Energy Crue
Welcome to 'Energy Crüe', the podcast that dives deep into the heart of industry innovation, entrepreneurship, and personal growth. I'm your host, JP Warren, and each episode, we embark on a journey to uncover the passions and motivations that fuel industry leaders. We're not just talking business here; we're exploring the personal drives, the triumphs, and the challenges that shape today's pioneers. Alongside these inspiring conversations, I'll be sharing my own story - the battles with imposter syndrome, the pivotal mindset shifts, and the lessons learned throughout my entrepreneurial voyage. As a certified coach, my goal is to empower you, our listeners, to break free from the barriers holding you back. Join me as we navigate both the professional and personal landscapes, learning and growing together with 'Energy Crüe'
Energy Crue
Lord Bailey Midkiff: Strategies to thrive and survive in the O&G space!
Navigating the shifting sands of the oil and gas industry, my buddy, a fifth-gen oil worker, throws a curveball at us with a question about career advancement without the crutch of overtime. As we peel back the layers of this complex issue, you can expect to discover how the industry's changing policies are influencing the way we think about work, competition, and personal growth. Gone are the days of simply clocking extra hours — we're talking about a whole new game plan for rising through the ranks.
Strap in as we take a deep dive into the urgency of attracting new, vibrant minds to recharge an industry at a crossroads. From the Crew Club's latest revelations to the art of personal branding, we dissect the essential strategies for making the oil and gas sector an irresistible draw for the next wave of innovators. These aren't your run-of-the-mill recruitment tactics; we're igniting a movement to reposition our field as a bastion of human advancement, and you won't want to miss out on these groundbreaking insights.
Wrapping up the episode, I open up about my own playbook for success, from aggressive customer acquisition to audacious growth targets. We're swapping out idle weekends for a marathon of knowledge, fueling up on inspiration from the best in the biz. Whether you're in oil and gas or just seeking that spark to catapult your career, this is your invitation to join the conversation, expand your network, and embrace the exhilarating discomfort that comes with reaching new heights.
I think that's great.
Speaker 1:That's a great way to start it, because we're recording now.
Speaker 2:So what was the question you just asked? What was?
Speaker 1:this nugget of knowledge that we're going to solve today.
Speaker 2:We're going to solve this crazy idea. So my cousin called me and I'm fifth-generation oil and gas and he's working on a frack job. Yeah, it's crazy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he's starting to calculate, so your dad's, dad's, dad's, dad's dad's dad's dad.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, there's some overlap, because you've got to think they were live together, right?
Speaker 1:So what's your last name? Drake.
Speaker 2:Oh, there you go. That would be great.
Speaker 1:That's an old-field joke, Colonel Drake.
Speaker 2:But he calls me and he goes Bailey, lord Bailey, how do I get career advancement in the oil and gas industry if I can't work overtime? And I kind of pause and I was like, well, let me ask you this, what do you mean? Like, can you not because of your schedule? Is it pertaining to your supervisor? Is it a company as a whole? And he basically said you know they don't allow overtime and this is something we're seeing more and more of and I think here's why.
Speaker 2:So you know, back in the day it was hey, can you work a shift, can you work another shift? So, like when my dad was a driller, he'd get off of his drilling job at his rig whatever Exeter rig 7-11 case may be in his uncle or my uncle, excuse me would call and say, hey, can you come roughneck for me? So it was just nonstop right. And back then you took it when you could have it Right. I remember stories in 89 to where my dad said he was working on the only rig in Wyoming for less money than a gas station clerk because he wanted to be on a rig. So when, the when, the going's good, you want to go get it right, yeah, no, so, hold on, so, hold on, so.
Speaker 1:So what's the thing is? So they made overtime, so is the question is this so how do you advance it all feel, without putting it over time?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So, like with avoiding that, you know, and I mean it's not just that position, right. So I think the great thing to look at is you know, cfos, managers they got smart what's the highest cost? Or what's your number one cost running a business, your employees, yeah, what's, what's one cost that you can manage or you can control your employees? So there's two variables of play, right. So you want to make sure you have successful, career driven employees, but you also want to make sure you can budget. That you know, and I mean salaries, obviously an automatic one. You know that people go with. I know, well, okay, well, let's pause here.
Speaker 1:Let's pause here. I think there's a lot of aspects to this. Number one, the association of advancement with overtime. I mean, do you need to have overtime for advancement, you know, and what does advancement look like? But number two let's talk about the money, the salaries and all that stuff in the old gas industry. I remember listen, I started trying to figure this out like my own stuff out, like two, three years ago, so I'm not that in touch when it comes to you know day rates and you know salaries and all that stuff. But, however, I have noticed that other industries, like industries, shit gas stations, buckeys, for example they're offering 32 bucks, a hundred thousand, for like a manager.
Speaker 2:I saw someone. I was in Texas I think I was in Richardson like six months ago and I was I kind of paused. I took a Snapchat of it because I was like, really, but dude you looked at it.
Speaker 1:But the thing is so think about that You're offering kind of the same amount and before it was like you know all feel pride, you'll do it, but we all feel trash makes an all feel cash. Like there's that sense of like, hey, we work hard but we get paid for it. But you have, like gas stations paying 401ks paying over $20 an hour. So it's me.
Speaker 1:It's like how do you compete? How does the industry? Let's, let's back it up. Let's, let's not even talk about advancement. Let's just talk about retaining, recruiting people first. Okay, Right. Let's talk about, let's get, let's get there. Before we get into that, to your cousin First off. Your cousin's an avid listener. I want to give a shout out to him. No, I don't know if he is or not, but he better be.
