The Huddle - Episode 181 - Crisis Management: Preparing for Unexpected Disruptions

No matter how solid your operation is, unexpected disruptions happen. The question is: are you prepared when they do? This week on The Huddle, Paul, Daniel, and Jose dive into crisis management and what flooring professionals can do to prepare for the unknown. From jobsite shutdowns and supply chain issues to labor gaps and business interruptions, this episode focuses on building resilience before chaos hits.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• The most common disruptions that impact flooring businesses

• How to create contingency plans that actually work

• Communication strategies that protect trust with clients and crews

• Lessons learned from real-world crises in the industry

• How preparation can turn disruption into opportunity

Whether you’re managing a crew, running a business, or planning for long-term growth, this episode will help you stay steady when things don’t go as planned.

Why This Episode Matters: At The Huddle Podcast, we’re all about Forward Progress — helping flooring professionals build stronger, smarter businesses that can weather any storm.

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The Huddle Podcast is where the flooring industry comes together to connect, learn, and thrive! Recognized as the #1 podcast in the flooring community, we provide an unmatched platform for professionals to discuss everything from installation techniques to industry trends.

At The Huddle, we’re all about driving Forward Progress—empowering seasoned installers, contractors, and flooring enthusiasts to grow, innovate, and lead in their craft. Whether you’re looking for real conversations, actionable insights, or inspiration to take your career to the next level, The Huddle is your home for real discussions that matter.

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What is up guys? Welcome back to the huddle the number one podcast and flooring. We are here every single week

to help you g you guys gain forward progress in your career. Simply put, we

are here to help you win. Sorry for the tongue tie. Sometimes I get it like bam.

It's cold outside, brother. You got any time now. Yeah. So, welcome to the team to all our

new viewers. Uh, today's sponsors, Divergent Adhesives and NFCT.

A couple shoutouts there on Divergent. If you need an adhesive built for

today's tough conditions and short timelines, look up the old Divergent and

go to Divergent Adhesives. NFCT,

one of the number one uh training organizations in the marketplace,

uh specifically talented at their resilient uh training, uh do a lot of uh

preparation like concrete prep, uh moisture testing, that kind of thing. We are trying to put one of those together

by the way for here in Witchaw Flash Cove Heat Welding course, uh five-day

course. We will be in touch soon about that if you'd like to join us. Also,

super soon. It's going to be one of them quick turnarounds. We got about 15 to 17 guys that are interested trying to get

it all to coordinate and come together is like uh being an air traffic

controller uh that's uh missing an arm and maybe an eye. It's pretty

complicated to get it all uh put together, but the NACT people are working uh diligently to make it happen.

So, if you um are in the Midwest and want to look at it, um you know, keep in

touch, stay in touch with the huddle and uh our social posts and such. We will be

uh bringing that to you as soon as we get it locked down. Also wanted to mention Live Switch, a new

sponsor of ours. Want you guys to check out Live Switch. It cost you nothing to uh scan that QR code that's on the

screen. And um you know, give them a give it a

look. Man, it's it's not hard to do. I've done it several times my myself on some projects. It's really freaking

cool. I think it's going to blow you away. You got to go try it, though. can't tell you enough about it. Uh it's

uh I'm going to end up doing a live video and then have that as the promo because I can't really tell you how

awesome it is. You just got to go experience it. So, so scan that QR code. And then last but not least is uh Trade

Taps VTI, the verified trade index. It's coming down the pipe at the first of the year.

Uh, if you would like to get out ahead of the curve, send me an email paultrade-enttap.com

name, email address, phone number, and your favorite floorings that you install, and I'll get you preset up. And

uh, we are again going live uh with the with the VTI right after the first year. That will be replacing go Carrera's

hammer rating as you may know it, 0 to five. Um, and um, yeah. So, that's all the

announcements. Don't forget to little house cleaning. Don't forget to like and

subscribe. Always join us here live on the huddle as many of you are coming on live right now. Merry merry Christmas to

everybody. Happy holidays. Uh we got Christmas coming. Uh

Christmas coming in a couple days. And I I love um this time of year getting

together. Um I I don't uh don't like the disruption as today's topic is crisis

management and uh how to deal with you know and prepare for unexpected

disruptions. Uh I am actually reading a book called disrupt everything and win

and it's about this topic so it's pretty cool. I'll bring some insights from that book up as I uh as the uh topic allows.

And uh other than that, happy uh holiday today. We got Matt with us. What's up,

buddy? Hey, doing great. Yeah. Where are you at? Where are you

located? I'm actually So, I'm my business is out of Texas, San Angelo, Texas. And uh I'm

actually in California right now where I was born and raised. uh uh visiting. Oh yeah, holidays. See, that's why

that's why they're great, man. Well, have enjoyed the time out there. Well,

speaking of disruptions, uh let's get right into it, you know. Um

what is I thought we a good place to start would be just to um get each

person's kind of 20 second view on what it means. uh what is the disruption, you

know, the the topic is kind of on the negative side, crisis management being

the first one. Um but if you think of tech companies and

really like disruptive technology, it's looked at as a good thing. It's

disrupting something. So, um, yeah, whoever wants to jump in and and, uh,

talk about I was trying to to interrupt Matt yesterday, but he didn't text me back

until today. And I was like, we're we're about to do the podcast. He said, I'll do it. I said, come on.

