Does being on The Block = BIG REWARDS for your trade business? Guest starring Ollie Stephens, owner of Hungry Wolf Studio

Ange
Yeah, I remember that. Everyone at the time thought you were absolutely crazy. It’s most trading’s dream to have their business logo slapped on every TV screen and have your business overnight become a household name.

Andy
Yeah, I know, I know. But at the time, from my perspective, it just didn’t seem like they wanted to spend any money and they wanted us to do all this work for little to no cost, and it just didn’t sit right with me. You know, this was some years ago, and maybe the show has changed for the better since then, but I just felt like as a plumber, Your work isn’t really seen, like we’re not a landscaping company or a cabinet maker that people are like, oh my God, I want that product now. But for the most part, the plumbing side of things, well, when there’s a room revealed, most of our stuff is hidden.

Ange
You know what? I totally supported you in that decision because it wasn’t right for us at the time, but I do actually feel like there are two sides to a home renovation show. On one hand, they’re actually great for trade business owners.

Andy
Really? How so?

Ange
Well, if you are in the home renovation game or anything residential, say shows like The Block are great because they inspire potential customers. These shows like Take an Ordinary Room and show how you can transform it into an absolutely beautiful space. It puts stars in these potential customers’ eyes and it makes them hungry for an upgrade.

Andy
Yeah, it’s so true and I know that there’s quite a few builders out there with their home renovation advertising. They spend a lot more money around this time of when The Block’s on and it, and it really pays dividends to them and what they’re saying, it’s like flies to honey, baby.

Ange
Yeah. But there is a flip side to this. We’ve all seen these shows, renovation shows that they redo an entire house in like three days.

Andy
Three days. More. Like three minutes.

Ange
I know. And as a trade business owner, we just know that that is absolutely impossible.

Andy
Yeah, it’s absolutely crazy. Overall, these shows are great for tradies and it really helps our customers be inspired, but we need to make them. A sense of reality around this, you know, to gain better awareness that a lot of the times these shows are just TV magic.

Ange
Absolutely. I second that. So today on the show we’ve got a block Tradie veteran Ollie from Hungary Wolf Studio, who joins us to share his experience with having his architectural concreting trade business on national tele. Not once, but three times.

Andy
Three seasons. Geez. That is commitment, right? Ollie welcome to the show, buddy.

Ollie
Yeah, welcome guys. Thanks for having us.

Andy
Mate. It’s so good to have you here today, but the most obvious question I have for you today is, what is it actually like to have your trade business on The Block? Not for one season, but for three seasons, and was it all that it’s cracked up to be?

Ollie
Look, to be honest, it’s one of those once in a lifetime sort of things that I thought going on at the start with, I’d only just started doing this architectural concrete business, you know, it was six years ago. No one really knew. You said concrete benchtops. People were like, what? Are you crazy? Mm. So yeah, got asked to do a, um, barbecue benchtop and, you know, we’d had this cool big canali on it and it just sort of, yeah, it just exploded. Um, people on the show were loving it. The judges and things were absolutely loving it as well, Yeah, it just sort of helped really propel not only what we can do, but yeah, just concrete in general. So it was, yeah, it was really exciting.

Ange
So Ollie, I think many tradies assume that going on these shows is literally a fast track to success. That being said, for Hungary Wolf Studio, why did you choose to say yes to going on The Block?

Ollie
It was one of those things I couldn’t really afford to say no. At the time when I was at that state, you know, I had a bit of time up my sleeve and I really wanted to get my name out there as well as, you know what we do. And the best way to see it is visually. So you know, if you can get that stuff on national tv, it’s fantastic. It’s the one thing about my trade, you know, plumbers and electricians and stuff that are on the show, they don’t really get the glorification of it because all their stuff is hidden and things like that, you know? You know, these finishing trades that come on can really get a bit of value out of being on there, that’s for sure.

Ange
So Ollie I’m really keen to hear you tell me a little bit more about what exactly you did that was different on either one of these block series.

