Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Business of Machining - Episode 22
240 Plays8 years ago
Delivering Happiness: http://amzn.to/2sGeaO9 Grimsmo Pierson MPS Video: http://bit.ly/2slM8T6 "We've got to talk." The suspense is killing Grimsmo after receiving cryptic messages from Saunders during his Californian machine shop trip. Saunders and Grimsmo get honest about the current state of their businesses. Bootstrapping has its merits to a point but it can also inhibit your personal growth. If you don't let others build the ship, you'll never get to steer it! Being able to steer when the tides are changing is crucial. For the first time in 10 years, it's not John Saunders and the business; it's the business and John Saunders. While Grimsmo has been embracing more managerial practices, he feels that breaking the bootstrap barrier is far way but Saunders believes that now is the time. Saunders might have gone to California but Grimsmo gets a taste of Hollywood when he visits a prop-designer in PA with Carl from Lakeshore Carbide. Now that Saunders is back in the building, it's time to get caught up.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast
00:00:01
Speaker
Good morning, folks. Welcome to the business of machining. This is episode 22. My name is John. My name is John Grimsmo. How are you, bud? I'm doing awesome. How are you doing? I'm super pumped this morning.
Reflections on a California Trip
00:00:13
Speaker
Great and you know, it's funny because I got back from Literally, this is the first 10 minutes. I've been in the office for over a week. I was in California and There's a lot to do. There's a lot sitting on my desk lost sitting next to my desk and I'm not stressed It's it's I'm super glad to be home. It was all when I was leaving the last day of my trip I was thinking back to the first day of my trip and I was like, holy cow. That was a long trip nowadays
00:00:41
Speaker
But I'll tell ya, being in Cal, I hate to admit it because part of me doesn't want to endorse the craziness that is California about the lifestyle and the value systems and so forth. But I'll tell ya, being around smart people, hungry people, successful people, seeing that perspective is energizing and it gets me fired up. But I think it was a perfect timing, completely unintentional, but the perfect time trip because
Business Changes and Influences
00:01:09
Speaker
My business has changed so much in the last three or four months. And I seen how some of these people, really, there were two things. One, it was hanging out with Jay Pearson again. And second was a shop that I got to tour called S&H Machine, which is, you know, world class elite machine shop stuff. Really, really kicked me into gear. And that's what made me text you and say, we got to talk. But yeah, we got to be getting these cryptic texts from you throughout the week that I'm just like, you're going to tell me you're going to make me wait till the podcast.
00:01:39
Speaker
You know it wasn't even like that, but you know me like I'm not I loathe debt and I don't respect people that grow for the sake of growing and People that don't necessarily have a deliberate vision I like it when people say I want this and so that keeps me you know at this size or focus but
00:02:05
Speaker
You and I, and I wouldn't trade our stories for the world, I respect you so much for the hustle, and the hustle's gotten me to where I've gotten, and it's starting to actually, the tides are starting to turn for me, where I've taken on too much, but it's gotten to be where I am, and now I'm starting to roll that out to others, and that's what's cool, there's so much that's cool about this past week, one of which was that,
Team Roles and Responsibilities
00:02:29
Speaker
We had a big meeting here on Monday, which is weird. The first time I've ever had a meeting and Jared and Noah and Zach and Ed and Julie all came in and we all talked about what's going on, who's helping who. And Zach was actually, Zach's our high school summer intern. He was setting up jobs to run and Julie was filming them and Ed and Julie was working on and so forth. Really cool.
00:02:52
Speaker
But what it made me realize is, even though the hustle's awesome, you and I have been technicians, if you've read the E-Myth Revisited, we've been technicians for so long, and there's nothing proud about that. There's no pat yourself on the back, there's no, yay, I bootstrapped it, like I'm over it, you're over it. And I don't know how to tell you to make ends meet, because I know things are tight, for sure, but
00:03:21
Speaker
John Grims, you are doing yourself a disservice, you're doing your wife a disservice, you're doing the business a disservice, you're doing your customers a disservice, you're doing your future customers a disservice, because you can't do this anymore. You need to start and understand, this is, I was sort of thinking about it, like you have an income producing hobby.
