Elevate Springfield featuring Andrew Melvin: Elevating Through the Power of Technical Training, Service, and Tailored Solutions

Summary

In this conversation, Robert Ferriell sits down with Andrew Melvin to discuss Andy's journey from military service to the civilian workforce, emphasizing the importance of quality training in the industry. He highlights the mission of Adaptive Training Services to provide tailored training solutions that go beyond mere compliance, focusing on real-world applications and retention of knowledge. The discussion covers his military background, teaching experiences, and the innovative approaches his company takes to ensure effective training for various technical fields. 

Takeaways

• Adaptive Training Services is focused on quality training solutions.
• The importance of relevant training standards in the industry.
• Training should not just be about checking boxes.
• Real-world applications enhance learning retention.
• Tailored training is essential for effective workforce development.
• Military experience shapes training methodologies.
• Teaching is a recurring theme in Andrew's career.
• Innovative approaches are key to engaging training.
• Collaboration with certification bodies ensures up-to-date training.
• Quality training leads to measurable knowledge growth. Training programs are aligned with industry standards.
• Tailored training solutions are essential for client satisfaction.
• Professional growth requires overcoming self-imposed barriers.
• Community training enhances collective performance and fulfillment.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Welcome to Elevate Springfield, where we will dive into strategies and stories that help you rise to your full potential. Each episode, we'll talk about how you can take intentional steps to elevate your life and your business while making a meaningful impact on those around you. Along the way, we're gonna bring in the change makers from our community that are already elevating. We'll bring the actionable strategies, you bring the discipline and follow through, and together, we can elevate Springfield. Alright, let's go, Springfield. Time to 10X your life, your business, all of it. Time to crush those goals, time to get after it. Let's go. You are listening to the Elevate Springfield podcast. Robert Farrell here, certified 10x coach, speaker, and mentor here to bring you actionable strategies. You bring the discipline and follow through, and together, we're gonna Elevate Springfield. We're coming to you again from beautiful downtown Springfield in the Big Dog Construction Studio. Hey, we've got so much going on in Springfield right now. Make sure you are participating. Get out there, network with folks, be a part of the community, support local businesses, support local nonprofits, and let's go, we can all grow together. So, hey, another great episode for you today. We're gonna get right to our guest after the break. Hey, Springfield, when it comes to reliable, high-quality roofing, you don't want to leave things to chance. That's why you should reach out to Acosta Angeli Roofing, your local roofing expert serving Springfield and surrounding communities, from quick, dependable repairs to full replacement, from residential to commercial. They are your trusted pros. Call them today at 217-993-2748 or visit their website to book your free quote and inspection. Don't wait. A little leak now could lead to major damage later. Trust the local experts, protect your home, and get peace of mind with Acosta Angeli Roofing. And we are back, joining me in the studio now, Mr. Andrew Melvin from Adaptive Training Services. Andy, how are we doing today?

SPEAKER_02 2:24

And it is so nice to be right here right now with you. I'm doing great.

SPEAKER_03 2:30

Beautiful downtown Springfield, right? It is nice. And this is a gorgeous location. You've done good. Thank you. I enjoy it. I like the old buildings. I like the brick walls and the whole thing.

SPEAKER_02 2:39

With the modern feel, you've you've actually meshed it really well. And uh I'm impressed.

SPEAKER_03 2:43

Well, thank you. Thank you. And this this is the first time you've been in the studio. So I'm glad I made a good first impression on you, buddy.

SPEAKER_02 2:49

Yes, as as per as per the norm. I wouldn't expect it any less. All right.

SPEAKER_03 2:53

Well, before we start talking about your company, let's learn a little bit about Andy. Tell us a little bit about your background.

SPEAKER_02 2:58

All right. So uh I spent eight years in the Army working on Apache helicopter as a uh as a mechanic, as a crew chief. And I guess before that, because it all started when I was pushing brooms at eight years old for my dad's roofing company out in California. So, you know, started started learning young what it meant to actually put in, put in a good, put hard day. You know, if I wasn't doing homework, I was working with dad. So um 18, two weeks after graduation, I was off to basic training, spent eight years, did two overseas deployments. And during that time, for those eight years that I was in, six years of that was in an instructor capacity in some kind. So I was teaching everybody anything from how to drive uh how to drive their Humvees, how to drive cargo trucks, how to back trailers, how to um uh run cranes, telehandlers, forklifts, use all the ground support equipment that we had. And then one of the the last bits of training that I was doing prior to my leaving the army was actually teaching people how to lift a helicopter with another helicopter. Yeah. So downed aircraft recovery, and that was uh that was a pretty epic, pretty epic. I bet it was. Yeah, so we did uh we did three downed aircraft recovery missions when I was in Afghanistan. No, we did we did three sling load missions. The first one that we ever did was the first successful Kiowa sling load mission in a decade that didn't cause any additional damage to an airframe. Of course, and I was also in charge of all of the equipment that the downed aircraft recovery team used. Naturally enough, when we got back to the States and they were ramping up to go back to Afghanistan, and I was on my way out, they had me teach everybody how to do the rigging for lifting a helicopter. It's basically like uh using a Chinook as a tow truck. Wow. Yeah. Wow. All right. So then after I left the army, I went to uh Universal Technical Institute, got my associate's degree in auto diesel and industrial technologies, specialized in electrical, advanced electrical diagnostics, uh hydraulics, hydraulic diagnostics, and diesel engines for the coming side.

