The Huddle - Episode 196. The Hidden Strain: Managing Stress in the Flooring Industry
Stress is part of the job, but it doesn’t have to control it.
This week on The Huddle, Daniel and Jose take the mic for a real, honest conversation about the hidden strain of working in the flooring industry. From long hours and physical demands to tight deadlines and constant pressure, they break down how stress shows up — and how to manage it before it takes a toll.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
Where stress really comes from in the flooring industry
How jobsite pressure affects performance and mindset
Signs that stress is starting to impact your work and well-being
Practical ways to manage stress and stay focused
Why taking care of yourself is key to long-term success
If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed, burnt out, or stretched too thin, this episode is for you.
Why This Episode Matters: At The Huddle Podcast, we keep it real. The trades demand a lot — and conversations like this help professionals stay strong, focused, and moving forward.
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What's up everyone? How's it going? Thanks for joining us today at the Huddle, your uh number one flooring
podcast to help you move forward in your flooring career.
We are missing Paul today. He had Oh, look. We are not missing Paul because
he's he's on here first comment. He's uh got some meetings to to attend
to today. So have fun at those. Paul, everyone most
people know how not fun meetings are, but
I'm trying to figure out how to share this off my phone right now.
So I am in Florida right now, ready to go back home to Michigan.
Um it's super rainy here today. So
that's not fun. But the kids are still at in the pool today.
They are. Yeah. How did it go down there for for vacation or for your short
vacation? But how did it go with the the fam and and the band? Good. What's up?
So yeah, um after coverings, uh well during coverings really, we left a
little bit early and came over here to Florida. Um my son's band was playing
over at Disney Springs. So, uh,
it, uh, we ended up getting in around midnight and then
went to the rental car place. It was not fun there, man. It's
went downstairs, right? And it's like, oh, if you're a preferred member, just go upstairs, get up there. They didn't
have any vehicles for anyone. and they were like scrambling to get people in anything. So, I was supposed to have uh
an SUV. I'm in a little pickup truck Honda Ridgeline.
He was like, "Is that going to be all right?" I said, "Man, anything is better than nothing at this point." Like, he said, "It's either that or like a 15
passenger van." Dude, you should went old school and got the van.
No, I'm good. Can open up the side doors, let your kids uh let their feet hang out.
So, we we got all that situated and uh didn't
end up getting back over here until like 300 a.m. or something like that
with the kids and then had to be back be over there at Disney Springs to watch him perform at
10:00. That sounds pretty legit.
But they did good. uh realized that the school needs to invest in some
microphones because they sounded really good, but they had mics placed everywhere so you could actually hear
every single instrument.
You got that's they got a pretty big band, too. I watched some of the videos. Well, I guess some of the vantage point
it makes it look like this everything's big because it was like back
definitely a lot more participating than the the middle school my the seventh grade
struggling for people there instead just one. So yeah. Um
so coverings a tiny band. So coverings how did that go because we
only talked a little bit while you were there. Yeah, coverings was good. Me and Jorge,
you know, out there hanging out and just meeting a lot of people that we don't
get to talk to, right? Cuz um and that's what I was telling them. They were like,
"Why are you guys here and what's going on?" I'm like, "Man, all of our
like we got tile, we got wood, we got, you
know, carpet resilient. everyone is in their different silos in their their
markets and no one really like crosses over going to shows and stuff and I said we always talk about how can we break
that like and and I was like I'll be I'll be honest especially for the tile
industry I'm kind of jealous because of how close-knit they are
and they were like yeah I mean a lot of them were like yeah we can see that because they they do they like they're
cheerleaders for for everyone else. And um
I said on on our side, what we see a lot of is how everyone is just they think that
they're the best in the world and no one can ever be better than them. Well, Paul had said something too when
we were talking before um we went live is uh
there's a a different they have a different attitude. there's a sense of of pride, right? Like the
good ones are are good and they they set theirelves apart intentionally. Um and
they know that they do it for the art. Um, so maybe mentality is a little bit
different and maybe that's that's the problem with uh uh the other surfaces is that uh
we don't intentionally create that separation and
we're stuck with the same
I don't want to train my replacement mentality versus I want to teach everyone how to do this artwork. work,
right? I don't know. They just are on another level. But I think um one of the big
things that has to do with it is like the NTCA, right? It's
they're as far as I know directly tied into like the CTEF was the is the
education foundation and just
and says over here uh on Instagram too he says the tile peeps were super
positive right and it's just them being tied in and then them having their hand
in um they're one of the the people that organized the entire show. So, it's not
I don't know. It's It's not just the show going on and then having people
come. It's them actually in it and you know them um at
the show that with their rock stars, right? They're like these people that are in the tile industry and are that
are showing, you know, some positive impact actually get recognized. And I think when they can see, oh, if I
if I do some good, then I can get recognized, too. And then they're putting them on stage and stuff. And
it's like it's almost kind of reminds me of kind of how um CFI convention is, but
on a way larger scale. And it's the most
installers, contractors, um, and Spanish speakers I've ever seen. Like they had
their tile of Spain, right? and you go over there and is talking to everyone in Spanish.
