Unfiltered Sessions

The ROLE of FAITH and SUPPORT in Business Ventures with Richard Powell

• Philip Sessions • Episode 257

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Discover the power of turning a lifelong passion into a thriving business with Richard, the founder of Powell Fabrication. From learning welding as a 12-year-old on a farm to overcoming countless entrepreneurial challenges, Richard’s journey is fuelled by resilience, faith, and strong support. Hear how early influences and a pivotal job opportunity set the foundation for his successful fabrication business in Northwest Arkansas. 
  
Richard shares insights into launching a welding business in a small town, the importance of a supportive partner, and his approach to mentoring employees through hands-on experience. Whether you’re pursuing financial freedom or nurturing talent within your team, Richard’s story is a testament to the rewards of perseverance and commitment in the entrepreneurial world. 
 
NOTABLE QUOTES 
"I'm a very big person on ‘it's my way or no way.’ I've grown out of that now thankfully." – Richard 
"No matter if you're one year or 20 years into the business, there's always these levels of difficulty." – Philip 
"I feel very bad for a lot of those people who don't have [the] companion like I do." – Richard 
"It's a joint decision because we know if it makes us better, it was because we both wanted it, and if it makes us fail, it's because we both wanted it." – Richard 
"It's our money rather than that's my money, that's your money." – Philip  
"I hate for those couples who value everything off of dollars." – Richard 
"Ninety percent plus of all her problems come down to a lack of communication." – Philip 
"There's only two ways of doing it–you're either going to succeed or you're going to learn lessons." – Richard 
"I like to help that underdog or that person that's really kind of overlooked a lot of times because that's how I've always felt all my life like I was always overlooked for that opportunity and I had to find ways to create that or just go about doing it myself." – Philip 
"I get a good enjoyment out of seeing other people succeed." – Richard 
"My dad always used to preach hard that, “I can give you all the lessons to life, but if you don't fall on your face, you're not going to learn anything.’" – Richard 
"Most people are only going to screw up so many times before they get it right." – Richard 
"Wouldn't you rather do only 10% of the work, like going back and checking, and maybe you do a thing or two here versus 100% of it?" – Philip 
"He was teaching me just as much as I was teaching him." – Richard 
"Good salary is always nice, but the culture, to me, is what keeps people within a company." – Philip 
 
RESOURCES 
Richard 
Website: https://www.pfnwa.com  
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100087184264148  
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@powellfab.3357  
 
Philip 
Digital Course: https://www.speakingsessions.com/digital-course 
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamphilipsessions/?hl=en 
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@philipsessions 
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philip-sessions-b2986563/ 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/therealphilipsessions

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Speaker 1:

What's up guys? Welcome back to another episode. We've got Richard here and he is a welder from Northwest Arkansas, a big dreamer, sticking to the plan, literally living out his life that he planned at the ripe old age of 12 years old. He is the owner of Powell Fabrication, which is a CNC plasma cutting and custom fabrication company, and he is there in the shop right now that he dreamed out. But we're going to be talking about how he went through his dream, how he communicates as a leader and business owner and husband and father and everything, and just have a really good conversation here today. But, richard, welcome to the show.

Speaker 2:

Thanks, man, glad to be here.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and this is. You said your second podcast, right, so you're a huge expert.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I shot the one a few weeks ago and it was here Yep, here's your name. And he's like, yeah, best thing, just hop right into it. And I was like, okay, but after the end of it I kind of got a little stiffy for him it's kind of fun. So.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know we had talked about scheduling it and everything and you're like, yeah, I'm hooked on it. So talk to me about that real quick, because I think a lot of people find podcasting daunting. Maybe hosting is definitely daunting. Guesting, I would say, is a little bit easier, but it's still kind of a scary thing Like what are we going to be? Asked what's going to happen on the podcast, and, of course, every podcast a little bit different. But talk to me about that experience and how that got you actually hooked on wanting to be on more podcasts yeah, so I uh reached out to a friend in the rbo deal and and said and got it scheduled.

Speaker 2:

and uh got on there and was pretty nervous beforehand. But you know, just like talking with you, it's like talking to an old friend. You know, devin done a really good job and I just, I don't know, I got in there and he asked a lot of questions that made me think a lot. So it hasn't came out yet, so I don't know if I looked really good or really stupid, but but yeah, it was really fun to just to dive into this stuff. That is very important to me and I think I have a good aspect on it. It may not be everybody's or the most popular opinion, but uh, but yeah it was cool to dive into it and I don't know kind of made you feel like somebody, I guess, a little bit. So I guess that's probably where it uh where made me the um most attracted to it? I guess would be the nice way to say it.

Speaker 1:

Nice man. Well, I'd let your wife know that she needs to start making you feel more special, because otherwise you got to keep going on podcasts.

