Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Here's why Sir Michael Hill was an example to us all

Sad news today - Sir Michael Hill, jeweller, has passed away. Again, he's another larger-than-life figure in New Zealand business - the likes of which we don't seem to be making anymore.

Now, I don't know if you realize - I mean, we've all grown up with Michael Hill just being a name we knew - but I don't know if you realize how amazing his story was.

He did not start his jewellery business until he was 40 years old. Up til then, he'd been working as a manager in his family's jewellery business. He left school at 16 and headed straight there. He was there for 23 years, got married and had a couple of kids.

But one day, his house burnt down. And the story goes that when he was watching his house go up in flames - literally - he decided he needed to change things.

So he started his own shop and it was a success. It was more successful than his uncle's business. So he opened seven shops in seven years, and that was a success. So he then decided to open another 70 in seven years. And now, his business is global. It's in New Zealand, it's in Australia, it's in Canada.

He's worked with Kim Kardashian, he's designed his own golf course, he has a luxury super yacht, he's got himself a knighthood.

And isn't it remarkable, when you think about it, that all of those things happened after he took a massive risk when he turned 40?

I mean, 40 is an age when most of us are either at the peak of our careers or absolutely firmly settled in what we're doing. Imagine just tipping it all up and deciding to start your own business at 40.

What I love about Michael Hill's story the most was that he did the same thing that many successful people do: he set goals and he visualized them. He wrote his goals down for years in advance - seven years, sometimes even as many as 30 years. And then he imagined what it would be like when he was actually doing that and had achieved those goals.

Successful people tell you to do this time and time again. But before you even get to the point of setting that goal, you have to believe that you can achieve it. And he clearly believed it in spades, and he thinks not enough of us believe what we can achieve.

He was more, obviously, than just a man who was into money. He promoted art. He was very good at violin - in fact, so good, he founded an international violin competition for young players. He donated to health research. He took his New Zealand business to the world. And he showed, yet again, that you can dream big from a small place like Whangārei.

He is an inspiration and he is a loss. But more importantly, he is an example to us all. We just need to set our goals and then go for it.

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