November 19, 2025 • 64 mins
Hi guys! We were undergoing unexpected renovations in this podcast. So apologies for the audio for this one. Thanks everyone for listening.
Nathan Stafford is a Sydney-based gardener and social media personality, best known as the face of Nathan’s Lawns and Gardens. He is best known for regularly restoring neglected gardens for free, especially for people doing it tough such as seniors and social housing residents.
We spoke about his early life, past struggles, turning his life around through gardening, going viral, why he looks after people doing it tough, his work today, the importance of setting goals, life as a parent and much more.
Purchase Nathan's new book here: https://nathanslawnsandgardensau.com/products/the-adventures-of-nathans-lawns-and-gardens-the-haunted-jungle
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Nathan Stafford, Well, straight talk mate, thanks to every I've
been trying to get you. I've been following you for
a bit and I've been trying to get the guys
to get hold of you to come on the show
because I'm fascinated with what you do. I think it's
quite amazing and apart from the the.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Good nature of what you do, that is the actual
nature what you do.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
For people, where you actually go and do stuff and nothing,
just the way you go about it, the way you've
run your Instagram, the way you've grown, you you're following,
but also the fact that it was crazy is mad.
There's so many people really interested in your activity, not
so much from a gardener's point of view or looking
(00:41):
after lawns gardens. I'm sure some of it is that,
but it just seems to be there's so many people
interested in.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
What you do for others. It's crazy.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
It's like people are vicariously sort of living through you
a little bit, and I just wanted to explore that
a little bit too.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
But I guess start off with.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Is Nathan's Lawns and Gardens, which there is an Instagram
page for it for those people interested in it. I
think that's it. Nathan's lawns and gardens. Whether we should
follow him everyone else in the country and he's been
following him. There millions of people following him, but not
just as straight around the world for that matter. Tell me,
(01:22):
I started off like a can you go back? Well
watch your background like gardener.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
All right, So there's a lot of people know a
little bit about me. I have a story. Like a
lot of people. That's not the best story. I shared
a little bit that, you know, I want to let
everyone know. So basically with me, I left school in
year nine. I love sport, I was good at sport.
I was okay in Sydney. Yeah, morning road. I just
(01:55):
I just didn't like school.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
And months because I think you didn't live be fourteen
ten months yeah yeah yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
And everyone was against it. And I started working full
time at McDonald's looking back. Great place to work, by
the way, I will always say it is the best
place back then to learn some hard work, especially for
a young bloke.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Yep, yeah, systems per all that kind of stuff. And
I started working there and then obviously what do your
parents say.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Well, they weren't too impress put it that way, really, yeah, yeah,
they didn't like that. But I was a teenager, and
you know what teenagers are like, and I was going
through a few things and I wanted to do my way.
That's always it's been, was my way. And through doing
my way, I've learned a lot of lessons. And I
(02:53):
guess from there to about twenty four or twenty three,
my life went in directions that I should not have
trouble a new period. Yeah, yeah, chopping from job to job.
The work was never a problem.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
I always had a work ethic, but it was just
what was going on with me.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
I was not going to say, Nathan, work ethic meaning
I'm not afraid to get up and do work.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
How did you go to work? I'll take on anything.
I remember skateboarding an hour at five o'clock in the
morning from Rye Dina's Hill to go and be a
brick layers laborer. Right.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
But as I said, all that stuff was never a problem.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
It was just me and living life and life terms
became a problem through stuff that went on in my
life that I don't want to really talk about just
at the moment, but yeah, and it led me to
basically which document has led me to the streets where
the Salvation Army stepped in. You are you so you're
living on the streets? Yep?
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Left your family home?
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Yeah yeah, yeah, out of the street doings? Well where
that ended? Early twenties. So early twenties, and I had
two choices, and there were two amazing people that stepped in.
One was like the mother figure to me and the
other one was like the father figure, where she gave
(04:19):
me the nurturing that I needed, and he gave me
the brutal reality of what I really didn't want to
hear but I needed. How do you find people at
that or how did they find you? I had a
contact that came up to me on the street and said,
I reckon, you should get in contact with these people.
And so eventually I decided to bring them the professional
yeah yeah, And they came down and spoke to me,
(04:41):
and it took a lot of negotiating because I still
run my own race and back then, nothing's wrong with me.
Getted Yeah, all that.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Stuff, all that stuff, and I couldn't be told that's right.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
I got three kids there, so it's all coming back
to week. But yeah, there I went and got some help.
That took a little bit. I didn't get it right
straight away, but we're in about two years my life
changed Touchwood. Ever since then, twenty years later, my life's
gone on the right track.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Well, so that's pretty hectic like that.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
They are able to make that, Yeah, I mean without
going into I don't want you under details of it.
But what are those the nurturing and the looking at
your screw in the face and telling what you needed
to hear. What did those two people bring to your life?
I mean, and how does it happen? Do you just
say you see them every week or do they just
(05:36):
come and check in on you every now and then,
or what's the problem?
Speaker 3 (05:39):
I was in a facility where they were where they
were to now I'm still in contact with them, and
I actually was lucky to go to a video with
them here just recently.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
That's where I invite my followers a little bit into
my journey.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
And I know it's nothing in the big scheme of
the picture, because they basically saved my life. But I
was able to give a little bit back and do
something for them moving forward, which for me was you know,
it was a good thing.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Look what they did for me was basically that saved
my life.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
My next step would have ended up being over jail
or I would have been to That was the reality
where I was heading. And as I said, I always
believe there's always a reason for everything, and they will
put in my path for a reason, and I'm glad
they were so that. I love that word. Lad.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
So is that Where did that sort of bring to
the front of your mind? Obviously as a young man then,
not a year old now, but a young man then
that sort of sense of gratitude and understanding what gratitude is.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
It took a long time. I will always say, Okay,
it's good to turn your life around. It's a hard thing.
I always say, when you cross a line, it's very hard,
and that becomes your normal. It's very hard to get
back on the other side and live a sort of
normal life. And I'm impatient, that's one thing about me,
things like that. So to do a process and learn
(07:03):
that this is a daily thing that was hard for me.
But no, I would say for me to get where
I was and just have especially a bit of peace,
a little bit of peace, and not be controlled by
consumed with anger and all this hatred and all this,
I would say that only really started in the last
six five to six years where I literally I feel
(07:25):
all right, last six years of your current life, my
life got better. YEA, things change, but I had to
really start working on myself and I needed help. That's
a that's a for me anyway.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
It's a sort of like a really transactional like it
changes from day to day. Some days you have, Oh,
you wake up, you feel like you're a good peace
of mind. Other days you know, Jimmy cricket's been over
your head or not, scratches your legs, shitn't.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
And it's sort of a it's a sort of a
pretty changeable.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
So when you say peace, do you mean I'd love
to be able to see but completely at peace or
just you know how you can get.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Peace of mind and it's one of those redeeming things
you find.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
I don't believe I'll ever be at peace. There's a
lot in my life that's happened, and there's a lot
that is happening in my life. I've got a little
boy that's got a lot going on, and that's a
constant worry for me. But it didn't consume my life.
You know, I could find, as I said, works and
escape for me I can just charge into that and
my mind's off. But even though I'd be doing that,
(08:32):
I'd still be fueled with his anger or hate. All
things would annoy me. But now, yeah, it's all good
because I said, what I do now is like my
medicine that I need for me.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
It's funny, you know, many, oh not many years ago,
maybe two years ago, I had Danny Abdulla on the
show and Danny unfortunately children died as a result of
an accident. I don't know if you watched it on
sixty minutes, and Danny told me that the reason he
was prepared to forgive the person who causes drop problem
(09:05):
was for his own for himself selfishly. I mean, he
didn't mean it as a bad thing, but his forgiveness
was in order to help himself out. And it's interesting
how easy it is for us to not be kind
to ourselves and be art on ourselves all the time,
(09:25):
and in order sometimes we have to be a bit
selfish about ourselves in order to be better for everybody else.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
And I'm not there yet with some things. But sometimes
I find in life sometimes you've got a cuffings for
your own peace of mind. For me, anyway, to move
forward in my life because that stuff was consuming me
and it wasn't positive. So in my life there are
things I've said I have to walk away from and
(09:53):
it's sad and that's life. But for me it works better.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Is it a permanent do you say, is the technique?
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Obviously you've had people sort of help you, you know,
psychologically do this, like you know the technique wise, but
as a technique in that regard to say I'm going
to permanently work walk away from this or I'm walking
away from it, you don't have to decide whether it's
permanent or not.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
You say, right now, I'm walking away from from it?
Speaker 3 (10:23):
Is it already?
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Have some that's it, It's it's done.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
There's some things in my life family that I've had
to say I've got to walk away permanently, permanently.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Yeah, and it's sad, but it's it's it's just it's
the best for everyone. Does that sort of.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
Created other forms of emotions like guild or stuff like
that regret? Yeah, ye, which means you deliver that too.
So I have to be careful what I say.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
Hmm. I don't speak to my parents and spoke to
them for about five years and I had to cut
them out of my life. I don't want to go
into why or what, but I had to do that
for my own peace of mind. And as I said,
there's a story about me that I'm not ready to
share one day. I will when the time is right.
But it's sad, and it is a sad story, and
(11:18):
it is I've got kids, I've got to keep a disability,
and you know, it's a terrible but unfortunately for me.
I just sometimes I wish people the best in life
and just move on. And that's why I do what
I do, because it sort of feels that avoid in
me by trying to help other people. I couple lot
(11:42):
on social media about you know, I can't stand when
I get a comment about it it's for views or
likes or anything like that. A lot of people don't
know me. When I help someone, it's not about views
or likes. It's just about trying to feel that hole
in me. Because if I help someone and I get
a smile out of them.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
It makes me feel better. There's no a better than
a smile. Mate.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
How many kids? You've got three? Three kids? But he
got boys and girls. I've got two boys, and a
little girl. How old are they? So? My oldest is twelve,
he's Benji years. He's all two stick and he had
open heart surgery on the first day of his life. Wow.
And he's been for a lot and you'll have a
little bit more going on in his life function At
the moment, he's okay, good, but there's definitely some more
(12:25):
stuff that needs to be done there. We've all got
four vows in our heart and he's got three now.
He had one removed and that one needs to be replaced.
So that's a challenge. It's a worry. It's always on
my mind. Worry. I've got Maddie. He's in the middle.
He's he's got a cause any trouble. How old is
he's nine? He loves his sport. I come from a
(12:47):
sporting family, so you know, I think he'll he goes
down that path. And I've got a little daughter's age.
She's four girls. It's different.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
It's differ very one of those four boys and.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
It's different. But she's beautiful and it's fantastic.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
And you're still with their mum.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
You're on your own. My first two sons to my
first previous relationship, Yes, and then my little dad. Yeah,
she's too, Kelly. So you may remember, I believe you're
on the board of the Roosters. So Mark Hughes from
the Hughes Brothers eighty Grand Finals. So that's her dad Mark, right,
(13:31):
So he's my soon to be father in law. Mark
Heugh's from the Bulldogs from the Yeah, yeah, Mark, I
know him from school. Did you go to say to school? Yeah, okay,
Michael ahead of me. I was in Graham's year.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
Okay, so Gary, Mark and Graham. I haven't seen Mark
for a long time, but once he's there at the Bulldogs.
He was like in charge of recruitment at one stage.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
I soon recall he was recruitment at the Bulldogs and
then he left and he went to recruitment at South
in twenty right twelve and then you finish stuff in
Penrith here a few years ago, recruitment there. So Mark's daughter,
Kelly is my partner for over five years. Oh wow.
And he's a great man. I go a lot to
the games with him and it's interesting watching him. He's
(14:15):
still follow the Bulldogs. I'm a big Tiger's friend. Yeah.
So he comes out to a lot of the gates
he's sort of like the Tiger's bandwagon, but he's always bulldogs. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Actually when he played, I think they'll called the berries.
I don't think they'll called the bulldogs in those days.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
Well, I'm learning a lot about this. He has a
lot to do with it. He had lots of the
New Challenge Jets stuff there and he was doing some
stuff there.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
But so Marke played Origin. Do you know that he
plays State of Origin? I think he might have had
one one one crack. His brother Graham played State. I'm
pretty sure Mark plays that of Origin, maybe for one
or two seasons, like you know, three game Origin period.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
Yah, I'm pretty sure in the early eighties a total
different era. Yeah. I love hearing his stories and there
pretty interesting. Well, the whole.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Family is a great family. I knew their mom and dad,
and I knew the whole family really well. And I
now know graham son Ethan who's recently called me and
Ethan's titter with actually Driggs Duplessius, the South African UFC
middleweight performer world champion as a small world.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
So well done, Kelly. We'll say hello to Mark when
you see next week.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Please, how did you learn how to be so good
at filming shit and doing stuff on Instagram and all
that stuff you do, like all that social media stuff.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
How did you learn that or was you just add
of instinct.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
Self taught If you actually go back to my first
video somewhere in the archive, say not good. Still not
that great now. But I'm really basic, like literally a
lot of people know. I just have an iPhone. I
stick it in my son's shoe, I stick it on
a ladder or been. I don't have a tripod. That's
(15:59):
just what I do. Just basic stuff, and I don't.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
Know there's holding it for you. You set up yourself.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
If it's windy, it falls off, and yeah, there you go.
