Shed Geek Podcast
The Shed Geek Podcast offers an in depth analysis of the ever growing and robust Shed Industry. Listeners will experience a variety of guests who identify or specialize in particular niche areas of the Shed Industry. You will be engaged as you hear amateur and professional personalities discuss topics such as: Shed hauling, sales, marketing, Rent to Own, shed history, shed faith, and much more. Host Shannon Latham is a self proclaimed "Shed Geek" who attempts to take you through discussions that are as exciting as the industry itself. Listeners of this podcast include those who play a role directly or indirectly with the Shed Industry itself.
Shed Geek Podcast
Expanding Your Building Business Beyond Wood Sheds
The building industry is transforming rapidly, and standing still means getting left behind. In this energetic episode, Jared and Eric break down their journey from wood shed dealers to metal building experts and now pole barn providers, revealing how strategic diversification has been their secret to sustained growth.
"Don't only sell wood sheds," Eric emphasizes, challenging shed lot owners nationwide to expand their horizons. The duo candidly discusses how their business evolved when they recognized the limitations of the wood shed market and seized opportunities in metal buildings. Now, with the launch of Five Rivers Pole Barns offering national kits and turnkey construction in Ohio, they're expanding once again.
This episode doesn't shy away from industry pain points—particularly the growing tension between manufacturers selling online and the dealers who represent them. "If you're a dealer doing high volume for a manufacturer and they're selling online competing against you, you need to pivot," Jared advises with characteristic frankness. Their solution? Control more of the process with pole barns while maintaining their established business lines.
Beyond business strategy, this conversation highlights the importance of finding the right team members and partners. Their pole barn expert Adam, who "knows more than us," has proven instrumental in their newest venture. The hosts also announce their participation in the upcoming Construction Roleforming Show in Dayton on October 1-2, where they'll record their first live podcast.
Whether you're already in the building business or considering entering it, this episode delivers actionable insights on diversification, adaptation, and relationship-building. Connect with the Steel Kings at thesteelkings.com and discover how expanding your product offerings could transform your business just as it transformed theirs.
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Hey, what's up, guys? This is Jared and Eric. We are the Steel Kings. We are back for another episode. This is episode number 24. So we are getting there checking you guys out on a Wednesday. So, eric, we are trying to catch up here a little bit. Brother, we have been behind the gun man. It is the busy season. We are getting into the thick of things pole barns, steel buildings, wood sheds, you name it. We do it all. But, brother, it's good to see you. Man, I feel like I haven't seen you.
Eric:We're on number 24? 24. 24. Who?
Jared:was a famous baseball player with the number 24. I think the one you're looking for might be Griffey but even maybe. But better than Griffey, even better than Griffey. Oh, that's tough man willie mays hayes baby there you go, man, you might have to.
Eric:Barry Bonds.
Jared:Manny Ramirez. There you go, bro. I'm a Griffey fan, we're Reds fans. We're Reds fans at heart.
Eric:He finally just came off the Reds payroll last year Wow.
Jared:They post-dated all of his money he's officially not employed at the Reds. That was a good contract for Griffey. I think he saw more injury time than he did time on the field. Am I right? Yeah, that hamstring, yep, yep, yep, it would never get better.
Eric:It's good to catch up. I feel like I haven't been on an episode in a minute, so probably lots to chat about. Personally and work wise, we're making some moves.
Jared:Yeah, man, we uh, we interviewed Rodney, so I think you guys were recording this on the Wednesday.
Jared:One of you guys just got Rodney's yeah With state rep creatures interview. Love that guy. Um, big shout out to him on his Senate run. And we interviewed while you were gone. I interviewed Gary Reichert from Shield Wall Media. You guys got that episode. We're going to be at the role forming show this coming October. Yeah, it's coming up, so we're going to be hanging out with Gary. It's going to be right around the corner and, yeah, I'm excited for that man we interviewed well, I didn't interview Shannon and I just got on and hung out. We did probably about 45 minutes, so you guys are going to be coming off that episode.
Jared:And we talked about role forming show. We talked about Steel Sales Professionals Facebook page. If you guys haven't gotten on the Steel Sales Professionals page on Facebook, check it out. If you guys haven't gotten on the Steel Sales Professionals page on Facebook, check it out. Again, just looking to curate content, create a little bit of a community among us that are doing this thing we like to call steel building sales. So see how we're coming along. So, man, it's been a good couple of weeks, man, but I've missed you, so I'm glad to have you back.
Eric:Man, I'm glad to be at work, dude. I was in Belize for that week and then I was at missions bootcamp that's hosted by the church there and I I feel like when I came up for air, I was naked and afraid for work because I was like, where do you even begin?
Jared:to rack. You sounded like you sounded. You sounded like it man by the end of it.
