Latest / The Slump Monkeys Concrete Podcast / 005 - Manny and MCC
Transcript
- paul: And welcome into the Slump Monkeys Concrete Podcast on our way to being the world's number one concrete podcast. I am your host, Paul Finley, and I am proud to say that we are presented by Command Alcon, celebrating 50 years of being flipping awesome, helping the concrete industry do what they need to do. First time I ever saw them, we're just batching concrete, normal stuff, kicking butt, taking names. Now they got clouds and AI, and they're running around trying to connect the whole world together so you can see your inventory, so you can communicate better with your partners, and at the end of the day, make better concrete with fewer headaches. Proud to have them as a title sponsor for the month of July. Believe this makes the last one, and they're going to continue on with us a little bit more going forward. And we are so thankful to have them. Speaking of being thankful. I'm also thankful that in this episode we're bringing back the so popular segment, conspiracy corner. And in order to do that, we have to bring in the chief conspiracy theorist himself, Josh Hare. Thank you for coming back, Josh. Josh: Pleasure to be here, man. Thanks for having me back. And I've been called a lot of things. That might be the coolest title I've ever earned. paul: Well, I mean, that's what you are in my life. So I don't know I don't know if it's official, but in my life, that's what you are. Yes. There you Josh: It's official now, my boy. paul: go, brother. There you go. Well, I gotta tell you, like, so far, first month of the podcast, if you ask me, what is the number one thing people have brought up like about the show? Was it my eloquent speech on how all the people that hate data centers are wrong, including you and your friends? Was it Josh: Yeah. paul: the interviews that I've had or anything they've said or anything interesting. No, none of that. It was all hey, that conspiracy segment was awesome. So here we are. We're doing it again. We gotta run it back. Josh: Alright, I'm happy to do so. As long as it gets us away from you talking about data centers every single episode, we'll we'll try something else today. paul: I I know there well there's no there's no data centers on the last episode, which as we're recording this hasn't come out yet. It comes out in a couple of days. no no data center talk in that one. we're gonna avoid it in this one, coming up and then we'll s we'll s I no promises after that though. It's just the world I'm living in you you had an interesting take on a world famous event. go ahead, launch us into this conspiracy and let's see see how far we can deep dive. Josh: I wish I did an Alex Jones impersonation as well as you do. But in this particular episode, we're doing the Titanic conspiracy. there's a part A, part B that kind of coincide with this conspiracy, but at the end of the day, if you don't like Rich bankers from the turn of the industrial revolution, you'll love this one because we're all about anti-JP Morgan and JP Morgan based conspiracies on this episode here. So the Titanic. Is connected to JP Morgan because he owned the parent company of the White Star Line, the company that made the Titanic, the Olympic, and the Britannic all around the same period there in the early 1900s. So there's two schools of thought here, they kind of work together. JP Morgan, in my conspiracy, JP Morgan orchestrated the sinking of the Titanic to eliminate business rivals that opposed the Federal Reserve. paul: my li my gosh. Bro, the eat the rich crowd they could never. Josh: I'm not necessarily in that crowd, but JP Morgan also was huge opposition to my boy Nikola Tesla that we talked about in the last conspiracy corner, and I'm a huge Nikola Tesla fan. So you know what? I think JP Morgan did it. I think he did it. paul: A parody parody allegedly allegedly Josh: I think that greedy dude did it and he collected the insurance money, which is not unlike other conspiracies we might be able to get into later in this series if Paul will let me. paul: my gosh, that's great. All right. So JP Morgan is connected to the people that built or owned the Titanic. And that they Josh: The the White Star Line is the company that built those three aforementioned ships, the parent company owned by JP Morgan. paul: All right, and they loaded it up they loaded up the Titanic specifically with a bunch of rich people and JP Morgan made sure ended up at the bottom of the ocean. All right. So how do how do how do we even get to this point that you have developed this conspiracy? Josh: The number one red flag is that JP Morgan was supposed to be on the Titanic. Alright? JP Morgan was supposed to be on the Titanic and he canceled very last minute. Within twenty four hours of the departure of the Titanic, JP Morgan said, Nah, I'm not feeling it today. This is after he had a private suite made with all of his customizations, had his own promenade deck. He even had like custom cigar holders in the bath like molded to his specifications. Like the entire suite was like handcrafted by JP Morgan's people. Like so He either wanted to be on the ship and then backed out last minute or he knew the whole entire time he was never getting on that boat. I don't know, you can make an argument either paul: to steal man your side of it, did he have his own like life raft? Like his own lifeboat? they have his name on one maybe? That would women and children first. Josh: Well, it's been well documented. No one had their own lifeboat. The lifeboats were were not necessarily a key part of the the Titanic's protocol here. but what's more important is that JP Morgan wasn't the only guy that canceled last minute. There were several prominent wealthy businessmen that ended up not getting on the Titanic, all of them were linked to the Rothschild family. And then obviously JP Morgan being the financier, businessman, banker of the Rothschilds. But there were three prominent businessmen who were on the ship that went down with the ship, and they were all detractors to the Federal Reserve System that JP Morgan was trying to implement in the U.S. at the time. One one guy's name, Benjamin Guggenheim. The Guggenheim family were a Mining family and Benjamin ran the family smelting organization for a long period of time before going off and basically creating his own. He was a huge detractor of the Federal Reserve. Then there was Isidore Strauss. He was made famous through the Titanic reenactment movies because his wife actually went down with Isidore in the ship. She refused to leave him. He made sure women and children got on the life rafts, and his body was actually there. I think both. of their bodies. Certainly Isidore's body was recovered when when they came and and rescued the people in the water. He had passed, but he was an American politician, a businessman, and he was also co-owner of the the popular Macy's department stores. and then the third gentleman who was also made popular from the movies and everything about Titanic was John Jacob Astor. Astor owned about forty percent of every American mortgage at the time of the sinking of the Titanic, John Jacob Astor was the richest man in America. paul: my gosh. Josh: Yeah, yeah. So those three guys primarily you know, they were all in agreement with one another to keep a central banking system out of the United States. JP Morgan and all his cronies got off the ship. Those three gentlemen stayed on the ship, went down with the ship. the ship sank in nineteen twelve and with all the opposition removed from creating a Federal Reserve, the Federal Reserve was then created in nineteen thirteen. So JP Morgan did it paul: If so facto Josh: Okay. paul: I mean, we're not gonna trust these facts and just look Josh: Yeah. paul: at it with clear eyes, fresh hearts. Josh: Yep, I wish I could do I could wish I I wish I could do a an Alex Jones that that well. But furthermore, furthermore, and if there's if there's one thing that every rich banker loves, it's insurance fraud. the second portion of this conspiracy was that Titanic had a sister ship, the Olympic, and also the Britannic. But the Olympic was heavily damaged a year maybe