Shed Geek Podcast

STEEL KINGS: Post-Frame Wins

• Shed Geek Podcast • Season 6 • Episode 5

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Building WINS LIVE                                                Source One Marketing

Ready to sell buildings people feel safe choosing? We sat down with industry veteran Randy Chaffee to unpack how post-frame construction can unlock bigger, cleaner wins for dealers who currently sell sheds and tubular steel. The through-line is trust: customers buy who they know, like, trust, and feel safe with—and the fastest way to earn that feeling is to pair real expertise with credible partners and a clear path through codes and permitting.

We dig into the hybrid sales playbook that blends road relationships with digital leverage. Trade shows still matter, but video calls, configurators, and podcasts accelerate follow-through and keep projects moving when decisions stall. That “force multiplier” helps you serve more customers without losing the personal touch. We also break down the practical differences between steel and post-frame: where each shines, where approvals bog down, and why NFBA-backed standards, education, and advocacy give post-frame a smoother runway for mid- and high-ticket projects.

If you’ve ever lost a bid at the last minute because the client “thought it would be wood,” this conversation is your pivot plan. We map a smart on-ramp from small outbuildings to complex shops and barn dominiums, explain when to say no so your brand stays strong, and show how to “borrow” credibility from established manufacturers while you level up. Plus, we spotlight NFBA certification, peer networking, and the women in post-frame community shaping the industry’s future.

Join us in Oklahoma City, February 25–27, for the NFBA Conference and Expo to meet the people, tools, and ideas that will raise your margins and reduce friction. If this sparked ideas, subscribe, share it with a builder friend, and leave a quick review—then tell us the one obstacle keeping you from adding post-frame this quarter.

Join us, say hello on the floor, and bring your questions. Subscribe, share this with someone who needs a push, and leave a quick review to help more builders find the show.

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This episodes Sponsors:
Studio Sponsor: J Money LLC

INTRO:

Hey, this is Joel Oney at J Money in the Heart of the Buckeye State, and I want to personally welcome you to today's episode of the Steel Kings podcast with my good friends Jared Ledford and Eric Olson, better known as the Steel Kings. Be sure to check out JMoneyLLC.com for financing solutions for your buildings. And now let's get back to the Steel Kings podcast. Yeah, welcome. What I'll tell you, dude, is I am beyond excited. I am Jared Leford. It is time to get motivated about your business. It's time for some personal development. It's time to get out and shaking howdy with people. I can tell you, man, the Steel Kings are dude. We have busy. What one thing, I mean, if I could say one statement about the Shed Show, is that people need direct help from on market questions? I'm Jared. He's Eric. We are the get out in your communities, everybody, and do something good for somebody else. It'll make you feel better.

Jared:

Welcome back to another episode with us, and we are on episode number 43 total, but more importantly, episode number two of our featured series on the NFBA, heading to the NFBA trade expo, February the 25th through the 27th, 2026. I've got my invitation here. I want you guys to check that out. NFBA, uh National Frame Builders Association Conference and Expo, Oklahoma City. We're gonna be there. As always, we are sponsored by the team over at Defyned SEO, and Cal, and Idea Room, and Velocity360, J Money. We've got the whole team. Eric, my brother, what's going on, dude? How are you? Man, I'm doing great, bro.

Eric:

I'll tell you that that intro gets me hyped up.

Jared:

I'll tell you what, man, we are in a new year, it's 2026, and we are super excited to be working with you guys on your projects and your business going into this new year. So, what we're gonna do today is we're gonna actually have another we're gonna have we're gonna have a podcast guest on with us. So, all pun intended here. This guy has his own podcast, Eric. Are you excited?

Eric:

I've so at the roll form show in Dayton, he was doing a vertical right eck, and I thought in my mind, and I'm just saying it, he has the most radio voice of all time. That's what it's one of it's one of the most I used to listen to the WLLW 700 Reds cast, you know, and it's it you could you could sleep to you could just you just listen to him talk about anything forever. The guy's a wealth of knowledge, smooth as silk.

Jared:

He is just smooth, smooth as silk.

Eric:

Yeah, like on the yeah, on the Bible app, it should just have a Randy Chaffee uh voiceover, so you can just listen to it.

