Million Dollar Days

The Business Growth Journey

• Robby Choucair and George Passas • Season 1 • Episode 69

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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!

Robby:

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 and it's like so bad you have to throw it out, yeah, you're like hey, this is there, should be a law around that.

George:

Jeez, you're a Melburnian.

Robby:

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, a coffee doesn't cost you anywhere near $5. It costs you like $0.60 or $1 if you buy a pod, but you go pay $5, $6. I just bought three coffees. It was $16. Okay, you go buy coffees like this. There should be a law where, if this is not like, if this is horrible, you should be able to return the product and turn around and say, hey, this is fucked, give me my money back or make me a new coffee.

George:

I once, once, once, once. I can only ever recall where the coffee was that bad, but I almost. I didn't go back, but I almost did, and it was so bad it was undrinkable, like I reckon they actually back, but I almost did and it was so bad it was undrinkable, like I reckon they actually fucked it. I actually reckon they made a mistake, Like they did something wrong.

Robby:

They burnt a coffee or they haven't put enough, Like it's been drawn around me.

George:

Something so bad. I literally I actually spat it out. It was that bad, but I was already in the car and I couldn't be fucked going back. I was like, ah, but I threw it out and I never went back, ever again. Why would you? I didn't. They even changed the business and I still haven't gone back to that business.

Robby:

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 a coffee shop and I got a bad coffee. It was the worst. I wouldn't go back there, you wouldn't go back there.

George:

We wouldn't go back. Plus, that was in Port Melbourne and we're not from Port Melbourne anymore. We don't hang around those circles anymore.

Speaker 3:

How long?

Robby:

have we been to your houses.

George:

Oh, a long time. Hello, eight years Fuck.

Robby:

From Port.

George:

Were you living in Port oh from like, like my family home, like when I was back?

Robby:

as a kid.

George:

No, no, I don't know. Have you like where you're living?

Robby:

now. No, I'm in nalba park now, yeah, but like how long has it been since you've so, since I moved from the?

George:

area, the hood, like my original area. Where was your east? You grew up in belgium east east side, uh, belgium east.

George:

And last time I was out it would have been 13 years ago, as on the 9th of March it'll be 13 years since I've moved out of Burwood East. Have you lived in the same place the whole time, in my house that I'm in now? No, no, no, I see. So when I first moved out, I moved into Port Melbourne with my wife, so I actually went from home and lived with my wife. That was the first time I'd actually ever moved out. Yeah, great experience, isn't it? Yeah, it was good. I think if I was to do it differently, I reckon I would move out. I wouldn't have an issue with my kids moving out before they get married.

Robby:

Yeah, Obviously, there are very few parents who would kick their kids out.

George:

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 good experience for them like the door is always the door is always open.

Robby:

They can always come back whenever they're not like if you're broke, yeah, that's right, that's right.

George:

but also, you know, if it's a, if you can stay at home, home, if you're really grinding and 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 going to build character. It's definitely going to build you getting used to paying bills and doing all that sort of stuff and make you a responsible human being. So I think it's a good thing and a good aspect. But whatever kick and leg up I can give them, I will for sure. But yeah, I'm just saying when you, because I had never moved out with anyone before, let alone a wife. So there was, and same with her. So there was definitely a learning experience during that first few years of living together, or even the first few months. Oh, you leave the toilet seat up. What the fuck Does it go down? I thought it stays up the whole time. You know just whatever it might be. I know that's a stereotypical one, but yeah, so there's definitely things. There's two aspects.

Robby:

There is the whole what you don't know how to do yet. Yeah, like because you haven't been 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 human here 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 get to learn about other. Like, you get to see how someone like have you ever noticed someone brushes their teeth completely differently and you don't know that because you've grown up in the morning, or how they leave the shower after they're finished? Yeah, I reckon it's a great learning experience. And I remember when I first moved out I was 23. Quite young, yeah, 23, or something like that. And there were things where, like, you don't realize that your parents do for you or your mom does for you. Like you know, you leave your socks on the floor, end up in the laundry.

Speaker 3:

You just don't make the connection.

Robby:

Yeah, you just, and then like you'll do the same thing like out of habit, and then like a week later it's still there and you're like what the fuck's?

George:

going on. Yeah, what's going on?

Robby:

with there. Why is this? Why is this glass of water still on the? Why does glass of water still on my bedside table? It's from last tuesday. And then you realize like, oh shit, like I didn't move this I wouldn't move, you didn't use plastic cups back then.

George:

Well, I didn't put it.

Robby:

Yeah, it wasn't as well, weren't it entrepreneurial back then. Yeah, you know, I mean I was still doing things the wrong way Still doing things the same way that everyone else does. Yeah, you know what, now that I think about it, I don't think I ever had any disposable cutlery at all when I was growing up.

George:

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

Robby:

But, yeah, same. Anyway, back to the thing about Port. So since leaving Port and that's why I asked you, how long has it been since you left? Since I've left Port, it's been about eight years Because you lived in Port.

George:

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 know what I mean.

Robby:

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 do they got skewers. Skewers, good, but like that tip. Don't know what you mean. Hunky-dory, it's okay. Yeah, dude, I had a pizza from the pizza shop the other day. Which one? Two Doors Down, there's a pizza shop Two Doors Down. Did you know this?

George:

Two Doors, oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that used to be Doc. Did it do pizza reviews on them? Actually, there's a pizza review. 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 and my family friend he lived around the corner from me we used to go there all the time, all the time, and get pizza. I was sick pizza, so I'd be curious to see if it's still sick. Oh, dude, and they're definitely still around because they, they. They turned it into a really nice like pizza restaurant, like they up, they did a full reno and it was sick, yeah, so I want to go drive down there to back in berwood, though we're gonna have a drive?

Robby:

yeah, we'll go. Uh, you'd need to today. What do you want to do?

George:

that say, we'll see how time goes, but definitely that's something all right um, I did that.

Robby:

I went to like my old local, yeah, and went back and your palate changes. So, like the pizza might be very similar, you might eat it and be like there's uh particular things about the flavor that take you straight back. But you don't, because you're in a different place. It's kind of like a different pizza to you. Now, yeah, you're like, oh, I didn't, like I, I remember being oily. I don't, because you're in a different place. It's kind of like a different pizza to you. Now, yeah, you're like, oh, I didn't, I remember it being oily. I don't remember it being this oily. Yeah, you know what I mean, because all of a sudden you're not eating as much oil or whatever it might be.