Eric:By the end of it, I thought you were pretty ready to come back. To be honest, yeah, I'm getting back, but you know, I think the wedge of the time that took coming off of steel building sales um, coming off a steel building sales, which I still am going to partake in, but really moving into um building this uh new business that we've all agreed on, which we've kind of hinted at, if you're listening uh, five rivers, pole barns, where we, we dish out a national pole barn kit. So if you're somewhere looking for a pole barn kit and you want stamp trusses, the material and a packing list plus instructions, we got you covered. And then turnkey in Ohio. So we're building a website back-end system. We got a guy that wants to be in charge. He's obviously the guy, so he's kind of taking this. So, man, it's nice.
Jared:We're kind of at the beginning stages of that and yeah, yeah, it's good man, I mean it's, it's always good to be working with people. So you know, uh, our friend Adam, who's been with us at Dayton Barns for I don't know, about three years now his background just spoke to pole barns and he knows more than us and that's always good to have somebody on your team that is all knowledgeable when it comes to permitting things like. And he knows more than us and that's always good to have somebody on your team that is all knowledgeable when it comes to permitting and things like that.
Eric:And he's not shy to tell you that he knows more than you without telling you he knows more than you. He is, he just knows more than you. So you better fall in line.
Jared:It's easier to admit it. It's easier to admit it Cause the second, the second that you try to the second you try to have a disagreement, brother. If you're wrong, let me tell you something.
Jared:You're about ready to get tuned up right upside the head and I'll tell you, man, I mean, it's a perfect example. We talk about it all the time Finding the right people, finding the right place, being in the right spot at the right time. Adam came to us. I honestly don't even remember how I found Adam. I think Adam just showed up one day and just stopped, you know, just didn't ever leave. I feel like he just showed up one day and was like man, I really want to work here, and I don't know if he was just one of those, wasn't?
Eric:wasn't part of a hiring squad. Oh, he was kind of like a solo.
Jared:He showed up like on a random day of the week, just for no reason, and he like wouldn't stop showing up. He was like I really want to work here and at first. You know, the ironic part is and this is like foresight so if you've got somebody on your team that you might not be jiving with, you know Eric can attest to this I manage the team inside, so I'm here every day grinding away. You guys see me in different spots of the office depending on where I set up my rig for the day. But you know, today we're in my new cubicle, so I've joined the sales team right here and of course we're flying the stars and stripes.
Jared:But I can tell you I did not like Adam. I hired him. He was a great hire but at first man, it was just personalities clash and uh, we gave Adam a lot of opportunities and he went and ran one of our shed lots for a short period of time and uh, it just wasn't. It wasn't the right fit for him. He's got so many skills outside of just selling things that we had to really work together to figure out a path that would work. And his patience and our patience have paid off. It's pretty significantly, honestly, because, uh, five rivers has been a lot of fun. Man, we're, uh, we're moving right along. Man, projects are going up, projects are getting sold, um, leads are coming in, which is crazy to me.
Jared:I mean, we're sitting on yeah, I mean we're sitting right now. I mean I'm sure you guys are feeling the punch. If you guys are out there slinging sheds, selling metal buildings, the leads are hard to get, man, I don't you know. We get, we get all these.
Jared:No we, we, we, we have a pretty good setup right, we have, you know, not easy.
Jared:No, we have a pretty good setup right. We have, you know, seo and marketing and Google and meta and all that stuff. But I mean, if you guys are sitting back and you guys are trying to do this stuff on your own, I know you're getting bombarded with, hey, we can help you get leads. And then you call these people and they're like, yeah, it's like $4,000 a month and it's I don't even remember. The last one that called us Eric was like that we're going to, we're going to give you 10 points for $4,000 a month. And then you start looking at what the points are and like one point is a Facebook post and I'm like, are you insane? Like I'm not paying you $4,000 a month? I mean it was more than that. And then they want a piece of the ad by and they want all this stuff. I want to. I want to let you guys know they were in Philadelphia.
Jared:Okay, there you go. There you go, um, check out the team. I you know I'm going to do a cheap plug right here. Check out the team over at shed geek marketing. Let let Shannon help you out with your marketing. If you're working on steel buildings or wood sheds, give those guys over there a call. They'll be happy to give you a consultation. Give you the truth, they're doing some pretty radical things in the woodshed space.
Jared:So I know a lot of you out there are on a woodshed lot and maybe you're having a successful year. We are not. Woodsheds are not on our priority list, are they, eric? I mean, right now, it's the least important part of our business puzzle, it's. You know, we love the guys at SDI. You guys saw them on an episode a couple months ago and we do anything for them, including continue to sell sheds that are expensive. Right, I mean, you know we're in a struggle because we want to sell online, and selling online is very hard when you don't have the best price. I mean it is almost impossible. It's hard. And there I mean, am I wrong?
