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Episode 28: Richard Martin on Starting Businesses, Selling Them, and Merging Them
182 Plays30 days ago
The guys sit down with Richard Martin, Chief Revenue Officer at PRO EM, to talk about his 36 years in the business. He talks about moving to the United States in 1992 for a brief two-year stint that hasn't ended and what it's like working on the WM Phoenix Open. Before starting URS and SoCal Tents & Events, Richard worked for Academy Tent and Canvas and owner of two event rental companies, Peerless Events in Tempe, AZ and Distinctive Tent Rentals in Denver, CO. He merged Peerless Events and Distinctive Tent Rentals with Phoenix-based Arizona Tents & Events, Gorilla Companies, and Tucson based Party Concepts, together with a private equity group, to create a full-service events management company named Professional Event Management (PRO EM).
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Under the Vinyl'
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to Under the Vinyl, a rental management media podcast, where we bring together voices from across the rental industry, from tents and events to equipment and beyond. We share stories, strategies, and insights that help you grow your business and strengthen our community.
00:00:15
Speaker
This is the Rental Management Podcast. Let's dive in.
Hosts' Personal Updates
00:00:20
Speaker
Alright, we're back again with another episode of Under the Vinyl. As always, i got my co-host Kyle. Kyle, how are you doing buddy? I'm good Nate, nice to see you. It's been a while. ah know, and we're in our natural habitat it seems like. I know, finally this week we get to record from our offices instead of on the road. so Yeah, quality might be a little bit better, we might be feeling a little bit better, everything's good. So how was your big project that you were working on?
00:00:42
Speaker
It's down and back in the warehouse, so I feel much better. ah It got stressful towards the end, but we survived. little rain showers day of the wedding that were not in the forecast, but we made it through as always, but it looked great.
00:00:56
Speaker
Uh, it's all tons of, uh, edits and it looks, it looks wonderful. So you guys did a killer job on that one. Well done. Thanks. Thanks for the assist. We couldn't have done it without you guys, obviously, but Hey, you know, that's what friends are for. Exactly. I'll just pat myself on the back.
00:01:10
Speaker
Oh, anyways. Yeah, we're ah we're finishing up with some big
Upcoming Projects and Guest Introduction
00:01:15
Speaker
projects. We got finishing up with the IndyCar race coming up next weekend. So we're getting that all dialed in. And got some other big ones coming through, as you know how September is. so Yeah, but hey, there our guest today does some pretty big ones. Compared to ours, their ours are small compared to what he does. We got big shoes fill there, that's for sure. But ah our guest today is is someone that some people know is Hashtag Ricky on vacation or his email is tent boy, but we like to thank think of him as the international tent boy of mystery.
00:01:47
Speaker
Pro-em's very own Richard Martin. Richard, how the hell are you?
Meet Richard Martin from Pro-Am
00:01:50
Speaker
Good, guys. How are you? Good. Good to see man. Thanks for having me on today. Absolutely. I just love your hashtags, by the way.
00:01:59
Speaker
The Ricky on vacation always gets me. but Then when I saw his email, I'm like, I'm kind of jealous of that. That's clever. And the Instagram too. I didn't even shout that one out. It's a UK tent boy.
00:02:09
Speaker
yeah but He's got the good ones. He's got the good ones. So Richard, are you, ah are you hanging back from the vacay you guys diving full force into what you're doing right now? or how are you, how are you running?
00:02:21
Speaker
Yeah, you know, everybody sees the social media stuff and says, hey, he's always on vacay. But as you guys know, we take their moments preciously as we get to them in this industry.
00:02:32
Speaker
absolutely We're going full swing. We're in the middle of summertime and our Chicago and LA offices are going strong. It's a little quieter in Phoenix and in Orlando, but everything's going busy as usual.
00:02:46
Speaker
That's awesome. So tell us a little bit about Pro-Am and kind of your direction and what you're doing currently at Pro-Am. And, um, I know you guys got to several different offices and just how you, uh, how you fall in over there at Pro-Am.
00:02:58
Speaker
Uh, so joined the company about eight years ago when they, uh, purchased my company and, uh, It's kind of took over the sales side of it, if you like, ah sitting at that table, ah took over all of the sales a couple of years back and became the chief revenue officer of Pro-Am.
00:03:17
Speaker
um You know, we have probably a sales team of about 25 actual salespeople and then maybe another five or so admin salespeople.
00:03:28
Speaker
And that group is really doing a great job of promoting Pro-Am around the country. That's awesome. That's awesome. so are you So you're not so involved in the sales, day-to-day sales anymore then?
00:03:41
Speaker
i think not really. And when I say I think not, I know not. So, um ah you know, one of the things, as you guys know, you get a high from sales, right? And and it's hard to give that up. that's That's what feeds us. And, you know, as you talk to people around the country and you guys are doing a great job with the podcast, I think that...
00:04:03
Speaker
that buzz is hard to replace. But when you get some young salespeople working for you and doing it, you get equally a high buzz helping them.
00:04:15
Speaker
So that's my role now is to help them and they're doing a great job. So more of like a development mentor side rather than in the day to day sales portion. Yeah, for sure. um You know, the young guys, even some of the older guys, right? We have a pretty experienced group along with the young guys.
00:04:32
Speaker
You know, just like to interact a little bit, see, hey, what did you try here? How did this work for you? And I think I've really started really enjoying that as much as I ever did sales.
00:04:44
Speaker
Right. So let's shift it back then.
Richard's Career Journey
00:04:48
Speaker
What got you here? How did you get into this industry? And I know you had your own company and you can touch on that and and dive into that a little bit, but how did you get here?
00:04:55
Speaker
Well, I can go back all the way to the late 80s, early 90s. And I was in the UK. That's where I grew up, as most of you know. um But I applied for a job at a company called Rota UK.
00:05:08
Speaker
ah Rota UK was hiring a trainee sales guy and I managed to get hired as a trainee sales guy by a gentleman named Jim Smith and David Wally out of the UK.
00:05:19
Speaker
And that was back when there was only one Rota. So, you know, Heinz Rota was, it it was Rota. And um now there's, as you know, like, I think three versions of Rota. So it's ah it's a little diluted now.
00:05:35
Speaker
So when you first got hired, what was your like territory or were you just selling in the UK? So just selling in two rental companies in the UK, my territory was the north of UK.
00:05:48
Speaker
And if I can give you a little bit of geography, you know kind of like east of the Mississippi is the population base in the US, north of a town or city called Peterborough is kind of equal population to south of Peterborough.
