Richard Anthony & Jasmine Menta Podcast Transcript.

Richard Anthony & Jasmine Menta Podcast Transcript. 

Hey guys, it's Rich here on my very first podcast called The Rich Mix, and I have a special guest with me. Jazz, welcome.

Welcome to The Rich Mix. Thanks for coming on board on our first episode, episode one. So I'm really excited for you to be with me. 

Hello!

This is a great way of communication and it's very popular right now. Everyone's doing podcasts. And I thought, you know what? Let's give it a bell. So this way, a lot of our, all of our people that we work with can relate to what we do and how we roll, you know? So yeah, really excited about this podcast. So I thought I want to, first of all, myself, I've been involved in the education space now for over probably 25 years in different facets.

And now with EZE Training and I'm really proud to say that each rating will be around for like, it's been around for 30 years next year anniversary. So I'm really excited about that. So, and, um, and jazz you've been with me for 15 years. Can you believe it?

Yeah, yeah, it's taking a while.

I know a long crazy time and it's been a lot of a crazy journey with a lot of ups and downs, But a lot of ups and fun times and exciting times. So Unbelievable. Yep, and I was probably uh 20 kilos lighter as well, and had some hair, and had some hair as well. Now the hair on the top of my head is gone. So, yeah things have evolved.

Yeah, I think I was 17 when I first started working EZE Training . Yeah.

This is great.

So, and tell me a little about yourself. How have you evolved professionally and personally during this time with EZE Training? Tell me about.

Yeah, well, like I said, I was what 17 when I started and I was just doing a bit of admin and yeah, just evolved by like I did my course and then I got my qualification, my TAE. I think it was like 2015 when I actually started training and you know, I was running one of the stores and just through that, you know, bit by bit meeting new people, sort of growing myself. I even started tattooing and you know, it's just kept progressing further and further. And EZE Training has been a guide the whole way through.

And I think you've learned a lot of new skills. So from starting as like an admin, dealing with customer service, and then going to the next level, doing the course, and then actually piercing people as a piercer, because that's the course you did. 

so many new skills.

Yeah, yeah, I did the specialist body piercing course. 

And at that time, what made you want to do that course? Why that course?

Well, because I was working for EZE Training purely just doing admin originally, and I'd watched a few of the courses be performed and talking to the students, and it really inspired me. And at the time it was like, well, do you want to run a store? Like you can pierce in the store. And that was super exciting. Like at that age, that's all you want. So yeah, and the course was so much fun. And at first I thought I'd be really squeamish, but no, I love it. And I'm still doing it now. I love it.

Yeah. And then I think you were very alternative. You wanted to get into something, you know, a little bit left field in a way.

Yes. Oh, exactly. I was a little emo kid. I loved it. I had so many piercings back then, too. I don't have many left.

Yeah, and yeah, I think from, yeah, so that journey, so starting as an admin, then working as a piercer, and then be able to give advice to people coming into store because you're actually piercing as well. Then, yeah, we what we opened, we actually opened up another store at that stage in, we have one in Sydney, I think as well, like we did it well, we called it Urban Steel 

Yeah.Yeah, you had the one in Sydney, and Melbourne. Yeah, that's it.

We've gone through a few different locations because we're based in yeah so EZE Training first started in the humble beginnings back in Greensborough and proud to say that we did at that time in the outer burbs and then we moved to Collingwood after that there's a massive change yeah on Alexander Parade there with all the schools.

Yeah, we've moved around Melbourne a fair bit.

That was a cool studio.  Yeah, it was good fun there.

We've gone through, it was a really good journey moving into there. It was like a good step up. And from there we moved to Preston. Yeah, so it's been really cool. It's been awesome. So, and then at Preston, we started tattooing there at the shop. So we created not just a retail outlet, the back end of the shop was our admin at the time. And yeah, that's when you started your journey as a tattoo artist. You still have that passion now, and you're still being tapped as a guest here and there.

Yeah, now that I've got a family, the tattooing has died down a little bit until further notice, but yeah, that's a major passion of mine as well, definitely.

