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EP 1 Talkin Tents with Kyle and Nate
244 Plays4 months ago
Episode 1 with Kyle and Nate. Still working out some Kinks but we will get better!
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Transcript
Podcast Relaunch & Host Changes
00:00:07
Kyle Richardson
All right, we are back a year later with TalkIntense. There's been some changes since the beginning. I have fired Kevin. He's on the West Coast. He's got a lot of excuses, kind of flaky, but I'll have him back as a guest host at some point. who He's going to help us out.
Introducing Nate: Career & Personal Journey
00:00:28
Kyle Richardson
But with that, I do have a new host who's been bugging us to get this done. I know he was the first person to ever listen to the very first episode we posted. So I thought it was only fitting that we bring on Nate from Chattanooga tent.
00:00:42
Nate
What's going on?
00:00:44
Kyle Richardson
So we're going to start the first episode and have Nate tell us about his career. He's been in the industry a long time. Uh, so yeah, we're going to go back and forth, get some banter going and hopefully, uh, start a podcast.
00:00:56
Nate
Yeah, excited for this. First off, our condolences is to Kevin. I mean, we love Kevin. Just sorry you're on the other end of the world and can't wait to have you on and and talk some tense with you.
00:01:11
Kyle Richardson
But you're a pain in the ass, Kevin. And we mean that with love.
00:01:13
Nate
But he is he is a pain in the ass, but we still love him. So we look forward to getting Kevin on. But i mean with that, I'm excited to jump on this opportunity with you and and talk some tense. I guess a little bit about myself. I started in the tent world.
00:01:32
Nate
21 or yeah, about 21 years ago when I was in high school, ah really middle school coming into high school. I always saw it as summer job, never thought it would be something that I would continue to do throughout my life. I didn't grow up and say I want to be a tank guy. I don't think any of us do.
00:01:50
Nate
um
00:01:50
Kyle Richardson
It just kind of happens that way.
00:01:51
Nate
Yeah, yeah, so started a summer job and now 21 years here we are. Started with a company called A's rental out of Indiana, ah South Bend, Indiana, which is my hometown. um And was there for about six years. Moved on to another company called Bryant's rental in Lexington, Kentucky.
00:02:11
Nate
Um, moved my way up through there, was running that company for about 10 years. Um, and then in the scary times of COVID decided to make a change because I met my now wife and ended up in Chattanooga.
00:02:26
Kyle Richardson
Can we pause right there for a second? Just because I like this story.
00:02:26
Nate
Um, yeah, yeah.
00:02:29
Nate
Yeah.
00:02:29
Kyle Richardson
You want to you want tell everyone how you met your wife.
00:02:32
Nate
Yeah, so my wife and I, it's it's our second marriage for both of us um and the best one yet. and we We had both gone through some very trying times and in our marriages, in our past marriages, and and we're living the single life of the dating app, which I don't recommend for anybody. um The dating apps are not fun. um I would much rather go out and meet somebody at a bar or you know just anywhere that's more convenient than and in trying to talk to someone on a dating app, especially after being married for so long before.
00:03:07
Nate
And, uh, yeah, so I was what you call bumbling and driving, um, driving down the interstate. And I was going to Indiana. She was coming from Indiana and we passed each other on the interstate in Louisville, Kentucky. And I, uh, I swiped right on her while I was driving. And it just so happened to be that her mom and her were having a conversation about Bumble.
00:03:29
Nate
And her mom was like, you know this app can't be that bad. These guys on here can't be that bad. And then was was like, I'm tired of it. And take a look for he yourself. And her mom started looking at guys and swiping right. So actually, her mom swiped right on me, to be totally honest. um And so you know we it picked us up. And so later on, when she got back on the app and we saw we both swiped right on each other, she messaged me because the woman has to message first and just kind of said, hey, how are you doing? and um And she didn't realize that I was in Lexington, Kentucky until then.
00:04:03
Nate
Um, and she said, you know, well, we didn't realize you were in Kentucky. How did this happen? We put it two and two together and found out that we pass each other on the interstate. She was coming from her family's in Indiana.
00:04:14
Nate
I was going to my family in Indiana. Um, and her mom was in the car with her.
00:04:17
Kyle Richardson
Was her mom in the car with her?
00:04:20
Nate
And, uh, so she basically said that, you know, she kind of told me backstory and said, you know, I, i didn't mean or I didn't mean to swipe and on somebody that would live so far away and she kind of tried to get rid of me right off the bat and I said, well, hang on, hang on. Let's let's see where this goes and let's see how it ends up. and She had two kids from her previous marriage um and she tried to scare me off of that among other things and I told her it's not going to work. so ah Two months later, we are about a month but a month after talking and FaceTiming and stuff, we finally met. and
00:04:55
Nate
face-to-face and dated for about a year before I decided to make the change and come to Chattanooga.
00:05:02
Kyle Richardson
thats ah She was living in Chattanooga at the time.
00:05:04
Nate
Yeah, she actually went to college here, had been here, she's been here for 18 years now, i never left after that. And um I had been to Chattanooga a couple of times, but always saw it as a more manufacturing kind of dirty town to me in my mind. And that's kind of how it used to be back in the day.
00:05:23
Nate
Now i mean now it's ah it's one of the most popular spots to come to for a vacation, just for the outdoors. um so yeah i mean She was living here. i started I was looking at other opportunities to leave Lexington at that time as well. Just needing to start fresh, so start something new. I loved who I was working for.
00:05:46
Nate
Uh, if anybody knows Terry Bryant, he was one of the most awesome men in this industry and, and he taught me a lot too and gave me a lot of freedom to run his company for him, uh, for the longest time. And, but at that point it was just, it was time to make a change. And, um, and I had known Mike and, you know, Michael and the Hollins just as a whole and for a long period of time. And so when I said I was, I met this woman from Chattanooga and I'm thinking about moving and, you know, they said, uh,
00:06:15
Nate
So where are you going to work? And, you know, we talked a little bit and I said, well, whether you hire me or not, I'm, I'm coming to Chattanooga. And so, uh, it ended up being a good fit and, uh, yeah, I've been, been here since 2020 now. So moving right along.
00:06:31
Kyle Richardson
but you're currently not really working in Chattanooga, is that correct?
00:06:34
Nate
No. So my role is kind of, although I live in Chattanooga, uh, all my roots are here right now with kids and I have three kids and my wife, um,
00:06:46
Nate
I currently run the Nashville side of the business in Nashville. I have a really good team up there though, so I don't have to be there every day. I kind of run it from afar. I'm there a couple times a week. I might not be there for a month during when we're not busy, but I'm some of the GM of that office up there as well as national sales, so a lot more traveling than really being in the business in Chattanooga.
00:07:11
Nate
Now, I do still do some stuff in Chattanooga, but it's mostly for connections of friends and other things like that. so
Nate's Early Career & Industry Insights
00:07:21
Kyle Richardson
So back in your high school days, you get this summer job, what are you, 16, 17 years old?
