Synergy
Welcome to "Synergy" with your hosts, Daniel and Alicia!
Join us as we delve into the intricacies of relationships, parenting, business and the power of human connection.
In this podcast, we explore the dynamics that make relationships and businesses thrive and discuss practical tips and insights for creating synergy in your personal and professional life.
We bring a unique blend of expertise and personal experiences to the table. As business owners with team, being in a relationship together, and parents ourselves, we have dedicated our lives to understanding the building blocks of successful relationships and effective parenting. Each episode, we engage in thought-provoking conversations, sharing stories, strategies, and advice to help you navigate the challenges and celebrate the joys of connection.
In this podcast, we explore the dynamics that make relationships and businesses thrive and discuss practical tips and insights for creating synergy in your personal and professional life. Whether you're a couple looking to strengthen your bond, partners in business, a parent seeking guidance on raising happy and resilient children, or simply someone interested in deepening your connections with others, this podcast is for you.
We explore effective communication techniques to examining the role of trust and vulnerability in relationships, we leave no stone unturned. We also invite special guests from all facets of life, who bring their unique perspectives and share their wisdom and practical insights.
Get ready to be inspired, informed, and uplifted as Daniel and Alicia guide you on this transformative journey of love, parenting, and human connection. Elevating your human experience.
Synergy
Staying True to Purpose: The Road to Community Development |With Luke From Paylos Adventures | Pt 2
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How often do we encounter stories that leave a strong imprint on our hearts? Well, I promise you, this episode is just that kind of story. We have Luke From Paylos, a dedicated man on a mission to transform the lives of vulnerable children. Luke takes us through his personal journey, one filled with community development, social justice, and a deep-rooted Christian faith that fuels his passion to make a significant impact on young lives.
Do you believe in the power of positive role models? Luke does. He shares his fascinating business journey that started with a small group of kind-hearted individuals, ready to dedicate their time to mentor children in need. Through his business Paylos Adventures, Luke presents an insightful dialogue about navigating gender roles, the importance of proactive parenting, and the profound effect of actions on children's welfare. With candid discussions about the highs and lows of his journey, including financial challenges and the satisfaction of witnessing transformative changes, Luke's story is sure to compel and inspire.
In the face of distractions and temptations, how do we stay true to our purpose? It's not always easy, but the rewards are tremendous. As Luke shares his ambitious 15-year goals and the guiding light of his faith, we're reminded of the importance of perseverance and determination. Our conversation isn't just about the journey; it's about the power of actions and their profound impact on the world around us. So tune in, join the conversation, and let's uncover the power of actions together.
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One, two, three, four. Welcome to Synergy, the podcast where we uncover the secrets to successful relationships, effective leadership and transformative parenting. I'm your host, Alicia.
Speaker 2:And I'm Dan, and we'll deep dive into relationships, friendships and, most importantly, the relationship we have with ourselves. Together, we'll explore different strategies, techniques and approaches that can help you achieve synergy in every aspect of your life.
Speaker 1:Stay curious, keep learning and embrace the power of synergy. Welcome back to part two of Luke Payloss' journey of business. Now we did life. Yes, business First one. Now we're doing business. Tell us what is your business.
Speaker 3:So our business, to put it plainly, is we provide mentors and memories for people who are so mainly children, who are used, who are vulnerable or face some kind of barrier. So, whether it be from trauma or neurodiversity, there's some kind of barrier that's stopping them from accessing mainstream services or stopping them from accessing yeah, going on those holiday camps that I spoke about, being able to go on a school camp, that kind of stuff. So because of that.
Speaker 1:So essentially you're giving those kids the opportunity that you got with your 100%.
Speaker 3:So we want to give you a mentor and memories. So someone's going to navigate life with you, which is super important, but also you just deserve to be a kid, you deserve to catch a fish and go snowboarding.
Speaker 2:Jumping in a pool of spaghetti 100%.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so there are two things that you need to get because they're just super important.
Speaker 2:So we need to find that I've got a bit of FOMO around that. What? Jumping in a pool of spaghetti, man, let's do it Honestly. Can we just get a bunch of adults and come to the Payloss farm that you'll get an inflatable super cool.
Speaker 3:And fill it with spaghetti. It's called. They're called Messy Games. Yeah, that's what CYC do really well Messy Games. So yeah, they play like battleship and you've got to throw like an egg or like a water blower. Oh cat, catch a little bit of that shit, sorry.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so anyway, messy Games. Yeah, that's nice I want to like. I'm really curious to know you've we've gone through all not all, but part of the personal journey of Luke. Where did your business journey start and how did that start?
Speaker 3:Awesome. I think I want to start off by saying I had no desire to ever be a businessman. I want to make that a break, yeah.
Speaker 2:I was never trying to.
Speaker 3:It was never kind of on the cards.
Speaker 2:Can I just say, because the thing that really like pricked my ears up when I originally chatted with Luke was he's like we had this 15 year mission and we achieved it in two, and I was like you got my attention.
Speaker 3:Let me tell you more. Yeah, so. So to understand flows really well from the personal story is that yeah was really lucky to get into union. I was really lucky to be able to get like paid employment and kind of get my life on track and start to work through things. And a lot of my friends were not able to do that. A lot of my friends were really struggling and so and started this journey of man like how do I?
Speaker 3:Because I was just genuine love, like I just genuinely love my brothers, I just genuinely love my group, and it was breaking my heart to see them like in prison. I could visit them in prisons around Victoria or see them homeless or you know, like their family's been ripped apart, like their wife leaving them and taking the kids, and they've just constantly seen that kind of that rupture. And I just really wanted to respond to that. And so my mind just started to wander and reflect and go down that rabbit hole of like what's the response to this? And so I started to think around things. Like you know, would your life have been different had your math teacher spent a little bit more time with you? Or had you had someone like I had to kick a footy with you or do a resume with you, like where would you be? What about?
Speaker 3:the impact right, and so that's where it all started at 18. Payloads only started recently, but like at like you know, 2010, when I really started my journey of like. I just wanted to respond to what I was seeing and I was trying to find a response.
Speaker 1:And so it was and get to the root cause rather than 100%.
Speaker 3:And it was like, it was the idea of like I really loved. So it was a genuine, like a really strong, genuine passion. I really loved them. And then I then coupled that with I'm gonna go away to uni and I'm gonna study this course and study that course. So I did. I did my bachelor's in ministry and like focused on like, community development and social justice and that kind of stuff. Then I did a certificate for in children, youth and family services and then I went and did a diploma in therapeutic life story work. So I went and did a few different kinds of things and it all kind of came back to yeah, it was all relevant to what I wanted to do, which was how do I like what's my best response? So I had all this kind of emotional energy and love. I was like how do I put these resources?