Yeah, yeah. It feels really long. Yeah. No, no, awesome. And I think, yeah, I think tattooing and piercing, it all kind of, it's all in that same genre, same world in a way. All very creative.

Yeah, I'm really interested in the cosmetic that we're holding as well. Like that's something that I'm looking to move further into myself as well. It's, um, yeah, all that sort of body modification stuff. Love it. Always been a passion.

Yeah. And going back to that, because when we go going back now, again, back to Greensborough, that's all that we were doing was body piercing courses and infection control courses. And we had such a range of clients traveling from all around Australia at that time. And now we have, my God, to date, now we have so many different qualifications, like awesome qualifications, like right down to, yeah, from a unit, yeah, from a unit now all the way to diploma level in cosmetic tattoo.

Yeah, that's how we started, Just the Body Piercing. Oh, just the way that it's grown in so many different aspects. Yeah. Oh, everything about it, staffs, the amount of enrollments, just how efficient things are. Things are so much. I mean, it just used to be us and the whole team. Yeah.

Rich:

Yeah, I know. It's crazy. Everything. I know. Yeah, it's amazing. And, and yeah, we've had some funny stuff come and go as well. Always with staff, there's always drama, we've had a lot of drama, you know, that takes up a lot of our time. But, but now it's been awesome now. 

Oh god, yeah, we've had some interesting characters, that's for sure.

Hahahaha

Time obviously you've evolved not just professionally to what you've now you've learned a lot in that period of time and so you're a lot more what can I say

Yeah, I think it's well more well rounded now to when you started, you know, so the maturity. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, definitely. I've got much more skill level, just, I'm just a better human in general. But like without you and without EZE Training, I mean, I wouldn't be in this industry, I wouldn't be doing the things that I'm passionate about and that I love. Like the support of EZE Training and you as a whole, like the whole experience, you know, the connections in the industry, it's helped us sort of move forward and be a bigger part of the industry, which is awesome as well.

Yeah, that's awesome. And I think looking at a lot of the people that had come and go and not just our, we obviously look at that body piecing course because that was originally our main foundation course, which we're well known for. And we've now, we're probably onto our fourth accredited course version now of that particular call and a lot more. And I think the course is so refined. It covers so many different aspects. And what I love about it, it's actually changed so many people's lives. 

Oh, definitely. The amount of students over the years that I've watched go from, you know, just want to learn how to pierce because it's cool and now they're running businesses, they're, you know, going overseas, they're doing big things. And it's, it's just really cool to see that we started that for them.

Yeah, no, and I looked at like Jack that came on board that we trained with recently. And when he said he did that course and from there he's now got a family and it's, it, this course has helped him start his own business, have his own kids and eventually get a how and you know, and he's just literally living the dream.

Yeah, and I remember him back in the day. He did his first training and I was part of it. And yeah, when you said he was coming back, I was so happy to hear, because yeah, the success stories, the way that they, yeah, they managed to get their life together after something that we've helped them with is awesome.

Yeah, and the journey hasn't been like, what can I say, it's not for everyone. You know, people do this particular course and they go, it's not for me. And, but there's so many people I know and a lot of them are friends with me on Facebook and probably yours as well. The journey because and that's when I see them have started having kids and, and you know, and then some of them even now grandparents is awesome and I don't have kids.

Ah, good heaps. I love it.

Since that time, since you started, you've got now three kids. If you believe it. I know, you've got your own house, three kids, and just a chaotic life, you know? Yeah. And even since then, me and me, I've got two little, two little crazy freak, freak as always as well. And it keeps us busy and keeps us well, well grounded. 

 Yeah, I know. How much has changed in these years? 

Life is busy, but, yeah, pretty entertaining.Exactly.

It keeps us young. I'd like to hope. Oh yeah, I'm tired. I'm tired. All the time.

I feel like I'm getting older with it. Yeah. But yeah, looking at other, so yeah, so that it has changes professionally and personally, and then, and this EZE Training has been, it's been a lifestyle choice for us because we're actually both doing stuff that really enjoy and love. And we love meeting people and, um, and a big chunk of a big part of EZE Training is bloody compliance, you know, that's.

