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Ever paid $5 for a coffee so bad you had to throw it out? Robby and George dive into the real cost of bad coffee, why Melbourne takes its coffee culture so seriously, and how poor quality products impact customer loyalty. From undrinkable brews to businesses that lose customers forever, this episode explores the bigger picture of quality control and consumer rights. Plus, a hilarious rant about returning bad coffee and why it should be a law!

The leap into entrepreneurship is as thrilling as it is daunting, especially when navigating the realms of real estate and construction. In this episode, I get real about the rollercoaster of starting a business, emphasizing the critical balance between freedom and responsibility. With candid stories from my own experiences and insights from a pivotal coach, we spotlight the importance of personal development, client qualification, and the strategic planning necessary to transform chaos into success. Whether you're just starting or looking to refine your path, you'll find valuable nuggets on leveraging networks and setting realistic expectations for your business journey.

Whether you’re in your first year of business or scaling to seven figures, this episode is packed with practical insights. We share tips on when to invest, how to build strong client relationships, and why thinking big but starting small is the smartest move. If you’re ready to take your business to the next level, don’t miss this one!

Episode Transcript

Robby (00:00):
You know what upsets me more than anything?
A bad coffee, yeah, but like,when I have to like, you know,
when you go and you pay $5 andit's like so bad you have to
throw it out, yeah, you're likehey, this is there, should be a
law around that.

George (00:14):
Jeez, you're a Melburnian.

Robby (00:16):
No, no, listen.
It should be a law Like hey,you want to charge whatever you
want for coffee, that's great,you know, because the reality is
, when you go buy a machine, acoffee doesn't cost you anywhere
near $5.
It costs you like $0.60 or $1if you buy a pod, but you go pay
$5, $6.
I just bought three coffees.
It was $16.

(00:37):
Okay, you go buy coffees likethis.
There should be a law where, ifthis is not like, if this is
horrible, you should be able toreturn the product and turn
around and say, hey, this isfucked, give me my money back or
make me a new coffee.

George (00:53):
I once, once, once, once .
I can only ever recall wherethe coffee was that bad, but I
almost.
I didn't go back, but I almostdid, and it was so bad it was
undrinkable, like I reckon theyactually back, but I almost did
and it was so bad it wasundrinkable, like I reckon they
actually fucked it.
I actually reckon they made amistake, Like they did something
wrong.

Robby (01:09):
They burnt a coffee or they haven't put enough, Like
it's been drawn around me.

George (01:12):
Something so bad.
I literally I actually spat itout.
It was that bad, but I wasalready in the car and I
couldn't be fucked going back.
I was like, ah, but I threw itout and I never went back, ever
again.
Why would you?
I didn't.
They even changed the businessand I still haven't gone back to
that business.

Robby (01:31):
It's got that bad of a stigma Different names,
different location.
It's a florist.
I'm not buying flowers with you.
Why?
Because this used to be acoffee shop and I got a bad
coffee.
It was the worst.
I wouldn't go back there, youwouldn't go back there.

George (01:44):
We wouldn't go back.
Plus, that was in PortMelbourne and we're not from
Port Melbourne anymore.
We don't hang around thosecircles anymore.

Speaker 3 (01:53):
How long?

Robby (01:53):
have we been to your houses.

George (01:55):
Oh, a long time.
Hello, eight years Fuck.

Robby (02:00):
From Port.

George (02:03):
Were you living in Port oh from like, like my family
home, like when I was back?

Robby (02:06):
as a kid.

George (02:06):
No, no, I don't know.
Have you like where you'reliving?

Robby (02:09):
now.
No, I'm in nalba park now, yeah, but like how long has it been
since you've so, since I movedfrom the?

George (02:14):
area, the hood, like my original area.
Where was your east?
You grew up in belgium easteast side, uh, belgium east.
And last time I was out it wouldhave been 13 years ago, as on
the 9th of March it'll be 13years since I've moved out of
Burwood East.

(02:35):
Have you lived in the sameplace the whole time, in my
house that I'm in now?
No, no, no, I see.
So when I first moved out, Imoved into Port Melbourne with
my wife, so I actually went fromhome and lived with my wife.
That was the first time I'dactually ever moved out.
Yeah, great experience, isn'tit?
Yeah, it was good.
I think if I was to do itdifferently, I reckon I would
move out.
I wouldn't have an issue withmy kids moving out before they

(02:59):
get married.

Robby (03:01):
Yeah, Obviously, there are very few parents who would
kick their kids out.

George (03:08):
I don't know you kind of encourage it to go and live for
the live on their own for a bit.
Yeah, I think so.
I think it'd be a goodexperience for them like the
door is always the door isalways open.

Robby (03:16):
They can always come back whenever they're not like if
you're broke, yeah, that's right, that's right.

George (03:20):
but also, you know, if it's a, if you can stay at home,
home, if you're really grindingand trying to make something of
yourself, starting a business,whatever it is, stay home, use
your money wisely where you can.
But yeah, it's definitely goingto build character.
It's definitely going to buildyou getting used to paying bills
and doing all that sort ofstuff and make you a responsible
human being.
So I think it's a good thingand a good aspect.

(03:41):
But whatever kick and leg up Ican give them, I will for sure.
But yeah, I'm just saying whenyou, because I had never moved
out with anyone before, letalone a wife.
So there was, and same with her.
So there was definitely alearning experience during that
first few years of livingtogether, or even the first few
months.
Oh, you leave the toilet seatup.
What the fuck Does it go down?

(04:02):
I thought it stays up the wholetime.
You know just whatever it mightbe.
I know that's a stereotypicalone, but yeah, so there's
definitely things.
There's two aspects.

Robby (04:12):
There is the whole what you don't know how to do yet.
Yeah, like because you haven'tbeen out on your own.
And then there is the oh,there's a whole other human here
as well.
Oh, there's a whole other humanhere as well.
Yeah, do you know what I mean?
Can't just do whatever you want.
So there's both sides to it,right, and I think living with
someone's great because you getto learn about other.
Like, you get to see howsomeone like have you ever
noticed someone brushes theirteeth completely differently and

(04:34):
you don't know that becauseyou've grown up in the morning,
or how they leave the showerafter they're finished?
Yeah, I reckon it's a greatlearning experience.
And I remember when I firstmoved out I was 23.

(05:00):
Quite young, yeah, 23, orsomething like that.
And there were things where,like, you don't realize that
your parents do for you or yourmom does for you.
Like you know, you leave yoursocks on the floor, end up in
the laundry.

Speaker 3 (05:14):
You just don't make the connection.

Robby (05:15):
Yeah, you just, and then like you'll do the same thing
like out of habit, and then likea week later it's still there
and you're like what the fuck's?

George (05:23):
going on.
Yeah, what's going on?

Robby (05:23):
with there.
Why is this?
Why is this glass of waterstill on the?
Why does glass of water stillon my bedside table?
It's from last tuesday.
And then you realize like, ohshit, like I didn't move this I
wouldn't move, you didn't useplastic cups back then.

George (05:34):
Well, I didn't put it.

Robby (05:36):
Yeah, it wasn't as well, weren't it entrepreneurial back
then.
Yeah, you know, I mean I wasstill doing things the wrong way
Still doing things the same waythat everyone else does.
Yeah, you know what, now that Ithink about it, I don't think I
ever had any disposable cutleryat all when I was growing up.

George (05:56):
Oh, me neither.
I mean we would.
If we ever had parties, youknow, like gatherings, birthdays
, you know, easter's Christmas,that sort of shit, you'd have
them every now and then.

Robby (06:08):
But, yeah, same.
Anyway, back to the thing aboutPort.
So since leaving Port andthat's why I asked you, how long
has it been since you left?
Since I've left Port, it's beenabout eight years Because you
lived in Port.

George (06:22):
But here's similar To me .
It's the same thing thing.
I fucking grew up in the Burbs,so I think this whole coastal
line is the same area you knowwhat I mean.

Robby (06:29):
You know what I've actually, albert Park has better
food.
Yeah, it's a nice restaurant,hands down, dude, there's
nothing involved with Albert.
There's an Oatswalt what dothey got skewers.
Skewers, good, but like thattip.
Don't know what you mean.
Hunky-dory, it's okay.
Yeah, dude, I had a pizza fromthe pizza shop the other day.
Which one?
Two Doors Down, there's a pizzashop Two Doors Down.

(06:51):
Did you know this?