Speaker 3:in the most effective way, and so I. Yeah, that's why I went to go study, and I just, like you know, I didn't study for a qualification, I studied for an education, right, and what I mean by that is, like. What I mean by that is it wasn't like I just knew you get qualified. It was like I'm facing this dilemma. I really want to know how to respond to this, and so- Can I ask with your?
Speaker 1:Christian background, did you almost pray and ask for God to use you?
Speaker 3:A thousand percent. I think that was the whole thing. It was like the hope of the gospel. So for someone to say that I was worthy and mad at it and that kind of stuff like that's what changed.
Speaker 3:That's what changed my life. Like that kind of that's what changed my life. When, you know, I felt like my dad didn't want me. But now I've realized this God wants me and loves me and thinks that I'm worthy, and that kind of stuff right. So this idea that I was worth somebody's time, that I was valuable, that I had value, that's what rocked my world. And so it's like how do I communicate value and hope to those people that I love and care about?
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 3:So that's essentially what the core is from the beginning.
Speaker 1:How do I and what's the purpose? What's the purpose of your business? What's the tagline of the purpose?
Speaker 3:Oh, so the purpose of the business is provide mentors and memories, right, so to have a mentor that's gonna spend time with you and kick a footy and that kind of stuff. When we are now communicating that, dude, you're worth it. Like you've got potential, like there's so many beautiful or amazing things that you can do.
Speaker 1:And so what happens when, so how? So a few questions how do you get your, how do you find the people to come on this journey with you? So, like for the kids to help, that you help yeah.
Speaker 3:So maybe I'll, if you remind me, I might just come back just a little bit and I'll kind of explain how that happens. So essentially, what originally where it originally started was I linked up with other guys at my church or other friends that I met that were like minded, and it's just what we did in our spare time. If we knew about a kid like you know, a younger sibling of someone I hung out with, or whatever we knew about somebody that was struggling, we did their learners with them or helped them get into a TAFE course or whatever it was.
Speaker 1:That's just what we did in our spare time.
Speaker 3:And then that just eventually kind of evolved into hey, we're really clever about this, we can get either child protection oh yeah, we can get like the department to kind of fund us to do this kind of stuff that we're already, yeah, kind of doing. And so we originally just started for out of home care, for trial protection, and then we had parents and families who had kids on the NDIS that were like, hey, you know, my kid would really benefit from this. Can we use our plan to pay for this? I'm like, yeah, cool, and that's kind of how we came into the world.
Speaker 3:So the two worlds that we're in now is the trial protection space and the NDIS space, but I guess the vision being the same thing is like anyone that's in the too hard basket and then that's kind of falling through the cracks. Yeah, we want to know about them.
Speaker 3:And so where it kind of originated was I was working in child protection While I was working for Barrish Street Anglicare and Salvation Army. So I was working that trial protection space like doing the contracted case management kind of stuff and and the residential care work and I was seeing these kids who were, yeah, like complex trauma, quite a lot of barriers, of poly, poly, substance dependence, complex mental health, regular criminal offending, significant negative pools, and that's what we talked about before you know when friends are offering, there's a car, stuff.
Speaker 3:We do so working with them and trying to find ways to empower them and try to find ways to get them set up for when they become an adult. And that's what my work was. I did maybe 10 years in out of home care space. I did 13 years altogether in terms of like camps and youth and ministry and that kind of stuff and so along that journey I'm seeing these kids in out of home care that missing out on because they're not in a mainstream school, they're not going on a camp, so one they're missing out on the memories, they're not jumping into a swimming pool full of spaghetti and they're not doing that kind of fun stuff.
Speaker 3:But they also like they don't have a cabin leader or a youth leader.
Speaker 3:That's kind of there to unpack and mentor them and like the way that I had and so I'm volunteering on these camps, so I go back to volunteer on these camps, but I'm also working in the trial protection space and it's like how do I kind of bring those two worlds together? And also, what was really important was I was reflecting on my friends and saying, hey, what was the difference Like, what was the difference Like, what was the impact? That I kind of experienced.
Speaker 2:Reflecting on your journey, on my journey, what was?
Speaker 3:different. So I got my friend that's in prison or whatever it is and then I'm not in prison. So where's the difference? And obviously it was the work in ministry of COAC and but then reflecting on what were the core elements that I got, that changed things, which was the memories right, so being able to be a kid and how important that played for me with those friends. But also I had a mentor. I had somebody I could call at like a little hook at night at a house party because somebody wants to punch on or whatever it was right. So I had somebody I could kind of ask questions, navigate my life through I'm remembering this summer.
Speaker 3:I don't have a great relationship with my dad, so I don't really have that father figure to lean on. So now I've got access to a positive male role model, and that just being crucial. And so now, looking at the work that I'm doing in the out of home care space, seeing these kids have that exact same, the exact same need. One I need someone to navigate life. And two I also just want to be a kid, I want to have fun.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and there's a thing I'll see, especially in Resi, like you'll see kids that do the exact same thing I did like have to act tough and and if I pull out like a game of, like Uno, or I pull out something silly or I put in the movie inside out like a cartoon or I don't ever want to do that, and then you see them watching from the hallway. And I just laughed at me. Bro, that was me Like.
Speaker 3:I so badly wanted to be a kid and so the two elements there, the memories being able to be a kid and then obviously the mentor and understand that they're missing out on that. So the way that CYC set up they do amazing work the way CYC was set up is they have one volunteer to like five kids and that just doesn't really suit the kids that I work with. And so where Payloss came about, you know, was continuing to progress along that, along that development of like how do I respond to what I'm seeing within my community, knowing that they need mentors and memories and that kind of stuff. And then obviously I'm working out of home care space seeing these kids were missing out, not going on camps. I can stuff.
Speaker 3:Where Payloss really kind of tipped over the line was we can provide mentors and memories. We can provide I can get you really positive role models to link in with kids. But we can also go fishing, camping, snowboarding, we can do all that kind of fun stuff. And it was really just out of necessity that those kids in the too hard basket that were missing out and like where do you learn to rupture a relationship and repair it?
Speaker 1:Like you learn them at school or in camps but these kids aren't doing that Well, you learn to not. You don't know to repair.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, but you've got like. You've got like, you've got like oh, you break up. Like you know, you're not friends with your. You're not friends with your friend anymore at lunchtime, at recess, but at lunchtime you're like your friends again.
Speaker 3:That kind of like but the kids that I was working with like they're in like drug houses, whatever, because they're in like Rezzie. And then they'll like, leave the Rezzie, go to a drug house, have a fight with their friend, punch on whatever. They're not able to talk to them ever again. Yeah, and you know they're best friends but no one's ever given them the skills of like to repair that.
Speaker 2:How do I repair that? Yeah, how do I do that? How do?