almost a year and a half before the Voyage of the Titanic. and the theory is that it was repaired to mirror the Titanic, then set sail, and when it sank, the White Star line, thus JP Morgan, collected a massive insurance pay payout on the Titanic. Whereas if the Olympic sank, there wouldn't have been near the insurance payout there. So the money he had gained from sinking the Olympic made to be shown as the Titanic. was a was a huge benefit to that is more popularly debunked or or that's where people like to go to say, you know, these conspiracies are nonsense because, you know, how many people are gonna keep quiet and how can you possibly take a ship that large and repaint it to look like the Titanic? Like there's still gonna be some differences, but there are differences. So when the wreckage was found in nineteen eighty five it was recorded then at the time that the hull of the ship was bent Yeah. paul: Mm. Josh: Where where the wreckage had taken place or where it supposedly hit the iceberg, that portion of the ship was the the hull of the ship was bent outwards, signifying paul: Mm-hmm. Josh: an explosion or some issue happening from the inside out rather than the outside in. right but when you discover the Titanic after you know more than 150 years you're just happy to find the Titanic and then that's when the movies were made and this issue gained a cult following paul: they couldn't keep people quiet, like like that's nonsense. 'Cause this is we're talking about nineteen twelve, not two thousand twelve. There was no Twitter. Like, what do you mean you can't keep people quiet? Of course you can. This was back when you know Upton Sinclair you know, wrote that all that stuff about Chicago, how the the the freaking babies are working in the meat factories. you think you know, it it it We didn't even know that was happening. You think we can't cover up the they swapped out the ships? Like get out Josh: hundred percent. I I think that's that like, you couldn't have had that many people keep a secret is probably one of the laziest arguments towards any conspiracy theory. paul: No, it's it's a horrible it's a horrible argument from nineteen twelve when you had like a guy I'm pro-capitalist. That's probably one of the few like anti-capitalist times where you're like, nah, you got a point, probably shouldn't probably shouldn't have children working in the meat factory. You think these guys didn't have a stranglehold in the shipyard? Are you joking me? Josh: and the final piece about the voyage meeting its demise before it ever set sail was there was also reported that there was a coal fire in the boiler room that had erupted and was burning at the time that they set sail. So that whole explosion thing in the hull of the boat, there was already a coal fire burning there in the ship that was reported before they ever set sail. So was the voyage doomed before before people ever left the port? Probably because JP Morgan did it. paul: Yeah, well the whole like the the the thing I love about the Titanic story is that it was marketed as the unsinkable ship. Josh: Right. What better way to get all the rich people on there, man? paul: What better way than and then to sink it? And so the unsinkable ship hits a block of ice and that's the end. There's no way. There's no way. So this this like I don't know about JP Morgan doing it, but that's why we're here is to discuss the fun stuff. But like the whole idea that like something else happened, absolutely. And if it was orchestrated by one of the wealthiest guys to ever exist, whose name still carries weight. in the banking business even today. Ooh. This is great. I love it. Josh: But that that's what I got man and that's also the extent of my conspiracy theories that that don't get too politically minded. So with the with the rule that you implemented that cuts me off at the knees, I'm gonna have to paul: Yeah. Josh: dig a little deeper for our third installment, but I'll find something cool. about I can't talk about the Bay of Pigs, I can't talk about Agent Orange, I can't I can't talk about the World Trade Center. paul: my favorite conspiracy theories. We have zero evidence and we just get to laugh, have a lot of fun. You brought a little bit more evidence today than what I'm even talking about. So it was a lot of fun. the reason we don't do politics on the show is because politics is freaking everywhere. me. Kills me. But if Josh: No, that that's why it touches every conspiracy theory, unfortunately. paul: but if we started doing political conspiracy theories, like this is gonna turn into the Mike Benn show and we're gonna be rolling three hours into USAID and how that was the most clever name ever created for any organization is they really are a color revolution organization. And look, Josh: Mm-hmm. paul: we can't we can't do that on this show. We can't do it to the great people in the concrete industry. maybe maybe one day we'll have the slump monkeys after dark and we can dive super deep into all that. You know, right. Josh: I get it. I get it. I respect it. paul: So here we've got JP Morgan, who was a hundred percent for the Fed, the creation of the Fed, gets rid of all of his adversaries in the sinking of the Titanic. helps when you own the parent company. And then he went on less than a year later to institutionalize Federal Reserve. Josh, thank you again for joining the Slump Monkeys Concrete podcast. It's been absolute blast educating the audience on the really important things and what they really need to know. Josh: Happy to do man. Pleasure as always. paul: Absolutely. Okay. Well that we are gonna jump into the interview portion of the show. Everyone, please welcome our guest as we say goodbye to Josh. Thank you, sir. We'll talk soon. And welcome into the interview portion of the Slump Monkeys Concrete Podcast. I have with us today the one, the only, the great and powerful Manny Tejano from Gorocketstart.com. Manny, thank you so much for jumping on here with us today. Manny: Absolutely. A pleasure to be here and Chelsea: . Manny: always good to chat with you, my friend. paul: Always. And what Manny did when I asked him to come on, he said, Well, can I bring some friends with me? Said, Well, any friend of Manny's is a friend of mine. Absolutely. And he brought with us today the wonderful people from Murphy Concrete Construction, MCC, Appleton, Wisconsin. We have the wonderful and lovely Chelsea Murphy. And we have the how would you describe yourself, Jason? Chelsea: man, that's a tough one. Put me on the spot. The beautiful bearded man. That's it. paul: And we have the grizzled veteran, Jason and thank you guys for joining along with Manny here. Chelsea, Manny tells me that your fourth generation, what's it like growing up as the daughter of concrete folks? I mean, that many generations back. That's pretty wild. Chelsea: Yeah, it's, I feel very honored, especially as we're about to celebrate our 100 year anniversary this year, knowing that my great grandpa started all this and it's just, I'm really proud. It's very close to my heart growing up around it. And now I get to be part of, I do marketing, so I get to be part of showing the rest of the world what we do in our community. It's exciting. paul: That so just so everybody knows, Chat GPT has this wonderful summary. I'm gonna read it verbatim, it's just so beautiful. That MCC is a fourth generation family owned construction materials company based in Appleton, Wisconsin. Celebrating one hundred years in business, MCC serves the ready mixed concrete, aggregates, asphalt, and construction industries throughout Wisconsin. Nearly four hundred employees. The company has built its reputation on quality, innovation. Environmental stewardship and a people first culture. Jason, that sounded about right. Chelsea: That does sound pretty accurate. OK, chat. paul: I know. So people like Chelsea and I who are running around trying to be marketing folks and I don't know I don't know. You could have locked me in a room all day. I don't think I could have wrote that about anybody. What do you Chelsea, do you see that sometimes when you're running around? Chelsea: Ugh, yeah, that's not ideal for our job quality. paul: