The "Level Up" with Duayne Pearce Podcast
I take on the role of an authoritative voice that fearlessly communicates truths drawn directly from my lived experiences. With a genuine sense of ownership, my insights are free from any hidden agendas – they truly belong to the audience. My stories and journey add remarkable value, the key now lies in harnessing its power effectively to help others.
My purpose is to create a new residential building industry. My mission is to inspire unshakable self-confidence in my colleagues in the industry, empowering them to orchestrate prosperous, enduring, and lucrative businesses that bring exceptional projects to fruition for our clients.
My goal is to foster a deeper comprehension among clients about the identity and functions of builders, redefining their perceptions.
The "Level Up" with Duayne Pearce Podcast
Speaking For the First Time About my Anxiety in the Building Industry.
#150 Rob Innes from Rybuild shares his powerful journey through debilitating construction-related anxiety and how he eventually learned to manage it. His raw account provides insight into the hidden mental health challenges that plague the construction industry, particularly for high-performing perfectionists who shoulder immense responsibility.
Check out Rybuild here...
https://www.rybuild.com.au/
Check out Duayne's other projects here...
Live Life Build
livelifebuild.com
D Pearce Constructions
dpearceconstructions.com.au
QuoteEaze
quoteeaze.com/Free-Offer.html
Check out the Duayne Pearce website here...
https://duaynepearce.com/
But yeah, I don't know how many nights I lay on that couch at night because I couldn't sleep. I didn't want to wake my wife. I'd go and sit on the couch and I'd be shaking and I just couldn't sleep and every night I'd say I'm going to get up and I'm going to work, I'm going to fix my problems, but I just it's like a brick wall is in front of you. You cannot get off that couch.
Speaker 2:G'day guys. Welcome back to another episode of Level Up. We are back in the shed this afternoon for another cracking episode. Looking forward to this one because we're going to talk about a few things that we haven't gone into depth on the podcast before. So just stay tuned and we'll see where it gets to. But I guarantee if you stick around, you're in for a cracking episode Today. We've got Rob from Rybuild with us. How are you, buddy, for a cracking episode? Today we've got Rob from Ryebuild with us.
Speaker 1:How are you buddy? Yeah, good, Good, Dwayne.
Speaker 2:Mate. I am looking forward to this conversation because we're going to dive down the anxiety rabbit hole a little bit. But before we get into that, you and I we've spoken for a long time, I think on instagram there's been a few questions backwards and forwards, but then, um, like face to face, we've probably only really caught up in the last what six months yeah, pretty much yeah um actually. No, it'd be long, it's probably eight months yeah well, I started.
Speaker 1:I started with the launchpad. What's that? Three or four months ago? Five months ago? But yeah, I've been messaging you before that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but then before that you reached out because we've got one of your guys working for us now.
Speaker 1:That's correct, yeah.
Speaker 2:So yeah, Rob's also now a member of Live, Life Build an Elevate program. He's definitely kicking some goals there, yeah. I love it, it's good Mate, take us back. How did you get in the industry?
Speaker 1:Okay, so I've been around construction and building industry all my life pretty much. My dad was a developer Before that. He actually was in real estate in the early days of Brisbane. I originally come from Roma, yeah.
Speaker 2:We were farmers Country boy.
Speaker 1:Pardon Country boy. Yeah, born and bred country boy, but I pretty much grew up in the city and the old man was. He was in real estate for a company called Dalgety's. They were developers and then from there he ended up being the managing director of a big development company here in Brisbane who pretty well shaped a lot of Brisbane's landmark icon landmarks around town. Yeah, probably the most famous one that everyone will know about, it's the Fortitude Valley. He's the guy who pretty well kicked off what it is today. Yeah, and I actually worked on some of the buildings in Fortitude Valley back when I was an apprentice.
Speaker 2:Yeah, awesome, yeah. And, man, that place has changed a lot back when I was an apprentice. Yeah awesome and, man, that place has changed a lot. I remember growing up we were told you do not go there. It was a wild joint.
Speaker 1:You went there to buy drugs and if you're a homeless mate or you wanted to find a lady for the night, that's what it was like. Yeah, Apparently, the council went to him and said, listen, we want to do something with the valley. What's your idea? And he came up with her food and restaurant and entertainment precinct. And what have we gotten, almost 40 years later there?
Speaker 2:look at it now yeah, and now you're throwing the mix. You got all those sort of multi-res buildings that they got bloody restaurants on top of them and all sorts of things going on well, that's.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I was actually on one of them recently, looked down on it and I saw what he created and I was pretty proud of that and thought, well, you know, if I could aspire to be like him as forward thinking, well, yeah, great.
Speaker 2:Yeah, awesome mate. And then. So how did you go from working for a development company to so?
Speaker 1:I was a child of Sorry, I went through I think it was the 90s recession, um, the one that we didn't have to have. So basically his business went elsewhere around australia, um. And back in those days apprentices couldn't go work in a state, they had to stay in in their state. So I had to find I think I was my third year I had to find work. So then I actually hooked up with a builder who worked in the same company. He got retrenched and then I got into domestic construction that way and then from there I found my way into high-end construction, and that came about because I rang, I wanted to get my builder's license but you had to do your two-year supervision and I heard of a builder called Wally Williams back in those days who wanted a supervisor, and I put my hand up. He took me on and Wally used to be one of the big builders in town that built the high-end stuff.
Speaker 2:He was one of the best mate.
Speaker 1:Look I've never met the guy, but when?
Speaker 2:I was during my time and when I started subbing, like his name would come up everywhere.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. Well, I got my start with him and I thank him for that, and that's where I really developed my passion for that kind of work, and I'm still doing it today. I've been into other sectors of construction which I found out, which we're going to get to later on. That's not for me, and I've ended up finding my way back into my own business doing that sort of thing for clients who want that kind of or caliber of home.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you do nice work. The um, I kind of met you at one of your jobs at milton. Yeah, whatever, a few months ago the um, like the backyard on that place, like the detail, like bloody hanging columns and suspended steel work and off-form concrete around it all like it's pretty pretty full-on yeah, it is my kind of work's not, it's not something you rush.
Speaker 1:Uh, clients say to me when you're going to be finished. I'll say to them look, I don't know, it'll be finished when I. When I'm finished, um, I'll give them an indication, um, but it's very detailed, like that particular one, we had off-form concrete seats that were actually a footing on ground that you sat on, and the whole house is propped up by suspended suspended posts, side cantilevering posts. Yeah to. To work out how to do that took me days, days and days yeah, no, it was super impressive, mate.
