WEBVTT - "They're doing nothing..." - Small Business Callout: 'Lloyds Constructions' by Anthony Lloyd 0:00:00.480 --> 0:00:03.600 Small businesses now. They are the backbone of our country 0:00:04.000 --> 0:00:07.560 and I know firsthand how tough it is, long hours, 0:00:07.680 --> 0:00:11.920 constant hurdles, and too often feeling like you're in it alone. 0:00:12.160 --> 0:00:14.600 And what I keep hearing from you is that small 0:00:14.640 --> 0:00:18.600 business owners don't feel heard. My team and I are 0:00:18.600 --> 0:00:22.480 paying close attention to our small business community and the 0:00:22.480 --> 0:00:25.840 feedback that comes to us through the Mental podcast. Now, 0:00:25.880 --> 0:00:29.080 one thing is clear. You want to hear from more 0:00:29.280 --> 0:00:33.160 businesses beyond Sydney, from across the country, and especially those 0:00:33.280 --> 0:00:36.239 that are doing it tough. That's why my team and 0:00:36.440 --> 0:00:39.560 I are launching the Small Business call Out. The Small 0:00:39.600 --> 0:00:42.040 Business call Out, which will be under the Mentor channel, 0:00:42.280 --> 0:00:45.000 will talk to business owners all over the country every 0:00:45.080 --> 0:00:47.800 single week, no matter where you are. We want to 0:00:47.840 --> 0:00:51.320 hear from you. What's working, what's not working, What do 0:00:51.320 --> 0:00:54.240 you need from the government to actually succeed? What are 0:00:54.280 --> 0:00:56.840 the things can you enlighten us about what it's like 0:00:57.200 --> 0:01:00.240 being in the small business community. This is yours chands 0:01:00.320 --> 0:01:02.880 to make your voice count. We want to hear from 0:01:02.920 --> 0:01:06.759 all industries, from those struggling, from those who feel overlooked, 0:01:07.120 --> 0:01:09.040 or those who have something to say but haven't had 0:01:09.040 --> 0:01:11.520 the platform to say it. I'm going to continue hosting 0:01:11.520 --> 0:01:14.479 the Mental podcast, but the Small Business call Out will 0:01:14.520 --> 0:01:18.200 be uploaded between episodes. So let's get into this week's 0:01:18.280 --> 0:01:32.280 edition of the new Small Business call Out. What is 0:01:32.280 --> 0:01:35.120 the name of your business and in simple terms, what 0:01:35.240 --> 0:01:36.319 does your business do? 0:01:36.880 --> 0:01:41.400 Yep, my name is Anthony Lloyd and our business is 0:01:41.480 --> 0:01:45.759 Lloyd's Building a construction we are we're subcontractors, so we 0:01:45.920 --> 0:01:52.520 specialize in commercial carpentry fit outs and we basically contract 0:01:52.520 --> 0:01:57.520 to the head contractors doing the carpentry components, which is 0:01:58.760 --> 0:02:03.680 just based off based off tendering for the project, putting 0:02:03.680 --> 0:02:06.520 it out bit submission and then you were successful. We 0:02:06.640 --> 0:02:13.840 end updooring commercial office fit out, schools, various various elements. 0:02:13.400 --> 0:02:14.920 In that commercial sector. 0:02:15.320 --> 0:02:20.520 And I'm the managing director along with my wife as 0:02:20.960 --> 0:02:23.720 she's not a director, but she's in charge as well. 0:02:24.000 --> 0:02:25.359 So as a family. 0:02:25.080 --> 0:02:27.840 Run business, where was your business founded and where is 0:02:27.840 --> 0:02:28.520 it located? 0:02:29.400 --> 0:02:30.120 Found in Camera? 0:02:30.240 --> 0:02:32.120 So I should state that as well, where a camera 0:02:32.160 --> 0:02:41.000 based family company started that in twenty twelve. Yeah, I 0:02:41.040 --> 0:02:43.200 can give you a bit more background if you want to. Yeah, 0:02:43.240 --> 0:02:47.840 it's still located in Camera. It's probably been twenty twelve. 