I know. We just have to use the technology and don't tell anybody, Hey, I I came up with this on my own. The problem with using these AI chats though is they have a specific way of talking. So if you are used to like reading their responses and you go and read something that somebody else puts out claiming that it's their own, you can actually tell it's written by chat. Manny, you've you've seen that before, Rick. Manny: yeah, 100%. you know, it as good as it is, you know, AI slop is also very real too, right? So yeah. paul: Ooh, AI slop. Yes, yes, yes. Where it where it really makes me a better person, I I use it where it makes me a better better person, is I will write an email and I'll I'll Chelsea: I've done. Oops. paul: stare like how terribly written it is. And I'll copy and I'll throw it into chat. I'm like, please make this more professional for me. And it just spits out like the most beautiful email. Gosh, how come how come I don't know to say it like that the first time? Jason, are you using this to help you craft your emails or you're just too busy? You don't have time. You're just sending like one words from your phone. Chelsea: You know, it's a little bit of both. You can definitely tell the ones that are written by me and the ones that are by ChatGPT, but if there's something that's got to go out and sound a little bit more eloquent and written well, I'll ChatGPT it and then I'll put my own spin on it so it doesn't come off as the AI slop and it has the Midwestern... construction feel to it. paul: Do too. Yeah, absolutely. Anybody that does that, please edit it, read what it wrote, edit it. remove the dashes. If you don't want that, Google it. They're freaking horrible about that. They use words like delve that nobody uses in real life, and and AI loves those words. Anyway, getting back into concrete. I am interested. So when before we got on, Chelsea was telling us that she didn't didn't necessarily love Concrete construction coming right out of high school. She actually went and tried to do some other stuff and now she's back. what is it that drew you back to the company and wanted to help lead the marketing arm? Chelsea: Well, first of all, my family and parents always pushed me to do what I wanted to do. always wanted to make sure me and all my cousins and siblings did follow our passions and they didn't want to feel like we had pressure to work at the company. which I think is very respectful. But when it's such a great company, it's hard. A lot of us are back here. I think every one of my cousins has worked here for a time and I have currently two other cousins here. So I went in, I did acting. I've always liked performing and that kind of led to filmmaking and directing. coming back, my whole family lives here and... I miss them. So you get a little older and you start realizing you're missing things. And I wanted to come home and be around them. And it was kind of the perfect hybrid situation when they wanted to get into marketing and social media that I found. What a mesh of talents that I'm good at that and I'm passionate about this company. And it was a little serendipitous, I think. paul: That's fantastic. And a hundred years. Like that's that's crazy. And you know, one of the one of the things that came out of this beautiful little agenda was a fantastic question. Jason, I want hit you with it. If if someone from MCC in nineteen twenty six walked into one of today's plants, what would surprise them the most? Chelsea: Everything, everything. I think their heads would spin. You know, if you'd have told somebody in 1926 that you'd have something in your hand that you talk to someone across the world and see their face, you know, it would amaze them. And now, We've adapted all that into our plants. It's all computerized with the loading. There's AI systems tracking how efficient we are. Even just how much the plants have evolved being, know, hydraulically opened and not levers and pulleys to load the trucks and equipment. they would think they were in a different world because they pretty much are. paul: So you don't have any plants left that have the levers? Chelsea: No, but I do hear there are some companies out there that still do. I personally have never seen one, but if there's one out there, reach out to me and if you're in the Midwest, I'd love to come see it. paul: Well, I know I've seen them in the southeast for sure. I mean, you got these rural plants that I mean, they might be doing ten thousand, fifteen. They're like satellite plants doing ten thousand, fifteen thousand yards. There's no reason to fully upgrade it if you're only turning it on a couple times a year and just to help out with some big jobs or something. Just Chelsea: They do what they need to do, right? paul: you gotta do what you gotta do. But there's nothing like just grabbing that lever and you're like, one, two, three, whoa. You just that's how I mean that's how you're timing it up. That's how you're timing up. You know, I don't think any of those Plants are gonna be monitoring their drivers for happiness or whatever. So, for for those who don't already know, we we have Manny as one of our sponsors. Rocket Start's one of the sponsors of the show. Absolutely love what they're doing. And one of the reasons Manny's friends with MCC and they've come on here is because they actually use his product. And no, this show's never gonna be an infomercial for anybody. But I do find it interesting that some companies adopt technologies. that other companies don't. that always fascinates me. Why does somebody want to do something and somebody else doesn't? And in this case, they wanted to use Rocket Start to enhance employee engagement. And that's like one of the hobby horses I used to have was always show people recognition and respect. If you can show people recognition and respect, it goes I think it goes a long way toward holding people, improving morale, all this stuff. So that's one of that's why I love what what Manny's doing. So what I'd I'd actually like to know Jason, when you guys implemented Rocket Start, like were you thinking like what was the company thinking like, there's a labor shortage? I can't find enough drivers. We need to make sure they're happy. Was it like, hey, this is a different generation of folks, we got to connect with them in a different way? Like what was the main driver behind looking at a product like that? Like what was the mindset going in and thinking, you know, we need to, you know. improve the culture, beef up bolster the cul what what was it? I'm just fascinated by it. Chelsea: So I think you hit on a couple of the things. One, how do you set yourself apart and bring people to you? You know, what makes you different than the ready-made supplier down the street? We saw that having an incentive program with how Manny puts it, the gamification makes it interesting, makes it engaging for the employees was huge and it got them involved more and saying thank you. People want to feel appreciated. People want to be recognized. So the fact that you you have the leaderboard that you can see people strive to do a little bit better and it not only made our people push a little more but it made us better as a company being able to recognize the people that are out there. That's huge, you know, from 1926 until now, I think people have always wanted to feel appreciated and recognized and Rockin' Starts is a great tool to help us do that on the regular. paul: Ch Chelsea, when people are using whether it's this program or other software, do you see a generational divide? Like the old timers don't want to get on and the youngins seem like they were, you know, fish born in water with this stuff, or is it accepted across all demographics? How how is that for you and your role? What you see? Chelsea: There's definitely a generational divide. have, we have people that are, we have a variety of ages as employees here. paul: what a what a what a professional HR response that was. Chelsea: There was a couple years ago a of a, it was a bit of a situation when we switched over to iPads full time. they adapt and realize when they get the hang of things, it can be fun sometimes. And I know my first