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Tailgate with Nate and Kyle!
42 Plays8 hours ago
Thanks to our Sponsors Anchor Industries
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Transcript
Introduction and Thanksgiving Stories
00:00:01
Speaker
I'm a train of redder man, I'm working all day. Getting mistakes in the ground no matter what they say. From sunrise to the night, make sure everything's right.
00:00:14
Speaker
Yeah, I'm a train of redder man, I'm working all day.
00:00:19
Speaker
Welcome back to Under the Vinyl, a rental management media podcast, where we go from tent tops to turkey leftovers without skipping a beat. Thanksgiving has officially left and wrapped up, and sweatpants have retired. Now we're barreling straight through the chaos of magical, stressful, joy joyful time of year and Christmas season, along with trying to battle labor.
00:00:38
Speaker
As always, Kyle, how you doing buddy? I'm hanging in there. It's finally cold in New Jersey, and I don't like it. oh don't tell me about cold. I got stuck in the north for...
00:00:49
Speaker
24 hours. It was a magical chaos. That was your brother's fault. It was my brother's fault. And although the snow was really great, I missed Thanksgiving completely with my in-laws. And so that kind of sucked. But um at the same time, I got to spend ah spend some time in Indiana. And so that was cool. But two airlines later and five flights, we are back in Chattanooga. And there's no snow on the ground. And it's cold outside. That sucks. Is the wife mad at you?
00:01:20
Speaker
ah No, I think everybody was just upset that I wasn't didn't make it there. Not in an upset way like they're mad, just kind of bummed out. I mean, I was kind of bummed too, looking forward to it and thought everything would work out perfect. But as you know, ah in the north, it's probably not the best time to fly through. So it should make really fun when we go up to Array of Wisconsin. So I've already told my wife, just be prepared that I probably will not be home on Saturday night.
00:01:46
Speaker
I think we should just let Robert Copley know to make beds for us in his house, because if we get stuck there, I want to at least you know get the full Copley experience. I have no doubt that it's happening, so we'll just have to play that by ear and see what happens. I saw you busted out the snowplows already.
00:02:01
Speaker
I did. I'd take everything out yesterday. so They're saying Friday night we might get some, which will be a little problematic for us over here at LNA, but
Christmas Planning and Event Management
00:02:08
Speaker
we'll get through it. So how was your Thanksgiving?
00:02:11
Speaker
It was good. I can't complain. I got no emergency calls for the tents we had out, which is always a good thing. But I was also kind of banking on that. Gets me out of dinner a little bit early. Get to go home, go to bed if I get a call because the heater's not working. But everything worked out. You got love that.
00:02:26
Speaker
What was the best Thanksgiving dish or worst Thanksgiving dish that you had? Best was the Bush Lights. But the worst? oh Turkey's just so boring. I don't know why people enjoy it.
00:02:39
Speaker
I literally just said this last last week, and you had a rebuttal to that. That's why I told you i liked ham. Well, you just... I think we should have, like, sirloin steaks or filet mignon on Thanksgiving, you know. Let's just change it up. We're a new generation, Nate. We can do that. That's our jobs.
00:02:57
Speaker
What, did you Like a civilized human or more of, like, a raccoon? Probably more like raccoon. Kind of figured that. We'll wait till this episode drop the second the episode before this drops so we can see if you're... Your sister has a rebuttal on on everything from Thanksgiving.
00:03:11
Speaker
Yeah, she hopefully she doesn't listen. But I'm sure when you meet her at ARA, you'll tell her all the mean things I said. All they have to do is hit play and we can go from there. but Well, let's shift over to the the event world for Christmas. You guys got any Christmas installs going on?
00:03:29
Speaker
I have a big Christmas party that we're starting this week. The event's not for two weeks, but we have to get it in there so that other vendors can load in. So that's the biggest one I got going on. We do it every year, so it should be fairly easy.
00:03:45
Speaker
We try to get better every year. i don't know if everyone does that, but, you know, we used to do vinyl on Duratrac for this job the first year we did that. And then i watch i'll learn that lesson I watched women's heels go through the floor.
00:03:58
Speaker
and wanted to cry while I was sitting there as the attendant. And then the next year we did plywood on top of Duratrac with vinyl. And then this year i finally convinced my dad, and Banks and I had a great conversation at Matra, and we bought Groove, and he was able to get it done for us within two weeks. So that all comes in tomorrow. I'm looking forward to that. And we're going to do Groove this year. so This episode of Under the Vinyl is brought to you by Anker Industries, a fifth generation, family owned, American manufacturer of tents and clear span structures.
