October 4, 2023 • 36 mins
Welcome to Grit Nation, the Building Trades Podcast.
I’m Joe Cadwell, the writer, producer, and host of the show and today I have the pleasure of speaking with Ken Rusk.
Ken is a blue-collar career choice advocate, construction industry entrepreneur and the author of Blue-Collar Cash which details how you can…. Love Your Work, Secure Your Future and Find Happiness for Life.
We’ll start today’s conversation by learning about Ken’s background and how his passion for hard work and construction earned him the nickname “The Million Dollar Ditch Digger”.
We’ll then unpack the lessons Ken learned from a lifetime in the trades that enabled him to write his book, and how these lessons have been useful in his current role as a life coach and mentor to those interested in pursuing a career as a blue-collar tradesperson.
Next, we’ll discuss the downside of buying into the oversold notion that the only pathway to professional pride and financial security is through a college degree and why now more than ever blue-collar jobs and the people who can do the work are in such great demand.
Later, Ken will explain the importance of detailed visualization in helping you map out a future that will bring you Comfort, Peace and Freedom.
And we’ll end our conversation by leaning what Ken’s definition of success is and why he is so passionate about helping people achieve their dreams regardless of their educational background or past.
The Show Notes
Ken Rusk
https://www.kenrusk.com/
Union Home Plus helps union members save money when they buy, sell, or finance their home.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Joe Cadwell (00:08):
Welcome to Grit Nation -The Building Trades
Podcast. I'm Joe Cadwell, thewriter, producer and host of the
show. Today I have the pleasureof speaking with Ken Rusk. Ken
is a blue collar career choiceadvocate, construction industry
entrepreneur, and the author ofBlue Collar Cash, which details
how you can love your work,secure your future and find
happiness for life.
(00:30):
We'll start today's conversationby learning about Ken's
background and how his passionfor hard working construction
earned him the nickname The""Million Dollar Ditch Digger".
We'll then unpack the lessonscan learn from a lifetime in the
trades that have enabled him towrite his book and how these
lessons have been useful in hiscurrent role as a life coach and
mentor to those interested inpursuing a career as a blue
(00:51):
collar trades person. Next,we'll discuss the downside of
buying into the oversold notionthat the only pathway to
professional pride and financialsecurity is through a college
degree. And why now more thanever blue collar jobs, and the
people who can do the work arein such great demand. Later, Ken
will explain the importance ofdetailed visualization and
(01:11):
helping you map out a futurethat will bring you comfort,
peace and freedom. And we'll endour conversation by learning
what Ken's definition of successis and why he is so passionate
about helping people achievetheir dreams, regardless of
their educational background orpast. Afterward, be sure to
check out the show notes to findout more about Ken, his message
and his book, blue collar cash.
And now onto the show.
(01:39):
Ken Rusk, welcome to GritNation.
Ken Rusk (01:42):
Thanks. Thanks for having me. I really appreciate
it.
Joe Cadwell (01:44):
Yeah, thanks, Ken, thank you for taking your time
to be on the show. I understand.
You're a pretty busy guy. Thebook seems like it's blowing up
for you right now. And I want tostart off our conversation by
asking why did you write BlueCollar Cash?
Ken Rusk (01:59):
Well, you know, it was it was one of those things where
it kind of was born ofnecessity, you know, I've been
doing this business, which, youknow, we're, I guess you would
call us glorified ditch diggers.
And we've been doing that forabout three or four decades now.
And in that time, I had to hirea lot of people, a lot of them,
it might have been their firstor second job. So I found myself
having to do a lot of coaching,you know, their first checking
(02:21):
account, their first creditcard, their first car, their
first department, getting theirdriver's license, straightened
out all those kinds of thingsthat happen to younger people.
And the more the coaching wenton, the more we again, out of
necessity to try to hire andattract people into a great
culture, we had to build a greatculture. And part of that was a
lot of intensive coaching, notonly for their current, but
(02:44):
their future lives. And, and itjust got it kind of spiraled
from there. People said, youknow, what, you do work so well,
you need to take it beyond thefour walls of your company. And
I started jotting down somenotes and telling some stories
from friends of mine. And prettysoon we had a manuscript in
there when
Joe Cadwell (03:01):
so why do you think our younger people or people
that are considering exploringblue collar trades are so
underprepared to step into thisthis sort of world, I know
myself having gone to highschool 35 plus years ago, you
know, everyone was gearing ustowards either college, or in my
case, the military, but therewas a there weren't a whole lot
(03:23):
of wasn't a whole lot ofemphasis put on the blue collar
trades. And I think people werejust expected if you didn't go
to college, you were just goingto jump into it and things would
take off for you. But it soundslike there is a steep learning
curve, regardless of what you doonce you exit the our education
system.
Ken Rusk (03:39):
Yeah, I think I mean, I call it like a perfect storm,
there was two or three differentinfluences that that created
what we have today, which I calla blue collar crisis, actually.
And I think the first thing was,you know, somebody's idea to get
rid of shop class in highschool, where, you know, kids
accidentally discovered, youknow, the great careers of, you
(03:59):
know, plumbing, electrical andcarpentry and, and masonry and
home economics, and mechanics,and all those things. And we
replaced those rooms withcomputers, which, again,
computers are essential for allof us to know, I get that. But
why did it have to be a binarychoice? Meaning one or the
other? Why didn't Why didn't wehave both of those things? So
(04:20):
that was the first thing. Ithink also, as kids begin to
grow up, and when I was younger,we build tree forts in the
backyard, we got hammers andnails, and we got lumber that we
could find and we built a treefor it. Well, now they're
building, you know, cities onMinecraft on their cell phones,
and it's just not the same, thewhole step back moment kind of
(04:41):
feel. And then I think, youknow, between parents and
colleges, they're really, reallygood at this default mechanism,
which means, you know, I got toraise my kid, I have to clothe
my kid, I have to bathe them, Ihave to feed them and then I
have to send them to college, asif it's an automatic default
process. And you and I both knowthat college isn't the only path
(05:03):
to success. There's many otherpaths. And, you know, we're here
to talk about that today. So itseems
Joe Cadwell (05:08):
like we've lost a lot of creativity to think
outside the box that everyonetells us to not find ourselves
in. And you're right, thedefault mechanism is just go to
college, figure out what youwant to do when you get to
college. And as everyone knows,college is a horribly expensive
place to try to figure out whatyou want to do, unless you're
actually after a degree. Aneducation that requires a
(05:31):
degree, like a doctor or alawyer, to just go there and
sort of explore thepossibilities of life at $40,000
or $60,000. A year seems like areal disservice to these young
people to find themselves in afinancial hardship as soon as
they begin the next step oftheir life. And that's why I
think it's so important thatpeople like you are rising to
the challenge saying hey, thereare other viable alternatives
(05:54):
out there. I've there's there'sblue is the new white Josh,
Solon has written a great book,I've had Josh on the show last
year, I stumbled across yourbook, fortunately, and had a
chance to read through that and,and you've just got so much
insight and, and wisdom andpersonal experience. So let's
take it back just a step if wecan can. Your personal
(06:18):
experience I understand you usedto cut through a particular
construction yard on your way toschool and you became sort of
enamored with with that yard?
Can you tell us a little bitmore about that your backstory?
Yeah,
Ken Rusk (06:30):
yeah, that thank you for asking that there was a
fence that connected my highschool to an industrial park.
And we would always go afterschool, we go hang out at the
carry out like kids did. And wewould cut through this fence.
And, you know, there was alwaysgoing through these these
different and industrialbuildings and whatnot, there was
always a lot of action andenergy and people milling about,
(06:51):
you know, there was things thatevery young, every young man,
like there was, you know, towmotors and back hoes and dump
trucks and guys all over theplace, and you know, energy and,
and it was just a neat place.
So, one day I went in, and Isaid, What do you guys do here?
And they basically said, Well,we're ditch diggers, I mean, we,
we dig up old foundations forhouses, and we fix them up and,
and put it all back together. SoI said, you know, I need I need
(07:15):
money to to go, you know,bowling or get pizza or take my
girlfriend out like anybodyelse. So I can do that. And I
jumped into that work. And Istarted doing, you know, digging
ditches in the summertime. Andin the wintertime, I worked in
the office when I was in schoolstill. So we continued that for
a while. And then it grew into aposition where I could, you
(07:37):
know, lead the men for a while.