SPEAKER_03 5:04

Um before we move forward on that, what drove you to the military in the first place?

SPEAKER_02 5:08

Oh, no, no, no, no. No, the the it was a calling.

SPEAKER_03 5:11

It was calling.

SPEAKER_02 5:11

Yeah, no, there's different groups of people that joined the military for whatever reason it is. It literally met plenty of dudes while I was in the military when you asked them why did you go to the military? They say, Well, it's either this or jail. The judge actually said so. I'm like, Oh, okay, that's fantastic. You go that way.

SPEAKER_03 5:28

That's not why I'm here.

SPEAKER_02 5:29

Yeah. So uh, and then you got those that you you know, they do it to uh to get the college training, and then you just got those hardcore patriots, and for me, the red, white, and blue was just dug into me since I was a kid. So it was my way of repaying the country and all of those who have come before and joining the ranks and and providing that service so that everybody else can enjoy the freedoms that we have.

SPEAKER_03 5:54

Absolutely. Do you have a lot of family in the service or are you the first one?

SPEAKER_02 5:56

So believe it or not, didn't even know this until after I was like four or five years into my contract, my grandpa on my dad's side was actually a Huey mechanic in Vietnam. I didn't know that. And for those who don't know what a Huey is, is the the predecessor to the Black Hawk, which is a utility cargo helicopter.

SPEAKER_03 6:16

All right.

SPEAKER_02 6:16

You know, I mean the big whenever you watch a Vietnam era movie like Forest Gump, all of the ones that look like this that have the two blades that go, that's a Huey.

SPEAKER_03 6:28

Oh, okay. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 6:29

So he was he was actually a crew chief on who on Huey's in the um in the in in the army during Vietnam. And then my uncle, uh unbeknownst to me until after I joined also, he was a uh CH forty uh CH forty three in the Marines. He was an avionics guy, he worked on the electrical systems for the refueling rods that extrude from the front. Okay. So but as far as my immediate family, no, my dad did not. Uh he should have been, he should have been a Marine. Anytime he had me cleaning the bathroom when I was a kid, it was always a white glove inspection until I learned where all the white glove points were, and those got re cleaned really well, and then everything else was just kind of a swiping. It was just part of it. I mean, two years old, I was running around G.I. Joe outfits and everybody knew.

SPEAKER_03 7:16

So you spent eight years? Eight years. And most of that was working on the Apaches or what of it.

SPEAKER_02 7:24

All of it was so my my primary my primary function was an Apache helicopter mechanic.

SPEAKER_01 7:29

Right.

SPEAKER_02 7:29

Um, and then my additional duties, which I had numerous because I'm one of those guys where if you want it done right, do it right the first time, and if you want it done right, do it yourself. So plenty of additional duties, uh, you know, and and also taking on the the instructor role mostly because I just had a knack for grabbing people's attention long enough to be able to get the point across. Um so and then the list of other things. I ran the tool room, I was in charge of millions of dollars worth of uh tools and and specialty equipment and stuff like that that we used for working on the aircraft, the calibrations of those equipments. And I was also the uh tactical acquisitions specialist. Which means Well, if your unit uh needs to acquire something and nobody needs to know where it came from.

SPEAKER_03 8:18

Okay. Yeah. I had a feeling that's where that was gonna go.

SPEAKER_02 8:21

Yeah, yeah. It's called tactical acquisitions. Okay. So I didn't steal it. It just didn't come from the normal avenues of what people would normally do in order to.

SPEAKER_03 8:31

Figured out a way to get it without many people knowing about it.

SPEAKER_02 8:33

Yes. And without having too many people ask too many questions. Right. Right. Yeah. You know, you need a Humvee turbo? Okay, I got you. Just don't ask me where it came from. 18,000 pound MRAP winch? Okay. A chassis for a four-wheeler. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 8:50

Anything and everything.

SPEAKER_02 8:51

Yes, pretty much. Yeah. So laptop bag. I found a laptop bag. Just saying.

SPEAKER_03 8:56

It's kind of funny how you go from all those large pieces of equipment that you just said to where, well, I had to go get a laptop bag.

SPEAKER_02 9:00

Yeah. So they're like, yeah, no, I I literally, I literally had an NCO who was like, Man, I really wish I had a way to move my laptop around easier.

SPEAKER_03 9:10

They sell those. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:11

No, right, but you're not in the middle of Afghanistan.

SPEAKER_03 9:14

True. So So how long were you in Afghanistan?

SPEAKER_02 9:17

Uh I was there for uh 13 months. So I was I did Afghanistan for 13 months and I was in Iraq for 18. So uh we were part of the surge, but then but before we did the surge, and that was the one that was the one in 2008. Uh 2007, 2008. Uh before we did that, before we even knew that we were gonna our contracts were gonna get extended, um, I was on the advanced team who went out to uh Kuwait before everybody else to put the aircraft together. And then I was on the late return team getting all of our equipment uh onto the trains to get it uh to get it back.

SPEAKER_03 9:54

Okay. So 31 months total overseas, a little over two and a half years. Yeah. Okay. Well, thank you for your service. I enjoyed it. You're welcome. Well, you came back, you went to UTI, back at it.

