Million Dollar Days

The Hardest Skill in Business

• Robby Choucair and George Passas • Season 1 • Episode 71

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Managing people is the toughest skill in business. You can hire someone to handle finances, sales, or even operations, but leadership requires a personal touch that no one else can replicate. In this episode, Robby and George break down why strong management skills are essential, how to create accountability without micromanaging, and the fine line between being a friend and a boss.

Throughout their conversation, they highlight the need for a management style that balances casual interaction with professionalism. By developing genuine relationships with employees, managers can create an atmosphere of trust and accountability. They also share practical strategies for selecting employees to attend these engaging events while ensuring fair recognition of hard work.

Beyond just trips and events, they also talk about what really makes employees feel valued—whether it’s career development, team-wide activities, or simply being recognized for their hard work. If you’re a business owner or leader trying to figure out the best way to invest in your team, this episode will give you some valuable insights.

George:

Do you like doing things for your employees, like extracurricular things?

Robby:

Me. Yeah, sometimes, sometimes Like outside of elaborate, Inside of work.

George:

Outside of work, yeah, but do you say what is it? Or do you just like crack the whip and just go, oi, work, don't fucking talk to me until you finish this job.

Robby:

Oh no, I'm a like, I'll jerk around. Yeah, I'll you know, I'll joke around, yeah, I'll you know.

George:

I've been I think I've been always casual in that regard. I've got a level of I'll talk to them like they're a friend, but there's still that level of accountability and whatnot. Yeah, I develop a good relationship with them. Do you know what I mean? For you or for them? I think it's both ways.

Robby:

I think that works both ways, it's mutually beneficial.

George:

But that's who I am as a person as well. So I don't necessarily go in there with the intent of I'm going to do this to get a certain result out of you. That's just my management style, I reckon, where I'll go in and I'll talk to you the same way I talk to them. I talk to you Maybe a little bit less sweary, but not much, and also depends whether it's male or female how much I swear.

Robby:

Of course it depends, of course it depends. Imagine you spoke to men and women the same. That would make you gay. That would make you an equalitiness guy. That would make you an idiotiness guy. That would make you an idiot. It would you know what I mean. How can you not talk to them differently?

George:

It's also different personalities as well. I've also had that over the years too Guys that talk differently. You'll talk differently to them depending on their personality and how they react. Can you share an example With if I do anything like extracurricular stuff, or an example with how I speak to them?

Robby:

When you say extracurricular, what do you mean?

George:

Oh look, it's stuff outside of work, but also inside of work. So, for example, I'm going, yeah, like Friday night pizza. Is that what you mean? No, like I've got in a couple of weeks time. Yeah, like Friday night pizza. Is that what you mean? No, like I've got in a couple of weeks' time. Yeah, by the time, this airs in a couple of weeks going to the F1. And I've got corporate tickets to go to the F1. I've got five tickets per day. It costs a pretty penny because they are the corporate tickets and we're in a pretty good location or you can eat food and drink and all that sort of stuff.

George:

Yeah, it was a good venue. Won't be there this time. Oh, look, there still might be a seat there. We'll see how this podcast goes for you. I'm not going to be there. Oh, you're going to be overseas at the time, of course.

Robby:

Thanks for letting me know that if I was here I still wouldn't.

George:

No well, I mean there was criteria. So far you've been pretty good, so we'll see how this episode goes. Anyway, Just below the venture, you might come back. You might come back. That's how good they are. But for that I've done that purely for the purpose of networking and connecting with current and future clients as well. That's the purpose of it. It's not as much as I enjoy going to the F1 and like the F1. I'm not doing it. I didn't go and spend all that money just to go and watch the race, just to go and watch the race.

Robby:

It's filling up your fun cup.

George:

Yeah, that's right, but it does do that too. Now I am taking on each of those days. I've got Friday, saturday, sunday corporate tickets, five tickets per day. I am going to take at least one of my employees on each of those days.

Robby:

So you take someone from the team. So it's four days, yeah, correct, and you'll take someone from your team on each day. Yeah, at least one, at least one.

George:

These tickets are look full disclosure. I don't really give a fuck. It's two grand a ticket.

Robby:

Does everyone on the team get to go?

George:

No.

Robby:

So there's certain people on the team that will not get a day.

George:

Correct. I can't. I don't have enough tickets. Yeah, so I'd probably have to leave it for the senior. No, it's not even that. I just cannot take everyone, Otherwise it'd be the team every day. You know what I mean and that's not what it's for. It's there actually to suit to. It's also to build a connection with clients, not just with the intent of I'm taking you, give me a job.

Robby:

You're going to build a deeper meaningful connection with those people as well by going and mingling outside of work a little bit too. So are you going to use this chance to hope your employees listen and give them a message and say so-and-so. That's right, this is your cut.

George:

Your cut from the list. You are cut from the list. If you listen to this podcast and mention this, you're back on it.

Robby:

There we go. If that's not incentive, I don't know what is. That's right so?

George:

I'm going to do that and I don't have to because I could very easily take anyone else. You know what I mean Other business associates. I could take another client but I'm choosing to take them as well because I know that each of the people I'm going to take on each of the days will appreciate it and enjoy it and I feel that it is a little side perk to working here as well. You get to come to these things extracurricular activities mingle with clients.

George:

There will be an element of don't get blind, drunk and make a fool of yourself in front of all our clients and don't go there and say, oh you, big C-bomb, what's happening. You still got to maintain a level of professionalism because you're representing the company on this extracurricular activity. So, yeah, we're going to do that and I feel that they will appreciate. Oh, not, I feel I know they appreciate it. You know because, as I said, it's I could have taken anyone and I'm choosing to take them and I feel that that's kind of a little perk to working here and enjoying that and having that connection outside of work, outside of these four walls.

Robby:

Yeah, okay, but that's not okay, does that's not something you're doing for the team, though? It's like?

George:

a benefit Specifically for them.

Robby:

Yeah, well, yeah, and also there's going to be people who don't get to go. Yeah, that's right.

George:

So it's like it's not really a team. No, no, no, like if you we do this, let's just say it would be. It would be primarily for the more senior people in the business and people that have shown, you know, longevity and loyalty and all that sort of stuff. So there is a bit more of that. For example and not to shit on my apprentice, he's not coming. Do you know what I mean? Not for any other reasons, like he's actually honestly, over the years, one of the best I've had. So I'm real happy with him. And it's not to say hey, maybe I changed my mind and go okay, you know what. Well done for putting in such a great effort. How about you come here with us this week, this weekend or whatever it might be If a ticket randomly freed up?

George:

So, why not the apprentice? Why not in this instance? I just feel that other people I don't know if the word's more deserving, but they've paid their dues to a degree. They've done the time, they've put in a big effort, especially over the last few months We've had hectic, hectic we've said it the other day how busy 25 has been since I got back have not rested a single day, we've just been go, go, go, go go. It's going to be cool to have that little break in between and enjoy that. But I also still want to do team things as well, and my PA, when she's back in the office, will be organizing something to do as a group for us to get a bit more connection.

Robby:

A bit more camaraderie.

George:

Yeah, absolutely, Because it has been, and that's a thing. You often get stuck in that trap and I don't want to get stuck in that trap. I'm happy for everyone to be working hard and have the pressure there, but it is good to also release not the work-life balance, just priority Having that bit of priority, a bit of focus on not just being here to punch in and punch out.

Robby:

So what are you going to do, like what's the-.