So, I can understand why they're trying to have this big push for Spanish speakers because I mean
a third of may maybe not a third, but there was a huge part of um coverings
that was all Spanish speakers and a lot of the Spanish speakers were
like getting they're just all super involved. Do do you think that is because of
because let's just look at it from an individual basis. Do you think as individuals they are more invested as a
career versus a job, right? Like they understand that they can make a really good living doing what they do. Um, so
they they invest more into into people, into the trade, into training, into networking. Um,
you see where I'm going with that? Is it the culture? Is it just different than what we're used to seeing?
I think so. Jose or Jorge says that they're um opening up for more Spanish speakers that attend next year. He's got
he's already got an email on it. So, we're hoping to, you know, get get some more people out there. But to to answer
your question, I I really don't know. I'd write I'd
really like to talk to more people and get how their mindset is on things because I've also talked to people about
the CTI, right? and how hard that test is and why
why more more people are more apt to do that and they were like really they're not they're they're seeing the same push
back as we are on our side. It's like, well, I already know how to do it. Why
do I need to get certified? And um, you know, talking to some of
them, they they do say that they have those people that are like are totally like that. And then once they do it,
they're like, "Wow, yeah, I didn't know that it was this involved." And then they end up starting
to get involved. So, it's really just taking that that next step for that. But, as far as like how close-knit they
are, I don't know, man. I I think that is a one thing that we have to to start
figuring out and I don't think we'll end up figuring that out until we, you know, kind of keep on talking to them and
seeing how they do stuff compared to how we do and trying to almost mimic it.
Well, that's that's a lot of successful companies and individuals do that. They just
they try to take the same steps and follow the same path that successful individuals or people they look up to do
um to try to find success or to increase their chances of success. I
would say Denise says they have their own world but they always but they welcome
everyone and yeah I never felt out of place there or anything. It's just um a different
world, you know, seeing people that you see online in person and and just
the amount of installers there that were really there to learn and they did. So
the CTI test is a one day thing, right? And they had each day uh you know a
handful of people testing and it was sponsored by like one one day it was sponsored by um
QEP the next one was sponsored by Ladyrete. So
it's like they got these companies that that also have their back. And I think
when you look at it in terms of that, like I think QEP Roberts does a great job on both sides because they are on
both sides, but some of these other companies kind of need to start stepping up on the soft good side at least to
kind of show their support where we see that in the the hard tile industry too.
like how can how can we get more of these companies um
supporting the way that they do on that side? And
I guess maybe I just haven't looked into it to to really see it, but I I just
don't see that on on our side. I don't know if you have or not. No, but it's a two-way street, right?
like if if they don't feel that they have the the push or the the need to
show support or the the following, I guess,
then maybe maybe they're less likely to do it.
you know, the the chances of us going um and taking a trading class or
certification in the hard surface side when we ourselves are primarily soft surfaced. Uh you know, it's very slim,
but we might go to an after hours educational seminar or something like that, right? Um maybe that's how how
they're looking at it is the majority of their client base is in this market
versus this one and they kind of uh favor the market that that serves them
best as well. Yeah, it it makes sense.
I just know that we could uh we could use some help. And it's
it's more or less like um the guys that
have all the thin sets and and all the grouts, you know, you see
them helping out. And I see them just helping out more on that side than I do
on this side. Well, today's uh today's episode is the
the hidden strain, managing stress in the flooring industry. And the reason I started with the
coverings and and went that way is uh how stressful did everything appear from
their perspective, from your perspective on their end versus what we deal with? Are we,
like you said, everyone's in their own silo, their their um their own little
corner of the flooring world. Do we put more stress on ourselves
because we don't have all the systems in place that they do or is it
job to job? Is it person to person? Um, I don't know if you picked up on any of that or asked them about some of their
processes and and their progression on a job site and and what they can and cannot get away with.
No, not I I didn't get too much into conversation like that, but we do have uh Mario Gonzalez on Instagram. He says,
"What's up?" that if we ever, well, not if we ever, but if anyone ever wants to
be a rock star or a craftsman of the year, you at least have to be registered
with the NTCA or CTEF.
He said he's been to to many shows many years in a row.
