In the first 5 years of our marriage we moved house a heap of times – there was a 2 bedroom unit, a townhouse, a build, a rental while we built and then a home in the hills in Lesmurdie. We stayed there 8 years and loved it up there.

As someone who loves change it was hard staying put, but we really did have a ‘home’ that felt great to live in so any changes were going to be difficult. Then we moved to Butler and we have lived in this place for 8 and a bit years. We tried to build a home that would match our lifestyle and this one really does that. With a study, main bed and lounge at the front and then the kids areas at the back it makes it easy to work from home, entertain and have guests stay over.

But lately we have been considering change. And when Danelle is considering it too you know its got a fair crack of happening! I was catching up with my mate Jono up in Yanchep the other day and chatting in his front yard when he pointed out a house in the next street back that was for sale. It looked nice but I figured that it would probably be out of our price range.

I got home and had a look on the net and saw that it wasn’t at all, but it did have a great vibe and felt like the kind of place we would like to move to next. We’ve been finding this kind of suburbia a tad tedious and sameish and would like something a little more spacious and unique. We still have commitments in the northern coastal area so we didn’t want to move anyway far away but Yanchep looks like a new frontier in many ways and ‘old Yanchep’ is a bit of a village in that area.

So we had a look at the house, then another look… and both of us thought ‘what the hell – let’s give it a crack!’ Its an older ‘pole home’ style place on a quarter acre ‘sand dune’ block about a street back from the beach. It has some big sheds, good ocean views and some great verandahs for hanging out on. We aren’t particularly interested in moving for movings sake, but this place grabbed us. So we have put our place on the market and if it sells we will move. If it doesn’t then we won’t be heartbroken. We’ll just tonk along here and do business as usual.

Anyway this post is partly to let you know what we’re doing but also to put a link to our own home that we are selling to try and rank it a bit higher with google 🙂 We had thought we were going to get about $480K for this one but we had agents come thru the other day and it doesn’t look so exciting. My question is always ‘what price will it sell for?’ rather than ‘what is optimistic?’ as there is no point it sitting on the market for 6 months because its too expensive.

The tip is that the market is dead, nothing is selling, there are 200 houses for sale around here and we can expect it to sell around $460K. So we’ll put it out there and see if we can find a buyer.

Oh and we’re selling privately. We’ve sold out last few houses privately and had no dramas. I’m sure there are some great agents out there, but there are 15000 reasons we are going to stick with private.

So here’s the link. If you want to move to Butler this is your big chance…

This has been my third year in the retic and turf business and it’s been a year for learning. The first two years have been largely learning the skills of what I do, but this year has had more of a focus on learning about developing a business. So here are some of my learnings…

A 12 Month Warranty is Actually a 6 Year Warranty

This one was an interesting one.

Two soakwells that I installed over 2 years ago overflowed during the huge storm and made some paving subside. As it was out of warranty I wasn’t prepared to fix it for free and the owner took action against me with the Builders Registration Board. I thought giving a 12 mth warranty meant I was responsible for the work for that period of time.

It turns out that any ‘builder’ (apparently I am one of these) must actually guarantee his work for 6 years and the 12 mth thing means nothing. I was ‘ordered’ to do repairs to the subsided paving and make sure it wouldn’t occur again.

So I sent someone round and fixed it up. As soakwells are a bit of a sideline and I don’t need the hassle I have decided not to do any more.

I guess the upside of this learning is that now I am aware of my own ‘rights’ and if building work done around here fails in a 6 year time frame I can also call someone back…

Excrement Occurs – deal with it

I’ve had a couple of jobs not work out quite as planned this year and it’s given me a few moments of stress.

There were the soakwells and then just before going on holidays there was the turf that I had to replace.

After laying 70m of turf in the backyard of a new house I didn’t set the retic controller correctly and the lawn didn’t get watered for 7 days… It was only then that the owner called me to tell me it was looking ‘dry’. No kidding…

So we had to lift the lawn, pay for tipping and then buy new lawn and relay it. At first I was stressed by the whole deal, annoyed and frustrated at the waste of time and money – a good $600.00 down the gurgler, but accepting that it was ‘just one of those things’ allowed me to breathe easy again.

I didn’t need to waste emotional energy on anxiety. I just needed to accept that mistakes happen, cop it and move on.

I don’t like making mistakes, and costly mistakes even less so, but worrying about it wasn’t going to fix it.

