Ep. 70 - Systems, Schools & Screwups: Real Talk for Blue Collar Growth

The jump from “busy” to “built” is where most blue collar shops stall. We open the hood on that leap, talking through the real costs of scaling past $1M: quality wobbling under volume, crews chasing equipment, cash flow stretched by 90-day waits, and owners buying back time with chaos. The fix isn’t a secret playbook, it’s simple systems, written approvals, and leadership that others can follow when you’re not on site.

Sy sits down with operators and educators who have lived the hits: getting burned on GC change orders, learning to say “email me that approval,” and rebuilding margins without burning bridges. We unpack why documentation matters more than bravado, how to point to the bid set without sounding defensive, and where confidence and clarity protect both relationships and profit. Along the way, we celebrate a public-school heavy equipment program that’s the model everyone asks for but rarely builds; students running dozers, installing silt fence, pulling real permits, fixing real mistakes, and walking into city offices with competence and connections.

We also dive into transparent coaching and the Dirt to Dollars philosophy: answer the ten context questions before you give advice, share the ugly alongside the wins, and teach owners to step off the machine and into pricing, scheduling, and cash discipline. If you’re stuck in the mud, mentally, financially, or operationally, mourn the hit, then choose a plan. Hard work is the baseline; the leverage is systems, written change orders, and relationships that compound. Whether you’re an employee hungry to level up or an owner tempted to grab the controls again, you’ll leave with practical steps to protect your margins, grow your team, and build a legacy in people, not just projects.

Like what you heard? Subscribe, share with a fellow operator, and drop a review so more builders can find the show. Got a guest or question we should tackle next? Tell us and we’ll dig in.

Transcript

The Painful Jump Past $1M Revenue

SPEAKER_09 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, Sai Kirby, and I want to help you 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 to another episode. I am uh pretty pumped up for this episode of the Blue Collar Business Podcast. Today we have a wonderful sponsor helping out on this episode, podcastvideos.com. We are in the standard room the old BCB is normally shot out of, but we are coming at you through brand new, beautiful 4K capturing cameras on the wall, a little bit different angles. Let us know what you guys think. Um, I'm really enjoying um the new look in this room. It's changed it completely. So shout out to podcast team, always innovating quickly. Uh shout out to Miss Brooke and the business development team here. When you start making about 750 a million a year, yeah, things are if you can perfect it, you can make some good money there. That's usually you five, six guys. You know what I mean? Max. But there's no like that's that's that 750 on the low end to a million mark on the high end. Once you get past that, admin staff, managers, project man, like it starts, you don't even know which direction to go. I didn't. Hell, I was just throwing freaking darts at the wall. You're just trying to buy speeding up. Literally, I'm just trying to buy some of my time back, and nobody's gonna care as much as myself. You know, that's what's going in my mind, instead of, hey, why don't I put my mind on paper so somebody can maybe have half a clue. Anyways, that's where I'm at now. But that next jump is like monumental. And you're looking at it when you're first the first three or four years, you're finally locking in some good work, people know who you are, things are rocking and rolling, and you're like, man, I really want to do this thing. It's a two million dollar a year revenue situation that you need to even get back to to two and a half where you're feeling comfy again. There's not like, oh, I'll do another 100, 150 next year because there's so many extra assets or different equipment or whatever it is just to make that extra hundred K. Well, then you need to you need to make a little bit more to pay for the equipment that you bought for this specific job, but you didn't really need to buy. You could have rented it, but you didn't figure it that way. And man, there's so much you learn, but that's stuff people don't see, and I haven't or talk about.

Systems Or Ceiling

SPEAKER_07 2:53

Yes, absolutely. Because uh you just said it. I hope people kind of caught that. You can keep growing in the beginning. The the earlier you are, the easier it is to grow. You know, like if you make, you know, like we did, I don't know, 40,000 and then 80, and then 200, and then 250. You know what I mean? That's easy, but and in a way it gets easier to grow, but you have to establish those systems or you can't anymore. You hit a ceiling where you make you and we haven't transitioned through one or two million, you know what I mean? So we're we're not on the other side of that uh like you're talking about. But I can st we're to a point now where I can see that. Like if we don't implement systems to help this situation, you know, to you you can't set up for expansion without systems. Oh, you can you definitely can.

When Growth Outruns Quality

SPEAKER_09 3:41

I'll tell you all about it, and you will learn the hard way to do it. Well, it's very, very hard way. You'll have good people leave, and yeah, and and then you'll be sitting there wondering why, like, like in your head, if you haven't put it on paper, put any systems any place, nobody has any idea where we're trying to go. Right. And these guys don't even stand a chance to do what you want them to do, let alone um succeed together because nobody really has a plan, and that falls back on the leader. And dude, I man, I grew and I doubled my gross revenue and I doubled it again, and I double, and I was like, we got up and in 23, things were just out of control. Literally, I can stand here and say that. Don't get me wrong, we did a lot of work. Yeah, um, quality was there sometimes, and I think quantity quality started to question because of quantity. 24, we redacted. And if I would have concentrated, dude, I had people throwing things at me, my wife, i.e., hey, can we please just slow down for two seconds and have you put this down on paper? And what you showed me today was huge early on. Two smaller crews running around, equipment feels like it's everywhere when you don't, you know, every time you need it, it's not there, and you gotta spend more money to move it to get uh rake out ten rocks for Miss Sally to finish up a job to get paid. You know what I mean? But um, I don't quite know where I was trending with that, but that growth and and scalability is just so hard. And um, oh, I was talking about your scheduling piece that you were showing me. And it in the early years, bro, I didn't care about any of that. Yeah, I just wanted more revenue, which created more problems, and I wasn't concentrated on profitability. Do you know you're not seeing money for 90k in 90 days?

