Hold My Cutter
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Hold My Cutter
Brian Hess on Entrepreneurial Drive, Paving Success, and the Spirit of Pittsburgh
What if your childhood dreams could shape your adult realities? Brian Hess, a dynamic entrepreneur and CEO of The Pavement Group, joins us to share his compelling journey from his roots in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, where he was nurtured by a steelworker father and a devoted homemaker mother. As a child dreaming of owning a bank, Brian's unyielding entrepreneurial spirit led him from the University of Pittsburgh to the world of paving, despite not completing his degree. His transformation from a Verizon salesman to a notable figure in the business realm is a testament to the power of determination, community, and the invaluable lessons from a hardworking upbringing.
Throughout our conversation, Brian peels back the layers of entrepreneurship, shedding light on pivotal decisions like leaving a secure job to venture into the unknown of the paving industry. He reveals how his journey, marked by strategic risk-taking and leveraging marketing and technology during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulted in substantial company growth while others faltered. Brian’s story underscores the importance of belief, sacrifice, and resilience, illustrating how these factors, paired with spousal support and a commitment to top-notch customer service, can turn dreams into reality even in volatile times.
Join us as we explore the significance of building strong relationships and fostering team unity, drawing lessons from Pittsburgh’s iconic sports culture. Brian shares insights from mentors like John Wooden and John Maxwell, emphasizing the importance of leadership and personal growth. We wrap up with a reflection on the City of Champions' spirit and Brian’s cherished family roots, highlighting how personal connections and community pride continue to inspire his journey. This episode is a celebration of perseverance and the enduring impact of family, sports, and mentorship in achieving entrepreneurial success.
Brian Hess
@RealBrianHess
https://thepavementgroup.com/
https://topcontractorschool.com/
https://1teammedia.com/
THANK YOU FOR LISTENING!!!!
www.holdmycutter.com
Welcome to another edition of Hold my Cutter. We're coming your way here. Burned by Rocky Patel, just a few blocks down the road from PNC Park, greg Brown, michael McHenry and our special special guest, brian Hess, and now Fort. You're going to have to tell me why he chose the Rocky Patel LB1. I know you've got nicknames, but this, of course, named for the codes used in the factories during the creation of the cigar Medium-bodied smoke rolled in Honduras from a tobacco blend that includes Ligero, a mix of fillers from Condega and Esteli, nicaragua, and, of course, grown on Rocky Patel's farms. Why would Brian Hess choose the LB1?
Speaker 2:You know, there's a bearded man back in the back that said it's got a woodsy feature.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:And Hess he went out and got this. He went to Nicaragua, got this, brought it back, and I mean all the tones we taste. It was his idea, it's his thought.
Speaker 1:And he also puts it in his hair product.
Speaker 2:I mean, you can't just wake up and have that beautiful hair.
Speaker 1:That hair product is the LB1 hair product Exactly.
Speaker 2:Notice the number one. Yes, it's always about number one, because that's number one right there. It's beautiful, brian.
Speaker 1:Hess is the CEO of the Pavement Group, a commercial paving company, and the top contractor school. But he's much, much more than that Entrepreneur, a motivational speaker. He's produced now some 850 podcasts the Brian Hess Show. Daily podcasts every day, every morning, five days a week, covering topics from sales to marketing, to leadership, faith and family. I think the University of Pittsburgh product will get into that. Started in the business world as a Verizon salesman and now look where he is, a mentor, working in the paving industry. Brian, thanks so much for being with us. Your story is absolutely incredible. I'm pumped.
Speaker 3:I can't wait. I'm pumped.
Speaker 1:It's an honor to be here with you guys, and so we likely as we always do this, and likely we would start at the beginning. You grow up, you're a yinzer, he's a yalzer, but you're a yinzer. And where did it all begin?
Speaker 3:So Uniontown, Pennsylvania, man, I'm the son of a steel worker and my mom stayed at home. So traditional American family. My parents have been married for over 50 years. That's beautiful and yeah, man. So I saw her hard work front and center every day of my life, and so thanks to my mom and dad for the sacrifices that they made and I tell people this all the time it's like the least you can do when your parents, you know, give you an opportunity by hardworking people, provide opportunities for kids and you know I'm just working hard every day to make sure I don't waste it you know.
Speaker 1:Well, okay, you grew up, you go to, you go to school, but did you? What did you want to be as a youngster?
Speaker 3:Well, I can tell you, I never imagined I'd own an asphalt and concrete company.
Speaker 2:That wasn't on the list of dreams. You don't wake up at five and not want to be an astronaut. You're like. You know what I want? To be an asphalt.
Speaker 3:Yeah, if you would have asked me anytime that I was a kid, I probably would have said baseball player, but I always had an entrepreneurial spirit. And so when I was five years old, my parents would tell you this story that my dad and my grandfather were down in a ditch digging a ditch. And my grandfather looked up and said hey, man, make sure you work hard so you don't end up doing something like this for the rest of your life. They wanted it better for you. And I said oh, pappy, I'm not going to dig ditches, I'm going to work at the bank. And he goes oh, pappy, I'm not going to dig ditches, I'm going to work at the bank. And he goes oh, what do you want to do? You want to be a teller? And I said no, man, I'm going to own the bank.
Speaker 1:So when.
Speaker 3:I was five years old and what that equates to as an adult. I think we had a lot of great conversation before this started. I think you either have that fire to create and innovate and you see the world differently than everybody else, like you know. Everybody that always told me like you know, grow up, get a good job, make sure it has health insurance, a 401k, and you know, get a house, raise a family. I always thought, like you know, there's parts of that that sound great, but there's parts of that that sound really boring to me.
Speaker 3:You feel locked in, right. You feel like you're in a cage, right, and so, for me, entrepreneurship and building businesses bringing people together, it was a path to freedom. You know and I always say you know, freedom is relative, because a lot of people get into entrepreneurship and they don't know the path, and so they're searching for freedom, but what they end up with is a bigger cage. They get a little bit of freedom, but they're still in that cage. And so for me, you know, part of the mentorship passion that I have is to unlock that for people so that they, you know, they have the freedom that they pursued while they wanted to sacrifice so much to get in business for themselves in the first place.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but so so you're going through school, you're going to I'm going to own a bank, pap, pap, okay, but you still got to go through the schooling and so on. And so now you're a toddler, you go to Uniontown, high School, laurel Highlands, high School, laurel Highlands, okay. And then you went to Pitt. I did To study what.