year. paul: The the iPads the iPads sorry, the iPads were for the drivers or they were for everyone? What Chelsea: for drivers. paul: what do the drivers use the iPads for? Chelsea: So we use it, we use our iPads, tablets for all sorts of things. Clocking in, tracking GPS to jobs, knowing where their tickets are, what they're going to be carrying on their truck. But Chelsea kind of hit it on the head. We've got a wide variety. We've got, I just had this conversation earlier today, we've got people who work for us who still don't have a cell phone. We've got people who use a flip phone. when we stepped over to more technology-wise, there was a little bit of pushback. But once they got comfortable with it, they love it, they see the benefits. Yeah, this is my third year here doing social media and marketing, and we have an annual safety meeting every winter, which is where we get to have everyone all in one place. And I do a presentation every year about social media. In the first year, no one was interested. But by last year, I had a lot of volunteers, and people were like, oh, now I see what you're doing, and it's cool, and I'm actually on Facebook now. It's a selfless plug for Chelsea. If you haven't gone, checked out some MCC's fun videos that she does or posts. They're awesome. She makes them fun. She comes up with some really good ideas and stars in a lot of them. I've been in a couple, but Manny: Yeah. Chelsea: we've actually gotten the guys and girls to buy in and, you know, they think it's fun to get to do it. And it makes it a little bit more enjoyable to work and be proud of where we were. Manny: I I'm gonna take a step further, guys. I think you guys are industry leaders in that. Like you guys have really fun, awesome, engaging Insta and Facebook. And I love your videos, love your content. that's a perfect way to engage people. not just, you know, people in our industry, just people, right? You know, get them eyes into what you do and I think it's really cool, fun stories and and way to really cool to celebrate what you're doing. So kudos to you guys. Yeah. Chelsea: People want to laugh on the internet. paul: If you're listening to the audio only version of this show, then you're missing out on Jason's epic beard. So if you could see how majestic this beard is, you would understand why he's the star of the show. And we're just we're blessed to have that beard on our program here. Chelsea: Mm-hmm. Manny: Yeah. paul: where can people find the MCC page? Are you is it Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn? Like what do they what do they need to go? Come on. If we're gonna talk about it, we gotta tell people where to find it. Chelsea: Yep, we're on LinkedIn. Instagram is MCCinkWI Wisconsin. We're on Facebook and we're on TikTok. paul: God, TikTok's a thing for concrete? It Chelsea: It is now. Manny: yeah. paul: is good good answer. yeah, see I'm I'm off the TikTok. I can't, you know, China one Joe Rogan rode the tem terms of service one time on his show and China like goes all in. So I can't I gotta I gotta avoid that. Manny: Yeah. Chelsea: Hey, if China needs concrete, we'll supply it. It might take a little while to get there Manny: Ha ha ha. Chelsea: though. The year that I met Manny actually at Concrete Works, I went around with a tiny mic and I asked everyone as a prank how they like working in the cement industry and just got everyone's like angry reactions and that video went pretty viral. Manny: Yes, I did. paul: that's great. Yeah, I okay. I wish I'd have seen that. That that's hilarious. So when you're coming up like with ideas for promoting the company and you're thinking about doing that with with marketing, are you thinking virality in mind? Are you thinking like trying to get different people? Like what's the process look like? We just to to like couch this for a second, w I know for a fact that like twelve percent of this audience for this show is in marketing and communications in some way. So twelve percent of the folks listening right now would love to know what is your formula like? How are you what's the process like when you're thinking about what to do next? Chelsea: I definitely use different platforms for different things. So TikTok is much more viral quality, silly things where LinkedIn I keep more professional and then Instagram and Facebook are like a hybrid. There's a balance to it. You know, we do both. do the fun stuff that, hopefully we go viral. People look at us and they say, hey, interesting, looks like a fun place to work or they're having a good time. But we also do the professional, you know, hey, posting for positions, you know, what makes you care about your industry. So it's a balance and we try to do a good amount of both. Yeah. paul: So when you're posting, like different posts might have different goals. it sounds like some are just to have fun, some are to make people interested to maybe wanna come work there. Like for this show, we do the same thing. We wanna have we have clips that we want to be fun. So people are like, that's interesting. They're having a good time over there and then some clips are like, okay, they actually are talking technical and they they may or Chelsea: Right. paul: may not know what they're talking about sometimes. That's Chelsea: Some are educational, some are just goofy, some are showing our project, showing off our team. paul: that's good. Hey do you have you found like Manny: Here's here's one of my favorite ones, Paul, if you don't mind me interjecting. one of my favorite ones was one of their drivers, Gary, won the Wisconsin the first you know, state rodeo competition that they had, the mixture rodeo. And he was training for the national competition, you know, being the first represent. So it was a very Rocky-esque training video montage that they did. And I just absolutely loved it. I think I shared it with like, Chelsea: you Manny: ten people immediately and I'm like, this is awesome. So like it's that it's that type of formula that that you know, something that's happened that they're celebrating and they have like a really funny, cool spin that I think, you know, people could really relate to. It's it's awesome stuff. Chelsea: You know, we go into this and I tell the people around me at work every day, I spend more time at work with the people here than I do my own family and friends. So we might as well enjoy it. So some of these videos are to, hey, let's have fun at work. Let's make other people enjoy it and hopefully get a laugh. But also, like Chelsea said, show off what we do. Because we do some amazing work and we're proud of it. So we get that balance of both. if we can mix in showing what we do and have fun doing it, that's kind of the goal. paul: That's good point that we spend more time with our workmates than we do our families a lot of times. That's tough. I just had to put not had to. We got to. I know. I I have a five month old. He just started daycare. And you know, he was here at the house like the first five months. You know, mama was home on leave and then we had family helping us for a little while until we got registered into daycare. It was kind of nice just like having him around the house when I'm here. I travel a lot when I'm here, at least I got to see him. Now I don't get to see him till like six thirty, seven at night. That's freaking bedtime for a baby by then. You know? That's I don't know. That's that's a little tough. You made me think about it. Now I'm now I'm in my feelings. So we're gonna have to move on. Chelsea: Well, congratulations on the little guy. paul: thanks, man. He he's awesome. It's my second one. I spaced him out a little too far. I have a ten year old and and a five month old. So it's fun. Chelsea: You've got a built-in babysitter. Sounds like it. paul: She wants to be. I d you know, it's just like how much how much like responsibility do you give a 10 year old for watching a tiny little baby? So right now she has to be seated on a couch or on the floor holding him, can't walk around anywhere or do nothing, but but she's great. One of the things that I'm interested in for him when he grows up is I'm curious to see like what his work ethic's gonna be. So I like