Having an open discussion about passion and how we perceive it. My views on this have shifted a bit from what I was thought growing up. I am hopeful this will help you with your journey.
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Having an open discussion about passion and how we perceive it. My views on this have shifted a bit from what I was thought growing up. I am hopeful this will help you with your journey.
Get 8% off at TruTech Tools with promo HVACTIME
https://www.trutechtools.com/?ApplyPromo=hvactime
techsupport@hvactimetx.com
hvactime@hvactimetx.com
Get tech support at hvactime.shop
Welcome to the HVAC Time Podcast everybody. Uh, today we've got Kirk joining us. Uh, everybody should remember Kirk from episode seven. If you hadn't checked that out, recommend you go do that. Uh, today we're doing a remote. I'm on the road trying to get home and, uh, I think Kirk's sitting in front of his house.
So just, uh, bear with us if anything. But today I want to have a conversation around passion. You know, I grew up. With a mindset that, you know, we, everybody had some passion in your life, right? That was the overall general concept, and one of your goals that you had in life was to go out there and essentially discover your passion and pursue it and, and try to do something with it.
That was, that was the premise. You know, I've, that's always kind of just stuck with me as what it was. And, and I've spent a lot of my life, uh, thinking about that. And so, um, you know, here recently I've been thinking about that some more, and there's been a handful of podcasts and, and I, I'll give, uh, Mike Rowe, uh, a shout out.
I know that. Can seem fairly controversial at times, you know, for some people, I don't know. But for me, I, I like some of the input and some of the things he has done for the trades community. And something he talks about is, uh, you know, bringing your passion with you and, you know, he's made some statements over time that's really engaged.
A lot of thought for me that, you know, it's, we don't, you may not have. Or your work. How about that? Your work isn't necessarily your passion, but that you have passion that you can bring to your work. And I've, I've really been trying to, uh, understand this and so I, that's where kind Kurt comes in. And, uh, you know, something I really appreciate with Kirk is he, he has, uh, while there's a lot of things we can agree.
there's a lot of things we have very different views on, and we tend to stand on very, uh, distant ends of, of the spectrum on, on many topics. And, uh, what that, what I feel like that does is that kind of gives us an opportunity to have some fairly, uh, deep conversation conversations about those things and actually find a middle ground that is reason.
When we do come to one. So granted, we don't always come to a middle ground in that way, but when we do, it works out pretty nice. So anyway, kinda getting back to, to where some of my thoughts have been is I, you know, I have a perspective that I didn't, I didn't come into hvac, I didn't get started because I had this dream to be an HVAC technic.
or to do chiller work or to train people or any of this other stuff. Now I do. I did have a passion growing up for education. I actually spent a, a good amount of my youth envisioning myself as a college professor teaching history. I really enjoyed history growing up. That was a big, that was a big topic for me and.
What really killed that was growing up and seeing the education system, I knew that I wasn't going to do well in that environment, and that did lead to me making a decision not to pursue my passion for education, uh, because of where that system currently stands. And so I, uh, I just went into the trades.
Now granted, I've made a lot of other mistakes early on in my life that. Kind of led me to a place where I didn't have a whole lot of options in front of me, and I really just had to kind of take what was in front of me. And one of those options turned into a, uh, uh, an HVAC app apprenticeship. That was end of the day.
It was nothing more than just a job that paid better than the job I. And it was a stepping stone to just take me to the next thing in my life. I didn't know a heck, I didn't know, I didn't know what it was, but end of the day, my passion wasn't hvac. Now you fast forward just a, a couple of years and I realized that there is a lot of things about HVAC that I really enjoyed and, uh, I took.
I took the passion that I have, and at this stage I, I view myself as somebody who is a very passionate person. I carry a lot of passion and, uh, I feel like I took the passion I had and brought it into the industry with me, and then stood on that passion to, to build a career. And that's when I, you know, realized.
Maybe I could use my love for education. Maybe I could use my love for serving other people and providing a good service and just doing a good job in general. And I think that it was a combination of those things and just bringing the passion with me that eventually settled me into hvac, that allowed me to kind of, to, to take the shot that I had and, and, and Kirk.
