I'll get a you Bloody Champions, Welcome to another and stillming the You project, Craig Anthony Harper. We've got a cast of thousands. As I look at my screen today, there's four humans. Four humans on the screen. Tara, Jarrett Russell, Jarrett, Tiffany and Cook. Will start with the person on bottom left for me, Tiffany and Cook, who's just had seven compliments in twenty seconds, and a big fat head is growing as I speak, Hi, Tiv.
My face hurts from smiling from all those compliments. Apps.
Ah, Rusty's been. Rusty's been pumping up your ties and telling you what an athlete you are and how jacked you are. And he's not wrong. You are. You are pretty jacked. There ain't too many people of your vintage. You old lady, that is, says the man who's nineteen years old of that error's in good shape, as you just quickly before we go to our guests, You're going to India in about seventy less than seventy two hours, it's about sixty hours. How are you feeling excited?
Chaotic and excited? And it's a bit and it feels a little bit surreal because it's a very different kind of holiday. Yeah, do you are you?
Do you have any apprehension because it's you know, obviously it's a different place and is I think one point one billion people and it's like that, you know, I'm not sure that you're Indian? Is that? Or you're Hindi? Is that great? Is that the language of it? Rush Jarrett? Is that the language of India? Hindi?
Yeah, Hindi, Hindi is the Well there's lots of dialects in.
India, but yeah, Hindi Hindi or a dialect of wow, So you better brush up.
Also udu udu wow.
Fucking hell. That's I'm glad you're not a bloody language teacher. Well, anyway, have you packed yet?
No, I'm a last minute packer. I'm a last minute everything. So you know, it's a little bit like when I have speaking gigsaps. I'm just running around in a whirlwind of part anxiety, part excitement, part I'll just wait, I'll just do it later.
So you know what I reckon. If you are a person in school and you wait until the last day before you start prepping for exams or you start writing that paper or that assignment that carries on through life and you become the chick that packs like twelve minutes before you're getting picked up, or you know, does Tara Jarrett do that rush?
Jarrett?
I tell you what I have given up when I say we're leaving at ten You know what I do now if we've got to leave at ten am, I say to her, we've got to leave at eight thirty. We're going to leave at eight thirty, and I build in a nineteen minute window of running late.
So not true, it really. Now I'll just point out if you listening to this, well obviously you're listening to this, but you're listening and thinking to yourself the audio is a bit weird. That's because Russ's in a car somewhere in the middle of somewhere and Tara is in an office somewhere else. So that will explain this slight variation in the quality and perhaps even the volume of audio. Tara, we were talking to you before we went live, Tara and Russ of course of at the symbol at Pilates
and other things and places. But so you've been building this brand in this business for a couple of years now, and you've kind of hit that tipping point where it's now gone a little bit. Let's be honest, mental, you can say that in this context, I think or not. Send me an email and it's like I said before, it's a combination of awesomeness and mayhem, and you went, yeah.
Kind of, yeah it is.
So we've just we've just launched our head office here and so we've got new stuff and just new everything.
So before it used to be just the.
Two of us pretty much doing everything, and now we've got staff in place, which is amazing and they're awesome, but we've got to I'm trying to train them at the same time being.
Busier than we ever had. And I was just saying, I.
Don't have the time to train the stuff so I can stop being busy, so I need to start working on it.
Yeah, what's the gap between all the awareness between busyness and efficiency, Like you can be busy and inefficient or busy and efficient, or you can be not so busy and quite efficient.
Right, m.
So for me it has to be everything I'm doing now, I'm literally asking myself, is this adding value to the growth, because that's what my job is is to grow to grow the business. Is this going to add value to the to the product or am I stepping into my micromanaging And that's what I've got to step away from that, that micromanagement area and just let other people do their jobs and trust in them and delegate and them the responsibility to do it.
So we are getting there.
And that's something we're instilling from the start this week. But we've really only we opened our head office on the seventeenth of SEPTEMBERUS so oh sorry, August. So very young in terms of a head office and our stuff being under the one roof.
We have had staff, but this is the first time we're all now under the one roof.
