Transcript
Speaker: Welcome back to another edition of The Better Contractor. Today, i am joined by my co-host, Alex. We decided to let him back on the podcast because he got a haircut recently. Alex, what's up? be back. two Two episodes. Two episodes, which is about two weeks. Yeah. Been a while.
Speaker: Good to have you back, man. Appreciate it And I am joined by my wife, Annie, who is the VP of Lander Corp, business partner, and off obviously wife. So, welcome back. Two episodes in a row. Thank you.
Speaker: And if you're watching this on YouTube, yes, we're dressed exactly the same as the last episode because we filmed it 15 minutes ago. So, sometimes you got to do what you got to do just to get stuff done. We're gone a lot next week, and filming will be difficult next week. So, doing two back-to-back. So, This one, Alex is going to ask a few questions. So some y'all that's been following us for a while and engaged, a lot of you guys are younger and you're probably thinking, who is Brenton? Who is Annie? And who's this couple behind Lander Corp? So...
Speaker: At episode 91, we decided to answer those questions. So Alex, where do we start, man? 91, it's been a while. So um there's a lot of husband and wife that call themselves a team and say they run a company together. But you guys like actually mean it. You both have a role. You both have your jobs within the company. I think that's really cool. So I wanted to do this podcast to kind of yeah show our viewers what this actually looks like. So let's start at the very beginning.
Speaker: starting Lander Corp. Were you both on board? How did you start? How ideas start? What did that look like? You to start you want to? Well, It started because Brent found that he did not really like working for other people. I really don't.
Speaker: And after finding that out, then, you know, we needed to do something. Yeah. had to pay bill some yeah yeah um So, yeah. So she was in law school in Michigan and I was still here in Illinois. And,
Speaker: had worked outside, so grew up on a family farm. She grew up in a coal mining family. And going back, so right after college, decided, you know what, I'm going do something different for a while.
Speaker: Got a job, a decent job, luckily right out of college. It was managing the industrial division for a company. And that industrial division did something similar to what we do at Lanarkort, but not exactly. It was still very different. And did that for, I think, nine or 10 months and just absolutely hated.
Speaker: Not the work, working for someone else. I have always been kind of visionary in, let's change stuff, let's do new stuff, let's grab new business. And I i was bored with that. It didn't seem to, that didn't seem to be their focus. I just got bored with it. Quit and went back to the family farm for a while.
Speaker: And then decided I'll do a few jobs like that. because I know how it is. i know how to do it. And then that was 2006 when I worked there, 2007 when we started Lander Corp, which back then was Midwest Vegetation Control, something different. um And grabbed us a few tiny, tiny contracts. Did most of those at night because I still worked other jobs during the day. And that progressed very quickly from 2007 to 2009. 2009, we incorporated to what is now And by that time we had several clients and you were still in law school, right?
Speaker: Yeah. In 09. Um, we didn't actually even move in together. got married in 09, but we actually lived together until 2012. So a little bit of time in between, but, but.
Speaker: It gave me a lot of time as well, though, to really kind of get that business. Because during that time frame, one of the things you lack a lot is time. So her being three states away allowed me to focus on that. And then her being in law school allowed us to set Actually, was at Murray first. Oh, yeah first yeah susan i was yeah yeah yeah. Yeah, she was still doing her undergrad, actually, at first. Then took a year off to help raise her niece and then went to law school. So that's why it was so many years. I was trying to do the math in Yeah.
Speaker: um But then being in law school, though, that helped us set up the business a lot as well. So, you know, at 24, 25 years old, i am someone who's just like, just go for it. Let's just go for it. And she was like, well, maybe you should do this and maybe you should do that. So it did allow for a lot of those systems and processes we talk about now to be set up then. Now it was more of a legal process. We didn't have the apps and everything we do now for the business side as much. But I think i think we did pretty good the beginning. And both was on board. 100% I was on board from the beginning. yeah It was whatever he wanted to do, whatever vision he had,
Speaker: i I 100% knew that he was going to make it happen, and i knew I could contribute, and whatever we could do to make a life together. Yeah, and i think that was probably one of the best things in the beginning.
Speaker: i could see where, especially at that age, where your spouse or future spouse lives, would not like the amount of time that you're busy doing what you're doing. And that was not something we had to really fight about. Now, does that mean we didn't want to? No, it doesn't mean that. It just means we understood what we were doing and where we hoped it would get us. So we were on board with that vision. We were both pretty dedicated to making sure while we were dating before we got married, that we were growing into the people that we each wanted to be independently. And that then we would also make a good team after we became those people. Cause I think that's a big mistake that people make is that either they do two things. They, they grow and they change and they drift apart or because they don't want to drift apart. They, they don't put any effort into growing and changing both or bad.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah. That's awesome. So you're in the stages of dating, engaged, and married all while Lander Corp is starting. yeah What do those first few years look like? So you started it, and then you have year one, year two, year three. I mean, you guys are in three different stages of your relationship. yeah Three different states, too. Yeah. so you're away from each other. What do those sacrifices look like? Do you guys have to make sacrifices for each other? How did you guys...