George (06:52):
Two Doors, oh, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, that used to be Doc.
Did it do pizza reviews on them?
Actually, there's a pizzareview.
I want to go with you.
Let's do a pizza review Today.
Oh, okay, done.
Back in Burdice.
Let's talk about the old hood.
There's this place that me andmy family friend he lived around

(07:14):
the corner from me we used togo there all the time, all the
time, and get pizza.
I was sick pizza, so I'd becurious to see if it's still
sick.
Oh, dude, and they'redefinitely still around because
they, they.
They turned it into a reallynice like pizza restaurant, like
they up, they did a full renoand it was sick, yeah, so I want
to go drive down there to backin berwood, though we're gonna

(07:35):
have a drive?

Robby (07:35):
yeah, we'll go.
Uh, you'd need to today.
What do you want to do?

George (07:40):
that say, we'll see how time goes, but definitely that's
something all right um, I didthat.

Robby (07:47):
I went to like my old local, yeah, and went back and
your palate changes.
So, like the pizza might bevery similar, you might eat it
and be like there's uhparticular things about the
flavor that take you straightback.
But you don't, because you'rein a different place.
It's kind of like a differentpizza to you.
Now, yeah, you're like, oh, Ididn't, like I, I remember being
oily.
I don't, because you're in adifferent place.
It's kind of like a differentpizza to you.
Now, yeah, you're like, oh, Ididn't, I remember it being oily

(08:08):
.
I don't remember it being thisoily.
Yeah, you know what I mean,because all of a sudden you're
not eating as much oil orwhatever it might be.

George (08:12):
But it's a good experience there was this place,
again talking on pizza thatused to be called Big Daddy's
Pizza, and it pizzas $5?
$5 for a large, that's cheapman.
How old is this?
You are very old, I'm very old.
I think there's like fourcolour TV.
It would have been, I wouldhave been 18.

(08:39):
I think I just had my lot.
18 to 20, somewhere there Meand my cousin used to go and
just get a $5, like you'd get alarge pizza.
We'd smash a large pizza likeyou'd get the lot.
It was just, honestly, it's thebest pizza I ever remember
having because it was $5 butalso it tasted great Big Daddy's
Big.

Robby (08:55):
Daddy's?
Is it still existent?
Oh, they're gone.

George (08:59):
Yeah, literally next door.
I'm like they're crushing thelocal business and they just
they just packed up and left andwere never seen ever again.
Damn, Shout out to the owner ifyou're listening, Big Daddy's
Best pizza I've had.
Me and my cousin used to dothat.
We used to actually drivearound to different pizza places
and just try them out and havea pizza there.
It was good.

Robby (09:19):
Yeah, I used to go to every single burger joint I
could go to.
I had some good burgers.

George (09:25):
Man, I enjoy a good burger.
Have you gone to Andrews?
Never been, dude, I've knownall about it.

Robby (09:31):
I've known about it for years.

George (09:32):
We're good friends with the owners, but we'll go down.

Speaker 3 (09:33):
We'll go down Today as well.

Robby (09:35):
Mate what a day, what a day.
Pizza burgers what a day.

George (09:39):
Podcast today for lunch Excellent.

Robby (09:44):
Now back to so you talked about the hood.
We had someone send us a DM onthe channel on Instagram.
I think it was asking about ifwe could talk a little bit more
about where we started prior tohow we got to where we are now

(10:04):
so where we started, or not,what to do once we've started,
that's a great question.
Let me check the DMs.

George (10:09):
Yes, I mean because it goes back to what we said with
moving out.
You know I had experience is agreat thing, isn't it?
You know, hindsight and beingable to look back and go, we'll
do this differently, we'll dothis differently.
So it's great to have livedthrough that, this differently.
So it's great to have livedthrough that, and I think we can
provide some pretty decentinsight into this space.
But, same with what I wassaying before about moving out I

(10:29):
would have liked to have doneit before.
I would have liked to, evenwith my wife, like maybe move
out before, even traveled a bitmore, before we got married or
before we had kids.
That would have been good too,because we kind of missed out on
that aspect of it doing itwithout the kids.

Robby (10:48):
We still do a lot of traveling now, but it's just a
different holiday.

George (10:49):
Yeah, I'd imagine it's a very different holiday.
So yeah, exciting.

Robby (10:54):
I don't even know where I sent it to you.

George (10:56):
Oh, I don't even know.
I don't even know, but I mean,we can pick one One sec.
We need some intermission musicPlease hold here.

Robby (11:06):
Okay, good stuff.
Do you guys have an episode onyour early stages?
That was the question.
I interrupt.
Shout out to Will Bray for themessage.

George (11:23):
Thanks for listening.
Hope you subscribe.
I'm going to check later and ifyou're not, we're not going to
air this episode.
I interpret that as earlystages of the business, not
early stages of, like, my careerleading into the business.
Yeah, how do you interpret that?
I haven't really thought aboutit.
I reckon we can talk about theearly days of business, yeah, so

(11:48):
first of all, day one.
Do you remember day one?

Robby (11:52):
Me yeah.

George (11:53):
Of course Day one.
It's like I'm going to say dayone.
The first month I was like howpumped.

Robby (11:59):
Oh, you're very excited.
Let me let me.
What was your biggest problemat that time?
I called myself director or CEO.
You're like I'm doing a namebadge?
No, there's not one here.
We had a plaque on my desk.
I clocked on, got a clockingmachine Now, but obviously so
I'll give you.
I'll tell you what.

(12:20):
I had the biggest problem withgoing out on my own.
So prior to his, I had thebiggest problem with going out
on my own.
So, prior to doing what we'redoing now, I had done some work
prior, but I was never full-timeright.
The only thing I'd done where Iwas like full-time and had
freedom because there is a levelof freedom that comes with

(12:41):
business.
Yeah, in the sense of there'salso a level of responsibility
that can take away your freedomtoo.
Yeah, of course, having fullcontrol of your time.
I tend not to do with my timebecause I'd worked in real
estate before and real estatehas a level of like once you're
established.
They kind of like come in whenyou want, go when you want, like

(13:02):
you know you'll.
You can not be in the office,that I know where you are.
You're on the road doing stuffin meetings.
I don't know where you areright.
Um, so there's that level ofhaving your ideal week and
controlling your days and blahblah.
So when I first started thebusiness, I like work off a list
.
I still work off a list tillnow.
But I remember not knowing whatto do with my time, like and

(13:25):
feeling like I'm not gettingenough done, because I was like,
oh, do I do this and I do that,I've got to do this, and it's
like, and I would jump inbetween tasks and I had zero
structure and zero understandingof how to get the most out of
my time.
Like I was so all over.
I remember turning to my coachat the time and saying, hey,

(13:47):
I've never had full control ofmy time like this.
I need some structure here, Ineed some help, I need some.
So did you have a coach early?

George (13:59):
on Me In your business.
Yeah, yeah, that's great.
Yeah, I did, that's great.
It's very rare for someone tohave a coach day, one on
business.
I also had a coach in realestate yeah, and again, also
really rare as an employee.

Robby (14:14):
Yeah, I was an employee and I was forking out my own
savings to get a coach.
Yeah, yeah, because I rememberI was Doing things differently.
Yeah, I remember I know I was24, 23, 24 years old and then I
was like this is go time, man,like I need now you're the most
bizarre things.
In a few months I'll be able tosay that was 10 years ago.

(14:36):
You're old, that's bizarre,getting old.
Um, remember thinking this isgo time and what you do in real
estate is a fairly high ticket.
You know you can make anywherebetween sort of average
commission might be like 10 or15 thousand dollars is a year
commission yeah, but on a singleproperty, yeah.

George (14:56):
What could someone make in real estate, like from an
annual salary point of view?
You could.

Robby (15:02):
How long is a piece of string?
Yeah, there's real estate justmaking over a million bucks.
Yeah, a hundred percent.

George (15:09):
As an employee.
As an employee.

Robby (15:10):
Yeah, yeah, people doing, but that is like 0.01%.
And that is like the guy who'srunning an operation that's been
in the same area with the samebrand, built as massive personal
brand.
Everyone knows him.
Yeah, has a team of five people, pays salaries, um, and he
might be bringing in fourmillion bucks of business into

(15:30):
the.
Yeah, here's the kind of yeah,yeah, don't mean, and he's like
a not many of those.
We still look, I still followthem, see what they do, watch
interviews, interviews.
But yeah, I remember thinkingthis is go time man.
I had to dude like my firstcoach.
It was $1,200 a session.

George (15:50):
Yeah right $1,200.

