Mr. Inspirational has his granny to thank for his success! Join me for my most inspiring fireside chat yet.

We are made possible, brought to you in fact by the very good folk at Net Registry who are basically there to get your online marketing sorted, like I mean really sorted – domain names, website design and hosting, SEO, pay-per-click – all that stuff that might not know how to do but want to do, and they’re just masters at it. They nail it. So head over to www.netregistry.com.au and tell them Timbo sent you.

Now, here we go. By the way, welcome to everyone at the Flying Solo Community. Now, today, question from a listener all about how to nail cold calling. I got a couple of tips for them on that one. I’ve got some feedback from a listener in Manchester and possibly Russia. I’m not sure, but some really nice feedback there. A bit of an update on some topics that are being discussed in the Small Business, Big Marketing forum, and then, oh geez, save the best to last, why don’t you Timbo?

I’ve got this guy called David Warne. I’m naming him … I’m labeling him Mr. Inspirational. Just an amazing interview. He owns five ships, Tall ships, that sail around Sydney Harbour. He owns another one, up on the Whitsundays. It’s a rags to riches story. I mean, it’s just so inspirational. I just finished doing the interview, and a very personal, honest and insightful account of how he built his business, he is about to share, so I’ll look out for that.

As usual, the show has marketing gold dripping from the ceiling, so I suggest whack a hard hat on.

Okay, got your hard hat on because we are going to launch into … A very good … Listen to the question, I like this one. It is from Adam Johnston. Adam is from www.igeniusgroup.com and he sent me this message through the voicemail system, and you could do the same, by the way, head over to www.smallbusinessbigmarketing.com and click on the voicemail tab on the right hand side there, send me a message.

Anyway, have a listen to what Adam’s got to ask about cold calling.

Adam:            

Timbo, how are going here? It’s Adam Johnston. Mate, I’ve got a quick question for you. I’m trying to interview, basically, some dentists, and what I’m looking at doing is finding out what their pain points are and then trying to find out if there’s a particular software product or something that I can build that’s going to cover those pain points. I’m really having some difficulty in doing those cold calls. I’m getting knocked back a lot by receptionists and different people. Really, I just want to go out there and just give them as much value as I can, and I’m finding it very, very difficult to get through that barrier to get to the business owner or the lead dentist, or whoever, [inaudible 00:03:52] and I couldn’t [inaudible 00:0:53] on speed, that might be Real Estate, it doesn’t really matter what the industry is.

Have you got some tips for cold calling and also how to get through that barrier? Is this the best method or is it better to maybe do an email or something else just to get through to the right people so I can give them the value that I know that I have behind … I guess behind the scene?

Timbo, I absolutely love your show. You’re a gentleman on the mic and absolutely connoisseur of marketing, I’ll have say, but if you could help me out, that’ll be greatly appreciated, mate. I look forward to listening to your show in the future. Take care buddy, bye.

Tim:     

Ahh, yes. Well, first of all, thank you Adam for the question and the dreaded cold calling. Some of us can get the sweats, the cold sweats, just even mentioning those two words.

My view on cold calling? You know what? I will give Adam seven ideas as to how to kind of work through that issue, but also I think I should get a cold calling expert on the show. So I’ll look into that and who that may be, and stay tuned for the coming weeks and months as I find that person and interrogate them on the show.

Right Adam, here’s what I’d to mate. First of all, you may well remember a recent episode with Brad Smith from Braap Motorbikes. He talked about how he made, he and his team, made cold calling really fun. In fact, he’s one to remember that wears a mullet wig and Ray-Bans and makes fun of it, makes a game of it, so they’re kind of just feeling a bit relaxed when they’re making those cold calls. So that’s a bit of a fun one.

Number two for you Adam, start with your own dentist and ask for a referral from there. So you’ll obviously interview your own dentist and ask them the questions. Then move on to say, “Okay, well, what other dentists do you know? In fact, can you just give me a name of one other dentist that I can call?” Then you’re kind of ringing with a warm kind of approach. So you can say to the Doberman at the other end – you know what I mean by Doberman, don’t you? – at the other end, “Hi, listen, such and such suggested that I give your boss a call” and it’s more of a warm intro, that way.

Number three, request intros via social media. Just say you’re looking for … I suppose, yeah, just as I say this, you’re kind of not looking for intros to dentists, you’re looking to get through the Dobermans, basically. But, that said, if you do get an intro through a social media, you can then ask whether you can use that person’s name who provided you with the intro. So again, it’s not a cold call, it’s a warm call because you’re approaching them by way of an introduction. So when a dentists hears a John Smith suggested I give you a call, then they’re going to be more open to calling you back.

Adam, I’d get out on to LinkedIn. I’ll have a look at LinkedIn groups containing dentists, and maybe even going as far as creating a SurveyMonkey that you can whack on one of those groups. Obviously, you need to get permission from the group in order to join, but if you get through that hoop then you can create a SurveyMonkey, put a link to that on the group’s page and see what you get from there.

Another tip would be to send a video to each of these dentists. Very easy to create, particularly if you have a Mac book, you can look down the barrel of the camera, use Quicktime or ScreenFlow. You can even do it directly into YouTube and create a privately listed video that you send to each of these dentists. In that way, they’re getting a sense of who you are, realizing that you are a real person, a human being. They may be more inclined … Be sure to have at the end of that video a call to action, a phone number, your email address, make it easy for them to contact you.

Number five … Number six, I think we’re up to number five. Why not create a website called www.yourbiggestproblem.com.au, which right now, as I say that, is available? www.yourbiggestproblem.com.au and what you could do is that could be kind of your home base for going out whether it be to a dentist or a real estate agents or car sales people, insurance sales people – getting them to identify what their biggest problem in business is. That might just be a nice way of packaging it up and making it real. So that’s something.