Jared:I mean, I'm in the grind. We've sold a lot. We I mean we've, we have, we have, we have we have.
Jared:We have, I mean a down is still a good year for most shed lots. The problem is is we have overhead, you know it does, it's not free it's not free to sit in this office.
Eric:We we did pro tips. I got away with pro tips. Don't only sell wood sheds. Yeah, yeah, yes, I'm looking at the camera. I'm talking to you, lazy bum that won't try to figure out how to sell a carport, get a carport on your lot. Yeah, I'm coming after you because you should. Yeah, because then when you get the carports, I had a guy I am not lying at that missions boot camp.
Eric:His name is Gregory bond. He lives in Missouri. He's an old guy, older pastor guy, super great guy. Lived a long life of of just all sorts of travel and stuff.
Eric:His son, or his son-in-law, owns a shed lot in Southern Illinois and was trying to, and Greg had shared our link, our Facebook page, with the guy and I said reach out, we got a podcast. I've sent the info there, but listen to us on podcast. If you want to rap about how to sell a 30 by 50 metal building, you should call me on the phone and because the guy was receptive to it and so also be coachable too. So if you do want to level up, that means that you've never done it before and you need some help, maybe some guidance or something. Listen in to us. I know we're just a bunch of knuckleheads ripping, but we know how to sell sheds, we know how to sell metal barns and we know how to do pole barns. We we know how to sell sheds, we know how to sell metal barns and we know how to do pole barns. We can't say our way is the only way, but we definitely can push you in the right direction.
Jared:I think what we're transitioning to is more of a sounding board, right? I mean, I want to encourage you. If you're sitting on a shed lot, I'll interview you. I'll talk about your business. I don't. Yeah, that'd be fun.
Jared:We're not, eric and I are not in the business of keeping everything tight to the vest. I think you guys are picking up on that pretty quickly Now. Will we show you on this show our ads manager? No, are we going to show you individual nuances about our business? Absolutely not. But we will tell you that selling metal buildings is only the right thing to do all the time.
Jared:If you're sitting on a shed lot, you need to be selling metal buildings. I cannot stress this enough to you. As long as it doesn't affect your agreement that you might have with your manufacturer, selling metal buildings on a wood shed lot is never going to hurt you. You might have with your manufacturer. Selling metal buildings on a wood shed lot is never going to hurt you. You're just going to draw in additional eyes. Metal manufacturers across the United States are happy to set up demonstration buildings with you.
Jared:We've talked about companies along the way reliable metal buildings, American Steel, eagle, carports these companies that have been in business for a long time and know what they're doing, they'll probably provide you a demo. If you have a halfway decent lot and I mean what hurts about free, you know, taking that initial step, that initiative to like learn about it. I feel like we haven't stressed this enough lately. I mean, that's what, what? What our business? You know, eric, built the business on wood sheds and then really started to take the next level and gravitate to carports. When carports became a thing, when carport buildings really started to explode, like late 2019, 2020 through COVID, that's when Dayton Barns was able to scale. I mean, I don't know, eric, maybe you can comment on this. I mean, if you would have never sold metal buildings, we wouldn't be on this podcast.
Jared:I mean it's true, there's no possibility in the world. You know, and I know, there's a lot of successful shed lots, and I'm not taking that away from anybody. You know, if you're successful selling sheds and you're making enough, great, I mean, I'm not. I'm not here to tell you what to do. I'm just here to tell you that if you do it the right way and you work with the right people, you can make significantly more income for your family, for yourself, and also give your customers another option. I mean we've had so many customers that have bought a shed over the years that have come back and bought a metal building. I mean, it's easy.
Eric:Yeah, somebody Parkister from Middletown bought a second one two weeks ago from me. Yep, he wasn't even in our back end system. That's how old it was Yep, that's crazy.
Jared:So he was probably a OG, Dayton Barns customer, og order yeah, even before the CRM. So I mean we've had the CRM now for gosh five years, four and a half, something like that I want to say four years.
Eric:We pretty much made it a year without it. I would say I got it in august of 2020, uh, 2020, so about five. No, October 2019. I got it. It in August of the following year.
Jared:Okay, yeah, I mean, I don't think Just five years.
Eric:We're coming up on six years of being in business. That's actually kind of.
Jared:Crazy, it's kind of crazy.
Jared:It's kind of crazy. Yeah, I mean it's reflective right it's kind of crazy.