00:06:06
Speaker
and But Peterborough is only maybe an hour north of London. maybe an hour and a half max and the rest. So I had all of the North of England, all of Scotland, most of Wales and Northern Ireland.
00:06:19
Speaker
right So it's a pretty big territory. yeah Yeah. Beautiful territory at that. Oh my gosh. It's so nice. so Love that. So then with rotor, how long were you in the UK before, before you made the transfer over to the U S So i was with them for a couple of years. And the reason Rota was in the US was they were, they used to be a Formula One Grand Prix in Phoenix. Not a lot of people know that.
00:06:45
Speaker
I think it was only there for one, maybe two years. It was before I came and Rota worldwide serviced the paddock club for Formula One. So they had an office in Tempe, Arizona.
00:06:58
Speaker
ah to service the paddock club at the Phoenix Formula One. When that went away, they decided they wanted to keep their office and try and do some business in the U.S. And they asked if I'd come and help for two years.
00:07:11
Speaker
So in January 92, I came to Tempe, Arizona, straight from the U.K., never been to America before, and started my two-year participation as Road to USA's Man of all and tools, whatever the saying is, you know that.
00:07:31
Speaker
And are you still on that two years, Richard? Are you still? I'm still on the two years. So know here we are in 2025. And I've been here for two years. So at that point, they were they were renting, setting up and everything. Weren't as much of just manufacturing in the U.S. like they they tend to be now.
00:07:53
Speaker
So... were you Were you doing anything other than that GP or did you just solely focus on that? ah So they they were just a rental company in the US and they would go had six employees and probably about, I'm guessing a little bit, and I could be off a little bit on things, so please nobody hold me to task, but about $500,000 a Okay.
00:08:14
Speaker
five hundred thousand dollars a year ah so pretty small Yeah, but enough to keep you here in that and as long as the race stayed here. How long did the race stay for?
00:08:26
Speaker
but No, it was gone. I came when it oh was gone. it was gone. Oh, okay. That was the whole point of me coming was that the race went away, but they wanted to build a business here. Got it. Got it. Got it. Okay.
00:08:38
Speaker
So you took that along for how many years then? So I went there and the end of that first year, we bought a company called Gold Coast Tents in Florida. Gold Coast Tents was owned by a gentleman named Steve Scrimshaw, kind of an icon in the old school days. Steve Scrimshaw, Bob Fitzgerald, Andy Nolan, Dan Nolan, you know,
00:08:59
Speaker
People like that werere were around back then doing a lot of things. And Steve became our boss. um Steve then asked me to stay longer than two years.
00:09:10
Speaker
So I did. i stayed with ah Road to USA until about 1998. Okay. Okay. so okay So then 98, you made a transition. Is that when you started your own company?
00:09:27
Speaker
Yeah, I went to my wife at the time and said, hey, how much money do we need to survive each year and pay all our bills? She told me a ridiculously low number.
00:09:38
Speaker
And I said, I think I can make that much money. And I left. I made a little bit more than that. And as opposed to thinking I wouldn't travel as much, travel just as much, to be honest.
00:09:50
Speaker
What was the name of your company at the time? ah Back then, it was it's got many iterations. Back then, it was Oxford Productions. It always had an English connotation to it back then. so and With your company, did you jump right into structures and rental stuff? or did you do With it being a production side, did you do more productions? How did how did you handle that?
00:10:10
Speaker
So unlike a lot of people in this industry, most people in this industry started on pole tents and frame tents back in the day. I started because i my first experience was with Rota UK.
00:10:22
Speaker
I started with structures. So I didn't really know about pole tents. um I learned that much later when I asked a rental company if I could go and help them put up a pole tent.
00:10:33
Speaker
right So I went and learned that later in life. um But I always was connected to the tense side of things. So even when I left Rotor USA, I primarily worked quite a lot off my kitchen table and found contracts, found people that were let would be willing to let me manage that.
00:10:53
Speaker
And then I'd go and find companies, a lot of companies around the USA and said, hey, would you rent me the product and send me a crew? And we'd go and I'd just be a broker, to be honest, in the beginning.
00:11:04
Speaker
So you didn't have like an actual inventory? No, not to begin with. No, it was purely going to rental companies, which is why. And I think you'll probably, as you ask around, see that, you know, I've rented from a lot of the companies around the USA in the in the days Did you have primary partners at that point that you really teamed up with to travel or did you just use people that were in those certain areas?
00:11:28
Speaker
Because I'd assume back then with structure, I mean, structure wasn't, it sounds like you're a little ahead of the game on the structure side. um So not everybody had the structure. So if you were doing production stuff, you had to really find somebody that had the structure that you were needing. That probably was scarce, right?
00:11:44
Speaker
Yeah. So, I mean, over the years, Initial six to seven years in the US, you know working for Rota USA, you got to kind of know. I mean, if you you take someone like, I think, Chattanooga, Mahaffey, a company called CST, ah were primarily really the front runners in the structure business in the US.
00:12:06
Speaker
And they used a mix back in them days of just Hawker and Rota. That was really what was available in the US. And then obviously Road to USA had some. So when I became this production guy, if you like, then I kind of knew who to go and ask to.
00:12:24
Speaker
And, you know, I'd get a quote from them. I'd mock that quote up and go get the customer and the customer let me produce the job. so Nice. At what point did you start buying your own inventory?
00:12:37
Speaker
So in the early 2000s, right around 2003, 2004 is when I really started to think, OK, I need to push this boat out a little bit more and started buying product.
00:12:53
Speaker
um And by then, Loesburger was the product that was really doing well in the US. And if you had a model similar to mine where you relied on sub-renting quite a lot from people, you kind of had to go down that road. And so we went started going down that road with the product.
00:13:10
Speaker
Which is funny that because that's kind of still the case today. Yeah. yeah you have to I mean, you have to make smart decisions, right? yeah So if you need to sub-rent product, what what can you sub-rent the most of that's you know in line with what you do?
00:13:25
Speaker
Yeah. So with Rotor, when you left there, it kept going and who took it over? And did you have a relationship then with them where you felt like you could still sub-rent or were they a little offset that you left and went and started your own deal?
00:13:38
Speaker
Yeah, no. So in the mid ninety s ah Murray Hamilton and Billy Norton and I were the salespeople for Rota USA.
00:13:50
Speaker
And ah post my employment at Rota USA, we left on really good terms. I didn't leave under any sort of cloud that I know of at at least. ah And they would rent to me. And still today, I'm friends with Billy and Murray. So it's it's kind of nice. Yeah.