GC Work, Change Orders, And Getting Burned

SPEAKER_07 5:37

I had some uh mentors, uh, you you could say everybody but Tradebo, Trade Black, ah, you need to go talk about Margaret. I'm all whip pop wheelie, baby. Other than Trape, I had a few others that are like, ah, I don't, you know, not not trying to talk me out of it, but just like, hey man, you know, kind of watch your and I'm like, no, I don't, you know, I I hear you appreciate it, and we won't go that route. And then a few months in, too, we had three projects going at once. And they were we were able to manage them with with a couple guys, you know. Right. But it was a lot, like when when those phone calls, they all came in within two, three hours of each other on the same day. And I'm like, Exactly what we were just talking about. Proving our point. And it was right when I just figured out how to do all the residential stuff, you know, we just had it perfect where we're like, this is gonna be a busy month. Yeah. Phone rings, phone rings again, and I told that, I said, Oh, I'm waiting on to the next game. Then he calls, and I'm like, I don't know what to do. So we we were able to get it done, but you know, I then I'm I saw what those guys meant. We worked for a few GCs. I won't get into that too deep. No, God. You've got to watch your ass. You really do, because I'm I'm a good I'm reasonable is the best way to put it, right? Like, you know, and I had people don't do anything for free and don't ever do it, and I'm like, man, I hear you, you're right. I don't that's a tough one, too. Yeah, but I I wanna, when in doubt, I'll help you out, type of deal. If I'm there, you know what I mean? If I'm on site, uh I won't get into specifics, but for all three of these GCs, we ended up in a situation where, hey, could you could you could and we're talking 30 seconds cost me no money, type of deal. Okay. You know what I mean? But I'm like, yeah, I'll do well. Then of course they see I'll see what they can take. You bet, man. We lost money on two of those jobs for two different GCs. I have the best relationship in the world with one of them, let's put it that way. My fault. I missed some stuff, you know, part of it. I went into that, yeah. Went into that, we lost a lot more money, you know, on one of the other ones. And you just gotta watch yourself. Like I said, you you've gotta watch uh standing up for yourself and not letting those people you know push you around, dude. Because they'll take they'll take everything they need.

SPEAKER_09 8:02

But I think it's I think also too, dude, is the confidence within ourselves during that time because we're like as business owners, I was in the same set of shoes, dude. I gave the world away because I number one, I just didn't know. Yes, I didn't know I could stick up and stand up for myself and had but it took me some time. Hey, let's be reasonable. Like you're talking about. Okay, hey, buddy, this is my bid set. This is what you want me to do. It's not on this bid set. You haven't provided me anything differently up until this point. I understand you're working off of this set, but you never provided me that set. I don't care if the revision happened. Absolutely. If you ain't provided it to me, yeah, I can't price it. So you I can't tell you how many times revisions just come through. Hey, uh, we just need to change this up. Oh, okay. When I oh, okay, no big deal, man. Yeah, we'll just move this, add a couple materials, send a change order, and never see it again. Yeah. They'll never pay it because oh, well, you just did it. That was just part of the contract, man. Yeah, and we can go off into that, dude. I've been burned so bad.

Put It In Writing Or Don’t Do It

SPEAKER_07 9:07

Yeah. But they know how to thousands. They know how to muddy the water so bad. Because when I talked to people, why didn't you just do that? I'm like, I can't. Well, I would have told them I did. They said no. They know what they can, they know how you know I mean they've been playing this game longer, brother. Absolutely. And they they've got more time and money to play the game. Oh, yeah. I don't have like if I've got iron on a site and it's especially if it's not close to home, and we've got machines there, I can't sit there with with four guys and four machines for five days waiting on a change because they're just gonna wait. And so at that point, we ran into this where I'm like, you know, they're calling me and I'm like, just do it. I don't, you know, it's gonna cost us five grand more, just do it. And then, hey, is that coming through? Oh yeah, we're we're working on yeah, we're and then once you get done with the next project or or halfway into the next project, oh yeah, no, that that check comes in light. Hey, what about oh no, it didn't get approved. Cool, cool. Because you knew how to start this one.

SPEAKER_09 10:02

You couldn't let me know for the last 75 days while I was waiting on this? Oh, well, I just found out yesterday on the check.

SPEAKER_07 10:10

Yep, they know how to muddy the water just enough to drag you along, but they don't give a shit that that relationship could have been so much better. Hands down. You know what I mean? Like I'm going out like I'm I don't know, I'm doing whatever I possibly can to make everything right and to where you're out nothing, and to where you call me on the next one, which they did. And they do. Hey, you know, we we get we get a ton of invites from all these same GCs when we get done working with them. That right there speaks to what what I need to do. Yeah, we're we got some stuff to figure out. We always will. Yeah, you know, we're always gonna have stuff that we're like, huh, you know, we we gotta learn something here. Every day, dude. Yeah. Like that's just that's just the way it goes. But we will see it through and it will be right, even if it takes us a little bit longer, I've got to eat you know, a little bit more money on it.

Mentors, Boundaries, And Payment Games

SPEAKER_09 10:57

You know, I just want to jump on something you said that I think could be a world of change for a lot of guys because don't feel bad. I mean, I was the exact same way. He said, do it. And I go home, tell mama when that jack comes and she goes, Hey, where is this extra money you said we build for? And I'm looking at her and go, Well, you know, oh Timmy, the project manager, let me call him up. Well, that sucker don't answer his phone because he's off on the next project. He don't need you no more. No, but when you said, hey man, just do it on the phone, my response after a couple of times was hey brother, just shoot that into uh an email to me, and we'll go ahead and get jumped on this. Yeah. As long as I've got written approval from somebody above, it can stand up legally down the line. But phone calls mean nothing. Right. Text messages can mean a lot, nothing like an email, but just hey man, and I know a lot of you guys are in the rese world, they're like, oh, well, these guys are on email, and I understand the commercial side, it's all about email. But on the rese side, text message, you've got to like, hey, I totally want to do this for you, and we're gonna tackle it, no issues. Will you just shoot this into me in a text message that you're approving this? It just the transparency in the early years is everything. And I I just sat on a podcast not a couple weeks ago, sitting here talking about the same thing. I was so scared to let them know I was making a little bit of money. Like I was out there to do this for education or something, which I was, but I was learning and I was paying for my education, but I still needed to make a little money out of the day. So, like, I I I would be, and that builds distrust immediately, and they it's gonna drive more questions, and then because, dude, in those years, I'd be like, Why are these guys asking so many questions? Like, did you not see how much freaking work I did? And it's like, nope, they don't, but they do remember that little 10 by 10 area you didn't get because you wanted more money for it and you wouldn't do it until you had this sign. So there is a gray area there, hardcore. But in the commercial GC world, there is no gray area. If you don't see a boys and girls, you are hosed, they're not looking out for you, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 13:15

Just their project coming under budget. But for me, if you're that GC and you've got more stuff lined up and you just keep burning every damn bridge you've got with every sub you've had.

SPEAKER_09 13:25

There's they're still out there though, bro. The every single and I don't understand how they keep getting word. People stop giving these crap GCs freaking work. Well, they're the cheapest. Well, don't be mad at me.

SPEAKER_07 13:43

That can't afford it. And when I say three grand, they're taking, you know, 15 grand from the framer.

SPEAKER_09 13:50

And I love when the owners, I can't tell you how many projects I've I've been up uh on, and an owner walkthrough will happen, and I'm and I was there, I was the cheapest guy, I'm not saying anything, but I could never understand. They would just come on site, everything would be wrong, the the buildings, whatever, the material this, the these guys didn't show up on time, and I'm like, why is this is not something I want to do every day. Yeah. Why do I keep getting with these lack for a better word, shit bags and dealing with the same superintendent that doesn't have a freaking clue what he's doing, and they're brand new, but you get punished for their disorganization.

