The Good Listening To Show: Stories of Distinction & Genius
"If you tell your Story 'out loud' then you're much more likely to LIVE it out loud" and that's what this show is for: To help you to tell your Story - 'get it out there' - and reach a large global audience as you do so. It's the Storytelling Show in which I invite movers, makers, shakers, mavericks, influencers and also personal heroes into a 'Clearing' (or 'serious happy place') of my Guest's choosing, to all share with us their stories of 'Distinction & Genius'. Think "Desert Island Discs" but in a 'Clearing' and with Stories rather than Music. Cutting through the noise of other podcasts, this is the storytelling show with the squirrels & the tree, from "MojoCoach", Facilitator & Motivational Comedian Chris Grimes. With some lovely juicy Storytelling metaphors to enjoy along the way: A Clearing, a Tree, a lovely juicy Storytelling exercise called '5-4-3-2-1', some Alchemy, some Gold, a couple of random Squirrels, a cheeky bit of Shakespeare, a Golden Baton and a Cake! So it's all to play for! "Being in 'The Good listening To Show' is like having a 'Day Spa' for your Brain!" So - let's cut through the noise and get listening! Show website: https://www.thegoodlisteningtoshow.com See also www.secondcurve.uk + www.instantwit.co.uk + www.chrisgrimes.uk Twitter/Instagram @thatchrisgrimes
The Good Listening To Show: Stories of Distinction & Genius
Founder Story: Healing Through Nature with Father & Son Horticultural Dream Team, Nathan & Ruben Millett from NARU Landscaping. On creating Wellness Gardens & Sanctuaries for Mental Wellbeing & Clarity for Professionals Suffering from Burn Out & Stress
Nathan and Ruben Millett's journey to founding NARU Landscaping began with personal transformation. After 20 years in specialized police units left Nathan with PTSD, he discovered nature's profound healing power – a simple vista of wall, cactus, and blue sky became his mental sanctuary. Meanwhile, Ruben, naturally skilled with his hands since childhood, was seeking his true calling after brief stints in electrical work and estate agency.
Their worlds collided over pints at "the NARU corner" of their local pub, where father and son realised their complementary skills could create something special. Combining their names (NAthon and RUben), they formed "NARU" – a name that serendipitously means "new beginnings" in Japanese and "growth" in Nigerian languages.
What distinguishes their approach is their revolutionary 10-point design system that flips traditional landscaping philosophy. Rather than forcing people to adapt to spaces, they create gardens that respond to emotional needs, functioning as "Control-Alt-Delete" reset buttons for stressed professionals. Every element – from seating positions to plant textures to water features – serves the garden owner's wellbeing.
This isn't just about aesthetics. Nathan's PTSD journey taught him how outdoor spaces can transform mental health, while Ruben's problem-solving mindset ensures these sanctuaries are both beautiful and functional. Together, they create more than gardens – they design outdoor therapeutic environments that help clients escape life's pressures without leaving home.
Whether you're seeking a complete garden transformation or just a thoughtful corner for mindful moments, NARU Landscaping invites you to reimagine your relationship with your outdoor space. Don't settle for the standard "patio, lawn, tree, bush" formula – discover how your garden can actively improve your wellbeing and quality of life.
Tune in next week for more stories of 'Distinction & Genius' from The Good Listening To Show 'Clearing'. If you would like to be my Guest too then you can find out HOW via the different 'series strands' at 'The Good Listening To Show' website.
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Thanks for listening!
Welcome to another episode of the Good Listening To Show your life and times with me, chris Grimes, the storytelling show that features the Clearing, where all good questions come to get asked and all good stories come to be told, and where all my guests have two things in common they're all creative individuals and all with an interesting story to tell. There are some lovely storytelling metaphors a clearing, a tree, a juicy storytelling exercise called 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, some alchemy, some gold, a cheeky bit of Shakespeare and a cake. So it's all to play for. So, yes, welcome to the Good Listening To Show your life and times with me, chris Grimes, are you sitting comfortably? Then we shall begin and we're live. Good morning, internet across the globe, linkedin, youtube, all the bells and whistles.
Chris Grimes:I'm Chris Gr grimes. I'm the curator and host of the good listening to show. Welcome to a very special founder story episode where, together, we're going to get into the who, the what, the how, the why you do, what you do and then, crucially, we'll find out where, and very much we'll go into the why, but we'll find out where we can come and find you. And to welcome to the show at narrow landscaping, this is the father and son horticultural dream team of Nathan and Ruben Millett from Narrow Landscaping. Gentlemen, welcome to the show. How's morale, how's your day going so far? Because you've left a job to come here now, haven't you? Yep.
Nathan Millett:So we've left one of the other lads, jake, behind just to carry on some work so we could come back. We've had a brief coffee beforehand so we could have a little chat before. Lovely, uh, but we're. You're ready to go?
Chris Grimes:you've done some prep. That's awesome. Now there's a, a name to conjure. It's wonderful, the name. So let's just start from founding principles of how you got going and how you have become. Narrow landscaping is it a japanese cultural thing or not, because it sounds a bit sort of icky guy or wabu sabi, but um, narrow landscaping. Just tell us the story behind, the story of how you both got going as your father and son horticultural dream.
Nathan Millett:There is a japanese element to it, but that was by pure accident. So we've both got our versions of the story, of how we got to a point in a pub where we were talking about future careers and then we came up with what we were going to do next in our lives.
Chris Grimes:And it was a very pivotal time in your life, particularly because of where you were coming from, and then your two worlds were meeting because of an imperative of, I suppose, a mental health agenda. So just the wonderment of what you do at Narrow Landscaping I mean, it's wellness gardens for professionals suffering with stress and it's a bit like you'd been there and got the T-shirt. So just tell us the story.
Ruben Millett:Yeah, so my grandparents used to own a garden centre. So since I was about 14, I've been doing handyman work and that which got me on the tools. So then when I left school, I went into electrical course and a couple of years down the line I found out that wasn't really my thing. So then, weirdly, I switched to being an estate agent, which was a bit of a sudden change. But then also a year after doing that, I didn't realise it wasn't really for me. So then I um went to go back on the tools.
Chris Grimes:That's such a great expression. By the way, I that got me on the tools.
Ruben Millett:That's such a wonderful craftsman thing yeah, yeah, I did miss, uh, having a tool in my hand, but, um, yeah, so then I was about six months later. I still didn't really know what I wanted to do, and then that got to us and the pub didn't it? Yeah.
Chris Grimes:And timeline-wise, this is before the pandemic, during the pandemic. Where are we?
Nathan Millett:This is after, so now up to that point is beginning of last year.
Ruben Millett:Yeah, so it's about sort of March time, isn't it then? Yeah?
Chris Grimes:yeah, and it got you to the pub. And then who opened up the dialogue of what the fuck we're going to do now.
Nathan Millett:That was kind of me, because he hasn't done himself enough justice there. When he was younger he was really really good hands-on creating anything. My wife showed me a picture the other day that I didn't realize we had. How old are you in that picture? Which one? We were unloading a tonne bag oh, I was about eight. I think he's about eight years old Unloading a what a tan bag or a tonne bag, A tonne bag of stone. So it's some gardening that I was doing at my own house at the time. Well, I was the same height as a tonne bag.
Chris Grimes:Yeah.
Nathan Millett:I'm beginning to. Yeah, we're talking about ton bags now, the big bulk bags full of stone. Love that bulk bags. Actually, I think I'm still overwatching you at the time, but he's as high as this ton bag and is unloading it all out. So he's always been willing to get stuck in and into doing something with his hands and problem solving. And then I think you were about 15. You built an outdoor kitchen.
Nathan Millett:yeah, I was about 14, 15 so I had a hand injury at the time that I'd got from work. That what I was doing at work then, so I couldn't really do anything. But I had this idea of what I was going to build an outdoor kitchen, yeah. So what?
Ruben Millett:14 yeah, I was about that. I don't really see where I picked up the basics from that, because I always remembered learning off of you a little bit, but and what a dream apprenticeship, as in I mean the father-son thing is.
Chris Grimes:I mean trust is there, the apprenticeship is there. You've learned from the master. The master's now learning from you. We know that's the truth which is the natural order of things.
Nathan Millett:Yeah, when the sun becomes the daddy so, yes, that's kind of to the point in the pub and then. So my I was a bit older, so my story is a little bit longer how I got to that. So, first of all, why landscaping? My grandparents had a very, very large garden, so they had a typical post-war council house in uh, broom hill in south bristol and they're very lucky at that time where they left people with 50 foot long gardens that you could do quite a bit with back in the day, yeah, back in the day.