00:03:39
Speaker
because it's just you. You need to turn it into a business. And here's the thing, you're the perfect person to do it. You have the skill sets, you've read the books, you've had the conversations, you have the vision, you have the capabilities, but you're not doing it. Yeah, I can't argue with any of that.
Insights on Business Models and Strategies
00:03:59
Speaker
Yeah, I saw the owner, so S&H Machine makes just, they have contracts with Boeing, with Grumman or whomever, I'm making these types of customers up, but you see parts that are going on fighter jets and on commercial airliners that are, you see racks of titanium that cost more than maybe everything in my shop combined.
00:04:22
Speaker
they actually publish it on their website that they do, I think it's like 15 or 16 million a year. In a shop that's not that much bigger than my shop, they have, I believe, a second facility as well, so that may be a quirk, but nevertheless, they're doing revenue of, if you do the math out, I don't know how many days they work, but 50 to 70 or $80,000 a day. Now, it's a multi-generational, been around for 30, 40 years.
00:04:48
Speaker
But I asked the owner, I was kind of joking, because he grew up in the business with his family. I was like, when was the last time you operated a machine? Thinking like, oh, there's kind of a point of pride. I was on the front line, so my troops respect me more, even though I'm the leader now. And he was like, oh, no. I ran the machines when I was a kid, but then I went to college for engineering. I am here to run this business.
00:05:14
Speaker
And when I start to think about what we're trying to do here, and I start to think about how much of it I should take on and spearhead myself,
00:05:21
Speaker
I'll be honest, and I try to be honest with myself, but I think one of the reasons I push honesty so much is that even I struggle with it, not in a deceitful manner, but because I think about, okay, I wanna roll out this. So one of the things I'm trying to focus on right now is learning Fusion 360, and how do we do better content beyond the Fusion Fridays? And I think, should I be the one recording these videos?
00:05:45
Speaker
And I think, okay, I'll do that and I try to get myself excited and I can kind of kid to myself that I can get excited about it. Or am I the better person to come up with the sort of the content and the direction of it, have somebody else record them, have somebody else edit them, and then I be the one that kind of curates them and rolls them out and is the public face and that all of a sudden gets me a lot more excited. It's not even that it gets me more excited, it's the right way to do it. That's a business. And that's a scalable business too.
00:06:15
Speaker
When S&H machine bids a job, they bid a job on a multi-year contract, you know, maybe five years or 10 years with known quantities, and then they hire for that job. They buy equipment for that job. Now that's extreme, I know, but again, it's this attitude. They don't have this, like, let's bootstrap it or shoehorn it in or, you know what I mean?
00:06:43
Speaker
Yeah, the whole scalability of business, not to grow for growth's sake, but to actually utilize everything we have, everything we've grown by delegating, basically, when you and I are so natured to do it ourselves. Like, I could do that. I could do that. Oh, that'd be fun. I'd figure that out. But you don't realize the actual cost of doing these things ourselves.
Importance of Delegation and Efficiency
00:07:08
Speaker
Right.
00:07:11
Speaker
Yeah, it's definitely something you're still either you or Eric or maybe Barry and very very Probably should should move on if once this structure gets in place unless you feel that you just unless you would rehire Barry Mm-hmm. I mean that was
00:07:30
Speaker
That was a, I know that the circumstances there were actually phenomenal and it may be a godsend, but that doesn't mean it should be status quo, right? Right, yeah, totally. And I do think of the next hire, how would he act, how would he be, how would I want him compared to what Eric is, compared to what Barry is.
00:07:49
Speaker
You know, what would I want out of the next few hires? So yeah, and you and it's good to think about it. Don't overthink it You need to get people in I'm again I'm a big fan of the internship sort of model because it keeps both parties the employee and the employer protected about is this a good legit a good fit I used to think fit was like
00:08:11
Speaker
a silly way of saying, you're not good enough or I don't like you, but to fit like matters. Are you excited about it? Are you the right energy? Are you the right work discipline? Because at the end of the day, it's John Grinsoff's company. It's not John Grinsoff, it's John Grinsoff's company in terms of you have to decide how to steer the ship. And it's seeing the business as something bigger than just yourself, which both you and I grew this as just ourselves.
