0:00:00 - (Linda Habak): I'm Linda Habak, and this is Build Beautiful. This isn't just a podcast about design. It's about the people behind the work and the truth behind the journey. The quiet pivots, the bold decisions, the failures no one sees, and the moments that change everything. Each episode, I sit down with architects, designers, developers, artists and creative entrepreneurs not to talk about success, but about what it takes to get there.

0:00:33 - (Linda Habak): The process, the doubt, the grit, the heart. If you believe in creating with meaning and living a life with intention, then you'll feel right at home here. Welcome to Build Beautiful, where design meets depth. In this episode of Build Beautiful, I'm joined by Aidan Anderson, founder and CEO of the Local Project, a platform that has quietly and powerfully reshape the way we experience design. What began as a simple idea to celebrate the work of local architects, makers and designers has grown into a global design voice known for its deep respect for craft, clarity of vision, and a commitment to telling stories that matter.

0:01:23 - (Linda Habak): Under Aidan's leadership, the Local Project has become more than a media platform. It's a cultural archive, a curatorial force, and a community builder. And now, as the brand enters its most ambitious chapter yet, with a considered expansion into the United States, it continues to hold true to the values that defined it from the start. This is a story of evolution, of building something meaningful from the ground up, scaling with integrity and staying close to the creative heartbeat of it all.

0:01:54 - (Linda Habak): Here's my conversation with Aidan. Hi. Hey, Linda, Welcome.

0:02:00 - (Aidan Anderson): Thank you for having me.

0:02:01 - (Linda Habak): So excited for this conversation, as you know.

0:02:04 - (Aidan Anderson): Likewise to be here when I reached.

0:02:06 - (Linda Habak): Out to you and you were so gracious and kind to say yes to be on a podcast that hadn't even launched yet. Today's Launch day. The 8th of the 8th.

0:02:14 - (Aidan Anderson): Happy launch day. How exciting.

0:02:15 - (Linda Habak): Thank you. It's really nice to have you here, but I had said to you that every episode I think about a theme or sort of a word, and for you it was vision. I think you are visionary in what you've done in the last nine years, and I really want to unpack that and discuss all of the ups and downs, but I think we've got to start with that very first moment. Take me back to what was going through your head when you posted that first Instagram post and got 30 likes. Yeah, unpack that for me. Where was your head at and what did you see that clearly not a lot of other people were seeing at that time?

0:02:51 - (Aidan Anderson): The first thing I thought when I posted that first Instagram post and saw 30 likes was, why did that post get 10 times my regular stuff and the context to creating my business, and the business is I used to be a furniture maker and a joiner and a chippy. And the Instagram page was actually made to showcase the furniture and the fit outs that I was doing. As much as I say I loved it and enjoyed it, I think at the end of the day, like, I was never an amazing chippy. I loved using my hands, I loved making furniture.

0:03:20 - (Aidan Anderson): But that first official post for the local project as a media business or as a, I guess, celebrating other people, was I was in a co working space with other joiners and makers and I had knocked on the door of Nathaniel the chippy, who was next to me, who'd just finished this beautiful bookshelf. And I said, nathaniel, do you mind if I take a photo of you next to your furniture, this bookshelf, and write a little caption about, you know, how you put it together, why you put it together, where it's going.

0:03:47 - (Aidan Anderson): I did this and it was, you know, a terribly written caption and I put it out there. Like you said, it got 30 likes. But, you know, the pieces of furniture I put up the month before got three likes or four likes. And that moment there for me was this kind of the beginning of the vision where it was like, I understand now that supporting people and actually telling their story is something that I can resonate with. And I. And I just saw there was this opportunity that in such a new space nine years ago, where digital and Instagram and this whole world was so new, no one was really doing that. And that was the beginning of this very long journey which is the foundation of telling other people's stories and celebrating them.

0:04:29 - (Linda Habak): Can you take me back to your childhood? Because I think that sense of service, because it is a sense of service, is that something ingrained in you from childhood? Like, where does that come from to want to celebrate other people and not celebrate yourself?

0:04:44 - (Aidan Anderson): Definitely, yeah. I think back to my childhood and it was an interesting one without going too deep into it. I have an amazing family, but I've always been a massive supporter to my mum and her primary carer since I was very, very young. And it's just this role I've taken in personal life, in professional life, and, you know, we spoke recently where we, you know, some people are just their purpose and their vision in life is supporting and caring for other people, where others are maybe in it for themselves or setting their own success up. And that's totally fine as well. But that's kind of been ingrained with me since I was very young. And it's kind of. I don't think it's any coincidence that professionally that is what I love to do and do on a day to day as well.

0:05:26 - (Linda Habak): I remember when I first met you, we were on a speaking panel and you were moderating it. We were on a phone call prior to that. But there was a calmness about you and it's really stayed with me, like there's this sense of assuredness and calmness that is amazing for someone doing really big things in this industry. So I guess I wanna link the mindset and the thinking of you as the carpenter, the craftsman and by the way, I think craftsmen are amazing and joiners and furniture makers are amazing and they're the one trade that has to work with head and heart.

