Secret Weapon

SHE’S OWNED 12 BUSINESSES AND HEADED UP 585, COMPLETED 31 MARATHONS AND LIVED WITH TRIBES IN NEW GUINEA. THE UNSTOPPABLE ERICA KING SHARES HER SECRETS TO SUCCESS.

- EMILY PIDGEON

Many of the world’s business minds are content with operating one venture, maybe two if they want a challenge. Not Erica King – she didn’t stop until she reached a staggering 585.

Lauded as the secret weapon to business success, King increased the profit average by almost half a million dollars per year, per client. “It’s like anything,” she says, somewhat ordinarily. “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.”

Appropriately dressed in a fierce red pantsuit, King is a refreshing change from predictable corporates who have come before her.

From celebrating her 50th birthday by completing 12 marathons in 12 months (even more of a feat for someone who used to forge her mother’s signature to avoid school sports) to being Ansett Australia’s most frequent female flyer five years running, learning how to make wigs at the BBC in London and coming out of retirement during the pandemic to launch her 12th business – Life Lessons with Erica King – there is no doubt the knowledge-hungry leader has lived a diverse life.

Thriving in challenging situations is one of the keys to her 30-plus years of incredible business success. “I definitely thrive on it, no question,” King shares with The CEO Magazine. “You know you always have that butterfly in your stomach and that fear, but in a good way. It’s so helpful for business owners to get different perspectives and learn something new.”

After briefly living with remote tribes in New Guinea in the 1980s, it’s safe to say the business coach it not afraid to lead by example.