George:

But it's a good experience there was this place, again talking on pizza that used to be called Big Daddy's Pizza, and it pizzas $5? $5 for a large, that's cheap man. How old is this? You are very old, I'm very old. I think there's like four colour TV. It would have been, I would have been 18.

George:

I think I just had my lot. 18 to 20, somewhere there Me and my cousin used to go and just get a $5, like you'd get a large pizza. We'd smash a large pizza like you'd get the lot. It was just, honestly, it's the best pizza I ever remember having because it was $5 but also it tasted great Big Daddy's Big.

Robby:

Daddy's? Is it still existent? Oh, they're gone.

George:

Yeah, literally next door. I'm like they're crushing the local business and they just they just packed up and left and were never seen ever again. Damn, Shout out to the owner if you're listening, Big Daddy's Best pizza I've had. Me and my cousin used to do that. We used to actually drive around to different pizza places and just try them out and have a pizza there. It was good.

Robby:

Yeah, I used to go to every single burger joint I could go to. I had some good burgers.

George:

Man, I enjoy a good burger. Have you gone to Andrews? Never been, dude, I've known all about it.

Robby:

I've known about it for years.

George:

We're good friends with the owners, but we'll go down.

Speaker 3:

We'll go down Today as well.

Robby:

Mate what a day, what a day. Pizza burgers what a day.

George:

Podcast today for lunch Excellent.

Robby:

Now back to so you talked about the hood. We had someone send us a DM on the channel on Instagram. I think it was asking about if we could talk a little bit more about where we started prior to how we got to where we are now so where we started, or not, what to do once we've started, that's a great question. Let me check the DMs.

George:

Yes, I mean because it goes back to what we said with moving out. You know I had experience is a great thing, isn't it? You know, hindsight and being able to look back and go, we'll do this differently, we'll do this differently. So it's great to have lived through that, this differently. So it's great to have lived through that, and I think we can provide some pretty decent insight into this space. But, same with what I was saying before about moving out I would have liked to have done it before. I would have liked to, even with my wife, like maybe move out before, even traveled a bit more, 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 it without the kids.

Robby:

We still do a lot of traveling now, but it's just a different holiday.

George:

Yeah, I'd imagine it's a very different holiday. So yeah, exciting.

Robby:

I don't even know where I sent it to you.

George:

Oh, I don't even know. I don't even know, but I mean, we can pick one One sec. We need some intermission music Please hold here.

Robby:

Okay, good stuff. Do you guys have an episode on your early stages? That was the question. I interrupt. Shout out to Will Bray for the message.

George:

Thanks for listening. Hope you subscribe. I'm going to check later and if you're not, we're not going to air this episode. I interpret that as early stages of the business, not early stages of, like, my career leading into the business. Yeah, how do you interpret that? I haven't really thought about it. I reckon we can talk about the early days of business, yeah, so first of all, day one. Do you remember day one?

Robby:

Me yeah.

George:

Of course Day one. It's like I'm going to say day one. The first month I was like how pumped.

Robby:

Oh, you're very excited. Let me let me. What was your biggest problem at that time? I called myself director or CEO. You're like I'm doing a name badge? No, there's not one here.

Robby:

We had a plaque on my desk. I clocked on, got a clocking machine Now, but obviously so I'll give you. I'll tell you what. I had the biggest problem with going out on my own. So prior to his, I had the biggest problem with going out on my own. So, prior to doing what we're doing now, I had done some work prior, but I was never full-time right. The only thing I'd done where I was like full-time and had freedom because there is a level of freedom that comes with business. Yeah, in the sense of there's also a level of responsibility that can take away your freedom too. Yeah, of course, having full control of your time.

Robby:

I tend not to do with my time because I'd worked in real estate before and real estate has a level of like once you're established. They kind of like come in when you want, go when you want, like you know you'll. You can not be in the office, that I know where you are. You're on the road doing stuff in meetings. I don't know where you are right. Um, so there's that level of having your ideal week and controlling your days and blah blah.

Robby:

So when I first started the business, I like work off a list. I still work off a list till now. But I remember not knowing what to do with my time, like and feeling like I'm not getting enough 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 in between tasks and I had zero structure and zero understanding of how to get the most out of my time. Like I was so all over. I remember turning to my coach at the time and saying, hey, I've never had full control of my time like this. I need some structure here, I need some help, I need some. So did you have a coach early?

George:

on Me In your business. Yeah, yeah, that's great. Yeah, I did, that's great. It's very rare for someone to have a coach day, one on business. I also had a coach in real estate yeah, and again, also really rare as an employee.

Robby:

Yeah, I was an employee and I was forking out my own savings to get a coach. Yeah, yeah, because I remember I was Doing things differently. Yeah, I remember I know I was 24, 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 to say that was 10 years ago. You're old, that's bizarre, getting old. Um, remember thinking this is go time and what you do in real estate is a fairly high ticket. You know you can make anywhere between sort of average commission might be like 10 or 15 thousand dollars is a year commission yeah, but on a single property, yeah.

George:

What could someone make in real estate, like from an annual salary point of view? You could.

Robby:

How long is a piece of string? Yeah, there's real estate just making over a million bucks. Yeah, a hundred percent.

George:

As an employee. As an employee.

Robby:

Yeah, yeah, people doing, but that is like 0.01%. And that is like the guy who's running an operation that's been in the same area with the same brand, built as massive personal brand. Everyone knows him. Yeah, has a team of five people, pays salaries, um, and he might be bringing in four million bucks of business into 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 follow them, see what they do, watch interviews, interviews. But yeah, I remember thinking this is go time man. I had to dude like my first coach. It was $1,200 a session.

George:

Yeah right $1,200.

Robby:

Yeah, as an employee. As an employee, I paid $1,200 a month. And I was like you know what? Let's look at this. It costs a year. It's 15 grand.

Robby:

If this guy gets me two listings, he's paid for himself. He's paid for himself and put money back in my pocket. Do you know what I mean? That's all he has to do. So I was like okay, like if not now, then, when my whole thing in life has always been like you're drowning slowly, let's drown fast. Do you know what I mean? Like fuck it, drowning slow is the worst way to drown. Yeah, do you know what I mean? You're better off passing out quick and hopefully someone saves you or you die. Single swing, move fast, that's it.

Robby:

Yeah, so that was the first time I hired a coach, and I remember going back to my coach when I started 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 then the end of the day comes and I feel like I haven't done anything. But I've, like, moved the needle slightly on a bunch of things, but nothing has been completed, and I think that's something I noticed with my team now too, and now I sit down with them and I create structures. I say, hey, you know, monday morning 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 shit comes up. We know this Wednesdays is what we do on Wednesdays. I know I live my life like that. That was my biggest problem when I first, first, first started?