Then you can send that website to the Doberman, going, “I’m way for real and there’s a video there of me explaining what I’m doing.” It personalizes it more.

Finally, number seven, the bottom line is me telling you this? I’m someone who hates selling. I love marketing but I hate selling. So to that end, I create content. You might have heard me say before, and I certainly say this in my [inaudible 00:08:46] talks that I give is that by creating content, people start to approach you. They say … The amount of emails that I get saying, “Hi Timbo. I listen to your show. I know about this about you and that about you” sometimes it freaks me out, but they’re approaching me and I’m no longer having to cold call. That’s the power of creating great content, so I encourage you to do that.

Now, Adam, mate, thanks for the question. I hope there’s some ideas there, and I am going to go out and find a great sales expert who can talk to us about ampping up our cold calling skills.

Okay, so I thought I‘d give you a little bit of an update on what is going on in the Small Business, Big Marketing forum. Let me tell you, there is plenty. Now, I have had a little bit of feedback from listeners who have been kind of tossing around whether to join or not, and I know one of the stumbling blocks is that a few said, “I’m scared it’ll take up a lot of time.” I just want to reassure anyone who is thinking of joining the Small Business, Big Marketing forum that it won’t.

All you have to do is go in there once a day, once a week – it’s really up to you. Post a marketing question that’s troubling you that’s on your mind and let me answer it and then let other forum members answer it. You may also like to read about what other forum members are asking and the answers they’re getting, and that’s really it. It’s very minimum. Going in there once a week, posting a question and getting it answered, that’s a pretty cool thing. That’s why the forum is there, to help you grow your business. I love contributing my thoughts to your marketing problems and so do the other motivated members inside the forum.

Head over to www.smallbusinessbigmarketing.com and click on the forum button and you’ll be in there before you say, “Wow, that forum’s amazing, Timbo.” But, let’s say, I do want to let you know what is being discussed in there right now, we have got some things. We’ve got Mippy, Mippy Man. He’s one of our original members. He just came back from Europe and Asia, and he’s sharing some marketing insights.

Craig is asking for a bit of help naming his new business. We have got a fantastic video that one of our members has just posted, a new email welcome video from a guy who owns a music factory, music school, in Las Vegas. We have got some email marketing questions. We have got all sorts of stuff going on.

Someone’s wanting help with their editorial mission, I’m talking about how to handle rude customers, spoke about that last week. So plenty of going on inside the forum. It’s 49 bucks a month – I know, expensive isn’t it? You would get more marketing values than you ever dreamt of. See you inside.

Ahoy there, [inaudible 00:11:36]. Yes, it’s [inaudible 00:11:38] time. We don’t really have a [inaudible 00:1:40] time but our special guest today is David Warne who owns www.syneytallships.com.au. Boy, oh boy, is this a story of inspiration. Get ready to be moved, team.

Here’s the thing, I get a phone call about six weeks ago from this guy David. He says, “You don’t know me but I found you online and I want to talk to you about running some very interesting workshops on his tall ships.”

He explained that he owns five tall ships from Sydney Harbour. He’s got one up on the Whitsundays and he wants to make best use of them. An idea he’s got is to run teambuilding staff, marketing innovation workshops, killer innovation workshops – that type of thing – those things that I’ve spoken about previously on his tall ships.

So we get talking and I said, “Well, you’re not going to believe it but I’m going to be in Sydney in a couple of days’ time.” He said, “Why don’t we meet for dinner?” Which we did. Got to know each other. He puts this kind of business idea to me. I’m liking him and I’m liking the sound of his ideas, so we keep talking – just a really good guy. Highly motivated, great spirit.

Then he sent me an email a couple of weeks ago saying, “Hey, why don’t you join us for a few days on a tall ship on Sydney Harbour.” I just come back from that adventure with my family only yesterday. Amazing event happened up in Sydney, 150 year anniversary of the Navy. David kindly invited myself and my family to spend three days, living on a tall ship and experiencing the best of what Sydney has to offer. Let me tell you, it was amazing.

Here’s the thing, David doesn’t see problems, he sees solutions. He’s built an amazing business with Sydney tall ships but it hadn’t all been chocolates. Let me tell you, there’s been a lot boiled lilies in between. His story is really going to move you. Honestly, it moved me during the interview. He’s just got a wonderful attitude.

Enough for me, I’m going to hand it over to Mr. Inspirational, David Warne from Sydney Tall Ships. Welcome to Small Business, Big Marketing.

David:        

Hi, good afternoon Tim.

Tim:         

Mate, let’s start off, what were you doing prior to buying your first tall ship?

David:      

I’ve had a number of different businesses and learned many lessons along the way. I started off with a butcher shop, and a chain of butcher shops and my own meat brand, including everything from growing cattle to [inaudible 00:14:19] boning rooms, my own butcher shops and wholesale meat.

Tim:      

Of course, you have.

David:      

Then from the meat – I love the meat, I love eating meat. I’ve always done things that I truly love.

Tim:              

Yes. Hello to all you vegetarians out there.

David:     

Oh, hello too Tim to all vegetarians. Then went into a spit roast company and built up a fairly massive spit roast company in Sydney.

Tim:          

That was up until about six years ago?

David:     

Yes, correct.

Tim:              

Without any [inaudible 00:14:48] can you tell about the spit roast company, but how did you get it to be massive?

David:       

When I bought the business, I had my grandmother and my grandfather in this fellow’s [inaudible 00:14:59], I’ll never forget it, $30,000 for a business that had himself and his wife doing a spit roast every weekend or two. I loved the fact that if we can do one or two spit roast, we can do a hundred spit roast, right?

