Latest / Elevate Podcast: Powered by Braden / Elevate Ep 29: Betting It All On Business - Michael Webster, CEO of frēijē Engineered Solutions Co.

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Elevate Ep 29: Betting It All On Business - Michael Webster, CEO of frēijē Engineered Solutions Co. · Elevate Podcast: Powered by Braden

• 0:10
  Welcome to the Elevate podcast powered
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  by Braden. This is your front row seat
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  to the stories of local leaders, both
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  nonprofit and for-profit, who are
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  shaping our community. Every episode
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  brings you leadership insights, lessons
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  from challenges, and practical
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  strategies you can use today. And yes,
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  we'll keep it real and have some fun
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  along the way. If you're ready to
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  elevate your leadership, hit subscribe
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  or follow us on LinkedIn for updates and
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  behind the scenes content. Now, let's
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  dive in. Hey everybody, Jason here with
• 0:44
  another Elevate podcast powered by
• 0:46
  Brady. I tell you, these conversations
• 0:48
  are terrific. We're talking to
• 0:49
  forprofits and nonprofit business
• 0:52
  leaders from around the city. Their
• 0:53
  stories are awesome. This one today, I'm
• 0:55
  sure, will be no different than the rest
• 0:57
  we had. And so, Michael, welcome to the
• 1:00
  show. Maybe just a quick intro for you.
• 1:02
  Cool. Uh, Mike Webster, CEO of 3G
• 1:06
  Engineered Solutions, as you see up
• 1:07
  here. Uh, I live here in Fischers,
• 1:10
  Indiana. I've been here 30 plus years
• 1:12
  now. Been a while.
• 1:13
  >> Awesome. Gotcha. Welcome to the do. So,
• 1:17
  before we get to where you are as the
• 1:18
  CEO of 3G, let's go back to the
• 1:20
  beginning. Where you from originally?
• 1:22
  So, I grew up in uh KZ, Illinois. Big
• 1:25
  Brockman metropolis up with a great KZ
• 1:28
  I've never se 3,000 people. Okay. One
• 1:32
  stop light. One stop, one flashing red
• 1:34
  light. So, kind of wanted to have great
• 1:37
  way to grow up. Honestly, loved it. Uh
• 1:40
  sports was a big part of my life back
• 1:42
  then and being in a small school, I
• 1:44
  didn't have to be a superstar athlete to
• 1:46
  be a superstar athlete. Sure out. It uh
• 1:49
  kind of helped from uh that standpoint,
• 1:51
  but it was the only way to grow up.
• 1:52
  >> Going to school there. So, high school,
• 1:54
  how many kids were in your class?
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  >> Uh like 80.
• 1:57
  >> So, you can do whoever.
• 1:58
  >> Oh, yeah.
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  >> And or Bob below you.
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  >> Every other parent knew you had and all
• 2:04
  that kind of stuff. So,
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  >> all right. So, you're playing sports,
• 2:07
  growing up in a small town, and you
• 2:09
  finish up, you know, with high school.
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  What What's going to come next? You
• 2:12
  finish up your four years. Where do you
• 2:14
  think you're going to go? What are you
• 2:15
  gonna go do next?
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  >> Yeah. I wanted to keep playing sports,
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  but frankly I wasn't uh you know quite
• 2:21
  as good as I thought I maybe was. No.
• 2:24
  And but I ended up playing I went to
• 2:26
  school called World Solut.
• 2:29
  >> It was a good academic school and
• 2:32
  >> I was kind of down jock at that school.
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  So I got in because I like shoot
• 2:36
  basketball and uh
• 2:38
  >> played a couple sports there. It was a
• 2:40
  good once again still a small school.
• 2:42
  Yeah. So I kind of kept that theme and
• 2:44
  that it was a it was a college that was
• 2:47
  suited for me probably because you
• 2:49
  couldn't switch out of engineering. I
• 2:51
  mean engineering is challenging. I mean
• 2:52
  at Rice School is challenging but if I
• 2:55
  was at Purdue for sure I would have been
• 2:57
  like flipping into accounting or
• 2:58
  business or something because that would
• 3:00
  have been but having to change schools I
• 3:02
  didn't really want to do that. So I just
• 3:04
  got it out.
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  >> No kid.
• 3:07
  >> All right. So, so played basketball, but
• 3:10
  when you're coming out of high school,
• 3:12
  engineering was going to be what you
• 3:14
  wanted to get into. What was the genesis
• 3:16
  for that? Why go down that track? And I
• 3:18
  was, my mom was my high school math
• 3:20
  teacher. So, all the no.
• 3:22
  >> Yeah. And so, I always had math in my
• 3:25
  background and it was easier for me than
• 3:27
  English for sure.
• 3:29
  >> And so, but it was interesting going to
• 3:32
  Roseman that u there were a lot of smart
• 3:35
  guys. And then there's some brilliant
• 3:37
  guys at Dallas and you know coming out
• 3:39
  of there after four years you're you're
• 3:41
  pretty much demoted make the league like
• 3:44
  but I'm not I'm not the smarts guy there
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  by any means you know. Uh so it was uh
• 3:50
  it was interesting though getting into
• 3:52
  the real world not being extraed by
• 3:54
  brilliant engineers and professors and
• 3:57
  being like yeah maybe I am bra
• 4:00
  quite as dumb as I know I was
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  but uh so it was kind of it was a little
• 4:06
  cocoon you're in. Yeah I sure quite you
• 4:09
  know kind of assumed everybody was as
• 4:11
  brilliant as a lot of those uh those
• 4:14
  guys at Rose Hullman in the you know the
• 4:17
  real world is more normal. It was pretty
• 4:19
  full of support for him. All right. So,
• 4:20
  four years at Rose Hall and you said he
• 4:22
  mentioned played a couple of sports.
• 4:24
  >> Nice. I played uh basketball for three
• 4:26
  years and football.
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  >> I saw one year I played both football
• 4:29
  and basketball my last couple years. No,
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  >> it was it was a fun it was division
• 4:34
  three. So, it's not like I mean I gave
• 4:36
  you money kind of however they do it.
• 4:38
  They figure out a way you couldn't get a
• 4:40
  full scholarship but the uh it was good.
• 4:43
  Kept me busy, kept me, you know,
• 4:45
  focused. Kept me out of trouble. Yeah.
• 4:47
  you kind of and that's one of the things
• 4:48
  I tell my kids, you know, you can you
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  can do, you know, anything you really
• 4:53
  want to do, but grades have got to be
• 4:55
  first and then, you know, if you're
• 4:56
  going to play sports, you probably can't
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  party as much or you probably can't lay
• 4:59
  around on the couch on Sunday as much,
• 5:01
  right? And then give up something, you
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  know, and uh you got to pick what you
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  want to do, but make sure you know, make
• 5:07
  sure you graduate. Uh so that was that
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  kind of forced you into that line of
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  thinking. And sports kind of kept me,
• 5:14
  you know, away from some of the,
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  >> you know, sharp things.
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  >> But still, it was a fun I mean, I was
• 5:21
  able to go my freshman year. We went
• 5:23
  over to Russia and it was when the
• 5:25
  Soviet Union.
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  >> Yeah. Just as I was going to ask. So, we
• 5:27
  met memorable games.
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  >> Yeah. And it was interesting because we
• 5:31
  were a small school and our coach at the
• 5:34
  time was uh used to be like the head of
• 5:37
  intramurals for the army or something
• 5:40
  like that when he was younger. So he
• 5:41
  knew a lot of people throughout Europe
• 5:43
  and obviously Soviet Union.
• 5:46
  So we play these big time protrates and
• 5:48
  really they're pumpless. I mean they
• 5:50
  they beat us and but it was packed to
• 5:52
  the crowd. She's like big time game.
• 5:54
  That's an elite play like the Russian u
• 5:57
  Olympic team and those guys were back
• 6:00
  then you know they weren't NBA but they
• 6:02
  were good. Yeah. Sure. So it was it was
• 6:05
  interesting story. One of the uh the
• 6:08
  trick to Russian they lost all of our
• 6:09
  luggage. So we had to play in what we
• 6:12
  had and some guys had the uniform they
• 6:14
  carry on. Some guys in some say our
• 6:15
  shoes. So we were switching out shoes
• 6:18
  when guys would come out of the game and
• 6:20
  oh switching out uniforms and I actually
• 6:22
  played the game in Russia and stupid
• 6:25
  boxer shorts because they were red and
• 6:27
  we were our color scheme was red. So I
• 6:30
  had boxer shorts on played and I you
• 6:32
  know I wasn't very shy. still not very
• 6:35
  shy, but the uh so it was kind of fun.
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  But
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  >> that is classic. I I once played a high
• 6:40
  school basketball game and our shorts
• 6:42
  were white and I didn't bring any a
• 6:44
  underwear to play for the game. So on my
• 6:46
  boxer shorts and they're Mickey Mouse.
• 6:48
  >> Yeah.
• 6:48
  >> So you know they're half court when
• 6:50
  you're bending over you see Mickey.
• 6:52
  Yeah. The little
• 6:54
  >> That's right. Yeah. He's back.
• 6:56
  >> All right. So you got to go to Russia.
• 6:57
  So that's that's cool. So that was
• 6:59
  freshman year you said.
• 7:00
  >> Yeah.
• 7:01
  >> Okay. All right. So you get to play in
• 7:02
  Russia. any other kind of just fun games
• 7:05
  or anything was memorable about
• 7:07
  >> Yeah, we had I that was the first year
• 7:09
  of the three-point mind. So, Hodoki
• 7:11
  actually set the NCAA record for most
• 7:13
  three-pointers in the game. So, uh
• 7:16
  because it was the first year partially.
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  Yeah. And I held up for a few years, but
• 7:20
  it was interesting. We we were we
• 7:22
  weren't great as teen. We was way behind
• 7:24
  and the coach goes, "Uh, hey, we need to
• 7:26
  catch up. Just start shooting." I'm
• 7:28
  like, "Hey, I mean, never heard better
• 7:29
  rims in my life."