Jared:As we continue to expand Kind of crazy, and you know again, we've talked about this a lot where if you guys are ready to make a move, the time's now to do it. I mean, I don't know. I mean I think I've never seen Eric hesitate, okay, and I think that might be one of Eric's greatest traits and also one of his greatest weaknesses, but if you can make it count, it's a strength all the time. When you don't hesitate to make a move, that's better for you, the business, for yourself, for your family, for your employees, whatever that is. If you're ready to do it, stop talking about it and just do it. I mean, I think, from my personal perspective, I wouldn't be here without it, I wouldn't be on this podcast, I wouldn't be selling metal buildings, I wouldn't be doing this had Eric not seen fit to keep his head down and never really hesitate from what he's doing. And I love that about you, bro, I really do.
Advertisement:Oh no. Sam, what's going on? Are you okay? Yes, I'm fine, Lisa. I was just trying to get a screwdriver and all this other stuff fell down. I'm ready to go buy a shed so we can have some space in this garage again.
Advertisement:I agree, I keep looking at the shed Mr Jenkins bought. Let's ask him where I got his.
Advertisement:Mr Jenkins bought, let's ask him where I got his Howdy neighbor. We're wondering how do you like your shed? I love it. It's exactly what I needed and I couldn't have asked for a better service. And where did you get it? Hmm, I can't remember, but let me check Something. This nice will probably have the builder's name on it somewhere. Hmm, no, I'm sorry I can't find, but let me check Something. This nice will probably have the builder's name on it somewhere. Hmm, no, I'm sorry I can't find a name anywhere. Well, we finally got a shed.
Advertisement:Yes, I just hope we're happy. The thing is a lot more shoddy than I expected, and I'm sure I told them I wanted a window, but they didn't have it in the paperwork so I couldn't argue. Boy is this a lousy shed. We haven't even had it two years, have we?
Advertisement:Barely. It was just a bad deal all the way around. Mr Jenkins told me the other day that he likes his shed so much he wants to get a second one, but he still can't remember where he got it.
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Eric:that and it's weird.
Eric:I think for the first time in a long time I'm working on something else that's not sheds or metal buildings exclusively, and so that's a good. That's a big level up. Um, we met with the team. We will share a picture. We'll share that picture we took at breakfast yesterday. So you kind of know, um, you know lot. A lot of business development is relationship building. You want to know who the people are, what makes them tick, what their family's like, what do they do with their free time, like you just want to connect with them on any particular level because the work becomes easy side effect, you know, and yeah.
Jared:So yeah, I mean I, I think you know the interesting part, you know, and uh, yeah, so yeah, I mean I I think you know the interesting part, you know to give you a little deep dive behind the scenes as I'm coughing in my microphone, I've got a little bit of a scratch in my throat today, but you know I'm sitting here working leads and I mean we couldn't be busier. I mean I don't. I don't know where you guys are at. You know we're getting the leads right now. Right now is the time to be really focusing in on getting your sales, because August, September, October you've got basically 90 days at this point to make a difference for your year end, because we all know November and December it ain't what it is in August, that's for sure. So I mean I don't know. I think, from my perspective, the market's changed so much for steel buildings over the last year and a half um, that if you're not racing to the bottom, you're not competing the way you used to, and that's why the pivot for us to pole barns makes complete sense, because we have control the process. You know, it's something for us where now we have contractors and we have partners lined up to where they are going to install the buildings. We're doing it from start to finish and that that feeling of satisfaction that comes from that project.
Jared:I just sent out another invoice this morning for a for a second payment. So this is one where a customer paid a down deposit to get the kid ordered. We've now done second payment. This means construction begins. I don't know, man, I just had this like really good feeling in my soul. Like man, this is where we want to be, and metal buildings now becomes a compliment piece, and I think that I can't stress enough. Had Eric not seen fit I want to keep stressing this If Eric didn't have the vision and the wherewithal to drive us to metal buildings from wood sheds, and now, collaboratively, because I've come on board, he and I can drive the business to pole barns while also maintaining what we do with steel and wood sheds. It just makes our, it makes our business that much bigger and better. And anyone's capable, right, I mean, we're not. I'm not anything special, I don't.
Jared:We're not, I'm not anything special.
Jared:I don't think Eric would say that he's anything special. I mean we're, you know, we're smart, we're savvy, we're charismatic, we're all of those things. We get on a podcast, you know, once in a while and talk to you guys, but I mean there's nothing that's that unique about us. Find what's unique about you and make it work.
Eric:You know what I mean, everybody's got something special about them?
Eric:I don't know how do you feel about that? You look like you're getting busy too. Um, I'm uh, I've got a. You know I a few years ago the business wasn't mature enough to take on pool barns. We had a chance to do it. Tim came, you know. We've met um right scenario, wrong time, so there's a season for everything. And, um, I think that was a good seed plant because we went back to it when someone else validated it that wasn't even involved in that, which is our builder, um and so on.
