Robert Herjavec talks business, dancing and how lucky he is to live in Sydney
Rags-to-riches businessman Robert Herjavec sold his $30m business, shot to fame on Shark Tank and has moved to Sydney with his talented wife - dancer Kym Johnson — and their six-year-old sons for the next chapter of his incredible life.
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Robert Herjavec is just as happy with his Ferrari and private jet as he was with a “20-year-old, beat up car” – and he’s allowed to say that because, like so many entrepreneurs, he started with nothing.
After marrying Aussie ballroom belle Kym Johnson eight years ago, his partner on the US version of Dancing With The Stars, no less, the couple and their six-year-old twins moved to Sydney this year, and now call Centennial Park home.
It’s Herjavec’s best life yet – and at 62, he’s already lived a few.
“I think it’s hard looking from the outside, because you think: ‘Oh, they’ve got access to all of this incredible stuff’, and we do – we have an extraordinary life,” he says.
“I mean, sometimes I think back and I think, how did we get here?
“But I think it comes down to Kym and I.
“Kym started life with nothing, and worked really, really hard to get to where she was, and so did I.
“And so I think for the kids, it’s more about what they see in us and the work ethic and the respect and that nothing in life is free, including an amazing life.
“So we’re just trying to instil that there’s sacrifice and discipline and all of that involved in order to live like they live.”
Herjavec started life a little differently to his six-year-olds Haven and Hudson. He was just two years older than them when his parents, escaping communism in the former Yugoslavia, took him to Canada by boat for a new life. They had one suitcase and $20 to their names.
In a true rags-to-riches tale, he delivered newspapers and waited tables before launching a computer company from his basement, which he later sold for some $30m.
“It’s so special, and it doesn’t seem extraordinary until you look back on it,” he admits. “I always think about what my parents did, and we did, coming to Canada on a boat with one suitcase.
“I mean, it sounds so melodramatic, but now that I have kids, and I look back, I think, gosh, that’s so remarkable.
“But just like you, this country, Australia, and I think Canada, in many ways, was built on the sacrifice of so many people that came here for a better life.”
The securities expert used his new fortune and started the Herjavec Group – now called Cyderes – one of Canada’s biggest IT cybersecurity companies that has an annual revenue of some $200m.
In turn, his success led to a life in lights.
First came Dragon’s Den, then as star as one of the sharks on US Shark Tank for 16 seasons. This year he even won an Emmy for it.
That led him to put on his dancing shoes for Dancing With the Stars USA – where he was paired with none other than Sydney ballroom dancer Kym Johnson.
Enter a new life.
They fell in love and eight years ago they got married.
Today, they call Centennial Park home, with twin six-year-olds keeping them busy, as all the best ones do. But having just stepped down as CEO of Cyderes, he’s got time for that now.
So now Herjavec is a shark again – just an Aussie one.
“Life is amazing,” he says. “I couldn’t be happier.
“And it’s incredible, because we’ve been talking about moving back for years.
“And Kymmy was always like, ‘we should move back’, and I was like, ‘oh, I don’t know it’s so far away’, blah, blah, blah – but once we made the decision, I’m all in.
“I want to sell everything and buy everything.
“We were just at Whale Beach and Palm Beach, looking at a vacation property.
“We have two homes here.
“I just bought a fancy car. I want to buy more cars. My wife is like: ‘Stop’,” he laughs.
He says the clincher about calling Sydney home was the kids. He has three adult children from another marriage who live overseas – but for Haven and Hudson, this was the best move.
“As any parent can relate, we felt it was the best decision for the kids,” he says.
“We had them try Kincoppal (Rose Bay school) last year, and it was just remarkable.
“There are so many good schools, but that school, particularly for our son and our daughter, is just magic.
“They come home, they’re happy, they’re engaged, they’re fulfilled.
“As a parent, how could you not love that?
“And that was really 85 per cent of the decision for me … the rest was just the follow through.”
He says selling a majority stake in his business three years ago gave them the liquidity, and freedom, to choose their next life.
Stepping down as CEO recently was another move in the right direction, he says, giving more time with the kids, more time to “drive Kymmy crazy” and time for passion projects like passing on his entrepreneurial nous on Ten’s Shark Tank, which premiered this week.
“Kym and I both love homes, so we said to each other, we’re going to buy a home everywhere in the world we may want to live – and we went a little overboard,” he laughs. “We actually ended up with 10 homes at one point.