Jared:

So, you broke the ice, you broke the ice. We've got Randy Chaffee here. He is the owner and CEO of Source One Marketing. He has the Building Wins podcast, he is an Amazon best-selling author. His new book, Asphalt and Algorithms, a Road Warriors playbook for winning and sales, has been a hot, hot piece in our industry. I can tell you, man, I'm super excited to have him. We're gonna bring him in and let's see, Randy. What's up, dude? He's muted. He's muted okay. There you go.

Randy Chaffee:

I love you, man. Well, you know, I didn't I wonder you made me sound so good that I needed to you know bring it back to earth just a little bit.

Jared:

You were hyping yourself up. You were hyping yourself up so much. I could see him getting excited and smiling down there. I've got a preview screen. So, stays behind the curtain. When I'm looking at the screen here, I can see Eric and myself, I can see Randy waiting in the studio to come into the to the next level. And Randy's just sitting there like, man, he's got a big cheesy grin on his face. He's like, Man, I can't wait to get in here with these guys. No, I'm saying, quit talking so I can get on. I can tell you, I can tell you, this guy, this guy is connected in the post-frame industry. If you're hearing my voice and you see Randy, he is one of the nicest guys in any room that he's in. I promise you. He will literally talk to you. Don't hesitate to walk up to him. He wants to tell you all about what he does, all about the industry, NFBA, you name it. Randy, give us the 30-second synopsis on you, brother, from your straight from your you touched on Eric hit it right off the get-go.

Randy Chaffee:

That I love the voice compliment. Thank you, which is a nice and kind way of saying I have a face made for radio. So thank you for that. But uh anyway, uh, no, you hit it pretty well. I I I've about uh five decades now. I used to say, and some of my banners uh still say four plus uh decades in this industry, and that's only because I have a little vanity and I didn't want to sound quite so old. But uh the reality is I've been doing this forever in this industry. Yeah, um, and the bottom line is I'm a rep agency. I we rep manufacturers in the metal roofing and post frame and steel building world, uh wandering a little bit into the steep slope world as well, uh, which means I got to learn something again now, but uh that's okay. Um and I'm uh I'm a I'm an old school road warrior, man. I mean I grew up on the road, I built my cut my teeth and got the juice from the road, loved it, made a big transformation in the last five years, uh not away from the road, but addition to the road. And that's why I wrote the book. I was thank you for talking about it. Oops, right, camera angle there. But um I found out that there's a hybrid way of doing this thing. You know, we went into COVID and there was all this can't go anywhere. We're stuck. And what do I do? How do I get with customers? How do I get customer friends? How do I get with new customers? And started doing all this stuff, you know, reaching out virtual video, uh podcasting, guesting and hosting, all that stuff. And then all of a sudden there's this we're back to normal, but are we really back to normal, right? There's a force multiplier effect to the doing stuff we're doing here today, right? We're we'll re-spousers in a 30-minute deal, or I can go on the road today and catch up with three people plus a few four more phone calls, right? So it's just a force multiplying effect. So that's what I've been doing, you know, just living the life of the industry and trying to give back, you know. I uh you'd mentioned this this series is on the NFBA and what's coming up, and I'm blessed to have served on the board of directors for several years now. And the big reason for doing it, and I'll leave it with this, is you got to live in the industry, not just off the industry. And I think if you're blessed to have lived a long life in an industry, whatever that is, uh you need to give back, you need to be involved because uh I don't do it to get anything back, but I can tell you I get a thousand -fold back. Yeah, right. Just give. That's it's uh that's key. So that's what I've been doing forever. Um married kids, grandkids, you know, the whole thing, but who cares, right?

Jared:

No, no, I think that all that's important, but I think you touched on something that I want to I want you to I want you to hit on it more because I think that this is where specifically in post frame, there is this authenticity with most post frame guys. There is an authentic level that's different than shed guys, different than steel building guys. Post frame guys know their lane, they stick to it, and most of them that I know do it particularly well. They know exactly what to do, where they can do it, and they don't miss. So, what you're doing is you're taking that traditional relationship of the road, face-to-face communications, trade shows, and now you are being tech forward, you are mastering digital visibility. That's what I love about you because I mean we would be remiss. I would be remiss if I didn't say the Steel Kings looks to building wins, right? You've been doing this longer than us. We look at we look at the way that you do your podcast, it's extremely impressive. You've had me on there, and I think that that's one thing I love about you the most is that you're pulling us with you, right? You want the whole industry to do better. And we talk about that, we talk about that. Man, we probably mentioned that on every other episode, if not every episode, at least once. Our goal here is that a rising tide raises all boats. Exactly. We want everyone in the industry to win. And I mean, how better can you? I mean, building wins, right? I mean, to me, I just love that about you, and I want to say that at the top. I want to appreciate and thank you for that. Because you've been you've been an advocate for me, and we don't we don't know each other that well, right? I mean, we're acquaintances, right? But we've shared a couple of phone calls, we've hung out a couple of times, and I appreciate that from you, and that genuineness is what really I think gives you that there's a genuineness, there is an authenticness to Randy. Fair?

Randy Chaffee:

Well, I think that's fair, and I think that's something that I love that point, and thank you, by the way. And I will return the compliment because I mean it. I don't if you once you get to know me, I don't throw compliments out unless I mean them. I just sidestep them because I just I think again being authentic, right? That's not very authentic to just uh blow smoke at people. Yeah, I love what you guys are doing. Eric hit on it. The uh the intro. Wow. I mean, I like I said, I was so excited I couldn't get off of mute. I was so excited. It's like quit playing the music. I gotta get on, I gotta get in on this thing, right? But I think authentic in anything is important because I believe that you know there's eight and a half billion people, plus or minus, on this crazy planet, right? Yeah, and no, if you can everybody that deals with you, if you're being a brand ambassador for yourself, right? And you make yourself the brand, uh, here's the problem, here's the deal with that. Not the problem. Here's the deal. Nobody can beat you at that because there is nobody better. And I did a couple videos a while back, which I dumb do some things just because they're fun to do. So, I just sometimes it just strikes me, and I do it because it's fun. But I come, I come out with a cup of coffee, I said, announcement. I am number one in the world, eight and a half billion people, and I am number one the best at being me, right? And the key to that, I think, to everybody is it's the same with everybody. And as builders, don't try to be what you're not, be what you are, because you do it better than anybody. And just tell that story because the authenticity, again, people aren't buying a pile of sticks and uh and a bunch of trusses and some screws and some metal and some couple doors and a window or two. That's not what they're buying. They're buying an end project that they can live with and be comfortable with forever. And uh, and they're gonna feel they're they want to they wanna buy, you know, we hit we talked about it earlier, and we've mentioned this before and we've been together, but you know, the old saying, people buy whom they know, like, and trust, right? Yeah, and my really good friend and blessed to have in my life, Ben Gay the third. Uh he also he's added a fourth one. People buy who they know, like, trust, and feel safe with. And nothing is nothing out there outside of what we're doing right here, doing social media, being at shows, doing talks, will develop an image. I feel safe with this guy. I like him. I get to know him a little bit. I sort of trust him because he's never steered me the wrong way. But the real key is when all goes bad, which it could in anything, yeah. Do I feel safe that this dude or do that, if that's the right word, are they gonna take care of me? Right, and I think that's what you have as a builder more than anything else. Because anybody can put a package of stuff together, right? And get it out to you. I mean, that that's not that hard, right? Well, you know, you guys are pros at it. It's the stuff that you do behind the scenes, right? That makes a difference. So that's right.

Jared:

We try we try to do that here, you know. Obviously, Eric and I own Dayton Barns and Five Rivers pole barns, and we've got our hands kind of in all of these different avenues, and I think there's a huge difference, right? So, Dayton Barns sells pole barn kits, and we do some full builds for five rivers and stuff like that. But there's a huge difference between buying a building kit, let's just use a post-frame building kit from X dealer, doesn't matter who they are, what they're about, versus buying from someone, let's say Graber Post, right? Directly from Graber Post. People buy from people they like, trust, and feel safe with, right? Correct. You can't feel safer than when you see like the Graeber Post logo. They they've they have they have built an industry on being safe. And they're like right out there. So, I mean compare the two, right? Compare a company like Five Rivers Pole Barns versus a company like Graeber Post that's been in business for numbers of multiples over top of Five Rivers Pole Barns. But what we love about that relationship is we get to ride with that credibility, right? So, picking the right manufacturing partner in this space, picking the right teammate. And again, if you're not going to Oklahoma City February the 25th through the 27th, and you're in the post-frame industry, what are you doing with your time? Because that's where you're going to come and meet people like us, meet people like Randy, see people from Graber, see people from Idea Room, see people from all these different partners that can help take your business to the next level. Because again, the reason we're doing this is because Eric and I see the value in being aligned with a trade association like the NFBA. What have you seen? So, Randy, you've been around almost as long as the NFBA specifically. I know the NFBA has had some different things over the years, but what do you see as the major advantage of working with the trade association?