0:06:02 - (Linda Habak): And I can see that in work that you do. But what was the mindset that you had that you still have today? What is that transferable skill that you had to have there and you've got now in what you do?

0:06:13 - (Aidan Anderson): I think like when you think about carpenters and the handcrafted and like, I'm hugely inspired and still to this day about Japanese woodworking, not that I was ever to that level, but you look at just how precise things need to be and to the millimeter and perfect. And I know it's a slippery slope, we're trying to attain perfection, but I think just watching, watching that and being surrounded by that, growing up and striving to have that, that is something that I've applied to my professional life. Whether it was, you know, the handcrafted early days as a carpenter and then to this business, which we don't strive to be perfect. But I think what we have taken is like, how can we understand what we do and essentially create something that is perfect for our audience, that they will love and appreciate. Where I think about a lot of the content that goes out in the world, it's not necessarily about what's perfect for their aud, what's perfect for them as a business or their clients and partners.

0:07:11 - (Aidan Anderson): So I don't know, I mean, it's a bit of a push of an analogy, but I think that kind of handcrafted and being inspired by the preciseness is something that I've carried through.

0:07:20 - (Linda Habak): You can really see that brings me to my next question, which is the local project's mission is to celebrate extraordinary design to an inspired community. And I have pondered on that so much and I love that because it's rare for a media organisation to hold design as well as their community and people of equal standing. So can you tell me about that mission? Did you come to that through the years, or is that something you had from the outset and you've nurtured?

0:07:51 - (Aidan Anderson): Yeah, I think there was glimpses of it right when I started, and then it just became clearer and clearer as time went on. I guess the second part of that mission and vision for us is that a huge responsibility that we see as a business is to normalise design as well. And I think our business is almost 10 years as of next March, and that has flown by. But I think back to 10 years ago, and even in my early 20s, I could still tell that design and architecture, it still felt not as accessible as it should be.

0:08:21 - (Aidan Anderson): And the thing that I've loved over the 10 years, and I like to think that we played a small part in, is that normalising it and inspiring our audience and inspiring our community, that you don't have to be, you know, a multimillionaire living in an amazing suburb to appreciate design. You don't have to have these big budgets. You can be a young university student, you can be someone who's in medicine or law, but design is literally for everyone. And I think through Instagram and socials and just how connected we are as a community, that is the biggest change I've seen in 10 years. And that is where I think that vision for us has kind of been embedded.

0:08:57 - (Linda Habak): I find it really inspiring. You have over 4 million followers.

0:09:02 - (Aidan Anderson): Yeah. Audience.

0:09:03 - (Linda Habak): That's a huge audience. What is that sense of responsibility that you feel around that? Because I imagine it's an enormous responsibility. So how do you feel about that and how do you honour that in the choices that you make?

0:09:18 - (Aidan Anderson): Yeah, when I hear it, it's a bit of a pinch me moment. Cause, like, thinking back to that first Instagram post, I probably had about 25 followers and 3/4 of them were my friends and family. But to think it now we're over 4 million, and the responsibility that comes with it as well, I think we just lean back on. Like I said before, it's like when we're creating something or telling a story or putting it out there, we need to put ourselves in the audience shoes and be like, what do they want to learn? What do they want to listen to and be educated about?

0:09:48 - (Aidan Anderson): I've got my preferences and I love things, but I think at the end of the day, we need to understand what makes them watch our content, view our content, buy our magazines and, yeah, again, not to kind of dig into the publishing world too much. But you know, I feel like that is the gap in the market that we saw. It was like, hold on, like, why not create video content that is talking to people about their homes and interviewing homeowners as well as designers.

0:10:15 - (Aidan Anderson): Why not release a print magazine that is 400 pages rather than just 50 or 80? It was always putting myself back in the audience members shoes and going, what would they want to see and what will keep them along for the journey as long as possible?

0:10:29 - (Linda Habak): And did you then or do you now do any marketing research to. Yeah. So you survey your readers to understand and really get into the psyche of what they want?

0:10:40 - (Aidan Anderson): Definitely, yeah. I think we do it about quarterly, if not half yearly. And yeah, I can imagine them reading some of the questions that we send through each every six months. Cause they're pretty bizarre. Like that's the beauty of being quite a digitally based business is that yes, we have 4 million audience members who are buying our magazines and watching our YouTube channel, but we get a really good insight into what they love, what they don't love, and what keeps them watching a video for seven minutes as opposed to a minute and a half.

0:11:08 - (Aidan Anderson): You know, we're analytically based and we look at that data and we send out surveys. It can be tracked for the most part.

0:11:15 - (Linda Habak): So you've built a platform around the idea of authentic design. In a world of Instagram perfect spaces and viral trends, how do you define authenticity?

