Training is essential to the future of flooring, but how do we make it easier to find, access, and track?
This week on The Huddle, Ben from TradeTap joins the crew to talk all things training, workforce development, and the role education plays in strengthening the flooring industry.
We'll dive into the challenges surrounding training accessibility, the importance of continued education, and how TradeTap is working to connect flooring professionals with opportunities to build their skills and advance their careers.
Plus, Ben will give us a LIVE demo of TradeTap's Training Hub, a centralized training ecosystem designed to bring industry training opportunities together in one place. Get an inside look at how the platform works, how installers can discover training, and how training organizations can connect with the professionals looking to grow. Whether you're an installer looking to sharpen your skills, a contractor investing in your workforce, or an industry leader passionate about the future of flooring, this is a conversation you won't want to miss!
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Please visit our new website! https://thehuddle.team
So, we don't play the other music anymore. What's up, team? Welcome back to the Huddle, your number one podcast
in flooring. We're here every week to help you guys gain forward progress in your career. Simply put, we're here to
help you win. To all our new viewers, welcome to the team.
What's up, fellas? What's up, Ben? I want to introduce Ben. He hadn't been on here so long that I've got to introduce
him. He is the COO extraordinaire of Trade Tap. Joining us today for a
conversation around training. Yeah, you guys know
almost every podcast ends up there. We're going to start it there today. We'll see if we end up on a different
subject then. Uh today's sponsors. First off, do me a quick favor, guys.
Follow us on our social channels. Uh, and if you're catching this on YouTube,
give us a quick like and subscribe, please. It helps us keep this thing rolling for you. So, today's sponsors is
uh Pro Installer. Hey, I've talked about Pro Pro Installer almost every week. Uh,
it's a great source for installers to get, you know, kind of updated news, stuff you don't hear every day. um you
know on the uh we won't name any other places that are more retailer and dealer
focused. That's your magazine right there. Pro Installer Magazine. Also brought to you today by QEP Roberts
and I should add Capital I guess. I mean right they own Capital 2 and they own what what's the other one they just
bought? Spray lot. Uh Spray Lock. Spray Lock.
It's a really good uh Aerosol adhesives if you like aerosol adhesives
and brought to you by trade tab because today Ben is going to lead us down uh a little
path of what it looks like uh getting training in today's kind of new digital
environment. Many of the trainings are going digital and or have and we are uh going to talk
a little bit about that. So you guys know about the training hub, right? Daniel, Jose, we've talked plenty.
Yep. Um one thing we all share, we've seen the the cool um demo you guys
did at Tai's too. Yeah. Yeah. So,
the demo at TIE is gotten substantially all kinds of new stuff.
Yeah, it's gotten substantially better. First off, I'm just going to kick this off with why uh we went through all this
and did all this stuff over the last year or so. I think you probably noticed on our socials a lot more activity.
Um we are heading towards major marketing campaigns
and our um our our goals are to help the
installer have better access to training number one and number two uh to increase
their value in the marketplace bottom line. So, the more we band together uh
at Trade Tap and installers coming in getting their VTI um the the better off we are. But long
story short, your VTI ranking is only comprised of two things. Now, it's very
complicated how the algorithm creates the ranking, but it's really the only
two ways you can get good at anything: experience and education.
preferably as we all believe both you know in some you know uh train apply
train apply kind of manner. Um I think once all of us uh on this call started
to get training we kind of figured out that like go go go apply some of that
stuff and then go get some more and go apply and get some more. So you got to look at training and education uh around
floor covering. kind of a a long tail uh event. It's not something you do once or
twice and call it good. I was just out on a job site. I was telling the guys helping helping the crew on on welding
some rubber athletic flooring 9 millimeter I believe or so. And it is
uh it's a difficult weld. I'm learning. I mean I'm going to go I mean I was
struggling a little bit. So, I'm going to go figure some stuff out. I was even talking to Daniel before this call because I'm like, I need some tricks and
and some some ideas. So, the the truth is is that getting around training and
being around people who train can only benefit you. But the reason we built the
training hub and launched that to all the organizations um and we're trying to get all the
manufacturers on. So if you hear me Novalis, you hear me shonox, if you hear me, Rex, we want you on the training
hub. And the purpose is is that the VTI network always had to be a manual uh
check on the education because we all know that sometimes people don't
quite tell the full truth or maybe they tell more than the truth. Um and it's
just a way that mistakes we have Yeah, mistakes uh as well been the ever
consumate uh um purveyor of like making sure that Paul doesn't go too far.
But the truth is is that a lot of the um a lot of these uh claims are
partially true or not all the way. The the bottom line is it was it's its foundation is a commitment to the
industry that we are going to verify every claim. The years of experience
claim, the the um work history, the
training, the certifications, we verify everything. Well, in a very analog kind
of world uh that training has been in, um it's it's phone calls and text
messages and emails trying to get somebody verified on a certain training.