Randy Chaffee:

Great question. Uh uh uh Jared, and I'll tell you, associations do so much for the industry, and probably the biggest thing is there are there are power and numbers, uh, whether it comes from legislative, from code compliant, from safety. Uh, no individual builder has an ability to do the things that an association can do. They represent us in in in in Columbus, they represent us in Indianapolis, in Lansing, Michigan, the state capitals around the around the country, right? They represent us in Washington, D.C. Um, that's right. But the other thing that it does is it creates a community where like-minded people can get together, can talk, can network, can discuss. Uh, and really I found with this industry, and that's one of the things we I think we promote very well at the NFBA, is we're all in this big fun, uh, we're on this big fun ship together, right? And you said you said you know, high tides raise all ships. I think we're doing a lot of things with the association from an educational standpoint, yeah, uh, in the building of the year standpoint. But the education is huge because we don't want anybody to fail in this industry because uh we want every barn that gets built, and I think every builder should feel this way. Uh, and I as a supplier feel this way. I sell fasteners. I don't want my competitors' fastener to fail, because that plays bad on the whole industry, right? That's right. A builder shouldn't want a a competitor's building to fail or not meet all expectations. If you opted to go with builder A instead of me, great, good luck. If you get in trouble, holler. I'm here for you. Just glad and hope you get a great building. Because if you don't operate that way, one bad building all of a sudden it puts a bad taint on the world, uh a stain on the on the world of post-fraimed buildings.

Jared:

That's right.

Randy Chaffee:

Uh, so you so we need to rise together. And I think that's one thing that maybe is uh goes against the grain of some very independent thinkers, but I think it's something that I think we as an association, I think do a pretty good job of bringing people together in in the seminars and the webinars and all the things that we do, just being on the show floor and meeting people, meeting people like yourselves, uh, meeting the suppliers. Uh, this is this is a huge opportunity to build those networks. I know a real quick story. I know some good friends of mine from Michigan, known for forever. And uh they used to come to the trade. That was one of the major reasons they came to the trade show every year, yeah, was to meet up with some builder friends of theirs from New Jersey that they'd met, and they just can bounce ideas all year off of each other. They see each other once a year for three days of uh a break and bread and a Dr. Pepper or two here and there. And uh, but it developed this relationship that lasts forever. So I think that's the really key to associations. Uh, because again, he's support them because uh without them, there's no cohesiveness to what we do. We're a bunch of renegades out doing our thing. That's not to say, guys, that you don't run your own independent business and do what you do and compete and compete hard. That's all part of the business. Yeah, but at the end of the day, let's all win in this thing together. And uh that that's where an association, I think, can bring that together. And we also do that by supporting and helping um the chapters, because we do have chapters that uh you know, for example, I'm on the board of the Buckeye Frame Builders as well, which is a local Ohio chapter, uh, which you guys should come to this year at the show January 9th in uh Ashland University. Um but at least if nothing else, come over and say hey and hang out for the day. Yeah, uh but I think the more and more and more of that stuff that we do together as a group, uh it just fosters the growth of the industry. And what's exciting is this industry has been around forever. You mentioned I was in it when not quite when there's round polls, so let's not get crazy, guys. But close. And uh but I was I was around him in his only galvanized steel and neoprene nails, right? And no overhang. Uh no gable. I mean, it was pretty basic in the day. We're still in the infancy again because we just are gone from a I wrote an article once in one of the magazines I and I titled it Not Your Father's Pole Barn. And I keyed that off of the old Not Your Father's Oldsmobile, if you remember those commercials back, and the whole idea is my god man, we've changed. It's not just a backyard, I don't want to use this word, but I will quote throwaway barn, cheap backyard barn. It can be that, yeah. But it's also a strip mall in a local small town. It's an industrial building, it's a commercial, it's a horse barn project, it's a it's a barn dominium, right? Yeah, for sure. So, we're we got a long ways to go right now. That's the future's bright.