0:02:47.840 --> 0:02:50.280 So would you say fourteen fifteen, sort of years now 0:02:50.400 --> 0:02:54.840 we've been doing it. I started off in my carpentry apprenticeship, 0:02:56.600 --> 0:03:01.120 did then decided to do a bit of work as 0:03:01.120 --> 0:03:04.800 a subcontractor, and then decided to go and start my 0:03:04.840 --> 0:03:10.080 own business, probably in twenty twelve. And so I started 0:03:10.080 --> 0:03:13.600 that and started with me on the tools with one 0:03:13.639 --> 0:03:16.680 other person give me a hand, and sort of built 0:03:16.760 --> 0:03:17.840 it up from that. 0:03:18.919 --> 0:03:20.040 Just hard work. 0:03:20.080 --> 0:03:22.200 And I'm off the tools now our project manage and 0:03:22.639 --> 0:03:23.880 in the office full time. 0:03:24.000 --> 0:03:27.120 So and what inspired you to start your business? 0:03:28.120 --> 0:03:31.800 Basically it all started Originally I was with my grandfather 0:03:31.880 --> 0:03:35.960 that said he like construction, so, you know, stupidly, I'm like, yeah, 0:03:36.000 --> 0:03:38.040 that's a great idea. I wanted to be a fighter pilot, 0:03:38.080 --> 0:03:40.600 but that ended up being a bit hard. 0:03:41.040 --> 0:03:42.680 So he was kind of my inspiration. 0:03:42.880 --> 0:03:46.840 And then I was always always liked men hands on 0:03:47.160 --> 0:03:50.360 and seeing what I produce, and like, you know, it's 0:03:50.760 --> 0:03:53.640 a pretty cool thing. So that's what inspired me to 0:03:53.760 --> 0:04:00.720 do subcontracting. I guess, I guess I'm just just sort 0:04:00.720 --> 0:04:02.680 of I'm not afraid of hard work. I just like 0:04:02.760 --> 0:04:07.640 to get in and work, So you know, it's at 0:04:07.640 --> 0:04:10.240 the time I wouldn't if I forecasted it I was 0:04:10.480 --> 0:04:14.120 doing this. I don't think that's what my plan was, but. 0:04:14.200 --> 0:04:15.040 Yeah, so we did. 0:04:15.240 --> 0:04:18.880 I started doing housing, residential housing, frames, trustes and that, 0:04:18.960 --> 0:04:22.640 and then just ended up going into more commercial just 0:04:23.240 --> 0:04:27.080 camera based. There's a lot of commercial office use and 0:04:27.920 --> 0:04:30.560 sort of found a niche for that. And I said, 0:04:30.560 --> 0:04:35.000 I hated commercial carpentry, but I'm still doing it. Say 0:04:35.560 --> 0:04:39.400 there's it's good, good money in it's hard work, but 0:04:39.560 --> 0:04:42.520 it's yeah, it definitely pays a bill. 0:04:42.680 --> 0:04:45.160 So how is your business doing right now? 0:04:45.480 --> 0:04:47.960 I'll give you a bit of an array. It's quite interesting. 0:04:48.000 --> 0:04:50.440 There's a bit of a bit of a background to us, 0:04:50.520 --> 0:04:54.560 so we got caught up. So the business now, so 0:04:54.839 --> 0:05:00.440 circumstances now, it's it's quite hard at the moment. I'll 0:05:00.440 --> 0:05:02.120 give you a bit of a little bit of a 0:05:02.160 --> 0:05:05.159 brief on where we are now and then how it's 0:05:05.200 --> 0:05:07.080 been the past two years leading up to where we 0:05:07.080 --> 0:05:09.680 are now. We're probably in the best position we are 0:05:09.760 --> 0:05:15.440 now for you know, since COVID we've finally got some 0:05:15.520 --> 0:05:19.720 sustainable work. But still, you know, they only lasted a 0:05:19.760 --> 0:05:23.440 couple of months where waiting for this selection to get called. 0:05:23.480 --> 0:05:24.640 Because we find a lot of. 0:05:24.600 --> 0:05:28.880 The decisions around work based on what we do is 0:05:29.040 --> 0:05:33.200 sort of getting put on hold and decisions aren't being made. 0:05:33.279 --> 0:05:36.159 So camera market at the moment is probably the quietest 0:05:36.200 --> 0:05:38.200 it's ever been, to be perfectly honest with you, It's 0:05:38.520 --> 0:05:43.240 usually quite consistently busy with the commercial, but everyone's struggling 0:05:43.320 --> 0:05:45.200 a bit at the moment and just sort of it's 0:05:45.400 --> 0:05:47.960 kind of I guess for us as a business, I'm 0:05:47.960 --> 0:05:50.320 having to work harder to keep the work in front 0:05:50.320 --> 0:05:53.039 of the boys. I call it chasing a biscuit. It's 0:05:53.160 --> 0:05:58.000 like you know that this is always chasing work, chasing work, 0:05:58.040 --> 0:06:00.760 and it's mentally training. So that's where at the moment, 0:06:00.839 --> 0:06:03.680 like as I said, it's still good. But as a 0:06:03.800 --> 0:06:07.240 business now, if you're not prepared putting the extra work, 0:06:08.040 --> 0:06:13.200 it's you're going to get yourself undone. So I guess 0:06:13.279 --> 0:06:15.760 leading up to sort of where we are now, we've 0:06:16.480 --> 0:06:18.360 obviously it was off the back of COVID trying to 0:06:18.400 --> 0:06:22.680 run a business. We got caught up by three builders 0:06:22.680 --> 0:06:28.200 going into administration. So we got caught up getting basically 0:06:28.240 --> 0:06:30.680 not paid FO one hundred and forty thousand dollars. So 0:06:31.480 --> 0:06:35.479 that was the past probably over the past two years 0:06:35.520 --> 0:06:40.480 so the past two years have basically been passed down, 0:06:40.560 --> 0:06:43.200 bum up, and just work your ass off to basically 0:06:43.200 --> 0:06:46.120 dig out of a whole someone else has created for us. 0:06:46.160 --> 0:06:48.960 So that's been a hard thing to stomach, to be 0:06:48.960 --> 0:06:53.520 honest with you, But at the end of the day, 0:06:53.880 --> 0:06:55.640 no one's actually going to get you out of it 0:06:55.760 --> 0:07:00.640 except for yourself. So yeah, I've managed tome luck in 0:07:00.680 --> 0:07:03.200 a privileged position to get over that hurdle. 0:07:04.760 --> 0:07:05.719 And now we're. 0:07:05.640 --> 0:07:09.440 Kind of and that's also due to me having the 0:07:09.480 --> 0:07:12.160 business for fourteen fifteen years, Like it's kind of not 0:07:12.240 --> 0:07:15.640 fair that I've built it up since then. I've had 0:07:15.640 --> 0:07:17.440 to take a bit of a hip of that hard work. 0:07:18.160 --> 0:07:19.720 You know, that's the only thing that's kind of got 0:07:19.760 --> 0:07:23.120 me through. So that's yeah, that's sort of kind of 0:07:23.120 --> 0:07:25.640 where we're up to now with work in sort of things. 0:07:25.680 --> 0:07:31.600 So just trying to basically, you know, wake up and 0:07:31.760 --> 0:07:33.560 generally was sort of like, well, I'm just going to 0:07:33.560 --> 0:07:36.240 make twenty twenty five, like my bitch, just have a 0:07:36.280 --> 0:07:39.480 good crack at it. So yeah, it's kind of where're 0:07:39.520 --> 0:07:42.080 up to at the moment. You know, I've got not 0:07:42.200 --> 0:07:44.440 that it's a thing. I've got it, you know, adhd 0:07:44.480 --> 0:07:46.760 as well as a business owner. So I've got you know, 0:07:46.840 --> 0:07:50.040 that gives me my superpower to drive. But yeah, it's 0:07:50.240 --> 0:07:53.840 it's pretty much no sugarcoating it. It's just like twenty 0:07:53.920 --> 0:07:56.400 twenty five, it's been a hard couple of years. Just 0:07:56.600 --> 0:07:58.920 you know, get out and just as I said, make 0:07:58.960 --> 0:08:01.080 it my bitch. That's just but you could put it 0:08:01.120 --> 0:08:07.080 in a better, better terminology. It's a tradesman. It's a 0:08:07.120 --> 0:08:09.720 tradesman sort of just keeping it real sort of thing. 0:08:09.840 --> 0:08:13.559 So yeah, what challenges have you faced as a small 0:08:13.600 --> 0:08:16.360 business owner and how do they impact your business and 0:08:16.440 --> 0:08:19.600 how did you overcome them? Did they affect your family members, 0:08:19.760 --> 0:08:23.200 did they affect your relationships? How did you solve them? 0:08:23.360 --> 0:08:24.680 So I guess. 0:08:26.200 --> 0:08:29.840 Challenges are and we've been doing a bit of advictousy 0:08:29.840 --> 0:08:31.280 stuff myself, mainly my wife. 0:08:31.320 --> 0:08:32.679 She's very inspirational. 