Speaker: still take time to see each other even though you're starting business you're working at least 60 it was a it was a lot of late nights um she would come home so she had like i said she was kind of helping with her niece at the time a lot too so she was coming back a lot um we would see each other then she would also try to obviously see her a lot as well her family Um, but yeah, I think I went up on average probably once every three weekends was probably about what it was like. So, but mean, some of those weekends was like working all day Friday, leaving at 6 PM and arriving in Lansing at like, like we would do dinner together one night. Sometimes. Yeah. And then he would turn around go, sometimes it was cause it was nine hours home. So it was like seven and a half to a year. And so you drive seven and a half hours. Yeah.
Speaker: So 15-hour round trip for a dinner. And then... There was not a lot of sleep. I'll put it that way. yeah But then we'd stay on the phone. sometimes Sometimes... And our sleep schedule was different, too, because I was studying up late, and he'd go to bed early and get up early. So there's sometimes we would... It wasn't...
Speaker: It was Skype. Is that what it was? It was Skype. Skype. And so I would have the, yeah, I know. I'd have the computer set up so I could see him. We'd talk before he went to bed. Then he would go to sleep. I would still be studying. He would, his alarm would go off he'd wake up the next morning. I'd still be Skyping him. I'd like, why are you still on the screen? like, I'm doing, I'd say good morning to you. You've been watching me sleep. What the world is weird.
Speaker: But yeah, so it was in a nutshell. was probably every few weekends. And then we just made the most of the time we did have. Yeah. But it was intentional. It was, and that's a thing, like, if you're in the same room with somebody for eight hours and you're sitting there and you're both scrolling on your phones or you're watching TV or youre whatever you're doing, are you really spending quality time?
Speaker: Like, every time that we got a chance to spend time together, it was intentional and it was meaningful. so And I will say that was probably, and thankfully we looked it that way.
Speaker: um You know, did we have all the evenings where we liked Netflix and chilled? No, we didn't didn't have any of that really. But we did have that quality time for those 48 hours or whatever. And we did jam pack it full of you know activity or go somewhere, do this, see this. So it was a lot of, you know, more quality time, I guess, intentional time together, which looking back, I think in some ways that was better. Right. Because ah it did allow us to focus up at a stage in our lives where we needed to focus up. I mean, even whenever we got married, like the day that we got married, the day before he was coming back from a ah i was actually job in Chicago, a job then the day of he actually mowed and weeded this place. We got married. Yeah. We got married at a lake. And so I was in Chicago, drove the work truck back the evening before,
Speaker: and then went down to her parents' house, and then her grandpa and I went out to look at the, or your dad and I, I forget who, went out to look at the lot and were like, that was in one of those years where they had actually had so some cutbacks federally. So this was the federal part of the lake. And it was like a little point at this lake where she grew up.
Speaker: And for whatever reason, that year they had stopped like mowing every week, and they did like every two, three weeks. Well, this specific spot that she had picked out a few weeks prior hadn't been mowed since that week. So went back to her grandpa's house, got his zero turn. I'm out there like mowing and weeding and like raking and bagging to make this look presentable for any sort of wedding. And that was the morning of. Right. And then hurried back home. Actually, you did it twice because the one spot that you started, no, they told you you couldn't do it there. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Some guy came out and said, you can't have it here. It's got to be approved first. So then we did again somewhere else. Yeah. But yeah, then hurried back, took a shower, suit on, came back. Yeah. And then while we were on our honeymoon, then, because I, it was in the middle of semester.
Speaker: So I took the weekend off to come home and do that. And then took that week off, but was preparing for the moot court competition while we was on our honeymoon. So then he dropped me off at school and then he went back and started to work. Yeah. So look, looking back, some people say, that sounds terrible. Looking back, it was fun.
Speaker: yeah it was amazing lot of sacrifice yeah i like what you said about quality time i'm engaged and we're yeah and you're living a short is longish distance right now we've seen that as well kind of changed how we hang out yeah we went from living in the same city to just being together not really spending the quality time of course we went on dates and had quality time but now like when we're together it's It makes you think about the time you have more is what it does. Exactly. And we've both, we talked about this the other day. We both enjoy it. I mean, long distance sucks, but it's also, it's kind of changed our relationship for the book. Oh yeah, for sure.
Speaker: Intentional about that quality time. Yeah. Right. Okay. So now I think this is the big question that everyone's waiting for is when you're building a business with your spouse, I mean, you hear people talk about all the time is, They can't work together. They have to keep work and their life separate. You guys don't do that. You work together and obviously are married. How do you keep the business away from your personal relationship?
Speaker: We don't. was going to I don't think we do. I think the key there, at least for us, and every relationship is going to be different. um We very much each have different strengths.
Speaker: And i think we're very good about like letting the other person take theirs. like For example, If you need something done on time with a deadline that's very strict, you come to who? do you go to, Alex? You go to me or Annie. You go to Prince. I later were filming this podcast. Yeah, I know, right? If you need something a little more creatively done or someone to go meet with someone, that's kind of a weird conversation. do you go Annie.
Speaker: Yeah. So it's knowing those two roles partially, but it's also picking someone who – gets it. Not everyone gets business.
Speaker: Not everyone gets the amount that it actually takes. Like I think we see this fairy tale sometimes online or we see like some famous dude like Zuckerberg or someone who just hit it huge.
