Tech Insights with Alisha Christian

Dial-Up Modems and Big Dreams — The Mercury IT Origin Story

• Mercury IT

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Before the team of 50, before two ISO certifications, before two decades of client relationships — there were just two young guys in IT who believed they could do things better. And they had the courage to actually try.

In this episode, host Alisha Christian sits down with Mercury IT co-founder AJ to hear the story behind the company. AJ was 27 when he and business partner Luke, just 21 at the time, left the security of stable jobs and built something from scratch. It was a bold call at any age, let alone in their twenties. No safety net, no big client list — just a genuine belief that small businesses deserved better IT support than they were getting.

We go back to the early days: dial-up modems, on-site visits for every little issue, and paper job ticket books that tracked every call by hand. AJ talks about the mentors who guided them, the early clients who took a chance on two young operators, and the win that changed everything.

But the conversation isn't just about milestones. It's about the culture AJ and Luke built from day one — one where people come first, where staff have stayed for nearly 20 years, and where the founding belief still holds: good IT isn't really about technology. It's about service, trust, and showing up for the people who count on you.

A genuine story about backing yourself, building something that lasts, and never losing sight of why you started.

Welcome And Why AJ Now

SPEAKER_01

Good morning, AJ.

SPEAKER_00

How are you?

SPEAKER_01

I'm good, thank you. Welcome to Tech Insights, finally.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, we're here.

SPEAKER_01

Yes. It's taking me a little while to get you on the show, but thanks for coming along today.

SPEAKER_00

Any time.

SPEAKER_01

So today we're going to, don't be scared, we're going to do a deep dive on AJ.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, okay. Well, that could be a long story.

SPEAKER_01

So I'm sure plenty of listeners will be interested to hear you got how you got started. Um Mercury IT has been around for, I think it's 22 years this year.

SPEAKER_00

Yes.

SPEAKER_01

And yeah, just where were you at in your early career? How did it all get started?

SPEAKER_00

That's a very good question.

SPEAKER_01

You think that that far?

Founding Mercury IT On Service

SPEAKER_00

I don't know. The Alzheimer's maybe kicking in soon. Uh yeah, look, uh guest said 22 years ago it was two young men who had a dream, had a vision. Uh we're both working in the IT industry at that time. And obviously, you know, IT meant a lot to us. Um, we want to make sure that um our clients were always getting the best. You know what I mean? Like the best solutions, great uh customer service. So I truly believe in customer service, and that's how we build a trust and relationship with our clients. Um, so yeah, at that time we just felt that wasn't happening in the industry. So our vision was to go out there and say, all right, let's give great customer service, let's give the right solutions, you know, with the right people and build something from there. So I guess after that we said, right, let's go for it. And we jumped all in, which was quite scary at that time, being two very young men at the time. I think I was 27 at that time. Uh, and Luca was only just turning 21 at that time as well. So um, we went, yep, let's go off on a venture. And um, yeah, that's how Mercury IT really started.

SPEAKER_01

I mean, it was a huge decision at such a young age to kind of go all in like that. Was there any uh times where you thought, oh, I don't know if we should be doing this?

SPEAKER_00

There's always a time, it's still today we go. Look, the the journey constantly along the way, you um you constantly think, should I or should I not be doing this? But um Mercury T, we're we're a solution provider, so we put you know, we produce solutions for our clients. So we live and breathe that internally as well. So when you sort of get an obstacle or a hurdle in front of us, we always sit there and go, and how do we get around it? And how do we move forward and how do we develop it going forward? So that ethos I truly believe in um as a company. So we instill that in ourselves, which instills that into our clients. But um, yeah, you gotta love what you do. And um, I don't know, I was very fortunate enough to fall into IT. Um, and something I I truly used to love. Don't get me wrong, you have your good days and bad days, but if you don't have your good and bad days, you can never really judge where you are. So yeah, honestly, providing solutions for my clients is one of my greatest things. I love seeing the outcome.

Dial Up Days And On Site Support

SPEAKER_01

Well, that's probably why it's taken me so long to get you on the podcast, because you are very passionate about helping our clients, and so you're very, very busy.

SPEAKER_00

Always busy, but that's a good thing, right?

SPEAKER_01

So yeah. So just back to the early days, what would a typical day have looked like for you and Luke?