George:

The extracurricular with everyone. Yeah, what do you got? Oh, look, it'll be something of some like some sort of an activity somewhere. It could be an escape room, it could be just like bowling. It can be going out doing an activity of some sort, a team building exercise. Perhaps there's plenty of those companies out there that do those things outside of your business where you can actually have a benefit of learning something like a leadership skill or whatever it might be through. So learning through experience. There could be an element of that that we do. There's also other trainings that I want to get people involved in and learn about and pay for them to do. It can be something that can progress their own professional career. Now, obviously for the good of the company, that they become better and better trained and better skilled. But if they one day leave the company which we all know they will at some stage, at least they have those skills that they can take on into their next role or their next venture in life.

Robby:

You know what I think the number one, most important thing? Like I've come to learn that the most important thing you can do in your business is manage people. Yeah, like, that is the number one skill. You can hire someone to run the numbers. You can hire someone to manage sales. You can hire someone to do my, but like no one is going to have the level of influence on the people in your team or even in your leadership group Like you can, yeah. Or someone who has a share in the business can Do. You know what I mean? Like someone who has that real authoritarian leadership type personality. I reckon that's the number one skill, dude.

George:

I've learned that over the years. It's taken time to learn that as well. Ages, yeah, and it extends past your initial team, I believe, to other stakeholders like contractors and suppliers as well, because if you're continuously using the same subcontractors, suppliers, all these people, you end up developing relationships with them and they kind of become part of the extended team. For example, I try to use the same plumber, electrician, carpenter and so on and so forth across my projects in the construction company, because you build that rapport, you build that connection and work becomes a little bit easier when you have that connection. And then I find that, for example, we had this thing that we needed to do on one of our sites and I won't get into it. No, get into it, no, it's just, I won't get into the technical stuff.

Robby:

Give us the technical stuff. Okay, long story short Diss whoever you're going to diss.

George:

No, it's none of that who made a mistake. No dissing this time. Name and shame Simon. Simon, if I can die, no, I don't know.

Robby:

There's a big deal. It was, yeah, Simon. It could be someone else, but still blame Simon We'll still blame him.

George:

So we needed to get this task done and no one was putting their hand up to do it, like everyone kept hand passing the buck, like I'm talking not just from internally in the team, but with other subcontractors.

George:

Something needed to be done on a job, yeah, but it was just too hard basket for everyone. They're too busy too this too, this too this and it took me getting involved, but it wasn't just me doing the actual task itself. It was, then, convincing other people that they needed to do it and take ownership and responsibility, and that skill of me being able to tell them, convince them, show them the importance to be able to do it and to get it done, I think, is something you do build over time, for sure, and it comes down to, as you said, managing people and being able to get the most out of them, and that's what happened in that instance. Everyone was passing the buck, no one wanted to do it, and I said, right, you need to do this. For this reason, you need to do this. Because of this, I need you to do this. You need to help us out. I'm pulling in a favor. Okay, I'll give you a lot of work. This particular contract I go. You get 750 grand worth of work through two projects. I go, you're going to do this. You need to do it. We need to maintain the relationship between you and me, between the developer and me, between the developer and you. There are so many stakeholders involved here.

George:

Trying to brush this under the rug isn't going to help anyone. It's actually conflict delayed, conflict intensified type scenario. Don't delay it, bite it in the butt. Get it done now. Bite it in the butt, nip it in the butt. I think it's. Nip it in the butt. Sorry, there we go, nip it in the butt. Nip it in the butt, I think it's. Nip it in the butt. Sorry, there we go, nip it in the butt. Back to Same thing Nip and bite. Is it Tomato tomato, tomato tomato.

George:

So that ability to manage that team let's call it was critical to that task getting done, and it got done and, as a result, the project wasn't delayed, because it could have effectively had a huge delay on the project. And now we're on track, everything's moving, everyone's less stressed, because this had the potential to blow out and cost tens of thousands of dollars. And they're the type of skills that I want to teach other people, so that I don't let's just say we're in Vegas in a couple of weeks, which we are. Let's not say it we will be in Vegas in a couple of weeks. I'm probably not going to be readily available to make that phone call, all right. So then the team's going to need to be able to step up and go cool. I got this, and I think that skill's vitally important.

Robby:

Yeah, I think building a team is the hardest thing.

George:

Yeah, it is. I used to think I had it really good as far as and I still do I've got great employers, I've got a great team. But it still gets to that point, especially this year, where I'm looking at it and go well, how do they become better? One of my employees said I reckon we could put on another contract administrator. I'm like I don't think so. I reckon you could work 30% harder. Then, if I got that out of everyone, I wouldn't need to put on anyone.

George:

It wasn't as in, I wasn't having a dig. He's working very hard, but it's like no, no, you can do more. I know you can do more because I've done it. I can see your ability. I know you're competent enough to be able to do more. We just got to get you the skills to be able to do that. Is it resources, Is it technology? Is it training? What do you need to get there and to get that done? Do you need to spend a day with me so I can show you some stuff and give him those skills to be able to deliver more?

Robby:

What do you generally find it is with team? Because I experience the same thing. I feel like this took you that long, man. I genuinely feel like I could have done this quicker. Yeah. So what do you find it generally is when you've got a team member who takes twice as long or three times as long to do something than you feel like it would take you.

George:

The first thing I would do is is it a lack of understanding? Is that what it is? It could be as simple as that.

George:

I don't know how to use this program, or I don't understand it, or the task I find it difficult to this, this, this. So how do you break that barrier down from it taking you 45 minutes when it should take you 15? What's the issue there with that? Is there something you don't know? Because I'm doing it so quick, because I know the software really well. Okay, great, let's get you some training.

George:

Is it a matter of oh, I'm so busy I forget. Okay, because I have that happen a lot. I'm like cool. Every morning, 8.30 or 8 am, put a reminder, a meeting request, in your calendar so it pops up at 8 am. Do this, you prompt it every single day and then eventually it'll become a habit and you won't need that reminder there. I do that myself. I'll be like cool. On this date I've got to pay, for example, my Amex. I put it the day it's due. On my statement's due, I put a reminder, otherwise I will forget 100%. Me forgetting is going to cost the business $3,000 late fee, so I don't necessarily want to go down that path where I'm not accountable and just thinking oh no, no, I'll remember that I need to pay that on the 14th. I'll remember because the 14th will come around and be like-.

Robby:

What if you don't? Yeah, there's a consequence.

George:

What if something?

Robby:

happens? What if you get distracted? What if you've got a busy day?

George:

What if you're?

Robby:

sick. What if?

George:

Yeah, a thousand and one things can come up. So there's that aspect. And then giving them the tools. It's like, what was that app that you use? You were telling me the other day where you communicate with all your team and you have different chats about different projects and different things Slack, slack, slack. So I'm going to talk to you about that later, because I think we really need a Slack. We need something. We need something. Yeah, it's like is it a mondaycom? Is it a? Yeah, but you know something where everyone can see what's going on on that particular project.

Robby:

Don't you use WhatsApp?

George:

Yeah, we use WhatsApp.

Robby:

So do you want project management or communication? Because they're not the same.

George:

Both I probably want, I don't know. Both, oh well, not, I probably want, I don't know. I need to try. They're not the same, yeah, yeah, we've got a project management software which we're trialing at the moment. This is the other thing. Like I'm spending money now to trial a project management software, if it works and everyone uses it and it's good, let's fucking go. How good is that?