0:08:33.840 --> 0:08:37.200 So challenges, the main challenges where you found was sort 0:08:37.200 --> 0:08:40.559 of started all back with COVID, just with. 0:08:43.080 --> 0:08:46.440 Just with all the work and elements like that. It 0:08:46.520 --> 0:08:50.959 was I'll go back to that, so I think I'm 0:08:51.000 --> 0:08:51.760 thinking in my head. 0:08:52.000 --> 0:08:54.360 So yeah, so we found COVID just trying to keep 0:08:54.360 --> 0:08:56.959 everyone employed and the arm. 0:08:58.360 --> 0:09:02.680 Try to put notifications on, so we had COVID. 0:09:03.000 --> 0:09:05.800 Trying to keep people employed during that process and just 0:09:05.840 --> 0:09:08.840 trying to keep the work up to it was quite challenging, 0:09:08.880 --> 0:09:11.960 and we kept all of our staff employeed just due 0:09:11.960 --> 0:09:13.440 to the fact that it was hard for everyone at 0:09:13.440 --> 0:09:17.720 that time challenges out of that, we thought, yelp, the 0:09:17.760 --> 0:09:20.640 COVID is done. And I don't like talking about COVID 0:09:20.640 --> 0:09:24.040 because it's been and done thing, but it's it had 0:09:24.040 --> 0:09:26.640 an effect on the businesses a lot of them just 0:09:26.679 --> 0:09:30.040 with cash flow, that free cash that you had before 0:09:30.120 --> 0:09:32.320 that period of time you've kind of spent getting through 0:09:32.360 --> 0:09:36.840 the COVID period, so you know, the residual cash and 0:09:36.880 --> 0:09:40.920 you know the I say cash bank balance that you had, 0:09:40.960 --> 0:09:42.959 you kind of was chewing through that to try. 0:09:42.800 --> 0:09:44.360 And just get through the other side. 0:09:44.760 --> 0:09:47.480 So you get through that, and then you know your 0:09:47.559 --> 0:09:50.040 near as challenges. Our interest rates rise than which is 0:09:50.040 --> 0:09:53.160 a which is a thing for everyone as a challenge personally, 0:09:53.200 --> 0:09:56.600 but as a business owner as well, you know, it 0:09:56.640 --> 0:09:59.920 affects us because you know people aren't We're not so 0:10:01.080 --> 0:10:03.760 direct to clients, but you know, even the government stops 0:10:03.760 --> 0:10:06.680 spending money like small little office fit outs and little 0:10:06.960 --> 0:10:10.360 alterations that they used to do. You know, they've stopped 0:10:10.360 --> 0:10:13.800 spending money on that type of things here, I guess. 0:10:13.800 --> 0:10:15.640 And other challenges are and you know a lot of 0:10:15.640 --> 0:10:19.439 people work from home now, so it's shifted. So government 0:10:19.559 --> 0:10:22.199 office fit outs used to be consistently doing fit outs 0:10:22.240 --> 0:10:26.920 and remodifying the surroundings and offices and that sort of thing. 0:10:26.960 --> 0:10:30.640 That's sort of you know, had a limitation as well. Challenges. 0:10:30.679 --> 0:10:34.240 The biggest thing in the construction industries are basically the 0:10:34.280 --> 0:10:39.160 materials have gone up massive, massive amount. Luck it's jip 0:10:39.240 --> 0:10:43.040 rocks doubled in price. You know, for example, like plasterboard 0:10:43.200 --> 0:10:44.079 you've put in your house. 0:10:44.160 --> 0:10:45.800 You know, you've got. 0:10:45.720 --> 0:10:50.319 All your supplies. The main big supplies are still increasing 0:10:51.240 --> 0:10:55.600 as of now, and even with inflation, and it's sort 0:10:55.640 --> 0:10:59.080 of struggling to see how they can increase it. So 0:10:59.200 --> 0:11:03.280 much like this consumer wise, it's just it's ridiculous. So 0:11:03.840 --> 0:11:08.280 as a business owner, you've also got labor's fluctuating as well, 0:11:08.280 --> 0:11:10.080 with the price of leaving is going up as well, 0:11:10.840 --> 0:11:13.680 and people just think that as a business owner you 0:11:13.720 --> 0:11:14.559 just put your ais up. 0:11:14.960 --> 0:11:15.960 It doesn't work that way. 0:11:16.960 --> 0:11:21.960 Kind of business owners now, I would say running on 0:11:23.040 --> 0:11:26.440 tighter margins than they were before, So the margins are 0:11:27.240 --> 0:11:30.520 NEETs to nowhere near what the margins haven't changed since 0:11:30.559 --> 0:11:34.200 COVID basically, and since inflation, Like you know, they've gone 0:11:34.240 --> 0:11:35.880 up a little bit in terms of materials. 