FROM THE DESK OF

Hey tradies! I’ve been inspired… by Nedd Brockmann.

“Nedd has received a hero’s welcome at Sydney’s Bondi Beach after completing his mammoth run… from Cottesloe Beach in Perth to Bondi – a 3952km journey over 47 days…”

Like, WOW… This tradie does not do things in halves. He really said, “let’s bloody do this” and dove face first into the challenge.

The 23-year-old took on the challenge with the goal of raising money and awareness for homelessness and boy did he do it; raising a WHOPPING $1.5million for homelessness.

This is obviously one of the most inspirational things to come out of 2022 in Australia. Nedd ran in the hot sun and the cold rain. He lost a tonne of weight and sustained some serious injuries. Did he give up? No! He kept putting one foot in front of the other, persevering where others would cave. His sheer grit and determination really ignited a fire in my belly.

As our Lifestyle Tradie Members would know, a few years ago I committed on stage in front of 150+ trade business owners, to run a marathon. Low and behold, it never happened.

Excuses came up and I was very quick to validate them… “I’m tired,” “I’m too busy,” “what’s the point?” You name it, I thought it and believed it.

I quickly swept the commitment under the rug in the hopes that no one would remember. Funny thing is, our Lifestyle Tradie members do NOT forget. EVER! So when a current member invited me to run a marathon with him in 2023, I thought I would finally hold up my end of the bargain.

From there, I named 2023 the year of BEAST MODE. The year I would become an absolute BEAST in business, a BEAST in health and fitness, and a BEAST in my family life.

For those who weren’t at our November 2022 R&R, you probably won’t know what this means. Essentially, it’s a superhuman state of being, whether this is committing to bettering your trade business and driving your goals hard, starting a new fitness regime, or committing to be the best parent you can possibly be. And I did it! I trained hard week in, week out, and ran a 42km marathon on March 5th 2023! It was a serious challenge, and at times I thought I wouldn’t or couldn’t do it. But I went Beast Mode and did it.

So, I want to ask you, what are you taking on in 2023 that will ignite your inner BEAST?

Cheers, Andy Smith

Tell us a little about your business, life and family.

We are parents to two teenage girls, Year 9 & 12.

We are currently building a new home and it’s the first time we have built. We have been in our current 2-bedroom family home forever and we have well and truly grown out of it, so it’s a really exciting time!

Our business name is over 40 years old but the business framework is just over 5. Paul has grown the commercial side of the business over the last 30 years and has put us at the top of a specialty HVAC market. We specialise in HVAC systems for switchrooms, whether that be for a mining site, light rail or data centres.