I love it. Yeah. I think it depends on it depends on where you're at in the in

the industry, right? cuz we can have disruptions on our side like supply chain especially right now where it's

like everything is ordered we we get a date and then that date that sometimes

it' be like two days before it's supposed to be delivered and then they're like oh yeah it's going to be another 3 weeks

and then on the on the flip side it's I mean I guess that's installation too right because that's all right well now

I don't have anything for this day what am I going to plug in there

let's be honest there are many more things that could go wrong than than could go right. Right. Uh if you're an

installer working out of your van, disruption is uh losing your van, going

down during a busy time, deadlines, holidays. What do you do? That's a disruption. So

maintenance. Um another thing too is uh is holidays. People want to spend time

with their family. Having too much work could be a disruption, right? Or having not having enough work

or not having enough. It's hard hard to balance. Um

coming down and getting getting sick like that's a disruption. It disrupted

me yesterday. Yeah.

Matt, you want to give your uh uh Oh, there he is. Well, I'll tell you

what. Uh one one thing about uh disruption is

there's different levels. like you guys said, there's always some type of disruption, but um and and they can be

negative or positive as I kind of pointed out right out of the gate. Like if you're disrupting in a positive

manner, disrupting a stagnant, you know, old antiquated system or disrupting an

old antiquated industry or the the kind of um uh status quo of how something's

done. AI is disrupting our entire economy. It's disrupting many people's

businesses. Like these are big disruptions. Um also,

uh like to give you an example for a personal example, I've lost two major

people in my two companies over the last six months. Uh our our um my my found

co-founder in Co Carrera uh is now just a shareholder and not in the day-to-day.

And that was a major disruption because he was one of he was the tech guy. Uh

picking up all those pieces and and figuring that out was incredibly

stressful. Uh and then just uh this week, you know, our controller, our our

head of finance here at my flooring company uh resigned. Uh she was with us for several years uh and you know,

obviously gave a twoe notice. Everything was good there, but I mean it was still it's still a major disruption. And I

would tell people uh from those bits of experience, keep your cortisol levels

down and your stress level from going through the roof. Disrupt everything. That book really resides with me as I'm

reading it because it's like if you're constantly challenging yourself and you're constantly disrupting your

systems and your processes and the way you do things, you're used to change. The people who have the hardest time

with these uh kind of out ofthe- blue disruptions and have real hard time

handling them um are ones that are really stagnant and kind of set in their

ways. And then you see a disruption come, even an industry disruption, and

they don't look it as a as what positive there. They're dealing with the negative

part. They they focus on the negative part and they they almost bathe in it. Um, so if you can

constantly be improving yourself, constantly be disrupting yourself, you're better suited to deal with the

out ofthe- blue disruptions. Yeah, that kind of goes along with uh the gentleman that we saw speak in uh at the

the last event. Um the one who's juggling and on the on the unicycle and

juggling and doing all that. Yeah. What was that topic? Um it was something intentional.

It was uncomfortable being uncomfortable all the time essentially is kind of what I I forget the the head of that topic.

That's a good point. Yeah, that that was a great It was it was uh it's you got to get

used to being uncomfortable, right? Because if as soon as you get comfortable, that's when you let your guard down and you're just not going to

be prepared. Georgie says a lot of carpets are backordered at the end of the year.

Yeah, I got two jobs that have long time processed early. I always tell

clients to make sure they check if that style is available in case they want a quick installation, which around this

time of the year, everyone wants that quick turnaround.

Yeah. So, when you get into um

as a topic says crisis management, what is that? Offbalance on purpose.

Thank you, Nate. That was the topic. my man Nate coming through. Uh yeah, it's I I think that's a that's

a perfect parallel to what the uh this book kind of um points out is when

you're offbalance on purpose and you're always trying to a little bit of nuance

to the off-balance guys uh presentation was that um the the idea was that he was

challenging the status quo. disrupting the status quo that we try to

find work life balance as if it's a destination and his that that whole talk

uh what I got out of it anyway I know people get different things out of these uh uh you know a speaker but one of the

things I got out of it was you're constant if you're constant or you're offbalance on purpose is probably a

better way to uh approach it then uh it's not a destination You're constantly

balancing. It's a constant balance. Sometimes it's a little heavier on work. Sometimes a little heavier on family uh

and trying to uh schedule this next NFCT course with Daniel. He's he's off

balance on purpose. I mean, you got some stuff coming up that's that's going to be off putting you in that same thing

where family has to come first and and then even after that, you mentioned you

got, you know, soft or uh baseball season starts and and it's like, you

know, so you have those and you're constantly off balance. And if you're off balance on purpose, then uh it kind

of addresses this same topic of of preparing for these crisis or these

these um events that happen, these disruptions, these curve balls to use a

good softball softball analogy. Yeah. Yeah. Rollins says always be prepared

for the unexpected. Make the unexpected flow easier. And I think like with um a

lot of people, especially on the installation side, were like ADD, right? And if you don't think you're ADD, you

