 The biggest difference in that is you are the employee within the store, you are the owner operator as well, and you are able to put yourself in front of the camera. That is one of the big pillars that I tell every brand that wants me to work with them. Have a mascot, have an ambassador. If you can have that person who's already deep inside the business itself, you are like massive, massive shortcuts, because you already know the ins and outs of the business, you don't have to email someone. Is this right? Is this right? You already know. You put yourself in front of the camera. I'm not asking you to go research something. You already know it off the top of your head. It makes it so much easier. We don't have to create a script to tell an ambassador or an influencer to tell them what you already know you could have done it yourself. Welcome to the Sevo show. We have a guest in Matthew Pham, P-H-A-M. He's part of the Pham group. He is a large part of the Pham group. He is Pham. He started off with his father, with one grocery store, and now there are multiple, and they're labeled as I-G-A's. Back in the days of the doosans and the supermarkets, they were all local names. I-G-A took over, but the quality, the relationships, and the customer service is still top quality. I met Matt through social media. He came out to seek my help for the TikTok stuff. He's seen some success, but it's not about me. It's about Matt. Thanks for coming in. Thanks for having me. Spot on with the description about the evolution from doosans and food land into what is known as I-J now. Back then, with your dad starting out, what was that like? Did he build it from the ground up, or did he buy it? Yeah. Funny story. He bought a food land store in 1990. It was his corner store in Bayswater. My parents came from Vietnam after the Vietnam War in 1986. He was starting a business diploma. One day, he went to his local corner store. It was up for sale. At the end of the day, he decided to buy it, which is pretty crazy. Look, had no idea how to run a supermarket or anything. Decided to give it a go. Interest rates were pretty high, about 17% at the time. He got loans from all his family members and whatnot to give it a crack. It's funny. He'll tell me all his stories growing up about how running a business and not knowing what he was doing. He was saying, like, I had no idea what I was doing. I thought Cordial was in the orange juice section, in the chiller section. It was through his hard work and dedication that expanded to where we are today. He started the business before I was born and kind of grew into the business and never thought I'd be part of the whole journey and work full-time in the business, but couldn't ask for anything else. Pretty much a dream job for me. Amazing. And to keep it in the family for him must have been a proud moment for him. Yeah. So growing up as a teenager, I didn't plan to be part of the business or work in supermarkets. I kind of loathed that growing up and getting dragged to work, but that work experience was really good and shaped who I was in my early 20s to where I am now. Look, he was always big on me pursuing my own passions in life. I was just very fortunate after graduating at university to get some work experience and one opportunity led to another and now I'm knee-deep in the business. So what did you study at uni? So I studied a double degree in commerce economics and I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do and I did some extra studying. So I did an honours in economics for an extra year. So I studied for five and a half years and still after that I still had no idea what I wanted to do. So what made you want to go, right, I'm going to study this, not knowing there was a job at the end of it or what job you could get at the end of it? Yeah. So in high school I was not sure what I wanted to do. I did a lot of the subjects for engineering because a lot of my friends were going down the engineering path and then after my ATA results, I was like, well, engineering is probably not the path I'm really passionate about sciences. I was okay at it but I didn't think I was passionate about it and I was quite good at economics. I liked the idea of how things worked in society with money and what not and finances and I took inspiration from my dad being a business person in entrepreneurial. I was like, well, you know, I was doing commerce. Oh, economics, there's a degree for that. So yeah, it went down the economics path and commerce path but yeah, I didn't think really professionally what I wanted to do. I just liked the idea of it but not sure what I wanted to do as a full-time profession. So if you had your time again at the start of that commerce economics degree, would you have studied it still? Geez, very good question. I think so. I think university was valuable in skills it taught me about, you know, being disciplined and doing your studies, learning concepts, applying it in an assessment and whatnot but if I had my time back, I'd probably, you know, do a few things more differently. I was one of those university students, very typical, that, you know, you rock up twice a week to uni, do the bare minimum, cram for exams and assignments and I think if I had my time back, you know, I'd enjoy that life being a uni student, you know, going to all the guilds and all the socials and making more friends and enjoying it all because, you know, you're expected to be a full-time uni student as I was and I probably didn't maximise that whole experience. Yeah, okay and I mean, I'm the same. Yeah, a lot of us I reckon. First year I think I got a 50% in my first unit and I was like, oh dear, I really should redo this unit but I passed so I didn't need to but I'm like, man, if I fail, that would have been like $1,000 or $1,500 I think that cost per unit back then. So you graduated and I mean, we could always do things differently or more optimally rather than stuff around in our 20s but that's when we learn, right? 