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Hey everyone, I'm Lou Perez, your host of The Builder
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Upper Show, a podcast where we talk about everything in
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construction and trades.
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Now let's get into it. I would like to welcome.
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Our guest, Reggie Torber, president of Pylon Building Group.
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Hey, Reggie, how you doing today?
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Man? I'm doing well, man, doing well. This Friday, I
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get to hang out with you, so it's a great day.
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I'm really excited that you here. We've been trying to
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plan this podcast. I swear for the longest time, and
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just so you guys know, I'll be fully transparent. Reggie
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is one of Lumber's clients, a value client. He came
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in and hang out with me. He went and hung
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out with me in New York at NASDAC and gave
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a speech to a lot of other big construction companies
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out there.
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Is absolutely amazing.
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So I appreciate you taking the time to come on
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this podcast and tell us all about yourself. So with
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that said, Reggie, I'm gonna kick it out, man, I'm
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going to get right into it.
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When did you get into construction?
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Yeah? Yeah, well, man, before we get into construction, I
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think I would like to return the favor. And man,
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I've enjoyed getting to know you. You know, I have
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in my life been blessed to have amazing mentors through
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different areas of my life. But there's one central thing
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that they all suggest that I do, and they preach
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to me as surround yourself with great people and great partners.
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And I am not into the weeds of lumber like
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some of the people. I have some lumber fanboys and
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fangirls here about your you all do, but man, I
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know that you be a good person and a good partner.
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And man, I've enjoyed you and hope to continue that relationship.
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That means the world to me. And I really appreciate that.
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I mean, I'm the same way I have my mentors
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and advisors. You kind of follow what they say and
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you end up getting blessed when you're following direction from
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people that really know what they're talking about.
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Yeah, yeah, they earned distracts construction. You How did I
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get into construction? I would say I am to say
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that it is when Arthur Knox would be an understatement.
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You know, most people come to construction two ways. You know,
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you either go through school your engineer or building science
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or some type of engineer or you know, you walk
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onto a job site with a two belt and a
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hammer and you say, give me a shot. Neither neither
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of those was my approach. I took the scenic group.
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So so I guess for me. Speaking of relationships, I
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think is a good segue. I went to Auburn University, Okay,
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and I'm from Baton Ruth, Louisiana, and I was blessed enough.
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I played sports. I played football at Auburn. And when
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I was in Auburn, I had back to this idea
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and this theme of mentors, really good mentors. Were surrounded
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by people who I just say, wanted to see me win, right,
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just surrounded by people who wanted to see me win.
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And you know they would preach these intangible things, you know,
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treat people well, work hard, do what you say you
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want to do, be curious, right, don't just do your job,
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do what needs to be done. Like those were like
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scattered through and they were talking about football most of
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the time, but they became who it was, you know.
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And I played football at Auburn, went on to play
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professional football, played in the NFL for eight years. I
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want a Super Bowl play for the Giants, Dolphins, Bills,
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had a great career. Wow, Wow, it's pretty cool. Yeah.
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So at some point they show you the door, right
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like people I retire. You didn't retire. They told you
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you were too fat or too slow. You know, I
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got this young guy, I'm paying less money. It's time.
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So so when that was over, it really didn't know
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what I was going to do. Moved to Birmingham, Alabama.
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My wife is from Birmingham, which is why people think
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I moved to Birmingham. It's really not. We moved here
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because I wasn't really sure what the next season of
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my life looked like. But I knew enough about the
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world to know that networks matter. My strongest network was
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an Auburn network because of how I had carried myself.
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And the strongest Auburn network I knew about was in Birmingham, Alabama.
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And that's my wife why I came here. And there
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is a really large general of GC in Birmingham, Braswold
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and Gory. It's the largest GC in the Southeast, do
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about eight billion dollars worth of work. And also they
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are Auburn people. You know most of the founder right,
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and it's just it's helpful and they were looking for
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a role. It was called personal development. That was the role,
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right and basically what it was was, you know, basically
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you were in people development. I will work with leaders,
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young leaders, emerging leaders, people from the top of the
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company to the bottom of the company. And all I
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really was doing was using those intangibles that I talked
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about earlier. I'm not an engineer, but I understood understand
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high level leadership, high level team and that translates to
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construction directly to construction. So that is my entry way
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into construction.
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Wow, that's super powerful. And I meet a lot of
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people that come from sports. They have a sports background,
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and it's almost like it's game day when it's time
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to get to work. You're managing a team. You probably
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have your other coaches managing the team. You got your foreman's,
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your supers, or you got just project managers, and you
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guys are ready to get things done on a daily basis.
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I feel like in construction too, you almost.
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Had to keep yourself at an athletic ready build. You know,
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you can't stay up all night long the night before
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you have to get some sleep.
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You have to get prepared. I mean, you got a
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long day ahead of you.
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So I feel like there's a good transition from sports
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to construction. I mean, you're going in to get the
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work done, so I appreciate that I do have a
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sports background myself. I'll go into that a whole nother time,
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but yeah, at that level, it does take a high
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level a producer to really make construction successful.
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And it's awesome to see where you've.
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Came from, Like when you started and when we even
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started having conversation, the growth and success has been tremendous.
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I feel like your trajectory has been straight up. So
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bringing on new employees, I mean you're coaching leadership. You
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know how to have conversations with people and build people up.
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Would you say there's like a certain formula that you
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have when you're building a culture bringing in new employees
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or like finding new employees.
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Yes, Uh, the first thing that I do is set
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the standard and that that starts with me. And you
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know Tom Coughlin, who I've played for at the Giants,
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he used to say this thing all the time, and
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I use it all the time. Lazy people don't like
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to hang around hardworking people, and hardworking people don't like
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to hang around lazy people. You know, and a lot
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of times people you're here leaders complaining about their culture, Well,
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it's just the reflection of what you are willing to tolerate,
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you know. So I think a lot of it is
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upsetting a standard and protecting this standard, and that's number one,
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and we really start our foundation of creating the standard,
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what's expected, how you carry yourself, how you treat other people,
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doing what you say you're going to do. That's what
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I call the container, right, and that that that container
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a tres people, but it also repels people, you know,
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which is as equally as important. Once you build that
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container right and people feel safe, then you're just finding
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people who fit into that container. And once they get there,
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you give them the tools that they need and the
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support that they need, and you really get out of
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their way. You know. So that's an over the simplification
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of our approach here and what I've learned. But as
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far as you know, the coach said in the standard,
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protecting people, giving them what they need to be successful,
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creating that vision and you just like, you know, the
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thing that I think a lot of times corporate people
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miss out on that I think you can learn from
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sports is every year you start over. I don't care
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if you win the Super Bowl. The next year you
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do every everything goes back on the table. Nothing, nothing
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gets to pass. Just because it worked last year, It
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doesn't mean it's going to work this year. Right, it doesn't.
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If it's truthful and right, you don't, it doesn't need
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your protection. Put it on the table for critique by
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your leadership team. If it's still good, it stays. If
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it doesn't, it has to go. You know. That's that's
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training camp. That's what happens in training camp, you know.
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So these are just principles that we're just applying here.
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That's so powerful, and I'm glad that you articulated it
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that way. I don't think anybody has came on here
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and actually said that. I mean, we think of what
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we did today is just going to be tomorrow. We
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have to continue to look forward and keep building and
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keep succeeding. So it's fantastic that that's your mindset. I mean,
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of course, yeah, that comes from sports too. I mean,
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you have this discipline to you. I can I can
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just see it. So did that discipline come from when
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you were a kid? I guess how is it how
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your parents raised you? I guess how did those roots
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get built in you?
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Yeah, come from spankings, you know it is. You know
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I would say I'm blessed, man, I really am. I
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tell I like to say this loot man. I'm just
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the product of the people who've invested in me. Right,
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And I've had great mentors. You know, my mom was
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a great leader. My high school coaches were great leaders.
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But you know, at the end of the day, a
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lot of what I what I what you experienced with
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me is there is the mentor port but also sports.
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If you think about it, it is a great leader,
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a great trainer of leaders because the results are immediate.
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Right If if I don't do what I'm supposed to do,
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like that costs me today, right, Like I lose today, right,
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And in what we call the real world, right, you
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could have a bad habit and it could go on
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for years right before you realize that. You know, you
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think about what your kids right, like don't don't eat
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candy for breakfast? Well, they could do that for a
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real long time before they teach start, you know what
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I mean? Right, So I am keenly. My life has
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taught me to be keenly aware of the impact and
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the consequences of poor decisions. So that discipline a lot
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of people. When you think of discipline, I think of
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like like guardrails, right, Like we live in Birmingham, and
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Birmingham is pretty mountainous, right, and there's guardrails everywhere. Well,
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you can look at guardrails two ways. You could look
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at them as restrictive, right, like you as you will,
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you're stopping me from doing something, right. I think that
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is a I was going to say immature, But to me,
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that is not the best way to view guard rails.
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The best way to do view guardrails or protect right.
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For me, discipline is protective, and you know, it is
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easy for me to say, hey, I am not going
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to do this or I'm not going to do that
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because I want to do this. And a lot of
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times what your experience is people who don't understand the
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connection between hey, I would like to accomplish these things,
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but they don't make the connection by saying that means
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I cannot do these things? Does make sense?
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It does?
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I mean you get these like little wins. I'm glad
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that you like even brought up the kids. It's like
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you can tell them, you know, if you eat you
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broccoli today, you are protecting yourself from tomorrow. So these
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these little wins just get keep building up over time.
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You know.
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That's a lot of the stuff that you said, it's
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really inspiring. It's like you got to look at these
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things as they're protecting yourself. And speaking of inspiring, do
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you have any I mean, you mentioned your mom was
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a leader, Like do you have insprayed? Where that inspiration
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sho come from? Did did it come from your mom? Like,
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go ahead and expand on that a little bit.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah, So man, you know, I grew up
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in the whole. Most of the time it was just myself,
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my mom, and my sister, you know. And you know
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I had a I have a stepdad who was there
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for you know, periods of that childhood. But most of
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the time it was that. But you know, not traditional, right,
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I would say that the way that I grew up.
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But I was never in a position in which I
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would say that. Man, I wasn't loved or care for
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or safe. You know, my mom worked the butt off,
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She worked two or three jobs when she had to
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to take care of us.
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Wow.
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I always say, we never had any of the things
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we wanted but we always had everything that we needed.
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M Yeah, we didn't realize how poor we were because
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everybody else around us was so poor too, you know.
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So know, so I learned a lot from her. Man.
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I would even say, like my stepdad, like he did
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like sheet rock and painting, mudding work like and he
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worked this but like Louisiana summers are hot, you know,
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working in houses with with with no h fact, no
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mechanical systems. Right. And sometimes I would go to work
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with him and like when we will be leaving work
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in the summers, like we would be in the van
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headed home when he would ask me. He would say, hey,
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how was that? What do you think about that? And
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I would say it was hard and he would say good.
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He said, remember that, right, and that's this is why
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you need to go do your school work this, you know,
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they would say, get your lesson, right, this is why
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you need to get your lesson. And you know, I
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have two things that come from that that experience with him.
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One is I do understand work hard and how how
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my decisions today impact tomorrow. Basically that that's what he
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was trying to me. But something that I didn't even
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realize that will be impactful to my life, is the
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other message that I received. It was an unintended I believe,
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but I also received the messages construction is where you
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go when you fail, right, Yeah, And I think we
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may have talked about this when we were together, right,
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But I think a lot of people look at the
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construction industry. I think there's a stigma on our industry
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that we have to do some work around this idea
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of construction is where you go to fail because as
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well as you know, you know there's an amazing opportunity
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in the construction industry as well as all the ancillary
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support services around it. You could change your life for
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generations in the field of construction.
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You're absolutely right, man, I feel like that stigma that
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you mentioned, it just needs a change.
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It's gonna take a lot of work to get.
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Yes, takes us.
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It does take us. It does.
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I mean, we have to keep showing the future generation
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what we're doing today and how exciting it is for them.
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And it's it's just that industry alone. I mean, that
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is the messaging today. And I know that we're I mean,
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we're changing it in general. A lot of people that
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are listening right now don't know. I mean, we created
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a free app for field workers called builder Facts, and
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that's just so that they can start uploading their credentials
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while they're in school. It doesn't matter if they're not
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working in construction right away, and so that they can
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upload any certification, certifications, education and start building that profile
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so that it follows them throughout their career within construction.
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And it's exciting. You get to follow your own journey.
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And I know other industries that don't even do this.
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So we're trying to do something different that makes that
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those kids in school like maybe construction should be my
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first pick, Like I can actually go make money, set
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myself up. I mean, you don't have to go to college.
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You can go to college. There's tech schools or I
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would just say focus on educating yourself on the in
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the places where you need to be educated.
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So oh yeah, I agree.
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Yeah, uh no, I'm glad that you really brought that up.
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It makes a lot of sense. And you know, just
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to understand Pylon Building Group, I mean, you started this
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company and what are you guys focusing on building?
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Yeah, well there's a little clarification around. You know, I
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am the face and I get the you know, you're
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a leader, you lead your company, right, Yeah, yeah, I believe.
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I believe you can relate to me when I say
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we get a lot of the credit, and we get.
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But you and I both know that we have an
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army of people around behind. Oh yeah, working their tails off,
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you know. So I'm no different. You know, I mentioned
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earlier my start in construction was Brashwold and Gory. And
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while I was in that company, myself and Jim Gory
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who's the former CEO, and Rob Blaylock, who's the current CEO,
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we were having a discussion around how can we take
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two things that we love, that that is construction and
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the city of Birmingham, Alabama, and and and make an
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impact in our city. And we thought of several different
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ways to do that, and one of those was, Hey,
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how about we create a company that focuses on you know,
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one hundred miles or so radius around Birmingham, Alabama and
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do what we call create another circle. Right, this this
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idea of these impactful circles that that span only not
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a lover your work, but expand to your schools, your communities,
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your churches, right wherever you are. Right because we understand
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how important those circles are. If you're in one, you know,
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you may not understand because it's just like it's just
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like everyday life. But if you ever find yourself on
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the outside of a circle, right, you realize that your
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hard work, dedication and talent matters. But there's a point
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in which you're going to bump up into I'm on
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the outside, you know. So we wanted to use construction
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to create another one, so we created Pilom. It didn't
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have a name at the time. We created Pilom Building Group.