Nathan Millett:So my I was brought up and my, my grandparents growing their own vegetables, tomatoes in the greenhouse and things like that, uh, over there for a roast dinner every Sunday. Other than the meat that came from the local butcher, everything else came out of their garden. So that's where I spent all of my time. If it wasn't raining, I was out in their garden climbing trees, helping my grandpa build stuff. I can remember he used to give me a block of wood and a box of nails and just like, literally, do your best and you'd make a Pinocchio or something I made.
Nathan Millett:I remember I made a ship, wow. So I had different height nails going along for the sale and made a you know sort of railings at the front, that type of thing. So I think I was always a little bit creative. Yeah, so that was the start of me why I'm into gardens and gardening, and so it's in your DNA green fingers and being outdoors and getting stuck into the tools and the ground.
Chris Grimes:Yeah, and then you took a different career choice, which I know, yeah.
Nathan Millett:So then, much later on, my first career was an attempt at professional rugby. At the time I've always thought in my head that that got cut short because of a knee injury. But actually as I've got older I realised I just didn't have the right mindset to put the effort in to make it work. So you're waiting for the knee injury to give up? Were you, I think, possibly somewhere in the back of my head, yeah, so that didn't work out.
Nathan Millett:So then I bounced around a few different jobs, ended up doing labouring for a load of mates at Canesham Rugby Club, where I went back to playing rugby, and I got to the point where I thought this is what I want to do. I didn't know what exactly, which trade at that point, because I've been helping out plumbers, builders, carpenters, stonemasons all just labouring for them. So I knew I wanted to do a trade. So it got to that point where I thought I know what firemen do, is they do a trade on their days off. So I had this plan with a friend of mine that we'd both try and join the fire brigade and then start a building company. Oddly enough, he's now got a successful building company but never, never bothered to try and join the fire brigade, but I did and I didn't get in because I had three points on my driving license at the time awkward.
Nathan Millett:Yeah. So I'm hoping. This is what I've always thought. They just had a big career drive and were looking for reasons to sift out numbers and points on a driving license was one way. Yes, that's what I'm clinging to. Yeah, because otherwise it means I wasn't good enough to be a fireman. So that got me onto the thought process of some sort of uniform role and I can remember a careers teacher when I was at school pinned me with you're going to be in the military, police or fire brigade and you're not going to be much else. So, yeah, that's what school was like back then.
Chris Grimes:What an awesome teacher. Will he be one of your inspirations? I don't think so.
Nathan Millett:No, not at all so that's what I had in the back of my head always anyway. So didn't get into fire brigade. Then went on holiday over to Portugal, got into a very, very minor car accident. Just someone went out the back of us, no injury. But the police come out to all of their car accidents over there. Yeah, I didn't have my passport on me so they've said, well, we need id. So they send my wife back to where we're staying to go and get my passport. They take me to the police station and just sit me in the front office there.
Nathan Millett:So I'm there, bored, sat waiting for my passport to come back, and I can hear a noise that I'm familiar with and it's like the clanging of weights in a gym. So I'm looking around trying to think, well, where's this, where's this gym? And I realize it's in two-way glass behind me. So I started looking and I can see they've got this huge gym, uh, and there's like clearly police officers all in there training, uh. And then in front of me a load of new recruits come in and they all get given massive kit bags full of brand new kit. So for me I'm sat there thinking that's the closest thing to rugby.
Chris Grimes:I'm gonna find yes but this is in portugal. This is in portugal, so you didn't join the portuguese.
Nathan Millett:That probably would have been nicer, so no. So I came back and had this idea. Right, I didn't get the fire brigade, so I'll try. The police filled out the application form and I think very lucky that again they were on a big recruitment drive and the the process to get in had slimlined compared to what it was. And three months later I'm sat day one as a police officer, yeah, thinking how did I get here?
Chris Grimes:and did you get an awesome kit bag and not for a while?
Nathan Millett:no, no that that that dream actually never really happened, uh, of what I thought it would be.
Chris Grimes:But yeah, there I was and there is that idea of all. The philosophy of what's meant for you won't pass you by. So, whichever doors are opened or shut, the window of what's meant for you won't pass you by. So, whichever doors are opened or shut, the window of opportunity that opened for you to confuse doors and windows in the conservatory of life, there you are in the police force.
Nathan Millett:Yes, yeah, and then which happened quite quickly yes, so I'm sat with people who had been waiting two years for their start date. Now I'll be honest, if I'd waited two years years I'd have given up on that dream. Yeah, well, not, wasn't really a dream, I'd have just given up on it and think I'll do something else. So I felt a little bit guilty, because people have been desperate to do this career and waited two years for it.
Chris Grimes:Yeah, and I was like, oh yeah, it's just something I filled out and you've got your careers officers sort of mantra, yeah, rightly or wrongly chuntering away in the back of yeah there's that background voice of this is all you're going to be.
Nathan Millett:Yeah, so that's how I ended up in the police.
Chris Grimes:I'm so happy we're in a position of all you are becoming and all you have become now, because it is I know we're going to get on to. I hope I'm not stealing any thunder from the structure that I'm about to pull you through.
Nathan Millett:No, I know that's great.
Nathan Millett:So I then have a 20-year police career, which has great and some terrible bits. So I ended up doing some specialist units, so firearms being one of them. Another one called support group, which no-one really knows what that means, but it's. But you're going to tell us. Yeah, I'm going to try and keep it simple. So support group is the specialist units that you see in vans on newsreels where they're out searching murder scenes. So all types of searching crime scenes, missing persons, all your kind of your drugs warrants and things like that.
Nathan Millett:We were the team that did specialist entry, so door entry, window entry which is why I smiled when you said doors and windows opened for me forcibly. It got to the point where I forced them open. Yeah, those types of things. And then some other slightly more specialist bits where we uh did body recovery if a body has been there a certain amount of time and becomes difficult to recover, and then that was, that was one of the roles that we did, and also something called disaster victim identification. So that is as it sounds. Something horrendous happens with lots of casualties that become difficult to recover. Yeah, and then we do, we do those bits. So through that journey and some of those roles I ended up with ptsd from that, which did take a very long time to realize that I had that, but then that brought my police career to an end as in it had to.
Chris Grimes:It wasn't the knee injury you're waiting for.
Nathan Millett:This was something knees were fine at that point. Um, so yeah, it got to the point where, over years, lots and lots of counselling and got to the point where they said there's not much more we can do for you and a psychiatrist that they sent me to said the best thing for you to do is leave.
Chris Grimes:Great advice, unlike that career, I mean, the career also got you to the right place ultimately yeah, but the wrong place too, yeah.
Nathan Millett:So it ended on a. It's kind of a negative note, but it's not because I'm here now, yes, so you know, everything happens and the right way up. Everything happens for a reason, doesn't it? Yes, so, yeah. So that's how we ended up us together so leaving the police. So sorry if I struggle, some of it gets a bit difficult, so I do come with a warning, may cry sometimes. So end of the police career. I did have a very brief another career, which I do feel like I know not an estate agent, I'm assuming.
Chris Grimes:No, no, I'd be terrible. A bit different to that. Yeah, I'll get you talking more in a moment as well.
Nathan Millett:This is awesome, though, almost feel like I owe this person an apology and he is my golden baton person as well. So a guy called matt shepherd who was my rugby coach when I was a canchum uh, so a good friend. He at that point ran a company called switch rugby that do rugby coaching to get players ready for elite level pathways into lots of bristol bears, those types of things. Yeah, he also did mentoring in schools for children that had some sort of neurodiversity. I needed just that little bit of help around school and I was kind of mentor voice to say everything's well. All I ever used to say is school's not as important as you think it is. There's a big life out there to learn stuff afterwards, so don't put too much pressure on yourself. That was kind of my message to all of them. So I had that for a very brief moment and I'm always thankful for Matt for giving me that opportunity at a point where I suddenly didn't have a career.
Nathan Millett:What's his second name again? Matt Shepard. Matt Shepard. So he's my golden baton, so we'll get onto him later on. So he'd not long given me that job and very much involved me in the future, the direction of the company, for which I add some ideas and then we're in the pub. And what's the pub? Where's the pub? The White Hart Bridge, yate. So there is a corner and I've said this to the lady who runs the pub. Last week that is the Nauru corner, got to get.