George:

Yep, mine would have been. Well, I realized this throughout the process. I didn't have a process to qualify clients and I was just pricing anything and everything that came through the door. Like, if you have a pulse, I think it is when you first start as well, and I've said this. The other day, I had a mentee who's just starting his business as well, and I'm like the ideal client is anyone that has a pulse at the moment. You just got to get revenue through the door. You got to get the you got to get money?

George:

Yeah, like I don't know if we'll take any. That's right. That's right. It's like oh, I want to specialize in this. Okay, it doesn't matter If you still do the other jobs and time. Yeah, I tell people that it's the same thing I said to him. I said don't be discouraged, you've got to grind. You're starting. There's no shame in you going and doing. He's like I want to do new builds, do a deck. Yeah, go build a $50,000 deck. Could you do that? Yeah, absolutely, I can do that. You'll make a quick 20 grand in three weeks.

Robby:

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 new builds? That's very difficult. Yeah, do you know what I mean? Because you don't have proof that you can do a new build. That's right.

George:

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 to build brand first. You've got to build some brand and get that on the trot before you start looking at that. That's when I really started to.

George:

When I started a business is when I started looking at brand. That was one of my first things that I was looking at Not over the top at the beginning, because I still didn't completely understand it back then when I first started the business. But as it kept going on and people started to engage and do that, I saw the importance of it. But for me, the first thing that I noticed was look, I was busy. I always worked big hours. For me to come in and start working six to six or whatever, it was no issues. I didn't have any kids at the time and I was able to invest that amount of time, effort, resources into the job. I had secured a project, but the next thing for me was to secure the next project and the next one after that and the next one after that. So that was probably my biggest stress is in making more money in my business than what I would going out and being employed by someone, because I could have at that stage of my career, probably could have gone out and got 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 a pretty good wicket had I not been in business myself.

George:

So it's kind of like the golden handcuffs. I've spoken that before. I kind of had that there and then it was for me okay. Now I'm going to step out and do this myself. But initially, when you're first starting out, I think you've got to swallow your pride a little bit. All right, don't believe the hype of oh, I'm director, I'm a hotshot. You need to get your hands dirty like a motherfucker. You've got to do everything. Not many people will inherit a business where it's got 10 mil turnover, day one. All right, most people. Realistically, no matter what it is, you're going to start off with one, two, three clients. Okay, and depending how long that contract or that period is going to go for it depends on the business, but you're generally going to start off pretty slow, whether you're a cafe owner, whether you're a builder, whether you're in marketing, whatever it is.

Robby:

What would you do different, knowing what you know now? What would you like if you could go and say hey, I'm going to, you know, tweak, like I can go and pull some levers from when I first started? What are you going to change or do different? Or tell yourself like.

George:

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 starting from zero. Like Mr Beast says this as well, and I love it. I love Mr Beast Shout out Like let's get him on the podcast. Have you? Do you watch Beast Games? I started watching it. Yeah, I think it was episode two or three. Yeah, so I love the psychology, but I love watching Beast Games, if you know what I mean.

Robby:

Yeah, like Brilliant.

George:

Really brilliant.

Robby:

You know what it is? He's 25, whoever he is, I think people 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:

No, he was doing this every single day for like three, four years.

Robby:

Also, he was willing to do what most people weren't, and that is posting videos publicly while he was in high school, which everyone's too ashamed to do, and most people were like, especially in high school, you're like what's my thing?

George:

And back then, 18 years ago, it was not as socially acceptable to be posting.

Robby:

Hey guys, this is what I'm doing today, yeah, and he was doing like have you seen? He did a video saying Logan Paul, for, like, I think he says Logan Paul 10,000 times in a row. Logan Paul, logan Paul, logan Paul, logan Paul, oh really, yeah, yeah, and it's just like I don't know how long it is, it's ages, and he just sits there saying Logan Paul over and over and over and over and over. Yeah, and he was like posting that. He was like just trying to do anything that will get attention, to get attention. Yeah, he's like whatever and good a big fan, yeah.

George:

So, going back on what he was saying, on what I was saying with him, he reckons and he said this openly he goes. If I started a new YouTube channel today not using my name, not using my resources, he goes. I'll grow it to 20 million followers in six months. Yeah, that's a big call. Well, he's cracked the code. He knows the game, he knows exactly what he needs to be doing to get the eyeballs, the subscribers, the works. So, knowing what you know, can you crack the code now? So if I was to go out and start a new construction company today, what would I?

Robby:

do. Yeah, but, yes, different questions. Yeah, because you today are not the person who is sitting in the sorry and it's like so you're saying, you're saying the experiences, you know, do this, bro, like, hey, this is the thing I would do, this at the start, not of course. What if you now start, like if you had to be in the position you're in then, but you're this guy now of course you're gonna do way better, so you just asked me what am I going to do differently?

George:

yeah, like you?

Robby:

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:

I'd say for me in my business again, because I'll be specific about construction I would say one of the best things I implemented into my business was qualifying my clients, because I get a lot of people. I was getting a lot of inquiries coming in which was like oh great, how good is this? And again, anyone with a pulse I was quoting a job Like you want me to quote Absolutely, I'll quote it that took me four, six weeks to price a project because I would price it properly. I was told time and time and time again I was the best tender. They wanted to work with me, they loved me, they loved my company, they wanted to work with me.

George:

But people also want to buy a Ferrari. Doesn't mean they're going to go 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, it's not a Lambo. They can't go in a dealership and go I really like your product, I really want to buy it.

George:

Can we spend three days me test driving the car, me speaking with you, sending emails back and forth, checking my finance, completely knowing that I can't afford it and then waste your time for three days and not buy the car and then go buy a Honda. I would probably go back and say have a process in place to qualify people and your projects coming through the door. Because I wasted too much time on that. I priced up, I figured it out many years ago, I think it was about $23 million worth of work and 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 those projects I priced and to me that strike rate was way too low and how much time effort like I, invested in that. Do you know what I mean?

Robby:

So if we go, Do you think that's a? Was there any benefit that came from it though? Yeah, look, there was.

George:

There was. Yes, I did refine the process as well, so there was that aspect, but I already knew how to do that and you refine in everything you do. Repetition obviously makes it second nature. So, yes, there were benefits there, but it was also a lot of time that I'd spent on the grind, doing the tenders, doing the takeoffs, doing everything I needed to do on the grind, doing the tenders, doing the takeoffs, doing everything I needed to do, which probably took me away from focusing on quality clients or quality projects that I could have done or speaking to people I should have been speaking to. I'd reach out to my power base a bit more. The group of people or individuals that I know could help me on that journey, be it people I once worked with at other companies, be it consultants, architects, engineers, past clients, current clients sort of trying to feed the funnel in that way. Look at after the first couple of years, really start to invest in maybe marketing ads, branding, a bit more. I did early, but not as what could I say?

