What If The Problem Is Not The Market

Everyone feels it right now: higher interest rates, stubborn inflation, nonstop headlines, and that constant “it’s quiet out there” chatter. But then you look around and cafes are still full, restaurants are packed, and people are somehow both stressed and spending. We unpack that contradiction and get honest about what’s really driving the doom-and-gloom mindset, how media narratives can amplify fear, and why your inputs shape what opportunities you can even see.

From there, we bring it back to the ground level for builders, developers, and service businesses. We talk construction costs, why customer expectations are stuck in the past, and how the gap between market pricing and perceived pricing kills deals. We also dig into why “over budget” often comes down to scope, allowances, and variations, plus what we’re seeing as signals in the wider market, including surprisingly quiet rental inspections.

Most importantly, we lay out the practical playbook for staying busy in a downturn: hit your power base, reconnect with past clients, architects, and developers, build your pipeline before you’re desperate, invest early in marketing like SEO and ads, and avoid being dependent on one whale relationship. We also go deep on mindset and stress tolerance, from the “winning streak” and red car theory to using hard training to build the calluses you need for tough calls and tough months. If you got value from this, subscribe, share it with a mate in business, and leave a quick review so more builders can find it.

Transcript

Top George And The Vibe

George 0:00

Greetings and salutations. Salutations. My name is George. Sorry. What is it? My name is Top George. I don't know. Is that what they do in Germany? Is that what they say in Germany? Top George. Haven't heard that one for a while. I don't know. I thought I'd bring it back. It's still on my Instagram handle since that time we joked about it. So I may need to either update it or just bring it back so everyone knows me as Top George. Yeah. Or just realize it wasn't a joke. It was the truth the whole way. Yeah. Just took you two and a half years to realise. You know, a lot of people I speak to this these days are doom and gloom. I don't know if you've noticed that. Do you find that in your space in your industry at all? I mean, you're in the construction space, but even just people that aren't in the construction space, do you find the general consensus or the general feeling out there is a negative one by people?

Robby 0:44

Well, have you um this is in response to what you're saying on the changing subject, but it's gonna sound like I am for a moment. But have you been listening to the the second best podcast in the world? Diary of a CEO? Yeah, yeah. Yes, I have. You have? Yes. Have you seen Professor Jang? Which what's it what was the topic on? World War III.

George 1:09

No, I didn't read I haven't listened to that one. I kind of let that one go. Why? Yeah, I don't know. Just didn't didn't spark my interest.

Robby 1:16

You're not interested in in Geopolitics.

George 1:19

Geopolitics, the world. Nah, not as much. Dude, there were other topics there that I'd followed that I'll listen to. For the the podcast? Ahead of that particular episode. Yeah, okay. Why does it interest me? I don't know. Not that it doesn't interest me. It's like, am I gonna spend two hours or an hour listening to this podcast? To that episode. And I was like, oh, there were other ones I wanted to listen to before.

Robby 1:42

Yeah, okay. I I recommend the episode.

George 1:45

Yeah, cool. I might check it out. Highly. Yeah.

Robby 1:47

He uh so this guy, for those of you who may not have heard of him, his name's Professor Jang. I think he's an AI robot spy from China. That's what I think. But dude, this is a guy. No one knows where he's come from. He's blown up on the internet world all of a sudden. Like now, all of a sudden, and he made some really early predictions about the war and Trump and all this other stuff. And he was bang on. And now everyone wants to hear what he has to say. And he's saying some shit. Hey, now he is saying some shit. World War III. He's talking about he he gives you I'll tell you what I like about him. One, he's definitely a spy. But two, dude, guaranteed spy. Yeah. China. Throw away the key. Chinese guy from Beijing, or where the fuck he's from.

George 2:46

Yeah.

Robby 2:46

Lives in China.

George 2:47

Yeah. Uh so if he was doing all that shit and saying all that stuff, they'd throw away the key. Who? China. Wouldn't they lock him up?

Robby 2:54

They said he said, I'm not big in China. He's like, I do no China media. Like China doesn't know I exist. Well, that he reckons his the the medias don't cross over. Yeah, right. That's interesting. It's true though, because if you go to China, you can't Google anything, there's no social media. So they're they've got a whole different what a life. It's almost like its own little world, isn't it? It's not little.

SPEAKER_02 3:16

Yeah.

Robby 3:17

You've been. Yeah what I mean. Billion people. Um big fucking world. Uh, but yeah, so they don't mix in with Western media and Western propaganda.

SPEAKER_02 3:29

Yeah.

Robby 3:29

Right. So I don't know. It's very sus. But his predictions, some really big ones, and and I think this ties perfectly in with your question about, you know, the doom and gloom. He talks about the state of the world. And he gives you and it does it with like complete logic, yeah. Not, yeah, Russia's gonna bomb the US. We no, no. This is what's happening. Yeah, this is what's happened. This just went down three days ago. This ship got attacked, this ship does this. If that does that, it onflows to this, this, this, this, and that's why Russia needs to stop it.

George 4:00

Yeah, and that's why brother.

Robby 4:04

Yeah, and he's like, So like, when do you think it's gonna start? He's like, it started, you just don't know. Yeah, he's like, it's already begun. He goes, There's no turning back. And you think like, dude, fucking sick episode, man. Oh, highly recommend. Hey, four days, six point something million views, like highly recommend.

George 4:23

Yeah, cool.

Robby 4:23

Yeah, that that's when we're recording this. By the time it comes out, it'll be on 10 plus moves.

George 4:28

Um, I'm telling you, recommend kind of like our episodes as well.

Robby 4:31

Yeah, exactly. Um, no, look, hey, just someone who understands global like global trade and yeah, the economics and what yeah, yeah, like just has a really good understanding of how the world works. Yeah, you know, and um yeah, I think it's uh definitely worth checking out. But yes, to answer your question in the longest roundabout way possible, do I think it's doom and gloom out there? 100%.

George 5:00

Do I think Yeah, it goes beyond the fuel. Well, the fuel prices have gone down now, right? Have they? Yeah, now everyone thinks, oh wow,$2.50, that's cheap.

Robby 5:11

For less than$200, I'm wrapped.

George 5:12

Wow. You've been over the moon. You've been acclimatized. Conditioned. Conditioned, not acclimatized, that's for weather, isn't it? But yeah, man, so many people I speak to have that same mindset that it's difficult out there. But in the same token, you're like, everything's fucked, no one's spending, no one's on this. You come out to a restaurant. It's packed. It's packed, it's very full. People are whining, people are dining. Is it just the elite that are out there at the moment? Is the everyday Australian struggling? Go to the cafe on the weekend on the corner from our office. Still plenty of people there, still people getting coffee, still people, still people having breakfast smashed to avocado. Yes.

Robby 5:51

And eggs. So the uh most overrated breakfast, by the way. Like, come on, man. Avo. Avo.

George 5:58

I I str I hate I don't like buying breakfast because I feel that I could make it at home just as good, if not better. Yeah. Yeah.