Speaker: That's a little bit different than 99% businesses out there. And I think we do a bad job of teeing up exactly what it looks like to own a business. Yes, you have freedom. Yes, there's a ton of benefits, but that's not without sacrifice. So I think you've got to make sure you have a partner who truly understands this is what we're up against.
Speaker: I'm not just in this in the beginning. I know this is going be a lifelong thing. It's not going to be just, oh, we're going grind it out for three years and then sail around the world for the next 30 years. If you can, that's great. Is that what most are? No. You got to find that person that that gets it, that doesn't freak out, because when there's going to be a day where you go home and you got to tell them, hey, this happened at work, or they come to you and say, this happened.
Speaker: You don't want that person to freak out and make whatever it is that you're trying to get through 30 times worse now because they're freaked out at home, threatening divorce, wanting you there, all these different things. And all of a sudden, that one thing compounded into everything now because that person didn't fully understand or wasn't bought into that. Well, and and on the flip side of that, you don't want them to freak out, but you also don't want the other person to be dismissive of things. True. yeah You don't want somebody clueless either. Right. And so I feel like that that is, yeah you know.
Speaker: But have me somewhere you can go to and say, this is what's going on. Do you do you have any ideas? Because I'm about out of ideas. It's usually beneficial. Well, and we're both problem solvers, which there isn't really a problem that we're like, oh, no.
Speaker: We're just like, okay, how are going solve this? Dump a bunch of ideas, and then let's go try some and see what works. But I don't like the phrasing of like being in business with some with your partner or whatever that is because I don't view it that way. it's This is just life.
Speaker: like it's When we wake up, we're living life. When we go to work, we're living life. When we come at the end of the day, it' is this is just living life. And I think that's what people, they want to put it in these boxes and then...
Speaker: they want to see this clear transition between, okay, we're working now. Now we're husband and wife now and the transition and and nothing's clean. Life's messy. Every day is messy.
Speaker: I think there's been a buzzword the last several years about like, balance and, and I get it and i agree with it partially. don't agree. i think it needs to be reframed though. And I think the focus needs to be not on balance, but it needs to be on intentionality. Yes. So, okay. I have, and maybe it's 30 minutes. I have 30 minutes I can spend with you or I can spend doing this.
Speaker: Go all in on those 30 minutes. And then if that 30 is done and she's got something she's got to do it I need to go back to work or we're both going back to work. Then you're all in on that specific item. I think the actual issue for most people today is we think we can like focus and like multitask.
Speaker: And the reality is we can't that well. And instead of doing one thing really, really well, knocking it out in like 30 minutes instead of two hours and being like hyperproductive, We're trying to do all these different things simultaneously, but doing none of them well, because our brain does have to focus to be able to do something right. And I think that's the actual balance that people to talk about. Well, and I think you have to actually know your person.
Speaker: Like, like it's so there's so many people like, okay, you date and you think you know your person and all of this, and then people start having problems, and then, you know, a lot of marriages end or whatever. Well, they probably didn't really know their person.
Speaker: Like, there's so much, we're so intricate as humans. Like, there's so many layers to us. And any given situation can cause us to act or react a different way. And if you think that you've dated a couple years and that you're looking at your like, I know everything about them, or there's stuff I'm going to learn, but, you know, like maybe...
Speaker: what their favorite color is, or like not deep things, but like, no, there's nuances to life. There's nuances to relationships and living a life together that you need to be paying attention to. Like I can look at him and I can tell when his eyebrows twitch in a certain way that like he's peopled out and he wants to go home. He's, he needs to shut down. Like There's little tiny things, and you don't learn those by blanketing over things and like, oh, now you're married, and now you're just going to live happily ever after together. No. Now's when you put in the hard work, and you learn all of the tiny details. Like, he knows me whenever I have put myself out there too much. and
Speaker: I need to have a timeout because I'm an introvert. And he helps me protect me from myself. And I think that's what the other person needs to do is sometimes you have to protect them from their self. Because all of the good traits that they have, they keep pouring in and pouring into people.
Speaker: Those good traits also are going to stress them. So your role as a spouse is to... protect them from themselves sometimes and protect them from outside forces that are coming in like take the reins sometimes and and block that so that they can be the best version of themselves but it can't just be one side it has to be both people that do that i think that's huge and i think too if i had to give some advice to like people in their 20s or however old that are kind of on the dating scene and wanting to still do business I think in your 20s, I can even look back at ours.
Speaker: Life's different. You know, so this person that you seem super compatible with at 25 whatever age, I would challenge you guys to think, okay, this is what I want in life. I want to do this business thing. Okay, now now that's established.
Speaker: Now let's fast forward 10 years. In 10 years, we have a business. It's doing, let's say, 10 million and in revenue. I have whatever that looks like, 30 employees.
Speaker: at that stage and there's some stress and you have some employee drama or you have whatever business is throwing at you that specific week Is that person, and I put, so I need to put that person into what I think how they will handle that situation in life. Because the fact the matter is the 25-year-old version of you who maybe has a lot of free time, doesn't have a ton of responsibility yet, maybe they don't have any, whatever this looks like in your 20s, fast forward that to your 35, fast forward to your 45, and put that person in that box of this is probably now my new surroundings,
Speaker: This is the stressors that we are having every day. And how does that person fit in there? Well, and also, in there not do how do they respond with their best characteristics? How do they respond to that with their worst characteristics? Because the worst characteristics of your person are going to be the characteristics that hold you back as a couple in life. yeah Not their best. Of course their best is going to push you forward.
