Federico Re on resilience, reinvention and the power of quiet ambition

From engineering to entrepreneurship and coaching, Federico Re has built a career on family values, creative thinking and the belief that success often begins by embracing uncertainty.

Federico Re can be described in many ways: entrepreneur, coach and leader. But the title that matters most to him is father, and family sits at the centre of everything he does.

“Honour, family, integrity and values are at the heart of everything I do,” he says. That outlook was shaped early. Born in Italy, Federico migrated to Australia in 1976.Shaped by his entrepreneurial parents, he grew up with a strong work ethic and adventurous spirit woven into daily life. For that reason, entrepreneurship was not simply a career move but a mindset he grew into. “My philosophy is that you aren’t born an entrepreneur; you become one by thinking like one,” he says.

After completing a Bachelor of Engineering with honours at RMIT University in 1996, he co-founded his first business venture with his sister Cristina in 1997, building it into a designer stationery and giftware company that sold through major retailers across Australia and New Zealand.

That early experience became the foundation for his next chapter. Federico went on to establish Creative Entrepreneur, a bespoke Melbourne-based coaching and advisory practice established in 2007 for startups, founders, SME owners and aspiring entrepreneurs. Public profiles describe him as an entrepreneurship coach, mentor, motivational speaker and business writer, with training through the Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship in South Africa, accreditation in Decisionship coaching and certification as an NLP practitioner.

After helping his sister grow the business into a multimillion-dollar operation, Federico moved into coaching. It felt like a natural progression: he could draw on his own experience to support other entrepreneurs. A chance meeting with British serial entrepreneur and global coach Anne Mckevitt confirmed what he had begun to suspect — that coaching could become the next serious chapter of his career.

Those experiences shaped the lessons that carried Federico into the next stage of his career and ultimately into Creative Entrepreneur, the coaching and advisory practice he founded in 2007.

“Most people think of ‘failure’ as a dirty word, or something you want to avoid in life,” he says. “There were times when my sister and I thought we weren’t going to make it, but we persisted, and that helped us build resilience. Set-backs were just part of the learning process”

Starting a business at a young age also meant Federico had to learn quickly who to trust.

“I learned that people would fail to take me seriously,” he says. “Perhaps because of my family heritage and work ethic, I was a little cocky as a young man and often did not listen to advice given to me from people with more experience.One of the most difficult times I had as a young business owner was when our sales representatives tried to take advantage of my sister and me by stealing our IP and making underhanded deals we were not aware of. It got to the point where it was damaging the reputation of our business. I had to put my ego in check and seek legal advice, and in the end, my sister and I were able to move beyond this issue and focus on growing the business further.”

The global financial crisis became another turning point in Federico’s coaching business. By embracing technology early, he attracted clients through Skype when many still saw it mainly as a way to stay in touch with family overseas. That willingness to adopt new tools online helped him stay ahead of the curve and strengthen his place in Australia’s coaching and entrepreneurial ecosystem, especially during the Covid pandemic.

Asked what makes a good coach, Federico points to the qualities that have shaped his own practice and the many clients he has mentored over the years. “Being a good listener, having empathy, understanding the perspective of the other person, as well as stretching the client outside of their ‘comfort zone’ is important for growth,” he says.

In a crowded coaching industry, newly minted coaches can find it difficult to stand out. Federico’s advice is simple but firm: “Know your niche. It sounds simple, and sometimes having a niche means narrowing your market, but knowing exactly what you specialise in — and being genuinely good at it — becomes your selling point.” For Federico, that niche has included coaching ‘intrapreneurs’: people inside organisations who bring an entrepreneurial spirit to their work.

“Many recruiters can be risk-averse about hiring people who think like entrepreneurs because they worry those people will quickly outgrow the company and move on,” he says. “But the opposite can be true. These people can become your biggest asset. They can champion your business, come up with solutions and, if you give them trust and enough elbow room, remain loyal.”

That clarity, he adds, needs to be matched by commercial discipline. “You need to be an astute businessperson and know the numbers. Yes, being technical is important, and sometimes being technical can stifle creativity, but you have to know how to run a business. You can’t run a successful coaching business without first knowing how to operate one.”

While starting out as an engineer might suggest a strictly technical path, Federico sees engineering as central to his creativity. It taught him to solve problems, employ mitigation strategies and recognise that there is rarely only one path to choose from.

“It’s funny when people realise I am an engineer first and then moved into the creative space,” he says. “I started Creative Entrepreneur because I feel a deep connection to creative people, and entrepreneurs are really creatives at heart. Even if you don’t have artistic ability, you can still be creative. I am a flamenco guitarist, and in my late 20s I was fortunate enough to go to Andalucia in Spain to learn flamenco guitar from some of the greats. I am so grateful for that experience; it continues to inspire me to play music and travel.”

For all the lessons Federico has learned about growth, resilience and reinvention, his final advice returns to restraint, where burnout is common in the entrepreneurial space. Entrepreneurs, he says, need to recognise that business has seasons. “You’ll have what we call in business the summer or spring, where everything is growing at a million miles an hour,” he says. “Then there will be winter, where it is dead cold and very little seems to happen. Don’t be afraid to lean into the winter period and take on that downtime because you deserve a break. You cannot be on the hamster wheel all the time. Sometimes your best ideas will come in the quiet season, so don’t be afraid of the silence.”