The Huddle - Episode 183 - Creating a Culture of Guidance – National Mentoring Month

This week on The Huddle, Paul, Daniel, and Jose dive into what it really means to create a culture of guidance. In honor of National Mentoring Month, the guys talk openly about the impact mentors have had on their own careers, why mentorship is critical in the trades, and how experienced professionals can intentionally invest in the next generation.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• Why mentorship is essential to the long-term health of the flooring industry

• What effective guidance looks like on and off the jobsite

• How mentoring builds confidence, leadership, and accountability

• Practical ways companies and individuals can foster a mentoring culture

• Why guidance today creates stronger installers and leaders tomorrow

Whether you’re being mentored, mentoring someone else, or building a team, this episode is a reminder that growth doesn’t happen alone. Why This Episode Matters: At The Huddle Podcast, we believe Forward Progress starts with people. Mentorship strengthens our industry, builds community, and ensures the trades continue to thrive.

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Stay Connected & Join the Conversation!

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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Please visit our new website! https://thehuddle.team

What is up team? Welcome back to the huddle, the number one podcast in

flooring. We're here every week to help you gain forward progress in your career. Simply put, we're here to help

you guys win. For all our new viewers, welcome to the team. What's up, Mr.

Jose? What's going on, brother? How are you, bro? Another day in the life of Jose coming at you from the

homestead today. Yeah. Uh it is the season for sickness.

The whole Stewart clan as well as many people here at my office have went down

with COVID or some some version of such.

So I'm special though. I'm special just like Ashlin who got the uh what did she call it? She called it um uh fluidmonia.

Fluidmonia. Yeah. Um,

sorry, I got a little note there. Um, so anyway, today's topic

is creating a culture of guidance national mentoring month. So, um, that's

our topic for the day. The topic is brought to you by and sponsored by Divergent Adhesives.

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himself at Divergent Adhesives. You won't be uh you'll be glad you did. Let

me say that. Their adhesives are phenomenal and uh it's it's a uh great

company with a great uh owner. So, uh yeah, go give uh Divergent Adhesive some love. Uh, another one of our sponsors,

Live Switch. If you haven't checked out Live Switch, go check them out. They are uh, see if I can get them up on the

screen here. They are a weekly sponsor of ours and just click on the QR code.

Go check it out. I mean I've said a lot about live switch uh as a piece of technology

guys that we use um and started to and have started using um you know and building

technology myself with trade tap and and uh and the VTI and all of that. I I can

tell you Live Switch is a nice addition to your tech stack. So go check them out. Live Switch just scan the QR code

there on the screen. And as always, trade tap and the VTI.

Um, as you guys know, start of the year, the new ecosystem comes out and you'll

be able to get your your profile on the index with your score, your level of uh

of where you're at on the index all for free for life. So, there's zero reason

for every installer not to have it. uh manufacturers and and um and

distributors are getting behind it to uh kind of endorse and require for some of their products. So I would encourage you

to get started early, get started now and uh start looking into the VTI right

after the first of the year. Here we are after the first of the year, but uh we're officially launching at TIC. So,

um, if you haven't, uh, made plans to get to Vegas, come join us. Come check

it out. It's a great time. Uh, Ty is a great event. And, uh, we love just

getting getting to know some of the audience members and getting to see friends that we only get to see a couple

times a year at different shows and events. So, we are looking forward to that.

Uh, Daniel has just joined us. Check him out. Yo, made it.

burly. So, yeah, if you uh don't have plans for

Vegas yet, get them made, man. Come check out the uh the Huddle Live. We're

going to be going live with the uh Wifi uh the their power hour on that Monday.

And uh so next uh that week of the 26th, I believe it is, is uh a week we'll be

kind of switching some things up from a timing standpoint to be able to h to uh be able to host uh the Wi-Fi uh team and

their uh esteemed panelist during their uh yearly um Wi-Fi power hour, I think.

Is that yearly or is that more often than that? Do you know Daniel offh hand?

No idea. It anyway we I know it's yearly at times. So like I

know it's there. I do that. They they participate in a lot more than than what we're

they do a lot more than just that. But uh it's a it's a great event. We've been as a huddle team and checking it out in

the past and Crystal's been there. I think she spoke one year if I remember right. Um so yeah, come check it out and

uh we look forward to seeing you there. Again, today's topic is creating culture

of guidance, national mentoring month. And I said at the beginning of this when I was talking to Jose offscreen, uh this

sounds like a topic your brother has. And he goes, I think it was his.

So, um, yeah, tell us a little bit about your stance on that, Daniel. I'll just

bring you right in here. Uh, I just think that it's kind of important. And I think when

um like we were at Ties a few years ago and when Crystal was actually talking

with um Shannon about her being her her

mentor and stuff like that, uh Shannon kind of pulled me to the side and she was like, you know, how do I feel about

it? And I was like, I mean, you guys do what you need to do. She was like, okay, I just didn't want to step on your toes. And I said, why would you be doing that?

And she was like, "Cuz you've been her mentor." And I said, "I think that was

the first time I ever even thought of that because you can you can be a mentor, right, just by talking to people

and and being yourself. It's not like a title that you have to have. It's just something that you do.