Jared:

So, I think that that I think that that piece right there, what you just said, is where I get really super excited. You said so much there, and I want to I want to dissect it piece by piece. So one thing that the NFBA does specifically is they have education and curriculum specifically for manufacturers and dealers. So, number one, if you check out NFBA.org, you can check out those curriculum options and get certified. They actually have a certification program through NFBA where they want to teach you how to do things the right way. And the other thing I want to touch on too, and maybe you can comment on this too, Randy, because you know a lot about steel buildings, you know a lot about the industry of steel buildings too. What I will tell you is look at the contrasted difference between the accepted principles in both of those industries. Look at how much different it is when you talk about a post-frame pole barn versus a tubular steel, uh galvanized steel tube building. There is a huge discrepancy. And I'm gonna just call it out there, and I've said this before there needs to be a trade association for steel buildings. The NFBA has helped rise the credibility of the post frame industry, just like Randy says. They're going and they're talking to legislators, they're talking to people at state capitals, they're getting things passed through legislation. That makes it easier for us in this industry to put up a pole barn with very little impact from the government. Steel buildings don't have that benefit. That is an absolute fact. We deal with it every day at Dayton Barns. I got an issue with zoning. I got an issue with getting a permit. I got an issue with this. They want me to put up a pole barn. They have basically, basically taken over the zoning departments all across the United States to say it's okay for a pole barn, it's not okay for a steel building. I have never, never, never, never had an issue getting a pole barn installed. The only issue you ever run into is setbacks and things like that. I can't put the building exactly where I want it.

Eric:

Yeah, not where a building is.

Jared:

Yeah, can't put a building, can't put a building on a leech bed, right? Can't put a building three feet away from the road. Stuff like that. But it never comes down to, oh, well, what kind of building materials are you using? You know, like it does with a with a steel building, you know, with random generics from 10 years ago that probably aren't stamped in the states that they're good for. I mean, you know, you know, you laugh because it's the truth. It is, you know, and I can tell you, I don't shy away from calling it out for what it is. I love tubular steel buildings. I think there's a huge place in our economy in this world for tubular steel metal buildings. They serve a purpose, right? But pole barns are totally different, and like you said, not your father's customers, too. Yeah, different customers, different results.

Eric:

It seems like a lot of people know things about pole barns. Steel building seems a little confusing still for a lot of people, or we're more education-wise.

Jared:

I don't want my building made out of a chain link fence. I said I had a customer tell me that the material that you guys use on your steel buildings is the same material that you have for a fence. And I said, Well, it's not the exact same, it's the same concept, right? But we're dealing with tubular steel at this point, right? So I think for me, I have really enjoyed getting into the post-frame space because I feel like it's legitimized us to a totally different level. From a business, if you're on this, if you're on this podcast listening to us and you're selling sheds or you're selling steel buildings, I would really, really encourage you to take a look at pole barns, whether it be pole barn kits, whether it be full-on installs, you have to start somewhere and take the next step in your progression of building sales, right? Because we all know that when you're on a shed lot and all you do is sell sheds, there's a grind process there that has to happen every single day, every single minute, hour, whether you're on Facebook Marketplace or you have a website, you have to hustle. Then you add a different product line, you do play sets, or you do hunting blinds, or you do whatever it is, and you might get one or two percent increase on your revenue year over year with an additional product line. Steel buildings are a totally different animal of their own. Revenue can be doubled if it's done the right way, depending on what your sales volume is for sheds. But pole barns now gives you an additional vertical to really consider having what I would consider the three legs of the tripod sheds, steel buildings, and pole barns. Now you don't have any excuse. And I'm leaving out the red iron guys. I know if you sell red iron, that's fine. Red iron is the next step, in my opinion. You can't master red iron without mastering post frame first. And I can tell you, I mean, Randy, you've been doing this a heck of a lot longer than me. I gave you my 90-second snippet right there. What do you think of that?

Randy Chaffee:

Well, no, no, I think you're spot on, and it is a progression because the red iron's a that's another discussion. Almost that's a discussion for a whole nother day, really, right? We can do we could do three hours on that, right?