Robby:

Yeah. I think, there's also Is Slack more communication.

George:

Communication, yeah okay, but can you put a list of tasks in there that people are doing or that have been done, or how does it normally work? Is it just different chats like WhatsApp? Is that effectively what it?

Robby:

is yeah, but it's way more like you can do so much on Slack. You can have huddles, calls, video calls, meetings, canvases, channels directly for whatever you want. Really Like we have a channel for every client, then we have a channel for every department, then we have channels for the stuff that like random stuff. You know food? We've got a food channel. Show you lunch. You know what I mean. Like just anything. I've got a food channel. Show you lunch. You know what I mean. Like just anything. A learning channel. Yeah.

Robby:

I've got a. Can you help channel. You know like, hey, you get stuck with something. You don't know how to do this edit. Drop it in the channel, maybe someone else on the team knows. You know what I mean and I'll proudest moments when I saw the team collaborating on something and I just kind of watched. I was like I made this.

George:

You got that happening. They're right, they found the answer. Come to me with solutions, not problems. I'm massive on that too. I get asked a thousand questions a day, and sometimes I have to prompt them and remind them hey, this isn't a question for me. My old man does it a lot because he knows I know the answer and he always has. So he'll call me up. He's like oh, what size reinforcement do I need for this, this, this and this? I said why are you talking to me? Call me if you want to ask me how my day is, no worries, but don't ask me what size this is, what size that is, where do I find this information? Call Angelo, call Mike. Don't call me for stuff like that.

Robby:

Maybe that's it Because I have to stop.

George:

It could be, but I don't care. Call me later, I'm busy. I'm busy. I have to stop what I'm doing and stop concentrating on that task. Answer your phone call so you can tell me an irrelevant piece of information, and then I have to go fuck what was I doing again and then go back into that task to start doing it again, then I get another phone call from the other bloke asking me a similar question.

George:

Guys, again me trying to transition into the CEO role means they need to understand I'm not interested in the day-to-day operational things. Have you ever thought about?

Robby:

this is something I do with my team and we're about to transform into this. By the time this comes out, we would have started doing what I'm about to talk about Now. I catch up with everyone first thing in the morning, call what he got on, what he's doing, blah, blah, blah. But we're about to transfer it to a team huddle, meaning once a day at one point. We'll catch up with everyone in the team on one call and we'll go around. Everyone will say their priority for the day. Do you know what I mean?

George:

Is that best?

Robby:

to do in the morning? Yeah, maybe not first thing, because what it does is well, I haven't rolled it out yet, so I'll let you know, but I've been told don't do it first thing, like, do it a little bit after, let people start their day, because then if there's any speed humps, hurdles, you can sort them out there. Do you know what I mean? It's like cool, what do you need? What do you need? What's your priority, priority, priority, priority. Cool, everyone knows where they're going, what they're doing. Cool, let's go bang. You know what I mean. And it's kind of like everyone's got what they need and they've asked the questions they need to and they're loaded and ready for the day.

George:

Yeah, I like that, but as long as it doesn't turn into an hour and you need to control it, dude, someone needs to control the meeting. Yeah, that's right, it's got to be a narrative. That's right, it's got to be a narrative. There's got to be an understanding of what needs to happen, because we used to do that daily.

Robby:

If there's anything long form where someone needs to talk for half an hour, you're like cool, this is not that, this isn't the place. Yeah, shush, you can, but right now the whole thing we need is make sure no one's got any speed humps, make sure everyone knows what their priority for the day and everyone knows what they're doing today. And go. It's like 10 minutes, 15 minutes a day.

George:

Yeah, I think if it's short and direct, I think that can be powerful. I think the risk with that is when meetings become blown out into half an hour, 45 an hour, and it doesn't need to be. I just think that's counterproductive. Everyone's just regurgitating their issues and their problems. And who's going to help me? Who's going to help me? Who's going?

Robby:

to help me. If that's happening, you have a problem. There's either a person problem or a culture problem. If someone is always, it's either that person doesn't belong here, like they're bad, and there's bad eggs. Oh, without a doubt, yeah, without a doubt, there's bad eggs. You know, a mentor of mine once said to me I had to. I had a guy working for me that I didn't. He was the nicest guy man, but he wasn't good, but he was so kind and he used to always be like oh, you know, hey, robbie, like um, you know, and he would try and he would fuck shit up. I'd get so upset, dude. And then I was like, oh, dude, I got this guy. He's not like performing, you know what I do, he's a really nice guy. He's like fire him. And I was like dude, like you know, like.

Robby:

I was expecting you to give me like an uh, I was expecting you to give me something where I can implement to make him better, like a form of training, something. And he's like, listen, you need to fire him, hug him. And I'm like, yeah, fire him, then hug him Fire him. Yeah, that's right.

Robby:

And then he's like listen, he goes. You've been working this guy for a while, yeah, he goes. If you knew what you knew about him today before you hired him, would you hire him again? And I said nah, and he goes exactly. Fire him.

Robby:

And I was like fuck, but I did fire him, but that stuck with me. And now every time I have a team member who might have that toxic energy or who might be a bad egg, or or sometimes they're just not capable. Sometimes they're really nice person and have really good like uh, behaviors and traits and and genuinely a good human. They care a lot, but this is a business. Yeah, you know what I mean. Come hang out after business. You can come hang out. You're a nice person, you're nice to have around, but right now we're trying to make money. You know what I mean. And I always ask myself that I'm like cool, knowing what I know. Now would I hire this person again? And if the answer's no, we move them on pretty quickly.

George:

Yeah, and I think you've got to be quick with things like that. One of my mentors again similar concept. It's like fire everyone in your business once a quarter. Yeah, it's like fire everyone in your business once a quarter, yeah, that's sick. Fire all of them once a quarter. Just go, you're fired mentally. Yeah, don't walk in there just with a paintball, with a paint gun and just shoot everyone. Cut.

Robby:

You're cut.

George:

So fire them once, a quarter in your head, and then look at your list whether it's one, two, 10, 15 people. Who are you bringing back that next day or that next moment Fired? Okay, now let's recruit right away. Are you coming back? Are you coming back? Are you coming back? And if there's a no or a maybe there, then you really need to reconsider their position at the organization. I find and I've had this with people before in the past, people that I've mentored in Builder Relief, people I find are often scared to fire people. Why? I think a couple of reasons A, it's uncomfortable. You don't like the conversation.

Robby:

Oh, it's a horrible conversation yeah it's like oh, I don't like.

George:

You know, I don't want to. As you said, he's a nice guy, I've got nothing against him. Okay, that's probably the first one. The second one is, I think, the way the laws are structured here, everyone's nervous to fire people as in yeah you should have a structure Correct.

Robby:

This is where your contracts are important.

George:

This is where employee handbooks and company rules and all these things are important for you to do and you need to do particular things give them a warning.

Robby:

You know what I mean. Have it all documented, that's right, Because the day you fire them-.

George:

That's right, because the day you fire them, it can't just be you're fired. And this is the thing right. You can fire anyone at any time you can. You could say, well, downturn in business operations, yeah, you're fired. It's not against the law for me to fucking fire you. I don't have enough work, you're gone, that's it, that's it. That's the only thing. Gone, that's it, that's it. That's the only thing.

