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Episode 46: Reflecting on and recapping 2025
133 Plays4 months ago
Nate and Kyle reflect on the past season, discussing personal updates, team dynamics, and the challenges faced throughout the year. They highlight the importance of employee management, the busiest times of the year, and notable projects that stood out. The conversation also touches on the role of technology in improving efficiency, the significance of acknowledging team contributions, and the ongoing struggle for work-life balance. As they wrap up the season, they share their thoughts on future plans and improvements, emphasizing the need for personal growth alongside professional development.
This episode is brought to you by Anchor Industries. You can learn more at www.anchorinc.com.
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Transcript
Welcome and Season Recap
00:00:01
Speaker
And we're back again with another episode of Under the Vinyl. We've got a great tailgate talk today. Just kind of recapping the season and closing out the season.
00:00:20
Speaker
and we're back and again with another episode of under the vinyl we got a great tailgate talk today just kind of recap in the season and closing out the season But yeah, another great episode of ah Under the Final Arena Management Media Podcast.
Kyle's Vacation and Winter Activities
00:00:33
Speaker
Kyle, how you doing, buddy?
00:00:35
Speaker
Hanging in there. It's finally January. And I am finally on vacation, baby. Must be nice. Until after the new year. Well, you know, it is and it isn't. There's... a There's not a whole heck of a lot that I can possibly do right now. It's 30 degrees outside. It's supposed to be 55 by the middle of the day, so I am going to try and go play golf and see what happens and pass some time.
00:01:02
Speaker
um Maybe my wife will be happy I don't have a whole lot going on because I'll at least be able to clean the house and have things ready when she gets home. so i can play mis Playing Mr. Mom over there? Hey, if I play Mr. Mom now, then when i start when we start traveling again in January and February for show season, I'll be ah i'll be in good standing. So we got to get them while we can, you know? Do you have the song pumping in the background when you're doing the dishes?
00:01:24
Speaker
Oh, I have music blaring. No, do you have Mr. mom the song? No,
Music Preferences and Home Life
00:01:29
Speaker
no, no, no, no. I have some some real... Some real bangers, I would say. Some 90s rap, usually. crank up this Crank up the music, turn up the subs, let the whole house blare. You know, we're good.
00:01:43
Speaker
um Wife gets home and she accidentally turns on TV and about makes her ears explode. But, hey, everything's done. So that's all that matters, right? That's all that matters.
Season's End Reflections
00:01:54
Speaker
Well, we've got another season in the books, right? Tents are coming down, trucks are cleaned, phones will stop ringing?
00:02:00
Speaker
Or have they started ringing? Speak for yourself on the clean trucks thing. ah That's on the list. It's been too cold for them to start startt that project, though. I know, I know. I mean, I think about that, too. My guys, I feel like it's usually about to the point where...
00:02:14
Speaker
They finally get some dead weeks and it's like after everything is finally done, then they'll pull the truck in and they start cleaning everything. And that's like the last resort that they have to clean the truck, yeah which should be the first resort. but If only they just like emptied the trash out when they got back every day. It would take two minutes.
00:02:31
Speaker
But you know, I did the same thing with my wife. Her car is always the one that all the kids leave all their trash and junk in it. And my car is the one that always stay clean because I hold them accountable and make them take their stuff out. Where my wife just kind of, yeah, it is what it is. And so I put a trash can right outside the car in the garage and And they still don't use it. So it's kind of like, you know, picking in shoes and choosing. I don't know. That's ah and there's Brian's pet
Truck Cleanliness and Crew Impact
00:02:57
Speaker
peeve. The guys, Brian will come in some mornings when we're busy.
00:03:00
Speaker
And the first thing he'll do is just go start opening cab doors of the trucks. And the guys all, it's funny because they they know now that it means he's to start yelling. So they see him walking towards trucks. They all sprint out there and start cleaning stuff up.
00:03:14
Speaker
Well, you know, as far as cleaning goes to like even just picking stuff up off the floor when you see it, was, I was down at classic for, uh, for the tenting, um, the master tending classes. And, um, I saw a guy walk by that works for classic and, uh, notice that he'd pick something off, up off the ground as a piece of wood or plastic or whatever it was and threw it away. And I was like, dang, you know,
00:03:37
Speaker
Look at that guy being attention to detail and everything. So I just wish that more people would do that and just pay attention to those things. I've debated, like, taking dollar bills and taped them on a coffee cup. Just leaving it there. Like that guy with the fishing pole? I got your dollar. I got your dollar. Yeah, just see how long it stays there.
