S02E08 - Matt Connolly - Business owner, maritime engineer/project manager.

On this episode I’m talking to Matt Connolly.  Matt has led an interesting career in the maritime industry which has taken him around the world in a number of capacities.  After suffering a potentially life affecting injury in his first year of university, Matt didn't let it affect his trajectory, opting to follow his ambitions, with the realisation that sometimes life deals you challenges, but sometimes others have it worse.  Join us for a journey from sunny Cairns, to Tasmania, to Europe and abroad, making it all the way back to Cairns.  The world is your oyster!!!!

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:53

Welcome Matt. Thanks for coming coming by and doing the podcast with me.

SPEAKER_03 0:56

Thanks, mate. It's been a while.

SPEAKER_01 1:00

Been a while since you've done a podcast.

SPEAKER_03 1:01

No, it'd been a while. Uh uh coming to get here in this.

SPEAKER_01 1:06

Oh yeah, I mean we've You're right. We've been talking about this for a long time and you've been avoiding me for so long.

SPEAKER_03 1:11

I have not been avoiding you. We're both just very busy with small children. So you know, but here we are, lazy Friday afternoon.

SPEAKER_01 1:20

So before the listeners start adjusting their headsets, um you may notice that Matt's voice isn't coming through quite so clearly. Matt, can you explain that?

SPEAKER_03 1:31

Um it's I've got a paralysed vocal cord.

SPEAKER_01 1:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:35

Yeah, so uh only one cord works. Um look, uh, you know, it was quite an aggressive dolphin jumping out of the water. Uh no, footy injury.

SPEAKER_01 1:49

Footy injury.

SPEAKER_03 1:50

Just being a bit silly. Um yeah, first year university, only been there in like literally a couple of months. And um, yeah, I should have either run faster or ducked a bit further. And um, yeah, cop got hit to the throat, which pretty much immediately paralysed one of my courts.

SPEAKER_01 2:11

Yeah, right. One of the things that really impresses me about you, Matt, is that you've chosen a career which doesn't isolate you from speaking to the public regularly, doesn't isolate you from leading a team and and talking to people. Well, was there a time where you maybe considered that this might be a hindrance in your future or any particular job you might want to do in the future?

SPEAKER_03 2:35

Um honestly no. And I guess the reason for that is that you know it literally happened a couple of months into a four-year university degree. So I had that entire time at university to adapt to the new new, the new me. And I yeah, I just learned to cope with it, learned what I could and couldn't do, and just move forward from there. You know, sure there's there are some small problems on occasion, yeah, but the vast majority of the time there's no there's no problem.

SPEAKER_01 3:24

Was there a time where potentially there was a hopeful prognosis for your voice returning to normal, or was it yes, I've had surgery on three separate occasions, and each time they've said that um you know what they basically do is the cord that doesn't work, they coat it in a plastic like a polymer to thicken it, and then they physically push it closer to the working cord so that the working cord is closer to the cord that doesn't function, and that gives a better and stronger voice, more tone, um, but honestly, every time each and every time you know the doctors have been pretty positive about getting some some performance improvement, but it has improved, but not greatly.

SPEAKER_03 4:30

So, you know, it is what it is.

SPEAKER_01 4:33

Yeah, and you felt, you know, surely I'm sure it would have been better if it didn't happen, but you don't feel you've been held back by it at all.

SPEAKER_03 4:43

I have no problems at all. I've never ever lost any sleep over the predicament that I'm in or being put in. That's and look, honestly, the reason is because the same weekend that I got injured, there was a bloke in um in Brisbane, footy, also at uni, who um copped a neck injury.

SPEAKER_00 5:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:10

You know, same weekend that I got injured. And I just think, well, you know, I certainly got the better cards than him, so yeah. It is what it is.

SPEAKER_01 5:23

And you mentioned university. What did you um what did you study and where did you study?

SPEAKER_03 5:27

Um marine engineering at uh the Maritime College, Australian Maritime College in Longceston, Tasmania.

SPEAKER_01 5:35

So marine engineering refers to um building boats or building marinas or not really.

SPEAKER_03 5:43

It's um uh the particular degree is more mechan electromechanically minded um but with a real clear focus on getting guys, you know, with the working knowledge to work on ships and uh be an engineer on ships.

SPEAKER_00 6:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:07

Um that's that's that's the career path for that particular degree.

SPEAKER_01 6:12

And what what steered you towards that? I mean you're you're a Cannes, Cannes local, born and broke. Yeah. Went to St. Augustine's College.

SPEAKER_03 6:21

Look, the honest truth is um my parents probably couldn't have afforded to send me to university. So it would have been I would have been, you know, doing it the hard way, working, yeah, doing uni. I always wanted to do engineering, you know, the first few years that's that's you know, that's 38 hours a week. It's it's it's pretty hard. So I was always looking for what um scholarships are available. And this particular scholarship came up. Um it's actually my mum who found it. Uh she actually she was teaching uh marine studies at St. Augustine's at the time and uh the Maritime College and reached out to heap a heap of teachers around the country and said, Hey, you know, come down, all expensive paid for a trip to visit our university so that you can, you know, go home and uh talk to your Volchead um teachers and hopefully encourage kids to you know apply to the Maritime College if they're interested in um you know some of these types of courses. So um yeah. So she came home, she said, hey, um you know you've applied to the Air Force to go in on a scholarship there, but you know, who knows? There's these guys are offering scholarships as well. Why don't you have a crack? So I did. And that's that's got in, that's what happened.

SPEAKER_01 8:17

So you applied for a scholarship, got the scholarship, and so you didn't have some weird, oh not weird, like um strong interest in extracurricular, boating, or any other similar interests around the marine world?

SPEAKER_03 8:34

Look, I definitely had interests in the marine world. Um I was you know brought up on the water. Um and I wanted to do engineering. That's what I knew. I knew I wanted to do engineering, and I was pretty well focused on doing aeronautical engineering. And uh, you know, I knew the curriculum, the engineering curriculum at university backwards to do aeronautical engineering. My mum showed me the curriculum at the Marathon College, you know, year one, year two, year three, year four, what that looks like. I looked at the subjects and I was like not so different from aeronautical engineering, it's just it's just a different, you know, different field. It's just the water instead of the air. Um, but it's still engineering. And uh yeah, I was like, why not?

SPEAKER_01 9:33

Had you been to Tasmanian before?

SPEAKER_03 9:35

Never first time was you know when I rocked up to go to uni on day one. First impressions my first impression, I caught a boat from Melbourne to uh Devonport and then caught a bus from Devonport to Launceston, and on the bus, which which took like an hour from Devonport to Launceston, I remember that bus ride vividly. The entire hour I stared out the window looking at the countryside and the cars going past, and two things I kept, you know, occurred to me. Number one, you know, the floor of the fauna, the trees was nothing like North Queensland, nothing at all.

SPEAKER_01 10:35

So you're saying Tasmania is nothing like a tropical rainforest.

SPEAKER_03 10:38

Really, no. And the second thing was the cars on the road, yeah, yeah, it was like a time warp. It was like going back in time, ten years in Queensland.

SPEAKER_01 10:49

Right. Tiranas everywhere. So you mentioned that your um mother was somewhat involved with your school. Um was she ever a teacher of yours?

SPEAKER_03 11:00

Never.

SPEAKER_01 11:01

Never but she she worked there?

SPEAKER_03 11:03

Yeah, yeah, yeah. She was a teacher at St. Arsen's for many years.

SPEAKER_01 11:06

Yeah, okay. And what sort of student were you?

SPEAKER_03 11:13

Look.

SPEAKER_01 11:15

I feel a bit of honesty coming out of it.

SPEAKER_03 11:19

It's a difficult one because you know, my uh my stepson, it's like looking in the mirror with him.

SPEAKER_00 11:26

Really?

SPEAKER_03 11:27

Yeah, you know, he's naturally bright, and I was too. But not to the point where you know you can get straight A's without any work. You know, do the work, straight A's.