Speaker 3:I deal with when I'm feeling ashamed? Or how do I feel? How do I deal with when I'm feeling anger and all that overwhelming feelings or jealous, or envy? It's like these are all like really powerful emotions that we experience and you've got a kid that's emotionally dysregulated put into a drug house to kind of navigate with other kids that are emotionally dysregulated in a drug house, right, and with no tools no tools to navigate relationships right and you really miss out on that.
Speaker 3:And that's, I guess, the biggest problem there is. There's such a gap between a lot of the kids I was working with and mainstream society. Because they continue, the wedge gets larger and larger. Because they don't have that, they have an even smaller threshold for what they're willing to put up with, so they get angry even quicker Because they get angry even quicker there's even larger bias.
Speaker 3:They can further apart from that. And so we're trying to build some of those bridges back and we're like that stepping stone back to mainstream society. We say, hey, man, let's go out for driving, just mean you're one on one or just like you know, two of us, like there'll be two kids and two, two of our mentors, and we'll just go out just from firewood and make a fire and we can start that baby steps, that process to kind of getting you back into society so that you can to equip you with the tools to to navigate those situations. What I say to my workers is because my workers get to do fun things right, they go forward driving, they go to like movie world gone by, a world, luna Park, like this gets really cool stuff.
Speaker 3:And what I say to them is I'm not paying you to go to Luna Park, I'm not paying you to go to movie world. I'm paying you to be a role model and I just put you in lots of different situations that I need you to be in. I need you to be in a situation where you're cut off in traffic. I need you to be in a situation where you get a flat tire. I need you to be in a situation where you buy something so that they can see exactly get the lessons how we.
Speaker 3:This is how we interact with society, and this is how we interact with the teller, and this is how we speak to somebody at McDonald's and we're not rude to them, and this is how you deal with a conflict and that kind of stuff. So that's our main kind of goal to kind of provide opportunities to do that and so our kids can kind of can I ask the?
Speaker 2:because we've gone from like the how it eventuated, to, I guess, the level of impact and success that you're having now? If we dial back to like, was there a part where it got really hard, where you thought about giving up?
Speaker 1:Oh man, isn't that business. It was like.
Speaker 2:The reason is because I think there's so many people that enter the business space unaware of like, what they're actually signing up for and what they're getting themselves into and a mentor of mine relates it to like it is. It's the equivalent of like special forces or being an elite athlete, because you've always got to be on, you know, and there's not much rest and recovery and you're always active in competition. So go reflecting on your journey. What were the things and what were the moments where you were like, maybe questioning yourself like, could you do it? Were you worthy enough? You know all those sorts of things. What, what were those moments and what got you past them to get the company to where it is now?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So first of all I didn't, I didn't expect myself to quit my job for maybe another until at least three years, if not realistically five years, into Payloss right, and that's purely because I just thought I was telling people when I was hiring I was like one Saturday a month we might take a kid for driving Like I didn't really think you know how much it was going to kind of take off, I think.
Speaker 2:I just really thought that.
Speaker 3:And so I definitely kind of got dragged into it. I definitely got kind of like blew up a lot faster than I expected because we weren't trying to make a business and I think specifically for us, because we're working with people, we really didn't see them as Numbers. We've never seen them as numbers. We always was like, oh, here's a kid that needs someone to walk alongside them, and like when that parent told that parent told that parent, that's kind of what happened. But it was interesting. It's almost like we're trying to stay away from the business side almost.
Speaker 3:We're just like no, that's cool, Like we just have to hang out and and we just can't do this cuz I remember Luke Shadwin.
Speaker 2:He's like this just started as like we did this for fun in our spare time.
Speaker 3:Yeah, like if we knew if there's a kid at our church with ASD that like had no one to hang out Dude we're gonna play soccer. Come play soccer with us. Like you coming with us, like I'm gonna have a movie about my house. Come past Like that's just what we like. They just came along. Oh, hey, man, like you know, have you got your learners. Do you want to help getting learners? And just me or Christian? We just sit with them at the computer and yeah.
Speaker 1:I'm really curious because obviously with business Profit drives the for sure being able to scale right. Yeah, 100 so how do you, how, when was that transition of like okay, this is fun and this is just a side thing to like okay, now this is a fucking business and we need to kind of like do it like a business, yeah, so what?
Speaker 3:what really hit me was, you know, a few kids had some really amazing chats and we just saw that, like the power of this, and I just had this realization of like I probably got enough money in the bank to do pay loss for two months, three months tops. I want to do this for 30 years, like.
Speaker 2:I just we've really.
Speaker 3:We've really filled a gap. We've really hit the nail on the head and like it was such a natural process like I know this is needed because I've lived it. Yeah, we need, we need mentors are gonna take on kids in the too hard basket and let's just, it needs to be done, right. Yeah, as one of the things of like you know, especially like my relationship with God is kind of like either become the man that needs to get this done or step out of the way so he can, he can get it done.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm gonna get this done like.
Speaker 1:I need to get this done right like whether it's you or somebody else.
Speaker 3:Yeah, right and it's and, and that's kind of what woke me up to like alright I'll, I'll play with money like I'll learn about business and tax and I'll do that because I never wanted to and I was like yeah, no, like it has to be done now as a transition. So in terms of like the hard times, though, like there was this idea that I just thought there was gonna be a red carpet for me, because I'm saying like Such an internal kind of crisis have to work.
Speaker 3:So I'm like, I'm like I'm saying hey, you know your kids that into the ones that nobody wants the ones that are, like you know, dropping out of school and nobody wants one camps. Give him to me and we'll do really good work. And don't worry, I'm not a stranger like yeah, yeah, I know, I know.
Speaker 3:Qualified. We've got public liability insurance. We're like we've got four drives, we've got this and that, like we're good, like we're really well equipped. You're not gonna find anyone better in this space, and I thought there's gonna be a red carpet rolled out of like here you go.
Speaker 3:We've been waiting our whole lives. But it wasn't. It was like just trial after trial after trial, like yeah, I look, I think, I think I kind of those like 15 Significant hits that we took right. Like I remember my first camp, the gearbox went on on my car. No, no, so it wasn't even the first camp. I think I was taking photos for the Instagram and the gearbox went and I had had some kids coming that, although they were booked in, that was paid for through, like yeah, paid for like a foster care program. I say, oh, this is my first. I got a good idea and my gearbox blows and it's for the end of Christmas and Nobody's got room to do my thing.
Speaker 3:And then warring, or Toyota was like yeah, we can fit you in, but like 15 grand driving drive out. I don't have 15 grand, like when you're starting a business, I've got nothing. And so, yeah, and so then we had like it's so just like, obviously, maxing out credit cards, stretching mortgages, like that's kind of, and that's so scary for me. Yeah, so 15 grand, get the car fix first trip, take a kid out. We're out near Cooper's Creek. I'm pretty much stop, funny. And you, nice of you, I'm the Sadie's Ben's real drive comes racing around the corner head on collision. Right now, really grateful kid wasn't hurt because we got all the bar work. He didn't even know we're in an accident.
