#ASKJIM episode 78 with Jim's Group founder, Jim Penman and Joel Kleber

Foreign. We're on. G', day, Jim, how are you? We're on to. We're on air now. We're back in live. A bit of a different intro. So welcome to everyone who's tuning in, which is fantastic. Make sure you leave a comment or question straight away. We couldn't get through everything last week. We had a lot of viewers and we missed a lot of them because there were so many. So make sure you leave them from the start there, guys. And Haar is already tuning in with Dave. We've got 60 people tuning in, guys, so make sure you share comment. Let us know how you're going as well during lockdown. So Dave McDonald's the first comment up and he's gone. Good on you, Jim, for keeping this up. I am nice and dry now after replacing seven year old cameras in the rain. Luckily we have a scissor lift tomorrow. It's phone data and wi fi links. Hopefully we get more rain.

Doesn't matter much in Melbourne. You can't work anyway. Thanks. Yeah, beloved.

Very true. Let's update people. How have you been going through the week since last regarding emails of people working and support and all that sort of stuff? Have you been going with that, Jim?

With.

With people emailing you and all that sort of stuff With. With photos?

Oh, that's how you're asking me? Yeah, yeah, we've had a lot of. I've been flooded actually, with people. I get. I get masses of emails every day of the people saying, good on you, stand up for this kind of thing. A lot of people. I just got today, one from a somebody who's got a small franchise just in Melbourne and he just said, look, you know, we've done everything we can to try and stop this, but we should hang together. And I said, yeah, we'll work together, you know, share the stuff I've given you. I hear it all the time. Just absolute voice of desperation. So many people are hurting so badly and they're so angry about what's happened and why we've been shut down. The whole home sellers industry. That's something in the Spectator. I don't know if I shared it with you. And it shows. There's some sort of aim from the state government to have all small businesses shut down and turned into unionized corporations type of thing. It's just like a name of this, right. Pretty bad.

And you're getting a lot of photos as well, aren't you, of people sending in photos of council workers and various things, aren't you?

I get floods of that. People get so angry about it and I say, yeah, I know, what can you do about it? I mean, it's ludicrous to say this is anything about safety or anything else. It's simply about who's in a union and has got a power. Whose union is contributing massive money to the state government. Why does that somehow make you less likely to cause infection? So you can work in twos and threes and you're fine because you're no risk of infection, but do the same job as an independent operator by yourself and suddenly you're Typhoid Mary. I mean, it's crazy, it's really bad. And I haven't even got a response from the state government. I can't even get. He won't even respond, he won't even admit to reading the letter. He just doesn't care, that guy. I mean, we're not in a union, we don't count.

And that's the thing, right? You've done this official letter, he's even addressed you twice personally at the news conference and no one has even bothered to email or call in official capacity. Not him, but anyone.

Well, the thing is too, what he says, the news conference is, he says, oh, we're not going to listen to special pleadings for the sake of, to go against our expert advice. Well, the question I want to ask him and have asked him is, well, why did you do that, Premier? You had expert advice from your own Department of Health and Human Services, quite detailed expert advice, worked out obviously over several weeks, very, very precise demonstrations. And also a statement right at the top, sole operator working alone is fine. So you changed that at the press conference. Why did you change it? No answer. Why are council workers allowed to work even though we're considered too dangerous? No answer.

And if you had the answer, you would sort of ease up. That's all you want is the answer, isn't it?

Well, if you can say yes. Look, scientific tests have proved that in fact, you know, lone solar workers working alone have known to be a big source of infection. I mean, I've never heard of any case ever. But if that was the case, if it was shown, and the council workers are somehow immune for some reason, I don't know what it is, maybe the union Jews sort of some medical miracle. But there's no sense, there's no answer. He doesn't even respond. He doesn't even answer something. The first minute of one minute reading my letter asks him a question, he does not respond to it.

You've got a third One in the works as well. So when we do release that, hopefully everyone who jumps online shares it, spreads the reach of it. They'll be coming out hopefully soon. Now we'll get into the comments and questions, guys, so make sure we've got 93 people tuning in now, which is great. Let's get to 100. Make sure you share and leave a comment in early so we can answer it. This is an interesting one from Kelly Marie. We ask everything. How do you like your Vegemite on toast, Jim, question mark I can't stand Vegemite. No Vegemite toast.

I don't eat breakfast these days at all. I do this 16, 8 fasting thing, which is good because I can eat as much as I like but just in limited hours. But actually if I had some breakfast at all, it'd be oatmeal.

Start your meal. When's your first meal?

One o', clock, usually at about one. And I try, I try to finish my last meal by seven or the last eight. So yeah, it works very well. I like it actually. Keep my weight under control and have desserts and you know, it's good.

And then Wade Astin's gone. He great to have an email exchange with you, Jim. Wade, who tunes in every week and leaves probably the most commenting person on Ask Gym's history. Has that been a franchise?

Yes. Well, actually he wanted me to get his dog wash done for a friend of his night. I looked it up and said there's nobody can do the dog like special favor or something. The only person to get their dog wash done is me. And the whole reason for that is because it's very embarrassing for the division if Jim himself can't get his little dog washed. So they make an exception. But I can't get your dog washed, there's too much work.

Good to see you wait and hopefully buy a franchise soon. We've got life going. Hi Jim, just a question about the restriction. If they are going to extend it and what can we do to keep us going through that if they do extend it from life?

Well, fight it, fight it every way you possibly can. And one of the best ways to do it is to get onto line to our social media and share my letters and send them to everybody. The latest letter that's coming out probably tomorrow, one of the things it does is actually address various groups like go to the medium and say ask this question at your news conference. And then it says to people, what do you want to do? Pass the letter to everybody you can. But also if you agree with what I've said, which most people do, then send it to your local MP. And I said to the Labor MPs, listen to what people are saying, because the only people that can solve this dreadful disaster that's hitting the state is you. You're the ones that can kick out this incompetent and ruthless and brutal leader. He's just an animal. I know there's some great people in the Labor Party. There's some people of conscience and goodwill and compassion who are very reasonable, I know that. But not the premier. He's just the archtop politician and he's a bad man. I have to say it. I wouldn't say that very often about people in politics, but I think he is really, really a bad case and he needs to go.

So when that letter comes out, people make sure you share it online, especially when we post it. Then we've got Tyler Alcox going. We are having our biggest week in yet. Since joining this week, we are hoping not to get stuck in lockdown like your poor people. I think they're in Goulburn is Taylor, which is great to hear. You're doing well in this time.

It is good, too. One of the reasons we're making such a fuss too, is I don't think the premier will change his mind because it'll see his weak and, you know, having to go back on his word, compare and make say he made a mistake is far more important than the fact that a few tens of thousands of Victorians are in misery and unemployment. But at the same time, it might discourage them from continuing it after the six weeks. And also very important, if we make enough of a fuss, it might influence people Interstate from trying the same idiotic pathway, because Stage four could come to anywhere, come to Sydney. They've got quite a few infections and I don't think they're getting them under control.

That was one of your initial points, wasn't it, when you wanted to try and set a precedent or hope to set something for other states. You know, you weren't just thinking about Victoria, it was about other places if this happened. Right, yeah.

And this has gone national. This story's gone all over the country. So it's, It's. It had some. I've got a lot of people from Interstate saying to me the same thing. They've given me support from all over. There's also legal challenges. There's. There's one legal challenge involved one of our franchisees suing the government for lack of business. I know there's this one, this one class action going ahead. So people are trying a lot of different things. I've offered to help in any way I can. I said, if you want support, I'll give it to you.

We've got another comment here from Katie. Marie's gone. Typical politics essay. Then we've got Eric training, which is only got Julianne Foul's gone always tuning and wants to thanks Jim for the great advice, which is fantastic. And then we've got Joe Mars has gone up and gone. Hi, Jim. I think if our government ran things how you do it head office, we wouldn't have a second wave. On the upside, we don't have 100k dead. BI agrees. Small businesses can often work with zero contact. It's just the fools who break the rules who make us all suffer from Joe.

