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Brian Richardson..a 40 year over night success
78 Plays3 days ago
From leaving his family business to creating his own. Brains Journey in the industry
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Transcript
Work Exhaustion and Dedication
00:00:03
Speaker
Well, I got up early, got a crew release. Sitting up, pulls and ropes, that's a lie for me. From a wedding to a fair, from the field to the town. the one you call you need a 10 up or down.
00:00:17
Speaker
We're back again under vinyl. Sorry, we had a little technical difficulties there, but ah we're going to get this thing going. Kyle, how you doing, buddy? um Pretty tired, Nate. I think we're day 26 or 27 in right now.
00:00:30
Speaker
six or twenty seven in a row right now The boss is just working us real hard. Told me I can't have a day off till it's done, but whatever. I'll take that up with him later. Hey, I understand that. We we just came off a big big job that we finally finished up, and my guys were about 27, 28 days straight as well, and and now everybody finally got day off. So I think everybody's happy, and we're on to the next one to do a little bit more suffering.
00:00:55
Speaker
I mean, without further ado, I guess we might as well just jump into it since he's beating and banging, and he's the boss that you're talking about. So today we got a good guest on here. We got Brian Richardson. Brian, how you doing, buddy?
00:01:05
Speaker
I'm great. Is the whining over of you two? Is that done for the day now? We can move on? well we will pitchch we will bitch until we die. I mean, that's what you old guys do, so we're just following in everybody's footsteps, you remember?
00:01:18
Speaker
So what podcast is it? What number is this that you've got me on? Is this 7, 8, 9? Yeah, it might be like 10. Well, just so you know, when you so guys started doing this, we had a little drinking contest here. Every time you nate you said, oh, gee, I would take a drink.
00:01:33
Speaker
So I've never made it to the end of one of your podcasts to see how they end, but... ah ah yeah I've enjoyed the first 10, I guess. Yeah, we're about 10 or 11. So we're about right.
00:01:44
Speaker
So I can just about guess you've been drunk every Tuesday then.
00:01:50
Speaker
But with that being said, I'm glad we finally got you on because between you and Mike Holland complaining about not being on in time and having everybody else on before y'all, we got to get
Brian's Tent Business Beginnings
00:01:59
Speaker
you in here. So Brian, tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got into this place.
00:02:04
Speaker
Yeah, once again, thanks for having me on guys. um So I grew up in a, Central Maine, as most of you know. And after I graduated from high school, i didn't quite know what I wanted to do. My dad had a couple of small grocery stores in town. So that kind of looked like that was going to be the future.
00:02:20
Speaker
And my two older brothers, when they were in college and high school, worked for a local tent company called Lewiston Auburn Tent and Awning Company. And they were based in Lewiston. And then they'd work for them the summertime. And then my brother Barry went to work for them full time.
00:02:34
Speaker
He would went to my dad and said, hey, you know, the grocery business in this size store is ah probably not going to be the future for him. I'd like to have him come join us at Lewis and Auburn Tentanani Company. And I did in 1980.
00:02:47
Speaker
And they traveled up and down the East Coast, the Mid-Atlantic doing fairs and festivals and dog shows. They put me right on the road, right off. That's what I did. i i did that for about eight or nine years.
00:02:58
Speaker
Met my wife at a fair that Lewis and Auburn was doing in New Jersey. but My brother Barry yeah said, you know, maybe it makes sense that we partner up on a product a yeah location in Maine. So I opened up in Plainsboro, New Jersey in 1986 as L&A tent rentals.
00:03:14
Speaker
And for a while, my eldest brother Davis, after he retired from the military, he started a company in the D.C. market called Sugar Plum Tents. And then my brother Barry, and still has to this day, Lewiston-Auburn Tent and Haunting Company in Lewiston.
00:03:28
Speaker
And then I opened this office in 1986 as L&A Tent Rental. So that's how we got here. Started out with one truck, a few tents, and some tents that they yeah let us borrow sub-rent in Maine.
00:03:44
Speaker
My first employee was a young man named Derek Hill, and he's still with us to this day. But for a while, it was my wife and my brother-in-law, my two brother-in-laws and their wives, and we were doing all the yeah work here.
00:03:56
Speaker
Like I said, I met Kyle's mother at a fair in Somerville, New Jersey. Every year I'd come down, she was like 19 years and her parents were like, stay away from her until she's 21. So when she turned 21, I took Kathleen out for a drink with her mother as a chaperone.
00:04:11
Speaker
We've been married ever since. So the synergy been very good to me. The state New Jersey has been very good to me, and I've had a pretty good time doing this. Well, okay. Let's go way back here. So the place where you met your wife, what was that festival?
00:04:24
Speaker
It was called the Somerset County 4-H Fair. And it's still going on. mike all my yeah Are you still doing that show? We're still doing it. We lost it for a few years.
00:04:35
Speaker
Another company, a few, 20 years. Another company did it for 20. And then I think we started doing it about five or six years ago. They yeah decided that they wanted to make a change. so What kind tense is it?
00:04:48
Speaker
Back then it was all blue and gold. The company colors for Lewis and Auburn were blue and gold and yellow and white. They made their own tents in Lewiston. it Much like Chattanooga, it was a tent and awning business.
00:04:59
Speaker
but They were making their own 40 wides, 60 wides. but Then they were using some 80 wides from Anchor, canvas 80 wides with quarter poles back then. What was your wife doing at the at the festival?
00:05:12
Speaker
Her dad was a fan manager, and she was a 4-H-er that would show her horses and stuff at the fair. so You better watch what you say, because people start doing the math. They might be a little confused here.
00:05:30
Speaker
You went through it so fast, but you guys met at the fair there, and then just hit it off. I proposed to her at the 4-H fair, too. That quickly? I literally proposed to her at the fair.
00:05:40
Speaker
Wow. Two or three years later. So, Oh, later. Okay. i was going to say, yeah. Okay. yeah okay right. So you guys met at the fair and then you decided you were going to up and move your roots and everything. Or did you guys try it for a little while?
