Ep. 64 - From HVAC to Excavation Boss - Blue Collar Business Podcast

Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_00 (00:09):
Hey guys, welcome to the Blue Collar Business Podcast
where we discuss the realest,rawest, most relevant stories
and strategies behind buildingevery corner of a blue-collar
business.
I'm your host, Cy Kirby, and Iwant to help you what it took
me, trial and error, and a wholelot of money to learn.
The information that no one inthis industry is willing to
share.
Whether you're under that shadetree or have your hard hat on,

(00:30):
let's expand your toolbox.
Hey guys, welcome back toanother episode of the Blue
Collar Business Podcast, broughtto you and sponsored today by
ThumbTack.
They have been helping out theshow and presenting sponsors of
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(00:50):
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(01:13):
session today.
Go visit them, guys.
Let them know you came from theBlue Collar Business Podcast.
And while you're searching theweb, drop over to our website,
show us some love at www.bluecollar businesspodcast.com.
Um, guys, I am very excitedabout our guest today.
Uh a guy after my own heart.

(01:34):
He's a YouTuber like myself.
He's one of those guys that uhyou call us weird ones.
You put yourself out there, butthis he didn't just put himself
out there.
He has truly put himself outthere.
I've dove off into his content,uh, vetted him myself.
This gentleman also has got hiswife right by his side, doing it

(01:55):
just like myself and Sarah, andhas been through the struggles
from just a little brief introwe've had together.
We have so many similarities.
Um I he's a co-owner of MMEarthworks, an excavation and
dirt work uh company based inIndiana, just about an hour
south of Indianapolis.
Shout out all you guys uh in thein the Hoosier state.

(02:18):
Runs the More Dirt YouTubechannel.
I've been a sub now for a coupleof months.
Um guys, check it out.
He's got some fantastic contentand some insight for you guys in
the one to literally startup tothree-year face.
Um, he's had 10 plus years ofthe the way he started doing

(02:38):
dirt work is such a uniquestory, and we've got to share
it.
Um, brother, I appreciate you somuch for joining me today.
None other than Cole Morse.
Thank you so much for beinghere, Bob.

SPEAKER_01 (02:49):
Thank you, but I appreciate the uh the intro and
the kind words.
And I you said co-owner, Amy andEarth works.
My wife wants me to co-owner,but I am the owner.
And I I'll be honest, here's thedeal.
So day one, being a human being,screw it up.
I'll just uh when I filed fromLSC, I'm like, oh, it'll be easy
just to switch it later if shewants to be vice president.
It's not that easy.
It's not easy.
None so that's day one, gettingmy EIN was like, I made a

(03:10):
mistake there.
So day one, mistake one, and youlearn, live and learn, keep
rolling.
But uh dude, I'm so pummed to behere.
I I love your stuff on TikTok.
I feel like we have commoninterests and a common goal to
help people uh get in in thisspace that feel like you know
all these guys are a killer attheir job in the blue cart
world, they're killer lead guys,but they don't feel like the
next step to ownership istangible.

(03:30):
And I'm telling you, if I can doit, dude, I'm telling you,
anybody can do it.
Anyone that has the the will andthe faith and the good or they
can do it.

SPEAKER_00 (03:38):
I completely agree with you, man.
I I there ain't nothing specialabout us.
We just decided not to give upover and over and over again,
and you know, screw up and failhere, and then learn from your
mistakes and move with that.
And but um, man, give us alittle bit uh where you come
from, uh, the dirt bike story.

(03:59):
You gotta tell that, and and howyou literally taught yourself
dirt work and earthwork and umkind of where you're from,
background and uh where you'reat today, and we'll kind of go
from there.

SPEAKER_01 (04:10):
Well, I'm uh originally from Bloomden,
Indiana.
I live just south of IndianaUniversity where I was born and
raised.
Um I mean, to be honest, man,motorcross, I've been riding
dirt bikes since I was four.
First super cross I've run to, Iwas three at the RCAW.
My mom and dad said I didn'twatch the bikes, I watched the
equipment.
So since I was a little bittykid, I mean, equipment was my
passion, just naturally mypassion.
So like growing up, naturallyriding dirt bikes, you know, my

(04:33):
we had a dirt bike truck at thehouse.
And when I got older, um, I goton big bikes.
I was racing a lot, you know,the 08 did and the housing
crisis hit.
Well, my dad owns a big owns,still does, I guess, a big HVAC
business.
And then times got tough.
He I had to fire all thoseemployees or lay all those
employees off.
He goes, Hey son, I know youhave a talent here.
You're obviously very, you know,you have a talent, but I can't
do both.

(04:54):
I can't run my business, pay foryou to go through school and
live and take you racing on theweekends.
But what I'll do is I will makesure you have a track the right
home so you keep icon yourscale.
Because at that point, I stillwanted to go pro at 1450.
I was like, oh, 17, I'll get mylicense and I'll I'll be a
privateer, I'll see whathappens.
But when that transitionhappened, he built my track.
I literally, I remember I was14, I think, or maybe 13, but I

(05:16):
had a graph taper and a ruler.
I drew out my own track.
And I actually emailed Dirtworkswho takes care of Supercross
Steel and asked someone forspecs of these jobs.
I wanted these specs.
And when I gave it to theexcavation crew that my dad was
working with to build my track,they were like, You sure?
I mean, I'm in eighth grade.
My dad's like, no, build it.
So they built me a track, and mygoal, my job was this is your

(05:37):
track, this is yourresponsibility to take care of
it.
So I got on my dad's L3830Kaboda with a box blade and a
bucket, and I taught myself howto fix my track, and that's
where my dirt skill started.
So, I mean, what was that?
That was almost 17 years ago Istarted fixing dirt stuff.

SPEAKER_00 (05:51):
That's unbelievable story, dude.
Literally, I'm all self-taughtmyself um through struggles of
screwing things up.
And but no, what a cool story,motocross.
Uh, I don't share that passion.
I rode a dirt bike for a littlebit, blew it up, and uh, but no
man, teaching yourself drainagein those pockets and in those

(06:13):
corners and moving water and allthe honestly the simple
techniques.
Hey, I've got water here, I needto move it there because that
doesn't affect the trackanymore.

SPEAKER_01 (06:24):
And just an eye, you get you learn an eye, just like
leveling jumps up.
Like I always want to talk myface level consistent because I
hit it, you know, every the jumpface, if there's any
consistency, six inchesdifference left to right, could
change your bike and how itfelt.
So if you're getting a 70-footdouble, you want consistency.
So I taught myself literally howto use the float about
everything.
I mean, I mean, looking backnow, I'm like, dude, I got an

(06:45):
education without even knowing Iwas getting an education.

SPEAKER_00 (06:48):
Literally, dude, isn't that cool?
It's the that's the coolestthing about the blue-collar
lifestyle industry.
I don't care which trade you'repicking.
Um, you know, I said all thetime, those old heads, they're
teaching you while you neverknew you were being taught.
And I can name four or five ofthose individuals that I thought
were the biggest pricks, youknow, during, and I'm like, and

(07:11):
then six months goes by and I'mnot on his crew anymore.
I'm like, hey man, you know,where's where's my guy that was
uh helping me every step of theway, and I didn't even know it.
And you know, it is crucial tolearning from those influences
along the way.
And so you jumped into the HVACgame pretty young, it sounds

(07:31):
like.

