Episode 53 Podcast Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):

As soon as you feel that it’s scary or you’re unsure, that is the perfect opportunity just to lean in even further, go against the grain. Don’t just try to go back to your little comfort spot and a lot of guys’ comfort spot is being on site, being with the boys.

Speaker 2 (00:20):

Hi everyone. Rob Kropp and Dan Stones from Pravar group and welcome back to another episode of The Trade Den. Good to have you back. Dan, how are you?

Speaker 3 (00:28):

Hey, Rob. Hey everyone. Yeah, great to be back. Looking forward to today, another episode where we’re doing a client feature. So yeah, love these and looking forward to get stuck into this one.

Speaker 2 (00:37):

Yeah, absolutely. Should we give Corey Tompkins from Ideal Group Australia? A big warm welcome.

Speaker 3 (00:42):

We should insert the sound effects. Yay.

Speaker 2 (00:45):

Hey guys, how are you? Hope you guys are well.

Speaker 3 (00:48):

Yeah, very good. Thanks mate. Very good. Everything good with you up in sunny Brisbane?

Speaker 1 (00:52):

Yep. I would say that it’s nice and sunny at the moment, but it’s currently raining, but all in all, everything is running smoothly at the moment, so no complaints.

Speaker 3 (01:05):

Excellent, excellent. Well, we’re wrapped. You came in today mate, really good to have you on. For people listening, this is going to be a bit different to our usual client features. Corey’s coming in as one of our guys who’s just about to leave launch actually, but he’s been in the launch programme for a while and he is getting ready to make his move into leverage. So we are trying to maybe do something a little bit different in terms of a journey we’ll take you on through Corey’s story. So we’re looking forward to keeping this sort of rolling as you go through the various programmes, Corey, but welcome to being the first sort of launch client that’s made it into the podcast for an interview.

Speaker 1 (01:40):

Well, thank you so much. I will wear it with a badge of honour and yeah, I just hope that I can give some of these guys some value at the end of this. Yeah. But thank you very much.

Speaker 3 (01:52):

That’s right. I’m sure you will. I’m sure you will. Alright, well how about we kick off and we’ll just start off by getting into a bit of background and camp out here a bit. Just I think I mentioned just then you’re based in Brisbane. Take us back through, you’re a young guy, but sort of the earlier days and where you grew up and a couple of things like that.

Speaker 1 (02:09):

So originally, so I’ll wind the clock all the way back. So I was born and raised and grew up down in Western Sydney in Campbelltown and my mum and dad, I had a severe case of asthma growing up as a sort of adolescent kid and to the point where, I don’t know, this is the story that I got told that we had to move to a warmer climate. So we packed up, put everything in the back of the ute and made our way up to Bribie Island. So I spent my teens, my early teens back at Bribie Island. I know a lot of guys would know what that place was, but back then it wasn’t as flash as what it is now. And from there we transitioned basically where the work was and that was Brisbane and just sort of, I’ve pretty much stayed in and around Brisbane. I’ve travelled Australia working in that and from then till now and worked in the mines for a little bit. So that was sort of the crux of my childhood and earlier on before I started the path of business.

Speaker 3 (03:19):

So what do you identify as in terms of New South Welshman or Queenslander these days?

Speaker 1 (03:26):

Queensland, through and through. Yeah. No, Queensland, through and through or most of my family is still down there, but no Queensland’s my home and it’s where I will stay.

Speaker 3 (03:40):

Nice, nice. We’ll get into the working background a little bit later on. What about family growing up? Have you got a big family, a small family? What’s sort of been the background with family for you?

Speaker 1 (03:50):

Yep. So mum was one of nine, dad was one of four and really I’ve only got one other sibling, she’s my older brother. So we’re both in the industry, both in construction in the industry and we’re both taking our own separate paths and it was really just the back of our old man and mom and I would say we were sort of born into it to a degree. I think dad was a builder, dad’s dad was a builder and so on and so on and so on. So it was definitely embedded in us at an early age.

Speaker 3 (04:26):

Did he run his own business as well or did you come from, obviously construction, but small business was always in your family or large business as it was?

Speaker 1 (04:33):

Yeah, so right at the start, so pretty much for as long as I can remember, it was always a case that my dad was, he was a business owner and my dad’s dad was also a business owner in construction, whether it was developments or construction or selling material, we always were touching and doing renos and flipping houses and all that sort of fun stuff. That was all part of our childhood. So I swore to my wife when we started to go down that path that I swore to her right then and there that we would not renovate and live in the same house because it sort of scarred me through my childhood. That was the constant going to sleep and waking up with gyp rock dust on your bed and all this sort of stuff. It was just, yeah, it wasn’t fun.

Speaker 3 (05:29):

And all the moving.

Speaker 1 (05:30):

Oh yeah, constantly moving. Every time that the house got to a point where it was presentable and nice, within a few months you were packing up and going again. Yeah, I remember when me and my wife decided to get our first place, I said to it, this is it. I said, we’re doing it and we’re going to live in it. It’s going to be done. I’m not living in a half renovated house. It was just, yeah,

Speaker 3 (05:50):

Yeah, this is a home and shall not be called a reno for as long as we’re here.

Speaker 1 (05:54):

Yeah, it is the truth though. Everyone says, oh, it’s so good. If you marry a carpenter or a builder, you can do whatever you want. The reality is is that you’re just always living in a half finished house.

Speaker 3 (06:05):

Yeah, for sure. What did you take out of that experience? I think Rob are a product of, your dad was in his own business, my father was in his own business. I think there’s a lot of lessons you get from watching when you are young, your parents go through what this journey is that you’re on now. What did you take out of that journey and what was your initial relationship to having your own business?