Robby (15:52):
Yeah, as an employee.
As an employee, I paid $1,200 amonth.
And I was like you know what?
Let's look at this.
It costs a year.
It's 15 grand.
If this guy gets me two listings, he's paid for himself.
He's paid for himself and putmoney back in my pocket.
Do you know what I mean?
That's all he has to do.
So I was like okay, like if notnow, then, when my whole thing

(16:12):
in life has always been likeyou're drowning slowly, let's
drown fast.
Do you know what I mean?
Like fuck it, drowning slow isthe worst way to drown.
Yeah, do you know what I mean?
You're better off passing outquick and hopefully someone
saves you or you die.
Single swing, move fast, that'sit.
Yeah, so that was the first timeI hired a coach, and I remember

(16:33):
going back to my coach when Istarted this business and said,
hey, I'm all over the shop, dude, like I'm jumping from this to
that, to this, to that, and thenthe end of the day comes and I
feel like I haven't doneanything.
But I've, like, moved theneedle slightly on a bunch of
things, but nothing has beencompleted, and I think that's
something I noticed with my teamnow too, and now I sit down

(16:53):
with them and I createstructures.
I say, hey, you know, mondaymorning we do this Monday.
You know what I mean.
This is our call for Mondays.
This is our call for Mondays.
This is Tuesdays.
We leave gap time because shitcomes up.
We know this Wednesdays is whatwe do on Wednesdays.
I know I live my life like that.
That was my biggest problemwhen I first, first, first

(17:16):
started?

George (17:17):
Yep, mine would have been.
Well, I realized thisthroughout the process.
I didn't have a process toqualify clients and I was just
pricing anything and everythingthat came through the door.
Like, if you have a pulse, Ithink it is when you first start
as well, and I've said this.

(17:37):
The other day, I had a menteewho's just starting his business
as well, and I'm like the idealclient is anyone that has a
pulse at the moment.
You just got to get revenuethrough the door.
You got to get the you got toget money?
Yeah, like I don't know if we'lltake any.
That's right.
That's right.
It's like oh, I want tospecialize in this.
Okay, it doesn't matter If youstill do the other jobs and time
.
Yeah, I tell people that it'sthe same thing I said to him.

(17:59):
I said don't be discouraged,you've got to grind.
You're starting.
There's no shame in you goingand doing.
He's like I want to do newbuilds, do a deck.
Yeah, go build a $50,000 deck.
Could you do that?
Yeah, absolutely, I can do that.

(18:19):
You'll make a quick 20 grand inthree weeks.

Robby (18:23):
I always tell people that as well.
They have nothing to showcase,no social proof, no proof of
concept, no testimonials.
And you want to start on newbuilds?
That's very difficult.
Yeah, do you know what I mean?
Because you don't have proofthat you can do a new build.
That's right.

George (18:40):
That's what he was telling me.
He's like oh, should I run ads?
I said you probably should.
Very hard, yeah, you need tobuild brand first.
You've got to build some brandand get that on the trot before
you start looking at that.
That's when I really started to.
When I started a business iswhen I started looking at brand.
That was one of my first thingsthat I was looking at Not over

(19:02):
the top at the beginning,because I still didn't
completely understand it backthen when I first started the
business.
But as it kept going on andpeople started to engage and do
that, I saw the importance of it.
But for me, the first thingthat I noticed was look, I was
busy.
I always worked big hours.
For me to come in and startworking six to six or whatever,
it was no issues.
I didn't have any kids at thetime and I was able to invest

(19:26):
that amount of time, effort,resources into the job.
I had secured a project, butthe next thing for me was to
secure the next project and thenext one after that and the next
one after that.
So that was probably my biggeststress is in making more money
in my business than what I wouldgoing out and being employed by
someone, because I could haveat that stage of my career,

(19:47):
probably could have gone out andgot a job close to 200K a year,
high hundreds, maybe low twos,depending which company I was
working with.
So I could have been on apretty good wicket had I not
been in business myself.
So it's kind of like the goldenhandcuffs.
I've spoken that before.
I kind of had that there andthen it was for me okay.
Now I'm going to step out anddo this myself.
But initially, when you'refirst starting out, I think

(20:11):
you've got to swallow your pridea little bit.
All right, don't believe thehype of oh, I'm director, I'm a
hotshot.
You need to get your handsdirty like a motherfucker.
You've got to do everything.
Not many people will inherit abusiness where it's got 10 mil
turnover, day one.
All right, most people.
Realistically, no matter whatit is, you're going to start off

(20:35):
with one, two, three clients.
Okay, and depending how longthat contract or that period is
going to go for it depends onthe business, but you're
generally going to start offpretty slow, whether you're a
cafe owner, whether you're abuilder, whether you're in
marketing, whatever it is.

Robby (20:44):
What would you do different, knowing what you know
now?
What would you like if youcould go and say hey, I'm going
to, you know, tweak, like I cango and pull some levers from
when I first started?
What are you going to change ordo different?
Or tell yourself like.

George (21:00):
Let's pretend now I'm starting from zero.
Like Mr Beast says this as well, and I love it.
Let's pretend now I'm startingfrom zero.
Like Mr Beast says this as well, and I love it.
I love Mr Beast Shout out Likelet's get him on the podcast.
Have you?
Do you watch Beast Games?
I started watching it.
Yeah, I think it was episodetwo or three.
Yeah, so I love the psychology,but I love watching Beast Games
, if you know what I mean.

Robby (21:20):
Yeah, like Brilliant.

George (21:21):
Really brilliant.

Robby (21:21):
You know what it is?
He's 25, whoever he is, I thinkpeople look at him and think,
oh my God, 25.
What the hell I'm saying?
He's got 13 years in the game.
He's not an overnight success.

George (21:31):
No, he was doing this every single day for like three,
four years.

Robby (21:39):
Also, he was willing to do what most people weren't, and
that is posting videos publiclywhile he was in high school,
which everyone's too ashamed todo, and most people were like,
especially in high school,you're like what's my thing?

George (21:51):
And back then, 18 years ago, it was not as socially
acceptable to be posting.

Robby (21:55):
Hey guys, this is what I'm doing today, yeah, and he
was doing like have you seen?
He did a video saying LoganPaul, for, like, I think he says
Logan Paul 10,000 times in arow.
Logan Paul, logan Paul, loganPaul, logan Paul, oh really,
yeah, yeah, and it's just like Idon't know how long it is, it's
ages, and he just sits theresaying Logan Paul over and over
and over and over and over.
Yeah, and he was like postingthat.
He was like just trying to doanything that will get attention

(22:16):
, to get attention.
Yeah, he's like whatever andgood a big fan, yeah.

George (22:21):
So, going back on what he was saying, on what I was
saying with him, he reckons andhe said this openly he goes.
If I started a new YouTubechannel today not using my name,
not using my resources, he goes.
I'll grow it to 20 millionfollowers in six months.
Yeah, that's a big call.
Well, he's cracked the code.
He knows the game, he knowsexactly what he needs to be

(22:45):
doing to get the eyeballs, thesubscribers, the works.
So, knowing what you know, canyou crack the code now?
So if I was to go out and starta new construction company
today, what would I?

Robby (22:57):
do.
Yeah, but, yes, differentquestions.
Yeah, because you today are notthe person who is sitting in
the sorry and it's like soyou're saying, you're saying the
experiences, you know, do this,bro, like, hey, this is the
thing I would do, this at thestart, not of course.
What if you now start, like ifyou had to be in the position
you're in then, but you're thisguy now of course you're gonna

(23:18):
do way better, so you just askedme what am I going to do
differently?

George (23:20):
yeah, like you?

Robby (23:21):
what are you going to tell George?
That was starting, yeah, like,hey, you know, don't do this or
focus on this, or do this thing.

George (23:31):
I'd say for me in my business again, because I'll be
specific about construction Iwould say one of the best things
I implemented into my businesswas qualifying my clients,
because I get a lot of people.
I was getting a lot ofinquiries coming in which was
like oh great, how good is this?
And again, anyone with a pulseI was quoting a job Like you
want me to quote Absolutely,I'll quote it that took me four,

(23:59):
six weeks to price a projectbecause I would price it
properly.
I was told time and time andtime again I was the best tender
.
They wanted to work with me,they loved me, they loved my
company, they wanted to workwith me.
But people also want to buy aFerrari.
Doesn't mean they're going togo in there and buy a Ferrari.
They're going to go and buy it.
Whatever they're going to buy,it could be even like a Mercedes
or go get something expensive,but it's still not the Ferrari,

(24:21):
it's not a Lambo.
They can't go in a dealershipand go I really like your
product, I really want to buy it.
Can we spend three days me testdriving the car, me speaking
with you, sending emails backand forth, checking my finance,
completely knowing that I can'tafford it and then waste your
time for three days and not buythe car and then go buy a Honda.
I would probably go back andsay have a process in place to

(24:44):
qualify people and your projectscoming through the door.
Because I wasted too much timeon that.
I priced up, I figured it outmany years ago, I think it was
about $23 million worth of workand I secured $23 million worth
of work and I secured, I think,two of those projects, so maybe
three mil, I'd say, of all thoseprojects I priced and to me

(25:07):
that strike rate was way too lowand how much time effort like I
, invested in that.
Do you know what I mean?