Yeah, there does seem to be like the um unofficial mentor where you just always

have that person you go to. Uh, and then you you can make it a little more formal

um where you straight up, you know, ask somebody to mentor you. And I think both

of them are awesome. I've personally paid people to be my mentor, you know, hired coaches and and um I I've mentored

many many guys in this business as well as just in u other aspects of life. Um

and I'm you know I love doing that as well. It feels a lot like uh paying a

favor back to some friends of mine that have been mentors to me over the years and you know gave me so much value and

so much guidance that just want to kind of pay it forward. Um but also you know you just kind of end up being someone's

mentor um not not by not by some formal

agreement or you could just be born a big brother and and not even think about it. just uh

let me just do a bunch of dumb stuff so that way I can teach you what not to do and call it mentorship.

Yeah. And then watch you do it anyway and then laugh and point the whole time.

Yeah. So it's National Mentoring Month. Is that um

is there any you know how like uh these different days for a month they have

like special things ask you to do? I haven't looked into it enough. I don't I don't think there's like anything

special, but I did um when one time we were going over topics and I was like,

man, this is mentoring month and it's kind of been something that I mean we've dabbled into. We've had Shannon and

Crystal on talking about it, right? And it's like, do we ever really like focus

an entire episode on it? And I was like, no. So, why don't we just sit down and talk about it? And I actually tried to

get someone on this week, but um she went on maternity leave like three weeks

ago and she was like, "Yeah, I'm not going to not going to make it. Always have an excuse." Jeez.

So, let's let's kick it off by asking the audience and and you guys uh a few

questions. What what is it? What is to you? What what is the difference between like just a friend and actual

mentorship? Like what is the difference? I'll start with with that one. Um

so if I think about who I've leaned on there,

a friend is typically a mentor on accident, right? There's no gain out of it. There's no label. There's just uh a

there's just questions and answers regardless if you want to hear them or not, regardless if they're right or if

they're wrong. Um just straight conversation and it leaves you in a

position to formulate your own opinion, your own path. Like to me, that's a friendship, a mentorship type type deal.

um some of the people who were actual mentors

on accident I guess were like the the path that they were the picture that

they were painting was was a path of a lot less lumps

um those were a lot deeper conversations a lot um a lot harder times right where the

questions were harder to ask the questions were were more personal than

they were broad. And those are the ones that

you can tell that they put thought into the answer. Um, I appreciate

all aspects of it, but um, to me, the friendship mentor is some they're going

to answer you truthful regardless if it's their truth or your truth.

I think I think those ones it's everyone's truth and you just have to

just that's what it is, man. A mentor is not there to sugarcoat anything, right? That's that's what you're there for.

You're there to tell it like it is. If you don't like what I'm saying, change what you're doing.

Yeah. I found that the you know, you've got friends that you can bite in or

friends that you can talk to or what have you. I found like in those cases

where I'm the friend that's being talked to uh you know you're just in both cases

I think you want the best for the person you know cuz you're friends but

mentorship doesn't always mean that you're friends starting out often it grows into a friendship but sometimes

it's just a mentorship and that person uh in in those cases where it's true

mentorship The two things that I appreciate the most is directness, like you said,

Daniel, just directness, just being being honest with me, uh, for my own

benefit and the the the time that they spend with

you, it's almost like they have a fiduciary duty to you, you know, not a true money duty, but they got a duty for

you what they tell you to be able to be applicable to your life And that's where I found the biggest difference in

friendships. Friendships, they'll just kind of tell you uh their their case for

it almost regardless like their their their ideas without being really

dissecting your situation and knowing if it's the best advice for your particular scenario.

mentor's job is to make sure that the advice is sound and the guidance is

sound for your specific situation. So

friends are awesome, but they have a national mentoring month for a reason

and that is because mentors are really important. I think that if you're struggling with a part in or something

in your life, don't be scared to go spend some money on yourself and and hire a coach or reach out to uh someone

you respect in the particular field you're looking for. Um and uh you know

ask questions and sometimes people really would prefer you just to come out and say, "Hey, would you be interested

in mentoring me?" And then that kind of identifies that relationship a little quicker. And so

both people know how to kind of treat one another. When you pay someone, it's without a doubt like I have

expectations. I'm paying you a dollar figure to mentor me or to coach me. I've got some expectations and some

milestones I'm trying to hit and I want you to help me hit those. You know,

friends are rooting for you, but uh mentorship is meant to really kind of guide you there. And you know, I want to

go back to the friendship one, too. Like when you're younger and you're leaning on people who are a little bit older, be

cautious as who do you ask these questions because sometimes these friendship mentors are really in it for

themselves and some of the information advice given might be beneficial for them long term versus you.

So do expand. I'm curious what without calling anybody out, there

sounds like there's a story behind this. No, it's all good. It's um you know, when when you're growing up and you're

trying to find your your place in the pecking order, you're trying to find where you belong in your group that you've called your home. Um there are

certain people in the group that never will never have your best interest at at heart, right? they don't they are trying

to maintain a certain level um in that pecking order um and in order for them

to maintain that it might be uh through manipulation. So that's where the just

be cautious of who you ask um right who you ask these questions and who you open up to. Um and that's more on the

friendship level. And I'm older now, right? I'm 44 years old now. You know, back back when I was younger, I thought

friends friends were there, family was there for life through for the rest of it. You know, people weave themselves

out for a reason or you you leave a group for a reason. Um just know that

everything that you ask is also you learning but it's also them learning about you. So be be cautious.