00:03:54
Speaker
Yeah, oh, man.
Anker Industries Winter Promotion
00:03:56
Speaker
This episode of Under the Vinyl is brought to you Anker Industries, a fifth generation, family owned, American manufacturer of tents and clear span structures. Anker has spent decades engineering products that last season after season, and they're more than just your supplier. They're a partner committed to helping grow your business. And right now, Anker's winner discount is live. Get 15% off frame, fabric, and accessories for your tents and clear spans now through January 26th. Make sure you let them know Kyle and Nate sent you.
00:04:24
Speaker
Contact your sales rep today. Call 800-544-4445 or visit anchorinc.com to learn more.
Season's Challenges and Rewards
00:04:35
Speaker
Well, every year starts to feel longer and shorter at the same time, it seems like for me. It's it's just been this season. Yeah, this season of life too with ah three kids, um wife being busy with work, me being busy with work. It was almost like i prayed to get to the end of the season.
00:04:53
Speaker
But almost when we get to the end of the season, and you're like, man, it's over. like it It was fun. It was fun, but now what? And I feel like every year it just feels longer and longer, and the grind is harder and harder. But it also just it it feels like it flies by. I feel that first part of the season, i don't know about you, but I felt like the first part of the season really was was tough, but it kind of drug out. And then you get to July, it's kind of dead a little bit. And then after July, everything just kind of flew on by, and October was here before you knew it and now it's December. Yeah, and there's snow on the ground. it's I feel like I was, I'm going to take work out of this. I feel like I was sitting on my boat like two weeks ago enjoying enjoying a beautiful lake day, sending you pictures of me drinking beer. And now it's cold and snowing.
Winter Project Management
00:05:40
Speaker
Yeah, and well, at least you're still busy a little bit. What are you guys you know currently doing right now? We wrapped up. We just had one big project in December, a nice 25-meter at a country club for a Christmas party. So nothing crazy.
00:05:55
Speaker
tested us, though, on the heat. We ended up having to run the heat for a week and a half. So ah looking at how we can do things differently next year because the production company became a bunch of sissies and wanted it 75 degrees in there 24 hours a day. so Which is hot. my My house stays on 68 year-round.
00:06:14
Speaker
the way they explained it to me was their union. And if the guys get cold, they'll just complain to the union and then the company gets in trouble or something strikes against him.
00:06:25
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. That would make more sense. But like, come on, let's be real. Yeah. You're going to have that though with the union. i mean, we talked about that in some other, in another episode with the H2B guy. Um,
00:06:41
Speaker
So, I mean, that'll, ah you know, that that's, it is what it is. We'll put it that way.
Company Growth Reflections
00:06:47
Speaker
But I feel like this was probably one of the most physically exhausting seasons for me just because it was just between work and home, just everything going on in home life with the with work and just continuing to grow the Nashville side of the business.
00:07:02
Speaker
Chattanooga as a whole, you know, we we grew as a company again this year. It also just felt like one of the most rewarding things years I've had, I think in my career. And I feel like every year I could say has been rewarding, but i I would think that this year stands out the most, um, just from a growth aspect. I think that my national team has really grown.
00:07:22
Speaker
Um, going into year four, um, coming up this year, I feel like we're in a good spot. We got a good team. We've built some new, got some new people in some new places, filling some roles. So I'm able to fill some other voids in some other areas to kind of grow that side. I feel like, um,
00:07:39
Speaker
Chattanooga Tent as a whole is on continuing to grow. still you know Even even being a ninety coming up on a 91-year-old company, i feel like we're still finding our niche in different aspects and different things. and it felt like ah It felt like it was really good. It was really rewarding by the time we look back on it. What about you?
00:07:59
Speaker
know It was definitely a great season. Business-wise, we had a great year. i'm very happy with where we ended up. I have a lot of thinking to do as we go into winter on some stuff that needs to change.
