Speaker 1: Small businesses now. They are the backbone of our country
Speaker 1: and I know firsthand how tough it is, long hours,
Speaker 1: constant hurdles, and too often feeling like you're in it alone.
Speaker 1: And what I keep hearing from you is that small
Speaker 1: business owners don't feel heard. My team and I are
Speaker 1: paying close attention to our small business community and the
Speaker 1: feedback that comes to us through the Mental podcast. Now,
Speaker 1: one thing is clear. You want to hear from more
Speaker 1: businesses beyond Sydney, from across the country, and especially those
Speaker 1: that are doing it tough. That's why my team and
Speaker 1: I are launching the Small Business call Out. The Small
Speaker 1: Business call Out, which will be under the Mentor channel,
Speaker 1: will talk to business owners all over the country every
Speaker 1: single week, no matter where you are. We want to
Speaker 1: hear from you. What's working, what's not working, What do
Speaker 1: you need from the government to actually succeed? What are
Speaker 1: the things can you enlighten us about what it's like
Speaker 1: being in the small business community. This is yours to
Speaker 1: make your voice count. We want to hear from all industries,
Speaker 1: from those struggling, from those who feel overlooked, or those
Speaker 1: who have something to say but haven't had the platform
Speaker 1: to say it. I'm going to continue hosting the Mental podcast,
Speaker 1: but the Small Business call Out will be uploaded between episodes.
Speaker 1: So let's get into this week's edition of the new
Speaker 1: Small Business call Out. What is the name of your
Speaker 1: business and in simple terms, what does your business do?
Speaker 2: To introduce myself, my name is Jason Graham. I've been
Speaker 2: in business in Canberra and New South Wales for thirty
Speaker 2: five years. Our current business involves a couple of different companies.
Speaker 2: We own offshore Boat Sales, which is based in Canberra
Speaker 2: and we look after act New southde ailes and further
Speaker 2: afield such as the coast.
Speaker 3: And what offshore.
Speaker 2: Boat Sails does is it sells new and news boats.
Speaker 2: We specialize in custom design. We're a Yamaha outboard dealership.
Speaker 2: We are a service agent for YMA and spare parts.
Speaker 2: We do retail electronics packages for the marine industry such
Speaker 2: as Garmen, pretty much all things boating. We're specialize in
Speaker 2: full rebuilds for boats for people that want to rebuild
Speaker 2: an older boat or repower it with a new engine.
Speaker 2: And we supply Australian made boat trailers to the local network.
Speaker 3: The other business that.
Speaker 2: Stemmed out of COVID due to the lack of supply
Speaker 2: down into New South Wales and Canberra with Queensland being
Speaker 2: shut off. I'd been designing boats since we started offshore,
Speaker 2: which was in twenty eleven, so when our supply chain
Speaker 2: cut off, I basically started design and manufacturing myself, using
Speaker 2: some specialist boat builders that are based up the far
Speaker 2: North New Southwest coast.
Speaker 3: So we now build Australian.
Speaker 2: Made played alloy boats under the Cutting Edge Design banner.
Speaker 2: They're all still fully backed by Yamaha and Garment, but
Speaker 2: each customer has the advantage of having a custom design
Speaker 2: boat and build done from start to finish by us,
Speaker 2: and that's backed by, you know, forty years of boating
Speaker 2: experience myself, even though all the other businesses weren't boating.
Speaker 2: And then Cutting Edge Designers then diversified even further because
Speaker 2: as we'll get to the marine industry has sort of
Speaker 2: slowed down a fair bit with with with customer sentiment
Speaker 2: and tightening the belts and government and whatnot. So we
Speaker 2: actually sell golf carts as well. I'm a Caain golfer,
Speaker 2: so we were diversified by doing that, and now we've
Speaker 2: actually diversified a little bit further in that cutting edge
Speaker 2: has now another arm which is Cutting Edge Business Solutions,
Speaker 2: whereby we actually are helping other local businesses in and
Speaker 2: around Canberra and New South Wales with things like post systems, ATMs.
Speaker 3: Hospitality.
Speaker 2: And yeah, and crypto solutions as well, which is out there.
Speaker 3: But yeah, it's all sort of I guess.