Eric:An example here the best you because every you know I'm a praying guy if you, if you, if you're looking for something, you'll normally get confirmation from it, like right away, whether you should do it or not. Like, essentially, should you waste your time with this or not? We had two metal building leads that turned to pole barns, because I was able to talk about both on the same phone call, and so that's like how many times, if you're listening to this episode, how many times did somebody want a garage portable building that was $13,000? Let's say it had a side door, two windows and then a roll-up door in the front. Let's just call it a 12 by 32 or something, and let's call it 10K. Or you could sell somebody an 18 by 20 metal building with no floor for 8K. And you were able to sell one of the two things because you were able to give that person the thing they would not find anywhere else, which was knowledge on multiple topics.
Eric:And so, up the ante, from a metal building to a pole barn, I was able to break down cost, delivery, timeframe, footing requirements for a metal building, what the pad costs for it, any sort of details about that permitting process with the generics or stamped. And then the guy said, man, I really want a pole barn. It was like maybe 10 more K. I broke that down for him. Knowledge in the construction industry now is becoming a quest of mine. I would say I was telling my wife and you yesterday at the breakfast I don't think I suck at selling pole barns, I'm just keeping myself low on the level of that because I just have drive that I know I'm taking every phone call, I'm taking every CRM form, I'm taking every little nook and cranny to get somebody on the phone to talk to me. That way we can start building off of it.
Jared:It's hard, bro. It's hard bro, because here's the thing you were a master selling wood sheds, right. You became a master. You came from nothing, became the sensei, actually, and then you were a student of metal buildings, you know, yeah, I mean, you were the student of metal buildings, right, and with the help of a few, the help of a you know a few manufacturing partners and a couple of really good dealer reps, you became a master and then you became a sensei and, like bro, you were the sensei for metal buildings for the longest time. And the best part about being in that role is that you can empower people then to do work for you and do what you do. And that's where I come in. Somebody like me who you know, came in. I mean, I knew a little bit, right, I mean I bought a building and all that You're also a customer.
Eric:Yeah, you're also a customer that went through the whole thing building and all that. You're also a customer.
Jared:Yeah, you're also a customer that went through the whole thing. Yep, yep, I saw the vision, you know. I saw the vision that Eric had. When Eric was sitting in a shed lot in Huber Heights and selling wood sheds and carports, um, I knew what it could be. Um, I think, probably I think I saw the vision for where we were going to be even before Eric did, because I wasn't an owner, I wasn't even part of the company, I was just a customer.
Jared:And when I started to think about dang okay, he just made 600 bucks and I knocked on his door, a matter of fact, I brought him, I brought him the, I brought him the, I brought him the order form. I had already done the design, I did all the work, you know, and I called all steel at the time. It was all steel carboards and they're like yeah, you know, we've got a couple of dealers local to you. We give back and see, that's the way it should be. If you're not working with manufacturers that send your leads back to you, don't worry about it. I agree.
Jared:I can tell you that that relationship there was spun off of a good dealer manufacturer relationship. We wouldn't be on this podcast without it. There's so many things that have to happen, intertwined just perfectly, for you to be exactly where you are. Think about what would have happened if you made one change in your walk. How much different things could be. And that's what I think about a lot with Eric and I is that had I come on earlier, would we be further along?
Jared:I think Eric and I have both settled into the fact that we had to learn, we had to fall off the horse a couple of times, and that means bad business partners not that they were bad people, they were just not the right business partners. It means that you're going to slow down, it means you're going to take a couple steps back before you can run a mile forward. And that's what I've really enjoyed this last, you know, year, year and a half of it just being me and Eric Um, I've really enjoyed that time. And things like the steel Kings podcast come up and things like the opportunity to sell pole barns because, eric's right, we had an opportunity, man, and as a company, um, I didn't have the say or the leverage. That, you know, and maybe it hurt my feelings, I think Eric, you know Eric talked to me about that because it did.
Jared:I mean, eric, I was salty, right, I mean I was a pretty salty. I was a pretty salty, salty dog. I had worked to get us this relationship for pole barns and materials and I, just I saw the writing on the wall even a year ago, like hey, pole barns are where. And I just I saw the writing on the wall even a year ago, like hey, pole barns are where it's at. But we didn't have the right partners and you know, I I saw it right.
Jared:I mean, I've been going to trade shows, I've been talking to people in the industry. Metal buildings are always going to be a thing, right, but as I've said on this podcast and as I try to rally the troops this is really a rallying the troops moment I wish I could get some patriotic themes, as I got the red, white and blue behind me. If you're a dealer doing high volume for a manufacturer and they're selling online and competing against you, you need to pivot. We're going to pivot. I'll tell you right now. If you're listening to this podcast and you expect, orders from Dayton.