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So Pilom Building Group currently is a current a Holy
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owned Succedi area of Braswan Gory. You know, we work
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together to create a amazing amount of support and resources
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resources from that company. A lot of people put in
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a lot of effort to do it, and the plan
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was simple. We are going to work for three years
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to build a foundation so that the company could last
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seventy five one hundred years. After those three years, when
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our strength was built, we built some cash flow, built
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some bonding capacity, got some backlog, built some relational capital
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in the community, we would roll that company from under
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brassfl and Gory and transfer the ownership to me, Lou.
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That seems like that conversation was yesterday. It was four
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years ago.
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Wow.
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And we have reset points. So Man, on January first,
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upcoming twenty six, the ownership will transfer to myself. Man.
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Congratulations, that's it is it man?
357
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Thank you? It is exciting and scary at the same time.
358
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You know, yeah, because it's a tremendous effort for to
359
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be the lead of an effort that has so much potential,
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right to impact so many people in this community. You know,
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one thing that I think will be helpful is our
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mission statement. It's something I'm really proud of and it
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speaks to the question that that you've asked me. And
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our mission is build well to create good. Right. The
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build well part is just the work part. It is
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my background. It is what we've been talking about. It
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is how grown up man. If you don't work, you
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don't eat. It is a it is a very simple
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age old line, right, like.
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You have to you have to go get the food.
371
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You got to go get it, right. And we are
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not a nonprofit. Right. We don't want people to work
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with us because we're cute and cutley, or because we
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have relationships with these people. We want people to work
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with us because we're the best at what we do
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right and and if we will do that build well right,
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then from that will come and overflow that that will
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allow us to create good build well, to create good
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right and and man, we are seeing that already, even
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in the own phase in our in our young, young,
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young life, We've seen that happen. So we want to
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go out and build great projects and execute. And then
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we also want to help with our community, right pipelines
384
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and from schools, from high school to college, and partnerships
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with colleges to bring them into the workforce one hundred
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different ways. Right. But our little way of impacting this
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thing that you and I have been talking about is
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we will build well so that we can have some
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extra to go create. Bit wow.
390
00:22:38.960 --> 00:22:43.839
I mean you talked earlier about how you're blessed, and
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I feel like at the same time you're blessing others,
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you're blessing your community with creating these other opportunities. I mean,
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this is this is big, This is really I feel
394
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like we're we're seeing something that you're scratching the surface here,
395
00:22:58.960 --> 00:23:01.839
and this is something that could be one hundred years
396
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in the making. Oh yeah, really big. I can't wait.
397
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I mean, we'll be even older and look back on
398
00:23:08.119 --> 00:23:10.720
this and be like, man, can you believe that we
399
00:23:10.759 --> 00:23:15.079
had this podcast rate before? Reggie to over like that's
400
00:23:15.160 --> 00:23:20.240
that's wild, you know, would you? I hope you're okay
401
00:23:20.240 --> 00:23:22.640
with me bringing this up. I'm just throwing this out there.
402
00:23:22.640 --> 00:23:26.559
But you seem like you seem like a man of faith.
403
00:23:26.960 --> 00:23:31.400
Yeah, yes, yes I am. It means a lot to me,
404
00:23:32.160 --> 00:23:37.400
and you know I have I call it my spiritual journey.
405
00:23:37.799 --> 00:23:40.400
I've been on a spiritual journey since I was nineteen
406
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years old. And you know, I would say it informs.
407
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It informs everything that I do, good or bad. You know,
408
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I would say, at this point in my life, as
409
00:23:58.200 --> 00:24:05.759
I'm forty four, I am at the same time less
410
00:24:05.839 --> 00:24:09.319
searchain about things that I thought I was certain about before.
411
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Right because you're young, you think you read something, It's like,
412
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I got it. I got to figure it out. I've
413
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gotten enough butt kickings in my life to understand that
414
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I don't so less certain about more than I ever have,
415
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but also feel closer to the Lord than I ever
416
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have at the same time, you know, and I believe
417
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that I've gotten comfortable with not knowing everything you know,
418
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and it feels like you get to a point where
419
00:24:40.480 --> 00:24:42.319
you the only way you can make it from there
420
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is to just surrender, you.
421
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Know, yes, yes, yes, yeah.
422
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I love that. I love that.
423
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Yeah, I know exactly. You can't go into everything like
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00:24:52.359 --> 00:24:54.759
you're the know it all. You have to go in
425
00:24:54.839 --> 00:24:57.680
humble and you just got to give it up. And
426
00:24:57.839 --> 00:25:01.759
I mean, yes, work hard, of course you'll get those benefits,
427
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but you have to surrender.
428
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And just you know, I say this thing, little man like,
429
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we may not know everything, we may not understand anything,
430
00:25:12.599 --> 00:25:15.359
but you have what you need to go do what
431
00:25:15.400 --> 00:25:18.759
you're supposed to be doing. Most of the time, right
432
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it may not look the way that we wanted to
433
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look or we thought the way we thought it would look.
434
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And I do want to be you know, I'm not
435
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a I don't want to be a callous man. There.
436
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Sometimes life happens right, and there's grace for that. But
437
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I do believe at some point we just have to
438
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do what we're supposed to be doing and trust that
439
00:25:41.119 --> 00:25:41.839
will be okay.
440
00:25:42.480 --> 00:25:46.000
Yeah, I mean, you're you're on a mission right here.
441
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I mean I can I can see it, and it
442
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almost like gives off that feeling you're in a position
443
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where you can share this. I mean, you could share
444
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your experiences. You're going to be sharing your faith with everybody.
445
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But that's I mean, that's it's very clear that this
446
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is your job. Like this, you have to share, share
447
00:26:07.720 --> 00:26:11.039
the word, share the share the Lord, share everything. With
448
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everything that you're building. I mean I can see that
449
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you are doing that today and it's making it. It's
450
00:26:16.880 --> 00:26:20.839
already making a difference. It's amazing, you're setting it up
451
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for success. If everybody's going to have bad days, not
452
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that not every day is going to be perfect, but
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as if you have the right mindset, which you do,
454
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I can already see that that mindset gets you through.
455
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So that's amazing. If someone in your position.
456
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Has I feel like you have to you have to
457
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have some backup, and you have that backup that you need.
458
00:26:43.799 --> 00:26:47.319
Well, man, I mean, it is, it is. It's it's simple.
459
00:26:47.359 --> 00:26:52.720
It's not easy, right, simple conceptually right. Just just treat
460
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people well, man, Just show up in your best state
461
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every day, bring energy and treat people well. But it's
462
00:27:01.200 --> 00:27:07.880
not easy. Some days are hard people, right. But man, again,
463
00:27:08.039 --> 00:27:12.400
I don't want to make it seem like I'm discrediting
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hard work and talent. And you know, do I talk
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of something I talk about here all the time, work
466
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on your craft. You should always be working on your
467
00:27:21.279 --> 00:27:25.400
craft and developing. Those things are extremely valuable to me.
468
00:27:27.319 --> 00:27:30.799
But those things, while those things can be really great
469
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in building up oneself and helping you attain a position,
470
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those things alone are extremely inefficient. Insufficient is probably the
471
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better word in creating an environment in which everyone can rise, right.
472
00:27:50.359 --> 00:27:52.279
And if you want, if you want to just go,
473
00:27:52.359 --> 00:27:55.359
do you then? Man, just go work hard and read
474
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and develop and blop and you'll find yourself sitting at
475
00:27:58.279 --> 00:28:01.720
the top of the world. But you should caution yourself
476
00:28:01.759 --> 00:28:03.519
and know that you may be alone when you get there.
477
00:28:04.039 --> 00:28:08.680
Yeah, spot on, Yeah, spot on. There's definitely ways to
478
00:28:08.720 --> 00:28:09.400
go about it.
479
00:28:09.599 --> 00:28:12.440
Oh yeah, yeah. Treat people well, man, treat people well,
480
00:28:12.559 --> 00:28:16.640
be generous and treat people well. And man, you'll you'll
481
00:28:16.680 --> 00:28:19.119
find yourself surrounded by people who will do anything to
482
00:28:19.160 --> 00:28:19.440
help you.
483
00:28:20.480 --> 00:28:21.200
I'm with you.
484
00:28:21.359 --> 00:28:25.000
I mean, you're I feel like everything that you're saying,
485
00:28:25.039 --> 00:28:28.720
I'm motivated to go out and say hi to everybody.
486
00:28:28.960 --> 00:28:31.519
You never know, man, you never you never know? I
487
00:28:31.519 --> 00:28:34.440
mean how many times? I mean, you're a very successful Man,
488
00:28:34.759 --> 00:28:38.039
how many times have you, you know, come across someone
489
00:28:38.200 --> 00:28:40.640
and they say it starts off like this, Hey, you
490
00:28:40.680 --> 00:28:44.079
probably don't remember me, right, And then they start telling
491
00:28:44.119 --> 00:28:46.480
a story about when they saw you smiled at them
492
00:28:46.519 --> 00:28:49.720
and you shook their hand or whatever, and it's like
493
00:28:50.039 --> 00:28:52.200
and then I took off in life and you don't
494
00:28:52.240 --> 00:28:54.039
know me, but I just want to thank you. Man,
495
00:28:54.039 --> 00:28:55.319
how many happen?
496
00:28:56.160 --> 00:28:59.799
It happens and you just don't even realize the impact
497
00:28:59.799 --> 00:29:03.559
that you make on every little path that you cross
498
00:29:04.920 --> 00:29:07.519
and every every action matters.
499
00:29:07.839 --> 00:29:11.319
Yeah. Yeah, Well think about this. If the only people
500
00:29:11.359 --> 00:29:14.359
that we poured into or that we spent time with
501
00:29:14.480 --> 00:29:18.279
were people who are already successful, and I would argue, like, what,
502
00:29:18.400 --> 00:29:22.960
we don't need you, that person was already as successful
503
00:29:23.000 --> 00:29:26.200
that for you know what I mean? Right like you?
504
00:29:26.480 --> 00:29:30.960
We must we must be willing to treat everyone like
505
00:29:31.039 --> 00:29:32.119
they have value.
506
00:29:32.440 --> 00:29:34.160
Yeah, it's you.
507
00:29:34.480 --> 00:29:38.279
That's it's also building your craft what you mentioned before,
508
00:29:38.400 --> 00:29:39.319
and working hard.
509
00:29:39.599 --> 00:29:40.359
It's biblical.
510
00:29:40.680 --> 00:29:42.720
I mean a lot of people know I'm a very
511
00:29:42.839 --> 00:29:46.839
very faithful person and everybody that I meet, I just
512
00:29:47.160 --> 00:29:50.799
I mean I love everybody. Just everybody has something great
513
00:29:50.799 --> 00:29:54.960
about them that everybody has a purpose and some people
514
00:29:55.000 --> 00:29:58.599
need guidance and some people need help. But there's always
515
00:29:58.640 --> 00:30:03.359
opportunities to have great conversations with everyone. With every single person,
516
00:30:03.599 --> 00:30:06.440
there's something positive to pull out of a conversation. If
517
00:30:06.480 --> 00:30:09.599
even somebody's having a bad day, there's something to talk
518
00:30:09.640 --> 00:30:11.599
to them about even though they're having a bad day.
519
00:30:11.640 --> 00:30:13.160
I know a lot of people kind of like to
520
00:30:13.200 --> 00:30:16.759
steer away from those tough conversations. But even in construction,
521
00:30:17.680 --> 00:30:22.599
we work in a tough industry, very tough industry, and
522
00:30:22.960 --> 00:30:27.039
the leaders are the ones that are not afraid to
523
00:30:27.200 --> 00:30:31.519
have those tough conversations and really build their team up
524
00:30:31.960 --> 00:30:34.720
and get them going. I mean, some of these guys
525
00:30:35.359 --> 00:30:39.839
or girls will have tough days and it separates the
526
00:30:39.880 --> 00:30:42.720
true leaders that can bring them up out of those
527
00:30:42.720 --> 00:30:47.559
tough days. And we know that construction has the highest
528
00:30:47.920 --> 00:30:51.480
suicide rate, Like, let's be honest, that's how tough the
529
00:30:51.519 --> 00:30:52.119
industry is.
530
00:30:52.920 --> 00:30:54.279
It's the highest.
531
00:30:54.960 --> 00:30:59.960
So what are the leaders doing to enhance their emotional
532
00:31:00.200 --> 00:31:04.519
intelligence and get better at having conversations. How are you
533
00:31:04.880 --> 00:31:08.400
adapting to these times to make a difference. And I
534
00:31:08.400 --> 00:31:11.799
feel like, you know, you can have faith, you can read,
535
00:31:11.839 --> 00:31:15.640
you can do everything, but the main main route thing
536
00:31:16.039 --> 00:31:19.680
is you have to be just nice, Like be nice,
537
00:31:19.920 --> 00:31:24.400
be be humble, be nice, talk to everybody regularly.
538
00:31:24.480 --> 00:31:26.200
How how you should talk to people?
539
00:31:27.160 --> 00:31:30.200
You have to get to know and listen. You know,
540
00:31:30.440 --> 00:31:33.119
I would imagine there are some people that tune into
541
00:31:33.160 --> 00:31:37.759
this podcast. There's no way, there's no way that they
542
00:31:37.759 --> 00:31:40.680
could speak to every single person in their company. It
543
00:31:40.920 --> 00:31:45.279
is a problem of scale, right, But you can create
544
00:31:45.640 --> 00:31:51.920
a culture in which you demand that leaders check in
545
00:31:51.960 --> 00:31:56.160
with their direct reports. So so as a as a leader,
546
00:31:56.200 --> 00:31:59.599
you may not be touching these people directly, but indirectly
547
00:31:59.759 --> 00:32:03.799
you can in set of standard in which you were
548
00:32:03.920 --> 00:32:06.119
just I call it just be in tune with your people.
