Small Business: Real Fencing founder’s accidental journey to nationwide success

Real Fencing founder Ronnie Seiler landed in the business by accident after originally learning digital marketing before trying to apply it to a real-world business.

Real Fencing founder Ronnie Seiler talks to Tom Raynel about starting small during Covid to scaling up across the country. Each Monday, we interview a small business owner, which is now a regular feature of NZME’s editorial campaign On The Up, showcasing uplifting stories of success, inspiration and possibilities.

What is Real Fencing?

Real Fencing is a fence installation company. We don’t just sell fence products, but we’re installers. We use a variety of manufacturers, including some locals, and we install everything from timber to aluminium, chain link, PVC, just about any fence.

What inspired you to start the business?

I landed on it a little bit by accident. I’ve had a couple of small businesses in the past and during that very first Covid lockdown I owned a party hire business. We obviously got locked down and couldn’t do anything. I thought as soon as I’m stuck at home I’ll use the time to learn a new skill, and something that always interested me is digital marketing.

I did a couple of courses and some training and I wanted to apply those skills to something real-world, just as a little project. I did a bit of research and I saw a gap in how fencing companies were marketing, so I decided to give it a go.

I made a website and it got traction relatively quickly and then I started getting some inquiries. I started with a local fencing company and I said I can generate the inquiries and handle the marketing side of things, you do the jobs. The model was working, so I rolled it out around the rest of the country.

Real Fencing is a fencing retailer and installation company available in 15 locations across New Zealand.

Were you building fences as part of the business?

I originally thought I could do the fences myself. I bought the equipment and did a bit of training to do them myself. I ran with it for a while, installing fences in Auckland with some guys helping me. Then it just got to the point where I didn’t know if I could scale the business doing that.

I changed and started doing the sales, visiting sites, seeing customers, getting the quotes out and overseeing the jobs with contractors doing it. Again, I was running myself off my feet and I just didn’t have enough time to scale things properly that way. That’s when I explored a franchise model.

We launched the new model in March and it seems to be working really well. We’ve got three installers in each of our 15 locations and we’ve got an online platform that we’ve built for customers to manage their details.

The construction sector has been in a lull, have you felt that pressure?

I think because of our business model it’s been a little bit different for us because we don’t bring on any staff. I would say it’s been a little bit easier for us to onboard guys because they’ve all been quiet and they’re looking for extra work.

From an inquiries perspective, they’ve dropped off a lot. There’s been a lag in that while customers have been asking for a lot of quotes, they aren’t following through and securing the job.

Given that everyone has been in a bit of a tight spot over the last couple of years with interest rates, that’s been the real challenge, just getting people over the line.

What has been the biggest challenge in starting the business?

For me it’s been finding a business model that’s profitable. I’ve tried various ones and at one stage it was looking like I just couldn’t make this profitable in a way that would enable me to roll it out as a national business.

I could make it profitable and just become a fence company in Auckland, but that wasn’t the goal. The goal was to try to roll something out across the country. To do that I had to find a model that was profitable and that works, so I suppose that’s been the biggest challenge.

What would be your advice to a budding entrepreneur wanting to start a business?

I think my advice is the same I give to my kids. If you’ve got an idea, just run with it and do it. Don’t be scared to try something and fail. The way that you learn to ride a bike is you had to get on, pedal and you had to fall off. You learn from those mistakes and it’s the same being an entrepreneur.

Do you have a small business story you want to share? Send your pitches to tom.raynel@nzme.co.nz.

Tom Raynel is a multimedia business journalist for the Herald, covering small business, retail and tourism.