00:14:06
Speaker
Small industry, everybody. It's not a good thing to burn a bridge in this industry, as I say. So in 04, you started buying structure. What was the first structure that you bought? and And how did you decide how deep you wanted to dive in on this? I mean, starting out you know newer, as you were talking, you asked your wife how much you needed for bills.
00:14:25
Speaker
Did you just say, screw it, we're going to go all in and buy a ton? Or did you pick handpick and select based on events that you had coming up? Or how did you do that? So we had a little knowledge of what sort of work we were getting and having that. So, you know, we really started with that 15, 20, 25 meter range.
00:14:45
Speaker
ah and And it all broke down from 15 to 20 to 25. So you could get one tent that would really kind of run the gamut of what you needed. So I think that that was our primary focus back then, was that sort of size.
00:15:00
Speaker
you You could do some small stuff. You could do some six meter and nine meter and 12 meter, 20, 30, 40 for anybody else that's listening in English. Um, so, um, we did that, but that really wasn't going to make enough money or warrant the traveling to go with it.
00:15:17
Speaker
And the 30 meter back then was kind of the big 10, right? So ah you had few rentals for that. So you, you just don't get that from somebody if you needed that.
00:15:29
Speaker
Where were you based out of at that point? Phoenix, Arizona. So until recently, I've lived 100% of the time in Arizona. And it's just recently I've started living the summers and the fall in Michigan and the winters in the spring in Phoenix.
00:15:47
Speaker
Well, when it's 120 degrees during the summer down there, you got to find a way out. and That's for sure. I do. I do love Phoenix for the golf portion, but my God, is it hot. um So in 04, then what was the events that you were really focusing on?
00:16:02
Speaker
ah Sort of like corporate um events. McDonald's used to do a big manager's meeting every three years in Vegas where they'd do a month-long show where they'd invite their operators from around the country and they'd split it into East, Central, and West.
00:16:22
Speaker
And they'd do a big meeting where they'd bring them all in, give seminars and corporate messages to them, and that'd culminate in a final night party event. ah for them. And it was the final night party that we used to build for them back in them days. so um So things like that.
00:16:39
Speaker
Okay. Not, not, not really a lot of golf or anything like that. few tennis tournaments back in them days for sure. he That makes more sense. So then did you have a full staff of employees and, and, you know, who did you start hiring or were you subbing out those guys as well still?
00:16:56
Speaker
So back in them days, we had a few of my friends that came along and wanted to be the labor. ah They were the labor. um We'd have probably 10 of us.
00:17:07
Speaker
And then if we needed more than that, then we'd sub out that part of it. I feel like that's the story of this industry for almost every business. I can remember my summers of when I first started the A's rental and it was just based on most of my friends that were around me and it was a blast.
00:17:22
Speaker
Yeah. That's high school kick it in for me. Same thing. Yeah. Now you can't get them to come hang out with you and work for you anymore. Well, they've done they've done it one too many times. yeah They know what you really want. We're the ones that got stuck.
00:17:35
Speaker
ah and They were lifting them legs and they'd be like, wait a minute, this is real work. yeah Yeah, exactly. They don't have the back problems that we all have. They're out. So then 04, how long did you run your business for then?
Expanding Business and Challenges
00:17:50
Speaker
So in 2006, I bought a company in Denver called Distinctive Tents. A John Crowley, who started in Chicago, he worked his summers at HDO in Chicago.
00:18:03
Speaker
And then when he left and went to Denver, he started a rental company. Him and I were friends from the early 90s. ah In 2006, he thought he wanted to exit.
00:18:16
Speaker
And we made a deal, added Distinctive Tents to our company. company. And in doing that, it also kind of put a bit of a spotlight on us. And um some people started looking at what we were doing and became interested in us.
00:18:33
Speaker
Okay. And so then, so now you've got two businesses. You got one in Phoenix, one in Denver. And so the one in Denver, what was the focus on over there?
00:18:44
Speaker
Was that more kind of regional? They were a pure tent rental company and didn't go outside of Denver other than the odd little foray when a customer took them somewhere. But really, 99% of their business was in Denver.
00:18:58
Speaker
Okay. And then so basically just doing your normal stuff around Denver. Was it party rental or was it just tents? Just tents. There was another company in Denver that did all the party rental stuff.
00:19:10
Speaker
And they were very close to each other, which we remained close to each other. And ah we'd go to the meetings together. they' They'd go for the party rental. We'd go for the tent side of things and push forward from there.
00:19:24
Speaker
It's nice when you can get those relationships. Yeah. Even today. oh yeah. Yeah. yeah And I can assume that Denver had its challenges too, especially with ah the snow loads and everything there later on, you know, in the winters.
00:19:36
Speaker
But that was fun. Yeah. You know, they very heavy summer season and a very light. I mean, there things like the Steamboat Music Festival. Yeah. It was in January in Steamboat. So you can imagine there's some snow up there for then.
00:19:50
Speaker
But um they didn't do an awful lot for the winter months. Okay. All right. All right. So now we're into 08. Richard owns two companies. Where'd you buy next? So you've got to back it up. ah yeah So this 2006 to 2007, we went on the radar and ah a gentleman by the name of Ed Latech, which some of you probably know, approached me and he says, how do I not know you? And I'm like, god I don't know. i heard um yeah I mean, I have no idea. And he goes, you know, I want to buy the Denver company off you.
00:20:24
Speaker
and I go, well I don't want to sell the Denver company. I just bought it. And it was at a time when companies were doing these acquisitions and roll-ups and stuff like that. And he goes, well, what if I buy it all from you?
00:20:36
Speaker
So it depends how much money you have, right? i I'm just getting started. Yeah, exactly, right? I'm just starting to make some money. Yeah. and And I think i I can point to a big mistake I made, right? And that's get wrapped up in wanting to make a deal.
00:20:54
Speaker
Right. And I think that I got kind of um focused in on, man, I'd like to say I sold to a private equity company because lots of people were doing it.
00:21:06
Speaker
and And I did that. So 2007, sold to the first group that bought Pro-M. Okay. Right. so So I joined, you know, Glenn Klemp.
00:21:20
Speaker
and Kevin Moore, I think you know them guys. Yep, yeah absolutely. They they sold to Pro-Am. I joined that little party. And um so a company called Severica bought Arizona Tense, Peerless Events, which is now my company name, Peerless Events, right back in them days.
00:21:39
Speaker
It changed. They bought the Gorilla Companies. they bought So we had all this group of companies all come together to form Pro-Am in 2017. So I think you made a very interesting point. And I think that what you're saying happened in 06, 07 is currently making its way back.