SPEAKER_07 14:30

They don't have their shit in a pile. And so that costs you money around every corner of the entire damn process and you can't fight that. You know what I mean? It's too it's too muddied up where you can't be like, well, this is I tried. It's it's such a convoluted bullshit by that point that I'm like, you guys don't have your shit figured out at all. Yeah. And I'm suffering, you know, day after day.

SPEAKER_09 14:55

I'm telling you, man, uh everything you just said, I got to witness standing there, the the admiration and the inspiration uh for these kids and that you see in them that they don't see in themselves yet is uh Man, it's such an opportunity, and you aren't just striking on the opportunity. You are absolutely pushing the envelope. And thank you. I know each and every one of those kids I tried to hit at home about the opportunity that they have been given to come out at 18 years old with the skills that they're obtaining through these programs, is um they don't even understand. I wouldn't have at that age either. I would have, oh, we're at high school, what time's it done? I'm gonna go fishing, or you know, uh senior year, I was in the workforce program, so I would have bit into this hard. They didn't offer anything like that. So um, but so take us through kind of the how the heavy equipment came into play. We heard about the CDL school, but the heavy equipment, um, I don't think there's many places in the country doing what you guys are doing.

Building A High School Heavy Equipment Program

SPEAKER_06 16:00

No, so I talk with a lot of our business partners, and you know, there's some schools in other states. Uh, you know, Crossland runs one out of Kansas for their entire division. There's some trade-type schools in Oklahoma and some other neighboring communities, but you know, for Arkansas, there's an auto-heavy equipment program, and from a public school standpoint, it's really unique. Uh so it's a brainchild of uh of my boss, Rodney Ellis, uh led by Dr. Cleveland, our superintendent. I mean, you have to have leaders that are innovative and open-minded. And and then really uh Rodney and I just sat down and we started hammering it out what was important. Uh my background, heavy equipment comes from a dear friend of mine. He actually passed just right before Christmas, uh, Butch West. He uh he worked for Shallow Tank and Steel. And uh my dad was a mechanic, and I'd worked with dad, and I'd worked for Butch, and uh he did dirt work concrete, and that was my earliest experience. I go over there, he's my little league coach. We would dig and I've tied so much rebar. I can tell you what I didn't want to do as a child, and that was to tie rebar. Uh but we spent a lot of time in the dish, but he he taught me how to operate equipment and you know, precision and stuff like that. And so the passion was there from a child. I mean, eight, nine, ten years old, running a dozer was a cool thing. And it was just ingrained, you know, hard work. And, you know, I've got a couple of college degrees, they're great, been beneficial for me, but I still to this day carve out a week or two a year to do some sort of project. And I can make more in a week with my hands than I can make in three or four months at the school. Yeah. And uh, but that's that's where it came from. It's like, how can we get heavy equipment uh, you know, in a public school setting? And then Roddy and I sat down and started writing grants. Uh, you know, we just come up with the idea and we push and push and push. And uh, we've taken advantage of, you know, uh uh some funding through federal sources, uh, you know, OSD from the state. We're trying to use, you know, corporate tax dollars wisely. And I assure you, we're not wasting any time. The kids can tell you we work from the time we get there to the time we leave. Somebody's gonna be on a machine. We do a like yesterday we were putting in silk fencing for our stormwater permits. Oh my god. So we trenched, we dug, we buried, you know, we put in several hundred feet in an hour. That's awesome. Yeah, you know, we're going back reseeding. Giselle was on the dozer yesterday, you know, back dragging before we can seed some areas. We've got to get a little better vegetative buffer. Uh, you know, Cooper, he moved a lot of trees. He also put in our construction entrance, got B stone out there, he put that in. So uh, you know, not only are we just doing like heavy equipment stuff, we went to City, Springdale City the other day, and they all got operator permits uh and and went through the stormwater process, the entire class. We had 60 kids, so shout out to Springdale uh planning, engineering. Yeah. And so everybody we're we're going through these processes. They know how to permit. That is, and so we're not just doing this play, go out there talk a toy. We're it's real, where the rubber meets the road, kids are really a part of the learning process. It's this is a real deal. Yeah. Going through the same, we got shut down for a small violation, we remedied a violation, they go talk to the to the individuals, we got the right permits, we remedied our problems. A lot of it was through ignorance. We fixed it, we move on. But now these kids know what they have to have before they even start. They can tell you the width, length of construction entrance, what we've got to have on our permit signing. And so that's that's where we really are trying to provide a real world authentic experience where they're working, or they get dirty, we're muddy, we're greasy, you know, we're fixing stuff, we blow lines, tear GPS units off.

Real Permits, Real Machines, Real Stakes

SPEAKER_09 19:25

You know, and that's expensive. That goes uh a little different in the real world guys, I'll just tell you that because um that yeah, the GPS side of things is such a costly investment, but you you hit a few things that I wanted to mention before going too much further. You've got to have leaders that are willing to push the envelope in your position. Number one, you've got to have an idea. Hey, can we do heavy equipment too? Somebody coming up with that idea, but you shout out to Mr. Ellis sitting down with you and going, hmm, okay, yeah, let's push this, let's try that. That and and here you guys are. And to that real world experience, watching them um all of the different operators sort in compared to this metal, and here's the trash, and just picking away at that chicken house and and that house there was crazy. But you're providing influence that I never had. Sure. Um you are, you know, maybe the only father type figure that a lot of these kids have. And you that mentorship is something that they'll never for ever forget in their entire life. Um oh man, I wish I had a mentor that loved and cared about me back then rather than threw a hard hat at me because we're not getting production done. So and it's and it's real life. And and to be able to, you're not just giving them the operating experience. Now you're talking about permits. There's I've got operators that have been probably operating 10, 15 years in life, had never had to deal with permit in their life. Right. Never done stormwater prevention. That's the superintendent level and above. And so showing a little bit of insight to the whole concept, the whole, I mean, having them do cell fencing, like silk fencing is its own can be its own standalone business. Set up skids to your trencher. You guys know how to do it. You I mean, obviously you came from a stormwater prevention plan or a grading plan. You learned, you measured, you went out there and you put it in the ground just like that's exactly what I mean. You're you're 18, you're not 25, and you you didn't have to go six, seven years through five or six different businesses or companies as you're trying to learn that process and finally grab a hold of that mentor. Because we talk on this show all the time about um, I always ask about who is that mentor and that influence. And you know, my grandfather was my influence, obviously, but there's always that one that just absolutely sinks the hook in you, and you're doing that for so many, and I it's just crazy. Man, just coming in here preaching, ain't he?

