The Quarterback DadCast
I’m Casey Jacox, the host of the Quarterback Dadcast. As fathers, we want to help prepare our kids—not only to enter the professional world but to thrive in each stage of their lives. Guests of this show include teachers, coaches, professional athletes, consultants, business owners, authors—and stay-at-home dads. Just like you! They share openly about failure, success, laughter, and even sadness so that we can all learn from each other—as we strive to become the best leaders of our homes! You will learn each week, and I am confident you will leave each episode with actionable tasks that you can apply to your life to become that ultimate Quarterback and leader of your household. Together, we will learn from the successes and failures of dads who are doing their best every day. So, sit back, relax and subscribe now to receive each episode weekly on The Quarterback Dadcast.
The Quarterback DadCast
Balancing Friendship and Accountability: One Dad's Journey with Travis Webb
What happens when a builder's hands meet a teacher's heart? Travis Webb, VP of Sales at PARQA and father of three nearly-grown children, joins us to share how his unique upbringing created the blueprint for his parenting approach.
Travis reveals how his father, a union electrician turned entrepreneur, equipped him with both literal and figurative tools for life – teaching him to build everything from skateboard ramps as a kid to the tiki bar with electricity and plumbing that now stands in his backyard. Meanwhile, his mother's 44-year teaching career instilled in him a patience and calm demeanor that balances his entrepreneurial drive. This blend has shaped not only his successful career in staffing and sales leadership, but also his thoughtful approach to raising three children who are now 23, 21, and 18.
The conversation explores a provocative question: can you be friends with your kids? Travis challenges conventional wisdom, suggesting that friendship and accountability aren't mutually exclusive when you know how to "flip the switch" between roles. He shares candid stories about navigating disagreements with his teenage daughter, learning when to engage and when to step back, and prioritizing presence at his children's activities despite demanding work commitments.
One particularly insightful moment comes when Casey and Travis discuss a question that transformed both his business and parenting approaches: "Do you want to be right or do you want to get what you want?" This simple but profound question has helped him check his ego and focus on outcomes rather than winning arguments—whether in the boardroom or at the dinner table.
As his children transition to adulthood, Travis reflects on the bittersweet reality of watching them leave home while celebrating their independence.
For younger parents, his experiences with youth sports, travel tournaments, and building lasting memories offer valuable perspective on what truly matters in the long run.
Ready to rethink your approach to leadership—whether at home or in business? Listen now and discover how blending compassion with accountability might just be the blueprint you've been searching for.
PARQA is a technology consulting and implementation agency for the staffing industry dedicated to making your technologies work for you, driving measurable business outcomes from your technical investment. Our expertise spans the Salesforce & Bullhorn ecosystems.
Please don't forget to leave us a review wherever you consume your podcasts! Please help us get more dads to listen weekly and become the ultimate leader of their homes!
Hi, I'm Riley and I'm Ryder and this is my dad show. Hey everybody, it's Casey Jaycox with the quarterback dad cast. Welcome to season six, and I could not be more excited to have you join me for another year of fantastic episodes and conversations really unscripted and raw and authentic conversations with dads. If you're new to this podcast, really it's simple. It's a podcast where we interview dads, we learn about how they were raised, we learn about the life lessons that were important to them, we learn about the values that are important to them and really we learn about how we can work hard to become a better quarterback or leader of our home. So let's sit back, relax and listen to today's episode on the Quarterback Dadcast. Well, hey, everybody, it's Casey Jaycox. Welcome to season six of the Quarterback Dadcast.
Speaker 2:I'm excited for our next guest, who I'm surprised our paths have not crossed sooner, because we have like 170 some plus odd connections in common, but we do, and I was referred to him by the one and only, randall Thomas. And our next guest is Travis Webb, the VP of vice president sales at Parka. But he's a staffing executive, a veteran, and now he's into great things at Parka. He's a golfer, found out, he's a. He's a blue collar guy that's fighting off a sports hernia, but he's not. He's a tough dad. We've got his dad trying to work and but, more importantly with he's not, he's a tough dad. We've got his dad trying to work in. But, more importantly, with all that said, we're not here to talk to Travis as much about that. We're here to talk about Travis the dad, and how he's working hard to become that ultimate quarterback or leader of his household. So, without further ado, mr Webb, welcome to the quarterback, dad cast.
Speaker 1:Thank you. Thank you very much for having me and real quick shout out to Randall. Randall graduated with his degree from Florida State University on Saturday, so I actually went and attended his celebration Saturday night. So I got to spend a few hours with Randall to celebrate him going back to college and knocking that out after being in the workforce for many years.
Speaker 2:That a boy. Whenever I I had a, I had a. This is so random, but I'm going to give you a nickname for him If you want one. You might want to call him Too Hot to Handle, randall. I had a guy in high school that called himself that. I'm like I don't know if you can do your own nickname, but hey, you do you. Nice, okay. So, joking aside now, we always start out each episode with gratitude, so tell me, what are you?
Speaker 1:most grateful for as a dad today. I'm grateful for my family in general, right, I think, every day when I wake up and just excited for I'm blessed with a wife of almost 25 years, three kids, everybody's doing good, um, knock on wood, you know no major, uh, no major obstacles in life right now for any of them, and so I'm always excited to see that Love it, ma'am.
Speaker 2:Um, I'm grateful for, um, a couple of things. One I'm grateful for a couple things One I'm grateful for my daughter finally wanted to go golfing, but it wasn't with me, it was with her boyfriend and I was like, hey, I can either fight it and be like what the hell? I've asked if I need to go golf all these times. But her boyfriend wanted to take her. So, hey, and my goal? I'm grateful for the fact that she's going to maybe go out and want to golf more. She want to golf more because it's um, she's one of those younger athletes that she picked up golf really easy. First time she goes out and play shoots 51 qualifies for a golf tournament. Um, and she's like, yeah, I'm done, dad, I just want to play basketball instead. I'm like, oh, my God, you're nine years old and you shot 51. Like this is. She's like, no, don't do it.
Speaker 2:So and then I'm grateful for my son, who's um is in college, and my wife's parents, grandma, grandpa. They went down and visit him this weekend for just to kind of see what his college is like, and he I'm just grateful that he embraced it and had a blast, and he, grandma, grandpa, took him to breakfast and then he took grandpa to the driving range where he's playing college golf and just like showed him around and then they went to dinner and he was just like happy and just like sent us pictures. Me and my wife are like I think we're doing a good job here. Let's keep on this path, but it was just grateful for their time to get to spend together.