Jared:

That's exactly right.

Randy Chaffee:

And it's a great place to be, it's a great industry.

Jared:

You ain't kidding me.

Randy Chaffee:

Uh, but I think what you said is so spot on, uh, Jared, is that the there's a place for the tubular and but it's its place is its place. With post frame, there's in today's world, with all the engineering that's available, all the engineering that's been done, all the code work that's been done by associations like the NFBA, um, the manufacturers that step up. Um, there's almost, and I'm gonna have to say almost, because there's probably some place I'm not thinking about, but almost no place that you can't use post-frame construction at this point. Whether it's industrial, commercial, now there's some limitations. If you want to build this gigantic manufacturing complex that's 600 foot wide and 9,000 miles long, you're probably there, there's probably some limitations, right? Yes. But with that said, for what the average builder out there wants to do in you know, small town USA uh and living a great life, man, post-frame buildings offers you such an advanced opportunity. And it doesn't have to be like with a lot of things, too many times we get wrapped up in instead of's, and and I don't think it's an instead of, it's an addition to. We're not saying don't do uh tubular steel by all if or by any means if that's what they're doing. Just use that as and use them for the force multiplier effect of your in buildings. You understand building concept, you understand talking about buildings, you understand what customers want, but let's take the limitations of what you can do here and make the next logical step. And the good thing with post-frame, last thing I'll say on this, I think, is there's so many options, there's so many opportunities. You go, you don't have to go from I'm doing this, all I'm really good at right now or accustomed to is a smaller uh tubular steel barn. That doesn't mean you got to go into a uh a two and a half million dollar horse stables overnight. Yeah, just start doing some backyard buildings and put a porch on it and and put a little wainscotting on it and put a couple of dormers, you know, you can start with that and then you grow and you get experience. So you can grow as far as you want to grow uh with it, and it can be done incrementally so you don't get yourself in trouble.

Jared:

That's right, that's right. Eric, you got something, man.

Eric:

You look like you're I just keep thinking of the transition here, like you know, Randy, our audience right now predominantly well until after this eight this eight Mondays plus the show, it's predominantly shed in metal building dealers and manufacturers. And so um I think what we're really saying is it's not as scary as and you can do both, and you can you can learn things because doing hard things is good for you, yes. And you know, you're really it's using a builder that you've already used, and it's just pricing a different. And one thing that I would say is that there is a blend of okay, if they want a smaller building, great, that's probably a carport. You're like you're gonna save money by spending 3k on a carport, great. That's right, but then there's a middle section of, and I'm thinking of the two customers we sold earlier that did pole barns, they were literally metal building quotes that I turned into pole barn well, full-blown concrete packages. And so, if that wasn't an option for them, they might have bought somewhere else. So, it wasn't picking one or two, it was Dayton Barns providing the customer with what the person wanted because I well, it was it was just the knowledge I had. So, you know, if you're a dealer, and I don't know why I'm giving you this pro tip right now. If you're a dealer in some metal buildings, and a person walks in and they say, I'm looking for a poll barn. Don't say no. Call us, call Jared, call Eric. I can tell you, I can broker it for you, we'll figure it out. And if it's something that you're interested in, guys, I'll spend time with you.

Jared:

I can tell you this right now. I can tell you this right now. We left deals on the table. Nothing makes me nothing makes me feel nothing makes me feel a sort of way quite like leaving a deal on the table. When you've come when you've come to bat and you've gone through the process, you've harvested the lead, you've sourced that lead, and you've gone at it, and you've got all the customers' information, you've done the 3D design, you've got them in closed mode, and they're ready to buy. And the last thing that comes out of their mouth is, Oh, well, I thought I was getting a pole barn. You know, we do a lot of we do a lot of 3D configurators with idea room, who we love. So we get on Google Meets and Zooms with customers across the United States. We go through the building, we do the whole mock-up, we do the whole thing. And I can't tell you how many times I've had a customer tell me, wasn't it isn't it built out of wood? And it's like, no, it's not, it's tubular steel. We're all steel built, Dayton Barns and all steel buildings. That's who we are. And sometimes you overcome it. I would say 80% of the time you overcome it. And it's those 20% that cost you. And what it was our partner at Five Rivers, Caleb. Go back and listen to the GCM episode. Well, we talk about it at length. But we had a huge building, huge building, right? Huge building, and I was uncomfortable. I was one of the I'm the honest sales guy when he started talking about the size and scale and some of the custom stuff he wanted to do and living quarters. Like, if you're selling steel buildings as barn dominions, stop it. Stop it. You're going to get into trouble. Just stop it. If you have somebody that wants to build like a makeshift living quarters in their backyard, like and they want to finish it out themselves, not a big deal. They can do that. But like, if we're talking like full-on barn dominion, as people like to call them, don't sell them a steel chassis building. Do yourself a huge favor and get away from it immediately. So, I did myself a favor, I walked away from that project. Caleb, who was working on it with me, came alongside, ended up doing the gentleman's concrete. So, I got a little bit of a give back from Caleb, and the customer was happy. But at the end of the day, we lost out on a huge project that we could have done together if I had had the right partner. And luckily enough, I had met Tim, Tim Fox at Graver, and Tim had already come to Dayton Barns and said, Hey, I really want you guys to sell with us. I think you guys would be great. Dayton Barns at the time was not seeing it the way that we see it now. We were not going to be kit suppliers to the United States of America. We did not want to sell pole barn kits. It's just not our if we have a lane and we stay in it, that's great. Now we have this lane with five rivers where we can sell kits and sell fully finished projects. And what I will tell you is take your time and don't jump in head first all the time. Because we waited a year and it paid off dividends for us. It absolutely made all the difference in the world that we didn't make a an un an un an unthought through decision. We really took the decisive decision to say no. And it's okay to say no. Sometimes it's uncomfortable, trust me. And Eric will tell you, I was the one that wanted it, and the two partners, Eric and another one at the time, said no. And they were right and I was wrong. And looking back on it, I was still right in theory, it just wasn't the right time. Right. So what I can tell you is don't miss out on an opportunity in this specific space if that's something you're really interested in. Any of us, Randy, Eric, myself, we're happy to walk you through it. Randy, I did.

Randy Chaffee:

Yeah, I loved your comment there because you talked about lanes, and I think lanes are important. You need to stay in your lane, but that doesn't mean that's point in time. That's right. And that's the point. It does don't look at this as my lane forever because a two-lane highway at some point branches into four lanes when it gets into the city, right? So, it's the same thing, but don't try to operate on a four-lane highway on a two-lane highway. So stay in your lane.

Jared:

That's right.

Randy Chaffee:

If that makes sense today, but but be broad enough thinking that uh I maybe I'm not ready to do this next week, and maybe I need to turn this one over to somebody because don't don't try to handle something. I think that was your double point there. Don't try to handle something you're not ready for. That's right. Because you're gonna do yourself, your reputation, and your customer a disservice.

Jared:

That's right.

Randy Chaffee:

Give it away if you need to.

Jared:

That's right.

Randy Chaffee:

But think about it and go, you know what? I don't like that feeling of giving it away. So maybe I need to figure out how do I how do I get into that lane and be ready for that lane, but don't do it until you're ready. But at the same token, I I've always lived this way. Sometimes it's been good, sometimes not. But uh I have a tendency to climb to the 84th floor and jump off and figure out how to fly on the way down. Sure. Um, now when I say that, I say that sometimes just jokingly, but I always try to put a caveat into that. At some point, I figured out I might need some sort of wing apparatus before I go do that, right? Before you know, so don't just dive off and hope. My arms are probably not gonna do it. But you know, but the same token, I think the principles there. If you don't ever try, there's always gonna be that. If you if you're not in the post-frame world now, and you decide you need to be, you decide you want to be, you do the study and you do the work, you get hooked up with people like you guys, you do whatever you need to do. But here's the deal. Uh, and I and I'll put it this way you you're a young guy at 14, 13, 14, 15, you kind of like girls. You you've kind of been, you know, rooting around and watching this girl high school or in junior high. You think you want to give her a little smooch her on the cheek, but you guess what? At some point, you just gotta do it, right? You just gotta do it. And you know what's gonna be the scariest moment ever. You might get slapped, it might be awful, but guess what? The next time around, it's not gonna be quite as difficult, right? So I think it's the same thing when it comes to this. At some point, step out of the lane now, but not until you're ready. And that's I think the point you made so well, uh Jared, is is because I think too many people, well, that's not for me. I can never do pull bar, I don't want to ever do that. I don't want to do red iron, I don't want it, I don't want it, I don't want it. I don't we said that.