I reckon that was a good learning and next time I bugger something up hopefully I’ll be able to suck it up, breathe deep and deal with it…

Hopefully…

Don’t Do Cheap Jobs For Difficult People

I can smell a difficult customer these days – someone who will haggle to the death over price and then call you back 3 or 4 times because ‘the lawn is not green enough’ or the wind is making the sprinklers water the driveway, or one sprinkler isn’t quite in line with the other 2…

There are some folks who have a genuine cause for concern and I am more than happy to help out and answer questions, but there have been a couple who have driven me mad with their complaints about issues that haven’t been issues.

Ironically these have been people who I have been willing to do work cheaper for. Not any more…

In fact I recently did a quote for one of these people and added about 20% on to the cost of the work because that was what I reckoned the ongoing ‘work’ would be worth. I didn’t get the job… He told me I was too expensive…

No problem…

Never Use People To Do The Work of Machinery

I learnt this a while back but ‘re-learnt’ it a couple of weeks back – the hard way…

A customer had 45 sqm of rear yard to be turfed and I arranged to spread some soil and lay the turf. Because there was no bobcat access to the rear yard someone else was going to dig out the old turf prior to us arriving. I wasn’t interested in doing it as previous experience had taught me it was a laborious and very difficult job.

But… the other guy broke a toe and to help the customer out I agreed – against my better judgement – to do the work at my normal hourly rate with my co worker.

It took 2 of us 5 hours to do what a bobcat would have done in 30 mins. Everything about the job was difficult and by the end we were both wiped out.

With the cost of a skip bin included I think it cost the customer twice as much as what a bobcat would have.

So from here on, if it’s a job for a bobcat then I’m not touching it with a shovel, both for my sanity and for the customer’s sake.

Apart from the sheer physical effort it takes I am realising my body is a finite resource so every time I make the tendons and ligaments work more than they have to I am risking injury.

You Get Better at Stuff

After 3 years of Retic and turf I can now work much faster and smarter than before.

That’s good because being able to do 3 days work in 2 means significantly more income for the same output. Alternatively I can work less and have more free time. Either way a win.

It makes sense, but it’s only been in the last 6 months that I have really noticed the value of it.

Specialising Trumps Diversifying

I can see value to being able to do a range of tasks well and earlier this year was considering ways of expanding the business, maybe with a bobcat or even into brick paving or limestone walls.

But I didn’t and while I miss out on the stimulation of learning something new I do end up getting very very good at the thing I specialise in.

If I had more strings to the bow then I would have more work options, but I may not be brilliant at any of them. Being good at something means you work fast and smart and therefore earn more and have fewer warranty issues.

From a financial point of view it has been wise to specialise rather than trying to do many different things.

The Extra Mile is Worth More Than You Think

If I were starting over and re-naming my business I think I might choose the name ‘Extra Mile Retic and Turf’ as that would be possibly my no. 1 core value.

Little things matter and I have generally tried to do little things well as often it is what distinguishes you from every other bloke out there.

Returning all phone calls within 24 hrs, remembering people’s names, always cleaning up well, taking time to chat, are all things that don’t improve the quality of work, but they do leave people with a positive memory. Repeat work and referrals is a huge part of my work and I reckon it comes from ‘the extra mile’ stuff.

You Can’t Please Some People

Occasionally I have struck people who have been unimaginably difficult. I have finished a job, had them sign off on it and then got a phone call saying that they weren’t happy (any more)

I return to check what is wrong and it turns out that they have changed their minds about the areas that require watering and I am supposedly responsible.

This has happened twice now with one person and I can see what will happen if I allow myself to return a third time.

I am just learning to relax and accept that some folks are going to be hard work.

No You Can’t Pay 1000 Over A 6 Month Period

Again a bloke who haggled me to death asked for 6 months to pay. I should have said no because now he emails, calls and complains about non-issues and I need to respond because he still has a fair slab of my money…

I imagine most people would be fine, but for some reason my ‘difficult’ customer also became my ‘periodical payer’ – or non-payer actually as we have had to chase him for the money…

Never again…

My Body is Not a Machine

I don’t think I have ever worked as hard as I have in the past 12 months, but my body is telling me all about it.

I have 3 overuse injuries in one arm at the moment and the future doesn’t look bright in that regard. Machines have bits you replace when they break down. Bodies just give you pain and remind you of your age and frailty.

Time to work smarter rather than harder.

Anyway, this was part of my own personal end of year review and as I was doing it I thought I’d share it with you…

In my business I have been working from a philosophy of ‘small, simple and sustainable’, an approach that has served me well to this point, but now seems to be slowly disintegrating.

