Let’s Talk with Paul Siderovski
1. In a few words tell us about your current role.
I am the MD of SiDCOR. My role is strategic, future planning and creating a WOW for clients and staff in the business each day.
2. How have you reached this point in your professional life?
I started working at 11 years of age doing a paper run in Waratah. I then moved into a part time position at McDonalds which I found to be the best training ground for a kid. There I learnt all about systems and how to be very fast and efficient. My next job was at K Mart which enhanced and developed my people and sales skills. I studied while working and then landed a professional position at PwC. I left after being head-hunted by a large second tier accounting firm where I become the youngest director. The biggest turning in my career was actually being sacked from this position (due to a lack of alignment regarding vision and values). This is when I started SiDCOR 14 years ago with one of my best friends and my PA at the time.
I always knew I would be in business and from a young age I wanted to be a millionaire (I got inspired from movies and especially by a guy that spoke to us at school when I was in year 9).
3. When you’re not at work, where can we find you?
I love playing squash. I play every morning before work at 6 am. I love travelling and seeing the world with my family. I also love movies and TV shows. My favourite shows at the moment are Suits and Billions.
4. Where do you find inspiration?
Tony Robbins inspires me to be better person, leader, business owner, husband, father, son, and brother. He truly changed my life seven years ago when I did his seminar Unleash the Power Within. I highly recommend it to anyone and every year I send staff so they can also be inspired and grow. If you have not done it then you are leaving money and life on the table. These are the four key people who have changed my life:
- Tony Robbins
- Scott Douglas (my CEO)
- Gavan Reynolds (property consultant)
- Tim Ryan (my coach)
5. What advice would you give to someone just starting out in your field?
Get ready to do the 90 hours and don’t be scared to get your hands dirty. Bite more than you can chew. Think bigger than you already are. My mother always said to me “never be scared of work, make it scared of you”. I live by this.
6. What’s something most people don’t know about you?
I have never smoked or ever tried. I remember a defining moment for me in year 6 when my best friend at the time and I were invited to hang out with a bunch of other guys from our school at their cubby house made of cardboard and plastic sheets. It was the ultimate peer pressure situation where once we sat inside the cubbyhouse they had pulled out a packet of cigarettes and offered them to us. I said no thanks. They asked again…come on, come on. I was firm with my ‘no thanks’ but said I’ll keep an eye out for them and went outside. To this day it has guided me and served me to do the right thing and I have never let someone force me to do something I don’t want to do.
7. How would you like to see the Hunter evolve over the next decade?
I would love to see more activity in the inner city with height restrictions relaxed so that we can attract larger corporations to our region. I would also love to see a fast rail system from Newcastle to Sydney. Newcastle also needs to get some big thinkers/ thought leaders into council and we will have a lot more progress.
8. What’s your favourite Hunter restaurant/café/bar?
Scratchley’s. It brings backs memories of taking my wife on dates and it is still our favourite restaurant.
9. Are you reading anything at the moment?
Not right now, but favourite book is Simon Sinek’s “Start with Why”. I return to it all the time.
10. Do you have a favourite sport or team?
I love squash and soccer.
11. What’s the best line from a film you’ve ever heard?
“I’m the party pooper” from Kindergarten Cop.
This article was featured in the December issue of The Hunter Business Review Magazine