00:04:30
Speaker
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.
00:04:50
Speaker
Contact your sales rep today.
Industry Practices and Collaborations
00:04:52
Speaker
Call 800-544-4445 or visit anchorinc.com to learn more.
00:05:01
Speaker
Making strides. great because I've already emailed you first thing this morning to ask you for pictures because I had somebody asking for it. So maybe we can get this sub-rental process going again. Yeah. Do you guys, do you find it more corporate style events um in the wintertime are you guys doing more individual backyard stuff?
00:05:21
Speaker
We are a corporate tank company is what I tell people. um But it's wintertime. So do you feel like you need to take some backyard stuff? And obviously you will, but do you feel like you are getting in?
00:05:34
Speaker
No, um I'm not going to do it for less than the winter, just for the work. We don't,
00:05:43
Speaker
I don't need the money. i That's the wrong way to say it. We are not going to lower the price just to have the revenue come in. um Because this time of year, it's no secret. Everything is harder. It's harder to put tents up.
00:05:56
Speaker
You have a snowstorm. That's all time. You're going to be out there making sure everything's okay. So I don't want to discount our work just to have work. And then also, like we were talking, o my H2B guys are gone. So I'm down to a staff of about eight guys.
00:06:11
Speaker
So they also are burning all their vacation time right now, which I love because they're not taking it in the summer. They all... kind of want to take it between December 1st and the end of January. I let them carry some over through January, um which works out really good for us just because they're not taking it in the summer.
00:06:29
Speaker
But like I have three guys out on vacation this week out of the eight. So there's five guys working today. So if an $8,000 job comes in tomorrow, I'm going to take it. Nothing going on.
00:06:42
Speaker
Yeah, I'll take that. But I'm not going to compete with a guy who's doing a 20 by 20 for 400 bucks. yeah That's just not the work we're going after. So you'll you'll do a backyard job. It just needs to be a higher price. yeah It's not that it's a higher. alarm at I'm just more expensive than the six other companies they could call.
00:07:01
Speaker
Right. Do you tell them that? Yeah. that we So New Jersey is weird. um And when I tell people this, they think I'm crazy. there's six companies within a mile There's six companies within a mile and half of where I'm sitting right now that we all do. okay Now, we're all different sizes, but we have a ton of rental companies in our market.
00:07:22
Speaker
A lot of them all are are on the smaller size. um And I have a bunch that, you know, when I can't handle something, or someone calls for a backyard 20 by 20 in June when we're slammed doing other bigger stuff.
00:07:34
Speaker
I feed the, the, some of these smaller guys, the work, which is great. and We have great working relationship. I got one guy who comes in probably three, four times a month and sub run stuff from us. And I love that.
00:07:45
Speaker
I'm happy to help him out. Whatever he needs. He can call me at five in the morning. He knows I'm here during busy season. He says, Oh, I'm 10 chairs short. Sure. Show up. You know, I'm here. Um, and I think that's the way the industry should be. We should all be willing to help each other out.
00:07:57
Speaker
Um, And you should definitely lean on your local competitors, I think is the wrong word, but friends. but friends Yeah, I mean, we have that same thing in Nashville where we have a lot of people. i mean, there's at least the same thing. Six companies, all different sizes.
00:08:12
Speaker
um i think a lot of those smaller companies are probably going to take more of the style work that we're talking about for the wintertime. That's when I see it fall off. We will we will still have some corporate stuff that will come in or some typical venue stuff that will come in, just depending on weather getting into December. I feel like we start to get down around – January, February, we're not really seeing much at all. um And not having the tables and chairs on that side up there, we don't see a heck of a lot.
00:08:40
Speaker
um But, you know, same thing. I'll take whatever comes in as long as they're willing to pay the price. um I mean, especially... do envy those guys who do tabletop this time of year.
00:08:53
Speaker
Yeah, I used to do tabletop this time of year. And, I mean, at Bryant's, when I was there, we were doing, shoot, in December, we were still doing...
00:09:03
Speaker
20, 30 deliveries on a Thursday and Friday. And then Monday we'd have 40 something pickups. So, I mean, yeah, I mean, the business is great. And it's usually about January after New Year's is when it really kind of dies. I feel like for those tabletop companies, you'll still get some parties, maybe some Christmas parties that don't happen in December that people move just because everybody's traveling and do it later in January or February.