Robby 6:03

Yeah. 100%. But Avo is the most overrated thing in the world. It's it's nice. It's okay, yeah. But it's it's just overrated. It is like pistachio. Anyway, back to the topic. There is definitely the feel of doom and gloom across the board. Yeah. So I'll tell you what else I noticed. So a couple of things that have that have triggered me. One, I don't feel it. I I'm being honest. Not that I'm fucking swimming in it or anything like that. I just don't like what's changed. Do you disconnect from it?

George 6:39

Who is that what? You. Is that why you don't feel anything? You just don't care? And you just it is what it is? Yeah, well, it is it not what it is. No, you're right. And that's what I was gonna say. That's what I was gonna get into. It's like, yeah, things are bad, and things are difficult. And yeah, but like, dude, okay, there's a couple things. We get taxed too much, and like what are you gonna do? Go make more money so you can get taxed more. Go and go and make the change.

Robby 7:04

There's a few sides to it. So one I see it from work. Like we see, like I reckon April was one of maybe one of the quietest months we've seen from a traffic lead element. It was quiet. Do you know what I mean? Um I'll tell you what else we're seeing though. We're seeing a lot of people coming up to us saying, Hey, it's quiet. Yeah, we need to make some we need to run ads. Yeah, we need to run ads, we need to do this. It's like it's it's quiet and and we need to brand.

George 7:34

Start making some changes. Yeah, start making some uh moves.

Robby 7:37

Which is great. From from a business element for us, it's great.

George 7:40

Yeah. Uh I'm actually finding seeing it and noticing it at events. Like the as in people are coming to the events because like fuck, I need some help now. Like things are quiet or things are getting tough. I better reach out to someone and have a chat with them. So I'm noticing that the people and the caliber of the people in the room are there because they just go, Well, this is getting way too hard for me. I need to speak to an expert. I need to go and connect with some people and try and make some changes.

Robby 8:06

Yeah, but but also that's I think that's the smart thing to do before you desperately need it. Yeah, yeah.

George 8:13

I think that's a very smart thing to do.

Robby 8:14

Same thing with ads, like go run ads before you desperate before you're in a position where you're like, we're not gonna pay rent next month.

George 8:19

Yeah.

Robby 8:19

You know what I mean? It's like cool, like sort it out before it becomes a serious problem.

George 8:24

Yeah. So how do people get out of that rut? The mindset? Both. Yeah, it'd be a mindset. Uh let's go mindset first because I think it has to begin there.

Rental Inspections As A Market Signal

Robby 8:36

But I'll tell you, I'll tell you one area I have noticed it before we talk about how to work your way up. Um I've been doing like rental inspections on the weekends. Yeah. I've moved a few times. Like I'm I've moved around a bit.

George 8:54

Yeah. It's probably your favorite thing to do, isn't it?

Robby 8:57

Yeah, of course. It's great. You did it last year. It's phenomenal. It's the lowest. There is first of all, how has no one worked out a better way to inspect properties than to go wait outside like a fucking dweeb and then go and walk through this thing and be instructed by someone who's not qualified to tell you whether you can or can't have this own. That's the first thing. Secondly, it is probably sorry, not probably, but definitely the quietest I've ever seen it.

George 9:25

What? The inspections? Yeah. Wow. I thought it was the complete opposite. I saw that there was like a thousand people lining up for a house.

Robby 9:34

Dude, never in my whole life, from every single time I've done inspections, I've never seen it this quiet.

George 9:41

Yeah, right.

Robby 9:42

Ever. Ever, ever, ever. I was shocked. There was inspections where we were the only people. There was no one else there. And it's like, there you go. This is dead. I'm convinced that we got offered a property because there was no one else for it. I'm convinced. But like that's I think a sign of either. Well, I don't know. What does that tell you? What's that indicating? It was quiet across the board, dude. I did it for more than one weekend. At first I thought maybe it was one weekend. Quiet. There was a couple of homes. We saw people. I'm not saying there was no one.

George 10:24

Yeah. But it was quite as many as you would think. Very quiet. What do you think that tells you? I find that interesting. Well, is there an oversupply of property, first of all?

unknown 10:37

Yeah.

George 10:38

That's what you would think. You think it's supply and demand? Are people just sitting on their eggs not looking to move? Maybe in good times people are more likely to move because they can afford a nicer place, they can get a bigger place. Maybe they're like, well, you know what? We better stay here. Because you are looking for a bigger place now as well. Maybe they're going, maybe they're downsizing.

Robby 10:57

Maybe they're not like it's not even, I'm not even looking, dude. I'm not I'm not looking in a ridiculous budget, yeah, yeah. Or anything like that. Yeah what I mean. Um it was it was eye-opening. That plus, you know, what the news says, plus what we're seeing in the market, plus and it's like, okay, maybe it is maybe maybe it is. I I actually have a genuine downturn in the market and went up.

George 11:23

I actually genuinely think it is.

unknown 11:26

I do.

The Tax Trap And Cost Pressure

George 11:26

I think it's a downturn. Interest rates have gone up. They're gonna release. I don't know, I think by the time this episode airs, they're gonna release the new budget for the country. They're gonna see where we're gonna spend more. Are they bringing in more taxes? Probably. You know, we're a very highly taxed state in Victoria. Are they adding more? Are they increasing taxes? Who knows?

Robby 11:47

Hey, I got a really random question. Yeah. I don't know if you're gonna be able to answer it, but I'm curious. I was thinking about this. I watched a video the other day, and someone, it was this girl, you may have seen it. And she goes, I'm gonna sound I might sound like an idiot here, but let me get this straight. A wit? Idiot. Yeah. Oh, okay. A wit? It was like what?

George 12:06

A witch at the same time.

Robby 12:08

Yeah, she goes, I might sound like an idiot here, but let me get this straight. So when I earn money, I pay tax on it.

George 12:18

I did see that video. Yeah. And then she goes through all the different taxes and I earn money, I pay tax on it.

Robby 12:23

It was a good video. If I buy a product, I pay tax on it. Yeah. If I buy a house, I pay tax on the purges, and then I pay tax on how much the house grows. Yeah. If I invest, I get charged capital gains. If I have to buy a product, I gotta pay tax on it. If someone pays me money, I have to pay GST on it. Yeah.

George 12:42

Like if you put money in your super, you get taxed on it. If you die and then transfer your super to someone else to use next kin, they pay tax on tax on it. And it's like everywhere across the board in every transaction you're making, you're actually getting tax. And she's like, you're not, they've they've just disguised it in such a way that to make you think I'm only earning or I'm getting taxed, 30%, but it's like 30%. But it ends up being like 60% once you take into consideration Yeah, it's like they're clipping the ticket on every single transaction.

Robby 13:13

So it's like if it goes back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, that money's worth nothing anymore.