SPEAKER_02 10:06

Okay. So uh went to UTI, uh industrial industrial technologies, and then had a slew of random jobs until I was trying I was just trying to figure out where I was supposed to fit in. And this happens with a lot of prior service dudes once they get out, you know, everyone's trying to get an idea of all this structure and all this, you know, you have one specific job, you got this thing that you're supposed to do, and you're supposed to be really good at it too, okay, now what? Um and yeah, there's there's different um organizations and stuff out there that were able to help you figure those things out. I was too young and too proud to try and figure out how to get a hold of those organizations. So I just kind of floated around. Um, Delta Airlines, I worked for them doing uh ground support equipment maintenance for them, anything from like the little tractors, the tugs, uh, the baggage tugs, the actual baggage carts, the conveyor belts, de-icers, anything and everything that they have on the flight line that they use for supporting aircraft operations for things that we worked on. Right.

SPEAKER_03 11:07

So you're not gonna come back and work on Apaches in the civilian system.

SPEAKER_02 11:10

No, although you you can as a civilian contractor, but there's uh quite a bit of extra nonsense that goes along with it. And uh to be honest with you, after I got done with the military, I had such a bad taste in my mouth for aviation that I really wasn't all that interested in it anymore. So, you know, and and the one of the things is really was never an issue for me because I've always been so attention to detail, but it's the idea that, you know, if a car breaks down, it rolls to a stop. If a helicopter breaks down, it falls out of the sky.

SPEAKER_01 11:40

Right.

SPEAKER_02 11:41

So that's just that's one of those added things that goes on top of it. And again, the aviation world is so stringent on how on its checks and balances to make sure that everything that you do is squared away anyway, that you don't really have to worry about that. However, there is always that possibility. And then also anytime we had to do something as far as maintenance task on one of the aircraft in the military, it was always a 15-minute or a 15-minute job turned into a four-hour ordeal because before you could even start to work on the aircraft, you had to fill out a packet of what page in the manual you were gonna be on, you know, what the page manual range was or the page range of the manual was to, you know, which tools are you gonna need. And then you had to get that signed by your supervisor, but that means you had to find your supervisor, good luck, right? So that took an hour, and then you had to cart all of your stuff out to the flight line, and just to take a panel off and fix something on the back side of the panel, as soon as you get the panel off and you fix it, before you can put the panel back on, you got to go find the same supervisor. Yeah, good luck. And then you get the panel back on. Well, he already left. It only takes 15 minutes to put a panel on, right? Well, he already took off. So now you got to go find him again, right? Good luck with that. Wait, hold on. Before you can put the panel on, you got to get your NCO to check it out, your supervisor. And then after your supervisor says, Yeah, that looks good, then you got to go find your technical inspector, who's the dude that actually signs off in the workbook that you did the work correctly. Right. And then they have to come out and say, Yeah, that looks right. And then they leave, and then you put the panel on, and then you got to go find your supervisor again. He has to say, Yeah, that panel got put on right. And then the technical inspector has to come back out and do it again.

SPEAKER_01 13:22

Right.

SPEAKER_02 13:22

So, yeah, no. So the whole entire so a 15-minute ordeal turned into and four hours and it just one of those things.

SPEAKER_03 13:29

So you took all that skill set that you learned in the military and that you learned at UTI, bounced around to a few places, but uh, where'd you end up landing after that?

SPEAKER_02 13:39

So I actually found my way into a couple of uh a couple of management positions, but it was really strange because every single position that I had ever had at some point in that job, I ended up uh teaching somebody something. Like I became an instructor of something. Uh for instance, one of the fleet maintenance positions that I was running out in Arizona. I went to UTI in Arizona. So while I was going to living in Arizona, I was working at a uh fleet maintenance place for over-the-road trucks, and their tour or their parts room was just garbage. I actually sat down, wrote down, uh wrote out three pages front and back of problem cause solution, and then gave it to the business uh the office lady who gave it to the owner, who then gave it to his wife. The next day, wife shows up, talks to me, and then I'll become the parts manager, right?

SPEAKER_01 14:28

Right.

SPEAKER_02 14:29

So at that point, I pretty much instructed after going through and emptying the entire parts room out, which was a trailer, by the way. It was a semi-trailer that they had taken off. It was just it wasn't even a container, it was like a 1970s uh trailer that they had taken the chassis off of and just set it on the ground. Okay. So went through, ripped everything out, and then rearranged everything and then actually created a system for organizing the parts. So and then I taught everybody how to use that system. Um, and then when I became a manager of an auto repair facility in Conroe, Texas, I ended up teaching all of their lead technicians how to actually use a troubleshooting tree. So, and then all of a sudden our uh our our repair uh processing times and uh our our metrics got better. And then uh was running a I was running kind of as a uh as a manager uh for one stop here in town, um across the the three different locations, doing everything from you know HR hiring, firing, clients, W9, paperwork, all that good happy stuff, as well as working on the front counter as a uh service advisor, at which point any time that somebody had something wrong with their car, I was teaching them all about that system so that they understood where when they have to spend thousands of dollars, where their thousands of dollars is going, not just saying, Oh yeah, no, your radiator's broken. Right, right. So, or calling it a thingabajig. Thingamajig, yeah. It's always fun. Yeah, thingamajig connected to the watchamacology.

SPEAKER_03 15:58

Anyways, um need a new Watch McCullough.