From there, once I was able to build a system and know that I could grow it out, in those days, I took a huge gamble with a full page ad in the yellow pages. It cost $80,000 which was $20,000 more than the entire revenue of the year. We took it from – I set myself a goal, I said “I’m going to get this to a million dollars in three years” and ended up getting well past that.

Tim:        

Wow! You don’t know the history of this show, but every now and then we have a very big laugh at the yellow pages, but that’s in its current form. How long ago did you take that ad out?

David:         

Ten years … 12 years ago.

Tim:             

Yeah, a brand in its hayday.

David:         

Indeed. I have to be [inaudible 00:16:08] an ad, it was the beginning of thinking differently to what my competition were doing. I spent quite a long time and paid what seems like ridiculous amount some money at the time, understanding what would make an ad work and what makes an ad wasted my time and money. So, I’ll never … There were thousands of words, hundreds of word on this full page ad with terrific headline, “The most tender, the most juicy spit roast you’ve ever tasted in your life or it’s free, guaranteed.” Very close to that, anyway.

That $80,000 ad just [inaudible 00:16:55] went off the hook and one thing led to the other then.

Tim:  

What a great story. You touched on the fact that you figured if you could do one spit roast really well, you could do a hundred, and it was all about systems. I haven’t had that systems discussion the show before. Is creating a business like that about replicating time and time again?

David:     

Yeah. The way I view the world and place, I see the world made up of entrepreneurs, managers and artists, and we’re all a bit of a mixture of those and some more than others. I’m obviously almost entirely entrepreneur and very small amount of artist and manager in me.

An artist, of course, they want everything to be new and different and perfect, colors and perfect shapes and look beautiful or something all the time. To get the result that I’m looking for, I need to know what I’m doing, and then just do the same thing over and over again … Over and over again, if I want to get the same result. Does that make sense?

Tim:     

Yeah, absolutely, it does. It’s a franchise model, isn’t it?

David:       

Yeah. As you know, my ships on the harbor now, we do 2,000 trips up and down that harbor a year doing exactly the same thing. If I had more ships Tim, there’s plenty of customers out there.

Tim:      

Wow. It’s interesting, you talk about systems because, as I mentioned at the start before you came on, I just spent a weekend on one of your ships. I kind of, maybe even unconsciously, subconsciously observed the systems. We pull into port at the end of the day, and the same things that they did the day before. It was just, ‘go, go, go, go, go’ and everything got done, everyone knew what they had to do and yeah, I can those systems playing out in your current business.

David:       

Very important. I like the idea of replication.

Tim:      

So David, okay mate, you created a spit roast business that serviced Sydney. It obviously made you enough coin to then go and buy a tall ship which … Who doesn’t want to buy a tall ship?

David:    

Before we go there though, just before the spit roast, there’s more to just doing spit roast, and there are probably a thousand companies in Australia doing spit roast, or more, [inaudible 00:19:27], I mean, they’re more than a dozen, but I was able to … I built a system of being able to do a spit roast on a buffet table inside a room, so in other words, either inside a [inaudible 00:19:40] or inside someone’s [inaudible 0:19:42] room or inside a convention center. I was able to bring this spectacle of a spit roast inside to where people were eating and having their celebrations rather than having a spit roast at the back of the garden underneath the trees.

Tim:       

You’re right. Okay, so the issue up until then … I’m guessing it wasn’t smoked because you … It would’ve been gas, yeah?

David:     

On gas. We actually did the show, we cooked the thing … We cooked most of it outside and then use the series of light and gimmicks to look as if they’re roast … I mean, we’re talking about that whole bunch of beef between 20 and 40 kilos on a buffet table being carved out by a chef.

Tim:         

So you turned it into a real experience into theater?

David:     

It’s all that foundation of my thinking, you could probably gather by now, it’s all about the customer’s experience. My whole life evolves around trying to deliver an experience for my customers that exceeds their expectations.

Tim:         

Oh mate, you got to have to … Tall ships can wait. You got to tell me more. You got to tell me more about that because I’ve had … Recently, I’ve had Brad Smith from a motorcycle brand, retail brand, called Braaap. Brad talked about the importance of the retail experience – our retail is under the pump these days with online, people buying online, and he has this amazing experience where you got to buy a motorbike and you end up on a dirt track with him or one of his staff and it’s the whole shooting match and you buy … This emotional level even though you could get the motorbike cheaper elsewhere.

So what’s your view? How do you approach creating an experience?

David:      

Tony Robbins is a huge fan of mine, I mean, I’m a huge fan of Tony Robbins.

Tim:    

P6art of the show.

David:   

[Cross-talk 00 21:29] 12:00 and we’ve been there for three days in Fiji. It was midnight, maybe even later. He organized brand new wet suits, brand new [inaudible 00:21:44], big life ring things that we all climb in to …

Tim:     

Hang on. For listeners who don’t know, David has done a lot of work with Anthony Robbins. At this point, this story, I’m getting you’re on his island in Fiji with Anthony Robbins and he’s organizing … What do you got, wet suits and …

David:       

Yeah, so this is a midnight, we haven’t even had dinner. All of a sudden, coaches turn up, he unravels a new room that we haven’t seen before with all these … Thousands and thousands of dollars of equipment, I don’t know where it’s come from, brand new, and he’s got us in the middle of the ocean, jumped off his island in the middle of the night just swimming together and going down a … Actually, flowing into a river together. Wildest, it’s one of the craziest, wildest experiences of my life, totally and utterly unexpected.

It’s just one of those things that I learnt from Tony, just out of the ordinary, doesn’t have to be within our limitations of thinking. Get out of there and that’s what I try to put into my experiences, which I think you’ve witnessed.

Tim:  

Well, I think you and I have come, to coin a phrase, which after my first experience of meeting you … What was my text message? “What the fuck just happened?” I think were the actually words.