will get tested and you're probably ADD. That's just like the installer mentality, I think. And um that's that's

one thing that we are, right? We're easily distracted. But one thing is is once we're focused on something, it's

hard to distract us from that one thing. And that's what it's like being like in the field installing this. And then what

what do you what do you do if this happens? Like um you know, for instance, the the guys were on a job site last

week and they're like, "Well, this isn't ready." I was like, "We got two more floors, guys. Like, what's going on on

this floor? What's going on on this floor? Is there anything you can do?" And that's those are the the things that

you got to look at. Yeah. And and just to touch on what

Rollins said about being prepared, uh I think it's like you're never prepared,

but it's the act of preparing that get that you know that action that kind of

uh at least uh gets you ready for the unexpected. Uh he he the uninspected. I

think he's talking about a flooring there, but the unexpected I think is what he was saying. Uh at the end of the

day, if you get the I think the idea is don't

get comfortable in anything you're doing, right? Like um positive chaos.

That's another great kind of parallel to uh this whole idea that the more you

disrupt, the more you're offbalance, the more you just understand that the world is ever changing and you change with it

and you change along and you take you look for those positives. Uh

Jose mentioned earlier like a lot more could go wrong. I disagree, brother. I

mean, one of the things I take note of is how many things have to go right just

for your car to go down the street. I mean, all those wheel bearings, all

the you have tiny explosions happening in your in that motor all the time.

Like, how much has to go right just for you to make it to work? You know, like a

lot more goes right than we give it credit for. we just tend to look at the

negative side and focus on that. Um being a positive disruptor in and uh

like trying to make change in yourself. One of the notes that I took

and uh is it says disrupt uh leaders

must disrupt themselves first. You can't ask people to change what you

refuse to change. So, you got to realize that, you know, always disrupt the status quo. Uh, that's what prepares you

to deal with disruptions when they come up, those unexpected ones.

Just a few notes from the book. It was kind of uh it was kind of interesting that this topic came right when I picked

up that book. I've got a goal this year to read 100 books and I'm on my I'm I'm

cheating a little bit. I've got a head start. I'm two in and um hoping the

science of scaling was the first book and and I'm on this uh disrupt everything and when is my second so

like it like the the way that uh the outlook you're right there is a lot of things that can go right or that have to

go right in order for it to be right if then dwelling on the one wrong thing out

of everything that went right. There's still a lot of things that went right to get to the point where something goes wrong, right?

Yeah. Hey, I thought you was talking about a subfloor

crisis management in, you know, stack, right? Yeah. Check's not going to get everything.

They just reminded me of the um the Bruce Lee that be like water.

Yeah. Water can flow, water can crash. Put it in the pot. It becomes the pot.

Yeah. Yeah, the cup. It becomes the cup. Dude, I love that about you, Jose.

Bringing up some Bruce Lee stuff. No. Hey, that's perfect though. I mean, it

is. It's the most Christmas movie, bro. It's the most destructive force in the

world and it's the most sustaining force in the world. Think of that. That is

truth. Water. Bruce Lee, baby. Come on, Bruce.

Hey, bro. Enter the Dragons, a Christmas movie. That is a good one. That his his Wi-Fi over at his uh dad's

house isn't the greatest. And I said, "Old people don't have good Wi-Fi.

It's It's not on their priority list. It's not even Wi-Fi. It's dial up hooked

up to an antenna." Tell him to get up and mess with the bunny ears. If he's old enough, he'll

know what those are. No, he is. No, we'll get we'll get him on another one.

So just to keep the conversation going here, another uh little excerpt from the

book is if you don't disrupt your own habits, systems, and assumptions, that's the big one, assumptions,

the world will do it for you on the worst terms. So you you set the terms

better if you're constantly disrupting your own habits and systems. Assumptions

are big because they're they're terrible, right? like you're making assumptions and stuff. If you don't

challenge those, you become what we call judgmental. And you do that enough, you

become an That's what we call them,

man. Uh, I got stuff to add to that, but I'll

just I'll moment it here for So,

how do you how do you not become that that so to speak, when you kind of set the

dominoes up for success and series of events lead others not to use

the information the way it's supposed to in order to have that success that you

have set up? How do you not How do you find yourself being lenient, so to

speak? I I don't Well, if that's a question, I would tell you that for me that it's not

leniency, it's perseverance. People don't follow um in my experience, people don't follow

what you do once or twice or what you tell them to do. It's they follow your behavior. if they they follow your way

of being. And kind of goes right into you know this

whole idea that uh you know most organizations and for

that matter like most installers they're not stuck they're comfortable. A lot of people get really comfortable in their

position and when you give them new ways of doing things they get they're so

comfortable they don't want to move. like our our minds are built to be comfortable. Like we we want comfort. We

we are we're always struggling. Um I mean at large uh we're we're always struggling

to survive and get comfortable. uh like it's it's

especially in a more modern day back back in the you know the ancient days

you were just trying to survive but you you're really always seeking comfort shelters for comfort food

anything over like you know you can live on a few hundred calories a day and not

die for a long long time I mean anything past that is comfort you know there's uh

a little bit of water will let you survive. I mean, we're always chasing comfort. The problem is is that or the

challenge I should say is that as we reach a new comfort level is to disrupt

yourself and always be changing. We talk about that all the time on the podcast about always learning, always

challenging yourself, always trying to get better. That's what this kind of uh

uh uh points to. You know, I love that Jorge brought up Roose Leroy. Who's the

master? Come on now. Dude, that was one of my favorite. I'm

going to go watch that movie later. I'm gonna try to I'll probably fall asleep, but that that movie is funny as hell.