Speaker 3:He was like, yeah, he had no idea to them it's rocked up so he was right for the, but the guy was in trouble. Point of story is car got ridden off right 15 grand a week ago. Now my car's driven off. I don't have a four-drive.
Speaker 3:My logo is your four-wheel drive oh yeah, I was having four drive camping trips. It's my only four-wheel drive. Now I don't have a car for two months, my insurance, so I set out that gets underpaid, like I think. It's like I think it's like 80 grand at this point. They're only paying like 45 or something like that. Right, we had, you know, somebody make a false allegations. We have to, like you know, provide a lot case notes and that kind of stuff. We had yet some of the sign up for this kind of stuff but then refused to pay invoices and I saw I paid like so I'm like 10 grand with like Wages to my staff minister on these programs and just could not recruit.
Speaker 3:That's not and we're on like razor thin mind and yeah, I mean I could go on for a while, but it's important for us to knock down off, the knock down, off, the knock down. I'm not sure I told you this part of the story, but there it was. It was the month of April where we just had 15 of those massive hits and I it felt worse than a breakup, right, like worse Breakup. I felt like such a failure and I and I chucked on. This is worship song, I kind of the name. It's. Something like this is how I fought my battles, talking about like you Pray and that God can't take Sarah like I. You know it may look like I'm surrounded, but I'm surrounded by you, right?
Speaker 2:so those words really powerful for me, right?
Speaker 3:So it looks like I'm surrounded, it looks like I'm gonna be, but no, I'm surrounded by God's angels, right? So it's a beautiful imagery. So I just put that on repeat like a breakup, like you're listening to like your favorite song. I Remember. So it's like that moment. But I was like, yeah, I reckon it's like worse than that. I just listen to this song and I'm like under the covers. I spend the whole weekend just like, worshiping, crying just like, and because I'm so Feeling that.
Speaker 3:I'm so convinced that Paylos is done right, because at this point we're like so in debt, like we're like not really getting traction the transportation space, because there's like a yeah, like all the kind of stuff that's going on just hit after hit after hit and I was just like and I just could not see a lot but. I still had stuff in this on shift. I remember I had like Frankie call me, but like I look um, you know I have to like because I don't know, like they had no idea.
Speaker 2:I told the story ten months later, they had no idea that I was like so I'd like what my tears to pause the music.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, I hang up the whole weekend, like Friday to like Sunday, just like just destroyed, right. Anyway, what got me through was I was like this idea of like I'm really comfortable with failing, but I want to go down swinging right. So I'm like I was like because the lowest point, the lowest, because we had like a friend that like, yeah, we had like a friend that was, yeah, we had a friend that was meant to be in our bridal party, that kind of like black male dust and I can a staff, and threatened to Go to like fair work and it's so it just got super.
Speaker 3:So I think that was like the final straw and like she, she queered and I can Stop. So I think I was like the final straw and I was really, really defeated and I just thought this is over, like it's not gonna work, yeah, and I just said, oh, and at that point Sorry, I think, at that point I think pay losses cost me maybe five or six grand a week in terms of like wages and and I think it was on the Monday of that week we went into into negative $40 and I was like I remember I was sitting at Chinatown, I was with Kat and I was like this is like where, yeah, this is the week, like you can call it time of death, like, yeah, right. And then, um, yeah, I was a and it was came through at the right time. That kind of got us through with those wages to clean, right, anyway, casach important for the listeners.
Speaker 1:So there's. I've been doing a lot of stuff like work around money right and the energy of money and all that sort of stuff, and my the mentor that I've got is she talks about your energetic minimum. And sometimes people's energetic minimums is to be evicted.
Speaker 1:Like to get to the point of eviction, but not be evicted, and sometimes people's energetic minimum is like 10 grand in the bank and if they go any lower than that they're done. Yeah, so your energetic minimum was like all right, if they take my house, that's it Like that's my energetic minimum.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, so I was. Just I felt like it was done, but I was like I'll just keep rocking up until someone tells me I'm no longer invited. Yeah, Like no, luke, this is not your house anymore. Nab's taking it back Was that a big fear for you Look, I think I think I was comfortable.
Speaker 3:I was comfortable with giving life a go. I was really comfortable like I'm really comfortable with like like I'm not gonna be an actor, but like I'm really comfortable like trying to be an actor, failing and be like I'm really comfortable getting to 80 going. Yeah, I gave singing a go. Definitely wasn't for me. Yeah, I gave being a chef a go. Wasn't for I'm really comfortable getting to 80 going. I gave life a go. I was really comfortable with that.
Speaker 3:I was more sad because I really believed in them in the mission. I was more sad because, like, I just saw us do really good things.
Speaker 1:But then it's like that faith component of like yes, I do believe that this is gonna work. So what?
Speaker 3:yeah. So what was crazy was one of the director from one of the departments of travel protection knew me from a few years back and told him to say hi to me, and he apparently some training with me.
Speaker 3:I was like hey man, is there any chance I can give you for a coffee? We had a coffee with me and, like it's a long story, the short version story is like he gave me some really valuable insights and he kind of put me in some recommendations of like oh, because we're trying to get this program across the line within the department to get it funded for foster care, and so they were like man, you should speak to politicians.
Speaker 3:Like sometimes coming from the top is a lot quicker than coming from the bottom. I was like cool, so now I called. I called my EA and I was like Rose, I need to speak to a politician.
Speaker 2:I'm gonna have to do this. I'm gonna do this. For a politician, the movie moment was like get me the president.
Speaker 1:Yes, I'm eating at the White House the best I can do is to move down and on. Cool.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but she's an absolute gun. She's like a donor from like suits. She's a gun. I'm like Rose, she is a donor, she is just the most valuable thing. So I said to her, I said to my donor, Rose, I need to speak to a politician. She's like yeah, we'll get it done. She's just so calm.
Speaker 2:I can tell her something crazy.
Speaker 3:And she was like yeah, leave it with me. Yeah, I got this, no joke. Five minutes later, a politician was like literally outside her house. She's got a park outside her house and he did this open day where he's like anyone in the community can ask me anything. So she's got on the phone with me, walked outside Brad Baddon from Berwick was out there and then roses like roses like opens, closes her door, sees him and she's like my boss. My boss is here Right.
Speaker 3:And then and then has a quick chat with him, and then he says to get onto somebody. He says to get onto like Matthew Barker, which is another politician. That kind of starts that chain reaction, right. So I started explaining to these guys what I want to do. Matthew Barker is a politician and he was in the foster care system, but I didn't realize.
Speaker 2:So I'm telling him.