Winter Challenges and Personal Stories
00:09:30
Speaker
But for the most part, you know, that and heater rentals feel like I feel like heater rentals are a hot topic this time of the year as well. um I don't know about I got a question regarding that.
00:09:42
Speaker
Yeah, we do here in Chattanooga. We rent out the patio heaters in Nashville. If anybody calls for heat, I'm automatically calling somebody that partner with to have them come do the heat for me. And my main thing on that is that what I've learned over the years is, you know, whatever heaters you use, you're going to have some sort of issue. um And I think that, you know, you make a lot of money on your propane sales and things from that, especially if you have a tank on site.
00:10:10
Speaker
But when it comes to the heater issues and problems, um it becomes more than what it's worth. And I found that you always have to have a tech on site if you're going to have heaters or somebody that's within the area, at least on call, or to have a second heater.
00:10:25
Speaker
Yeah, that was going to be my question is, do you require an on-site tech? Because we've started, you know, if it's a smaller, we did one of the Thanksgiving parties was 20 by 90. And I just... and i just overheated the crap out of it and I literally told the woman I'm like you're gonna have five heaters hooked up you should only need to turn two on but if one of them doesn't work you can just go flip the next one on just because it was kind of better peace of mind for me instead of having someone sit there on a holiday and I had the heaters available so it's not costing me any extra to have sit there
00:10:57
Speaker
Well, and not only that, but when weather suddenly decides to become a main character in the whole equation and and the the snow builds up on top of the tent top, you've got to heat that thing more than you would normally do to push that off. So I think you know accounting for a possible issue, praying that there isn't one, but also accounting for the snow and things like that for snow loads if it if it's coming.
00:11:19
Speaker
Yeah, we've seen some interesting things with ah snow on tents the last few days, Nate, haven't we? Man, yeah, we'll just go ahead and dive right into that. The people that are posting that we're seeing on social media of tent issues and tent tops in the snow, some of these issues are just self-inflicted and you need to do better.
00:11:37
Speaker
I'm going to put that out there now. Whether it be the heat inside the tent, the weight inside the tent, or just properly installing the tent with braces and things like that and making sure that it' snow load in certain areas, it's just crazy to me to The people that are in this industry that just don't give a damn, even though we're trying to make it a better industry. I always wonder, you know... um And let me preference that by saying everybody's going to have issues. I understand. And if you did everything right to make it work, then great. And you know, an act of God can happen. But at the same time, when you see that picture on there and you can immediately go to the very first thing that you see on there and say, there's part of the issue or there's part of the issue.
00:12:18
Speaker
I mean, there's no hiding it. If you're going to post it, you're not hiding it. Yeah. Well, and, You know, with the power of social media today, anything gets out there now. so Well, and people talk and people know, and and you and I and other people know enough people in the areas that we're going find out who it was and what what happened there and the backstories, and it's just comical.
00:12:40
Speaker
Yeah. But it's, you know, let's we're on the snow topic, so as well continue talking about it. You know, some advice for the smaller guys. You got to have a snow plan in place. What does that mean? You either got to be bringing in eight times as much heat as you think you need, or you're paying someone to sit there the entire time it's snowing. And that's typically what we do. We heat it. And then someone is sleeping there in a truck the entire time.
00:13:07
Speaker
And it is miserable. That was the worst part about COVID for me was yeah everything that was up every time it snowed. Oh, miserable. But you get it done. Well, with that, ah have you found it harder to deal with frozen staking in the snow as well? No, because of the 10-Aux, man. That's thing. It'll do anything.
00:13:27
Speaker
That's true. Another plug for 10-Aux there. Thanks, Andy.
00:13:34
Speaker
So trying to heat a tent the size of an airplane hanger with two tiny tiny heaters. I've heard people not knowing how to properly heat these tents. What are you going off of?
00:13:45
Speaker
I use, I'll either go on LB White's website, they have a nice heat calculator, or I think Heatstar has one too. mean Use the resources at your hand. yeah Like, the internet is a wonderful thing. I bet if you put it in chat, GBT, it'll tell you. Let's try that right now. Yeah, I'm sure.
00:14:03
Speaker
Well, and that's I think that's been a lot, you know, when you're competing with competitors ah over job quotes in this time of the year, and people don't properly heat it, they don't know what goes into it. And that's what I have found the advantage of partnering with another company that but specifically works in heat and HVAC, um because they are able to...
