3 Australian Business Models to Learn From: ThinkHQ, SCARF and Cheek Media

What separates an unforgettable business from one that blends into the crowd? Whether you're a service provider, consultant, coach or creative business owner, here are practical ideas to help you think differently about positioning, partnerships, revenue, and what truly makes your business unique.

In this episode of **Money Secrets**, Fi explores three Australian service-based businesses nailing their business models: ThinkHQ, SCARF, and Cheek Media.

Listen to Episode 77

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

Why your business model matters. Learn how a well-designed business model creates profitability, competitive advantage, and long-term sustainability.
Why leading with outcomes is more powerful than listing services. Discover how ThinkHQ communicates the transformation clients want instead of simply describing what they do.
How to clearly communicate your unique value proposition. Learn why explaining what makes your business different helps attract ideal clients.
Why employer branding is part of your business strategy. Discover how showcasing your team and workplace culture helps attract and retain exceptional talent.
How strategic partnerships can strengthen your business. Learn why collaborating with existing organisations can create better outcomes than building everything yourself.
Why impact reporting builds trust. Discover how sharing measurable results helps customers and supporters understand the real difference your business is making.
How revenue streams can support your mission. Learn why businesses like SCARF and Cheek Media have designed creative income sources that align with their purpose.
Why knowing your target audience changes everything. Understand how Cheek Media has built a highly engaged brand by speaking directly to Gen Z.
How memorable marketing creates stronger customer connection. Discover why unexpected products, experiences, and messaging can deepen audience loyalty.
Why differentiation is essential in crowded markets. Learn how these three Australian businesses stand out by embracing what makes them genuinely different.
How to think more strategically about your own business. Walk away with practical ideas you can apply to your own positioning, partnerships, marketing, and revenue model.

3 brands nailing their business models (EP#77)

Introduction

We've made a lot of progress as a society in many areas, but one thing that hasn’t changed enough is our relationship with money. If we want to tip the scales in favour of marginalised people, we need to understand the secrets to making money in small business.

The more we talk about money — especially the secrets that usually stay behind closed doors or on the golf course — the more empowered we become. My mission is to get more money into the hands of good people, specifically business owners like you.

Because I believe small business can change the world. And to do that, we need to be making more money.

Acknowledgement of Country

This episode was recorded on the lands of the Wurundjeri People of the Kulin Nation. I’d like to acknowledge them as the Traditional Owners and custodians of this land and water that I live, work and play on.

I pay my respects to Elders past and present, and recognise that sovereignty has never been ceded. This always was, and always will be, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land.

What Three Australian Brands Can Teach Us About Better Business Models

Your business model is more than the products or services you sell.

It is how all the pieces of your business fit together to help you make money, stay profitable and create a competitive advantage.

In this episode of Money Secrets, Fi is back doing one of her favourite things: pulling apart the business models of Australian brands and looking at what they are doing really bloody well.

This time, she is looking at three service based businesses: ThinkHQ, SCARF and Cheek Media. While their work could not be more different, all three have something important in common. They know what makes them different, and they have built their business models around it.

From building a team that becomes part of your competitive advantage, to creating revenue streams that bring your customers closer to your mission, there is plenty here for small business owners to steal, adapt and make their own.

First, what actually is a business model?

Fi describes a business model as essentially how you arrange your business so that you can make money, be profitable and make the most of your competitive advantage.

It is how everything fits together.

Your customers, revenue streams, partners, team, value proposition and the activities you need to be brilliant at all contribute to the model behind your business. And when those pieces work together intentionally, they can become a powerful point of difference.

So, what can we learn from three Australian businesses doing things differently?

ThinkHQ: Sell the outcome, not just the service

ThinkHQ is a communications agency founded by Jen Sharpe, growing from one person working at her dining room table to a team of more than 100 people.

But what immediately stands out to Fi is that ThinkHQ does not lead by telling potential clients that it is a communications agency.

Instead, it leads with the outcome its clients want:

Make positive change.

That distinction matters.

Rather than putting a list of services front and centre, ThinkHQ communicates what those services ultimately help its clients achieve. Its messaging then explains how the agency delivers that outcome through creative integrity, bright thinking, cultural nuance and technology.

For small business owners, there is a simple question worth asking here:

Are you selling what you do, or are you communicating what your customer gets because of what you do?

Your customer might not be looking for a copywriter, consultant, photographer or accountant.

They are looking for the result that person can create for them.

Your team can be part of your competitive advantage

The other thing Fi loves about ThinkHQ is the way it positions itself as an employer.

The agency puts its people at the centre of its business, communicating its commitment to inclusion, equitable pay, development, flexibility and shared success.

That is not separate from its business strategy. It is part of it.

ThinkHQ needs exceptional people to deliver exceptional work for its clients. That means recruiting and retaining great talent is one of the key activities its business model depends on.

For founders building a team, this is an important reminder.

We can spend enormous amounts of time thinking about how our businesses look to customers, but potential employees are looking at us too.

What does your website say about working with you? What does your LinkedIn presence communicate? What would make an incredible candidate choose your business over another one?

Becoming an employer of choice can be a competitive advantage in itself.

SCARF: Build impact directly into the business model

Next up is SCARF, a social enterprise helping young people seeking protection and those from refugee and migrant backgrounds gain employment through hospitality training, mentoring, job readiness support and paid work experience.

What Fi loves about SCARF is that its impact is not sitting somewhere on the side of the business.

It is built directly into how the organisation operates.