Robby (25:13):
So if we go, Do you think that's a?
Was there any benefit that camefrom it though?
Yeah, look, there was.

George (25:23):
There was.
Yes, I did refine the processas well, so there was that
aspect, but I already knew howto do that and you refine in
everything you do.
Repetition obviously makes itsecond nature.
So, yes, there were benefitsthere, but it was also a lot of
time that I'd spent on the grind, doing the tenders, doing the
takeoffs, doing everything Ineeded to do on the grind, doing

(25:43):
the tenders, doing the takeoffs, doing everything I needed to
do, which probably took me awayfrom focusing on quality clients
or quality projects that Icould have done or speaking to
people I should have beenspeaking to.
I'd reach out to my power basea bit more.
The group of people orindividuals that I know could
help me on that journey, be itpeople I once worked with at
other companies, be itconsultants, architects,

(26:03):
engineers, past clients, currentclients sort of trying to feed
the funnel in that way.
Look at after the first coupleof years, really start to invest
in maybe marketing ads,branding, a bit more.
I did early, but not as whatcould I say?

Robby (26:24):
You're always going to.

George (26:27):
How do I triple yeah?

Robby (26:29):
I know that's right.
Oh yeah, we should have donethis much earlier.

George (26:32):
Exactly right.
If I had created the type ofcontent today, 10 years ago,
you'd be calling me Mr Beast,you'd be calling me Mr George
Top G, I'd be the OG, theoriginal.
What was it?
Top George Top.

Robby (26:50):
George the original.

George (26:50):
Top.

Speaker 3 (26:50):
George Top.

George (26:51):
George, top George.
So it's have.
We haven't said that for awhile.
Yes, I almost forgot what itwas.
I was like what is Top George?
Someone messaged me the otherday saying, top George, I
started laughing.
Someone messaged me the otherday say top George started
laughing.
Yeah, so again, hindsight's awonderful thing, but if you're

(27:12):
in that startup stage at themoment, I think it's important
to think big but start small.
So I've got this software that Iuse.
It's $15,000 upfront.
I didn't buy that day one, butI knew that I was going to buy
it eventually.
So I used Xero for a littlewhile and I used Excel

(27:33):
spreadsheets and I used a wholerange of things to manage the
finances and processing ofinvoices and financial control
in the business until such timethat I'd won enough projects or
I secured a job where I said,cool, I'm going to use some of
that money to buy this software,implemented it and went from
there.
So I think I implemented itquite early, like within the
first nine months of opening thebusiness.
I bought that software and Ihaven't changed since.

(27:54):
But in saying that, I think dayone, if you don't have the
resources and the funds, don'tgo out and buy the $20,000
software.
Don't go out and buy a brandnew $60,000, $70,000, $80,000
ute.
If you don't need it, build upto it.
Do you know what I mean?
Go buy a Hilux or a Navara oranything.
That's $30,000 for the timebeing and then build up to those
things.

(28:14):
You don't need to have the big,shiny new office from day one.
Work from home.
Go rent a desk at a friend'soffice.
Did you hear that?

Robby (28:22):
He said work from home.
You got that, it's recorded.
Yeah, okay, cool.

George (28:28):
When it's your own business, it's okay.
Employees will never work fromhome, not allowed your own
camera.
Yes, I'll say it, play it onrepeat, so yeah, but I'm saying,
as a business owner, you canwork from home because you're
working, it's yours, yeah.
So rent a desk from someone.
I did that for a little whilewhen I first started my ex-boss

(28:49):
actually.
I called him up and I don'tknow how the conversation
actually came up from memory,but I had a chat with him,
seeing what he was doing, whatit was about, and he's like oh,
look you guys, if you want, comeI, he goes.
If you want come, I've got tohave.
He had a huge office inHawthorne.
He goes, mate, grab a desk.
We had a really goodrelationship.
We kept it going through.
You know my time that I'd leftand been at other companies and
whatnot.
He goes, mate, you've alwayshad a desk here, come, sit down.

(29:12):
I think I paid him whatever itwas, whatever 500 bucks a month
or something like that.
R rented it off him and hadthat desk there and that was
great.
And then we did somecollaborations together too, so
I had some income coming fromother streams too, like I did
some consulting for him in thesense of I project managed one

(29:32):
of his projects whilst I wasdoing my own business, so I had
a steady income stream thatsupported myself and I was able
to pay myself a wage whilstbuilding my business too, so I
didn't have to then go and haveeverything on the line.
Put all those stresses from dayone.
I had the opportunity to go.
You know what?
I can?
Swallow my pride for a littlebit I can do what I need to do.

Robby (29:55):
I don't need to make money for three months.
Five months, that's right.
Yeah, that's right, which Ithink is a huge benefit.
Yes, I, that's right, which Ithink is a huge benefit.
Yes.

George (30:03):
I agree.
I agree, too many people comeinto it and go cool.
We're going to make $3 millionthis year and so no like where's
?

Robby (30:09):
that I would love to know what the stat is for.
How many people come intobusiness and turn over seven
figures in the first year?
I think it'd be very rare.
I think it is so rare.

George (30:20):
And I think it's 1% of businesses ever make eight
figures Ever.

Robby (30:24):
Yeah, it's under.

George (30:26):
Is it?
Yeah?
Yeah, I know, iggy, can you,it's less.
Do you see that it is?
What percentage of businessesever make eight figures Small?
Businesses ever make eightfigures in Australia.

Robby (30:36):
One in every 250.
Is it?
Yeah, so it's like 0.4 orsomething.
Yeah, right, yeah, oh, iggy'sgoing to double check.

George (30:42):
Iggy's going to find that out.
Fact check us, fact check us.
But yeah, so even thatstatistic in itself is massive.
So for you to get to sevenfigures, let alone eight figures
, it's a big deal.

Robby (30:52):
I do feel like there is a stigma of like you know how to
get your business to, how tomake a million dollars in the
first thing, how do you know,make six figure months?
Blah, blah, blah.
And it's like it does twothings.
One, I think it sets go forgold, all for that.
Yeah, look at the fucking sign.
All right.
But I think it sets the wrongimpression, because then you

(31:19):
start to think why haven't Imade a million?
Yes, jerry, must I must be shit.
You know what I mean.
And it can kind of deflate youin some way.
Yeah, I would.
Also.
The stat is 4% of businessesget to a million bucks.
Oh, there you go.

George (31:34):
Well, Iggy's finding it for us now.

Robby (31:35):
A million Seven figures, seven figures, yeah, not eight.
Eight is time Eight's is tight.

George (31:39):
Eight's the next one?
Yeah, yeah, Obviously the nextone.
Seven, eight is after seven.
Last time I checked.
The other thing I would look atas well is understanding that I
shouldn't be doing everythingEventually.
At the start you're wearingevery hat.
Yeah, You're doing it all.
You've got to do it all.
You've got to take out therubbish.
You've got to unload thedishwasher.
You've got to for those of youthat listened to the last

(32:05):
episode, a bit of tongue incheek there You've got to do
absolutely everything thebranding, the marketing, the
finance, the processing, theordering.
You're the bookkeeper, you'rethe perfectionist, pick up the
phone and start small, think big, eventually go cool, I need
someone.
I need someone in this business.
I need someone to help me.
What's my first hire?
Have it at least a plan or agoal, by six months, by 12

(32:27):
months.
My first hire is this Hirebefore you need it as well.
When I say that, I mean you canafford it, not to the point
where you go, fuck, I've got somuch work, I need someone to
come in and help me, because atthat point it's chaotic.
Yeah, okay.

(32:47):
And then you're going to employsomeone.
They're going to come in andput them in that role and I was
literally having thisconversation before yeah, yeah,
you're going to be a mess.
And they're going to be likethis place is fucked, I'm out.
I Meaning before you're aboutto get big.
They come in, they understandthe processes.
You teach them.
They go okay, I can controlthis, I can do this.
And then the next job comes in.