Speaker 1:Yeah, just be careful what you wish for. Taking your daughter golfing. We may have talked about this, but I went on vacation a few weeks back and played up in the mountains and my 18 year old daughter beat me for the first time. She's not letting me let that down. She reminds me frequently. But it's cool to see your kids thrive in anything, whether it's sports or school or just life in general. It's a cool experience. It's a humbling one too, as somebody who's attempted to play golf for many years.
Speaker 2:Yeah, my son, my daughter. If she beats me I would be shocked, because she doesn't take it by my son. I quickly got that humble check. He's a plus one, so he beats me now all the time, but I can still get them occasionally from time to time. But yeah, man, that's very well said, all right, well, bring me inside the web huddle. I'd love to learn how you and your wife met and then talk a little bit about each member of the team love to learn how you and your wife met and then talk a little bit about each member of the team.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I actually met my wife working at a grocery store here in Jacksonville called Publix, during college. So I know you're Northwest, it's not a Northwest thing yet. It'll get there eventually. It's growing like crazy, but kind of like the higher end grocery store here in the Southeast. So I had gone to college for a couple of years. I came home for the summer, met my wife. Ended up school was never really my thing ended up, not going back, came, stayed home and finished school here locally but met my wife working there.
Speaker 1:We have three children. So my oldest, aiden, just turned 23. He's already graduated college. He's moved out of the house, flown the coop, he's out doing his own thing I have. My middle child is Jacob, who's 21. Jacob's living at home, got a great job and kind of like me, trying to figure out what he wants to do in life at that age. That's kind of how I was. And then my youngest daughter youngest my daughter, caitlin, is 18, a couple of weeks away from graduating high school and then she'll be heading to Tallahassee to Florida State University to hopefully for only four years and knock out college and see where life takes her from there.
Speaker 2:There we go. So Publix, this is really random, but do you ever do? Who Bob does sports is, yes, he's hilarious and I think he's in that like somewhere south, maybe South Florida, but I think he doesn in that you're like somewhere south, maybe south florida, but I think he doesn't. Doesn't do like little videos about publics and I believe so. The grocery store, oh, my god, he had. He had one recently where it was um the one about like he was picking up bagels, um, but they weren't bagels, or like freaking dinner rolls. He just torched the the vendor.
Speaker 2:I think it's like I found einstein bagels guys, but it was the funniest thing ever. But um so each. How does that feel to have almost three kids out of the house?
Speaker 1:Uh, it's, it's um, it's exciting and kind of sad at the same time, if I'm being honest. Like it's, uh, it's always. If you have kids, you know it's fun to raise them and get them to a certain point. It's also really cool to see them go out and do their own thing. So, um, it's really both emotions right. Like it's exciting to see them go flourish, but, um, you miss them too. So it's exciting. My son came over Saturday morning, spent a few hours with us, uh, which was cool, um, but yeah, you know I joke around with my daughter. I said as soon as you leave for college, I'm turning your room into a golf simulator and that's our kind of ongoing joke right now, but uh, no, it's, it's, it's good.
Speaker 1:Like I said, I, I I say it all the time Having your uh, your kids as your friends on LinkedIn is kind of a new experience to you, right, like when you're out in the corporate world so, too, right, like when you're out in the corporate world, so it's cool to encourage and see your kids excel there and then see them liking and commenting on your posts. That's kind of a neat new thing here over the last year or so. But no, it's good.
Speaker 2:It's a fun time. Well, I know, I mean you made me when you said happy and sad. I mean I know what that's like when you're a kid. I mean I only have a freshman in college, but like when he, every time we got to say goodbye to him, it's like fricking someone's cut onions in the house. You know, it's just you get, you don't realize how, and it just sneaks up and you're like oh dude, I'm not going to see this guy for like two months. Yeah, you know. And it never gets easier. For all the cliches are true, time goes by way too fast. Days are short, years are long. Is that right?
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's interesting too. The topic of conversation at Dara last night with my daughter was, you know she was asking me and my wife hey, are you guys going to cry at my high school graduation? And we're like, what do you mean? She's like, well, you cried for Aiden. She's like, I don't even know if you cried for Jacob, but are you going to cry for me? Like it's just, it's an interesting dynamic. So my oldest son graduated during COVID, right. So that was like a whole different deal. We got to watch. My kids have all gone to Catholic school, so we it was just the two sitting in the church, but it was just interesting, right. So that's a topic of conversation right now where my daughter gives us a little crap about it.
Speaker 2:Wow, well, I love the competitive gene in her. Yes, and also how cool that you said kids on LinkedIn. I mean, if they're commenting on dad's posts, I'm going to have to get their info and connect them and tag them on this post when it comes out so they can hear dad tell some stories that maybe they have not heard before, without a doubt. Um, well, bring me back. Um, I always like to ask this question, travis, like when? So tell me what was life? Tell me what was life like growing up for you, and I'd love to hear you know about the values that were instilled and important to you, um, from your parents, and maybe a story or two that kind of backs them up.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so mom was a school teacher for 44 years. So right out of college went to be a teacher young you know and did that for 44 years. My dad was a union electrician late seventies, early eighties. He got into gold and silver, became an entrepreneur, owned a jewelry shop and did that for many years before eventually retiring. So mom always had that kind of calm teacher demeanor where dad had that entrepreneurial side, was always working.
Speaker 1:And you know, the one thing I give my dad a ton of credit for is, yes, he bought us really cool toys and gifts, but he also bought us tools and so we were always hands-on. So when you're 10 years old and you get a craftsman toolbox and a hammer and and stuff and you learn how to build. You know, we built skateboard ramps when we were little, like we built our own. We didn't go buy it or pay somebody, um. So people always ask me like Travis, what do you like? Like, I like to be a builder, I like to be hands on, I like to see things get completed and I take that back to like that values that my dad put in me when I was younger. And then I look at from mom's side.