00:14:23
Speaker
They are able to spit it out right away on what I need, and then I can hold them accountable for it rather than the guy that's putting up the tent that should be held accountable. This is crazy what ChatGPT just spit out to me.
00:14:34
Speaker
zi I said, how many tentiers do I need for a 30 by 90 frame tent? I was just throwing a random number in there. And it says, the answer depends heavily on three factors, how cold it is and how warm you want it, the sidewall situation, wind conditions, and insulation level the tent, but that doesn't matter.
00:14:53
Speaker
Well, technically it does because they make the insulated sidewalls. I guess that's true. So then this is saying, so this also says if for 20 to 30 degree temperature drop, you want one BTU per square foot, which is probably sounds about right.
00:15:11
Speaker
Below zero, you want two plus. It's not practical without serious heat or sidewalls. I like that. Well, if I'm not mistaken, too, I think ARA has a calculator for this. We need to jump on. If you jump on the website there for ARA, you can dig through that and also look there. um But, yeah, I mean, there's just so many avenues I feel like you can go down with this that it's just unacceptable to not have enough heat, which also helps keep the snow off at the same time. I'm shocked that this knows all this information.
00:15:41
Speaker
AI scares me. Well, it does, but it's very helpful at the same time. i mean I use it a lot. What's more unpredictable, winter weather or a client saying small gathering?
00:15:53
Speaker
ah Client saying small gathering with a small budget and then they want to spend a lot of money. like Wait a minute. 500 people, small gathering, but we only want to spend $100,000.
00:16:06
Speaker
I'm inviting a few of my closest friends, 200 of them to be exact. That's usually the best one right there. is We're having a small wedding. Yeah. never small anymore.
00:16:18
Speaker
Is there a job in December that you think you'll never forget? That strikes that you'll just always remember? Not because anything bad happened. Chaos? I can remember doing there doing like... Back when New Jersey was scared, every time it snowed, we would build those linemen camps because we lost power one time like 10 years ago.
00:16:37
Speaker
So they would ship all these linemen in And I can remember like... putting these camps up in the middle of a snowstorm. It was kind of miserable. But then you do them, and then the snow stops. and like, right, you can take them down now. We're done with those things.
00:16:49
Speaker
That was all for
Holiday Traditions and Personal Reflections
00:16:50
Speaker
nothing. Oh, I had, back when I first... got in the industry the first six years. I was working at A's Rental in South Bend and where I just got stuck. Um, but we had a job, we did uh, ice sculpture festival and we were putting up 40 wide pole tents in end of December going into January.
00:17:09
Speaker
Um, and that was before 10 ox was like really a thing and they were on asphalt parking lots. Um, so we had Bobcats out there. Uh, probably about 12 to 15 inches of snow.
00:17:22
Speaker
And we were just pushing it out of the way, pushing it out of the way. um and that was back before we really got into structure. So we were putting, driving these stakes into asphalt. I just remember it was absolutely miserable driving stakes in ass hard asphalt with jackhammers, um, having to Having to come in with the compressor and pre-drill the holes and then drive the stakes in. and we were put up the 40-watt pole tents and trying to tie off rope still at that time. And it was rough. We were having people up there to kind of watch over it as it was all happening. But it was it was rough. say i'm too I was too young to go. But ah we helped friend of the pod, Tom Molitor at American Rentals in Detroit do the Winter Classic. I was probably – I was young. But there's pictures of our guys, like, inside the tents, and I guess it would snow overnight, so if the tops weren't on, they'd every day have to go in and shovel and plow out the tents before they put the walls on and stuff. Just miserable.
00:18:19
Speaker
But I can remember they all got there, they were so cold, my dad had to call and go buy them all, like, the big onesies so they could stay warm, because no one was but prepared for that. But... God. All the crazy stuff you do.
00:18:33
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. Well, let's jump in into a little ah Christmas tradition rapid fire here real quick. Got some questions. a Real tree or fake tree? We just switched.
00:18:47
Speaker
Well, we just talked about this the other day, but. I was a real tree guy and now I have a fake one, but I'm growing my own. So in seven years, to have a real one. I don't know what to think about that, but. um I'm trying to get a tax rate off. So I'm a Christmas tree farm. Come on. Oh my God. We, we have always gone real tree, but my wife is slowly looking at the fake trees this year and I'm not upset about it.
00:19:07
Speaker
um I'm the redneck that brings the leaf blower in the house after the Christmas tree goes down and I blow the tinsels and everything out the front door. Hey, um you should go real tree this year and then buy it in January because they go on sale. Real tree or fake tree?