David:     

You were shaking Timbo.

Tim:       

So how does the average, small business owner listening to this go, “Yo, that’s great, Dave with Tony Robbins floating down a river. How do I create an experience for my customers?”

David:     

Look, I just don’t mean to be rude or anything else for you …

Tim:         

Go for it mate.

David:       

But it’s totally and utterly your thinking and what you’re thinking your limitations are. On the spit roast side, you got 10,000 people run spit roast businesses, I was able to introduce not only my spit roast experience, but I introduced marquee for people in their backyards. Then I would always do a lighting up on top of those marquees with special LED lights and different lighting systems. It was pretty simple, but it was totally and utterly over and above their expectations for their 21^st or 50^th or 60^th or whatever happened to be.

It doesn’t have to be big, it just has to be unexpected and you’re going to lay into it a little remarkable, a little bit extraordinary.

Tim:        

Mate, two great words there, unexpected and remarkable. I think that’s’ really reassuring to think it doesn’t … It’s not about big budgets. A lot of these smart marketing isn’t about having the biggest wallet, it’s about thinking cleverly. It is about being creative and having an idea, having the courage to have an idea and actually implement that idea.

David: 

I couldn’t agree more Tim. Imaginations and limitations are just purely your own boundaries.

Tim:  

Yeah, that’s powerful. It’s all mindset stuff, isn’t it? This is … Every time we talk about smart marketing, it generally ends up with some emotional level versus the kind of rational “Do this, do that” type of thing.

David:    

I just encourage your listeners to stretch those imaginations, to stretch those boundaries because every single time I do, I realize new opportunities, new … Life becomes a little bit more exciting.

Tim:        

Al right mate, well, in walks the tall ships because it’s not every day you buy a talk ship. You’re the first person I’ve ever met that owns not one but six. Let’s understand. Six years ago, you started Sydney Tall Ships, how did that begin?

David:          

I was sitting on a boat when the [inaudible 00:25:40] came in. It‘d been sitting at Campbell’s Cove for 20 years since the bi-centenary reenactment in Sydney Harbour. 350 ton of [inaudible 00:25:51] but rotten, full of worm, diesel pumps pumping out thousands and thousands of liters an hour keeping it afloat.

My grandmother turned to me and said, “Geez Dave, you should be good at this.” I said, “Grandma, I wouldn’t have a clue. I’m not a sailor.” She said, “No, I know you’re not a sailor but you’re a good people person, you should do this.” That said, that might have set an emotion.

Tim:         

What a granny.

David:         

I want to say that you got, Timbo, no one in this entire world would’ve dared take on this challenge, honestly. A boat, 1540’s, costs a fortune to maintain, right?

Tim:  

Mate, I know, tell me about it. I was lucky enough to inherit a wooden boat about four years ago. It was well and truly a liability. Those things are not easy to upkeep. The one I’m talking about is a 32 foot wooden boat, you might [inaudible 00:26:53], small, small compared to what you’ve got. So massive challenge, granny’s given you the thumbs up, you respect to what a granny has to say. You’re obviously coming to the end of what you were doing with the spit roast and looking for a new challenge.

David:   

That’s right. You’re looking for a new bigger, bolder … Actually, yeah, you’re right, I needed something that I needed to enjoy again.

Tim:         

Aha, you’ve lost the joy?

David:      

I lost the joy. It all become, “Yeah, I just needed something new again.” But as an entrepreneur and a sales person, bright, shiny things are often … Isn’t one of my great challenge because it is … I look around … Every single day, an opportunity comes across my eyes that would be a wonderful opportunity to take on. So that’s one of my little things [inaudible 00:27:49]

Tim:           

Yeah, big time. So Dave, oh man, every single … 99.9 people out of a hundred who are running a spit roast business and then their granny taps them on the shoulder and says, “You should buy a tall ship”, then you said, “Well that’s silly, I love you granny to death but come one, I mean, is he getting old?”

David:       

So you got a rotten ship Tim, you got no customers whatsoever, has no idea like nothing.

Tim:       

You mean, you don’t sail, you’re no sailor?

David:         

If you look … I’m looking at my hands, they are soft and they’re my hands, I mean is still as soft as they’ve ever been, right?

Tim:          

Yeah.

David:    

But, having said that, it’s a really interesting time of my life because I only had just only come back from business mastery with Tony Robbins. My mind was wholly … I was ready for bigger and bolder things.

Tim:       

You were wide open.

David:          

Exactly.

Tim:      

You’re one of these guys who knows the universe delivers … A bit of why we’re here listeners, but stick with us …

David:    

It wouldn’t bother your listeners, does it?

Tim:            

Mate, I don’t know, I don’t know, they’ll tell me. I love it. I love it, but I always hear on the side of the [inaudible 00:29:01]

David:         

That’s all right. That’s fine.

Tim:        

You go on, okay, the universe that we live at, need to be open to the signs, how did you know … There would’ve been other opportunities coming your way, how did you know that was the one?

David:     

The uniqueness of it, Tim. The fact that it was so difficult for anyone, in anywhere in the world, to open up next door to this. If I could make this work … In fact, let me rephrase that, when I made this work, when I was able to make this work, I would be … I’ll stand alone. This could be … I had a vision of this, an iconic experience, something that’ extraordinarily outside the imagination.

Tim:    

Pretty amazing too to think. At a rational marketing level, there was a gap. Sydney Harbour, that’s where Captain Cook sails in, and yet up until six years ago, there was no business sailing tall ships around Sydney Harbor?

David:      

Well there was a ship, a number of … A few years before that, there was a ship called the Bounty, Bounty an Australian ship, it operated for a few years and sold off to Hong Kong. So I’ve taken over a tall ship, no customers, it’s sinking, and a few years before that is a ship called the Bounty that went broke, operating on the same water that I did.