SPEAKER_01 (07:31):
Yeah.
So dad, my dad started uh hisbusiness here heating uh in 1992
before I was blonde.
And then naturally, I guess Igot older, I just rode with him.
Like I remember he would pick meup because so uh just to put in
context, he lost his leg in 05after an accident, so he has one
leg, but he still he still hadto run the business.
He never slowed down.
He probably could have saved hisleg, but he couldn't stop

(07:52):
working to support the family.
So he was there's literally apicture of him in the crawl
space with a fixator on his leghanging duckwork back in like
2001.
Because he just he literally hadno, he hadn't had a mortgage, a
new building, and a familycouldn't stop.
So he lost leg 05, so he alwayshad that against him.
So some stuff like he couldn'tget like in these bigger units
to solder compressors.
So I was like in fifth grade andhe picked up from school and we

(08:13):
go to a job, and I'm soldraising a compressor in it.
I hope you're not listening.
If OSHA saw me 10 years old, notannounced the safety gear,
raising a freaking inch and aneighth line on a roof with yummy
dude.
But that's what it took.
Like I learned now, like thatyou gotta do what you gotta do
support your family.
So my dad, literally, he's like,he gave me the responsibility to

(08:34):
let me have enough rope to hangmyself.
And if I learn, I backed off.
But he's been that way with mesince I was 10.
And I think my brother and Iboth, it really reflects now,
like in our late 20s, we werealready so much more like I
don't know, business mature atour early 20s than most are
because we were messing up inreal time with our dad back
then.

SPEAKER_00 (08:53):
Dude, uh, the one question I would ask you with
the knowledge, I know we'regonna talk about dirt work in
length today, but with theknowledge that you have now of
running your own business, um,say you were the guy two years
into an HVAC business.
What's a couple of things thatuh you would share with him

(09:14):
right now if he was sittingthere listening?

SPEAKER_01 (09:17):
Um just be don't sell equipment, sell yourself.
Like if you're a service guy andyou go to do not sell, if
there's a problem, there's aproblem, you have to fix it.
But if you're trying to sell ajob, don't sell your just don't
just be yourself and tell themlike if this was my house,
here's what I would do, here'swhy.
And be just relatable.
You bring them something withthem like that you have in

(09:38):
common.
Find common ground, don't talkabout what you're selling, just
you know, build a relationshipand then worry about that later.
Then just explain the process.
Be don't be so straightforward,like all these sales meetings I
see, like sell, sell, sell, andyou meet the salesman like
you're all you're selling me isthis.
I want to know you.
I connect with me.
You know what I mean?
That connection is I thinkthat's one reason.
Whenever I jump the nerve andput the word out, everyone was

(09:59):
like, Oh, yeah, let's give thiskid a shot.
Because I always just buildconnections.
Man, my dad taught me that.
Like, my dad is the one of thebest natural salesmen ever.
He's not even he I wouldn't callhim a salesman.
He's just he just a bit, I mean,he just is what he is.
I mean, there's he doesn't he isselling, but he's not I'm a
sales guy.
He goes, I just I I providequality service and what they
come selling stuff.

SPEAKER_00 (10:19):
Dude, your your your dad sounds like literally the
blue-collar man.

SPEAKER_01 (10:25):
Yeah, I've been trying to get him on podcast
like this for years.
His story, dude, would shakepeople.
Like what he came back from wasnuts.
Two times he came.
Like I watched him from thenothing to something twice.

SPEAKER_00 (10:36):
Well, I will extend the invite now that the show is
invested.
Um, if you guys can make it backhere, I would love to have him
in the studio.

SPEAKER_01 (10:44):
I'm gonna have to make him because he his story
just like Mike, it would justhelp it help so many kids
because I mean one legged dudeback in the world, divorced,
like had nothing.
Like I remember the gettingknocked on door when I was
seventh grade.
It was the RS trying to showlike take our stuff basically.
And I was like, my dad was like,dude, all we're gonna do.
And I was like, what?
And we had nothing.

(11:05):
We went from three years prior,you know, millionaire family,
everything I wanted, fivemotorcycles, boats, all stuff to
literally nothing.
So the best thing ever happenedto me personally was going from
that having everything to losingeverything because I saw both
sides of the spectrum.
I'm like, okay, this is I don'twant to be this way, but here's
how it can be, here's what Ishouldn't do, and here's what's
gonna take to get back fromground level to go up.

SPEAKER_00 (11:25):
Dude, that perspective was probably
everything because now that yousee it, you know, obviously not
to that to that extent, but yousee the and felt the roller
coasters of your own business.
And now you're probably lookingback a little bit and giving
your main old man a little bitof grace and going, oh, now this

(11:46):
makes sense.
You know, he was going there.
I didn't want to go there, andyou remember certain times, and
now it clicks, and these it'sweird, these self-realizations
that we go through as leaderstoo, and as working on the
business, not in the business asas much.
And we we're reallyshape-shifting who we are, and
then we start reflecting andgoing back to our influences,

(12:07):
like we were just talkingearlier.
You know, even maybe that oldhead foreman that you first had
teaching the HVAC or dirt orpipe or whatever it is, like the
the the self-realizations thathits so hard in the first six
months to a year of being anentrepreneur is crazy.
Yeah, it's it's uh it's a rollercoaster emotions for sure.

SPEAKER_01 (12:27):
I mean, I I was expecting it.
I mean, because I was still likeI when I started doing this dirt
stuff, it was a side gig.
I I bought a dump trailer duringCOVID because I was gonna buy
stump grinder and just do stumpsafter work.
The excavation thing was not mymain goal.
My first logo was two trees, andMM Earthworks was the name
because I was gonna stumpgrinder just for extra money
because I knew I wanted to dolike this house, you know.

(12:49):
I wanted to start flippinghouses.
I wanted extra income to investin more properties.
So the end game was not dirt,but then I started hauling
gravel because it could get astump grinder because COVID, you
couldn't buy anything, so that'swhy I so share my faith so
strongly because God put me Godmade everything tick I was
supposed to tick just so itworked out.

(13:09):
Like nothing, like my literallymy LLC was filed to be a stump
grinding and like landmaintenance business, nothing
like I'm doing now.
Like, no, I had no intentions ondoing what I'm doing now.

SPEAKER_00 (13:20):
Well, the other thing I've got to share, um you
were you were sharing to methere in our intro call, it was
your LLC, your boys were born inAugust, and your LLC was open in
December, like boom, boom.
And I share that sentiment withyou.
Uh the day we started SyCon, wewere living in a camper uh on my

(13:45):
in-laws' land, and uh theaudience has heard this story a
couple of times, but uh Iactually went into business with
a partnership with a guy that Isold my house, moved into this
camper, the equity andeverything, I just never saw it
again.
And so yeah, I was uh comingback from that, and so me and my
wife were struggling actually tohave our firstborn, and it was

(14:07):
like a three-year basicallydoctor battle, et cetera.
And so I just basically, everydollar we've ever had in our
entire life, I just pissed awayuh and trusted somebody else.
And then I was like, hey, I'mgonna, I'm gonna go uh I'm gonna
go rent some machines.
She's like, Yeah, go do it.
You've got all this work, makeit happen.

(14:28):
And I'm like, the confidence shehad in me in that moment was
unbelievable.
But two days later, she looks atme after starting Psychon, she's
like, Hey, I'm pregnant.
I'm like, oh my God, this justwent to a whole different
height.
But I share with you, andyou're, you know, me and Sarah,
we we we've been right where youguys are at, trying to run a

(14:50):
young family or build a youngfamily and a young business at
the same time, man.
Kudos.

SPEAKER_01 (14:55):
Yeah, we had we had twins, obviously.
I have twin boys, and uh mywife's like, yo, whatever it
takes.
So she's never like never saidlike no.
She's like, if you got it, yougot it.
Like we've been together sincewe were 19.
Like, whenever we got together,I mean I had 200 bucks in my
name.
So ever since I've been ridingtogether, and she saw my pastor,
like, hey, I'm gonna do this.
And I mean, normally I followthrough with it if it's you know
with that reason.