George:

Now, if you go out and hire that same role in the next day and they find out about it or it's found that you've done that, yeah, then you could find yourself in a bit of trouble. But there's again ways around it. And Nine-tenths of the law possession is nine-tenths of the law. It's like they have to sue you, they have to get it out of you, they have to prove negligence from you. So it's still an effort. It's not just oh yeah, here's 50 grand away, you go, and it's never going to be that either. Do you know what I mean? It's pay me four weeks' wage, okay, yeah, fuck off, don't talk to me ever again. So a couple of things.

George:

I take it to heart now. I really, really look at my team and, as much as I like them, I'm related to some of them. So I'll look at it and I'll say that I ask myself that question a lot. So would I hire you back? And so far it's always yes, which is good. But it's not to say that there's been days where I'm like you're a solid no. But that, I think, is also my own frustration sometimes when I get under the pump and people are just annoying me. So I've got to step back a little bit and go no, no, let's be serious, let's look at the facts and also having a GM now is going to be helpful with that, because I'm getting a second opinion on that too. Someone will come to me and say or he'll come to me and say, look, I don't think this person's performing and he hasn't said this. But he can come to me and say I think this person is an issue. For these reasons, I'm like, okay, you're running the show, you've got to either performance, manage him, so he needs to get better, or she needs to get better, or it's a matter of let's start having the conversation about where they are in their life and what they need to do. I can't remember who said this. It might. I think it was again a mentor of mine in the past.

George:

A lot of the time you can actually get it out of the employee that they're not the right fit for the business just by asking a couple of strategic questions too. So where do you see yourself at the business in the next five years, the next three years, the next 12 months? Do you really think that the direction of the company is in line with what you want to achieve and your personal goals? Sometimes I might go, you know what? Not really.

George:

I don't think I want to be in construction anymore. I think I really want to do the client-side project management. Okay, well, I might have some contacts that I can help you out with that. Is that something that would be interesting for you? Because I want people to be here, to be high performers and to enjoy what they're doing. If that's not going to be you, then perhaps this isn't the best role for you in this organization and they can come to terms with. You know what? That's exactly right. That's exactly what I need. I don't need to be in this construction business. I need to be in the project management side of the business, or I need to be in consulting or whatever it is, so you can sometimes get it out of them if they kind of know they're not the right fit.

Robby:

Yeah, I feel like most people will lack the awareness to know.

George:

That's right and that's where you, as that leader, need to either help them through that process and say, well, does it a matter of me? Because, again, if I think you're a good, you have the potential to be good. I'll happily refer you on to people I know, because I know a lot of project management people. I know a lot of consultants, whatever they want to do.

Robby:

But yeah, I feel like there's people that lie to themselves unconsciously. Yes, like people that say I love, I love building. It's like well, what do you love? Do you love bricks? Do you love houses? What do you love? Like it doesn't make sense. Like people say, do you love marketing? I say no, who loves marketing? How do you love marketing? It's not a thing. You know I what I love. I love winning. Yeah, you know what I mean. I love putting something together and it works. I love that. I love knowing that this level of success came from my doing. Yeah, I love that, not the pressing the button, and the ad goes live.

George:

Yes, yeah.

Robby:

Do you know what I mean? Like I don't love, like you don't, bricklayers don't love. Like I know bricklayers who love their job but they don't love bricks. Do you know what I mean? It doesn't make sense and I think you find like a lot of people will convince themselves that they love what they do. Do you know what I mean?

George:

I also feel that a lot of people in the employee role as well are fearful of losing their job too, and they don't know anything else and they're creatures of habit. So they come in, go through the motions, do what they can do just to be there and get you know, cash in their check at the end of the week, at the end of the month. Yeah. There's those people too. Yeah, and that's something even from day one when I first started my business.

Robby:

I never wanted people at the business like that. I never wanted the person to just come in and clip the ticket and then move on to the next day. Clip the ticket, move on to the next day. So how do you avoid that? How do you avoid getting those people it?

George:

really does start at the. I reckon it starts at the recruiting stage. Yeah, what's your recruitment process? You know when they say higher attitude and then because you can teach talent, like that's one of the things out there, have you heard that same before? Yeah, you can teach skill, I can teach skill. I can't teach attitude. Yeah, I think you can teach attitude.

Robby:

Yeah Well, I like to hire skill. He says attitude's a skill. Yeah, it is, it's a skill.

George:

It's like it's a skill. Teach it? Yeah, so I like to. When I'm looking at hiring someone now, I like to have a look at what skills they bring, like what's their power? Do you know what I mean? What's your superpower? What are you really good at? Because if you're really good at that thing and I need that thing in my business, come in. Oh, he's an arsehole. I can teach him not to be. The same way I can teach you how to use a software to teach you how to do things that's dangerous. Maybe not a complete arsehole. You know what I mean.

Robby:

Maybe he's a bit abrupt, trying to teach a skill or an attitude skill.

George:

But yeah, it's very slippery slope. Let's just say he comes in and he hates working with women and I've got a PA at the front and he walks in the office and every morning he sees her. He's looking down at her. What the fuck are you doing here? That person's never going to work. I can't teach you to stop being like that, but there are certain things that I can teach and I look at attitude as a skill now and I think that's helped a lot in my decision making and how I go about hiring people. But not to say I don't look at the attitude as well, because that is important. I'm just saying I value someone. That's really good. Yeah, I look at it, I try to look at it kind of like a football team like a sports team.

George:

When you look at it like a sports team, if I'm going to go and play in a grand final against the best team, am I hiring juniors or am I hiring the best talent that's out there? I want to hire some talent I can send my message across. It's not in a way that's aggressive or derogatory or anything like that. It's not authoritarian. It's this is what we need to do, because this is what's the best for the company, the team, and no one is above that. No individual is above that. And people buy in, and I think you can tell within the first few months anyway if people are good or not or they're not.

George:

The probationary period yeah, man, exactly right, I hired I think I've spoken about this before but I hired a PA and I fired her in three weeks because she came to me one Friday night saying, or one Friday day, saying, hey, I just wanted to have a chat with you. It's the role I want to work from home a couple of days a week or one day a week, and you know, I clearly said that that's this is not a work from home role. I need you here, I need you working, I need you to commit it and then a few other things that she wanted that I never agreed to. That. I never that. I specifically said this is what the job entails. And she's like oh, it's not what I wanted to do. Can you change it up? Can I do this, can I do that? And then she told me that on Friday I said look again trying to take responsibility. I said let me think about it, let me see if that's within my power to do I mean everything's within my power. But if that's within the realm of me gifting you or giving you and it doesn't affect performance ability, what I'm after in the role, I'll make it happen.

George:

I went home that night, I thought about it that night, I thought about it in the morning and at 10 am the next day she didn't have a job. I said don't come to work on Monday. Thanks for your help. Three weeks in, three and a half weeks in. But then I hired someone else and they were perfect, perfect for the role, superstar in the role. So for me I look at that and go well, it was a blessing in disguise, but it shows I could have very easily said oh fuck, I need someone to do this. Okay, just stay, I'll get you one day a week at home, you can do this, you can do this, and so on and so forth. But no, I didn't accept that standard. I didn't want that in the business and, as a result, I was happy to let them go.

George:

Now they kicked up a little fuss as well. I want this, I want this. You need to give me a week's notice, all that sort of stuff. Yeah, cool, you will be entitled to everything in the contract, nothing more, nothing less, that's it. And they moved on. And I was thinking I don't know if I finished my story before, but I had a few grief. I'm like fire them. I had this one guy and he's like, oh, this guy's this, he's this, he goes. I think he might be stealing. I can't prove it, but it's obvious. He was the only one there and now those items are no longer there All these things.