SPEAKER_00 22:05

He is and I want to add on to a little bit more of what you said about like the mentor and the leadership. Honestly, Briquette has showed us so much about that. He literally sees he sees a lot in us more than we do in ourselves. And it's like in the real world, if you're coming late, if you're laying around, being lazy, not doing what you're supposed to be doing, you're gonna be like fired. But with Briquette, he calls us out on it and he tells us, like, hey, you need to work on this, you need to work on that. Because and he literally shows us every day like how much he cares about us, how much he like does things for us, and for him to like go out of his way, to stay after school, to build up like this whole program going on. Like, we might have not known him during that, but it like well when he was like making the pro program, but it still shows the law, like it shows how much he cares for us and it shows the the hard work that he's done for us, and I really want to appreciate that. You know, it's it's he's done stuff.

Leadership, Legacy, And Relationships

SPEAKER_06 23:03

That's the ultimate, ain't it, brother? It is. I mean, really, that's like there's no there's no gain out of it. It's it's it's it's hard to describe to work on a project, uh, you know, and I just it it really boils back. There's a lot of days that are tough because there's not much glory in going out there spending hundreds of hours by yourself with kids that struggle. Yeah. There's nobody seeing that. I don't see my boss day to day, don't see the superintendent or school board. I appreciate their support. But you know, it's really uh I just act through faith. You know, God give me this opportunity. There's days that I want to quit because, you know, it's it it's uh the efforts sometimes are futile, but we can't give up. If we don't fight for what's right and building up other people, then really what is our what is our worth here anyway? And I mean these kids are not the enemy of that. You know you give them an opportunity, they jump on it, they excel. That's the reward. Because I mean we we get on this planet, we we're here with nothing, and we leave with nothing. That's right. All we have is the legacies we've left behind. And really a lot of people are forgotten in a few generations. But you can really you can instill, you know, personal beliefs, drive, ambition, hard work, all the things that you're bringing to our community. Man, I I gotta thank you. Nobody else is doing what you're doing. Dude, you're you're a mouthpiece for for programs, for businesses, for good people that work hard every day that are not celebrities, but they do the work that we have to have. I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_09 25:23

Well, I appreciate you guys. And uh I'll appreciate the kind words, give me all choked up here. But you know, there was a community spotlight that needed to be shed here. And if we're not careful here in the next 10 years, the boomers are all gonna fade out as business owners, and if they don't have that son or daughter to hand this down to, they're looking at, you know, their 20-year employees, and they've watched boss men stressed for 20 years and they may not want to do with that. And so you've got all these interchanges. Who's gonna be there to mend that gap? Who's gonna be the plumbers? Who's gonna be the steel guys, the truck drivers? Nobody's shining any light. And it and it is costly to invest in this community, and but it there is no cost compared to not having a resource for them to excel.

SPEAKER_06 26:13

You know what I mean? One of the challenges that I I challenge every business owner, you can't complain if you're not part of the solution. And you can't be a part of the solution if you don't come and tell us what we need to do. And I I never ask people for money. I ask for opportunity. That's right. You know, and what I want out of businesses is an opportunity to get my kids in front of you so we can showcase what they can provide for your business. I don't need your money. That's right. I might need access to a few things that you have, a contact. You know, it's just like these kids here. They know the people at Springdale now. They can go in there and say, hey, you remember that class? You think it's gonna be hard for them to get permits? No, there's a relationship. And so those are the kinds of things that I'm asking for businesses to provide. Yeah. We need opportunity.

Mowing To Dirt: A Founder’s Path

SPEAKER_09 26:57

And the relationship, man. You hit the nail on the head. Um legacy. You mentioned legacy, and before we move, move on to more of the questionnaire around for your two minds. Um legacy, uh I read something the other day on LinkedIn, Herb Sargent, shout out to Mr. Sgt. I'm getting you on this show, Herb. Um he said legacy is not what you leave behind, it's what you leave behind in people. And dude, it almost changed my life because a lot of times I get so frustrated being as a business owner, um, going a little off topic here, but you you you want all this tangible things, you want everything to go right, you want all the people to understand, uh, et cetera, et cetera. But it's the team that you're growing while you're doing the dang thing. Um, those relationships are key. Just wanted to share that. And what you're teaching, it's the relationships to the city. I mean, there's a certain way you have to talk to the city, there's a certain way you talk to engineers. And um, getting some of this shown um to you guys now within high school guys, and some and some of you guys are out of high school, still in the program, correct?

SPEAKER_06 28:11

Actually, no, all these kids are in. Now we do provide mentorship afterwards. Right. I I'm in contact with kids that graduated 15 years ago. You know, it's just of course you are. You you can't not be a part of somebody's life, you know. And uh, you know, my wife taught me a long time ago the easiest way to deal with folks is you just always leave them better than you found them. And we don't have to do much other than be kind to do that. You know, you can pour into people, build people up, help them realize potential, and dude, that's just all I do. I mean, I I was taught that from a young age. People did it to me, my dad, my mom, and you know, my wife really taught me that key concept. And, you know, thank God he put her in my life. Amen.

SPEAKER_09 28:50

I got the same one on this side of the table. Or I would be I would be absolutely shout out, Mrs. Kirby. Thank you so much. You talking about rain, the first the first, I guess, entrepreneurial spirit you had was mowing lawns, starting right there. And if you don't mind, kind of share how you started from where you're at and blue-collared your way all the way to where you're at today, where we all celebrate you.

SPEAKER_03 29:15

Well, I'm over yards, you know, and I'd get all the kids in the neighborhood that were my age, my buddies, and I'd be like, hey, y'all stay tonight next morning. We're working. You waking them up at 5 30. You know, free labor. Yeah, oh man, we would go mow all day and just have fun. Then we go spend half that money on fireworks, if not all of it, and school. You know, we just uh I so uh that's what I started with was just mowing when I was a kid, and then that progressed into doing uh landscaping at some new houses. Each house would get a thousand yards of sod, 16 plants, and some mulch, you know, and a couple pieces of steel edge and whatever it was to get the house closed out from the construction line. And you know, I do I try to do one of those a week when I was, you know, at junior high, you know. If I could get one a week under my belt, that was almost two thousand. Wow.

