2023 reflections, 2024 predictions with Man of Many’s Scott Purcell

As we start to wind down before the holiday break we are asking a wide range of SME business leaders to reflect on 2023 and gaze into the 2024 crystal ball.

It’s been quite the year, and the only certainty for next year is uncertainty.

Today we chat with the co-founder of one of the most acclaimed publishers of 2023, Scott Purcell from Man of Many, Australia’s largest men’s lifestyle website.

Your business looks like it’s been killing it in 2023. How are you going?

2023 has been a year of significant milestones and challenges for Man of Many. Winning B&T’s Media Platform of the Year and Mumbrella Publish’s Website of the Year has been incredibly rewarding. However, it’s also been a year that tested our resilience and adaptability. The digital publishing and advertising landscape has faced unprecedented challenges, from rising living costs to fluctuating advertising markets. Our team has responded with agility and innovation, ensuring we’ve continued to thrive despite those hurdles.

Have spiking cost-of-living, interest-rate rises, advertising squeezes etc put any pressure on your business? You seem to be in growth mode?

These economic factors have undeniably impacted the advertising landscape, affecting both the volume and value of advertising briefs and programmatic display rates. In speaking with others, this phenomenon isn’t isolated to us but rather a universal challenge across the industry. Leveraging my finance background, we’ve maintained a vigilant approach to our finances, ensuring robust budgeting and cash flow management. This strategic financial planning has allowed us to build a sufficient safety net to navigate any economic turbulence.

Despite the challenges, we’re still very much in “growth mode”, having grown our sales team by 300% this year, so we’re setting big challenges and goals for ourselves in 2024.

How are you – the leaders of your business – going personally?

The end of the year always brings a bit of reflection and I’m gobsmacked that it’s already nearly over. It feels like 2023 was somehow both a lifetime and over in the blink of an eye. We recently concluded a two-day offsite with our senior leaders, which was instrumental in resetting our focus and laying down ambitious goals for 2024.

Anyone who runs their own business knows how stressful it can get but I think over the past 6 months, in bringing on board the right people we’ve really found that secret sauce in terms of our systems and process to run things smoothly. Knowing you can trust your staff and they remain accountable takes a big weight off our shoulders.

You’ve developed a really compelling value proposition in a crowded market: who inspired you and why do you think you’ve succeeded?

A few things make Man of Many stand out and inherently unique. We’re proudly independent and premium yet approachable. We’re not just Australia’s largest men’s lifestyle site and a celebrated media entity; we’re also pioneers in sustainable media practices, being Australia’s first carbon-neutral publisher. We’ve worked hard to build credibility as an authority on the topic we cover through being a member of the Australian Press Council and a registered News Business with ACMA as well as offering excellence in customer service.

This has come with an extreme amount of hard work over more than a decade, so these things didn’t happen overnight. Frank and I have always been very much our own target audience so we’ve let that guide us in our business and content decisions. We’ve very much aimed to build a sustainable media business.

Initially, we were inspired by many US publications writing about the topics we were interested in, like Uncrate and Cool Material. There wasn’t anything like that in Australia at the time, but as we’ve grown and developed, particularly through the work of our Editor in Chief Nick Hall, we’ve found our own tone of voice and sense of purpose in what we produce.

Publishing is a tricky but rewarding sector: what do you love about the industry?

The dynamic nature of the publishing industry, particularly in the digital realm, is incredibly exciting. My finance background fuels my passion for the business aspects, from strategy to team dynamics but what’s truly motivating is the pace of change, offering opportunities for innovation and adaptation, particularly for agile publishers like us relative to the larger legacy media.

What frustrates you?

The Australian media landscape poses significant entry barriers for new publishers. Our bootstrap journey at Man of Many is a testament to overcoming these challenges without external investment. The group media buying and agency agreements can be a hurdle, but they also drive us to showcase our unique value proposition. The News Media Bargaining Code, in my opinion, has been detrimental, benefiting legacy publishers disproportionately and lacking a nuanced understanding of the digital media ecosystem.

The social media landscape is shifting profoundly, and Google’s algorithm changes are like a rollercoaster: what’s working for you marketing-wise? What concerns you?

We’re excited about deepening our audience engagement through a membership platform and interactive events. The evolving nature of AI and search algorithms does pose a concern, but we remain committed to producing valuable, high-quality content, confident in its enduring relevance.

We recently interviewed Small Business Minister Julie Collins who argued that the government is challenging the concept of the Coalition as the champion of small business issues. Interested in your view on this.

To be honest, beyond the impacts of the News Media Bargaining Code, we haven’t noticed any major differences between the two parties and the direct impacts on our business. That being said, I think Labor is doing some great things in the space, including guaranteed support during crises like natural disasters and pandemics and aiming to ensure small businesses are paid on time (within 30 days) through legislation. This could significantly improve cash flow and reduce stress for small business owners.

I understand they are also trying to level the playing field to outlaw “unfair contract terms” and reduce red tape to create a more equitable environment for small businesses competing with large corporations as well as undertake further investments in vocational education and training programs to address the skills shortage currently faced by many small businesses.

And what about the NSW government: do they provide any help?

We’ve had little engagement with the NSW government in terms of small business or direct impacts to our business. One thing that’s changed is that we now have to pay Payroll Tax due to the growth in our team which is a hit to our bottom line.

What do you love about being an SME operator? What’s the best thing about running your own business?

The freedom and flexibility inherent in SME operations are unparalleled. The ability to focus solely on outcomes, free from the constraints of corporate politics, is incredibly liberating. The most rewarding aspect, however, is the team culture we’ve nurtured at Man of Many, fostering a collaborative and innovative work environment.

Man of Many team. Source: Supplied

What do you hate? What would you rather outsource?!

While nothing I outright hate, outsourcing HR functions has significantly streamlined our operations, allowing us to focus more on our core business activities.

Are you deploying AI? If not, do you plan to, and how?

We’re cautious with AI in content creation, strictly adhering to policies prioritising original and expert content. However, AI plays a significant role in our business processes, from custom GPTs aiding various tasks to experimenting with AI-driven chatbots. We were the first major publisher globally to launch a ChatGPT plugin and one of the first to implement an AI chatbot on our site. Our focus remains on harnessing AI to augment our capabilities while staying committed to authentic content creation.

How are you feeling about 2024?

Our recent team offsite has filled us with optimism and a clear vision for the future. We’re excited to continue building on our successes and innovating in the digital publishing space.

What should we – your audience, your peers in the industry – be excited about?

I think our peers have a lot to be excited about. With so much change in media, through AI, new social networks, personalisation, subscriptions and video, there’s a huge amount of opportunity out there. Embracing these challenges, I think, will ultimately bring success and constantly iterating.

Where is Man of Many going? What’s the end goal?

Our purpose is to empower people to make positive investments in themselves and their communities, so we have that in mind with everything we do. While we’re now around four times the size of GQ Australia in terms of our Australian website traffic, there’s still a long way to go regarding our brand building and recognition in terms of recall. Our vision is very much to become a household name and trusted authority in premium lifestyle content, and we’re well on our way to achieving this while staying true to our values.