The training hub solves that problem 100%. If the training entity
uh administers their curriculum across a training hub, your uh VTI is
automatically influenced. So that's why we built it was to help the network uh
you know have access and then also to uh kind of automate the um the verification
process and try to get it out of such a manual process. So that's why we built
it. That's why it exists. It works really slick. It also uh
allows for all trainings to be in one central hub uh which is our training hub
main page. No matter who the manufacturer or training entity is, they
are on that main page if they have a training hub. So, there's kind of one easy resource for uh installers to go to
and find trainings. So, that's kind of a a quick overview of
why we built it. Um, and I think most people who are starting to use it enjoy
it. Uh, we had also a lot of success with uh some of
our college programs. I think we, you know, certified or or the the training
hub had um passed or uh whatever they want to call it certified passed a
college program. I think there was 19 students or 18 students yesterday. So
that is going to continue to to massively build and we want to
have a few hundred coming out a month and then they'll go on to jumpstart where you all can hire them. So, that
being said, I want to open it up to Daniel and Jose real quick for any questions or comments around that, and
then we're going to turn it over to Ben to give us uh a little bit of an overview from his perspective. Ben is
the product owner of the training hub. So, a lot of the effort, a lot of the
gritty, dirty work behind the scenes that's had to happen for that to be uh launched and become uh you know, start
to be successful. Uh, Ben's been the driver of that, so I'm gonna have him
kind of tell you more. But first, YouTube, what kind of questions or insights?
I think just like a general comment is that I've gone through trainings where sometimes I'm looking and I'm like,
"Dude, I can't find my certificate." And then I get a hold of the manufacturer and they're like, "Oh, yeah. When did
you do this? What day was it? Who was your trainer?" And it's like, "Uh, I don't know." This dude remembers like
everything that he goes through. So mine like a steel trap. Me not so much. I have no idea. Don't know the dates.
Please just look up my name and send me a new one. Yeah. Well, it's the same thing though. Like
you try to try to locate everything. Like I know that me and Ben were emailing or texting
back and forth a little bit as far as like the history and I'm like I can't even find the file that's got all of our
searchs in it anymore. So I wanted to like attach all that. But um couldn't really do that. But I I found my stack
of uh the framed shirts behind me just with a couple of the ones that that we were talking about. But I don't even
know how relevant some of the older ones I have are anymore. So I mean it's experience. They're all relevant because you learned
and then went and applied and then you learned and went and applied. So they're all relevant. I would say um one quick
note is uh the number one reason that we
uh on a survey we ran way back in the go career days was are you certified or
industry trained? If not, why? That was the question. And the number one answer
was they don't know where to go. Like the number one answer is like I don't know. I didn't know there was any real
training or real education in flooring. Uh
the uh or they they just have no idea where to find it. And you would think, okay, flooring installation
uh training, Google it. Well, you're asking a lot. I think uh the the bottom
line is them not having a a kind of central located to go to get the
training was one issue. And then uh right to what you said, Daniel, we had a
uh I think I brought this up on the on the podcast before, but we had one of our guys that uh got a VTI and I tell
you what, he took a bunch of training. I won't name the entity, but they didn't have any record of it.
And he did have record of some of it. They had record of hardly any of it. He
had a really low rating. And you want to talk about a mad guy. Uh Ben took the
call, I think, so he could attest. But he was not happy that scenario. And so
the training hub really solves all that. And then the finger gets pointed at you, right? Like I'm giving you all this
stuff. And it's like just put put my you know make my VTI higher. And it's like
sorry man we got to make sure that this is legit first. Yeah. They were mad. He was mad at us.
And I was we were like well there's only so much we can do. If we can't verify
it, we can't verify it. And then you know you you try to be understanding to
uh everybody but at the end of the day it was it was very much clear that
something had to change. So we went and built it as trade tap does. We see a problem and we just kind of try to
attack it. It also supports the VTI and which is our main, you know, our main
kind of hub of what makes everything work. So it's uh it was necessary. Let
me just say that. And I have a question. Shoot. Uh can you guys hear me okay now?
Yeah, I think as long as you talk up, we can hear you just Yeah. Okay. I just wanted to make sure. So it like Daniel said about uh finding
the the history and going back with uh uh to a training or certification uh
program um in creating the VTI and the need for information. Has it helped
change the way um trainings uh and or any entity um stores
their information or tracks their information? Has it helped them become more
accountable, I guess, for for keeping that info?
Well, I think that uh Oh, yeah. So, the short answer is probably yes. I I think
the training of one of the things it does, it puts a real focus on training in a way that wasn't wasn't before in
our industry. And uh as people's uh training is out there, as as opportunities for training is out there,
you know, it's more visible, it's more public, everybody tries to make that part of their business better and uh and
more accurate when it happens. I think for sure especially our clients have gotten better and better and better
about uh you know being cognizant of their training content, their training availability and really wanting to make
sure that the people who uh take their training you know get credit for it and their VTI which is you know the pre
preeminent professional accreditation that's out there in our industry. So I think it does make a change uh it has
made a change that way and I and I think that you know a big part of the training hub is just really creating a culture of
training in the flooring industry and and making it where installers can
easily see the benefits and also gain access to the training that's important
to them. Yeah. And and just to tag on there, Jose, uh the answer like about tracking
who's trained and what what date they were trained and what training they took. Yes, that that they do because of
the training hub that is automatically stored. So from that front, it really
does the the job. And I wanted to respond to Rin. Rin it wasn't you.
