He Risked Everything For A Better Life | Luke Clay

Luke Clay didn't come to America with investors, connections, or a business plan.

He came with $500, a suitcase, and a willingness to figure it out.

In this episode of the Gold Coast Podcast, Eric Winegard sits down with Luke Clay, owner of Xceptional Finishes, to talk about leaving Australia, building a life in the United States, starting a painting business from scratch, and why taking calculated risks changed everything.

The conversation goes far beyond painting.

They discuss:

Why America feels different than Australia
The "Tall Poppy Syndrome" holding people back
Moving to a new country with almost nothing
Building a business from the ground up
Why Google Ads transformed his company
The importance of personal branding
Lessons from entrepreneurship
Muay Thai, discipline, and confidence
Taking risks when everyone else plays it safe
Why success starts with simply showing up

Whether you're thinking about starting a business, moving somewhere new, or betting on yourself for the first time, this episode is a reminder that your starting point doesn't determine where you'll end up.

Guest:
Luke Clay
Owner, Xceptional Finishes, Inc.
Instagram: @xceptionalfinish

Hosted by:
Eric Winegard

Subscribe to the Gold Coast Podcast for weekly conversations with entrepreneurs, founders, CEOs, and industry leaders!

Thank you all for listening in on today's episode of The Gold Coast Podcast!

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Dude, I think we could build something together. Like and I mean me and you and and all these people we bring in.

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Oh yeah, absolutely. I'll I'd be I'd be happy to be a part of it. Yeah, for sure. Absolutely, because I I feel like, you know, you you support you know, support each other is about seeing like I mean, yeah, there's one thing, you know, you've got your healthy competition where you're like, oh he's doing better than me, I've got to, you know, step it up. But yeah, but yeah, I just think like, you know, being happy for others and being there for them and helping them out is the best thing to do. You know, I've got a uh a good mate of mine I train with and you know he owns his own pool cleaning business, you know, and I I give him I'll give him pointers, you know. He's only just starting out, um, you know, and I try to help him out as much as possible. And you know, he'll ask me, hey, how should I handle this situation with this customer? Like things like that, you know. So um, but yeah, I'd be I'd be happy to jump on board in that for sure. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 0:57

I'm building it, I'm building it right now. So, but I'll keep you uh yeah, you're you're officially now part of the Gold Coast community, and we'll we'll get you into the society. In the society, I like that.

SPEAKER_00 1:07

Beautiful, beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 1:09

Um, dude, I I want to learn about you, man. I I don't listen, I don't know a whole lot about Australia. I I I've never been. Uh-huh. Uh obviously it's on the bucket list. You know, what's unpack your your childhood, your life in Australia. What's life like in Australia? Have the floor for a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 1:27

Yeah, so um so growing up, I I was born in uh the country music capital of Australia. Okay. It's called Tamworth. Um and then my uh my parents split up when I was pretty young, and I ended up uh moving over to a small coastal town called Foster, not spelt like the beer, but um, but yeah, so I grew up uh in a little coastal town. Um, you know, my mother remarried, so I've got step siblings now and stuff as well, so I'm from a big, big family, you know, there was five of us, five kids. So um, and then yeah, once I kind of got to you know, about 18, 19 years old, I'm like, I want to do something bigger. So um basically in a nutshell, like I I've always been into music, um, and I'm like, oh, you know, I want to move to a bigger city where I can do my music and is it country? Is country or no, so it was hip-hop.

SPEAKER_01 2:29

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 2:30

So a lot different to what American hip hop is. Yeah, I tell people Aussie hip hop's completely different. Um, you know. But uh yeah, so we uh yeah, we I I ended up moving to a city called Newcastle. It's about two hours north of Sydney on the east coast. Okay. So I lived there for a few years before coming to the States. Um, and yeah, I was I was doing trade school like for agronomy there, and then doing music as well, and I ended up getting a backing band for our gigs and stuff, and like it was really starting to take off, and then I got accepted to come to the States for an internship. Okay. Um, and that's how I ended up here. I thought, oh yeah, I'll just I'll just come over for 12 months, and you know, and then uh 12 months turned into 13 years.

SPEAKER_01 3:18

Wow, no kidding.

SPEAKER_00 3:19

Yeah, yeah. So I was telling Logan I um I uh was here and I'd met my wife. I met her brief like shortly after I moved here, and uh, we were dating and stuff, and we just didn't know where things were gonna go. Yeah. And I was planning on going back to Australia. Um and then uh yeah, I got offered a job here um at a golf club. Um and then yeah, I ended up ended up staying, and yeah, I've been here ever since.

SPEAKER_01 3:48

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 3:49

Yeah, yeah. So so yeah, I did a did a bit of moving around, you know, growing up back home, but um but yeah, so uh what else?

SPEAKER_01 3:58

Um is there a big difference like like what's what's the I know this is gonna be a a long list, right? What's the biggest difference between Australia and the United States?

SPEAKER_00 4:08

Right off the bat I will say it's the way of life. So for example, um Aussies will talk to anybody and everybody. So if we're standing at a crosswalk and we just look at each other, we'll start talking to you. Okay, like everyone just talks to everybody and whatnot, and you walk down the street, G'day, how are you? How's it going? And I did that when I first moved here, and people thought I was freaking crazy. So I was like, oh, okay, you say hi to them, and they're like, Who are you talking to?

SPEAKER_01 4:45

Now, where was this in the States? Florida. Where in Florida specifically? West Palm. West Palm, okay.

SPEAKER_00 4:51

Yes, yeah. So I mean, oh like I've uh I've got property up in Georgia and I go up there a fair bit as well, and the people in Georgia can are just like that.

