Ep. 21 - Dirty Job, Big Payoff: Inside the Septic Scene

What if your backyard held the key to sustainable wastewater management? Join me for an insightful conversation with Joe Reed of White River Environmental, where we unravel the intricacies of septic systems that operate as miniaturized municipal sewer treatments for rural homes. Joe takes us through his inspiring journey from shadowing his father in the plumbing world to mastering septic system inspection and maintenance. Together, we explore the fundamental components of a septic system and the vital necessity for regular upkeep to avert expensive repairs. Joe sheds light on how this niche industry thrives with low overhead and steady demand, offering growth opportunities and critical services.

As we transition from the nuts and bolts of septic systems, the discussion turns towards building a sustainable business legacy in the waste management sector. Discover how Joe's enterprise has grown through strategic alliances and an unwavering commitment to ethical practices. We delve into the importance of forging strong client relationships while navigating industry challenges like finding disposal sites and ensuring reliable services. Joe shares his vision of creating a lasting legacy that will benefit generations to come by fostering collaboration, even with competitors, and by drawing on the influences of family in shaping entrepreneurial success.

In our final segment, we tackle the personal challenges of entrepreneurship and the pursuit of a sustainable blue-collar business. Joe opens up about acquiring competitors to enhance service quality, personal struggles with feelings of inadequacy, and the elusive nature of success. Learn how family dynamics come into play, with invaluable support from life partners making a significant impact on both personal and professional fronts. Through personal stories, we highlight resilience, the importance of a trustworthy team, and the role of faith and a strong personal network in overcoming adversity and building a future-proof business legacy.

Sponsor - Sy-Con Excavation & Utilities
Sy-Con is a family-owned civil contractor specializing in water, sewer, storm drains, & earthwork.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Chapters

• 0:09 The Blue Collar Wastewater Business
• 15:38 Building a Sustainable Business Legacy
• 22:34 Struggles and Success of Entrepreneurs
• 28:05 Building a Sustainable Blue Collar Business

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:09

Hey guys, welcome to the Blue Collar Business Podcast, where we discuss the realest, rawest, most relevant stories and strategies behind building every corner of a blue collar business. I'm your host, cy Kirby, and I want to help you in what it took me trial and error and a whole lot of money to learn the information that no one in this industry is willing to share. Whether you're under that shade tree or have your hard hat on, let's expand your toolbox. Welcome back, guys, to another episode of the Blue Collar Business Podcast, sponsored today by Sycon Escavation and Utilities. We definitely have an active sponsor right now, guys, and we're looking for more. If you guys want to get in contact with us about a product, maybe a service, you have to reach out to the Blue Collar Nation. Get on bluecollarbusinesspodcastcom. There's a contact us form. Reach out to us there and let us know about what you may be thinking, maybe offering, and we can go from there. Invest into the Blue collar community. They need you just as much as we need them.

Speaker 1: 1:11

Today I've got an interesting one. We're going into the world of wastewater. A lot of people don't even know what wastewater is. I'm pretty passionate about it. I hold a wastewater distribution and treatment license, still to this day, from working in the municipalities. A lot of people don't even know what wastewater is Coming from. The simple fact of it's where your water in the toilet bowl goes after it leaves the toilet, it's considered wasted water at that point. So this gentleman today has made his living off of it in various different ways, all centered around poop, and I share the same passion with him. You guys have seen on our Cyclone Excavation and Utilities YouTube channel we lay gravity mains, force mains, which handles sewer or commonly referred to as sanitary sewer. It's all got its various forms, but wastewater is the big generalist umbrella over it all and there is definitely different industries within wastewater and it has to have more spotlight shown on it. It because I don't even think most people understand the industry or what the industry can offer them in various forms. So, furthermore, mr Joe Reed with White River Environmental, I really appreciate you being here today. Sir, thank you for having me, having me and dude, I am. Uh, it was actually. I gotta, I gotta tell a tale on joe real quick, because yesterday, um, we had a cancellation today and we called up mr joe. They reached out to us via linkedin and it all just worked out, linked up and everything was perfect. And he he jumped in 24 hours later into the studio here at the beautiful studio of podcastvideoscom here in Rogers, arkansas, Shout out to them and everything their team does for us.

