements are not taken personally, and McBeth says she values being able to talk over work issues in-depth with her closest ally.

However, the family has received another bombshell. Mid last year, Jasmine's cancer resurfaced and she was given mere weeks to live.

Jasmine has defied that prognosis by eight months and is still at school, though on permanent painkillers to alleviate pain caused by the tumour expanding inside her skull.

The judges who bestowed McBeth's award described her as an excellent all-rounder, seeing her as "an inspirational model for other women in business".

The university of life, says McBeth, has equipped her well: "I don't believe you need a university degree to be successful. You have to be passionate about what you do."

Now, she can "proudly stand and say yes" to the five questions that opened this story.

"Now I'm in control of my own time and business life and personal life." Financial security is merely a "byproduct".

Advice to other women thinking about going into business? "Have a go. Listen to your customers. Keep changing - you can't stand still. Be passionate about your creation and success will come from that."