He says, "Less stress, you will live longer, so never stress." And I
that's kind of a one of the attitudes you have to to
strive for, right? And we talk to our guys about it all the time, too. And it's like you do sometimes you get
overwhelmed and sometimes you just have to take a step back and just be like, you know what? Let me just
let me just back up real quick. Yeah. Uh easier said than done for sure.
Uh especially when you got uh personalities that clash. Um
uh oh, you're glitching again.
I can still hear you though. Yeah, you're back. Yeah, it said oops. Signal loss. I don't
Dude, I'm hardwired in. I don't understand it. We got to get you a new uh docking
station, I think. Yeah, I think that one just isn't meant for this computer.
They're like 500 bucks for the one I need. Dude, that's a lot of money.
So, it it is awesome that they do those those rock stars and everything, but at the same time, it's it's to me it seems
easier for other tile installers to actually look at someone
and be like, "This is a great person. I want to do work like this." than it is for people
on the soft surface side to be like to do the same thing. Even though that's
what we do anyways, right? Like look at, you know, us being being cheerleaders
for people that had been in the competition, you know, like Jimmy Salisbury. That dude is great. And
actually the first day of the show over there, um he was calling me and he had
uh someone asking him about a project in Grand Rapids and he's like, "If you're
if you you're about it, I'll just pass me your information." And it's I think
we we do the same thing, right? And that's why we get along so great with him. But it's I just see that more on
that side than than I do on this side. People are probably more open to sharing
information, too. Not just a a not just people within their buddy system
network, but people within the industry. Um,
so Mario says on Instagram too, he says, "Have faith that everything will work
work out or it uh or it goes how it's going to go and
enjoy the time we have more with your loved ones and family."
He's about to fill up three shower pans and not even going to stress. They're going to pass tomorrow morning. That's
it, man. It's like you just fill them up. It is what it is, right? It's they either pass or they don't and then you
you work backwards. But if you let it stress you out, that's just going to
keep you up at night. That's and that's where we tell people that just sounds
just do it and come back tomorrow and if something's wrong, figure it out then. Yeah. I will say the more things that
you have on your plate, the more things you that you get to look over, the the chances of having a higher stress level
increase. I will say that uh you know it's you're either stressed about
putting food on your table or you're stressed about putting food on everybody's table. Um and then everything's got to go right uh for
there to be no stress. But I guess the stressful times are
dime dozen, man. They're they're always going to be there. Try not to be upset about things. But
I was talking to someone in line at at one of the in one of the rides, right? Because uh I I like to You're just
standing in line, so I like to talk. Um but they were they were talking to me
and they were a younger couple and they're going to get married this year. I say
younger younger than us. Never 20 26 I think. 26 27.
Damn. I remember when I used to think that was old. I know, right? And uh they were like, "Yeah, we're going to get married." And
he, this guy is a welder and he just works by himself and he goes and tries
to get contracts at different places and I guess he's been looking at stuff at they're from Texas and he's been looking
at like jobs. I think he said in like Wyoming or something, but you know, doing six-month contract or something
like that. And she she was like, and it it doesn't bother me. They don't have kids. Um that gives her a chance to be
like, "All right, I got some time off of work. I'm going to go up there and visit you so I can travel, too." I said,
"That's awesome. That's an awesome way to think about it." And he was just like, "Yeah, but I've
just been trying everywhere lately and no one's been they they haven't been biting." Right. And I think on if you
really look at it, that's how all of us are cuz you're like putting food in on your plate, putting food on someone
else's plate because the stress of getting getting that work never ends.
Like it's either you're in the field working stressing about how you're going to get that next one or you're in the
office working stressing about how you're going to get that next one. It doesn't matter. And the as as we progress right when we
were just doing install only our stress was man I hope I hope people have work
for us. I hope we get more work and right I hope they give us more work next next year. I hope we get this. I hope we
get that. And then progress is like, I hope I find more work. I hope I sell more work. I hope I hope our our guys
can handle the work. I hope our guys want to learn how to do more things. I hope you know what I mean. And I hope
that we can take care of the work that we got is this. It's a step, right? It's
the stepping system. There's always going to be more stress the way no matter how you look at it. Um,
yeah. Mario, just try not to overload yourself. I guess he says, "Don't let anything keep you up at night when it's time to shut down. If
you do stress, let it pass quickly or as quickly as possible."
You know what I will tell you? What keeps you up at night is when you have a a a female dog in heat and your male dog
is going all night long from the cage is about to eat through a wall to in
order to get over there. Dude, he's so pathetic. It was like somebody was hurting his feelings.
He was crying. Sounded like a human yelling.
But I mean, yeah. But I want to know how everybody else deals with the stress out there, right? Like
you know, everybody's got That's what I was gonna say as far as handling the stress, right? We all handle it differently, I think. And
yeah, and like we were talking with Ashlin before we started and she was like, I
forget what she said, but I was like, you know, we're all ADD, so the stress is what we strive on really.
