The Builder Upper Show Ep. 29 feat. Joshua D. Mellott from BlackLine and Legacy Services Group

WEBVTT
1
00:00:00.760 --> 00:00:04.240
Hey everyone, I'm Louperez, your host of The Builder Upper Show,
2
00:00:04.320 --> 00:00:07.799
a podcast where we talk about everything in construction and trades.
3
00:00:08.080 --> 00:00:18.000
Now let's get into it all right. I have my
4
00:00:18.160 --> 00:00:22.879
guest and this is a special moment here Builder Upper
5
00:00:23.039 --> 00:00:29.920
Show in Person with the very own Joshua Mellet from
6
00:00:30.600 --> 00:00:31.440
Black Line.
7
00:00:32.159 --> 00:00:33.520
Joshua, how you doing today?
8
00:00:33.640 --> 00:00:36.600
Uh, it's awesome. I so appreciate you inviting me to
9
00:00:36.679 --> 00:00:40.560
your podcast, and to be on the inaugural in person
10
00:00:40.799 --> 00:00:44.039
podcast for the Builder Upper Show is pretty exciting.
11
00:00:44.200 --> 00:00:47.439
This is big, This is big, so I really appreciate it.
12
00:00:47.479 --> 00:00:51.880
So the you know, the whole point of The Builder
13
00:00:51.960 --> 00:00:57.439
Upper Show is to unpack stories of construction owners and
14
00:00:57.560 --> 00:01:01.560
really dig into the history of of how you got
15
00:01:01.600 --> 00:01:04.400
to where you're at today. But at the same time,
16
00:01:05.040 --> 00:01:10.959
let's tell the viewers more about you, who helped inspire you,
17
00:01:11.079 --> 00:01:13.640
what helped inspire you to get to where you're at today?
18
00:01:13.680 --> 00:01:17.359
And then but before I get even to like those
19
00:01:17.439 --> 00:01:20.319
type of questions, yeah, let's make it super simple.
20
00:01:21.599 --> 00:01:22.959
When did you get into construction?
21
00:01:23.319 --> 00:01:27.400
Oh? Boy, the first time I got into construction, I
22
00:01:27.400 --> 00:01:31.560
think I was probably about ten years old, okay, and
23
00:01:32.079 --> 00:01:34.920
my dad was a handyman, carpenter, so like he would
24
00:01:34.920 --> 00:01:38.719
be doing little deck projects for people, replacing their windows
25
00:01:38.719 --> 00:01:41.439
and their doors. And I can remember one time. I
26
00:01:41.480 --> 00:01:43.599
always wanted to make money. It's just what I wanted
27
00:01:43.640 --> 00:01:46.879
to do because my parents said, if you want money,
28
00:01:46.879 --> 00:01:49.079
to spend on things. I remember I wanted a Nintendo.
29
00:01:49.439 --> 00:01:50.879
It was a big deal when I was a kid.
30
00:01:51.519 --> 00:01:52.519
Nintendo was the best.
31
00:01:52.519 --> 00:01:56.200
Oh it was awesome. And I had an Atari, but
32
00:01:56.239 --> 00:01:58.599
that was just not the same, no, And so I
33
00:01:58.640 --> 00:02:00.920
wanted a Nintendo. And so Dad was like, then you're
34
00:02:00.920 --> 00:02:04.760
gonna have to pay for it. And so I talked
35
00:02:04.799 --> 00:02:07.159
him into letting me come to his job sites and
36
00:02:07.200 --> 00:02:09.199
I would clean up for a dollar an hour. That
37
00:02:09.319 --> 00:02:12.520
was a good deal, like to a lot of cleanup.
38
00:02:14.280 --> 00:02:17.560
And that was my first entry into construction, getting to
39
00:02:17.639 --> 00:02:18.159
experience it.
40
00:02:18.560 --> 00:02:22.719
So, you know, you're you have an interesting background of
41
00:02:22.759 --> 00:02:27.360
where you're at today. You know, tell us what do
42
00:02:27.400 --> 00:02:30.840
you do today and why do you do it.
43
00:02:31.159 --> 00:02:33.680
That's a funny question because my team you've met, some
44
00:02:33.800 --> 00:02:36.199
of would ask that same question, what do you do?
45
00:02:36.759 --> 00:02:40.599
What are you hiding behind the scenes.
46
00:02:41.719 --> 00:02:45.400
So I'm the chairman of an organization called Legacy Group,
47
00:02:45.919 --> 00:02:50.680
which owns a couple of companies, and so that sounds
48
00:02:50.960 --> 00:02:54.479
way cooler than it actually is. But one of the
49
00:02:54.800 --> 00:02:58.639
main companies that I'm involved with is black Line, and
50
00:02:58.719 --> 00:03:03.159
so black Line is a company that tells the stories
51
00:03:03.199 --> 00:03:05.800
of the men and women who do the work. Our
52
00:03:05.960 --> 00:03:08.360
vision is to lift the view of the skilled trades.
53
00:03:08.400 --> 00:03:11.280
That's why we exist, and so we do that through
54
00:03:11.280 --> 00:03:15.319
two ways. One we get hired to actually three ways,
55
00:03:15.360 --> 00:03:17.919
if I'm saying this right. We get hired to tell
56
00:03:17.960 --> 00:03:21.400
people's stories and help them build their brands, so, you know,
57
00:03:21.479 --> 00:03:24.520
to help you build out your social media, to tell
58
00:03:24.560 --> 00:03:29.120
your story through video, you know, and communicate what it
59
00:03:29.159 --> 00:03:31.560
is that you do and why you do it, which
60
00:03:31.599 --> 00:03:34.639
actually really helps your bottom line because it attracts talent,
61
00:03:34.719 --> 00:03:38.039
it attracts clients, all of that stuff, and it attracts
62
00:03:38.039 --> 00:03:40.840
the talent and the clients that align with who you are,
63
00:03:41.319 --> 00:03:45.080
which is kind of important if you like profitability. And
64
00:03:45.120 --> 00:03:48.599
then we also at black Line have our institute. We
65
00:03:48.680 --> 00:03:53.199
call it black Line Institute Super Creative, I know. And
66
00:03:53.280 --> 00:03:57.280
in that institute, we are an accredited apprenticeship program here
67
00:03:57.280 --> 00:04:02.319
in the state of Pennsylvania where we teach. It's a
68
00:04:02.400 --> 00:04:06.240
four year program and we teach and work alongside companies
69
00:04:06.759 --> 00:04:09.680
to train their people to become electricians and to get
70
00:04:09.680 --> 00:04:10.879
certified by the State of PA.
71
00:04:11.360 --> 00:04:12.879
Amazing, amazing.
72
00:04:13.479 --> 00:04:18.079
So you know, I got to ask, you do your
73
00:04:18.079 --> 00:04:23.040
own podcasts? How do you get to do all these
74
00:04:23.360 --> 00:04:25.600
It seems like you're you have your hand and a
75
00:04:25.680 --> 00:04:28.759
lot of things. You might have what we call the
76
00:04:28.839 --> 00:04:32.000
curse I do of entrepreneurship.
77
00:04:32.120 --> 00:04:33.879
Yeah, you know, what.
78
00:04:33.680 --> 00:04:36.199
Would you say, like, how do you prioritize this? How
79
00:04:36.240 --> 00:04:39.120
do you manage your time as an owner? I mean
80
00:04:39.120 --> 00:04:41.040
it sounds like we're doing a ton of things, like
81
00:04:41.360 --> 00:04:43.920
do you have any special sauce to being an owner
82
00:04:44.279 --> 00:04:46.680
and then being in the industry but also doing all
83
00:04:46.680 --> 00:04:48.000
these other things to keep you going?
84
00:04:49.120 --> 00:04:52.079
Uh, there is a special sauce. It's not mine, but
85
00:04:52.160 --> 00:04:56.680
it exists, and a lot of us sometimes don't realize it.
86
00:04:56.879 --> 00:04:59.879
But one of the most important things that I have
87
00:05:00.079 --> 00:05:04.480
realizing the things that I do is the power of team.
88
00:05:04.720 --> 00:05:06.759
You know, when I when I started, I founded an
89
00:05:06.800 --> 00:05:11.680
electrical company doing commercial industrial electoral work, and I realized
90
00:05:11.680 --> 00:05:15.959
I don't want to do this alone. And we've they
91
00:05:16.000 --> 00:05:19.639
developed a reputation of I'm not involved in the day
92
00:05:19.680 --> 00:05:21.839
to day of that company anymore. I sit on their board.
93
00:05:21.920 --> 00:05:28.560
But we developed a reputation of problem solving, and that
94
00:05:28.680 --> 00:05:31.519
really is what business is really about. It's about solving
95
00:05:31.519 --> 00:05:35.079
a problem and bringing solutions to the table for clients.
96
00:05:36.040 --> 00:05:38.519
And the way that I found was the most successful
97
00:05:38.519 --> 00:05:42.199
way to do that was the power of team. And
98
00:05:42.279 --> 00:05:44.879
so if you would have told me that I host
99
00:05:44.920 --> 00:05:48.120
a podcast, or that I would go speak and talk
100
00:05:48.160 --> 00:05:52.439
with organizations and people, or or even consult when I
101
00:05:52.480 --> 00:05:55.720
when I started the company years ago, I would have
102
00:05:55.720 --> 00:05:57.920
said you were absolutely nuts. I would have bet a
103
00:05:57.920 --> 00:06:04.120
million dollars against you. And the reality is the secret sauce.
104
00:06:04.160 --> 00:06:06.360
And this is what I share with people. I've never
105
00:06:06.399 --> 00:06:08.519
actually shared this on camera, but I will share it
106
00:06:08.519 --> 00:06:11.959
here on the Builder Upper Show because it's about from
107
00:06:12.000 --> 00:06:13.879
what you were telling me, what your goal is. It's
108
00:06:13.879 --> 00:06:19.560
about improving the industry and making it better. The power
109
00:06:19.600 --> 00:06:23.079
of team is one of those things that it is
110
00:06:23.600 --> 00:06:27.000
unmeasurable in the way that it can succeed. And so
111
00:06:28.600 --> 00:06:30.959
if you have an issue or a problem and you're
112
00:06:30.959 --> 00:06:34.079
trying to solve it, when you bring the power of
113
00:06:34.160 --> 00:06:39.000
team into that, it totally changes the aspect with which
114
00:06:39.040 --> 00:06:41.360
you look at that issue. So imagine that you have
115
00:06:41.879 --> 00:06:44.839
you know in this picture, and let's say that you know,
116
00:06:44.920 --> 00:06:46.879
a silo is like a circle on it's really tall,
117
00:06:47.680 --> 00:06:50.560
and so you're standing on this side of it. You
118
00:06:50.600 --> 00:06:52.480
and I, like, we have an issue in between us here.
119
00:06:53.199 --> 00:06:55.439
You're sitting over there. I'm sitting here. I can't see you.