Yeah, we know the kind of things that do cause problems, like mass gatherings and look, I love my church and I really miss it, but I absolutely support that because we know that can cause infection. Football crowds, demonstrators in the streets, family gatherings, mass family gatherings, abattoirs, nursing homes. There's a whole lot of places that we've known to cause problems and I think it's very reasonable to be cautious about those. But I think when you're going to inflict economic misery, you've got to at least have some sense that it's necessary and actually shutting people down who have no danger to themselves or the public is a really, really, really bad idea. It might be clever politics, but it's not. It's ruthless and it's horrible.

I shut down the abattoir back in Warner, which is called Midfield Mates and employs a thousand people, so you can imagine how much that affects the local economy. So it's quite a big issue.

Abattoirs are a source of infection. I understand it. I mean, I'm a quasi vegetarian, so I don't mind too much, but really they are. A lot of infections come from abattoirs, so in a sense that's an area we should focus on, at least to make them as absolutely safe as possible. But let's focus attention on the things that cause disease and let's shut those down or limit them or control them in some ways.

Then Damien Morrison's gone. Have you taken up any opportunity with Near Maps proposal? So I think David Morrison's in defencing division, so. So Near Map, there was a trial for franchisees for three months.

I don't think there's been a big demand, actually. I really don't come up to anything.

They did A survey.

We get a lot.

So I was saying they did a survey and they had some mixed responses and they didn't get enough volume of people responding to make a case for it, which was the problem.

Yeah, we need volume to get these deals. If we get lots and lots of people doing it, it works. But if we don't, then we just can't do it.

It's a great product, David. It's. I know some franchisees actually do pay for it as a single license for their business because they see value in it. But yeah, you're right, you need that buying. So we got 100 people tuning, which is great. Make sure you leave a comment or question for Jim and share the feed. Dad. McDonald's guy, Nutella on toast. I do the 16 to 8 now as well. I don't eat until 12 and have a tea at 7. I only have a coffee at 6. To waking up and water. Water, water or a Coke.

Yeah, well, it doesn't work for everybody. I find it's quite good. I don't get particularly hungry. I certainly feel it towards the end, especially if I'm working physically. Whatever works for you. Some people prefer portion control or other kinds of rules, but to me it's simple. If I look at something I want to eat late at night, I just don't do it because I'm not going to do it. On the other hand, I don't have much portion control. My daughter is cooking us desserts these days and I always have a second one, so I'm not good at resisting temptation. But I won't eat. I won't eat after. After hours. That's. I just won't do it.

True. And then Eric Jurgens has gone. Do you have a question with regards to the terms of the referendum? Under B, it says franchisees have one vote per entity, even if holding multiple franchises. Does this mean that as we have a company that holds mobile cafe and also holds mobile dog wash and there is only one vote for the company and if so, is this fair? Is one of my wives and one of his mine? And both franchises have to pay different sets of fees, should they both not have voting rights?

I think it's one per franchisee if it's a different person for sure. But I mean, I don't really mind anyway. I mean, we're talking about a referendum for the. For the manual. They're never close. It's never going to be down to one person. In fact, most, most manual changes are passed overwhelmingly because we wouldn't put them up if we didn't think they were popular.

Good question, Eric. We never had that one before. It's a new one then. Callum Lawson.

If you've got three in your family, Eric, you can have three votes for sure.

I give you my personal assurance and Callum Lawson's gone. Here. What are your plans post Covid?

Well, we've, I mean, I mean it's been a disaster for us, but in some ways it's been an absolutely brilliant year. We've had an enormous interest in franchises. In fact, if it wasn't for all these suspensions, we have more. We were up to about 3900 before the stage four thing. So we've been growing and I would think by end of the year we'll have at least 4,000 and it's good. But we've also done a lot of good things this year. We've invested in a great deal in software, particularly in Jim's jobs. And there's some really exciting things coming out of that which will, which will dramatically improve franchisee performance. I mean, things like one thing that's going to happen very shortly, which I think is going to be really big. If a person brings in a franchisee can actually say, I've got so much time available in the day, half an hour, an hour, whatever, they can say, I've got this much time and they just plugged out on their diary. And then if a job comes in, like a new quote or something or a same day job to be done, the system will check where they are, what jobs are fixed in place and what jobs can be moved and then they'll pick the closest time. And then whoever answers the phone or the computer will simply say, look, what about this afternoon between 2 and 4? So you can imagine a client rings in one company, say one of our competitors and says, what can you do? Somebody will get back to you and they ring us and they say, okay, this afternoon between 2 and 4, would that suit you? You've already got the booked in, so your conversion rate is going to be dramatically higher and there's no need to make that call now. This is going to be very, very big change for something like skip ins. Too huge because we can actually say to the client, your price will be so and so we can book you in for now straight on the spot. And we know that that actually improves conversion rate dramatically. In fact, the biggest single thing that affects conversion rate is how quickly you can get back to a client.

That's just an example. Yeah, you're taking that completely out of it. And also, that's what customers are probably moving towards, expecting everything online or they want it one transaction or one interaction. They don't want multiple.

Yeah, it's a huge opportunity for us because we can do things that our competitors cannot do. So the gap is going to widen. It's going to be better for franchisees. Also, it'll dramatically cut complaints down because it does things like, for example, when you book a. Book a time with a client, the client gets texted the actual time. So there's no doubt it's Wednesday morning between 10 and 12. They're not going to ring up on Tuesday and say, where are you? Stuff like that. Also, when you can't get through to a client, you just be able to just press a button. It'll send a text to the client and even remind them. It'll follow up quotes saying, have you considered the quote? It'll do things like that. It'll automatically follow up emails. I sit here every day and go through all the complaints that come through. I look at them and every time I think, what could we do to make sure this doesn't happen? Franchisees forget sometimes to ring back. Well, it wouldn't happen, first of all, because your jobs can be booked in directly and sometimes. And other times because it'll actually remind you, beep half an hour, you should have rung it back. Beep, beep an hour, you should have rung it back. Beep, beep, beep just keeps on telling you, so you can't overlook this. So we can actually dramatically reduce complaints, improve conversion rate. And once we do that and give a better service, then we're going to have much, much more work. Because so many clients say to me in these surveys, I'll never use gyms again. They've had one bad experience. Imagine if we can cut out half or more of the bad experiences. How incredibly we do in the marketplace. So more work for our franchisees and they can charge better prices, too. It's very big, actually.

That's the key, isn't it? More money they can make and then bigger businesses they can grow. And then Dave McDonald's gone here, so we'll move on. That's a great, great stuff there about Jim's jobs. Dave McDonald says, Do you think the vaccine will work if we can get one? And do you think people will take it? I'm first. Even if it's 500 bucks a shot, we will all take it. I think Morrison said that he's going to make it free if one becomes available for everyone.

So, well, I'd certainly take it, that's for sure. And I hope everybody else would too. I think vaccination should be compulsory. I've got more flack from saying that than I have from disagreeing with the premier. Strangely enough, the anti vaxxers hate me, but I probably shouldn't have said it because there's no need. But all the same, I totally in favor. Look, what they're doing is they're buying up, I think the government's buying up all these, this Oxford vaccine. So they're going to have, so they reckon by early next year, if it's successful and looks like a very good prospect, we could have vaccination and that would be just amazing.

That's the one from the start, wasn't it? That was the one which everyone always had the most promising. No one's heard anything about Putin's vaccine, how that's going since. So that sort of made the news cycle for one day and I know. Would you take Putin's Russian vaccine?

Not really. But at the same time what he's doing is actually testing it. So you never know. He's just testing it live on a few tens of millions of Russians. So if it works out, we'll all get onto it. But it's a bit of a brutal way to do it because it could have some very bad side effects.

I definitely skipped a few of the steps. Yes.

I wouldn't go for Putin's vaccine. I wouldn't go for his economic system either.

