December 4, 2025 • 41 mins
This week, Trent and Patrick sit down with Chad Abernethy—CEO of Abernethy Contracting and YPO member—to unpack nearly a century of family grit. From a 1926 lumber village in NoDa to rebuilding the business from the ground up, Chad shares the work ethic, leadership lessons, and tough decisions that shaped his path. They talk legacy, the next generation in construction, and what leading differently looks like today.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning, and welcome to that home with Roby, Patrick
Kaac from Roby Commercial in Services Line and Trend Hasten
from the Roby family of Companies. We are your host, Trent.
What's up, Pat?
Speaker 2 (00:10):
How was your Thanksgiving? We hadn't had Thanksgiving yet? How
are you doing trick yet? You know there's no secret
one and we're trying to be more efficient.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
So back in the day when we were on, we
were on Sunday mornings. That's when we did our show.
Every Sunday morning came on. I would like to set
you up with events had not occurred when we were.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
I was always concerned God help us, that the world
would end or something, and then I would be a liar.
I'd be like, lies who won the football? I'm Patrick,
We're not playing games on here at Homie. You want
to be Nostra Domas. I remember when I was a
kid and you hear all this people talk about Nostra domas.
(00:52):
I'm like, oh my gosh, year two thousand y two,
k yeah, nah, I came and went, it came and went. Yeah.
So the computers all didn't break down either. They had
twenty twenty on cod Locke though, I'm pretty sure. They don't.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Don't think they called that one twenty twenty COVID.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
They created it. What are you talking about? They call it?
They did it? Is the maker did it? Goodness, Grace,
what are you talking about? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Knox is here.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
We uh just our second show today. I brought four knots.
We talked about them last show with Will Jones.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
I shoved them off to the conference there terrorizing this
office the moment.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
There's no doubt in my mind. Let uh give me
John Body, get a handful of them boys. You're gonna
be on John Boy and Billy tomorrow morning. Yeah, exactly.
And I don't understand you. We just ate seventy five
dollars lunch at Gee's and they're hungry. Now, I don't
get it. What were they eating back there? I don't know, man, Like,
(01:55):
is that a fig Newton? I saw? I told what
they're eating? Many they do anymore? I don't know. Scarlett
out of school to.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Switch, no man, So Mecknburg is just getting school until
her last ay is today, and so then they're going
to She's going to a movie with a friend tonight
and then we get to go Brave the Charlotte airport
tomorrow morning. Oh yeah, to go up to Indiana, which
would be cool. So we're gonna go through the farm
Indiana on the farm with the in laws, and then
we're gonna pack up head up to Indianapolis for the
(02:25):
Indianapolis Pacers basketball game.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Reggie Miller playing.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
I don't think he's around.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
He might be retired.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
I think Tyrese Halliburn is their best player. Wow, keep
up with it like I used to.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Are you gonna go rabbit hounting? I hope so. Isn't
that's something you do? I hope. So I've never rabbit hunted.
I've been really.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Practicing when they went at my clay shoots when the
rabbit rabbit, but course comes on, I'm terrible, really working
at that one. It's all about the follow through, man,
It's all about the follow through.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Goodness, I know what I'm talking about. I have some
hunting coming up.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
We got ah.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
I'm gonna go to uh duck Bottom, duck Bottom. I'm
doing that hunt, some hunting, some quail, and then I'm
going to Buchanan Shores. Jason Kayker check his show out
came on our show about a year and a half ago.
Runs that place, great place, doing some quail honting there,
and then I'm gonna go down to Arkansas, uh with
(03:20):
with some of my boys, been Brent Beson, We're gonna
go hunt uh hunt duck down to Stuttgart. I hear you,
I mean gott it like I'm a hunter. You are,
you are fond of the foul, my friend, don't listen, listen,
just you gotta eat it, baby, you gotta. Yeah, it's
that's part of the rule of the of the rabbit hunt.
When we go an Indian like with before the dogs
(03:41):
get released, who is cleaning the rabbit? Who's taking him home?
That's well, I got a duck hunt. I didn't grow
up hunting. I grew up digging ditches, uh and riding
in the dunk train. But I mean they have similarities.
But the first time I ever went to Stutgart, Brent
Beeson took me. This must have been ten years ago.
And that's the if you don't if you if you
(04:03):
hunt duck, you know Arkansas and Stutguard is some special place.
So I was all excited. I get there. I don't
know what I'm doing. We get up at we stay
up till two. We get up at four eat breakfast.
I'm freezing. It's like thirty four degrees. It's all dark.
I'm trying to put on my waiters and get gee.
I don't know where to go. I go stand by
the truck. I get in the back of the truck.
(04:23):
Dogs barking, slobbering all over me. Riding twenty miles an
hour in the back of a truck. This is awesome.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Get get Get Get, get get gay.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
I'm like, what am I doing? Why do I do
this with these guys. I get in this little boat
in the walk through the woods, carry, you know, help
carry some stuff, my gun, walk through the woods, getting
this boat on the water. Get get there. I don't
know what to do. They go set out the decoys,
get on this bench and I'm standing there and I
don't know what I'm doing. And then they're like, okay
when they come around, you know, and wait till they
(04:53):
get right here in the opening, and then we're gonna shoot.
I'm like, okay, they come around and get out and open.
I shoot. I shoot early. Everybody like, what are you doing?
You scared them? I'm like, didn't realize. I thought I
was doing what y'all told me. To do so, uh
so I didn't shoot anymore. I don't need to get
yelled at. Ducks fly over, bam, bam bam. I got one.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
I got one.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
I'm like, I got one too. Shoot a blank out
in the sky. That's my duck. Honey.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
I'm laughing at you because I get this. I understand
what you're dealing with here when you're the one that
doesn't like grew up, did not grow up hunting. I
lost a shoe one time. I told you about that.
My my my father, and I was like, where's your shoe?
It's like stuck in the mud over there.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
That's pretty fun. It's like, how did you do that?
I was like, I don't know. Well, and then you're
and then I'm standing there cold the whole time, like whoa,
I'm gonna be here all day. And then about eight
eight o'clock or in the morning. This is in the morning,
they're like, all right, boys, let's round them up. We
gotta go. So what did you do.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
From eight am until the rest of the day.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
You hang out with the guys at a really nice lodge.
And I can only imagine he got card games and
pool tables and shuffleboard tables and a bunch of fireplaces
and a lot of wood, and so so I get
you know, we're there about three or four days. I
get done. I asked. I asked Brent. I was like,
is duck hunting just a ploy to go hang out
(06:23):
with your buddies and burn firewood. He's like, oh, yeah,
I don't. Just don't tell everybody our secret.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Great, okay, please, So maybe Brent won't listen to this show.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
It might be all right. Brent said he wants to
come back on it. He needs to come back on
the ship.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Yeah, we need to.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
We need to catch up bent back anyway, having bring
David Greer.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
We'll do it. We'll do a combo. Yeah, the old
BW fiberglass boys, yep, spools of fiberglass dealing with tariffs,
all them boys dealing with terror. We're gonna ask. We're
gonna ask mister Abernathy if he's been a acted by terror,
something we hadn't really talked about on the show. We
actually talked about, honestly, but in my business groups, in
(07:06):
my forum group, and in YPO, and I'm sure y'all
talk about a lot. In EO we talked terroriffs, AI
not as much on the terrorists as AI. I feel like.
I mean, Ai, we talk about.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Quite a bit, but uh, the terrorists have come up,
but not not as much as you would think.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Well, the terrorists have not directly affected our business directly,
I mean indirectly. I mean, you know, stuff is inflated,
but we were so burnt three four years ago on inflation.
I mean a little bit of inflation. Is you rolling
with the punches on me? It's like one two hoo hoo.
But Ai, you know, we talk about it. We're trying
(07:45):
to embrace it as a construction company. H And I
told my wife, I was like, you know, if I
wasn't in YPO and EO, you're you're an EO Entrepreneuralization
and David and Vistage. If we didn't have these peer
groups that were outside or industry, we wouldn't even be
thinking about a YI. I mean, I wonder if the
Remodeling Association is talking about it.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
I one would think they have to be. It's affecting
everything at this point in a positive way. It's a
good enhancement. I mean, we were talking about working up
quick budgets and plans for clients. I mean, you can
do it in a matter of seconds. And if you
don't know what AI is, this artificial intelligence.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
There you go.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
See it's hey, no one's tapped the battle Trent, but
you're right, everybody's using it.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
One point. My dentist is using AI.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
I went and got X ray's the other day and
we had a little I was like, that little purple
dot on the X ray that that's probably not good, right,
And she's like, oh, that's AI. It picked up something
on your tooth that the dentist will need to look
at it. I'm like, damn, are you serious really? And
it was it was like I had like a little
gap in the back of the back tooth and it
read the X ray and kind of indicated that it
(08:54):
could be a problem.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
I said, you've only fallen seven percent of the time,
like last appointment, So hey, I's got them.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Hey, I is on you on to you?