Someone got way madder than you did for sure. Uh, so
Ben, you still with us? He looks frozen. Either that or he's really good at sitting still and looking to the right.
All right, so every once in a while we get uh internet issues where people freeze up. You guys know the drill.
Ben's back. Ben, I was just saying that yes, the training hub does track who took what training when and
yeah, I can hear you. The the date the date of the training and everything like that. So you it's
like a transcript for the installer to really track a resume, transcript, whatever you want to say, like a a
verified transcript uh that a college would receive from another college that
yes, this student took all these, you know, medical courses to be able to go
to med school or however that actually works. I acted like I know how med
school works, but you are a surgeon. Sometimes you got to just
you know, fake it till you make it. So, how about if I uh show some of this
work that we've done and I know that a lot more comments like this are going to keep coming up. Is that okay?
Yeah. Yeah. Let's uh let's get into that. Uh, Ben, real quick before you get into
that, can you tell me tell the audience kind of
what you saw at or what you've seen through building the training hub that
really like the this is a big deal for the industry kind of thing? What at what at
what point was it like, yeah, this is this is massive? Was it the college programs or was it kind of, you know,
just tracking everything or was it when you see the first class go off and the
students get rewarded? Like what what really made you think, "Yeah, I'm glad we we we invested the time and money.
All right. Looks like he's really So, you did kind of freeze up on me
there. Can Can you hear me? Yeah, we can hear you. You are you're struggling a bit.
I'm not sure. Laggy. You're a little laggy and and uh
struggling a bit there, but go ahead if you if you uh are ready.
So, you're asking me what really uh uh sort of made me realize how important it
was. made I wasn't sure exactly what you asked. Yeah. Like you know how you have a
hypothesis when we start building something and then something something comes to mind. Yes.
All right. I think along those lines, one is, you know,
I'm not sure if it's Yeah, we're good. You can just keep on talking if you want to. So, one of the things really learned
Yeah. So, one of the things I So, one of the things I really learned
about uh uh as as we got started on this is that it was hard for people to find
out how to get the training that they needed. and that, you know, especially our clients earlier on were really
working hard to share their share the training they had available and installers weren't always finding it.
And when we first got our calendar going, when we first started sharing um all the training that is available, it
started making a difference for me. And I think that uh it really is one of the main thing that's going to change the
industry is people realizing how much training is available and realizing that they can go and find it all in one
place. Yeah. So let's give them the URL
real quick maybe. So where we're going to go now is uh
traininghub.tradeap.com. tradeab.com.
So, this is the training hub landing page and you can uh you can see all of
our clients uh here and the training hubs that that we have up and live. I'm going to talk about it more in a minute,
but we got another one going live this week in Michigan. So, uh, that's kind of exciting. Um, you know, our first
training hub client was CFI, pre-minent trainer here in the flooring industry. And, uh, they have really been helping
us lead the way. They were a big part of the way we designed the training hub,
uh, and and designed the the the training hub in general. And, uh, we've really worked hard to integrate with
CFI. our our other training entity that has made a really big impact on the training hub is is NFCT and I think that
uh uh they're offering more and more training all the time. They they offer some unique training formats that nobody
else offers that makes it a kind of a unique special way to deliver training um in the flooring industry. And then
the other uh big partnership that I spend an awful lot of time on is with professional floor covering training
with PFT and with uh our community college partners. So you can see
you can see all those here. Um and you can you know click up here on the
calendar view and see training that is coming up. CFI's got a training going on today in Spanish Ford, Alabama on LVP uh
LVP1 certification. NFCT's got uh an ARX sub4 prep class coming up on the 19th.
More CFI training. Uh that's CFI CFI. And then you see one of our uh Belmont
College professional for covering training classes starting on December 14th. You can go on into the future and
you can start seeing stuff coming in on the 27th. Uh this is next March. I just
jumped to next March because there was a decent amount of activity there. Belmont College has a six week training that's
starting right there at the first of March. So, uh that's an example of the
kind of training and just one of the ways that you can find that you can find training on uh on the training hub. You
can go back here and then what I thought I would do if it's all right with you guys
is show you a little bit on the CFI training hub, show you some information on NFCTS and show you on Belmont. Uh
before we go there, so uh we have really started this uh kind of Ohio Midwest hub
for our uh for our college training program. Belmont in eastern Ohio.
Ashabulate Techch, Northeast Ohio. Community College of Beaver County in uh
Beaver County, Pennsylvania. The Career Center in Washington County, Ohio. And
then I'm pretty excited about this right here at home. Metropolitan Community College in Kansas City is going to offer
their very first floorcoming training I think starting January 11th. And then if
uh we were doing this next week, you would see uh another uh training hub entity right here, Jackson College uh
near you guys in near Grand Rapids, Michigan is going to offer their first training, I believe, next March. So uh
we're just building on this network over and over and over and I think you'll see it uh continuing to grow.