Definitely not. Then. Vic. Vic's Lee's gone. I work for Jim's Cleaning in Bundaberg. First time watching today. It's business as usual for us here in Queensland. Sorry for those people in Vic. So it's great Vicks for tuning in. Appreciate it. You've got a nice warm climate up there as well and enjoying yourself.

Torrential rain in Melbourne today too. So nice and cool. About nine degrees or something.

Absolutely. And then Katie reading's gone. Hey, guys, can we clarify this email survey that I've received and clarify, what do you mean about social media advertising to change as a dog wash? I expect to still remain to be able to post on socials to advertise and it's also as an independent if I choose to.

Yeah, you can do it personally. You sure to. We just don't want you to set up a different competing brand, that's all. But it's up to franchisees what they think. I mean, this is a change to the manual. Franchises can knock it back, but franchisees complain about the Fact that somebody else is out there, there's a different brand, and they're directly competing against Jim's people and taking work in their territory and stuff. That's where it comes from. But look, if franchisees as a whole think it's a good idea to be able to do that, then it won't be part of the manual. Jim's is very democratic. It's the only franchise system in the world that allows franchisees to veto changes to their own manual. I had a problem today with a. With a franchisee who hasn't paid a guy who fixed his car. It's about $2,200. And he's made various excuses at the time. He wasn't technically a franchisee, and he's giving all these reasons for it. But I said to him, you pay the bill or you'll be breached. Because this is something the franchisees asked to bring in. It was their initiative. They said, we don't like the fact that somebody doesn't pay a supplier, so therefore we can't get supplies, and it just hurts all of us. And most franchisees do the right thing. So that's just an example, actually.

But, yeah, that's a good point there, Jim. And they're competing with their own franchisees when they set up those things, isn't it? So, yes, it's good for everyone if that can't happen. And then. Stacy Reese, gone. Jim, how would you. How would you have handled the largest plague since the Spanish flu if you were in power? Good question, Stacy.

Yeah, I would have certainly done some sort of lockdowns and stuff, but. But I would have been more sensible about how it was happening. I mean, yeah, I. I think. I think you can basically overreact, because what people who do these things don't recognize is that there's a cost either way. It's not like one life saved. Doesn't matter how many. You throw a hundred thousand people out of work, and it's worth it because 100,000 people out of work actually causes problems like mental illness, child abuse, domestic violence, and suicide. I mean, suicide is going way through the roof. So when you. When you throw people out of work, you've got to recognize that there's a cost to that. It's not a zero cost. The trouble is, people making the rules tend to be those who've got very comfortable, secure jobs, like me, in a sense. And you're sitting back there, you're doing your work, you're locked away, safe and secure. It's kind of fun, really. In A way you're with your family, you don't have to go to work. So those are the people making the rules. Yet the people suffering are the ones who are the poorest ones, like people who work in restaurants and people like our people, like the gardeners and the cleaners and the handymen and so forth. So yeah, you've got to balance it. But I think that, I think the balance has gone way, way towards the elite and away from the benefits of ordinary people. And that's what's happening in America too. You find the elites are very much in favor of strict lockdowns and ordinary people are just saying, this is too much, it's all right for you. But we're hurting and there is a cost to us, a big, big cost. Our families are hurting, we're hurting financially, we're hurting emotionally. We don't want it to be so strict.

The mental health ramifications are going to go on for years, I reckon. And you know, we'll still be mentioning this 10 years time, maybe, you know, five years time, whatever. And hearing some of the stories with some franchisees, you know, two weeks they start their franchise or maybe they're on a visa or whatever and they've got no, they actually got no support from the government or anything, which is quite sad.

You don't want to think I'm really proud of it. Sorry. I'm really proud of, about this epidemic is that we've actually stopped fees for all of our franchisees who aren't allowed to work. And that's, that's, we said we don't pay fee. We're still allowing them to go out and do ndis and stuff if they wish to. But you know what's really great is the franchisors aren't receiving any fees, but most of them are actually ringing their franchisees really regularly, all the time, even though they're not charged them because they say these poor guys are under so much stress and so much strain. It's our job, even though we're not being paid to actually look after them. I see this again and again. It's really fantastic to see just, just because out of the goodness of their heart, because they're good people.

Absolutely. I've heard no one not do that. You know, that's the great thing. Everyone's doing weekly zoom catch ups. They're all ringing dailies, they're stabbed. Still business as usual for all the franchisors and even fellow franchisees. I heard from Dogwash, from Sharon that they're doing they're buddying up interstate franchisees with Victorian franchises and they're calling them and stuff. And that's great. That's a great support system and that's will help people go, obviously get through the period.

I'm very proud of what people are doing. I really am. I think they're a fantastic bunch. I've spoken to quite a few franchisees and franchisors and I see what's going on. It's really, really good to see.

And then Taylor or Coxconnie, the cleaning division are a part of the social media trial. We are the experiment, I think, and Dogwash was doing it as well. Taylor and James, Jim's building inspections in wa of great success. There's got to be certain controls in place. It can't just be independent profile or got to be certain controls which will try and communicate better to everyone. But as long as there's controls in place and the Z and div divisions on board, most people can do it. And then Julius going, thank you, Jim, for supporting all of us. Totally agree with you. Shy le's gone. We're watching tonight from Jim's Cleaning in Ranella. So g'. Day. All right. Dave McDonald's going. I like the idea of the call center booking jobs. I could set a day for east, west, north, so south and local.

Yes, you absolutely could. And that's the whole. That the whole concept behind it, it'll be. It'll be less work and a high conversion rate for you. Potentially better pricing too, because you can get there fast.

Yeah, that's going to be a big game changer once that comes in, I think and definitely keeps head of the curb. Rick Mendez has gone. Will your staff stay remote if they want to after restrictions?

Many of them will, yes. It's often talked about, but our actual. Most of our staff are at least as productive, if not more so. What we would like is for them to come in occasionally, like for a software developer, comes in maybe one day a week and catches up and just talks and stuff. We miss that, actually. But generally speaking, a lot of people work better from home. Our documents compliance department is fantastic. They're working from home. The call center's wonderful. They're working from home. At the moment, everybody is in stage four, but even before that, it works strikingly well. And people like not having to travel every day too. We actually find that sometimes they get more work done.

Absolutely. Well, it's a big trial. If you're doing an hour a day each way, that's two hours. It's 10 hours a week, isn't it? That's. It's a work day, essentially. The next Jurgens has gone. Jim, I was wondering if you could clarify with social media clause, if we are currently able to promote our own. Our own business whilst not advertising that we are a gyms, does the update to this mean that we cannot. That I cannot advertise my cafe under my normal business if it will affect another gym's business is the question.

But you add gyms. I mean, I mean. I mean, if you advertise, it doesn't matter with you anyway. We wouldn't enforce it because you're the only one in your area. But if you. If you started talking about Eric's mobile cafe and competing with other people in their territories who were all the Jim's mobile cafe, we'd have an issue with it. But I mean, I guess I'd say why would you want to anyway? Because it's all coming to you anyway. And the Jim's brand is going to be stronger than any independent. So I'm not sure what we need to do is to do more social media gyms based on. So get everybody out there with their own pictures and families and all kinds of things and testimonials and all the good stuff to get people to want to call you. So if you're in an area, you get the calls flooding in and they. And they. And they want you. But that's what we'd like to see. Yeah.

I'll give you an example, Eric. We've had a lot of mowing. We've got some mowing franchisees who really good at Instagram and they've got. And because of the rules they have to do it under. They've been doing it under another name, whereas it should be under the gym's name, with certain controls where the franchisor can access it and delete it and stuff like that. But all the great work they do is under a different name. It's competing with other people in that area. So you just want to make sure it's all gyms, heaps of gyms, profiles. And it helps Everyone. Damien McDonald's gone, Jim. The call center staff seem to be a bit more relaxed, maybe because they are watching Netflix between calls.

Maybe I don't know how much time they have to watch Netflix, but they're a fantastic bunch in the call center. They really are. They're doing a great job and it doesn't seem to make any difference. I know that Jill says that they'd like to come back. They miss the sociability of the place but I can see that even that happening to a certain extent. Working from home, it's a big plus. I know Leah's got little baby, she's our head of our documents and that fits in quite well.