SPEAKER_02 30:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:08

Back then that was big money. Back then, I yeah, I I had my own, I had a F-350, flatbed, uh foreign pickup truck, and then a little old trailer. It was called a totem trailer, it would tip like that. And uh it had sandals on there, so it was a yeah, it was it, but the problem was I didn't have a driver's license. So when I bought the damn truck, I rode my bicycle up there to that car lock dealer and told that boy it was Don King's Auto sales. I'll never forget that. And I told that boy I'm gonna buy that truck, and and my money was over TCB Bank, and and it wasn't half a mile away, but my house was two miles away. So I had to go get my mom to go to the bank with me because she had to sign, get the money to run it over to this board. So when I got back up there, he said, I sold it to a wholesaler. I was pissed. Oh, I was pissed. Oh God. I've been standing there with cash money in my hand. The old man Don King came out, and this was his son of the dealer. He came out, he said, Oh, what's going on? And my mom said, Hey, my son told your boy he'd go buy the truck. And an hour later we'd come back with money. He said, He sold it to a wholesaler. He said, Shit, it's sold who everybody's got the money in their hands. And I gave him the money and I drove the damn truck home. It was a standard. Yeah. Yeah. It was it was a cool looking truck. Had a headache rack, you know, anything you dream of. Yeah, 14. Yeah. And uh so that was kind of the the start of that whole deal. You know, a little commodo track, you know.

SPEAKER_09 31:35

Got into custom mowing. Oh, yeah. That's where that went.

Licenses, Bigger Jobs, And Expansion

SPEAKER_03 31:39

Then the custom mowing came along, or you know, just doing commercial mowing, not just mowing residentials. And that's what that was a new world. I had to learn how to have real in charge. It just that went on for about say I bought one of the first zero turn mower was, and then 60 days later I went and bought another. Hell, it might have been 30 days, 45 days later. Went and bought another. And everybody said I was crazy. The first one I bought, the second one I bought. Hell, I take that's for it, you know. And yes, sir. Dad gum. And it was all like donkey cobbless. You learned a little bit about it, huh? I loved it. I love my man. We'd mow all damn day. I loved that. It's sweetie.

SPEAKER_09 32:20

It's that instant gratification of smelling that cut grass and looking at it pretty long.

SPEAKER_03 32:25

Yeah, and if you're gonna have one more, you might as well have two, and one of them keep a chain on it to pull the other one out of the ditches all.

SPEAKER_09 32:31

The coolest, I think, part of your story, a lot of folks start out in pressure washing or etc., but you're still mowing to this day. Yeah. And you got mowing crews, and that's that's how many years? Since I was a kid, I'm 40 now. That's incredible. And to keep that going and be the backbone for you to start venturing out into the dirt world.

SPEAKER_03 32:56

And I should quit mowing, honestly, but I like seeing that that check come every 12 months, or you know, 12 months out of the year, that's cash flow. I get that order time. You know, still make that. And if it makes$50,000 a month, I get that check in February, January, March, April, May. So, and it was like I told you earlier, you're in a business just like me. Each month represents a ring. And that ring, you have a door you walk in, and each room you walk into the next. So that so we're in January now. We're fixing to open the door to see what February, but we can't see on the other side of February. We don't know if we got no work. We don't know if it's snowing. We don't know. You just never you never know. When you're working for yourself, nobody gives you nothing. If you don't sell it, you ain't like that.

SPEAKER_09 33:48

You know, and I think I drove that point home so hard here. Sales is everything, and it's hard to say no to recurring passive income at that point. Of course, you've still got expenses, etc., for the mowers and guest service by Tom. I gotta I gotta mention Tommy, right? He works on the lower stack. All right, fellow Canuck. Got you, Tommy. I got you, brother.

SPEAKER_04 34:13

That's exactly why. We bring that up quite often. We're gonna deep his office. Right off the bat.

SPEAKER_09 34:24

So about when was the dirt switch over, and that was kind of the the job.

Dirt To Dollars: Why Transparent Coaching Works

SPEAKER_03 34:30

Uh when I was younger, when up over 14, I went to work for a fellow named George Fenling, and George built menopawns. He had his own menopause, but he did he had a D8H, a D9, and H D16 Alice Chambers, and then two big scrapers, and we built ponds. Once we were done playing, we would build ponds, and I loved it, you know. And so I was kind of bit then, you know, and then after that, I always had a dozer, a road drag or you know, just something. And you know, it really picked up I'm trying to think, probably around when I was around 30, you know, in that area. So that's when it, you know, because I had like six or eight skid steers on track before people even had them on track, so they'd still run around, bounce around on damn road. But, you know, we were we were doing a lot of finish grade on these big commercial landscape jobs, and these are big jobs, these aren't twenty thousand dollar jobs, these are half million dollar jobs. And then that just it just curved us into more excavating, you know. We got one dozer, then got two, got three, four, five, six, and I don't know how many we got now, but it's you know, 12, 14 damn doses. God almighty. So it's you know, it just it just starts growing until you you start walking around and going, what the hell's done? You know, buddy, do I? Yeah, you just you know you just never know. And and because you know, if I if you'd have asked me, honestly, if you'd have asked me 30 years ago, Trey, are you gonna be here? I'd I'd have said, you damn right. I love being there with a smile and a big ass water chewing my mic. You know, you're right there, Rock Center on the podcast.

SPEAKER_09 36:12

Oh, I absolutely love it. And then so my question is, I know we've actually had a few episodes before I get too far off on the dirt side of things. Um, when did you get a commercial license in the landscaping realm?

SPEAKER_03 36:27

So I got a job with Navajo's construction. It was a landscape. And they said you gotta have a commercial, you gotta be contractors license. Hell, I can barely ask Reed. And now I gotta go into this damn thing and take this test. Well, I went up there and I thought this was just my fake, and just I thought, okay, I'll get up there, I'll buy the damn test. When I got there, yeah, well, you ain't buying nothing, you had to put all your stuff in a locker and actually go in there and do it. And I remember there was a doctor sitting next to me, and I failed the test, and he failed the damn test. So I didn't feel as bad. You bad. So I went and bought a study guide and I really studied it. And one of the questions, I'll never forget that. One of the questions out of a hundred or whatever it was was how many square feet's in an acre? 43,560. I'll never forget that due to that test. But went up there and took it the next time passed by one point, the low with you that low with. We call that Brooks and Dunn.

SPEAKER_02 37:34

He quotes that square foot of the maker at least twice a day.