Speaker 2:

Just kidding there.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, podcasts are always so much fun. It's definitely a joy to be a host and host people on the podcast, especially people like you that haven't been on podcasts too many times. But then also having the experience people but then also getting on people's podcasts. It's always a pleasure to be able to be on somebody's podcast, whether they're a veteran at it or they're fairly new also and Devin is an awesome guy, awesome podcast host and everything Great. First one to be on, excited to have you for the second one.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, for sure it was. It was cool to see his perspective of doing stuff and, uh, I don't know, like I said, if I can put my two cents out there and hopefully it helps somebody. Um, yeah, hopefully, hopefully everybody gets to get a positive out of both of them.

Speaker 1:

So yeah, yeah for sure. So let's let's take things back. So you started your journey at 12 years old, having this vision, and clearly you're living out that vision now. So how did that come about? I mean, and I guess for some perspective, how old are you right now?

Speaker 2:

Uh, so I'm 28,. I'll turn 29 here in about a month, a little over a month. And uh, yeah, so my dad uh grew up, my dad was uh, drove race cars and stuff my entire life. And you know, just like I said before, you wreck race cars and you got to fix them up and uh, so that's where the fabrication side came from. And then, kind of growing up on the farm stuff, um, you know, you don't have enough money to pay everybody to do stuff. So you, you, obviously you learn how to fix stuff and adapt and overcome.

Speaker 2:

But uh, yeah, me and my dad actually, um, were driving past this piece of property to go fishing and uh, dad lives about a mile and a half down the road. And I told dad I was like, man, I'm gonna buy that someday. And dad was like, yeah, you know whatever. Well then, you know, multiple times driving by it, I stopped and walked up on it and kind of started mapping it out and, um, yeah, at 12 years old may have been 13, but I'm pretty sure it was 12.

Speaker 2:

I went home and drew up a set of blueprints and it had a 5,000 square foot shop and an L-shaped house off of it. The only thing that changed was we moved the house from one side to the other so that you didn't have to drive by all the construction crap to get to the nice house. So, yeah, we've stuck to the plan and a lot of doors have opened up. As far as the welding side, I started this business three times, failed three times and then finally PalFab started and it stuck. So we're right at four years actually, october was kind of the birthday for for four years and, yeah, just going hard and living the dream every day and taking everything that I can and taking lessons and failures and turning it into good stuff.

Speaker 1:

Talk to us about that. That's very interesting that you started and failed three times and still went for a fourth time especially, I think, nowadays we think that you've got to have instant success, that it's just an easy thing, you're overnight millionaire success, all those things and clearly it might almost seem like idiocracy or something that you went and redid the same business essentially four times, but finally that fourth time it was successful. Business essentially four times, but finally that fourth time it was successful. So talk to us through that mindset behind that, because that seems very bizarre for somebody to go and redo the same business and I know I'm sure you learned from that as well like you literally made the same mistakes but you still tried and tried and tried again until you started finding that success.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I'd say. I mean really. It may sound stupid to some people, but to me the biggest thing was faith. So I started the business three times in a little town I was living in and at the time and doing farm work and stuff, didn't know how to price anything, didn't know how to keep cash flow stuff going, and just kind of bouncing in between jobs on the road and thought, oh, I got enough money saved up to try it this time and I could do it for five or six months and then obviously all the cash is gone. I just tried to do it cold turkey every time I started and it just obviously, as everybody knows, that's not how you do it. And then so the same story all three times. Thought I had enough cash to start it, thought I had enough clientele base built up to do it, which was like a whole whopping five people. And then actually I was setting on this property the dream place we call it and a guy pulls up in the yard just to introduce himself just you know, be neighborly. Up in the yard, just to introduce himself, just you know, be neighborly. And I had on a shirt that said Powell Welding Company or something. I don't remember what it was at the time and he said hey, you know, I work for a place down the road. And he said we need welders and or a welder. And I said I kick rocks, dude, like I'm not interested. I just came home off the road. I was ready to be done with it.

Speaker 2:

A friend of mine owned a remodel business and I was going to go help him build his company up to where he had something to bounce back on and this guy just kept showing up. About the third or fourth time I finally was like okay, you know, like I'll look at what you got just to shut you up. I'm tired of hearing from you. I go down there and it's a bunch of work right off the bat. Enough money to buy machines and get everything off the ground the right way.

Speaker 2:

We established another LLC and went for it yet again, didn't really know how it was going to go this time, but knew I wasn't going to fail. Um, so I bounced back and forth in between the welding company and a church camp. I was helping out them um, just do general maintenance stuff. And uh, actually April of I think it was 21,. Me and my wife came together and she was like, hey, you know, you got to do what makes you happy. Um and and and, go whole hog at it, like I was getting kind of frustrated with what I was doing and some of the stuff that was going on and uh, just on the church camp side, or just that fact you're yeah yeah, just the way it was.