Absolutely. It's great for working mothers and stuff like that. It makes it a lot easier and more time with the kid at home is better. Steve o' Brien's gone. Hi Jim. Off the top subject of COVID appreciate the advertising on franchisees being classed as local experts but I need to think we as franchisees need to shop and buy local as well. I've only been with Jim's for a couple of months but most of my equipment shovel, hoses, etc hard yaka pants and mongrel boots are made in Australia. Can we as Jim's franchisees be encouraged to buy Australian made products and equipment?

Yeah, it's good. I mean other things being equal, of course we would. I do think with the problems we've got with China, when Covid finishes we're going to have to be a little bit more self sufficient. It's dangerous to be so dependent on somebody who lives so far away with a reasonably hostile regime and not going to buy so much of our coal and our iron and barley and all the rest of it from now on. So we've got to be a little bit less open to trade I think just for our own protection. I think that's one of the big changes that will happen post Covid. The world will not be the same. We will not be able to ride on Chinese prosperity and growth and I think we'll be a little bit poorer for perhaps a little bit safer the manufacturing.

Do you think they'll start up again then? Because that's good. You're actively doing that there steering Steve and I think most people want to do that but obviously you've got to put your hand in the pocket to have Australian made I guess because of the higher overheads for those companies producing the goods.

Well, we make all our trailers in Australia, metal trailers and also dog wash trailers. We sort of looked at China but really Australia seems to do quite well for those sorts of things. So I think if you can make it here that's great. Much better idea.

And Aaron Collison's gone. As online bookings become the norm, will the call centre lower their fees?

Possibly. The trouble is we are doing more. It's something like about 30% of our leads are online now. But the trouble is the actual volume of leads is rising dramatically Fast. Like for example, we've shut down most of Victoria and yet the call center has them down to reduce their work by one person because people still keep on calling in, so they've still got to answer the calls. So we have got. Yeah, we've actually got. The unserviced leads ratio is rising. It's now close to one third of our jobs are unserviced. It's extraordinarily bad. So. And that's all work. So I don't think so when if it got really the extreme where most people are online, yes, there would be a change, but not yet.

Yeah. And the service they provide is great. You know you can go to YouTube and see Hear the calls and, and welcome. They do a great job. Bradshaw's gone. If you're vaccinated, your right to work and your ability to travel should be guaranteed as an incentive. That's from Brad. She. That's a suggestion.

Yeah, I think so, Brad. I think there can be various sorts of incentives too. I really get upset about people who refuse to vaccinate their kids against measles, for example. I mean what happens if you get sick? Who pays for that? What about the other kids that get infected and all the costs. And what about the, you know, because measles can be quite damaging. What about all the long term health effects and stuff? Who pays for them? There ought to be some incentives for people to do the right thing. I think vaccination is the greatest health medical progress of all time. I mean it's been massive. Look at, look at smallpox used to be a terrible, terrible killer. Now it's extinct. How fantastic is that polio, those sort of things.

And you got David Don says should have a vaccine card like a working with children's check or driver's license. I can imagine the anti vax people. I hope there's none of them watching jumping in the comments about it.

But look, I had a friend at university who was crippled by polio as a child and she just couldn't walk properly and she just had to go to crutches and her legs were. That blighted her life in so many ways and she was so bitter about the doctor who misdiagnosed her and stuff. I mean people talk about how vaccination is bad. They have to see the misery it's caused to people who, who suffer from these dreadful diseases.

Yeah. I think when we had your comment, well, the anti vaccination people were coming into not saying they're people but you know that on that view they just always post YouTube videos and they sort of watch a couple of videos and, you know, buy into that video and think that's the case when, you know, the evidence says the otherwise and please don't send us YouTube videos with your. With these things. But the misinformation online definitely in the. All this stuff getting around definitely is getting to people's heads, I must say.

I don't even respond to manifexes, I'm sorry to say. If somebody writes back to me and there's been like, I get a couple of weak people saying, I think I should support the Premier and this lockdown's fantastic and stuff, I just write back to them and try and explain my point of view reasonably as I can and they usually don't usually respond, but I will talk to somebody like that because I think they're reasonable. But anti vaxxers, I don't know what to say to you. I mean, I just think you're wrong.

Yeah, don't send any comments. You've heard it there. We'll move on. Nicole Plum. Plum's gone. Hi, Jim. Are you going to take on the Victorian government after this? I'll be half of the franchisees that have been unable to work and have lost money. Also, if they did NDIS customers only, would they still have to pay their franchisee fees even though they don't make much of the NDIS customers?

The last question. Absolutely not. We've made it quite clear you must maintain insurance. That's one thing under. But yes, you can work. We recognize you're not going to make much money, but you can go out and make 500 bucks a week doing NDIS then good God bless you. I mean, we're all in favor of that. What was the first question?

She goes, are you going to take. So are you going to take on the Victorian government after this? I'll be half of the franchisees that have been unable to work and have lost money. So maybe joining in on the action.

Well, as I said, there's two legal cases that I know of. One is the class action and one is a action on behalf of the specific franchisee which is being crowdfunded. So, yes, we are taking them on legally and there is talk about actually suing the Premier and senior people for the damage they've caused. The mucking up of quarantine has actually caused deaths. There is legislation out there about industrial health and safety which is all designed to prosecute business owners whose staff are injured. Well, apparently the same thing applies to the government, so potentially the Premier and senior civil servants and politicians could be legally liable for the dozens of deaths that have been caused by their negligence. Not to speak of the billions and billions of dollars worth of losses. So that's going to be very interesting to see. I think it'd be very fitting. And I don't think you can deny that they did it. It's quite clear that the great majority of cases in Victoria and this whole outbreak has come because the premier botched quarantine, because he put PC correctness above professionalism in terms of who the security guards were. And it's known from the genetic evidence. So he's responsible for this. I mean, I mean, all that suffering, all these deaths, all this misery, all these losses that they're on his. On his head.

Then we got Michael Velasconi. Hi, guys. I'm Michael from Jim's Fence in Greenville. Last week I had my car and trailer stolen. I just want to say thanks to all the franchisees that kept a lookout for me and all the well wishes and offers of support. It was a difficult time. You guys helped me and my franchise or Justin Tranto. Absolutely. Rockstar update. Car back, but damage. Tools gone, but in the long run, all okay. However, they did steal my uniform jacket and jumper, but in the long run I'm okay. So thanks to the guys for the support. All are great.

Yeah. It's always wonderful to hear stories about franchises looking after each other. I really, I really love that. And we, we hear a lot of it. I know when we had that terrible case in Perth couple of years back where one of our franchisees went berserk and killed his three little girls and his wife, which was so awful. I went to a meeting there and most of the whole state was there, the franchisees all willing to volunteer to help each other and try and give support. I mean, the feeling in that room was incredible. And I felt so. We were grief stricken. It was shocking. But I was also really proud of them and I actually asked, we talked. They came up with the idea of mentors to help people with mental illness and strains and stuff. And most of the people in that whole room put up their hand to volunteer. No, no funds, nothing. Just to help each other. That's great.

There's a horrible thing that, you know, sometimes trailers get pinched and it's horrible because it says a quick way of cash. They hook it up and drive off. And it's. I know we got insurance, the insurance department. We used to see that all the time. Still does happen. So how. Sorry to hear you went through that, Michael. It's a horrible incident, but great to hear that people helped you out.

Put a chain on it if you can, and lock them up.

Yeah, they can have poles in the driveway where they chain it up and various other things as well. So maybe security cameras and GPS tracking on your thing as well you can do to hopefully catch him. Dave McDonald says, Is it like Jim's Electrical Advertising under a different business? Security and antennas. So this might be in relation to social media stuff before. Is it like Jim's Electrical Advertising under a different business? Security and antennas must elaborate.