Challenges in Starting a Tent Business
00:05:54
Speaker
I'd already moved out New Jersey.
00:05:56
Speaker
I'd already moved down here. I was living in Plainsboro, trying book as many jobs as I could for LNA. But Lewis and Auburn was still traveling and they still had a presence down here. So was also doing work for them. You know, anything to scrape by, man.
00:06:10
Speaker
It was some challenging times back then. So what was it like to start your own company at that at that time? It was pretty scary. It was nice that we had the support and the and access to inventory from my brother's company.
00:06:23
Speaker
But, you know, labor was a huge challenge and I didn't have any money to pay anybody. It was, oh man, we had one truck. How do you convince people to come work with you then? Oh, you beg, borrow, steal. It was just, I didn't steal.
00:06:38
Speaker
Yeah, I'd promise them ah everything. We were using temp agencies. it was mean It was, God, I wouldn't want to relive that. So are you feel like you're refacing then some of those issues then today that you faced when you first started?
00:06:52
Speaker
No, ah been really fortunate that the young guys we have here really picked the ball up and taken it. We're at a much better place now, obviously, Much stronger financially, inventory-wise, back of house much stronger. So, yeah, operationally, sales-wise, we're just in a totally different place.
00:07:12
Speaker
Well, Kyle makes it sound like he's what keeps this ball moving everything all the time. So I want to know what was like before, Kyle. think there's anybody at this company that doesn't think that it all revolves around them. Come on.
00:07:23
Speaker
well We all know it's faith. I want to know what it was like before Kyle. So how did you, what people did you put in the right places at the right times to make this thing succeed, to get where it is today so that Kyle could come in and help make the ball run?
00:07:36
Speaker
i was really fortunate. Actually, Steve Campbell, who most of people know in the industry, he's been with me. i'm I'm going to screw up the time, but probably at least 20 years. Um, he came here as a temp while he was still in college and, uh,
00:07:48
Speaker
He worked as hard as anybody to get this thing off the ground. And then obviously Greg Hamer had a lot of industry knowledge. He'd worked for cover of a couple of rental companies here in New Jersey. So he had a sales background. So both of them came in and really helped us thing.
00:08:03
Speaker
And obviously the installers that we've had over the years that we're still in contact with. Derek Hill, like I said, he's my the longest employee we have. And he's still here and still smiling and still making us laugh every day. So I've been really fortunate that the staff that we have, and then H2B has made a difference. you know Kyle introduced introduced us to foreign labor here a few years ago, and so that's made a huge difference in what we're able to take on, even though we're still going 27 days in a row.
00:08:31
Speaker
Right. So now you guys have brought in so much in what your customer base is. How did you decide where you were going to go and what you were going to do when you first started? Did you... just decide you were going to continue to chase fares or?
00:08:43
Speaker
Yeah, well, it was what I knew. And, uh, it was nice to have that backup that I could do that. And I've been a pole tent guy all my life. I had zero money to start out with.
00:08:54
Speaker
And I can remember going to Jim Ree and I think senior, Well, I went to Jim Rian Jr. at Eureka and said, hey, anything you can do here. i I reached out to a couple other larger tent providers and said, hey, I need some terms, you know, six months or whatever.
00:09:11
Speaker
And only one of them was able to do it. And I had good friends that worked for it. all the large manufacturers. And they were like, back then credit was different. They weren't really yeah lending it out, but but Eureka took a chance on us.
00:09:24
Speaker
And that's why we have such a huge inventory of Eureka is because of Jim Rian and his dad and the other people that Lauren Breck there obviously was my sales rep at Eureka. You know, they helped us grow our inventory rather quickly by extending us terms.
00:09:40
Speaker
Got it. And so then what was your biggest challenge that your business faced right off the jump that, You know, it's the hardest besides labor. Was there anything other than that? Yeah. Not having any money like and no work from October April.
00:09:55
Speaker
So you were just sitting around trying to figure out, you know, how you going to make payroll? How are you going to pay the rent? How are you going to make that truck payment, your insurance payment? Man, it was it was challenging.
00:10:07
Speaker
yes and And then going home and telling your wife, hey, by the way, I'm not taking a ah paycheck for, ah you know, two or three weeks. So you're going have to. We had I think our daughter had been born then and Kyle had been born.
00:10:20
Speaker
So, yeah, there was some challenging times. And how long did those challenging times really last? Well, I'll let you know when they end. i see i see some light in the tunnel, so hopefully it won't last much longer.
00:10:32
Speaker
Actually, as you know, when Steve and Kyle, the probably the last 10 or 15 years has much been easier. i wouldn I shouldn't say much easier, but easier than it was.
00:10:44
Speaker
In the old days, we had a truck. We had an air compressor in the back. We're hauling, you know, 100 feet of hose around. It's three guys to go put up 40 300. it's like crazy the stuff we used to do to get the steaks out we beat them with another steak to get them out of the ground there were no pullers there were no anything i don't know how we survived well i just went to pt today and i'm um still just young enough slash old enough to remember that and that's why i'm going to pt for my back today so i understand that i totally i can remember being at a fairgrounds in flem in uh freehold new jersey
00:11:19
Speaker
And there must have been, I don't know, 2000 stakes in the ground and they needed the canvas, the vinyl somewhere else. So they took the vinyl and left us there with like a hose to put water in and then beat it out with another hammer.
00:11:33
Speaker
Oh, yeah. good That was before the 10 ocks days. That's yeah those those are the glory days. The days you don't want to bring back, but no it was a little probably a little more easy going, though.
00:11:45
Speaker
Well, you didn't care. You didn't use drop cloths, Nate. You just drove down the center of the tent, threw everything out of the truck. it was Sometimes I think it was easier days. It was harder work, but like no one cared about quality.
00:11:58
Speaker
It was just put up what you got. Everybody cared about quality, but you just, you know, you couldn't make the time. Like dog shows were a huge part of the mid Atlantic and new England. You know, there'd be three or four dog shows a week and it'd be like a circuit.
