Born Scrappy
This is the podcast for scrap metal traders and operators who want to get sharper without losing their scrappy edge.
Born Scrappy
Spotting the Next Opportunity with Brett Ekart
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In this episode of Born Scrappy I sit down with Brett Ekart, Serial Entrepreneur, Owner of United Metals Recycling and the host of A Scrap Life podcast, for a masterclass in what it really means to grow. Not just bigger, but smarter, broader, and with the right people alongside you.
Brett has built one of the most diversified operations in the scrap industry. From eight scrapyards in Idaho and Oregon to pipe supply, trucking, tire recycling, property development, and media.
But this episode isn't just about the businesses he's built. It's about how he thinks, how he spots opportunities others miss, how he finds the right people to back, and why giving away equity is one of the best decisions he's ever made.
Raw, honest, and full of hard-won lessons. This is Brett Ekart unfiltered.
In this episode, we talk about:
👉 His growth philosophy
👉 Backing the right people
👉 Knowing when to say no
👉 Diversifying beyond the yard
👉 Sharing equity to build success
👉 Learning from your swings and misses
👉 And more!
Whether you're running one yard or thinking about your next move, this episode will challenge how you think about opportunity, people, and growth.
Born Scrappy.
Brought to you by Buddy.
The only all-in-one platform for buying, selling, and managing scrap metal.
Built for scrappies, by scrappies.
https://www.tradebuddy.io/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/tradewithbuddy/
WHO IS STU KAGAN ANYWAYS?
28 years in the metal recycling game and still learning and growing…
I learnt from the best and worked my way up from yard labourer to Executive Director of Trading and Operations for the largest metal recycler in sub-Saharan Africa. Responsible for 4,500 employees, 85 sites, and the overall profitability of a multi-billion dollar operation.
I brought my breadth and depth of knowledge to bear and co-founded the fastest growing, most-loved, and most awarded metal recycling company in New Zealand.
I thought it was time that tech worked for our industry, so I built THE killer scrap app, Buddy - built for scrappies, by scrappies.
Father of two crazy-awesome boys. Husband to Lisa. Kids rugby coach. YPO member. Founder. Lifelong learner. Mentee. Mentor. Committed Stoic. Aspiring cowboy.
COME SAY HI ON LINKEDIN
https://www.linkedin.com/in/stukagan/
The scrap metal recycling industry has always run on hustle, trust, and sharp instincts. This is the podcast for traders and operators who want to get sharper without losing their scrappy edge. I'm Stu Kagan, bringing you insights and stories from the people shaping the future of our industry. This is Born Scrappy.
Brett Returns
Hey, Brett, welcome back to Born Scrappy. Yeah, man. Thanks for the invite. I always enjoy, uh, anytime I get some Stu time, you know? Yeah, we had some good time the other day. So, uh, um, the more time I spend with you, the more I learn and the more excited I get just in general about my future, about your future. You, you're a super positive person and always looking for opportunities a- and things like that, which is why this masterclass, which is gonna be all about growth and taking those opportunities and investing before the curve, I, I couldn't have imagined anybody else better than you to have this conversation with, man. So thanks for joining us, Brett. I appreciate that, man. I, I got a great group of people around me that support me, help me. All the ideas aren't mine, right? Um, but like I've always said, my goal is if you got a good idea, bring it to me. Let's talk through it and see if it fits. If not, you know, then bring me the next one and we'll go from there, so. I think we're gonna delve into that, man. I think that's gonna really be the basis of the conversation today because, you know, people listening to this are either in a job or are running their own business, family business, maybe started it themselves, but no doubt constantly have an idea of rolling out something different or have an opportunity 'cause somebody brings it to them. Really the focus is gonna be not just in scrap and not just opening up another yard, but when you look at growth, it's about looking at other opportunities and not just, you know, keeping in a pigeonhole or putting on those
Brett's Business Portfolio
blinkers. And so, I mean, let's just run through quickly, Brett, if you can give us a reminder, most people already know, but just talk us through the different businesses that you currently are managing. So we have a scrap business, right? We have, um, eight physical scrapyards in Idaho and Oregon, couple auto salvages. Um, we have partners in Oregon that run those. And, uh, we have a pipe distribution company, um, TV Pipe Supply, but we also sell re-line products. So we have three physical yards, three stocking yards- And then we also, uh, manage the territories for a couple different products in the, the mountain states, uh, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, um, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, Colorado. Um, so that business is a separate business. And we also have the trucking company. So we move our own material with the trucks, but we also do a lot of backhauling. We haul lumber off the coast, rebar. We haul, uh, a lot of construction products, flatbed material coming off the coast. And then we have, uh, the tire recycling business, which is a separate entity that kind of initially fed off of the scrap side, but it's kind of its own beast now. Uh, we have the good property development company, so we build storage facilities. We do projects for other people, and we manage our own projects as well. I mean, we do a lot, we do a lot, man. We have a converter processing, you know, side of our business, which is kind of tucked into the scrap side. Just in general, we try and keep, uh, we keep our plate pretty full. Um, so that's kind of like a, in a nutshell about kind of what we do. I was just gonna sit here quietly and you could have filled up the 45 minutes it felt like. All that business. You left out the chopping line, which I guess is also a part of the scrap company. Yeah, we have a wire chopping facility. We know we only chop our wire. We're not, like, going into the market and buying, you know, truckloads. Uh, we basically just chop our own material. You know, somebody told me one, sometime down the line years and years ago when we very first bought, like, "Oh, it's a boutique wire chopping line," right? And, um, at first I was kind of like, "A boutique?" Like, you know, kind of like a small... And I was like, but as I've kinda got older and, and kind of understood that where the guy was coming from, like, he's actually right, you know? Like, we have, um, two copper recovery lines side by side. I bought the other one, like, five years ago during COVID. Um, but, uh, the first one we bought in 2011, and, and it really was a smaller wire chopping line, but w- where we concentrate on just buying, like, commercial business in our area, you know, peddler traffic, and we consolidate all of our material. Um, we're not out in the marketplace trying to compete, you know, on low margin wire. It is a very, like, I wanna sell the $120 sandals, not the $10 ones, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Gotcha. Like, I want that like high margin. Make money. Yeah. We got a lot of mouths to feed. Uh, we gotta make money or else let's go do something different, you know? But, uh, it's interesting 'cause I ran a, a different model when we were in South Africa. We had, um, the electrical contracts for the whole country and the telecommunication contracts for the whole country. We were doing 25 to 30 shipping containers a month of chops- Yeah out of the plant. So- Wow um, it was 500 tons kind of thing a month. It was huge, but the margins were small, man, and you get something wrong and you put the wrong piece in the wrong area, you know, all of a sudden you're making a cobra instead of a, a clove and, you know, not... well, not number one chops, all of a sudden it's downgraded. It'll affect you, man. I much prefer the game where you're making margin, real margin, on every kilogram or every pound that comes through the door.