• 7:32
  didn't really have to tell me all that
• 7:33
  much but uh and then I just could it was
• 7:36
  one of those games where I made you like
• 7:38
  I 12 I
• 7:41
  >> Zapd
• 7:43
  everything's going down I just had to
• 7:44
  get up by the r
• 7:45
  >> it is going like how lucky is that to
• 7:48
  bake hand I'm like dude I honestly I
• 7:50
  went up to shoot and I still remember
• 7:52
  the guy was going to block it and I'm
• 7:54
  like I just got to get it up
• 7:55
  >> so I just adjusted the shot to miss his
• 7:59
  arm and it happened to go
• 8:01
  I was like I wasn't trying to make it. I
• 8:02
  was just trying to miss the guy's arm.
• 8:04
  >> Oh,
• 8:05
  >> yeah. So, I was best it was, you know, I
• 8:10
  don't act like Elmont pro player by any
• 8:12
  means. Oh, he's not,
• 8:13
  >> you know. But Blake College anywhere set
• 8:15
  a record like that. That's cool. All
• 8:17
  right. So, four years college, Rose
• 8:20
  Holman, which we all know is is a dital
• 8:22
  school, right? But coming out of Rose
• 8:24
  Holman, you get your degree. What do you
• 8:26
  What do you think you're going to do
• 8:28
  next? Where do you think your career is
• 8:29
  going to go? Yeah, I
• 8:30
  >> went on the path really of where I'm at
• 8:33
  now to be a very similar similarly
• 8:37
  and HVAC mechanical uh design and
• 8:40
  construction that kind of stuff. And
• 8:42
  honestly, I went that math because
• 8:44
  that's the only job I could get. It
• 8:45
  wasn't like some well thought out I'm
• 8:48
  going to be this kind of guy. Actually,
• 8:51
  the guy who hired me was a former
• 8:53
  basketball player, Rosewoman. So there's
• 8:55
  alumni connection and um you know I I uh
• 9:00
  that's why I started on path and I just
• 9:01
  kind of started with it.
• 9:02
  >> So So was that what did they come into
• 9:04
  Rose Holman? Were you doing like
• 9:06
  interviews with companies? So, so how
• 9:08
  did how did was there internship or he
• 9:10
  was kind of thinking?
• 9:10
  >> No, I didn't that I mean they had
• 9:12
  internships brows but I was I did not do
• 9:15
  I did I guess a little bit of general
• 9:16
  electric but um the uh yeah but mostly
• 9:20
  it was some companies come on campus and
• 9:23
  y
• 9:24
  >> for Johnson trolls those kind of people
• 9:25
  come on campus this was smaller any firm
• 9:28
  here in India.
• 9:30
  >> Okay. Uh and that guy more just called
• 9:33
  an alumni master guy or worked at the
• 9:36
  school and said any any players
• 9:39
  available and they said yeah this guy is
• 9:40
  still available and uh
• 9:42
  >> okay the guy was my mentor and we're
• 9:45
  still catching his names he was no he's
• 9:47
  a friend you said yeah so that's kind of
• 9:49
  how it started and that it was an
• 9:50
  interesting a very so I had a you know
• 9:53
  like blue collar parents like teachers
• 9:57
  banker types and um my first job at that
• 10:02
  A&E firm after about 3 months they
• 10:05
  couldn't payroll so they they missed
• 10:08
  they just skip a paycheck and then they
• 10:09
  pay you on time to the next star in two
• 10:11
  weeks okay and then they skip it again
• 10:13
  and then they'd be a month behind and
• 10:15
  then they'd catch up you know halfway
• 10:17
  caught up and then they would catch all
• 10:19
  the way up and then they would fall
• 10:21
  behind and it was two or three years of
• 10:23
  that consistently and it was I just
• 10:26
  didn't grow up with that it was already
• 10:28
  consist consistent paychecks, parents
• 10:30
  was worked. No one was ever unemployed
• 10:32
  and
• 10:32
  >> and just seeing that then seeing, you
• 10:34
  know, like adult men and women with
• 10:37
  families getting laid off. I'm like,
• 10:39
  "Holy cow, people get laid off in G
• 10:41
  World." It's amazing up in a little
• 10:43
  cocoon in Key, Illinois with teachers
• 10:46
  and bankers, you know, just didn't I
• 10:48
  have exposure to any of that and it
• 10:50
  really honestly helped me run a business
• 10:53
  later in life because I I knew that's
• 10:56
  not how I wanted to treat people.
• 10:57
  >> Yeah, sure. I was to die miss who get
• 11:00
  get a paycheck. So yeah like a big deal.
• 11:02
  Oh yeah. A big deal for me when I
• 11:04
  started on my business was I never
• 11:05
  wanted to have to miss it that
• 11:09
  >> sense but uh
• 11:10
  >> anyway so that was uh so I'm two or
• 11:13
  three years of that and uh it was good
• 11:16
  it was good experience but not it was
• 11:19
  engineering. It's heavy engineering. It
• 11:20
  really didn't suit me. And I still
• 11:23
  remember I was making I think like
• 11:25
  35,000 a year or something. And uh
• 11:30
  my job was to design air conditioning
• 11:32
  systems and a contractor would look at
• 11:36
  my design and estimate it and say, "I
• 11:38
  could do that for a million dollars."
• 11:40
  And then they would uh I would tell them
• 11:42
  what they can buy like you can buy one
• 11:44
  of these three types of equipment uh and
• 11:47
  you have to buy this type of duct work
• 11:49
  you this thickness of duct work and this
• 11:51
  size of duct work you know like that
• 11:53
  kind of stuff. Sure. And um
• 11:55
  >> I still remember those uh equipment guys
• 11:58
  would come in and say hey I want you to
• 11:59
  say I'm one of those three
• 12:01
  >> Yeah. pieces of equipment that these
• 12:04
  contractors can buy and they sell to you
• 12:06
  basically, you know, get you to specify
• 12:09
  them. And one of the guys came in and I
• 12:11
  heard he made $60,000 a year and I was
• 12:14
  like, "Hoc
• 12:17
  >> make 60 cran."
• 12:19
  >> I was spitting that money so fast. So I
• 12:22
  uh and I was a little bit uh less
• 12:26
  engineering personalitywise and more
• 12:29
  sales.
• 12:29
  >> Okay. Uh even though I would say I'm
• 12:31
  like some super slug salesman, but that
• 12:34
  was more technical sales because you
• 12:35
  were selling technical.
• 12:37
  >> Sure. Yeah.
• 12:38
  >> And uh so I basically just started
• 12:40
  calling these guys that sold to me and
• 12:42
  said, "Hey, I want to get into the sales
• 12:44
  side and that's how I got into my second
• 12:48
  job."
• 12:48
  >> No kidding. All right. So the first job
• 12:50
  about three years heavy tech and good at
• 12:53
  it. you can do it. I was coming out of
• 12:54
  Rose Hullman but wasn't really what you
• 12:56
  liked but you heard 60 grand like this.
• 13:00
  Yeah,
• 13:00
  >> I ended up you know I knew the sales
• 13:02
  guy. I didn't really know the sales
• 13:04
  manager who hired me but drew the sales
• 13:06
  guy. I got interviewed and I knew either
• 13:08
  two or three of them and uh you know it
• 13:10
  really and it really was a good job and
• 13:13
  I I spent selling because I was it's
• 13:16
  really more account management. It
• 13:17
  wasn't really like cold calling every
• 13:20
  day because there aren't that many
• 13:22
  people, you know, putting systems in
• 13:25
  buildings like breed, you know, this.
• 13:26
  Yeah, sure. Uh, so actually we did the
• 13:29
  work here, but the uh uh so it it was it
• 13:33
  was more account management. So, and it
• 13:35
  was selling to guys that I already knew
• 13:38
  like I did their job. Oh, you know, some
• 13:40
  of them were Rose guys or friends of
• 13:42
  mine and some of them were sure else.
• 13:44
  So, it wasn't it wasn't as salesy as it
• 13:47
  sounds, but it um
• 13:49
  >> you know, it was pretty it was pretty
• 13:50
  good because I could use my three or
• 13:52
  four years of technical
• 13:54
  >> and I was by that time I think a
• 13:55
  professional engineer. I got my PE stamp
• 13:58
  so I could be a sales guy but carry a
• 14:00
  little bit more weight because I was an
• 14:02
  engineer. I wasn't, you know, some
• 14:04
  business grad, you know, that was you
• 14:06
  trying to learn equipment. I was more of
• 14:08
  a guy who done most of their their all
• 14:11
  right. So, yeah. So, then I did that. Um
• 14:14
  I think I worked for those guys about 10
• 14:16
  years about decade.
• 14:17
  >> How'd you like it? I mean did that was
• 14:18
  that something you really enjoyed?
• 14:20
  >> You know I wouldn't say my major is to
• 14:22
  be a sales guy but it was it was fun and
• 14:25
  they treated me well and I you know I
• 14:28
  got promoted from a sales sales mentor
• 14:31
  to the sales manager you know kind of
• 14:33
  ran Indiana and then I got promoted from
• 14:35
  that to running uh sales for the same
• 14:39
  company in Northern California. So, I
• 14:41
  moved out to the Bay Area, had like
• 14:43
  Sacramento and Reno and uh you know, all
• 14:47
  the San Jose on the Bay Area places and
• 14:51
  uh had a good time out there, you know,
• 14:54
  and uh met my wife while I was out
• 14:56
  there. So, that was
• 14:58
  >> I gotta say that was old man.
• 14:59
  >> Well, that's the win. That's
• 15:01
  >> the best closing. That's right. That was
• 15:03
  a big one. But uh met her out there. It
• 15:07
  It was good.
• 15:08
  >> Okay. All right. So, three years behind
• 15:10
  the desk, 10 years out selling, and then
• 15:14
  moving around a little bit out out in
• 15:16
  the northern California, San Jose, those
• 15:17
  areas out there. How do you get back to
• 15:19
  Indianapolis? What do you do next after
• 15:21
  that?