(33:07):
That's right.
And then the next job comes incool, you're looking after this
now.
Cool, you're looking after thisnow, you're looking after this
now.
And then gradually upskill them, grow, they evolve into that
role.
You will never, ever, ever,ever grow your business as a
solopreneur, as a sole trader,like you need.
When I say ever grow, nevergrow it significantly enough for

(33:30):
you to be like I'm killing it.
You need to have people.
You need to have people on somelevel.
Now, in saying that, one of myfriends done really, I'm
definitely going to get him onthe podcast, I'm going to call
him.
But he's done really well forhimself in his business.
He employed a whole bunch ofpeople.
He literally last time I sawhim about two weeks ago, before

(33:51):
that I'd seen him about a monthand a half ago before that was
last year and he goes.
I'm in the process of firingeveryone in my business and he's
got a big business like eightfigure plus business.
I go, really, he goes.
Yeah, he goes.
I'm going to get rid ofeveryone, everyone, he goes.
I found a way to automatecertain elements and to change

(34:14):
things around and he goes.
I get rid of my warehouse, Iget rid of all the employees, I
get rid of all those headachesand I can manage it like this.
Now he is a lot busier at themoment, so he's doing a lot of
the.
He's gone back to doing a lotof the do, but he's probably
saved half a million dollars inpayroll wages and plus the rent
of the factory that he had and awhole range of things.
So he's actually saved quite abit of money and he's doing

(34:36):
everything now.
I said that's great, but unlessyou want to be doing that role
for the rest of your life, butunless you want to be doing that
role for the rest of your life,you should still employ someone
, even from an admin point ofview, that's going to process
orders, invoices, whatever it'sgoing to be.
You may not have the people onthe ground, but you should have
people in the office.
From that perspective and hewill again, but no big

(35:02):
organization has ever grown inany capacity without people.

Robby (35:04):
Yeah, I agree.
I think it's become easier togrow with less people.

George (35:13):
Yes, that is definitely something that's happened, and I
look at that too now as well.
A lot I try to look at theefficiency of the people within
the team and go do I need toemploy someone?
Yes or no?
And it's funny my PA has beenaway for two weeks.
She's been sick and those twoweeks I've really seen what
she's done.
Because I'm now doing it, Iknow, okay, that's been good
from a perspective of okay, Istill need this person in the
business because they do a lotof the tasks that I don't want

(35:36):
to be doing and take up too muchof my time.
When they're back, I'll be likedon't ever leave me again, go
in, do this job Away, you go.
Yeah, efficiency is importantas well, and you don't need as
many people as you think.
Some people think I need 10,000people to do this.
No, no, no, no.

Robby (35:53):
I think, yeah, it depends on the type of business.
Industry helps Massively.
Yeah, industries like bricksand mortar, literally brick and
mortar like me?

George (35:59):
Well, literally brick and mortar like me.
You need people doing the doyeah, or like, even like
restaurants.
Take, I think that's one of thehighest headcounts.
Well, if you say I went to a Ican't remember some Chinese
restaurant and they had thoselittle robots that bring out the
food, oh really, yeah, that wasyeah Bit of a novelty.
It was kind of cool, but Idon't think that produced the

(36:19):
novelty.
Oh, machines bringing me away,yeah, it's kind of like it
becomes a thing of let's gothere for that.

Robby (36:26):
But yeah, I think, depending on the industry as
well, they tend to end up higherheadcount.

George (36:31):
Yeah, yeah yeah for sure , for sure.
But you know AI is in our placenow, whereas helping with that,
where you don't have to do asmuch, you'd notice it in your
industry a fair bit.
You know You'd notice it inyour industry a fair bit.
Yeah, a lot of what we do isDid you ever get copywriters in
for running out, for doing adstuff?
So I mean, has a lot of thatbeen replaced by AI now?

Robby (36:53):
Probably more so on the.
Because, here's the thing, AIis not that Right now.
Ai is not that good where itcan fully write something for
you.
That's right, and people thinkthe perception is that they
always like it can do 70%, whichis massive.
Yeah, which is massive.
It's like, now it becomes athing around okay, cool, like
this is the process.
Like we want to create ad copy,say this, say that, say that,

(37:17):
say that.
Like you know what I mean, andthere's a process around
prompting and then it getsrefined, you know I mean.
So it's like do this, it'llgive us the base and then let's
build off that.
You know I mean.
Or sometimes, like you'll writeit and then you'll do that and
then you'll take snippets of it.
Definitely helps.
That doesn't do the full job,but there's.
There's certain aspects of therole that like, like when we

(37:38):
onboard a client, now I, when Ifirst started, we used to have
to send them an email and signthem up to this and ask them to
do that.
And now it's like cool, thatperson sent an appraisal, they
signed.
Everything happens likeclockwork.
Yeah, boom, that feeds intothis, this feeds into that, this
knows what they signed up for.
Hit something on the crm, crm,automations go off, and how good

(38:01):
is that?
Yeah, it's like.
Yeah, we have to build it.
But like that's right, but nowthat's like I used to.
That could take me.
Getting someone onboarded couldtake me two hours.

George (38:17):
Now it happens automatically.
I'm doing that's right, massive.
Yeah, I mean we, you know.
Put it in an Excel spreadsheetlike today I registered someone
for an event.

Speaker 3 (38:23):
there's actually not a lot of data on companies that
turn over 1 million the firstyear oh no, sorry, not the first
year in total.
I was in total no, it's not.

George (38:34):
4% is not yeah, it's just ever 4% is ever so.

Robby (38:37):
How many?
So ask the question of how manybusinesses do like hit a
million dollars plus inaustralia oh yeah, so that is
where is it.

Speaker 3 (38:47):
I actually got it that that's 34.6 percent.
That's around from two.

Robby (38:55):
That'sa hundred thousand to two million, two million, no,
no, no from the question is soyou're trying to tell me one in
every three businesses thatstart hits a million bucks.
That's not right.
That's not right.
You're reading the wrong thing.
I'm 100%, 100%.

Speaker 3 (39:12):
A million dollars in 10 hours is a lot.
Well, 90% of the business arelower than two million 90%.
Yeah, so one million isprobably a fraction.

George (39:31):
Yeah, I'll, we'll find it.

Robby (39:34):
Yeah, there's a few different ones, but it's
definitely not, it's a singlefigure.

Speaker 3 (39:40):
Yeah, because it's too wide, it's like 200,000 to 2
million, but in Australia it's8% of businesses.

Robby (39:48):
Yeah so if you want to be 91% of businesses and scale to
a million.
This is how you do it.

George (39:55):
Yeah, most businesses don't yeah, I can understand
that too.
Hit like, say, a cafe, it'sgoing to be you have to sell a
lot of coffees, make a millionbucks a year.
Yeah, hit Like, say, a cafe,it's going to be you have to
sell a lot of coffees, make amillion bucks a year.

Speaker 3 (40:04):
Yeah, A lot of coffees, good coffees, yeah, so
they're not going to be returned?

George (40:11):
Yeah, anything else?
Yeah, I'd say be mindful ofyour purchases day one, you know
you don't need to go out andinvest in heaps of things
equipment, tools, so what?

Robby (40:22):
would you do differently From Give yourself an answer to
that question, so you'd qualifypeople faster?
Yep, is that the first thingyou'd do?

George (40:30):
I think so, because it was very time-consuming for me
to process that, to do thetenders and whatnot.
So that's one of the firstthings.
The other thing I would dodifferently I would seek a
mentor sooner.
Okay, I actually grew anddidn't know what the fuck to do.
I came into the growing painsof making more money sorry,

(40:53):
turning over more revenue,making less money.
I got into that situation and Iwas like, no, no, no,
something's got to change.
That's when I sought out amentor for the first time and
then also started educating.
I know something else I woulddo I'd read.
I'd read a lot more.
I was arrogant during when I wasworking for someone.
I was like I don't need toself-educate.

(41:14):
I finished uni.
I was like, fuck that I don'tneed to self-educate anymore.
I'm just going to become thebest builder, not realizing that
me, self-educating made me abetter builder.
So I would have read a lot moreon specific books about
business, personal growth, allthat sort of stuff.
For those of you that havepartners when you're starting a
business, or young families whenyou're starting a business,

(41:35):
that was one of the mostdifficult things that I went
through was having a youngfamily or having literally just
being married and also a yearand a half later, two years
later, having a kid and runninga new business.
That was very difficult for meand not knowing how to I don't
like the word balance but how toprioritize that.
I would definitely do that alot different.