George:

He just couldn't catch them by any hand and no camera is. It was kind of just an obvious thing. From what he told me, I go yeah, look, it sounds like he has. You can't prove it, but it sounds like he has. He was saying how I?

Robby:

feel like I've worked in a workplace where they've set up someone to steal and that person's taken the bait.

George:

That's entrapment, isn't it. Is that illegal? Is entrapment illegal?

Robby:

Does anyone know? And when I say anyone, iggy, is entrapment illegal? When I say set them up, what I mean is put them in a position where they knew they were going to take advantage of the situation and caught them.

George:

Yeah, it's like the people that put, like you know, they steal the lunch out of the fridge, eat other people's lunch, and then someone puts a laxative in the food to catch the person that ate it. They'll just send an email out to the person that ate my lunch today, just so you know you'll be on the toilet for the next hour and a half. Yeah, good luck. Yeah, good luck. I've never had any issues like that. No, never. I think it's pretty weird. If you're eating someone else's lunch, it's very weird, yeah.

George:

So I mean it could be good food, who knows, crazy people out there. Back to what you're saying, back to what I was saying. And this guy just needed to go and I was like, mate, everything you've told me, you need to get off this fucking phone call with me, call him up, set up a meeting tonight, bring him in and let him go. He's no good. He's no good Just based off these things that you've told me. That's instant dismissal. He did some things that he was telling me. I'm like, mate, no, you shouldn't be doing that in the role. That's not the right thing by the company and he's done the wrong thing. He's told a client to fuck off, he's done whatever it was. That's instant dismissal.

George:

If one of my employees went off at my client, I would fire them right there, and then I don't give a fuck. You want to go to fair work? Tell them to come here, fire them right there, and then I didn't give a fuck. You want to go to Fair Work? Tell them to come here, call them, give them my direct number. I'll tell them to get fucked too, because if you're going to do that to my business, that's detrimental to the organization. Mate, you're gone. You're gone Straight up. But anyway, he didn't call him in, he didn't fire him for another four months, five months of this shit. And every mentee, every time I was talking to him, I'm like have you fired him? No, have you fired him? No, they avoid conflict. I don't know he needed him, you don't need him, you don't need anyone.

George:

You don't need anyone. Exactly, if he goes off, I get rid of him.

Robby:

Then, exactly, or fucking do it yourself, like, if you have to, for a few weeks, for a few months, whatever it is, they're the best experiences when they happen, Because it breaks the belief of the I can't, I need, and then because what ends up happening in most of those situations is they hold on to the person for too long and then the person quits.

George:

Yes, or it gets to a point, a boiling point, and then they fire him.

Robby:

They do get rid of him, but I feel like most people never pull the trigger and the person's believing yeah, you know what I mean. And then they see that, oh, that person left anyway, caused all this havoc for however long we kept them here for longer than they should have stayed, yep, and oh, we can survive without them. Yeah, you know what I mean. Oh, they left and the doors are still open. Yeah, do you know what I mean? And it's like yeah, because you can, that's right. No, and if you've got a business that's heavily dependent on one person, you're making a mistake. It's like if your business is heavily dependent on one client Do you know what I mean? You're making a mistake. Sure that, no matter who someone, anyone could drop dead tomorrow, anyone. You, as a director, could drop dead. Your biggest client could drop dead. Your number one employee could drop dead. Like anything can happen. By the way, did you see that plane that flipped upside down?

George:

I saw something today, Random how the fuck did you go from someone?

Robby:

oh, just people dying. No one died doing that, by the way, but that's where my mind went and it's all in. People were dying.

George:

No one died doing that, by the way, but that's where my mind went and it's all in America where we're traveling in a couple weeks time. Fun, all these planes. They're all fucking in America. These days, everyone's all the planes are like shitting themselves. Yeah, might swim.

Speaker 3:

So entrapment is not a legal defense in Australia? Okay, it's not a legal defense. Yes.

Robby:

Oh, so you can't say this was entrapment?

Speaker 3:

Oh, okay, exactly, yeah, so you can't say it was entrapment? Yeah, okay, but so in rare cases evidences obtained through entrapment can be excluded if the police officer acted illegally or improperly. That's like for police officers. Yeah, that's right, and the only people that can actually like use entrapment is law enforcers, especially undercover operations. Okay, and causes a child to discuss violent extremists and terrorism, or something like that but see, here's the thing, right, you'd have to prove entrapment as well.

George:

I could just say no, no, the the office is under video surveillance and I saw this person do it.

Robby:

Yeah, I just realised there's a camera in my office.

George:

There's cameras everywhere. They work. No, I mean yes Of course they work.

Robby:

Of course they work. I noticed it yesterday. I was like is that camera been here the whole time?

George:

Yeah, so we were with that. Yes, so he ended up firing him like four or five months later and I had another meeting with him and he's like yeah there's this, there's this.

George:

I'm like, mate, what are you doing? Do you know what I mean? I go look how, like if you had listened to me five months ago, I go, you'd be feeling what you're feeling. He's like, yeah, I know I should have fired.

George:

It happened like three years ago, something like that as well, and it was similar, similar scenario. We're like, oh, I just need him to do this one thing, and you said it best the other day. It's like they do one really good thing and it's like, okay, good, you know, if he gets all the shit and that's what this guy kept doing he would do five shit things and then do one really good thing, like, okay, fuck, you know what you're doing. He was really he was actually a really good trades person. Like no, he was very knowledgeable. He was one of the most knowledgeable builders I've ever met. He knew shit that people have forgotten. He just knew it.

George:

But when it came to execution, he was just so scattered. He was a yes man. He was like can you do this? Absolutely, I can. Can you do this? Yes, I can, yes, I can. And then he did nothing, or he'd do 60% of everything and never finish anything. And then it ended up becoming an issue because it wasn't finished. Oh, and then he's like I'll go do 5% here and then run back here, go do 5% there and multitasking. Multitasking is a myth, it's bullshit. Start a thing, finish a thing. I got arguments with him on site. I'm like what the fuck are you doing? Stop it, finish this. I don't want to know anything else, except when this is done and then when I got rid of him, which wasn't too much longer, too much further past the point that was it.

George:

I was like, okay, good, good, just get someone else in to do it. Someone else knows how to fix that. He's not the only person on the planet.

Robby:

Yeah, and then you work out that you can probably work your way around any sort of situation. Correct. But another thing as well is like if you've you've got a role and you've got a person in there and that person is not performing Personally, I've never not performed in a role. I've hated roles I've had but I've never been like, oh my God, I'm going to get fired. But I would imagine that. Have you ever been fired? No, yeah. So I would imagine that. Have you ever been in a fight? No, yeah. So I would imagine that if that's your case and you're going in and you're panicked every day, think about what you're putting that person through. You know what I mean. They're going into work knowing they're not performing, knowing that they don't like their job, knowing that their boss probably hates them because the output's not there. You're making that person live in that state full time because you don't have the courage to have a conversation.

George:

That's a little bit uncomfortable that's a different way to look at it, isn't it? It's like, but very, very valid.

Robby:

Yeah, and you think you're a good person for keeping them on? No, you're not. You're not a good person. You're holding this person, you know? Yeah, it's not serving them. It's not serving you. It's like move them and they're probably gonna find their dream job next yeah do you know what I mean?