Nathan Millett:There is a corner and I've said this to the lady who runs the pub last week, that is the Nauru corner, gotta get a little plaque.
Chris Grimes:Yeah, we need one, don't we? Yeah, and we think that's the Japanese philosophy. Corner at this point.
Nathan Millett:Yeah, it has to be now right. So we've got that's the day. So he's had enough of the estate agency role realised the estate agency role realised.
Chris Grimes:I've read it from day one.
Nathan Millett:Realised it wasn't for him and he probably doesn't know this bit. But oh God, so he, oh cryo-alert, handed his notice in without really any other plan, did you?
Ruben Millett:Yeah, I was going a bit blind. I handed my notice in. I was like I can't do this anymore. Yes, good company, bristol Property Centre. Handed my notes in, I was like I can't, can't do this anymore. Yes, good company, bristol property center. They were good. Big shout out yeah, just down the road as well. Yeah, they were a good company, but it was just the career choice, wasn't?
Chris Grimes:the best. It makes total sense, so it was very lovely of you to give them a shout out and actually that does show some of his good qualities as well.
Nathan Millett:So that is a family friend, bpc in ash, yeah, who runs it, yeah, and he showed some interest in estate agency and I said, well, let's speak to ash. I said, yeah, come along and just ask some things. So he went along to ask about the industry how do I get into it?
Nathan Millett:and came away with a job, so a bit unexpected yeah so it says a lot about his character and what type of person he is to go along to ask about a career and come away with it. Yes, so yeah, well done to you.
Chris Grimes:The integrity going on and also the pride you have, Nathan for Ruben, is really clear Now and again.
Ruben Millett:I think it's there. We can all see it. It is there.
Chris Grimes:So we're at the pub.
Nathan Millett:So we're at the pub, so we're at the pub, and I've thought, right, I need to take him up to the pub and have a proper father-son chat. Now, which is the bit he probably didn't realise, because in my head he's had a career well, not a career, a job and he's gone and jacked it in to go back to where he wanted to be, but with no route to it. So he wanted to go back on the tools it wasn't going to be electrics, because that ended up not being his thing. And then something went in the back of my head of ah. So when I was in the police, I'd always kept up bits of gardening family and friends. So the landscaping doesn't come out of nowhere, it's something that had always been going on.
Chris Grimes:It's in your DNA. You described that because of the garden centre.
Nathan Millett:There's a period of about four years, me and my best friend from the police, leon I'll give him a shout as well so me and him had a landscaping business together that we did on our rest days, so I almost got back to what was that one called?
Nathan Millett:neon landscaping see that's not as magical as narrow now, but that name came from the fact that me and him were so inseparable on the teams. We're on that. Everyone just called us neon, so not nathan and leon. They just called us because we're always together all the time. Yes, so we had a landscaping business that had to stop because we got too busy and then got moved onto different teams yes, opposing shift patterns, so we're never off together.
Nathan Millett:So so I thought the landscaping ship had sailed until I decided he needs a father-son chat about what you're going to do with your life type thing. And then this little light bulb went off in the back of my head of oh, we could do landscaping together. And I kind of mentioned it to my wife and she said don't force that on him. Because you want to do it, yeah, let that happen. Naturally, just go and have a word with him. So this is the bit if he's a, he's oblivious. But no, he just he had beer and he's like, yeah, I'll come along. So I kind of almost started the father-son conversation. A little bit bull in a china shop, almost not quite there, not what my wife told me to do. Basically, I just kind of went what you're going to do with your life what you're doing, you idiot. So jack's job in.
Chris Grimes:He then got a packet of crisps and a slab almost yeah, sat in the chair.
Nathan Millett:Exactly that's the reaction I got from him was a bit like oh easy, tiger you know, he got a little bit sort of down on himself.
Nathan Millett:Then it was a bit like, oh, I don't know what I'm going to do. So then I I couldn't wait for the moment any longer. So I just said, what about me and you doing a landscaping business? Yeah. And then he was like, yeah. So the yeah was so confident that I was like, yeah, this is another meant to be moment. And then within half an hour, just sat on our phones, we had a name and a logo. Boom, yeah. So we put nathan and rubens, put the two names together, naru. So that's where that's actually come from. The japanese connection was so many people asked us. What does that stand for? It sounds, sounds, awesome.
Chris Grimes:Yeah.
Nathan Millett:It sounds exotic of some sort.
Ruben Millett:So then you Googled it didn't you, I Googled it. Yeah, and it's Japanese for new beginnings, which was really perfect.
Chris Grimes:And then there's the Nigerian connection, where it means growth and becoming something new. There we go. I Googled that this morning. Yeah, I was with that. There we go. I googled that this morning. I was happily blown away for you both, yeah yeah in terms of you know what's so lovely you had the neon as to, let's put our names together, see what we come up with. There could be some comedy disasters if you had the wrong names. I did have some in my mind, but too rude, but anyway naru's great.
Chris Grimes:We'll talk about that after the show. But yes, so it's nathan and ruben Nauru, but it does sound philosophical, and what's so lovely about it? Now it's addressing mental health. So just tell us the real essence of what Nauru landscaping is about.
Nathan Millett:So it's not just wellness gardens. We do so. I just got to get that out there. We do. You know your standard landscaping that people need? Yeah, we do do that. But our niche is come from my background, his background, through lockdown. I think you found that fairly difficult without realising it?
Ruben Millett:Well, anyone my age struggled a bit during lockdown because I was the year where we missed out on our GCSEs.
Chris Grimes:Yes, so you're 21 now.
Ruben Millett:Yeah, so that did me a lot of favours for my GCSEs, which I'll admit. But obviously some people didn't get what they wanted. But yeah, it was quite a stressful time because no one knew what was going on, especially with school and exams, but after that it was quite fun after that, and the big fat yes for you is immediate too.
Chris Grimes:I think you just had this instinct of this is meant to be yeah, but what's so lovely is what you're doing.
Nathan Millett:So then, the wellness part came from the fact that I just thought I don't want to just be a landscaping business because there's loads of them and loads of good ones as well. So we just kind of thought, well, what can we do slightly different? So I'd done an online landscape design course and I took from that and it was a good course. The principles of landscape design are generally based on the focus being on the space and a little bit of the people. So I just thought, well, I want to flip it around. I want the focus to be on the people and then we'll make that fit the space. That's where the idea of wellness gardens come from.
Nathan Millett:So I kind of thought, well, it can't just be wishy-washy, I'm just going to do your wellness garden. It needs a backbone of some design principles. So I spent a lot of evenings sat down thinking, right, those are the design principles for normal landscape design. What's the people focus wellness version? So that's where we've now got our 10 point design system. Yeah, uh, that that focuses on how can this space make a person feel better? Through experiences I've had that have got me through a difficult time and I leaned very heavily on nature and the views around me and that was a massive help. So that's a large chunk of where our design system has come from.
Chris Grimes:And may I ask, have you curated your own Nauru landscape in where you live and what's immediately in your garden?
Nathan Millett:I have the typical landscaper's garden that is a pile of clay that is unfinished.
Ruben Millett:It's a building site. I do very therapeutic.
Nathan Millett:Yeah, I do have a walled front courtyard that is goes into our front door that I have turned into that and then that's where I spend most of my thinking time is is out in that space. I've got bamboo blowing in the winds, I've got a wind chime behind me, which she takes the mick out of me for, and I can hear birds.
Chris Grimes:When I can't hear the traffic on the road, I can hear birds singing away and that's my reset, and in the other work that I do as a facilitator and a coach, my coaching nudge to you is whatever you do, make sure you curate someday your own dreamscape, because that's what you deserve.
Nathan Millett:But that is the plan for the back garden. Yeah, but not yet. I've got too busy running. Yeah, I've got to see the family at some point as well. Yes, I can't do my own garden on the weekends and talk about running your own business.
Chris Grimes:We have the entrepreneurs circle in common too. We're both part of the Bristol based group and I'm working with Nigel Bottrell at the HQ as well, in his inner circle. So we have that in common as well, because obviously you're you're here to talk about as a founder story for those watching, to work out where we can come and find you to look at your wonderful work and indeed to, and what's your reach in terms of where you're, where you're doing your landscaping.
Nathan Millett:So we, we're Bristol and Bath and then the surrounding areas. So we touch a little bit of Somerset, bath and North East Somerset down to Portishead and then up around Thornbury around that way.