And that was really great. Andthen we grew into a management
scenario where we were startingto open franchises. And they
sent me around the country toopen up these new little
incubator offices all around thecountry. And I did that for a
few years and finally moved intomy own. And now here I am in
(08:00):
Ohio with two locations andabout 200 employees. So it's,
it's really been a great ride.
So Ken,
Joe Cadwell (08:08):
there's plenty of ditch diggers out in the world.
But not everyone can be calledthe million dollar ditch digger.
So what separates you themillion dollar ditch digger from
the rest of the ditch diggersthat are that are out there that
are not making millions that aredefinitely working hard, just
like you did. But what what isyour recipe? What was the X
factor that allowed you to takeyour understanding and hard work
(08:30):
and tenacity and turn that intoa very successful lucrative
career?
Ken Rusk (08:36):
Wow, that that's a really great question. And just
so everybody knows, I didn'tnecessarily label myself "The
Million Dollar Ditch Digger".
That was the people that helpedme write the helped me publish
the book and that they, they putthat out there. I'm a little
more modest than that. But youknow, hey, I have to do what
they say sometimes. But it forme, it was really simple. You
know, I kind of knew the thingsI wanted my life to look like I
(08:59):
knew, I knew what kind of Iwanted to get a car and I wanted
to get a house and I wanted to,you know, to do these types of
things. I love to water ski. Iwanted to buy a boat. I mean,
there was a lot of things that Iwanted to do. I was I was into
into weightlifting and intogolf. And, you know, there's
just a lot of things that Icould see myself doing in the
future. And I realized that whenyou're working with your own two
(09:22):
hands, okay, which out of the160 5 million people in the
United States, about 70 people70 million people do that in the
workforce. I like being outsideworking with my hands because I
could control my input, whichmeant I could control the output
and which means I could controlmy finances and in the quality
of all that and I don't thinkI'm any different than anybody
(09:47):
else. I think when you talkabout being an entrepreneur,
there's only there's probablynine characteristics that make
up entrepreneurs. And I believe,Joe that every one of us has
those within We just need areason to have those come out.
And to me, it was all aboutseeing what I wanted my future
to be and then making it verycrystal clear and defined and
(10:07):
then going after.
Joe Cadwell (10:09):
And in regards to your understanding or knowing
what your future wanted to be, Iunderstand you use visualization
a lot. And as an athlete,myself, I know the power of
visualization and actually justtaking that time to sort of
reflect and see how you wantyour free throw to look at your
golf swing to look or your yourbatting stance in the follow
(10:30):
through, you use visualization.
And you use a methodology usingpaper and crayons from what I
understand to help peopleactually map out what they see
their future to be. Can you tellus a little bit more about that?
Ken Rusk (10:44):
Yeah, you know, it all began years ago when I was doing
some coaching and basically, Iwould get a big poster board and
I would say okay, what do yousee your your future looking
like? Like what's your nirvana?
What is your I call it in thebook, blue collar cash, I call
it? What's your comfort, Peaceand Freedom look like? And it's
real simple. I mean, youbasically start to sketch what
(11:05):
what kind of car you'd want?
What is it a truck, pickuptruck, or minivan or a car or a
scooter? Or motorcycle orelectric vehicle? You know, what
kind of house you want to livein, out out in the country in
the suburbs? Maybe downtown in acondo or an apartment? What is
your? What is your Your? Yourhealth moment? Like? What do you
(11:27):
do for yourself to keep yourselfhealthy? Describe that in great
detail. What is your hobbies?
What is your sports? What mightyour pet be? Is it a cat or a
dog or something else? And ifso, what would you name it? What
color would it be? I mean, wereally get detailed down into
what you want your life to looklike. And pretty soon, you kind
of have this collage or thispuzzle or this drawing of Yeah,
(11:48):
that would be really cool. Youknow, what would my vacation
look like? I draw this stuffout. And then I can kind of have
a path to follow to get there.
You know, you've never left adriveway, Joe in your car, put
it in drive and said, Okay,where the heck am I going, you
know, you always have adestination. And I think life
(12:08):
should be that way. And all allof its facets, because then that
drives us almost involuntarilytowards the completion of those
things. And we all get to livebetter lives that way.
Joe Cadwell (12:20):
Yeah, and actually writing it down or drawing it
down. Making that plan candefinitely help you kind of
build a roadmap for your future,I pulled this straight out of
your book, and you'd writtenthat 80% of us have no goals at
all. So 80% of us have no goalsat all. 16% of us have goals,
but don't document them in anyway. Okay. 4% write down their
(12:42):
goals. 1% Pay attention to theirwritten goals. And the same 1%
earns about eight times moreincome than the other 99%. And I
think that's amazing. The powerof this visualization, the power
of setting goals, knowing whatyou want and how to get there
setting this pathway forsuccess. And I think that's,
(13:03):
that's huge. Now, you hadmentioned comfort, peace and
freedom. When you were talkingabout setting goals or
visualization of what your lifewould would want to be what is
what is comfort, peace andfreedom? Let's start with
comfort. What does comfort meanto you, sir?
Well,
Ken Rusk (13:18):
comfort means a lot of things. It doesn't just mean
that really nice couch. I mean,it's are you comfortable with
who you are? Are you comfortablewith your surroundings? Are you
comfortable with what you needto be to make yourself happy? I
mean, we all have to look in themirror and set this this
parameter for ourselves. I mean,again, we're not we're not all
going to aspire to be, you know,own a McMansion, and it'd be
(13:42):
hugely out and 15 cars, I mean,it's, every one of us has this
level, where we could say, Man,if I could do that, that would
really make me feel feelcomfortable. And that would be
like my place. So what happensis, when you take comfort like
that, there, there's therefollows a sense of peace, a
(14:06):
sense of calm, and I talkedabout that the lack of stress, a
sense of just having a wellbeing about man, my life is in a
really great place. I'mdesigning it the way I wanted
it, I'm getting it the way Iwant it, and I'm in control that
and that's awesome. And when youcombine those two things, that
opens up a certain amount offreedom for you to do things on
(14:28):
a spontaneous level, okay,spontaneous level, where
otherwise you get so wrapped upin life and being busy that you
lose the ability to bespontaneous, and just make some
cool thing happen for yourself,like take your dog for a walk or
go give back to a charity or dosome of the things that we do,
you know, you know, call someonethat you love and miss or just
(14:50):
some of those things that thatbusyness kind of like screens
this from doing so. Yeah, Ithink comfort, peace and freedom
is like a triangle. All thosethings interrelate. Really to
each other, and, you know,Freedom isn't necessarily
freedom as in the United Statescitizens sense, although that's
a fantastic thing that we have.
It's freedom in a sense of yourwhole being and who you are as a
(15:12):
person and to be able to look inthe mirror and go, Wow, you
know, I'm one of those peoplewho, who've got it, I've got
life licked. You know what Imean? I've got this thing one.
And I worked really, really hardto get there and to make that
happen.
Joe Cadwell (15:28):
No, I agree. 100%, that free freedom, the autonomy
to just sort of control your ownlife not be beholden to other
other people, eitherfinancially, or just mentally,
you know, bound by someoneelse's belief system. It's huge.
Now along with that, thatcomfort, peace and freedom.
There are times though, whenthings aren't going to quite go
the way you visualize them, orthe way you had hoped for them,
(15:50):
or the way you've been buildingtowards. And you have those
those those hard times beforeyou? How does that in your mind
build strength and character?
And what do you what have youdug deep into Ken, it during
your life to overcome this theseadverse challenges?
Ken Rusk (16:07):
Where you know, there's so many things, I'll
just use a real simple example.
You're digging a hole, and I'vedone a lot of that I've planted
1000s of trees I've done. I'vedug lots of ditches, I've done
all these things. Invariably,you're digging a hole, you're
gonna run into a root, okay,something that's trying to stop
you. And what do you do? Youhave to work around that. Okay.
So there's a challenge, you seeit, boom, you jump on the
(16:27):
shovel, you almost break yourankle, you fall off the shovel,
you're like, wow, what was that,you just have to work your way
around around that either bygetting a stronger piece of
equipment or finding anotherposition, or whatever you need
to do to make that thing happen.
