✨ She Means Business - Episode #17 | Building Character

 Ashley sits down with her father, Tom Moreland, for a conversation about the psychology of hard work, the importance of showing up, and how character is built through discipline and consistency.

Tom shares lessons about work ethic, responsibility, and the mindset required to keep moving forward even when things aren’t easy.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Going deep, Tom. Okay. That was the icebreaking part of it. Yeah. So, Tom, your business journey has had its own storms and rebuilds. What were the defining trials and what did they shape in you as a leader, a provider, and a man?

SPEAKER_00 0:19

Wow. Character building. Well, again, the work ethic, just um having some skills. You know, I didn't actually go to college, but I uh uh had some skills when I went through high school and then uh took those skills and again my you know just wanting to be involved with um you know machinery uh whatever you know farm machinery drilling rigs. You know, I'm I've been in the drilling business for 40 years and um seen the in the good and the bad along the way but just um you know was a part of a a company that grew from the ground up and uh grew real fast and became a a dominant company in the industry. So uh ended up having those those um moments of ups and downs and um you know uh trying to climb the ladder. Um and that not it's not necessarily a good thing always because you kind of put your you know your work first and not your family. Uh I tend to do that because of my ethic of of working and not really having a lot of hobbies, you know. I just I work a lot. I do like to hunt, but that's kind of gone out the window uh lately. But uh it, you know, just growing up uh with six brothers, um living in the same town, um, building a career, having, you know, trying to spoil my daughter and my son along the way. My wife too, you know, she's uh she's not the the one that uh is the fat, you know, the flashy type, let's say, but um but just that driven aspect, but uh um in terms of defining me, um again, it's like you want to work really hard and show your ability and learn. I love to learn. I love uh I worked you know for a company that was a lot into engineering. I wanted, you know, looking back, I should have gotten my engineer degree, you know. Uh but when you're growing up with six brothers in a in a family that's you know all over, that wasn't the case. It wasn't my destiny at the time. But um, as far as defining me, it's just uh I think again, it's just in me. Talk a lot about it. I think I just show it, and and that's that's prideful for me uh in terms of how what people think of me a lot of times. Not that that's the ultimate you know uh goal, it's but it's just more or less that uh I'm gonna be a team player and um drive me to not necessarily get to the top, but at least be in line for something when the time does come. So I hope that answers your question.

SPEAKER_01 3:19

Yeah, it does. And what I hear is you're very you have perseverance. So you just keep going for the next and the next and the next. Some you don't get really stalled out when things are.

SPEAKER_00 3:30

I'm not gonna be the guy that you know. We have a thing in our business where you have a a helper, we call them, and the driller. Well, some guys are very you know happy with being the helper, yeah, and not the driller, or taking on the responsibility, being the guy in the in the arena. You know, it's I want to be that guy. Only because it it's a challenge to me.

SPEAKER_01 3:52

The guy in the arena.

SPEAKER_00 3:54

In the arena that's gonna get marred and marked up and yeah, you know, status quo, yeah, eight to five, you know, what have you. I can't give a crap about that. I want to be the guy that's challenged, that is given that opportunity, and learn, you know, to the point where I'm helping the team out, but you also got to surround yourself with with good people too. And that was a part of that, you know, process um at one point. And it it it you know, it's uh it's an incredible feeling when you're a part of something like that.

SPEAKER_01 4:29

Yeah. Yeah. You go much farther as a we than a I.

SPEAKER_00 4:33

Yeah, but it's not that I, you know, I can give a crap about everything else. It's just a part of my personality that uh I may not be the warmest guy or the you know, the giving the hugs and what have you, but deep down I do it does mean a lot to me.

SPEAKER_01 4:51

Oh, so do you run a crew now? I mean, do you have a big crew that you're running or oh yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:57

I'm a they call me the you know, head of the operations rotary division. So I wasn't, I didn't, you know, this new company that I went I'm working for now, I wasn't given that, they just gave it to me. Only because of my 40 plus years in the business and my relationships and you know, in the drilling business, it's uh relationships, contacts, that's all a big thing, you know. When you have it's like the farmers, you know, everybody knows everybody.

SPEAKER_01 5:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:24

Same in the drilling business. If if somebody screws up, everybody knows about it.

SPEAKER_01 5:28

So same in aesthetics, yeah. Yeah, same thing.

SPEAKER_00 5:31

So it's important that you know you you you know, you got to be careful, but you know, it's it's a work hard, play hard mentality. It used to be a lot worse, it's not as much anymore. You know, I think after COVID, it can't things changed with families and young guys and families that now they want to be home, they don't want to travel. The money's great, you know. But they're also looking at the family now and and the wife and the you know, and the balance now, they want a more of a balance, so now you have to kind of readjust. Um which drives you crazy. Drives me crazy, you know. Um, but there's not many of us left. No, yeah, unfortunately, and I think it's you know, with you know the whole AI thing and what have you, I mean the guy still has to go out and and run the rig every day. You have to have people that can, you know, help with that.

SPEAKER_01 6:25

So it's the robots aren't coming for you, Tom.

SPEAKER_00 6:27

They're not coming. So it it's an interesting uh time in terms of in my business and what where that next group's coming from.

SPEAKER_01 6:37

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:37

Because they don't want to stand out in the rain, they don't want to stand out in the cold, they don't want to go for 10, 15, 20 days at a time.

SPEAKER_01 6:44

Right. Wow. You know, so let's go back from because that's your present, and then you shared that earlier with me that you had a business partner and you started a company that didn't work out.

SPEAKER_00 6:58

Correct.

SPEAKER_01 6:59

Are you are you willing to share a little bit about Yeah, I mean it it was um the highs are the highs and the lows are the lows and yeah, I'll touch on it real quick.

SPEAKER_00 7:07

It's just uh I got an opportunity, uh was invited to to be a part of a um startup. Um it actually grew into uh you know something pretty pretty amazing, but um, like I had mentioned uh the vision changed and the directions changed. Um me being more uh aggressive in terms of you know having things you know structured and and uh all of that, and uh it ended up in a bad, a bad way. So um in terms of another learning process, it was great. You know, it's it's a it's tough to be in business. It's tough to be that person in the arena, and um you're not just gonna go home and forget about it. You you live it. And uh so yeah, it it was a good thing in the beginning, ended up being a bad thing.

unknown 8:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:02

But again, you know, you have to step back, regroup, you know, it it's rebuild. At sixty five years old. Yeah. You know, it's uh you know, it's it's a bit of a challenge.

SPEAKER_01 8:13

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:14

But here I am.

SPEAKER_01 8:15

Yeah, here you are.

SPEAKER_00 8:16

Yeah, great.