Speaker 2:If not, he wants to be.
Speaker 1:Now, but let's, but let's, but let's talk about that Like what. What is it? What, what? What's the situation today when it comes to kind of recruiting fresh talent into the industry or entertaining talent, especially when you have so many different competing salaries at Bucky's, at wherever? I mean? So what, where are we at?
Speaker 2:A lack of creativity. I mean, I kind of expressed this a while back, so I thought about it and I said here's the deal. We know, as an industry, we need to find younger, successful individuals that want to join the industry, that want to be involved.
Speaker 2:You know, from the bottom to the top there's a gap across the board, and it's not just our industry but talking about ours, we've got to figure out a way to change that. I mean, yeah, so we have tons of third party companies that do recruitment. We have tons of people that have, you know, recruitment employees, career driven employees. That's not enough. I I'm blown away that somebody hasn't sat down and said what do we do? You know? Do we start a new? Do we take away from the budget here and start like a creative hiring department? Like really put some time into this on how we're going to change this, because we're clearly what we're doing isn't working Right. It's the definition of insanity and we all know that, but yet we're so complacent we're still not changing it. You know what it is.
Speaker 1:It kind of reminds me of, like, the whole reason like kids crew was started. You know, like I remember sitting there in this room and I was like, oh, we got to do something, we should be doing something, we should be doing something. I'm like let's just do something, and like I know what we could do. Should you like, let's just take action. So the thing is, though, that that what you're saying, you know, like we got to get creative. We got to get creative. I love how you just said that, because I've had other conversations with students at Colorado School of Mind.
Speaker 1:Who's graduate? Christian Grimes, who's going to be a topic still to the Crew Club event. He's like gone are the days where, you know, shell would just put a booth up and they would get the best and brightest kids right in front of their booths where they could sign up. Those days are gone. So he's like we have to think of ways. So, number one, to showcase the industry that it's not just you know, to showcase the industry that it's not just, you know, engineers doing this, it's marketing, sales, entrepreneurship, engineers, problem solvers. It's kind of reintroducing different aspects of our industry. But not only that. It's getting creative. It's getting creative with our message what we're doing. You can't just set up a booth. We're so archaic and slow to respond to current trends.
Speaker 2:We definitely are. Is that a fair statement At that? 100%? We've always been a reactive industry, right? We're not proactive, we're reactive.
Speaker 2:You see, that changing at all recently? No, okay, I want to say I see a lot of people talking about how we are and we need to change, but I don't see the change taking place right and I mean shame on us. It's across the board. I think we all have a little piece of that involvement that we need to change and it's just like you said, we just have to do it. And what that looks like nobody knows because nobody's done it yet.
Speaker 1:But the thing is, though, is that let me ask you a question to bring people in?
Speaker 1:Obviously, when it comes to cash, people obviously are motivated for cash, and rightfully so. That's how you put a roof over your head, that's how you have a free. I understand that. So, besides cash, I think, what are your thoughts on kind of the message of the industry, because it doesn't matter where you are, it's like whether you're open up a bank account or whether you're listening to it, whatever it's like you hear about, like a pledge climate, this pledge climate, that there's been such a good job of associating that, the like first off, climate change, but second off, like, oh, these new grads want to associate their careers with how they morally feel, ethically feel, which I totally understand, I totally get that, I'm not taking away from that, but that also is another challenge. So it's not just money we're facing, but there's also a moral dilemma that we're doing a poor job of communicating the fact that hydrocarbons, natural gas and natural stuff actually promote the health, the human flourishing. So we're doing a poor job of that, but there are leaders in the industry doing talking about stuff like that.
Speaker 2:You know, jack Hamlin had an amazing quote not too long ago when he was talking to Mark Lahore.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 2:I always slash your last name. Sorry, mark, I love you, buddy, but he said we're not in the oil and gas business, we're in the well, how did he put it?
Speaker 1:bettering life business or quality of life business.
Speaker 2:That's what he said, quote unquote, and it was, oh yeah, you know, like that should be on a t-shirt. I'm surprised, like Baker Hughes or somebody didn't call him and say, hey, can we, you know, can we have that so we can use it, cause it's amazing, you know, it's perfect, you know, and how we should brand ourselves.
Speaker 2:So okay so, so bring it on. I think it's on that point though. On branding, I you know, you and I we're pretty good. You know we do videos and stuff like that. Some people are not comfortable with that, and that's a lot of discussion in itself. That's a separate thing. But I think a lot of these younger people, they're so involved in social media that it's almost like you have to brand to them that, hey, we'll help you build your brand, like almost maybe that's a creative department, hey, come work for us and we'll help you take care of your social media side with these tools. You know, just like they do, hey, we'll pay to take you through college so you can advance into something else. Maybe that's something we need to look into. There's gotta be avenues like that to make it, you know, shine brighter to the people versus a booth.
Speaker 1:Or just make it kind of more relevant. I mean, no one really knows to boost anymore. I mean, tell the story, tell the experience. I mean there's so many people that put good content out there that, whether it's the day in the life of or whether it's what they do, I think there needs to be more. I find that stuff interesting and, talking about your content real quick, make it a little more personal to you. I've seen your stuff lately, recently and all the stuff and I love it because, like I remember getting in this industry, there were so many people that were there to help. There were so many mentors there that wanted to teach you, show you how. I mean I can name them from Kirk Axon, Kirk Payton to Bubba Smith that would want me to succeed, wants me to achieve. However, there's been a big crew change. There's been a big gap in when it comes to the mentorship and to that. What you're doing, what I see that you're doing, I think, is so impactful, bro.
