BONUS: Spark Your Interest Podcast with Josh Ford | 84

Check out Fordie's stuff below ⬇️

• Spark Your Interest podcast
• Lock out and Live

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🤔 Questions? Ask me on Instagram 👉🏼 HERE

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Transcript

 



Spark. The spark that sparks your interest. Welcome to Simplified Spark Your Marketing. Bit of a different episode here. As a bonus, I am going to release the audio from my podcast with Josh Ford from Spark Your Interest podcast. I had the pleasure of jumping onto his podcast a few weeks ago and we just had a, a marvelous chat.

And just a bit of an insight into my background. Just went a little bit deeper into where it'd all begun for me, and I will drop links to Josh's stuff as well, such as his podcast and one of his other businesses. Lock out and live more awareness around locking out switchboards and stuff when you're working on them.

So I hope you enjoyed the chat, and I will catch you on Friday for the usual podcast.

Hi guys. Welcome back, spark Interest Podcast, and today I'm on a Zoom. I've got Alan Collins from Westcorp Electrical and Simplified Sparky Marketing. You've probably seen him, um, pop up on your Instagram. If you haven't, Alan runs like a, he's, I, I, I honestly reckon like your, your Instagram page and your, um, I guess the tips you give for people is so good and it's like some awesome free, um, I guess content on marketing and stuff for Sparky.

So it's, uh, we're gonna get into that. We'll obviously get into your electrical side as well, and yeah. Welcome. Welcome on, mate. How you going? 

Uh, good. 40. Um, yeah, though, thanks so much for having me on. Uh, it is, I've been following your stuff with the Goodwill and I know there's, there's a whole nest and a circle of people that are together in your area and just communicate on, on Instagram and stuff.

So happy to be on the podcast and happy to be part of that and, uh, looking forward to it. 

Oh, mate, thanks for, um, thanks for taking the time. Look, we obviously, we chat a little bit, uh, um, I guess. Like some of the, some of the stuff you put out is, it's not all tailored to, I guess, us in the sense of the type of work we do, but some of the stuff's like that I haven't thought of is so good.

Like the marketing thing is, I feel like tradies in general probably suck at the marketing side. I feel like you've, you know, you've obviously found a way to dial that in. Like for something that we, we definitely struggled with when looking into doing it. And I guess a lot of people pay people to do it for them and they take it outta their hands.

So do you say like, the stuff you do is, is, I guess you give people tips on how to do that sort of stuff themselves, eh? 

Yeah. It's excellent because the, I, I was there as well and you were most likely there. You, you get your electrical license and then you're like, okay, cool, what do I do? And then you listen to your friends and family and people that are employed and they tell you to, you know, work for builders or real estate strata, go down these avenues of what they presume you're gonna make money with.

Nobody has no clue what work to get or work to do. And then not only that is they're not charging correctly for the work, but we, when once we get our license, we don't know how to market. We start, we just, what we do is we copy everybody else. We go to their Instagram's, their Facebook, whatever, um, websites.

And it's a case of like, do I just copy what this electrician's doing? 'cause they seem to be busy, but what they're doing may not be the correct marketing to target their ideal clients. So what I do is to get electricians very clear on their ideal clients, their messaging and all of that, that's gonna attract their, their ideal type of work and then run a profitable business after that.

So it's, it's vital that Sparkies get dialed into what they, they actually want to do. And the most profitable work. Because there's no point in being business if you're not, if you're not gonna make money. 

Exactly. There's not worth the stress. Totally. What, um, so if we bounce, we'll bounce back to like obviously what you're doing now, but if like it's, I was just saying before, like it ties in well that we're doing this 'cause you're obviously, um, not born in Australia, if anyone can tell by the accent, the Irish accent that, uh, that, um, so how you, how long have you been here for and then what was your transition like from like moving over mo moving overseas as an electrician?

Were you saying you just finished your time? 

I started my apprenticeship in 2005. Um, so as I was saying to you, I 20 years at it this year and I just finished my apprenticeship in and around 2010. So I came out to Australia in April, 2010 for a year and, um, stepped outside the, the airport and was like, it's not raining.

This place isn't too bad. And gave a living here 

illegally ever since. Yeah. 

Yeah. Shh. But, uh, I've, uh, yeah, so basically me, me and my mate flew over. So none of my, none of my close mates from home, um, came with me. It was a guy that went through my tafe, the TAFE equivalent in Ireland's called fo, but it's now another name, it's Soleus.

I reached out to him. I knew he'd be kind of keen to come with me, so he jumped in a plane with me. We both landed over here. We were promised a job. Like one guy, one guy, um, that from my local town said, I know a guy over there. Give him a call once you land. I've called him. He said, there's jobs, no worries to me and my friends.

Um, headed over, uh, packed our bags, landed, headed over and all that, and then jumped out, rang the guy off like a day once we settled. And he is like, nah, no, I've got no job. So we're like the other side of the world with no fucking clue what to do. Um, so what do you do? But we just headed to the pub and had had a few beers and got chatting to these really good guys for about two hours.

And we were like, what do you actually do? And they were like, we're we're electricians. And they were like, oh, does your boss have work? And then he happened to have work, but it work. It turned out that that guy was absolutely screwing down, like particularly backpackers. We were working for like $22 an hour, a BNI won't name the company, but we were working.

Where, 

where, where did you land? Where were you in Sydney? Uh, 

I was straight to Bondi. Uh, straight. Yeah, as you do so, so, um, landed in Sydney, then went to, went to Bondi for, um, for a few months, then kinda moved around a bit from there. But, um, yeah, we got started with that company and then just kind of just job hopped and then my mate parted.

He went, he went back to Ireland and I ended up working for a company, which I'm still good mates with, the owner in Sydney at the moment. And my very first day with them there was an issue with the brake lights. On the van. And I had tinkered a lot with cars at all, like retro cars, um, that I played around with.

And I, we went to the job. He was stressing out and freaking out that he had to leave the job and take the van to get serviced and all of that. So he, the breakouts wouldn't go off. And I goes, did you check the brake pedal? The little switch on the brake pedal? And he was like, no, what the fuck you talking about?

So like, that's how the lights stick is like they come on, when you press the pedal, it pushes a button. So he was like, no. I was like, you wd 40. You went to the back or went to the, he went to the back. I went to the pedal, like spray WD 40, freed it up and then the light went off low and behold. And he was ecstatic.

And that evening I got a call from the office saying, would you like sponsorship? It was my very first day and said that's all it took. They were like, let's tie this guy down. So yeah, that was, and then I spent four years with them and did a stint in the mines in Sino and in Western Australia. And then.

From there. I, I would always plot it. Once I left that company, I was plotting to start my own gig anyway, so I went to the mines for three months, came back, was with a laborer company for a little bit, and then started my own gig in 2016. So that's, yeah, that's when I started my company 

B. Cool. That's awesome.

So what's, um, what sort of stuff were you doing in the, in, in Ireland? Like what sort of work were you doing? Like when you were finishing, like over there compared to here, what sort of, were you in this, was he residential over there, or commercial or, or bit of everything. It was, 

it was predominantly, uh, residential, so like new houses.