00:12:11
Speaker
So you'd start, you'd set up the first one on a Wednesday. They'd have a show on Thursday while that show's going on. You'd go set up another one. Then you go back and take down the Thursday one and then move it. Oh, and then they usually culminate on Sunday with a huge show.
00:12:26
Speaker
And then you'd have to leave like an attendant and it only be three or four guys in the crew. So if you left an attendant, all of a sudden it's two of you. So then what made you want to make that switch then into the wedding industry and start doing weddings?
00:12:39
Speaker
Well, you know, i the price point was better. What you could get per square foot is better. You know, sometimes that work can be much more challenging because everyone's expectations are so much higher than, say, a fair or festival.
00:12:51
Speaker
But as an industry in general, I would say that the quality of work across the country, regardless of the event, is, you know, a hundred times better than it was 25 years ago.
Transition to the Wedding Industry
00:13:03
Speaker
Even a country fair now, you're seeing A and B quality stuff out there now. All the fairs and festivals we do, those tents could have been used for a wedding last year. You know, it's all white. there's We're not doing any more stripe stuff.
00:13:16
Speaker
So everyone's expectations in the industry has really gone higher. Which is then in turn why you probably switched to some structure stuff as well. So that was probably one of the, if I had to look back, I really should have got in structure earlier, obviously, because the price point was much less. But I don't know.
00:13:35
Speaker
i hope that pole tents will still be part of the future here in this country, because we've probably got one of the largest inventories of pole tents around. The most amount of different brands in one warehouse. ah Yeah. Well, we've had a couple acquisitions and, you know, and then I'll go to a show and whoever's selling that pole tent, they're friends of mine.
00:13:54
Speaker
yeah. You know, couple beers. Yeah. yeah they They all know they can get me. It's like, hey, you know, the show's special. Take that 10 down. Take it home with you. Right. Well, they know to get you at the bar around 10, 30, 11 o'clock at night. That's how they're going to get you to it.
00:14:09
Speaker
So how was the structure really introduced to your business then? So it's funny. When I worked for Los Alamos Tender Company way back when, they bought one of the first rotors. And they for ah for a venue. So I had been I'd seen him back in 1982 or 83 had put one up.
00:14:27
Speaker
But the price point for me, it was never I was never going to be able to do it. So it's only been since, you know, just right before COVID, we made the move. You know, and we can argue whether, ah you know, a hybrid is a structure or not, or if you're going to call it Keter 10.
00:14:41
Speaker
a structure. So i we did have some 40 and 50 wide slide in frames 10 years ago. So we've kind of been doing hybrid structure, I guess is what you can call it for a long time.
00:14:54
Speaker
Okay. And then have you introduced any technology besides going into structure that has really benefited your operations made it more efficient? Well, obviously the 10-Ox. It's funny because I knew we were going to go there.
00:15:06
Speaker
I've known Scott Woodruff for a long time. Scott was president of MATRA right before I came on their board. And man, I can remember him. Brian, you're going to have one, going have going have one And he kept saying, and I kept pushing him off, pushing him off, pushing up.
00:15:19
Speaker
And then finally, know, I pulled the trigger. It was a lot of money. You could buy, know, you could buy a 40 by 250 Poulton for what the cost of an ox was.
00:15:30
Speaker
But, you know, since then, there's just no way that we could do the work we're doing without them. You know, this it it would be physically impossible. You just could, it's going to sound awful, but no one no one would work like we did.
00:15:42
Speaker
Back then, I wouldn't do it again. There's just no way. We killed ourselves. It was crazy doing 100-wide pole tents with nothing but a hand truck and nuts. So so but what made you want to stick with it then? Because we didn't all just grow up and say, hey we want to be a tent guy, and we're going to stick it out. I mean, I think every other day we all think, what the hell are we doing here? And then there's some really good days that we're like, man, I love this. But then two days later, you're like, I hate it But we've all been here for, i mean, forever.
00:16:07
Speaker
And we're trying to bring more people into this. What makes you want to stay? Some of it is the relationships that I've made over the years. know, I've been doing this for 40 years, I think. I'd have to do the math. But the people I've met, whether it's through trade associations, I've been blessed that I've served on the board of all three.
00:16:24
Speaker
And some of my closest friends are people that I've met in this industry. And, you know, if I wasn't in it, you know, who am I going to hang out with? Who am I going to talk to? Who am I going to call? I mentioned my older brother, Davis, who founded Sugar Plum, and he passed away two years ago during COVID from ah cancer.
00:16:41
Speaker
But every Friday during busy season, it would be like eight o'clock at night. And one of us would call the other one to go to tell us how each other, how the week had been. and how we were doing and whose job we were working on.
00:16:54
Speaker
So I still continue that with people in the industry now that I still have calls on Friday night. Some people aren't in the party end of it. Some people are retired from the equipment part, but I still have those contacts because nobody, unless they've been through it, can understand the challenges that you're going on.
00:17:11
Speaker
And so on a Friday night, usually at eight o'clock when it's pouring rain, I'll call up somebody and say, you aren't going to believe this. what You won't believe what Kyle did this time. but That's probably an honest conversation too.
Industry Misconceptions and Future Vision
00:17:23
Speaker
ah So with that, what are some common misconceptions you think people have about the event industry? That it's an it's easy to make a buck. You know, it is capital intensive. I don't think anybody realizes. And you guys look at everything on social media.
00:17:37
Speaker
Hey, I'm buying my first 10. What should I buy? Who should I buy it from? i don't think they understand how capital intensive it is. The one that really gets me and I'm not picking on anybody is when people say, how should I price something? And people say, call your competitors.
00:17:54
Speaker
and base it on what your competitors charge. And that I always kind of fall off my chair going, man, that is the quickest way to be out of business I've ever heard seen in my life. Your overhead is totally different than what your competitors are.
