THE more you do a job like this one, the more you realise how many incredible people there are around you, sometimes right next door.
I used to live in Bright and shared a house with a young woman who worked in a local restaurant making pizza and washing dishes. The previous year she had summitted Mount Everest, and also happened to be one of the state’s best mountain bike riders. But you wouldn’t have known that simply by her job title.
It’s stories like these that Shepparton’s Harley Tempest is looking to uncover in his new podcast ‘GV Talks’.
Harley is a young man in his 20s who runs Shepparton’s Origin Athletics gym. Gym owners and employees in regional Victoria have had a terrible year with lockdowns (which are just easing as of today). So, while Harley’s attitude has been, “I’m just going to control the things I can control”, he’s started his own podcast, uncovering the fascinating stories behind people who call the region home.
Harley, originally from Ballarat, came to Shepparton via Warrnambool, and has since fallen in love with the city.
“There’s more here for me now. The relationships I have with people, my business and now this – GV Talks. That makes up a large part of who I am. This is my home now,” he said.
“I had asked myself: ‘Why do I have the best clients at the gym?’
“Then I took a step back and thought: I don’t have the best clients at the gym, I’m just learning their stories. Now, doing something like this I’m connecting with people who I normally wouldn’t. I’m learning so much and loving it. I love the stories.”
Like many people, Harley said he had flirted with the idea of starting a podcast for a long time, but never invested himself fully into it until now.
Podcasts are more popular than ever right now, and Harley said in many ways he’s trying to emulate his podcast idols including author Ryan Holliday of The Daily Stoic, and of course, the infamous The Jo Rogan Experience.
The first 10 episodes of GV Talks are up online and on Youtube. Some of Harley’s guests have included businessman and Council candidate, Rob Priestly, primary school teacher, Kaylee Andrews, and artist, Tom Day.
It’s an eclectic mix, and he said he’s had no problems finding guests.
“I wrote down an initial list of about 50 people I’d like to have on, and I did that in five minutes,” he said.
“In Greater Shepparton there are a lot of positive stories that nobody hears.
“There are other platforms like Instagram stories, but on average, people who click on my podcasts listen for 38 minutes, so people commit to listening for almost the full story.”
The podcasts are available wherever you normally find podcasts, plus, Harley is putting his interviews up on Youtube.