to think I have a good work ethic. mentally sometimes I probably beat myself up thinking I should probably work harder. My wife's family, she's got a crazy good work ethic. Her brother, everybody also. But you hear people talk a lot of time saying this generation coming up doesn't actually want to work. That I I haven't seen that. I don't know for you guys when you're recruiting new people in and they're the younger generation, what what's that like? Are you able to retain that talent? Are you looking you finding hard workers, Jason? What do you what's it look like for you? Chelsea: You know, I would say it's we get good quality guys and girls that are younger. They're a little bit fewer and far between wanting to get into this industry. I think there's plenty of people out there who I wouldn't say they don't want to do the work. They want to do a different type of work or do a different angle. You know, I was just listening to Simon Sinek the other day and he was talking about how many more entrepreneurs there are now and If the situation's not right for them, they decide it's time to go a lot sooner than we would. know, the numbers of people who will leave a job without something else already lined up is more prevalent now than it used to be. The people we have come in though, they work. We're an industry where it is hard work and the guys and girls who come in, they want to work. Whether it's the right work for them, that's what we have to... help them figure out and help ourselves figure out. paul: Well that's what Jim Collins says. You mentioned Simon Sinek. Another guy in that kind of world is Jim Collins. And he says, Get the right people in on the company and then or he says it on the bus and then you can put in the right seat on the bus once you got on the bus. So what Chelsea: Yep, exactly. We've had people come and start in one area, decide that area of the company wasn't the right area, move to another area of the company, and flourish. you know, what's the, if you judge an elephant by its ability to climb a tree, you're judging it on the wrong thing, right? paul: Yeah, it's that was pretty good. there's there's like too many elephant metaphors though. We gotta we gotta find new animals. Chelsea: Goldfish? I mean if a goldfish can't climb a tree... Manny: Nice, nice. paul: God. My favorite elephant metaphor in the concrete space is from Jim Casilio. He's does the technical guy at the Pennsylvania Aggregates Concrete Association. And he says that our industry is full of inbred elephants, meaning we all know each other and nobody ever forgets anything. So the whole the whole point of that is like you don't screw anybody over. Always be honest and truthful. And if because the minute that you do anything untoward and or unethical, it's gonna spread because we all talk. And and we're never for gonna gonna forget that. For you so even twenty years from now you could be trying to do something different, but somebody's gonna remember that time you you messed them over. So so you gotta be careful. We're a bunch of inbred elephants. Chelsea: I like to, you know, I'm pretty fresh to this industry. I've been in it for five years now and I'm amazed at how large it is, but how small it is. We went on a trip to visit a company in Ohio and we're having a conversation with them like, you know XYZ? I'm like, Yeah, we supply them concrete all the time and you know, it's amazing. know, different companies that we work with, Manny from, know, South Carolina, right Manny? North Manny: North Carolina, but Chelsea: Carolina, you know, it's from there to meeting you Paul in Pennsylvania to, you know, we have connections in Canada. Everybody knows everybody. And you're right, you know, if you aren't treating people right and being ethical, it's going to come back to haunch you. not going to last. paul: Chelsea, when you're designing media content or you're thinking about the branding of your company, are you thinking about it nationally? Are you thinking about it Midwestern only? How did how does that come into play when you're designing content and branding? Chelsea: Yeah, there's not that much of a difference for when I think about Midwestern or nationally. guess I could, I mean, if I'm doing like a trope on Midwestern stuff, maybe, but the, it's really just family oriented and safety first. And it doesn't matter if that's the neighbors down the street or when we go to nationals and meet new friends, it's kind of all the same. paul: Well, I you're obviously people first employee f employ you first, and that's the reason you would work with somebody like like Manny. you know, we talked about communication and recognition is important. I I personally think that building relationships inside of your company with your employees is also important. I think you guys kinda touched on that with like social media. It took it took a couple of years to like really get in there and have people start buying in, but You know, when I see concrete companies being successful, it's when they're all driving toward the same mission. What's the goal? What's the company trying to do? And and MCC's obviously successful, but how do you do that if you're making concrete and asphalt? Jason, asphalt is the enemy and you have to separate yourself from that. I Chelsea, we're stopping all advertising for asphalt starting today. Manny: Yeah. Chelsea: We actually, one of the cool things about this company and I have a video coming out about a highway Z project soon that is an example of this is so many of the, we're not allowed to use the word division. We'd say areas just for that exact reason. So many of the areas of our company all use each other and work together. Like we pave a road and we're using the aggregate department's stone and we're using, sometimes a job will have concrete. I mean, you can probably explain it better. Yeah, we do a lot of crossovers. So we'll do big DOT projects and it'll be asphalt road, but the curb and gutters all concrete. And we're supplying that to one of our partners. Like Chelsea said, you know, the baselayers are aggregate. We have our trucking area. They're trucking our excavation. So for us, although, yeah, in another world, people would say, oh, yeah, it's concrete versus asphalt. And I use my cheesy line that everybody's heard. It's not your fault. It's asphalt. But really our company has grown in all of them. And the asphalt has a deep part in the Murphy family's heart. So, you know, it's one of the first things they started doing and we work together well. So when there's a job that calls for asphalt and we're not going, I can't bid that I'm concrete. I go, you know who can bid this? And I forward it onto them vice versa, you know. So we do a good job partnering and working together. but it definitely opens some challenges inside as well. paul: You you mentioned that you're five years in on this business. Where were you at before this? Chelsea: sales and people management for my whole career. Most recent before this was housing, siding, windows, roofing, sales. paul: So so when you come over, like what's the biggest thing that sticks out to you that's the same? like you came over and you're like, this is so similar to what I was doing. We're just in a different market. Was there a day or a moment that it hit you that you're like, my gosh, I absolutely have this? Chelsea: People are people no matter what industry you're in. And that's what I really realized, you know, with some of our area managers who are a little bit newer, they have their frustrations and, you know, I can talk them through it. I'm like, look, I understand that you're frustrated with this employee or this customer doing this or that. said, but this isn't just a concrete thing. This is a people thing. So for me, it was, you know, a lot of learning of the specifics of concrete. but the people are people, know. People, think, in any area want to be treated with respect. They want to feel appreciated. Employees want to be given a purpose and known that they're appreciated for doing it. So really, that's the biggest thing I noticed is, you know, it doesn't matter what industry you're in. People all want that same thing, you know. I don't care