SPEAKER_00

Well, this is the days when I think dial-up modems were a thing.

SPEAKER_01

Thank God they're not a thing anymore. That noise still gives me nightmares.

SPEAKER_00

Uh huh. It was what I think what the young uh techs of these days don't realise is we had trip clip books, that's how they had job tickets. Yeah. People rang up for support. We didn't, you know, email was there, but it was quite interesting when you got an email, um, because that's most of the problems. Most of the time, email wouldn't work. Uh, and then we'd get in our cars and drive. Yeah. So you, you know, job tickets would take, you know, maybe one to two weeks sometimes to get to just time you bounced around and got to each location to do work. But um a lot of driving, a lot on site. So every job was on site where today uh most of the work is now remote.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, which is amazing, isn't it? Like what a change in, you know, from the early days to now. Yep.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, I do. I actually miss being on site all the time. It the people and the clients who interact, like we've got some phenomenal clients, like the most loveliest people um out there and always willing to help and give and give your time. Uh, we sort of miss a little bit of that, but um, for us older generation, time's everything. Yeah. So quick response, fast solutions, um, ensuring our clients are up and running as fast as possible is really the end goal for for us. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it's amazing. Well, I think the first time I met you was about 13 years ago, back when uh Mercury IT were doing um support for the company I was working at. So I think there was still a bit of remote. I remember the first time that the uh someone took over my laptop remotely. That was quite terrifying.

SPEAKER_00

I think it would have been quicker to drive then, to be honest. Well, that software worked.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, not these days, though. What about your early clients? Like, did you target people in, you know, specifically, or were you just basically open to helping whoever?

First Clients And Early Growth

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, look, it was um it was interesting back then because obviously being young, we had no idea about marketing whatsoever. Um, everything was just built on pure reputation. So knowing people who refer us through um going forward from that, so got a lot of referrals um and just went forth and conquered there. I think uh one of our very first clients on our books was Walker Lawrence and Watson, our accounting firm in Billy Heads. Yeah. Um so yeah, we brought them on and uh obviously worked through the solution from there. And um at that time, you know, it would be just TNM stuff that comes, it was all TNM back in those days. There's no manage.

SPEAKER_01

People that don't know T and M.

SPEAKER_00

Uh time in materials, so you ring, you know, work you do, you obviously build out and go from there. Uh manus servers wasn't a real thing at that time, that came later on in the days. Um, but yeah, it and we just grew up from there. And then I think uh one of our first largest clients that came on uh was South Coast Radiology at that time. Yeah. Um it was it was a big one for us at the time. So really, you know, super stoked having those on at that time. So we when we worked through that, um brought that all together, as it really slingshot the company forward at that time.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, because obviously starting off, you know, just you and Luke, and now to where we are, where you are today, is the big scale up.

SPEAKER_00

Massive jump, yeah, from back then to now. I think it was two of us, and now you know, there's there's around about the 50 um employee mark around the moment.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, which is amazing.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Um, yeah, so that was obviously didn't go from two to fifty straight away.

SPEAKER_00

No, no, we didn't.

SPEAKER_01

How did that come about and how did you sort of work out like where you needed to fill the gaps, so to speak, with stuff?

Hiring People And Building Culture

SPEAKER_00

Well, everything at that time, like um Luke and I at that time, you know, we weren't business savvy, um, sort of young techs in there saying, right, let's make a go of this and go in there. We had a lot of good people along the way that we met who helped us, a lot of good mentors, uh, a lot of just our clients who are all still with us today, who gave a lot of advice, who at every corner helped us through whatever we needed to learn. So I'm really grateful for that. It was such um um mental building for myself and um also always looking at how we do things better as a business when we didn't even know at the time those things existed. Um also we went on a lot of learning paths at that time. We invested so heavily in education, um, people, people and culture. That's one thing we truly believe in is making sure we have the right people. Yeah. Um with the right people, we get the right solutions and the right outcomes. So uh we've never stopped investing in that and we never stop um believing in that because the company wouldn't be who it is without the people within it.

SPEAKER_01

So oh, that's so true. And there's so many um staff here that have been here for, you know, through those early days, not quite at the very, very start, but some that have been with you for, you know, quite a significant amount of time. And, you know, lots of people have been hitting their 10 plus mark. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

One coming up the 20 soon, too.

