The New Dreaming Podcast

Digital Pathways: Building First Nations E-Commerce

• David Cook

Share episode

Discover the powerful story of how a simple website for a family cabinet making business sparked a digital entrepreneurship journey that's now transforming Indigenous businesses across Australia. Adam Wooding, a proud Wemba Wemba man, takes us through his evolution from reluctant website developer to founder of Empower Digital, a thriving Indigenous-owned digital agency.

https://bit.ly/Adams_Website

What began with helping his father establish an online presence in the early 2000s has blossomed into a mission to empower First Nations businesses in the digital realm. With refreshing honesty, Adam shares practical wisdom about the right timing for digital investment—advising businesses to build social media presence first before investing in e-commerce solutions when direct message orders become unmanageable. This strategic approach has helped numerous Indigenous businesses scale effectively without premature digital investments.

The conversation reveals how pivotal relationships with support organizations like Indigenous Business Australia have been to Adam's success. From reluctantly attending workshops to becoming a valued service provider delivering digital training, his story demonstrates how engaging with support ecosystems can create unexpected growth opportunities. Most striking is Adam's insight that despite working in technology, it's real-world human connections that drive business success.

With a new Shopify app called POS Cafe and specialized programs for service-based businesses on the horizon, Adam and his partner Carmel continue expanding their impact while balancing business growth with family life and cultural connection. Their journey offers a blueprint for aspiring Indigenous digital entrepreneurs: start with relationships, understand the practical needs of your community, and create solutions that truly empower others to thrive.

Join us for this candid conversation about Indigenous entrepreneurship, digital strategy, and the importance of maintaining well-being while building businesses that serve future generations. Be inspired to take your next step in the digital landscape.

David:

Adam, welcome to the podcast.

Adam:

Thank you so much, brother. I really appreciate it. I feel very honoured and privileged to be here, so thank you.

David:

Oh, it's great to have you. You've travelled all the way from Warwick to join us here in North Mianjin, so thanks for coming. We're going to start right off the bat, full name mob and maybe where you grew up. A little bit about those first 15 years of your childhood, yeah, sure.

Adam:

So full name Adam James Wooding. I'm a proud Wemba Wemba man. I was born and grew up on Yugambeh country on the Gold Coast, now living and working out on Giddabool country in Warwick, which is a small town about an hour south of Toowoomba. I've been really exposed to business for my whole life because my dad's a business owner and he was also really quite involved in the community on the Gold Coast through the Calwen Development Corporation. So we had a lot to do with that and with mob through Calwen. When I finished high school I actually went to uni to study psychology. But my dad, as I said, was a business owner. Just when I was studying psychology at uni he had just come out of working full time and starting up his business again and he asked me if I could help him out with his business.

David:

So the Calwen is the Aboriginal health centres around the Gold Coast. Yeah, yeah, I think I've been to the Calwen one just before Burley is it around Miami?

Adam:

Yeah, there is one. Yes, there's one there.

David:

Yeah, and with your dad being a businessman, at what age was this point where he asked you to come and help out?

Adam:

Always been really drawn to the internet. There was this ability for anyone, whether it's a business or individual, to share their story and connect with others and I just felt really drawn to that, naturally. And so when I was helping my dad out with his business, I saw an opportunity there to help him to establish a website for his business and he was really happy for me to do that. And around that time, around year 2000, 2001, there weren't many businesses that had websites, especially cabinet makers on the Gold Coast. So his website that I created it went really well straight away. He was able to really leverage more inquiries and it just really had a big impact. So that was my first experience getting into creating a business website.

David:

Is it safe to say that from that first website you were hooked with the digital space?

Adam:

Yeah, 100%, and I think it's for me, a big part of it was actually seeing the impact that it had on my dad's business and my family my dad's business and my family, the ability for my dad to reach a wider audience and share his business and share his story and then have that increased cash flow. All those things, I think, were what really got me hooked on this concept of e-commerce and what it could do for small business.