Hey Ben, in between there um talk a little bit about how Jumpstart uh which
comes out I think in the next week or so guys. Yes. Um how that ties into the college
programs. Yeah. So the whole college program is really built around recruiting new
people into the flooring installation career, giving them some additional training and then it is placing them and
uh our our sister software that works right together with the training hub is Jumpstart which is what Jumpstart
launched a while ago. We completely rebuilt it, reimagined it, redesigned it and we're relaunching it in November. Um
our next uh uh our next college class is going to be December 14th. It's going to
be all the way live for that. And so uh uh our employer partners who can uh
either retailers can buy a subscription to become an employer partner and open up their entire subcontractor network to
uh hiring on Jumpstart or installers can individually buy a subscription to Jumpstart. And with either one of those
subscriptions, you know, you can hire as many people as you want for the entire year. And for installers, it's 99. These
are intro prices that uh uh are going to temporary prices, but for installers,
you can hire as many people as you want to for an entire year for 99 bucks. And for retailers or commercial companies
that want to open up their network of installers to hire as many people as they want to on Jumpstart, it's $99 a
month. So that's what jumpst start is. It's free for people seeking jobs. So
what happens is, you know, people go out there, they take this training, they get their free jump start profile, people uh
hirers, employers can know peruse really I I think uh communicative, lots of
information profiles in Jumpstart offer a job right there on Jumpstart. The uh
the new installer can accept that job on Jumpstart. It gives us an opportunity to
track uh what our uh uh our employer success is and we're able to report back
to people that fund training on the training hub exactly what kind of job
opportunities there are. We can tell the people who fund the training, yeah, this person got hired for this amount of
money with this company. And over time we can also sort of track the progression of their career and really
give robust strong good information so that we continue to get uh job funds to
fund this uh you know to fund the training for people coming into the field. The next step in that is really
coming back and getting more training kind of like Paul said earlier. So, it's really uh uh a a process of getting some
training, getting a job, applying that training, and going back and getting some more training. And with this PFT
program, with this college program, we have an opportunity to get all of that training funded through job training
programs through uh through a federal government program that I'll show you here in just a minute when we get over into Belmont's training hub.
And is that something that has to be um you have to live in that area to do
that? It is really important that we continue to build out the geography for our
college program, right? So for example, people who go to Jackson College get training from there. They do need to
live in Michigan. Uh the same thing happens for uh uh you know in Ohio. Now,
you can hire, just to be clear, uh, Daniel, you could hire if somebody came
out of the training in Ohio and they're on the training hub or on the, uh, on
Jumpstart rather, and you have a Jumpstart subscription, you can hire
from anywhere. It's really they have to live in the state that the
program is at to get that program for free, right? because it's state funded, right?
Yeah, it well it's federally funded. It's called Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act. Those funds are
federal, but they're administered at a state level. So, each state, you know, gets the money that they get and they
they develop their own programs on how to uh you know, how to utilize it. But
flooring installation is a priority trade, a priority industry in WA. And so
it is uh uh there are always opportunities to get this initial training funded,
you know, right there by the federal government, administered by the state. So if you got any college age kids that
that uh uh live in Ohio or Michigan or Kansas City area, let them know about uh
the program. and get them on here so that they can uh get connected and get
that initial early training. 100%. And you know, you brought up relocation and that's that's exactly
right. And and on a on a on someone who's looking for a job, one of the uh
elements that's in their jump start profile is if they're open to relocation. You know, a lot of these people are, you
know, late teens, early 20s, and they are open to relocation, right? It's a time when you're kind of exploring and moving around. So, that's a big
opportunity. Um, Ben, uh, do you want to show us around a little bit?
Why don't I do that? So, I'm just going to click on over to CFI's training hub.
And, you know, here CFI controls all the messaging on this training hub. They
have been reworking it, moving it along. I think you'll see some pictures kind of sliding through here at some point. Uh,
talking about the overall benefit of CFI training. Um, and then they are adding
courses on the daily. So, here's uh, uh, a course that's happening right now. Uh,
another course coming up December 8th and 9th, December 10th, December 11th. They've got a lot of classes that are
coming up here in uh, the next few weeks. And I know that Marshall is hard to put
their 27 schedule up really soon. So, uh,
take a second to load here. So, here you can see a view of all the classes they loaded.
Just super quick. Ben, we're just loaded up. But I just wanted to say that
one of the you only need to remember one URL to get to all the trainings you
would see, and that's traininghub.tradeap.com.
It's up in the comments. Um, we will pop up the QR code periodically throughout
the deal as well. Click on that and go check it out. Send people to it. This is
uh, as Ben said, there's a lot of uh, momentum behind uh, getting training and
in in the skilled trades and specifically in flooring. So, there's great great opportunity one URL
traininghub.trade-en trade-tap.com. That's all you got to remember is you
can click on any one of these and uh go to the go to the specific training hub that's offering the class. You can click
on calendar view and on any of those classes that were up there. If you click on the class, it's going to take you
straight to straight to the training hub of the training entity that's offering it. So,
you know, here's a this uh two-day lamina class coming up.