I'll shut up here in a second and you're, and you can step in here, but you know, I have a very, uh, similar view from my perspective that you. You didn't come into your life or you didn't grow up imagining ever being an HVAC technician, and, uh, and you just kind of landed here. But I, I view you as somebody that carries a lot of passion for the things you do in your life.
And eventually that translated into, uh, into hvac, right? I mean, just take over it. So it's funny that you mentioned, um, you. Not wanting to get into HVAC right off the bat and being passionate about it. It's like my, my dad, you know, has an HVAC certificate and, you know, he comes from an HVAC background and I wanted to do anything and everything else other than follow at my dad's footsteps.
He's a great person. Something you wanna, it's not something I, I saw myself doing going in right behind him. So I did, you know, college for a few years, uh, probably a few years longer than I should. Um, but I fail. I, I, I never got a degree. I didn't, I didn't fall in love with any particular field I was going into.
It was a lot of you fall in love with the newness of the field, whether it was architecture or computer science. Uh, but that quickly faded away. Um, it wasn't until, uh, I kind of ran outta options and I, I went towards the HVAC side and finally just said, You know, let's screw it. Let's do it. Let's see what happens.
And you know, sometimes your parents are right and, uh, they know you better than you know yourself. And, you know, you come into it with just a lot of, um, it just checks a lot of the boxes that you have and you end up doing really well at it because you are, um, Interested in it, you're prideful in it, and that translates over to the passion that you see every day that I, I put into the work.
Well, and I find that true for myself in a lot of ways. You know, I've, I've said for a long time that what, what really, what what eventually caught my attention and, and made me double down and commit was I, I began to realize that. I loved all the different aspects because I grew up a, uh, jack of all trades doing handyman service work and, and whatnot.
But I'm a master of none at the end of the day. And so growing up the way I did, you know, by the time I was 10 and 11 years old, I was working construction sites on these, uh, house remodel or building porches. And so I learned carpentry, I learned roofing, I learned electrical, I learned plumbing. And you know, I grew up in an area where we didn't have.
The, the codes. And so it wasn't like you had to worry about a code inspector and, and it wasn't uncommon then, uh, it was starting to become uncommon, but it wasn't uncommon then to have, uh, fairly young people involved in the process. So it wasn't like this weird thing that, this just honestly, in today's standards is far too young of a kid to be on this job site and working with all these.
And, uh, so, so I grew up in that environment and I, uh, that's what I knew. But my dad also really enjoyed science, just in a general fact. He just, he enjoyed science and he always, uh, pushed a very, uh, a very heavy scientific thought process with most everything. I. . So that did instill in me a, a enjoyment for it because it was something I just, I, I enjoyed doing with him and, and I, that did carry over for me.
And so, uh, eventually, yeah, that, that really began to solidify that I had all these things that I really enjoyed doing. I knew that I couldn't sit behind a desk for my life, like I'm just. I just, I'm not that person. I can't, I can't do that. I need to be out. And that's one of the things, even in my current role, you know, managing things that I, I do struggle with and we do have conversations around is, you know, there's sometimes I do need to.
be a little more admin than, than I allow myself to. And I just, it's a struggle for me. But my point is, you know, it's, it's the, the passion for just being out there and being in involved and, you know, all the different trades, all those trades are. Involved in hvac. I use all of those skills that I learned for, you know, running pipe and plumbing and all the electrical skills I learned and the codes.
And, you know, the construction side helps me understand, you know, building design and why certain things and how structural engineering, uh, Uh, functions in that way. And it just, it's just so many things. And then I get to throw refrigerant and psychometrics into the conversation, which is the science piece, and I get to pull that science and theory into the practical in an what I, what I see now is a, just a fascinating way.
So yeah, you, you, and I hope you hear a lot of passion in the way I speak now, but I want to hit home. You know, it wasn't this way for me for a long time, and I went through a period of time where I wasn't even sure I could make a career of this industry. And something I've seen over time and, and different comments, especially from some, from what I view as young people, or at minimum young people to the trade, is they, they're really struggling because, uh, they, they see people like myself online.