SPEAKER_01 5:00

I'm Romagassies. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 5:04

They'll want to stop and talk to you for 20 minutes. Yeah, they'll stop you. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You're just running into the supermarket to grab some stuff and they just pull you up and whatnot. So um so yeah, I would say I would say that for sure. Um, but then also too, you know, I I've found America compared to Australia is very driven. So in Australia, we get the tall poppy syndrome. I don't know if you're familiar with that term. So basically, if you want to be successful or build build something big and everything, everybody around you usually goes, Why are you trying to be better than everybody else? Okay. You know, so nobody tries to like like you know, do do something big. It's very rare to find those people. Um, so we call it tall poppy syndrome because if you're the tall poppy, you get chopped, you know. So yeah, so like back home, it's yeah, it's a lot more relaxed in regards to making something of yourself career-wise. Um where here, like I was like, Well, everyone is just hungry and go, go, go, like, you've got to be the top dog in everything you do here. Where back home it's like if you're middle of the road, it's cool.

SPEAKER_01 6:22

Yeah, yeah. That's interesting you say that there's definitely like the United States is a huge country, like uh landmass-wise. And uh overall, culturally, you're definitely right. Uh there are pockets of areas where it's just like a little bit more reserved like that in terms of like the American dream, but yeah. Um but I I will say where you're at in South Florida, it definitely has become I don't think Florida was known to be like this in the n 1990s. Right. Or even in the 2000s, but it's definitely become uh entrepreneurial haven. Oh yeah, for sure. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:04

Oh yeah. Ever since I mean, ever since COVID. For sure. Like the influx of people we've seen come here and the businesses that have come here, it's like, well, it's yeah, it's it's like I tell my wife, it's like this is not like the you know, the Florida I moved to, you know. It's it's really not. It's just like it's so it's just busy and it's happening, you know, everything's happening down here. So yeah, it's uh it's good though. I think it's definitely a good spot and a good spot for you to you know to do this as well. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

And and this is just you know, so my my main business is the the digital marketing company. Yep. That's like this doesn't really produce revenue like that, but um it's just been an idea that has just been evolving as I've been talking to so many people, you know. So yeah, but yeah. Um yeah, is your wife an Aussie or no? She's American. She's American, okay. Where was she born and raised?

SPEAKER_00 8:00

Uh in Jupiter, actually, Jupiter, Florida.

SPEAKER_01 8:03

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 8:03

Yeah, yeah. So she yeah, born and raised here, and then she went to college at UCF and then moved back down here, and and it uh it worked out pretty well because she was meant to move to Texas for a job right when I had met her, but then it fell through and she ended up staying. So yeah, so we nearly didn't uh nearly didn't get together and uh you know, I get married and have kids and and live the American dream. Yeah. So um so yeah, it's uh it's good, it's fun. You know, she she loves making fun of me for my accent, I make fun of her accent, yeah, it's stuff like that, how you would say things, and yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:41

What um so on on a personal note, when you say that when you say that Australia is a little bit more reserved, would you call it the what poppy syndrome?

SPEAKER_00 8:51

The tall tall poppy syndrome.

SPEAKER_01 8:53

Tall poppy syndrome, and people in the States are a little bit more, you know, trying to be high achievers. Do you which which culture do you like better?

SPEAKER_00 9:04

I mean honestly, I the the time I've always been a pretty driven person. I've always wanted to do something big, and I think that was a big driver for me when I was making music was like I wanted to be the best of the best, and I just had that drive. Um but um I will say the good thing about the reserved, more laid back, like not not needing to be you know, the the biggest and the best, your life is a lot more relaxed, I will say. Um you know, like if you want a nice car, you just get one because you love cars, you know, kind of a thing back home where here it's almost like it's a status symbol. You know, you've got to have a nice car, you've got to have a nice truck. Like, I mean, even for me in my business, like I I've got a nice Denali and it purposely got a nice one because you know, you've got to look the part, you know. So yeah, so it's the you know, it's the the thing here. It's real, it's real. Oh yeah, absolutely, absolutely, you know, or you know, you gotta dress nice, keep you know, have a nice haircut and stuff like that. It's it's very important. My wife makes me trim my beard all the time. Yeah, yeah. Actually, just trim mine. It was a lot longer than this. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:23

I because I just want to just you know, just bring it, just grow it out. Oh, yeah, yeah. Not comb it, yeah, you know, and just let it be all snarly. Yeah, I want to take you know how bad, because I could do it with my mustache. Right. My mustache naturally can go. I want to do this so bad and just grow out the beard. Yeah, she will not let me because she says you won't look as professional. I'll think you'd look good. I think so too, dude. Yeah, dude. I want to crush a giant beard. You're motivating the heck out of me. Oh, yeah, yeah, absolutely. See how long I can do you have any idea who Dan Belzarian is? Oh, yeah. The amount of people that mistake me for Dan Belzarian. I was kind of sorry. It's outrageous.

SPEAKER_00 11:07

Yeah, I can say it. Definitely.

SPEAKER_01 11:09

I've had young women be starstruck and right in front of my wife just freak out. They think I'm him. Yeah, yeah. Uh, I've had people ask, you know, it's I've had young guys slap me up, like, yo, damn, what's up, bro? Yeah, you know, but it's that's usually when my beard's longer. But I always feel bad because I'm like, I because I always disappoint them. I'm like, it's not me. Yeah, I'm not him. Yeah. You know, one of these days I just want to be like, what's up, bro? You want to go fucking hang out?

SPEAKER_00 11:37

Oh, yeah, yeah. Just rum with it. Just rum with it. I know. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:42

So pretty I mean, I'm always fascinated by by people's stories. Agronomy? I don't even know if I know. What what's what what's agronomy? Uh, because I thought it was more like um um unpack agronomy to me.

SPEAKER_00 12:00

Yeah, so agronomy was or is um the study of soil and turf.

SPEAKER_01 12:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 12:07

So um another another word for it would be like a greenskeeper, if that's like if that's your profession. Um so basically, yeah, I went to uh trade school and uh was doing an apprenticeship in that as well. So my all my learning experiences was on a golf course. Um and then yeah, we learn everything about insects, you know, the weather, like anything to do with that is uh is what agroni basically what agronomy is. Um, but yeah, I specialized in uh sports turf, it's instead of more like the agricultural side of it. So that's how I ended up in the golf industry originally.

SPEAKER_01 12:48

Okay. Yeah, very cool.

