G’day Legends,
Welcome to the latest edition of the TradeMutt Yarn - there’s no doubt about it folks, we’re musterin’. We waited very patiently for the highly anticipated return of Australia’s premier 4-day festival, and boy did it live up to the hype! Read about the muster and more in this latest edition of the TradeMutt yarn. Also, don’t forget to fill out the cross word to unlock a secret discount code to apply to your next order. Love ya work legends!
Dan, Ed and the TradeMutt Team
What happens in Gympie, stays in Gympie
Every year, deep in the Amamoor State Forest, a small troupe (approx 50k) of keen revellers gather to celebrate everything that is great about this country - music, mates and musterin’. After the last two musters were cancelled thanks to Covid, this year’s delayed 40th birthday celebration of the Gympie Muster had some extra spice, and boy was it good to be back.
We walked into TradeMutt’s inaugural muster in 2019 somewhat underprepared for just how much love there would be for TradeMutt, so this year we levelled up and tried our best to create an even more fun and memorable muster for both punters and vendors alike.
If you’ve listened to the latest episodes of the TradeMutt podcast, you’ll know that we were building up to this muster with much anticipation. Given the fact that we are an online business, we’re not exactly set up to take the shop on the road. In all honesty, it’s actually quite an exercise to figure out what stock to take, how much of it to take and how to even get it up there. Thankfully, Scully RSV came to the rescue by lending us one of their refrigerated trucks from their impressive fleet to ensure that all of our gear made the trip comfortably and safely.
A big question remained unanswered, would Ed be a happy camper? There were definitely doubts from within TradeMutt HQ, with murmurings that Ed might be a little unprepared and slightly out of his comfort zone. TradeMutt’s own creative lead, DK, came to the rescue by lending Ed his two man tent. This selfless act from DK was perfectly timed, setting the platform for what was undoubtedly Ed’s favourite (albeit only) work camping trip.
The key elements for a great muster is having the right crew, a bloody great shop set-up and an awesome campsite to go back to after each day of slogging it out with the punters. I’m happy to report that we nailed all three! With a reported 50,000+ revellers out in force this year, there was an incredible amount of love for TradeMutt, again, with an overwhelming number of colourful conversation starters out in force. This year however, we were able to give the people something a little extra. A phone number.
Every punter that came through the TradeMutt shop, whether purchasing or just having a look, walked away with stickers, key rings and more, all plastered with the TIACS support service phone number. If just one person in a crowd that large reaches out to chat with a TIACS counsellor, then our job is done. After chatting with as many people as we could at the muster, we know there were a lot of people calling TIACS to set up a time that suited them.
Shout out to our amazing crew who helped make this muster amazing - Katie from TradeMutt, Jason from TIACS and of course myself and Ed to round out our crew of four.
If you’ve never been to the Gympie Muster, do yourself a favour. Get in early, get your camp crew and tickets sorted for 2023 and come and do some musterin’ with TradeMutt. We’ll be there for sure!
TradeMutt’s Top TikTok
Tik-Tok on the clock, but the party don’t stop
If there’s one thing we bloody love at TradeMutt, it’s a good photoshoot.
Nothing brings us more joy than scouting out the next location to set the perfect scene for a new collection release. This time we made our way back to Rockworx, a location that we’ve used once before that you might recognise from the Wildside Collection in 2020.
It’s fair to say that at TradeMutt, we don’t do photoshoots the traditional way, but you wouldn’t expect anything less from us.
Sticking to our guns of only using Tradie models, on this shoot we were lucky enough to jag the services of Tim, Shae and Cody, aka two sparkies and a chippie. Check out our behind the scenes TikTok featuring Ed and Dan with a roving microphone on the loose in the quarry trying to stay out of the way of heavy machinery
Tricks of The Trade - You gotta bloody love it!
Find us on TikTok @TradeMutt
Featured Mutt
“YUKI” submitted by Jess
“When you first meet 8-year-old Yuki (Basenji x Shiba Inu) you definitely wouldn’t think that she started out life on the Hong Kong streets - Yuks is good at two things - snacks (that meet her standards) and being awkward! With a taste for the finer things in life, she has definitely picked up some traits from her rescue mum. Go Yuki, you boujee girl!”
To submit your Mutt, DM us on Facebook or Instagram
Your relationship can be saved!
All you need is a basketball
By Ed Ross
And just like that we are over half way through the year. With that we have found ourselves looking at last financial years impact reporting. The TIACS team delivered some incredible stats in their FY21/22 wrap up, but one thing that stuck out to me was that the majority of the 9,000 individuals that accessed the TIACS support service last year, accessed it due to RELATIONSHIPS.
Now I am no expert on relationships, that’s for damn sure. However, one thing I have really been working on over the last few years is my relationships. Be it with my two marriages, one with my beautiful wife Allana and one with my fair skinned, 6 foot 4, best mate and business partner Daniel, as well as the relationships with my close mates, employees and the TradeMutt community.
The one relationship I am going to talk to you about today is my actual marriage. I have been married now for over 3 and a half years. It’s been the best years of my life no doubt about it, but as we all know relationships are no set and forget.