Diversification Mindset
Yeah. Well, and to your point, man, like I have a lot of respect for, like, the George Adams of the world that, like, they go hard in their arena and, like, they're like dialed in. He knows the scrap business. He's probably forgot more stuff than I actually know about the business, right? But there's just guys like that out there. He's one example that's kind of the, the most obvious, but there's a lot of guys that are operators out there that are just... they, they know scrap and they know it front to back. They're really good at that field. And from my standpoint, like I never was ever trying to be the biggest or have the most facilities. I just wanted to be very operationally tight, know what I was good at, and more run boutique-type businesses, right? Where like I knew my margins, I knew where I could make money, and I could move the chess pieces around and then, you know, try and find other avenues to grow than maybe like your typical, like, let's see how many tons we can push through or how many pounds we can, you know, slam through this thing, so. And that's kind of where I want to get into in this, like I love the diversification, right? You know, you're in tires and, and, you know, obviously cats, a lot of people would do cats anyway, but you know, the pipes, the transport, the, um, property rights of the storage, all these things are, are not necessarily where the scrap guy would look.
Favorite Quotes
So let's start with if you had a growth philosophy, 'cause you're a quote guy, like we all know on social media- Yeah you love them. If you had one philosophy for your kind of growth in one sentence, what would it be? I'm gonna send you the picture, but I have it on my wall, right? I got three-- I really have three quotes, and those ones are kind of like my go-tos. And the biggest one is like when you walk into our, um, conference room, I have it on there, it just says, "Fuck average, be legendary," right? Like, whatever you do, like find your thing and be great at it, right? And legendary doesn't mean you're the biggest, it just means be really good at your niche, you know? Mm-hmm. Find something and be good at it. Um, and then my other one just says, "Get shit done." Like, like at the end of the day, if you just wake up and you get things done and you're that type of person, people wanna be around you 'cause they know they can count on you. They're like, "Hey, that guy, if you want something done, go ask that guy. He'll get it done," right? Like he's a get shit done, a GSD. Like those are the people you wanna be around. Those are the people you want on your team. Like if you're a GSD individual, like I want you around, right? 'Cause you're gonna make it happen. And then my last one is just that, um, the man in the arena, you know, by Teddy Roosevelt. If you wanna be legendary, if you wanna get shit done, like you gotta put yourself in the arena, right? So you can't be afraid of what somebody's gonna think of you. You can't be afraid to start from zero and try and learn something that you have no idea about. You gotta put yourself in the arena. That's probably one of my, you know, character traits that I feel strongly about, is I'm not afraid to look stupid. I'm not afraid to try. I'm not afraid to put my money where my mouth is. But that's the only way I know, like I gotta get in the arena somehow. You know, you can either be in the stands or you can be in the game. Like, those are your choices. Like, I prefer to be in the game, trying, playing, like even if I'm getting my teeth punched in, at least I'm out there, you know, trying to do something. Exactly. So those are kind of my three go-tos.
Man In The Arena
I mean, the arena, we've spoken about this before numerous occasions, but man in the arena is so important 'cause one of the key things is, and it actually is what holds back a lot of operators, is just being willing to fail, being willing to have the people in the cheap seats make a noise, "Oh, hear this guy, whatever, whatever. He thinks this," or, "He's gonna do it." Like, ignore all of that and just be that man in the arena. Be the one who's actually out there trying because, you know, if you don't take the shots, you don't score. And it's just so vital in this whole growth mindset, is that you can make as much noise as you want, but if you're not a get shit done guy, literally all you are is making a noise. Yeah. Like there's a reason why they call it the cheap seats, right? 'Cause anybody can sit in them. Like anybody can sit in those seats. Like it's not hard to sit in that seat and talk shit about somebody who's out there trying, right? It's like the people I love at the gym the most, right? I go to the gym in the morning, are the people in there that are probably 80 pounds overweight, like 100 pounds overweight, because they're at least fucking trying. Like they're in that gym sweating, like they know people are looking at them like, "Damn, that's a big ass, you know, person." But I like look at them, I'm like, "Man, like good for you." It's good. Like, "You're in here trying to fix it," right? Mm. Like I'll give you all the rope in the world if you're a person that's trying- Mm to do something. Those are the people I love the most is like you, you don't have to. You could be over on the couch. You could be sitting there and like type via Facebook, Instagram warrior, talking shit to everybody who's out there trying, but you're actually in here like trying to do something. Absolutely. And so those are the people I... I don't care about the guy that walks in who's all jacked up and he's been lifting weights for 100 years. Like I care about the person that's like in there like, "Okay, this is my year. Like I'm gonna get it done," you know? Like those are the people like I really appreciate and I'm really like excited to see. And he could have every excuse in the book. Like, that's what- Yeah I love is no excuses. It's just kinda like- Exactly get out there, get it done, because I mean, look, I used to compete in CrossFit, and I was super fit once upon a time in, like, a previous life. And often people will say, like, "Hey, so what happened?" And I'll go, "I've been lazy." I could come up with so many excuses. I've changed countries, have kids now, like, got a- Yeah business. Uh, but I actually tell every single... But I'm like, "I've just been lazy." Granted, I've just started gym again, so hopefully that'll change it. But- Well, it's like priorities, right? Like, you've shifted some priorities. You've decided, like, "This is right here is more important for now." Like- Yeah "I'm gonna move my way back over here when it makes sense," right? Like, y- you're doing things. You're not just sitting around- Just priorities like, but you just, you just shifted your priorities, right? And I think, like, life is about, like, trying to manage, you know, like, what's important to you at the time. And, like, what might be important to you this year may not be as important to you- Yeah next year, right? But- Absolutely it doesn't mean you can't come back to it. It just means, like, right now, like, I'm trying to build a business. I'm trying to spend time with my kids. I'm trying to do this or do that. Like, I'll be back. Like, you know? Exactly. Exactly.