SPEAKER_00 11:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:43

Be lazy, B's. Yeah. But that was me.

SPEAKER_00 11:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:46

And that's him now.

SPEAKER_00 11:48

Right.

SPEAKER_03 11:48

Or, you know, it's literally like looking in the mirror, and it's um on the one hand I try to push him to, you know, get better results, and on the other hand, I'm like, you know, just let him be a kid. Yeah. You know, he'll find his own way and work it out because he's bright.

SPEAKER_01 12:07

Yeah. Do you um ever regret not trying any harder?

SPEAKER_03 12:12

Not really.

SPEAKER_01 12:13

No.

SPEAKER_03 12:14

No. I've had a good life.

SPEAKER_00 12:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:16

Um, you know. It's not that the extra work would have killed me, but you know, what what extra doors would it have opened that maybe would have made me more happier than I am now? I I don't think any.

SPEAKER_01 12:33

Yeah. Yeah. So not a particularly strong student, and you get a scholarship to um a university in Tasmania, um, and then you go sit on that bus up to Davenport. And at any point did you uh consider that maybe you've made a bad choice? Or no, you loved it.

SPEAKER_03 12:57

It was just an adventure.

SPEAKER_01 12:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:59

You know, that's what it was.

SPEAKER_01 13:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:02

Seventeen years old, Tasmania.

SPEAKER_01 13:05

And you went alone, or were it was any of your friends from school, for example? No. You didn't know anybody there?

SPEAKER_03 13:11

Okay. I mean, I knew not a soul, and I couldn't have gone to a university further away from home than I went to.

SPEAKER_00 13:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:21

But I loved it. I loved it.

SPEAKER_01 13:24

Did you get homesick? Nope. No. You're having too much fun. Way too much fun. What was uh I mean, you call it a university, I imagine it's like a traditional university. What was it called again, though?

SPEAKER_03 13:38

The Australian Maritime College.

SPEAKER_01 13:39

Yeah, okay. Which is very much It is a university. Yeah. Yeah. And it they offer limited courses, I'm guessing. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:48

Exactly. Yeah, so very limited courses, but obviously all the marine influence.

SPEAKER_02 13:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:53

It's actually still called to this day the Australian Maritime College, but it is part of the University of Tasmania these days. And even when I was there, you know, half of our subjects were we did at the University of Tasmania. Lawnceston campus, which shares the campus with the Australian Maritime College. Both universities are side by side. And they share resources, they share teachers.

SPEAKER_01 14:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:22

Yeah. So it's really one of the same.

SPEAKER_01 14:25

And it's based in Davenport. No, Longceston. Oh, Lawnceston, sorry. Yeah. What's that like as a town? I've never been. Never been to Lonnie?

SPEAKER_03 14:33

Uh, small.

SPEAKER_01 14:35

Small town?

SPEAKER_03 14:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:37

Big universe. Big university.

SPEAKER_03 14:38

Small city. Big town, small city.

SPEAKER_01 14:40

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_03 14:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:43

And the course was for four years, so yeah, four years. Was there a lot of practical involved with this course?

SPEAKER_03 14:49

Quite a lot.

SPEAKER_01 14:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:51

So, you know, I I call it a scholarship, but the correct terminology, I guess, is a cadet ship. So a company sponsored me to go to university and they paid for my, you know, my degree, uh, plus, you know, a stipend.

SPEAKER_01 15:11

So so how did that come about? How did this company get involved? They were part of the scholarship process or the cadet ship, as you call it?

SPEAKER_03 15:19

So the school advertised the scholarships or cadet ships or whatever you want to call them.

SPEAKER_00 15:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 15:26

But they were funded by companies. So the scholarship that I got was funded by a particular company called ASP Ship Management. So on school holidays, on university holidays, I went and worked for them. So I never got normal university holidays. I, you know, for four years got um, you know, three weeks off leave at some point in time, and the rest of the time I was working on a ship.

SPEAKER_01 16:04

And getting paid, or that's part of the step end or the got paid the whole time. Oh, you got paid for it?

SPEAKER_03 16:10

Yeah, whether it was a uni or at sea, I got paid the same amount.

SPEAKER_01 16:14

And was there a guarantee post-course that you would get a job with these people, or would you have to go through these same application processes?

SPEAKER_03 16:22

Uh there was no guaranteed job, right. But there was also no um obligation to take a job. So that's a bit different to the military, right?

SPEAKER_00 16:32

Right.

SPEAKER_03 16:33

Where if you get it and you use it, once you get the degree, you've got to work for them. It wasn't the case in my situation. Um, but you know, all of us who got these scholarships, there was half a dozen. Um, yeah, we all kept working for the company at the end.

SPEAKER_01 16:54

Yeah, um does that still happen? I mean, that sounds like a pretty good setup. I mean, do do they still run that same arrangement?

SPEAKER_03 17:03

Yes and no.

SPEAKER_01 17:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:05

Um, they did for quite a while. Now they don't, but I have heard from mates of mine who still work in that industry that um they're really trying to push companies to get back to doing that because yeah, it's needed. It's really needed to keep training young seafarers, young engineers, uh, young deck officers. Yeah, it's it's needed, and otherwise we're gonna lose that entire skill set, it'll just retire itself out eventually.

SPEAKER_01 17:47

Yeah, I notice even in my trade, or you know, I work in mining and oil and gas, is there's been a sh there's never really been that many apprenticeships on offer. And now it feels like that you know, due to that, they bring people in from overseas, or they just they're trying to flood the market with so many apprentices that there's just not enough tradesmen to teach all these apprentices, and it feels like every industry's going the same way.

SPEAKER_02 18:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:15

Um, so much emphasis over the years has been on, you know, going to university and getting a university degree, whereas the more practical trades and even the maritime trades seem to have been getting less and less people and no reason to stay in them. Yeah, look, you are in a quite a bespoke industry.

SPEAKER_03 18:34

Um, the marine industry is quite bespoke as well, but you know, just to simplify it, um I had this exact same conversation yesterday with uh my plumber. And uh, you know, he's crying out for apprentices, and he can't find any. And this is the same problem repeated, you know, it's not just you know, your basic plumbers and electricians that, you know, work around houses or construction or maintenance or blah blah blah. You know, there is all trades, all fields, the same situation. There's just not enough. And it's um, you know, we've got the Olympics coming up, um 2032, I think it is, Brisbane. So that's gonna take away from North Queensland, you know, more trades, trades that it can't afford to lose. And there's a there's uh there is only one solution, and that is to uh have more apprentices. That's the only s that's that's it. And the government doesn't seem to be the handbrake. The handbrake seems to be kids and the choices they are making. So that's the real issue that the government needs to resolve. Like they can throw more and more money at um businesses, small businesses, big businesses to take on apprentices and it's it's needed. And um small businesses are grateful for that. But you've got this pool of money there which small businesses, big businesses be grateful to to have. But you still need kids to make a decision and then be invested in that decision for three to four years for the right reasons. And I don't know how government schools, vocational educators, um, I don't know how they, you know, fix that problem.

SPEAKER_01 21:07

What w You mentioned your um stepson, so you've probably got more of a finger on the pulse than what I do, my kids being younger. Um what do you get from him? What what what would make him more interested in doing a trade rather than any other route? I mean, is there is there the the money? Money for sure. Yeah, okay. What money while you're an apprentice or the money once you're qualified or um Well, I mean what's the speculation that you saying the money would would suggest that there's better money in university-based industries, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:43

No, the exact opposite.

SPEAKER_01 21:44

Right.

SPEAKER_03 21:45

I don't think kids realise that um if they do a trade, yeah, you've got to slum it for a few years.

SPEAKER_02 21:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:54

Just like university student. There's no difference there, right?