Speaker 1:Like, I just want to give you a shout out, like right here, Because it's like I see your stuff and you know, the scared part of me is like oh, my God, lord, what are you doing? You're giving away, you're helping your competition, bro.
Speaker 2:I really am, I am you are like.
Speaker 1:So for those that don't know, first off, Lord, give a little background about yourself. Just introduction real quick, because I do want to talk about the content real quick. I realized we haven't done that, so real quick.
Speaker 2:No, for sure, for sure. Lord Bailey Midkiff here out of Casper Y Oming, I'm fit generation oil and gas. I started out eight years old painting tanks on a rig Christmas day for my dad. Rest is history. I mean currently, right now, I am one of the amazing team members for PPC Performance Policiation Control. Other than that, I mean, I really just out here just trying to make it better, make it happen Oil and gas, oil and gas. It's a small community being a big world.
Speaker 1:So that's the thing I've seen your stuff pop up a lot more lately. You've always been, you know, you've always been out there front center, but it seems to me you're taking more of a voice, you're taking more of a platform and building that and the stuff that you're putting out and I highly recommend anyone starting off in sales or business development, whatever that is like. I look at you know, whatever it comes up, I look at it, I'm like dude, you're literally helping your competition. But I understand that's a bigger picture. You're just there to help, period, and I think that is something. I think that is something I mean, whether it's branding or whether it's speaking out there to people maybe hesitant to put out content. If you put out something to help someone, even if that's one person, do it. Because I mean, let me ask you, I mean finding this path, this avenue, what's propelling you to, kind of to help your competition, lord? What's helping? What's pushing you to do that?
Speaker 2:I think two things. For one, the knowledge needs to be known and, like you said, steffen Back. There used to be people that really helped with that. We're just not seeing any anymore and there is a gap. So I mean I love to give my competition the information. For another reason I like competition If I can better them, I have to better myself. It's a win-win across the board and I mean I love helping people. I'm well known in the oil and gas industry other salespeople. They'll call me and say, hey, do you know anybody here?
Speaker 1:Do you?
Speaker 2:know anything about this. Of course, here here's this, this, this, this. I mean, yeah, we have Google all the information's out there, but I mean I enjoy it. It's enlightening, it's something I did a good deed for somebody else today by giving them information, and I mean, I welcome that.
Speaker 1:What's been some feedback when you're putting this stuff out there and what have you noticed?
Speaker 2:A lot of positivity. It's never so much, I think, with content. Nobody ever really nitpicks it, but they take a couple pieces out of it and then they'll express that and that's all it counts. It's just like you could read a book three times, but you're gonna take something different out of it every time. Or you can I can listen to one of your podcasts three different times and at the end catch something I didn't catch the first three times.
Speaker 1:Well, listen to it three more, because that'll be a total of six downloads. So I appreciate that. There you go, yeah, yeah, yeah, so, okay, so let me. So give me like your like, how did you like wind up, kind of where you're at today and getting sales, and because there might be some nuggets of knowledge that go back to kind of our first question how do you rise through the ranks in the oil and gas industry? How do you find your path in the oil and gas industry without overtime, without extra pay, without all these resources? How do you do it on your own? So, how did you do it on your own?
Speaker 2:So I was in operations drilling side for a long time drilling services, and I started at the bottom, worked my way up to your stint North Dakota for Baker Hughes. I was actually the youngest supervisor they have ever had, so that's kind of an achievement in itself.
Speaker 1:Well, I mean, you're a paint tank when you're eight years old, so I'm not surprised about that.
Speaker 2:That's fair. That's fair. And shout out to Lee Harnes. He's the CEO of Althussian Energy Partners. He was at the time the sales guy for NUSCO and my brother-in-law, and he called me and he said hey, do you want to move back to Wyoming and do the same thing you're doing? Oh, of course, right. So I jumped, got high paying money. Well, the crash hit. We went from 11.
Speaker 1:What year? And then we need jobs to zero.
Speaker 2:Well, there's not a job when you have zero jobs, right? So what year was this? I want to say it was 2013, maybe 20, 13, 2014. And I applied to a couple of jobs and a gentleman reached out to me and he basically said, bailey, he's like, you're such a people person, you're outgoing, you're always energetic. Have you ever thought about sales? And I was like, ah, why not? And the rest is history? I mean, I fit like a glove.
Speaker 2:You read a lot of things you can't be taught. It can be taught, it's natural. It's not natural. I've met some amazing people that are not salesmen at all. They're just technical and they're scared in front of people and they sell a ton of stuff. So there's no really factual information to that.
Speaker 2:But it came natural for me and once I started really pursuing personal growth not so much pushed by the career path you're on or the partnership with the company you work with, but on your own there's so much information out there and I treat it like this. So, when you're learning how to play golf, I always tell people well, go take a class about one aspect of golf and then just practice that for a couple of games and then go do another one. Don't try to learn it all at once. That's the same thing with sales. Take one thing, put it into your playbook, make it happen and then move on to the next one and you start building up. Pretty soon you have a lot. I mean, I've been in sales probably 15 years now and I learned something new every day.