Yeah.

And running an RTO is very challenging as well.

It's all about crossing your T's, dotting your I's, making sure everything's where it needs to be. That was one aspect of this whole industry that I didn't realize. That other side, like it's all good and well to get excited about being a body piercer or being a tattooist or whatever it is that you're doing in the skin penetration industry. But then it's what comes with that people don't realize, the infection control, the health regulations. And, you know, for us, it's, you know, regulating training to make sure things are up to date and up to standard. And there's just so much more to it than I think people realize.

Yeah, and how it's evolved so much and even your role has evolved. So what's your role now? I know, but tell everyone else what you're doing now.

Well, I'm the general training manager, so I manage all the training, I keep our trainers in line and make sure that everything's up to date. And I'm do part of the compliance. So I'm making sure that all our courses are up to standard and we're giving everyone the best quality information to make sure that they're all rounded before they start off on their new journey doing whatever it is that they're doing through us. Yeah, so and I love my job. 

Yeah, awesome.

I get talk to awesome students. We have awesome staff that are just fun and silly and means. It's just all good. So yeah, I love it. And the networking, it's all good fun. Good people, good industry.

And then yeah, talking about networking, what has been some of your highlights in your career working with easy training?

I love the conventions. Like I love going to the conventions and promoting what we do and meeting these new people and then showing them what they could become. Because I think a lot of people, when they've got a passion that they're really into, they're too scared to take that leap. And I think that we can show that there are success stories. You can run your own business and do those things that you wanna do. And things like conventions, we get to network with them, we get to talk about it, we get to show them. And they're always fun. They're always lots of fun. So I think that's always been one of my highlights, getting out and doing some things.

Yeah.I know, meaning when we talk about like this industry, especially anyone that does like a body piece, and we're not talking about everyone that's alternative does a body piecing course, it's really awesome skill to add if you're currently a beauty therapist or working in industry, it's a really good add-on skill that can compliment what you're currently doing.

Nah, it's not always that way. Yeah, it's an amazingly high profit side hustle to any business. Yeah.

100% yet that is a big thing. I think it's an awesome side hustle because not only the costing of buying products, the turnaround and the margins are like, awesome compared to just say the beauty industry thereby like skincare products is only 100% margin, where piercing jewelry is like, you know, 1000% margin, you know, 2000% of times depending on what this. So yeah, no, I think it's a really good profitable industry. And then obviously look at we look at cosmetic tattooing now as well, how that's like taken off and social media. Yeah. So we've got an awesome like social media course that we've got on now. Cause a lot of our courses, I think when we first started putting them together were to, when we looked at our initial type of learner and going, okay, so what, what can we do to enhance their skills? And so that's where we came out with all these other different courses like cosmetic tattooing, social media. So they start their own business.

Yeah, it's massive in the industry now.

They're going to be well rounded by having all those kind of qualifications.

Exactly. Like I was saying before, you know, having the skill set of body piercing, yes, is a must, but you need to know how to promote yourself. That's where the social media comes in and stuff like that. Because being someone that, you know, sort of did my own sort of with tattooing, I had no idea how to market myself at one point. And yet some of these courses have even helped me realize, you know, how to approach that kind of stuff. So yeah, there's more to it. And I feel like, yeah, now we definitely all around it like we've got everything you need, everything you need, we're here kind of thing which is great.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So like one big infocommmercial really guys, not really a podcast itself. Yeah. So, yeah, no, it's, it's awesome. And I think having that, that experience now and, and having like, we're just not, you've got those key skills and I think all our staff that work with us have the skills been working in the industry, so they're really known to help learners. We're just not all bad people.

Yeah, one stop shop. You got this. Yeah, exactly. Well, yeah, we're not only training people, we actually run our own shops and do our own small businesses on the site as well. So yeah, we know the answers to most of the questions because we've had to experience it ourselves.