Tim: 

Great confirmation there, you’re on to something special.

David:  

Oh very, yeah, that gave me a lot of confidence, that did.

Tim:  

I want to understand how you brought it to life, David, but I want listeners to understand exactly what you’ve brought to life. So, just scooting straight ahead to now, you’ve got six ships, five on Sydney Harbor, correct me if I’m wrong, one up on the Whitsundays … Just wrap some numbers around it.

David: 

So, about four weeks ago we celebrated our 250,000th customer. Last year, we had about 83,000 customers on board. We have around about 40 or 50 people living on the ships at any one time. I have a marketing team and sales team and we’ve just had the Tall Ship Festival in Sydney, which is an extraordinary thing in itself. Our little business grew from zero and this year, last financial year, we almost got to the $10 million revenue mark. So this year, we’ll boom that.

Tim:    

Six years. Six years. I don’t know how you’re going to answer this in any abbreviated way, but …

David:   

One more thing to add …

Tim:       

Yeah, go on.

David:        

Because I know small business and small business operators out there, love your work, tough kid. Cash flow, right? Not one of my ships I’ve been able to borrow against, so not one single ship has anyone ever been able to lend me money to buy.

Tim:        

Next, I want to know about tall ships.

David:  

They run a mile, even venture capitalists run a mile. Know that? So we’ve only been able to grow the business through cash flow of the business which is an interesting thing, it’s just one of the great challenges we all face, right?

Tim:         

So many questions, David, so many questions. We’ll turn this into a book. What did you do in year one in order to kind of, excuse the pun, anchor the idea so that it was there for the long term?

David:     

I think, it’s not quite fair to say the first year because we lost so much money. It was so wild. It was so hopelessly ridiculous that at the end of the first year, my wife … We just had a little girl and I’m in debt, everyone was pleading with me that now would be the time to walk away from it. “Good idea, Dave, but walk away” so I wouldn’t the first year was particularly memorable.

Tim:     

Well, it was for all the wrong reasons.

David:         

Yeah, all the wrong reasons. I’ll never forget my first $10,000 ad in the Sunday Telegraph, I think it was, or weekend Telegraph, generated $342 worth of sales in three weeks. I was doing four-hour cruises, $149 I think, $139, and no one wanted it. I eventually had two or three customers. I had ships, and times, and schedules and booking systems and a website – no one wanted it Tim. Literally, I couldn’t sell it. I just didn’t sell it.

I was walking around Darling Harbor and Circular Quay dressed as a pirate, dressed as a bloody pirate with brochures trying to build up people – “People would love these, people will get right into these” no, not one. So, that was really challenging.

Tim:           

Well, okay, so you must have had a bit of coin in the bank coming out of the spit roast business. You bankrolled the first 12 months. You’ve come off the back of a Tony Robbins experience, you’re feeling pretty strong of mind, but how do you maintain such strength when … I’m guessing, when you’ve got a new child, you got in-laws, parents, maybe even your wife are just going, “Dave, you’ve lost the plot.” How do you keep going? What do you say to yourself?

David:        

I wanted to say, I went to that little conversation, everyone apart from my grandmother, okay?

Tim:       

Bless her.

David:    

Look, this is more of that stuff that you were a bit worried the customers don’t like.

Tim:   

Dave, don’t be like that.

David:     

Your listeners don’t like, but this is the honest truth. I just totally and utterly knew there was a way, I just hadn’t found it yet. I just knew that I just had to keep going, one way or another. There’s always a bloody way. I just had to … it was such a wonderful thing that we were doing, but no one knew about it and I had to also … I just had to keep making changes until I came up with the formula that clicked.

So somewhere along that line, I ended up with a $10,000 ad that generated $50,000 or $60,000 worth of sales, and then refined it and we went from four-hour cruises to two-hour cruises, twice a day, and then three times. Now we’re operating three ships every day, five times a day from quarter to 10 in the morning to 10:00 at night.

Honestly, it’s just pure and utterly never the fuck giving up. Stupid, I know, and that’s one thing that I got through.

Tim:  

There was a tipping point, I want to understand that tipping point or turning point where you’ve gone, “Oh, hang on. It’s starting to work but …” Can you tell us about the darkest moment in that time before the tipping point?

David:      

Yeah, so, we got to … Honestly, I can remember so well because, I’m being feely, I’m going to be open now, I’ve talked about the positive side of things. After that first summer, in the middle of winter, and no one in the entire world wants to go on a boat in the middle of Sydney Harbour in the middle of winter, right? Particularly a stinking, cold wet one.

That winter my family, Allison and I, we weren’t doing too well. I’m not exaggerating here, in the middle of that winter, she had a school reunion and we had to turn up late … I got her to that school reunion late because we could only gather $17 behind the seat of a car and under the bed or whatever so she didn’t have to buy dinner at that school reunion. Like a little one and all the expenses and I was three or four months behind in my rent. Allison’s mom and dad, obviously, I was the worst son-in-law that you could ever imagine throwing away and wasting that enormous amount of your lifetime’s work, 10 years or 11 years of building up my previous businesses, almost gone. Know that? I had the ship up on reefers, up on dry rock at Garden Island, and I had $57,000 bill just to pull the thing back in the water. That was just the crane bill to get it back in the water, and I wouldn’t put it in the water until I gathered $57,000. They’re not going to accept my check.

At that moment, that was my darkest moment. That’s my darkest moment.

Tim:      

Wow. I don’t know. That’s [inaudible 00:38:12] mate.

David:     

That was a horrible, horrible place and I totally and utterly feel for other people and there would be other people out in the world out there in those circumstances.