Speaker 1:I just want to kind of pause. I just really enjoy talking to you right now. You definitely you charged me up for some reason. I love it. You have really good energy, so from so okay. So if I was listening to this and thinking, okay, well, how can I emulate what Lord did? I actually jotted that. So I'm paying attention to jotting this down. So, number one you said yes to opportunity. Someone came to you with a question and said, hey, do you want to move here? It wasn't like, well, let me think it was yes. It was yes to opportunity. Second thing perseverance. When you didn't have a job, you kept on applying. You kept yourself in the game. The third thing I wrote down is relationships, like you get to know people. You get to know people on a personal level. And then the last thing I wrote down was lean into yourself, lean into your strengths. You know, I always I think that was such an interesting lesson, you know, earlier in my career it's like you want to be good at everything.
Speaker 1:You know like you want to be like a good but like then you realize, oh my gosh, I'm spending 80% of my energy and effort on this, on my blind spot or my weakness or whatever it is, and I don't enjoy it. I don't, I'm just doing that to be more so, or I could focus more on my strengths and make more of an impact. So why would I focus on the weak side when I could really develop my strengths, my personal side?
Speaker 2:Here's a big secret your weaknesses are never going to leave. So when you're a child, everything you learn you know from your parents and whatever it's there subconsciously, it never goes away. You know, habasit. Whatever the case may be, let your weaknesses be there, just don't if you think about them. That's a weakness.
Speaker 1:You're already on it. You're already on it.
Speaker 2:So focus on the strengths, continue to grow, let it, let it be there.
Speaker 1:Let your weakness what is? What is so? You're saying, oh, I've been in sales 15 years, gotten sales, sales, natural sales, be bunk a myth for me. What is sales?
Speaker 2:You know, you already said it relationships, I mean from a. If you Googled it, I feel like it would say something like somebody that brings a solution to your problem. It's what I would say it would be. I've never Googled it, but that's probably the textbook answer. But it is you and one too many other individuals solving a problem. But you're communicating in this process, right. You're building a relationship. You're talking about, you know the facts, what you can do to solve them or maybe guiding them on a different path. All together, you're helping each other. I think sales, I think customers help you more than you help them.
Speaker 1:I completely agree.
Speaker 2:I've heard this saying a hundred times in my life, but for some reason, two weeks ago I heard it and it stuck with me. He said the Lord gave you two ears and one mouth for a reason. And I was like man, impactful, because that's just it. You know, and I'm a talker, so that's. You know, I'm well known. I have to sit there and hold back. I'm like, oh, I want to say 20 different things, but I'm trying to take in as much as possible.
Speaker 1:You know what I've noticed. I've noticed like, as my, as you know, as you know, whether it's a podcast, it's a podcast, I feel like I have to feel every like dead space and air. You know it's like, oh, what do I do? I don't find myself listening. And I've noticed that from when I first started doing this podcast, kind of to where I'm at today, it's still. I still have to improve on it. But you know, I've had feedback like JP, this is my favorite podcast, the whole I wear. I'll keep it up. Oh my God, I love it so much. It's changed my life.
Speaker 1:But no, that hasn't been that first part, but it's been like, hey, jp, I really like what you're doing. Slow down and listen a little bit. Like that's the thing. Just like in sales, I mean I remember at the, my crew club events, like I'll be sitting around, not my, but the crew club events, I'll be sitting around. I was like, oh, I gotta fill the dead space. There is so much value. And I'm an extrovert, just like you. You know what I mean. Like, I like talking, I like it's fun.
Speaker 2:I enjoy it, it is.
Speaker 1:However, there is so much value in slowing down and being okay with silence and listening and I think active listening, you're right it does help you improve. Not just you know you as a whether it's a salesperson, or whether it's business development or just accountant or HR, whatever you are but it also helps your product. You know if you're out there pushing pumps that do you know? I don't know pumps with 500 horsepower and your customers are trying to tell you dude, we need that's too much, we need something 200 horsepower. And you're so, we got five, we got five. You're not listening, right? You're missing the answer to your problem.
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 1:So I do this, so okay. So we're talking about sales to you, helping people out, yeah, okay. So let me ask you a question. People ask you know, for people getting out there, out for the advice like, how do you get in the oil field? How do you get in the oil? Because that's the thing, it is nerve-racking because there are booms and busts, jobs do go away. So what is a way that you've seen the past 15 years or 20 years, or five generations? What do you see that that lets people stick into the industry?
Speaker 2:Proper leadership, okay, and I think luckily for us the ones that are most valuable to the oil and gas industry, be it any you know, upstream, midstream, downstream, if you're talking to middle to upper management, those are leaders. That's why they're there, that's why they're still here. So don't, I think, people get complacent and they hang out with their friend that, oh, I work in the oil field, I make all this money, I got laid off. Well, then they're scared. Well, they're just. That's a small piece of the puzzle, right. There's a larger scheme, a much larger scheme, and they don't know what quality of employee their friend was. There's a lot of difference between being out with their friend versus working with them.
Speaker 2:So I think they need to be open-minded and I, that's just hard to do. A lot of people like to say we're open-minded but it's automatic. I just actually I made a comment to my friend yesterday. I was like, hey, have you noticed, with all these sales gurus that are posting stuff, they say don't do this. And I'm like, isn't it so like a cardinal rule is not to talk bad about your competition? But have you noticed they're all doing that? See, nobody. He thought about it. He's like whoa kind of right Cause. He's like oh, don't send an email like that. Let's be honest, there's no one way and I've always found that mind boggling. That's, dude, you're going to push what works for them.