Pressure, right? Stress stress causes pressure. Pressure causes stress. there's if there's no stress
there, then you're you're not trying. You kind of well, you kind of stop trying, right?
It's like, yeah, what am I what am I even doing this for? But then once you get the pressure of
having, you know, 10 bids all due within like a week of each other and you're
working on all of them at the same time and someone comes on, knocks on the door and you're like, just don't even bother
me. Right? it. But at the same time, that's that's what you you kind of
strive on. And I I'm saying that because that just happened to me not too long ago. But then
I know I know. So everything they came to ask you, they came to ask me. So it just added more stress onto me and I had to stop what I was doing because you
were doing those. It's like it is what it is. And and that's one of
those things, right, where I mean, I did have a post bid on Friday, so I'm hoping
that, you know, we we end up pretty solid on that one. Um,
but it's those stressful times that make you
put these things together and then what once you do end up getting something, it
makes it that much better, I think. Mhm. I'll tell you what, the stress of trying
to do too many things all at once is what led me to try to build that thing with chat, which led you to trying to to
to create that uh GPT, right? So, and now it's going to be a whole thing
where we'll have something pretty solid in the end, I think.
Yeah. I mean, the the reason for it was just to speed
things up and make it because like like you said, ADHD and we all have a lot of things going on all at once. And it was
just I didn't want to I didn't want to lose the
I didn't want to miss information and needed to make it a lot easier to to do
more faster. as bad as that sounds.
But that I mean when when you talk about AI too and bringing that into the mix,
um AI can alleviate some of your stresses as well. Um but you do have to
put the work into it. And that's what we say every time, right? It's not just something that you can just think it's
going to come out of the box magically working like it needs to. It's you have to feed it that information that it's
going to read in order to spit out what you want it to spit out. And
um like I can only imagine how much Paul is doing because you know he's with with
the APIs and he's having it like actually building employees when all
we're doing really is building internal stuff, right? We're not actually having
the agents do all the work. We're just feeding it the information so that way it speeds up what we're doing.
Yeah. We're not we're not as advanced as Paul yet. That's that's all. We're still still uh entry level.
Yeah. So Mario says that he used to get short with his wife in the past and he's been working on that uh because his work
stress got pushed to her and his tone would change because his mind was always
on projects. Um Oh, I feel that. I I understand that.
Like that's a that's a hard balance, too. Like you know, I think we're all guilty of it. And um
we added a little more stress onto us with the move, right? And things are got
a little clustered up and um I could tell you what
everybody listen if you want less stress if you're moving your business or or to a different building, plan
accordingly. It's not as easy. It's not as easy as uh just packing up and moving.
Yeah. He says that she was vocal with him about it and every time he's finishing up a project.
You know, it was, you know, everything that was on his mind was like finishing details and and the final payment and
trying to just
like not not present, I guess. So, he had to change that and he's doing a lot
better and not bringing his work home and Tanya sitting right across from me right now, too. But, you know, we've
talked about that before where it was a lot of work. A lot of work, you know, talking about it and we've talked about it. And then at
at one point it was, "All right, I'll stop talking about it." And then it got to a point where now it's I never talk
about anything. So, it's it's about time to uh revisit how I'm doing that, too.
because she's like, "I had no idea about this. I had no idea about that." And it's like, "Well, tell me not to talk about work, so I don't talk about work."
I try not to go home and talk about it, but got people who ask a lot of
questions. Hey, how's this? I'm like, you know, sometimes I just don't like to relive my days. I just like it's behind
me and I like to keep it that way. But it's a little different because my my
family's always here because I'm always here. So they come and bring dinner and
hang out and hit balls into the net, play catch in the world where you know like I get a
lot of family time here when when when we're a little bit overwhelmed. Now
now I do have the issue where I don't like to just leave and go home because the ADH thing kicks in, right?
Oh yeah. And you're you get in the zone. I get in the zone and like for a long time I you know working on the
additional things. I can't I can't do it at home. I know I'm so distracted at home that it's hard to do that. But I do
get in that mode like next thing you know it's 10:30 at night. I'm like oh
all right I got to start get I have to exit every day. Well and that's stressful. It it's
stressful right now for us because people may look at us as a mature business, but we're still
we still got the office part the well the office part is still new, right? So, we're still
trying to figure that out and then also taking ourselves out of the field equation and then trying to still
manage that at the same time. It's it's a whole another thing. And you know, like we
talked before, it's like running two businesses in one where you're we're we're doing the full service and selling
and stuff, but then also running the installation crews. And you know, Paul
Paul tells us all the time, he's like, "You guys need to hire people."