And the funny thing is, is new houses, there are so different to new houses here. It's, it's the same principles, but it's just differently. It's done differently. And to be honest, if I was to go and attempt to wire a house in Ireland now, I would be absolutely clueless and just rusty. 

Yeah. As I, what, what do you reckon?

I know obviously from watching. Watch, I watch a lot of the UK guys on, on YouTube and like the stuff they do and like, I I What do you reckon the main di like, do you, did you notice like a difference in the work ethic for one? Like I feel like, you know, obviously UK everyone knows like the graft grafters, like what hard workers, working class get shit done.

Like, did you notice a big difference coming over to here in that sense of things? In the, in the like, I guess the workforce side of it more so because I've, we've had an Irish guy work for us before and he was a and ripped in like, they like a proper, proper workhorse. And I think everyone's always said that like the Irish, you know, they, they work hard and play hard as well.

But al also work hard. Do you wanna know 

my, you wanna know my theory on like, hardworking Irish is, um, and, and English as well? It depends. It depends where you're from. So for me, I've had this epiphany and theory that, you know, in the small, like small, small towns where you grow up in. Everybody knows everybody.

And if you're known as the useless guy in the town, you're known as the useless guy. So everybody wants to be known as like a good worker. They show up, they get shit done. Yeah. And I think when you're, when you grow up in a built up city area, particularly Sydney, I don't even know my, some of my neighbors around here, nobody knows that many people.

So people can be lazy, they can just rock up, they can switch jobs and they, they won't be known. But I think when, when you come from a small town or whatever, it's, it's bred into you of like, you don't want to be that useless guy in the town. So it's kind of a, a work ethic comes through with that as well.

I'm, after kind of seeing that with a lot of people from particularly smaller towns and smaller areas, that they're kind of, they don't, they don't want the reputation of being like the lazy guy or whatever. But I see that a lot here of even just, just working jobs. You come across of just like sparkies, like slewing, the cable, like trying, getting to the other end of the house or whatever.

It's just like the wild west in some houses. But, um, no, I've, I've met some, some cracking Aussies with, um, with like very hard work ethic, but it's just, it's funny. That was my, my theory of like, why does everybody come across and they're just like, hardworking. But then again, there are absolutely useless guyses as well come across from Ireland.

So, and England, I feel 

like I, I feel like that's the thing here is like if you, it's, I feel like people listen, like it's easy to do good in business and in life. If you work hard, like if you work hard, you can't not go well. And that's like, I, like, I'm firm believer in that. And I feel like there's so many people that just want to cruise.

They want to coast and they'll use it. An excuse of like, I don't know, like, oh, you gotta live or you gotta do this and that. Like, I love working hard. I love hard work. I think it's like, I don't know, I don't, I don't know if it's like, 'cause obviously I'm English as well. I was, I was used as that. It's like, like it's a bred into you over there.

Like I've watched my dad. He still works 12 hour days now in an office. Like he's, he, he is like, he, he's a work like full time. That's what he loves to do. Gets up still at five in the morning, gets to train in the city, works in an office all day, and then comes home. And he's done that since, obviously, since I was a little kid.

So I guess I've always seen that and I'm like, that's what I look up to, to like, but at the same time, I understand the whole principle of like, you need to be living your life as well. But like, I think there's a lot of people, especially in the area we're in, like it seems like a quite a cruisy. Like, oh no, I just wanna surf today.

I just wanna do this, I wanna do that. I just have never understood that sort of, that work ethic from people. 

I think I, I think, um, I think the same as my dad. My dad's, he's turning 80 this year and he still farms. Like he's still a farmer. Like he will get up, he will go out about his day, do his bits and pieces, not to the level that he used to be at, but he is like, it's almost like a hobby and an interest that it's bred into him.

No, that's all he knows. And he just like, just loves it and it's good for them as well when they get to that age just to be active and just doing things. So it's just what the likes of that as well is like, when I grew up, my dad was always 365 days a year. He was out on the farm and stuff like that. And, um, I'm, I'm actually grateful that I never took to the farming because it's not for me.

But, uh, I could've been a farmer, but I, I ended up over here, um, at electrical. But it's, yeah, it's, it, what you're saying about like working to live and live to work as well is I think there's, there's particularly people that have their own businesses, there's a switch in us that we're entrepreneurial and it's, it's very hard to turn off and it's very hard to, to like sit down and relax.

I think there is something in us all, um, and what I've seen as well, particularly speaking to so many Sparkies is A DHD is rampant in the trades, I think, and just other little conditions that it's just like. Just full on hog, on focusing on a, on doing work and stuff like that. It is crazy, but I'm the same, like I, I, I enjoy what I love, what I do.

Like, I love particularly the marketing side of things now. I absolutely love it. And, um, it's just, I dunno, it just, it occupies your mind. But at the same time, I will still take my holidays every year and I'll enjoy that and I'll, I'm actually heading back to Ireland in three weeks for about five weeks again, so I try to do that once a year.

But it's, it's having that balance of, of you work hard, but then I know, um, the lights at the end of my tunnel are like going back to Europe and stuff like that once a year. So, but 

it's good. Yeah. It's, it's good. So it's like skip into your electrical business now and like you just said, you're going away for five weeks.

Is it just you are you, is it just you that does it? 

Yeah, so that's what I stress to the guys and the members is like, it's what I, what I've, I obsess with leanness and being systematic, so when I go away, I've got a. Right now as well, I've got a virtual assistant that handles my admin site. I've got a virtual assistant that handle the phones.

So when I do go away, I've got systems in place. It's like, uh, if that in this situation and when I'm not here, I've got, um, a guy on the ground here that basically if they can't wait for me, it gets delegated out and it gets referred to my good friend Matthew. So he then does the work. Um, and we've just got a bit of an arrangement and an agreement, but it just works so well.

And I don't, my clients are purely mom's, dads, um, Betty's and all of that. And I don't rely on builder strata real estate. So I don't have anybody, you know, that's like breathing down my neck, that I'm not here, that you need to get that done. Um, everything can weigh it just, it just worked out really well.

But the reason, the reason I don't have staff, um, I tried it and it's not for me. And at the back of my mind, I always wanted to do what I'm doing now, like the, the marketing side of things. So. I knew that it's going to take years to build up a business that can run without me. Like I'm a realist as well of we've all seen the get off the tools in 12 months, and you, and I know that that might be a bit of a porky, but, um, I'm a, I'm a realist, so I'm just like, I was like, right, I either focus on this or focus on that and I just managed to build like a lean, lean ass machine that, um, it's, it, it allows me to have time and freedom just because I delegate out little monotonous things to the admin and then I can focus on the work and then I can take my holidays as well.