00:08:41
Speaker
And I think you've cracked past that barrier of this is me and my business. Now it's my business and me, I guess. I think honestly, for the first time in 10 years, I will agree with that statement. And now that's not to say we're out of the woods. I think it's still fair here very early.
00:08:59
Speaker
but it's finally starting, you know, when I think about, I guess we could say we've done it with the TIG training program. It was a little bit of a de facto because I'm not a TIG welder, but you know, I have, actually it's not true. I'm still doing too much of that, but you know, we have other people that are good TIG welders that come in and instruct it. Other people put in the infrastructure, the welders setting up for it, the guy set up for the classes. Where I'm still doing too much is a little bit too much on the,
00:09:24
Speaker
setting up the classes and dealing with customers. But that's okay. I think the first step for you is
00:09:34
Speaker
And I should do this as well actually, now that I think about it, because I'm still doing, it's not that I'm doing too much, there's still things that when I allow other people to do them, it allows me to be more creative and energetic and have more clarity about what we're doing. But start going through the roles within the company at the sort of,
00:09:55
Speaker
all three levels, the technician, the operator, and the manager, whatever those tiers are from eMyth. I don't really care about the specific names. So right now it's you, Barry, and Eric, and you've all got responsibilities. I think the way they do this in the eMyth is they have primary and backup responsibilities. That way there isn't a lot of overlapping. But start writing all that stuff down.
00:10:22
Speaker
kind of like you did with the Jay Pearson boards on the garage and who is currently assigned to it, who's sort of the backup. That can help you better deal with the fact that all three of you are for both predictable and unpredictable reasons, not always able to come to work every day.
00:10:40
Speaker
So that can help there. But then more importantly, as you start to bring people in, it'll be more clear what's the right fit and what's the right priority to start pushing those responsibilities onto your new team members. And where the holes are too.
00:11:01
Speaker
I am absolutely taking on too much at any one time. And I think it'll be a while before I'm over that, but being able to delegate some of my tasks and responsibilities, which I know is completely possible, is going to free up a lot of mental RAM.
00:11:22
Speaker
Oh, yeah, that's exactly that's totally the right way to put it. And, you know, say the shipping is a good example, because it's what I went through. But you know, there's a shipping person right now, that's you or I don't know whoever's doing the shipping, but it'll make it more clear when someone comes on that that becomes there. And maybe you still become the backup for now.
Learning from Industry Visits
00:11:43
Speaker
What else did you glean from gallivanting around California and seeing all these amazing shops, like you saw Orange of Ice and War Pearson stuff? Yeah, it was the same thing. Seeing Orange, Eric who runs Orange and Jay Pearson who runs Pearson, were very similar. I think maybe that was
00:12:03
Speaker
Maybe that's what made this such a bold sort of thing to me is those people, well Jay has been a bootstrapper for sure. He grew his company from a garage shop and has sort of snowballed the profits of one machine into the next machine and then hired up, and I like that, I relate to that. That's who I am as a person. Eric at Orange Advice, I don't know the details,
00:12:29
Speaker
But I know the equipment that he's got in that shop, and that was much more of a, look, we're going for it. And he may be right. I don't want any of this to come off as the path he's taking is irresponsible. It's not my path. He's got two Maury horizontals. He's got a beautiful Maury lathe. He's got the world's most amazing Okamoto surface grinder. It is, the travels are,
00:12:57
Speaker
32 inches by 80 inches. I mean it's huge huge. He's got a Doosan 84 inch Vertical machining center, you know the summation of that equipment is well into the seven figures So that's a different model
00:13:14
Speaker
I think if you do that, you've got to have a clear vision of your product. You've got to have a lot of focus. You've got to be able to understand cash flow and budgeting to know how to make it all work. But again, so Eric's running machines for sure.
00:13:31
Speaker
But he's got a lot of help. He's got employees. That's what entrepreneurs do. I guess that's what I'm encouraging you and I to do is as you grow, it's not that you frankly work less. It's that you're able to just then keep hustling on the best stuff you need to be hustling on. And then that stuff gets pushed off as you grow a little. And it's also nice because Eric has to go to a trade show or something.