Did you know that that's a Christmas movie? What? Bruce Leroy. Come on, bro. 100%. 100

100. So, um, do you guys have some

I I'll leave you. Let me say this uh another thing and see what you think about this. The book poses disruption as

as a behavior and not an event.

So, I think what it's saying is essentially

um offbalance on purpose. All of those kind of play right into it. So, disruption

isn't necessarily a, you know, an it doesn't always have to

be an event. It's a behavior. It's are do you have a positive behavior

or a negative behavior? Like are you positive or negative? And a lot of times that's going to dictate what type of

disruptions you experience at least which types you focus on and put your

energy into. I think I think it goes both ways. And I

think you disrupt in a positive like like me disrupt in a positive way for x amount

of time and every now and then everybody hits that like brick wall where they're is sick of trying to be the positive one

all the time or or the one trying to they feel like anyways in their world they're the one making the change. you

hit that brick wall, then you become negative Nelly for a little bit or was that Debbie Downer for a minute

until someone till someone comes behind you gives you a little swift kick and says, "Hey, dude, it's time to reset."

And then you kind of reset the thought process and you're like, "Yep, it is time to reset."

And that's where the refresh comes in on some of the events that we attend. Well, it's not only that. It's you got

to have some um you got to do it for yourself, right? It's not just focusing

on other people. And that's why we read the books or we listen to the books. And I mean, I just

I had baby sister take this one. This is a book that I got. Um, we actually won

this. Well, we we didn't actually win the award that time, but we got a free book out of the deal. And that's all it

is, man. And it's, you know, just being positive. And that's what he did. He put a bunch of positive stuff in this book.

and then published it. So that way, you know, when you're having a hard time and I

even told my wife to look at it and I said, just scroll to a page and just read something and you can find meaning

in it, right? And like creat give us a couple uh give us a couple.

So creativity is not something you do, it's how you do everything.

A little reader digest. Yeah, it is not important to show students how

much you know. It is important to teach students what you know. Boom. I like that one.

Yeah, because because you do you get those people that are like trying to It's not about you, man. It's about the

the people that I've heard I've heard that I've heard that same thing put uh similar uh you

don't you don't show u you're not trying to show people how much you know you're

trying to show them how much you care which is in essence why you I mean

educators educate in some manner like there's not a lot of uh now coaching's

different but uh educating is, you know, a lot. I mean, you better

have a passion to educate, you know, right? And I mean, Ryan is a good

example, right? Because every time I've talked to him, he he's never other than

his his wall of uh fame in his office, right? But he's never like me me. He's

always like, "What can I teach everyone?" And that's why we we love Robin. And he said that

unexpected is when his nine-year-old walks up and says, "Hey, bro, what you doing?"

Oh, that sounds like uh that's perfect grandson behavior right there.

Right. And this this one says um job title does not determine capacity. In

fact, most often it either overstates or underestimates it. And that's the book that I'm listening

to right now. I'm actually listening to uh leaders and not that book. It's u

five levels of leadership and that's what it says, right? It's

like it's not the the title that makes you. It's you working towards that like

right. It's most people think I'm going to I'm going to work for this title, but in reality you've been that title all

along. You just have to work your way up to it. And a lot of um the the crisis

management is in the industry has been the the labor

crisis is what they call it, right? And we talk about it all the time that it's not an actual labor crisis. It's an

qualified labor crisis, right? It's labor shortage, whatever you want to call it. Well, and that's us disrupting the the

the definition of what of what they're saying. I mean, you know, challenging

the the honestly challenging and disrupting the

uh the not only the way that it's posed, but

doing something about it. I mean, we as a group here uh have done a lot of

things over our careers trying to uh improve the industry's labor pool. I

call it the health of the of the network in uh trade tap, you know, uh increasing

uh the skill and ability of the of the entire installation community. Uh

you got to challenge the default process that's there and it's it's

uncomfortable. Uh it takes what we were talking about earlier, Jose, is perseverance

and um you know, the adoption of of things only come when they when people

see that you're not going away. Uh when your employees see that you're not going to let something down. Uh an old mentor

of mine used to say, you got to evangelize and and think about that word, how you

know what it's comparing to an evangelist at at say a church. You got

to evangelize your your purpose and and your your um I wouldn't say goal but

whatever process system or whatever you're trying to change and um th those

things are how you create positive change in my opinion is persevering

through that episode or that type of uh scenario you were talking about earlier

Jose where you post something that is you think is a good thing for the people that are are are

in your company or in your family or what have you. And it's it's it's easy

to like say, "Well, no one's listening, you know, and you got to just keep

persevering, keep pushing through." Sounds like something I already do then.