Speaker 1 (06:28):

Basically, my man, he was very adamant, very determined with business, but I would definitely say that he was a much better tradesman than he was businessman. And it’s taken me up until my adult life to really acknowledge there is a complete difference. It becomes less about how physically, don’t get me wrong, you physically need to be able to be good at your job to elevate you to get to that point or get the money and all that sort of stuff. But I think as you go along the journey, you soon realise that it becomes less and less about how physically good you can do your job. Whether it’s carpentry, plumbing, electrical, whatever it is, it doesn’t really matter and it becomes more about how you manage people and run a business. And he didn’t really turned a blind eye to finances and turned a blind eye to ATO debt and super and never, I rarely ever saw him ever pay himself super. And yeah, it was just that really old school mentality approach with it long days, like 12 hour, 14 hour days every day, six days, seven days a week. That was the mentality and that’s sort of what me and my brother sort of grew up on and it was just the norm. We never looked at it as a downfall or we never were saddened about. It was just that was the life that we lived that was very normal for us to live.

Speaker 2 (08:04):

How do you think those moments shaped you though? Seeing that growing up sometimes that what we see in our early years, we sometimes follow a similar path or sometimes we make a decision that we don’t want to go that path and it helps shape us into who we are. How do you think those moments, your upbringing, really shaped you into who you are and why you do what you do these days?

Speaker 1 (08:31):

So I’ll touch base on this again later on. It was a bit of a pivotal point for me. So in 2021, my old man passed. It was before I touched base with Pravar I was still running my own business and I’ll reiterate to everyone that’s listening as well is that the business that I have now was never handed to me. I didn’t get it given down. There was no influx of funds or there was nothing. It was a clean slate, it was straight cut through. I got my own ABN, went to the accountant, everything like that. So when my old man passed and already in motion of doing my own thing, I sat down and I wrote down a list of things that I wanted to keep and things that I didn’t want to keep. And a lot of the things that I wanted to keep were fundamental things that I learned watching him go through business.

(09:26):

So it was determination, hardworking, loyal, honest, trustworthy, all these sort of attributes. And then there was other things that I didn’t want to keep consistently working every weekend, never being able to go on family holidays and always going from month to month or week to week or down have any put off tax bills and not putting away for soup. I literally wrote, there was obviously personal things, but these are the more business things related that I wrote because in all honesty, when you grow up in that environment where your parents are in business and that’s surrounded by you, it isn’t a case that it’s when you go to a family barbecue or if you guys are sitting around having dinner, it’s not a case that you are talking business or talking personal. The business is your life. So every time we joke about it now, me and my brother, every time we catch up, it never feels like we’re talking about business or anything like that to anyone else, to any normal person that’s just an employee or something. They would hear the conversations and be like, oh, these guys are just rambling on constantly about business and they’re just talking about work for us. That’s just how we grew up. We were constantly just talking about work. So yeah, so that’s sort of what I did and that really doing that really helped me list out the key things that I wanted to keep and it sort of helped me pivot in that direction. And obviously reaching out to Pravar, going down that journey has even elevated that to another degree as well.

Speaker 2 (10:58):

I really like that exercise you’ve done as we see this a lot, I know with my own experience the reason why Pravar exists, because pava, the word means breathe life back into the family is because when I saw my dad growing up as the old cousin in the cradle song, he was never around working crazy hours and I never really get to saw him. And I wanted to make a commitment not to go down that path. And whenever I’m talking to business guys on for the first time, a lot of them come from families where their dad was a tradie or a builder or whatever it is, and they were determined not to make that same mistake as their dad, but here they were making similar mistakes to some degree. And it’s amazing how that environment either shapes us and we follow a similar path or sometimes we make a commitment not to go down that same path that we’ve seen.

Speaker 1 (11:46):

And I think the biggest thing, just touching on that before we move on is I feel like a lot of guys, they get started because of that with their parents, they go down that path, it’s the norm because for me, as I said, I didn’t look at it as every time he went to work on a Saturday and Sunday, I never sat down and was like, oh man, I wish my dad was here. Wish that that was just how it was. It wasn’t until as I became an adult and I spoke to other guys that ran businesses or I seen you guys, I’ve seen other guys doing business a different way. And I remember seeing videos and listening about stories and I remember sitting there going, man, how is that even possible? How are these guys doing that? And that’s what made me lean in even further to be like, okay, well there is another way. And I feel like with social media and stuff like that, it’s getting a lot easier for guys to have that ability to listen and get exposed to people that are actually running proper businesses and you don’t have to work 16 hours a day to live the life that you want to live.

Speaker 3 (12:50):

I think the other point you touched on there is there’s good and bad to be taken out of that observing experience you get as a kid. And I think a lot of people just expect a foregone conclusion and they look back and go, well, there’s no wonder I turned out this way in business because that’s what I grew up in. But you’ve really taken that time to reflect and set yourself up that way, which is great. Is there anything else that, in terms of a shaping sense that sort of brought you into this space? Or was it just literally watching what was going on and having that analytical mind to sort of pull out the things you liked, the things you didn’t?

Speaker 1 (13:20):

So you mean like into coaching, coming into coaching or?

Speaker 3 (13:24):

Not into coaching just in general in terms of getting into business and getting to that point where you decide, well, I’m going to now run a business. And I think for you it sounds like running a business was different to I’m going to be a builder. It was very much a conscious choice to have your own business and form this company of ideal group.

Speaker 1 (13:41):

So I actually wrote some things down and prior to coming on and I had a bit of a reflection. I always sit down tomorrow and we talk about it, our user as my consultant, but a bit of a reflection was everyone hears a story about how they were passionate about building a house and standing back and seeing a client move in. And for me, I went down that path and I did that, but I found that the real satisfaction for me was building a business that people wanted to come work for. Seeing people, when I put up an ad, now I get people that want to come in and it’s not hard and people enjoy being here, staff retention, that is what gives me the kick. And yeah, I always joke about being a business owner, you either are one or you’re not one. I don’t feel like there’s really any in between. And for me, I was lucky enough that I knew earlier on that it was something that there was no two ways about it. It didn’t even skip my mind to go down the other path. I didn’t see there was no option B. It was just always that was it. And I never had to force myself. It was just always organically that I just wanted to create a business. And I just knew that in order for me to live the life that I wanted to live, that was the only option that I had.

Speaker 3 (15:07):

Yeah, that’s interesting. You came out, I think you did your apprenticeship with your dad, you’d been there since you started skills-based. It wasn’t like you started off with another business, sort of got into this and then sort of said, I’ve set one up. You’d been in the industry as a tradesman in your own and were qualified as a builder.

