Inspiring a generation of kids to take on a trade – Guest starring Logan & Jesse from Trade Collective

Andy
Well, I’ve got a theory on why kids these days are growing up in such a tech orientated world. Becoming a tradie is seen as a second rate job. They’re not being encouraged to see the value in becoming a tradie or that it’s just a great way to one day own your own business.

Ange
Right. And there’s always been a bit of a, well, if you are no good at school, maybe you should drop out and be a tradie. It’s not actually seen as something that smart kids do. It’s a dropout choice, right? We know that working with so many trade business owners is simply just not right.

Andy
And as a result, kids aren’t being encouraged to consider a trade, which is gonna have some serious challenges for our industry in the future. Trades and small businesses are the backbone of our economy. So if you don’t address this stigma around becoming a tradie, we are gonna have a massive problem with staffing shortages.

Ange
Absolutely. And that’s why today we are so keen to have Logan and Jesse from Trade Collective joining us. Welcome guys!

Logan
Hey, how are ya? Thanks for having us. Yeah, that was, that was beautiful.

Andy
We’re doing great guys. So good to hear from you.

Ange
Logan, can you run us through what Trade Collective does and what’s your mission?

Logan
So Trade Collective was founded here in New Zealand for the last, we come up to the fifth year. We’ve been on the road. So Jesse and I went on a trip about five years ago. Um, and we’ve both qualified tradies, both qualified plumbers, and then we were talking about, you know, how we got into the trade, why we got into the trade, and there was nothing sort of like inspiring the next generation to get into a trade when we’re at school. We basically got into it by default cause we got asked to leave school , um, you know, most probably did back then. And we thought we’d come up with this initiative that we go into schools and inspire the students by our lifestyles. We both live a pretty epic life, travel a lot, Jesse’s into some extreme sports, and we all have an epic life as most tradies do. So we went to school. We created a, um, about a 30 minute presentation where we go into schools, backed up by photos, videos, and then obviously industry facts, what it’s like to be a tradie. Knocking off at 4:00 PM most days and having a good lifestyle. So we’re selling the dream and we sort of, you know, you see a whole basically school full of children. Um, go. Wow. This looks simpler.

Andy
It’s so inspiring guys, and it’s so good to have you with us here today because you know, you’re doing an incredible job and we just can’t wait to help you guys spread this word as well.

Ange
You guys would’ve spent a lot of time talking to teachers and kids and parents about school leavers taking on trade. In your opinion, why do you guys believe there is a stigma around kids leaving school to take on a trade?

Jesse
I think the stigma around that is not finishing high school a lot of the time, you know, students will leave, uh, sort of 15, 16 to jump into a trade and in my opinion, that’s the best thing you can do. Logan and I both left at 15, 16 and you get a head start on the trade. But for some teachers who have spent their life teaching kids for you to not finish school as a bit of a no-no. In their books where for tradies, like my father pulled me outta school and said, you’re gonna get a two year head start on all of your friends. Logan was qualified plumber at 21, you know, and, and going back into the schools now and telling the teachers that they, they’re starting to get it. Yeah. They really are. So it’s just changing that stigma. It’s old school and it’s still there, but we’re, yeah, we’re slowly starting to move the shift, I think a little bit.

Andy
And it’s so good guys, because I was the same, dropped out at, when I was 15, had my own business at 21 and and away I went and I looked at some of my mates and they ended up being tradies and they actually look back and go, I wasted those two years of high school really doing nothing, not wanting to be there, but they were sort of forced to be there by their parents.

Jesse
Or you get other ones. A friend of mine finished, uh, school and then he went into the year of university to then go, ah, actually this isn’t for me. He’s a builder now qualified, with about 15 guys working for him. But he could have done that four years, five years earlier.

Ange
Yep. And sometimes the challenge with that right, is they’ve been told by a teacher that they’re gonna amount to nothing. So in their head they kind of go, oh, I’ll never own that business and have stuff like that could actually be a real door stopper. I can imagine.