Speaker 1: 3:10

Furthermore, joe, give us a little intro. We started to lead you in here from our quick conversation prior to us, just jumping on the show. Dad was in plumbing pumping some poo back in the early 90s and, uh, you kind of jumped in after high school, so, um. So give you like a short version of our, of our overview where it starts so beautiful, uh, graduated high school, started working with dad um, uh, cleaning drains. Um, uh, worked for a master plumber that he knew, got my master plumber's license, plumbed for quite some time, did some really cool projects.

Speaker 1: 3:52

2009, building slows down and I started getting a phone call and people wanted me to work on their septics Yep and, more specifically, inspect them. And so I got to looking into what that took and there wasn't a lot in it. Yep and um and more more specifically, inspect them. And so I got to looking into what that took and there wasn't a lot in it. Nope, um, it's low overhead and decent gain. Yeah, I need to do that. So I would go. Volume of work is always there too, it is Um, and so I said, hey, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do this. So I started and then I go and they need to be pumped. And we had an old guy that my dad worked, worked forever and and real quick, so I can help the audience. What needed pump? Oh sorry, so no, you're fine, we would go inspect.

Speaker 1: 4:31

Uh, we go inspect your septic system. You know, um, uh, septic system is basically a miniature version of what your sewer goes to, um at your house. Um it so like, if you live in a city, it goes down to to Maine and goes to a big facility. If you live out in the country and you're not hooked to that, you have a septic system and it's designed to treat that waste and then disperse the liquid into the ground. That's a very clear definition, sir, well, hopefully, sir, well, hopefully it. More specifically, our state would call it an on-site wastewater treatment.

Speaker 1: 5:11

Yep, and so essentially, what happens is your, your, your septic tank. Everything comes into it that you flush down a toilet or run down a sink or shower. It is separated into three levels. The bottom level is what we call sludge. The middle level is liquid and the top level are solids or non-biological things that won't break down in that process. Those three levels separate it, your septic tank. A lot of people don't know this, but when you have one pumped they've got to fill right back up again. They exchange gallon for gallon. Every gallon in a gallon goes out. The liquid level, that middle level, is where you want it exchanging from. The reason you have a tank pumped is to get rid of those solids that are on top, because eventually they'll get so thick that they will begin moving out with the water and that damages your leach field and nobody wants that. That's right. It gets expensive, expensive, quick, yep. So we would go inspect this epic tank. We'd say, hey, it needs to be pumped.

Speaker 1: 6:27

We'd call our old buddy that dad always knew and he'd say I'm a month out. I was like, oh, okay, like that's a lot and I want to take care of my customers. So we went out to the restaurant we had a meeting, said hey, like we don't want to offend you because we don't want to step on toes, right. Um, friends are friends for a reason, that's right. And so friends and business are so hard it is. But there's enough work, we can all get along. That's right, or we should be able to.

Speaker 1: 6:51

So we go out, we have a meeting, he says, hey, I have my own plant for this stuff. I process it, use it as fertilizer. And he said you can bring it to me, okay, um, friendly enough. So we got ready to take it to him and the price he gave us doubled. Oh, um, and I didn't like that. No, I don't think nobody would like that. No, um, so then I thought, well, that's not going to work for me. So I pulled a little white line to my dad because we were business partners at the time still are a little bit and I said, dad, I can, minimal investment, minimal investment, and I'll just build our own little and we'll use it as fertilizer. By the way, when I got far enough in, he figured out how much I was really going to spend, but we were already too much in for him, to let me finish.

Speaker 1: 8:00

And dad was an entrepreneur as well yeah, that's where that comes from. Owned his own business for as long back as I can remember, brian, and so I was far enough in. He couldn't stop me. And so here we go. Yeah, fast forward a few years I got up and running and we were all we were running.

Speaker 1: 8:19

Everything under the plumbing company name Worked great. Everything under the plumbing company name Worked great. I called everyone that I knew in northwest Arkansas and I said bring me your septic and I'll take it for that price. That old boy promised everybody else. And so, sure enough, competitors once again very untrusting, yes sir. So they came in and they started bringing me their waste. One day one of the competitors came in and he said man, I got more business than I could handle. He had a great business model. And he said I need help. And I had the plumbing company set up. It was running itself and I was itching to do something a little different. Yeah, and I really liked the septic, wastewater type stuff. And so we did a merger of sorts, took our pumping aspects and merged them with what he had and worked together and worked together very well for a good long time. We hauled, we finished a big project and he wanted out and he manages the parts department at a local truck dealership and he's happy.