00:18:08
Speaker
The competitor might be operating out of a barn. They might not have insurance. They might be paying their employees under the table. So that is one of the misconceptions is that it's easy to make a buck. It isn't.
00:18:19
Speaker
You know, it's taken me, you know, 40 years to become an overnight success. So <unk> overnight rock star. But I still I still like it. And, the you know, the young guys here.
00:18:29
Speaker
They make it worth coming in. They really do. and When I come in in the morning, everybody's smiling and laughing. boy The first 20 years, I don't think I smiled once. No, i don't I understand that. that's I have a lot of friends, and we've talked about this before, that are outside of the industry. and they just They see it, and it looks cool. you know Social media makes everything look great.
00:18:49
Speaker
But at the end of the day, they don't understand what the labor cost is. and Everybody wants to go into the industry, but nobody understands what the labor overhead is on everything. think that you could probably agree that that's probably one of the one of the biggest hardest things is how much we spend in labor yeah and we have this discussion usually on friday night around five o'clock we'll be just because the the past three weeks have just been insane here. And it's Kyle going, okay, I'd like to bring in 20 guys on Sunday and just throw them at this one project.
00:19:19
Speaker
And the back of my mind, I'm going to try to do the math. And you're like, you know what? If it's going to get the job done, let's just do it. We'll figure it out next time. You know, I'm one of those guys. I still go do pole tents. I don't take a tape measure, man. I'm pasting it off.
00:19:33
Speaker
I'm not squaring stuff. i What do you mean square out a pole tent? Are you kidding me? I love it. So I still kind of fly by the seat of my pants. And I'm sure Kyle loves that when his crew's out there and you're pasting it off and he's telling me he use a tape measure.
00:19:45
Speaker
He doesn't let me go out anymore. They they they go out and pre-stake before I show up. Nate, he'll show up to a structure job and you can just see the stress on his face. He's like, is that going to fall? He's like, I to get out of here. And they'll just disappear.
00:19:59
Speaker
Well, we were at Matt's for a moment. I think our first 60 wide East band we bought at Matra and the guys were taking it down after the show and somebody wasn't paying any attention. And a guy undid a cross cable, leg cable, right?
00:20:13
Speaker
And that thing was going to go. cor Brian Kordak was on the other side of the field. i think we were in Connecticut somewhere. And I heard him scream, don't take that out, just as the guy was getting ready to yank it.
00:20:25
Speaker
So he was paying attention, and I wasn't. Since then, I'm always really nervous. I am, but I shouldn't be. So I just turned my head and walked away. You should be, though, because, well, I mean, if you have a good crew, you shouldn't be. But I can tell you from experience, and I'm not going to tell you who it was or where it was.
00:20:41
Speaker
But what I will tell you is I have seen a guy, a temporary, at a job site that went over to an 18-meter by 50-meter and went and pulled the cables out of the first bay. And I've never seen the structure come down so fast in my life.
00:20:55
Speaker
And by the grace God, nobody got hurt. But i I've seen it. And so with that, yeah, I would agree with you that I get nervous about it. I still get nervous about it. The guys did a 40 meter by 40 meter the other day, and I just had to drive down to the gas station and get some water because I was sweating that out. that i mean it's it onces It looks sketchy even though they're being safe.
00:21:18
Speaker
Yeah. And then Kyle's got cranes coming in. We're flying it over a guy's house. And I'm going, wait minute. That guy's got a $10 million dollars house, and we're flying and beams in over it. What are we doing here?
00:21:29
Speaker
This is nuts. Well, that takes me and that's my next question. you know Everybody can see it. and Yeah. You can see that. Let's do that. That takes me my next question, though. How do you think the how have you seen the industry evolve over the last five to 10 years?
00:21:44
Speaker
ah you know, the quality of the product is it's 100 times better than it was. I don't know who it is. You know, there's people that say it was Doug Remsburg. Some of them say was someone else. Whoever put the first ratchet on a pole tent was a genius.
00:21:57
Speaker
You know, no more putting two half hitches on it and stepping it down and all that. So whoever did the first ratchet on a pole tent, you know, my hat's off to you. much better tensions. You're not worried about them They're not bagging water quality. The tension tent itself was a game changer for us. No more pole tents, no more, uh, quarter poles, no more eight poles and a hundred wide, you know?
00:22:20
Speaker
So that's where the industry is much safer. the It's a, and a much better product. And then how do you, how do you think that you guys have built such a strong team and such a physically demanding industry?
00:22:31
Speaker
You know, I'd like to say it's the culture and I believe it is. you You can throw as much money as you want at a problem that isn't necessarily going to fix it. You know, I think I've heard you guys talk about doesn't matter how much you're getting paid. If you hate it, you're going to do something else.
00:22:45
Speaker
You know, so if you can get through that, whatever that hell period is that we call. For us, it's May for us, May in the first two weeks. and june If you can get through there and then level it out for the rest of the year, you can have a good time. If your staff's having a good time, if they feel appreciated, if you remember them on their birthdays, you remember them on the holidays, when they feel part of it, I think that's ah that's the goal that you have.
00:23:10
Speaker
And then where do you see ah where do you see this industry heading in the next five, 10 years? Well, but but that's what we discuss every day. you know is i can remember telling manufacturers, that's silk cloth, te that thing's a fad, that's not going to last.
00:23:25
Speaker
And so the silk cloth is obviously not going anywhere. There are a couple of manufacturers that never jumped into it. just because they, like myself, thought that it wasn't going to last. And now everybody seems to be on the garden tent.
00:23:36
Speaker
You know, we have one in the inventory that we're putting up in a couple weeks here in July. So obviously you at Chattanooga, Nate, have a few different styles. So I think people are going to want more customization. They're going to want, I saw ah a white frame last week. You guys have been doing black frame for a while with clear tops. So I think people going to want more customization.