SPEAKER_01

So Yeah, which is I mean, that just goes to show, you know, that you do look after the team. But in those early days, you would have been wearing many hats, no doubt. So how did you sort of work out your loop work out where your strong points were and that's something that evolved.

SPEAKER_00

So obviously, when we went into the business, your eyes are wide open, right? Um, and you learn a lot very quickly about all the things that you didn't really think of, that you didn't really prepare for, or even if you did prepare for, you still didn't really know. So um, yeah, we would run around and from operations from you know we'd handle from sales all the way to reception to accounting to ticketing to project planning to ordering, uh, etc. etc. So we did a whole lot at that time.

SPEAKER_01

So sleep was optional.

SPEAKER_00

Sleep was very optional. Uh I think the average day was 15, 18 hours that you could work through um just to try to get in front. So you could the next day you could always tackle and be there for the client. Yeah. That was always key, going, right, I need to focus on the client. I can't focus on the 20 or 30 other things that are happening at that time. So that's one way we always position ourselves. Lack of sleep was always something that we dealt with. Um, but you know, we kept pushing through, kept driving forward, and the business grew because of that. Yeah. Um, but yeah, look, every role has its challenge. Um, that's the one thing why I love this company so much because I know every aspect of it, even though I have really great people now running a lot of it, and I uh I'm not really involved in the deep diving side of things, I get the very high level, which is where I like to be. Yeah. Um, but yeah, it's everyone needs to be in the right uh pulling in the right direction. Um not the company doesn't work. And there's one thing uh all the employees here believe in what we're trying to do, the outcome. And it's always, hey, you know, client first. Yeah, you know, at the end of the day, if the client has a problem, we're always there. Strongly believe in that. So we'll be there for you no matter what, through thick and thin, um, and we'll be there to get you through it together. Um, that's how we build those trusting relationships and got a lot of clients coming up to the 20-year market for a very long time.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, a lot of long-term um clients, which is you know a testament to you know your commitment and Mercury IT's commitment, so which is amazing.

The Real Pressure Of Cybersecurity

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, you've got to invest in your clients. Your clients invest in you, you've got to invest in them. So it's a two-way working relationship. Um, if you you know, you've got to always put your best foot forward and always understand where they're trying to do and their outcomes, and then develop that stuff so it meets their expectation. Because if their business succeeds, you succeed as a business. And that's the one thing we've always looked for going, how do we help your business be better? Yes. Through whatever technology, through efficiencies, performance, uh, uptime, reliability, whatever it is. Um, but we always have a technology solution to help that.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Um, what have you seen as one of the biggest challenges as a business owner? I'm sure everyone would love to hear. Oh now you can't you can only choose one. Just right.

SPEAKER_00

Is great. Yeah. There's always a challenge. That's the whole thing about um owning a business. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and it's probably changed the landscape's probably changed so much that the challenges have changed with that, I'm guessing.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, yeah. Look, technology is one of the biggest disruptors I've ever seen in any industry, right? Like um, there's a thing like, you know, most of the conferences and the things over the last 10 years we've always been going, you've got to go work three times quicker. Yeah. So every year we're working three times quicker. So the thing about many service provider and uh many service security provider is there's such a broad spectrum of knowledge that we need to know. It's massive. It's not just one little, you know, vertical, one little this. It's probably 10 to 15 different verticals all bring together, and then we've got to actually make a decision on the fly to get this right. If we don't get it right, it's a difference between bringing your business down, losing time, losing money. It just it never ends, you know. And security is where it really scares you even more, where you know, data and information sensitive data then becomes a rules thing.

SPEAKER_01

Well, yeah, Chris is scaring me constantly.

AI Speeds Up Work And Risk

SPEAKER_00

Chris scares everyone, that's what Chris is for. Uh no, but Chris's knowledge on that is uh unbelievable. But as a business owner, you know, technical account manager solution provider, something that's always running through our head. It only takes one small slip and someone's in. Yeah. So we always say there's a thousand ways into any business, but the threat actor only needs one way in to succeed, right? So you expand that across your fleet and you're always looking at, you know, making sure is our clients up to date. Are they secure? Um, that's one thing I constantly think about all the time is have we done the best that we possibly can? Have we followed all the processes? Have we done the what we call the BAU, the operation process um constantly? So there's always the biggest challenge would be that broad spectrum of knowledge confined in knowing have to speed up every three years to now AI is uh the new introduction, the new big game changer. Everyone loves talking about AI. It is here, it's here to stay, and it will disrupt. Yes, it's 100%. You you can't ignore it. But now we've been told with AI you have to be tenfold.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So it's gonna put a lot of strain on a lot of businesses. Um, I'm looking forward to the challenge, but it's hard to keep up with the pace.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, it's not changing so rapidly, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, so how do we keep up, how we keep our clients in front, how we build better processes with technology and how we keep it secured.