uh what um December 8th and 9th. You can go
you can uh you can click buy now. You can
move straight into buying it. As soon as you as soon as you do pay for it, CFI
starts releasing uh information to you about the study guide. They'll share the study guide with you on the training
hub. And then on top of that, as the trainer, each trainer decides how to to
release the curriculum to you. So, you know, you do the pre-work before you get there. The training hub gives CFI this
opportunity really to let a lot of the classroom work get done ahead of time so
they have an opportunity to do more hands-on training um uh once you get
there. And I think they're going to be really maximizing those kinds of opportunities to get more efficient by
getting classroom work done ahead of time and having more hands-on skills,
hands-on training happening while people are are actually together. So, Ben, um could we just show them
around a few uh a few other little uh hubs? maybe show them one of the college
hubs and then let's uh as you show them that maybe even NFCTS would be a good
one to show and then um let's go to a college program next just to kind of give them a
flavor there and then we'll jump over to uh NFCT and then we can stop sharing
we'll finish uh with just discussing all this. That sounds good. So that's exactly the
order I wanted to go in. You know, again, all the messaging here is
controlled by the training entity. So, Belmont College has complete control over uh the messaging that's happening
here. You can click skip right down to register now. You can go over to Belmont's uh website here. It talks
about WA and the funding that's available. We talk about what's included in this
training, the value in the industry, what the career opportunities are, the
verified trade index. We talk about uh uh why Belmont College has a great value
proposition. And just to be clear, it's actually this is all Belmont. Like they did all this.
This is their training hub. This is it's just running across our technology. Um
but it is theirs. They decide what goes on this site, how it goes up. So all
these things that you see on here um are are done by Belmont. And the reason I
wanted to bring that up is just to show you how important they believe the VTI is. It's on their website. It's a
college that believes in the program of of being able to credentialize and help
the students get uh you know see a career path. And that's really what we're trying to create here with your
guys's help and participation and getting uh a subscription to
Jumpstart and hiring these guys when they come out of these college programs or you know going and uh influencing
your manufacturers like hey why aren't you on the training hub? Uh, I I want credit. If I'm going to spend a whole
day at at a distributor learning about how to uh do your self-level or your
your thin set or your grout or whatever, I'd like to have credit for that. So, encourage them that way because that
helps us when uh we're all kind of a team and pushing in the same direction.
Anyway, one thing I didn't mention yet about the college program and it's such a critical part of it is that the training is
actually actually uh implemented by CFI. So, it's CFI curricula that's being used
at each one of these colleges and uh uh CFI accredited trainers who are
implementing that training. So, it's CFI curriculum, CFI trainers. Elena Lagator
has been the number one trainer so far for the college programs and she is just
uh doing a fantastic job. She makes these really cool videos. Uh you should check this out sometime. I won't show it
right now, especially since maybe we're having some bandwidth issues, but uh come back, check this out. You'll see
it, you'll like it. Um there she is right there. So uh we're really happy that CFI is our partner uh uh
implementing this training. And you can see right here, you know, here's the partnership with professional floor
covering training with CFI, with Trade Tap, and then also with the college. And
these are the two primary trainings that we're offering on the college level. This uh we offer a few different
versions of this five-day training. Sometimes we teach with modules. The module training has uh LVP and it also
has carpet. And then we also are doing these uh remodel projects really where
we focus in on either LDP or on carpet. And uh we actually maybe remodel a
classroom, put a new flooring in a classroom or in a lab or in a church or in some other, you know, building that
can really need it. And and people get even more hands-on training when that happens. And they also get uh uh you
know, the community gets some benefit as well. And then the six week class is the
other primary class. and Belmont has one scheduled next March and Souvenville
High School. Each the the six week class is limited, I believe, to six people.
It's either six or eight. I think it's six people. And then the uh the uh five
day class is either somewhere between 8 and 12 people. So, you know, that's
a little bit of a uh process check here. Ben, could you go ahead and show
NAFFCTS? We um I want to give us some time to kind of chat about what all this
could mean for the industry and how we can band together to uh to help push
folks to getting I mean, we're making it available. We're making you get credit
where you're getting credit for your training. Um and so, you know, make go
ahead in the comments and tell us what else you'd like to see. But while that happens, Ben, show us the the next
training hub uh real quick. But one of the retraining hubs is you
can see how vastly different they all look. Each one of these entities is controlling the messaging, the
appearance. So, uh you can just see that they've chosen really different uh uh made really different design choices as
well. So, NFCT is uh uh put quite a few different courses on here. One of the
things I really like about them is they put a lot of video up here. And
right now they have uh the class that I really wanted to focus
in on is this substrate and subpour class. It applies to every kind of flooring. Uh you and there's that
good-looking guy who's going to explain to you how to sign up for this.
What's really cool about this class is you sign up, you pay your 200 bucks and then you uh go at your own pace uh and
you go through, I believe, eight modules of online training. You complete that. The training hub does it all for NFCT.
They they've already done all the work. So, it's going to grade your tests. It's going to let you know when you pass, and
then you go back and for no extra money, you go to an in-person class. And uh
then once you've done that, you get the substrate uh subfloor certification from NFCT and then you can
uh uh you know, you'll have that completed. Another one of their really important classes is the heat weld class
that I think Daniel does a lot of the training on. So uh that is what is going
on with NFC's training hub. I think that's enough of showing the training hubs themselves if that's all right with
you guys. Yep. It's pretty easy to navigate, too. So, I'm kind of navigating as you guys are
are talking and going through it and not difficult at all.