Tim:      

Where’d you find the 58 grand?

David:    

57 grand? I put on a tie and I walked up [inaudible 00:38:29] companies. Allison was still working, thank goodness, and for a company called [inaudible 00:38:36] and I walked in there and they introduced me to a few of their clients. I was able to sell them corporate Christmas parties and asked to have their money paid up front, if I gave them some extras. Over a couple of weeks, I pulled it together and got it back down in the water again. That’s just one hurdle, right?

I sold them the vision of keeping the tall ship dream alive on Sydney Harbour, “I need your help” but I’m not wanting handouts. I haven’t received one single dollar from any government source whatsoever.

Tim:     

To this day?

David:      

To this day.

Tim:  

God, I would have thought that’d be a lucrative source of funding for a business like this.

David:

Not one dollar.

Tim:      

What was the turning point then? You got the ship back in the water. That doesn’t mean … It just means the business was continuing, not that it was booming.

David:   

Yeah, we’re still living on winter, Tim.

Tim:         

Where was that point where you’ve gone … You just … You’ve turned to Allison and gone, “I think things are turning, I think they’re going to get better.”

David:   

Well, we realized … The risk is not on the tall ship business that I’ve been able to find across the world that isn’t either run by the government and fully subsidized or broke, okay? So all the charity … I was able to add value into what we do. I had to double, quadruple my pricing for corporate, and I turned it from a cheap charity type of mindset into a classy, professional, highly valuable experience. So my corporate world got in … I was able to sell my team-building events and corporate Christmas parties, and that really took off really well. That gave me cash flow up front. Instead of asking a $500 deposit, I asked for a $3000 deposit. So, $3000, $3000, $3000, $3000 dollars gave me the cash flow up front to keep going until the summer.

Tim:    

Yeah, right, so it was diversification that saved you?

David:     

Well said, exactly.

Tim:    

Yeah, so you’ve gone sailing tourists up and down the harbor all day …

David:    

No.

Tim:      

At night.

David:    

No, it’s what everyone believes. You’re a marketing guy, the first thing you say to these tourists was, “Tall ships” and so everyone said the same thing to me, “God, this is going to be fantastic for the tourists” except the Australian dollar, at $1.10 and then tourists dropping out and all their local families going overseas instead of staying in Australia, do you know? So, I actually said, “Forget the tourists, they’re a fickle bunch anyway and they’ve got 10,000 people vying for their dollar,” I actually made a decision that we would focus almost 100% of our efforts on to local moms and dads and families, and they were a market that I knew, as a dad myself.

I’ll never forget, when I really asked what moms wanted, they didn’t want a tall ship, they didn’t particularly want to be out in the harbor, she wanted champagne with her mates. She wanted time away from the kids and a little bit of freedom.

I personally wanted activities, adventure, challenge and so did my mates, and so they needed my product and gave them what they wanted then develop and you’ll see my [inaudible 00:41:18] today, it’s still almost entirely about moms and dads, my local moms and dads.

Tim:  

Yeah, right. Great, understand your audience and then diversify.

David:  

Yeah, ask them what they want and give it to them.

Tim:   

Yeah, love it mate. Listeners, I am talking to David Warne, David is the founder and owner of www.sydneytallships.com.au. At least, go to the website. If you’re in Australia or coming to Australia, hop on one because it’s an unbelievable experience. I’ve just stayed on one for three days with my family.

Dave, let’s talk about money. What’s your view on it, because there’s a whole lot of small businesses who can’t … That whole cash flow thing, that’s scary. I mean, they live hand to mouth. What’s your mindset in regards to money when you haven’t got any?

David:       

Interesting, that’s a great question. I don’t peak any of my assets. In other words, I drive an old … I buy my cars from the [inaudible 00:43:29]. I’ve had many, many parts of my life where I’ve only had $2 or $3 dollars of fuel to put in my car to get to work.

When I first met my wife, in those very early days, she put $50 in my back pocket once because I didn’t have anything in my life whatsoever. I had ideas and dreams, but nothing, so I still value every single dollar, probably more than most. But money there is purely and utterly to make the world go round, right? I love living it up when I can. We hired a castle when I was in Europe. It cost a fortune, but it was a wild thing that … Look, [inaudible 00:44:14] save that money?

Tim:          

Well, could I just say … You have to think about what you’re going to say about money, but I want to thank you on air because that whole mindset that you just explained. I remember you e-mailing me three weeks ago and you said, “Timbo I’d love you to come up …” I can’t remember what you said, but basically, “Come up and experience what’s going to be an amazing event on Sydney Harbor in three weeks time and I’d like you to bring the family as your guest.” I responded, I think I called you and said, “Wow, David, thank you and I don’t think I can do it.” Can you remember my reason? I think it was just going to be incredibly …

David:    

One, you’ve got a big family Timbo.

Tim:        

I’ve got a big family, there’s five of us.

David:    

And then the airfares.

Tim:   

Airfares and accommodation. You just said … You basically said, “Look beyond that” and we’d only just met and I really appreciated that. It’s like, “Look beyond it mate. This is a big … It’s a once in a lifetime …” It was the only ‘live once’ chat that we had.

David:    

Yes.

Tim:         

Yes, and I did, and look at it, I’ve just come back off the back of that and it was, it was amazing. Yeah, so money mate? You got anything? You don’t have to.

David:   

I think it needs to be discussed. I now have a business partner, Marty Woods. Did you meet Marty?

Tim:     

I did. He was captain.

David:      

Captain.

Tim:

Yes.

David:    

Marty and I are completely different into the scale in regards to money. I’ll spend money within the business. I’ll spend money on advertising that I know I’m going to get a return on investment for, right? I’ll spend money on people and marketing and experience delivery, whereas Marty, as a shipwright, he’s an amazing, truly remarkable man, except everything is spend as little as humanly possible. That has its limitations. I do believe in thinking big include making and build it and they will come, one way or another.