Speaker: It's take all of his bad characteristics, and if that happens. It's a pretty small amount. If that happens, how are those bad characteristics going to set us back as a couple? Take all of my bad characteristics and my responses to that and in in that isolated environment, how is that going to hold us back as a couple? Because those things, there's your there's your stunted growth.
Speaker: if And if it's acceptable to you, if the worst worst characteristics that they have are acceptable, then then move forward. Because you're not going to find somebody that doesn't have bad characteristics. Right.
Speaker: You just have to find a set of bad characteristics that's going to allow either your strengths to overcompensate for, and then you trust each other to move you both forward through that because they they know that that's a weakness. And then when their weakness is shining, you let them take over. And when there's a shining, your yours takes over. But that that is humbling too. That's a humbling thing. And I think that kind of ties, a little bit of this ties back to someone, maybe both of you talked about like the ability to have some independence.
Speaker: So like having this time period where you become who you are fully without the other person. And I think the reason that's important is If as you get older or whatever, whatever relationship stage you're in, if you are that person's thing that fulfills them and fills them, I think when the business gets rough and things turn bad, which is going to happen sometime to time, I think in those moments, then that person almost resents the business because it's taking your time. And we don't, you don't want that situation. Right. But sometimes it's just the reality that you have to, you have to walk through that for a while sometimes.
Speaker: What you don't want at home then is your partner to be someone who just is constantly like you're choosing the business over me or, you know, they're, they're not fulfilled. And that doesn't mean you don't try. That's not what I'm saying. I'm just saying it is something that can compound this issue here and then make it worse here. But again, going back to intentionality, you should be showing up for both. But I'm just saying there's some personality types that can handle that a lot better than others. Well, and that's the other thing too. Our, both of our personality types are very unique. And, um, I think it, it sets us up to be successful as a couple in business and also be successful as a couple.
Speaker: Yeah. We're both very like strategy focused. So like, you know, when we talk about some of the business stuff at home, we don't spend a lot of time on the problem. We don't really spend a lot of time on the feelings part of the problem either.
Speaker: No, we don't. And even like, if that's something that we need to talk about feelings wise, like a lot of times it's like, Hey, I need to have a feeling conversation. Okay. Well, I, this thing came up. Can we have it later? How there's not a lot of people that that would go over very well with. yeah Like, so Hey, can you put your feelings on the side? Cause we need to deal with this and then we'll circle back around to them in maybe a day or two. Yeah. um And that's something that we're both able to do. Not everybody is able to do that.
Speaker: And I think with that too, we're pretty direct. I feel like personally as well, which some people would not i'm not, some people would not like, but I think for the right people, I think it's ideal because we, we don't spend a lot of time in the gray.
Speaker: Like, yeah yeah. The gray area is a waste of time and it leads to just like, and i feel like it's emotional games. Yeah. And that's that happens a lot in relationships. Like you see these emotional games where it's like, OK, I'm going to do this because then he or she is going to know that this is a big deal. And then they're going to ask me about it. need them to ask me about it. Like that's just a waste of time. And then you have this tiny problem that turns into weeks and weeks of pouting and and everything like who who has we don't have time for that.
Speaker: What I think, I'll wrap and then can ask next question. I think too, the thought that came into my mind when were all talking was being aligned on your like values in life. So like we knew upfront where we were both aligned on faith.
Speaker: We knew upfront if we had to pick like these six kind of core value things that were important to me, those six were also important to her. Sometimes people overlook that when you're young, I feel like. It's like, oh, we get a along great. We have a lot of fun together.
Speaker: I think throughout life, through the different stages, one of the things that will ground you as a couple is being able to say these these are core pillars, core values, whatever. These things are important in my life. I don't want to fight with you about that. We need to be aligned on at least those things. And and maybe that's faith.
Speaker: Maybe that's just how you handle a situation. Maybe that's how you interact and how much time you spend with family. Like we all have these like non-negotiable things that are super important to us. And I think you've got to have those things figured out up front. And if, you know, all the people we've mentored, we've talked about like non-negotiables. You should have those because there are going to be things you do have to give on.
Speaker: There's not going to be two people who are just completely identical, perfect match, no work is needed or involved. But pick, hey, I can deal with that. But, man, we're not gonna talk about – a faith thing or whatever it is.
Speaker: That's a non-negotiable for me. I can't do that one. i I trust we're aligned on all of those things in a way that I would let him speak for me in whatever setting, because I know that whatever comes out of his mouth is going to be something that I, I agree with on the big things, nuances. Maybe I would handle it different nuances. He's definitely going to handle it different. um But on those big things, I, he can speak for me and I know that it's aligned.
Speaker: And that's with business, with personal, with with anything that we're going to be on the same page with those things. ah So you mentioned not playing those stupid high school relationship emotional games with each other.