00:21:57
Speaker
That there's a lot of these companies that are coming in and seeing this rental business and they're wanting to buy out and make these bigger companies. And I know you wouldn't, I know you love your job and what you're doing now and everything with Pro-Am, but do you still feel like maybe you should have stuck it out a little bit or do you feel like it was the right time to sell?
00:22:18
Speaker
just hearing what you said there. So hindsight's wonderful. I think that's a wonderful thing. and think it was a mistake to participate in 2007. And I think it was way too early.
00:22:31
Speaker
I think, yeah you know, i was just really starting to build a quite nice book of business, starting to have some inventory, starting to kind of get a bit of a foothold. Now, fast forward to 2009, and I might be a genius, but I don't think I am a genius. I think I just it. Recession. Yeah. Recession. Yeah.
00:22:52
Speaker
And it really hurt the business. Yeah, I think it all looks fun at that time. You're probably enjoying what you're doing and you're finally just kicking it off and you're you're starting to make money and it seems fun.
00:23:03
Speaker
But yeah, with that recession coming, that was my next question. When that hit, that didn't really affect you directly as a business owner. But I mean, obviously it affected you being in the industry like the rest of us. But did you take a breath and look back and then say, well, maybe I made the right decision?
00:23:20
Speaker
um So Ed Latex will tell you I made the right decision because of that. wrong And i will tell you that if a recession hits our industry, it really depends on your debt level.
00:23:34
Speaker
And if you don't have a lot of debt, our industry does a pretty good job of riding it out. And I didn't have any debt, right? I mean, it's the debt that kills you in them sort of moments.
00:23:46
Speaker
And I didn't have any debt. So I think I could have ridden it out and been okay. um Pro-Am, however, did have some debt and didn't do very good at all in all of that.
00:23:59
Speaker
Well, and I think that, you know, with with the company that you were doing and the things that you were doing, you were probably a little bit more recession proof than maybe maybe like a Pro-Am in the events that they focus on. You know, I'm sure...
00:24:10
Speaker
And we'll get into it, but, you know, like 2020, when 2020 hit, a lot of the companies that didn't have the big focuses on, you you know, big events and things like that, they probably were a little bit more profitable and more recession-proof than some of the bigger companies that focus on events, right?
00:24:24
Speaker
Yeah, very much so. Very much so. Well, I think that's a good point, Nate, for all of our listeners. You know, we talk about all the time that everyone thinks bigger is better, but sometimes bigger just means you have a much bigger deadline. Mm-hmm.
00:24:39
Speaker
And in scenarios where something bad could happen, like obviously COVID ended up being very good for the industry or most of us. But if we went into a recession and you're carrying all the debt like Richard's talking about, that could really hurt some of these smaller companies from surviving.
00:24:55
Speaker
Well, it's coming again. i mean, i i see I see the forecast and everything and it's coming in the 2030s, whatever it is, but it's coming. So it's just how you prepare for it. You guys both know this um very well, I'm sure. But, you know, when you had a rental company, if you were doing maybe two and a half million to three million dollars in rentals a year, you were making pretty good money as a small company.
00:25:18
Speaker
Absolutely. But the journey to five to six million, you probably made less on the journey than you did at two and a half to three. You actually had to get to six before you were making good money again because you had to spend ahead of making the money, right, to grow.
00:25:36
Speaker
So unless you were really lucky and got them three or four jobs that landed that took you to the growth, automatically to the next stage, you know, that journey is quite expensive.
00:25:47
Speaker
And the growth side of it really eats the profit. So it's either that small company making a nice living, not too stressed out, you have your five, four five months of the year where you're crazy and then you get to relax a little bit, not totally.
00:26:04
Speaker
Right. And then you go, okay, I'm now going to be a $6 million dollar company. And it's like, man, I'm not making the money. I was making it two and a half to three. it's like I say that all the time, Richard. I've had many conversations with some guys that are coming up and they're starting and they they feel like they're stuck in that two to $4 million dollars range.
00:26:24
Speaker
And I have a couple of them I've talked to. I'm like, what's wrong with it? What's wrong with your two to $4 million dollars range? Cause to me, honestly, that feels like the sweet spot. That feels like where you're making the most money.
00:26:34
Speaker
You're able to enjoy life a little bit more. Cause you probably have 30 employees, maybe 40 employees at that point. You're not traveling all over the U S you're kind of more regional.
00:26:45
Speaker
You might not have a whole lot of work in let's say December through or January through maybe April. But you're still, if you've got furniture, you're still doing indoor business and everything else. So I feel like that's kind of the sweet spot, just to to your point.
00:26:58
Speaker
Yeah. You hit that five. I feel like you get to right around six to 11, and you're starting to say, okay, now we've got to hone in on where we can cut to really save profit margins and everything else. And everybody's running a little bit tighter on that.
00:27:12
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. I agree. So you sold out, beat the – you got out of the way of the recession and everything, and you – Merge with Pro-Am then. So you came in with Pro-Am and and how did you how did your day-to-day change at that point? Because you went from a business owner to more of now you're under and umbrella.
00:27:30
Speaker
Yeah, started sitting in a lot of meetings that were not and customer related, that were not operationally related. They were just about, you know, how to be a corporate organization and CFOs and CEOs and things like that.
00:27:47
Speaker
And it was really not a lot of fun. I'll be honest. back in A lot of red tape. A lot of red tape back in them days. So... The recession hit Pro-Am struggled.
00:28:00
Speaker
Pro-Am struggled. They'd had a lot of ah business in the commercial business in the Arizona area. And all of that went away almost immediately. um The tent division probably would have done really well without the debt burden.
00:28:17
Speaker
The debt burden really hurt Pro-Am. And they had taken on some Mez financing. And anybody that's been involved in mess financing before knows that's high risk, high interest rates, stuff like that.
00:28:31
Speaker
So they couldn't afford to keep me. So I went away and ah they went about trying to restructure their business. And I started another business.
Life After Selling to Pro-Am
00:28:45
Speaker
So what year was that? That was in 2011. I started my new business. Okay. And what was that business called for everybody? So there was two divisions of it. There was universal resource supply, which vowed never to do tents.
00:28:59
Speaker
It was all going to air conditioning and floors and anything other than tents. And then ah SoCal Tents and Events as a regional Southern California business.
00:29:11
Speaker
And in that, i had a partner, Jeff. Back then was called Judy Montoya. Now it's called Judy Garcia. She's originally from the Academy days. And then she joined me to create SoCal Tensive events in Southern California.