(15:16):
But yeah, she's like, yeah, ifyou think we can do it, try it.
And then I we bought this houseand she helped me remodel this
whole house.
We bought it.
I couldn't live in it.
I mean, it was we took everyLily.
The bank would alone give us180k.
That's what we bought this housefor.
It was a foreclosure.
It was a dis it was a mess.
I had to work on it for sixmonths before I could live in
it.
But you know, and then it's justcrazy how it works out.

(15:36):
But I knew like it was worth it.
So whenever I went to start mybusiness after the house was
remodeled, uh and then you know,interest dropped to 2.7 or
whatever.
We refinanced, took out 70k, andthat's what the stump grinding
guide you came from.
I have this cash, how can I makethis cash make worthwhile?
I don't want to waste it and setmyself up.
So, but she was there from dayone, dude.
She I got videos of her laneflooring, painting, and like she

(15:58):
never stops.
I mean, she she is down to rideno matter what.

SPEAKER_00 (16:03):
It's always there's always a great man, but there's
always a greater woman.
A good wife is a cheat code,it's a cheat code, it's a
blessing from the good lord forsure.
That is 100% agreeable, dude.
I wouldn't be anywhere withoutmine, seriously.
Uh we did that podcast on hereand got pretty vulnerable and
you know, shared a few thingsthat I was like, oh, did we

(16:26):
really need to, you know, gothat far?
But you know what?
We've gone through a lot ofstruggles over the years uh
building a business and a youngfamily at the same time.
But, you know, in the first sixmonths, we'll kind of walk us
through what what made let'stalk a little bit more about,
okay, we left HVAC.
It sounds like almost you know adecade of working every single

(16:48):
day.
I mean, since you were 14 withor seventh grade with pops, you
know, you soldering on a roof at10.
That blows my mind.
But it it I agree, man.
It took whatever it took, yougot it done.
And and with whatever tools andtraining and capabilities you
had at the time, and you justhappened to be the best raiser
around.
Yeah, I don't know if it was thebest, but it worked.

SPEAKER_01 (17:10):
I wouldn't call that a one Iwould be proud of, but it
didn't, I didn't catch that onfire, it burned us and down.
Um, yeah, I uh so the 2022 waswhen I started getting busy.
My first job at it was with mydad's tractor.
I was hauling stone because thestone guard thing didn't take
off.
So I just advertised stoneholding six ton at a time.
And that's when everybody hadthe um, what was that, the
stimulus bond, everybody washome.

(17:30):
So we were doing six ton loadsof like 8L River Rock for like
600 bucks because that's that'show much it was going.
Everybody wanted it.
And you're like, listen, I thatwas the going rate.
I was asked people that I'dknow, hey, what would you
charge?
They told me.
So I was literally doing afterwork, I'd run two after work,
like three days a week.
I'm like, this is ridiculous.
I'm freaking Bill Gates, dude.
I'm Bill Gates.
I got two extra thousand dollarsfrom rock cash.

(17:52):
I was like, I'm about to, I'llbe in that Bentley sometime
soon.
Um, but then I've been workingon my dad's tractor and grading
stuff, and my I he got a gradedbox.
I was like, Dad, um, can I fixsome driveways?
Or somebody asked me, and um, hegoes, Yeah, dude, just ran off
of me and then go see what youcan do.
And then he actually let me useit for the first job, and I made
750 bucks prop and never forget,still have the before and after

(18:13):
pictures, and that literally,dude, that like the feeling on
never forget driving home fromthat saying, I did that.
Like I completed it.
I sold it.
I estimated all the research,like how to use Google a
thousand times, but I knewnothing about how to sell it,
nothing.
And I watched videos and I wentand did it, and it was prime.
And I took the before and afteras I advertised, and I got my
next job, my next job.

SPEAKER_00 (18:33):
So so back to I guess I skipped over the stump
grinding thing, it just didn'ttake off.

SPEAKER_01 (18:39):
No, no, we just we couldn't get a stump grinder.
The backward was like 18 monthsbecause remember COVID,
everything production stopped.
You couldn't get anything, sothat's the blessing.
That was the biggest blessingever.
I couldn't get a stump grinderbecause I'm I'm way I'm happier
doing what I'm doing now.
And I it's I I think thisobviously was the direction God
called me to go in because it'sjust it just it's the way he

(19:00):
wanted to be.
But um 2022 or yeah, 21, 22, Iworked all those weekends and I
started doing dirt bike tracks,obviously.
And so I got really fortunatebecause getting a rental
account, you know, a cat or abrandized capacity dealer is not
easy.
If you don't have references orany credit anywhere, they don't
give you an account.
Well, this is where dirt bikescome into play.

(19:20):
I'm one of the only trackbuilders in the state.
I've been building tracks sinceI was obviously young.
I used to run a big track herein Ode, Indiana.
So I was always meeting peoplenetworking, and uh a state
company might want a track buildat his house.
Like, yeah, absolutely, I can doit.
Here's what I need.
I called and got just a standardaccount at McAllister's our cat
dealer, but I didn't know youneeded a bigger account to rent
a dozer.
You need like a special creditaccount.

(19:41):
Well, I had the job lined upsold.
Like that Thursday came up.
I called and said, Hey, I need adozer for this weekend.
Like, well, you need an account.
And I'm like, I just startingbusiness.
Like this is February.
My EIN was legal in December.
I'm like, oh, how do I get oneof those?
Literally, how do I get one ofthose?
And then like you can't, sorry,we can't approve you.
Come to find out the guy's goingto track for friends with a

(20:02):
higher up at the McAllister CatPlace who also races dirt bikes.
He called me directly, got somelike asked me some hard
questions, like, really, what'syour goal?
I was like, here's what I'mdoing.
I'm only gonna rent for this andthis, and he pushed it through.
So right off the bat, I had abig account at the local cat
dealership, which some guys nowstill can't get that because
they're really, really pickyabout who they let come on.
God working, you know, God gaveme that blessing.

(20:24):
And then I started, I built atrack in February 2022, was a
good looking money.
And then I just kept slowlydoing the side gig that whole
year.
And I still, after 2022, I stillwas like, I'm still gonna do
both things.
I don't want to leave my dad'sbusiness.
I mean, it's a multimilliondollar business.
Eventually he's gonna retire.
That's it'd be a no-brainer.
But after 2023, doing the samething again, I had a, you know,

(20:45):
my buddy showed me his testimonyto me and just changed my life
and gave me the decision.
Like it was the answer I've beenpraying for.
So I drove home, told my dad,hey, I'm leaving, I'm walking
away from this.
I mean, and he's like, hey,dude, I I don't if you think you
can do it, do it.
I mean, and he's never notsupported me in it.
But it's crazy.
Everyone locally is like, why'dyou do that?
I'm like, you're this businessreally both uh uh, I guess the

(21:07):
respected HVAC companies around.
Why?
I'm like, this is what Godwanted, man.
This is just what I haven'tworked a day in my life since
I've done since I left HVAC,I've not been working at all.
I've been having fun teachingpeople my journey, you know.

SPEAKER_00 (21:20):
Dude, I I respect that so large.
And driving away, like you said,from that first job, going,
dang, dude, I did the fullcircle.
Me, myself, I and then you kindof like have this imposter
syndrome real quick.
Oh bad.
Oh shoot, wait a minute.
That I did do that.