SPEAKER_01

Yes, yes, that's the biggest thing, isn't it? And Chris and I have talked about it quite a few times on the podcast, is about how AI is great, but people need to uh realize that there is a dark side to it, and that you do need to make sure that you're securing, you know, your staff so that you know that you don't leave those gaps wide open for Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Well, you're you're a little like this, right? So security is great, right? It's fantastic, love it, don't get me wrong. But every time you add a complexity layer to security, you're slowing down the end user who's actually a valid, trusted user of that resource. Doesn't matter how you look at it, you will slow it down. So you got your force where you need to speed up 10 times. So it's a very fine balance of finding. How do I make sure the user can be speed efficiently, get in to get the resources to get their job done when they've been told they've got to go three times faster? Yeah. But at the same time, secure it, because the dark side of security is AI will work against you as well.

SPEAKER_01

Yes, that's it.

SPEAKER_00

So for all the good that AI brings, AI will also work against for you know, cybersecurity breaches, threat actors, and all this sort of stuff. So you've got to remember that. And they're probably more knowledgeable and more uh adverse, probably not adverse is the word, but more knowledgeable in the AI tool sets and how to use it to get what they want.

Advice On Value And Hard Truths

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, well they're certainly using it, you know, the phishing emails don't look quite as spammy as they once did. No, that's for sure. It's definitely hard to hard to pick those now with all the uh help with AI tools. Yep. It's um yeah, it's it's a bit of a concern. Um, just going back to the early days, so what would you tell your young self if you had the opportunity now about starting your own business and getting into IT? Would you have any advice or anything that you wish you had known?

SPEAKER_00

Buy shares in Apple Migration Bitcoin.

SPEAKER_01

I'm sure we all wish we had done that.

SPEAKER_00

That would have been the good one. But that would have been for everyone who did that, fantastic. Um, for myself. Um no. Um look, the only advice out there is like I I still always stay true to the principle like uh your customers are are a trusted friend. It's a two-way streak. Like um, customer service is everything to me. Like this day and age, I find custom service just slipping um out there in general in the real world. I find it, you know, people looking for the shortcuts and everywhere they need to go. So I always say this in business if you're looking for something, go out and do it well, give it at your all, give it your passion. That will reflect. Yes, your clients will see that. Um, they'll love you for it. And though when I deal with uh external parties or trades or whatever, I just want to see someone who actually wants to be there, really at the end of the day. Yeah, that's um you know, back when we started, customer service was, you know, it was embedded.

SPEAKER_01

Um, I think it was in in many industries back then, but now with the shift of you know, a lot of things being done like remotely or not so much face to face. There has been a lot of that customer service has just across the board, I think.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, like it's hard to get to know someone over routine school.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it is.

SPEAKER_00

It's just hard. Like, don't get me wrong, it's all society in the world we live in now. But it's really hard to do that. But look, stay true to yourself, always value yourself. That's the thing. Um, if you don't value yourself, you end up getting into what you call a bidding wall, and you just end up starting to cheapen your market and what you're trying to do. And then as soon as you do that, everything becomes a cost exercise. Yes. And once it becomes a cost exercise, um, you never get the true outcome because everyone's looking to scrimp and save wherever they can. So I always look for going, look for value in your business and present value. So um and always have you know honesty, integrity no matter what. And you know, your your clients aren't, you know, you they're there, they can handle the truth. Yeah. So, you know, always have to tell them things that they don't want to hear.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, 100%. Have the hard conversations, but for the better.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, but I think um they respect that because it's on a mutual understanding that you're both there to help their business, yeah. No matter what.