Yeah. Yeah. That's one of the things we tried real hard on and Ben was focused on a lot was making it as intuitive as
possible and kind of user friendly. So,
I will say that anybody who doesn't have a login credentials, it might find it a little bit difficult to find what you
were showing, but once I logged into to to my account, everything popped right up and it was all available. Super easy,
super super easy on the eye, super easy to scroll through, navigate. Like, it's
you guys could have made it simpler, man. So installers who might be afraid of going on there because of technology,
dude, no sweat. Don't worry about it. So, you know, that's a really important
Yeah, that's an important point that didn't show you, but you to training hub
and the hub. You can look at the classes. If you do not have a VTI, it's going to
give you a popup menu and say, "Hey, get your VTI and then you'll be able to look at the
details of this class." But just to make sure and handle all the admin side, we
can issue the certific when you complete it. We can sure you get credit on your VTI. You know, we got to make sure that
you have a VTI and that you're in our ecosystem. The power of the uh of the
entire thing is is being able to get there. you do that one time and it's going to prompt you if you need to do
that and walk you through the process of getting your BTI but if you haven't done that.
Yeah, the um I was just reading a a uh one of the
comments from uh Jose. He said, "Can someone build a successful
flooring career based primarily on their knowledge and craftsmanship or have
connections become just as important as a technical skill?" Well, I think
connections uh it depends on I'll take a quick stab at this. I would say that
connections depend on what you mean by that. um like the connections you make
because of you gaining the knowledge, meaning going to the trainings and such.
I think those connections are invaluable. The other connections are important, but
as far as like being connected and people knowing that you can do a job, that connection is what Trade Tap Pro
is. Uh that's what it's for. So connections are just as important, but
only if you're performing at the level that you should be and uh that you you
have the skill and ability to do the work. Um you know, it doesn't do much. I've seen really good relationships in
uh in in the construction industry in general uh be be
lost because somebody said they could do something they couldn't do. and uh you
know so yeah I agree connections are priceless but uh you got to have the
skill and ability to take advantage of them. I think that's probably the best way I could put that. That's my opinion
there. Jose.
All right. Are you guys still with me? Still here. Still here. Well, Jose, thanks for
jumping on the training hub and looking at that on your own accord because uh kind of living it and messing with it.
What we need is more training opportunities on there and we're working
daily. Uh one of the comments was get the NFCT and CF uh CTI on there and um
yeah, we are working on it. Uh I think N as uh the NTCA
um we've had a lot of conversations with them and we're really hoping that they will move uh to getting a train hub so
all of our tile uh you know installers on the VTI get that full credit for
their stuff in an easy manner. Now, just to be clear, you make a claim in our software that you took a course and they
they're not on the training hub, we will still go do the old way and verify
everything. We're just trying to move everything to the training hub to make
it automated. So the more manufacturers and training entities that are um you
know on there the more automated this uh scenario gets and the more
I think elegant is the easiest word to use uh the VTI becomes uh because you go
get a training and it's automatically considered on your VTI uh that that that
it's kind of magic when all that happens. So,
all right, Daniel, you so intrigued by by navigating through this right now. Just so you guys know,
it looks it looks so much, you know. Uh uh yeah,
in January we're going to have training in Kansas City. Uh uh more five-day
training in Elmont in March, at Jackson College in Michigan in March. And
I think one of the real opportunities we have is just to get more and more trainings on the training hub to make it
convenient both uh both from a time point of view and a location point of
view. And that is a real focus uh is is just to get as many training opportunities as as as we can to make it
work best for installers.
Yeah. And I think the hub becomes that main page you guys seen becomes so much more valuable when you're able to go
just, you know, go to a heat welding course, take a a uh
a floor prep course, take a carpet course, take a like an LVP course. like
when all of it when the more we have on there, I think the uh more valuable it
will continuously become to the to the installer to have a single place to go
to find whatever training from whoever they want to take the training from. Rollins said he's got a he says go trade
tab. He's got to get his BTI up some more. Doesn't he have like out of a scale of five like a 7.2 or something?
Yeah, he's an elite artist on multiple disciplines. And Daniel, you
might lose some of your certific
but uh certificates on the wall. Yeah.