And I think persistence andresilience, which are two of the
main characteristics of anentrepreneur, I think those two
(16:49):
things really do buildcharacter. Because, you know,
you've always heard people say,if at first you don't succeed,
try, try again. But it's the trytry again, part that really gets
you to become, you know,adaptive, okay? So, you know, if
you run into a wall the firsttime, it's like, Okay, I'm gonna
go around, I'm gonna go under,I'm gonna go over, I'm going to
do these things. And it's thattype of resilience that creates
(17:12):
the one percenters that you werejust talking about. And the best
part about that Joe, which Ithink is, the joy of this whole
process, is it's anybody can dothat. Anybody can grab a piece
of paper, write down theirgoals, tape them up to their
bathroom mirror, and then havetheir brain through osmosis,
(17:33):
almost naturally attractthemselves to the completion of
those goals. And it's such apowerful tool, it doesn't cost a
dime. And anybody can do this.
That's why when I when I sharethis stuff, and they say, well,
you're one of those luckyentrepreneurs. I'm like, No,
anybody can do this, as long asyou have a reason. So find out
what your WHY IS, and you'll bethere.
Joe Cadwell (17:54):
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And now back to the show. Thatsounds like great advice. And I
know you've done a lot ofcoaching over the years since
starting your company. And it'ssort of culminating now with
with the creation of your book,and I'm sure books to follow.
(18:58):
There's There's a saying that Ihope I don't mess it up too
much. But if you come across a apost someday, and on top of that
post, there's a potato, right?
One thing you can pretty muchguarantee is that potato did not
get on top of that post byitself, right? There's always
going to be some help along theway to get it there. And you
talk about entrepreneurialspirit, and that so much of that
(19:20):
comes from your own personaldesire, but it really does take
a team in order to get everyonesuccessful. How do you get team
by? And how do you get peoplethat you work with the buy into
your vision to make yousuccessful? And along the way to
buoy them up as well and makethem successful? Where does that
come from?
Ken Rusk (19:38):
This is probably the single greatest thing that I've
ever stumbled across and or somepeople say invented or whatever.
But, you know, to me, if you askthe people in our office and he
said What does Ken say more thananything else when he's talking
to you and I've done a lot ofmeetings over the years. They
will say what he tells us isthat Ken can't get what he
(20:01):
wants, nor can his company getwhat he wants until all of us
get what we want first. And thatis an absolute truth. I mean, if
you think about it, you haveeveryone in this company doing a
piece or a part, making somepart of the whole happen. And
that all has to happen beforethe company can actually create,
you know, a sale or create aninstallation or create a payment
(20:25):
or a revenue stream. So, for me,I found a long time ago, that I
don't mind if the people workingin our organization are working
from a very selfish place,meaning I'm here to get what I
want for myself, and my life andmy family. And I'm going to do
this and help Ken along the way.
So they're their priority, theirfutures are the priority, not
(20:49):
mine, because I won't have afuture of they don't. So, to me,
it's all about, let's set abunch of goals. Let's live a
life that's full ofanticipation. Meaning, like when
you when you, Joe, when you setup a vacation, right? That might
be six months from now. And youthink about, Okay, I'm going to
(21:09):
Florida, I'm going to go to thebeach, I'm going to get my
sandals in my bathing suit, andI magazine in my lounge chair,
my towel my drink, it's going tofeel great, the sun's going to
be you know, beaten down on memaybe some breeze off the ocean.
And you actually relive that formonths before you go, Well, why
are vacations The only thingthat we anticipate, we should be
(21:29):
anticipating houses and, andcars and maybe learning to speak
another language and giving backto a charity or making ourselves
the best us we can be throughhobbies or sports or health, we
should be anticipating every oneof those things the same way we
anticipate a vacation. And whenyou do that, you just kind of
(21:50):
have this flow going. And youjust kind of flow through life
with this kind of real sense ofagain, comfort, peace and
freedom that you don't get ifyou're under all this stress of
what's next and how am I goingto do it,
Joe Cadwell (22:04):
right. And that flow state is is super
important. It is something thatis is worthy of striving for and
and again, as a leader, yourealize that your flow state is
so dependent on on the moraleand attitude of the people that
you are leading to get you thereto get you all there. Sort of
that collective accountability,I think you've mentioned in the
(22:25):
book, you know, when everyone isis responsible for their part,
we're everyone's going to besuccessful. We're gonna see
through the rough time.
Ken Rusk (22:32):
Yeah, you know, there's important points of
that, you know, I, especially inthis day and age where someone
can come into your company, andthey passed probably 15 or 20,
help wanted signs getting toyour front door. Okay, so they
have a lot of options and a lotof choices. And it used to be
where it was like the oldNeanderthal thinking, you know,
(22:53):
I am Boss, you are employee, youwill do what I say why should I
hire you? Now it's a littledifferent. Now, when they come
in, they're almost saying, hey,what's in it for me to work
here? And I'm okay with that.
Because if I can answer thatquestion, I'll have a self
motivated, self directed selfmanaging gold crushing
individual, that's going to helpmy company get way further than
(23:13):
I can do it on my own. Andthat's what I think, you know,
the bosses out there, they needto really think about maybe
parking, that ego that they haverelative to running a company
and allowing the the people thatwork there to really grow for
themselves. And you will benefitmuch more so than if you just
(23:34):
try to do everything on yourown.
Joe Cadwell (23:38):
That's for sure.
And in your book, you mentioneda work partner, Tim, what can
you tell us about Tim and Timstory and how you to develop the
relationship in your company.
Ken Rusk (23:49):
He's actually the very first person I ever did a
coaching session with and thiswas back in 1987. There was a
young man, he was just recentlymarried. He was he was expecting
a child there was there wasproblems with the pregnancy and
medical bills. And he was inthis apartment. And he came to
me and he said, I just don'tknow how I'm going to get out of
this cycle. So we literally tookmarkers and crayons and a piece
(24:14):
of paper and we wrote down, whatwould you like to your life to
look like? And, you know, hethought, well, I need to get a
working car because this car Ihave is breaking down. So we
started saving for a pickuptruck together. And then we
started saving for a piece ofland that we bought a land
contract from a farmer. And hepaid that off over time. And
then he got some money together.
And he started building thishouse. And then he had now he
(24:36):
had four kids and some went tocollege and some didn't Some
went to the military think thankGod for that. And so it was this
kind of combination of onesuccess after another because we
just talked about it. And wekept it in front of us. Like we
taped it on the mirror, and itwas always there and I'm happy
to say I mean I met with himthis morning. He's he's been
(24:59):
here 36 years now I think and 35years and it's he was the very
first one I ever coached and,and that's why I made sure to
put them in the book as a way ofthanking him because he's an
amazing human being. And youknow, it's funny because as a
boss, and I hate to use thatword, but as a boss, he wants to
thank me and give me credit forhelping him do all this. And I
(25:20):
look back and say, Listen, man,I had like, maybe 2%. To do with
all this, you were the other 98.
So, you know, live well and behappy for it.
Joe Cadwell (25:31):
Absolutely. That's a great story. And I found a lot
of pleasure in reading that, youknow, and Tim success. And I'm
glad I had the chance to talkwith you about it. Can you know,
going back to where we firststarted, we, you know, both of
us are pretty much not anticollege, it's a great place to
go if you know what you want todo in life. But you'd written a
couple of sections in there thatkind of address some of the
(25:52):
shortcomings that our currenteducational system finds and
helping people manage theirmoney and doing budgeting and
the importance of compoundinginterest. Why did you decide to
put all that into your into bluecollar cash?
Ken Rusk (26:05):
Well, first of all that, yeah, that that's two
different questions. And I lovethem. The first one is, you
know, I'm not an anti collegeguy. If you're going to operate
on my shoulder, or manage moneyor teach somebody something, or
you know, maybe design askyscraper, you're going to need
to know everything that there isto know about that particular
thing. Okay? On the other hand,if you're just going because
(26:26):
someone told you, you have togo, you know, why amass all that
dead, if you have no real reasonfor being there. I mean, if you
think about it, they say that upto 25% of people that have gone
to college, 40% of whom didn'thave any idea why they were
going, but 25% of them changetheir major after two years. And
(26:49):
then another 33% of them neverwork in the field that they
studied. And here they are withall this debt, and they have
this degree in European Englishtranslation that they can't use
for anything. And they all thismoney, and it, it just doesn't
make any sense to me. It's aninefficient system. Unless you
know exactly why you're going ifyou're going to go be a doctor
(27:12):
or lawyer, then bam, go do that.