Yeah. I think um uh a good kind of north star if you are looking for a mentor.

Um, make sure that you're asking somebody that either has what you want, does what

you want to do, or has performed in some manner,

uh, the the feat or the the the hurdles, the

pitfalls, whatever you're going through. So when I started uh building Go

Carrera, which is now Trade Tap, um you know, a lot of that I'm a flooring

guy, carpet and sheet vinyl installer. They decide to go build a a technology

software. Uh and it

it did not come by myself. I had to really lean on other people for advice

and and and talking to people who I respected. But it's funny how when you're talking

to just anybody, they'll just give you freely give you the advice. I would

caution that if they haven't done it and they have this great idea, but they have

not done something the same thing you're wanting to do. Like you don't go ask a

sprinter how to run a marathon or uh how to pull vault. Like go ask the pole vter

how to pull vault, right? Um you really need to have somebody

who's done it. And then you got to the the the reason not everybody's a mentor.

Not everybody's suited to do that. like suited to be able to give sound advice.

Um they know what their journey was, but being able to articulate that into something that's useful to someone else

um can be tough sometimes. So always was told, you know, don't take advice

from people who haven't done what you're trying to do, you know, and if if they have and

they're willing to mentor you, value that at such a high level

like family value that person if you're especially if it's not a a paid coach,

which is kind of a difference between a coach and a mentor. Um

they most mentors are giving you their time and that's their most important and valuable resource and they're giving it

to you freely. So honor it and value it like family like family time because

they're giving up their family time likely to spend it with you or uh some

version of that. So, just remember if somebody does choose to mentor you and you ask them, uh, honor it with a a high

level with the with the relevance that it that it really deserves, you know.

Yeah. Let them know you value their time. Yeah. And a lot of that is just um in

what you do, not what you say you're going to do, right? It's it's the actions. It's listening and then being like, you know what, I am going to go

over here and and start doing what we talked about because

why ask if you're not going to do anything about it? Yeah, you I don't think you could uh

there's a better way to reward a mentor than to go do a piece of their advice and it work out for you.

um puts a big smile on my face when I see people succeed from a little bit of a device that we may give them at some

point and uh it's it's um that's their reward. So share your wins too. You know

uh share your wins with your mentor. Let them know that uh if they're doing a good job, let them know.

One thing about being a mentor I can tell you if you've been approached and you're

maybe a little bit skeptical or um uh adverse for some reason of doing it

um a lot of people are they don't think of themselves as like mentors but

they'll be asked and that person sees something in you. Um,

what I found really valuable that I did not used to do, but I have found uh

valuable and may be somewhat of a surprise to the people who watch this podcast is I listen a lot. Not I try not

to talk and just hear them out. really understanding their problem uh is

part of being a good mentor because there's oftent times that their proposed

problem is not the core issue of their of their problem. You gota listen, ask

questions and listen and ask questions. And a lot of times you'll get to a core issue that is causing all these other

issues in their in their life or in their job or or in their profession,

whatever it is. That's funny you say that. I've had conversations with people where you just listen and ask and then they they have

the aha moment themselves. They go, "Oh,

well, let's come back to that one." Yeah, it's funny how that works, but

sometimes you can just be a sounding board. I mean, a lot of people, you know, like a like just a good friend

that's not going to judge. And that's what you get with a mentor most times. That doesn't mean they're not going to

call you out. By the way, a good mentor will call you out for not doing the

things they suggested or, you know, not delivering on your promises or whatever,

but they won't judge you like judgy

of of your personality or something. They're just judging you on your action and on your commitment to them and to

taking the advice that they gave you. Just like Daniel said too of being

respectful of their time. They want to see you taking steps that

you guys are discussing, right? They're not telling you what to do. You're discussing it. They want to see that, right? And if you don't know anyone that

um can be your mentor, this is a a great resource right here that we were

actually put onto this uh from the the local chamber and they were like, "Hey,

do you" We had talked about it. I mean, this was probably a couple years ago now, right? But they're like, "Do you

have a mentor?" And I said, and I was like, "I mean, not really. I've never really asked anyone or never, no one's

really ever asked me, but I mean, I ask Paul for advice. I'll call and ask, you know, Don Perkins for advice or Ken

Balon and all these people, right?" And it's it's kind of like that um in in the

industry anyways, not necessarily with titles or anything, but if you are looking for like a business mentor,

someone that's been through it and this is actually a great resource and you can

go here and I believe it's no cost. Um,

yes. And when he was over here, I mean, we we had a few meetings and then I

think it was by the end of the third one, he was just like, I think you guys are just into too far

already for me to even help you. So, he just was like, uh, I think this is where we have to part ways. And I mean, if you

want someone else, you can definitely uh reach out and they'll get you hooked

up with someone else, but I don't think I'm that person for you. And that that's huge too as a mentor to say I'm not that

person. Know your strengths and weaknesses kind of thing.