Speaker 3:I went to Pitt, johnstown, and I started in computer science and with a minor in business and I never finished at Pitt. So I have a lot of friends still at Pitt but I never finished. I went out into the business world and figured it out on my own, starting with Verizon.
Speaker 1:Was that your first?
Speaker 3:job? Yes, started in retail at Verizon, worked my way up into outside sales there. What made?
Speaker 2:you leave? What made me leave school? Yeah, like you're. What, two, three years in, I'm guessing, Yep, what made you leave? And I have a kid I'm mentoring right now and he's debating on that and I'm like, well, have a big reason why. If you're going to do this, make sure that you're not going to look back and like, man, I'm an idiot.
Speaker 3:Well, I think it's. It's, you know, what do you need? So for me, it was like I knew I was going to be in business. Um, you know I'm sitting in classrooms, so you know I was looking at it and I'm like, you know, I don't know that, like all this stuff I'm reading in business. You know, I could read it in books, I could study it on my own. You know, do I really need this piece of paper? And I'm, you know, I'm taking out loans to go to school, and so I'm like do I want to go further in debt or do I want to conversation with my parents and my parents advised me against it.
Speaker 1:That'll be a recurring theme by the way as we get into business Parents' advice.
Speaker 3:My dad will tell you these jokes when, eventually, you meet my dad. But yeah, he's told me not to do many of the things that ended up working out.
Speaker 3:And so, yeah, I had that conversation. I said, you know what? I could always go back if I decide that I need it. But I'm going to take this opportunity because I had a job offer for a pretty significant amount of money and I thought, you know, I'm going to go do this and if it doesn't work then I can always go back and learn something. But that was the decision that I make. That's not an endorsement for everybody else to do it, but I've got a young man working for me now that's 25 years old. I've got a young man working for me now that's 25 years old, been with me since he was 18. And he did the same exact thing. He called me one day and said you know, I'm thinking about whether or not I should be here or not and I need your advice. And I said you're not getting my endorsement having your mom call me and tell me that.
Speaker 1:I'm the reason you left school right Good.
Speaker 3:But he ended up leaving school and obviously his parents are super proud of him. Very successful guy who's been with us and he's now our director of national sales. At 25 years old Wow, Killing the game and doing a great job Married, bought a home, moved to Pittsburgh from Wisconsin.
Speaker 2:So he's getting all the dreams, just not locked in.
Speaker 3:Yeah, he's not in the cage Not locked in and it's not for everybody. I would give different people different advice, like some people should stay in school and finish, and others you know they're built to be free.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love it. How many years at Verizon? Seven years, yeah. And did you say you were down in Florida at one point when this whole thing happened? Yes, that changed your life.
Speaker 3:You know how it goes with Pittsburgh, right? People either have to pass away or retire for you to get a spot here, because the market growth will never drive that. And so I started looking at do I relocate? That's probably the only option that I have, and so I put my name in the hat and I had a couple interviews in different parts of the country. California was way too far and way too expensive. Yes, so I decided on Miami Florida. So I had an office in Boca and an office in Miami and, yeah, just started off down there running a sales team that sold to small and medium businesses, and from that our number one target was construction companies, and so the very first appointment that I went on in Miami Florida was with a construction company owner from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Speaker 2:And at the end of that meeting.
Speaker 3:He said, kid, you should quit your job and come work for me. And I was thinking like dude, I'm in a pretty bad neighborhood here at this construction company and I'm, you know, I got an office overlooking the Miami airport. This sounds like a bad deal to be, but he invited me to his house for dinner that night. As I was driving to his house, I'm like man, this looks a lot different. Coral Gables, florida the houses kept getting bigger and nicer One year to the day. Later, after that, I ended up getting to know this guy pretty well and trusting him enough to leave my corporate job.
Speaker 1:It took you a year to gain that confidence and trust to leave.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I went out to dinner with him and his wife a bunch of times with my wife and you know, got to know them really well and, you know, trusted enough to make that switch.
Speaker 3:And you know, for me it was like I thought if I could get out of the corporate setting and into like more of a small business place where you know I always tell people like you can get a little closer to the checkbook right, like your talents would mean more to a small business than they would to a corporation, and so if you have that, like you know, top couple percent performance in a corporation, you're going to be exponentially more valuable to a small business, just kind of how it works.
Speaker 3:So that was my thinking. I got in more valuable to a small business, just kind of how it works. So that was my thinking. I got in, learned the industry and found this, you know, kind of lean for myself in providing a high level of customer service and construction wasn't a normal thing, and so that's I wanted to solve the biggest problems that clients had when it came to you know how they manage their parking lots and roads and things like that, and I'm a technology guy working at Verizon for all those years, and so I took the seven years of experience solving company problems, construction, company problems with technology and jumped out on my own and the rest is history.
Speaker 2:So you pulled them forward a little bit.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I was struggling to pull that company forward. It was 40 years old and it was kind of you know, set in its ways bigger company, harder to move and so I felt like the best path for me was going to be to start something and innovate the industry the way that I thought it should be. Oh, I love it.
Speaker 1:What do you think, brian, that this guy who ends up hiring you? What is it that he saw in you? Because you've said this a couple of times about some of these young kids the 25-year-old that you hired when he was 18. What is it that this person saw in you that said I want this guy on my team, yeah.
Speaker 3:I think it's sales ability, sales and sales leadership that's the lifeblood of any company. Right, there's a lot of moving pieces that it takes to make a company successful, but without sales, what do you got right? And so for him, that was the first questions he was asking is how do you guys sell at Verizon, how do you prospect, how do you find the right clients? How do you, you know, create those funnels that allow you to be successful? And as I started having those conversations with him, he literally said to me at dinner one night, like listen, it was like nine months into our relationship he said you name the amount of money you want to make. I just want you to come work for me.
Speaker 3:And I'm like dude, I've been waiting to hear that.