00:14:00
Speaker
The shop continues. Yes. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I think the goal for either one of us is not to remove ourselves completely and sit in the office and just push papers all day. I mean, you and I are such hands-on guys that, you know, the example of S&H Machine, you know, he touched machines when he was a kid, but that was never the goal after that. And we don't have the exact same story there, but
00:14:25
Speaker
from a cash flow production, running a business standpoint, we can't be the ones just doing that all the time.
00:14:36
Speaker
It was just very strange, it occurred to me, it occurred to me, and I should know this as an entrepreneur, as a person who went to college for entrepreneurship, if you, if I were to, I can't think of a good example, but off the top of my head, but let's say that there was an opportunity, a business opportunity in the machine industry that I thought I'd want to take advantage of, that
00:14:57
Speaker
the business plan, the way I would act on it now is I would literally sit down with the guys and I would hop into Fusion and we would start looking at the machining and the fixture and what the equipment that we've got and how to work that in. And the complete other approach is literally going to hire a full-time programmer or a full-time machinist. We're going to tool up with a new machine.
00:15:16
Speaker
and that's where it's gonna go, and I'm gonna have the consultant come in to help design the packaging, you know what I mean? Like, I'm gonna have my UPS rep come in and get us the right shipping rate, and all of a sudden, your job as an entrepreneur is not this in the weeds hustle, it's the hustle of putting a team together to do that, a team of people and a team of vendors and a team of resources. Then they talk to the bank.
00:15:43
Speaker
It feels so much beyond where I'm at. I understand and I know that's how big business runs, but that sounds distant. Does that make sense? Maybe it sounds a lot closer to you. Yeah, I know, I know. But Orange Vice, Pearson does a good job of this. When you get something from them, it looks like it came from a real company. I don't mean that in a derogatory manner that they aren't your real company. They're very much a real company. But it's a shop.
00:16:11
Speaker
their shop isn't that much bigger than yours, John. Yeah. And from a bootstrapper beginnings, I see what you mean exactly.
00:16:19
Speaker
Yeah, you act like a big company in a good way. The paperwork stuff, sure. I used to think that I could be this young ninja entrepreneur that could avoid the inevitables of paperwork and expense reports and all that. And I'm starting to realize, why are you fighting that? What are you trying to prove? There's reasons a lot of that stuff just has to happen. Yes.
00:16:44
Speaker
Yeah, I'm in the same boat exactly like all the accounting and management practices that I've been avoiding for so many years. I'm actually embracing them right now and it's clarifying everything. Even just the Pearson board that I put up on the wall, just laying it all out and understanding everything from a distance.
00:17:07
Speaker
There's another, I read the book on the flight home called Delivering Happiness by the founder of Zappos. Have you heard of this? I have heard of the book, yeah.
00:17:19
Speaker
Really good book and a much it was an easy read. I mean, I think I read the whole thing on the flight home, but So it's not an overtly it's not a book that's overtly designed to be an entrepreneurial lesson But it is and he says that he gives some really good examples about how he you know came to be and what they stood for and I've made some notes about why this is a good book or what I enjoy about it and one of these he talks about is why he
00:17:49
Speaker
why he went back into Zappos even after he had sold his company at age 26 to Microsoft for a total of $265 million. I think he got about $30 million or $40 million out of that. So he's in his mid-twenties and he's worth nine figures. I think most people think about that as a very attractive situation. And obviously, there are worse things to happen, for sure.
00:18:17
Speaker
I think when you hear from most people that are in that situation, and it's interesting, this was, I feel like, one of many excerpts I've seen like this, whether it's this or whether it's the people at Hollywood, and they ask for it, I guess you could say, but nevertheless, they say, you know, being rich and famous isn't as sexy and interesting as you might think. You kind of give up some normalcy to your life, and what's your purpose and point, or you're living in the public limelight. And so he was like, you know, what would I do? And he made this list of things that he would do and buy,
00:18:46
Speaker
Our next steps now that he had all this money and he can't you know, it's funny stuff It's like a new laptop a sound system or a theater a movie theater in my house Which is sure that's expensive, but that's a hundred grand not 30 million, you know, right, right and then also ultimately it was like I'd start a company back up again and he and I don't want to spoil too much of it because there's some better takeaways within the book to actually reading it but
Hypothetical Growth Scenarios
00:19:12
Speaker
Again, it's not to say that you should have sympathy for these people who are struggling, but when I think about, I think I asked you what you would do with half a million in terms of machinery for the equipment. Well, what would you do if you had 10 million in the bank? Sure, you would buy your house or pay off a mortgage, or maybe you'd buy a new car, some stuff like that. But really, that stuff is small potatoes.