Chris Grimes:So there's a reasonable distance around Bristol and Bath Lovely and you qualify for a founder story. But also best of Bristol, bristol voices because we're local, which is awesome.
Nathan Millett:Because we've got Bristol voices. You have of Bristol, Bristol Voices because we're local, which is awesome Because we've got Bristol. Voices. You have, yeah.
Chris Grimes:So it should be Maru Lousky Pit as opposed to.
Chris Grimes:I won't do the Japanese thing because that would be misconstrued, anyway, but great stuff. Anything else you'd like to say about the genesis of it? Before I get you on the open road and I'm movers, makers, shakers, mavericks, influencers and also personal heroes into a clearing or serious happy place of my guests choosing? There's going to be as usual. If you've not seen the show before, where have you been?
Chris Grimes:I've done about 250 of these monkeys and it's going to involve a clearing a tree, a lovely juicy storytelling exercise called 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. There's going to be some alchemy, some gold, a couple of random squirrels, a cheeky bit of Shakespeare, a golden baton which you've already mentioned, thank you and a cake. So it's all to play for. And thank you for doing the pre-work which you said you'd done. Thank you Not testing you, but now I'm going to test you. So, narrow landscaping, nathan Ruben, where is what is? And I don't mind, you've probably got two different ones. That's the idea. But what is where is a clearing or serious happy place for you? Well, we're both the same aren't we?
Ruben Millett:Yeah, it's Portugal. We've been on holiday there every year since well, three years before I was born, but ever since then it's just a place. It's like our second home, really.
Chris Grimes:It's lush and do you have a second home there? Or that's the dream? That would be a dream.
Nathan Millett:It's a villa that's within the family that we've got access to, so that's why we've always gone there.
Chris Grimes:I'm so glad I met you. I'm kidding, and that's lovely too. The immediate agreement oh yes, we both belong there, so I think you belong together in what you're. It's a bit cheesy one plus one equals three in terms of what you're creating as well yeah, but there's a. I love that you, without even questioning you, share the same clearing. Pinning a ponytail and a map where abouts in portugal is our clearing so ours is slightly different because mine comes from a slightly different angle.
Ruben Millett:But whereabouts yours be well, mine's in val de lego, which is in the next core tower, and villamora sort of area, which is a lush place right on the beach and the best bit, is the beach bar as well. That's a nice place. We both enjoy that.
Chris Grimes:I like that we both enjoy that that's good too, so beer is a currency that you both share as well, or whatever it was. You were drinking on the night in the pub, lovely, so that's your answer. And then what's the difference when you?
Nathan Millett:say. Happy place to me that is something that was part of my counselling journey is that they take you to a happy place that they can take you back to when they make you cry your eyes out and things like that. So that's why I've had to come up with my happy place. So mine is very, very specific. It's sat in a certain place and the view that I can see is a bit of wall, a bit of a cactus plant and then the sky. So it's very basic.
Chris Grimes:That's me really Obviously, someday, in your curated dreamscape of your own, you must create or recreate that vista Every time.
Nathan Millett:I go there, so I sit at the end of the garden and you can see a bit of wall, this one plant that sticks out over all of it, and the blue sky, so you have three or four different colors and that's simple enough for me. That is a complete reset place that I can take myself to. But it's come from the counselling journey that they they asked me where is your happy place? Yeah, and then it gets very in-depth there. What does it sound like, what does it smell like? So when you say what's your happy place, that's where I am and I can hear it, smell it and see it.
Chris Grimes:It's amazing, that's such a great answer to what is your happy place. When were you last at your happy places? I appreciate it could be painful when you have to go there if you have to, but also it could be a tranquility place. So when were you last there in your bar?
Ruben Millett:last year. Yeah, it was this time last year, yeah, yeah, we'll be there again in two weeks as well, so I'm looking fantastic and a good way for planning pleasant events is a resilient strategy.
Chris Grimes:Always make sure you've got something to look forward to. Is it two weeks' time?
Nathan Millett:Yeah, so looking forward to two weeks' time and I can sit back. He's going to know why. Now I'm sat on my own right in that spot just staring and it's in the new narrow corner, the new narrow corner.
Ruben Millett:Yeah, that's the broad one, yeah.
Chris Grimes:You can have an hour in every country in the world as your country houses open up all over the country. Yeah, that's living the dream, yeah, so welcome to your clearing. I'm now going to arrive with a tree in your clearing Sorry if I knock over your cactus, awkward. And now we plunge the tree into the sand and then this is a bit existential, a bit Samuel Beckett-y, but anyway, I'm going to shake your tree to see which storytelling apples fall out. How do you like these apples? You can have an apple each if you want. Don't eat them because they're false.
Chris Grimes:And then this is now your wonderful answers to a construct. Do you see on the tree? 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, five minutes to have thought about four things that have shaped you, three things that inspire you, two things that inspire you, two things that never fail to grab your attention, and the one is a quirky or unusual fact about you. So over to you. It's not a memory test, I'll curate you through it, but what would you say? The four things are that have shaped you, and you can interpret who answers what we've split them, we've gone for two each.
Ruben Millett:Lovely, yeah, go on. Then. Two things that have shaped me is obviously the amount of different jobs I've had. They're all fairly similar, other than the estate agents that shaped me through like meeting new, different types of people in all of them. So, like the garden centre I've got and I've met it's all mainly older people and that and I've learned how to speak to people through there. Yeah, and then when I was being an electrician, I learned to speak to people on site and just meeting the different backgrounds and stuff. So that shaped me. And also rugby as well. That's played a huge part in how I've been.
Chris Grimes:You haven't said that yet you've got that in common, yeah, yeah so I started rugby from.
Ruben Millett:It was quite a young age, wasn't it?
Chris Grimes:when it was touch rugby.
Ruben Millett:I was about six and then I moved schools, which changed my sport. So then all my friends when I moved schools were playing football. So I played that for a little bit and then went back to rugby when I was about 14 and ever since then it's sort of I can't get without it, really sort of um, it's almost like a big stress reliever at the end of the day and this is a compliment to you both, but you play in different default positions within the rugby.
Chris Grimes:Yeah, yeah.
Ruben Millett:Yeah, obviously you played at a bit of a bigger level than me, rude, not size-wise. No, yeah, I played Scrum-Aff, but it's more full-back now. Yeah, so it's fairly different positions, but it's quite similar.
Chris Grimes:That's lovely. Two shape-ages to get you off the open prep. Unless that was two, I'm doing the maths on my own structure there. Thank you very much.
Nathan Millett:So we actually had the chance to play alongside each other a couple of seasons ago yeah, it was about two seasons ago, whilst my knees could still carry me around on a rugby pitch. You played scrum half, I played fly half, so we got a nice picture afterwards of the father and son in the same team. Yeah, it was really nice.
Chris Grimes:Wonderful. So now to you and your two shapeages.
Nathan Millett:So mine, wonderful. So now to you and your two shapeages. So mine is is family. So grandparents we touched on that already so, and my, my grandpa as well he could make anything out of anything. Yeah, his entire on his garden used to be like a new build, a state of sheds, because he just built a shed every time he needed a store or something else. He built a table saw out of a washing machine engine. It was the most dangerous thing you've ever seen, because the saw couldn't go up and down to be.
Chris Grimes:He accidentally chopped your nana's leg off, yeah.
Nathan Millett:So he used the motor that turned the drum to turn a saw and then just made the tabletop and then would use it as a utility tool. Yeah, that was his power tool to cut stuff up and my grandma started to introduce me to plants, flowers, how to set a garden out, that type of thing.
Chris Grimes:What a dream team that Nan and Grandad do. One's doing the tools and then your Nan's giving you the horticultural stuff.
Nathan Millett:Yeah, so that gave me a start, and then my parents have been a big influence as well. The bits of design, or I was going to say flair, but that's talking myself up a bit too much. The interest in design and the way I look at things Go with flair. I like it Comes from my mum. Yeah, she's always. Both of them have always done houses up. So when I was brought up I was always in amongst rubble, yeah, smashing walls down as a young kid, and I didn't really build them back up at that age, I just broke stuff. So I've always been around a renovation of houses and my mum was very good at theming rooms what colors go together, theme a garden, and then she had obviously learned from her mum about planting and that sort of thing. So I was always around that. So that was my upbringing.
Chris Grimes:You're such a living testament to. We are the sum of all of our stories, your conditioning and your path to now, your journey to now is really clear.
