Jim Taggart found his inspiration selling afternoon newspapers to working men stopping at the pubs of West Ryde on their way home, at the age of 13.
The lad from Ermington raised by a single mother may not have known it then, but he had a gift for standing out for the right reasons, of doing a job given to him well.
Taggart credits his boyhood of being nurtured and inspired by his close-knit working class community for giving him the grounding that set him on the right path in life.
“I had the support and warmth of so many people growing up, a lot from my mates’ families. They taught me so much,” he said.
Doing a good day’s work for its own satisfaction was one of the important lessons that came from his hard-working community.
The West Ryde newsagent no doubt appreciated that in his dynamo paperboy.
“I ran between the two pubs with my barrow, from about 5.30pm to just after 6, before I had to cycle home by 7, selling as many papers as I could,” Taggart tells the Times, still misty-eyed over those early days.
“I was at the front, the back and the side of the pubs getting men coming and going to buy the paper.”
A keen footballer and cricketer, young Jim had the physical vigour to be a super-paperboy, but it was the capacity to develop trust and a can-do attitude that has stood him in good stead for the rest of his life.
Jim Taggart will be a speaker at the Blacktown Bouncing Back FREE event on November 16 at Blacktown Workers Club on the subject of Success Mindset and Networking. To register and see more go HERE
The young Taggart was developing the stand-out skills for which he is known - hard work, tenacity, understanding of the human condition, and the gift of the gab.
But integrity, in a me-me culture, is a quality of which he is most proud.
“I’m a man of my word, my handshake as solid as any 10 page contract,” Taggart, said.
While Taggart is a good speaker when he is MCing at fund-raising events for the organisations he helps, he also is a good listener.
“I always learn from people, as much as they learn from me. And I always try to understand where people are coming from. And the last thing I am is judgemental of others. I always say you have to walk a mile in someone’s moccasins to understand them,” Taggart said.
Over the years, he has worked with groups such as the Salvation Army, St Vincent de Paul and other Catholic organisations, the Parramatta-based Community Migrant Resource Centre, police citizens club, chambers of commerce and local government, advising and helping drive fund-raising projects, often being the MC at events.
He is particularly interested in projects focussing on youth, families, the homeless and refugees.
Leaving school at 15, Taggart worked various jobs while studying part-time for teacher’s college.
He made it there by 20, happy to be on his way. At that point, his ambition was to become a school principal. He made it to deputy before deciding to go into his financial services business.
In his business, he was still teaching and guiding people and also making a decent living for his family - wife Carol, whom he met when they were teenagers, and their four children.
“I liked educating people, making them comfortable with their decisions,” Taggart said.
It is that ability to show people the way, to take an idea and make it a reality, that sees Taggart as a valuable partner to not for profit and community organisations.
With his connections in the business and political worlds, Taggart is able to guide organisations through networking to achieve their goals.
“I love bringing people together and also showing them how to pave their own path,” he said.
Needless to say, Taggart shows the same qualities as a father and grandfather as he does as community mentor.
“If you want your kids and grandkids to be good people, honour the promises you make to them and help them with the challenges of childhood and life” he said.
At 67, and with a healthy lifestyle of walking and gym work, hopefully Jim Taggart is a long way from “being in the box”.
But, when he is, he hopes he is remembered as a “good bloke”.
No-one who knows the Ermington boy who has made his mark on a troubled world would contradict this.