Speaker 2: Related, because it's all business related, bricks and mortar. I'm
Speaker 2: at the offshore boat sales office, you know, meanwhile boats
Speaker 2: servicing Yamaha sales.
Speaker 3: All that goes on.
Speaker 2: But we're sort of supporting ourselves by doing a lot
Speaker 2: of diverse, filed.
Speaker 3: Stuff I think, which was something you had to do
Speaker 3: coming out of COVID.
Speaker 1: What was the most rewarding part of being a small
Speaker 1: business owner?
Speaker 2: The most rewarding part of all of the businesses that
Speaker 2: I've been involved with has been having that idea and
Speaker 2: bringing it to life. I guess unlike a lot of
Speaker 2: other business owners, I've never actually purchased a business or
Speaker 2: taken over someone else's business.
Speaker 3: I've utilized franchise systems before.
Speaker 2: But every one of my businesses has been a startup,
Speaker 2: stemming back to when I was fourteen years old working
Speaker 2: on the farm.
Speaker 3: I came from a little town called Wombat Out me.
Speaker 2: Young and the first business I had was sending fresh
Speaker 2: fruit to China out of our orchard because dad dad
Speaker 2: didn't pay too well, so I convinced him to let
Speaker 2: me have a crack at selling some fresh fruit through
Speaker 2: a friend's dad knew that the possibility was there. Went
Speaker 2: to the Sydney markets. Old Greek guy down there, he
Speaker 2: probably related to Mark.
Speaker 3: He backed me.
Speaker 2: I think he thought that I was maybe a little
Speaker 2: bit older than than fourteen, but he took that batch
Speaker 2: of first sugar plums and sent them to China, and
Speaker 2: about eight to ten weeks later, I got a big
Speaker 2: fat check in the mail and it was pretty exciting
Speaker 2: stuff for it fourteen year old kid, and I guess
Speaker 2: that's what started at all. And to answer the question,
Speaker 2: that's what gives me the most satisfaction about being able
Speaker 2: to bring an idea to life, being able to meet
Speaker 2: the demand. You know, I think one of the biggest
Speaker 2: things with any business is making sure that you've done
Speaker 2: your background and you've checked your demographics, and you make
Speaker 2: sure that there is a demand for whatever you're going
Speaker 2: to do. That doesn't always work one hundred percent, as
Speaker 2: anyone in business will tell you, especially at the moment,
Speaker 2: because things are so tough, everything's up and down, but
Speaker 2: by being able to pull it all together and come
Speaker 2: together with an idea, whether it be you know, selling boats,
Speaker 2: building boats, having you know, I've had a couple of
Speaker 2: bar and restaurants.
Speaker 3: I've had Jim's mowing and fencing.
Speaker 2: I've had civil construction companies, a baby shop or tab.
Speaker 3: You know, there's a fair bit that's gone on.
Speaker 2: But I do feel that everyone's got the opportunity to
Speaker 2: make anything what they want to make.
Speaker 3: It's just damn hard work, but it's very very rewarding.
Speaker 3: It can also be very.
Speaker 2: Very draining and disappointing, especially when you know things are
Speaker 2: not going your way.
Speaker 1: What is one thing you wish you knew before you
Speaker 1: even started your business.
Speaker 2: Look, I think that if I could go back to
Speaker 2: the early nineties when I bought my first pub, I
Speaker 2: think I was nineteen twenty years old right now, what
Speaker 2: I wish I didn't know, which is the opposite of
Speaker 2: what you're asking, is that I wish I didn't know
Speaker 2: how much easier business was then.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: I'm not saying that it was easier as in work
Speaker 2: hard or you didn't have to do one hundred hours
Speaker 2: a week or whatnot. But I think the return for
Speaker 2: the hard work back then, even though from a monetary
Speaker 2: point of view may not have been as much turnover
Speaker 2: or as much revenue, I do feel that what you
Speaker 2: got back from business was more of a return on
Speaker 2: your investment that you didn't feel like you were getting cheated.
Speaker 2: And I think the longer that you've been in business,
Speaker 2: and especially the current economy that we're in now, you know,
Speaker 2: the ATO has got incredibly tough with everything.
Speaker 3: People are very very tight with money.