Nathan Millett:Yeah, because of your conditioning the other big influence is my dad, really hard worker. He left the raf after a couple of years. I think he was a little bit trouble now and again as well, but he left the RAF after a couple of years and he started off at a. Well, it wasn't a computer company then, it was a like a cabling data company. Yeah, way back a long time ago, way back when. And so he started off I want to say almost at the bottom, but somewhere around this kind of worker level for that job.
Chris Grimes:There was an old cabling company in bristol called telly west, if you remember.
Nathan Millett:Before that, even before that, this company was called wang yeah, hence we're back to the so he that company got taken over by a company called carriage and he worked his way up to become a director of that company. Yeah, and then in my school holidays I think this is because I was a little bit troublesome as a as a young child in my school holidays my dad would take me to go and work there. Yes, I used to sweep the workshop at the back and I worked myself all the way up to doing packaging of computers that went out, and then later, later on, when I was a bit older, they trusted me building computers in my summer holidays. So I've always had a hard work ethic that's come from my dad. My wife's been quite a big influence on me as well, because, although I'm sat here talking now and he's going to chuckle at this, I'm not a particularly talkative person around people in groups.
Ruben Millett:I'm a More of a spectator. Yeah, that's a good way of putting it.
Nathan Millett:I've always, before I join a group and become part of it, I'm a very sit back and assess who's who, and I do that in even brief interactions with people, so I might look a bit offish or nervous, it's not, it's just. I don't dive in and have a conversation where my wife has dragged me away from that, because she can start a conversation with anyone Like she'll go into the shops and from the till, come out and tell me that their nan's cousin's brother has been to Turkey for a week and tell me all about it. And I'm like you've been in there for a minute. How'd you manage that?
Nathan Millett:There was one time we were driving to friends down in Weston and I was absolutely busting for a week driving the car. So I pulled into a garage and we were running low on fuel as well. So it was an absolute nightmare. So I got into the garage, fueled up, and I said to her there's no toilet so we've got to be quick. So you go in and I'll wave at you when it's time to pay. So I've waved and I can see her at the till, and then I can see her chatting and I'm like no, come on. And she'd come out and she knew all about some family member that had just been on holiday or binaural, I can't remember what it was. But again I said how did you get that? And she said I don't know, people just talk to me. So that's been a big influence to make me more sociable. Is that the right word?
Chris Grimes:Yeah, okay, he's a nicer bloke, thanks to your mum, see how quick he says yes, yeah, definitely you're miserable, and just to mention your mum and your wife, emily, emily.
Nathan Millett:Yeah, so she's still a big influence on that as well, because she still says come on, come and talk to these people. I think being in the police as well makes you very I know it does. It makes you wary about the whole world around you. Yes, so then you don't trust. Well, you don't trust anyone, yes, or anywhere. So she's very good at noticing when I've gone back into that and drags me out of it. Wonderful. I used to be the person that if you go into a restaurant, I've got to sit with my back to the wall so I can see everyone who comes in. You're doing the Bourne identity yeah.
Nathan Millett:Like a really rubbish version of that. Yeah, but yeah, she's, she's brought me out of that now and I don't. I don't feel the need to be watching what every single person's doing in there and yeah, and I do now have conversations with people and she does take the mix. Sometimes she said, oh, I had a conversation with them, did you?
Chris Grimes:I started chatting to people and like, yeah, so you've got a people whisperer and a landscape whisperer. Yeah, what's going on? Yeah, I think that's your shapeages, is that right? So now, um, it's my, it's my structure, but I was sometimes getting lost with the numbers, and now it's three things that inspire you. Uh, good luck interpreting how two of you divide three by two.
Ruben Millett:Well, I'll do the first ones what inspires me is seeing all the successful not just landscapers like building companies on tiktok and all of that someone like uh I don't know if you heard of them lawn stripes and hedges mark marshall. He's very good at it and, um, he's very successful now so he goes to america and stuff and does all these different events. So hopefully one day in the future that's sort of what I'll be doing.
Chris Grimes:That's what keeps me going and have you got in touch with them to tell them that you admire them? And no, no, I haven't, but you can always should do. People love it when you blow a bit of happy smoke and they'll help you with anything.
Ruben Millett:So, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Chris Grimes:So that's what keeps me driven so you've got super ambition as to are you on instagram quite heavily at the moment? Yeah, yeah, we've got instagram and tiktok and facebook, all of it. We'll mention your handles at the end as well. I promise that's great. Thank you for that Next influencer.
Nathan Millett:So my music is quite a big one for me, so I use it to be motivated to do something. I go to the gym. I use it in the office quite a bit, so I'm in my own on the office quite often and I've got an office playlist of kind of. So give us three tracks on the playlist. Oh, I'm not entirely sure, because they're all dance music. Oh, okay, I was into dance music when I was at school, so that's still stuck with me. So I do like all types of music, but dance music I use for the gym and for working.
Chris Grimes:And any particular favourite one, because my podcast editor, dan, is brilliant at texturing in music whenever someone mentions it any anything from kind of the ibiza times in the late 90s.
Nathan Millett:So born slippy insomnia by faithless. That is a very, very good track. So, yeah, so I do use dance music for working and for going to the gym, and now listening to Auras, there's a little texture of that track.
Chris Grimes:Thank you, Dan, you've made it magic Awesome.
Nathan Millett:So, yeah, that's a big influence. Foo Fighters is my kind of favourite band. Yeah, dave Grohl is a brilliant storyteller within his music and he's got his own autobiography which he narrates as well. That's a really good listen. But, yeah, music really does influence me quite a bit and helps me relax or helps me get motivated as well. And the other one is businesses that are disruptive type thinking, like I. Really this is going to sound really simple, but uber rate you can rate the driver and the driver can rate the customer. Yes, how good is that? In landscaping, we get rated, but it doesn't always go the other way around, yes, so that's about being selective about who you want as customers, as well as exactly't it Exactly?
Nathan Millett:yeah, so Uber, if someone's got a low rating, I guess they banked them off the app and you can't order an Uber anymore. So I think little things like that, you know they're really Happy disruptors. Yeah, for the betterment of everyone, what's always been done? Yeah, and just changed it slightly. And then when you see that change, you think that's obvious. Yeah, why didn't anyone do that before?
Chris Grimes:Yeah, but it just takes someone to think about it, and they've disrupted the world in all sorts of seismic ways, uber, because the whole world of how you get a lift anywhere is totally transformed.
Nathan Millett:Yeah, exactly yeah, there's another one. There's an insurance company and I can't remember what it's called. I did write it down Lemonade Insurance. So they use AI to underwrite insurance, so assess the risk and anything left over. So it does it constantly. So, rather than beginning of the year, this is what the risk is. You're going to pay this. It assesses the risk continuously, so if there's anything you overpaid, it goes to a charity that you've selected. Wow, it's really good it's using. Ai, so it's embracing what's coming, do you use?
Chris Grimes:Lemonade yourself as an insurance? No, I don't. You just admire them from afar.
Nathan Millett:Yeah, I haven't quite found the right thing to use them for yet, yeah, but I just thought that was a really brilliant way of change, like insurance has been the way it is forever, uh, and I just sort of just changed it a little bit.
Chris Grimes:So, disruptors are an inspiration, influence me. And now we're on to the. This is borrowed from the film up. Have you seen it? Yeah, where the dog goes, oh, squirrels. So these are your squirrels of distraction. Just going to chuck a squirrel at you so I?
Ruben Millett:I get loads of random thoughts in my head, like different well, they call them stupid questions but I keep coming up with things. There's one of them. You keep finding funny, don't you? I suddenly come out of nowhere once and ask do dogs laugh?
Chris Grimes:I keep getting random silly thoughts like that. So your own squirrel is what you're saying.
Ruben Millett:Yeah, my own squirrel.
Nathan Millett:Random thoughts in your own head. Yeah, reuben the squirrel.
Chris Grimes:Yeah, you call that the squirrel. Henceforth he will be known as Ruben.
Ruben Millett:That's me yeah, and I just keep coming up with stupid questions and it keeps you entertained. Yeah, other things like what colour is a mirror, random stuff. So yeah, I'm the distractions myself really any other randoms that you can cite?