Jared:Barns and you're selling online, you better expect to get orders from somebody else, because I'm tired, sick and tired of my cost per result going up because I'm competing against people that have bigger pocketbooks than me, and we're selling the same product.
Jared:We're selling the same product. We should be working together. If anything, hey, I'll forego another commission up. Give me $2,000 a month to market your products and stay away from my territory, because I do it better than you anyways. I do it better than you anyways. I've got a team of reps in here. What are you going to do? You're going to hire somebody to do what I do. Good luck with that going to do. You're going to hire somebody to do what I do? Good luck with that. You're not going to hire me and you're darn sure not going to hire anybody that has my skill set in this industry right now. And you know, hopefully Shannon doesn't mute me because I know he's got the ultimate mute button, but it's not calling out anybody particular. It's really just a call to action for all you guys out there who are selling carports and metal buildings. If you see an advertisement from your manufacturer, do something about it. Call them and tell them why are you selling inside? Those are my leads.
Jared:I would never have been with Dayton Barns and All Steel Buildings as a customer or as an employee or as an owner, if the dealer-manufacturer relationship hadn't been what it was. They said oh, we don't sell directly to customers, we sell through a dealer network. We've got a couple guys nearby, closest one to use right. It was at the corner of Olive Road and Free Pike in Trotwood, Ohio, right there, and there was a shed lot there for years they sold, uh, prairie built barns. They sold prairie built barns and all steel carports. And man, was that guy ever nice and the only thing that kept me from buying from him was he didn't have a metal building demo. And he said man, I know a guy who's got one. He's in huber heights and you should go up there and check it out, but make sure what was that guy's name?
Jared:I think his name was Daryl he lived in, I think his name fort Wayne did he live in fort Wayne? No, that was the owner.
Jared:He had a guy there, he had a guy from an older, an older black guy that I had seen a lot in town and I didn't say that in any sort of way. I just if daryl's listen. I think his name was Daryl Um, he, I grew up in Trotwood, so I grew up literally less than a mile from that shed lot. I can remember riding my bike through sheds and I think they sold even something else before Prairie built. They had been there a million and a million and one years. Matter of fact, the ironic part about it is Eric and I looked at that lot when they finally closed it down. I think they did a large number of rent to own out of that, out of that spot.
Eric:I remember them being I worked, I, I worked there for like three months when my brother-in-law owned it. Yep, yep, and it was a 10 barn sale a month type of deal oh yeah, it wasn't, it wasn't. It wasn't big enough, and you're right, everything was rented out in there. Yeah, it was RTO. I don't know what's going on at that I think it's a car lot now, isn't it a car lot?
Jared:No, it's empty, bro, it's empty right now. So I mean, if you're looking for a shed lot, I mean Trotwood's not the nicest place in the world. Matter of fact, what's ironic is the whole strip there, the main drag where I used to live. Man, they got like a brand new library. They got a courthouse there, eric, they got all kinds of stuff. Try to think of what intersection it is, it's at Olive Road and Free Pike yeah.
Jared:So if you go down Olive Road it becomes I know what you mean now it becomes Olive Road goes out to 35, old 35, and then free pike turns into north main street through trotwood but like where the food town was, all that stuff's, you know, the food town, I think, is still there but it's empty. But they've got like a grismer tire, they've got all kinds of stuff and it'd be a hopping little spot. But eric's right, the spot's too small, it doesn't have good in and out. I think that's one of the things we're figuring out about our shed lots is you can have the best spot in the world, but if you can't pull in there, what good is it? It's hard to sell sheds when you can't get customers on the lot parked and ready to go.
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Jared:I feel like we're jumping around bro bro, I mean we're hitting it today, and I mean we're both, and I think the reason why we're doing that is because it's been so long since we've talked to each other. See, that's the thing we when we say eric's in belize, I mean he's in belize. Like we're not talking, like, oh well, he's in belize and that's just that's quote, for he's not available for a podcast. It means he's in belize. We're not talking like oh well, he's in Belize and that's quote, for he's not available for a podcast. It means he's in Belize for two weeks doing mission work. And I'm sitting here trying to figure out when I'm going to talk to my best friend again because he's been missing.
Eric:Hey, I slid an order over Bro. Eric worked.
Jared:I got to be honest with you, eric found some really good Wi-Fi.
Eric:Hey, eric found some really good Wi-Fi. Hey, eric, found the hotel had good coffee. Yeah, great coffee and good Wi-Fi.
Jared:You have better Wi-Fi than Jeff. Our friend Jeff's in the Philippines right now and that brother can't find a cell signal or a Wi-Fi signal.
Eric:You know I don't know man. Eric, can you hear?