SPEAKER_02 16:01

Uh well I was working on that. We were in the process of setting up another location, and uh I had my Indeed set up, and then a ding came across my Indeed, right? A little notification, and then that led me to uh CACC. So uh Capillary Career Center, right here in town. They had a position open up for an industrial maintenance uh trainer or instructor, and never in my life ever thought that I'd be qualified to teach at a high school level, but I thought, well, I can teach all of that, so I'll try it out. Put in my application on a Thursday, got a phone call on a Friday, had an interview on Tuesday, and had a job offer on Thursday.

SPEAKER_01 16:40

There you go.

SPEAKER_02 16:40

So, and I've been there for six years and uh by far, hands down, best job I've ever had in my entire life. It was great. So got to keep up with the times and got a got a family, and so now I've moved into a uh new moved into a new gig.

SPEAKER_03 16:55

Well, let's talk about that new gig. That's adaptive training services, right? So tell us a little bit about it.

SPEAKER_02 17:00

All right, so adaptive training services is a relatively young company, but it's one of those market disruptors because the entire philosophy behind this company is not just check the box style training, it's all about providing quality training at a standard that is going to be relevant to the industry that everybody is working in, right? And it it's not a cookie-cutter program. It's not, we offer a menu of training services. This is what you have to choose from. If you want your people to learn transformers, well, we have to come in and teach you electron theory and move you into transformers. Well, the problem is that you're already working with people who have already been working with electricity, you know, pretty much of their entire lives. They already understand the concept of flow, they already understand the basic concept of basic components. Now all of a sudden you're trying to all you're trying to do is teach them mutual inductance in the transformer realm. So that's all they need to know. So in our world, if you just say, well, I need my people trained up on transformers, then rather than giving you an entire basic electrical including transformers, we cut all that out and we give you transformers. And uh the nice thing about it is is that everything that we do is backed by some kind of a standard, right? So we uh we're also in the process right now of trying to determine whether or not there is a positive interest enough to be able to invest in crane training.

SPEAKER_01 18:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:30

Right. So certified crane operator training, where um articulated boom, telescoping boom, lattice boom, um, all of those, we would actually show up on site to the customers, to the customer's location. Uh, and if they have equipment, utilize their equipment so that what they are being trained on the equipment that they are actually going to use.

SPEAKER_03 18:50

That's important.

SPEAKER_02 18:51

Yes, no, it's it's wildly important. When you get into the concept of just in different types of skid steers, for instance, right? When you get into different types of skid steers, you get into a John Deere and you start getting into the foot controls that move the boom and the and the bucket and all that, and then all of a sudden you move into a Takahoochie that gives you the ability to be able to make it set up in any way that you want it to be, but it's mostly hand controls. Well, now you're going from foot controls to hand controls, and you know, you trained on foot controls, but you're actually using hand controls, so why would we do that?

SPEAKER_01 19:22

Right.

SPEAKER_02 19:22

You know, however, if in the event that the customer does not have equipment on site or they don't have adequate equipment on site, say that they have a 75-foot crane, but if they have to go to a location at which they rented a 120-foot crane, they would not be able to utilize their crane in order to do the certification test on that crane. So what we would do is utilizing our national account through the rental facilities, we would actually rent one on behalf of the company and then we would have it delivered to their site, and then we would do the training on that. So another thing, too, is if a company needs PLC training, right? Programmable logic controllers, it's in everything that runs the modern industry or the modern manufacturing industry. If somebody needs programmable logic control training, we will go into the facility, we'll figure out what type of programmable logic controllers that they're actually using, whether it be Alan Bradley, Siemens, or some of the others, right? And then we would actually bring training equipment that matches the actual equipment that they have on site.

SPEAKER_03 20:21

Perfect. Yeah. So I think what you mentioned earlier is really important to talk on just for a second. You said it's not just checking the box training. We've all been in professional developments or training where everybody knows when you're in the room there that we're in here because we have to check a box. Yes. Right. We've all been there. Yep. Right. So why is it so important for you guys to not be that?

SPEAKER_02 20:44

Well, for me, right? And I and this might be one of those just stems from the military type of deal, but it's the ability to be able to have an intelligent conversation, right? And when you have standardization and you have all of your training backed by a standard, right? And that standard becomes the standard. And not only am I training at the standard, but any other instructor in the company is training at that standard, everybody is getting the same exact training. And then at the same time, since everybody is getting that same exact training, everybody's getting the same terminology, everybody's getting the same ideas, everybody's getting the same bullet points, right? And so because everybody's getting the same bullet points that are set to a standard, not just a, yeah, this kind of works. No, this is what it's supposed to be. And because everybody's getting that same information, it doesn't matter if you guys are working in the same building or working two states apart. If you ever had to have a conversation, everybody's on the same page. So that's the that's the point. And then also, it's not just necessarily receiving the information, it's receiving the information in a quality manner in which you are going to retain it. For instance, we just finished up with 3M uh doing they had a A bunch of training where they took two dudes off of the um uh off the production line and put them into the maintenance facility. It was a preemptive thing. You know, they're kind of moving into a well, we don't even know if we need this yet, but we're gonna do this just in case. Right. So they grabbed two dudes off of the line, never did anything with it before, gave it a particular timeline at which they needed to be sufficient in maintenance techniques, and were able to get them all the way through, I believe it was print reading, basic electrical, and PLC operation programming and troubleshooting, and had them eight months ahead of schedule. Wow. Just finished that uh just recently. Wow, that's awesome. So and and in doing that, actually was able to show a 22% knowledge growth um as an average between the two.

SPEAKER_03 22:46

22% knowledge growth and eight months and eight months. Yes. So that's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 22:51

Yeah. That is what the quality of training that we are trying to provide, right? Well, that's what I mean when I'm saying we're not just checking the box.