• 15:21
  >> Yeah. So, I mentioned I met my wife out
• 15:24
  there at the time. She was living in
• 15:27
  Vegas. And I want to say it the way I
• 15:29
  say it all the time. And she was not a
• 15:31
  stripper. So, you have I had to I used
• 15:33
  to have to throw that in. My girlfriend
• 15:34
  lives in Vegas, but she's on stir, you
• 15:36
  know. You have to say that because
• 15:38
  everybody's ass. She was a mature
• 15:40
  murderer. But uh so we commuted for a
• 15:45
  not that long, about a year. Like every
• 15:48
  Friday afternoon I'd fly and Monday
• 15:50
  morning I'd fly home and then the next
• 15:52
  week Friday afternoon she'd fly up to
• 15:54
  the Bay Area. The next uh Monday she she
• 15:58
  would fly home. And we just Southwest
• 16:00
  baby every weekend. And uh pretty much
• 16:02
  didn't I don't think we missed a
• 16:04
  weekend. Very rarely would we miss each
• 16:06
  other on weekend. We would go see each
• 16:07
  other. Uh that it was it was and because
• 16:11
  it was fun because I'm like she would
• 16:12
  come to the Bay Area. We would go do
• 16:14
  something.
• 16:14
  >> Yeah.
• 16:15
  >> Or we go to the you know wherever maybe
• 16:17
  you know Reno or go fishing and Yeah.
• 16:20
  You know one time I could fly fishing,
• 16:22
  you know, to be able to eat for a guy,
• 16:23
  right? Or we go up to big su we go
• 16:27
  Monteray or we would we just run around.
• 16:29
  Yeah. Do you want go see stuff?
• 16:31
  She actually grew up pretty close rare
• 16:34
  Kazy Illinois not KY but kind of in the
• 16:36
  ballpark of that area and that's how I
• 16:38
  met her. When I went to Vegas once up I
• 16:41
  met a buddy there who knew her own guy
• 16:43
  for girl. So that I kind of got
• 16:45
  introduced to a friend but uh so we kind
• 16:48
  of grew up both in Hickville America in
• 16:51
  southern Illinois and uh so we have fun.
• 16:53
  and I'd go to Vegas and then we would go
• 16:55
  to Lake Me or we'd go to Del Valley or
• 16:58
  we would go to, you know, go to
• 17:00
  openings. She was kind of in with the
• 17:03
  bunch of casino owners, kids and stuff.
• 17:05
  So, we we go have fun in Vegas and uh
• 17:08
  didn't gamble a whole lot to be honest
• 17:09
  with you. But,
• 17:10
  >> you know, just had a good good, you
• 17:12
  know, and go to concerts and all that
• 17:14
  kind of stuff. But uh anyway, so while
• 17:17
  I'm answering your question of how I got
• 17:18
  back, we got married. Um literally she
• 17:22
  got pregnant like probably late night. I
• 17:25
  mean that fast. And uh she has looked at
• 17:28
  me and like I don't want to raise kids
• 17:29
  out here. And I'm like you guys had you
• 17:32
  guys talked to you that before really I
• 17:34
  mean like I I wasn't so like dying to
• 17:37
  stay there either. Some cah doesn't
• 17:39
  matter. And I'm like so where do you
• 17:40
  want to raise kids? She's like somewhere
• 17:41
  back home. I'm like well define. She's
• 17:44
  like St. Chicago, Indianapolis, you
• 17:47
  know, uh, Cincinnati, you know,
• 17:49
  somewhere back the way we grew up. And,
• 17:53
  uh, I'm like, yeah, that's probably
• 17:54
  where I knew I would end up back there.
• 17:56
  Proudly anyway. I was only out there a
• 17:59
  few years, so it wasn't I still had a
• 18:01
  lot of contacts back here.
• 18:02
  >> Yeah.
• 18:03
  >> And, uh, I basically took a demotion
• 18:06
  with York to come back and run the
• 18:08
  service department for India. Okay.
• 18:11
  because they had service in sales.
• 18:14
  >> And then in their world, oddly, service
• 18:16
  made all the money in that company, but
• 18:18
  it wasn't sales was the path to
• 18:20
  corporate life.
• 18:21
  >> Okay.
• 18:22
  >> And uh but I know I love that corporate
• 18:24
  path because, you know, those guys had
• 18:27
  less control of their day-today life and
• 18:29
  they got on the plane on Monday, got
• 18:31
  home on Friday, and I'm like, I actually
• 18:34
  like my wife, but I don't really leave
• 18:35
  on Monday.
• 18:36
  >> Friday. So I went on to the service side
• 18:39
  and plus the service side kind of uh
• 18:43
  controlled this product on the sales
• 18:45
  side. You sold the product and they made
• 18:46
  it wherever.
• 18:47
  >> Yeah.
• 18:48
  >> And then they shipped it and you you
• 18:49
  really didn't have any part of the
• 18:51
  making of the product.
• 18:52
  >> Yeah.
• 18:53
  >> You just had this is what performance
• 18:55
  can do. Try to buy it.
• 18:57
  >> On the service side the service tax work
• 19:00
  for you. So your product which was
• 19:02
  fixing things and yep
• 19:03
  >> maintenance contracts was you control
• 19:06
  it. Sure. All this service techs work
• 19:08
  for you and all the service dispatchers
• 19:10
  and coordinators get right,
• 19:13
  >> you know. Uh so it's more like running a
• 19:15
  business.
• 19:16
  >> Yeah.
• 19:16
  >> Uh and at the same time I was going back
• 19:19
  to get my NBA because that was about the
• 19:21
  time I was figuring out, you know, kind
• 19:24
  of I was wouldn't say it was all about
• 19:27
  money. It was more about success.
• 19:29
  >> Yep.
• 19:30
  >> But money usually comes with success,
• 19:31
  I'm sure.
• 19:33
  Um,
• 19:34
  I couldn't not get promoted that my
• 19:37
  promotion path would be traveling all
• 19:40
  the time. Yeah.
• 19:40
  >> And that wasn't really what I wanted to
• 19:42
  do, right? Yeah.
• 19:43
  >> So, I'm like, how what do I do? So, I'm
• 19:45
  like, if I start my own business, I
• 19:47
  would control my own destiny. And so,
• 19:49
  that's when I was like, I'm going to go
• 19:51
  get NBA, learn how to start my own
• 19:53
  business, and then I'll figure out what
• 19:54
  business to start.
• 19:55
  >> Wow. Okay. So, that's kind of where all
• 19:56
  that that when I moved back about the
• 19:59
  time I moved back to Indiana, I was
• 20:02
  probably already thinking that because I
• 20:03
  think I'd already started my NBA, but uh
• 20:06
  that was when I was kind of like trying
• 20:08
  to figure out like what I'm going to do
• 20:10
  because I'm not going to be a corporate
• 20:11
  guy.
• 20:12
  >> Yeah. You didn't you didn't want to
• 20:13
  travel around. You liked your wife,
• 20:14
  wanted to be home. Okay. So, but here's
• 20:16
  the thing that I'm hearing so far in
• 20:17
  your career, right? Come out of a a
• 20:19
  wonderful engineering school. you go
• 20:22
  work behind the desk for three years and
• 20:24
  then you spend 10 years out kind of
• 20:25
  selling it and then you come back here
• 20:27
  and you start to do support manage the
• 20:30
  service side you've really now seen kind
• 20:33
  of all the different ways of the
• 20:35
  business so so in starting you know
• 20:38
  thinking about starting a business
• 20:39
  getting your NBA
• 20:41
  what was your original vision starting a
• 20:44
  business was it to look like something
• 20:46
  you've already done before what was kind
• 20:48
  of that vision what did you want to go
• 20:49
  start you know you know went down the
• 20:52
  path, the easiest way to do it is to do
• 20:55
  what I already do. You know, right? A
• 20:57
  lot less risk, right? Because I know and
• 20:59
  and I had relationships and and then
• 21:01
  like in 03 when I started the business,
• 21:04
  it was I had partner so heavier 50/50
• 21:08
  and he was working for a contractor in
• 21:12
  town. Okay.
• 21:13
  >> That and I used to sell equipment to
• 21:15
  him.
• 21:15
  >> Yeah. Was my you got my biggest customer
• 21:17
  back in the day. Oh, no kidding. Yeah.
• 21:19
  So, and then he was like, but he wasn't
• 21:21
  the owner. So, we and and in most cases
• 21:23
  in construction, especially mechanical
• 21:26
  construction, most of the highlevel guys
• 21:29
  are owners and there not there's not a
• 21:31
  big barrier to entry. I mean, if you're
• 21:34
  pretty technical or if you're a pretty
• 21:35
  smart guy, you you're a leader, you just
• 21:38
  start your own business. Then to grow
• 21:40
  that business now,
• 21:42
  >> yeah,
• 21:42
  >> I had to separate some people better
• 21:44
  understanding, you better understand
• 21:46
  business and all that stuff. But that's
• 21:48
  why you see a lot of people in our
• 21:50
  industry that are 10 to 15 million have
• 21:52
  a range revenue side
• 21:54
  >> because they can maybe be a former Ike
• 21:57
  fitter, a former craft worker and they
• 21:59
  could run basically almost run every
• 22:01
  shot. Yeah. Right. You know, and that's
• 22:03
  fine. Sure. And they some kick my ass on
• 22:06
  that. But the thing 50 to 50 or 50 to
• 22:09
  80, you know, get every job crazy and
• 22:14
  they get lighting issues and all kinds
• 22:15
  of stuff. But anyway, the uh what that
• 22:18
  partner and I started in 03
• 22:21
  and uh I kind of did the I had the PE
• 22:24
  stamp so I was the engineer for design
• 22:27
  build company.
• 22:28
  >> I ran the service department because
• 22:30
  that's what I did at York and I just
• 22:31
  kind of did that and then I am handled
• 22:34
  the money.
• 22:35
  >> You know, it's interesting. It was 23
• 22:36
  years ago and I'm that crazy for you of
• 22:38
  2003.
• 22:39
  >> Yeah.
• 22:40
  >> So when you got started and you you
• 22:41
  know, you kind of throw your hat in the
• 22:42
  ring to be an entrepreneur. What was Did
• 22:46
  you think you'd have a partner when he
• 22:47
  got started? Did you Is that the way you
• 22:49
  wanted to design the business? H how did
• 22:51
  that come about? But should you see?
• 22:54
  >> Good question. As much as I do, I really
• 22:56
  couldn't have done it without a partner.
• 22:59
  I knew what he knew.
• 23:01
  >> So you had estimate he knew how to run
• 23:03
  projects. He did other pieces. She
• 23:05
  understood the ther side on the
• 23:07
  construction. I understood on the
• 23:08
  certain side, but he understood on that
• 23:10
  side. you know, he had relationships
• 23:12
  with the general contractors. I didn't
• 23:14
  really have those relationships because
• 23:16
  I that wasn't part of my sphere, you
• 23:18
  know.