Robby:

like, your thing is like, hey, this is not a place for you, but I'm gonna free bird there you go. You know what I mean. Let the bird fly and hopefully they work their shit out. But it's not only a problem anymore, but you holding them there and making them feel like there's a place for them when there isn't, I think that's a big, big mistake and I always look at it like that and think, okay, we're not serving this person anymore. This is no one's winning Doing a shit job. We're holding you here Like. You know what I mean yeah that's right.

Robby:

It's lose, lose, and I'm all about win, win Collaboration 100%, so what would you do now?

George:

So, okay, we've been on the top. Ultimately, what we're circling around is culture within your organization.

Robby:

Yeah, I think culture is-.

George:

That's what it's all about, that and that's what we're trying to get out of everyone. How do we establish that culture so that it's a place where people enjoy coming? Because ultimately, you're going to spend as an employee, as a business owner, you're going to spend the majority of your life at work. Imagine hating going to work every single day, and I'm sure there's people listening to this that hate their fucking job. Of course, I'm sure there's people that listening to this that do not enjoy going to work every single day. What a fucking disaster of a life to be living. Oh, every day you hate it, you live for the weekend you hate.

George:

Most of your life you get to Friday afternoon and you're like, how good is it the weekend, yeah. And then you get to Sunday night and you're like, fuck your shit's broken Shit's broken.

Robby:

You're living most of your life in agony. I guess that's a lie, you hate.

George:

You're like oh, I've got bills to pay, but why can't you pay those bills doing something you at least enjoy, or at least get more enjoyment of you? Don't borderline hate, oh, it's all. I know how to do. That's a limiting belief. Oh, you do, yeah, yeah, yeah, 100%, 100%.

Robby:

They would claim that they like their role. Like I was saying before, they claim that they would like their role and it's like you can't like this, like not in the sense of they're not, they're missing what they like out of it, like. I'll give you an example. I had a friend who does bench tops. Yeah, I say friend, if he listens to this he'll know who he is, if he's listening. Anyway, he does bench tops Like does some cool work, I think it's.

Robby:

I worked with him at one point in my life, like for like two months or something. I was in between jobs and I thought it was the lowest job ever, like the lowest. I was like what is dude? You're wet, you're dirty, you're carrying, breathing in dust, you're going to get silicosis, you work insane hours and you carry this fucking like bench tops that weigh so much. Dude, like it's. This is not good for you in any way, shape or form. The glue smells like death. Do you know what I mean? Like everything about it is bad.

Robby:

And he says that he loves it and he'll finish. And I've seen him like finish a bench top and say, look at this, bro, it's perfect and I get it. You don't like bench tops. You like completing shit. You like the result yeah, do you know what I mean? You don't give a fuck about stone. Yeah, you don't. No one's born, it's marble. Like he doesn't care about the stone. But he doesn't understand that what he likes is finished product. He would probably like making, become a panel waiter, for example. Same sort of thing. You finish a coat of paint oh wow, look at that. You know what I mean. He likes that part.

George:

Yeah, and there's a true sense of accomplishment.

Robby:

Yeah, and I can resonate with that. I like the feeling of finishing something. Yeah, me too.

George:

I mean, that's what I do every day. Ours goes for 12 months or more where you're working, working, working and then one day you step back and wow, there's a house. Look at this thing that we're so proud of, that we're building, that we've built that. We've gone through the hard times, the good times, we've got something we can stand back and that we're proud of. But the actual process of building is stressful Process, like the timeframes, deadlines, money, budget, like there's so many moving parts dealing with people. As we said before, there's so many moving parts. That's what I'm saying. Like how can you?

Robby:

like like not to say that you hate what you do, but like, how can you like the actual building? Like you like something that you get from it? Yeah, not the. If I said, okay, cool, just go and like people. Another one is like video editing. Another one is, uh, like video editing. Like you like the finished product? Yeah, you like the. I made this from this. You know you like the completion part. If I said, go edit this podcast every single day, over and over and over again, you'd be over it yeah because you'd be like I'm not getting the satisfaction of seeing a finished product.

George:

Going back onto content like I'm, I'm similar, like I often go out with iggy and you're like okay, I need you to do this, I need you to do this, I need you to throw this piece of timber up, I need you to headbutt the wall and I do these things. I don't like the process of doing that, okay, but the actual filming aspect of it. But when I see him put that shit together, I'm like that is sick.

George:

How did you do that? You zoomed in my ear and now I'm on a phone and now I'm out of space and now I've got a building coming out of the ground. How did you do that shit? That's cool. That gets me pumped up and I want to share it. I want to tell my parents I just want to go to a random on the street and go hey, look at this. He's like, don't touch me.

Robby:

Yeah, I what you actually like and the thing that you're doing, and I think most people can't do that and they'll convince themselves I like this job. I know like you know what I mean. Yeah. I've always wanted to be a builder. I've always wanted to. You know, like people would say oh man, I just love social media and it's like you don't, bro. What do you love about it? Well, go, kiss Zuckerberg if you love it so much it doesn't make any sense. I just love it.

George:

It's like you lack awareness. My friend, come here, listen to this, come here, press that red button and subscribe, because if you do that, you get some awareness.

Robby:

Last time you said to the people, if you subscribe or, sorry, if you send one of us a DM, you'll get a hat. And we did that and someone did I got a photo of them wearing a hat.

George:

Oh, you didn't send it to me. I'll show you. Right now I'm pumped. You get to see this live or see it live on YouTube if you're watching.

Robby:

I don't know if we'll show the photo on the camera for privacy reasons.

George:

Nah, come on Presenting you a photo. Let me find it. You'll want to be plastered everywhere and shout out to you Well done, hope you're wearing your hat every day. Quality hats, hats, by the way, good hats.

Robby:

Well done um, are you telling me?

George:

yeah, I wear mine all the time. You're welcome not wearing it today, but I wear it all the time.

Robby:

I don't know where they sent it to me, okay anyway, we got a photo somewhere, we'll put it in the show notes. Yeah, we'll put it in the show notes.

George:

Yeah, we'll do that, uh, but I think we should do something like that again yeah, do a um, incentivize people for taking action, because, hey, man, when you take action you get the. You get the reward. That's what so many people um, it's, it's such a simple concept, isn't it such a simple concept take the action and you'll get the reward. But so many people lack that action in anything in any aspect. Right, like, maybe the action is if we're talking about culture, we'll take the action and do a team building exercise, invest in some training.

Robby:

Yeah, build out your purpose mission your leadership.

George:

Yeah, that's right. All this sort of stuff Like take that action and then you'll get the reward of an amazing team that wants to work Do you have?

Robby:

company values and mission, vision.

George:

I've got mission and vision. I haven't got company values. I was actually going to do a training course on that with someone we both know. I was going to get them to come here and actually build the company values, and this is what I liked about the concept is, it wasn't me putting the company values in, it wasn't George saying these are the company values everyone buy in.

George:

You need to be accountable, buy in. Are you accountable? Do you feel pumped about being accountable? I don't think it works like that. I was going to get this person to come into the business and sit here for a day or so, whatever it is, and as a team they come up with the company values and then that way, I feel they'll have more buy-in when they see the company values up on the wall on a construction site going you know what? That was my value or that's something I really resonate with. And I look at that and I'm like, yes, I love that. I'm going to wake up every morning and be that, but so okay there's a catch-22 there, because what about the new hire?