David:

I'm hearing these amazing stories. That's quite innovative at that time as well early 2000s. I remember the internet back then and I was going to ask about going to your business now and the name of your business is yeah, empower Digital. It seemed like you were empowering your father. Did the name have anything to do with that empowerment that you gave your dad from helping him scale?

Adam:

I think that's definitely where it started. I think that's definitely where it started. I did go and work for my dad full-time for quite a few years after uni and all those things. Then, just when people would find out what I was doing, I always started getting inquiries from other people just really through word of mouth and ended up having quite a few little side projects and things on the go. And then Carmel and I got to the stage where we felt like we just wanted to have something that was ours. And around 2019, that's when Carmel and I decided that we would start our own business, and in the digital space. So that's where we thought that name Empower Digital just summed up what we were trying to achieve and what our business is all about.

David:

No, it's a great name, thank you. Empowerment, I think, is something that everyone can use in any business and it's pretty straightforward. You know you've got digital in there as well, so let's talk about your business now. You, over those years doing that work and having those side hustles and supporting dad and the family business, we could say so yeah, tell us a bit more about that we didn't start out with the intention of doing a lot of e-commerce development and web development projects.

Adam:

We actually started out, we we worked really hard for quite a while to develop some workshops and some programs that we wanted to run and that were all based around empowerment for small business, and we quickly realized that there was a huge number of businesses that needed to get online, get e-commerce stores set up really quickly, and we were just in a really good position to help businesses do that. So we, very unexpectedly, we then formed new partnerships with organizations and we started running online workshops and started helping businesses with setting up their e-commerce and digital tools, and then that just opened up a whole bunch of new doors and new opportunities and new things that we hadn't expected and hadn't planned on. So a lot of our business to get where we are now has been a very organic journey and just it's been very natural process, very organic process.

David:

Yeah, I can sense that from the way it begun. It wasn't a new business today just going. I wanted to get a website. You started helping people. That's where it started and then you've got the educational component to the business, which is different than just the let us take care of everything. Yes, I want to start with a business out there that may not have a website. They've got social media channels and they think, oh, I've got Facebook and I've got Instagram. How important is it for a business, a mob business, a First Nations business, especially who may not have ever had one website? How important is it to get a website for a business?

Adam:

Well, I actually think that starting with social media is the place to start for businesses. But then there comes a point where an online store is really important. Once they've gotten to that level, build the audience and then when and this is where we come in I think we've fit really well with a business who has started in that space, starting to get lots of direct message orders coming in and it just starts getting overwhelming and not scalable and too hard to keep managing all those taking all the orders over email or over direct message, and that's a really good time to then go to the website or e-commerce online store step and then they've got the traffic, they've got the audience, they've got the orders coming in. Then it can really help to scale. Having the online store as a place to manage all of the orders coming in and the customers and manage all the products and inventory, then it becomes just vital.

David:

So I'm a small business, I'm an emerging business. Establish the socials, my niche, my audience. Yes. Inquiries, inbox, email, sales starting to get a little too much Now we give Adam a call yes, and then we start to automate those processes online, Exactly yeah. The store, attaching the PayPal, whatever preferred payment methods, and get all that stuff going. That's a great place to start.

Adam:

Yes, that's my opinion and that's through my experience. That's what I feel is the best process and the best steps, that's great advice.

David:

There's some people again. They dive straight for a website or they neglect it. So I think, it's important to know today, 2025, establish that network audience. Yeah, I don't like the word customer. You know you're sort of working with people, Exactly, let's talk about. You mentioned some IBA workshops. How did you hear about IBA? And let's explore those workshops.

Adam:

Definitely so. I had a little bit of exposure to IBA back when I was working for my dad's business. It was actually Carmel who first found out where those workshops were being run and, I have to be honest, I thought I don't need to go to any workshops. I've already got a fair bit of experience in business. But Carmel was really insistent that we should go along and so I went along I have to be honest, a little bit reluctantly, but the workshops were fantastic and so helpful. They were around business planning and, I think, business basics and some financial stuff and it was just really, really worthwhile and we got a lot out of that. It was wonderful.