if you're in an office. You want to feel appreciated for what you do. don't... If you're selling cars, you want to be appreciated for what you do and respected. And it's the same thing in our industry. Back in the day, there was always the stories of, oh, a guy would pull you under your truck and scream and yell and throw a shovel at you. We've pushed, and I think the industry as a whole has gotten more and more away from that. And that helps because who wants that all day? paul: mean you gotta make them tough somehow. So I but but seriously Chelsea: Hahaha! paul: I I am glad you said all that because I I am a huge proponent of trying to get people into the industry. I graduated from like the CIM program at MTSU. So for years on the other podcast we had the Add Ten Gallen show would always talk about CIM and we'd have people on from the different universities trying to drum up interest because I wanted young kids to go in that business. I had I had some some some young guys that I knew they're like twenty years old that were busting their butts working two jobs like working in a kitchen at Olive Garden at night and working in a gym during the day. And I'm like, man, like you're working, you should be out there testing concrete. Like you would be the perfect person. You're gonna make twice as much money. And no, the job's not not easier, but at least you're putting in nine or ten hours in a day instead of, you know, twelve, thirteen, fourteen hours every single day. And they were just always so scared to like make that job like, I don't really know. Seems kind of crazy and tough. but like you just said, Jason, being able you you'll see that like the skills that you have naturally, you can transpose them into this market. And people will teach you they're less likely to we'll say throw shovels at you or less likely to do that today. Manny, do you see when companies are I'm swear to God, I'm not trying to make this an infomercial. I'm literally like curious. Manny, when you see people that are using Rocket Starter, any type of technology where the culture is important, is it is it easier for them to bring in people from outside the industry and and engage them and get them trained up? Is there anything that you're doing that helps with that? Manny: Yeah, absolutely. So at Rocket Start, you know, we're we're helping essentially with a topic of employee optimization. Okay. So that's a terminology that we use is about, you know, how do we engage, recruit, retain, you know, all of the different pieces. So, you know, I've been in industry since 2005. I've worked in, you know, another vertically integrated construction materials company for some for quite some time. So we're not as old as MCC have been around there. but my family business been almost around there 80 years or so too. So it's kind of funny because her dad says, you guys are babies, you know. So we we paul: Mm-hmm. Manny: thought we're pretty old with I can't compete with that, right? You know, so but it's pretty cool. But one thing I learned for my family business and in doing that is employees and this is one of my favorite Gallup statistics, right? Is employees who feel work has purpose for them. are four are five point six times more likely to be engaged in what they do. So for example, for in concrete, so it's like every school, every hospital, every bridge, every home, you know, that starts with someone driving a mixer, right? You know, and that's why what we want to do is we want to build that connection, okay, of that end product, of that finished work, of that fulfillment, that purpose. And we kind of go backwards from there, right? So, because engagement and going to work. feeling like you have purpose is very important. So so the cool thing is with Rocket Start is we say, hey, what are the goals that you guys, you know, have for your drivers? And can we put it in our app so that it's clear, right? It's, you know, here's our goals as far as targets for for loads, clean trucks, you know, all the things that we want to do and celebrate. And then we need to celebrate all those wins as they happen. So so they would get these instantaneous, you know, attaboys You know, we would tie in with integrations with their their systems like GPS or dispatch. And then we also allow for a lot of manual recognition. You know, hey, you went above and beyond today. you know, you loader called in sick and you helped out Chelsea: . Manny: the plant today. We appreciate it. and what that does is not only kind of build this really awesome goodwill and trust that, cool, like I'm getting recognized for going above and beyond, but now I'm gonna be like incentivized to do that again and repeat that and We talked earlier about like generations and things for that. you know, a question you brought, you know, they don't make them the same or things like that when people have been saying it's just, you know, when I look at millennial and Gen Z workers, they just have different incentives. And I think one of the biggest parts is show them that purpose and give them that meaning. And what I find or what I see throughout the, you know, doing this now for six years is when you kind of give them that will go room to to see and understand an engaged worker is gold, right? You know, because that's someone that's gonna stick around, that's gonna wanna work hard, work for you, be loyal. And those are the the the safest and the hardest working guys is the folks that are engaged. So so really what it comes down to is just engagement and and how to set them up for success and sell them to win. And those are some things that we, you know, really look at day in and day out at Rocketstar. paul: Does your stuff come as a separate app or is it like built into everything else? Manny: Yeah, so our stuff essentially you know as we're in the employee optimization business, Paul, like we're you know, we have our Rocket Start app. you know, we're gonna soon call it our platform. We're gonna call it Motivate. So so that's gonna be something you could download and use where you're gonna be able to see your your as a driver, as a worker, you know, here's my badges for every time I, you know, had a clean truck, every time I did a completed load. Every time a customer called and said you did a great job, we're gonna keep tabs on that and we're gonna give those badges so the workers can celebrate. We have leaderboards, you can look at your history, you can push notifications so you can notify your workers. Then we also have a platform that we're gonna call celebrate, which is gonna be able to look at all the workers and hey, I've cached in, you know, eight badges Chelsea: Okay. Manny: and it's worth a hundred points, right? So so now I'm gonna cache it into our storefront. So we use things like our partner's award co and we have things like Amazon, gift cards, you could choose between 150 gift card partners, and essentially you could use your points for things to buy and utilize. So so we have a really cool storefront way to do that. then the third thing is we call it our educate platform. So that's our outreach to education. so we have an LMS platform we've worked with called concrete quest. That's something that we're working right now with the TCA, which is the Tennessee Concrete Association. And we've essentially put it for 500 students to look at concrete careers, understand what it's all about. You know, concrete needs jobs in, you know, not just drivers, but we also need marketing and IT people too, right? You know, and and and folks like that. So we talk about all the different careers, the opportunities, and we get people engaged at a high school level. about the upside of careers in concrete construction. And then the fourth thing is collaborate. So that's going to be using our AI agent that we're going to be dealt developing here the next couple months. and we're going to be able to associate that with our products. So you could ask it questions and be able to, you know, kind of talk about the chat GPT, optimize your workforce. You can say, hey, we got a nightpour, you know, can can someone take this job for double points tonight? You know? last minute call or you know, here burnout in