549
00:32:06.240 --> 00:32:08.599
You know you have I'm a realist too, right, Like
550
00:32:09.480 --> 00:32:12.079
you don't have to be everyone's best friend, right, but
551
00:32:12.160 --> 00:32:14.839
you should have like in sports, we call it like
552
00:32:14.960 --> 00:32:18.559
knowing the heartbeat of your team, right, you should kind
553
00:32:18.559 --> 00:32:21.000
of know what's going on with people or have you know,
554
00:32:21.039 --> 00:32:26.720
I had a situation and this was before Polong started,
555
00:32:26.759 --> 00:32:29.240
but you know someone will come say, hey, you might
556
00:32:29.319 --> 00:32:31.720
want to go check on such and such.
557
00:32:32.079 --> 00:32:35.920
Oh yeah yeah, right, So just knowing, like.
558
00:32:36.119 --> 00:32:39.680
Setting that standard and then making yourself known and seeing
559
00:32:39.759 --> 00:32:42.559
viewed as someone who is safe enough for someone to
560
00:32:42.599 --> 00:32:44.200
come and say, hey, man, you might want to go
561
00:32:44.839 --> 00:32:50.359
go check on Jimmy man, you know, and it's just important.
562
00:32:51.079 --> 00:32:55.319
I like the keeping that open forum is super important.
563
00:32:55.960 --> 00:32:59.119
And I'm sure you even having conversations when you were
564
00:32:59.160 --> 00:33:02.240
playing in the NFL and like that's that's also a
565
00:33:02.279 --> 00:33:03.960
tough that's a tough Uh.
566
00:33:05.119 --> 00:33:07.039
Yeah, that's that's the league.
567
00:33:07.119 --> 00:33:09.960
Like you you're talking to some tough people, some tough guys,
568
00:33:10.359 --> 00:33:11.759
you know, when you were playing.
569
00:33:11.759 --> 00:33:14.160
I guess do you have any It could be fun too.
570
00:33:14.240 --> 00:33:14.759
It doesn't matter.
571
00:33:15.039 --> 00:33:18.799
We can change the subject as far as any stories
572
00:33:18.839 --> 00:33:22.359
that you like to talk about of you know, some experience,
573
00:33:22.400 --> 00:33:25.039
like you can name one, what was one really cool
574
00:33:25.079 --> 00:33:27.599
experience that you had when you were playing in the NFL?
575
00:33:27.960 --> 00:33:31.680
Yeah, man, I have. I played for eight years, man,
576
00:33:31.960 --> 00:33:38.680
and there are so many experiences that mean a lot
577
00:33:38.720 --> 00:33:41.319
to me. And you know, it's kind of like when
578
00:33:41.359 --> 00:33:43.880
you're in something, it doesn't seem like a big deal,
579
00:33:43.920 --> 00:33:47.119
it seems normal. And then but now that I'm out
580
00:33:47.160 --> 00:33:49.039
of it, I'm getting older and I look back and
581
00:33:49.039 --> 00:33:51.039
I'm like, oh man, that was kind of formative for
582
00:33:51.079 --> 00:33:56.240
me or for this relationship or that relationship. You know,
583
00:33:56.480 --> 00:34:02.640
I would just say if I could give an example.
584
00:34:03.319 --> 00:34:05.200
It's hard to give examples because I don't want to
585
00:34:05.200 --> 00:34:09.960
make another group seem like, you know, negative, So I
586
00:34:09.960 --> 00:34:12.440
would just say eighteen. It's still narrows it down to
587
00:34:12.480 --> 00:34:15.480
two teams, but you have to pick one. When I
588
00:34:15.519 --> 00:34:18.559
was with the when I was with the New York Giants,
589
00:34:18.559 --> 00:34:27.320
I'll say this outstanding leadership was there and led in
590
00:34:27.400 --> 00:34:30.559
a way in which you didn't even realize how good
591
00:34:30.599 --> 00:34:33.440
you had it. Right, they were just they were. They
592
00:34:33.480 --> 00:34:36.239
were the team that drafted me. I didn't have anything
593
00:34:36.239 --> 00:34:42.280
else to compare it to. Okay, the other teams I
594
00:34:42.320 --> 00:34:46.920
played for, they were fine, but they weren't anything the
595
00:34:47.039 --> 00:34:52.000
level of when I was with the Giants. Okay, they
596
00:34:53.519 --> 00:34:55.840
cared for us. And when I say cared for us,
597
00:34:55.880 --> 00:34:58.840
not just the players, but like programs for our kids,
598
00:34:58.920 --> 00:35:02.519
programs for our while like people. You know, man, we
599
00:35:02.920 --> 00:35:04.679
work out butts off, we're on the road a lot,
600
00:35:04.719 --> 00:35:07.679
we're gone a lot for them to say, hey, like,
601
00:35:08.079 --> 00:35:11.320
I'm going to invest in this whole person, right, I'm
602
00:35:11.320 --> 00:35:13.239
not going to send them across the country to go
603
00:35:13.400 --> 00:35:16.440
play a game. And they got a pregnant wife at home,
604
00:35:16.519 --> 00:35:22.280
you know, so let's address that also. You know, it
605
00:35:22.440 --> 00:35:27.440
was just really really special and I didn't realize how
606
00:35:27.519 --> 00:35:30.559
special it was until I went somewhere where the level
607
00:35:30.599 --> 00:35:34.440
of care wasn't the same, Right. I think that is
608
00:35:34.440 --> 00:35:36.719
a lesson as I sit in the sea that I
609
00:35:36.800 --> 00:35:41.119
sit in now, there's two things, two things that I
610
00:35:41.920 --> 00:35:43.840
take from that story, and I hope that can be
611
00:35:43.920 --> 00:35:49.360
helpful to you. The first is, man, it's really hard
612
00:35:50.639 --> 00:35:54.159
to go ask the people on our job sites to
613
00:35:54.280 --> 00:35:57.360
do the difficult jobs that we're asking to do and
614
00:35:57.920 --> 00:36:00.480
treat them like a Social Security number or treat them
615
00:36:00.519 --> 00:36:01.519
like a commodity.
616
00:36:02.039 --> 00:36:02.440
Mm hmm.
617
00:36:03.360 --> 00:36:03.639
Man.
618
00:36:04.480 --> 00:36:06.559
And the main reason I don't do it because I
619
00:36:06.599 --> 00:36:09.599
know what it feels like, right, like I would don't.
620
00:36:09.639 --> 00:36:13.760
Don't don't treat someone right and in a way that
621
00:36:14.480 --> 00:36:16.639
didn't feel good to you. Is a very good chance
622
00:36:16.639 --> 00:36:17.360
they're not gonna like.
623
00:36:17.280 --> 00:36:20.960
It, egaloop, Right, You're just another number.
624
00:36:21.400 --> 00:36:24.440
Don't treat them like that, right, because I've had that experience.
625
00:36:24.880 --> 00:36:27.280
The other thing is this, and and and when I
626
00:36:27.320 --> 00:36:30.719
talk to groups, I try to share this pretty I'm
627
00:36:30.719 --> 00:36:36.159
pretty candid about this. A lot of times in a
628
00:36:36.239 --> 00:36:43.599
young person's career, excuse me, we they find themselves surround it.
629
00:36:43.639 --> 00:36:47.800
You're trying to give them everything you can, right, all
630
00:36:47.840 --> 00:36:52.480
the resources, all the opportunities. You know, you're surrounding them
631
00:36:52.519 --> 00:36:57.400
with an advocate. But they just want to go right.
632
00:36:57.519 --> 00:37:01.239
Something about them, they just they just want to go right.
633
00:37:03.199 --> 00:37:05.119
There's a point in my life where I took that
634
00:37:05.360 --> 00:37:10.440
personal right, like, you're ungrateful, blah blah, you leave, you'll
635
00:37:10.440 --> 00:37:12.719
never come back. And I've never said those words directly
636
00:37:12.760 --> 00:37:15.400
to anyone, but inside, you know you're trying to help
637
00:37:15.440 --> 00:37:17.800
someone and it's just like I'm gonna go to this
638
00:37:17.840 --> 00:37:21.119
other company for two dollars two dollars a year, right,
639
00:37:21.239 --> 00:37:28.760
Like there's a point of that that is just human nature. Yeah,
640
00:37:28.920 --> 00:37:32.639
it is really Again, it's just my story. Man. It's
641
00:37:32.679 --> 00:37:37.400
really hard to appreciate a place, a relationship, whether it's
642
00:37:37.400 --> 00:37:41.199
a friend, whether it's a spouse. Right when you haven't
643
00:37:42.320 --> 00:37:46.800
experienced anything else, your words as a leader have a
644
00:37:46.880 --> 00:37:52.800
limited amount of impact on helping someone understand that, man,
645
00:37:52.960 --> 00:37:55.199
this is a really good space if they don't have
646
00:37:55.360 --> 00:37:58.960
anything to compare it to. So, you know, I have
647
00:37:59.119 --> 00:38:02.119
been a part of several times since I've been in
648
00:38:02.159 --> 00:38:05.559
this world where if someone has left in a year
649
00:38:05.639 --> 00:38:09.519
or two, they come back, and man, this may be
650
00:38:09.559 --> 00:38:12.840
an unpopular opinion, but man, we welcome back with open arms,
651
00:38:13.599 --> 00:38:16.480
you know, because sometimes people just have to go on
652
00:38:16.559 --> 00:38:20.119
that journey. It's not disrespectful to you as a leader.
653
00:38:20.199 --> 00:38:25.159
It's not ungratefulness. Sometimes the journey requires them to leave
654
00:38:25.519 --> 00:38:27.760
before they come back, you know. And man, I just
655
00:38:27.840 --> 00:38:28.719
learned that play and ball.
656
00:38:29.599 --> 00:38:34.480
That's that's amazing. I mean, it means it's so serious.
657
00:38:34.960 --> 00:38:38.480
Everybody does have their own chapters in their books, and
658
00:38:38.760 --> 00:38:40.800
they might need to flip to that chapter, but you're
659
00:38:40.800 --> 00:38:42.480
in a later chapter, you might come back.
660
00:38:44.000 --> 00:38:44.679
I liked it.
661
00:38:45.320 --> 00:38:50.000
I liked there's other company. Of course, I'm big on culture,
662
00:38:50.400 --> 00:38:55.360
huge culture within my company. Treat everybody with respect, create
663
00:38:55.400 --> 00:38:59.639
a safe environment, just you know, very open conversations with
664
00:38:59.719 --> 00:39:02.159
everybody in the company. I mean they I have an
665
00:39:02.199 --> 00:39:04.480
open door policy. Everybody comes to me if they have
666
00:39:04.480 --> 00:39:09.159
any questions or anything like that. And it's funny the
667
00:39:09.280 --> 00:39:12.480
people that have worked in the industry for a long time,
668
00:39:12.559 --> 00:39:15.880
even just like doing sales or whatever, they will tell
669
00:39:16.639 --> 00:39:18.719
the younger ones that are just out of college that
670
00:39:18.760 --> 00:39:19.280
are coming in.
671
00:39:19.320 --> 00:39:24.039
They're like, hey, just so you know, this place is different.
672
00:39:26.559 --> 00:39:28.280
This place is nice.
673
00:39:28.599 --> 00:39:32.079
So if you get comfortable, I think twice if you
674
00:39:32.119 --> 00:39:34.960
think about leaving to go check out, you know, other places,
675
00:39:34.960 --> 00:39:40.360
because you are getting very spoiled here. So and it's
676
00:39:40.400 --> 00:39:42.679
not just spoiled but like you know, with giving them
677
00:39:42.760 --> 00:39:45.400
too much, But it's just spoiled with the culture that
678
00:39:45.440 --> 00:39:49.199
we've created. It's so much fun to come to work.
679
00:39:49.840 --> 00:39:52.920
And that's the kind of environment that we've created. But
680
00:39:53.000 --> 00:39:56.039
you're right, like you almost have to be warned of
681
00:39:56.079 --> 00:39:58.360
what else is out there, how other people work, or
682
00:39:58.400 --> 00:40:01.400
how other people are treating each other. We I mean,
683
00:40:01.440 --> 00:40:06.480
let's be honest, we have competition, and the competition's employees
684
00:40:06.519 --> 00:40:10.320
are coming to us because they didn't create the right culture.
685
00:40:10.840 --> 00:40:12.920
And I'm like, but then I'm going to protect my
686
00:40:13.320 --> 00:40:15.760
current employees.
687
00:40:15.280 --> 00:40:17.159
Like, hey, we got to vet everybody.
688
00:40:17.199 --> 00:40:18.840
We got to make sure that they're a right fit
689
00:40:18.880 --> 00:40:20.639
for everybody else because I got to I have to
690
00:40:20.719 --> 00:40:24.320
protect everybody else. And this culture that we've created, that's
691
00:40:25.159 --> 00:40:27.239
it's very relatable.
692
00:40:27.400 --> 00:40:29.280
Of what you just said, and that.
693
00:40:29.360 --> 00:40:33.239
Job you're talking about is uniquely yours. Yeah, like that,
694
00:40:33.559 --> 00:40:35.480
I say, there are very few jobs in here that
695
00:40:35.559 --> 00:40:37.480
are mine. Like there you know, there are things that
696
00:40:37.599 --> 00:40:40.000
people can run and do, and they're not going to
697
00:40:40.039 --> 00:40:43.000
send me an email and just right, they're very talented,
698
00:40:43.440 --> 00:40:46.639
you know, but oh, you know, protecting the culture and
699
00:40:46.679 --> 00:40:49.159
who comes and who gets to come and who must leave.