George 13:17

And this is why this can't it's caught up to Australia, is what I is what I can see. Yeah, it's caught up to the government. That's why we've got fucked inflation. That's why all of these things, why everyone's probably finding it difficult because they just can't get ahead anymore. They can't make a dollar anymore and go, well, I can comfortably go on this holiday, I can comfortably go buy this new car or this bag or whatever the fuck they want to do with their lives. It's like everywhere across the board is getting taxed because they mismanage our money so poorly that we're in so much debt, they've got no way of paying it back. The guys in parliament are either corrupt or just fucking idiots and don't know what they're doing.

Robby 14:02

Hands down guaranteed corruption.

George 14:04

Yeah, so that's what I mean. There's there's so much corruption across the board that they're in too deep now. They've just got to keep lying their way through it, and there's no way for us to get out of, or for their their solution to get out of it is introduce a new tax or increase the tax or whatever the fuck it's gonna be.

Robby 14:21

Yeah, but then you all you do is you move people away who are doing well. Yeah, and I do 100% and they say, Hey, I'm now making millions and I'm gonna take all my money and all the money my company turns over, and I'm gonna move it to another country because fuck you. Because you're taking way too much of it. Dude, even like UFC, you know, UFC when they come down, yeah, they're like, when we come and do an event and think we have to give up half our fucking purse. And it's like, dude, like why come to Australia? For them, yeah. Why come to Australia? They're like this.

George 14:51

Why is the other thing? This is okay, what a great point. You think about all the events, all the international events. These people, they're billion-dollar companies. They're not fucking idiots. All right, they're gonna look at it and go, well, you know what? The Grand Prix, which generates millions of fucking dollars for your state, Victoria, we're gonna pull that off the card. We're not gonna go to South Australia, we're not gonna go to Perth or Sydney or anywhere like that. We're actually gonna go to wherever. Yeah, single. China. Is it one in China? Whatever. We're gonna go to another country where we don't have to give up half our purse because you're gonna tax us to the hilt. Australian Open. We're gonna do the same thing there. All of these multi-international companies and events and all that sort of stuff, they're gonna take that out. Then who loses out of that more than anyone? It's Australia. Because that would have generated great revenue for the country, right? But they've just gotten too greedy now. They've just gotten to a point where it's not pointless doing that. Even the thing about developers coming into this country to build. Did you know? I don't know what this stat is at the moment, but a few years ago, Victoria Melbourne was the third most expensive country city in the world to build in. To build in. I think New York was number one. I don't know who was number two, but the most expensive city in the world to build in, one of. And that's a phenomenal, that's a phenomenal statistic. Right. So then, no, as in it's a bad thing. I can't believe that that's how expensive it is in this country to be building. And you look at that and go, okay, I'm a mil, I'm a billionaire Asian developer, and I want to build a tower. I want to come into a country and I want to build a 50-story residential tower. I come into Melbourne, I look at it, I do my feasibility, I buy the land, I pay that tax, I then got to put it up. It's gonna take me, you know, 15 years because I'm gonna have issues with unions, I'm gonna have issues with supply, I'm gonna have this, this, this, this, however long it's gonna take me to get this thing off the ground. I've got red tape here, I've got government that don't like the style of the building and it's gonna be too much overshadowing and all this sort of shit that you deal with. Or I can go to Singapore, or I can go to Dubai and build it for half the cost and have no red tape and be done in 12 months. So, what am I gonna do? As a billionaire corporate or as a multi-billion dollar corporation, as an individual, I'm not gonna come and bring my money here. I'm gonna take it somewhere else. Okay, this is that's just bad business. Why? Because I want to have a stamp and say I build in Australia. Fuck Australia. That's what people would think. 100%. We're gonna go down that path and do that. The UFC, like another great example. We probably would have significantly more fights here, but generating heaps of money for the country and for that state that they're in, but we don't. For why? Probably that exact reason. That exact reason. We're gonna stay home, we're gonna do it, the event, we still sell our pay-per-views, we still get everything we want to do. Why are we gonna go out and make less money? Just dumb business. And look at manufacturing in this country. Why don't we manufacture anything anymore?

Robby 17:48

It's too expensive, leave it's too.

George 17:49

It's too expensive. Yeah, you know, the car makers, Holden and Ford and Toyota and all these guys that were building here for 50 years turned around and said, you know, why am I gonna sit here and have to pay uh ridiculous labor rates? Then you work five minutes over, I've got to pay you double time. Then you get RDOs every second week, you get all the public holidays, plus you get this leave, plus you get that leave, then you get sick leave, and you get paternity leave, and you get all these things. And the cost of us building a car is not very is not much fat left in it when we sell it. I have to sell this car, I have to sell a Holden for 100 grand to make to make money. And you go, hang on, let me take this to Malaysia. And then I go there and I open up a factory, I take my business into another country, and I can now build Holdens for 15,000 and sell them for 30. What a life. Let's do that. And there you go.

Robby 18:44

It's it's the truth, man. It's the truth. So I'll tell you what Australia does well though. And so this will be very comforting for those of you that might be very sucked into the news. It looks after the little guy.

George 18:59

But do you think that's also detrimental? I think that's silly. Yeah, not to the extent that I think people do need help, and I'm I'm happy to help them, but they're not the ones uh generating wealth for the country. Are you a capitalist? Me? Yeah. Would you consider yourself a capitalist? Like, would you support that? I support big business. I would be happy for a big corporation to be coming in here that makes fuckloads of money but employs thousands of people.

Robby 19:29

What's the difference to define a capitalist?

George 19:33

Well, let's just say that. Like someone that believes in the big business and not they're not giving the little guy, like it's not about the little guy, it's about the machine. All right. Yes, this company needs to make a lot of money. Yes, we're going to employ people, yes, we want these targets met. This is what has to happen. But along the way, you're supporting so many people. Like the government should be encouraging businesses like that to come to the country. They should be encouraging corporations, events, all these things to be coming into this country to bring the crowd, to bring people from overseas to come here. Like, yeah, you go and travel. Australia's an amazing place. If you you have you you've gone around Australia, there's some amazing places. If I fly to Hamilton Island now from Melbourne to have a holiday there, it's going to cost me just as much money to go there as what it would to go to Singapore. Or to go to Bali and live in and stay in luxury places in Bali. Why am I going to now stay, spend all this money to go and see my own country when I could go overseas for the same amount of money and have an amazing experience there? They're not encouraging us to actually go see our own country. It's uh it's very sad.

Robby 20:44

So for the people that are um bugged down in the in the mud, yeah. Because I I I feel like it has eased off a little bit, or at least with the people I'm talking to, but there was a point in time where there was genuine concern around uh you know fuel prices, shortages. I I know people that went and spent, you know,$1,500 at Costco because they're like, bro, we're gonna run out of food. It's like, bro, we're not gonna, they're not gonna let us starve. Like, come on, man. Like, that's what you're worried about. You might as well go buy toilet paper. Yeah. You may as well doing the same thing. Same same shit. Now imagine this, and then imagine we starve.

George 21:23

And I said, There this this this episode won't age well then.

Robby 21:27

This episode, yeah. Or it'll go viral, and then I said, They're a superstar, and then I'll make all this money and won't start. Yeah, and we'll you'll feed everyone. Yeah, and then I'll feed everyone. Um, but yeah, no, I I think Australia's definitely got this thing of like support the little it's like it's it lines up with the whole tall tall poppy thing.

