Business with the Donnos
Join the Donno family each week as we share the real highs and lows of running a business together—mixing practical advice with unfiltered stories from behind the scenes of family life and entrepreneurship.
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Business with the Donnos
Apprenticeships That Actually Work
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Apprenticeships can be a growth engine or a drain on your team depending on one decision: how you design the experience. We’ve hired across accounting and marketing, trained people from level two through to professional quals, and even completed a management MBA via an apprenticeship route—so we’ve seen both sides of the process. In this candid session, we break down what actually works for small businesses and what to avoid if you want real capability rather than short-term capacity.
We start with the basics—apprenticeship levels, how funding really plays out, and why off-the-job hours are often misunderstood. Then we get practical: choosing the right provider, aligning apprenticeships to AAT or ACCA pathways, and insisting that assignments apply to your business instead of abstract case studies. You’ll hear how our early generic provider added noise and frustration, and how switching to a specialist transformed results. We also talk about the human side: setting clear expectations, assigning a single accountable mentor, and keeping apprentices in the office early to accelerate tacit learning.
Culture is where the ROI lives. We share how psychological safety helps juniors challenge assumptions, bring digital fluency to the table, and grow into leaders who know your clients inside out. Expect frank talk on costs beyond wages, training contracts, and the real productivity dip at the start. We unpack common mistakes—treating apprentices like cheap labour, skipping a training plan, outsourcing all learning to the college—and we explore generational communication gaps, from phone confidence to messaging norms, with tips to coach skills that classes often miss.
By the end, you’ll know when apprenticeships make sense, when they don’t, and how to build a repeatable system that turns potential into performance. If you’re ready to grow talent the smart way—provider fit, mentor model, culture-first—hit play, subscribe for more honest takes on small business, and leave a review with your biggest apprenticeship lesson or question.
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Welcome to Business with the Dominoes, where we talk about family, business, and everything in the end. I'm your host, Jade Munich, and I'm here with my dad, Domino. And today we're going to talk about apprenticeships.
SPEAKER_00:Well, it's apprenticeship week, so why not?
SPEAKER_02:It is apprenticeship week. I only found that out about half an hour ago. But it's apprenticeship week.
unknown:Woo!
SPEAKER_02:Wee wee. So yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So yeah, you're well prepared for this model, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:I'm really, really, really prepared. Um, so oh, I've got the wrong notes up, that's why it doesn't make any sense.
SPEAKER_00:Well, there you go. Well, anyway.
SPEAKER_02:This isn't what I've written.
SPEAKER_00:No.
SPEAKER_02:But it this is this is now. So we've we've taken on a lot of apprentices at one accounts, haven't we?
SPEAKER_00:We have.
SPEAKER_02:Um we've taken on accounts apprentices mainly. Yeah. Um, and we did take on a social media apprentice as well, which didn't work out, which we'll talk about a bit more later. Yes. I think. You're an apprentice.
SPEAKER_00:You're an apprentice, aren't you?
SPEAKER_02:I am, although my apprenticeship has sort of finished.
SPEAKER_00:Has it? Oh, get you.
SPEAKER_02:So to do my MBA, I did that through an apprenticeship. Yeah. So I have now done the apprenticeship from both sides. There was a level seven apprenticeship, which no longer exist. Well but it was still an apprenticeship. So um basically you have the apprenticeships, they're all in different levels. I think they go, I don't know what level they start at.
SPEAKER_00:I think two.
SPEAKER_02:I think it's two as well. Yeah. Um, and then they did go up to level seven, but now they only go up to level five, I believe.
SPEAKER_00:Is it five? I thought it was four, but anyway, four or five.
SPEAKER_02:Four or five.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Um, but uh basically the my apprenticeship hosted a master's, and now you can't do that.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:That anymore.
SPEAKER_00:Hopefully that will change in the future because I think that was wrong. Because you know, yours was an MBA. That I mean that's been really beneficial to our business.
SPEAKER_01:It has.
SPEAKER_00:Um, and also, you know, we've got an ACCA apprentice.
SPEAKER_02:We do.