• 23:19
  >> So, and then, you know, I covered stuff
• 23:22
  eat it though. So, I it worked out.
• 23:24
  >> Okay. Yeah. Sure. At the beginning,
• 23:26
  until it did. So, as they say, it worked
• 23:28
  out till it did.
• 23:29
  >> All right. So, so let's talk through
• 23:30
  that. That's 23 years ago, right? So,
• 23:33
  you get started 23 years ago. You got a
• 23:35
  partner. At some point, though, you you
• 23:38
  become kind of a soul opener, right? So
• 23:39
  you you end up so when when does that
• 23:41
  happen? When does that take?
• 23:42
  >> Yeah. Sort of give you a little
• 23:44
  background. We kind of bought a real
• 23:47
  small company, a million half company
• 23:49
  revenue size. That's to have a something
• 23:52
  to start with. And uh I think I took a
• 23:56
  load out on my Jeep. I cashed in my
• 23:58
  401k.
• 24:00
  You know, my wife was I had a lane. My
• 24:03
  oldest was what six months old. My wife
• 24:06
  was five months pregnant. And I told
• 24:08
  her, I say, "Hey, I'm cashing it all in.
• 24:10
  I'm quitting my corporate job where I'm
• 24:13
  making 200, 250,
• 24:16
  start this business right in the middle
• 24:17
  of all this." Yeah. And for some crazy
• 24:20
  reason, she said, "Okay, I don't I look
• 24:22
  back at that." The wife, she said, "Yes,
• 24:25
  I have no idea." It was kind of stupid.
• 24:27
  Like really, if you think about it,
• 24:28
  like, so it was probably could have got
• 24:30
  me in more trouble. honestly think maybe
• 24:32
  I could do it. But uh anyway, so we we
• 24:35
  bought that million company and uh went
• 24:38
  to like 8 million the first year and
• 24:40
  then 22 and then 40 and then it was just
• 24:43
  like crazy grow. Yeah. And it it just
• 24:46
  shot like and then we you know we were
• 24:50
  trying to grow like that as a
• 24:51
  construction company is not the smartest
• 24:52
  thing to do but we had a little I mean
• 24:54
  it was like God was helping us out here
• 24:56
  and there you know like one year we we
• 24:59
  have bad year and then next year we get
• 25:01
  a job that really we down in Florida
• 25:04
  that hurt us but then a hurricane came
• 25:06
  and wiped all the units off the roof and
• 25:08
  then we made more money replacing all
• 25:10
  the units than making them. Then we had
• 25:13
  another bad year after that and then
• 25:15
  like oh my god you know I'm trying to
• 25:16
  keep the bank off our back and that was
• 25:18
  my job and we had so much debt and then
• 25:22
  I don't know if you remember the French
• 25:23
  L casino they were doing that job on the
• 25:27
  mechanical side and then the electrician
• 25:29
  went out
• 25:30
  >> and because of where that project's
• 25:32
  located they had trouble getting
• 25:34
  somebody to come finish it and we're
• 25:35
  like we'll give it a shot TNM you know
• 25:38
  like which is usual in our industry just
• 25:41
  paid kill
• 25:42
  I mean a Kelly and then it's like now
• 25:45
  we're the smartest guys in the brewery.
• 25:46
  Yeah. Right. Now we're back
• 25:47
  >> next year. Yeah. We went from like smart
• 25:49
  to dumb to smart to down to smart, you
• 25:53
  know, and it's it's it was it was a bit
• 25:55
  of a roller coaster. Uh but but it was
• 25:59
  really uh interesting because that was
• 26:02
  probably 06 07 range.
• 26:06
  We were flying high at the time probably
• 26:08
  60 billion
• 26:10
  but doing a bunch of office buildings
• 26:12
  bunch of warehouses all private work and
• 26:16
  traveling all over the country a lot of
• 26:17
  those buildings were speculative
• 26:20
  you know our biggest customers Duke and
• 26:22
  law GC's a town for you guys who don't
• 26:24
  know it u and then all a sudden the 08
• 26:27
  they hit
• 26:29
  >> and in our world uh the type of work we
• 26:34
  were doing
• 26:35
  Well, the down mascara. Yeah.
• 26:39
  >> And in all honesty, the only way we
• 26:42
  survived that was
• 26:46
  through that growth, we'd switch banks
• 26:48
  every couple years to get more debt
• 26:49
  because growing it takes a lot of cash.
• 26:52
  >> Uh, one somewhere along the way, just
• 26:55
  out of happen stance, I think I said I
• 26:58
  didn't want a full personal guarantee.
• 27:00
  I'll just guarantee a half million and
• 27:02
  my partner guaranteed a half million.
• 27:04
  And we we were doing so good that banks
• 27:06
  were a lot of money like crazy that
• 27:08
  year. And we went and all honestly our
• 27:11
  numbers looked pretty good after a late
• 27:12
  hit except we couldn't collect money
• 27:14
  because nobody would pay. Yeah. So it
• 27:16
  was like the re the margin looked pretty
• 27:19
  good but the balance sheet looked
• 27:20
  horrible because you're wiping off all
• 27:21
  this bad debt because nobody was paying
• 27:23
  you
• 27:23
  >> and then you couldn't lean the property
• 27:25
  because the properties were worthless
• 27:26
  because the market had tang.
• 27:30
  And um frankly we owed to bank so much
• 27:34
  money they couldn't judge now it was
• 27:36
  like that that's what s had to had to
• 27:38
  keep you in this gun having a father
• 27:40
  that's a banker he's like yeah like when
• 27:42
  you when you owe the back a million they
• 27:44
  owe you when you owe 10 million you know
• 27:48
  and they were north of that so it was
• 27:50
  like they were working with us trying to
• 27:52
  get us through that and honestly they
• 27:55
  were pretty fist to be frank a lot of
• 27:58
  people have horror stories about banks
• 28:00
  uh back in that time, but they were
• 28:02
  pretty fair with this. But at the same
• 28:05
  time, uh it's almost like having a sick
• 28:07
  ken in a regular marriage. Your
• 28:09
  partnership goes to hell
• 28:11
  >> because
• 28:12
  >> we're losing money now way more than
• 28:14
  we'd ever thought where the banks are
• 28:17
  tying our hands. You can't pay yourself
• 28:19
  this, you got to pay yourself that, you
• 28:21
  can't, you know, which was all fair
• 28:23
  stuff to do. But then, you know, the
• 28:26
  partnership went to help. Yeah.
• 28:28
  basically. And you got into a little bit
• 28:30
  of that infighting like I'm working
• 28:32
  harder than you're working. And you
• 28:33
  know, I'm creating all the money. You're
• 28:35
  a drag, you know, blah blah blah. All
• 28:38
  the You know what's interesting is going
• 28:40
  through that.
• 28:42
  I tell this funny story that I uh I felt
• 28:46
  like I could write a book like this is
• 28:48
  the craziest story like this part and
• 28:51
  all the fights we were having and all
• 28:53
  the underhanded stuff that was
• 28:54
  happening. And it's like I could write a
• 28:56
  book about all these crazy stories. I
• 28:58
  don't even want to tell stories anymore.
• 28:59
  They're so
• 29:01
  at the time they seemed like
• 29:03
  insurmountable your skills and I I still
• 29:05
  remember I'm in this association of a
• 29:07
  bunch of other owners of companies and I
• 29:08
  just joined this association. I was
• 29:10
  telling my dad his story. Still a good
• 29:12
  friend of mine and uh like it was I sure
• 29:16
  dude this is the craziest thing. And
• 29:18
  then at the end he looks at me he's like
• 29:20
  you think that's crazy. And then he just
• 29:21
  rattles off the story like works words
• 29:24
  and like in this case it was his own
• 29:25
  brother. He was like oh no it was
• 29:27
  Parker. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm like what?
• 29:30
  And then you know you start talking to
• 29:32
  more people and you're like it's pretty
• 29:33
  common story. It's not a read out book,
• 29:36
  right? Well, having a barbecue blow up
• 29:38
  when the economy goes bad is not not
• 29:41
  unusual. No, very unusual at the time.
• 29:45
  But, uh, honestly, it ended up being the
• 29:47
  greatest thing for me. We did get
• 29:50
  through it. I did find a way to to peel
• 29:52
  off, you know, my piece of the business,
• 29:55
  a lot smaller piece than he got, but I
• 29:58
  took a lot more debt to make it happen.
• 30:00
  And and I I still remember when I
• 30:03
  somebody like Clos if they watch this
• 30:04
  may not know this but when I that was
• 30:07
  2010 I think when I finally peeled off
• 30:09
  but uh I borrowed as much as I could
• 30:12
  borrow from the bank
• 30:14
  >> based on the receivables I was getting.
• 30:17
  Uh I went on a full personal guarantee.
• 30:20
  Um, luckily I got off the other bank's
• 30:23
  guarantee, you know, which was only half
• 30:26
  million only with if that was a lot. But
• 30:29
  I couldn't even make I I left on Friday.
• 30:33
  I closed on a Friday unless I collected
• 30:35
  money Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. I
• 30:38
  couldn't make payroll the next Thursday.
• 30:40
  No kidding. Yeah, that's how tight it
• 30:41
  was. And it was like that by was but we
• 30:46
  had it was like that or bankruptcy.
• 30:48
  Those were like the two options. So it's
• 30:50
  a
• 30:50
  >> I mean it wasn't like there was a plan C
• 30:53
  you know that was any good
• 30:55
  >> and we did collect some money but and I
• 30:58
  once again I threw all my chips back in
• 31:01
  you know some 20 cms essence starting
• 31:03
  over
• 31:04
  >> reaching out the 40k and all that kind
• 31:06
  of stuff you know
• 31:08
  >> uh pushed it all back in and then
• 31:11
  interesting part of the story back when
• 31:13
  you say sometimes stars aligning
• 31:16
  everybody talks about how great they are
• 31:18
  and sometimes it's just pure luck. But
• 31:20
  we had a big customer. I think it was in
• 31:22
  Missouri and it's like probably two
• 31:24
  months after we started, right? More
• 31:26
  like every week. Like I'm scared to
• 31:28
  death. I own his payroll. I mean scared
• 31:29
  to death. And I'm begging the bank to
• 31:31
  loan me more money and give me overline.
