I’m excited to be able to share this interview with my Dad, Trevor.

Born in 1929 one of 9 kids coming from not much at all, to give us so much. A heck of a work ethic = he’s a stockman, auctioneer, real estate guru, developer, jockey, farmer and alongside my mum hosted some epic rural parties and he is the biggest prankster ever.

Above all else he’s a dad, grandfather, husband, great mate to his friends and an all round fabulous human.

On this episode, my Dad (89yrs of awesome) shares his stories, how he offered to work for 12 months for free in his first job, that he had a police escort to the interview and why relationships are the key in life.

I hope I make him proud, as I’m certainly proud to be his daughter. I hope you enjoy this episode together. It was very impromptu and that’s what I love about it.

1. Work Hard & Be Persistent

Dad you were from a large family and didn’t have much but you were very determined from a young age.

Yes Nik, you had to make it yourself. I went to high school for a few years, and I wasn’t doing much good there, but I enjoyed school very much. I also really enjoyed meeting people and getting out. However, when my older brother took a job I had to leave school and go and help on the farm to be there and help my father.

So Dad took his my older brother’s place, probably at the age of about 16/17 and from there on worked until he was about 19, then his young brother came on to do the farm work, so my Dad had to leave. That’s when he decided he’d go get a job as a stock broker (live stock not trading shares on wall street)…

It would have been in the late 40s, late 40s. He had no knowledge whatsoever of book work, but had a very good stock knowledge. In those days there weren’t GPS’s or Google Maps so Dad found out about a job with a stock firm, got in his car and went town to town getting directions.

In the end this lead to a police escort to the final interview location.

Haha, I didn’t know my way, I had to stop at every police station. I’ve never been there before – so the police stations were the best point of interest at that time to get directions. True story.

Didn’t take no for an answer

The manager said that I wouldn’t qualify for the job because I had no office experience, he turned me down and I was very disheartened.

So I went down the stairs… and then I went back and asked him one more time if he would just give me a job on the road dealing with livestock. And he said, “Well yes, you sound very keen son. I can give you a job but I can’t pay you more than an office boy’s wage.”

And I said, “Well, I’d be … I’ll work for nothing for 12 months, just to get started.”

2. Relationships Are Key

I can remember one of my earliest memories of dad is sitting in front of him in the saddle on his horse while you’re doing the fencing. We’d bring morning tea out. Dad always said to me “you know, the most important thing in business and life is relationships”.

During his first job as a stockman Dad would get up very early in the morning – before the farmers sometimes, and he would take a load of newspapers and fresh bread out to the farmers he was visiting. That paved the way for some great long term relationships.