120
00:06:55.480 --> 00:06:57.240
I can only see the issue which is in front
121
00:06:57.240 --> 00:07:00.279
of me. When you bring a team into it, say
122
00:07:00.279 --> 00:07:01.959
that you bring four people into it, and I like
123
00:07:02.000 --> 00:07:04.160
this because you'd have a person sitting here to our right,
124
00:07:04.480 --> 00:07:06.160
a person to our left, and then you and me
125
00:07:06.199 --> 00:07:09.560
on either side of it. I can see that person
126
00:07:09.600 --> 00:07:11.360
to my right, and I can see that person to
127
00:07:11.399 --> 00:07:14.000
my left, and they can see aspects of the issue
128
00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:16.720
that I can't see. The other thing that they can
129
00:07:16.720 --> 00:07:18.759
see is they can see you, who sees an entire
130
00:07:18.879 --> 00:07:21.600
other side of the issue, And in that way we
131
00:07:21.639 --> 00:07:24.399
get a three hundred and sixty degree view of what
132
00:07:24.439 --> 00:07:28.800
the issue is. When you bring that power of team
133
00:07:29.160 --> 00:07:34.519
into problem solving, it totally changes it. And so you're like, wow,
134
00:07:34.519 --> 00:07:36.319
you're involved in a lot of different things. Well, the
135
00:07:36.319 --> 00:07:40.279
reality is, it's not just me. Black Line is a
136
00:07:40.319 --> 00:07:46.240
collaboration of people that desire to communicate value of the
137
00:07:46.240 --> 00:07:48.680
individuals who do the work and lift the view of
138
00:07:48.680 --> 00:07:50.639
the skilled trades. And so when we have an issue
139
00:07:50.759 --> 00:07:53.399
or a problem, we deal with that as a team.
140
00:07:53.399 --> 00:07:55.560
And I think you know, we've been talking a lot today.
141
00:07:55.639 --> 00:07:59.079
I think you know exactly what I'm talking about. Yes,
142
00:07:59.120 --> 00:08:05.199
but I think it's important to articulate perspective matters. And
143
00:08:05.360 --> 00:08:07.560
I only have this perspective if I can talk with
144
00:08:07.600 --> 00:08:10.879
that person to my right or to my left, they
145
00:08:10.879 --> 00:08:13.160
can talk with you, and I can see the full picture,
146
00:08:13.879 --> 00:08:19.000
which makes me make educated decisions and solves problems.
147
00:08:20.199 --> 00:08:26.839
Contractors do overcome a lot of adversity. Would you can
148
00:08:26.879 --> 00:08:29.639
you remember a time that seemed like it was really
149
00:08:29.680 --> 00:08:35.159
tough and other than today, other than today, and you know,
150
00:08:35.879 --> 00:08:38.039
just point out some areas where you're just like, you
151
00:08:38.080 --> 00:08:40.320
know what today is tough, but you made your way through?
152
00:08:40.360 --> 00:08:41.279
And how did you do it?
153
00:08:43.600 --> 00:08:45.080
How real am I allowed to get here?
154
00:08:45.080 --> 00:08:47.080
You can get as candid as you want.
155
00:08:48.720 --> 00:08:53.360
So I've been in business for a little over twenty years.
156
00:08:54.679 --> 00:08:57.240
The electrical company that I found had celebrated twenty years
157
00:08:57.279 --> 00:08:57.960
this past year.
158
00:08:58.120 --> 00:09:00.000
Congratulations, Thank you.
159
00:09:02.200 --> 00:09:05.279
I remember a little over a decade ago, it was
160
00:09:05.320 --> 00:09:08.960
after two thousand and eight. You know you couldn't win
161
00:09:09.039 --> 00:09:12.519
projects to save your life, and I was trying to
162
00:09:12.519 --> 00:09:16.559
save my life and we were broke as an organization.
163
00:09:18.840 --> 00:09:22.879
And and just just so that I understand your question,
164
00:09:22.960 --> 00:09:25.879
you're asking me when I was in those situations, what
165
00:09:26.120 --> 00:09:29.519
was the thing that got me through? That's what you're asking. Okay,
166
00:09:30.440 --> 00:09:35.279
So I remember my debts were high and my funds
167
00:09:35.320 --> 00:09:39.679
were low and so much so I remember saying to
168
00:09:39.720 --> 00:09:42.240
my wife, So it was her birthday, it was March,
169
00:09:43.480 --> 00:09:46.559
and I remember saying to her, well, why don't we
170
00:09:46.600 --> 00:09:50.759
go window shopping for your birthday where you can look
171
00:09:50.759 --> 00:09:55.080
at stuff? But I can't buy you anything. And where
172
00:09:55.080 --> 00:09:57.200
we live, we have all of these things, like you know,
173
00:09:57.320 --> 00:09:59.960
goodwill or there's reuse it shops they call it, where
174
00:10:00.039 --> 00:10:02.200
they have used things that they sell. And I said,
175
00:10:02.360 --> 00:10:05.039
I can't handle going to look at things in an
176
00:10:05.080 --> 00:10:08.559
actual store. Well let's go to one of those places.
177
00:10:09.519 --> 00:10:14.440
And so we go to this reuse it shop and
178
00:10:14.679 --> 00:10:19.879
we're there. So I'm a big believer. If you need
179
00:10:19.919 --> 00:10:22.639
to get that, you can. But I'm a big believer
180
00:10:22.840 --> 00:10:25.759
in it's your podcast. I'm telling you what you can do.
181
00:10:25.879 --> 00:10:33.679
I'm sorry. In being honest, time is value and I
182
00:10:33.759 --> 00:10:36.279
want to give you the maximum value of my time.
183
00:10:37.159 --> 00:10:38.679
And the only way to do that is to be honest.
184
00:10:38.720 --> 00:10:43.440
So I'll tell you the truth. We're there and we
185
00:10:43.519 --> 00:10:47.759
walk in. I couldn't even bring myself to walk around
186
00:10:47.759 --> 00:10:50.399
with her to look at things because I felt like
187
00:10:50.440 --> 00:10:53.320
such a failure that I couldn't provide for her a
188
00:10:53.360 --> 00:10:57.679
birthday present from a place where they were selling used things.
189
00:10:59.240 --> 00:11:01.039
And so I said to her, I said, hey, why
190
00:11:01.080 --> 00:11:03.519
don't you go look around? And I love books, I
191
00:11:03.559 --> 00:11:07.320
love to read, and I love old things, and so
192
00:11:07.399 --> 00:11:08.679
I said, I'm just gonna go over here and I'm
193
00:11:08.679 --> 00:11:11.200
gonna look at these books. And so I go over
194
00:11:11.399 --> 00:11:13.559
and I'm looking through things. And my faith plays a
195
00:11:13.559 --> 00:11:18.360
big part in my life, and I believe in God,
196
00:11:19.159 --> 00:11:22.840
and I believe in a relationship with God, and so
197
00:11:24.320 --> 00:11:26.240
for me, that's a big part of my life. But
198
00:11:26.320 --> 00:11:32.120
up until this point, I had never experienced God speaking
199
00:11:32.159 --> 00:11:36.519
to me in this way. And so there I am,
200
00:11:36.679 --> 00:11:40.559
and standing there in the aisle. I'm just hoping people
201
00:11:40.600 --> 00:11:42.360
can't see me because I feel like I have a
202
00:11:42.399 --> 00:11:45.919
sign on me that says I'm broke, that I'm a failure,
203
00:11:46.519 --> 00:11:51.200
that I don't know what I'm doing, and I'm looking
204
00:11:51.240 --> 00:11:54.320
at these books and I see this Bible with like
205
00:11:54.440 --> 00:11:57.360
these you know, red edges on it. And I'm a
206
00:11:57.480 --> 00:12:00.559
child of the eighties, so like Clint East would the
207
00:12:00.639 --> 00:12:02.840
old Westerns, you know, and it's like that was the
208
00:12:02.879 --> 00:12:04.679
thing that you saw in every old movie. So it
209
00:12:04.720 --> 00:12:06.559
caught my attention. So I pull it off the shelf,
210
00:12:08.039 --> 00:12:10.240
and I also love this is gonna make me sound
211
00:12:10.279 --> 00:12:14.080
so weird, but in the blue collar world, I love poetry.
212
00:12:15.000 --> 00:12:18.519
And my name is Joshua, right, you knew that. I
213
00:12:18.559 --> 00:12:21.159
pull this Bible off the shelf in this store. It's
214
00:12:21.240 --> 00:12:25.240
old and it's dusty, and I flip it open and
215
00:12:25.279 --> 00:12:29.080
it falls open to the Book of Joshua and in
216
00:12:29.120 --> 00:12:31.039
there and it was like receipt paper, you know, how
217
00:12:31.080 --> 00:12:33.799
fine anything that is. And there's this piece of paper
218
00:12:33.799 --> 00:12:37.200
in there, and I had just been crying out to God,
219
00:12:37.279 --> 00:12:42.080
and I'm like, God, why am I here? Why is
220
00:12:42.120 --> 00:12:44.519
this so hard? Why can't I even buy my wife
221
00:12:44.559 --> 00:12:49.320
a birthday gift? And I'm literally in tears, and I
222
00:12:49.360 --> 00:12:51.799
open up this Bible and I'm like God, I need
223
00:12:51.840 --> 00:12:54.399
to hear from you. I need to know that this
224
00:12:54.519 --> 00:12:56.559
is what you want me to do, because it's hard
225
00:12:57.080 --> 00:13:02.759
and I can't face it anymore, and the Bible falls
226
00:13:02.799 --> 00:13:06.440
open and there's this receipt paper there wedged in the Bible.
227
00:13:07.000 --> 00:13:10.039
You know. It was about like I don't know, yay
228
00:13:10.039 --> 00:13:13.840
big and at the top of it, and it happened
229
00:13:13.879 --> 00:13:16.360
to be in the Book of Joshua, which is my name,
230
00:13:17.000 --> 00:13:19.679
And at the top of it it said, in these
231
00:13:19.679 --> 00:13:25.320
big black bold letters, don't quit. And I'm not going
232
00:13:25.360 --> 00:13:27.159
to try to recite it to you, but it was
233
00:13:27.159 --> 00:13:30.480
a poem, and it said when funds are low and
234
00:13:30.600 --> 00:13:33.120
debts are high, and it went on, it's written by
235
00:13:33.120 --> 00:13:36.080
a guy in the name of Edward Guest. And I
236
00:13:36.120 --> 00:13:39.240
love things that are hundreds of years old. It's really old.
237
00:13:39.279 --> 00:13:44.519
And he wrote this poem. And I read through the
238
00:13:44.559 --> 00:13:46.879
whole thing, and I talked about how you don't give up.
239
00:13:47.600 --> 00:13:51.879
Many who have given up have not attained the victor's cup.
240
00:13:52.039 --> 00:13:54.960
It said, because they gave up too early. They quit
241
00:13:55.039 --> 00:13:58.720
too soon. And at the bottom of the paper it
242
00:13:58.799 --> 00:14:01.399
was written by an our area where we live, a
243
00:14:01.440 --> 00:14:04.320
businessman who everybody would know his name, and he had
244
00:14:04.360 --> 00:14:06.519
gotten these things printed out and he handed them out
245
00:14:06.559 --> 00:14:09.759
to people throughout his life, and so this had been
246
00:14:09.799 --> 00:14:12.320
handed to someone. They stuck it in this Bible, and
247
00:14:12.360 --> 00:14:15.440
they did this, and so I felt like in that
248
00:14:15.559 --> 00:14:19.480
moment that God was saying, Joshua, don't quit, don't give up.