Speaker 3:I said, Victoria roughly has about 30% of the foster carers that it needs to service sector. I can't give you more foster carers but I can take care of the ones that you got, because if a kid is about to enter out of home care they can come and stay with us at our farm, do it like five or 10 days. The carers get rest, the placement lasts longer and I didn't realize I was talking to somebody that went through the foster care system and benefited from that. Anyway, I can go on that for a while. The point that I'm trying to make is there was this pivotal point where, like the snow will start happening and like just things just started happening. So I went from a whole year of like nothing but closed doors.
Speaker 2:So this is like negative $40. Yeah, About to like. I mean seeing your life's purpose wrap up and potentially this is it.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:To like that moment.
Speaker 1:Now it's time to be your next version of you and from spiritual perspective, I was just testing you, just if you really wanted to.
Speaker 2:Right yeah.
Speaker 3:And from a spiritual perspective, that first meeting with that guy was almost like I felt like it was God's way of like, kind of like tapping on the shoulder, like I don't know, like we're here and that just like avalanche. Like like, absolutely avalanche, like and so.
Speaker 2:I'm really surprised you haven't asked a spiritual question yet.
Speaker 1:Oh, I'm just listening. I'm listening because I'm like, yeah, all of this, I'm going down the spiritual Like yeah, all this was meant to be and this is exactly how it was.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, yeah I mean so our farm right. So so some of the goals I said to you about 15 year goals. The 15 year goals was to quit my job and to be sustained.
Speaker 3:My palace Then was to get a team of about five people, then was to five to eight people and then it was to have maybe three or four four drives. The ultimate goal was to have four four drives, maybe a team of six people, and the 15 year goal was to have a farm that kids could go to as a therapeutic stay because they needed somewhere to go, like dad's back in prison or whatever it is. They need a placement. We don't want them to go into Rezzy. Come stay with us. We create some really good memories.
Speaker 1:That was our 15 year goal. Did you have a number of kids that you wanted to like, support, Like? Was there an idea of how many Not like we?
Speaker 3:wanted to make ourselves available and we knew that we need to have. We weren't taking ourselves as available, so our, our number was kind of like enough to kind of keep that sustainable so that we're available to service as many as many, I guess, young people as we could.
Speaker 3:So from that pivotal moment, we found a farm and in that area, I think, things like farms were going for like I think it was like 1.8 or 1.9 for like smaller land, crappy houses, this beautiful land, a big land, beautiful house. And I said like a great offer, I was like 1.2. Yeah, and that got accepted and then like so we just had. We just had like crazy things like that happen. We just had. You know this, this parent told this parent told this parent, we had all these people Like I had random people that were like they came on board like man, I love what you're doing, can I be a part of the mission? So we went from just me and a couple of friends on the weekends to right now where I think we got like 80 kids that we're supporting. We've got maybe 35 staff members. I think we've got about 15 or 20 of them full-time hours and the rest are kind of like on part-time, kind of casual things. Yeah, we've got like I think, like I don't know 16 cars.
Speaker 2:18 cars now, or something we just we just got nothing, isn't it?
Speaker 1:it's? I feel like it's this, and this is like the message that I feel like I need to say to the people who are listening. And if you've got a business and you're just starting that business, or if you're in business and you feel like things aren't working, the importance and I always bang on about your purpose, your mission and your values, like that is what literally gets you through those times Like if you are so connected with your mission.
Speaker 1:If you're so connected to the purpose, you know that that's meant to be happening. That's what you hold on to right. When in those times like and I know, in business I've had some times where I haven't had my mission, my purpose and my values in place and I'm like stuff, this, this is shit, this is too hard.
Speaker 1:But, then I always go back to the foundation of okay, well, what's the purpose of this? Like, why am I doing this, what's the mission and where am I headed? Because all of this is just stepping to stones, and I think about this for you, those stepping stones like really tested your character, right? And it tested you to go like you know, I call it the universe for you like, if we talk your language, god is saying to you like look, these are important things that I need you to learn before we go up here.
Speaker 3:I could not do this anymore. Yeah, I think a really strong thing for me was like if you can't be faithful to small stuff, you can't be faithful to big stuff, right, you can't do a big stuff, and I think there's a part of the story that I haven't touched on yet and it might take up too much time to tell the full entirety of it, but there was essentially a point where, when we were really low, that negative 40 grand we all offered around us.
Speaker 1:Oh, it was negative 40 grand, not 40 dollars. No, it's not like 40 dollars. Oh fuck, I'm getting so much. Sorry, negative 40 dollars.
Speaker 3:Sorry, I checked that At that point we were negative 40 dollars and we were offered 600 grand to take on this new program. Yeah, Right and it wasn't completely dodgy, but it wasn't completely in line with our vision. Yeah, and I remember this moment being like I mean, 600 grand looks good when you're negative 40,.
Speaker 1:But when you're negative 40, it looks really fucking good, it looks even better, so much better.
Speaker 3:And I remember this moment where we had to kind of like walk away from this and I was like Because it didn't align, or A thousand percent it did not align and it was a little bit kind of dodgy as well. Yeah, and it was one of those moments of like and your brain starts to rationalize it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Justify it, yeah no, but you can do it. It might take this. Yeah, imagine what I can do. You can do it. I can help so many people A hundred percent, it's that moment of the movie.
Speaker 1:The main character, exactly, yeah.
Speaker 3:Have you seen Breaking Bad?
Speaker 1:No, I haven't watched Breaking.
Speaker 3:Bad. So there's a bit in the second part, but of course all where the guy's asking a question like you know, if you're going to turn back time, where would you turn back time to? And the police officer that was, you know, working with the cartel and that kind of stuff, he says I'll go back to like 1975, when I accepted my first bribe of $50 or something.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and the point that he makes is what started off as a little bribe there ended up as him working for the cartel and killing people and doing business and stuff that decision put him on that path A hundred percent, and I really believe that what starts off as a ends up as a flood, started off as a puddle. It's a couple of poor decisions and it was one of those moments where I was like, if you, if you cross, like you, if you don't stand for something, you're going to fall for anything.
Speaker 1:A hundred percent and you've got to draw your line in the sand.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I feel like that was my moment and I probably should have touched on this better, but it's like I feel like that because that was the final straw and it was honestly on the other side of that.
Speaker 2:That's where it all started.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and it and honestly felt like it was like hey, are you going to be able to stay on track, Are you?
Speaker 2:going to be able to say no in these moments.
Speaker 3:Of temptation, Because if you can, then it's like then I can trust you with later on down the track.
Speaker 2:A hundred percent, do you mean?
Speaker 3:And then like cause later on down the track I'll come along people that might ride me with like and like, just straight up forage and stuff. But like, yeah, well, even now, like I had someone that's kind of like five or $10,000, whatever, and I was like my bro.
Speaker 2:I said no to 600.
Speaker 1:600 have you walked away from, and I was desperate.
Speaker 3:Now we're good.
