July 27, 2025 • 45 mins
In this episode, Keaton Turner starts with an introduction and shares his weekend plans. He gives shout outs and reads listener messages, then dives into challenges with work ethic and personal updates, including recent purchases and family anecdotes. A sponsorship from Chick fil A is highlighted before Keaton reflects on the significance of hard work and not skipping steps. He discusses high-performing employees and the role of meritocracy in business. Drawing lessons from Kobe Bryant, Keaton explores the impact of work ethic on success. The episode weaves business insights with parenting experiences, offering final advice and closing thoughts to wrap up the conversation.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Stop trying to skip steps.
It doesn't make any sense.
You're not gonna get there faster by skipping astep or two.
You don't yeah.
You're not this is gonna be a rant.
This is going to be a rant 100%.
(00:27):
Here we go.
(01:00):
Welcome back to the Purdue M Podcast.
I'm Keaton Turner.
I am a little bit spicy.
I'm gonna I'm gonna explain why.
I'm a explain why I started with yelling at youguys.
But first, what's happening in my life?
It is a it is a smoking hot Saturday here in myworld.
(01:25):
I am, as usual, out running errands for myfamily.
I am I'm an executive admin, I've realized, formy family, for my kids, for my lovely wife.
I am I'm getting Chick fil A for them becauseShelby and I are going on a date night.
And life has been so crazy lately.
(01:47):
We did not go to the grocery store, and sowe're hitting the easy button for kids dinner.
And Chick fil A is I mean, Chick fil A is alltime.
So they're getting Chick fil A.
And and then Shelby and I are going out.
We are we're actually going to we're gonna goeat dinner first.
We're gonna get a drink, and then we are goingto the soft opening of one of our friend's new
(02:14):
flower boutiques in Bloomington, Indiana.
Shout out Michael and Kelsey Weber.
Shout out Kelsey Weber.
I think the name of the of the new flower shopis Three Blondes Boutique or something like
that.
I I don't know if there's, like, a a storybehind the name Three Blondes.
(02:37):
We're gonna go do that.
And then who knows where the night leads?
It's been so hot here lately.
It's hard to do anything outside.
I but I but I'll tell you well, I'm not gonnaget into it yet.
Got a few more things to get to before we getinto the topic.
So I have a topic, and it's a spicy topictoday.
Thanks for all the messages, guys.
(02:58):
I'll be honest.
I I don't have the Purdium hotline on me, butsome of you guys have been sending me messages
on Instagram.
I got a few text messages this morning.
One from Jason Ewer.
Shout out Jason Ewer up in Vermont.
The per diem phone is in my Bronco, and I leftit in there the other day when I swapped
(03:20):
vehicles.
That's one of the problems with driving morethan one vehicle is I know.
It's it's it's a travesty.
But I left the phone in my other truck, and andI I haven't had it the last few days.
So if you've been messaging me there, I will goget it this evening because I will be parked at
the office later.
So I'll grab the phone.
I'll catch up on messages.
(03:42):
I know I know some of you guys are stillwaiting on mugs.
I got a couple more orders this morning.
I promise I I'm gonna stop saying I promisebecause you guys are gonna think I'm a liar at
some point, but I promise there are more mugsbeing shipped out.
This I you know, I have been blaming myassembly line workers.
But at the end of the day, all these problems,as you guys have heard, these all these
(04:05):
problems roll up to me.
And and I haven't held them accountable totheir deadlines, their targets, their KPIs, so
I need to be a better leader there.
But we will get the mugs packed up and shippedout.
And then I think I think I'm very close tobeing completely gone with the mugs.
I think they're almost sold out.
And I sold a lot more than I ever thought Iwould, so thank you for the support if you
(04:26):
ordered a mug.
Those will never be made again.
So you have something, you know, something thatyou overpaid for.
You you overpaid for a coffee mug, but you'vegot one of the only ones that was handmade that
will never be made again.
So so thank you for your support of thepodcast.
I did get called out this morning on Instagramby mister five forty build himself.
(04:53):
The the sexy viking is, I think, what I'm gonnastart calling him.
I I'm gonna start this new thing.
And I and I actually came up with it thismorning when he sent me a shirtless video on
Instagram for the world to see.