SPEAKER_01 23:02

Right.

SPEAKER_02 23:02

We're coming in and we're trying to ensure that there is good solid retention of the information and presenting it in a way to people who like us come from a blue-collar background and don't understand all the mumbo jumbo that comes along with it, but they understand direct conversation as if you were just another human, right? And being able to provide that conversation at that level is what gives us the ability to be able to provide that quality training. We're treating people like humans, they're not just numbers and they're not just boxes that need to be checked.

SPEAKER_03 23:36

Absolutely. So, I mean, you the training you guys provide is very technical, anywhere from beginner all the way up to advanced, very advanced training, right? Very advanced. So, how do you guys as a company train yourselves and keep up to date on everything you need to do to train everybody else?

SPEAKER_02 23:51

So uh we are we are aligned with a a certification company, Smart Automation Certification Alliance, right? That is who we are aligned with. Most of all the training equipment that we use for a lot of the basic introduction stuff and and a lot of the technical industry stuff is going to be Amritrol. Um Amritrol is a curriculum company and they build trainers, technical trainers, to accompany their curriculum. So as we go through everything that we utilize through that curriculum company is updated with the time, anyways, right? Because it's all on an LMS, it's all online. So anytime that there is an update to the industry standard, there's automatically an update in our system. And then we're automatically as soon as we open that training curriculum, it's auto-populated and it's already done, right? So, as well as uh Smart Automation Certification Alliance has the backing of 500 major manufacturing giants across the nation and they all sit on a board, and every single one of them are the ones that determine what the actual standard is when it comes to somebody who gets if we would if the company wishes to have certifications. Now, everything that we teach is always going to be to the standard, right? Right. But if the company decides that they want to also incorporate or include a certification with that, right, we can do that, but it's always going to be to the soccer standard. Right. So anybody that takes our training program, if they take a full week-long basic electrical course, they are going to be trained to the standard of Sokka uh 201, which is going to be your basic electrical, and then should be at by the end of it able to take and pass the written test.

SPEAKER_03 25:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 25:35

You know, or if they want a gold standard, they should be able to take and pass the written and the practical exam.

SPEAKER_03 25:39

In terms of the clients that you work with, you know, some of them might know exactly, hey, I need, I need this, this, and this. But how do you go in and kind of fact-find? Because you said that you can, you know, customize packages for everybody and everything. So how do you go into a company and figure out exactly what their needs are and tailor that package to them?

SPEAKER_02 25:58

So we also offer consulting services as well. So uh my boss, Justin, he's done a lot of things and he is a very, very smart dude. And he is one of those guys that is he just never stops learning. If he's on the road, he's probably listening to some type of a something technical, right? So he's always constantly trying to improve himself and make himself better. And he has the ability to be able to go into a company and look for deficiencies, and then once those deficiencies are found, be able to then say, okay, this is what I found. Um, we got problems here, here, here, and here. And in order to correct these problems, I suggest we do trainings in this field, this field, this field, and this field. Right. So his consulting services are all the way up to, I think in one place he shadowed a guy for a couple of months.

SPEAKER_01 26:46

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 26:46

Uh, and another situation where they wanted to bring somebody up from the production line and get him into a into a technical maintenance role. So uh he actually shadowed the employee and walked him through in every day. Like he was there every single day for eight hours a day, I believe it was, for a full workday. He was there every single day and used that time as on-the-job training over the shoulder of the dude saying, No, yeah, we could do it this way, or we could do it this way. Sure. And that's one of those things where, yeah, no, we we offer the ability to be able to go in and monitor your operation and then based off of what your operation is doing, be able to make suggestions on how to streamline it, make it better.

SPEAKER_03 27:31

Okay. So the companies that hire you, and of course, you come in, you're working with their employees. How do you feel like you elevate the the employees' experience, making sure that they're getting everything out of it that they need?

SPEAKER_02 27:43

Well, it's like you just like you said, whenever you go into a training room, you automatically know that you just get this feeling like here we go again, another check the box. Right. Right. But then all of a sudden, when we start going through our training, but preventative maintenance training, something as simple as preventative maintenance, right? Grease the bearings. Right. Okay. Just grease the bearings. And you got guys that have been on the job for 30 years greasing bearings. They are already, you know, the dude already knows it, right? But then you got at the same time a mix of young bucks that are coming in and everybody has their own way of doing it. Well, now you have standardized it. And then during that, you don't just project information. It becomes an interactive conversation as to what are the best practices that have worked at your facility? What have you seen that works? What have you seen that doesn't work? What are the ins and outs, the quirks of the pieces of equipment that you are actually working on? You know, and by the time it's all said and done, it's yeah, it's not just another training episode. You know, it is quite literally us coming in and custom tailoring their training experience on a relevant level that matters to them. And when they leave there, they honestly and actually feel like they have done something legitimate that is not only going to make them better, but then make their company better, make the production better, and then ultimately everybody's happier and hopefully safer at the same time. Absolutely. So to me, having an idea of expectation up front is satisfying in itself. Not just satisfying, but it's it's comforting. You know, it's comforting to know what is going to happen, even if it's something as crazy as an industrial maintenance facility where you have no idea what's actually going to happen from one day to the next. But the idea that if something were to happen, you now are more prepared to handle that situation. There's a comfort in that, you know? And then that takes away from the dread of getting up every single morning, having to put on your clothes, having to go to work, you know, chugging down three cups of coffee just to make it through the day. Now all of a sudden it creates a almost a bit of excitement to be able to go in and be like, all right, so how can I put all of this training that I have received to actual use?

