NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • Deloitte Fast 50
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Business / Small Business

Your Business: Paying yourself - Nic Gibbens, PaperKite

NZ Herald
10 Dec, 2014 12:40 AM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article
Nic Gibbens, CEO of PaperKite.
Nic Gibbens, CEO of PaperKite.

Nic Gibbens, CEO of PaperKite.

Nic Gibbens is the CEO of Wellington-based mobile apps firm PaperKite, which he founded in March 2010.

Did you pay yourself from the beginning of setting up PaperKite?

I ran the company for the first year or so literally on nothing. I had $20,000 of savings when I started, which I used to pay my mortgage, and I managed to get enough jobs to keep me alive. I worked out of my spare bedroom and was single at the time so I just had myself to worry about and didn't have many costs.

I also managed to get clients to put 30 percent up front, and then I'd split the remaining fee over the duration of each project, which worked really well. I'd come from having a very well paid corporate job to pretty much earning nothing, but I'd never been happier, so I didn't mind.

So when did you start being able to pay yourself a regular amount from your own business?

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

About 18 months into the business I began paying myself a regular amount of a few hundred dollars a week. Things changed again in March last year, which was our third birthday, when I decided to remove all of our contractors. I'd been whittling them back over time and starting to hire permanent staff, and it was at that stage I moved everyone on to PAYE salaries, including myself.

I realised if our clients were going to take us seriously we needed to take ourselves seriously and bank on the fact we were going to keep growing and make more money. At that point there were five of us who went full time, including myself, on to salaries.

This year has been a non-stop amazing year; we've been busy all the time and everything has grown. So I think this coming year I'm finally actually going to take my salary up to match what it was when I left my corporate job - and hopefully beyond that by the end of the year.

Have there been any hiccups along the way in terms of being able to pay yourself regularly?

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

I have had points where I've had to put more money into the business and not get paid. We had two major contracts fall over in November last year, for example, which is disastrous for a company of our size because everyone goes away on holiday and no one signs off on any new work again until March. At that time I had to put more money into the business and not pay myself for six weeks so I could pay everyone else for that period.

The people who work for me do so on the belief that I've got their back. They've got their own mortgages, their own aspirations, their own things they need to do and their treaty with me is I'm going to provide them with challenging work and give them money for them coming to sit in my office. I take that very seriously, so if anyone is going to go without it's me and I'm happy for it to be that way because without them I don't have a business.

What advice would you have for others about paying yourself as a business owner?

I think entrepreneurs can often be quite focused on themselves. But the reality is that without everyone who works with you the chain just falls apart, and there isn't a business. So in my mind the people who work for me come first and I'll always take a back seat to that.

Discover more

Small Business

Your Business: Hiring right with Megan Clark

17 Sep 07:20 PM
Small Business

Marketing on a shoestring with Cathy Pope Jewellery

14 Nov 01:00 AM
Small Business

Buying a business with Aaron Toreson, Link

17 Nov 10:50 PM
Small Business

Buying a business with Myles Cooper, Challenge Partners

19 Nov 01:00 AM
Save
    Share this article

Latest from Small Business

Small Business

25 years of the Deloitte Fast 50: Meet the alumni breaking barriers

Small Business

Rising to the occasion: The Wellington bakery that's on a roll

Premium
Small Business

Small Business: Giving furry family members a final farewell with Sunset Vet Care


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Recommended for you

Be in to win a double pass to see Priscilla Queen of the Desert
Promotions

Be in to win a double pass to see Priscilla Queen of the Desert

Last-gasp Lions try sees Australia surrender test series in Melbourne
Rugby

Last-gasp Lions try sees Australia surrender test series in Melbourne

Lawson takes top-10 finish in Formula 1's Belgium sprint race
Formula 1

Lawson takes top-10 finish in Formula 1's Belgium sprint race

Fire crews extinguish blaze at smoke-logged Mitre 10 Westgate
New Zealand

Fire crews extinguish blaze at smoke-logged Mitre 10 Westgate

Auckland Lotto player wins $1m, Powerball jackpots to $12m
New Zealand

Auckland Lotto player wins $1m, Powerball jackpots to $12m

Black Caps meet South Africa in Twenty20 Tri-series final
Black Caps

Black Caps meet South Africa in Twenty20 Tri-series final



Latest from Small Business

25 years of the Deloitte Fast 50: Meet the alumni breaking barriers
Small Business

25 years of the Deloitte Fast 50: Meet the alumni breaking barriers

How Deloitte's Fast 50 winners chart their path to success,

21 Jul 05:00 PM
Rising to the occasion: The Wellington bakery that's on a roll
Small Business

Rising to the occasion: The Wellington bakery that's on a roll

21 Jul 04:59 PM
Premium
Premium
Small Business: Giving furry family members a final farewell with Sunset Vet Care
Small Business

Small Business: Giving furry family members a final farewell with Sunset Vet Care

20 Jul 05:00 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP
search by queryly Advanced Search