100%. So when you did graduate, at what point did you go, you know what, I'm going to join the family business officially. Yeah, it was a bit of a happy accident with all these opportunities that opened for me. So in 2015, mid-2015, I graduated. I was not doing much at home, I was just applying for jobs and playing a lot of video games and mucking around and my dad came and he's like, Matt, you're not really doing much. How about you just get some work experience, tag along with me and, you know, you find a job, so be it. So I was like, look, I can't say no to opportunities so and I was like, you know, back in my mind I had the idea of, you know, pursuing a professional career somewhere else and, you know, growing up in the family business, I kind of knew how supermarket work, all the basics I learned as a kid and teenager, you know, I could apply and it was really weird. You know, I wasn't doing much the first week or two just hanging around and one day my dad Vincent, he came to me and he's like, Matt, we've got a bit of a job for you. We've got some community chess money and this is our way that we, when people support us, we have money to get back to local community and he's like, well, Matt, we've got some money that we need to donate to the community and organizations in the next two months. Would you like to take on the job? And me back then I was like, oh look, how hard could that be? And you know, I was much more shy and introverted back then and had some social anxiety, but I was like, look, I'm just going to Google local charities, sporting clubs, organizations in our four stores and I just picked up the phone going, hi, my name is Matt. You know, I'm from the local IJ blah, blah, blah, blah. I'd like to give you money and the excitement that people had on the phone going, really want to give me money because no one's going to say no to money and donations. And yeah, and then from there I met with them face to face, you know, presented the check with the novelty check and everything and you know, that really inspired a passion in me. It's like, wow, I could really see, I was making a difference in the community and I was really to enjoy, you know, while I was doing the line of work I was involved with and I built some self esteem and confidence myself and you know, that led one thing led to another and you know, the whole IJ ethos of what we do, you know, serving the community and also giving back to community, you know, that resonated with me and you know, realizing how lucky I was with my parents being, you know, boat refugees who came to Australia with nothing, you know, all those things in my, you know, early 20s started to click in and you know, that's kind of what led me to being the family business and you know, to this day, my favorite part of the job is being able to connect with, you know, customers and giving back to the community. That's the most enjoyable part, you know, back then and it is now. Yeah, you get the opportunity to give back from the start and you're kind of giving back through what your dad, through your dad's kind of upbringing and everything he's built, you're giving back on behalf of him as well as yourself. Yeah, for sure. Look, we look growing up, you know, I used to hear a lot of his stories of how he came on a boat three months, almost died. Yada yada came to Australia with, you know, clothes on his back, nowhere to English and it was just through hard work that opportunities arose and I think that's the values that it was instilled to me to just work hard and put your head down and see what happens and we realized that we came from nothing and we got to make sure we give opportunities to other people who had, who have nothing, just like we were and we're very blessed and fortunate in life and we just want to pay for the opportunities and all the goodwill that we've received over the years. So back when you were a teenager growing up and obviously the family business was up and running already, was it just the one store back then or did you have multiple? Yeah, so we started with a store in Bayswater, a food land in Bayswater and then he passed it on to his sister and he decided to take on an IJ store, I was called Rules or Supervalley back in the day in Huntingdale and to give context, Huntingdale 25 years ago was just bushed all around. There was no Canningville or Southern River or whatever and yeah, that's where, you know, he expanded really. Yeah, we had one store for a while and probably in the last 10 or so years he's decided to expand the business. So, you know, I started at one and now we've got four. So how many, how many were there at his, during his realm when you were a teenager? What age? Like, let's go, let's go like 15. Yeah, so when I was 15, still the one store and I was pretty much getting dragged to work up until I was 18, you know, on the Sunday doing the morning shift and I was stacking shelves and serving customers and I remember going, why am I doing this? I could be at home just playing video games or whatever, but I'm getting dragged to work. But yeah, the penny dropped from my early times like, wow, some of the skills and lessons I learned in those times and what I thought he was being hard on me, you know, I was like, I'm very grateful that, you know, it led me to where I'm today and all the skills I learned and development. Love that. And did you get paid when you were? No, no, I Asian parents age family. No, and that's probably what caused a lot of my angst to go to work, not getting paid. But you know, I think it was, it actually taught me the value of money actually helped me to, you know, consider like, you know, this is what it looks like to work and what you get in return and stuff. But no, I didn't didn't really get paid. So the reason why I'm asking all these questions is constructing a difference in, because I see a lot of ethnic differences in Australia. Like my Asian friends and my Indian friends who have family businesses or a part of family businesses, they all have the same exact story. Right. I'm not surprised. But they all work hard. And they didn't get paid at the start. And now they're better business people, they're more educated, they're better with money, and they're better off as opposed to the typical Aussie person, right? The white person who, you know, had it hand fed to them or they were paid or they got a chance to, you know, fluff around and do nothing. There's a huge difference there. And that's something interesting that I'm observing. Obviously, me coming from Russia, I have the same story. I didn't have a family business, but mum kicked