Speaker 2:

Not that anybody was doing anything wrong. I'm a very big person on it's my way or no way. And uh, I've grown out of that now, um, thankfully. But uh, it wasn't going. You know, they'd ask me and I was like this is the way it's going to be and they wouldn't do it and it just made me mad. Um, but yeah, the big man, he, uh, he kept pointing me in the right direction and we said, okay, in april we were gonna do it all on our own. Um, this was where my heart was in the business. And like, the next day the phone rings and it's a quarter mile offense and that that job floats us for three months or so, and it gave me enough time to get the next job started and the next job started and now we're booked out three months. So it's, it's been a journey, it's been a blast.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that that is awesome and it's funny how things just really kind of start like that and unfortunately, you had all these hiccups at the beginning I'll call them hiccups lessons learned and everything there at the beginning, but whenever it was finally, it was that time that was supposed to happen. I think that faith is really where that set in. You had other plans like in place, where it wasn place, where you solely depended on that, and so you really had something else that made it, where you weren't almost desperate for that work and everything. But then just how that work ends up coming along and then you're just more prepared for it that time. Okay, we're going to see what we get here, but we're going to save up. But then also that support of the spouse, this huge thing that is so beneficial.

Speaker 1:

And I mean being in mastermind groups like we're in. We hear about people all the time whether they're male or female. It tends to be more males in these groups and so then it's more of the female spouse. That isn't on board necessarily, and that is such a huge disadvantage for these business owners, because it is a difficult journey. No matter if you're one year or 20 years into the business. There's always these levels of difficulty and everything. So talk to us about that, because was your wife kind of on board throughout each one of these individual ventures until the finally the successful one, or was it not really till that fourth attempt that she started?

Speaker 2:

it was like, okay, like she's on board with you and everything no man, I, I tell my wife that she's uh, she's probably the worst wife as far as money goes, because I can come to her with an idea and waste a lot of time and a lot of paper and and it's a hundred thousand dollars. But I know that it's going to make us this and she goes okay, do it like I. I believe in you. You know, if you truly believe that it's going to work, it's going to work and we've beat our heads against the wall on some stuff and and it's uh like getting our house paid off. You know it's, hey, I want to spend x amount of dollars a month, um, and by June of next year, our house is going to be paid off, you know, and it's like, well, it's gonna, we got to sacrifice for a little bit.

Speaker 2:

But if you think this is what it's going to be, you know she's always been, um, I've been with her for 10 years, almost 11 years now, and every aspect it doesn't matter if it was race cars or business or, uh, just building the house or whatever it was always she was right there by my hip and I I feel very bad for a lot of those people who don't have that companion like I do, cause man, when the big man, when the big man made my wife, he uh best, best woman on the face of this earth by hands down. She's a big man in her all, all the gratitude for the success, the littlest success that I've seen.

Speaker 2:

I couldn't do without either one of them, for sure.

Speaker 1:

And it sounds like there's a lot of communication there as well, which is a really important aspect, especially when it comes to the business and finances and everything. Finances is like the first or second thing reason why most marriages end in divorce is because of finances. I think there's it's one or two and I can't remember which is the other of those, but yeah, I mean, it's a, it's a huge, um, a thing that makes a marriage not work, and everything. And it sounds like you're very good at communicating these things, even even if they're wild. You know, you just uh, wild hair idea that you just had and everything. So how how do you typically go about communicating those things? Good, that's important for us as leaders, as business owners, as husbands, for us to really communicate with our spouse. So how are you going about the communicating these different things?

Speaker 2:

I mean, like in the beginning it was always. You know, I just got a wild hair and this is what I think is going to happen, and then now it's hey, you know, this is the idea. I come to her with pros and cons of everything. Sometimes there's more cons than pros. She's not all the time just happy-go-lucky of oh, it's always going to work and this is always going to be great. Sometimes it's like, hey, dipshit, we need to reel this back a little bit and let's wait three months. Right now, probably. Right now probably isn't the most the best time. You know we're about to hit the little bit of slow season. So you know it's going to be hard to put the bill on this, or if we use up all of our cash flow, you know.

Speaker 2:

So she's always that other side of that. That token, I always try to bring the like I said at least four or five pros and four or five cons of every idea that we do. Like I said at least four or five pros and four or five cons of every idea that we do. And then she kind of thinks on it for a few minutes or maybe a couple of days and we kind of come back to the table and it's probably just how much I bring it up, whether she says OK, you know, do it and shut up, or or this, probably you haven't brought it up enough, so we probably got to wait on it a little bit.

Speaker 1:

That's funny, yeah, and women have a very good discernment when it comes to a lot of these things as well. But then, like you said, sometimes if you're bringing it up enough times, you've probably thought through a lot of it or something that you maybe maybe it's just you're really passionate about it and you want to try it out, and so it's one of those things. Okay, you know there's a lot of passion there. Richard has that passion. Let me go ahead and give that approval, so to speak, and everything.