SPEAKER_00 12:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:51

So how turf uh interacts with the weather and the soil, etc.

SPEAKER_00 12:57

Mm-hmm. Yep, okay. Yeah, and then plants and stuff as well. But um, yeah, you know, it's just like how to basically like a uh golf green, right? Like how to keep that thing alive, but keep it as as smooth as you know, glass as well, like and cutting it millimeters, like but keeping it alive, you know. It's things like that that you gotta, you know, that you learn about and whatnot. So it was it was a very fun industry to be in.

SPEAKER_01 13:26

I bet, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:27

Yeah, yeah. So um, but yeah, I just got to a point, you know, I'm like, I'm I'm working way too much out in the sun. Um I was getting random like face bleeds and stuff as well. Like my face would just start to bleed. Um Whoa, yeah, that can happen. Oh yeah, yeah. Your beast can just Yeah, yeah, I could just do that to my face and it would just start to bleed. Um too much sun. I guess. Yeah, I I don't I don't know exactly what it was. I never went to go get it all checked out, but I probably should have. But um, but yeah, I figured, no, you know what, it might be might be time to get out of this, you know, or more sunscreen. Or you know, I had the kangaroo skin cowboy hat I'd wear every day and you know, to stay protected and and whatnot. But um yeah, I thought I need to get out because I'm working way too much, and my wife and I were wanting to start a family, and and I thought in that industry, like you're always at work, you know, because you've got to be up early, you've got to be there all day, you know, it's and then you go to bed early so you don't get to really see anybody or do anything.

SPEAKER_01 14:41

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:42

You know, so I wanted to uh yeah switch it up, um, and then that's how I fell into being a paint contractor. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:51

No, can you kind of hide from the sun a little bit there, right?

SPEAKER_00 14:54

Yeah, a little too much now. I lost my nice tan that I had. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So uh so yeah, but it's um it's good, you know, like it's I I've I find it a lot better now, you know, I can make my own hours, yeah, my own scheduling.

SPEAKER_01 15:10

Well, because you own your own business, right? Yeah, yeah, versus working for somebody, right? Yeah. I mean, what when you did you ever have an agronomy position that you owned did you own your own company? No, okay.

SPEAKER_00 15:22

No, so I was uh I was a superintendent um of a golf course, and then the highest you can kind of get there is like director of agronomy or director of golf. Um, but uh that's very hard to get into, especially here in Florida. I mean, it's the golf capital of the world, yeah. But there is so much competition down here, it is so hard to get a leg up. So a lot of the time you'll find people will do lateral moves, like, oh, I might make another 5,000 a year at this place, but it's the same position, I'll just do that. Maybe that guy's gonna retire soon and I can take over. Yeah, yeah. So yeah, there's a lot of that. Um I didn't want to get into the actual construction side of golf courses because I had the opportunity at cool, that's fascinating. Yeah, I had the opportunity to work with Jack Nicholas and uh build a golf course uh up in West Palm. Cool. And um I was one of the best experiences ever, you know, and then you get in a meeting and shake his hand and stuff. I was like, well, like this guy's a legend, you know. Oh god, yeah. Yeah, yeah. So um so yeah, it was uh yeah, I wanted to get into construction, but again, that golf course construction job, like those companies are always moving around. Like it's you don't just work Yeah no way Yeah, it's I get it, yeah, you're on the road all the time, and maybe state by state. Or like you might go to Georgia, you might right or Yeah. So for instance, the company that came out and helped us build our golf course were from Texas. They're from San Antonio, and they were down here in West Palm for eight, nine months, their whole crew.

SPEAKER_01 17:07

Wow, what a life.

SPEAKER_00 17:08

Yeah, and then they're like, and then we're home for like you know, three months or so, depending on what else is coming up. And then you're out. Sometimes they fly back home to see their families and stuff, but I was like, that sounds fun for a single guy. Yeah, you know, but I had you know, I had my wife and everything, it's like she would not be cool with me doing that. That's that's almost worse than being in the military.

SPEAKER_01 17:32

Yeah, with that amount of travel. You know, that's uh yeah, that's uh one of the things people don't realize about the military is like because I was in the Navy from 99 to 03. Oh, awesome. Yeah, and and you know, I remember I was a young man, I was 19 years old, and I remember being like sh I don't want to say shocked, but it just never dawned on me how many moms and dads there are that are going on a ship, going overseas for six months, nine months, and sometimes it's unpredictable as to when you're coming back, especially now during wartime. Oh yeah. You have no idea when you're coming back. Oh yeah. You know, like but they're away from from their families, you know, and you know, you you know, you're missing your daughter's kindergarten graduation. Like it's it's that that's one of the toughest parts about being in the military is a lot of times you are away from your family.

SPEAKER_00 18:34

So yeah, yeah, you don't have that opportunity for them to live with you. I mean, you know, like sometimes the families will move around from base to base, but I mean if you're if you're out on a ship, they're not gonna be out there with you.

SPEAKER_01 18:50

Yeah, and like and like you never know, like with this Iran war, I don't you know, uh to be honest with you, dude. I haven't even been paying too much attention to it. Like I'm so I I really I can't even tell you the last latest thing that happened. But if you know, like I feel like we didn't know we were getting into it, like, right?

SPEAKER_00 19:13

No, we didn't.

SPEAKER_01 19:14

Like, like, like it's it wasn't like, oh boy, we're gonna, you know, go to war. Yeah. It never felt like that to me. And then it was just like, oh, by the way, we're in this war. Yeah, and then it's like boom, we're there and it's happening. It's like, okay. Like, like I so I feel bad for you know, some of those military personnel. I'm sure they were prepared, but you know, just all of a sudden out of nowhere, you're calling your wife and you're like, honey, I'm stuck in the Straits of Hormuz for I don't know when.

SPEAKER_00 19:41

Yeah. Yeah, we're staying parked here until it's all delayed. Yeah, we're chilling for a while. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:48

You know, now don't get me wrong, they eventually will rotate the ships and those kinds of things, but um, yeah, that's pretty that's uh so yeah, you're I I ca I get why you didn't want to stay in erronomy.