SPEAKER_03 30:03

It's huge, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02 30:04

Oh, it's that's the idea. I would like to, I would like to hope it's huge. I know it's huge in my world. That's what makes the difference for me in doing any training that I do on my own. I am a guy that loves to have quality training for myself. Not only do I want to provide quality training, but if I'm going to get trained on something, I want to know every single every single detail down to the last nut and bolt of all of it.

SPEAKER_03 30:30

Right.

SPEAKER_02 30:30

Right. And that's the idea.

SPEAKER_03 30:32

And that's got to feel good as the trainer to go into a facility. They think they're coming in and just gonna be a check the box type of training. And then you see that light bulb go off. Like, well, this is more.

SPEAKER_02 30:44

Yeah, and and usually, usually within the first couple of sentences, because now all of a sudden everybody's kicked back in their chairs, they got their hands behind their heads and they're like, all right, we're just gonna settle in for this nonsense. And then and then all of a sudden, that they within that first couple of sentences, you realize that it's not going to be one of those trainings. And now all of a sudden the excitement starts to kick in because you're about to learn something that's useful.

SPEAKER_03 31:08

No doubt about it. Are all of your trainings in person, or do you have some remote as well?

SPEAKER_02 31:14

We can offer remote training, and we're working on a way to do that. If you had multiple locations spanned across multiple states, and you had 40 people that you wanted to get trained up on PLCs, right? PLCs is huge, and that's the reason why I keep running back to it, right? So every PLCs is what runs everything, and there are very few people that know how to do it and know how to do it well.

SPEAKER_03 31:37

Yeah. And that and for anybody out there that's never heard of a PLC, any type of manufacturing facility is going to be loaded up with PLCs. Right.

SPEAKER_02 31:45

So yes, and and and the PLC is the it's the programmable logic controller. It is literally the computer that runs the equipment. Yeah, right. So at the at the local level, at the where the equipment is actually running. So it's taking all of the information in from all of the processes that the equipment is running, and then based off of the information that comes in, does something in return, right? So it's logic. Did this happen? Yes, do this, did it or no, do that, right? So that's the logic behind it. Okay. And is it is what controls the automation process for automated manufacturing. Um, and it's not just one, it's hundreds or sometimes thousands of these little tiny computers that are about yay big throughout the entire uh throughout the entire facility. So, but let's say across multiple locations, across multiple states, you have multiple people that you all want to have trained on PLCs and you want them all to be at that standard. Well, if you have training rooms or boardrooms or conference rooms at any of those locations or at all those locations, we can ship out the training equipment or the individual pieces that we're going to be training on. We can ship those out to those locations. And then once everybody has those locations, everybody goes into the conference room. And then us from our conference room, we have the ability to be able to give a live seminar on the training, and everybody has in front of them the actual physical thing so that they can actually do physical training right along with us doing physical training in a remote setting. So, and that's that is one of those other services that we have the potential of being able to offer.

SPEAKER_03 33:20

Love it. What other offer? You mentioned the crane training, any other things you're you're planning on putting out there?

SPEAKER_02 33:28

So this is this is kind of the this is I don't know if this is a it's not necessarily a secret. It's just it's it's one of those things that most people that we don't even know if it exists yet. But this is an idea it's an idea we have. So our whole entire idea, our concept, our premise, right, is when you have training, the majority of the training you have to send your people out for, right? So if it's a week-long training, that's a day prior for travel, that's a day post for travel, five to seven days of dudes in hotel rooms, and you have to pay them while they're out, and then you have to find somebody to fill their space while they are gone, right? And so and a lot of times that's the major detractor from sending people to go into sending people to training because you just don't have the coverage to fill that person's position while they're out, right? Or a lot of times, whenever you have a training company that comes in, that training company is going to be operating on bankers' hours, right? Well, bankers' hours aren't shift hours. So now if you want to have your personnel in second and third shift trained, they have to come in on first shift. That means you're paying them overtime just to be able to just be able to achieve the training. So everything that is traditional training now is all going to cost extra, which is all detractors from training.

SPEAKER_01 34:54

Right.

SPEAKER_02 34:55

Well, what we are trying to develop is a full-blown mobile asset, quick react. It's it's like a it's like a almost like a QRF in the military, is what we call a quick reaction force, right? If something happens, we need to be able to get to the front line quick, fast, and in a hurry and be able to solve that problem, right? Same exact concept here. It's a quick reaction force of training, right? If you need something done and you need something done in a hurry, we have the ability to be able to mobilize truck trailer in a mobile classroom and show up, dump a container that folds out and becomes a full-blown classroom that we have the ability to be able to utilize in a climate-controlled space in your parking lot.

SPEAKER_03 35:36

Love it.

SPEAKER_02 35:36

Yeah. That's all so so. That's the idea. And there are a couple of other ideas that we are toying with right now. Again, everything that we're trying to determine right now is whether is based off of whether or not there is an interest in the industry itself, right? And by industry, I mean everybody. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 35:55

A lot of different industries can need what you're teaching.