Speaker 1:I think I got my mom's demeanor and kind of the I don't know, I'm a pretty social person, right, like obviously I have to be in the job that I do, but like I've got a very calm demeanor. I don't get fired up easy. If you get me worked up you've done something really good. It's just not my style, but I get that from my mom. So I think I get that side of it, although as an English teacher she would murder me when she saw the way I wrote and couldn't read it and, like I said, I get that from her. The education side, the school piece was just like I said, never was really my thing. So you know that I look at what I take from each one of them is that. So I think you know I got a perfect kind of blend of that hands on builder type, entrepreneurial spirit, outgoing for my dad, and then that kind of calm, just personable demeanor from my mother.
Speaker 2:How does someone go electrician into gold, to jewelry? That doesn't seem like the natural transition.
Speaker 1:I don't know, it was a heck of a transition, because it was. I mean, there was even more than that. I mean after the gold and silver it was a firearms deal, like there was a whole lot that went on there, just always had the hustle. And then I mean my dad's mid eighties now, um Saturday mornings he still gets up and he does garage sales now, like he still has that mentality of he's wants to get out and go, you know, see what he can. He can, uh, earn a couple of bucks at a garage sale or do whatever he can do, like even to this day, at almost 86, he still thinks he's 18, which is getting interesting and fun.
Speaker 2:But you know, that's just, it's that's his mindset is always like that it's always going when do you think that came from for him?
Speaker 1:I think he grew up in a in a, I'd say I don't know if I'd call it poor, but, you know, just in a household where there wasn't a lot, and I think that was something that he didn't want to experience anymore and he wanted to make sure that he provided for me and my brother and my mom. So, you know, he's always just been one that the kind of that old school mentality of the man takes care of the house and it's his responsibility and, um, I think that's what really drove him to make sure that we all had a good life and a good setup and and, um, you know, he took care of us doing that Love it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's always interesting to sometimes think back and like, as you say, like you know, a good sales leader has to be calm, has to instill confidence, has to remove fear it's my opinion, um, but have the hustle too. So it's like, and it makes sense, why you've had a success, successful career in sales, sales leadership, because it's nice blend of mom and dad, of teaching, but also hustle too.
Speaker 1:Well, and I look back at most of my roles, like even in leadership, there's a production element to it, right, and I've always believed in that. You have to pay for yourself mentality, you know, especially working for larger organizations. If you're just a sales leader and you know, times get tough, it's you, in my personal opinion. You're an easy target, right. Right, you're not driving revenue. So I've always liked to have that kind of combo of hey, I can lead, but at the same time too, I want to be bringing, I want to be paying for myself to where. It's not a question of that. So you know, I look back. When I was at Robert Half, I mean I had you know branches and then kind of most of Florida, but I was still in production when I went to Motus. It was at first out of production. It was like, hey, we want you to produce. And I got right back into it, right.
Speaker 1:So I always love that element, because I do like to keep my hands dirty. And then in my role at Parco I am. I do sales every day, so you know I'm in production and what we're doing. So I think I've got that. I've got that entrepreneurial bug. I can't sit still. It's just not my, not my nature. I'd much rather have my calendar overflowing than nothing on it, because I just sit here and be bored to death.
Speaker 2:have my calendar overflowing than nothing on it, because I just sit here and I'd be bored to death right. Um well, you're lucky that you're handy man. I I am. I would say I'm a um, jv or c team the handy guy.
Speaker 2:I just my mind. I don't have the engineering mind to like see it. But then, but once someone like kind of explains it, I see it and it's it like connects, I'm like, oh, we can do that, and so like I'll be your great second hand for you. But if it's like, hey, you got to go figure this thing out, like my wife is a beast with that stuff, her dad's like macgyver I've said the joke before and you know, I think, as a guy that works in my line of work, which I didn't mean to do but this found me like working on ego and humility and being vulnerable, and we don't have to have all the answers Like I now like more celebrate the fact that I'm not super handy and I could be like that's my one of my gaps. Okay, let's try, you know, try to do something about it. But but it's cool that your pops taught you those things. Besides the skateboard round, what was the coolest thing you ever, besides that you built?
Speaker 1:Oh man, I mean, I've built all kinds of stuff, you know, even I mean I've built all kinds of stuff, you know, even as I've gotten older, for my kids, whether it's, you know, play sets or whatever. You know, like I'm not, I'm not willing to go spend $5,000 on a play set. I'll drive up to Home Depot and buy the wood and build it myself. So I actually built a tiki bar in my backyard. It's out there now, that has water, it's got electricity, you know. And then we built a paper patio off the end of it too for a fire pit and chairs.
Speaker 1:And so yesterday I was fixing the jet ski trailer, so the lights one of the lights had broken off and I hit the other one on something else. I was out there having to bend metal and get new lights on it and fix it. But I just, I don't know. I've always been curious, so I don't mind, you know, trying something. If I break it or do something wrong, I'll fix it. I'm not, I'm not worried about that side of it. So, um, done the whole sprinkler system here at my house. Like I said, I'll just, I'll do anything I'll give it a shot.
Speaker 1:I don't do drywall and I don't do tile though. So when I remodeled our bathroom, those are my two, so I told my wife I'm like I'll do everything else the plumbing, I'll get everything else done, but when it comes to tiling and drywall, that's just. I don't have that. I don't have the touch for either of those.
Speaker 2:It's funny. I have a buddy that left staffing but he has his own um tile business now and he's like I love it, it's like he found his niche. You know what? Um, you mentioned curiosity, which is, uh, a superpower in life and something that I'm obsessed with, but, um, tell me, where do you think your curiosity came from?
Speaker 1:Um, I don't know, maybe back to once again in the beginning of like learning how to build things Like it. Just I don't know, I I've never been I don't know how to say this Like I've never been into like, um, you know, like fantasy movies or like any of this, like everything I have is like reality. So I don't know, I watch, I watch a lot of shows, I read some books. I see different things and I'm like I, just I it's I don't know where, where the gene comes from. I just have that natural curiosity and I see something. I'm like I could do that and I'm willing to go give it a shot.
Speaker 2:To be able to teach people the skill of being handy, I would think requires empathy and patience. Yes, from your pops Can you think of a time where mom and dad had to have empathy and patience that maybe you reflect on now as a dad that you use in your own dad game?