If it's an existing business that's rebranded, like Kim Pena and Adelaide, for example, there's no question of it being allowed. It's really just. We don't want people competing. Look, I don't know what the franchises will say. They may say, we don't want this, in which case we'll respect that, of course. But we know a lot of them get upset about it because they just. The trouble is people are very protective of their territory and when they go into the territory, they see another Jim's guy there doing jobs, you know, in the same street as their own jobs. They get. They don't like it.

The day McDonald don's gone, I ring to take the unserviced and it's always great to stir the call center up. I tell them they can knock off because I won't need them for the rest of the day. I don't think you take leads much, though, David. I should talk to them at all.

It's a common story, Dave. Yeah.

And then Eric Jurgens gone. Hato is saying, and I've been buddying up also. I did some work for him on the weekend and he cooked me up a brontosaurus T bone steak. It was huge. What a beautiful home he has. Absolutely. He's got a great home out there in. It's a massive place in Gisborne. It's a great home. And then we'll keep going on here as well. Dad, McDonald's gone. That's great. I do exactly the same thing. Leave a sticky note on your computer and saying, dave said you can go home early. So there's a few people telling the call center that I can go home early because they do a great job, which is quite funny. Then, David Don says, if you want Australia to make things, you have to buy things made in Australia. I always try to buy Australian. Sometimes it's impossible because of cost or availability.

Yeah, it's great. Look, I. We like to buy locally, I think it's actually a safety issue too, in a security. People often think of it as just economic, but buying too much. It's like when you need emergency supplies and the nearest places in China and they're going to get first. It's not sensible. I mean, what if there's a breakdown of trade for some reason? I mean, we need to be able to make more stuff for ourselves. Better to be a little bit poorer, but more safe.

You don't do much. The Chamber of Commerce for Australia, all that sort of stuff by way of promoting that. I used to do the Buy Australian campaign with a little tick, but other than that I haven't seen anything for a long, long time, which is quite.

It may change now. The world will not be the same post covert as it was last year. It will not be the same. True.

And how do I say it's gone. Thank you for helping me out, Eric. You are a good bloke. Love your coffee too, which is great to hear. And then I've got one.

Sorry, I don't. Eric said he actually went to. What was it, a fire or something like that. And. And he. Yep. Yeah, free all day. All day to the emergency workers that were there was. It was a fantastic thing. And I tell you what, the amount of good will that did the brand was incredible.

Yeah, we had a fire chief. Fire chief gave us a review and we put a nice graphic around it and posted it up as well, which was really cool. I think you were three. How many coffees, Eric? I think it was $3,000 worth or something. I think it was something ridiculous.

If you got. If he got paid for them. We've had a fantastic day. But he just did it because. Because he just wants. He's just a good guy and he wants to help out. It's fantastic.

He's in the cfa. He's in the CFA as well, so he appreciates the firefighters. And I think Eric's in the CFA as well, so he understands it as well. The Matt Dwyer's gone here. I I 2 have social media pages that I had as an independent before I came to gyms. Does this mean if the changes come in, we will have to advertise the 131 number, which will obviously cost us the lead fee. Obviously. Always nice doing your own advertising and social media if it saves a few dollars each month.

If you had it before you came into gyms, there'd be no question. It was never meant to apply to that. So an existing business that you already had, that you're running, which is Very common in some areas. It absolutely doesn't mean that. It's more people who just are setting up to try and get leads from someone else's territory when they're already going. We could. We could actually. We could actually grandfather the clause. Say if you came into Jim's, you already had it. Absolutely not. You have my word. We would not. You would not be affected.

That's a good point. That's really good for some people watching as well, who've probably already done some stuff in that regard as well. And then Dave McDonald's gone. Jim and Joel, have you learned to solve a Rubik's Cube yet? I challenge you to learn and solve one by Christmas and make a Jim's branded one for me to give away. I don't know where you get.

No, no, I used to. I actually. Years ago when it first came out, I actually got a book and I learned to do it and I was teaching Sunday school at the time, so I took it to my kids in Sunday school and I sold the U boat. They thought I was absolutely magnificent. I've forgotten how to do it now, of course, but it's quite possible. You just got to learn. There's a series of moves you. And it gets harder as you get near the top, but you just memorize the series. And I could take them and they could give it to me and I'd. And give it back to. Oh, wow, Jimmy, you're so good.

There's a great documentary like on Netflix called Cubers, I think, and it's about the world Rubik's Cube Championships. And there's the actual world champion, lives in Melbourne and there's a new American gun champion who's got autism, and he's. He's just taking this thing he's doing if his eyes closed and he's holds all these records and all that sort of stuff. And. Because he's solely an algorithm. Right, Isn't it? You know, it's an algorithm. It's patterns, all this sort of stuff. It's a great documentary, but I think Jim would be a lot better than me, David. I'd be there till next year or the year after, still trying to figure out.

You learn. You just learn. There's a sequence of movements and it's different for every level. You just learn what they are and then you just follow them. It's not that difficult. It probably took me a few hours to master it. I just got the book.

That's very impressive, though. Still do it. Very impressive. I reckon I'll be there to 2025. David Race Course has gone. Hi, guys. Jim, on the other side of this current situation, what challenges and opportunities do you see for franchisee sales? That's a good question, Race.

Look, my opinion is that we're not going to go back to normal quickly. The damage that's been done to the economy is massive and it's not going to just disappear overnight. The day there's a vaccine, it won't. People have been disrupted, so many businesses have been destroyed and that's. The small business is really the engine of the marketplace. So I think we're going to be in economic troubles for quite some while. And I also think, as I mentioned before, that the problem with China, we haven't had a recession since the 90s and the reason is China, because we've been selling. China's not going to buy so much from us in the future and we're going to have to make more stuff ourselves. So I don't think we'll see 2019 again for a long, long time. That's my opinion. And that means, I think it's actually good news for franchising, bad news for Australia as a whole, but good news for franchising because we are seeing such an incredible surge in franchise numbers now.

So there's a lot of the inquiry numbers are up all around Reese, so it's probably the opposite. And people probably realizing it's actually unsafe to be employment than actually to have your own business, isn't it?

Yes. Yeah. Well, apart from having a psychopathic State Premier, excuse the expression, we've been very secure. We've done extraordinarily well during lockdown. The only divisions that have really been hurt would be building inspections and test and attack to some extent. But even cleaning has had some effect. But other others are actually making more money than they ever have. Once they're allowed to work, then Adam.

Hamman's going, all right, guys. I worked with on a big building, CFMU sites in Melbourne, put a few comments up about Jim and how franchisees should stay home. Once I explained how we had procedures in place to allow no contact with the client, I understood and then questioned why there were on site with 150 plus men.

Yeah, it's. Yes. It's not. It's not fair and it's not right. It's got so much to do with political power and who contributes how much to political parties. I mean, big business has, has a really privileged system. They're really protected because they sit next to the ministers and they pay a thousand dollar per plate for fundraising dinners they got, they got a real ear at the table. We don't have that and so we don't have any power.

And then Aiden. And that's why. Well you've championed the small business cause and I think that's the way you have. And yes, we got so many independents telling you to keep going because no one else can. Well with some notoriety anyway. And Aiden, VDB is going to come to Geelong. Well, we can't come to Geelong, Aiden. We've been asked to do this regional but now we might have to hold off when we can and then Adam Hamas going to hopeful franchisees can work back in Vic soon. Absolutely. Hope as well then Peter Pierce has gone. G' day Jim. Hope you are doing well. I'm 17 and just started a gardening business. I would love to get some inspiration from you. Much appreciated.

Go onto our website ww.jims.net go meet Jim which is the second tab along and have a look. You can download a copy of my book, every customer a fan and you'll see far more videos of me talking than you ever want to see in your whole life. There's stacks of brilliant stuff in there. It's all free, so go for it. I started gardening at the age of 8 and apart from a 3 year gap my last 3 years of high school, I've done it continuously ever since in one form or other. So great to start at 17. Good on you but learn from others. I love reading. I read a lot of books about business, listen to books about business, a lot of things, history, everything else too. But just read and learn from other people, particularly in my mind people who've already done it. There are some wonderful stories. Read about McDonald's, read about the. The great business successes. There's so many great stories out there and it's easy to get books these days about anything. You can just download them from Amazon in no time and even haven't got time to read. You can listen when you're driving the car or doing anything. When you're 17 you can't drive yet. But still there's so many opportunities.