But this dude's ripped.
I mean, Justin you know, you guys have heard metalk about Justin.
He's ripped.
He's got all these tattoos, and he's, like, gotall these Viking sayings and biblical stories
(05:19):
and just I I think he might take the the crownfor the most interesting man in the world.
But he sent me a video this morning drinkingout of his Purdue M coffee mug.
And at the very end, he calls me out to do ashirtless video myself.
And so that's coming.
It's coming very soon.
(05:41):
And what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna spoil this.
I'm gonna I'm just gonna lay it all out therenow.
And and when I get time this weekend or earlythis week, I'm gonna record this video.
But what Justin has just kicked off withoutknowing it is we're gonna start a new
challenge.
Still doing the thirty day chase that man forthirty day challenge.
(06:02):
I've I've slipped a time or two.
You guys heard me slip slip in in Chicago whenShelby and I were eating chicken fingers at
midnight, not our finest moment.
But, Justin, what I'm doing, because you calledme out, I am gonna record a shirtless video.
And when I do, I'm gonna call somebody elseout, and I want them to oblige to the challenge
(06:29):
and take a shirtless video and then callsomebody else out.
Now there's a kicker.
Justin, when he did his shirtless video thismorning on Instagram and you can go you can go
follow him.
It's his handle's the lost dringer, just likeit sounds at the lost dringer on Instagram.
His shirtless video was basically a question.
(06:55):
He's posing a question to me about, you know, aleadership question.
And so I'm gonna answer the question on apodcast episode dedicated directly to you,
Justin.
But I'm also going to start the challenge andask another question of somebody else.
And their shirtless challenge, they gottarespond via shirtless video, and they get to
(07:19):
call somebody else out.
So we'll see if this thing gains any legs.
Might die flat on its face.
People get a little weirded out with theshirtless video thing, but I don't know.
I think it's I think I think we might be ontosomething.
If nothing else, it'll challenge people tomaybe get their physique in a little better
shape before they shoot a shirtless video.
I don't know.
Maybe not.
(07:40):
But, Justin, appreciate the video.
I I'll tell you right now, today's topic camenaturally.
And and it came naturally because I gotfrustrated with my 10 year old.
About six weeks ago my my 10 year old's beenbegging me for a mower, a lawn mower for, I
(08:07):
don't know, probably a year now.
He watches these videos on YouTube of thesekids that start mowing companies or, you know,
land clearing businesses.
He's all he's all about it.
There's so much content on YouTube of guys thatare just videoing themselves mowing.
And my son eats it up.
He's 10 years old, and he and he, like, youknow, he's into this whole, you know, work
(08:29):
thing.
He wants to work.
He wants to work honestly, you know, more thanhe wants to play, which is which is kind of
cool, but but ironic.
And I'm trying to navigate this a little bit.
So he's been he's been begging me to buy amower.
And at first, I was like, alright.
Well, I'm gonna buy you a push mower.
And I had Jake Hubbell, our asset guy.
(08:49):
I had him looking around like a cheap pushmower.
I'm like, I'll let him I'll let him push mowthe backyard.
It's not that massive.
You know, he can do with a push mower.
It'd be good exercise for him, and and andhe'll he'll learn a thing or two about about
push mowing because that's how I got started.
He then as he watches more and more YouTubevideos, he says, you know what?
I I don't want a push mower.
(09:11):
I want a zero turn.
I want a long I want, like, a real mower.
And and so he's been begging for a long time.
And and then, of course, fast forward, my momgets sick.
My dad realizes he's gonna have to spend, youknow, a couple months up in Chicago, and my dad
mows his own lawn.
(09:31):
He's in the same neighborhood.
And so I I said, you know what, Andrew?
I'll make you a deal.
I will buy you a zero turn mower, but we'regonna draft up an agreement, and you have to
pay this mower off.
You have to pay me back for it over thirty sixmonths.
And how you're gonna do that is every week,you're gonna commit to learning how to mow
(09:55):
properly.
You're gonna do all the edging and weed eating.
You're gonna pick all the sticks up in theyard.
We got trees all over our yard, so there's, youknow, there's plenty of sticks to pick up every
week.