00:19:38
Speaker
Assuming you don't go nuts and buy you know multi-million dollar homes Which I think I hope people that are entrepreneurs realize that that's not much doesn't do much for you in terms of happiness And for me I think about it, and it's just that you know we have a mortgage on the building that we're in and
00:19:54
Speaker
And I don't like that. I pay it or add it aggressively, but okay with it for now. But I would pay that off immediately. I would buy three machines this week. I would legit buy three more machining centers this week. I'd buy lathe, a high-end mill, and a drill tap machine, period. No doubt. I would wait on something like a fifth axis, because I've got a lot more to learn.
00:20:20
Speaker
And I would keep coming back to work. I seriously would. I would hire a full-time programmer and CAD person. I would probably try to find somebody who's a really good machinist to help teach me, you know, instead of it being me. But, you know, that's tough too because that person may not stick around and that's okay. You just got to realize what kind of folks
00:20:43
Speaker
It's a long conversation about do you hire people and train them up or do you hire people that are super high-end and
00:20:53
Speaker
I saw that when I went to scaled composites this week that builds, I mean literally rocket ships, like airplanes, like, you know, this modern day skunk works is a term I've heard thrown around a few times about scaled composites. And talked a lot with them about talent and retaining talent, attracting
Hiring and Team Building Philosophies
00:21:10
Speaker
talent. What point on the spectrum do you hire? How do you keep people there? They've got some quirks there in the Mojave Desert.
00:21:17
Speaker
So they're two hours from nowhere in Southern California, makes a town like Zanesville feel like a metropolis. So how do you get these incredibly sophisticated, talented people to work there and stay there, you know? I feel like I'm rambling, so I'm going to stop.
00:21:38
Speaker
No, that's absolutely good because as I think about hiring people, of course I'm over-analyzing it, but do I hire the wicked, crazy, awesome, experienced machinist, or do I hire the kid who's willing to learn anything and do whatever I ask? Oh, you absolutely hire the kid right now. Hire what?
00:22:02
Speaker
You absolutely hire somebody who is to be blunt who is young hungry willing to learn Relatively inexpensive because this is as much about that person as it is you you need to start learning how to interface as a company with somebody else and having them take our response you got to get comfortable with that you know I still the more
00:22:25
Speaker
I remember the more I treat this Saunders as a business and less as John's thing, the more I'm okay with this. But never like I have to look at Zach and say, I need you to do this. And it's, I apologize for that. That's, we all have jobs. You know, I wouldn't tell my employees to do anything I wouldn't do.
00:22:40
Speaker
Right. But it's a delegation, it's experience of delegation that you get with someone like that, right? Right. That clarifies it a lot, actually. You know, I've been battling back and forth. Do I hire a really good machinist or do I hire a kid that I teach everything to? And I like teaching, especially hands-on, and I want to be with somebody who's hungry.
00:23:06
Speaker
You don't even need a machinist right now. You need, because you're going to put down on your board, machinist, and that's going to be John's role for now, but a lot of what you have is already fully baked stuff, it's programs and fusion that are already good to go. True, very true.
00:23:26
Speaker
Sure, I would say if you could find somebody who's working in a makerspace who's used Fusion or who's run an x-car, that's gonna be better than somebody who's, you don't want somebody who just wants to do a really good job of maintaining the shop, you know, doing order fulfillment, go for stuff, run or stuff. You should have somebody who has a technical aptitude. But I still think that could be it, yeah.
00:23:52
Speaker
Yeah, and my argument against hiring a really great machinist is I don't need someone who's going to come in and run. Like I'm thinking Ken working at his new job, he can come in and do anything and he's a legit machinist at a place and he has massive responsibilities.