700
00:40:49.880 --> 00:40:51.639
You know, as a as a leader at the top,
701
00:40:51.679 --> 00:40:55.280
that's our job and can't shy away from it. You know,
702
00:40:55.519 --> 00:40:59.000
you must be be willing to fight for people who
703
00:40:59.039 --> 00:41:01.159
needs to come in and stay. But you also need
704
00:41:01.199 --> 00:41:03.719
to be willing to, you know, ask people to leave
705
00:41:03.800 --> 00:41:05.760
that shouldn't be there.
706
00:41:06.440 --> 00:41:09.519
So before we wrap up, Reggie, is there it? You know,
707
00:41:09.599 --> 00:41:11.880
you're you're getting your feet wet.
708
00:41:11.679 --> 00:41:12.159
A little bit.
709
00:41:13.960 --> 00:41:18.920
Would you have any advice for anybody that's thinking about
710
00:41:19.000 --> 00:41:20.880
getting into construction today?
711
00:41:20.840 --> 00:41:25.159
Yes, two things I would say. One, don't do it alone.
712
00:41:26.280 --> 00:41:31.119
I could not imagine trying to start regardless of your
713
00:41:31.159 --> 00:41:37.639
talent level, or skill level or money financially. Right, I
714
00:41:37.639 --> 00:41:40.400
am you know you notice about me? I am. I
715
00:41:40.440 --> 00:41:44.400
am a proponent of team. I just think things are
716
00:41:44.440 --> 00:41:46.920
better done on the team, and this is one of them.
717
00:41:46.960 --> 00:41:51.000
So make sure you have a group of people surrounding
718
00:41:51.000 --> 00:41:54.880
you and that are committed. The second thing I would
719
00:41:54.920 --> 00:41:59.320
say is be patient. Be patient when it comes to
720
00:42:01.079 --> 00:42:04.400
the relationships that you involve yourself in you know, when
721
00:42:04.440 --> 00:42:07.800
you're getting off the ground construction, Like, obviously cash flow
722
00:42:07.880 --> 00:42:10.960
is a huge problem, right, and you get those you
723
00:42:11.079 --> 00:42:14.960
need jobs, right, You don't have two years worth of backlog, right.
724
00:42:15.639 --> 00:42:20.920
And it is very tempting to take a project that
725
00:42:21.039 --> 00:42:25.800
the only reason you're taking it is for financial I
726
00:42:25.960 --> 00:42:31.079
have experienced it, and I will be transparent against the
727
00:42:31.679 --> 00:42:37.079
against the advice of a mentor of mine. Right, put
728
00:42:37.159 --> 00:42:40.880
us in a position in which we were pursuing a
729
00:42:40.960 --> 00:42:43.639
project with someone that I could tell you right now,
730
00:42:44.000 --> 00:42:46.119
like I knew within thirty minutes not a good person.
731
00:42:46.599 --> 00:42:50.679
Oh wow, Right, But you overlook these things because you're like, oh,
732
00:42:50.719 --> 00:42:54.480
if I could just get past this and it trusts me,
733
00:42:54.599 --> 00:42:59.079
it will never end well. It'll never end well. It
734
00:42:59.159 --> 00:43:03.039
is so concisely. The second piece of advice I would
735
00:43:03.079 --> 00:43:06.760
give is it is better to wait another month or
736
00:43:06.800 --> 00:43:10.079
two and fight it out and figure out how you're
737
00:43:10.079 --> 00:43:13.320
going to stretch money. It's better to do that than
738
00:43:13.440 --> 00:43:16.719
to get involved with someone on a ten, twelve, fifteen
739
00:43:16.760 --> 00:43:22.199
month project that is like sleeping with the enemy. It'll
740
00:43:22.199 --> 00:43:27.079
never turn out well, and for most companies it's catastrophic,
741
00:43:29.239 --> 00:43:32.079
especially in the beginning phases because you're not strong enough
742
00:43:32.559 --> 00:43:36.800
financially operationally to endure it.
743
00:43:38.199 --> 00:43:44.039
This is strong advice. So this is really good. You know,
744
00:43:44.880 --> 00:43:47.440
I gotta throw it out there. I know you spoke
745
00:43:47.519 --> 00:43:51.719
so much, so great about how you're building pylon and
746
00:43:51.760 --> 00:43:55.880
how you're going about business's it sounds like it's bulletproof
747
00:43:56.079 --> 00:43:59.039
of how you're doing things, which is amazing. You know
748
00:43:59.559 --> 00:44:03.679
you have you have a support behind you. I'd love
749
00:44:03.719 --> 00:44:06.559
to before we like say by and everything like that.
750
00:44:06.880 --> 00:44:09.760
You know you have I'm guessing you have a family
751
00:44:09.880 --> 00:44:12.719
behind you. Is that like your your motivation?
752
00:44:12.920 --> 00:44:13.800
You know, you get going.
753
00:44:13.960 --> 00:44:17.079
You see them every day and like, did you get
754
00:44:17.079 --> 00:44:19.239
throw out there a little bit about and of course
755
00:44:19.239 --> 00:44:21.119
they'll probably watch this too, so you got to give
756
00:44:21.119 --> 00:44:21.840
them a shout out.
757
00:44:22.000 --> 00:44:25.239
Yeah you mean my personal family? Yeah? Yeah, oh yeah,
758
00:44:25.280 --> 00:44:28.480
man man listen, man, man, trying to get me emotional
759
00:44:28.559 --> 00:44:31.079
enough man. So so it's funny, I tell you, like,
760
00:44:31.119 --> 00:44:33.719
I've achieved a lot of things in my life, right,
761
00:44:35.519 --> 00:44:39.039
coming from a little kid in Baton Rouge, right, all
762
00:44:39.079 --> 00:44:44.159
the things that I do, right, they're pretty special things.
763
00:44:44.599 --> 00:44:46.960
But at the core, I just really wanted to be
764
00:44:47.000 --> 00:44:50.840
a good husband and a good dad. Love that I
765
00:44:50.880 --> 00:44:52.639
want to be able to provide for my family. I
766
00:44:52.639 --> 00:44:54.840
wanted to be able to be able to set be
767
00:44:54.920 --> 00:44:57.559
a great example. I wanted to be able to help.
768
00:44:58.199 --> 00:45:01.320
I just wanted to be someone that my wife and
769
00:45:01.400 --> 00:45:05.920
my kids were proud of. So, man, they really pushed me.
770
00:45:07.599 --> 00:45:10.039
My wife, I've been married twenty years, met her at Auburn.
771
00:45:10.039 --> 00:45:13.599
That's mcgirl, Michelle. And then I have two boys, nineteen
772
00:45:13.639 --> 00:45:16.639
and eighteen. They're both out of the house. Some inter nestors.
773
00:45:16.760 --> 00:45:20.880
I'm an inter nestor. One that's South Alabama. He runs
774
00:45:20.920 --> 00:45:23.679
track there and he majors inbout medical sciences.
775
00:45:24.119 --> 00:45:24.639
Oh wow.
776
00:45:25.239 --> 00:45:29.159
And my youngest is a freshman at the univers at
777
00:45:29.159 --> 00:45:34.480
West Virginia. He plays football there and he studies on engineering.
778
00:45:34.679 --> 00:45:38.000
So and hopefully one of those will come to the
779
00:45:38.039 --> 00:45:40.159
new family business at some point will say.
780
00:45:40.079 --> 00:45:43.280
Oh, yeah, I love that. I love that. Come work
781
00:45:43.320 --> 00:45:43.800
for dad.
782
00:45:45.079 --> 00:45:46.679
Yeah, I'll treat you right.
783
00:45:47.559 --> 00:45:49.360
You should, you should be so proud.
784
00:45:49.519 --> 00:45:52.519
And I can't you know what, out of this whole podcast,
785
00:45:52.599 --> 00:45:54.039
I can't wait for them to see that part.
786
00:45:54.920 --> 00:45:57.679
Pretty cool man, Yeah, no, I really.
787
00:45:57.559 --> 00:46:01.280
I really appreciate you. Is there anything else that you
788
00:46:01.360 --> 00:46:03.920
kind of want to leave with the with with the viewers.
789
00:46:04.119 --> 00:46:06.360
You know, where can they find you? How can people
790
00:46:06.400 --> 00:46:07.079
get a hold of you?
791
00:46:07.480 --> 00:46:10.840
Yeah, yeah, so pretty simple. You know, Pilon Building dot
792
00:46:10.840 --> 00:46:14.800
com is our website and also it's you know, there's
793
00:46:14.800 --> 00:46:17.159
no need to hide your phone number addressing more. People
794
00:46:17.159 --> 00:46:20.719
can google and find anything. So you know, just just
795
00:46:20.719 --> 00:46:22.760
want to reach out to me, you know, R T O,
796
00:46:22.960 --> 00:46:27.199
R b O, R pile on building dot com And
797
00:46:27.480 --> 00:46:32.039
we're always looking for partners, whether it's business or from
798
00:46:32.079 --> 00:46:36.639
a civic duty community standpoint. We we have this view
799
00:46:37.559 --> 00:46:40.519
that we're better together and if there's ever any partners
800
00:46:40.519 --> 00:46:42.480
that want to work together, we're always.
801
00:46:42.119 --> 00:46:47.199
For amazing and I hope, I hope this really works
802
00:46:47.199 --> 00:46:49.480
out for you. I hope some people reach out to
803
00:46:49.519 --> 00:46:52.599
you to give you some business. Reggie, you deserve it
804
00:46:52.960 --> 00:46:55.239
for all this hard work that you've done. Well, thank
805
00:46:55.280 --> 00:46:57.599
you for being a guest on the show, and please
806
00:46:57.719 --> 00:47:02.320
everyone like, subscribe, comment, share this. The builder up a
807
00:47:02.400 --> 00:47:05.360
show with everyone that you know in the construction industry
808
00:47:05.760 --> 00:47:07.559
and we will see you next time.
809
00:47:07.719 --> 00:47:08.079
Thank you.
810
00:47:18.880 --> 00:47:21.280
If you're a construction contractor and would like to appear
811
00:47:21.320 --> 00:47:23.599
as a guest on our podcast, write us an email.
812
00:47:23.719 --> 00:47:26.800
It's lou at Lumberfi dot com,
1
00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:03.480
Hey everyone, I'm Lou Perez, your host of The Builder
2
00:00:03.560 --> 00:00:06.440
Upper Show, a podcast where we talk about everything in
3
00:00:06.480 --> 00:00:07.599
construction and trades.
4
00:00:07.839 --> 00:00:16.600
Now let's get into it. I would like to welcome.
5
00:00:16.399 --> 00:00:21.519
Our guest, Reggie Torber, president of Pylon Building Group.
6
00:00:21.679 --> 00:00:23.160
Hey, Reggie, how you doing today?
7
00:00:23.519 --> 00:00:25.839
Man? I'm doing well, man, doing well. This Friday, I
8
00:00:25.839 --> 00:00:27.640
get to hang out with you, so it's a great day.
9
00:00:28.199 --> 00:00:30.800
I'm really excited that you here. We've been trying to
10
00:00:30.839 --> 00:00:34.039
plan this podcast. I swear for the longest time, and
11
00:00:34.320 --> 00:00:37.600
just so you guys know, I'll be fully transparent. Reggie
12
00:00:37.640 --> 00:00:41.240
is one of Lumber's clients, a value client. He came
13
00:00:41.280 --> 00:00:43.119
in and hang out with me. He went and hung
14
00:00:43.159 --> 00:00:46.719
out with me in New York at NASDAC and gave
15
00:00:46.759 --> 00:00:50.200
a speech to a lot of other big construction companies
16
00:00:50.240 --> 00:00:50.640
out there.
17
00:00:50.719 --> 00:00:51.799
Is absolutely amazing.
18
00:00:51.799 --> 00:00:54.280
So I appreciate you taking the time to come on
19
00:00:54.320 --> 00:00:57.960
this podcast and tell us all about yourself. So with
20
00:00:58.200 --> 00:01:00.799
that said, Reggie, I'm gonna kick it out, man, I'm
21
00:01:00.799 --> 00:01:01.960
going to get right into it.
22
00:01:02.320 --> 00:01:03.759
When did you get into construction?
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00:01:04.200 --> 00:01:07.480
Yeah? Yeah, well, man, before we get into construction, I
24
00:01:07.480 --> 00:01:10.560
think I would like to return the favor. And man,
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00:01:10.599 --> 00:01:13.480
I've enjoyed getting to know you. You know, I have
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00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:18.400
in my life been blessed to have amazing mentors through
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00:01:18.439 --> 00:01:21.640
different areas of my life. But there's one central thing
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00:01:21.680 --> 00:01:24.280
that they all suggest that I do, and they preach
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00:01:24.359 --> 00:01:27.640
to me as surround yourself with great people and great partners.
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00:01:28.079 --> 00:01:31.400
And I am not into the weeds of lumber like
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some of the people. I have some lumber fanboys and
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00:01:34.280 --> 00:01:38.640
fangirls here about your you all do, but man, I
33
00:01:38.719 --> 00:01:40.760
know that you be a good person and a good partner.
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00:01:40.840 --> 00:01:43.959
And man, I've enjoyed you and hope to continue that relationship.
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00:01:44.400 --> 00:01:47.000
That means the world to me. And I really appreciate that.
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00:01:47.120 --> 00:01:50.239
I mean, I'm the same way I have my mentors
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00:01:50.280 --> 00:01:52.879
and advisors. You kind of follow what they say and
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you end up getting blessed when you're following direction from
39
00:01:56.519 --> 00:01:59.120
people that really know what they're talking about.
40
00:01:59.519 --> 00:02:03.959
Yeah, yeah, they earned distracts construction. You How did I
41
00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:07.480
get into construction? I would say I am to say
42
00:02:07.519 --> 00:02:10.879
that it is when Arthur Knox would be an understatement.
43
00:02:12.159 --> 00:02:16.000
You know, most people come to construction two ways. You know,
44
00:02:16.080 --> 00:02:21.599
you either go through school your engineer or building science
45
00:02:21.680 --> 00:02:24.639
or some type of engineer or you know, you walk
46
00:02:24.680 --> 00:02:26.240
onto a job site with a two belt and a
47
00:02:26.280 --> 00:02:29.319
hammer and you say, give me a shot. Neither neither
48
00:02:29.360 --> 00:02:33.199
of those was my approach. I took the scenic group.