my ass. When I was a teenager, she was like, you got to work. You want to buy something? You got to work. I'm not buying you shit. And, you know, she still spoiled when she helped me along the way and she didn't allow me to fail colossally. And, you know, I've gone through more colossal failures later in life, but that's fine. But yeah, she, she set that up for me. And I'm so grateful for that. And I can see that in yourself with your family. Now, when you were with that one store as a 15-year old and you were forced to work there for free, what was that like with your friends at school? Did they go, oh, let's go, let's go see Matt at his dad's store? Did they fuck around or anything? No, it's pretty funny because, you know, I live, you know, I lived around base water and my store was hanging down. So it's, you know, 30, 30 or so minutes away. So didn't get that. But I was kind of jealous of my friends at the time because they're like, I work at bunnings or blah, blah, blah. And I'm getting paid in this and that and they're buying this, they're buying that, blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, well, I'm doing the same thing, but I'm not getting paid. But, you know, retrospectively, you know, I think it's shaped who I am. And I'm very grateful that, you know, my parents, you know, had a hard upbringing to give me opportunities to where I was and where I am today. So no, it wasn't. But one time before Leavers, we were buying stuff in gear and I was like, look, I've got an IJ, so how about we go down and get a discount? My dad can hook us up. And that was really cool. So that was the first time my, all my, me and a three, four friends came down to my store. I showed them around, bought gear and had lunch there. That was the first time I was, I was probably more, I was probably proud of, you know, who I was and what my family did for a profession. Amazing. Amazing. And your dad was like, yep, cool. You can have a discount for your friends. He wasn't strict on anything. No, he was more than happy. He's like, oh yeah, your friends come down. Yeah. I'll shout him lunch. You know, oh yeah. Yes. We, you know, we had a roast chicken and chips and this and that. And it was just cool sitting in the back dock, you know, what I did on a Sunday. It was just cool, you know, kicking back with my friends, going, you know, this is guys, this is, this is my world, which I've, you know, I was, I was never, I was a bit shy to, to share my story and, and what my parents went through and what my family went through. But, you know, that was probably now thinking about a bit of a glimpse of, you know, being proud of who I was. And now you have a 30 under 30. Yeah. Recently I got awarded a business news 40 under 40 award. 40 under 40. What about? Yeah. It's still pretty crazy to think about. Yeah. I got awarded it two, two months ago and it's, yeah, all the, you know, acknowledgements and, and, and all the support over the last two months or wherever I go, friends, family and, and all these connections. It's been incredible. Yeah. Never thought I'd get anywhere near winning award like that. It's pretty surreal to be honest, you know, not too long ago, you know, graduated from uni, no clue what I wanted in the world, social anxiety and shy. And, you know, what I can say is, you know, if you be comfortable being uncomfortable and you give things a go and be receptive of opportunities, you have no idea where I'll get you. So yeah, it's a bit of a surreal feeling. And I'm very fortunate to be, you know, you know, my success to winning an award like that, you know, didn't come on my own fruition. You know, I had a lot of help along the way. And, you know, my success is everyone's success. And, you know, I'm a product of my environment. And I'm very thankful to have good friends and, you know, a good network to get me to where I was. And yeah, special night. So now, now that you're, how do you now for the audience? So I just to 31. So, you know, I said to myself, funny with the 40 under 40 awards, I applied last year and got really close. And I said to myself, I had 10 years to get this right. Yeah. It only took me two. So, you know, yeah, like one less thing to, to take off the bucket list, which is really cool. So yeah, that's cool. And so now that you're at the, at the, you're about to take it over. What's your plan to go when your dad goes, right? I'm retiring. Let's do this. What's the, what's the plan? What, what, what's your scope on things? It's a really good question. So if you asked me that, you know, five or so years ago, when I was in the family business and probably a bit more naive and inexperienced, you know, my mentality back then was I wanted more stores because I thought more is better. But comes with a bit more experience, comes a bit more wisdom and, you know, four stores, you know, I love it and wouldn't change anything for the world for it. But, you know, four sources plenty. It's comes with its stresses and strains. And, you know, there's a lot of joys in running your own business as, as you would know. But, you know, we've got, I've got four locations or and four or five places to be at once sometimes. It's, it can be very challenging. Let's go through them. Let's go through them. See if we're, where are all four locations. Yeah. So we, so we got four stores. So we got the one in Midlands. Yeah. The one, the big one in High Wycombe, Huntingdale, IJ, which we've owned for over 25 years. So I've owned that store since I was about that tall. Yeah. And Byford, it's called Lakeside Fresh in Byford. And I've owned that for four and a half years now. And what considers it to be a big IJ? I think people consider big IJs by the floor space. Yeah. So, to be honest, a lot of the IJ stores are, you know, medium to small. And I think that's the better ones or the easier ones to run. Yeah. I mean, of course. Yeah. Bigger stores is more problems, more stuff. Smaller surface area, less to clean. And yeah, more running around this that, yeah. So going back to your question, yeah, four stores is plenty. You know, I've been offered and have had a look at other sites and all these things, and I'm not going to say no to it. But yeah, for me, it's like, you know, what's my legacy and what's my path? And I'm very content in the supermarket space. And