Robby:

You're always going to.

George:

How do I triple yeah?

Robby:

I know that's right. Oh yeah, we should have done this much earlier.

George:

Exactly right. If I had created the type of content 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, the original. What was it? Top George Top.

Robby:

George the original.

George:

Top.

Speaker 3:

George Top.

George:

George, top George. So it's have. We haven't said that for a while. Yes, I almost forgot what it was. I was like what is Top George? Someone messaged me the other day saying, top George, I started laughing. Someone messaged me the other day say top George started laughing. Yeah, so again, hindsight's a wonderful thing, but if you're in that startup stage at the moment, I think it's important to think big but start small.

George:

So I've got this software that I use. It's $15,000 upfront. I didn't buy that day one, but I knew that I was going to buy it eventually. So I used Xero for a little while and I used Excel spreadsheets and I used a whole range of things to manage the finances and processing of invoices and financial control in the business until such time that 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 it quite early, like within the first nine months of opening the business. I bought that software and I haven't changed since.

George:

But in saying that, I think day one, if you don't have the resources and the funds, don't go out and buy the $20,000 software. Don't go out and buy a brand new $60,000, $70,000, $80,000 ute. If you don't need it, build up to it. Do you know what I mean? Go buy a Hilux or a Navara or anything. That's $30,000 for the time being and then build up to those things. You don't need to have the big, shiny new office from day one. Work from home. Go rent a desk at a friend's office. Did you hear that?

Robby:

He said work from home. You got that, it's recorded. Yeah, okay, cool.

George:

When it's your own business, it's okay. Employees will never work from home, not allowed your own camera. Yes, I'll say it, play it on repeat, so yeah, but I'm saying, as a business owner, you can work from home because you're working, it's yours, yeah. So rent a desk from someone. I did that for a little while when I first started my ex-boss actually. I called him up and I don't know how the conversation actually came up from memory, but I had a chat with him, seeing what he was doing, what it was about, and he's like oh, look you guys, if you want, come I, he goes. If you want come, I've got to have.

George:

He had a huge office in Hawthorne. He goes, mate, grab a desk. We had a really good relationship. We kept it going through. You know my time that I'd left and been at other companies and whatnot. He goes, mate, you've always had a desk here, come, sit down. I think I paid him whatever it was, whatever 500 bucks a month or something like that. R rented it off him and had that desk there and that was great. And then we did some collaborations together too, so I had some income coming from other streams too, like I did some consulting for him in the sense of I project managed one of his projects whilst I was doing my own business, so I had a steady income stream that supported myself and I was able to pay myself a wage whilst building my business too, so I didn't have to then go and have everything on the line. Put all those stresses from day one. I had the opportunity to go. You know what? I can? Swallow my pride for a little bit I can do what I need to do.

Robby:

I don't need to make money for three months. Five months, that's right. Yeah, that's right, which I think is a huge benefit. Yes, I, that's right, which I think is a huge benefit. Yes.

George:

I agree. I agree, too many people come into it and go cool. We're going to make $3 million this year and so no like where's?

Robby:

that I would love to know what the stat is for. How many people come into business and turn over seven figures in the first year? I think it'd be very rare. I think it is so rare.

George:

And I think it's 1% of businesses ever make eight figures Ever.

Robby:

Yeah, it's under.

George:

Is it? Yeah? Yeah, I know, iggy, can you, it's less. Do you see that it is? What percentage of businesses ever make eight figures Small? Businesses ever make eight figures in Australia.

Robby:

One in every 250. Is it? Yeah, so it's like 0.4 or something. Yeah, right, yeah, oh, iggy's going to double check.

George:

Iggy's going to find that out. Fact check us, fact check us. But yeah, so even that statistic in itself is massive. So for you to get to seven figures, let alone eight figures, it's a big deal.

Robby:

I do feel like there is a stigma of like you know how to get your business to, how to make a million dollars in the first thing, how do you know, make six figure months? Blah, blah, blah. And it's like it does two things. One, I think it sets go for gold, all for that. Yeah, look at the fucking sign. All right. But I think it sets the wrong impression, because then you start to think why haven't I made a million? Yes, jerry, must I must be shit. You know what I mean. And it can kind of deflate you in some way. Yeah, I would. Also. The stat is 4% of businesses get to a million bucks. Oh, there you go.

George:

Well, Iggy's finding it for us now.

Robby:

A million Seven figures, seven figures, yeah, not eight. Eight is time Eight's is tight.

George:

Eight's the next one? Yeah, yeah, Obviously the next one. Seven, eight is after seven. Last time I checked. The other thing I would look at as well is understanding that I shouldn't be doing everything Eventually. At the start you're wearing every hat. Yeah, You're doing it all. You've got to do it all. You've got to take out the rubbish. You've got to unload the dishwasher. You've got to for those of you that listened to the last episode, a bit of tongue in cheek there You've got to do absolutely everything the branding, the marketing, the finance, the processing, the ordering.

George:

You're the bookkeeper, you're the 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 a goal, by six months, by 12 months. My first hire is this Hire before you need it as well. When I say that, I mean you can afford it, not to the point where you go, fuck, I've got so much work, I need someone to come in and help me, because at that point it's chaotic. Yeah, okay. And then you're going to employ someone. They're going to come in and put them in that role and I was literally having this conversation before yeah, yeah, you're going to be a mess. And they're going to be like this place is fucked, I'm out. I Meaning before you're about to get big. They come in, they understand the processes. You teach them. They go okay, I can control this, I can do this. And then the next job comes in. That's right. And then the next job comes in cool, you're looking after this now. Cool, you're looking after this now, 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, never grow it significantly enough for you to be like I'm killing it. You need to have people. You need to have people on some level.

George:

Now, in saying that, one of my friends done really, I'm definitely going to get him on the podcast, I'm going to call him. But he's done really well for himself in his business. He employed a whole bunch of people. He literally last time I saw him about two weeks ago, before that I'd seen him about a month and a half ago before that was last year and he goes. I'm in the process of firing everyone in my business and he's got a big business like eight figure plus business. I go, really, he goes. Yeah, he goes. I'm going to get rid of everyone, everyone, he goes.