Speaker 2: So you know when we talk about boat building and
Speaker 2: selling outboard engines, and that's all discretionary spend, right, So
Speaker 2: none of us knew that COVID was going to hit, right,
Speaker 2: And during COVID, some areas of Australia thrived in the
Speaker 2: boating industry because, say, for example, Queensland, it's a lot
Speaker 2: warmer in Queensland and people didn't have anything else to
Speaker 2: do except recreational boating, so whether they were fishing or
Speaker 2: their family or whatever, so things went off in certain
Speaker 2: different areas. I guess if you knew what was going
Speaker 2: to happen, in hindsight, we'd all be able to prepare
Speaker 2: better for what tohead but you.
Speaker 3: Never know that.
Speaker 2: And that's one thing about business is you never know
Speaker 2: what's going to happen. You don't know what's going to
Speaker 2: happen with government at the moment. You know, we're in Canberra.
Speaker 2: Canber is so government are orientated as far as the
Speaker 2: holding pattern. So there's like as soon as it comes
Speaker 2: up to a federal election, the whole country stops. But
Speaker 2: in Canberra it's even it's felt, you know, it's felt
Speaker 2: greatly because because the city seems to have that stigma
Speaker 2: of being advertised as the government is not the government,
Speaker 2: the government is Canberra.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: So when people talk about Canberra all the time, especially
Speaker 2: during you know, when there's media and there's you know,
Speaker 2: the Great Debates and all of this stuff on TV,
Speaker 2: it does take away from the overall view of Canberra
Speaker 2: and people sometimes probably forget that Canberra is just another
Speaker 2: city which is run by small business, you know, the
Speaker 2: building trade and everything here. If we knew the building
Speaker 2: trade was going to be as effective as what it
Speaker 2: has been in the last three years, you would also
Speaker 2: look at different ways of as you said before, pivoting
Speaker 2: your business. But yeah, it's a difficult one to try
Speaker 2: to guess what would help.
Speaker 3: All I know is that.
Speaker 2: Things have gradually getting harder because the costs of running
Speaker 2: business is growing and growing and growing. You know, the
Speaker 2: cost of rents, the cost of outgoings on those buildings.
Speaker 2: You know, obviously there's not as much spending in the economy,
Speaker 2: especially discretional spending on recreational items such as boats. So
Speaker 2: that's what has more or less forced that diversification back
Speaker 2: into a few other areas which are all related back
Speaker 2: into business, but have given us the opportunity to at
Speaker 2: least expand, but not only that, just survive.
Speaker 3: I guess at the moment is it is a matter
Speaker 3: of survival for a lot.
Speaker 2: Of businesses, not just Camber, but everywhere all throughout Australia.
Speaker 2: And the statistics say, you know, if there's startup businesses
Speaker 2: within five years, fifty percent of those businesses don't continue.
Speaker 3: That's a given.
Speaker 2: There's a high percentage of directors and business owners that
Speaker 2: are not even paying themselves a wage, which I'm one
Speaker 2: of those business owners. You know, the other people you
Speaker 2: work with, you and your business to business supporters, they
Speaker 2: have to get paid first. So you know, I'm very
Speaker 2: very lucky that I've got a wife and family that
Speaker 2: support me in the business. She has her own job,
Speaker 2: and I would hate to think what it would be
Speaker 2: like if you didn't have a partner that actually, you know,
Speaker 2: pulls their own weight by being able to help in
Speaker 2: a financial way and keep the household running because a
Speaker 2: lot of the time in business, everything that comes from
Speaker 2: the business goes back into the business, including every minute
Speaker 2: of the day, seven days a week.
Speaker 3: To me, business has been my whole life.
Speaker 1: And what inspire you to start your business, those.
Speaker 2: Are straight out supply supply boat sails, become a Yamaha
Speaker 2: outboard dealership, create that service side of the business, be
Speaker 2: able to just provide everything boating for camera because there
Speaker 2: was no one and there still is no one else
Speaker 2: in the act that provides that service. Then having the
Speaker 2: supply issues force that pivot to cutting edge design, whereby
Speaker 2: we're now able to actually build our own boats for
Speaker 2: customers based on what they want. More importantly, Australian made,
Speaker 2: so all the money's staying here and I don't need
Speaker 2: to probably put as much pressure on myself to sell
Speaker 2: as many boats as what we used to when we
Speaker 2: were buying factory built boats. Out of Queens because we're
Speaker 2: cutting out that middleman. You know, if I can spend
Speaker 2: more time and bring a higher quality product, that's what
Speaker 2: you want. That's what gives you that satisfaction in your business.
