Her Story

Nancy Knudsen was born in Queensland and spent the first 12 years of her working life in the television industry, as an announcer, compere and producer.

In 1976, she founded a travel company, Sydney Express, which was the first of several travel agencies and wholesale businesses that she founded and sold.

In 1984, Nancy founded Aircruising Australia Limited, a tourism company whose core business was operating deluxe ‘aircruises’ of the outback of Australia, using a variety of commercial-sized passenger aircraft. Bill Peach Journeys, best known for its programme and marketed under the name, expanded to offer a vast range of deluxe domestic and international expeditions. For many years, Nancy was the only female chair of a public company in Australia.

In 1996, Sydney Express became the first travel company in Australia to win an “Ausindustry Small Business Award for Achievement in Business Excellence”. That same year, Nancy represented Australia as a finalist in Les Femmes Chef D’enterprises Mondiale’s Woman Entrepreneur of the World Awards, held in Los Angeles.

In 1997, she was Business Sydney’s Chief Executive of the Year of the NSW Top 500 Companies. In 2000, she was awarded the Telstra/Westpac Business Owner of the Year in the Telstra Business Women’s Awards.

Always a consummate sailor when not working, Nancy took a ‘sabbatical’ in 2003, sailing around the world with her husband, Ted Nobbs, on a 46ft yacht, returning to Australia in 2008. While sailing, Nancy underwent a ‘reinvention’ of sorts, completing a Graduate Certificate of Journalism, then her Master of Arts in Writing and Literature. Using her newly hewn skills combined with her previous commercial experience, she has been, since 2006, the editor of Sail-World Cruising. Sail-World is the largest online sailing magazine in the world.

Strategies for Success

  1. You Are Successful When You Like Who You Are and Who You Are Becoming.
  2. Listening to Understand Will Always Gain You More Than Speaking To Be Understood -“ Only speak after you have listened and heard.
  3. Love the People You Deal With, and Make Them Successful -“ If they are successful, it follows this will surely make you successful.
  4. Deciding to Focus on the Important Issues is Easy, but deciding what is important is the key.
  5. When the Goal Feels Difficult to Achieve, Don’t Think How You Feel Now – Think about how you will feel when you have achieved it.
  6. At the End of the Day, Business is a Game we Play – Making money does not make you rich or happy, and losing it is less serious than losing sleep.