George:

I found a way to automate certain elements and to change things around and he goes. I get rid of my warehouse, I get rid of all the employees, I get rid of all those headaches and I can manage it like this. Now he is a lot busier at the moment, so he's doing a lot of the. He's gone back to doing a lot of the do, but he's probably saved half a million dollars in payroll wages and plus the rent of the factory that he had and a whole range of things. So he's actually saved quite a bit of money and he's doing everything now.

George:

I said that's great, but unless you want to be doing that role for the rest of your life, but unless you want to be doing that role for the rest of your life, you should still employ someone, even from an admin point of view, that's going to process orders, invoices, whatever it's going to be. You may not have the people on the ground, but you should have people in the office. From that perspective and he will again, but no big organization has ever grown in any capacity without people.

Robby:

Yeah, I agree. I think it's become easier to grow with less people.

George:

Yes, that is definitely something that's happened, and I look at that too now as well. A lot I try to look at the efficiency of the people within the team and go do I need to employ someone? Yes or no? And it's funny my PA has been away for two weeks. She's been sick and those two weeks I've really seen what she's done. Because I'm now doing it, I know, okay, that's been good from a perspective of okay, I still need this person in the business because they do a lot of the tasks that I don't want to be doing and take up too much of my time. When they're back, I'll be like don't ever leave me again, go in, do this job Away, you go. Yeah, efficiency is important as well, and you don't need as many people as you think. Some people think I need 10,000 people to do this. No, no, no, no.

Robby:

I think, yeah, it depends on the type of business. Industry helps Massively. Yeah, industries like bricks and mortar, literally brick and mortar like me?

George:

Well, literally brick and mortar like me. You need people doing the do yeah, or like, even like restaurants. Take, I think that's one of the highest headcounts. Well, if you say I went to a I can't remember some Chinese restaurant and they had those little robots that bring out the food, oh really, yeah, that was yeah Bit of a novelty. It was kind of cool, but I don't think that produced the novelty. Oh, machines bringing me away, yeah, it's kind of like it becomes a thing of let's go there for that.

Robby:

But yeah, I think, depending on the industry as well, they tend to end up higher headcount.

George:

Yeah, yeah yeah for sure, for sure. But you know AI is in our place now, whereas helping with that, where you don't have to do as much, you'd notice it in your industry a fair bit. You know You'd notice it in your industry a fair bit. Yeah, a lot of what we do is Did you ever get copywriters in for running out, for doing ad stuff? So I mean, has a lot of that been replaced by AI now?

Robby:

Probably more so on the. Because, here's the thing, AI is not that Right now. Ai is not that good where it can fully write something for you.

Robby:

That's right, and people think the perception is that they always like it can do 70%, which is massive. Yeah, which is massive. It's like, now it becomes a thing around okay, cool, like this is the process. Like we want to create ad copy, say this, say that, say that, say that. Like you know what I mean, and there's a process around prompting and then it gets refined, you know I mean. So it's like do this, it'll give us the base and then let's build off that. You know I mean. Or sometimes, like you'll write it and then you'll do that and then you'll take snippets of it. Definitely helps.

Robby:

That doesn't do the full job, but there's. There's certain aspects of the role that like, like when we onboard a client, now I, when I first started, we used to have to send them an email and sign them up to this and ask them to do that. And now it's like cool, that person sent an appraisal, they signed. Everything happens like clockwork. Yeah, boom, that feeds into this, this feeds into that, this knows what they signed up for. Hit something on the crm, crm, automations go off, and how good is that? Yeah, it's like. Yeah, we have to build it. But like that's right, but now that's like I used to. That could take me. Getting someone onboarded could take me two hours.

George:

Now it happens automatically. I'm doing that's right, massive. Yeah, I mean we, you know. Put it in an Excel spreadsheet like today I registered someone for an event.

Speaker 3:

there's actually not a lot of data on companies that turn over 1 million the first year oh no, sorry, not the first year in total. I was in total no, it's not.

George:

4% is not yeah, it's just ever 4% is ever so.

Robby:

How many? So ask the question of how many businesses do like hit a million dollars plus in australia oh yeah, so that is where is it.

Speaker 3:

I actually got it that that's 34.6 percent. That's around from two.

Robby:

That'sa hundred thousand to two million, two million, no, no, no from the question is so you're trying to tell me one in every three businesses that start hits a million bucks. That's not right. That's not right. You're reading the wrong thing. I'm 100%, 100%.

Speaker 3:

A million dollars in 10 hours is a lot. Well, 90% of the business are lower than two million 90%. Yeah, so one million is probably a fraction.

George:

Yeah, I'll, we'll find it.

Robby:

Yeah, there's a few different ones, but it's definitely not, it's a single figure.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, because it's too wide, it's like 200,000 to 2 million, but in Australia it's 8% of businesses.

Robby:

Yeah so if you want to be 91% of businesses and scale to a million. This is how you do it.

George:

Yeah, most businesses don't yeah, I can understand that too. Hit like, say, a cafe, it's going to be you have to sell a lot of coffees, make a million bucks a year. Yeah, hit Like, say, a cafe, it's going to be you have to sell a lot of coffees, make a million bucks a year.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, A lot of coffees, good coffees, yeah, so they're not going to be returned?

George:

Yeah, anything else? Yeah, I'd say be mindful of your purchases day one, you know you don't need to go out and invest in heaps of things equipment, tools, so what?

Robby:

would you do differently From Give yourself an answer to that question, so you'd qualify people faster? Yep, is that the first thing you'd do?

George:

I think so, because it was very time-consuming for me to process that, to do the tenders and whatnot. So that's one of the first things. The other thing I would do differently I would seek a mentor sooner. Okay, I actually grew and didn't know what the fuck to do. I came into the growing pains of making more money sorry, turning over more revenue, making less money. I got into that situation and I was like, no, no, no, something's got to change. That's when I sought out a mentor for the first time and then also started educating. I know something else I would do I'd read. I'd read a lot more.

George:

I was arrogant during when I was working for someone. I was like I don't need to self-educate. I finished uni. I was like, fuck that I don't need to self-educate anymore. I'm just going to become the best builder, not realizing that me, self-educating made me a better builder. So I would have read a lot more on specific books about business, personal growth, all that sort of stuff.

George:

For those of you that have partners when you're starting a business, or young families when you're starting a business, that was one of the most difficult things that I went through was having a young family or having literally just being married and also a year and a half later, two years later, having a kid and running a new business. That was very difficult for me and not knowing how to I don't like the word balance but how to prioritize that. I would definitely do that a lot different. Or would you do it differently? I would make sure that my wife had buy-in in the sense of this is what I'm doing, this is how I need to do it. What I'd communicate with her is 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, I need to work, I need to get sleep, I need to get up early to provide, and she was going to be stay at home, mom, that sort of a role. And look, it definitely worked and it was great.