Do you know what I reckon? Congrats? By the way, I went and had a look at your HQ. Is it I should know? Is it Port Melbourne I went to? Or where's that that? I went to? South Melbourne? Fucking amazing HQ, like all the production stuff where they do all the filming. You've got to be I'm not just like the point of this is not a promo for their business, by the way, everyone, it's just talk about.
What I love about is someone who has an idea and then they turn the idea into a thing, like a small thing, and it grows into a bigger thing, and then other people come in and buy into the vision and the brand and they breathe life into it, and now they've got this fucking amazing, you know, flourishing
enterprise that's all through Australia and growing and expanding. We'll talking about the business in a moment, but you know what I think, and this is very out of alignment with the warm, fuzzy, let's hold hands and sing kumbay our mindset that's pervading twenty twenty four. I think in a way, when you're doing what you're doing for the stage you are at for the development of your business, you can't have balance, like fuck balance for a while.
Like I think, like when I was growing Harpers, and you guys were involved in Harpers in the early days.
But when the first Harpers, which was Hampton Street, I used to get there at four point thirty or five in the morning and leave at nine at night because I was a whole fucking company, and I worked ridiculous hours and clean the toilets and vacuums your gym and fucking polish the mirrors, and there's a period of time where you just necessity dictates that for a while you need to be fully immersed and you having some downtime and a fucking massage and asleep, and it's you're probably
not going to have it for a while, and that's just the price you paid for building something amazing, Do you concur.
Or totally totally?
Well, we actually our head office actually has a spoke. We're very lucky our space up the top that we can actually stay at, so it's got to apartment up the top. So I actually left here at six forty five morning and have been absolutely flat out since then and just went from phone call and meeting to meeting to phone call and then I literally got out of a meeting to come and do this with you. And I just sent a text to us seeing it's a massive day, but it's not going to finish anytime soon.
So it'll be it just keeps going.
And a lot of the times, especially especially the boys, will.
Say, you know, stop emailing, you know.
It's nighttime, watch a movie or something, and I'll say to them, I actually like this, I actually enjoy it. It's actually I save the bits of my day that I can do while I'm sitting on a couch and I find more enjoyable for nighttime work. So that's sort of my downtime. But there are times where we go far out we need a break. It's just my brain is.
And I think also, you know, the thing that we don't talk about. I talk about on the show a bit, but broadly you don't talk about the impact that your work has. So we talk about work life balance. But I always say that if you are doing something that for the most part you love, then eighty hours a week is better for you than forty hours a week of something you fucking hate.
Right.
I'm not suggesting people work eighty hours a week, but I you know, when I came and saw you a new place the other day and I see you guys, just like how awesome this thing that you're building is, and how happy you both were and exhausted but happy. You go, yeah, this is I mean, you couldn't do this forever, but for a period of time, or as the Christians say, for a season. You know, then it's true, that's what they say, that's what we say. I should say.
Then you know, it's it's like that's what you do. You go look I'm going to go nuts for a year or two or three. And I don't know anyone who's built something awesome who didn't do that at some stage.
You have to. You have to.
You have to completely envelop yourself by it and be totally immersed.
It's the only way it can happen.
It's the only way we can grow at the speed that we're growing and have control. Otherwise it would just be absolute chaos. So very rarely is their downtime. Well, I haven't been, as you know, we live in Country Victoria. Our head office is in Melbourne. I think I worked out. What did I work out?
Russ?
I'd had three days at home in a house in Country Victoria in now nine weeks, I mean Melbourne, Russ is in Russ's in Caiabram. So yeah, yeah, So he says to me, Now he goes, you live in Melbourne and you visit?
Yes, because I.
Just have an opportunity to leave what we're doing at the moment, because there's just so much to do and so many people I need to connect with, and it's all great.
I feel like you know, when you're doing something, when you're growing something, whatever the something is that you're growing and you're taking it from concept to practical reality to real world business to blah blah blah. Like in part, how well you can do that is about how well you can solve problems in real time. I feel like that business development is about high level problem solving, like eighteen hours a day.
Yep, you're right, because the more humans you bring into the organization, and the bigger your organization becomes, just by the sheer size and the number of people that are involved, that brings in, as you say, more problems, more personalities, more conversations, more.