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Well anyway, I'm glad we're embraced. I'm glad that up
peers are talking about it. But as good to great
and break through companies two books we really like and
our businesses built off of you got to embrace technology
and use it as a tool, which you can't get
lost in it and think it's the savior to your
business because at the end of the day, you still
got to fundamentally do your business and what you came
(09:24):
to do. So uh, all right, well here we go.
We got Chad Abernathy. Uh we kind of know of
each other from around the way from a long time ago,
I think. But uh, Chad is a newer YPO and
we've rekindled. Now we building a friendship and I can't
wait to hear about Abernathy Contracting when we come back
on at Home with Ruby show.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
Don't forget Ruby Services is your one stop source for
all your electrical heating, cooling, plumbing and handyman needs. Keep
it easy and get it all done by one Ruby
servicesnow dot com. That's Ruby servicesnow dot com. Welcome back
to at Home with Ruby. I'm Patrick mc isaac from
Ruby Commercial in Services line with Trent Hayston from the
Ruby Family of Companies. Trent, we got Chad Abernathy in
(10:05):
the house, Abernatty Contracting telling us the way he's.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
In the same world as us.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Well, he knows the game. He's in those a game
comes in here wearing a golf shirt, palmetto bluff.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
I dressed up for you today. He did a new
pair of pants and a new Shirt's got a dirty
best pro hat. Hold. Well, welcome, appreciate you having me.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Yeah, man, Well, uh, we were talking about this sum
during the break. Uh, but maybe we had interacted some
but I guess it was about a year ago. We
were at a banking event, clay shooting, and you came
up and said hello and introduced yourself.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
Well, you hear the Hasten name for for years and years,
and obviously the Ruby name over Charlotte, and you know
goes back to our grandfather's our best friends, and that's crazy.
At some point, I'm gonna I've got to know who
these hasting boys are.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
He and we just beginning, right, that's what it's about.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
Talk about that, y'all two are talking at the break.
I don't I don't recall this with at the region
event here in this story, but this is incredible. Your
grandfather and his grandfather, Yep, we're best friends. Literally his
best friend, and so it would be like, okay, that's
pretty wild. North Side did y'all.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Go to North Side?
Speaker 3 (11:21):
Doors were open? We were there, amen, And I think
a lot of people that didn't you know, maybe don't
even know me and Trent if they if they knew
how and Glenn like those were two good men. They
were like, you know, we one thing we talk about
a lot through our leadership is you know we're we
kind of are standing on the shoulders of giants, right
(11:43):
And and I'll stick my hand up and say that's
that's for sure the case on my end. And we
look at it as, hey, we we better not screw
up what hol and my dad Tommy started fifty years ago.
We've you know, we better not screw that up. So
but but Glenn, I mean those were those were.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Two and you look, you look you resemble with your
grandfather very well.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
It was a good looking guy.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Well you are good looking. I'm I'm a little mini
version of my granddad. I'm feisty like my granddad. But
he was you know, six four sixty five.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
Fella, how how how old would your grandfather even do
you have any how O would he be?
Speaker 3 (12:23):
Now Glenn was a little bit older than how so
how passed in fifteen? I think he was eighty? How
would be about ninety three ninety four?
Speaker 2 (12:34):
Right? Yes, granddad passed an O five twenty five years
twenty years ago, and he was seventy six. He'd be
ninety six, okay about right ago, yep, and he worked
in the business. He came down Uh never said this
on the on the radio. He came down with stomach cancer.
Uh in the spring of five and it took him
pretty quick. But he was pretty healthy fella up until then.
(12:59):
Who knows how long he would have which is the
story of so many I mean, cancer is such a
bad thing, but you know, Uh, but he was still
coming to the office.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
I was.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
I was telling Chad during the break. Uh. He used
to take me golfing every Monday with with a lot
of his North Side buddies. And Uh, I would complain
to my dad because if I went and spent six
hours golf and I'd have to work six hours longer
at night. You can't do my stuff. I mean, this
is when I was working twenty four hours a day
(13:30):
and my dead's his son or some things you just
got to do and it's part of life. And and
I'm so blessed that I got to do that, and
honestly blessed that my grandfather wanted to take me, yeah,
with his with his buddies. But he run a hard bargain.
He wanted me to hit the ball hard and straight.
You talking about learn of God.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
I remember, I remember how talking about how good a
golfer Glenn was, and where where did y'all play?
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Where was Lee? Would go everywhere? He was not a
member of a country club or anything. They would go
wherever they got a good discount.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Uh, yeah, we've been doing this show for almost ten years.
I've known you for fifteen years, and I did not
I worked worked with you for fifteen years. I had
no idea Glen was like a good golfer.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
I knew that y'all golf, but I didn't know that
he was so good and he learned.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
He was acquired, you know, he didn't grow up God
and digging ditches.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
You know, evidently that translates to golf pretty well. My
granddad would run a hard bargain.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
And one day I had a pee and uh, you know,
I'm out there in the middle of a golf course.
I said, Granddad, I got a restaurant? Where I go?
He said, my god son, Or's God made trees everywhere? Boy,
what's the matter with you? But I know if I
would have went and just started urinating on a tree.
He just said, my god son, the bathrooms. So but anyway, great,
(14:50):
great memories and those those old school guys. So the
Abernathey name, I mean, I'm flattered you talk about hasting
relative to your family and then the road be named
the Abernathy name. I mean, y'all are tied to so much.
We're talking about Abernathy Lumber. I mean, tell us about
the history of your family.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
And so Abernathy and I tell this story and a
lot of the onboarding classes that we do with the
contracting side, and because I think it is important that
that tru all right, I know what and who we
are and that so Abernathy Lumber started in twenty six,
twenty six, and it definitely wasn't you know, and then
(15:30):
what it became later in life. But uh, you know,
my grandfather and I'll say, at one point, the Abernathy
Lumber side, the family, the business owned more acreage in
the Mecklenburg County than we're the largest landowner in Mecklenburg County.
(15:50):
Really back in the late thirties, like early thirties to
the the thirties, right, just all that stretch and when
when things got hard, you know, you'd cut the timber
off of it. You dumped the land for pennies on
the dollar. But you know who knew that if that
land position still held today, right it it'd be a
different story. But hey lord, you know it is what
(16:11):
it is. But it was, I mean down in the
Noda area today, you know, Averron Atthew Lumber was a
It was a village and millhouses for all the for
everybody that that worked in stores, company stores, for everybody.
I mean, it was a it would be an operation today.
(16:31):
And in seventy three is when my grandfather how realized
that that the family lumber company, no matter the scale,
it was going to change. Right you had eighty four
coming in that time. You had to home depot the lows,
the big boxes and for whatever reason, and thank god
(16:54):
he did, like he realized that, wow, this is not
going to be sustainable.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
He had.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
I guess at that point his father was still in it,
and three brothers, if I'm getting that right, two other brothers.
I mean, there were there was a there.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
They were they second generation or third generation.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
They would have been second, they would have been second.
Then there was a third generation.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Coming did did Abernathy Lumber Millet's own lumber. Oh, yes,
so they cut the trees, turning, turning in the wood.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Oh godable wood on the on the wood cut, it slid,
it milled it every I mean everything, and uh. Out
in front of our office today, we've got the original
steam engine that powered.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Dude, I gotta come see this.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
Yeah, when we had it redone and in I mean
it it ran the it ran the plant. I mean
that as big as this room. And uh, I mean
that things. It would have been cool to see. We've
got a we've got a you know, quote unquote security
guard that lives on our property now and not necessarily
(18:05):
for security, but just to have somebody always there, right,
And he swept the floors of the lumber yard really
and watched that machine run and just just to hear
the stories. And that's so cool. Back in the day,
that'd be neat.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
What tradition sounds like? Very similar to Leroy, right, And
I'm thinking, yeah, same thing. Our third employee in nineteen
fifty passed away a couple of years ago. But I
mean he rolled all with my granddad, rolled all with
my dad, roll raised me and my brother. Basically how
it went, and.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
There's a lot of I spent some time. His name
is Bill, and a couple Sundays ago, Sunday afternoon, I
was at my desk and Bill came in and just
sat with me, and he told me some old stories
that like I don't even know if my dad has
ever heard, and stuff that blew my mind about just
Bill unloading on what all went on around the lumber yard,
(18:56):
and you know, so thankful to have that's cool opportunity unities.