0:11:25 - (Aidan Anderson): Yeah, I think we define authenticity as understanding what is being designed for a particular person based off how they've, I guess, communicated with a designer, an architect, a builder, an interior designer. You know, the. The reason why we love video so much and we produce so much video is that you have to be authentic because when you're moving through a space, you see everything. And like you mentioned, there's these picture perfect Instagram photos which we post every day. And I know they exist, but we all do.

0:11:56 - (Aidan Anderson): But the thing I love about video and how it relates to authenticity is that yes, you see everything, but you can also hear everything too through those interviews with people. I don't think it's any surprise that our most watched videos are not these big, beautiful, ostentatious homes. It's actually when the architect, the homeowner, the client have this amazing story about this brief that was perfectly met. The collaboration was amazing.

0:12:21 - (Aidan Anderson): You know, maybe there's some quirky characters in there as well, but authenticity to us is really just understanding the story that's being told and just seeing essentially the happiness or Whatever is created off the back of design.

0:12:32 - (Linda Habak): Yeah, the joy. Can we stay on video? Did you always know you wanted to do video? How did you transition from the Instagram posting to a video format? Because really, in my mind, you were the first one to come out and do it beautifully. Was there a moment that was like a light bulb moment or did you just test it out?

0:12:54 - (Aidan Anderson): Growing up, I watched a lot of YouTube and not necessarily in design and architecture. Could be anything from like, you know, sports, extreme sports, to, you know, law, politics, whatever it might be. I always love the connection that you had when you were watching someone and just kind of seeing their quirks, seeing how they spoke and getting an understanding of their charisma and personality. I didn't see a whole heap online for design and architecture in terms of video.

0:13:20 - (Aidan Anderson): And yes, there was your ads and the house tours that they did and everything like that. But I remember early days with the local project. I knew I wanted to create and pivot into the video world, but at the same time, like, video was so incredibly costly, and it still is to this day as well. We found an entry point where we created a little bit of a model where we found these beautiful homes and residences and we looked for partners within them. And we said, if we can find a partner who's willing to fund this video that will allow us to tell that story and essentially get it out there as well.

0:13:56 - (Aidan Anderson): I think about three, four years into the business is when we found the first partner and we filmed a Nightingale Residences down at Melbourne, which is a kind of sustainable, all about community suite of residences down there. I will never forget posting that video and just watching the response of the comments and the engagements and people texting and messaging and emailing saying, hey, we watched that video and we heard Jeremy talk and we heard the designers.

0:14:23 - (Aidan Anderson): I had never seen a response to an Instagram post like that or a website article or anything like that. And I just knew that that moving picture and the connection you can make from a person watching to a person listening and the power that came with that as well. That for me was the moment where I'm like, okay, this is one of the winning formulas. We to figure out how to do this and make sure it is top quality production, to engage the viewer and pay respect to the story and the narrative as well.

0:14:52 - (Linda Habak): And you do it so beautifully. Would you say at that point that was a major pivot point and did you move everything towards doing video and how did you manage that transition?

0:15:05 - (Aidan Anderson): Yes, as much as we could. For then, it was about Finding the next kind of set of partners and houses and homes and projects as well. It took me a couple of years to get into a bit of rhythm for it, just because with video, there is the pre prod, there's the production itself and the editing time. So it was a timely thing to figure out. But we got into rhythm about six years ago, and it was almost coincidentally, perfect timing where we just started releasing a few videos, and we were probably up to our 10th video, and Covid came along.

0:15:41 - (Aidan Anderson): During COVID naturally, everyone was plonked on their couch looking for content to watch, especially related to their home and house as well. And during COVID which was obviously incredibly difficult time for so many people, that is when we saw our YouTube subscribership go from 10,000 to literally 650,000 across 18 months. And it was just. It was crazy to see the growth. We were just lucky enough to have banked so many pieces of video, releasing them.

0:16:10 - (Aidan Anderson): And it is one of the key markers of our success, which is a blessing and a curse. We went from three staff members to literally 33 in the space of 2412 months.

0:16:19 - (Linda Habak): So who did you recruit? How did you build the team? What were the initial needs? How do you build for that?

0:16:26 - (Aidan Anderson): It was definitely a bit of, you know, the blind leading the blind. I am a chippy at the end of the day.

0:16:31 - (Linda Habak): Building a car or building a piece of furniture as you make it.

0:16:35 - (Aidan Anderson): That's right. The best way to do it. Right.

0:16:36 - (Linda Habak): Exactly. That's right.

0:16:37 - (Aidan Anderson): That was definitely me and still to some extent, doing that as well. But, you know, like, it was interesting with us as a business where we knew video was a winner, but we were still releasing print, of course, and doing digital and Instagram was such a massive, massive thing. What I started noticing is that, you know, if we're bringing on new clients or new verticals, it wasn't a matter of just, oh, I'll just get another editor, or I'll just get another partnership manager.