That's probably why it's so popular. As I said, I
found my phone basic works, and I just sort of
self learn it and I try to watch a lot
of things to educate myself a little bit. But again
that's not my strong point. My strong points getting out
there and just demolishing stuff and all that stuff. So
(16:28):
I do have my partner helps me a lot with
that kind of angle, but you know, it's just sort
of I'm learning by doing.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
And you stayed out right, Yeah, you're still right, that's
where you grew up.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
You're still right all right. Obviously through my life I
do a lot of damage and I rented all my
life until last year. I bought my first home at
forty six and that was probably the biggest achievement of
my life. Great job that helping obviously with my partner.
That's just a team and we got little place, but
(17:01):
it's fantastic. It's in North fried and loven't it. So
take me to when.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
There's obviously been a crossover period, so early ten years
after you left home at twenty four to twenty five,
around the period you've met these people who have assisted
you to sort of get you back together, so to speak,
or feel better about yourself at least and give you
(17:30):
some hope that you can conduct a fairly normal life.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
Where were you working at that point?
Speaker 1 (17:40):
So we start off mcdology as you've been through lots
of things, brigs, labors, et cetera.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Where were you when just before you started doing lawns?
Speaker 3 (17:49):
Just before I was in a homeless shelter here in
Surrey Hills and I was in there for a few
months and I started working. I was in a in
a kitchen bakery out near Mascot and I used toick
(18:09):
it up every day seven o'clock, get the bus out there,
more so just to save some money and all that
kind of stuff and get out of not being that place.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
That's a sad place. It's a lot going on.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
A lot of men in there with what going on,
and that sort of kept me going. But it was not,
as I said. It wasn't the work ethic. It was
how I meant It's life, and that was the big issue.
So that's where I see it. I could earn it
had a problem easily. You couldn't keep it. It couldn't
couldn't manage myself if my life depended on me. That
(18:45):
was my biggest problem. You know. My head would always
say to me, you never do that again, and I'll
be doing it again tomorrow. And I knew I was
doing it, and I had no control. And I think
that's the best thing about my life now, is I
have control or someone control over my actions and what
I do, and I can live a normal life. But
(19:05):
that was the last job I did. How'd you get
into the lawns and why did you decide that? Because
I'd done laboring law knowing seriously, I'd done every job
in the world possible, seriously, So I did that, and well,
you know, I had learned out of my lawn that
was what i'd do as a kid. You get fifty
(19:25):
cents if I was lucky, and you go out there
and struggling with my lawns pretty much, so I could
do it. And I always wanted to run my own
business because yes, because I I would work hard, and
I always think, you know when I was laboring, that
I'm working for someone else pretty much. And I just
never could take that step or I never could. I
(19:48):
didn't have the backing to get me because literally to
go by you or equipment, I don't have the money, yeah,
you know, because I'd waste it or whatever I did.
And then obviously through that, my arm and uncle we
were always stuck by me. They're like the closest family
to me. They gave me a little hand there and
we have a car. There was a little car and whatever,
(20:11):
and from there that's where it started. And it was
more for me about Look, as I said, I wasn't
an angel, but there was a lot of people that
say I was going to fail, and even I thought
I was going to fail. And as a maintenance person,
just in general. And I left school in and I'm
going to be nothing. And I knew I could be something,
(20:33):
knew it, but I just didn't know how to do it.
And I thought, I'm going to take this step and
I'm going to see what happens, and I'm going to
back myself run my own law knowing and gardening business.
Do you remember the moment.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
Do you remember sitting there, laying there on the bus
in the bed something, thinking I'm going to do this.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
I remember thinking about it for a while, but I'll
never forget. When I went to my money and uncle,
I said, okay, I'm ready to change my life. And
the right thing I'm showing is I need a hand.
This is what I want. Can you help me? And
they did, and I didn't forget. I was straight down.
(21:13):
I just got flyers, just literally paper. I wrote something
on a paper and my deal was so so average,
just so funny. My name, what I could do, bang
bang bang, And I went straight out. It was the
beginning of spring, and I just walked the streets and
I just handed old box. I never had a website
in my whole career until just recently, because now I've
got merch and all that I had to otherwise I
(21:34):
wouldn't have one. And I was so basic, an old
school and I just found that this will work, and
I backed myself and here we are today.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
It was interesting about that when you were saying that,
I remember a long time ago, two thousand and three
or something, two thousand and two, we had I had
this physical wizard anyway, was it? We had all these
fancy advertising agencies and big names and.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Stuff like telling us how to do two v ads.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
And we did this well fancy advertising campaign costing bloody fortune.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
And Kerry Packerd grabbed me. He was my partner. He
said to me, is said, I saw.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
That advertising the ad you put on TV last night.
He said, it was a wayful. I thought I'd just
spend bloody fortuning the biggest advertising agents in the country.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
He said, son, you don't need all that crap.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
He said, you just look at the camera and tell
them what your product is, what your interest rate is.
That we were lending money, so how much your interest
rate is? And how can they find you? Phone number
and website if you have a website, but phone number
was at the time. That was in two thousand and two.
I can't remember what is said. That's what you need
(22:53):
to say. I remember Seeinger ran an advertising campaign for
a takeaway bottle shop it was and the ad went
like this said, it was a terrible sounding voice, but.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
Where do you get it?
Speaker 3 (23:05):
Do you remember that?
Speaker 1 (23:07):
It was the most annoying thing you've ever heard? But basically,
where do you get it? Where do you get the booze?
And you know, how do you find the places? And
that's all people want to know. Where do I go
to get this case of beer or whatever? It is
unbelievably successful to your point, very fundamental, pretty basic, and
actually someone is seeing that in a mailbox. Reason might say, well,
(23:27):
ang on this blake. I might give this blake you go.
Some might say what the hell's isn't ditch it? But equally,
maybe future percent are going to say, what you just said,
let's I'll give it a crack. I'll contact this bloke.
Do you remember your first first phone call or whatever
it was?
Speaker 3 (23:43):
What was it? I remember it was a lady.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
And where we're talking about.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
I walked all the streets, so literally I got about
a thousand coffees, just walked and yeah, a lady, beautiful lady.
I ended up looking after for about ten years, and
you got me up a whole lot of clientele as well.
And I remember doing it was twenty dollars. It was
in twenty ten, twenty dollars. I was there for an hour.
(24:12):
I did a hedge in a front lorn and you know, look,
I know looking back there, it wasn't a lot, but
I loved it, and all I cared about was doing
a good job, because I was a big believer on
word of mouth is the best form of advertisement. And
what I remember doing there was I had a thing
(24:35):
where say I did so your house. I would always
put a flyer in either side of the neighbors and
I'd go across the road and do three. So as
soon as I'd finished the job, I would put one
of my little paper in the letterbox on the left,
the letterbox on the right, walk across the road and
do one, two, three across more leafless. Yeah yeah, it'd
(24:57):
be five, yep. And then I would hope that I
could get one of them. So all of a sudden
I got two in the street, and then I would
build and the goal was if I can get five
or ten in the street, and then all of a sudden,
it's not so much traveling. It's cutting down all that
and I'm going to be able to do more in
the time. And I was happy. I'm not the best businessman,
and I was I must say that loudly from where.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
There's nothing wrong with that, that that's actually quite algorithmically,
we say today, that's quite clever and intuitive because it's
all about travel and it's also about that they can
see you doing the one over the road and then
one other. If you do a good job, we'll tell
them because you know, like everyone's going to say, well,
what was Nathan like? And then I said, it was
a good blow. Just charge me whenever you charge me. Look,
(25:41):
come and have a look. Did a good job? That's
actually algorithmically quite smart? Well it it was, as I said,
from where I'd come from, I was.
Speaker 3 (25:51):
Sort of like, my conscience was not the best, so
I need to look up to people to hopefully square
up if I ever ended up in the gates. So
I'll be let it or whatever it is. But it
was it was basically yeah, it was just look, I
just want to I always I could work hard and fast.
You know, back then I didn't realize that when you
get older, your body's gonna don't slow down. But then
(26:13):
I was just determined, and I think I had a
lot of goals. It was like I want to I
want to be looking after this street and I want
the next street and all of that. But yeah, it
worked really well and she was a lovely lady too.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
So that was your That was your first job, you remember, Yep.
It doesn't buy much but definitely not now. Didn't pay
the rent in those days. What did you buy first?
So I mean, and how did you know how to buy?
And did you buy a second one or a new
one to go by victim or what was the deal?
Speaker 3 (26:48):
So everything, you know. And it was also with my
family that my auntie and uncle, they won't going We're
going to go buying you the best of the best.
You got to earn it, you got it, you know.
That's very strong with them. So I was a second
hand car. There was nothing flash, second hand lawmower. Everything
was secondhand, and I slowly, over time upgraded until obviously
(27:11):
then when my accounts grewed and sponsors start coming in
and all that kind of stuff. But as I said,
everything with me has always just been basic. I've never
had you know back then, never nothing was the best
of the best.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
That's sort of like the appeal though to some extent, because.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
You're not walking around and not there's anything wrong with
these franchises, but you're not walking around on to someone
else's franchise is running a big franchise game, you know,
like you know, like advertising, marketing, all that sort of stuff, digitally, television,
whatever they're doing. It's just Nathan's lawns and gardens and
that has a certain maybe in Australia at least, but
it has a certain appeal to it. It's pretty basic,
(27:50):
pretty fundamental, no frills, no fur blows. So it just
is what it is. I get the job done, and
I do it for a fair price. And and I'm
I guess brand wise, how important is it for people
to trust you?
Speaker 3 (28:06):
That was very important, very important to you. I mean,
no one trusted me. I lost trust from everyone growing up.
I did a lot of wrong things. I ended up
with no one. You know. I came from one of
the most popular kids in the school too. No one
wanted to buy with me and through my own doing so.
For me now to be trusted in someone's house, yeah,
(28:27):
I you know, I'll always make sure one hundred percent,
like I'm out their backyard there going out. Okay, well
you know what I mean, like I don't want any
to go wrong here or anything like that. But I
guess the goal for me was I always had goals
and I never had goals in my life. And I
remember that was a big thing that I told you
that to have goals, I read. I used to read
stuff and see stuff you know, on TV and whatnot
(28:49):
about you know when you see people say those statements
and all that. Sometimes you listen, sometimes you date. But
there was something about, you know, setting a goal. And
I never could sider go Really, if you said to me,
set your goal to save one hundred dollars in a
week and guarantee your road last week in the day,
it wouldn't because I could not. I could not control
what I was doing. You couldn't think it through like
(29:11):
I could think it very without a problem. I just
I just couldn't do it. I couldn't do it because
I was too busy ton stupids distract, yeah, doing all that.
So to set a goal for me was a big thing.
And I just as I said, with verying, my business
was goals. It was to get five houses in that street,
you know, to make x amounting that week, you know,
(29:32):
to get an upgrade from that to that equipment. Erring
was about goals, and I learned over time it says practice, practice, practice.
If I just set those little goals, it is true
they will come and eventually And did Nathan, did you?
Speaker 1 (29:48):
You know? It's interesting officer to like sometimes we think
we aren't growing. Whether there's people that were business owners
and we get it's easy to compare yourself to everybody
else too, by the way, because lots of people talk
it up, but sometimes that happens. And obviously the people
it doesn't matter whether you made five hundred dollars a
(30:10):
day or twenty bucks. The fact you got out of
bed and went to work in bank your little wins.
I mean, did you sort of embark on that process
of always trying to not congratulate yourself but just at
the end of the day, I did a good day
on a stay's work, got paid for it.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
Did you used to go through a process for that?
Did just think it through?
Speaker 3 (30:30):
I only started. The truth is obviously now I'm seeing
the rewards twenty years later from my hard work. And
I never thought i'd get to see it, nor would
I be able to appreciate it like I do now.
But back then, no, it was just your sort of
(30:51):
for me when I, as I said, when I'm working,
when I'm in that frame, I really will push myself.
You know, it doesn't mat if it's grain rain, if
it's one hundred degree whatever. I'm out there, I'm working.
I'm doing this to achieve. Yeah, and no, I just
think a goal for me or a win was that
I'm able to save some money, I'm able to pay
(31:12):
my rent, I'm able to put it on the table.
There they were the wins for me, but I didn't
really appreciate them. It just became now, this is how
I live life, and I'm now sort of doing what
normal people do. How important do you think it is
then for someone like you at least?
Speaker 1 (31:30):
Is it then to acknowledge and recognize that these habits work.
Speaker 3 (31:37):
Oh, fantastic habits. Yeah, I mean what I'm doing now
as in the good things, it's fantastic. You know, everything
I was told that I didn't want to listen to.
I didn't believe it's also true. It's just it just
takes time, and you just got to go one day,
you know, and it is it is. You know. I'll
(31:57):
tell you, Ma, if you had have given me five
dollars twenty ago, that they'll have been gone in two seconds,
guarantee you. If you said leaving you can't, don't touch,
it would have been gone straight away. Now I can
leave five thousand dollars and I'd even remember that. That's
the difference of where I'm at to that and for me,
trust me, that's a good thing.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
But it sounds like a total turn around that league,
but I need it. Yeah, But that didn't just happen
because of me. That's happened from two amazing people from
this Sowos, the major mister and Missus Dolan, from people
in that group, and you know my family, my auntie,
my uncle and my partner and even in the last
(32:34):
five years with Kelly, she's an amazing woman. And I
always say she's she's that person.