Speaker 2:as soon as you walked down the side of that house and around to that backyard you were still building it while I was there I was like holy shit, this is pretty serious. Like you turn over to the front of that place and it just looked like a bit of an old cottage and yeah, you get around the back of it like holy shit, there's some work going on here.
Speaker 1:It is my passion.
Speaker 2:And I find here it is my passion, um, and I find it very rewarding. Now, yeah, I'm saying now so, but you, so you've recently taken the leap to to get cranking on your own stuff. Yeah, um, what, what's encouraged that like I needed a career change, but it wasn't a?
Speaker 1:career change. But it wasn't a career change from changing what I do. I needed to change direction with what I do. So I learned a lot from Wally Williams' days and then from him I went on and worked for another guy that worked for Wally as well. He does the same kind of work. I finished with Ram Constructions. I was like, well, well, I think I've had enough of this, this kind of work. I want to go and look at the commercial stuff, which I did. I actually got poached by one of the big players in town, tier I think they're tier two or tier three builder, I won't say who they are. Um, I got poached to build one of their big clients houses in ashgrove. Coached to build one of their big clients' houses in Ashgrove. So I don't know.
Speaker 1:If you know Ashgrove, it's pretty well built on granite. The job site the site was 600 square metres, average slope 30 degrees, and the project manager that I was reporting to missed a line in the soil report that said non-excavatable rock, 300 down. And it was the first thing I read when I started on day one. What are we doing here? He said, oh, you'll be done in two weeks, 12 months, and one week later I poured the blinding layer for the slab oh, sorry for the lift slab.
Speaker 1:Yeah, um, and the pressure when you're in that space in commercial, you know you've got to reach your targets. They want you to perform, you need to have your slab down by this date. And I started to build that pressure. In the end I just went to them said, look, I I don't know when I'm going to have this excavation finished. And dead set took us 12 months so what?
Speaker 2:just on rock sores, it was pure granite 300 mpa rock it always amazed me in those situations because you would think from the soil tests, that the engineer and the architect would have designed the house around that. Because, yeah, when you're trying to excavate that sort of ground and that quantity of ground, like it's just, it feels like you're just throwing money down the drain yeah, you can't, you can't excavate it, so we had to.
Speaker 1:We ended up, the civil contractor and I put their hands up and said we can't break it, so the deal's off. So look, the whole thing was done. So their client was a major developer, industrial developer, and obviously they got us to build their house. I don't know what deals were being done there, but I was just told keep going yeah don't worry about your schedule, we'll worry about that when you start to build.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, we, we got through that stage. Um, I reckon it cost them nearly seven or eight hundred thousand. This is back in 2016, yeah, so what it would be now I don't know. Um, so as soon as I start to build, yeah, the pressure was on and tight site, split level, road, power lines everywhere. So, logistical nightmare everything had to be craned in by um small crane. We couldn't have slew cranes because you just too much stuff around. Yeah, um, and they were super high end on their safety. So I had to do all the safety every day. And, yeah, you just had all this pressure all the time. And if you didn't do it, why haven't you done this? And you know it all built up.
Speaker 1:Yeah, anyway, six months later, I go to pour the top floor slab. So it's a four-story house, top floor is concrete and I'm about five meters out from the last support point in a suspended slab and, mind you, we're 12 meters in the air. And, oh, that's right. The, the enclave that we're in, had a 200 a 20 ton weight limited bridge to get in. That was the only way in, the only way out, so I had to factor all my concrete trucks as to how much concrete was in them. And it was a late pour. We didn't start pouring that until about 9 30 in the afternoon, so I had time against me to get it in. So it occurred it was winter as well. So I had it all stacked up anyway.
Speaker 1:And the concrete, the pump, starts breaking down and we're five metres out from the last support point. We've got another five to go and, as you know, concrete's only got a two-hour life. It starts to go off and I've got trucks down the street because the pump's broken down and I think I waved through two trucks. So what's that? $1,800 with the concrete, yeah, and we're still nowhere near the support point and I've probably got 15 or 20 minutes to go before she's buggered and we've got to stop. And, thank God, the pump started again and we're away again.
Speaker 1:And I remember the end of that day, all the management coming out to me and saying what happened? Why did this happen? Why didn't you think of this? And I just felt this massive weight. Anyway, that was the first time I went home one night and I had the shakes and I thought this is pretty hectic. Yeah, anyway, I got through that. We finished that project. There was a lot of incidences happened in that house, so that didn't really rock my boat or I got away from them. I didn't hurt me too much.
Speaker 2:But the next really bad anxiety attack I got so at this point in time, like because this is all part of your story and your journey, but at this point in time you didn't know that you're dealing with anxiety.
Speaker 1:No, I knew I was a pretty nervy person. I used to worry a lot about things. People used to say you worry too much. But in my mind I was going through the scenarios. I actually used to tell myself be prepared for the worst, because then I'll have control. And that's apparently a very typical anxiety sufferer mentality. Be prepared for that worst in case scenario, so you know what to do yeah um, yeah.
Speaker 1:So then I decided I didn't really want to work in that environment because they would just put too much pressure on you and I'm not built for that. And I realized that, uh. So then I ended up going and working for another company who did multi-res, and my first job, um, was a bunch of townhouses, 12 townhouses. I had to build them in 10 months and, like I'm the only guy it's just me and our crew of chippies, young chippies um, I got the job done, but you can't build that quick, that well, yeah, and every day I'd be worried about what I hadn't done or what I hadn't controlled, or what mistakes have been made and who'd done what you know. So I'd lie in bed and I think, oh crap, I haven't organized that. I got that coming tomorrow and I've got concrete booked for the next day and I haven't ordered steel. There's all that stuff in the air. It's just too much. Yeah, too much. But me I'd go. No, I'll take this challenge on, I'm going to do it.
Speaker 2:It's a lot for. So what were you? Were you a project manager?
Speaker 1:I project manager. I was project manager, yeah, I was project manager and foreman and head of safety on a 12 million dollar bill. Yeah, it was nuts. Yeah, but me I'd take it all on. So, yeah, no, I don't want anyone to judge me and say, oh, he can't do the job, because I think in industry too, there's a lot of ego definitely a lot of ego and that ego becomes competitive.
Speaker 1:And if, if you, I felt, if I couldn't do it, I was being judged, and if I'm being judged, then that led to failure for me. Um, but I didn't know this at the time.