Speaker 1:Dude, you know what that's so interesting. You said it like I'll be on like, like I've. So I'm a huge proponent of like. If I'm on my phone, I want. I don't want it just to be junk. So I've changed my algorithm, you know like. I put in like entrepreneurs or sale, business development, coaching, whatever. That is right, um, and I'll put that in there and it's like, you're right. There's no like. You're like, how do you send this cold email? You don't say this, you said this. Hey Lord, I got two minutes for you. Better get back to me. It's no right way. Um, and that's, and that's the thing. There's no secret codes, there's no secret sauce. It's for me, it's persistence and it's kind of just being human. You know it's persistent Trying to help them out.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, I mean, at the end of the day, you can never go along with creativity and just being like an actual person, right, you know? Chat, chat, chat, gpt, excuse me, all that stuff's exciting, but it's not human, it's not you. You know, I get. I mean not to like confuse people. Yeah, be proper and politically correct and, you know, professional, but you can still. You know, you got to catch an eye somehow. So I think creativity is the biggest piece of the puzzle, you know.
Speaker 2:There is one thing, though, that I don't think people talk about. So they may watch a lot of these videos and they get this idea, but you got to keep in mind, too, that not every business is structured to allow that. I have seen, you know, other salespeople where they're like well, they want us to send our email this way. I'm like, why apologize? It probably isn't working, that effective it's. I mean not say, well, it might, but you're going to have that. So it's easy for us to say not to do it, but there's so many variables too that I don't think anybody highlights that either. They just go hey, try this. Oh, well, that's great. Well, I can't try that. So what do I do now?
Speaker 1:And that's the thing too whether it comes to email or content and all that stuff. I think that our industry is extremely nervous and, I think, scared to kind of get it out of the way, scared to kind of showcase what we do, who we are, the personalities, and I think it's getting better right now. I think you know it's getting better. Well, you're right, there still is that stigma. It's like don't stick your head out of the stand, don't do anything different, stay in this, and that's kind of a form of control, and to me that's not power. I mean, if anything you want your employees like if I'm hiring you, if I'm hiring you, I'm doing that for a reason, because I think you're the best Right. Okay, try stuff out, here's enough rope and make an impact your way. But there is a lot of, I guess, of consciousness and people holding their employees back to whether showcase who we are or allow them to do their job effectively.
Speaker 2:Exactly. Yeah, it's true, you know, and I'd love to say I have an algorithm to change that, but there's Well, let me ask you a question when do you get your all intel?
Speaker 1:Is it reading stuff? Is it just practicing? I mean, how do you, how does Lord come up with the Lord rulebook when it comes to sales?
Speaker 2:I change it every day and I mean I do. I watch tons of other people, I get information, I do tons of research and sometimes honestly Talk to me about behind, not behind the camera.
Speaker 1:Talk to me about, I guess, kind of, where do you get your intel, your research, where do you get your mind Right? I mean, talk to me Because, hey listen, sales in the oil field is a grind. It is a constant revolving door of rejection. So talk to me, how do you stay this energy? Stay this energetic and positive and knowledgeable.
Speaker 2:Creativity. It always sticks with creativity. I mean, I spend tons of time, probably two hours in the morning in bed, so I mean let's just get an overview. You know, I wake up, wipe my eyes, lean over, make sure there's not the 4am phone call. Oh hey, we need this now. If everything's copacetic, sit there and man your mind's racing. You know people talk about, when you're running the morning, creativity. Well, there's a lot of creativity from getting up to just getting ready, you know. And I'll stand in the shower and I take some long showers. They're enjoyable, right?
Speaker 1:But I'm just like, how do I?
Speaker 2:change it. And I was telling you this morning I was trying to change living the dream, which is a crazy simple thing, but I was like what cool, exciting, you know paragraph can I come up with? Or three to five words that replaces that that people start using, because I mean it's wore out. Living the dream, you know, it's just like Matthew Conaghey's all right, all right, all right, I've used that. But I mean, sometimes we got to think of new ones, you know, and a lot of it it's trial and error. You know I've sent some emails. I sent one a couple of days ago. I was like best pulsation this side of the Mississippi, you know, dot dot, you know, to see if they opened it and I have my, so we use HubSpot and they did open it. So I mean, you know it worked.
Speaker 1:But so some kind of stuff and I love that kind of concept. It's like I've been really kind of like focused on like not reliving the last six months. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:I love that.
Speaker 1:I feel like we get in a cycle of like oh January, I'm gonna do dry January, then February, oh we got this in February. It just kind of cycle back into like the same routine, the same this and that. So, like I love how you're kind of even breaking apart like the little common sayings, like you're trying not to live like you were yesterday. So it's like even like living the dream, even that small significant, you know, everyone accepts that it's fine. But you're up there like that's in your mind, like how do I change this? So I love the fact it's constantly how do I change, how do I squeeze something new out of this? And I do.
Speaker 1:I'm the same way, like I'll wake up in the morning, sometimes three, sometimes four, and it's just like creative mode. It's not anxiety, it's like oh, this is so great, like, if I can do like, and I have to get up and I have to like start jotting down or thinking there. But it hits me in the morning but like, and then, when you want to be creative, like 2pm is like not there.
Speaker 2:So you got a grasp of when it's there.