Speaker 1:Imagine if they told you like make up your own contract.
Speaker 2:So again, nine months later, he's asking you this you find yourself.
Speaker 1:Now you're back in Pittsburgh, yeah Right.
Speaker 3:So eventually left that company and when I had the vision to create this company, I never wanted to create it anywhere but in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 2:You know, this is how long brought you back.
Speaker 3:Yeah, this is, this is home man, and you know I'm proud to build a company here that you know employs people and has a great culture. And to me, our company is the definition. The payment group is like the definition of Pittsburgh, like we've taken something old and innovated it, made it new. We have blue-collar work, ethic, advanced technology, but never losing that old-school feel of shaking people's hands.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you can use both right, that's it, that's awesome, that's it. How long, brian, were you down there working for him thinking, though? When did you really start thinking about it, even though you didn't move for a while? How long were you thinking I can do this thinking about Pittsburgh? Was it always going on in your mind?
Speaker 3:At first I had a block man because I was like I'm not an equipment guy, I've never been in the field, I don't know how to do the work, I've never been on machines, and so and I was like, man, that's a ton of capital, it's millions of dollars in capital to be able to, you know, invest in that kind of business.
Speaker 3:And the model doesn't really work, like you know, it's not really scalable quickly. And so for me having customers that asked, hey, can you get this job done for me across the country, and I'm like, well, how are we going to do that? We can't get the equipment there. Well, we just need you to do the job. And so you know, putting good contractors together that could complete that job and then being the brains behind that to manage it all and make sure it was all done correctly and in a most efficient fashion. Because you know, if you're paving a retail store, last thing they want is for you to negatively impact their revenue. So it takes customer experience and kind of a concierge type service to be able to do that and so you were in retail to start yep, so you had that.
Speaker 3:You knew how to do it, yeah, so I just took all the experience that I had in my life and god put me in the right situation to be able to use it all at once so what?
Speaker 2:what made you? Bet on yourself I, because that's not easy. My wife- Great answer.
Speaker 1:My wife is a true story, that's called brownie points.
Speaker 3:Shout out to my wife because you know I had the opportunity. I was kind of in a situation where I had to make a decision, but I had three kids and my wife stayed at home to raise the kids and you know there's a lot of fear.
Speaker 3:Traditional family, yeah A lot of fear in that and so you know I'm like I always did well financially working for other people and so like to pull that plug and have no safety net. Yeah, and my wife was like you know, I believe in you and you need to believe in yourself, like you need to go do this.
Speaker 2:And that leveled you up, didn't it?
Speaker 3:Yeah, it was kind of like you know what do you say? Like no.
Speaker 1:I'm too weak to go do it. Sorry, honey, you believe in me. I just don't believe myself.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's really not an option, and so I was like you know what? I'm going to figure this out. And you know, I started out of my own house. So my People always ask me like you know, how did you stay motivated? The first couple of years? I'm like there was three little faces against the glass every day that reminded me of what I needed to do, you know. And so, 16 hours a day, six, seven days a week for a couple of years.
Speaker 2:That's what it takes.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's what it takes, man, and it's funny. I'm a huge sports fan in general, but a huge Pittsburgh sports fan. A huge sports fan in general, but a huge pittsburgh sports fan. I couldn't have told you the score of a pirates, steelers or penguins game from 2018 to 2021, probably wow and uh. But now, uh, our logos are up on the boards, right, and so that's that sacrifice, yeah, pays off if you just, you know, handle it right.
Speaker 1:So what was covet like then?
Speaker 3:uh, the scariest thing I've ever been through.
Speaker 3:So you know we were about a two-year-old company at that time, yeah, we started March 28th of 2018. And so we had been, just, you know, fortunate. Sometimes luck is in the cards, I think I always say, you know, the harder your work, the luckier you get. But we had two clients that had contracted us to do a significant amount of work. That was pretty good margin, and so we had completed that work literally almost by the end of February. We had about 95% of it completed, and that capital is what allowed us to reinvest in the company when everybody else was canceling their marketing contracts and pulling back in marketing. Every book I'd ever read, by every business mentor that I never met, but I read their books said you know, when everybody else is pulling back, have the courage to jump in.
Speaker 2:And that is that had to be terrifying.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and so you know. I literally said to my wife, like she goes, well, what are you going to do if it doesn't work? And I said, well, the next day I'll get a new tax ID number and start over.
Speaker 1:Oh man.
Speaker 3:But this is. You know, everybody's in the same situation. It's COVID and you got to go with your instincts. And my instincts were attack right. You know, I've always been a better offensive player than defensive player.
Speaker 2:I mean, it's never fun to be on your heels anyways, no. Yeah, so I'd rather you know so you pushed in, so you doubled down on marketing the brand, everything else.
Speaker 3:We built the technology. That year, we doubled down on the technology investment that has made us into the company we are today. We have unique technology that nobody else has in our industry that helps our clients manage their portfolio properties, and that all happened in 2020. Clients manage their portfolio properties and that all happened in 2020. And so, while everybody else was, you know, suffering and revenue declines, we doubled our revenue and kept going.
Speaker 1:Yeah, isn't that incredible. So how great was COVID.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it was scary but great, and I'll tell you this. The other thing that stands out you know, I've heard some great stories.
Speaker 2:coming back to COVID, some, some guys I've met in the baseball industry literally jumped ship like comparative to where they were. They were like, oh, I'm just going to jump in. They landed on their feet and now assistant GM, gms guys that never played, you know professional baseball because they just kept saying yes.
Speaker 3:They had the courage, yep. So you know, one of the things that we did during COVID and I think this is a great lesson for the viewers you know we had a. We had a call every day at nine o'clock Zoom calls because our team's all across the country and many days, man, we didn't have anything business related to talk about because there was nothing going on, right, we, you know, everything was shut down, we couldn't pay parking lots, we couldn't have crews out. There was really nothing to talk about. We talked about our families, our fears, our frustrations. You know it was.