00:07:27
Nate
yeah i think i was I think I was about 15 maybe.
00:07:31
Kyle Richardson
Well, that might've been illegal, so we shouldn't say that.
00:07:31
Nate
yeah yeah i was I wasn't working ah i mean ah For all the tank guys that know what I'm talking about, I was will say that I wasn't working full tank hours yet.
00:07:42
Kyle Richardson
Yeah.
00:07:42
Nate
um so I remember my mom would still drop me off every day at the ah at the ah at the office there. and and It was really cool though because all my buddies, it was all a bunch of full players from my high school that were my friends.
00:07:56
Nate
and And we all, they would work there in the summer. So it was really like we were getting to work out and getting paid for it and there everybody, you know, had a good time. And it was like being at school, but not having to deal with the, with the shit at school.
00:08:09
Kyle Richardson
Were you on the road or were you working in the warehouse?
00:08:11
Nate
No, I was on the road immediately. Uh, immediately went out the very first day. They told me I'm going to go put up a 40 by a hundred pull tent. Um,
00:08:22
Nate
which back in that day, as you know, there was no wackers, no 10 ox. and and I mean, there was wackers, but it was very few and far between. Those things were falling apart every stick that hit. um So I think we, I mean, we went out in this backyard, real tight backyard, um and it was a 40 by 100 rope tent. They didn't even have the ratchets at that point. um And actually we did it with rebar. um And so,
00:08:49
Nate
My buddy Casey actually took me out. He was the one that showed me how to put up a tent for the first time. Casey Connor, which we'll have to get him on here one day too, because he's been in and out of the industry and now he's back full, full into it and he actually came to work for me for a little bit. But yeah, he showed me how to put up a 40 by 100 pole tent and it was a, I had to pound, they made me pound every stake on that tent, which, you know, rebounding rebar and pounding with a sledgehammer was not fun, which is why my back is the way it is today.
00:09:18
Nate
I mean, it was ah it was real quick and humbling and I tried to figure out if I really wanted to do this any longer. But it was one of those things where at the end of the day, we we needed a job and and it was either that or go work at a grocery store bagging groceries, which I did do. And what pushed me to come to the rental industry was I was actually working on a landscaping crew, which you know all about that, um worked on a landscaping crew for probably three years and it was sun up to sun down and you're riding five deep in the front of a pickup truck and and I said I found to my mom I was like I don't this is great money's great I'm loving it that's what this isn't for me I need to do something else you know like I enjoy the money and everything and I'm in middle school so I can't complain about the money but I want to do something that's gonna be more
00:10:09
Nate
um more more that I can get off work and go hang out with my friends a little bit. We'll need this to say I didn't really know that the 10 hours weren't normal hours, so that led to a whole nother debacle.
00:10:20
Nate
but
00:10:21
Kyle Richardson
Now, when you were 16, let's go with when you were 17, 18, you're still working there in the summers. Did you ever have a thought cross your mind that this might be something I stick into forever?
00:10:33
Nate
You know, I always thought there was two guys that were in the office there that I always looked up to and I never asked him, but I was in my mind. I'm like, how are they making money and working here? Cause I remember when I started, it was $6 and 25 cents an hour. And up until I was 18, I was probably only making even, or up and yeah, 18 years old, I was probably making, Oh man. I think at that point $8 an hour.
00:11:02
Nate
And then finally after 18, I think I finally complained a little bit enough to where they realized I was serious and I got bumped up to like $13 an hour. But, oh, 13 was great.
00:11:10
Kyle Richardson
And 13 was decent money back then.
00:11:13
Nate
I mean, when I was making, the thing is when I was making $8 an hour, I mean, I was living off of rice and beans and, you know, ramen noodles. And I moved out of my house, my parents' house when I was 16 and ah got out on my own.
00:11:27
Nate
but going back to your original question is, no, I did not think there was money in this industry. And I was talking with, or I was always looked at the two guys in the office that worked there. And one of the guys that worked there, his son was a good friend of mine and, um, he went to high school with me. And so I knew that I knew their lifestyle and everything and how they lived. And I was like, you know,
00:11:49
Nate
if he's working here and they're doing those things, there's gotta be money in this. And there's, right, there's gotta be money coming from somewhere.
00:11:53
Kyle Richardson
Yeah, there's money coming from somewhere.
00:11:56
Nate
So my thought process was, let's stick it out and see where the money comes from, see how this goes. And so I stuck it out after, let's see, I stuck it out through high school, graduated early.
00:12:08
Nate
I actually graduated my junior of high school ahead of everybody so I could get out and work full-time. um And that's when I realized that
00:12:17
Kyle Richardson
What's that? That puts you at what? 17.
00:12:19
Nate
Yeah. Yeah. I was 17. Yep. 17. And that's when I started making some, you know, good money at that time. It was $8 an hour, but I was still making, I mean, you're working 40, 60 hours a week.
00:12:32
Nate
I mean, you're making real good money at that time. It felt like.
00:12:34
Kyle Richardson
Well, this is, what do you think? Oh, nine. If I'm doing my math, right.
00:12:38
Nate
Oh, seven. Uh, yeah, it would have been oh, six, oh, seven.
00:12:39
Kyle Richardson
Yeah.
00:12:43
Nate
Um, so I graduated high school would have been oh, eight is when I graduated. Um, And so I ah did that all early and the money was coming in and I was like, okay, there's just some money at $8 an hour. Let's ride this out and see where this goes. And so at 18, I kind of pushed and and um and it was like, you know but if I can make $13 an hour, I can make this much money at 40 hours. And if I make $13 at 60 hours, I can make this much money. Well, needless to say, i I realized real fast that there's money in this industry.
00:13:15
Kyle Richardson
Yeah.
00:13:16
Nate
And um and that's that's kind of where that took me. i mean No, I never would have thought that there'd been this, and and not like we are out here being millionaires or something.
00:13:26
Nate
you know we We live good lives. We all live good lives. I wake up every day and say, you know my life is somebody else's dream at the end of the day.
00:13:33
Kyle Richardson
Exactly. Yeah.
00:13:34
Nate
and But can there be more money? Absolutely, there's always more money to be made, but we live ah we live a good life for what we do.
00:13:41
Kyle Richardson
Exactly. We can't complain about anything really.
00:13:42
Nate
Right, exactly.
00:13:44
Kyle Richardson
Now, would you say, I might phrase this question wrong. This is industry wide for anyone listening who works in the industry. They got to go out and earn the money. You know, you have to work for it. It's not as a boss. You're not just going to look at them and go, you know what? I want to give you more money or yeah, we would love to, but you also got to prove it. And.
00:14:09
Kyle Richardson
I mean, you started at six, seven bucks an hour, and now you're making decent money in the industry of sales and general manager, but you've earned the money. You've worked for it.
