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Storage Units
171 Plays2 years ago
Wiebe Goodyk, owner of Pella Building Systems, shares his uncommon path to success in the storage unit industry. After college, Wiebe joined his father's business and quickly developed a passion for storage units. Following his father's passing, Wiebe took over the company and focused on expanding and evolving the business.
With a team of dedicated employees, Pella Building Systems has grown and thrived, offering storage solutions to a variety of customers. Weeb's dedication to building relationships and providing excellent service has propelled the company forward.
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Transcript
Introduction and Purpose of Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
Everyone dreams of living an uncommon life and the best asset you have to achieve your dreams is you. Welcome to the Uncommon Wealth Podcast. We're going to introduce you to people who are living uncommonly. We're also going to give you some tools and strategies for building wealth and for pursuing an uncommon path that is uniquely right for you.
Meet Weeb Godyke: Storage Unit Investor
00:00:27
Speaker
Hello and welcome everybody to another episode of The Uncommon Wealth Project. I'm your host, Phillip Ramsey. We have a guest today. Super excited to get into it. This is from a buddy of mine who said, you got to talk to this guy. Super interesting. The way that he is investing is super uncommon. And I was like, I want to talk to him. So today we have Weeb Godyke with us today. I'm excited to jump in and kind of hear his story, how he got into storage units. There it is. We just dropped the bomb.
00:00:55
Speaker
Storage units is what he's invested in. He's super passionate about it. You know me, I love passionate people. So, Weeb, welcome to the show. Thank you. I'm excited to be here. Always ready to talk about storage,
Weeb's Background and Early Influences
00:01:06
Speaker
that's for sure. See? I told you this guy's excited. First off, this is your 100th podcast. Totally kidding.
00:01:12
Speaker
This is not like you get to do this every day. Yeah, exactly. It isn't new for me. This is just two dudes hanging out, getting to know each other. I know you a little bit. You're married about four years. I'm going to say four years, have two kids, boy, girl, and played basketball in college. I'm trying to do, yeah. Graduated from Iowa.
00:01:30
Speaker
And then what did you do right after college? Did you know what you wanted to do? My junior year, I started to figure out that I wanted to be involved with the storage side of things. So I started building in college. A couple of buddies would pick me up on Thursday afternoon from class, drive out to South Dakota, put up a building back by Tuesday classes. So I kind of scheduled my classes to be able to work around that. So I started with that and got out of college.
00:01:58
Speaker
kept building for a while and really just do about anything with storage now. Huh. Okay. Which is really cool because your college history, I didn't give it credit. Okay. So you went to two kind of smaller colleges and then got your undergraduate from those two Jucos basically playing basketball. Correct. Okay. And then you went to university of Iowa.
00:02:19
Speaker
Start honing your craft and what you wanted to do which I couldn't think of a better way to do it So kudos for you if somebody was like at Princeton or Yale and then or you I'd be like dude this guy knows what he's doing Yeah putzes so I love how you did that in an uncommon way of like and I think that's maybe what's wrong in In college today is like hey go out and find yourself like yep Well, that's fine, but sixty thousand dollars worth of debt to go find yourself like you decide you want to do something different exactly
00:02:45
Speaker
Exactly. Is there a way to be strategic and use your education as a tool in order to further what you really want to do out of school?
Strategic Education and Family Influence
00:02:52
Speaker
Yup. And then even better for you to actually apply what you're learning. That was the biggest thing. It got me excited because when I was learning in school, I could go apply it and try and help other people with it. But you just don't want to do storage. Who in your life has got into storage?
00:03:10
Speaker
Maybe you did, I don't know. Yeah, well my dad, that's what his passion was and he did a lot of different things. That man tried everything out and got into storage and we stuck to that and then I got involved and we just both had the passion there.