Yeah, I, yeah, I, I, I agree. I think, um, I, it's interesting because I guess when you start a business, I guess there's such a pressure to, to grow. Yeah. And from, from external sources, right? So people would always expect to be like, oh, when are you gonna hire and get to 10 staff? When are you gonna do this? And I feel like all, that's all the marketing around, um, coaching.

From people is like, we got this guy from one car to 10 cars in three weeks. You know what I mean? Like, there's like all this like hype around that shit and it's like, what? And like, I spent like from someone that's got employees, but going back to like, like thinking about when it was just a couple of us on the tools, um, I actually did like, I, I, I really enjoyed it and I actually enjoyed being an electrician and I actually enjoy doing the work.

And then now I sit in an office all day, which I'd like, I, I enjoy 'cause I still love what I do, but I do miss being able to do the work. And like now I'm starting to get myself on the, like we've started the YouTube channel. I want to try and get on the tools a bit more and start doing, so I'm trying to book myself like one or two days a week on site, which I've, which is great that I can do it now.

It's not like a, it's, it might not be a sustainable thing to do because obviously it's taking me away from other things, but. I think it is good to keep yourself sharp in those sense things, but I think, like what I was getting at is, are you someone that can, I guess, would promote that you can, you can run a successful business and just stay as a one man band.

'cause that's what people always hit me up about as well is like, I guess some people are like, oh, I want to grow and put people on so I can make more money and do this and do that. But I think like there is a market to be a successful, um, sole trader as well. And that's obviously, that's what you've done.

So. 

Yeah. E exactly. And to your point as well of um, missing the tools, I've got a prime example of both scenarios of having a very successful business and being on the tools. So one of my good mates, Carlos, um, runs a business here in the inner west as well. And he's tried like, you know, 8, 6, 7, 8 staff and it's just absolute headache after headache.

And now he's leaned down to about, I think it's him and three guys, or him and four guys. He is absolutely killing it. And he's on the tools quite a bit and he just has, he has his repeat work and he does a lot of counselor work and stuff like that as well. And he, but he fucking loves the tools. He doesn't want to get away from the tools.

And I think that's the, the thing that people miss and obviously they're not told when it's like, get off the tools, get off the tools. When people here get off the tools, they think I'm going on holidays when I get off the tools. But it's like, you don't, your holiday camp is the office. Yeah, you are. This is where you start.

You get a pantry for the background. But it's, um, and that's, that's the shitty thing is like some people actually dig themselves into it not realizing like, shit now of transition from electrician to a full-time admin and I'm just sitting in an office all day and I hate, the reason you probably got on the tools is 'cause you hated admin and you hated schoolwork and stuff like that, that now you're stuck in an office doing that and.

With me. I, I reckon you go holiday, you can get so to everybody watching, that's, that's how you get your holiday in. Um, that's it. But, um, yeah, so with, with, um, I think to be honest, my, my perfect, in my head a perfect business and I think that's my shtick is like one to four, one to three, four guys. I think you can have a killer business because you can still kind of be dabbling on the tools and then you can be doing a little bit of admin as well.

And with the help of maybe virtual assistants or like me, you've got a virtual person taking your phone calls. All those little things take weight off you that you can actually do some, do some work on the tools and run a successful business. But as you know, Foria, it's like once you start adding 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 guys, like everything just overheads increase, headaches, increase.

People happen to be sick every second day. Um, all these little things like no shows. Like I, I, I trialed a few staff and it absolutely broke my heart. And look, it could have been different if I got really good guys. It could have been a, a lot different story, but I just, I just had a few guys and it just wasn't for me because I was stressing about their day, not to mind what I had to do in front of me as well.

Yeah, it's hard. It's like, it's, it's probably one of the hardest things is finding, obviously finding good people is, is hard and that which, and can make fully make or break your business. This the bigger you get. We got get to a point where we were, I guess we'd step back from the tools a lot and we weren't getting to sight as much.

And then you're kind of leaving the guys to their own devices and that's when you start having issues and problems and it's just like, it's not even bad things. It's the little things when you, and then you go to so and go, why have you done that? And you're like, what? What do you mean? It's like, oh, I just wouldn't have done a lot of that.

And then it like, it's the little things that drive you crazy. We're so lucky now the way we've got it set up where we have like our project managers. Which are like, have such a high eye, like, you know, eye for detail the same as us. And they run everything the same as me and Jared, my business partner. So there's four of us now.

So we can get to everything and we can keep on track of everything and, and keep the quality of work up. And the guys we've got are awesome, like, at, so we don't really have those issues anymore, but like there was a time when we were like, oh, why is that done like that? Uh, and then you start worrying you're gonna lose a builder or a client because someone's done something wrong and it's so hard to keep, keep track of it.

Whereas like when you, if you, if you sit around that three staff mark, you're probably still in the tools. You can get around and you can get, get around things. But I know the stress, there's like a real close tipping point. And I had a guy that, a local guy reach out to me the other day. He was like, oh, just like, I need to sort stuff out because I'm, I'm on the tools full time.

I've got like admin, but like, I have to like set all the guys up and I need to do this. And I guess it comes down to having the right process in place so that you can. Stay on top of staff, but it takes so much time to settle that up as well. And like, and most of the time, you know, if you, if you're a trade start and starting out, you grow quickly and you don't know how to manage people or the only time you might have managed people is working for someone else.

But when you're trying to then incorporate running a job, profit, profitability, um, quality control, all those things, and it just, it adds up. It, it gets so hectic to try and actually manage people as well. It's crazy. 

I think I, I think the, the, um, the key, what you said is systems as well, and that's something that pisses me off as well, is like people being like, you gotta systemize your business.

And then they fling these fucking really confusing org charts and there's, this is going that way and if that, then this is going this way. But like, systems are super easy. And I think what people forget when they're systemizing their business is the person you're delegating that system out to. Let's say it's an electrician and you're like, I want my, you know, I want my switchboards done this way.

Um, you don't have to say. Release the clip at the bottom of the breaker, tuck the breaker and the board clip the breaker back in, put the left cave, put the red into the l, put the black into the in. Hopefully I got that right. Um, that, you know, that it's like you have to remember that a sparky is gonna be doing the work.

It's the little one percenters of the things that they would mess up that they need to know. But having systems in place and a system can literally be like a, a 20, 32nd video of how to do something and it can just live on somewhere that's, that's shareable. It can even as a tip, what I tell my guys as well is, um, let's say for instance, you've got a system and you screen record something that you need to know.

You can drop that link on the likes of Loom or a software like that. You can drop that link into your job card in service mate, for example, that a lot of my members are using service mate. Um, and I'm a big, big fan of service mate. But what you can do is just drop that link into, um, the job card. You can create a re reoccurring job that that link is on every single job that you create.

So you can do little things like that, but systems get blown out of the water of like, and it overwhelms the shit out of a lot of electricians. And it did with me too, but I actually did training with systems a few years ago and uh, it just opened my eyes to how simple, and it's with AI as well, it's gotten even more simple to do.

