Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This week's podcast is a little bit different. If you're from Cork, chances are you've heard of Colin Tobin. He's a man known for giving back, helping others and supporting his community. But what many people don't know is the journey that got him there.
From growing up in Gráinne Braugher and wanting to work from the age of just 12, Colin built businesses, took risks, experienced incredible success, but suffered devastating setbacks along the way. At one point, he lost almost 1.3 million euros and he's seen businesses fail, taking huge risks that have never worked out.
Yet sitting across from him today, there is no bitterness, no blame and no victim mentality. Instead, there is gratitude. This is a conversation about resilience, hard work, personal responsibility and why Colin believes that if you give without expectation, it will come back to you tenfold.
We talk about losing fortunes, starting over, work ethic, community and the lessons life teaches you when everything seems to be falling apart. More than anything, this is a story of a man who simply refuses to give up. If this story resonates with you, please leave a comment and hit that subscribe button. It really helps.
And as always, this episode is proudly sponsored by ADHD Now, the online clinic transforming ADHD assessment and care across Ireland. If you are seeking an ADHD assessment or support, visit adhdnow.com today.
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Chapter 2: How did Colin Tobin start his journey in business?
This is The Comeback with Colin Tobin. Colin Tobin, delighted to have you here. Actually, you put up a reel last week about how you lost over one million euros. And I got tagged several times in the post. That's true, yeah. Podcast, podcast, podcast, right? Turn off the comments. Yeah, well, no, I was delighted. And I said, do you know what?
Well, I replied to them going, oh, I'd love to do it if Colin's going to do it. Here you are now. I want to learn all about who Colin Tobin is because I think a lot of people are like, oh, Colin Tobin, you know, very prominent in the North Side, very prominent in Cork City for being so generous and helpful to so many people.
Chapter 3: What significant losses did Colin experience in his ventures?
But I suppose I want to know is who's the real Colin Tobin, where he grew up. From this aspect, Colin, you failed many, many times in your business ventures. I think people, they see what's on the surface as an all success. But for people listening, I think that might be in business or might be in personal issues or something like that.
So give me a bit of a background where you grew up and what it was like.
So I grew up in Grona Braugher with my mum and dad in a three-bedroom house, three-bedroom house in Grona. Lived in Grona Braugher for 30 years afterwards. Went to the Northman School, primary and secondary. Went to the Before Fives nursery, actually, long before that. Yeah, I suppose I would have always done a bit of bar work. I loved the bar trade.
I would have started DJing from a young age, you know. I suppose even though in my... Early career, I wouldn't have had many successes.
Chapter 4: How does Colin maintain a positive mindset after setbacks?
I always had kind of ideas, but I had ambition and I always kind of felt that there was a pulling to something bigger. But it did take me a couple of years to figure that out, you know. So, yeah, went to the Northman as a child, as a student, grew up in Gronabraher, lived there for 30 years afterwards. That's pretty much the start. Yeah, yeah.
And then did you want to go to college or did you just want to go into trade or you said you were working in bars?
I'll be honest, I had no ambition to go to college. It's kind of a regret of mine now. I wouldn't have minded even now to be able to say that I had a degree behind me. And it's something that I'm instilling on my son. My son is in his second year in business and... I didn't insist, obviously.
It's his own decision, but I'm very happy that he's in college, that someone in the family has gone to college. I suppose I'm not too proud of the fact to admit that my CAO forms are probably still in the same place in my mother's house as the day I received them.
Chapter 5: What lessons does Colin share about resilience and hard work?
I never opened them. I never filled them in. So I suppose back then I was kind of, I was working from a very young age. As I said, like I was always, I was always ambitious. I kind of, I always had a friend group considerably older than myself. Just kind of getting sidetracked here. My brother is three years older.
So I suppose when he was three and I was just born, a friend of ours to this day, two twins, Barry and David Hayes, they were walking down past my mother's house on Granabraha Road and they saw my brother playing in the garage. I was a baby probably in the pram at the time and we struck up a lifelong friendship.