Jared:me now. Can you hear me now? Yeah, yeah, jeff, are you watching the podcast? If so, find some Wi-Fi. For goodness sakes, find some Wi-Fi. I don't know, man, we've had an interesting few weeks. I think it's funny now because I see the Dayton Barns logo on my shirt, I see the Five Rivers logo on your shirt and there's just something like oh yeah, there's something fun about that, you know. I mean like we're sitting here. We're sitting here, I mean we're in this, you know we're in this closing deals.
Eric:Man, I'm working on a deal. I'll share it with, uh, our editor at shed geek so you guys can see kind of what where my eyes have been darting to I've been looking at. I got a guy who, who honestly went through. We got a new supplier of metal I'm not going to say their name, but a different connection or whatever man and I don't know if you want to say their name but man, they've got banging pricing. They've got a lot of different options that no one else has reach out reach out to us, I think.
Jared:I think for now we're going to keep that one close down on us.
Jared:But if you, if you really want to, if you really want a good metal metal supplier, hit up Jared at the steel, kings, eric at the steel. We've got a couple of good. Well, we'll send you. We'll send you some goodies. I think what we want to do is, you know, we don't reason to hate on us, including current manufacturers, because, again, we're the guys who work with everybody. We try to be even Steve, and I will tell you, the one that is really helping us out right now is Reliable Metal Buildings, reliable Metal.
Jared:If you are in Texas or Ohio.
Jared:I can tell you right now, if you need supplies, if you happen to be an installer, hit up the guys at Heartland Building Supply. Really good guys, mike and his team there do a fantastic job. And I'm not talking about just throwing them up and then quick and easy. I'm talking big projects. We've got a couple biggies coming up that I cannot wait to share with you guys, one of which is going to go on a college campus, a major university campus, to cover some football equipment Going into football season. And this is a major, major, major school. We're not talking, you know, I don't even know anything about football. It's the school, yeah, it's the school. So I can tell you, I can tell you, I can tell you it's going to be really cool. We're going to take pictures and we'll share those with you guys. I can tell you, man, I need to do a little bit of housekeeping. We can tell you right now the episode is always sponsored by our friends over at J Money Give Joel the opportunity to work with you.
Jared:If you were sitting on a wood shed lot and you don't have any way to offer to your customers other than rent to own, you are living 10 years ago. Rent to own is still a good product. If you're working with an RTO company that you like, stay right in your lane, offer RTO. But for those customers who are qualified, financing is the way to go. You can get your money up front, give it to your manufacturers, make sure all is copacetic. Contact the team at J Money. They are happy to help you out and get you some financing for your customers so that payments don't become an issue. Bro, they will. I mean, I can tell you, dude. I just talked to Joel the other day and I can tell you this Joel cares about all of his clients to the max and I was going to say he cares about them more than they should. But to be honest with you, that's at his discretion and I can tell you he cares about them more than I think I could. Not that I would. He gives his time, he gives his effort, he gives his skin to make sure that deals go through, that things get done. Um, I cannot give him enough thanks right now on this call or on this podcast, because I can tell you we wouldn't be doing it without eric and I don't make really any money off this podcast for the time invested for the, just the, just the bandwidth of the StreamYard. So we use StreamYard. We're happy with that, the equipment. Shannon's been more than grace, just applying tons of grace to our schedule. I know that getting you guys content is really where it's at. I'm gonna see if Shannon will do something for me that will help us generate content for you.
Jared:I want to do like a survey, some sort of response. What do you guys want to hear from the Steel Kings? Do you guys like when we get on and riff? We love getting on and riffing. We get you guys tons of content of me and Eric going back and forth. We can do builds together. We can work leads together, whatever you want. You want to see more interviews you want? You want to see more interviews? Do you want to see more solo stuff? Do you want us to bring Shannon in for, for, for spots? Um, I think if you guys haven't listened to the episode with Shannon, check out last week's episode. I think Shannon and I got into some good stuff. We followed up on Rodney. We followed up on role forming show. I do want to talk about er Eric real quick before we were getting. We were just running out of time today. Let me pull up. Let me pull up the role forming show.
Eric:So I'm going to go ahead.
Jared:Yeah, I'm going to go ahead and bring it in here. I think it's that important to what we're talking about here.
Eric:Let me I believe we'll be live there.
Jared:We are going to try to do our first live Steel Kings podcast at the Construction Roleforming Show October 1 and 2, Dayton Convention Center. Man, this is like 15 minutes from my house. I cannot wait to be in our backyard talking about our new business, talking about our podcast. The guys over at Shield Wall Media let me just give them a shout. Gary has been more than apt at getting us what we need. If you guys are interested in becoming an exhibitor or going to the show as a uh, as a patron, check out roll forming magazine and check out construction roll forming show. Um, man, I can't wait. October one and two we're going to be there, we're going to shake and howdy with everybody. Um, it looks like a great time. Eric bro, this is the first time I'm going to go to this one, so I'm pretty excited. Man, what about you?