Just beat that annoying that annoying person. Hey, got to keep at it. be brave enough to be

bold. And you're one of those people. You're one one of your unique abilities, dude, is that you are not scared to get

embarrassed. You're not scared to put yourself out there. And that's a unique uh personality trait you have that you

can you have and can continue to leverage. Uh is it you know, you're you're going

to say what you really feel is is best. Um, and sometimes whether you take

shrapnel over it or not, you're willing to to to say that. Now, in your example

anyway, I know you're the guy that perseveres, but in your example, you just have to continue to persevere and

believe in in in um in your solution.

Where there's a way, there's a Jose. I can tell you that. Rollins says that the walls up for one

reason, and that's to close sales. He loves watching his clients walk in and read it. It's all about marketing. But

actually, it's it's more than just that because a lot of these guys see that wall on the inside of the industry and

are like, I'm trying to be like Rollin. And that's what um

yeah, I think it's if you see that or not, but there there is quite a few people that are like, I'm

trying to get on that level. I think it's inspiring more than Rin

gives it credit for. It certainly is. Like, dude, we got him in on on uh started

getting when he gets his VTI out, he was he's five hammered. Like, he pegged the

algorithm. He He's He is the guy. And uh we'll see

on the new scale. Uh the VTI goes has eight levels. um for people like him. He

challenged me. His profile and a not

even a handful of others, I'd say one other challenged the way we were

approaching it that we didn't we didn't um didn't know enough Rollins when we

developed it. And so it's um it's expanded a little bit and I think he'll

peg it. I think he'll still peg it out. But the the cool thing is he is a trends

setter. He is the challenger. He is the guy that goes and gets those people. He puts you off balance, bro. He puts

you off balance, right? In in the best of ways. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. It's it's

it's not Sometimes that unintentional offbalance causes growth and it I just

it'd be nice for everyone to challenge themselves to be off balance at some some point in their life and see

how much they grow from it. Well, I think the point is continuously because it will help you deal with challenges

that come out of the blue better if you're dealing with if you're constantly challenging yourself, you know. Um, I

was talking to one of my employees earlier and I was like, uh, he was telling me about a guy that was in his mid50s and had a heart attack and, um,

how this guy's just always when he's on the he goes out, he's a mover. U, like

we work with him in tandem on some of our our big corporate stuff, you know,

uh, lift systems, moving furniture, that kind of thing. And he'll get in there and just start tearing up carpet. And

I've never met the guy, so this is straight from Joel's mouth who works uh here at our company. He's our COO. Um

but the the gentleman um I guess is just like going cra just going wild with

stuff all the time. And I'm like, I know plenty of guys like that. It's the key is not it's not it shouldn't be

stressful. It's just who you are. You're just the go-getter that can't stand around. But keeping your cortisol level

from going through the roof, that is is stress. and uh number one cause for for

those heart attacks. But if you constantly are challenging yourself, you're conditioning yourself to be able

to deal with major disruptions in your life without getting overstressed. And

one thing that I'll say that this is not who I've been my whole life, but it is I

am much more of a calm person. um these disruptions that I've uh you know dealt

with in the last you know year or so they've been

like I still sleep at night. It's not I mean I know a time when dude if one

employee quit it could be a helper and it stressed me out you know. Oh, we

know. You know what I mean? Like, oh my god, I can't. Does he not like me? You know, you start all this, what? What did I do

wrong? It's like, dude, stuff changes. People change. People have their their

own initiatives and goals in life. And that's fine. That doesn't mean that

you're a bad person or they're a bad person when things like that happen. It's just change. And the people that

are I I the the theme that I'm proposing is that the more you are embrace change and

uh purposely offbalance as they as the uh speaker said is um conditioning you

to deal with the unexpected stuff you know and you find the I mean I've got a

ton I I don't even know if it's silver linings. I just look at it like, well, this was meant to be and um, you know,

maybe something is going to be better out of this. I believe that something

better is going to come out of out of that disruption. That's just how I look at it now. And

um, it's because you're if you constantly challenge yourself, you know.

Yep. Same thing is you guys do it all the time. Every time, man. Every time. We've had

one of them. You look there's a time when we would be so stressed out when

things would happen like that that we like great we did this. We we trusted this person. We trusted this was going

to work. We tried to make these changes for for everyone except for us and you know and we we've had those moments

where we're like f this f that. And I was just like okay I guess uh hey let's

just move on. Guess what? We have to change some rules, some expectations uh

within ourselves and we got to find a way to put it in literature for the guys and and move on. We're gonna move on.

We're going to evolve as Denise just said she just realized Matt's not on. He his signal at his

dad's house wasn't uh the greatest, so he wasn't able to to stay. His Wi-Fi got disrupted.

You bring up a good point, dude. is uh one of the things you guys do what you

just described that is pretty cool is what can we do better when something

happens and it's certainly something we're looking at with systems and stuff uh when somebody leaves is how can we

not let it be as big of a disruption and uh and have bring the negative effects

of a disruption I should say and it's what you just described You're talking

about improving stuff because something happened. I mean, that is the key to

your success. Super say a while ago, um,

uh, if we didn't have specifics in some of the literature that we gave them, then we have to take ownership of that,

too. Even though to us some of the things might be common sense, you know, if you create a system,

isn't that common? I was, Dude, you stole the words out of my mouth. Chris says that keep positive

through the tough stuff to keep the stress down. Job flow better. Yes, 100%.