yeah, I'm not quite sure what it is. You know, winning a 40 under 40 award will help. You know, I think that will help me think about other things. But yeah, I just want to pursue some other careers and or a passion outside of the supermarket space where that's consulting or, you know, I do a lot of volunteering outside of the business. And, you know, that lines with the ethos of giving back. So, you know, exploring that space a bit more is probably where I'm looking at the at the moment. What about, oh, and on the on the topic of the different IGAs, which, which was the one that I visited? Also, you visit Midland. So that's a huge store. Like that's considered that was, I felt like a Woolworths sort of size, which is insane, because I grew up in Padbury and I had the Padbury, IGA, formerly Juicens. And it was super tiny. And I was like, oh, that's IGA is brand super tiny stores. And then when I lived in Calguli, there was a super IGA. And that was a lot bigger. Yeah. And that was probably far out four times the size. And just looking back now, you could sit at that almost Woolworths size too. But yeah, this one was huge, crazy, had a whole section of everything. But with all these, all this running around and your ambitions and, you know, volunteering things, how much like, how do you allocate your time? How do you not burn out? Yeah, really good question. I'm very, look, first off, I'm very fortunate to work for myself. And but it come, it comes with the territory. Well, I know I got to put in the hard yards, whatever it takes. And that, but, you know, I get the flexibility to mission mash, you know, all the things I do. So, you know, one minute I'm doing some volunteering stuff during the day. Or, you know, if that means I have to work at night and do work on a few things, I do. Yeah, it's really good question. Look, I really, I really enjoy what I'm doing. And that's the first thing, whatever you're doing in life, just make sure you're having fun and enjoying it. And, you know, if you're not, then it's not worth your time. So I'm happy to put the extra time in where it's in my, you know, IJ or professional career or, you know, whether it's volunteering. But I also make sure I have time for a bit of time for personal life as well and not to get burnt out. So make sure, you know, do things like mindfulness techniques or, you know, probably in the last two years with everything, you know, I've been, you know, very mindful more of my mental health and physical wellbeing. So, you know, for me, I get a massage once a month as a good way to unwind and a good way to de-stress and to allow me to live my fast-paced life. I love that. And where you're going to, like in terms of your day-to-day, describe to me your average day-to-day. Yeah, really good. So my day-to-day, it kind of varies, but it looks something on the lines of wake up the morning, obviously have breakfast. And that's one thing I don't skip. I skip lunch more often or not, but I make sure I have breakfast. And during that time, I check up on emails and I have a bit of a feel about, you know, what I have to do or achieve during the day. Generally, my to-do list is normally been dictated by what happens on the stores or the issues or things that arise. And, you know, I try to visit my stores probably about twice a week, each of them twice a week, because I, as my role is the group operations and marketing manager, you know, I like to keep my finger on the pulse. I need to know exactly what's happening at the stores, getting feedback from other customers, suppliers or my store managers or employees, and get a feel about a sense of where the business is going and where I can add some advice or some of my consulting. So that's kind of how it goes. And yeah, I try to minimise travel time as much as I can, because, you know, that's a lot of dead time. But I listened to your podcast along the way, which is always good. So plug to the Sev show. But yeah, so it's kind of a mix between, you know, visiting the stores and doing some office work. I mean, we do have a head office, but I'm not one for a lot of standing behind a desk and doing emails. I like to be connecting with people. And I can see that's a lot of where a lot of my value is added. So yeah, so pretty much it's visiting stores, checking emails and looking at a few things and doing TikToks, I guess, and social media. So being the marketing manager, that's part of the role. And when I first met you, you already had a bit of a following, a small following compared to what it is now? Very, very, I wouldn't, I'm not sure if I'd call, Jesus, I think I probably had what? Less than a thousand followers on TikTok, to be honest. Yeah. And then you brought me on, this was February and went through, ran through a workshop and then we did the in-person practical side of things. And we posted some of them and some of them did really well. And then you took on the advice on doing more and getting the locals involved. How has that progressed in the last five months since we did it? It's been an amazing journey. Look, to be honest with TikTok, I can say it's probably been one of the hardest things I've ever done. I decided to give it a go because I saw a bit of a market space to be able to give things a go, to learn a lot of things, but also to share our story and be on a different platform, which to be honest, other supermarkets and even in the IJ space, people weren't doing. So that's why I reached out to you. I saw you a lot on TikTok. It seems to know what he's doing. Excuse me. Done a bit of consulting. All right, I'm going to reach out to him. Hopefully he'll teach me a few things. And I think our content has evolved, just like TikTok or a lot of social media platforms evolve. I think a lot of mine were a lot of memes and trends. And with your consulting, a lot of it's our content has evolved to be more interview style, stuff that we can repate, stuff that adds a lot of value to the audience. And yeah, it's been really incredible. I think, what are we now? We have 55,000 followers. It's literally exploded. I think we've had three million views on TikTok, which if you asked me that 12, 18 months ago, I would have laughed at you. And through your advice, I've never thought I'd be a video editor at all, but yeah, and I really enjoy