Actually it’s the ‘sustainable’ part that is the current challenge as my body is slowly wearing out. Before leaving on our round Oz trip in April 2009 I had developed a bit of carpal tunnel syndrome in both hands. Not enough to stop me but enough to annoy and cause stiffness. Then just before we went on holidays last year in July I developed tennis elbow in my right arm and it has been with me since then with varying degrees of pain. I have been managing it with big doses of Diclofenac, but I have been aware that its only a matter of time before I need to stop as the drug causes stomach ulcers. (There are some signs I have hit that point now.)

Then just last week after getting back from holidays and getting stuck into work a new muscle pain hit in the same arm as the tennis elbow. This one is called De quervains tendosynovitis and is more of a sharp stab at the bottom of the thumb than a nagging ache.

That was a concern so I went to see the Physio who gave me some strategies for healing. However he also advised me to cease taking the anti-inflammatory drugs I have been popping, So with three different injuries in one arm and no pills to pop I’m genuinely not sure what the future holds for Brighton Reticulation.

So far my work has relied on my physical health to be viable, but given the current spate of injuries I can see that I am not able to continue at this pace for the next 5 months let alone the next 5 years.

I’d be lying if I didn’t say it caused some anxiety over the last few days. To lose your source of income isn’t something I am especially excited about, but I’m also aware that it doesn’t have to be that way. It will require

some imagination and a willingness to do things differently.

With the supply of work I currently have it may be a case of employing some sub contractors to do the grunt work and limiting myself to quoting and one day a week on the shovel. It may even be a case of scaling back to a day a week and simply living more frugally.

Neither are my preferred options as I actually enjoy the hard yakka work of digging trenches but I can see that I am just not going to make it.

So by necessity it is time to re-think and re-strategise if there is to be a future. Part of me is energised by entering a new phase and part of me simply wants things to stay as they are…

Aint that life…

Remember the classic Redgum song from the 80s?!

It was when Aussies first started invading Bali and discovering what it was like. Friendly, cheap, warm, cheap, great surf and did I mention cheap?…

And so it began. What was once a depressed third world situation has changed considerably – although not completely.

We first came here around 15 years ago for a holiday with some good friends. It was a standard cheap package deal with a Kuta hotel and a bit of shopping and sight-seeing thrown in.

Since then Danelle has been back 3 times as she does her work in the Bali Orphanages and right now we are here as a family with the larger Faulkner family. And large is not an understatement – there are 32 of us in total (which means any cafe owner gets excited at the sight of our group heading their way)

We are here for 10 days for a family holiday and to catch up with the Orphanage work that many have been involved with.

So far I reckon we’ve done pretty well and the time has been a lot of fun and even relaxing – not a word I would normally associate with being around 32 people!

Some quick observations

– Jetstar need to get a ‘recline’ button on their seats. We all spent the 4 hrs upright and packed in like sardines. Not nice.

– at Bali airport got slugged a sweet $20.00 Australian as ‘import duty’ on the 6 pack of red wine I brought in. The $20.00 wasn’t receipted but instead was quietly slipped into the file of the customs officer. Welcome to Bali…

– weather has been good in that it hasn’t been suffocatingly hot. It’s been cloudy and humid most days, but very bearable. I was expecting it to be more like Darwin – very relieved.

– I fail shopping. I get weary of having to haggle over the smallest amount of money so always pay more than I need to, partly because I reckon the poor bugger selling the stuff needs the $$ more than me.

– Danelle and Ellie do not fail shopping.

– good to see the places Danelle speaks of and the work she is doing. What struck me most was that the kids in the orphanages don’t have a ‘sad orphan’ vibe about them, but rather seem to love life. Big credit to those making it all happen.

– I don’t like men patting me on the bum, grabbing my arm or showing me any other personal physical attention in the hope of getting me to buy stuff.?

– the food is great and the prices are even better. $5-10 for a feed is pretty normal and very good.

– Bali belly got me once… I like to eat anything and everything and in my 20’s did 9 trips of the Philippines without the slightest tummy upset. I got known as the bloke with the cast iron gut. But yesterday I got the shivers and the runs. After 4 days of doing everything to stay cool I found myself having a cup of tea and a hot shower, turning the air con off and hopping onto bed with the blankets pulled up. It lasted a day and now I’m pretty much back to normal – except my immune system must be more resilient… Right?… All ready for those king prawns at Christmas dinner!

– I was missing good coffee and then discovered a place called Mugshot in Legian about 100m from where we are staying. We went there today and they do a sensational job. It’s Aussie owned with fresh beans and even some cakes and stuff to go with it. I’m sure there is plenty of good coffee in Bali if you know where to go.

