Jerome Beekmans (@jeromebeekmans) is the owner the franchise group Mr Electric Australia.

Jerome is a 3rd generation electrician who’s had some great times in the building industry but he’s also had to endure, like many have, some tough times as well.

It’s a familiar story for those of you who know the trade sector well; you build your business, grow, take on bigger and bigger work, until, eventually, you run into a client who doesn’t pay you for the work you have completed. For Jerome, that happened in the weeks before he got married.

He was forced to re-assess his plans, and ultimately found his way to the franchise industry where he is now building a national brand.

It’s Jerome’s vision to make “Mr Electric Australia the leading residential and commercial electrical services and repair company in Australia.”

During our chat, we covered:

• work ethic
• his views on our education and formal schooling system
• introducing Jim’s Electrics (as part of the bigger Jim’s Franchise Group) to Australia which Jerome did before he began developing Mr Electric
• the importance of knowing your ideal customer
• how he has structured their pricing model
• growing trade-based business, and
• why working smarter alone is not enough and why working harder doesn’t always guarantee you success.

To find out more about Jerome, head to mrelectric.com.au.

If you enjoy Trench Talk, please remember to hit the subscribe button inside your chosen podcast player, more episodes can be found at xrm.com.au/podcast

Enjoy Trench Talk Episode #036 with Jerome Beekmans…

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Show notes and links for this episode can be found at xrm.com.au/podcast.

Feel free to email me with any suggestions or feedback to [email protected].

You can find Matt Reynolds on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and on LinkedIn.

Ryan Trainor (@ryantrainor) is a serial entrepreneur and Co-Founder at BSchool (@bschool_aus).

Ryan is an extremely humble guy who would never say it himself, but he's accomplished more in business and life than many of us have probably ever thought possible.

He sold his first company to Wilson Parking, sold his second company to the Washington Post, has been on the BRW Young Rich List, has built schools in India, is a former Carlton Football Club Board Member and Vice-President, and just recently moved his family to Indonesia.

We talk about all that and a bunch more, including:

• the role of luck in entrepreneurship
• education, the sector he's got a real passion for and how technology is changing that space
• a bit on the process of building and selling his companies
• some of the hard moments including how his wife Rachel has supported him throughout the journey
• his thoughts on getting more done
• running
• meditation
• raising capital
• recruiting key personnel, and
• the downside of startups.

To find out more about Ryan, head to bschool.edu.au and opt-in for the newsletter.

His next venture Udify, is also launching shortly.

If you enjoy Trench Talk, please remember to hit the subscribe button inside your chosen podcast player. 

Enjoy Trench Talk Episode #035 with Ryan Trainor…

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Show notes and links for this episode can be found at xrm.com.au/podcast.

Feel free to email me with any suggestions or feedback to [email protected].

You can find Matt Reynolds on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and on LinkedIn.

Simon Griffiths (@simongriffiths) is a toilet paper merchant and Co-Founder at Who Gives A Crap.

A little over five years ago, Simon sat on a toilet for 50 straight hours as a publicity stunt to raise awareness for their crowd funding campaign. The plan was to start a toilet paper company and it worked, far better than they ever thought possible!

They raised $50,000 and the company that donates 50% of its profits to help solve sanitation problems in emerging countries was off the ground.

It’s an incredible story….

We covered:

• the initial campaign that went viral and attracted 2.5 million social media hits
• why their sales spike over the holiday period
• the financial model they use to donate
• how they choose which organisations to support
• why he has chosen to follow the social entrepreneur model for building a business, and
• much, much more.

To find out more about Simon and his team or to order toilet paper, tissues or paper towel as I have and many others do, head to whogivesacrap.org.

If you enjoy Trench Talk, please remember to hit the subscribe button inside your chosen podcast player. 

Enjoy Trench Talk Episode #034 with Simon Griffiths…

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Show notes and links for this episode can be found at xrm.com.au/podcast.

Feel free to email me with any suggestions or feedback to [email protected].

You can find Matt Reynolds on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and on LinkedIn.

Amy Kilpin (@akilpin) runs her own marketing agency and is an age group triathlete, racing for Great Britain.

Amy has some of the most popular brands in the world of Triathlon supporting and sponsoring her journey, though, in her own words, she’s never really won one of the big races.

We covered a little on her training, how she has set up her business so she can operate from the road and travel to races, plus, how she landed sponsors before she really got going in the sport.

Not all sponsors, as you’ll hear, are looking to support athletes who regularly climb the podium.

To find out more about Amy, head to her website amykilpin.co.uk.

If you enjoy Trench Talk, please remember to hit the subscribe button inside your chosen podcast player.

I get quite a few requests for guess and other ideas for the show, another shout out to Craig for suggesting I contact Amy.

If you have suggestions of your own or just want to say hi, you can email me – [email protected].

Enjoy Trench Talk Episode #033 with Amy Kilpin…

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Show notes and links for this episode can be found at xrm.com.au/podcast.