Ollie
Yeah, so I think the latest one that I went on was Luke and Jasmine and Sarah and George. For Luke and Jasmine. We did this awesome curved pizza bench that had some wood storage and stuff underneath it, some LED lighting. It was just a real knockout. And then to go with that was this awesome arch curved, um, five pit seating. So, It was a bit of a pizza, five pit sort of party scenario, which was really cool.

Ange
That sounds awesome.

Andy
Very nice, very nice. So mate, to wrap it up, you know your time on the show. Overall, did being on National TV boost your brand? And we know it fast tracked your business success, but like how much, like what’s it really done for you?

Ollie
I think it’s more every time you do a job, people will always refer to us as, oh, these guys are on The Block, you know.

Andy
Yes.

Ollie
It’s a good little thing that at the time you don’t really think about too much, but it has this domino effect on every single person you work for. Not only that, but also a lot of the trades that you meet on site and that everyone goes, oh, they’re those guys from The Block, or, or whatever. So it can be a blessing and a curse. But I think it’s definitely helped more than anything else, yeah.

Andy
That’s awesome.

Ange
Lucky you did a good job then. Hey, yeah.

Ollie
Yeah, absolutely.

Ange
So Ollie, how did you leverage this in your marketing?

Ollie
I think it was just more, you know, with social media now, it’s um, you know, these hashtags, The Block and, and that sort of stuff. It does go a long way. And it’s also the clients, you know, we were fortunate enough to do work with Josh and Elise when they won that season and, you know, winning the rooms that we were doing as well. And they’re just such great guys. I’ve become good friends of ours now and um, and doing a bit of work for ’em now as well. But, um, if you’ve got that backing and their social media following, it just goes a long way, you know.

Andy
Yeah, I, I’m sitting back here as a tradie, and, and let’s face it, you know, at times things go wrong, but they go wrong when you really don’t want them to go wrong, like Friday afternoon when you’re just trying to get home. So like being on a show, you don’t want it going wrong, you know, because it’s really, that hiccup is gonna, could destroy you. And you’re on national tv, like when they were filming, were they lenient with you and you could say, Hey, don’t put this stuff up on, or you just No.

Ollie
Oh hell no. Yeah. No. Hell no. They want drama. They want to, yeah. They wanna see you in a pressure cooker situation. So, you know, an ideal world, we’d, we’d pour concrete on a Monday, not on a Wednesday or a Thursday, when there’s a reveal on this Sunday. So yes, they try and just sort of drag you out and, and develop the drama, which is, you know, what, what everyone loves about the show and watches it for, but you know, when you are the other person in there, in the pot, yeah, it starts boiling pretty quickly.

Ange
Do they, do they poke the bear to see what reactions you might have to see how, how, what happens?

Ollie
Oh, absolutely. Especially when I first sort of, um, the first season. But you know, you get used to it as the time goes on and you’ve just gotta learn to just deal with your job and not try and worry about anything else that’s going on around you.

Andy
You’d have to be pretty calm. Cause I know some tradies absolutely spit it when there’s too many people around in the way . And it sounds like there’s a thousand people on site and everyone’s in the way.

Ange
They’re all off walking over the top of each other.

Andy
Yeah.

Ollie
Yeah. It literally is a bit like that. Especially when you’ve just got this freshly poured concrete and you know, you’ll just look at the corner of your eye, someone walking past with a nail bag on, and you just sort of, your heart sort of goes up into your truck a little bit. But yeah, everyone on there, you know, everyone’s trying to do their job as best as they can, and everyone looks out for each other. It’s pretty good.

Andy
That’s awesome. I love that. Cause I always wondered, you know, was everyone fighting behind the scenes? But you know, as you said, they talk about that and they make drama about that and they blow it up on tv. But at the end of the day, everyone seems to be the best of mates at the end, and people see it as a competition and tend to let things go a bit at the end.

Ollie
Uh, most definitely, you know, especially at the time when it’s all getting filmed, doing these big days and you absolutely wrecked. But then when he comes around to watch it at the end and see the success that these guys are having and rooms completely put together and, and done and the whole house complete, it’s really satisfying. It is good. And you know, my kids absolutely love it too. So it’s, uh, it’s pretty handy. They can see dad on TV or whatever.