Who has built a career and, uh, has now, you know, started to put things out on YouTube and wherever else. And, you know, we, I carry a lot of passion about what I speak about, and I'm very, I'm very transparent with that. And, you know, I think that sometimes we give this, uh, this mis um, this misunderstanding, I think.
we just naturally, like we grew up wanting to do this almost, and this was what we dreamed of our entire life. And, and I want to hit home that that is the furthest thing from the truth. And, you know, next to, uh, next to, uh, being a history teacher, for example. You know, some, the next closest passion I had in my life was probably horses.
And there was a real time where hell, I thought I'd go be a, a, a farrier and train and break horses for the rest of my life. And, you know, eventually what, what steered me away from that was I realized that financially I just didn't see it as a real sustainable option. Cause I wanted a family. And you know, that's another passion that.
I didn't pursue because I didn't feel like it, uh, it was gonna achieve the goals I wanted for my life. You know, it's, it's funny you say that cuz I had,
you know, I used to make candles, ironically. I mean, it's gonna sound kind of funny, but, you know, I mean, I used to, you know, boil the wax, you know, add some scents and stuff, you know, make candles and, you know, pour 'em out. And I would give 'em away for Christmas and stuff. And I, I always thought that that would be kind of cool to do, you know?
And, you know, make and sell candles. A, the market's extremely competitive and you know, B is, you know, you do,
it's funny that you know,
but two, you know, going with that is, you know, if you had done that for a living, made it fun. Would you have passion if it became something where you had to actually manage the, the, the dollar signs on and all that? It would've, I, I personally believe taken, if you actually do that for a living on a, um, you know, a business level, you know, a lot of, there's, a lot of people aren't built to be entrepreneurs in that way.
Yeah, no, I think it's absolutely, I think it's absolutely part of the, part of the case is, uh, you know, when, when your, when your livelihood depends. I think it, it does heavily influence, um, where that goes because, uh, you know, a, a a, a new passion of mine that, uh, I can, I can honestly say that I've developed and something, you know, if you didn't have known me, uh, years ago, you'd, you'd realize how ridiculous this.
But you know, videography, I've heard, I've heard how opposed to YouTube you were in the start. Yeah, yeah. Well, it just, it's like just videography. I, I, uh, there was no way, like, that was something, you know, you, you, you would've told, uh, 18 year old me that one day you're going to, you're gonna get to a place where you.
To create stories in film documentaries, and you're gonna understand how to run these, this camera equipment. And that's gonna also translate to, you're gonna be, uh, speaking to people and educating in, in a, uh, in a higher level. Right? And, and just all these things that, that, uh, are, are gonna be. Uh, you, you would've been, you would've been crazy.
Uh, there was no way ever that this, that this would've been true. And especially the YouTube thing. Like I, I like YouTube and I like this whole social media thing because it's a, it's a, it's a avenue to reach a lot of people and provide some sort of help in, in a shining light. They can understand something that nobody else around them is willing to teach them and realize that they can make a better life for themselves.
But what that also turned into is I love videography and it's not something that I'm trying to make a living out of. Right. Because I've got, I've got hvac, I've got other stuff in my life that I, I can, I can make money with that. And so I'm, you know, I'm out actually, uh, shooting documentaries now and trying to capture family's stories and, and do this whole extra thing.
And, you know, that's, that's ne it goes back to, um, I found something I really. and I find it really enjoyable and because I'm somebody that has a lot of passion for, for what I'm doing, and I've learned how to, I've learned how to effectively apply that passion in a concentrated way that I've now developed this very fun hobby and skill that brings what I, what I see is a lot of joy to people.
and, and I, I guess my point, I, I feel like I'm rambling honestly, but my point is it's, it's bringing the passion and I feel like a lot of people have a lot of passion in their lives, especially people who, who you don't think you do you think that, you know, we're somehow special people like myself or like you, or just whoever.
You think we're specials in some way. And I, and personally, I don't, I don't think we're special at all. I think we learned and we had specific opportunities that that forced us into a place where we ended up learning certain skills. And in my specific case, I learned something that, uh, that forced me to focus my energy and passion that I had in a, in a calculated way.