So, you need to run these tall ships, I’ve got to have thousands of customers on board my ships paying good money. It’s just an interesting way that people look at money because I personally wouldn’t argue with anyone investing as much as I possibly can into the marketing and sales aspects of their businesses.

Tim:    

It raises the question, and there’s a lot of business owners out there that would answer this question, “Why do you do what you do?” Because they’re there to make the biggest profits so they can have lots of money. Why do you do what you do, Dave?

David:     

Certainly, it’s got nothing to do with the money, Tim. It’s got everything to do … When I have the customers laughing, hugging me, sending me e-mails, I can see the look on their faces, it just drives me. It just gives me enormous energy to want to do that again and again and again, to inspire people. I live and work in an incredibly positive world and I kind of shaped my own world around me like that. Does that make sense?

Tim:     

It does and was that the same for the spit roast business?

David:   

It certainly was at the beginning, not towards the end.

Tim:      

Yeah, right.

David:        

Not towards the end.

Tim:         

What happened at the end, Dave? We’re going back I know in time, but why did the joy disappear there?

David:

It became about the money.

Tim:        

Aha, aha.

David:      

It became about the money. Hundreds of spit roasts, we were doing 100 to 150 functions every weekend and it became about the money and financial control and … Yeah, I just became bored.

Tim:       

Yeah, it got you. Okay, so, Dave …

David:

I’d going to do five pushups in this house if I mention the word boring, so I hope my family didn’t hear that.

Tim:       

I’m going to send your wife a recording of this and highlight exactly what time point you did say that. What was that? You have to do five pushups in your house if you say the word?

David:         

Yeah, no one is this home is allowed to mention the word boring. You get down to the floor, “Give me five.”

Tim:     

Love it! I love that. So, let’s talk about your mindset mate, because that is everything. You’re as strong as an ox in the head. Let’s talk about that in terms of … You get up each day. You’ve got a great business, okay? There are many businesses out there that are doing it tough or haven’t quite found the mojo in their business yet. What do you advice around that in terms of the mindset when you get up each day?

David:       

Okay. This is a little bit out there.

Tim:      

Here we go.

David:     

[Inaudible 00:48:59] guys, okay, it’s a little bit out there. To give you an example, I’m going to use a real life example how to do it, what works for me and people around me. Emma, she’s six. Every morning and every evening, so if she wakes up in the morning, she cleans her teeth and in the right hand corner of the mirror there are these words: “I am Emma. I am strong. I am brave. I live in an amazing world and I love my dad.” So, in other words … And Allison together, we both wake up and remind ourselves how grateful we are to live in this city, in this country. We wake up and we remind ourselves there are opportunities, we’re getting there, it will work out. What great things are going to happen today. Something amazing is going to happen today. So we’re expecting positive around us and not trying to, but making sure that we get rid of negative things around us.

So we actually go into each day very positive … We get up early, we have our bloody vegetable juices every morning and we … Almost all the time, not all the time, and I think that would be honest, but almost all the time, we’re in a very positive mindset ready to get on with it.

Tim:   

Well, you had … The tall ship that I spent the weekend on, the boatswain, sounds like such an 18th century job title, but the boatswain was Charlotte and Charlotte’s last day is today. She’s heading back to Amsterdam now. From what I gathered, she’s as a good a boatswain as you could get. And I said to you before this call started, you must be … Disappointed, you’re going to find her hard to replace and your words where you had no fear at all in replacing someone as good as Charlotte because it just opens up a space for the next Charlotte to step into.

David:       

Well, I’ve got to say, it’s a tiny little example, but a thousand times a day that would happen. You automatically went into the line, “Oh, you’re going to find it hard to replace her.” You are setting yourself up to be hard to replace her, Tim, and I’m setting myself up to have the next biggest, brighter, more beautiful person around me. That’s what happens almost all time. I’m not going to say all the time, but almost all the time. And so, you know, we’ve got a bloody new engine or something happens another, we look for the opportunity, we actively and talk about, “I wonder what on earth it going to come out … What great is going to come out of this process?” We’re actively excited because we don’t know what the opportunity is going to be when realize that we’re in the middle of a crisis.

Tim:   

Yeah, yeah, okay, so you look for the excitement. In walks a problem, you go, “Thank you. I’m excited to see what the solution’s going to be.”

David:     

I wonder what it is. [Inaudible 00:52:14] I don’t necessarily need to see all the green lights. I don’t at all, quite often they’re all bloody red, right? But I just had … It’s not a pretend thing. Allison and I together, and Mark, my right hand man … Did you meet Mark? I don’t think you did.

Tim:          

No.

David:       

My key people, who I’ve all sent to Tony Robbins, by the way, they all … We sit down around the table and think, “Right, how do we turn this into what we want it to be or what’s the opportunity?” It definitely leads to an easy day.

Tim:        

What a great discussion. What a great discussion.

David:    

It leads into new ideas. It leads into a fun environment. It gives me time to look after people like yourself and have fun with you. I had Shirley MacLaine on a couple of weeks ago and yesterday, what was it then, oh, the great singer …

Tim:          

Kamahl.

David:       

Kamahl was on the boat and [cross-talk 00:53:17]. And you know what happened? What does he do? He says, “David” in his voice. “Do you mind if I sing a couple of songs to your [cross-talk 00:53:26]”

Tim:     

Oh, how nice.

David:    

So I’m over delivering, but didn’t really mean to.

Tim:  

David, great story mate. I can’t imagine you being the type of guy to write a book because you won’t have the time, but one of these days I’d love it if you did.