Yeah, it really adds value to their learning experience. So yeah, I'm looking for, so next year, 30 years, can you believe it? 2024 started in 1994. Yeah, I know, it started with PAM, where I even did my course with EZE Training  back in the day. And here we are now, yeah. Yeah.

I can't believe it. How fast has life gone? Just how different things are. Like back then when I first started, everything was paper-based. You know, you rang, you never emailed. It was very rare you emailed. You sent packages and most information was, I was at the post office every day. Can't remember the last time I went to a post office now.

I don't know, literally we lived at the post office and we had to get there. I remember you rushing.

But it's brilliant. The online aspect of things not only makes it easier for us to communicate with people, but we can give so much more information, so much more. Yeah, the evolution of the internet and stuff has helped with this kind of stuff.

The tech, I know like, yeah, I look at now we're starting our first podcast because we've got to be everyone's doing podcasts. So we've got to do it. It's honestly, it's a really good way to get it.

I know.At the start we used to send newsletters in the mail. And now we're making podcasts.

We used to travel interstate and I couldn't get into Melbourne for nearly six months or travel. Yeah, it was really hard to get to WA at that time as well, but we managed to, yeah, we did a lot of it. That's it, we managed to just pivot and adapt to the situation and that was really cool. And yeah, I think we did a lot of infection control courses at that time and even the last six months.

I was proud of us and our creativity in trying to get everything across as best as possible.Yeah, which I'm glad. Educate the people.

Yeah, the last six months has been, yeah, tough for a lot of small business that I talked to financially has been really tough last six months, but I feel like next year, you know, we always say new year, new year and, um, yep, I'll be, um, I won't be this time enrolling into a gym and gym membership. I've been burned so many times. I enroll, I go that first time in January and that's the end of it, you know.

And yeah, no, it's I think, you know, I'm really excited for next year and excited. 

Me too. It's about mindset. I'm grateful for the fact that something like COVID is over and we can now perform things properly and yeah, it's just about thinking forward and what we can do next to bring better, more positive things. It'll get better.

Yeah. Yeah, no, definitely. So, like we talked about Jack, has there been any other students or learners

I've got multiple, I've got like a big group chat of a whole bunch of them and I've got some of my individual interstate ones, you know, people that travel to Melbourne like back in the day, that are now living interstate, that are, you know, sending me updates on how their businesses are going and I'm just so proud of all of them. And it's so nice to hear and it really warms me when they ring and go, you know, I'm about to do this and I just want to confirm I'm doing it right. And it's like, I love that you trust me. And that's really, it's really sweet that I have these relationships. I love all of them. They've all been really good.

Good.

I remember Heidi, Heidi was awesome. I remember Heidi coming on board. She started a little beauty salon, doing very basic beauty stuff and then did the piercing course and a year actually later selling the business for an awesome amount at the time, it was just flat chat piercing. And this is in downtown Maggi. And I find that even Jack, you know, he's from country, New South Wales.

She was so beautiful. Just such lovely people.

All our, a lot of our students and learners have come through working in the most secluded places, like, you know, all yeah, from right up the top of WA to Tassie to all over the place. So we've been really fortunate. Yeah.

Yeah, I've got rural Victoria, a couple of guys out there, someone that's in rural Sydney as well, Jody. She's recently retired as well and sold her business, but she was successful. I was watching all her advertising, I was so proud of her. Yeah, they've all done so great. And I'm happy that I've been able to help guide them. It just, it's so fulfilling for me as well, you know what I mean? You get it.

Yes! I remember, I can't tell you what highlights I think for me, or I thought it'd be, I was packing data this time. I remember doing a training session in WA. And because when I first took over easy training, I had this like, I want to take over the world kind of attitude at that time. And I remember we did our first audit because I added all these courses on. And the audit auditor at the time said, um, where's your training assessment strategies? And I'm like, what is a training. I had no idea. I was hoping, you know, and that was like, okay, that was literally the thing that changed me to really get in there and learn a lot about the industry and running an RTO. And so that's where I think that's where I evolved from getting it was like a kick in the guts of being I was I felt so.