• 31:33
  I'm I mean we're watching every penny we
• 31:36
  spend. And this guy calls me from
• 31:38
  Missouri. He's like, "Hey, I got this
• 31:39
  project you guys are award
• 31:42
  projects." I'm like, "Yeah." And he
• 31:44
  goes, "You know, we're getting a bunch
• 31:45
  of state sen."
• 31:47
  I didn't understand that back end very
• 31:49
  well, but he's like, I don't spend this
• 31:51
  money, I lose it. Do you mind if I
• 31:52
  prepay you $2 million? I'm like, bro, I
• 31:58
  like Yeah, sure. And I did have to pay
• 32:01
  some vendors, you know, because I, you
• 32:04
  know, part I believe names for other
• 32:06
  people. So, I paid half million or
• 32:08
  800,000 of vendors, but I had like a
• 32:10
  million dollars of cash like from the
• 32:12
  guy that didn't burn off from like six
• 32:15
  or eight months. So it was like a
• 32:17
  interest free loan you know it's like I
• 32:19
  was like I you know like fell in my lap
• 32:22
  and really after 6 months we had gotten
• 32:25
  to stable ground and sure everything was
• 32:27
  fine you know it was like back to
• 32:29
  reality you know it wasn't like every
• 32:32
  Friday figuring out who to pay and every
• 32:34
  Thursday making sure we make payroll all
• 32:36
  kind of stuff it was uh back to reality
• 32:38
  so it was uh you know I'd like to say
• 32:40
  I'm just zero smart guy and made that
• 32:42
  happen but you know that was a total
• 32:44
  random
• 32:44
  >> Wow.
• 32:45
  You know, that's wild. Just as about
• 32:47
  2010, that's not that long, but 16 years
• 32:49
  ago, you throw all your chips back in.
• 32:52
  But that that's cool. So, for for people
• 32:55
  listening in, it might be good to tell
• 32:58
  folks a little bit more about what you
• 33:00
  guys do, right?
• 33:01
  >> So, so tell me a little bit about about
• 33:03
  Prec. What do you guys do, who you
• 33:04
  serve, and then what's the business look
• 33:06
  like?
• 33:06
  >> Yeah. So, we um are predominantly what
• 33:10
  people would call in mechanical services
• 33:13
  space. So all commercial or industrial
• 33:15
  type work. So building like grad systems
• 33:18
  or Amazon warehouses or uh industrial
• 33:22
  facilities uh like uh IPL you know the
• 33:26
  utilities gons
• 33:28
  you know some laboratory work like
• 33:30
  coance labs or down Lego or Lily you
• 33:34
  know we do some work at those places um
• 33:37
  and but mostly around refrigeration or
• 33:40
  or air conditioning sometimes comfort
• 33:43
  cooling some of process cooling
• 33:45
  >> so mostly kind of around that. Then we
• 33:47
  do some other things. So like uh on we
• 33:52
  have a big service department that does
• 33:54
  break fix. So if you're hot, if it's
• 33:56
  cooling, if you're hot, you call us.
• 33:58
  Yep. We come out to your office, try to
• 33:59
  figure out what's going on. Uh or
• 34:02
  process cooling. If it's cool in the
• 34:03
  process, you know, the product should be
• 34:06
  x temperature. It's not old x
• 34:07
  temperature. They call us, we come out,
• 34:09
  try to figure out, oh, what's going on
• 34:11
  in the system that is not keeping the
• 34:13
  temperature. Sometimes at laboratory
• 34:15
  it's not coolant clean room jack stuff
• 34:18
  where it's got to be super clean got to
• 34:21
  be pressurized. It's got to be, you
• 34:23
  know, 64 degrees, you know, even though
• 34:25
  there's people in there. Sometimes it's
• 34:28
  processed cool where it's food where
• 34:29
  it's minus 20. Yeah, it's a big 200
• 34:32
  square thousand square foot. Where else
• 34:34
  20? It's not like your home refrigerator
• 34:36
  e but it's like that. It's just 200,000
• 34:39
  worth. But
• 34:40
  >> uh so we do a lot of that type of work
• 34:42
  and a lot of that is service work like
• 34:44
  break fix. Yeah.
• 34:45
  >> A lot of that is new construction. Um a
• 34:48
  lot of that is what we call service
• 34:50
  projects like we out there can't fix it
• 34:52
  we need to replace it. Yep.
• 34:53
  >> So that's a service project. Um and then
• 34:57
  uh so that's kind of roughly at a high
• 35:00
  level and then you know getting a little
• 35:02
  more granular we have like a multif
• 35:04
  family division that does plumbing and
• 35:06
  HVAC for apartments. Okay.
• 35:08
  >> We don't do any residential work but
• 35:11
  that we have a division that does that.
• 35:13
  We have a division that does commercial
• 35:16
  projects which will be warehouses,
• 35:17
  office that kind of stuff and new
• 35:19
  construction.
• 35:20
  >> Yep.
• 35:20
  >> We have a division that does industrial
• 35:22
  refrigeration which uses ammonia as a
• 35:24
  refrigerant
• 35:25
  >> really.
• 35:25
  >> So that is it's really a pretty
• 35:27
  efficient. It's the most efficient
• 35:29
  refrigerant. Most people don't know but
• 35:31
  it does have parts and side effects,
• 35:33
  right?
• 35:33
  >> So it's of safety concerns, right? Um,
• 35:36
  so some people don't want to use it
• 35:37
  because the safety like want to, you
• 35:40
  know, honestly if we wanted the the
• 35:42
  greenest gas, we would use a bone here.
• 35:44
  Right. Right.
• 35:45
  >> But, you know, would kill people if you
• 35:47
  have a release. So, that's a half of a
• 35:48
  challenge. That's right.
• 35:50
  >> So, that's why there's a lot of service
• 35:52
  work there and a lot of uh fewer people
• 35:55
  doing that type of work is you better do
• 35:57
  it right. Yeah. you a lot of press
• 35:59
  testing, a lot of weld certifications,
• 36:02
  you know, a lot more than on a hydraulic
• 36:04
  system.
• 36:05
  >> You know, if a system gear leaks, you
• 36:07
  got some wire damage, you know,
• 36:10
  >> from your system leaks, everybody's in
• 36:12
  the plant, that kind of stuff.
• 36:15
  >> But the uh so that that's kind of it in
• 36:18
  a nutshell. But you know why I kind of
• 36:20
  focus more on
• 36:23
  less we'll say like school work and less
• 36:27
  hospital work less big projects like
• 36:29
  Peter would think of and more design
• 36:31
  build where we're the engineer of record
• 36:34
  and more medium size you know story
• 36:36
  office buildings that kind of stuff uh
• 36:39
  we'll do we'll do larger jobs like we're
• 36:41
  doing a
• 36:43
  a project right now it's called a box we
• 36:46
  call it box in a the warehouses are to
• 36:49
  gulp and they're putting it's a million
• 36:51
  square footer and they're putting about
• 36:52
  a 200 or thousand square foot freezer
• 36:54
  inside it
• 36:55
  >> and we're doing the freezer inside it.
• 36:57
  Okay.
• 36:57
  >> So that's a pretty big project. That be
• 36:59
  an example. So okay guys so really
• 37:02
  everything from that down to apartments
• 37:04
  by across the street here. Sure.
• 37:06
  >> Indiana focus
• 37:09
  national. Yeah, the the the uh the
• 37:13
  commercial the service work commercially
• 37:17
  uh and the industrial FAC service work
• 37:19
  is more central Indiana, central Ohio.
• 37:22
  >> Okay.
• 37:22
  >> The industrial refrigeration amount work
• 37:24
  is is country all country. It's a little
• 37:28
  bit both.
• 37:28
  >> Gotcha. Okay. We we do travel but I'd
• 37:31
  say I'd say 26 probably 75% of the work
• 37:36
  in Indiana, 25% elsewhere. Okay. I kind
• 37:39
  of got your butt. So
• 37:40
  >> awesome cool story up until now, right?
• 37:42
  Learning your background, all the
• 37:44
  different things you did, throwing your
• 37:45
  chips in multiple times, met yourself,
• 37:48
  right? And so one of the things we like
• 37:50
  talking about because we get a chance to
• 37:52
  talk to for-profit folks and nonprofit
• 37:54
  folks from all different kinds of
• 37:55
  businesses is technology, right? So in
• 37:58
  in your business, where is tech today?
• 38:01
  Kind how how may are you leveraging
• 38:03
  technology to serve your your people or
• 38:07
  your clients maybe? Where do you see it
• 38:08
  go in the future?
• 38:09
  >> Yeah, I have an interesting story, you
• 38:11
  know, back to my overconfidence part. So
• 38:15
  a lot of our tech uh from the beginning
• 38:18
  as we went through say 2010
• 38:22
  uh was customdeveloped by us really by
• 38:26
  programmers be hired in 0 probably 06 07
• 38:31
  I'm like man I'm I'm so smart developing
• 38:35
  our own customized programs I should
• 38:37
  just buy the company that's developing
• 38:39
  for me and sell it
• 38:40
  >> and then sell the stellar contractors
• 38:43
  So I bought them and uh or we bought
• 38:46
  them that bug with my part at the time
• 38:48
  and uh didn't sell one zero. So that was
• 38:52
  an extensive lesson that maybe I was
• 38:53
  quite as smart as I thought I was. While
• 38:56
  that program was great for us, it really
• 38:59
  didn't it was it was too much for us.
• 39:02
  You know what I mean? Sure. But uh and
• 39:04
  then eventually I kind of wound it down
• 39:07
  and just supported our programs and then
• 39:10
  eventually I'm like what am I doing? I'm
• 39:11
  not I'm not a programmer. I'm not the
• 39:13
  software company. I should just go buy
• 39:15
  something off the shelf.
• 39:16
  >> Yeah.