Jesse
Exactly. There’s definitely a lot, a lot of opportunity out there for these young guys and girls.

Ange
Yeah, a hundred percent. Not only do we wanna inspire kids to take on trade, but also dream big to become their actual, their own trade business. So that story, Jesse, is so spot on. Do you think that teaching kids and teachers and parents to view trade not just as a job, but as a business opportunity, will help reduce the stigma around becoming a tradie?

Jesse
I think the biggest pool to be a trade is the freedom you get. And with that comes money and you know the hours. You don’t have to be sitting in an office till nine o’clock at night waiting until the last person goes home. You know, you, you work your eight hours and you’re done and you’ve earned some decent cash for the day. And that comes with freedom and then the lifestyle comes on top of that. So obviously the path, the business ownership is a massive pool and that’s what we’re telling the kids as well. You know, get qualified, you can go contracting, then you can, the flexibility and freedom really opens a lot of goals.

Andy
Yeah. And there’s no doubt about it. Australia and New Zealand have some of the best tradies too. So if you do end up going overseas, everyone loves us. So you guys have been talking to about 12,000 kids across New Zealand. I mean, geez, mate, that’s almost the population of New Zealand, isn’t it?

Logan
Almost . We still have a long way to go. We still have a long way to go. We’re, we’re just, uh, scratching the surface population of 12,000, you still can’t beat us in the footage. .

Andy
Ah, yeah, yeah. What rugby league?

Logan
Hey Warriors mate. Next year. Oh yeah.

Andy
So guys, you’re starting to do a tour across Australia this year. You know, what made you guys decide to come over to God’s country and spread the word over here as well?

Jesse
Oh, we both, Logan and my sister live in Australia. We both have family friends in Australia. We love Australia. We always have

Andy
In Bondi?

Jesse
No, the Gold Coast. Gold Coast actually. Oh, sorry. Um, but we, we just saw, we just saw opportunity and we thought, you know, we’ve been doing this for five or six years here in New Zealand now. It would be really cool to be able to give back and use the same method in Australia and see if we can’t make some, some head waves over there.

Ange
That’s awesome. And getting more women into trade has been a massive focus as well.

Jesse
So that, that, that’s one of our, that’s one of our biggest missions as well. That’s, so we’ve

Ange
Awesome.

Jesse
We’ve always been an advocate for women in the trades and when we started this, this tour sort of four or five years ago, we didn’t realize the Lady Tradie community that was out there. You know, it’s from doing our tour, we’ve been introduced to some of the most incredible females that are absolutely crushing it in on the trade. So we’ve actually got a female coming on to help us with a couple of schools next year. We’ve actually spoken at one of the most prestigious female schools in the country, St cuts. And so she came up and, uh, helped us with the presentation and it’s just a lot more relatable to these females to have another female. Telling the same story we are, you know, she’s a sparky and she’s just qualified and absolutely loving it. So yeah, we’re really pushing for women in the trade. So we’re not only, we are not going to boys schools, we’re gonna college schools, we’re gonna, you know, girl only schools.

Ange
I love that opportunity and I think that’s amazing. What is it that you think that holds girls back from taking on trade then?

Jesse
Well, again, I guess there’s that, a lot of that stigma probably, you know, it’s a heavily male dominated industry. So with that, you know, comes its own challenges. But again, with the Lady Tradie community that, you know, with social media these days, um, like certainly mentioned the tech, but, but it’s used in a positive manner as well. Like, you know, you can reach 10, 20,000 people, you know, click of a button. And you know, people like Pauline and, and other females in the trade community, they’ve got such engaged massive audiences and spreading positive words about the whole trade and how like you know that is loving that which is doing massive things.