George 21:43

Yeah, and and underdog story as well. They want to see the underdog win uh as well.

Robby 21:48

You hate the underdog, huh?

George 21:49

I don't hate the underdog at all. No, I don't I love an underdog, like it's great. It's great when the if you know when the favourite in the grand final isn't winning. That's like that's cool. I don't mind that, but it's like when Okay, Djokovic, he'll come down and he'll play. He was in the last final in the tennis. I was going for him. And I was like, nah, he's 115. Yes, he's the best fucking player of a generation. We're never going to see anyone like that. I want him to win every single title he possibly can for as long as he can. That's greatness. I want to see a champion always win. I don't want the underdog to beat him. I want the champion to win every time. Grand AFL grand finals. Yes, I want the best team to win. Unless Hawthorne is in the grand final and not the best team, then I'll want them to win. But like I think the people that have worked the hardest deserve the biggest payoff. I think the people that have put everything on the line to make things happen, they're the ones that deserve it. Like, good on you. I celebrate when people win. I love seeing winners. I love seeing in business, in life, in sports, in entertainment, I love seeing winners win. It brings me happiness.

Robby 22:53

I like it.

George 22:53

Yeah, I and I I I think it's a it's an abundance mindset as well. Seeing that, attracting that, wanting to be that, like I want to win as well. I get pumped when I win.

Construction Pricing Reality Check

Robby 23:09

So what do you do to win in you know these dire times?

George 23:13

Yeah, yeah, well you're right. You're like, what are you doing? Yes, and I no, no, no, but look, it is tougher. It is tougher. I definitely, I mean, from my perspective, people aren't as quick and willing to sign up projects. They say they are, but then then you give them the price and like, oh, okay, we'll wait a little bit.

Robby 23:31

Only gets more expensive when you do you think there is uh this is how I feel as a guy who does not price construction projects. Just to be clear, just to position myself, all the listeners. Um two things one, I shared a stat uh last week with your audience and I told them that 80% of renovations go over budget. And you were blown away. I was that's shocking, dude. 80%? Like if you said if you said half, I'd be like, well, half yeah, that 80% I mean there's factors in that.

George 24:09

That doesn't surprise me that much. Hey, it doesn't surprise me that much. I find that most people when you say over budget, it's like, is it more than the tender price? I've never built or that more than the contract price would be considered over budget. Is that what the definition is? Yeah, let's just assume it is for a second. Let's just assume over budget means more than the fixed lump sum I've told you. 100% of my projects have done that. I have never built a project without at least a single variation on it. Ever. There's factors that you just can't possibly allow for. You could, you could actually get a con sign a contract that's a guaranteed maximum price. So we could me and you could sign a contract that's a guaranteed maximum price. So no matter what happens, doesn't go up, doesn't go down. We can sign a contract like that. However, it tends to be more expensive because now I'm taking the risk, so my price will be reflective of that with higher margins built in. So what happens then on a fixed on a fixed lump sum? It's not actually fixed. The actual the contract work component is fixed, but then there's things that are outside of the scope that you could not possibly know. And that's where you get variations, and that's probably where that statistic comes from. So I don't think it's per se. Yeah, I don't think it's per se that we're over budget, it's just it's more than your original contract value. That's what I reckon it's referring to.

Robby 25:32

So in saying that, the perspective I was originally uh talking about was I feel like as a person who works with a lot of people in the construction space but doesn't live in the construction space, I feel like there is a huge gap between the market and the cost. And I feel like there is this constant trail. Yes, and it's like uh that is a very good observation. Oh, it's a fucking fan.

George 26:05

But this is as a non-builder talking.

Robby 26:08

This is why though. I think I have a different perspective. Yeah, because I think there is a huge discrepancy between people's expectations and the actual market price now. You are bang on, yeah. And I think we're in that lull at the moment, yeah, and you need to learn how to manage it. Yeah, you know what I mean. I've we started taking budget questions off of forms, yeah, because people are like, they don't have the budget. It's like, dude, talk to them. Like they might really need that fucking bathroom and they think it costs 20 grand. You know what I mean? Like to have the fucking conversation. Next thing you know, you find out that oh, they desperately need that, and they need two, and they've got heaps of money. They just thought it was 20 grand. Yeah, you tell them it's 50, they're like, oh, okay, all right. Yeah, like we we there is this uh ridiculous expectation that oh fuck, you don't know what it costs. Fucking I'm not fucking talking to you. It's like, how do you how do you expect them to know what you know? Like that's there's a reason why you're the professional, yeah, right. And I feel like the current state of the market right now is like there's been uh an increase in price, and you now have to wait. Fuck, dude. There's a great saying that I heard in real estate, and it was like when the price goes down, the price takes the lift, but the people take the stairs. Yeah, you know what I mean? So it's like you need to give them time to catch up.

George 27:26

Yeah, yeah.

Robby 27:26

You know what I mean? When the price goes up, the price takes the lift, but the people take the stairs. They need time to catch up.

George 27:32

Yeah, yeah.

Robby 27:33

They need time to make the adjustment turn around and say, okay, cool, like that's what this is costing now. The days of getting a bathroom done for 15 grand are non-existent anymore.

George 27:41

Yeah, you you are 100% correct. Yeah, you know, I've had people say, Oh, what's this cost to build? And I'm like, well, how long's a piece of string? First of all, but in their head, they're going off a rate that was used 10 years ago. And it's like, that doesn't apply. You cannot build for that anymore. Yeah, like a square meter rate as a estimate.

Robby 27:57

Ballpark. What's a square? Because I remember when I was in real estate, yeah, this was 10 years ago. More uh people were building for like this thing up below like a nice townhouse. 12 grand a square.

George 28:17

Oh, a square? Yeah, that's unheard of. Yeah.

Robby 28:19

Not even for a spec home.

George 28:22

So good finishes, yeah.

Robby 28:23

That was like decent finishes, like stone bench tops, 40 mil. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know what I mean?

George 28:27

Yeah, unheard of now.

Robby 28:29

No chance. 12 grand a square. No chance. Well, you're then 30.

George 28:33

Look, I I'm in the high space, high end space, so it's a bit harder for me to say what's the right thing.

Robby 28:37

You'd also do very particularly.