SPEAKER_02 35:58

Yeah, no, listen, if you have employees, there's probably a good possibility that there is something that you we provide that you need for a lot of the the niche markets, right? Like welding. We have to determine whether or not there's enough interest to be able to bring that training and certification to them. And there is a huge process that's involved with it, and there's a huge capital upfront cost that goes along with it as well. So, in order to do that, we have to determine whether or not people are actually going to be interested in it. But there are a lot of things in the works. Again, relatively young company, but so far, this company has worked off of nothing but word of mouth. Word of mouth advertisement. They haven't marketed anything, they haven't advertised anything. Everything has always been uh the company requiring training comes to our company and says, Hey, can you do this? And the answer is let me figure it out. And within two weeks, they figure it out. Okay. Uh Casey's. Casey's out in Iowa, Casey's big Casey's headquarters. Um, they needed 608 training and 608 certification training that came with a certification post for all of their maintenance technicians that go out to all of their different locations, right?

SPEAKER_03 37:08

And 608 is the EPA. Uh that is EPA2 for high pressure. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 37:11

All right. So they called up Justin, who's my boss, and said, Hey, do you provide 608 certification training? He said, Let me I let me find out. Within two weeks, he had actually taken the course and received an instructor's certification to be able to teach that, and then brought that certification to Casey's. Love it. Yeah. Well, that's just like the crane thing, right? The crane thing was a request from another company. You know, I don't know if I'm allowed to say the company here on the air, but anyway, it was a local company, and the company came to me and said, Hey, do you have the ability to be able to provide crane training? I said, Well, let me find out. So I've put together all of the information that I need to put together, and now we as a company need to determine whether or not it is financially feasible for us to have to be able to do that. Where's the investment to go ahead and do it? Yeah. Because the local guy, I love him, great dude, and I would love to be able to fix that problem for him. However, the investment that the company has to make, we have to be able to justify doing it on a grand scale in order to be able to provide it to just him. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 38:13

No, I love it. So you guys are essentially elevating other businesses by breaking down those barriers to training. Yes. Right? You're making it easier for him. I really love the idea of dropping a trailer down with a mobile unit. That is freaking awesome. Right. That's cool. I love that. So we've talked a lot of business. Let's pop over to the personal side. What are some ways you elevate your life personally?

SPEAKER_02 38:34

Well, drink a lot of water.

SPEAKER_03 38:35

There you go.

SPEAKER_02 38:36

I don't know if I'm allowed to mention who my wife is.

SPEAKER_03 38:39

Go ahead. Yeah, I was gonna do it if you were okay to.

SPEAKER_02 38:41

All right, fantastic. Well, okay, so here's the deal. My wife is Kylie. Uh Kylie Melvin. She has been on this program way more than I have, and that includes all the other podcasts. I think she has more clock time than any other podcast that I've ever done with you ever. I think she's B. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 38:57

Yeah, I agree.

SPEAKER_02 38:58

So uh my wife is Kylie Melvin. She is a board-certified natural herbalist. She has been certified by the board of drugless practitioners, the association of drugless practitioners. So now she actually has the certification, the board backing of being able to take on and handle clients, right? So that being said, before my wife and I got together uh this time, I lived the normal lifestyle that everybody else lives in today's world, right? Fast food is okay. Anything you grab off the supermarket shelf is okay, and it's all okay because everybody said it was okay. And that's the way I lived. Well, I got to 317 pounds. Uh, and well, and after Afghanistan, neither here nor there, but but I got to 317 pounds, and I was absolutely miserable. So at that point, I actually started teaching myself what carbs were. And I know there's a lot of different methods out there. I know there's a lot of different people. There's people that count calories, there's people that count carbs, there's people, people that do the the paleo diets and the the meat eaters and the fasters.

SPEAKER_03 40:07

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:08

So for me, it's it's the carbs because I'm a science dude, right? And I understand the science behind it, and I understand that when you put carbs in your system, if there are simple carb, it's going to instantaneously, if you don't use it in that moment, it will turn to fat. Boom, done. Period. Cool. Science. I like science. Right. So I took that to heart. And so I do uh I do a lot to um to mitigate the amount of processed foods that we intake. That's my wife's fault.

SPEAKER_03 40:38

I was gonna say that might sound familiar, and I have have talked about that probably I don't know how many times.

SPEAKER_02 40:43

I know, I know. Well, and you know, and there's just a gosh, it just tastes better. It does, doesn't it? You know, I mean, and she she makes some of the best food, neither here nor there, but she makes Mediterranean dishes that are just drop your jaw. But so uh cutting out a lot of the cutting out a lot of the the nonsense, you know, preservatives and such like that, and then uh, you know, just really really being mindful of what you consume because what you consume is what you are. And then at the same time making sure that I am doing as much as I can to stay as active as I can. We have a we got a whole body gym in the house. So, and and I I do we just do what we can. I know how big you are into the fitness realm, and I know how big you are into the personal health deal, and it just it works. And that's what we gotta do to elevate ourselves because if we can't elevate ourselves, how the heck are we gonna elevate anybody else?

SPEAKER_03 41:34

You got that right. We're gonna have Kylie back on here soon.

SPEAKER_02 41:37

And she's got she's got so much knowledge that she doesn't even know she has. And that's the cool thing about it, right? Is that is that she is so smart and does so much for her craft and doesn't even think anything about it, right? She doesn't even she doesn't even understand how amazing the stuff that she does really is. So no doubt about it.