00:29:26
Speaker
Did you have a non-compete when they let you go? That's what my question was. you know Because they failed to pay $135,000, broke Yeah, I'd Yeah. wow they broke it yeah i'd say so okay Well, you kind of made out on that deal and to get out of there, um especially at the right time. So you you you vowed to not get in back into tents, but I'm guessing you got back into tents then.
00:29:51
Speaker
ah Straight away. Straight away. yeah yeah blame I mean, it's it's it's, you know, we talk about people in our industry and I refer to them affectionately as corporate carnies, you know, with a circus, we come to town, man. And we're like cockroaches. You can't kill us. So we're just coming back. So you did did you build up an inventory again then? what you do? I started building an inventory. Had whole tents, frame tents in Southern California.
00:30:21
Speaker
ah Bought some structures. Still down the Loisberger Road of doing that. ah We were helped. So this is where kind of Anchor Industries came in a little bit.
00:30:34
Speaker
uh anchor industries helped me we we we landed the a tour for oprah oprah was doing an eight city tour and we'd landed this setup and we needed quite a lot of material and all kind of in that six to 18 meter range so from 20 foot to 60 foot nothing bigger a couple of octagon tents in there and stuff like that and uh Mike Cruz and, um, anchor industries really kind of sucked me in by giving me a great deal on buying some tents for the tour.
00:31:09
Speaker
And we became owners of venue at that point. Okay. So, uh, Pete Mo Guevara blessed it. Um, And so, you know, I've always been friends with my crews. Like we're all friends, even if we're not buying from each other or renting from each other.
00:31:25
Speaker
ah you know, our industry is so small. yeah You know, everyone talks about the six degrees of separation, Kevin Bacon. I think our industry is one max and mean in some cases, but it's that close.
00:31:41
Speaker
That's awesome. So then they sucked you back in, you're buying inventory, you're doing the whole nine yards. How long did this go on for? So, uh, this went on till 2017. think it was, uh,
00:31:54
Speaker
i think it was In 2000, so we were doing a large project in Vegas that needed 200 foot wide tent, 60 meter. And um ah Pro-Am, the new Pro-Am now, there's a new Pro-Am. A guy named Amir Glegon came in to really kind of liquidate it in 2011.
00:32:16
Speaker
ended up falling in love with it and turned it around. They were doing great. And we were friends. So that's good. I i try never to break any, and know, friendships or anything because we're too small in industry.
00:32:28
Speaker
And they had bought a 60 meter, 200 foot wide for the Phoenix Open. And I was sub renting a 60 meter from Arena um for this job in Vegas.
00:32:40
Speaker
And um I was talking to a friend of mine was the vice president of a small bank in Arizona. And I was talking to him about this 60 meter that we were renting in Vegas and we were doing it four or five times a year.
00:32:55
Speaker
and he goes, well, why don't you buy the tent? I'll see. Cause I don't have a million dollars to buy it. And yeah,
00:33:03
Speaker
and ah He goes, well, if you've got a contract for four or five of these a year, I bet you can borrow the money pretty easy against the tech. Yeah. Yeah. Right. And and um I think we've expressed that I don't like debt. I hate debt. but I really want to borrow a million dollars and do this.
00:33:22
Speaker
So fast forward, we borrowed a million dollars and we bought the tech. and And I was going to treat it like a sub-rental. So every time i did the job, i was going to take the amount of money I would have paid a sub-rental for and pay down the debt.
00:33:40
Speaker
Right? So I was going to pay really super quick. And so in September of 2016, I think it was, we took possession 200-foot by structure from and That was a hell of a jump back in.
00:33:55
Speaker
yeah so we're we're all the way in now, right? Yeah, all the way. oh again and um And the day we took possession of it, I had a big heart attack.
00:34:10
Speaker
yeah so So we call it the widow maker, the 60 meter in our circles. um And so in September 2016, we took possession of this 60 meter.
00:34:24
Speaker
ah You can ask Pat and all the boys. They'll tell you, oh, no, no. The day he took possession of it, he went into hospital. so so oh So it kind of changes your look on things a little bit.
00:34:36
Speaker
You know, so here we are, 2016. two thousand and sixteen You're getting a little older. You're not the young kid you are anymore. You definitely got the debt now. you've You've signed on for this million dollars of debt.
00:34:47
Speaker
And, um, And you're running this office in l L.A. and you're running the office in Phoenix. ah You've got, you know, 40 employees. You know, you're doing a nice piece of business.
00:34:59
Speaker
ah Maybe in some, we still relied on the bigger jobs for contract labor. We didn't, you know, because it was a bit of a roller coaster, the big jobs. You know, you'd have to be feast or famine. You'd have everything at the same time or you'd have nothing at the same time.
00:35:13
Speaker
So the local business had a core of like 40 people. And then you'd ramp up as you got, like, say, let's say you're doing the 60 meter in Vegas, right? You'd bring in a crew, an extra crew of maybe 15 people just to do that job.
00:35:29
Speaker
yeah So okay that's how we kind of worked through it. But in that whole medical issue and now this, friend of mine, I think I mentioned his name just a few minutes ago, Amir Glago came back to me.
00:35:43
Speaker
goes, hey, do you want to sell your company? Here we go again. So I'd gone to the kids and the kids said they didn't want to run the business. Right. And that was kind of thing.
00:35:53
Speaker
So I sat down with Amir Glago and I said, look, we might be interested in doing this. But if you want five years history. you know, and what you're going to value this on. There's no way.
00:36:05
Speaker
There's no way I'm not doing So I said, um if you want to look at one year and evaluate it we might be able to make a deal. So we sat down. He goes, well, let's get the numbers. So we gave him the numbers. We, again, made a deal. But remember, so we're sitting in a conference room.
00:36:27
Speaker
And we're ready to shake hands on the deal. And we've got everything down. And there's Kevin Benoit and Joseph Mercer are in the room. And Amir goes, really the guy, me and Amir are really making the deal.
00:36:40
Speaker
And again, I stand up to shake hands. I go, oh, wait a minute. We have one unresolved issue. And remember the 135,000 that they didn't pay me on the first deal?
00:36:52
Speaker
I said, it's the deal plus 135,000. Oh God. oh my god and And Amir and I are just laughing. Right. And Kevin and Joseph have no idea what's going on. Right. So they're sitting there and Amir's laughing. We shake hands. He looks at Kevin and Joseph. He goes, plus 135,000. And he goes, so, and I said to Amir, I said, I told you I'd get that money one day.
00:37:18
Speaker
And he goes, I told you you'd help me make money. And that's how you would get it. And so we both conceded that we both had won. Absolutely. That's a good little power play there. I'm not going to In 2017, June, I think it was of 2017, I signed a three-year deal and sold my company to Pro-M again.