249
00:14:20.840 --> 00:14:23.399
And then the averse that it was stuck in in
250
00:14:23.480 --> 00:14:27.440
the Bible not only carried my name, but it said
251
00:14:27.440 --> 00:14:31.480
be strong and courageous for wherever your foot treads his
252
00:14:31.600 --> 00:14:35.039
land that I have given you. So I don't know
253
00:14:35.120 --> 00:14:38.279
if you were ready for this faith based answer, but
254
00:14:38.320 --> 00:14:43.759
it's what I believe. And that changed my life in
255
00:14:43.840 --> 00:14:46.519
that moment. I felt like God was speaking to me
256
00:14:46.559 --> 00:14:49.000
in that moment. And let me be really clear, I
257
00:14:49.200 --> 00:14:52.960
was broke. There was no way to succeed. There was
258
00:14:53.080 --> 00:14:55.720
no way to get out of the situation that I
259
00:14:55.799 --> 00:14:58.039
was in. And you might think, oh, well, then God
260
00:14:58.120 --> 00:15:01.559
gave you millions of dollars. No, no, he didn't. I
261
00:15:01.600 --> 00:15:05.159
had to have a lot of really hard conversations. But
262
00:15:05.399 --> 00:15:07.840
this is what I learned. The Lord gave me the
263
00:15:07.879 --> 00:15:11.080
strength to go and have hard conversations with people, and
264
00:15:11.159 --> 00:15:14.960
I worked out deals with vendors and contractors, and I
265
00:15:15.039 --> 00:15:18.320
chose not to ignore the calls when they came and
266
00:15:18.360 --> 00:15:21.879
I couldn't pay the bill. And one of our vendors
267
00:15:21.919 --> 00:15:25.320
in particular, you know, imudiple of them. As we talked
268
00:15:25.360 --> 00:15:27.360
and we worked through things, and that was it. I
269
00:15:27.399 --> 00:15:31.080
just faced them and I believed that success was there
270
00:15:31.159 --> 00:15:34.279
and I believe that the victor's cup was coming. And
271
00:15:34.360 --> 00:15:40.440
so when I did this, I found out that well,
272
00:15:40.480 --> 00:15:43.759
people wanted to work with me. So and this was
273
00:15:43.799 --> 00:15:46.440
in the electrical company that I was building at the time,
274
00:15:47.120 --> 00:15:50.799
and today here we are almost a decade later, maybe
275
00:15:50.840 --> 00:15:53.240
a little bit more than a decade. One of our
276
00:15:53.320 --> 00:15:55.360
largest vendors was one of the people that we could
277
00:15:55.399 --> 00:16:00.000
not pay in that timeframe. And they are actually worldwide international,
278
00:16:00.279 --> 00:16:04.200
they're huge, and to their credit, they wanted to work
279
00:16:04.240 --> 00:16:06.840
with the little guy. And I called them up and
280
00:16:06.879 --> 00:16:08.600
I said, I can't pay my bill and I don't
281
00:16:08.639 --> 00:16:10.960
know how to pay it. And they worked with me,
282
00:16:11.799 --> 00:16:15.360
and to this day, we have an almost unlimited credit
283
00:16:15.399 --> 00:16:19.879
limit with that vendor because of that relationship. And this
284
00:16:19.960 --> 00:16:24.080
is my point. What our vendors realized was that they
285
00:16:24.120 --> 00:16:26.639
could trust us when you pick up the phone and
286
00:16:26.720 --> 00:16:29.759
answer when things are hard, they want to work with you,
287
00:16:30.480 --> 00:16:33.600
and they wanted to build relationship. Not everybody does, and
288
00:16:33.720 --> 00:16:36.039
let me be really clear, not every phone call that
289
00:16:36.080 --> 00:16:42.200
I made ended well, some of them weren't, but we're
290
00:16:42.240 --> 00:16:46.120
still here. That company is now operating without me, and
291
00:16:46.159 --> 00:16:50.519
it is being successful. And with black Line, we are
292
00:16:50.559 --> 00:16:54.840
now promoting and building into the trades, in investing not
293
00:16:55.039 --> 00:16:58.440
just in people, but in other companies and their culture
294
00:16:58.480 --> 00:17:01.480
and building that out. I answer your question, it did.
295
00:17:03.039 --> 00:17:06.279
That was a very solid answer. And I love that
296
00:17:06.400 --> 00:17:10.680
you were open to sharing your faith and it sounds
297
00:17:10.720 --> 00:17:13.599
like that's kind of built into your foundation.
298
00:17:14.519 --> 00:17:15.640
When did that start?
299
00:17:18.079 --> 00:17:20.799
When did my faith start? Well? I grew up in
300
00:17:20.880 --> 00:17:25.200
a home where we talked about God, we believed in God,
301
00:17:25.839 --> 00:17:28.200
and I went to church ever since I can remember,
302
00:17:29.519 --> 00:17:32.359
and so I always thought that's what I was supposed
303
00:17:32.400 --> 00:17:34.920
to do when I grew up, supposed to go be
304
00:17:34.920 --> 00:17:38.359
a missionary, be pastor me something like that. And so
305
00:17:38.400 --> 00:17:41.920
when I was about I don't know, twelve or thirteen,
306
00:17:42.000 --> 00:17:45.359
maybe fourteen, I can't really remember. I don't You can't
307
00:17:45.400 --> 00:17:47.359
fact check it because there was no social media to
308
00:17:47.400 --> 00:17:53.759
go back and check back. Then that would be about
309
00:17:53.920 --> 00:17:57.319
I remember I was at a camp and it affected
310
00:17:57.319 --> 00:18:01.480
my life in a way where I felt like I
311
00:18:01.559 --> 00:18:05.480
was supposed to. I was in this thing, you know
312
00:18:05.519 --> 00:18:07.440
in churches they do this thing if you if you
313
00:18:07.599 --> 00:18:10.599
haven't been to a church, we sing praises and worship.
314
00:18:11.720 --> 00:18:13.319
And so I was in one of these sessions.
315
00:18:13.559 --> 00:18:15.119
Can I give a shout out?
316
00:18:15.160 --> 00:18:18.839
Please do west Osha Lakes Church out in Patock Lake, Wisconsin.
317
00:18:19.000 --> 00:18:20.920
Yes, yes, we know praises and.
318
00:18:20.920 --> 00:18:22.960
Worship, so then you know what I'm talking about. And
319
00:18:23.039 --> 00:18:25.039
so there I was, and I was in the back
320
00:18:25.079 --> 00:18:27.279
because I didn't want to see me, and so I was.
321
00:18:27.319 --> 00:18:29.880
I was hiding in the back. I didn't realize I
322
00:18:29.920 --> 00:18:31.480
was hiding. I just thought I'm sitting in the back,
323
00:18:31.799 --> 00:18:34.640
A big deal. And I think I was probably about
324
00:18:34.640 --> 00:18:37.559
fourteen because I was definitely aware of the girls that
325
00:18:37.599 --> 00:18:40.519
were in the audience, and I wanted to look cool,
326
00:18:40.839 --> 00:18:42.759
of course. I wanted to look cool, of course, and
327
00:18:43.920 --> 00:18:48.119
I had this nudge. I've never heard in my entire life,
328
00:18:48.119 --> 00:18:50.839
I've never heard God's voice audibly. Some people are blessed
329
00:18:50.880 --> 00:18:53.640
and they have, but for me, it's always been a
330
00:18:53.680 --> 00:18:56.440
thought or you know, something like that. And so I
331
00:18:56.480 --> 00:19:00.079
had this thought, and it was go up front, and
332
00:19:00.119 --> 00:19:02.039
I want you to get down on your knees in
333
00:19:02.079 --> 00:19:05.400
front of everyone and raise your hands up and praise me.
334
00:19:08.839 --> 00:19:11.440
I was more scared. I think than I have been,
335
00:19:12.319 --> 00:19:13.880
and we might get to this. There was a point
336
00:19:14.039 --> 00:19:16.400
in my life a few years after that that I
337
00:19:16.480 --> 00:19:18.799
was more scared and this was more scary than that
338
00:19:19.480 --> 00:19:22.440
than I had ever been in my life, because what
339
00:19:22.440 --> 00:19:25.799
would people think of me? What would nobody else was
340
00:19:25.839 --> 00:19:30.519
doing that? And so there was like this hook in
341
00:19:30.599 --> 00:19:33.839
me like I couldn't leave it alone. I couldn't, I
342
00:19:33.839 --> 00:19:37.359
couldn't get away from it. And so I was like, fine,
343
00:19:37.720 --> 00:19:40.000
if I believe that there's like a one percent chance
344
00:19:40.079 --> 00:19:42.920
that God is real and that this is real and
345
00:19:42.960 --> 00:19:45.640
he's telling me to do this, if there is one
346
00:19:45.720 --> 00:19:49.480
percent chance that that is actually true, that I have
347
00:19:49.559 --> 00:19:54.240
to do that. And I thought to myself, well, what's
348
00:19:54.319 --> 00:19:57.680
the worst that could happen? Some people laugh at me
349
00:19:57.799 --> 00:20:00.440
and think I'm stupid, Well, then they would be accurate
350
00:20:00.480 --> 00:20:04.200
because I am stupid. So I go up front, and
351
00:20:04.720 --> 00:20:07.680
as I get up front, I just feel pressure forced
352
00:20:07.680 --> 00:20:10.599
to my knees and I lift my arms to the
353
00:20:10.599 --> 00:20:16.519
heavens and I praise God change my life. And from
354
00:20:16.519 --> 00:20:18.720
that point on, I knew that I wanted to have
355
00:20:18.759 --> 00:20:20.480
a relationship with God and I want to know more
356
00:20:20.480 --> 00:20:24.359
of who he was, and that has followed me through
357
00:20:24.920 --> 00:20:27.720
my marriage, through my business, through my life. It drives
358
00:20:27.759 --> 00:20:29.839
everything that I do and the why of why I
359
00:20:29.960 --> 00:20:33.960
do it because I believe that Jesus is real. I
360
00:20:34.000 --> 00:20:35.720
believe that He cares for you and me. And if
361
00:20:35.759 --> 00:20:38.519
I believe that and I'm not sharing that with people, listen,
362
00:20:38.519 --> 00:20:41.960
I don't want to force anything down anybody's throat. But
363
00:20:42.000 --> 00:20:43.839
if I don't talk with you about what I believe,
364
00:20:43.880 --> 00:20:46.359
and if I really truly believe it and I don't
365
00:20:46.400 --> 00:20:48.839
talk about it, what does that say about me? What
366
00:20:48.880 --> 00:20:51.440
does that say about how I care about you? And
367
00:20:51.519 --> 00:20:56.920
so when people ask, I answer honestly. If they don't,
368
00:20:57.640 --> 00:20:59.640
unless I feel a nudge like I felt to go
369
00:20:59.720 --> 00:21:03.759
up front, I don't say anything. But that would be
370
00:21:03.799 --> 00:21:06.440
the point when I felt like God changed my life.