You can drive at 17 in some states, I think South Australia.

Can I just say too that there has never been a better time in the history of the world to start business because everything is so upturned, everything is different. You know, the biggest and most valuable corporations in the world didn't even exist 40 years ago. People like, like Apple and the rest of it. I'm not saying you're going to start Apple or, or Google. But the opportunities. The computer revolution is turning everything on its head and young people have got an advantage. If I want something done in my house, I look for a teenager to do it. I can't figure it out, but they'll say, oh, you do this, this, this, this, this, and they do it. So I was trying to set up Zoom on my computer and my $21. How do you do this bank? So simple. Even though she didn't know she could figure it out.

So good idea.

17 is a great age to start. Keep on going. But, but read my story.

Love to tune in every week. Pete to ask him a question. If you've got specific gardening questions. If you're out there and about doing it, Jim will help you out as well with customers. John for most, has gone. Good evening, gents. Will franchisees have the ability to turn the gym's jobs feature that will allow the CC to book work into a franchisee schedule off?

Oh, yes. In fact, you have to turn it on. The default is off. The default is off. You actually have to actually put yourself down. I specifically want this feature that applies to a lot of things too, actually. There are features that will actually let your franchisor know what you're doing, which can help them. Now you can turn that one off too. You don't have to let your franchisor know anything. You can be completely private. The only time we might ask you to put it on is if you're claiming pay for work guarantee. We want to know where you are and what you're doing or. Or if you have far too many complaints like for not turning up, not ringing back, then you, you might be asked to turn it on. But the great majority of franchisees, if you don't want it, you can be completely private then.

Now we got one from Chris Vella. I think the diary scheduling directly by head office will not work. If you say franchisees don't ring back, what makes you think they'll turn up on time? If someone from head office allocates a time, or if a franchise picks up another job and forgets to update the diary will lead to more problems, I think from Chris Vella.

But it's in your diary already. What's actually going to happen is that when it's set up properly, it'll become part of your diary. So what will happen is you'll finish one job and then you'll get back to. And then the computer will tell you where to go. You just turn on your phone, it'll say, okay, now your next job is so and so and so and so. Go straight ahead, turn right at Orange street and hey, Presley, you found yourself at a job you didn't even know about. And if you actually got behind and weren't going to make it, the system would remind you and say, beep, beep, beep. Warning, you're missing out on this job. You want to let the client know that you're going to be late. So in actual fact, it's quite the opposite. It'll be in your diary reminding you, giving you directions, and you'll just follow this thing. You just look at your phone and you will follow and you'll want to do what it tells you because it'll be smart. Eventually it'll actually reschedule your day for you too. It'll actually suggest better ways of going between jobs and how you can minimize travel time and how you can avoid overly busy rows and stuff. That's next year and stuff. But it'll do all kinds of things of that nature. It'll do so much else too. Like for example, if you've got a client who hasn't paid you, it'll actually badger the client, it'll text them, it'll email them and they'll keep on reminding the client that they're supposed to be paying you. It'll follow up quotes you say, have you still thinking about the quote? Is there any questions? Would you like me to call you? It'll do things of that nature. You can actually set a budget to. This is if you wish to, you can actually have a system that will allow the loud your phone basically Jim's jobs to contact clients that you've done in the past. So if you've got a spare hour and a half coming up in the day, in the next day, if you want to have it set up that way, the system will actually look back and say, okay, what jobs did you do some time back? And they'll start texting clients and saying, would you like to book the job in for so and so and so and so. If the client types back, why? Because it's a text, it books that job in. So you all will happen is you'll come up the next day and instead of having an hour and a half gap, you'll find yourself with an extra $200 worth of jobs booked in and you won't even know about it. It's all done for you. The potential for IP is fantastic. What's that?

I'm sorry, you guys gonna say? Well, if someone's not Rocking up to the job even. It's been booked in for them and they've got the directions and I can't get there on time. It's going to generate complaints and obviously they'll get filtered out a bit more.

Quickly, I guess, but they won't actually. There'll be less complaints because it'll remind you, most of the time, franchisees actually just make a mistake. They forget about a job, they forget the callback, they do something like that. This will remind them, it will tell them and it will remind them. Make it very easy just to send a reminder to the client. Hey, look, sorry I'm running late. You just buy a single button and it'll rearrange for another time. So it'll be making incredibly, incredibly easy to look after clients.

Thanks for that comment, Chris. That's a. That's a good one there. Thanks for watching. Malcolm Brothers Gone had a game of Monopoly with the family last night. Youngest, don't. Young. Youngest, don't thrash me. I was first bankrupt. So if you watched our game online with Jim as well. I think Jim, he just, he finished second to Ben and then I think it was rubbish removal that got you bankrupted, wasn't it?

I got stuck on rubbish with it with a red gym. Rubbish. That was painful. And I had all of. I had test and tech, I had pest control and what was the. And dog wash. I had jimbos on all of them and I got back. Oh, yeah, your test and tag was fantastic. I did so well on test and tag. But there's something, there's something that you didn't figure out about how to play Monopoly. It's something you didn't know. And I couldn't tell you what it was too. You made a big mistake on YouTube.

Some videos afterwards, I have to watch them. I have to. Have to watch it again. David Gonzman. I can do the.

Follow it up and see if. You can see what I did. If you, if you work out, you made him, you made a mistake.

David Gone's gone. I can do a Rubik's cube in a minute and a half, which is. Which is very impressive. I always solve customers cubes if they have one. That's pretty cool. I didn't know that at all. And then here we go as well. Here we go. Hot. Craig Dennis. Hi, Jim. Do you think that we will be able to go back to work gardening in. In Melbourne in four weeks when September 13 comes, do you think they'll reduce the restrictions to be allowed for gardeners to work?

Probably. Probably it might be hard for the premier to back down, but to actually extend this, I think he might be feeling the political flak. Hopefully we're putting enough pressure on him. I do know a lot of people are concerned about this. We have had huge numbers of people responding to this thing. I mean, we've never had such a burst of publicity, you know, national programs and news.com and very favorable for the most part. I mean, the premier says he hasn't read the letter, but I don't think that's true. I don't think when you get national news stories about a subject that's criticizing you directly for a particular thing, I bet you he knows what we've said. And I think he will tend to not to want to take the heat off, because one thing I've made quite clear. This is one issue I'm not going to. I'm not against. I'm not going to try and get the premier turfed out for any other reason. The only reason I want him to go is because he's done this dreadful thing of throwing tens of thousands of Victorians out of work. And I don't mean just our own people. It's. It's everybody out there. We're all in the same boat.

Then Jason Pollock's gone. Great interview with Brett the other day. Joel watched it yesterday. Great work yet. So we interviewed Brett. Blair's a great guy. We've got on the YouTube channel. I'll put more clips up on Facebook soon. Everyone watch it. Brett's a really good guy and it was really good to talk to him. Dave McDonald says China wants to stop buying our wine, saying we are dumping it on them like barley. So it's just excuse.

They use health. They use everything. But it's just. It's just hitting back at us because we're critical of them. And I support the government in that, too. I think we're taking a very sensible role. You know, we shouldn't. We shouldn't be pushed around.

Yeah, I think that's the. Yeah. Don't be bullied. And you know that the South China Sea stuff. Right. With the UN ruling favor of, let's say, Philippines, Malaysia, and they're still going against that and doing their thing. Right. So we've got America and the Guam position is really important, I think, isn't it? You know a lot more about that than me.

But in the South, I don't know what they're doing in Hong Kong, too. I think that's awful. And the way they treat their Muslims out in The West. I mean, there's a limit to what we can say about it. But all the same, I mean, how can we approve this kind of stuff? It's just bad.