Speaker 1:

Even though y'all are a partnership, it's still nice to get the kind of all clear kind of thing and everything. That's something that we should work on, and I think that's something as well a lot of times that as adults, we feel like we don't necessarily need that quote unquote approval from our spouse, and it's not necessarily like approval to say, okay, I can do something, I have permission from the authority figure, but it's more just like, hey, are we on the same page before I make this decision? Because it is both of us at this point in everything and and I guess you know, with the situation, is it like just you're the one making the money or she also doing her own thing too, or what's that situation there? Cause that that changes those dynamics as well.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, she's an RN, so she, uh, she does very well. Uh, we, uh, from the beginning, um, we've I had a school teacher. Um, I worked with her husband pouring concrete for one winter, just helping him. And I was talking about proposing to Grace and, you know, making a life out of it, and I said, but we'll keep separate accounts. My money is my money and her money is her money. And he looked me dead in the eye and he said if you can't trust the woman that you love with something as stupid as a dollar bill, he said it'll never work. And I was like man, that's.

Speaker 2:

You know, money is so high on everybody's priority list and today's day and age you can't live without it. But my wife and I we always. She was buying clothes this last weekend, which she never does, but she was buying clothes for herself and it was like babe, it's $200. You know, I don't know that we can spend the $200, you know it's on me and I'm like it's money. You know like, we're not stupid with our money, you deserve it, you know.

Speaker 2:

So, everything it's not like. It's not like I'm going to a board meeting and I'm trying to sell an idea every time we talk about stuff, but it's it's a yes or no from from both of us and it's, uh, 95% of the stuff. Um, it's a joint decision. Um, because we know if it, if it makes us better, it was because we both wanted it, and if it makes us fail, it's because we both wanted it. Um, we don't go into anything with fingers pointed at the other way of of uh, oh well. Anything with fingers pointed at the other way of of uh, oh well, you said this or you said that it's no, we made this decision together and uh, and we're sticking to it. There's no, there's nothing that comes in between us, and damn sure not a dollar bill.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, man, and my wife just went out with some friends like she's actually an RN also and went out some like nursing friends and everything. And one of them was talking about, yeah, you know, we're going on this cruise and you know we've got to split it, or I've got to get the alcohol package because her husband wants it, but they have all their bills separated. It's like they went out to eat the other night and he paid, and now she's got to pay him back and all this stuff. And it's like that is just crazy. And and that was one thing, like at first, my wife, you know, we got married and, like you know, we were I was 28 and she was 30 when we got married, so a little bit older, I guess, if you will and so it was like kind of that independence. And then we were trying to and it's that that kind of dance. At the beginning you're trying to figure out like what's going to work, what systems work and and how y'all work together and everything. Now that you're combining everything after marriage and that was one of the things I'm like no, we are combining the account, like I don't care, like we're combining it now.

Speaker 1:

But it turns out that, like you know, I'm just huge spender and all I do is just spend all the money. We never have money that's, or vice versa. Then, okay, maybe then we separate it, but we're not like that. So it was like, just put it all in and we make about the same right now. So it's not like, oh, I'm making 400,000 a year and she's only making 40,000. So there's a 10 times difference.

Speaker 1:

But that was actually something I got advice from a friend colleague when I was an intern, one of the engineers where I was working at. He was talking about that Like, hey, just put it together, because what happens if you're trying to split everything, if you have all your bills separated? Now you split everything and going back to the $400,000 versus $40,000. So do you have to pay additional to be able to meet my 10% for housing allowance? Or do I have to get less of a house so we can get it at your 10% of your income housing allowance, so to speak, kind of thing.

Speaker 1:

And so it's like somebody has to compromise. So, rather than doing that, just say, hey, here's our money, $440,000 a year. What are we going to do and spend on it? And it just it makes it so much more simple and then so much more transparent too, because then you can see where that money's going, what's happening. Not that you're trying to watch it over, you know, and comb through it and look through it with magnifying glass, but it's just, it's there, it's our money rather than that's my money, that's your money, and how are we going to split bills? I mean, that's yeah, it makes it so nasty not to do that.

Speaker 2:

My wife's definitely the breadwinner and she'll hate me for saying that, but she's. She's helped float all my crazy ideas. And, yeah, there's none of this BS. At the end of the month, well, you spent more money than I did, you know. Or vice versa, which nine times out of ten with me, especially with business, it's I'm spending more money than than she is, but there's, there's none of that. I hate, I hate for those couples who, uh, who value everything off of dollars. Cause I got a lot of friends that are married and uh, yeah, it's the same way. We go out to eat and it's like, well, you need to pay me back 20 bucks for your steak later on. It's like, what in the world, you know? Um, at least treat them like we were in high school and at least pay for their dinner, for God's sakes, you know, right, I don't agree with it, but that's just me.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, exactly, you know everybody's got their own way, but I really I feel that's the better way overall. But once you're married, if you're dating, that's a totally different story. And I think in today's society now it's it's hard to have only one side pay for that and typically society now it's, it's hard to have only one side pay for that and typically that's been the man that said to pay for that. But that is so difficult. Even do that. I still think the first date the guy should be paying for it.