And I I thought to myself later on that day,
like I've got to write that stuff down or it
doesn't maybe it doesn't get passed. Right. So, but in
seventy three he made a hard decision, a little bit
like I did years down the road. But he left
the family business and went out what we call today
(19:21):
integrading business with a little front end loader dump truck
and just started working for good people. Right, yes'm and
I don't know at what point our granddad's path crossed,
but I want to say at some point he either
cleared lots for Glenn and those guys. But you know,
(19:42):
and it was small, right, I mean it even up
through the nineties. We're talking about seven eight nine people.
But but the values from an honest day's work, for
an honest day's wage, treating people right, showing up when
you're gonna when you said you'd show up, like, all
of that never changed.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Yeah, it still doesn't.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
Yeah, and it still doesn't. Right, And now we've got
values that are on the walls and that we teach
and preach and lead by that wasn't there back then,
but it was in the hearts and in their minds,
and you know, so grateful to Maybe it wasn't beat
in me. Excuse me, it was beat in me. It
(20:26):
just we probably didn't know it was getting beat in us. Right,
So that was you know, that's kind of what put
hal Abernathy ink. We called it right in the grading
business in Charlotte and started a long really fifty something
years now. I know there's been lots of history we
(20:46):
can get into, but kind of set us on the
path where we are today.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Okay. And it's funny you say that, like you say
up until the nineties, started in the early seventies, seventy three,
and you said eight or nine, Peter with small business,
when mister Roby started our business nineteen fifty, you hit
my granddad, Hey, how or my granddad. It was two
guys doing siding, you know, and people just assume that
(21:12):
you are who you are seventy five years later you
were that all along, which is not the case. And
through our transitions of you know, my dad, my dad's
leadership and his brother there there for several decades and
now me and my brother and Patrick and these guys,
it's cool to see the different ledges of growth and adaptation.
(21:34):
So did you grow up working in that business?
Speaker 3 (21:36):
Oh? Yes, yeah, you're there all the time. I don't
know if I grew up not working in that business,
which you know, there's been lots of tough to work
through as I get later on in life, right, And
I think it's important for our kids at some point
to understand finding worth in work and all of that.
(21:58):
Like this, there's some dangerous games to be played there.
But you know what my dad, my grandfather, what they
did was instill a work ethic that probably tough to
find these days, right, And and you know, whether whether
it was set out with with the end goal of
(22:20):
being you know, I've I've said it before, to create
a monster or not. I mean, there was a big
period of my life where where I got my value
from the work I could produce, right, And there's been
a lot of healing and work through trying to understand
that and realize, no, that's not the case, Chad, that's
you know, you you've got to you've got to come
to grips with your with your worth and your value elsewhere.
(22:44):
But we we worked. I mean it was cutting wood
on saturdays too, you know, to to heat three or
four houses my grandfather, my uncle's oars. We heated with
a woodstove. If we were out of school. I mean
I was seven years old on the doser putting putting
pads on on grade.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
I was gonna ask you what you did, so you
wrote you worked equipment.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
Oh yes, I mean it.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
Was You could tell how much you loved it, you
just by how you're talking.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
Yeah, And you know, you hate that a lot of
kids will never get that opportunity to grow up that
way anymore. And and whether it was right, wrong, unsafe,
who knows. Right. We're still here today figuring it out.
But you know, you try to take your boys on
the job site, good luck, right, And you kind of
hate that because there was something special about summer break
(23:36):
getting up early, making sure that you were in the
truck before your dad got in the truck because may
or may not have been waiting on you and exactly
and uh, you know. I so there there's little things
that you know that we try to that we try
to recreate some of that today, whether it's getting involved
(23:58):
in this you know, some of the school systems, but
anything to I mean, we both are going to share
the same problem from a workforce problem. Not to take
us down this rabbit hole, but you know, we we've
got to get a younger generation interested in what we
do and building things and building Charlotte and and and
(24:18):
going out and changing the whether it's a structure right
or or it's the the earth man. There's there's something
really cool at the end of the day watching that change.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
I agree.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
I mean not only the young people, but females. I mean,
we were women and ladies in this business. You know,
it's always kind of been a guy's game. But I
mean some of the best field people we've had have
been been women.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
And and we and if you look around the rest
of the world, we are way behind in bringing women
and ladies into the workforce. They figured it out. I
mean across all the other parts, especially from the construction stand.
I don't know, you know, that's a that's a long conversation,
(25:02):
but there is nothing. I mean, we need to encourage that,
and there's a great spot for that to occur.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
You said something earlier, you said it was ingrained in
the culture of the company, and I mean it was
passed along by action really and then now in the
modern day, as we try to grow our business, we
have it on the walls, We have our mission statements,
we have pictures of my granddad, mister Roby. You know, uh,
they never did any of that, you know what I'm saying.
They had a box of pencils work be honest.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
So so do we think that's is that a workforce evolving?
Is that you know, we don't want to accept that
that's us softening, right, No.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
I think as we're trying to do better and we're
trying to be more blatant about.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
What we want to be, that's right. And I think
and in order to lead an organization or workforce today,
we have to lead differently than than they did and
we worked for so I mean, you know, the Hastings
were twenty five percent of Aangel Ruby you know when
I was coming up, Now the Hastings are, you know,
(26:13):
one percent of.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
Angel Ruby or the Roby family of company. So, uh,
we got to other people weren't raised in the same
house we were raised in on the job site. So
I think we just got to be more blatant than
about it. But uh so who so you said it
was how abernathy How abernathy grading did in ink is
what it went by?
Speaker 3 (26:33):
Yep?
Speaker 2 (26:33):
And and how give give us the evolution to where
you are today? And who's into business? And how did
y'all evolve?
Speaker 3 (26:39):
Now that that's a that's a good one. So so
so hang on. Uh, you know I normally have a
graph So what we're going to do without a graph today?
Speaker 2 (26:48):
That's funny? We got the graph board here, Mark is
a pad right there.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
Yeah, hang on. So you know, obviously grew up in
the business and graduate in two thousand and five. I
had my heart set on on going to school. Actually
wanted to go to West Point and uh and really,
you know, my one of my first tough lessons was
not putting all the eggs in one basket. And I
had a really bad injury. Uh, junior year of football,
(27:16):
that that expelled any of that possibility. Yeah, I got
a reconstructed me. I mean it's in high school. In
high school, yeah, yep. It happened again my senior year.
And at that point, it was kind.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Of out and where'd you go to high school?
Speaker 3 (27:31):
Northside Christian or Monday through Friday? So you know, so
at that point, you know, and my dad was in
both parents, but but my dad always said, he said, Chad,
you know, the business will always be here for you.
(27:52):
You know, go and you come out of there and
you and I specifically remember him saying multiple times like
you can name your price right and and at that point,
and I didn't know what that meant. I've got at
least one, if I know one right now that works
for me that came out of West Point and just
just an incredible human being, right, I mean they thank
him for his service, but he's he's an incredible dude.
(28:14):
And so it makes a little bit more sense today.
But so when that happened, I said, well listen, I'm
I know what the family business is about. I've I've
obviously got the fire. I enjoy it, and I wanted
to wanted to to take it.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
Over and.
Speaker 3 (28:34):
I think that was always the plan. So I came
out in two thousand and five out of high school,
went to school at night at CP for civil engineering.
Figured that was a good thing to do. You know,
School of Hard Knocks is probably a better school these days.
But yeah, got a little bit of education and went
straight to work. Two thousand and five, two thousand and
(28:55):
six was fantastic. Two thousand and seven, the rest of
the world was getting a little squarely, Charlotte. We were still, yeah,
we were rocking. We were still in our little bubble.
And you know, by the time end of eight came nine,
things got really tough. And and you know, one of
(29:17):
the sayings that my grandfather said, I don't know how
many times was he said it, I'd rather be rested
and hungry than tired and hungry. And if you think
about that now, like that's an incredible, incredible mentality where
you know, the company had no debt, we didn't have
big equipment payments, we didn't have this overhead like they
(29:38):
were positioned to ride out the storm whatever that looked like.
Here I was twenty twenty one years old and just
wanting to go. I watched these other big grade outfits
along around here, explode, you know, buy all the new
equipment what I thought, do the cool jobs. And it
all came from a place of ego, right, which there's
(30:00):
a there's a good lesson.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
We all had. I coming out of college in two thousand,
same thing. I want to grow, Go go, go grow.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
It's amazing. And uh so, you know those were a
you know eight end of eight, nine and ten, those
were tough years and we we lived it so we
can talk about it. And at the end of twenty ten,
a rainy December, I had I, I guess, came over
(30:27):
to my dad's house, my parents house, and in the
basement I told him I was going to leave the
family business. And I was burnt out on the chase.
You know, there there were nights that by that point,
you know, we were estimating, you know, I was trying
to project manage it. Really had a good grip on
the bulk of the business. You know, at that age,
(30:49):
I never't really understood a balance sheet and all that.
But you know, but from the from the business operations
kind of understood it.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
You understood in a micro business that you worked and
you managed it and.