George 28:39

Yeah, they're very they are, and they're very you like it's very hard for us to provide a square meter rate on the side. No, yeah, you would have very but let's just say if I was going to guess now, I'd say even even 25 to 30. 30 yeah, a square. That's a building square, not a square meter. But yeah, I think you'd be looking at as there as a basis for the time being for sure. But I hate giving that as well because often they say, well, you know, I had a client the other day mention it to me. So I given him I gave him a high-level budget. I said, You listen, plus or minus 30%, yeah? Just so you know, because I I he doesn't have any engineering, doesn't have anything. I said, I don't know which or minus 30%. Yeah, you could put a water tank in the ground. I don't know what that like, how could I possibly do that? You could have a suspended slab, you could have counterlevered steel beams until you give me a design. I can't give you a a better rate, but I go, allow this as a basis, it'll give you a good indication. I go get me some working drawings and then we can have a proper conversation. But yeah, going back to your question you said earlier, like what do you do now that we're in this space? Like, and yeah, it's happening. So yeah, you can sit there and go, hey, for example, it's quiet. Things are hard. Okay, well, what else? Oh, well, uh, people aren't signed. Okay, good. What else? Like, what are you going to do about it? It has to be you're either going to become a victim of it and just go, well, fuck it. Let's close the doors, let's go get a job somewhere, let's whatever. Whatever it's gonna be. Pick up a second shift, start driving Uber. I don't know. What are you going to do? Maybe that is your solution if you're in a job. Maybe you go, fuck it. I need some more cash. I'm gonna start driving Uber on the weekend. Or afterwards. I couldn't have, done it. Have you? Yeah, no shit. Did you have your Uber light is out of license?

Robby 30:12

Like, how do you do it? So when I was doing um I'm gonna call you next time I need a lift. I was of course. I'm not gonna pay you though. Fuck. Did you call me when you had a flat silence? Yeah, you did, huh? You called me. I called you. I told me far up because I'd something the flat battery, flat battery. That's what it was. I don't even remember. You remember? I had a flat battery and then you had a flat battery the next week. Oh, yes. Yes, how funny. Oh, that's right. Yes, yes, yes, yes.

George 30:38

How funny.

Robby 30:39

Back to that question. Yes, I have uh I actually did that, dude. Yeah, many years ago now.

George 30:44

Yeah, I mean, it is what it is, man. Do what you gotta do. So fucking shit. I'm sure it was. I'm sure it was. But I mean, some people might like it, some people might love it.

Robby 30:53

You just talk to other people, hey, why are you? I see yeah, because I don't I'm not that person. I know that's right. Yeah, so I'll just sit there and go. Hey, talk to me. Yeah, but then you get some people who come in and they're like, hey, how you doing, man? How's your night being? Blah blah, and you just talk to them. Or you get like a group of girls.

George 31:07

What do you like in the car when you're getting an Uber?

Robby 31:10

Me? I don't talk to anyone.

George 31:11

Yeah, I'm straight on the phone. Um most of the time when I get in an Uber, it's during business hours, a lot of the time, if I catch an Uber somewhere. I don't know, from time to time if I go out, but um most of the time if it's business hours, I'm on the phone making calls.

Robby 31:25

I used to always say, Do you do anything else or is this your full-time gig? Same question. I realize that that is so offensive. Yeah, exactly.

Getting Work When It Is Quiet

George 31:34

Yeah, yeah. Very demeaning. Yeah, it's kind of like is this all you do? Yeah, oh shit. Get you last. Yeah. Um, no. Sorry, um, back to what we were saying. So I'll use myself as an example. I got to a point where I was like, okay, we need more work. I'm forecasting now for the rest of the year. What's it going to look like? So, first thing I did was hit my power base. I spoke to past clients. I said, Hey, how are you? Touching base, what's news? How you been? Let's catch up for a coffee. That was one thing. I reached out to developers that I knew. Hey, how are you? What's what are you doing? Let's catch up for a coffee, so on and so forth. And then I reached out to architects and designers. Hey, how are you? What's news? Let's reach out, have a coffee. And funny enough, like me just hitting the pavement like that, I've got projects coming in. It's a price. Nothing secured. However, I've gone out there.

Robby 32:19

Just fucking step one, dude. You can't secure nothing you're pricing if you're not pricing anything.

George 32:23

So I did that. We've gone out there and I've got at least one, two, I've got three tenders there that we're working on. One will submit this week, another one will submit probably. Oh, we're waiting to get the tender docs, which is a huge project. I secure that project. It's the type of project that I go, hey, we're fucking flat out. Hire more people. Let's go. So that's a great project. What else was that? Oh, I had a developer come into the office earlier in the year. He was from Interstate. Came in, sat down with me. He wanted to actually do work in Victoria. And someone referred him onto me, said, Hey, you've got to go speak to George from Pascon, have a chat with him. He knows his shit. He'll help you out. We sat down, we had a chat. One thing led to another. He goes, We're looking for this type of site. We want to do this, want to do that. I said, Look, I can put you in touch with the right type of people. You can have the conversation with them, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. As it turned out, it's hard at the moment to make projects stack in Victoria, like what you said before, with uh where it is and where people's perception is. I think the market, if anything, the market needs to go up as far as a sales concern, in my opinion. I reckon construction costs are at this point, and then sale price are not far above it. And there needs to be an increase there for jobs to just stack. Developers are finding it difficult to make any money on their projects.

Robby 33:37

That's the whole lull thing. So people, if the prices are exactly where it is at the point. People are here. You need the people to come to here, and then you have enough people here and then you go prices up.

George 33:47

Yeah, so we had a project that we secured verbally. It was a$12.5 million project, one of the biggest ones we'd ever won. And the developer calls me up. He goes, Listen, he goes, We're still doing it. IG is I've just got to put it on hold. He goes, We're not getting sales, prices are astronomical, interest rates are going up, no one's buying anything. I've just got to sit on my hands. I said, All right, that's cool. Just so you know, that's today's price. I can't, I can't hold it. And he's like, Yeah, I get it. He goes, when the time comes, we'll have a chat. But now I'm not gonna sit there going, oh, it's coming. No, no, that's the biggest thing. He might, he might turn around and sell the thing, the whole site. Something changes. Yeah, he might just bot scrap all the plans and just build one massive mansion on the site. Who knows? Or just sell it and turn it into tennis courts. I don't know.

Robby 34:30

I think that's that's one of the biggest um the the it's like the biggest upside and the biggest downfall to to construction is projects are so big that you can get comfortable real quick. Yes. And I feel like I know many builders who are like dependent on one person, one source, one channel, one developer, one architect. Yep. And it's like if this person got hit by a bus tomorrow, you'd be fucked.

George 34:59

Yeah.

Robby 35:00

And they're like, oh, but they give me heaps of work. It's like, that's great, dude.

George 35:02

Yeah, you got a whale. You need yeah, they've got a whale. Yeah, like they've got a whale that gives them all that. And I can I to be honest, I had that. Yeah. I had a whale when I first started my business. Fantastic.

Robby 35:10

Oh, it's great. It was the greatest thing ever.

George 35:12

I was so arrogant as a fucking builder, young builder, 10 10 plus years ago. Just started my cameo. I don't have to advertise. I posted like nine photos in three years on social media because I was like, I don't give a fuck about this shit. Why do I need to win work? I've got like millions of dollars worth of work ahead of me. I'm cash flow positive every month. You know, like this is amazing. And it was a good time. Like we we built some great projects in amazing time frames and so on and so forth. Then guess what? Yeah, gone. Gone. Gone within when I say gone within the space of three months. Yeah. Out on my own, had to do a new pro like, started a pro, got signed up a single project. Then I was like, fuck, like out tendering, learning everything. Like it was full on. But I got through it. But I had the single whale, and that's all I was building for. That's all I was doing. And I didn't realize at the time I needed to go find it a bigger way. I needed to go find more whales.