00:08:15
Speaker
It's going to be tough. going to to have some uncomfortable conversations here in the next few weeks with some of my guys because they're getting comfortable. Yeah, some points at some points I think they think that I work for them and they don't work for me and some of that is Just as I am growing up and maturing. I can't be their friend anymore We talked about that in the Jared and I grow episode that that is what gets really tough so I got one guy in particular I'm gonna have to have a come to Jesus with as we like to call them around here and where you either need to shape up or you're gonna get shipped out, sir.
00:08:53
Speaker
Absolutely Well, you know, anymore, i feel like um a lot of this happened after COVID or during COVID when people just their mindset, and we've talked about this a hundred times, but their mindset and their mind, just everything shifted, totally shifted into I'm in charge. I have the authority because you know, labor was hard to find. There wasn't a lot of people out there. Um, you know, and so that's when labor companies started being able to charge more. There was more specialized labor. Um, the employee really had the upper hand at the end of the day. And yeah I think that I gotta be careful with how I say this, but I think that it, it, it,
00:09:35
Speaker
it made it more it put it on them, but we need to get back to the point of this business was here before you and it's going to be here after you. Um, and it's same for me. I mean, I'm not saying just me, me and you, same thing, same difference. It's, it was here before us. It's going to be here after us. We didn't start this business. We were just lucky enough to become in it.
00:09:56
Speaker
Um, I say lucky lightly because sometimes we are, uh, Like, how the hell did we get here? But, you know, it's it's it's one of those things where you got to kind of let them know, hey, man, we got to keep this going. And we all got to push in the same direction and row in the right direction and get this thing moving forward. and And that's what we kind of talked about the other day is just, you know, showing employees numbers, showing them where we're at, where we need to be, showing them the growth, showing them the trajectory, how we want to get there and making them feel a part of it.
00:10:23
Speaker
without them trying to take it over. Um, but you know, when you give somebody so much responsibility, their heads become a little bit bigger, their egos become a little bit bigger and you got to learn to get them to put it to the side and row in the same direction still. Um, you know, and so there's just different things I feel like you have to do to do that. Sometimes a good reality check is one, but then how you approach that reality check and how you move on from that from there is, is a huge.
00:10:48
Speaker
Yeah. It's, uh,
00:10:52
Speaker
Yeah, it's
Peak Season Advisory
00:10:53
Speaker
tough. So what do you think was the busiest ah two to three week stretch that you had this year?
00:11:00
Speaker
Oh, mid-May for us is our slam time. That's don't talk to me, don't call me, don't text me time for everyone. Anyone in my life knows don't bother me from like May 1st to May 31st.
00:11:13
Speaker
Don't ask me to do anything. for that Don't ask me to go to dinner. don't Hopefully I'll call you back within two weeks. May, June, and then October, really? Yeah. October for us isn't crazy.
00:11:27
Speaker
I don't know. we We're not into big weddings. That's just not our market or commercial mainly. So um October is never really a slam in time. We're doing a lot of stuff for universities and schools at that point cause it's all homecomings and things like that.
00:11:42
Speaker
But it's nothing crazy. what did you have any Did you have any big installs that you're most proud of this year? Anything that was different? first garden tent with Holland Park. That was great.
00:11:53
Speaker
The white one? No, the we did our black one, the 25-year. Oh, the black one. Yeah, the black one. That was job. I real happy with how that came out. um And then just we've been entering the structure market more and more, so every structure job I'm real happy about.
00:12:09
Speaker
Just getting my father on board with pricing is the hard part. he thinks you should I think that's the hard part for everybody. He thinks you should to charge purchase price for every rental. but Well, I mean, you always give me hell for some of my pricing sometimes, but it's like, man, you know, it's a different market. It's ah it's wild out there. um Especially for me this year. I mean, I think that most proud of, i was I was most proud of everything we did, but I mean, this was a year of 40 meter for me. I had, think I had three or four 40 meters personally that I had to go out, um which was pretty damn cool because
00:12:44
Speaker
That in years past, I might have, I think maybe since I've been at Chattanooga, I probably had one or two 40 meters, maybe. But three in the same year was just pretty wild to me. um And then the the garden tent.