Speaker 2: And most importantly, you know, we're in business to make money.
Speaker 2: If you're not making money, you're not going to stay
Speaker 2: in business. So if you can do something yourself using
Speaker 2: the best contractors and boat builders that you can, you're
Speaker 2: still spreading the love by employing them and spending money
Speaker 2: with them. And we're buying Australian you know, it's aluminium,
Speaker 2: it's freight, it's every touch you know on these building
Speaker 2: these boats creates more work and more jobs for people
Speaker 2: in our business community and that small community. Every single
Speaker 2: person touches one of these jobs. If you took all
Speaker 2: that away, a lot of people would suffer, you know.
Speaker 2: So you know, been able to go and have a
Speaker 2: game of golf every Wednesday morning at the local golf club,
Speaker 2: which I've been a member at for thirty years.
Speaker 3: People see me.
Speaker 2: In my golf cart. If they want to buy a
Speaker 2: golf cut, they can see it. They can order one.
Speaker 2: That creates more sales. It's another business solution and we're
Speaker 2: providing that service to the local economy.
Speaker 3: In Canberra whereby previous.
Speaker 2: There was none, And I guess that's why then we've
Speaker 2: even diversified further back to that business solution side where.
Speaker 3: And I'm not having a crack at the big four
Speaker 3: banks but everyone does.
Speaker 2: What we're trying to do is touch base with all
Speaker 2: those thirty five years of business contacts that I've got,
Speaker 2: which I think I've got twenty seven thousand in my phone.
Speaker 2: So out of all those people that I've touched base
Speaker 2: through all the different types of businesses, if I can
Speaker 2: go to them and help them save money on their
Speaker 2: f poss or positive system or business solutions, whatever it is,
Speaker 2: if I can help them save money and keep the
Speaker 2: money in the local community, that's my main goal, I guess.
Speaker 2: And that's where Offshore Boatsals cutting Edge has all stemmed
Speaker 2: from thirty five years of business experience and seeing that
Speaker 2: a lot of money gets drained out of the local
Speaker 2: community in the industry, so the building industry here in
Speaker 2: Canberra at the moment. And I listened to one of
Speaker 2: the guys did one of the shout outs a few
Speaker 2: weeks ago, and he was a camera based guy and
Speaker 2: I understood every single thing that you've saying was so true.
Speaker 2: And theiggest problems at the moment we're seeing Canberra is
Speaker 2: that these big developers are bringing in staff from outside.
Speaker 2: So whether they are overseas workers or they're from Sydney
Speaker 2: or Melbourne, they're big crews. It doesn't matter where they're from,
Speaker 2: it doesn't matter. But what happens is they come in,
Speaker 2: they take all of those jobs on those big, big,
Speaker 2: you know, apartment buildings and whatnot, whether they're commercial or private,
Speaker 2: and they don't physically live in Canberra, so they're earning
Speaker 2: the money from those jobs and all of that revenue
Speaker 2: goes back to wherever they're from. So if they're from
Speaker 2: Sydney or Melbourne, or they're from overseas, and that's all great,
Speaker 2: we need people to be able to do these jobs,
Speaker 2: but that's where your local community, which Canberra is not
Speaker 2: a very big place. Our population is, you know, probably
Speaker 2: smaller than Liverpool. So it's the money gets drained out
Speaker 2: of Canberra and back into the other areas and we
Speaker 2: don't get we can't get that funnel back.
Speaker 3: So if that money goes out of the circle, that.
Speaker 2: Affects all businesses because your tradees are not getting paid
Speaker 2: as much, they won't spend on discretionary products like going
Speaker 2: out for dinners and going to the pub for a
Speaker 2: beer and a coffee and whatnot.
Speaker 3: So what happens is then.
Speaker 2: The public servant sector, because they're finding it tight or
Speaker 2: there's not as many jobs, they're not going to spend
Speaker 2: as much with tradees. So it's a big circle whereby
Speaker 2: all the businesses need to be in that circle to
Speaker 2: keep the money going around. And if the money gets
Speaker 2: funneled out of our local community and which is our state,
Speaker 2: which is you know the Australian Capital Territory with capital
Speaker 2: of Australia, you know what we're seeing at the moment,
Speaker 2: and that was evidenced by the guy the other day
Speaker 2: from Canberra talking is that the money is just going
Speaker 2: straight out of the state and it's not coming back,
Speaker 2: so it cuts.