49
00:02:35.479 --> 00:02:39.520
So so I guess for me. Speaking of relationships, I
50
00:02:39.520 --> 00:02:44.080
think is a good segue. I went to Auburn University, Okay,
51
00:02:44.719 --> 00:02:49.840
and I'm from Baton Ruth, Louisiana, and I was blessed enough.
52
00:02:50.039 --> 00:02:54.080
I played sports. I played football at Auburn. And when
53
00:02:54.120 --> 00:02:56.439
I was in Auburn, I had back to this idea
54
00:02:56.479 --> 00:03:01.280
and this theme of mentors, really good mentors. Were surrounded
55
00:03:01.319 --> 00:03:04.719
by people who I just say, wanted to see me win, right,
56
00:03:05.080 --> 00:03:07.199
just surrounded by people who wanted to see me win.
57
00:03:07.840 --> 00:03:10.960
And you know they would preach these intangible things, you know,
58
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treat people well, work hard, do what you say you
59
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want to do, be curious, right, don't just do your job,
60
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do what needs to be done. Like those were like
61
00:03:19.360 --> 00:03:23.599
scattered through and they were talking about football most of
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00:03:23.639 --> 00:03:25.560
the time, but they became who it was, you know.
63
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And I played football at Auburn, went on to play
64
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professional football, played in the NFL for eight years. I
65
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want a Super Bowl play for the Giants, Dolphins, Bills,
66
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had a great career. Wow, Wow, it's pretty cool. Yeah.
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So at some point they show you the door, right
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like people I retire. You didn't retire. They told you
69
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you were too fat or too slow. You know, I
70
00:03:51.919 --> 00:03:54.159
got this young guy, I'm paying less money. It's time.
71
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So so when that was over, it really didn't know
72
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what I was going to do. Moved to Birmingham, Alabama.
73
00:04:03.240 --> 00:04:05.840
My wife is from Birmingham, which is why people think
74
00:04:06.080 --> 00:04:08.599
I moved to Birmingham. It's really not. We moved here
75
00:04:08.639 --> 00:04:12.000
because I wasn't really sure what the next season of
76
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my life looked like. But I knew enough about the
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world to know that networks matter. My strongest network was
78
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an Auburn network because of how I had carried myself.
79
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And the strongest Auburn network I knew about was in Birmingham, Alabama.
80
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And that's my wife why I came here. And there
81
00:04:32.160 --> 00:04:37.519
is a really large general of GC in Birmingham, Braswold
82
00:04:37.519 --> 00:04:40.439
and Gory. It's the largest GC in the Southeast, do
83
00:04:40.480 --> 00:04:44.680
about eight billion dollars worth of work. And also they
84
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are Auburn people. You know most of the founder right,
85
00:04:48.040 --> 00:04:53.000
and it's just it's helpful and they were looking for
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a role. It was called personal development. That was the role,
87
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right and basically what it was was, you know, basically
88
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you were in people development. I will work with leaders,
89
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young leaders, emerging leaders, people from the top of the
90
00:05:07.120 --> 00:05:10.360
company to the bottom of the company. And all I
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really was doing was using those intangibles that I talked
92
00:05:15.439 --> 00:05:21.920
about earlier. I'm not an engineer, but I understood understand
93
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high level leadership, high level team and that translates to
94
00:05:27.759 --> 00:05:32.959
construction directly to construction. So that is my entry way
95
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into construction.
96
00:05:34.439 --> 00:05:37.240
Wow, that's super powerful. And I meet a lot of
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people that come from sports. They have a sports background,
98
00:05:41.399 --> 00:05:45.000
and it's almost like it's game day when it's time
99
00:05:45.040 --> 00:05:48.000
to get to work. You're managing a team. You probably
100
00:05:48.040 --> 00:05:51.360
have your other coaches managing the team. You got your foreman's,
101
00:05:51.439 --> 00:05:54.920
your supers, or you got just project managers, and you
102
00:05:55.240 --> 00:05:57.759
guys are ready to get things done on a daily basis.
103
00:05:58.079 --> 00:06:00.160
I feel like in construction too, you almost.
104
00:05:59.879 --> 00:06:06.079
Had to keep yourself at an athletic ready build. You know,
105
00:06:06.519 --> 00:06:09.920
you can't stay up all night long the night before
106
00:06:10.000 --> 00:06:11.120
you have to get some sleep.
107
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You have to get prepared. I mean, you got a
108
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long day ahead of you.
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00:06:14.199 --> 00:06:18.040
So I feel like there's a good transition from sports
110
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to construction. I mean, you're going in to get the
111
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work done, so I appreciate that I do have a
112
00:06:24.839 --> 00:06:28.240
sports background myself. I'll go into that a whole nother time,
113
00:06:28.600 --> 00:06:32.120
but yeah, at that level, it does take a high
114
00:06:32.240 --> 00:06:37.000
level a producer to really make construction successful.
115
00:06:37.040 --> 00:06:39.519
And it's awesome to see where you've.
116
00:06:39.279 --> 00:06:41.759
Came from, Like when you started and when we even
117
00:06:41.800 --> 00:06:45.399
started having conversation, the growth and success has been tremendous.
118
00:06:45.439 --> 00:06:47.560
I feel like your trajectory has been straight up. So
119
00:06:48.720 --> 00:06:52.600
bringing on new employees, I mean you're coaching leadership. You
120
00:06:52.639 --> 00:06:55.560
know how to have conversations with people and build people up.
121
00:06:55.879 --> 00:06:59.439
Would you say there's like a certain formula that you
122
00:06:59.560 --> 00:07:03.680
have when you're building a culture bringing in new employees
123
00:07:03.800 --> 00:07:05.279
or like finding new employees.
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00:07:05.680 --> 00:07:10.000
Yes, Uh, the first thing that I do is set
125
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the standard and that that starts with me. And you
126
00:07:14.240 --> 00:07:16.959
know Tom Coughlin, who I've played for at the Giants,
127
00:07:16.959 --> 00:07:18.800
he used to say this thing all the time, and
128
00:07:18.879 --> 00:07:21.759
I use it all the time. Lazy people don't like
129
00:07:21.800 --> 00:07:24.480
to hang around hardworking people, and hardworking people don't like
130
00:07:24.480 --> 00:07:27.360
to hang around lazy people. You know, and a lot
131
00:07:27.399 --> 00:07:30.839
of times people you're here leaders complaining about their culture, Well,
132
00:07:30.879 --> 00:07:34.439
it's just the reflection of what you are willing to tolerate,
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00:07:35.000 --> 00:07:37.879
you know. So I think a lot of it is
134
00:07:38.079 --> 00:07:43.319
upsetting a standard and protecting this standard, and that's number one,
135
00:07:43.480 --> 00:07:47.439
and we really start our foundation of creating the standard,
136
00:07:47.519 --> 00:07:51.680
what's expected, how you carry yourself, how you treat other people,
137
00:07:51.839 --> 00:07:55.000
doing what you say you're going to do. That's what
138
00:07:55.040 --> 00:07:59.079
I call the container, right, and that that that container
139
00:07:59.680 --> 00:08:02.800
a tres people, but it also repels people, you know,
140
00:08:03.079 --> 00:08:06.279
which is as equally as important. Once you build that
141
00:08:06.360 --> 00:08:11.079
container right and people feel safe, then you're just finding
142
00:08:11.160 --> 00:08:15.639
people who fit into that container. And once they get there,
143
00:08:15.800 --> 00:08:17.680
you give them the tools that they need and the
144
00:08:17.720 --> 00:08:19.720
support that they need, and you really get out of
145
00:08:19.759 --> 00:08:23.199
their way. You know. So that's an over the simplification
146
00:08:23.519 --> 00:08:28.160
of our approach here and what I've learned. But as
147
00:08:28.199 --> 00:08:30.399
far as you know, the coach said in the standard,
148
00:08:31.759 --> 00:08:34.399
protecting people, giving them what they need to be successful,
149
00:08:34.840 --> 00:08:37.759
creating that vision and you just like, you know, the
150
00:08:38.320 --> 00:08:40.720
thing that I think a lot of times corporate people
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miss out on that I think you can learn from
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sports is every year you start over. I don't care
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if you win the Super Bowl. The next year you
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do every everything goes back on the table. Nothing, nothing
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gets to pass. Just because it worked last year, It
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doesn't mean it's going to work this year. Right, it doesn't.
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If it's truthful and right, you don't, it doesn't need
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your protection. Put it on the table for critique by
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your leadership team. If it's still good, it stays. If
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it doesn't, it has to go. You know. That's that's
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training camp. That's what happens in training camp, you know.
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So these are just principles that we're just applying here.
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That's so powerful, and I'm glad that you articulated it
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that way. I don't think anybody has came on here
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and actually said that. I mean, we think of what
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we did today is just going to be tomorrow. We
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have to continue to look forward and keep building and
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keep succeeding. So it's fantastic that that's your mindset. I mean,
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of course, yeah, that comes from sports too. I mean,
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you have this discipline to you. I can I can
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just see it. So did that discipline come from when
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you were a kid? I guess how is it how
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your parents raised you? I guess how did those roots
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get built in you?
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Yeah, come from spankings, you know it is. You know
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I would say I'm blessed, man, I really am. I
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tell I like to say this loot man. I'm just
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the product of the people who've invested in me. Right,
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And I've had great mentors. You know, my mom was
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a great leader. My high school coaches were great leaders.
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But you know, at the end of the day, a
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lot of what I what I what you experienced with
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me is there is the mentor port but also sports.
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If you think about it, it is a great leader,
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a great trainer of leaders because the results are immediate.
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Right If if I don't do what I'm supposed to do,
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like that costs me today, right, Like I lose today, right,
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And in what we call the real world, right, you
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could have a bad habit and it could go on
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for years right before you realize that. You know, you
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think about what your kids right, like don't don't eat
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candy for breakfast? Well, they could do that for a
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real long time before they teach start, you know what
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I mean? Right, So I am keenly. My life has
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taught me to be keenly aware of the impact and
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the consequences of poor decisions. So that discipline a lot
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of people. When you think of discipline, I think of
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like like guardrails, right, Like we live in Birmingham, and
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Birmingham is pretty mountainous, right, and there's guardrails everywhere. Well,
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you can look at guardrails two ways. You could look
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at them as restrictive, right, like you as you will,
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you're stopping me from doing something, right. I think that
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is a I was going to say immature, But to me,
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that is not the best way to view guard rails.
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The best way to do view guardrails or protect right.
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For me, discipline is protective, and you know, it is
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easy for me to say, hey, I am not going
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to do this or I'm not going to do that
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because I want to do this. And a lot of
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times what your experience is people who don't understand the
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connection between hey, I would like to accomplish these things,
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but they don't make the connection by saying that means
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I cannot do these things? Does make sense?
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It does?
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I mean you get these like little wins. I'm glad
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that you like even brought up the kids. It's like
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you can tell them, you know, if you eat you
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broccoli today, you are protecting yourself from tomorrow. So these
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these little wins just get keep building up over time.
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You know.
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That's a lot of the stuff that you said, it's
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really inspiring. It's like you got to look at these
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things as they're protecting yourself. And speaking of inspiring, do
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you have any I mean, you mentioned your mom was
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a leader, Like do you have insprayed? Where that inspiration
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sho come from? Did did it come from your mom? Like,
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go ahead and expand on that a little bit.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah, So man, you know, I grew up
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in the whole. Most of the time it was just myself,
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my mom, and my sister, you know. And you know
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I had a I have a stepdad who was there
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for you know, periods of that childhood. But most of
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the time it was that. But you know, not traditional, right,
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I would say that the way that I grew up.
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But I was never in a position in which I
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would say that. Man, I wasn't loved or care for
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or safe. You know, my mom worked the butt off,
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She worked two or three jobs when she had to
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to take care of us.
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Wow.
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I always say, we never had any of the things
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we wanted but we always had everything that we needed.
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M Yeah, we didn't realize how poor we were because
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everybody else around us was so poor too, you know.
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So know, so I learned a lot from her. Man.
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I would even say, like my stepdad, like he did
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like sheet rock and painting, mudding work like and he
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worked this but like Louisiana summers are hot, you know,
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working in houses with with with no h fact, no
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mechanical systems. Right. And sometimes I would go to work
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with him and like when we will be leaving work
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in the summers, like we would be in the van
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headed home when he would ask me. He would say, hey,
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how was that? What do you think about that? And
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I would say it was hard and he would say good.
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He said, remember that, right, and that's this is why
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you need to go do your school work this, you know,
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they would say, get your lesson, right, this is why
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you need to get your lesson. And you know, I
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have two things that come from that that experience with him.
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One is I do understand work hard and how how
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my decisions today impact tomorrow. Basically that that's what he
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was trying to me. But something that I didn't even
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realize that will be impactful to my life, is the
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other message that I received. It was an unintended I believe,
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but I also received the messages construction is where you
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go when you fail, right, Yeah, And I think we
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may have talked about this when we were together, right,
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But I think a lot of people look at the
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construction industry. I think there's a stigma on our industry
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that we have to do some work around this idea
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of construction is where you go to fail because as
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well as you know, you know there's an amazing opportunity
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in the construction industry as well as all the ancillary
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support services around it. You could change your life for
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generations in the field of construction.
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You're absolutely right, man, I feel like that stigma that
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you mentioned, it just needs a change.
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It's gonna take a lot of work to get.
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Yes, takes us.
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It does take us. It does.
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I mean, we have to keep showing the future generation
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what we're doing today and how exciting it is for them.
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And it's it's just that industry alone. I mean, that
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is the messaging today. And I know that we're I mean,
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we're changing it in general. A lot of people that
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are listening right now don't know. I mean, we created
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a free app for field workers called builder Facts, and
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that's just so that they can start uploading their credentials
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while they're in school. It doesn't matter if they're not
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working in construction right away, and so that they can
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upload any certification, certifications, education and start building that profile
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so that it follows them throughout their career within construction.