Speaker 3 (32:40):
That grounds me and keeps me in check and when
things I get a little bit because I'm still human,
I'm still going to be like, what's going on? You know,
She's when that comes in and it right, just take
a chill, and I need that.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
She's anything like your grandmother, Knowlan who's you won't get
away with much of this I've ever heard, or her
grandfather Noel and and or any of the uncles or
a dad for that matter, because they're fairly grounded family
like that.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
That's a pretty important thing that ha in your life.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
By the sound of things, you know, they've got good
foundational values.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
One hundred percent. And that's how I didn't say. And
they are you know, Mark and Sandy, they they they
are really good people. Mark so many times he calls
me up and he just says it straight to me,
you know, he checks in on me. A different generation
you know, will be seventy three or something said, yeah, yeah,
(33:37):
beautiful family, you know, and it helps me.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
Do you remember when you start, you first realize that
you will become an incensensation, like a social media sensation.
Speaker 2 (33:50):
It was there like a day when all of a
sudden it just went.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
You know, let's say you had a thousand followers, went
from a thousands and ten thousand, like.
Speaker 3 (33:56):
I remember it. With social media. This is a different thing.
It's I'm out there working. That's a physical thing that's
easy for me. It comes natural. On this part of
the thing. It's different I got to think and that's
probably not a strong point. And so I'm now on there,
you know, online all that kind of stuff, and with
that it's every day you have to be committed.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
I just need to show the audience of this because
I like both of you've been very.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
Being very what do you call it, Nathan's lowns.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
And guards if you're being very modest, so Nathan Stafford.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
So I'm just we're zoom in on that.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
But it says two point seven million followers. That would
be pretty up there in Australian terms, really up there
in Australian terms, like it wouldn't be too many that
I know of around that territory.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
You only follow five hundred and fifty four people.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
You've only put up three thy seven hundred posts, so
the number of posts you got a relative the number
followers you've got is very low. So that sounds like, therefore,
the quality of what you are posting, given that you've
got so many followers and you only posted a few things,
is being really loved, I mean, and or shared and
(35:13):
like incredibly shared because there's not too many posts. So
in a statistical analytical sense, it's pretty amazing. Facebook five million,
TikTok two point nine million? That IZI guy that mowsed
lawns for free?
Speaker 3 (35:33):
Can you actually?
Speaker 1 (35:35):
I can see my cousin follows you, and brath and
Asta follows. There's a few people here, and Adam Morris
follows you too. But can you remember the day when
you thought and why did you do this? But the
thought I'm going to put something this up on Instagram?
Do you remember the day? Why did you do it?
Speaker 3 (35:52):
So? Obviously my business that's going all right. And I
had seen I was watching one night there was this
lady doctor pimple pop or whatever it is.
Speaker 2 (36:02):
I have doctor actually discussing one of those things you
want to watch.
Speaker 3 (36:07):
Yeah, I sort of look at it. And then at the
end this ad or whatever thing came up and it
was a gum on a lawn really fast. They sped up. Yeah, yeah,
I was. They gave me an idea, what what did
I try it? So I did. I went to one
of my customers if my film now? Yeah right, And
so I opened the page I did it got about
I always got about two or three views, one of
(36:28):
them meet whoever was the other one was no I
And I thought, let's just keep going on this, so
I did. The quality was horrible. They were seriously a
good videos, and I just started doing that and then
over time I just introduced other things and it started
growing a little bit, and then it was it was
one night at that point, a month leading up it
was starting till I was hitting about twenty thousand followers.
(36:50):
So at that stort, that was quite big for a
lawn moment. That's still big and small business. I put
up a video. It was a Sunday five o'clock I'll
never forget it, and that stage I had only TikTok
and Instagram, and it just went crazy. I've never seen
something like it. I got that video. It was video.
It got over a billion views. It was ship yeah yeah, yeah,
(37:13):
it was shared one billion. I had lad Boy and
everyone coming on to me sharing it. And I have
never seen something like that before. Obviously through myself, my
whole phone just shut down, literally no because there was
so much traffic coming through. So quickly, tell me about it.
(37:33):
What was it? What was it was? It was? It
was actually it was it was a hard video. It
was it was a it was a driveway I did.
There was three parts. It was just a driveway. Wheeds
all that as tall as me. Was this someone who
booked you were just when you were different for nothing? No, no, no,
this this was a page job. So basically all my
page jobs they stopped about two years ago, rally around
(37:54):
two years earring now upload vering is free and obviously
because that response. So yeah, it was just a three
part thing. It was overgrown driveway, a hedge, and for
some reason, I never get them right, but this one
rounded off perfectly. The backyard was really long. It was
a nightmare of a job. But I put it up
(38:15):
in three and I remember I put on a song
what was his name, I forget his name, but it
was a song in there and it worked well with
it here, and I put it up and literally in
an hour, I was like a million views on talk
and it did the same on Insta, and it was
just I'd literally refresh and I was like two thousand followers.
(38:39):
Just I just kept me on with that, and I
was like, I was exciting. I was like, what is happening?
But then I got a little bit anxious because I
was like, oh, look at all these people now following me,
like the pressures on, Like I felt a bit like
there's a few eyes on me now. So it was
great a lot. It was great, but it was a
bit scary, to be quite honest, I didn't expect that
(39:02):
was going to happen. And then obviously from there I
always sort of say, once you sort of get a
bit of a following, it just kicks off from there. Yeah,
and it'll just it would just what do you think
it is?
Speaker 1 (39:12):
It intrigues people, but at that stage and not maybe
the stuff you do for free, the pro bonus stuff
is maybe slightly different.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
But that was a paid job.
Speaker 1 (39:22):
Why are people interested in watching Nathan clean up someone's
backyard or drive away?
Speaker 3 (39:28):
What is it? Do you think I reckon? Back then?
It was probably a music that I added to it.
It does worked well. I forget that I because I
wanted to contact him and say a baite. It was
very much Yeah, but I think a lot of people
like to watch someone else doing the work with something
really overgrain and really quick. As long as it's quick,
you know, you sped it up, spat it up into
(39:51):
forty five seconds. It was like a five hour job
in a forty five second once. So's it's quick, but
not quick enough to do that just playing around with
things and watching you know, other forms of videos, and
just how long it take you to do sort of
the editor, Yeah, edited that video to edit, probably it
(40:11):
takes me about I mean it's getting quicker now, but
back then, probably about eleven minutes. Well that's not bad.
You know, it's basic app, but I still use that
app today.
Speaker 1 (40:21):
It's just so use you use an app to an
app that's available on the app Store to edit your videos,
your jobs into forty five seconds or whatever it is.
Speaker 3 (40:31):
Yeah, it's just speeding it up and then you know,
you can crop in and change font and whatever. But yeah,
it's really, really really I wanted to make forty five
seconds because I've looked over some of my videos and
I sort of realized with time frames of you've got
to keep the audience captivated. And I just learned that
(40:52):
sometimes the quicker and the more that's happening, people will
sort of keep watching. So let's just learned by doing.
I still have a mistake all but yeah, it's just
the quicker, the better did you get you sort of
brought me.
Speaker 1 (41:04):
Now, there's probably got analytics and stuff of that going on,
and what properly managed, so to speak. But when you
did that for the forty five seconds and you saw
the thing that numbers of followers ticking over, did you
think to yourself, I'm a parting gett a bit nervous
about it. Do you think yourself, what have I created here?
This is not the Nathan stuff that I know.
Speaker 3 (41:25):
Yeah, and it was fat boy slim right here right now. Yeah,
it was just it was just I remember saying to
my partner, I said, I think things are going to
change now, like I don't know what's happening, but yeah,
something's happening.
Speaker 2 (41:45):
And did you start getting requests to come and come
and do my garden?
Speaker 3 (41:48):
Yeah? I share. I like to mix things up on
my socials. You got serious, you got a bit of
fun you whatever, And every now and then I share
a few d ms that I get, and then I
started getting some pretty funny, hectic stuff resides. Yeah, basically
laugh you know, it's like okay, but yes, it was.
(42:11):
It's good. It was interesting you.
Speaker 1 (42:13):
And how long did you keep running the business that
way as opposed to being like more an entertainment page.
How long did you keep doing work and actually videoing?
Did you so, for example, the next week you better
do another one of these.
Speaker 3 (42:27):
Yeah, so yeah, I knew then there's an audience, a
huge audience coming over because they liked that video. So
my next video needs to deliver somewhat otherwise. Pressure. Yeah,
the pressure was on. So I found a good one
actually too, and I deliberately did a three part thing
(42:47):
again another garden. Yeah yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (42:49):
It was a big on a rock cliff.
Speaker 3 (42:51):
It was a crazy one, and I did it into
a three part series again and it went pretty big
as well, and I went right, that is what a
lot of people are here to that. But as I said,
then over time, when when you grow, sponsors now coming
and all that stuff starts happening. And then obviously through that,
(43:14):
I had two choices. I can I keep collecting money
I say, double tipping. I can go and keep working
and making money from my lawnmowing business fifty bucks an hour,
yeah we twenty. Then you know make obviously you can
make money through some social modi and mer platforms or whatever.
(43:35):
I can you know, cash in through that or which
is some people would say yep. Or I can go
right get rid of that completely or pretty much and
then focus on let's just help people and run that
risk because you know, I go out and help people.
I'm not guaranteed anything, you know, this is now. Yeah, yeah,
(43:57):
So I tried it over a period of a few months,
just a little bit, a little bit, a little bit,
and see how when and when it sort of got
to the point that it was enough to cover my
costs and my family. Yeah yeah, And then I thought,
you know what, to be honest, this it's better better
(44:18):
with me. I feel better to do it this way.
It's not double dipping, and I can help someone and
now I can go on my journey for whatever that is,
highlight issues, help people, whatever. And it works well for
me and I get aim and sleep a little bit
better at night. That's sort of do you remember the
first freebe you did?
Speaker 1 (44:38):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (44:39):
How to come back? Just driving home on days? This
guy's an easy garden done so I'd seen it done
in other parts of the world, and there's another guy
that does it over here in Australia, and all right,
well I'm going to try it. And I put a
message out on my you know there was another boat
doing it because I'd done one with him. Yeah yeah, yeah,
(45:02):
I forgot yeah yeah, yeah. His name's Tim. How did
he find you? Will you find it in the lawn
care industry or whatever. You're obviously gonna come across each
other's platforms and all that kind of stuff. And you know,
I'd seen his work. He does great work, and I
was like, I went out and did one with him,
and then I said, well, I'm going to try my
hand in this, you know, why not? And so I did.
(45:24):
I put a post up on my page back then.
Then I started a Facebook page. That was the last
I started started that put a post up anyone want
their lawns done for free? This is what I do.
I got a few residues. A lady contacted me, all right,
well let's let's go. So I set up me tripod
can share when all that and knocked on the door
(45:46):
and didn't have a microphone back then, so it was
really budget Philby, but I did it and she was fantastic.
She was fantastic, really good sport and it was good.
It was it was fun and it was it was
eve and I was like, all right, so that's where
I was started. It's changed a bit now. But do
you remember your.
Speaker 1 (46:06):
Most fulfilling it's called a pro bono free garden. Yeah,
the way you felt and here's something really full.
Speaker 3 (46:16):
Yeah, so there there is. There's one I always say
about when I now take it out of Australia. I've
been in New Zealand. You're doing overseas now, Yeah. I
started last year in New Zealand. I went there for
three days, seventy two hours to do as much as
I could. I helped out five beautiful families over there.
There was one over there that I always say it.
There's another one, a different one that I've never shared.
(46:36):
And that was over that was here, and I was
last year, and I always got to give a big
plug to Nathan Lyne around the corner from Mericke. Yeah
and legend and yeah, yeah, and I inappropriately when I
do work in the street inappropriately. He just went and
knocked on his door and no I knew he lived there.
(46:57):
I just went and knocked on his door and I said,
I've got someone I want to help. Have you got
any you can give me for merch?
Speaker 2 (47:04):
He's a big fan of yours, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 3 (47:08):
Who is this bloke on by door? To his credit,
he was He was really nice. And then his wife
happened to just pull in and she said, oh, my god,
I follow you on TikTok. I was like, okay, this
is good. Now I've got who is his bloke? But
he was straight on an absolute really good guy. And
it was for a man down in Melbourne. The contacted
me he had that mode of neuron disease yep, yep.
(47:33):
I never didn't know much about that stuff. And he
had about five weeks to live and he contacted me
about battery powered equipment if he knew if I could
recommend stuff, because when he was to pass, he wanted
his wife and kids to be able to use something.
And so it was horrible and I got on. I
rang him up. After I got on the plane that
(47:54):
weekend went down to mill Dura and Melbourne and Victoria
and Nathan h donated shirt and silln gloves and all
that stuff. We were able to raise around ten thousand
dollars for him his family, and you know, Hawthorne stepped
in and got a whole lot of stuff. All these
people just there was a lot more other people. They
(48:14):
just all jumped in and I got to meet him.
Do they do all through you? Yeah? Yeah, yeah. And
that's the thing. And when it comes to stuff like this,
look I'm a straight shooter. I don't always get it right,
but I don't muck around. I just I say how
it is. You know, I'm busy, people are busy. I
knew there's going to be formats here, emails, ringing, all that,
and even with Hawthorn Club, so they were fantastic. I
(48:37):
just said, look, it's like this, I'm going to be
down there in twenty four hours. I didn't have much time.