David:  

I’m not playing the game. When I’m 80 or 90 or something years old, I might write a book, but the game’s still in play. We only reached the half time as yet.

Tim:        

I reckon a bloke like you would have a favorite quote. What’s your favorite quote?

David:    

“There’s always a way.”

Tim:       

“There’s always a way.” Is that from anyone in particular or is that yours?

David:   

I don’t know. I’ve got … So if you look on my back wall or into my office, you’ll see pithy quotes that I might draw upon any different moment of the day to inspire me to think a bit better.

Tim:    

Brilliant mate. David, thanks so much for what was a really honest interview and for sharing with my listeners.

Well, team, I hope you got out of that as much as I did because I’m always blown away about what my guests share – so humbling. A very moving interview I found and I thank you David for that.

Now three tips, three insights that I got. I got plenty more but I just thought I’d share three. Number one, success is a mindset. I love that quote, “There’s always a way.” Sometimes I think we’ve got to remind ourselves about that. In fact, the idea of putting quotes up on your wall, in your office, in your car, wherever, I think that’s a great idea because not one quote’s going to serve all purposes, but if you do have a number that you can refer to, then you may just move mountains.

Number two, I love his formula for creating customer experiences – provide the unexpected with a dash of the remarkable. I love that. I added that little word dash, I thought it would soup it up, but provide the unexpected with a bit of remarkable thrown in as well. Really loved that.

Number three, the power of systems, is just reminded just of how powerful systems are. Then you can do one or you can do a million. Clearly, David’s done that, that’s how he built his spit roast business and that’s how he’s building his tall ship business. What a natural progression. Spit roasts to tall ships. I wonder what’s next for him? We will certainly be watching with eyes wide open.

That was David Warne from Sydney Tall Ships. Go and check him out www.sydneytallships.com.au. In fact, go and hop on one, great experience.

Well, I thought I’d finish the show with some listener feedback. I think they’re actually both from the UK, but one sounds like it’s come from Russia. The UK bit comes by the fact that he’s got a UK e-mail address so I’m going to go with that. Anyway, have a listen to this. I think it’s wonderful to hear what other small business owners do with this show.

He says, “Hi, Timbo. I’ve been …” Oh, this is actually from Chris Lord, by the way. “Hi, Timbo. I’ve been a big fan of the podcast since the good old days with Lou [inaudible 00:56:28] hope he’s doing great.” Yes he is, Chris. He is nailing it. He says, “No plugs, questions or requests with this one. I just felt I needed to get in touch to let you know how much I enjoyed the last two podcasts with Brad and Jamienne.” Yeah, they were good, weren’t they? Lots of gold in there. “They were inspirational, especially for a small business owner like myself. It really seems like you’ve stepped it up a notch recently and that is great to see.” Thanks a lot Chris, that’s nice. “Especially love Jamienne’s story about running 24 hour support to 5000 customers out of his bedroom and Brad’s tale about not taking ‘no’ for an answer. Brilliant stuff.” Yeah, well, that seems to be a constant theme, even Dave in that interview today. These successful business owners, they don’t. They don’t take ‘no’ for an answer, there is always a way.

Chris goes on to say, “I listen to your podcast while out on my van and it never fails to be enjoyable. Keep up the great work. Chris Lord” and he’s got a lawn care business. He’s a lawn care business owner from Manchester in the UK. Love that one.

Here’s the other one. I, for some reason, thought it was from Russia but what would I know? It’s from Alexander Lorenzo. Alexander Lorenzo and he’s got a business called Lorenzo Puzzle. He says, “Dear Timbo.” Now it’s written in broken English and I am going to go with the broken English because I kind of like that, I think it’s endearing. He says, “Dear Timbo. My name is Alexander and I am co-founder of Lorenzo Puzzle. I have been thinking of write to you long time ago and now I think it good pretext. I want you to know that I love your podcast. Each episode is like a volcano of marketing goodies, tips and solutions.” I like that, volcano, yeah. “I start listening to your podcast a few months ago and run through all episodes in two weeks.” Mate, that’s outrageous. That’s 150 plus episodes in two weeks. Thanks Alexander. “Just like that lady from one of your episodes.” Valerie [Coo], I think he’s referring to. “She listened all your podcasts in one go driving along with her car. After I catch up with all episodes I’m probably going to kill you” he says. “My brain was like marketing bomb and now seriously you have such a big impact on our marketing. We took on board lots of you and your guests’ suggestion for what I wish to say thank you, thank you, thank you. Just want to say thanks Timbo and keep it up. Best regards, Alexander.” Alexander from Lorenzo Puzzle.

Hey, thanks mate, I really appreciate that feedback. And everyone who’s left listener reviews on iTunes that I can’t respond to because iTunes doesn’t allow it.

All right team, I reckon that will just about wrap it up. Remember this show is made possible by the very good folk at www.netregistry.com.au. So I really encourage you to get over there and see how they can help grow your business online.

I just think that’s been a pretty chockfull episode. I’ve got nothing left. Have a great week. May your marketing be the best marketing and hopefully I will see you in the Small Business, Big Marketing forum real soon. See you.

Outro:             You’ve been listening to the Small Business, Big Marketing show with Tim Reid. Want more marketing goodness? Then visit www.smallbusinessbigmarketing.com.

PLUS I tackle a question from a listener who’s having troubles with his cold calling strategy – like it’s not working? I give him 7 tips for cold calling, plus am now looking for a cold calling expert to appear on the show.

And I cover off what’s happening inside the best forum for small business owners going around ;0)

If you like what you hear then have your say in the comment section below.

If you didn’t like what you hear, then still have your say. I’m a big boy.

Let’s get that marketing discussion happening.

Until next time, may your marketing be the best marketing …