Speaker 3:Communication is key, right, and so you know that bonded that team together to a point that, like, we went through COVID together and you know, and, and you know, north Carolina, florida, pennsylvania, wisconsin, minnesota, like all over the country, but we all, we all were going through similar things and, uh, that allowed us to, you know, get outside of business and more connected as human beings. And you know, businesses are nothing but a collection of, you know, talented human beings solving problems for people, and the more more frequently you can solve those problems and the faster you solve them, the more money gets exchanged and, uh, that's really how simple business is and I think a lot of times people overcomplicate it. They, you know they, worry too much about the zeros and ones and not about, you know, the people and you know. So for us, whatever it was that put it inside of us to you know, have that call every day at nine o'clock. I still to this day say like those nine o'clock calls built our company.
Speaker 2:That's incredible. It's a human element. It's the best analytic out there.
Speaker 1:Which is interesting because, do you see, you're still a sports fan. I know you guys are connected to the. I know you see your Steeler stuff and Penguins. Do you feel like that element is also part of sports success as well?
Speaker 3:Absolutely. I mean, you know, when you, when you you play on great teams, what's? What's the combination? The combination that works is always respect in the, in the clubhouse or in the locker room, mutual respect, looking to your right and to your left. And no, and I just said to somebody yesterday, like you know, there's people in business that you meet that you would go in a foxhole and take a bullet for it, and then there's people that you look at and say I'm not sure that guy would take a bullet for me, and so that's a bad place to be.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and so you know, for me, that's how I choose. You know, the people that we align with is like relationships are everything. And you can have the most advanced technology, you could do the best marketing, you could be the best sales company. Do the best marketing, you can be the best sales company, but if you don't look people in the eye, shake their hand and deliver on what you promise, on as a person, the rest of it isn't going to work.
Speaker 2:So we talk a lot. Going back to the sports analogy, since you build culture so well, the roots right. That guy comes up to you. You know you're an up and comer, you're obviously very hungry, entrepreneurial spirit, but he says, what's it going to take? There's something inside that human nature of you that says, dude, I feel wanted, I feel needed, and I think there's a loyalty that never goes away.
Speaker 2:With times like that, right, like you probably didn't want to leave, it's probably like breaking up with a girlfriend in high school, right, it's really, really tough. And that's what I see difference Like when Sid signs back, when Malkin's there, those guys are so deep-rooted that even when their career is over with they're going to feel a tie back. And I think that's the biggest thing. I see a lot of times it's like when I walk over to the clubhouse right now, comparative to other teams I play for, all the lockers are empty over there. Every other team I've ever played for the lockers aren't empty. The guys that are there have lockers that are full and they kind of roped them off when they had big corporate events or whatever. But it reminded you like, oh, there's a root and it's deep and it's getting deeper and deeper, and I hear that through and through everything you're saying.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's what it is, man Like you know people should love where they come to every day, you know, and, uh, they should be energized and, you know, be better people because of who they spend time with. And you know, I always say, like, you don't hire employees, you hire the whole person. And you know, you hire their challenges, uh, their children, their spouses, their, you know, whatever that is. And if you, as a business owner, if you're not prepared to work through that stuff with people, you're not really meant to be a business owner, because there's a lot of responsibility that comes with that. There's also a lot of pride, man, the number of people in our company that have bought the first home in their entire family history we just had God, that's got to feel good right.
Speaker 3:It's amazing, it's the best feeling on those days that are really tough. We just had a couple that works for us. They bought a home a few years ago and they just paid it off. And so you know those things. You know that's money's never the motivator man, it's what people do with the money that makes the story, that makes it work, the money that makes the story that makes it work. And so you know when you understand that it's like you know, don't try to motivate somebody with a boat if their father has a boat yard, it's not going to motivate them. Right? And so you got to understand the DNA of the person. I think that's the biggest thing in sports. Right, it's like you know you can bring in the best players, but if they don't mesh together, there's not camaraderie, and that's a big piece of leadership. You know, coaching is the ability to make people fit together and also to recognize when they don't.
Speaker 2:And so you know if you have Be willing to pull that plug.
Speaker 3:Exactly, a clubhouse divided is never going to win a championship, and the same is true in business. And you've got to force those conversations, you've got to sit down with people, you've got to teach them. People avoid conflict right, and you know there's a quote that I say conflict delayed is conflict multiplied. So if you've got something that is bothering you with somebody else and you don't talk about it, or somebody doesn't, you know, make that happen, it's just going to keep festering and festering until you know it comes out in all different ways. It comes out in slumps and in sports it comes out in arguments in a locker room or a clubhouse. It comes out in all different ways.
Speaker 3:And so in a business, that ability to cut through the normal human element of, like, frustrations and misunderstandings and miscommunication. Or you know people who just don't understand each other, people that are raised completely differently, like if you're raised by. You know my parents, 50-something years, married. I have a different trust level than somebody who's been bounced around, you know, went to 12 different schools in their career, lived in five different cities. You know those people have a different dynamic and makeup and so if we can't cater to that, then that person's either not going to be successful or they shouldn't be on our team. But in my experience, if you listen, you inquire, you find out about the person. There's always more alike about us than there is different, and so it's really about listening, understanding and then finding that path that can give those people individually what they want and collectively, you know, if you can get in a leadership position. This is an old Zig Ziglar quote.
Speaker 1:If you can help enough people get what they want you'll never have to worry about getting what you want.
Speaker 2:Exactly, Exactly and going back to like your day-to-day dynamic. How do you do that?
Speaker 1:I was just going to say I was wondering, through all this, how do you keep tabs? You've got a gigantic force, You've got to trust so many people underneath you that then will delegate right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's a lot. I mean, in our umbrella we've got three companies, I've got five kids. It's a lot, I mean we've got. You know, in our umbrella we've got three companies, I've got five kids. You know it's a lot to juggle. And so, personally and professionally, you know what I say there's a lot more hours in a day than you think there is. And you know, I remember several years ago thinking to myself like man, I'm really busy and I would laugh at that guy today like you know at how busy I thought I was.
Speaker 3:And so I always make the analogy. It's kind of like juggling. Like if you were going to try to learn how to juggle, you wouldn't start with seven balls, you'd start with two.
Speaker 2:Figure that out the little kid in me. Probably would you know what I mean. You wouldn't be successful, but you'd try.