And so I would say to people of our generation and those behind, , you know, uh, I, I know I I'm not into video games, right? I used to be, but I'm not now. Uh, but I know that a lot of, a lot of our generation are very big into video games and for, or even just, uh, say maybe it's not even a video game. Maybe it's some kind of, uh, some kind of other activity.
I, I don't know, hiking. The point is there's something in your life. You have a lot of passion for and that you really enjoy doing. And part of, part of what I see at this stage is that that is proof that passion exists within you. And the challenge is not that you don't have passion for the thing you're, you're creating a career around is.
Learning how to, how to find a way to take the passion you have and apply it to something that can give you a very successful future. You know, you say passion about video games, you know, our generation and stuff and you know, there's a lot of, you know, kids that do. Play video games quite a bit and you know, your, your, you know, your parents are always like, Hey, you know, what are you gonna do?
How are you gonna develop a skill, you know, with, with just playing video games and you have thousands of people now that are on YouTube or Twitch, you know, and they're, they're streaming and, and they get donations to, cuz people watch them play and, you know, it is quite strange to see that, you know, Someone who played quite a bit of, quite a bit of video games when they were younger, uh, as well.
And, um, didn't know that I could actually make some money on that if I was actually still going that route. But, um, it is kind of interesting to see that, you know, those video game streamers and Twitch streamers or whatever they are, they're, you know, they've, they've taken that passion and turned it into something they can actually make money on.
Or even, you know, playing tournaments on video games. You know, it's, it's just very strange that, um, you know, something that we never thought as a kid, you know, the video games were just for fun and now people do you. Literally million dollar tournaments for these things just cuz you're, you know, good at it.
You know, and I, I kind of wanna bring up something too that you mentioned earlier is, you know, like HVAC's able to, uh, you're able to use a lot of the skills that you had, um, that you grew up with, you know, in, in the HVAC side of things, specifically on the commercial side of things as well. And I think that's something that why you find a lot of passion in the HVAC side.
Is that there's no matter what background you have, you can apply it to a trade. And I'm, I'm gonna use HVAC here because, well, that's what we work in. But you know, if you, if you like working with, um, like on financial side, obviously there's, you know, sales or there's, um, accounting or finance or however they want to, to work that.
Or if you like, you know, designing things within you, obviously you have system design, building design, um, you like mechanical. Built the first chillers. It wasn't an HVAC tech. I guarantee that they didn't think of using a pump as a, the first centrifugal chiller. I don't guarantee you they didn't think of using a pump as a, as a compressor.
You know, it was probably some mechanical engineer that came up with that. Again, I'm not sure. But, um, you know, it's, it's, there's literally something for everyone in, in our side, but you can expand that to pretty much every trade. Um, and you can get involved with it, you know, so I, I think that's kind of why you see a lot of hvac.
Do this and are so gung ho about what they do. But if you are experiencing burnout, maybe you're just in the wrong side of the field. You know, I know summertime, pretty much every field technician probably experiences burnout in some way. Um, and they kind of wish that they were, you know, an instructor, you know, in the middle of August rather than, you know, being on a rooftop where it's 140 degrees.
So, yeah, I mean, that's just kind of, that's just kinda how I think of it is if you don't like what you're currently doing in your field, you can always find something else, you know, and, and go that route, whether it's, you know, administration, instructing, or, you know, just straight up being a field tech.
Yeah. I mean, it, it is true. Uh, and, and burnout is, is a very real thing. You know, I've, I've. I think this past year, uh, maybe the beginning of 2020, closing out 2021, there was, there was a tremendous amount happening at that time. And, and I think that's the closest to, uh, burnout that I, I think I've experienced like a severe burnout more than just a, you know, the, the, what I would consider a normal seasonal swing, I think.
You know, we as we as technicians, uh, really struggle with our seasonal swings because, uh, it is, at least in our climate, it is extremely exhausting to survive a summer. And, uh, I think that, yeah, it's, it's, you know, it's, it's, uh, that was probably, that was probably the first time in a lot of years. That I genuinely questioned.