SPEAKER_02 21:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:58

Um But you know, finish your apprenticeship, get another five years under your belt. You know, what's that? Eight, nine years, seventeen, twenty-six, you know, you're talking about a kid 26, 27 years old who could at that stage either A be making really good money as an employee or have a crack at their own business. You know, 26, 27 years of age. As a university graduate, I do not think university graduates at 26, 27 years of age have got any chance of having a good crack in small business. You know, if they've got a good eye, really good idea, maybe. But in terms of just working in, you know, just doing something in an industry where there's a supply and demand shortage and you've got a degree and you're 26, 27, and you've seven years of age, I'm not sure that exists. But do a trade?

SPEAKER_00 23:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:15

Hundred percent that exists.

SPEAKER_01 23:18

You know, if you can just so why is that not popular? Do you think um the internet and social media influences and as an example? I know a guy, his son is allegedly Australia's biggest TikToker, and he makes takes home something like 40,000 US a week or something like that. It's it's insane money that this guy makes, right? And um I think that gets fed to a lot of people, and a lot of people have this ambition to then follow down that route, right? But I I find the whole concept of influences is very much like our day rock stars or or or movie stars, right? It's it's just kind of one in a million scenario. Yeah. That's exactly Do you feel a lot of the younger no listen to us, old men, uh a lot of the younger generation gets swept up in that, you know, I'm gonna be an influencer or I'm gonna be a TikToker or mate.

SPEAKER_03 24:16

I wouldn't know, to be honest. Um if that's correct. Yeah. Um, but what I do know is that um you know there's one in a million good ideas, right? And those the people, the person that comes up with that good idea and is able to execute it, market it, yeah, make it viable, yeah, they're gonna make a mozzar.

SPEAKER_00 24:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:50

But you know, they're one in a million.

SPEAKER_00 24:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:52

For the rest of us, we need to work hard.

SPEAKER_00 24:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:56

You know, whether you've got a university degree or a trade, you know, or you're in retail, makes no difference. You know, that you've got to you've just got to do your time, you've got to learn your trade, you've got to do the grind and learn your skill set, and if you're good enough at it, then go out by yourself and become a small business owner and hopefully be successful. Otherwise, just you know, be an employee, make yourself invaluable to your employer, earn a good whack, have a good quality of life, you know, it it's nothing's changed. Today, 50 years ago, I really don't see any change in terms of you know what life really is and what works and what doesn't work. Um the real problem is why are why is there not enough kids wanting to do a trade?

SPEAKER_01 25:57

Hmm. I guess we'll never know.

SPEAKER_03 26:02

No. It's a question that neither you or I know the answer to.

SPEAKER_01 26:08

So you finished um your four-year degree and then and then what?

SPEAKER_03 26:14

Uh then look, I went and worked for ASP ship management for the next uh what year and a half, two years, something like that. And uh yeah, just uh worked on board a ship, six weeks on, six weeks off, just good life, good fun, good pay. Yeah. Different different part of the as a as a ship's engineer?

SPEAKER_01 26:40

Yeah. Yeah. What's that?

SPEAKER_03 26:45

Well, as a junior ship's engineer.

SPEAKER_01 26:49

And what sort of ship are we talking here?

SPEAKER_03 26:51

Uh the ship I worked on was um two hundred and fifty-five meters long.

SPEAKER_00 26:57

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_03 26:58

Yeah, I forget the exact tonnage.

SPEAKER_00 27:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 27:01

Um, but it was two hundred and fifty-five meters long, the ship I worked on. So pretty big, yeah, to be honest. Big ship. And there was uh five engineers. Chief, first, second, third, fourth. I was the most junior engineer responsible for compressors, if my memory serves me right. Yeah, you know, it's just I remember, you know, getting my license to operate and uh chief engineer saying, or maybe it was the first engineer saying, Look, you know, it's your license to start learning, so start learning. I didn't think it was correct at the time. I thought, what are you talking about? You know, I've done all this study, passable exams, yeah. I know what I'm doing, got a job, yeah, but yeah, later on in life you realise that's pretty accurate advice, you know, yeah. Where everyone finishes up whatever training it is that they've done and thinks they're ready and they're not.

SPEAKER_00 28:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:10

And in the real the real learning starts when you start being actually responsible for the work that you're doing on a day-to-day basis.

SPEAKER_01 28:19

Yeah. Do you um I know I've got a lot of apprentices where I work that come through my workshop, and um I think a lot of them get annoyed with me because I don't I don't demonstrate to them exactly what I want them to do. I'll explain to them and I'll let them make their mistakes um within reason, but um I'm mainly because I don't learn very well if someone's explaining something to me. Like I I tend to learn better if I get my hands on something and make a few mistakes within reason, and um yeah, and and that's how I lead apprentices. Um well, what's your take on that? Are you uh how how do you learn?

SPEAKER_03 29:06

Um, well, good question. So I you know that's one question, but also I've got a an observation on that comment of yours. So all of us learn through one of three mediums, through either watching, right, through uh listening, audible, or kinesthetic doing. And we all learn um through we're all individual, right? And we're all a combination of those three things: kinesthetic, audible, visual. We're all we're all um made up of all three parts, but most of us um are strong on one of them, right? We lean towards one of them. For me, it's um audible. For you, it's obviously kinesthetic.

SPEAKER_01 30:02

Kinesthetic.

SPEAKER_03 30:03

Yeah. And most people are kinesthetic, okay?

SPEAKER_01 30:07

So for me, I'd rather have someone explain something to you rather than.

SPEAKER_03 30:12

And that's a minority. Most people are not audible, right? Most people the majority of people are kinesthetic, and then the next mate grouping's visual, and the smallest grouping is audible. It's a very small grouping, which, yeah, that's me, I'm audible. Um, you're kinesthetic. So your assumption is that um how you learn is how others learn. And yeah, the majority of people will learn the same way as you because you're kinesthetic, yeah, but some won't.

SPEAKER_01 30:44

Yeah, I I guess the reason I think this works best for me is that a lot of the people I work with have English as a second language, and a lot of it gets lost in translation. Um, so yeah, maybe so. Visual and kinesthetic learning might be my best best. I don't think audible is such a you know, I'll I'll run training sessions up there and I'll get many nods of acknowledgement, and then in indicating me to me that they've understood what I've just said, and then I'll ask them straight, you know, a question soon after, and they've you know it's important not to lead people to to the answer, I guess.

SPEAKER_03 31:27

Can I ask you a question? Yeah. So these apprentices, you said earlier that they're not necessarily Australian. Yes. Um so do you see any like looking into the future, okay? Let's say ten years down the track, okay? Obviously, the company you work for has made a choice to train up these kids, young adults, who are not necessarily Australian.

SPEAKER_01 31:58

Well, we're not operating in Australia.

SPEAKER_03 32:00

Yeah, no, I get that. Um but they've done that, you know, I guess partially uh to save money, and I guess partially in their crystal ball, maybe they're going, oh supply and demand, there won't be enough in Australia, so let's look afield. Um that makes I guess sense to me. But um in ten years' time, do you see any issues? Do you see that um because at the end of the day, what you're doing, um you know, the expression about pumping oil, right? Yeah, you know, if you're not pumping oil you're not pumping oil. So do you see issues in the future or these kids coming through, they can they'll be fine, you know, once they're adequately um trained and qualified?

SPEAKER_01 32:57

Yeah, well the the thing with the trade is that it's not trade specific, right? Well not industry specific, sorry, in that uh are you saying that when the oil runs out, are they not going to have a job to go to?

SPEAKER_03 33:10

No, no, I'm saying that can they keep the pump running as well as you currently can employing Australians?

SPEAKER_01 33:20

I would hope so. I mean we've got some really, really talented apprentices coming through.

SPEAKER_00 33:25

Okay, that was my question.

SPEAKER_01 33:26

Yeah, yeah. So for sure. Um for sure. There's and with any group of apprentices, even with within Australian um groups that I've worked. You get you get your good ones, you get your bad ones, right? But I can say without a doubt um that um some of the apprentices that I work with um would be leaps and bounds ahead of some of the apprentices I've worked with in Australia. So yeah.

SPEAKER_03 33:55

Not good for Australia as a country, but good for where you work, right?