00:23:59
Speaker
So that's where I see it going. But do they have the budget? Well, that's always the question. But that's the problem. like I mean, you could you could take some chances and you can go buy this stuff and you can you can risk it. Or do you wait for that event to come in and then you buy it and do you charge full price or do you charge just enough to pay for pay for the labor and everything on it? And then you got it in your inventory.
00:24:19
Speaker
How do you guys go about that? Yeah, so for me, it's a challenge because, you know, our market is really pretty small. We're in Philadelphia to New York City, and that's about it for us.
00:24:31
Speaker
The majority of our work is probably within 30 miles of where I'm sitting right now in New Jersey. So obviously, if you're going to have a specialized tent, you've got to take that on the road to get it out enough times.
00:24:46
Speaker
ah I don't know that... ah The 30 mile radius of our facility here is where I'm going to be renting that garden tent six times a year. If that's the goal, I know it's more than two.
00:24:59
Speaker
And I'd like it to be 10, but we'll see. We'll have to take it on the road. So, you know, anybody else here wants to subreddit Garden 10? We've got it. Yep. Well, it's sitting in a semi. We'll send the whole semi right to you.
00:25:10
Speaker
Well, I going to be calling you because I've got to get some of some of those parts and pieces with some stuff we got coming up. So that's good to have. Looking back, what do you think that you would have done differently in your first couple of years of business?
00:25:21
Speaker
I think i I don't know what I would have done different. There wasn't any, there wasn't any real move for me to make. Cause you know, I didn't have the capital to, uh, really do anything. And no one was, like I said, was given terms at the time, man. I can remember I got the first, uh, bill from Eureka and I'm like, Holy smokes, how I going to pay this?
00:25:40
Speaker
But, um, I don't know. I think I probably would have gone into more frame tent than I did pole. But because, you know, I was really blessed that Lewis and Auburn had such a huge inventory of pole tents that I had access to.
00:25:53
Speaker
So I don't know. They, ah you know, they did some quirky stuff themselves. They would have all white tents with like a daisy floral pattern underneath that they manufactured up to a 40 by 80 one piece tent.
00:26:04
Speaker
So they were doing a lot of work in D.C. They were doing work up and down the East Coast. So I don't know. I might have traveled more. Would you do it again? yeah that's a good question.
00:26:15
Speaker
If you'd asked me that 10 years ago, ten years ago i probably would have said no. But now, yeah. There's part it. It's become part of my life. it's you know I came from a long line of volunteers. My dad volunteered. He ran a baseball program, ran a yeah booster club, and my mom volunteered.
00:26:34
Speaker
Everyone in my family, my brother started a football game to benefit the Shrine Hospitals. And I've been involved with, you know, every trade organization in our industry. ran a baseball league here and an education foundation.
00:26:46
Speaker
So just from the standpoint of I get a lot of fulfillment out of volunteering. So just for that reason, yeah, I'd stay in it, you know. Or I would i I'm happy that I stayed in it for those reasons.
00:27:00
Speaker
but friend But it really took you to get over that hump, right? Yeah, you got to get over that hump. Yeah. Yeah, you got to get over hump. where do you think the the hump is? I mean, what what do you what i mean is it is it just hiring the people below you? Is it, hey, you're making friends now in the industry and you enjoy it more?
00:27:15
Speaker
What is what is it to get to that hump and what gets over it? I think it's when you realize that maybe you don't need to take on a lot of debt to grow something.
00:27:26
Speaker
I was always adverse to debt. There were a couple times, you know, that I got in probably over my head looking back on it, but I was willing to take a chance.
00:27:36
Speaker
And that's what I see with a lot of young companies taking on a lot of debt. trying to maybe do too much too soon. But, you know, I like, I, if I was young, I'd probably be doing the same thing that when you get older, you're like, wait a minute, you know, I've got things I got to protect my yeah years of earning are rapidly coming to an end.
00:27:57
Speaker
Well, yeah, I would agree. The, Like, you know, being young and taking the chance and taking the risk is great and everything. But I mean, if you look at a lot of the older generation, you know, and just talking with everybody, it seems like they've created a lifestyle business, one, out of it.
00:28:13
Speaker
Or two, it feels like they've gone after some shiny things to really grow the business, but they've just kept growing the business and never took a time to like, You know, really let it just settle in and go, hey, OK, let's use what we got and let's settle in. Let's go after this and make some money.
00:28:28
Speaker
i mean, it seems like most of us in this industry, correct me if I'm wrong, if we got a need for something, we go spend the money and we buy it because we got to have it right here and we got to have it right now. And now we got it in our inventory, but now we either owe money on it, but we got it at least.
00:28:43
Speaker
I think that's great for the growth of your company, but how do you balance the growth of your company and then the debt that's, you know, that you're trying to get out of or keep out of without getting put in the back of the bus, you know, and somebody moving ahead of you in the industry, you know, and taking that business.
00:28:58
Speaker
As you know, we got one, uh, large client here in central New Jersey that we never say no to. And no matter what, whatever they want, we'll buy it because we've had a 30 year relationship with them.
00:29:11
Speaker
So no matter what, we don't want them looking elsewhere for something. but If they say, hey, we're looking for a golf cart. All right, we'll buy a golf cart. If they say, hey, we' we're looking to rent a 10-aux, an Avant, because they they refer to it as Avant, and our local Avant dealer was unresponsive to them, we'll rent them one of ours.
00:29:33
Speaker
you know that's We're going to do whatever it takes. And so we bought some stuff. There's some stuff on our shelves out there that probably have gone out one time. But we didn't want anybody else supplying it to them.
Inventory Management and Financial Advice
00:29:46
Speaker
Yeah.
00:29:46
Speaker
Right. So then is it just do you just let it collect rent inside your warehouse? you sell it? do you keep it? Do you stay in debt over it over one? i don't know where the I don't know where that lies. I feel like that's our industry as a whole is we can't say no because we're scared somebody else is going to take our business. So we're willing to go into debt over it.