Speaker 1:

But then after that, like split it or like my wife and I, when we were dating, it was back and forth, like I'd pay one time, she'd pay another, and we just kind of went back and forth and made it work out until we got married and then we combined everything and then it's just it's been so much better, so it's yeah, but money is such an important thing. That's something we started talking about before we got married too. You know, we actually in like she brought up how much she made first and want to know how much I made and all this stuff, and that was a little awkward at first. I'm like, well, hey, you know, if we're gonna get serious like let's have the conversation and talk about that. We talk about debts and stuff like that because I mean, that's a big thing. You could be in some serious trouble if you marry somebody thinking they're all debt free and then it turns out they've got hundreds of thousand dollars in debt that they got to pay back in a couple of years.

Speaker 1:

That could change finances very quickly.

Speaker 2:

Which for my wife and I, you know, it's a lot different because we're high school sweethearts We've literally been there with no money. I'm not going to say lots of money. Lots of money is skewed a lot of different ways, but what we call a lot of money. We've been with each other through it all and never once mad at each other cause we didn't have any money, or mad at each other because we had a lot of money. Um, it's uh, it's always just been about us and, um, the money is the money. Um, if we want to go do something, and we have the money for it, we do it. Um, if we want to go buy something, we have the money for it, we do it. We don't, uh, we don't live out of our means. So that's really nice.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, Like you said, you know you, you plan it, but you also like those times where you just kind of spend the money but it's not like you're going and dropping I don't know, you know a million dollars on a Lambo or something like that, Like you're not going crazy with it but you're getting something that you can afford it yeah, means or anything like that. But then also, like you talked about earlier, okay, hey, we're wanting to do this, we're going to pay off the house, so we can't do some of these other things right now and everything. But again, it's all about that communication for sure. So now you said you have one employee. Actually you picked up a second employee here recently, kind of helping doing some admin stuff, and you run a second business doing garage doors. So there's clearly a lot of communication there as well.

Speaker 1:

I've been loving the spousal communication, which I think is a huge thing, especially as business owners we need to get better at. But we also need to get better on the business front too, and I'm a big advocate of saying that 90% plus of all her problems come down to a lack of communication. So how are you communicating when it comes to the employees you have and now that you have two separate businesses I know the garage one's still kind of like up and coming. It's a pretty fresh thing, but how are you planning with that as well, on starting to communicate that and really separate the two businesses and workloads and everything?

Speaker 2:

My, uh, I don't know I, when we talked about it before, um, the guy that works for me now, you know he kind of, he just fell into my lap. Um was working on a job and he wanted to learn how to weld. And, uh, we took it from there. And I, whenever he first started helping me at the shop, he said, well, what do you want this to be? And I said, man, just just enough for me. And you, you know, um, we'll make decent salaries. And uh, get it up to where we can make decent salaries and we'll just quit it there. And then, uh, you know my dreams as they are, they keep getting bigger and bigger. And um, I came to him and I was like, hey, you know, in in a year, this is you, I'm done with the welding company, it's all you. And he was like, man, I don't, I know nothing about business, like I'm going to crash it into the ground. And I was like, okay, well, that's probably not the right way to do this. So, um, learning over the last few years for sure with him, um, instilling that faith in him that he can do it, um, I mean, he does everything on the welding side. Now I've probably put a hood on for maybe 150 hours this year, um, which is nothing as far as welders go. He does everything you know, and it making sure he knows where he's appreciated. Um, make sure he knows that, uh, when he's doing a good job and that kind of stuff and uh, not like this whole build him up to give him a big head. But you know, if he kills it on a project, just do you freaking killed it. You know, um. But also that when he screws up, you know, don't you idiot? You know, get out of here. You screwed this up and you cost me money. Um, us growing together and learning together.

Speaker 2:

Um was a circuit board technician actually before he came to work for us or for me, and I taught him the welding trade and, like I said, he does everything now, so kind of getting to mold him to the way that I think it should be done and he has his own way of doing stuff for sure and knowing too, just in business, that, yeah, it can be yours, yeah, you can be that dick hard person of it's my way or no way, but that's not always the right way. He came into the shop zero fabrication skills at all and he's making suggestions on stuff and my pride is like, well the hell, no, this is my business and I've been doing this for 14 years now. You know well, you're not going to tell me how to do this. And then it's like man, that was better, um, and that's a tough pill for you know, especially somebody like me.

Speaker 2:

Like I said with the church camp, deal it, uh, I always wanted it to be my way or no way, um, and there's plenty of ways to skin a cat. It's all just in, um, and how you want to do it and how much you want to listen, um, so making sure that he knows his voice is heard. Um, or even my sister, she's the one that I hired on as the admin, um, she's new to it, she wanted to start her own business, so I hired her and, um, she comes to me with an idea and it's like, I don't know, I have an opinion on it, but ultimately, I'm giving that responsibility to you. So if it fails, we'll figure it out, we'll learn the lesson and move on. There's only one way, only two ways of doing it.

Speaker 1:

You're either going to succeed or you're going to learn lessons and it sounds like the these two, the people your sister and the other employee kind of fell into your lap, but it's also these been people that really don't have the experience but you're kind of taking them under your wing. Why, why do you think that that is that you're doing that, rather than, especially with the welder, really getting something, somebody with experience, and just kind of molding them into more of what you want for the business?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I had a welder instructor through Votek. I just wanted to be a welder, knew that I could make a bunch of money doing it and I had a decent concept of how to do it. And, uh, he was an old pipeliner and he, he took me under his wing, man, and there's a. There's been a lot of people who have done that for me. Um, and life changing.