00:03:26
Speaker
kept pushing it and had a lot of fun doing it. How did he get into it? I'm not quite sure how he actually did it. I know when he was 20 he went into business with the lumber yard and they were doing a lot of wood frame stuff and then I'm sure he just kind of got steered by some customers to put some up and
00:03:47
Speaker
Kind of a good niche, you know, a lot of people do pole building, especially in Iowa. So that's a little bit more of a competitive market and not very many people do steel or storage facilities, just especially that. So I'm sure he just saw a little bit of a market to go into and.
00:04:04
Speaker
The rest was history. Yep. How old were you when he was getting into that? I was probably around five, I'd say. He kind of was doing the other stuff before that. And then when I was five, he started bringing me to meetings with them. I had my own briefcase and I was the entertainment side of it. And it worked. Yeah. And so I got to be around it, go to job sites, just kind
Family Involvement and Business Growth
00:04:26
Speaker
of watch him. He wasn't really pushing stuff on me. He never
00:04:29
Speaker
told me to do that, but I just loved learning from him. So that's what helped me build a passion there, I'd say. Right. Isn't that fascinating now that you have a son at three and then a daughter at what, four months? Seven months. Seven months. Getting close. Isn't it crazy how much they are probably like soaking in of what their dad does? My son always wants to go to the job site or
00:04:52
Speaker
be a part of that stuff. If I have a business call at home, he wants to be right on my hip and just be right there, so it's really cool. Oh, baby. It's fun. Legacy. I love it. Okay, so Aubrey is your wife, correct? Correct. How long have you been married? You said four years? Yep, four, getting close to five, I believe. Okay, and what does she do?
00:05:12
Speaker
Does she just stay home with the monkeys? She does that as well. She juggles a lot of things. So she helps keep the house in line, but then she's a part of the business and some of our management stuff. So she wears a lot of hats as well. And that's the thing with like our company, not everybody has a defined role. It's, we all try and help pick up the slack and yep. And right now we got several office people out building this week and you know, just people prepared to do whatever we need. Very cool. How many people do you have working for your company?
00:05:41
Speaker
Um, internally we've got, I'd say around 15. Okay. And then, um, you know, we put up a lot of buildings. So in the field and guys building for us, we've probably got anywhere from depending on the time of year, 30 to 50 or 60 guys out building for us.
00:05:56
Speaker
Okay. So let's flash back or flash forward wherever we're at. So you get out of college and now you have an expertise that you've tried to glean as much as you can from your education. You come in and how was that conversation with your father? Like, Hey, I got a couple of things we need to try.
00:06:12
Speaker
Yeah, did not go great to start. You know, he was setting his ways. And I know one thing you always told me, well, if it ever ends up yours, then you can do those then. And so I, Keith. Keith, I love that guy. And so I wanted to come in and be in the office and be a part of some of those things. And he's like, first off, you don't want to do that. You don't want to be in the office and kind of controlled to something because I wanted to do takeoff lists. And that's what I was doing in college as well.
00:06:42
Speaker
He just didn't for one probably see the value me in the office at that point and so he kind of pushed me to want to go build a little bit and I Jumped right into that once I got out there. I wasn't a big construction guy growing up but once I got out there I had my buddies with me building and really started to love that and so then it
00:07:02
Speaker
I went from one project building for them and I'd be like, when's my next one? And just stayed on them and pushing them to get me more. And so really allowed me to learn the business from the front back and just kind of understand the processes, timelines, how they go together.
Financing and Evolving Roles
00:07:16
Speaker
And that really helped me understand what I didn't know at the time. Okay. How are you financing all this?
00:07:21
Speaker
Cause I can totally get how your hands on guy seems like that's how you like to go through college. He was like, okay, there's an intention here. I'm learning something to be able to apply it. Now you get out in the real world. Your dad's like, you're not doing the office stuff. Kudos to Keith. He was right. You go out with your friends. You're building this stuff. You're working and you're asking for more projects. I feel like Keith is like, okay, I got to figure out how to finance this guy. He's on fire.