SPEAKER_01

So that's one thing you definitely are passionate, and that's something after working with you for over six years, that your passion definitely shines through, and you always are willing to go above and beyond for your clients. So, which is you know, such a great thing, and something that obviously you had in the early days. So it's held you through all those years. So, how many more years left do you think? Another 22?

SPEAKER_00

Oh, the old D. I'll keep going as long as I've got strength in me. Um, honestly, like it takes a toll. Um, being in um uh an ICT, MSP, MSSP um business, it really does take a toll. Yeah. Um the day-to-day pressure, but it's like any job. I'm not gonna sit here and go, oh, this job is harder than the other. Every job industry has its moments and pressures, um, but it's the constant um always looking forward, especially security adds a an extra dimension to it because you're always thinking, what's the next big break in? What's the next thing? Has I have I protected my client? Has the process been followed? Is the monitoring and alerting systems all in there? And it's not just on one endpoint, you know, it's over five or six thousand endpoints, you know. You're gonna be looking at it going, what is going on? Like, are we covered?

SPEAKER_01

Uh we're a lot of responsibility, isn't it? Really?

AI As The Next Tech Revolution

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, it it is. So as long as I've got breath in my lungs and I've got the passion to keep doing that, I'll be there leading the charge for Mercury IT. Yeah. Um, and keep driving forward those um values that we we hold so dear to ourselves.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. So what are you most um excited about in the uh with technology? Obviously, we're talking about AI and you know, what are you most excited about with regards to AI? I know whether they talk about the dark side and that's a little bit scary, but any tools or anything like that that you specifically like using?

SPEAKER_00

What do you mean an AI set? Or oh look, AI has definitely changed again, you know, especially with you know, you know it's giving you the power to write a lot of your own stuff and use your own ideas and bring them forward quickly in a matter of hours now, instead of used to take months and months and years and cost and everything that went with it. So all those little ideas for efficiencies and processes can come to life very quickly at a fraction of the cost. AI is still a very complex world, no matter what you look at. Like it's people think they can get in there and the AI agent will tell you exactly what to do. It will guide you, but you still need a mouse to still navigate it. That will change over the years. It will get easier and easier and easier. But at the moment, um it's all fairly complex. Like no matter how you look at it, like I've been doing this for almost 30 years, and it's still got a complexity to it that you've still got to learn, you've got to get in there and have a um a deep think about it. But in the IT world, it hasn't really changed. Everyone's still looking for centralization, workflows, automation, simplification. And meaning by simplification, we get complex problems or complex tasks, yeah, and then we find simple ways of doing it. But the problem is it's a carousel, it keeps repeating itself. So no matter what we do, we prefer more complex at it, then we get simple again, and then so on and so on. So um, yeah, that's what I find out there to be the best way of handling it, if that makes sense. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Yeah. I think that's the most um interesting part about working for a technology company is just hearing, you know, about all the different things that are, you know, coming out with AI and just all the processes and stuff like that. Whereas I think if I was working in a different industry in a marketing position, I wouldn't be at the forefront as much as it has been since I've been with Mercury. It's yeah, it definitely um makes me feel like I'm staying more on top of it than I would have been otherwise.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, it it's a changing world.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Like it's another revolution. You sort of, you know, IT had the internet. That was a big one back in the day. Internet. Everyone in IT industry, oh, what's this thing called internet? You know, connect two printers across, you know, wide area network and off we went and pull some data and hallelujah, off we go. So it was the coolest thing in the world.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Um more encyclopedias for school.

SPEAKER_00

It took a long time to come in, like long, long time. And then the next one, cloud. Yeah. That was huge. Cloud was introduced about 17 years ago. Please don't quote me on that. Yeah. But it took 17 years, you know, of being introduced. And, you know, the last four or five years an uptick, really heavy, and it like it's really started to go. It's matured and it's makes sense. And businesses, you know, when they look at, you know, what am I spending to what am I going to returning and how do I move my workflows and all that, all makes sense now.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So AI is going to come in quicker than that.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. But a lot quicker.

