Latest / The Elevator Careers Podcast / Elevator Industry Education and Collaboration | Michael Carter

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Elevator Industry Education and Collaboration | Michael Carter · The Elevator Careers Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Almost being an elevator guy and we're going to look at it.
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_01: It's all still kind of.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_01: So when the schooling comes in, that's going to be something that is going to grow over time.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_01: It's all about educating each other.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_01: That's how much hard it is.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: It's educating both the industry and the healthy elementary schools in public, right?
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_01: You make it relative from a young age.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_01: And it's an investment.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_01: It's going to cost money and time.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_01: But I really truly believe in that great thing.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_01: You know, if it's like hey, it's a real thing.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: Industry Equity.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: Your priority is AlPy.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: 404 9004.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: In this episode, I sat down with Michael Calder, a partner of MR Elevator in WebTecks.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: To discuss his career journey, Michael shared the process of learning empathy, resilience, self-investment, and leadership on his way from apprentice to business.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: We also discussed the importance of continuous learning and the positive impact that it can have both within the elevator industry and in our communities at large.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: Michael, welcome to the show.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, sir.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: Nice to be here, Matt.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: I I appreciate you being with me.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: I've always enjoyed talking to you.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: And uh it's kind of an exciting time.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: You've uh you've obviously made a a big change recently, and and so I just want to start right there.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: What what inspired you to uh to leave your job and start your own thing?
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: Really, you know, it starts back from the beginning, just following my heart on uh where I want to go with my career and how I want to uh cultivate my career throughout this industry, and there's opportunity and need, and you know, when I see it, uh, it's tough for me to turn a blind eye.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: I you know, I'd like to go right after it.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: So essentially it's following the dream.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, and you told me, you know, uh, you know, that that it starts from the beginning.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: Tell me a little bit about your beginning, right?
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: How did you get where you are?
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: What was that like, especially in the early days?
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: Well, uh definitely early days, uh, extremely early days.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, a month after I turned 18 years old, I ended up getting a call to join the IUEC Apprenticeship Program and you know, started my my career from there, man.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: And it was either that or the military.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: Signed up for both.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, just being a high school dropout, I needed to do something.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: I went and got my TV and I needed to put options on the table and fake uh aligned.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: What uh what were some of the hardest lessons that you learned?
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: Just kind of, I mean, it sounds like you were young and and not a whole lot of direction.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's like maybe military, maybe this, maybe not if neither of them work out.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: So I got to figure out something, but uh a lot of learning that that would have needed to happen.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm curious what about some of your your difficult learnings?
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: Well, the the difficult learning side of that is uh learning how to be accepted by professionals.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: And because, you know, that's what really opened my eyes uh to growing up as a young man and then stepping into the professional prestigious uh elevator industry.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: It's serious business.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: So one of the first things you have to learn is how important everything that you did, every step of the way throughout the day, where that's gonna lead to the next step.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, it's just uh so understanding the value and the importance of the role that you play, even as an apprentice, that that individual you're working with is uh trusting you with their life.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: And that becomes very real, very quick.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so very humbling uh to consider yourself a grown man when you're 18 and you're now understanding, you know, how real life is.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, absolutely.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, I mean you told me one time about um kind of a wake-up call as you were doing construction.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: What was that like for you and and what did that bring to you?
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, you know, everybody, you know, thrives in success, right?
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_01: And working in construction, you know, it's the first opportunity that I had to be a temporary mechanic.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I've obviously gone after it, enjoyed it for several years, but then when the 06, 07, 08 uh market hit, it really woke me up because all construction ceased.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: You know, people were getting pulled off of job sites, construction was just stopped, and it was pretty creepy.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um being able to experience that, what that really did was it opened my eyes and you know how vulnerable we are to other people.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, and so at that point in time I knew that I couldn't just depend on everybody else for my livelihood.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: I needed to start looking into myself.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_01: And instead of allowing myself to become a single trick pony or a specialist at one thing, I really started looking into broadening my mindset on that and trying to get exposure to things that I didn't I didn't have before.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: Was it scary to consider maybe, you know, jumping out and doing something a little different or or learning new skills or or leaving some of the safety that you'd found?