Now Wayne's gone here. Ask Jim. Hey, Jim. I also run a garden and maintenance business in Melbourne and have just resumed to maintaining my clients who are funded by NDIS, TAC, WorkCover and also multi dwelling units. I have a letter from the DHHS stating I'm able to do those clients, which is good. You can keep working in that regard.

Yeah, I heard from one particular gardening contractor when this whole thing came out, he went down to the local police station and he showed the regulations to the police sergeant there and he said, yeah, the regulations, so you can work. So he gave him an official stamp and now he's working. So it's a pity we didn't do that. But who would have known they changed the regulations.

No, exactly right. And Pete Pierce, what is the challenge faced daily through Jim's franchises during COVID 19? What tools have you got use to work through such challenges? It's a good question, Pete.

Well, we've done extraordinarily well apart from being actually shut down by the Premier. I mean, really, most of our franchisees are busier this year. Leads are actually way up over last year. We had a better July, significantly like 20% up since July last year. So our leads have actually been excellent. And while they're allowed to work, most of our franchises are doing very, very well. It also helps too, because when we've got franchisees in a division which is quiet for work like test and tag, they actually can take the overflow work from other divisions like mowing, which got plenty of work. So on the whole, financially speaking, we've had a pretty good year.

Dave McDonald's gone. Jim, think of all the tourism with no income at all. They've been doing it tough since March, which is a good point.

I feel for them too. It's awful. Tourism, restaurants. There's so many businesses that have gone to the war. It's terrible, terrible suffering. I mean, I mean, and when it's absolutely necessary, you can say yes, of course. We don't want people from infected countries flooding into Australia and causing more deaths here. But gp, you've got to balance that. You've got to balance the benefit in terms of affection against the cost. And the costs are very, very, very high in all kinds of ways. I know so many people are just so down and depressed about it. You know, people live by themselves. Look, I'm pretty Well off. I work from home, I've got a great family, my 21 year old daughter staying with us and cooking fantastic meals. So we've pretty well off. But I mean there's some people who are so lonely and so cut off and so hurting. There's a real cost to these restrictions. We've got to be so careful to apply them carefully.

I think the lonely part's key. And obviously in Melbourne, winter as well, it's cold, it's miserable outside, you're stuck, it's like under home arrest, aren't you? You can't really do too much and if you are out there and know somebody might be doing it, tough, please reach out to people. I think being proactive and reaching out some, maybe some old school friends or some political flack.

Hopefully we're putting enough pressure on him. I do know a lot of people are concerned about this. We have had.

Just be proactive where you can because if you're not proactive, I mean, we did an interview with Matt Thorpe the other day and he's really proactive during this time and you know, try and be proactive and do stuff if you can reach out to people and talk and I know franchiseors have been good with that and other franchisees, which has been a big help. Another benefit of the system is that support right now, isn't it? Wouldn't have that as a normal business.

Yeah, just a thought actually. I don't know if anybody has, my dears on this, but what if we were to go to the franchise across the country and say, look, here's a list of franchisees in Melbourne who've been affected with their phone numbers. If any of you like to buddy up to them and just talk to them and give them some reassurance, then that'd be greatly appreciated. I know it's happening to some extent and the Melbourne guys really, really appreciate the support from the rest of the country, those who've done it. So maybe we should make that a. Maybe we should. Maybe we should do something like that.

I think it's a good idea and they can both fall, empathize. They've got the same business, they do have the similar type of work they do. I think that'd be great work. Dog wash you're doing works well. So that's a really good idea. Jim. Eric Jurgens has gone. I have to say now that it's probably the best time to buy a Malabar Cafe franchise. Even during this lockdown, I still take in a reasonable earning per week. And as we come out of this, people have more and more accustomed to having service where coffees and takeaways can be delivered to them, which is a great point. Home Fresh and Mobile Cafe are those.

Two, but both doing well. Look, Mobile Cafe should really take off. I mean, Eric's proven the business model. He's making very good money, certainly before the recent lockdown. And I'd like to see hundreds of those little vans going around. They're fantastic looking vans actually, if anybody hasn't seen them. And the coffee is good, supposedly good, because I don't drink it. But I can tell you the hot.

Chocolate is really good. Coffee's good, Eric. I'll have your coffee. It's good.

We could, we could do it. We could, you could do with a few hundred of you, Eric, and we were hoping to have that before too long.

Absolutely. It's a great looking vehicle too. Malcolm Bradley says if your division is not currently supported in Jim's jobs, do you have to pay it for it via technology fee?

Absolutely not. If, if you're, if you're, you hang on a bit. If you've got, if you're actually paying for formatize and you have been, then we won't, then we'll, if it's not ready for you yet, then we won't, we'll let, we won't charge you the technology fee. For most franchisees it is going to be just part of the system because even if you're not using it, it's beneficial because it actually reduces complaints and that will help every franchisee to get more work. So yes, in general terms you will pay for it, but it will be waiting for you very quickly. By the end of the year, every division should be fixed up for Jim's Jobs.

Then Aaron Collison's gone. Do you think Donald Trump has been a positive or negative force on the US economy regardless of his Persona or public perception? And how do you feel that situates Australia as an ally? That's a really good question, Aaron.

He hasn't done too bad economically until the recent, until the virus came along. I mean, the American economy was booming. In terms of the economy, not too bad. I just think he's a dangerous man. I mean, I'm a conservative side of politics, so in a sense a natural supporter. But he's very erratic, he's too personal, he breaks up. He's pretty good to Australia actually. He likes us. Okay. But you know, American economy was booming. In terms of the economy, not too bad. I just think he's a dangerous man. I mean I'm a conservative side of politics, so in a sense a natural supporter. But he's very erratic, he's too personal. He breaks up, you know, letting down traditional allies and very America first stuff and, you know, somebody of the Western world, I mean, we love America. It's a great ally to have, but I'd rather have a more rational leader in charge of the U.S. joe Biden would be okay, frankly. I'd vote for him, which is something I would. He's pretty good to Australia, actually. He likes us. Okay. But you know, he's, he's say anything else, but.

It'S interesting election campaign. I think he's going to smoke him in the debates though, Trump, but we'll see how that goes. What do you reckon? Do you think he's going to smoke him in the, in the debates?

I don't know. Biden's so far ahead of the moment, but who can tell? I mean, who, who expected Trump to win the last time four years ago? It's just incredible what happened. Nobody predicted that. Well, he's doubling down, you know, letting down traditional allies and, and very America first stuff and, you know, somebody of the Western world, I mean, we, we love America. It's a great ally to have and.

He'S saying if I lose, it's basically mail. Mailing votes has cost me the election. It's faked and it's rigged and if he wins, he's going to say he's the greatest person of all time. So sort of hedging his bets either way. Eric Jones has gone. I've noticed that Jim has stopped picking on you, Joel, since you all went to lockdown. Maybe you should keep this.

But I'd rather have a more rational leader in charge of the US format.

Going moving forward in the future. Joel.

Joe Biden would be okay, frankly, I'd vote for him, which is something I would. I can't see his stomach from here, you see, so he's hiding it underneath the thing so I can't tell True.

I'd rather be back in person, Eric. It's a lot more fun doing it in person than remote, believe me. And there's a bit of a delay, so I'm not trying to cut off G mc Just a bit of a delay. I think he stopped talking. I keep going.

So he does have a bit of a guard me at times though, Eric. He's not entirely a helpless mushy marshmallow, apart from physically, of course, but still.

Now, hopefully he can get his September 13 onwards, we can get back into it live. It's a lot better in person then Taylor Orox gone. His premiere is the premiere. Your new favorite villain, Jim.

Yeah, right. He's right. No, he's even worse than local council. Yes, he is. I mean I just think it's extraordinary. I couldn't say anything else but I couldn't believe any politician would do what he's done. I mean it's just so callous, it's so self serving and so heartless. I mean I, you can be cynical about politicians but I think on the whole they're reasonably decent people and maybe I'm. That's controversial but I think most of.

Them have seen election campaign. I think he's going to smoke him in the debates though Trump but we'll see how that goes. What do you reckon? Do you think he's going to smoke him in the, in the debates?