0:17:02 - (Aidan Anderson): We realized that in order to service a client or a partner or whoever it might be, I needed a new editor and a new partnership manager and a new producer and a new videographer to assist and create that partnership as well. So during and after Covid, we started getting some really great clients on our list. And one new client typically equaled three or four new staff members. And then you add 10 big ones, and it's like, wow, that's. It jumps really, really quickly.

0:17:31 - (Linda Habak): Yeah. What is your role in the business now? Cause obviously, your CEO, your founder, are you managing all of the cause I think you have 60 or 70.

0:17:40 - (Aidan Anderson): Just over 60.

0:17:41 - (Linda Habak): Yeah, just over 60 staff members. That's a huge responsibility. That's fun and games.

0:17:45 - (Aidan Anderson): Yeah, it is. I always joke and say I cry myself to sleep every night, which is just a joke, but. But you know what? It's actually quite the opposite now, where maybe four years ago, going from three to 33, it was absolute chaos. I loved it. It was crazy and chaotic and it was fun and we were just running around and doing all this stuff. But the biggest and best thing that I learned the hard way over the last since I started the business is that you need to surround yourself with experienced and calm leaders as well.

0:18:18 - (Aidan Anderson): And it wasn't until I started surrounding myself with these amazing leaders, both young and. And all over the shop, but with that calming presence kind of made me even more calm as well. Just this trust was built, and instead of 30 people reporting into me, it then became that layer and that foundation of just pure support, people reporting into them that took me so long to figure out.

0:18:42 - (Linda Habak): And when you say you figured it out, you just literally made mistakes, worked it out, tried something else.

0:18:48 - (Aidan Anderson): Yeah, definitely. Yeah. I've made every mistake under the sun with a business.

0:18:52 - (Linda Habak): Let's stay there. Let's talk about mistakes. My favorite thing to talk about, someone said to me, actually it was Karon Grunschlag who we've recorded an episode. She said, fail is your first attempt at learning or something like that. And I just love that. And I think failure is good, but fail fast is better.

0:19:10 - (Aidan Anderson): Y.

0:19:10 - (Linda Habak): Agreed. So let's talk about some of the challenges you've experienced.

0:19:14 - (Aidan Anderson): Definitely. No, honestly, like, I've made every mistake under the sun. I'm not even kidding. And to your friend's point, like, I think failing and learning is literally the best way to do it. Nine years ago, when I started the business, like, I learned failure so quickly, where I used to go into offices of clients and potential partners and pitch this thing called Instagram and digital media and the local project.

0:19:37 - (Aidan Anderson): I don't say this jokingly, but they would laugh me out of the media room. So, like, there was that instant layer and introduction to failure right from the get go, which I actually think was like a blessing in disguise. Because to grow up in a business sense through that and understand that, hey, life is tough and business is tough, there was this kind of certain resilience that built around me and it's like, okay, that's another one who said, no, who's next? Or like, how can I try and convince them otherwise? So it was nice to not have things come easily and they still don't.

0:20:09 - (Aidan Anderson): And you know the old cliche, we didn't start making money as a business till 5, 6 years in as well.

0:20:14 - (Linda Habak): I need to unpack that.

0:20:15 - (Aidan Anderson): Yeah, please.

0:20:16 - (Linda Habak): Five or six years. I've run a few businesses now. It is hard to continue something that's not making money. So how do you get through? How do you hold the vision when you're not making money? And how did you not throw the towel in that whole time? What's going on in your head? What is that secret magic that's happening?

0:20:37 - (Aidan Anderson): Yeah, I'm a competitor bastard. And excuse my language, but I honestly, I was set on something and I knew I had to and wanted to make it right. And making no money or like reinvesting everything I earned for the first five, six, seven years, no issues whatsoever because I backed myself. I kind of had that cockiness. And I was like, you know what? I know we're onto something special here. I know we're making a difference. I know there's something that is bigger that is happening here.

0:21:07 - (Aidan Anderson): There was moments I remember three, four years in, you know, doing payroll and I literally had 1500 bucks left in my bank account after that going, okay, this is going to get interesting. But it was never a moment of, oh my God, is this going to work? It was more so a moment of, this is going to work. But what's the plan? Like? Let's figure it out. Yeah. Honestly, just so incredibly competitive and driven.

0:21:33 - (Linda Habak): The resilience to do it, so inspiring because not everybody has that. That's special and that's what makes a great entrepreneur great. What is it that's inside of you that keeps you going every moment? And that self belief, because it is so special because you did something different, unique, and you approached it differently. And that takes courage.

0:21:56 - (Aidan Anderson): Definitely. For me, oddly, it's actually just a vision. Like it's a single vision of, of a family around me, my family around me in a beautiful house on a Sunday in Tamarama. And it's us having lunch outside. And that's the goal. It's like literally, that's the. I think I'm gonna cry.

0:22:15 - (Linda Habak): Aiden. Oh my God.