SPEAKER_00 20:03

Yeah, yeah, it's uh I loved it, and the beauty of it is I can always go back and fall like fall back on it if things would ever go bad because I've got a piece of paper that says you can do this, you know. So that's uh that's the way I look at it, you know. And I'm glad I did it because it's what brought me to America and it's what you know has given me the opportunity to do this. I mean, I I moved here with 500 bucks cash and a suitcase and a backpack, and you know, I did borrow money to buy a pair of boots for work when I first got here, like, you know, so it's it's kind of like it it's good because it I I found it exciting starting from scratch and then you know building it up. So um, and then now, you know, owning my own business and uh you know learning to run it every day, you know, like you know, I I d I love to say I don't know what I'm doing most of the time, but I just show up and I just try, you know, like we'll figure it out, we'll figure it out. But um, but it's been good. I've been very blessed, uh, you know, because you're only as good as the people you surround yourself with. For sure. And I'm very blessed that I know some very good people and successful people, and I can call them up or text and say, hey, you know, like what do you think about this or how should I approach this? Um and I'm never too humble to say I know everything, you know. So I'm um you know, I'm very fortunate to have have a good network of people around me that I can call on if I need to.

SPEAKER_01 21:39

Yeah, good for you. Yeah. No, I'm glad I'm glad things are going well, dude. I mean Thank you. I'm always um I'm always real I always admire when I hear a story from someone like you that says I had five hundred dollars, you know, I didn't have shit to my name, I don't even speak with the same accent. That these people do. If I speak, I stick out like a sore thumb. Oh yeah. You know what I'm saying? Uh-huh. And uh and just to come to some other country, and like 13 years later, like you're kicking ass. Like, dude, it's I mean, it's very, very inspiring. Uh thank you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:20

Thank you. It it it's good. It's a it's a great feeling, you know. Yeah. It is, it really is. And I always thought, you know, I'd I'd always thought I'd much rather be, you know, my own boss and run something, you know. So I mean, I would like to branch out and do more things as well. Um, I would like to start an import-export car business eventually. That's that's my next goal to do that because I love cars, so you know, I'd like to do that. So uh, but that you know, that'll be down the road.

SPEAKER_01 22:52

Yeah, you got so how I mean how big do you want to make this painting company?

SPEAKER_00 22:56

I mean, ideally, I would love to make it a multi multi-million dollar a year business.

SPEAKER_01 23:04

Um you know, I I got a guy, I got a client swearing my life painting business 24 million a year.

SPEAKER_00 23:10

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:12

Oh, there's tons of money in it. Yeah. Tons of money. I don't mean interrupts you, but I'm just letting you know I've I've seen it.

SPEAKER_00 23:18

Oh yeah. Oh yeah, the you know, the previous company I was at made millions and millions of dollars a year. You know, the very successful business. And um you know, one of the guys I worked with there always said, You're only you're as big how did he word it? But he's basic he basically worded it as you're only gonna be as big as how big you want to be, kind of a thing. So if you've got the initiative and the drive to make it a huge business, yeah, you can. It's there, you know. It's um it's one of those things where like construction doesn't stop, it won't ever stop, you know, in in all trades. Um so that's my goal, you know. My goal's to do that. Um so I you know, I've every year we've you know, we've been getting a little better and a little better. So yeah, we're coming up, yeah, the end of our second year now, being open, and we're doing a lot better than what we did last year. So you know, we're on the right track, which is which is awesome.

SPEAKER_01 24:24

Is it is it all residential that you're doing?

SPEAKER_00 24:27

No, so we do uh we do a lot of commercial uh work as well. Um so at the moment I'm I'm doing a church in Jupiter, um, we do schools, um working on a golf maintenance facility at a country club, yeah up in uh up in Jupiter as well. So um so yeah, we do we do everything, shopping plazas, um what else have I done? Uh like vets as well. Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_01 24:54

So just businesses, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:56

Yeah, yeah, clubhouses. Clubhouses was a big one for us in uh country clubs. Yeah, we did we did a lot of clubhouses. So um, so yeah, I would say uh when I was running I was running Google ads um and I was getting a lot of residential leads from there, um, but then also too I was doing the commercial as well. But now at the moment it's kind of flip-flopped and doing more commercial stuff than uh residential right now. Um but it's uh it's it's great uh because you know you get a lot of people that'll call you. Like I had somebody call me today and just say, Hey, I saw you doing this, can you come and give me a quote and maybe do this for us? You know, it's it's it's going really well, you know.

SPEAKER_01 25:45

Yeah, you I I always once people bring up marketing, I always love to talk about it. Oh, yeah, for sure. So yeah, yeah. So like um how because I work with a lot of businesses like like here. This is the craziest thing about digital marketing. You know, Facebook and Google, dude, they're the two biggest advertising platforms in the world, right? Like they're not just tech companies, right? So the numbers are crazy. The between Facebook and Google, it's half a trillion dollars a year that are spent on ads. Yeah. Right? It's it's enormous. And when I like like it, you'd be blown away because I still talk to some businesses that have never ran Google ads, or a business that has never ran meta ads, or you know, they think a website is marketing, or you know, they did a few posts on social media and they think they've tried social media and that social media doesn't work. Um what was Google ads successful for you or was it not?

