The Huddle - Episode 198. What We’d Do Differently If We Started Over Today

If you could go back and start over… what would you change?

This week on The Huddle, Paul, Daniel, and Jose take a step back and reflect on their journeys in the flooring industry — sharing the lessons they learned the hard way and what they’d do differently if they had the chance to start fresh today. From early mistakes to mindset shifts, this episode is packed with honest insight that can help you avoid costly missteps and fast-track your growth.

In This Episode:

• The biggest mistakes they’d avoid if starting over

• What they’d prioritize earlier in their careers

• How their approach to business, training, and growth has evolved

• Advice they’d give their younger selves (and anyone starting today)

• The mindset shifts that made the biggest difference

Whether you’re just getting started or years into your career, this conversation offers real perspective you can use right now.

Why This Episode Matters: At The Huddle Podcast, we believe in real Forward Progress, learning from experience, growing through challenges, and helping others move faster and smarter in their journey.

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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's up everyone? Welcome to the huddle, your weekly playbook where uh we

help you with for progress in your career. Paul's supposed to be on here, but he

doesn't know how to technology today.

So, he should be popping in um hopefully pretty soon here.

And uh we just want to definitely shout out to our uh sponsors, Divergent

Adhesives and uh the NFCT.

So, in man just a few weeks here, we'll be uh

over in Calhoun, Georgia for the heat welding flash cove training. So, if you haven't got signed up, get signed up.

I'd like to see you out there. And it's not even about me teaching anything. Come teach me something. I'm always

looking to learn something new. Damn. Many of you realize that time's

flying already, dude. I know, man.

All right, I'm going to shut all these other ones down. Paul Stewart has joined.

Maybe.

What's up, guys? You got a restaurant at a Chinese restaurant, bro?

No, I uh I'm at the place where we hold our board meetings.

So, I got a board meeting today. You guys already kick it off? We are kicked off. Said that you should

be joining hopefully, but you couldn't technology today. I could not. I was uh stuck in 4G and

then I finally got to the I was pulled over just trying to connect and it was uh not happening for me. So

today yeah uh usually on the board meeting

days I come to the country club where they hold the meetings and called Terodine Country

Club and sit in their media room and shoot the shoot the first part of the

podcast and then jump. But well welcome uh everybody. It's um so

today's topic was what would we do different if we had it to start over, right? Yeah, it's a it's a good one,

man. Because I think we talk about it all too often here and that's the reason why we're doing this, right? Is to just

have these conversations that way people don't need to go through the same things that we did.

Yeah. Yeah. There's a lot. Uh, I was thinking about this topic earlier when I

uh first seen it and I was like, how long is this podcast?

Because there's so much I would have done differently. But I think we talked uh

we've talked about it so many times. I think I would have um I don't know maybe

uh jumping in here, not sure if you guys have already like stated anything, but

for me I I would All right. Well, I'll I'll kick it off

since I got to leave early. First off, I would have taken the

um craft more seriously. the the that it was not I treated it kind of like a job

for a little while and then when I started subbing um I didn't I I it took years before I

decided to go get you know factory trained or any certifications or any

real training. I know we talk about this a lot, but I I I would have made it more

of a uh I would have made more of a plan to get the training and certifications

and such that I needed over the course of my first 3 to 5 years.

So, and look at it as a long-term thing. I mean, looking back now, I wouldn't

have probably told you that 25 years later I' I'd be doing it, you know, doing the same thing. Uh, still in

flooring, still doing this thing. Uh, when I I I didn't look at it that way.

And I wish I would have. I would have been way more successful early on in my career and understood,

you know, more of the end. I I would have just prevented a

lot of lost money through claims and doing things wrong. Been pretty

transparent. I did plenty of wrong installs early on and some of those bit me in the butt and I had to pay for

them. But then I also would have gotten uh that's probably the number one thing

and the second and close number two is I would have gotten more financially

uh I would have tried to figure get training or

went to college, you know, night school or something to get more financially

minded early on. I was just like, I'm making this much. I'm spending this much

and that's all I ever looked at. And I never really considered how to properly

put quotes together or put bids together, how to put a quote together to

a customer in a way that wins jobs because it, you know, it's not

always about price. And at the time, I all I all I thought it was about was price. So I was always trying to be the

cheapest guy. It was always how much work you can get, right? It's more, more, more. Give me, give me, give me.