Things to be aware of. And what Tara and I are doing, and.
She's alluded to it is we're trying to put people in place of us to a degree and replicate our skill set with the people or bring other skills into the organization that we don't have because we can't sustain this pace the two of us. And so the difficult part is bringing the right people in at the right time, managing the.
Sort of expense of that. There's a fiscal cost to that.
You've got to pay for those people, and manage that with the with the growth of your business, and that means managing the cash flow and so yeah, there's a whole heap of considerations and that's where Tara finds herself.
Now she has to look at the.
Global picture of what we have to achieve and she has to put the right people in place and manage that growth, whilst I continue to kind of work at the coal face of new business and new franchisees. And I guess the end goal here for us is to is to almost make ourselves a little bit irrelevant, but that takes time.
So how many for those people who don't know who the fuck Russ or Tara are because we didn't really explain it upfront. I was kind of operating on the assumption that you've been on a few times and people might be familiar, which will be true, but also people won't be familiar. So the business is called at Pilates, Tara, can you give us a thirty second synopsis of what it is? And then I've got a couple of questions for you.
So we are we're a plot to studio, So we're a former Plarty studio, but we're the only twenty four hour reformer Plarties franchise in Australia. So we started in twenty twenty two. We are franchising and we're they're just over twenty sites.
We've got more little open up this year.
But we are what we call a hybrid studio, so we're actually staffed. We can be staffed at South Melbourne. Here we're staffed up to twelve hours a day and non staffed for twelve. So we actually have instructors on site that are there to help members. They you know, all the things a normal instructor would do, they're available to do that. But we have hundreds and hundreds of classes on our platform that we've grown and developed and brought instructors in from all around.
Australia to record.
So you can or the amendment can come in choose any class they want to do by any instructor that they want to choose to do, but they still have a physical instructor in the room is there to guide and help and you know.
Just there to help them with anything that they might need.
Or you can come after hours if you want to, and come at ten o'clock at night on a Sunday.
If you want to.
So it's convenience, it's also flexibility for people. But the other one for us is affordability. So we're a lot cheaper. We are per week what most people are per session, and that means it's because we can control so many variables and that's massive.
So if I come in on a Sunday night at ten o'clock, I'm doing class and I'm using there's a screen on on each a former bed, and I picked my class from that. I put on headphones and then I go through that with you know, the teacher on the screen in front of me, and there's like a shitload of classes. But if I go in staffed hours, I do the same thing. But if I have any questions, there's someone there right feel like I'm doing it. I feel like I'm doing that. I'm not trying to everyone.
I'm trying to explain the point of difference. Well, I love that there's like in a fucking in an ocean of fitness products, right, fitness programs and gyms and step into this and they're forty fucking seven that and BFT and you know, twenty four hour gyms and ladies gyms and old people gyms and mobile gyms, and it's amazing that you came up with something that hasn't been done and then when you go, oh, by the way, it's not forty bucks a class, it's forty bucks a week
or whatever it is. How much is it's about that, isn't it?
Yeah? Right?
Which is? You know, it's what about the just from a business development point of view, So I really wanted this to be somewhat about you know, business development and for people who are thinking about building a business or a brand, but it a you know, a micro business or something that's going to turn into something a bit bigger.
Is your biggest challenge? Maybe you can't answer this, but or maybe just thoughts on each managing the business development per se structure, organization processes, or is it managing and finding and leading the people like the business stuff or the people's stuff or is it the same Russ.
Initially Craig, it was the business stuff because we had to create a business that was going to break into the Australian market and actually find it its own place, find its own ecosystem.
That was the initial part.
That's more or less done now, that just needs a bit of tweaking now and ongoing.
The overwhelming most important.
Part of whether or not we're going to continue to succeed and grow and develop is going to be highly dependent on our ability to recruit and appoint the right franchisees and also have the right head office staff that will help us support those people.
It's all about the people now.
Yeah, right, yeah, that's interesting, Howie, did you want to add something?
Yeah, I agree, I was going to say exactly the same thing where I said at at the start, totally it was just all about the business and the processes.
Now it's both. You've got the getting the right people.