Speaker 3:And so you know as you get going it gets a little bit easier, and then you know as the business scales. The one thing that I'm challenged with right now is because of this type of stuff hanging out with you guys. The more influential you seem, the more far away you seem from your people, and so you've got to try harder to have those conversations, to sit down at people's desks and ask them how they're doing, and the first thing people say to you, if I sit down at somebody's desk and say how are you doing, they'll tell me about the numbers. I'm like I'm not asking about how the business is doing. I can read that on a chart. I need to know how you're doing. How's your family, how are your children? How are you feeling in this season? Because in construction it's busy, it's not busy.
Speaker 1:And not busy affects some people busy affects some people.
Speaker 3:Some people thrive being busy. Some people don't do very well not being busy. Yeah, like you. If I'm not busy, brother, you like I'm gonna raise my wife get out of here.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah yeah yeah, and so we're all three like that, it's, it's that idea of you know, understanding people is the key to any amount of success and business. Sports it doesn't matter what you're doing. And when you get those people together that have that believe in the vision and they believe that the vehicle they're in is going to make that vision possible, they're going to buy in. And so you know what you see in sports is, if a player if they're there's probably players that care more about money than championships well, if a player, if all they want in their career, all they wanted since they were a little boy or little girl, is to win a championship, they better feel like they can win one on that team.
Speaker 3:And so for me, for my people, it's like what do you want? Do you want to win a championship? Do you want to make a lot of money? And you can finesse that regardless of what people's goals are. But all of those goals collectively of those 50 people that work for us, that is, it has to fit inside of the vision that we have for the company, and if it doesn't, they'll leave. And we've had two people in six and a half years quit our company.
Speaker 3:And we've probably asked maybe 10 to leave Outside of that. Everybody's the same. So we have arguably no turnover.
Speaker 2:Once again, it goes back to humans, right? You're never going to be perfect. If it looks like nobody's ever left and nobody really has, there's something probably wrong going on behind the scenes.
Speaker 3:We've lost zero customers six and a half years, and so I believe that that's our ability to cut through, communicate, embrace, conflict you know all of those things that make our team great.
Speaker 3:Who goes to you and says how are you feeling? I've got advisors for that. My wife, you know. I was just talking to a guy before we started here. You know, my pastor at my church, shout out to Pastor John. He was a visionary enough to see that. You know, business owners, entrepreneurs, high-level people needed to be together. So he created a small group at our church of people that from the outside you would say like oh well, those people, you know they don't have any problems.
Speaker 2:They got it made Right, but there's a reality to everybody's life.
Speaker 3:Yeah, dude let me tell you you sit in a room full of people that people think don't have any problems and listen to their problems. You feel a lot better, understanding that, like most of the things you deal with, they're going through too, and you know there's different dynamics. Some things are going to be worse for people and some things are going to be easier, but at the end of the day, it's our ability to suffer well that, in my opinion, defines your life.
Speaker 1:Everybody has a different cross to bear. We know that, brian, who did you? You mentioned Zig Ziglar. He got me through some tough times many, many years ago. The late Zig Ziglar but who did you idolize might be too strong, someone you emulated as you were growing up and then becoming this businessman. Maybe you still do.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so John Maxwell is probably my greatest influence and he was a mentee of John Wooden, the great John Wood. Uh, so I start. I actually found john maxwell reading john wooden's books. Wow, and so uh you know similar story.
Speaker 1:Those those.
Speaker 3:You know what I learned from those two men? Uh was, it's a lot easier than you think it is. It's the simple things you know. I'll never forget reading the story of, you know, john Wooden, every year champion, you know, national championships, year after year after year at UCLA, and the first thing he did every year was teach people how to put their socks on and tie their shoes properly. And uh, you know. So to me it's don't overcomplicate it. Be a good person, uh, operate with values and principles. And uh, now you know, I've had the opportunity. I got to watch the Steelers game with John Maxwell here in the stadium.
Speaker 3:Last game that Tom Brady played here in Pittsburgh Most out-of-body experience I've ever had in my life, really. You know, read his books for 20 years, right? And you know, when I met him he said you know, these people have told me that you've read a lot of my books. I said, yeah, I think I've read 70-something. And he goes oh my, I didn't know I wrote that many books and yeah. But I got to watch the Steelers game with him, I had dinner with him at the Capitol Grill down here, you know, again, pastor Nuzzo helped set that up, wow. And then I had him speak at one of our top contractor school events and, uh, those are the things that you know be to be able to give back that way. So in january we have jordan peterson coming to one of our no, no wait, wait, wait.
Speaker 1:January 10th to the 12th oh, hold on time out now. Anybody in st pete? Yeah, you want to come. Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me?
Speaker 2:yeah, like I went through some really tough times in the last, I'm writing it down now, probably on the edge of all the way out of it, but like trauma that I had to deal with, didn't realize that was there, dude got me through it yeah, you can meet him in person have you seen him?
Speaker 1:in person I have this year when he came to ppg Paints I had to work.
Speaker 2:I tried to take the night off and I just couldn't.
Speaker 3:I bought half the front row for our team, did you really? And then we did the meet and greet. After and prior to that, me and my wife, one of my mentors and his wife flew out to Montana and did the VIP meet and greet. You don't get a lot of time with them there, but in this case, meet and greet. You don't get a lot of time with them there.
Speaker 2:But yeah, in this case and I'm one of those guys, probably similar to you is like I'm not gonna take the time, I just want to be around yeah, I probably won't say a word.
Speaker 3:I just want to listen so yeah, he's, he's speaking for 60 minutes. I get to interview him for 30 minutes and he's gonna do a meet and greet for 30 minutes, so that is unbelievable.
Speaker 1:So you're bringing them down there. Yeah, there's the company. Yeah, you know set.
Speaker 2:Brothers, did we just become best friends? Go away. Nighthawk, that's so cool. John Wood and Maxwell and Jordan Peterson Three guys I really like. Are you guys familiar with?
Speaker 3:Ed Milet. I am familiar with that so he spoke at our event last year, wow.
Speaker 2:So that's been our lineup over the last few years. He shoots a straight. Yes, yeah, wow, those are really cool people.
Speaker 1:So then you got into this and you got into motivational speaking right yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean, it obviously comes natural.