Ange
I actually think from a female perspective, whether they’re a contractor or whether they own a business, they actually really have a niche in the market because there’s not a lot of women and they can build trust really quickly with clients, especially female clients, say in a residential market. So I agree with you. I think women definitely should consider trade when you just talked about lifestyle flexibility and um, working outside and with their hands. I don’t know why females don’t think that this isn’t an opportunity for them to join trade. I think they could absolutely nail it.

Logan
Yeah, so that’s a big part of our mission is just to keep spreading that message that, you know, it’s normal and you girls, you know, have every right to be a tradie on the building site as US men. So yeah, we’re really trying to push for the females.

Andy
A hundred percent. Great guys. I absolutely love it. I mean, you guys inspire so many kids, but one of the kids that you inspired, you actually took on as an apprentice, is that right?

Jesse
Yeah, kind of. So we, we talked at my homeschool techo grammar, uh, here on the North Shore and a young fella reached out to me and said, mate, that was such an inspiring talk. I’m still on the tools, or I was sort of doing about 50 50, uh, when I got busy and when the tool was not cranking too hard, I jumped back on the tools. So this young fella said, Hey, can I come and do some work experience with you? And he just lived down the road, so it made sense. So he came and did one day a week, which then turned into full-time in the holidays. And it just, you know, his mum’s a, his mum works for Air New Zealand. His dad’s a lawyer. He’d never even considered a trade. Yeah. And he absolutely loved it. He thrived, so I, I couldn’t take him on full-time, but I trained him up well enough that he literally, he had about 10 plumbers wanting him

Ange
Wow.

Jesse
To come and do an apprenticeship. Well, he literally could, he could pick and choose just because, you know, through the network that I we’d built, but also he’d done six months work experience, and so he was already pretty clued up and yeah, he just, he just flew straight into an apprenticeship. So he started this year and he is doing really well, doing great guns.

Andy
Mm-hmm. That’s awesome. So it’s interesting for apprentices, you know, there’s mixed responses. Sometimes guys out there look at these apprentices and go, ah, they’re just so green. I want to get a third year or a fourth year. I wanna try and get a tradie. But I think time’s really been changing because trying to get the right person for you to fit your culture and your business is really important. What are the benefits of, you know, for all the trade business owners listening out there, why do you think there’s a massive benefit in hiring these apprentices from the start?

Jesse
They cost nothing. And I can tell you right now that you’ve crawled all the way under a house and you’ve left your pipe cutters or something. Do you really wanna be running out and going back to the band to get them? Everything from having him to help dig holes? Moral support, lifting a toilet up stairs. I just, I will not work without an apprentice. I find it just so much harder, you know? And as long as you keep an eye on them for the first six months, they’re not gonna make too many mistakes. And they’re only human. And you were an apprentice too, one day. So it’s time to give back and train up the next generation.

Andy
And there’s some massive incentives here in Australia at the moment with most apprentices, 50% of their wage is covered by the government as well. So we’ve had some huge things happen.

Jesse
Then why? Then why? Then, why wouldn’t you?

Ange
Yeah.

Andy
Yeah, I know.

Ange
Well, there’s talk about some changes in government that they’re considering making TAFE free. Not that that’s come in yet, but there’s conversation and I totally agree with that. I think it’s really good that they encourage Tradies to actually choose this, uh, and cover all their TAFE stuff. So guys, I’m aware that you started Trade Collective in 2017 and have been touring these schools and talking to these students and teachers, and I’m interested to know, since you began, have you actually noticed a change in attitude towards taking on trades or is it actually still a bit of an uphill battle when you’re talking to these people?

Jesse
Initially it’s full of the same stigma, but um, you know, I guess we, we try and spread it out between the, the high club of schools and then, you know, the, the not so high schools. But man, it’s, yeah, we’re definitely, definitely noticing a change. And same again, back. Um, the social media side of things too. We obviously give them, you know, go follow us afterwards and, and they can really get an insight and, and see that shift as well. So, I mean, it’s when you’re telling, you know, telling a 500 students that a third year apprentice makes more than, you know, your, your teacher, you know, we definitely get a few. But, but then we’ve, we also had the principal of Hamilton boys get up on stage in front of 500 lads and say, if I could have my time over again, I would’ve been a tradie.

