About Poplar Core
Meet the team behind Poplar Core Business Consulting — independent pricing and profitability advice for Australian SME owners since 2016.
Poplar Core Business Consulting is the registered trading name of a Sydney-based advisory practice focused on one thing: helping Australian small and medium business owners understand whether their prices actually cover their costs and leave a fair profit.
Official details
Registered business name: Poplar Core Business Consulting
Established: 2016
Principal office: Office 9, 45 Placeholder Road, Sydney NSW 00000
How we started
Founder Margaret Chen spent twelve years as a management accountant in manufacturing and wholesale distribution before noticing a pattern: the businesses that struggled most were not necessarily bad at their trade — they were bad at knowing their numbers. Owners priced jobs from habit, matched competitors without checking overheads, and discounted to win work without calculating the margin left behind.
In 2016, Margaret left corporate finance to offer fixed-scope pricing reviews directly to SME owners. The practice grew through referrals from accountants and industry associations who needed a specialist to sit with an owner, walk through their rate cards, and produce a plain-language report — not another spreadsheet that nobody read.
Who we work with
Our clients run trades businesses, retail shops, cafés, allied health practices, creative studios, and light manufacturing operations. Most employ between three and forty staff. They come to us when:
- A busy season ends and profit does not match the effort
- They are about to raise prices and want evidence to support the change
- A new product line or service tier needs a defensible price point
- They are preparing for sale and need margin history cleaned up
Our approach
We do not sell software subscriptions or ongoing retainer packages by default. Each engagement has a defined scope, a fixed fee quoted upfront, and a written deliverable. Sessions happen at your premises, our Sydney office, or via video — whichever lets us see the numbers that matter.
We work alongside your accountant, not in place of them. Our reports are written for owners first, with summary tables your bookkeeper can file.
Values we hold
Honesty over optimism. If your current pricing cannot support your cost base, we say so and show the arithmetic.
Specificity over jargon. Recommendations reference your actual jobs, products, or service lines — not abstract benchmarks.
Respect for your craft. We do not tell you how to run your business. We tell you what your prices need to be for the business you have chosen to run.