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_01: I I think equally each decision anybody makes in life, it's gonna have the fear factor to it.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: It's gonna play a role and it's how you react to it.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_01: Being a first generation individual coming into the elevator trade, I was gifted with the knowledge from a friend's uh dad.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_01: I just took it and ran with it.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, was it unknown?
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_01: But if you know what's behind you, it really doesn't matter what's in front of you.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, you're gonna learn lessons along the way, and it does have its challenges, and you have to embrace them and you gotta invest in yourself.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: Who were some of your big mentors, or or maybe one mentor in particular that you felt like really made an impact in those early days?
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I'm gonna be honest with you, the most impactful individual person.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it was it wasn't just so much about just working around him, it was just who he was as an individual and you know how he his perception of life was.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um his name was Justin King.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, I had the pleasure of working around that man for eight and a half years.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_01: You know, one of the things that really resonated with me is, you know, he would always, you know, come after me and put more on me and just challenge me and push me.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_01: And I finally, you know, get to that point and say, hey man, why are you always coming after me?
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_01: He broke it down to me very simply.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: And he said, I know you can handle it.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna challenge you and keep pushing you.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: And he said, You need to understand, stop comparing yourself to other people.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_01: You need to be the best person of yourself every day.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so that's what really uh inspired me to understand what the true meaning of empathy was and understand that there's no standard, right?
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: You set your own standards, and then if you're doing it right, you're gonna push that standard to get better.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: How did it feel to to know that he he essentially was believing in you more than you believed in yourself, right?
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: When he's pushing you, you're he may have felt like it was an attack, right?
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: What are you doing?
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: You picking on me?
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, No, I see so much more in you.
• 7:14
  unknown: Yeah.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: I was definitely my natural reaction to it, right, was very defensive and confrontational.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: Like, hey man, you know, something's about to happen.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: But you're taking the time and explaining it to me on a personal level, that personability of just human nature is everything, right?
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_01: Because just because I I have a perspective and I perceive something one way, if I wouldn't have asked something or just stayed silent and walked away and mumbled it up, right?
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I never would have learned that valuable lesson that helped inspire me to better myself from that day forward, to be perfectly honest with you.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, it sounds like it helped you kind of see yourself in a new light and own this piece that, hey, I can do more, right?
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: I don't need to sit back and settle for for halfway.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: I can I can really be more than I even thought.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: That that is absolutely right.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: And that's where it starts is believing in yourself.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, sometimes it's a conversation, a podcast, you may inspire other people.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_01: And it's not so much, oh, I agree with everything said, but what you can do is you can inspire the thought process and other people's from their perspective.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, I don't ever think about it.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_01: So that that's it's very important.
• 8:20
  unknown: Yeah.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and we all have our own gifts, right?
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not that, you know, any one person's doing doing exactly what I need to do.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: But if I look at them and say, that motivates me to be more of me, well then hey, it's a win.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: How do I become better?
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, and the best way to do it is learn from other people, man.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_01: Pay attention.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_01: You know, don't be so self-consumed where you can't learn anything because if you're doing that, you now you got a big problem, right?
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so always embrace change, embrace influence to a certain, you know, degree, and just kind of you know, bring it in and use it from your perspective to your advantage.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and you said learning from other people.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that can be good or bad, right?
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I imagine there were some people along your path that you're like, man, I am not gonna do that.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, lessons are lessons, um, whether it's a good positive influence of a lesson or it's seeing a you know a lesson learned from somebody else's mistakes.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, at the end of the day, I look at lessons, good news, bad news.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: I tell everybody this.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, at the end of the day, it's just news, folks.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, it's it's just being direct and honest with yourself and you know, knowing the situations and knowing for a fact what you don't want to do, and then figuring out the best way to avoid that along the travels.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: So mentioned a minute ago, you mentioned uh learning a little bit more about empathy, sharing empathy.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: Tell me more about that because uh at least from previous conversations, that wasn't something you came with by default.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'm curious, how did you mature in that way?