Speaker 2:Like yeah, keep your 5K, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:It's like yeah, but like some of us like outright like a bribe, and some of us not a bribe, some of us just like oh you know, can you do this? It's like man, like I think family violence is important, I think homelessness is important, I think AOD is important, and but we can't get distracted trying to fix everything and so we've got to stay very clear to hey, we're here to creatively connect with vulnerable people and empower them. Yeah, and we need to stay on track.
Speaker 2:Because it's going to derail us 100%.
Speaker 3:And so I feel like, once we're able to kind of really hold that line, well, I feel like there was that massive avalanche and I just I mean like complete acceptance, in no denial, god's hand in, because like right after that I met that guy. Then he told me to meet a politician and then Rose sees one outside of the door like five minutes later.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know what I mean. My message is not going to be planned 100%. Yeah, and I had this person saying man.
Speaker 3:I want to come work for you. And now we've got a team of like psychologists and fabricators and mechanics and like all these amazing people that just bring so much unique skill sets and they just walk alongside our kids and teach them how to make coffees and do barbecues and we're pulling apart an engine yeah.
Speaker 1:And they're like feeding the sheep and looking after the cows, and I just want to go back to that 600 grand moment, because that is so. So it's okay so. Alex Hamosi talks about this, about the girl in the red dress.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:And having times or businesses as well, uh-huh. That will distract you from doing the things that you're supposed to be doing.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Right yeah.
Speaker 1:And I feel like that was like a girl in the red dress moment, like you could have that right 1000%. Really showed your character as a leader.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And how much you believe in your purpose and your mission.
Speaker 2:Right, and I think I feel that was more like a Hens party of girls in red dresses than one girl to be honest yes that was a fucking fool.
Speaker 1:That wasn't entirely. A couple of strips you saw. Yeah, 100%, 100%.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean I, I wouldn't.
Speaker 2:No offense to one girl in a red dress. They're like in the business world.
Speaker 3:That's a that's a defining moment, Because my at this point like my credit cards, max mortgage stretch. Do you know what I mean?
Speaker 2:Like like and my team is small and I really love like.
Speaker 3:I'm really close to them. It's like I need. I really want to pay you and.
Speaker 2:I you know like there's all these elements come in.
Speaker 3:So yeah, and I, I just there's. There's no doubt that there's no way I've been, I would have been able to say no to that without God, and I'm not trying to. I'm not trying to say that people can't do that and stuff, but I think for me, when I rationalized, it was, I guess, what, what, what, what. What it really came down to was, if you really believe that God's called you to this vision, then what's the question?
Speaker 1:Yeah, 100%.
Speaker 3:Right and I it's, it's. It's like it sounds cliche, but it was, it was. It was just as simple as that, like you've just got to reexamine. Why do you think that you're here?
Speaker 1:But it's also the discipline in going. No, that's not it 100%. Like I can see so clearly and it's about, like, the purpose being so clear for the owner to go like I know what's it and what's not, and that's not it 100%, I was saying.
Speaker 3:but but without God I wouldn't have a logic to be like yeah here's another revenue stream. Right, here's another revenue stream that I can that.
Speaker 1:I can jump on. And then it's the faith thing, going like, hey, it's not that, but what is it Like? Show me what it is.
Speaker 3:He's provided me a true North that. I need to stick on Right, but without that it's kind of like, yeah, 600 going here. Yeah, and it's fine because, like, I didn't really have a direction For me because this originated back at 18 of like. I want to bring hope to people that really need to hear that good news. That's where it started. That's in my true north from 18.
Speaker 3:So I'm now 31, nearly 32. The true north has always stayed the same, and so I think it was just another moment of like the winds kind of pulling me off course, and I was like, no, no, no, that's not my true north, this is my true north, but without having a true north, but without having a direction to go to there's no reason, like there was no reason why I couldn't have. Just yeah, it's another revenue stream.
Speaker 2:And I think that's why, with businesses and entrepreneurs getting into business, if money is the true north, it's a very false true north, because you would do. You would do anything in order to achieve that, like I understand, you know it can be like oh, I can be a little bit of alcohol.
Speaker 3:You know what if I step into that space? Or what if I step into the tobacco space, what I speak into, the drug space, and how quickly can you go into, like the sexual, sexual exploitation space, and how quickly can you get into trafficking? Because there's no real line, yeah you don't want to line that.
Speaker 2:That's your true north. Well, you follow the money. Yeah, and the money can go to a lot of places. It can go to funding wars.
Speaker 3:It can go to funding human trafficking. It can go to funding like money can take you anywhere. So if you, yeah, if you're, if money is a true north, that's a very yeah, I mean that's a true north. Yeah, that's it. A thousand percent. That needs to be a sound bite. Money is a tool, not a true north A thousand percent, that's it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, because that can take you anywhere, right, and you, yeah, you really need to draw your line in the sand. And and I think, um, yeah, because because we've got some really cool programs that are going to come out of Paylos. So so we've got our camping, but we've got Pits Up Saturdays where kids will come and have a barbecue and pull apart an engine or install like a winch or something like that. I love that.
Speaker 2:That is so cool.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So we've got all these different programs that we're doing, but we've got our true north. That kind of kind of remains the same, Like even if we start a tape, even if we start a cafe. It's kind of like the true north stage is saying how do we empower people in a creative way to reach their full potential? That's, that's the yay or nay.
Speaker 2:Because correct me if I'm wrong, but one of the guys that you started working with now works for Paylos, right? Is that? Have you got? Have you got an employee that was once a client?
Speaker 3:Yes, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because I remember when we supported, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so that's Corey. He, um, he was my first official Paylos client that I was supporting and, yeah, when I first met him he, like you know, didn't really live in a room, didn't really live in his room, didn't have much social connections outside of the screen, couldn't talk to the drive-through because I was too intimidating. And now he, just like he, like he's, he's now as a youth mentor, he like he connects with our kids.
Speaker 3:He, um, yeah, like he's really developed his social skills. But now he's like, um, he goes into communities, he goes to talk to people. He approached the business. He did some of our media for a bit. Pros and business like, hey, I do media, can I make it for you? Now? I mean, this is a kid that couldn't order from a drive-through because that was too confrontational. He even asked me for a pay rise. He's like, and I was too scared to ask for a pay rise from my boss at 27 or 28. I felt too intimidated and you got Corey with like his social anxiety and that kind of stuff going like, hey, I feel like my works improved and I think I, I think I can have a pay right.
Speaker 2:And.
Speaker 3:I like.
Speaker 1:so what a moment to acknowledge the training moves are off and I'm watching. You just get a run.
Speaker 3:Yeah so yeah so good. Yeah, we had some really cool. We had some really cool results kind of coming out of that. Yeah, love that.
Speaker 2:So what would you? What would you say for anyone that's listening that, I guess, is sitting around?