Speaker 1 (15:25):

And so I, I’ll give the listeners a bit of context. I did my apprenticeship, I came out of my apprenticeship. I sub everyone always. I get a lot of app. We employ a lot of apprentices and they always say, well, what do I do? What do I do? What’s the steps? There really isn’t any gold in ticket, but I basically got qualified. I got my ABN, I went out there with a trailer and a ute like everyone else, and I slung my hammer for about five years, just going around town, working for different builders, working for clients, picking up work on weekends, Saturday, Sundays, you name it. I was doing it all. And yeah, I just got my first apprentice and all that sort of stuff. And then I just slowly over time started to build it. And for me, yeah, it was work, but I always just knew that there was always a bigger picture.

Speaker 3 (16:15):

Was it what you wanted when you started going through that journey or did you find there were struggles and challenges like, geez, I know I knew I said I wanted this, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted when I said it.

Speaker 1 (16:24):

Oh man, there’s been many a nights where I’ve sat on the edge of bed and have cold sweats and everyone likes to hear the roses, but what’s the good old saying, everyone likes to eat a sausage, but no one likes to know how it’s made. That’s the reality of it. And for me, that was it. In those moments of frustration or money was tight or I was losing money or X, Y, and Z, there was still no option B as much as my wife was great, we were only dating at the time and she would still always say to me, oh, you could just go and do this. You could just go and do that. I could always just fall back on saying to myself, well, I could always just go and get a job. I could just go and get a job. It’s fine.

(17:07):

I’ve got time. And yeah, I just kept being persistent and yeah, it definitely wasn’t an easy feat, that’s for sure. Getting my builder’s licence, that was a massive thing as well. That was not easy. I think I got my builder’s licence back in 2017 or 2018 and I was doing million dollar builds. I was that rockstar builder with the photos and driving around and thinking I was it. And it’s one of those things, you dunno what you dunno. And I thought signing a one and a half million dollar contract was fantastic. I remember doing that. I was in my early twenties, I’m nearly 30 now, but I was in my early twenties and I thought, man, this is great. This is great. How good is this? Get the photos and then all of a sudden you sit back at the end of the job, you’re like, where’s all the money going? I didn’t know nothing. I didn’t know nothing. So that was all a journey on itself, and that’s also just, I know we’ll continue, but that was also going from dealing with B2C and then going from now we deal strictly only B2B. That was half the reason why I made that trajectory as well was just learning that lesson and learning what I wanted to do, what business I wanted to run.

Speaker 3 (18:23):

Yeah, it’s very different when you get into it, isn’t it? The idea that what it takes to run that business. And you think that the perfect thing would be if I could just drop one of these million dollar homes a trophy home my life, we’d be on our way to the races and everyone would want us to do that. But there’s so much more from a business ownership perspective. So we do see that a fair bit.

Speaker 2 (18:42):

It’s almost business ownership’s definitely glorified. And I think what you said there before is you’ve either got it or you don’t. And I believe that as well where a lot of people get into business because they think it’s going to be easier, they’re chasing the shiny lights, they look at the freedom or what they think they’re going to get and they realise that it’s a harder road than it’s going to be. And so it is one of those things. But like you said before, you’ve got to consciously make that decision where it’s like I’m no longer going to be a trad and I’m going to actually be a businessman. And we see that a lot in coaching that that’s the turning point for a lot of people that actually it makes their business work. It’s that mental decision in their own mind where it’s like, I’m no longer going to be a great tradesman. I’m going to actually run be a businessman, which is a huge identity shift that a lot of people struggle to make. So it sounds like you made that early your time, which is set you on this path.

Speaker 1 (19:41):

And I think I touched on it with the questionnaire thing, that thing there, it was basically, I don’t believe business should be easy. That’s not saying that it’s not easy in times, but I feel like it can give you so much and it definitely, it shouldn’t just become easy. It should be hard. It should test you, and it should only be for the people that actually want to stay in it. And because it can give you all the freedom that you want in the world. And a lot of guys, when you make that decision, if you want to stay a good tradesman or if you want to be a business owner, a lot of guys, as you said, it’s glorified, but they can just stay a good tradesman and earn just as much, if not more money being a tradesman with less stress, be that number two, be that number three. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (20:28):

Definitely. Definitely.

Speaker 1 (20:31):

So passionate. So passionate about it.

Speaker 3 (20:34):

It’s easy to do. I can see it. I can hear it. What then brought you into this world of coaching? Obviously you’ve been very direct in terms of you know what you want, your path’s clear, your awareness is good, what’s the trigger that sort of goes, all right, I’m going to get into coaching. Or was it just literally you’re on Facebook scrolling away and as most people say, Rob popped up and this guy never left me alone from then.

Speaker 1 (20:58):

Nah. So my pathway to coaching was a little bit skewed it. I didn’t reach out to Pravar straight away. It was always there. And I did a little bit of background research. I can’t remember the full, I can’t really remember, but I remember just seeing a few of the companies that you guys you’d worked with, and I remember doing a bit of a back diving deep into those companies as well before I even reached out. I remember just looking into those companies, how structured are they? What are they actually doing right now? And I even got the names of the directors and got into their Facebook and went back to old photos to see what, just literally that’s what I did. And yeah, the the turning point for me was I obviously was able to afford it. That was number one. And number two was that I was literally just stuck. I remember sitting down with Rob on that first call and I remember saying to him, I’ve hit what I thought at the time was like a glass ceiling.

(22:01):

I wasn’t tapped out, I wasn’t on the brinks of bankruptcy or anything like that. I just couldn’t get myself to that next thing. I had no roadmap. That’s what we used, but there was no plan. There was no do this, do that, do this was I was literally just stuck. And I remember saying to Rob, I’m highly motivated. I sort of know the direction that I wanted to go, but I need someone to help me and clear as day. Remember that conversation. And in all honesty, it’s going to sound super cheesy, but from then on forward, it was life changing. It just really changed my life, even to the point where Tamara had even said to me, it’s honestly the best thing I’d ever done. Yeah, honestly, the best thing I ever did.