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_01: Well, the natural uh years of maturity has to take their effect in a young man.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: I think we uh we can all agree with that.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, over you know, cultivation of my age, I've also my experiences.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, with that empathy was really inspired by that conversation we just spoke of.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_01: I started trying to understand how am I going to be the best version of myself.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_01: Well, the only way to really do that is understand everybody that you're working with and dealing with and understanding what they're having to do and what you can do to make their life, their position, their job, regardless, what can you do to make it better for them?
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_01: And essentially, that helps the whole team.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I I am just driven on team, you know, I capitalize the letter T and everything with team because it is important, it deserves respect.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, and it all starts there with empathy, understanding who you're working with and trying to look at it through their perspective, right?
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't mean you got to agree with us.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: Like, okay, at least now I can do my job because I took the time to listen.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: I invested into this individual, into this relationship, and now I'm better for it.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, absolutely.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: Like you said, it it helps their life be better, their their you know, their work.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: And and part of what I'm hearing you say is you give them the benefit of the doubt.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember somebody teaching me that years ago that instead of blaming, you know, instead of uh judging, instead of pointing fingers, and and not that I'm perfect at it, right?
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: I still still have my my moments, right?
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: But if you give people the benefit of the doubt and go, you know what, you know, they're trying to do the right thing, they're just trying to get to work, they're just trying to, you know, um, instead of assuming that everybody on the road is is an idiot, right?
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: Give them the benefit of the doubt that they're they're just trying to do the best they can with what they got, life's a lot different.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, in removing it, you know, just putting yourself first, it also ties into great leadership.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_01: Leadership is it's 100% selfless.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you never put yourself first.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_01: If you want to be a true natural-born leader, the whole meaning of that is is put yourself in harm's way, protect the flock, right?
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_01: Be a shepherd in life and try to cultivate that uh where everybody else does that for each other.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's all about reciprocation.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I tell everybody, you know, culture, it's I could set out a memo all day long, but you know, cultures, what do you bring to work with you every day?
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_01: How are you responding to people?
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_01: How empathetic are you to other people's situations instead of saying, poor me, and this is your fault, all this stuff?
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, hey, how can I help you?
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, don't just set back complaint.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_01: Anyone can complain.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_01: My question to you is, what did you do to better that situation first and foremost before you come at me with complaints?
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_01: And it's just like, well, I didn't really think about it that way.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, go try it, and then let's collaborate and figure it out.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: Well, what's amazing about that is I think as individuals, we have so much more I shouldn't even say control.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: We can control ourselves by but but we have a lot more influence on situations if we would try and put our best best foot out there, right?
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: Well, did you try to talk with so-and-so?
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: Well, give it your best, and you'll probably solve it once you have that conversation.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and you know, it's the same thing, you know, with each, you know, each person we come in contact with, right?
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_01: You got to take ownership of who you are and what you're actually trying to do.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so if I do anything that I try to do really well, it's it's inspire uh people to believe in themselves.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um you do have the the power of your reaction to the situation, which is the limited control that we have in life, is how you react, right?
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so inspiring somebody with the confidence and you know, believing in themselves as somebody once did for me, it's just it's paying it forward.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, hey, think about it from this perspective.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: Think about this for one second, right?
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_01: Let's let's all just step back and read.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_01: And I try to not be reactionary to people's emotions, you know.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_01: And if you let your emotions dictate your actions, you're not gonna get very far because people are looking for good examples.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: They're not looking for everybody else just trying to step on you and move up.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_01: I always tell everybody it's like you've got to pick your team up above your head.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_01: And if you have the right team, they're gonna pull you up to that next level with them.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: Tell me a little bit more about you mentioned leadership, we talked about personal accountability.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: How did you really start learning about you know some of these, some of these principles that maybe they just didn't didn't come naturally?
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: And so you you obviously picked them up at some point, but what did you find most useful in in your journey?
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um honestly, listening, taking the time and asking questions and actually listening to people instead of just fishing for what you want to hear.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_01: What I wanted to hear was the truth.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, all honesty, you know, people kind of nicknamed me the the band-aid ripper too, because uh we're just gonna jump straight into it.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um let's talk about this figure out, right?