Advising And Real Action
You do a bit of advisory work. We've seen, uh, um, stealth advisory work. I've noticed you help other guys' businesses and that, and that's fantastic. Um, I love that stuff. I love to see other people giving back and that. Are you seeing the opposite of your philosophy, like, out there with operators? Like, yeah, they want to but unwilling to, or what do you find when you are helping these guys' businesses? I think people, they... Everybody wants the advice, right? Like- Hmm everybody will read 20 self-help books. They'll, they'll sign up for 20 different, you know, um, classes and, um, seminars and webinars. But it's like j- it goes back to, like, just putting yours, like, like, just trying. You have to start, you have to try and implement some of the things that are being told to you, right? Like, advice is great, and reading books is great, but if you don't ever implement any of it, if you don't ever try, and you don't ever go forward and push into it, then I think that you might as well just be reading a romance novel. I mean, you're not really implementing any of the things that you're trying to figure out. My biggest thing is I try and help other businesses because there are people that have given back to me. And then I also do some stuff with, uh, Chad Ellerbrock on the side, Nick, where we kind of coach small businesses and that are in my wheelhouse of stuff I know that I can help them out with, I know I can bring them value on. Like, I don't know anything about the ice cream business. I don't know anything about, you know, own a restaurant. But I know a few things about starting with a small scrap yard and growing it. I know a few things about how to build a tire recycling business. And it's more stuff because I've just walked through that fire, right? Mm-hmm. So I can really lend you some things that, like, will shorten up your learning curve, because then I don't mind charging you some money- Because then it's like, I know you're gonna get it back tenfold, right? Where I get kind of like jaded is all these self-help coach people, they wanna coach you on anything, everything, as long as you're willing to pay them. But a lot of this shit they don't really know that much about, right? They're just- 100% trying to take your money. Like I, I just have a hard time with that. But I'll just give people advice. They wanna call me, "Here's my cellphone. Call me if you need something." If there's something I know that I can help you out with, I'll try and- Mm give you some knowledge. 'Cause people did it for me, so it's the least I could do. It's like my way of giving back. Like the people that have helped me- Yeah over the years when I've like had a question or wanted to do something, it's the least I can do to kind of return the favor for somebody else. I met a guy in Texas the other day, small scrapyard, um, and he was paying for like three months and it was gonna go on for another year, a full-time consultant. Um, and I met the guy and I'm like, "I'm not sure what he's actually doing for this business." He's never been in scrap before. He has no idea. Um, and I never said anything about it. I was just like kind of, you know, "Good luck." He became a client on the platform. Um, and I was like, you know, "Good luck." And this guy wanted some tips and advice. The consultant was asking me things. So I agree with you. I'm like, if you want somebody to help you, just go to somebody who's done it before, who's actually walked in the shoes. We, we are a industry that first of all is full of people that are willing to help, and second of all, it's, it's niche. It's like we- we're very different to restaurants and ice cream shops. Um- Yeah get somebody who's walked in- Yeah in your boots, I guess.
First Big Diversification
But tell me... You know, let, let's just go back to, you know, you're having to make these sort of decisions and it's quite easy in hindsight to talk about, well, now I have 12 businesses, different diversification. Take me back to the first time you decided to put real money into something, you know, outside of the scrap business. I know you bought out your partners in the scrap business. That was a huge risk. But more I'm thinking about like when you decided to really put money into something, whether it was pipes or property or whatever. What was that feeling like? So I graduated with my undergraduate business degree in '04, and I graduated on a Saturday. I started work on a Monday. And we, we had our yard here in Caldwell, just a small family-owned scrapyard. We had our trucking company. My dad was brokering some freight, and we had a handful of trucks, um, maybe 10 trucks or something like that, hauling some of our material. And, uh, and we had a little pipe business that kind of operated out of the scrapyard. And that business might have did, you know, 20, 30 grand, 50 grand annually, you know, top line. It was just kind of like a little add-on piece, right? And but we were starting to kind of like, "Hey, our area's growing, like there's some opportunity here." And my dad, he's always like, "Hey, like there's a piece of property over there kind of by the freeway I kind of had my eye on as an old defunct trucking company. We should go take a look at it." And so we ended up buying it And it-- And I don't remember what we paid for it, you know, a couple hundred grand at the time. And but it was, like, really good freeway exposure and I was like-- And I wa- we were kinda talking about it, like, "What do you think we wanna do here? 'Cause I think we could move our pipe company here. We have good freeway exposure, and let's see if we can kinda drive that, that business." And so it was, like, outside of the scrap business. It was on its own, right? We had a manager, we move over there and, and another guy, and just two guys. We always called it two guys, a pickup truck, and we had some pipe on the ground, right? Mm. And then we went and bought, like, what-- for the time for us was a lot of pipe. You know, we went and put, like, you know, $100,000 worth of pipe on the ground and, like, kinda on the fence line so you could see what it was. And that was our first, like, probably big diversification out of the, the scrap. And you know, now, like, we did that and then, you know, I've made some other deals along the, the line. Um, we, we've, we've put some more money into that business. We grew, we've expanded, we've, you know, gobbled up some territory and, you know, that business now is, you know, a eight-figure business, right? For us it's a big part of our, of our business. Mm. But you know, and that was in '05. Um, so 20 years later, right? Like we, you know, that business has been, has been really good to us. But it was our first- Mm like, okay, like let's, let's focus on something else while we're still doing the, the scrap side and build onto that. And that was our first probably big property slash, you know, outside investment into what we were doing. Talk me through, like, at the time, you know, it's really helpful you've got your dad to talk it all through with, 'cause, you know, if you've got a co-founder or partner, somebody that you're running with, that's great. If you've got your dad who's done it all before as well, helpful. Obviously not in the pipe game where you're looking to diversify to. But could you feel the risk? Were you looking at how do we mitigate the risk? What do we do? What happens if this doesn't work? Or was it just like, "Hey, gut feel, I'm ready to go." Which is weirdly that's how I- Yeah sometimes used to always
Gut Feel
operate. Like how were you guys- Well, there's a lot of that. Yeah, there's a lot of gut feel. And like I will say this and I, I'll never try and spin it any other way other than like my dad, um, high school education, my mom, high school education, right? We're not-- Nobody here went to Harvard, right? Like we're just hustlers. Like that's what we are as a family, and that's what I've been always, you know, taught my whole, my whole life. Um, but my dad has a really good sense of people. Like that's probably his strong point. And when you don't come from anything, like there's not really a lot of expectation, right? So it's like- If, if, like a small win is a, for us or for somebody else might be like a big win for us or vice versa, right? So you're not really afraid to try because you're like, "What's the worst that could happen? You gonna-- what are you gonna do, take my fucking birthday away? Like I, like I'll try." You know? And so we'd kind of already built up, you know, the, the business, like the scrap business. I mean, in '05, if people recall that, that time, it wasn't like the scrap business was killing it. I mean, '04, '05, it was like okay. It really didn't really ramp into like six or seven- Just nothing, yeah eight got really good, right? Exactly. So we weren't like just out here crushing it, like we didn't have so much money we didn't know what to do with. So it was like we were strategic and we had a business. We thought there was an opportunity, and my dad liked the piece of property. He's never been afraid to buy a piece of property, um, especially as we've, you know, grown. Um, him and I have went through a lot of that, you know, over the years. But, uh, at the time we didn't have an excess amount of property, an excess amount of money. But we, we talked about it and we were like, "You know, I think there's an opportunity here for us," right? To, to grow our pipe business. Um, and so we just kind of both agreed like, "Let's, let's give it a shot." And it wasn't like a, "Hey, we did a pro forma." I have accountants like that are really good at that and like I don't even budget, right? Like people are like, "Well what would you-- how do you... Like what do you..." Like I don't even do a budget at the beginning of the year. Like I'm probably the worst because I'm like, if you could tell me what the price of HMS is gonna be and the price of copper and aluminum- Yeah I'll put you together a budget. But if you can't tell me that, like- Waste of your time I'm just throwing darts at a dartboard anyways. I can take my last year's volume, you know, maybe put 5%, 10% on it at best, you know, if the market's okay, and take 10% off- Mm if the market's shit or 20%. And then reduce the top line down by 20% or 30% if the, if the market's crap, and if it's good, put 30% more on top of it. There you go. Like- Man, it's, it's, uh- So, but it, but it's more just gut feel, right? Like, "Hey, I, I'm looking for things," and I know we're gonna get into this, but I'm looking for things I already have an advantage in. Like I had the pipe business, I had a market. Now if I can just buy the property and crack the nut on the property, I'm gonna win, right? Yeah. So like I'm looking for things that I've already got like maybe a couple of the building blocks already in place and then I can just, you know, go to locating the, uh, next couple blocks to- Let- to round it out.