(41:55):
Or would you do it differently?
I would make sure that my wifehad buy-in in the sense of this
is what I'm doing, this is how Ineed to do it.
What I'd communicate with heris like what do you need help on
?
What can I do to help?
What things need to be done?
We had the mindset of no, no, Ineed to work, I need to get
sleep, I need to get up early toprovide, and she was going to

(42:17):
be stay at home, mom, that sortof a role.
And look, it definitely workedand it was great.
However, it was too black andwhite for us at the time.
It was like, no, no, you dothis, I do that.
There was never a blend.
Well, not, there was never ablend, there wasn't enough of a
blend.
There should have been timeswhere you know cool, I'm not
going to work tomorrow, I'm justgoing to stay home, give you a

(42:37):
break and work out and dowhatever, and then it could be
in the other way around hey,I've got to work Saturday, you
know stuff like that will comeup too.
Can you go to your mum's andchill out there for days?
She can help you with a kid,whatever.
So they're really open andtransparent.
Conversation about, like, howwe're going to operate and how
work's going to happen, thefamily environment, that sort of

(42:59):
stuff I think I would have donea bit earlier too.
That was definitely challenginglooking back.
Because if I was to have anotherkid today, completely different
.
Obviously I'm in a muchdifferent space, much more
experienced and able to setthings up and processes are in
place so it would enable me todo that sort of stuff.
But starting a new business andhaving a young family at the

(43:20):
same time very difficult thing.
Very difficult thing to managebecause I was getting at that
time as well, I wasn't workingclose to home.
When I say not, I was a15-minute drive.
In the morning, making my offerswas in Camberwell, and at night
, when I left, it was 45 to anhour and 15, depending on
traffic, depending on weather.
So I often wouldn't get homeuntil 6.30, 7 o'clock and it's

(43:43):
like fuck, you spend half anhour with the missus and the kid
before they go to bed and thenyou're wrecked and you rinse and
repeat.
So that would be something Iwould definitely change up to
Having more of a blend, not abalance, but a blend of the two.
Also, in the same token I knowthis might contradict a little

(44:06):
bit it's also your opportunityto work like an animal as well,
because your kids ask your kidor I'll ask you what do you
remember from anything beforefive years old?
Me, yeah, fuck all.

Robby (44:20):
What's your earliest memory?

George (44:21):
Oh man, I don't know, I don't know.
I remember going to Queensland,driving up to Queensland with
my parents, but like what's it?

Robby (44:29):
like a distinct, specific , specific.

George (44:31):
I'm about to tell you.
Yeah, so we were driving toQueensland with my parents in a
car.
It was just myself, I was theonly kid at the time and so they
were driving up with somefamily my dad's uncle and his
family and I remember my uncleovertaking my dad in the car.

(44:52):
He had a Volvo and they passeda box of shapes between the cars
.
So my dad reached out as he wasdriving, reached out, gave him
a box of shapes.
They reached out and grabbed it.
I saw it on the freeway likethis.
I remember that that's probablyone of my.
I would have been two, maybethree years old, probably three
years old somewhere there.

(45:12):
You remember and I rememberthat.
And I also remember sitting.
I remember being in the liftwith my cousin and he was much
older than me.
Again, I was probably threeyears old, he much older than me
.
Like, again, I was probablythree years old, he was probably
15.
I remember being in the liftsaying give me five, and I
remember jumping in the pool.

Speaker 3 (45:28):
That's probably what that little holiday.

George (45:30):
Yeah, okay, that's probably my earliest memory.

Robby (45:35):
Do you remember getting in the car for that trip?
No, do you remember gettinginto that lift where you were
before?
No, can you remember anythingtouched before?
Nothing.
You know there's a lot ofthings that you think you
remember but you don't.
No.

George (45:48):
And I was thinking that the other day, because it's like
go back to a holiday, Like,okay, I went to Greece in 06 or
I went to Dubai in 06.
What did I eat on the plane?
I can't tell you what I ate.
I can't tell you if it was good, if it was chicken or the beef.
I can't remember what I drank.

(46:09):
See what I mean.
I can't remember.
It's like it never happenedthose things.
I went to a club in Mykonos.
I can't remember the first songthat played when I walked into
the club.
See what I mean.
I can't remember what drink Iordered.
I can't remember.
Obviously, you remember thingsabout the trip and it was great
and all that, but the detailsbecome a blur.

Robby (46:32):
Yeah, there's a thing around it Memory is only
retained when there's emotion orsomething like that.
You know what I mean.
Anyway, I ask that because Iwent through a thing once and
they said what's your earliestmemory?
Think back, think back, thinkback to that.
And then you're there and youget your eyes closed and you
think back to that earliestmemory.
And then they're like all right, now, go back to just before it

(46:55):
.
And then you're like wait what?
And go back to just before it.
And then you're like wait what?
And then you know what.
I mean it's almost like youremember what happened just
before it.
And then it's like how the heckdid I pull that out of my brain
?
It's a cool experience.
But yeah, back to your thing.

George (47:09):
So I think it's also an opportunity for you to work
really hard too, when your kidsare young as well.
But again, you need to havethat conversation with your
partner because if you don't,they'll end up resenting you for
working so much and you'll endup resenting them for not
supporting you.
Whilst you're working, oh, I'mfucking slaving away.
Whilst you're having a holidayat home, chilling out, oh, I
wish I could look after the kidand not work and deal with this

(47:30):
stress.
Do you know what I mean?
So it can build resentmentbetween the couple.
That's why really clearcommunication during that time
is important.

Robby (47:38):
That's why really clear communication during that time
is important.

George (47:43):
Anything else that you would.
Anything else is, again, wesaid documenting the process,
more so with your branding andyour marketing.
What else was there that Iwould go back and tell myself to

(48:04):
change?
Yeah, don't be afraid to investin the business as well Not
that I was, but just like, gofor it, don't be afraid, because
I remember my first hire Iactually started with.
It was me, my old.
Like, go for it, don't beafraid, because I remember my
first hire I actually startedwith.
It was me, my old man and anapprentice, so I had really

(48:24):
three mouths to feed at thattime.
But my first office hire, I putthem on as an intern first, so
I didn't have to pay them, whichis okay, that's good, that's
smart as well.
So I put them on as an internand they actually turned out and
they're still working for metoday.
So shout out to Simon.
But he came on, he called me upand said hey, I just want some
work experience.
I said, yeah, cool, come on.
I can't afford to pay you yet,but if you want some work

(48:46):
experience, I'm happy to.
I traded my knowledge as hiscurrency for the time being and
he did that and I'm like youknow what?
I'll come on part-time.
So he came and worked for metwo days a week.
I was like, oh cool, so I wasworking a couple of days a week
and then we won this big job andI said, fuck it, come on
full-time.
He's like, yeah, a hundredpercent.
So then full-time.

(49:07):
And then he's been with me eversince.
But if you can do that too, dothat.
See of ways that you can getsome wins across the board, even
overseas.
Now you know VAs are a massivething now.
They never used to be back whenI first started, but now, like,
why not utilize a VA that youcan get to do some work, that

(49:30):
you're paying a quarter of theprice of what you will locally
and probably will help you alongthe way too?
That could be an option for you.
Yeah, just be smarter At thevery beginning.
Just be smart about how you'recontrolling your finances.

Robby (49:44):
It's easier to say that.

George (49:45):
Yeah, I know, but I'm giving advice now to people
listening.
You don't have to go out,especially when you make a bit
of money as well.
You might get that one job.
You go.
Oh fuck, where did that $50,000come from?
Oh, I better go.
How do I spend it?
No, that's right, that's right.
You don't need to go out andspend the money straight away.

(50:07):
Um, be smart about where you'reinvesting it at the beginning,
because it's gonna there'll be awhat if you, the next three
months, are really quiet andthen what?
Oh, you've just spent thatmoney on the, on that brand new
boat or jet ski or tools orcomputer or the office invested
in the office, when you'rereally not ready for it.
Be wise about the decisionsyou're making, because it will

(50:28):
affect your future and howquickly you get to your goals
and where you want to get to.
And then bringing in the rightpeople eventually, without a
doubt, bringing in the rightpeople.
I think I've been quite luckyover the course of my business
to have some good people there.
There's been eggs, bad eggs.
When I say bad eggs, the wrongeggs, not the ones for me.

(50:49):
Not bad people, not overly bademployees, just not the right
suit for us.
They've come, they've gone,some of them have resigned, some
of them are fired.
That's a lesson you'll learnalong the way too Defining who
your people are.

Robby (51:10):
I think that's something you learn as you go.

George (51:15):
Understand it's always temporary.
Every single one of youremployees will be temporary.
They're temporary custodians ofthat role in your business.
Yeah, maybe three months, 30years, 30 years, 30 years.
One day they won't be there.
Either you won't be there, thebusiness won't be there, or they
won't be there.
People move on, people makechanges, and that's something

(51:35):
that could happen.
And as loyal as you thinksomeone might be and they might
love it like if one of myemployees said to me the other
day he goes, I've beenheadhunted.
Someone's offered me this muchmoney I said, look, if ever it
happens, just come to me.
I will give you my honestopinion.
I will tell you hey, I thinkyou should take this role.
I'm not going to be oh, don'tleave me.