Yeah. And always chasing my tail because I wasn't really making much much money at that point because I was doing

everything. I was just trying to be the cheapest guy. I had one client, I bought carpet, pad, and installed for uh

installed in duplexes for $9 a yard.

materials and labor sold, done, complete.

Sounds like you were busy. Now, this was a uh a time when you could

buy carpet for two or three, you know, three to four dollars a yard. You know,

you're sculptured. This was a slum lord place. So, yeah. The the stuff that you hold it up to the light and you can see through it.

You could see through it for sure. It it it's a better strainer than it is carpet. There you go. Look. It look like

a the night stars. Yeah. Uh let's just say it would not black out your windows.

Um but I wish I would have understood that part of the business and business

in general. Um and and really got educated around that. So I knew how to handle taxes. All

this stuff happened after being 8 10 years in the business is when I started

getting educated around things. Um and by then I it took another several years

to really operate in that manner. So, you know,

first decade and a half or so of my career, I could have done a lot better by being uh more focused on my my craft

and my knowledge around install and then my financial knowledge. The one thing I

did do that I preach about a lot is I did pay taxes and I did have an accountant and I just give them

everything. But an accountant is just a bean counter for your money. It's not

like they're doing a lot of financial advice outside of just yep, you're compliant and you're paying your taxes

and that's that, you know. So, right, those are probably the two

things. And there's a slew of others. Uh, I wish, you know, I would have

treated my body a little bit better as well because when I was 20, I didn't think I just felt like I was unbreakable

and, you know, put my body through a lot of stuff because I I didn't I didn't wear knee pads even though, you know, I

knew I should. Uh, just different things like that. But the two biggest is by far

educationalbased. I would have I would have done those two things different. And I think I would

have found real meaningful success earlier.

Yeah, I I'm I feel that when taking care of your body cuz I you know, you're young and dumb. I used to put two 50 lb

bags of patch on on this shoulder and have someone else load me up with two more and then I'm like, watch me go up

these two flights of steps. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. That is a Well, that's a

that's a young guy thing too, right? Like when when you uh enter a work crew and the work crew is let's see who's

stronger, who's faster, who's quicker, who does it better, the competition Oh yeah.

competition runs stupid. I can't say it runs rampant. It runs stupid and guys will do some dumb stuff

because man and that that is more of an age.

It's more of an age thing than it is like I think this is probably the same

in most places, most trades. Like you just go at it like you're killing snakes

early on, you know? So I've done some pretty dumb stuff in

that. But yeah, that you know what's funny is that's one of my first two that I wrote down was take or treated my mind

and body better. Um, I I probably knowing what I know now and where I am

now, uh, physically and mentally, I probably would have changed things

sooner. Even though it was right on time when I needed to change some things, but I

could have planned for for a better future, right? Everything's temporary until 20 years go by and you're like, "Holy smokes."

Well, and the other thing is it's hard it's hard to recover from some of it. So like the the training um you know we h

we could have really been a pretty dang big workshop

uh like a work room. I was pretty good at recruiting guys and doing that when

it was my day in dayout job. I mean I was good at teaching guys stuff. Had I

known really the right way to do things earlier and then taken and like

implemented some training and certification kind of standards and then

took that forward in my business. It would have helped me today a lot better to be, you know, um, more upfront on

that stuff. I mean, we're it's still a deal, you know. I mean it'll when I say

it, I mean training in general like workforce development for flooring

companies who run subs is a real challenge and

um all you can do is encourage them. Heck, I think one of our guys signed up for Calhoun for you. He just called me

out of the blue and said, "Do you think this is a training I should go to?" And I was like, "Yeah, it's the same one I

was going to try to have here, but could not get enough people on board at the at

the right time to run it uh to set it up here." But yeah, I do. And he signed up on the at right then.