Speaker 1:One he's got the hair. I know he's got the hair for it, right he's got the.
Speaker 2:Someone has a presence about him and as soon as I met, you looked me in the eye, we shook hands and like dude, this guy's a leader. You could feel that. Not often do I say that. I'd say that very, very lightly in life and I really do feel like when you meet someone that you can tell they have that presence.
Speaker 3:You're one of those people. Thank you, brother. Yeah, that means a lot. In the beginning I had a different goal for that. I wanted to meet a lot of people and that was a great way to do it, and so I didn't consider myself a motivational speaker necessarily as much as an educator like trying to share what I've learned in my life, and so that made it easier. Talking about what you already know is pretty easy. That's why I always tell people that are afraid to get in front of people. It's like if you're talking about what you know right.
Speaker 3:Like you know, if I start talking to this guy, about, like you know, construction or brain surgery, but it might get uncomfortable.
Speaker 3:But yeah, if we're talking about baseball or business or motivation, things like that. It's like right in your wheelhouse. And so, yeah, I started speaking to you know groups to network and meet new people and, you know, share what I knew. And then, as that evolved, now I just do it in the places that I really want to be to give back to the places.
Speaker 3:So, actually, right before that event, there's a company called Veteran Service Brands and so there are franchises in our space. So they do garage floors, epoxy floors, line striping, they paint fields, football fields, baseball fields, and so I'll go speak to that group because it's veterans and we'll do anything for, you know, veterans. And so we have, you know, kind of two lanes of charity, well, three lanes really of charity that we do through the company veterans, anything for kids and then anything that our employees can get behind. So if they've got a connection to a non-profit, so I'll do it for you know, the veterans groups now, um, but I try to do it. You know a lot less than I used to, cause there's a lot going on in my world, but let me.
Speaker 2:Let me go back to education. Um, talk about that. I've heard you say growth education a couple of different times, even before we got on. How much do you emphasize that within your company? Because you said you have an event where you're obviously educating your employees. Talk about that a little bit, because I think a lot of people get stuck in the realm and stop educating, stop growing, especially as you move up the ladder, which that, in my opinion, is probably the number one thing you need to constantly be able to do.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean outside of payroll. It's our single biggest investment to bring mentorship to our people, to me, to the company, and one of our company values is constant self-improvement. Because who you are this year, I always say I'm 45 years old now. Hopefully the 46-year-old version of me doesn't look anything like this.
Speaker 2:Except for here. Yeah, if it does, I hope I don't lose that.
Speaker 1:I'm not going to lose that.
Speaker 3:But, you know, hopefully it looks nothing like this, hopefully I'm exponentially better and unrecognizable as a person, and that's my goal for everybody and you know, to be better mothers, better fathers, better sons, daughters, and not just in business, because I believe if you fix all that stuff, you know the business results are easy. You know, if you get somebody that shows up every day, locked in, committed, has a clear vision of what they're trying to accomplish, you know you just got to create a platform for them to be able to be successful, and we have that, so that part's easy. But education is everything, man. When you stop learning, I don't know what you do. I've never experienced that, but you know, I've seen people, people have you get back in the ditch?
Speaker 3:No, it seems to me that I actually interviewed the family that invented the asphalt paver, the Lee family. They're right outside of Charlotte, north Carolina. I interviewed the son of BR Lee and Mike Lee. I said the company has been sold several times. I'm sure Mike's doing okay financially, but he goes to work every day. And he said as long as my family's name is on the side of that building, I want to be here because I don't want to fade away. And so to me that's what comes to mind. If you stop learning, you know what are you doing Like I just I don't know what else to do other than keep moving, keep meeting people, and to me, at the end of my life, when I look back, it'll be the relationships, the things that I learned, the things that I was able to pass on to other people that build a great legacy. And so you know, I'm trying to never waste a day.
Speaker 1:Well, you don't. You got the. How'd the podcasting start? What made you start doing that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I want to know about the podcasting and media group that you created, because that's really cool.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so when we started the company, obviously, you know, marketing to a country is a lot harder than marketing to a city. So the traditional, you know, paving contractor would be marketing in the city of Pittsburgh and trying to expand past that. But that wasn't our approach. We were, you know, trying to do business all over the country. There's that. But that wasn't our approach. We were, you know, trying to do business all over the country.
Speaker 3:There's no amount of marketing dollars that would reach reach the whole country. There's no amount of. Was this your vision? Yes, yeah and uh bold pretty bold.
Speaker 2:Yeah, pretty bold, and so well educated, well informed, because obviously a little bit ahead of the game yeah.
Speaker 3:And so, uh, there was a guy that told me, like you know, best way to reach people across the country is social media. And I'm like you know, man, I don't. I don't want my family to be on there, my kids, like you know, there's creepers out there. All that I told myself, all those stories that everybody else tells themselves. And then I said like I don't think there's going to be any other option other than for me to be present on social media, show the work that we're doing, go live on the job sites that we're doing, all those kinds of things. And so that push from that guy is really what started it all.
Speaker 3:And the other thing I thought was you know who the heck wants to listen to a construction guy on a podcast? And what I didn't realize and this is a great lesson for anybody that's watching this whoever you are, there's a million of you out there. There's a million people that didn't finish college, that had big dreams when they were a kid, that had kids, that was stuck in the corporate handcuffs, that couldn't get out of a job. That's me. And so, hopefully, through this podcast, my goal was, hopefully I can give a few of those people the courage to do what I did and, you know, take the leap and know that.
Speaker 3:You know you're not going to die. You don't have to go bankrupt If you do. It's not the end of the world, right? But like all of those things that scare people, I did. I spoke in front of a group at a conference called Grow your Business, for God's Sake, and the whole room was like all they asked me about was like how do I leave my corporate job? You know I've got insurance and I've got 401k. And my message to them was simple it's like if a 401k and health insurance is going to stop you from your dream, it's really not a dream Well said.