It's like, yeah, but at the same time, we had to have these uh systems in place in order to
to have the people that we hire have something to follow because we brought people in before where we didn't. And it
is it it gets really old when you're like, "This is how you do things." And then the next day they're like, "How do
you do that again?" And then the next day, how do you do that again? So without having that stuff in place, it's
hard to uh to hire someone, but it's also hard to get that stuff in place because we haven't hired anyone. So it's
like we're What do you do? What do you do? Talk talk about stressful.
Yeah, that's uh dive in. Got to kind of go all in sometimes
and and pray that it works out. Yeah. Right. Please don't please don't be a dumb decision. Please don't be a
dumb decision. I think one of the the things that alleviates some of the stress is going
and to like these trade shows and stuff like that where you see everyone and
just being able to just hang out with like-minded people.
Um well, you learn, right? and and people share information
and it kind of gives you something to ride back on where you're you're you don't feel like you're doing
it alone even though they're not necessarily in your business, but it's like, man, this person is is doing
great. I want to be doing great just like them. How can I do that? And then
you just get back to it and start working. And I I don't, like I said, I
don't know how other people deal with things, but being the ADHD that we are,
it's like work isn't one of those things that really
like it does stress you out, but it it's one of those things that also calms you down at the same time.
Um, yeah, just like if you look behind, I got some shelves and stuff going,
right? And you see that file cabinet, right? Like I was like,
there's too much clutter in here. That was stressing me out. So I was like, what can I do to alleviate some of that?
And that was utilize some of the stuff that we had sitting out in the warehouse. And
putting things away. I think I got to get a lot of things out of out of sight, right? So there's less things to to lose
focus on. and losing losing path, losing that focus is what can cause a lot of
stress. Um, and I know we can always call Paul and
like, "Hey, dude, how did you deal with this or how are you dealing with this?" We have a lot of people that we could
call on that. Maybe we should utilize that part too. The way people utilize us for what we can help with,
right? And I have called Paul be Paul before and I call Jorge and I'll call R and
that way you know I know we're def we're definitely not in this alone.
Mario says organization is definitely big.
And Kendall says he feels he feels that the guys always say
why were you still working? We were done a while ago. I always say no you were done a while ago. My work is
never done. If it is, I say you have to Kindle all the time. Part time.
I know. It' be like uh I work till 2 PM. I don't work on u um Fridays at odd
numbers. Yeah. But then on on the opposite side, you
know, Omar um from Armor Floor Systems, they do our resonous flooring and
polished concrete. And he'll call and it'll be like 7:30 and be like, "Hey, man. Uh you still working?" He's like,
"Yeah, I'm at the office still. What's up?" He said, "Damn." But at the same time, he was just
leaving a job site. So, yeah. Or he'll be a Sunday and he'll be like, "Hey, I'm over here on this job."
like you working on Sunday, bro? Yeah, same. It just uh the the balance, try to
find things that alleviate the stress. And speaking of that, uh I got to go get tacos with Kendall. We've been talking
about it for like three months now. Mario asked if we see how organized Ta
bro Kurt is. And I'm going to have to look him up because I need to see this
organization. Like if you look at I'll set right here these uh packout boxes in
the back. We try to become super organized and and have the all those loaded up, right? And then I go into the
van one day and open any drawer, right? And it's like, "Oh, I need this tool.
Open the drawer." Not in there. Oh, maybe it's in here. Open the next drawer. Nothing in there. And it's like,
and that's where coming up with more systems is Well, it's not even systems,
right? You get, dude, sometimes it's the people, not the
system. Sometimes it's just the people. And um yeah,
you can't uh I will go I'm going to go off on a
little little thing if I get too deep into it, but you can't teach people how to be responsible and take care of your
stuff if they don't want to take care of your stuff. So, if you have a system in place, um
you're going to stress yourself out if you think that that system is a fix for depending on what it is.
But you just got to be consistent on trying to make corrections and be open-minded to making it easier.
Um so that way it's that way everybody can follow it. It's
easy enough for everybody. Not like that. One time I tried to make that system where people had to report on
this very complicated sheet that No, it was easy to me cuz I created it. But
so Mario says, "Make sure we look up his uh
Tro on Insta and Kurt on Facebook.
He's easily found." He says that
he creates videos. So, yeah, we're going to have to look
him up. And he also said that he almost worked on Easter, which I think on Easter you guys were
over at the the shop anyways, right? Yeah, I I ended up working the whole time. But I I popped out, played a
little bit of cornhole, ate some food, talk crap. We're everybody. You know how we do make fun of each other.