Robby 36:03

Yeah, yeah. Multiple. There's nothing wrong with having that individual. The the thing that comes wrong with it is the level of dependency that gets built towards it.

George 36:10

Yes, yeah, absolutely. And anyway, back to our story. So this developer wanted to build in in Melbourne. Things weren't stacking, and we're just talking. I've said, listen, it's that's difficult. It's I I think it's gonna take time. The sites exist, you just got to really hunt for them and and make it happen. Like the you're gonna make your money in the purchase. That's where you're gonna make your money. The build cost is gonna be the build cost. Anyway, we're talking. He goes, Look, I've got he goes, I've got 13 sites in Adelaide. I'm like, okay. He goes, yeah, we're looking, he goes, we're struggling to find some builders up there. He goes, I've seen your work. He goes, you did some pretty amazing stuff. Like, we'd love to work with you. He said, All right, cool. That's good. I go, listen, for 13 sites, I'm coming to Adelaide. I go, you want to, I go, do you want to invest? Do you want to hook this up? Should we go down this path? He goes, yeah, absolutely. He goes, I'll send you the projects and so on and so forth. Shot down to Adelaide in March. Had a meeting with them, walked, drove around. They love like lovely guys doing some great projects. Saw some of their sites that they're building at the moment. And he goes, that's one's here, this one's here, this one's here. He opened up his books. He goes, Listen, I'm going to show you the bottom line and what they're stacking up. They were making 45% on their builds, on their development projects. I'm like, that's fucking fantastic.

Robby 37:20

That's fantastic, yeah.

Finding Opportunity Outside Victoria

George 37:20

I go, that's unheard of in Victoria. Especially now. Yeah. And I'm like, that's these are really good margins. He goes, Yeah, we just bought right. We're delivering a good product. The market wants it. He goes, We're selling before we finish construction. He goes, it's great. I said, mate, that is fantastic. So I'm pricing some of those projects now. So going back to what you just said about corporations taking the money, going elsewhere, well, you're not serving me. I'm going to go somewhere else. What am I doing? Victoria's fucked. Actually, it could be, you can think about it however you want, but if we're one of the most taxed states, we we pay millions in interest payments to our debt and for all our debt. We've got a fucking idiot in parliament as our premier, making stupid decisions. It's just a difficult place to live. I went over to Adelaide. People seemed happier. I don't know if this was just because in my mindset it's Melbourne, you know, I didn't think it was, you know, it's it is the doom. I've got I've got a level of doom and gloom, I suppose, uh with everything going on. People seemed happier, people were smiling, lots of building, lots of activity. I thought, well, what a great place. So now we're, because my business is systemized and process driven, it's not difficult for me to run the projects as an from an administrative point of view here. And with all my connections in Builder Elite, I've got a team in Adelaide that can deliver the jobs too. So now I'm like, well, this is a no-brainer. Instead of me going and tendering 15 projects here, well, I've just found a potential whale in another state. So guess what? The lovely state of South Australia, you're gonna get a lot. I'm gonna come and employ a lot of people in your state and build over there. Congrats. So that's money now that's gonna be taken out of Victoria and going into another state. Into another state. Yeah, into we're gonna go exactly. And I may go down the path and get in, there's potential there for future developments with them and doing JV partnerships and whatnot. But I'm now moving a portion of the money I would spend in this country. Because don't get me wrong, if we were booming here, would I really be going to Adelaide? No. Probably not. Like it's an effort. But I have to work a bit harder now. I have to look for new opportunities. And that opportunity only came up because I started to put myself out there and go, well, I need to think about the future. I need to think about what's the second half of this year going to look like? What's the first half of next year going to look like? I'm not thinking about it when I get to it. I started thinking about this in March, going, okay, well, looking at the timeline, we're going to finish these projects. That means we've only got these ones left. How are we going about building them? Let's go. What does it look like? Where are the next projects coming from? Where are the next tenders coming from? And that's what I'm doing.

Robby 39:57

Okay, so you reached out to your direct network.

George 40:00

Yes, my direct network. Yeah. What else? Yeah, then the next thing would be is to, as you said, go into ads, start doing that. We're invested heavily in SEO. Uh yeah, I reckon that's stuff like that long term.

Robby 40:13

I reckon people make the mistake of doing that too late.

George 40:18

Yes, absolutely they would. Absolutely they would.

Robby 40:20

Do you know what I mean? Like people make that mistake way too late, and then they are kind of like clinching and and waiting for the lead. Yeah. You know what I mean? And then two two things happen. I I swear to you, do you know people who are like that tend to fucking perform the worst.

George 40:37

Yeah, because then they'll get the lead and they try and make it work as well. Whatever comes in, it's like, okay, we've got to win this job now. Yeah, there's that. So it's not always the best, it's not always the best um lead for your job, for your business.

Winning Streak Mindset And Red Cars

Robby 40:50

Yeah, I agree. I agree. And I think people um put themselves in a bad position, dude. You know what I mean? Um Yeah, so there's that, there's that. What else? What else should someone in that position right now who's like, fuck, dude, like just not it's just not coming together at the moment.

George 41:09

Well, it's a mindset thing too. Okay. Let's let's start practicing um a bit of a bit of talking to your subconscious and realizing that, hey, there's a lot that's good in your life. We spoke last week about the winning streak and starting to go, you know what, there's plenty of things that you're winning at, there's plenty of things that you're really good at. Well, let's focus on some of those so you can start focusing on all the other opportunities that are around you. It's the red car theory as well. If you're, uh, for those of you that don't know, if I said I'm gonna give you a thousand, how many red cars did you see on the way to work today? You couldn't tell me because you weren't looking for it. Now, if I said to you, I'm gonna give you a thousand dollars for every red car you see on the way home, you're gonna count every single red car on the way home. And you're gonna notice it because you're always gonna look for those opportunities. And it's the same when you start reprogramming your subconscious, going, well, if I'm on a winning streak, I see the little wins everywhere. Now I'm gonna start looking at the bigger wins that come along. Now I'm gonna start looking at the bigger opportunities that come along. And all of a sudden, once again, something from nothing. And you start landing some big fish, you start landing some little fish, and it's just like, well, it's accumulating. Wow, who would have thought in this difficult time, I'm absolutely crushing it, I'm absolutely killing it. And a lot of people would look at me or look at other people that are highly successful or uh have heaps of work on at the moment, go, oh fuck, man, it must be nice. How is they doing it? Man, there's lots of grip behind that. It's not just they did it because they hoped it and manifested it and they were lucky. They've gone out and done the fucking reps, they've done the push-ups. So if you see anyone that's really, really busy at the moment, it's probably because they've done shit that no one else is doing and not being a victim of their situation, which is exactly where 100%, which is exactly where we are as a state at the moment, as a country. A lot of people are just too doom and gloom. I get it, completely get it. But is that serving? Like exactly. And what? And like what else? Cool, yes, you are right. You are correct. It is hard. You win. Yeah, but now you should just quit. You should just quit. You should lose.