Speaker 2:I'm just plugging along, just satisfying the people that I had to answer to there's a lot of pressure in that, that space in there, like with um, the bigger builders and project managers and stuff like they get a lot of weight on their shoulders well, it comes from the top.
Speaker 1:So the developer puts the pressure on the builder. Developer's got his own set of pressures so he just pushes that downhill. That goes to the company owner. Then the company owner just keeps funneling it down and the guy on the job he's the one that collects. I reckon the site manager and the site foreman on those jobs has got the harvest job oh, definitely, definitely yeah, I know because I've been there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I used to see it when I um, when I finished my time and went out subbing and like we'll work for a lot of those big developer builders and doing lots of tilt up commercial sort of developments. We did a lot of large unit development blocks and like multi-rise up to sort of five and six stories and like I was under pressure taking on all the carpentry work on the jobs. But you would see, like those jobs generally had a side office and like the, the site supervisor and the construction manager, like they'd be the first ones there they'd be, they'd be there till late most nights and like all day, every day, all you saw was them on the phone arguing with people, putting putting more pressure on on everyone else on site, like it was just a mess well, I can say to you honestly, I did 55 incoming phone calls in an hour and those were the ones that I answered yeah so the phone was just constantly ringing, constantly beeping, and I had messages after that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that was just the typical morning around about eight, between sort of seven o'clock to ten o'clock. That was a typical day yeah and then you got to breathe it because they all had smoke. Oh, and then you get to go to your office in the afternoon. Put your head between you. What's next? Yeah, yeah so then where did it?
Speaker 1:go from, so from after then the next big, the one that really rocked my boat and I realized I well, I actually didn't realize I had a problem, but it really rocked me was I did another block of units so I went from that job, did a couple little jobs for that guy. Then I had a big block of units in brisbane and it was an unlevel site so I had to build a two and a half meter wall down the back and then we had to backfill it, bring it up two and a half to nothing at the front. It's a small cut at the front. And I remember during the design and quoting stage we quoted the backfill and our client came along and said no, I don't want to pay that, that's too much. The engineering was all spessed out. It all said that we had to have 200 kpa compaction.
Speaker 1:Um, I learned a lot with this one, so I won't go, I'll just move on with this. Anyway. He, um, he took over that start part of contract and found a cheaper guy and I actually said in the pre-start meeting I don't want to be on site when he does it. Um, and then someone else said no, as a builder we have to have a presence, you need to be there. So this guy brought starts to backfill. We did a pre-start program with him. He said oh yeah, I'll take a couple days, I'm going okay, something like this probably needs five or six days because if you know you've got to do it in layers, yeah, it's got to be sprayed, rolled, tested, sprayed, rolled till you get up.
Speaker 1:This guy did it in a day, like it was, I think, 70 trucks uh, came in, dumped and go and then the roller would just roll it in. The water truck broke down and I'm going this ain't good, this isn't good. Where's your water truck? Where's your geo tester? Where's this? And I was literally told to fuck off, get off site. You don't know what you're doing. And I said well, I'm not, I'm here to supervise you. I sent an email saying this is wrong. That went out. Anyway, the other thing was you'll get your compaction certificate at the end, which they gave me a compaction certificate, but it was toilet paper really. Who did it?
Speaker 2:Well, I don't know names, but did they get a company in too?
Speaker 1:They had it. Well, it turns out that the civil company were dodgy. They went bankrupt not long afterwards, run by a young biker I don't think he was, I think he was 27. It was his business, and the geotech company stitched up with him were also being chased by other geocompanies because they were doing the wrong thing. Yeah, that all happened behind me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but that's another perfect example. But like I bang on about all the time in this industry you have to have experience. You can't just do a few jobs and then think that you can do everything well, see again, here comes the arrogance in it and the and the ego.
Speaker 1:So I was told, don't worry about it, it's fine. But I knew in my heart, no, it's not. My gut feeling was like no, this isn't right. And I made a bit of noise, but not enough. And now I know, when I feel that strongly about something, make a heap of noise. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Anyway, yeah, we got it done. We started to build. I started putting in the pad footings for all the columns. Like the pad footings were three meters square, 800 deep, um strip footings were 600 by 600, and I did that. I was on. I set myself a target to get it all in before the wet season hit. And sure enough it hit. It hit hard and all that. That's right. We put footings in and put walls up, so basement walls, and then we got rain and then I brought in the civil guys to start doing the drainage. Different contractor and he opens the ground up to put his pipes and his stormwater and his water oozing out of the ground and I'm looking at it going, this isn't good, but still didn't say I told my superiors and said oh, you'll be right, keep going. We filled it in, cleaned the job up.
Speaker 2:So what was your? Because I think this sort of talking about this stuff on the podcast will be educating a lot of people. Explain why you were worried that water was oozing out of the ground.
Speaker 1:Because it meant the ground wasn't hard enough. Yeah, yeah, it hadn't compacted it enough and it was like a sponge just sucked it in yeah.
Speaker 2:So for those that haven't done a lot of this type of work like that, the whole idea of putting it in in layers, like most engineers will uh and look, I'm definitely no expert, you need to talk to your engineers about this. But um, you might agree, rob, like most engineers generally will state in their paperwork, or they'll come to site, you might do a pre-start on these types of jobs and they'll tell you a process, and generally that process will be like pushing the soil out with a drot or some sort of machine in in 100 to 200 mil layers, yep, a certain amount of times rolled over with a sheep's foot roller water on top of it and then just keep going in layers and they test it.
Speaker 2:They test each layer and they've got to get their compaction at that layer so then, they know they've got solid compaction all the way to the top yeah, and if, if you get compaction like the heart of the ground, the less water it absorbs. So like that's that, yeah, like the and this is the thing, like people in the industry don't know and like obviously those other contractors didn't know, like when you've seen the water oozing out of the ground, like that's just a sign of shit work.
Speaker 1:Yep, it is, mind you, my pressure's, my anxiety's building when I'm seeing this. And I had a really good machine operator that kept telling me daily, rob, there's something wrong with this ground. But in back of my head I had more voices you'll be right, keep going. And I had the completion date of that job because my client was saying I got buyers who bought to want to move in. Right, so that's coming in on you.
Speaker 2:So this isn't just to go back. This isn't your job.
Speaker 1:No, no, I'm running it, so I'm working for a guy here, Anyway, and then we move on and we clean the job up and I'm still sus. I'm walking out the job. This is where it really hits. And I look down my job and I look down all my perp lines and my block work and the back of the job is dropping. I could see it dropping off and I know my block lay was not bad, not that bad. So I went home that night and I'm edgy, like I feel this sort of nervousness which everyone gets.