371
00:21:07.039 --> 00:21:09.720
You feel like you get that like little feeling where
372
00:21:10.440 --> 00:21:14.079
somebody needs to hear it, and I feel like that
373
00:21:14.200 --> 00:21:17.960
comes naturally. Do you ever, you know, how do you
374
00:21:19.279 --> 00:21:24.519
incorporate that within business? I know some people I know
375
00:21:24.599 --> 00:21:28.759
some people are like, you know, keep it separate and whatnot.
376
00:21:28.799 --> 00:21:31.720
But church and state, Yeah, exactly exactly.
377
00:21:31.839 --> 00:21:36.240
So you know, how do you, as an owner, you know,
378
00:21:36.720 --> 00:21:39.759
navigate that or feel I mean, are you open to
379
00:21:39.799 --> 00:21:43.319
sharing that with your employees and encourage them, and yeah,
380
00:21:43.359 --> 00:21:45.480
I'd love to hear your your thoughts on that.
381
00:21:46.240 --> 00:21:49.599
So I don't say this publicly very often, and with
382
00:21:49.720 --> 00:21:52.759
Black Line, I live a more public life with the
383
00:21:52.799 --> 00:21:56.160
Line and hosting a podcast, which is also a thing
384
00:21:56.160 --> 00:21:57.440
that a decade ago, I didn't even know if that
385
00:21:57.480 --> 00:22:00.519
was a thing, and if it was like three people
386
00:22:00.559 --> 00:22:05.880
listen to podcasts, if anybody I don't remember, yeah, yeah,
387
00:22:07.839 --> 00:22:11.400
But I would to answer your question, I would say
388
00:22:11.440 --> 00:22:14.240
this if I'm if I'm going to be honest with you,
389
00:22:14.279 --> 00:22:17.839
I don't believe in the separation of church and state
390
00:22:17.920 --> 00:22:23.359
in that way or business and what I believe. If
391
00:22:23.400 --> 00:22:25.799
I believe it and I believe that it's true, then
392
00:22:25.880 --> 00:22:27.559
it's going to affect my decisions in the way that
393
00:22:27.599 --> 00:22:29.000
I look at things. But this is what I'll say.
394
00:22:29.039 --> 00:22:31.720
I relate with a lot of business people. Some of
395
00:22:31.759 --> 00:22:34.279
them believe it I believe, some of them don't. But
396
00:22:34.519 --> 00:22:37.960
most of the successful ones implement the principles of what
397
00:22:38.039 --> 00:22:43.319
I believe, and they're biblical things because they work. I
398
00:22:43.400 --> 00:22:45.559
have one business guy that I work with and he
399
00:22:45.599 --> 00:22:47.759
does not believe at all what I believe, but he
400
00:22:47.799 --> 00:22:50.799
implements certain principles, because it's like the tenets of faith
401
00:22:50.880 --> 00:22:54.160
actually work. If you believe for this, it works. And
402
00:22:54.200 --> 00:23:00.799
so to that point, I'm like, Okay, at work, it's
403
00:23:00.799 --> 00:23:03.480
weird to say this, but I believe that you and
404
00:23:03.559 --> 00:23:08.200
I have assignments, and so assignments are where we work,
405
00:23:08.759 --> 00:23:11.359
where we live, our lives, and what we do. But
406
00:23:11.400 --> 00:23:14.039
if I believe that Jesus Christ died for me and
407
00:23:14.079 --> 00:23:16.880
paid for my sins, then I believe that I have
408
00:23:16.920 --> 00:23:20.039
a calling. Is it all right? I'm going all in, man,
409
00:23:20.519 --> 00:23:25.559
I'm sharing the full thing. I believe that it is
410
00:23:25.640 --> 00:23:28.400
my duty and my responsibility to share that with you
411
00:23:30.279 --> 00:23:34.759
because I believe in a heaven and a hell, and
412
00:23:34.839 --> 00:23:37.480
I want to see you in heaven with me. And
413
00:23:37.559 --> 00:23:39.640
so then I have a calling to share Jesus with
414
00:23:39.720 --> 00:23:42.400
the world. And if you read the Bible, it's pretty
415
00:23:42.400 --> 00:23:46.359
clear on what will happen to me if I don't,
416
00:23:46.519 --> 00:23:49.039
you know, and if I believe that God is real,
417
00:23:49.119 --> 00:23:51.880
and I do because I have lived things out where
418
00:23:51.880 --> 00:23:55.480
I've seen God do things that I cannot explain. You know,
419
00:23:55.559 --> 00:23:57.640
before that moment, when I was fourteen and even a
420
00:23:57.640 --> 00:24:00.359
little beyond it, I didn't think that the mere that
421
00:24:00.400 --> 00:24:04.160
happened in the Bible, happened anymore until I went into business,
422
00:24:05.279 --> 00:24:07.200
and I felt like God called me to business, which
423
00:24:07.240 --> 00:24:11.319
didn't make any sense to me, but business was my assignment.
424
00:24:11.519 --> 00:24:15.240
My calling is the same. And so in boardrooms and elevators,
425
00:24:15.720 --> 00:24:19.559
in podcasts and everywhere, when people ask questions about my faith,
426
00:24:19.599 --> 00:24:21.640
I share it. I don't shove it down their throat,
427
00:24:22.000 --> 00:24:28.160
but I don't hide it. And so I really truly
428
00:24:28.279 --> 00:24:31.119
believe that if we're going to live an authentic life
429
00:24:31.160 --> 00:24:32.680
and we're going to live things out, then we need
430
00:24:32.720 --> 00:24:35.200
to live out what we believe and whatever that is
431
00:24:35.200 --> 00:24:37.160
that you believe. If you believe what I don't believe,
432
00:24:37.240 --> 00:24:39.400
or you believe what I do what I believe, great,
433
00:24:39.839 --> 00:24:43.960
but be authentic in it, be real, be truthful, because
434
00:24:44.200 --> 00:24:47.000
who wants to live in a world where it's fake.
435
00:24:47.799 --> 00:24:49.279
And that's one of the things that we're trying to
436
00:24:49.319 --> 00:24:51.599
do with the line is we're trying to have an
437
00:24:51.640 --> 00:24:54.119
authentic and real conversation, which is what I love about
438
00:24:54.119 --> 00:24:56.599
the Builder Up Or podcast is you're wanting to have
439
00:24:57.319 --> 00:24:59.960
the same conversations that we want to have, real and authentic.
440
00:25:01.000 --> 00:25:04.000
And when we do that, that's what we're hungry for
441
00:25:04.559 --> 00:25:06.920
who wants to talk to someone that's gonna put lipstick
442
00:25:06.960 --> 00:25:11.519
on a pig or sell you something that isn't true. Listen,
443
00:25:11.640 --> 00:25:14.480
this is what I know from my life in business,
444
00:25:14.480 --> 00:25:19.279
and in business in particular, my faith plays a big part.
445
00:25:18.799 --> 00:25:22.680
I don't want to have a Christian company, but I
446
00:25:22.680 --> 00:25:25.720
don't mind having a company of Christians. And is what
447
00:25:25.759 --> 00:25:29.400
I mean by that is like our culture is permeated
448
00:25:29.400 --> 00:25:31.319
by what I believe. But we have people that work
449
00:25:31.359 --> 00:25:33.519
for us that do not believe what I believe, and
450
00:25:33.559 --> 00:25:36.880
it is a safe place for them to work. But
451
00:25:36.960 --> 00:25:38.680
if they want to hear about what I believe, my
452
00:25:38.759 --> 00:25:41.400
door is always open. And I could give you a
453
00:25:41.480 --> 00:25:43.559
list of men and women who have come to my
454
00:25:43.640 --> 00:25:46.640
office and I have prayed with and I've shared what
455
00:25:46.720 --> 00:25:49.319
I believe with. And I have those who said I
456
00:25:49.319 --> 00:25:50.720
don't want to hear about what you believe in that
457
00:25:50.799 --> 00:25:52.759
I want some encouragement, and I can do that too.
458
00:25:53.920 --> 00:25:57.039
But the reality is, if I'm going to be truthful
459
00:25:57.039 --> 00:25:59.279
with you, then I need to be authentic and real
460
00:25:59.279 --> 00:25:59.960
about what I believe.
461
00:26:00.880 --> 00:26:04.279
I think that's where you and I relate a lot,
462
00:26:05.119 --> 00:26:10.440
because you should never hide your faith. I agree, and
463
00:26:10.480 --> 00:26:14.559
not everybody especially when you're growing a company, you're scaling
464
00:26:14.559 --> 00:26:19.000
a company, and you're hiring people. Not everybody's going to
465
00:26:19.039 --> 00:26:23.680
be a believer, yes, but that does not mean to
466
00:26:23.799 --> 00:26:25.079
turn those people away.
467
00:26:25.839 --> 00:26:27.880
And some of my best people do not believe what
468
00:26:27.920 --> 00:26:28.599
I believe.
469
00:26:28.720 --> 00:26:34.000
Right, same, yeah, same, same, And uh, you know, the
470
00:26:34.079 --> 00:26:38.599
founding team is very aware of my beliefs, and I've
471
00:26:38.599 --> 00:26:42.759
always been open. Anytime we're talking to a contractor and
472
00:26:42.799 --> 00:26:46.440
we have a tough situation, they're dealing with some of
473
00:26:46.440 --> 00:26:49.079
the craziest complex situations.
474
00:26:49.920 --> 00:26:52.680
I'm going to pray about it. Yeah, that's going to
475
00:26:52.720 --> 00:26:53.440
help us through.
476
00:26:53.799 --> 00:26:55.359
You're going to talk about problem solving.
477
00:26:55.440 --> 00:26:59.400
That is huge, That is huge. And I can't tell
478
00:26:59.480 --> 00:27:04.039
you how many times we've gotten to a point where
479
00:27:05.079 --> 00:27:10.960
we've had prayers answered and then immediately give that glory
480
00:27:11.000 --> 00:27:11.279
to God.
481
00:27:11.359 --> 00:27:14.039
Come on, and like, that's just the way. That's what
482
00:27:14.079 --> 00:27:15.519
it's about. That's what it's about.
483
00:27:15.559 --> 00:27:18.480
So it's like and not everybody has to be on
484
00:27:18.519 --> 00:27:21.400
the same page, but me personally, that's going to be
485
00:27:21.480 --> 00:27:22.119
my path.
486
00:27:22.200 --> 00:27:24.279
That's the way that I do it.
487
00:27:24.319 --> 00:27:27.039
And it's not being forced to anybody just but because
488
00:27:27.079 --> 00:27:29.039
I'll be open about it. And I really like how
489
00:27:29.079 --> 00:27:32.880
you're truthful and you're sharing the way that you go
490
00:27:33.039 --> 00:27:38.559
about it because it's it's real, it's personable, it's relatable,
491
00:27:38.640 --> 00:27:41.559
it's amazing, and I appreciate what you're doing there.
492
00:27:42.160 --> 00:27:44.279
Well, I'll be really honest with you. I don't know
493
00:27:44.279 --> 00:27:46.920
that I've ever been this upfront publicly about my faith
494
00:27:47.000 --> 00:27:50.000
only because no one's ever asked me so directly. So
495
00:27:50.119 --> 00:27:53.799
I appreciate your direct questions. And the truth of it is,
496
00:27:56.440 --> 00:27:57.519
we need to be honest.