So it's, it's, it's a thing that, that annoys me, that that's another thing that puts the fear of God into electricians as systemizing. Um, but it, it can be so, so simple. It's just about doing. And I, I think with systems as well as you need to focus on what you're doing right now, not what you think you might be doing in the future.

As an example of this, like many years ago I was like, systemized. Systemized. And what I did, I'll never forget it, is I started creating systems for my future staff member that I didn't have. So I was like, okay, what does he need to know how to change an element in a hot water tank? So I was like, okay, drain the water.

Do this. Shut off the valve. I don't think I've changed a hot water element since. 

Yeah. 

And like that's, that's the, the key takeaway is, is focus on what you're doing right now to systemize if you are doing that, and as I said, a 32nd video can do that, but the people get carried away and they start systemizing stuff that they will never, ever use.

And it's, that's what takes your time up of the, the lack of direction with that. 

Yeah. It's, it, it's, yeah. I, I feel like for people that are looking to like, hire staff and grow, it's just like being, like remembering that it is like a, it's a bit of a bumpy road to get to the right place and then find the, um, find the right, I guess the right amount of people.

That is, there's like, there's definitely tipping points of where it's profitable, where it's not, and then you find that along the way, like it's like one to four, five staff is like really good, and then you get from like five to 10 and it's like a shit show. It's like, and like I would be, I, there's not that many people that have that, that.

Dialed down between that five and 10, I think like it's a really hard place to sort of find your feet. 'cause you've got a lot of work coming in. You've got a lot of people to look after, and it's like the money wise, the overheads will go up. So it's, it's hard to find that profitability stakes there. Then it's like, well, the next jump's going up to like 20, which is like the, which is so hard.

So I think, um, but like at that four, five mark, you can still add the processes in and, and, and, and start that. I guess like you're saying like, systems for people then like start it when you do have the less staff and then it will, and you help build it as they grow and as you add another person, it's like bringing, bringing them in on the same thing.

Um, but like with your, I guess with what you do with the simplified Sparky marketing, like you obviously got a podcast that do, is that weekly? Yeah, 

weekly. Uh, I put a, like they're very short, sweet, straight to the point. So they're, they're usually about 10 minutes. But yeah, once a week I'll pop them out usually on a Friday.

Yeah, so one went out yesterday. Um, and yeah, just try to just pump a bit of, a bit of knowledge and information out there that it's easy for guys to digest, particularly if you're in the truck or you're on the way to a job or something, you can literally listen to the entire podcast on that trip. 

Think so.

I, I, I'm trying to think. One of, uh, one of the favorite ones I listened to was the, the handwritten note. I really liked that. Yeah. I wrote book my dog. Yeah. They, um, 

that it was, it was crazy. Yeah. So, yeah, the, the story behind it was, I was actually, yeah, I was backing out at the time and, um, my dog had this nasty gash on her head.

Um, it started off as a little nick and then she just kept ripping it, but I was like a, so, uh, backstory was, um, from Halloween last year until Christmas. I was actually back in Ireland. 'cause my mom felt very ill, but she's recovered now, so thank God for that. Um, but I was back, I was like basically caring more for my dog than my mom at the time, and.

My dog got more and more ill and just when I left, um, they made the call to put her down and then I received a, um, post a picture from, um, my mom, um, of the, the postcard that the vet had made out. So what they did was, it was very thoughtful, very, very, very, very ni or nice gesture, but they basically had her little paw print on the, um, on the card and just, it was like a condolences card 'cause she got cremated, but it was just such a nice little gesture of like, you know, um, like address to, to us.

And it was like, it mentioned her name Molly and stuff like that on it as well. But it was, um, such a nice little gesture that we, we got that, um, sent out as well. Um, but yeah, I was just very, and I, that, that's what I said in the podcast is this is a really nice gesture, but this is just one-on-one marketing of just like, we are, like I'm talking to you in Australia about this on a podcast right now.

And like that just like tore off like wildfire to everybody. So. When someone's dog is sick or a pet or whatever animal, they're gonna be heading to that vets because they're just a very thoughtful vet. And it's just about that, about little tweaks that you can do in your business that make you memorable.

Yeah. 'cause I think, and then there was another, um, another one you did where you're talking about the, is it like a printed, handwritten note that, like, was it a plumber maybe or something that Yeah, that's 

rampant. I actually, 

yeah, like I, that rampant, I hadn't visual visualized it, but I was like, I would be cool to see what it was.

So like it, so it's, 

it's, I've got, I get, I think the funny thing is, what I'm hearing through the grapevine is they're starting to get old. So the way people are marketing now in Sydney, or particularly bigger mobs are they are sending out basically like, it looks like a handwritten note and it just says, it would just say like, Hey, just to let you know, my name is James.

I'm a local plumber in the area. I specialize in block drains and leaking taps or something like that. If you ever need a plumber in your area. Happy to help hold onto this magnet. Um, like speak to you soon, James. And it's really like, it's not written like kind regards or whatever. It's like very just like just a mate to a mate kind of thing.

Yeah. 

And they just attach their business card. There's just a plain white back No, just like address to the homeowner or something like that. And that's it. And that's been, apparently that's been very, very effective for marketing. But I think people have caught onto it. And the, the mar the market's now getting saturated with handwritten notes that everybody's clicked onto it.

But the note itself is printed obviously, but it looks like it's, it's just handwritten. 

So what, what do you reckon is the best, say an electrician listening to this, who's, I'll do, let's do two, two ideas, right? So say me an electrician that is chasing more so ev like every type of work builders, bit of service staff, solar with 20 staff.

Is the best way to market. And then what's the best way to market for a a one, a one man band? Who's looking to do mom and dad stuff like that? What, where's, what's the best place to start? What do I do? 

So we, we'll start with the one man, because the one man will then have the, the bigger company should have this structure put into place.

Yeah. But for the one man, the starting out today is the notorious Google My Business. Um, obviously 1 0 1 is get your Google Business profile, what it's called now, I dunno why they changed the name. Um, let's get that set up. It's free. Um, absolutely treat that, that page, um, like a Facebook page or an Instagram page and upload regular posts, regular images, um, get reviews on the regular, uh, very easy to get reviews that, that.

The hardest thing about getting a review is asking. If you don't ask, you're not gonna get. So get your reviews, get them pumped up. Once you get so many reviews, you'll start ranking higher in your area, and particularly just depending where you are. You'll dominate that local area once you start getting reviews.

And it's, it's essentially, it's a free listing. It's gonna put your, you're gonna put your time into it. But that is number one for guys starting out is the Google business profile. What I'm seeing a lot lately, 40 is chatting to a lot of guys that are actually, I wouldn't, like they are established, they've been in business two or three years and they do not yet have a website.

They do not. And that's disgraceful in 20 25, 9. 

Yeah. 

Um, and I mean, like, I, I'm actually gonna do a thing. I reckon I can get a website and a brand up and running for about 300 bucks. And like, it's just such a simple thing to do. And the, you have to have a website if you're, you know, and, and they're the exact same people I see.