Yeah. I think we had a lot a lot going on at the time and that was

in some cases chaotic for some people, right? Even though we found balance somehow someway, it's just when there's

too much going on a lot of static noise to somebody else. Paul knows there's

there's no balance in entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship.

No. No. Constantly off balance as we talked about just the last podcast.

Yeah. I actually uh did uh get that book on Audible and started listening to it too.

Off balance on Purpose. Yeah. Or was it the other?

Nope. It was that one. Whatever. I I don't even I had to actually

Open it up to see what the the title of it is. Oh, yawning. Sorry, guys.

Positive chaos. Yeah, Dan Thurman. Yeah, I think that uh Offbalance on

purpose or something like that was the name the title talk. Yeah.

Yeah. But you never do find balance and that that's why having some someone to

bounce things off of. uh mentor guys like you know and this is probably a

good time to like point out the difference between training and mentoring like training a someone on on

a skill versus mentoring is like this is the difference is this is how you do it

and a mentor will be like this is why you do it you know not only how but why

and they'll explain the why first and there's some trainers out there that

that train almost like a mentor. Um, and that's pretty special. But the the big

difference is and one of the problems I think we've had in the flooring industry is back in

the day, I remember being with guys, they were like, "We don't want to train our replacement." You know, that kind of

a attitude. Well, you know, now now look where we're at. But um at the end of the

day, the fact is training someone is like teaching them

how to do something. But a lot of times getting someone emotionally invested into the why of you doing it, even if it

is a skill, that's kind of the the key differentiator between a mentor and a

trainer, right? And Nate says that um uh the the sad side effect of the installer

shortage is that there's also a mentor shortage. So treat them like gold.

Mhm. Yeah. And there's a lot of guys that'll give you their time um that at least

who've given me some time in this industry that I've found a ton of value in. you guys. Um, you know, people like

everybody from Scott Humphre to like Dave Garden. Yeah, that I was going to say like, uh,

Dave Garden, I know when he calls me, it's going to be like at least a half hour conversation um, with Rollin. I

need to block out probably an hour and a half or so. Yeah. But these are friends that you are

kind of friend mentors, you know. Um, I personally got to know him through flooring, so I always kind of think of

them flooring first. But, uh, many of them are my friends and and uh, but I,

you know, if if you got something you need figured out, some of these guys are the the best guys in the business to

call. And but if you're trying to figure out, you know, we've done a mental health uh

episodes before in the past and and there's a a bit of mentorship that, you

know, you end up kind of like a a um a therapist

and um because not all the problems that someone has in business is directly

rooted in the business. Sometimes it's something personal or spiritual that's

kind of dragging them down causing them to have these problems in their business or in their their their career.

And I think that's why it's it's, you know, looking at um just personal growth, right? If you focus on personal

growth, you're more apt to start helping someone else out. So, you know,

listening I I we you talked about finding or showing them your why, right? And then I just go back to Simon Synynic

and listening to to his books and then bringing that into um you know the

office here and then telling the guys like a lot of what Simon says is

Simon says yeah I I didn't even realize that. Um but it it's what you said right? It's

it's underlying issues. It's someone has a bad attitude that day and instead of being like, you know, get your crap

together and this is what we got to do, it's what's going on, man. Like sometimes they just need that that

person to to ask them what what is going on with you. It I know it's not about

work, so what's up? I mean, we had a conversation with an employee a few weeks ago and it's like, you know, we we

called him in into the office and it's just like what's going on, man? like work aside like just this is open

space that's sometimes and I know for a lot of people like you it's hard to open up but sometimes the

the only way you're going to do it is someone asks it turned into a 4hour conversation you know after you left and I wasn't leaving

the conversation that that's part of it is

letting opening the door for someone you know to to walk through letting them

know it's okay to talk. And hey, you know, that's what's really kind of uh

special about really good mentors is they know when to be tough on you. Like you said earlier, hey, get your

together, you know? But it's also know when when to back off

and be like, "Oh, whoa, what's up?" like, yeah, you ain't you're not you right now. So, let's uh let's talk about what whatever

we need to and not this uh I I came here to yell at you, but we're going to focus

on something else today. Yeah. Yeah. And if you're an employer, you're

going to be all this. That's you're going to be a therapist. You're

going to be a life coach. You're going to be a mentor. You're going to be the

butthole boss. sometimes like there's

there's no and and not to scare anybody who's out there

watching that may want to start a business and you're an employee now um but truth is there's not

um there's not a lot of like leeway there. You have to grow into that. You

have to lead your team. You got to be able to listen and give advice. know when to be a little harder, know when to

be a little softer, and be willing to do both of those. Um, so being a business

owner is a lot like being a mentor to a bunch of different people and deciphering what you have to do to help

them succeed. Ultimately, helping them succeed helps you succeed.