This man does not have much time left. What can
you do for me. We've got to skip this email process.
Please come to the party here, let's go. They give
jerseys and yeah, it signed stuff. Yeah, because that's what
(48:58):
I knew. I was sussed out what he was. He
sings and he said, you know, I said, what's sports?
You loving cricket as your favorite play anywhere? Nathan Line.
I was like, oh, he's got it beautiful. So you know,
all these kinds of things and the community just moves
so quick and that made it easier. Fantastic, but obviously
sadly he passed a few weeks later. Really nice bloke.
(49:19):
He organized it was one of those things that they
actually organize this to happen. His last moments and all
this stuff, and he contacted me the night before and
we chatted and good man, And.
Speaker 1 (49:35):
Because I saw on your Instagram page if you don't
mind rom example, I love your Instagram page. It says
in it please do your thing. It says the most
saddest story I've seen. Please in it, do your thing.
Go fund me link in my bio and hashtag helping others.
Australia trauma, single mum trending reels blah blah blah.
Speaker 3 (49:58):
That was put up any five days ago? You remember
that one? Yeah, that was that was so that's that's
obviously that's a different that was a single mother. I
stay away from gofundmes and all that kind of stuff
because it gets difficult. And again I've said because of
my lifestyle, you know, a long time ago. You know,
(50:19):
trust was a big issue with me. You know, I'm
trusted here. And so I went, I knocked on this
lady's door. I didn't know she was there, know about her.
I drive out west, I go out to like bid
Will all those places. Once a month, I go to
see if I find a family. Went out there, but
no one answered the door. I was like, oh, what's happening.
(50:39):
So I drove back home. And as I was going
back home, I went through this area. It wasn't meant
to be. I just took a wrong turn and I
saw this overgrown yard and it was it was going
to be knocked down. But I can't only sell about
the street, make a video, do something cool, whatever. And
then I decided to knock on the door and steady
and said I expected no one to live in there
(51:02):
because it wasn't livable, and yeah, yeah, it's about to
get knocked down. And then she started talking to me,
and I said, well, can I do it? And she's
like yeah, okay, And then she started talking to me
and I just started doing it. And then she came
out of a drink. And I never expect nothing, but
when someone comes out with me, it's down a tough
with a drink that says to me that they are
a decent person. That's just how I look at it.
(51:24):
And then we started chatting and then I don't know
what it is. I'll always share a bit of my
life to some people if they're struggling, so that they
know where on equal ground here. I'm no better, We're
the same, you know. And she just started opening up
and it was horrific. I can't go in all lot,
but it was horrific. And she's been through her helm
back and I said, right, we've got to do something here.
(51:47):
I know I've got platforms here. People always say get
behind it. Help. I thought, okay, let's go. So I said,
We're going to do a go fund me page. To her,
I said, whatever we get, it's all yours. We're going
to hopefully get you a place to rent, you know,
you licensing all these kinds of things, and her daughter
and yeah, we're in five days. It was like just
(52:08):
over seventy thousand dollars raised, and I did not expect that.
I thought I'd be lucky to get five thousand dollars
because you know, the times are tough for people. And
so many people jumped on and I cut the I
stopped it on, and I made it clear, you've also
got to find the fine line too, where you're not
getting too greedy and whatnot, you know, and it was
(52:31):
it was just it was just perfect, and I went,
that's it. So I took my partner now stepped in
for the female support, and we came around and obviously
we told you again, and we obviously stripped it, put
it all into account. I have to upload it all
and show every dog's Everyone knows what's happening. And we
spent I spect to all yesterday, we spoke all the
time of things. Now she's nearly got an apartment, she's
(52:54):
got driving lessons and all this stuff. She getting the
car registered, she's got a care that she's looking for
for a daughter, a financial advisor, all these things that
we make sure that it will set. So it's going
to go because it's a lot of money and obviously
she can't buy a home. She's unsandling. You're not gonna
get the homelane, no savings. But see how we can
(53:14):
do this that it's used properly.
Speaker 2 (53:16):
That's life changing.
Speaker 3 (53:17):
That So is that like therapy to you? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah it's But I always say that that's and I
mean this, that's not me. And I say that that
is not me. That is the audience, the followers, that's
them coming together facilitating it. Yeah, but again without them,
(53:40):
this wouldn't happen. So the credit goes, the credit goes
to them. And I say that for me doing that,
it gets me able to go home, be appreciative of
what I got, because you can easily be unappreciative. I'd
be grateful for what I've got. I can remember where
I came from, I can remember hard times and then
so feeling that as a stranger that's allowed me in
(54:03):
and we're able to help. But also when I see
that there's a kid involved, there was a three year
old daughter, beautiful, a little daughter. That's the bit that
gets me to most, because I'm a father and they
deserve be more than that. And that's where that's where
I feel good, is that there's a little kid there.
Now we're adults, but they're innocent, and her life now
(54:26):
will hopefully be changed.
Speaker 1 (54:29):
You are I was going to say, you are changing
people's lives in that regard. I mean you and most
people sort of try to make money out of their platform.
I mean obviously make a living out of it, but
most people just keeping for themselves. You're using your platform
to help others and that and in that example, that
is that will change their kid's life, the trajectory of
(54:52):
their kid's life and the mum's life. Given where they
were and probably about to get turfed out of the house.
There there's no reason I herd to go and get
the lauds. Much a matter of money to do it anyway,
or the equipment, but that you actually have changed her life.
You're introducing her to things that you would never otherwise
get introduced to. She now can get a license, you
(55:13):
can get a driver drive, or she can go and
get driving lessons, et cetera. She can become independent, probably
get a cheaper car, but unless you can get around,
she could probably the daughter three or probably won't know
the difference that much at three, but we'll certainly remember
it one day.
Speaker 2 (55:31):
I mean, do you feel as though you're being blessed
with this opportunity?
Speaker 3 (55:36):
Yeah? And as I always say, this has a lot
to do with her people following getting behind this. But
I believe I was meant to go to where I went.
There was a reason for it that I didn't understand,
and now I believe that I was meant to struggle
to then be where it is today and be able
(55:59):
to to because I understand the situations, be able to
go to them and use these platforms that I've been
luckily given to do the right thing to. I always say,
to wrong my to right my wrongs, the same, whatever
it is to do that to spread some positivity and
(56:21):
get the community together and show the people that follow
me that I'm grateful for they've given me. If that
makes sense. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (56:31):
What's interesting man, that too is that you've found a
way to help all of us help others. And that's
good for all of us. Which is why when you
put up a go fund me for example, and that example,
that people are willing to put some put a few
bucks up, because actually people canice a lot of people
can see themselves in those situations a little bit. You know,
(56:53):
there's quite often people can maybe not as extreme as
that that particular example, but they can see everyone through.
Mostly everybody's been through some tough times, especially business owners,
and they can just something that they can say they go, aye,
but for the grace of God, I could be in
a lot worse position. I could be in her position
(57:13):
but for someone or something that has helped me. In
your case, it was the two people from the s
and your uncle a Nati and probably some other some
other examples that you haven't shared with say, but a
lot of people never get that, never get those opportunities.
It gets and then to some extent, and I always
(57:34):
talking abot about paying forward my luck, paying forward your luck.
It's but it comes a big responsibility too, because do
you get hit up a lot? Now do how do
you manage that part of it?
Speaker 3 (57:46):
Look, what's for real? I well, first I say, look,
I'm I'm old school, and I'm sadly, which is nothing
to glorify, but sadly, when you've lived a life like
I am, you become streets smart. You know, when the
bullshitter I would say, you got a bullshit a bullshitter,
(58:07):
you know what I mean? Unfortunately and fortunately in your case. Now, Yeah,
and I am very aware of real and not real.
But look, I can't help everyone. I try my best,
and I always when I look at stuff, I'll see
what I feel is a more priority in all the
messages you know, obviously sickness or I'll senior sits and
(58:29):
stuff like that, and I'll focus that that's the first thing,
you know, and going back. Look, and I always say money,
Money was not good with me. It was a disaster
thing from me. I couldn't handle. It couldn't no, it
was it was my enemy. And that's why I say
now like, obviously my life's different, but I pay my bills,
(58:52):
I save, I do whatever, fantastic. But at the end
of the day, what I learned is I thought money
would make you happy, make happy, money not make you happy.
It doesn't.
Speaker 2 (59:02):
It doesn't, and things make it more committed, and all
of a sudden, you got shit.
Speaker 1 (59:06):
I got that.
Speaker 3 (59:07):
More work. So that's why it's easier for me to
give it, to give stuff away, because it helps me
in the longer run. You know, it just makes me feel.
It feels I was always looking for something, and I
thought money was what was going to make me happy.
But it's not so doing this, that's what feels. Doing
the stuff. That's honestly what does can actually bear this anything.
Speaker 2 (59:27):
So this this post was put up five days ago.
That's pretty fresh.
Speaker 1 (59:34):
The adventures of Nathan's Lawns and gardens. And it's got
there the Haunted Jungle and they can't readly be there.
So Nathan stuff and Kelly Hughes and what is that
a book or something or a movie or video.
Speaker 3 (59:50):
There's a picture of you. Yeah, So I'm actually really
proud of this. This is a team effort man, Kelly
and obviously the illustrators and and that. So I got
a lot of kids, you know, watch my videos for
the sound of the noise and you know, machines and
all that stuff. And I got a lot of messages about,
you know, what can you do for the children. So
(01:00:11):
I said, okay, what are we going to do here?
So we decided the platforms are there, let's I'm all
for taking risks. Let's let's do something here. So we've
come out with a kid's book. It's a picture book,
twenty eight pages, a little story, and the story is
basically about helping an old lady Nancy. That's my NaN's name,
she's ninety seven. Yeah, I had alf day the other
(01:00:33):
day helping helping someone. So trying to spread that message
of kindness and that and what. And also because I'm
big with the Hearts Center for Kids at Westmain Children.
They saved my son's life. It's important to me. So
everything I do, I try to raise some money for them.
So for every order, two dollars will go. I know
(01:00:57):
it's not a lot, but all that's something. Two dollars
will go to the foundation. It's important to me. And look,
I'm really happy with it. As I said, it's it's
not our we don't have it physically yet. It's just
I've just brought out for pre orders and we're navigating
through this whole process of pre order. Yeah, so it's
(01:01:18):
coming out, Yeah, it's all. It's all. It's coming out
in the end of October. It's everying on my website only,
and I'm excited about it. You gotta laugh because I've
already had heaps of requests to come and do readings
in school, and I'm like, I left school. If you died,
I am gonna go and read books.
Speaker 1 (01:01:37):
That's got that's one if will buy one, but and
we'll put up we'll do a little video on it,
because I love that sort of stuff.
Speaker 3 (01:01:43):
I mean, it's pretty cool that. Do you think about
where you've.
Speaker 2 (01:01:47):
Come from, mate, Like, left school year nine.
Speaker 1 (01:01:50):
Here you are producing kids books and you got nearly
three million, millions and millions and millions of followers. Like
engaging with such a huge community, doing good stuff for
all sorts of all types of people, helping people change,
change people's lives.
Speaker 2 (01:02:08):
Has it made me feel you reflect back.
Speaker 3 (01:02:10):
On I think, h mm hmmm. I think what I
try to do here is as I said, I wasn't
maybe the perfect son, but sorry, man, I've got kids
(01:02:38):
and I want.
Speaker 4 (01:02:41):
I want them to be proud of me and and
not live the life that I did and have a
better life. And you know, your father is someone that
you look up to, and I want them to sort
of look up to me. And so you did a
good job.
Speaker 1 (01:02:59):
Well, well, I think that's pretty much. Sitting here today
is going to be guaranteed. You're doing a great job.
And as one of your followers, and I've been following
it for a long time, this wasn't.
Speaker 3 (01:03:09):
A produced thing.
Speaker 1 (01:03:11):
I requested this as a result of seeing you somewhere
and know where I saw you, and I've been following
me ever since, and I've been trying to get to
you for ages because I just wanted to meet you.
Speaker 2 (01:03:21):
You probably never thought you'd be sitting on my podcast.
Speaker 3 (01:03:23):
Made I used to watch you on Framers. Yep. I
just a lovely bit where you say you fired. Yeah,
but you know about that.
Speaker 1 (01:03:34):
When they first asked me what I do it, I
felt quite uncomfortable with saying you're fired. And the first
time I said you're fired, I didn't. I just said
you're fired, okay. In when we were filming and they
said no, no, no, you have to do it again,
I said, I just fight him. I can't do it again,
they said, but you got to point. It was Donald
Trump used to point, and you've got to have that
thumb up like that and the thinger like that and
(01:03:56):
handle that and you've got to point at him with it.
Speaker 2 (01:03:57):
Right hand and say you're fired.
Speaker 3 (01:03:59):
You got to say.
Speaker 1 (01:04:00):
I found it really difficult, like I felt bad because
apart from anything that didn't work for me, it's a
TV show and I had to act this out and
I did it about twenty times. They made me do
it late twenty times. And the poor person who was
sitting there I came who was the first person I fired.
But in the very first show, that person had to
sit there and watch me say you'll fired twenty times.