00:14:17
Nate
yeah Yeah, I think we all have to work for it no matter where you're at. I think but the i think you know i tell i got three kids. I got a 12-year-old, a 7-year-old, and now a 21-month-old. and I always tell my 12-year-old because she's you know she's in sixth grade now and and and making her way through. and and I always ask her what she wants to do and you know where she wants to go and if she wants to go to college. and you know I tell all my kids,
00:14:41
Nate
you don't have to go to college. I didn't finish college. I went for a little bit and realized really fast it was not for me when there was be there was money to be made. My eye was on the money and not on the um madam um graduating college at that point. and i mean i also wasn't I also wasn't in the mindset or really in the space where I felt like I could go to college and afford it at that time, and it all makes sense, so I went straight for the money. and But what I tell my kids is, you don't have to go to college. You just gotta work a little bit harder than the rest. I mean, college is great, and I don't i don't have anything against going to college. I don't have anything against a degree. I think it's great, um but it's not for everybody. And the biggest thing about that is, the college degree is gonna help you get in places. It's gonna open doors. It's gonna put you in,
00:15:31
Nate
Places that you wouldn't necessarily get to be if you don't have a degree But if you do if you if you don't have a degree you just grind you grind and you meet people and I wouldn't be in this industry for 21 years in three different places if I didn't grind and talk with people It really is yeah, just do a good job Do a good job
00:15:45
Kyle Richardson
And you know what, there's so many easy things people can do that. Yeah, you can consider it grinding, but it's so easy. Show up early. Be nice to your boss. Yeah, exactly. Just do what's asked of you and you can go pretty far in this industry. Every company across the country is looking for good quality people to work for them.
00:16:07
Nate
Well, and and just like, you know, my story starting out at the, at at A's, you know, when I moved to Bryant's, I moved down to Bryant's in Lexington and and that was because my ex-wife at the time was going to college down there. um Not at the time. and She was, we were dating at that time, she's now my ex-wife, but we were dating at that time. That took me to Lexington, Kentucky and I had to start over and prove myself. Yes, I brought knowledge, six years of knowledge and and hard work to the table, but when I came to Bryant's, it wasn't like, you know, it's very rare in this industry. And I think you can agree that many times we get a knock on our door that says, Hey, I'm a tank guy. I'm looking for work.
00:16:50
Kyle Richardson
Well, and you're skeptical because if they're good, why are they looking for work?
00:16:52
Nate
Why are they leaving? Correct.
00:16:54
Kyle Richardson
Yeah.
00:16:54
Nate
And nine times out of 10, if they are good, they're going to come from a reference first, then because they're moving or something, then, you know, then they're knocking on your door. So with that, you know, when I went to, when I went to Bryant's, I, I actually just started applying to places, um, around the Lexington area. And I was actually going to go work for Tommy at all occasions in Cincinnati. Um, and I decided that I wanted to be closer in Lexington and not have to drive back and forth like that. Cause it's still an hour and a half drive. And, um, so ultimately I just started putting out applications and I got really lucky that I found Bryant's and when they call me.
00:17:33
Nate
call me in for an interview. I mean, it was a pretty hard interview. It was Terry Bryant, Scott Bryant, which is his son, and then it's actually Scott's wife, who is at the time a therapist. And so she was really judging me to feel it out, you know, to to feel everything out.
00:17:47
Nate
And so, you know, they, well, yeah, they they thought like, what's this guy doing?
00:17:49
Kyle Richardson
ah Obviously they thought something was wrong with you if they brought the therapist in.
00:17:55
Nate
Why is he leaving? Why is he coming here? And so I had to kind of explain myself and make, you know, make it clear of why, why I was coming down here and when I was, you know, why I was chasing this dream now. and And it was also good. I mean, I think that anybody that anybody that can venture out and and leave their hometown is also good. I tell i tell i tell everybody at home, you know I love going home. I love visiting. I love seeing everybody. I do miss my family and I miss seeing my friends at home. And I'm only an eight hour drive away or a plane ride, but helping what helped me as a kid
00:18:30
Nate
that was just in the work environment and didn't go to college and getting out was to get out of the hometown and kind of venture out and and socialize and put myself in other environments and see that there's other environments outside these this this area, of this city. And so when I came to um when i came to Bryant's, I kind of explained that, you know, and that's why I came down here. And and also, I'm not gonna lie, I was 21 years old in the college town. What am I what am i what am i not chasing?
00:18:58
Kyle Richardson
and you're chasing a woman.
00:18:58
Nate
but Yeah, i was chasing a woman, but I was also like, man, you know, I didn't do this, but I didn't, I missed the college thing. Let's go down here and have some fun. So, I mean, I'd be lying if I didn't tell you that, you know, I started back on a truck and when I moved to Bryant's after working my way up at A's and um and there was times where we'd go out till two, three, four in the morning and.
00:19:19
Nate
but we were always
Leadership & Career Progression
00:19:20
Nate
at work at seven o'clock on the dot. And then we got right back on the truck and kept going. So as much fun as we had, you know, we, you got to grind and just like you, what you're saying, I mean, as long as you grind it out, you can go have fun.
00:19:32
Nate
You you got to pay to play though. And, uh,
00:19:35
Kyle Richardson
What was your position when you left A's?
00:19:38
Nate
I was more of a, I was doing some expo stuff with them doing some larger jobs, but I was, Mainly my focus was ah we did a lot of expo shows. So like food shows and things like that. um Traveled to French Lake, Indiana a lot. There was, you know, down there at the casino, we'd do some expo stuff. So a lot of pipe and drape tables, chairs, things like that. So I would, I was heading that up for a little while um doing different shows and so doing a little bit of sales and managing that aspect. And then I was actually doing some sales stuff with Notre Dame.
00:20:12
Nate
learning in that part. um So kind of managing big jobs, managing expo stuff while still kind of running crews when I needed to and things like that and going out. I mean, really, at A's it was kind of a everybody all hands on deck all the time type deal.
00:20:29
Kyle Richardson
Exactly. Yeah. Well, that's I bet what 70% of the businesses in the country.
00:20:33
Nate
I mean, look at you. I mean, you do the same thing.
00:20:35
Kyle Richardson
Yeah. Yeah. We call it lean and mean is how we run fits.
00:20:40
Nate
Yeah. I mean, you know, I mean, so, but yeah, that was my position when I left A's. And then when I went to Bryant's, it was like, Hey, we have a spot for you. But you know, you, it wasn't like, Hey, you're going to jump on a truck and lead a crew. Hey, you're going to jump out of the office. Hey, you're going to be at the top right away. I mean, it was really, when I got to Bryant's, it was, Hey, you're going to go jump on a truck and you can learn and you can ride. And honestly,
00:21:07
Nate
I was kind of put back by that in a way because it's like, man, i just I'm getting knocked off my pedestal and put back down, but you know they offered me a really good hourly rate at that time. and I was probably making more than some of the guys there, but I also had to fall in my place to understand that, hey, I may have this wealth of knowledge, but I also needed to to kind of learn how they do things before I can jump in and do my thing.