Speaker 1:Oh, definitely Like when I was. I'll never forget. So you know, my dad had us do boy scouts and all that stuff as we were growing up and it was, I don't know, kind of a typical thing. Like my older brother cruised through school, he did the whole Eagle scout thing, all that, and I'd say, about 16 years old, I got a car and, um, you know just I kind of gotten away from it. My dad was just pushing me, pushing me, pushing me to like get this thing done. So it really took a team effort from the both of them to get me back into it, um, at about 17, and then working with me all the way until 1159 on the night before my 18th birthday to get that done. So I look at like something that had to be accomplished at a timeline that really required both of them. So dad was on my backside about getting the actual project done, where mom's coaching me of this is why you're doing it. This is why you need to get it done.
Speaker 1:So definitely tough love, compassion, right, you have both sides of it and my, my dad doesn't, didn't always have patience, right, like I always. I always joke around and there's a meme out there about you never had to hold the flashlight for your dad, right? You know? For at a certain age you go back to doing that Like it didn't matter how you held it. You were holding it wrong, right? I just laugh at that. We have plenty of those moments. I mean we, we, we definitely butted heads many times.
Speaker 1:but you know it was, it was a lesson for me. And sometimes I catch myself with my own kids and I get impatient. I'm like, all right, just take a deep breath. And you know, sometimes I just have to prep myself for things like, hey, I know this is going to be frustrating. Like, just mentally prepare yourself, that it's. You're going to get frustrated, just take a deep breath. Um, you know, I think about, like now, as my parents get older, like especially helping my dad out with things like, oh, I'll get out there and help you. It's like no, like I'd rather. It's hard to tell your dad like, hey, I'd rather you just stay inside and watch, enjoy the air condition, I'll get the work done because I can get it done faster, right and um. So there, definitely those moments.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's funny, my um, well, as you said that like, so my maybe think about my dad, my, so my dad passed away Travis in 2021 and really really rough journey, health battle with him, kind of body just fell apart, mind fell apart. So the days where you do find yourself get frustrated, I'm sure you do celebrate it, but, like I would. You know, having an 86 year old dad want to go out and do stuff is really fricking cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah no doubt about it, no doubt about it. It's. You know I definitely cherish the moments and realize that. You know it is a blessing. So that's the hard part too. I see too many people that are frustrated or lack of relationship or things like that. And it's really, you know, knowing the guarantees of life right Like it's, there's not infinite time, so you have to enjoy it while you can, yep.
Speaker 2:Well, as you said that, um, I think you hit on a couple of things that I think are really important.
Speaker 2:Um, I found sometimes as a younger dad, when I was raising my kids or my wife and I, one thing that I would find frustrate me and it was all self-induced, it was having false expectations in your head, yep, and then in my mind envisioning it like, oh, how this day is going to go or this house is going to go, and then not having an agreement of those expectations, which I think also aligns in, like this, the leadership sales work I do now for companies.
Speaker 2:It was like that triggered a thought last week or two weeks ago and I actually did a video about the difference between having expectations and agreements, and so, as you said that, I think it's an important thing I want to hit on for, specifically, there's dads listening at home that maybe find themselves getting frustrated too quick or losing their you know what too quick. A lot of it. Sometimes it is self-inducing and hopefully learn from me Like I was, I was the problem Right, and so, like, as you think about that, what, um, what are some things that you you found work for you that maybe another dad at home might be able to learn from, or maybe a story that you can think of where you, where you maybe weren't your best, or maybe a story where you were your best.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I mean I've definitely lost. I mean I've lost my temper a few times, right, Like that's. I don't know, I don't. I got married and had kids early, right Like that's the other thing I was just thinking about as we were going through some of that, right I was. I got married at 23, when my first son was 25. Um, whereas in my case my dad was 38 when I was born, um, and mom was 35, right, so they were older and so I, I think about it all the time. You know, like when I graduated high school, my dad was almost 57, right. And here I am. All three of my kids are about to be out of high school and I'm still in my 40s and so.
Speaker 1:But you know, I've learned. You have to learn each one of your kids. You learn their intricacies. They're not all the same, they all have different demeanors. You learn what gets them riled up, and I think sometimes what's worked for me is I can kind of see it coming now sometimes and I just remove myself from the scenario, like I've learned sometimes, particularly with my daughter I hope this doesn't come across wrong.
Speaker 1:The two boys were easy. My daughter and I are like oil and water. Sometimes and I mean to be fair she's a lot like me. She's witty and quick with the one-liners and sometimes doesn't know when to stop with them. That's the difference. Like, there's time to have fun and sometimes it's like, all right, hey, we'll pump the brakes. And so there's times you just learn like, hey, I'm not worried about my opinion of this scenario, let mom and daughter work it out. I'm going to sit over here on the sidelines and enjoy my peace and tranquility without giving my two cents. So we had that.
Speaker 1:The other night, my daughter came home from work and we were just talking about the summer and put money away before college and next thing I know, it just completely derailed and I was like, ok, I'm checking out of this one. Like I, this was not meant to be a negative conversation. It was meant to be like hey, I need you to be thinking about you're about to have a bunch of free time, but it's not really free time because you have a job. I need you to really start putting some money away for when you go to college so you can go out and have fun. Um, not that I don't get my kids money right, but still we're paying rent we're paying groceries, we're paying school, we're paying all these things.
Speaker 1:It's like you have a job, put some of this stuff away and then it just, like I said, it derailed and I just had to take a deep breath and pull myself out of the conversation and then the next morning joke around a little bit about a little bit, and then she gives me a big hug and we keep moving. So, um, I didn't have a whole lot of that with the boys. It was pretty straightforward. So there's a there's landmines with the daughter that I have to to navigate.
Speaker 2:Well, I think that's another um, that's a good, really good story. I think that I'll speak to a lot of, hopefully, dads or moms at home but, like, I think one of the things you did is you didn't let it just sit like the next morning. You made a conscious choice to kind of talk about it or bring it up and maybe use humor. Um, sometimes, you know, dad, we've done episodes of forward, we've we said, hey, you know, power of saying sorry is a gift to give your kids, where you can teach them. Hey, we're all just as flawed as you, um did. Did you learn to do that by just innate? Maybe your, your wife shared with you, your parents shared with you, like that, that follow-up for that when you, when they have a little conflict.