and having that foundation of of you know we you we used to say and we

still do but doors always open you know like come and have a chat if you're struggling come have a chat and that's

kind of all the way through our leadership that they feel that way and um I think that that gives people the uh

give lets them know that they have the right to come and talk to you about more than just hey man the hours on my check

wasn't right last week or something, you know. Um and and a lot of people could use

that. You you don't know always until you dig and you're willing to learn about someone's life. And uh um there's

a lot of responsibility in that. As you guys know, as business owners, there's a lot of responsibility in that to your

team. Yeah. Sometimes it's hard to to turn off the business and turn on the

the empathy. Sometimes is you have to find that perfect balance, man. When you work with your kids, I

know because both my children work for me in two different businesses. I'll tell you what, knowing when to turn it

off is tough. Like my daughter and I uh

had a conversation, you know, about like our interactions

are becoming nothing more than business. like even when we're on family time and

uh something you got to be cognizant of and thank goodness to her she brought it to my attention but um yeah it's it's

easy to fall into that that mode if you work with friends. Same thing before you

know it if you're not careful you quit building the friendship and you're just building the talk about work

you know that's why you got to get some tamales and talk crap about one another. bring it right back. Brings it right back.

Yeah. Well, and not all I points out the makes the point that not all relationships are meant to be mentorship

and mentee mentor mentee. You know, some are just best being friendships and left

at that. Yeah, 100% agree with that one.

And then um you know you said that about about you and your kids and starts making me think about you know my son's

13 years old and I intentionally have a divide like he's always trying to

he's a he's a very he's got a very entrepreneur spirit. He wants to learn about everything. I'm going to teach him

whatever he asks. But I also have to make time for to be

dad coach, dad, let's cuddle, let's watch a movie, let's do this, right? Try to create that separation. Um, and being

intentional on that is very hard sometimes because you forget

you forget about still still just your kid still wants just a hug.

That's what it is. Sometimes you forget how young they are, right? Even if they're not young, you just

forget that your kids need you. You know, they need the dad, they need

the mom. And yeah, that's just bit of advice if you hire your children is

remember you're also dad, you know, and uh you can

compartmentalize those things, but then man, I tell you what, it just creeps up

on you and before you know it, you haven't had a personal conversation with

your child in a month, but you've talked everything business up one side and down

the other, you know, Um it's interesting. It's it's important too to

to let people fail sometimes, right? Um cuz I look at it in terms of just just

yesterday. Um so my son, you know, prior to

prior to him committing to bowling, I told him, I was like, "Listen, dude, like you've got a lot of stuff going on

already. You've got baseball. um you've got a personal trainer now. Uh he's has

French horn lessons and I said, "You're gonna be really busy." And then

every Monday he asked me, "Do I have personal training today?" And I and then

he's trying to figure out what day he can use instead of Monday. And you know,

he already told him that he wasn't going to do it yesterday. And then he's like, "Well, what day can I do And I said,

"There's a reason why you do it on Mondays. It's because you have all this other stuff."

Yeah. Well, there you go. You guys just just Something we didn't talk about is uh

you are your your your children's first mentor,

right? You're helping them find a get on track. That's that's the practice that you need and that's what you take take

away uh into into the world is I guess my mom was my first mentor too.

So she still is a mentor to sometimes like

I mean she's more the biggest cheerleader than anything right now. But

well, amen to parents, good parents who raise their kids and and uh you know, think

about this kind of thing, you know, consider that stuff. So, we got

mentorship on personal uh you know items. Uh you got

mentorship on uh business. There are like differentiation

between those two if you want as well. Just as a note, uh I've had a life coach

and a business coach at the same time before. And what's the difference?

One is really, you know, business coaches in general get really technical.

They're they're really about the what to do to help scale your business or grow

your business or grow your your influence or whatever it is you're trying to do. And life coach is more

trying to deal with all of your life like the difference between a secretary

and a personal executive assistant kind of thing. one is just kind of there for

this time for this this you know I don't

know during business hours kind of activities and you know my executive

assistant if I need a airplane ride on a Sunday night she's going to have to hook

it up you know okay and so it's like uh it's just a little

bit different that way um and different stuff you're going through I mean you

may not want to tell a business coach some of the personal things you're you're struggling with or, you know,

relationship problems or or any of that stuff. And

life coach may not have a farts chance in the wind at giving you good advice on

your business because they don't know your business. Um, and they may not be a

business person themselves. They just uh so it's just different flavor, you know, different strokes for different folks

kind of thing. Um but

you know evaluating what you are trying to get out of the uh out of a relationship with someone will help you

pick the right mentor. You know if I was picking a mentor for a skill I

know who to pick. You know if I was going for a sheet model skill for example I would certainly pick one of

you guys. You know what I'm saying? like show me how to do X Y and Z. But if I'm trying to figure out, you know, how to

balance you guys are bad examples as not being good mentors here because it's like got

kids and all that, but not all of them do. So, you know, it's just picking the right one. And also uh another little

note if if you're interested about mentorship, finding someone who really jives with

you, you know, uh I found naturally mentors

that I've had are also like bootstrap kind of people. One of my best mentors.