Speaker 2:It's funny to say it's all pull us up. So what? I? When I think it's something really good, I grab my phone and what I do is I type an email, but I don't send it. So it's in my drafts, yeah. So I have it there and I have. I did one this morning. So let me see here. Let's see what I jotted down, Cause I remember I did some but I didn't even look at it yet. So this is fresh. This is hot off the press. Okay, this is straight out of my mind. All right, let's see here.
Speaker 1:I love how you do that, cause I just I schedule my, so I'll write it. Then I'll schedule it to myself, like send it to me at like 10, 10am or something like that.
Speaker 2:So it's funny, I guess. So we talked about the live in the dream thing, so I wrote down good morning, what do you have on your schedule today? So this is like me reliving it in my mind. Oh, just working in you. Are you just working or already learning? Are you planning a seat for someone else to learn? Let's not just work, let's challenge each other and challenge and change the narrative. That's what I'd put I like for this morning.
Speaker 1:I love that man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like changing. So it kind of goes with the one I was talking about. I've been trying to change, but I'm like, oh, I got the answer to change it. You're not just working. What are you really doing? What are you working on? What are you thinking about? What's in your mind? Just like you said what is it, and that's tough too.
Speaker 1:Like that is tough having that mentality, Like well, it's just, I am just working, Like I love the fact that you're kind of like changing, you're reframing the day. You're reframing a kind of like whether it's the everyday task of sales popping on that sales team call or field report, whatever it is it's, you're changing the perception of it where you can actually attack it in a different way, with different energy, with a different outcome.
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 1:All right. So how do we succeed in the oil field without overtime? Back to the question, back to the root. What is that success to you? What does that mean?
Speaker 2:Honestly. That's why I asked it, because I'm having a hard time because when I thought about it, so there's ways they changed it. So I mean, obviously they want to reduce their overhead and their costs, and I mean salaries. One of them, compensatory time, is one of them, which is a government thing, so like they pay vacation days instead of overtime to kind of compensate for that. The straight time is obviously when they do check splitting, so they don't have to pay overtime at all. But all that is an awful answer because it's transactional right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, is it pay, though?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I'm trying to think on it and I mean, obviously networking is gonna be like a big one, but it's just a generic answer and it might be something as find out what your management team does voluntarily. What do they volunteer with? Maybe try to volunteer there, spend time with them, learn information through that Cause. To kind of give some understanding of his question, I'm pretty sure he meant that for years, our parents and then before them. Oh well, you wanna get promoted? Well, you come in early you stay late.
Speaker 2:That was just a generic answer. But the problem is now yeah, they don't wanna pay overtime, so that's not. You don't have that option. So now you've gotta get creative. How am I gonna do that? And it might be spending personal time branding and focusing your branding based on that, and then your leadership sees that and they see the girls. But we've gotta figure out a way to showcase that your desire to advance in the quality that you'll bring to the table, or the power and the impact.
Speaker 1:You know, I think this question is such a broad, great, rich question that I think people have been trying to solve years and decades. I would honestly have to say like, let's take pay out of it, okay, we don't control pay, we don't control salary. I mean, we don't. At the end of the day, if you are working for a company, they're gonna be in charge whatever it is. So let's take that out of it. Okay, let's take that out of the mix. I would have to say one thing to do, which is what you said would to be networking.
Speaker 1:I spent five years of my career, five or six years of my career when I first started and I did network, I was like, oh, I'm good in this bubble, you know, I'm gonna advance in this bubble, I'm gonna work in this bubble and I'm good, I don't need anything. However, once you're outside of that bubble, there's so many different opportunities that you are it's kind of like that Play-Dohs cave thing, like you have no idea what's out there. So I think, constantly engaging yourself whether it's industry events or whether it's happened, whatever it is, getting to know your competition, they might have an opportunity. So I think that networking, strategic networking is valuable when it comes to advance, whether that's another job or maybe that's a person saying, hey, lord, I really like your work ethic. In two years I'm gonna start my own company. I want people like you on board. So I think networking is obviously. I've seen the benefits, the values of it. I run my companies off of that, but yes, I think that probably is a great, great thing to start. Okay.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:That's fine. So I hit it back to you what's your? What's your?
Speaker 2:You know, I should have Googled it because you would think there's an answer for this. No, man. Maybe somebody should write a book. Maybe we should write a book because really focused, but it's gotta be just how you spend your free time. I think that's a big thing because as individuals, we're so visually watched from different perspectives and I think people get complacent. So, like Facebook, they might do 20 different things on there, but they don't realize that their boss is looking at it.
Speaker 1:Dude, that doesn't mean I'm only.
Speaker 2:Are you giving the right perception on your platforms?
Speaker 1:I personally hardly do Facebook.
Speaker 2:I'm a LinkedIn guy and the number one reason if you're listening LinkedIn is because I wanna get business in, not junk it. I don't need to see 20 memes. I wanna learn hey, somebody got bought out. I wanna see a exec crew podcast come out and get information on some imposter syndrome. I want some information. If I'm gonna scroll, I wanna be utilizing my time wisely while I'm scrolling.
Speaker 1:Okay. So that goes to something else I just jotted down. During your free time, during your spare time, like okay, again we're taking pay out of it. Go down the hall, go down the site, learn what someone else. Go on location, learn what someone else is doing. Go down the hallway to someone down there, learn what they're doing. I think the more rounded you are, first off, I mean it's always cool to learn other Cause I mean that kind of first off makes your job a little bit easier, makes their job a little bit easier. Better communication it's just the relationship to there. I think it works better. But I think, adding value, you're right during your off time, during your downtime, learning something new, whether it's a skill set, a trade or about something. I think that speaks volumes, and only that you're just a more well-rounded individual.