00:21:33
Kyle Richardson
Do you think looking back, they were, they wanted you to earn the respect of everyone else?
00:21:33
Nate
so
00:21:38
Kyle Richardson
Cause you know how hard it is. You come into a new company and if you immediately get put, not at the top, but just above some guys who have been there for a long time, you're gonna have a rough road ahead of you.
00:21:44
Nate
Oh, yeah. yeah
00:21:48
Nate
I don't think that you want to do that either. I think that you want to build that camaraderie with everybody. And that was kind of my thing was, yeah, it sucks. I'm going to have to suck up my pride a little bit. But at the end of the day, I'm willing to do that to make everybody else want to work with me here. And if that takes a year or whatever, you know, and Honestly, it allowed me to have that more freedom because I didn't have as much stress having to lead anything or do anything. So I was able to go out till four zero in the morning or three in the morning and have fun and party and just jump on a truck the next day and not have to drive or anything. And so, yeah, I think that they wanted me to build that up and they showed me, you know,
00:22:24
Nate
they They didn't tell me, but it was kind of, it kind of was felt that, hey, you go jump on a truck and you learn. But then when the guys, I had a ah driver by the name of Nick, and then we had another guy that rode with us and drilling. And so it was us three every day. And we would, they would give us more routes than anybody. Cause we could do stuff the fastest. We would jump out of the truck and try and put up the stuff as fast as we could where everybody else was kind of, you know, dragging butt. And it was just, it was one of those things where I could,
00:22:54
Nate
I felt like I came in there and my crew did the best because I was able to push them to do the best where they might have not been pushed before, but I was able to do that from the passenger seat rather than heading it up and driving the bus.
00:23:06
Kyle Richardson
Yeah. So how long were you at Brian's? You started, you said you were 21 years old.
00:23:09
Nate
but
00:23:12
Nate
Yeah. I was there for 10 years. Um, so 10 years for the first year, uh, I was on, I was, I was sitting in the passenger seat, but I actually happy year. I was sitting in the passenger seat. Then the other half of the year, I finally started leading a crew driving. Um, but a second year, I kind of, we were there running short-handed in the office and answering phones. And, and so I'd finish all my routes early and I'd be done. You know, we'd leave at five, six o'clock and I would be done by.
00:23:41
Nate
one o'clock every day, two o'clock. That varied, but I'd be done early. and so I'd go sit in the office and kind of watch and learn and kind of observe everybody in the office. and Then um after seeing a couple of times, you know they got short-handed or somebody called off in the office. If my crew was done early, I'd go sit in the office and answer the phone. I didn't know the computer system yet or anything like that, but I was able to answer the phone. um and kind of just route the phone calls at that point. um Then from there, after routing the phone calls and kind of doing that, I i took it upon myself to learn the computer system. And it was it was like a slow process of learning the office. um So I kind of taught myself the office. Well, then from there,
00:24:28
Nate
I was like, well, this I can do this. Let's go on to the dispatch part. And so I started learning the routing and how to route stuff and how to do stuff a little bit more efficiently. I mean, and Scott and Terry were doing great, but at that time, scott was doing most or Terry was doing most of the um he was doing most of the routing for everything. and you know, as an owner, I didn't feel like you needed to be doing that. And if I can do it, I'm going to take it on. So I ah looked at it and said, Hey, I can do this. Let me take it on. And so I started doing the routing and then it was kind of just became natural from there that I took on the routing, did some stale stuff in the office also, uh, also went ahead and, um,
00:25:10
Nate
Then still did some big jobs and then moved into just tempting just instead of making an actual deliveries I did just all the tending big jobs along with the routing and I did that for about a year or two after that and then kind of was like, hey, let me let me just take over this this. I can manage this, I can do this and that. And it wasn't ever told to me that, hey, you're in this position, you're gonna do this. I kind of slowly put myself in those positions to where they were like, okay, now we feel like we can, Terry and Gail and Scott feel like they could leave the building or they could go on vacation or they could go to ah you know ARA conference and they could leave and and I can handle the place.
00:25:52
Nate
So then it it kind of became after that that, I just naturally became the GM and and started running it.
00:25:59
Kyle Richardson
I bet that happens a lot across the industry. but you know
00:26:06
Kyle Richardson
I'm just as guilty of it. Promoting someone and giving them a title, oh, you're now dispatcher or you're now warehouse manager. or the It's tough. I get it. And you don't want to just promote someone because you don't know if they actually want it. But I have guys who like you just said, they just kind of fell into it.
00:26:26
Kyle Richardson
They said, oh, you know what?
00:26:27
Nate
Right.
00:26:27
Kyle Richardson
I can take care of that for you. And they just start doing it. And a week goes by, two weeks go by. And all of a sudden I'm like, oh, well, he might as well just be the warehouse manager now.
00:26:36
Nate
but But what year was that?
00:26:36
Kyle Richardson
And then I
00:26:38
Nate
Was that recently or was that how long ago was that? When's the last time that somebody walked in your office or walked in the building and even said, hey, let me take this on. Let me do this.
Industry Challenges: Labor & Work-Life Balance
00:26:50
Kyle Richardson
have one guy right now. But yes, the majority of them was seven, eight years ago.
00:26:56
Nate
See, and that's that's the thing about this industry, and and that's what we need to get everybody to see, is it can be done. it it You can make money in this industry, but it's not even about making this money in the money in the industry. It's, hey, who's willing to step up so that you can lead this company, or you can do this, or you can do that, and so that you can get paid, and you can do this. i mean I think right now we're at a point where the these this new generation can't see five steps in front of them.
00:27:29
Kyle Richardson
Yeah, they don't they don't see the future down the line.
00:27:29
Nate
you know it's They don't, and they don't see what the potential is of a company. i mean You and I both know, all the people that work for us, i mean there's a lot of them that are like, hey, I don't have enough money to barely pay my rent, and I'm like, I know how many hours you worked this week.
00:27:45
Nate
I know what your paycheck was. I know actually what your bills are.
00:27:49
Kyle Richardson
Okay, I said that to someone today.
00:27:51
Nate
So, what what do you mean you don't have that? and and And then, yeah, not only that, but it's like, okay, where's your money, but do you want to make more money?
00:27:55
Kyle Richardson
Where is your money?
00:28:03
Nate
Okay. Yes, you do. If you don't want to live payche paycheck and you want to make more money, what are you going to do to to make that happen? What direction do you want to go in in this company? Show me.
