Hi, I’m Ned Coten
But you can call me Neddo
I was born and raised in Narrogin, Western Australia
But I’m currently in Melbourne, Australia
You’ll find me eating oysters, lamb chops, pavlova, cheese in that order…
And you’ll see me drinking water, Cognac, coffee but not in that order
A sports moment I’ll never forget is Being chosen to attend the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, Australia on a basketball scholarship. I went from living at home with my mum and younger brother and playing basketball on outdoor bitumen courts with my mates, to the best training facility in the country, with the Olympic coach overseeing our training. It really was the start of my career in sport and has led to many great moments, including being selected to play for the Australian Junior Team and to becoming President of Basketball Australia
The sports venue you’ll have trouble getting me out of is the “Clayton Road Oval” in Narrogin, the small country town where I grew up. There are so many memories there for me – hundreds of nights spent training for Australian Rules Football, some incredible games including 4 or 5 Grand Finals, most of which we won. It was where I made friendships and learned many lessons that have stayed with me for life. Great venues are the places where memories are made and for me none is better that this local sports ground, where a whole town could come together and have done so for over 100 years
I idolise two people, first, Arnold Schwarzenegger. When I was a kid I admired him for his bodybuilding, but as I have got older, I’ve admired the way he made the most of every opportunity and had successful careers in sport, business, movies and politics.
The other is Direct Copywriting legend Dan Kennedy, who has written 20+ books and is able to charge $20,000 per day for his consulting services.
Both of these people totally focused on their pursuit of success despite very poor upbringings in both cases. The most admirable thing to me is that they got every possible amount of talent out of themselves
On the weekend you’ll find me not that much actually. I love work and the thought of doing things, getting things finished and making a difference. Someone said to me a long time ago that most people want to get out of the rat race, but that a few are rats. I think I’m a rat – I really enjoy having lots to do and being busy. But I now appreciate the downtime and actually look forward to switching off.
You can also find me at one of the self-storage businesses I own as well. But, the best thing I do is spend time with my wife Hilary, our two sons and other family and friends – at the end of the day, that’s what life is all about
I’m always happy to talk about business and working out how to make things better. I love writing and communicating well with others, using the skills I’ve learned over the years. I believe very passionately that no-one owes you anything in this world and in fact it is everyone’s responsibility to give back and make the world a better place. If everyone helped just one other person in the world every day and showed compassion and genuine kindness, the world would be a much better place
Something you may not know about me is that for the first 5 years of my life I lived on a station in the Northwest of WA, 100km’s from anyone apart from my mum, dad, and brother. My dad died there and was buried on the property when I was 5. When he passed away, my mum had no-one to contact on his side of the family as she had never met them. I tried to find his family for over 30 years without success. Then in 2017, through an amazing series of coincidences (which would make a great book or movie), we found my Aunt, his brother in New Zealand. It turns out he has left when he was 20 and they thought he had been murdered. We’ve now discovered a ‘new’ family and get on very well
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