Speaker 1:But then I went back the next day with my laser level and I checked every footing down the back and she's 25 mil lower than everything else, and I don't make 25 mil mistakes like that and then I felt this wave of just sheer anxiety go through my body. My legs went weak. I had to sit down. I felt sick because I knew what was going on. I knew she was sinking and I'm like, oh crap, what do I do? I think I took and this is in the morning and I've probably got 20 guys on site block, block layers, civil guys, just tradies, and they're all coming at me. What do you want to have in? I'm trying to deal with that and this, yeah. So then I eventually got myself together and I rang my boss and I said look, I need a meeting this afternoon with you and the construction manager. Oh, yeah, sure, what's wrong? I've got a problem. Oh, it'll be right, come on in.
Speaker 1:So that night I went in. We say, I said boys, we've got a problem. I've got footings at a 25 mil lower than they were four weeks ago when I put them in. Okay, how do we fix it? We'll just, we'll attach another footing to it, put a pier down, attach a footing to it, be right. So we rang the engineer, told them they come to site a couple days later and they're looking at us. They're all gray, so they've got a problem. It's a gentleman. We can't fix this easily. To do this fix, we've got to dig under every footing and put more concrete down to where we get 200 kpa in ground compaction, which was natural, which was about 200 below where I started four months ago yeah some of the holes were nearly three meters deep under the footing, yeah.
Speaker 1:So we had to prop everything up and then pour concrete in up to the underside of the footing and you had to vibrate in such a way that the concrete came around. So you knew you were completely like, supported yeah, and it took six months and cost 200k. Holy shit, yeah. And I'm like, oh, my god, am I going to send everyone broke? Oh, it all went to court. I didn't go to court, it went law legal. So both parties were going legal, you know, getting legal advice, and all the legal legals pointed to me and said he's the problem. He allowed concrete to be poured, yeah, when in actual fact, I didn't want to pour it, but I got told to pour it yeah, shit, mate.
Speaker 2:How's that buddy go down?
Speaker 1:um, yeah, that's what really destroyed me. That's when I real, that's when I really had anxiety. I didn't I every night, I just couldn't sleep. I um, I didn't want to go to work, I still got. I finished the building, I got, I got help too. I went.
Speaker 1:At that point I went to a neighbor, that's right. My neighbor was a psych nurse and I went down to him and said Trevor, I think I'm having a heart attack. And he said well, what's wrong? I said I can't breathe and I've got pain in my, in my heart. I thought I had it's actually associated pain. And he said you're having a mental breakdown, an anxiety attack, sorry.
Speaker 1:And I said, oh, that would explain why I'm not sleeping. He goes yeah, yeah, something may just happen. What is it? And I told him he said, yeah, you're gonna have to go and get help with that because you can't fix it. Yeah, and that's when I realized, okay, well, I'll go and get help. So I did. I went and saw a psychiatrist and they said, yeah, that major event has caused this to happen. We don't want to do medication because I don't believe in it. Um, we'll just fix it. We went through all the cognitive exercises and stuff and it worked for a little while. I tried some tablets, but they were terrible. They just couldn't function. So I went natural and I tried to just get through that level of doubt that I had in my mind. I'd tell myself, no, I'm I'm good at what I do, but then egos would kick in and bash you back down again, like external egos.
Speaker 2:Um, and the whole time too, I hid this from my wife but I'm just sitting here like um, I take my hat off to you like. This is a lot to share yeah, so I reckon there'd be a lot of people in our industry that are probably going through what you're talking about right now well, this is why I wanted to do this.
Speaker 1:So if I can just reach out to one person on this podcast and they hear my story and assimilate and go, well, he fit, he beat it, so can I. But yeah, I don't know how many nights I lay on that couch at night couldn't sleep, I didn't want to wake my wife. I'd go and sit on the couch and I'd be shaking and I just couldn't sleep. And every night I'd say I didn't want to wake my wife. I'd go and sit on the couch and I'd be shaking and I just couldn't sleep. And every night I'd say I'm going to get up and I'm going to work, I'm going to fix my problems, but I just it's like a brick wall is in front of you cannot get off that couch and move, to go and do something else. It just you can't do it. People say we used to say to me why don't you get up and go and do some work? You just can't do it. It's a mental thing.
Speaker 2:So what's happening? What's going on in your head? Are you watching telly?
Speaker 1:No, just sitting in the dark, couldn't turn TV on. I'd turn it on and it would just start negative thoughts racing. I could be watching Days of Our Lives and I'd already start. I'd go back to the job thinking why did I, why didn't I argue more that day? And, holy crap, have I made that thing wrong? You start to doubt yourself.
Speaker 2:Question other work you have built.
Speaker 1:What's going to go wrong next? You know what haven't I covered properly? What's going to fall down? And nothing's ever fallen down for me, nothing. We fixed that job. Like that job. I still drive past it. It's five years, six years old now and there's not one crack in it. You know it's done. Developer made good money out of it and we all moved on. And that's the thing with anxiety you get really down and out about the bad stuff. You don't look back at what the good stuff is. So I keep going with the.
Speaker 1:I hid this from my wife for five years and it actually caused a bit of trouble. And I've got to say my wife realised that there was a problem with with me. Um, she's one of these people that doesn't understand mental health, but she does now. Um, she realized that, like I think. I questioned her and I said, look, I'm not well, there's something wrong. I need you to help me. So yeah, she did. She said we'll go and get help. So that's when I realized, well, I really need to fix this, um, and I went and got more help.
Speaker 1:This is years later because you got kids as well, yeah I got three daughters and here's the weird thing about it my eldest had anxiety problems because she transitioned from primary school to high school by herself and I'd have to pick her up in the mornings. Get her out of bed, honey, it's going to be all right. Face your fears and go to school. It'll be all right when you get there. And just last week, when I was thinking about this podcast, I realized hang on a minute. That's exactly what I had to do to get out of it was face my fears and just get myself to work, because I did that for five years. I put myself off that couch. Go and have a shower, have a cup of tea, get in that truck, drive to the job. As soon as I opened the gate and the boys started to walk in, the fears would go go.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so how are you functioning, mate, if you're? Up all night just sitting there I don't know.