SPEAKER_00:Um, again, will be beneficial to our business as well. Um, so as a small business, having that support apprenticeship scheme really, really helps at that level, but equally really helps at the level up to level four. Um, and we've got you know, certainly two very notable apprentices that we've put through. Yeah. Um, and we've started other people off in their careers who haven't stayed with us, you know, sort of young Grace, she was great. Yeah, she was really good. She's gone into industry, but she started off as an apprentice with us as well, so it gave her the opportunity. And I um I started an apprentice.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, you're an apprentice too.
SPEAKER_00:Youth training scheme.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, very exciting.
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely, that's those were the days. So um, yeah, I started off in apprenticeship um from straight from school, which is why I like apprenticeships.
SPEAKER_02:Fair enough, and I think the thing that we like as a small business is that we can really find the right person and then mould them to our business and our way of working. Um, that is the the key benefit to why we we go down that that route. Um so yeah, we're gonna sort of share what's worked for us and what hasn't worked for us and what people don't tell you about apprenticeships.
SPEAKER_03:Indeed. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Um so yeah, so why small businesses consider apprentices, so it is growing talent from the ground up.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and it's learning your ways. I mean, sometimes you know, we we have got frustrated with the apprenticeship part of it that's not, you know, they obviously most of ours go for a professional exam, like AAT, ACCA or something like that, don't they? So that's their formal training, but then the apprenticeships sometimes isn't quite designed for them. So I think as an employer we've got to um we've just got to embrace that. Um and you know, I think what was it James did once, and he always reminds us of it. One of the things he had to do was in Haverhill, which is Haver Hill, it's hill is for a reason, so it's quite high. Um what very inland, very inland. Um, and basically it was what would you do if there was a tsunami?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, what's your business continuity plan if there was a tsunami that hit Haver Hill?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, which you know we'd have to be about um, ten hundred feet above sea level to do that, and the rest of the country would be it's just bonkers, it was no there was no benefit, and also what what else did he have to do? He was a an A-level maths, he had A-level maths, yeah, and they made him do equivalent of GCSE. So I think as an employer, you've just got to embrace that. There's a reason you've gone down the apprenticeship route. Normally it's financial, um, but you often find that some of the colleges that put you down that route are going under the apprenticeship scheme, and you are doing some of you, some of your guys will do stuff that maybe you wouldn't they don't need.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, it and I think it depends. So, one of the things we've got well on here later is is to pick the right provider to do your apprenticeship. Yes, and we've we've learned that the hard way. So with one provider um that was doing that, the apprenticeship didn't fit the qualification, it was the same across the board, very generic, and uh it would have things in there that were just pointless, the um apprentice doing, and so they felt like it was just a waste of time, and and it was, it was just to get the uh the apprenticeship bit. Um but now we use a different provider, we use first intuition, um, and they're really, really good. And now the apprenticeship does align with the qualification. So first intuition, just do um accounting apprenticeships, I think, um, and and like the AAT, I think you could do them outside of an apprenticeship as well.
SPEAKER_03:Three of them, you can do, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Um so it's not just apprenticeships, but they just do the the thing for our industry, so they may well be in your business and uh apprenticeship provider who does your industry that it might be better suited.
SPEAKER_00:Your MBA is through someone else, isn't it?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, so my MBA is through the University of Arden, they do the apprenticeship scheme through them, although probably not anymore. Um but my apprenticeship, I actually did feel like it was very beneficial, so all of my assignments had to apply to one accounts, they couldn't just be about anybody or anything, it had to be about one accounts, which is obviously much more beneficial than having to do it on something very obscure or on like the NHS or something like that, which a lot of my cohort are are a part of. That would have been totally unbenicial to me because it's got nothing to do with my my work in life, so having to do it on on my business was the right thing to do, and also I had to keep track of the things I was doing, and this is a normal apprenticeship thing, you have to do your off-the-job hours, which are it's it's labelled really weirdly because it's called off-the-job hours, but it's actually what you do on the job on the job. So it's off the job, on the job hours, yeah, it's very confusing, but you have to mark down what you're doing to basically hit all the um key performance indicators, KSBs, yay, but all the things that are like important to that um role. So mine were all to do with like um leadership and business development and stuff.
SPEAKER_00:What your dyslexia kicks in then. Why key performance indicators KSBs is KPIs?
SPEAKER_02:Oh, they're not no, but they are called key SBs. Okay, but who knows what they stand for? I don't know, I don't care.