Speaker 2 (22:48):

We see that a lot where that moment of clarity is what propels a lot of people forward. It’s that, like you said, you’re feeling stuck. A lot of other people feel trapped and confused is that it’s almost like you said, that glass ceiling, they don’t know how to move forward, but it was that moment of clarity which really propelled you forward. And yeah, it’s been quite the journey since, hasn’t it?

Speaker 1 (23:12):

From where we can touch on it later, but from where I was then to where I am now in such a short time. As you said, I’ve only been in coaching for a short amount of time, but man, the business has changed and I’ve changed. It’s polar opposite. You put that guy that sat down that call and me now side by side, completely different, completely different guys. So yeah, it’s been a hell of a journey, but yeah.

Speaker 3 (23:40):

So how would you describe, now who was that guy that showed up, just to give that context, who was the guy that did show up and walk through the doors?

Speaker 1 (23:47):

Okay, so a bit of context. I won’t go through all the nitty gritty stuff, but when I sat down with that call, this is how it played out. I was still on the tour five, six days a week. Anyone else was doing cashies on Saturdays and cashies on Sunday. I had a ute in a trailer. I had five guys, but I was still on site running those guys. There was, I think it was three or four apprentices and one other tradie that was the structure, if you want to call it that. And the style of work that we were doing was hit and miss. It was just whatever we could take whenever we could take it. Pipeline was not even a thing. Cashflow. Well, that was just week to week. And yeah, that was that guy. I was still wearing the hive, still wearing the boots, rocking up my daughter.

(24:34):

My oldest daughter was, I think she was one or nearly one at the time. And yeah, I would leave it, I would leave home at five with Charlie in the bed with Tamara. I would get home at 5:30-6 and maybe catch her just before she was going to sleep. But that was normal. That was normal for me. That was normal for Tamara. It was just, and fast forward to where I am now. We’ve got, what do we got? 16 people on the ground. I’ve got an admin, an estimator, a content guy, an office, three teams, four days. I’m only doing four days a week. Fridays I’m off. And on average I’m in the office from about nine o’clock and I usually leave by about three and we’re cashflow forecasting and all the other fun stuff. So it sounds glorious like that, but I’ll tell you, it’s been a hell of a journey. And that’s what I mean about putting those two guys side by side. If you told me back then in 18 months or in two years, this is where you’re going to be. I wouldn’t believe it. I just wouldn’t believe it. I’d be like, oh, that’d be mad. But yeah, I just wouldn’t believe it.

Speaker 3 (25:47):

I think there’s so much in that what you’ve described and you’ve done it so well. I think there’s the idea that what you’ve already talked about, which is being driven, that obviously is a big part of this. You’ve got to drive and an idea if there’s somewhere you want to go. When you came through the doors, you weren’t necessarily sure what that was. Secondly, I think there’s a huge work ethic to go, well, I know there’s a price to be paid and there’s a realism to what you’re getting in for. You’re not just sort of wishing and hoping that this is a magic bullet. But I think the third thing, which I’d love to talk about is your ability to execute. Because it’s one thing to hear all of this in your theory. We’ve had guys that come in exactly where you are, hear exactly the same information, have the same knowledge base, but fail to put it together with execution. So talk to us a bit about your approach to execution and stick with the business side and then we’ll talk a bit more about where this execution aspect of your world comes in.

Speaker 1 (26:39):

So well, I’ll go back to day one. So when I got off the call with Rob, I literally remember getting off that call going into the kitchen looking at Tamara and saying, this is what I’m doing. I said, this is it. This is what we’re doing. She didn’t ask me to bet the money. She didn’t ask about anything. I just said, this is what we’re doing. She said, okay, let’s do it. And I don’t know, I can’t really put my finger on the actual thing. It was just a light bulb, a switch just flipped. And I know we’re going to go just business. But if I just touch on the personal aspect of, well, I can tell you it goes hand in hand. It literally goes hand in hand.

(27:22):

As I sort of said previously, it was in order for me to go all in on business and execute day in day out, I had to be a hundred percent. I couldn’t be going out on a Saturday night or coming home and punching seven beers and then rocking into a call on Tuesday. Oh boys, how are you? I would just feel like I’m cheating. I’m cheating what I’m paying for. I’m cheating my family. I’m not making the most out of it. And I just couldn’t do that. So yeah, I don’t know. It was just me. It was just, I can’t really explain it. I can’t really explain it.

Speaker 3 (27:54):

You talked about afl, you flicked a switch, a switch flicked. Had you ever done that before? Did you have anywhere in your past? Did you know that that gear existed or that switch even? Was there?

Speaker 1 (28:07):

No, no. In all honesty, no word of a lie, no. Even to the point now where I’m even, I’m trying to dial it back a little bit because I’m feeling now that I’m not snowballing, but I definitely feel like I feel so motivated and so energised just day to day just to execute on things that it’s just like I can’t see anything else. Not that I’m letting down anyone else, it’s just like I’m just so persistent that I got to do it, I got to do it, I got to do it. And it does go hand in hand being obviously the physical journey and all that sort of stuff that’s just really helped me to get there and do it.

Speaker 3 (28:49):

Well let’s bring that in the physical journey. You talk about this idea of execution and everything we’re talking about. I think the most obvious thing for us was, I’ll never forget it, Rob, there was the post that came up and we’re like, who the hell is this guy? What the hell’s going on here? What happened to Corey?

Speaker 1 (29:05):

I can’t remember when. I think I posted it in the chat in our little little chat and it got circled around. And next thing you know, I’m getting all these boys messaging me being like, oh yeah.

Speaker 3 (29:17):

So we’ve got to give context for the people listening what actually happened and talk us through that sort of little journey as a little subplot if you like, to this whole story about what you’ve been on.

Speaker 1 (29:27):

So I’ll keep it nice and short and sweet. So I sat down with Rob. I was 90, I think 94, 95 kilos, typical tradie diet, eating whatever I wanted ice, anything and everything, two, three beers in the afternoon, beers on a Friday afternoon, beers on a Saturday. There was no nothing. It was just anything and everything. And when I got home at 5:30 in the afternoon, I was done tapped out. I literally would go to sleep in my work clothes and then wake up at 10 o’clock and be like, oh, I’ve got to have a shower and get dressed. And that was the sort of lifestyle that I was living and the light bulb moment when I got off the call with Rob, I just remember saying to myself, well, how am I going to be able to show up every day and execute on what they’re asking me to execute if I’m not feeling even mentally or physically?