Speaker 3: That supply, you know. Yeah.
Speaker 2: So yeah, in short, what we're always trying to do
Speaker 2: is developed that local business and try and keep the
Speaker 2: money going around within our economy so that all the
Speaker 2: businesses can be successful, because we don't want people to fail.
Speaker 1: How is your business doing right now.
Speaker 2: In the current economy, The business at the moment is
Speaker 2: generating the least amount of turnover that I've ever seen.
Speaker 2: Our business is directly affected by the discretionary spend from
Speaker 2: local Right. In Canberra, a lot of people don't really
Speaker 2: understand a lot about Camera. Most people would say, this
Speaker 2: guy's crazy. He's got a boat shop in Camera and
Speaker 2: there's no water.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 2: That's a fairly good assumption because there is no water
Speaker 2: and Lake Burley Griffin you can't even run an engine
Speaker 2: in it, you know. So so I understand when people
Speaker 2: say that to me, because I do get a lot
Speaker 2: of backlash on that.
Speaker 3: I'll say, why are you? You know? But obviously.
Speaker 2: A company like Yamaha wouldn't back us to open a
Speaker 2: dealership in Canberra if they didn't think that it was required.
Speaker 3: Right. So there's a lot of statistics.
Speaker 2: Most Canbarans spend a lot of time at the coast.
Speaker 2: So the whole South coast, so anywhere from you know,
Speaker 2: south of Woollongong, Coyama all the way to Eden gives
Speaker 2: me a massive blanketed area and a big demographic of
Speaker 2: people that fish, water, ski whatnot.
Speaker 3: And then we're.
Speaker 2: Surrounded by a lot of dams as well. Another question
Speaker 2: people would ask is well. Are you affected greatly by
Speaker 2: summer and winter? People think that a boat shop will
Speaker 2: be busier in spring and summer than during winter.
Speaker 3: Traditionally that's the opposite.
Speaker 2: A lot of the boat shows and a lot of
Speaker 2: the promotion goes on during winter. So even though I'm
Speaker 2: coming to work at four point thirty five in the morning,
Speaker 2: it's minus six, we're still up until now seeing a
Speaker 2: lot of.
Speaker 3: A lot of support across the whole year.
Speaker 2: Coming into Christmas is always busier because you've got deadlines
Speaker 2: and you've got to have boats finish for people going.
Speaker 3: Holidays and whatnot.
Speaker 2: But traditionally it was always pretty much across the board
Speaker 2: all year was the same sort of you know, the
Speaker 2: month is not a massive difference. In the present economy
Speaker 2: where we sit, we're coming into winter in Canberra, we've
Speaker 2: got a federal election.
Speaker 3: Interest rates are high.
Speaker 2: Even though they keep squawking about interest rate cuts, that
Speaker 2: doesn't change the fact that most people are struggling with
Speaker 2: costs of living, which includes paying their mortgages.
Speaker 3: And unfortunately we're the first ones that are hit.
Speaker 2: So if people are not spending money with traders, and
Speaker 2: trades are not spending money with us, and similar type businesses.
Speaker 3: Our revenue is cut to the hilt, so we have to.
Speaker 2: Concentrate a lot more on providing a better level of
Speaker 2: service to the customers that we do have, and that
Speaker 2: what we've spoken about with diversifying into different areas, we're
Speaker 2: hoping that that will create more revenue to get us
Speaker 2: through the tough times where you know, offshore boat sails,
Speaker 2: cutting edge design with the marine industry been a bit
Speaker 2: on the dead side, which is Australia wide, by the way,
Speaker 2: Like when I talk to all the other dealers, everyone's
Speaker 2: in the same position, so and there's no point crying about.
Speaker 3: It, you know, even though I'm sure that we all
Speaker 3: do it some stage.