SPEAKER_00:It just made me laugh.
SPEAKER_02:Someone would have picked up on that and been like, Jade, what are you chatting about? Uh anyway, mine more to do with like that sort of thing. So I had to make sure each week I was doing things that related to that, and I had to log it all down, which was actually quite helpful to see how much I was doing to do towards the um the qualification basically.
SPEAKER_00:Um yeah, and at the end of that, that apprenticeship though was is has been really good as well. You get an actual management um, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:So once I officially I get um chartered manager's status, which is very fancy. I get more letters after my name because of it.
SPEAKER_00:Excellent.
SPEAKER_02:Um so yeah, once I've done done the the final assessment thing, then I get that as well. And then in a year's time I'll have my actual MBA as well.
SPEAKER_03:Cool.
SPEAKER_02:Which is very exciting. Um but yeah, in terms of the apprenticeship, I felt like mine was actually quite beneficial. I think it does depend on your apprenticeship coach as well. I had a lady called Holly who was fantastic, she didn't make me do anything that was like work for work's sake. Obviously, there's still a bit of that because it's a government-led thing. Um, but I had a fantastic lady who who was really, really good and helped me as much as she could to you know make it viable while you're working full-time.
SPEAKER_00:Um, so I think if you get a really good apprenticeship coach as well, it's really and I think that you know our guys have you know, despite having some strange subjects, did benefit from the apprenticeship as well. And obviously, we then put them through. Certainly, you know, James and Harry in particular put them through their AAT from level two up to level four, and you know, they they did brilliantly at it, didn't they?
SPEAKER_02:They did, they did really, really well.
SPEAKER_00:Um and and you know, as a as a company, uh you know, James is now heading a pod.
SPEAKER_02:He is.
SPEAKER_00:Um Harry is now um underneath James and and working really well with James as well. Um and then and then we've now got um Terra.
SPEAKER_02:We do, we employed Terra who starts on 2nd of March.
SPEAKER_00:2nd of March, excellent. So on the 2nd of March, our new apprentice starts coming into the world of um accountancy and uh yeah, he's kickboxing champion or something, isn't he?
SPEAKER_02:Something like that.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, okay, cool.
SPEAKER_02:I'm sure we'll find out all about it.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so and he's going with what first intuition?
SPEAKER_02:Yes, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Um he'll enroll with AAT as well. Yeah, um, and uh and yeah, so that would that'll be good. So basically the apprentice has trained and got the apprentice underneath him, and the apprentice that's been trained has got the apprentice underneath them.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, it's worked really nicely.
SPEAKER_00:But it's it's been a period of time though, isn't it? I mean, James what started what eight or nine years ago? Yeah, and Harry probably five years ago.
SPEAKER_01:Less than that.
SPEAKER_00:Is it less than that?
SPEAKER_01:Maybe not.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I don't know. Um, so but they've stayed with us and they they're working with us, they know our clients, they understand our clients, and they're working in the ways we want them to work. And then and as a unit, as a pod, because we call them pods, yeah, they've been brilliant.
SPEAKER_02:They have, and I think that's really important. I think you can get people to fit you a lot more culturally, um, growing them from the ground up, which then promotes loyalty and um really a really great working environment as well. Um one thing you mentioned with the apprenticeships is they are cost effective, although now there is an argument for that, but they are a cost-effective way to get resource in um and have a really good cultural fit. I think there's a lot more benefits over cost, um, but cost is a is a benefit as well for having an apprentice.
SPEAKER_00:And I think it's fair to to address cost, because you know, obviously, when we you can pay the apprenticeship wage. You can, um, which which is is fair enough, especially if you've got a youngster straight from school, you know, they're not going to go to university, you know, they won't have the student debt, um, etc., and they get the training. Um, I think a lot of um and you can pay that. I mean, we normally pay the the um apprenticeship wage for three months, yeah. That's what we normally do, and then we go to minimum wage because we feel that's a lot fairer. Um, but you know, what I think is forgotten when we say stuff like that as long as you're getting cheap labour, it's not cheap, you know, 25 silk, 26 grand a year now. Um but a team member, one or two, you know, our time as well, is spent investing in that person, you know, let alone the cost of the actual training as well, um, which is higher than it used to be because the government aren't supporting small businesses like so I think people forget the amount of time and effort that goes into you know someone to train to our ways, yes, work with it, um, and go from there. So, you know, in reality, there's there's a good two or three years of real investment outside as well.