SPEAKER_01 34:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 34:00

And which, you know, comes back to exactly where we were 10-15 minutes ago, right? Yeah. That um how do you get kids to do apprenticeships in this country in volume? You know, because it's a great career path.

SPEAKER_01 34:17

Yeah, yeah, for sure. And it's become like when I started in mining back in 2000, I there may have been one or two females on site. One one was probably the site nurse and one was in admin or something like that. But now so many companies have gone the route of a 50-50 workforce, and so many companies are putting, you know, so a lot of I think BHP had a 75% intake of all um female apprentices for the last trade year. So that's 25% male, 75% females. So there's been a real change in um diversity, and I think maybe that's that's an attempt to get more kids into um training, making making it more accessible, more palatable for for females, I guess.

SPEAKER_03 35:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:09

So maybe that's that's an endeavor.

SPEAKER_03 35:12

That's I know uh I know in my own business that um you know when I bought it I don't know what, 2009, 2010, something like that, there was um a couple of women in the workforce, in the you know, in the business, and they're all sort of front of office. Now the workforce is easily 50-50. And it's uh it's great, you know. Um yeah, there's pros and cons. Men and women have different um things that they're good at and things that they're not. That's just just the way it is. Yeah, but just culturally, you know, there's much more balance in my business having you know a close to 50-50 split. Yeah. You know, it's it's the hormones are in check both ways and productivity is great, you know. It's yeah, it's a I have a great group of people and um yeah, I wouldn't not change anything.

SPEAKER_00 36:18

Are you a good boss?

SPEAKER_03 36:20

I think so.

SPEAKER_00 36:21

Yeah. Well, it makes a good boss.

SPEAKER_03 36:25

Look, I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 36:28

Because I think I can also not be a good boss, but I can't imagine you not being a good boss, man.

SPEAKER_03 36:36

Well, I have good staff retention. Yeah, like really good staff retention. I think that's probably um the best measure, to be honest. Um, I love my staff. Yeah, I hope some of them love me back. You know, it's we're a family and uh it, you know, that's the environment that I want, and that's the environment we have most days.

SPEAKER_00 37:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 37:06

Um, you know, I've made a very conscious decision to have a workplace, you know, where you know, people that scream and shout and yell are not welcome. Um yeah, people make mistakes, but did you have that? Nah, not originally.

SPEAKER_01 37:23

Have you ever worked in that? Yeah. Absolutely. On boats.

SPEAKER_03 37:27

Not just there, but at other places too.

SPEAKER_01 37:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 37:30

You know, and nothing good comes from screaming and shouting, oh, there's always gonna be problems.

unknown 37:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 37:36

There's always gonna be mistakes, but screaming and shouting about it doesn't resolve it. Yeah. You know, if if there's a problem and it's a human problem and it keeps on reoccurring, then that's probably a human that needs to look for another job.

SPEAKER_01 37:52

Right.

SPEAKER_03 37:53

You know, and apart from that, you know, it's just good people making honest mistakes and let's just work it out and get on with it.

SPEAKER_01 38:03

Yeah, it's um I know for a fact that I don't respond well at all to um the authoritarian in the group, be it be it the boss or the manager or anyone higher up the food chain, but some people do respond well to that. How how do you um how do you manage a group of people where you have different needs?

SPEAKER_03 38:23

So I am I have a couple of rules that's sort of in place, and the first is, you know, there is a hierarchy, and I'm clear on the hierarchy, you know, I'm clear that um there is a chain of command, you know, and if people step outside of that and try to um bypass it, I'm really clear with them that that's not the way we operate.

SPEAKER_00 38:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 38:53

So there's there's that, and that you know, builds, hopefully builds up, you know, respect for different layers within the business. Um but the flip side of that is that you know, I'm also trying to create an environment that's kind, yeah, you know, where people can talk to each other about things. So, but so it's sort of it's you know, it's you know, really trying to have the both the best worlds, I guess. You know, I try to make sure people know that there is a structure, there is a hierarchy, and let's use it, but at the same time, you know, don't forget to be kind.

SPEAKER_01 39:39

Do you think that you could be more effective or would have been more effective if you had the capability to be a bit more yelly?

SPEAKER_03 39:51

That is interesting.

SPEAKER_01 39:56

I I wonder myself Because I you know, I I see you and I I've seen you in a crowd where there's there's a loud person and it's difficult for you to get a word in edgeways because you know you can't out you know be louder than that person, so you just bide your time and you wait for your moments, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 40:18

Yeah, yeah. Look, it's a pretty good, pretty interesting observation, and it's one that isn't lost on me and hasn't been lost on me, and I thought about a lot. You know, have I morphed the culture of my business and what I want that culture to be and look like and behave to um to be, you know, um based on my physical limitations. Um maybe. I don't know. You know, it's a really good question. And the answer is not a yes or no, it's a maybe. You know, would I have landed on this same style of management without my speech impediment? I can't answer that question. Honestly, I would hope so, because this is the better way. So I would hope that speech impediment or not, I would have landed on this, you know, style of management and this cultural expectation of my business, but who knows?

SPEAKER_01 41:40

Who knows? Well, let's we're we're gonna come to your business, but I I just want to go down the um chronological path here. So you you worked on this massive what sounds like a massive boat to me, 250 metres, right? Was uh a container ship or what what sort of boat was this?

SPEAKER_03 41:57

It was a bulk carrier.

SPEAKER_01 41:59

Bulk carrier, yeah. Yep.

SPEAKER_03 42:00

Carrying bulk site.

SPEAKER_01 42:02

Okay. From Weaper to Gladstone. Oh Righto, yeah, I know the route. Yeah, okay. And so how long did you do that for?

SPEAKER_03 42:09

Oh look, during the cadet ship, I did it, you know, quite a few holidays. Yeah. Then 18 odd months, you know, when I was fully qualified and working as a junior engineer.

SPEAKER_01 42:21

So why did you leave that? Did you love it? Could you have done it forever?

SPEAKER_03 42:25

Or look, not forever. I definitely loved it.

SPEAKER_01 42:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 42:28

It was great fun. Great bunch of blokes on board. Um, some women too, but few. Um, yeah, I really did enjoy it. But um, yeah, look, I woke up one day and realised that there was a literally there was a big white world out there, and uh I wasn't seeing it working on the Balkside Run between Weapon and Platston. So um Yeah, quit my job and moved overseas.

SPEAKER_01 43:03

Hang on a sec, we just quit and we moved away. Like with literally quit.

SPEAKER_03 43:10

I uh was on holidays and was was I was playing a game of Trivial Pursuit with um some friends and um yeah, I thought I knew everything. Thought I was a shoe-in, thought I was a shoe-in to win the trivial pursuit battle. And um question came up, what's the mountain range that the French resistance escaped to during World War II? I had no clue. Right, right. No clue at all. Mm-hmm. Anyway, the answer is the Pyrenees, the French Pyrenees, which separate.

SPEAKER_01 43:51

Lucky I didn't spit that out. Uh not that I knew. I was gonna say Pyrenees because it's the inbound range that comes to mind. But um, yeah, okay. Otherwise. I would have looked pretty impressive right then.

SPEAKER_03 44:01

Yeah, you would have looked impressive. You should have gone early. So anyway, I didn't know. Lost the game of Triple Pursuit tragically. Yeah. Realised that. Yeah, look. I just realized that, you know, just because I was this, you know, math science, self um self-diagnosed genius. Um, you know, there was really a big white world out there I knew nothing about. And uh I'd best go catch it while I'm young.

SPEAKER_00 44:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 44:39

So yeah. Went back to work, quit my job.

SPEAKER_01 44:43

Just quit like that. Just like that. And did they ask why? Yeah. And you said, because I lost this game of trivial pursuit.

SPEAKER_03 44:52

I just you know, I was ready to spread my wings and go overseas, and thank you for the opportunity.

SPEAKER_01 45:00

So you just went? I just went. Didn't apply beforehand, you just winged it.