00:12:57
Speaker
i almost had one together, remember? Yeah, like yeah. We almost had a 40 meter together. And then in the garden tent, I felt like... ah Probably the to end the season, which was pretty wild, i had a garden tent go up in Nashville on a floor that went from zero to 16 foot high, which was frick freaking wild. I think that that was, I mean, just seeing that done was wild. And being there and watching that thing go up. And then Also having another garden tent going up at the same time in Georgia. So I had two two garden tents go up at the same time end the season, which I was most stressed about all year, just navigating the directions of those because in the timelines you know with those garden tents are so thin. But getting that done and doing that, that was really cool, and I think that was that was probably the most most fun I had, most stressful fun.
00:13:48
Speaker
Yeah. By
Team Efficiency with H2B Workers
00:13:50
Speaker
far. By far. Another big thing this year that kind of made me, i had some aha moments was just how much better my guys are getting of this. We're on year five now of H2B, so I have the same guys every single year. So it's like they step in the door day one and they know exactly what they have to do. And they're familiar with 80% of the jobs we're doing.
00:14:11
Speaker
So it's a lot of repair work. So like you just send them to the site and they know exactly what has to happen. They know where everything is. it's We're banging out like county fairs two or three days faster than we were five years ago, which is just crazy.
00:14:24
Speaker
A lot of that is mechanism. I'm tired of giving 10-Ox shout-outs, but... Well, yeah. I mean, we know that 10-Ox has revolutionized this industry, and it continues to do that. And we got an 8-Series this year, and it's my first job of the year. I'll say it again, Kyle. I know you're tired of hearing about it, but my garden tent at the Titans Stadium. was...
00:14:48
Speaker
it was it saved the day that eight series saved the day on that job in general for me. And that's when I, I mean, I've always thought that the eight series would be great for us. And we, and when we talked about it and everything, but when we got it and we got it on the field and the things I was able to do out there with that, because we had to lay Duramat everywhere. So you couldn't drive a 5k, 6k on that field without Duramat. But as soon as they saw the 10 ox with the turf tires, they were like, yeah, it's fine. So I was carrying 3,800 pound blocks across the field. without having to use Dermat. I mean, it saved our ass, really, at the end of the day.
00:15:24
Speaker
mean, but... I don't know what happened. Today? Yeah. In the cold? Yeah. I don't know. I think the thermostat stuck closed. We're tearing it apart right now.
00:15:39
Speaker
We'll get it running. That's why got to own seven. That's why I tell Andy Matrix. Got to own seven machines because you'll break one every day. What did you feel that there was anybody that you should give a special shout out crew wise or anything that that really stepped up this year for your team?
00:15:56
Speaker
I just want to give a shout out all my H2B guys. They'll never hear this, but honestly, like, they are the we could not do it without them. They leave their families for eight, nine months every year to come here and stay with us.
00:16:10
Speaker
And i we couldn't do what we do without those guys, and it's nuts that they're willing to do that and the sacrifices they make for their families. One of the guys had his father pass away while he was here, and he refused to go home because he didn't want to – he just wanted to make money while he was here because it was – Knew that's the better choice for his family. So those guys really are the backbone of our company and they deserve all the gratitude and shout outs in the world.
Balancing Personal and Work Life
00:16:36
Speaker
Oh yeah. Yeah. I mean, for me, it becomes more, i mean, Shout out as a whole to the whole Chattanooga Tech career as a whole, and I'll get to that. But for me, the beginning of the year was really tough. I think Emily found out she had cancer in March or April. and so But i had it was like right as we were going into busy season. It was April, actually, going into May of busy season. And and so still trying to grind it out in May and June um was really tough.
00:17:05
Speaker
But midway through the year, we hired two... um We call them superintendent, site superintendents, project managers, but they're more site superintendents more than anything. Hired one at the middle of the year and another one and towards the middle to the end of the year. um And that took so much weight off of my plate personally to be able to take a step back and be not on the road or not at a site so much. I mean. Traveling 2,000 miles a month was was tough, i sometimes three.
00:17:35
Speaker
But being able to step back and kind of be more at home or in the office and take care of things at home, those site superintendents really stepped up there. And then goes back to biggest shout-out is I would say I know the crews on the site setting up and the conditions and everything like that, but I want to say our team in-house, the vinyl team, ah people in the office recording everything that's coming in and out, going in and out, keeping track of the inventory. um But more so the vinyl, you know what it takes. they're the I think those are the unsung heroes, the guys that are in the warehouse. Logan is part of the is part of making sure that that gets out the door and everything, but I think the the real... was going to say, you can't give him any credit. I know he listens.