But like you said, you know, it's it's common sense for us because that's how we've always done it. It's not common

sense for someone that's you know that comes in and hasn't worked side by

side with us for years and you know the the people that have worked sidebyside. Yeah. It's common sense for them too.

And then it's real easy to get frustrated instead of being like, what

can what can we do in order to get this not to happen again?

Mhm. Personal accountability in those situations. I mean, what can I do

better? That's really all we can control anyway. You can't control how other people act

or react or do something. You can you know

give guidance and and mentorship to people but at the end of the day uh

many more books get read and not not not applied than uh the opposite you know

and like Chris just said keeping a positive keeping positive through tough

stuff keeps the stress down

and and I tell the guys it's so True. But you got to put yourself through tough stuff. It's like

exercising. If you get up off the couch and you never run and you just get up

and sprint for six blocks, you may have a heart attack. But if you've put your

challenged your body time and time again and then you get up and do the same

thing, right, it your body reacts differently. Your mind is a muscle and

the more you condition that mind to deal with tough stuff, your jobs will flow

better. From an installer's perspective, man, I remember times losing my

Yeah, I'd be so embarrassed if people had video and I would probably be on TikTok as a maniac when I was first

installing. like stuff wouldn't go right and I would

act like a child throwing a tent temper tantrum. Um it's a really embarrassing

looking back at it. I Yeah. Uh like it was a real thing just

cuz you wouldn't cuz I had to sweep up a pile. Our egos are part of the deal, you

know? They they play a big part in that. My ego got shattered that day and I was willing to hurt somebody physically

because of it. It's insane to to say out loud, but that's what it was.

And when you're dealing with teams, right, that's I think one of the biggest crisises, the actual

in the field, it's like two people, everyone is strongheaded. So, you know,

you get two people out there and they're like, "Hey, do it this way." And they're like always question it. Why would I do

it that way? And it just becomes a huge argument. And it's like guys like

sometimes you got to just take a step back and be and and be like all right let me rethink this. And I say me and

this dude over here go through it you know even in the office. It's like and I tell him I I'm like all right let's just

do it the dumbest way possible just so to make you happy. And then sometimes I'm like

that's what we do at Dway. That did actually work.

So you just have to keep that open mind. You got to be able to to to pivot, right? And it's you can't just it's not

a straight line from here to the goal. It's things are going to happen. What are you going to do in order to pivot to

that next step? Look, sometimes you got to realize that we're grown ass men. We don't always

need to have that kind of advice, but you got to listen to us sometimes. Let me take a drink of my juice box.

You know what's uh it's funny you bring that up. Juice box. Because my next point that I have

written down here is refusing to accept that this is how we've always done it.

We see that a lot in install uh in the installation world is this is how we've

always done it. And same in a lot of businesses that stagnate. This is how

we've always done it. And you got to refuse to accept that. Again, it's

change. embracing change, being willing to be offbalance or and literally part

of that is not just being offbalance. You're just balancing in a different manner. The teeter totter doesn't have

to hit the ground. It's just one thing's a little less important than the other at that given moment, you know,

and the um this is always how we've always done it. You know what? I don't even know if I even say that anymore.

It's like this is how we currently do it. This is what we currently have. This is this is what we're doing right now.

This is how we've changed, right? Like I don't even I love that that you I can't even say that anymore. This is

how we've always done it. I can't even say Yeah. Ch changing your your vernacular, your language around that is powerful

because that's that's the truth. Like that's how you're currently doing it. Not sure if that's going to be that way

in six months or not. Yeah. Yeah. Says his saleserson gets upset when he doesn't get the sale. He tells them to

stop worrying about it and just thank them for giving the chance to help them and wish them the best. The next door

will then open. And that's 100% true. And that's what I started doing. I'm like, you know, thanks for the

opportunity. If you have any questions, you know, we didn't get the the project, but if you have any questions, you know, definitely feel free. And that just um

you got to have that that positive mindset all the time. It's look every every time. Yeah. And that's tough.

That is tough. what he just said and what you just said is tough. I still have to fight not getting bitter,

especially if I put a significant amount of time into a project in design or my

my heart into trying to help the person out and then they go somewhere else.

Uh it's it's a challenge to not get

bitter over that. And what he just described is the same thing. You walk someone through this whole deal and you

find out you didn't get the thing, didn't get the job, didn't get the project and you're like, you know, but

it is check yourself, you know, keeping that positive like, hey man, you were

one of the reframing is important and that's one of

the things that the this book as well as uh many books talk about Simon Synynic

will uh talks about this as Well, and I know Daniel loves him, is reframing.

Like you you were one of, you know, if you got 10 or 15 different

flooring companies, for example, in your area, you were one of the two or three that they talked to, that they

considered, and reframing it to like, hey, I'm in the top one 1% of that. You

know, I didn't win, uh, but man, you know, I got close. Almost there. Right.