• 39:17
  >> Then I bought stuff off the shelf and it
• 39:19
  really wasn't as good as our stuff for
• 39:20
  us because it wasn't designed just for
• 39:22
  us. Sure. But it's still, you know, I
• 39:24
  didn't it was the right thing to do. So,
• 39:28
  uh,
• 39:29
  then store. So, that cost me a lot of
• 39:31
  money. Said, but so I know a lot about
• 39:32
  it. But, so I book pretty much on, uh,
• 39:35
  using off-the-shelf type stuff, but
• 39:38
  built specifically for sure. Sure.
• 39:40
  >> Uh, but that changes rapidly. Uh and
• 39:44
  frankly we just changed our whole
• 39:47
  software stack last and 25 and that
• 39:50
  pretty much took my whole year up
• 39:51
  because you'll see I'm pretty
• 39:53
  comfortable in that world the and I'm
• 39:55
  very anal about the numbers tying out me
• 39:59
  believing then I wasn't believeing the
• 40:01
  numbers with the system but uh our
• 40:04
  industry frankly is is labbing other
• 40:07
  industries okay and so we're getting
• 40:09
  kind of drugged along into this. I mean,
• 40:11
  I'd love to be just like the other
• 40:13
  industries, but an example would be our
• 40:15
  uh North Service tax like our old system
• 40:18
  before the we just switched to it was
• 40:21
  pretty archaic. The dispatch board, you
• 40:24
  know, how we set guys and how we
• 40:26
  schedule them out, all that kind of
• 40:27
  stuff. And, you know, how they capture
• 40:30
  could capture pictures while they were
• 40:32
  on site or not. It just wasn't, it
• 40:34
  couldn't do any of that. And our
• 40:36
  customers, you know, they're not like
• 40:38
  super tech people, but they buy stuff on
• 40:40
  Amazon and they get a picture every time
• 40:42
  it shippers up. That's right. And they
• 40:43
  buy stuff on Door Dash and they could
• 40:44
  watch the guy come and see him. You
• 40:47
  know, when he's on his way, they see
• 40:48
  where he's at. That's right. And you
• 40:50
  couldn't see that with our tech. Yeah.
• 40:51
  In our industry, almost nobody's doing
• 40:53
  that. So
• 40:54
  >> then people are calling us and people in
• 40:56
  our I think resi guys are getting pretty
• 40:58
  good at that. Yeah.
• 40:59
  >> Residential ACC world, it's a little
• 41:01
  more to a consumer than we're a
• 41:04
  business.
• 41:04
  >> Yep. Those people that work in the
• 41:07
  business are consumers, too. That's
• 41:09
  right.
• 41:09
  >> And they're used to seeing that where's
• 41:11
  my Amazon page? That's right. Why isn't
• 41:13
  it here in three hours? You know, like
• 41:14
  your is going to be we're going to be
• 41:16
  here three days. That's ridiculous. You
• 41:17
  know, and so we're get kind of drugged
• 41:19
  along. And we're trying to be in the
• 41:21
  forefront of that. And I feel like we
• 41:22
  are. And one of the reasons we put so
• 41:24
  much money and effort into switching
• 41:25
  tech last year was so we could use a
• 41:28
  newer jack that has all those bells and
• 41:31
  whistles, that has, you know,
• 41:33
  everything. And like one of the things
• 41:35
  it does is uh when the guy says he's on
• 41:38
  site to geo taxi. And that's not so much
• 41:41
  so that I could prove my guy was there
• 41:44
  and not pay the guy if he wasn't there.
• 41:46
  It's the customers demanding it. Yeah,
• 41:48
  sure. They're calling me saying your guy
• 41:50
  wasn't here at 8 a.m. and you're
• 41:51
  charging me from 8 a.m. to do him. And I
• 41:54
  if I don't have it geotagged, I can't
• 41:56
  tell you. Yeah, he was there. That's
• 41:57
  right. You know what I mean? And the
• 41:59
  customer doesn't believe I can't just
• 42:01
  say believe me. They say, "Well, I can
• 42:03
  see the Amazon guy. I can see the Uber
• 42:05
  Eats guy.
• 42:06
  >> I can see the Uber guy." Like, they
• 42:09
  weren't accepting, you know, weren't
• 42:11
  accepting. Like, just take my word for
• 42:13
  it.
• 42:14
  >> Yeah.
• 42:14
  >> Because they're used to these other
• 42:16
  companies.
• 42:16
  >> Yep.
• 42:17
  >> Using this tack. So, we switched to that
• 42:19
  tech and it it was painful. I mean,
• 42:21
  every time you switch tech, it's
• 42:23
  painful. Oh, yeah. And uh but I think
• 42:26
  we're already seeing fruits of it, but
• 42:28
  in the next 12 months we're really
• 42:30
  getting really ping along, you know, and
• 42:32
  everybody hearing the data correctly,
• 42:34
  >> that kind of stuff. So uh you know that
• 42:37
  that that particular software is called
• 42:39
  Billops and they're kind of the leader
• 42:42
  in our industry, but yet interestingly
• 42:45
  they're really good at selling which I
• 42:48
  was sure everybody says the same story,
• 42:50
  right? they they sell you they can do
• 42:52
  all this stuff and then
• 42:53
  >> sure
• 42:54
  >> they can't quite do it yet or it's on
• 42:55
  the what they call it on the road map a
• 42:57
  little higher SC that one more chat my
• 43:00
  main comment that um you know so it's
• 43:03
  not perfect but um you know I'm pretty
• 43:06
  comfortable in that world and I would
• 43:07
  feel like in our commercial industrial
• 43:10
  mechanical space we're maybe not the
• 43:12
  leader but in the top five or 10%
• 43:15
  techwise I'm not afraid to invest in it
• 43:17
  I'm not
• 43:18
  >> afraid to make changes as much as My
• 43:20
  guys hate the changes. You know, you got
• 43:23
  to explain the why. You're wrong. You
• 43:24
  got to change the management. It's a big
• 43:26
  deal. Especially when you look at shop,
• 43:28
  you know, craft workers that are like,
• 43:30
  why? Why do I have to take a picture?
• 43:32
  >> Yeah, dude. You have to take a picture.
• 43:34
  >> The customer's not going to pay me.
• 43:35
  That's right.
• 43:35
  >> If the customer pay me, I can't pay you.
• 43:37
  >> That's right. I'm sorry. I I'd rather
• 43:39
  you don't have to take a picture, too.
• 43:40
  But you got a phone in your hand. You
• 43:43
  know, just take a before and after
• 43:44
  picture. Yep.
• 43:45
  >> It's not that hard. You know, I know
• 43:47
  you're doing the work. And then some of
• 43:49
  these guys like well if you really don't
• 43:51
  want to take a picture is it is there is
• 43:53
  there something I'm I don't know
• 43:54
  >> right yeah
• 43:55
  >> you are changing that filter right
• 43:58
  >> you know you are cleaning that coil
• 43:59
  right
• 44:00
  >> just take a picture of it clean it's not
• 44:03
  that big of an ask in today's wack right
• 44:05
  then usually explaining the light to
• 44:08
  them is pretty simple you're like aren't
• 44:10
  you getting picture when the Amazon
• 44:11
  package drop off and they are they are
• 44:13
  right there they're consumers too like
• 44:16
  we're
• 44:16
  >> that's what everybody's demanding It is
• 44:18
  the evolution, right? To to say, "Here's
• 44:20
  what it's coming. Get the little pizza
• 44:22
  tracker. I know when you're going to be
• 44:23
  here, when to expect you." It's
• 44:26
  interesting to hear, you know, kind of
• 44:27
  your business, you say, lagging a little
• 44:29
  bit and that you guys are trying to push
• 44:31
  to the forefront because I mean, at the
• 44:33
  end of the day, customer service and
• 44:35
  what customers want what's going to
• 44:37
  continue to drive your business.
• 44:38
  >> Well, and a lot of it is these legacy
• 44:41
  softwares that are massive and owned by
• 44:44
  massive companies. I mean, the rewrite
• 44:47
  Yeah.
• 44:48
  >> Is unbelievably expensive and they kind
• 44:51
  of lock you in. It's hard to switch.
• 44:52
  It's hard. A lot of guys don't want to
• 44:54
  switch and spend like I believe my whole
• 44:56
  summer because we switched, right?
• 44:58
  >> And that's pretty much what I spent
• 45:00
  seven hours a week hot all summer was me
• 45:03
  grinding through software trying to
• 45:06
  >> get to where I believe the numbers and
• 45:07
  get, you know, trying to figure out if
• 45:09
  you don't enter this correctly, this is
• 45:11
  what happens. And, you know, trying to
• 45:13
  get 200 plus people to enter stuff
• 45:16
  correctly. Well, that's that's a lot of
• 45:18
  work. Uh, and it's a lot of effort on
• 45:21
  the overad on the I would say over we
• 45:24
  didn't like have to really add people
• 45:25
  for it. It's a lot of bourbon sub. Yeah.
• 45:27
  Because some of those people have been
• 45:28
  doing the same software 10 plus years.
• 45:30
  They're experts at it.
• 45:32
  >> When they switch, it's like dude, you're
• 45:34
  screwing up my whole world.
• 45:36
  >> Everything just [ __ ]
• 45:36
  >> And then trying to, you know, back to
• 45:39
  you're asking a little bit about how we
• 45:40
  run the company. Like having a good
• 45:42
  culture is like super important to me.
• 45:45
  And I know that's an overused word and
• 45:46
  everybody says that and you know and
• 45:50
  it's it's hard. Yeah. You know it's a
• 45:52
  lot of work and honestly it takes my
• 45:56
  personal involvement and I can tell when
• 46:00
  I get lazy honestly in six months or a
• 46:04
  year I'm not as prevalent. I'm not as
• 46:07
  involved. I'm not as employee facing
• 46:11
  culture. You can see it. You can tell
• 46:13
  >> you can see it. And yeah, and it's like
• 46:15
  it's my fault and I know it's my fault.
• 46:17
  >> And you know, I say lazy maybe too
• 46:19
  strong or but you know sometimes you
• 46:21
  just get wore out. Yeah. You know I get
• 46:23
  a little wore out and I'm as I said I'm
• 46:25
  not exactly Johnny extrovert out there
• 46:27
  that shakes hands all I politician ever,
• 46:30
  you know, but that kind of guy.
• 46:32
  >> I would rather just go work and go home,
• 46:34
  you know, and I'd rather not sit around
• 46:36
  at 5 to 5:30 and than just yuck it up
• 46:40
  with guys. It's just I'm not I don't
• 46:41
  really think a homie to do with my life
• 46:43
  on my kids and go hang out my buddies
• 46:44
  and R.