Speaker 2:

Um, doors open, whatever you want to say, you know I can give them all the credit in the world and they'll say, oh, you know, it wasn't me, it was you, but the the doors opened, and I don't know that that's been a very big thing in my life. Um, whether I fell into somebody else's lap in the right time and it just happened to uh mold me the right way, um, or whatever. But a lot of people took a lot of chances on me, I feel like, over the years, um of being a green welder or uh or whatever, um mechanic or whatever it was I was doing at the time and uh took me under the wing and taught me and uh, I felt like I was smart enough to shut up and listen, um, when they were trying to teach me those lessons and uh, I just happened to have two of them kind of fall into my lap and, uh, I guess paying my dues would be the only way I could put it, giving back to what's been given to me.

Speaker 1:

You know, what's interesting is, I feel like that's a similar thing for me, that I like to help kind of that underdog or that person that's really kind of overlooked a lot of times, because that's how I've always felt all my life Like I was always overlooked for that opportunity and I had to find ways to create that or really just go about doing it myself and then somehow getting the recognition or getting into the right spot and everything like that. So I always try and do that for other people or, as I'm given that opportunity to lead somebody or, you know, mentor them, I make sure I give them as much as I can and give them all the advice that I can as well. Because of that, because it's like I wish I would have had that in that same position and everything.

Speaker 1:

It's funny how we do that.

Speaker 2:

It probably sounds a little stupid to some people, but you know five years ago why I think the other businesses didn't go as good as it was money. I was very money hungry. I wanted all the money off, all the jobs and I was going to pay nickels and dimes to everybody else whether it was a friend of mine who helped me or my dad, it didn't matter, I wanted it all. So now I get the most fulfillment out of it. Yes, the business makes money, yes, whatever.

Speaker 2:

But whenever he does a job that this you know, this week he's been working on some engine stands for a sprint car company or sprint car team and uh, he's never been pipe, really, you know, he's never, um, welded a bunch of round tube, um, and it kicked his ass, you know. And but at the end of the week, the, the job's about done and, uh, they're killer, they look great, they, they fit up, fit up great. He done an awesome job. Yes, he had some problems going through it, but looking at the product, he's never done this before and he's getting in there, he's figuring it out and he's making it better.

Speaker 2:

It just I get the gratification out of that and seeing, you know, when we do we done a big 70 foot wide entryway on a big shop um up in Missouri and I go up and really high profile client and he, uh, he walks up, man, he's patting me on the back about how great everything looks and I'm like I didn't do anything, like all I did was hauled it up here today for him. He built it all in the shop and I helped him move it out with the skid steer, that's it. And then he goes over there and he starts praising him, you know, and uh, to see his eyes kind of light up. You know, yeah, I did that, you know that was me. Um, damn right, that was me. You know, kind of get a little step in his step a little bit, where, where he knows the gratification. So I get, I get a good enjoyment out of that seeing other people succeed.

Speaker 1:

Now yeah, and that is a great feeling, like Like when you're there you know you could have done the work, but somebody else did it instead, but you were there kind of guiding them or giving them that opportunity to be able to do that. I mean, it's just that's an amazing feeling.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, definitely that's how I feel with some interns that I've led and stuff like that, other people that I've led, and then even with my employees as they get those opportunities to do that and everything. It's just amazing to watch them get excited and light up, especially with the new business that I've started and everything. Really just giving employees that opportunity to be able to work with other business owners has just been awesome to see. It's like such a win-win situation, I guess. Win-win-win situation because they have an opportunity to do the things that they like to do, but then also the business owner gets to get rid of some of the things that they don't want to do or get some things that are actually going to start actually being done that they have been kind of neglecting because they didn't have that time and everything. So it yeah, it's just awesome to be able to see that. But even with my interns as they figure things out and they go through and work out the problem.

Speaker 1:

Or even my, my daughter uh, really cool to be able to see that as well, though she was probably I don't know one and a half, two years old, something like that at the time, and she was trying to get a stuffed animal out out of her crib and she kept trying to like lift it up. And then she gets to the top of the crib. And she kept trying to like lift it up. And then she gets to the top of the crib and she gets stuck on the rail. I'm like, look, you know, reach over with the other hand and grab it. And then she finally did it. I kind of had to help her, show her, and then she figured it out and the next time we go in there she grabs it and I was like that is so cool just to see her figure. They start to develop and grow like that and everything.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, he has to, uh, he definitely has to remind me like, hey, you know, I'm I'm not really a welder and I'm not really a fabricator. Um, because I do, I put all that that uh responsibility on his shoulders now, and, and he'll come to me every once in a while. It's hey, I, I've never done this. I'm like, oh go, do this. Well, I've never done that. I, I don't even know how to start that process, oh crap, okay, well, let me help you, let me walk you through it for just a second. And then, typically, he does it and and, as bad as I hate to admit, 90 of the time it's better than what I would have done. So, uh, because he's still, he's so attention to detail. And I'm thinking, hey, get it it done, get it out, get it done, get it out. You know he, he wants to perfect everything.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, and so talk to us through that process. I mean, it's with welding, obviously it's a very physical thing, uh. But I I think about, you know, like standard operator procedures and stuff like that, things that are maybe more technical, or like website development, stuff like that. That's more like a computer-based thing, maybe a little bit more difficult to you know, show hands-on if you will, and and get somebody trained up. But how do you work through with him like hey, I'm giving you this task, and then you realize, oh, he doesn't know what he's doing. So what does that process kind of look like of how you go about training him up so he can then take it on and do it himself?