00:28:13
Kyle Richardson
Well, and the industry is so much different now. I would say just since post COVID. So from 2020 to now, like Saturdays are not a mandatory thing anymore for us here. We made the change in COVID, you know, the guys got used to not working Saturdays every Saturday and every Sunday. So we go into it now knowing that they don't want to do that. But what kills me is I'll say, Hey, I need five guys on Saturday to do a job. but
00:28:41
Kyle Richardson
There's weekends where on Monday, a guy will come in and complain to me that his paycheck wasn't enough last week, but he didn't take the Saturday hours.
00:28:49
Nate
Yeah, yeah. And I love all my guys. and and And, you know, they, they will do that same thing. I do have a lot of guys that are willing to take it. But I mean, this industry's got a lot of burnout. And we know we all know that. So there is a lot of times where I'm saying where they will volunteer. And I'm like, Are you sure you want this work? I know you need the money. I know you want the money. But you've now worked 12 days straight. Why don't we take a day off?
00:29:18
Nate
Or you know it could be because what happens is when we really need them on that Saturday and we really want them to work or we need them to work, then that's when they don't want to work and they don't want to take the money and they want to complain about it.
00:29:26
Kyle Richardson
Exactly. Or better yet, their wife's upset with them because they've worked 12 Saturdays in a row.
00:29:28
Nate
but
00:29:34
Kyle Richardson
And now she's yelling, Hey, I want to spend the day with you, which is what is happening as everyone's getting older on our crew is I'm hearing i'm hearing it more from the wives and potentially the employee.
00:29:40
Nate
Right. Well, not only that, with us. i mean With us, we're more travel. so you know Our guys can be on the road 24, 30 days depending on what type of job it is and may not come home. and you know It's like Mike Holland always says, it takes a gypsy soul to really be on our side of the business to be able to go and do that. and I don't know I used to talk about wives. I think my this would this would be my second divorce if I was to do that. and you know so I try and look at it from those guys' standpoint. and yeah We try and get them a day off or two off and and be home in between jobs whenever we can. i mean It's tough in this industry to to really... When you're grinding, you got to grind because we know it's kind of become a full-time or all year long business where it used to be six months on, six months off.
00:30:33
Nate
where, um, and, but now it's like, if you're not grinding, you're not going to get those jobs back. And so if you're gone, but Hey, we got to, we got to make hay for the winter, you know, and we got to build that up. And luckily we have one really good customer right now that kind of carries us in the months of, um, January and February to get us back to March. But I'm in all reality. And We're dead in December and even July. I mean, what's it like for you guys in those months or when's your guys' low months?
00:31:04
Kyle Richardson
I ended up picking up one or two decent jobs in December, July. We purchased a company eight years ago that did only fares. So that kind of backfilled our July and August, which was always dead for us.
00:31:16
Kyle Richardson
But yeah, January, February, we're doing nothing right now. um pay I'm paying guys to sweep the floor 10 times a day, the same spot, just because you don't want to lose them.
00:31:19
Nate
Yeah.
00:31:26
Nate
Well, I'm looking at that. I mean, that that's the thing. We don't want to lay people off. We want to keep people. and And I think that's the give and take right there. Going back to your Saturdays and hearing the wives and hearing everybody be upset about how they need the days off. We could lay a lot of guys off or we could say, Hey, we don't have work for the winter. I'm sorry. You we got to get rid of it. You know, it,
00:31:50
Nate
But I think that that's always been, that's always, when I was at Bryant's and I was running Bryant's, that was kind of our mentality. We had you know enough employees that we probably didn't need even half of of them in the wintertime. And we would die out after Christmas because we did some Christmas parties and things like that. But going into January, February, March, you're paying people with no i mean one or two tickets a day and and it becomes also, you're fighting you got guys in there fighting for contracts just to get out of the building, you know just to get out and go do something. um But yeah, i mean we we want to give those Saturdays off but we're also, it's a give and take. If you're working 20 days in the at the busy time, it's because in the winter time, we're going to keep you on, we're not going to get rid of you. You've earned it, you've done everything for us, now we're going to do everything for you.
00:32:40
Kyle Richardson
Yeah. I mean, I have a different mentality that my dad does and he's slowly coming around to my side. You know, when he was starting the business, it was never say no, take every job, get it done. I don't care. We need the money. Whereas now it's, I'd rather just take the jobs we're making money on. There's no sense losing money.
00:33:04
Kyle Richardson
just to keep a customer happy. It's the hardest conversation to have when you look at customers you've been doing work for for 10 or 15 years and go, look, we ran numbers and we're not really doing that well on this project. So we're going to have to raise your price 15, 20% right now. And they think you're trying to screw them and hopefully your competitors are all priced in line and realize that you've just been doing it for too cheap. but Less is more. I'd rather do less work and charge more money and put more money in our pockets and have less overtime because we lose so much money on the overtime.
00:33:40
Nate
Well, I think a lot of people look at this industry as a cash cow. Everybody sees that it is a it is a very profitable industry going back to making money. Yes, we can all make good living. We can all live a really good life and be fine.
00:33:54
Nate
But at the end of the day, it's at the expense of our employees. And the biggest, like, you know, I tell a lot of friends that I have and um outside of this, they you know, they see what we do and how cool it looks and everything else. And they, you know, some investor buddies that do different things. and And they see this industry as a cash cow. And i I always tell them, I was like, it might look that way. and it And it is profitable. But at the end of the day, it's all about the labor. And so depending on which direction this, you know, the this world goes,
00:34:24
Nate
I mean, the labor is harder and harder to come by now. I don't know what it's going to be like in 10 years. And so yeah, I think it is.
00:34:29
Kyle Richardson
I think it's going to be much worse.
00:34:32
Nate
And we've had that conversation many times, but I think that, I think it's, it only gets worse. It doesn't, it doesn't get better. Um, we gotta to find ways to, to keep these guys and to keep these guys, you've got to give them time off.
00:34:44
Nate
You gotta, and so when you come to a customer, Oh, they do.
00:34:46
Kyle Richardson
they care They care about the benefits package, the new generation. They want to know how many PTO days they get, how many sick days. Do you pay me if my wife has a kid?
00:34:57
Kyle Richardson
Do you have mental health days? Do I get a cell phone? How long is my lunch break? All that stuff. That's what they want to know.
00:35:04
Nate
Can I work from home? And, you know, I'm as guilty as anybody about the work from home thing, and I have been ah blessed with the ability to do that. ah And I'm not always in the office, and I mean, I'm either working from a hotel, I'm working on the road, I'm traveling, but there's days where, you know, I tell Mike, hey, I'm going to work from home this day, and I can do my job from home. And I think that everybody should be able to have that ability to work from home if their job allows.
00:35:31
Nate
If their job doesn't allow, it's a totally different story. um you know I've learned from my wife and the way that she's ran her management style is, you know as i'm not gonna I'm not gonna big brother you. I'm not gonna watch over you. I'm not gonna, if you have an appointment, if you have to go for your hair appointment, put it on the calendar. If you've got to take your dog to the vet, if you've got to pick up your kid, put it on the calendar so everybody knows where you're going, but it doesn't mean I'm gonna big brother you.