And I said that that will be your paymentbecause I'm, you know, I'm spending, you know,
80 or a $100 a week for someone else to do it.
So you do the math.
I mean, you know, thirty six months, fourweeks, a month.
(10:19):
It's it's not hard to pay off a mower.
Drink break.
Hold on.
I gotta get my gallon of water in.
So we start looking.
I look for a few weeks.
I call around.
I do some reviews.
I grew up mowing.
I I used to mow a 100 acres, finish mow a 100acres all summer long, and we use big
(10:43):
commercial Toro zero turns.
Hold on one second.
I'm at Chick fil A.
Hold on.
Yeah.
It's a mobile order for Shelby.
Shelby t?
Yep.
Any changes for
you?
Nope.
Alright.
You're all set.
Thanks, man.
Appreciate it.
You too.
This is gonna be a 400 Chick fil A order justjust knowing how she operates.
(11:05):
But anyway, so I start calling around, and I'mused to Toro zero turns, but our Toro dealer
here in Bloomington are a bunch of old Delbertswho are way past their prime and and just
aren't super helpful.
So I I quickly nixed the Toro route.
Of course, people talk about skag mowers andhustlers, and then there's the old school guys
(11:28):
that are like, oh, Dixie Chopper.
I settled on a Spartan.
Okay?
Before you say anything, I did my homework.
I talked to guys that own Spartans.
I went to the Spartan dealer, and this guysells more Spartan mowers than anywhere else in
the nation.
He's already sold 300 mowers, and this was upthrough, like, you know, May.
(11:52):
He'd already sold 300 mowers.
It's a commercial mower.
It's 61 inch cut.
This thing is legit.
39 horsepower fuel injected Vanguard engine.
I mean, it's it's it's unbelievable.
And the guy that was mowing my yard before, BenWingard shout out, Ben Wingard.
(12:15):
He had several of these Spartan mowers andloved them.
And my yard always looked great.
He always spoke super highly of them.
So I thought, you know what?
Like, let's give it a try.
I bought a used one.
It had four hundred hours on it, but the ownerof the dealership was was giving it to his dad.
And and the the day he was gonna the day he wasgonna gift it to his dad, I was in the store,
(12:39):
and I saw it kinda sitting out back, and I wentout and struck a deal on it.
So I got a four hundred hour Spartan mower formy 10 year old son.
I know it sounds stupid, but stick with me.
I am convinced that when we push our kids,whether you push them in sports or push them to
(13:03):
work or whatever, I'm convinced that thatyou're gonna get more out of them.
When you let a kid do what a kid wants to do,they're gonna end up staying inside.
They're gonna end up eating junk food.
They're gonna end up playing video games orwatching TV.
When you let a kid make their own decisions,they're gonna take the easy path.
And so because my son was, you know, asking towork and and you know, wanted something, I
(13:28):
committed to buying it, and I locked him intoan agreement where, you know, he owes me for it
now.
It's his mower, but he bought it on a loan.
I loaned him the money to buy it, and so he'sgonna work for it.
So I've been teaching him over the last severalweeks.
I think we've had the mower four or five weeksnow, and and it's it's a phenomenal mower, by
(13:48):
the way.
This is a free this is literally a freeadvertisement for Spartan mowers.
Uh-oh.
Hold on.
Problems at Chick fil A.
Shelby?
Shelby t?
Yes.
Yeah.
You're all gonna have Thank you.
Appreciate it.
They got an army here at this Chick fil a on aSaturday.
An army.
(14:08):
The the the Chick fil a payroll has got to begetting close to what our our weekly payroll is
with how many people they have working here.
But anyway, this is a free, free advertisementspot for Spartan Mower.
Spartan was also acquired by Toro.
So I don't know if that does, well for theirquality control or not, but I got air ride
(14:30):
suspension.
I got an electronic chute that open and closesthe chute.
I mean, it's got all the it's got all thethings.
You know me.
I'm gonna go big if I'm gonna go.
So so anyway, I've been teaching him how to runthe zero turn over the last few weeks.
He's been mowing with it.
I mow my place.
I drive it down the street, and I mow my dad'splace while he's up in Chicago.
(14:52):
My son does all the weed eating.
He's picking up sticks.