00:24:15
Speaker
I don't need that here. I need someone to run production. I need to teach them how to keep the machines running basically, but you know, I don't need somebody specifically who's coming in to do setups and program jobs and do all this stuff because it's all here. It's all set up already. Oh yeah. And you're not reinventing the wheel as like a job shop. I'd say I feel, I had a good time to catch up with Ken. I feel like, kind of feel like he's got a great gig. He loves it. He's crushing it. I just feel like,
00:24:46
Speaker
He's I almost I feel like he has even more potential though Just because you're still like he's at a shop that's running three shifts and so he's kind of dealing with the last person ship and the next person shift to work and then kind of confined stuff whereas I feel like if I find that person who's you know if I hire somebody who's As good as somebody like him you kind of want to just give them challenges and let them flourish let them you know thrive and
00:25:12
Speaker
Well and maybe long term you and I need to make situations to allow that to happen. Like I don't need that guy today but imagine in five years if I could hire someone like Ken or Rob Lockwood or whatever. Someone who is so advanced and could really bring huge value to the business and let them bring huge value to the business. Let them go nuts.
00:25:39
Speaker
I think that's awesome, I think you can and you will, but remember too, what's your business? Right now your business hasn't been in need of that. You have a relatively focused line of products and there may be some ways to improve processes and machine and so forth, but you're not this mass churn, you're not coming out with new products every month where you need to reinvent the wheel.
00:26:05
Speaker
Yeah, I just need young people with the right energy, the right attitude. I heard one of the Tim Ferriss podcasts was interviewing a knife maker, Murray Carter. Really good podcast. And I've heard of Murray before. He's like a Japanese bladesmith kind of.
00:26:23
Speaker
You know, went to Japan for 18 years to train how to make swords, basically. A fantastic guy. But when he hires people, he's got like 10 people now. And he hires for attitude and aptitude. Those are the two big things he looks for in people. You know, they gotta have the right attitude. Attitude and aptitude. Okay.
00:26:46
Speaker
You know, the right attitude, not too arrogant, not too cocky, humble, and the right aptitude, meaning you're willing to learn what needs to be learned, and you're hungry to be there. That's one of the things I like about guys like Rob Lockwood is what you just said there. They could be, but they're not even arrogant. They're not even dismissive of people that are lower level 66 instead of level 70. You know what I mean? Yeah.
00:27:14
Speaker
Scaled composites talked about that. Part of the interview process internally is how employees treat receptionists and others that they encounter throughout their visit to the facility. Are you nice to the receptionist? Are you pleasant? I've always been a huge believer. This is something that was at my first job, which is called the airport test, which is don't hire somebody that you're not willing to get stuck in an airport with for six hours.
00:27:45
Speaker
Scale composites is interesting. They'll hire the 4.0 MIT physics majors, super crazy rocket scientist people, but they will also hire someone who got a 2.7 GPA at a mediocre college who has also been building RC planes on their own in their garage for five years.
00:28:09
Speaker
And that may sound obvious on paper, but that's crazy. That's awesome. They look for the true passion that's shown over an ability to know how over just sheer standardized testing or academic performance.
00:28:29
Speaker
Yeah, that's a real company, looking for real people. It's funny, about a year ago, I was at McMaster University, because they had an open house for their machining program. And I was talking with the head of manufacturing, or the head of training, whatever, there. And I was talking to him about hiring people, and I'm like, I'm looking for the guy that's built his own 3D printer. And the kid standing next to him was like, yeah, I did that before I started coming here.
00:28:56
Speaker
And I was like, really? Yeah. Like that exists? I was kind of joking. Yeah. No, it's totally. Then the trickier part is, you know, again, a company like scale, everybody and their brother wants to work there. You know, that's the problem you're going to have, which is a good thing. So you've got to figure out a way to find people that have the right motive as well. Right.
00:29:17
Speaker
Now, what's your opinion of, obviously, local talent is preferable and really good because you're, I mean, the people are already local, you're supporting local economy, et cetera, et cetera. But what about pooling our audiences? I mean, we each have fairly substantial people listening to us that, you know, could theoretically jump at the opportunity to work with us, even move to do that. Wrong motives. No. Talk about it. Yeah.