– the surf has been pretty average all the time we have been here. I should clarify that I am describing the beach break out the front of the hotel. Gentle chest high close outs are ok for learners, but not much fun if you know what you are doing. We drove past Medewie on the way to one of the orphanges and it was head high, glassy and looked great… But I didn’t think it appropriate to ask everyone to stop for me… Given it’s a two drive in ugly traffic I’m not sure I want to try it again.

– I have only read one book. The Messenger by Marcus Zusack. I loved it. A great story and full of hope filled redemptive images. Everyone raves about Book Thief, but I thought this was a more appealing read.

– I watched Inception on the day I was sick and then fell into a deep, sick, sleep and dream. You know those dreams where you are almost delirious? Not a good movie to watch that day!

– waddya do with video piracy? Personally I don’t buy them, but when you see how some of these guys struggle to live you can almost support it.?

– did I mention I suck at shopping? I used to enjoy the haggle but now I just want to be left alone. I am particularly fussy so chances are I might not even buy anything, but with Mr Shop owner breathing down your neck you feel like you have to. Best if I avoid those situations.

– this might reveal insecurity issues with my masculinity but I won’t be getting a manicure or pedicure any time soon…

– traffic… Ouch!

– how’s an introvert coping with a massive extended family holiday? Pretty good i reckon! 20 years ago this wouldn’t have been my cup of tea at all, but I reckon it’s a real privilege to be part of a family like this who really do enjoy one another and know how to have fun. I don’t have any extended family in Oz so marrying Danelle created a bit of culture shock in the early years of our marriage. I found it hard to be around a rowdy, partying group who were having fun – and no doubt they found it hard to be around an uncomfortable introvert. These days I enjoy the relationships, take my moments of solitude to recharge and it all works out well.

Well… 5 days to go… It’s great to get a break from work and be in a different space so I’ll be soaking that up for as long as possible.

I was having dinner the other night with a friend who runs a successful IT business specialising in online marketing. His business is growing and expanding and sounds like its going very well.

I was discussing some ideas with him in relation to my own business and some opportunities for growth. He quickly told me that I needed to ‘focus on policies and procedures’ if I was to develop a growing business. That made pretty good sense and I guessed he was speaking from his own experience. He knows what he’s doing so I pricked up my ears, but as I was listening I was experiencing an internal dissonance.

The thing is I am not sure that I actually do want to grow it beyond its current scope. And as I was discussing this and reflecting on why I became aware that (as with any project), ‘philosophy’ must always precede policies and procedures. Currently my philosophy is to keep it simple, make sure I run it and it doesn’t run me and to minimise any need for infrastructure. I want the business to serve me and I don’t want to be at its beck and call.

In its current form we generate an excellent return on the time we invest and my guess is that to make it worth the effort we would need to expand significantly – an exercise that would involve a fair amount of $$ in marketing and insurances and processes. We would then enter a different market and would need to compete in a different way. We would need to be prepared to work very hard for a while to get the business into a new zone and that is not a price I am willing (or able) to pay. I see people flogging themselves and confessing ‘we can’t work at this pace for long’. No doubt it has its pay-offs, but that is where philosophy is critical. I/we don’t value the pay off enough for the pain now. In fact I imagine a few years absorbed in running a business could be quite detrimental to the lifestyle we have been able to develop.

So far the growth has been slow, organic and sustainable over the 3 years I have been in operation. What started as virtually a hobby is now an integral part of our life. My kids think I am a retic bloke as much as they think I am a church leader and I’m ok with that.

It is now at a point where the question of ‘what next?’ is a valid one, but if the answer is that we simply keep going as we are, then that’s a good answer – because its the answer we have chosen. If at some point I feel like I want to take up the challenge of growth or franchising then I imagine I would do some serious work exploring it, because the cost would be high.

For now the choice of philosophy – small, simple, sustainable – allows us to live well and enjoy a life not consumed by work. I’ve been a workaholic in the past and its not a place I ever want to live again.

I love Saturdays.

For us Saturday is our day of rest, our sabbath, our time out or whatever you like to call it. Its a day to read, laze, hang out, go to the beach and generally catch our breath.

Today was a typical one.

Wake at 5.30am. Realise its Saturday and drift off back to sleep until 7.30am. Get up and curl up on the couch with breakfast and the paper. Flick the cricket on – and then off again as I realise how depressing it is.

Wash two cars with kids. Drench two kids. Get drenched by two kids.

Coffee

Netsurf

Go to the shops and buy milk. Get waylaid by a home open and a garage sale… End up chatting and take an hour instead of 5 minutes.

