Leader Lenny: “I’d been thinking about teaching for ten years.”
A retired carpenter from Newcastle. Spent his working life in commercial joinery; spent his retirement running a Saturday shed session for half a dozen mates. One Workshop later, he’s reaching makers in every state.
A Saturday shed session, half a dozen blokes.
Lenny retired in 2022 after 40-something years in commercial joinery. The Saturday sessions started informally: a couple of mates would bring something they were stuck on, Lenny would walk them through it over a cup of tea. Word spread within his local club. Within a year he had six regulars and a waiting list.
He’d thought about teaching properly for as long as he could remember. He’d looked at YouTube. Looked at TAFE. Looked at writing a book. Each one was a different mountain to climb, and he was 67 years old.
His grandson sent him a Facebook ad.
Lenny’s grandson Liam (24, in software) had been hearing about MingleIn from a friend’s older sister who was an early Host. He sent Lenny a link to the First Workshop page on a Sunday afternoon with the message “Pop, this might actually be the thing for you.”
Lenny signed up the following Tuesday. The welcome email arrived within the hour with the founder’s 5-minute intro video. Liam came over that weekend and they watched the free Host onboarding Workshop together. By the end of it Lenny had his first Workshop topic: “Your first hand-cut dovetail joint, no power tools.”
iPhone, garage, two Saturdays.
Lenny recorded the Workshop over two Saturday mornings in his garage. He used his iPhone 12 propped on a tripod from Bunnings ($14.95). Natural light from the open garage door. His grandson edited the footage on a laptop the following weekend.
The Workshop went live on 2026-03-22. Lenny still doesn’t fully understand how the upload worked; Liam handled the technical bits and the in-platform Workshop Studio walked them through the rest. The first sale arrived 17 minutes after launch.
The numbers, late March to end-May.
Lenny’s Earnings have more than covered the last six months of his occasional contract work, on a fraction of the time. His Saturday shed session still runs; some of his Workshop Members now travel to attend it in person.
Workshop two is half-recorded.
Lenny’s working on his second Workshop (“Your first chest of drawers, in pine, no nails”). It’s longer than the first and more ambitious, but he’s not nervous about the recording any more. The pattern is the pattern. He knows what shape it takes now.
He’s also informally mentoring two other retired tradesmen who want to come on as Hosts. The Community Growth Fund will recognise him when they publish their first Workshops.