it. It helps you story tell. And you get a bit of a feel about, you know, when you get a video, you know where to chop and change and add some flair to the whole thing. So it's been really incredible, the whole experience. And yeah, I've got a nickname as the IJA guy on TikTok, which is really weird and never in a million years, I thought that was possible. But you know, whether I'm at my stores or whether I'm presenting a check or visiting the local schools, I get mentioned, hey, I follow you on TikTok, this and that. So it's been really incredible and it's been a point of difference for our business in the space. Amazing. And that's still the first six months, the first 50,000 followers. I remember when I hit 50,000, I had a couple of people, I went down south with my wife, right? And we went down there and we were having a feed at a restaurant and these three boys came up and said, can we take a photo? And I'm like, this is, like I've had a few of those by then, but like not, not, it was probably about three or four times randomly. But then this time it was like in another place, even it was the same state. And then I was having lunch and then people came up to us and they were nice and they were respectful. And yeah, the lads came in and got to find the photo. It was classic. And then the parents like, oh, thank you so much. I'm like, wow, you know, 50,000 followers. And you know, that's cool. And now, literally, yeah, 100 times the email, which is crazy or not 100 times 1.6 million now. And every five minutes, I'm walking down somewhere, someone wants to have a chat. I've watched this YouTube video recently of Mr. Beast. I love Mr. Beast. Yeah. So he had an interview with these guys two years ago and in his newly built place like his ranch or whatever, it's got like thousands of hectares or acres or whatever you call it. And this is like his own studio space where it creates different projects. And he had 40 million followers at the time on YouTube. That's a huge. And I remember watching that and I felt like it was two weeks ago. And I was like, fire out. This guy's killing it. And then they did the same interview, the same place, same people. And he has 160 million subs. You know, he did that squid game video and he did some more recent ones where he's restoring eyesight and people's hearing. That's crazy. So he's given back to the community. I feel like there's not enough of that in Australia. And I feel like what you're doing with IGA will become like this huge success story and this thing that people talk about for years and you're only at 50,000. I can't wait to do the same interview 12 months from now going, holy shit, look at you now. Right. But it's all about consistency. When I, when I talked to you in February, I was like, you need to be consistent and you have been consistent. There's videos that didn't work, but then there's videos that did went absolutely skyrocket. Yeah. And then you hone in on that and then you double down on that style and then you do more of those and then away you go. I have so many more ideas. If I live next door or down the road, I'd be there making content myself. But this is not a plug, but so I'll talk about the time that you came to our store. Yes. I think you were at the store for an hour, maybe, and I can't believe how many ideas you came up with at the top of your head. And I've never thought about those ideas, but it opened to the realm of opportunities and possibilities of what a video looks like in a supermarket. We probably shot 10, 15 videos and some of it was, I think, you know, it's people to this day, people say, oh, you know, that video where you went down the aisle, this and that or weighing the stuff, that was amazing. Yeah. No, no, I think that the idea generation was very left field, but you know, you create a lot of interest in our business. That's it. That's it. I'm excited. I'm excited. And the most importantly, you get the kids involved because what I noticed about my channel is the kids want to be involved because it creates a sense of belonging, sense of community, and that's what you got to do with any brand. If you have that, you will succeed. You do that long enough, you will succeed no matter what Mr. Beast does. Yeah, 100%. He's been one of my biggest inspirations last 12 months about how he storytells and how he connects with the next generation. And I say a lot of people, especially the older generation, they don't know who Mr. Beast is. No, they call him Mr. Muscle. But yeah, I think he's done a really good job about storytelling, you know, being a social media influencer, doing some great work in the community and being a, you know, business person that inspires the next generation to hustle, give back and everything. That's it. And we're starting that here. And I like that. Yeah. I want to run the flag in my nation, my area for Australia. Like I don't see anyone here. Not nobody. There's influencers and there's creators, but they're not like, they're not going altruistic. Is that? Yeah. Yeah. And like, I see a couple of people that do that classic, hey, do you have a dollar? And then when they give them a dollar, they give them like a thousand dollars. It's like, the guy, there's one guy that, that is the OG for doing this. His name's MD or something. He, he does it the best. He was the OG. And I'm like, all right, that's his thing. And I'm glad I'm happy that other people are following those footsteps, but it's just like, do something unique, do something new, do something, you know. So for me, it's like, like doing an interview with a kid and then them showing all their friends that they got a chat with me or they, they, oh, it went via, oh, I'm now famous, you know, like, fame isn't everything. Like what is fame, right? For me, it's, what did you learn from that person? What is the value that they've given you, apart from giving you a fish for a day? Like a thousand bucks? Great. But what, what can you give me that's life long, that is life changing, not just a life experience, a one-off experience. Cause I'll give you tickets to the grand final. Cool. Amazing. Everyone loves it for a day. You've done it. It's a memory, but what is something life long that you can give someone? Mr. Beast is doing it. Literally giving eyesight back to them, restoring