I think that's fantastic. Soyeah, that that's, that's really
part of the whole thing withcollagen. I'm not against it,
you just really need to know whyyou're going there. And if you
coupled that part up with thefact that oh, my gosh, I mean,
for I think they said the otherday, I put it in the book, and
it might be improving now, butat that point, one in it for
(27:33):
every five electricians that wasretiring, only one was coming
online. And that's simple supplyand demand, Joe, I mean, if if
supply gets low and demand getshigh, then that's where the
money goes. And in Toledoanyway, we have carpenters and
plumbers, and electricians,making as much as lawyers and
engineers. And, and it's, it'scrazy, how well they're doing.
(27:56):
And you know, the timing isperfect for that
Joe Cadwell (28:01):
going back gangbusters during the the COVID
era for sure. And yeah, the everwidening skills gap and in the
US and Canada is apparent. Andit's just not in the blue, or I
shouldn't say the blue collartrades, that the building
trades. But all across theboard, bus drivers, nurses, even
airline pilots, the people thatare really wanting to get out
and put in the hard work and thetime or are in short supply. And
(28:24):
so along with all those newfoundriches, I noticed in the book
that you had put in some someinsight on budgeting and money
management and the effects ofcompound interest. And I thought
that was fantastic to helppeople that are maybe
considering this, this careerpath that wow, you know, I do
have the ability to startpreparing for the financially
(28:44):
for the long haul. And and thethe advice you put in there was
was a magic, why did you decideto put that in?
Ken Rusk (28:51):
Well, you know, I looked at it from two ways.
Either A, you're the personworking for someone else, or B,
you're the person who has peopleworking for them. A typical 401k
is such a win win for both theemployer and the employee. I
don't think most people knowthis. And this falls under the
category of man, I wish someonewould have told me this when I
(29:11):
was younger, right? If you put$60 a week away into a 401k
account, and but when you're 21or 22, you only have to do that
for 10 years, which is about$3,300 a year or $33,000 over
the 10 year period. And then youcan stop doing that. And by the
time you retire, you're going tohave over a million dollars in
(29:33):
your 401k account. I don't thinkif you went on the street today,
Joe and asked people that thatscenario, half of them wouldn't
believe it. The other half wouldsay well why hasn't anybody told
me that before? So Ispecifically you know we have a
million we have what we call a401k Millionaire Club here where
we put everyone into the 401k weput their first dollar and not
(29:56):
their last dollar Okay, so ifthat gets paid Before anything
else, and, and what's greatabout that is these are 1920 21
year old kids who now that theycan go to their friend's house
or the bar or whatever. And theycan say, Hey, man, my retirement
is handled, I don't even have tothink about it anymore. So that
felt again, it was one of thosethings where I'm like, Why isn't
(30:18):
this being taught everywhere?
You know, so we can rely less onentitlements and stuff that, you
know, government largess orwhatever, and we can be
responsible for ourselves,right? I mean, I don't want to
rely on somebody else, I want torely on me. So if I can create a
situation where I've got amillion dollar account that only
cost me $30,000. I mean, that'sunbelievable. So if you pair
(30:40):
that up with the budgeting I putin there, it shows you how to
live with carving out that first$60 and, and then living with
the rest of the budget, the wayyou lay it out. And I gotta tell
you, there's, there's no morepowerful tool than to set
yourself off in an unstressedsituation financially, which
again, brings you all thatcomfort, Peace and Freedom
(31:03):
you're looking for. It all
Joe Cadwell (31:05):
makes sense. And it's common sense. And you're
right, why don't we teach morecommon sense to our kids, Warren
Buffett, arguably one of therichest men in the world, you
know, made the majority of hismoney through compound interest.
And it came later on. But Warrenhad been investing since he was
10 years old, from what Iunderstand. But your advice is
fantastic. I'm going to hit youup on one more piece of insight
(31:27):
someday versus today. Youmentioned that in the book
someday versus today, someday,people and today, people, what's
the difference between the two?
Ken Rusk (31:36):
You know, it's just an accidental mindset. You know, I
think people have goodintentions. I don't think anyone
wants to be a couch potato orwhatever. But it's just the way
that the words come out. Becauseit's much easier to say, you
know, Sunday, I'm going to goback and build that deck behind
the house or Sunday, I'm goingto do this or Sunday, I'm going
(31:57):
to do that. Whenever someoneuses the word Sunday to me, I
always say, well, when is that?
Because Sunday really nevercomes. If you think about you
know, the bar is going to serveyou free drinks someday. Well,
that never happens. Right? Yousee those signs up?
Joe Cadwell (32:10):
Up there and beer tomorrow? Yeah, a free
Ken Rusk (32:13):
beer tomorrow. So I really wanted to put it out
there that, you know, you havecontrol over the things that you
do. And if you really want toget a goal to happen for
yourself, you need to put thatinto action. And you need to do
that right now. Okay, you needto do that today. So, you know,
for all of your listeners outthere next time, someone says,
(32:34):
Hey, you know what, we should goto lunch Sunday, let's go to
lunch. I want you to pull outyour phone, get out your
calendar and say, okay, when doyou want to do that? And watch
the look on their face as thoughoh my gosh, we're really doing
this well, in that the wayyou're supposed to live your
life? I mean, because trust mewhen I say this Sunday never
shows up.
Joe Cadwell (32:54):
Makes sense. So Ken Rusk, what's your definition of
success?
Ken Rusk (33:01):
Oh, my gosh, I I think I've said it a few times here, I
can look in the mirror and sayto myself, Man, I have created
everything I wanted to createfor my life. I don't want for
anything, I don't have anystress, I don't have any
financial issues. I've setmyself up to to be very, very
calm at this point in my life,which is really cool. But I
(33:22):
think I think for anybody elseit is, can you find? Can you
find meaning in in who you arenot in who everybody else is? Or
who in who everybody else wantsyou to be? Can you look in the
mirror and find out what isgoing to work best to make you
the whole person that you wantto be because there are 1000
(33:44):
different levels of success. Iknow a lot of rich people that
are miserable. Okay, so setyourself up in a way that you
see yourself living a really,really cool life. And yeah,
you'll have what I call successfor sure.
Joe Cadwell (33:59):
All right, great answer. And I know yourself,
you're a mentor. You're a coach,you're an author. You're a
successful business owner. And Iknow you're a very charitable
guy as well. From what Iunderstand, would you mind
sharing a little bit about yourcharitable efforts? I know
you're a humble guy as well. SoI don't want you to toot your
horn too much. But I know you'reinvolved heavily into the Ronald
McDonald House, is that correct?
And another we do quite a bit
Ken Rusk (34:23):
we work with Ron with townhouse, we also work a lot
with Make a wish and, andrecently, we're working with
junior achievement. You know,one of the things that we that I
wanted to make sure is that thiswasn't just a book that you read
and put up on the shelf, likesome trophy and then you forgot
about it three weeks later. Sowe created a course that follows
along the book that anyone cantake, I don't care if you're 15
(34:45):
or 50. You can take this courseand it'll actually change who
you are. And it'll change howyou think and in how you look at
the rest of your life. And it'sa it's a pretty cool thing to
see what we're doing with kidstoday. And and even you know I
had a gentleman who said he wasa sales rep for a medical
company. He's 52. He'smiserable. He loved plumbing
(35:07):
when he was younger. So he wentback to and he's never been
happier. So yeah, we're tryingto change people's lives every
day, any way we can here.
Joe Cadwell (35:15):
Great stuff. Well, thank you so much, Ken. This has
been a fantastic conversationcan where can people go to find
out more about you and yourbook?
Ken Rusk (35:24):
Well, you can go to Ken ross.com. And you'll see
what we're up to there. You cango to Ken Rusk, comm forward
slash path, which is where thecourse lives. And you can also
find us on Ken Rusk official on,you know, Facebook, Instagram,
and Twitter and all that. And,again, you know, one of the
things that I always like totell people is, I donate all the
(35:45):
proceeds of the course and thebook, back to charity. So I'm
not in that part for the money.
I'm in this to help peoplebecause to whom much is given
much as expected, and I've beenvery blessed and very grateful
for that.