0:11:35.920 --> 0:11:38.840 But because it's so competitive with the. 0:11:38.760 --> 0:11:42.520 Inflation and all the things that's happening in the world, 0:11:42.679 --> 0:11:47.840 it's it's really if I want to put my prices up, 0:11:48.280 --> 0:11:50.000 I won't win as much work. But then you need 0:11:50.040 --> 0:11:53.400 to win work to keep people employeed. So I find 0:11:53.440 --> 0:11:56.120 a lot of businesses as well, and people going into 0:11:56.160 --> 0:11:58.240 you And this might not be one hundred scent crept, 0:11:58.240 --> 0:12:01.360 but there I feel like people there'll be more business 0:12:01.480 --> 0:12:04.880 going into administration, and that because you don't have the 0:12:04.960 --> 0:12:07.280 time and effort to put into your business at the moment, 0:12:09.559 --> 0:12:13.160 it kind of that's where you get undone. So before 0:12:13.240 --> 0:12:15.480 you could have been a bit lazier and have a 0:12:15.559 --> 0:12:17.800 blowout with some materials and you know it'd be all 0:12:17.840 --> 0:12:20.360 right covered here and there. But because because you've got 0:12:20.400 --> 0:12:25.000 so many different challenges that you're having to deal with, 0:12:26.600 --> 0:12:29.040 it takes a lot more of my time now to 0:12:29.120 --> 0:12:31.360 run a business. And you go, well, that's your decision, 0:12:31.440 --> 0:12:33.920 Yes it is, But some of the things that you're 0:12:33.960 --> 0:12:36.400 having to you know, it's just a simple things like 0:12:36.520 --> 0:12:39.199 checking your materials that don't blow out, checking your labor 0:12:39.280 --> 0:12:41.680 costs because you're trying to operate on a less of 0:12:41.679 --> 0:12:44.199 a margin. So you know, you put all of that 0:12:44.280 --> 0:12:47.880 into into play and you know that's your day done. 0:12:47.920 --> 0:12:51.880 Twil The thing, how confident are you in Australian government's 0:12:51.920 --> 0:12:55.080 ability to support small businesses effectively? 0:12:56.160 --> 0:13:00.400 That is a great question. That's a stark question, stick 0:13:00.480 --> 0:13:03.480 question for me. At the moment, I could confidently tale 0:13:03.520 --> 0:13:06.000 you and I'm just going to be perfectly honest, they're 0:13:06.040 --> 0:13:06.560 doing nothing. 0:13:07.000 --> 0:13:09.120 There are I don't know. 0:13:09.080 --> 0:13:13.920 The statistics as such, but the small businesses in Australia 0:13:13.920 --> 0:13:18.400 are quite a massive amount of the revenue for the 0:13:18.400 --> 0:13:21.720 government and there's no support. 0:13:21.760 --> 0:13:22.400 Like it's. 0:13:24.240 --> 0:13:26.760 What would you say, like, why don't they support us? 0:13:26.760 --> 0:13:29.880 It's just you know, I lost that as an example, 0:13:29.920 --> 0:13:37.600 I lost that money and there's literally no one, no systems, know, 0:13:37.760 --> 0:13:43.720 nothing to help me at all. Like literally I could 0:13:43.720 --> 0:13:45.880 have lost my house, I could have lost everything, just 0:13:46.480 --> 0:13:46.720 you know. 0:13:46.840 --> 0:13:49.480 For the for I was just lucky. 