Nathan Millett:there's so many. Me and my wife both say we should keep a book of the things he comes up with. Yeah, but like we laugh about it. But it does just show that he thinks about things critically. I'm always thinking, yeah, so it makes him. He's a really good problem solver, which is brilliant in the landscaping, because he kind of calms me down because I'm a bit of a stressor. And then because he's young, he's still very laid back and relaxed. So I'll be like how are we going to do this? It's not going to work. It's not going to work and he's like it'll be fine just tell you to shut up, do it and in all my episodes, no one ever has described themselves as being their own squirrel so congratulations
Nathan Millett:that's the first yeah, I am my own squirrel.
Chris Grimes:That's the book title hello I, I am my own squirrel by reuben millett and uh, conversely so mine's views of nature.
Nathan Millett:That has come from the, my ptsd and my counseling. I've found what kind of calms me. So I've seen horrendous things and and some of the tasks we've had to do have still haunt me now. So it's not gone. So I still have moments where I'll drive past somewhere and think, dealt with that there, dealt with that there.
Chris Grimes:There's almost like a map in your mind of previous trauma.
Nathan Millett:I suppose there's one particular job and there's a few of us that have the same trigger for this job, and it's a windsock, which sounds ridiculous because it was nothing to do with what we were doing. It was just next to a location of a really horrific car accident. It was multiple vehicles and then so we've done the recovery of bits of people so that there's some sort of dignity and what families have got left behind, and that there was a windsock next to it. So, oddly enough, there was a job we were doing. I didn't tell you about this. The job we were doing in bath, with the gravel path.
Nathan Millett:Yeah, for some obscure reason, in the neighbour's garden is a miniature version of a windsock. I do remember that I'm doing this path and I think what is that noise? I can hear ching ching of metal against a pole and I look up and there's this windsock. And that's taken me back to this. Not only is it a horrendous incident, but then what we had to do within it. People don't understand that that was a role that the police do, you know, and it's just ridiculous. How? Yeah, I won't go into it, but that's very profound what you're saying.
Chris Grimes:It's tough, you know it's tough to so. Ptsd is something that stays with. It's not something you can just get over.
Nathan Millett:Yeah yeah, you don't just get over it and when you think you're doing okay, you could be in a garden Triggered by a windsock Doing landscaping, and then, for some random reason, someone's got a in their garden, yeah, and you're taken back there instantly. Yes, uh, and part of I think part of my problem having a creative mind is that and I found this through through the counselling is I can. I can produce an 8k video image in my mind. Wow, not just 4k yeah, oh yeah yeah, yeah, um, not just.
Nathan Millett:It's not just. I'll remember that it is. I am suddenly I'm no longer building a planter bed, which is fun to do and relaxing, just from hearing I see in a windsock, I am in a white suit, blue gloves, on a motorway. Wow, it's, yeah, it's. That makes complete sense recovering, recovering bit.
Nathan Millett:So I need something to take me out of that, and that is I've refined it and it is as simple as stop looking at the windsock, turn around, look at the tops of those trees, sun's out, blue sky, stop listen, I can hear birds singing and that you know that takes me out and then, ultimately, I suppose, if you go really macro, you go back to your clearing, which is the, the fence, the cactus, the blue sky, yeah, yeah, so sorry, I can create happy places pretty much wherever I am, as long as there is nature there.
Nathan Millett:So, yeah, so that that that takes me out of things, and I think I was. I was a bit like that when I was in the police as well, because a lot of the tasks we do so we covered the entire force area. So a lot of tasks we did were the entire force area of Avon and Somerset. So we drive around in in the vans that you see, team of six or seven of us.
Nathan Millett:You go and do something that might be pretty stressful or horrendous and then there'll be an hour and a half drive back and I always found myself this is gonna sound really basic just sat staring out the window, because driving through somerset is actually pretty beautiful, but I would just sit and stare out the window at something. I think. I think the basis of it is something that is pure, uncorrupted, untouched by humans. Yeah, because you know, I kind of got myself to a point where humans are bad, because you see the worst of people or the worst that can happen to people, so you try and avoid that. Yes, I think lots of times we would have gone and done something that was horrible. Where do I put it? It gets shuffled to the back of your mind, ready to come out years later and then stare out a window at the countryside of Somerset, as a default, as a factory set, yeah, exactly yeah, controlet as a default as a factory set.
Nathan Millett:Yeah, exactly yeah. Control-alt-delete yes.
Chris Grimes:Control-Alt-Delete. Lovely, that's back to carriage computers, yeah.
Nathan Millett:If in doubt, turn it off and switch it back on again.
Chris Grimes:Yes, if only we could do that with many people we know.
Ruben Millett:Only kidding, yeah.
Chris Grimes:So now we're on to the one quirkier unusual fact about you. We couldn't possibly know about you until you tell us and that would be the end of shaking the tree you couldn't really think of one could you no.
Ruben Millett:So I've got a very unusual one. Go on About my toe. Yeah, go on, tell them that one. My middle toe is longer than my pinky finger. That's an unusual fact. That's very freaky.
Chris Grimes:Yeah, are we going to whomp your leg on the table?
Nathan Millett:it's not time to do that you don't want to see it.
Chris Grimes:No, it's true middle toe longer than your pinky finger, yeah, which my friends find very funny about.
Ruben Millett:I'm sure they'll be watching this and laughing now.
Chris Grimes:Excellent Again. No one's ever said that before. Yeah.
Ruben Millett:That is unusual, that's unusual.
Nathan Millett:And now I've got a GCSE in pottery Awesome. Do you want to tell us any more about that? Well, that came about because so I did GCSE art and the art teacher was quite strict, very old school, so I went to quite an old school type school that's not the right phrase.
Nathan Millett:An old-fashioned type school with some old teachers that were very strict. I don't think things like caning had disappeared that long before I'd got there. So I thought how brilliant I can do art, because that's where I flourished a little bit. Because I've recently learned in my 40s that I'm actually dyslexic, which explains a lot about how I grew up and what I was like at school, which I wish I knew at the time because it would have explained a lot and I think I might have been a bit different. I don't know, and I think if I describe myself how I was at school and young, someone would probably say that might be ADHD. I do recognize some of the symptoms in that in myself. So I was quite disruptive at school. I got kicked out of two junior schools, yeah.
Chris Grimes:Early age disruptor yeah.
Nathan Millett:I think I just struggled with school in general, yeah, and then was a bit of an outcast as a reason of it, and then my way of dealing with that was kind of just being disruptive and then being a potter.
Chris Grimes:Yeah.
Nathan Millett:That then led on to a meeting with my headmaster at my junior school, who he didn't like me. He told my parents I would never amount to anything, yeah, which he kind of had a point at the time. So they then decided I think my mum decided I'll show you very much like that, yeah, yeah. So they then paid for me to go to private school for my last two years of junior school. And so I need to say for the, the couple that ran that school, mr and Mrs Lawson I don't know if they're what they're doing now. They don't run the school anymore, but this was a school called Cleve House in Knoll. They just showed some love and patience with me.
Chris Grimes:You often hear that about foster parents as well, don't you the idea that you've just got to show a bit of unconditional?
Nathan Millett:love and then. So they got me to a point of a disruptive kid who just got into fights and caused trouble, pottery, pottery, yeah, to the point where at the end of primary school year I don't know what that is now year six, year six, year six I was third in the class and I'd passed my 11 plus to go to some of the Bristol private schools, which I think my dad was then gutted about because then he had to pay some more money. I did, I, and I got scores that got me a scholarship as well. So that's how I ended up at an old-fashioned school. I went to qeh in bristol, okay, um, yeah. So that's how I ended up at that type of school.
Nathan Millett:But then I I'd left Mr and Mrs Lawson and gone into this big wide world of secondary school, private school, and I think I slipped back into dyslexic, possibly ADHD. Yeah, you're not very clever. The only thing you do is sport and a bit of art. So that's how I flipped back into, back into that. Right, I just do sport. I'm not that clever, fine. So I didn't really get much out of school other than a b in gcsv, pottery lovely, because that pottery teacher, similar to mr and mrs lawson showed me a bit of patience and a bit of understanding and didn't give me any restrictions on what I should be doing for gcse pottery. She just went.
Chris Grimes:You make what you want, and I sincerely hope mr and mrs lawson are somewhere out there listening, because that's a wonderful way to get that sort of you made all the difference.
Nathan Millett:They did a fantastic job for someone who was a bit of an issue, so thank you to them okay.