Smoldering
Let's understand the tire business, right? Because you explained the story. You had two guys that wrote up a plan with you, just to remind me if I got this wrong. Yeah. And they bailed. They were like, "Actually, this is not for us." And you kind of- Yeah sat on that. You had this, it was smoldering. It was like, "What are we gonna do? Am I gonna do..." And nothing, and you sat on it for like a year or so. Yeah. All of a sudden you found some dude on LinkedIn and you were like, "This is my guy," and I think he was in the manure business. Like- Yeah, he found me. Yeah Right. Um, so Josh and Nate, standup guys, like really good guys. They're both on the environmental side. Uh, Josh was the director for, uh, Southern Idaho Solid Waste, which is like a conglomerate of landfills. He understood the waste business really well. I think they run like eight or 10 landfills or something like that. Mm. Um, but it's county owned, so it's not a privately held company, right? It's, it's owned by 12 counties or something like that. But long story short, he was the director and Nate worked for him. Nate's a super smart guy. They understand the waste, and they were actually one of the f- the first people to put gas to, um, electricity, um, generation in Idaho. So they were, uh, harvesting the methane gas, they still are to this day, and generating electricity, which is now pretty commonplace, but at the time, like, they were kind of a pioneer in that. So anyways, like we were running into like tire issues and there was a local landfill that kinda went defunct. And the three of us, we've been doing business for a few years 'cause we were, um, handling a lot of their tin appliances, shred bills. And uh, I said, "Man, we should figure out how to do this, this tire business. I feel like there's like an opportunity here if we can figure out where to go with it and whatever else." It's just, if, if you know tires, you know you kinda need volume and then the rest can kinda fall into place, but you really gotta have outlets 'cause the volume will show up if you have outlets. Yeah. But long story short, we wrote up the business plan. They looked at a couple of different mobile shredders, and then Josh's wife was from Florida, and so she had taken a job and she had been kinda helping Josh build his career, and I think he was gonna return the favor, like, "Okay, if you wanna go back to Florida, I'll support you." So he moved, and Nate then became the director, and so Nate's like, "Man, it's kind of a conflict of interest if I do this, um, but I'll support you. I, you know, I think you do a good job." And so I kinda lost my two guys that I thought could really help me put it all together, right? I knew that there was an opportunity there, I just couldn't do it all myself 'cause I had enough other things going on at the time. So I set it aside and I just kinda smoldered on it, right? You know, like if you ever lit... Have you ever lit a big brush pile on fire? Yeah, of course. Like a huge brush pile. Sure. And then you put it out and it just sits there, and it just smokes- Smolders and it just stays. You could, a week later or two weeks later, go there, it's just still hot in there, right? Mm-hmm. And that's always like my smoldering phase. Like, I'll get excited and then I'll put it out, and then if I still think there's something, I let it smolder for a while and then I'm like... And like, probably people know me that work around me know enough, they're like, "Oh, he's still smoking on that thing." Like, "It's coming." Like, "I watch you. It's, it's gonna come. He's, he's still on it." Um, so this guy, um, Craig Hunter, uh, he goes, "Hey, man, I see you on LinkedIn. I'm a local guy. Um, I run this manure recycling business, right? We can compost, um, sell it to farmers, and I built this business-" with these partners, and I feel like my partners are kind of trying to screw me." And he goes, "Could you help me? Like, just look at it and, 'cause you don't know me from Adam, but I know, like..." And I was like, "Yeah, just come in. Like, here, here's my office. Like, come by and..." So he, like, broke the books out and was like, "Here, you know, this is what's going on here. This is what's going on there," yada, yada, ya. And long story short, he's like, "I think I'm gonna exit the business." And I was like, "That's probably, like, a good idea." Like, 'cause they're gonna exit you one way or the other. Yeah. Like, either it's your choice or theirs, but it looks like there's an exit that's gonna happen. It's gonna happen. Mm. Um, so you might as well try and exit on your terms. And so I was kind of met with him a couple more times. I had Brian, my accountant, I just said, "Hey, will you help? Like, kinda make sure he's on the right track, help him out." And so we did, and we didn't char- we didn't charge him anything. We just... He seemed like a good guy. He seemed like he was just trying to, you know, figure his way through it. Long story short, I still had that tire thing in the back of my mind, right? And I was like, "Hey, if this guy can make manure shit, like, into money- Shit he could probably figure out tires," right? And I was like, and I have, like, all the building blocks. Like, I got the capital, I've got the facilities. I just don't have the guy to run it. Mm. Like, every day, like, just full speed ahead, like, 100% focused. 'Cause if I do it, I'm like, "You're gonna get 30% of my time here- Yeah 10% of my time here." And if you wanna start a business really from scratch, like, you need a guy or a gal or a team that's just, like, laser focused, right? Like, and I was like, "I can-" But that's really important.