SPEAKER_02:There is it's worth it, it is worth it, and with an apprenticeship as well, you have to give the apprentice one day a week on their studies, so they will only be working four days a week for you. Um that you have to give them the the fifth day, um, which is fair, they've got to learn, you want them to pass like that. Is that is fair, but so that's something to know up front is that they will be working for you four days a week, and they do take a lot of upfront time to train and learn, and and that's where you take somebody on so that you can teach them and build them up with your business, so you but you've got to be prepared to do that, then they're not somebody who will just come in and be able to do the job straight away. That's not what you're getting here, you're getting someone to teach, yeah. Um, which is really important to sort of know and understand.
SPEAKER_00:And what I find um, you know, because sometimes the training isn't quite what we want as employers, yeah. Um, but I was reading yesterday, really interested to see the um, you know, AAT sent out a bulletin yesterday about their level four professional qualification. Um, and they've now got digital innovation in there as part of their um qualification, and I think that is a big step forward. I've been quite a um I've been, you know, certainly on my LinkedIn channel, I've been quite anti some of the professional bodies, not giving a um well not making people work ready, you know, making them ready to, you know, pass their exams, they've got their letters after their name, they're ready to go into the big real real world, and then actually find out they can't do the job we need them to. Um, and I think it's great that AAT has actually looked at that and gone, right? No, we're changing it, we're gonna make our accountants real real world ready. Um, and I think that's great, and I think with people like us, we're ready to embrace that. Yeah, so yeah, and that that really works well with with the the youngsters that are coming through.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, and I think it is like we said, check the provider, but check the course material as well if you can. Um I know we've fallen foul of this, and when I mentioned it earlier, we we hired a social media apprentice.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, we did, yeah. And we They don't always have to be accountants, do they?
SPEAKER_02:No, they don't. Um, but we hired a social media apprentice, and the the course was terrible. It didn't support um them at all. It it really, really let them down, and also because we didn't have an internal marketing team, it is just me and Katie. We were expecting the college to teach the theory and then we could uh give the um you know the space to be able to use the tools and to action it, but they weren't teaching the theory. In fact, somebody actually turned up and um was saying like that she didn't like TikTok, she didn't understand it.
SPEAKER_00:I know, she's teaching them.
SPEAKER_02:And she was teaching them, and we're trying to encourage them to use to use TikTok to help us with our TikTok videos, and then uh her support was was saying no, so we unfortunately had to uh I know and the college was getting 9,000 pounds a year for that course.
SPEAKER_00:It was shocking, absolutely shocking, and they didn't care, did they?
SPEAKER_02:They they didn't care at all. Um so it is really important to to check that as well, um, because otherwise you will fall foul and like the last thing we wanted to do was have to um you know let somebody go, but it wasn't fair on on them, they weren't getting the training or the support that they needed to be able to learn or grow, um and that wasn't what we wanted, um, and it certainly can't have been what they wanted either.
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely so so I think it's a case it's a case of checking the college out, isn't it? Making sure they got the right course, um, and that they can support that person in it.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Um you know, if you've if you've got an apprentice bricklayer or something like that, make sure they can actually do bricklaying at the college, um, and they do they do actually know that. Um and I know that sounds darf, but there are a lot of people that sign up to apprentices where the college just can't actually fulfil it, but they're just offering it.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. So it it is really, really important to do that that little bit of work up front. Um, but then once you get the apprentice in, what works well to train them up, do you think?