00:19:22
Speaker
go Go real tree right now. Okay. And in January, buy your fake tree because they go on sale. I've done that before. The biggest battle that my wife and I are currently having is a pre-lit or not pre-lit. And I'm the more logical thought process of in four to five years when I have to junk this thing because I'm going to be tracing down the bulb for over two years to try and make it light up again.
00:19:46
Speaker
We could have just bought a tree that is not pre-lit and just put the lights on, but she doesn't want to have to put the lights on. Pre-lit, and then when the lights go bad, you just put lights on it. Duh. Save yourself the labor for a few years.
00:19:58
Speaker
Could do that, I guess. um Eggnog, elite, or terrible? Terrible. Man, I'm not an eggnog fan, but there is um some alcoholic beverages out there.
00:20:15
Speaker
I think Evan Williams actually makes it is a alcoholic eggnog. So it's got to be, it's, it's got bourbon in it. I mean, it's not bad. That's the only bearable thing for me. You still stick with the Bush light. Bush lights, baby.
00:20:30
Speaker
ah we've We've been having this next one, ah this next debate in our group chat, and I think it's been passed around. But when is the correct date to put up Christmas lights? Black Friday. After Thanksgiving.
00:20:42
Speaker
Anytime after Thanksgiving. Yes. Why would you? People are just skipping Thanksgiving all of a sudden. My wife tried to get me to go by a tree last week, and I just wouldn't do it because I just couldn't get past. I couldn't get to Thanksgiving. And granted, we don't do Thanksgiving on Thanksgiving. We do it on Saturday. And technically, I just missed Thanksgiving as a whole this year since I was on in the airport. um But yeah, I think everybody more and more tries to skip Thanksgiving. It's really weird. But it it also goes into our next one here. Christmas music before December 1st, acceptable or criminal?
00:21:14
Speaker
Criminal. i I can't do Christmas music as a whole. I don't mind it for a couple days, but I just, Christmas music gets me. um I feel like I'm just talking about how much I hate holidays right now, but I really do not.
00:21:27
Speaker
Producer Lauren is shooting daggers at you right now. Hey, you'll have that.
Industry Wishlist and Gratitude
00:21:32
Speaker
um What is one childhood Christmas tradition that your family or you have? Tradition?
00:21:38
Speaker
Yeah. I know Brian's got to have some kind of tradition, right? Well, he buys himself Hess truck every year, which I think is oddly strange, but he has like every Hess truck from the 80s till now.
00:21:51
Speaker
And he doesn't buy one. He buys like 10 and then just gives them to every child he sees randomly between now and Christmas, which could be seen as strange. But he's Hess truck He's a giving man. And so do you guys have any kind of tradition that you guys do?
00:22:04
Speaker
No. We're boring. And then? i I'll go back to your, we'll go back to the tent industry Christmas list then. Let's talk about tents because that's what I love. You're just, I thought you were a family man. I tried. Someone this weekend, Nate, was like, Kyle, why don't you watch football? And I was like, well, if there was a TV show about tents, I can guarantee I would not miss an episode.
00:22:25
Speaker
That is weird that I can't talk football with you. I can talk everything else, but not football. You want to talk snow plowing, tents, heavy equipment? Trucks? Well, give me give me a little bit of a list or I can start on a Christmas list that you would want um as a 10 industry. or for For you and your business, even.
00:22:46
Speaker
o Where should I begin? I'll start. I want Ramsey Ducom's truck. The Monster Max of the 10 industry? The Monster Max, yeah.
00:22:59
Speaker
That'd be number one under my tree, please. My number one would be for a client reads a contract. That's good one. Yeah. That would be my first one. Any to get client that reads totally different.
00:23:11
Speaker
Every job? That's not bad. To be respected. I can get really deep right now. to To be able to act like the lighting company and do whatever you want, charge whatever you want, and never get any pushback, but God forbid the tent guy ever does that.
00:23:26
Speaker
Yeah, I would agree with that. Or a crew that shows up early without bribery. How about that? How about this? Every lighting company and design company to clean up their mess when they leave after the event so you don't have to do it?
00:23:41
Speaker
The zip ties. The zip ties will get you every time. It gets me. Drives me nuts. How about a forklift or a piece of equipment that you rented to just work properly and not have to deal with any issues? Yeah, I wish I could be an equipment rental company when they break. Shout out, Joe Baltz.