Speaker 2:

I mean, a lot of this stuff is just, you know, uh, you know this is the way I would do it and and kind of roll through the way I would do it, you know, like bending out the pipe or whatever, um, or running a bead for the first time. You know, hey, this is how I do it. Um, I'm not going to say that it's the best way. There's definitely more ways to skin a cat than one. Um, do what fits you, you know, and he'll do it, and it might look like crap or he might screw it up, and we both come back to the table and, okay, um, I would change this, this and this. You know, and you might do this.

Speaker 2:

Um, if it's running a bead and you know you're pulling it too fast, slow down, you know, or whatever it may You're turning your wire, speed up, um, he'll try it and and just learn. Um, because my dad always used to preach really hard that I can give you all the the lessons to life, but if you don't fall on your face, you're not going to learn anything. Um, so that I'm a very big baptism by fire type person. It uh, you, uh, you're going to learn the fastest and the best whenever it's it's crunch time when you're, when you're putting all that helmet, pull out on the track. So, um, whether it's the right way or not, I don't know, but it definitely is the way I learned the best, um, and it's worked out okay for him so far.

Speaker 1:

So, yeah, yeah, I mean, that's how I am too, but I've noticed a lot of business owners. It's like they want to make sure the SOPs in place, that the all these things are there together, and while that's, I'm not going to say it's not a bad thing. Not, it's not a bad thing to do that. But I find a lot of times that business owners it's really their, their crutch, it's a way for them to procrastinate. Actually delegating that task or getting somebody else to do that work is oh, I got to create the SOP.

Speaker 1:

No, I think the way that you do it and that's the way I like to do it too, hey, here's a task, start working on it. If you've got questions, let me know, or maybe we'll review it a little bit real quick. Depending on what the task is, how complex it is, we'll go through it real quick or I'll try and show you an example. Or even like one thing I do with, like social media. Like, hey, here's an idea that I want to do that I get my VA to start doing, and then it's like okay, here's some examples of like some reels or posts or whatever it is. Let's see if we can replicate something like that.

Speaker 1:

Okay, cool, and now they've got an example and they try it and then I review it afterwards. It's not like, okay, go ahead and post it when you're done, like no, let's review it and everything, make sure you know, ask those questions. But yeah, really that that baptism by fire, like you were saying, I like that saying to learn is really a hands-on approach. So you actually did it and now you can know what you need to actually work on.

Speaker 2:

And yeah, when you're like him with this job that we're doing now, he comes to me and he's like, hey, we need you know, I don't know how much it was. It was like we need 300 feet of tubing and it's like, let's go ahead and order 400 feet. Well, we don't need that much. This is our first time doing this. This is your first time doing this. This is your first time doing this, like, let's just order some extra, it'd be okay, we're going to learn, you know, and, oh, we ended up going through, you know, 60 feet to try to get it down. Or you know, whatever it is.

Speaker 2:

It's arbitrary numbers, but we ended up going through some material to learn how to do it, but it's 100% perfect. You know they're're, they look perfect, they're bent, perfect, they're nice and straight. Um and that, that, that learning. You know, I can go down there for him and I can give him those measurements and all that um on jobs, but he doesn't know how to get those on the next one yeah, um, so if it's a, if it's a bend radius and it's going to grow x amount of inches on the bend, um, I can tell him that.

Speaker 2:

But baptism by fire, you don't learn that until you screwed it up. Um, and most people not all, but most people are only going to screw up so many times before they get it right. Um, uh, they're not going to just keep screwing it up, just to keep screwing it up. Um, and I got lucky with him. He's a perfectionist and he likes it in certain ways, so he's, uh, he's going to screw it up a couple of times, but the third or fourth time it's going to be just all the perfect.

Speaker 1:

So, and that's another good point right there. I think that's another reason why people don't delegate things or try and get somebody else to start taking over those tasks, because it's like, well, it's just going to cost more, like whether material or additional time that it takes, but it's also you're not having to do that now, Like now somebody else is doing that, whether they are technically paid less than you or not, you can go on and do something else. Yes, you might have to go back and check on them, but wouldn't you rather do only 10% of the work, like going back and checking and maybe you do a thing or two here versus 100% of it? Let somebody else do 90% of it, even if it takes them 150% longer than you would have taken.