00:18:21
Speaker
No, yeah, give him credit all day, but the more so the the vinyl department in general, him overseeing that department, him overseeing everybody in the warehouse, but the vinyl department as a whole, you know when that stuff comes back and it's wet or nasty or it's got holes in it, you've got to get it ready, prepped, and on to the next job. And that next job could be in two days. So...
00:18:39
Speaker
Just a turnaround time on that on first shift, second shift. I think those are the unsung heroes that nobody really talks about. So i want to give them a shout out well does everybody else. I love that guys second shift. i don't know if we've ever talked about that on here, but i love that.
00:18:51
Speaker
Yeah, and it's almost an as-needed thing. It's become more consistent this year through the year. um I don't know that we'll do it through the wintertime or not, but I know through the year this year it's been phenomenal. There's not a ton of guys on second shift. I think maybe four five. Um, you know, it's enough to keep everything running and moving and it helps out a ton. Um, just to keep everything moving.
00:19:16
Speaker
I think I could get away with it if I had a dryer, um, which I really want to buy one yeah on my wishlist. I just, it helps a ton, but you still got your times like with your sailcloth that you still need a, you still need to hang it.
00:19:32
Speaker
Yeah. So you've got to just find that balance in there. i think the solution is to move to like Georgia where you can hang it all outside or something. Yeah, but you're still going to get mildew.
00:19:47
Speaker
ah My vinyl crew cannot keep up. it's i feel I do feel bad sometimes because constantly on them about like, okay, I need this and it has I need it tomorrow. Like, let's go. Right. Right. Oh, I know. and And Deb, Deb that works for us, she keeps track of all the jobs that all the vinyl has been on and where it goes and everything like that and RFID. And, and oh my gosh, there's days where I just hear her yelling through the wall because she gets so upset because they might've switched a top or things get misplaced or, you know, anything like that. And, and it's wild.
00:20:19
Speaker
Yeah. but final I'm scared that one day my, the guy who runs our vinyl department going to die because a lot of it is in his head. like He knows where everything that's wet and dirty is. like He has special places. He's like, all right, i' put this here, put this here.
00:20:33
Speaker
I hate to tell you, Kyle, but everybody dies one day, so going to have to get that figured out. I hate to break that to you, but and speaking of that, first do you feel like you found a balance of pushing or burning people out this year Was it pretty much around the same as every year?
00:20:49
Speaker
No, I think I haven't done the full math yet, and I'm going to pull those numbers here soon once we get this job done. But I think our overtime is down for the year. Crew size is pretty close to exactly the same. I think we actually had less guys this year than we had the year before.
00:21:04
Speaker
But we're really pushing to not work every Saturday and Sunday. i'm as The guys' wages get increased, as we learned in the H2B episode, every single year no matter what. Mm-hmm.
00:21:18
Speaker
I am really striving to cut back on inventory or inventory that too, but don't know over time. Um, some of that is we say no a little bit more than we used to.
00:21:30
Speaker
if I know it's going to push us to have to work on a Saturday, we're either going to charge accordingly for that or we're going to just say, yeah, sorry, we're booked for that week. Um,
00:21:42
Speaker
it's not always worth taking every job. I try to explain that to a lot of the people I talk to, but some people are just revenue hungry and I'm really profit hungry is all I really care about. Yeah. We had that meeting the other day. um and I think that we found, uh, we found a decent balance this year. I know Nashville as a whole, we found some more balance and it was, they still worked a lot of hours, but I think that we were able to get a lot more days off up there than what they've normally had. Um,
00:22:12
Speaker
the national side, I think that I would say if you would go back and look, I think that they had probably more help on jobs. We probably had too much labor on some jobs, um, that would help them. Um, maybe not as many days off, but I felt like this year we did a lot better.
00:22:29
Speaker
Michael and I kind of got together on some different things and, and, and, move people around or shift people around to try and get some people off and, you know, just, just trying to manage that. I think that we would love to, it's even already been in conversations already for this year, for next year to try and maybe do. Cause I mean, there's just times where our guys might be working 20 days straight, you know, or more. well, and that's what happens when you're on the road.