Ange
I never would’ve thought that the kids would gain bragging rights for their dad. Forever. It’s recorded forever.

Andy
Yeah. As we always say, like to be an amazing trade business, you do really need to have the right structure in place and the right systems in place. And Ollie, clearly you’ve mastered this with your trade business. What’s been your secret for success?

Ollie
The biggest secret of mine would have to be my wife, I reckon.

Andy
Yes.

Ollie
She’s been a real driving force, um, for the business and pushed me when I didn’t want to be pushed in a nice way, but also takes care of a lot of the, the day-to-day, the stuff that, you know, the tradies we don’t want to be dealing with, you know, invoicing and all that sort of stuff. I just want to get to work, do my job, come home and yeah, she picks up all those other pieces that I don’t really want to do and she seems to do it really well.

Andy
Yeah, you are. You are the tradie. You get out there, you are the master, you are the artist, and then you get all your receipts and all the shit and just throw it at her and go deal with that, will you? .

Ange
And you know what, as we all know, it’s not just bookkeeping, right? There are two. We always talk about the fact that there are two sides to any trade business. One is, front of house, which is you, you know, you’re on the tools talking to the customer. You are now on national tele and you’re like a star, and there’s a second side to business, which is everything else behind the scenes that make the wheels keep turning. And your wife is an absolute gem.

Ollie
Oh my gosh. Oh yeah. She is, she’s a, she’s a powerhouse. So, yeah. No, it’s, it’s very handy. And if you’ve got someone like that to help out with your business, it’s a game changer. I certainly couldn’t do it without her.

Andy
Yeah. And I have to say it, you were a bit of an alright two inch I think.

Ange
Lucky. Lucky you said that.

Andy
I know. That’s what happened. Felt like I had to win a small room at the moment.

Ange
He’s standing real close. You might get punched otherwise, the reality is though, that one can’t operate without the other, right. These two sides of business. And that’s what, uh, I think that’s a really important takeout about what you just said.

Ollie
Yeah.

Andy
A hundred percent. And I think, um, a lot of tradies are good at what they do, but, um, running a successful business is a lot more than just being good with your hands. It’s the whole structure of the whole business.

Ange
Yeah. Stick to your strengths, know what they are, and delegate and leverage the rest.

Ollie
Yep.

Ange
So now that you’ve taken a break from the glitz and glamor of tv, what’s your next business venture? I understand you’re now teaching other tradies to do what you do best, right?

Ollie
Yeah, look, it’s something that I always wanted to do or felt there was a part of me that wanted to do, but again, my wife, Kylie sort of helped. Nudge me in the right direction. But, you know, that was the best thing for us. Well, having the lockdown in Melbourne for, for two years really was a driving force for me to push this and get it going. So we sort of put a bit of a poll out to all our Instagram followers and stuff and said, you know, what would be the one thing that you’d wanna learn? And the floating concrete stairs were definitely the winner in that sort of thing. So we decided to start teaching it and, and develop a course that anyone could do a serious DIY or a tradesman and we just are blown away with the success of it. And yeah, looking forward to our next course, which will, you know, I was actually sketching while having my coffee this morning, sort of drawing up a new sort of, uh, barbecue bench top, you know, pizza oven, all that sort of stuff. So yeah, that’s gonna be our next one, which is exciting. And yeah, I just love it.

Ange
It’s a great niche actually. We’re in the middle of doing DIY on our house at the moment and looking at all these architectural differences or whatever, and concrete is just a huge talking point inside our home. So I find it really interesting that you have a niche. I mean, obviously this is your trade, but people are clearly very interested in learning how exactly to do things like those floating stairs. They’re absolutely beautiful.