00:29:47
Speaker
We've gotten a number of people that have said, name the date and I'll move to you. I just want to work for you. Those people don't know what they want by and large. That's too scary. You're moving somebody across the state or country.
00:30:03
Speaker
And that's not to say it might not work, but at this point, I'm not comfortable doing that. And I think if you knew it was the right person, you had a relationship with them, that would work. But if the whole conversation started around them just wanting to work, because remember when you're going to hire somebody young and a young person doesn't really know what they want to do. I'm not, I don't know, I'm just not a huge fan of it.
00:30:34
Speaker
So where would you recommend? I can see both sides and I'm firmly right in the middle. I was talking with a friend of mine who runs a very large 40 million dollar nutrition company like sports training.
00:30:53
Speaker
really cool guy and he's got a huge following as well like half a million people on his newsletter and he said whenever we put out a call out that we need trainers we need people to come work for us you know we'll have people leave training for the NFL to come work for us and he's like that's crazy but they're willing to do it like they want to do that.
00:31:14
Speaker
But that's different. When you're big enough that you've got a program and you've got a system and you've got proven, at this point, my business would still close if I got hit by a bus tomorrow. I don't have any doubts about being able to make payroll.
00:31:33
Speaker
but that could change. Proven businesses don't necessarily represent that risk and they've got systems, they've hired people before. Think of it this way. Think of what you're basically saying is somebody will come work for me because they idolize me or they think I'm their Michael Jordan. So that's what you gotta be wary of is you're finding you're gonna get the most reactions from people that are the most obsessed or fervent fans
00:32:01
Speaker
Those people aren't necessarily making the decisions on the right factors And it's going to be devastating for them and maybe for you if it doesn't work out you've got to be able to say after You know so what we do it is we have a two-week. I would recommend doing an internship period Just as a three-month thing summer thing whatever but even when we hire new people we have a two-week tryout clause which is
00:32:26
Speaker
which is serious. I've never once had to exercise it. We've only hired five to six people, but I'm not joking. If it doesn't work out long term, you're doing everyone a disservice by pretending that's not the case. Define the roles of an internship, like a three month. Just give me the rundown on that from your end.
00:32:52
Speaker
And we offer an internship in the summer to come work at our shop. We're running one right now for machining, and we're running one right now on Arduino and sort of DIY CNC stuff. And they have an employment agreement that they signed that limits the scope of work and the scope of time of that employment. And that's it.
00:33:17
Speaker
So after the three months or whatever the contract says, then it's see you later or it's an internship. It's an internship.
00:33:26
Speaker
Yeah, they're the both all three people that have been in or through it are in school. So it's a natural, you know, they've all been local. Again, I wouldn't, I would have to think long and hard about allowing somebody from, you know, from, you know, Seattle to come out here to do that. Unless they really understood that it was
00:33:51
Speaker
I wouldn't allow someone to move out if they think it was more than what it really is. You know what I mean? Right, right. Yeah, I get that. Yeah. Yeah, I guess at the moment I'm just, you know, full of thoughts and no action. So I'm just kind of seeing every side from, you know, trying to give weight to every possibility. But I'm definitely getting clearer and clearer with the direction that needs to be going in and the timing required.
00:34:20
Speaker
Yeah. And especially it is, it is summertime. You know, an internship is kind of the right time now. Yeah, totally. How was your week? What have you been up to?
00:34:35
Speaker
All kinds of stuff. On Friday I actually hung out with Carl from Lakeshore Carbide and him and I and one of his employees drove down to Pennsylvania and met with a prop designer for Hollywood.
Craftsmanship and System Implementation
00:34:47
Speaker
So this is the guy that is one of the premier prop designers around.
00:34:53
Speaker
we got to see a lot of in-progress work for stuff that's not gonna come out for another year or two but i mean he made uh... the phasers for star trek he made the blasters for star wars he made the swords and the guns for dead pool he's making x-men props so cool yeah he's he's making uh... props for the biggest actors in the biggest movies and uh... the one of the biggest takeaways was how
00:35:20
Speaker
real these things actually are. You think maybe it's just CGI or 3D printed or like a total toy, right? But no, he's starting with Desert Eagle 50 cal pistols. Really? But yeah, so they sent him this for modification and for dead pooling to make them super awesome for the show, for the movie.