(30:22):

The mental thing wasn’t even there at the point. It was more the physical, and I feel like that’s what people get out first is that you don’t want to feel sluggish. You don’t want to be tired all the time, and it’s not normal just to feel tired all the time. It’s not. And for me, I thought that was normal. So yeah, I just went down the journey of trying to, I think the first thing was just making sure I was drinking water. There was no, I wasn’t. But you talk about small steps. You hear about the journey and you’re like, oh, it’s such a big change. How do you do it? It was literally so small. The steps were so minute. That’s what it was. It was just, I set the goal for three weeks. I remember on my Bevan, on my first thing, it was I want to drink more water.

(31:08):

So for three months, that’s all I really focused in on. Obviously it didn’t take me three months to just drink water, but in two, three weeks I just said to myself every day, I’m going to drink more water. And then after that, then I went, okay, well every day I’m going to pack my lunch and then every day I’m going to try not to eat X, Y, and Z. And then it went from that to then alcohol and so on and so on and so on. And it was all these little steps that I did along the way. And then it was like a light bulb moment. I think it was like three months or six months in, I just realised, I was like, man, I’m feeling better. I’ve got more energy. And then it just propelled me to even go even further to even lean in now, even further to it, I just know that once the physical aspect kicked in and I seen the transformation there, it was the mental, and now it’s all the mentality. For me, that was the kicker.

Speaker 3 (32:06):

What you’re referencing there is a lot around the power of momentum really. We talk about this in our Bevan framework about habits. Rob, jump in if you want, but the idea that it’s going to be one thing at a time, over time, and you’re going to have to build up on these small things and they add up over time, and it doesn’t take a huge amount of motivation. I mean, you’ll get to the end of where you got to on this physical journey, but it wasn’t just that you had to be motivated to the hilt every day. It was literally the discipline of doing these small things over and over, maintaining the momentum that kept you going forward.

Speaker 2 (32:39):

And I know, Dan, you were trying to compartmentalise business and the personal journey that Corey’s had, but it’s actually really hard to, because in coaching, this is why we have so much success, and you’ve seen it through our previous stories. We’ve told on the podcast that they go hand in hand that business transformation and personal transformation go hand in hand together. Because the more that you work, we call it our Bevan framework, where you named after a guy called Michael Bevan the cricketer, the more you focus on your daily success habits and focus on hitting something one every day, every week, and changing those personal things flows through into the business, and then the business changes flow into personal and they all go hand in hand. And every story that you’ve heard here on the podcast, you would’ve noticed the common thread is that the business changed once the owner had made the decision to change. And the more that they changed, that reflected in their business. And so I know you were trying to do it, Dan, but it’s so hard to keep them separate because it’s so intertwined. And coaching for us is not just hard-nosed business coaching, it’s life and personal coaching combined with it where that’s what creates the ultimate change along the way.

Speaker 3 (33:52):

And I like the fact that we’ve landed here because when you try and describe it, if you’re listening and you haven’t experienced this or you haven’t gone down that path before, you’ve got one or the other. So it’s always sort of, you try and explain one, but when you talk to people that are in this journey that live in this space and occupy coaching in this sort of world that we live in, there’s no delineation. You always end up blurring the lines. It always comes across as well, the mind, the energy, all of that plays a part in business and personal stuff. So yeah, it’s a great point.

Speaker 2 (34:20):

And we’re not PTs, we’re not health guys, we’re not wellness people, but all we’re doing is asking the question going, how are you showing up every day? Are you showing up as the best version of yourself? And what fundamental habit do you have to change this quarter, which is going to make you a better person? And just by asking those really powerful questions, which is the role of a good coach, is to ask the question, and then the person getting coached in Corey’s instance can make that decision to be able to go, well, this is what I’m going to do to improve myself. And then they go on that journey to implement a champion. And so yeah, we’re not experts in health and wellbeing, are we, Dan? But we’re just very good at asking good questions,

Speaker 3 (34:59):

Corey, and this is the thing, right? A glass of water or drinking more water leads to packing a lunch leads to where it goes, what happens next?

Speaker 1 (35:08):

And then it was just obviously trying to get into the gym two days a week. And then the next challenge is a lot of the listeners will go, well, I don’t have the time for that. But then that’s what I mean about the coaching and leaning in. It’s like, okay, well if that’s listed there, then you work out a way to make time do it. And that was another thing. Then I was like, okay, well if I want to set this, if I want to do that, whether it’s two days a week or whatever, I’m going to make the time to do it. And then I would allocate that thing as that’s what I needed to do on that day. And then the next thing was I was like, okay, well I can do that two days a week, then I’ll do three days a week.

(35:44):

And then, okay, well now I’ve got that down. And then it was so on and so on. Even to the point where if everyone wants to get context one now is social media. I was like, my phone, that’s a common one that I see amongst the group as well is trying to kick that bucket. And that one literally is probably the hardest one for me because it’s always in your face. But that’s something that I’m working on currently right now. So it’s not always about drinking water, get in the gym and trying to get a six pack. That’s not what at the start, that’s what I wanted. I wanted to lose a little bit of weight, but the soon as I started to see it benefit the business, that is what just fed it even more. And that’s sort of what I’m saying. It wasn’t that I was chasing a physique or trying to get on stage or do X, Y, and Z. That’s what it turned into. That’s what I got, but it wasn’t my, it’s not the end result.

Speaker 3 (36:40):

Yeah, it sounds like you fell in love. There’s this idea of falling in love with the process and not the result.

Speaker 1 (36:45):

Yeah, that’s it. And I think that also goes hand in hand with business as well, is it’s you. That’s what I was sort of saying before about you either are a business owner or you’re not. And I feel like the guys that are in it, it’s not always about that end result. You just love the game that we play and the game isn’t always fair. It’s not always pretty or the best, but hey, we love what we do and we love the nitty gritty of it. And you sit back at the end of you go, wait, isn’t this fun? What we see in you is this whole no excuses mindset. That’s what we see where there are no excuses. Once you make the decision in your mind, you’re going to do it. You have that high levels of accountability just to get in and get the job done, and you have a zero tolerance for excuses. Talk us through a little bit about that mindset that we can see in you. Talk us through that.