00:22:52
Speaker
Like if you can't get home, you can't get home. That's the, and you don't want to sit in a hotel and do nothing. I'm the same way when we travel. Well, yeah, that's why if I, if I travel, I'll go do a day trip there and back, whether it's flying or driving, just so I can be home in my own bed the next day. Cause what am I going to do Sit for eight hours when I could have just been on a flight or it could have been in the car and could have got home. Um, but we've talked about for these guys, possibly,
00:23:15
Speaker
you know giving them 14 days on if it's really busy and then having a couple of days off, getting them either getting them home or getting them a couple days off where they're at. And we did that a couple times this year with different crews, gave them days off of where they were at or kind of if they were in between going from one job to the other, they stop in a certain city and give day off or two off. So we've looked at that too, and I think that that's going to be something that we need to really push hard for this year.
00:23:37
Speaker
And it's not just finding that work-life balance. It's like your guys are getting older. And, yeah and, and I mean, you know what I mean? Like these guys aren't going to be young forever. And the older that they get, you got to find their succession plan in the process, but also not burn them out.
00:23:53
Speaker
Not even burn them out mentally, but just physically too. So you almost have to, in some of those guys, you have to make them take a day off. Well, I think I've said it on here before. Yeah. You got to keep the guy happy.
00:24:05
Speaker
But you really got to make sure you keep the people at their house happy. Their wife, their spouse, whoever it is. Those are the ones that matter. Well, yeah, absolutely. And and so that's, that rolls into another question of mine is just like, how do you shut it off when you get home? You know what I mean? Like me i't Yeah. It's not even just you, everybody, like as a whole, I mean, I know you, you in particular are still trying to figure that out. I'm trying to assist with that every day. Every single day about work. it's all like Yeah. And, and I'm trying to separate that line a little bit too, just because I know that
00:24:40
Speaker
I don't want to say it's unhealthy for my marriage, but it's also a little bit unhealthy for my marriage when I come home and um that's all we talk about. um I don't mind asking how your day is or how my day is going, but I want to check in with you how you're mentally doing, you know, as a whole.
00:24:53
Speaker
I think shutting it off is hard, though, during the season because we all get those phone calls. depending on what time of day it is, it doesn't really matter. Um, it could be 10 o'clock at night. It could be six o'clock in the morning. We're all going to get those phone calls. So it's hard to shut off. And that's why i struggle with like right now, taking this time off. I know it's good for me and I need it at the end of the year because everything's done and I need to kind of sit back and, and take care of stuff that I didn't get to maybe put so much effort to during the year. um but I'm also like, do I check my email? Do I call? Who do I need to? And I'm like, buck zero guy no, don't it. I know. I know. And you know what? I'm not going to say I did or I didn't I don't want anybody to hear this, but i I've been looking at the past two days, and I need to stop.
00:25:36
Speaker
And so I just need to sit back and try and enjoy. it's It's one of those things where it's weird. you know i went I went through this in just being fully transparent. I went through this in 2018 when I got divorced.
00:25:46
Speaker
And somebody told me that you need to learn to be okay with yourself and ah and okay to be alone, right? And once you can do that, then you can be okay for everybody else around you. And I think that this is one of those things where I am a hundred miles an hour all day, every day. And when I come to the end of the season, I don't know what to do with myself and I need to sit back and be okay and take this time to reflect, whether it be with God, whether it be with, you know, working out or anything in general, it's just, being okay with ourselves so we can be okay with everybody around us and trying to shut that off. So that's what I'm going to try and do go before I go into this next season.
00:26:21
Speaker
Yeah. I think mine's going to get worse on the personal front. My wife's slowly taking over more of the administrative stuff for the Port-A-John and Restroom business.
00:26:31
Speaker
So the minute I walk in the door, she bombards me most nights with 100 questions of why hasn't this guy paid or why did this guy tell me that you made a deal with him on the side?
00:26:42
Speaker
So once we get that dialed in, we'll be a good. but Is there anything that you you think you're most excited to improve on for next year or anything like that?
00:26:55
Speaker
Um...
