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Let’s get real with one another here. The trade industry is being left behind at a rapid rate. Over the last 50-plus years – if we’re all honest with one another – the trade industry as a whole has improved only marginally. And I mean marginally. Other industries have evolved at a rapid rate in recent years, taking advantage of new technology and the changing business environment. The trade industry has not. This is absolute madness. This industry employs hundreds of thousands of men and women across the country, and yet the rate of improvement and progress is below par.

If we all had a good look in the mirror we could put this down to:

•most young tradies have learned from grumpy old coots who really don’t know how to teach, how to run a business well, or how to invest in their team to generate a fantastic culture

All these things have caused a resistance to change and progress, and a severe lack of genuine role models who can positively influence the next generation.

Being a tradie is a bloody tough job. I get it. Owning a trade business can be very, very stressful. This book is written for the tradie who wants to stop spinning their wheels. This book is written for the tradie who wants to remove a lot of stress from their day. The tradie who wants to build a fantastic network of clients, partners and friends who genuinely value the business relationship. The tradie who wants a phenomenal team based on respect and trust. The tradie who feels in control of their business. The tradie who is genuinely glad they choose this career path and is extremely proud of what they are creating.

To succeed in this wonderful industry we need to start looking at the way we currently do business and be open to change, because what we have been doing in the past will not cut the mustard in today’s world. Let’s start bucking the trend and move away from the old grumpy attitudes of the past. Let’s look at ourselves as business owners and entrepreneurs and not just tradies. Let’s educate ourselves to be business leaders. Let’s bloody care about what we are delivering.

Our industry needs a monumental shake up, and this book is for the tradie who wants to lead the way. So come with me and be a part of the Attraction Tradie revolution.

Why is it that some tradies are constantly busy and steadily growing their businesses while other tradies have large and unpredictable peaks and toughs?

Why is it that some tradies are well presented and appear to have less stress in their lives while others are dirty, sloppy and disorganised?

Why do some tradies have clients knocking down their door and happy to pay more while other tradies quote with small margins just to try to get the job?

In my experience the tradies who are always busy, more profitable and well presented look at their businesses through different lenses.

Introducing the Attraction Tradie…

The Attraction Tradie is a term used for trade business owners who do things remarkably differently to the other 98% of trade business owners. They are called Attraction Tradies because people and customers are attracted to doing business with them. They generally deliver remarkable experiences for customers, and that often leads to people referring them to their networks because they stand head and shoulders above the rest.

They view themselves as a business owner/entrepreneur as well as a tradie. They see challenges coming from a distance and are able to pivot and improve to ensure challenges are turned around into win–win outcomes for everyone involved. They understand their business, they understand how it operates, the ins and outs, the numbers, and the processes and systems that make it tick. They appreciate their team, and they empower and reward them accordingly

They look at the long term. They view their current customers as lifetime customers, people they can build ongoing relationships with.

The Attraction Tradie is a genuine professional who leaves competitors (the amateurs) in their tracks.

This book is written for the young, ambitious tradesperson wanting to grow, to build a business and a career that they are proud of. Proud because of what the business can deliver them and others, but also proud of what they can become as an individual. There are many reasons why tradespeople fail miserably or underachieve, and we’ll deep dive into those. But one thing for sure is that if you commit to learning and improvement every single day – both personally and professionally – you’ll have one hell of a trade business.

This book unpacks the common problems tradies go through today and provides real, usable, relevant solutions across all facets of running a trade business, from marketing to knowing the numbers to presenting yourself and your business professionally. The outcome will be your business becomes more profitable, stress free, the phone will ring more often, and you will have a business that you are proud of.

As you’re reading my book, that’s a reasonable question. Essentially I’m a tradie like you. I’m a domestic builder carpenter who has gone through the apprenticeship system and learnt a carpentry trade under a quirky but wonderful man who had been building houses for decades in Albury, country NSW.

I actually grew up in Albury and had a typical stress-free childhood in the country, where sport ruled my life along with my poor parents. Every single weekend and holiday we’d travel around the country for tennis and footy. Part of my parents’ strategy I’m sure was to use sport as a deterrent to ensure I stayed out of any mischief. As you grow up, and become a parent, you tend to see the bigger picture and you are able to appreciate how amazing and generous with their time and money your parents were in giving you every opportunity to play sport of all kinds. My parents were the main instigators in ensuring that I had a competitive edge through my sport and then my life.

Prior to undertaking a trade I went to a private school in Melbourne that was very focused on turning its students into white-collar employees. They portrayed success as enrolling at Melbourne University and studying law or commerce or medicine, then transitioning from university to the city and joining one of the big accounting or law firms. But I remember going to a careers night the school put on in year 10 and being underwhelmed with the speakers and the careers they were promoting. Becoming a tradesperson, however, was absolutely not an option. In fact, it would have been laughed at.

So as an impressionable and awkward seventeen-year-old kid, I, like every other student at our school, applied to university and was offered a place at RMIT University studying a Bachelor of Business, a four-year degree where I learnt macroeconomics, business statistics and other completely useless and impractical subjects that pad out a four-year degree. Although university was fantastic and eye opening socially in the way it kind of transitions students into the real world, the quality and usability of the courses was extremely light on.

Thankfully, in my final year I came across a lecturer named Marcus Powe, who opened my eyes to the big wide world of entrepreneurship and small business. I vividly recall attending his classes and being blown away by his simplicity and the lack of BS theory within his teachings. He was someone who was honest, frank, sarcastic, helpful, confident and had an aura of success. Marcus was also very quick witted and would call a spade a spade when his students were making excuses or telling porkie pies.