Speaker 1:So another telling point was I woke up one morning. I had to do a Bunnings run and I woke up in the middle of the intersection with my foot on the brake, because I was only getting two hours sleep a night and had been like that for a couple of years, on and off. And that's when, when, yeah, my wife and I decided it was pretty serious.
Speaker 2:We've got to fix this. So sorry, just go back to you.
Speaker 1:You went to bunnings and you fell asleep in an intersection so I was at the end of a job and you know so I could have a job. You're constantly on the hardware store picking up stuff. Actually, I think that day I needed a break. I need to get off the job. So, boys, I'm going to go to Bunnings and pick up the stuff we need for this job over here and I literally sitting at the lights in the turn right lane indicator on and then next thing, you know, I wake up in the middle of the intersection, slowly creeping forward, so I'd probably moved 20 metres. It's a major intersection in Brisbane too. No one had tooted me or anything, and then holy shit, that's pretty serious.
Speaker 1:There's other ones like that. There's Ricketts Road Bridge down in the bay in the Redlands. It's probably I don't know 150 metres long. I've crossed that a couple of times, Don't remember it, Just had a nano nap, yeah. So anxiety in that condition is dangerous, and the sooner I realised I had something wrong the better. And I think to talk about what I did to get out of it.
Speaker 2:Have you spoken about?
Speaker 1:this before. No, no. This is why I wanted to do this. I haven't spoken publicly about it. I've spoken to my family, my girls, my daughters. I've told them because they all saw the issues that I had. I told them when I realised that I had a problem. It's like it's exactly the same as being an alcoholic. It's like it's exactly the same as being an alcoholic. If you admit that you're an alcoholic, you know, then you've got it. You know what you've got to do to fix it. So I admitted that I suffer anxiety. So I decided to just ignore the arrogance in the industry and that whole beef. I'll get over it. So I tell people now with strong personalities hang on, back off. I actually suffer anxiety. You're giving it to me. I need five minutes, um, and you'd be surprised if I'm if being straight up and in their face about it. They back off. Yeah, because I know that I can do what they want me to do. Yeah, but I just need time to process it yeah, mate, that's like, this is that's huge.
Speaker 2:Like yeah, good on you. Like um, so what was the hell? Like where did you go to deal with this? Like is it?
Speaker 1:um, I just I started out well. The first thing I had to do is, yeah, admit it, just acknowledge it. So, yeah, I'm not, I've got suffering anxiety, right. Then I went to my GP, told him about it he actually had experience with it himself, my GP and he then put me on the right steps to fix it. So we went and got a psychiatrist this time it was a lady who I wasn't really. I don't want to be sexist about this at all, but you want blokes? Want to go see women? Uh, blokes about this stuff? No, the ladies, I think, are probably more across it than the boys are the men doctors I've been to a couple of male doctors didn't like them.
Speaker 1:So that process of getting psychological help you've actually got to feel comfortable with that, with your therapist, you've got to actually feel a connection. Yeah, um, and I found this lady and she started to step me through it and I think I'd seen three psychiatrists my third by the stage, over 10 years and she actually said to me I think it was last session, rob, you're never, ever going to get rid of this, you're always going to have it. What you need to do is get it under control. And I thought you know what that makes sense? Yeah, because I'd talked to her about changing careers and that sort of stuff. She said don't change careers because it's going to come back in the next one. You just need to get it under control.
Speaker 1:So then I went on a rampage of google what is it? What is it? And I found it. I'm normal. I'm like everybody else out there most people who suffer it, uh, either very high functioning, they're perfectionists and they think about the worst case scenario instead of the best. So then I started to change my mentality. I did get medication, so I'm on a very low dose drug that helps me sleep. So my brain? When I wake up with a panic attack, everything kicks in. All the chemicals kick in, the brain fires up. That's what was stopping me from sleeping. They're giving me a mask, a drug that helps me sleep. Yeah, it doesn't stop the anxiety, it just helps me sleep. It's not a drug that you knocks you out.
Speaker 2:I don't know how it works, it just controls the chemical in my mind you were saying before we started talking about it, because so rob and I have had a few chats over the last couple of months and when Rob started telling me about this a couple of weeks ago, I was like man, like, if you're comfortable, I'd love to get you on the podcast and share this, because a lot of people on the podcast, including myself, have spoken about anxiety, but not in this sort of detail. So I definitely admire you for telling me your story, but you were saying that one of the hardest parts is like 50 of people know about it, 50 of people don't.
Speaker 1:yeah, say in my I don't know what the real numbers are, but in for me to level it in my head, 50 of people understand anxieties, have got it, and the other 50% of people don't. Those people to me now are very obvious. I know them straight away by shaking their hand or talking to them. They're usually highly motivated people. Some of them, a lot of them, are bosses and they don't really have the space to understand it. And that's what I think the modern world now needs to do is educate that person.
Speaker 1:Hey, this is actually an illness. We know a lot more about it. It's not going to go away. You need to accept that some of your staff, your friends, your family have it and learn about it so you can support them. Because I mean me, hiding it from my wife was probably the worst thing I could have done. We would have fixed this years ago. If we'd have had that row back then I wouldn't have gone through what I've gone through. But I guess I've gone through what I've gone through to learn about it and then hopefully sit here and tell someone else to realise they have anxiety and then go and here and tell someone else to realize they have anxiety and then go and get it fixed because um it's like it affects your whole family life, doesn't it?
Speaker 1:yeah, I wasn't present. Yeah, yeah, I'd be. Yeah, when I was in a bad attack, some of my attacks would go for weeks, some months. Yeah, yeah, I was just constantly on edge. I wouldn't sleep for five or six weeks, probably two, three hours a night.
Speaker 2:Weeks and weeks and weeks on end and was it always to do with work? Like something that was happening at work always work, always work.
Speaker 1:And then work was fear of failure, which then leads to off and judgment, which then I thought, oh, I'm gonna lose my job, you know, because I obviously I'm showing to these people I can't do it, they're gonna get rid of me and get someone else. They, they can do it. But I've since learned there's no one out there.
Speaker 2:That's like that but you, um yeah, like I'm just thinking about everything you're saying and then thinking about my like what?
Speaker 2:I think I've got anxiety and I've got a lot of the signs that you are talking about like I'm the worst I'm the worst fucking sleeper ever, and what you just said is exactly why I don't sleep like I wake up and, like you said, everything just turns on and I'm wide awake and I'm thinking and my uh, I think about failure all the time when I do posts on socials and that sometimes I talk about I've got to fight my demons. That's what I'm talking about it is your demons. I feel like there's someone sitting on my shoulder.