SPEAKER_03 45:06

Winged it? Yeah. Look, I jumped, I jumped on the internet, she sent a few emails. I had this idea of working on super yachts and going to working in the Caribbean for the summer. That was my goal. I'd heard stories about it. Anyway, I jumped on the email and sort of made contact with a few people, and that all said to me, look, we can't give you a job. You gotta be over here, you gotta be here. You know, there's no guarantee of a job, you just you just need to get here, and when you get here, we'll see if there's a job, and we'll get you one.

SPEAKER_01 45:43

So the so two questions. He be here being where? Um South of France. South of France or um Florida. Right. And the other question was so the qualifications you gained in Tasmania would have been or you would have needed to work in either of those places.

SPEAKER_03 46:02

More than one.

SPEAKER_01 46:03

So the maritime industry is more of a universal employer than because I know with an electrical licence in Australia, you couldn't go and work anywhere else in the world. Same as if you got an electrical licence in England, for example, you can't come to Australia without some sort of equivalency training.

SPEAKER_03 46:22

Yeah, no, not the case. So um there are worldwide recognized marine tickets. Um I had one of them. The super yacht industry. This was back in 1999, 2000, around that time, was um starting to reform and starting to realize that you know, or it's it was it was dictated to by insurance, right? These yachts, the insurers were demand were starting to demand to the owners of these yachts, to the management companies of these yachts, that they start getting properly trained um ships deck officers and ships engineers. So I was just lucky that I was right at the front end of that that that change.

SPEAKER_01 47:18

What year was that?

SPEAKER_03 47:19

About 1999.

SPEAKER_01 47:21

Yeah, okay. So things are very different now.

SPEAKER_03 47:24

Yeah, now that industry is completely professional.

SPEAKER_01 47:27

Right.

SPEAKER_03 47:28

Completely professional. Back then it was not. So I was right at the bottom of the curve for that. And um, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:37

So you um so you started applying, I'm guessing. Oh no, you you would have had to move. So you went to Europe?

SPEAKER_03 47:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 47:45

Yeah, I cashed in my super, which you could back then. I don't know, 21 grand, something like that. And bought a one-way ticket to London.

SPEAKER_02 47:57

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_03 47:58

Uh no plan.

SPEAKER_00 48:00

What year?

SPEAKER_03 48:02

99 Uh. Yeah, 1999.

SPEAKER_01 48:09

Oh, we probably crossed paths, mate. I was in London at the same time. Yeah. Yeah, so you moved there? Maybe it was 2000.

SPEAKER_03 48:17

It might have been. No, it wasn't 99. It was it was 2000.

SPEAKER_01 48:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 48:24

Yeah. It was it was 2000. Might have been 2001. Rem I remember it because of September 11th. You know, which happened in 2001, I think. It was 2001.

SPEAKER_00 48:38

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_03 48:38

Yeah, I'm be I'm a bit ahead of myself. So I I caught a one-way ticket, pretty sure it was March, end of March 2001. Yeah, that's when it was. And I just had this plan, go to London, catch up with friends, do a bit of travelling, and then you know, when I'm either down to my last 10 grand in my bank account, or it gets to um late May, early mid-May, whichever comes first, wherever I am in the world, I want to get myself to on Tib, and I'm gonna get a job, find myself a job.

SPEAKER_01 49:22

Why on Tib?

SPEAKER_03 49:24

Uh that time of year, which is the start of the European summer, that's that's that's the hub for superior. That's where all the um the the agencies that you know put people on boats, that's where they're based.

SPEAKER_02 49:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 49:44

So that's that's a hub? On to South France. Still a hub now? Still is, yeah. Yeah, right. Yeah, okay. So you went there?

SPEAKER_03 49:54

Yeah, so went to England, caught up France, did some travelling, ended up um on the west coast of Turkey, uh, Olympos, I think I was in at the time. And I was like, yeah, okay. I've hit my trigger, which was my date, my date trigger. Um, not my not my financial trigger, but my date trigger. And I was like, alright, gotta get my butt to on teep. So um, yeah, I found I think I went to Marmorus, went into a travel agent, said hey, wanna get to Antib. So they worked it out for me. Ended up getting a couple of buses, a couple of different buses to um to Istanbul, flight from Istanbul to Zurich, trained from Zurich to Ontibe, traveled for 48 hours straight, turned up to Antibe, about I don't know, 10 o'clock at night, backpack on my back, got off the train, walked down the hill, place it's dead. Actually, I'd tried to, I think I had a phone and I tried to message or call to get like a B for the night. No answer, no answer, no answer, no answer. Just numbers like I'd pulled up from the lonely planet, right? No answer. It's like shit, what am I gonna do? Anyway, arrives, walk down the hill, pretty dead. It's like middle of the week, Wednesday, Thursday, I don't remember. But it was like middle of the week. Walk down the hill, place is dead, like literally dead, right? And like back then there's no GPS, there's no nothing. The Lonely Planet.

SPEAKER_01 51:56

It's funny you brought up Lonely Planet, is that still a thing? I don't think so.

SPEAKER_03 52:00

I've got like a million of them on my shelf, my bookshelf at home, but pretty sure no one uses them anymore. Um but yeah, the book just said, you know, walk out the door of the car, the train station, and yeah, head down the hills. That's what I did. Right? Ended up in this pub. It's the only place I could find open people. Talk to the bartender. He's like, Yeah, mate, look, we didn't use those words because he didn't use because he was an Australian, so he didn't talk to me like that, but that's what I heard. Yeah, yeah, look, you got no chance. Wednesday night on tea, everything closes at nine o'clock. You got no chance. I'm like, okay, um, well, can I sleep on your floor? Just laughed at me. I was like, I guess that's a no. Anyway, this dude walks up to me and he goes, Hey, he's like, I heard you, I heard the conversation, you just said you're Australian, right? I said, Yeah. He said, I am too. So welcome to France. He said, Um, I've got a house here, I've got an apartment with some mates. Um, you can crash on our couch for the night, but we're going to a party, so you have to come with us to this party um first. It's like sweet. Party's my middle name. So we went to this party, had a fat time. I don't remember much. Went home, crashed on the couch. I I don't remember sleeping, like literally must have slept for like two minutes before I get a shake on the shoulder. Out. We're all going to work now, so um, you'd have to leave and um hook out you pub salvo. It's like right now. So which way to blah blah blah, that's that way. So okay. So I'm like literally wearing the same clothes for three days. So out I go, back back again down the road, find another pub that's open, they sell coffee, they've got a toilet. I'm like, oh, you know, so I order a coffee and a sandwich. Tomorrow for use the bathroom, yeah man, it's alright, it's over there. It's called the Blue Lady, it's famous in Ontibe. Most famous pub in Ontibe, so went into the toilet of the Blue Lady, gave myself a French shower, and uh yeah, sat down, breaky, had a chat to the person behind the bar. Where do I stay? You know, I've got nowhere to stay, and they're like, look, there's backpackers just down there, you know. Walk this way, whatever that's called, this you'll find it. Yeah, that's your best bet. Alright, thank you. Walk to the backpackers. Beg for a room, they're like, Yeah, okay, but we only got a room, you're gonna have to share with some girls, it's a bunk, and you're right, yeah, fine, I'll take it, pay the money, go upstairs. I've got to swear, gotta share a room with three 18-year-old Swedish backpackers, female Swedish backpackers. I'm like, oh That sounds horrible. That sounds terrible. Actually became good friends with those girls. Oh nice. Yeah. Not those sort of friends, but good friends.

SPEAKER_00 55:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 55:40

We had a fat time. Anyways, um had a proper shower, got changed into some nice clothes, threw my crap on the bunk, walked to um to them to the office of a lady called Sarah from Blue Water. She's famous now. Back then she was like a one-man band. She'd just started up. Because I'd been like emailing her, telling her I was coming. So you know, I got there before 9 a.m. in the morning, sat on her doorstep. I got it there before her. She rocks up. Who are you? I'm Matthew Connolly from Australia. We've been emailing. Oh, g'day, Matt. Nice to finally meet you. So, walk in. Anyway, it was literally like she said, she just needed me to get there. And see that I was actually lying, eh? Yeah, she's just gotta get it. She's gotta get there. She just needed to see me in the flesh and know that I was the real deal. We probably spoke for literally five minutes, and uh I was like, well, what now? And she's like, I'll call ya. I'm like, literally I'm like, that's it. So yeah, said I'll call you, leave your phone on, so okay. Back to the backpackers, put my sarol on, off to the beach. Anyway, yeah, living at large for a few days. I think it was day two or day three, I don't remember which. I get this call in the morning. I've literally just been having a fat time, beach by day, club by night.