(51:56):
How.
I'm not going to be?
Oh, don't leave me.
How could you do this to me?
I'm not going to be all shittyand upset, so you've got to look
out for yourself.
If I think it's a good decisionfor you to go, I'll say look,
you'll have my blessing.
Just do the right thing, giveme four weeks.
You've been here for so long.
Don't just walk out tomorrow,because if you do you're welcome

(52:18):
back.
I wouldn't burn the bridge.
I'm sure there's roles likethat out there where someone's
offering $300,000.
Now, I'm not going to paysomeone $300,000 for a
particular role.
It may not be suitable for ourbusiness and what it's like and
it's just not in the realm ofwhat we do.
But if they'll go into a bigtier one construction company

(52:42):
and they were off that sort ofmoney, I'd say, look, yeah, this
is a good offer financially.
Yeah, absolutely.
But it also comes with this.
This is the consequence of it.
You know you'll probably beworking Saturdays.
Sundays you'll probably beworking six to six Like.
As long as you're willing togive that aspect, then yeah, go
for it.
Great opportunity for you.
I know the people there speakto this person.
Tell him you know me, he'lllook after you, um, I would

(53:05):
encourage it.
I would encourage it.
I'm happy for someone to comein here.
As long as they've put induring their time at the
business, I'd be more than happyfor them to come and go as they
need to Um and and just learnhow to handle stressful
situations.
You know that'll come up too.

(53:26):
Okay, let's go another stepNever treat a client.
I don't like treating clientslike friends.
Okay, you can be friendly, butthey're not your friend, they're
your client.
There's a professionalrelationship there that you need
to maintain.
I think I learned that early onas well.
I tried to become buddy-buddywith my friends and it's like oh

(53:47):
, here's a variation.
Oh what, we're friends.
Oh, pay your bill.
Oh, I'm going to be a week late, is that okay?
Oh yeah, yeah, I can fund yourproject.
So having a lot more strictprocedures on payment terms and
all that sort of stuff with myclients, making sure that they
understand the boundaries andtheir obligations to me, that
was a really big thing.
That I learned the hard way too.

Robby (54:10):
Yeah, you feel like those lessons are only learned
through experience.

George (54:15):
Yeah, I think so and I try and have-.

Robby (54:18):
It's like you can go and tell someone.
It's like you ever have someonethat you know and you know they
are doing the wrong thing andyou know that they know that
what they're doing is not right,and you can tell them and
they'll say, I know, but they'lldo it anyway and it's like
sometimes you just need to letyeah.
It's like sometimes you justneed to let go.
Yeah, you've just got to getburnt.
Yeah, you learn.
Like, don't get burnt.

(54:38):
Like touch the hot stovevehicle.
Do you know now why youshouldn't touch it?
Okay, cool, don't touch itagain.

George (54:42):
That's it Without a doubt and that's something I
teach that at my trainings aswell about the client management
and setting those boundaries inplace so they understand and
know what their obligations are,but go through it.
They don't go.
They don't know they need to beburnt a couple of times and not
get paid for something, andthat's when they feel it.

Robby (55:02):
Yeah, anything else that you'd add to that?

George (55:09):
Not off the top of my head, I think they were the main
ones.
What about?

Robby (55:12):
yourself.
I would go and work for someonefor six months like an
entrepreneur at business person,someone who's going to teach me
the stuff that I've had tolearn.

(55:32):
I feel, like I've paid a lot ofignorance debt.
Do you know what I mean?
Ignorance, not stupidity.
Yeah, ignorance.
Yeah, just a lack of knowledge.
Yeah, it's a lack of knowledge,and I feel like there's been a
lot of things that people don'tteach.
No one teaches it.
There's no, I don't know.
I say that I haven't gone anddone a business degree in uni.
Most of the people I know thatdo well in business haven't done
a business degree, the thingsthat you don't know.

(55:58):
You know in the sense of like,knowing your numbers, like you
should know that early on.
You know knowing what you'reaiming for for a gross profit,
what like?
How do you price stuff, what'sthe overall like?
What's your usp, why the like?
Understanding those aspectsthat no one shows you.

(56:18):
You know how to read financialreports, how to how to uh cash
flow statements.
You know, I mean, how to docash flow projections, like who
shows you that you learn on thejob.
And then you look back and youthink, oh, my god, and I'm
always proud when I do look backand think, wow, I didn't know.
I think because it means youlearned new stuff in the last

(56:39):
six months, five months where itmight be um, but I do feel like
a lot of that time I I feellike I could have moved a lot
faster had I known the thingsthat I know now.
Obviously, yes, that you wouldmove faster, but I just feel
like I've learned to through aprocess of trial and error.

(57:02):
I would try and not do that.
I would try and say, okay, cool, like how can I go and shadow
someone for three months, sixmonths, how can I go do like a
to.
Uh, you know, let me go be yourright-hand man for a business
owner and actually learn the keyfundamentals of business, why

(57:26):
they do this, why they do that.
How do you structure your?
How do you recruit?
You know what I mean Likerecruitment.
Dude, the first time I wentinto recruit I was like asking
the questions that I'd beenasked in interviews that's right
, cause I was like I don't knowwhat to ask you Like, what do I
actually want?
Yeah, and it's like now we havea whole process around
recruiting and it's like, go andlearn that stuff.

(57:48):
I would, I think, if you can,if you're willing to bite the
bullet and not make money at thestart, and go learn.
I think that would be and notmake money at the start and go
learn.
Yeah, people are too impatient,yeah, and I think I was too
Like it was all about you know,I don't know how to do it, and
also you get some of the wins.

George (58:05):
Okay, this is something that happened to me as well.
I got a little bit arrogantbecause I got the wins on the
board.
I was like, oh, look at me, howgood am I?
I started to believe the hypeI'm winning all these projects,
making all this money.
And then it wasn't until Iwasn't that I realized that I
wasn't as good as I thought Iwas, and that's when I started

(58:27):
to self-educate and seek amentor, seek people to help me
out.
So don't you know you got to.
What is it?
Eat humble pie, or somethinglike that, but just Eat humble
pie, something like that, butjust Eat humble pie, something
like that Is it.
I think it's how the sayinggoes.

Robby (58:45):
But, yeah, just don't get ahead of yourself.
Yeah, and I think that would bethe one thing.
If I could go back now and Iwould spend that time, the
business time, because you learna skill.
This is how everyone starts inbusiness, right?
You learn a skill and then youget good at the skill and then
you're like cool, my job is togo do the skill.
Do you know what I mean?
That's my, that's yourmentality.

(59:07):
Oh, I'm a builder, I need to gobuild houses, that's right, and
it's like that's what a builderdoes, not a business owner,
that's right.
And I would go back and say,okay, cool, dude.
You know, a big turning pointfor me was I felt like I always
needed to be on top of ads.

(59:29):
I was like I need to read thelatest and blah, blah, blah.
I need to know all the changesMeta's making, facebook's making
, because I need to be on top ofit and I need to be able to run
ads better than anyone makingFacebook's making.
Cause I, I need to be on top ofit and I need to be able to run
ads better than anyone, and Ineed to, I, I, I, I, I, I.
Until I was like you know whatI don't.
I need to understand theoverall process.
I need to understand it reallywell, but I need to have my

(59:54):
Facebook guy be the best guy.
I need to find the bestFacebook guy that needs.
That's how I build my business.
Not I don't need to be the bestguy, I need to find the best
Facebook guy.
That's how I build my business.
I don't need to be the bestchippy.
I've got to find good chippies.
I don't need to be the besttiler.
I need to find good tiler.
You know what I mean.
I don't need to be the bestcopywriter.
I need to be able to sourcegood copywriters.
Are you a business person orare you offering a single

(01:00:18):
service?
And change your mindset from Ido this to I'm building a
company that does this Correctand that was like a massive you
know what I mean?

George (01:00:31):
Yeah, without a doubt that was one of the things for
sure for me.
But I just said I learned thatthrough the process.

Robby (01:00:37):
Yeah, me too.
And then it's like I wishsomeone sat me down and said,
okay, cool, like you know, monthone, fundamentals, month two,
you know even, like, dude, Itell people, business owners,
like you should understandmarketing.
You shouldn't understand it aswell as I do, but you should,
like you know what I should beable to know.