Chris Grimes:So nathan rubin millet, we have shaken your tree, hurrah. Next we stay in the clearing, move away from the tree, and now we're going to talk about alchemy and gold. When you're at purpose and in flow, what are you absolutely happiest doing in what you're here to bring to the world.
Ruben Millett:I love problem solving. So when any problems come up in work, say for like, if there's deck in and there's a slight angle that's come up, I love just sort of figuring out ways around stuff. Or all the time, if I'm doing something, I'm thinking is there a faster way of doing this, is there a stronger way of doing this? So that's what I'm best at. Really aren't I, yeah, and I enjoy doing that a lot.
Chris Grimes:What an asset. That's awesome yeah for any, any social grouping. That's an asset. You know, come the zombie apocalypse we'll need people like that basically, yeah and it's not that far away. Is it the zombie apocalypse?
Nathan Millett:and uh, your answer to that uh, so mine is is the designing element of it and making that emotional connection with people. Although I said I'm not that great in conversations, the moment I start I'm stood in someone's garden and start talking about designs, themes, what is their inspiration, what do they want from it, and I start to understand how could they emotionally connect to this garden and make their life better and that sounds dramatic, but how many people are right there?
Nathan Millett:got a busy job, maybe got, you know, young family. So life is stressful enough. Where do you go and sit outside and where's your reset? Where's your control? Alt? Delete space in your garden and that's the.
Chris Grimes:That's the bit you're curating clearings for other people, to use my own vocabulary. Yeah, yeah, so that that's the bit. You're curating clearings for other people, to use my own vocabulary.
Nathan Millett:Yeah yeah, so that that's the bit I really love doing and I feel that's what I should be doing and that's what I'm good at and to your own copy within the narrow landscaping website.
Chris Grimes:It's more than gardens. It's outdoor sanctuaries to support your well-being. Yeah, and then I love how clear your linkedin profile as well. We're going to point people to that too. Wellness gardens for professional suffering with stress. So there's a sort of a deep connection to the spirit. It's holistic, basically holistic.
Nathan Millett:Yeah and it doesn't have to be. I know we call it wellness gardens. It doesn't have to be the entire garden made over. It could be as small as one seat, with some sort of planting, maybe a water feature nearby or something that has got texture, a sound to it, that you can sit there, have a coffee, either after work or in the morning before you go, and just have that lovely, that moment that that I get.
Chris Grimes:It's almost almost a shut off space and just to lock everything else outside so I love that within the design there is the deliberate intention to give them that precious spot within it I want to give people what I found helped me, yes, and got me to the point where I I now live with ptsd.
Chris Grimes:It doesn't rule me, yeah, I just live with it and I notice it now and again and I've got things to do around that and in terms of your, your typical clients, are you getting over approaches from people who completely get that whole cut and thrust and are getting in touch with you with stress to say this will help me a mix, I think.
Nathan Millett:I think because we, because it's something slightly different people aren't quite aware of what it is yet. Yeah, which I'm hoping they'll be more aware of it After this Soon, that's the idea.
Nathan Millett:But what we tend to get is people who just they thought they wanted normal landscaping, yeah, and then I start to talk to them about what about this type of space? If you sat here, yes, I kind of put them there. So if you sat here, it could, this could happen. Yeah, those types of things, or yeah, always, I always kind of design and advise from the emotional connection. So, even so, I've described a solo seat. This is very like calm and you should be doing yoga in front of it. It's not all about that. What could be your reset is sat down with family. Yes, so an outdoor's. Not all about that. What could be your reset is sat down with family. Yes, so an outdoor kitchen and dining area. Yeah, that could be a wellness space, because your reset of itself.
Chris Grimes:It's not woo woo. It's actually really just natural.
Chris Grimes:It's just holistically healing it could be your reset is to sit down and and just let family be and sit and listen to them and those types of things and again, just the pragmatism of it being called narrow because of Nathan and Ruben, but backed up now by happy, happy, profound accident by the Japanese and the Nigerian philosophy. Yeah, this is awesome stuff. And now I'm going to award you with a cake. Hurrah, so this is a dog's toy. So, again, don't eat it. But that's the cake. Do you like cake? The pair of you?
Nathan Millett:Yes, A little bit too much when this explodes into being.
Chris Grimes:I have met a company in Bristol called Anna's Cakes. Guess what she makes. I think we follow them. We follow them on Instagram and if you're out there, anna, we're going to get to a point where you'll definitely get the cake, but for now it's a virtual cake. Sorry about that, but what's your favourite type of cake? Victoria sponge, I like you Nice and simple.
Nathan Millett:Yeah, mine's the same.
Chris Grimes:Agreement. Again, david, I'll change it then.
Nathan Millett:Lemon drizzle have you thought of going into business together.
Chris Grimes:Are you sure, not yet so you now get to put a cherry on the cake, which is stuff like what's a favourite inspirational quote that's always given you sucker first of all you towards your future.
Ruben Millett:So favorite quotes mine's um you miss 100 of shots you don't take. So that's why I always say just yes to everything. Really don't they. Yeah, starting the business, I just said yeah, why not? Because worse it can happen is it don't work out say the quote again it's great, this is reincorporation yes, you miss 100 of the shots. You don't take proper philosophy that is.
Chris Grimes:I remember when I first met you uh, nathan as well, you went home. So I'm going to ask reuben about the podcast. You obviously said yes, straight away. Yeah it is yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, and I didn't know whether that was going to be a tough ask or not. I thought it would be okay and he was like, yeah, I'll do that. He's a pussy cat, we know that.
Nathan Millett:He'll say and your own quote. Uh, so I've got two different ones. I'm going to read, because I keep forgetting the exact words of this one. But this one came from Dwight Eisenhower, us president, and was a war general before that. So in preparing for battle, plans are useless but planning is indispensable.
Nathan Millett:So I really like that because I found through the police you can't go into anything. So not battle, but you can't go and do a task without a plan. But the moment you start that task you have to be adaptable because that plan will not go as you wrote it on a piece of paper, because life isn't like that. So I really like that and I found that from reading the Book of War, which I was doing in some preparation for rugby coaching, and then I found that. And I found that from reading the book of war, which I was doing in some preparation for rugby coaching, and then I found that and I thought I really like that.
Nathan Millett:But there is a very simple version of it by Mike Tyson. Every man has a plan until he gets punched in the face, which is very simple, but it's the same thing. You can have a plan until the point you start doing what you're supposed to be doing, getting punched in the face, and then you have to adapt and that plan might completely go out the window. You might find your way back to it when you're lost, but you've got to have a plan and I wonder if ai would now interpret that quote by somebody called tyson eisenhower yeah for me or mike eisenhower.
Chris Grimes:That's lovely. Now, with the gift of hindsight and this is going to be an interesting question, I know with the gift of hindsight, what notes help or advice might you proffer different ages, that you are to a younger version of yourself?
Ruben Millett:well, it's quite difficult for me because I still am my younger self now, but yeah, you did struggle coming up with this one, didn't you? Yeah, I suppose, just keep going, really didn't I?
Chris Grimes:That's great. That's pulling you forward as well. Yeah, yeah, just keep going.
Ruben Millett:Just keep going.
Chris Grimes:My favourite quote from Finding Nemo is Dory the fish going, Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming. Bizarrely, that quote got me through the pandemic.
Nathan Millett:It's good advice, brilliant.
Chris Grimes:And so now, what's the best piece of advice you've ever been given by somebody else? We know you had some crap advice from your careers advisor. What's the best piece of advice you've ever been given by somebody else? I think we've got one each, haven't we?
Ruben Millett:Yeah, mine's measure twice. Cut once Proper craftsman. Yeah, I've made that mistakes way too many times and now I measure three times.
Chris Grimes:So do you know I'm an over diy turnip and I don't usually use the word turnip. It's got an f and a w in it at front width at diy so, um, that's a great quote from a proper craftsman, a man who belongs at the coalface of holding the tools uh, mine's.
Nathan Millett:Mine's quite a strange one. So this is come from an old police colleague, dale. I won't say his full name because I don't know what job he's doing now, so I don't want to give too much away. So, dale was you know, you've got a person in a group who's always really quiet, but the moment they say something, everyone stops and listens, or it's the funniest thing you've ever heard. So this, this was Dale, very dry sense of humor, but also very switched on, logical in the way he thought. So he didn't say a lot, but when he did say to them it was absolute gold.