00:07:45
Speaker
Well, the big thing is, you know, we work with a lot of different types of customers, you know, end users, individuals, investment groups. Contractors is a big one. So, you know, we don't really have to finance the entire project. It's more so, you know, the material and that side of it. So, yeah, that kind of helps us be able to expand and contract a little more when we need to.
00:08:11
Speaker
But yeah, just storage projects keep going up and wow.
00:08:16
Speaker
So how does he finance? Just goes to all these people and it's like, hey, we've got another project. You guys want to finance them? And they're like, yep. Yeah. So like one thing we're helping with with some of the consulting stuff is, you know, big thing is business planning and putting a pro forma together. So we kind of help our customers and people, you know, put stuff together that makes sense before they get going and then they go get their financing on their own. Yeah. Okay. Gotcha. Yep. All right. So you got 15 people working with you now. Um,
00:08:44
Speaker
Tell me a little bit about just your role inside the company now, and how has it evolved since the first day out of college? Yeah, so not much responsibility when I first started. A lot of stress, I guess, of trying to do things the right way, but I didn't have all that many people to keep motivated and make sure we're in the right direction.
Leadership Transition and Company Dynamics
00:09:08
Speaker
Because how many people were in the company at that point?
00:09:10
Speaker
At that time, we probably only had, I mean, four. Okay. It was including my dad and I, and Barb, who was with us forever, and then Randy in my office there, that's still with us. Awesome. So it wasn't a huge team. Right. But yeah, we've added people. Okay, so how's your responsibilities grown?
00:09:31
Speaker
So now you know I've the last few years specifically I've Gotten off the job site a lot more, you know 2015 I started doing a lot more sales and kind of behind-the-scenes stuff while also on job sites so I'd have to be thoughtful of my time and when I was working on things whether it was over lunch or at night and You know, I worked with a lot of people in our company so we were able to be on the same page gain trust and so now
00:09:56
Speaker
My main focus is sales and working on new projects with people, the entire process, whether it's locating properties to analyze, designing them and just making sure it makes sense financially before moving forward.
00:10:12
Speaker
And then after the fact with management and marketing strategies and then inside the company, aside from that, you know, I'm really just trying to be a resource for our guys doing stuff. So they're able to take on more responsibilities. And then if they have questions, they're able to use me as a resource and help them make the right decision. Okay. So what is like your job title? That's a tricky one.
00:10:38
Speaker
I guess, I'm paper president, CEO, I guess. I usually just call it the owner, the guy you gotta deal with, I guess. Yeah, I don't like to title it too much. Okay, so what's your dad do?
00:10:54
Speaker
Um, he's not with us anymore. So he, uh, he passed in 2015. So that was one of the events that kind of sped up getting a little bit more involved and taking on more responsibility. Sorry about that. Yeah. No, that's just fine. I talk about him every day. I was a great guy and.
00:11:11
Speaker
Keith took care of a lot of people, so. Okay, let's talk about the transition. Did he have things in place? Obviously you were right there, but was that transition seamless? Did he have things kind of paved? So I got really lucky because,
00:11:27
Speaker
you know I was out building and understood stuff so you know the physical side was able to keep going pretty well and when he passed he had a lot of projects sold for the following year so I didn't have time to sit at home and worry about things it was when are you gonna get to the next job and so that really helped keep things going and then when I started selling I wasn't as
00:11:47
Speaker
stressed to sell something right now because we had a little bit of a leeway there. So I could just, you know, have conversations with people, not be a true salesman of, you know, pushing stuff on people. So that really helped give me a little bit of a grace period there. And then the big thing was is he just had so many.
00:12:05
Speaker
great people around him. He focused on taking care of people and I had a lot of good mentors and people working with me that just really stayed focused and kept things moving with me. So I ended up being a very
00:12:20
Speaker
Very smooth transition. Thankfully, we tried not to change much and keep things going the same way and just kind of evolve them as we go. Did you, cause your mother's still with you. What's her name? Barb. Barb. Okay. So was there ever any like financial transaction that you ended up paying for the business?