SPEAKER_09 37:37

43,560. You at mile is 50. Anyways, yeah, I'm with you. I got my own little quirks, but um, so the mowens going along. So I've had a few landscaper buddies, they're kind of stuck in that resie market and they want to break out, but they don't really know how. And I'm like, hey, from what I understand, commercial license on the landscape, it's not as crazy to go get, you know, a unlimited license, grading, utility license, you know what I mean? So you would say for sure, take that next step. I just want to shine a little light on dirt to dollars here, man. You've you just hit 100k on YouTube. That's insane on the JCP channel. I wanted to highlight that. Congratulations. But what you're doing with that coaching program, man, is you're helping other me and you out there that are sitting on their edge of their bed on a Tuesday or a Thursday night going, how am I gonna make payroll? to where's the next job? I got all this equipment. And there's not enough resources out there, my guy. And you have a I'm part of your free community. Checked it out, wanted to make sure. And dude, there, the amount of people that are in there talking, helping, true. I mean, the internet is full. We talked about it before the show. Like the amount of hate, it's just frothing, ready to jump on anything that you throw out there with hate, and to see a community come together and truly try and help each other, and not just you, I mean, like other parts of the community jumping in, dude. It's inspiring and it's admirable. And I wanted to shine some major light on it. And what gave you the idea to start dirt a dollars?

Work On The Business, Not In It

SPEAKER_05 39:15

Um, just like everything I've ever done, man, it's kind of this game organically. Like, you know, we started posting the content out there, and and uh this goes all the way back to the beginning of the conversation of just like always just being honest and transparent and just showing everything of like the good, the bad, ugly, everything in between. Because, you know, I think our content does so well because we just show the reality of what's going on, whether that's great or whether it's just an absolute train wreck. Um, and you know, it's relatable because these guys uh we've all I've all we we show, like, hey, I've been in the same spot, and sometimes I'm still in the same spot where I'm like, fuck man, how am I gonna come up with payroll this week? Because this retaining wall job was a complete catastrophe. And so it's relatable to these guys, and then and then and they just started reaching out like how do I do this and how do I do that? And and how is how are you able to do this? And why did you price the job this way? And so I'm just I'm I'm just answering these questions because I've been there, you know, and and I and I and I I feel it, you know. I mean, like I want to help these guys, and and it's so it's easy for me now because I've like I said, I've got I've got punched in the mouth so many times that I I know like it's just second nature now. Uh so the answer is very easy. So it's like why not share this when I I wish I had someone at for 11 years to go to and be like, dude, how do I do this? But like you said at the very beginning of this call, like why the fuck is everything such a big secret? You know what I mean? Like, why why do these guys why do these guys act like all this information is so protected and like we can't help one another? Like dude, even guys in my local community, like they'll show up in my office and be like, dude, I don't know how like what am I supposed to do on this job like dude come in and sit down like we're not we don't have to compete you know there's so much work dude and like let's just help one another out you know and I I don't I don't know what the what the big thing is is like keeping everything a secret and like wanting to compete with one another and and and then you like you're not even competing you're all racing to the bottom because you're not sharing information you know so the coaching thing just kind of happened organically man like I'm just answering all these questions for these guys and I'm giving the knowledge out for free and we we really at the end of the day like we give the information out for free everywhere you know and yeah but the coaching program allows us to be able to sit down with the guys and be like dude what are you dealing with right now like if I'm giving the information out online like it's just like hey this is what we did and this is how we're doing it and but for me to give you if you saw where to come to me and be like hey man how am I how do I handle this I need to ask you 10 questions to give you the real answer. That's another thing too is like there's so many guys out there that like they they give you the feel good answer or like the the the the content answer but I I won't do that. I even tell the guys on in the program that are paying me like I'm not gonna give you a bullshit answer. Like we I need to know these several things about you and your business and how things are going before I'm even going to start to answer your question. And sometimes you kind of got to like peel back as the as the person who's paying for the coaching like you you got to take the pride and set it aside and you got to set your ego aside because at the end of the day like we we may be the best dudes on a machine but none of us like started as business owners or knew all this shit you know so now we are have having to climb off the machine and go learn all these things that really aren't that much fun.

Sponsor: Performance Marketing For Trades

When You’re Stuck In The Mud

SPEAKER_09 42:40

You know no dude they suck so yeah I just try to help the guys there man because I've been in the same spot and and after doing it so many times and learning it's um it there's a lot of things that come to me that are very easy that I can give the information for and there's things that I'm still learning that I I share with the guys as I learn you know um literally at the same kind of point obviously we're smaller in our content creation but um at the same point man I have folks weekly at this point sending me an email or LinkedIn is a big place for me or Instagram whatever and will o come hey we've got these three or four guys this guy's stuck here this guy's there and I'm kind of finding myself almost passionate about it because I get very passionate about it man because like I said I've I've been the dude who's like ready to pull my hair out like how do I how do I feed my family and pay my payroll and and that and that's like if you like when you when payroll comes like it's not just your family you're feeding dude like you you got multiple families multiple children that are relying on you you know so it's it's pretty fucking stressful dude and and if I can help someone who's in that position like that I'm very passionate about that you know you know literally teach them that it's okay to elevate yourself they're your entire business is waiting on you to do it everything you're complaining about everything you're asking about stop working in the business work on the business dude I I'll never forget it my CPA came into my office God bless his soul and he looked at me this is one of the first two meetings I've had some really crappy CPAs over the years bro and like that's a whole podcast by itself but this guy is unbelievable deals deals with some major major major companies and he looks at me sitting in my office after he just wrecks my world and tells me how stupid I am yeah spins around he's he's looking at this I we have a low boy love our low boy moves our gear and I love driving and I couldn't think to put somebody in that truck I was scared to death moving a hundred thousand pounds down the road and he looked at me and he said look if that if I see a video if you're in that truck and there ain't a damn good reason you're in that truck we ain't working together anymore. I'm dead serious and I'm like that's accountability right there holy crap but he's just he had to get it he knew I was talking about it but he had to get it through my thick skull like dude you have to do this or you're not gonna survive you're not gonna be able to scale you know yeah for sure um have you ever been skydiving before no bro so uh a couple years ago I got no problem going in the ground a couple years ago I went and got my skydive license you got to jump 26 times within a certain time period to be able to go get it and you know jump by yourself and and stuff and so uh like I said they call them a little bit of an adrenaline junkie but the first the first time when you go you know that you're strapped to someone of course you gotta go tandem um and you know you kind of hop w hobbling up to the to the door that door opens and it just blasts you in the face and and they they went they they scream in your ear which sounds like a whisper um and they say don't grab the pilot's chair um and and you're you're going up there you know and your first instinct is to you're you're there's such a small you want to grab that chair like for safety and to stabilize yourself because you've got this wind just blowing past you you know and um and and and and instinctly I reached for the chair and he slapped my hand down you know and it just they now they're forcing you with their knees driving you to the edge and and uh you know you practice over and over and over before you go up on the ground and they and and there's a process you know they say lean forward lean backward and on three so one two three we're skydiving uh and on three they're pushing you out because at that point it's a liability for everybody you know and and if you go to grab and hold on to anything like that chair you could rip that if you're holding onto that chair and the wind catches you in the tandem the pilot's coming with you you know so it's a liability thing about that this is an extreme analogy obviously but like getting in the truck and driving away is like that instinctual like you know but you know like your your mission is to get to the ground like you're there to skydive not to stay in the plane and it's the same thing with being a business owner like you'd we're here to be business owners not to be in the machine you know so it's I what you were saying I I think that's a good analogy of like it's so weird it's a weird brain thing of like getting in your truck and driving away when you know like especially when you know the guys are like behind on the job and and you know you can just crawl in the machine and and and get them right back on pace you know that's a very very very big difficulty that I have like you gotta kind of watch them feel almost to like help guide them along the way and say this is why we're feeling right now and instead of just maybe dude get out of the machine to let me get on here you know you're working like crazy and you get them caught back up they didn't learn nothing and you learn you didn't get any further ahead you're still stuck in the same spot you're still holding on with that that pilot's chair you know like you you gotta let go and skydive you know dude what an analogy I'll never so I I you may have that skydiving license my uh goal is to eventually have the pilot's license so maybe we can do a different collab there you ain't kicking my big ass out of a bear plane bud that ain't happening it just my heart started pounding when you're like oh you're walking up to the door and I'm like ha no that's not for your boy but blue collar performance marketing's passion is to bring attention to the honest work done in blue collar industries through effective results driven marketing tactics they specialize in comprehensive digital marketing services from paid advertising on Google and Facebook to website development and content strategy. I started working with Ike and the team earlier this year and they've had a huge impact on our specific marketing campaign and trajectory of our overall company. Their expertise in digital ad management website development social media and overall marketing strategy has been an absolute game changer for our sales and marketing at SciCon. If you're looking to work with a marketing team who does what they say, does it well and is always looking for ways to help your company grow, book a discovery call with Ike by going to BCPerformancemarketing dot com backslash BCB podcast or click the link in the show notes slash description below. Thanks guys. Every blue collar guy that's just absolutely sick and tired of being stuck in the mud maybe it's a guy that's been at the same job for seven years. Maybe it's the owner that's trying to make that first new purchase maybe it's mental maybe it's physical maybe it's emotional going through some hard stuff at home and you just can't capture the right mindset to show up every day and keep going how do they give us a key takeaway that's helped you do everything that you're doing mentally man or physically but stuck in the mud dude how they get out of that mud so here do it been in a lot of of bad situations right like everybody has and everybody's bad situations are you know what I mean my bad situation is way worse than somebody that probably doesn't own a company arguably you know what I'm saying I'll call Trey to complain about it and he's like oh you know that's a Tuesday.