Speaker 2:

Dustin Hooten was a big one. Me and Dustin are pretty good friends and when I was starting to grow and got Greg to come work for me, I was like man, I can't let go. I want to do every weld, I want to do every cut, I want to do every bend, I want to do every, everything, you know, I can't let go. And he said dude, you're, you're screwing yourself, you. You can't do that. You know, as far as your delegation there, it, if you do everything, you're not teaching them anything, it's you have to let go of those reins and you have to if you're going to grow and you're going to get employees. You're going to go through a time span there where you feel like you're hitting your head against the wall of. You know, man, I could have done this better and it would have saved me money and I could have had X amount of $100 more on this job. But he still doesn't know. So you're still having to do it. You're still having to be under the hood all the time. You're still having to do 95% of the work. So rip the freaking Band-Aid off and let's learn. I'll learn how to help you, you learn how to do it, and let's both learn together and let's grow this business.

Speaker 2:

And again just got lucky this time around and all the cards lined up and it worked out perfect. He was eager to learn and he was eager to learn, and and I was eager to uh to learn, and my learning was to let go and, um, you know, stuff's going to screw up and there is more than one way to skin a cat. Um, I don't care how many times you tell me that I still don't like it. Um, I want it to be my way, but he's, he's proving me wrong. Um, every day. Uh, he, he does it as good, if not better, than I do, day in and day out.

Speaker 1:

And yeah, hard to say, but it's the truth, yeah, I love it. And so, besides Dustin telling you you need to get out of your own head, how did you change that mindset to start actually giving that work away, and not you just constantly feeling like I got to be in it?

Speaker 2:

that work away, and not you just constantly feeling like I got to be in it, I got to do it myself, kind of thing. I don't know, I got a. I got a really big um. I hate to say stiffy, but I got a really big um interest, I guess, in teaching.

Speaker 2:

You know all about that time too, um, so going to, uh, you know, if we were going to go run a weld or whatever, teaching him how I do it, and then he'd say, well, let's try this. Oh, dang, now I'm actually learning a little bit from him as well. So we kind of both of us becoming the teacher student there, I guess in an aspect of you know, I've got 15 years experience. But it's one way I was kind of raised by those Vietnam people that it was this way and that was the only way, and damn it, you're not going to do it a different way, um. But whenever you start doing that back and forth, he had a fresh new look on it.

Speaker 2:

Um, looking at it from the outside, he had a little different perspective, I guess would be the right word to say, on how to complete a task and uh, so more or less or less, I mean, he was teaching me just as much as I was teaching him um. So I think that's probably what made it go so great. I can't say if if he wouldn't have been as uh apt to want to learn, it may not win as smooth. So I will say, some of that was I just flat out got lucky yeah, yeah sounds like a little bit, but I mean it sounds like you.

Speaker 1:

you definitely opened up and obviously talking with business owners like Dustin and everything really helped you really get over that ledge and get out of your own way. Really let that ego you know, get that ego and check and everything, so you could actually do that. And so what's next? I know we briefly mentioned a little bit, but what's next for Powell Fabrication and the garage business?

Speaker 2:

Oh, I got big goals, big dreams. I lost a huge manufacturing contract last year, just not knowing how to bid and stuff. So I've got an arbitrary number of where I want the companies to be in a few years, number of where I want the companies to be in a few years. But as far as my heart goals is, I want to have two employees on both sides full time and then I want everybody to be making good salaries to where, whenever they have those bad days that they turn around and look at their bank account. It's like it really wasn't that bad I can go back tomorrow.

Speaker 2:

You know, because, uh, being a people person a little bit more now, um, I want to grow the, the circle I guess I call it. You know, the people around me. I want to grow that to a really good group of people. That's unstoppable. I feel like that would be, um, you know, in the next couple years that'd probably be the best um business, business move, essentially that I could do Um form that group, make sure they know I have their back and uh, and vice versa, and we can all just build and go dominate.

Speaker 1:

I like it, man. So some great goals right there. I know you got more than that in the, in the picture and everything, but yeah, great right there. You know, really working on building out that culture would be huge to help with that. I mean, good salary is always nice, but the culture really, to me, is what really keeps people within a company. Of course, security also good pay, but yeah, I mean there's a lot of things that go into it. But yeah, I know you'll definitely do that. But Richard man appreciate. But Richard man appreciate you coming on the show. If people want to follow you see what you're doing with the business and everything, where's the best place for them to reach out to you?

Speaker 2:

Pal Fabrication on Facebook, pal Fab on YouTube and then pfnwacom. So, yeah, we've got a few YouTube videos out there from shop projects and stuff we've done and hopefully in the next year these cars behind me will be doing a big expansion and those will be sitting on a concrete second floor and anyway, yeah, cool stuff in the making. But anyway, that's for another video.

Speaker 1:

Well, sounds great, man. Richard, thanks again for coming on the show.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, thanks man, I appreciate it. Thanks for having me.

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Philip Sessions

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