In place, but the other thing that we're doing at the moment is trying to now take the development of the business. So we do a lot of sort of R and D and we're trying to stay ahead and say what's next, what's next all the time, So it's constantly looking at what the next.
Iteration of the business is.
You can't stay still, you know, adapt or die, and that's what the fitness industry is notoriously terrible at. We go, oh, we've made it and we've got our product, that's it. If we stand still, then there'll be five other franchises just like us.
So we have to and push ahead and what's the next thing.
And one of the things that we always say is we are a technology company.
Underlying that's what we do.
That's our main thing that we focus on is the use of technology. It Plarties is just our product that we're bringing to the market because it's a product we love and know and people want. But we try and make it as easy and as fun and as new.
To people as we possibly can.
So that's where a lot of our sort of that business side of it is more pushing forward rather than you know, still working on the processes.
The processes are done now, it's like what's next for all the time?
What have you learned in the last We'll start with you, Tara, while we've got you and rush you think, But in the last three years, what's one thing that you've learned. I mean, you've had businesses for most of your adult life, right,
nearly all of it. The same with you, Rusty. But what have you learned that you want to tell someone that's going to start a business or improve a current business, something that you learned where you went, Fuck, I wish I knew that earlier, or I wish I'd done that differently, or that's just a good lesson for me to have.
Yeah, the first thing i'd say is if you've wanted to start a business, you go, I've got a great idea, which people will say all the time to me.
They'll go, I've got this idea.
The first question is what's the point? What's your point of difference? Why you if it's the same thing but different colored walls, or the same thing and just six or fourmers instead of five, and forget it, you're just you're fighting, You're trying to have another piece in the same you're cutting the pie up into more pieces.
So find that point of difference and why.
People are going to want to come to you, Why why you're so compelling. Probably the next thing I would say is borrow as little as you can at the start, and that's that's just keeping keeping over slow, do as go as hard and as long as you can without having to expand too much or spend too much money.
At this you know too early.
The other thing is if you've got if this is your if you've got a real understanding of what you're doing, trust yourself and don't take everyone.
Else's opinions on board.
And I think I wish that's something I could have told myself way back, because I know now there are certain things that I thought, thought I could have gone in a certain direction, but listen to too many people, and then you know, paralysis by analysis.
You start, you start taking everyone's opinions on board.
So yeah, it's in business jargon they call that a usp unique selling proposition. That and how many how many would be speakers I've spoken to this week in fact, but how many would be speakers come to me or have come to me over the years, And they go, basically, I want to do what you do, which is fine.
I go, all right, well, there's I don't know how many probably ten thousand professional speakers in Australia already who are ahead of you, who've got more skill, more experience, more understanding, more insight, more brand.
You know.
It's like so, and it's not that you can't do it, but if you're just going to be, as you said, you know, just another speaker, we're in a different fucking outfit doing the same thing, not as not as good as the people who are already doing it. So there's that, you know, And the same with personal training. I mean, back in the day when Harper's was a kind of a unicorn in the fitness landscape, Like, what the fuck
is personal training? There's literally five personal training studios within eight hundred meters of my house, like five, you know, Like it's just if you want to, you know, if you want to open one, open one. But it wouldn't be my recommendation. If you're thinking about doing something, I probably wouldn't open a PT studio, Not these days. I'd if you want to be a PT, go and work
in someone else's and let them pay the bills. But you know what about for you, Rusty, what's been a revelation or a light bulb for you in the last few years?
Yeah?
For me?
For me, I think again, if I could go back and coach myself, I would say to myself, use the skills that you that you already have or that you good at, Like what's your natural inclination and that's something that you should look to build a business in. If you're good with people and you like being around people, then do a business that's involved in service and customer
service or something like that. But if you're not, if you're not good with people and that's not your strength, then don't work in that space because you're not going to be very good at it. If you don't enjoy numbers and technology, then then don't try and start a business in that space. So what are your skills, what are you good at, what do you like to do, and and try and develop something in that area, because
ultimately you've already got a head start probably on your competitors. Yeah, and the other thing I would say is don't don't don't try and grow too quickly, and you know, manage manage your growth. Be really get your business to the point where it's really good, it really stands out, it's really got that point of difference, and be a little bit content with that for a while before you try and escalate it, you know, to.