Complaining that it's quiet or I haven't got work. Stop whinging about it. Go get a website for like, overnight. I, I create a website in about an hour for you if you want. Yeah. 

When we started the stickers, we, I was like, oh, the day of like, we need a website called Up, um, called up our mate who does our videography.

'cause I know that his, his partner does websites and they banged one together for us that night. And then bang, we had a website for it. It was like straight away. I'm like, that's the first thing you do. It's 

not even expect, like I, I, I, I don't condone doing A-D-I-Y-D-I-Y website, but if you're really hard up, um, get something out there, like, I, I would say pay a professional, get it done correctly.

I've gone through about six websites, um, until I was happy with the one that I've gotten out. Um, and I learned the hard way with a lot of mistakes along the way. But I would, I would, um, I would definitely say pay a professional, but just be careful as well because I spoke, I actually had a call with a guy yesterday and he was on the verge of using, um, WordPress for his website, which is nothing wrong with WordPress, but the way to go is Webflow and, um.

The thing, web flows, it's set and forget, and you just basically build a website. It's got the hosting and everything built in. Whereas what the web developers were kind of getting at was, oh, now we've got you built on WordPress, but there's gonna be a, you know, a 200, $300 fee every month. So that that thousand dollars website ends up a 5, 5, 6 grand website every year.

Yeah. 

So that's the gag. So I warn with that as well. But from there, get your website done. Obviously, be professional with your uniforms, um, your van riding as well. That's such an underrated thing, as well as vehicle wrapping for, especially for newbies or even anybody in business. But with established guys, you can almost get away with minimal branding depending on the work that you do.

If you, if you mainly do moms, moms and dads and stuff, service work, you need a really good van wrap that stands out and it says exactly what you do on the van. Um, but yeah, they, they'd be the top, top three things of, um, would be your wrap, your website and your Google business profile. And obviously. Just mingle with your network.

Like, see, put your name out there with, with mates, with friends, with family. I don't condone working for family, but when you're starting out, you need to push your name as much as possible to get that workflow coming in. And one thing I would advise not to do is go on the lead generation websites and not gonna name the websites one's got, um, pages on the end of it, but, um, it's, it's, uh, there's, there's several of them out there that you can just basically go on, um, sign up, you'll get sent leads every day.

And apparently it's turning the fastest finger. So I was speaking to a mate that, that's paying for this. And a job will pop up for like a switchboard upgrade, or it might be like, put in a few downlights and people are waiting for the lead to come in and they pounce on a pay for the lead. And they're like either going out to that job or they're, you know, they're, they're quoting it remotely or whatever.

And it's just, it's, it's turned into dog eat dog of like, who can get in their cheapest and get it done. So I I, I don't condone that. I, I wouldn't advise doing that. Find your own work. And if we're to move to the, the established business that is, that's got a lot of trucks and, uh, you've got income in the bank coming in to start with as well, and I see this a bit as well with even established businesses is like getting a marketing plan in place of what exact work you're doing is making you the most money.

Who's your ideal client or who's the gatekeeper? Say if you're a, if you want to get to a builder or you want to get to a commercial client or something, like who's the gatekeeper that you've gotta get to or get through to get that extra work? And you need to know, you know that person very well. You need to know how to get around them to get that kind of work.

Um, if you want to get moms and dads and stuff, there's the, the, the treacherous road of ads. So if you've exhausted all the organic methods. It's running Google ads and Facebook ads as well. But what I stress to people is running Google ads and Facebook ads is a brilliant way of getting in work. However, it's a very expensive game depending where you are.

And what a lot of people don't realize is when you start doing Google ads or Facebook ads, particularly, let's stick with Google Ads. If you're running Google Ads, what a lot of people don't hear or what, what they don't realize is, let's say for instance, it costs 50 bucks a click, which it can be in Sydney, it can be even more depending on what keyword you want.

Like level two electrician Sydney or Electrician Sydney, that could literally be 70, 80, 90 bucks. You mightn't get a call for 10 clicks. Let's just say it's, it's a hundred bucks a click. You mightn't get a call for 10 clicks, so on the 10th click, you finally get a call. That lead is now costing you a thousand dollars before any overheads of sending the guys out there and stuff like that.

And that's what people don't realize. And I got dragged into that in the early doors of business that. My web guy was like, at the time, was like, Hey, you gotta do ads, you'll kill it, you'll kill it. And it, he got me spending a couple of grand in ads, but I was competing with guys that bigger boys out there, and it was, it was just, I just hemorrhage cash.

And the, the, the worst thing about Google ad leads is I was getting calls of like, can you tell me if this smoke alarm will interconnect with this brand? And it, you know, just the top beat is the top. It just cost me fucking a hundred bucks. But, but yeah, so I think, um, I think it's, it's, I think even, even the established companies don't really have their marketing plan dialed in of like, they, like the number one thing across both starting out and your established business is change the messaging on your website.

Your messaging is the, it's the single most thing I learned in marketing is the messaging on your website is the most powerful tool that you have. Because if they land on your website and they can tell what you do in the first one second to four seconds when they land on your website, it says. We do this, we're this, we do this.

Here's how we help call us here. So many people are like, welcome to X, Y, z, electrical. We've been established, well, my grandfather in 1972. And it's like, you're not speaking to the client's problem. That they're, they're, they're there for a reason. They've got an issue. They've got lights. They want, they've got tripping.

It needs to say exactly what you do in the first few seconds for them to say, yes, yes, that's exactly who I need. Call or send an inquiry. And that's what a lot of people miss, and I stress that web developers make really good looking websites, but they're not marketers. They don't have the meshing dialed in on the website.

It looks pretty, but it's not gonna convert unless you have those little things in place. I 

think, I think a website's important. Like I'm, I'm definitely, I've spoken to a few people about it. Like I, I'm definitely not a fan of the generic, like stock images of American Sparkies on Australia. Yeah, like, like the cables aren't like, it's like a stock image.

Photo on there. And like, I think like it, like, I guess if you just banging a website together to get that sort of work, like maybe it's not gonna matter to people, but I think like, depending on what you're targeting, like if you're looking to get builders and things like that, like you need a website that's built around that with projects and what your, your capabilities and stuff.

But which would then entail be different to someone that's gonna be doing you more service based work. Um, and like you said, like having it, as soon as someone gets on there, then they know what you do straight away. Like if you're a solar company, you want your main page to be solar 'cause you want to get a solar sale, not we do everything.

And you're trying to get, like, if you're trying to dial in on that market, you want that to be on your home screen sort of thing. Hey, 

yeah. Because that's exactly it of. Yeah. And that, that kills me as well as like I'm, I'm a stickler for being niche or like, at least being known as the guy for that, that industry.