Finding Operators
Absolutely. Like, that's really important because, like, people that are looking for other gigs or, like, opportunities, if you're not the person who is 100%- Mm committed to that side job or side business, how you're diversifying or expanding, you need to rethink the opportunity. You need to... 'Cause, 'cause it actually rolls into your property as well. The property- Yeah that you were doing, you had a friend of yours that was a banker, right? Yeah. And he was like, "Hey, what should we do together?" And you're like, "Well, I've got this business." Yeah. "I've got this idea, and I've got..." It's, it's about the person so much because people think, "Oh, I have a business. I'll start a, I'll, I'll start a property business on the side." But if you don't have somebody who's fully running that, like you said, you're giving 30% of your time, and that's gonna fail a lot of the time. Well, people think that, like, "Well, I've had some success over here, so if I just- Yeah if I'm involved and I touch it, it's gonna turn to gold, like, 'cause I'm really good at what I do," right? But the reality- Yeah of it is, like, that's not the case. Like, especially for me, like, like I said, I'm, I'm a master of nothing, right? Like, I'm like a jack of all trades, but I don't really... I'm not great at any one thing per se. Like, but one thing I feel like I'm pretty good at is I'm good at finding good people- Mm that are g- g- go-getters, right? Like, they're GSDs. Like, they know how to fucking do things, right? And so that I feel like I haven't perfected it, but I- I'm getting close. Um, so when I-- If I'm thinking about a new business or thinking about doing something, like, like Craig didn't know anything about tires, like other than what was on his pickup truck, right? Or on his, uh, manure spreader. Like- Mm-hmm. But, like, he was a hustler, and he understood taking a low-value item and turning it into something, and what that sales pitch looked like, what that hustle looked like, like what the quantities would need to be, what equipment operations would be required. And so he was a natural salesman, but he also, like, had that GSD in him where I'm like, "Okay," like, "you could be the guy to, to get this thing off the ground," right? Mm-hmm. Like the building blocks are there, but you need someone that can organize them, put them in the right place, and then bring a few more in, and then you got something. But without the guy, the storage and the property development company doesn't get built, the tire recycling company doesn't get built. I'm not the one building it. I'm supplying the capital. I'm supplying the ideas. I'm there to discuss strategy with. Like, I'm there to kind of say, "Hey, maybe we should look at this. Maybe we should go this way." But at the end of the day, like there's, there's operators running every single one of our business units that are like killers, right? Like that's what they do. Like that's what they are. Like I'm just trying to get obstacles out of their way. They're kind of like... There, there's a saying, uh, in the tech world where they call it founder crazy. It's like they just have to do everything to win no matter what. It's like nonstop will kill for it, um, completely driven. If you find the right person, you know, you give them the opportunity, and if the opportunity makes sense, they'll absolutely crush it. But how do you, and this is probably valuable for a lot of people, how do you then incentivize that person? Are these separate business units? Are they incentivized based on profitability? Because if you get somebody like that, they also want to have a piece of the pie, and that becomes- Yeah hard for lots of businesses. Well, I think, and that's because I, I, I heard Gary Vee say this one time, like years ago, and, and I had already kind of been going down this path. He goes, "I don't mind if someone has 51% or 40% or whatever, because I know what to do with my percentage," right? And so like I've never been afraid to give equity in a business because I can't physically run all of them all myself, right? Mm-hmm. So like I need people with skin in the game. Like every one of our operators that's like running a business unit has literally skin in the game. Like they have ownership, right? Like- Mm-hmm the tire side, ownership. The property development side, ownership.
Equity And Ownership
On the pipe side of our business, ownership. Like I want people to have ownership. Like I don't need to own 100. I prefer not to because then you got other people that are driven right along beside you. Will they care as much if they own 10 and you own 90? I think so. I think like as long as they get a percentage that they get to eat what they kill- By all means, and you're supporting them, I think that there's a big part of that. But you know, in 2015 the market was rough, right? It was a rough go. Um, '16 was really challenging, but '15 was tough. I mean, at the end of '16 I think is when Donald Trump got elected and then he became president in '17, if I recall. But, uh, '15 was a hard year. '16 was tough, and that was when Schnitzer, who was our partner at the time, came to us and said, "Hey, have you ever thought about like us buying you out or you buying us out?" At the time I think we had like four yards together, right? Like that's what we had. And uh, and I was like, "Hey, if I-- if you guys are interested in buying us out and you guys want to make us a good deal, like let's have the conversation." I said... But I knew better. They're not trying to buy out four or five yards in Idaho. I wouldn't have sold it to them. But I was like, "Hey, if you guys think you guys want this, like come and get it, right?" And they're like, "Well, maybe you guys should just think about what you'd pay us to buy us out, right?" And so long story short, like um, my dad was already at that point like pretty much retired, like he was out of it. My mom was still doing some of the books and... But I had at the time, I think it was like five, six of us that I called my A team. Like they were the guys. Like each of them, like one guy's HR, Brian's accounting, one guy's on ops. And I didn't really tell them, I just told them like we were kind of going through some things with our partners, blah blah blah. But on the back end I was negotiating for a year to figure out what the terms were gonna be to exit, right? So we kind of came up with a deal. We finally put it all together. We got it in front of, um, Schnitzer and it took us like a year to get it all done.
Giving The Team 20%
And when we did, there's a local bar kind of by my house, like this old shitty bar that's my kind of joint. And so I said, "Hey, meet me at the bar." Um, it was called Orville Jackson's. It's been there since like 1920. I said, "Meet me at Orville Jackson's. I want to talk to you guys," right? And for all they knew I, I had just sold the business, right? Yeah. And so I, I sat them down, I think there was like eight of us and my parents were there. I said, "Here's the deal. I sold the business." And they're like, "Huh?" And I was like, "No, I'm just, I'm just joking with you." I said, "But," I said, "we now own 100%, right? Like we own the whole shooting match." And uh, I said, "And as of today I'm gonna give you guys 20% of the business." Like I bought it from them- Wow but 20% is you guys. And I said, "We'll figure it out, the paperwork," I said, "but there's no way I can run this business and grow it the way I want to grow it if I don't have, you know, six guys, five..." At the time it was s- five, I think now we're like seven, eight. But I said, "Without you guys like it doesn't matter. But if you guys are here and you guys want to take this ride with me, 20% right now it's yours. Like who's in, right?" And then it was like, "All right, let's go." So I wanted them to have skin in the game. Like I don't need the whole thing- I need, like, people that care. Like, they get to share in the success, and that was the best decision that I, I made. Like, you're like, "Oh, you gave up 20% of X, Y, Z amount." Like, I don't give a fuck. Like, without them, it doesn't exist anyways. Mm-hmm. Like, this business doesn't exist. Like, not at the level that it's at today. I could probably keep a 20, 30 person company kinda operating, right? And, and we could do just fine. But I was like, that's not the vision that I have. Like, I wanna, I want everybody to be a part of something big, right? And I don't need to be 120 yards, but I want people to, like, have something that, that fits with them and that they can- Mm like, be proud of and they can