Nathan Millett:So, as you can imagine, with six or seven police officers that spend eight to ten hours at least a day, you start to moan about a few things, start to, you know, put the world to rights. And he used to say, whilst we're talking, our peaks and troughs. And I kind of let this go for a few weeks until I eventually I turned, I went what are you on about peaks and troughs? And he was saying, if you think something's going wrong and you think you're in a trough, you might not be, you might be on a peak and things could get a lot worse. And I was like, yeah, yeah, I see that. And he said and when you think things are going well, you've got to be prepared, there's going to be a trough. So when you think you're on a peak, there's a trough coming. So you got to be prepared for it. And it was a moment of just silence whilst I fathomed it out and tried to apply it to different scenarios and I was like, yeah, yeah, that does work. Yeah, so that has always stuck with me.
Nathan Millett:There's not much of an explanation to it, it is just peaks and troughs. And attribute it to who? Again? Who said it? Dale, dale, dale. His name, first name, was dale, and peaks and troughs. And attribute it to who? Again? Who said it? Dale, dale, dale, his first name was Dale, and Peaks and troughs, peaks and troughs. And I still use it now. So if I'm thinking, oh, this ain't going right, or I'm moaning about something, I just say to myself Peaks and troughs, and then crack on with it. Great philosophy.
Chris Grimes:We're ramping, but just before we get there we're going to reincorporate. Now the pass the golden baton moment. They don't like it that much, mr menry, but who would you most like, having experienced this from within, to pass the golden baton along to, to keep the golden thread of the storytelling?
Nathan Millett:going. So mine is, uh, matt shepherd, so we mentioned him earlier. So rugby coach of mine when I was 22 to about 25, I think, and at that age you think you know everything, easy target, yeah. So I think I was fairly difficult to coach rugby. I was, yeah which is ironic now because I coach rugby and I can think of those people that were me difficult to coach. And when he offered me a job the first thing I said was thank you, and I need to apologize to you perhaps how I was when you coached me. But he said no, no, bother. So he his story.
Nathan Millett:He was a teacher and I think he he got fairly high up in teaching.
Nathan Millett:At one point he ran the Bristol Bears Academy, yeah, so he's done very well.
Nathan Millett:And then I think he got despondent with the world of teaching, found it particularly stressful and then had a moment of stuff this I'm going to do something else, what I know about.
Nathan Millett:So he started a company called Switch Rugby. So they run camps and training sessions for I think it's now 11 to 15 year olds, boys and girls, and that is kind of development camps to get them into rugby in the first place but also get them up to a standard that if they wanted to go down the route of bristol bears academy bath academy locally as well then they've had the input of what is expected of them and their skill sets are at a level where they could probably achieve that. And yeah, they're really really, really good camps and I enjoyed coaching on those. And also he runs a another company called strata professional development, which is kind of leadership coaching within business, that type of thing. So he's now using all of his experience from teaching and the level he got to in teaching and all his rugby, yeah, into his own business and I think he'd probably have a pretty good story of how he got there where can we find you on the?
Nathan Millett:internet. So narrow landscaping dot co dot. Uk. You can go there and you can get in contact with us. There's a contact form and you can have a little look about what we do and how we can help you. But if you think you need any sort of help advice, get in contact with us and we can help you out. Also, we are narrow landscapes es on the end on instagram and facebook as well, so go on, have a look at what we do. There's some videos of us kind of behind the scenes type stuff as well, so you can see who we are and then you can message us on there. That seems to be the way that everybody works these days. Have a look at stuff on Instagram. I like that message and it bypasses all the old fashioned business ways of getting in contact with people, so I really like it. It's really easy and I enjoyed researching.
Chris Grimes:You've got some great reviews. All intention to detail and craftsmanship in every aspect was meticulous, so you are really good. We know that and so go look there. There's also a connect with nathan millett on linkedin as a qr code coming up, so where can we find you there?
Nathan Millett:yeah, just search my name, nathan Millett. Two Ts on the end and then, yeah, that's directed towards the business stuff we do, or business to other working professionals. Yes, because that seemed to fit LinkedIn a little bit better.
Chris Grimes:So go and find these awesome people on the old interweb. And now, inspired by Shakespeare, all the world has teedred all the bedred. We're merely players. I went to the Ryslovic Theatre School, so I'm being a bit sort of slightly theatrical poncy now. But borrowed from the Seven Ages of man speech how, when all is said and done, would you most like to be remembered?
Nathan Millett:I find this question really difficult because how do I say this? I don't see myself as someone who anyone should be interested in for to leave anything behind for someone else other than my family and my kids. So my legacy that I would be happy with is they've picked something up from me that is positive, whether that's in how they behave, how they think of people, how they see the world. Do they get to see enough of the world? I think young people are a little bit too stuck in I've got to get a job, I've got to get this, I've got to go to this college and stuff like that. There is a world out there that is pretty amazing. Some of it is a bit risky and a bit dangerous, but there's only a small percentage of it. So go out and see the world. Go and find out what are people like, learn how to get along with people, learn how you don't get along with people that's a skill as well, so that I think just life lessons to my kids, that'll be enough for me.
Chris Grimes:Love that. Thank you. Just let that hang there, yep, and now Ruben.
Ruben Millett:Mine's sort of going back to my quote is that you miss 100% shots you don't take. So I just want to be remembered as someone who's just done anything that's thrown at him.
Chris Grimes:Be a yes man and just get through life like that and come the day when there's a grey stone saying you miss all the shots. Let's see if Get through life like that and come the day when there's a grey stone saying you missed all the shots, they'll assume you missed one.
Ruben Millett:that's why you're there. Yeah, you missed 99% of the shots.
Chris Grimes:Oh, we missed one. None of us are getting out of here alive, so obviously someday that could be the comedy to give somebody a giggle, and that's our legacy. That's the point. That's good, as this has been your moment in the sunshine, in the good, listening to show stories of distinction and genius.
Nathan Millett:Is there anything else, nathan and ruben millet from naru landscaping, you'd like to say don't go out in your garden and think, patio lawn tree, bush, yeah, think it doesn't have to be that way, you know, and I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but just think about it slightly different. Or ask us to come and help you Think about it slightly different. Is AstroTurf an option? It can be, but your garden can work for you and don't just go along with what has always been done Patio, lawn tree. There's plenty of things that can be done and it needs to be focused on you as the person. It's your garden. You're going to live in it after we've gone, so it's got to be the thing you want, yes, and the thing that will work for you and improve your life thank you.
Chris Grimes:Anything else to?
Ruben Millett:add I think same words again. Really I'm sort of stealing your words if I say anymore. But um, yeah, just make your garden what's right for you, because at the end of the day you're going to be the one sat in it lovely philosophy couple of announcements from me.
Chris Grimes:If you've enjoyed the show and you'd like a conversation about guesting too, then the show website. This could be another courtney show as you qr code, please. There is the website for the show, which is goodlistening2showcom. This has been a founder story and sort of best of Bristol, bristol Voices Hybrid and obviously what we've explored or what we've experienced is just what's happened. And then very, very excitingly, there's also a brand new. Well, it's been there in the mountainscape of the goodlistening2showcom all along, but there is a series strand called legacylifereflectionscom which is to record the story of somebody near, dear or close to you for posterity, lest we forget before it's too late, using the unique story scape of this show. So I've been chris grimes, a motivational comedian broadcaster, facilitated to coach.
Chris Grimes:Rob bryden is coming to do a live theater show version at the red grave theater here where I'm based in bristol, on the 5th of show version at the Redgrave Theatre here where I'm based in Bristol, on the 5th of July. At the Redgrave Theatre, hot cakes are going like tickets. See what I did there Nearly sold out, but there's about sort of 20 tickets left. There you go. I've been Chris Grimes but most importantly, this has been Nathan and Ruben Millett from Nauru Landscaping.
Chris Grimes:Anything else you'd like to say, get in contact with us, get us in your garden, get them in their garden. I love that. So, uh, thank you very much indeed. Good night. You've been listening to the good listening to show with me, chris grimes. If you'd like to be in the show too, or indeed gift an episode to capture the story of someone else, with me as your host, then you can find out how care of the series strands at the goodlistening2showcom website, and one of these series strands is called Brand Strand Founder Stories For business owners like you to be able to tell your company story, talk about your purpose and amplify your brand. Together we get into the who, the what, the how, the why you do, what you do, and then, crucially, we find out exactly where we can come and find you to work with you and to book your services. Tune in next week for more stories from the Clearing and don't forget to subscribe and review wherever you get your podcasts.