Speaker 1:there. Can I just ask one more question? No we're on the wrap up here with this, I'm just go no go go.
Speaker 2:No, we'll come back to that.
Speaker 1:So there's, you've spoken a lot about male things.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Are we going to open masculine in the is?
Speaker 1:that male and female, or is it just male?
Speaker 3:100% male and female 100% male. Yeah, yeah, yeah, 100% male. It's just my personal journey. Obviously because I was missing a dad.
Speaker 2:So I really benefited from that male role model, but no our team is pretty much 50, 50% male and female.
Speaker 3:We're pretty much split down down the middle and the the goal says the same you need a positive female role model to help you to navigate that world, and you need a positive male role model to help you navigate that world. And they, they need a cross Like. We need positive female role models for our young males to like to see how to safely and healthy like, interact and have those relationships. And we also need advice, versa, like you need you need positive male role models to interact with our teenage girls. We're like hey, this is how you can have a conversation and this is this is how it looks like when someone like respects your boundaries and respects you and and and holds a safe space and doesn't touch you inappropriately and like myself.
Speaker 3:And you need to have an example of a blueprint, because a lot of our kids don't really have that. So you need to have an example of and a blueprint of how this is done.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Now you can ask I?
Speaker 2:was going to ask if, if, if anyone's listening to this, that is maybe in that space of like acting out with the cool stuff and and taking their life down that trajectory, what, what advice would you give them, given your journey?
Speaker 3:Yeah, Look, I think the the way that I've responded to that and I think the most powerful response is we spoke about the GTA lifestyle, of like the significant pool for how much fun and how cool that is, and I think what we normally kind of respond and I've I've stolen this from a sermon, so full disclosure. But I think the way we normally respond is we try to provide rules and boundaries and we try to provide kind of warnings around. Don't go down this because of this, right, yeah, but to a 15 year old, 16 year old, you know, don't smoke cause you're gonna get cancer. Dude, that's for somebody, that's so distant from me.
Speaker 3:I've got no attachment to that, like that's not a relevant response to me.
Speaker 3:And this this preacher gave this really powerful example of fences and wells and he talked about like cattle stations out in the outback with a thousand acre properties can't build fences. This is way too big. So the way that they move their cattle arounds, they have a well, they have a, they have a, they have a water source here and they move the water source around to then move the cows around. So the cows don't worry about where the fences are, they try to stay closer to the water source. And I think what's interesting around some of our responses, when we talk about our boundaries, it's almost like finding out, like, where's the limit of a heart attack? Like, oh, it's a, is it a hundred big max? Cool, well, I'll stop at 99.
Speaker 2:Trying to find how close.
Speaker 3:we can get to a heart attack before we touch that boundary and I don't think that's an effective kind of method. And it definitely doesn't resonate with some of that's 15 or 16. Cause, like if you tell me, at 35, I'm going to have bad health. You're like Dan, there's like 15 years.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's right. I'm not ready to put the respirator on yet. No way, I'm 16.
Speaker 3:I'm good, I'll do that later, yeah, so my response to me is that my my heart needed to be set on fire for something that was greater. So I wasn't worried, like the response and what kind of captivated me was it wasn't the boundaries of what I can't do, it was the fulfillment of what I can do. And so what I? When I respond to my kids like I'm not, you know, when they're like dealing with substances, I'm not trying to find a way to decrease their substances, I'm trying to find a way to increase their positive experiences. So they go well, I can either go forward driving and go fishing and snowboarding and do all this action pack stuff, or I've got or I've got like I'm going to help my friends and get a stolen car.
Speaker 3:So you got two really kind of adrenaline pumping kind of things. Now you've got that option.
Speaker 2:Which choice are you going to make?
Speaker 3:Yeah, don't use eyes, stay at home and read a book with me. It's like no brainer, right. So I guess my response and I my experience is the most powerful response for for people is like I spend less time on the boundaries and more time of captivating somebody's heart with something that's greater. So you can talk about things like poverty around the world, or you can talk about things like human trafficking, that we've got more slaves today than any time in history, right, you can talk about kind of stuff. Break somebody's heart for compassion and ignite for something greater. You know one of not at all saying that Hitler's a great guy, but one of the things that made Hitler so kind of influential was he really tapped into the youth. So you've got you've got to understand the power of the youth. You've got 15 to 25 year olds looking for a purpose and if you can offer them something greater than themselves, like that's just going to really carry Right, because we're all looking for a purpose we're looking for identity.
Speaker 3:We want to know that we matter. We want to know that we fit into something.
Speaker 2:Accepted Accepted.
Speaker 3:Right, and so my response is. The most effective response that I've seen is let me provide you an opportunity or an alternative that is adrenaline seeking, like really exciting. It gives you the same Exactly For you got purpose and you've got meaning, you got to impact your life is going to matter. So my response is trying to get my kids hooked on to life. So I'm not trying to get away the drugs, I'm trying to get you like high on life. And then I, then I watched the drugs, kind of like physical weight.
Speaker 3:Not that I can't do them, I just don't have any time anymore.
Speaker 2:Do you think that that's good parenting advice in terms of, let's say, a parent's got a kid, that is, you know, taking drugs and stuff is like, rather than get the wooden spoon out and be like don't do drugs? Is there like? Is what is the? What is the chemical? Positive comparison 100%.
Speaker 2:I mean, I mean because we spoke about the, the one thing that I recall in our conversation where we thought the podcast was going to go and I said I asked Luke, I'm like, do you ever get kids coming to you that come from good, stable homes and and? And one thing I want to unpack is what you said is the things that the forces of life that happen, that are outside the parents control, that then impact the kid. So can you, can you talk more to that? Cause I think there's a lot of people that you know in our audience that our parents that are now like maybe think, oh well, I'm a little bit on edge, how do I prevent this? It's just like I think there's a lot of value in that.
Speaker 3:For sure. I think that's it's own podcast episode, but I'll quickly this is like episode 35 with Luke. Luke, I think. So what I was saying to you on that day was, like you know, let's make the assumption that you got parents that are doing really well, like you know, really do love their kids and are kind of pouring in. I'm not really faulting that they've. I'm not talking about parents that have chosen their career over the kids. It's all like parents that have done.
Speaker 3:They've got a safe environment safe environment and doing like a fair amount of things, right. So in that kind of category, what I was saying to you, danny, was that don't underestimate your role as a parent to go to war or to combat the forces that are kind of going at your kids. So you go and say, like, what's going on with your kids? Like, so, with social media and right, with all the influences, you've got, yeah, you've got potential criminal offending, definitely some drug opportunities, so opportunistic substance use. These are kind of things that are available to most kids, if not all kids.