Speaker 3 (31:01):
Yeah, every single day, right, Yeah, and we we had
a tough project down in Valentine off Community House Road,
and and it was a wet winter and I just
it just burnt me. I was just done. I had
I had started helping a smaller paving company in Monroe
some that was doing all of our paving, helping them
do some of the estimating and just you know, really
(31:25):
learn the asphalt hardscape side of the business. And for
whatever reason, you know, I was, I was making some
other bone headed decisions in my life at the time
outside of work. And you know, me and my dad's
relationship was not where it should have been at the time,
you know, rightfully, so my fault. Right he was being
(31:45):
a father as well as a boss the best he could.
And uh so I left. And at that point, you know,
it was just my dad in the in the family business.
That was it. My grandfather was still there. But you know,
I had a few key guys the point the family business,
probably ten twelve people. We've grown a little bit, maybe fifteen.
(32:06):
And you know, I think about it now, I never
I never have and I'm going to do it. But
I never really put myself in my dad situation at
that point, right, I mean for twenty something years, twenty
one years, twenty two years. He raised three sons and
at least one of them for sure right to take
(32:29):
over the family business. And now there that wasn't there.
So you know something I've got to revisit. But just
an incredible I'm lucky to have the mental space now
to go back and tight and digest that. Twenty ten
came I I was with smaller paving company Monroe. Learned asphalt,
(32:49):
learned how to pave fantastic, learn the business, learned all
about it, learned how to set stone, mill everything. And
by twenty twelve we had grown that business a little
bit and there were some things going on that I
was not going to be a part of, and I
left and a partner and I started Barton Contracting really yep,
(33:10):
and so we were Barting for twenty twelve to twenty
twenty two. Jump back to the family business is where
I need my marker. Right. By twenty twelve up through eighteen,
both of my brothers had come back in the business. Wow,
one you know through through the family business, and you know,
(33:33):
life happened kind of both to them. One was going
to fire academy. That wasn't going to work out. One
moved Florida to Talladay Christian School, you know, started a business,
sold it, brought his family back to Charlotte. My dad
needed the project management kind of back end help. My
middle brother is a genius and jump back in the business.
And I got to watch, you know, specifically from twenty
(33:58):
eighteen to twenty twenty two, those guys run a good, small,
profitable business. And I'm and and at the time right
at Barton. In twenty fifteen, we were the third fastest
growing business in Charlotte.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
I remember that that's not a.
Speaker 3 (34:17):
Good thing from the from the heavy civils like that.
You don't want to do that.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
You need to eat elephant time.
Speaker 3 (34:25):
That's right. Yeah, and and and so twenty fifteen came
and went, and that was probably the top for us.
I mean, we we went from zero to one hundred
and thirty five people in ten years, zero to forty
five million top line plus no proper systems, no right leadership,
(34:47):
I mean, and it was a circus. And I and
and I've got some fantastic people that are still with
me today, thank god. They hung on through there. But
all we knew was bid work, build work, build work,
right and just rense and repeat, and we worked our
asses off, but you know, there just wasn't looking back now,
(35:09):
mad I mean, did I let some people down over
that time from just maybe trying to do right, But
you can't grow without all that support, right, And by
the end of twenty two, excuse me, by the end
of twenty one and early into twenty two, I realized
something had to change in a big way at Barton
(35:31):
and either you know, and I don't say this lightly,
either something was going to change or I don't know
if we would be here today just given our burn
and the jobs not getting any better, our clients getting
worse just overall, and the family business and myself at
(35:53):
Barton had a We both had real estate transactions happening
where both our shops had sold apartments. Imagine that, right,
It's going to become apartments. So you know, we both
of us were going to be forced to relocate. And
my dad was sitting on about seven acres in the
heart of Nodah. Wow, fantastic opportunity there, you know for
(36:15):
Charlotte folks. YEP had a lunch with the ten thirty
one broker early January of twenty twenty two, and I
left that lunch realizing that that over the past few
years I'd watched my brothers build and refine a fifty
(36:36):
year old business, that it's really incredible. I mean just
they were doing great things. And then I had myself
and my partner over here in one hundred and thirty
other people, and we were struggling. I mean we were struggling.
And later on that night, for some reason, I do
my best thinking in the shower. I don't know why
(36:56):
I got some of that, and I said, you know what,
if if now's ever a time to put this thing
back together, it's now. I mean we there's there's two
massive transactions that are going to happen. We you know,
we've got tax plays, we need all of these different things.
And I went to work on it the next day.
Speaker 2 (37:17):
A uh.
Speaker 3 (37:19):
I had ate lunch with my my middle brother Kyle
that next day. First thing out of you know, out
of my mouth. We sat down and I pitched my
plan in three minutes and he laughed. Really he said
absolutely not. He said, you know, listen, we we appreciate
you know, I appreciate it, you know, coming from him,
(37:41):
and and and it's just it was David and Goliath.
It was a fantastic culture, well run business to a
big ugly machine, right, and and so I left lunch
and a little bit deflated. Uh. Later that night he
called and said, you know what we need to talk
about it.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
Dang, you planted the seed.
Speaker 3 (38:01):
Planned the seed, and we we set off January fifteenth
of twenty twenty two, as as you know, one being
hal Abernathy Contracting at that time just DBA right from
a tax standpoint in Barton Contracting. And on one one
of twenty three we opened up his Abernathty contract and
(38:23):
we set out to create a mission statement. We put
values in place, we started putting a leadership team to place,
We started putting the right people on the bus. And
it has been incredible. Like you turn a big ship
around too quick, you're gonna break the joker in half. Right,
we've turned we've we've turned that ship around, and we're
(38:44):
not out of the woods. And I mean there's there's
obviously by out debt and all of that, that's this
kind of an albatross. But but we're handling it and
a plan for it and all of that right as
part of business at some point. But man, watching our
people grow and and we fired a bunch of clients.
You know, we work for a handful of good people,
and you know, it's it's relationships partnerships for us. We're
(39:08):
not going to work for somebody if they don't culturally
align with us. I'm just not gonna do what I
care about. And you know, there's somebody for everybody. We're
just we're just not the one for everybody. But it's
been so three years now, coming up on three years.
Speaker 2 (39:24):
It's January weeks.
Speaker 3 (39:28):
Been a lot of been a lot of one.
Speaker 2 (39:30):
So who is it. It's you, your two brothers, and
your dad still in the build.
Speaker 3 (39:35):
No, retired, my dad retired, Your dad and my dad
works harder than he's ever worked now. Just he's got
a got a salt of his house. Got I mean
he kept a low boy, a trackloader, a Mini X,
a skid steer. But he's not he's not involved in
the business at all. He's just he's kind of like
that guiding light.
Speaker 1 (39:52):
Cheering from the sidelines.
Speaker 2 (39:53):
Huh, he's proud.
Speaker 3 (39:54):
I think he's cheering now. I think there was a
little bit of what he thought we were crazy.
Speaker 2 (39:58):
Yeah, he thought he was lit and that as the
our elders are, Uh, well, enjoy your dad. And I
lost my dad this this December betweenty thirty eleven years
and I lived beside him.
Speaker 3 (40:11):
What a great story.
Speaker 2 (40:12):
I think we got to have him back because you
were talking about something out in the hallway that you
know y'all y'all are looking at. I'm gonna leave that
as a teaser. We'll have you back. We'll do around two.
But uh, I'm gonna put you on the spot, Chad.
What is one thing I mean, man, it's so many
business isms in there. I mean, you got to listen
to this show a couple of times. I need to
listen to us like reading a new book. Uh, but
(40:35):
what is one thing you live by both business and
personal that kind of integrates the philosophies that you like?
Speaker 3 (40:41):
Yeah, puh put put people first. For for for ten
or twelve years building a business, building a building a business,
it was never about the people. And I think anybody
that knows me is going to understand, like, I want
to run and lead a people first business.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
Amen.
Speaker 3 (40:56):
And there's that's not always easy because you can't be
a charity. And you you know, if you don't make money,
you're not going to be there to care for your people.
But if you can make decisions that put a lot
of your people first and truly care for people. One
of our values is love your neighbor. If you can
go love, love the person you work beside every day,
and even the people in the community that we work with,
(41:18):
and some of the people aren't so lovable, right Yeah, sure, yeah,
you're you've got something.
Speaker 2 (41:22):
That's it.
Speaker 3 (41:23):
That's it for me.
Speaker 2 (41:24):
Well that's wonderful, Chad, thanks for being here. We'll have
you back. I mean it was, it was awesome. I
can't wait to get to know you even more and more.
And through YPO, I do everything there is to do
in YPO Southern seven. So I'm gonna be around, Uh
Chad Abernathy Abernathy contrary and in partnership with his two brothers.