0:22:16 - (Aidan Anderson): That's literally the vision. So beautiful. That's the plan.

0:22:19 - (Linda Habak): I love that. Let's talk about vision, because that was my word. That was my theme for you.

0:22:24 - (Aidan Anderson): Yeah.

0:22:25 - (Linda Habak): Circling back to the beginning. You're clearly visionary. What does the future look like for the local project now? You've obviously expanded into the USA. You're in New Zealand, you're Asia PAC. So what are we seeing now? What's the next 10 years look like?

0:22:43 - (Aidan Anderson): The next 10 years, and especially the next five, is there is a big focus on the US being quite open. But I know a lot of people, and especially Aussies, they think, oh, the local project's gone to the US like, you know, that's gonna water down the Australian content or the Kiwi. But honestly, like, the main reason we have launched in the US Isn't because we can't wait to get over there and shoot US Design and architecture.

0:23:08 - (Aidan Anderson): The main reason we've gone over there is that we've been traveling back and forth for the last three, four years to the US and the biggest thing that blows me away, although I shouldn't be surprised, is that Americans love Australian design and New Zealand design. They see us as world and industry leading. And one of the key decisions to go over there and open our New York office last month was actually off the back of.

0:23:31 - (Aidan Anderson): Of our US audience is growing from 15% to 20% to 25 and continues to grow. That's not off the back of us posting US Projects. It's actually off the back of them going, these Aussies and Kiwis are literally phenomenal at what they do, and that is what is drawing in more US audience. So for us, it's more so about focusing on the US by creating even more Australian and New Zealand content. Always trying to find those beautiful homes and landscapes and tell those stories.

0:24:02 - (Aidan Anderson): But the thing I love about the US is, well, there's a couple of things, actually, but one of them is that they love to celebrate greatness. And it's like, there's often the tall poppy syndrome here in Australia and New Zealand, where, you know, you go into meetings in the US and they're like, we are great. And everyone's like, you are great. So I love a bit of that culture. But the other thing I love about the US is that to rise to the top in Australia or New Zealand, you have to be bloody good at what you do.

0:24:30 - (Aidan Anderson): And off the back of that, you know, you reap the rewards. You know, industry leader, whatever it might be, taking, like, our Australian approach to documenting and telling stories through design and of design and taking that to the US it's hopefully going to make us rise to the top as quickly as possible.

0:24:48 - (Linda Habak): Obviously, you want to have the focus and bring the Australian design to the U.S. will you also shoot projects in.

0:24:54 - (Aidan Anderson): The U.S. yeah, we will. There is a beautiful slither of work over there. And to be Honest with you. There is other publications in the US that do it incredibly well. But. But they're often featuring the homes that have celebrities attached to it. There is this gap in the market of high end residential homes that don't have a celebrity attached to it, that are done by world leading architects. We're emailing and calling these architects saying, hey, can we come and film this or feature this? And they're going, we've been waiting for years for someone to ask that.

0:25:23 - (Linda Habak): So and so talk to me about then. Cause you talked about partnerships before finding the right partners. What does the right partner look like for? Are you looking at partnerships in the US and how are you finding that? And is that being well received?

0:25:37 - (Aidan Anderson): Yeah.

0:25:37 - (Linda Habak): So there's a lot in that question.

0:25:38 - (Aidan Anderson): No, it's a great question. And I think the way we've been able to monetise and grow the business isn't through your traditional model of sponsorship and advertising.

0:25:47 - (Linda Habak): Cause I am really interested in understanding to me from the outside looking in, obviously, and I've got my marketing hat, not just my designer hat on the success of the local project is also how you've approached. Cause it feels like a partnership and not a sponsorship.

0:26:02 - (Aidan Anderson): That's right.

0:26:02 - (Linda Habak): And I think there's a difference. And I used to be a media buyer, so I know all about advertorials and sponsorships. You do it quite differently.

0:26:10 - (Aidan Anderson): Yeah, well, like you said, like authenticity, especially in this day and age when audiences are so, so smart, is key. And it's like the way we've been able to successfully monetize the business and grow it is that, you know, when we're looking at these amazing homes and projects across the globe, it isn't about, oh, how are we gonna fit a car into the front yard or how are we gonna bring in, you know, a shit ton of furniture or whatever it might be.

0:26:35 - (Aidan Anderson): It's actually understanding, hey, what is existing here? What has the architect or the homeowner or the interior designer genuinely and authentically brought in? And let's actually tell the story and actually give a reason why they chose that rather than, you know, shoehorning. Oh, I chose XYZ because we brought it in two hours ago. It's like, no, I actually chose this flooring because it's beautiful. It's Chevro, Ron. It was always the plan. And these guys are a great brand that I've worked with for years.

0:27:03 - (Aidan Anderson): Audiences can pick up on authenticity. And as soon as you start bending it, it's when you lose a lot of brand loyalty and Audience trust. So our model has simply be find the most beautiful homes with the greatest stories and let's actually have a look around and see who we can partner with.