(37:41):

So the no excuse mindset, it’s not about, I just want to reiterate to the guys that are listening as well. It’s not that I’ve got two kids of my own life is not perfect every day. There are challenges that come in, kids get sick. Last night, one of our dogs had a seizure. There was all these things that come in external things. So nothing’s ever perfect, but I think my no excuse thing that I have is just, I will make a way to get it to work. I will find a way if it’s not perfect today, even if I don’t give it a hundred percent, I’ll give it 10% or I’ll try my best and just stay consistent with it. So a prime example, everyone says, oh, I don’t have an hour to go to the gym, or I don’t have half an hour. There’s been days where I’ll literally walk in for 10 minutes and then I’ll walk out.

(38:29):

But that whole mentality of going there, getting out, going in, walking for 15 minutes and getting out that did it do anything? Probably not. But I still can say to myself at the end of the day when my head hits the pillow that I tried my best and I’ll go again tomorrow. And I feel like if you start to really let yourself off, that’s how I sort of say it to myself. If I say to myself, oh, it’s all good. I just won’t go today, it’s fine. It’s not that it’s I’m trying to be weak or anything like that. It’s just like I just want to give myself no excuse to do it. I’ll work out a way if I’ve got to sacrifice a little bit of sleep, if I’ve got to do X, Y, and Z, I just do it. Yeah. So that’s my approach. But as I’ve sort of said to some of the boys as well, that’s just how I am. That’s not how everyone needs to be. Everyone’s got their own way that they like to do things. But that’s just me. It’s just me. I don’t try to put it on. I don’t try to be a certain thing. That’s just me. I don’t know.

Speaker 3 (39:26):

I think it’s a good point. This isn’t a directive or a way that you, Rob, you touched on. It’s not the way we coach it, it’s just your journey that you’re sharing what has worked for you and what is good. And I think that idea of no excuses for you is more around even just the idea of it’s most people get it backwards. I think it’s, it’s okay to skip things if it means that they’re not going to suck at it, but really it’s the other way around. It’s okay to suck at it, but it’s not okay to skip it. That’s really the mentality that you’ve taken and the value you’ve put on developing.

Speaker 1 (39:57):

And that’s the approach with coaching as well. It’s not always about being a hundred percent with it or trying to, you got to know it all. No, you try your best. If your head’s not in it, still attend, still try to give it as much as you can and then you’re ticking the box and you’re going again. But I think the most important thing is just doing the best that you can at that point in time with what you can.

Speaker 2 (40:25):

I think the common thread here is that, and we see this with a broad range of clients that we’ve got at Pravar, is that the common thread amongst guys like Corey and other guys who exceed exceptionally well compared to other people on other journeys who may not inside or outside coaching, who never really feel like they get ahead. It’s the ability to execute or have excuses. And I think for the guys that we see in coaching who just do exceptionally well in coaching, they get really clear on what they want. They know why they want it, and they execute like a champion. And yes, they push back and challenge something and go, why are we doing this and why are we doing that? But it’s the ability to get in, get on with it, get it done, and get onto the next thing. And that’s what helps them move forward faster than they’ve ever done. Whereas other guys are, oh, I don’t know if I want to do this, or is this going to work? There’s all this doubt and insecurities and excuses creep in, and that’s the thing that slows ’em down and as a result, the results aren’t there. So it’s chalk and cheese in the end of the day. It’s all mindset in the end of the day.

Speaker 3 (41:41):

It is. And I think it’s also then you’re leaning into this other key, I think to what your journey’s been so far, Corey is you strengthening decision making. It’s making that decision and not sitting on the fence, Rob. It’s about getting out there and saying, all right, this is what we’re going to do, or we’re either going to do it or not. It’s not about being tentative and going, well, I wonder if it’ll work and I’ll watch to see if it works without doing anything to enact or make that action happen.

Speaker 2 (42:02):

Let’s talk about this on a business front, Corey, around some of the key decisions you have made in the last 18 months in coaching. Talk us through some of the real key levers or the real significant decisions that you’ve made, which has helped you go from you and a handful of guys to where you are today. You were explaining before. Talk us through some of those decisions and that journey.

Speaker 1 (42:24):

Yeah. Well, the number one decision was getting a coach. That was the number one decision shortly after that. It was obviously as we push getting an admin and then the realisation of like, okay, well I’ve got a small family, I’m not going to get the admin to come to my house. So I was like, okay, I need to get an office. So if I could put it down to key things, it would be the admin, the office, and now I’m at the point where we’re getting an estimator. They are probably the most pivotal things, but for the listeners, if everyone, oh, I can’t afford that, it’s easier said than done.

(43:05):

As I said, I’ll go back the admin, I remember literally sitting down with Rob and going, oh, I dunno if I can afford it. I dunno about that. And I touched on previously about the whole paralysis by analysis situation where you sit there and you have a look at what you’ve got currently and you look at it and you go, oh nah, I can’t, I can’t, can’t afford it. I’m going to go bankrupt. I can’t do it. So for me, in having that coach there to be like, listen, do it. These are the examples of people that have done it and this is where they’ve got to. So my wife being so lovely that she just said, well, what’s the worst thing that can happen? You’re going to get ’em in. You’re going to have to move ’em on. So I did it and that just pulled the lever to buy me back so much time, literally so much time. And then you go down the journey of like, okay, well what do you do with your time? And so on and so on. It goes on and on and on. So same when you get an estimator as a business owner, you’re just constantly pricing, pricing, pricing. Then when you palm that off to someone, you sit there and you go, okay, well what do I do now?

(44:08):

So they were the key pivotal things for me to really get me moving in that direction.

Speaker 2 (44:15):

Talk us through there. There’s a couple of others there in terms of really dialling in your identity in the market you’re going to sit in and also your ability to get off the tools and grow your ground crew. Talk us through those really two key plays as well.