Robby:

Yeah, correct To add a value, correct.

George:

But if you've got the whole team buy-in, I think it's a lot easier to then get that person on board with those values too. But also, is it their company? Is it their company? No, it's not. Like, oh, we'll obviously have the overriding disease. Like if someone says one of their core values is, you know, being silly, sadness, exactly, I just want to come in and just be sad Negative. Yeah, greed, yeah, perfect, perfect example. Like greed, that's a company value, george. Yeah, I want it. I want more money. I want more computer screens. I want more everything, everything, everything, everything. More coffee in the morning. Just give me more of everything in abundance.

Robby:

My desk not facing the wall, that's right.

George:

Everything. Yeah, I'd be like cool. Is that really in line with the company values?

Robby:

No, it's not. Interestingly, you say that I get the concept of them buying in, and I'm a big believer of when I set goals with team. I get them to pick their goals, because then they can't turn around and say I couldn't do that. I'll say, well, did you pick it? Do you know what I mean? You picked it. And if you pick it and you have to get it like you're more likely to achieve it, I will influence them. You know, like if they pick something too small, I'll be like come on, do you know what I mean? And if they pick and I think they're tripping, they're like come on, come on, yeah. So I kind of influence them. But I get them to make the decision.

Robby:

Yeah, and with this I think I think you, yeah, I don't know it goes two ways. Like if you had a board, I would understand, but I think your team and your board are not the same people. No, do you know what I mean? Like I think, but getting your board to buy in, like board members, um, I would say, okay, that's cool, you know Cause then it's like these are essentially people at the highest level in the business, but team, I think they need to be led.

George:

Yes, I completely agree with that. I would say that most of the businesses, though these days small businesses they don't have a board. Yeah, they don't have a board. So it's either you make that decision to do the values yourself and get some. I think maybe not buy-in, but input is important too. Why not have them buy into this? I don't see the disadvantage to it, because they're the ones working within the organization and the intent is for them to be there for a long time. Even though you're temporary custodians of your role at the business and one day you will not be here, the intent is I still want you to be here for 5, 10, 20 years.

Robby:

Yeah, okay. So then if you see that, flip it the other way around. So what about the new hire?

George:

When you have the whole team that's bought into these values, I think they can come into it and understand what the business is about. Why not discuss your business values during the job interview? I do, yeah, but that's what I mean. When you can do that and then they go okay, wow, this is definitely somewhere that I could see myself working. If your value is greed and I'm coming in and I'm interviewing a greedy, I'm like oh well, then you'll fit in.

George:

This is great. I want you to rob everyone and take every cent you can and do what you've got to do to make a buck. Nothing is unethical, that's it. Go for it. No ethics here? That's it. So I think in that case, on a new hire, it'd be important from day one, literally the first interview. Cool, I just want to run you through a few of our business values. Tell me what you think about these, honestly. Tell me what you think about these, because this is what everyone at this organization is about. It's something that I feel very strongly about and I want to know what you think and be like cool, this, this, this, this. Maybe you throw greed in there, just to see if they're going to say, yeah, I love greed.

Robby:

Just to see if they're talking shit or they're actually being genuine. Yeah, yeah, I don't know. I don't know if that's how I'd go about it. Cool, maybe because your guys have been around longer.

George:

It's probably that. It's probably a little bit of that. My team's been together for quite a while now. We've got a couple of new hires. When I say new six to 12 months, all right, but I think the team as a whole has been together for quite a while, so it's something that I'm happy for them to have some input in.

Robby:

Yeah, that can be a good thing and a bad thing.

George:

It could be, but ultimately it'll rest on me. So they might come together with 15 values and I go cool, these are the five that we're using. You know yeah, and then take it from there.

Robby:

Are you going to do it?

George:

I want to. Yeah, I wanted to do it earlier this year but it's just been so hectic. But I will do it at some stage this year, I believe, with your team, yeah, and then look, hey, it may not work, but you know what else doesn't work? Doing fucking nothing Give.

George:

So at least I give that a go and say, okay, this works really well. Or maybe I get the team together. I'm like, nah, this guy just wanted greed on there, he just wanted this, he just wanted that, everyone wanted greed. I'm like, no, guys, we're not doing that.

Robby:

So maybe it doesn't work. Well, there you go. If you've taken anything from this episode, it's get your shit together and learn how to recruit and look after your team and get your company values laid out.

George:

Yeah, it's not just pizza on a Friday night, although that can be great. Everyone comes to the office at 2.30 on a Friday. We'll have some drinks, we'll have some chips, we'll have some food, we'll talk some shit. I like that. I like it too, but I like that. I like it too. I like the concept of but a lot of people just go here this is You've been working 60-hour weeks. Here's a pizza. It's not it's going to get to a point where I'm like, man, I just want to go home. I don't want to eat your fucking pizza.

Robby:

But, as I said, it can be good too If you've got a bunch. Some people are going to want to come in, do their work and go home, and that's okay. It's fine If they're good at their role and they're not disrupting anyone, correct?

George:

I actually had a girl work for me years ago. That was like that she was very quiet, lovely girl, and she would come in, do her work, then go home and she was very competent, she wasn't bad. But she got to a point where um no, it didn't, get to a point she actually ended up quitting because she wanted to. She found another role and this was during the covid years as well, so it was kind of restrictive in as far as where I was doing everything like me. Just there were no room for promotion.

George:

At that time, like during the covid years, I didn't promote anyone at all. But also I never got rid of anyone either, never got rid of anyone, never reduced hours, but I didn't then go oh, here's an extra 10 grand. So I think she just found another opportunity that she went to and I think it was better suited for her and what she was doing and what we're about in the business. But yeah, she was very much like that just wanted to come in, do the work and really good at it and then move on yeah, I don't reckon there's anything wrong with those people, do neither I think.

George:

Um, you don't have to hang around and have pizza if you don't like hanging around and it wasn't more that it was more that she was just head down, head down, bum up, just working yeah, she's looking for a job.

Robby:

What's wrong with that? I can't be around for that nothing.

George:

Yeah, do the work, yeah see her values would be very different from some of the other more bolder personalities in the business. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, like excitement. You know ambition. And she'd be like, oh, I just don't talk to me. Calm, quiet. Yeah, calmness, you know ambition. And she'd be like, oh, I just don't talk to me.

Robby:

Calmness, yeah, calmness, stillness, zen feng shui, I think that's going to be an interesting exercise. Yeah, me too, me too, me too. I'd love to hear how it goes.

Speaker 3:

You know what?

Robby:

else I'd love, what I'd love, if people hit that subscribe button.

George:

How much?

Robby:

would you love it? What if?

George:

tomorrow. You woke up and you texted me like 300 new subscribers right now.

Robby:

I wouldn't know how to deal with it. We get 10 comments on a YouTube video and I call you. It's blowing up. It's blowing up, we're going viral, going viral, it's funny. Call Mr Beast, tell him we broke the code as well. I don't know. Is there anything we can do for the people that are listening? I think we do enough, hey. I think we do enough, yeah, but you can always do more.

George:

You can always do more. The reason I say it, it's like okay, put it this way. I'm not going to. Just you want to subscribe, subscribe. You don't want to subscribe? Don't fucking subscribe, I'm not going to go. Oh, you take a hat every single week. Have a Mars bar, have this, have this. We want you to subscribe because we know of the benefits that it will have to you and your business and your life. The two things we've sent out A hat and a Mars bar.

