One Sentence Could Change Your Trade Business

Andy
Oh, yes.

Ange
And usually the lessons don’t come when everything’s smooth sailing. 

Andy
No, they come when you’ve stuffed something up, taken on the wrong job, hired the wrong person, ignored your numbers, or tried to do everything yourself until you’re completely cooked.

Ange
Which is why today’s episode is a little different.

Andy
Yep, we’ve pulled together some of the best pieces of advice shared by our guests and members, real people running real businesses, sharing the kind of advice that sticks with you forever. 

Ange
And there are some absolute crackers in here. 

Andy
There really are. We’re talking about knowing your numbers, backing yourself, focusing on what you can control, not waiting for perfection, and becoming the expert instead of trying to be everything to everyone. 

Ange
What I loved most is that the advice wasn’t just about business tactics. A lot of it came back to leadership, mindset, health, decision-making, and learning how to slow down before you speed up.

Andy
Because the truth is, no matter how long you’ve been in business, you’re never really done learning. 

Ange
Mm, and sometimes one sentence from someone else is exactly what you need to hear. 

Andy
So whether you’re on the tools, in the ute, doing invoices after dinner, or wondering what the next move is for your business, this episode is for you.

Ange
Here are some of the best pieces of advice from our Lifestyle Tradie community. 

Andy
You’re listening to The Tradie Show. This is the podcast for trade business, and contracting bosses like you who wanna lead with confidence, make more profit, and create a better lifestyle. 

Ange
We’re your hosts, Andy and Angela Smith, husband & wife team and co-founders of Lifestyle Tradie. Are you ready to have some fun? 

Andy
Hell yeah! Want to cut your business costs without cutting corners? Buy4Tradies makes it simple. This is a buying group built by tradies for tradies, plumbers, sparkies, solar and air con techs, landscapers, just to name a few. Join for free and unlock trade-only deals on materials, fuel, tools, finance, IT, and heaps more. There are no contracts, no sign-up fees, just real savings with trusted national suppliers. So if you’re ready to keep more cash in your pocket and less in your overheads, jump onto buy4tradies.com.au. That’s buy, the number 4, tradies.com.au, and join for free today. 

Ange
So my last question for you, Alan, is what’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received? 

Alan
The best piece of advice was to work on yourself rather than on your job, because your job will automatically get better if you get better. So if you get smarter at marketing, if you get smarter at business, if you get fitter, if you help yourself, you will help everyone around you, not just in your business, but everywhere.

Ange
We’re a work in progress, right? 

Alan
Totally. 

Ange
And it never ends. I think the older I get, the more I realize I don’t know. Yeah. 

Alan
Yeah. 

Andy
I absolutely love that, mate. You are an absolute superstar, and thanks for playing along. 

Ange
All right. What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received? Perry?

Perry
So Ange, this actually takes me back to you. It’s something you said a while ago, and it’s about the whole cruise ship and speedboat analogy. And it’s about in business that you’re wanting to be, you know, with a cruise ship, if you wanna turn a corner, it takes, you know, hours and hours, maybe days to, for them to do a full turn. In business, if you act as a speedboat and make changes, you can make them really fast, really quick, you know, so you can be a lot more agile and make changes instantly and impact and have them implement them into your system instantly. So that’s something I remember from Ange. 

Ange
That’s amazing. And do you know what? When the two of you are an absolute powerhouse together, and it’s very clear that you guys have lines in the sand about whose job is what, then together you can make decisions really fast. So that’s what’s really cool. What about you, Jason? Best piece of advice you’ve ever received. 

Jason
Know your numbers. 

Ange
Hey. 

Andy
Hey. Like, that is it. Oh, mate, I’ll give you a high five for that. Pew. 

Ange
Pew. 

Jason
Thank you.

Andy
That is a big one.

Ange
All right, last question. What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received? 

Guest 1
Don’t wait for the perfect moment, just start. You’ll figure it out as you go, and literally just send it. Like, just send it. Send it. Literally, like, if it comes into your head that’s something you wanna do, why not just give it a shot? 

Ange
100%. 

Andy
That’s it. 

Ange
Life’s too short. 

Guest 1
Right? Exactly. Mm-hmm. 

Andy
Be a go-getter. Get out there and smash it.

Guest 1
Yep, that’s it. 

Ange
All right, so our last question. What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received? 

Guest 2
Just life’s too short. Never give up. 

Andy
Yeah. Just have a crack. 

Ange
Life’s for living, right? 

Guest 2
Yeah. Well, we never know what the future holds, so if you don’t try, you don’t know. You know, just give it a shot. 

Ange
All great lessons. Love that. What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

Guest 3
Well, I’ve got two. 

Ange
All right. 