He was passionate about entrepreneurship (prior to entrepreneurship being hip), and I’ll never forget him teaching me about the two simple reasons why businesses fail. Either:

Marcus opened my eyes to the world of entrepreneurship and small business; this opened my eyes to another potential career that I’d really been oblivious to. I became very intrigued about one day owning my own business – the idea of not actually working ‘for the man’ and working for myself and being genuinely in control of my own destiny. This quickly changed my view on the world.

So entrepreneurship moved into trade entrepreneurship, which led me to the world of the tradesperson, and I’ve over the last decade found myself in this niche within the trade industry and could not be happier. Whether it’s serving people and seeing the appreciation on their face for a job well done, to the sense of achievement that comes from starting projects and seeing them to completion, to having a positive impact on someone’s life. The trades offer all this.

I love the fact that generally speaking there will always be a market for tradespeople. It’s a hard one to outsource to China or India. Pipes will still need to be unblocked, power points will still need to be changed, doors will need to be re-hung, walls will need to be re-painted, and the garden will always need a manicure. Even in the depths of a recession there will still be a demand for essential services; while there may be a slowing in demand, it will never dry up. So there is a level of security that the industry has.

I also love that it brings people in from all walks of life and from all sorts of backgrounds, whether you’re a painter from Vietnam or a steel fixer from Samoa, a renderer from Afghanistan or a sparkie from a local private school – it takes all types. It doesn’t discriminate, and I think that is pretty special.

Another passion of mine is personal growth, verging on an obsession. Think of an addict and times it by plenty. My beautiful wife Annie will regularly knock me for listening to another bloody podcast, or reading an educational book or going to another seminar. I’m passionate about improving and I’m passionate about growth. I also love feedback and openness.

It’s time to build a trade business that blows the doors off your competitors. It’s time to become a leader in your industry. It’s time to become an Attraction Tradie.

No doubt you hear a lot about tradespeople being difficult to deal with. The complaints are usually the same: they are hard to get straight answers out of, difficult to negotiate with, they’re unreliable, and can be quite abrupt and aggressive. A lot of these can be true at times, and unfortunately it only takes a small few to ruin it for everyone. It’s quite common to be tarred with the same brush as a whole industry. But, rather than seeing this as a problem, smart tradies will see this as an opportunity to set themselves apart by providing outstanding service.

Understanding common tradie mistakes and why these are the biggest customer frustrations needs to be the starting point for providing great service. It is the first step towards understanding your customers and their objectives. This ensures that we make these mistakes less frequently, and when we do make mistakes (nobody can avoid them completely) we understand the customer’s frustration and are therefore better equipped to deal with the problem.

This is now more important than it’s ever been. We live in a time when social media is providing opportunities for two-way appraisals and feedback, which is great. It means that customers now have a lot of power and can really impact the success of any business from any industry. Social media has turned the tables on business by facilitating real-time reviews and feedback via Facebook, Google, Twitter and many other consumer portals. This means that us tradies – whether you are a sole operator or a larger, more well established business – as business owners need to be on our game every hour of every day.

I’ve surveyed dozens and dozens of customers from all sorts of demographics and ages and have come up with the top five frustrations that customers experience when dealing with any trade, from plumbing to a mechanic. This has given me the ability to unpack and digest these frustrations so that we can gain clarity about what’s going on from the customer’s point of view.

So let’s have a look at the top five tradie clangers.

Why it is a customer frustration: This mistake just reeks of arrogance, incompetence and disrespect. The customer has given us the opportunity and honour of working in their home or business, and the tradie has essentially just smacked it back in their face.

First things first: the customer didn’t have to call us and engage us – they made a choice, and there are plenty of other professionals who deliver a similar service to us. We’re not the only painter, plasterer or electrician in town. We need to understand and respect that.

Secondly, how about we value the customer’s time and understand that their day is really important to them? They don’t deserve to be stuffed around by an inconsiderate and arrogant tradesman.

Why should we tradies care? Well, there are many reasons why we should care, on both a personal and professional level. Firstly, do you deserve to be given a second chance if you’re late or a no-show? The answer is probably not. Secondly, if you’re late or don’t turn up, the customer already has doubts about you and your level of competence as a tradie in undertaking the work. Once you lose someone’s trust and belief, it’s always hard to get that trust back.

Let’s look at a simple example. You’re home on a Friday night. It’s 7.30 pm. The footy is about to start, and you have a craving for a meat-lovers pizza from Pizza Barn, your local store. You order two large pizzas and ask them to be delivered. You give them the address and ask for a delivery time. They say 20 minutes. But 8 pm comes and goes…8.30 pm…9 pm…still no pizza. What do you do? You ring and ask where your pizza is. They say, ‘Sorry mate, we’re flat out and a driver’s called in sick. We’ll be there shortly’. All with a careless tone. How are you feeling?

At 9.30, still no pizza…at 10 pm you are ravenous and call again. They say they are just around the corner…any minute now.

How do you feel at this point. Are you angry? Frustrated? Of course you are. And do you think the pizza will be hot and fresh and steamy meaty goodness? Probably not. The pizza will likely be one of the worst you’ll ever eat. And even if that pizza is piping hot and fresh out of the oven, will you call Pizza Barn next Friday night? I doubt it. There are many other pizza places you can call.

Creator:	Clark, Edward, author.
Title:	The Attraction Tradie.
ISBN:	9780995390034 (paperback)
eISBN:	9780995390041
Subjects:	Success in business.
	Career development.
	Achievement motivation.
	Entrepreneurship.