Yeah, Mario, he asked if we create videos like the
content creators of our work because Mario says that he does a lot of that and it's like his portfolio for his
clients and we we did do that for a while and I think uh we still have some
stuff out there. Um but social media is something that I one of those things
that I had to get off my plate in order to focus on other things. So, my niece handles that now.
Yeah. And as far as the content, I think she's creating post um of what we do,
but we don't do nearly as much of the personalized content and
right the Tuesday tips and and all that other stuff anymore like and it's it's just hard because it's
it's not even the recording it that's the the hard part because we can get as much content as we want. It's the
editing and putting it together is where I don't have the time and
because I got a lot of videos too, like a lot of uh individual uh interviews, a
lot of one-on-one, a lot of walking through um some of the conventions
and that is fun, but then we go back to the stress of things, the not having the time to do the editing because we're do
we're just we're just at a part right now where we're
trying to split focus is very hard. Yeah. And knowing when to delegate
things, right? And sometimes it's like I would like to do all this stuff, but at the same time I don't want to
I can't just think that someone else can do the same thing that I can and be like just do this and edit this video and put
it all together and instead of doing that I I ask her it's like can you do you think that you can do this? And it's
either yes or no and I'm not going to be like oh well spend 24 hours to learn how
to do this so you can start doing it.
Yeah. He says it takes a lot of time away from your family after work when you need to be present with the family
and that's So when I was at coverings, I
was talking to someone and they were like, "Oh, you're leaving early." Um I
was like, "Yeah, it's my you know, my son's going to Florida with the band and they have her performance there." He said, "You've said enough. You said you
were going with your family. That's all you needed to say. He said and that is I mean if he wasn't
coming down here I wouldn't have been coming to Florida. I mean granted we did extend the trip
and went to Universal and now my kids have an understanding that um
that Cedar Point is goated for being a theme park. there. So, even Arya
um went on her her first roller coaster, her big coaster yesterday, right?
Uh two days ago. Two days ago. Two days ago, she went on the Veloca
coaster. She was nervous the whole time. And I I was like it you're going to be nervous. Even I'm nervous when I go on
some of these rides. But then when you're on it, it's awesome. Uh grab your picture.
I'm gonna see if you can see it in here. This girl was so scared for the first half of the ride and then the second
half she started saying, "I can't believe I'm doing this."
And so look, one kid, the other kid. Yep.
Yep. That's hilarious. It's one of those things. You just got to do it and you'll end up enjoying it,
right? And then yesterday she went on her second bigger coaster
yesterday. We went we were at um Epic Universe. So she went on one of
them there. Do you remember the name? Starishers. Stardust Racers.
I don't like going on on the little kid roller coasters. The big ones are a lot easier on my back. I just
The first one I went on the f when I went to Disney was that stupid like mouse trap one and it like stops and
jerks you dude. That thing like my back was like pop pop. I was like dang.
No, I definitely love the coasters. That's why we like going to Cedar Point because it's just going from coaster to
coaster. Diesel big parks only got like a few big coasters and that's about it.
Mario says that he's based out of Naples, Florida. And then actually Denise, you said enjoy the parks. I was
wearing a DND shirt the other day while I was at one of the parks.
I was like, gotta bring one of these. He was trying to look like a loco. See if he got something for free.
Rock Steady Tile Company said, "What's up, boys? Hope you're well. We're doing good."
I wonder if there's anybody else uh that we're I'm getting back to the topic
about the stress of the dayto-day who might have started just them and a
helper, tried to tried to scale up and then scaled back down.
Is there uh anyone listening right now that that went through that process?
Um what was the reason of scaling back down? What's the reason for scaling up?
And what was the the balance of the stress?
Right. And honestly, I'm trying to learn. Right. Right. You're you'll never get rid of the stress. Every time we end up growing
anything, the stress is always there. And then you just learn how to deal with it and learn how to manage it. And then
you do something else and then the stress comes and then you learn how to deal with it and learn how to manage it.
Just got to go in the other room and and yell that mother.
No, that's just when you're working at like on vehicles and stuff, right? Uh yeah.
So Mario said he was up to 13 employees and now down to him and his partner. And
you know, there's been a lot of people that we talked to that have done that. You know, running multiple multiple
crews and then at some point you're just like, you know what, it's less stressful
if I just do this. And then you're more in control, but it's also on
how you're going about the business.
I think um well, you're either gonna be stressed about money, stressed about people.
I mean, or both of stress about the work, stress about
getting the work, stress about how much work you have when it's too much, how
little work you have, when there's not enough. Stress about setting up the the new
warehouse. Stress about almost there. and getting a a a forklift
that you need because we set it up a certain way and then it's not there yet. So, you can't even use the racking that
you set up. Actually, it is here now and we have the charger just got all good to go there
now. No, no, but well, we have the reach truck. We don't have the the regular um
forklift. So, still using uh trusty rusty leaky leaky.