Rather than creating its own restaurants and taking on all the complexity that would come with that, SCARF partners with established hospitality businesses to give trainees real world experience.

That creates value on multiple sides.

Trainees gain practical experience and pathways into employment. Hospitality venues participate in meaningful training while connecting with potential future employees. And SCARF can focus on what it does best without needing to become a restaurant operator itself.

It is a brilliant example of thinking strategically about partnerships.

Who already has the infrastructure, audience, expertise or resources your business needs?

You might not need to build everything yourself.

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Show people the impact you are creating

SCARF also does something Fi believes purpose led businesses can learn a lot from: it communicates its impact clearly.

At the time referenced in the episode, SCARF reported 399 graduates, a 93% trainee retention rate, 26,920 hours of hands on industry training, 13,700 hours of paid work experience and 72% of graduates in employment.

Those numbers make the mission tangible.

Rather than simply telling people that the organisation creates positive change, SCARF shows what that change looks like.

If impact is part of your business, ask yourself whether your customers can actually see it.

You do not need an enormous glossy impact report. Start by identifying what you can measure and communicate consistently.

Revenue can create impact too

Here is where SCARF's model gets particularly interesting.

Approximately 65% of its funding comes through SCARF dinners and events, with the remaining 35% coming from philanthropic grants and donations, according to the figures Fi shares in the episode.

People can go out for a great meal while simultaneously helping trainees gain real world hospitality experience and helping fund SCARF's work.

That makes the customer part of the impact.

Instead of treating revenue and purpose as two separate conversations, the model connects them.

And that leads to a bigger question for purpose led businesses:

Could the way you make money itself help deliver your mission?

Cheek Media: Know exactly who you are talking to

The final business Fi explores is independent news commentary platform Cheek Media.

One of the clearest strengths Fi identifies is its audience positioning.

The brand's language, imagery, content and overall personality are designed around the younger audience it wants to reach. Its stated aim is to make politics more digestible and exciting for the next generation.

There is no attempt to sound like everybody else.

And that specificity is powerful.

A common fear in small business is that narrowing your target audience means losing potential customers.

But knowing exactly who you are talking to can make your messaging sharper, your marketing more recognisable and your audience feel like the business genuinely understands them.

Trying to speak to everyone can leave you sounding like no one.

Your revenue streams do not have to be obvious

Then there is Cheek Media's approach to making money.

Alongside books and paid Substack content, one of the ways its audience can support the business is through a vibrator created in collaboration with Normal.

It is unexpected. It is memorable. And within the context of Cheek Media's audience and brand, Fi argues that it makes sense.

The bigger lesson is not that every business needs an unconventional product.

It is that your revenue streams do not automatically need to look like everyone else's.

Think about what your audience already values, what feels genuinely connected to your brand and what they might happily buy while supporting the work you are doing.

The best additional revenue stream might be something you have not considered yet.

Revenue can deepen the customer relationship

There is another clever connection between SCARF and Cheek Media.

Their revenue streams do more than generate money. They give people another way to participate in the brand.

Someone attending a SCARF dinner experiences the mission firsthand. Someone purchasing something through Cheek Media is engaging with the brand beyond simply consuming its content.

That participation can deepen the relationship and potentially encourage people to come back again.

This is a useful lens for any business exploring new revenue streams.

Do not only ask:

How else can we make money?

Also ask:

What could we offer that makes our customers feel even more connected to what we're building?

What can you implement in your own business?

ThinkHQ, SCARF and Cheek Media are very different businesses, but each has built its model around what makes it distinctive.

ThinkHQ demonstrates the power of communicating the outcome customers want and treating your team as part of your competitive advantage.

SCARF shows how strategic partnerships, clear impact measurement and mission aligned revenue can work together.

Cheek Media demonstrates what happens when you deeply understand your target audience and are willing to explore revenue streams that fit your brand rather than following the traditional playbook.

The lesson is not to copy any of these businesses exactly.

It is to look at your own business with the same level of intention.

What makes you different? Who are you really for? What outcome are your customers actually buying? Which partnerships could make your model stronger? And are there smarter, more interesting ways your business could make money?

Final Thoughts

A great business model does not have to look like everybody else's.

In fact, the strongest lesson from these three businesses might be the opposite.

The more clearly you understand what makes your business valuable, who you are creating that value for and how you can build revenue around it, the easier it becomes to make deliberate decisions about how your business grows.

ThinkHQ, SCARF and Cheek Media have each found different ways to lean into their competitive advantage.

Now the question is:

What could you lean into more?

Outro

Thank you for listening to Money Secrets. If you loved this episode, please subscribe, share it with a friend, or leave a review. Your support helps us get these conversations into the hands of more good people who deserve to thrive in business.

We’ve come so far as a society in many ways, but money is one of the areas where progress hasn’t been enough. If we want to tip the scales in favour of marginalised people, it starts with understanding the secret: money in small business.

In this podcast, Money Secrets, host Fiona (Fi) Johnston—Chartered Accountant, small business advocate, and impact enthusiast—dives into the conversations we need to have about money. The secrets that once stayed behind closed doors (or on the golf course) are finally out in the open.

Fi’s mission? To get more money into the hands of good people, like you. She believes small businesses have the power to change the world, and the key to making a bigger impact is to make—and manage—more money.

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Thank you to everyone involved for bringing this podcast together. We are excited to hear from you with any questions, feedback or suggestions for future episodes that you might have. Send a Direct Message to @peach.business

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