Adam:

Then, through those workshops that we attended, we actually met an IBA representative. His name's Neil Barry and we were yarning with him and just letting him know what we were doing, what we were planning. He mentioned to us that IBA had an upcoming business accelerator program and he just kind of mentioned to us and told us that we should have a look at it. And we did have a look at it and we thought that there was no way that our business would be accepted into that. I just felt like there'd be other businesses who accepted into that. I just felt like we were, that there'd be other businesses who were more established. I just didn't think we had a chance. But a few months later, and just out of the blue, neil emailed us and said oh, just letting you know this is open for applications now, just in case you want to apply. And so we did and didn't expect to hear back. Then, a few weeks later, we got an email back or a phone call saying that we had been selected to have an interview, we'd moved on to the next stage of the application and then, before we knew it, we had been accepted into the accelerator.

Adam:

So we were very, very just so fortunate to be part of the 2019-2020 IBA Business Accelerator Program, and that was just an incredible experience for us and it really did help to accelerate our business. It opened us up to so much more and things that we didn't know existed, and opportunities and networks, and so we were very fortunate. We were paired up with a business coach. His name's Isaac Jeffries and he's just an incredible business coach, so he's been very, very important and instrumental in helping us to get to where we are now, and so we did that, and then, towards the end of that accelerator is when COVID just started and towards the end of that accelerator is when COVID just started becoming serious in Australia. Then, during the COVID period, iba also established a business loan and grant offering that they had, and we actually took that opportunity as well. So we applied for a small business loan which helped us to get some better equipment and things, and part of that was a grant as well. So that was very, very helpful for our business.

Adam:

And then, towards the middle to end of 2020, we started getting some calls from IBA asking if we could help out some of their other IBA clients with some business support and website support and digital support.

Adam:

And so then we worked on some of those workshops and programs that I told you that we had started out intending on doing. We refined those and put a proposal together and we were really fortunate that IBA approved a quite a big partnership. So we were able to to establish a 12-month partnership with IBA. That was an amazing opportunity and we were able to to help a huge number of businesses through through that program that we had established. And then we've continued to do a lot more business support for IBA. So not just saying this, but IBA has really been a very big support of our business and it's been just really instrumental in our business success and where we are now and we, we there's no way that we would be doing what we're doing now without the support of IBA on as both business, business um customers and also suppliers as well. We were really really thankful and and and just so appreciative of of the support that IBA has provided to us.

David:

I don't have to ask about any support now, because it was evident. And then what grew from being a client grew into a great partnership and again not to use the word again but that empowerment of what yous were doing, the early education now formed into a well-versed system to help. So I want to ask now about you've gone into business, the incredible stuff that you've done with IBA, Some of the challenges that can come with business why don't we just share some of those challenges? Maybe post-COVID, you know, business can go well one month, one quarter, one year and then have some dips. What are some of the digital issues that a business can face?

Adam:

Things can happen unexpectedly and it was very, very stressful when COVID caused a lot of the things that we, a lot of the projects and things that we had lined up to all fall through. I found that very hard to deal with and extremely stressful. Really awful not having anything lined up, no income coming in and just really being uncertain about what the future was going to hold. I found that very, very challenging. So how did you?

David:

how'd you get through that?

Adam:

I think, definitely the support of Carmel. So Carmel's she's just able to deal with that sort of stuff a lot better than me, so she's she's just been very supportive and always really positive and we're both really open and we share how we're feeling about things and for me, just that support of carmel was really really important.

David:

And if carmel says to go to a workshop, yes, that you're reluctant to go to, definitely, adam needs to go to that workshop A hundred percent Very much so.

Adam:

So I think I am thankful for that experience, though, and what we learned from that is that we need to be diversified in our income streams and always and so that's something that I'm very conscious about all the time is, projects can fall through or people can leave positions and we don't have a relationship anymore.