Speaker 1:You've got a name for yours.
Speaker 2:I do now Bob.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I actually took that. I should name mine, but mine's pretty quiet now. Yeah, I actually took that as a. Yeah, I should name mine, but mine's pretty quiet now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but I definitely feel there's going to be a lot of people listening to this podcast that are sitting there listening and thinking, fuck, this is what I'm going through, this is what I'm dealing with. But I'm actually sitting here thinking, too, about some of my team members and thinking like, this is them, this is what they're doing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, bashing themselves up? Yeah, because they don't want to disappoint. They don't want to disappoint you, but they won't. Um, they probably, they probably would, because they get themselves so wound up. Um, because this is what was happening to me. I'd'd get so wound up and so tired I wouldn't stop and think about a major decision and then later a problem would come out and I'd just go oh, that's because I rushed it that day. I didn't stop because I'm tired. Do you know what I mean? So we get so wound up with what we do, trying to trying to get to the end of the day or a milestone or something on a job site, um, and we forget to take a breath, stop and look at what we're doing before we jump into it. So I do. I'm, I'm bad at it, yeah, um, but I'm. I'm getting on top of that now, where I take a deep breath, three deep breaths, and then I think about what I'm doing before I commit to it, and nine times out of ten that three deep breaths, I'll realize I've forgotten something.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I can't remember where I picked it up from, but something that I've done for a while now, for a few years and I definitely think it's helped with my anxiety is I realized that to to move forward with anything, you've got to slow down slow down to speed up.
Speaker 1:Yeah, ask my boys, you ask leon. Yeah, I say that to my guys every day slow down to speed up, fellas yeah and like so I apply that to everything in my life.
Speaker 2:So, uh, it can be whether camille and I are thinking about doing a development or an investment, or even if we're doing something at home with the girls, or like I definitely do it on site, like I tell the boys all the time like don't just rush into it, take 10 minutes in the morning, have a thing about what you got to do, slow down and then move forward, and I think that makes, if you apply that to everything in your life, it it does make a big difference. And that was one of my biggest problems was I was just always flat out, and I think my being flat out was my way of, I guess, trying to push it to the side. Maybe.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's exactly what it is. Yeah, you go fast, it's like a boat. You're going fast, you're pushing everything to the. It's like a boat. You're going fast. You're pushing everything to the side to get to the, get to where you're going to, and then you deal with what's behind you later.
Speaker 1:But, in actual fact, if you slow, I find, if you slow down here's another one of my analogies I use. Some people like to race up to a gate and smash it over and walk through it, and then the team behind them fixes it. Or you can go up to the gate, open it, walk through and close it with no damage. Yeah, yeah, that one works as well. That's a country one, that's my country boy coming out, but, um, for me to fix it, that's probably that's the next step that I had to do. So I had to fix the problem, if I can talk about that. Yeah. So step one was to realize, yeah, I have an issue and I'm not sleeping, I'm not healthy, and I need to fix that. So then I went down the Google trap and started to research what was wrong and what anxiety is, and the psychiatrist's feedback as well, and it all come down to me focusing on the negative and the what-ifs, the bad what-ifs. So I turn that around pretty quick.
Speaker 1:I um, I walk as much as I can now in the mornings I wake up. I just if it's pitch black at the moment, I just walk the dog to the park which is at the end of the street, and back, and I actually have a cup of tea in my hand and think about all the good things that are going to happen today. If something's on my mind when I wake up, I've got this saying I'm going to go get in front of it. That came from a show on Netflix Ozark. Yeah, I don't know if you know that. No, that show was about. It was Jason Bateman. He was a criminal organizations accountant and he was in charge of the money laundering. So he had a lot of pressure, that guy. He started just saying I've got to get in front of this. And I did the same thing. If something's worrying me or I'm getting anxious from it, I actually go for it. I go for it. I get in front of it to find out what is the problem here. Why am I anxious?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so is that like it's your routine? So has routine helped you deal with this?
Speaker 1:Yes, so every day now I get up and have a cup of tea. It depends. Some days I don't always walk to the park, but I'll always sit with the dog. It'll either be out the back in the garden or I'll go for a walk with her and I'll think about what's on my mind and what I'm doing today.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and that helps settle the nerves yeah and prepare you for what you're going to get up to. Yeah, the um mate, I think, yeah, I definitely think it's in. It's incredible that you can sit here. And yeah, I definitely think it's incredible that you can sit here and talk openly about it, because it's going to help people like guarantee it, I guess, for anyone that's listening to the podcast or watching the podcast and thinks that you may have anxiety or something going on like, I guess, reach out, I'm sure you can reach out to Rob and have a chat. Or, as you know, we're big supporters of the TX boys. Give, give the TX hotline a call if you need to. But, um, a lot of people in our industry have this say yeah, like it's.
Speaker 1:I see it every day, yeah all right and I, when I was in my worst, I said I was helping my kids, I was helping blokes on site having breakdowns. I'd have to go up and give them a hug and say, yeah, okay, mate, you know, like, take a breath. You know, go and go and grab a drink of water or go and sit in my shed for five minutes. I'll come and have a chat to you. And I've talked them through it. And it's amazing too. The other thing too is don't be afraid to talk about it. So this whole perception that you know you got anxiety or you're weak, you're not, not, you're not, you're normal, and I started to talk about it too with people. People I would never have expected to suffer it. I'd tell them, yeah, I'm just a bit anxious or I've got, maybe, a panic attack. I'd tell them that I wasn't comfortable and they'd start to talk to me about them and what they do to get through it.
Speaker 1:So I mentioned medication before, say, um, a gentleman that I worked with I still do very, very, very successful businessman uh, I found out he had chronic, uh, depression and anxiety. I never had the depression, but he then said how he beat it? Uh, he ended up being a gym junkie, gotta do. He's a crossfit maniac, yeah, so he'd go and do crossfit in the mornings and then he'd go and do his business thing during the day like big business. Yeah, like what he does is pretty crazy. Um, and he said as for the sleeping, you got to try this. It it won't knock you out, it just helps you go to sleep, releases the sleep chemical in your brain and off you go and you wake up the next day fresh and it does it's I'll have to get some of that off you mate I'll let you know what it is.
Speaker 1:It's fully legal, um. But yeah, talking to other people, don't be afraid to to bring it up, you know yeah you don't? Some people just go oh yeah, and that's the 50% that don't want to know about it or don't understand it. But the other 50 that do, they'll start talking to you.