SPEAKER_07 50:29

Yeah exactly like you know so so everybody's problem but what's a big deal you know somebody complaining about losing a tire on their on their car or whatever it's a huge deal to them right this is not fair to me to say that that's no big deal because it would be if I was in that boat, right? So anyways I say that to say when I've been in all those situations and and there's times where like when we had multiple commercial sites going at once and we're getting screwed around on stuff that we can't control and man it's running you were talking about answering to your wife when she's like where's this money and where's man it takes a toll on your employees, yourself, your wife your kids your everything you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_09 51:07

I mean it runs you into the ground dude you didn't say yourself in there. And we always it's like we always not to cut you off but it's like we always place ourselves completely last in this equation because we have so many people responsible for that I don't have time for that. I don't have time to think about my feelings.

Keep Going, Learn, And Level Up

SPEAKER_07 51:27

Exactly yeah but then you know you get to the point where like you you're so run down like you can't you know what I mean mentally. Yes like I can't and I finally got to that breaking point you know and when I get in those situations here's what I started doing and this is easy sitting right here it's harder when it's happening. But you end up in that boat where like I'll mourn so to speak that situation right like y'all go through it. Yeah. Deal with you know what I mean go on for a day or two or three or a week or whatever it takes. I mean during that last most recent process I mean there was tears shed dude like I'll be honest between me and my wife but you know down at the yard like just I don't know what we're gonna do. Yeah we tried so and we were that way in the beginning when we had$20 you know what I mean now we're we're about to lose another 40 grand you know and it's like how did we try this hard and end up you know now she's crying because I'm going through this I'm you know I'm like the how anyways buddy do I get what you're saying yes man I lived it and that's the stuff nobody's gonna understand nor should they right they won't ever know without going through what we're what we're into but I'll go through those situations and they used to be smaller you know in hindsight it's like mine did I care that much about that right eventually I'll be saying the same thing about this most recent situation. If you're growing problems get bigger right but I'll go through and mourn that situation like I said not make any rash decisions deal with it for a few days and then eventually I have to logically look at the situation and say okay I've got what are my options here right shut down and so like I have to honestly answer this question to myself a couple times because it got so bad. Do I quit? Do I close the doors do I give up and I have to sit there you know what I mean for a couple minutes you know and like don't be prideful is that the best option and maybe it is but every time I'm like you know either either keep going or shut her down and every time I'm like well I can't I can't freaking quit at this point you know so I just keep away from being changed.

SPEAKER_09 53:43

Exactly you know it's all up and downhill if you get a call a bad call you're about to get a good call you know what I mean so there's usually a string of bad calls there's a string of good calls and it's just up and down but it's fine in that middle ground and keeping everybody level which sounds so easy sitting there.

SPEAKER_07 53:59

It's so easy. But every time I talk to like I said like Treybook for going through I just keep on keeping all you know just keep going and I'm like yeah dude I get it but that's really it you know what I mean it really is. Like when you're like how do you get through those times dude you just keep going and that's so easy to say do it. Yeah like you just put another foot in front of the other and if you're gonna fail you're gonna go down swinging. I mean if uh we might go under as Treybo says I'll be back in business the next day that's right I mean I don't know that's what it boils down to me. It's so easy to sit here and say you just keep going but that's that's all there is to it right learn everybody talks about hard work yeah that's a given that's a prerequisite hard work alone won't get you there.

SPEAKER_03 54:40

Network learn give a shit you know what I mean and and and work your ass off and relationship just keep going what can they use every day to keep going well a red bull will start it off pretty damn good or a monster drag that all our guys do it hell there you go there'll be a trash can full of damn empty cans. But you know if you get that young guy that or or woman that's doesn't feel like that they're going up you know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_06 55:07

Yes sir.