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And it's exciting. You get to follow your own journey.
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And I know other industries that don't even do this.
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So we're trying to do something different that makes that
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those kids in school like maybe construction should be my
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first pick, Like I can actually go make money, set
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myself up. I mean, you don't have to go to college.
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You can go to college. There's tech schools or I
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would just say focus on educating yourself on the in
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the places where you need to be educated.
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So oh yeah, I agree.
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Yeah, uh no, I'm glad that you really brought that up.
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It makes a lot of sense. And you know, just
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to understand Pylon Building Group, I mean, you started this
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company and what are you guys focusing on building?
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Yeah, well there's a little clarification around. You know, I
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am the face and I get the you know, you're
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a leader, you lead your company, right, Yeah, yeah, I believe.
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I believe you can relate to me when I say
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we get a lot of the credit, and we get.
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But you and I both know that we have an
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army of people around behind. Oh yeah, working their tails off,
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you know. So I'm no different. You know, I mentioned
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earlier my start in construction was Brashwold and Gory. And
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while I was in that company, myself and Jim Gory
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who's the former CEO, and Rob Blaylock, who's the current CEO,
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we were having a discussion around how can we take
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two things that we love, that that is construction and
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the city of Birmingham, Alabama, and and and make an
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impact in our city. And we thought of several different
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ways to do that, and one of those was, Hey,
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how about we create a company that focuses on you know,
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one hundred miles or so radius around Birmingham, Alabama and
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do what we call create another circle. Right, this this
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idea of these impactful circles that that span only not
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a lover your work, but expand to your schools, your communities,
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your churches, right wherever you are. Right because we understand
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how important those circles are. If you're in one, you know,
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you may not understand because it's just like it's just
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like everyday life. But if you ever find yourself on
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the outside of a circle, right, you realize that your
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hard work, dedication and talent matters. But there's a point
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in which you're going to bump up into I'm on
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the outside, you know. So we wanted to use construction
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to create another one, so we created Pilom. It didn't
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have a name at the time. We created Pilom Building Group.
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So Pilom Building Group currently is a current a Holy
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owned Succedi area of Braswan Gory. You know, we work
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together to create a amazing amount of support and resources
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resources from that company. A lot of people put in
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a lot of effort to do it, and the plan
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was simple. We are going to work for three years
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to build a foundation so that the company could last
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seventy five one hundred years. After those three years, when
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our strength was built, we built some cash flow, built
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some bonding capacity, got some backlog, built some relational capital
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in the community, we would roll that company from under
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brassfl and Gory and transfer the ownership to me, Lou.
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That seems like that conversation was yesterday. It was four
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years ago.
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Wow.
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And we have reset points. So Man, on January first,
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upcoming twenty six, the ownership will transfer to myself. Man.
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Congratulations, that's it is it man?
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Thank you? It is exciting and scary at the same time.
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You know, yeah, because it's a tremendous effort for to
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be the lead of an effort that has so much potential,
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right to impact so many people in this community. You know,
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one thing that I think will be helpful is our
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mission statement. It's something I'm really proud of and it
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speaks to the question that that you've asked me. And
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our mission is build well to create good. Right. The
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build well part is just the work part. It is
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my background. It is what we've been talking about. It
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is how grown up man. If you don't work, you
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don't eat. It is a it is a very simple
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age old line, right, like.
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You have to you have to go get the food.
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You got to go get it, right. And we are
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not a nonprofit. Right. We don't want people to work
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with us because we're cute and cutley, or because we
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have relationships with these people. We want people to work
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with us because we're the best at what we do
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right and and if we will do that build well right,
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then from that will come and overflow that that will
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allow us to create good build well, to create good
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right and and man, we are seeing that already, even
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in the own phase in our in our young, young,
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young life, We've seen that happen. So we want to
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go out and build great projects and execute. And then
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we also want to help with our community, right pipelines
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and from schools, from high school to college, and partnerships
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with colleges to bring them into the workforce one hundred
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different ways. Right. But our little way of impacting this
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thing that you and I have been talking about is
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we will build well so that we can have some
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extra to go create. Bit wow.
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I mean you talked earlier about how you're blessed, and
391
00:22:43.920 --> 00:22:47.559
I feel like at the same time you're blessing others,
392
00:22:47.599 --> 00:22:51.920
you're blessing your community with creating these other opportunities. I mean,
393
00:22:51.960 --> 00:22:54.400
this is this is big, This is really I feel
394
00:22:54.440 --> 00:22:58.400
like we're we're seeing something that you're scratching the surface here,
395
00:22:58.960 --> 00:23:01.839
and this is something that could be one hundred years
396
00:23:01.839 --> 00:23:05.160
in the making. Oh yeah, really big. I can't wait.
397
00:23:05.279 --> 00:23:08.079
I mean, we'll be even older and look back on
398
00:23:08.119 --> 00:23:10.720
this and be like, man, can you believe that we
399
00:23:10.759 --> 00:23:15.079
had this podcast rate before? Reggie to over like that's
400
00:23:15.160 --> 00:23:20.240
that's wild, you know, would you? I hope you're okay
401
00:23:20.240 --> 00:23:22.640
with me bringing this up. I'm just throwing this out there.
402
00:23:22.640 --> 00:23:26.559
But you seem like you seem like a man of faith.
403
00:23:26.960 --> 00:23:31.400
Yeah, yes, yes I am. It means a lot to me,
404
00:23:32.160 --> 00:23:37.400
and you know I have I call it my spiritual journey.
405
00:23:37.799 --> 00:23:40.400
I've been on a spiritual journey since I was nineteen
406
00:23:40.480 --> 00:23:46.519
years old. And you know, I would say it informs.
407
00:23:47.920 --> 00:23:53.039
It informs everything that I do, good or bad. You know,
408
00:23:54.920 --> 00:23:57.960
I would say, at this point in my life, as
409
00:23:58.200 --> 00:24:05.759
I'm forty four, I am at the same time less
410
00:24:05.839 --> 00:24:09.319
searchain about things that I thought I was certain about before.
411
00:24:10.039 --> 00:24:13.200
Right because you're young, you think you read something, It's like,
412
00:24:13.240 --> 00:24:16.400
I got it. I got to figure it out. I've
413
00:24:16.440 --> 00:24:19.480
gotten enough butt kickings in my life to understand that
414
00:24:19.519 --> 00:24:22.640
I don't so less certain about more than I ever have,
415
00:24:24.480 --> 00:24:26.960
but also feel closer to the Lord than I ever
416
00:24:27.039 --> 00:24:31.119
have at the same time, you know, and I believe
417
00:24:31.160 --> 00:24:36.599
that I've gotten comfortable with not knowing everything you know,
418
00:24:37.079 --> 00:24:40.440
and it feels like you get to a point where
419
00:24:40.480 --> 00:24:42.319
you the only way you can make it from there
420
00:24:42.400 --> 00:24:43.720
is to just surrender, you.
421
00:24:43.680 --> 00:24:48.400
Know, yes, yes, yes, yeah.
422
00:24:47.079 --> 00:24:48.920
I love that. I love that.
423
00:24:49.039 --> 00:24:52.319
Yeah, I know exactly. You can't go into everything like
424
00:24:52.359 --> 00:24:54.759
you're the know it all. You have to go in
425
00:24:54.839 --> 00:24:57.680
humble and you just got to give it up. And
426
00:24:57.839 --> 00:25:01.759
I mean, yes, work hard, of course you'll get those benefits,
427
00:25:01.799 --> 00:25:04.319
but you have to surrender.
428
00:25:05.680 --> 00:25:08.599
And just you know, I say this thing, little man like,
429
00:25:09.480 --> 00:25:12.400
we may not know everything, we may not understand anything,
430
00:25:12.599 --> 00:25:15.359
but you have what you need to go do what
431
00:25:15.400 --> 00:25:18.759
you're supposed to be doing. Most of the time, right
432
00:25:18.920 --> 00:25:21.799
it may not look the way that we wanted to
433
00:25:21.839 --> 00:25:23.920
look or we thought the way we thought it would look.
434
00:25:24.559 --> 00:25:26.200
And I do want to be you know, I'm not
435
00:25:26.279 --> 00:25:29.960
a I don't want to be a callous man. There.
436
00:25:30.079 --> 00:25:36.519
Sometimes life happens right, and there's grace for that. But
437
00:25:36.599 --> 00:25:39.200
I do believe at some point we just have to
438
00:25:39.200 --> 00:25:41.079
do what we're supposed to be doing and trust that
439
00:25:41.119 --> 00:25:41.839
will be okay.
440
00:25:42.480 --> 00:25:46.000
Yeah, I mean, you're you're on a mission right here.
441
00:25:46.519 --> 00:25:49.400
I mean I can I can see it, and it
442
00:25:49.599 --> 00:25:53.480
almost like gives off that feeling you're in a position
443
00:25:53.640 --> 00:25:56.079
where you can share this. I mean, you could share
444
00:25:56.119 --> 00:25:59.519
your experiences. You're going to be sharing your faith with everybody.
445
00:25:59.519 --> 00:26:03.880
But that's I mean, that's it's very clear that this
446
00:26:03.960 --> 00:26:07.680
is your job. Like this, you have to share, share
447
00:26:07.720 --> 00:26:11.039
the word, share the share the Lord, share everything. With
448
00:26:11.160 --> 00:26:13.720
everything that you're building. I mean I can see that
449
00:26:13.839 --> 00:26:16.839
you are doing that today and it's making it. It's
450
00:26:16.880 --> 00:26:20.839
already making a difference. It's amazing, you're setting it up
451
00:26:20.880 --> 00:26:23.440
for success. If everybody's going to have bad days, not
452
00:26:23.519 --> 00:26:26.480
that not every day is going to be perfect, but
453
00:26:27.160 --> 00:26:29.799
as if you have the right mindset, which you do,
454
00:26:30.039 --> 00:26:33.119
I can already see that that mindset gets you through.
455
00:26:33.200 --> 00:26:37.160
So that's amazing. If someone in your position.
456
00:26:36.920 --> 00:26:39.519
Has I feel like you have to you have to
457
00:26:39.559 --> 00:26:43.200
have some backup, and you have that backup that you need.
458
00:26:43.799 --> 00:26:47.319
Well, man, I mean, it is, it is. It's it's simple.
459
00:26:47.359 --> 00:26:52.720
It's not easy, right, simple conceptually right. Just just treat
460
00:26:52.759 --> 00:26:56.240
people well, man, Just show up in your best state
461
00:26:56.400 --> 00:27:01.160
every day, bring energy and treat people well. But it's
462
00:27:01.200 --> 00:27:07.880
not easy. Some days are hard people, right. But man, again,
463
00:27:08.039 --> 00:27:12.400
I don't want to make it seem like I'm discrediting
464
00:27:13.359 --> 00:27:16.960
hard work and talent. And you know, do I talk
465
00:27:17.000 --> 00:27:18.960
of something I talk about here all the time, work
466
00:27:19.000 --> 00:27:21.200
on your craft. You should always be working on your
467
00:27:21.279 --> 00:27:25.400
craft and developing. Those things are extremely valuable to me.
468
00:27:27.319 --> 00:27:30.799
But those things, while those things can be really great
469
00:27:30.920 --> 00:27:34.480
in building up oneself and helping you attain a position,
470
00:27:35.720 --> 00:27:43.079
those things alone are extremely inefficient. Insufficient is probably the
471
00:27:43.119 --> 00:27:50.039
better word in creating an environment in which everyone can rise, right.
472
00:27:50.359 --> 00:27:52.279
And if you want, if you want to just go,
473
00:27:52.359 --> 00:27:55.359
do you then? Man, just go work hard and read
474
00:27:55.480 --> 00:27:58.279
and develop and blop and you'll find yourself sitting at
475
00:27:58.279 --> 00:28:01.720
the top of the world. But you should caution yourself
476
00:28:01.759 --> 00:28:03.519
and know that you may be alone when you get there.
477
00:28:04.039 --> 00:28:08.680
Yeah, spot on, Yeah, spot on. There's definitely ways to
478
00:28:08.720 --> 00:28:09.400
go about it.
479
00:28:09.599 --> 00:28:12.440
Oh yeah, yeah. Treat people well, man, treat people well,
480
00:28:12.559 --> 00:28:16.640
be generous and treat people well. And man, you'll you'll
481
00:28:16.680 --> 00:28:19.119
find yourself surrounded by people who will do anything to
482
00:28:19.160 --> 00:28:19.440
help you.
483
00:28:20.480 --> 00:28:21.200
I'm with you.
484
00:28:21.359 --> 00:28:25.000
I mean, you're I feel like everything that you're saying,
485
00:28:25.039 --> 00:28:28.720
I'm motivated to go out and say hi to everybody.
486
00:28:28.960 --> 00:28:31.519
You never know, man, you never you never know? I
487
00:28:31.519 --> 00:28:34.440
mean how many times? I mean, you're a very successful Man,
488
00:28:34.759 --> 00:28:38.039
how many times have you, you know, come across someone
489
00:28:38.200 --> 00:28:40.640
and they say it starts off like this, Hey, you
490
00:28:40.680 --> 00:28:44.079
probably don't remember me, right, And then they start telling
491
00:28:44.119 --> 00:28:46.480
a story about when they saw you smiled at them
492
00:28:46.519 --> 00:28:49.720
and you shook their hand or whatever, and it's like
493
00:28:50.039 --> 00:28:52.200
and then I took off in life and you don't
494
00:28:52.240 --> 00:28:54.039
know me, but I just want to thank you. Man,
495
00:28:54.039 --> 00:28:55.319
how many happen?
496
00:28:56.160 --> 00:28:59.799
It happens and you just don't even realize the impact
497
00:28:59.799 --> 00:29:03.559
that you make on every little path that you cross
498
00:29:04.920 --> 00:29:07.519
and every every action matters.