SPEAKER_00:Well, I think particularly as I mean, from our point of view, because obviously we look at people that are computer-based and uh, you know, have that sort of manual, manual, that office-based skill, analytical skill. Um, we do find that they don't have, you know, the youngsters that are coming through don't have the fear of computers that maybe some of us more mature people do, um, and are able to move around things and pick pick certainly the AI and and computer stuff up really quick and give a different perspective. So, you know, include them, make sure they're part of your culture and they're not afraid to speak and challenge. Yeah, I mean, I think Zach challenged Adrian, which is you know, on some point of that he'd um picked up, and actually, you know, Zach was right, which means you know that's the sort of stuff we want. We're gonna encourage that challenging, yeah, you know, so that we're all thinking differently.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, and that's that's called um psychological safety, is when people feel comfortable enough to get you if you're MBA stuff. I know. Um, but that is what it's called, and that means that people are comfortable enough. If you hear that from your HR team or there's a lecture lecture, a webinar or something on psychological safety, that's exactly what that means. It's just having people feel comfortable enough to say their opinions, say what they're feeling, um, and it's really important to have that in your work environment. If you don't let like your apprentices uh speak up, you could miss out on some really valuable stuff, especially around technology.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Um, so yeah, I've got with what works well for training them is clear expectations from day one. I think that's the same for any member of the team you bring on board, is have really clear expectations, make sure you have got a job description, all of that.
SPEAKER_00:Um stuff.
SPEAKER_02:No, it's no point having them for you. Clear expectations for dad is that he will go golf at any opportunity. But it is having the clear expectations at the moment exactly what their job is going to entail, exactly what they should be doing, especially for an apprentice, they're not a manager or anything like that. They are an apprentice, you need to tell them exactly what they're responsible for, what you expect from them, otherwise you won't get it.
SPEAKER_03:No.
SPEAKER_02:Um I've put down structure, training, and routine that goes with the same thing. Um having patience as well.
SPEAKER_00:So it's really important. On routine, I mean one thing that is, I think, difficult in this day and age, especially when you've got a young youngster on board and it and it you know, whether it's an office environment, etc., they learn from other people.
SPEAKER_02:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:And it's really difficult to learn from other people if you're at home.
SPEAKER_02:It is.
SPEAKER_00:So, and I know that this is a barrier for people, and I know we've spoken to other other businesses and said, well, we can't have an apprentice because we work from home now. Um and I think that that's a challenge, and I know that you know the big cities like London, etc., are now almost insisting people come into the office full-time, but we can't do that, you know. We've got to be able to, you know, offer flexibility, etc. But the apprentices have got to be in the office, in my opinion.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, we have all of our apprentices come into the office full-time.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Because they've got to learn, and and the best way to learn is is by being around the people and the people in the office. We do hybrid working, so there's there is always people in the office. Um, but the apprentices do know that once they pass their apprenticeship, then the flexibility will also be offered to them. Yeah, but they've they've got to learn first, yeah. And that it's just the best way. I mean, I heard somebody I was chatting to someone the other day who had an apprentice, and the way she combated it because they're a remote business, was that they were just on teams all day together. And I thought that's awful. I would hate. That what you feel like you're being watched and they're just working, you have to get together. I know, but you're awful, but like that that is yeah, and and that you can't. It's almost a big problem, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it's like, oh let's see if they're working or not.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, but that's how they were combating the the issue. Um, but it just uh to me that was that was not for me, but um first working for them, so yeah, or whatever. Um so yeah, working in the office is is a is a thing, which brings me on to the um oh no, the last thing that works well with apprentices is having somebody responsible for their mentoring.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, absolutely. Um and it's not me.
SPEAKER_02:And it's not absolutely not you, um, but it is making sure you have got someone responsible. And to be fair, the colleges will make you have somebody sign stuff off and things like that as well.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, we are, you know, obviously from the professional side of it, we are lucky that we've got Adrian on board who is really good with them, does teach them you know how accounts should be done. Um so you know, and and he's he's put what he put James through, Mosa Harry through, um, and he's now got Zach under his wing as well. So yeah, so that's kind of works really well there.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, it does, and and it is just allocating that person. Well, yeah, well who's in Australia what not yet, he's not. Oh, isn't he? No, let's go. He's going soon.
SPEAKER_00:Okay.