(21:40):
Can I do that again?
Okay, and then you start sellinggravel for three days a week,
making couple bands, like boom,boom, and you're like, wow, this
is some mad profit.
And so you're turning around andyou go from stump grinder.
Did you end up with a stumpgrinder?
No, never got one.
I started driving.
I thought you ended uppurchasing one with some cash.

SPEAKER_01 (22:01):
I'm sorry, I missed you.
We tried to.
We I just bought a dump trailerand I had a 06 Thurban Cummins
that was 38,000 miles.
That's all I had.
So then I have my dice tractor.
So we're in skid steers, likewith the like counselors
account, helped me a lot getgoing.
But I rented equipment, likeskidsters to everything for the
first you know, two years.
And then uh, well, in 2022, somy dad purchased a skidster for

(22:23):
his H track business as a taxwrite-off.
And he's like, if you want tolease this from me, you can.
So that's what I started doing.

SPEAKER_00 (22:29):
That's awesome.
That's so cool.
It sounds like your dad is uhone of the good ones, man.
Tell him I hope he I hope wetruly can get him on the show
because now I'm invested becauseum the willingness to support
you.
There's so many, you know, he'sbuilt that entire life thinking
that you guys would take it overand and to to humble himself and

(22:50):
go, hey, I support you and andwilling to send this, and then
go, oh, I need I need a skitterfor the HVAC business.
And you let me and dude, that'samazing, man.

SPEAKER_01 (23:01):
Yeah, so this is my so my dad, although helpful,
he's hardcore.
He was the hardest on me.
Of any employee, dude, I wouldget my ass ring all the time.
And he always took everythingout on me, like always.
So the skids deer, a guy leasedit from him$50 a run hour is
what I pay him back.
Do the math on that dude.
That's$400 a day.
So some some months I gave himfive grand a month, but that was

(23:22):
the deal.
So I that's what I did.
So and I paid and I paid themthe count, and he showed me the
count every month to state.
That's what's going on.
I actually just got it my ownbusiness on and purchased it
from him and related it fromhim.
But the so I didn't, I still wasspending you know a shit of
money every hour.
I was just like, Oh my god, ohmy god, oh my god.
I shut it off every time I gotout of it.
I was like, oh my gosh, 50bucks, 50 bucks.

(23:44):
You know, if you're moving dirtall day, I'm like, gosh, dang,
that's expensive.

SPEAKER_00 (23:48):
Yeah, no, that's that's insane.
So uh kind of circle back here.
You're kind of your first coupleof jobs.
You've you landed a dirt track,but obviously you stepped up and
started probably, hey, I caninstall all this gravel and get
everything, and then kind ofstepped up from there.

SPEAKER_01 (24:07):
Yep.
Yep.
So I do a couple of drivewayswith my dad's tractor.
I mean, it got to the pointwhere he's like, dude, you're
putting so many hours on there,you're gonna have to start, you
know, using skits or more often.
But I'll tell you honestly, someof the driveways with a greater
box with how you can you knowlock the tilt and you lock the
float, it's almost easier than askit steer, you know, because
it's like a little six-wayblade.
So I used to carry my paper,show me how to carry a level

(24:28):
with you when you get the levelyou want it.
So you're putting a crown on adriveway, you drive down one
way, you turn around thedriveway back the other way, it
looked money.
So a skitcher, I'm like, dude, Igotta get this thing pitched.
I'm what the hell am I doing?
I'm like, I can't pitch a skidsteer.
I mean, it's so it that was thatworked out pretty well though.
And then I think it was probablyI don't remember, I want to say

(24:49):
I sold up, I probably sold sevenor eight big gravel jobs with
just a tractor.
It was working out really well.
And then I started selling somebigger dirt stuff.
I'm trying to think though whatjob it probably was a downspeed.
Yeah, it was a downspout job anda yard installation that like
really changed everything.
It was a pretty big, pretty bigjob.
It was a new, like there's acontract right now called TK,
they build your whole house, butyou're responsible as a

(25:10):
homeowner to pay for like thefinished grading, the backfill,
and everything.
So they some guy reached out tome, I went and did it, and then
I was like, okay, now we'retalking.
This is the bigger dirt kind ofstuff I want to do.

SPEAKER_00 (25:20):
The final grade on the nice big custom.
Oh, dude, I used to love I usedto love those scenarios because
you end up getting to see thatfinal smile.
Now they may not have as muchmoney at the end after they just
built this ginormous house todeal with you.
But the customers that that justmet you with a smile and a and a

(25:40):
little extra tip at the end.
And and dude, I I missed thatabout the resie world.
We jumped so quickly into thecommercial world.
But uh, no, that was my favoritething was you know, whether it
be downspouts and final gradeand everything and touching up
and so their landscaper can takeover, but then they finally get
to conceptualize what theiryard's gonna look like, and they

(26:02):
first yeah, they're like, dang,they look so good.
And dude, I I commend youbecause that type of stuff is is
where the fun work begins.

SPEAKER_01 (26:12):
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
You and it says you the wholetime of learning.
So I go back to like, I mean, Iknow we'll get to my YouTube,
but that's like I started likethinking, if I'm learning this
and I didn't know anything aboutthis eight months ago, I need to
share this because those otherguys, surely like me, somewhere.
You know, at the time I was 27.
I'm like, there's gotta be guyslike me with a new family, a
house, and once the Americandream, but doesn't seem tangible

(26:34):
because they're working and justthey see it here, they think
they see the money, money,money, but they don't see the
steps to it.
So if I can show a real time myprocess, how I got there, maybe
more people will be willing totake the to leap.
You know, I'm not saying I haveall the answers, but my real
story maybe can help someone,you know, make a decision and
and and get going.

SPEAKER_00 (26:52):
I literally lead into the the YouTube
conversation is you're spendingso much time on YouTube because
if you were like me, I didn't Ididn't have any other resources.
I'm trying to figure outwhatever I can, and now I'm
trying to lead a team.
And I, you know, is itleadership or is it how do I put
this?
You know, from the early dayswas you know, the fake it till

(27:13):
you make it.
There was a lot of people, hey,can you put this?
Can you do this?
Can you do that?
Oh, yeah, of course.
Yeah, let me figure that out.
I'll get a price back to you.
And I'm on bo on the way back tothe truck, YouTube university in
it, and trying to figure out.
And I did that building withmini X and Skid Steer, man.
And uh sometimes we'd screw itup, but honestly, it's those
mistakes that I made andcorrecting those mistakes,

(27:36):
earning that customer who thatcustomer, I call it the 50 to 1
ratio.
It's not about the 50 good jobsyou do, it's usually that one
bad job that they'll only talkto you, you know, about you or
connotate you with.
And so when you do make thosemistakes, I have earned more mis
uh more customers off mistakesI've made and how I've handled

(27:56):
those mistakes than ever doing15 perfect jobs.
Those people, you know, they'reexpecting you to be a
professional.
And if you act accordingly, thenthe transaction happens.
But when you go out there andyou're learning in the early
years, you're like, oh, well, Ikind of screwed this up, and I'm
just gonna be honest with you.
I didn't really, I researched asmuch as I could.

(28:18):
But hey, I've got a buddy, he'scoming, we're gonna look at this
together and we're gonna makesure it gets right to the right
final product.
And people look at used to lookat me like I had four heads, but
hell, I was just paying for myto you know, tuition to my
experience.
And yeah, that's literally youpay for education.

SPEAKER_01 (28:34):
That the integrity thing, the integrity and the
word of mouth is everything.
That's how like my business, theonly reason my business took off
so fast is because I'd messstuff up and I would go fix it.
Of course, it costs you money,but you have to.
You're whether we're going tocollege or not, we're paying for
education, just like you said.
You have to, you have to log thetime, you gotta screw up, pay
your ignorance tax, and go on.
And I've I've cost myself somuch damn money.