The next big thing. Because because bigger, what.
I've learned in the last few years is bigger does not always mean more profitable, because bigger also means more expenses, more money going out.
That's so true, Tara. Do you think that people underestimate the physical, mental, emotional cost like they I think a lot of people go, oh fuck, it's so hard, Like what did you think? What did you think there was going to be? Like it is like this, you know this, You might get there, but you're going to fuck up Part of your life for the next five years. Just
know that going in, are you okay? You know, the whole fucking kicking back and weekends and like socializing for a period of time that might have to go out the window. Are you okay with that? And if you're not, then cool, that's also cool, But don't do this.
Totally agree.
I do remember the I want to answer that from two aspects. One is from our point of view, but also our franchisees who were coming on board and their start because they're starting their own business, they're just using our model and process. But I remember the time where I knew this was a critical point for us.
It's going to grow and if this grows, I've got to go.
Balls and all and put the amount of time, effort and energy in. And I really had to and sit down with Russ and go, are we ready?
Do we want to do this? Can we go again?
And we made that decision and said yes. And then but our growth, as Russ was saying, was pretty was pretty planned. And then we pulled the trigger on doing a head office and we knew it was going to really take off from there. But again it was all controlled and we knew exactly what we were in for. When a new franchise e comes on board, a lot of times they love the idea.
It is an ego. It can be an ego.
Business people love the idea of it's like you said, having a PT center or having their own gym. They you know, they want to be able to say, this is my space. Look at it Isn't it beautiful? Looks great on Instagram. But it's not just about creating a beautiful space. It's actually got to work, and they can create monsters. We've had We've had studios that have opened with two hundred plus members.
The day they open. So the day they.
Open, they've got over two hundred people that are going to come into their studio that need.
To be onboard.
They need to know exactly how to use the tech they need. Everything needs to be perfect and all of a sudden you can see them going oh shit, yeah, and we.
Do a lot of prep them. It's a it's a big job.
Yeah, I've got a weird question for you, Russ. Russ, Well, this is not the weird question. This is leading. I think think this is an interesting question for our listeners. What you did the first center open the first at Pilarates, like of the you know, your current kind of stable.
Of them, early early twenty twenty one.
Okay, so at Pilarates as a business, would you say that like it started in twenty twenty one or twenty twenty.
No, the look we were with Tara was toying with the concept probably in twenty seventeen eighteen. But the moment we actually made an existing face to face studio into an at Polarti studio and started making people use the platform to complete their class was early twenty twenty one.
Okay, so we're going to say the genesis for at Pilarates, which is your company, twenty twenty one. How old were you then, Russ?
Well, that's three, So I was fifty fifty three? Are you going on fifty four?
So you were fifty four? Tara, how old were you at that time?
Yeah, fifty two turning fifty three. Hence I said, I needed to make that decision to all what you know.
But I think this is fucking amazing, right because you two are old as fuck, right, So you two are fucking t rexes, right, You're both fucking dinosaurs, you know. But this is encouraging because and I'm being silly, of course, because I'm older than both of you. So Tara, you're what fifty five or six? Now?
I just turned I'll stop it. I just turned fifty four.
Home fifty five, well, I don't know. And Russy, what are you?
I'll be you fifty seven in a month.
Okay, So fifty five and fifty seven, give or take. And what I love is that you're both fucking heading towards sixty and this thing is just starting to flourish and grow, and and you might be like, I love this idea of not in an unrealistic, fucking delusional way, but this idea of getting better as we get older. Now, of course there's an inevitability of cognitive decline eventually and
physiological decline. Brough, I get all of that, right, But I say to people all the time, you know, yeah, my shoulders are a bit fucked, and I have the odd blower back issue. And I haven't had an erection since nineteen eighty nine, but but I often just kidding it was ninety two. But I often I always say to people, like, I truly feel like I'm I'm getting better, do you know, in like I feel like I'm better under pressure. I feel like I'm better at solving problems.