Speaker 1: 9:36

It's not for everybody, is it, brother? It's not a Monday through Friday nine to fiver. When I leave here, there's a good chance I'm going to go crawl under a truck or whatever it takes. You bet that's entrepreneurship, I think I think more so than probably just wastewater. But we get calls in the middle of the night and most folks don't know it. But a municipality will call us in the middle of the night and you won't know that you had a sewer problem. That's right. But that's our goal, yeah, right.

Speaker 1: 10:07

And, like I said, we finished that project, bonnie Mound, and here we are. He had set the business forth. I was in the pumping. We did really well. For us it was about disposal of that waste and how to Bring a new method to the market. Yeah, good for you, brother. And so we just clicked and the business model for White River really complemented what we were trying to do.

Speaker 1: 10:36

And you saw opportunity. You took the risk. That is entrepreneurship 101. You've got to have an opportunity there. You've got to know there's a need and then what a lot of people are so afraid of. They're afraid to have an opportunity there. You've got to know there's a need and then what a lot of people are so afraid of they're afraid to just make that jump and just do it and take that risk. So I mean, how many trucks have we got on the road now, brother? 15, if you count all of them. I think somewhere in that neighborhood that's insane We've got I don't know, four or five portable toilet trucks, and all of those are setting out, and about how many units per truck, I'm sorry, it's not well.

Speaker 1: 11:18

So our business model is different, right, okay, because we're going to do things a little different than everybody else. It's service. Well, we don't service our units like our competitors do. Okay, fair enough. We don't service our units like our competitors do. Okay, fair enough. A competitor will say here's a list of 60, and that's a nice round number for their trucks. Okay, they'll say, here's a list of 60. You get paid eight hours, however long it takes you, and that's quantity, yeah, but definitely quality is going to lack. It is Every day of the week and twice on Sunday, that's right. And so we don't do that. Our routes are at 30, and I'll pay you overtime.

Speaker 1: 11:59

Wow, my toilets, if you rent them from me, cost a little more, yep, but they're worth more. I can't do anything about the weather. There's nothing I can do about it, but I can't make it cooler outside. I can't make it hotter outside. I sure wish you would right now. Yeah, but when you go into that portable toilet I can make sure it's clean and it doesn't smell horrible and that keeps guys on their job site. That's exactly right. And then you're on time. That's right and it's funny. We've always had a rule here I've never made them, I've never told the boys, hey, you got crap, that's a gas station run if you need to. Because normally, yeah, sometimes them blue rooms can be rough. You know what I mean, and that's what we often call them is blue rooms. But a portable toilet is what I'm talking about in reference. That's a blue collar job site term. But no, you're absolutely right. So you're seeing. So we've got that. And then we're hauling like semis worth of poop too. Well, not poop we have. So we have some commercial partners that we haul for, that we all for. So if you have a commercial facility that processes chicken or beef or some kind of further processing maybe they make sauces or hungry man meals Most of those facilities have have their own wastewater treatment.

Speaker 1: 13:30

Well, private, private, that's right, but it has to be so clean before it goes to the municipality, right, the city, whatever city that be in Springdale, rogers, fayetteville, wherever. So typically what happens is when they clean it up it makes a byproduct and that byproduct has to go somewhere. We carry it somewhere Sometimes that's to another municipality that it complements their system and actually helps make it stronger yes, sometimes it's, and anybody that's listening. I just want to jump in right there. Bacteria is a good thing in the wastewater world. You have to have anaerobic and aerobic bacteria for it to break down, compose and be able to treat it. So when Joe was referencing it could help their system. They have a certain amount of within that treatment facility that he's dropping at. It has a certain amount of pH and ammonia and solids and TSS.

Speaker 1: 14:37

There's so much to the wastewater world, yep. And so what we try to find is somewhere that is lacking in maybe nutrient, as we will call it, that this product has. That's right. Sometimes it's a farmer that wants his grass to grow better. You bet it depends on what the ground is lacking. You know you use nutrient management plans and we say, hey, listen, this product can really complement this land well and help it. Can you help your clients do that? Yep, that's so cool brother. Can you help your clients do that? Yep, that's so cool brother. We've got a couple of different engineering firms we work with that help us with nutrient management plans for those different sites that we use for disposal. But we take something somebody doesn't want and do our best to use it for something. Use it for something good, right, dude, that's so cool.