0:27:18 - (Linda Habak): So is that what comes first? You find the project, then you deconstruct the project and then you'll go out to the brands and approach them and pitch the idea to them.

0:27:29 - (Aidan Anderson): Exactly right. Or the brands will come to us and say, hey, here's an architect that we've been working with for Yongs. What do you think about this? And we'll say, looks perfect, amazing.

0:27:39 - (Linda Habak): So clever. So that's when you started making money.

0:27:41 - (Aidan Anderson): That's right, yeah. Six years in. No, no, we were always trying to.

0:27:45 - (Linda Habak): Do that, but no, no, of course. But it makes a difference. Right. And I think also to do something really well. Yeah, you've got to put your money where your mouth is and you've got to maintain that vision. And so I can see that you have done that through the years and I just can't wait to see where you go over the next 10 years and what the landscape will look like. So, speaking of landscape, let's talk AI.

0:28:09 - (Aidan Anderson): Yeah, let's do it.

0:28:10 - (Linda Habak): Let's talk AI. Tell me what you think. Tell me everything. What's your perspective on it?

0:28:16 - (Aidan Anderson): I love it. Seriously.

0:28:17 - (Linda Habak): So do I. Yeah.

0:28:18 - (Aidan Anderson): Good. Okay. It's a safe space.

0:28:21 - (Linda Habak): Very safe space. You're probably going to get a lot of hate. Yeah, that's right.

0:28:23 - (Aidan Anderson): Fine. From it on.

0:28:25 - (Linda Habak): Yeah.

0:28:25 - (Aidan Anderson): You know, I use it daily. I'm, you know, your classic ChatGPT. I literally 6am this morning watch the launch of ChatGPT 5. Yeah, like that made my morning. I don't know anything that makes your life easier and like not in the sense of taking away like how to think or whatever, but just have noticed my efficiency, the way I think about things. And again, a lot of this is GPT based but like I use that to help moderate, you know, some of my tone and emotion as well. Where, you know, you can get upset about something or something might go wrong and you throw you ideas and you're like, can you help me make this sound firm but fair and respectful?

0:29:03 - (Aidan Anderson): And I found that very useful as well. But this isn't a business owner saying, can't wait, can't get rid of all the stuff and they're gonna replace it. But it's like I actually think, hey, if my whole team can adapt to using AI, they become 3x version of themselves and they're all bloody brilliant already. And that's ultimately cause how I feel I feel like my efficiency has gone up three times using it and I just want to enable to use that as well.

0:29:29 - (Linda Habak): So do you have a policy around how to use it in the business? Like what's your pitch to the team? Yeah. How are you integrating it?

0:29:37 - (Aidan Anderson): Yeah, I'm kind of challenging the team at the moment to think about how they can integrate it. And I'm saying systems and processes are one of our biggest challenges as an ever growing business and they're often changing because we're a 40 now 70 person business. I'm saying break down your systems and processes and analyze each element. What do you think can be replaced by AI? And like a really good example is we're often videoing homes where we've got to put together a big video brief and we're, you know, we're pulling everything.

0:30:10 - (Aidan Anderson): It is so simple now to get the online article that we've written or the print article. We're getting the information that's getting sent to us, collating it and it's taking three and a half minutes to put that in a fully finished, finalised brief, which would take us, you know, four, five, six hours doing that manually or by hand.

0:30:26 - (Linda Habak): And then how are you you? We're getting into the nitty gritty now. This is the shit.

0:30:31 - (Aidan Anderson): I love it, I love it.

0:30:32 - (Linda Habak): But are you. Because I know, because I'm using it. I mean this is the whole reason this podcast exists is it has been my strategic partner, my thinking partner, of course Derek, my producer, who is amazing and I could not do this without him. But what it has enabled me to do, what I have done over the weeks and months of working on this is really train the voice, the voice, the tone, the intention.

0:30:56 - (Linda Habak): And I don't take ever the first cut that comes through. Like I am going back and back and back and documenting the things that are working and that are right so that it really is my words, my voice, my thinking. And so that takes time actually to build that. So have you and the team worked on that? Like are you building projects or eight, what are you? We're in the weeds now.

0:31:17 - (Aidan Anderson): We're in the weeds. No, we are doing that. Like there's certain things from like different types of write ups and descriptions and Instagram captions where we're like saying here's the last 6,000 articles or captions that we've written. Understand our tone of voice and how we do it and it's understanding. But even for me as well, I've been using the paid chatgpt for close to two years now. It knows me scarily well, like really well, to the point where I asked it the other day, I'm like, hey, we've been talking, working together for two years now.