497
00:27:58.000 --> 00:27:58.599
Yeah, you know.
498
00:28:01.359 --> 00:28:04.720
You're going to get some of my beliefs, even in business,
499
00:28:04.720 --> 00:28:07.799
but I really believe in being honest, and being honest
500
00:28:07.839 --> 00:28:12.200
is just this honesty is not transparency. You know, when
501
00:28:12.200 --> 00:28:14.119
you're honest with me, well, you're not showing me all
502
00:28:14.160 --> 00:28:17.240
of your books, you're not showing me you know where
503
00:28:17.279 --> 00:28:20.200
your p and ls are or any of that. But
504
00:28:21.799 --> 00:28:25.400
being honest is not hiding anything. And so when we
505
00:28:25.440 --> 00:28:27.799
don't hide things, if people ask, well, then we share
506
00:28:27.839 --> 00:28:31.279
what we believe. But it doesn't mean that you tell
507
00:28:31.319 --> 00:28:36.000
everybody everything. I'm a firm believer that transparency, and that's
508
00:28:36.000 --> 00:28:37.920
a word that we like to use publicly a lot,
509
00:28:38.279 --> 00:28:40.880
and everybody loves it. And it's because nobody trusts anybody.
510
00:28:40.920 --> 00:28:43.119
So it's like, I don't want to trust you. I
511
00:28:43.160 --> 00:28:46.880
want you to tell me everything. I'll share this with you.
512
00:28:46.960 --> 00:28:49.599
Early on in business, my wife said to me, She's like,
513
00:28:49.640 --> 00:28:52.599
I want you to be honest with me. And I
514
00:28:52.599 --> 00:28:53.720
was like, well, that means you want me to tell
515
00:28:53.720 --> 00:28:56.960
you everything. And she said no, no, I don't want
516
00:28:56.960 --> 00:29:00.119
to know everything. She said, but I don't want you
517
00:29:00.160 --> 00:29:02.319
to hide anything from me. Now think about that for
518
00:29:02.319 --> 00:29:07.480
a second. If we don't hide anything, what's better transparency
519
00:29:07.519 --> 00:29:10.960
where we just dump everything out there or we refuse
520
00:29:11.119 --> 00:29:14.319
to hide things from our partners or employees and those
521
00:29:14.359 --> 00:29:17.200
who we work with. Listen, you don't need to tell
522
00:29:17.200 --> 00:29:19.200
me everything. I don't have the bandwidth to handle it all.
523
00:29:20.480 --> 00:29:22.720
But if you promise me that you won't hide anything
524
00:29:22.759 --> 00:29:26.880
from me, that tells me something about your character, your integrity,
525
00:29:27.359 --> 00:29:29.279
and who you are, and then I can trust you.
526
00:29:30.039 --> 00:29:33.480
Transparency isn't about trust, it's exactly the opposite.
527
00:29:33.839 --> 00:29:38.200
Yeah, that's so strong, because.
528
00:29:38.480 --> 00:29:43.000
The one thing that we're honest about with all of
529
00:29:43.000 --> 00:29:45.720
our employees is exactly where we're at with our company.
530
00:29:46.039 --> 00:29:46.480
Yeah.
531
00:29:46.559 --> 00:29:48.759
I mean, we have a monthly all hands and we're like,
532
00:29:48.839 --> 00:29:51.240
this is exactly where we're at. Yeah, if we need
533
00:29:51.279 --> 00:29:53.319
to step it up, we gotta step it up. Yeah,
534
00:29:53.359 --> 00:29:54.519
And that's huge.
535
00:29:54.640 --> 00:29:59.279
The fire is lit because of being honest.
536
00:29:59.480 --> 00:30:02.559
Yeah, you know, like you have to tell everybody exactly where.
537
00:30:02.880 --> 00:30:03.839
So I appreciate that too.
538
00:30:03.920 --> 00:30:07.440
That's great. You know, I want to know and I
539
00:30:07.480 --> 00:30:11.640
love I get. I see you the foundation, I see kind.
540
00:30:11.519 --> 00:30:13.400
Of where you're at.
541
00:30:14.039 --> 00:30:20.680
Was there somebody that inspired you or mentored you at
542
00:30:20.720 --> 00:30:24.680
any point in time during this time to you know, kind.
543
00:30:24.519 --> 00:30:28.599
Of get you to this this spot today? Any individual person,
544
00:30:28.640 --> 00:30:29.920
it's fine, So.
545
00:30:29.880 --> 00:30:31.559
What is the spot that we're talking about?
546
00:30:31.759 --> 00:30:34.559
So where you're at today as an owner, your business owner,
547
00:30:34.640 --> 00:30:38.079
you're you're fighting the good fight. I mean, you're openly
548
00:30:38.119 --> 00:30:43.799
sharing your faith. You're that's a strong minded individual that's
549
00:30:43.920 --> 00:30:48.440
not afraid right now to be yourself.
550
00:30:49.279 --> 00:30:51.440
Who helped you to get to that point?
551
00:30:52.440 --> 00:30:54.279
So? I don't know that anybody inspired me to go
552
00:30:54.319 --> 00:30:57.759
into business. I had a mentor when I was really
553
00:30:57.799 --> 00:31:00.920
young that I would meet with every week from from
554
00:31:01.000 --> 00:31:04.160
about I think I was fourteen until I was twenty two.
555
00:31:04.680 --> 00:31:08.759
Actually that's a long time. It's a long time. And
556
00:31:08.839 --> 00:31:11.839
I would meet with him and he would he would
557
00:31:11.880 --> 00:31:15.000
mentor me about my faith. And he was a business owner,
558
00:31:15.799 --> 00:31:19.400
and honestly, he would say, uh, people go into business
559
00:31:19.440 --> 00:31:24.200
are stupid, and and I would I would say, uh,
560
00:31:24.240 --> 00:31:27.680
he had an understanding of something. But what what he
561
00:31:27.759 --> 00:31:33.839
mentored me in was in faith first and being honest.
562
00:31:35.319 --> 00:31:38.240
And you know that the tenets of my faith really
563
00:31:38.920 --> 00:31:44.720
those things are essential. And he taught me how to study,
564
00:31:45.160 --> 00:31:52.480
how to process and if can I get can I
565
00:31:52.480 --> 00:31:57.880
get another one of these? It's not beer, it's sparkling water.
566
00:31:57.960 --> 00:32:00.480
In case you're watching, it's like, why enough, I'm want
567
00:32:00.559 --> 00:32:03.319
to say that. So it's it's a water that is dead.
568
00:32:03.559 --> 00:32:10.240
There we go. So all of that to say, you
569
00:32:10.359 --> 00:32:13.240
just gave it to me. Thank you, I forgot you
570
00:32:13.240 --> 00:32:18.400
already gave it to me. So all of that to say,
571
00:32:18.440 --> 00:32:23.599
he mentored me in being honest. He mentored me in
572
00:32:25.519 --> 00:32:30.440
wanting to go after pursuing my faith. And I would
573
00:32:30.440 --> 00:32:32.720
have this conversation with my wife and I'll just say
574
00:32:32.720 --> 00:32:38.160
this because I at our companies that legacy group is
575
00:32:38.200 --> 00:32:42.079
a part of managing. We offer therapy and counseling to
576
00:32:42.079 --> 00:32:47.400
anyone who wants it. Company pays for it. And we
577
00:32:47.720 --> 00:32:52.359
did that because I think that everyone needs that and
578
00:32:52.440 --> 00:32:55.880
it's really interesting. We're very trades based, and in the trades,
579
00:32:55.880 --> 00:32:58.000
in the blue collar world, it's like counseling. I don't
580
00:32:58.039 --> 00:33:02.359
need that. That's what weak people do. And I said
581
00:33:02.359 --> 00:33:05.519
to my wife one day and I, uh, and that's
582
00:33:05.559 --> 00:33:08.880
not true. By the way. Strong people are those who
583
00:33:09.279 --> 00:33:12.319
who get counseling and therapy. And that is what my
584
00:33:12.359 --> 00:33:16.319
mentorship was. My wife shared with me many years ago.
585
00:33:16.559 --> 00:33:19.079
I was like, why, why is it that you know?
586
00:33:19.160 --> 00:33:21.400
I had a friend and this is what spawned this
587
00:33:21.440 --> 00:33:25.640
whole offering counseling and therapy to our people. I had
588
00:33:25.640 --> 00:33:28.319
a friend and he was struggling and he went to
589
00:33:28.319 --> 00:33:31.720
see a therapist. And I said to my wife, I said,
590
00:33:31.880 --> 00:33:33.599
why is it that I don't I don't feel the
591
00:33:33.640 --> 00:33:35.359
need to. I had the same life as he did,
592
00:33:35.359 --> 00:33:37.640
I had the same childhood as he did. And it
593
00:33:37.680 --> 00:33:41.240
was a good friend of mine. And she said, well,
594
00:33:41.319 --> 00:33:43.759
she said, you've been going to therapy since you're fourteen.
595
00:33:44.519 --> 00:33:46.880
I said, what do you mean? And she said, you've
596
00:33:46.920 --> 00:33:49.599
been talking with these different mentors in your life about
597
00:33:49.599 --> 00:33:52.200
what you struggle with, what you are burdened with. And
598
00:33:52.279 --> 00:33:56.640
I think that we are built and made to communicate
599
00:33:56.680 --> 00:33:59.839
with one another. Listen, when you share what you're struggling
600
00:33:59.880 --> 00:34:04.079
with out loud with someone else, and this is actually science,
601
00:34:05.359 --> 00:34:09.559
it affects your anxiety levels in a positive way. And
602
00:34:09.599 --> 00:34:11.599
so my wife just said to me, she goes, will
603
00:34:11.599 --> 00:34:14.639
You've been in therapy all your life, And then I
604
00:34:14.679 --> 00:34:16.599
realized how important that was for other people. You know,
605
00:34:16.599 --> 00:34:20.039
in construction, we have some of the highest suicide rates
606
00:34:20.960 --> 00:34:24.559
in the world in construction. And the reason is we
607
00:34:24.559 --> 00:34:26.719
don't talk to people about how we feel. We don't
608
00:34:26.760 --> 00:34:28.519
talk to people about what we're struggling with, what we're
609
00:34:28.559 --> 00:34:31.360
going through. And you might think, well, no one understands
610
00:34:31.400 --> 00:34:34.559
what I'm going through. Nobody's going through what I'm going through. Bullshit,
611
00:34:35.760 --> 00:34:37.719
Like are we learned to swear on this? Yes, okay,
612
00:34:37.760 --> 00:34:41.480
all right, bullshit. People are going through the same thing.
613
00:34:41.519 --> 00:34:44.800
It might be different. But the reality is we need
614
00:34:44.840 --> 00:34:46.519
to talk about those things. We need to say it
615
00:34:46.559 --> 00:34:49.440
out loud. When we don't, the voices in our head
616
00:34:49.519 --> 00:34:52.039
are far more dark than the reality that we live.