Speaker 2:Well, it shows you're driven and it's I guess cross-training would be the technical term from like a field standpoint right, which is super amazing. And every company wants that because, let's be honest, you don't want one guy that only knows one thing, because you know what are you gonna do when that one guy leaves. Vice versa, there's a lot of that and I mean we saw a lot of that with you know the gap we have in the well-filled that information to get passed on. So now we're learning mistakes again that we wish we wouldn't have. But that's just part of it.
Speaker 1:Well, what sucks about that man? I see a lot of not a lot of people asking questions if they don't know something, oh, but it's scared to you know?
Speaker 2:And how do we change the narrative on that? That's a whole separate one in itself, right?
Speaker 1:That's a whole set. I mean that's a completely separate one. But that's the thing it's like. There's so much, there's such a gap when it comes to like knowledge, like whether it's sales, how to deal with rejection in sales. You know how to stay motivated in sales. I mean it's not just order taken, I mean it's one of those things where it's like you really are putting out, you know your disciples of your company and so how do you arm them? How do you arm them? So how do you stay motivated?
Speaker 2:It's always funny because people ask me, like to see that I mean, honestly, I hate to admit this is just naturally me, like I just I am super positive. I just don't. I don't let anything bother me. It's like I said in the beginning. You know, let it be there. Negative stuff's gonna happen, you're gonna get nose, you're gonna get this. But you know, keep pushing forward the more positive you are. It's. I'm looking for a choice of words and you might have it, jp, and you know your thoughts when I say it. But, like, what I put out to the universe is what I'm gonna get right. So I'm always positive. I agree with that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know.
Speaker 1:But that's tough too, man. I mean, that's a, it is a choice, it is a mindset, but sometimes it's tough, Like last week, dude, I got in a real bad funk, dude, and I'm normally positive, I'm normal in this, but like dude, I was down Like I don't know why, you know, but it was. But now you know, now I know I went to the doctor and got blood work and all that stuff, you know, but you know nothing serious, like you know, low testosterone, about 43 years old, so that's normal.
Speaker 1:But I know but it affected my mood and it was so interesting to me. But like it's like, how do you stay motivated, how do you stay positive? You know, especially with the world around you might not be going good jobs, rigs might be going or M&A just happened, where you do lose a customer, something like that but like it's one of those things where it's like it's so difficult to say positive. I think so. I think having influences of positivity, people in your life that are positive, whether you use talk to them or just listen or learn from that, helps, or talking about it too you know, I think yeah, I mean, if it's in a funk, talk to them.
Speaker 2:I mean from like anatomy standpoint. I mean it's a basic theory. I mean your thoughts turn into emotions, you know. So what? If you're thinking about negative stuff, you're gonna have a negative emotion.
Speaker 1:So you believe in like don't put that on me. You believe in manifestation like vibration?
Speaker 2:Absolutely, yeah, you listen to.
Speaker 1:Joe dispense and all that. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, me too, I believe in that stuff.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but luckily for me, like I said, it's super. I wake up happy, I'm really good. I mean ain't nobody gonna break me down, ain't nobody gonna break my stride, ain't nobody gonna slow me down. Isn't that one a sweet lyric from a 90s song?
Speaker 1:That is so like if you had to tell yourself something 10 years ago, 15 years ago, when you first started to propel you in a career right Without pay. What would that advice be? That's a question right Like that.
Speaker 2:Always take the pay deduction for the career increase every time, because at the end of the day, that is a big issue and that's kind of part of this thing. But it's another long one too. If you want to grow, and you want to grow your career nine times out of 10, the first and second leap I hate to admit it to everybody listening you're gonna take a pay cut because you're not working in the field. You're not doing this, but there's gonna be incentives too. So keep that in mind. You know time with your family.
Speaker 1:You know whatever vehicles, company trucks and ounces, whatever the case may be, always take the pay cut to get the career advancement you know that's interesting and I think because I was talking to my dad in a different industry but he's like you know, I had to take kind of half of my salary with my second job, but that job allowed him to reach success. You know, like it's one of those things. Like it may not be appetizing this first, go around this first step, but in the long term that's kind of where you want to be. And I think of people that chase titles. You know they. Oh, I want to be.
Speaker 1:You know I'm 30 years old. I want to be, you know, director. I'm 35, when it would be VP. I'm business, I'm business, I want to be this. You start chasing titles just to chase titles, and you're not chasing it for whether it's fulfillment or adding value or learning, growth, just to chase titles, you're gonna find that road stop. And not only that like it's kind of a tough place to be whenever there is a big pool of people with that title and just because you're chasing it. So it's okay to take a little time in your career to learn and to stay in that student zone as well, I think.
Speaker 2:Oh, I agree 100%. You nailed it. That is absolutely correct. Yeah, don't chase the title and don't I always call it rig jumping. Don't jump for a dollar. Yeah, yeah, that's true, which is super common, you know. I mean, I get it and we try to say money isn't the big driver, but it's 90% of the driver. It's always gonna be. That's the transaction we make. We give you our time for this financial return. That's just what it is. But there is a lot of stuff that should be put in the balance for sure.