• 46:45
  >> I don't I'm not like that tied to my
• 46:48
  work life, you know,
• 46:49
  >> like I need to be so right to some
• 46:52
  degree. And uh you know, we we
• 46:56
  put a lot of effort into uh treating
• 46:58
  people, you know, respectfully, hiring
• 47:02
  people that care, you know, because
• 47:04
  that's about 95% of the person cares.
• 47:07
  you know, they're gonna try to do the
• 47:09
  right thing if they're just trying to
• 47:11
  collect a paycheck. Could could care
• 47:13
  less, you know, and you cannot put every
• 47:16
  procedure in the world in place,
• 47:19
  >> right?
• 47:19
  >> You could be as nice to them as you
• 47:21
  could beat your decide on a matter. But
• 47:23
  >> well, how you hire guys is very
• 47:25
  important and uh it's been a long that's
• 47:28
  been a long journey because that's
• 47:29
  that's
• 47:30
  >> for me personally that's effort.
• 47:32
  >> It's not like what I would naturally
• 47:35
  come second nature, right?
• 47:36
  >> Yeah. be I would be much more
• 47:37
  comfortable, you know, running a
• 47:39
  investment firm where I just looked at
• 47:41
  numbers all day long,
• 47:43
  >> you know,
• 47:44
  >> bought money.
• 47:46
  >> Yeah, sure.
• 47:46
  >> And looked at the trend line and versus,
• 47:49
  you know, walking around the office and
• 47:50
  uh asking everybody how the weekend was
• 47:53
  is not really my gig, but but I I do it.
• 47:56
  I It's not that I don't care. I mean,
• 47:59
  it's just it's just not that chitchat
• 48:02
  wouldn't, you know, I would have like
• 48:03
  400 things in my head that I need to get
• 48:06
  done, you know? You you know, yeah, I'm
• 48:07
  a little bit more task oriented that
• 48:09
  way. But, uh, I think we built, you
• 48:12
  know, a great um a great culture. And
• 48:16
  honestly, I I gave you an interesting
• 48:18
  story. So, in
• 48:20
  2019, I sold a division
• 48:24
  of my company, the the ammonia division.
• 48:26
  I was catching
• 48:28
  And it really was the first time I went
• 48:31
  from all the chips and to actually
• 48:34
  having some chips in my bank account.
• 48:36
  Okay. I mean, I got a little bit my bank
• 48:39
  down before they knelt down with not
• 48:40
  much really after that. And it was and
• 48:43
  I, you know, from that time 2010 to
• 48:46
  2019, I was buying company when I say
• 48:49
  buy companies sounds so glamorous, but
• 48:51
  it was kind of I bought a lot of
• 48:52
  companies for the bankrupt. I I did buy
• 48:55
  a few and I was just borrowing more
• 48:57
  money. Yep.
• 48:57
  >> And it was pretty easy to go from owing
• 49:00
  the bank five million to owing them
• 49:01
  eight billion. You owe them eight to
• 49:03
  owing them 12 to owning 12. I can't pay
• 49:05
  five million. I sure can't pay 12. So
• 49:07
  what's the for right? Just leverage.
• 49:09
  Leverage. Yeah, you're leverage. And I
• 49:11
  would just borrow and and and
• 49:14
  grow and then growth took more cash and
• 49:16
  then I'd find another acquisition. I
• 49:18
  would go buy that guy and borrow.
• 49:20
  Sometimes I'd almost b borrow off their
• 49:22
  balance sheet. Sometimes I borrow off my
• 49:24
  balance sheet. that I would well I said
• 49:26
  mind the companies
• 49:28
  >> this whole time I wasn't really
• 49:30
  >> I mean I was paying myself well and I
• 49:32
  was living well I live with house all
• 49:34
  that kind of stuff but
• 49:35
  >> but if the business went under I was I'd
• 49:37
  be broke you like
• 49:39
  >> you know I didn't have any money.
• 49:40
  >> Yeah. Yeah. So anyway 19 I sold that
• 49:43
  division and was able to basically get
• 49:45
  debt free and actually have money in my
• 49:47
  bank account. Oh and then the calculus
• 49:50
  of buying companies changed
• 49:51
  dramatically.
• 49:52
  >> Yeah. Where is Mike Webster ready to
• 49:54
  check? I've got there you go.
• 49:56
  >> That's me.
• 49:56
  >> Versus it's a big difference. You know,
• 49:58
  it really it really tight me up honestly
• 50:00
  and it was kind of interesting just
• 50:02
  looking at myself in the mirror being
• 50:03
  height.
• 50:04
  >> Why was I so willing to do this bank
• 50:07
  money but not willing to do it with my
• 50:09
  money?
• 50:09
  >> But uh long long uh point long story to
• 50:14
  your point after I sold that division in
• 50:17
  19 it was a bunch of good guys. I mean,
• 50:19
  friends, you know, it was one of the few
• 50:22
  times I I've made big decisions like
• 50:24
  that without my wife's buying.
• 50:26
  >> She was like, I don't you don't make
• 50:28
  decisions like this based on money. That
• 50:31
  was based on me getting money. She's
• 50:33
  like, that's just not
• 50:34
  >> it really kind of goes against your
• 50:36
  culture, what you say to people. I'm
• 50:38
  like, but baby, um, I'm sleeping with a
• 50:40
  grill on my chest every night. I'm like,
• 50:42
  you're right. Yeah, I'm tired. Like
• 50:44
  Abby, it's like I I'm fearful of missing
• 50:47
  barrel or going broke like all of the
• 50:49
  time trying to keep the bank happy, you
• 50:51
  know, all the time on this like I'm
• 50:53
  wrote the time that I was 19. So that
• 50:55
  was what 16 years that living that way,
• 50:58
  right? Yeah. And uh you know that was
• 51:00
  great. I loved it.
• 51:02
  >> But it was a lot of pressure.
• 51:03
  >> Yeah. Sure. you know, and it was a lot
• 51:05
  of those people were my friends and they
• 51:07
  were relying on we beer like payrolls
• 51:09
  and you know I mean anyways I I sold
• 51:12
  those friends in essence because kind of
• 51:14
  split baby and uh
• 51:18
  you know it worked out well and I think
• 51:20
  it worked out decently for them but
• 51:22
  after five or six years I heard all my
• 51:26
  nonpaids and solicits ran out and I
• 51:28
  heard a couple of those guys were
• 51:30
  looking
• 51:30
  >> Yeah.
• 51:30
  >> And so I I called them up I said hey
• 51:32
  Matt So, I'd love to hire you back. They
• 51:35
  go, I'm not doing pneumonia anymore. I'm
• 51:37
  not doing dust refrigeration. I'm They
• 51:38
  were They're great guys, good friends.
• 51:41
  I'm like, if you guys are leaving, call
• 51:43
  make me your first call. That's all I
• 51:44
  ask. And I'll find a spot for you. Y
• 51:47
  >> you could do this that or my company.
• 51:50
  Then like two weeks later, they said,
• 51:51
  "Yeah, uh, we're leaving, but everybody
• 51:54
  wants to leave and everybody wants to
• 51:55
  come back and work for you." And so,
• 51:57
  well, and I'm like, "Everybody?" And
• 51:59
  he's like, "Yeah, like 22 to 30 people."
• 52:01
  Oh. And I'm like,
• 52:03
  H and so I'm like hold on I'm going to
• 52:05
  think about that. So once again it's not
• 52:07
  house money anymore buyers. Yeah I
• 52:10
  didn't have to buy the company. I just
• 52:11
  had to hire a bunch of people once but
• 52:13
  with no work.
• 52:14
  >> That's right.
• 52:14
  >> You know so but about I mean I think I
• 52:18
  hiring 30 and north of 20 25 maybe even
• 52:22
  were ex employees.
• 52:24
  >> Wow.
• 52:24
  >> Like people that I was mentioned that
• 52:26
  knew the wanted to come back and work
• 52:28
  with us. Yeah. because they've liked
• 52:29
  where it goes before I like working for
• 52:31
  the other guy and then I got and sold
• 52:33
  sell a couple times like private equity
• 52:35
  and so they you know they they didn't
• 52:37
  have the greatest experience right it's
• 52:39
  just they did
• 52:40
  >> they didn't treat him yeah
• 52:41
  >> like you can't
• 52:43
  >> and I'm sure a lot of industries are
• 52:45
  this way now but for sure in our
• 52:48
  industry those guys can go get a raise
• 52:51
  every one of my boys get raised they
• 52:53
  could go somewhere
• 52:54
  >> especially the cursor
• 52:56
  >> and maybe not a big raise And maybe it
• 52:58
  would sell for them, but
• 53:00
  >> they could go make more B.
• 53:01
  >> Y
• 53:01
  >> So you can't like treat them like
• 53:04
  >> I didn't you got to treat them well get
• 53:07
  to know him and
• 53:09
  >> listen to them, you know, and but that's
• 53:12
  what was not happening. sort of all
• 53:14
  those guys wouldn't come back and uh
• 53:17
  which that kind of goes back to our
• 53:18
  culture that that kind of made me feel
• 53:20
  like you know and then I think yeah
• 53:23
  >> 25 30 people want to come back work for
• 53:26
  these sold business.
• 53:28
  >> Sure.
• 53:28
  >> And then they also also wanted me some
• 53:31
  goodwill with my wife. So
• 53:33
  >> yeah I made her her friends too.
• 53:35
  >> She's like oh my god. And then uh so we
• 53:38
  got them all back and um the uh you know
• 53:43
  some of those people had one of the
• 53:45
  ladies she's like my sister was working
• 53:48
  with me at York International like that
• 53:50
  long got oh no kiss way yeah she'd been
• 53:52
  with me you know off and on a lot of
• 53:54
  these people flip me occasionally and
• 53:56
  then they come to light her and I give
• 53:58
  out a boomerang so every time somebody
• 53:59
  does that I I buy this little $10
• 54:02
  boomerang and sign it and glad to have
• 54:04
  your back and hand them a boomerang.