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna waste on anybody's time.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, you know, we have a problem, let's work together and let's be done with it.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_01: That's just the only way I look at it, man.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's just continuation of the same efforts, and you know, it's gonna get you where you need to be.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's amazing how far some honesty will go, right?
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, it can be hurt hurtful at first, right?
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: You rip the band-aid off and ooh, it's gonna sting, but once you do, it's like, wow, well, now we can actually address the problem.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: Great, let's fix it.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, let's focus on the real task at hand, right?
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: It's not how you feel about the news that just gave you.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, what are we going to collectively do to improve this process moving forward?
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_01: And let's hope that we use this lesson.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like I said, you know, failures and stuff, it's all about perspective.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_01: I I think everything is a success in life, depends on how you use it, right?
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, any of the failings that I've had, it's called earning your stripes and it's called getting better from it.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, as long as you don't make the same mistake twice, it was well worth your efforts.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_01: Mistakes are very valuable lessons and impressive.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and even if you do make it twice, well, maybe you needed a double dose of that, right?
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I can't say I've not made the same mistake twice.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_01: Don't be afraid to ask for help.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's the thing, too.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_01: It's yeah, we're only human, and everybody has their own limitations.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_01: You'd be surrounded by a lot more people that are a lot better at everything than me.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_01: But uh, you know, you put me on a team, I'm gonna figure out a way to make that team better.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna figure out where I fit in to do my part and get that team to the finish line.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_01: And again, it's not about the individuals on the team, it's about the team collectively.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_01: And that goes not just to the elevator industry, but to the world.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: If people would slow down and embrace each other and support each other, we're gonna have a better world to live in.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: So true.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: So true.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I love that.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: So what motivated you to uh take an office role and and kind of put yourself in a you know, take on more headache, right?
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's a it's a big jump to uh to move into the office.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_01: 100%.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: I always just try to tell myself, it's like, how do I get better at what do you know?
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_01: Again, um, I'll even admit, you know, you've got to do a self-reflection every so often um to realize how judgmental you're being of other people.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_01: When you're working in the field and you know, all this office does, they sit around and do that, right?
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, yeah, well, I'm out here making the company all the money, what's going on in the backgrounds?
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_01: All they're doing is going to parties and events and schmooze, and it's like, you know, you just get to see just a glimpse of it in the field perspective.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_01: So again, being a student, the game of life, um, you know, it's like, hey, you know what?
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like I got a pretty good grasp of all these other sections of the industry from, you know, apprenticeship work all the way through every department up to a mechanic in every department, OEM, independent.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_01: What am I missing?
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I did a QBI, consulting, state inspections.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, you know what?
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_01: It's time for me to take on that quote unquote easy role, um, you know, and get in there and figure it out.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_01: And I embraced it.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_01: And one of the main things I would contribute to my success throughout my career has been the people that I surround myself with.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, if you always treat people right, you're always gonna have good people around, you know, and nobody does anything in life by themselves successfully.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_01: If anybody wants to self-promote, do that good for them.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_01: This guy, um, you know, I I need people around me.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_01: I'm an extrovert.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_01: I got to work with other people.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I like to collaborate.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, I'm definitely a team contributor.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_01: I love working together.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, and that's uh in a nutshell.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: So from there, I mean, you you moved at some point to uh starting your own business, which talk about a leap of faith, right?
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: Leaping off a cliff.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: What uh what was it that kind of led you that direction?
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_01: Well, just my experience from throughout my career, and again, my surroundings, people I'm around, you know, and my brother, you know, he's always been a right-hand man in this industry.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_01: And we've we've fought some good fights, man, and uh we've had proven success uh track records.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_01: And so I, you know, we always kind of did the whole bar talk, yeah.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_01: I thought, man, we could do this someday, and all this stuff, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so it's always kind of been in the background.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_01: But the one thing that inspires it, probably more than anything, is again, I kind of you know alluded to this earlier.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_01: It's like when you when you see the punishment in the customer's face in an industry that you're representing as a whole, and understanding, you know, that there's great companies out there that support this as well.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_01: It's not just me or one other person.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of good companies out there trying to do the right thing.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_01: But what there is is a lot more elevators and a lot more problems than there are good people standing up for what's right.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_01: You know, so the extra push of motivation is like, hey, especially out in West Texas, you know, in particular, it's like, I'm gonna invest in this.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm gonna invest in myself once again.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna go, you know, out to West Texas and I'm gonna do what I can.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, am I gonna be successful?