Building With Friends
be a part of. So... You know, I was once told this very long ago, but you can either have a lot of something small or less of something bigger, and, you know, which one do you prefer? I definitely prefer to have less of something substantially bigger and go on the journey with people instead of just- Yes doing it all on my own. Well, th- it's like, th- I always say the best vacations aren't the coolest destinations. It's when you go someplace with a bunch of fun people, right? Like, it's- Mm business is no different. Like, do you wanna be the richest guy, you've got all the money, and you're in a fucking two-seat Lambo? The nicest- Like, someday I'm gonna rent me a Lambo, but that's a whole 'nother story. But, but, like, it's just you and one other person, or do you... Like, I wanna be, like, on the fun bus, the old school yellow- Yeah with green seats and the whole thing with all my friends going to some shitty bar, but we're having the best time. Like, I don't need to be in, you know, Dubai in a high-end restaurant with two people. I wanna be, like, on a fun bus with all my friends, like, doing something we all care about. Like, that's the vacation to me, right? Like, that's the whole reason why I'm even doing this every day is we all gotta enjoy it, or else why are we doing this? Like, life is too short to just be fucking miserably rich. Like- Man, we, we should have- I'm gonna get rich. Like, we should make money, but I, I'm not gonna- We should have- Yeah we should have known each other in our 20s, man. I tell you what. And some of the parties I threw because I just wanted to just, like, have everybody have fun with me. It's like my 30th birthday, I had close to 1,000 people in a triple story nightclub. Like, I- Yeah hired out the whole place. I had DJs coming from around the country. Like, I just wanted to celebrate with everybody. Like, yeah- Absolutely I could have gone and thrown a party for 10 people and done whatever. But like, for me, like, let everybody celebrate together, everybody have a great time. And it's, like you said, it's no different to work. It's absolutely no different to business. But I need to ask you more questions. So- Yeah, yeah before we run out of
Failures And Lessons
time. Let's do the thing. Yeah. I wanna just make sure we touch on the things that didn't work. Uh-huh. Because people will listen, they go, "Oh, yeah, cool." Everybody always... It's like a gambler or a casino, only talk about your wins. Cool. Things have gone wrong for you. You have- Yeah failed in certain side businesses before. I guess run me through some of them. I know you, um, did an auto salvage company, but I think you still got that. Is that right? Yeah. I have it. I, I bought an, an auto salvage, um, in a town called Mountain Home, and- Hmm I thought it was a natural fit. I owned the scrap yard across the street. I was like, "Okay, they got an auto salvage. I'll buy that, and I'll just turn it into a pick and pull. I'll get the cars." Hmm. And I just knew it was gonna be a winner, right? Long story short, the guy that owned it, um, this is one of my biggest lessons I've learned. Like, I should've, like, paid him for a year and kept him around to transition the business, but- Hmm I thought I knew how to do it. I thought I could just figure it out. And long story short, like, it just never hit. You know? He, he was a really good operator, and he made that business kinda work, and what I was trying to do, I should've left it as a full service. I should've tried to just do that, and I messed that, that deal up in a big way. Um, like that's one- But Brett, did you have somebody on the ground, somebody who's, like, the killer in that business? Yeah, I, I didn't- Did you have somebody? I didn't have that guy. Like, he was ready to retire, and I should've made it part of the deal for him to stick around- Hmm and train somebody that we trusted to do that job, right? Hmm. And so mistake number one, I didn't negotiate him sticking around. Mistake number two, I didn't have that guy in place to just run that business and run with it, right? Hmm. So my two biggest things, like, one thing I pride myself on, obviously, is finding good people. Well, I, I fucked that up. Like, I didn't do it, and it cost me, right? Like, I was able to transition that into a storage facility, which has been great, but it, it was a lot of defunct years that it just wasn't good, right? I was buying a lot of cars at one point through this auto auction, a local auto auction, and I was like, "Man, why don't we just... We buy all these cars. Like, why don't we just start an auto auction?" I had the property. I'm like, "Let's start buying cars and-" Hmm "create our own auto auction," right? And that time I feel like I did have a good guy, but I didn't have the business model correct. Like, I was buying them and overpaying for the cars to get them to the auction, and I just didn't have the fortitude or the auction business acumen to understand, like, how to mold that business to be successful. So I really just kinda ran out of capital And motivation to, like, really figure that out because it was just bleeding. Like, it wasn't making money. And I, I think after a year and, like, four auctions we were like, "That, that one's scrap. Let's s- s- scrap that idea," right? Yeah, yeah. So, I mean, I could go on. Trust me, like, I'm a, I'm a swing-and-a-miss guy as well. Like, I've had a, I, I mean- You went to websites. I've had a- You went to buying and selling scrap websites I, I at my very first beginning I had what they call Scrap Connect, right? I bought the URL. And I wasn't a coder. I just knew, like, there was people that were trying to sell scrap like me, and there was people out there trying to buy scrap. But I was like, well, Craigslist, this is, like, in, oh, six. Oh... Craigslist was, like, a really big thing then, right? You remember Craigslist? Mm-hmm. Of course. And- It's technically still around it's, like, I mean, I think it still exists and people still use it- Yeah for different things, but, like, it was, like, the thing for a long time. So I was like, "Why don't we just create, like, a Craigslist of scrap?" And so I was going through my master's program, um, here when I went to get my master's at night, and part of my thesis was like, "Hey, I'm gonna create this business that supplements and supports my other business by listing things for sale and then allowing other people to, like, post and, and list things for sale and just basically make it free." Well, the coding just, 'cause I wasn't a coder, and then now AI you have Claude or- Yeah, okay Anthropic and use one of their agents and you could vibe code probably a lot of the stuff that we were trying to code. And I was like, "Blah." So I'm paying these guys to build this and, you know, I'm telling my dad, I'm like, "Hey, don't worry, I think this is gonna work. I got this and figured out." And we had sent out, like, all these, um, mailers like, "Hey, if you had the opportunity to buy and sell scrap," like, to all these scrapyards and trying to get a return. And you know, before, like, really, like, prime, prime, you know, internet, like- Yeah, sure at its peak. But that one was a failure. Um, it just too expensive. I knew scrap, but I didn't know coding, and it just never took off. 'Cause as you well know, it's a relationship business. People are looking for relationships or using existing relationships, and I kinda missed that piece of the puzzle. Um- Yeah that was an expensive one. It, it- That was an expensive lesson for me to, to learn- Yeah. You- early in my career you told us, but it's good that you learnt it, you learnt it early and that you actually learned from it, right? 'Cause- Mm a lot of people don't learn from their mistakes.