Speaker 2: It's the reality is that people who are only going
Speaker 2: to buy something when they're ready to buy it, you
Speaker 2: can't make them go and spend money because at the
Speaker 2: moment the wife says no to the boat, no to
Speaker 2: the motorbike, no to you know, a weekend away with
Speaker 2: the boys or whatever it is, and it'll be people
Speaker 2: have just been a lot more careful with what they're
Speaker 2: doing so that they can, just as I said before, survive.
Speaker 3: I guess so at.
Speaker 2: The moment I would say that our businesses and our
Speaker 2: business and a lot of other businesses are all in
Speaker 2: survival mode.
Speaker 1: What challenges have you faced as a small business owner
Speaker 1: and how do they impact your business and how did
Speaker 1: you overcome them? Did they affect your family members, did
Speaker 1: they affect your relationships? How did you solve them?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think there's the list of items that are
Speaker 2: impacting everyone's business, including ours at the moment, will be
Speaker 2: very very similar. I just find at the moment that,
Speaker 2: especially with the reduction of revenue and sales due to
Speaker 2: discretionary spending and people been careful and people been over
Speaker 2: committed the government themselves, I don't think, especially if we
Speaker 2: talk state government, small businesses definitely not on top of
Speaker 2: their list.
Speaker 3: You know. I've been a member of the.
Speaker 2: Chamber of Commerce here for a number of years because
Speaker 2: it gives you the opportunity to be able to talk
Speaker 2: about these things with other people and find out what
Speaker 2: they're doing to try and help themselves. Their escalation of rent,
Speaker 2: the outgoings like things like rates in Canberra, the cost
Speaker 2: of doing businesses exponentially more expensive than just over the
Speaker 2: border in New South Wales and Queenbea. I've got plenty
Speaker 2: of friends that have picked their businesses up from inside
Speaker 2: the Act and taken it to New South Wales because
Speaker 2: there's massive differences in pricing when you look at vehicle registrations,
Speaker 2: stamp duties and taxes, workers compensation costs, insurance costs, which
Speaker 2: are major major parts of our business, you know, I
Speaker 2: mean we pay massive insurance. I think the outgoings on
Speaker 2: a rental commercial building these days, I mean in twenty
Speaker 2: eleven outgoings on our property, we're a couple of grand
Speaker 2: a year. In twenty twenty five our outgoings is twenty
Speaker 2: five thousand dollars a year plus rent, So that is
Speaker 2: just that that's a massive increase, the increases of rent
Speaker 2: as well coming out of COVID.
Speaker 3: I guess in the Act we weren't protected.
Speaker 2: No business was protected from rent in the Act, unlike
Speaker 2: New South Wales, where you know, the New South Wales
Speaker 2: government implemented certain criteria that people got rent assistance. You know,
Speaker 2: they might have only had to pay half or eighty percent,
Speaker 2: depending on their situation and how much revenue they are losing.
Speaker 2: So again that sort of really reiterates to me that
Speaker 2: you know, the Act government in power has not really
Speaker 2: implemented anything that's a small business.
Speaker 3: Support network. You know.
Speaker 2: In New South Wales, you know there is the New
Speaker 2: South Wales Small Business Party. Basically you've got a seat,
Speaker 2: you've got a representative in Parliament. Act has nothing, so
Speaker 2: you rely heavily on you know, business chambers and the
Speaker 2: like to stand up for what's happening.
Speaker 3: But you know, there's only so much you can do.
Speaker 3: So yeah, I've lost a little bit of track there,
Speaker 3: I suppose, but it is just.
Speaker 2: Astronomical how much the expenses have increased, you know what
Speaker 2: I mean for people that I don't employ a lot
Speaker 2: of staff, but you know a lot of my people
Speaker 2: are contractors. But you know, the extra superinnuation businesses have
Speaker 2: got to pay obviously, they've got to keep up with
Speaker 2: wage increases. And if the revenue is on the way
Speaker 2: down and the costs are on the way up, obviously
Speaker 2: that's leaving next to no profits for a lot of businesses.
Speaker 2: And as we discussed earlier, perhaps they're not even paying
Speaker 2: themselves a wage or whatnot, which I'm sure is fairly
Speaker 2: prevalent across the whole industry everywhere, you know, So yeah,
Speaker 2: I think that sort of gets most of it out there.
Speaker 3: One of the big things I feel is that.