So, you should be seeing Tyler Leon there uh in Calhoun. He's um

uh but having a culture of that. So, those are some things that would have

would have changed if I would have taken it more serious. And that's my that's

been our rally cry here for newer subs or guys in the business is make sure

that you have your skill set intact and you learn the business side to make sure

you're charging properly and that you have some some ways to market and set

yourself apart because that's what you're doing when you're bidding work. How can I set myself apart in my bid?

So, quick caveat like what I used to think setting myself apart meant was just

being cheaper. What I'm actually talking about today is setting yourself apart by

having a prop a professional proposal by being able to prove that you are

qualified to do the job and that you're you know you you check those boxes and that you should be the guy getting the

work and then price not price first. like price should be uh you should try

to set yourself up where price is a secondary question where even if you're not the low guy

they it's hard for them to decide to go to the with the cheaper guy because you've done such a good job of setting

yourself as the expert setting yourself as professional and presenting yourself

well I did not do those things well and I got chose a lot for being the cheapest

and I am the that is the type of guy that I don't I can't stand is who I was

early on in my career. The guy that just makes the market cheap. One of the guys

and there's plenty of them. But you get my point. Know you don't know what you don't know. Right. And and that's why you got to go

learn. Yeah. Right. And and um that that goes with what I just wrote

down too is if you don't spend the time educating yourself or or my first thing I wrote down was would have asked more

questions which kind of leads into that what is wrong with the industry? Where can I where do I fit in? How can I fit

in? Right? And the being the cheapest guy, you're like not knowing the rates

um is is probably why you were cheaper. You just know you kept winning but you didn't know what you were leaving on the table. And same thing with us is you

don't know what you don't know. And all you know is that the numbers you're spitting out and getting you the work

that you feel you need to keep you afloat and to maybe take those next couple steps. And that was the that was

the we came to that realization that we were under I don't want to say

underdoing ourselves, but we were undervaluing our our our knowledge and our skill set for a long time. Um,

yeah, I think that's kind of common on the Yeah, I think it's kind of common on the new guys until the huddle came along and

and we're trying to educate, we're trying to communicate to you guys that there is a better way. Uh, setting

setting yourself up as the professional expert in your area

is getting easier today than it was back then. And it's one of those and and

being able to like be considered outside of price

alone. That was just not a thing back then. How to properly price projects. There was no

guidance on. There's still little guidance on it today, but you know, we are doing things to try to change that.

Um there's plenty of financial

training out there, but there we will coming out with with some the huddle is

going to mirror that with a webinar series. So, we're going to do some stuff. We're still executing on all that

stuff, guys, that we talked about. Um, but

you know, to be able to offer our audience some some uh some ways to uh do

what we're talking about, which is do what we're doing now. If you're just starting, like if you if you're four or

five years into this thing, make sure you have the industry training that you've been to and receive

certifications if possible. Um, and then getting financially and uh

businessminded around your your business. Treat it like a business. And we've we've talked about it a lot. And

um yeah, I mean that's that's where I know I could have knocked it out of the park early on. It it doesn't take much

to set yourself apart really. Those are the things that I could have done and

not used price to set myself apart. I'm a bit ashamed of it when I talk about it because it's I know it's what hurts

other tradesmen is guys that go out after six months or a year uh being a

helper and you go out and you say I'm an installer and I'm going to start bidding work and you start bidding it and

getting work cheaper than anybody else would do it. To you, you feel like you're making some money, but the real

truth is you're not and you're running your marketplace, right? And that's why I don't get mad

when people ask about pricing for stuff. There are you will go on Facebook and people will just tear guys down. If you

don't know what to charge for this, you shouldn't be doing it. And I'm just like, man, you must have forgot what it

feels like to start. Well, or they didn't never start the

same way. Maybe they started off better. And that's still a crappy attitude to have. You should be like, "Hey man, DM

me. I'll help you through it. whoever says stuff like that. That's what I typically do anyways. I I don't even bother with comments a lot of

the time. I just reach out personally because um I don't know, people will just matter

what you say. They'll they'll just take it some sort of way.