0:31:47 - (Aidan Anderson): We're friends, we're BFFs, we are very good friends. Can you please break down my strengths and weaknesses as a leader in this business? And like, I could literally see it like rubbing its hands going, all right, here we go. And what it spat out was so spot on, especially the weaknesses. Like, deep down I knew, I know I've got a lot of weaknesses, but to see it there, from two years of back and forth conversation, like black and white, I was like, wow, it's kind of scary. But again, I love it. I love having the ability to ask something or someone that and they go, this is what you need to work on.

0:32:24 - (Linda Habak): Are you willing to share what one of your weaknesses are?

0:32:27 - (Aidan Anderson): Yeah, well, there was about 63. Which one would you like?

0:32:31 - (Linda Habak): Your favourite one that you're actually working on, working on, changing?

0:32:35 - (Aidan Anderson): Yeah, this is. It's a pretty deep one. And it goes back to what I said at the start with this kind of like, precision of the business. It's Aidan, you need to work on understanding that not everyone around you is going to have the exact same, not vision, but precision of what you are trying to achieve as a business owner, an individual, a person. Sometimes you need to double check your standards of what you're bringing to the table. Because it is a blessing and a curse that I keep everyone very accountable for trying to do as best as they can.

0:33:09 - (Aidan Anderson): And it's also a weakness in the sense that sometimes I set my own expectations so, so high. And it can also fall on other people as well. I've known that, I've had that feedback for many years now and I've always tried to kind of learn and do that, but it was there again, black and white, saying, hey, this is one of your primary weaknesses.

0:33:28 - (Linda Habak): Is it a weakness or is it just an area to work on? Because at the end of the day, you were a craftsman to do that work. Well, that requires precision. So actually it's innate in you that you're meticulous. I always think the glass is half full, by the way. So I think it's a blessing and a curse, but I think it's just about moderating that in yourself. And also it's a very entrepreneurial trait because you have a vision.

0:33:54 - (Linda Habak): And I guess the challenge is how do you motivate everyone around you to want to go on that journey with you and execute that vision. No one can do it alone. It is not possible. Aidan, how do you manage the push and pull? Because obviously you've got to push to maintain that level of excellence and quality that clearly there is. But how do you also hold back so that you're balancing the two?

0:34:22 - (Aidan Anderson): Yeah, I think I've learned and especially over the last three years, that that push and pull that you speak about is like my push used to be. Oh, come on, guys. Like, I want this to be perfect, I want this to be amazing. But that's not always the right way to deliver that message. And you know, I got this feedback from and this lesson from leaders around me where it's like, you need to sell the vision and the dream and use that as your vessel.

0:34:51 - (Aidan Anderson): Rather than saying you need to do this better, you need to do that better. Telling and selling our vision as a business and my vision as an individual, that is the best way to inspire a whole team. A lot of it just comes down to communication, to be honest with you, is what I've learned where very early on I used to get siloed. And so this is where we need to go. This is what we need to do. But the more and more I've opened that up to the team over the years and say, guys, this is what we can be and this is how we're doing it as a group. And look at this amazing video and print feature that we produced.

0:35:26 - (Aidan Anderson): Looked at it, got 4 million views in three and a half months. That's when you see the look on people's faces going, holy shit. Like, I did that because I took it to the next level. I want to do that again.

0:35:39 - (Linda Habak): And it's easy to get caught in the day to day. Right. You're just ticking off, you're ticking off your to do list. So you do need to, I think as a leader, take them up to that level and show them what success looks like. And model success, definitely. But do that in a balanced way. And that's. That's hard. It's super hard. Just talking about it, like, probably work seven days a week. Let's circle back in six months and talk about how you're going.

0:36:03 - (Aidan Anderson): We'll interview GPT as well.

0:36:05 - (Linda Habak): Exactly. And see how you're going.

0:36:06 - (Aidan Anderson): That's right. Yeah.

0:36:08 - (Linda Habak): I want to circle back to AI again because it's one thing to use it for efficiency, but are you concerned, obviously now the video production and image production of AI is becoming better and better. What are your thoughts about that? And are you concerned about that as.

0:36:26 - (Aidan Anderson): A business, I actually think it strengthens us as a business, to be honest. Because there is no doubt that the video and imagery that is being created by AI is phenomenal. What it's going to be in five, 10 years is going to be even scarier. But the best thing about what we do, again as a business is we tell authentic stories of real people. It's not scripted like it's genuinely a homeowner or an architect in this home.

0:36:51 - (Aidan Anderson): And AI, sure they can make, make it up and put fake faces, but it's like that's the beauty of the content we do. It's raw, authentic, it's beautifully produced, but it is of a home and AI can't replicate that or documentaries, so to speak. So I think it's only gonna strengthen us as a business and a platform.

0:37:09 - (Linda Habak): And it's really interesting cause circling back to your vision or your mission, because it's about community and AI can't replace community. The person and the individual is going to become the main commodity, the most valued commodity. So the name, the local project, how did that come to be?