Speaker: And you also mentioned not sticking, not spending too much time on the problem, spending more time on the strategy and how to fix things. Is that how you guys go about disagreements or arguments? Are there other ways you deal with those? Because you have personal relationship disagreements, arguments, then you have a business disagreements and arguments. So how do you take those on? What strategies you guys use?
Speaker: Well, I think for the most part, a lot of times we work like the the business ones are definitely black and white. um If personal ones get tied up in that, but it's a business issue, like it has to be the business first.
Speaker: And then we talk about the personal issue. after that Because with business, we don't there isn't room for personal disagreements when you have a business with people that are depending on you.
Speaker: So we exclude that from that. Personal-wise, we both... That's one area that we both... it's We've grown so much with um with handling that. And really, communication is the biggest thing. Because he he handles confrontation so much different than I do.
Speaker: He does not... like it he likes to take time and just be quiet and think about it i'm a process at first he's a process at first and i'm a we're gonna figure this out now and we're gonna get it completely done and hammered out and then we can move on with our with our day and so though that's probably been the biggest area where probably we grew up very differently i don't want to speak to that too much, but we grew up a lot.
Speaker: We grew up and with a lot of similarity, but we grew up very different on how those things are handled, just ah and how we in our families growing up. And, you know, I think that's probably been one of the things we've had to work on probably the most as an adult. is balancing those two, you know, both were probably a little bit more of an extreme, um you know, but I think we've done that well. You know, we're not perfect. I'm not a lie and act like we're perfect at it all. um We're not, but I think we try very hard to at least hear the other person out during a disagreement. There's been a few probably that, we've had to come back to at a different time. Like three.
Speaker: Yeah. Like, Hey, let's take a breather. Let's just let this be for a second. yeah because it's fine She, uh, we can both be bullheaded, um, especially on certain topics and passionate of, guess about, uh, the topic. So sometimes we got to come back to it, but at the end of the day,
Speaker: I think you've got to put emotions will always play into a personal relationship. but I think sometimes you got to put those aside a little bit and be willing to hear the other person out and say, OK, I don't get it why they're mad about this. It does. This is not a topic that matters to me.
Speaker: Obviously it matters to them. I need to remove myself from it, put myself in their shoes and ask because they need to feel heard. Yeah, yeah they need to feel heard. So I got put myself in their shoes and say, okay, even though I don't get it, I need to understand where you're coming from. And I think that's where sometimes like when I say like, I just need a second to process this. That's kind of probably what I'm doing is trying to put myself in her shoes and say, okay,
Speaker: I don't get it, but all right. I see where you're coming from. So I think that helps a lot too. So, yeah. But at the same time, those like the bullheaded, the passionate, those things, those are things that like in business,
Speaker: like aligned that winds you up to be both of us to be, that's what makes us a good team. But that's the thing. Like it can be a weakness on the other side.
Speaker: It can be a strength in in the business. Yeah. you can have some stuff, a strength here and not a strength somewhere else. Right. So it's not about like completely doing away with it or, or you know, and because you don't want to do away with something that's a strength in a different area. So that's why it just really gets, falls onto communication and i know it's kind of something that people like a throw away well you guys need to communicate better well duh how do you do that um and that is largely having something that you that is so important to you that you it's not about fighting with that person it's fighting for that person that it at the end of the day like this is this is my person this is my team if we're not okay my world is not okay
Speaker: So what gets us to okay? And whenever you think about it that way, then it's to- And I'll go back to a comment I made earlier. So when we talk about like the business going through hard times and then like the spouse leaving or giving up, I think the actual reason for some people, so this is the person who's maybe fighting for the business a lot.
Speaker: You got to be careful that your spouse never feels like you're fighting for it harder. Right? than when we have an issue. So you have this fire at work, and this is how hard you fought. When we have this fire at home, you're not bringing that intensity. I think that's what you have to be aware of as like a business owner, is are you bringing that same intentionality and fire to here as well as there? Because if that's not the case, of course they're going to feel like i'm I'm down here and business is up here to you at priority level. They both need to be in a God up here. So I think when those ratios get off is when it becomes an issue.
Speaker: Yeah. You mentioned core values a couple of times. How have you been intentional in keeping your core values, transferring them from your relationship, but also into LanerCorp and making sure employees and office staff and everyone sticks to those true values? Mm-hmm.
Speaker: That's probably the most difficult part, I think, is like for for us, ours were pretty aligned. And if you go to our like LanderCorp's website, a lot of ours are those.
Speaker: What's been the most difficult? So, and we've talked about this a little bit. So LanderCorp isn't like your traditional business where like, I see you every day. I see Noah every day. I see my management staff or talk to them almost every day, the corep the core management staff.