Speaker 2:And talking is everything. Isn't it Like? People need to talk more.
Speaker 1:It is You've got to talk.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Like you say it's hard, Like it's a bloke. Do you think it's a blokey thing?
Speaker 1:Blokes are worse. Women talk stuff through. They just do so, men. I think it's changing, dwayne. I think it's changing because we know more about it. Boys are starting to say, yeah, okay, maybe I do have a problem. I honestly do think it also stems to domestic violence, because blokes don't know how to react with it. They're probably sleep deprived, they're worried about their jobs. So then that aggression is coming out at home, you know, or in their personal lives. So I think people need to look at that. It didn't with me, but I know other people, other blokes I know, that had issues on site. I question their home relationships, yeah.
Speaker 2:So yeah, I, I can see that, yeah, through some of the people on site, like, I think, because we've got to sleep well, that was.
Speaker 1:That's a big thing. Sleep so as soon as you. I get six hours a night now, which is enough for me, yeah, but without that you can't function.
Speaker 2:Yeah, just can't yeah, and I think it's important, like what you said, you've got to find a way to deal with. Deal with it like um, because if you're not dealing with these things and it does build up and who knows where it can end up get in front of it. You don't want to be um falling asleep in a major intersection, that's for sure yeah, that was.
Speaker 1:Um, yeah, that was interesting that day. That was, yeah, that actually did frighten me that day because it was the day that I'd I think I'd I'd had a bad. I was having a bad time on a job site. I was on top of the job, that's right. I remember now it was a few years ago I was on a project that just won a bucket load of awards and we were hit with all that rain. Remember we got a lot of rain and I had ground open everywhere.
Speaker 2:Don't tell me about rain. It's been fucking raining for eight months now.
Speaker 1:Another footings and rain story. I was doing a job in one of the canal estates and the whole house is propped up by screwpeers. Thank God All this rain came and the whole embankment started to go and we actually had exposed groupies, clients freaking out hey, it's gonna fall over. I can't mate. You got 130, 140 screw peers under your house. It's not going to fall over and we must have vacuumed those footings three times I, I reckon. So how much is a vac truck now? A lot.
Speaker 1:A lot. So I reckon I did it three times. In the end we poured blinding layers and then it happened again, so it was easier to vac the blinding layer and eventually I got the footing in and eventually I got retaining wall up. Here's the other thing. With anxiety too, you stress and you're so wound up about one thing. But that one thing will get fixed. You know, I used to stress about my programs, my building programs. If it rained it'd knock me back a month and then how am I going to get that month back? And I'd get really wound up about it. But you know what? I'd tick away at it, chip away at it and eventually you'd look back and there's that wall.
Speaker 2:it's built, finished yeah, well, mate, I, I, we could definitely keep talking about this, but we need to move on, because you've got a lot of other good stuff to share as well. So, um you, you work, you're working through all that. Now you're on top of it, and now you've decided to get stuck in. You're going to do your own thing yeah.
Speaker 1:So that was that's when the psychiatrist said to me you're not going to get rid of it, you need to just work with it, go and do something you really wanted to do. So I got myself in such a bad state too. I hated my job, didn't want to build anymore, just didn't like it. Um, I'd lost my passion, I'd lost my fire, and I think that that did also fuel the anxiety, because I didn't know what I wanted to do. What am I going to do that pays this much money that I can sustain my family? And then I thought you know what? I've had a business registered for 15 years.
Speaker 1:I've never done anything with it and my current close mate and the owner of that house that you went to the other day. He came to me because I rented I've rented that house twice now. He said I want you to renovate. This is four years ago. I said no, I'll get amd to do it. He goes no, you want you to do it. Um, and anyway, I ended up doing it. So he said you're doing it for other people, you're good at it, do it for yourself. So, yeah, I decided to have a go and, to be honest, scary as anything, but I love it. Yeah, I love it. It's a whole new challenge. I get to choose how much pressure I put on myself. So if I don't pour concrete tomorrow, it doesn't matter, I'll pour it the next day. Do you know what I mean? So that's just an example you're in control.
Speaker 1:I'm in control of my stress and my pressure, uh, and it's turned out to be the way to go.
Speaker 2:So and then, yeah, you reached out three or four months ago and jumped on board with elevate and you're, um, you're kicking, like, you're kicking goals with that. Like you, you're reaching out all the time saying, man, I've learned this. Oh, this is fantastic.
Speaker 2:Like so I look, mate, it really inspires me because and I'm more inspired now that I know more about your background, because and I actually think, when you were just talking about that, I think you actually you reached out to me when you were tossing up whether you should give it a go or not on your own. It was one of the messages we had on Instagram.
Speaker 1:I was very hesitant Should I do this, should I not? And yeah, you gave me the right, the right push to do it. Your, your program, what you do, I mean it's, it's very, it's very. It gives you a lot of confidence. You know, and a lot of builders out there, younger fellows, younger than me, should jump onto it and and look into it. I wish I, because a lot of the stuff that you do as well I already know. But when I read, you know what you're saying, or see what you're doing on your podcast, it just cements in my head. I already know that and, okay, I'm not the only person that thinks that that's the direction I'm going to go.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're, you're surrounded like one of the most powerful parts of of uh elevate is the community oh, the community is unbelievable.
Speaker 1:I love that. I love my band of brothers, mate, we're it's so good we just when there's probably chats on my phone now. Yeah, we just talk all the time yeah, because I'm.
Speaker 2:I have no doubt there's a lot of members in elevate that have anxiety and uh yeah you're sharing this story is definitely going to help help them a lot as well well, just as I said to would be started.
Speaker 1:I hope someone just listens to me and you know if it's, if they've got the same thing, even remotely the same thing going on, just yeah, just start talking about it, look into it so you were saying before that you can pick it a mile away.
Speaker 2:So like for people that are listening. If they think there's someone in their team or one of their contractors or something like, how would you approach it?
Speaker 1:um, okay, so you're talking about like. I've been in the industry for 37 years now. I've dealt with a lot of egos more in the last few years. But if I go up to someone now, say a contractor walks onto my job and they're a confident person, um, and I tell them, I talk to them about what I'm doing and what I want them to do, I can pretty well judge by their body language.