Uh, can I, can I keep this up? Can I maintain this industry and this career? And, and it can get hard sometimes because you, you look at the guys who've gone before us and you look at how they've had to sacrifice their bodies. Many of them sacrifice their families. , you know, the state that they're left in when this industry is done with them.
And I don't think it has to be that way. I think a lot of the damage that they've taken in their body was from a, a, a different way of life that they used to have to live. You know, because they came up in a time where the trades were, they were not as safe nor friendly as I think they are now. I think, uh, as a whole, we have come a really long.
and creating an environment where somebody can take care of their body. And so I think there is that, but I don't know. It's just, it's hard to, to see that and then to be at that, at that ledge where you're looking over it and you, you got all these years behind you and you just, it's just, is it all still worth it?
You know, that that was a, that was a challenging, uh, moment. That, and I, I got. And I even, hell, I even did a, a video talking about burnout and just having to take some, some time and just really, uh, self care I guess is, is how it, I would term it. You know, I know you and I have had that conversation of, you know, how the industry can really chew up, you know, take advantage of, of, at least back in, at least, you know, the older generation, their, their passion for what they were doing was really taken advantage of with how they were, you know, treated or how the business was running and stuff.
And I know you and I have had that conversation about. I've, I have concerns. See if I, you know, if I was a service tech. Um, and one of the things I'm, I'm really thankful about where we work here is that, you know, we're able to kind of manage that properly to where we're not gonna end up, you know, broken and contorted, um, by the time we retire.
But, you know, my little 2 cents there, it's true. No, we have talked about it a lot. And, and I, I think that's an interesting thing. Okay, so you made a, you made a point. I wanna hone in on taking advantage of somebody's. You know, that's something that I think, it's not something I guess I've thought about, but I feel like having heard it, I can relate a lot to it, you know?
And, and, and is there a dividing line between, you know, an employer really, uh, really trying to stand behind an employee? That is, uh, that is, is really passionate or is, is in a phase where they're, they're applying a lot of their passion to what it is they're doing and eventually crossing a barrier where they're, they're abusing, uh, what that technician is, is willing to put on the table.
That is, that is leading that technician to a place of burnout. If, if that employer didn't push so hard because he, they, they recognized that that person was, was really, really into doing this and doing this well, that, uh, you know, maybe they would've had a more healthy, uh, experience or environment. You know, it's, I mean, you hear about it all the time.
Like we've, we've had guys, you know, come start work here or your interviews where you know, Hey, why do you wanna leave your old place? Well, it's. It's not, you don't, you don't get off of work until you get out of your truck. You know? It's, that I feel like is taking advantage of the technician. Right. You know, he doesn't have a specific time he gets to leave.
Like, yeah, the on-call tech is one thing, but you know, the, the everyday tech, you know, you've got, you know, kids, you've got, maybe
I don't,
you're constant.
Outta your truck something and now you're being
just doesn't mean have the right, whenever they want you to do it. Um, I think that's probably a morally ambiguous kind of thing, but. I feel like that is something that you can take advantage of and, you know, expanding even further. I think you could name a lot of celebrities that became celebrities. Uh, you know, you hear about a lot of, um, singers or athletes that kind of go off the deep end, you know, after they're kind of done playing or singing, you know, um, they grew up loving playing baseball, football, basketball, you know, performing.
They're being used. Like they, maybe they, maybe they didn't catch a pass or maybe they, you know, their voice broke while they were singing and, you know, everybody lambasted them for, um, you know, for, for having a mishap. And they're still passionate about what they do. But I think that's,
So
if anything I said there actually applies, but, um, in, in my, in my head it kind of goes similarly. Yeah, no, I think that's a, I think that's an excellent, uh, perspective that kind of goes into, uh, you know, the, the transition where, uh, taking something that is your passion. Like, say, say it's something that you, you legitimately are applying a ton of passion into.
That wasn't a career. That turned into a career. And then when your livelihood now depends on it and your family depends on it, and, you know, just everything in your life is, is this thing that at one time it had no, it had no, um, it had no external pressures. You know, it was something that you just genuinely really enjoyed.