August is r is real thing, you know, with with the heat, the weather, you know, things like that. What can we do to counter it? And it'll give you some ideas like, well, maybe we could double the points in attendance or maybe we could do this. So I'm very happy to kind of bring technology to really kind of help with the the people part of it. And that's what we do we're excited to be doing, man. paul: That's awesome. You're gonna need to hire like ten people to do all those things. You said I hope you've the the Manny: We're working on it. paul: problem the problem is, man, you keep making friends at all these companies, you can't just go steal their people. So you know you gotta call you gotta call our guy Billy Ripple at command out con, the greatest IT guy in all of concrete. He'll he'll probably be able to hook you up with some IT people to to help you out. Chelsea, when you're in your job, Manny: It's also very true. They have awesome people though. paul: Are you s what other technologies are you seeing that are helping you or helping the company be better at what they're doing? Chelsea: I mean, I literally gave one of the drivers a disposable camera the other day and I was like, some pictures and give it back to me and I'll make a video about it. I mean, I'm not too high tech. We have drone. paul: That's great, Jason. Any any technology rolling through your place? 'Cause Manny is over here. He's all on top of the tech, man. Chelsea: It's more and more every day. You know, the world in general is using AI. We have batching systems that track and, you know, show where our inefficiencies are. You know, it's many programs that have an app for our drivers we use, and I don't want to use any company names because I don't know if you use them, but tracking systems, you know, we just had earlier, I had a meeting today for cameras in the trucks and how they can track and let us know when your services are due so it's not that manual trusting the driver to get their truck in when it needs maintenance, it's gonna relay, you know, and the ability of the cameras to tell us, you know, rolled through a stop sign, looking at their cell phone and just making things safer in general. It's not that we wanna be a big brother by any mean, but we wanna protect our drivers. from other people out there, because everybody's been on the highway and see how people drive. And it's like anything, know, the bigger one always is the one that was at fault and is in trouble. Yet those are usually the people who drive for a living and know to make sense. you know, every aspect nowadays is technology. I'm looking outside, we're doing a project here at our main corporate office. You know, they've got the GPS out there to make sure that the grading is going right. It's everything is technology now. paul: The Manny: Hey, one thing that MCC is they're they're very focused on technology. They actually built that their own in-house program that serves their asphalt and concrete aggregate division, right? So you know, I I think you know, that was an awesome product that you guys brought to market and something that you've you know used internally. but you know, talk about technology, they they're actually building it themselves. So kudos to these guys because it's pretty cool, pretty slick stuff as well. Chelsea: I will say this as somebody who's been with the company for a relatively short period of time in the hundred years is the ownership and leadership group here does a good job of being open to it and being early adapters. You know, not waiting on the back burner and being falling behind. We are trying to keep up with the times and they do a good job investing back into the company. in everything, new equipment, know, the latest and greatest features on those equipment. So it's a good thing to see that there's a reason they've been around for 100 years. They put back into it. That's a big part of my marketing plan this year to celebrate the 100 years. We're respecting and honoring and celebrating our history, but also being innovative and forward and not stuck in the past. That's how things continue to grow and evolve. So that's exciting. paul: That's one of the first things you learn in this business is you ask somebody like why do you do it that way? And the response is because that's the way we've always done it. What's the secret sauce there at MCC that allows you guys to keep it together when you're growing at such a big rate? Chelsea: I do think it's just still going back to so family oriented and people first. mean, my dad is going to hate me saying this, but he, my dad has hold stop signs for flaggers. Like he's out there with, he's not, you know, they're. It is it's, know, I think taking pride in what we do is a big part of it. And, you know, Chelsea's dad would probably be a little worked up on this one. But when I came in to sit down with this company before I ever started, I was sitting in the lobby in a chair and a guy walks by and he's got jeans and a high vis shirt on and work boots on. And I look and he seemed kind of important. And you know, it's the president of our company had just been out on a job site and he still does it. I two weeks ago we had a night poor and he was out there. 1 in the morning at our plant, you know supporting our people so I've been growing up that you know be willing to get your hands dirty if you expect your people to do it you should do it too and I think our leadership group has done that and Spent the time to invest back in people One of my favorite sayings. I don't care remember one of the audiobooks or books I read is you know when people come first the rest will follow and whether that's set out front, I don't know here, but that's how they do lead is we take care of our people and we do do care about them. So it goes a long ways. paul: I think everybody on this podcast today would agree that the strongest foundation of any company is its people. And as long Chelsea: 100%. paul: as we invest in them with the same intention that we do with our plants and our mixer trucks and everything else, then we'll continue to be stronger, not just as a company, but as an industry too. Chelsea: I 100 % agree with that. People ask, you were talking about it, how do you get the young people into it? I think that's one of the things that's changed is buying into the people and making sure that they can live a good quality life and really focusing on that. paul: I think the next time that we'll all be able to talk to each other is at Concrete Works. Did I hear that right? no Manny's going. MCC, Chelsea, Jason. Chelsea: We'll be there. We will be there. The driver competing. paul: you have another driver Manny: Awesome. paul: that made the rodeo. Chelsea: well, so the Wisconsin rodeo is actually the Saturday. Which we'll see. We've got three paul: nice. How many Chelsea: guys, three drivers that are competing in it. And, you know, everybody thinks that they're the best, but I have some confidence in our three drivers. It'll be there. They're a pretty quality, quality drivers. And, I think they're going to show people what it's about. And, we have. Pledge that. you know, whoever finishes top out of the three gets to go down to Nashville and experience that and show them their skills in front of all those folks. So another way that MCC has bought in and supported their people. paul: There's a chance people are listening to this and don't know what we're talking about. Could you explain what a driver rodeo is and exactly why there's a state level one and then there's a national one and what's involved? Chelsea: It's so funny to explain it because when I first found out what it was, was like, this is real. It's a skills competition. So like if you watch an all-star game in basketball and they got to shoot past drills, basically that's what the drivers are going through. So they'll go out and, you know, people won't necessarily see the relation of what they're doing to their skills, but it really comes down to it. So there's basically a slalom course where they drive them between cones with tennis balls on them. They have to not knock any off. There's a going in reverse and stopping on a mark and who gets the