I don't know. A fair sense of public service. But this, this thing that he's done in shutting down his industries without any reason at all, it's just dreadful. And it's pure political calculation of Biden so far ahead of the moment. But who can tell? I mean who expected Trump to win the last time? Nothing else. It's, it's, it's awful. Having said that, all I have to do is to see an end to this one measure and I'm, I'm silent, I'm shutting up. I'm not going to make a campaign to get him out. I don't care anything else by comparison. I just care about my people and the other people in our industries.

Christopher Canavara has gone. The Premier will have a lot of safety issues on his hand if the gardens cannot be maintained after the six week lockdown. Safety issues for that was something that was argued with older people and stuff like that. And I think we had a chat to Matt the franchisees four years ago.

It's just incredible what happened. Nobody predicted that was doubling dead some.

Of the clients he did for these disability facilities and these other places in homes with older people. There was some, a lot of risks and hazard and stuff like that as well.

There is, there is, there's no doubt that we're a public health, we preserve the health. What about a lady, old lady, a pensioner who has gutters that are coming down and causing water. What is she going to supposed to get up on a step ladder and.

Try and clean and he's saying if I lose, it's basically mailed in votes has cost me the election. It's faked and it's rigged and if he wins, he's going to say he's the greatest person of all time. So sort of hedging his bets either.

Way, out of gutters. And how do you calculate an emergency? I mean, I mean, who knows? It's an emergency.

Eric Jones gone. I've noticed that Jim has stopped picking on you, Joel, since you all went to lockdown. Maybe you should keep this.

Who can tell? What about branches falling across paths and people slipping over on wet leaves and so forth? There's real dangers to not having proper gardening done. I don't even really mind the council doing it, but I think they should work it individually. And I also think that, you know, there shouldn't be a double standard format.

Going, moving forward in the future, Joel.

That's all.

And then David Don's gone. Jim, how do you long, do you think before we have a permanent population on the moon or Mars? And do you think this is important even under the current climate? It's a good question.

Interesting. In my lifetime, maybe I'll probably live at least another 20 years, so one would hope so. When I was young especially, I was a great science fiction reader. If you look at the books behind me, that's only about a quarter of my library. Most of it is science fiction, other stuff which is in different rooms. So yeah, when I was young I would have volunteered to go on a starship anytime. That was my great dream. Heading off to Proxima Centauri. That'd be the way to go, he says.

And do you think it's important even under the current climate, financially?

Obviously I do. Well, yeah, I do, I do. I just believe in testing the limits and moving onwards and progress and so forth. I think it's exciting and it's great and it's important for us as a species that we spread out and do whatever we can. I'd like to see us go ahead. We've had some incredible changes, especially in the last couple of hundred years with the Industrial Revolution and the curing of poverty through much of the world and the feeding of disease. I just like us to see us go on and achieve what we're capable of. It should be exciting times.

Elon Musk and you got Bezos, who obviously all have their spare change they're putting into these big space startups and stuff like that. Asteroid mining, colonization of Mars. Who do you think will do it first?

Musk is probably as well placed as anybody. There's interesting thoughts about how it could be done. They could actually do it sort of like Big Brother. They could actually fund the whole thing by having cameras on Mars and people actually see what people are doing. I mean, that would be fun, wouldn't it? There's another scientific thing going on at the moment which I think could really affect this and that's my own research. We're actually making very good progress in the research into how to develop and strengthen character. And if we could achieve that, then the thing that if you notice about people like Elon Musk is he hides. He hires really, really brilliant, dedicated engineers. He does fantastic things. Imagine if the general population had that kind of drive and brilliance and if you can achieve the right changes of personality, if people can be enabled to bring out their own best qualities, then our progress could be extraordinary. You could cure poverty across the world. You could have the average person, you know, just healthy and well fed and educated and all the rest of it right across the whole world. There's fantastic opportunities and then going to Mars would be nothing. And then we start to do the, you know, then we, then we're off to Proxima, off to the stars. But that'll be, that will be the great, the way to go. It's all based on character.

Great question, David. And we'll leave it there now. So the time's up. So thanks everyone who tuned in tonight. We had around 100 people watching at all times, which is great. So make sure you tune in again again next week and we want to share some more. I think I'm going to interview a lot of dog wash franchisees and talk to them and we're going to share them to see how they're doing in Victoria soon. And thanks to that Jim as well in the letter. The letter is going to come out soon. So make sure when you see the letter go on Jim's profile in the Jim's group page. You just hit share, that's all you need to do. We had a heap of reach with 300,000 people reached with the first one. Let's get the third one going again when that comes out.

Absolutely. Give us the support and get it out there and put pressure on the government to change this stupid, stupid law.

Absolutely. Scenarios, guys. We'll leave it there as well. So thanks for tuning in. See you again next week, Wednesday night at 7 o'. Clock. And we hope you stay safe and well and keep getting through this period. We'll get there.

I can't, I can't see his stomach from here, you see, so he's hiding it underneath the thing so I can't.

Tell I'd rather be back in person. Eric. It's a lot more fun doing it in person than remote, believe me. And there's a bit of a delay so I'm not trying to cut off Jim. It's just, just a bit of a delay. I think he stopped talking. I keep going.

So he does have a bit of a guard me at times though. Eric he's not entirely a helpless mushy marshmallow apart from physically of course, but.

Still now hopefully can get his September 13 onwards. We can get back into it live. It's a lot better in person then Taylor Orox on his premiere. Is the premiere your new favorite villain? Jim?

Yeah, right. He's. Right now he's even worse than local council. Yes, he is. I mean I just think it's extraordinary. I couldn't believe any politician would do what he's done. I mean it's just so callous, it's so self serving and so heartless. I mean I, you can be cynical about politicians but I think on the whole they're reasonably decent people and maybe I'm. That's controversial but I think most of them have a fair sense of public service. But this, this thing that he's done in shutting down these industries without any reason at all, it's just dreadful and it's pure political calculation, nothing else. It's, it's, it's awful. Having said that, all I have to do is to see an end to this one measure and I'm, I'm silent, I'm shutting up. I'm not going to make a campaign to get him out. I don't care anything else by comparison. I just care about my people and the other people in our industries then.

Christian Canvas Christopher Canavar has gone. The Premier will have a lot of safety issues on his hand if the guidance cannot be maintained after the six week lockdown. Safety issues for that was something that was argued with older people and stuff like that and I think we had a chat to Matt the franchisee and he said some of the clients he did for these disability facilities and these other places in homes with older people there was some, a lot of risks and hazard and stuff like that as well.

There is, there is, there's no doubt that we're a public health, we preserve the health. What about a lady, old lady, a pensioner who has gutters that are coming down and causing. What is she going to supposed to get up on a step ladder and try and clean out her own gutters? And how do you calculate an emergency I mean, who knows it's an emergency? Who can tell? What about branches falling across paths and people slipping over on wet leaves and so forth? There's real dangers to not having proper gardening done. I don't even really mind the council doing it, but I think they should work it individually. And I also think that there shouldn't be a double standard.

That's all then. Damon. Don's gone. Jim, how long do you think before we have a permanent population on the moon or Mars? And do you think this is important even under the current climate? It's a good question.

Interesting. In my lifetime, maybe I'll probably live at least another 20 years, so one would hope so. I'm a great. When I was young especially, I was a great science fiction reader. If you look at the books behind me, that's only about a quarter of my library. Most of it is science fiction, other stuff, which is in different rooms. And so, yeah, when I was young, I would have volunteered to go on a starship anytime. That was my great dream. Heading off to Proxima Centauri. That'd be the way to go.

Yeah, he says. And do you think it's important even under the current climate, financially?

I do. Well, yeah, I do. I do. I just believe in testing the limits and moving onwards and progress and so forth. I think. I think it's. It's exciting and it's great and it's. It's important for us as a species that we. That we spread out and do whatever we can. I'd like to see us. Go ahead. We've had some incredible changes, especially in the last couple of hundred years with injustice.