499
00:29:07.839 --> 00:29:11.319
Yeah. Yeah, Well think about this. If the only people
500
00:29:11.359 --> 00:29:14.359
that we poured into or that we spent time with
501
00:29:14.480 --> 00:29:18.279
were people who are already successful, and I would argue, like, what,
502
00:29:18.400 --> 00:29:22.960
we don't need you, that person was already as successful
503
00:29:23.000 --> 00:29:26.200
that for you know what I mean? Right like you?
504
00:29:26.480 --> 00:29:30.960
We must we must be willing to treat everyone like
505
00:29:31.039 --> 00:29:32.119
they have value.
506
00:29:32.440 --> 00:29:34.160
Yeah, it's you.
507
00:29:34.480 --> 00:29:38.279
That's it's also building your craft what you mentioned before,
508
00:29:38.400 --> 00:29:39.319
and working hard.
509
00:29:39.599 --> 00:29:40.359
It's biblical.
510
00:29:40.680 --> 00:29:42.720
I mean a lot of people know I'm a very
511
00:29:42.839 --> 00:29:46.839
very faithful person and everybody that I meet, I just
512
00:29:47.160 --> 00:29:50.799
I mean I love everybody. Just everybody has something great
513
00:29:50.799 --> 00:29:54.960
about them that everybody has a purpose and some people
514
00:29:55.000 --> 00:29:58.599
need guidance and some people need help. But there's always
515
00:29:58.640 --> 00:30:03.359
opportunities to have great conversations with everyone. With every single person,
516
00:30:03.599 --> 00:30:06.440
there's something positive to pull out of a conversation. If
517
00:30:06.480 --> 00:30:09.599
even somebody's having a bad day, there's something to talk
518
00:30:09.640 --> 00:30:11.599
to them about even though they're having a bad day.
519
00:30:11.640 --> 00:30:13.160
I know a lot of people kind of like to
520
00:30:13.200 --> 00:30:16.759
steer away from those tough conversations. But even in construction,
521
00:30:17.680 --> 00:30:22.599
we work in a tough industry, very tough industry, and
522
00:30:22.960 --> 00:30:27.039
the leaders are the ones that are not afraid to
523
00:30:27.200 --> 00:30:31.519
have those tough conversations and really build their team up
524
00:30:31.960 --> 00:30:34.720
and get them going. I mean, some of these guys
525
00:30:35.359 --> 00:30:39.839
or girls will have tough days and it separates the
526
00:30:39.880 --> 00:30:42.720
true leaders that can bring them up out of those
527
00:30:42.720 --> 00:30:47.559
tough days. And we know that construction has the highest
528
00:30:47.920 --> 00:30:51.480
suicide rate, Like, let's be honest, that's how tough the
529
00:30:51.519 --> 00:30:52.119
industry is.
530
00:30:52.920 --> 00:30:54.279
It's the highest.
531
00:30:54.960 --> 00:30:59.960
So what are the leaders doing to enhance their emotional
532
00:31:00.200 --> 00:31:04.519
intelligence and get better at having conversations. How are you
533
00:31:04.880 --> 00:31:08.400
adapting to these times to make a difference. And I
534
00:31:08.400 --> 00:31:11.799
feel like, you know, you can have faith, you can read,
535
00:31:11.839 --> 00:31:15.640
you can do everything, but the main main route thing
536
00:31:16.039 --> 00:31:19.680
is you have to be just nice, Like be nice,
537
00:31:19.920 --> 00:31:24.400
be be humble, be nice, talk to everybody regularly.
538
00:31:24.480 --> 00:31:26.200
How how you should talk to people?
539
00:31:27.160 --> 00:31:30.200
You have to get to know and listen. You know,
540
00:31:30.440 --> 00:31:33.119
I would imagine there are some people that tune into
541
00:31:33.160 --> 00:31:37.759
this podcast. There's no way, there's no way that they
542
00:31:37.759 --> 00:31:40.680
could speak to every single person in their company. It
543
00:31:40.920 --> 00:31:45.279
is a problem of scale, right, But you can create
544
00:31:45.640 --> 00:31:51.920
a culture in which you demand that leaders check in
545
00:31:51.960 --> 00:31:56.160
with their direct reports. So so as a as a leader,
546
00:31:56.200 --> 00:31:59.599
you may not be touching these people directly, but indirectly
547
00:31:59.759 --> 00:32:03.799
you can in set of standard in which you were
548
00:32:03.920 --> 00:32:06.119
just I call it just be in tune with your people.
549
00:32:06.240 --> 00:32:08.599
You know you have I'm a realist too, right, Like
550
00:32:09.480 --> 00:32:12.079
you don't have to be everyone's best friend, right, but
551
00:32:12.160 --> 00:32:14.839
you should have like in sports, we call it like
552
00:32:14.960 --> 00:32:18.559
knowing the heartbeat of your team, right, you should kind
553
00:32:18.559 --> 00:32:21.000
of know what's going on with people or have you know,
554
00:32:21.039 --> 00:32:26.720
I had a situation and this was before Polong started,
555
00:32:26.759 --> 00:32:29.240
but you know someone will come say, hey, you might
556
00:32:29.319 --> 00:32:31.720
want to go check on such and such.
557
00:32:32.079 --> 00:32:35.920
Oh yeah yeah, right, So just knowing, like.
558
00:32:36.119 --> 00:32:39.680
Setting that standard and then making yourself known and seeing
559
00:32:39.759 --> 00:32:42.559
viewed as someone who is safe enough for someone to
560
00:32:42.599 --> 00:32:44.200
come and say, hey, man, you might want to go
561
00:32:44.839 --> 00:32:50.359
go check on Jimmy man, you know, and it's just important.
562
00:32:51.079 --> 00:32:55.319
I like the keeping that open forum is super important.
563
00:32:55.960 --> 00:32:59.119
And I'm sure you even having conversations when you were
564
00:32:59.160 --> 00:33:02.240
playing in the NFL and like that's that's also a
565
00:33:02.279 --> 00:33:03.960
tough that's a tough Uh.
566
00:33:05.119 --> 00:33:07.039
Yeah, that's that's the league.
567
00:33:07.119 --> 00:33:09.960
Like you you're talking to some tough people, some tough guys,
568
00:33:10.359 --> 00:33:11.759
you know, when you were playing.
569
00:33:11.759 --> 00:33:14.160
I guess do you have any It could be fun too.
570
00:33:14.240 --> 00:33:14.759
It doesn't matter.
571
00:33:15.039 --> 00:33:18.799
We can change the subject as far as any stories
572
00:33:18.839 --> 00:33:22.359
that you like to talk about of you know, some experience,
573
00:33:22.400 --> 00:33:25.039
like you can name one, what was one really cool
574
00:33:25.079 --> 00:33:27.599
experience that you had when you were playing in the NFL?
575
00:33:27.960 --> 00:33:31.680
Yeah, man, I have. I played for eight years, man,
576
00:33:31.960 --> 00:33:38.680
and there are so many experiences that mean a lot
577
00:33:38.720 --> 00:33:41.319
to me. And you know, it's kind of like when
578
00:33:41.359 --> 00:33:43.880
you're in something, it doesn't seem like a big deal,
579
00:33:43.920 --> 00:33:47.119
it seems normal. And then but now that I'm out
580
00:33:47.160 --> 00:33:49.039
of it, I'm getting older and I look back and
581
00:33:49.039 --> 00:33:51.039
I'm like, oh man, that was kind of formative for
582
00:33:51.079 --> 00:33:56.240
me or for this relationship or that relationship. You know,
583
00:33:56.480 --> 00:34:02.640
I would just say if I could give an example.
584
00:34:03.319 --> 00:34:05.200
It's hard to give examples because I don't want to
585
00:34:05.200 --> 00:34:09.960
make another group seem like, you know, negative, So I
586
00:34:09.960 --> 00:34:12.440
would just say eighteen. It's still narrows it down to
587
00:34:12.480 --> 00:34:15.480
two teams, but you have to pick one. When I
588
00:34:15.519 --> 00:34:18.559
was with the when I was with the New York Giants,
589
00:34:18.559 --> 00:34:27.320
I'll say this outstanding leadership was there and led in
590
00:34:27.400 --> 00:34:30.559
a way in which you didn't even realize how good
591
00:34:30.599 --> 00:34:33.440
you had it. Right, they were just they were. They
592
00:34:33.480 --> 00:34:36.239
were the team that drafted me. I didn't have anything
593
00:34:36.239 --> 00:34:42.280
else to compare it to. Okay, the other teams I
594
00:34:42.320 --> 00:34:46.920
played for, they were fine, but they weren't anything the
595
00:34:47.039 --> 00:34:52.000
level of when I was with the Giants. Okay, they
596
00:34:53.519 --> 00:34:55.840
cared for us. And when I say cared for us,
597
00:34:55.880 --> 00:34:58.840
not just the players, but like programs for our kids,
598
00:34:58.920 --> 00:35:02.519
programs for our while like people. You know, man, we
599
00:35:02.920 --> 00:35:04.679
work out butts off, we're on the road a lot,
600
00:35:04.719 --> 00:35:07.679
we're gone a lot for them to say, hey, like,
601
00:35:08.079 --> 00:35:11.320
I'm going to invest in this whole person, right, I'm
602
00:35:11.320 --> 00:35:13.239
not going to send them across the country to go
603
00:35:13.400 --> 00:35:16.440
play a game. And they got a pregnant wife at home,
604
00:35:16.519 --> 00:35:22.280
you know, so let's address that also. You know, it
605
00:35:22.440 --> 00:35:27.440
was just really really special and I didn't realize how
606
00:35:27.519 --> 00:35:30.559
special it was until I went somewhere where the level
607
00:35:30.599 --> 00:35:34.440
of care wasn't the same, Right. I think that is
608
00:35:34.440 --> 00:35:36.719
a lesson as I sit in the sea that I
609
00:35:36.800 --> 00:35:41.119
sit in now, there's two things, two things that I
610
00:35:41.920 --> 00:35:43.840
take from that story, and I hope that can be
611
00:35:43.920 --> 00:35:49.360
helpful to you. The first is, man, it's really hard
612
00:35:50.639 --> 00:35:54.159
to go ask the people on our job sites to
613
00:35:54.280 --> 00:35:57.360
do the difficult jobs that we're asking to do and
614
00:35:57.920 --> 00:36:00.480
treat them like a Social Security number or treat them
615
00:36:00.519 --> 00:36:01.519
like a commodity.
616
00:36:02.039 --> 00:36:02.440
Mm hmm.
617
00:36:03.360 --> 00:36:03.639
Man.
618
00:36:04.480 --> 00:36:06.559
And the main reason I don't do it because I
619
00:36:06.599 --> 00:36:09.599
know what it feels like, right, like I would don't.
620
00:36:09.639 --> 00:36:13.760
Don't don't treat someone right and in a way that
621
00:36:14.480 --> 00:36:16.639
didn't feel good to you. Is a very good chance
622
00:36:16.639 --> 00:36:17.360
they're not gonna like.
623
00:36:17.280 --> 00:36:20.960
It, egaloop, Right, You're just another number.
624
00:36:21.400 --> 00:36:24.440
Don't treat them like that, right, because I've had that experience.
625
00:36:24.880 --> 00:36:27.280
The other thing is this, and and and when I
626
00:36:27.320 --> 00:36:30.719
talk to groups, I try to share this pretty I'm
627
00:36:30.719 --> 00:36:36.159
pretty candid about this. A lot of times in a
628
00:36:36.239 --> 00:36:43.599
young person's career, excuse me, we they find themselves surround it.
629
00:36:43.639 --> 00:36:47.800
You're trying to give them everything you can, right, all
630
00:36:47.840 --> 00:36:52.480
the resources, all the opportunities. You know, you're surrounding them
631
00:36:52.519 --> 00:36:57.400
with an advocate. But they just want to go right.
632
00:36:57.519 --> 00:37:01.239
Something about them, they just they just want to go right.
633
00:37:03.199 --> 00:37:05.119
There's a point in my life where I took that
634
00:37:05.360 --> 00:37:10.440
personal right, like, you're ungrateful, blah blah, you leave, you'll
635
00:37:10.440 --> 00:37:12.719
never come back. And I've never said those words directly
636
00:37:12.760 --> 00:37:15.400
to anyone, but inside, you know you're trying to help
637
00:37:15.440 --> 00:37:17.800
someone and it's just like I'm gonna go to this
638
00:37:17.840 --> 00:37:21.119
other company for two dollars two dollars a year, right,
639
00:37:21.239 --> 00:37:28.760
Like there's a point of that that is just human nature. Yeah,
640
00:37:28.920 --> 00:37:32.639
it is really Again, it's just my story. Man. It's
641
00:37:32.679 --> 00:37:37.400
really hard to appreciate a place, a relationship, whether it's
642
00:37:37.400 --> 00:37:41.199
a friend, whether it's a spouse. Right when you haven't
643
00:37:42.320 --> 00:37:46.800
experienced anything else, your words as a leader have a
644
00:37:46.880 --> 00:37:52.800
limited amount of impact on helping someone understand that, man,
645
00:37:52.960 --> 00:37:55.199
this is a really good space if they don't have
646
00:37:55.360 --> 00:37:58.960
anything to compare it to. So, you know, I have
647
00:37:59.119 --> 00:38:02.119
been a part of several times since I've been in
648
00:38:02.159 --> 00:38:05.559
this world where if someone has left in a year
649
00:38:05.639 --> 00:38:09.519
or two, they come back, and man, this may be
650
00:38:09.559 --> 00:38:12.840
an unpopular opinion, but man, we welcome back with open arms,
651
00:38:13.599 --> 00:38:16.480
you know, because sometimes people just have to go on
652
00:38:16.559 --> 00:38:20.119
that journey. It's not disrespectful to you as a leader.
653
00:38:20.199 --> 00:38:25.159
It's not ungratefulness. Sometimes the journey requires them to leave
654
00:38:25.519 --> 00:38:27.760
before they come back, you know. And man, I just
655
00:38:27.840 --> 00:38:28.719
learned that play and ball.
656
00:38:29.599 --> 00:38:34.480
That's that's amazing. I mean, it means it's so serious.