Speaker 3:Because if you're, willing to let those things stand in your way, you don't have what it takes. But if you're willing to let those things stand in your way, you don't have what it takes. But if you're willing to risk that, if you're willing to take the chance on yourself and bet on yourself regardless of those circumstances, you're probably going to make it, because you can't wake up every day, work hard, do all the right things and get the wrong result. So it's just a matter of withstanding whatever circumstances come in front of you. And you know I said this is somebody getting on the elevator going up to the office this morning. I said, dude, it's impossible to beat the people that don't quit. If you don't quit, how can somebody beat you? Yep, persistence always wins. Yeah, and until I'm done breathing man, I don't have quitting envy. I just don't know how to do that and I've never been a good loser. Show me a kid that's a sore loser and I'll show you somebody that'll probably be really successful.
Speaker 1:Yes, People that hate to lose and don't want to hear about it Almost more important than enjoying winning.
Speaker 3:It's like you've got to hate to lose.
Speaker 1:We talk about outside forces a lot he and I, brian from all aspects that people maybe not intentionally, but it almost feels like they're trying to. My buddy, steve Blass, our buddy Steve Blass, always says don't let them take the fight out of you.
Speaker 2:Don't let anybody take the fight out of you. That sounds like somebody said that to me last year.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's so true though Somebody said that to me last year. Yeah, and it's so true, though you know, don't, because then they win. Don't let those outside forces win. They can't beat you.
Speaker 3:Something happened today with my 10-year-old son. He was put in circumstances that were not great and he showed up and delivered, even though I was like man. I don't know how this is going to go and I text my wife and said, like that's what that kid's made of. That had to be an incredible moment, because he showed up regardless of the circumstances and delivered not as prepared as he would have liked to be, not in the best circumstances. You know things outside and yeah, that's what it's all about.
Speaker 1:Did you advise him beforehand? Talk to him nonstop about mindset.
Speaker 3:But this particular moment. Or was this already ingrained?
Speaker 2:The best situations usually come when the circumstance around you aren't very good and it's just showing up and saying well, it's got to get done, I've got to do it, and a 10-year-old doing that. I mean, papa had to be like oh yeah.
Speaker 3:That's my boy right there. One of my favorite Ed Milet quotes is the greatest lessons in life are often more caught than taught.
Speaker 1:That's excellent.
Speaker 3:So it's not about what you tell them. It's about and I hope this is the case that my wife and I set an example for him of not quitting and standing up. To whatever circumstances you're given, you stand up, put your shoulders back and deal with it, and when you see that over and over again, it's training. It's training without having to say a word, and so it is a great feeling to watch your kids be able to persevere, and especially for him, because he's kind of the quieter one of the group and for him to be able to deliver like that is pretty cool how many kids uh five whoa, what ages 12, 10, 7, 4 and 11?
Speaker 3:months, 11 months wow yeah, oldest and youngest are girls and the three boys wow, man, you get the basketball team going.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's great. Yeah, uh, the the though that you started to get the word out essentially right, yep, and five days a week.
Speaker 3:Was it.
Speaker 1:Also when you figured I'm going to do this five days a week, I'm going to commit to it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, how did that evolve? Because I think people get confused about social media, like more is more honestly, because you don't know who's looking, but you obviously probably didn't start out five days a week.
Speaker 1:No, I did, yes, you did.
Speaker 2:You really are a night hawk.
Speaker 1:I really love this.
Speaker 2:Okay, so you start out five days a week, which 100%, is the right way to go, and you just kept going. Yeah, you don't see a lot of love at first right.
Speaker 3:Nope, you just got to keep putting it out there. I researched it for a long time and I said, man, there's a lot of people doing podcasts every week. I don't know anybody. I don't know anybody that's doing it five days a week. And so my thought was if I could start early in the morning, and so my team is also across the country. So I thought, man, this is a great way for me to mentor my team and also deliver a message. And so, first thing in the morning I started out at either seven or 7.30 am so I could get it out of the way before the workday started. And so, yeah, for 30 minutes every morning. At first it was just me talking into a camera on a webcam and did that for hundreds of episodes, and then probably around like episode 400 or 500,. We built the studio and now I've got different members of the team and people that come in and lots of people from pittsburgh to come in and sit in the seat. So you guys, are you got to return the favor?
Speaker 1:oh yeah, get rid of us, and uh yeah.
Speaker 3:So that that's how it started but I really thought like if I'm going to build, you know, a following, it's going to have to be done differently. If I'm trying to reach the whole country, I've got to outwork everybody else. And so one day a week. I just thought like that's going to take a lot longer than five days a week. So let's get it.
Speaker 1:Yes, all right, let's talk because we tie in Pittsburgh. People, western Pennsylvania hold my cutter. A lot of baseball, but sports, your most memorable sports moment that you watched and maybe it was on TV, maybe it was on a device, or when you saw- something in person that you'll never forget.
Speaker 3:Well, I watched the Pens win the Stanley Cup In person yeah, in person, so that was a big one. I'll go all three sports.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, yeah, that's fine, I like it. The Quato game is unforgettable, were you at that one Unforgettable Were you there yeah, okay.
Speaker 2:That proves that Pittsburgh sports are different.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, yeah, and Ryan Clark hitting Willis McGahee to win the AFC championship game was probably one of the best, most exhilarating moments as a fan that I've ever experienced and I happen to be sitting around a lot of Ravens fans, so it was extra special.
Speaker 1:And that also brings it to a moment, too. That's a moment that you'll never forget. That's exhilarating.
Speaker 2:I just went to my first Steelers game last week a Ravens game. Because, same thing, I put my head down and felt like you know, I needed to figure some things out, and then came up for air. I'm like I've never been to a Steelers game.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:And I went and I sat 500. I wanted to do it Yenzer style. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know what I mean and I absolutely loved it and it turns out, just became a lieutenant colonel 20 years. Uh, he's on the podcast. Chad sang the national anthem, so just oh perfect crushed it. He is a better rendition and I'm going to try to get him to a pnc.
Speaker 1:He does a country style oh, he just said I can't do it in uniform like that wow, and I was like I respect that.
Speaker 2:That's wild but I'll never, like that's ingrained in me, like I feel like, oh my god, I think I, I think I have an obsession, this, this is kind of like an addictive drug oh, dude, you know what I love.
Speaker 3:Like you know, one of one of my goals is you know, I'm a huge fan of pittsburgh man, I just love this city you know he said one of his goals.