00:23:57
Speaker
I'll be there in a week. Sorry. Oh, man. I would also think... This is a wink, wink. A new warehouse for next year would be great for Nashville. New warehouse in general. like Imagine if you could afford an Amazon warehouse. like ah Oh, man. The the thing is, like you could never...
00:24:19
Speaker
pack it you would think but we would find a way to pack it with stuff i mean our our warehouse in nashville is is adequate enough for what we needed and we can continue to pack it out and that's why we're needing to find something new but when people tell me they buy a building i'm like or buying a building i'm like you should buy double what you think you need because you'll fill it in a year well it's just party reflections yeah i mean they were even filling the upstairs with all the couches and furniture still that place the place was huge and it was full Yeah, I mean, wild.
00:24:52
Speaker
I think my last one would be coffee that never runs out because I am just a giant caffeine addict when it comes to work. What about loyal customers who don't care about price? Oh, man, that could be a whole other podcast, I feel like.
00:25:05
Speaker
feel like this industry is not as bad as that, but there's some, you know. Well, there is. I think that it's not necessarily like I run into it with one venue.
00:25:16
Speaker
It's not necessarily like them always doing it. Not really them at all doing it. It's always they got a customer that comes in and kind of is contracted through them and then they come to us because we're the preferred vendor.
00:25:30
Speaker
They get our pricing and then they go price shopping. Of course, the people that are not in that venue because we're we're supposed to be the exclusive one are going to try and get in and they're going to lower the prices, especially this time of the year. And then they come back to us and they're like, well, this person's price was this. And then you either battle the process of why you're that much higher and have to explain it or you have to match it. And I'm not one that likes to match.
00:25:53
Speaker
No. Well, there's always some institutional knowledge, especially with venues of like things that you know, because you work there all the time, that a other company does not know. Yeah. No, I would agree with that.
00:26:05
Speaker
The institutional knowledge gets you far. And so I've decided it's all about what you know. or Or who you know. Well, hey, there's none of that. Come on. It's a lot about who you know, apparently, but.
00:26:18
Speaker
Well, moving on here, let's go to some more serious moments, some end-of-the-year gratitude. What are some end-of-the-year gratitude that Kyle might have? I got to give it to a lot of my vendors. you know i can be a little difficult sometimes because you know we don't order stuff just to have it sitting here. When I call and I need something, I usually needed it yesterday.
00:26:40
Speaker
So got to give a shout-out Kevin Karcher at Intentional because – He gets the brunt of those phone calls from me, and he also gets the ones from the when something's not right.
00:26:50
Speaker
um And he owns it every time. you know No manufacturer's perfect, but he gets the the heavy end of Kyle's anger sometimes. um So shout out to him. I hate that I'm about to say this, but Andy Matrix, the man gets so much love, but he also bails me out a ton. We have a bunch of machines, and when something goes wrong, he always knows what to do or who to call. or When you have 15 10-oxes, I'm sure he does bail you out. That's a whole other topic we could talk about. I might be nice to Brian. you know
00:27:24
Speaker
He's good. We fight once or twice a year, but other than that, he kind of lets us run this thing, and I do appreciate that. so That's good. And you, Nate. I guess I've got to give you some gratitude.
00:27:36
Speaker
Man, appreciate that. I was wondering if I was going to come in hot there or not, but I'm kind of, you know, mine would kind of be industry relationships just as a whole ah through this year. We've had a big year, I feel like, and just the partners that we've partnered with as, you know at Chattanooga Tent, you know, just people, helping us out with sub rentals and things like that.
00:27:56
Speaker
um You know, and just having those industry relationships, developing those industry relationships to be able to call on somebody to help bail us out or, you know, um even just help us out ahead of time with sub rentals and different things.
00:28:09
Speaker
um I think that my teammates just as a whole at Chattanooga tent leveling up, I think we've had a lot of growth is, you know, not even just a sales team, but just from the top, all the way to the bottom. I'm proud of our guys as a whole, just in some of, I think starting at the beginning of the year, you know, we just had some huge projects starting with, you know, even the Titan stadium ah and as one. of update I told you. Yeah.
00:28:35
Speaker
Moving all the way through all the way to the very end on these, we had two, two garden tents and the same week to finish out the season and in two different areas.