657
00:38:34.960 --> 00:38:38.480
Everybody does have their own chapters in their books, and
658
00:38:38.760 --> 00:38:40.800
they might need to flip to that chapter, but you're
659
00:38:40.800 --> 00:38:42.480
in a later chapter, you might come back.
660
00:38:44.000 --> 00:38:44.679
I liked it.
661
00:38:45.320 --> 00:38:50.000
I liked there's other company. Of course, I'm big on culture,
662
00:38:50.400 --> 00:38:55.360
huge culture within my company. Treat everybody with respect, create
663
00:38:55.400 --> 00:38:59.639
a safe environment, just you know, very open conversations with
664
00:38:59.719 --> 00:39:02.159
everybody in the company. I mean they I have an
665
00:39:02.199 --> 00:39:04.480
open door policy. Everybody comes to me if they have
666
00:39:04.480 --> 00:39:09.159
any questions or anything like that. And it's funny the
667
00:39:09.280 --> 00:39:12.480
people that have worked in the industry for a long time,
668
00:39:12.559 --> 00:39:15.880
even just like doing sales or whatever, they will tell
669
00:39:16.639 --> 00:39:18.719
the younger ones that are just out of college that
670
00:39:18.760 --> 00:39:19.280
are coming in.
671
00:39:19.320 --> 00:39:24.039
They're like, hey, just so you know, this place is different.
672
00:39:26.559 --> 00:39:28.280
This place is nice.
673
00:39:28.599 --> 00:39:32.079
So if you get comfortable, I think twice if you
674
00:39:32.119 --> 00:39:34.960
think about leaving to go check out, you know, other places,
675
00:39:34.960 --> 00:39:40.360
because you are getting very spoiled here. So and it's
676
00:39:40.400 --> 00:39:42.679
not just spoiled but like you know, with giving them
677
00:39:42.760 --> 00:39:45.400
too much, But it's just spoiled with the culture that
678
00:39:45.440 --> 00:39:49.199
we've created. It's so much fun to come to work.
679
00:39:49.840 --> 00:39:52.920
And that's the kind of environment that we've created. But
680
00:39:53.000 --> 00:39:56.039
you're right, like you almost have to be warned of
681
00:39:56.079 --> 00:39:58.360
what else is out there, how other people work, or
682
00:39:58.400 --> 00:40:01.400
how other people are treating each other. We I mean,
683
00:40:01.440 --> 00:40:06.480
let's be honest, we have competition, and the competition's employees
684
00:40:06.519 --> 00:40:10.320
are coming to us because they didn't create the right culture.
685
00:40:10.840 --> 00:40:12.920
And I'm like, but then I'm going to protect my
686
00:40:13.320 --> 00:40:15.760
current employees.
687
00:40:15.280 --> 00:40:17.159
Like, hey, we got to vet everybody.
688
00:40:17.199 --> 00:40:18.840
We got to make sure that they're a right fit
689
00:40:18.880 --> 00:40:20.639
for everybody else because I got to I have to
690
00:40:20.719 --> 00:40:24.320
protect everybody else. And this culture that we've created, that's
691
00:40:25.159 --> 00:40:27.239
it's very relatable.
692
00:40:27.400 --> 00:40:29.280
Of what you just said, and that.
693
00:40:29.360 --> 00:40:33.239
Job you're talking about is uniquely yours. Yeah, like that,
694
00:40:33.559 --> 00:40:35.480
I say, there are very few jobs in here that
695
00:40:35.559 --> 00:40:37.480
are mine. Like there you know, there are things that
696
00:40:37.599 --> 00:40:40.000
people can run and do, and they're not going to
697
00:40:40.039 --> 00:40:43.000
send me an email and just right, they're very talented,
698
00:40:43.440 --> 00:40:46.639
you know, but oh, you know, protecting the culture and
699
00:40:46.679 --> 00:40:49.159
who comes and who gets to come and who must leave.
700
00:40:49.880 --> 00:40:51.639
You know, as a as a leader at the top,
701
00:40:51.679 --> 00:40:55.280
that's our job and can't shy away from it. You know,
702
00:40:55.519 --> 00:40:59.000
you must be be willing to fight for people who
703
00:40:59.039 --> 00:41:01.159
needs to come in and stay. But you also need
704
00:41:01.199 --> 00:41:03.719
to be willing to, you know, ask people to leave
705
00:41:03.800 --> 00:41:05.760
that shouldn't be there.
706
00:41:06.440 --> 00:41:09.519
So before we wrap up, Reggie, is there it? You know,
707
00:41:09.599 --> 00:41:11.880
you're you're getting your feet wet.
708
00:41:11.679 --> 00:41:12.159
A little bit.
709
00:41:13.960 --> 00:41:18.920
Would you have any advice for anybody that's thinking about
710
00:41:19.000 --> 00:41:20.880
getting into construction today?
711
00:41:20.840 --> 00:41:25.159
Yes, two things I would say. One, don't do it alone.
712
00:41:26.280 --> 00:41:31.119
I could not imagine trying to start regardless of your
713
00:41:31.159 --> 00:41:37.639
talent level, or skill level or money financially. Right, I
714
00:41:37.639 --> 00:41:40.400
am you know you notice about me? I am. I
715
00:41:40.440 --> 00:41:44.400
am a proponent of team. I just think things are
716
00:41:44.440 --> 00:41:46.920
better done on the team, and this is one of them.
717
00:41:46.960 --> 00:41:51.000
So make sure you have a group of people surrounding
718
00:41:51.000 --> 00:41:54.880
you and that are committed. The second thing I would
719
00:41:54.920 --> 00:41:59.320
say is be patient. Be patient when it comes to
720
00:42:01.079 --> 00:42:04.400
the relationships that you involve yourself in you know, when
721
00:42:04.440 --> 00:42:07.800
you're getting off the ground construction, Like, obviously cash flow
722
00:42:07.880 --> 00:42:10.960
is a huge problem, right, and you get those you
723
00:42:11.079 --> 00:42:14.960
need jobs, right, You don't have two years worth of backlog, right.
724
00:42:15.639 --> 00:42:20.920
And it is very tempting to take a project that
725
00:42:21.039 --> 00:42:25.800
the only reason you're taking it is for financial I
726
00:42:25.960 --> 00:42:31.079
have experienced it, and I will be transparent against the
727
00:42:31.679 --> 00:42:37.079
against the advice of a mentor of mine. Right, put
728
00:42:37.159 --> 00:42:40.880
us in a position in which we were pursuing a
729
00:42:40.960 --> 00:42:43.639
project with someone that I could tell you right now,
730
00:42:44.000 --> 00:42:46.119
like I knew within thirty minutes not a good person.
731
00:42:46.599 --> 00:42:50.679
Oh wow, Right, But you overlook these things because you're like, oh,
732
00:42:50.719 --> 00:42:54.480
if I could just get past this and it trusts me,
733
00:42:54.599 --> 00:42:59.079
it will never end well. It'll never end well. It
734
00:42:59.159 --> 00:43:03.039
is so concisely. The second piece of advice I would
735
00:43:03.079 --> 00:43:06.760
give is it is better to wait another month or
736
00:43:06.800 --> 00:43:10.079
two and fight it out and figure out how you're
737
00:43:10.079 --> 00:43:13.320
going to stretch money. It's better to do that than
738
00:43:13.440 --> 00:43:16.719
to get involved with someone on a ten, twelve, fifteen
739
00:43:16.760 --> 00:43:22.199
month project that is like sleeping with the enemy. It'll
740
00:43:22.199 --> 00:43:27.079
never turn out well, and for most companies it's catastrophic,
741
00:43:29.239 --> 00:43:32.079
especially in the beginning phases because you're not strong enough
742
00:43:32.559 --> 00:43:36.800
financially operationally to endure it.
743
00:43:38.199 --> 00:43:44.039
This is strong advice. So this is really good. You know,
744
00:43:44.880 --> 00:43:47.440
I gotta throw it out there. I know you spoke
745
00:43:47.519 --> 00:43:51.719
so much, so great about how you're building pylon and
746
00:43:51.760 --> 00:43:55.880
how you're going about business's it sounds like it's bulletproof
747
00:43:56.079 --> 00:43:59.039
of how you're doing things, which is amazing. You know
748
00:43:59.559 --> 00:44:03.679
you have you have a support behind you. I'd love
749
00:44:03.719 --> 00:44:06.559
to before we like say by and everything like that.
750
00:44:06.880 --> 00:44:09.760
You know you have I'm guessing you have a family
751
00:44:09.880 --> 00:44:12.719
behind you. Is that like your your motivation?
752
00:44:12.920 --> 00:44:13.800
You know, you get going.
753
00:44:13.960 --> 00:44:17.079
You see them every day and like, did you get
754
00:44:17.079 --> 00:44:19.239
throw out there a little bit about and of course
755
00:44:19.239 --> 00:44:21.119
they'll probably watch this too, so you got to give
756
00:44:21.119 --> 00:44:21.840
them a shout out.
757
00:44:22.000 --> 00:44:25.239
Yeah you mean my personal family? Yeah? Yeah, oh yeah,
758
00:44:25.280 --> 00:44:28.480
man man listen, man, man, trying to get me emotional
759
00:44:28.559 --> 00:44:31.079
enough man. So so it's funny, I tell you, like,
760
00:44:31.119 --> 00:44:33.719
I've achieved a lot of things in my life, right,
761
00:44:35.519 --> 00:44:39.039
coming from a little kid in Baton Rouge, right, all
762
00:44:39.079 --> 00:44:44.159
the things that I do, right, they're pretty special things.
763
00:44:44.599 --> 00:44:46.960
But at the core, I just really wanted to be
764
00:44:47.000 --> 00:44:50.840
a good husband and a good dad. Love that I
765
00:44:50.880 --> 00:44:52.639
want to be able to provide for my family. I
766
00:44:52.639 --> 00:44:54.840
wanted to be able to be able to set be
767
00:44:54.920 --> 00:44:57.559
a great example. I wanted to be able to help.
768
00:44:58.199 --> 00:45:01.320
I just wanted to be someone that my wife and
769
00:45:01.400 --> 00:45:05.920
my kids were proud of. So, man, they really pushed me.
770
00:45:07.599 --> 00:45:10.039
My wife, I've been married twenty years, met her at Auburn.
771
00:45:10.039 --> 00:45:13.599
That's mcgirl, Michelle. And then I have two boys, nineteen
772
00:45:13.639 --> 00:45:16.639
and eighteen. They're both out of the house. Some inter nestors.
773
00:45:16.760 --> 00:45:20.880
I'm an inter nestor. One that's South Alabama. He runs
774
00:45:20.920 --> 00:45:23.679
track there and he majors inbout medical sciences.
775
00:45:24.119 --> 00:45:24.639
Oh wow.
776
00:45:25.239 --> 00:45:29.159
And my youngest is a freshman at the univers at
777
00:45:29.159 --> 00:45:34.480
West Virginia. He plays football there and he studies on engineering.
778
00:45:34.679 --> 00:45:38.000
So and hopefully one of those will come to the
779
00:45:38.039 --> 00:45:40.159
new family business at some point will say.
780
00:45:40.079 --> 00:45:43.280
Oh, yeah, I love that. I love that. Come work
781
00:45:43.320 --> 00:45:43.800
for dad.
782
00:45:45.079 --> 00:45:46.679
Yeah, I'll treat you right.
783
00:45:47.559 --> 00:45:49.360
You should, you should be so proud.
784
00:45:49.519 --> 00:45:52.519
And I can't you know what, out of this whole podcast,
785
00:45:52.599 --> 00:45:54.039
I can't wait for them to see that part.
786
00:45:54.920 --> 00:45:57.679
Pretty cool man, Yeah, no, I really.
787
00:45:57.559 --> 00:46:01.280
I really appreciate you. Is there anything else that you
788
00:46:01.360 --> 00:46:03.920
kind of want to leave with the with with the viewers.
789
00:46:04.119 --> 00:46:06.360
You know, where can they find you? How can people
790
00:46:06.400 --> 00:46:07.079
get a hold of you?
791
00:46:07.480 --> 00:46:10.840
Yeah, yeah, so pretty simple. You know, Pilon Building dot
792
00:46:10.840 --> 00:46:14.800
com is our website and also it's you know, there's
793
00:46:14.800 --> 00:46:17.159
no need to hide your phone number addressing more. People
794
00:46:17.159 --> 00:46:20.719
can google and find anything. So you know, just just
795
00:46:20.719 --> 00:46:22.760
want to reach out to me, you know, R T O,
796
00:46:22.960 --> 00:46:27.199
R b O, R pile on building dot com And
797
00:46:27.480 --> 00:46:32.039
we're always looking for partners, whether it's business or from
798
00:46:32.079 --> 00:46:36.639
a civic duty community standpoint. We we have this view
799
00:46:37.559 --> 00:46:40.519
that we're better together and if there's ever any partners
800
00:46:40.519 --> 00:46:42.480
that want to work together, we're always.
801
00:46:42.119 --> 00:46:47.199
For amazing and I hope, I hope this really works
802
00:46:47.199 --> 00:46:49.480
out for you. I hope some people reach out to
803
00:46:49.519 --> 00:46:52.599
you to give you some business. Reggie, you deserve it
804
00:46:52.960 --> 00:46:55.239
for all this hard work that you've done. Well, thank
805
00:46:55.280 --> 00:46:57.599
you for being a guest on the show, and please
806
00:46:57.719 --> 00:47:02.320
everyone like, subscribe, comment, share this. The builder up a
807
00:47:02.400 --> 00:47:05.360
show with everyone that you know in the construction industry
808
00:47:05.760 --> 00:47:07.559
and we will see you next time.
809
00:47:07.719 --> 00:47:08.079
Thank you.
810
00:47:18.880 --> 00:47:21.280
If you're a construction contractor and would like to appear
811
00:47:21.320 --> 00:47:23.599
as a guest on our podcast, write us an email.
812
00:47:23.719 --> 00:47:26.800
It's lou at Lumberfi dot com,