SPEAKER_01 57:32

Nice.

SPEAKER_03 57:33

Yeah, alright.

SPEAKER_01 57:35

And someone ruined it and offered you a job.

SPEAKER_03 57:37

Got a call, hey, need you to be in this restaurant this time later today. Are you good? Yep, no props. So I did.

SPEAKER_00 57:48

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 57:49

Back to backpackers, shower change, lunch, met the skipper of this yacht called Monaco. Big yacht. Uh 40 metres.

SPEAKER_01 57:58

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 57:59

Hold fed ship based in Barcelona.

SPEAKER_01 58:01

Modiot.

SPEAKER_03 58:02

Modiot, yeah. Met uh the captain Scott for lunch, along with a uh a girl called Nadia. She was French Moroccan, so three of us had lunch. She was interviewing for the chef position. I was interviewing for engineer position.

SPEAKER_02 58:20

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_03 58:21

Had lunch. In and out, under an hour. Back to the beach. Phone call. Phone call. Hour later. You're employed. This is the details. Do you accept yes or no? Yes. Okay. You've got a flight already booked. Um from um leaving from Nice Airport this time tomorrow. Uh you'll be reimbursed for your flight, your your um your your uh your taxi. So make sure you you're there with your passport and your receipt for the taxi. Be on time, two hours full flight. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 59:08

That was that. And so started and so it was like a privately owned super yacht, would you call it? Yeah, and so what was what was their um ammo? Were they taking guests or was it one of those where the captain lives on board and um sorry the the owner lives on board or what's the was a charter yacht?

SPEAKER_03 59:28

So the owner was English and um used it when he could, and the rest of the time it was a charter vessel.

SPEAKER_00 59:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 59:36

So we did a lot of chartering. All of the med never got to the Caribbean. I had all these ideas of going to the Caribbean and but never got there, like ever. And yeah, ended up on this yacht.

SPEAKER_01 59:50

So you were it? The buck stopped with you on the boat, or was there like another engineer? No, it was not just you, yeah? Just me. So that must have boosted your confidence doing that successfully, right? Yeah, it was good, it was a great job. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:03

Really, really a great job. I really, really.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:07

And why did you leave that?

SPEAKER_03 1:00:09

Um, I got a girlfriend.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:14

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:15

And it was just time.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:17

You know, we had other things to do that we wanted to do, and yeah, we just moved on, did other things.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:26

And so what what happened next? Went to Africa. Africa? Africa. No.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:34

Oh. Just all that. Just fun. Just spent a few months there.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:39

And uh, yeah. Just a great time. Africa's an incredible country.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:46

Yeah, okay. I've never been.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:48

Oh, it's beautiful. A country is beautiful, the people are beautiful. It's yeah, really stunning.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:58

Do you think it's as easy as what it is um what it was then to go to Antibe and get a job?

SPEAKER_03 1:01:07

Look, it's not.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:09

Um I've given advice to people um, you know, who want that as a career path, and you know, they're 17, 18, whatever for this school, and you know, I haven't, you know, want to do what I did, and I'm like, okay, do this, do that. Anyway, then I get in touch with people I still know who are in that industry, and they're like, look, it's not like that anymore. Yeah. Things have changed. Things have changed. You need more training, more experience. Yeah, it's it's different. It's uh it's a professional industry now. And I was I joined that industry, literally, ground zero, as they started the the climb from zero to you know, professionalism.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:01

Yeah, it's not it's not really a trade or or even uh uh opportunity I've ever heard of until recent years, I guess, in the last decade or two. But it seems pretty cool, like you can go work on a boat, see the world.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:18

I couldn't recommend it highly enough to anyone.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:23

You know, there's lots of kids, you know, travel before uni, travel after uni, you know, travel during a trade, whatever, like everyone, not everyone, but a lot of people, you know, want to get overseas and get amongst it for whether it's a few months or a few years, you know.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:39

Yeah. A lot of people that's what I did.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:41

Yeah, it's a path well trodden.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:45

And the superior route, it's what I did, couldn't recommend it enough. Just couldn't. You know, so much fun.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:56

Saw, you know, employed the whole time that I was there. Good holidays, saw so many places, so many things, paid good money the entire time, you know, and best of all, so much fun.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:15

Just so much fun. You know, I have friends. Um for life.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:23

I'm thinking I've got to quit my job now. You're talking about way too much, Matt.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:26

Yeah, I've that first boat that I worked on Monaco, I have uh yeah, I have I have friends for life from that job. Since they ever come visit? Uh yeah. Yeah? Yeah, and I visited them.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:43

Um, yeah, friends for life.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:46

So you worked in the super yacht industry for how long?

SPEAKER_03 1:03:50

Uh on board, three years.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:54

As crew, you mean? As crew? As an engineer. Yep. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:57

And then I worked my way into um shipbuilding. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:07

Into where was that?

SPEAKER_03 1:04:09

Uh that was in Ancona. Oh no, in Italy for the first time. Yeah, just sort of on the northeast coast of Italy.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:20

Um, uh, just opposite Venice.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:23

There on the Adriatic side. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:27

And what what did you do there?

SPEAKER_03 1:04:28

And did you have to study further or uh so I didn't have to do any extra study. Um my first job was, you know, in the project management space was just luck. Uh, I wasn't applying for a project management job. Um I just ended up uh through a friend of a friend being introduced to someone who had a yacht, or he was the skipper and his the Russian person that he was working for had a yacht being built in Italy, and um he needed someone on the ground. No one was there.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:12

What to act as an engineer or yeah, yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:15

Yeah, to act as an engineer to see what was going on to you know be his voice and ears and mouth and so yeah, it was just it was just luck.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:26

So I got that job and moved to Ancona in Italy. And I just loved it. That's you know, I just loved it. I just you know working in a shipyard, yeah building construction I just loved it, it was me.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:53

Constructing super yachts.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:55

Yeah, yeah. From scratch, yeah. New builds.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:58

It was Fun, technically challenging, but I could go home every night, you know, and I could have a life. And you were living in any kind of didn't have to live on board a ship or a boat or a yacht. Could live ashore in an apartment, have weekends off, go traveling, and still, you know, be really challenged by the job, technically, mentally, um, but in a good way.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:33

And I just loved it. So it was just luck that I got that job, and that gave me experience, and from there, you know, I just got job after job after job, bigger boat, bigger yacht, bigger new build.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:51

All in the same shipyard or?

SPEAKER_03 1:06:53

No, different shipyards.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:54

So that was Italy. Yeah. And you went somewhere else?

SPEAKER_03 1:06:57

Yeah, then I went to uh Germany, the north of Germany, and I built uh worked as part of a two-man team, uh, two-man owners representative team. Um 67 meter and two 70 meters. Uh projects Nemo Marlen, Nemo and Shark in Lursen in Rendsburg.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:22

All the same owner, I'm guessing.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:23

Same owner.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:24

Yep, three boats. And yeah, from there went to back to Italy, 90 meter, at Fincantieri.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:36

Um your Italian's quite good. It's reasonable.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:40

See in Poco. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:43

And you're German?