eyesight, restoring hearing. And that's this philanthropic stuff that I love about his side of it. He's got that whole philanthropic channel. That's sort of shit. Yeah, I love it. Yeah. You know, but he started from the bottom where he is doing random things, counting up to a hundred thousand live streaming and saying Mr. Beast a hundred times, a hundred thousand times, you know, all them things he was testing for years. But for you to do what you've done in five, six months, you're still in a testing phase, according to, you know, someone like him. Imagine five years of this sort of consistency where you'll be. I made the, I've been told that ECU marketing students, one of the units they do in social media, they use me as a case study at university. That's so cool. And I'm like, cool. I don't, I don't even care that they didn't ask me or anything. I just thought that's really cool. You know, I'm like, that's, that's. Look, for what it's worth, Sev, you know, a lot of your ideas for interviewing and stuff, you know, I've replicated it into, you know, the videos that we're doing. I see them and I'm like, yes, this is it. And it's like, you know, you know, when, when we first caught up and you showed me your wireless microphone, I said, I said to you, Sev, I'm going to go buy that microphone. So I literally went down to Wanderlust or, um, camera, camera electronics, good plug. Shout out to camera electronics. We're about on Murray street, Murray street. Shout out to them. Great plug. And, um, the guy had naughty where it was. He's like, looking on the, I was like, hey, I'm looking for this wireless microphone. Um, the one that Sev has, this is what it looks like. I'm pretty sure. And he took like 10, 15 minutes to the poor guy. Cause he's like, it's in the system. I don't know where it is. And like, it was not in the, in the DJI. That was an intern, by the way. That was a, that was first day on the job, by the way. But yeah, it is one of the, it is so easy to use. It's value for money. And, um, yeah, like you said, I can, I can relate to, you know, my audience a couple of weeks ago went to my bifid store to 30 in the afternoon on a Friday. I'm just walking to the store. I've got, I've like got plenty of work to do. I'm just going to go to the office walk in. There's six high school kids or primary school kids and they're yelling and screaming my name. I'm like, Oh my goodness. Have I done something wrong? I'm like, what, what's the occasion? Like mama, Matt, it's you. We haven't seen you for a while. How are you? Do you remember me? I was part of your last TikTok video, this and that. Like, like, where have you been? And, um, can we be part of your next TikTok? I'm like, yeah, sure. Okay. And like that, like, they're so nervous, but excited. And this, this energy, like you said, you want to capitalize on it. And then I was like, do you have any ideas? And they're not quite sure. I said, look, how are the easiest ways? I'm just going to interview you all about the store. And like, you can let people know about your store, your favorite things. They're like, they're like, they're like dying to like get it started. And, um, like you said, it, you know, it's good for the business, but it's good for them. They, you know, they get ownership and say, this is me. This is my local IJ. This is Matt. I know Matt. This is that. And it's like that engagement. It's like, I don't know if I could do anything else that would get that same excitement or engagement in the store, but, um, it's created a point of difference. And you know, I'm very thankful to the audience. So shout out to the Byford crew. The biggest difference in that is you are the employee within the store. You are the, you know, the owner operator as well. And you are able to put yourself in front of the camera. That is one of the big pillars that I tell every brand that wants me to work with them. Have a mascot. Have an ambassador. If you can have that person who's already deep inside the business itself, you are short cutting, like massive, massive shortcuts, because you already know the ins and outs of the business. You don't have to email someone. Is this right? Is this right? You already know. And then you put yourself in front of the camera. I'm not asking you to go research something. You're already not off the top of your head. It makes it so much easier. We don't have to create a script to tell an ambassador or an influencer to tell them what you already know. You could have done it yourself. And someone real like that is so rare to find to be able to do that for their brand. You nailed it. You nailed it. It comes with experience. So, you know, eight years ago, you know, I studied a commerce degree, no idea about marketing, got in the family business. And it was just, it was just by necessity that they're like, we kind of need becoming the community liaison. I became the face of the business. And I learned to be comfortable with it. I was like, because before I wasn't one for, you know, you know, taking photos of myself or this or that or hi, it's Matt from blah, blah, blah, blah. So I got comfortable with, you know, taking photos and being the face of our business. And when it came to TikTok, you know, that was a different kello to fish because, you know, I've never really videoed myself or recorded myself and yeah, it's something anxiety and some doubts about it. But, you know, it's the same thing. I decided to give it a go because if I didn't do it, you know, who else in the business of where I was going to put the hand up. And, you know, staff and employees can be very gun shy. But if you get involved and get motivated and energetic about it, you know, they will reciprocate. So yeah, for me, it was, you know, and any advice to other business owners, entrepreneurs is put yourself in front of the camera. You're an individual, you're not going to get right along the way, but you're going to learn very quickly what works and doesn't work. And yeah, people can associate you as part of the brand of your business, 100%. And if you're authentic about it and you're not just, you know, doing it for the sales or the more customers, you're doing it, people can see that. Yeah. And they want to be involved like those kids. Yeah. And they're like, and a lot of feedback I get from customers like, it