Speaker 3:Right, you got, yeah, you got like the pornography, you've got the substances, you got the crime, you got the negative influences, right, and you could be doing I guess I guess the easiest way to put it you could be doing good, but good doesn't work. Good doesn't work in a war zone. That's the point. Good doesn't work in a war zone. That's what I was saying to Danny. It was like if you were being invaded, like you know, if you lived in a, if you lived in a, in a neighborhood where people were like breaking your house regularly, like as the parents, you'd be on guard and be like no, like get a gun, big fence, whatever.
Speaker 3:And I'm not always saying we need to do that, but I'm saying metaphorically we need to be proactive, like, hey, I know that there's going to be kids at my kid's school that's going to be offering them weed, offering them Zanis, or whatever it is. I know there's going to be kids that are he's going to have opportunities, they're going to have opportunities to go steal cars or whatever it is. What am I combating with?
Speaker 1:So, like, essentially, don't wait for it to be a crisis, it's like what tools can I give you so that you can be in that situation and make the right decision?
Speaker 3:For sure, and but I was what I was saying to Danny was around, like being really proactive, like you might have a good home, but having a great home in the sense of like looking for opportunities to take your kid camp you're looking for opportunities to connect, do things that they like. Because now they've got access to a whole lot of really fun experiences with my parents. I have less time for whatever's negative, because one of the I guess, breeding grounds for some of those, one of the breeding grounds for poor decisions, is boredom. It's like I've got nothing to do and I've got access to so much dopamine on my phone I can just kind of scroll and then I can kind of lead on. But if we're kind of action packed and active as a family, doing things you know, I don't know, like engaging in fun activities, going to gun, buy a world or whatever it is like, we're actually quite active as a family. You've now flooded your child.
Speaker 3:So if your child's the marketplace, you've flooded that marketplace with this supply of entertainment and fun and things, positive adrenaline and yeah, but if you're not like, if you kind of only put a little bit in there, like every once in a while in a Saturday, we might do something. Well, there's now suddenly a great demand in that market, and then here come the other suppliers with the drugs and the negative influences.
Speaker 1:Because I played basketball for many, many years, like started from like, the age of eight to the age of 30. So I feel like that time in my childhood was so crucial, because on Friday nights I didn't go out, I played basketball I trained three times a week on the night, and I played basketball with school on Saturday morning, so there was no time, and then I trained on Sunday.
Speaker 1:So, there was no time and I was with my friends the whole time and we would do, you know, we'd do trips. We'd come to Ngunnawading and do trips for the weekend, all our families were there. We all were friends. Like that got me out of taking drugs going to parties, doing all the things that everybody else was doing, that maybe were bored and didn't have that kind of anything to go to. But I feel like that was like I look back on my life and I'm like, because I've never done drugs before like I've never been like, even at parties.
Speaker 1:I used to go to parties and they'd offer me, and I'm like no, I've got training tomorrow. Or like I'm not fucking in the WNBA but like. I took it seriously. Like I was like, yeah, I need to like be good for tomorrow. You know, so it was like that kind of, I guess maybe the responsibility be like I can't rock up hungover cause I'll let my team down.
Speaker 3:For sure. But right there, right, you've got your time, so like you've got something that's consuming your time. But there's purpose as well, cause, like now I've got a team to be part of. And then there's like identity, like well, this is my team, like whatever your team name was like I'm Danny.
Speaker 3:Longranger or whatever. You know what I mean. Like I'm part of that. There's so many like boxes that you're hitting really really well, right? So now reverse that. Look at a teenager that comes from a really beautiful home, but those boxes are still empty, though.
Speaker 2:Cause I don't have a team.
Speaker 3:I don't have a community, I don't have a purpose, I don't have time, something community.
Speaker 2:So yeah, like it's like. I'm not necessarily suggesting on the specifics of what to do, but definitely kind of highlighting Invest, making those investments in positive influences in their life, cause it's going to become a point where those kids it's no longer cool to hang out with your parents For sure. And they, they, they. You know, I think the influences of who they hang around and things like that a massive impacts on on adolescence. Hmm.
Speaker 3:I guess yeah. The point is that there's a market there that's going to get filled.
Speaker 2:I think that's the main point. You look from a business perspective.
Speaker 3:there's a market there. Whenever there's a market, people will then come with the supply, right. So there's a man there, someone's going to come with the supply. So your each kid has a demand of I need identity, I need purpose, I need time, I need fun, I need excitement, I need those things. And so if we are, if we have the monopoly or the majority of that for our kids, where we can kind of provide really fun genuine, like you know, they can find acceptance and love and excitement and thrill and and community and purpose, if they can find that, like you know, through us and through, like I guess, positive sources Community yeah, Like they're really like the demand is being supplied, but if we're not stepping into that market.
Speaker 3:someone will or something will, whether that be drugs, social media, that kind of stuff. And so it's just acknowledging there's a market there and that you need to be proactive in kind of supplying that demand, because something will, something will.
Speaker 2:That's good. Well, Luke, this has been an absolute pleasure having you on today. And being an inaugural guest on our podcast. I've thoroughly enjoyed unpacking your personal story and parts of the business element. I'm going to take you up on the offer of coming down to the farm with with Lesha and the girls one day yeah, we'll do a Nickelodeon day, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah. Jump in the spaghetti pool that'll be a heaps of fun. I want to say, though, like for the wrap up, because we like to. We like you know, one of our purposes for the podcast is to give somebody the listeners something to take away, to maybe do to enrich their life further. So what is that thing that you would suggest?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I was, I was I was saying this before. I don't think that's what I normally kind of finish with, and anytime that someone's willing to listen to my story that's why I finish with is that you know, I'm a kid that was dropping out of school to a kid that went to university and you know, quite poor to now doing quite well. And I think when I look at that kind of contrast and I say to people like my life wasn't changed by a social worker or a psychologist or some kind of magic wand, it was literally by average people that just felt that I was worth their time, people that took me out to the movies and did my learners with me and that kind of stuff, and so the takeaway is the power of showing someone value with your time and saying, hey, man, you matter enough that I want to hang out with you and want to move with you.
Speaker 3:Because feeling that significantly changed my life forever, and so the takeaway, the message I'd like to live with people that you don't have. Don't wait to be a psychologist or a social worker to feel like you need to change the world, like you can really change someone's world purely by sitting down with them or doing something with them that communicates to them that they're worth something.
Speaker 3:Because that in itself right. One of my leaders invited me to church a couple of times and that really didn't really impress me. What really impressed me was when he just wanted to take me out to the movies for a day and then I was like man, you actually want to hang out with me, just because not because, of some kind of agenda, just because I'm worth it.
Speaker 3:I just can't stress enough the power in identifying somebody that you can communicate to them with your actions, not with your words with your actions that they're valuable of your time, the impact that they can have on their trajectory of their life, because for me it significantly impacted me.
Speaker 2:That's beautiful, luke. I love that. Thank you so much, mate. It's been a pleasure. Thanks guys.
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