00:30:04
Speaker
And then it's like, OK, now how do we get out? Well, it's funny. So being and involved with the ARA now, I deal with a lot of ah people who are the equipment rental business, which is totally different, man.
00:30:14
Speaker
It's all ah ROI driven. It's AI driven. They know exactly what their return is on every piece of equipment. You know, they know based on how many hours that piece of equipment is, whether they should get rid of it or not.
00:30:26
Speaker
And so when I talked to them and they're like, well, you know, how do you track your tents? And I said, well, you know, I don't. There's 27 pallets up there that we haven't brought down in six years. And they're just shaking their head. They, what you talking about? I'm like, well, no, I'm going to use that someday. I know that someone's looking for those 27, 16 by 16 high peak that are in blue and gold or, but or yellow and white.
00:30:49
Speaker
Someone's going to want those. So there's nothing that's totally different. There's nothing that makes me more mad than when I have to pull something down that we haven't used for a while. And because I know he gets the instant gratification, like told you should have kept that or when, yep.
00:31:03
Speaker
I always go back to the theory of, i mean, and I think that's every rental industry owner that has stuff just piled and you could call a hoarder. But I always go back to the thing of, if it's not paying you rent in five to 10 years, then you need to get rid of it.
00:31:16
Speaker
yeah So the question is, where do you get rid of it? So do you sell it? Do you sell it in your market? So all of a sudden you so you you sell somebody, you know, 10, 10 by 10s, and then you're competing with them at a local festival.
00:31:27
Speaker
Or I something up at main selling You can give them to the homeless. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I saw somebody was selling inventory and it said in their ad on Facebook, we'll sell anywhere in the country, but in Maine.
00:31:39
Speaker
So they wouldn't sell any of the used the equipment in their, in the home state. So I thought that might've been a good idea. And that makes sense. I mean, but, uh, you know, I, yeah, I just,
00:31:50
Speaker
Yeah, I feel like our industry, that that's never going to change in this industry, but it's not talked about enough. And I have heard that many times on the equipment rental side that those guys, they see a product and they don't care if it pays for itself in the first rental. Anytime if they see it as it's in the yard, and if it's in the yard, not collecting rent on it or not going out, then it's not doing its job and it's not being paid for like it should be, even though it's already been paid for, the, know, one job.
00:32:17
Speaker
Right. It is rental item. It's the same thing with the small equipment. Small equipment dealers who sell, you know, Kubotas and lawnmowers and all that stuff. Man, once that thing's floor plan is over, it's like, get that out of here.
00:32:29
Speaker
Get it out of here. Sell it. Do whatever you got to do. They're not like us. Yeah. But, I mean, you know, how do you approach pricing then, especially with rising costs and competitive markets like that?
00:32:40
Speaker
Yeah, it's a challenge. You know, we... I don't know that we've really nailed pricing. We've gotten so much better. We really have about figuring out how to do it and how to be much more profitable.
00:32:51
Speaker
We're better at it. Are we perfect at it? No. Are we striving to be? Yeah. So, you know, you still don't know until the job is back and back on the shelf, whether you really made money on it or not.
00:33:04
Speaker
You know, like we weren't planning on having 22 guys working, doing an install on Sunday. to knock out this project. So we'll see how this all shakes out when all those tents come back in a week and a half from now.
00:33:18
Speaker
So what's kind of your guys' business model as far as, you know, talking about needing new equipment and expanding? Do you just go by the needs of when somebody calls and says, we want this? Or how do you how do you know when it's time to invest in new equipment and expand it?
00:33:32
Speaker
So we probably invest more than we should. We like had this discussion three days ago on some we needed a few new ends. Now, we probably have 40 sets of 40 wide ends, but none of them are going to be right for this one project. We needed something new and pristine.
00:33:51
Speaker
Now, how we had 10 brand new mids on the shelf, I don't know, but we didn't have ends that would match it. So we're also saying, hey, are are we moving to become a structure company? then why are we investing in poll tents?
00:34:03
Speaker
but So it's a slow turn and it's an argument that, it's not an argument, but it's discussion we have every day here of how do you balance. He's leaving out intentional systems, sends out a hot list of shit they want to get rid of off their shelves.
00:34:18
Speaker
And that is Brian's kryptonite. He can't say no. Oh, he loves that. you can' and then You know, you might have two or three other listeners, you know, besides Intentional Systems. So now they're all going to start sending me their hot lists.
00:34:32
Speaker
Just throw money at the problem. Yeah. that So what advice would you give someone that's looking to start their own rental company as a business owner? I would call up the seven or eight tent manufacturers and go and meet them and develop a relationship with them. I have been blessed to really get to know a lot of the major manufacturers.
00:34:57
Speaker
And when there's an issue, which happens, you know, it happens, they will jump. I can remember Jimmy Rian jumping in his car at 11 o'clock at night because we had an issue with one of our first structures that we ever bought.
00:35:11
Speaker
And he drove down with mids, got here at like 1.30 in the morning, helped the guys put the mids in. i remember Steve Bellevue from Anchor doing the same thing.
00:35:23
Speaker
There's people that you just, you know, you can call at any time and say, hey, I'm in a jam. I need help here. And they are going to step up. Now, if you don't have a relationship or you only got a phone relationship with them, then might not necessarily do that.
00:35:38
Speaker
It's amazing how everybody in this industry, regardless of who they work for, really wants you to succeed. And I always tell them, you know, I use this, why why are you taking me out to dinner? Why is Eureka or Anchor or any of those guys or Fred, you know i love Fred.
00:35:52
Speaker
one of the most innovative guys the industry. Why are you taking me out to dinner? You got me. You should be taking out the guy who's buying his first 10. That's exactly what I was, we were talking about the other day is all these new companies that are coming about and everything.
00:36:04
Speaker
I mean, I think coming into this industry, I didn't really know a lot of these manufacturers and it took about six years before yeah people started coming around and, and really introducing themselves and taking you to dinner. And I, that one dinner and that one relationship, the first time goes a long way.