Yeah. For all the guys out there coming at him sideways, that's all. Well, yeah,

but it's kind of silly like we've all three through our huddle journey here

over the last few years have had people reach out to us and has help them through whether it's an install thing or

a business thing or how to get started. I had a kid out of I think it was out of

southeast somewhere. I keep wanting to say Florida, but he reached out and was starting his business and he had a ton

of questions, you know, and uh just being willing to help others is a better

attitude. Anyway, I do got to jump off here now. I got two minutes to walk down the hall. I just wanted to jump on here

a bit and give my few uh my my two cents on what I would have done differently.

And uh I'll back via mobile. I got to join back via mobile. We got baseball again today,

brother. I don't make the schedule. I'm sorry. Well, guys, do the best and uh keep up

the good work and I'll chat with you guys later to the audience. Give us like and subscribe and we'll I'll see you

guys next week. All right, take it easy, Paul. All right, bye.

All right, my son's already locked and loaded, so I'm going to go uh jump in the truck with him and just get on uh

maybe just uh audio if the the video is sketchy. All right. I'll be back in a minute.

But that's that's one thing. Um, so Paul was talking about

like the training and how he should have done that sooner. And with me, it's really

kind of a little bit simpler than that. It's um my big thing is networking and

realizing that a lot of the relationships that you have is what feeds you the work that you need and

getting out there and going to events even though it's really really hard because you're working all day and then

you don't want to go do these things but then you have to or with us it's my kids

right it's my kids always have some sort of event or a practice practice and is

trying to find um ways to make it to everything and

sometimes it's just not the case. Um, and you know, Jordan, um, Verhulse, he

was on one of our episodes. He owns an electrical company, Frontier Electrical, and I was talking to him on the phone

last week, and he's like, you know, you, we were over there at that uh, at Pickle

and Pin over here and at that event that you missed, and I was like, bro, I was out of town, so I would have 100% love

to be at that thing. Um, I don't do golf. That's what they were doing over there. So, I would have just been

hanging out making a fool of myself anyways. But a lot of these events that

um you think don't make a difference actually do. And people have told us

before when you know I' I've gotten approached and they're like, "Hey,

I'm gonna put your name in for this thing over here." And I'm like, and they

they say for for everything that you guys, you know, do. And I'm like, I mean,

I don't talk to him much, but it's like I don't I don't think I'm really doing that much, but he's like, man, you guys

are at a lot of things. You're always showing up, and you guys do have really good insight every time, you know, they

they're asking for some. So, it's things like that. And just making sure that the people that are around you know who you

are. And that goes back to like when we say we were

just joining the the Grand Rapids chamber and you know Dante sat us down

and he's like it's not that old school mentality of it's not

what you know it's who you know because now it's not who it's not even who you know it's who knows you. And you have to

go out there and make yourself very prevalent in everything that you can in order to have

the the best chance of success. And there there are, you know,

construction companies out there that will approach us still at some of these meetings and they're like, "We really want to work with you." Um,

and granted, some of them are just getting their foot in the door over here, too. So, it's like, you know,

we'll we'll throw them numbers, but if they're not winning anything personally, they can't

transfer anything to us because there's nothing there to work on. But just those building those

relationships and making sure that people know that you're out there and keep on showing up. And

you know, I I will say it again, you know, one of the biggest things that we

did was sponsoring little leagues and making sure that, you know, everyone in

the the community knew we were out there. And it took 5 years before we got a project. But we got the project and

that project was significantly more than those sponsorships that, you know, we

paid for. So, it's constantly showing up, making

sure that that people out there know who you are is probably my number one thing

that in business. And I guess I'm still learning, right? And

and you have to it's it's not something that you're just going to think of it in terms of software that the software that