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_01: Regardless of revenue you know generated, I know it's gonna be a success for myself, uh for my brother, but just mentally mentally earning that side of the industry, right?
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_01: And you can't do it.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: I've never actually been a full-fledged owner and operator.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_01: So it's another box I'm wanting to check.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: And the one thing about it, uh, the fail-safe of it, the beauty of the industry is you know what my ultimate fallback is, man?
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_01: I pick my union card back up, I go back and I work in the field again.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: You can always work in the field.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_01: Great safety net, a beautiful industry.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, the industry, the IEBC, that's what kind of gave me the confidence that hey, this is my ultimate fallback right here.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_01: Keep it clean, do everything right.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and you know, let's go for it.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_01: You know, uh, you know, you create your own safety net with investments in yourself.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, so it inspires you to be a part of the patient.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: For sure, for sure.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: So you you started a business years before.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: How was that experience, how has that experience prepared you to do it again?
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_01: To take lessons in stride, you know, instead of the most valuable thing I took from that is, you know, naturally, you know, when you invest in yourself like that and you spend, you know, a good chunk of money and it's what people deem a failure on, you know, we didn't actually get up off the ground.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_01: The most valuable thing I took from that is, you know, trying to understand that there's a lot more that I need to know.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um when you think you're ready, it's kind of like parenting, right?
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_01: Uh you can learn as much as as you want, read as many books as you can, but ultimately sometimes you just got to jump and go figure it out.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_01: So after that first one, it really kind of woke me up.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, hey, there's so much that I don't understand about this industry.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_01: Let me take this time and take a break from the field and let me go figure some things out.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_01: And I always kind of make a joke with people.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: I'm still trying to figure out who and what I want to do, you know, who I want to be and you know, what I want to do when I get all grown up.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and it's just like it it we're always growing, we're getting older, our perceptions change, reality you know, changes with your perception.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, just because I'm doing this today doesn't mean I'm just gonna do this tomorrow.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I'm always trying to grow, and you know, it starts there.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_01: And I took that lesson and I started doing other things.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_01: And now that I've checked other boxes, it's like, you know what, this is where my heart is.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, uh, yeah, this is how I'm structured, and I can't turn it off.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_01: I've always worked massive hours for every company I work for.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_01: I've always put them before my family, which I shouldn't have.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, that's how passionate I am about it.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so again, I better invest in myself at some point in time on that side of it while, you know, God will, I need to stay healthy long enough to be successful with it.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, that's awesome.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: And one thing I'm not hearing from you is is regret that you that you jumped out there and you tried it, right?
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: You took away a lesson.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: It might have been an expensive lesson, but you know what?
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: You learned it.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: You learned a lot, and uh it affected where you are today.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_01: 100%.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, you always, you know, and I read that I tell you I kind of read articles and I try to learn from other people's experience and perspectives.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, one of the ones that resonated with me over years is.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Like when somebody's on their deathbed, they're not sitting there talking about, oh, I shouldn't have taken this chance, I shouldn't have done this.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_01: Never in history has it been recorded that way.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_01: However, it could be there.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: But ultimately, the regret is not taking a chance, not believing in yourself, regret about what you should have done versus what you did do.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, and if if you're blessed enough to talk about it uh at the end of the day, you know, use it to your advantage.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and I hear you you talking about investing in yourself.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_00: At some point you you picked up your QEI, you did some consulting.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you you really have kind of worked in every single corner of this industry and and along the way, you know, picked up a lot of valuable knowledge and and and really giving yourself the tools, the knowledge to uh you talking about a safety net, right?
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_00: You could really write your ticket pretty much any direction, right?
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: You could go back into consulting, you could go back into, you know, working for the OEMs, you could pick it.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and you know, if if I'm 100% successful, you know, I aspire to be part of the positive change in the industry.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, I love consultants, they're there for a reason, right?