Ange
Wow.

Jesse
So for us, it’s, we’re definitely making waves and it’s, it’s pretty, pretty awesome.

Logan
So for us as well, you know, pioneering this initiative has been pretty cool. Like, there’s, there was nothing like that when we’re at school and you know, it was like, if there was, it was like a, you know, retired plumbers, you know, he is hobbling him with his back and he’s going, oh, you know, he should be a tradie, but he’s old grumpy bugger. So, you know, it’s two young like, Good, good looking.

Andy
Bella’s coming. He’s calling. He’s calling.

Logan
He said, mate, oh mate,

Andy
We’re looking at you. You’re doing alright.

Jesse
There. There was also nothing, there was nothing like this. I left school at 15 and, and yes, a couple of my friend’s parents looked at me like a dropout and it was a little bit harder and I, at the time, didn’t know I’d made the right decision. Dad was, you’re out all good. And he knew it, but I didn’t know that. So there was nothing to solidify what I’d done was Right. But had there been something like what Logan and I do and I heard our presentation at 15, I would’ve known that I’m on the right path and gonna be successful, and I’m gonna live an incredible life. You know, 15 year old Jesse way worked first on the building site. I didn’t know what I was in for, for the rest of my life.

Ange
So that was your opportunity to, so when you go into these schools, you’re talking to these year 10 students. Just to clarify.

Jesse
The 15, 16, and 17 mm-hmm. .

Ange
Okay. Awesome.

Andy
Yeah. And I think, um, when I first started my trade too, when people or parents would say, well, what do you do? And you go, I’m a plumber. And they go, oh, okay. Yep. No worries. Yeah. Where these days, you go, well, I’m a tradie. And people go, Oh, this ping, this bloke, he’s probably gonna make a buckle two. You know? And so it’s completely changed and some of us tradies are making more than doctors these days, and I think the young guys have gotta realize that coming through young guys and girls, obviously.

Jesse
Yeah. Another thing, Logan and I both used to be very embarrassed to tell girls we were plumbers when we’d go out into the bars and stuff. Seriously, when we were younger, it was the most embarrassing thing. And now I don’t tell people I’m a social influencer. I don’t tell people about the too much. It’s like when girls ask me what do I do? I say, I’m a plumber. And it’s literally like you said, cha-ching, you know? And we’re on here. You know, everything is, most girls already know because you’ve got red priming fluid and blue glue pants. These hands,

Ange
Silky smooths.

Jesse
Six months on, six months off, mate, we’re doing.

Ange
At the beginning of this, one of the things you mentioned is lifestyle, right? So, you know, you’re talking to us, our company is called Lifestyle Tradie. One of the things that we educate is the fact that you can actually have a choice, right? You can stay on the tools, you can manage from above. You can actually passively, you know, operate your business. You can set it up to sell and make money. But I just wanna touch on this lifestyle piece cuz you boys mentioned it too. Logan, you said Jesse is into some really extreme sports and he, you know, this is, you can do this. So can you tell us a little bit about that?

Jesse
Yeah, well, like I said, I’m six months on, six months off really. So when I’m not plumbing, I’m skydiving, weight board surfing, and snowboarding. When I was doing my apprenticeship, I just qualified and my boss kept me on and I would work for nine months of the year and I’d do three months in America, skydiving and weight boarding. And I did that for four or five years. And he, I was lucky I had the right boss until the point where he said, Hey, why don’t you contract me? Yes. That way there’s no, no deal with the employment laws and stuff. And that’s when it really took off. That’s, he should never have done that. Cause I went from three months of taking six months off. Yeah. And it’s, and it’s really, it’s been awesome to be able to do that. And Logan’s were similar.