Young Operators, Mistakes, And Accountability

SPEAKER_03 55:08

Maybe they they go talk to the boss. Just go go have a good talk you know and but if you're working for somebody that's an asshole just quit tomorrow because you can go work for somebody appreciate you. You know if you ever work for somebody don't appreciate you you're in the wrong spot. Agreed don't never work for somebody don't appreciate you. But you know and if you're working for a boss that is not just a total ass he's gonna listen to you and he's gonna say you know what tomorrow let's go let's go put some time in this machine you know or or if you're on this job get out of the water truck go over tell the excavator operator let you run you know the last two hours you know that and speak up be you want see ideally but what you want to do is you want to be the guy that's on the job site that that boss that whoever's running it for your company knows like whether they're like hey you need to go fill up the water jugs they're the one that they'll go do it. But if you're also you know you want to be the one water jug but if they're a water jug in 15 years we got pallets and bottled water there they're they'll drink two drinks and send it on a machine yeah you gotta knock it off oh it drives me crazy it drives me crazy and and then you know and then you get an operator like a one track operator gets in it and he goes who's been running this machine oh god gotta listen to that bullshit you know well it was the guy that ran it yesterday because you had to take off early what's you still need to make production too what are you talking about we really didn't but the banker was looking at us as long as we have people like Briquette that pushes the younger generation people who are just wanting to go home sell on the couch be on their phones be on TikTok and just be just comfortable where they're at what working fast food or just living off their mom and dad as long as we have people to push those people to get out and get in this heavy equipment class or anything it's gonna be good.

SPEAKER_01 57:09

I'm excited to see what the future holds for blue collar that's cool.

SPEAKER_06 57:14

And I feel like Brickhead definitely shows us like it's okay if we mess up you know uh because not that long ago we had that new semi and one of our buddies let's hear the story stuck um the day we roll her in we we've we've taken a beat in this old truck we've been testing in I I've I've temp gunned the floor on that old truck it'd get 130 140 we was right over the exhaust last year so we we did all this work I gotta thank Rodney I mean he really put the work in got us a nice heavy haul truck the day we bring it out there I'll let them pick up from there.

SPEAKER_00 57:49

Well the day of that we brought it out we got there got there for second period first period's already like driving that they've already cut some like um a little mud on on the old shiny stone folks yeah there's already a lot of ruts yeah um and second period we're we're there I'm second period and we're we're actually both second period uh so we get there and we're like all right let's go let's get on it and I guess my cat had left some students in charge and then so we go and they're like all right you guys are in charge and so we're like okay we got this me and Sarah we're like we got this we were doing good me and her were driving it we were doing perfectly fine we have one of our buddies come in and he just he was doing her off in the mud yeah we tell him like stay at the rudding we buried her to the frame yeah and it created a new opportunity they had to figure out how to get it out because I wouldn't call it a wrecker no but um yeah we tell him like get out the don't don't go in the ruds don't go in the ruds we told him specifically not drive into the muds and if you drive into the muds do not stop so our buddy goes into the ruds our buddy yeah goes into the ruds doesn't just stop changes gears that's where that's where we messed up is he grinded so the truck just missed the gear and slowly that truck sank and sank and it took definitely most of the machines we have out there did finally get definitely well all of them it took oh yeah we had to dig it out pull it out I it was a mess but you know I guarantee you they'll never forget it because I made them hand wash and polish that truck afterwards and so you know it's one of those deals you gotta lick your calf you make a mistake you're gonna make it right that's right and so uh you know I wasn't I I wasn't real pleasant with him so we forgave him and that's like that's and obviously our buddy he was I'm not gonna say names but um he was a little like he was he was he felt bad and you know you can obviously see it in his face and he he did not after actually after that he never got into the dump truck we I told Briquette I was like give him a he's gonna get back in.

SPEAKER_08 59:49

Yeah he will he gotta get back in the saddle old son just come on you know what I mean yeah for sure and he forgave him you know we all make mistakes in life and it's I feel like that's a really good thing that Briquette did.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:02

It's like he gave him another chance.

Knowledge, Mentors, And The Better Side Of Business

SPEAKER_06 1:00:03

And and for our you know for our business partners they're making these mistakes not on your dime that's right. I guarantee you he will never do that again. Because I promise you I was raised by a blue collar guy marine and you know there were there were harsh words said because he's gonna face that in the real world. Oh yeah you know and it there weren't a meaning it's you know it's not personal but you're gonna take your lumps and you got to make it right and so you know we're we're we work on that too.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:31

Well dude the number one thing man is like again earlier you know I said I I'm a gambler and that's because the reward that can come with all this stuff dude is like it it's really endless as far as you you want it to go man you know and and and and that's I mean many things by that not just monetarily you know I mean financial freedom life freedom like you said with your Spouse, you know, I'm sure that you guys have created a bond that you, if for some reason she wasn't there anymore, like you can't recreate that with someone else, you know. Um, so there's there's so many, there's so many aspects of this that can be so great if you just have a little bit of the knowledge to get to that point. I understand how miserable it can be until you kind of like get over that bridge or start to get over that bridge. But dude, once you start to, it becomes so fun. It's like a I don't play chess, but I always, you know, I always say it's like a chess game because like then you just like you got you got to start like moving dials and watch and see how things work. And and not only are you do you get to do it for yourself and have all the reward, but like if you do it right, you're now getting to do that for all your employees as well, you know? And dude, it's really it's all about just having the correct knowledge. And again, it goes back to like we can be the absolute stud on the machine out in the field, but that only gets us so far. We now have to learn all the things about business ownership, which frankly, 98% of the guys that like start their own business because they're really, really good at the service. We just don't know. And and there's so many things like there's so much of this that like we know we don't know, right? But then there's a whole nother level of things that like we don't even realize we don't know that that the information's out there to help us get over. And then it's it's not you don't need a lot, you don't need a lot of information, it's just it's it's very simple, it's just a few things that you need to understand to all of a sudden like be like, wow, dude, this is actually working now, you know, and now I'm profitable, and now I can take these vacations with my family, and I can buy the things I'm needed to buy, and I can fix the bullshit in my life that has been broken for so long, you know. And um, man, it's uh it's it's just a little bit of information getting it from the right folks. Now it doesn't have to be me, it doesn't have to be from you, just find someone who's done it for a little bit longer than you, you know. We've we all have to learn the same way, you know, and um it's all really from experience, you know. The shortcut is paying someone who has done it for a long time, you know. But dude, just find someone who is open to helping you, right? Because there's that stupid weird thing, like people think everything's a big secret and don't want to help a lot of folks, man. But just find a mentor, dude, who can steer you in the right path. And the the other side of this, bro, looks so much better.

SPEAKER_09 1:03:27

A full encapsulating mindset as to what the impact of the entire country of that section of the country. So be looking out for that. Go check out blue collar businesspodcast.com for the rest of all 55 plus episodes, or if you're on a podcast streaming platform, drop us a rating and a follow, guys. Until next time, you guys be safe. If you've enjoyed this episode, be sure to give it a like, share it with the fellas, 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.