sounds like you're having so much fun. The employees are having so much fun and the kids are having so much fun. And it's like, tick, tick, tick. It's like, what more can you ask? Yeah. And you can make that content over and over and over again. Yeah, for sure. Like I'm excited to book a day to go to each one of your four stores and create content for myself, but plug FamIGA and know that people want to go, they go, oh, Sev went there. Let's go there. Just in case he's there. Jundalup, Lakeside Jundalup. Everyone comments on almost every video now. Sev, when are you going to Lakeside next? Yeah, right. And I'm telling Lakeside, I'm like, Lakeside, you should look at this, you know. I do it, I do it anyway. And I have had a few collaborations with them, but I was pushing them before going, can we do something a little bit more frequently, you know, like from a business perspective, because it was in the best interest of everybody. It was a win, win, win. The, the, I got business, they got exposure, quality exposure, and they had people coming into the shops because I was there. And, you know, apart from a couple of collaborations, I think they're slept on it. And, you know, and that's something else that I recommend brands need to do is identify that and capitalize on it. I don't think there's enough capitalization on those sort of moments. When you find something that works, you need to double down on it. Yeah, a hundred percent. And milk the shit out of it while still experimenting with other things. So like with, with, with my, one of my most viral videos ever is, was that an IGA? Was that the Kings? It was the shelf. Yeah. It was the shelf thing. And that's a series I can do over and over and over again until the cows come home. And like I, I actually still get nervous about doing that specific video because we're filming someone secretly. It's in a public place and that. And then we're, we don't want to piss anyone off. We don't want to disrupt their day, but we'll just want to have a laugh. And the ones that I've posted, all of them enjoyed themselves. They were, they had, they had a laugh and they were, oh my God, this is hilarious. And then that obviously went down into the views and people loved it and stuff. But there's so many video attempts from that that have been unseen that people have completely rejected me. And that's fine. That's content. A hundred percent. But they, they just, they're just like weird. They get weird about things. And, and that, and that's what makes me nervous. But going to somewhere in a store like yours where I know that your staff will have gotten a heads up going, hey, Seth's coming in to film today. Just whatever. It's the same with lakeside security guys leave me alone because I call in, I'm like, Hey guys, I'm filming today. Chill. And they're like, yeah, no worries. One of the security guards doesn't get the memo. They come up to me and they go, what are you doing? And I'm like, ring this person and ask them and I'll have the clearance. And then they get on the radio, call my bluff. And then like, oh, shit, you're actually legit. I'm like, yeah, cool. So that's always funny. But going to the RGA now, again, I wish it was closer, but I need to make a day of it. And like a Saturday, I reckon that'd be your business day. Hey, you're down. You're off on a come. And just do all of the get me from the bottom shelf and stuff. Oh, it'd be crazy. So, all right, going forward now into your 30s. Where do you see yourself in alignment with your, with the fam group? When you're, let's start with 35 and then 40. I really thought of that far ahead in goals and stuff. Look, I've just been very lucky in the last, let's say five or so years in my life that I was just receptive to opportunities. I gave it a go and then one door opened another. So yeah, I'm not sure with the next five or 10 years in my life. But yeah, happy in the IJ space. But is there something I can do with myself? And is there a business in there to consult people about how a small business works or how social media works or is there a space for me to consult in the volunteering nonprofit sector? That's where I'm thinking about and dip my toes in the water. So yeah, look, I think for me, it's really important to have a balance in life because does 10 IJ stores make me happy? Just 20 was like, well, not really. It just adds more stress. There's more phone calls. You're going to hire more staff and what happens is happens. That happens. And some of those things is like, well, I'm very content and blessed in life to have a living, but also pursue the other passions in my life as well. So the main thing for me is to balance it all, have a personal life, travel a bit more probably is the way to go. I think ever since the flu, I've been very fortunate to do a bit more traveling and I just realized there's more of the world to see and connect with with traveling. I love that. I love that travel. God, a travel. Where's your dream place you've always wanted to visit? Good question. They're all good questions. Yeah. I haven't gone to Europe. Yep. That's one thing. And I've spent a week in Japan and that was on a bus tour. So I only got to see each city like a day. So I didn't get myself really immersed in. So probably Europe and Japan, probably two places that probably come to mind. I love that. I love that. And do you have any other hobbies apart from video games? Yeah. So apart from video games, I spend a lot of time in volunteering. So I'm involved in a lot of volunteer organizations. So I'm on a school board at the Huntingdale Primary School, the Bendigo Bank branch in Byford. I'm a board director. And on top of that, I've been involved with Rotary for the last, oh geez, how long has it been now? Six years. And it's probably been the best thing I've done in my life. It's got me to where I was, to someone who just played video games, didn't get out of his comfort zone to where I am now. And had it not been for volunteering and doing Rotary and giving back, I 100% wouldn't have won a 40 under 40 award. Wouldn't have got anywhere near it. So yeah, so pretty heavily involved in Rotary and part of my Rotary club in Elizabeth Key. Love that. Charity helps. Charity helps immensely. You do it from the heart. And that will come back full circle in a