Scissor lift got fixed. Nice. Mario said
and if they messed up, he didn't like yelling and getting upset when when one of his guys made a big mistake. And
that's something that we're still working through, right? Because right now it almost seems like on every
project it's like and it's never just something super simple. It's always like
you guys skipped this entire step and now we have to redo something and it's
like it is something the next job it's like and it wasn't anything that we
left out like our work orders are pretty pretty good I think like right because
we're we we look back on it from when we were installing and it's like I would love to have a
work order that spelled things out like Yeah, I I would have too, but
not having them also made us very self-sufficient on finding information.
Now, I don't know, double-edged sword, I guess, trying to find balance, right?
You have everything there and people still choose not to read the entire work order.
No, you got people like me who can't be too nice about it and that's my stress and I cause stress on other people because my
delivery isn't always the best and neither are mine. I mean, we all have our moments, but I think
we're better than we used to be and we've still got a lot of growing to do. And it's one of those things where it's
a learning moment for us at the same time because it's like
kind of getting back to the point where, you know, Mario was like, "What's the point to stress over it?"
Right? The water test. You do it and then come back tomorrow and see how it is. And sometimes it's uh you got to
take that that little bit of time to just reflect on it and be like, you know what?
What's done is done. Let's fix it and move on.
Follow all the steps and you shouldn't really have to stress about anything.
Yeah, these kids were just You got to go hang with your family. Yeah, we should probably cut this one a
little short. That way you can go hang with them while you're out there. Yeah, I think we're going to make one more trip over to Disney Springs. It's
looks like it's not raining anymore, right? Hey, did your son get to stay with you or did he had to ride and go back with
the school? No, he's with us. What' you say? No. All she All she cares about is
roller coasters now for 40 seconds.
But yeah, him and Emmelia are with us. Oh yeah, I forgot Emo was there with you, too.
Hey, I don't know if Emo's gonna get that glove back, dude.
don't know. Yeah. Mario says he's uh it's frustrating. So, he just scaled down to
only worry about himself now. And I think you worry about yourself.
I think that a lot of the guys, you know, in the trades are are like that, too. And it's trying to,
you know, with what we're doing, it wouldn't work like that anymore. Especially when
uh we wore ourselves very very thin with our bodies um really
early with the amount of projects we were doing and
and stuff like that. Yeah, I will say
while my body was healthy, I told myself I got to do it all now because when I get older, I'm not going to be able to.
I didn't know that it was going to speed up that process, but
can't imagine putting that that load on again,
right? But I mean, I seen um Dan Dan Welsh over here, which is from Welsh.
Oh, yeah. uh Marble and Tile, right?
Tile and Marble, one of those. But, you know, he was up for an award down there and seen him,
you know, told them, you know, congratulations and just
can't win them all, right? So, um it was left up to the people of the
tile industry and they voted for someone. But I will
Welsh has been amazing to us and I will never talk bad about them. So, um,
realistically, you can't because they they've always had our back. Yeah. And the same thing, you know, we
we will always have theirs, too. So, um
I'm kind of grateful that we actually he he brought us into his office, you
know, one time and, you know, talked to us about just business in general. And that's really where we started um doing
some more research and going off on our own and stuff. And he was honest with us. He he was like, "You know, my dad
started this business out of a little garage or whatever,
wherever they started and and grew it to what it is today." So, he was like, "We can never get mad at people for wanting
to do that. It's just what some people are going to do." Yeah.
And it's a and anybody thinking about starting their own business and going out or trying to expand, that's a a
happy stress, right? Like just stay consistent. Just it's it's just a
you're going to set a goal and then that marker is going to move once you get close to it. I promise you it's going to
move. And then you get close to it again and it's going to move. And sometimes that
move isn't the direction you want to go, but there's still a move and and then
you I idle until you're ready for the next one.
Mario says, "Tell them about stress on super important highpaying projects,
man." And I think I miss being on those projects to be
honest with you. But but at the same time, I think that's where we're a little different than everyone else
because it doesn't matter if it's one of those projects or one of the smaller projects. We're trying to handle them
the same way and give the client the the best possible installation anyways. So, it makes it easier on those um
super high-profile ones because that's what we're used to anyways.
He says, "Happy stress when projects pay over a 100k, but also super stressful.