00:35:57
Nate
We just want to know if you're out of the office, where you're going, and what you're doing. And I think that the older generation has always seen that as, well, they're taking advantage of us, and they're taking advantage of the system and everything else.
00:36:08
Nate
And I was one of those people that looked at that when I when i ran Bryant's. And and and just thinking, um you know they what are they getting done? What are they doing for me while they're gone?
00:36:18
Kyle Richardson
Thank
00:36:19
Nate
Why are they not here? you know But now, it's like firsthand learning from my wife and seeing how she does it.
00:36:21
Kyle Richardson
you.
00:36:25
Nate
she's got some of the best employees she's ever had that way. and it's It's giving them that flexibility and being able to do. and My biggest thing about that is until you show me you're not doing your job and you're not getting it done and you're not capable of doing it without somebody watching you, then you got all the freedom in the world. But the minute you give me an England of um you know knowledge that you're not doing what needs to be done, then I'm going to pull the reins in.
00:36:48
Nate
you know so The benefits and everything else, you know that's great. and I think that you know they're they're all about the time. and and That goes back to not being able to see five foot in front of them is they want it here and they want it now.
00:37:02
Kyle Richardson
Yep.
00:37:02
Nate
and It's not always the pay.
00:37:03
Kyle Richardson
Well, work-life balance is here and it ain't going anywhere.
00:37:07
Nate
Oh, no, it's not. but
00:37:08
Kyle Richardson
We have to figure out how, as an industry, we can account accommodate it because there's no way around it. If you want to keep staff long-term moving forward, you need to start looking at how you can accommodate work-life balance.
00:37:23
Nate
Well, that and, you know, you don't, I was talking to somebody the other day. I mean, you know, who um I believe, you know, who I was talking with is, um, you know, I won't mention names, but when we were at the conference, it's like, people don't understand until they have kids. And, you know, I know you don't have kids, but you know, it's a totally different world. You know, I,
00:37:48
Nate
just Monday. I had, uh, all three of our kids had to be at school separate times because we had a two hour snow to delay. So I'm taking, we got one that's got to be it there at seven 30. We got one that's got to be there at nine 30. The other one's got to be there at nine 45 and three different schools in three different places around town. Okay. So my wife and I both had big jobs. I mean, no job is um my job is no bigger than hers. Her job's no bigger than mine. And at the end of the day, we got to divide and conquer. And what time did I get to the office? I didn't get to the office almost 10 45 in the morning.
00:38:18
Nate
And so in that time, though, it's not like I wasn't doing anything. you know I'm on my emails. I'm taking phone calls. I'm doing this and that. I'm still working to do what I can do until I get to the office. And so it has to be a work-life balance because of everything that goes on now. You look back at our parent generation. I mean, how many times did your dad make it the make it to you know any plays or things like that because he was working?
00:38:45
Kyle Richardson
Exactly. And you know what? He had no other choice back then. He had to be at work. And it was, who can I lean on around me? Meaning him to help out with the kids. My mom, her parents lived three miles away and I spent a lot of time at my grandparents' house because I knew my dad had to go to work. He had no choice. And if I could, I was with him.
00:39:09
Kyle Richardson
I don't know, you know, looking back now, I don't know if that was a benefit for him. It was probably a lot more work having to deal with me than me being there.
00:39:15
Nate
yeah
00:39:15
Kyle Richardson
But yeah, it was a much different time than, than it is now, I think. And what worked, what worked back then will not work now.
00:39:22
Nate
Oh, yeah. No, I mean, I had an employer at one time tell me that I needed to choose between my grandfather's funeral and a big job that I had to go set up and if I was going to have a job or not when I came back.
Knowledge Sharing & Employee Value
00:39:37
Nate
And I mean, I couldn't imagine looking somebody in the eyes today and saying that, especially some of my best employees. You know, it's back then, I think, too, it was people are willing to work harder and so we'll find them.
00:39:50
Nate
I mean, we, you can say that everybody's replaceable in this industry. And for the most part, they are because we're, we're all, I mean, we're all laborers at the end of the day, but you can't replace one human's knowledge, you know, that that has been working with you for so long.
00:40:08
Nate
And, and so I think with that, you know, it's, it's also explained to the employee, listen, I don't mind to help you. You just got to help me.
00:40:17
Kyle Richardson
Exactly.
00:40:17
Nate
And yeah.
00:40:17
Kyle Richardson
There's a give and a take in every relationship.
00:40:20
Nate
Yeah, I'm not saying as an employer, we should be giving everybody everything. Don't give them the world, but at least and have a mutual understanding that, hey, I'm going to do this for you. If you do this for me, and we'll have a good mutual relationship here and a good working relationship here, and you'll be here for a long time and ah and and we're in a good spot. But you got to have that mutual respect for each other. and you can't You can't just look down on everybody and beat up on them. I mean, it's it at some point, everybody's human and everybody breaks.
00:40:46
Kyle Richardson
So you just brought up a good point. ah You mentioned you can't replace someone's knowledge. Do you feel like everyone tries to keep it in their own head?
00:40:57
Nate
Yeah, I think that if, uh, I'm going to do a little shout out call out here is, uh, Michael Holland, uh, alone to death. But if you ask that man any part or piece in anything about anything in our company, he's got it all up in his brain. No questions asked. Um, he can rattle off any part piece. And if we don't have it, he knows exactly what to substitute it for. And I mean, I've been doing this for 21 years and I have that knowledge too, but not down to the bolt.
00:41:26
Nate
And so, you know, he keeps a lot up top and I always give him hell because I'm always like, you know what, you got to give some of this up because you're not going to be in this spot forever either. So you got to give up some of this knowledge to people underneath you.
00:41:38
Nate
You got to tell people this stuff. And and I always look back on how I taught people and how I taught people was, hey, it's on the job training. You learn on the fly as we go.
00:41:51
Nate
You follow me and you watch me and you learn. I'm not going to sit here and tell you.
00:41:54
Kyle Richardson
Which is, which is horrible training. No, no offense.
00:41:56
Nate
Correct. Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. And that's, and I had to learn over time.
00:41:59
Kyle Richardson
But that's the whole industry. Everyone is doing that.
00:42:01
Nate
Right. But that's how we learned.
00:42:03
Kyle Richardson
Exactly.
00:42:03
Nate
We learned about, we learned by getting fed to the wolves. And you know, my best employee now, who is my operations guy in Nashville. I say best employee, I mean, in my natural office, not as Chattanooga 10 as a whole, but he was a teacher for, I think 16 years. um and I always told him, hey, you know we had a couple of other buddies that worked for United. and you know We always joked to them to come over to the rental industry. and I always said, if you want to come, I've um i've got a spot for you. Just let me know. And finally he called me one day and he said, I think I'm ready. And I said, I said, okay. I said, let's do this. And you know, we talked and he told me, he's like, I just don't know if I can do this. And I said, what do you mean? And he goes, ah the only thing I've ever known is teaching. I don't know tense. And I said, tense is not a skill. Coaching people and being able to lead people is a skill. Tense is something you can pick up on and learn over time.