Robby 43:09

You're right. You should stop. This is fucked. Like, yeah, just uh just give it up. Yeah, you're right, you are correct.

George 43:17

Exactly. And when you put it like that, some people are like, oh yeah.

Robby 43:21

Okay, I get it. Or I go, nah, nah.

George 43:23

Nah. Well, I can do this. Yeah, you're like, oh go do it. Exactly, go. Yeah, good. You could just came up with an idea. You just came up with an idea of something you could do. Go and execute.

Robby 43:33

Um, I don't know, I've never I never I just don't I don't know, maybe I don't worry. Like not in a bad way, like I'm not an idiot, but like I just think like I like like everything has worked out so far.

George 43:49

Is that because it has? Everything's worked out. So you don't worry? Maybe have you not been punched in the face? I've been punched in the face, too. Yeah, okay.

Robby 44:01

That's good. Yeah. Um but it's thinking back a bit or thinking back to that moment. Yes, at that time I was fucking in a punchline. Yeah. But like now, it's like you kind of you build a level of not resistance, but like uh disconnect. I still get stressed, don't get me wrong.

Stress Proofing Through Hard Training

George 44:23

Yeah. Yeah, me too. But like it takes a lot. Okay. So say you are say there's a lot of stress. How do you handle that? Punch holes and all.

Robby 44:32

It's fucking great pain. It's great relief. Why not? Um I don't know, dude. I do a lot of um like especially m lately, uh, I do a lot of physical stuff. Like I MMA training, gym, ice buff, sauna, like I think and this is the the the that sh that switch that we're talking about.

George 44:55

It's a disconnect, and it's that mental toughness, and it's the calluses, and it's the reprogramming of your subconscious. Doing all that stuff would definitely make you resistant to stress because you're putting yourself under stress doing those things.

Robby 45:08

Yeah, that so like it kind of set the bar pretty high. And then so yeah, set the you know, I do like most mornings when I have an ice bath. Dude, I always want to get out.

SPEAKER_02 45:17

Yeah.

Robby 45:18

Every single time. And I said, like, eight two minutes to it. Don't do four, do two. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or don't you get out of three. Three's fucking fine, bro. Do you know what I mean? Three, no one done three today, bro. These guys jump in and jump out. I've never done it. I have never you could sit there. George never does it. What a fucking little bitch. And then I uh I sit down and say to myself, like, hey, you're gonna start the day off on an L. Yeah. Like, you know, let your mind talk out of this, bro. What else are you gonna talk about today? You're gonna go eat shit food, and then you're not gonna make the calls you know you need to make. You know what I mean? You're not gonna do the stuff you know you need to do, or you're not gonna stay back when you need to, or have the hard conversation when you need to. It's like fucking I don't know.

George 45:51

Like, not on not have the yeah, so funny. I was um I can't remember if we've spoken about this before, but if we're not, it's good to segue into it anyway. It's on the same topic anyway. So at the gym and I was doing bench press, actually. And I haven't been doing bench press much because of my shoulder hasn't been my right shoulder, 40-year-old, just went, sucked. Don't know. I've never had shoulder problems in my life ever. Not playing football, nothing. And then I've started at, well, not started, been at the gym for quite some time, and it's just been there, always there. Even now, like actually, now the last six to 12 months, I've actually been pretty good, like very little pain, which is great. But I think I've started to build a lot of the muscle around it, so it's not as painful, but it's still there. Like if I lift with the wrong technique, I'm it's gone. I'll be out for six weeks. Anyway, doing the reps, and I was pushing for for 10, let's say, I think we'll doing 10. I can't remember the weight, but whatever it was, pushing for it, and I got to seven, let's say. I don't remember the number, let's say it was seven. It was under. And my coach was there and he goes, What were you thinking? And I'm like, I go, I was just hard. Like it was, I just couldn't lift it. And he goes, No, no, but what was your train of thought? Like coming into it before you started the rep, before you started the first rep, like what were you thinking? Because it was the third set, so I was a bit gassed already. He goes, What were you thinking? And I'm like, you know what? He goes, to be totally honest, I made the decision that I wasn't gonna live get to 10 before I got to 10, before I got to seven. You did? In in my head. I was like there on the bench and I was like, I'm not gonna like put the first one up, like, I'm not making 10. Yeah, I'd already decided subconsciously that I was not making 10 and 7 is enough, right? And yes, it was heavy and I couldn't actually lift it. He goes, but if you made the decision that no, no, we're fucking lifting 10. No matter what, we're lifting 10. You probably would have got nine, maybe eight, maybe you would have got seven, but the the mindset shift would have been completely different. You probably wouldn't, I probably even would have got 10. But I made the decision after I got lift the bar up off the off the hooks, going, oh, this is heavy. Yeah, I can't do ten. I'll get to seven, or I'll get to eight, and then just gone. You checked out. I checked out, and it's a level of that as well. It was just a really interesting. I'm glad he talked me through that process. You know, he must do it a lot. Like he's a he's a big guy, he's quite um quite fit and quite strong, but I'm glad he talked me through that process in the sense that he got that out of me, going, yeah, you know, like and then made me think, well, where else does this show up? Where I go, it's okay, six is enough.

Robby 48:29

Yeah, six is more difficult.

George 48:31

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like no one else has done six today. So it's like, where do you push through that barrier? Where do you push through that uh difficulty?

Robby 48:38

You know what I used to do? I used to um so I used to go for runs. This is running sucks. Oh, dude, running's the lowest. It's the fucking worst thing ever. There's just nothing fun about it. It takes forever.

George 48:49

Even when you run with someone, yeah. I hate them more than I hate running.

Robby 48:52

Yeah. Why'd you bring me out here? Uh and I used to I used to go like and I would always talk myself into doing like you know, you're like, oh, I'm gonna go for five Ks. Yeah. And then you get to like four, and you're like, ah what a what a job. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? But um so what I started doing was I I wanted to run my goal was to I never did this. I ran a half marathon, never ran a full marathon. Uh and I I had to build up to it. I went from like not being able to run a K to like to doing a half marathon. How many K's is that?

George 49:27

21. That makes me throw up. 21k. I've never run through I've never run 21.

Robby 49:31

I've done like I've most of my runs like 28 or something. That's stupid. I was getting ready for a full marathon. I was training, dude. I was like, hey, hey, you've gone for like three hours, yeah. That's the that is the lowest. You just described the lowest. You're just like you're running. You know what I used to love sweat at.

George 49:44

I actually used to well at footy training, I'm sure I put in K's there and and and on a game. I used to love that. That was fine.