Speaker 1: 15:38

I mean seriously, not just white river environmental and that environmental word has gotten thrown around so hard but you're actually through a business model, not only making dollars and etc. But you are doing things for the environment that people would never understand, know about. Nobody knows, they don't. And I often tell people you don't even know what's going on below your feet. And there's a water line being charged, feeding water, and there's a gas line, there's data lines Now there's more data lines than there ever was but oftentimes we're working more within the city and the municipalities and running these gravity mains that handle, yeah, anything from an apartment to a townhome to anything, a single family home, duplex. You guys are mainly not necessarily going to deal with a septic system. A lot of folks may not have a clue, but I mean thinking, not just that, simply where you could have stopped. You know what I mean, and now you're over here under this commercial game, which it's not just about. Okay, we're fixing the problems, now you're making somebody else a benefit out of these major poopy problems. Dude, that is such a cool story.

Speaker 1: 16:55

We, you know, a year ago we were rocking and rolling along. I got a call from an old friend we had I call it scab work. You know he'd call and say, oh well, they can't keep up, can you send me a couple trucks for a week or two? And my trucks would just haul it. He said, listen, I'm a bit of a pickle, can you find a place for this to go? And I said, sure, this was on a Friday afternoon.

Speaker 1: 17:20

By Sunday morning I added him a solution, made a few calls, found a place for it to go for him and I'm a big proponent of you, you know, the lord has blessed me greater than I will ever need. Man, all the glory, um and um, all that glory goes to him. And I said, listen, you gotta holler, he's a good dude. Um matter of fact, you remember that feller we talked about double that price. Yes, sir, it might have been him, okay, um? And I said you gotta holler, they're good people, they will, we'll do, we'll, we'll do right, let them haul. Okay, well, where it was going, that no, no, if joe don't bring it, if joe's guys don't bring it, um, because we had a relationship, and so he called me two weeks. I am now nine months into two weeks and it doubled the size of my fleet, dude, and it's still running strong. Still running strong. Wow, matter of fact, I had to put on another truck because they had another situation at a totally different facility. Wow, and it's proof is in the pudding is doing good by people.

Speaker 1: 18:41

The short term is usually you getting kicked. You know when you're down, but the long term of it is you do quality work, you do right by people, and you know what. It's not a race to the bottom and being the cheapest, because if you are going to provide the level of service you're talking about, sir, and acquiring customers because their competitors are reaching out to them. Because if you think, guys, if you're sitting there and you think that your competitors are doing something broadly different than you call them, your competitors are doing something broadly different than you call them. It's. I have a network of about seven or eight guys here that I can call and and feel out and I know the market and we talk about. I mean, yes, they're your competitors. Yes, there's certain areas that they and you know it's kind of untalked about. You know what I mean? That everybody's got these areas. But if your work quality speaks for itself and the competition's dropping the ball, what are you going to do about that? You've got to step in and meet up. You talk about that.

Speaker 1: 19:43

We're very big on. So in our industry, in the specific industry, that that client is in um, losing your disposal site, losing the place we're hauling it to, is always a big question mark, right, because you don't want to do that. So we're currently working for them on a secondary solution that will further solidify their ability to not worry. They didn't have that before, right, not worry, they didn't have that before, right, but that's something we'll offer and they'll want to keep us along for, of course, because you're not just doing your job, brother, you're looking for solutions that they need, not just that Joe needs for White River. You're exactly right, it doesn't benefit me at all. Exactly, the only benefit for me is the potential to keep a client. If that makes sense, a hundred percent it does. It's worth a lot of value in my world it is, but so many people get caught up in our industry. It seems like they get caught up in the dollars and cents.

Speaker 1: 20:51

I just want to make all I can. While I can Not me, I'm looking here a long time. I'd like to be over here a long time. I'd like to hand this to my kids, kids, kids, or sell it to somebody that they can benefit from. That's right. Honestly, I think that's a lot of our goal as entrepreneurs in the blue collar space. I think we're just starting something from nothing and, honestly, most guys I sit here and talk with, so, why'd you start? Well, my kids, you know I wasn't going to go to school and get some doctorate or et cetera. I had to start something from nothing and thank God, you had.