0:13:49.480 --> 0:13:51.120 I was in the position that I've worked hard and 0:13:51.160 --> 0:13:53.559 I had to take some equity out of my home 0:13:53.600 --> 0:13:56.800 to pay back the tax office for instance, like even 0:13:57.440 --> 0:14:01.720 even like the I guess the tax office like stuff 0:14:01.840 --> 0:14:03.800 like that. We found with them, they're getting stricter and 0:14:03.800 --> 0:14:08.200 stricter and getting back. You know, if you say, as 0:14:08.200 --> 0:14:10.360 a company you haven't had a tax debt over the years, 0:14:10.400 --> 0:14:14.040 you're lying because during COVID everyone was putting on payment 0:14:14.120 --> 0:14:17.040 terms and stuff with it with the ATO. So the ATA, 0:14:17.200 --> 0:14:20.360 I guess they are government based. You know, the government 0:14:20.360 --> 0:14:24.560 could be talking to the AhR of somewhat assisting with 0:14:24.640 --> 0:14:27.680 that because they're quick to tax you on it and 0:14:27.720 --> 0:14:30.560 take your money off of you. But then the circumstances 0:14:30.560 --> 0:14:32.080 are we didn't get paid for one hundred and forty 0:14:32.120 --> 0:14:33.360 grand I still had to pay all. 0:14:33.320 --> 0:14:37.080 My tax based on the job that we did. 0:14:37.480 --> 0:14:39.080 But I didn't get paid it, and I still had 0:14:39.120 --> 0:14:42.040 to technically pay that, and it hurt. 0:14:43.080 --> 0:14:43.920 We had a tax debt. 0:14:44.360 --> 0:14:48.600 We had to pay basically down a lot of money 0:14:50.080 --> 0:14:53.760 for the banks to remortgage to restructure my house because 0:14:53.760 --> 0:14:54.760 I had an ATO debt. 0:14:54.800 --> 0:14:57.080 So that's a big thing for businesses. 0:14:57.440 --> 0:14:59.920 I guess that's what governments could do is look at, 0:15:00.440 --> 0:15:03.080 you know, the taxing of the businesses. I know, they're like, 0:15:04.160 --> 0:15:08.560 because of what's happened, they're coming after small businesses now 0:15:09.040 --> 0:15:11.560 more than ever that owe money to the tax office 0:15:12.600 --> 0:15:15.360 and those putting some people. Yet you've got to pay tax, 0:15:15.360 --> 0:15:18.360 as simple as that. But there's circumstances like ours that 0:15:19.560 --> 0:15:22.160 you know, there could be a bit more accommodating. But 0:15:22.760 --> 0:15:24.760 like I said that, the tax office and stuff is 0:15:24.760 --> 0:15:28.520 like they're like robots. It's just like there's no there's 0:15:28.560 --> 0:15:32.560 no there's too many. Like everything's like straight one eighty. 0:15:32.640 --> 0:15:34.600 But then once you look at the whole, be a 0:15:34.720 --> 0:15:37.320 picture of what's happening in the world. People are doing 0:15:37.400 --> 0:15:40.440 wrong things left right and center, and you know, it's 0:15:40.480 --> 0:15:42.880 sort of yeah, I feel like the governments could be 0:15:42.880 --> 0:15:45.240 doing a lot more to support small businesses, even like 0:15:45.920 --> 0:15:47.800 even through the tough times like now, like. 0:15:49.360 --> 0:15:50.120 It just seems no. 0:15:50.880 --> 0:15:54.280 Like we've been trying to work with them and stuff, 0:15:54.320 --> 0:15:58.200 like even our local like federal governments be really good. 0:15:58.320 --> 0:16:01.960 Working a bit with my wife, the Act government. I'll 0:16:01.960 --> 0:16:06.240 tell you what they do not give two you know 0:16:07.080 --> 0:16:08.920 two f's about. 0:16:10.760 --> 0:16:11.080 Us. 0:16:11.800 --> 0:16:14.560 We've tried to reach out to them, they're not interested. 0:16:17.360 --> 0:16:19.560 They could be doing a lot more to support businesses 0:16:19.600 --> 0:16:23.000 as well, like I think businesses in general, like the 0:16:23.000 --> 0:16:26.680 Australian dream is to work, wake up, own a business, 0:16:26.760 --> 0:16:29.560 make good money, fend for your family. It's like should 0:16:29.560 --> 0:16:32.080 be the Australian dream that you get paid to have 0:16:32.200 --> 0:16:33.640 a business and the hard work. 0:16:33.680 --> 0:16:35.120 But there's just there's no support. 0:16:35.200 --> 0:16:37.920 Like literally, we're the only support we had was with 0:16:37.960 --> 0:16:40.800 that little COVID incentive money for a business, you know. 0:16:42.080 --> 0:16:44.160 That's all. That's all we've had. There's been no. 0:16:46.400 --> 0:16:49.000 Just yeah, I guarantee if you speak to every business 0:16:49.080 --> 0:16:51.320 owner in Australia, I can tell you right now that 0:16:51.360 --> 0:16:53.560 they're they're hurting and they're sort of feeling the same 0:16:53.600 --> 0:16:54.520 thing about the government. 