George:

However, it was too black and white for us at the time. It was like, no, no, you do this, I do that. There was never a blend. Well, not, there was never a blend, there wasn't enough of a blend. There should have been times where you know cool, I'm not going to work tomorrow, I'm just going to stay home, give you a break and work out and do whatever, and then it could be in the other way around hey, I've got to work Saturday, you know stuff like that will come up too. Can you go to your mum's and chill out there for days? She can help you with a kid, whatever. So they're really open and transparent. Conversation about, like, how we're going to operate and how work's going to happen, the family environment, that sort of stuff I think I would have done a bit earlier too. That was definitely challenging looking back.

George:

Because if I was to have another kid today, completely different. Obviously I'm in a much different space, much more experienced and able to set things up and processes are in place so it would enable me to do that sort of stuff. But starting a new business and having a young family at the same time very difficult thing. Very difficult thing to manage because I was getting at that time as well, I wasn't working close to home. When I say not, I was a 15-minute drive.

George:

In the morning, making my offers was in Camberwell, and at night, when I left, it was 45 to an hour and 15, depending on traffic, depending on weather. So I often wouldn't get home until 6.30, 7 o'clock and it's like fuck, you spend half an hour with the missus and the kid before they go to bed and then you're wrecked and you rinse and repeat. So that would be something I would definitely change up to Having more of a blend, not a balance, but a blend of the two. Also, in the same token I know this might contradict a little bit it's also your opportunity to work like an animal as well, because your kids ask your kid or I'll ask you what do you remember from anything before five years old? Me, yeah, fuck all.

Robby:

What's your earliest memory?

George:

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:

like a distinct, specific, specific.

George:

I'm about to tell you. Yeah, so we were driving to Queensland with my parents in a car. It was just myself, I was the only kid at the time and so they were driving up with some family my dad's uncle and his family and I remember my uncle overtaking my dad in the car. He had a Volvo and they passed a box of shapes between the cars. So my dad reached out as he was driving, reached out, gave him a box of shapes. They reached out and grabbed it. I saw it on the freeway like this. I remember that that's probably one of my. I would have been two, maybe three years old, probably three years old somewhere there. You remember and I remember that. And I also remember sitting. I remember being in the lift with my cousin and he was much older than me. Again, I was probably three years old, he much older than me. Like, again, I was probably three years old, he was probably 15. I remember being in the lift saying give me five, and I remember jumping in the pool.

Speaker 3:

That's probably what that little holiday.

George:

Yeah, okay, that's probably my earliest memory.

Robby:

Do you remember getting in the car for that trip? No, do you remember getting into that lift where you were before? No, can you remember anything touched before? Nothing. You know there's a lot of things that you think you remember but you don't. No.

George:

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. See what I mean. I can't remember. It's like it never happened those things. I went to a club in Mykonos. I can't remember the first song that played when I walked into the club. See what I mean. I can't remember what drink I ordered. I can't remember. Obviously, you remember things about the trip and it was great and all that, but the details become a blur.

Robby:

Yeah, there's a thing around it Memory is only retained when there's emotion or something like that. You know what I mean. Anyway, I ask that because I went through a thing once and they said what's your earliest memory? Think back, think back, think back to that. And then you're there and you get your eyes closed and you think back to that earliest memory. And then they're like all right, now, go back to just before it. 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 you remember what happened just before it. And then it's like how the heck did I pull that out of my brain? It's a cool experience. But yeah, back to your thing.

George:

So I think it's also an opportunity for you to work really hard too, when your kids are young as well. But again, you need to have that conversation with your partner because if you don't, they'll end up resenting you for working so much and you'll end up resenting them for not supporting you. Whilst you're working, oh, I'm fucking slaving away. Whilst you're having a holiday at home, chilling out, oh, I wish I could look after the kid and not work and deal with this stress. Do you know what I mean? So it can build resentment between the couple. That's why really clear communication during that time is important.

Robby:

That's why really clear communication during that time is important.

George:

Anything else that you would. Anything else is, again, we said documenting the process, more so with your branding and your marketing. What else was there that I would go back and tell myself to change? Yeah, don't be afraid to invest in the business as well Not that I was, but just like, go for it, don't be afraid, because I remember my first hire I actually started with. It was me, my old. Like, go for it, don't be afraid, because I remember my first hire I actually started with. It was me, my old man and an apprentice, so I had really three mouths to feed at that time. But my first office hire, I put them on as an intern first, so I didn't have to pay them, which is okay, that's good, that's smart as well. So I put them on as an intern and they actually turned out and they're still working for me today.

George:

So shout out to Simon. But he came on, he called me up and 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 experience, I'm happy to. I traded my knowledge as his currency for the time being and he did that and I'm like you know what? I'll come on part-time. So he came and worked for me two days a week. I was like, oh cool, so I was working a couple of days a week and then we won this big job and I said, fuck it, come on full-time. He's like, yeah, a hundred percent. So then full-time. And then he's been with me ever since.

George:

But if you can do that too, do that. See of ways that you can get some wins across the board, even overseas. Now you know VAs are a massive thing now. They never used to be back when I first started, but now, like, why not utilize a VA that you can get to do some work, that you're paying a quarter of the price of what you will locally and probably will help you along the way too? That could be an option for you. Yeah, just be smarter At the very beginning. Just be smart about how you're controlling your finances.

Robby:

It's easier to say that.

George:

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 $50,000 come from? Oh, I better go. How do I spend it? No, that's right, that's right. You don't need to go out and spend the money straight away.

George:

Um, be smart about where you're investing it at the beginning, because it's gonna there'll be a what if you, the next three months, are really quiet and then what? Oh, you've just spent that money on the, on that brand new boat or jet ski or tools or computer or the office invested in the office, when you're really not ready for it. Be wise about the decisions you're making, because it will affect your future and how quickly you get to your goals and where you want to get to. And then bringing in the right people eventually, without a doubt, bringing in the right people. I think I've been quite lucky over the course of my business to have some good people there. There's been eggs, bad eggs. When I say bad eggs, the wrong eggs, not the ones for me. Not bad people, not overly bad employees, 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 learn along the way too Defining who your people are.

Robby:

I think that's something you learn as you go.

George:

Understand it's always temporary. Every single one of your employees will be temporary. They're temporary custodians of that role in your business. Yeah, maybe three months, 30 years, 30 years, 30 years. One day they won't be there. Either you won't be there, the business won't be there, or they won't be there. People move on, people make changes, and that's something that could happen.