Speaker 2:I can't wait to hear.
Speaker 3:I'm so proud of this city, and so one of my goals is you know, I go to the berkshire hathaway shareholder meeting in omaha, and so you, you go there and you've got people from all over the world that come to see Warren and Charlie, right, yeah, well, now Warren, uh Buffett. And so and I it hit me when I was in Omaha I'm like, dude, we need to bring people to Pittsburgh. Like we need to have events in this city, like you know, the NFL drafts coming. But, dude, we can, you know, we can create events here that bring people from around the country. But, dude, we can create events here that bring people from around the country.
Speaker 3:And every time I bring people here and you reminded me of it, like I take people to Steelers games and they say, like, dude, my stadium's not like this. Right, the fans in my city, they're not like this. I was at the Giants Monday night game and I talked to so many Giants fans and said MetLife Stadium is a dump compared to this place. There's no energy, there's no excitement. This is unbelievable. And so for me, my goal is to bring as many people to this city and introduce them to the culture of the city of Pittsburgh, the people of the city of Pittsburgh as we possibly can, and I got a lot of stuff I'll share with you guys when we get off the air here.
Speaker 2:I don't know if you need a puppy dog in that I'm in, let's do it.
Speaker 3:Let's do it, yeah, I love that. Yeah, because everybody comes here and says the same thing.
Speaker 1:I know I can't believe it.
Speaker 3:Oh, it's not a smoky old steel town.
Speaker 2:Like no dude, but you still have that ground-level foundation of that blue-collar hard-working steelworker or ditch-digger, it doesn't matter.
Speaker 3:Best people in the world. Best people in the world.
Speaker 2:Don't convince me. I believe it with all my heart.
Speaker 1:Brian referenced Berkshire Hathaway, Berkshire Hathaway Home Services. Our girl Eric.
Speaker 3:Katz, wow, what a tie-in, askerikatzcom.
Speaker 1:You didn't even know Best realtor, ask A-R-A-H-K-A-T-Zcom. Askarakatzcom. Hurrah, she's tremendous, she's the best, and we're with the best here in Brian Hess talking about just what a career, what a life, and trying to get as many people as you can to come to Pittsburgh in this town. How about the pride people have of Pittsburgh? Isn't it incredible?
Speaker 3:It's just so wild. I always say God bless Pittsburgh giving us the same colors in all the sports teams and giving this city an identity they could get behind Last Friday night. So we had the stage AE, we had curtain call with all the 70 Steelers, we celebrated the 50th anniversary of Super Bowl IX, and so Friday night I got to have dinner with all those legends and you know, I got to have a conversation with Mel Blunt and I was born in 1979, so I wasn't here for any of those Super Bowl wins. But I said like I've read enough history and I've studied enough to know that those guys gave this city hope when it needed it the most. You know when everything was going the wrong direction.
Speaker 2:Explain that a little bit more, for you know y'all's over here.
Speaker 3:Yeah, like you know, the steel mills are declining, closing all over the place. You know unemployment's rising. You know, one of the reasons why you see Steelers fans, pirates fans all over the country is because so many people were displaced from Pittsburgh.
Speaker 1:They left Pittsburgh. They live in other cities Because they had to to get a job. They travel well, but they really don't. They live well, they live out all over the place. Pittsburghers 17 million Steelers fans nationwide.
Speaker 3:But they've never forgotten where they came from 17 million yeah.
Speaker 3:And so you know, in that era and when you talk to those guys I've been blessed to talk, john Kolb is a good friend, rocky Blyer I've spent some time with and interviewed on the podcast, got to spend some time with Mel Blunt you talk to those guys. They really took a pride of being what this city was, which was hard work, hard nose. They took on the identity of the fan base and so that gave these men and women you know that were down on their luck, hope man when they needed. And the same thing happens with all of our sports. It's, like you know, sports are a big deal here because pittsburgh is built like that.
Speaker 1:It's different well, I'm old enough to have been around in 1979 and just to your point.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know it's hard to believe, it's hard but, uh, when, when the city and the region was down on its luck, and when the steelers and the pirates won the championship the very same year. And back then there was no, you know, no websites, no social media, no, nothing. It relied on newspapers and magazines, and one particular national magazine started announcing the city of the year, the city of champions, and pittsburgh was named the the city of the year, the city of champions, and Pittsburgh was named the best city in the country because of the Pirates and the Steelers winning the championship together.
Speaker 2:It's going to happen again. I think it's going to happen again, I got a feeling. Yeah, my wife brought this to my attention recently. We were in Nashville before we moved here, so just below nashville spent a lot of time there. Um, everything that is nashville there's starting to see like lights open up of like, oh my gosh, this is what happened in nashville, like the airport and you can see that the big boom is coming. But I think it's going to be different because it is pittsburgh. It's going to be pittsburgh-esque, right?
Speaker 2:I think it's going to be different because it is Pittsburgh, it's going to be Pittsburgh-esque, right? I think it's going to be based around the Steelers, the Penguins and the Pirates and be like man. This is the 70s all over again.
Speaker 1:We just want to be part of it, right? Yeah, that's exactly right. And that's Pittsburgh and that's Brian Hess, that's Uniontown roots, but are your family still there?
Speaker 2:Your parents still in Uniontown, same house I grew up in. Come on so you get back there they wouldn't, want it any other way would they?
Speaker 3:The house my parents live in the shell of that house was put up June 12, 1979, the day I was born.
Speaker 1:Get out of here. They're still there.
Speaker 3:They're still there. I've tried. There's no question I've got five kids. I need Grandma and Papi close right? Yeah, they didn't take the bait. They didn't take the bait, oh wow.
Speaker 1:Brian thanks a million for being with us. Thank you, brother. This is just absolutely a treat. Cheers Brian Hess. An honor and a privilege to be here with you guys.
Speaker 3:A champion Watched you guys on TV listened to you and it's an honor to be here, thank you.
Speaker 1:It's an audience of five. So, thank you, we keep growing, brian. We're going to do it like you. We're going to grow our audience.
Speaker 2:Yes, Absolutely Live shows man, let's go.
Speaker 1:Yeah, hold my cutter.