0:16:54.680 --> 0:16:59.520 It's just yeah, if you could advise Australian government on 0:16:59.520 --> 0:17:03.280 one acur to take to better support small businesses, what 0:17:03.520 --> 0:17:04.240 would it be. 0:17:05.960 --> 0:17:08.879 I'd be suggesting, like, you know, a bit of tax relief, 0:17:09.080 --> 0:17:14.919 you know, in terms of that, Like it's it's looking 0:17:14.960 --> 0:17:19.560 at some businesses, like some people do the wrong So 0:17:19.600 --> 0:17:21.280 it's like looking at the people that are doing the 0:17:21.320 --> 0:17:24.960 right thing and working with them rather than you tightening 0:17:24.960 --> 0:17:29.960 it up and making it a harder situation. It's even like, 0:17:30.880 --> 0:17:32.840 you know, the government has nothing to do with inflation 0:17:32.960 --> 0:17:33.720 or anything like that. 0:17:33.880 --> 0:17:36.359 But it's that they say they don't. 0:17:36.359 --> 0:17:39.280 They say it's the main bank that they've guaranteed you 0:17:39.400 --> 0:17:43.840 right now, they've got, they've got they're involved in that somehow. 0:17:44.720 --> 0:17:49.560 You know. It's just just other things like even like 0:17:49.840 --> 0:17:52.960 just the economy and stuff like that. Just at the moment, 0:17:53.000 --> 0:17:58.719 there's no influx. There's no like, there's no influx in 0:17:58.800 --> 0:18:01.520 terms of like the work. They could be sort of 0:18:01.720 --> 0:18:03.960 putting out a bit more work, spending a bit more. 0:18:04.280 --> 0:18:06.320 They seem to not be spending any money either. Like 0:18:06.359 --> 0:18:08.639 it's just with this election, it just seems everything is 0:18:08.640 --> 0:18:12.040 so stagnant, so like for the construction industry and things 0:18:12.040 --> 0:18:14.840 to start booming again, I feel like that they could 0:18:14.880 --> 0:18:17.159 be or sort of not sitting on their hands and 0:18:17.200 --> 0:18:19.440 sort of releasing money on the projects and getting through 0:18:19.480 --> 0:18:23.200 the projects to stimulate the economy again. Because at the moment, 0:18:23.240 --> 0:18:26.920 everyone's sort of construction wise. You speak to everyone, they're 0:18:26.920 --> 0:18:29.120 not that busy. So to help us out it would 0:18:29.119 --> 0:18:33.160 be to you know, they're in a deficet I understand, 0:18:33.200 --> 0:18:37.320 but they've put themselves in that situation. But the biggest 0:18:37.320 --> 0:18:39.960 thing is the construction industry. I guess in general, is 0:18:39.960 --> 0:18:42.640 the biggest thing. So you get busy with construction. People 0:18:42.640 --> 0:18:45.119 are making money in construction, and they start spending money 0:18:45.640 --> 0:18:48.119 in terms of retail, and they start spending money at 0:18:48.160 --> 0:18:51.320 cafes because across the board even cafe shops and stuff. 0:18:51.400 --> 0:18:53.920 Now you can notice that they're not as busy because 0:18:53.960 --> 0:18:57.560 people don't have the money to spend it. And I 0:18:57.560 --> 0:19:00.080 guess that's all to do with inflation. But once again, 0:19:00.160 --> 0:19:04.000 the government's got you know, it's a I think listening 0:19:04.040 --> 0:19:07.800 to something, the major banks have a stronghold on everyone. 