00:12:37
Speaker
Um, not necessarily. I had to buy out a partner. So that was the big thing is, um, those are always easy. Yeah, it was smooth. Thankfully, my dad, uh, uh, had a good relationship with him and, um, he was kind of a silent guy. So, um, that ended up being smooth and good. Didn't cause any problems. Thankfully. Wow. Okay. So what has been the biggest obstacle that you've had? Cause it seems like things have been pretty smooth for you. And it always seems like you've been on this uncommon path.
00:13:06
Speaker
Yeah, I've been fortunate. I mean, uh, we focus on relationships with people and, uh, growing those. So, you know, they send people our way. They keep coming back to us when we do a good job for them. And the big thing is, you know, having friends and family around that we all get along and helps keep things moving. So, um, you know, we've had good luck with getting help, which a lot of people are struggling with that. And I mean, everybody could always use more people, but we're, uh, been fortunate with that end of it. But, uh,
00:13:37
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know, I've been fortunate. One of the tricky things is in business with family and friends is just being thoughtful of those relationships and neither side taking advantage of it or not being thoughtful of what you're doing there and that's something that we've had really good luck with.
00:13:56
Speaker
So yeah. What is your company's name?
Market Evolution and Growth Strategies
00:14:00
Speaker
The primary is Pell Building Systems and then we're also doing like PBS consulting just kind of helping people put together a little bit more of a business plan and analyzing the market a little bit. You know our big goal is to
00:14:12
Speaker
not spend money before we feel comfortable and we need to. So by doing that, it allows you to feel more comfortable once you start going down that route of your facility or whatever you're doing. But then you can also work on multiple at the same time without investing a lot of capital. It's more about the time to invest and putting together a good strategic plan and then... Right. What's the biggest project you've ever worked on?
00:14:37
Speaker
Ooh, I don't know. By size or dollar amount? Dollar amount. Dollar amount for like just the buildings alone was probably I'd say around three million dollars for the building side of it. And that's something that has evolved.
00:14:53
Speaker
heavily so used to not have as much cash coming into the market and funny thing is I want to say like when storage wars came out is when really started to get some more traction internationally because the storage market's really not that old. I think it really started picking up in the US in like the 60s and 70s so it's evolved a lot.
00:15:18
Speaker
kind of went stagnant for a while as far as it wasn't really evolving and changing much. And now it seems like it's more of an alternative investment strategy for a lot of people. So by doing that, it's added more capital coming in. Projects are getting bigger.
00:15:36
Speaker
And they're just, you gotta be a little bit more thoughtful with your business plan and what you're doing there, but it's an exciting business to be in. And I think people have seen it a little more and they start to know people that have been in it. And so there's getting more stories out there where people are like, well, I want to do that too. And so that's, yeah, it's just really evolved I'd say in the last 10 years specifically. So eight years ago, your father passed. He's passed. What do you think he'd be the most shocked about today that's happening in your business?
00:16:08
Speaker
I mean, he, uh, that's a tough one. Um, I'd say just how we've kept things going, you know, I mean, um, and evolved stuff, you know, we kept a lot of stuff the same, but, um, we really doubled down on storage and, um, like designing stuff. Um, we've brought in a lot of design in house. And so, um,
00:16:32
Speaker
I think he'd be just proud and shocked of how much we kind of dove into storage and trusted his route after the fact. It wasn't just something we were doing for fun or, you know, because it was easy or just him being able to see how much people love what he started and how exciting it is. Back to, all right, yeah, you can do that when you're in charge. Yeah, exactly. You were. Yeah. Oh, that's cool. Yep. What a cool thing. OK, so what's the future of Pella buildings?
00:17:02
Speaker
Um, you know, really we're just trying to, um, do you have like goals of like, we want to do 75 buildings? Really? No, we've never really had a goal on, uh, size and growth. You know, I think whenever we grow, we try and be thoughtful of stabilizing it for a period and not overgrowing and, uh, getting something kicked out from you and tarnishing what you've spent years working on. So.