SPEAKER_03 1:07:44

Oh yeah. Look, currently it's terrible. Yeah. Because I've been, you know, so so long away. But uh, you know, I could speak very functional French, Spanish, Italian, and German when I lived over there. Better than functional. I could easily get along. And if I went back there, I'm sure, bit of practice, you know, it's like riding a bike.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:13

But, you know, as you well know in Australia, there's no real need for foreign languages, so it's gone by the wayside.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:20

I did love it. I loved that I could speak these languages, you know, when others couldn't. But, you know, that's a skill that's buried deep inside of me.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:35

Your workforce was all local labour, I'm guessing. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:41

So the the the the upper management and the technical side of things, you know, pretty much all spoke in English. But yeah, on the ground, the people actually building the vessels always spoke in the local language.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:58

You know, they they couldn't speak English. That's why it was important to be able to understand.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:04

Yeah. So how many yachts would you have overseen the building of, would you say?

SPEAKER_03 1:09:12

Five.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:12

Five. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:14

Five. A 47 meter, a 67 meter, two 70 meters, and a 90 meter.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:24

They're still they're still above water now. No, have you ever you know have you come across them again? Have did you have the I did?

SPEAKER_00 1:09:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:33

I saw one in Hobart uh quite a while back.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:37

And ran across it, yeah. It was alongside in Hobart. I'd been told by friends that it was there, so I knew that it was there, so it wasn't a surprise, but yeah, it was good seeing it in the flesh on the other side of the world.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:53

Yeah, being re-reunited with the prodigal son or something else. Maybe yeah, and so how did that all come to an end and what what happened next? Oh the GFC. GFC happened. The global financial crisis. 2007, 2008.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:13

Yeah, about then.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:15

Um, yeah, I ended up on a project, the 90 meter, that um didn't complete.

unknown 1:10:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:27

The that particular owner had some cash flow challenges, courtesy of the GFC. He was a billionaire at the start of the GFC, he's a billionaire at the end of the GFC, he's a billionaire today, but you know, whilst the GFC was in the throes of you know destruction, um, he had cash flow challenges. Yeah. And uh yeah, project got canned halfway through, so it came to an end, the project. And um at the time my my uh fiance uh fiance or wife? Wife, sorry, my wife, um, you know, we talked at length about going home and that we'd know and that we wanted to go home and we wanted to have kids back home and um we'd know when we knew. You know, we had that conversation many times, and it just felt like that time had arrived.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:41

Do you think if the GFC wouldn't have happened, um that time would have arrived or hard to say. Probably not. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:52

Probably not.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:53

Yeah, you know well changing. It was well changing.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:56

It was absolutely well-changing.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:57

If the GFC didn't occur, um I definitely think that the projects would have kept on coming, the money would have kept on coming, the lifestyle would have kept on coming, and it all would have been too hard to say no to. Uh, but that's not what happened.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:19

And so you came back and you settled in Cairns? Or did you go somewhere else?

SPEAKER_03 1:12:24

Uh Sydney.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:24

Sydney first.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:25

Yeah. So that seemed like the best spot for both of us to get work. Um we we were aiming for Melbourne, but she ended up getting a job in Sydney. So I was like, alright, well, that's fine. You know, we'll we'll give that a crack. Um, so we did. Um she had a very good job, but it didn't, you know, it was a good job on paper, but she didn't enjoy it.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:57

Um the doors that I was trying to kick open to further my career and you know, plant some seeds didn't really work out. So we both just decided that, you know, Sydney's not for us. Let's do something else. And um we went to my sister's wedding in Cairns, yeah, uh, where we are right now, where my family live. Um and yeah, I remember we were just walking the beach one day, and my wife says, Hey, why don't we look at this place? You know, have you considered it? And I said, Well, no, I haven't. Because, you know, it's it's a small city, yeah. What would you do? Yeah, and she said, Well, she said, Well, I think you should. Just have a look.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:03

Yeah, I mean, you had every reason to, you know, your family's here, you know the territory, and it's just the work thing that was different.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:11

Yeah, yeah. So I was like, alright, nothing loose, had a look. Couple of things, I think three things, you know, were on my radar. Um, I actually ended up in Italy for like six months, um, shutting our life, our European life down. While my wife was out of Australia working, and during that time I did a I did a um a Yale MBA.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:45

Did you?

SPEAKER_03 1:14:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:47

On paper. Through correspondence. No? Bought the book. Bought the book. Online. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:53

Yeah. So there's there's this book written that's got all the subjects, there's like nine or ten subjects, and you've got to do six, and it's all in this book. So I bought the book, and I thought, I've got six months, I'll teach it myself.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:11

So I did, taught myself. While you were in Italy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:16

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:17

Yeah. Part of it was um accounting. That was one of the you know, subjects, one of the modules, and I did that, so I didn't know anything about it. Um, and I was I was going through PLs and balance sheets remotely from you know, getting sent, you know, looking at stuff online from Australia, um, going through those in Italy, you know, only one in ten was interesting and blah blah blah. But basically the long and the short is that I I learned, I taught myself and I learned to evaluate PL and balance sheets. And then um I yeah, so when I um when I started to look for stuff here in Cairns, you know, looking at PL and balance sheets was like I I could do it with my eyes closed literally quickly. And a couple of things came up with my radar, so I said to my wife, I said, hey, um, I think I need to go up there and check a few things out. Up there, Cannes, we're in Sydney still, so I did and I checked a few things out, um, met with a few brokers, eyeballed a few businesses, and there's one particular business I walked in, and yeah, you know, you know, some people, you know, they talk about that love at first sight, was like that with this business.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:58

And what was it? What was it with that business?

SPEAKER_03 1:17:01

I knew that I could transfer my skill set across. I knew that I could do it, I knew that I'd like it, and I knew that I could improve it. All those things was just in my head, I was just like tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, like, you know, and then, and literally that was in the first 10 minutes. The more and more time I spent looking at it, I was like, that's the one. That is the one.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:35

And what was the one though?

SPEAKER_03 1:17:37

Expressway science. Expressway science. Yep. So I bought it, we bought it, and uh yeah. Owned it since I don't know what, September 2009, something like that.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:50

Yeah, wow.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:50

I think it was quite a while now.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:55

Yeah, 15 years.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:56

Um, it's great business.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:58

You know, the growth that I saw at it um certainly took me a long a lot longer than I would expect to unlock. Um, but yeah, eventually did unlock it, and it's uh it's a wonderful business. I mean it was a wonderful business when I bought it. It's been a wonderful business every day that I've owned it, but it's not always been easy.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:22

It's still not, it's a business, right? Nothing's easy, but certainly, yeah, a lot of challenges for a while, but you know.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:36

So what so what is it that you do at Expressway Science?

SPEAKER_03 1:18:42

Uh well, shit, what don't we do? You know, we have morphed into more than just signs, I guess. You know, it's um we you know, primarily we're a signage company. We make signs, we install signs, we sell signs, you know, business cards, stickers, sign panels that are low, sign panels that are high, pylons, illuminated signs, the fancy 3D illuminated stuff you see, light boxes, illuminated pylons, digital signs, digital billboards.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:22

Is that a separate business within your business?

SPEAKER_03 1:19:25

It is a separate business, but you know, the same crew do it. Yeah, same crew do it.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:32

So who who needs a sign? Do I need a sign?

SPEAKER_03 1:19:36

Mate, everyone needs a sign. Who doesn't need a sign?

SPEAKER_01 1:19:42

You've done a bit of stuff for you, actually. Uh no, I mean, who are you who's your market? Who are you selling to? You know, we're open to everybody Yeah, what job's too big and what job's too small?

SPEAKER_03 1:19:54

Nothing. Nothing. That's the honest answer. You know, we have uh an e-commerce platform, we sell literally all over the country. Um, small signs, big signs.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:06

So we don't say no. But, you know, it's the old 80-20 rule, you know, 80% of your revenue comes from 20% of your customer base, and it's probably the same with us. You know, we've got some really wonderful core customers, they trust us, um, we trust them, and it works for everybody. You know, they get what they need for their business to operate and be a great business, and uh, we get what we need, which is good solid work from great customers that are grateful for the work we do and pay their bills on time. Yeah, you know, that's that's that's the that's the recipe, you know. Get as many customers as you can that fit that bill, you know, where you get married to each other and you're grateful for each other, and that's the t the trick, right? You've got to be grateful to each other.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:15

You know, you need them and you want them to be grateful for the work you do because then they won't go anywhere else. And you want to be grateful to them as well, because they are they're a wonderful customer.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:32

Do you think you'd ever get to a point where your current customer base would be sufficient to have you not look for other customers, or it would that never happen? Like you're constantly looking for more people.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:46

It's look, it's possible to get to the point where we just service our key customers.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:58

Shut down our e-commerce platform, our website, for example. That is that's possible, but you know, I I've been through some tough times.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:10

You know, and was COVID one of those times?