SPEAKER_00 26:49

It was very successful for us. So we were spending uh we were spending a decent amount of money per month. Uh I was paying uh a marketing uh company to do it for us, and we'd get our weekly analytics and whatnot, so we could work out our demographics, where the calls are coming from, and then uh what people were searching for, you know, with the keywords and whatnot. So that was good because we could like fine-tune it a little more, and then it it got it was going really, really well. Um, and then I got to a point like there there was a bit of a lull. Um, there usually is in the beginning of the year, and I thought, oh, maybe we should cut back on on the marketing for now. Um so I I stopped running those ads and and no joke, the phone stopped ringing. Like I would only get calls every now and then from someone that's like, oh, so-and-so said, you know, give you a call, you know, we'd like to get a quote, like it all word of mouth. Um and I was like, wow, like that's uh it's crazy, like how much of a big difference it was. And you know, I've got another friend who's here, um, he's another Aussie who's a general contractor. And um, I was telling him, I'm like, mate, you've got to have an online social presence and you've got to pay for ads. Like it's you've got to. Yeah, you know, it's I mean the organic stuff comes, but that takes time, as you know. You know, you got that builds over over time, and um, you know, if you want if you want that continuous, you know, leads coming in and whatnot, you've really got to really gotta put your money in. Oh, no doubt. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:34

And it ain't cheap. Like, you know, you know, no, it's not cheap at all. And I think that's the hard part. You know, so like one of the reasons I started this podcast is to not only build a community, not only build my personal brand, not only help promote other businesses, but also there could be a young entrepreneur listening to this, right? And he's like, How do I do what this guy did? Right. Right? Right. So that's that's why I'm and and obviously I know marketing well, so that I'm that's why I'm prying here.

SPEAKER_02 29:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:10

So I talk to some contractors sometimes or any business, and they go, Well, could I just start really small? Like, could I just start with like $500 a month and hope that I, you know, start getting some leads and some business, and then I use that money to to level up and I go, uh, don't even bother. Yeah. Because like, don't even bother with $500. Yeah, yeah. You're better off just uh buying your wife a $500 bottle of wine because you know, it's going nowhere. Yeah, you have to invest thousands of dollars. Yep. But but as long as you have a product or a service that has the margins to substantiate the cost, and and you as a business person, you know, not you, but whoever has to know that, um, you don't have to say how much you are spending, but can you like kind of agree or disagree with me about what I just said and kind of give some advice to an entrepreneur about if they should just spend a little or if they should get a little aggressive? Like I'd I'd be curious to hear your thought on that.

SPEAKER_00 30:20

Yeah, so um I completely agree with you. Um a few hundred bucks a month isn't gonna cut it. It is a little scary at first to jump in on it, but the way I looked at it was it was just like when I was making music, so where a lot of musicians come undone is they spend all of their budget on making the song, right? Recording, mixing, mastering, paying session musicians, whatever, doing the artwork, and then they save a little portion for marketing. It should be the other way around. Your marketing budget should be more than what you spend on making the product. So I would say to people that are wondering, put your money into it. I know it's uh it it feels like a gamble and it's scary, but it really does help a business grow. Yeah, it's it's fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 31:14

I'm gonna use this for my marketing, just so you know, all these wonderful things you're saying. Yeah, no, no, seriously, no, no, no, seriously, and but I genuinely want to help these businesses out. Like um uh I I had a guy, he called me up um two months ago, maybe three months ago. Um, does half a million a year in his contracting business. He's been there for seven years. Has a partner, really wants to grow, has tried this, has tried that, has never been able to grow his business outside of that number. Okay. And he asked me, he goes, What should I do? I you know, I I respect you. I I know you've been in marketing, you know, a couple decades. And I said, I said, for your business in your area, I go, you probably gotta spend four or five thousand dollars a month on Google Ads. Now, this is a business that does $40,000 a month. So when I told him you got to spend 10% of your gross money on marketing, he he almost threw up. All right. I said, you know, I you just gotta trust me. Like there's no other way to go about it. Yeah, yeah. And you guess what? You might have to get two, three months into this thing before it really starts cranking. You might have to get $12,000 in here to get going. I'm just being honest. Because there is a natural, sometimes there just like the stock market, sometimes there's really good times, sometimes there's slower times. Right, yeah. But after two months, he said his average job went from a $2,000 job to a $6,000 job, and he's gonna blow past a million dollars this year. There you go. You know? Yep. But like I love hearing those success stories, you know?

SPEAKER_00 32:58

Oh yeah, and it's again, it's like like I said just before. You like I stopped running the ads for a bit just because we were pretty quiet and I was trying to be a little more conservative with where I was spending our money.

SPEAKER_03 33:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:11

And um the phone stopped ringing. You know, and it's it it it's it's huge, especially for smaller businesses. I think they really do need to invest in marketing, especially on social media too. Like Facebook's a big one. I mean, a lot of people are homeowners, and everybody loves Doom Scrolling on social media, and if you're running ads and they may have searched for painters nearby or whatever, your ad might pop up. So, you know, um, and then the Google, I mean, the Google ads are great. Like the sponsored, the sponsored ads, um, they're they're fantastic. So, but it like as you said, I mean, you know, it's it that takes time, you know. You've you and you you'll get a lot of spam calls and you know, and stuff like that. But um, but yeah, once it kind of like got rolling for us, it was it was like, wow, like the this it's actually like it's paying paying as well. No, it's cool when it works, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:16

I mean we have uh so like we run meta ads, like we spend tens of thousands a month just on meta alone. Like we spend a lot. Yeah, wow. Oh yeah, and I want to and I want to spend more, right? Because I know it works. Yeah, right. But scale scaling, it's tough. You can't like if you spend you know a hundred dollars a day just spending or excuse me, a thousand dollars a day. Yeah. And if I up it to two thousand dollars a day, it doesn't necessarily mean you're gonna have the exact same results. Like your your customer acquisition costs could go up, your cost per lead can go up. So it's it doesn't just mean automatically doubling the results by doubling the money, right?

SPEAKER_00 34:57

Exactly, yeah, it doesn't. And you know, you'll it really just depends too, I think, on how many people at the time are looking, you know, for that particular work. Because some weeks, I mean, you could be paying five, six bucks a click on your ad some weeks, and then the next week you might be paying eight or nine, and then two dollars the next week. Like it fluctuates so much. Um, so yeah, you know, like doubling it doesn't necessarily completely uh yeah, like you said, it yeah, it doesn't like double yeah the influx of leads. Not necessarily, no.