From when Larns and I got hitched to now, we have both been through a lot. We moved out of a share house into our first home, got a dog, she moved jobs, had 6 months off, I buried my head into TradeMutt and TIACS and much more. But one thing I am so glad we have always done is see someone about our relationship, be it a counsellor or as we are currently, a Psychologist. It’s basically like having a referee or a coach to help figure out things that may be stopping the relationship
Keep reading at
trademutt.com/blogs/blogs
TIACS August Update
CEO Update - Keri
TIACS has settled into its new surroundings at Toowong HQ and the atmosphere is awash with support and team spirit. We have gone through a wave of improvement again, firstly starting with the optimisation of hours, with most of the team hitting the 9 month mark with TIACS and requesting additional shifts. We have our first team leader position filled internally, and we have reviewed and developed new processes to support our clients. One being our referral partnership with Psych Help, a telehealth psychologist service that we can warmly transfer our clients to, should they need additional support.
We have been busy at events this month, it’s great to get out of the office and chat to people face to face. Chippie worked his magic at the Bunnings trade show with our counsellors. He also had a guest appearance at Ampol Refinery along side Craig Lowndes. We are pleased to announce that he will be starting full time on the 10th September and he already has a calendar of events to get his paws into.
We popped into the AWIC (Awesome Women In Construction) event at Victoria park, got dressed up to present a community award at the ProTrade awards night with the amazing AddStaff team. Jason mustered for 5 days at Gympie with the TradeMutt boys, popped into CSQ Lendlease launch and finally Dan and Jason played golf with cotton balls at the Porter and Wood Golf Classic at Cecil Plains which raised over $8000 for TIACS.
On the business side of things, growth volume continues with an increase again in male caller percentage, reliance on Google Ads continues to reduce and we now have the Google grants team on board to optimise our ads to target more truckies, tradies, farmers, emergency services and apprentices. The new website is being designed, in true TIACS form it won’t be your average design; the focus is on blue collar workers and those that care about them. If anyone has great ideas on what they would like to see on there, please email
admin@tiacs.org.
Jason also tried his hand at modelling, check out the HQ magazine, a brilliant initiative by MIGAS Apprentices and Trainees, upstaged totally by Chippie, but then again everyone is.
August Impact Story
Billy (pseudonym) presented to TIACS with anger and stress. These factors had combined deeply across several years and led him to want to end his life. These thoughts, coupled with encouragement from his support network, convinced him to reach out for support. He was aware of TIACS through knowledge of TradeMutt, and wanted to discuss and subsequently manage his anger and stress in a healthier manner. He also wanted the opportunity to express his feelings and emotions in a comfortable environment. Billy had no experience in a therapeutic context and acknowledged he had been doubtful it would help in the past. He appeared ready to make changes and his motivation was evident from the beginning.
Billy reflected on his recent marriage breakdown and identified frequent occasions where he would “explode”. He felt it was due to repressing his feelings, thoughts and emotions for many years. Billy and his counsellor closely explored these factors across the first few sessions. Billy did not have any strategies to turn to when feeling stressed or angry, so his counsellor provided him with information on progressive muscle relaxation and breathing techniques (see below for explanation and examples) which were of benefit to him between sessions. These early discussions provided Billy with the rare opportunity to discuss some of his deeper feelings which he acknowledged helped take a considerable weight off of his shoulders. He stated that he had stopped having thoughts of suicide in the early stages of the counselling sessions. He felt it was because he was no longer repressing thoughts and feelings and had more optimism moving forward. It was confronting to experience thoughts of suicide but he saw it as a lesson to be more open.
As the sessions progressed, Billy was able to identify triggers that would commonly precede anger. This became an important realisation for him as it was possible to interrupt the cycle of anger before it escalated too much. One example of a trigger was when he was struggling to complete an activity (e.g. at work). He noticed that it would only take a small comment from someone during a time like this to cause him to “explode”. In the meantime, Billy had been practising progressive muscle relaxation bringing him greater awareness of the tension within his body. He stated that he began to notice occasions where he was getting tense and was therefore able to interrupt the cycle of anger in another way. His awareness of triggers, coupled with more relaxation tools, enabled him to better handle some stressful and anger inducing situations.
Billy started to repeatedly receive comments from those around him that he seemed calmer. Billy’s counsellor also assisted him to identify current situations which he handled better than he would’ve in the past. This gave him validation and confidence that he was on track. Billy spoke with his counsellor across 8 sessions and ceased engagement when he felt empowered and confident enough that he had adequate awareness and strategies to continue on without support.
Heroscopes
Aries - This will be a good time for lovers. Go get ’em tiger!
Taurus - Are you barefoot investing? Do yourself a favour, thank us later.
Gemini - This is a great time for adventure, whether it be taking a trip out bush or making that first call to TIACS.
Cancer - Slow down and take a deep breath of fresh air... Without the vape...
Leo - A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush...think about it.
Virgo - You know that project you keep putting off? Time to rip in.
Libra - The only trip you’ll regret is the one you don’t take.
Scorpio - You’ve got nothing to worry about, you’ve literally got nippers you scorpion.
Sagittarius - You are a legend, don’t indulge in cheap thrills at the expense of your physical well-being.
Capricorn - You look really nice today and your confidence is radiant.
Aquarius - If things are looking difficult try looking at them from a new perspective... Move to Hawaii and see if that solves it.
Pisces - Curiosity might have killed the cat, but at least it went out living life to the fullest.