Speaker: The guys in the field, because of the nature of we're in the pipeline business, they're four or five states away and they may be on that project for months. So the amount of in-person time we have is very minimal. So I'll be honest, that's something we're still very much trying to like really hone in is how do you take core values to the management staff and then the management staff to the front line and then into the field even further. And that's probably been probably the most difficult thing we've had. i feel like we do decent at it. So, you know, one of the reasons like the podcast was started and some of the YouTube stuff was to just, if I can't see you in the field, then I need to get my face out there enough to where you understand who I am, you know, core values, you know, who, who, who is boss, you know, yeah he's not just this fictionary person. I can actually jump online and see what about him. Well, and, and too, I think that something like translation of the core values is, is honestly, that's,
Speaker: that was our character. Like that was character that we brought to the relation. Like these are the things that's important because that's deep down who we are. The things that are deep down matter to us. yeah So you're taking something that is like deep down naturally, naturally,
Speaker: in you and putting it, hey, we think these are good and we're go to put, but other people have their core values. Other people maybe don't have the internal integrity on some areas. And you're, you're like, you're changing those things. You're trying to change those things. And that's not a ah system that they're used to. um It's so you're taking something that naturally is something that you do.
Speaker: And it may not be natural for somebody else. And that takes, that takes time. but sometimes it takes time of them so seeing you living it to see that like, oh, this isn't just words that they're saying. Like they actually live this every day. They live it in all areas of their life. They live it at home. They live it in business. It's not just something they put on the website, which when you have crews that far away is what is making that so difficult is they're not seeing us. People here in town that see us like whenever we go out and that know us, I would say that they probably could speak to what our core values are probably even better than some of our employees because our employees don't see us. So what we've kind of tried to do now is, you know,
Speaker: We're kind of taught everyone that when you hire, you look at, okay, I'm a doctor, so I have to hire someone that knows how to to work on people. If I'm mechanic, I need to find someone knows how to work on cars. For us, yeah, they need to need to have a certain skill set and ability.
Speaker: But lot of times that's the only focus. Can you do this type of work? And that then most people in our industry say, okay, you're hired. We're trying very deliberately to say, okay, ask those questions. That's important.
Speaker: But then try to see, is this a person who can be coached? Like, are they someone who not necessarily always okay with the status quo? Are they wanting to move up the ladder or just improve as a human? yeah mean You don't even have to a desire to even, ah you know, to go from operator to foreman. I don't really care. i just want you to be the best at whatever position you're in. So, and that's difficult because it's hard to discern immediately within like an hour or two interview.
Speaker: So then it becomes more of a thing of, okay, we've made this higher. Now do we keep this higher? So that's something we're still working through, I feel like, as a company, getting ah ourselves out. Like, I've been out the field more in the past six months than I was prior three years.
Speaker: And I've enjoyed it. But that's getting out there, you know, even if it's just, you know, the last one we went to, we brought some donuts and some Gatorades. It was hot. It's just that little stuff that I realized in the beginning, right?
Speaker: we were doing a lot of and then knowing, okay, I still have to do that though. Like I still got to, you know, show up and do this stuff. So I think that's the key. And like she said to a lot of the ones in the beginning where I really thought like we just killed it on that culture. We were probably 20, 30 employees at that time, but it was living by example.
Speaker: It wasn't sitting here like, Hey, these are our core values. Honestly, at that time we didn't have them posted. Even they weren't listed. It was very much a, this is who we stand for. They knew, You don't cut corners. Yeah. You're honest. Yeah. So they knew that stuff and that became, and I still, even some the people aren't with us. Like one text the other day, he's like, Hey, he's working for a competitor now, but he texted, you know, just some thoughts and some stuff that he had. was at a trade show, sent me a picture of a piece of equipment. And then just some like, Hey, I just to let you know, I really enjoyed, you know, working with you. And I learned this from being with you. And that was someone who had struggled with some stuff prior to being hired, but it was neat to like, look back and say, man, we actually, like we made a difference in that person's life. But again, that was just, like you said, that was just living by example. So I think a lot of has to do with that.
Speaker: i don't know if that answered your question. I remember what your question was. oh Let's switch this around. So we've talked about how guys' relationship has built Lander Corp. How Lander Corp impacted your marriage and benefited it in a good or bad way?
Speaker: I would say in a good way. um you know, it's it's definitely provided opportunity. So I would say to like the entrepreneurs out there, I think if you're someone, and I've met both type, there's one type that's mostly focused on money and the size of their bank account.
Speaker: While I understand that, I do not believe that equates to happiness, nor do i think it equates to, you know, the last podcast we talked about getting to the end of your life and looking back.
Speaker: If you were focused on having that big amount money, in that bank account and that is what you're thinking about on your at your end, that is not gonna provide happiness. If anything, it may actually provide a little bit of just like emptiness emptiness and nerves of like, I did all that for just like this number and now I'm dying and Now that has to be split up. It's probably gonna cause some drama between the people that's putting up. Like, was that even a blessing?
Speaker: Honestly. And you see that in a lot of families. The person who says, I'm creating this business and I'm doing it to change people's lives. I'm doing this to help our customers. I'm doing this to solve a problem. I'm doing this because I just genuinely love playing the chess game of business.
Speaker: That's naturally, I think, who we are. like i don't i don't even know any other way to be. Yeah. But I think that then equates to success monetarily, naturally, because you're probably going to make money if you're solving problems. And number two, you have more fulfillment at the end of the day that this is what we accomplished. This is who I helped.
Speaker: And that sounds weird coming from someone who's in vegetation management, like how does that really impact people? But like the end of the day, I see these people who, you know, have this service that we ah provide under their umbrella for their title. And a lot of times they have no idea what to actually do, how to manage it. They have this big budget.