00:43:01
Nate
And I'll teach you that, but being a good human and being a leader and being and a coach, and mind you, not only was he a high school teacher, he was the high school basketball coach for a long time too. So he knew how to coach those people up and and really...
00:43:15
Nate
teach them the ways and how we need to do things. And so he's been with me now for two years and he's still learning. But what I've had to learn with someone like him is you have to sit down, show the videos, you have to sit down and and thoroughly go through everything with them. Let them ask questions, sit there and really deep dive into it. And then the on the job training comes next.
00:43:37
Nate
The on the job training is some of the best knowledge that you can ever learn, but you have to grasp the concept of it first and really understand it.
00:43:44
Kyle Richardson
exactly
00:43:45
Nate
And I think the people that learn the best learn not only from visual, but you know learn from the words and the pieces and everything as a whole. So it's like compounding all those things.
00:43:56
Nate
Yes. People keep it up here too much and they don't put it on paper, show them the videos and everything else. and we gotta ah We got to teach this next generation now because I don't want to be in the same spot I'm in.
00:44:08
Nate
We all got to have a successor at the end of the day.
00:44:10
Kyle Richardson
exactly well in half the problem is
00:44:11
Nate
and if we
00:44:12
Kyle Richardson
You know, I get it from a financial standpoint. You don't wanna bring your new hires on till three days before you got income coming in because you don't wanna carry them to do nothing.
00:44:20
Nate
right
00:44:22
Kyle Richardson
Well, you gotta bring them in a month early and just, even if they're doing tents in your parking lot, that way, once you get busy, if you yell, hey, go get me a steak bar, at least they know what to go get.
00:44:34
Nate
Correct. and I think that 100% is. i mean That goes back to, do you keep the people on all winter long because they're good hard workers and and you're not getting income or do you let them all go and have to rehire everybody? Well, then the business c collapses at the end of the day and we all know that. and I think with you know the new hires, you got to bring them in a month or two early and you got to sit down and train and go over the things. Then you know you can't the that you ride that fine line and I've always found that the the right time for us and in the industry down here in the South is usually around March. You bring somebody in at the beginning of March and you train them all through March. By April, you're starting to get some little jobs trickle in and they can jump on those jobs and not get fed to the wolves. Now, I've had guys come in in September, October, and you either burn them out because they have no idea what the hell they're getting themselves into or they end up really good
Future Prospects & Podcast Plans
00:45:28
Nate
guys. I mean, it could go one way or another, but you have to be willing to take the risk to train them early.
00:45:34
Kyle Richardson
Well, I think we've had some good conversation on this, but in the sake of time, we're going to move on to our next conversation for this episode.
00:45:38
Nate
thank
00:45:45
Kyle Richardson
Let's talk about what you think 2025 brings for the industry. What are you seeing? How you feeling? Are you worried?
00:45:53
Nate
yeah I ain't never scared. Come on. Let's go. I miss 225, man. Hard to believe.
00:46:01
Kyle Richardson
got five years, five years ago, we thought everything was going to be great on January 15th, you know, and then what, March 15th, three months later, the world, the world collapsed.
00:46:01
Nate
I don't know.
00:46:05
Nate
Oh, yeah. I mean, um mean I quit my job and started a new job at the same month that the world almost came to an end, it felt like. So if we made it that far, then we can keep on going.
00:46:19
Kyle Richardson
Exactly.
00:46:20
Nate
Um, so yeah, I think 2025 is looking good. I think that it could be better. I think that it's still early. You know, uh, Mike and I just had this conversation the other day and, um, I mean, we always want to get more work and everything. Um, but I think in January right now.
00:46:37
Nate
January is kind of the month. I see it plays out like this. January is kind of the month that everybody gets back in the swing of things after a really hard year of events. We have a lot of conferences. We have the holidays. And so January is kind of where everybody picks up the pieces and starts to get everything back together. February is where everybody starts to finally hone in on everything and really nail in it down. By the end of February, we should have most of our contracts in and everything. um So with what we see on the board, I think we see a lot of big festival stuff. I think we see a lot of corporate events.
00:47:07
Nate
I think and think people that tiptoed around, we're not going to talk politics on this podcast, but tiptoed around the election um just to see which way it was going to go because people you know thought that we might go into recession and we were a little bit. I think that they might be coming back out to play. I think there's going to be some bigger corporations that might do some stuff.
00:47:32
Nate
The wedding industry is obviously always going to be there, but I think it's starting off a little slow.
00:47:36
Kyle Richardson
Do you feel like that goes up and down?
00:47:39
Nate
so yeah so I just had that conversation too. also think it's depending on who the planners are, you know, with for us, it seems like we got some planners that have some really high big years and they come out swinging and and they do millions of dollars in events that year and and they're just riding this, you know, high. And then the next year they're down and it might be two years that they're down. And then all of a sudden you get somebody that calls and it's that same person. You haven't talked to them or you haven't done a job for them, but maybe one a year after doing six and they're like, Hey, I'm back. Here's six more.
00:48:11
Kyle Richardson
So I'm wondering if it's, it seems like the plan is when I'm talking to them, uh, they're a year, year and a half out already when they're speaking to us.
00:48:18
Nate
Yeah.
00:48:18
Kyle Richardson
And I think that might cause some of the backlog is they get themselves on these events a year and a half early that once they're over, they don't have another one to backfill it the following year.
00:48:25
Nate
Mm hmm.
00:48:30
Kyle Richardson
So that's going to put them a year out again.
00:48:33
Nate
Yeah, and I, you know, i I talked with a good planner friend of mine the other day, and we were doing a site visit, and I kind of asked her what her years shaping up to look like. And she kind of gave me perspective on what she does. Now she's not a huge operation. There's only her and another person that works for them, but she has some very prominent people a customer wise that she takes care of in Nashville. And she told me her mentality on the whole thing is she does four jobs a year.
00:48:59
Nate
Um, she books four jobs a year. Now these jobs aren't small by any means. So four makes sense. Um, so she does, she books four big jobs a year, but she leaves it open ended to where she can book six because there's always going to be something last minute every time, all the time. So I think that, you know, they, a lot of people book themselves out, but the smart ones like that will also leave enough time for stuff to pop in and pop out just in case.
00:49:26
Kyle Richardson
Yeah, that makes sense.
00:49:27
Nate
But I think it's going to be a good year. I mean, I think, I think it'll be good. I think it's going to, it's, let's talk about it in March and see where we're at.
00:49:34
Kyle Richardson
Yeah, exactly. We have a much better pulse on the industry.
00:49:36
Nate
You know, yeah, we'll be at ARA and, uh, yeah.