And you got to enjoy doing it. And that evolved into this, this, uh, this ugly monster in your life that now all of a sudden, um, you know, now you've gotta, you've gotta take this thing that, you know, even when you don't want to, you have no choice, but you have, you have no choice but to do it. Otherwise you don't, you don't put food on the table.
Uh, . That's a big, that's a big crossover, but I think that's also where, I think that's where we can draw a dividing line. I think that there is a line that could be drawn between, um, you know, having something that we would traditionally think as this is my passion and having something that, uh, or, and, and having a lot of passion that you can apply to.
So, , I think, I think that is where, uh, that is where that, that line may be One of the other things, you know, with, you know, having your passion taken advantage of is, you know, when, when you know a trade, you know, whether it's, you know, they listed 'em already, but you know, HVAC and you know, you've got people that know you do that for a living, you know, how many times have you been like, Hey, can you come over and look at my system, you know, They, they only, they, they know you and they want you to work on it because you're, you're available, right?
They don't really, most of the time they don't care if it's actually you. They just know that you're gonna get to them before 8:00 AM in the morning when, you know, uh, they call another company out and they tell 'em, oh, we're actually three weeks away, you know? And so, um, personally for me, um, I, depending on the repair, um, I will go do a free diagnosis on their.
I won't necessarily fix it, um, depending on what it is, but that way they know that when someone, when they call, when someone, when they call someone out there, they're not gonna get up, charged anything for, you know, they, they, they can, they can trust me because I'm not in it for myself. I'm not charging them any money.
You know, if they've got, you know, a bad compressor, I'll tell them their compressor's bad, I'm not gonna necessarily go replace it because I'm not gonna be in charge of all that warranty and stuff like that. I'm not gonna take care. That's not I'm, I don't want. Burden. But that way they know that when they get out there and I, and I tell them, Hey, you have an R 22 system, you might as well just go ahead and upgrade it.
You know, that way when, when they call another company out there, you know, and they tell them, oh, hey, you need a new system. And then now they feel like they're being ganged up on they, they're trying to be taken advantage of for their money. Um, you know, I, I'll I put that, I put that, that foot down, like.
You're not gonna take advantage of me doing work, but I will go and give you it and diagnose your system. And you know, I've had that, I've done that a few times to make sure that I protect myself and I'm not just working from 8:00 AM to midnight every day. Because PE everybody has problems and you can't fix everyone's ac.
So my question there becomes, is that because you're passionate about hvac or is that because you're passionate about people and HVAC becomes the vehicle to express? that passion for people through, uh, it's both actually. Because it's sometimes you end up working on, I mean, everybody's got customers they don't like, um, but you go help them because, hey, maybe they've got an interesting problem, you know, or maybe you really like the person, you don't like the equipment they have, you know, it, it, it's both I think because, because of that reason.
You tell me, uh, you know, you talked about early on in the conversation that. You know, you didn't expect to go into HVAC and nothing else, but, uh, you know, legitimately do you the overall premise? I don't, I don't know that you've really spoken towards the premise of we are passionate people learning how to apply our passion instead of we're people that have passions that we have to discover.
I think passionate people just kind of encompasses. Uh, you know, as, as you mentioned earlier, you know, everybody has something they're passionate about, right? So I think, hum I mean, we're gonna get, you know, philosophical here, but everybody has a passion. Um, it, I guess I'm passionate about doing the job correctly and it just so happens that HVAC is my vehicle there at this point.
Um, there's always something. That allows me to, that keeps me on my toes with getting it done or diagnosing it correctly. Does that answer it? Is that I feel like I'm, well, I mean, yeah. Still missing the mark there on the question. It's not necessarily missing the mark. It's just, uh, you, you agree with the stance though, that we all have passion and Yes.
Well, so let's talk about some of the other guys. We don't have to necessarily, uh, stick with names. You know. Okay. You're, you're, you're of a fairly young class in the industry still, and you know, with the guys that you're used to working with, do you see, do you see that they were, were any of them, did any of them come into this industry?