Logan
Yeah, I mean, same thing like, you know, so if the surf’s on, you know, the boys are starting at 10 or you know, if there’s, if it’s a midday out, then boys are taking Friday off to go fishing or play golf. You know, having the trade just really gives you that flexibility to do that. And yeah, the lifestyle’s massive, massive thing. Which is such a, yeah, it’s so cool.

Andy
So we’ve got a few of the trade business and they’re out there cringing going Boys don’t tell the young guys that too early because they’re not gonna finish their apprenticeship.

Jesse
Well, you’ve gotta do your hard yard and like I said, you know, we did our apprenticeship, we worked our buts off, and then it was when we got qualified, that was when we sort of could take the, the thing, but not, that’s not to say that these young fellas won’t, I don’t actually own a house. Logan has, you know, eventually, but these young kids could be a 22 year old apprentice with a house behind them. Whereas I went to America every year and, and blew that on, on jumping out airplanes and injecting myself with adrenaline, you know? But there was no reason why I couldn’t afford a house back then, had I accepted myself. It’s just what general path you wanna take.

Ange
I hear you and that is really like a life choice. Andy and I, going back when he first started his business at 21, when we were 23, we actually pulled up stumps and went around Australia for 13 months and he actually took his tools so that he could work, and that was just incredible because it was so easy for him to get a job as a plumber, everyone like it was, yeah, so simple.

Andy
Then we hit it over to Canada and for a ski season over there and I was snowboarding, instructing and all that kind of stuff, but it just gave us a lot of opportunities when I came back, I got straight back into starting my business. Yes, we’ve got some breaking news tradies. Yes, we do. And we are the big winners in this year’s federal budget. I mean, tradies are always winners, but this year they’re finally recognized that there is a gap in the tradie market and they’re actually doing something about it for a change.

Ange
Isn’t that fantastic? The budget announced that the government is setting up an Australian apprenticeships incentive scheme to streamline apprenticeship funding programs. So to break that down for you guys, basically, if you as a trade business owner take on an apprentice or a trainee up until June 30th, 2022, you’ll get back 50% of the eligible Australian apprenticeships wage in the first year. But note it is actually capped at a maximum payment of seven grand a quarter.

Andy
And look, we all know that apprentices are on the low scale when it comes to dollars and cents, but let’s face it, a lot of them need a lot of hand holding. So, you know, if you’ve been on the fence about hiring an apprentice, maybe this cashback offer is the final push you need to get yourself over the line.

Ange
Yeah, I agree. And you know what? It’s not just business owners who are benefiting apprentices and trainees will get a direct payment of up to five grand over two years.

Andy
Yeah. Honestly, I don’t see any other industries out there that are getting these types of rebates like US tradies. So this might encourage a lot of school leavers to take up a trade, which I know we’ve banged on about all of this episode, and I won’t harp on that anymore. But it’s awesome to see the government offering support to young tradies to complete the apprenticeships because we already have a staffing shortage and we wanna make sure we fix that up once and for all. Hopefully this will help relieve some future staffing issues and finally start to build back up the trade industry in Australia. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Small business is the backbone of the Australian economy.

Ange
Yeah, totally. Talk about putting money where your mouth is. They actually announced that 2.8 billion in federal government spending is aimed at helping young Australian tradies complete their apprenticeships over the next five years. Plus small businesses with an annual turnover of less than 50 million are going to be given access to a new bonus of 20% tax deduction for the cost of external training courses. That’s epic. Yeah.

Andy
Yeah, it is. It’s great. It’s all really good stuff. More than anything. It’s just great to see the government acknowledging that there is a problem with the lack of tradies out there and they’re doing something about it. I know a lot of people will say that they could have done more and yeah, sure, they maybe could have, but you know what? This is a really good start to really kick us in the butt and get the trade industry and all these apprentices back out there again.