Andy
Well, I think the thing is, you know, most people look at their house and they go, we need a driveway, and maybe it’s on a slab and blah, blah, blah. What you have done with those floating stairs. I mean, I was flicking through your website and going over stuff. I’m like, how’s this? And how’s that over? And this looks incredible. And this is amazing. And being able to teach people that have never learned how to do this before, and we all know that some people could go, well, if I take two years, I might be able to work it out myself. But why waste all that time when they can just come and join you and pay a couple of bucks? But sometimes you need to pay a couple of bucks to straight away, get that success, and you’ll make that backing for like half a second.

Ollie
Honestly, I wish there was someone who had the course for me. . Yeah. You know, I, I went through a lot to learn and figure everything out and tried and tested so many different techniques and so many different sealers and tools and all that sort of stuff. But, um, yeah, I’ve refined it now and, and simplified it in a way that just makes it so much easier. And yeah, for a small price to pay for a, a really good result.

Andy
Yeah, exactly. And that’s no different with Lifestyle Tradie. You know, when we had our hard days before, in the early days of running a trade business, we wished there was someone like us out there as well, we made a shit load of mistakes and cost us a lot of money.

Ange
So Ollie, what is the goal with your course? Do you have targets of how many tradies you wanna learn? Uh, the, or teach this technique?

Ollie
The goal is just to better my industry, to be honest. You know, there was no one really doing it at the time when I started up. And now we’re, you know, everyone’s, every company, the bandwagon to be the guy who’s doing all the cool stuff now, which is awesome. But,

Andy
It is.

Ollie
um, it’s just,

Ange
I saw you on The Block.

Ollie
Yeah, possibly. But yeah, it’s, it’s one of those things that I think it’s just gonna better the industry and then, you know, we’ve got a pretty bad name, concreters throughout the industry. If I can sort of make the architectural concrete industry a better place and a trusted place and people are gonna get what they pay for, then that’s a good thing.

Andy
Awesome, buddy. So we like to play a game with our guests coming on, and I’m gonna fire three rapid fire questions at you. You have up to 30 seconds to answer each one. Are you ready to play, mate?

Ollie
Oh. Alright. Yep. Let’s go.

Andy
Let’s go mate. Do those stretches, a couple of pushups get pumped up. Would you recommend going on a show like The Block to other trade businesses that are sitting out there listening right now?

Ollie
Uh, absolutely. But don’t do it for free.

Andy
Yeah. Are you finding it? I’m gonna ask this question. Because I know that when we first met, we’ve been asked in the past, and we talked about that at the beginning of this segment, but we’ve been asked in the past and there was a real theme of you could tell they didn’t wanna spend any money. And do you find that a lot of people are going on there, doing it really cheap to be the superstar and then they walk away going, hang on, I didn’t get much TV coverage. I did a job that I lost money on all the hassle and stress.

Ollie
Yeah, a hundred percent. It’s one of those things. And anyone who has a bad experience, that’s the reason why.

Andy
Yeah.

Ollie
So, yeah, I think it is important that if you’re good at something, you don’t do it for free. And yeah, that’s the bottom line.

Andy
That’s right mate. You gotta charge what you’re worth. And if they don’t want that, then you know you’re not the right person, I suppose when you are doing something that no one else could do and you’re winning rooms, people just want you. So what was it like to win a room on the show? And go, that room was one because of what I did.

Ollie
Ah, it’s definitely not that I wouldn’t go that far.

Andy
Oh, another far?

Ollie
A very, very small piece of the puzzle, but you know, one that when all the elements come together, that’s, you know, you can just tell it was a winning room before it was finished. Creating a piece of furniture in a house is really cool and that’s not something that you can really do with any other product.

Ange
So you’re very modest, Ollie.

Andy
Yeah, you are . But let me ask you. This is just another question I thought of. How often, cause you’re walking around and you probably see all these different rooms and different contestants. Is there some real big blow ups after the fact when they’re done judging and then everyone gets together and goes, we were robbed. Like is there a lot of that backend stuff?

Ollie
Oh, a hundred percent.

Andy
Yeah. Nice.

Ollie
Yeah, no one wants to lose. Everyone’s given 110% staying up till ridiculous hours if they’re getting any sleep at all. So the last thing you want is to go down like a lead alone, in front of the judges.