617
00:34:53.159 --> 00:34:55.840
And so I don't know if I'm answering your question
618
00:34:55.960 --> 00:34:58.679
or not, but I'm on this kick right now. The
619
00:34:58.719 --> 00:35:02.480
reality is need to share how you feel. I read
620
00:35:02.480 --> 00:35:05.199
a book once and it said write out everything. I
621
00:35:05.280 --> 00:35:08.320
journal every day, every single day, change my life. I
622
00:35:08.320 --> 00:35:10.119
could show you a stack of journals, this tall that
623
00:35:10.159 --> 00:35:15.159
I've been doing for twenty years. My mentor helped me
624
00:35:15.239 --> 00:35:19.840
do that. Go figure, and I read this thing that
625
00:35:19.920 --> 00:35:22.440
said take all of your fears and write them all down.
626
00:35:24.159 --> 00:35:26.480
And it's like when I wrote them all down and
627
00:35:26.519 --> 00:35:33.519
I would write them out. The reality is it exited
628
00:35:33.559 --> 00:35:38.440
my system, totally changed my perception, didn't change my circumstances.
629
00:35:39.000 --> 00:35:42.119
But all the way back to you asked me, well,
630
00:35:42.199 --> 00:35:43.719
you know, what is your solution? How do you work
631
00:35:43.760 --> 00:35:46.239
through these things? It got out of my system so
632
00:35:46.320 --> 00:35:48.480
I could have a different perspective and see a more
633
00:35:48.920 --> 00:35:52.320
full picture of what's going on. And that's what happens
634
00:35:52.360 --> 00:35:55.039
when you talk with a therapist or a counselor you're
635
00:35:55.079 --> 00:35:56.559
just soundboarding with someone else.
636
00:35:57.679 --> 00:36:02.440
The support system that you had was right next to you,
637
00:36:02.679 --> 00:36:07.920
and I don't I mean, you were definitely blessed to
638
00:36:08.039 --> 00:36:08.559
have that.
639
00:36:09.199 --> 00:36:11.360
Not everybody has true.
640
00:36:11.639 --> 00:36:14.400
People close to them that can help them that way.
641
00:36:14.800 --> 00:36:17.880
But we know, and I know you know that there's
642
00:36:17.920 --> 00:36:23.280
associations out there like absolutely ABC, Associated Builders and Contractors
643
00:36:23.280 --> 00:36:28.800
of America CFMA, has CIASP where they're addressing.
644
00:36:28.960 --> 00:36:31.320
Both are phenomenal organizations.
645
00:36:30.760 --> 00:36:35.239
Absolutely, and they are addressing this problem and then bringing
646
00:36:35.679 --> 00:36:39.000
basically creating that safe space and open platforms so that
647
00:36:39.159 --> 00:36:45.719
contractors field workers can feel comfortable talking about this. Have you,
648
00:36:45.719 --> 00:36:49.880
you know, explored these associations and then had those as
649
00:36:49.920 --> 00:36:52.840
opportunities to work with your business as a contractor, Like,
650
00:36:52.880 --> 00:36:56.760
how how have those type of associations really helped you?
651
00:36:56.760 --> 00:37:01.800
You know, m F A and A b C. You
652
00:37:01.840 --> 00:37:03.199
know A b C is actually how I got my
653
00:37:03.239 --> 00:37:06.119
journeyman's license. I went through their apprenticeship program, great program,
654
00:37:06.159 --> 00:37:10.840
great company, great organization. ABC helped me in business and
655
00:37:10.920 --> 00:37:14.000
my founding. So I have a lot of respect for
656
00:37:14.159 --> 00:37:18.159
that organization. And C M F A. Did I say
657
00:37:18.159 --> 00:37:21.760
that with c F M A there we go. Accountants
658
00:37:21.800 --> 00:37:26.559
and their acronyms, UH helped me in understanding accounting from
659
00:37:26.559 --> 00:37:30.320
a construction perspective, which listen, if you're an accountant, construction
660
00:37:30.480 --> 00:37:36.480
is different just you know, retain it and and UH
661
00:37:36.599 --> 00:37:38.480
or prevailing wag traits.
662
00:37:38.800 --> 00:37:40.239
Scary, that's a scary one.
663
00:37:41.679 --> 00:37:44.199
All of that to say, UH, those organizations helped me
664
00:37:44.239 --> 00:37:49.719
tremendously with that. Personally, I didn't experience a lot of
665
00:37:49.760 --> 00:37:53.679
that therapy and helping in that way. There was an organization.
666
00:37:54.039 --> 00:37:57.519
I actually did a podcast with a gentleman from an
667
00:37:57.599 --> 00:38:02.480
organization called U Turn Health and they are focused specifically
668
00:38:02.599 --> 00:38:08.800
on the construction industry and the trades and dealing with
669
00:38:08.840 --> 00:38:14.280
the problem of suicide in our industry. And it's very similar.
670
00:38:14.360 --> 00:38:18.760
I would say to like alcoholics anonymous in this way,
671
00:38:18.840 --> 00:38:20.719
you need to be able to talk with people. You
672
00:38:20.760 --> 00:38:23.360
need to be able to process things. You know, I'll
673
00:38:23.400 --> 00:38:25.280
never forget. I was in a peer group once and
674
00:38:25.320 --> 00:38:28.960
a guy was struggling an executive. Because it's not unique
675
00:38:29.039 --> 00:38:31.719
to a laborer, like this is something that you can
676
00:38:31.719 --> 00:38:34.280
struggle with whether you are putting a shovel in the
677
00:38:34.320 --> 00:38:38.800
ground or you're the guy signing checks. We all have
678
00:38:38.880 --> 00:38:42.360
to deal with this stuff. And I remember having this
679
00:38:42.440 --> 00:38:46.079
conversation and the guy said, he goes, I wanted to
680
00:38:46.079 --> 00:38:49.840
put a gun in my mouth. He goes, I was
681
00:38:49.880 --> 00:38:52.119
sitting in my truck and he goes. And I remembered
682
00:38:52.760 --> 00:38:54.840
what my therapist said, and he said, are you breathing.
683
00:38:55.880 --> 00:38:59.519
That's something to be thankful for. You're breathing. Listen, when
684
00:38:59.519 --> 00:39:02.400
we don't talk talk with people, this is what happens.
685
00:39:03.239 --> 00:39:06.119
I believe that fear and listen. You don't have to
686
00:39:06.119 --> 00:39:09.119
believe in God to believe this. But fear is evil
687
00:39:09.960 --> 00:39:15.079
because fear is used to control, manipulate, and destroy. That's
688
00:39:15.079 --> 00:39:18.079
what fear is used for. Listen, I think that you
689
00:39:18.119 --> 00:39:20.599
should be concerned before I die. I want to jump
690
00:39:20.639 --> 00:39:22.719
out of an airplane and go skydive, and it's something
691
00:39:22.760 --> 00:39:24.800
that I want to do. I'm not going to be
692
00:39:24.840 --> 00:39:26.800
fearful of it, but I will sure as heck be
693
00:39:26.800 --> 00:39:30.239
concerned when I'm checking the parachute. And so I think
694
00:39:30.280 --> 00:39:33.519
concern is real. You know, I've worked in medium voltage
695
00:39:33.559 --> 00:39:38.440
transformers and line work, and I needed to be concerned
696
00:39:38.440 --> 00:39:40.599
to make sure that my equipment was right and things
697
00:39:40.639 --> 00:39:42.960
were right. But if I would have been fearful, that's
698
00:39:42.960 --> 00:39:46.199
when I do stupid shit. That's when I do stupid stuff. Sorry,
699
00:39:46.360 --> 00:39:49.480
I'm a construction worker, so sometimes that the field just
700
00:39:49.480 --> 00:39:53.159
comes out. You know, I still believe in Jesus, but
701
00:39:53.239 --> 00:39:55.960
he hung out with sailors, so I think that he
702
00:39:56.000 --> 00:40:01.320
knew what you know it's wearing. Was all that to say,
703
00:40:01.599 --> 00:40:04.360
concern is okay, but fear is evil because when we
704
00:40:04.400 --> 00:40:07.400
are fearful, that's when you make stupid mistakes. When you
705
00:40:07.440 --> 00:40:09.159
are fearful, that's when you do things that are wrong.
706
00:40:09.199 --> 00:40:13.559
And so like this gentleman was like, if you're breathing,
707
00:40:14.199 --> 00:40:17.039
that's something to be thankful for and grateful for, and
708
00:40:17.079 --> 00:40:18.880
then you think of the next thing and the next thing.
709
00:40:19.119 --> 00:40:21.079
But what happens when we don't talk with people, when
710
00:40:21.079 --> 00:40:25.559
we don't share how we feel, fear creeps in, and
711
00:40:25.679 --> 00:40:28.400
fear is this thing that it continues to darken our view,
712
00:40:28.559 --> 00:40:31.599
continues to hide the way that we think. And when
713
00:40:31.599 --> 00:40:34.000
you're fearful, you don't ask that guy for collaboration on
714
00:40:34.039 --> 00:40:36.480
your right or you're left, and so you don't see
715
00:40:36.599 --> 00:40:39.360
the full picture of what's going on. You only see
716
00:40:39.360 --> 00:40:41.960
this perspective, and you can end up feeling like the
717
00:40:42.039 --> 00:40:44.079
train is coming down the tracks and it's gonna run
718
00:40:44.119 --> 00:40:46.559
you over, so you might as well lay down and die.
719
00:40:47.159 --> 00:40:50.639
That's why you have to have collaboration with people. And
720
00:40:50.840 --> 00:40:52.400
you can look to this guy and be like, is
721
00:40:52.440 --> 00:40:55.039
my perspective right on this? Am I gonna die? Is
722
00:40:55.400 --> 00:40:57.400
this the way that I should look at this? Because
723
00:40:57.440 --> 00:40:59.639
when you bring that collaboration, and that's one of the
724
00:40:59.679 --> 00:41:02.159
great things about where I am today. I have an
725
00:41:02.199 --> 00:41:07.199
executive leadership team that I work with that works within
726
00:41:07.239 --> 00:41:11.440
the different companies that we're in, and they help with
727
00:41:11.599 --> 00:41:16.199
perspective and outlook. I can call them up. As a
728
00:41:16.199 --> 00:41:18.320
matter of fact, I'll probably be a meeting later today
729
00:41:18.679 --> 00:41:21.119
where I'm like, hey, so what is the outlook for
730
00:41:21.159 --> 00:41:23.639
twenty twenty six? How does it look? Because if I'm
731
00:41:23.639 --> 00:41:26.559
being honest with you, tariffs scare me. You know, even
732
00:41:26.599 --> 00:41:27.840
if I think they're the right thing to do, it
733
00:41:27.840 --> 00:41:31.679
doesn't make them not scary. You know. The economy scares me.
734
00:41:32.920 --> 00:41:36.280
You know, I remember my first employee, scariest thing ever.
735
00:41:37.239 --> 00:41:40.719
To this day, every time that a new hire comes
736
00:41:40.760 --> 00:41:42.519
across my desk, I'm like, well, we need to provide
737
00:41:42.519 --> 00:41:45.400
for them. You know. Now my faith helps me because
738
00:41:45.440 --> 00:41:47.119
I don't believe that we provide for any of them.