00:28:47
Speaker
of the country. So it was just great to see everybody pulling together and pulling in the right direction to finish. You know, everybody was at their wits end as we all are coming to the end of the year, but everybody was pulling in the right direction to really, um, get to the finish line. And we finally made that. Um, and then ah think the growth for this podcast, um, I think the ARA has helped us a lot to help grow this podcast and give us a different platform and some different spaces and some different people. And I appreciate everybody that has reached out that says they're listening, which I also just make sure you're still subscribing, that they're listening and, you know, just giving us feedback even, or even coming to us and just telling us like, you know,
00:29:32
Speaker
And they're glad to hear the things that we're saying and that the issues that they're having, are they're not alone in.
Holiday Gifts and Future Aspirations
00:29:38
Speaker
um And to be able to help those people kind of bounce ideas off and talk about different things has been fun. So we've kind of created a, ah as you and I were talking, a sense of, ah I'm not a therapist, but I feel like we're becoming some therapists for the rental industry at some points. And I'm not mad about it. It's fun. It's fun to talk. Just talk with everybody about the different things. But um and then just personal shout out to my family, my wife, my kids, everybody. I think that um yeah I'm grateful for.
00:30:07
Speaker
We've had a really shitty year personally, but I'm just and we're ready for 20 for 25 to be over. um But I think that overall, we're just grateful for where we're at. So it's been it's been fun.
00:30:18
Speaker
One last shout out. What's that? Lauren Mao for dealing with all of us all the time. Man, we the text word's not easy has to get the text messages that she has to get from us on a daily basis. Don't say us. It's you. Hey, I'm very particular.
00:30:33
Speaker
But she's handled it well. She's not tried to fire me yet. So we're good. So I'm happy. So yes, thankful for her as well. A couple more questions here, Kyle. Best Christmas movie.
00:30:46
Speaker
Elf? I don't know. Elf. I'm an uncultured swine, as some would say. i've ah We've already got Home Alone on in our house. We ran through Home Alone last night. I you put that on your Insta story.
00:30:59
Speaker
It's December 1st, baby. I watched Seabiscuit last night, in case you were wondering. Okay, definitely Christmas vibes. I understand that. um Worst Christmas song. I'm going all of them. All of them. Yeah, there you go. Yeah, i want I want a hippopotamus for Christmas. That's a horrible one.
00:31:14
Speaker
I just couldn't. I'm just not a Christmas song person at all. I'm the Grinch when it comes to Christmas music. My wife tells me I'm the Grinch, too. Do you have a gift that you regret buying? No. i We could get on this gift topic and hear're goingnna everyone will judge me. But I got to a point in life where I'm like, it's so I don't know why I'm buying gifts for people. Because most of my people I buy for just buy themselves whatever they want. And then I feel like I'm wasting money on something they don't actually want. And I hate that well feeling.
00:31:41
Speaker
then you got to be very intentional. Um, in our side of the family, I will get gift cards if that's the case. And I will say here, go buy what you want. I know it's yeah not as thoughtful, but we're at the age now where I want you to be happy with your gift and not me spend a bunch of money on something that you're going to toss out to the side. I feel so guilty. So my mother-in-law is one of those people who refuses to do the gift card or the, or just straight cash, which is my preference. Cause I like it and go buy beer with it.
00:32:09
Speaker
Um, And then she buys me something and I yell i don't yell at my wife. I'm like, honey, I'm never going to use this. the other Last year she bought me a hot dog maker and it does you put like two hot dogs in it and the buns.
00:32:22
Speaker
Yeah. Which I thought was cool, but then my wife returned it and I never got to use it That would have been a good idea for Brian's pool. Margarita machine and a hot dog roller. I don't think I went in his pool at all this year.
00:32:34
Speaker
That's one of things about growing up that sucks, Nate. You don't go to your parents' house anymore. Well, going back to gifts, I am going to challenge my kids this year. My wife and I have talked about this several times because my daughter is now 12 years old going on 22. And she is asking for gifts that are just out insane insanely outrageous on prices. You're shooting for the moon.
00:33:00
Speaker
Yeah, well, they' she's shooting all right. Shooting for broke. She is wanting so many things that we've decided we're going to go to them and ask them to name three things that they got last year for Christmas. I like that. And if they can name ah if they can name three things that they've done, then we will we will look at getting them the gifts that they're asking for. But I know for a fact that my son cannot name maybe even one gift that we got him last year. We also make them, right before Christmas, we do a Christmas clean out.
00:33:32
Speaker
um And we make them go through all of their toys and they have to donate a bag of toys each. um, that they don't use anymore to kids and, um, you know, the less fortunate kids and, and make sure that they know that it's not about the gifts and it's more about the family and everything. Um, we also only do you're going think our house is really strict, but we only do we only do a want, need and read.