SPEAKER_03 1:22:12

Yeah, it was.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:14

And it just terrifies me that you know you cut off you know, a certain market segment and then try to turn it back on and it's gone.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:31

You know, it's so yeah, we uh you know, a guy that I know really well, CEO, big, big, big businesses. Um he once said to me that um uh there exists churn. And that's why you need sales and marketing because you always will have churn. You will always have some customers that drop out, and if you want to replace them andor build your client base and your revenue, then you've got to replace it, and that's why you do sales and marketing churn.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:22

So it's not just about you know getting mums and dads to need business cards and you know, buy a banner online and blah blah blah. It's not just about that, you know, it's that that that churn. So, you know, sometimes you know, you lose customers through no fault of anyone, you know, they get a new marketing manager, their marketing managers come from another business.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:50

And they've got a mate, that's got a mate, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:54

And for no good reason, you've lost their business.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:57

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:58

You know, and it is what it is, but it works in reverse as well, right? Yeah you can also win business in exactly the same set of circumstances, so that's that's churn, right? And there always will be churn. So that's why sales and marketing exists, and that's why you can't just sit on what you've got. Yeah, you need to move forward.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:22

Do you do a lot of that?

SPEAKER_03 1:24:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:24:24

Yeah. We I mean it depends what a lot is, but you know, we're very active in our sales and marketing teams. Um, it's a constant process, we don't let it up, we're always put on the accelerator.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:41

Do you um have a mentor, or do you can you speak to the importance of having a mentor? Or do you see yourself as a mentor maybe?

SPEAKER_03 1:24:52

I am a mentor to you know, people in my business. I wouldn't say I'm a mentor outside the business. You know, sometimes people ask me questions, I'll answer it, but I wouldn't say I'm you know a mentor outside my business. Um I have always had my eyes and ears open, especially to you know, people who are successful, you know, and not just successful in making money, but you know, people who maybe approach managing staff different to how I manage staff, you know, and they do a great job of it. Just just watching. So, you know, I always have my eyes and ears open. Um I would definitely say that my number one mentor was um a guy the the guy that I built um those three boats for in Germany. Um he's he's American.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:08

He's he was the owner of the three yachts. Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:26:11

Yeah, so he was he's a billionaire, he's American, and he started as a carpenter.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:22

Do we know Nah we wouldn't know? No one knows who he is.

SPEAKER_03 1:26:25

He's just he's just he's just another dude. So he started as his chippy and then was like, yeah, I can build houses. So he built a house and he sold it. And then he built two and he sold them, and then he built four and he sold them. And then he, you know, turned himself into a property developer. And that's it, you know, he that's what he did from a chief completely self-made, completely self-made property developer.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:04

He would be such a very different billionaire to say a Donald Trump or something, who's you know, some a self-made man rather than someone who's just been giving it given everything, right? Do you see a lot of that in the super yachting industry? Like when you were working there, there was they talk about old money and new money, right?

SPEAKER_03 1:27:24

Honestly, I only really saw new money, and the people that I, you know, uh I worked with, worked for, charted for, you know, they deserved ever deserved every cent they got.

SPEAKER_00 1:27:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:42

You know, they had great ideas, they worked hard, and they reaped the rewards. You know, they were all without exception incredible people. Incredible people. And uh yeah. That dude, let's just call him Warren, that I worked for, who built, you know, the Chippy Warren.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:06

Um Let's call him Waza. So we don't confuse him with Warren by Falls.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:11

I learned so much from him.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:14

And I respect that guy.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:16

Yeah. So much. Because he was actively trying to teach you something or because you were actively trying to learn something?

SPEAKER_03 1:28:23

Both.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:24

Yeah, okay. So he was someone that was acting as a mentor, so Look, he was he was someone who was, you know, he was a property developer.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:36

So he knew construction. Yes. He was building three yachts. He knew construction. Yeah. They're not houses, they're not apartments, they're not, you know, sheds, it's a it's a boat, it's a ship, it's a yacht. But he knew, you know, architects, he knew specs, he knew designers, he knew the process. You know, he knew every aspect of building something from the ground up. He knew it. And he knew how to do it at a profit. He didn't buy three yachts for himself. He bought three yachts because before he bought the contracts to three yachts because he saw that the market was about to go nuts and that they were undervalued, underpriced. So he bought three contracts and he built three, sold two, kept one for himself, and you know how much that that third yacht cost him?

SPEAKER_01 1:29:42

Nothing.

SPEAKER_03 1:29:42

Nothing.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:44

Nothing. Did he have other yachts in addition to that? Because you hear about these people they collect them, eh?

SPEAKER_03 1:29:48

Yeah, no, but smaller. He was a Mad King fisherman, so he had some quite large fishing boats. Very large fishing boats. I got to go on one in the Caribbean. He shouted me a holiday uh one summer, which was pretty cool. Um, but yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:30:08

Um in the Caribbean. You said you never went to the Caribbean. Oh right. Oh, okay. But you went there for a fishing holiday. Absolutely. Nice. And how was it? Oh, incredible. Yeah. So nice. Beautiful. Beautiful place. Great fishing. Super nice. Where was it? I think I went to um BBIs once, once upon a time. Um, I went to um is it Paradise Island?

SPEAKER_03 1:30:39

Um Paradise I'm sure the hotel is called Um Let me just Google it. I'm sure it's called Paradise Island. You ask me something else while I Google it.

SPEAKER_01 1:30:54

Well I was gonna go slightly off topic. Um do you have any advice for for your 20-year-old self?

SPEAKER_03 1:31:04

Do exactly the same thing.

SPEAKER_01 1:31:07

Would you play that football game again? Uh look, what do you do?

unknown 1:31:12

You know?

SPEAKER_03 1:31:13

I loved footy.

SPEAKER_01 1:31:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:31:15

Loved playing it.

SPEAKER_01 1:31:16

Do you love watching it?

SPEAKER_03 1:31:17

Um I met my best, you know, my best friend in the world. Uh playing footy. We're still best friends.

SPEAKER_00 1:31:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:31:25

You know, took my kids with his kids on holidays together without the brides a few weeks back. I wouldn't have met him if we didn't play footy.

SPEAKER_01 1:31:38

Yeah, nice. So What was your position? You're a you're a big unit, so you would have been up front, right?

SPEAKER_03 1:31:43

Look, when I played rugby union, I played second row.

SPEAKER_01 1:31:48

Right.

SPEAKER_03 1:31:48

Rugby league, I played fullback. No. Yeah. Mate, I used to be actually pretty quick. No one can believe it. No one can believe it. They're like, yeah, right. Slow. But you know, at my school I was I was the only white guy in the 4x100 team. Uh we still won with, you know, they still won with me with that handicap. With the handicap. With me as the handicap, we still won. I wasn't, I wasn't slow.

SPEAKER_01 1:32:22

Yeah, nice. Good position for fullback then, eh?

SPEAKER_03 1:32:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:32:26

Did you find what you're looking for?

SPEAKER_03 1:32:27

I did, I'm right, it was Paradise Island.

SPEAKER_01 1:32:29

Paradise Island in the Bahamas. Bahamas.

SPEAKER_03 1:32:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:32:33

And you spent some time there?

SPEAKER_03 1:32:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:32:34

Yeah, nice.

SPEAKER_03 1:32:36

Yeah, that was it was nice.

SPEAKER_01 1:32:40

I think we'll end it there, man. Cool. Thanks a lot, Matt. See you, man. Catch you, mate.