Joe Cadwell (35:58):
I guess there has been Ken Rusk, author of blue
collar cash, which is nowavailable on Amazon, Barnes and
Noble or at your favorite localbookstore. Be sure to check out
the show notes where you canfind information to help you
dive deeper into the content. Ifyou like this episode, be sure
to share it with a friend,family member or co worker. And
until next time, this is JoeCadwell, reminding you to work
(36:21):
safe, work smart and stay unionstrong
Welcome to Grit Nation -The Building Trades
Podcast. I'm Joe Cadwell, thewriter, producer and host of the
show. Today I have the pleasureof speaking with Ken Rusk. Ken
is a blue collar career choiceadvocate, construction industry
entrepreneur, and the author ofBlue Collar Cash, which details
how you can love your work,secure your future and find
happiness for life.
(00:30):
We'll start today's conversationby learning about Ken's
background and how his passionfor hard working construction
earned him the nickname The""Million Dollar Ditch Digger".
We'll then unpack the lessonscan learn from a lifetime in the
trades that have enabled him towrite his book and how these
lessons have been useful in hiscurrent role as a life coach and
mentor to those interested inpursuing a career as a blue
(00:51):
collar trades person. Next,we'll discuss the downside of
buying into the oversold notionthat the only pathway to
professional pride and financialsecurity is through a college
degree. And why now more thanever blue collar jobs, and the
people who can do the work arein such great demand. Later, Ken
will explain the importance ofdetailed visualization and
(01:11):
helping you map out a futurethat will bring you comfort,
peace and freedom. And we'll endour conversation by learning
what Ken's definition of successis and why he is so passionate
about helping people achievetheir dreams, regardless of
their educational background orpast. Afterward, be sure to
check out the show notes to findout more about Ken, his message
and his book, blue collar cash.
And now onto the show.
(01:39):
Ken Rusk, welcome to GritNation.
Ken Rusk (01:42):
Thanks. Thanks for having me. I really appreciate
it.
Joe Cadwell (01:44):
Yeah, thanks, Ken, thank you for taking your time
to be on the show. I understand.
You're a pretty busy guy. Thebook seems like it's blowing up
for you right now. And I want tostart off our conversation by
asking why did you write BlueCollar Cash?
Ken Rusk (01:59):
Well, you know, it was it was one of those things where
it kind of was born ofnecessity, you know, I've been
doing this business, which, youknow, we're, I guess you would
call us glorified ditch diggers.
And we've been doing that forabout three or four decades now.
And in that time, I had to hirea lot of people, a lot of them,
it might have been their firstor second job. So I found myself
having to do a lot of coaching,you know, their first checking
(02:21):
account, their first creditcard, their first car, their
first department, getting theirdriver's license, straightened
out all those kinds of thingsthat happen to younger people.
And the more the coaching wenton, the more we again, out of
necessity to try to hire andattract people into a great
culture, we had to build a greatculture. And part of that was a
lot of intensive coaching, notonly for their current, but
(02:44):
their future lives. And, and itjust got it kind of spiraled
from there. People said, youknow, what, you do work so well,
you need to take it beyond thefour walls of your company. And
I started jotting down somenotes and telling some stories
from friends of mine. And prettysoon we had a manuscript in
there when
Joe Cadwell (03:01):
so why do you think our younger people or people
that are considering exploringblue collar trades are so
underprepared to step into thisthis sort of world, I know
myself having gone to highschool 35 plus years ago, you
know, everyone was gearing ustowards either college, or in my
case, the military, but therewas a there weren't a whole lot
(03:23):
of wasn't a whole lot ofemphasis put on the blue collar
trades. And I think people werejust expected if you didn't go
to college, you were just goingto jump into it and things would
take off for you. But it soundslike there is a steep learning
curve, regardless of what you doonce you exit the our education
system.
Ken Rusk (03:39):
Yeah, I think I mean, I call it like a perfect storm,
there was two or three differentinfluences that that created
what we have today, which I calla blue collar crisis, actually.
And I think the first thing was,you know, somebody's idea to get
rid of shop class in highschool, where, you know, kids
accidentally discovered, youknow, the great careers of, you
(03:59):
know, plumbing, electrical andcarpentry and, and masonry and
home economics, and mechanics,and all those things. And we
replaced those rooms withcomputers, which, again,
computers are essential for allof us to know, I get that. But
why did it have to be a binarychoice? Meaning one or the
other? Why didn't Why didn't wehave both of those things? So
(04:20):
that was the first thing. Ithink also, as kids begin to
grow up, and when I was younger,we build tree forts in the
backyard, we got hammers andnails, and we got lumber that we
could find and we built a treefor it. Well, now they're
building, you know, cities onMinecraft on their cell phones,
and it's just not the same, thewhole step back moment kind of
(04:41):
feel. And then I think, youknow, between parents and
colleges, they're really, reallygood at this default mechanism,
which means, you know, I got toraise my kid, I have to clothe
my kid, I have to bathe them, Ihave to feed them and then I
have to send them to college, asif it's an automatic default
process. And you and I both knowthat college isn't the only path
(05:03):
to success. There's many otherpaths. And, you know, we're here
to talk about that today. So itseems
Joe Cadwell (05:08):
like we've lost a lot of creativity to think
outside the box that everyonetells us to not find ourselves
in. And you're right, thedefault mechanism is just go to
college, figure out what youwant to do when you get to
college. And as everyone knows,college is a horribly expensive
place to try to figure out whatyou want to do, unless you're
actually after a degree. Aneducation that requires a
(05:31):
degree, like a doctor or alawyer, to just go there and
sort of explore thepossibilities of life at $40,000
or $60,000. A year seems like areal disservice to these young
people to find themselves in afinancial hardship as soon as
they begin the next step oftheir life. And that's why I
think it's so important thatpeople like you are rising to
the challenge saying hey, thereare other viable alternatives
(05:54):
out there. I've there's there'sblue is the new white Josh,
Solon has written a great book,I've had Josh on the show last
year, I stumbled across yourbook, fortunately, and had a
chance to read through that and,and you've just got so much
insight and, and wisdom andpersonal experience. So let's
take it back just a step if wecan can. Your personal
(06:18):
experience I understand you usedto cut through a particular
construction yard on your way toschool and you became sort of
enamored with with that yard?
Can you tell us a little bitmore about that your backstory?
Yeah,
Ken Rusk (06:30):
yeah, that thank you for asking that there was a
fence that connected my highschool to an industrial park.
And we would always go afterschool, we go hang out at the
carry out like kids did. And wewould cut through this fence.
And, you know, there was alwaysgoing through these these
different and industrialbuildings and whatnot, there was
always a lot of action andenergy and people milling about,
(06:51):
you know, there was things thatevery young, every young man,
like there was, you know, towmotors and back hoes and dump
trucks and guys all over theplace, and you know, energy and,
and it was just a neat place.
So, one day I went in, and Isaid, What do you guys do here?
And they basically said, Well,we're ditch diggers, I mean, we,
we dig up old foundations forhouses, and we fix them up and,
and put it all back together. SoI said, you know, I need I need
(07:15):
money to to go, you know,bowling or get pizza or take my
girlfriend out like anybodyelse. So I can do that. And I
jumped into that work. And Istarted doing, you know, digging
ditches in the summertime. Andin the wintertime, I worked in
the office when I was in schoolstill. So we continued that for
a while. And then it grew into aposition where I could, you
(07:37):
know, lead the men for a while.
And that was really great. Andthen we grew into a management
scenario where we were startingto open franchises. And they
sent me around the country toopen up these new little
incubator offices all around thecountry. And I did that for a
few years and finally moved intomy own. And now here I am in
(08:00):
Ohio with two locations andabout 200 employees. So it's,
it's really been a great ride.
So Ken,
Joe Cadwell (08:08):
there's plenty of ditch diggers out in the world.
But not everyone can be calledthe million dollar ditch digger.
So what separates you themillion dollar ditch digger from
the rest of the ditch diggersthat are that are out there that
are not making millions that aredefinitely working hard, just
like you did. But what what isyour recipe? What was the X
factor that allowed you to takeyour understanding and hard work
(08:30):
and tenacity and turn that intoa very successful lucrative
career?
Ken Rusk (08:36):
Wow, that that's a really great question. And just
so everybody knows, I didn'tnecessarily label myself "The
Million Dollar Ditch Digger".