Saying No To Deals
Tell me, what have you said no to in the last few years that either you regret or you're happy you said no to? Have there been, you know, some operators that have brought you things and, uh, you were like, "Nah, don't think this is for me"? You know, I was talking to somebody about this the other day, but I mean, as you well know, like, if you're, like, in your position you're, you're pretty well known, right? In, in the industry people know you. They probably approach you, like, with all kinds of things. Some of you are like, "Man, if I had a lot more money, I, I probably could take that ride." And time. Or- And time. Yeah Money and time and time, like money or time or both, it'd be nice. Um, and then there's certain things where you're like, it's like an easy no. But there's the ones that you're like, man, like I had a, a family friend who had a, a fuel station, gas station, um, kinda down the road, and they did bulk fuel, and I really liked that business 'cause I had a trucking company. I was like, man, like if I could make this work, I feel like there's like an opportunity there. But I didn't have the money at the time. Um, I think they wanted like, they wanted more than I had available. It just wasn't gonna work. But long story short, I should have found the money. Like I, I wasn't as well-versed in like how to get money, how to get things done at that time, you know? Um, or else if I'd had that opportunity today, I would've jumped all over it twice. I'm like, you know, like a pig on shit. Yeah, yeah. I would've been on it. But at the time I just, I said no and I regret it, you know? I mean, it would've been the right move for many, many reasons. But, um, so I've said no to stuff that I'm like, oh, I kick myself, you know, and, and I don't really live in regret land. Like, I just don't. 'Cause if you swing and you miss a lot, it's hard to live in regret land because then you're only worried about all the times that you screwed up. And, and most people have a hard enough time. Like you could have 10 wins and, you know, two losses, and people only think about the two losses. They forget about the 10 wins, right? Like, I can sometimes get myself like... Like people are like, "Well, you won on this and you won..." I know, but I'm like those other two, they, they stuck in me, you know, for whatever reason. And that part of it, I like, I try and like not live in that. Like when I hit a win, I'm like, "That's great," like, "Let's go to the next one." And when I take the L, I'm like, "That's great," like, "Let's go to the next one." Because if you start living in either side of that, you'll get in trouble. So I say no. I mean, I talked to a guy the other day, like I think he had a solid business plan, but the geography for me was on the other side of the, the US and I'm just like, man, I just have enough opportunity in my backyard, like I have to say no even though I'm like, I think that could be a good idea and I, I like where you're going. So I'm like, "Stay on it." Like, "You don't need me to be successful with that 'cause I think you've got a good idea. I'm just not gonna be the guy to, to help go through that fire with you. But it's probably worth going through.
Opportunity Overload
It's just not gonna be me." My... Lisa, my wife, um, always says, "You'll get indigestion from too many opportunities than run out of opportunities." And, uh- Yeah she's so right. Like, as soon as we started building up our profile and Buddy, we started releasing Buddy, etcetera, the amount of different phone calls, 'cause they see us now. Obviously having the combination with Lisa is really helpful 'cause she's that tech person, you know, alongside- Yeah the scrap person. The amount of people that call us, "I have this tech idea," and she's just like, "Put the blinkers on. Stop chasing the shiny stuff." It's hard though. Like, just focus on what we focus on. Yeah. Yeah. When you're like an entrepreneur by blood, like- You know everything you know, like you, you're like, man, and you're like, oh, like I could go to a restaurant and be like, "I feel like there's a way I could make this place more money." And I'd be like, "Oh, if you did this, like you could do this and do this." Man. And I'm like, man, I, I gotta get, I gotta, I gotta go back. You know what, Brad? Yeah. Dude, we're the same person. When I, when I retire one day, and I don't, I just wanna like give back for free. Like- Yeah I, the amount, I'm exactly like you. I'll sit at a restaurant or wherever. I'll be at a sports game, whatever. I'll talk for an hour to my wife about how their customer experience could be better, their marketing's horrific. Like, what is wrong with these people? Like, you know, that's like our favorite conversation actually is like- Yeah how you would change, how you would work on this business. Business 101, right? Like, how could I make this business make more money? And not because, like, I'm not even a really super money-driven person. Like, I'm a growth-driven person. Like, I'm just trying to build- Sense, okay cool things with all my friends. Like- Yeah like if, if you took that away from me, like the worst day for me, you write me some big check and tell me I can't hang out and I can't show up to work with my dog and, and hang out with all my friends and like try and, you know, think through problems and issues and opportunities in my work, like that'd just take, just that'd gut me, you know? Like it'd gut me. I'm gonna be frustrating for a lot of people that know me, coming into their businesses and just being, hanging out like, "Hey, have you thought about, you know, marketing?" Yeah. "Maybe we could..." And they're like, "Get your ass out of here." "Nobody wants to see that." Exactly. Absolutely. Yeah. So lastly, Brad, before we go, 'cause we're well over time, um, what is, what are you looking at at the moment? Is there anything... You don't have to tell me your next secret tips, but is there a field that you're looking at that's attractive, or you kind of- Oh, yeah just focus on what you're looking at now? Ooh, yeah. I can't wait to- No, I got a, like I've got something I've been smoldering on for a while now. Oh, yeah. And I don't play chess, right? I'm not checkers or... But I do play, like I love this game with my kids, you know Connect 4? Yeah, of course. Like, you know where you- Yeah like, so I- I've talked about it it's like, it's like a, it's like an ADD person's chess, right? Like chess takes a long time, and it's like there's just- Yeah a lot going on, right? Connect 4 is like very basic, but there's enough moves in place, like, and the games go quick, right? Like you're either winning- Yeah or you're losing, or you're winning, you're losing, and it's not very often do you fill up the whole board, right? It's just- You know, piece, piece, piece, piece, piece, piece. Winner, okay, go again. Piece, piece, piece. But in, in a game like that, like you have to move this piece or get someone to go here so you can go here in order to get this line filled up, right? So in our business, because we do different things, um, like I gotta move this piece so I can get to this piece. Mm-hmm. And so I'm kind of in that phase right now where there's a few things I gotta like get moved around so that I can get the main piece where I want it. So I'm probably like, I'm in the middle of that right now. Um, and it's on the scrap side. So that's kind of where I'm trying to get a few things moved around. That's a big, big part of, of the puzzle for us.
Diversification In Downturns
Um, uh, we got some big things we're hatching on, like on our property and the development side that I think could really be the game changer for us. But I really like being diversified in the fact that like I'll never be the biggest of any of them, but what it allows us to do is that it gives us the opportunity when one business is doing really well, then we can use those funds to really, you know- Strengthen put gas on, uh, the other one, right? And vice versa. Because I own the majority of them, right? Like, so like I can move it around and my lifestyle is pretty basic, so I don't need to take home a lot. So I can just move it from one business to the other, especially like in a down market, 'cause that's when you're gonna get your best deals, right? As long as your business is not down because your operation is shitty, it's just because that market is depressed- Mm-hmm then you can take funds over here from this business that's doing well and go attack that market because it's a tough business environment. So those opportunities come up, right? And then when that thing does kind of shake out, a- and this one over here, you know, this industry is la- lacking. Like there's years when the scrap business is just, you're basically just trying to keep the bills paid, like let alone make any money. You just wanna survive the year. Well, in those years when everybody's just trying to survive, like those are my big growth years. Like those are the years when I take funds from here and move them here to be able to really find the right deal. And- Mm I can't do that if, A, my lifestyle gets out of whack, or B, if this one isn't operationally strong and it can't support this one or vice versa. So I'm just kind of moving a few things around right now to get it positioned for the next one that I might-- But that my, that my, uh, my CFO keeps looking at me like, "Are, are you sure? Are you, you sure about that?" I'm like, "Well-" I think it, I think, I think it's gonna work. We'll see. Two things- But- I wanna say to close out. One is that strategy is phenomenal. It makes so much sense because in a downturn, and business in general is cyclical, so all business. Yeah. So in a downturn, if you have capital and you have other places to bring in funds, you have the opportunity to buy businesses, hire people, buy cheaper equipment, whatever you need to do to take advantage, so that's brilliant. The other thing I'm gonna say is, um, I expect you're gonna have a lot of equipment suppliers phoning you over the next few weeks because, um, this next plan that you've got I'm sure takes a bit of equipment, and- It does. It does, yes I know they listen to this, so everybody's gonna be your best friend. It'll be, yeah, it'll be capital intense, right? But- I'm sure you know, you're a go big or go home person, right? For sure. Like, we're here to play the game, right? Like, the only reason people know the guy that made the winning shot is 'cause he had the nuts to take it. Like- Absolutely. Be intimate if you don't have the nuts to take the shot, then you'll never hit a game winner. Like y- it, you, you have the ability to. Most people do, they just, they don't have the, you know, the guts to take the shot. Balls. And, and- They don't have balls of steel, if you will. Yeah. Your, your new book, right? Exactly.