Robby:

That's exactly the two things.

George:

Exactly Over the course of 73, 74 episodes. A Mars bar and a hat, but, but, but. But. We want you to subscribe because we know of the positive benefit that this podcast will have on your business and your life and the more people that subscribe, the more people we can reach to help in their business and their life.

Robby:

Yeah, so you need to share this. What do we have to do for you to share this? You know what I mean. What do you have to do? What do you have to take away from this episode, from everything that we've ever and if you haven't listened from episode one, go listen to episode one. There's some absolute bombs that we've dropped over the last 18 months, some really good stuff, and we'll continue to bring every single time. Now we've got a dedicated studio. If you're not watching this on YouTube, get on YouTube, get on.

George:

YouTube. Check out the studio. It is dedicated and kudos to you. Well done, mr Robert Me yes, for what? Well, just sticking it out enjoying the conversations. It's something to be celebrated, because day one was in my old office, in a boardroom. We had to set up the podcast equipment, the cameras, each and every week. Now we've got the tripods in the corner, everything's doing itself. The mics are here. We've got a nice neon sign, because it was never a real podcast without a neon sign. Thanks to my lovely wife for the Christmas present. Even though it doesn't change colors, it's okay. We've gotten over that. We've had a discussion. We've gone to therapy. We're happy with the white and the black background. You've decided. Robbie came in on the weekend and sprayed all these wires black, so the contrast looks fantastic now. But we've come a long way. We've come a long way from early days of let's just start a podcast to now having a dedicated room in our office in our brand new office.

Robby:

It's also been small iterations. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? Like it was like okay, cool, let's do this. Okay cool, let's do that. Hey, we should probably have something to talk about. Hey, let's do this at the start of the episode. Hey, let's start doing this now. Hey, do this with the mic. Hey, don't put the thing upside down. Hey, let's get a neon sign. Hey, let's move to this office. Hey, let's get three angles. Hey, get this camera. You know what I mean. It's been a journey.

George:

You were trying different things each and every time and you're going to need to do that in your business, to try different things each time. Like we're saying now I'm going to have the teams buy, well, maybe it doesn't, maybe I'll walk away going. How good was that? I've got my set business values, even though I know in my own head what I want the business to be representing. We've got a whole bunch of set business values that everyone can look at and everyone can talk about and we can implement and now live and breathe it.

George:

Or we turn around and say, look, that exercise cost me five grand, didn't work out. I'm going to do it this way and then that way takes off and then that way works. You need to try things. You need to take some risks in your business. You need to take some risks in your life, because that is how you're going to get ahead when you do the same shit that everyone else does. Because I guarantee you, I've had rooms full of mentees, of 20, 30 close people who are being trained by me. I go around the room with every single one of them. How many of them do you reckon have their business values?

Robby:

I've done this with a room full of people. No one, no one, yeah, no one, yeah. It is zero. And for those of you who have done it, I reckon it would be a very small. So it'd be a small percentage who have done it, yep, and then it would be an even smaller percentage who can recite it.

George:

And maintain it.

Robby:

Yeah, that's right. It's like what are your values Like? Oh, one sec, and I've done that. I've done that too. Yeah, do you know what I mean? And one sec, let me find my Google Doc got to move them down somewhere, that's right.

George:

So there's no buy-in, even by you. How are you?

Robby:

going to get that with your team? You're not convinced. You don't think it's a genuine set of principles to live by in your business or to operate by Without a doubt, without a doubt.

George:

Yeah, so take those risks in your business, because they will pay off. They will pay off. I mean, you did it with. We do it at every event, actually Every event we have at some stage. Throughout that event, you put your hand up. You tell people to put their hand up if they are running ads, and it's always, always, always, always. Less than 5% of the room will put their hand up, and you're cool. Well done for running ads, keep your hand up.

George:

If you're spending five grand a month, they all go down, and it's like that's the game, and that's not even a lot. Do you know what I mean? That's not even a lot of money, in the grand scheme of things, of what you could be doing and could be paying. You're spending $5,000 a month, 60 grand a year, and what if that $60,000 got you 10 projects, which netted you three four000, $400,000, $500,000?. That's the game, though, but no one plays it. Why? It's because they don't take risk, because this is how we've always done it. I'm a referral-based business Some this, some this, some this. Okay, keep being that.

Robby:

I saw this thing the other day, this video, and the guy said thing the other day, this video. And the guy said what's the difference between six and seven figure businesses and eight figure businesses? He goes. I'll tell you what the main difference is. Eight figure businesses have worked out how to turn cold traffic into paid customers. Yes, so true. Yeah, he's like everyone else. You're all banking on your referrals. He goes, and that's great he goes. Referrals he goes, and that's great he goes. But it's only going to get you so far. Yeah, you want to become you know what I mean Like the big businesses and like, say, dude, look at, like the apples of the world. I'm going to share this on the. This will come out after the event, but I'm going to share this at the event. And Google spent $40 million to have an ad play at the Superbowl. It's $8 million for every 30 seconds at a two and a half minute ad. Google, is there anyone you know that doesn't know? The brand yeah.

Robby:

Anyone. Do you think they just got 40 mil where they're like, hey, what do we do with this 40 mil? Buy an ad? No, it's strategic? Well, they kind of do, yeah, but they've got the money there. Of course they've got the money there, but they don't have to spend it on that. They obviously understand the game. They understand the game, two and a half minutes Most expensive ad in the world.

George:

I think Most eyeballs on the TV at that time. Everyone like man. I would tune into the halftime show and the ads more than I would the game Honestly.

Robby:

Yeah, and you've got to ask yourself what do they know that I?

George:

don't Go and Google Super Bowl, the 2025 Super Bowl ads and I guarantee you on YouTube it'll have hundreds of millions of views. I've watched it Sick, but I mean the views on it, so people's eyeballs. It's not just the actual live event going on. It's what happens following getting the 200 million views on YouTube, because people are watching that Doritos ad, they're watching the Google ad, they're watching the fucking Chrysler ad, jeep ad yeah, whatever it is. Yeah. Sugar ads yeah, but they're quirky, they're funny, they're like people, they're entertaining. They're entertaining. Oh cool, I want some Doritos.

Robby:

Yeah, but you got to ask and say what do they know that I don't? How do they understand how to play this game for level, and I'm not, yeah, and if you don't know, go and find people that do.

George:

Yeah, that's what it comes down to and that's why we're going to the States in a couple of weeks. We're going there to speak to someone who knows the things that we don't and to find out how he went. And for those of you that are asking or thinking or don't know who we're talking about, we're going to go see Alex Hormozy in Las Vegas, and also Grant Cardone as well. We're going to have dinner with each of them, have a chat, catch up on the good times, but we're going there spending a decent amount of time and money away from our family, away from our business, away from our friends, and to invest that in ourselves.

Robby:

Yeah, and we'll make sure we let you know how it goes.

George:

We'll tell you everything, everything.

Robby:

But the only way for us to tell you Well, we'll tell you, but the only way to make sure you hear it.

George:

Is if you subscribe.

Robby:

That was a long loop. Subscribe, that's what we're good at Ridiculous.

George:

All right, Thank you so much for tuning in. Guys. Cannot wait till next week. Until then, I hope you're having a million dollar day.

Robby:

Bye, everybody, see ya.

People on this episode

Contributor

George Passas

Host
Contributor

Robby Choucair

Host