A successful young businessman has left Australia because he is fed up with “tall poppy syndrome”.
Rylan Kindness, 22, founded and developed Parking Deals Australia when he was just 16 years old.
The platform over the next seven years raked in $250,000 a month and amassed around 500,000 users before it sold the lucrative business in April for an undisclosed fee to Parkhound and moved to Dubai’s luxury island chain, The Palm.
Despite his young age, it was not his first business venture.
Mr Kindness also launched a website he hoped would rival Gumtree when he was in secondary school, and it was then that he says he got his first taste of others trying to bring him down.
“The kids at school found out and put a teacher’s house up for sale, and a lawyer’s house, and they made me take it down,” he told Daily Mail Australia.
“I never expected that if you try to be successful, there would be people actively trying to stop you.
“But that’s what Australia does best: trying to tear down people who are trying to succeed and give them a chance.”
Rylan Kindness, 22, founded and developed Parking Deals Australia when he was just 16 years old. Pictured with friends and family.
The businessman said it was not a specific incident that made him leave the country, but rather an accumulation of years of resentment and jealousy of others.
“Tall poppy syndrome is the real reason I live in Dubai,” Kindness said.
‘Here the government supports companies and no one cares about their successes. There is always a bigger fish.
While she considers Australia to be a “great, safe place, with lots of opportunities”, Kindness feels there is not enough support for those looking to get ahead.
‘I love Australia, I love being Australian, but I find it suffocating there. There is simply too much bureaucracy.
‘Everything seems to be a problem. There are always problems. Dubai is much more flexible when it comes to doing things. They have made it simpler.
Below, Mr Kindness, who is currently deciding on his next venture, sets out his eight key tips for Australians looking to start their entrepreneurial journey.
Rylan Kindness said tall poppy syndrome is the real reason I live in Dubai (pictured at his home in The Palm)
1. Take the time to find your passion
His parents always encouraged the former professional BMX athlete to have a backup plan and determine what he wanted to do in case he got injured.
Kindness said budding entrepreneurs also need to determine their end goals and what interests them.
“Take the time to discover and explore your passions,” he said.
He suggests that students not blindly work to get into college.
“Instead of going to college, I was already starting a business because I had taken the time to discover my passion,” he said.
“I knew from the beginning that’s what I wanted to do.”
2. You don’t care what others think of you
‘If you think about what others think of you, you will never do anything. You shouldn’t let that get to you.
The businessman said that young people must remember that it is their life and they must take control of it.
“Do something for yourself and don’t listen to other people, like parents or teachers, who might tell you what you should do,” she said.
3. Don’t be a lunchtime talker
This is advice that many adults can relate to: stop talking about your ideas and make them happen.
“I was talking to a friend of mine and he told me about the idea he wanted to do and I realized he had been talking about the same idea at lunch when we were at school,” he said.
“It was seven or eight years later and I was wondering what had taken so long.”
Mr Kindness said that as you get older, there are always more things in life that make it harder to get your idea off the ground, so the sooner you start, the better.
‘If you don’t take action, you won’t get results. People think the idea is valuable but the action is. Talk is cheap, action is valuable.’
Mr Kindness is currently deciding on his next venture
Mr Kindness also launched a website he hoped would rival Gumtree when he was in secondary school, and it was then that he says he got his first taste of others trying to bring him down.
4. Just start
“If you are committed to your end goals and constantly undermine them, you will have setbacks along the way, but if you keep going, you will get there,” he said.
The entrepreneur warns that a blank page is enough to get started and that those who want to start “do not need a huge plan.”
‘Just start. Simple as that.’
5. Learn and observe
Those who hope to succeed should always be asking questions.
“I had no idea, no money, I didn’t know anything about business strategy, but I watched people and watched what they did,” he said.
Young people can learn in the same way by “hanging out with successful people” and learning from them.
‘Success leaves clues.’
6. You have nothing to lose
The businessman wants teenagers to realize that it is a perfect time to try things, because they don’t pay rent and have no other adult responsibilities.
‘There will always be opportunities in every generation. In this day and age, it’s very easy to access something online,” he said.
‘The risk is low and it takes little money to start something. “It’s a great opportunity because the barrier to entry is very low.”
The young entrepreneur (pictured with his father) said it is easier to do business in the UAE, while Australia has a lot of bureaucracy.
7. Fight for what you want to hear
The businessman said the biggest challenge for a young person is deleting information from their feeds.
‘Young Australians are very distracted. There is a lot of opinion and information on social networks. So investing in businesses doesn’t seem like the most “fun,” he said.
“I don’t admire the guy who comes to Dubai for a month and posts pictures of himself at glamorous parties and in lambos – which are all rented – and then comes home and sells himself as the ‘product’ of how to be successful.
‘It has screwed up a lot of teenagers because it focuses on lifestyle. Business is not glamorous, it is hard work.
Kindness said entrepreneurship is not about “flexing your lifestyle” and that youth should be seen as a great learning phase.
8. There is always a way to make money
The businessman said that teenagers should be aware that there are multiple ways to make money.
‘You just have to spend time finding solutions. But some people prefer to complain rather than go out and make money,” he said.
As a child, he and his father went to garage sales, markets and curbside collections to fix things and make money.
‘The lesson I learned is not to be afraid to get my hands dirty. People are too lazy to fix or clean things and you can make a lot of money doing it and reselling it.’
Mr Kindness founded and developed Parking Deals Australia when he was just 16 years old.