00:49:37
Kyle Richardson
Are you going to ARA? Yeah, so we can talk to some people there and get a better idea.
00:49:44
Nate
We'll jump on a, jump on the ah podcast there, interview some people that maybe, maybe do a little on the road show.
00:49:44
Kyle Richardson
How do you... Yeah.
00:49:52
Kyle Richardson
We should just get our own booth, yeah.
00:49:52
Nate
See if we can come up with. Yeah. Yeah. The Kyle and Nate show.
00:49:56
Kyle Richardson
Exactly. We'll see. well Well, we'll find out there how many people actually listen.
00:49:58
Nate
Hey, the good news. Well, the good news at that point is we can get Kevin to come back on since he is on that side of the world.
00:50:06
Kyle Richardson
Yeah.
00:50:06
Nate
We can bring him in.
00:50:08
Kyle Richardson
God, I forgot about that.
00:50:10
Nate
Yeah, it'll be good. So we'll we have a good time. But how'd you guys 25 look?
00:50:17
Kyle Richardson
You know, it's funny. If you asked me that a week ago, I would have told you it looked horrible.
00:50:22
Nate
Yeah.
00:50:22
Kyle Richardson
And then I've had some good stuff rolling this week. So I'm feeling pretty good about it now.
00:50:27
Nate
Good.
00:50:28
Kyle Richardson
It's just, you know, so you get yourself to a point where you're doing so much recurring work that the clients feel like they don't need to tell you about it. They just assume you'll be there to do it.
00:50:41
Nate
he Yeah.
00:50:41
Kyle Richardson
So they'll be like, oh, I thought I had plenty of time to tell you about this, but we're doing a better job now of reaching out once January hits saying, hey, I want to get you on the books because we got some other stuff coming in that I want to make sure I got time to do the work for you. But I think it'll shape up pretty good. Labor wise, we use H2B, so I feel like I'm going to be in a good spot just to pace up on what my lawyer's saying, but you never know. like new, uh, team coming into office down there in Washington could throw a wrench and all of that.
00:51:15
Kyle Richardson
Uh, yeah,
00:51:15
Nate
Yeah, and I think we should, ah that's another topic I would love to hit on the HDB thing. We don't use the HDB thing, but I know it's a big thing in our industry, and I think it's definitely a topic worth talking about.
00:51:27
Kyle Richardson
we'll ah have to do that. So now that you just said, we got to talk about that. If anyone has anything they want us to talk about, you can find me on Instagram and Jay tent guy.
00:51:34
Nate
ah
00:51:40
Nate
Yeah, or you can find me. I mean, shoot me a text email or, uh, or hit me up on Instagram. That's the one 30.
00:51:49
Kyle Richardson
And, uh, yeah, if you want to be a guest, if you have a topic, a question, I think we're going to shoot to drop two a month is our goal.
00:51:59
Nate
Yeah.
00:52:00
Kyle Richardson
Hopefully it works. We will see.
00:52:02
Nate
Oh, it'll work. We're going to take this thing. We're going to keep it going. We got this. No questions asked at this point.
00:52:06
Kyle Richardson
Our first guest is already, uh, picked out the Mike, Mike Holland senior.
00:52:09
Nate
Nah.
00:52:13
Kyle Richardson
came at me at a bar that the industry needed a podcast. And this was only a week ago. And I was like, well, it's funny you say that because me and Nate have been talking about doing one. So he's excited. He wants to talk about putting pole tents up with chains, you know, all that stuff that gets him excited.
00:52:27
Nate
back in my day I walked up and down the hill both ways and oh yeah all right I gotta be careful he's my boss but yeah I think that'll he's one of the OGs of the industry um he's the reason why I came to Chattanooga other I mean
00:52:28
Kyle Richardson
hey Exactly. They didn't have trucks. They just carried it off in the warehouse to the job site.
00:52:44
Nate
I love you, Michael. You're one of my good friends. But at the end of the day, Mike Holland is a goat of our industry. I think he'll be a great guest, great, great conversation. And you know he's taught me a lot over just these five years, even when I wasn't working for him um you know in the other 15. But just in these five years, I've learned a ah hell of a lot from him and wouldn't be where I am today without without that chapter of Chattanooga Tent and continuing on. so Yeah, let's get him in here and get some good conversation rolling and we'll get this podcast thing on the, on the rails. We'll keep it on the rails. It might go off the rails a little bit, but ah we'll keep it rolling for sure.
00:53:22
Kyle Richardson
So when we have a guest, we're going to always end with one piece of advice they would give to someone in the industry. We'll start with us today. You go first Nate.
00:53:31
Nate
Yeah. I think my one piece of advice would be to get involved. Uh, don't sit back and watch. Don't, um, you know, don't stand ah do. um As long as you get involved, and that's basically what we hit on most of this podcast earlier, just put yourself in put yourself in situations that are uncomfortable. you know i My wife recently started a new job after 17, 18 years. and and it It was a great opportunity that she couldn't pass up. and you know After many talks, and you know we sat down and did a lot of praying. it was
00:54:05
Nate
What can you do to grow? And the only way to grow is to make yourself uncomfortable. So put yourself in situations and just go after it. That's what I would say.
00:54:12
Kyle Richardson
So for me, it's going to be network.
00:54:16
Nate
Yeah.
00:54:17
Kyle Richardson
Every single person, now I might be generalizing there, but majority of the industry, no matter who they are, if you wanted to ask them a question, send them a DM, send them a Facebook message, call their office.
00:54:31
Kyle Richardson
They want to talk to you. Guys like Mike Holland, senior guys like my dad, they love it when people ask them questions.
00:54:40
Nate
and especially Brian he'll snap at you a little bit and But everybody knows Brian and he's he'll give you all the advice in the world, too And they're intimidating don't get me wrong They're intimidating guys until you really get to know them and then you can just pick at them But they're really big teddy bears at the end of the day I mean brought Brian told me at the last conference that I'm a son.
00:54:42
Kyle Richardson
ah
00:54:47
Kyle Richardson
Exactly. They have all the knowledge, but they're not going to give it to you unless you ask them for it.
00:55:00
Kyle Richardson
Exactly.
00:55:03
Nate
He's never wanted so um You know, you just got to pull that stuff out of them. It's stuck in their heads.
00:55:07
Kyle Richardson
Exactly.
00:55:08
Nate
Just like we talked about pull it out
00:55:10
Kyle Richardson
And an alcoholic beverage in your hand will probably get more information out of them than you actually wanted. so
00:55:15
Nate
If you come with a bourbon or a beer, I can guarantee you, you're going to be there a while.
00:55:19
Kyle Richardson
Exactly. So with that, I think we just recorded episode one with Kyle and Nate. Kevin your episode is dead.
00:55:26
Nate
Good wrap up. Well, we love you, Kevin, and we'll get you at ARA. But ah this has been fun. I'm looking forward to it. Thank you all for listening. And yeah, we're out.