(41:44):
Get that right, and uh go do the Golden rule today.
Treat others the way you want to be treated, even
when it's not easy, and carry a smile around on
your face because you don't know who needs it. Thanks
for listening to add home with Ruby
Good morning, and welcome to that home with Roby, Patrick
Kaac from Roby Commercial in Services Line and Trend Hasten
from the Roby family of Companies. We are your host, Trent.
What's up, Pat?
Speaker 2 (00:10):
How was your Thanksgiving? We hadn't had Thanksgiving yet? How
are you doing trick yet? You know there's no secret
one and we're trying to be more efficient.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
So back in the day when we were on, we
were on Sunday mornings. That's when we did our show.
Every Sunday morning came on. I would like to set
you up with events had not occurred when we were.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
I was always concerned God help us, that the world
would end or something, and then I would be a liar.
I'd be like, lies who won the football? I'm Patrick,
We're not playing games on here at Homie. You want
to be Nostra Domas. I remember when I was a
kid and you hear all this people talk about Nostra domas.
(00:52):
I'm like, oh my gosh, year two thousand y two,
k yeah, nah, I came and went, it came and went. Yeah.
So the computers all didn't break down either. They had
twenty twenty on cod Locke though, I'm pretty sure. They don't.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Don't think they called that one twenty twenty COVID.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
They created it. What are you talking about? They call it?
They did it? Is the maker did it? Goodness, Grace,
what are you talking about? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Knox is here.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
We uh just our second show today. I brought four knots.
We talked about them last show with Will Jones.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
I shoved them off to the conference there terrorizing this
office the moment.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
There's no doubt in my mind. Let uh give me
John Body, get a handful of them boys. You're gonna
be on John Boy and Billy tomorrow morning. Yeah, exactly.
And I don't understand you. We just ate seventy five
dollars lunch at Gee's and they're hungry. Now, I don't
get it. What were they eating back there? I don't know, man, Like,
(01:55):
is that a fig Newton? I saw? I told what
they're eating? Many they do anymore? I don't know. Scarlett
out of school to.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Switch, no man, So Mecknburg is just getting school until
her last ay is today, and so then they're going
to She's going to a movie with a friend tonight
and then we get to go Brave the Charlotte airport
tomorrow morning. Oh yeah, to go up to Indiana, which
would be cool. So we're gonna go through the farm
Indiana on the farm with the in laws, and then
we're gonna pack up head up to Indianapolis for the
(02:25):
Indianapolis Pacers basketball game.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Reggie Miller playing.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
I don't think he's around.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
He might be retired.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
I think Tyrese Halliburn is their best player. Wow, keep
up with it like I used to.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Are you gonna go rabbit hounting? I hope so. Isn't
that's something you do? I hope. So I've never rabbit hunted.
I've been really.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Practicing when they went at my clay shoots when the
rabbit rabbit, but course comes on, I'm terrible, really working
at that one. It's all about the follow through, man,
It's all about the follow through.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Goodness, I know what I'm talking about. I have some
hunting coming up.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
We got ah.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
I'm gonna go to uh duck Bottom, duck Bottom. I'm
doing that hunt, some hunting, some quail, and then I'm
going to Buchanan Shores. Jason Kayker check his show out
came on our show about a year and a half ago.
Runs that place, great place, doing some quail honting there,
and then I'm gonna go down to Arkansas, uh with
(03:20):
with some of my boys, been Brent Beson, We're gonna
go hunt uh hunt duck down to Stuttgart. I hear you,
I mean gott it like I'm a hunter. You are,
you are fond of the foul, my friend, don't listen, listen,
just you gotta eat it, baby, you gotta. Yeah, it's
that's part of the rule of the of the rabbit hunt.
When we go an Indian like with before the dogs
(03:41):
get released, who is cleaning the rabbit? Who's taking him home?
That's well, I got a duck hunt. I didn't grow
up hunting. I grew up digging ditches, uh and riding
in the dunk train. But I mean they have similarities.
But the first time I ever went to Stutgart, Brent
Beeson took me. This must have been ten years ago.
And that's the if you don't if you if you
(04:03):
hunt duck, you know Arkansas and Stutguard is some special place.
So I was all excited. I get there. I don't
know what I'm doing. We get up at we stay
up till two. We get up at four eat breakfast.
I'm freezing. It's like thirty four degrees. It's all dark.
I'm trying to put on my waiters and get gee.
I don't know where to go. I go stand by
the truck. I get in the back of the truck.
(04:23):
Dogs barking, slobbering all over me. Riding twenty miles an
hour in the back of a truck. This is awesome.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Get get Get Get, get get gay.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
I'm like, what am I doing? Why do I do
this with these guys. I get in this little boat
in the walk through the woods, carry, you know, help
carry some stuff, my gun, walk through the woods, getting
this boat on the water. Get get there. I don't
know what to do. They go set out the decoys,
get on this bench and I'm standing there and I
don't know what I'm doing. And then they're like, okay
when they come around, you know, and wait till they
(04:53):
get right here in the opening, and then we're gonna shoot.
I'm like, okay, they come around and get out and open.
I shoot. I shoot early. Everybody like, what are you doing?
You scared them? I'm like, didn't realize. I thought I
was doing what y'all told me. To do so, uh
so I didn't shoot anymore. I don't need to get
yelled at. Ducks fly over, bam, bam bam. I got one.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
I got one.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
I'm like, I got one too. Shoot a blank out
in the sky. That's my duck. Honey.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
I'm laughing at you because I get this. I understand
what you're dealing with here when you're the one that
doesn't like grew up, did not grow up hunting. I
lost a shoe one time. I told you about that.
My my my father, and I was like, where's your shoe?
It's like stuck in the mud over there.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
That's pretty fun. It's like, how did you do that?
I was like, I don't know. Well, and then you're
and then I'm standing there cold the whole time, like whoa,
I'm gonna be here all day. And then about eight
eight o'clock or in the morning. This is in the morning,
they're like, all right, boys, let's round them up. We
gotta go. So what did you do.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
From eight am until the rest of the day.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
You hang out with the guys at a really nice lodge.
And I can only imagine he got card games and
pool tables and shuffleboard tables and a bunch of fireplaces
and a lot of wood, and so so I get
you know, we're there about three or four days. I
get done. I asked. I asked Brent. I was like,
is duck hunting just a ploy to go hang out
(06:23):
with your buddies and burn firewood. He's like, oh, yeah,
I don't. Just don't tell everybody our secret.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Great, okay, please, So maybe Brent won't listen to this show.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
It might be all right. Brent said he wants to
come back on it. He needs to come back on
the ship.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Yeah, we need to.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
We need to catch up bent back anyway, having bring
David Greer.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
We'll do it. We'll do a combo. Yeah, the old
BW fiberglass boys, yep, spools of fiberglass dealing with tariffs,
all them boys dealing with terror. We're gonna ask. We're
gonna ask mister Abernathy if he's been a acted by terror,
something we hadn't really talked about on the show. We
actually talked about, honestly, but in my business groups, in
(07:06):
my forum group, and in YPO, and I'm sure y'all
talk about a lot. In EO we talked terroriffs, AI
not as much on the terrorists as AI. I feel like.
I mean, Ai, we talk about.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Quite a bit, but uh, the terrorists have come up,
but not not as much as you would think.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Well, the terrorists have not directly affected our business directly,
I mean indirectly. I mean, you know, stuff is inflated,
but we were so burnt three four years ago on inflation.
I mean a little bit of inflation. Is you rolling
with the punches on me? It's like one two hoo hoo.
But Ai, you know, we talk about it. We're trying
(07:45):
to embrace it as a construction company. H And I
told my wife, I was like, you know, if I
wasn't in YPO and EO, you're you're an EO Entrepreneuralization
and David and Vistage. If we didn't have these peer
groups that were outside or industry, we wouldn't even be
thinking about a YI. I mean, I wonder if the
Remodeling Association is talking about it.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
I one would think they have to be. It's affecting
everything at this point in a positive way. It's a
good enhancement. I mean, we were talking about working up
quick budgets and plans for clients. I mean, you can
do it in a matter of seconds. And if you
don't know what AI is, this artificial intelligence.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
There you go.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
See it's hey, no one's tapped the battle Trent, but
you're right, everybody's using it.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
One point. My dentist is using AI.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
I went and got X ray's the other day and
we had a little I was like, that little purple
dot on the X ray that that's probably not good, right,
And she's like, oh, that's AI. It picked up something
on your tooth that the dentist will need to look
at it. I'm like, damn, are you serious really? And
it was it was like I had like a little
gap in the back of the back tooth and it
read the X ray and kind of indicated that it
(08:54):
could be a problem.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
I said, you've only fallen seven percent of the time,
like last appointment, So hey, I's got them.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Hey, I is on you on to you?