Feel free to email me with any suggestions or feedback to [email protected].

You can find Matt Reynolds on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and on LinkedIn.

Colin Wright (@colinismyname) is an author who travels full-time.

Originally from California, Colin started and ran a branding studio in Los Angeles. After experiencing some financial success, he refocused his attention on being happier, healthier, and doing work he believes in; which meant a dramatic adjustment to the metrics of how he measured success. Shortly thereafter he got rid of everything he owned that didn’t fit into a carry-on bag and hit the road. That was in 2009, he has been traveling ever since and Colin says "It was the best decision I've ever made". He's is an incredibly intelligent and interesting man, he's written some 30+ books on topics including travel, minimalism and business. He works from wherever he is currently living, co-owns a publishing company (Asymmetrical Press), speaks internationally, runs a blog which can be found at exilelifestyle.com and produces his own podcast called "Let's know Things". Every four months or so, Colin's readers vote on where he will move and live next. In this conversation, we covered a variety of topics including tech, a little on the stock market and how he would go about building an app for the trade sector if he was commissioned with that task. To learn more about Colin, search his name and you'll find him pretty much everywhere, his handle is @colinismyname on most social networks, or head to his website: colin.io. If you enjoy Trench Talk, please remember to hit the subscribe button inside your chosen podcast player.

I get quite a few requests for guess and other ideas for the show, a shout out to Russell for suggesting I track down Colin.

If you have suggestions of your own or just want to say hi, you can email me – [email protected].

Enjoy Trench Talk Episode #032 with Colin Wright…

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Show notes and links for this episode can be found at xrm.com.au/podcast.

Feel free to email me with any suggestions or feedback to [email protected].

You can find Matt Reynolds on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and on LinkedIn.

30 Highlights from 2017 featuring –

#001: Scotty Cam | The Block

#002: Justin Burgoine | Kincrome

#003: Shane Jacobson | Kenny

#004: Ross Savas | Kay & Burton

#005: Andrew Cotton | Big Wave Surfer

#006: Trav Bell | The Bucket List Guy

#007: Ben Sofowora | Be Empowered Naturally

#008: Anthony Koutoufides | koutafit.com

#009: Steve McKnight | propertyinvesting.com

#010: Walt Collins | Healthy Homes Australia

#011: Jade Ingleby & Hayley Bishop | Jugging Work & Family

#012: Steve Richards | Steve Richards Motor Sport

#013: Brendan Nichols | Business & Making Money

#014: Stefan Kazakis | Business Benchmark Group

#015: Dave Bradley | Bradley Property Group

#016: Stuart Lord | Lockelec

#017: Ben Walton-Healey | Aqua Blu Plumbing

#018: Peter Irvine | Gloria Jeans

#019: Andrii Bondarenko | Cirque du Soleil

#020: Phillip Di Bella | Abbotsford Road Specialty Coffee

#021: Tom Crampton | Trusted Impact

#022: Jayne Nisbet | Free-ed

#023: Roland Lazenby | Michael Jordan, The Life

#024: Roland Lazenby | Showboat, The Life of Kobe Bryant

#029: Logan Nathan | i4Tradies

#030: Renee Kiley | Professional Triathlete

The full episodes and show notes can be found at TrenchTalkPodcast.com.

If you enjoy the Trench Talk, please remember to hit the subscribe button inside your chosen podcast player and if you have suggestions of your own or just want to say hi, you can email me – [email protected].

Enjoy 30 from 30...

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Show notes and links for this episode can be found at xrm.com.au/podcast.

Feel free to email me with any suggestions or feedback to [email protected].

You can find Matt Reynolds on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and on LinkedIn.

Renee Kiley (@reneekiley_) has transformed herself from an overweight business owner at 104kgs to a professional triathlete in just 3.5 years.

In 2013 at 30 years old, Renee was the owner of multiple successful small businesses, had an extensive investment property portfolio and was earning a very good income. Life looked fantastic on the surface. However, she was also obsessed with work, obese at 104kg, a heavy smoker, unhealthy and unhappy.

In March 2014, Renee competed in her first triathlon. Until that first race, she had not swum or ridden a bike since primary school and not run further than a few kilometres here and there in over 10 years. Throughout 2014 Renee lost over 42kg and completely turned her life around.

Renee has had an incredible rise in the sport of triathlon. She finished 252nd in that first sprint distance race. She went on to do her first Ironman in August 2015 where she won her age group. She has competed at the Ironman World Championships twice as an amateur. And in July this year, Renee applied for and was granted her Professional Licence. Meaning she is now a Professional Triathlete competing alongside the best female triathletes in the world. In only her 3rd race as a Professional, she finished 2nd.

Renee has a passion for talking about her journey, the achievements, disappointments and challenges faced along the way in the hope that it might inspire others to tackle something for themselves that they once thought was impossible.

We covered:

• mindset and managing your emotions
• we got into some specific triathlon stuff including how she trains
• some of the gear she uses
• what Renee eats
• how she sets goals
• dealing with negative self-talk, and
• how her life has become in her own words “so much easier” now she has lost all that weight.

