When 10 Brokers Weren't Good Enough, Davina Lacey Built Her Own Path
When 10 Brokers Weren't Good Enough, Davina Lacey Built Her Own Path
When Davina Lacey decided to leave the Pilates industry, she did something many business owners would recognise, she started looking for expert help. After interviewing 10 business brokers, however, she came away unconvinced.
“I interviewed 10 brokers and didn’t love any of them,” she recalled. “I thought, ‘I can do this.’”
Today, Davina owns and leads Stockbridge Business Brokers in Brisbane, overseeing a growing team and an expanding footprint across Australia. It is a role that draws on her experience as both a business owner and a seller, giving her a perspective that extends well beyond valuations and deal structures.
From Pilates to Broking
Long before she entered business broking, Davina built her career in the health and fitness sector. She owned two Pilates studios and also worked as an instructor, although she admits that teaching was not something she initially enjoyed.
“When I first got into it, I hated instructing,” she said. “By the end, I absolutely loved it.”
Her experience extended beyond studio ownership. Working for a Pilates franchisor, she helped sell both new and existing studios, giving her early exposure to transactions, buyer behaviour and business ownership transitions.
After returning to run her own studios, Davina reached a point familiar to many entrepreneurs. She was ready for a new challenge. The move into business broking felt less like a career change and more like an evolution of work she was already doing.
“I’d kind of been doing it previously, but just for one brand,” she explained.
Learning the Business Side of Broking
One of the defining moments in Davina’s broking journey came less than six months after she entered the industry. Don Gunther, the owner of Stockbridge Business Brokers, told her he was considering retirement.
Davina ultimately took over the business and began a transition that transformed Stockbridge from a small operation into a growing brokerage.
Don remained involved after the sale and became an important mentor. Now retired, he guided Davina as she adapted from selling businesses in a single industry to working across multiple sectors.
“Don really helped me through the transition,” she said. “He was coaching me through the emotions as a new broker as well.”
That support proved invaluable. Davina said broking is as much about managing uncertainty and emotions as it is about understanding businesses and financials. Outside the office, she also relied on a trusted coach and friend who helped keep her focused whenever self-doubt crept in.
A Different Approach to Clients
Although many new brokers worry about finding clients, Davina’s biggest challenge was something else entirely.
“I think the hardest thing at the beginning was the education piece,” she said.
Many business owners assumed closing their doors was their only exit option. Davina found herself helping owners understand that their businesses often held real value and that a sale could create opportunities they had never considered.
That focus on education continues to shape how she works today. Rather than treating transactions as isolated events, she sees business ownership as a long-term journey.
Stockbridge maintains regular contact with sellers, buyers, and business owners who may not be ready to sell for years. Sometimes that means sharing market insights. Other times it involves introducing clients to trusted advisers who can help solve problems outside Stockbridge’s expertise.
“We do one thing really well, which is sell businesses,” Davina said. “But we know everyone.”
The approach reflects her belief that strong relationships create better outcomes than transactional interactions.
Growing the Stockbridge Team
Since taking ownership, Davina has steadily expanded the business.
What began as a team of two has grown into a brokerage with multiple brokers and dedicated administrative support.
As the organisation has grown, Davina has remained focused on culture and personality.
“For me, it’s not about anything other than your personality,” she said. “You can teach business broking, but you can’t teach personality.”
She points to emotional intelligence as one of the most important traits in a broker. Having owned businesses herself, she understands that owners are not simply selling assets.
“You put everything into it,” she said. “There are humans involved.”
That perspective influences both recruitment and client service. Davina wants brokers who genuinely care about business owners and who understand the emotional significance of a sale.
Waves in the Market
Like many brokers, Davina has spent the past few years navigating economic uncertainty.
Interest rates, political announcements, and broader global events all influence buyer confidence. Rather than creating permanent slowdowns, she sees these developments creating waves of hesitation followed by renewed activity.
“Everyone sort of withdraws,” she said. “Then confidence goes back up and the world’s still moving as usual.”
Different sectors have responded in different ways. Professional services businesses continue to attract strong buyer interest, particularly accounting, bookkeeping, and marketing-related firms. Health and fitness businesses remain active, although valuation multiples have softened compared with previous years.
One trend she finds particularly interesting is the changing profile of buyers entering the health and fitness sector.
“The new generation coming through and buying these businesses are about 20 years younger than the ones going out,” she noted.
While hospitality remains challenging, Davina believes the broader issue is less about individual industries and more about buyer confidence.
Looking Beyond Queensland
Growth remains firmly on the agenda for Stockbridge.
Davina wants to strengthen the brokerage’s Queensland presence, particularly in regional areas where specialist business brokers remain scarce. Too often, she believes, business owners have to rely on real estate agents despite the significant differences between selling property and selling a business.
At the same time, Stockbridge is beginning to expand interstate. The business has already secured a Victorian licence and plans to establish a presence there within the next six months, with New South Wales expected to follow.
For Davina, expansion is about more than geography. It is an opportunity to learn from different markets and bring ideas together.
“I think each state should learn from each other,” she said.
That willingness to collaborate extends to the broader profession as well, where she values the support networks and knowledge-sharing that help brokers improve their craft.
Staying Connected
Despite leading a growing brokerage, Davina remains grounded in the relationships that first attracted her to business ownership. She is active on LinkedIn, although she laughs at the suggestion that she enjoys it. Rather than using the platform as a sales tool, she prefers sharing glimpses of her life and interests, believing clients want to know the person behind the business.
After all, business sales often take months to complete, and trust matters.
Away from work, that personal side now includes a new passion.. pickleball.
“If I’m not playing pickleball, I’m not happy,” she said.
It is a simple comment, but it captures much of what defines Davina Lacey. Whether she is building a brokerage, helping owners prepare for an exit, or planning the next stage of Stockbridge’s growth, she remains focused on people first and business second. In an industry built on transactions, that may be her greatest point of difference.
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