As the founder of West Island Digital Trudy Rankins’s passion is helping others find the technology solutions that best fit their business and create the functionality a business needs. Having lived and worked in the US, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Australia, Trudy has an incredible appreciation for how valuable technology is and its effectiveness in breaking down borders and barriers.
West Island Digital delivers their unique ‘Online Business Liftoff’ program to people in communities that need to regain their own identity, confidence and see possibilities for their future that they previously couldn’t.
West Island Digital are using the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) to help them scale the business in order to reach as many people as possible and help them achieve their potential.
Transcript
Murray Smith: Trudy Rankin of West Island Digital, welcome to Gripping Business Tales.
Trudy Rankin: Thanks for having me, Murray. It’s great to be here.
Murray: Always a pleasure to have a chat with you, Trudy. As a podcast host yourself, you know we like to start with some questions. Could you share one personal and one professional success you’ve had recently?
Trudy: Sure. I’ve been thinking about that one for a while. It’s actually easier to come up with a professional success than a personal one—I’m not sure why! But personally, something I’ve wanted to do for a long time—I finally started weight training. I started during lockdown but couldn’t find the right equipment, so I improvised using two-litre milk bottles filled with sand and water. I measured them on the kitchen scales to get the weight right. It worked great!
Murray: Look at you—master of all trades.
Trudy: Basically just making do with what you’ve got. Professionally, I’m really proud that we’ve now put over 100 people through our Online Business Liftoff program. We’ve helped them start their own online businesses, focusing specifically on carers aged 26 and above—people looking after someone elderly, injured or with a disability. These people often lose a sense of who they are because their lives revolve around caring for someone else. We’ve also worked with people aged 50 and above who are unemployed or at risk of long-term unemployment. Age bias is still very present here in Australia, despite being illegal. But these people have a wealth of life experience, and they just need help developing some digital skills. Some didn’t finish the course, but even starting helped them regain the confidence they needed to land a job. COVID actually highlighted how important our program was—it offered people a way to move forward financially without relying on traditional employment.
Murray: That’s great. Tell us more about your business and how it came to be.
Trudy: I’ll try to keep it short. It started when I was about nine years old. My mum took me to get my eyes tested and the optometrist said I was close to legally blind. She was shocked—I did well in school, I was active, and I could read. But I had been pretending I could see, just so she wouldn’t think I was stupid. When I got my glasses, my world opened up—I saw things I didn’t even know existed, like ants on the ground.
Fast forward: I was working with Vision Australia and had an intern who was partially sighted. He had a blog getting lots of traffic but didn’t know it could be monetised. I helped him turn it into a business. Later, I proposed a pilot program to the CEO of Vision Australia to help a small group of blind and low-vision individuals start online businesses. That journey taught me so much.
Then we secured a grant through the Try, Test and Learn Fund to run a program for carers and older unemployed people. Now we’re opening up the program through a community-based paid membership model. Most of the people we work with aren’t tech-savvy, but we’re really good at helping them develop the skills to take control of their digital futures.
Murray: That’s a very inspiring story. I want to dive into what drives you. You’ve taken your own life experience and translated that into helping others—what motivates you to do that, rather than, say, going back into the corporate world?
Trudy: As a CIO and senior manager, I always ran internship programs. I’ve lived in more than one country and I know how hard it is to get local experience to land a job. Helping people build their confidence and create their own opportunities really excites me. I seem to have a knack for spotting people’s hidden potential. That’s what gets me out of bed every morning.
And the businesses we help people create are usually service-led—they aim to add real value to customers. We’re not about chasing yachts or Lamborghinis. We’re about the ripple effect—our clients go on to help others, and that’s how we make the world a better place.
Murray: That’s a great philosophy. Do you see a tension between your mission and running a business? How do you keep it sustainable?
Trudy: I don’t see it as soft or fluffy. I believe that if we’re truly delivering value, people will be willing to pay for that value. If they’re not, then we’re doing the wrong thing. Even a not-for-profit has to break even. Value creation is at the core of what we do. And when you believe in that value, it becomes easier to ask to be paid fairly for your work.
Murray: Let’s talk about the EOS journey. What challenges were you facing before EOS, and how does that compare to where you are now?
Trudy: Before EOS, we’d hit a ceiling. We couldn’t scale any further without changing how we operated. I have big dreams—I want to help more people, not just in Australia. EOS gave us a framework to do that. I’ve studied a lot of business theory, but EOS is practical and doable for small business.
Implementing it has been hard work, but worth it. We now have structured meetings, clear accountability, and much less friction. We’ve got a great team, and now we’re finally in a position to scale.
Murray: What’s the next big challenge for you?
Trudy: We’re working toward securing an outcomes-based contract, and once that lands, we’ll need to scale our team quickly. So right now, we’re focused on building a pipeline of the right people—those with the right mindset and experience, and a heart for serving others. It’s a rare mix, but essential.
Murray: Sounds like a good challenge to have! Now, if our listeners could take away just one thing from this episode—what would it be?
Trudy: I’ll cheat and give two. First, understand your customer’s pain point so well that you can describe it in their own words. That’s the foundation of everything—product, marketing, service. Second, invest in yourself. I wish I’d paid for a mentor or coach much earlier. You can find guidance in books or podcasts, but having someone who can challenge your mindset and open doors is invaluable. As you once told me, “You’ve got to pay to play.”
Murray: Brilliant advice. I’m sure people will want to find out more—how can they connect with you?
Trudy: Visit onlinebusinessliftoff.com to learn more or reach out to me on LinkedIn—just mention you heard me on this podcast and I’ll happily connect.
Murray: Trudy, thank you so much for being on Gripping Business Tales. It’s always a pleasure working with you and your team, and I’m excited to see what’s next.
Trudy: Thanks, Murray. We really appreciate the work you’ve done with us.
“A business is there for a reason. Even a not for profit has to break even.”