Speaker: And at the end of the day, I do know how to do all that That's what I've been doing for 20 years. So I know I can present that to them like, hey, don't know why other people haven't told you this, but if you do this, this, this, and this, it's going to make your life a lot easier. And that's how you should be doing it. And that will make you look good to your boss. That still feels good.
Speaker: And making that person's life and their job a lot easier. So I think going into it that way, but then I think as that translates back home, I think that has provided a few things. It provides a sense of accomplishment and like we're building and growing towards some bigger thing. But then I think too, that then equates to monetary, which then has provided us, you know, obvious incentives in life to be able to travel, to have a flexible work schedule. you know, people talk about like an entrepreneurship, you know, I want to be off at whatever time.
Speaker: It's not really how it works for most, it's not how it's worked for me, but it has allowed me to say, you know what, I wanna leave at four today to go do something with her or whatever.
Speaker: But when I get home at seven, I may have to work a little bit. It gives me, it's it's not so much freedom as much as is flexibility to say, I don't want my day to be exactly eight to five. Like that actually scares me a lot to ever have to think about doing that kind of structure.
Speaker: I probably will still work more hours than those people. want to do it on my terms. So it's allowed for that flexibility to be more present. We talked about intentionality. It gives us a lot more ability to be intentional and present.
Speaker: So I think that's the positive. Negative, don't really know. Maybe just a little less time together in the dating years.
Speaker: I don't really view that all as negative because I think it forced us, as we said earlier, it forced us to have quality time. So was it a negative or positive? so yeah and I don't know that we have any less time than other people. I don't think we do. Maybe our time spent together is working on something, but if your time spent is just like sitting and watching a movie, I don't know. well It's what's fulfilling to you and what you need your personality type needs yeah to. Well, in all honesty, a lot of people talk about business owners bringing stuff home.
Speaker: Yeah, we do. It's natural. But how many people who just work regular jobs hate their co-workers and bring that home and they talk about how much they hate their co-workers all night.
Speaker: They're still bringing stuff home. Realistically. So this is more of a... But at least this, we have the power to change it if it's something that really is... Yeah, this is more of a building... Usually the problems we talk about at home are...
Speaker: How can we take this strategizing and and and make it better? Where I feel like a lot of people are like, I freaking hate Alex. He's so annoying. Like he takes an hour and a half lunch breaks and whatever. That's made up by the way. I don't even know if he eats, but he's cutting right now. So he's not eating right now. But anyway, it's just changing what you're talking about.
Speaker: So to end off the good end off question, a couple, husband and wife, whatever that are, Maybe one's an entrepreneur. Maybe they're both entrepreneurs. What's one piece of advice you would give them in the relationship?
Speaker: You got one ready?
Speaker: Choose carefully. Like it, Matt, it's not just a, like, it's not a throwaway decision. Like it's the decision that you're going to wake up next to every day.
Speaker: um, um I know that this many years later that i still would do this life with him exactly like we've done it, but not if I wasn't doing it with him because. That's the first one. That's the first one. it's a I know.
Speaker: I'll pick up for a second. I'll give you second. I think a lot of it has to do with alignment as well. Not that the person, I gotta be careful when i say that, not that the person has to be you. They can be completely different, but I think you need to be aligned on what they're feeling and then and and wanting to achieve in life and vice versa. Okay. And I think a lot of people don't, they don't put enough attention to that alignment. And that doesn't have to even just be business. Like I said, it can be your walk within in faith. It can be, I want to be a family person versus the other person wants to be a hippie driving down the coast of California. That's two very, very different lifestyles. And I think you got to, to make sure both are fulfilled, you got to make sure you're you're trying to at least do that. yeah
Speaker: I think that if whether you're in business together or one person is just in business and the other isn't, it's to see the value that that other person brings. Because for us and the way that we work and the team and everything, we yeah, that's that's unique. But like you you're still in a team with that person, whether they're a stay-at-home mom or stay-at-home dad or one's running into business and the other just has a small job. like Whatever it is, that's your teammate. Yeah. And you have to have their back and they have to have yours and you are responsible for building them up. You're not responsible for their happiness. They have to self self soothe. They have to make sure you have, they have to be able to calm themselves down. You can't be the thing that, that is their end all be all. You have to be able to do it for yourself.
Speaker: Each of you. Which goes back to the independence. Yes. But you're also responsible for, for not causing them harm. And if you're ignoring them, if you're putting something else above them, you're causing them harm. um So you need to be very careful about how you are treating that person that is your teammate.
Speaker: And i think that people go into relationships very selfishly and it's more of an I, I, I, what what are you gonna do for me? But if both people have to do it, like you before me, if I'm always putting him before me,
Speaker: then I'm going to make sure that he's good and I'm not being selfish. And if he puts me before him, he's going to make sure I'm good and he's not being selfish. But it has to be both people doing that. So it doesn't matter if you're in business together or if you're not in business together. If your first thought is, and it should be, about your person, is he okay? Do a check on him. Like, what does he need?
Speaker: And if he's doing that about me, then I don't have to go chasing that validation and and that love and that the things that I need. And he doesn't have to come chasing that validation and the stuff that he needs from me. I'm giving it freely. Don't withhold it. Don't take it hostage. Like, see your person, see what they're contributing and bringing to the table, and understand that there's good days, there's bad days.