“But the deal was always by the time the babies get to kindergarten, we will be in our forever home and will be settled.
“So that was always the timeline, even years ago.
“I think that’s another thing I very much appreciate about Australia – there’s a greater emphasis here on family and life balance.
“Now I say that because I’ve done really well and made my money.
“So maybe it’s a combination of the country, the people and this time in my life, but when I made the decision to move here, and Kymmy and I were all in, I immediately went to my board and my company, and I said, ‘I don’t want to do this any more’.
“And it’s impossible to run a large-scale business from Australia, that’s growing that quickly. And fundamentally, I just didn’t want to do it any more.
“I wanted to step back and do other things.”
He says meeting Johnson on the dance floor for ABC’s US version of Dancing With the Stars was a sure sign of stars aligning.
“I mean, people say to me, what’s the best thing about being on TV? And I’ve been on TV for 21 years now, and I always said it led me to this incredible joy in my life,” he says.
“We’ve been married now for eight years, which seems like a long time ago, but I never remember a day where we’ve argued.
“I mean, there’s been days where I’m sure she’s not happy with me, or, you know, you don’t get along, but it’s just, it’s been magic, and the babies are amazing.
“It’s worked out really, really well.”
And he loves that his youngest kids are Aussie too.
“Even if Australians didn’t speak with an accent, you would easily be able to pick out an Australian in a crowd as soon as you talk to them – there is an element of Kym and most people I’ve met in Australia that is quiet, but highly confident,” he says.
“That is humble and not arrogant, and it is so transparent about where you stand.
“It’s pretty rare that you meet people in Australia and you walk away thinking, gosh, do they like me?
“I just think that’s a very Australian characteristic.
“I also think Canadians are very much like that, and I think that’s one of the reasons Kym and I got along so well.
“I’m Canadian, she’s Australian.
“She’s a professional ballroom dancer, I’m a professional ballroom dancer.
“We just have so much in common.”
He’s been on Shark Tank in America for 17 years now, so doing the Aussie version was a natural evolution.
“It’s so fun,” he says of the show’s new season.
“They approached me about doing the Australian version and I was so excited, because I think Australia is the most exciting, dynamic and entrepreneurial nation in the world.
“I really do.
“A lot of the pitches are just so unique.
“People are so determined to do better and the businesses were great.
“Some of these businesses will really blow up in a good way.”
Being able to give back to the start-up community is the most rewarding part of the show for Herjavec.
“I’ve been doing it now for 21 years and far and away, not just for me, but for all the sharks – you are affecting people’s lives,” he continues.
“And I think the great thing about our show is we teach people the language of business, and we show people that you don’t have to be special, you don’t have to be born in a certain family or come from a certain background, that you can make your dreams come true if you’re willing to work hard enough for them.”
He starts each day with a run to Tamarama Beach and back for a swim and reset.
It’s the simple joys sometimes that bring the most pleasure.
“(Life) is extraordinary,” he says.
“Mind you I’ve always had a natural joy about life, regardless of the stuff.
“A long time ago, a friend of mine said there are two ways to lead your life, as though everything is a miracle, or as though nothing is a miracle.
“And I think my life is a miracle. I think the babies are a miracle. I think Kym is a miracle. I think the sacrifice that people made for me to live this life is a miracle.
“I got to Tamarama the other day and I have to tell you, it was one of those days.
“It was cloudy, but just as I got to the water, the sun opened up and there’s massive waves, and I jumped in.
“And as I’m walking out of the water, the sun comes out, and there’s people looking at the ocean, and I’m thinking, what are they looking at?
“And I turn around and I see whales off Tamarama Beach.
“And I just felt this incredible joy and happiness, and I just thought: ‘Wow, how miraculous is this.’
“I just feel so lucky.
“I mean, where else but in Australia would you get that experience and the natural beauty of it all?
“I was always a pretty happy guy.
“I think that everyone goes through some dark times and pain, and I think my life really turned around since I met Kym – but I also think great wealth just makes you more of who you were.
“I was a pretty happy guy with a 20-year-old, beat-up car, and I’m a pretty happy guy with a Ferrari and a jet now.
“So I think you have to find joy wherever you are, at whatever stage in life.
“But I think the greatest thing for me about Australia is it has unlocked all the joy in an amplified way.”
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Originally published as Robert Herjavec talks business, dancing and how lucky he is to live in Sydney
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