To connect with Renee and follow her journey head to reneekiley.com where you’ll find all her social links.

If you enjoy the Trench Talk, please remember to hit the subscribe button inside your chosen podcast player. 

If you have suggestions of your own or just want to say hi, you can email me – [email protected].

Enjoy Trench Talk Episode #030 with Renee Kiley…

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Show notes and links for this episode can be found at xrm.com.au/podcast.

Feel free to email me with any suggestions or feedback to [email protected].

You can find Matt Reynolds on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and on LinkedIn.

Logan Nathan (@logannathan) has developed and built an app for the building and maintenance industry called i4Tradies.

He’s also an electronics engineer, Microsoft Brand Ambassador and former employee of BHP where he rolled out the first IBM PS2 machine (the most powerful computer at the time), before then, a little later, introducing the first Apple Macintosh computer to the BHP network.

Logan has also worked for Cathay Pacific and Alliance in similar roles. He has spent a career pushing the boundaries of technology implementation, is an author and is now attempting to transform the trade industry, starting right here in Australia.

We spent most of this episode discussing the app, what it does and how Logan is doing things differently.

No one (at least as far as I have found) has cracked the trade space and developed a true marketplace app where the end customer, field workers, office staff and in some cases facility or property managers can all talk to each other inside the one platform.

There are many lead generation companies who simply connect consumers with tradesman and there are also companies who handle the backend including employee scheduling and job management. No one (again, as far as I’m aware) has connected all 4 parties like Logan has been able to do.

If you’d like to know more about i4Tradies, head to i4tradies.com.au where you can try the app for free.

Note: we recorded this week’s podcast in an office next to a very busy road, so please excuse the traffic noise that fades in and out in some parts of the episode.

To get every episode of Trench Talk on release please remember to hit the subscribe button in your chosen podcast player.

Enjoy Trench Talk Episode #029 with Logan Nathan…

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Show notes and links for this episode can be found at xrm.com.au/podcast.

Feel free to email me with any suggestions or feedback to [email protected].

You can find Matt Reynolds on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and on LinkedIn.

Ben Sofowora (@bensofowora) has put together a 3-part introductory series on meditation for you, this is part 3 (episode 28). Please navigate back to episode 25 of the podcast for the full series introduction.

Episode 26 is a quick meditation designed to help you release stress. It can be done in any position, even seated so this works perfectly in busy places like seated at an office desk or in a stationary car (parked safely).

Episode 27 is a slightly longer meditation designed to help you release a more general level of stress and reconnect you with nature. It again can be done seated or lying and it works particularly well in a garden setting.

Episode 28 is a meditation designed to help you gain strength, confidence and become resilient. This meditation can be done sitting, standing or lying down.

I’ve separated these three sessions into separate podcasts to make them much easier to access again in the future without having to sit through my long-winded introduction.

Come back to these 3 recordings whenever you need them, they are here for you, that may be on a regular basis like they will be for me, or for whenever you need a reminder to breathe and return to calmness.

You can find Ben directly at beempowerednaturally.com.

Enjoy this introduction to meditation, don’t forget to subscribe to Trench Talk (in whichever podcast player you prefer) and please let me know what you think of the series.

Episodes 26, 27 and 28 are all now published, where Ben will guide you through the introductory process…

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Show notes and links for this episode can be found at xrm.com.au/podcast.

Feel free to email me with any suggestions or feedback to [email protected].

You can find Matt Reynolds on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and on LinkedIn.

Ben Sofowora (@bensofowora) has put together a 3-part introductory series on meditation for you, this is part 2 (episode 27). Please navigate back to episode 25 of the podcast for the full series introduction.

Episode 26 is a quick meditation designed to help you release stress. It can be done in any position, even seated so this works perfectly in busy places like seated at an office desk or in a stationary car (parked safely).

Episode 27 is a slightly longer meditation designed to help you release a more general level of stress and reconnect you with nature. It again can be done seated or lying and it works particularly well in a garden setting.

Episode 28 is a meditation designed to help you gain strength, confidence and become resilient. This meditation can be done sitting, standing or lying down.

I’ve separated these three sessions into separate podcasts to make them much easier to access again in the future without having to sit through my long-winded introduction.

Come back to these 3 recordings whenever you need them, they are here for you, that may be on a regular basis like they will be for me, or for whenever you need a reminder to breathe and return to calmness.

You can find Ben directly at beempowerednaturally.com.

Enjoy this introduction to meditation, don’t forget to subscribe to Trench Talk (in whichever podcast player you prefer) and please let me know what you think of the series.

Episodes 26, 27 and 28 are all now published, where Ben will guide you through the introductory process…

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Show notes and links for this episode can be found at xrm.com.au/podcast.

Feel free to email me with any suggestions or feedback to [email protected].

You can find Matt Reynolds on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and on LinkedIn.