Yeah. He he um I was going to say that to you earlier, Jose, when you like I found some. was like, "Well, if you
frame them and just hang them on your wall, you'll never lose them. You just got to frame them immediately
and put them up." We got a bunch on our walls right now,
too. But we uh like I said, it was hard to keep track of them throughout the years and sometimes they
get lost. Well, that's a common problem, right? I mean, most people don't do any don't do
that. they may put it in a file cabinet or something and then they forget where it's at and such. And the train hub just
keeps track of it. You can always go back and get it. Um like well then then that like I said earlier
at least you know when you got it probably who the trainer was. Yeah. And yeah,
I think that was some of the problem in the past too is some of the the trainings that we taken years ago that
you know, you just had to kind of renew or or they disappeared by then, but like you say, hey, I I I did get trained for
this. I did get certified. We don't have you listed. And then you're like, I'll send you a copy. And they're like, you
know what? Yep. We missed that one. That is such a common That is such a common response. And that's that's why
like uh what earlier when I was talking about the survey that the number one
reason number two reason was they the installer doesn't see how it benefits them like they're like we I don't get
any extra credit for it or anything. I don't make any more money for getting that training which I think is
shortsighted uh comment fair enough. But that was the result of that survey was
number two was it wasn't perceived as valuable after uh
I always use forbo training or nora like or protect all like yeah it's great when
you're doing that product but it doesn't serve me otherwise that's what
installers think right well in our system it does serve you otherwise you get credit for taking that and the the
impact that had on your skill and ability forever, you know. So,
forever it stays with you and just like uh Jose said, build your portfolio,
build it on Trade Tap through the VTI and um yeah, make let's make training
the number one, you know, effort for people and their crews this year. I
mean, we can make a big impact because of the influence and the um
I say influence I I a better word would probably be uh focus that the government
entities have on skilled labor right now. It's it's unbelievable. And a lot
of them uh a lot of the um really big companies have put money out too. There
was article not too long ago that I think it was um
uh it was one of the big seven uh tech companies had put a couple billion dollars towards skilled trade labor. Now
the reason they do that is they want to build more data centers and they need more electricians but there's overflow
from that. they make a program that we can all participate in and one of those being uh what funds most of the college
programs uh that that uh these colleges put on. So uh great opportunity for
everybody to go get trained. The uh one other um as we're coming towards the end
of the podcast I want to mention is I mean Synergy is like less what a week away. So uh yeah you know get down to
Chattanooga, hang out with us. We're going to shoot live uh there on Tuesday
as well. Um so we're still going to be shooting the huddle and um we're going
to be we'll have a booth there. Trade tap will. So come and see us at the booth, hang out with our ambassadors and
um you know get to know us a little bit and get to know the programs and how we can help you to not only get the
training but then apply that and make a a real living, a real income for yourself uh long term.
Yeah, I think with Synergy next week I'm going to get to maybe I'll get to be on the huddle two weeks in a row like hang
boys. You might not have a choice.
What did Roland say? My daughter told me uh years ago that
that's his college. That was my college. I always kept them. Yeah, I I agree. I mean, if you're not
going to a You have to look at that. You have to look at it that way, man. It's like that we're
like as a lot of people say like when I took my one of my training classes, he's like, "Who's been in it for five years?"
Everyone raised their hand. you're in it for life. So, start uh start treating it
like that. You know, I saw a comment earlier that that Rin made that said that that wall
of his closes sales. And I bet that's true. I bet it does. I bet you it does. No, I I think though that you know the
VTI, that's the whole idea behind it, right? It's like your virtual wall. So, you can use the VTI to close sales. For
sure. What I was going to say is I wanted to add to something that you said uh Paul about people saying that there there was
no value or wasn't worth it. It doesn't make them money. Um and you know to some extent that that might be true right
away right away. But however even if you go take a class tomorrow, you have a
certification. You put it on your wall. You advertise it. It might not catch traction right away and it might not
make you money in a year. It might not make you money in two years. However, in one year and two years, I guarantee you
that that training and that certification will save you money on
some of the tactics and the methods that you might have been implementing that aren't to standards that are incorrect
that you've always gotten small calls back which nickel and dime you to death. I will I I just like that's important to
any small business, especially if you're an individual installer with a couple uh guys working underneath you and you're
training them. The amount of money you save just by not having to go back and then do things over again is well worth
the training and the education that you get from from one from one. Yeah, good point.
I I agree with you 100%. That's kind of our hypothesis is okay, you go get a
training in say you got a um you know a
forbo training back in the day or you go get a protect all training today or Nora
the the skills you learn in some of those courses are not just applicable to
that product. Correct. And um so instead of saying I'm forbo
certified but I'm laying your your LVP from ger floor or something uh and it
seemingly not matter. It does it raises your ranking and that does matter. So
you showing yourself as a expert to a customer in a given discipline
because that's how you get it. So I agree with you. It not only helps you with those, you know, jobs that are
directly applied to the training you got, it also helps you, like you said,
those little nuggets you pick up on. And those little nuggets, we talk about it all the time that they're called nuggets
because they're little gold nug. They're just worth gold, man. They're little things that will save you a lot of times
on a project. 100% agree with all of that. and um one
training and one certification, right? It's just one. However, if if you go get that training and certification
in one discipline and like you said, it applies to more than just that specific product, the next one you do is going to
be a little bit easier to understand. It's going to be a little bit easier to get a higher score, a little bit easier
to walk through that. And next thing you know, you're helping you're helping people in the class. You're helping them
understand what you've already absorbed and implemented and that you know like D
your brother talks about that sometimes. Yeah, dude. Many small time make big time.
And then and then also what uh I think Jose had said it earlier too is about that portfolio and connections.
You build social capital when you take these classes whether it's online and in
person or just a hands-on at your local distributor. You're you're you're you're you're putting a face to a name. You're
meeting more people and you're increasing that social capital. Someone you might not have known before that you
can call on when you're in a bind or someone might call on you when they need help. And that's what creates that
brotherhood and that's what creates that uh the the industry connection. And that's why everyone says everyone's like
gets along, can't wait to this event so we can see each other. One year goes by really fast and you can't wait to learn
what your your friends have learned. You can't wait to hear what troubles that uh they found solutions for and and and
that all ties in with the hub and this thing is fantastic, dude. I'm just
kind of excited about the whole thing. And says that it can be that one training that makes you right. And then going
back to Jose's comment, too, and he he didn't say flooring installation, he just said flooring career, right? So,
it's more than just being on your hands and knees all day. It's what else can
you do in the industry. You know, you don't have to be an installer to go to these classes and learn how to do stuff.