SPEAKER_00

It still needs to go through those same uh hurdles and hey, what are we using it for? Are we getting our ROI? Uh etc. So there's like the report not long ago going most AI um projects, 95% are not seeing their ROI back. Yeah. So you're sort of looking there going, okay, but this is just the start of it. But people start feeling about how do we do that? And you know, there's every day there's 30 businesses spinning up that has the word AI in it. So yeah. Um, but as fast as they spin up, they'll disappear.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Welcome to the world of AI.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, that's it exactly. I think um for Mercury though, it's um you've got those foundations, don't you? Like from the from the beginning of your business all the way through, it's always been about the clients. So I think as much as AI is here, it'll hopefully just enhance what's already in place.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, correct. Yeah, like you know, Mercury IT, we're doing a lot in AI. So we'd be looking, you know, how do we can enhance our clients' business through no better processes. I'd always say that's what AI is there, really, to help you. Let's get through it, let's develop, let's go forward. How can I take those um, you know, those repetitious jobs over in manual tasks over and over and give back to the employees what we call creative time or something they can focus more on that's more valuable for the business, right?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, which is, I mean, great. Everybody wants to be able to not have to deal with those menial, boring tasks and be able to focus on something a bit more interesting.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, people don't like doing it. That's the whole thing. It's the the repetition people don't like doing.

Solution Design And Never Giving Up

SPEAKER_01

Yes, that's it, exactly. Creative time is way more fun.

SPEAKER_00

It is.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Um, what would you say your favorite thing within the business is like what do you like working on projects? Or I know you still get down in the trenches. So yeah, what do you enjoy most? I know you obviously the client side of it, you like being able to get the right solution for the clients, but is there any particular skill that you like to use?

SPEAKER_00

Oh, there is, yeah, I get down in the trenches anything, just because I know all the parts really well. But um, if I have to sort of look at it and find out what I like to do, like um solution designing is one of my favourite, getting in there and working with my team, finding out what's the best solution. I've got a great solution team around me now. Um, and just getting in there and working out those business problems that our clients had and going, right, this is what we've come up with, this is how we can meet this on a technology channel uh challenge, sorry. Um, and then also bring in the uh the costing the business outcomes and requirements, which is something I can bring to a conversation very easily, going, This is why we're doing it, this is the effective outcome and this is the desired results.

SPEAKER_01

So Yeah. Um, so you like a challenge.

SPEAKER_00

I do. I don't think I would have got into this if I didn't. Like I sort of look back and go, what did I get into this again for? But problem solving was always the thing I loved doing, like taking something and going, right, how do we fix it? I think as you know me, it doesn't like you know, we're talking about different stuff. I'm happy to put up a Jibrock war. Yep. It doesn't matter what it is, right?

SPEAKER_01

So satisfying and finding that solution, the right solution for people is yeah, quite satisfying, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_00

It's one of the strengths we've always had at Mercury T is we never give up. Yes. No matter what the problem is, like there's been many a times where I've gone in and gone, yeah, most people would have packed up, quartered quits, and said, Yeah, it can't be fixed. But the one thing I'm proud of as a company, no matter what's happened, we've always kept going.

SPEAKER_01

Some might call that stubborn.

SPEAKER_00

It is. And sometimes you need to fail fast, right? Um but it's been trait tabs. It is, especially when you're faced with a challenge where you go, if we don't get this back up and running, the company's gonna be completely affected by it. Yeah. And the team's always pulled through and we've always found a way through. So I love that about the business.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, everyone does pull together, don't they? When it's um push comes, shove, it's all hands on deck.

SPEAKER_00

All hands on deck, and everyone within the company is always willing to help each other. That's what I love.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, which is such a yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Different when we first started though.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, it was only the two of us, and you're you're reading like computer books trying to figure stuff out.

SPEAKER_01

No chat GPT to ask.

SPEAKER_00

No, you didn't have any of that, nothing to help us.

SPEAKER_01

Just winging it.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, or Netscape, the browser to find stuff. It was we had wonderful times.

SPEAKER_01

You must look back though and be pretty proud of all you've achieved over that time.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, it's hard because it's come come and gone so quickly. Yeah. Like you look back and you do, you've got to celebrate the small small wins. I constantly a lot of my friends and mentors always tell me, celebrate the small wins, and I forget about that because I sit there and go, let's just keep going forward, you know? Yeah. Let's keep winning, keep going forward and keep achieving. Um, but yeah, from what we've started from to where we are today, uh, massive. I I couldn't be prouder of the business in general. It's just not myself, but it's the business in general. Um let it. I have led it. I'm still here fighting away, and as I said, I'll still be here leading it as long as I possibly can. Yeah. Um, but yeah, it's it's it's great to see where we started from a vision to what we produce now.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I love that old photo of you and Luke. This must have been in there probably the first year of Mercury IT. And yeah, I think you both had a bit more hair.