Well, this morning I mean, it's it's like it's09:30 in the morning on Saturday.
It is already like 92 degrees and a thousandpercent humidity.
I mean, just walking outside.
I I was drinking my coffee on the patio thismorning at 06:30, and I was sweating in my
(15:13):
pajamas.
And so it's it's one of those days.
He starts weed eating, and I see him.
I'm I'm kinda mowing the front yard becausethat's where I want the stripes to look
straight and crispy and fresh.
And so I'm mowing the front.
I'm gonna let him mow the back, but he's gottaget all the weed eating done before he can jump
on the mower.
(15:34):
So he starts weed eating, and and he comes upand says, hey.
I'm done, dad.
I'm done weed eating.
I'm like, wow.
That was that was quick, but okay.
Maybe he's just, you know, ready to go thismorning, ready to work.
I said, okay.
We'll get the wheelbarrow and run up to thefront garden beds.
We have some sticks, some limbs, and stuff thathave fallen.
Clean out all the garden beds with thewheelbarrow.
(15:55):
Make a few trips.
And then when you're done with that, I'll beready for you to jump on this and mow the back.
He's like, alright, dad.
And I I'm like, he doesn't seem like he's gotvery much of a pep in his So I'm surprised he's
already done weed eating.
Sure enough, I finished the front.
I haven't seen any wheelbarrow loads moving.
And I'm like, that's odd.
What's what's going on here?
(16:16):
I'm a work my way around the back.
He's nowhere to be found.
I'm like, well, the pile the the limb pile isin the back.
That's where he should be throwing all thesesticks, and it looks like the weed eating is
not done.
I mean, it's done in spots, but it's not evendone very well.
It's actually just, I wouldn't even I wouldn'teven consider it halfway done because there's a
(16:40):
part that he didn't eat at all.
And then the part that he did weed eat, he justkinda rushed through it and left some tall
stuff and so on and so forth.
Drink break.
So finally, I start mowing the back because Idon't see him anywhere.
I'm like, well, he's went inside.
He's over it.
It's too hot.
(17:00):
Here he comes.
He comes running out.
He goes, woah, dad.
Hey.
It's my turn to mow.
I shut the mower off.
I said, dude, do you think I'm gonna let youmow the back after, a, you didn't even weed eat
everything you were supposed to, And b and hegoes, woah.
Woah.
Woah.
I wheat eat it.
(17:20):
Yeah.
I did.
I wheat eat it.
I'm like, bro, you didn't wheat eat.
And and here we go.
We're getting our Chick fil A order as wespeak.
Hello.
Yes.
Hold on, guys.
(17:41):
Is that a big or is that a big order?
Okay.
No worries.
Yeah.
Sure.
Thank you.
Okay.
It's a big order.
Gosh.
Dang it.
I gotta go park.
You know what?
Man, this is this is this is gonna be adifferent rant.
(18:03):
I was I was actually heading down the path ofranting on my story.
And and then I get up to the window at Chickfil A, I gotta sit with the rest of these
Delberts here with their blinkers on becausethe order is so big, they can't even fit it
through the window.
I mean, what are we doing?
Who are we ordering for?
Unbelievable.
(18:23):
That's what it's that guys, this is what it'slike being the big brother.
You gotta anyway, I'm not gonna go there.
So he's like, dad, I did weed eat.
I'm all done.
I'm like, bro, first of all, you didn't weedeat.
But second of all, let's pretend you did for asecond.
What about the wheelbarrow and all the sticksyou were supposed to pick up?
(18:44):
He's like, well, I forgot.
I'm like, you forgot?
You you literally had two jobs.
One was to weed everything, which is your jobevery week.
And then two, I said, when you're done withthat, because I assumed you'd get that done
quickly, you pick up all the sticks.
He's like, well, I forgot.
I just I'm I'm ready to mow.
I wanna mow.
(19:04):
I'm like, bro, you're not mowing.
I'm gonna finish mowing because I wanna get themowing done.
Your job was to weed eat.
So what I want you to do is go back and getyour weed eater and finish weed eating.
And he kinda gave me a little bit of attitude.
And I said, you know what?
We're not gonna do that.
(19:26):
Don't weed eat.