0:37:30 - (Aidan Anderson): Well, oddly, it was actually the name of the furniture and chippy business. Like it was really, it was fortuitously the name that I called my business. And yeah, it was just this weird moment when I made the transition and like for the record, you know, the first couple of years of the local project, I was still very much doing that furniture and fit outs and on site and whatnot, then eventually transition it to the media side of things. But I don't know, maybe it's destiny, call it whatever you want, but it kind of worked perfectly from the local project to, you know, the local project, the publisher.

0:38:07 - (Linda Habak): So it's been with you this whole time? The whole time you've held that vision?

0:38:10 - (Aidan Anderson): That's right, the whole time, literally.

0:38:12 - (Linda Habak): Wow. So you recently launched on the market a real estate vertical. So what was the inspiration behind is it that you saw that there was a need that wasn't being met in the market? Because obviously you've got domain realestate.com so how do you feel like you're gonna play in that circle and be different and unique?

0:38:31 - (Aidan Anderson): Yeah. The reason why we launched it as a business is, and again, it's data led in a funny way, I guess, is that every video that we release, every post we put up, and one of the most common emails we get to our weekly EDM that we send is people replying or commenting saying, how much is this house? How much is this? How much is that it's so clear that there is this genuine fascination around okay, here's a beautiful home, whether it's small, big, medium, whatever.

0:39:01 - (Aidan Anderson): There is this fascination of how much does it cost as well. Now that comes as inspirational, aspirational side. But with our audience, which is incredibly wealthy, high net worth, affluent suburbs, highly educated, it's not just an interest for them, there is actually also an interest in the sense of that it could be something that they want to purchase as well. The reality is with on the market, what we're trying to bring to market is essentially it is a curated again version of REA or Domain and it's exactly what we're featuring already.

0:39:33 - (Aidan Anderson): It just has a number on it. And a lot of the reason and the reality is, is that so many of these homes, and we've probably filmed about 1200 homes over the last 10, 9 years, I would say honestly 70 and 80% have been on the market since then. So at some point, so we've got this amount, amazing video content, these write ups, these images that we've taken.

0:39:53 - (Linda Habak): It's a great way to repurpose the content you have really when you think about it.

0:39:58 - (Aidan Anderson): That's right.

0:39:58 - (Linda Habak): And are you partnering then with real estate agents?

0:40:01 - (Aidan Anderson): They're almost our clients in a sense where our goal is to reach out to real estate agents, developers and say, hey, this is a new platform that doesn't necessarily compete with REA or Domain, but it is a very selective curated platform where if you have a home that is architecturally designed or over the value of five to $10 million, there is an opportunity for it to be on the market, which is it's on our regular website, it'll be posted across our normal Instagram, across our normal YouTube channel. So it integrates beautifully with the other content.

0:40:36 - (Aidan Anderson): It just has a price tag on it. Our unique selling point at the moment is that we are going to be the only listing real estate vertical that can help potentially increase the value of a property through the curation. Whereas these other platforms, they will take anything from a $300 tent to a $100 million home. Between that and being again socially and digitally led, knowing that Australians spend three to four hours a day on their phone or online, which is scary.

0:41:04 - (Linda Habak): Wow.

0:41:05 - (Aidan Anderson): That's kind of our angle there between curation digital and increases value of properties. What do you think?

0:41:11 - (Linda Habak): I love it.

0:41:14 - (Aidan Anderson): Honest feedback.

0:41:15 - (Linda Habak): Yeah, look, I think it'll be interesting to, to see what happens with it. Cause I thought, oh, this is interesting was my initial thought and I will say I probably haven't interacted with it as much as I would with all the other content. But then I don't think I necessarily have realized because, as you say, it's been woven in so seamlessly. I think it'll be interesting to see what you think in 12 months and a couple of years from now.

0:41:42 - (Linda Habak): See if that's sort of serving you and bringing you a different audience or is it just servicing the same same audience Every episode I do, I'm left with even more questions than when I started. But our signature question that we give everybody is what does Build Beautiful mean to you?

0:41:58 - (Aidan Anderson): Yeah, I think Build Beautiful and like it's such a theme of the whole chat we've had is building and designing and creating authentically to yourself. Which I know sounds a bit cliche and cheesy, but Build Beautiful to me just kind of feels like just stay true to yourself, design what you love for you, with you, for yourself. And it could be anything from a house to a business to, I don't know, a life. But that's what that means to me.

0:42:24 - (Linda Habak): I love it. Aidan, thank you. So gracious of you to say. Yes, I'm so grateful and honestly, you're super inspiring. I love what you're doing. Just keep doing it.

0:42:33 - (Aidan Anderson): Thanks, Linda. It's been so great to chat to you. Appreciate you.

0:42:40 - (Linda Habak): Thank you for listening to Build Beautiful. If this conversation ran resonated with you, I'd love it if you'd follow the show, leave a review, or share it with someone who's building something meaningful. It matters more than you know. Follow us on Instagram Build Beautiful podcast Until next time, keep creating with intention and together we build Beautiful.