0:19:08.160 --> 0:19:10.720 I think mister Barrus that as well. He was quite 0:19:10.800 --> 0:19:13.600 you know there that they dictate to the government. You know, 0:19:13.760 --> 0:19:16.240 so it's like, wasn't the government take a bit of 0:19:16.280 --> 0:19:19.400 their own terms back and sort of start putting things 0:19:19.400 --> 0:19:22.760 in place to you know, like another thing too, is 0:19:22.800 --> 0:19:26.119 I guess to help business as well. We exit I 0:19:26.160 --> 0:19:28.040 don't know exactly, but we export a lot of stuff 0:19:28.080 --> 0:19:31.800 overseas and that sort of thing, like you know for 0:19:32.560 --> 0:19:35.800 businesses itself and Australia and STUFFI is like, what are 0:19:35.800 --> 0:19:39.439 they doing to bring more back into like manufacturing in 0:19:39.440 --> 0:19:42.760 Australia and everything like that. And I understand that probably 0:19:42.800 --> 0:19:45.600 circumstances that we don't manufacture a lot of it is 0:19:45.600 --> 0:19:48.800 because our labor labor rates a lot higher and there's 0:19:48.800 --> 0:19:53.720 a lot more cost to do any internal manufacturing. But 0:19:53.800 --> 0:19:56.120 once again that that can be the government. Why can't 0:19:56.160 --> 0:19:59.240 the government be sort of putting in schemes or you know, 0:20:00.720 --> 0:20:03.719 waiving some tax incentives or something like that to be 0:20:04.400 --> 0:20:09.040 you know, start smaller businesses to be manufacturing again in Australia, 0:20:09.160 --> 0:20:11.560 producing your own thing, like we live. We pay so 0:20:11.640 --> 0:20:13.879 much for everything. It's ridiculous because we get it all 0:20:13.960 --> 0:20:18.760 from everywhere else because where you know, I still reckon 0:20:18.800 --> 0:20:22.640 for Australia going forward and stuff like that. Manufacturing and 0:20:23.840 --> 0:20:26.240 doing all of that something that the government needs to 0:20:26.240 --> 0:20:30.080 focus on as well, which gives more jobs, even the 0:20:30.119 --> 0:20:34.840 construction industry, Like what could they do to help us? 0:20:34.040 --> 0:20:37.600 The the reason why everything costs so much is because 0:20:37.600 --> 0:20:40.280 there's limits and tradesmen like the trades when are going 0:20:40.320 --> 0:20:42.760 to be the million dollar trades. Eventually there is not 0:20:42.920 --> 0:20:46.280 enough labor, so you as a homeowner will be feeling 0:20:46.320 --> 0:20:49.879 the price of additional building costs and everything like that. 0:20:49.960 --> 0:20:53.040 It's just because that's just the nature of how hard 0:20:53.080 --> 0:20:56.080 it is. So there's a lot of things that the 0:20:56.160 --> 0:20:59.520 government have control over that they could be you know, 0:21:00.400 --> 0:21:05.000 just a you know, like it's just it's just I've 0:21:05.080 --> 0:21:06.920 kind of lost more confidence with it. To be honest 0:21:06.960 --> 0:21:09.520 with our life, I'm kind of if you're waiting for 0:21:09.520 --> 0:21:11.320 the government to help you along in. 0:21:11.320 --> 0:21:13.600 Life, it's not going to happen. 0:21:14.680 --> 0:21:17.200 You know. My advice to you is be an honest 0:21:17.200 --> 0:21:21.399 person and work hard and you know, do what you 0:21:21.480 --> 0:21:24.080 need to do, because that's the only thing that's going 0:21:24.119 --> 0:21:26.240 to get you through. If you're going to wait for 0:21:26.440 --> 0:21:28.160 at the moment, if you're waiting for a handout from 0:21:28.160 --> 0:21:32.160 the government or any assistance, then they're not there for that. 0:21:32.560 --> 0:21:36.199 It's you know, there's some different agendas going on and 0:21:36.240 --> 0:21:39.560 stuff like that. But businesses, small businesses in Australia are 0:21:39.600 --> 0:21:41.520 really starting to struggling fall behind. 0:21:41.600 --> 0:21:44.200 It used to be the powerhouse of our economy. 0:21:44.359 --> 0:21:47.040 Like I'm pretty sure I don't know the statistics, but 0:21:47.800 --> 0:21:51.399 you look at how much small businesses contribute to the 0:21:51.560 --> 0:21:58.040 growth of Australia, that should be their fourth foremost of 0:21:58.160 --> 0:22:01.520 their agenda to get back on, you know, even terms. 0:22:02.280 --> 0:22:04.040 I guess the thing to say to them too is 0:22:04.080 --> 0:22:07.760 like we're finding a lot of the government and politicians 0:22:07.800 --> 0:22:12.040