Guest 3
First one is never take on a job you can’t afford to lose or complete yourself. This will grow as your bank account grows. 

Ange
Mm-hmm. 

Guest 3
And the next one is, no matter how irreplaceable you think you are, clients will forget your name by the end of the day. Do what’s right for you, not what they expect from you.

Andy
Love it. 

Ange
So true. Yeah. What about you, Sonia? 

Sonia
So for me, I’d say everything comes back to health, as we were just mentioning before. So if you’re highly strung and stressed, it’s gonna show up in your business and in your actions. So that old saying of clear desk is a clear mind, so having that tidy workspace helps you to think more clearly and productively. So I make a point at the end of each day of clearing my desk. Um, and I’m a big list person, so to keep my head clear and to help me sleep at night, I’ll document in writing so that I’m not constantly trying to remember. So, the biggest thing I was taught is, yeah, clear desk, clear mind. And if not, it’s all gonna show up in your, the rest of your life, and that includes work.

Ange
Couldn’t agree more.

Guest 3
So we’re completely opposite on that.

Sonia
Yeah. 

Guest 3
I don’t write shit down, and my desk is dirty.  

Ange
So what’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received? 

Guest 4
Don’t ever let your day be just work. Yes. So make sure that you’re doing something for yourself other than just working your 10-hour day.

Andy
Yeah, no, I agree with that. You need to make sure yourself comes first and your family and, and work comes second. Yeah. But obviously we all need to work, there’s no doubt about that. 

Ange
Final question, what’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received? 

Guest 5
Ooh, best piece of advice I’ve ever received. If someone else has done it, you can do it too.

Andy
Yeah, absolutely.

Guest 5
If someone else has done it… I- if you’re ever doubting yourself, just remind yourself someone half as smart as you and half as industrious as you has done it, and, and they just knew… They just found out how, and then they took action, and you can do that too. I think there’s never been a time where the answers to questions are more readily available to everybody.

Ange
Yes.

Guest 5
It’s literally in, in your hand, that phone you’re holding right now. 

Andy
Yeah. 

Guest 5
Right? That phone has the answers to every problem that you face, particularly with, with AI, but also, you know, there’s people out there, experts in everything are creating content, writing blogs, writing articles, doing podcasts. It’s never been easier to find the answers to your problems. So just if someone else has done it, you can do it too. 

Andy
Yeah, absolute legend, mate.

Ange
And question number three, what’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received? 

Guest 6
Uh, not necessarily what I’ve received, but something that I follow would be, don’t get upset over things you can’t control. Don’t let those things you can’t control take over your emotions, and things go wrong, but could something you’re in control of, of made a difference, or could something you’re doing now make it better. That’s where you look. If the answer to them is both no, then you’ve just gotta focus on what you can control and do, do well at that.

Andy
Mate, and that is 100% right, and I think, um, you know, a lot of the best business owners, we all have challenges, but all of a sudden they’re not… You know, when you’re smaller and you’re stressed and you’re wearing all the hats and everything’s a drama, everything becomes a bigger drama. But I think as you get a bit bigger and a bit smarter and a bit wiser, you listen to what the problem is, you, you make decisions on how to fix it if you can, and you move on, and you just keep doing that. And when you do that, business just seems a bit easier because you’ve got a structure, a system, and a way to deal with it. 

Ange
Question number three, Ash, what’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received? 

Ash
Uh, done is better than perfect. So I am a perfectionist, and it held me back for so many years because I took so long to do anything. Just do it. J- if it’s not perfect the first time, by the time you’ve done it 100 times, it’ll be perfect. 

Andy
Yeah, I agree with that.

Ange
Great advice.

Andy
80% is better than … Getting it done at 80% is better than never getting it done at all. 

Ange
One last final question. What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

Sophie
Mine is, I heard this a while ago and it just sticks with me, but does it need to be said or done? Does it need to be said or done by me? Does it need to be said or done by me right now? Mm. Ooh. And I just feel like that’s, I don’t always remember it, but- Yeah … When I do remember it, just think about it, I think we avoid, like, some conflict when you just kinda step back and, like, it’s not necessary sometimes. Dad’s mentioned before, don’t sweat the small stuff, and I just think that’s a good… Sorry, I took yours.

Andy
Jono’s like, “That’s what I was gonna say.” But 

Sophie
I think they can sort of go hand-in-hand and, you know, sometimes just take a step back. Like, does it, do I have to be the one to do it, or can someone else do it? And I think that’s been really good for us as well. Like, we’ve been able to pass responsibility on to different people and just. 

Ange
For the fact that that quote has played in your mind in the past, it probably just subconsciously now is a way that you act. Probably. You’ve probably just become, you’ve become it. Mm. What about you, Michelle? Mm. 