Uh still a friend of mine to this day that I've had as a a mentor and a friend

for many many years. um he I you know go fishing with him and

all that kind of stuff still uh really great guy but you know our our

relationship uh just kind of grew and and it's just

one of those guys that's your kind of people. Well I found out when he started his trucking company, you know, it was

just him in a 10-ft box truck with his business partner and they grew it to a massive company and sold it. But he was

just a bootstrapper driving driving the their first truck together and making

local deliveries and they turned it into a big business later. Um so those boot

he was a bootstrap guy, you know, he's had a similar background as mine and so

it's easier to follow those kind of guys. That's what I have found for myself anyway. He was a don't talk about it, be about

it guy. Yeah. Go do it. Go get her done. And

there's a lot of pitfalls he had. We had a lot of similarities. We both had, you know, employee uh ethics issues where

embezzlement happened. Uh so we've we've both we just have been through a lot of

similar stuff. But I didn't even know all that when I first, you know, confided in him or he would give me

business advice. It just felt right. Um, what that turns into is the b the

bottom line is like finding someone you jive with that that uh just feels right. You'll find out you probably have a a

similar background. So don't don't force the relationship and let it let it let it blossom. You

you'll know. Well, just it's not always about picking, you know, I I I haven't been to

that site. I did scan the QR code though because I'm always interested in that kind of thing. But um

I've been on coaching sites and you might think like, "Oh, I got to get the the the the

most expensive guy or you may look at the cheaper guy and think that's not how

can he be that cheap, you know, because there's these sites where you can hire a a business coach obviously or a mentor."

And don't be scared to like interview if you

go through that path where you're going through a paid site of some sort.

I always made a joke growing up that uh um if you wanted to learn what not to do

and how not to fall into addiction, just go ask a crackhead. And uh I I used to make it as a joke,

but like as I got older, um people who had those types of addictions and stuff like that, they

would answer you honestly like why what happened? Well, this what happened and I didn't want to deal with it. I gave up.

This is what I started doing. They would answer you honestly. And as bad as it sounds, like go ask a crackhead. Like

that's not like a a topic or an episode that we should do or anything like that. But but that that's that's legit, right?

That was just a a joking a joking way for me to say ask someone who is in the

middle of it or has been through it. And yeah, that's what he was talking about

earlier. Like if you're going to take advice from someone, they they should have some body of proof.

Yeah. One of the types of books that I'm always skeptical of, not to say they

don't write good books, but are businessmen who are authors.

like that is their business and they've never ran another business. They're very

wealthy, very successful from writing books. But that to me is

like that circular thing like an MLM or something like, well, you get rich by

writing books. How'd you get rich? Cuz I wrote books. Yeah, it's not it that the the the

advice in those can be uh not as applicable to real life sometimes. So

Jeremy's mentioning in the comments something to do with uh essentially that

a good mentor or teacher is understand that not everyone learns essentially the same way and that taking time slowing

down and making sure that they understand what they're doing and what to look for and that the old school way

is definitely not always the best way to teach someone. And I would say there's

truth to that with some nuance. I mean, at the end of the day, um

the the person being taught has to be teachable.

Um and a mentorship is more of the person being taught going to the mentor

as opposed to the mentor searching you out, which is diff the difference in training, right? You're going to train

somebody whether they ask you to or you ask them to or not because

like it's your job to train them. You know what I mean? Yeah. Um and that they they don't have as much

obligation to you to uh be a mentor. Uh they have more obligation just to teach

you the how. Um, but I I do agree with you like the best coaches and mentors

are the ones who find a way find that personal thing with that person and can

teach them the way they learn the best. But at the same time,

you can't like take any flooring training. You can't

parcel it out into 10 different ways of teaching the same thing just because

people don't learn the same. You also have to be adaptable as the mentee that

you're trying the things and you're trying to adapt to your mentor as well. So, it's a two-way street. It's a real

relationship. Even you know when I'm doing the the classes and stuff what what ends up happening is that person

that needs that a little bit more of show me so I can watch like very closely

and they know that you thankfully so far they've known that all right this is a

class he's going to you know keep on progressing and then they'll come to me um after I'm like all right get to it

then they'll come up to me and be like hey can you come over here and just show me just because I I really didn't

understand it. I'm more of a I need to be able to to be right there and and watch you. And then I mean there there

we also have those people that are like I want you to watch me do it. And it's like there's limits to these these

things, guys. I'm not. Mhm. Yeah. It can be tough to teach a class to get through the curriculum if

you're talking about trying to almost um uh uh customize each person's

experience. And that's why you as the

student or mentee in this regard uh that you you know you you think about you

also have to adapt to the person teaching you. Got to be coachable.

Yeah. Got to be coachable 100%. That's sometimes that's the hardest part is understanding when someone is

doing their best to try to connect with you on your level. But if you don't allow it, it's just going to be, you

know, water and oil. You just got not not not going to be able to have that that mixture 100% until you guys are are

are both equaled out. Um yeah, you got to try to find that common ground, I think.

Um but again I'm just not to not to take

a all the burden on the mentee but they do you I've had experience where it's like

well that's not how I learn. And I'm like well that's not how I teach either. So maybe we just have a disconnect. And

if that's the if it's that different, then they need to find someone else and you don't need to waste your time as the

mentor and you don't need to waste their time. Cuz if you have a specific

teaching style and they have a specific learning style and those two don't match

uh and they're too far apart to come to any common ground, you know, that can be

tough. It can be tough to have a valuable relationship. So that's why I say make sure you jive with them.