(01:04:23):
So that was and well, thanks for watching it. But mate,
now I'm a fan of yours. I'm watching you and
importantly you're doing a great job. We all of us
who follow we appreciate what you're doing and allowing us
to participate in your good dunes bade and what a
great story, brilliant story.
Speaker 3 (01:04:42):
And say, lady your father law for me, mate, wait,
thanks for having me. Thank you
Nathan Stafford, Well, straight talk mate, thanks to every I've
been trying to get you. I've been following you for
a bit and I've been trying to get the guys
to get hold of you to come on the show
because I'm fascinated with what you do. I think it's
quite amazing and apart from the the.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Good nature of what you do, that is the actual
nature what you do.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
For people, where you actually go and do stuff and nothing,
just the way you go about it, the way you've
run your Instagram, the way you've grown, you you're following,
but also the fact that it was crazy is mad.
There's so many people really interested in your activity, not
so much from a gardener's point of view or looking
(00:41):
after lawns gardens. I'm sure some of it is that,
but it just seems to be there's so many people
interested in.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
What you do for others. It's crazy.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
It's like people are vicariously sort of living through you
a little bit, and I just wanted to explore that
a little bit too.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
But I guess start off with.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Is Nathan's Lawns and Gardens, which there is an Instagram
page for it for those people interested in it. I
think that's it. Nathan's lawns and gardens. Whether we should
follow him everyone else in the country and he's been
following him. There millions of people following him, but not
just as straight around the world for that matter. Tell me,
(01:22):
I started off like a can you go back? Well
watch your background like gardener.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
All right, So there's a lot of people know a
little bit about me. I have a story. Like a
lot of people. That's not the best story. I shared
a little bit that, you know, I want to let
everyone know. So basically with me, I left school in
year nine. I love sport, I was good at sport.
I was okay in Sydney. Yeah, morning road. I just
(01:55):
I just didn't like school.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
And months because I think you didn't live be fourteen
ten months yeah yeah yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
And everyone was against it. And I started working full
time at McDonald's looking back. Great place to work, by
the way, I will always say it is the best
place back then to learn some hard work, especially for
a young bloke.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Yep, yeah, systems per all that kind of stuff. And
I started working there and then obviously what do your
parents say.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Well, they weren't too impress put it that way, really, yeah, yeah,
they didn't like that. But I was a teenager, and
you know what teenagers are like, and I was going
through a few things and I wanted to do my way.
That's always it's been, was my way. And through doing
my way, I've learned a lot of lessons. And I
(02:53):
guess from there to about twenty four or twenty three,
my life went in directions that I should not have
trouble a new period. Yeah, yeah, chopping from job to job.
The work was never a problem.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
I always had a work ethic, but it was just
what was going on with me.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
I was not going to say, Nathan, work ethic meaning
I'm not afraid to get up and do work.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
How did you go to work? I'll take on anything.
I remember skateboarding an hour at five o'clock in the
morning from Rye Dina's Hill to go and be a
brick layers laborer. Right.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
But as I said, all that stuff was never a problem.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
It was just me and living life and life terms
became a problem through stuff that went on in my
life that I don't want to really talk about just
at the moment, but yeah, and it led me to
basically which document has led me to the streets where
the Salvation Army stepped in. You are you so you're
living on the streets? Yep?
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Left your family home?
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Yeah yeah, yeah, out of the street doings? Well where
that ended? Early twenties. So early twenties, and I had
two choices, and there were two amazing people that stepped in.
One was like the mother figure to me and the
other one was like the father figure, where she gave
(04:19):
me the nurturing that I needed, and he gave me
the brutal reality of what I really didn't want to
hear but I needed. How do you find people at
that or how did they find you? I had a
contact that came up to me on the street and said,
I reckon, you should get in contact with these people.
And so eventually I decided to bring them the professional
yeah yeah, And they came down and spoke to me,
(04:41):
and it took a lot of negotiating because I still
run my own race and back then, nothing's wrong with me.
Getted Yeah, all that.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Stuff, all that stuff, and I couldn't be told that's right.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
I got three kids there, so it's all coming back
to week. But yeah, there I went and got some help.
That took a little bit. I didn't get it right
straight away, but we're in about two years my life
changed Touchwood. Ever since then, twenty years later, my life's
gone on the right track.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Well, so that's pretty hectic like that.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
They are able to make that, Yeah, I mean without
going into I don't want you under details of it.
But what are those the nurturing and the looking at
your screw in the face and telling what you needed
to hear. What did those two people bring to your life?
I mean, and how does it happen? Do you just
say you see them every week or do they just
(05:36):
come and check in on you every now and then,
or what's the problem?
Speaker 3 (05:39):
I was in a facility where they were where they
were to now I'm still in contact with them, and
I actually was lucky to go to a video with
them here just recently.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
That's where I invite my followers a little bit into
my journey.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
And I know it's nothing in the big scheme of
the picture, because they basically saved my life. But I
was able to give a little bit back and do
something for them moving forward, which for me was you know,
it was a good thing.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Look what they did for me was basically that saved
my life.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
My next step would have ended up being over jail
or I would have been to That was the reality
where I was heading. And as I said, I always
believe there's always a reason for everything, and they will
put in my path for a reason, and I'm glad
they were so that. I love that word. Lad.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
So is that Where did that sort of bring to
the front of your mind? Obviously as a young man then,
not a year old now, but a young man then
that sort of sense of gratitude and understanding what gratitude is.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
It took a long time. I will always say, Okay,
it's good to turn your life around. It's a hard thing.
I always say, when you cross a line, it's very hard,
and that becomes your normal. It's very hard to get
back on the other side and live a sort of
normal life. And I'm impatient, that's one thing about me,
things like that. So to do a process and learn
(07:03):
that this is a daily thing that was hard for me.
But no, I would say for me to get where
I was and just have especially a bit of peace,
a little bit of peace, and not be controlled by
consumed with anger and all this hatred and all this,
I would say that only really started in the last
six five to six years where I literally I feel
(07:25):
all right, last six years of your current life, my
life got better. YEA, things change, but I had to
really start working on myself and I needed help. That's
a that's a for me anyway.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
It's a sort of like a really transactional like it
changes from day to day. Some days you have, Oh,
you wake up, you feel like you're a good peace
of mind. Other days you know, Jimmy cricket's been over
your head or not, scratches your legs, shitn't.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
And it's sort of a it's a sort of a
pretty changeable.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
So when you say peace, do you mean I'd love
to be able to see but completely at peace or
just you know how you can get.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Peace of mind and it's one of those redeeming things
you find.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
I don't believe I'll ever be at peace. There's a
lot in my life that's happened, and there's a lot
that is happening in my life. I've got a little
boy that's got a lot going on, and that's a
constant worry for me. But it didn't consume my life.
You know, I could find, as I said, works and
escape for me I can just charge into that and
my mind's off. But even though I'd be doing that,
(08:32):
I'd still be fueled with his anger or hate. All
things would annoy me. But now, yeah, it's all good
because I said, what I do now is like my
medicine that I need for me.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
It's funny, you know, many, oh not many years ago,
maybe two years ago, I had Danny Abdulla on the
show and Danny unfortunately children died as a result of
an accident. I don't know if you watched it on
sixty minutes, and Danny told me that the reason he
was prepared to forgive the person who causes drop problem
(09:05):
was for his own for himself selfishly. I mean, he
didn't mean it as a bad thing, but his forgiveness
was in order to help himself out. And it's interesting
how easy it is for us to not be kind
to ourselves and be art on ourselves all the time,
(09:25):
and in order sometimes we have to be a bit
selfish about ourselves in order to be better for everybody else.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
And I'm not there yet with some things. But sometimes
I find in life sometimes you've got a cuffings for
your own peace of mind. For me, anyway, to move
forward in my life because that stuff was consuming me
and it wasn't positive. So in my life there are
things I've said I have to walk away from and
(09:53):
it's sad and that's life. But for me it works better.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Is it a permanent do you say, is the technique?
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Obviously you've had people sort of help you, you know,
psychologically do this, like you know the technique wise, but
as a technique in that regard to say I'm going
to permanently work walk away from this or I'm walking
away from it, you don't have to decide whether it's
permanent or not.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
You say, right now, I'm walking away from from it?
Speaker 3 (10:23):
Is it already?
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Have some that's it, It's it's done.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
There's some things in my life family that I've had
to say I've got to walk away permanently, permanently.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Yeah, and it's sad, but it's it's it's just it's
the best for everyone. Does that sort of.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
Created other forms of emotions like guild or stuff like
that regret? Yeah, ye, which means you deliver that too.
So I have to be careful what I say.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
Hmm. I don't speak to my parents and spoke to
them for about five years and I had to cut
them out of my life. I don't want to go
into why or what, but I had to do that
for my own peace of mind. And as I said,
there's a story about me that I'm not ready to
share one day. I will when the time is right.
But it's sad, and it is a sad story, and
(11:18):
it is I've got kids, I've got to keep a disability,
and you know, it's a terrible but unfortunately for me.
I just sometimes I wish people the best in life
and just move on. And that's why I do what
I do, because it sort of feels that avoid in
me by trying to help other people. I couple lot
(11:42):
on social media about you know, I can't stand when
I get a comment about it it's for views or
likes or anything like that. A lot of people don't
know me. When I help someone, it's not about views
or likes. It's just about trying to feel that hole
in me. Because if I help someone and I get
a smile out of them.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
It makes me feel better. There's no a better than
a smile. Mate.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
How many kids? You've got three? Three kids? But he
got boys and girls. I've got two boys, and a
little girl. How old are they? So? My oldest is twelve,
he's Benji years. He's all two stick and he had
open heart surgery on the first day of his life. Wow.
And he's been for a lot and you'll have a
little bit more going on in his life function At
the moment, he's okay, good, but there's definitely some more
(12:25):
stuff that needs to be done there. We've all got
four vows in our heart and he's got three now.
He had one removed and that one needs to be replaced.
So that's a challenge. It's a worry. It's always on
my mind. Worry. I've got Maddie. He's in the middle.
He's he's got a cause any trouble. How old is
he's nine? He loves his sport. I come from a
(12:47):
sporting family, so you know, I think he'll he goes
down that path. And I've got a little daughter's age.
She's four girls. It's different.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
It's differ very one of those four boys and.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
It's different. But she's beautiful and it's fantastic.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
And you're still with their mum.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
You're on your own. My first two sons to my
first previous relationship, Yes, and then my little dad. Yeah,
she's too, Kelly. So you may remember, I believe you're
on the board of the Roosters. So Mark Hughes from
the Hughes Brothers eighty Grand Finals. So that's her dad Mark, right,
(13:31):
So he's my soon to be father in law. Mark
Heugh's from the Bulldogs from the Yeah, yeah, Mark, I
know him from school. Did you go to say to school? Yeah, okay,
Michael ahead of me. I was in Graham's year.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
Okay, so Gary, Mark and Graham. I haven't seen Mark
for a long time, but once he's there at the Bulldogs.
He was like in charge of recruitment at one stage.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
I soon recall he was recruitment at the Bulldogs and
then he left and he went to recruitment at South
in twenty right twelve and then you finish stuff in
Penrith here a few years ago, recruitment there. So Mark's daughter,
Kelly is my partner for over five years. Oh wow.
And he's a great man. I go a lot to
the games with him and it's interesting watching him. He's
(14:15):
still follow the Bulldogs. I'm a big Tiger's friend. Yeah.
So he comes out to a lot of the gates
he's sort of like the Tiger's bandwagon, but he's always bulldogs. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Actually when he played, I think they'll called the berries.
I don't think they'll called the bulldogs in those days.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
Well, I'm learning a lot about this. He has a
lot to do with it. He had lots of the
New Challenge Jets stuff there and he was doing some
stuff there.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
But so Marke played Origin. Do you know that he
plays State of Origin? I think he might have had
one one one crack. His brother Graham played State. I'm
pretty sure Mark plays that of Origin, maybe for one
or two seasons, like you know, three game Origin period.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
Yah, I'm pretty sure in the early eighties a total
different era. Yeah. I love hearing his stories and there
pretty interesting. Well, the whole.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Family is a great family. I knew their mom and dad,
and I knew the whole family really well. And I
now know graham son Ethan who's recently called me and
Ethan's titter with actually Driggs Duplessius, the South African UFC
middleweight performer world champion as a small world.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
So well done, Kelly. We'll say hello to Mark when
you see next week.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Please, how did you learn how to be so good
at filming shit and doing stuff on Instagram and all
that stuff you do, like all that social media stuff.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
How did you learn that or was you just add
of instinct.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
Self taught If you actually go back to my first
video somewhere in the archive, say not good. Still not
that great now. But I'm really basic, like literally a
lot of people know. I just have an iPhone. I
stick it in my son's shoe, I stick it on
a ladder or been. I don't have a tripod. That's
(15:59):
just what I do. Just basic stuff, and I don't.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
Know there's holding it for you. You set up yourself.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
If it's windy, it falls off, and yeah, there you go.
That's probably why it's so popular. As I said, I
found my phone basic works, and I just sort of
self learn it and I try to watch a lot
of things to educate myself a little bit. But again
that's not my strong point. My strong points getting out
there and just demolishing stuff and all that stuff. So
(16:28):
I do have my partner helps me a lot with
that kind of angle, but you know, it's just sort
of I'm learning by doing.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
And you stayed out right, Yeah, you're still right, that's
where you grew up.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
You're still right all right. Obviously through my life I
do a lot of damage and I rented all my
life until last year. I bought my first home at
forty six and that was probably the biggest achievement of
my life. Great job that helping obviously with my partner.