That was the people that helpedme write the helped me publish
the book and that they, they putthat out there. I'm a little
more modest than that. But youknow, hey, I have to do what
they say sometimes. But it forme, it was really simple. You
know, I kind of knew the thingsI wanted my life to look like I
(08:59):
knew, I knew what kind of Iwanted to get a car and I wanted
to get a house and I wanted to,you know, to do these types of
things. I love to water ski. Iwanted to buy a boat. I mean,
there was a lot of things that Iwanted to do. I was I was into
into weightlifting and intogolf. And, you know, there's
just a lot of things that Icould see myself doing in the
future. And I realized that whenyou're working with your own two
(09:22):
hands, okay, which out of the160 5 million people in the
United States, about 70 people70 million people do that in the
workforce. I like being outsideworking with my hands because I
could control my input, whichmeant I could control the output
and which means I could controlmy finances and in the quality
of all that and I don't thinkI'm any different than anybody
(09:47):
else. I think when you talkabout being an entrepreneur,
there's only there's probablynine characteristics that make
up entrepreneurs. And I believe,Joe that every one of us has
those within We just need areason to have those come out.
And to me, it was all aboutseeing what I wanted my future
to be and then making it verycrystal clear and defined and
(10:07):
then going after.
Joe Cadwell (10:09):
And in regards to your understanding or knowing
what your future wanted to be, Iunderstand you use visualization
a lot. And as an athlete,myself, I know the power of
visualization and actually justtaking that time to sort of
reflect and see how you wantyour free throw to look at your
golf swing to look or your yourbatting stance in the follow
(10:30):
through, you use visualization.
And you use a methodology usingpaper and crayons from what I
understand to help peopleactually map out what they see
their future to be. Can you tellus a little bit more about that?
Ken Rusk (10:44):
Yeah, you know, it all began years ago when I was doing
some coaching and basically, Iwould get a big poster board and
I would say okay, what do yousee your your future looking
like? Like what's your nirvana?
What is your I call it in thebook, blue collar cash, I call
it? What's your comfort, Peaceand Freedom look like? And it's
real simple. I mean, youbasically start to sketch what
(11:05):
what kind of car you'd want?
What is it a truck, pickuptruck, or minivan or a car or a
scooter? Or motorcycle orelectric vehicle? You know, what
kind of house you want to livein, out out in the country in
the suburbs? Maybe downtown in acondo or an apartment? What is
your? What is your Your? Yourhealth moment? Like? What do you
(11:27):
do for yourself to keep yourselfhealthy? Describe that in great
detail. What is your hobbies?
What is your sports? What mightyour pet be? Is it a cat or a
dog or something else? And ifso, what would you name it? What
color would it be? I mean, wereally get detailed down into
what you want your life to looklike. And pretty soon, you kind
of have this collage or thispuzzle or this drawing of Yeah,
(11:48):
that would be really cool. Youknow, what would my vacation
look like? I draw this stuffout. And then I can kind of have
a path to follow to get there.
You know, you've never left adriveway, Joe in your car, put
it in drive and said, Okay,where the heck am I going, you
know, you always have adestination. And I think life
(12:08):
should be that way. And all allof its facets, because then that
drives us almost involuntarilytowards the completion of those
things. And we all get to livebetter lives that way.
Joe Cadwell (12:20):
Yeah, and actually writing it down or drawing it
down. Making that plan candefinitely help you kind of
build a roadmap for your future,I pulled this straight out of
your book, and you'd writtenthat 80% of us have no goals at
all. So 80% of us have no goalsat all. 16% of us have goals,
but don't document them in anyway. Okay. 4% write down their
(12:42):
goals. 1% Pay attention to theirwritten goals. And the same 1%
earns about eight times moreincome than the other 99%. And I
think that's amazing. The powerof this visualization, the power
of setting goals, knowing whatyou want and how to get there
setting this pathway forsuccess. And I think that's,
(13:03):
that's huge. Now, you hadmentioned comfort, peace and
freedom. When you were talkingabout setting goals or
visualization of what your lifewould would want to be what is
what is comfort, peace andfreedom? Let's start with
comfort. What does comfort meanto you, sir?
Well,
Ken Rusk (13:18):
comfort means a lot of things. It doesn't just mean
that really nice couch. I mean,it's are you comfortable with
who you are? Are you comfortablewith your surroundings? Are you
comfortable with what you needto be to make yourself happy? I
mean, we all have to look in themirror and set this this
parameter for ourselves. I mean,again, we're not we're not all
going to aspire to be, you know,own a McMansion, and it'd be
(13:42):
hugely out and 15 cars, I mean,it's, every one of us has this
level, where we could say, Man,if I could do that, that would
really make me feel feelcomfortable. And that would be
like my place. So what happensis, when you take comfort like
that, there, there's therefollows a sense of peace, a
(14:06):
sense of calm, and I talkedabout that the lack of stress, a
sense of just having a wellbeing about man, my life is in a
really great place. I'mdesigning it the way I wanted
it, I'm getting it the way Iwant it, and I'm in control that
and that's awesome. And when youcombine those two things, that
opens up a certain amount offreedom for you to do things on
(14:28):
a spontaneous level, okay,spontaneous level, where
otherwise you get so wrapped upin life and being busy that you
lose the ability to bespontaneous, and just make some
cool thing happen for yourself,like take your dog for a walk or
go give back to a charity or dosome of the things that we do,
you know, you know, call someonethat you love and miss or just
(14:50):
some of those things that thatbusyness kind of like screens
this from doing so. Yeah, Ithink comfort, peace and freedom
is like a triangle. All thosethings interrelate. Really to
each other, and, you know,Freedom isn't necessarily
freedom as in the United Statescitizens sense, although that's
a fantastic thing that we have.
It's freedom in a sense of yourwhole being and who you are as a
(15:12):
person and to be able to look inthe mirror and go, Wow, you
know, I'm one of those peoplewho, who've got it, I've got
life licked. You know what Imean? I've got this thing one.
And I worked really, really hardto get there and to make that
happen.
Joe Cadwell (15:28):
No, I agree. 100%, that free freedom, the autonomy
to just sort of control your ownlife not be beholden to other
other people, eitherfinancially, or just mentally,
you know, bound by someoneelse's belief system. It's huge.
Now along with that, thatcomfort, peace and freedom.
There are times though, whenthings aren't going to quite go
the way you visualize them, orthe way you had hoped for them,
(15:50):
or the way you've been buildingtowards. And you have those
those those hard times beforeyou? How does that in your mind
build strength and character?
And what do you what have youdug deep into Ken, it during
your life to overcome this theseadverse challenges?
Ken Rusk (16:07):
Where you know, there's so many things, I'll
just use a real simple example.
You're digging a hole, and I'vedone a lot of that I've planted
1000s of trees I've done. I'vedug lots of ditches, I've done
all these things. Invariably,you're digging a hole, you're
gonna run into a root, okay,something that's trying to stop
you. And what do you do? Youhave to work around that. Okay.
So there's a challenge, you seeit, boom, you jump on the
(16:27):
shovel, you almost break yourankle, you fall off the shovel,
you're like, wow, what was that,you just have to work your way
around around that either bygetting a stronger piece of
equipment or finding anotherposition, or whatever you need
to do to make that thing happen.
And I think persistence andresilience, which are two of the
main characteristics of anentrepreneur, I think those two
(16:49):
things really do buildcharacter. Because, you know,
you've always heard people say,if at first you don't succeed,
try, try again. But it's the trytry again, part that really gets
you to become, you know,adaptive, okay? So, you know, if
you run into a wall the firsttime, it's like, Okay, I'm gonna
go around, I'm gonna go under,I'm gonna go over, I'm going to
do these things. And it's thattype of resilience that creates
(17:12):
the one percenters that you werejust talking about. And the best
part about that Joe, which Ithink is, the joy of this whole
process, is it's anybody can dothat. Anybody can grab a piece
of paper, write down theirgoals, tape them up to their
bathroom mirror, and then havetheir brain through osmosis,
(17:33):
almost naturally attractthemselves to the completion of
those goals. And it's such apowerful tool, it doesn't cost a
dime. And anybody can do this.
That's why when I when I sharethis stuff, and they say, well,
you're one of those luckyentrepreneurs. I'm like, No,
anybody can do this, as long asyou have a reason. So find out
what your WHY IS, and you'll bethere.