The waiting for the payment is the stressful part." Yeah. Mario, I don't know if you do um
more commercial or residential, but you want to talk about some high stresses
and getting on some of these commercial projects where the deadlines are like set in stone. like we already sent
everything out that we're opening on this day and we were just on one the end
of last year where it was I went in one day and uh the guy that was in charge
wasn't relaying information the way he should. And then the new guy was like, "Yeah, we got what we got this uh this
party coming in here on this date." And I said, "When were you guys going to tell me?" He said, "They never told
you?" I said, "No." He's like, "Oh, yeah. Well, you've only got like two weeks to do this amount of work." And
it was it was a lot, but we were probably the only trade that was done
and out of there when we were supposed to. Probably because you kicked everybody else out. But get out of here.
This is my floor.
Oh, he's doing dealerships, grocery stores like Walmart
and high-end residential. Yeah, we've done grocery stores before, too. Those are those can be really stressful.
Yeah. And the stress didn't come from the workload, right? The stress came from the the window that we had. And
if you completed a window of x amount of square foot successfully, then the store and whoever hired you
took it upon themselves to add more square footage. And sometimes that those variables with
the prep and the removal are the things that you can't plan for. Um,
but also the staff at the store would be stressed because they need to get set up
and ready for their business and their day as well and they're waiting on us and yeah, it was a
but I think you know looking at everything dealing with the stress we're
all going to deal with it differently and when
it was different in the field than it is in the office, right? Because in the field, I always tell people it's just
easy because I just do it. I don't have to think about it. I already know what to do. In the office, it's more of
having to learn how to do things and then implementing. So, it's more
research and then going, especially when like
we're working with products that I've never even heard of before. So, it's like I can't just And that's where I can
see where other people look at us and it's like how do you know all this stuff
when these other sales people just throw a bid? It's like because if I'm going to be selling something, I need to know
about it. Yeah, I know. I know. That's I know.
How do you sell something you don't know anything about? Like why? Like
if someone pulls you aside and you have to have a conversation about it and you
know nothing about it. I wouldn't hire someone who didn't know anything about my truck to work on my
truck. Mario is working on a $2.5 million one
beachfront property. He asked uh he says you got to see this view what he's been
working on. Then he asked if we want to see the view. love to see the view, but I don't even like with the software that
we're using. I don't think that we can have you join unless I send you a link, but we'll definitely have to get you on
sometime just to talk.
And Mario says he knows flooring. Well, I hope that the the huddle is still
floor approved.
But then, you know, those stresses are, like I said, you learn and then you get
used to them and then you add more stresses and then you get used to them, then you
add more stresses and then in some cases like Mario, you just are like, you know what? Sometimes
some of those stresses are better off just going away and then guess what? You
still have more stresses because you you'll never get away from them. It's just a matter of being able
to deal with them and knowing that whatever you run into isn't the end of
everything, right? this project, this one thing on this project is not gonna
be the end of your entire life. What's that? Um, what's that thing? I think it was
something about Tom Hanks was I I watched a video a while ago. It is this too shall pass.
Yeah. And it and it does, right? It's just
it always sucks in the moment, but even in baseball, we have the 24hour rule,
right? you can't talk to the coach for 24 hours because sometimes you just need that little bit to process and it's like
all right I think that's that's a universal baseball a different a different way
that that is a universal baseball rule for sure. So definitely if you guys have any more tricks for us uh throw them in the
comments. We we're always looking for tips on, you know, what we we we put on
this podcast and stress is one of those things that you'll never get away from. Um, so
let us know how you guys deal with your stress so we can, you know, put them into our rotation. We
we always we need some some rotation and we need to put them in everybody else's rotation, too.
But, you know, we definitely appreciate you guys. We we've hit our time. So, you know, definitely give us a a like and
subscribe over on uh YouTube, Apple, Spotify, wherever you're catching this,
and share it with everyone, whether you like it or not. I mean, we need those thumbs downs, too, right?
But if you don't like it, we definitely invite you on so we can we can be better.
Come on here. Give us some better content.
So, we appreciate you and uh we definitely miss Paul this week, but hopefully uh we'll see him again next
week, but we don't know what's on his schedule. He might have another meeting.
Never know. We ain't going to stress about it, though. Not stressing about it. Take that take that when it comes.
All right, guys. Well, definitely appreciate you and uh again like make sure you're you're looking at all these
trade shows and certifications coming up. I try to whenever I see something come across Facebook and stuff like
that, I try to share it and especially with the, you know, the NTCA
and and stuff like that, they have free workshops and and stuff like that. So, get the education any way you can,
especially when it's free. And uh I know the NFCT so just over a
month from now we'll be in Georgia putting on a heat weld and flash co
event. So make sure you check that one out. And AFCT next week's episode is about training
and certifications and standards. So we'll definitely uh be talking about
that. But we'd like to see more people out there. So, let's get a a room full of some great people together and
come learn from what I know and teach me what I don't.
Until next time.