Speaker 1:Um, the way they look at me eyes is a big thing. If they look you in the eyes, you know that they're going to respect you. If they don't, you know straight away they're not interested in you. That's how I judge that. Um, you can usually tell to, if you give them a list of instructions, that it ain't follow you. No, they're. They're an arrogant person or a person that they've got a strong personality. They're going to do what they want to do and they probably don't have interest in people that have an anxious nature. Does that make sense? Yeah, um, you can. Normally. You normally work it out by body language and particularly eyes. Yeah, yeah, I'm a big advocate of that in fact, last week I met a potential client.
Speaker 1:This guy's well, you probably worked out of work in the wealthy realm. He's got a big business in Brisbane. He is a country boy. I put my hand out and he drilled my eyes. I've never felt so much intensity ever from shaking someone's hand and being stared at. Anyway, I got this contact through a mutual subcontractor. They rang me an hour later and said you got the job. He likes you, he's judged you straight away and that would be from that. Yeah, that, straight away, that contact.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, that's a lot of country people. Country people judged by the. Body language by when you put your hand out to shake him. You've got to be staring him in the eyes, and how hard you, how firm your handshake is and how much how you stare in the eyes we um do you know what a handshake means.
Speaker 1:No, you come without weapons because you've got to put your hand out. There's no weapon in your hand so you come in peace. Yeah, yeah, someone I think my old man told me that man years ago. That's how he was a wise fella yeah, that makes sense.
Speaker 2:We, um, we're at the farm, uh, he might have been at christmas time and uh, we've just become really good mates with this guy out there, glenn. That helps us look after the place a bit and, like, I've just learned so much off him. He's a thoroughbred country boy and, um, we had the two girls up there and, um, I'm not sure how it come about, but we was either we were either saying hello or saying goodbye and like I put my hand out and gave him a handshake and I think I must have said to the girls okay, I'll give, give glenn a handshake, and he, um, I'm good on you and then you, and then they've shaken his hand.
Speaker 2:But then he's held their hand. He's like do you know how to like look me in the eyes? If you shake my hand, you've got to look me in the eyes. So he's giving them a lesson on handshaking.
Speaker 1:It is a very respectful thing to do. And you ask how I judge someone that doesn't or haven't got the capacity to under. It's not the capacity, but they don't want to understand what mental health is you just know by their presence. Well, I do, it's kind of hard to. It's a hard one to answer, actually. Yeah, they.
Speaker 2:There's a lot of people out there like I see it now. There's a lot of people out there that as soon as you start to talk about mental health, they roll their head down that's, and that's the person that's.
Speaker 1:Well, there you go, there's. That is that person.
Speaker 2:You see their face just drop yeah, or they turn their head away, or they, they, they. Well, like you said, they, they, they don't look at you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's um you see, they're just, they're not focused.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and they're the ones you probably need to be reaching out the most.
Speaker 1:Well, how I deal with that person is I am not afraid of them. I, straight away, then go into well, don't really care what you think, it's not a mental thing, it's not a competition either. You're not trying to beat their personality, you just know. I know straight away, straight away. Well, it's a different way that I'm going to talk to them, yeah, and deal with them, um, but I'm not afraid of them. One of my best mates, he's one of those 50 percenters. He does not believe it, he doesn't want to know about it. Yet he's got people around him that have serious problems and I've told him you need to get on board because there's nothing you can do to get rid of it. It's there, yeah, but he's so arrogant about it. That's his problem.
Speaker 2:It's his problem so what's next for Rybuild? What's on the cards?
Speaker 1:okay. So growing my business is probably what is exactly where I want to go. We've we've started off the business now and people know who I am. A lot of my old clients know I'm out there. They're telling their friends. We've opened up a small business where we're going to specialise in wine galleries because I've done enough of them. Now I know how to do them. Builders get them now in their houses. They don't know what to do. They think it's well. It is actually quite a strategic process. So we're going to offer a service where we come in and we build it for them and they don't have to worry about it. I've got contacts that supply it, and I've just recently opened up a development arm as well, where a friend of mine and I are just going to go and have a go at building stuff and seeing if we can make a dollar, because I don't think you can lose from now to the Olympics.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm the same mate In southeast Queensland. Here it's well, I shouldn't say you can't, you can.
Speaker 1:You've got to be smart about things, oh yeah, but but if you do Exactly, there's not a lot.
Speaker 2:if you do a good product, you buy in the right location, there's a lot of money to be made.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm lucky. I've got a lot, of, a lot of people around me that are successful in business, a lot of mates, uh, and now they're they're all in their 50s and early 60s and their businesses run themselves. They're looking for another challenge, yeah. So I've kind of said, hey, well, I want something to do different. How about we go together? So I've lined that up. Yeah, um, and I think I've got this is I've kind of considered I might, I might have adhd. I said this to my kids the other day and I laughed. I said, dad, it's a given mate, what do you want to get told by a doctor? But I just want to know, because I have a lot of trouble concentrating and I think it also contributes to the anxiety. So that's the next step get that under control. Yeah, uh, yeah, and then just particularly grow my business. Really no good on you, mate. Look to the anxiety.
Speaker 2:So that's the next step get that under control, yeah, yeah, and then just particularly grow my business really Well, good on you, mate. Look, I take my hat off to you. I appreciate you coming on having a chat.
Speaker 1:No worries.
Speaker 2:I definitely think that you've touched a lot of people by putting this out there and telling your story. So, mate, how can people get in touch with you that they want to reach out to you telling your story? So, mate, how can people get in touch with you that they?
Speaker 1:want to reach out to you Email or just if they jump online and look up Rybuild it's ry underscore build on Insta and just DM me there and I'll get back to them, or they can get me on robertrybuildcomau.
Speaker 2:Yeah, awesome mate.
Speaker 1:But yeah, I'm there to help. If anyone wants to know how I did it, I'm happy to have a chat.
Speaker 2:But yeah, I'm there to help. If anyone wants to know how I did it, I'm happy to have a chat. Yeah, awesome. Well, like I said, I definitely appreciate you sharing your story. It's huge and it's going to help some people. So, guys, look, if you've enjoyed this podcast and, yeah, you want to share it with your friends or whatever, make sure you like, share, subscribe all those things and, yeah, we'll see you on the next one.
Speaker 1:Are you ready to build smarter, live better and enjoy life? Then head over to live like buildcom forward slash elevate to get started.
Speaker 4:Everything discussed during the level up podcast with me, duane pierce, is based solely on my own personal experiences and those experiences of my guests. The information, opinions and recommendations presented in this podcast are for general information only, and any reliance on the information provided in this podcast is done at your own risk. We recommend that you obtain your own professional advice in respect to the topics discussed during this podcast.