The two lads are three years older than my brother, which would make them six years older than me. So I always had an older friend group And I suppose where that led me as I'm 11 and 12 years of age, they're kind of 17, 18, getting part time jobs, you know, working in factories, working in bars and restaurants.
And I was jealous that we were hanging around together and I had no walking around cash.
Chapter 6: How did Colin's early experiences shape his work ethic?
So like from a very young age, I always tried to work part time. I'll admit, actually, I suppose in hindsight, no, it was, you know, quite silly at times, quite dangerous. I mean, I remember I annoyed my mother for months when I was like 11 and 12 years of age. I kept on saying kind of quite smartly. I'm getting a job. I'm getting a job. And she rightly so would say to me, you're 12.
There's no one going to give you a job. There's no one going to give you a job. So friends of mine were working in that factory. Do you remember BG Turnkey or Banta Global Turnkey? Sure. I went up there at 12 and was laughed out the door respectfully. I mean, they said, like, kid, you're 12, you know. So I had to go back to the drawing board and make a new plan.
past super value in Holly Hill on the way home. And I said, right, I'm 12, but my brother's 15. I don't know, did I, before that or after it, did I take his PPS card or something, which was a proof of age. There was no CVs.
Chapter 7: What insights does Colin provide about giving back to the community?
The owner at the time was Noel McSweeney. I think this was long before the Singletons. And I walked in there and I was very brazen about it. Look, I'm 15, I'm 15. And I showed the proof of age card and I was up there the following day sweeping the floors.
Oh my God.
At 12. Yeah. So that's when I started my working career.
And then when your mom found out, what was she like?
Well, it was a bit of a kind of like I was kind of a bit cocky about it. Like, look, I'm ashamed to admit there was probably no one going to tell me. And I probably annoyed her and broke her down so much that I assured her how safe it was. I assured her how well run the place was. You know, I assured her how safe I'd be early nights. But I was still walking through.
Knock on a heeny at half 11 at night as a 12 year old on my own to walk down into Granobrahore, which wasn't ideal at the time. I suppose she was OK with it. Like, look, we weren't we weren't a particularly poor family. We were a normal family. But I suppose from a very young age, I was kind of proud and I was able to hand up a few quid. And I think in a household that probably needed that.
from like week two or week three, it was probably appreciated. And my mum kind of said, well, he loves it. He's going, he's still going to school. He's given me 50 quid. If he's happy, probably leave him off, you know. And I was safe. I was coming home. My homework was being done. I was going to school. So I think she kind of just reluctantly put up with it.
So that work ethic was instilled in you at such a young age?
Yeah, I don't know what it was. I suppose just maybe... Pride is probably the wrong word. Maybe ambition or maybe just the need for kind of my own independence, even at a young... I suppose having an older brother... And like, for example, the pub across the road from where we lived, which is the pub that I now own, my brother was offered a job when he was 14, 15 as a glass collector there.
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Chapter 8: What advice does Colin give to those feeling discouraged?
I just don't know why. And look, I could go on down a rabbit hole here. I won't, right? Because I know that's not what we're here to talk about. But I don't know why the social welfare is so giving. I don't know why, like, the social welfare is supposed to be a safety net. That, like the situation I just described, okay, a person's been working hard for the last 10 years.
They've paid their stamp. They're now out of work with a broken hand. Look after them for three months. He's paid his stamp. That's what it's there for. What I'm not okay with is just somebody, because their parents done it or because their aunt does it, oh yeah, you tornado, you know, go in there, that's your entitlement, that's your God-given right. It's not.
It's meant to be a safety net, not a way of life. And I'm sorry if that rubs people up the wrong way, but I think that people should be working. People should be working.
Well, especially people who are self-implied, entitled to nothing.
Yeah, yeah.
I think that's the hardest thing to get out of that role.
Punished and penalised, if anything, yeah.
Especially when you're paying so much tax and so much into the system. And then if you go bust self-employed, what is there for you?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. You would have to jump through some serious hoops, I feel, to be supported.
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