(28:56):
I mean, all I like I shot avideo this year, I've dug a
basement, completelymiscalculated it.
Completely miscalculated it.
But it was my first one, and Ishared the whole story and what
happened, what went wrong.
And I was like, all right, well,there's that one.
Let's not do that ever again.

SPEAKER_00 (29:09):
But it was a great, great experience.
I'm assuming you spending somuch YouTube like yourself kind
of was like, hey, these guys arejust kind of telling a story,
and I'm assuming kind ofinspired you.
You're like, hey, they're notmuch different than myself.
If I really start putting myselfout there, and the amount of

(29:29):
hate that's that comes with itis ridiculous, but the amount of
people that watch that video andcomments and people that you've
helped makes it all worth it,and you're willing to put
yourself out there.
But no, talk a little bit aboutwhy you jumped into YouTube and
uh how it's helped you in waysthat you didn't think it would.

SPEAKER_01 (29:48):
Well, more dirt was actually it was just my name,
but more dirt started because mymy neighbor back in the day
would always yell across thehallway to my other neighbor,
and they're just both drunkoperators here.
So I just more dirt back in theday.
And forth, so it was my Xboxgamer tag when I was a kid.
Never thought I would ever goanywhere.
But my whole life, so this isjust how things stick with you.
Since I was 10 years old onXbox, more dirt has been my

(30:10):
gamertag forever.
It means forever.
Because my neighbors, more dirt!And I always like dirt bikes.
So, but as an even an HF guy,more dirt was my deal.
And I always love equipment,obviously, because dirt bikes.
So I started helping.
I built this, so at 19 yearsold, I built this huge track in
Odin Indiana called ParsonsMotor Cross Compound at 19.
This guy loaded with money.
My dad was working on his boat,million dollar boat, on an

(30:30):
aircraft insurance, and the guywas talking about wanting a
motorcross track built.
My dad said, Hey, my son's 19,he's very good at doing that, he
can do it for you.
And the man called me.
I went and met in with my buddyNolan.
The guy rented us two D5s, um, a279D, and he had a stump truck
and excavator.
He turned us loose at 19 yearsold for a week.
And we built a track.
I still have all the picturesand everything.
And it's one, it was one of thebiggest tracks in the state.

(30:52):
Well, night literally nightcouldn't even drink it.
Looking back now, I'm like, whoin the hell would turn two
nitrooms loose on their propertywith this much equipment?
And it turned out awesome.
And then like I went back later,you know, that was when I was 19
when I was 24 or 5.
They asked me to come helpmanage the actual racetrack when
it was a racetrack.
So I went and did that.
And that's when I startedwanting to film and show just

(31:13):
track maintenance and how thisworked.
And you know, the dirt bikething.
I filmed myself riding becauseit was, you know, my sponsors
liked it.
I was good at it or whatever.
And um, and then once Itransitioned over this, I'm
like, okay, let's document thiswhole story, how this all ties
together, how if it can if I cando it, you can do it.
Because my story is not the oh,my dad had an excavation
business, I grew up now.
I got it.

(31:34):
My story is you weren't supposedto do this, you were supposed to
be an HVAC guy.
How the hell did you get here?
So I'm like, let's let's connectthe dots and then paint the
picture.

SPEAKER_00 (31:42):
Man, and the willingness I watched some of uh
the content at your earlycontent, like and so I I
encourage you guys to go watchit.
He's very vulnerable, and Icommend that and I relate to
that.
And um people immediately thinkmedia and marketing, and they
just automatically assumethey're trying to boast

(32:04):
themselves.
But there actually is people outthere like ourselves that are
willing to put ourselves outthere and go, hey guys, don't do
what we've been doing.
There's mistakes here, andeducation's expensive.
You can go down to college, payyou 30 grand a year and get your
education, or you can go playwith your own money and
experience and figure out, oh,that cost me 10k, oh, there's

(32:27):
50k, oh man, this 20K.
And those start stacking up, andyou go, man, we're not doing
that again.
And here's how we're gonna dothat, you know.
But um the YouTube stuff, man,is just so commendable.
And think of can you give us aone video when that first video

(32:48):
kind of took off and talk aboutthat kind of feeling?
Because it's a different kind offeeling, and and the comments
started coming in and going,man, this guy's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 (32:57):
Tell us about that.
So it's the video says I how howI engrossed$450,000 like in in
two years.
Like this setup grossed to me$450,000 two years, and just
went through basically what Ijust told my story.
That's what I just got the skidump trailer.
I want to do nothing crazy, butI just broke it down and how I
did it.
And people, I just I just toldmy story.

(33:18):
Um yeah, I wouldn't have toworry about being vulnerable
because you don't know what youdon't know.
So I'm like, what's wrong withasking questions?
Like, I call a lot of people Idon't want to get in dirt work.
I'm like, listen, I don't knowthis, but I want to learn this.
I'm I would do anything it takesto learn this.
Would you help me?
So I'm like, listen, if there'sguys nice enough to do that, the
technology's different, theworld's different, I want to
share my play, like my story tohelp people.

(33:39):
So I mean, I I don't care aboutman, you're people are gonna
judge you regardless, man.
I don't care what you do.
The only one there's only onething judge me, obviously, and
that's him.
So I uh I get a lot of noisethough locally.
There's a lot of people thatthink I'm just stupid for doing
this.
Like, why are you puttingyourself out there?
You oh, I got a guy who calls meclickbait.
Oh, clickbait's here,clickbait's there.
I'm like, dude, I've helpedstart, I've helped not, I

(34:01):
wouldn't say I've helped changepeople's lives, but I've really
helped you know people changetheir lives because they just
took the step and they'll learnthis and learn that, then start
snowballing.
But you you could be stuck in awe're here's how I saw it.
Worst case scenario, I go dothis, I quit, I go work on an
eight to five job till I retire,65.
Or the succeed.
I mean, what's I can always goback to HVAC tomorrow, dude, and

(34:24):
still go, you know, raise acompressor on the roof.
I did it when I was 10, I'll doit when I'm 30.

SPEAKER_00 (34:29):
But what if it works out?
And I, me and you aren't willingto sit by and go, and especially
it's always the consumers thathave uh that create the most
noise.
It's never the other contentcreators because game respects
game and we understand how hardit is to to produce and and

(34:49):
actually see some value in inwhat we're doing because the the
consumers, they're the quickestuh, oh well, you should have
done this.
Well, if you do that, they wantyou to do what you already
originally did.
And yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (35:04):
Yeah, it's arm chair quarterback, and like, yeah,
it's the noise is loud, but Idude, I got buddies locally,
like one of my buddies thathelps me a lot.
He used to get really upset ifsomeone made something negative
on the the the comments.
I said, dude, it doesn't botherme.
I said he doesn't pay mymortgage, he doesn't cut my kids
at night.
I said, Well, I don't have thosewords mean nothing to me.
I'm like, it gives me a view, ithelps, and then it makes my
algorithm work, and the nextperson that might help.

(35:26):
So that negative feeds apositive all back and forth.
Like I block the noise out,dude.
I do not care.
Like I never ran with like thisclick or that click.
I was always kind of by myselfdoing my own thing.
But my mind, you know, my mind'sjust different.
It's always has been different.
And I always tell people don'tpitch your ideas to someone
who's never done what you wantto do.
So don't tell, like, say you'reworking on a crew on a big job,

(35:47):
and you tell your buddy you'reworking with, I want to do this,
and he'll tell you why youshould why it won't work.
Well, how the hell does he knowit won't work if he's never done
it?
So seek out advice and seek outguidance from people who are
doing something similar that youwould like to do to get
feedback.
Because one negative comment oror someone gives like snarls at
you, it just puts you down,dude, and it discourages people.