Check check check yourself before you wreck yourself, you know. And it's it's funny you say

that, Daniel. I just had to have this convers I didn't have to. I got a phone call. I had a conversation with another

flooring store that uh we work with. Um and she was pretty upset about a recent

loss, right? Because she put a lot of time and effort into the design and the specs and all that. And this is one of

the things that's been happening for like two years. and to find out it went somewhere else.

And she's like, "I just want to know why. Like, I just want to know why." I was like, "Well, just email them and say, "Thank you for the opportunity. And

what can I do to be better for you next time? I'm sorry it didn't work out." She's like, "You like you want me to be

nice when I did everything for them?" I'm like, "You can't be mean." It's easy. I mean, dude, it's so easy to

get mad over those things. It is. It's funny. That is just be mad by yourself. that to someone

else, not not the correct your first reaction is like

I can't believe they did that, you know? And that that's I mean I've been there too, right? Because it's like, oh, I

really wanted that one. I really really wanted that one. And then that's when you start looking them as opportunities,

right? Because there's been projects that I've lost, but then we've gotten something else and it's like, man, if I

would have said yes, if we would have gotten that project, I wouldn't have had this opportunity.

Yeah. Yeah. That reframe is is crucial to getting through a lot of these

disruptions that you just na naturally are going to happen. Disruption is another thing that is is uh maybe not

clearly written in the book. It's just you know how you read a book and you start to get like these your own thoughts about the subject line

is that they're going to happen to you regardless. like change and disruption is going to happen regardless. You're

going to get disrupted things that you don't expect and you you can either be

prepared for them and preparing for them means you don't it's not planning for

them. It's preparing preparing your mind and your body to accept whatever comes

your way and and deal with it in a positive manner and reframe it to hey uh

I like what um Ed Milelet uh a mentor of mine in the past has to say about this.

He says things happen for you and not to you. So kind of refraraming those things

that this is happening for you not to you. And that's how I reframed losing

our head of finance. Like I don't have one right now as we sit and speak. You

know, I've got people picking up the ball to get payroll and and so and taxes paid and we're right at the end of the

year and we have, you know, got to close out our year and all that stuff. And I don't have anybody driving that that

part of that bus. And but it happens for you, not to you.

It it makes you go back and look at what kind of holes can I fill so to avoid this for the next one. What safeguards

do I have to create? And that's part of the evolution of any of any business,

any person, any situation. And you said that uh it happens for you, not to you.

You're right. Everything that I've experienced through life, I use all of that information when moving on to

something new. I use all of it from being in school, being, you know, being

the little fat kid that got bullied to like every experience, interaction I've ever had with people, positive or

negative. I use that to read a room. I use that to apply to what crowd I want to hang out with, what people I I flock

to, uh, who I'm gravitated to. I use all that information. You know, it happened

for me, not to me, right? it happened for me to push me into the next next spot where I might need to be. I just I

love that outlook and it takes practice to not be so negative about

that's a that's a good point. It does take practice which is kind of what we're alluding to throughout this the

the line of this conversation is just it takes practice. So you got to embrace

it. you know, you got to kind of go get up, get at the plate, pull your bat back

and put in those those reps, you know, man.

Yeah. A little bit more, but Yeah.

What you got, Daniel? Yeah. What do you got there, brother? Besides, you looking up like you're looking at at

another Are you watching Bruce Leroy right now? No.

I'm uh I was actually looking trying to to put together some an overlay for the

podcast for Christmas is what I was doing. Oh, gotcha. Hey, sometimes sometimes some of that uh

offbalance intentional and is like, oh, I gotta do something real quick and you got to work better under pressure,

brother. Look at him go. Do that. Merry Christmas, Ran.

Drive safe, my man. Looks like he's getting ready to head home and leave the office. I think that's his way of saying he's

jumping off. So that's his way of saying I I have been seeing people just talking

about um they were asking questions, right? Like who whose fault is it if the company fails and everyone points at the

CEO and then they're like, "Well, whose fault is it if it, you know, succeeds? is the CEO and you're just the CEO of

your own life and you have to to live that way and and it's just everything comes back at

least for us it's like to sports right if you're a coach you're you're in

charge of that team and then you got to make decisions and sometimes you know when you we were talking about it

earlier on you know some of the coaches they they keep people in far too long

and it's just like you got to start making decisions and start, you know,

whether it's right or it's wrong, it's it's got to happen. And that's how it is when you come into these crisis moments.

It's start making decisions. Don't just sit there and sw your thumbs and try and

think and be sad because that's not that's not the right thing to do.

Yeah. I'd like to point out that that is taking you directly into the technical

approach to this topic and that is don't like

jump into action, leap into action. Um when you when something uh is happens

that's disrupting or or a problem like jumping into uh action and taking those

positive steps to to either mitigating or solving the problem is is key. Just

like waiting around. And I gotta tell you, like I'm I wish I wish I could tout my horn that

I'm I'm really good at that. Like I I have a nice procrastination bone in my

body that wants to see what'll happen. I got to fight it. And um I don't know if

anybody else in the in in the audience, you know, can can resonate with that,

but man, I sometimes, you know, you just you let something go on too long. you

keep an employee too long uh that's maybe poisoning your your morale or you

are deal you get bad news about something and instead of taking a action

and kind of leaping into it keeping that mindset that it's happening for you and not to you um sometimes you can

procrastinate but when the good the the best results I've gotten is when I just take it on the chin and what's the ne

what what is my exact next step that I can take to improve my current situation.