SPEAKER_03 41:59

She's awesome. She is pretty awesome. Well, Andy, so much great stuff today. I always like to close with these last couple of things. Let's give the audience a piece of advice, one on the professional side and one on the personal side to help them elevate their life or business.

SPEAKER_02 42:13

Okay. So on your uh on your professional side, if there is something that you want, don't ever let anybody stand in the way of making that happen. Because the only opposition to your dreams and your goals and your aspirations in life is you. Never ever should there be anybody that stands in the way and tells you that you can't do something because if somebody else has done it, there's no reason why you can't. Right. So that would be a professional, which also probably is a personal.

SPEAKER_03 42:44

It certainly can be. And is there anything we can do community-wide to help all of us here elevate Springfield and the surrounding communities? Yeah, train your people. You know, there you go. There you go.

SPEAKER_02 42:55

Well, I mean, okay, so yeah, no, of course, that could that point is self-serving, but it it but it shouldn't be. Right. Right. So the whole entire idea behind this is that your community is comprised of all of the people that are either working next to you or working in support of your everyday. And the better that their training is, the better that they are able to do their job. And the better that they are able to do their job, the more fulfilled they are in their day. And the more fulfilled that they are in their day, just generally overall, everybody just feels better.

SPEAKER_03 43:33

There you go.

SPEAKER_02 43:33

Get trained up, Springfield, whatever that training is, get trained up, whether it's Andy or whatever. Yeah, no, and and that's the and that's the other thing, too, is that if I can't provide the training for you, that's okay. Just don't settle for checking the box. If you're going to train your people, train them with a purpose, train them to a standard, and make sure the training sticks and make sure it counts.

SPEAKER_03 43:54

There we go. Well, Andy, if somebody wants to do that training with you, where do they go to find out more?

SPEAKER_02 44:00

This really long website, it's adaptive training services dot com. Uh that'll get you to our landing page. We're in the process of uh developing it right now again because you know very little has gone into marketing. So it's kind of just been a landing page with a contact us button and some information. But there's some low there's a little bit of information of the basic levels of training that we offer right now. On there is a contact button, uh, contact us button to fill out some basic information, the type of training that you're looking for, or if you're just wanting more information at all, uh we'll be able to make that happen for you. Generally speaking, anytime that you want to have a conversation with us, 15 minutes or so is about all we need in order to be able to get the information that you want to give us, and then in turn be either be able to give you something back, or we can say, you know what, let us dig into that a little bit more, we'll get back to you on it. Right? So it's relatively simple. We try and keep everything that we do simple because we understand that the decision makers and all of the people that make the machine run have more important things to do than worry about all of the red tape that goes along with running a company. So we try and alleviate that as much as possible.

SPEAKER_03 45:12

Yes, indeed. Well, appreciate you coming and spending some time with me, brother. I appreciate you having me back. It's fun.

SPEAKER_02 45:18

I mean, not not back to this, but just back in general.

SPEAKER_03 45:20

Yeah, back in general. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 45:21

You know, I mean, you and I, it has been a long time. It's been a little bit since you and I had a sit-down, and uh man, I miss it.

SPEAKER_03 45:28

I'm glad we did it. Yeah. Well, we'll just make sure it doesn't happen so far away next time. We'll make sure that that we tighten up that time frame. Okay. You want to do that?

SPEAKER_02 45:35

Yeah. Well, what are we gonna talk about next time? I don't know. I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 45:38

I don't know. We can just sit down and talk. I think we can figure out something.

SPEAKER_02 45:40

You know, you know, you actually brought up this uh this idea and concept for back when we were doing the CAC C thing about the Melvin Minute. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 45:48

That's right. Yeah, yeah. The Melvin Minute. Melvin Minute. Love it. Well, we'll be back next time with the Melvin Minute. How about that? I don't know. Dump that into the say into a podcast at some point. You pop up halfway through a segment for the Melvin for the Melvin Minute. Maybe. I don't know. I don't have all this fancy recording equipment. That's all right. We can get you in here. Okay. We'll get it done.

SPEAKER_02 46:08

All right then.

SPEAKER_03 46:08

Well, we're gonna let Andy get back to Elevate in Springfield. But for the rest of you, we'll be right back. Looking for expert tree care with hometown integrity, look no further than Sangamon Tree Service. They're your trusted local pros, delivering quality workmanship, exceptional customer service, and fair, honest pricing every time. Whether it's trimming, removal, or storm cleanup, their team brings professionalism and care to every job, big or small. Call the name your neighbors trust, Sangman Tree Service, or visit them today at SangamontTreeService.com. Sangamon Tree Service, rooted in quality, built on trust. Looking for personalized insurance with hometown care, David Hilst, American Family Insurance Agent's here to help you protect what matters most: your family, your home, and your dreams. Whether it's auto, home, life, business, David and his team are proud to serve the Springfield community with trusted advice and reliable coverage. Local service, real relationships, peace of mind. Call today or stop by their office. They can build your dream protection plan together. Call 217-726-6343. Well, thank you for joining us today, everybody. Appreciate you making us a part of your day. Hey, don't forget while you're out on social, check ours out. You can check my personal one out at RobertFarrell at everywhere. Check out those Elevate Springfield pages, those big dog business coaching pages as well. Check us out over on YouTube. Give us a subscribe, give us a like or a follow on any of those channels. We would certainly appreciate it. So, hey, take what you learned today. You bring the discipline and follow through and together. That's right, y'all. We're gonna elevate Springfield. Be great.

SPEAKER_00 48:01

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