Books
Balls of Steel. Tell me about your book. I, I- It's out are you, is, can you send me, are you gonna send me a copy or what? I'll send you a copy. I'll send you a copy. It's not a life story. I'm way too young for that. It's, um, from stories of people that I've spoken to over the last- Yeah, yeah, yeah however many years, and just, um, hopefully for the next generation and for the scrap guys to read through. And what's cool about it is you can literally open it, 'cause we've all got ADHD- Yeah you can open it at any chapter and just read a lesson on it, and it's like- Yeah somebody's story about some lesson that they had or some mistake that they've made and that's literally how it's written. So- Yeah it'll be fun. I'll send it to you. We're still waiting- Please do, man for your book to come out as well. I know. I've just, I just, I got it done. I'm just going through, like, the last edits. I gotta just finish- That, that takes the longest make it look nice. That takes the longest. It's so miserable 'cause I'm, like, I'm not a detail person. Like, I'm not good at details. Uh. So I surround myself with detail-oriented people, right? Like, my wife- Yeah is like, "Dink, dink, dink, dink." She's the queen. There's a reason why the queen makes moves the kings can't, right? Like, in my house, like, that's the truth. Um- Yeah but, but she's details, details, details, details. Like, I need that in my life 'cause I'm like big picture. Like, okay. Yeah. Like, this is how we're gonna get to here. This is how we're gonna do this, and like- The writing of the book and all that was the easy part for me, 'cause I have the stories and I wanted to get it out. So it was like spending- Yeah nights, you know, months and months of just writing down, "Oh, I got... That'll make a great story." Writing it out, making it sound better, but... And then hand it over and it's like, "Oh, but, um, how many words per page? And what sort of ink do you wanna use?" I'm like, "I don't really care. Is it legible?" Yeah. Like, can people read it? Yeah. Like, that's all I really care about. Uh-huh.
Gratitude
I do that to- I wrote mine for my kids, right? Like, my book, I wrote it for my kids, with my kids in mind. 365 lessons, right? One a day, pick whichever one, read just one twice, I don't care. That's good. Read it over four years, it doesn't really matter to me. If I die tomorrow, I want, like, my kids to have something that's like, "This is what your dad thought," and... 'Cause I love quotes, and so it's 365 quotes. Like, and here's the thought behind it. Just like I do on my LinkedIn posts. Like- Yeah I do those for me, I do those for anybody that might need it that day. But really it's just me in the morning with my coffee, talking to myself, like, but putting it on paper. Like, just sometimes you have to remind yourself certain things, like to be grateful. Like, this morning was, you know, living in the USA and, like, how really good we have it. You get tired of hearing people- I saw, man complain about it, right? And it's like, sometimes I just, like, need to get that off my chest or, you know, like, my dad will call me and be like, "Hey, did you have something going on with s- one of your employees today?" or whatever, 'cause he'll read my posts, you know? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And I'm like, "Oh yeah," like, "This is what happened." I'll tell him the story, right? But, like, I love writing those because it's, like, my 30 to 45 minutes with my coffee just like, "Uh, there it is for the day." Mm. "All right, let's go." "Let's go get something done." Two things. One is I saw your post this morning, and as somebody who's- Oh only been in America for one year, I liked it and I was gonna do a long comment and I, I, I didn't. But, um- That's fine. Yeah because I just was worried how people were gonna take it as, like, as somebody who's new to the country. But I'm like, "Dude, I so agree with you," but we can't go into this now 'cause this is another whole podcast. But like- Yeah, yeah, yeah. I, I've told you this before in person, like I- You have couldn't agree with you more, like how- Yeah good this place is. People don't know. Um, and the other thing I wanted to say is I think you and I could be the only people on LinkedIn that still write our own posts. Yeah. Well, I... And every time I read, like, some AI-written stuff- Yeah like, I'm like, "Man, come on now." But, uh- but I also, like, think that, like, that's what works for me. Like, if that's not what works for you, then, like, do what works- It's amazing for you. But, like, if you read my shit, people are like, "Well, who does this and who does..." I'm like, if it comes from my account, like, that's me sitting down, like, writing about something. If it's a quote I've heard... Like, I'm not making these quotes up. Like, I find them on the internet, like shit that comes across my feed, 'cause that's what I like, right? So it's like- Yeah I just take the quote, I kind of put my own thoughts around it, and then I send it out. Like, and I, and I save them in my phone. Like, "I like that one. I'll come back to that one." I heard the best one, uh, the, the other day.
Thanks to Brett
I'm gonna leave you with this, so y- I know you gotta get. Thank you. But if you see it come from my account, you're gonna know. You're like, "Oh, he said that was, uh," Yeah that was gonna happen. A- and I s- I told it to my, to my buddy Chad the other day, and it said, "The receipts for love are grief and anxiety," right? So this guy was talking about the passing of his mom, and he's like, "But, like-" So real "when you love something and when you feel something, like, there's a It's okay to be sad," right? And it's okay- Mm when you, you feel that and, and live in that, right? Like, when you're happy and you're grateful, like, live in that because that's the cost of doing business, right? Amen. The only reason you're sad is because there was something along the line that you really cared about, and- Mm you just gotta go find the next thing to care about. And- Mm. But that, it's, it's the cost- On that note, man of doing business. It's the cost of doing business in life. Man, I, I saw the video. I actually remember it. I remember stopping and being like, "Shit, that's seriously powerful." But, uh, we've gotta go. Yeah. We're well over time. Yeah. So, uh, wrap this shit up. Brett, dude, so awesome having you on the show again. Always good talking to you. Thanks for coming, dude. I appreciate the opportunity, man. Take care. Thank you, bro. Bye. That's it for this episode of Born Scrappy. If you have any questions, stories, or topics you want us to dig into, send them my way. Until then, keep it scrappy.