00:37:40
Speaker
right So I signed on for three years and that was eight years ago. I'm still sitting here today. so oh man. So one, we're glad that you're here. It sounds like after this heart attack. no Oh, it was bad. Yeah, I agree. Yeah.
00:37:56
Speaker
Everything, you've you've been good? Everything since then? yeah ah We got to the hospital. We took care of it. We follow the rules now and and We follow the rules. That's awesome. So, man, so you didn't regret after, it sounds like it was a last time you had some regrets on the first time. The second time you really sat down and made a lifestyle decision based on what the future was going to look like, not for you just personally and selfishly, but for your family.
00:38:25
Speaker
Yeah, it was it was for all of us. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. And it sounds like that that has worked out very well into what you wanted, where you're at today and your work-life balance, correct? Yeah, very much so. And, and you know, the the part is I still get my fix because I'm still in the industry, right? So there there is a fix we need from it, right?
00:38:45
Speaker
And still get that. And my family have done well from it. um And I think it's great. um You know, and I get to sit at the big boy table and within' with Pro-Am, you know.
00:38:59
Speaker
There's a few of us at that table, and and that's a lot of fun. And you don't have to take on the debt again now. and And I'm not taking on any personal debt for that. So now now the Widowmaker structure, where is where's that?
00:39:10
Speaker
And is that event still going? So that event happens, not as often. okay People that used it built a big addition to their facility, a 60,000 square foot addition to their facility.
00:39:22
Speaker
and But they still use it. We're still very good friends. And Pro-Am now with the Phoenix Open, And the, we had bought another, um, we have like 450 meters of 60 meter now.
00:39:38
Speaker
That's just crazy. It's laughable. It really is. So if you want a widow maker, take on the debt for that. i mean Yeah, no kidding. Well, that kind of, that kind of shifts into what I want to talk about next and just pro am and, you know, these high profile event structures that you guys are doing over there.
Logistics and Safety in Events
00:39:56
Speaker
um take me through kind of like the key of the, what the key is to these structures and the design of these structures under such tight logistical restraints. I mean, you guys are doing these massive. And so people who don't know, Richard's team does the waste management open.
00:40:14
Speaker
And if you've ever seen that party hole and that structure out there and and then all those other structures out there, i mean, it's, it's wild. So just take us through what that design process looks like. in order to make sure that you guys are getting everything logistically done in time?
00:40:28
Speaker
So let's look at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, right? I mean, it's the biggest golf tournament in the world, the most attended golf tournament in the world. um There's a gentleman within Pro-Am that some people know, some don't know, but Brady Castro.
00:40:44
Speaker
Brady Castro is really responsible for how that really is today, right? You can go back to Glenn Klemp and Kevin Moore. as Arizona tents and events, they started the tent side of the Phoenix Open ah back and way back in the day.
00:41:00
Speaker
So if you look at the progression of the pitches, specifically around 16, which is the most famous part of the Waste Management Open, you can see how that's evolved over the years.
00:41:13
Speaker
But Brady's done a fantastic job of making it what it is today from a tenting standpoint. and introducing new ideas to it. It's a year long process.
00:41:23
Speaker
So it's as you know, it's the week of Super Bowl every year, culminates on Super Bowl Sunday, close to a million people go through the event.
00:41:36
Speaker
And the minute it's over, everyone takes like about a week's break of catch their breath and everything. And then they start planning for the next year straight away. we do We don't do the scaffold, the seed ins or anything like that. ah in production does that.
00:41:53
Speaker
And they do a great job of that. And then we come in maybe two or three weeks behind them. So somewhere in October, we start building tents at the Phoenix Open for Super Bowl week events.
00:42:07
Speaker
ah So that is a, you got a good timeline there then, but I mean, it is, it's probably down to the wire on making sure that you get everything done with all the weather in between there and everything else. Right.
00:42:19
Speaker
So one of the advantages of the Phoenix Open for Pro-Am is, you know, our warehouse is, you know, within 30 minutes of the site. Right. Okay. so So you can, and you have such an elongated build.
00:42:32
Speaker
Let's say you had a big weather day or something like that. um When you travel to do a big golf tournament, you know, and you've got maybe 20 guys building it, you get a weather day, you're paying 20 guys to sit in a hotel room that day. Yeah.
00:42:46
Speaker
Right. In Phoenix, they can just take a day off because they're home each night. Right. So, so you don't have the risk associated that you do with a traveling install of an event.
00:42:59
Speaker
I think the traveling, it's a different mechanics altogether when you're traveling and you've got hotels, per deems, things like that, that you wouldn't have at the Phoenix open.
00:43:10
Speaker
Right. So, and They can always go in the warehouse if you need them in the warehouse. They can always go and do another job that's going to be. We can decide to have, we don't do this very often, but you can say, okay, we've got a large build for another show in the Phoenix area. We've got a little light out at the Phoenix Open today, right? So we can redistribute a crew a little bit.
00:43:34
Speaker
You just said we never do that in case anyone listens from the Phoenix Open. Please, please don't take me down on that. So that's also interesting because I didn't know how many people you have that are in that facility at in the Pro-Am in the Arizona division there.
00:43:51
Speaker
You guys got a pretty big crew down in that area? We do. We do. The company nationwide has close to 400 employees. right I think it's 390 something. things So don't quote me. It could be more today and it could be less tomorrow. so right um But and the Phoenix is the largest branch of all of the offices and has the most employees. So I'm guessing on there's 200 approximately Phoenix employees.
00:44:22
Speaker
Okay. but So I'm curious with a, with a company of your size and safety and everything else, as we've been talking all the safety stuff for the industry and and creating these classes and things like that.
00:44:34
Speaker
Talk a little bit about how you guys handle safety on site with a job but of that size, but also what it looks like after the build is up and now you got the event going on. You know, there's, there's all these things.
00:44:47
Speaker
companies that either put a guy on site or you know they they give an emergency evacuation plan to a planner, things like that, if it's a smaller event. But I can only assume that an event that big, you've got staff an entire team, I would say, for safety reasons, right?
00:45:03
Speaker
Exactly. Safety has become probably the number one thing these days that we're focused on. We have a safety officer for the company. um Each day we do what we call a toolbox meeting at the start of the day where we address security. you know, we're in the high vis vests in the hard hats, steel toe boots. we We don't always require steel toe cap boots.
00:45:27
Speaker
ah People do have a choice with that side of things, but the hard hats, non-optional, the high vis vest is non-optional. You're not allowed to sit out the toolbox meetings.