It could absolutely help out salespeople. It could help out estimators. It could help everyone out.
It's not just for the installers only. Yeah. Never be afraid. Some of the
colleges are adding uh uh next early next year a two and a half day uh LVP
technical certificate. CFI is going to teach it and it's really for for non-installers, right? It's uh for
salespeople and others to really get an idea of what installers go through and help them support the installation
process better. Yeah, I think most uh people are starting to realize uh businesses that
their their moat or their key differentiator is going to be their installer network and their service. And
that starts at the salesperson a lot of times at the retailer to make sure that the retailer is, you know, the
salesperson there is properly selling things cuz it gets we get comments on
here all the time. you can see him on Facebook constantly uh about you know
the what the salesperson did to this guy or uh and of course we're only getting one view of it one side of the story but
it's a it's often this the story is that you know sold something that is
impossible to make right you know and I think that we all go to work
uh wanting to do a good job what we're doing here at trade tab for um for this
industry is giving you the tools, the educational tools, the learning tools, the digital tools that you need to go
and um you know increase your career, improve your career and then put the real tools to work which are your hands
or your mind. And in either case, like Daniel just said, these courses can help
you in both cases. So yeah, and that's Elena kind of says this too, right? No matter what your career
is, anything you learn above and beyond is valuable as long as you use it.
Yeah. The idea isn't just to train someone is to show them how to use training for success, right? Is this is how you
implement it in your business in order to become more successful. Great freaking comment, Elena.
Yeah. And you know, I might be a little biased on this right here too, but you know, as uh dealing with commercial
flooring and and and learning what Daniel and I have learned and still and still learning every day,
we as flooring installers, we read a lot more into a project. we have to read a
lot more into a project and understand a lot more that goes into reading specs and prints depending on what type of
flooring and how intricate the designs and patterns are which makes it easier for us to branch out into other parts of
the construction industry. So, if you you learn how to be efficient and
proficient as a flooring installer, whether it's installing uh combined with uh reading documents and prints, you
become very valuable to more than just our industry. So, I just want to throw that out there, too. And and a lot of
that does start with getting into some of these classes and training and and seeing how everyone else interprets uh
what they're learning and how they apply it. Yeah, just getting involved is a big
deal because like you said, you never know what doors are going to open up. The key is go get that training, baby.
Like get involved, get trained. Um, you know what I'm saying? like it's it's
important that we all uh as an industry I I forget who said it so I won't I I
don't know who to give credit to on this but essentially when the baby boomers
decided that my kids going to college they're not going in the trades and then Gen Xers kind of did the same we we lost
two years or two generations of the dad passing that skill that flooring
skill or that carpentry skill or that electric uh electrician knowledge onto
their their child or their son or daughter and then them getting in the trade because, you know, we we thought
we want we did want them to have a better life, but the point is is that it doesn't always turn out that way. using
your hands and working with your hands and completing work. There's a lot of pleasure that comes in knocking it out
of the park on a project. Yes, sir. Yeah.
All right. Well, guys, thanks for joining us today. Uh sorry everybody for a little bit of, you know,
sketchy technical difficulties here and there. We Yeah, Ben, you got to up your internet
game, man. Yeah, you can't be messing up. That's my
That's mine. I'm technical difficulty.
Uh last on that, Jose. You humble yourself down and let someone
uh tell you how it should be done. That's a senior certifier.
A senior CI certifier. I did that for Jorge. Um all right. So everybody, thank
you so much for joining us today. Thanks, Ben, for jumping on and presenting uh what the training hub kind
of looks like, giving a feel. Again, remember, you got one place you can go. We're going to have others coming on uh
throughout the year. Uh if you talk to your sales rep, tell them to get get with their folks and get their trainings
on training hub where it automatically gives you credit on your VTI. That is uh
that is our show for the day, as they say. I want to thank everybody for all the comments. Uh that was that was
awesome. And uh Elena, I I might put yours as comment of the day. That was really well stated and uh super uh like
right on the button. So uh if you catch us on Facebook or YouTube, whatever the
platform, please give us a like and subscribe. Please share our content and
pass it on and come see us at uh at Synergy. If you catch, if you're going
down to TSP, uh, go say hi to Romero. He is, uh, he is going to be down there.
He's a Trade Tap ambassador on the Tile side. Uh, go say hi to him and, uh, ask
him about, uh, getting involved with Trade Tap as well and getting your VTI started. So, anything else, last
comments from anybody before we say goodbye? Many small time, make big time.
Make big time. I love it. That's it, Ben.
Thanks a lot for having me. Look forward to next time. Awesome, guys. All right, we will see
you guys next week. You know where? Tuesday. 3 p.m. Central,
400 PM Eastern. You can do the math. We'll catch you guys later. Adios.