Speaker 1: 21:31

Sounds like your dad was a incredible influence in your day to day, influence in your day to day. I had um. You know if I, if I attribute this success to, to, to any, any person, I would say, um, my dad was not and he'll tell you I'm not much, he's not, he was not much of a businessman, but I had a granddad that was Um and so um between his business ways and my dad's like probably got the biggest servant's heart you ever met and it was taking care of people, and so I've learned that. But take care of people, bro, um, with somewhat of a business mindset. Well, it'll work. Yes, sir, and it works very well for us. Um, so, yeah, I'm gonna assume you've got a pretty decent admin staff too to keep that many trucks running, or just me? I did, I did, well, I say, I hired someone. Um, how long before this comes out on the uh here, there'll be a cut right here, I don't know. Um, no, this will come out next week. Actually, that's why we had to get you.

Speaker 1: 22:34

I bought, I bought a competitor two days ago so that he can run an aspect of my business, because I'm tired, buddy, I am too. I'm in the same spot, you are, um, and I, I, I, uh. I approached him once before and he was not interested, and so he drove for me part-time and did his own little thing. He's going to come take over our portable toilets because I feel like my service is lacking and I can't dedicate myself to it. And the commercial clients, dude, I get it. Last July, I had a project manager that basically handled a lot of my operations and I stepped away. This got started during that time when I had the time to start building this marketing campaign and to help the business, et cetera. But, man, I've had a rude awakening since then. I'm handling a lot up here.

Speaker 1: 23:30

I'm actually going through a ton of change right now at SyCon, bringing in some fractional experts, because I'm not an expert, joe. I've failed daily, you know, in one way or the other, and the point is, there's a gentleman here that hates talking about failure. You know what I mean. He will let me rip about it. The point is not to fail, and so you've got to learn from your mistakes, and it's so hard.

Speaker 1: 23:56

I watched you say success, and that's how we all feel, isn't it? Yeah, I don't know that I feel successful. We can have millions of dollars going through our bank accounts and we still don't feel quote unquote successful. What is successful to us? Well, my version of success is bills are paid and I can go out on the lake this weekend or something like that. But our versions of success is so different, and I think a true entrepreneur always kicks the can down the road, and I think it's our best and worst qualities, because we're never happy with it, we're always wanting to, and if you're not, myself, I got that big C word word complacent last, earlier last year, and I had to learn from it and my team immediately became complacent, because, well, big dad's complacent why isn't everyone, you know.

Speaker 1: 24:50

So I had to switch up a lot of things there. But just talk about a little bit sorry to just poke at you there, but that feeling, just talk about a little bit sorry to just poke at you there, but that feeling. I understand that feeling, because do we ever really feel successful? What does success look to somebody that's owned several blue collar businesses at this point? No, I like Still haven't found it. No, I don't think I found that feeling. So that's fair.

Speaker 1: 25:14

You know, you make me think about my daughter, right? You know you make me think about my daughter, right? So I got a 17-year-old, a 13-year-old son and a 2-year-old daughter and my 17-year-old, you know, she's got her little pickup and her and her friends come around and it's like you know they'll come meet me at one of the farms or at the shop and, like her friends are all standoffish and I'm like what are these kids doing? So I asked him they're like she's like you know, like you got these businesses and like you're you know, like you know people, they treat you different, they treat me different and and like it's like they're like afraid of me or intimidated by me, and like she's got her a boyfriend and like that kid he won't hardly matter. Two words to me and I'm like hey, what, hey, what's going on here? And she goes, just like he's intimidated Because like You're big, bad dude.

Speaker 1: 26:01

Yeah, I'm not a smart person by any means, but like I still look at, you know, that 10-year-old kid that got bullied in elementary school. Right, that's right, that's the persona I have right, like, right here, 100%, bro, persona I have right, like, right here. And like I'm like, hey, listen, like this doesn't, it doesn't compute that somebody who's intimidated by me because me I'm just doing my job, I'm just trying to put bread on the table, amen, brother. Um, I have a wonderful wife, that, um, you know you talked about that, that staff. Um, I have a wonderful wife that works for me, with me. I know she does not work for me, she works for herself, and I couldn't tell you if there was $5 in my bank account or 10. So we the same person, joe, and I will, like you know, my favorite story is the tire story.