SPEAKER_00

We're a little bit more slimmer, a little bit more enthusiastic looking. Yeah. But um, I think I was about 27 years old. I was like that time.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it was such a great photo though. Just yeah, when I came across that in the files, I was like, oh, that is pretty cool for you to be able to look back and go, that's where it all started.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, it all started. Yeah. Yeah. But it it was good. I I I have no regrets about doing that. Um I'm so you know, super proud that as a business we stuck it out. Yeah. Um, as we were talking about earlier, it's like, you know, at what point do you thought enough's enough?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

Leadership Reflection And Small Wins

SPEAKER_00

And I probably never really got to that point. Don't get me wrong, there've been some dark moments, you know, there was different things that come at you, but again, you get back to that principle, like we've got to find a way through it. Yeah. And you've got to rally, you pick yourself up because at the end of the day, uh, as a leader or manager of your department, if you sort of crumble away, then your your troops are gonna sort of not follow too well. So can't afford to show any weakness. No, but you can you can sure uh show empathy and emotion. I don't think that's a bad quality. No, it's a great quality to have. Yeah, I think showing that you're human as well, because you've got to remember you'll go through the same thing.

SPEAKER_01

Yes, that's that exactly. Yeah, you're allowed to feel emotional about certain things and yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So I think that's a strength as well. So, but yeah, those sort of things, you look back and go, no regrets, really, honestly. I'm super glad I did it. Um am I I am here today where I am. Um got a beautiful family, um, you know, as well out of that.

SPEAKER_01

So yeah, that's what I was gonna say. So when uh you don't have the uh old Mercury IT hat on, which is I think you have that on like 23 and a half hours of the day.

SPEAKER_00

Yep.

SPEAKER_01

What do you enjoy? What's your favorite things to do?

SPEAKER_00

Oh, look, family's I love my family. Uh a beautiful wife, smart, um, with her own fantastic career in IT, would you believe? Um, I think she does her job way better than I do. Uh um, but uh she's very efficient, very switched on. Um and then yeah, two uh what's it, 17 and 14 now? Yes, you're right, yeah. Teenage girls. Um, yeah, and just being with them, doing things with them is great, seeing them develop and grow um is fascinating. And then the group of you know, family and friends I have around that, um, yeah, and seeing them venturing doing different things. Unfortunately, I got into pickleball in the last 12 months, so a little bit pickleball mad these days as we get.

SPEAKER_01

Better like to see that in action.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, so um, that's great. That's actually been really good physically for me. Just getting out and breaking the work cycle. Yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_01

And even like mental health, I think, you know, getting out there to exercise and that sort of thing is always, yeah.

Family Pickleball Skiing And Thanks

SPEAKER_00

Oh, 100%. And the people that all play, it's a great the banter and the challenging, and everyone's equal on the court. So that's what I really like. Doesn't matter where you come from or who you are, um, you're all equal, you're there for the same common goal.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it sounds fun. Not given the pickleball a go yet.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, and um skiing at every possible opportunity I can get, but that's a lot harder sport to get away to and from. So um big passion of mine, powder skiing.

SPEAKER_01

So yeah, I mean that sounds amazing too.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, so it's another day though, because that's a long story.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. I have to try and lock you back in again. Uh well, thanks for coming along today and sharing your very long journey. It's um, yeah, it's great for listeners to be able to hear how Mercury IT got started and yeah, hopefully another 22 years.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, thank you.

SPEAKER_01

Um thing with the walking stitch.

SPEAKER_00

The old walker. Yeah, look, we could be here for about three or four days talking about uh Mercury IT's journey, but um in a podcast we've only got minutes. Yes, that's so um yeah, look, it's been an unbelievable ride. Um, I just want a big thank you to all my clients. My clients, a lot of my clients are my best friends now. Yeah, and we have that sort of relationship. Um, and the family and especially to my team, couldn't do without all of them.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, no, well, I'm sure that they know how you feel, so but thanks for sharing, and um, we'll see you on here again soon.

SPEAKER_00

Thank you.

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Alisha Christian

Host