I've that we use changes on a daily basis right now. you'll sign into one of them one day and then the next day and

you're like, "Where'd this thing go?" And it's you you you're constantly having to learn. But on the business

side of things, um, and Paul touched on it earlier when he was talking about, you know, you think you're making money,

but all you're doing is looking at that check, looking at the full amount. And a lot of people that I know here

personally don't keep track of their expenses. So, when you don't know how much you're spending, it's real easy to

look at a check and be like, "Yes, I'm making money." But in the long run, um,

when you're not keeping track of things, it's real easy for things to slip through the cracks and you think that you're making money hand over fist when

the reality is is the exact opposite. You're over there. Yeah, you're getting

some checks with some ridiculous amounts on them, but I mean, threequarters of that is gone before you even get that

check in your hand. And it's being able to know and look at at the books and not

just relying on like Paul was saying earlier a an accountant is just there to

make sure that everything that you're doing is in line and then for them to file your stuff unless you're paying

them extra. Um that's a whole another story. But they're not there to be your

financial advisor unless that is what you're paying them for. They're there just to do their job and then keep on

moving on. So, you have to realize that at some

point you have to take time out of your day

and start focusing on making sure that you know how to run the

business aspect of things.

Because if you don't know how to run the Oh, can barely hear you.

You have to talk again. See if I can hear you. Nope.

Think your audio is on the phone instead of your AirPods.

So just just knowing trying to figure that stuff out. And then on top of that,

it's it is way easier when you're smaller.

Um I don't want to say it's easier, right? But it'd be easier than when you're bigger. Like the bigger you get,

the more stuff you have to do. And then it's harder for you to focus time on things that you want to. And I'm talking

about simple things like updating like this year over the past

few months we've updated our employee handbook, our um safety handbook, and

then it's just little stuff like that where it's like, okay,

I don't have time in the dayto day to do it. So, I'm going to end up having to

stay after to make sure that all this stuff is put together. And don't get me

wrong, I mean, I we pay for for things like that, but it's taking what they

give us back and then making sure that the language in there follows everything

that we stand for. So, it hasn't had that uh preferred foreign touch on it in order for it to be, I guess, necessarily

approved by me. Hey Chad, how's it going?

So, I can't see any of the chats right now, I don't think. And I don't want to mess with it on my phone while I'm driving.

But are you just talking about some of the things that you would have done earlier or sooner?

What I would have done. So, the first thing I talked about was um

What did I talk about? What I was just talking about was the

business side of things. Yep. and making sure that you're you're starting that early on because I mean

even us we didn't we thought we were doing good but in reality we were not

right but you don't we'll go back to what you were saying you don't know what you don't know and then the first thing

that I talked about was my biggest thing is networking and making sure that

people actually know you're out there I don't yes I it wasn't even until you know these

past few years where and I I kind of explain behind it where it's like you don't see anything happening for years

and then all it takes is that one project for it to to pay off, but it's actually taking your time out and

instead of being like, "Oh, I'm not going to be able to make it over here," it's I have to make it over here cuz I

have to show my face at these things. So that that's one thing that I think that I would have done sooner is instead of

fostering relationships, I probably would have spent more time

creating new ones, right? Because if if you're going to maintain and foster

your existing relationships, especially in us, like we started labor only, our

focus was keeping what we knew happy. But if we I if earlier on we could have

expanded on on who we knew and who knew us,

you know, we could have could have been uh in a different position right now, I I would think. But

that's just one of the things that maybe I I would have tried to do sooner than

or sooner or earlier on in the career. So, you people out there that are still

shy and not doing it, but then complaining that you're not you're not reaping any

rewards from uh being in the trade, man. Well, and it's it's the same thing as

and he's gone. It's the same thing as you know why people say that they don't

want to do any training or anything. It's because they're like, "Well, what is it going to do for me?" And going to

these meetings does nothing for you either if all you're going to do is stand there in the corner and not talk

to anyone. It's the exact same thing. It's what are you going to do with what you're given?

Not just, hey, since I got this piece of paper, it means that

everyone should pay me more or more people should know who I am. It's getting out there and actually

saying, "Hey, I'm trained. I'm certified. This is why you should be

using me." And the same thing when you're networking. It's not just going over there and hoping that someone

starts talking to you. Granted, I'm one of those people that if you're at a networking event with me, I'm going to introduce you to someone, but that's

something that um I had to learn myself. I I was never

really like that. But then the more events I went to, I seen people and, you

know, they they'd approach me, hey, I got someone that you should be talking to. And I started doing that myself.