I feel like I'm a better decision maker and leader, you know, And there are some things I'm probably not as good at, of course, bench press being up there and as previously discussed erections, but you know, like I feel there's a real I'm kidding everyone, Tift put a face in her hands, but there's a real kind of underestimation of what we can do, be create in our fifties and beyond.
Right, Yeah, you're absolutely right.
And the other thing that I have learnt and I've watched Tara go through it as well, is because of the life experience that we both have going through, you know, all sorts of positive and negative and very uplifting and very traumatic experiences, especially Tara in the last couple of years. It's amazing how going through those processes gives you a
very valuable thing called perspective. And what when someone comes to Tara with a major problem about their business or something in their workday, She'll just look at them and go, Okay, well, let's just look at the pluses and minus here, and within ten minutes she's managed to calm the situation and get this person looking at the problem in inverted commas in a completely different way because she's able to show them perspective.
Yeah, Yeah, isn't it funny? Howie Tara Everyone I call Howie Tara Howie because that was her name before she met young Russ, back when he was not a t rex. How when we reframe things. I did a podcast that went up today today being Wednesday, called something like when Failure is not failure, And I was talking about this idea of how two people go for a run together.
One of them wants to run sub fifty for ten k's and the other one wants to get somewhere in the ballpark of fifty five right or they start out the same and they end up both running fifty two minutes. So the person who wanted to run sub fifty is disappointed and pissed off and angry and frustrated and feels like a failure. And the person who hoped to get somewhere around fifty five and they've done fifty two the exact same time as the other dude or dude at
they're happy as fuck. They feel like a winner. But they both did the same activity and got the same practical outcome. Fifty two minutes, yet they each had a completely different perception and therefore experience, right, And I just think it's when you realize that and we're not saying there are no problems. Of course there are actual problems. But sometimes we turn a one out of ten into a fifteen out of ten because we're having a bad moment,
you know. And then there are other people like, you know, not that long ago, not that long ago, I spoke at your dad's funeral right now, that there aren't many harder days than that. So you get through that and you go, I can do fucking anything like this is not hard. You know. It gives you a level of perspective that you can't have unless you go through shits sometimes or unless you really become very good at understanding the way that you are managing your own subjective reality.
Yeah, there's nothing that replaces experience or experiences. I have to agree totally in terms of what you're saying about reframing and and I've got about five examples that run through my head immediately, just of different different studio owners that I've come into contact with and had to help through different processes that when I actually, you know, they're in their mind. They've created a reality that doesn't exist based on.
A problem that or might not happen.
And to try and actually stay to them that it's a non issue because you break it or dan and you actually look at how successful they are and to show them do you know what you know this this studio is in the top three in the country.
You know, you've got five thousand appointments a month, which is what some of them are doing.
It's just crazy, and all of a sudden they go, Okay, it's not that bigger, it's not that bigger issue. But yeah, from a personal perspective, you're right. Twelve months later, I lost my brother and we came off the back of you know, fighting for our business through COVID and in amongst all of that, trying to grow a business and had two boys finishing year twelve and another one in university and it was just sheer bedlam, but we.
Just pushed through. And now, as you said, everything's easy now because.
It's all really shout out to my godson, your son, who is my godson, young Mitch, who graduated yes day as we record this. So yesterday was the seventeenth of September graduated with a law degree. And what a good boy are you too? This is a bit of a left turn, but you must be super proud.
Oh yeah, there was a tier or three?
Was there?
There was?
There was, it was, and.
It was it was. I was proud of him.
I'm proud of him for one getting into that course because that was a bloody great effort to stuck it out. He completed it, and he had two years of that course in lockdown. Yes, thirdly he graduated, but he also graduated with distinction.
So he did just finish it.
He finished it incredibly well. And he's still continuing on. So now it's all about practicing and being admitted to the bar and everything he needs to do for that.
So and he's all organized for that as well. So yeah, we are proud of proud of him. He deserves.
He deserves every bit of acknowledgment he's got over the last couple of days.
What about you, Captain emotionally intelligence, did you break out a fucking hug, Rusty? I mean, did you did you have to watch an online workshop or something? I mean, I reckon, I've hugged him more than you've hugged him.