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Well anyway, I'm glad we're embraced. I'm glad that up
peers are talking about it. But as good to great
and break through companies two books we really like and
our businesses built off of you got to embrace technology
and use it as a tool, which you can't get
lost in it and think it's the savior to your
business because at the end of the day, you still
got to fundamentally do your business and what you came
(09:24):
to do. So uh, all right, well here we go.
We got Chad Abernathy. Uh we kind of know of
each other from around the way from a long time ago,
I think. But uh, Chad is a newer YPO and
we've rekindled. Now we building a friendship and I can't
wait to hear about Abernathy Contracting when we come back
on at Home with Ruby show.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
Don't forget Ruby Services is your one stop source for
all your electrical heating, cooling, plumbing and handyman needs. Keep
it easy and get it all done by one Ruby
servicesnow dot com. That's Ruby servicesnow dot com. Welcome back
to at Home with Ruby. I'm Patrick mc isaac from
Ruby Commercial in Services line with Trent Hayston from the
Ruby Family of Companies. Trent, we got Chad Abernathy in
(10:05):
the house, Abernatty Contracting telling us the way he's.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
In the same world as us.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Well, he knows the game. He's in those a game
comes in here wearing a golf shirt, palmetto bluff.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
I dressed up for you today. He did a new
pair of pants and a new Shirt's got a dirty
best pro hat. Hold. Well, welcome, appreciate you having me.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Yeah, man, Well, uh, we were talking about this sum
during the break. Uh, but maybe we had interacted some
but I guess it was about a year ago. We
were at a banking event, clay shooting, and you came
up and said hello and introduced yourself.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
Well, you hear the Hasten name for for years and years,
and obviously the Ruby name over Charlotte, and you know
goes back to our grandfather's our best friends, and that's crazy.
At some point, I'm gonna I've got to know who
these hasting boys are.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
He and we just beginning, right, that's what it's about.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
Talk about that, y'all two are talking at the break.
I don't I don't recall this with at the region
event here in this story, but this is incredible. Your
grandfather and his grandfather, Yep, we're best friends. Literally his
best friend, and so it would be like, okay, that's
pretty wild. North Side did y'all.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Go to North Side?
Speaker 3 (11:21):
Doors were open? We were there, amen, And I think
a lot of people that didn't you know, maybe don't
even know me and Trent if they if they knew
how and Glenn like those were two good men. They
were like, you know, we one thing we talk about
a lot through our leadership is you know we're we
kind of are standing on the shoulders of giants, right
(11:43):
And and I'll stick my hand up and say that's
that's for sure the case on my end. And we
look at it as, hey, we we better not screw
up what hol and my dad Tommy started fifty years ago.
We've you know, we better not screw that up. So
but but Glenn, I mean those were those were.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Two and you look, you look you resemble with your
grandfather very well.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
It was a good looking guy.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Well you are good looking. I'm I'm a little mini
version of my granddad. I'm feisty like my granddad. But
he was you know, six four sixty five.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
Fella, how how how old would your grandfather even do
you have any how O would he be?
Speaker 3 (12:23):
Now Glenn was a little bit older than how so
how passed in fifteen? I think he was eighty? How
would be about ninety three ninety four?
Speaker 2 (12:34):
Right? Yes, granddad passed an O five twenty five years
twenty years ago, and he was seventy six. He'd be
ninety six, okay about right ago, yep, and he worked
in the business. He came down Uh never said this
on the on the radio. He came down with stomach cancer.
Uh in the spring of five and it took him
pretty quick. But he was pretty healthy fella up until then.
(12:59):
Who knows how long he would have which is the
story of so many I mean, cancer is such a
bad thing, but you know, Uh, but he was still
coming to the office.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
I was.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
I was telling Chad during the break. Uh. He used
to take me golfing every Monday with with a lot
of his North Side buddies. And Uh, I would complain
to my dad because if I went and spent six
hours golf and I'd have to work six hours longer
at night. You can't do my stuff. I mean, this
is when I was working twenty four hours a day
(13:30):
and my dead's his son or some things you just
got to do and it's part of life. And and
I'm so blessed that I got to do that, and
honestly blessed that my grandfather wanted to take me, yeah,
with his with his buddies. But he run a hard bargain.
He wanted me to hit the ball hard and straight.
You talking about learn of God.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
I remember, I remember how talking about how good a
golfer Glenn was, and where where did y'all play?
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Where was Lee? Would go everywhere? He was not a
member of a country club or anything. They would go
wherever they got a good discount.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Uh, yeah, we've been doing this show for almost ten years.
I've known you for fifteen years, and I did not
I worked worked with you for fifteen years. I had
no idea Glen was like a good golfer.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
I knew that y'all golf, but I didn't know that
he was so good and he learned.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
He was acquired, you know, he didn't grow up God
and digging ditches.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
You know, evidently that translates to golf pretty well. My
granddad would run a hard bargain.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
And one day I had a pee and uh, you know,
I'm out there in the middle of a golf course.
I said, Granddad, I got a restaurant? Where I go?
He said, my god son, Or's God made trees everywhere? Boy,
what's the matter with you? But I know if I
would have went and just started urinating on a tree.
He just said, my god son, the bathrooms. So but anyway, great,
(14:50):
great memories and those those old school guys. So the
Abernathey name, I mean, I'm flattered you talk about hasting
relative to your family and then the road be named
the Abernathy name. I mean, y'all are tied to so much.
We're talking about Abernathy Lumber. I mean, tell us about
the history of your family.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
And so Abernathy and I tell this story and a
lot of the onboarding classes that we do with the
contracting side, and because I think it is important that
that tru all right, I know what and who we
are and that so Abernathy Lumber started in twenty six,
twenty six, and it definitely wasn't you know, and then
(15:30):
what it became later in life. But uh, you know,
my grandfather and I'll say, at one point, the Abernathy
Lumber side, the family, the business owned more acreage in
the Mecklenburg County than we're the largest landowner in Mecklenburg County.
(15:50):
Really back in the late thirties, like early thirties to
the the thirties, right, just all that stretch and when
when things got hard, you know, you'd cut the timber
off of it. You dumped the land for pennies on
the dollar. But you know who knew that if that
land position still held today, right it it'd be a
different story. But hey lord, you know it is what
(16:11):
it is. But it was, I mean down in the
Noda area today, you know, Averron Atthew Lumber was a
It was a village and millhouses for all the for
everybody that that worked in stores, company stores, for everybody.
I mean, it was a it would be an operation today.
(16:31):
And in seventy three is when my grandfather how realized
that that the family lumber company, no matter the scale,
it was going to change. Right you had eighty four
coming in that time. You had to home depot the lows,
the big boxes and for whatever reason, and thank god
(16:54):
he did, like he realized that, wow, this is not
going to be sustainable.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
He had.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
I guess at that point his father was still in it,
and three brothers, if I'm getting that right, two other brothers.
I mean, there were there was a there.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
They were they second generation or third generation.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
They would have been second, they would have been second.
Then there was a third generation.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Coming did did Abernathy Lumber Millet's own lumber. Oh, yes,
so they cut the trees, turning, turning in the wood.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Oh godable wood on the on the wood cut, it slid,
it milled it every I mean everything, and uh. Out
in front of our office today, we've got the original
steam engine that powered.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Dude, I gotta come see this.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
Yeah, when we had it redone and in I mean
it it ran the it ran the plant. I mean
that as big as this room. And uh, I mean
that things. It would have been cool to see. We've
got a we've got a you know, quote unquote security
guard that lives on our property now and not necessarily
(18:05):
for security, but just to have somebody always there, right,
And he swept the floors of the lumber yard really
and watched that machine run and just just to hear
the stories. And that's so cool. Back in the day,
that'd be neat.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
What tradition sounds like? Very similar to Leroy, right, And
I'm thinking, yeah, same thing. Our third employee in nineteen
fifty passed away a couple of years ago. But I
mean he rolled all with my granddad, rolled all with
my dad, roll raised me and my brother. Basically how
it went, and.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
There's a lot of I spent some time. His name
is Bill, and a couple Sundays ago, Sunday afternoon, I
was at my desk and Bill came in and just
sat with me, and he told me some old stories
that like I don't even know if my dad has
ever heard, and stuff that blew my mind about just
Bill unloading on what all went on around the lumber yard,
(18:56):
and you know, so thankful to have that's cool opportunity unities.
And I I thought to myself later on that day,
like I've got to write that stuff down or it
doesn't maybe it doesn't get passed. Right. So, but in
seventy three he made a hard decision, a little bit
like I did years down the road. But he left
the family business and went out what we call today
(19:21):
integrading business with a little front end loader dump truck
and just started working for good people. Right, yes'm and
I don't know at what point our granddad's path crossed,
but I want to say at some point he either
cleared lots for Glenn and those guys. But you know,
(19:42):
and it was small, right, I mean it even up
through the nineties. We're talking about seven eight nine people.