So I look, there's nothing wrong with, with doing solar, air con, electrical and all of that if you're well established. You are, if you really do want to do aircon work or you're a solar guy, lean in on it. Be be the solar guy and have everything tailored on that website to be, um, associated with solar and stuff like that as well.

Um, I spoke like, for example with this, I spoke to a guy in Canberra and he's got two businesses and he has got one page, one website that's purely EV chargers and it's a little white lie, but I told him, I was speaking to him and I said on his messaging on the, like, it doesn't matter, he's got another website, um, that does electrical, but on his, um, EV charger website, which is, he's ranking really well.

I told him to pull up the top of it. All we do is EV chargers. That's why we're specialists at it. And if I'm somebody that's looking to get an EV charger installed and I don't know anything else about electrical, but I've just bought A-A-B-Y-D or a Tesla or whatever and I'm like, I need a charger installed.

I stumbled across this website and I see this guy has got an on his website that, you know, all we do is EV chargers. That's why we're experts at it in Canberra. It just really speaks to that person about exactly what they want to do. But yeah, being all things to everyone, you're nothing to know, and you just get watered down unless you're established in, in a particular area.

And that's why I, I fully lean in on residential service and maintenance and that that is all I do in my business. And when you do niche and stuff like that, um, you don't have to reject other work and other work will come in. So when that work does come in, by all means grab it as well. But it's just a case of like being known for one thing that you can really lean in on being a specialist on.

But it doesn't still, it still doesn't rule out just not doing all types of other electrical work as well. 

Yeah. I, I, I think I've, I've seen something that's popped up the last couple days actually. It's been interesting, like, obviously people trying to get where there's two, I saw two posts come up on like a, on Facebook, and then I'm, I'm guessing they're people that have kind of just started their business and, and like you can't be, I guess, angry at people for it because they don't know any better.

It was two separate electricians that had posted on like local community pages with like what they do, but then putting their hourly rate at the bottom. Yeah. And it was like 80 bucks per hour. Like, oh. Like, and I'm just like, um, you just wanna like grab 'em and shake them and be like, mate, like I was actually like thinking like, oh I, it's not my place, I'm not gonna do it.

But like, it's like you, you're actually exactly what's wrong with the industry, but you probably just dunno any better. And they're probably thinking, oh, I'm charging 80 bucks now. I'm absolutely killing it. And they've just started and then wait till they get a tax bill or something and they'll realize that the hard way.

But I'm like, you doing that and marketing yourself as that people problem with that is like the actual people in the community don't know better. So they're like, oh, well this guy can charge 80 bucks an hour. Why are these guys charging 130, 140? They're ripping me off when really like, this guy's just completely undercook it.

And then he makes everyone else seem like they're overcharging, whereas he's undercharging. So like a word of advice is for anyone, don't put your hourly rate on an ad on, especially on a Facebook page, for you to try and get work. 'cause that's just like, you literally undercutting the whole industry to get, to get work like that.

You don't need to put that on there. It's pretty crazy. 

Yeah, and to that as well, it absolutely kills me that like when people exit tafe, there should definitely be a module in that that should be getting your business dialed in. Like it's, it's crazy that you can just get your license, get an A, BN, and absolutely run amok with business and not have like the age o Like you can be a fantastic electrician, but it doesn't mean you're gonna be a good businessman.

And that's, that's very, it's very, um, evident in the industry as well that like, people like that, those guys on, on Facebook just posting. But Facebook and the likes Facebook Gumtree and stuff is just the, the bottom of the barrel. Like you'll just literally see people cutting the life out out of it. But to your point of, um.

Of just not knowing any better as well as like Sparkies starts, I think I'm interested in the podcast, but Sparkies starts their business and they're like, what do I need? It's like, okay, I'm gonna need a Milwaukee set. I'm gonna need my uh, tools. I'm gonna need ladders, I'm gonna need a van. Definitely gonna look.

What I'm gonna do is I'm buy a 20, put a, put a deposit on a 2026, um, Toyota High A. That's exactly what I need. So like, how about you get a, a 2015 high A that's clean. It runs, it's perfect, and you put that extra money into getting educated on your business because that minimal investment you'll make on being educated in your business will return tenfold, whereas the van's just gonna depreciate over a few years.

It's just, it's it's killer that like, it kills me that like people, and they don't know any better. You don't know until you're too far in the shit and you realize you, you're not any good at business that it's like, damn, I wish I got help. Yeah, I think 

like you definitely. There should be, like, I, it's pretty crazy.

You can just go and start your own business. It's like there should be, you should have to sit a course or something before getting, being able to get your A, BN to start your own, start your own business. Especially like, because it's fucking like you, like it can be dangerous as well when, 'cause it's that it's the exact thing of like someone cutting like, I guess underquoting something, not knowing what they're doing and then cutting corners to try and recoup money or something like that.

And then they're gonna start doing things dangerously and like, I think there needs, like there some of the cowboy shit you see from people running their own business is, is wild. And like also people ripping people off as well. Like I, I feel like if there was, if there was like some sort of course. You had to do to, I I think it might be different in Queensland.

You might actually have to do something. I think 

Queensland and Perth, uh, Western Australia is pretty, they're pretty onto it. Even in regards to like certificates and stuff as well. I think Western Australia are pretty stringent that you have to do like a contractor's course, which is awesome. That's like, I was just like, I wish that was in New South Wales.

Well, you had to do like a certain amount of time out of your, outta your apprenticeship or something. 'cause like you could literally get your apprenticeship signed off, get your ticket, and then the next day be so electrical and be out in the van charging 80 bucks an hour. 

Well, with, with your 80 bucks an hour thing as well.

I actually, again, kind of rewinding back to messaging, um, and the, the like people that post on, on Facebook and how shit is Facebook that like, just, just remember this electrician listening is like when you're on Facebook ads, it generally goes to, um, followers that you have are people like your followers, which.

For 99% of electricians, 50% they're following are Spark East. 'cause they're like, oh, they're curious and they're nosy and they're just like, check in. Like, it's like, oh, you didn't clip that cable over there. So it's like, that's why if you're an electrician and you keep seeing like electrician's ads like my feed, it's because of the following.

So when you're looking at running Facebook ads and stuff, you have to get very targeted with it. But I've seen a guy's ad pop up recently and, and again a newbie to business, no fault of his own, but his ad was just a a b roll of him, you know, putting ladders in the van. He is walking through people's houses, he was putting up a light or whatever.

But his meshing behind it was like, if you're sick of being ripped off and you're looking for somebody that's gonna charge you a fair price, rah rah, rah. But that message, once it falls in my ears, is like that, is going to attract the shittiest, cheapest, tightest clients because they're the people that are price conscious.

And this is what people miss out on is their messaging. If you mention free. Um, cheapest. Affordable. What? Affordable, subjective. Someone might wanna buy a Lamborghini, someone might wanna buy a Suzuki. It's, it's affordable is very subjective to, to, to each person. But I think it's, it's, it's those little things of like what you say is gonna attract that type of client.