It's like, man, um you know, I was at an event and this one there was an an intern there and they're like, I'm an

intern and this is what I'm trying to do. And I was like, man, there's this person right over there that I think you

should meet because I know you're you already have an internship, but

again, and it's not even someone that I've done work with, but I see them around everywhere. So, they're already

top of mind. And it's like they may we may not do work together, but I know he's at everything. So, and I know what

he does. So, you should actually be talking to them because this is someone that could potentially be your employer

in a little bit. Yeah. And and what you're talking about too is um

public events even like you said making a connection with someone you might not even be completely connected with,

right? But if that's that introvert extrovert type thing and um you know and

and sometimes stepping out of the comfort zone uh to help someone else could uh in turn help you out. And

I think I've done that more times than not. like who who do you need to talk to? Is there someone here that you would

like to speak with before the end of the event that you think could help you? And um you know most of the time people say

yeah I really want to talk to this person like okay well here let's go talk to uh you know ABC and and let's work

our way that way. Oh you know these people? Nope not at all but but uh um I

will after this. Right. Sometimes a hello and a handshake um is hard to forget when it's out of the blue. Um

yeah, and I think a lot when it comes to stuff like this, people just automatically think back to when you're

in school, right, and the teacher calls on you and you do not want to stand up in front of the class. And that's just

it's just what you got to do, man. They they if you think back in the in the large

scale of things, that's what they were getting you ready for was to go do stuff like that. And if

if you're you just have to get comfortable being uncomfortable because there's a lot of times where we walk

into places and we know absolutely no one. Yeah. 100%. Um almost

almost all the time actually which which is okay. you know, if I don't know every

anyone or or a lot of people, it's a lot easier for me to uh say what's on my

mind when those questions come up anyway. Yeah. And the only way to get better at

it is practice. And a lot of the times, I'll be honest, when I'm traveling, I'm

talking to the person that's standing in line next to me or I'm talking to the person that's going to sit next to me on

the plane and having a conversation. because the more you practice it, the better you're going to be, just like any

other skill out there. Yep. 100.

So, the um I was just going to say like um you know, Jorge and I were just over at at

coverings and there was maybe a handful of people

there that we knew, but it was a lot of new people. So, yeah. Uncharted territory for for for you and

him, right? Like Yeah. And we we tried to, you know, go on the show floor and they quickly

humbled us and was like, "Nope, you can't go on until uh the show starts." And that's like, "Dang."

Cuz when at the other shows when you have a press pass, they're like, "Oh, you got a press badge? Do whatever you

want basically." But here it wasn't like that. So, you know, we were just hanging out there and it's like you look over

and see some people it's like, "Hey, what's up? How's it going?" and you know introduce yourself and

see what see what people do. You got to got to put yourself out there. Got to

got to put forth a little bit of effort to get any kind of result. Some of the some of the things that people find

success on on accident like you know we we say we we found success on accident for some aspects but you can't duplicate

what you don't know and if it just happens to you then how you going to duplicate it? sometimes just luck.

Says he just linked up this weekend with the NTCA people and uh we'll actually have some rock stars on talking to him

on his birthday because the the next uh Spanish episode is going to be on May 5th.

So, um hopefully we'll have some the art and everything ready and and up for

that. So, that'll be uh scheduled pretty quick

here. Yeah, I mean May 5th is coming pretty quick, dude. It's April's almost over,

man. It just started, too. That's what happens when spring and and

realistically, that's what happens when baseball season, softball season hit.

Everything becomes a blur. I said they came into town and we they went out for some drinks and stuff and I

seen the the pictures on Facebook. That's awesome, man. That's um that is

one thing too, right? It's the more people that you get to know just

you you'll go out of town like uh Jimmy Salisbury. I was in his hometown uh for

gymnastics. Um I think it was last year, maybe the year before, but you know, I

hit him up because I was like, "Hey, I'm going to be in town on this day. If you're not busy, you know, I'd like to to grab dinner and stuff with you." and

people are more than happy to to make some time. We I've done the same thing with Rollin, right? I went over to uh

over by where he was staying. Uh it wasn't super close, but you know, I had to make an hour drive. But still, it's

something that since he's my buddy, I want to go and and say hi if I'm that close.