Speaker 1:So, all right, we're coming up on 40 minutes now. I love it, let's. I wanna get this what you? Let's look ahead, let's look ahead. What are you focused on? For you know we're talking about, you know, q1 almost over. I love it. It's like end of January. It's like, oh, I love all those feels like, oh man, q2 is almost up too. What are some of the? I guess? And look, we don't have to be specific, okay, when it comes to goals or anything like that, but what are some of the things that kind of you're focused on personally in this, whether it's a short term goal or a medium length goal?
Speaker 2:So one of my big ones is I wanna write a book. Now this, oh, about what I love it. You just nailed it. I don't know, I just jotted down I wanna write down a book and I'm just drawn blanks, right. Okay, so that's just it. But I did. When I was writing goals, I was like what would be something that I could put out there that's permanent was kind of my idea, right. That, you know, leaves a dent in whatever it is. I just don't know what it's gonna be yet.
Speaker 1:Okay, all right, and is it? I'm assuming, okay, nevermind, that's first off, that's exciting.
Speaker 2:Yeah, a little bit I mean, but it's still. It's like I threw a dart and that's what I hit right and it's just sitting there. Luckily it's only January, yeah, so I mean worked on that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the year's almost over, the year's over. That's, that's okay. What else you got? That's exciting though.
Speaker 2:I mean from a business standpoint. I wrote down. I have some specifics, so I try to get two to three new customers on the books a month. Try to grow 10% of my month each month on top of last year, which is a huge feat. Right, it might not be attainable, but I think it sounds really good. I'm sure everybody does just listening, and make sure my weekends are filled more with knowledge and not so much relaxation. Okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, I've been doing that too. I've been like going on walks instead of, like you know, whatever, I've either been calling people or I've been like listening to like, like, yeah, like books that like provide, like at night I'm not watching TV, I'm like reading now, like I'm trying to read out. I don't like I'm not a reader, but now I am Like I'm trying to like get into it, like I'm digging like the small increment changes and the benefit that has on a personal level. I dig it.
Speaker 2:I love it. That's exactly what you nailed it. I just got a book. It's Arnold Schwarzenegger. It's like oh, I saw that it's the seven ingredients of the life, or seven tools to like first yeah, I can't remember what the title, I just got it yesterday, so I'll have to like put in the comments. But yeah, I haven't started it yet, so it's just. It seems simple, but I mean going back to the basics. Never hurt nobody man, it doesn't hurt.
Speaker 1:So I'm in a, I'm in a process. I got like four books like I'm reading now I guess I guess I'm trying to learn how to read again and I like four books.
Speaker 1:Well, I get one, you know, every morning it's daily stoic, and then it's. You know, I try to do leadership mindset 2.0. I downloaded Steve Jobs. I've never read autobiographies before but I'm like you know what I'm going to try to do this. You know, I got Matthew McConaughey's dream lights read that. I'm like, okay, I'm digging this. So, man, I'm trying this whole like get inspired from, like different bankers, different leaders. I mean, so far Steve Jobs has like a maniac, but it's interesting, it's very interesting.
Speaker 2:What he does is effective, so I would it's worth a read, I would imagine.
Speaker 1:It is 100%. So what, what word do you want? First off, how can people contact you? All right.
Speaker 2:So my email is b-m-i-d-k-i-f-f at performancepulsationcom. My work phone number is 972-922-2048. And then, of course, the website, wwwperformancepulsationcom. And I mean, let's be honest, we got to throw in a little piece there. If you need any pulsation control, give us a call for the guys that you need.
Speaker 1:Okay, well that's, that's also good. But also on a personal note for those out there listening to that could just kind of like Lord, it seems like correct me if I'm wrong that you're a very generous person to help people out, to kind of like help people out?
Speaker 2:Well, of course, yeah.
Speaker 1:If anybody asks me a question, I'm more than glad to assist anyway, and so yeah, so like on a personal note for those out there listening that kind of whether it's bounce ideas off of get ideas, I mean just I would highly suggest go to his profile, check it out the content he's putting out there. I hope you continue to put it. Keep putting it out there.
Speaker 2:Well, I definitely will, of course, yes, yes yes, it's very it's.
Speaker 1:it's not it's great tricks, it's little stuff like that, honestly, whether you emulate exactly what he's talking about it or. The coolest part is, though, lord, you were talking about stuff and I was like that's a great idea, but I started thinking like, oh, what about? Oh, that's another good idea. It helps the creative process going on a personal level. So, hey, I want to thank you for your time, man. Always joy to chat with you, whether it's watching your stuff, whether it's the energy crew podcast, it's inspiring to talk to you, it's motivating.
Speaker 2:So that's perfect. I love it. Well, vice versa, we don't. It's exciting.
Speaker 1:Well, we don't have an answer to the question that we came out here to solve. However, there is some guidance. Okay, it's build your networks, right.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:It's connect with people. It's learn stuff you don't know. It's be uncomfortable and be okay with your weaknesses, with your blind spots.
Speaker 2:Let them be there, just let them be there.
Speaker 1:And if you need a good pickup, you call Lord.
Speaker 2:There you go. Yeah, I'll give you one, I'll give you one.
Speaker 1:I want to thank you out there for tuning in to Energy Crew Podcast. We appreciate it. And, hey look, if you're enjoying this, make sure you subscribe, dude, I found out that there's like we have a YouTube channel and I found out that 85% of people that watch the YouTube channel aren't subscribers. So if you're on this YouTube, subscribe, because I probably should have said at the beginning but regardless, thank you, lord. I appreciate it, man. I'm looking forward to our next conversation and we'll talk to you soon. Sounds good. Thanks, man. Традиom.