(36:07):
So I made that mistake a lot.
Is I would pitch my idea tosomeone that was like, dude,
you're nuts, that'll never work.
Like I told another, I wasworking on this guy's geothermal
unit, dude.
I was 23 years old, 24.
And his basement owns a bigexcavation based.
And I said, dude, here's what Iwant to do.
And he's like, Man, there'severyone has a million skid.
You're just it's just it's notworth it.
You won't make it.
Like he told me that.
And I told him the other day inthe supply house.

(36:27):
He goes, You made it, didn'tyou?
I said, Yeah.
I said, You motivated me.
I was like, You put me down andthey made me hungry to do it.
But I for all the people, if nota dollar for everyone told me I
wouldn't make it, I would uh I'dhave quite a few dollars.

SPEAKER_00 (36:40):
Me and you both.
I've I can't, and you know, youwere sa you were talking about
the local noise, and it's alwaysthe locals uh around you, but
the the amount of people thatwere helping in our own way,
just even through this podcastor through your YouTube channel,
or you know, our YouTubechannel, man, the willingness to
try.

(37:00):
I don't understand why so manypeople have a problem with the
willingness to try.
And that's kind of what you knowI've seen through your content
is like, man, you're just tryingto show these guys, hey, I can
do it.
Here's here's the roadmap.
Let me help you.
This is how I got here, and Icommend that so much.
And all right, let's uh let'stalk about kind of you got any,

(37:24):
can you slip us any futureplans?
We got any big dirt trackscoming coming up.

SPEAKER_01 (37:28):
Motor car track wise.
I mean, I got about do I gettons of emails about it, but
people don't I don't thinkpeople grasp the concept how
much that scope of work is.
I mean, you got big iron on jobmoving stuff.
I mean, you got a bunch of moneyto run a day, and uh, people
don't comprehend that.
And if a nine times out of ten,people don't have the dirt on
site to do it unless we'reshifting the whole earth.
Like the last track I built, Ihad to, I mean, I moved, I think

(37:51):
I moved 58 tandem loads of dirtjust on the property back and
forth.
We changed the whole landscapeof the guy's thing.
But as of right now, I gotnothing on the books, but people
are emailing me a lot.
But I have a ton of excavationjobs like squared away.
I mean a lot.
And then I got probably five orsix yet to do this year.
I don't know if I'm gonna get itin time because it's gonna start
freezing too much.

(38:12):
Oh, that's right.

SPEAKER_00 (38:13):
You guys are up there in just a little bit more
of a uh you're gonna deal with alot more winter weather.
Um, so the one of the mainthings I've got to ask you
because the I I know so manyother people that are doing what
we're doing, but they don't havethat family aspect of you're
there no matter what, and I canalready tell you're there for

(38:36):
them, for the fam, no matterwhat it is.
And how do you deal with thebusiness, YouTube, creating
content, and also being a familyman, a husband, trying to be all
the hats without burning out?
There's there, I gotta know.

SPEAKER_01 (38:54):
Dude, there is burnout, and you gotta take time
to rest.
I mean, it says in the Bible youhave to rest, you know what I
mean?
Like Sunday was for to for rest,but you you have to be willing
to if it's a Tuesday, 1:30, andyou gotta go home, you just
gotta you just gotta go chill.
You have to my wife, my familyunderstands like my all my
family knows like what I'mdoing.
I my I'm always on the phone,I'm always talking, I'm always

(39:17):
trying to help people.
And um, it's a lot.
I mean, I got people call me,ask me questions.
I'm just sometimes I'm just sooverwhelmed, like I'm burnt out.
Like, but I don't know, man.
I don't know how I keep.
Honestly, if it's probably it'sjust it's God.
That's it.
There's no way that I could keepon this path.
My wife understanding me andthank God and just knowing I
need a break right now.

(39:37):
She need to take time, takefive.
Put my phone on airplane modeand just go chill for a couple
days and not do nothing.
Like, I work at my own leisure,I'm not on any really timelines
typically.
So if I need to chill for acouple days and go do stuff with
my wife and kids and just blockup the noise, that's what I do.
So, but that's another reasonI'm like, my business isn't
gonna scale like yours because Iwant to stay in the space.
Like, I don't want to be becauseyou're um you have a you have a

(40:00):
monster, you've created amonster, and you it's gonna keep
going no matter what.
So mine is just me.
So if my job site's not going,if I'm not theirs, it's just me.
So it's easier to block out thenoise.

SPEAKER_00 (40:09):
Golly, dude.
I respect that number one, andI'm envious.

SPEAKER_01 (40:14):
So see, I I know I watched my pops, dude.
I died at 18 employees at onetime, and he was like going
nuts.
And he told me, son, he goes,Listen, son, having all those
traps on the road looks awesome.
But that bottom line of theyear, he goes, I make more money
by myself.
So and I checked, so I had tocheck my ego because I wanted
like all the stuff.
I'm like, you know what?
I don't need my logo on mytruck, I don't need all this big

(40:36):
stuff, I don't need the sim, Idon't need a dump truck right
now.
I was like, so let's just go atmy own pace and whatever God
takes us, he takes us.
But I mean, there I mean, that'sliterally faith and just praying
a lot, reading the Bible in themornings is probably how I say
level headed.
And he tells me I should slowdown, and he tells you I should
speed up.
And sometimes I'm like, shit, Iain't doing enough.
I need to do more.

SPEAKER_00 (40:56):
No, I know exactly that feeling, but I think you
know, you're talking, it'sfunny, man.
Every kind of excavation guy orany blue-collar business owner,
we're all just a little bitweird, we're just a wired
different.
We just we can't we can'tsettle, we just keep kicking the
can.
But it's so respectable that youcan find ways within exactly the

(41:19):
path, your growth path that youwant to, and being able to go
and go, yeah, if I want to takea couple days off and go with
the kids, I wanna go do that,dude.
That's huge, dude.
And I I commend and respectthat.
But you're gonna scale, you'regonna, you're gonna grow, and
and uh you're gonna grow at yourown pace and doing it everything

(41:41):
the the excavation space is soweird, and I wish I could go
back and tell myself, like I wasasking you earlier, like if I
knew the profitability with meand say two crews of resi guys,
bro, with four guys, like woo,and then now you know I've gone

(42:02):
up almost to 30 employees at onetime, and now we've come back
down.
It's it's been crazy, ride.
And um I wish I would have spentmore time in there and built
more of a foundation.
You're already on a path that Iwasn't even thinking about.
You're right.
Revenue is for vanity, profit isfor freaking sanity, and I have

(42:23):
lived the revenue game.
It's not a fun game to run,dude.

SPEAKER_01 (42:28):
I mean, that's I I grew up, I witnessed it.
I watched it in real time when Iwas a kid.
Like I my dad being a businessowner, a blue car business
owner, like I watched it.
I'm like, man, he's he'smiserable.
He's just flaved with this.
He's just flaved this trade.
He's slaved his business.
I didn't want to be a slave.
Like, I'm I mean, I have abusiness, but I'm not a slave to
it.
If if I want to stop it, I stopit.
And my customers, I'mtransparent with all of them

(42:48):
about here's my both my kidshave autism, my wife stays at
home.
It's hard.
And I if I need to take off andtake a few days, I'm going to.
Like, you're probably you're myfamily comes before this
project.
I had I I got uh almost got suedover this these people's yard
because the grass didn't grow.
That's they didn't want it's notup to me.
I mean, I'm so I'm not the goodlord.
The grass didn't grow.
They tried to, anyways, longstory short, I was talking to

(43:10):
them like you should take morepriority over here.
You should have stopped by.
I'm like, I'm sorry, my familywill come before a customer any
day of the week.
And I will drop what I'm doing,I don't care if if what if it's
safe, I will stop what I'm doingand leave that my family needs
me.
And that's I wanted to setmyself up that way because I
never want to miss a play, afield trip, about anything.
I'm gonna be there no matterwhat.