Michelle
I had so many. Um, and you know, of course, know your numbers. That’s the first one that jumps into my head. Thanks, Andy.

Ange
You’ve been brainwashed.

Michelle
Yeah, yeah. I have been brainwashed by Andy. That definitely has been a great piece of advice, but also, uh, slow down. Slow down and don’t do things out of high need. So when I feel myself, “Quick, quick, gotta go, gotta go, gotta go,” it’s my reminder to actually s- okay, slow down, step out, and then come back in from a different perspective of that. 

Andy
Jono. 

Jono
And, uh, the best piece of wisdom that I’ve received is from, uh, for family and, and, and work colleagues, never lose your temper at the same time.

Andy
Yeah. Wow. Love that. Love that. 

Jono
So, um, yeah, so that’s, that’s always been good with obviously dispute resolution and all that sort of thing, so you just go, “Okay, if they’re upset, well, I can’t get upset.” 

Andy
Yeah, no, I love that. 

Ange
Great piece of advice.

Andy
It is, it is. 

Ange
So Paul, what’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

Paul
It was a guy, it was a guy on the mountain. He said, “Don’t look at the whole mountain. Just see the next little bit, and that’s all you need to do.” This guy had summited Everest like six times, and he said when he would walk on mountains, he said I’d be… He would be in such a zen place, he would walk and his focus would be to not dislodge a pebble when he put his foot down. Like him, he was just in that state. This guy just said to me, you know, “All you need to worry about is getting from here to there, and that’s it. And then do that again, and then do it again, and do it again. And if you do that often enough and for long enough, you get to the summit.” And that was it. And you can apply that to absolutely anything, and it works every time, and it’s so simple.

Jason
And I just love that, ’cause there’s so many business owners I come across, they go, “I wanna be there.” And I go, “Okay, we can get you there.” And they’re like, “But oh my God, it’s so far away. How am I gonna get there?” 

Ange
Yeah, they do stress out, don’t they?

Jason
I’m like, “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Settle down. Settle down.” Yeah. And then they’ll go through moments- Easy tone with it. They’re absolutely smashing it, they’re building all that evidence, and then all of a sudden they have a meltdown. Yeah. It’s like whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Stop your meltdown. And the meltdown is, “Andy, I wanna sell my business now. I’ve had enough.” Yeah. You know, I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa. Take a chill pill. Breathe. Then we go back, we look at the evidence, and then we talk about it and they go, “Yeah, I’ve actually done quite a bit, haven’t I?” You have, and then we go again. So no, I absolutely love that. 

Ange
Okay, final question. What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received? 

Guest 4
Ooh. Um, probably don’t cut corners.

Andy
Don’t cut corners. Yeah. Yeah, 100%. Do the right way.

Guest 4
Yeah, because if you cut corners, you can do a job two or three times, and obviously it’s best to do the best job first time. Yeah, so for me it’s don’t cut corners. 

Ange
Quality matters. And Bridget? 

Bridget
My dad’s, um, from Belfast, and he was a plumber, so he came out here, and during his apprenticeship he learnt everything. Whereas I find, like, when you come here, plumbers are either roof plumbers or maintenance plumbers or contract plumbers. So he’s always said to me, you know, I’m not a tradesperson. He says, “Learn something and learn it well, and then become the expert in that field.” So that’s why we’ve kind of targeted that residential maintenance side and air conditioning rather than going, “I wanna do buildings, I wanna do this, I wanna do new builds.” It’s just, like, too much. He said, “Just focus on something and be the best at it.” So-

Andy
I absolutely love that.

Bridget
That’s what we’ve tried to.

Andy
How good was that? 

Ange
So good. And I think what really stands out is that great advice doesn’t have to be complicated. 

Andy
No, it doesn’t. And sometimes it’s as simple as just knowing your numbers, backing yourself, focusing on what you can control, or just taking the next step.

Ange
Yeah, and I think that’s the beauty of hearing it from other trade business owners, right? These aren’t fluffy quotes from a textbook. They’re lessons people have actually lived. 

Andy
Exactly. They’ve made the mistakes, had the hard days, figured a few things out, and then passed on the bit that stuck. 

Ange
Yeah. So maybe there was one piece of advice in this episode that landed for you today.

Andy
And if there was, don’t just nod along and keep driving. 

Ange
No, do something with it. 

Andy
Write it down, talk about it with your partner or your team, or use it to make one better decision in your business this week. 

Ange
Because the right advice at the right time can change the way you think. 

Andy
And the way you think changes the way you run your business.

Ange
Thanks for listening to The Tradie Show. 

Andy
We’ll catch you next time. Hell yeah! Subscribe to The Tradie Show, wherever you get your favorite podcasts. Rate and write us a review or for more information about Lifestyle Tradie, head to lifestyletradie.com.au.