But but the values from an honest day's work, for
an honest day's wage, treating people right, showing up when
you're gonna when you said you'd show up, like, all
of that never changed.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Yeah, it still doesn't.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
Yeah, and it still doesn't. Right, And now we've got
values that are on the walls and that we teach
and preach and lead by that wasn't there back then,
but it was in the hearts and in their minds,
and you know, so grateful to Maybe it wasn't beat
in me. Excuse me, it was beat in me. It
(20:26):
just we probably didn't know it was getting beat in us. Right,
So that was you know, that's kind of what put
hal Abernathy ink. We called it right in the grading
business in Charlotte and started a long really fifty something
years now. I know there's been lots of history we
(20:46):
can get into, but kind of set us on the
path where we are today.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Okay. And it's funny you say that, like you say
up until the nineties, started in the early seventies, seventy three,
and you said eight or nine, Peter with small business,
when mister Roby started our business nineteen fifty, you hit
my granddad, Hey, how or my granddad. It was two
guys doing siding, you know, and people just assume that
(21:12):
you are who you are seventy five years later you
were that all along, which is not the case. And
through our transitions of you know, my dad, my dad's
leadership and his brother there there for several decades and
now me and my brother and Patrick and these guys,
it's cool to see the different ledges of growth and adaptation.
(21:34):
So did you grow up working in that business?
Speaker 3 (21:36):
Oh? Yes, yeah, you're there all the time. I don't
know if I grew up not working in that business,
which you know, there's been lots of tough to work
through as I get later on in life, right, And
I think it's important for our kids at some point
to understand finding worth in work and all of that.
(21:58):
Like this, there's some dangerous games to be played there.
But you know what my dad, my grandfather, what they
did was instill a work ethic that probably tough to
find these days, right, And and you know, whether whether
it was set out with with the end goal of
(22:20):
being you know, I've I've said it before, to create
a monster or not. I mean, there was a big
period of my life where where I got my value
from the work I could produce, right, And there's been
a lot of healing and work through trying to understand
that and realize, no, that's not the case, Chad, that's
you know, you you've got to you've got to come
to grips with your with your worth and your value elsewhere.
(22:44):
But we we worked. I mean it was cutting wood
on saturdays too, you know, to to heat three or
four houses my grandfather, my uncle's oars. We heated with
a woodstove. If we were out of school. I mean
I was seven years old on the doser putting putting
pads on on grade.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
I was gonna ask you what you did, so you
wrote you worked equipment.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
Oh yes, I mean it.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
Was You could tell how much you loved it, you
just by how you're talking.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
Yeah, And you know, you hate that a lot of
kids will never get that opportunity to grow up that
way anymore. And and whether it was right, wrong, unsafe,
who knows. Right. We're still here today figuring it out.
But you know, you try to take your boys on
the job site, good luck, right, And you kind of
hate that because there was something special about summer break
(23:36):
getting up early, making sure that you were in the
truck before your dad got in the truck because may
or may not have been waiting on you and exactly
and uh, you know. I so there there's little things
that you know that we try to that we try
to recreate some of that today, whether it's getting involved
(23:58):
in this you know, some of the school systems, but
anything to I mean, we both are going to share
the same problem from a workforce problem. Not to take
us down this rabbit hole, but you know, we we've
got to get a younger generation interested in what we
do and building things and building Charlotte and and and
(24:18):
going out and changing the whether it's a structure right
or or it's the the earth man. There's there's something
really cool at the end of the day watching that change.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
I agree.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
I mean not only the young people, but females. I mean,
we were women and ladies in this business. You know,
it's always kind of been a guy's game. But I
mean some of the best field people we've had have
been been women.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
And and we and if you look around the rest
of the world, we are way behind in bringing women
and ladies into the workforce. They figured it out. I
mean across all the other parts, especially from the construction stand.
I don't know, you know, that's a that's a long conversation,
(25:02):
but there is nothing. I mean, we need to encourage that,
and there's a great spot for that to occur.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
You said something earlier, you said it was ingrained in
the culture of the company, and I mean it was
passed along by action really and then now in the
modern day, as we try to grow our business, we
have it on the walls, We have our mission statements,
we have pictures of my granddad, mister Roby. You know, uh,
they never did any of that, you know what I'm saying.
They had a box of pencils work be honest.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
So so do we think that's is that a workforce evolving?
Is that you know, we don't want to accept that
that's us softening, right, No.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
I think as we're trying to do better and we're
trying to be more blatant about.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
What we want to be, that's right. And I think
and in order to lead an organization or workforce today,
we have to lead differently than than they did and
we worked for so I mean, you know, the Hastings
were twenty five percent of Aangel Ruby you know when
I was coming up, Now the Hastings are, you know,
(26:13):
one percent of.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
Angel Ruby or the Roby family of company. So, uh,
we got to other people weren't raised in the same
house we were raised in on the job site. So
I think we just got to be more blatant than
about it. But uh so who so you said it
was how abernathy How abernathy grading did in ink is
what it went by?
Speaker 3 (26:33):
Yep?
Speaker 2 (26:33):
And and how give give us the evolution to where
you are today? And who's into business? And how did
y'all evolve?
Speaker 3 (26:39):
Now that that's a that's a good one. So so
so hang on. Uh, you know I normally have a
graph So what we're going to do without a graph today?
Speaker 2 (26:48):
That's funny? We got the graph board here, Mark is
a pad right there.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
Yeah, hang on. So you know, obviously grew up in
the business and graduate in two thousand and five. I
had my heart set on on going to school. Actually
wanted to go to West Point and uh and really,
you know, my one of my first tough lessons was
not putting all the eggs in one basket. And I
had a really bad injury. Uh, junior year of football,
(27:16):
that that expelled any of that possibility. Yeah, I got
a reconstructed me. I mean it's in high school. In
high school, yeah, yep. It happened again my senior year.
And at that point, it was kind.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Of out and where'd you go to high school?
Speaker 3 (27:31):
Northside Christian or Monday through Friday? So you know, so
at that point, you know, and my dad was in
both parents, but but my dad always said, he said, Chad,
you know, the business will always be here for you.
(27:52):
You know, go and you come out of there and
you and I specifically remember him saying multiple times like
you can name your price right and and at that point,
and I didn't know what that meant. I've got at
least one, if I know one right now that works
for me that came out of West Point and just
just an incredible human being, right, I mean they thank
him for his service, but he's he's an incredible dude.
(28:14):
And so it makes a little bit more sense today.
But so when that happened, I said, well listen, I'm
I know what the family business is about. I've I've
obviously got the fire. I enjoy it, and I wanted
to wanted to to take it.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
Over and.
Speaker 3 (28:34):
I think that was always the plan. So I came
out in two thousand and five out of high school,
went to school at night at CP for civil engineering.
Figured that was a good thing to do. You know,
School of Hard Knocks is probably a better school these days.
But yeah, got a little bit of education and went
straight to work. Two thousand and five, two thousand and
(28:55):
six was fantastic. Two thousand and seven, the rest of
the world was getting a little squarely, Charlotte. We were still, yeah,
we were rocking. We were still in our little bubble.
And you know, by the time end of eight came nine,
things got really tough. And and you know, one of
(29:17):
the sayings that my grandfather said, I don't know how
many times was he said it, I'd rather be rested
and hungry than tired and hungry. And if you think
about that now, like that's an incredible, incredible mentality where
you know, the company had no debt, we didn't have
big equipment payments, we didn't have this overhead like they
(29:38):
were positioned to ride out the storm whatever that looked like.
Here I was twenty twenty one years old and just
wanting to go. I watched these other big grade outfits
along around here, explode, you know, buy all the new
equipment what I thought, do the cool jobs. And it
all came from a place of ego, right, which there's
(30:00):
a there's a good lesson.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
We all had. I coming out of college in two thousand,
same thing. I want to grow, Go go, go grow.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
It's amazing. And uh so, you know those were a
you know eight end of eight, nine and ten, those
were tough years and we we lived it so we
can talk about it. And at the end of twenty ten,
a rainy December, I had I, I guess, came over
(30:27):
to my dad's house, my parents house, and in the
basement I told him I was going to leave the
family business. And I was burnt out on the chase.
You know, there there were nights that by that point,
you know, we were estimating, you know, I was trying
to project manage it. Really had a good grip on
the bulk of the business. You know, at that age,
(30:49):
I never't really understood a balance sheet and all that.
But you know, but from the from the business operations
kind of understood it.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
You understood in a micro business that you worked and
you managed it and.