Speaker 1 (44:28):

So at the start, as I sort of mentioned earlier on was we were dealing solely B2C, so a business to consumer or client or whatever you want to call it. And I was dealing with Mr. And Mrs. Jones or Joanne or these people. And I just learned earlier on that I didn’t like my phone ringing at 8:00 PM on a Saturday night or I didn’t like that whole philosophy of dealing with B2C and you’re dealing with sheer emotion. A lot of it was just emotion where when you go B2B, you don’t answer your phone at 6:00 PM on a Monday. Well, that’s normal. You’re not going to get a foul text message saying, you better get back to me or anything like that. And don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of people that deal B2C, but that was the lessons that I learned that I didn’t want to go down.

(45:21):

And there’s pros and cons to both. So yeah, that was obviously a key. And there was COVID and all this other sort of stuff. It was hard to get into client’s houses and lockdowns and this, that and the other. It was a lot easier to get onto blank developments where no one lived. It was organically pushed me in that direction. Then when I got there, I thought, I like this thing of my phone not ringing on a Saturday and Sunday or every time it rains, I’m not having a heart attack thinking that someone’s roof’s going to fall in. So yeah, that was another massive lever that I pulled.

Speaker 2 (46:00):

And with team as well. I know that a big part of you said at the start of this episode, that culture and creating an environment where people want to belong has been a huge driver for you. Talk us through your journey over the last, say, 12 to 18 months in terms of how you’ve gone about that. You’ve obviously grown your team significantly, but talk us through that journey for you in terms of developing your own leadership skills and the desire to really want to build that culture where people want to belong.

Speaker 1 (46:28):

It’s still a massive journey that I’m on currently being a leader and learning how to talk to everyone differently because the same way that I talk to my carpenters is not the same way that I talk to my bookkeeper or accountant or admin or anything like that, but right at the start, and I feel like a lot of guys will vouch for this, when I started to make that transition away from being on site, there was a massive turnover of staff, not because I got rid of it, I could just tell a lot of them weren’t with it or they didn’t agree with it. So I had to swallow that pill. And then, but then once I started getting in the new a lot of staff and they started to see that that was the norm, then everything changed. And that was a journey on its own is to elaborate on that for hours on what that was like. But yeah, that was crazy.

Speaker 2 (47:25):

We call this our mate to manager framework in launch, and it’s such a big step that it’s such a big step that someone in their journey in the trades business has to take where they’re no longer one of the boys on site to start to warn themselves off the tools. And there’s this whole guilt, there’s this identity change. They’re all of a sudden the boys on site and hanging shit on you because you’ve got your soft hands in the office. It’s such a big journey. You’ve got to go on to be able to give yourself permission to somewhat step off the job site and really start working on the things that matter in the business, isn’t it?

Speaker 1 (47:58):

And the guilt was the biggest. That was, I literally remember a call where I brought that up and that was the biggest thing for me was the guilt aspect. When there was 40 degree days and I was in the office, not in all honesty, there was moments where I would sit there and what do I do? But then I’m like, oh, do I go out to site, go and help the boys? And I just always remember, and this is why it’s so important to have people in and around you, is just to direct me and be like, no, don’t do that because then you are stuffing up how the guys are on site. And over time, as I lent more into it, and I was like, no, that is true. That is true. And I just kept leaning into it even further. I started to realise, okay, that is the truth. Yeah, that is the truth. Now, when I go to site, I always joke to the boys, or even builders or whoever I’m dealing with, developers and that I always jokingly say to ’em, if you guys see me here, it ain’t a good sign. If you see me rock up one day with a tool belt on, no good, no good, yeah.

Speaker 2 (49:06):

Dan, I love that slide. If you teach in launch where there’s that image of the goldfish laying in the chair all sideways and doing it, no one’s going to be able to see it. But it’s the goldfish all curled up in the chair. And our slide is when you’re transitioning from a mate to a manager, you’re going to feel like a fish out of water. And that’s what happens when you go on this journey, which you went on, Corey, you felt like a fish out of water. You felt the guilt. You had to give yourself permission. There were no doubt times you were worried about what the boys are thinking or what they were saying. It’s a real mindset shift to be able to work through it. It just takes time. And you’ve got to really learn to love that new role and be okay feeling like a fishy out of water we talk about in coaching.

Speaker 1 (49:51):

Yeah. Yeah. It’s crazy. It’s crazy. And for the guys that are in that part where they’re thinking of making that jump or they’re thinking of, yeah, I need to do it, is I remember writing down, it was similar to the other list, I just put key things that I wasn’t going to do. So it was even a small thing like, okay, I used to get invited for Friday afternoon beers. I cut that out and that was a massive game changer, if you want to call it that. From that mate to manager thing, I basically put a line in the sand and I cut that out. I pulled, when I got the office originally there was beers in the office. I cut that. I pulled beers out of the office. I pulled me going to Friday drinks. It doesn’t mean, and this was something that I communicated with the guys as well. It doesn’t mean that I’m not their mate. It doesn’t mean that they can’t ring me and talk to me and stuff like that. But it was just a line of sound that I wanted to create. And how I did that is I always used to say to, oh, I’ve got a meeting. I’m doing this, I’m doing that. I’m pricing. It wasn’t that at all. And yes, at the start it was weird. It was a weird feeling. But then over time, what happened?

(50:57):

It set the tone. It set the tone. So then when you had to have those hard conversations. You’re not having it as a mate, you’re having it as their boss. And I think, yeah.

Speaker 3 (51:06):

That’s really well said, mate. I think what you’ve done is you’ve grown as a leader and you’ve pushed yourself to do this stuff. And where I want to get to as we sort of come towards the end of this is so much of what you’ve explained today sounds like you’ve tried this thing, you’ve just gone along with it and it’s worked. And we know that there’s a massive amount of work in there, but the amount of challenge that’s in there for you, this is challenging. It doesn’t come easy. I think, for example, I know you’ve got a podcast, you’ve got social media, you’ve got all this stuff in place. This isn’t easy for you to do. You’re not naturally like, Hey, I’ll just start a podcast. Hey, I’m just going to become a manager after being a mate with everyone. Talk about what you find challenging and the things that actually underneath the water, maybe you’re pedalling harder than what people might get from just this story today.

