In 2018, Austen attends a dinner hosted by alumni of his old high school in Albury, just across the border in New South Wales. One of his old school friends, Sarah, tells him that she knows of a timber milling company, NSW Mills Pty Ltd, whose owners are anxious to sell their business. She also says that this would be a good time to buy it, as a new housing estate will soon be built in Albury and that there will be a big market for timber products. Austen thinks about this for a while and a few weeks later takes a personal loan of $ 500 000 and buys NSW Mills Pty Ltd. Within a few months the mill lands large contracts with builders at the housing estate and Austen makes 33 2 million in profits in the first year of his ownership of the company