George:

And as loyal as you think someone might be and they might love it like if one of my employees said to me the other day he goes, I've been headhunted. Someone's offered me this much money I said, look, if ever it happens, just come to me. I will give you my honest opinion. I will tell you hey, I think you should take this role. I'm not going to be oh, don't leave me. 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 shitty and upset, so you've got to look out for yourself. If I think it's a good decision for you to go, I'll say look, you'll have my blessing. Just do the right thing, give me four weeks.

George:

You've been here for so long. Don't just walk out tomorrow, because if you do you're welcome back. I wouldn't burn the bridge. I'm sure there's roles like that out there where someone's offering $300,000. Now, I'm not going to pay someone $300,000 for a particular role. It may not be suitable for our business and what it's like and it's just not in the realm of what we do. But if they'll go into a big tier one construction company and they were off that sort of money, 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 be working Saturdays. Sundays you'll probably be working six to six Like. As long as you're willing to give that aspect, then yeah, go for it. Great opportunity for you. I know the people there speak to this person. Tell him you know me, he'll look after you, um, I would encourage it. I would encourage it. I'm happy for someone to come in here. As long as they've put in during their time at the business, I'd be more than happy for them to come and go as they need to Um and and just learn how to handle stressful situations. You know that'll come up too. Okay, let's go another step Never treat a client.

George:

I don't like treating clients like friends. Okay, you can be friendly, but they're not your friend, they're your client. There's a professional relationship there that you need to maintain. I think I learned that early on as well. I tried to become buddy-buddy with my friends and it's like oh, 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 your project. So having a lot more strict procedures on payment terms and all that sort of stuff with my clients, making sure that they understand the boundaries and their obligations to me, that was a really big thing. That I learned the hard way too.

Robby:

Yeah, you feel like those lessons are only learned through experience.

George:

Yeah, I think so and I try and have-.

Robby:

It's like you can go and tell someone. It's like you ever have someone that you know and you know they are doing the wrong thing and you 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'll do it anyway and it's like sometimes you just need to let yeah. It's like sometimes you just need to let go. Yeah, you've just got to get burnt. Yeah, you learn. Like, don't get burnt. Like touch the hot stove vehicle. Do you know now why you shouldn't touch it? Okay, cool, don't touch it again.

George:

That's it Without a doubt and that's something I teach that at my trainings as well about the client management and setting those boundaries in place so they understand and know what their obligations are, but go through it. They don't go. They don't know they need to be burnt a couple of times and not get paid for something, and that's when they feel it.

Robby:

Yeah, anything else that you'd add to that?

George:

Not off the top of my head, I think they were the main ones. What about?

Robby:

yourself. I would go and work for someone for six months like an entrepreneur at business person, someone who's going to teach me the stuff that I've had to learn.

Robby:

I feel, like I've paid a lot of ignorance 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't teach. No one teaches it. There's no, I don't know. I say that I haven't gone and done a business degree in uni. Most of the people I know that do well in business haven't done a business degree, the things that you don't know.

Robby:

You know in the sense of like, knowing your numbers, like you should know that early on. You know knowing what you're aiming for for a gross profit, what like? How do you price stuff, what's the overall like? What's your usp, why the like? Understanding those aspects that no one shows you. You know how to read financial reports, how to how to uh cash flow statements. You know, I mean, how to do cash flow projections, like who shows you that you learn on the job. And then you look back and you think, oh, my god, and I'm always proud when I do look back and think, wow, I didn't know. I think because it means you learned new stuff in the last six months, five months where it might be um, but I do feel like a lot of that time I I feel like I could have moved a lot faster had I known the things that I know now. Obviously, yes, that you would move faster, but I just feel like I've learned to through a process of trial and error.

Robby:

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, six months, how can I go do like a to. Uh, you know, let me go be your right-hand man for a business owner and actually learn the key fundamentals of business, why they do this, why they do that. How do you structure your? How do you recruit? You know what I mean Like recruitment. Dude, the first time I went into recruit I was like asking the questions that I'd been asked in interviews that's right, cause I was like I don't know what to ask you Like, what do I actually want? Yeah, and it's like now we have a whole process around recruiting and it's like, go and learn that stuff. I would, I think, if you can, if you're willing to bite the bullet and not make money at the start, and go learn.

Robby:

I think that would be and not make 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:

Okay, this is something that happened to me as well. I got a little bit arrogant because I got the wins on the board. I was like, oh, look at me, how good am I? I started to believe the hype I'm winning all these projects, making all this money. And then it wasn't until I wasn't that I realized that I wasn't as good as I thought I was, and that's when I started to self-educate and seek a mentor, seek people to help me out.

George:

So don't you know you got to. What is it? Eat humble pie, or something like that, but just Eat humble pie, something like that, but just Eat humble pie, something like that Is it. I think it's how the saying goes.

Robby:

But, yeah, just don't get ahead of yourself. Yeah, and I think that would be the one thing. If I could go back now and I would spend that time, the business time, because you learn a skill. This is how everyone starts in business, right? You learn a skill and then you get good at the skill and then you're like cool, my job is to go do the skill. Do you know what I mean? That's my, that's your mentality. Oh, I'm a builder, I need to go build houses, that's right, and it's like that's what a builder does, not a business owner, that's right. And I would go back and say, okay, cool, dude.

Robby:

You know, a big turning point for me was I felt like I always needed to be on top of ads. I was like I need to read the latest and blah, blah, blah. I need to know all the changes Meta's making, facebook's making, because I need to be on top of it and I need to be able to run ads better than anyone making Facebook's making. Cause I, I need to be on top of it and I need to be able to run ads better than anyone, and I need to, I, I, I, I, I, I. Until I was like you know what I don't. I need to understand the overall process. I need to understand it really well, but I need to have my Facebook guy be the best guy. I need to find the best Facebook guy that needs.

Robby:

That's how I build my business. Not I don't need to be the best guy, I need to find the best Facebook guy. That's how I build my business. I don't need to be the best chippy. I've got to find good chippies. I don't need to be the best tiler. I need to find good tiler. You know what I mean. I don't need to be the best copywriter. I need to be able to source good copywriters. Are you a business person or are you offering a single service? And change your mindset from I do this to I'm building a company that does this Correct and that was like a massive you know what I mean?

George:

Yeah, without a doubt that was one of the things for sure for me. But I just said I learned that through the process.