Adam:

So we're always trying to have diverse income streams and diverse partnerships and always be doing a lot of different things, not be relying on any one thing, not have all our eggs in one basket all the time. So some of the other challenges around the digital space that can happen for businesses are it's going to sound really simple, but it actually causes a lot of real stress that we've helped businesses get through. A business owner may have gone through another company or another agency to set up help set up their email or help set up a really basic version of their website those kind of things and all their domain names and their social media accounts and email is all in someone else's name in another company's name, is all in someone else's name in another company's name, and that can be very, very stressful for business, because they find out they don't have ownership of any of those things and it can be really stressful to try and get those back.

David:

It must be tricky for businesses that are navigating social media. But in the downtime, how is that for you? So you work in the digital space? How is Adam when he's Adam and Carmel, when you guys are just a weekend off Do you spend much time in the digital realm?

Adam:

We do, and I think that for us because I don't want to sit here sounding like I've got everything figured out and, I know, have all the answers to everything we are so busy all the time and we've got so much on the go and we've we've got three kids as well, and and we actually have a second business which I haven't even mentioned yet um, and we sometimes get into bad habits of just scrolling and spending way too much time on socials ourselves, and so they're things that we are definitely working on and trying to get better at as well ourselves.

David:

I think everyone is. I find myself I've got a great relationship with social media. I've established rules and boundaries, but it's taken a long time to even get there and some days. I forget. Then I catch myself and I go whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Adam:

Yeah.

David:

So, yeah, it must be tricky when your work is in the digital space. Now, let's say there's some emerging businesses out there. They're watching this, they're interested in website design, e-commerce, the digital space. What's some advice for them to get started? Some young mob out there that might be like hey, I'm interested in websites, what's some advice?

Adam:

Yeah, so do you mean like someone who wants to do something similar to what I'm doing?

David:

Yeah, maybe they're curious, maybe they've got an auntie that they see could benefit from a website and they play around in the bedroom and and they can do it, but they haven't made the step yet to say, honey, I could design that for you. What's some advice to get them out there or build their own little?

Adam:

yeah, I think it's a business I think it's a wonderful opportunity and I think it's a really worthwhile space to get into.

Adam:

It is a very competitive space and often small businesses, micro-businesses and startups often can be quite cash poor, so they're looking for the best deal, which I completely understand, the best deal, which I completely understand. So sometimes in that space it can be a little bit of a race to the bottom in terms of pricing and things. So what we've found that's worked really well for us is we try to partner with organizations that have business programs or, um, business mentoring and things such as IBA that they offer to to help mob out. That's the approach that I very much, that works really well for us and I and I think that that would be the approach that I would recommend new businesses to try and find out who which organizations are supporting, supporting more, but have have programs and things in place and and try and partner with those organizations, which does. It takes time to build those relationships, but for me that's the approach that I think works works really well no, that's great advice because competitive.

David:

So instantly for those aspiring digital artists start to diversify already. Think of your point of difference, an educational component or somewhere that when you launch that micro or startup, you've got that point of difference. You're aligning yourself with organizations. That almost an impact campaign in the in the film industry. We do impact how we're going to benefit the community this.

Adam:

There's so much out there, there's so much opportunity out there. What's worked really well for us is is building relationships. Even though we're in the digital space, um, it's the real world relationships that we've built that have had the most impact on our business, and just building relationships has been the absolute foundation of our success. And where we've gotten today, success and where we've gotten today In conjunction with being an expert in what you do building those real relationships in the real world then translates through to digital.

David:

It's hard to explain but that's what we've found. I think that's really great advice. What does the future hold for Empower Digital?

Adam:

We we've got a lot of things coming up which we're really excited about. So for Empower Digital, we have a program that we are a new program that we're currently working on which we're really excited about. That's going to have some in-person part of it and then some follow-up online components as well. We've provided a lot of support and done a lot of work with e-commerce businesses. We also have seen that there's a lot of things happening in the tourism space as well for tourism-based businesses. But we get a lot of inquiries and a lot of people asking us for support who have businesses that are more service-oriented. So it could be a tradesperson or it could be someone who provides something like accounting or just anything that doesn't fall into products and also doesn't fall into tourism, but is more someone who's kind of selling their time or providing some kind of services. We saw an opportunity there and we've developed a program that's specifically targeted towards service-based businesses. So we're really excited about that that's coming up.