Go out to help Danelle in her garden (not normal – but its too cold to take the kids to the beach). Get distracted by Sam who wants to play basketball. Shoot hoops with Sam in the street. Feel good that I can dunk on the neighbours 7ft ring and beat Sam at ‘Donkey’.

Home for a coffee and one of the biscuits Ellie made.

Read blogs while contemplating a shower.

Shower before heading out to dinner with friends.

Saturdays…

We went to the third Narnia today (gold class…) and it was very cool.

The little people loved it and I reckoned it was a great movie full of symbolism and a great storyline.

Danelle is especially grateful to Robert Banks for his kids guide to the movie. I’ve just had a look and can recommend it.

You can check it out here.

I’d go see the movie, but maybe not gold class 🙂

We decided to give the kids a bit of an end of year treat and with the new Narnia III out on Friday we thought that would be the go.

Then we thought ‘why not Gold class?’ Admittedly it has been over 10 years since I last ventured into this type of space, but I was remembering popcorn and drinks and snacks. But apparently that has changed.

Now you get… a big chair

That’s it – a big red chair – and the privilege of paying an exorbitant price for food off their menu.

It was my stuff up as I didn’t read the fine print, but at $29.00/person (no discount for kids) you’d expect more than an oversized armchair!

And here’s the even suckier part. There was a ‘booking fee’ of $13.00. And that was with me doing a DIY over the net. How do they justify that one?…

Well ‘Gold Class’, we will be there on Friday, but it won’t be happening again.

I just checked and its been 2 weeks since I last posted anything on here. As someone who used to post twice a day I’m slowly getting used to a different frequency and the blog occupying a different space in my life. Its been a challenge at times, because when you have written frequently to do it infrequently can feel like it is a little pointless, or a failing even.

But… I write because I love to write. I write because I enjoy the interaction of ideas and the debate that takes place, even if lately I haven’t written so much. I write for posterity – one day I might want to come back to my ramblings and my handwriting is so lousy that journalling is a bit of a non-event for me now.

I don’t think ‘blogging’ itself has gone off the boil, but maybe it has changed in its focus/emphasis. These days I often do a ‘facebook share’ of something I previously would have blogged. Its easier than logging in, writing a post and all that goes with it, so maybe blogging is becoming a place reserved moreso for original thoughts.

But lately I haven’t had quite so many of those either. I often blog on Saturday mornings because that is when I am most relaxed and have space, but during the week my headspace rarely allows me to come up with original thoughts let alone get them ‘on paper’.

I have written before about the challenges facing those of us who work regular jobs part time and lead churches part time. Its not just the time available for reflection that decreases, but because of the heavy physical nature of the work I do the tiredness means my brain functions differently. I simply am too weary most nights to think about anything seriously and deeply. Its not that I don’t want to, but it takes more effort than I can muster.

I don’t say that apologetically either. I think its been a fantastic insight into the lives of people who are not in paid church leadership (I still hesitate to use the word ‘pastor’ for my role, because it is such a poor description of who I am). Those of us who lead must learn not to expect the same level of engagement from those who work in regular jobs, but we must also learn to expect an appropriate amount of involvement. This week I worked an unusually hard and long 12 hour day on Wednesday and had scheduled a blokes night out for that evening. I got in at 6.00, showered and left again at 6.20, but I may as well have not been there as I was virtually on life support. It didn’t help that our local tavern took almost 60 minutes to serve a meal! I realise for some people a 6.00pm finish is normal. Ech…

I’m also aware that I am seeing my identity less as that of a paid church leader / paid minister and more as a missionary who expresses his calling in a variety of ways. Right now if you asked me if I was a business owner or a ‘pastor’ I’d have to say ‘yes’. I get similar amounts of joy and pain from both paid roles, but I don’t see one as defining me more than the other. That is different to where I was several years back when life revolved around Christian service and anything else was a means to that end.

What I find interesting is that I could conceivably run my business full time now, but I find it hard to imagine going back to 5/6 days a week of church work. There are various reasons for that, but one is that I really think many ‘pastors’ lose touch with the reality of people’s lives after a good slab of time in the role and I don’t want to be there again. I also love the involvement in community that my business gives me – and the fact that it pays well.

So, in case you were wondering, the blog hasn’t died. But neither does it hold such a prominent place in my life at the moment. You will still read the occasional rant, you will still find the occasional piece of sheer naughtiness and I hope the fleeting glimpse of original thinking that may even stir your own thoughts.

For now I’m content to let it lob along at a leisurely pace.