00:17:28
Speaker
That's our big thing is everybody likes to grow and do more and stuff, but we really like to focus on our current customers, making sure we're able to keep up with that, add resources, and then from there, if we get more projects, do what we need to do to expand or contract and just keep the business going, I guess.
00:17:49
Speaker
Alright so let's go back so for you that are listening like why is he on this podcast so i feel like what we do with our clients is help them maybe. Figure out what they're passionate about let's start there or like help them get encouraged with their finances again because all too often somebody comes to an advisor and then they try to tell me need some kind of product.
00:18:10
Speaker
without even knowing who these people are. And so our job is to try to figure out who are we sitting in front of, how do we get them to a place where they feel like they are content and happy, excited about tomorrow. And there's just not a lot of advisors that will sit down and let people just talk and try to figure out like, well, that's, that's just like money's a tool.
Personal and Business Financial Management
00:18:29
Speaker
What is the tool for?
00:18:30
Speaker
And so that's why every person is a little different. And what I love about this whole name on commonwealth is that we all have kind of an uncommon path that we need to go on in my opinion, maybe because I'm entrepreneurial, but I just feel like we're all uniquely gifted and we're all like excited about different things. And so we help people kind of craft a plan in order to achieve and make sure that personally they're going to be okay. But a lot of times we met, we, we just interact with a lot of business owners.
00:18:58
Speaker
because they are running a business and they know that personally they're gonna be okay, but it feels good to just see it all. So for you and Aubrey, so how do you manage your personal finances in order that this Pella buildings can really manage all of the things that you wanna do, right? Yeah, well I guess the personal side I feel like probably takes the back seat before anything. It's like we're so focused on
00:19:27
Speaker
our projects and what we're doing. That probably takes the biggest backseat of things. And it probably helps with you because she's in the business. There's a lot of business owners that their wives are like, I have no idea what he's doing. Yeah, exactly. So they're a little bit more like, hey, babe, what are we doing? Yeah, exactly. Understanding and knowing what's going on. So yeah, I mean, we try and
00:19:48
Speaker
you know do what we are helping people do with projects and stuff so we have some storage facilities of our own but that's not necessarily our primary focus. It's trying to help just build people's businesses and build a good model for them.
00:20:05
Speaker
And I do feel like there is something to be said if you're selling something to be like, we've got skin in the game too. Yep, exactly. That's important. Yep. Adds a little bit of knowledge and understanding of things. So for sure. Yep. Cool. Okay. So let's talk about the, your relationship with Aubrey because I feel like that's something that we always touch on on these is tell me the role that she's played of your success up to this point. Um, yeah, big one. I mean, just,
00:20:34
Speaker
always being there and kind of, you know, when, for instance, when my son was born the first year, I was still gone a lot. And so wasn't able to be around as much as I'd like to be with my family. And so she just staying strong, you know, understanding won't be like that forever and really just help being a backbone. And she's caring and just does so much to help keep people moving and
00:21:03
Speaker
Somebody good to have in your corner, that's for sure.
Episode Conclusion and Podcast Credits
00:21:06
Speaker
That's cool. That's cool. Well, dude, it's great to meet you. Super excited about what you do and how you help people. And that's, I think, the biggest thing with the Uncommon Path is no one is going to do this by themselves. They're serving people. People that are truly uncommon are serving people. Yep. And so that's what you're doing. Thank you for being on the show.
00:21:26
Speaker
Appreciate it. Thank you for your gifts and the way that you're empowering other people and helping people make money and also being passionate about it. Yep. I love it. You've been listening to the Uncommon Wealth Podcast. I've been your host, Philip Ramsey. Weeb, thanks again. Appreciate it. Thanks for having us. That's all for this episode, brought to you by Uncommon Wealth Partners. Be sure to visit uncommonwealth.com to learn more about our services. Don't miss an episode as we introduce you to inspiring people who are actively pursuing an uncommon life.