Odd. That's what you, what marketing you put out there is gonna gonna attract different people. And I think like, marketing is the exact thing. Targeting towards being the cheapest. Like, it's just, it's, it's ludicrous. Like, and I think, like I've seen so many ads of that and it's like, fair. What is it? It's like, people say fair and reasonable, fair price pricing, fair and reasonable pricing.

And it's like, well you don't, you shouldn't have to market yourself in that way. Like, you shouldn't have to say that. 'cause it's almost saying everyone else is gonna rip you off. I'm not, I'm gonna be cheaper than everyone. Whereas like. I don't think it's the right way to market your business in being fair, fair and reasonable pricing.

It just also means, it sounds like someone can just haggle you down and be like, oh, actually that doesn't sound fair. Can you take, can you take this off? And if you've quoted something, you obviously it happens, but you should be able to back yourself in of what your pricing is worth. And that's the other, I guess, I guess the other thing, like with, with that, like getting help on learning how to quote and I think that's, you know, if you have no idea, that's where coaching can come in handy.

But, um, obviously finding the right people to help you, but we've like, we do extensive like work on, on, on pricing and then like asking for feedback as well. And that's, I guess that's the only way you find out is by putting yourself out there pricing, then cost announcing every job to know that you are on the right track.

And if you're starting to like be making a shit load of money on a job, you're probably charging too much. And then it's like, do you find that fair, that fair price for people that way? Not, not, um. Not bit, not not going out to rip people off and like, oh, if you're overcharging, you need to find that out and, and do it that sense.

What, what, what's your thoughts on, on, I guess, people finding help if they don't know? Because obviously you, do you have a, an opinion on the coaching industry? 

Look, uh, one goes spring, two s one goes springs to mind straight away. If you wanna know your numbers and you know him as well, that's croy. CRO is an absolute gun when it comes.

It's like just like a crazy scientist when it comes to numbers. Like that's really his, his thing. But in regards to the, the coaching stuff is like, look, there's, there's good coaches out there and there's bad coaches out there. And I think it just depends. It depends on your gut. If you speak to these people, um, and they're a good fit for you, absolutely go with them.

But if you're on that call and you're like, this sounds too good to be true, um, it most likely is too good to be true. Like, I, when when I chat to people, I literally say to them. If we're not a good fit, I'll point you in the right direction. And it's like, I don't, I had to turn a guy away last week and I'm not, I'm not gonna take everybody in because it ruins it for the rest of the guys that are in there.

And I, I just want to build an awesome community, um, of people that are like-minded and, and driven as well, that want to get results. But there are, yeah, there, the, the whole coaching thing is it's getting outta hand. I mean, every, every time, every time you open up your, your Instagram or Facebook or whatever, you just get bombarded with, with coaches hitting you.

And I actually hate the word coach. It's, it's a dirty word. It's like salesman. So that's why like I've, I've, I've swapped it out to mentor or mentorship because I absolutely hate the word coach. 'cause it, it has that, it's that it's got that tarnished brand with it now, 

I think. Yeah. I, it's, um, it's getting, it is like, it's a pretty good way of putting, it's getting outta hand and like, I'm, I, I'm sure anyone that's an electrician, like you're, you're targeted on your Instagram for it to hit your feed.

Do it. And there's obviously some, some guys out there that are pumping so much money into their marketing budget so that they are fucking everywhere. Um, but yeah, I guess finding the right, finding the right fit if you are gonna go down that route. But also like, yeah, I feel like my whole thing with that was if you are getting taught like I guess a sales technique from a coaching company, they've done it on you.

Does that make sense? Like, like you are also Yeah, a hundred percent. Like put onto you. So then like you're like, oh, hang on, I'm giving these people money. Like they're teaching you a sales tactic, but they're also use using it on you. And that was something that had never like, sat right with me in that, in that world.

Like if, if someone's. Putting a sales tactic onto you to then teach you how to do a sales tactic. It's like you've just had, like, that's just happened to me now. So like, I feel like that was always like a weird, a weird thing that I'd sort of had against it. Um, I think people that do it, but don't push it in that way are the people that have like the right sort of fit as well.

Does that make sense? 

Yeah. And I think you can, you can smell it, like you can smell a sale, but like, I suppose it depends on your, how long you've been around the block and like if you're new to business, there's a, I remember like one of the first course I signed up for like years ago, it was probably, well nearly 10 years ago now, but like, I remember the guy ran a webinar and I got an e like I missed the webinar, but it had the replay.

And then I, like, I watched the replay and I got an email saying like, there's only one spot left. And I was like, and I was just like, fucking, can I get that one spot? I was like, there's only one fucking spot. And I was like, there's not one. Then I then like, sure as shit like 10 other guys came into paint.

When you don't know, you don't know. But now it's funny. Um, my wife bought a car the other day and like all I was doing was like, I just laid low on the background, like arms crossed, just observing the sales tactics. Like on the, the car saleswoman was just like, oh, you wouldn't believe how many of these we sell.

And so I was like, bullshit. But, but, uh, but yeah, and just like, just watching all the observations of like, would you like a water? How's your seat? Kind of thing like that. Just, I was like, I know what you're doing. Um, but yeah, that's, sorry. Did it work? Oh yeah. She put, she put a deposit down. 

There you go.

Well, there you go. They're on. Just 

be like, don't do it. But, uh, but yeah, so it, it's, it's, it's a strange industry, but like, I mean, I've seen, I've seen a guy's ad it's, I seen a guy's ad yesterday and um, yeah, basically said, built his business to a million dollars a month. And I was like, that's a pretty crazy amount.

But what, what people are, um. What people are missing is like, yeah, a million dollars a month is sweet, but like what were the overheads and the spend on that month? Yeah. Like what's, it's not about the turnover, it's about the leftover and like that's what I'm very firm on as well as like we don't want to concentrate on what your turnover, we want to know what's gonna be left in your bank account at the end of the day.

That's what like, like one of the big marketing tactics from coaches I guess seems to be like revenue and like building revenue and like marketing that. And it's like, oh we've, our turnover's gone from 50 K months to a hundred K months. And I actually told Crow about, I thought it was funny. I was like, well, well ad spend 

was 50 K 

that month.

All, all you gotta do is as get a job with a 50 K switchboard and then you go, oh, this month I've like, you know what I mean? Like that might be an in and out. It's not real. It's numbers. You can't market, you can't market revenue. It's, it seems crazy, but it's like for people that don't know, it sounds really good and like I put myself back.

We started and I didn't understand any of that either because I'd never ran a business. I didn't know what, what margin was or anything like, or net profit. I didn't even understand that. I just started a business and started doing it. And if there was no money, I didn't know why. And like for, for, for people to like target people at that, like, it sounds good.

Like if you, if you don't know what you're talking about and someone's like, oh, we can get you from 50 K months to a hundred K months. You're like, fuck, that's, fuck, that's all Is that 50 K in your pocket? Like that's what you think. You're like, oh, an extra 50 K in my pocket. But like that, like you can't measure revenue as success because like we, I can look back over years and be like, oh, we turned over an extra X amount.