That's just a team and we got little place, but
(17:01):
it's fantastic. It's in North fried and loven't it. So
take me to when.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
There's obviously been a crossover period, so early ten years
after you left home at twenty four to twenty five,
around the period you've met these people who have assisted
you to sort of get you back together, so to speak,
or feel better about yourself at least and give you
(17:30):
some hope that you can conduct a fairly normal life.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
Where were you working at that point?
Speaker 1 (17:40):
So we start off mcdology as you've been through lots
of things, brigs, labors, et cetera.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Where were you when just before you started doing lawns?
Speaker 3 (17:49):
Just before I was in a homeless shelter here in
Surrey Hills and I was in there for a few
months and I started working. I was in a in
a kitchen bakery out near Mascot and I used toick
(18:09):
it up every day seven o'clock, get the bus out there,
more so just to save some money and all that
kind of stuff and get out of not being that place.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
That's a sad place. It's a lot going on.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
A lot of men in there with what going on,
and that sort of kept me going. But it was not,
as I said. It wasn't the work ethic. It was
how I meant It's life, and that was the big issue.
So that's where I see it. I could earn it
had a problem easily. You couldn't keep it. It couldn't
couldn't manage myself if my life depended on me. That
(18:45):
was my biggest problem. You know. My head would always
say to me, you never do that again, and I'll
be doing it again tomorrow. And I knew I was
doing it, and I had no control. And I think
that's the best thing about my life now, is I
have control or someone control over my actions and what
I do, and I can live a normal life. But
(19:05):
that was the last job I did. How'd you get
into the lawns and why did you decide that? Because
I'd done laboring law knowing seriously, I'd done every job
in the world possible, seriously, So I did that, and well,
you know, I had learned out of my lawn that
was what i'd do as a kid. You get fifty
(19:25):
cents if I was lucky, and you go out there
and struggling with my lawns pretty much, so I could
do it. And I always wanted to run my own
business because yes, because I I would work hard, and
I always think, you know when I was laboring, that
I'm working for someone else pretty much. And I just
never could take that step or I never could. I
(19:48):
didn't have the backing to get me because literally to
go by you or equipment, I don't have the money, yeah,
you know, because I'd waste it or whatever I did.
And then obviously through that, my arm and uncle we
were always stuck by me. They're like the closest family
to me. They gave me a little hand there and
we have a car. There was a little car and whatever,
(20:11):
and from there that's where it started. And it was
more for me about Look, as I said, I wasn't
an angel, but there was a lot of people that
say I was going to fail, and even I thought
I was going to fail. And as a maintenance person,
just in general. And I left school in and I'm
going to be nothing. And I knew I could be something,
(20:33):
knew it, but I just didn't know how to do it.
And I thought, I'm going to take this step and
I'm going to see what happens, and I'm going to
back myself run my own law knowing and gardening business.
Do you remember the moment.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
Do you remember sitting there, laying there on the bus
in the bed something, thinking I'm going to do this.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
I remember thinking about it for a while, but I'll
never forget. When I went to my money and uncle,
I said, okay, I'm ready to change my life. And
the right thing I'm showing is I need a hand.
This is what I want. Can you help me? And
they did, and I didn't forget. I was straight down.
(21:13):
I just got flyers, just literally paper. I wrote something
on a paper and my deal was so so average,
just so funny. My name, what I could do, bang
bang bang, And I went straight out. It was the
beginning of spring, and I just walked the streets and
I just handed old box. I never had a website
in my whole career until just recently, because now I've
got merch and all that I had to otherwise I
(21:34):
wouldn't have one. And I was so basic, an old
school and I just found that this will work, and
I backed myself and here we are today.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
It was interesting about that when you were saying that,
I remember a long time ago, two thousand and three
or something, two thousand and two, we had I had
this physical wizard anyway, was it? We had all these
fancy advertising agencies and big names and.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Stuff like telling us how to do two v ads.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
And we did this well fancy advertising campaign costing bloody fortune.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
And Kerry Packerd grabbed me. He was my partner. He
said to me, is said, I saw.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
That advertising the ad you put on TV last night.
He said, it was a wayful. I thought I'd just
spend bloody fortuning the biggest advertising agents in the country.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
He said, son, you don't need all that crap.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
He said, you just look at the camera and tell
them what your product is, what your interest rate is.
That we were lending money, so how much your interest
rate is? And how can they find you? Phone number
and website if you have a website, but phone number
was at the time. That was in two thousand and two.
I can't remember what is said. That's what you need
(22:53):
to say. I remember Seeinger ran an advertising campaign for
a takeaway bottle shop it was and the ad went
like this said, it was a terrible sounding voice, but.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
Where do you get it?
Speaker 3 (23:05):
Do you remember that?
Speaker 1 (23:07):
It was the most annoying thing you've ever heard? But basically,
where do you get it? Where do you get the booze?
And you know, how do you find the places? And
that's all people want to know. Where do I go
to get this case of beer or whatever? It is
unbelievably successful to your point, very fundamental, pretty basic, and
actually someone is seeing that in a mailbox. Reason might say, well,
(23:27):
ang on this blake. I might give this blake you go.
Some might say what the hell's isn't ditch it? But equally,
maybe future percent are going to say, what you just said,
let's I'll give it a crack. I'll contact this bloke.
Do you remember your first first phone call or whatever
it was?
Speaker 3 (23:43):
What was it? I remember it was a lady.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
And where we're talking about.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
I walked all the streets, so literally I got about
a thousand coffees, just walked and yeah, a lady, beautiful lady.
I ended up looking after for about ten years, and
you got me up a whole lot of clientele as well.
And I remember doing it was twenty dollars. It was
in twenty ten, twenty dollars. I was there for an hour.
(24:12):
I did a hedge in a front lorn and you know, look,
I know looking back there, it wasn't a lot, but
I loved it, and all I cared about was doing
a good job, because I was a big believer on
word of mouth is the best form of advertisement. And
what I remember doing there was I had a thing
(24:35):
where say I did so your house. I would always
put a flyer in either side of the neighbors and
I'd go across the road and do three. So as
soon as I'd finished the job, I would put one
of my little paper in the letterbox on the left,
the letterbox on the right, walk across the road and
do one, two, three across more leafless. Yeah yeah, it'd
(24:57):
be five, yep. And then I would hope that I
could get one of them. So all of a sudden
I got two in the street, and then I would
build and the goal was if I can get five
or ten in the street, and then all of a sudden,
it's not so much traveling. It's cutting down all that
and I'm going to be able to do more in
the time. And I was happy. I'm not the best businessman,
and I was I must say that loudly from where.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
There's nothing wrong with that, that that's actually quite algorithmically,
we say today, that's quite clever and intuitive because it's
all about travel and it's also about that they can
see you doing the one over the road and then
one other. If you do a good job, we'll tell
them because you know, like everyone's going to say, well,
what was Nathan like? And then I said, it was
a good blow. Just charge me whenever you charge me. Look,
(25:41):
come and have a look. Did a good job? That's
actually algorithmically quite smart? Well it it was, as I said,
from where I'd come from, I was.
Speaker 3 (25:51):
Sort of like, my conscience was not the best, so
I need to look up to people to hopefully square
up if I ever ended up in the gates. So
I'll be let it or whatever it is. But it
was it was basically yeah, it was just look, I
just want to I always I could work hard and fast.
You know, back then I didn't realize that when you
get older, your body's gonna don't slow down. But then
(26:13):
I was just determined, and I think I had a
lot of goals. It was like I want to I
want to be looking after this street and I want
the next street and all of that. But yeah, it
worked really well and she was a lovely lady too.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
So that was your That was your first job, you remember, Yep.
It doesn't buy much but definitely not now. Didn't pay
the rent in those days. What did you buy first?
So I mean, and how did you know how to buy?
And did you buy a second one or a new
one to go by victim or what was the deal?
Speaker 3 (26:48):
So everything, you know. And it was also with my
family that my auntie and uncle, they won't going We're
going to go buying you the best of the best.
You got to earn it, you got it, you know.
That's very strong with them. So I was a second
hand car. There was nothing flash, second hand lawmower. Everything
was secondhand, and I slowly, over time upgraded until obviously
(27:11):
then when my accounts grewed and sponsors start coming in
and all that kind of stuff. But as I said,
everything with me has always just been basic. I've never
had you know back then, never nothing was the best
of the best.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
That's sort of like the appeal though to some extent, because.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
You're not walking around and not there's anything wrong with
these franchises, but you're not walking around on to someone
else's franchise is running a big franchise game, you know,
like you know, like advertising, marketing, all that sort of stuff, digitally, television,
whatever they're doing. It's just Nathan's lawns and gardens and
that has a certain maybe in Australia at least, but
it has a certain appeal to it. It's pretty basic,
(27:50):
pretty fundamental, no frills, no fur blows. So it just
is what it is. I get the job done, and
I do it for a fair price. And and I'm
I guess brand wise, how important is it for people
to trust you?
Speaker 3 (28:06):
That was very important, very important to you. I mean,
no one trusted me. I lost trust from everyone growing up.
I did a lot of wrong things. I ended up
with no one. You know. I came from one of
the most popular kids in the school too. No one
wanted to buy with me and through my own doing so.
For me now to be trusted in someone's house, yeah,
(28:27):
I you know, I'll always make sure one hundred percent,
like I'm out their backyard there going out. Okay, well
you know what I mean, like I don't want any
to go wrong here or anything like that. But I
guess the goal for me was I always had goals
and I never had goals in my life. And I
remember that was a big thing that I told you
that to have goals, I read. I used to read
stuff and see stuff you know, on TV and whatnot
(28:49):
about you know when you see people say those statements
and all that. Sometimes you listen, sometimes you date. But
there was something about, you know, setting a goal. And
I never could sider go Really, if you said to me,
set your goal to save one hundred dollars in a
week and guarantee your road last week in the day,
it wouldn't because I could not. I could not control
what I was doing. You couldn't think it through like
(29:11):
I could think it very without a problem. I just
I just couldn't do it. I couldn't do it because
I was too busy ton stupids distract, yeah, doing all that.
So to set a goal for me was a big thing.
And I just as I said, with verying, my business
was goals. It was to get five houses in that street,
you know, to make x amounting that week, you know,
(29:32):
to get an upgrade from that to that equipment. Erring
was about goals, and I learned over time it says practice, practice, practice.
If I just set those little goals, it is true
they will come and eventually And did Nathan, did you?
Speaker 1 (29:48):
You know? It's interesting officer to like sometimes we think
we aren't growing. Whether there's people that were business owners
and we get it's easy to compare yourself to everybody
else too, by the way, because lots of people talk
it up, but sometimes that happens. And obviously the people
it doesn't matter whether you made five hundred dollars a
(30:10):
day or twenty bucks. The fact you got out of
bed and went to work in bank your little wins.
I mean, did you sort of embark on that process
of always trying to not congratulate yourself but just at
the end of the day, I did a good day
on a stay's work, got paid for it.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
Did you used to go through a process for that?
Did just think it through?
Speaker 3 (30:30):
I only started. The truth is obviously now I'm seeing
the rewards twenty years later from my hard work. And
I never thought i'd get to see it, nor would
I be able to appreciate it like I do now.
But back then, no, it was just your sort of
(30:51):
for me when I, as I said, when I'm working,
when I'm in that frame, I really will push myself.
You know, it doesn't mat if it's grain rain, if
it's one hundred degree whatever. I'm out there, I'm working.
I'm doing this to achieve. Yeah, and no, I just
think a goal for me or a win was that
I'm able to save some money, I'm able to pay
(31:12):
my rent, I'm able to put it on the table.
There they were the wins for me, but I didn't
really appreciate them. It just became now, this is how
I live life, and I'm now sort of doing what
normal people do. How important do you think it is
then for someone like you at least?
Speaker 1 (31:30):
Is it then to acknowledge and recognize that these habits work.
Speaker 3 (31:37):
Oh, fantastic habits. Yeah, I mean what I'm doing now
as in the good things, it's fantastic. You know, everything
I was told that I didn't want to listen to.
I didn't believe it's also true. It's just it just
takes time, and you just got to go one day,
you know, and it is it is. You know. I'll
(31:57):
tell you, Ma, if you had have given me five
dollars twenty ago, that they'll have been gone in two seconds,
guarantee you. If you said leaving you can't, don't touch,
it would have been gone straight away. Now I can
leave five thousand dollars and I'd even remember that. That's
the difference of where I'm at to that and for me,
trust me, that's a good thing.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
But it sounds like a total turn around that league,
but I need it. Yeah, But that didn't just happen
because of me. That's happened from two amazing people from
this Sowos, the major mister and Missus Dolan, from people
in that group, and you know my family, my auntie,
my uncle and my partner and even in the last
(32:34):
five years with Kelly, she's an amazing woman. And I
always say she's she's that person.