(01:00:58):
Like, yes, hey, my seo isworking, hey, my ads are working
.
You know what I mean.
That, at least that you know.
I mean, we have a marketingbudget.
We allocate this much to it.
Um, most people don't do that.
That's right.
I think, teaching marketing,teaching fucking financials, man
, like financial excellence,like understanding, being able

(01:01:20):
to look at the business and say,hey, we're on track to have our
best year.
Yeah, how many people you canknow that they're on track to
have their best year?
Man, most people don't.
They'll be like I've got noidea how much you do after you
know I really get there.
Yeah, is there money in theaccount?
Do you know what I mean?
Um, yeah, that was big, biglearning experience for me.
I remember when we completedthe first financial year and my

(01:01:44):
accountant sent me like theannual statement and he's like
you know, congratulations, youprofited X.
And I'm like where the fuck'sthe money?
Where is it?
Do you have it?
Because I don't have it, likewhere the fuck's the money,
can't you give it to me?
And then he's like, because Idon't have it, like where the
fuck's money, come and give itto me.

(01:02:04):
And then he's like, oh no, itdoesn't work like that.
And I'm like, well, where's allthis money?
Yeah, you're telling me we'vemade x.
Where is it?
Do you know what I mean?
I thought he had it.
I'll just fucking pump, that'senough.
You're gonna give me how much?
It is sick.
Um, anyway, I learned that thehard way, but yeah, I would.
Paul Moseley says it best.
He says try and spend yourfirst 12 months paying down your

(01:02:26):
ignorance debt as much as youcan.
I like that a lot.
Yeah, try and spend your first12 months.
Don't worry about making adollar, just pay down your
ignorance debt as much as youcan, because you're gonna, and
you're gonna make those mistakesand you gonna go, and you know

(01:02:46):
what I mean.
And yeah, there's no.
I guess there is so many movingparts, it is so complex that
there's no one that can teachyou everything and gear you up
to the point where it's like,hey, I've taught, because if we
try to teach you every singlestep before you needed it, you'd
probably have to do a five-yeardegree.
That becomes irrelevant.
Yeah, exactly you know what Imean.
But yeah, that's what I would.
Just fundamentals, man.

George (01:03:04):
Yeah, you know what I mean and also keep an eye on the
people that you have around you, like your consultants.
So say, you've got a broker oraccountant or whoever it might
be.
They may be the right personfor you when you first start.
They may not be the rightperson for you.
By year, three, four, five, youmay outgrow them or you might
realize the advice they'regiving you isn't the best.
So don't be afraid to changewho's in your circle.

(01:03:25):
You're going to need to do thatacross the career of your
business.

Robby (01:03:31):
Yeah, you should level up your partners, yeah, yeah, just
associates and yeah, aspartners, people that you're
working with over time, um,because most of them won't grow
at the same pace.
Yeah, correct, jeremy.
And then it's like cool, yougot us, what go you here?
Won't get you there, that'sright that's right.

George (01:03:52):
one other thing I would do especially I would recommend
this to all business owners atany moment of their career,
whether they're just startingout, or particularly when
they're starting out, but evenhalfway through or towards the
end and that would be tosubscribe to this podcast.
I think that is probably themost influential thing they
could do.
Do you ever wish we startedthis podcast earlier?

(01:04:14):
No, no, no.
I think we started it at theright time earlier.
No, no, no.
I think we started it at theright time.
I reckon earlier maybe wewouldn't have had as much of the
experience and insight thatwe've got today Now.
We've been through a lot beforewe even started this podcast.

Robby (01:04:30):
Also, you could also look back then and say we have way
more experience now than we didthen.

George (01:04:38):
I don't know, I just feel that we started this at the
right time.
I always wanted to start apodcast years ago by myself.
I was going to be literally metalking to a mic talking about
something for I don't know halfan hour an hour.

Robby (01:04:50):
Yeah, that's what I was going to do, and then I messaged
you.
I think it's pretty hard, Ithink it would be pretty hard.

George (01:04:56):
You reckon consistently.

Speaker 3 (01:04:58):
Yeah.

George (01:04:59):
You just need to find what to talk about.
That's right.
Maybe a little bit moreresearch.
In this instance, you'rebouncing off each other, which
is good.
So, yeah, I'm happy with whenthis podcast came to fruition.

Robby (01:05:12):
personally, yeah, I'm not happy about, though, how many
people haven't subscribed.

George (01:05:17):
Yeah, because a lot of people listen.
We get a lot of listeners.
We get a lot of listeners every.
We get a lot of downloads everysingle month.
But then you look at that andconvert it to the, to the
subscribers, and I'm like didthey like, did they not see the
red button?
I get it's hard not to see ared button.
Maybe it's not when you'relistening, maybe it's not.
It's YouTube.

Robby (01:05:33):
Do you reckon people hear this part and know like, oh,
the episode must be coming to anend.

George (01:05:46):
No, not always, because we do it in the middle sometimes
too.

Robby (01:05:49):
You don't know what we're going to throw out.

George (01:05:50):
Yeah, I'll throw it out.
I might throw it out at thestart, I might throw it out at
the start, and they'll be likeoh shit, it's a bit different.
Yeah, but if you weresubscribed it wouldn't matter
Exactly, you'd get thenotifications, you'd know
everything.
Anyway, you'd go.
Well, this part's not just forme.
I see what the boys are doingnow.

Robby (01:06:04):
And you wouldn't miss a single episode.
It'd be completely up to date,just like we ever missed a
single week, that's right.

George (01:06:11):
Still going strong, still going strong.
And we're going away in a fewweeks time as well.
Got a couple of trips, got aninterstate trip and then an
overseas trip, and thesepodcasts will keep rolling on.
How sick would it be to do apodcast in Vegas?
We should try.
See if we can do it.
Maybe we can get a studiowhilst we're there.
Definitely could.
Yeah, that'd be cool.
Do one overseas.
Maybe get a special guest on.

(01:06:32):
Maybe we meet someone that wecan get on the cast at one of
these events.
That'd be pretty cool.
Maybe get Alex, get Alex on it.
Or maybe the question I'll askhim Say jump on, jump on, jump
on the cast.
It'd be tough, it would be verytough.
But if you don't ask, you don'tknow, you never know.

(01:06:52):
Ask the questions, guys.
Don't ever be afraid.
Don't ever be afraid to ask thequestion you don't know the
answer to, like.
Don't be afraid to look stupid.
Yeah, you know what I mean.
There's going to be things youdon't know.
I always say this to all mystaff or employees I go, guys,
if you don't understandsomething, like, don't be afraid
to ask the contractor or thebuyer.

Robby (01:07:14):
I'd rather look stupid than be stupid.
Yeah, 100%.
Do you know what I mean?
Like I'd rather someone say oh,you didn't know that, yeah, now
I know.
Then sit here and have themthink I know and not know.
Okay.

George (01:07:27):
When I first started, I didn't know the difference
between gross and net profit, soI didn't know.
I just didn't know.
It's like I had to Google it, Iwas like I don't get it, Like
how?

Robby (01:07:38):
do I explain?
How do I get this?
And there's like people need tounderstand ignorance is not
stupidity.
Yeah, like if you haven't beenshown something like, how are
you to know, how are you to know?
But if you've, if you have beenshown and you can't work it out
, then that's not, it'sintelligence, that's the problem
.

George (01:07:53):
But if you been explained to you properly and
you just need another way oflearning it, Like maybe you
didn't that way it was explained, it was probably didn't suit
you, yeah, but if you've neverbeen shown something, there is
zero shame in saying I've neverbeen shown this.

Robby (01:08:09):
Has it ever happened to you?
And everyone's like you don'tknow this?
And then you're like not really.
Even now I've asked thatquestion Like I'll go on site,
like in the sense of like peopleare always like how do you not
know that?
Like everyone knows that, andyou're like I've never even
heard of that.
I'm just trying to think.

George (01:08:23):
I feel like it happened very recently as it comes with
age.
It's become with age, you careless about that, like if someone
says oh, I don't actuallyunderstand why you do that.
How do you not?
Insecurity it is?

(01:08:44):
Yeah, it is, it is Excellent.
All right, thank you so muchonce again, guys, for tuning in.
Hope you got a little bit outof today or a lot out of today's
episode.
I think it was important, for,I mean, you're taking real life
experience from us.
So if you're in that startupstage, start to consider some of

(01:09:04):
these things, look at them andgo out there and do a bit more
research and don't be afraid toeat humble pie, as we said, and
I think you'll go a really longway If you can learn from people
like myself, like Robbie andother entrepreneurs, other
business owners, jump on YouTube, read a book.
Whatever you can do to improveyour operations, it'll

(01:09:26):
definitely help you in the longrun.
Definitely.
That's awesome.
All right, guys.
Thank you so much.
Tune in next week.
Cannot wait to see you.
Thanks, guys, see you, bye,evan.