Jared:

I mean, that came out of our mouths. That came out of our mouths 36 months ago at this point. Yeah, three years ago, we were not ready to take that step.

Eric:

We went beyond that guy would have bought a pull, he would have bought a pull barn for us. It was a hundred. He would have bought a pull bar.

Jared:

Well, Caleb. I mean, Caleb, all the credit in the world to Caleb.

Eric:

Caleb he tried to get us to do it, and we were like, I don't know, bro.

Jared:

Caleb, Caleb to his credit, Caleb to his credit, gets a lot of the favor here from me because he drove us into this lane. And then people like you, Randy, and people like the folks at Graeber, right? And all these people that we've met along the way have really made it feel like home to the Steel Kings, home to Dayton Barns, and building a business like Five Rivers and getting installed projects done and really seeing them come to life. And it's like, wow, this really is a different end product. I would encourage you guys, we we're we're out of time, but we will tell you this get to NFBA conference in Oklahoma City February the 25th through the 27th. It's at the Expo Center. There is gonna be plenty of activities. Oklahoma City is a beautiful, conservative community. There's a lot to do there. Um, if you're looking for a trip to make in February, I would really encourage you to come. There's gonna be a lot of like-minded people there that want to help you with your business, suppliers, manufacturers, the whole bit is right there for you at the NFBA conference. I can tell you we are super duper excited. Randy, do you have any last words, any parting words for the Steel Kings, any parting words for the for the audience?

Randy Chaffee:

All I would say is people they need they need to seriously watch what you guys are doing, pay attention to what you guys are doing because you're on the right path, you're doing it right. And uh, so folks, if you watch Steel Kings at all, watch what watch these guys, listen to these guys, and pay attention and work with you because you need to work and put yourself with pros that know what they're doing from a marketing standpoint, an advertising standpoint, a package put together standpoint, and you guys are it. NFBA couldn't agree more. Be there the 25th, 27th. I've never been to Oklahoma City, I'm excited about that, but more excited is we have so many webinars and or I should say seminars, so many great speakers and talks, events. And one last one I'll throw out we didn't talk about, but I'm doing some work with them right now. The women in post-frame. Some of the folks uh the ladies out there in the in the audience in the industry, man, we love you and support you, and we are incredibly uh uh female friendly, if that's the right word. We we love the contribution, and we've got a there's a whole group that that meets. I think there's 50, 60 women that are gonna meet in Oklahoma City from the industry. Um get involved with that too. You know, it's it's there's some really good stuff. So look forward to seeing you all there, and uh, it's gonna be a great time, man.

Jared:

We are super duper excited. February 25th through the 27th, NFBA conference, Oklahoma City. Eric, last word, brother.

Eric:

Man, they only have two more booth spaces left. So if you're a vendor and you want to go, make sure you sign up.

Jared:

Check out the team nfba.org. As always, Defyned SEO, Velocity360, Idea Room, Cal, J Money, the whole team. We are the Steel Kings, ladies and gentlemen, and we appreciate you. Get out in your community and do something good for somebody else. It'll make you feel good. I promise you. I promise you. We will be back at you next week with episode three of this series. Back at you. Hold on, hold on. You're out. Stop out. Steel Nation, thank you for tuning in to the Steel Kings Podcast. If that episode fired you up, make sure you hit subscribe, leave a review, and share this with someone who is ready to level up. We drop powerful episodes every week building strategies, stories, and real talk in the builders. Stay focused. Stay hungry, stay focused, and keep the building stronger. Make sure to visit us at thesteelkings.com for more resources and industry tools. This is the Steel Kings Podcast, where the industry talks back. See you in the next one.

OUTRO:

Before you go, the J Money team wants to thank you for listening to today's Steel Kings podcast. Remember, money is king, and if you need a financing option on your portable woodsheds or steel buildings, we are here to help. Just check us out at jmoneyllc.com for more information. And don't forget to catch the next episode of the Steel Kings podcast and have a great day.