Speaker 1: 26:52

I was walking around the shop and I was looking at a truck and those trucks they slosh back and forth going down the road, right. And so where's tires? Like crazy. And I said we need tires. And so I said I don't know what we're going to do. Um, they're expensive nowadays. If you guys don't know like I mean to put a set of tires on truck. Uh, my tire guy really likes me. I bet he does Thousands of dollars a month we spend. And so I I may need his number. He's really good. Okay, shout out to Daniel from IRA Tires in Springdale. Let's go, daniel, he anyway. So I'm like I need tires. And so I'm pacing around the shop and so here comes my wife. She's like what are you doing? I was like, oh, we need tires. And you know I don't know how much money I have, but I know what I had spent that week and that seemed like a lot, yeah, sure. And so she said, well, how much is the tire? And I told her how much the tire is. A beat, she goes. Okay, you can have that. Knows me right, give me an inch, right, push that envelope. Um. And so she, she takes care of me, yeah, um, and I'm I'm really thankful for um, so I like that would be networks.

Speaker 1: 28:05

Um, we went through um, we, we had a, we had a bad bout. We had a lady work for us, um, took a lot of money from us, um back um, I guess. My wife well, my wife has been working with me for the past about two and a half years. Just before the baby was due, the two-year-old, we found out this lady was embezzling. Oh, my Lord, brother, we have recovered. And then some Amen, god is good. And my wife her background was unnecessarily finance, but she knew how to do it and she ran a restaurant for years, managed one, and we knew that we didn't want her doing that anymore. And it's just kind of like the good Lord said. And she comes in a couple days a week and does her part, and then we have a great office staff that takes care of our guys and does our routing for us.

Speaker 1: 29:03

And um, my wife and myself, brother, we uh started in 2016 two young kids. I was 23. Man had no idea. I had no idea what I was signing up for. I didn't have any idea I'd be here today. I promise you that, but I would be nowhere without her. Um, we're actually. I was at a meeting two days ago, uh, trying to work a few systems and procedures to take a little bit off her, but embezzling my guy that, uh, we don't have to go there if you don't want to. But uh, that was, um, I'll be honest. Um, it was north of half a million dollars in about a year and a half's time and we were told that when, when, when, the accountant, the forensic accountant we hired, told Dad and I that we laughed at him. We ain't never seen that kind of money. It turns out we should have and we'll never see it. No, but it happens.

Speaker 1: 30:14

As a blue-collar guy, you know I've got very educated folks in my family. I've got a sister that is a physician's assistant for a big heart doctor and firm over at Tulsa, and both my sisters went to college. My mom went to college and you know my mom said you know, you guys, seems like you won or lost a dozen fortunes. You know, somebody come along, just take it and, but listen, it wasn't ours to begin with, it was the good Lord's and he saw fit to do what he wanted with it. Um, sounds like you've learned from it, you know. Set up some systems. Lesson learned um, you know you watch it, watch it more closely, and you know that's you got to watch that one. That's there now.

Speaker 1: 31:05

I mean, I'm just kidding, I feel you, because we've got a couple ladies in our office we had, I got to admit, we had a little trouble ourselves not quite with embezzling, but I think if I didn't catch what I caught, it was heading that road and it was by freak chance that I caught it. I think it was the good Lord throwing me a red flag, divine intervention there. I wish there was some times. He would have slapped me upside the head a lot sooner than he did.

Speaker 1: 31:36

Buddy, but, man, your kids are the purpose. It sounds like I tell my wife, I tell the guys that work for me, like I've got more than I'll ever need. Now I can retire and go up the lake and just be happy. Now I work for them. You have to, though, you do, I mean, because, like I feel like my largest commandment is, I need to leave them a sustainable way to survive when I'm not here, to back them up, whatever that looks like, whether they're running the business or selling it. The legacy yes, sir, I don't know that I'll leave a legacy, as you say, but I want to make sure they're taken care of. You're going to try every freaking day, buddy, I know you are. The world of wastewater is providing your kids a some form of legacy. That's the definition. What's left after you're gone? And, brother, I promise you, I'm in the exact same boat.