(43:31):
Like, and that's just how it is.
If I want to take my kids toschool, pick them up from
school, I'm gonna be there.
And my dad couldn't do that, sothat's whenever I start my
business, I'm like, I'm notgonna be like that for my dad.
Yeah, I had some awesome things,I learned a lot, but my pops was
not there.

SPEAKER_00 (43:45):
Yeah, I uh I said I said that on me and Sarah's one
of our podcasts.
It's just being there, it's sucha difference, you know.
And my my mom, uh she was gone alot, a lot, but she was working,
and I it's just different how wewere raised compared to I think

(44:07):
it generationally how we'reraising our kids commonly
through the millennials, man.
It's like we just want to bethere with our kids.
And and when I first started, Iliterally thought I was gonna
create myself more time by beingan entrepreneur and doing doing
this.
And come to find out I am wiredfor it.
You know, I may have had myfailures and successes along the

(44:30):
ways, but that's just experienceto get to where I'm going and
don't know my five, 10-yeargoals.
I've got goals to that I wouldlove to get there, but if we
don't, that's okay too, as longas I'm keeping that family first
mentality.
And and I wanted to tie thatback in because uh not a single
person here that's ever workedfor me can say that I have chose

(44:54):
work over their families.
They've called me at 1 a.m.
in the morning or 1 p.m.
in the afternoon.
Hey, kids sick, I it is what itis, boys.
We'll figure it out.
Or um, you know, and there's alot of things you do for
employees as you saw your dad doit for those employees time and
time again.
And and and it it it's crazy tohear your perspective of seeing

(45:17):
that and not chasing exactlywhat the representation of what
it is, because you did see theup and the down.
Yeah, just a fairy tale, and itsounds like your dad was very
open and transparent with youabout it.

SPEAKER_01 (45:30):
Oh he's like, You're on this new, he was since I was
like 12.
When my parents got divorced, Iwent and live with him.
You know, the the time my dadwas hustling, hustling, hustling
when I was 12, went to live withhim full time.
That's when I started reallygetting connected with my dad
because I was with him all thetime and he was home more.
He had all his employees weregone, it was just him.
So I'm riding around the truckwith him, just talking back and
forth.
I saw the calls come in, I sawhim writing on the schedule, I

(45:51):
heard him get bitch at, I heardthe car getting declined, I've
heard this guy going bankrupt.
I watched it growing up, so Ilived the freaking roller
coaster with him.
And most guys, most kids did nothave that perspective.
Like in high school, he wouldcall me in class because he's
colorblind.
Literally, I'd be in class.
He goes, Go in the go on thehallway.
My teacher's like, You can'tleave.
I'm like, I'm leaving out rightnow.
And he's like, I'm on a roof.
What color are these wires?

(46:12):
I can't tell the difference.
And I would tell him, I go backin there.
He goes, if you get in trouble,tell him to call me.
And that's how it was.
Like, and my counselors all knewthat.
I told them, here's the deal,boys.
If my dad needs help at fourthgrade, I'm rolling out of here.
I'm not telling you guys whereI'm going.
And I'll bring you back what Idid.
And that's now my dad takes careof probably 95% of the the
teachers and all the principals.
They just he does all theirwork.

(46:33):
But that's just what it took forhim to keep going.
So I was totally not with likethe college kid.
I was totally not that way.
And all these parents were like,that kid's gonna be burned out,
dumb, dirt by a kid.
It's like, you know what?
I there's at the time I didn'tknow what the hell was gonna
happen, but it ended up workingout now.
Most of the kids I went toschool with, you know, they're
they're you know, they went tocollege.

(46:54):
If they didn't find jobs,they're stuck paying back these
big loans, and they're like,Man, you did the right thing.
I'm like, Well, you thought Iwas an idiot when I was 17.
I said, I thought I was an idiottoo, but ended up working out by
my battery.

SPEAKER_00 (47:06):
Uh I didn't go to college for computer engineering
that Chad GBT can do now.

SPEAKER_01 (47:10):
Right.
And I said, Yeah, and it's it'scrazy how technology has has
brought us back like the oldtimes.
Because, like, you know, in theBible, you the the man's
supposed to lead the household,the wife's supposed to stay
home.
So now more men are seeing that,hey, we're supposed to be men,
we're supposed to provide, we'realso supposed to be leaders of
our household.
And that's like what my engine,how can I be a leader for my

(47:30):
family and still be there like Ineed to be there?
Like this is what a family wassupposed to be this way.
On the world, the world leaders,whoever you want to call it, has
shifted the narrative how it isso they they get more control.
Like the woman, in my opinion,this is never was never supposed
to be hustling.
So that's kind of what formed myopinion made my me so passionate

(47:51):
about what I'm doing.
And that's what I wanted to helppeople.
Listen, guys, I the family needsto be like this is what I
believe in, this is what Christwants.
Here's how I can help you try toget that much of what you want.
Because I'm never gonna tellpeople go get in debt, buy this,
you know,$100,000 skid steer, gorent for a couple of years,
learn what you can do and can'tdo, and then invest where you
need to invest in.
Honey skills first, and then gospend a bunch of money.

(48:12):
There's no reason to go get aloan if you can't freaking do
the job correctly.

SPEAKER_00 (48:16):
Yes, we don't have leads.
Show me a PL at the end of theyear that shows a rental line
item for a skid steer for60,000, and then we can talk.
You know, dude.
It is what it is.
And I I screwed, I rentedequipment a lot when I first
started, but uh I ended up witha mini X and a Skid Steer from
Bobcat, and that was kind oflike our base machines for two

(48:37):
years.
I mean, that was our only twomachines, and um I can't the
amount of things that we didwith those those little machines
was crazy, but I mean we rentedall the time, and honestly, I
kicked myself oh, probably six,eight months into that, and wish
I would have rented longer to toyour point, because I ran into

(48:59):
these situations, especially inthe rese space where I was
running up and going, oh, okay,I'll get that mini X out of
here, but really it's an E45.
I sh I really wish I could havehad like an E85 out there and
made that four-day job, atwo-day job, and and thought
about it that way rather thanjust having, oh, I've got my
machine, it's gonna be outthere.

(49:20):
I wish I would have uh looked atit a little bit differently.
And or then I'm carrying my twomachines and I'm like, oh, I
need to rent this machine tomake it go faster.
Then I I wasn't really.
Oh, dude, it's a I deal withthat too.

SPEAKER_01 (49:32):
I mean, that's that's the way I tell guys,
you're gonna you're you're gonnafigure out quicker.
Sometimes it is cheaper to gorent a bigger machine to do
this, although you have thatsitting there.
Like I tore a house down lastlast year, huge house with a 60.
I leased a 60 off a dirt bikeshop owner, at least off him.
Same kind of deal as I had withmy dad.
And that way I don't I don't ownmy stuff.
People are like, Why don't youown machines?