Speaker: But maybe if they continue to pull away and you're having bad days, maybe you're the one that's contributing to that. maybe Maybe you are coming to that relationship with the I and the me and what what am I not getting out of this instead of thinking what's going on in their life and what do they need? How can I show up for them? And don't forget that you picked this.
Speaker: You're the one that picked it. Nobody put a gun to your head and said, marry this person, walk through life with them. You chose this life. You picked this person. Now, there's no easy way out. The world tells us that there's an easy way out. If you don't like it, divorce and move on. There isn't. You took time, dated the person, saw that you aligned XYZ, you got married. You wasted your parents' money on a wedding and you got married. Okay, now put 110% into making that work because you chose it.
Speaker: Now, you make the best of it because it's nobody's responsibility to do that but you. It's not his. It's you. It's your responsibility. And if he looks at it the same way and you both are responsible for taking care of your person and making the best life you possibly can, there is no other way to end your life except being successful in your relationship.
Speaker: Because you're not going to fail if both of you are 110% all on board. Yeah. And unless there's extenuating circumstances, there's always outliers of situations and, oh, you don't understand what i'm going through. Okay, but I do know that things start to slowly fall apart and then it's a ball that starts rolling downhill.
Speaker: You picked it. Now you decide to go all in and maintain it. Yeah. So I echo all of that. The only thing I would add is just more of just like a summary or a synopsis maybe is...
Speaker: Alignment on core things, the big things, the non-negotiables. Support. you know I feel like a lot of people don't necessarily support their spouse. so Like she said, one could be a stay-at-home. The other one could be the business owner.
Speaker: But you still need to support each other. like You need to so fully support, hey, i'm I'm glad you're staying home with our kids. So some random stranger is not raising our children for us. fully, fully support each other than I think being intentional in your love.
Speaker: So like, you know, like I said earlier, not necessarily saying when the business is struggling, I'll fire it at level 10. When the relationship is struggling, I'll be at a seven. being intentional and pushing at all those different aspects. Or maybe it's even, you know, faith was maybe, faith is of your core things in your marriage.
Speaker: Well, maybe you fight for the relationship. Maybe you fight for the business. The faith you said both was important to both of you. Maybe that's only a five. I think you need to always be firing at a level 10 as much as possible. Yeah, it's going to ebb and flow a little. We're humans, we're life. But I think having those three things and then just being intentional. And do not go out with your friends and and bitch about your person.
Speaker: Don't do that that. That's why I don't have friends. I'm just kidding. Because it's like, it's, there's not solving problems. Like if there's something that is so terrible in your person, talk to your person about it and fix it.
Speaker: But I'm sorry. I, we was at dinner and I was sitting next to this table and all of these women was out and they was, the It was horrible. I wish I had their husband's number so I could say you need to divorce them. This is this is terrible. They do not respect you at all. This horrible. But here's the thing. You know how I'm looking at them and thinking, oh, my goodness, you are an idiot. You married that horrible person.
Speaker: Like it doesn't make your husband look bad. It makes you look bad because you're the ding dong that married them. And now you're out complaining about and you're complaining about them, but you're really complaining about the choice you made. That's just, it was weird. Yeah. that they Don't do that. They sat right next to us at a restaurant and left like, don't know, 10 minutes before we were done. So they walked, got up and I'm like, that was terrible. glad they're gone. But it's just like four chicks drinking wine and complaining about, and some of it wasn't even that big a deal.
Speaker: One of them didn't like the cologne he was wearing. He always smelled bad. like, really? Is this what we're doing all night long? Like, this sounds like a fun Friday night. Yeah. yeah It was crazy. But anyway, but there's a stereotype there I'm aware of, but I've seen a few of those over the years. I'm like, man, that'd be miserable. yeah But obviously that's not alignment.
Speaker: Or are they focused on the big picture? And you didn't get there on your own. Yeah. You both walked there together. That's all the questions I have. there anything you need to add?
Speaker: I don't think so, really. I love you. i love you, too. um How many minutes are we, Noah? 51. Okay. That's about the right spot. is anything You want to do this one? No. I've i've i've talked. i've I've been, you know, I cried.
Speaker: you got it. Got it all? Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: All right, guys, we'll wrap up the couples podcast. Thank you. Brent's always on here, but thank you for joining. um We're trying to hit 20,000 subscribers on YouTube. I think we just hit 19,000. Oh, sweet. So our goal is before 100 episodes. I think we'll hit it. So if you're watching, you're not subscribed, go subscribe. Hit that thumbs up. Two, we talk about every time, our Better Contractor Facebook group.
Speaker: Go to Facebook, join our group. There's 3,300 people in there that are mostly owner-operators, CEOs, just guys in the blue-collar industry. They're there to help you. Ask questions, answer questions. It's a group of people trying to help people all in the same industry. Why wouldn't you want to join that? so Share it with your spouse and have them subscribe, too. Exactly. Get your spouse in there.
Speaker: So it's the Better Contractor Facebook group on Facebook. It's also in the link in our bio. You can join through there. so Guys, thank you for joining. We'll catch you next time. Thank you. Thanks. Bye.