Speaker 1: 32:40

A lot of people question me why do you do what you do every day, so stressful? People won't pay. I had a guy short me quite a bit of money right before I walked in here today and wasn't prepared for that. It is what it is, but at the same time, it's like every single day we get punched, whether it's oh, he had a blowout and he's in the worst spot down there, crossing over the hill down here, or truck wreck, or can't get a pump to run, or this piece of equipment won't fire off, or financial companies, or whatever it is. There's always some type of pressure every single day. And, as you've mentioned a bunch of times, the good Lord above a good lady and your kids is something to live for and keep fighting every day.

Speaker 1: 33:28

And as long as my CPA I got it, he has worked with so many different contractors. He just deals with contractors. Over the last 32 years and he said you can never count a contractor out. You can't, because the thing about me and Joe here, that we're sitting here audiences and you guys out there, you can make money, you can always produce money and there's. You know, you could do that with a college education as well, in various forms, but for a man that is myself high school education you have a marketable asset right here. That's exactly. That is such a good way of putting it, brother. 100%. You yourself are a marketable asset. I think is what you're trying to say. That's exactly where I was going with that and marketing in general in the blue collar world. That's why we're here today. It's not so much marketing. It needs some investing through marketing, talking and helping each other get to that next step.

Speaker 1: 34:35

Because you know the plumbing companies. To get where you were at in and out of plumbing, did you? When you first started those plumbing companies, were you going to be the biggest plumber there ever was? Oh, yeah, I was going to plumb the world. Man, like every entrepreneur, like everybody. Like. Oh yeah, I was going to plumb the world. Man, like, like, like every entrepreneur, like, like everybody, like I'm like. Oh yeah, I'm going to, yeah, you know, the next biggest plumbing company ever, right, yeah, and you didn't see the pathway to where you're at now.

Speaker 1: 35:00

And here you are discussing, just because of how you provide solutions to your customers, the quality. Obviously you care about your team. I can just tell by the way we're talking. You care about your people, you care about your family and those people will take care of you. I mean, if we're talking about my team, I have turned down multiple buyout propositions and the number one reason is that people don't take care of my people like I take care of my people. They're my family. I could make three phone calls right now and before we walk out of this studio they'd have trucks lined up out here. If that's what I ask them to do, that's right. They take care of me just as well as I take care of them and I appreciate them. You know they're my people, right? People don't look at people like that and I they're not just a number, oh, and it's.

Speaker 1: 35:59

It's just like there's two forms of business, businesses models, I guess you would say in the blue collar sense, it's like you got a guy that has a couple crews going out to make him money, or there's on the other side that what I'm hearing is you and myself that, oh, hey, I want to work with this team to build something that is sustainable for the future. And there's, yeah, I know, you know both buckets very simply. And so this side takes time. It's very expensive to take care of your team and culture, and I can say it's very expensive over time. But it's the small things that add up over time, because I have a feeling you're just like myself and it's hard to say no to them. If they ever come to you with anything, yep, whatever it is, we'll get it taken care of. That's exactly right. That's why you don't, i's why they're there.

Speaker 1: 36:50

I feel like they're my largest asset. I mean, and we've got hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of trucks and equipment to do what we do, and my largest asset are those people. Well, let's talk about drivers. I mean, drivers are whining um, when we, you know, like I, you got CDLA holders. I'm assuming Yep, yep, cdla and B. And then we've got smaller trucks that run our portable routes, a little Azuzus or flat nose trucks or something like that. I would assume yeah, oh, actually they're Rams Dodges. That's right. I've seen them a hundred times Great.

Speaker 1: 37:28

There's a great company out of Cabot called Best Enterprises. Shout out to those guys. Absolutely, they probably build the best portable toilet truck on the market. You heard it here first Blue Carbom Business Podcastcom. Yeah, those guys are incredible. They actually the folks that own it I'm going to butcher their last name it's Frey Albarhoven. Great folks. They lived here for a good long time and then they bought that, moved down there, transitioned. Good folks it's. We love them.

Speaker 1: 38:06

We bought a pair of them back-to-back off their line down there and we have hot water pressure washers on them. So it's like clean, clean when it's clean, hot water, yeah, I bet you guys appreciate that in the winter, holding that hose, they do Like and you know, I mean for sanitizing purposes. It's like hot enough for that as well. All right, yeah, it is a cleaner clean. It's not just oh, you freed it down with a water hose, right, it's pressure washed. Yeah, like with hot water. It's a different one you got anyways, it's a different service.