Robby:

Yeah, me too. And then it's like I wish someone sat me down and said, okay, cool, like you know, month one, fundamentals, month two, you know even, like, dude, I tell people, business owners, like you should understand marketing. You shouldn't understand it as well as I do, but you should, like you know what I should be able to know. Like, yes, hey, my seo is working, hey, my ads are working. You know what I mean. That, at least that you know. I mean, we have a marketing budget. 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 to look at the business and say, hey, we're on track to have our best year. Yeah, how many people you can know that they're on track to have their best year? Man, most people don't. They'll be like I've got no idea how much you do after you know I really get there. Yeah, is there money in the account? Do you know what I mean? Um, yeah, that was big, big learning experience for me. I remember when we completed the first financial year and my accountant sent me like the annual statement and he's like you know, congratulations, you profited X. And I'm like where the fuck's the money? Where is it? Do you have it? Because I don't have it, like where the fuck's the money, can't you give it to me? And then he's like, because I don't have it, like where the fuck's money, come and give it to me. And then he's like, oh no, it doesn't work like that. And I'm like, well, where's all this money? Yeah, you're telling me we've made x. Where is it? Do you know what I mean? I thought he had it. I'll just fucking pump, that's enough. You're gonna give me how much? It is sick. Um, anyway, I learned that the hard way, but yeah, I would.

Robby:

Paul Moseley says it best. He says try and spend your first 12 months paying down your ignorance debt as much as you can. I like that a lot. Yeah, try and spend your first 12 months. Don't worry about making a dollar, just pay down your ignorance debt as much as you can, because you're gonna, and you're gonna make those mistakes and you gonna go, and you know what I mean. And yeah, there's no. I guess there is so many moving parts, it is so complex that there's no one that can teach you everything and gear you up to the point where it's like, hey, I've taught, because if we try to teach you every single step before you needed it, you'd probably have to do a five-year degree. That becomes irrelevant. Yeah, exactly you know what I mean. But yeah, that's what I would. Just fundamentals, man.

George:

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 or accountant or whoever it might be. They may be the right person for you when you first start. They may not be the right person for you. By year, three, four, five, you may outgrow them or you might realize the advice they're giving you isn't the best. So don't be afraid to change who's in your circle. You're going to need to do that across the career of your business.

Robby:

Yeah, you should level up your partners, yeah, yeah, just associates and yeah, as partners, 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, you got us, what go you here? Won't get you there, that's right that's right.

George:

one other thing I would do especially I would recommend this to all business owners at any moment of their career, whether they're just starting out, or particularly when they're starting out, but even halfway through or towards the end and that would be to subscribe to this podcast. I think that is probably the most influential thing they could do. Do you ever wish we started this podcast earlier? No, no, no. I think we started it at the right time earlier. No, no, no. I think we started it at the right time. I reckon earlier maybe we wouldn't have had as much of the experience and insight that we've got today Now. We've been through a lot before we even started this podcast.

Robby:

Also, you could also look back then and say we have way more experience now than we did then.

George:

I don't know, I just feel that we started this at the right time. I always wanted to start a podcast years ago by myself. I was going to be literally me talking to a mic talking about something for I don't know half an hour an hour.

Robby:

Yeah, that's what I was going to do, and then I messaged you. I think it's pretty hard, I think it would be pretty hard.

George:

You reckon consistently.

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

George:

You just need to find what to talk about. That's right. Maybe a little bit more research. In this instance, you're bouncing off each other, which is good. So, yeah, I'm happy with when this podcast came to fruition.

Robby:

personally, yeah, I'm not happy about, though, how many people haven't subscribed.

George:

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 every single month. But then you look at that and convert it to the, to the subscribers, and I'm like did they like, did they not see the red button? I get it's hard not to see a red button. Maybe it's not when you're listening, maybe it's not. It's YouTube.

Robby:

Do you reckon people hear this part and know like, oh, the episode must be coming to an end.

George:

No, not always, because we do it in the middle sometimes too.

Robby:

You don't know what we're going to throw out.

George:

Yeah, I'll throw it out. I might throw it out at the start, I might throw it out at the start, and they'll be like oh shit, it's a bit different. Yeah, but if you were subscribed it wouldn't matter Exactly, you'd get the notifications, you'd know everything. Anyway, you'd go. Well, this part's not just for me. I see what the boys are doing now.

Robby:

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:

Still going strong, still going strong. And we're going away in a few weeks time as well. Got a couple of trips, got an interstate trip and then an overseas trip, and these podcasts will keep rolling on. How sick would it be to do a podcast in Vegas? We should try. See if we can do it. Maybe we can get a studio whilst we're there. Definitely could. Yeah, that'd be cool. Do one overseas. Maybe get a special guest on. Maybe we meet someone that we can 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 ask him Say jump on, jump on, jump on the cast. It'd be tough, it would be very tough.

George:

But if you don't ask, you don't know, you never know. Ask the questions, guys. Don't ever be afraid. Don't ever be afraid to ask the question 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 you don't know. I always say this to all my staff or employees I go, guys, if you don't understand something, like, don't be afraid to ask the contractor or the buyer.

Robby:

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 them think I know and not know. Okay.

George:

When I first started, I didn't know the difference between gross and net profit, so I didn't know. I just didn't know. It's like I had to Google it, I was like I don't get it, Like how?

Robby:

do I explain? How do I get this? And there's like people need to understand ignorance is not stupidity. Yeah, like if you haven't been shown something like, how are you to know, how are you to know? But if you've, if you have been shown and you can't work it out, then that's not, it's intelligence, that's the problem.

George:

But if you been explained to you properly and you just need another way of learning it, Like maybe you didn't that way it was explained, it was probably didn't suit you, yeah, but if you've never been shown something, there is zero shame in saying I've never been shown this.

Robby:

Has it ever happened to you? And everyone's like you don't know this? And then you're like not really. Even now I've asked that question Like I'll go on site, like in the sense of like people are always like how do you not know that? Like everyone knows that, and you're like I've never even heard of that. I'm just trying to think.

George:

I feel like it happened very recently as it comes with age. It's become with age, you care less about that, like if someone says oh, I don't actually understand why you do that. How do you not? Insecurity it is? Yeah, it is, it is Excellent.

George:

All right, thank you so much once again, guys, for tuning in. Hope you got a little bit out of 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 startup stage, start to consider some of these things, look at them and go out there and do a bit more research and don't be afraid to eat humble pie, as we said, and I think you'll go a really long way If you can learn from people like myself, like Robbie and other entrepreneurs, other business owners, jump on YouTube, read a book. Whatever you can do to improve your operations, it'll definitely help you in the long run. 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.

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George Passas

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Robby Choucair

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