No, no, uh.
Mitch, look how fucking awkward he is.
I'm very much in touch with my emotional capabilities these days, aren't I?
Tara? Tara?
Oh yeah, you're the fact, you're the high watermark for fucking emotional intelligence. Let's let's just get a poster view up on the internet. Well whine because I know you've got a busy day, but just quickly, so what are you currently sitting at, Tara? How many cents? Does twenty twenty?
Rusty of twenty one.
But we've got a few more opening up before the year's out, so it'll be sort of mid twenties.
We were number twenty, which was head office.
We've got some more. We've got Geelong opening up in on October five. We've got Southport on the Gold Coast in Queensland on October twelve, Kawana or.
In sometimes post posts in November, and then we're looking at Kai and Gladstone.
Gosh, all sorts of You've got LOCATIOND South Australia.
So there's a lot.
There's a lot happening, and it's just this continual, continual process of looking after current and then moving forward with new.
So yeah, it's exciting.
Do you do you either of you can answer this, So I'll ask you russy, Like when Harper's was growing, and you know, I had multiple centers and all of that stuff, and it was a different model obviously not franchises, but we were pretty fucking busy. I was always looking for basically a mini me, you know, like I wanted
to and you were one of them. Obviously have surpassed me now because I'm the one carrying your fucking wheelburw barrow full of money around, But you know, it's like you came in, Tara came in and and like, here are these people who are a bit younger than me and the talented the spot. I'm like, for me, it's like a relief to have people who are, you know, think a bit like me and can be trusted and responsible and care about the business. And do you do you keep an eye out for those people?
Yeah?
Absolutely, that has been that has been right at the top of our list since we decided that this business was going to grow into something quite significant. Tara has someone that is that she's basically training up to be a mini Tara, and I'm training up someone to be a mini Me. And then you know, Mitch has got his eye on a role in the organization as well.
So you know.
What, I guess they call it succession planning. That is very important to what we do. And I think, I think my answer to that question is something I should have added to your other question earlier.
What have I learned?
I've learned that that we need to make sure that we surround ourselves with people that are more skilled, have different skills, and have more abilities and intelligence than what we do, because we're going to run out of you know, we're going to run out of ideas at some point or perhaps you know, people see things through a different lens, and we need those people around us because we can't
think of everything we just and it's not healthy. It's not healthy for Tara and I to be constantly coming up with the direction.
We need our team.
We need our team to give us inspiration and ideas, which they are.
Yeah, you're banned with only goes so far. We're going to wind up how we Tara, I, you know, I think about you guys, the finish line, whether that's in a year or five years or ten years, and however you get, you know, however it ends up, whatever happens in terms of you know, selling it all eventually or I don't know, obviously it's not a forever thing. But when I think about both of you, like, I just can't see either of you retired. I can't. I Like, I know you don't want to do what you're doing
at the rate that you're doing it forever. But it's like me, I'm like, no, fuck retirement. Do you know what happens to people when they retire? I've seen it's not fucking good, right, Retirement sucks the fatty. You know. I can't see either of you just sitting on the fucking veranda in Kaiabram, just Russ just with his pocket knife and a piece of wood making a fucking pan flute, you know, or you just fucking knitting cardigans for the grandchildren.
Like, yeah, I agree, I'm hopeless.
I'll walk into I'll walk into somewhere and then pick out twenty things while I can make it better.
Ye, terrible, It's terrible.
You'll probably always be doing something.
Yeah, I like to travel, but we'll always be doing something always, all.
Right, Russ? Give the business quick plug how people can find out more and access a center? Where do they go give us the quick spiel.
Yeah, look, we've got a very heavy presence on Instagram.
But the best place is just go to our website because everything grows out of there. So at polaratesat Polarates dot duty is our website and if you go there, you can connect with any studio around Australia. You can connect with head Office, you can connect with Tara and I. So go to our website and use that as the starting point and you'll find where you need to go from there And.
If you mentioned my name you'll get a year free. So no, that's not true at all. Well say goodbye, fair Rusty, Tara, Tiffany and Cook. Thank you for having a chat once again on the You Project.
Thank you thanks for having us