Robby 49:49

You're chasing, yeah, when it came to actually up, down, yeah, spring, walk, run, dog, it's not constant the whole time. Uh whereas this is just like yeah, just non-listening to just thing after thing, uh you're like, man, I've been through this whole playlist. Um but who's gonna carry the boats? Yeah. What I used to do was uh I got to the point where I would I would if I would argue with myself, like if I tried to negotiate, like I'm like, I'm gonna go for five K's. And then if I even entertained the thought I was doing four, we're doing less. Yeah, I'll be like, bro, just do four. They're like, all right, we're doing six. Yeah, you fucked up. Don't do six, do five. No, no, we're doing seven now.

SPEAKER_02 50:32

Yeah.

Robby 50:32

It's like until I until you shut the fuck up, yeah. I'm gonna keep up in this. Yeah, and then eventually you get to like ten and you go quite go quiet, dude. All of a sudden the mind turns off. Is there any more fucking wind?

SPEAKER_02 50:44

Yeah, you want to talk again?

Robby 50:45

Yeah, because as you're running by, like people looking at you too to yourself, yeah. You bite an all. Uh yeah, it's like this little mental battle. Yeah. Uh yeah, and then it would it would work, dude. And it would go quiet, and that's it. And then I'd I'd do that whatever I agreed to. That's it. Like I had to do that, otherwise I was gonna do more.

George 51:05

Yeah, good, man. That's good. That's it's strong.

Robby 51:07

Because your body gives up before your mind gives up before anything else like your body can go through fucking way more than you're willing to.

George 51:17

Um, yeah, but it's built into us, it's as a c as a survival mechanism to consume as little energy as possible. And not put yourself in danger. Even though, you know, is running putting yourself in danger. Yeah, well, maybe if you need to, if you're running for 5Ks and then all of a sudden a saber tooth is chasing you, you're not gonna have the energy to sprint. So your body is trying to get you ready for that fight or flight moment.

Robby 51:41

Yeah, but you could also argue that like if you run a lot, you'd be able to outrun the saber tooth.

George 51:48

Or or just outrun the person next to you. Well, lucky, lucky we don't have sabertooths anymore. What a life.

Robby 51:53

It's uh never been a better time to be alive.

George 51:56

Yeah. And look, as tough as we're saying Australia is, it's our tough in the sense of there are people out there that have it a lot worse. Let's be honest, you know, in the in the world right now, with wars going on, with genocide, with all the horrible things you could possibly think of. And you say, Oh, yeah, yeah, but people are dying over here, people are killing themselves there, people are doing this, and disease and poverty and all this stuff. I said, Yeah, that's cool. I yes, you can that is bad, but this is our bad. This is affecting you, this is your space at the moment. So it's okay to feel the pinch, not as okay to let it control you altogether.

Robby 52:35

Yeah, like um if someone, even if you're like you look at someone and you're like, that's not a real problem. If it's a real problem to them, it's a real problem. That's right. That's right. Um, you know, I mean, even if you're like, dude, if that problem came through, I'd crush it and move on. Like, I've had seven of those problems this morning. Yeah. Like, uh, um, but if that person is genuinely affected by that problem, they are. Even if you see it as something so insignificant, and you're like, bro, that's not come on, man. Like, it's real life.

George 53:04

Yeah.

Robby 53:08

This is no, come to work with me for a day. Yeah. Um but yeah, that's that's um that is the world we live in. But you you framed it very well in the sense of like two two sides. One, yes, it is our bad and you feel it, but the other side is like it's not that bad. And that's what I was saying to you before, in the sense of Australia looks like even if uh I was talking to someone the other day and they're like, aren't you worried about AI?

SPEAKER_02 53:37

And I'm like, No, AI is worried about me.

Robby 53:40

Why? And I'm like, like they're gonna, what if it what if it completely takes over your job? I was like, it does like if it does, it does. Yeah, like if it gets to the point where it can do everything we can do, well then fucking don't hire me. Yeah, do you know what I mean? And and the other side is like we're in a changing world. Yes, and I back.

George 54:00

Yes, there is that too.

Robby 54:01

Yeah, but I I I back myself. Like if the world's changing, it's changing for everyone.

George 54:05

Yeah, you're not that you're not, it's not just for you.

Robby 54:08

Yeah, and it's like, okay, cool. I I back myself here to make better moves than most. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? I'm like, and worst case, I'll just go on the doll. And your tax money will pay for me. 100% it will. Hey, I've got a spare room, come move in. Yeah.

George 54:25

It's got a top of your garage. That's it. Own bathroom and everything. Uh don't even know you're there.

Robby 54:31

I just don't worry about it. I I it's not I don't worry about it, it's I believe in myself enough to know that I'll be all right. Yes, that's what's so true. It's like, cool, yeah, like I'll sort it out. Yeah, fucking sorted everything else out, too.

George 54:41

Yeah, man, it's like when you came to my office before and you're like, hey, what's going on? Fucking this. It's like, but you know what, dude, my fault. It was completely my fault, and I'll get myself out of it, and that's fine. But and like sometimes, yeah, you you do become victim of things of complacency of whatever it might be, but you've got to put stuff in place to make sure that it doesn't happen again and that you rise above it. And as you said, back yourself. I think if people realized how much they can rely on themselves, they'd be surprised. They've they can do and give more than they than they actually think they can. Back yourself, like if you truly back yourself, you'll never lose. I strongly believe that.

Robby 55:20

Yeah, no, it's like how can you beat someone who doesn't give up? Yeah. Exactly. You can't. And yeah, but it's whilst we uh we complain about it, it's a pretty good country to be living in at the moment. Yeah, that's true. That being said, that's true.

George 55:35

It is a great place. I do love living here. Well said.

Robby 55:41

Good country, Australia.

George 55:43

Hey, um, before we wrap it up, yeah. In three days. In three days, we're going to Sydney. That's some good maps. In three days, we're going to Sydney, and we have the Builder Summit. Come to Sydney. This is going to be your last opportunity. If you listen to this right now and you haven't got your ticket yet, this is your last opportunity to jump on any of our social profiles, click on a link somewhere. You've probably seen an ad if you're listening to this podcast. Register your ticket, get there. Everyone in Sydney, you've got three days to do so. It's going to be a great event. I'm actually pumped for this event. I think we're going to get our, I'm putting it out there, we're going to get our biggest crowd, and we're going to get the most energetic crowd. I reckon we're going to get the best crowd. It's going to be great. I think this is, we, we've really fine-tuned this event over three years, and I really think it's starting to get its, get our strides in it. And then the week after, Melbourne. We're coming for you. So we're going to do it in Sydney first, then we're going to Melbourne, doing it all again. So if you're really pumped, get a ticket to Melbourne and get a ticket to Sydney. It's going to be great. If you want to focus on systemizing your business, on learning about branding and AI and a whole range of stuff that's going to help you grow and prosper in these challenging times, then this is a place you need to get to. It's going to be a great day out.

Robby 56:59

And we'll do two put two for the price of one if you come to vote. Promise you. That's you. That's the other on the table.

George 57:06

That's it. Awesome. All right. Well, thanks a lot for tuning in, guys. Appreciate it. Uh, and look forward to chatting to you next week.

Robby 57:13

All right. Thanks, everyone.