I'm gonna finish mowing, and then when I getdone, I am going to walk you around the entire
property, and I'm gonna give you a lesson.
And he rolls his eyes.
He walks off.
He finishes what you know, he finishes watchingme mow the back.
And then I get to weed eater, and I and I showhim every single spot he missed.
(19:46):
And I'm like, look, dude.
The grass, we don't wanna weed eat the grassall the way down to the dirt because then it
looks bad.
But the weeds, the stuff under all the bigtrees, the stuff out like near the woods or on
the edge of the property, like, that's thestuff you wanna take down to the dirt.
Weeds grow faster than grass.
So to make a long story short, I explained tohim.
He's been watching this guy on YouTube calledHammer.
(20:10):
Some of you guys might know this guy.
I don't know if he's famous or not, but it'slike this guy this dude on YouTube, got his own
YouTube channel.
He does like tree maintenance and landscapingand mowing.
He's got like a skid steer.
And I said, Andrew, do you think Hammer becauseHammer's always the guy running the skid steer,
running the mini excavator, or running thechainsaw.
(20:31):
And then he's got some grunt workers, somelaborers around him that will like drag limbs
or, you know, run the leaf blower and blow thegrass off when they're done.
You know, guys doing other stuff.
I said, Andrew, do you think Hammer just oneday decided he's just gonna jump in a skid
steer and run the whole crew?
(20:53):
And he's like, I don't I don't know.
I said, dude, that's not how it works.
Hammer started where you're starting.
He started by weed eating.
The most simple job.
He started by carrying a weed eater around allday, probably eight hours a day, yard after
yard after yard, and he did that until hemastered that.
(21:18):
He did that until he did such a good job thatsomebody saw him and said, hey, let me give you
a shot on the mower.
And then he did the mower for a long time untilhe mastered that and did such a good job and
produced results after results until someonesaid, hey, we're down a man today.
Jump in the skid steer or jump on the chainsaw.
(21:42):
And so I went through this father son lecturemoment, and here here my wife comes pulling in.
We're up at the front of our driveway.
My wife is pulling in.
I'm soaking wet because I've been weed eatingnow, the whole property with him right there by
my side.
I'm showing him everything we're doing.
She pulls in and she's like, hey.
You know?
And she wants to chat.
And I'm like, babe, I we're not talking rightnow.
(22:03):
I kinda I kinda bit her head off a little bit.
She she perked up.
She goes, what?
What happened?
What's wrong?
Everything was good when I left.
I'm like, well, our son decides he no longerwants to work.
He just wants to jump a few steps and be thesupervisor.
He just wants to manage everything.
He wants to sit on the machine and watcheverybody else work.
(22:25):
He wants me to weed eat and him to mow, the 10year old.
And she rolls her eyes, pulls down thedriveway.
Here's why I'm picking this topic.
One, because it's relevant to what's goingthrough my head today.
As I finished mowing, I thought to myself, youknow, this is so spot on with what happens
(22:48):
across so many industries, especially withyoung dudes.
They see something on YouTube.
They see something on Instagram.
They see some Delbert on a podcast sayingsomething inspirational.
And what do they do?
They decide they're gonna skip a few steps.
(23:09):
They decide sorry, I had to take another drink.
I'm on one today.
They decide they don't want to put in the work.
If somebody else can run the equipment, Ishould run the equipment.
If somebody else can manage the project, Ithink I can manage the project.
If somebody else can, you know, sit in theoffice and call the shots and make the big
(23:32):
bucks, I think I should do that.
And they skip the steps.
Skipping the steps has never one time been thecorrect long term career path strategy.
Never one time.
I know it sucks going through it.
(23:52):
It really sucks when you're trying to climb theladder, whatever ladder you're on, whether
you're in, you know, field operations, whetheryou're on a landscape crew, yard crew, whether
you're in construction, you know, heavy civil,mechanical, electrical, whatever.
The day to day sucks.
Uh-oh.
Here we go.
(24:14):
Hello.
Yeah, Shelly.
Thank you.
Wow.
Look at all this.
Unbelievable.
It's my lucky day.
Oh my gosh.
I would be stealing a fry.
Oh my gosh.
There's, like, five orders of fry.
I would be stealing a fry, but we're chasingthat man, and I'm not allowed to eat anything
fried.