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_01: But why have consultants got so much more value, right?
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_01: It's because the industry allowed it to be a necessity part of it.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, so ultimately where my goals and dreams are, I don't want to say my safety fallback is going to be in consulting because you've got to be more hands-on to be part of the change.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you can sit around and talk about it and implement finds, not an occupant, but ultimately to follow my heart and believe it.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_01: I don't really want to look at consulting as a fallback ultimately, because either I'm going out there and I'm making a positive change with my hands in my wrenches, or I'm out there in leadership, leading by example and influencing other people to do the same thing.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, because if you really want change, you got to put your time and effort where it's most valuable.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, I I can advise all day long, but you know, it's a lot easier to get on the operational side and get out there and lead by example.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: So um let's talk for a minute about West Texas, right?
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: You you mentioned that a minute ago, and uh sounds like that's your your next stop.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_00: Tell me why West Texas?
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_00: What is it that appeals?
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_01: Well, um predominantly because nobody's done anything about it yet.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, I know in the past, years ago, um it had a lot of detention out there, but over the years, as ownership has changed to more institutional investments um instead of what I would call substance ownership of what we're actually doing here, um, you know, it's it's been let go.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um and just my natural reaction to it, it's like, you know what?
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_01: It's an opportunity.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_01: DFW um is a hot growing market.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_01: I read something the other day that 7.6 million people have moved here just since 2020, uh just in North Texas.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my god.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_01: So business is booming, and Texas is a beautiful state to work in, you know.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_01: You know, yeah, I could do business in DFW.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_01: I have all my connections throughout my career.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_01: I've never done anybody wrong.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_01: So I really don't have anything to worry about to do business in DFW, but so is uh, you know, five other uh 500 other companies.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_01: Uh everybody's wanting to go after the hot market.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_01: So more or less, it's like, you know, you can you can get in here and you can get your little piece of the pie and keep going and stuff like that.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_01: But ultimately it's gonna be price-driven market.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so when I started researching it a little bit more, you know, you look into West Texas and they they're still missing that value.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_01: They don't have all the companies running to them for their business and some you know get the envelope pushed.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_01: So ultimately, I look at that as a need, and I think that it it really aligns well and messes well with who we are, and it's it's what they need.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_01: And like I said again, when you talk to these folks, you could just see it pouring out in their eyes, their frustration because they'd have to answer for this stuff at the end of the day.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_01: And again, with the empathy, it's like, you know, us as vendors, you gotta understand somebody's trusting you and bringing you in under contract.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_01: You are now a reflection of them.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_01: If you take that lightly, that's not good, man.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_01: That's just that's not good business.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so you know, they really need people who care and want to invest their personal time into their situations, um, you know, and try to mutually come out of this on top.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_01: And I think it just aligns really well with who we are as uh individuals to get out there and give it a shot, man.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe someday we come back to the bigger market.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_01: But right now, we're needed elsewhere as well.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, I get that.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and then and you and you've talked about, you know, building an elevator school and and really investing in that community.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_00: Again, what motivates that?
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_00: Where does that come from?
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_01: So it starts out with I I'm very good on collaboration, and you know, I was blessed enough to travel the country, dealing with the IEBC, all the locals and stuff like that that I come across, great guys, and everybody wants to work together.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_01: Well, they also have their limitations on what they can do because ultimately the IEBC is a business at the end of the day, and business has to make sense, and there's a cost for it.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_01: Well, ultimately, if you pull out the map, you can understand that Texas is a pretty decent sized state from ear to ear, I mean, all the way across, and it's a tough area to cover.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so even collaborating uh, you know, with with certain locals and stuff, it's just it's not currently in the budget for them to invest that heavily in the market because it's a long-term play.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_01: So there's checks and balances that you know has to be answered for.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_01: So the best approach that I can do after you know uh consulting with these folks is unfortunately I gotta go on a non-signatory um and get out there and start cultivating labor.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_01: And what better way than to train them correctly?