That's uh what's that thing I've been seeing is about the the tornado, the cows and the buffalo. The difference is

the cows run away from the tornado. The buffaloos run directly into it and they get out of it quicker. So

yeah, they're like, "Let's hit this thing head on." Yeah. Yeah.

Run run run head first into the tornado. I think buffaloos I think a buffalo outruns a cow too. So, you know what I

mean? Like the cows are a little slower than the buffalo. Buffaloos are like, you know what? We're

going to use our speed to our advantage. Go straight to this thing. They might be a little get this over with.

Nate says there's always plenty of time right up until there isn't any time left. God, what a That ought to be on a

poster. That's good, Nate. Right. Especially when bids are due.

Right. Dude, I was the worst. I'm still not the best at like getting getting all my

stuff. I still find I I think it's the ADHD you talked about earlier. Like I like to be

under pressure. I You perform better under pressure, right? Yeah, dude. It's so weird. Uh, but it's

I don't know that it's the best way to go about it, but I'm like, man, when the pressure is on, I can get

this stuff done like this because you hyperfocus on it and

like it's a challenge. You just challenge yourself. It's like all your survival uh

instincts, you know, you're not worried about, you know, a uh a a a an ailment,

a small ailment that you've been dealing with. all of a sudden when a tiger jumps in the room, you know, like you all that

stuff's out the window like you're you're dealing with the current like crisis thing and it gets you to

hyperfocus and do the right thing uh much faster, make make quick decisions.

Um, you know, there's probably uh a silver lining to that that yeah,

I do it a lot and I like being there, but I've been conditioned and I do

perform very well under those circumstances, those high pressure,

highintensity circumstances. I know that's why government bids are so uh so hard

because it's like, hey, we just got this bid invite. It's doing like 45 days and then like 43 days later you're like, "Oh

yeah, let me work on that now." Specs this thick. Yeah. And actually actually pat on my

back as I I finally finished the thing that I was trying to create that is actually working right now.

couple couple little test runs on it because of the ADHD thing and and trying to procrastinate is now I can get all

the information that I need that I require that I don't have to read through and I can get something ready to rock

and sent out for uh quote uh requests and everything all in

couple drag and drops and the and a click of a command and

the majority I would say the majority of the information required is there summarized for me to use.

Beautiful. Damn time. It just I got really mad a couple weeks ago because I was procrastinating on I I won't say

procrastinate. I would get to a point and I'd be waiting on somebody else for answers. So, I would shift gears and start something else

and then forget about the other project and like, "Oh, I got to come back."

Yeah, I've been there, too. We've all been I I'm a systemsoriented

person and if something doesn't fall into one of my systems then I can lose track. I'm constantly trying to find how

can I systematize this so I don't mess up more than anything. It's like

checklists and to-dos and these things. That's what keeps me If it's not on my calendar, it's hard. It may I'm probably

not going to be at your Christmas party or whatever it is if it's not on my

calendar. Even personal events. What calendar? Which calendar? Well, I have them all all my calendars

go to one. All of them depending on different companies that I'm working on.

It's maybe it lives it starts here so that my invites or whatever are there

but they all flow to one calendar that I keep track of and it's all colorcoded by

what company's uh calendar it's coming from. So having multiple companies and

doing multiple things and having personal uh life as well, it all just

funnels down to that one calendar. Yep. I got that going. Otherwise, I'd be a mess.

Well, we have come upon the hour, guys. Thank you so much for joining us. I hope you uh gained something from the topic

and our uh fireside chat about it. I always love just kind of bouncing things

back and forth. You guys um always bring new new stuff that challenges me. Um and

I know uh on a personal level that that we we b we do this in person as well.

And it's it's always I look forward to Tuesdays every Tuesday. So, appreciate

all of our all of our uh audience for joining in and commenting and joining us

on this live show. If you didn't catch it live, guys, go check us out on YouTube. Um and I don't know why I'm

saying that because if you caught us live, uh you're here. And if you didn't, you're you're not hearing this anyway.

But if you're on YouTube and you watch this thing, there's ways to to get all

the information that was talked about today is what he said. That's what that's what I meant.

Go catch us on our YouTube channel. Give us a like and subscribe. And remember, we'll be entice Chris. We'll see you up

there, buddy. Uh we really appreciate all the uh comments and uh

participation. Give us a like, a subscribe. I can't get mine to ever do that. But, uh, give us a like,

subscribe, and and follow us on our socials. So, we appreciate you guys so much. Have a

merry merry Christmas. Enjoy time with family. Uh, you know, take the time to uh, you

know, hug the ones you love and and get prepared for the new year. Do that little reset like Daniel just

said. We love you guys and really appreciate you guys so much. It's it's it's why we do it.

One more time. one more time in 2025. Yes, sir.

Thank you, everyone. All right, guys.