Brad Young is the founder of The Grout Guy, Australia's largest shower regrouting specialist, and co-founder of Servly. At 17 he came back from a year at an ice hockey academy in Canada with no money, took a job helping a family friend's shower repair business, and by 19 had taken it over, when it was one man and a van. Today The Grout Guy has around 200 technicians across Australia.

In this episode, Brad and I talk about running a growing trade business lean, tracking where every lead comes from, what an agency should charge and why you should own your ad account, and how The Grout Guy uses AI agents on Salesforce to read emails, process work orders and book jobs.

Full write-up, links and transcript: [episode page link, add once the page is live]

We also cover how changing our website address killed Smartfix's SEO, Google Business Profiles, a bot that went from about 70% to 95% accuracy, why customers hang up on an AI after hours, and a $15 a month integration behind 292 missed leads.

Brad also explains Servly, the system he and his CTO built from The Grout Guy's setup for other trade businesses, who it's for and what moving across from ServiceM8 looks like. Plus vehicle trackers, timesheets, onboarding and how close the business is to a $1 million week.

A good listen for any business owner thinking about marketing, systems and where AI fits.

Connect with Brad and The Grout Guy:

LinkedIn (Brad): https://www.linkedin.com/in/brad-young-66a52a3b/

Website (The Grout Guy): https://thegroutguy.com.au/

Website (Servly): https://servly.au/

Elijah Principe is a wine maker and director of Antonio's Winery in the Swan Valley, a 10 acre vineyard his grandparents Antonio and Emma started cleaning up by hand in 1975. After 50 years as a family project, 2026 is the first year the winery is going to market properly, and Elijah, at 25, is the one taking it there.

In this episode, Elijah and I talk about how the wine used to be sold, at $3 a litre into any container people brought, why he calls his wine boutique prestige rather than premium, and why he wants it kept out of the big bottle shops.

Full write-up, links and transcript: [episode page link, add once the page is live]

We also cover his first vintage, including a Grenache that turned into a natural sparkling red and a Shiraz that was meant to be a rosé, how he plans a year ahead, how he checks the grapes he buys in, and the cellar door he's planning for late 2027 or early 2028.

Elijah also shares the mentors who give him advice straight, how networking helped him get his labels done, and why a 100-year-old tin shed might have to come down.

A good listen for anyone taking something their family built and putting it in front of the public.

Connect with Elijah and Antonio's Winery:

Instagram (Elijah): https://www.instagram.com/elijxh_p/

Instagram (Antonio's Winery): https://www.instagram.com/antonios_winery/

Website: https://antonioswinery.com/

Julia Ewert is a published author, LinkedIn Learning sales instructor and one of Australia's leading sales strategists and professional negotiators. She teaches the Infinite Sales System and helps companies build repeatable sales systems that lift conversions without pressure or discounting, and she has worked with our team at Smartfix.

In this episode, Julia and I talk about why so many business owners say they don't do sales, where the stigma comes from, and why a dishonest tradie says more about that person than it does about sales. We get into price objections, "I need to speak to my partner", and why the fortune really is in the follow-up.

Full write-up, links and transcript: [episode page link, add once the page is live]

We also cover how to ask permission to call back, why open questions help you recommend the right fix, why a confused mind always says no when a quote has too many options, and whether you should give the price on the spot.

Julia shares how she tests salespeople in an interview, why sales training without a process is a band-aid on a severed limb, how she wrote her book From Pitch to Profit in five weeks by speaking it, and how 37 follow-ups over 3 years and 4 months won her Crown as a client.

A practical conversation for anyone who quotes jobs for a living.

Connect with Julia Ewert:

Website: https://juliaewert.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliaewert-sales-strategist-professional-negotiator/

The Donut Card (newsletter): https://juliaewert.com/donutcard/

The Infinite Sales System: https://juliaewert.com/infinite-sales-system/

From Pitch to Profit: https://juliaewert.com/book/