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I'm gonna use all of our knowledge and all the years of experience to a positive factor.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and I know some union folks, oh, you shouldn't be doing that.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's like, guys, I'm all about making industry a better place and a safer place.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_01: So I want to get out there.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_01: I know the right and the wrong ways to do things for the you know, the most part.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_01: And if I don't, I'll call somebody.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, and being able to do that and actually train people the correct way from the ground up, you know, you got you got clay to mold, right?
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_01: But then starting off with the schooling, you know, people that work with the company, it's like, hey, I'm gonna train you as part of you working here because you're gonna work with me.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_01: I'm about to trust you with my life.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna invest a lot of time in you and make sure we're all on the same page.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_01: You need to go home with them today to your family because that's why we do this, right?
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_01: We're not just doing this for fun.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_01: These are careers, they are rewarding careers, but you still need to go home the same way you come in, right?
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_01: A step further on that is even just, you know, where do you start, right?
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_01: Because you're not just who wants to be an elevator guy and everybody's gonna look at you.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_01: It's oil field country.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so where the schooling comes in that, that's gonna be something that is gonna grow over time, you know, and ultimately, you know, I'm gonna you know, I'm gonna get some uh fun coloring books with educational programs, and I'm gonna help you utilize my wife.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh she's you know, she's in the administration side, and you know, get her to preach for me and get me into these schools and stuff, and you know, you know, get with fire departments and you know, communicate with these folks locally as well because they're life safety as well.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, we can work together.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it doesn't always have to be spread apart.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_01: So it's all about educating each other.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_01: That's where my heart is, is educating folks, the industry, when just kind of helping people be better and you know, be in a better surrounding.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, even starting with elementary schools, giving them coloring books, right?
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_01: You make it relative from a young age, and it's an investment.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_01: It's gonna cost money and time, but I really truly believe in that.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_01: Even the small things like that, or throwing a county fair once a year on an annual basis to hey, thank you guys.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_01: You know, embrace it.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_01: Get the word out there.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, hey, elevator industry, it's a real thing.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's an awesome career.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_01: It's not all about pumping oil, guys.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, it's like, hey, this is a beautiful thing.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_01: And there's a lot of skilled workers that work in those industries.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_01: And that's been the biggest struggle from collaborating with IUBC is you know, we lose guys to the oil field all the time out there because, you know, they they make more money.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, in order to get in, it's like you're not going to make the big rich money over overnight.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's it's an investment and you've got to understand it.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_01: And what I want to do is I want to cultivate the opportunity and it'd be a household conversation, just like, hey, you're going to college, you're going to the military, you're going to the oil field.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I want the elevator industry to be part of that conversation because it is a very important industry.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, land didn't get created, buildings are going up.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_01: You know, all you're doing is adding floors going up.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, I don't think people are just going to want to start taking stairs on a regular basis.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, statistics show it's it's opposite of that.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, and you know, we need to invest in it now.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, that that's gonna be a booming market here in the near future.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_01: It's already going.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_01: You can drive out there and say there's changes coming, you can feel it.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, and I'm just gonna I want to be a tiffest beer, be on the front end of it, and see what I can do.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, if there's other companies out there that want to work together and collaborate, um, you know, I I'm not opposed to that.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, there's enough out there for everybody.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, let's work together, let's make it a better place, and uh, we're all gonna be successful and safe at the end of the day.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so true.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_00: So true.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_00: No, I love I love the vision, I love the passion.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_00: I love uh just your desire to to make the world better, make the industry better, make people better.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_00: And it's uh it's inspiring.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I appreciate you taking the time to talk with me today.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I certainly appreciate your time, and I mean you know, if you ever just want to nerd it out, man, you know, I I really do.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, this is this is what I breathe.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: So I love it.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_00: And I wish you the best as you uh as you pursue your dreams.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, Matt, I appreciate you.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_01: I hope everybody's being blessed out there, and uh, we'll see you next time.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to the Elevator Careers Podcast, sponsored by the Allred Group, a leader in elevator industry recruiting.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_00: Please visit our YouTube channel at Elevator Careers or check us out online at elevatorcareers.net.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_00: Please like and subscribe.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_00: And until next time, stay safe.