Speaker 1:No, I think you know, my wife comes from a big Irish family and we've been to plenty of weddings where, whether it was her parents or her grandparents, you know there's always it was always about marriage, but it was like never go to bed angry, right, but that's you can use that in everything in life, right, it doesn't the only person's night you're ruining is your own.
Speaker 1:Yeah, right, and so, um, I don't know. I think some of it's just age and wisdom, right, like, as you've done it, you've been through it a few times. You know the first when you're younger, you want to be right and as you get older, it's not about being right, it's about what, what, what makes life easiest, you know and just, and being able to adapt and realize sometimes you are right but you aren't and you have to deal with that, right, and I just, I don't know I, being able to let things go and just for the for, for the for, the better for everybody is. It's a learned skill over time, but I think when you have multiple kids and you've got lots of years doing it, it comes a lot easier.
Speaker 2:So you, you hit on something that's like my favorite piece of advice I've ever received in my life. Um, I learned at age 23 and my first sales leader he said Casey. He asked me a question. He goes Casey, do you want to be right or do you want to get what you want? I go, I want both. He goes you can't, you got to pick one. And I go well, I think I want to get what I want. He's like good answer. And he's like why do you think so? I go? Well, probably my ego. He's like yeah, to a CEO. This morning, doing some coaching work with her, brought it up with her, you know, sharing with one of her fellow direct reports. It's like it's so painfully brutal when you hear it because you don't want to hear it, because you're at your ego fighting you, but once you like, check it and embrace it it's like, oh my God, life doesn't have to be that hard.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's tough, though I mean it really is, especially in business. You know, when you're held accountable for certain things as a leader and you know that the right thing is what you really want to do, but yet, for the sake, once again, right, to get what you want, you have to do something else, and then sometimes it works out. Sometimes it doesn't what you want. You have to do something else, and then it sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. But you know, you still know in the back of your mind that at least for me, like I always there's always just that kind of asterisk of like I really didn't want to do it this way, and then you see how it plays out. So it's going both directions. Sometimes you're like told you so, and other times you're like, wow, I'm glad I really opened my mind and was able to to at least give us a chance to see what happens.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, some of these it's just interesting, because the things we're talking about, like it's really it's it's business and family and life in general, right Of just. To me it's the way you view the world and how you, how you learn to adapt with people Right, and they can be your customers, they can be your coworkers and they can be your kids and they can be your spouse. I got a book from one of my early sales jobs I still have it here and I think the title was lovers or clients selling succeeds or something like that, and it was just that's what it was all about it was. It was kind of the two different dynamics of putting those in perspective.
Speaker 2:It was kind of the two different dynamics of putting those in perspective. Well, it's so many, so many of you are. You did talk about there is common sense, but I I've learned as an entrepreneur now that common sense is not commonly practiced.
Speaker 1:It is not common.
Speaker 2:And I don't know if you experienced this, you know, going from two couple of large organizations and now it's where you're at at Parka, but like things that you thought when you, when you like, for example, at rhi or modus, like, did you ever have that experience where you just you place the place like oh, everybody knows this, and you get through like, oh, my god, no, they don't no, no doubt about it.
Speaker 1:I mean, I've I've worked at startups and I've worked at really big ones and you know some of the stuff after working at a large organization is just standard operating. You know standard procedure, and then you go somewhere else and it's just a foreign concept and it's like wait a second, how, how are you been doing this?
Speaker 2:So I would be willing to bet your. Your skill of curiosity helps you through those moments of meeting people where they are.
Speaker 1:Yep, yeah, yeah that, and I mean just even on the sales side, like being good with numbers and understanding how things work. You know, I got, I actually got hired to a role. This is an interesting story. I appreciate this from a staffing side. So I got hired to a role and I actually was recruited by a headhunter right in the staffing business, which I thought was interesting.
Speaker 1:And so we get my first P&L, like like second quarter in or first quarter in, and you know we had a threshold for getting a bonus. Well, I get the P&L and I'm like, man, I know I hit this number and I start digging around and I'm like I'm going line by line in this Excel sheet and the accountant's like, why do you want this information? I was like, just send it to me, I want to dig through this. Well, it turned out they charged me back for the recruiting fee that they had paid for me, and that was the difference between hitting the bonus number or not Right now. And I went wait a second. No, no, no, you can't, you can't penalize me for hiring me.
Speaker 2:This isn't going to work.
Speaker 1:Went through the whole process, but that is the one thing I learned too. You mentioned like common sense, but just even the curiosity of understanding everything is correct, um, I wouldn't call it like being a perfectionist, but I think the common sense of just looking at numbers, looking at scenarios, understanding contracts and documents and things like that, just having a basic knowledge of that, it's a lost art for a lot of people. It's like okay, sorry I didn't make it, I'm like no, no, no, hold on a second. Like I've always been in staffing, I've always been very detailed on numbers and understanding where we're at. So I mean, that's where I just see kind of that curiosity of just life in general takes over the business and having those details down.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I shameless plug here. So when I left I was when I left corporate I always wanted to write a book, and so I wrote a book called win the relationship, not the deal. And the things I wrote about not only and you kind of made me think about it not only do they help salespeople, but also it's life skills. These are, and these are things I'm working on all the time, and so I've, you know, teaching my kids, like the power of bring energy to the room, be nice, always set expectations. If you're going to be late, let them know. If you're, if you're going to be, if something changed, let people know. Get ahead of things. Be a great listener. Remember if someone says you know to call you at this time, we'll call them at that time. It's like the power of like. Why documentation and sales is so important. Um, being coachable, check your ego and have patience for people like I don't care what industry you're in, those are six things I would hire from anybody. But they're not. They're really really hard to get good at over time and they take a lot of intentionality.