Doesn't mean your profit was, it just means we probably bought more and sold more materials, but it doesn't mean we actually made more money. Yeah. So it's a ludicrous thing to market to people. 

You can, you can literally do a 50 K month and have 10 grand profit or you can do a 20 K month and have 10 grand profit.

It's the exact same thing. And all that matters with the two of them is the profit. You can, you could turn over crazy numbers, but at the end of the day, if you've, you've bought more, if you've bought more trucks and with, with more turnover comes more cost. So like, you gotta get, get more staff, you gotta get more vans.

Those vans have gotta get insured. They've gotta get kitted out. You've gotta get ad spend going to get more leads in. You've got a, it's endless what you spend money on and that's what's missed. And it's like people just go for the shiny object if they see 50 to a hundred grand months and then it's like, boom, I want that.

But it's like, what you don't realize is what you're actually gonna have to invest to get to that milestone of 100 grand or whatever. 

Yeah. I think that's the, I think that's the thing. Like that's, that, like, that's the only thing that sits, it kind of sits not great with me. And like there's a co couple other people that we've, we've spoke about before where it's like we, you can get this much per van per month and, and like there's a few people, there seems to be a few people like marketing that now like.

Cer certain amount of, we can make you this much per van, per per month and or week or whatever, and we can do this and we can do this. And it's like, oh, I just, I don't know, it just doesn't sit right when I see, when I see that stuff. I don't know. 

That's, that's extremely possible. The, let's just say it was three grand, um, per day per van or whatever, that's extremely possible for maybe one or two guys.

Like you could do that pretty consistently if you had one or two guys. But when your company starts to grow, there's no fucking way that you can be, unless you're an a, unless you have absolute animals working for you that are really good salesmen and are really good staff and are really good, um, sparkies as well.

But it just, I think the dream is sold that everybody can do this and then it's a case of like, it is all possible. It's a hundred percent possible, but it's only a specific few that are gonna rise to the top of that cream and actually. Get to that goal of, you know, two and a half grand, three grand, four grand a day per van or whatever.

Very, very possible. Um, but it's just a case of like, are you going get that consistent work coming in? Are you gonna get those consistent good jobs that it's gonna hit that in the head? Are you gonna get that co consistency throughout your whole business for the indefinite future kind of thing? 

Yeah.

Yeah. Um, well what's, what's sort of like, what's your sort of plans moving forward with, um, business, your podcast, everything like, and obviously your, um, like what's, what's gonna be your plan? So my, my plan, 

my what, where this all, where this all stems from from me is I had two incidents. Um, my biggest motivations, I had two incidents.

One in 2020, my dad felt extremely ill. Um, I had to go back during COVID back to Ireland, which is a strange time. Um, and it happened again last year. And that was like, that was, I've been wanting to do this with ages. Um, I want, I wanted to basically. Move into the kind of marketing flywheel stage that I'm at now, and my biggest motivation is I want to have the flexibility that I can just pick up my laptop, jump on a plane and, and go back to Ireland if I do need, or if I can.

I just wanna travel and work remotely. Um, and this is something I've been super, super passionate about with probably five or six years, but I was too much of a coward to take the leap and for anybody, listen, if you're on the fins, either starting your electrical business and stuff, just jump. It's, it's, you don't, you're not gonna know.

Um, if you're gonna make it, you're not gonna, if you don't take that shot, you're not gonna know if you're gonna score. So you have to take that leap. But what I want to do is my aim and my goal, I'm very open with my members, is like within about 12 months, I want to sell my electrical business. Um, it's churning leads at the moment, so leads are coming in and it's, it's churning away nicely and I aim to offload that business in about 12 months.

So right now what I'm doing is it's probably a 60 40 split. So I'm doing 60 electrical, and then 40 is on the, the marketing. But the more people that come into the mentorship, it's going to be leaning more towards that, and then exiting the electrical business is the overall game plan. Um, I love the industry, but I like to explain to people that I, I go in, I do my job as an electrician, but I feel like I'm in a relationship that I don't want to be in at the moment.

So I want to get away from electrical and move more towards the mentorship and just, yeah, guiding guys and implementing what I've done in my business into their business. 

I think, um, I think anyone that hasn't, um, or doesn't follow you or hasn't listened to your podcast should jump on, especially guys starting out, or, or like any, any, anyone really like, it's gonna help.

Like, you know, there's things that I've taken out of it as well, which is, which is really cool. So I think like anyone who, um, is. Especially not confident in the marketing side or wants fresh ideas and things like that or, or help on, on those things should, should definitely reach out to you as well. And I know like, it seems to be like giving away stuff for free obviously is something that helps build, I guess builds your, you know, builds your, um, rapport I guess with other people to know.

Like you give away information for free on your podcast and it's helping people come to you and be like, well obviously what, what you can offer people is knowledge. Yeah, I guess so. Like if, when you listen to your podcast and the things you say and you're giving away for free, and then do you say you also sign people up to your, um, mentorship program as well?

Yes. And it's completely different sort of thing. 

I think, I think the, the easiest way to explain it is like I give a shit load of stuff away in the podcast. Like I give a lot of detail away and stuff in the podcast and I on my emails as well. Um, there's a lot of information in there and, um, the emails and the podcast and Instagram is really like the what, but inside the mentorship is the, okay.

I know about it. But that then inside the mentorship is the how, like how do I put this into my business? Like that's really, it's summed up in a sentence of Yeah. Basically in there it's like, let's get this shit implemented into your business. 

Yeah. Awesome. Well, if people wanna reach out, what's the best, what's the best way to, uh, to get in contact with you?

Um, mainly Instagram. So head across to, um, you put the link in the handle, Allen dot Collins or whatever. Yeah. Um, and yeah, just head across to Instagram, shoot me a dm. Um, is probably the best way to get me, um, drop the email and stuff like that out on that radiology.com. Um, 

that's really it. Reach out.

Awesome. Well thanks. Thanks he for the chat, mate. That was, that was really good. I want to do another one with you 'cause I want to go, I'm holding off because I know we could talk about it for probably an hour, but I want to talk, I wanna do another pod on the Google and the and the shit fight that's going on at the moment.

I'll touch on it quickly. That about Google, um, taking people's Google My business pages down due to change of addresses. But I feel like it's a whole nother episode that we can do. 'cause we can probably talk about it for ages and I want to save it for that and do another one. But a word of warning, if you're gonna change your address, maybe get a professional to do it.

Was that what you'd say? Just anything fucking hours. Your address, your business, your name, anything. 

Just approach with caution. Yeah. 

Uh, that's our, that's our sign off for everyone to, uh, to be cautious of, but we're gonna do another chat on it and go in in depth on it for sure. So thanks for joining guys, and I'll, uh, we will catch you next time.

Thanks mate. Thanks for jumping on. No worries. Pleasure to be here man.