Says forming bonds and other trades. And it's not it's really the same trade. It's just a silo of the trade.

But I do love that, you know, we're we're talking with more people in those different silos. So that way it's not

just the same people that we've been talking to. We got to all start hanging out

together. The tile, the wood, the carpet resilient.

That's why it's called an adventure, right? you gotta venture out and add more things.

Uh, you know, one other thing if getting back over to to the the actual topic here is uh

and and I don't know if you can hear me. Every time a semi passes me or I pass a semi for my signal disappears

and just straight disappears. I don't know what's up. But um

through the the and I'm going to go to the the hiring process um

probably be a little more selective on on or maybe create a system. There you

go. Let me creating a system on how to hire would probably be one thing

looking back at things that that I would change. Uh, not saying that it's it's a

bad thing and and we had, you know, nothing but bad experiences.

I'm just saying that, you know, a quick way to lose close family and friends is to hire them.

A lot of people don't know how to separate business and and everything else.

Yep. I would say that that that would be it. you know, not everybody everybody wants to share in in in your

accomplishments, but not your the goals and the steps to get there. Um, and and

that's why that's why I say that.

Well, yeah. I mean, I think we we pretty much covered everything uh for for this topic. I

know, you know, you're you're out and about. Paul's gone, so we'll just cut this one short today. I do want to make

sure that everyone is uh checking out the sponsors. Um, you know, NFCT,

some some great trainings. Uh, we got that that heat welding flash co training

coming up. I did just receive an email too as we were talking that said we have

right now nine confirmed people. So, make sure you're going to get in there.

Get in. I can't see it on on there. What's the actual date? It is May 11th through the 15th,

I believe. Gotcha. I have to I actually have to pull it up. Yeah. 11th through the 15th. And,

you know, sign up. Make sure you get your spot before they're all gone.

Then can't forget trade tap. Uh, you know,

Paul's been working hard on this, so make sure that you're you're ready for it. Man, this is going

to be it's going to be huge once it starts rolling out and we have

everything all settled. And I think the biggest thing is people

actually having that number saying yes, I am verified and here's the proof.

Hey, it's a it's a journey, right? But um or it has been a journey for Paul and he's been working on it very hard and um

he's he's doing a lot for the flooring industry and kudos to him and

anybody who's just kind of like on on the wall or against the fence on checking into it or even signing up and

and investing their time into it, it's just time. It's just time. Paul has done a lot of

the leg work. A well, Ashlin said that uh she said literally please her blood,

sweat, and tears are in this thing. Make sure everyone goes to trade that and

then you know divergent adhesives cuz uh the divergent is amazing.

Oh, just a bunch of floorers trying to find their their place. The glue dude is always there to answer your questions.

But I appreciate everyone. Make sure you give us a like and subscribe, follow us, share us, do whatever you have to do in

order to spread the word so that way you can reach more people. And you know, the same at the same token, if you don't,

just give us a thumbs down. Tell us why. What what can we do better? That's what

uh that's what we're here for, man. We're not here to to say that we know everything. We're here for that

constructive criticism, too. Yeah. And we're here to learn as much as

we are to share. You know, I can't even say we teach. All we do is share information. We don't teach. We're not

we're not instructing anyone. We're just sharing the information. Um and if if

you have some experiences that you could help another installer or help us uh uh

avoid share that information, please. We're we're open ears.

Yeah. So, thanks guys for uh joining us this week. We'll see you next week. And then for everyone in Spanish,

May 5th, the best day because that's called his birthday. And we'll have some uh some rock stars

on here to to talk with him. Oh, and Ashlin said that is our 200th

episode. So, maybe we'll maybe we'll have to do like

a little giveaway or something. We'll see what's up. Sounds exciting. I mean, everyone has

been asking about these shirts, Ashlin. So, got to see see if we can give some

shirts away for the 200th episode or something. But thanks, guys, and we'll catch you

next week. Thank you, everyone.