Speaker 1 (51:53):

Yeah, so it’s definitely doesn’t come naturally. I wasn’t naturally born a leader or naturally born a guy on socials or anything like that. It was just, as I said right at the start of this, I just knew the end goal. I knew the life that I wanted to live, and I just knew by doing what I was doing previously and all these little things in between, it just wasn’t going to get me there. Hence that was it. And I think going along the journey and being a part of a process or a coaching or whatever it was, it was just that just helped me. Having that roadmap there and those steps there to say, okay, well if you want to live this life, everyone says, oh, I want to be a millionaire. I want to drive a lamb. I want to move over to Europe for six months. Whatever it is, it doesn’t matter. Once you have that picture there and you want to get there, okay, well that’s all good and well, we talk about this in the thing if you guys, but it’s how are you actually going to get there? It becomes less important about the dream, but more about the steps on how to get there. And so that was the game changer for me. I always knew what I wanted and once I made that call to have those steps in place, it just enabled me to every week and every month just change the person that I was. The same guy, the guy that’s sitting here on this call now that’s talking with you guys now isn’t the same guy that was around four months ago. So yeah, constantly evolving, constantly evolving. And yes, it doesn’t all come naturally. I don’t just naturally know how to speak to my admin or know naturally how to have a team.

(53:29):

We have team meetings now in the office. I’ve got like 20 people all staring at me and I still get nervous and I sit there, but you just got to do it and just know that you’re doing it for a bigger picture and lean in. You got to lean in all the way. You’ve got to lean in all the way. We use all these little sayings along the way in coaching, but as soon as you feel that it’s scary or you’re unsure, that is the perfect opportunity just to lean in even further, go against the grain. Don’t just try to go back to your little comfort spot. And a lot of guys’ comfort spot is being on site, being with the boys, having that banter, but do you really want to do that forever? I don’t know. That’s a conversation you’d have with yourself.

Speaker 3 (54:15):

Yeah, for sure, for sure. You mentioned then that you’re not the same guys. Even four months ago you were just about to leave the launch programme and go into leverage. As we said, we’d love to have you back to expand on this journey that you’re going on through coaching, and that’s sort of our idea. If we were to say to you in four months time, who’s the Corey that’s going to show up, what do you think? What are you looking for? What are you aiming for? What comes to mind when you think about you in four months?

Speaker 1 (54:41):

I think if I can build a bigger business, play a bigger game and do the same input that I’m doing hours and days, I’m a happy man. If I can still work on my health, work on business, be there for my kids. My youngest one has just started daycare now as well, so I’d like to be a little bit more involved with that, with the drop-offs and the pickups and stuff like that. And that to me will be perfect. And I don’t feel like that’s not me being dramatic either. So if I can play a bigger game and do all that and have the same sort of input, that’s it. I hope I don’t sit back in four months and be doing 60 hour weeks. I know Rob will slap me over the face and be like, that’s not what we’re about yet. So yeah, I know. I know. So yeah, that’s it.

Speaker 2 (55:30):

I know the journey that’s in front of you. I can’t wait for the next few months in front because as we talk about in leverage a lot, it’s going forward. It’s not about how hard you work, it’s about how well you lead. And leverage has got the foundation set now to really scale team, not time, and there’s nothing stopping. You double, tripling, quadrupling your business and it’s still working the same amount of hours, not about more hours in, creates more results out. And so yeah, we can’t wait to get you into leverage and really develop those soft skills to be able to help you really take this business to another level, which is awesome.

Speaker 1 (56:06):

No, super keen. Hopefully everyone can listen back to this and we can go through all the nitty gritty stuff in about four months.

Speaker 2 (56:14):

We’re really proud of you, mate. You’ve done an awesome job over the last 18 months. It’s been quite the journey and you’ve just executed like a champion and yeah, we are really proud of you and we know you’ve got a really bright future ahead of you, so we can’t wait to see where you take it. And yeah, we’re stoked for you, mate. You’ve done an incredible job not only on the business front, but the way you show up as a husband and as a father and a dad and everything as well. So it’s been awesome as a leader. It’s been great.

Speaker 3 (56:43):

Absolutely. So Corey, take us out with the rest of this story about this transformation that rocked the Pravar world when it all came through. Yeah, yeah. What was going on?

Speaker 1 (56:53):

It’s almost like model category, isn’t it? It wasn’t photoshopped. No. Anyway, I’ll leave it nice and short and sweet. So I start, as I said, it was 90, I was 95 kilos and I got all the way down to 71, so that was the final end result. And I didn’t stay at 71. It was just unachievable, but it goes hand in hand. I lent all the way in and I wanted to push myself to the absolute limit and I don’t think I’ll ever go that low again. But yeah, that was a journey on itself as well.

Speaker 2 (57:29):

But the photo was you were pumping your guns, the chiselled ads were out. It was almost like you were modelling. No one knows, but I nearly passed out. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (57:43):

That’s going to be the new Pravar campaign photo. We’ll just put photos of that up everywhere if you want to look like this.

Speaker 1 (57:48):

Yeah, that’s it. That’s it, isn’t it, boys? You put the highlights on socials, that’s it. They don’t ever see the days of just constantly just constant.

Speaker 3 (57:58):

It was a huge effort mate, and a lot went into that, but I think it just goes to show, as we said all the way through this, that you stick with it, you lean in, you get some amazing results. So you’ve done that mate really, really well. We’re going to let you go. Thanks again. We’d love to have you back on if you’re up for it. So yeah, we look forward to seeing the journey being there with you all the way along. And Rob, if anyone else is listening, you want to let ’em know what they can do to jump in and maybe join the same journey.

Speaker 2 (58:24):

Absolutely. If you’ve enjoyed today’s episode and like with Corey, you’ve just got to make that decision that you’re ready to make some change. And if you’re in that position where you’ve made the choice to make the change, then jump across to strategysession.com.au book in a time that suits you. And I really look forward to jumping on a call and laying that path for you, giving you that moment of clarity and helping you achieve some amazing things because totally possible when you have the right mindset, the right plan in front of you. So looking forward to chatting to you. And until next time, have a great week and looking forward to coming back to you next week with another great episode on The Trade Den. See you soon.