SPEAKER_01 35:33

No, not necessarily. Um yeah, that's good. No, I I I hope I hope some entrepreneur listens to this and says, Alright, I'm gonna go do some Google ads. Oh yes, yes, do it. Do it. Um yeah, um you said you had now this this I thought was interesting. How well do you know We Thai? I've been doing it a while. Oh boy. Yeah. All right. If I grabbed you, could you could you kick my ass pretty quickly? Depends. Depends on the grab. I I I had a couple UFC fighters on here. I love asking pro questions, you know. Yeah, yeah. And and actually the the reason I'm doing it too, sometimes sometimes these questions actually go really viral. So I'm trying to phrase it in a way that like gets a response from you that like does that make sense? Oh, yeah, absolutely. So how well do you know Mwita?

SPEAKER_00 36:36

I know it pretty well. Been doing it for a while now. Um and I mean I I love it. I love the comrobbery of everybody, even though it's you know, when you're fighting, it's just you and one other person, but you've got a whole team of people that you train with and whatnot.

SPEAKER_03 36:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:54

Um, I absolutely love it. I've actually just started doing the Moy Baran, which is the uh traditional uh one where they have the ropes wrapped around their arms. I haven't done that, but but but it's it's more uh it's more of like a structured uh type of um type of fighting where Muay Thai actually stems from. Uh so yeah, but I I love it. I love the uh you know the art of the eight limbs as it's known for. Um I love the uh the the brutalness of it. I mean it it it's basically human cock fighting, really, at the end of the day. Yeah. You know, you just stand across from each other and try to kick each other as hard as you can, you know.

SPEAKER_01 37:38

And so have you done actual like fighting?

SPEAKER_00 37:41

No, I haven't. Um I think I I'm past my I think I'm past my uh my my prime there for sure. Um I'd I've nearly done a few tournaments and stuff like that, but yeah, my wife said to me, I don't want you to, you know, get a broken nose or get or anything.

SPEAKER_01 38:01

I I was always I'm actually well I talk like I'm still a good athlete. I used to be a very good athlete. Right. I was always very strong and athletic and coordinated and aggressive. And um, you know, so I always felt like like in a bar fight, oh I definitely could have kicked someone's ass, right? But not not a trained person, right? But so I've been training now for the past six years, just striking, you know, some uh elbows, very light wrestling. I can't, I really can't get down on the ground. My knees are very arthritic. But all I will say is this is my punching ability, just by doing mitts and boxing for the past five or six years, it is night and day difference between five years ago. So, and that's just me work using it for exercise. Yeah. So I think I think what's fascinating about someone that's like trained, you know, is is I don't think I always say that when you learn a martial art, it gives you confidence, but it also humbles you. Because like you feel more confident, like I definitely feel more confident in myself if I like you know, like like the average guy is not gonna get me. Does that make sense?

SPEAKER_00 39:20

Oh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 39:21

The average guy's not gonna get me. I'm just gonna wait for him and crack, right? Yeah, the train guy, oh fuck, you know, we you I gotta be careful. I might just run. I might just run. But um, but it but it but it's also very humbling because you realize you're not as tough as you you fucking think you are.

SPEAKER_00 39:38

Oh yeah. You know what I'm saying? Yes, I still remember the first time I ever sparred, and that was a very rude awakening, you know, because you if you don't know how to fight, you really don't know how to fight. And if you've never been punched in the face, you it it it's it's a shock. Like, you know, a lot of a lot of people don't know how to take it, you know. So like we get a lot of young, uh, or not young rather, uh new new people come into the gym, they want to try it out, and then you know, we do sparring, and then usually with the new people, like I go really light, really slow, don't do nothing crazy, you know, and every now and then you'll hit them with something and you just see them like the shock, like they're like, Oh my god, oh my god, like I just got hit, like you know, or sometimes they they they'll keep backpedaling to get away from you, and I keep telling them, No, no, come back, come back, like stay in the pocket, yeah. Stay in the pocket with me, don't keep backing up. Um, you know, so um, and then the the other big bad one is people turn their backs, you know, you hit them with a three-piece combo to the head, and on the third shot then they turn sideways like that, and you're like, Oh no, don't do that, don't do that. Yeah, yeah. So um, yes, it's it's very, it's very humbling for sure. And I think too, you know, it's one thing that keeps me very level as well. Yeah um, you know, even if I'm in a confrontational situation, you know, I I'm I'm like, I'm good. Like you know, and I never 99 out of a hundred. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 41:22

You know, if it's if it's kind of McGregor, be careful.

SPEAKER_00 41:25

Yeah, yeah. Oh yeah, absolutely. But yeah, I mean what just the average the average Joe walking down the street, you know, or you might, you know, you might be at a pub having a beer and and someone wants to start you. Um it happened to me one night I was at a bowling alley um for for a uh cousin-in-law's birthday, and I had one of my fight shirts on, and these three guys came up to me at the bar while I was getting drinks for everyone and said, You want to come outside? And I looked at all three of them and went, for what? And they're like, Well, fight, you you fight. And I went, Yeah, no, not here. Where was this? Was this in the States? Yeah, this was here, yeah. Yeah, so I was like, Not here, no guys, not happening, and then you know, oh you're a pussy. I just walked away. I'm like, I am, yeah. I'm like, yeah, that's all you can say what you want, mate. That's fine. But you know, if you really do want to have a crack, come to the gym, sign the waiver, get in the ring, and we'll do it. Sign the waiver, brother. Just sign the waiver.

SPEAKER_01 42:26

I love it. Yeah, that's that's gangster. Oh yeah, that's super gangster.

SPEAKER_00 42:30

I'll try to be. I'll try to be.

SPEAKER_01 42:32

Yeah, no, but that's a smooth way to handle it. Um yeah, I mean, guy I don't know, guys. Don't I don't know, man. I um I don't know what it is in us guys to to have to be tough. I um, you know, I think it's obviously we've got to be protectors, but I've seen uh I I I think like like I asked um like I I had a self-defense expert here. This is where my brain's gone. Self-defense expert, badass dude. And um he does all this self-defense training, and uh and I asked him, I said, you know, what how should I handle this in a fight, this in a fight? And a lot of his videos went viral, you gotta check them out. Yeah, for sure. And uh he was like, Well, the first thing I would do is run. I go, okay. I go, what would you do if you go, well, then I would try to run more, you know. Like that, like his his response was, I'm never trying to fight unless I'm forced to fight. Have you ever actually had to go muita on somebody?