SPEAKER_02:So the challenges with apprentices are that they are a time investment and it is bigger than you expect. You have to put the time into them. There's no choice but to do that, and you'll most likely have a productivity dip at the start when they start because your time is used up, or your the person you've assigned to mentor them is used up, and um they're not useful to start with, which sounds really mean, but that is the truth of the matter. Um, they're not useful to start with. Um, also, not every apprentice is the right fit. You also you obviously hire based on attitude, you're not hiring on anything else, just attitude, and you find that out just from a few interviews or an interview. So it may be John's allows to no, you're not, and it may well be when when they start actually they're not the right fit, and that's okay. Um, it's annoying, but it's okay. Um, and there is quite a lot of paperwork and admin to do around apprentices as well. You have to make sure your health and safety stuff's in place, you have to make sure you're communicating with the college, there's quite a lot of stuff to sign. Like, there is a bit of admin to do as well, it's not not easy and straightforward. I think they also have to have a special contract as well. Um, we use a company called Fig HR to help us with all our HR stuff. Um, but I'm pretty sure they go on a special apprenticeship.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, they have a training contract, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:Which means that the the money we spend, it's only financial. The money we spend, isn't that not the same as a training contract?
SPEAKER_02:Well, no, it depends because with some apprenticeships you don't pay anything up front.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. It's only if you pay anything up front that you're we pay exam fees and we pay professional body fees and all that sort of stuff.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, you can do that in a training agreement, but it's likely it's only if you have to pay up front. So for um for like my course and for Zach's course, because they were at level seven, we did have to pay a fee up front for the apprenticeship. Um, and so we've got training agreements in place, but the for a lot of the lower apprenticeships, there is no upfront fee, it is that, so then you haven't had any outlay to have a training agreement.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, fine. So I see what I know.
SPEAKER_02:See, shows you how much of the admin dad does.
SPEAKER_00:You wouldn't want me doing it.
SPEAKER_02:No, absolutely not. It's terrible. Um so the biggest mistakes we see with businesses taking on apprentices is the first one is treating the apprentices like cheap labour, like they are there to learn, and I know that sounds rubbish, but they are they are there to learn and grow, and you will get so much benefit out of them if you see it like that, rather than just this is a cheap person to just do teas and coffees or something like that.
SPEAKER_00:They can't get my coffee right anyway, so I'll do my own.
SPEAKER_02:Ah there's another mistake if you don't have a training plan.
SPEAKER_00:And they don't even know how to make a cup of tea. Some of them don't even know how to boil a kettle.
SPEAKER_02:Oh dear. I don't think we've had anyone.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, we have.
SPEAKER_02:Who? I can't remember. I don't think you should name a shame of them though. No, I'm not actually um you can't make a cup of tea. So I can make a cup of tea. I don't drink tea though, so anyway, not having a training plan in place, also not a great idea. You want to have again that structure and whatnot. Um if you don't provide any support or feedback, they're not gonna ever improve or do better. And expecting them to just know, they probably won't just know.
SPEAKER_00:No, they won't just know, and don't don't assume that they do know. No, even really simple things, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And I think as well, it's likely your apprentice will be younger. Um, and there's a lot of differences.
SPEAKER_03:They'll be younger than me.
SPEAKER_02:It's likely they'll be quite a lot younger than you, and there's quite a lot. Quite a lot, quite a lot, a lot, a lot younger than you.
SPEAKER_03:Oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_02:And there will be generational differences, and we're seeing that gap quite big in.
SPEAKER_00:I can't keep up with Gen Z, Gen Y, Gen K, all that sort of stuff, whatever it is. Just I just need it explained now and again.
SPEAKER_02:Dad's got a real thing at the moment about picking up the phone, and this seems to be one of the really big differences is the the boomers, as dad's called, uh all about all about phone. All about the phone, um, whereas sort of your Gen Z are more about WhatsApp. Um, and dad can't understand.
SPEAKER_00:I can't, but there you go.
SPEAKER_02:There you go. Um, it's quite funny, but it is knowing you you need to know what you're sort of gonna get and not then be when if your apprentice doesn't like to pick up the phone, it's to encourage them and support them to be able to do it and not just be like, why don't they pick up the phone? Because it's it there is a difference there.
SPEAKER_00:So why don't they pick up the phone?
SPEAKER_02:They don't like it.
SPEAKER_00:Well, why not?
SPEAKER_02:They just don't, because they don't do it. They text all their friends, they message their friends. Snapchat their friends. I don't know.
SPEAKER_00:You see, and as of an apprenticeship, this g I'll get a red now. Oh god. So why doesn't the college then teach them skills like picking a phone up and actually communicating?
SPEAKER_02:That I don't know, because I do think that would be beneficial, sort of the communication side of things.