Adam:

We've got lots of e-commerce projects and things that we're working on.

Adam:

Six or eight months ago, we started a new business, which is it's called POS Cafe, so we've built a Shopify app that was created out of a from working with a business called Naramili or an organization, sorry, called Naramili down in Victoria.

Adam:

So they came to us and we helped them to set up all of their e-commerce and their point of sale. When it got time to helping them set up their coffee shop, we realized that on the Shopify platform, which is an e-commerce platform that we do a lot of work on, there wasn't an easy way to set up a food and beverage type business on there. So we saw an opportunity there to fill a need and to create something, and we've always had a goal of building an app. So we jumped in and we built our app, which is called POS Cafe or POS Cafe, and so that was always intended to be a little bit of a side hustle, but it's quickly becoming a really big full-time business in itself and it's got a lot of interest and a lot of things happening around that. So we're currently working on two businesses full-time and really excited about where both of them are going.

David:

That's great. We'll definitely be checking out POS Cafe for sure. Yeah, thank you, want to hear more about it. Let's close out by talking about what you like to do to relax, to reset, to keep you inspired from business, or inspired to do business from business or inspired to do business um, positive, I guess, emotional, spiritual things that you do to sort of keep up this hustle of doing those two businesses what are some things that you like to do and some advice for others to to keep the spirit strong, yeah thank you, um, so it.

Adam:

I think, if I have, I do need to be really honest with you and say that it is really challenging and the reason that we're doing what we're doing is for we're trying to build something for future generations, something for our kids and also our community, and I think keeping that in mind, why we're doing what we're doing, helps me to keep going. Our businesses have grown and supporting that growth is something that we're working on at the moment have grown, and supporting that growth is something that we're working on at the moment. I'm very fortunate that I have a lot of opportunities to get out on country and working with mob, remote communities and things, and just being out on country really really helps to stay grounded and to reset. So having those opportunities is something I'm really thankful for and that's that's really helpful for me. Spending time with family and without, with our kids and having quality time with our kids is really helpful too.

Adam:

I think Carmel and I just we are very fortunate to have such a strong relationship and we communicate really well and just share how we're feeling and share when we're struggling, when we're feeling down, sharing that with each other, and I'm very fortunate to have some amazing mentors and other community members and elders that I'm able to talk to and that really help to support me able to talk to and that really helped to support me.

Adam:

I hope it's okay to say that big shout out to Jack and Lisa Bullman from Mibambar Spirit Healing.

Adam:

So they're an organisation that specialises in mental health Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health and they're really close friends of ours and they have provided a lot of support to us, um, as well. But I don't want to sit here and sound like I've got all the answers, because it's I'm still figuring it out and it and that mental health side of things is something that is an ongoing challenge and something that that, um, I haven't got all the answers to yet because, uh, with our businesses, they have grown and we we're still in the thick of trying to figure how all that out and getting better systems in place and things. And I think probably right now, um, hopefully I'll have a yarn with you down the track and be able to look back and be in a better place, but right now we just really are in in the middle of of everything being really busy and stressful and full-on, so we're definitely not perfect at the moment, but there's probably a lot other things that we need to do to improve on that stuff.

David:

Thank you for sharing because business is tough and I loved that you talked about business earlier and building those relationships and then, when we just talked about the emotional and mental and spiritual health side of it, it was directly linked to the work, what you said building those relationships, family, community, great mentors and it seems like the strength is in what the work you are doing. From listening to you talk about how to help with business, those same things are instilled with the you know, the mentors and the family and the great people you're around. So thank you so much, adam, for your time. Thank you, brother, really appreciate it and we'll keep yarning.

Adam:

Thank you so much. It's been an absolute honor and privilege to be here today and just love, love yarning with you. So thank you.