Yeah, there's a lot more to, you know, accredited courses than just learning that skill. There's so much behind it that people don't realize that we do to make sure that the quality of their training is at the best standard possible. But yeah, there was a lot to learn with that kind of stuff. Like I'm still learning.

Yeah.And talking about the paper based stuff, I remember going to WA and I did a training sessions and I remember talking to the guys and they thought I was like one of them and you know this little skinny guy with bloody glasses. You know, when I remember rocking up to WA and there was about, I think about 20 or 30 tattoo artists and old school guys with big beards and they covered their harleys. And here I come along,  I remember that was such a nerve wracking day rocking up there. And, but yeah, we got through it. And yeah, having a couple of beers with the guys at the pub after that. And yeah, broke the ice. And we've been going to WA ever since, you know. And from that connection, we're now working at and training in Midland there with artistic skin art.  Those guys were back from, I knew them from back in the day when we first started going. So it's been a long, long time. I think there's so many awesome connections that we have now, historical connections, which is so cool. And not only are they like colleagues, they're actually really good friends of ours now, you know.

Yeah, it is very, it's very connected and family. Yeah, definitely.

Yeah, yeah, we have a really good a lot of emotional connections, which I love about this, about this job. Yeah, no, it's been yeah, it's been crazy. So understand now, you're you obviously the president of the BPAA as well. So tell us about the BPAA.

Yeah, so at the BPAA we're working to create like a hub to sort of support our students, not members. Let me start again. So at the BPAA we're looking to form like a little hub for you know our members in the industry for the body piercing basically you know so that we've got somewhere that they can all go if they need support, anything to do with legal, coaching, you know social media. Just basically want to help people succeed. So having a central place that everyone can come to. In the new year, we're growing heaps, hosting new events. For our members, look, if anybody wants to become a member, jump on our website, just a little side plug here. Free membership at the moment. So much coming in the new year that we're really, really excited about. So yeah, you have to stay tuned. Jump on and you can catch what else is going on.

Thank you. Now, that's a little bit of a side plug, but, um, all right. So just before we end up finishing up, I just wanted to, I don't know, what have you learned in the timeframe from starting with EZE Training

One thing that I've learnt from EZE Training, I guess, is the power of teamwork. Like when you come together and you ask questions and rather than... It's all about kindness. Like kindness is key. I've noticed that, you know, there are so many good people around you and when people work together and people are kind to each other, great and magical things can happen. So, I mean, I always try to put those two things into every aspect of what I do. And yeah, that's definitely something I've learned through working with EZE Training. Yeah.

Yeah, awesome. And where do you see yourself now in 10 years time?

10 years time on a beach I wish. I just think that we're going to get bigger like in the past you know 10-15 years I've watched this little company turn into this you know now we've gone from tiny to like medium size and I can see us getting to like extra large you know what I mean like um I can see us just pushing forward and I want to play a role in you know helping this business get there.

Thank you.

It's just been so beautiful to see how much has progressed and I know it's just gonna get better. And I'll be there. I might go back to tattooing, learning cosmetic and maybe even training cosmetic tattoo. I don't know, we'll see what happens. The future is exciting. And I think EZE Trainng is just gonna keep getting bigger as it is. Yeah.

Yeah, no, awesome. Well, I think, you know, I'm really excited because it is our first episode of the Rich Mix and I'm really happy that you're on the first episode because you are kind of like my, as Rachel says, my work wife. And, and yeah, we've had a very good relationship, not only like with you, with your whole family, you know.

Ah, it's literally a family. We are. You're like a brother. That's just how it is.

Yeah, your brothers were like page boys at my wedding and everything. Crazy, you know, it's been very, it's been awesome. And we're proud to have you as part of our team and know you as well and see you grow as a person. Yeah. So I think that would be it for our first podcast. And it's exciting. And I really appreciate you.

.Jaz 

I'm honored to be here. 

 Thanks, Jazz, and we have a lot more to come. Thanks, guys. Take care and be safe. Bye.

Thanks for having me. Bye