00:36:18
Speaker
I mean, it does, especially if you get in on the ground floor with a small company, I mean, they might stay small forever and they might only order sidewalls every year or something. And, you know, but at least they know, you know, that they're going to be your repeat client every year or they're all only going to come to you. And i if there's any manufacturers out there listening, I think you guys need to start going after some some of these smaller companies more. I think that there is a lot of large companies and, you know, keeping those relationships are great.
00:36:43
Speaker
But just in order to build this business, this industry up is it relies on the manufacturers and relationships as well with these little guys. And they don't have to be little. You can, there's all these groups, you know, just in the event professional groups and the people that have been popping in there. Now there's some guys in there that are,
00:37:01
Speaker
half-assing it still, but there's there's ones in there that are doing good that are, you know, they're fun to watch and it's cool to see them come up. And I would love for the manufacturers to latch onto some of those guys and really pay attention to those groups.
00:37:13
Speaker
But what's one mistake you see that new business owners making it in the industry? Well, I think it's probably taken on too much debt. and not having the support staff to actually take on projects it amazes me were talking about smaller guys and they're like hey i'm gonna buy my first frame tent i'm buying a 40 by 100 and i'm like man you don't have jacks you're still putting stakes in with sledgehammer man i don't you gotta you know i think you got a little crawl a little bit here before you start running me and brian met with a guy locally
00:37:44
Speaker
He had 40 wide pole tent and he would like call his friends and schedule the time. he would lace the whole thing together by himself and have two buddies show up to help him put the center poles up. At some point, you got to like wonder if it's worth it.
00:37:56
Speaker
Yeah, but it depends once again, Kyle. You and I have had these sidebar conversations, and it depends where you want to be in the business. Do you want to keep it at $500,000, $200,000, $4 million, dollars or $10 million? dollars Where do you want to be? And you've got to kind of say, hey, this is what I want to make. This is my this is my niche spot, and I'm not going to stray from it.
00:38:15
Speaker
And if that guy's making $200,000 a year, and that's what he's clearing, and that's just his salary, and he's just calling a couple guys in, then, I mean, you know, he's doing something right. He might not be around forever, but at least he's at least he's doing it right for for now.
00:38:30
Speaker
You know, and I'm never going to knock a guy who's working hard like that. Never. You know, he's doing the best he can with what he's got. He's working. He's, ah you know, hey, God bless him, man.
00:38:41
Speaker
If he called me, I'd help him go push the center poles. And then I'd also tell should be coming for while. agree with you on that. Yep. Absolutely. What's the most rewarding moment that you've had in this industry as a business owner?
Family Involvement and Industry Contributions
00:38:53
Speaker
Oh God, I've had a lot. And you know, it's it's been a ah real honor to, to serve in this industry. you know, I was very fortunate to, uh, serve a number years on the board of Matra, uh,
00:39:06
Speaker
It was back then. It was a different way to do it. I was in like Maryland and they used to do the board meeting and election right there during the show. And I can remember like it was yesterday. It was ah Bob Costa from BC tent and Bob but was sitting next to me and they were asking for nominations from the floor to become a director and Costa elbows me and he goes, Hey, how about Richardson?
00:39:28
Speaker
He'll do it. And I'll never forget this day. And then I got elected to that board. And then I was, you know, fortunate that, for like 13 years on that board. And then Jimmy Rian, uh, got me on the board of, uh, at the time it was IFAI and now it's ata That's where I got to know your boss, Mike really well. And I was fortunate to follow him up as, uh, I follow him.
00:39:51
Speaker
Yeah. I think I was behind him but as chairman. And now, uh, man, I'm on a RA's board. Well, I've been blessed. And obviously, I've been fortunate that all the qualified people said no all these years. So they got me.
00:40:06
Speaker
So I'm looking forward to Orlando this year when I become president of ARA. I'm i'm really excited. ARA staff, you know, you guys know you've been working with them on this and you worked with Kevin last week.
00:40:17
Speaker
Man, we're doing some amazing stuff. And what do you think? What do you think makes these associations so great? It's the people. It's the contacts. Even if you just go for the social aspect of it, you know, I have the eye. When I first got in it, you know, it was really much more of a social kind of event.
00:40:35
Speaker
It was the guys who founded that when something, the large rental companies that would get together to win a time, have a couple of bourbons, smoke some cigars. you know, maybe get a little bit of education and then it turned into a much more education focus.
00:40:49
Speaker
But I still like the social aspect of it. It's the same thing with Matra bringing Mike Tannen in there as executive director really made that organization grow when they should be so proud of what they've accomplished up there.
00:41:02
Speaker
They've done a really good job. So do you think that the biggest, the biggest benefit from the associations is the networking For everybody that's coming in? Well, it used to be, and that was you know, obviously, you know, I'm a kind of a social animal.
00:41:16
Speaker
It was always part of it for me. Now it's ah much more education focused, which is great. That's super for the industry. And now all three organizations are all preaching from the but same Bible, I guess.
00:41:29
Speaker
I'm looking forward to the collaboration there. So I expect great things to come. So what is a normal day-to-day experience? what what does it look like for Brian now? What's his role in the company? And what, what, what's a day to day for Brian?
00:41:43
Speaker
cause i cryant on jobs I roll in about 10 to 12, just in time for lunch, take a two hour lunch, ah then roll out about two head to the, you know, the golf course, play 36 holes, head home.
00:42:00
Speaker
No. So this time year, it's all hands on deck. We, you know, we're in here in the morning. I'm, I'm, Not here as early as ah Kyle's here or Steve's here or anybody else, but they've been starting at 5 a.m. m and getting out here at 8 or 9 o'clock at night. But I'm here most mornings.
00:42:18
Speaker
Like today, Kyle had me out picking up some equipment, hauling it back. That's a pretty good day for me. Yeah, I still like getting out there and interacting with the customers. I still have a few customers that call and ask for me, so I'm dealing with them.