Speaker 3 (32:40):
That grounds me and keeps me in check and when
things I get a little bit because I'm still human,
I'm still going to be like, what's going on? You know,
She's when that comes in and it right, just take
a chill, and I need that.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
She's anything like your grandmother, Knowlan who's you won't get
away with much of this I've ever heard, or her
grandfather Noel and and or any of the uncles or
a dad for that matter, because they're fairly grounded family
like that.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
That's a pretty important thing that ha in your life.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
By the sound of things, you know, they've got good
foundational values.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
One hundred percent. And that's how I didn't say. And
they are you know, Mark and Sandy, they they they
are really good people. Mark so many times he calls
me up and he just says it straight to me,
you know, he checks in on me. A different generation
you know, will be seventy three or something said, yeah, yeah,
(33:37):
beautiful family, you know, and it helps me.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
Do you remember when you start, you first realize that
you will become an incensensation, like a social media sensation.
Speaker 2 (33:50):
It was there like a day when all of a
sudden it just went.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
You know, let's say you had a thousand followers, went
from a thousands and ten thousand, like.
Speaker 3 (33:56):
I remember it. With social media. This is a different thing.
It's I'm out there working. That's a physical thing that's
easy for me. It comes natural. On this part of
the thing. It's different I got to think and that's
probably not a strong point. And so I'm now on there,
you know, online all that kind of stuff, and with
that it's every day you have to be committed.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
I just need to show the audience of this because
I like both of you've been very.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
Being very what do you call it, Nathan's lowns.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
And guards if you're being very modest, so Nathan Stafford.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
So I'm just we're zoom in on that.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
But it says two point seven million followers. That would
be pretty up there in Australian terms, really up there
in Australian terms, like it wouldn't be too many that
I know of around that territory.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
You only follow five hundred and fifty four people.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
You've only put up three thy seven hundred posts, so
the number of posts you got a relative the number
followers you've got is very low. So that sounds like, therefore,
the quality of what you are posting, given that you've
got so many followers and you only posted a few things,
is being really loved, I mean, and or shared and
(35:13):
like incredibly shared because there's not too many posts. So
in a statistical analytical sense, it's pretty amazing. Facebook five million,
TikTok two point nine million? That IZI guy that mowsed
lawns for free?
Speaker 3 (35:33):
Can you actually?
Speaker 1 (35:35):
I can see my cousin follows you, and brath and
Asta follows. There's a few people here, and Adam Morris
follows you too. But can you remember the day when
you thought and why did you do this? But the
thought I'm going to put something this up on Instagram?
Do you remember the day? Why did you do it?
Speaker 3 (35:52):
So? Obviously my business that's going all right. And I
had seen I was watching one night there was this
lady doctor pimple pop or whatever it is.
Speaker 2 (36:02):
I have doctor actually discussing one of those things you
want to watch.
Speaker 3 (36:07):
Yeah, I sort of look at it. And then at the
end this ad or whatever thing came up and it
was a gum on a lawn really fast. They sped up. Yeah, yeah,
I was. They gave me an idea, what what did
I try it? So I did. I went to one
of my customers if my film now? Yeah right, And
so I opened the page I did it got about
I always got about two or three views, one of
(36:28):
them meet whoever was the other one was no I
And I thought, let's just keep going on this, so
I did. The quality was horrible. They were seriously a
good videos, and I just started doing that and then
over time I just introduced other things and it started
growing a little bit, and then it was it was
one night at that point, a month leading up it
was starting till I was hitting about twenty thousand followers.
(36:50):
So at that stort, that was quite big for a
lawn moment. That's still big and small business. I put
up a video. It was a Sunday five o'clock I'll
never forget it, and that stage I had only TikTok
and Instagram, and it just went crazy. I've never seen
something like it. I got that video. It was video.
It got over a billion views. It was ship yeah yeah, yeah,
(37:13):
it was shared one billion. I had lad Boy and
everyone coming on to me sharing it. And I have
never seen something like that before. Obviously through myself, my
whole phone just shut down, literally no because there was
so much traffic coming through. So quickly, tell me about it.
(37:33):
What was it? What was it was? It was? It
was actually it was it was a hard video. It
was it was a it was a driveway I did.
There was three parts. It was just a driveway. Wheeds
all that as tall as me. Was this someone who
booked you were just when you were different for nothing? No, no, no,
this this was a page job. So basically all my
page jobs they stopped about two years ago, rally around
(37:54):
two years earring now upload vering is free and obviously
because that response. So yeah, it was just a three
part thing. It was overgrown driveway, a hedge, and for
some reason, I never get them right, but this one
rounded off perfectly. The backyard was really long. It was
a nightmare of a job. But I put it up
(38:15):
in three and I remember I put on a song
what was his name, I forget his name, but it
was a song in there and it worked well with
it here, and I put it up and literally in
an hour, I was like a million views on talk
and it did the same on Insta, and it was
just I'd literally refresh and I was like two thousand followers.
(38:39):
Just I just kept me on with that, and I
was like, I was exciting. I was like, what is happening?
But then I got a little bit anxious because I
was like, oh, look at all these people now following me,
like the pressures on, Like I felt a bit like
there's a few eyes on me now. So it was
great a lot. It was great, but it was a
bit scary, to be quite honest, I didn't expect that
(39:02):
was going to happen. And then obviously from there I
always sort of say, once you sort of get a
bit of a following, it just kicks off from there. Yeah,
and it'll just it would just what do you think
it is?
Speaker 1 (39:12):
It intrigues people, but at that stage and not maybe
the stuff you do for free, the pro bonus stuff
is maybe slightly different.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
But that was a paid job.
Speaker 1 (39:22):
Why are people interested in watching Nathan clean up someone's
backyard or drive away?
Speaker 3 (39:28):
What is it? Do you think I reckon? Back then?
It was probably a music that I added to it.
It does worked well. I forget that I because I
wanted to contact him and say a baite. It was
very much Yeah, but I think a lot of people
like to watch someone else doing the work with something
really overgrain and really quick. As long as it's quick,
you know, you sped it up, spat it up into
(39:51):
forty five seconds. It was like a five hour job
in a forty five second once. So's it's quick, but
not quick enough to do that just playing around with
things and watching you know, other forms of videos, and
just how long it take you to do sort of
the editor, Yeah, edited that video to edit, probably it
(40:11):
takes me about I mean it's getting quicker now, but
back then, probably about eleven minutes. Well that's not bad.
You know, it's basic app, but I still use that
app today.
Speaker 1 (40:21):
It's just so use you use an app to an
app that's available on the app Store to edit your videos,
your jobs into forty five seconds or whatever it is.
Speaker 3 (40:31):
Yeah, it's just speeding it up and then you know,
you can crop in and change font and whatever. But yeah,
it's really, really really I wanted to make forty five
seconds because I've looked over some of my videos and
I sort of realized with time frames of you've got
to keep the audience captivated. And I just learned that
(40:52):
sometimes the quicker and the more that's happening, people will
sort of keep watching. So let's just learned by doing.
I still have a mistake all but yeah, it's just
the quicker, the better did you get you sort of
brought me.
Speaker 1 (41:04):
Now, there's probably got analytics and stuff of that going on,
and what properly managed, so to speak. But when you
did that for the forty five seconds and you saw
the thing that numbers of followers ticking over, did you
think to yourself, I'm a parting gett a bit nervous
about it. Do you think yourself, what have I created here?
This is not the Nathan stuff that I know.
Speaker 3 (41:25):
Yeah, and it was fat boy slim right here right now. Yeah,
it was just it was just I remember saying to
my partner, I said, I think things are going to
change now, like I don't know what's happening, but yeah,
something's happening.
Speaker 2 (41:45):
And did you start getting requests to come and come
and do my garden?
Speaker 3 (41:48):
Yeah? I share. I like to mix things up on
my socials. You got serious, you got a bit of
fun you whatever, And every now and then I share
a few d ms that I get, and then I
started getting some pretty funny, hectic stuff resides. Yeah, basically
laugh you know, it's like okay, but yes, it was.
(42:11):
It's good. It was interesting you.
Speaker 1 (42:13):
And how long did you keep running the business that
way as opposed to being like more an entertainment page.
How long did you keep doing work and actually videoing?
Did you so, for example, the next week you better
do another one of these.
Speaker 3 (42:27):
Yeah, so yeah, I knew then there's an audience, a
huge audience coming over because they liked that video. So
my next video needs to deliver somewhat otherwise. Pressure. Yeah,
the pressure was on. So I found a good one
actually too, and I deliberately did a three part thing
(42:47):
again another garden. Yeah yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (42:49):
It was a big on a rock cliff.
Speaker 3 (42:51):
It was a crazy one, and I did it into
a three part series again and it went pretty big
as well, and I went right, that is what a
lot of people are here to that. But as I said,
then over time, when when you grow, sponsors now coming
and all that stuff starts happening. And then obviously through that,
(43:14):
I had two choices. I can I keep collecting money
I say, double tipping. I can go and keep working
and making money from my lawnmowing business fifty bucks an hour,
yeah we twenty. Then you know make obviously you can
make money through some social modi and mer platforms or whatever.
(43:35):
I can you know, cash in through that or which
is some people would say yep. Or I can go
right get rid of that completely or pretty much and
then focus on let's just help people and run that
risk because you know, I go out and help people.
I'm not guaranteed anything, you know, this is now. Yeah, yeah,
(43:57):
So I tried it over a period of a few months,
just a little bit, a little bit, a little bit,
and see how when and when it sort of got
to the point that it was enough to cover my
costs and my family. Yeah yeah, And then I thought,
you know what, to be honest, this it's better better
(44:18):
with me. I feel better to do it this way.
It's not double dipping, and I can help someone and
now I can go on my journey for whatever that is,
highlight issues, help people, whatever. And it works well for
me and I get aim and sleep a little bit
better at night. That's sort of do you remember the
first freebe you did?
Speaker 1 (44:38):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (44:39):
How to come back? Just driving home on days? This
guy's an easy garden done so I'd seen it done
in other parts of the world, and there's another guy
that does it over here in Australia, and all right,
well I'm going to try it. And I put a
message out on my you know there was another boat
doing it because I'd done one with him. Yeah yeah, yeah,
(45:02):
I forgot yeah yeah, yeah. His name's Tim. How did
he find you? Will you find it in the lawn
care industry or whatever. You're obviously gonna come across each
other's platforms and all that kind of stuff. And you know,
I'd seen his work. He does great work, and I
was like, I went out and did one with him,
and then I said, well, I'm going to try my
hand in this, you know, why not? And so I did.
(45:24):
I put a post up on my page back then.
Then I started a Facebook page. That was the last
I started started that put a post up anyone want
their lawns done for free? This is what I do.
I got a few residues. A lady contacted me, all right,
well let's let's go. So I set up me tripod
can share when all that and knocked on the door
(45:46):
and didn't have a microphone back then, so it was
really budget Philby, but I did it and she was fantastic.
She was fantastic, really good sport and it was good.
It was it was fun and it was it was
eve and I was like, all right, so that's where
I was started. It's changed a bit now. But do
you remember your.
Speaker 1 (46:06):
Most fulfilling it's called a pro bono free garden. Yeah,
the way you felt and here's something really full.
Speaker 3 (46:16):
Yeah, so there there is. There's one I always say
about when I now take it out of Australia. I've
been in New Zealand. You're doing overseas now, Yeah. I
started last year in New Zealand. I went there for
three days, seventy two hours to do as much as
I could. I helped out five beautiful families over there.
There was one over there that I always say it.
There's another one, a different one that I've never shared.
(46:36):
And that was over that was here, and I was
last year, and I always got to give a big
plug to Nathan Lyne around the corner from Mericke. Yeah
and legend and yeah, yeah, and I inappropriately when I
do work in the street inappropriately. He just went and
knocked on his door and no I knew he lived there.
(46:57):
I just went and knocked on his door and I said,
I've got someone I want to help. Have you got
any you can give me for merch?
Speaker 2 (47:04):
He's a big fan of yours, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 3 (47:08):
Who is this bloke on by door? To his credit,
he was He was really nice. And then his wife
happened to just pull in and she said, oh, my god,
I follow you on TikTok. I was like, okay, this
is good. Now I've got who is his bloke? But
he was straight on an absolute really good guy. And
it was for a man down in Melbourne. The contacted
me he had that mode of neuron disease yep, yep.
(47:33):
I never didn't know much about that stuff. And he
had about five weeks to live and he contacted me
about battery powered equipment if he knew if I could
recommend stuff, because when he was to pass, he wanted
his wife and kids to be able to use something.
And so it was horrible and I got on. I
rang him up. After I got on the plane that
(47:54):
weekend went down to mill Dura and Melbourne and Victoria
and Nathan h donated shirt and silln gloves and all
that stuff. We were able to raise around ten thousand
dollars for him his family, and you know, Hawthorne stepped
in and got a whole lot of stuff. All these
people just there was a lot more other people. They
(48:14):
just all jumped in and I got to meet him.
Do they do all through you? Yeah? Yeah, yeah. And
that's the thing. And when it comes to stuff like this,
look I'm a straight shooter. I don't always get it right,
but I don't muck around. I just I say how
it is. You know, I'm busy, people are busy. I
knew there's going to be formats here, emails, ringing, all that,
and even with Hawthorn Club, so they were fantastic. I
(48:37):
just said, look, it's like this, I'm going to be
down there in twenty four hours. I didn't have much time.
This man does not have much time left. What can
you do for me. We've got to skip this email process.