00:33:58
Speaker
So it's not just, you, you get a ton of gifts and and they pile up. You get a want, you get a need and you get a read. Do they know Santa doesn't exist? So our 12-year-old does. Our 8-year-old is there.
00:34:11
Speaker
And then obviously our 2-year-old doesn't know. But it's – I think the only good thing about the 8-year-old – I think he doesn't really know. I don't know. It's all over the place. Yeah.
00:34:24
Speaker
we have that damn elf on a shelf, which I could just throw out the window and it would never come back. We tried to hide it for a long time. And our 12 year old found that our 12 year old finally realized that Santa's not real. The elf isn't real. And this damn thing keeps showing up at our house doing crazy stuff. Um, so now she's actually participating in helping us with it. So that's kind of took the burden off of us and the elf on the shelf. Um, but my eight year old bought the elf on a shelf clothes yesterday at the store Which means he still thinks that it's real, which means that it's got to come back, which means I got a whole nother year of the damn elf. I was hoping that two-year-old... Don't you have to do that like today?
00:35:01
Speaker
Well, yeah. I was hoping our two-year-old wouldn't know the elf and it would never be a thing. But now that our eight-year-old still thinks it's a thing, now everybody's going to know what it is and I got to keep doing it for years to come. right. What do you want for Christmas?
00:35:13
Speaker
Ooh. What I... I don't really want anything physical. Unless it's an experience. um but We've talked about it several times. i am I'm an experienced person. I don't want gifts anymore. I want to go on a vacation um or I want to go do something with my family. You know, we were talking about this year possibly going to the beach um for for New Year's. We did it last year. It's usually around in the 60s, and it's not too bad. And obviously can't out in the water, but we can just kind of hang out. But that was really fun to experience with them. But I think we're going to hold off this year because I think I'm going to do a big 40th birthday party for my wife. Yes, I said that she's 40.
00:35:56
Speaker
And we're going to do that in May next year. And so I'm prepping for that because I think we're going to go out to wine country. Nice. We'll use that as – that will be the experience that we that we hold out for and maybe Christmas. And I really want a better 2026. I want everybody to be happy happy and healthy and just be – our family go back to normal a little bit, if that's a thing.
00:36:22
Speaker
You got anything? I started a scholarship actually this year okay at the college I went to. so Awesome. I've been telling people to donate to that. Is it called the Richardson Foundation? It's the Richardson Foundation. but I got a call from a a professor that...
00:36:42
Speaker
They do this national collegiate landscape competition every year. And I went when I was in college and, you know, I was fortunate enough that I could afford to go. And he made a comment that there's some kids who wanted to go that couldn't afford it. And I said, well, what can I do about this? And I talked to the school and I created a fund. So every year I get to pick two students to go.
00:37:03
Speaker
And it's one of those memories that I have from college that I'll never forget. I got 30th out of 5,000 people. That's pretty good in my head. but I mean, that's pretty good. I'll give that to you.
00:37:15
Speaker
Yeah, so I decided to start a scholarship for it. And the goal is one day I can actually pay for someone to go to college. But start small and see what happens. Well, you need to start recruiting people out there to help out with it.
00:37:28
Speaker
I'm working on a one-sheeter today, actually. There you go. There you go.
Podcast Conclusion and Listener Engagement
00:37:32
Speaker
Well, Kyle, it's been great talking to you. Good episode here. um As always, friends, make sure to like, subscribe, drop a review. um i think what we need to do is to, um why don't you guys send us, see if we can get some people to send us in, text, email, call, drop something on the Instagram. um Send us your wild Christmas events or stories and we'll read the best ones on air coming up over the next month and we'll see if we can get some good stuff going on here. But, We'd love for anybody that's got a um any good stories or questions or just about winter tending, if you can drop them in the Instagram DMs. And, ah yeah, we'll come up with some good episodes. I think we got some, like we said last time, we got some um good guests coming up.
00:38:16
Speaker
um So we're excited for that lineup and for the for the people that are going to be coming in. So I think that'll be fun. But we'll be closing out the year, I think, with a bang here. Yes, sir.
00:38:27
Speaker
And the more graphic the story is, the better. There's no shame in telling everyone about the failures. No shame. Shame, shame, shame. But, alright, well, this has been another Rental Management Media Podcast. Kyle, we'll see you later, buddy.
00:38:41
Speaker
Thanks, Nate.