The Puzzle Factory: Real Talk for NZ Electricians and Trade Businesses
Sep 20, 2026 · 49 min · 11 segments
You’re doing the work, sending invoices and showing a profit. So why is there no cash in the bank? Recorded live at Konnect 2026 in Auckland, Alex sits down with Luke Kemeys from Keep the Change and…
Luke KemeysGuestAlexHostSo obviously we've got a whole bunch of electrical business owners in here, suppliers, all the rest of it.
What are you seeing out there at the minute? What's going on? What's going on with the economy? What's going on in that trade space?
So we work with business owners across the country and then I guess I get a bit of a unique insight as well from the types of messages that I get from the Keep the Change side with people getting in touch telling me what they're seeing and what's happening out there.
But I guess one thing that we're noticing is that good operators that are hungry are still doing quite well.
So I think there's some opportunity in that for a lot of us to question ourselves how hard are we actually pushing because I think part of what happened was that we didn't really pay the piper, so to speak, during COVID.
And we got a little bit too over our skis in terms of who could spend money, who had credit, who was willing to borrow.
All of the Reserve Bank calculations and predictions are wrong, like very wrong.
So their total wage bill, I think, is $150 million a year, and they can't figure it out.
So we've kind of put people through this meat grinder of, hey, shit's going to get really weird, or actually we'll look after everyone until, oh, now just figure it out on your own.
Of course there's this big difference, but one thing that we've been encouraging business owners is to basically...
Start to think about building your own economy and be careful of the noise that you're taking in and really challenge yourself like how much outreach are you actually doing? What are you doing to shake the money out of the pockets of people who need it?
I mean, there's a great deal of opportunity out there if you look for it, right? And I think it's just about picking up the phone rather than waiting it to ring a lot of the time as well.
Well, yeah, I
had a guy say to me recently, oh, you know, mate, I used to get three to five calls every week and I'd do nothing for them and now the phone's stopped ringing.
I'm like, oh, man, have you seen the keypad? You can fucking dial on it as well.
Like, how many calls are you making? But that's what I mean, like it was so easy and now it's hard.
So obviously we've got a whole bunch of electrical business owners in here, suppliers, all the rest of it.
What are you seeing out there at the minute? What's going on? What's going on with the economy? What's going on in that trade space?
So we work with business owners across the country and then I guess I get a bit of a unique insight as well from the types of messages that I get from the Keep the Change side with people getting in touch telling me what they're seeing and what's happening out there.
But I guess one thing that we're noticing is that good operators that are hungry are still doing quite well.
So I think there's some opportunity in that for a lot of us to question ourselves how hard are we actually pushing because I think part of what happened was that we didn't really pay the piper, so to speak, during COVID.
And we got a little bit too over our skis in terms of who could spend money, who had credit, who was willing to borrow.
All of the Reserve Bank calculations and predictions are wrong, like very wrong.
So their total wage bill, I think, is $150 million a year, and they can't figure it out.
So we've kind of put people through this meat grinder of, hey, shit's going to get really weird, or actually we'll look after everyone until, oh, now just figure it out on your own.
Of course there's this big difference, but one thing that we've been encouraging business owners is to basically...
Start to think about building your own economy and be careful of the noise that you're taking in and really challenge yourself like how much outreach are you actually doing? What are you doing to shake the money out of the pockets of people who need it?
I mean, there's a great deal of opportunity out there if you look for it, right? And I think it's just about picking up the phone rather than waiting it to ring a lot of the time as well.
Well, yeah, I
had a guy say to me recently, oh, you know, mate, I used to get three to five calls every week and I'd do nothing for them and now the phone's stopped ringing.
I'm like, oh, man, have you seen the keypad? You can fucking dial on it as well.
Like, how many calls are you making? But that's what I mean, like it was so easy and now it's hard.
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