SPEAKER_00 43:39

Yeah, a couple times. Okay. Couple times. But yeah, one I will say this uh one good way to stop somebody in their trucks real quick, a couple of leg kicks. That'll put them down real quick. Or calf kicks. Oh a calf. Yeah, so kick them in the calf or kick them up the side of the leg in the T I band. If you're not used to getting kicked there, you will fold like dirty laundry. Wow. Yeah, so just leg kicks all day long.

SPEAKER_01 44:09

I love it. Yeah. I've never been kicked, and I don't want to get kicked.

SPEAKER_00 44:13

Oh, it's it it hurts. I bet. It really does. We have a thing at our uh gym where we uh if it's somebody's birthday, you get that amount of leg kicks that of your age.

SPEAKER_01 44:25

No.

SPEAKER_00 44:25

Oh, I have since then everybody lines up and they just crack you in the legs and it hurts. But you know, it's uh it it it's uh a really good way to stop someone in their tracks. I mean, especially to like if I'm fighting someone who's a boxer, like if I see their stance and you know, we get a lot of boxers that will come into our gym, yeah, and you know, they'll be doing the Philly shell and stuff, and you're like, Alright, I'm just gonna kick in the legs because you're not gonna you're not gonna take it, and I'm gonna I'm gonna be able to stay back because my legs are longer than your arms. So um, so yeah, that that works really good with boxers, but yeah, if you see someone in that Muay Thai stance or if you know they're a grappler, you might not want to be throwing kicks because you'll get taken to the ground real quick. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you like MMA? I do. I'm actually thinking about starting to do wrestling as well. Really? Um yeah, I've never done grappling. I was a rugby player growing up. Um so I figured I'd maybe give that a try. So, you know, do uh I did want to get into MMA when I was younger, um, but the the availability for gyms in Australia at the time was very slim.

SPEAKER_03 45:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:42

Um so I it never really ended up happening. And then when I came to America, you know, I found a great gym, Florida Kickboxing Academy, and we like we have such a good a good culture at our gym. Yeah. So many different walks of life of people in there with different fight experiences and whatnot. Um, the guy that owns our gym, he's uh he's fought on glory, uh, he just finished up his one championship contract. Oh wow. Um, yeah, they just we got we got a bunch of killers in there. Yeah, but the nicest guys in the world, and even going back to the self-defense guy, you know, some of the best advice I ever got um from a um a Hall of Fame boxer was if you're ever in a situation in public where you know you're confronted and whatnot and you know you you can't kind of get away, always stand in your stance and with your hands up, like you're going, hey, I don't want trouble, but your hands are right there, ready to go. You know. Oh, that's good. Yeah, so I always keep that in mind if if you know if something were like that was to happen.

SPEAKER_01 46:52

Yeah, I don't want I don't want I don't I don't want no problems. Yeah, yeah. I don't want no problems. Yeah, and then they get too close and you pop elbow right up the middle. Uh yeah, I found out um yeah, like elbows are tough because uh my buddy Ian, so Ian was the ninth ranked middleweight in UFC at one point, good friend of mine, and he teaches him weed Thai class. Oh wow, yeah, so he definitely knows you know his stuff. But like I fuck around with him and and uh you know we're always like training and stuff, and and then every now and then he'll say, All right, let's let's get after it a little bit, right? And and uh but no punching in the face. But you know, we kind of go hard outside of the face, you know, and and uh rate as I think I'm like tough, boom, I get a shot right to the fucking liver, or like you know what I mean? Like just something to show me, you know. And I always I've told this story a few times, but you know, we were kind of like he wanted to wrestle. And I'm a strong dude, I'm a very powerful guy, right? I'm about 250 pounds, I'm very powerful.

SPEAKER_02 47:57

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 47:58

And uh and Ian's probably 215, so he's not he's he's strong, dude. Right, but I was like, I'm bugging bigger and let me just do my thing, right? Yep. I was like, he can't stop me from tackling his ass. Let me just tackle him. So I did, and I got into a guillotine so quick, like I went boom, I took him down, and then I still got strangled. Yeah, you know, so like you know, I'm just telling people out there, I don't care how tough or athletic you are, you know, you might be able to get a little something on somebody, but like you're gonna they got a counter for you, I promise you.

SPEAKER_00 48:31

Oh yeah, absolutely. You know, one of one of my uh one of my best mates here, like we've trained together for years and years, and you know, I'm I'm 210 pounds, he's 125 pounds.

SPEAKER_01 48:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:44

And whenever he's got fights coming up, like he goes, come jump in the ring with me, let's slug it out. Because, you know, if I can take hits from you fighting someone the exact same way, you know, it's nothing. And he says it all the time, it's like he gets hit by them and he's like, Is that it? You know, yeah, so it it's um it's it's good in that regard too, but then also as well, like those little fellas, like and a lot of Muay Thai fighters for the most part are small, like there's not a lot of heavyweight guys, um, but um, but like they know how to hit. Like, if they know how to hit and where to hit, like it doesn't matter how big and tough you are, you cop a liver shot. Happened to me the other night. I cop I copped a beautiful hook to the liver fighting this guy that weighs a lot less than me, and I dropped to my knee. And I was like, Oh, I felt that, and then I stood back up, it it goes away right away, but it's that initial liver shock. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 49:45

No, for sure. You're my kind of guy, dude. Yeah, awesome. No, seriously, I love it. You're music, you're a hip-hop guy, you like Mui Thai. I don't know much about Mui Thai, but um, you know, but I I like MMA as a whole, but I maybe I'll do a training class with Ian on on Mui Thai.

SPEAKER_00 50:03

Defin definitely give it a go. Yeah. Um the learning the body mechanics of it, I mean it it really depends on your combat sport background as well. So like we have a lot of people that were like taekwondo guys, and taekwondo kicks are completely different to Muay Thai kicks.