Please come to the party here, let's go. They give
jerseys and yeah, it signed stuff. Yeah, because that's what
(48:58):
I knew. I was sussed out what he was. He
sings and he said, you know, I said, what's sports?
You loving cricket as your favorite play anywhere? Nathan Line.
I was like, oh, he's got it beautiful. So you know,
all these kinds of things and the community just moves
so quick and that made it easier. Fantastic, but obviously
sadly he passed a few weeks later. Really nice bloke.
(49:19):
He organized it was one of those things that they
actually organize this to happen. His last moments and all
this stuff, and he contacted me the night before and
we chatted and good man, And.
Speaker 1 (49:35):
Because I saw on your Instagram page if you don't
mind rom example, I love your Instagram page. It says
in it please do your thing. It says the most
saddest story I've seen. Please in it, do your thing.
Go fund me link in my bio and hashtag helping others.
Australia trauma, single mum trending reels blah blah blah.
Speaker 3 (49:58):
That was put up any five days ago? You remember
that one? Yeah, that was that was so that's that's
obviously that's a different that was a single mother. I
stay away from gofundmes and all that kind of stuff
because it gets difficult. And again I've said because of
my lifestyle, you know, a long time ago. You know,
(50:19):
trust was a big issue with me. You know, I'm
trusted here. And so I went, I knocked on this
lady's door. I didn't know she was there, know about her.
I drive out west, I go out to like bid
Will all those places. Once a month, I go to
see if I find a family. Went out there, but
no one answered the door. I was like, oh, what's happening.
(50:39):
So I drove back home. And as I was going
back home, I went through this area. It wasn't meant
to be. I just took a wrong turn and I
saw this overgrown yard and it was it was going
to be knocked down. But I can't only sell about
the street, make a video, do something cool, whatever. And
then I decided to knock on the door and steady
and said I expected no one to live in there
(51:02):
because it wasn't livable, and yeah, yeah, it's about to
get knocked down. And then she started talking to me,
and I said, well, can I do it? And she's
like yeah, okay, And then she started talking to me
and I just started doing it. And then she came
out of a drink. And I never expect nothing, but
when someone comes out with me, it's down a tough
with a drink that says to me that they are
a decent person. That's just how I look at it.
(51:24):
And then we started chatting and then I don't know
what it is. I'll always share a bit of my
life to some people if they're struggling, so that they
know where on equal ground here. I'm no better, We're
the same, you know. And she just started opening up
and it was horrific. I can't go in all lot,
but it was horrific. And she's been through her helm
back and I said, right, we've got to do something here.
(51:47):
I know I've got platforms here. People always say get
behind it. Help. I thought, okay, let's go. So I said,
We're going to do a go fund me page. To her,
I said, whatever we get, it's all yours. We're going
to hopefully get you a place to rent, you know,
you licensing all these kinds of things, and her daughter
and yeah, we're in five days. It was like just
(52:08):
over seventy thousand dollars raised, and I did not expect that.
I thought I'd be lucky to get five thousand dollars
because you know, the times are tough for people. And
so many people jumped on and I cut the I
stopped it on, and I made it clear, you've also
got to find the fine line too, where you're not
getting too greedy and whatnot, you know, and it was
(52:31):
it was just it was just perfect, and I went,
that's it. So I took my partner now stepped in
for the female support, and we came around and obviously
we told you again, and we obviously stripped it, put
it all into account. I have to upload it all
and show every dog's Everyone knows what's happening. And we
spent I spect to all yesterday, we spoke all the
time of things. Now she's nearly got an apartment, she's
(52:54):
got driving lessons and all this stuff. She getting the
car registered, she's got a care that she's looking for
for a daughter, a financial advisor, all these things that
we make sure that it will set. So it's going
to go because it's a lot of money and obviously
she can't buy a home. She's unsandling. You're not gonna
get the homelane, no savings. But see how we can
(53:14):
do this that it's used properly.
Speaker 2 (53:16):
That's life changing.
Speaker 3 (53:17):
That So is that like therapy to you? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah it's But I always say that that's and I
mean this, that's not me. And I say that that
is not me. That is the audience, the followers, that's
them coming together facilitating it. Yeah, but again without them,
(53:40):
this wouldn't happen. So the credit goes, the credit goes
to them. And I say that for me doing that,
it gets me able to go home, be appreciative of
what I got, because you can easily be unappreciative. I'd
be grateful for what I've got. I can remember where
I came from, I can remember hard times and then
so feeling that as a stranger that's allowed me in
(54:03):
and we're able to help. But also when I see
that there's a kid involved, there was a three year
old daughter, beautiful, a little daughter. That's the bit that
gets me to most, because I'm a father and they
deserve be more than that. And that's where that's where
I feel good, is that there's a little kid there.
Now we're adults, but they're innocent, and her life now
(54:26):
will hopefully be changed.
Speaker 1 (54:29):
You are I was going to say, you are changing
people's lives in that regard. I mean you and most
people sort of try to make money out of their platform.
I mean obviously make a living out of it, but
most people just keeping for themselves. You're using your platform
to help others and that and in that example, that
is that will change their kid's life, the trajectory of
(54:52):
their kid's life and the mum's life. Given where they
were and probably about to get turfed out of the house.
There there's no reason I herd to go and get
the lauds. Much a matter of money to do it anyway,
or the equipment, but that you actually have changed her life.
You're introducing her to things that you would never otherwise
get introduced to. She now can get a license, you
(55:13):
can get a driver drive, or she can go and
get driving lessons, et cetera. She can become independent, probably
get a cheaper car, but unless you can get around,
she could probably the daughter three or probably won't know
the difference that much at three, but we'll certainly remember
it one day.
Speaker 2 (55:31):
I mean, do you feel as though you're being blessed
with this opportunity?
Speaker 3 (55:36):
Yeah? And as I always say, this has a lot
to do with her people following getting behind this. But
I believe I was meant to go to where I went.
There was a reason for it that I didn't understand,
and now I believe that I was meant to struggle
to then be where it is today and be able
(55:59):
to to because I understand the situations, be able to
go to them and use these platforms that I've been
luckily given to do the right thing to. I always say,
to wrong my to right my wrongs, the same, whatever
it is to do that to spread some positivity and
(56:21):
get the community together and show the people that follow
me that I'm grateful for they've given me. If that
makes sense. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (56:31):
What's interesting man, that too is that you've found a
way to help all of us help others. And that's
good for all of us. Which is why when you
put up a go fund me for example, and that example,
that people are willing to put some put a few
bucks up, because actually people canice a lot of people
can see themselves in those situations a little bit. You know,
(56:53):
there's quite often people can maybe not as extreme as
that that particular example, but they can see everyone through.
Mostly everybody's been through some tough times, especially business owners,
and they can just something that they can say they go, aye,
but for the grace of God, I could be in
a lot worse position. I could be in her position
(57:13):
but for someone or something that has helped me. In
your case, it was the two people from the s
and your uncle a Nati and probably some other some
other examples that you haven't shared with say, but a
lot of people never get that, never get those opportunities.
It gets and then to some extent, and I always
(57:34):
talking abot about paying forward my luck, paying forward your luck.
It's but it comes a big responsibility too, because do
you get hit up a lot? Now do how do
you manage that part of it?
Speaker 3 (57:46):
Look, what's for real? I well, first I say, look,
I'm I'm old school, and I'm sadly, which is nothing
to glorify, but sadly, when you've lived a life like
I am, you become streets smart. You know, when the
bullshitter I would say, you got a bullshit a bullshitter,
(58:07):
you know what I mean? Unfortunately and fortunately in your case. Now, Yeah,
and I am very aware of real and not real.
But look, I can't help everyone. I try my best,
and I always when I look at stuff, I'll see
what I feel is a more priority in all the
messages you know, obviously sickness or I'll senior sits and
(58:29):
stuff like that, and I'll focus that that's the first thing,
you know, and going back. Look, and I always say money,
Money was not good with me. It was a disaster
thing from me. I couldn't handle. It couldn't no, it
was it was my enemy. And that's why I say
now like, obviously my life's different, but I pay my bills,
(58:52):
I save, I do whatever, fantastic. But at the end
of the day, what I learned is I thought money
would make you happy, make happy, money not make you happy.
It doesn't.
Speaker 2 (59:02):
It doesn't, and things make it more committed, and all
of a sudden, you got shit.
Speaker 1 (59:06):
I got that.
Speaker 3 (59:07):
More work. So that's why it's easier for me to
give it, to give stuff away, because it helps me
in the longer run. You know, it just makes me feel.
It feels I was always looking for something, and I
thought money was what was going to make me happy.
But it's not so doing this, that's what feels. Doing
the stuff. That's honestly what does can actually bear this anything.
Speaker 2 (59:27):
So this this post was put up five days ago.
That's pretty fresh.
Speaker 1 (59:34):
The adventures of Nathan's Lawns and gardens. And it's got
there the Haunted Jungle and they can't readly be there.
So Nathan stuff and Kelly Hughes and what is that
a book or something or a movie or video.
Speaker 3 (59:50):
There's a picture of you. Yeah, So I'm actually really
proud of this. This is a team effort man, Kelly
and obviously the illustrators and and that. So I got
a lot of kids, you know, watch my videos for
the sound of the noise and you know, machines and
all that stuff. And I got a lot of messages about,
you know, what can you do for the children. So
(01:00:11):
I said, okay, what are we going to do here?
So we decided the platforms are there, let's I'm all
for taking risks. Let's let's do something here. So we've
come out with a kid's book. It's a picture book,
twenty eight pages, a little story, and the story is
basically about helping an old lady Nancy. That's my NaN's name,
she's ninety seven. Yeah, I had alf day the other
(01:00:33):
day helping helping someone. So trying to spread that message
of kindness and that and what. And also because I'm
big with the Hearts Center for Kids at Westmain Children.
They saved my son's life. It's important to me. So
everything I do, I try to raise some money for them.
So for every order, two dollars will go. I know
(01:00:57):
it's not a lot, but all that's something. Two dollars
will go to the foundation. It's important to me. And look,
I'm really happy with it. As I said, it's it's
not our we don't have it physically yet. It's just
I've just brought out for pre orders and we're navigating
through this whole process of pre order. Yeah, so it's
(01:01:18):
coming out, Yeah, it's all. It's all. It's coming out
in the end of October. It's everying on my website only,
and I'm excited about it. You gotta laugh because I've
already had heaps of requests to come and do readings
in school, and I'm like, I left school. If you died,
I am gonna go and read books.
Speaker 1 (01:01:37):
That's got that's one if will buy one, but and
we'll put up we'll do a little video on it,
because I love that sort of stuff.
Speaker 3 (01:01:43):
I mean, it's pretty cool that. Do you think about
where you've.
Speaker 2 (01:01:47):
Come from, mate, Like, left school year nine.
Speaker 1 (01:01:50):
Here you are producing kids books and you got nearly
three million, millions and millions and millions of followers. Like
engaging with such a huge community, doing good stuff for
all sorts of all types of people, helping people change,
change people's lives.
Speaker 2 (01:02:08):
Has it made me feel you reflect back.
Speaker 3 (01:02:10):
On I think, h mm hmmm. I think what I
try to do here is as I said, I wasn't
maybe the perfect son, but sorry, man, I've got kids
(01:02:38):
and I want.
Speaker 4 (01:02:41):
I want them to be proud of me and and
not live the life that I did and have a
better life. And you know, your father is someone that
you look up to, and I want them to sort
of look up to me. And so you did a
good job.
Speaker 1 (01:02:59):
Well, well, I think that's pretty much. Sitting here today
is going to be guaranteed. You're doing a great job.
And as one of your followers, and I've been following
it for a long time, this wasn't.
Speaker 3 (01:03:09):
A produced thing.
Speaker 1 (01:03:11):
I requested this as a result of seeing you somewhere
and know where I saw you, and I've been following
me ever since, and I've been trying to get to
you for ages because I just wanted to meet you.
Speaker 2 (01:03:21):
You probably never thought you'd be sitting on my podcast.
Speaker 3 (01:03:23):
Made I used to watch you on Framers. Yep. I
just a lovely bit where you say you fired. Yeah,
but you know about that.
Speaker 1 (01:03:34):
When they first asked me what I do it, I
felt quite uncomfortable with saying you're fired. And the first
time I said you're fired, I didn't. I just said
you're fired, okay. In when we were filming and they
said no, no, no, you have to do it again,
I said, I just fight him. I can't do it again,
they said, but you got to point. It was Donald
Trump used to point, and you've got to have that
thumb up like that and the thinger like that and
(01:03:56):
handle that and you've got to point at him with it.
Speaker 2 (01:03:57):
Right hand and say you're fired.
Speaker 3 (01:03:59):
You got to say.
Speaker 1 (01:04:00):
I found it really difficult, like I felt bad because
apart from anything that didn't work for me, it's a
TV show and I had to act this out and
I did it about twenty times. They made me do
it late twenty times. And the poor person who was
sitting there I came who was the first person I fired.
But in the very first show, that person had to
sit there and watch me say you'll fired twenty times.
(01:04:23):
So that was and well, thanks for watching it. But mate,
now I'm a fan of yours. I'm watching you and
importantly you're doing a great job. We all of us
who follow we appreciate what you're doing and allowing us
to participate in your good dunes bade and what a
great story, brilliant story.
Speaker 3 (01:04:42):
And say, lady your father law for me, mate, wait,
thanks for having me. Thank you
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