Speaker 2: A lot of people are not They're not very positive
Speaker 2: at the moment. They might they might have come into
Speaker 2: a business with a positive attitude and a happy end.
Speaker 3: They want to win and they want to do this
Speaker 3: and they want.
Speaker 2: To build it, and then all of a sudden, perhaps
Speaker 2: the amount of effort people put in is not giving
Speaker 2: them that revenue and that financial gain. So people start
Speaker 2: to think, are they better off being in business or
Speaker 2: should they go back to being an employee for a company?
Speaker 3: I guess which then at least you're secure.
Speaker 2: You might not have all the the perks have been
Speaker 2: in business where you are free to.
Speaker 3: Do what you want to do. Even though you might
Speaker 3: do one hundred hours week more than the next person,
Speaker 3: you still feel free because you're running your own business. Yeah.
Speaker 2: So, I guess there's so many angles and parts of
Speaker 2: that that are making things difficult, But you know, it's.
Speaker 3: Across every level of every.
Speaker 2: Part of your business. At the moment, I think there's
Speaker 2: a lot of pressure from everywhere.
Speaker 1: How confident are you in the Australian Government's ability to
Speaker 1: support small businesses effectively? If you advise Australian Government on
Speaker 1: one action to take to better support small businesses. What
Speaker 1: would it.
Speaker 3: Be Definitely.
Speaker 2: My confidence level in the government to support small business
Speaker 2: on a state level on a scale of one to ten,
Speaker 2: they're minus ten. I after thirty five years in business
Speaker 2: in Canberra, I could honestly say to you that the
Speaker 2: government has never once provided anything of value to help
Speaker 2: me in business ever. And in saying that, there are
Speaker 2: some federal government bodies now in place, such as there
Speaker 2: I think they called so the Australian Small Business and
Speaker 2: Family Enterprise OMBARDSMAN, which when you ring them, they're normally
Speaker 2: in Victoria. They normally answer in Victoria. But it is
Speaker 2: a federal funded places. Now. I've coming out of COVID,
Speaker 2: you know, and we've had we've had some really close
Speaker 2: people to us, like a very close friend.
Speaker 3: Committed suicide around eighteen months ago, and.
Speaker 2: He was from the private sector. The amount of pressures
Speaker 2: that were put on him from all angles of life.
Speaker 2: Flick that switch right now, That's that's something that I
Speaker 2: would never begrudge. I have no comments on on on
Speaker 2: that side of it, but it just shows the amount
Speaker 2: of pressure and what's sort.
Speaker 3: Of happening in the economy and within.
Speaker 2: Australian business that that there you can allow people to
Speaker 2: get to that stage that that that becomes an overlying
Speaker 2: pressure that you think that you know there's no way out.
Speaker 2: Those guys from the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise amberdsmen,
Speaker 2: I must say.
Speaker 3: Even though they're not really a government.
Speaker 2: Agency, they are excellent and if if anyone wants to
Speaker 2: ring them and talk to them about business or about
Speaker 2: they might be getting pressure from in a franchise agreement,
Speaker 2: all they need help with legal questions or whatever, I
Speaker 2: would say that they're about the only company I've found
Speaker 2: that is worth a phone call to so and that's
Speaker 2: only through research of my own. There is an office
Speaker 2: here in Canberra, but I've rang them before and I've
Speaker 2: seen that that that's they're federal anyway. So I really
Speaker 2: think that offering government grants and free loans, and I
Speaker 2: know all these items have been discussed by other people
Speaker 2: on the podcast over the last six weeks, I don't
Speaker 2: think that they're going to help anyone. I think that
Speaker 2: that type of help is nothing but a band aid.
Speaker 2: If your business is in a situation where you owe
Speaker 2: money and you think that by borrowing money from the
Speaker 2: government's going to get you out of that hole.
Speaker 3: That's not going to change it.
Speaker 2: What people need is the support, someone to ring, someone
Speaker 2: to talk to. I know that Mark's touched on it
Speaker 2: many times about mental health and all that, and that's
Speaker 2: that just goes along with the whole pressure of running business.
Speaker 3: It's a tough game. There's no you know, there's no
Speaker 3: there's no.
Speaker 2: Ifs or butts. It's just hard, you know. And at
Speaker 2: the moment it's the hardest it's been. And if people
Speaker 2: you just got to hang in there. I mean, my
Speaker 2: level of confidence in business and the government is the
Speaker 2: lowest it's ever been.