00:42:31
Speaker
Then I'm fielding emails and texts from ah staff at ARA. So, yeah, I'm having a pretty good time right now. Yeah, you're kind of doing what you want to do. And, I mean, you're living the tent man's dream by just going to picking up equipment and coming straight back. If you don't really have to do the labor, I mean, come on.
00:42:47
Speaker
Well, no. Oh, I'll tell you what, here's some inside baseball. So we don't usually do a lot of tables and chairs, but for this time of year, you know, we've got, don't know, 10,000 out and I don't know, 400 tables. So I was out doing a pickup and Kyle's like, Hey, can you help me go do a pickup?
00:43:06
Speaker
So yeah, we pull in, we load 45, 60 inch rounds, him and myself and another guy. And then I'm like, this I don't think this is supposed to be picked up until Friday.
00:43:18
Speaker
And it was Wednesday. So I make a call because we don't take any paperwork. Why would you want to take paperwork on a pickup slip to these jobs? So I have the pleasure of unloading all those 60-inch rounds and putting them back.
00:43:32
Speaker
So we're so good at jobs, we can do them twice. Nate, that was 100% my fault. i was going to say I would blame you for that, hands down. i just wanted to get it over with.
00:43:43
Speaker
Now, I can tell you 10 years ago, i would have been screaming. If anything, I've gotten much better. And I think everyone here, if you talk them, will tell you that I'm much calmer.
00:43:54
Speaker
And because screaming isn't going change a thing. But you know what? In the industry, 10, 20 years ago, that's how everybody treated their staff. And this we still got good friends here in New Jersey, and I've not mentioned any names.
00:44:07
Speaker
But there might be a father and son team that will admit they scream a lot at each other. Hey, mike Mike Murphy, back when him and I worked at A's together, he threw me up against the truck a couple times when I was a knucklehead in high school. And I still to this day think that that's what knocked some sense into me. but yeah yeah Those days are gone where you can motivate people like that.
00:44:25
Speaker
yeah now it you know and no one does it intentionally. Nobody messes up or makes mistakes. And sometimes, man, everybody's tired. Yeah, you get misloads. It happens. it We're fortunate that our misloads aren't 400 miles away, typically.
00:44:44
Speaker
They're four and a half miles away. So the consequences are much less. You can put it on the back of a bicycle and drive it, the fitting to them. I can make a podcast about that conversation in general right there.
00:44:56
Speaker
That makes it a lot tougher. That's for sure. We're changing our last question to today, Nate. like kind but Has that been an hour? We're going to get the but truth out of Brian right now.
00:45:07
Speaker
of Let's not bank on it. What's it like working with your family? So it's a challenge. Not for the reasons you think. Like you don't.
00:45:18
Speaker
Oh, gosh. So this is the hard part. So you don't want. to disappoint them because all your life, and if you're talking about your kids first, which I will, most people don't know my daughter, Kelsey worked here and her now husband, Connor worked here at the same time they met here.
00:45:36
Speaker
And I got the two of them together and said, Hey, one of you is going to leave because this isn't going to work. So my, my daughter, Kelsey left and she's got a great job. She's very happy. I have my, uh, my wonderful granddaughter Sawyer.
00:45:49
Speaker
so one of the challenges you, Man, you feel guilty that you're not paying them enough. You feel guilty that you're taking them away from your family. You feel guilty that when they were young, you weren't spending enough time with them because you were working, just trying to grow a business or just trying to keep a business afloat. So one of the things...
00:46:08
Speaker
you know, you don't want to disappoint your wife. You don't want to disappoint your kids. So that is one of the challenges. you by having them in the business, having them working with you? Is it the best thing for them?
00:46:18
Speaker
Because the only thing you want in your life is for your family to do better than you did. That's all you want. And so you're always like, man, is this the right path for them?
00:46:30
Speaker
You know, they're not 65 years old and staring at the end. They're under 30 looking at the beginning. So, But no matter what, Kyle, I've been blessed with Kyle, Kelsey, and the the staff here.
00:46:41
Speaker
They have so many so many more opportunities than I had in the industry. I had a lot opportunities. I'm not saying that I didn't. But they can go to work anywhere. anyone Anyone in their right mind would hire them in a heartbeat. So regardless of what happens, you know um I'm proud of both my kids. They've really done some wonderful things. So, yeah.
00:47:02
Speaker
Is that how you've defined your success? It's all the podcasting thing. I don't know about that. But... Well, that's great. ah That's great. Brian, it's been an honor just to know you as a friend and, you know, and and then, you know, eventually having a relationship with this guy over here, Kyle, and, you know,
00:47:20
Speaker
just all the things that we've seen and done over the past years. And, you know, and I've always enjoyed going to the different conferences and just chatting with you and, and laughing that many of the jokes and everything that you got. So I appreciate you coming on today and kind of giving your story and everything. And I want to invite you guys to come to ARA and do a live broadcast at ARA. I i think I might have some contacts there who ah can set that up.
00:47:45
Speaker
So, Well, you better have them reach out because there's also another association that reached out in my DMs earlier this week that's thinking the same thing. So we need to get the ball rolling on both of these. That would be great.
00:47:57
Speaker
Now, what was that other association? It would have been the Matra Association. Oh, see, that's November. yes see I gotta play nice we're all the same sandbox here so but I we we can spread the we can spread our our wealth around we can uh we can definitely come to the uh you need some advertising dollars is that what you're looking for money talks yeah yeah but you we are tank guys at the end of the day so the budget is uh budget's still tight so you know just throw some dollars we'll be there but well whatever money you guys raise I know that
00:48:32
Speaker
Mike and would both like rent from the two of you for actually filming this on our property. So are you guys using our electricity right now? I'm in my own property.
00:48:43
Speaker
So I own my house, currently working from home today, and it is 5.01, so I'm off the clock. So with that being said, Brian, I appreciate you coming on today. Best to Emily, thinking about you.
00:48:55
Speaker
Thank you. I really appreciate that. And this has been another episode of Under the Vinyl.