00:45:38
Speaker
You have to participate and every installer is OSHA 10. ten And every project manager and lead guy is OSHA 30.
00:45:51
Speaker
Right. So for people that don't know what that is, that' and every salesperson, by the way, is OSHA 10 too. like So we require the salespeople to understand what they're asking people to do.
00:46:02
Speaker
I love that. So OSHA 10 is kind of like the bare bones of safety and what have you. and gives you a general overview of what's needed.
00:46:13
Speaker
OSHA 30 is a 30 hour course. OSHA 10 is a 10 hour course. OSHA 30 is a 30 hour course. And that's a little bit more in depth. And then there's working at elevation. There's another course for that.
00:46:27
Speaker
Rigging, there's another. So these days, you know, so the project managers and the lead guys have to take this OSHA 30 part and then sometimes even more.
00:46:39
Speaker
Uh, you're only allowed to drive the forklifts. If you're carded, we make deals with, uh, the rental equipment people that we rent from to train the people and qualify them to drive them.
00:46:51
Speaker
And each level of forklift needs a different, uh, clearance for that. So we do that. We do that as much as possible. Um, you know, I can go back to the nineties and, uh, we didn't do an awful lot. I'll be honest. Oh yeah. Well, I just think these golf tournaments, man, it's, it just,
00:47:09
Speaker
As you see the the structure and the innovation that is just ah developing in all these different spaces, it's like the safety just becomes more and more crazy. and look and And just the prioritizing it is one thing, but then making sure that you're, you know, I think you got to look at your budget, but then you can't weigh your safety on your budget. And so it's how do you get your customer then to buy in and things like that.
00:47:33
Speaker
So every pitch we do, there's a safety part of that pitch where we talk about it. There's a cost to safety, as you guys know. And we we we try and explain it as best we can.
00:47:46
Speaker
And some customers are good. that Some customers are excited that you have it. Right. yeah And then some customers are like, yeah, but that is other companies cheaper than you. And they don't want to.
00:47:57
Speaker
I go, yeah, but they've got not a great track record of being safe here, you know, but some customers. And and you know what? There's nothing you can do about that. There's absolutely nothing you can do. You just got to move on and do your best and try and use the benefits of being a safety conscious company.
00:48:12
Speaker
There's unfortunately always going to be that company that will always come in and do it cheaper and not as nearly as safe. And that's when we have the issues. And that's what gives our company or these ah this industry the black eye. so um that's good I think you guys know ah organizations like ARA are doing a tremendous job of promoting it now.
Future Growth and Industry Advice
00:48:32
Speaker
And the there's always a seminar or more than one at the ARA shows, at other shows that, you know, revolve around that safety now.
00:48:43
Speaker
yeah So we do much better job as an industry. Yeah, it's, you know, it's funny because it's hard to get. i have people who work for me who've been in it from the 90s. And those are the guys who are the hardest to all right, hey, this is a different time. Yeah, you're retraining them from all those years that they could get away with whatever they wanted.
00:49:02
Speaker
like ah You got to retrain the whole brain. It's not just, I mean, it's like, I've done it this way. And that's one of the biggest lines in this industry. Why are we changing it? We've always done it this way. And it's like, I get that, but things are changing. We have to adapt. We have to be better.
00:49:16
Speaker
I mean, being out there and no shoes, flip-flops, no shirt on, and swinging the sledgehammers, that was back in the day. you know I'm sure Brian Richardson still goes out to his site and does that. but We wish he would keep his shirt on. but yeah I love you, Brian.
00:49:33
Speaker
If you follow Brian on social media, I think you see it occasionally. yeah Absolutely. Yeah. Or we see his wife shoveling all the snow while he watches. Either one. Um, so Richard, where do you see this industry going with live events, just the future of live events and the infrastructures? Where do you guys think that this is heading and is it just going to continue to grow in that aspect?
00:49:54
Speaker
Uh, I think in general, it's going to keep growing. Um, I don't think live events are going away again. There may be a downtrend for ah a year or two or three. Um, but I think in general, uh, it's going to keep growing. It's going to become more and more sophisticated.
00:50:09
Speaker
Um, you know, the line that everybody likes to use is I don't want my tent to look like a tent. Right. I mean, uh, so we as a group, and and I think that look at the young guys, you guys, right.
00:50:23
Speaker
People like Ramsey, right. And, and, I just kind of evolve in this business and bring in a new dimension to it. If you if you look at someone like Alain Perez down in Florida, some of the stuff that he gives out, oh my God, that's, yeah you know, I sit there and go, oh my God. yeah yeah so So I think that this business is going to keep evolving.
00:50:48
Speaker
They're going to keep creating new things. I think we're going to go higher and higher. I think that's just a, you know, I think you're going to go higher and higher. You're running out of real estate on that green.
00:50:59
Speaker
yeah So I think you're going to see, you know, you, you've got your standard two levels that a lot of people are doing now. And then I've seen formula one and 16 is three levels. Right. And I think you're going to see four and five. I mean,
00:51:15
Speaker
I think every time a big event, I think if you look maybe towards the Olympics when it comes to LA next time, I think you're going to see some crazy innovations of going higher.
00:51:27
Speaker
And let's hope we're still growing our safety at the same rate that we're increasing the degree of difficulty in what we're doing.
00:51:38
Speaker
So do we see Richard Martin coming into another nine years here at Pro-Am or a little bit longer wanting to get out and start his own production company again? Or is this is this where Richard Martin is going to stay for a while for the long haul?
00:51:50
Speaker
i think I don't think there's any more Richard Martin production companies in the future. Richard's a little old these days. But i you know i used to used to say that, okay, I'll do one more year. I'll do one more year. I'll do one more year.
00:52:05
Speaker
I kind of changed my mindset a little bit to be like, man, I'm lucky to be doing what I'm doing still. Right. And I get to go to the shows and see you guys and, and kind of laugh. And I kind of do that, you know, the Steve Frost of this world where you walk around and you keep, you tell the stories that you've been telling for years. i kind of get to do that now and share that. And it's kind of fun.
00:52:28
Speaker
And as I like to say, the older I get, the better I was.
00:52:33
Speaker
That's good. ah and And I feel like the longer you're in this street, in this industry, the harder it is to get out, not just because you can't go do something else, but it's the people and everybody around.
Community and Relationships in Rental Industry
00:52:45
Speaker
I think, I think we could all agree that there's been many times where where you want to just throw our hands up and be done in this industry.