Speaker 3 (31:01):
Yeah, every single day, right, Yeah, and we we had
a tough project down in Valentine off Community House Road,
and and it was a wet winter and I just
it just burnt me. I was just done. I had
I had started helping a smaller paving company in Monroe
some that was doing all of our paving, helping them
do some of the estimating and just you know, really
(31:25):
learn the asphalt hardscape side of the business. And for
whatever reason, you know, I was, I was making some
other bone headed decisions in my life at the time
outside of work. And you know, me and my dad's
relationship was not where it should have been at the time,
you know, rightfully, so my fault. Right he was being
(31:45):
a father as well as a boss the best he could.
And uh so I left. And at that point, you know,
it was just my dad in the in the family business.
That was it. My grandfather was still there. But you know,
I had a few key guys the point the family business,
probably ten twelve people. We've grown a little bit, maybe fifteen.
(32:06):
And you know, I think about it now, I never
I never have and I'm going to do it. But
I never really put myself in my dad situation at
that point, right, I mean for twenty something years, twenty
one years, twenty two years. He raised three sons and
at least one of them for sure right to take
(32:29):
over the family business. And now there that wasn't there.
So you know something I've got to revisit. But just
an incredible I'm lucky to have the mental space now
to go back and tight and digest that. Twenty ten
came I I was with smaller paving company Monroe. Learned asphalt,
(32:49):
learned how to pave fantastic, learn the business, learned all
about it, learned how to set stone, mill everything. And
by twenty twelve we had grown that business a little
bit and there were some things going on that I
was not going to be a part of, and I
left and a partner and I started Barton Contracting really yep,
(33:10):
and so we were Barting for twenty twelve to twenty
twenty two. Jump back to the family business is where
I need my marker. Right. By twenty twelve up through eighteen,
both of my brothers had come back in the business. Wow,
one you know through through the family business, and you know,
(33:33):
life happened kind of both to them. One was going
to fire academy. That wasn't going to work out. One
moved Florida to Talladay Christian School, you know, started a business,
sold it, brought his family back to Charlotte. My dad
needed the project management kind of back end help. My
middle brother is a genius and jump back in the business.
And I got to watch, you know, specifically from twenty
(33:58):
eighteen to twenty twenty two, those guys run a good, small,
profitable business. And I'm and and at the time right
at Barton. In twenty fifteen, we were the third fastest
growing business in Charlotte.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
I remember that that's not a.
Speaker 3 (34:17):
Good thing from the from the heavy civils like that.
You don't want to do that.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
You need to eat elephant time.
Speaker 3 (34:25):
That's right. Yeah, and and and so twenty fifteen came
and went, and that was probably the top for us.
I mean, we we went from zero to one hundred
and thirty five people in ten years, zero to forty
five million top line plus no proper systems, no right leadership,
(34:47):
I mean, and it was a circus. And I and
and I've got some fantastic people that are still with
me today, thank god. They hung on through there. But
all we knew was bid work, build work, build work,
right and just rense and repeat, and we worked our
asses off, but you know, there just wasn't looking back now,
(35:09):
mad I mean, did I let some people down over
that time from just maybe trying to do right, But
you can't grow without all that support, right, And by
the end of twenty two, excuse me, by the end
of twenty one and early into twenty two, I realized
something had to change in a big way at Barton
(35:31):
and either you know, and I don't say this lightly,
either something was going to change or I don't know
if we would be here today just given our burn
and the jobs not getting any better, our clients getting
worse just overall, and the family business and myself at
(35:53):
Barton had a We both had real estate transactions happening
where both our shops had sold apartments. Imagine that, right,
It's going to become apartments. So you know, we both
of us were going to be forced to relocate. And
my dad was sitting on about seven acres in the
heart of Nodah. Wow, fantastic opportunity there, you know for
(36:15):
Charlotte folks. YEP had a lunch with the ten thirty
one broker early January of twenty twenty two, and I
left that lunch realizing that that over the past few
years I'd watched my brothers build and refine a fifty
(36:36):
year old business, that it's really incredible. I mean just
they were doing great things. And then I had myself
and my partner over here in one hundred and thirty
other people, and we were struggling. I mean we were struggling.
And later on that night, for some reason, I do
my best thinking in the shower. I don't know why
(36:56):
I got some of that, and I said, you know what,
if if now's ever a time to put this thing
back together, it's now. I mean we there's there's two
massive transactions that are going to happen. We you know,
we've got tax plays, we need all of these different things.
And I went to work on it the next day.
Speaker 2 (37:17):
A uh.
Speaker 3 (37:19):
I had ate lunch with my my middle brother Kyle
that next day. First thing out of you know, out
of my mouth. We sat down and I pitched my
plan in three minutes and he laughed. Really he said
absolutely not. He said, you know, listen, we we appreciate
you know, I appreciate it, you know, coming from him,
(37:41):
and and and it's just it was David and Goliath.
It was a fantastic culture, well run business to a
big ugly machine, right, and and so I left lunch
and a little bit deflated. Uh. Later that night he
called and said, you know what we need to talk
about it.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
Dang, you planted the seed.
Speaker 3 (38:01):
Planned the seed, and we we set off January fifteenth
of twenty twenty two, as as you know, one being
hal Abernathy Contracting at that time just DBA right from
a tax standpoint in Barton Contracting. And on one one
of twenty three we opened up his Abernathty contract and
(38:23):
we set out to create a mission statement. We put
values in place, we started putting a leadership team to place,
We started putting the right people on the bus. And
it has been incredible. Like you turn a big ship
around too quick, you're gonna break the joker in half. Right,
we've turned we've we've turned that ship around, and we're
(38:44):
not out of the woods. And I mean there's there's
obviously by out debt and all of that, that's this
kind of an albatross. But but we're handling it and
a plan for it and all of that right as
part of business at some point. But man, watching our
people grow and and we fired a bunch of clients.
You know, we work for a handful of good people,
and you know, it's it's relationships partnerships for us. We're
(39:08):
not going to work for somebody if they don't culturally
align with us. I'm just not gonna do what I
care about. And you know, there's somebody for everybody. We're
just we're just not the one for everybody. But it's
been so three years now, coming up on three years.
Speaker 2 (39:24):
It's January weeks.
Speaker 3 (39:28):
Been a lot of been a lot of one.
Speaker 2 (39:30):
So who is it. It's you, your two brothers, and
your dad still in the build.
Speaker 3 (39:35):
No, retired, my dad retired, Your dad and my dad
works harder than he's ever worked now. Just he's got
a got a salt of his house. Got I mean
he kept a low boy, a trackloader, a Mini X,
a skid steer. But he's not he's not involved in
the business at all. He's just he's kind of like
that guiding light.
Speaker 1 (39:52):
Cheering from the sidelines.
Speaker 2 (39:53):
Huh, he's proud.
Speaker 3 (39:54):
I think he's cheering now. I think there was a
little bit of what he thought we were crazy.
Speaker 2 (39:58):
Yeah, he thought he was lit and that as the
our elders are, Uh, well, enjoy your dad. And I
lost my dad this this December betweenty thirty eleven years
and I lived beside him.
Speaker 3 (40:11):
What a great story.
Speaker 2 (40:12):
I think we got to have him back because you
were talking about something out in the hallway that you
know y'all y'all are looking at. I'm gonna leave that
as a teaser. We'll have you back. We'll do around two.
But uh, I'm gonna put you on the spot, Chad.
What is one thing I mean, man, it's so many
business isms in there. I mean, you got to listen
to this show a couple of times. I need to
listen to us like reading a new book. Uh, but
(40:35):
what is one thing you live by both business and
personal that kind of integrates the philosophies that you like?
Speaker 3 (40:41):
Yeah, puh put put people first. For for for ten
or twelve years building a business, building a building a business,
it was never about the people. And I think anybody
that knows me is going to understand, like, I want
to run and lead a people first business.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
Amen.
Speaker 3 (40:56):
And there's that's not always easy because you can't be
a charity. And you you know, if you don't make money,
you're not going to be there to care for your people.
But if you can make decisions that put a lot
of your people first and truly care for people. One
of our values is love your neighbor. If you can
go love, love the person you work beside every day,
and even the people in the community that we work with,
(41:18):
and some of the people aren't so lovable, right Yeah, sure, yeah,
you're you've got something.
Speaker 2 (41:22):
That's it.
Speaker 3 (41:23):
That's it for me.
Speaker 2 (41:24):
Well that's wonderful, Chad, thanks for being here. We'll have
you back. I mean it was, it was awesome. I
can't wait to get to know you even more and more.
And through YPO, I do everything there is to do
in YPO Southern seven. So I'm gonna be around, Uh
Chad Abernathy Abernathy contrary and in partnership with his two brothers.
(41:44):
Get that right, and uh go do the Golden rule today.
Treat others the way you want to be treated, even
when it's not easy, and carry a smile around on
your face because you don't know who needs it. Thanks
for listening to add home with Ruby
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