00:35:43
Speaker
And it's his job to make them into blank shooting capable guns. So you put a little restrictor valve in the barrel. He had to explain it to me, because I'm not super aware of that. But basically, he does everything. He's got a CNC-converted bridge port machine, and he does pretty advanced machining, considering.
00:36:08
Speaker
And all the props are real and actually intricate. And he puts hundreds of hours into these things. And they give him these stupid deadlines of like, yeah, I need it in two weeks. Are you kidding me? So he'll be up for four days straight doing this stuff. So it was really fantastic. The work ethic and the creativity was very inspiring.
00:36:32
Speaker
And he knows Carl or uses their tools? Yeah, he started using their tools and would call with questions, especially during a tight deadline, you know, when he's breaking his second to last end mill. So he calls Carl for, you know, why is this happening? So yeah, the story came out and Carl asked if we wanted to come down and we filmed, like,
00:36:53
Speaker
a lot of footage. Oh, awesome. Yeah. Cool. And this is a guy that's never really opened up his shop before ever. So for us to be able to go down there and film his process and some of the stuff that's coming out, we're actually going to have to hold on to a lot of the footage until these movies are released next summer. Got it. So it was really cool. It was a great time. And then aside from that, in the shop, we're just crushing it with production, trying to stay on top of everything. Awesome.
00:37:21
Speaker
Yeah, I saw your video of you've got some new toys on your machine bed. You put your VAC on and you bought a Pierce? Yes, the new mini system. How's it working? I haven't actually set up the Pearson system yet, but I have a nice little hole in the back corner of the machine behind the VAC magic and can't wait to try it out. And I was confused, are you using the VAC magic as a vacuum or just as a hold down pallet? As a vacuum.
00:37:48
Speaker
Yeah, I've got this foam that I'm making our cases from that is working flawlessly. The foam is closed cell? It'll hold a vacuum? Correct, yeah. Gotcha, cool. Yeah, so I've been playing with all kinds of little projects here and there, but trying to grow and build and get everything done. Awesome, awesome. Yeah, so what are you up to this week?
00:38:15
Speaker
That's a good question. I got a pile of boxes and mail and bills to go through. Guys have been running the machines. I need to go check on where we're at on that. How does it feel to be gone for a week, but your shop is still running? You mean, does it feel amazing? Yes.
00:38:36
Speaker
And I got far fewer. That's what I'm saying, John. Like, it's not just hiring people. Literally, it's not just trying to throw money at labor. It's systems and processes. It's watching the quality control sheets that any reasonable person who spent any time in a shop can understand how to do. It's the Kanban cards or
00:38:57
Speaker
You know, and so instead of coming back, and I'm not doing this yet, so we're clear, but it's not so that I'm not coming back to a bunch of guys who are like, hey, I'm out of this, I need this, I need this. It's the, they've already populated a PO or maybe even place it themselves. You know what I mean? It's the beauty. You and I have an opportunity from effectively the ground up starting now.
00:39:17
Speaker
I'm not in any way criticizing either one of us for how we've gotten to where we are. What I'm saying is it's time to change. It's time to do this right. We know what's right. We know how to do it. We have the resources. Every time we do something that's right, like every time you do something like those Pearson garage boards, you're like, right now, if I offered you $1,000 to throw those away, would you take it? No, it's a game changer. And why did I wait so long to do this kind of stuff?
00:39:45
Speaker
Exactly and that's not the attitude. I'm not beating anybody up for say why'd you wait so long? I'm saying now is the time To have these things running. It's all I feel like just just like Jay has done for us and everybody else It's our job to share these wonderful things with everybody else and and explain the actual Benefit like like the mind clearing this of having this all in place Yep, and it all stacks up like Domino's man
00:40:11
Speaker
Yes. On that note, I should probably dive into my stuff. I will see you Friday. Sounds awesome. Take care. Bye.