00:26:58
Speaker
Yeah, a lot of stuff. Will happen? I don't know. Yeah. It's funny. You know, you sit in the season and you're like, I'm to write all this stuff down of everything we're going change for next year. And then it comes wintertime.
00:27:10
Speaker
And you look at your list. Mine's hanging on the wall over here. There's 78 things on it. I'll be happy if we get 10 of them done. One, because well we go from a crew of 45 guys to there's nine people on payroll right now.
00:27:26
Speaker
So like, yeah out of that nine, four guys are in the washroom every day. So now we're down to five guys. a couple of them told me they want to take two months off. So I think I'm going to really only have like three guys on payroll all winter, which is going to be pretty nice from a business standpoint.
00:27:43
Speaker
But it sucks from a getting stuff done standpoint. Right. Oh, yeah. I want to see our rent went up a ton, so we kind of gave up some space and we have to reorganize and move some stuff around just to be able to use more less space.
00:28:06
Speaker
while gaining space. Does that make sense? Yeah, I get it. I get it. Meanwhile, I'm over here looking at new buildings for Nashville. Hopefully we can find something. Hopefully we can grow into a little bit bigger building up there and looking at just doing some different things. But really, I mean, as I say, we're wrapping up the year.
00:28:27
Speaker
Come January 1, we're getting ready to head out for for Super Bowl. So, Getting everything worked out for that.
Super Bowl Work Plans
00:28:34
Speaker
I don't know that I will. I ask these guys who work for Chattanooga. I'm like, does Nate help you? and they're like, Nate who?
00:28:41
Speaker
but Yeah. Let's see. Last time I went was Vegas two years ago. I went out there. You did the 24-hour? Yeah, we had the 24-hour crew. Had to do two 20 meters in that were fully weighted within 24 hours. so we worked two shifts.
00:28:58
Speaker
So went out did that. um If they need me this year, I'll go out. But I think between you and i ah with ATA and ARA and Wisconsin and everything else we have coming up, I think the end of our January going into February and and even March, we're pretty we're pretty busy with show season, I like to call it. So,
00:29:19
Speaker
If I don't have to travel really the beginning, the end of December and the beginning of January, I think I'm just going to take that as much as possible. But as soon as I get that phone call that I'm needed out in San Francisco, i will be on the first flight out because it'll be a lot warmer there than it is here. I'll tell you that.
00:29:33
Speaker
I'm going to try to take the white skiing for a few days in January. but look We were planning on going away like Aruba or something, but I don't think we're going to go. I'm tired of traveling like you.
00:29:44
Speaker
Oh, man. You love it and hate it at the same time. like After i went on that I went on the golf trip and came back, it's like, oh, it was nice to be home. And then it's like, okay, I'm ready to go. Where are we going next? And it's like, nope, don't do it. Just take it in because you're going to be traveling again in no time. and It'll be here
Year-End Gratitude
00:30:02
Speaker
before too long. so But that's another – that's a wrap on season one of Under the Vinyl.
00:30:08
Speaker
um If you were a part of it in any way, we really appreciate you, crews, planners, guests, everybody. and This has been, i think, a very successful year. it was ah It was tough on trying to fit some of these in where we could. And I know Kyle was under a tree sometimes. I was in Nissan Stadium underground. Sometimes we were all over the damn place, um, making sure that we could get this content out to you all.
00:30:31
Speaker
Um, but we really appreciate everybody for being a part of it and helping us out through this whole thing. I think we got a lot more to build on and a lot more fun stuff coming up. Um, but we need to continue to get, um, people to help us build that. So if you could, Like, subscribe, rate us, everything, anywhere you can find us would help. um And if you have any guests that you want to see or that you have any questions or anything at any point in time you want us to talk about, if you could drop those in the DMs as well on ah Instagram, that would be great. What you think, Kyle?
00:31:04
Speaker
We did it. We did it. We successfully completed. And we're friends now, Nate. Look at that. Well, we're just, now I feel like we're married. Yeah, now I feel like we're married at this point. so yeah But good year.
00:31:21
Speaker
be It'll be a better year in 2026. We'll get the hell out of 2025. So signing off for one last time. This has been another episode of Under the Vinyl, a rental management media podcast.
00:31:33
Speaker
Peace.