better way for you. The karma is real. Yeah, it's really funny. So because of all the community work I was doing in my IJ, I asked a local politician, I was like, how do we become more like you? Because you seem to have good energy and buzz. And he's like, well, join Rotary, do some volunteering. And growing up, Asian parents and stuff, we weren't accustomed to that. So I was like, oh, look, I like this type of thing. I'm going to give it a crack. And yeah, it opened a world of opportunities. I signed up to volunteer just to give back. But what I got back was 100-fold in return. And some of the things I got, I got a mentor out of it, professional development, personal development, leadership opportunities, and met an amazing group of people and friends. And even done business deals with people I've met through my volunteering journey. So honestly, best thing I've ever done in my life so far, and highly encouraged people to give back. And that's why I have a huge amount of respect of someone like Mr. Baze. Because yes, he mixes business, but he has philanthropy, and inspires the next generation to give back. And I think that's really important. Absolutely, absolutely. So given the advice or given your experience and observations over the last 31 years now, you're speaking to someone who's still at school and who's uncertain of what they're going to do. But they're looking at maybe running a business or studying at uni. What would be your most important one piece of advice be? Yeah, a couple of things I would say is, well, one thing I would say is it's okay not to have things figured out. And I think we put too much pressure on the younger generation, especially the way things are designed when you're 17, 18. What university degree you want to study for the next three, four years to get into your professional career. And I didn't have it figured out probably until my mid-20s, to be honest. So don't be stressed out about not knowing what you want to do. It's completely fine. And for me, it's really quite simple. It's just to give things a go. Just back yourself, whatever it is. If you want to do this, go for it. You're going to do X, Y, Z. Just honestly go for it. Give things a go and be comfortable being uncomfortable. And I think that's where I had a lot of my learnings. I never thought, I got so much anxiety at university because I completely fluffed a presentation. And it got to the point back 10 years ago, when I first joined the gym, and I was skinnier than I am now, when I first joined the gym, it took me 40 minutes to get out of the car and open the door and talk to someone like seriously. I had so much anxiety in my head. I had many a thought to leave, turn on the car and just drive back home. And then something clicked in my head going, Matt, you need to give this a go because you're going to live a life parallelized in fear and you don't know what you're missing out on. You need to just see what happens. If you think people are going to laugh at you or this or that, so be it. But you need to get out of this because, yeah, you're going to live a life in fear and who knows what it's going to be. So, yeah. I love that. I love that. We're going to introduce a new section, new segment into the podcast is called The Red Mike Firing Squad. Might change the name of that later. I've seen this in your TikToks and stuff. Came up with that. So you hold that. Okay. Keep your mouth still relatively close to that, Mike, because that's the actual Mike. So I'm just going to give you quick questions. Give me quick answers. Sure. Don't explain. Don't expand. Quick fire, got it. Quick fire. Right. All right. Your favorite IGA store that you have? Byford, Lakeside Fresh. Why? I own it and I built it from the ground. A favorite thing to stock at IGA? At the moment, it's the American products. Okay. Why is that? Because all the kids and all high school students love it and that's how I get my following. And it's a niche as well. Love it. Love it. Love it. Least favorite thing to stock at IGA? Anything heavy and bulky. Fair enough. Fair enough. How do I get a job at IGA? Really quite simple. Have a resume. Have a cover letter. Come into store and drop it off. And have a conversation with someone saying hi, my name is so-and-so. I'd like to drop on my resume. Would that be okay? Perfect, perfect, perfect. And final question. If you could eat one thing from your IGA, for the rest of your life, what would it be? Or stumped him? I love pizza. So I'll probably have to go with pizza. Expansion question. What is on your pizza for the rest of time? I kind of like an Italian pizza, to be honest. Or I like a classic pepperoni pizza. It's just straight up pepperoni. Straight up pepperoni. Yeah. Great. Half of Domino's pepperoni pizza if we're going down that path. Crazy, crazy. All right. Easy. Read my question done. Well done. There it is. So that'll be a segment. Rapid fire completed. Well, Matt, thank you so much for all the stories that you've shared and your journey so far. Definitely a part one, part two in the mix, 12 months from now. Can't wait to see what that IGA FAM group number gets up to. I will see. And I cannot wait for you to just get flown around the country and show other IGAs how it's done. I'll come with you, obviously. For sure. Let's one final sign off. Give you a FAM group a plug. Yeah, just in the can. So you can follow us on our socials at famgroup IGA on TikTok and Instagram. If you want to follow me on Instagram or TikTok, it's at MattyFam92. Yeah, 92. Come say hi to me if you see me around. Love it. Love it. Get a photo. And if you want to get a photo, then he has to give you an interview. That's the catch. You know, that's the trade off. As for myself, a huge shout out to Bright Tank Brewery, as always, for sponsoring major sponsor of the podcast. They're located in East Perth, and they've got a restaurant there, which has some of the most insane steak you'll have in Perth. And they've got a whole range of beers. They've got the double chalkface killer that has just been released, the wonderful, wonderful frothy golden liquid. Get it in ya. Obviously, responsible drinking, over 18, all that. Don't do it if you're pregnant. And that's all the formalities. Again, Matt, thanks for coming in. It's my pleasure. As always, guys, good thanks.