Joe Cadwell (17:54):
Now, quick break in the action for a word from our
sponsor. Today's episode isbrought to you by our friends
over at Union Home Plus, unionHome Plus has been in the
business since 2002, helpingNorthwest carpenter families
just like yours, save money whenthey buy, sell, or finance their
home. If you've been listeningthe show for a while, you've
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probably heard me talk withPatrick Towne, the director of
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Homeownership. For moreinformation, be sure to check
out the show notes and today'sepisode, or visit union Home
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Plus dot o RG on the web unionHome Plus, helping Northwest
carpenter families find theirway home for nearly 20 years.
And now back to the show. Thatsounds like great advice. And I
know you've done a lot ofcoaching over the years since
starting your company. And it'ssort of culminating now with
with the creation of your book,and I'm sure books to follow.
(18:58):
There's There's a saying that Ihope I don't mess it up too
much. But if you come across a apost someday, and on top of that
post, there's a potato, right?
One thing you can pretty muchguarantee is that potato did not
get on top of that post byitself, right? There's always
going to be some help along theway to get it there. And you
talk about entrepreneurialspirit, and that so much of that
(19:20):
comes from your own personaldesire, but it really does take
a team in order to get everyonesuccessful. How do you get team
by? And how do you get peoplethat you work with the buy into
your vision to make yousuccessful? And along the way to
buoy them up as well and makethem successful? Where does that
come from?
Ken Rusk (19:38):
This is probably the single greatest thing that I've
ever stumbled across and or somepeople say invented or whatever.
But, you know, to me, if you askthe people in our office and he
said What does Ken say more thananything else when he's talking
to you and I've done a lot ofmeetings over the years. They
will say what he tells us isthat Ken can't get what he
(20:01):
wants, nor can his company getwhat he wants until all of us
get what we want first. And thatis an absolute truth. I mean, if
you think about it, you haveeveryone in this company doing a
piece or a part, making somepart of the whole happen. And
that all has to happen beforethe company can actually create,
you know, a sale or create aninstallation or create a payment
(20:25):
or a revenue stream. So, for me,I found a long time ago, that I
don't mind if the people workingin our organization are working
from a very selfish place,meaning I'm here to get what I
want for myself, and my life andmy family. And I'm going to do
this and help Ken along the way.
So they're their priority, theirfutures are the priority, not
(20:49):
mine, because I won't have afuture of they don't. So, to me,
it's all about, let's set abunch of goals. Let's live a
life that's full ofanticipation. Meaning, like when
you when you, Joe, when you setup a vacation, right? That might
be six months from now. And youthink about, Okay, I'm going to
(21:09):
Florida, I'm going to go to thebeach, I'm going to get my
sandals in my bathing suit, andI magazine in my lounge chair,
my towel my drink, it's going tofeel great, the sun's going to
be you know, beaten down on memaybe some breeze off the ocean.
And you actually relive that formonths before you go, Well, why
are vacations The only thingthat we anticipate, we should be
(21:29):
anticipating houses and, andcars and maybe learning to speak
another language and giving backto a charity or making ourselves
the best us we can be throughhobbies or sports or health, we
should be anticipating every oneof those things the same way we
anticipate a vacation. And whenyou do that, you just kind of
(21:50):
have this flow going. And youjust kind of flow through life
with this kind of real sense ofagain, comfort, peace and
freedom that you don't get ifyou're under all this stress of
what's next and how am I goingto do it,
Joe Cadwell (22:04):
right. And that flow state is is super
important. It is something thatis is worthy of striving for and
and again, as a leader, yourealize that your flow state is
so dependent on on the moraleand attitude of the people that
you are leading to get you thereto get you all there. Sort of
that collective accountability,I think you've mentioned in the
(22:25):
book, you know, when everyone isis responsible for their part,
we're everyone's going to besuccessful. We're gonna see
through the rough time.
Ken Rusk (22:32):
Yeah, you know, there's important points of
that, you know, I, especially inthis day and age where someone
can come into your company, andthey passed probably 15 or 20,
help wanted signs getting toyour front door. Okay, so they
have a lot of options and a lotof choices. And it used to be
where it was like the oldNeanderthal thinking, you know,
(22:53):
I am Boss, you are employee, youwill do what I say why should I
hire you? Now it's a littledifferent. Now, when they come
in, they're almost saying, hey,what's in it for me to work
here? And I'm okay with that.
Because if I can answer thatquestion, I'll have a self
motivated, self directed selfmanaging gold crushing
individual, that's going to helpmy company get way further than
(23:13):
I can do it on my own. Andthat's what I think, you know,
the bosses out there, they needto really think about maybe
parking, that ego that they haverelative to running a company
and allowing the the people thatwork there to really grow for
themselves. And you will benefitmuch more so than if you just
(23:34):
try to do everything on yourown.
Joe Cadwell (23:38):
That's for sure.
And in your book, you mentioneda work partner, Tim, what can
you tell us about Tim and Timstory and how you to develop the
relationship in your company.
Ken Rusk (23:49):
He's actually the very first person I ever did a
coaching session with and thiswas back in 1987. There was a
young man, he was just recentlymarried. He was he was expecting
a child there was there wasproblems with the pregnancy and
medical bills. And he was inthis apartment. And he came to
me and he said, I just don'tknow how I'm going to get out of
this cycle. So we literally tookmarkers and crayons and a piece
(24:14):
of paper and we wrote down, whatwould you like to your life to
look like? And, you know, hethought, well, I need to get a
working car because this car Ihave is breaking down. So we
started saving for a pickuptruck together. And then we
started saving for a piece ofland that we bought a land
contract from a farmer. And hepaid that off over time. And
then he got some money together.
And he started building thishouse. And then he had now he
(24:36):
had four kids and some went tocollege and some didn't Some
went to the military think thankGod for that. And so it was this
kind of combination of onesuccess after another because we
just talked about it. And wekept it in front of us. Like we
taped it on the mirror, and itwas always there and I'm happy
to say I mean I met with himthis morning. He's he's been
(24:59):
here 36 years now I think and 35years and it's he was the very
first one I ever coached and,and that's why I made sure to
put them in the book as a way ofthanking him because he's an
amazing human being. And youknow, it's funny because as a
boss, and I hate to use thatword, but as a boss, he wants to
thank me and give me credit forhelping him do all this. And I
(25:20):
look back and say, Listen, man,I had like, maybe 2%. To do with
all this, you were the other 98.
So, you know, live well and behappy for it.
Joe Cadwell (25:31):
Absolutely. That's a great story. And I found a lot
of pleasure in reading that, youknow, and Tim success. And I'm
glad I had the chance to talkwith you about it. Can you know,
going back to where we firststarted, we, you know, both of
us are pretty much not anticollege, it's a great place to
go if you know what you want todo in life. But you'd written a
couple of sections in there thatkind of address some of the
(25:52):
shortcomings that our currenteducational system finds and
helping people manage theirmoney and doing budgeting and
the importance of compoundinginterest. Why did you decide to
put all that into your into bluecollar cash?
Ken Rusk (26:05):
Well, first of all that, yeah, that that's two
different questions. And I lovethem. The first one is, you
know, I'm not an anti collegeguy. If you're going to operate
on my shoulder, or manage moneyor teach somebody something, or
you know, maybe design askyscraper, you're going to need
to know everything that there isto know about that particular
thing. Okay? On the other hand,if you're just going because
(26:26):
someone told you, you have togo, you know, why amass all that
dead, if you have no real reasonfor being there. I mean, if you
think about it, they say that upto 25% of people that have gone
to college, 40% of whom didn'thave any idea why they were
going, but 25% of them changetheir major after two years. And
(26:49):
then another 33% of them neverwork in the field that they
studied. And here they are withall this debt, and they have
this degree in European Englishtranslation that they can't use
for anything. And they all thismoney, and it, it just doesn't
make any sense to me. It's aninefficient system. Unless you
know exactly why you're going ifyou're going to go be a doctor
(27:12):
or lawyer, then bam, go do that.