(49:52):
I'm like, well, I own a bunch ofhouses.
I have three houses.
So my debt-to-income ratio, Ikeep it right there with real
estate.
The machines make me money, butboys, the equity in houses
making more money strategically.
So that's so I try that's why Itry sharing my story.
Like, listen, I start in here,you can lead you to here if you
want to do this.
You don't have to kill yourselfyour whole life in one trade if
you don't want to.
You can the being yourentrepreneur in the blue car

(50:15):
world has endless opportunities.
And but but go back to theexcavator thing, it took me till
this year to realize, you knowwhat, if I rent that 315,
that'll go quicker, be moreefficient.
And then that gave me like thebecause I was always worried
about oh, I don't want to payfor that big machine.
Then you actually break it down.
It's not that much difference togo three sizes bigger than what
you got.
And you think about the time,I'm like, dang, I was really

(50:36):
dumb.
I should have looked in thismore.
But you humble yourself.
Like on that basement dig, I sawthe video about the basement
dig.
I I miscalculated that the itwas a walkout, and I just did
the square footage uh in thecubic yard calculator for the
actual home.
I didn't I calculate the gradegoing back for the walkout.
We're talking like a 7,000square foot house times another

(50:57):
basement dig out.
So, and I mean I didn't lose myI broke even, but I didn't
calculate for that.
I did the I called Sam let's tryto start digging.
Sam, which I dude, I love thatman.
If he's wonderful human, yougotta have him on the show.
He helped me.
Then him and Branham Johnson outin Missouri, he's I can't
remember his um, I can'tremember his YouTube.
He has a big he has a bunch ofuh Takahoochie stuff.

(51:20):
He a bunch of Takahoo.
But both these guys, anyways, Icalled both of them like, what
would you do in the situation?
Because I didn't know what thehell I was doing digging in the
basement.
I didn't know how to bid it.
And they're like, measure thisout, but times like 25% your
cubic yard load for the uh theexpansion of the dirt when you
dig it out.
It's like okay.
So I just bid the freakingsquare, not the outside of the
house.

(51:40):
Then I got there, I was like, ohno, that's all gotta come out
too.
So that was an extra four dayswith 315.
But but I documented it and Iwas like, listen, I'm real time
boys.
This is what you shouldn't do.
And I I broke it down in thevideo with my blueprint and
showed them here's where Imessed up.
Don't do this.
So that I don't know.
I I got off on tangent there,but I just get passionate about

(52:00):
it.
I get passionate about sharingmy story to help someone else
get to where they can be theAmerican dream.
You'd so call it.

SPEAKER_00 (52:08):
It's so tangible.
It really is.
You just gotta be, you don'thave to, you know, necessarily
jump on YouTube and documentyour whole story, but you've you
shared, you know, um I'm sosorry, your uh your app.
What was the app?

SPEAKER_01 (52:24):
Oh, blue blue car launch pad.
And I'll be honest, I mean, it'sit's an app that's developing,
but there's still some kinks Iwant to work out.
But the end game is just to havea community of guys that what
blue car trade you in have justcome in there, ask questions and
share experiences, me all acrossthe country, and then like
people can get ideas.
And I've got you have to helpstart 47 LCs to this date.

SPEAKER_00 (52:44):
I was hoping you would share that because that's
that's so cool, man.
You know, you're like, okay, Igot to here.
Well, how many other people canI help get to here?
And and and document, you know,that basement dig and going, oh
man, I just uh accounted for aneat yardage.
There's no swollen yardage here.
And uh, oh, I'm gonna have 30%more yardage.

(53:05):
And you don't learn those, likenobody teaches you those things
other than pure experience, bro.
Blue-collar performancemarketing's passion is to bring
attention to the honest workdone in blue-collar industries
through effective results-drivenmarketing tactics.
They specialize in comprehensivedigital marketing services from
paid advertising on Google andFacebook to website development

(53:26):
and content strategy.
I started working with Ike andthe team earlier this year, and
they've had a huge impact on ourspecific marketing campaign and
trajectory of our overallcompany.
Their expertise in digital admanagement, website development,
social media, and overallmarketing strategy has been an
absolute game changer for oursales and marketing at SciCon.
If you're looking to work with amarketing team who does what

(53:50):
they say, does it well, and isalways looking for ways to help
your company grow?
Book a discovery call with Ikeby going to
bcperformancemarketing.combackslash BCB podcast, or click
the link in the show notes slashdescription below.
Thanks, guys.
Last question here, my guy, thatI ask everybody that's on the
show.
What's the takeaway for theblue-collar worker and nobody

(54:13):
else better to get it from youwho's seen so many different
spectrums of the blue-collarworld?
But that worker who's just sickand tired of being stuck in the
mud mentally, physically,emotionally, they're just burnt
out and they don't know whatelse to do with life.
What's what's what's the advicefor them?

SPEAKER_01 (54:32):
If it's if it's what you want and you want to be your
own business owner, the firststep's taking the first step.
Make the first phone call, askthe first mentor, you know, look
into what it's gonna take, getyour guy in.
Um, there's no such thing as astupid question.
Don't be worried about askingstupid questions.
Don't have an ego and do thebest you can do and have
integrity.
Really, if you show up on time,do what you say you're gonna do

(54:53):
and mess up or fix your mistakesyou mess up, anything's
possible.
Don't ever look at that asimpossible, because I'm
promising you it is.
Coming from being an employeefor a long time, think it's
impossible, it's not.
There's no difference.
We're both humans.
We both wake up, right leg, leftleg, pants on, shirt on, drink,
coffee, get out the house.
We're all the same.

(55:14):
The only thing difference is Itook the step, they didn't.
So just take that step, askquestions, and get it goal.

SPEAKER_00 (55:20):
Be willing to try, man.
That's the biggest thing is justbe willing to try.
Um, where can we find you?
Obviously, more dirt on YouTube,but anywhere else.

SPEAKER_01 (55:30):
Yeah, more dirt, more.
Uh I think it's more perioddirt.
Yeah, more period dirt on uhjust the actual period on uh
Instagram and then TikTok ismore dirt as well.
And then Facebook's just myname, Cole Morse.
But um, I try to documenteverything real as possible.
What you see is what you get.
I mean, I got kids FaceTime me,call me all the time, and I'd
help them real time.
And my wife understands it, man.

(55:50):
I'm I'm what you see is what youget.

SPEAKER_00 (55:53):
Love it, my guy.
Uh you'll be on a con expo nextyear.

SPEAKER_01 (55:58):
What is that?
I don't know what that is.
Oh, we'll we'll get you tied inwith Con Expo.
That's what I'm saying.
I'm so like I'm just close onthat stuff.
I just stay in my lane.
Is it it where is it?
It's out in Vegas.

SPEAKER_00 (56:09):
It's uh and yeah, yeah.
The big one, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
The big one.
And and anybody that's uh on theshow, find me on LinkedIn and uh
let me know that you're headingto Con Expo and you're gonna see
Cole there as well.
I'm excited, and hopefully wecan meet before then, buddy.
That's marked next year.
But uh I can't thank you enoughfor taking the time out of your

(56:31):
day to jump on here, uh,obviously align our similarities
and our messages and directionsin life and commend you.
I respect you so much.
Keep it going, and uh thank youfor helping everybody else along
the way, guys.
Go check out Cole and More Dirt.
Uh visit www.blue collarbusinesspodcast.com for the rest

(56:53):
of the 60 plus episodes we got,and give us a random following
if you're on a streamingplatform, guys.
Until the next time, you guys besafe.
If you've enjoyed this episode,be sure to give it a like, share
it with the fellas, check outour website to send us any
questions and comments aboutyour experience in the blue
collar business.
Who do you want to hear from?
Send them our way, and we'll doour best to answer any questions

(57:16):
you may have.
Till next time, guys.

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Ep. 64 - From HVAC to Excavation Boss

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Ep. 64 - From HVAC to Excavation Boss