We had a conversation some somewhat in the other day at work and it was uh with

with everyone. It's like I'm I'm not one of those individuals where I I don't I don't need a pad on my back, right? But

some people do, right? Am I gonna Does that mean that I don't appreciate it from time to time? No. But it's not I

don't need it to to move on to the next step. I don't need it to to keep doing my my day in and my day out. Um, but

some people do. And because I don't need it, it's definitely harder for me to recognize

when people do need it, right? And sometimes when people do need it, they might not

need it all the time either, but there are those instances where

noticing them and and and recognizing them for their efforts is is

huge. Um that is a it's realizing that you need to do that is one of the bigger things, right? Like

cuz because you don't need it doesn't mean that they don't need it. And then you have to look into yourself and be

like let me uh kind of get out of my comfort zone too and and try and be that

person. I always feel like uh Hancock. Good job.

Good job. Good good job. Good job. Uh Nate says that he had a guy

with a learning disability. Zero retention. He had to retrain him every task every

day. 10 second Tom. 10 seconds. Um he said it took him a couple months to

figure that out. I wonder if um so the gentleman or the person he's

speaking of did did it ever resonate? Did it ever sit

ever finally sink in? Yeah. And if so, what was the guiding light? What was his Nate's aha moment on

this is how to connect with him? Was it time? Was it a certain way of

interacting? Yeah. Did you change your methods or did it just finally sink in?

I'll let you know if he answers. Yeah, I do uh want to point out that

what you said just a minute ago, Jose, that

um I had the same problem like recognizing when someone needs uh that like good job. Uh I was just raised

where uh you did the job because you're getting paid to like that's that's you

just go work because that's what that's why you get a paycheck. Nate said he never figured it out.

Full full disclosure, Paul, is I used to tell people this flat out. I used to say, if you're expecting me to give you

a pat on the back for a job that's expected of you because that's your title, then you're dead wrong. I used to be that that said that out loud.

Like, you want me to thank you for doing your job. So, when I was like probably when I was

still in high school, they used to say, "When you come on my jobs, you better leave your feelings at the door because

they're going to get hurt." Yep. Well, sorry D. My bad. That was

my line, too. That's how my line that's how you lived uh a lot. I mean,

you know, I think as you you know, we were It's easy to sit here and say we were just tougher. The truth

is is that we didn't have a way like my

bosses back in the day. It was just you you didn't need you didn't expect a a

good job or that not a boy, you know, kind of thing. Um, and they had that

attitude like, hey, you're paid to work, so why would I give you, right?

Truth is is they it probably would have made everything better even though I grew up accepting that and moving on and

learning and getting better myself and then teaching other people. Um, I still do have that same same problem you you

mentioned there, Jose, that like giving people props just and you it's where you

got to really care about them, you know, and that's what I've got to learn, continue to learn, and continue to get

better at is it's a if if you think about what's best for them and they need

they are the type of person that needs complimenting, then

be be the leader and compliment them, right? You know, and it's a muscle.

It is. It's It's something you gotta It's something you gotta uh work on. Nate did say that um he became a better

trainer because he became more patient. So, Oh, yeah. Well,

I I will say that I am way more patient now than I ever like mainly like three things. My sister

having to teach her, right? and then adopting like she's younger generation, she's a female, having to do that. But

then had my girls, my daughters, that was that was it. That was a

changing point. What do you guys think of uh profile

tests? You guys ever do those? I tried to do one profile or any of that stuff.

You talking like the 16 personality test? The um Yeah, the different personality tests. baby sister made us made everyone do it.

Well, that was me. I tried but then every Which one was it? The

Do you remember like like I the one that that gives you like I'm ENTPA

or ENTP- A? I don't know which one that is.

I don't know what any of it is. I don't even couldn't even tell you what I There's a thing called the disc profile.

If you've never done one, it is pretty interesting. I did uh the one for disc. I did another

one and I forget the name of it long time ago and it gave you a color uh like orange, red, green, something. I did

that in the army, I think it was, um or right before the army. The disc one that I just looked up also

has those colors and it says dominance, influence, steadiness, and

consensiousness. consciousness. Conscientiousness. Conscientiousness.

Yeah. So D I I was like 98% D which

is the type of kind of a dominant personality that when you the the big

reveal I knew a lot of this stuff about myself but the big reveal was how I will

ask someone a question and I expect them to answer. Like my spouse is one of

those people like it helped our relationship out a bit because quite a

bit because I I would like in a argument

or a disagreement I would say my part and she'd just sit there and look at me kind of you know

and I'm like that blank stare you ain't got nothing to say you know like what's what you

know and that's the thing like when you're like I I go back What's worse to like just talking to baby sister,

right? And I'm like, "Do you understand?" And then just that blank stare and I'm like, "You need to say yes

or no." Like I need to know if you understand because I either need to explain it a different way or you're

good. But I should probably already know by the blank stare. Yeah. So that that my wife is what came

back as a heavy heavy s. uh which those people are more analytical like when

they think about something not analytical by itself more um they

need more time to process what you're asking. So, like in your scenario there

with baby sister Daniel, she may have been thinking, "Well, do I fully understand or do I what part of this

don't I understand?" And thinking through that and the whole time you're just wanting a yes or no, like tell me

and and they're still trying to process it, right? Yeah, they're still trying to process. Not only they understood what

you said, but what that means to them is different than what it means to you. You think

it's a yes or no, but to them it's not a yes or no. It's a well, I understand

most of it, but not all of it. So, how do I tell you that? And they have what part am I missing? Like, I need to

let you know I'm missing this part to so explain that again when it's either it's I already explained it. So, yes or no.