SPEAKER_00:Get them sending a fax next.
SPEAKER_02:Oh god, no, we don't have a fax machine, everybody. That's I don't I wouldn't even know what one looked like. So those were the days. Okay.
SPEAKER_00:No, I didn't use carrier pigeons.
SPEAKER_02:Are you sure? You're making it sound like you did. Right, so when apprentices make sense and when they don't, so they're a good fit if you're a growing business, if you've got a strong culture and you're willing to train someone. I think that's when they make sense. And they're not a good fit if you're over capacity already.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:If you've got no time to manage or teach them and you're expecting an immediate return on investment.
SPEAKER_00:Then you're not gonna get that.
SPEAKER_02:You're not gonna get that. That's unrealistic, and it's just it's not worth your time.
SPEAKER_00:And that's unfair on the apprentice as well.
SPEAKER_02:It is, it's unfair on you, and it's unfair on the apprentice, it's just it's just not worth it.
SPEAKER_00:So maybe after the second week.
SPEAKER_02:So the advice for business owners that that I've got is you need to hire someone for the right the right reasons, choose the right provider, choose the right course, assign a mentor, make sure you're measuring progress, giving feedback, and think of the long term, not the quick wins.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Is there anything you would add to that?
SPEAKER_00:No, I think it's the long term, it's the investment for the long term. Yes, and then you do get a really good um fit for your culture and your business, and and and you can move forward, and and we've seen that.
SPEAKER_02:We have. So, to finish, we're gonna do our unfiltered minute.
SPEAKER_00:Unfiltered. You know what? Again, I don't really know what my unfiltered thing is.
SPEAKER_02:That's terrible. We do this every week.
SPEAKER_00:I know, I know, and it's kind of what's been really nice though, doing this because you haven't seen it. So we have a microphone stand up, don't we, in your in your study. But I've been watching your bird box over there, and and the birds are feeding in it. Yeah, it's really nice.
SPEAKER_02:It is nice. We thought about getting a little camera in there, but they're quite expensive, so we haven't got one. But yeah, because they do go in there, yeah. It's cute.
SPEAKER_00:So, yeah, you just need to get some bird feed for your feeders.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, they need filling up.
SPEAKER_00:But I just thought that that would look really nice in that bird box. I'm thinking, oh, I haven't got a bird box, I've got one more.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, why don't you put it on your birthday list?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, but it's in August. So they're nesting now.
SPEAKER_02:Oh anyway, my unfiltered.
SPEAKER_00:I might get a bird box with a camera in.
SPEAKER_02:Oh well, that'll be fancy, won't it?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:He will, you know, that'll be next week's unfiltered minute. Look at my bird box camera.
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely. Oh, yes, that could be a challenge.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Not sure where to put it.
SPEAKER_02:I think you'll find a place.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Some trees.
SPEAKER_00:Okay.
SPEAKER_02:Okay. Well, my unfiltered minute was that we did our quarterly team meeting this quarter. Oh, yeah, we did. This week. So we had the whole team in, and we went through basically what we'd done last quarter, what we want to do this quarter, and anything that we needed to share with the team, updates, things like that. Um, all in one big team meeting. And we do this every single quarter, and it's it's really good, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00:It's really good, yeah. Um£99.98.
SPEAKER_02:Oh.
SPEAKER_00:Bird box with a camera.
SPEAKER_02:There you go, then.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. There you go.
SPEAKER_02:It's my unfiltered minute.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, sorry.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, but anyway, we do the this quarterly meeting every quarter, as you'd expect. Um, and it really helps. Yeah, it really helps align the team, it really helps just get everyone together, get everyone on the same page. So if you are a business owner with a team, I would really recommend doing these big quarterly meetings. Um, I think some people see them as a bit of a waste of time. Um, I don't because if it can align your team, then that is absolutely worth every second of your time. Um, and we end all of ours with a little workshop on something. So we did a workshop on AI in this one to try and get everyone thinking about solutions using AI. Um, so yeah, it took the whole morning, but it was really, really beneficial. So I would just put that as a recommendation to any business owners out there that it's a really good thing to do. Um, I think that's everything. If you have any questions for us, please send them in. Um and other than that, we'll see you next week. See you next week. Goodbye.