Speaker 1: 38:40

We talked about our services being paramount. You would have to be and in your world, not starting here to get down, winding down the biggest strengths. It's that. No, you have done fantastic. Thank you for being so vulnerable and real. These guys need to hear it and there's nobody out there investing in the me's and the you's of the world.

Speaker 1: 39:03

You know you talked about not keeping a blue collar guy down. When we discovered the whole embezzlement scheme, I didn't have enough in my bank account. Make payroll. I understand, um, but you can't keep a blue collar guy down, um, as long as they don't quit. Picked out my favorite truck, um, because, um, you know, assets are always liquidable, um, and phone call liquidated it and we rolled on Yep. You know, like that's what a redneck does. We don't have a savings account. You don't take no for an answer and I don't have a savings account. I don't either, brother, I just shoot from the hip and so, like we go to selling stuff right, like I can sell a couple trucks. That's right. You know you do what you gotta do. Got our guys paid and picked up the next decent sized job and rolled on. Like you said, we'll find a way. Man, you've the last dude.

Speaker 1: 40:06

I can't tell you how appreciative the story and the vulnerableness, because it is very awkward for guys like us to sit down, have a conversation and let the whole world hear it if they wanted. You know. You know, like I'm not, I wouldn't say I'm airing my dirty laundry, but these are, these are true stories. These, these happen and they in, in my opinion, happen to other people all day, all day, every day. Guys like you, yes, and there are people out there and you know, listen, I don't know that they're gonna learn from my mistakes, but, hey, it's gonna be okay. Man, that's right. You know like it gets better.

Speaker 1: 40:39

The world of wastewater, the king of wastewater. I don't know that. I'm that here in this area, man, you know, there's they're, they're all over the, all over the. It doesn't matter which direction you see one of your trucks with a port potty on the back of it. But if you're loving this conversation with me and Joe, make sure you're checking out bluecollarbusinesspodcastcom. All of our episodes are on there. You can listen to it completely free, audio or visual. But if you're listening to us on a streaming platform, don't forget to give us a rating or a follow and make sure you drop a thumbs up on the episode. Mr Joe, has been fantastic to listen to the deep, dark secrets of the poop balling world.

Speaker 1: 41:21

And last question for you, joe, I'm sorry. What's a takeaway for the blue collar worker who is sick of being stuck in the mud, and I'm talking about those drivers or your guys that come to you. They're just down and out, mentally, physically, emotionally, and they just, they're just tired of it. You know what I mean. Um, I you know. I hate not to sound like a disney movie, but you're got to.

Speaker 1: 41:48

You know, like probably one of my favorite quotes I'll give two here, but one of them is you got to keep moving forward. You know, most great things in the Bible, every great thing that I can remember in the Bible, started out in adversity. So good things are to come. And if your dreams don't scare you, they're not big enough. Um, and that's that's where I live my life. Um, I don't know that, I don't know that they're inspiring to everyone, but that's what inspires me, right, like, if it doesn't scare me just a little bit, I'm not dreaming big enough. Dude, that is, uh, 100% something to strive for and and relatable. I'm sitting here across the table, I'm just 100, relating where you're coming from, because the guy at the top can't ever stop dreaming, because as soon as he does, the whole thing comes crumbling down, because it's always gonna be tough up there, down, you know, down on the bottom, dealing with every day-to-day problems and sometimes it can get hard and keep moving forward. Keep the trucks rolling down the road, hopefully with a load on them.

Speaker 1: 43:00

Well, guys, I really appreciate you listening to this episode. If you've learned anything, found some value within the wastewater world wastewater in general. It can be a kind of a boring topic. I hope we've lent a entrepreneurship lens into the world and it made it a bit more of a fun topic. Drop a like, drop a follow, drop a sub, depending on what you're on. Check out bluecollarbusinesspodcastcom. And until next one, guys, be safe and be kind. If you've enjoyed this episode, be sure to give it a like. Share it with the fellers. Check out our website to send us any questions and comments about your experience in the blue collar business. Who do you want to hear from? Send them our way and we'll do our best to answer any questions you may have. Till next time, guys.