00:52:51
Speaker
But if you look at it, it's like, okay, I can go work over here and do this and do something totally different, but I don't have the camaraderie and the friends at the shows. And, you know, it, It weighs on you when you're thinking about jobs. So as long as you're doing something in your business that you go to every day and you love doing it, um there was a guy in Lexington that always said, do what makes your heart sing.
00:53:13
Speaker
And I feel like as long as you're doing that in your company every day, you're going to want to be there for the long haul. Yeah, look, it's amazing. I mean, we we get to put on parties for a living. yeah That's what we do.
00:53:25
Speaker
I mean, if you want to break it down to the simplest format of everything, and it's fun. I mean, get to go to any event you want. I don't go to many events anymore, I'll be honest, right?
00:53:38
Speaker
But you can go to any event you want. Yeah. yeah Right? i mean, Even if you don't do it, because odds are you probably know who does. You can get one step away, I'm telling you, every time. man And it's like, you know, how many times does someone call your dad will call me and go, hey, can I come and see that? and we're like, yeah, we'd love to show you that. And yeah and we like live in the moment, right? And and the young guys, I'm telling you, the young guys are way smarter than we ever were, right? and And I think it's on you guys to do that now.
00:54:12
Speaker
just have to keep them. Yeah, you have. You've got to find a way to keep them because that's hard. But if they get the bug, if they get the bug, man, it's hard to walk away from it. It is. You got to show them the path. I think that nowadays it's a lot of these younger generation guys want it and they want it now.
00:54:29
Speaker
But you got to you got to pave a path for them because I mean, honestly, did we Kyle? I mean, I don't know about you. i mean, I do know about you, but like we were never told and you bounced around, too. But like, yeah this is your path.
00:54:41
Speaker
You had to jump in and dive in and and do it to make them let you do that position. Exactly. Just where nowadays. They want it here and you want it and they want it now. And you're like, let me pave the way for you and show you what I didn't get shown on what you can do in this industry and what the long term is of this.
00:54:57
Speaker
And I think as long as you do that, we can keep people in this industry and it's going to be fun. And that's the whole point of this podcast. That's the whole point of all these classes with ARA and all the other associations. it It's just fun.
00:55:08
Speaker
Yeah, I think that, um you know, we're in a day now where somebody goes out and they sell and put up a 12 meter tent and they go, okay, I'm ready to go under 30 meter now. I'm like, well, okay, slow down, cowboy. yeah yup job It was a big, sunny day.
00:55:24
Speaker
And you could pull the truck up alongside it. Yep. And nothing went wrong. So it was a little bit different. No, I understand. Let's try to do it in the rain and the wind first, shall we? Yeah. That is so true, Richard. Yeah. They think it's the same exact thing.
00:55:41
Speaker
they a twenty five It's probably the one thing that money guys coming into the industry can't quite get their heads around Well, wait a minute.
00:55:53
Speaker
You put up that 12 by 25 meter with this many people in this many hours yesterday. How did it take two more guys and three more hours today? the labor is The labor is always going to be the worst part of this industry, as we know.
00:56:08
Speaker
And I think that that's what the guys that are buying these companies right now currently don't see and they don't understand. And that's i mean that just goes back to our conversation of the two to four million dollar companies versus you get these bigger companies, you know, and and they want to come in, but you're like, but way the labor option. It looks, it looks all gravy and fun and everything and shiny. But when you get into the nuts and bolts of it and you see the labor, that's where, and, and they don't know how to find the labor. Like we do, they can buy the company and they can do everything they want to do, but you got to find a way to find the labor still.
00:56:40
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's, it's, it's a very hard part of what we do and the most significant part. Yeah. Right. If we argue all the time, they're the most valuable asset every company has. It's not the tents sitting on the shelf. It's the guys you have that can put them up.
00:56:54
Speaker
Absolutely. and And can they take care of the equipment when they put it up? Yeah, well, yeah. And take care of their crew that puts it up. yeah yeah Yeah. So, Richard, for the young folks coming into this industry or listening, what is the best piece of advice you could give them?
00:57:11
Speaker
So ill I'll give them the very first piece of advice I was given coming into this in industry by Jim Smith. He was the head of Roto UK. He said, sleep quickly.
00:57:24
Speaker
That's good. That makes me think for a minute. yeah so When you first start out, there isn't enough hours in the day to do Right. And when you're young and hungry, you work all of them hours and you want it and you get that craving for it.
00:57:42
Speaker
um I think that today, right, if in sales, I'll give you this piece of advice. Sending a text or an email is not enough. Go and say hello to somebody.
00:57:52
Speaker
Right. Getting it off your desk doesn't mean it's done. You've got to go and make a relationship. That's what we all did. And I understand it's different now. once your ring is Once they're a repeat customer and everything, maybe a text or an email is okay.
00:58:07
Speaker
But nothing replaces going to see somebody and getting to know them, right? from an operational standpoint is learn your trade, learn how to use the tent ox to save your back, right?
00:58:20
Speaker
Learn how to use forklifts. learn how to use the the winches that pull the tops over things like that. Understand the,
00:58:32
Speaker
and evolution of what we're doing because cause I don't know that we, and I say we as me, the 60 plus crowd, really fully understand that, right?
00:58:42
Speaker
I think that, but the young guys definitely do. Now, there is no substitute for hard work. Right. Every container I've ever unloaded, some young guys go, wait, wait, I think there's a better way of doing this.
00:58:57
Speaker
Sometimes you just have to get in and do it. Yeah. Right. So so don't be fooled that there's a shortcut for everything. Operationally, sometimes you just got to go and do it.
00:59:08
Speaker
Absolutely. That's the key to this business is just going and doing. And that's that's how I feel like half these people move up. You just got to go do it. but Well, Richard, this has been a great episode. I really appreciate it. I know we could probably go um go on for another hour here. So we'd love to get you back on here in the future and have some more conversation with you. But love watching what you're doing.
00:59:29
Speaker
Love seeing the yeah the structures that ah you guys are putting up is just mind blowing sometimes. And, you know, it's it's great. You're great for the industry. That's great for the industry. And so we're glad to have you.
00:59:41
Speaker
And I think what you guys are doing is great for the industry. So thank you for doing this and bringing some insight into other people's lives. I think it's going to do nothing but help improve what we all do.
00:59:52
Speaker
Absolutely. We appreciate that, Richard. Absolutely. And for all the listeners, just don't forget to like and subscribe and find us on any of the podcast platforms, as well as we are now on YouTube under ARA's page on YouTube.
01:00:06
Speaker
So this has been another episode of Under the Vinyl, an ARA rental management podcast. Thanks, guys. and Thanks, Richard.