Eric:Yeah, just uh, uh, just uh, uh, listening, uh, or looking at who's gonna be there. Um, really looking forward to. Um, yeah, I'm, yeah, I know it's right in our backyard off po road, but the, the north american trade association for pole barns should be there. I'm excited to meet with them. I met them down in Knoxville. I believe Graber our, our friends from Graber will be there, Gary, obviously I haven't shook his hand before, so looking forward to meeting him and really honestly anybody.
Eric:we know for certain there will be people there that we know that are going to put two and two together and be like, yeah, our friends over at VersaBend will be there.
Jared:Yeah, Wendell and his team will be there. I think Shannon and his lovely wife are going to grace us with their presence. So it'll be the Shed Geek with the Steel Kings. I can tell you this Randy Chafee, who does a podcast, a friend of the show, trying to get connected with him, he actually came and visited us here in Urbana. I guess it's been about a month ago. I think I'm going to do his podcast coming up. We'll get him on an episode of the Steel Kings. But I'll tell you, man, informational seminars, lots of good information. Again, Gary was on the show and the way he described it was these are shows where you do business. These are not shows where people are chit-chatting. This is shows where, if you need something, you can find it and we are happy to be part of it. The Construction Roleforming Show October 1 and 2, Dayton, Ohio Convention Center. Brother, I think we're good for today, man, we will be there as the Steel Kings.
Eric:That is correct.
Jared:That is correct. So if you want to know more information about anything that we do, check us out. Jeff has the. I think we can actually do this for the first time too, while we're in a screen sharing kind of mood, real quickly on the way out, I think we can share this for the very first time on the steel kings podcast. Yes, sir, yeah, it is. It is live and ready to go. What is it? Let me pull it out here. Shannon, give me a drum roll on the edit here. So if you want to contact the Steel Kings, check out thesteelkings. com. We've got listings to the episodes. You can check us out online. Drop us a message here. This is my cell phone number. Ladies and gentlemen, check it out, send me a text message. Yeah, check it out. Send me a text message.
Jared:Eric at the Steel Kings, Jared at the Steel Kings, learn a little bit more about us and what we do. We are really striving to become good contacts in the industries that we touch. We don't know everything. We don't know everybody. We'd love to know more people. We'd love to shake and howdy with you If you're a pole, barn dealer, metal building dealer, shed dealer, whatever. If you want to see something. If you want us to talk about something, if you want our opinion, if you feel like we have a value to you, let us know, man, that feedback really does well for us. Give a like to Shannon. Give a like and a follow over to Shed Geek on YouTube.
Jared:We're really positioning ourselves to be that brand for Shannon where we can get people on the podcast to really create video content. I think that's where we want to be. We like that lane, we love our plane community friends and we are happy that Shannon's got us set up with his platform with all of our plane communities. So if you're on a dial in, don't fret, you're not missing out on much. You guys probably get the newsletter from Shannon to where everybody might be able to say, hey, I'd like to see this on the podcast, or I'd like to see that, or hey, I really like when you interview people, or I really like when you talk about business, I like when you do leads, whatever it is. The main thing is, man, we want to keep doing this, we want to keep having a good time with you guys and we want to be good stewards of the industry.
Eric:Who is behind?
Jared:you Right now. That is right now that, yeah, yeah, so I guess I can look at you go, eric. Look at you go. What can I say, man?
Eric:that's, that's that's it look familiar.
Jared:That's an eye. That's an eye like I've never seen. Brother, that is a fly, I can tell you, I can tell you I'm gonna finish up this episode. We're gonna finish up this episode. We're going to finish up this episode. I can tell you, get out in your communities and do something special for somebody and connect with us.
Eric:If you're coming from out of town in October, like, tell us ahead of time. If you want to grab dinner, it's on Jared and I Like. If you want to meet for lunch before after during, we want to take meetings. We want to interview you and put your business on the map on our platform. So just want to throw that out there, we're willing to go. The distance.
Jared:That's right. Check us out thesteelkings. com. I am Jared, he is Eric. As always, we are the Steel Kings. I want to leave you with. Get out in your community and do something, for goodness sakes. All right, I love you guys and we will talk to you soon next week, with another episode of the Steel Kings podcast. Check out the folks over at J Money. Check out Bursa Ben. Check out Shannon's show on Wednesday. Check out the guys over at Shed Geek Marketing. Have a great week, fellas and ladies, and we'll talk to you soon.
Jared:Go Reds, Peace out fellas.
Eric:They're on a heater.
Jared:That's right Later on guys.