I think that's fantastic. Soyeah, that that's, that's really
part of the whole thing withcollagen. I'm not against it,
you just really need to know whyyou're going there. And if you
coupled that part up with thefact that oh, my gosh, I mean,
for I think they said the otherday, I put it in the book, and
it might be improving now, butat that point, one in it for
(27:33):
every five electricians that wasretiring, only one was coming
online. And that's simple supplyand demand, Joe, I mean, if if
supply gets low and demand getshigh, then that's where the
money goes. And in Toledoanyway, we have carpenters and
plumbers, and electricians,making as much as lawyers and
engineers. And, and it's, it'scrazy, how well they're doing.
(27:56):
And you know, the timing isperfect for that
Joe Cadwell (28:01):
going back gangbusters during the the COVID
era for sure. And yeah, the everwidening skills gap and in the
US and Canada is apparent. Andit's just not in the blue, or I
shouldn't say the blue collartrades, that the building
trades. But all across theboard, bus drivers, nurses, even
airline pilots, the people thatare really wanting to get out
and put in the hard work and thetime or are in short supply. And
(28:24):
so along with all those newfoundriches, I noticed in the book
that you had put in some someinsight on budgeting and money
management and the effects ofcompound interest. And I thought
that was fantastic to helppeople that are maybe
considering this, this careerpath that wow, you know, I do
have the ability to startpreparing for the financially
(28:44):
for the long haul. And and thethe advice you put in there was
was a magic, why did you decideto put that in?
Ken Rusk (28:51):
Well, you know, I looked at it from two ways.
Either A, you're the personworking for someone else, or B,
you're the person who has peopleworking for them. A typical 401k
is such a win win for both theemployer and the employee. I
don't think most people knowthis. And this falls under the
category of man, I wish someonewould have told me this when I
(29:11):
was younger, right? If you put$60 a week away into a 401k
account, and but when you're 21or 22, you only have to do that
for 10 years, which is about$3,300 a year or $33,000 over
the 10 year period. And then youcan stop doing that. And by the
time you retire, you're going tohave over a million dollars in
(29:33):
your 401k account. I don't thinkif you went on the street today,
Joe and asked people that thatscenario, half of them wouldn't
believe it. The other half wouldsay well why hasn't anybody told
me that before? So Ispecifically you know we have a
million we have what we call a401k Millionaire Club here where
we put everyone into the 401k weput their first dollar and not
(29:56):
their last dollar Okay, so ifthat gets paid Before anything
else, and, and what's greatabout that is these are 1920 21
year old kids who now that theycan go to their friend's house
or the bar or whatever. And theycan say, Hey, man, my retirement
is handled, I don't even have tothink about it anymore. So that
felt again, it was one of thosethings where I'm like, Why isn't
(30:18):
this being taught everywhere?
You know, so we can rely less onentitlements and stuff that, you
know, government largess orwhatever, and we can be
responsible for ourselves,right? I mean, I don't want to
rely on somebody else, I want torely on me. So if I can create a
situation where I've got amillion dollar account that only
cost me $30,000. I mean, that'sunbelievable. So if you pair
(30:40):
that up with the budgeting I putin there, it shows you how to
live with carving out that first$60 and, and then living with
the rest of the budget, the wayyou lay it out. And I gotta tell
you, there's, there's no morepowerful tool than to set
yourself off in an unstressedsituation financially, which
again, brings you all thatcomfort, Peace and Freedom
(31:03):
you're looking for. It all
Joe Cadwell (31:05):
makes sense. And it's common sense. And you're
right, why don't we teach morecommon sense to our kids, Warren
Buffett, arguably one of therichest men in the world, you
know, made the majority of hismoney through compound interest.
And it came later on. But Warrenhad been investing since he was
10 years old, from what Iunderstand. But your advice is
fantastic. I'm going to hit youup on one more piece of insight
(31:27):
someday versus today. Youmentioned that in the book
someday versus today, someday,people and today, people, what's
the difference between the two?
Ken Rusk (31:36):
You know, it's just an accidental mindset. You know, I
think people have goodintentions. I don't think anyone
wants to be a couch potato orwhatever. But it's just the way
that the words come out. Becauseit's much easier to say, you
know, Sunday, I'm going to goback and build that deck behind
the house or Sunday, I'm goingto do this or Sunday, I'm going
(31:57):
to do that. Whenever someoneuses the word Sunday to me, I
always say, well, when is that?
Because Sunday really nevercomes. If you think about you
know, the bar is going to serveyou free drinks someday. Well,
that never happens. Right? Yousee those signs up?
Joe Cadwell (32:10):
Up there and beer tomorrow? Yeah, a free
Ken Rusk (32:13):
beer tomorrow. So I really wanted to put it out
there that, you know, you havecontrol over the things that you
do. And if you really want toget a goal to happen for
yourself, you need to put thatinto action. And you need to do
that right now. Okay, you needto do that today. So, you know,
for all of your listeners outthere next time, someone says,
(32:34):
Hey, you know what, we should goto lunch Sunday, let's go to
lunch. I want you to pull outyour phone, get out your
calendar and say, okay, when doyou want to do that? And watch
the look on their face as thoughoh my gosh, we're really doing
this well, in that the wayyou're supposed to live your
life? I mean, because trust mewhen I say this Sunday never
shows up.
Joe Cadwell (32:54):
Makes sense. So Ken Rusk, what's your definition of
success?
Ken Rusk (33:01):
Oh, my gosh, I I think I've said it a few times here, I
can look in the mirror and sayto myself, Man, I have created
everything I wanted to createfor my life. I don't want for
anything, I don't have anystress, I don't have any
financial issues. I've setmyself up to to be very, very
calm at this point in my life,which is really cool. But I
(33:22):
think I think for anybody elseit is, can you find? Can you
find meaning in in who you arenot in who everybody else is? Or
who in who everybody else wantsyou to be? Can you look in the
mirror and find out what isgoing to work best to make you
the whole person that you wantto be because there are 1000
(33:44):
different levels of success. Iknow a lot of rich people that
are miserable. Okay, so setyourself up in a way that you
see yourself living a really,really cool life. And yeah,
you'll have what I call successfor sure.
Joe Cadwell (33:59):
All right, great answer. And I know yourself,
you're a mentor. You're a coach,you're an author. You're a
successful business owner. And Iknow you're a very charitable
guy as well. From what Iunderstand, would you mind
sharing a little bit about yourcharitable efforts? I know
you're a humble guy as well. SoI don't want you to toot your
horn too much. But I know you'reinvolved heavily into the Ronald
McDonald House, is that correct?
And another we do quite a bit
Ken Rusk (34:23):
we work with Ron with townhouse, we also work a lot
with Make a wish and, andrecently, we're working with
junior achievement. You know,one of the things that we that I
wanted to make sure is that thiswasn't just a book that you read
and put up on the shelf, likesome trophy and then you forgot
about it three weeks later. Sowe created a course that follows
along the book that anyone cantake, I don't care if you're 15
(34:45):
or 50. You can take this courseand it'll actually change who
you are. And it'll change howyou think and in how you look at
the rest of your life. And it'sa it's a pretty cool thing to
see what we're doing with kidstoday. And and even you know I
had a gentleman who said he wasa sales rep for a medical
company. He's 52. He'smiserable. He loved plumbing
(35:07):
when he was younger. So he wentback to and he's never been
happier. So yeah, we're tryingto change people's lives every
day, any way we can here.
Joe Cadwell (35:15):
Great stuff. Well, thank you so much, Ken. This has
been a fantastic conversationcan where can people go to find
out more about you and yourbook?
Ken Rusk (35:24):
Well, you can go to Ken ross.com. And you'll see
what we're up to there. You cango to Ken Rusk, comm forward
slash path, which is where thecourse lives. And you can also
find us on Ken Rusk official on,you know, Facebook, Instagram,
and Twitter and all that. And,again, you know, one of the
things that I always like totell people is, I donate all the
(35:45):
proceeds of the course and thebook, back to charity. So I'm
not in that part for the money.
I'm in this to help peoplebecause to whom much is given
much as expected, and I've beenvery blessed and very grateful
for that.
Joe Cadwell (35:58):
I guess there has been Ken Rusk, author of blue
collar cash, which is nowavailable on Amazon, Barnes and
Noble or at your favorite localbookstore. Be sure to check out
the show notes where you canfind information to help you
dive deeper into the content. Ifyou like this episode, be sure
to share it with a friend,family member or co worker. And
until next time, this is JoeCadwell, reminding you to work
(36:21):
safe, work smart and stay unionstrong
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