Ange
We are talking like a house full of tradies who are super competitive already on a competitive show.

Andy
That’s just the consistency of competition. Everyone’s competitive when you’ve got, when you’ve got, uh, long hours. Not much sleep and competitive people there.

Ange
Lots of coffee.

Andy
Yeah. Lots of coffee.

Ollie
Oh, heaps of coffee.

Andy
Yeah. . So mate, um, for the tradies out there listening now, what are your top three tips for any trade business owner listening?

Ollie
Number one would have to be, don’t be afraid to say no.

Andy
Yes.

Ollie
That’s the hardest part in business that I found was just trying to please everyone, every single quote I did, trying to get there and complete it, and it was just too hard. At the end of the day, you’re not a robot and you need sleep, and you need family time, and you need, you know, to enjoy your job. If you’re, if you’re working like that, you’re not gonna be enjoying what you do and you’re gonna burn out and you’re gonna start being pretty miserable pretty quickly. So, that was number one for me, definitely. Number two, delivering above expectation. I think people expect something, but if you can give them another level, if it’s, you know, just doing those little extra bits that, you know, most people wouldn’t do. But if you can do that, then that’s fantastic. Um, and it’s great for, you know, word of mouth and, you know, more work. So, yeah. . And number three would just be cleanliness. Building sites are horrible at the best of times, so I try to leave jobs cleaner than it was when I got there. And being a concreter, that’s sometimes ambitious, but it goes a long way because clients will always notice the nest before they notice the work.

Ange
That’s our lasting impression, isn’t it? That cleanliness piece?

Andy
It is. You’ve gotta offer that great customer service, be a good person, have good communication skills, and do a top product. And, and I think that you said earlier, there’s so many tradies I talk to and I’m so busy. I’m so busy and they’re, they’re just going nuts and they’re just in a bad head space and I’m like, Well just do your A, B, C, and D customers. Get rid of your shit customers, cuz half the time they’re still working with customers that aren’t quality and aren’t giving them the money they need. And just focus on your top ones and build a bit of a margin in it so you can do that and you’re actually financially better off and you’ve got a bit of headspace.

Ollie
Yeah, agreed. And, and that was probably one of the hardest things about The Block was just the amount of tie kickers that were coming from.

Andy
Yes.

Ollie
Being on the show. So everyone automatically goes, I want a concrete benchtop in three days. Um, and it doesn’t matter where they are in Australia, they expect you to be able to be there and do it. So, that was a really good learning curve for me was no, you just can’t. It’s impossible. So hence why the course is there too. We want architectural concrete coming from all over the world and Australia, so it’s, yeah, it’s, it’s really cool.

Ange
And teach them to charge what they are worth. Mm-hmm. Give a quote and don’t discount it because if you know your hourly rate and you know the top product that you wanna deliver, then stick to your guns.

Ollie
Yeah. And the number one thing is it does take time to do good quality work. It’s not something that you can just rush. So yeah.

Ange
Unreal. I totally agree. That was so amazing. Thanks so much for joining us today, Ollie, and sharing your journey with us. It sounds like you’ve got some exciting things in the works.

Andy
Yeah, mate, it’s been an absolute pleasure. And if you’re out there and you wanna find out about these concrete techniques, then jump on the show notes and find the link and check it out.

Ollie
Yeah, awesome. I couldn’t agree more. And I’ve got a special mate’s rate deal, 50% off if you mentioned the Tradie podcast, so

Andy
Whoa

Ollie
Pop that in mate. Rates 15 and that’s your 15% discount for our concrete course.

Andy
Mate, that is absolutely awesome. Thanks mate. You’re a superstar mate. We chat soon.

Ollie
Awesome, no worries. Thanks guys.

Andy
Right. Oh well, this has definitely been a big one, right? I think so many of us sit on different sides of the fence on this whole tradie reality TV show thing, you know, good or bad. So I loved hearing Ollie’s experience and I know everyone out there would’ve too.

Ange
Yeah, same. Thanks for listening, guys. We’ll catch you next week.

Andy
Bye.