Speaker 2:And you know and I joke sometimes when I work with people that you know when we were kids. Our parents taught us power of the golden rule. You know, treat people the way we want to be treated, but yet we get in corporate. You can just it's it's. You assume that, oh, I can be an a-hole to somebody or I can drive down the road and get road rage and well like, but what? We don't slow down. So, um, it's been fun like having my kids see dad transition from corporate to all of a sudden he's. I work out of my house all the time now when they're here and but being able to like, kind of like, share these stories and teach Cause I hope that when they get to be our age they remember that you know the things of teaching high level EQ is that's just not. You know that's expected from our family. It's like be a good person always.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I agree with that, and I think to um, treat each other the way you want to be treated, but also to set boundaries. And what I mean by that is like be willing to walk away from the negative right. If you interact with somebody or you interact with the company and they treat you like crap or they treat your team like crap, you know, obviously you don't just run, but I mean have a conversation, but if it doesn't change, like, hey, it's not worth it. So being able to tell people no, and walking away from things like that's a uh, people don't look at it like that, but it's it's a very, very powerful thing to be able to do. To tell somebody like no, thanks, right, I don't want, I don't want your business, because the mentality I think for everybody is we need every, every penny and every dollar, but you don't know you need the right ones.
Speaker 1:You need the right customers, the right partners, the right customers, the right partners, the right people that you know it's not always going to be fun, but when they make it fun to do, it makes it a lot better. Right, but you need that professionalism and I think you see that lack with a lot of people just across the board. You know it's amazing to your point, right. Like, hey, Travis, like I want to meet with you to talk about this, Cool, All right. Well, I'm going to send you an invite for tomorrow at 2 o'clock, you know 1.59. Hey, sorry I can't make it. It's like come on, man. No, you knew before this. Like, just shoot me a message, I'm cool.
Speaker 3:Like send me a note transforming the business of talent through our three lines of business ClearEdge Marketing, recruiting and Rising that help organizations across the recruitment and HR tech sectors grow their brands and market share while building their teams with excellence and equity. I believe we were one of Casey's very first clients. He helped our sales and account teams really those people on the front lines of building and developing client relationships in so many ways. Here are a few. He helped us unlock the power of curiosity. For me it was a game changer. I was personally learning all about TED-based that's, tell, explain, describe, questioning and that really resonated with me. We also learned about unlocking the power of humility and unlocking the power of vulnerability. Casey taught us to be a team player, to embrace change, to stay positive. He is one of the most positive people I know. He believes that optimism, resilience and a sense of humor can go a long way in helping people achieve their goals and overcome obstacles.
Speaker 3:And I agree Casey's book when the Relationship, not the Deal. It is a must read. Listen. Whether you're looking for coaching and training or a powerful speaker or keynote, casey is one of the people I recommend when talking to companies. The end result for us, at least as one of Casey's clients. Our own clients would literally commend our approach over all other companies, from the way we were prepared in advance of a call to how we drove meetings, to how we follow up. It sounds really basic, I know, but let me tell you it is a standout approach that led to stronger relationships. I encourage you to learn more by going to CaseyJCoxcom. You have nothing to lose by having a conversation and a lot to gain. Now let's get back to Casey's podcast, the Quarterback Dadcast.
Speaker 2:You have. You maybe think of a story that I shared with my kids. This might speak to you. So I had one of the coaching unnamed companies I was working with. One of the individuals joined a Because I did a fractional gig for somebody, yep, and part of my job was run sales meeting every two weeks.
Speaker 2:Well, this gentleman meeting started at 830, my time. He showed up at like 852 in the Zoom. I declined it, tried to re-get back in. I declined it again. I get a text. He says hey, man, can you let me in? No, he says why not? I go, I'll talk to you after the meeting. And I said and I never said hey guys, fy your teammates trying to get in.
Speaker 2:I'm going to set an example, not because I'm trying to be rude, but this is what a calendar looks like. Meeting started at eight 30. Now the, the what would, and I use it. Instead of telling him, I said well, tell me what would be the right thing to do? Everybody.
Speaker 2:I got a couple couple like you know, like that square of the headlights are like because they weren't used to being held accountable. I said we should have done is at 822. Send me a note. Hey, I'm stuck with a customer I can't meet. Yep, get ahead of it. Now, was I being on the top? Some might argue yes, but I was trying to prove a point, because this company went from like having no accountability to like getting some accountability and fix the problem, you know, and I just wanted to tell my kids that story and they're like so it's like just you, might guys see that I'm right or rightly, that's my kid's name Like sometimes dad's hardy about that stuff, but I'm hardy on the things that matter and like being you don't ever want to be someone in life.
Speaker 1:That's late, right we did the morning huddles and the staffing and people would show up five minutes late but they had a Starbucks in their hand and it's like wait a second. You know you, you weren't late because you couldn't be here on time. You were late because you stopped at the coffee shop because you didn't leave early enough to get the coffee Right. Those are two different scenarios.
Speaker 2:Well played.
Speaker 1:And so I used that. You're talking about what would kind of get my blood boiling that one right there with that. That's one that I had to really bite my tongue a couple of times and, just, you know, take a deep breath.
Speaker 1:But you know, I will say that's where I think you know, and the culture isn't for everybody and I think it's a lot better. But, man, growing up, like, my first sales job, I worked for an office equipment company selling copiers. Right, you want to talk about a rough business, right, learning how to take no for an answer. I learned that. Then I got into staffing and I worked for a smaller one, but then I went and worked for Robert Half and you know it's suit and tie, it's.
Speaker 1:You're making this many calls, you're doing this, you're doing very, very structured, right, but you knew what your expectations were and there was the ultimate accountability there. Like, some people would consider it harsh back in the day, right, but it was. There was 100% accountability. But I think that kind of shaped as you move forward, you're like, hey, there's a good aspect of this, but how do I leverage this with my personality, which is not over the top? Right, how do we make accountability not so rough around the edges? Right, like, understand why you're, why we're doing things, what the whole purpose is, to your point, like, so your kids understand you know what, what the reason is for doing certain things, because sometimes it's oh well, dad just was trying to make me do this just to be a jerk, right, and it's like no.
Speaker 2:I'm trying to help you out. How so? I think all these themes we're talking about, I think not only they're important in business, they're important as dads, relating to sales and leadership and, in theory, whether you're in sales or not, everybody's selling. I always tell people You're trying to convince your husband or wife to go to Mexican. They might be trying to convince you to go to Chinese tonight, like someone's going to win that deal, right. And so if you think about, like the core values that your parents taught you and then, transversely, the core values that you and your wife are teaching your kids, tell me what's the same and what's different.
Speaker 1:I definitely. I didn't buy my kids toolboxes, right, so I think my kids have. You know, I think the compassionate side and that side from my mother has definitely been passed down. The entrepreneurial spirit of my father, like, my oldest son is a project manager, right An electric company, so I don't see him being in sales. My middle son is in an aspect of sales, still trying to figure out what my daughter's going to do, so like I don't know, ultimately, what they go towards.