closest. There's a swinging your shoot over and not breaking an egg, but seeing who can get the closest. And then there's some other fun ones that kind of throw you a curve ball, you know, bowling. it's fun things that are done in an interesting, fun way, but it's really showing the skills of the drivers and. You know, families get to come out and watch people who don't get to see this and they really enjoy it. Wisconsin does a great one. It's at our local semi-pro baseball team and their parking lot. So people are coming out, there's events for the kids. They could see their parents doing these driving competitions that they don't get to see them do every day. And the drivers I've seen in it really take pride in it and they get to show off what they do. And then for us in Wisconsin afterwards, we get to go and watch a semi-pro baseball team and... maybe have a beverage or two and enjoy ourselves. So it's a great thing that gets to bring everybody in from the outside and see the cool stuff and show off their skills. paul: How how do you train to shoot a basketball with a concrete truck? Chelsea: I don't know if you really do. You spelt concrete 60 hours a week and I think that kind of gives you the one up. paul: so you guys are are already telling your own team like we'll sponsor you to go to nationals if if you win. or Chelsea: Yeah. paul: if they whoever the top of those three is. Is that how it works? So if you if you place in a state or maybe states run it differently, but in Wisconsin, if you place there, you automatically send to NR to the R N R MCA competition. Is that how it works? Chelsea: In Wisconsin, the first place is sponsored by WRNMCA, Wisconsin Ready Mix. And then I think anyone can... Anybody can sponsor their own drivers if they want to. then like Chelsea said, Wisconsin's Ready Mix Concrete Association, they send the number one, whoever wins the Wisconsin. Which was scary. Which was scary two years ago, the year that you guys met. And then he took third last year and got to go down again. And this year he is competing. You we said, you get to hold onto your crown, but we're going to put two, our drivers and, man, I can't remember how many are actually in it this year. There's a lot of drivers competing. So it's growing fast. It's. paul: That's that's great. When I when I was there, I so last year, not the Denver one, but the one after that. Thank you, Orlando. Chelsea: Florida, right? paul: And I actually went to the dinner, the the dinner and they recognized all the drivers. That was incredible. When they came Chelsea: Yeah. paul: in just rocking and rolling, hundreds of drivers all getting celebrated. I didn't get to see the skills competition last year because I was at our booth and doing some other stuff, but I wished I could have 'cause it's They showed the highlights of it. And I just don't the whole like not knocking over the egg thing, like that's d I don't know how anybody could possibly train for that or bowling or anything else. But it looked like an absolutely great time. And I would encourage if you're coming to the N RMCA and you have time, you're going to concrete works and you have the time, definitely check out the driver's skills competition because they do try to make it an event. It's not meant to be boring and stuffy. There's music and things for kids and it's meant to be fun. So I encourage everybody to go to that. I encourage everybody to go to Concrete Works. Look, this is not nobody's paying me to say this. I am telling you, that is the best show in the industry to me. There's a lot of people there that really know what they're talking about. You get to see so many people, and it's not like overly crowded, like World of Concrete. It's a little bit more intimate. And I just I absolutely love the show. So I look forward to seeing you guys there. is there Manny? Is it how can people reach out to you? when this show's over about to wrap up here, how can people find you when we leave here? Manny: Yeah, absolutely. Again, just appreciate the time and happy to introduce you to guys with you know, MCC. And I I've known them for, you know, over ten years now. they used to be a peer of mine and you know, used to, you know, talk back and forth about hey, what systems you're using, things like that. And now as I'm kind of going Chelsea: you you Manny: on this side of the journey, focusing on employee engagement and things like that. they've just been really awesome to work with. So again, happy to to to introduce these guys and and talk. today with you guys. But yeah, to find me, you could just look up Rocket Start. you know, we're you know, go rocketstart.com is our website. you could look at us in LinkedIn, we're also on Facebook, Instagram as well. but but yeah just love to have a conversation with you if you're a company or you're an HR professional, if you're a production that's just looking to figure out ways to gain an advantage of you know not only just keeping your employees engaged but also just techniques on, you know, how do I compete with Amazons and some other workforce out there and things like that. that's what we focus on and we use some technology and some pretty cool ways to do it. and been doing this since been in this business since 2005 when I graduated from the awesome University of Villanova. Sorry I had to plug that in there, Paul. but you probably didn't mind. but so this has been a really cool way that you know my journey has you know gone from you know working in construction and working in IT to now, you know, being in software and helping kind of consult and look at the next generation of workforce and bringing to light some of the stuff. So yeah, just again, thanks thanks again for opportunity and thank you, Chelsea and Jason for hopping on as well. Chelsea: Okay. Okay. paul: You you never have to apologize bringing up the cats. I don't I don't know, there's a a a degree frame, two of them on the floor over there. One's my wife, she's got the little bitty one, the big one's mine. that Manny: Nice. paul: to be fair, she bought it, not me. it was Manny: Ha ha. paul: it was a gift to finally put my my diploma in the Villanova frame. So never have to apologize for bringing them up. Manny: Yeah. Yeah. My my wife and I are also Villanova graduates, so w a hundred percent. Yeah, that's awesome, man. paul: Yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, w so it's funny, like when I went back to give my MBA and got accepted to all the schools and she's like it there was never a question. She's like, Why'd you even apply to all these other places? You're going to Villanova. End of the story. Chelsea, how can people find you in MCC? Chelsea: We're on all the socials MCC Inc or MCC Inc, WI for Wisconsin. got some follow us. We got some fun stuff. We do a lot of throwback old vintage equipment that people have been liking lately. So we're on all the socials. paul: Jason, final word is yours, brother. if people want to find find you or any last thoughts you have before we get out of here. Chelsea: You know, I just want to say thank you for having us on. It's great to talk to people who are passionate about the industry and you know, like you said, I don't want to make it an infomercial, but Manny's program has been awesome for us. It's made a difference and you know, we appreciate that partnership and being able to have that look from outside. So for me, I'm on LinkedIn, you know, the other social is just my name's Jason Enda. So I look forward to meeting you guys. Well, Paul, meeting you in person and Nashville and Manny, I'm sure we'll talk before then otherwise we'll see you down there and it'll be it'll be good to see each other in person paul: Yeah, that'll be great. Thank you guys so much, everyone, for listening. This is the latest episode of the Slump Monkeys Concrete Podcast. Hope you enjoyed it. Reach out to everyone. Let them know you loved hearing them on here. If you would like to reach out about sponsorship opportunities, there are just a couple left for this year. Email me at admin at slumpmonkeys.com. Follow the show on Apple, Spotify, or LinkedIn. And we will see you there. Thank you guys so much. Have a good day. Manny: Thank you.