Michael Talevich (Class of 1999) provides advice on Kochie’s Business Builders

Michael’s name was passed on to Kochie by the Business Chamber as the person perfect for the role, and while Michael denied that giving advice on Kochie’s Building Business series has been a career aspiration, he did acknowledge that he is a frequent presenter of a number of courses each month at the Business Chamber through their Business Fundamentals Program. He has also done a significant number of presentations, training sessions and M.C. spots for the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Canberra Business Point and the Tax Institute, but this is the first one that was purely for TV.  Michael did however make his first acting debut on an ad for the Blindman Company when he was at Uni.

Michael has two girls. I asked him if they had seen the episode and what they thought. Michael said “I believe it was, ‘Can I play on the ipad when that’s finished dad?'”

Michael did not get to meet Koshie but commented that “he works really long hours and is meticulous when it comes to his organisation.  He spends time making a to-do list every day and then works his way through it”.

Michael is soon to move to Brisbane to set up a Nexis Accountants office.  He will be travelling back and forward to Canberra monthly and will definitely be heeding his own advice on business building.

Building new business is an area that he enjoys.  He notes that many businesses are spawned from people’s hobbies and passions and they bring this to the table with their business ideas.  He says “being able to be there from the start of their business and guide them through the process is extremely rewarding”.  He says “the key skill is being able to explain financial information and business advice to someone in a way that makes it easy to understand and in a way that arms them with all the information that they need to make sound decisions”.

Michael is very happy as a Director at Nexis. He says “the firm is built on people, relationships and communication.  It never feels like I don’t want to be at work and everyone gets along amazingly well.  Friday drinks always end with a game of cards against humanity, which is a great way to end the work week”.

Read Michael’s collegian profile here.