739
00:41:48.599 --> 00:41:50.719
Someone else is providing for them. Yeah, if I can
740
00:41:50.719 --> 00:41:53.840
be obedient, that's what I need to do so that
741
00:41:54.000 --> 00:41:56.320
I I feel like I'm going all these rabbit trails
742
00:41:56.320 --> 00:41:57.400
and not answering your questions.
743
00:41:57.440 --> 00:42:01.679
So well, you're actually providing a lot of great information.
744
00:42:01.840 --> 00:42:05.599
And something that you mentioned was collaboration. Do you feel
745
00:42:05.639 --> 00:42:11.039
like there's any particular employees that you've had that have
746
00:42:11.199 --> 00:42:15.639
really stood out that have. Let's say, I mean as
747
00:42:15.679 --> 00:42:20.360
a you know, fellow founder, there's employees that you look
748
00:42:20.400 --> 00:42:23.559
at and you're looking to, you know, ten x your
749
00:42:23.559 --> 00:42:25.880
business or ten x yourself. Is there any employees that
750
00:42:25.960 --> 00:42:29.239
you have that you could point out or spotlight that
751
00:42:29.280 --> 00:42:31.000
you could bring up And it could be multiple, it
752
00:42:31.000 --> 00:42:31.480
doesn't matter.
753
00:42:31.519 --> 00:42:33.480
I know that sometimes there takes a team.
754
00:42:33.679 --> 00:42:35.480
I know exactly who I'm going to tell you about.
755
00:42:35.719 --> 00:42:38.519
So at black Line we're hired to tell story because
756
00:42:39.000 --> 00:42:41.639
I love story and stories ever since I was a
757
00:42:41.639 --> 00:42:44.400
little kid. You know, I worked on a farm and
758
00:42:44.440 --> 00:42:46.360
a farmer would always tell me stories about what he
759
00:42:46.400 --> 00:42:51.159
did and how he did it. And so at black
760
00:42:51.199 --> 00:42:54.400
Line we want to discuss and help you tell your story.
761
00:42:55.000 --> 00:42:59.199
So let me tell you a story. Founded my electrical
762
00:42:59.239 --> 00:43:02.800
company into two thousand and five. And you know, when
763
00:43:02.800 --> 00:43:04.400
you're a founder, you wear all the hats.
764
00:43:05.079 --> 00:43:05.280
You know.
765
00:43:05.360 --> 00:43:09.920
I wrote checks, I did accounting, I installed electrical work,
766
00:43:10.199 --> 00:43:12.960
I did it all. And in the beginning the first
767
00:43:12.960 --> 00:43:15.239
five years, our hell, there's no way around it. It's
768
00:43:15.280 --> 00:43:17.800
just stressful. There is no end in sight, there is
769
00:43:17.840 --> 00:43:22.039
no success, there's no feeling of making it. But fast
770
00:43:22.039 --> 00:43:27.119
forward eight, nine, ten years, I will never forget. This
771
00:43:27.239 --> 00:43:30.719
was a point where business changed for me. We had
772
00:43:30.760 --> 00:43:32.760
a couple million dollar job that we were doing in
773
00:43:32.800 --> 00:43:38.760
another state and it was a few hour drive, and
774
00:43:39.000 --> 00:43:42.960
our team was actually driving there every day, and the
775
00:43:43.400 --> 00:43:48.119
foreman on the project that was doing the work. At
776
00:43:48.119 --> 00:43:50.039
this point, I was no longer actually going out and
777
00:43:50.079 --> 00:43:55.039
doing the work. We had. This was a big deal
778
00:43:55.079 --> 00:43:58.679
at the time. We had eight hundred thousand dollars in lighting.
779
00:43:58.800 --> 00:44:01.880
Electrical company. We had eight hundred thousand dollars in lighting
780
00:44:02.119 --> 00:44:04.679
in a connex box, see container, whatever you want to
781
00:44:04.679 --> 00:44:07.320
call it on the job site, and it was outside
782
00:44:07.320 --> 00:44:10.400
of a city, but we're on the East coast, so
783
00:44:10.440 --> 00:44:13.840
it was not a small city we'll call it. And
784
00:44:13.880 --> 00:44:16.480
he left, and he was the one managing the job.
785
00:44:16.599 --> 00:44:20.320
I knew nothing about this, and I won't say his
786
00:44:20.400 --> 00:44:21.960
name because his head wouldn't fit in the room if
787
00:44:21.960 --> 00:44:26.719
he heard this. But so he's sitting at home at
788
00:44:26.719 --> 00:44:29.559
dinner with his family, his wife and his two children,
789
00:44:31.119 --> 00:44:33.719
and all of a sudden he's like, Oh, I don't
790
00:44:33.719 --> 00:44:37.199
think that we locked the conn xbox. It's eight hundred
791
00:44:37.199 --> 00:44:40.480
thousand dollars in lighting in there. It's outside of a
792
00:44:40.519 --> 00:44:42.400
city that if someone finds that out, they will steal
793
00:44:42.480 --> 00:44:46.440
that and we will be done. Because in construction there's
794
00:44:46.519 --> 00:44:51.199
this thing called profit margin. It's really tiny. And so
795
00:44:52.559 --> 00:44:54.239
he tells his wife when we need to go on
796
00:44:54.239 --> 00:44:59.159
a road trip. Never calls me. And now listen, hear
797
00:44:59.239 --> 00:45:03.000
the story here. Wasn't hiding anything from me, but he
798
00:45:03.039 --> 00:45:10.239
took ownership of the job. And so he said, let's
799
00:45:10.280 --> 00:45:12.000
load up the kids. He loaded them all up in
800
00:45:12.000 --> 00:45:14.239
his truck. You know, we had we had crew crabbed
801
00:45:14.280 --> 00:45:17.800
trucks back then, and put the car seats in and everything,
802
00:45:17.800 --> 00:45:19.079
and we're going to go on a road trip. They
803
00:45:19.119 --> 00:45:22.960
just stopped dinner, got up, drove two hours out of state,
804
00:45:24.480 --> 00:45:30.639
locked the con xbox, drove home four hours total. I
805
00:45:30.760 --> 00:45:35.079
find out a week later that this happened because he
806
00:45:35.119 --> 00:45:38.159
wasn't hiding it, and so I was talking it was
807
00:45:38.159 --> 00:45:39.880
just something he had, just something that he had to
808
00:45:39.880 --> 00:45:43.119
get done. And I said to him, I said, hey,
809
00:45:42.960 --> 00:45:46.079
why didn't you call me? And he said, well, that
810
00:45:46.119 --> 00:45:52.239
wasn't your responsibility, boss, that was my responsibility. That moment
811
00:45:52.400 --> 00:45:55.079
I knew I could build an organization with people like that,
812
00:45:56.239 --> 00:45:58.960
people that that was the first time that someone other
813
00:45:59.039 --> 00:46:02.880
than myself had ever taken ownership of a problem and
814
00:46:02.960 --> 00:46:06.599
didn't involve me in it. When you can do that,
815
00:46:08.159 --> 00:46:11.440
then it can So every issue, everything that you deal
816
00:46:11.480 --> 00:46:15.159
with as an owner weighs on you, and weight limits
817
00:46:15.199 --> 00:46:18.440
what you can carry. And so what that did was
818
00:46:18.480 --> 00:46:21.320
he's like, here, boss, let me take this weight. And
819
00:46:21.360 --> 00:46:23.400
so I knew I could trust him. And so now
820
00:46:23.719 --> 00:46:27.559
he has managed projects that are multi million dollar projects,
821
00:46:27.679 --> 00:46:32.960
huge warehouse projects, multiple people. He's essentially managed a company
822
00:46:33.039 --> 00:46:37.800
within our company of people, and I can trust him
823
00:46:37.840 --> 00:46:40.320
with that, and I don't worry about it. It doesn't weigh
824
00:46:40.360 --> 00:46:44.320
on me that that would be the story of a
825
00:46:44.320 --> 00:46:46.000
person that I feel like I can build with.
826
00:46:46.840 --> 00:46:48.400
Then don't name drop him.
827
00:46:49.880 --> 00:46:51.199
Yeah you can't have him.
828
00:46:51.119 --> 00:46:53.679
No, Yeah, someone's going to be going after him.
829
00:46:53.760 --> 00:46:56.559
Well, full disclosure. He is in the process with some
830
00:46:56.639 --> 00:46:59.400
other people in our company of buying shares of the
831
00:46:59.400 --> 00:47:00.800
company that I started.
832
00:47:00.599 --> 00:47:03.840
Amazing building with a team that's amazing.
833
00:47:04.159 --> 00:47:08.599
We So where we resonate with that is we have
834
00:47:09.679 --> 00:47:12.000
we have a saying for any yeah, go for it.
835
00:47:12.760 --> 00:47:13.280
There you go.
836
00:47:13.440 --> 00:47:17.119
Yeah, we won't say who it is, but that's total advertisement.
837
00:47:17.159 --> 00:47:20.079
We don't need that on here unless they want to contribute.
838
00:47:20.159 --> 00:47:24.119
That's fine, we go by what's any new employee and
839
00:47:24.280 --> 00:47:28.880
any we continue to push, It's called EOI. They have
840
00:47:28.920 --> 00:47:34.039
to have energy ownership and be experimental, so not to
841
00:47:34.119 --> 00:47:38.239
be afraid to experiment, take ownership of that experiment.
842
00:47:37.800 --> 00:47:41.199
And just go all out like that.
843
00:47:41.199 --> 00:47:45.599
That is like the energy behind what we're doing. And
844
00:47:46.159 --> 00:47:49.119
I mean for an employee to take ownership, I get it.
845
00:47:49.719 --> 00:47:52.880
I mean that's pounds off your shoulder, like you're so
846
00:47:53.159 --> 00:47:56.000
much weight, and I'm totally with you, so.
847
00:47:56.000 --> 00:47:57.239
I really appreciate that.
848
00:47:57.960 --> 00:48:04.440
Uh if you were, Let's pretend there's a potential customer
849
00:48:05.199 --> 00:48:10.719
watching you on this podcast and they were just like,
850
00:48:10.840 --> 00:48:16.159
you know what makes Legacy different? Like why should I
851
00:48:16.280 --> 00:48:20.920
hire Legacy or even black Line? And you know what
852
00:48:21.000 --> 00:48:23.960
do you guys do that this customer.
853
00:48:23.559 --> 00:48:25.000
Should Why why should they buy you?
854
00:48:26.639 --> 00:48:31.920
That's actually a pretty simple answer. We care so when
855
00:48:31.920 --> 00:48:33.920
we take on a project, like so if I'm talking
856
00:48:33.920 --> 00:48:38.800
about Legacy for example, and like Legacy Electric, they do
857
00:48:39.119 --> 00:48:43.800
you know, infrastructure projects and industrial, commercial electric, pretty much
858
00:48:43.800 --> 00:48:48.159
anything you can think of with that, they care about
859
00:48:48.159 --> 00:48:51.800
the project that they want to build your legacy as
860
00:48:51.880 --> 00:48:55.679
if it was theirs, and so the same with Black Line.
