🥃 What can 1,000 no’s teach you about building a business?

That was one of the big themes of this week’s episode of Whisky & Suits, where co-host Imran Khan and I sat down with Ronan Hanley, Managing Director of Surge Direct.

Ronan’s story is a fascinating one. He arrived in Australia as a backpacker and started fundraising on the streets of Brisbane, working on commission and hearing rejection after rejection.

Today, he leads one of Australia’s largest direct fundraising businesses, with a team signing up around 1,500 regular donors every week across a range of charities.

But what really stood out to me wasn’t just the scale.

It was Ronan’s philosophy around people, sales and doing business the right way.

We talked about:

💬 Why sales is ultimately about having a genuine conversation

🎯 How to handle rejection and keep going

🤝 Why trust and respect are critical to building long-term relationships

❤️ The difference between selling and inspiring someone to give

👥 How to build and lead large teams across Australia and New Zealand

🤖 How technology and AI are changing the fundraising industry

💻 His ventures into digital fundraising and donor technology

🏢 His journey as a property investor and developer

💡 And why “do what you say, say what you do” is such an important business principle

One line from Ronan really stuck with me:

“One conversation at a time.”

That’s essentially what his business has been built on.

A fascinating conversation about sales, rejection, leadership, technology, philanthropy and entrepreneurship — with plenty of laughs and, of course, a good whisky along the way. 🥃

Watch the latest episode of Whisky & Suits on Ticker.

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