Speaker 1:You know the thing we haven't really talked about. We, you know, we talked about your kids playing sports. My kids all played sports growing up. So we did AAU basketball, we traveled around the country, we did training sessions, like you know. So they they learned hard work, um, and you know, I think it's it was interesting too, going from being at a small Catholic grade school where if you had some athleticism, you could play every sport. Uh, we were fortunate enough when my kids were there to have quite a few athletes and we were very competitive. But then you get to high school and it's a business Like even you know it's. You know this from your kids, right, like you, they tell you you don't have to, but you almost have to pick a sport, you have to do spring ball, you have to do AAU, you have to like it's. You got to be a part of it, or at least the feeling is made that you have to be a part of it. Right, and so I think they learned that kind of quickly. To growing up is that you know you have to dedicate yourself to it.
Speaker 1:And my daughter my daughter was a really good softball player, so this is an interesting story. So she was a pitcher. She's just got natural ability. She can pick up softball, stone them straight down the middle. She might not pick it up for a year. So she got to high school she said I'll play softball because we want her to play a sport like pick one. I don't care, go run track and field, I don't care what you do, play volleyball, basketball, softball, pick one, basketball is too much work, volleyball is too much work, I'm gonna go play softballs. She played soft, said I'll play one condition I don't want to pitch. And we showed up the first game and she's a starting pitcher and so I used to tell the coach all the time I was like you better put your arm around her and you better start paying her some attention. Like the varsity coach, I'm like you're going to lose her. No, no, I will, I will. I was say she didn't go back after her our freshman year, so we looked at a few different things she tried out for the golf team this last year as a senior made it so interesting, you know just.
Speaker 1:But I always try to keep them involved in something, you know, not just school, but there had to be some sort of social aspect. My oldest son's an eagle scout. You know my daughter. You know they either were playing sports, they were, were doing something, they played their fair share of video games, but we always had them around other people learning different things. I will tell you the competitive tournaments, traveling around.
Speaker 1:I hear a lot of people say, oh, I would never do travel sports with my kids. That's way too much, man, it's a waste of time. Sign me up again. Whenever you're ready, I'll go back tomorrow. Sign me up again. Whenever you're ready, I'll go back tomorrow. Those are some of the best, funnest times as a parent man being with your kid, watching your kids compete, getting around the other parents. You know you build out your social network of other folks and it's pretty cool. So we're still in touch with a tons of the families that we used to travel around with.
Speaker 1:I'm in Florida and I mean, the furthest we went we went to Las Vegas for a basketball tournament, which is pretty wild Right. So I should own property in Orlando. I spent so much time at Disney and the AAU center down there, but no it's. I think that aspect of it is just you got to, you got to have your school, but you, you gotta have some other, some other activity going along with it to keep you busy well, if it makes you, if a memory lane here, travis, I'll be in vegas next weekend for a hoop, love it.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So we, we go to chicago, phoenix, california. This is our first, my first time going to vegas. Um, but yeah to to you that point about memories. Like we, even like our girls, are having memories, and my son, he, played too, and but our parents were creating shirts called the farewell tour and it's a picture of the girls and you know it. Just, it's the memories you create.
Speaker 2:And so, even like last weekend or two weeks ago, we were in Roseville, california, for a tournament and we all did like we were doing the high and low of the weekend. The girls went around and when it was my turn to speak, I said my high is nothing to do with the points and then to do with the wins, the rebounds, it's. Look at the laughter you guys have down this table. Look at the memory, the lifelong memories you're gonna create. You won't for you, if I said, hey, what was the best three you made, you'd be like you might have a memory, but you're gonna see what was the most fun. They're like. I remember that dinner at this restaurant. We laughed and this guy did this and we were in the hotel room watching a movie and this person talked about that. It's like these are like life skills you're learning and because most kids as we learned as much, they're not going pro. But when you're a new parent out there, you think you're a little Johnny, a little Susie's. Next Randy Johnson, it's ain't going to happen.
Speaker 1:It might, but you know, but most likely it's not. Yeah, we were in a when we were in Vegas. It was when Zion Williamson and Lonzo ball were playing in the in the. They were in that same tournament but they played a different location and my kids were all excited. We're like, okay, we'll go. And then it was, you know, I think about a two and a half hour wait to get in. You were never making it into the gym and we had a really good time and they got to see a lot of NBA players. You know they have memories from that, from going to Vegas, even just being on the plane and being with their friends and, you know, doing the different things. We we had a. We had a great time.
Speaker 2:So good, okay, before we dive into some life at Parka, if you were to like, maybe highlight an area of your dad game, that, as you reflect it, that maybe a younger dad listening to be like man, let's, let's learn from the old guys. I mean, you like what would be an area of your dad game that maybe you knew wasn't quite always where you wanted to be, that you could go back to man I wish I was. I was more of this, or more of that.
Speaker 1:that might speak to a dad at home well, I hear a lot of people say like you can't be friends with your kids, and I don't buy into that. I think you absolutely can, but you have to have the accountability piece to go along with it. And so I think you going from lack of a better term kind of being a hard ass in the beginning, to being able to put your arm around them and explain things and I think the sports had some of that to do with it too right, Because they started to get some tough love from other people, aka coaches and different things but just like being able to understand that you can be friends with your kid, but they also need to understand there's a switch there and when it's time for accountability, that that switch gets hit Right. And and so I, I just I think being real with your kids too, and like just being honest with them, is is is very helpful, and when you get frustrated with them, is is is very helpful, and when you get frustrated with them, let them understand why. Right, and it's. Oh, I made a mistake. You didn't make a mistake, but it was a preventable mistake, so let's talk about like this is why it frustrates me. So I don't know.
Speaker 1:I just, I think, that piece of it and then just be as present as you can. You know what I mean by that is, if your kids are doing things, being there is a big deal, you know. Even in sports, if your kid's on the bench, mom and dad being in the stands, being there for it is still important. So you know, I made a priority when traveling with work. I mean, there's many times I would have lunch in South Florida and I'd spend five hours driving back to get back for a 630 JV basketball game, Right, that wasn't unheard of.
