DOING THE HARD YARDS

Q

Your family owns and operates Coastal Tipper Hire. How did that business venture start?

A

When I first came down to the Coast I didn’t have a job so the old man bought a 6m tipper and he was a subcontractor to a company. He conned me into buying a bobcat that I didn’t know how to drive. There was nine of us who relocated from the family and partners. We had $5000 between us. I spent every weekend learning how to drive the bobcat and then went around handing cards out to customers onsite. Dad had his tipper and I had a bobcat and then we finally joined forces and we built it up to what it is now. We have 250 people working for us now. It probably took me 18 months after arriving on the Gold Coast to get into it. We were based out of Nerang originally.

Q

How much has that work ethic translated to what you have done in racing?

A

You do get a good work ethic. I used to go to school, finish and then go cart logs with the old man and my mum used to jump on the tractor. We have never been afraid of hard work. You flash forward to now and people think they are hard done by. I have done the hard yards. I just find society today people expect to get handouts. I stopped playing football when I started the business because you couldn’t afford to get hurt. I didn't have work cover or insurance back then, I just went out and did it.