SPEAKER_03 50:22

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 50:23

Um so once you kind of get that down, like you know, with the way your body should work when you throw like certain kicks, whether you're kicking through, you're kicking up, kicking down on somebody, it's um it just becomes second nature and it and it's a great, great tool to have.

SPEAKER_01 50:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 50:42

Oh yeah, absolutely. Because I mean we grew up and it was like, you know, or boxing was the was the thing back for us growing up. You know, and it was only pussies kick, you know, and then it and then it's like Muay Thai kind of started to get really big. And everyone's like, oh nah, that's that's tough.

SPEAKER_01 51:02

Oh yeah, no, in in MMA in general, I don't know, I don't want to put a number on it, but but it's really only been I'd say the past eight years where the calf kick has really become like uh like a real game plan, I feel like. Oh yeah. Where because and I've seen these guys, I mean, just like uh what's his face? Uh you know who used to destroy remember uh Israel Adasania when he was on his prime run there? Oh yeah. Yeah, his his calf kicks were crazy. And you oh he's a kickboxer. That's yeah, yeah, he's a kickboxer, yeah. You know, and and he would just like you know, I remember he fought this guy Paulo Costa, who's a beast of a man. Yeah, he just kept kicking him in his calf for three rounds, got to the point he was like, I'm not gonna get hit, I'm not going in there. You know, he just kept, you know, because he knew if he was in the telephone booth, Paulo would probably get him. So he just kicked his calves, kicked his calves. Paulo couldn't move anymore. Nope.

SPEAKER_00 51:56

He physically couldn't move. Yeah, yeah. And it's the best way to shut down a fight. Going back to what I was saying, if someone someone gets in your face, is give him a good hard leg kick and it'll be all over. Yeah, no doubt. Because it takes all the power out of your uh your punches and everything as well. Um, but yeah, the calf kicks, I mean, they can be dangerous if you if you check a calf kick, someone could break this in. You know, like you'll get a leg snap, like with Connor and uh Dustin when he broke his leg, you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's um yeah, it's you know, they they're great, but you've got to you've got to be able to like kind of like wrap it around a little bit the back there. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 52:38

This is cool, man. I I like you a lot, dude. I and I uh yeah, I I hope you you crush business for the next few years. Well what's what are the plans for your company over the next few years?

SPEAKER_00 52:48

So my plans for the business is to just grow. Yeah. Every every year I want to bring in, you know, more people, I want to bring in uh more work as well. So as long as I'm on an upward project like movement, I'll be I'll be fine. So I I don't have you know, you you get some people that have like the vision boards and they have like a set dollar amount that they want to make and and this and that and the third. I kind of have an idea of what I want, but um I'm not gonna hold myself to it because you know the work comes like in such highs and lows. Um, you know, we had a low spot, like I was saying, at the beginning of the year, and and that was kind of tough. I was like, shit, what are we gonna do? Like, you know, I'm trying to find the work, and the work we were getting, you know, you're trying to chase people to get paid, and it was uh it was tough, you know. So I would, you know, over time, I know I know this doesn't happen overnight either. So over time, as long as I'm doing better each free school year, then I'm good, you know. But I do want to make it a multi, multi-million dollar business. Yeah, you definitely can. Yeah, yeah. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 54:08

Yeah, as long as you get the sometimes uh branding yourself in a certain way helps too to get some of the certain types of jobs, you know.

SPEAKER_00 54:17

Oh yeah. I mean, the uh marketing um person that I work with now is a good friend of mine, and um she's just started her own marketing business.

SPEAKER_03 54:27

Oh, cool, good.

SPEAKER_00 54:28

And and I was like, let's get together and let's come up with a game plan, and uh, we've got all these great ideas for doing reels and stuff like that, like just content-wise. Um and then yeah, she said one of the biggest things is with any business is make sure you've got a face to the name.

SPEAKER_01 54:46

100%.

SPEAKER_00 54:47

You know, you can put up all the informational posts, you know, it's just words, but it's like, you know, who's the person behind this? Yeah, you know, so you gotta do that.

SPEAKER_01 54:58

Yeah, I I got really mad at my social media team a couple days ago because they were uh posting like too much AI stuff, and I was like, I was like, that's cool, every like that's cool every like fourth or fifth post or whatever, but like we need our people and our team members on there constantly. You know. Um so well this was fun, man. I I really enjoyed it. Is there is there anything else you want to tell people about the business?

SPEAKER_00 55:22

Or um Oh, I mean, really, uh you know, if you I'd just like to say if anybody's you know looking to start their own business or anything like that, um please like go for it. Take the plunge, you know, save your money up, get a loan, and go for it. You know, that's that's the only way to do it. Jump in two feet first, you know.

SPEAKER_01 55:49

And and and buy some frickin' Google ads.

SPEAKER_00 55:52

Yes, yes, absolutely. But uh, but yeah, my business, you know, I I love what I do, I love you know, making people's homes beautiful for them. You know, that's my biggest thing. Yeah, you know, I want them to be happy, so you know, that's that's what we're all about, high quality, you know, with an exceptional finish. Yeah, so yeah, so that's uh yeah, that's pretty much it, really.

SPEAKER_01 56:18

Well, you're a cool dude, Luke. I like you like you a lot, man. Uh, do me a favor, take a look in that camera. 15 seconds. Who should reach out to you? If um and if somebody does want to reach out to you to potentially hire you, where's the best place for them to to find you online?

SPEAKER_00 56:35

Okay, so I would say to reach out to us if you're looking to have your business or have your home painted, you can give us a call uh or you can find us on our website. We're on Facebook and Instagram as well. Um, I'm always with my phone, so I'm readily available. Uh so we can be reached on all those places at Exceptional Finishers, R Our Handles, and www.exceptionalfinishers.com is the best place to reach us at.

SPEAKER_01 57:07

Guys, thanks again for tuning into the Gold Coast Podcast. Make sure to like and subscribe. We will see you again.