Speaker 1:Um, I've got a conference at the end of the end of this month and I'm flying out. I get back at midnight cause my daughter's graduation mass is the next day, Right, Like there's times. It just just putting them first and making sure they know that, I think is super important. And, um, you know, I think if you ask my kids I'll tell you I'm not perfect. But they also know I do anything in the world for them and that's that's what matters most to me, Love it, love it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're, um, I, I go to Charleston next week for three days and the conference could be all week. I'm like I can, I can speak and be your guy, but I got to leave Wednesday night because I'm not going to miss this basketball tournament.
Speaker 1:So love Charleston, by the way, great city.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you've been to Miller's all day.
Speaker 1:No, I haven't been there.
Speaker 2:Great breakfast spot on King street, so I went. This will be my second time going, but I went and I was actually talking to a guy. Last week we had we had the same shirt. It's like a gray. It says Miller's all day with green on it. So anybody out there if you've never been to Miller's all day, go check it out. Shout out to them. Okay, I've mentioned Parka a couple of times. People might know like Parka, like Parka Floor from Boston Celtics, like which is not it. Tell us what Parka does and why should people be interested in learning more about the great team you got?
Speaker 1:does and why should people be interested in learning more about the great team you got? Yeah, so we are a Salesforce consulting shop that's specific to the staffing and recruiting industry. So I have 20 plus years in the business. I got introduced to Parker a couple of years ago when I was between opportunities, and we do a lot of the things that I wish I could get my companies to do when I worked for them.
Speaker 1:So we specialize in the Salesforce and Bullhorn ecosystems, but we help companies who are looking to either optimize what they currently have or if they're looking at new systems based on the Salesforce platform. There's several of them out there, but we provide tech consultation, implementation, automation strategies, enterprise consultation. So it's all technology focused Salesforce platform, staffing and recruiting. So if anybody's sitting there and they're listening to this, they're like man, we've been thinking about making a change or we'd love to understand what we're missing out on. Everybody's hearing AI automation. If you're not doing that stuff, you really are getting left behind. I'm the person you want to talk to. We can at least have an initial conversation and see what it looks like and go from there.
Speaker 2:Love it. What's the best way for people to find you?
Speaker 1:LinkedIn is always easy, just under Travis Webb. And then my email is just twebb at parka with a Q P-A-R-Q-A dot com.
Speaker 2:Okay, love it. I'll make sure this is linked in the show notes so people can learn more about you. It is now time, travis, to go into the lightning round, which is I show you the negative hits of taking too many hits in college not bong hits, but football hits. Your job is to answer these questions as quickly as you can, and my hope is to get a giggle out of you. Okay, perfect, okay. So for people who are watching at home on YouTube, you'll understand this next dad joke. If you're not in the car, you're going to have to just visualize. So, travis, true or false, you are considered the big country of staffing.
Speaker 1:True.
Speaker 2:Everybody. It looks like big country from Oklahoma State back in the day. I feel like I'm talking to him.
Speaker 1:North Carolina it's Eric.
Speaker 2:Montrose. Where was I? Who's the dude from Oklahoma State though? What's that dude's name? I'm not sure. So you got there's not sure. So you got there's two dudes. So I got Montrose. Now I'm looking at. Now I got him. I just messed that up. But there's another guy I'm thinking about. There's an Oklahoma State guy that you, I don't I got. I'm going to blank on his name. Now You'll have to let me know on that one there. Step Brothers.
Speaker 1:Solid I've heard it all the time. It's a classic and I can watch it on repeat. My wife will tell you that I will watch it over and over on the comedy channel.
Speaker 2:Okay, what would be the one genre of music that might surprise your kids you listen to?
Speaker 1:Actually believe it or not. I grew up, I was in the band. I wasn't always this big, so I will listen to classical music every once in a while.
Speaker 2:Okay, there you go. What instrument did you play?
Speaker 1:Trumpet and baritone.
Speaker 2:I was a trumpet guy. In fifth grade Made the crazy decision to get a silver trumpet, Used my job to go pay for it and then ninth grade hung up the cleats. We could be the Louis Armstrong of staffing together. Brother, Last book you read was I'm actually currently reading your book.
Speaker 1:After our conversation a couple of weeks ago, I got it in. I read the first chapter last night and we'll have it done here by the end of the week.
Speaker 2:I did not know that everybody that is not a shameless self plug, so I appreciate the support. If I was to come to your house for dinner tonight, what would we have?
Speaker 1:Well, it's Cinco de Mayo, so we would be having tacos.
Speaker 2:Sounds good. You and your wife are going on vacation. No kids, where are we going?
Speaker 1:Either the last one we went to we actually went to Charleston, since we were talking about Charleston, but we spent a lot of time up in the mountains in Western North Carolina or we are avid cruisers. So you find us down the Caribbean on various islands.
Speaker 2:Love it. Okay, tell me, if there was a be a book written about your life, travis, what would be the title?
Speaker 1:Oh, boy, boy, I don't know, that's a good one.
Speaker 2:I thought it was going to be oh boy. Dot, dot dot. That might be it. All right, let's go with that oh boy, which has so many meanings that I think might inspire people who want to read it. But now Hollywood wants to make a movie out of Travis, and so I need to know who's going to star you in this critically acclaimed, hit new movie, oh Boy.
Speaker 1:Eric Montross.
Speaker 2:Well played, well played and good answer. Okay, and then last question, the most important one Tell me two words that would describe your wife.
Speaker 1:Patient and kind.
Speaker 2:Solid answers which explains why you've been married for 25 years, and a patient and kind wife. Those are two foundational elements. So, lightning round's over, we both giggled. I had a fun, I had a blast just getting to know you man, and I'm just grateful for Randall for introducing us and I hope everybody has taken a lot from our conversation. I hope that if you're in the staffing industry, if you're looking to learn more about the Salesforce automation work, reach out to Travis. We'll make sure it's really easy to do. It'll be linked in the show notes and if this episode has touched you, please share it with a friend. If you have not yet left us a review on anywhere where you consume your podcast, that would be a big gift. You can thank I mean me and my team. We would appreciate that Without further ado. Brother, I appreciate you. Thanks again for spending so much time and I look forward to hopefully meeting you in person soon.
Speaker 1:Absolutely Thanks, casey, yeah.