Ange
Totally agree. And you know what? We actually need these skilled tradies now to be working with us. So it’s not what I class as an immediate help, but it absolutely is a step in the right direction. But if taking on a trade seems more appealing to the younger generation, they’ll get rebates and it might be easier for them to find a job with wage subsidies. It’s, at the very least, a plan with some longevity to help trade is long term. I don’t see it having significant industry change but it’s totally a step in the right direction.

Andy
It’s totally a step in the right direction, you know, but really us trade business owners need to step up and get out there and hire these apprentices. Hopefully they’re coming through the door thick and fast, and we need to build up all the tradies out there, train them well, and lock ’em in, and keep them forever if we can. That’s all for the news today. More details about the budget and how to apply for these grants are being released, so check out our show notes or go to the government website. So boys, I’m gonna dive, we play a bit of a game with our guests and we’re gonna fire three rapid, fast questions at you. You’ve got up to 30 seconds to answer them. Are you boys ready?

Logan
Yeah, mate, bring it on.

Andy
Okay. The first one is, who’s the best plumber outta the two of you? Go!

Jesse
I’m gonna take that . Wow. Only up until about, only up until a few years ago, Logan will obviously, Logan’s not been on the tools for three or four years now. So just the fact that I keep up my skill, I’ve probably got the edge on him.

Andy
And I think Logan was quite happy to hand you the trophy.

Ange
He did.

Jesse
I’ll tell you what, once I’m running by all my, are dead straight. I’m sweeping up. We’re saying, we’re saying that Logan’s probably a lot tidier plumber. I’m probably a lot faster.

Andy
Yeah. Okay. I’m gonna ask you, Logan, what are the three top reasons kids should consider taking on a trade?

Logan
Ooh, yeah. Lifestyle, flexibility, freedom.

Andy
Perfect. Nailed it. And I think, Jesse, we’ve touched on this a little bit, but you are still on the tools and what’s the best thing about being a trade?

Jesse
Ah, the best thing, I mean, for me, flexibility, but other than that it’s, it’s seeing a finished product. You know, you go into somebody’s house and you’ve ripped all the jib off and the walls are just bare and then, you know, you do your part, Tyler does his part, and you go back and you pull the bath in the shower and everything in, and you take a step back and you say, wow, I did that. And that’s always been one of the biggest things for me. You know, seeing a finished product was really cool.

Andy
Exactly.

Ange
Absolutely, absolutely loved this amazing conversation. Andy and I are in absolute awe of what you guys are doing. Somebody totally needed to step up and start educating kids that trade isn’t a dead end job or just something for school dropouts. So becoming a tradie is so much more than that and it has so many opportunities and different avenues.

Andy
And let’s face it guys. Heaps of us tradies make so much more money than those desk jockeys, you know, when we’re outside playing full on as well.

Ange
Absolutely.

Jesse
Yeah. Who’s laughing though? Who’s laughing?

Ange
Yeah. Becoming a trade business owner means that you have freedom to choose your lifestyle. You get to work for yourself and be in control of your life, like you said, and not an answer, answer to somebody else. Kids need to be shown what an awesome life becoming a tradie could be and help them realize that it’s a career that they can actually be proud of.

Andy
Well said Ange. Logan and Jesse, I just wanna thank you guys for joining us today. Not only in Logan’s words, you’re both good looking , but uh, but we can’t wait to see how the Australian tour goes.
Jesse
Yeah, we’re really looking forward to coming over to OS and thanks for having us on and um, I’m sure you guys will be able to follow our Australian journey and, um, we’ll be able, maybe some of your listeners might be able to take on some of the kids that we push their way.

Logan
We’re actually looking for some sponsorship too, so any of those rich bloody Aussie tradies you got out there, you got cash in your pocket, Chuck it us, we’ll keep the, um, the future kick for you guys.

Andy
Sounds great boys. Just wanna say big thank you.

Ange
Absolutely. Andy today has been awesome. I really enjoyed today’s episode. Let’s quit while we are ahead and we’ll catch you all next week.

Andy
Catch you later.