Yeah. Yeah. And I found that with with my wife and it helped out a lot because I don't

I didn't always expect the answer right then and uh

gave her the power to just say, "Hey, I just need to think for a minute." You know, and a lot of times when you're in

the heat of a conversation, it doesn't need to be a fight. I'm not saying it's, you know, bunch of knockdown dragouts at

the Steuart House. I'm just saying that when you have a disagreement or any any

conversation like that that uh understanding how the other person processes was a big piece that we got

out of the DISC profile. So the other the other test that I'm looking at the 16 personality looks like

it's there's a couple variations. The the Myers andBriggs test. Yeah. Um, and then there's way more

variations now than there was when I did mine years ago, but I'm I'm sure that it's all based off of the the same

concept. So, I was a a debater was mine is u

ENTP- a debater, whatever.

never really look too much further into it other than I believe that because anytime anyone says anything he's trying he's already

got something to say even if it goes against what I say though see that's the whole thing because I'll debate my own I'll argue

what I believe in argue with myself that's why you and Jeremy are like the same right because you don't even care

what it's about you just trying to argue about something it's Hey me and Jeremy got an

understanding Well, the the reason I bring up those

tests is uh some of the coaching programs will have you take them before they'll match you.

So, just another little tidbit and and uh I'll leave you with since we're

coming up on our uh the end of the podcast here, I'll leave you with if you're more interested in being right

than getting it right, then you're the problem.

So when you're learning or teaching, if you're more interested in being right than getting

whatever it is right, doing it right, doing the right thing, uh then you might

be the problem and look at yourself. All right, guys. Well, thanks everybody

for joining us today. Nate said the other test is Kobe C O test.

Yeah, I've heard that one, too. Well, if nothing else, go take the test

because you'll learn a little bit about yourself. Trust me, they're designed to get

Obby B. Well, thanks everybody for the the

comments today and joining in with us. We appreciate everybody. Uh new year, uh

getting ready for TIC. Looking forward to seeing everybody there. Again, if you're if you're not signed up or you're

not registered and not not done that yet, go get her done. Come see us in Vegas. Come see us at the Wi-Fi event on

Monday and or you can join us on Facebook. We'll be live as well for that show. So

you will be able to communicate with the um with the panelist and communicate with the hosts and uh we'll it'll be

very a little similar to to what we're doing here but a little more structure because there's a panelist and uh

there's a topic and we're wanting to hear what yeah to say about it hearing what they

say right it's it's less about us more about getting them a voice so everyone

can here. Yeah. And and just uh get get some understanding. You might find your

next mentor ladies, any of our ladies in the audience. Uh so yeah, join us on

Facebook if you can't join us there in Vegas. So again, don't forget to uh like

our social medias, our post, comment, give us some uh feedback. We're at at

the time of the year where we're starting to to come up with some new topics for 26. Got about I think six or

eight weeks left. And so if you have any topics, send them to us. Email us, get

on here, uh comment next week at the huddle and let us know what topics you

want us to cover. Uh which topics in the past that we've covered that you want us to hit on again. Uh any of that. and we

will continue to do our best to bring on experts or you get the three of us just uh sitting here chatting about stuff.

So, um I always learn a lot regardless. And uh looking back on 25 when we did

that last week was kind of cool to go back and watch some of our old episodes and like you know I kind of

it's almost like you forget Yeah. about sometimes and then it's like man that was a good one. And then like

you see some of these ratings on them, right? And it's like um it wasn't last it wasn't 25 but 20 believe it was 24

when you know the mental health one that we did was like the biggest one of the year. It had the most uh minutes

listened to of like by far. Yeah.

Yeah. And and what's cool about that guys is

if the you don't have to uh just closing out the whole mentorship thing, that's

proof that you don't necessarily have to like some of my mentors don't even know they're my mentors. Simon clearly

Daniel's one of Daniel's mentors. He doesn't I don't know. I could be wrong, but I'm guessing he doesn't know that

he's your mentor. consume his content, you read his books, and you like his

style, and that is a mentor right there. So, if you know someone online that you

really jive with, follow them. Give them, you know, make sure you're tracking their stuff and and you're

reading their books and you're going to their speaking events. Like, engage with them. And uh you may be surprised uh how

how um uh accessible some people really are. So

best of uh best of luck everybody in 2026. Here we go. Here we go. Let's Let's make it a good

one guys. We're gonna I'm gonna do I'm gonna do the little weird thing too then. Yay. That's my Donald Trump.

I can I can only do this shoulder that much. So, my Donald Trump impression. All right, guys. Thanks everybody and we'll see you

guys next week. Thank you everyone. See you guys.