John Rawson

After a career start in the New Zealand horse racing industry, John moved to Australia where, because of circumstances, his only career option was to become a commission sales person. This was John’s first business and he took to it like a duck to water. He remained at the top of his profession as a salesperson before becoming a business man and moving into direct marketing.

He co-founded Demtel International, a business that became a household name in Australia, and provided John with a platform to travel and work overseas. During this time, he developed a reputation for being able to sell anything. The hard-edged discipline of direct marketing also taught John that operating a business required endless research and planning in order to avoid failure. ??With 20 years of business experience and a demonstrated gift for sales, John turned his hand to business consulting. In his first year in consulting, John realised that the offerings from business consultants were poor to say the least. That’s when he and his business partner at the time, Brian Cole, decided to write Freedom Management.

Little did John know that he would spend the next 17 years perfecting Freedom Management, a job made extremely difficult through three life-threatening illnesses that have seen him unable to work for as much as two years at a time. When asked how he felt about this, his comment was, “If it wasn’t for the prolonged periods of illness, I never would have had the time to write Freedom Management and perfect it. It became a life sustaining goal for me.”

Despite his illnesses, John took up Aikido 5 years ago and considers the training (with men and women half his age, trying to master what is considered one of the most difficult martial arts to master) to have helped him achieve a level of health that means he is fitter today at 55 than when he started his sales and business career at 17.