Speaker 3: In thirty five years.
Speaker 2: On a federal level, we're now waiting for a election.
Speaker 2: My confidence in the current federal Parliament that's pretty much zero.
Speaker 2: I'd love to see a change intact from any government,
Speaker 2: it doesn't matter if it's.
Speaker 3: Labor, Liberal or whoever.
Speaker 2: Whoever's in power needs to provide more support to all
Speaker 2: business because business is the crux of the Australian community.
Speaker 2: Without business and without all the people that we employ,
Speaker 2: the country can't sort of it can't work, you know,
Speaker 2: like it just it's not going to work. We don't
Speaker 2: rely And I'm based in Canberra and Camera still it
Speaker 2: doesn't operate on public servants. Yes, there's a lot of
Speaker 2: government here, there's a lot of defense, there's a lot
Speaker 2: of all of those public service sectors. But without the
Speaker 2: building industry and small business and your local mechanics and
Speaker 2: your service stations and your coffee shops and your hospitality
Speaker 2: and your pubs and your clubs and all that, well,
Speaker 2: a town doesn't exist.
Speaker 3: So you know, yeah, we just need more.
Speaker 2: More support as far as by being able to generate spending.
Speaker 3: To save people money. And I'm not running for parliament
Speaker 3: were but you.
Speaker 2: Know, at the end of the day, people are only
Speaker 2: going to be able to spend money if some of
Speaker 2: the pressures of course of living.
Speaker 3: Are reduced, you know.
Speaker 2: And you know we can't we can't make interest rates
Speaker 2: go down.
Speaker 3: We can't we can't make inflation go down.
Speaker 2: But you know, whoever's in power is going to have
Speaker 2: to seriously look at how we get people spending money
Speaker 2: in small businesses again so that everyone can be profitable.
Speaker 1: Where can people find you and your business?
Speaker 3: Let us know to find us.
Speaker 2: As soon as you type in anything about boats, we're
Speaker 2: going to come up in Canberra.
Speaker 3: Whether it be Instagram.
Speaker 2: Or Facebook or the sites if people want to find us,
Speaker 2: will pop up under Offshore Boat Sales, will pop up
Speaker 2: under Cutting Edge Marine, will pop up under Cutting Edge
Speaker 2: Designed by Jason very soon, or pop up under Cutting
Speaker 2: Edge Business Solutions, which will be another company name that
Speaker 2: we'll run with so that people can see what we do.
Speaker 2: People jump online and they jump on the Yamaha out
Speaker 2: Board Australia site. We're going to pop up on there.
Speaker 2: You know, they look up garment dealers for a garment electronics.
Speaker 2: We're going to pop up on there. If people want
Speaker 2: to find us, they'll find us pretty easily. All phone
Speaker 2: numbers basically come direct to me. You know, my secretary
Speaker 2: and myself are always accessible on the phone.
Speaker 3: Generally.
Speaker 2: If I don't answer, even if it's a Saturday or Sunday,
Speaker 2: I'll tell all people just to send me a text. Mainly,
Speaker 2: the reason for that is it if someone's in a boat,
Speaker 2: they might be a bit stressed out, they might be
Speaker 2: having a problem, they can't start their boat, they're at
Speaker 2: the boat ramp and they forgot to turn the kill
Speaker 2: switch off, you know, so or on. So I'm happy
Speaker 2: to not always in you're in the phone, if you're
Speaker 2: still asleep or you're in bed, but you know, I'm
Speaker 2: happy to text someone and hopefully try and help them
Speaker 2: out wherever they are.
Speaker 3: And yeah, we just want.
Speaker 2: To really promote the local business in Canberra and surrounds,
Speaker 2: which includes a lot of regional New South Wales around Canbra.
Speaker 2: What we're trying to do is help everyone in business
Speaker 2: in this area help one another. And I guess that's
Speaker 2: why I'm so in favor of things like the shout
Speaker 2: Out and listening to podcasts with Mark and similar other
Speaker 2: podcasts so that people have, you know, just got someone
Speaker 2: else to listen to and not take all those problems
Speaker 2: home because your wife doesn't always
Speaker 3: Want to listens to do