• 54:05
  That's classic. And uh anyway, so like
• 54:08
  there's a lot of those sort there's
• 54:09
  probably probably 40 people have
• 54:11
  boomerangs in our office, but the uh um
• 54:14
  the uh so they all came back and when
• 54:17
  they came back, you would not believe
• 54:19
  the cultural uplift when they came back
• 54:23
  because those guys had worked some place
• 54:24
  that wasn't so nice. Yeah. Oh, they came
• 54:27
  back. They wanted to go back and they're
• 54:29
  like, and I'm sure there's obviously not
• 54:31
  part of the conversation, but like
• 54:33
  >> it's not the greatest places out there.
• 54:35
  You other places are
• 54:37
  >> don't treat you like the way these guys
• 54:38
  treat you, you know, and make it was a
• 54:41
  good feeling. So, right now,
• 54:43
  >> um, that was what just happened in
• 54:44
  October of 25.
• 54:46
  >> But, uh, Wow.
• 54:47
  >> Yeah. Thanks. It's kind of like
• 54:49
  everybody's back, the band's back
• 54:50
  together, man. Back together.
• 54:51
  >> Everybody's back together. You get
• 54:53
  everybody back. Your wife's happy.
• 54:55
  >> Yeah. Yeah. I bought a lot of cash, but
• 54:56
  other
• 55:00
  guy got part of those. It wasn't one of
• 55:02
  those no-brainer business decisions
• 55:04
  except for the fact that, you know,
• 55:06
  those first several weeks I'm paying
• 55:08
  them all and there's not going to work
• 55:10
  yet. I was kind of like, oh, that hurt,
• 55:13
  you know, so that hurt. Well, the next
• 55:14
  paycheck like, oh, that hurt. Uh but uh
• 55:17
  but then you know they got work and your
• 55:20
  customers you know wanted to
• 55:22
  >> you know our customers most the good
• 55:24
  part is most of those customers were our
• 55:26
  customers before 19. Yeah.
• 55:28
  >> So it wasn't a big stretch to say you
• 55:30
  want to come back to 3G.
• 55:32
  >> Yeah.
• 55:32
  >> They were like yeah sure you know you
• 55:34
  guys treated us well. So that's like you
• 55:36
  know we have some it all worked out.
• 55:38
  >> That's awesome. All right. So before we
• 55:40
  get into what's fun you mentioned white
• 55:42
  and you mentioned your first kiddo. So
• 55:44
  tell me a little bit about the I I think
• 55:46
  uh you know one of the things that
• 55:48
  people talk about is that God gives you
• 55:50
  what you can handle. He did give me a
• 55:53
  lot of kids but he gave me good kids
• 55:55
  like miraculously.
• 55:57
  That's my wife deserves credit for the
• 55:58
  parenting way more than me. But the um
• 56:01
  uh they made good kids but we had five
• 56:04
  kids. So, mind you, back when I said I
• 56:07
  started the business, I had a
• 56:08
  five-month-old and one that had five
• 56:12
  months in the stomach. And uh then we
• 56:16
  went on to have five kids in five years.
• 56:18
  So, we had Kitty, we had girl, girl,
• 56:21
  girl, boy, girl, twins.
• 56:25
  So, they're they're about five years
• 56:26
  apart. And it was total utter chaos at
• 56:30
  the beginning. I mean, chaos. Uh I mean
• 56:34
  unbelievable amount of chaos those first
• 56:36
  few years but the uh
• 56:39
  you know I guess the kids are always
• 56:40
  pretty and we had Andrea my wife was
• 56:43
  great at parenting them and uh you know
• 56:47
  I was helping the business.
• 56:48
  >> Yeah. Right.
• 56:49
  >> Uh you know I didn't have to travel much
• 56:51
  so I was home on nights and weekends and
• 56:53
  they're just so good. But uh you know
• 56:56
  two one one graduated from Alabama one
• 56:58
  one graduated from Nor Eastern in Boston
• 57:01
  and it's about like you think the
• 57:02
  Alabama is more like me you know likes
• 57:04
  to have a good time a sorty girl you
• 57:07
  know tip and yuck you see on Instagram
• 57:08
  and the northeastern girl like worked
• 57:11
  most of the time through college and
• 57:13
  traveled the world and you know super
• 57:16
  businessminded
• 57:18
  but those two live together Nashville
• 57:20
  Tennessee so okay they're off on their
• 57:24
  and I got one in Miami, Ohio, a
• 57:25
  sophomore and two uh sack cathedral
• 57:29
  wardro Cathedral juniors. So that's
• 57:31
  awesome.
• 57:32
  >> Yeah, they're all, you know, nothing
• 57:35
  nothing. They're just great kids. Yeah,
• 57:38
  have fun together. Do a lot of family
• 57:40
  vacations. They still like to come hang
• 57:41
  out with mom and dad. You know, it's not
• 57:43
  that hard because mom and I have like
• 57:46
  that time. So, um you know, it's not
• 57:49
  like we're stuffy parents. Yeah, right.
• 57:51
  dates, you know, it's more like, you
• 57:53
  know, Andrew and I go to Bonnaroo almost
• 57:55
  every year for like a three or four day
• 57:57
  music festival that it's more like the
• 57:59
  kids are asking to come with us, you
• 58:00
  know, right?
• 58:02
  >> Not yet.
• 58:04
  >> Maybe
• 58:06
  we'll take her concerts, but not
• 58:09
  yet.
• 58:10
  >> Not yet. Maybe.
• 58:13
  >> Oh, man. But uh there so it's not like
• 58:16
  for we have
• 58:18
  >> Yeah, you should. I mean, at the end of
• 58:19
  the day, your kids will hang out with
• 58:21
  you. From a father of five to a father
• 58:23
  of five, there's not many of them.
• 58:24
  >> Yeah.
• 58:25
  >> And I've got good kids, too. Primarily,
• 58:27
  it's my wife. You've met me, so you'll
• 58:28
  say, "Hey, I uh but but so but outside
• 58:32
  of work having fun, you go to Bonnaroo
• 58:35
  doing things like that. What do you guys
• 58:36
  do for fun?" Yeah, we you know, we don't
• 58:38
  have like one specific vacation spot,
• 58:42
  you know. I mean, but we just like going
• 58:44
  traveling with friends. I mean, we do a
• 58:46
  lot of music festivals or music or
• 58:49
  concerts, a lot of that kind of stuff. A
• 58:50
  lot of, you know, last summer we took
• 58:54
  all of our kids to uh Italy and with 40
• 58:58
  plus other friends.
• 59:00
  >> We stayed home big compound for a
• 59:02
  buddy's 50th birthday party and uh I
• 59:05
  married my buddy as his birthday and his
• 59:08
  wedding. I was the the ordained
• 59:11
  minister. No, but if you guys know me,
• 59:13
  it's it's quite hilarious. Mark minister
• 59:17
  type, but um funny story related to that
• 59:20
  to give you some insight. Then uh
• 59:24
  bride and groomer are great for healing
• 59:26
  in the arc. But the uh bride asked me to
• 59:29
  marry him with my shirt off and I'm kind
• 59:31
  of known to take my shirt off. We're
• 59:33
  having a good time that you know at
• 59:35
  concerts and festivals I never got my
• 59:37
  shirt on. just goofing off, you know,
• 59:39
  just laughing like tell my wife God bods
• 59:41
  her in. She's like, "Really?" I'm like,
• 59:42
  "Yeah, take her in." But uh but then my
• 59:46
  wife said, "Absolutely no way." So, man,
• 59:48
  this is this is like an under. I had the
• 59:50
  bride says she wasn't sure off and my
• 59:52
  wife says she'll kill me. So, I think I
• 59:55
  threatened the deal pretty well where I
• 59:56
  married him, with my shirt on, but as
• 59:58
  soon as they said I do, I took my shirt
• 1:00:00
  off and then spent the rest of that with
• 1:00:02
  my shirt off and uh whatever they call
• 1:00:04
  that thing, the sage thing around you
• 1:00:06
  with, you know, crosses on. Oh, nice.
• 1:00:09
  And um Oh, and then all of our uh all of
• 1:00:12
  our kids were there. It was interesting
• 1:00:15
  story. the uh so there's like 50 of us
• 1:00:17
  there, you know, all partying in Italy
• 1:00:20
  and we told our kids like, "You got to
• 1:00:22
  get something for the pride girl. It's
• 1:00:24
  like four or five best friends." And uh
• 1:00:28
  the kids did they decided to do a flash
• 1:00:31
  mob and do the dance. So they
• 1:00:33
  choreographed an entire band. They put
• 1:00:35
  the bride and groom out in the middle of
• 1:00:37
  the is in the middle of this castle
• 1:00:39
  compound outdoor, but they put the bride
• 1:00:42
  and groom and and chairs and then they
• 1:00:45
  did this crazy choreograph dance all and
• 1:00:49
  then lifted them up on the chairs and
• 1:00:50
  and did like a big everybody followed
• 1:00:53
  them around the courtyard dancing and
• 1:00:57
  you know just it was pretty cool moment
• 1:01:00
  for the catch because they uh you know
• 1:01:01
  they there was probably of the 50
• 1:01:04
  there's probably 15 teenagerish kids,
• 1:01:07
  you know, and uh because I had five of
• 1:01:09
  them, so most of them, but the uh you
• 1:01:12
  know, so they trained all the kids.
• 1:01:13
  >> Yeah. Yeah. So all the kids that dance,
• 1:01:16
  >> it was free fun.
• 1:01:17
  >> Oh man.
• 1:01:18
  >> I'll tell you, we could talk all day
• 1:01:20
  long. The story from town of 3000, you
• 1:01:24
  know, looking at 80 people in your high
• 1:01:26
  school class, going to Rose Hullman,
• 1:01:28
  playing basketball and football,
• 1:01:30
  traveling to Russia as a freshman,
• 1:01:32
  right? working through your career,
• 1:01:35
  starting behind the desk, then out
• 1:01:37
  sales, then run in service, you know,
• 1:01:39
  throwing your chips in multiple times
• 1:01:41
  when it comes to the business and having
• 1:01:43
  a couple of times where, you know,
• 1:01:45
  something didn't happen, you know, the
• 1:01:47
  business could have taken a turn. Man,
• 1:01:49
  your story is awesome. Thanks so much
• 1:01:51
  for sharing with me. Appreciate it. Next
• 1:01:53
  up,