861
00:48:55.719 --> 00:48:59.039
We care about your people. We care about your culture
862
00:48:59.679 --> 00:49:02.400
and we want to build that out with you. And
863
00:49:02.440 --> 00:49:04.400
so it's like if this is important to you and
864
00:49:04.440 --> 00:49:07.000
you believe in this, Like we don't take on every client,
865
00:49:07.679 --> 00:49:09.960
Like we have jobs come our way and it doesn't
866
00:49:10.000 --> 00:49:13.400
matter what company it is. Within the Legacy group, we
867
00:49:13.440 --> 00:49:16.119
have jobs come our way that we don't take because
868
00:49:16.119 --> 00:49:19.559
if we don't align, it's nothing against you or us.
869
00:49:20.480 --> 00:49:22.039
But we want to work with who we align with
870
00:49:22.079 --> 00:49:25.639
because efficiency is key and we can be efficient if
871
00:49:25.679 --> 00:49:30.000
we operate together in that way. And so, you know,
872
00:49:30.039 --> 00:49:33.760
if you're looking for an organization that wants to help
873
00:49:33.800 --> 00:49:36.599
you build, then that's what we want to do, whether
874
00:49:36.639 --> 00:49:40.400
it's building your legacy or defining your culture and your
875
00:49:40.480 --> 00:49:43.000
story as a company, that's what we want to do.
876
00:49:43.519 --> 00:49:47.480
Awesome And where can people reach out to you or
877
00:49:47.559 --> 00:49:48.000
find you?
878
00:49:48.360 --> 00:49:54.159
Yeah, so so black Line Ltd dot com and they
879
00:49:54.239 --> 00:49:58.280
can you know, find me on LinkedIn Joshua D. Malott, M. E. L.
880
00:49:58.400 --> 00:50:04.639
L Ott. I'm on LinkedIn. I post most days of
881
00:50:04.679 --> 00:50:07.400
the week, and then can find us on YouTube at
882
00:50:07.400 --> 00:50:11.440
black Line Ltd. You can see our podcast anywhere on
883
00:50:11.559 --> 00:50:15.400
any podcast network that you listen to. You search the
884
00:50:15.440 --> 00:50:19.360
line x black Line and will come up. It's a
885
00:50:19.360 --> 00:50:23.079
big ugly picture of my face. And you know we're
886
00:50:23.119 --> 00:50:24.559
out there. We want to lift the view of the
887
00:50:24.599 --> 00:50:26.920
trades and your company. We want to tell your story.
888
00:50:28.039 --> 00:50:32.280
You know. If you are a construction company, you know
889
00:50:32.400 --> 00:50:35.199
we want to be building and helping you with your
890
00:50:35.199 --> 00:50:38.480
infrastructure projects from a legacy standpoint. On the electrical side
891
00:50:38.480 --> 00:50:38.840
as well.
892
00:50:39.800 --> 00:50:41.199
If there's any.
893
00:50:42.440 --> 00:50:46.239
Entrepreneurs that are watching this right now, it could be
894
00:50:46.480 --> 00:50:53.039
new construction owners, new entrepreneur, doesn't matter, what advice would
895
00:50:53.119 --> 00:50:56.159
you give to them? And you know, and on top
896
00:50:56.199 --> 00:50:58.519
of that, is there anything else that you would like
897
00:50:58.559 --> 00:51:00.400
to leave with the listen that.
898
00:51:00.400 --> 00:51:02.719
Are watching this or listening in today?
899
00:51:04.320 --> 00:51:12.679
Sure? I think the biggest thing for entrepreneurs two words
900
00:51:13.440 --> 00:51:18.000
words that I read in tears in a bookstore. Don't quit.
901
00:51:20.320 --> 00:51:25.000
Don't give up. The reality is you might you might
902
00:51:25.000 --> 00:51:28.920
almost be there. That Victor's cup might be just within
903
00:51:28.960 --> 00:51:31.400
your hand. Don't become one of the people that gave
904
00:51:31.480 --> 00:51:34.599
up right before it happens. I'm not saying don't look
905
00:51:34.639 --> 00:51:37.280
at the factors and the things you might need to
906
00:51:37.280 --> 00:51:38.840
relook at things you might need to change the way
907
00:51:38.880 --> 00:51:44.440
that you do things. But don't quit. Face it you know,
908
00:51:44.519 --> 00:51:47.719
to people who are out there, whether you're an entrepreneur
909
00:51:48.119 --> 00:51:53.440
or you're someone entering the trades, be a leader. You know,
910
00:51:53.639 --> 00:51:57.039
leadership is something that is needed. People are hungry for
911
00:51:57.079 --> 00:51:58.719
people to lead them. And I don't care if you're
912
00:51:58.719 --> 00:52:02.800
holding a shovel or if you are managing an organization,
913
00:52:03.440 --> 00:52:06.920
you're a leader. Someone standing next to you is impacted
914
00:52:06.960 --> 00:52:09.599
by the way that you're living your life. So think
915
00:52:09.599 --> 00:52:12.280
about the way you're living your life, think about the
916
00:52:12.320 --> 00:52:14.760
way that you do your work and what you do.
917
00:52:15.280 --> 00:52:18.559
So lead and don't quit.
918
00:52:20.440 --> 00:52:23.639
You know, can I take your own advice and then
919
00:52:23.880 --> 00:52:26.360
not quit on this podcast? And maybe I can get
920
00:52:26.440 --> 00:52:32.440
you to selfishly promote technology a little bit and before
921
00:52:32.480 --> 00:52:34.760
and this will be just to wrap it up, and
922
00:52:34.800 --> 00:52:37.559
I know the team would love to hear this. What
923
00:52:37.719 --> 00:52:41.559
do you do with or I guess what do you
924
00:52:41.679 --> 00:52:45.599
use for technology? How do you use technology to help
925
00:52:45.639 --> 00:52:48.880
your business today?
926
00:52:49.000 --> 00:52:50.400
So I think I know where you're going with this.
927
00:52:51.559 --> 00:52:55.199
I feel like it's right in front of me. So
928
00:52:55.760 --> 00:52:57.360
there are a couple of things. One thing I would
929
00:52:57.360 --> 00:53:00.360
say in business, if you're not utilizing AI and this
930
00:53:00.400 --> 00:53:03.320
is coming from a tradesman here who hates AI. And
931
00:53:03.360 --> 00:53:10.079
I hate technology. I don't like new things. If you're
932
00:53:10.119 --> 00:53:13.800
not using it, you're going to lose. You're not going
933
00:53:13.880 --> 00:53:17.239
to be where you need to be. The other thing
934
00:53:17.400 --> 00:53:19.440
that I would say to you is, and I literally
935
00:53:20.880 --> 00:53:23.760
was working on a project. I would be really careful
936
00:53:23.800 --> 00:53:26.079
what I say because it's confidential, but I was working
937
00:53:26.079 --> 00:53:32.159
on a project and we in one of our companies,
938
00:53:32.159 --> 00:53:34.199
and we were working on a project with another company
939
00:53:34.800 --> 00:53:39.880
that we are managing. And the one company that we
940
00:53:40.000 --> 00:53:44.800
manage uses this thing called Can I say it, yes, okay,
941
00:53:45.039 --> 00:53:49.440
this thing called lumber. And I've been in business.
942
00:53:49.280 --> 00:53:50.639
It's not right here.
943
00:53:50.559 --> 00:53:54.639
Yeah, it's not right there, this thing called lumber. And
944
00:53:55.599 --> 00:53:58.519
I have been in business for more than twenty years.
945
00:53:59.760 --> 00:54:02.920
I have used all of the big players when it
946
00:54:02.960 --> 00:54:09.039
comes to platforms, payroll software, all of that stuff. If
947
00:54:09.079 --> 00:54:11.320
you're going to pick a technology partner, which is what
948
00:54:11.480 --> 00:54:14.400
lumber is for us. And I got to see this
949
00:54:14.519 --> 00:54:21.239
point blank just today in our organization working in so
950
00:54:21.280 --> 00:54:24.320
the Legacy Group is involved in multiple organizations, and so
951
00:54:24.880 --> 00:54:27.880
I'm able to see what's happening here and what's happening
952
00:54:27.880 --> 00:54:31.559
over here. And so this arm is utilizing lumber, and
953
00:54:31.599 --> 00:54:39.239
this arm is not a technology company that is willing
954
00:54:39.320 --> 00:54:42.199
to work with you. And I heard my chief of
955
00:54:42.239 --> 00:54:45.599
staff literally just say today, well, I'll talk with lumber
956
00:54:45.719 --> 00:54:48.239
about a problem that I see, and then I log
957
00:54:48.320 --> 00:54:50.719
back in and there's a new button there based on
958
00:54:50.840 --> 00:54:54.840
the input that I gave them. Do you realize the
959
00:54:54.920 --> 00:54:59.239
value that comes from that? That is huge? And the
960
00:54:59.360 --> 00:55:04.760
reality is whether you are a thousand employee company, a
961
00:55:04.800 --> 00:55:09.880
thirty thousand employee company, or a ten employee company, that's
962
00:55:09.960 --> 00:55:14.800
the type of service that you want. And that technology
963
00:55:15.159 --> 00:55:18.239
platform what we're utilizing with Lumber in one of our
964
00:55:18.320 --> 00:55:23.119
organizations is huge in our success. And the people that
965
00:55:23.199 --> 00:55:25.079
work there and I don't know them, I don't actually
966
00:55:25.119 --> 00:55:27.559
work with them. I just hear the praises from my
967
00:55:27.719 --> 00:55:30.480
team about these people that they call and you pick
968
00:55:30.559 --> 00:55:35.199
up the phone. All right, So I'm a Generation X guy.
969
00:55:36.840 --> 00:55:38.760
If I call you and you pick up the phone,
970
00:55:38.960 --> 00:55:42.159
we're already one thousand percent better than anybody else that
971
00:55:42.199 --> 00:55:44.639
I work with. I want to talk with somebody, I
972
00:55:44.679 --> 00:55:46.800
want to process with you, and you guys do that.
973
00:55:47.719 --> 00:55:51.280
Very few technology companies do that. That would be something
974
00:55:51.320 --> 00:55:54.000
that I would say, I stand behind what you guys
975
00:55:54.039 --> 00:55:56.800
are doing, and I'm in the process of bringing it
976
00:55:56.880 --> 00:55:58.639
into every organization that we're dealing with.
977
00:55:59.159 --> 00:56:01.800
I appreciate that that means a lot, and thank you
978
00:56:02.480 --> 00:56:05.880
so much, Joshua for being a guest on my podcast.
979
00:56:06.719 --> 00:56:13.400
It's been an absolute pleasure, and everyone that's watching please like, subscribe, comment,
980
00:56:13.960 --> 00:56:17.400
and share it with everybody in the construction industry and.
981
00:56:17.280 --> 00:56:20.280
We will see you next time. Thank you so much, Joshua.
982
00:56:31.320 --> 00:56:33.760
If you're a construction contractor and would like to appear
983
00:56:33.760 --> 00:56:35.599
as a guest on our podcast.
984
00:56:35.199 --> 00:56:36.039
Write us an email.
985
00:56:36.159 --> 00:56:39.239
It's Lou at lumberfine dot com.