Because they're all doing phenomenally well, by the way, but did any of them come into the. Having wanted to be in the industry at any point in their life prior to getting into here, or was it, was it just another opportunity that they had in front of them that became something more as they applied their passion to it?
I don't think anyone actually really wanted this upfront. I think everyone else just kind of, Leaned into it with their passion. Yeah. And then I would say that's been, that, that was absolutely my experience as well. Is it, it, you know, even my, my classmates and the guys that I came up in the, in the trade with, uh, now you always had the guys who sat in the back of the class in school and you had the guys who were more on the front and more engaged.
And you know, I think looking back at this point, I think that the guys in the. Now for various reasons, but they just, their passion was not getting applied to what they were there to do. And the guys in the front of the class absolutely did, you know, they really, uh, took a lot of their energy that they were gonna put towards something and really applied it to building a career for whatever reason, whatever personal reasons they had, I, I think, are ultimately irrelevant as to why the fact.
that's what I saw them do, and that's the same things that I was doing at that time. So, I don't know, maybe I'm just, maybe we're beating a dead horse at this point. It just, I think we both can agree that for those of you who are out there who, uh, Who, look at anybody who's really successful in this industry, whether that be somebody like, uh, I think Brian Orr is, is a, a, an easy example.
Uh, he speaks with a lot of, uh, passion and knowledge in this industry. He's a huge voice in this trade. And, you know, somebody like him now, his life growing up, Uh, if I'm not mistaken, he came up in a, uh, in a trades family, and if I believe his father had a HVAC business of sorts, and I, I'm actually now I'm sitting here talking about it.
I'm slightly fuzzy on his exact details of his, of his story, but the point is, uh, he's somebody that I view as, as a very passionate person about just about anything he does. And when that man, uh, when I see him commit to things he. really doubles down and he really applies himself, which, which is evidence of, of passion.
And so I don't think he started his career in life thinking that he was gonna be anything in the HVAC world or otherwise. But somewhere along the way he found himself in the. And, you know, created a business around it, got his family involved and really applied himself, uh, and, and took all that passion that he had inside and applied it to something.
And so, uh, he, he was able to develop from there. And that's my encouragement to you, is if you have passions in your life, Looking at them as these arbitrary things that you just somehow naturally have. And I challenge Atlanta thought. And what I would challenge you to do is think about how you apply your time to the things you really enjoy to do.
Now, I don't mean to say that you should turn those things into careers, cuz in a lot of ways you probably shouldn't. But what I do mean to say, There's probably things and there's a reason that you're interested in hvac. There's a reason you're listening to this podcast. There's a reason, reason you care anything about this industry.
So it obviously has your attention. You, I would, I would highly encourage you to try to, to take some of the energy that you apply to whatever it is you do. and focus it in some way into this industry and in this career. And I think something that's really standing out to me is Kirk and I really enjoy serving people and we really have a passion for other people.
And it is in that passion that we found that something like HVAC makes it to where we. in a, in a, what we view as a significant way, make other people's day and life better. So do you enjoy serving people? It's okay if you, if you don't, uh, working in the trades, no matter what trade you go into, it is a lot of serving.
So just bear that in mind. But there's other aspects, and that's part of what Kirk was talking about earlier. There's other aspects of this trade where you don't have to really. A personality to serve, but you could have a personality to do a lot of other things and be very successful in this or in the industries.
And that would be, I guess, my closing thought and my closing encouragement. And I would really, uh, really push you to take some time to, to take some deep reflection around that line of thought. I appreciate it. Everybody. M t t make time for your. And, uh, get ready for the season. We're in the point of transitioning seasons now, or at least we are here.
We're not that far from spring, even though it's Oh, have one good cold snap Cliff. February gets bad. Oh God. I hope not. I'm good. Don't worry. Is that over Cold snaps? I know, I know. Asia, it's the beginning of February. That always hurts us. We're past. I can we're, we're past beginning of February. We can, we can like we're good.
We got it. Let's, it's back there. Anyway. Much rather, much rather sweat than freeze. So I'm all for it. . I agree. Absolutely agree. Appreciate everybody. We'll catch you on the next one.