(24:34):
So we're gonna go past this.
Here here's the problem.
No one and I'm I'm not talking about Chick filA.
Chick fil A is a problem.
But skipping steps, if if you if you can't doyour current job unconsciously competent, we we
(24:58):
talked about this recently, if you can't doyour current job so well that you don't even
have to think about it, why in the world do youthink you should jump to the next job?
Why in the world would you think you, for somereason, wanna get more you know, take on more
responsibility, take on more stress, take onmore pressure.
I mean, sure, yeah, you might get paid more,but why would you take on more if you can't do
(25:23):
your current job without breaking a sweat?
If you can't do your current job with your eyesclosed?
If If you can't do your current job in yoursleep, why would you want to skip that step and
go on to the next job that's harder, that'smore stressful, that's more responsibility?
(25:43):
Why are you trying to climb the ladder and skiptwo or three rings along the way?
Rungs along the way.
Rungs of a ladder, not rings of a ladder.
This blows my mind, and it really struck methis morning with my 10 year old because he's
normally not the type of kid that wants to,like, skirt his way out of hard work.
(26:06):
He's normally the one that loves hard work.
Like like, kind of kind of odd because I didn'tlove hard work as much as he does at his age.
And so I'm I'm wondering.
I'm like, dude, are you seeing these YouTubevideos and, like, seeing these other young kids
that are doing something that's, I don't know,you know, quote, unquote, cooler than what
(26:29):
you're doing.
They're running the mower, and you're runningthe weed eater, and and so you wanna just skip
a step and and jump on the mower.
It never makes any sense to me when I see ayoung guy who's passionate, who's assertive,
who wants to build their career.
(26:51):
It never makes any sense to me why they can'tget this concept of being aggressively patient
through their head.
Aggressively patient, but mastering the jobthey're in before they go take on another job,
mastering their current craft before they pickup another craft.
(27:15):
To bring this personal, like, as if the storyalready wasn't personal enough, I have never
one time with any employee ever on any of myteams, I have never one time seen someone doing
a mediocre job and thought to myself, you knowwhat?
I'd like to give him more responsibility.
(27:36):
He's mediocre.
He's doing a halfway decent job.
Let's give him more.
Let's give him more responsibility.
Let's give him more work to do, and then hewill do a better job.
It makes no sense.
It makes zero sense.
This is why this one's a rant.
(27:58):
This happens time after time after time.
I've seen I've had people come up to me who aredecent, you know, good human beings, decent
employees, young, don't know what they don'tknow, unconsciously incompetent, as some would
say.
And they're like, hey, how do get to be aforeman?
(28:20):
How how do I when when can I how do I get to bea superintendent and, like, make the make the
big money?
And I kinda I'm kinda, like, looking around,like, am I getting punked right now?
Like, the dude's the dude's 18 years old, andhe's asking how to become the superintendent.
I'm like, dude, you just ran your haul truck upon the berm.
(28:46):
What what in the world makes you think you'reeven qualified to jump from the haul truck to
the next thing, like the grader, the watertruck, let alone the dozer or the excavator?
Young people see the highlight reels onInstagram, on LinkedIn, on YouTube, on TikTok,
(29:10):
and they think they should be further alongthan they are.
And they think the only way to get furtheralong is by skipping steps.
You can't skip steps.
Every step and I've talked about all themistakes.
Like, you know, the the ride is is worth thefall.
I've I've talked about all these things.
You cannot skip steps.
(29:34):
And and I get so frustrated when people, forfor whatever reason, think they're gonna get
further ahead by not perfecting the job they'rein, and that somehow they're gonna be better in
the next job that they're in.
The only reason you get another shot to dosomething more is because you're so good at the
(29:55):
job you're doing that the company can't affordto keep you in your current job because you're
producing results at such a high level.
They're like, man, we've we've gotta get moreout of them.
Like, selfishly, let me give you a littlesecret.
This is how companies work.
This is how management works.
If you're a high performing individual, produceresults all the time, dependable, trustworthy.
(30:19):
If you're legit, I'm just gonna sum it up inone word.
If you're legit, guess what happens to you?
You get squeezed.
You get squeezed to death.
The company wants more of you.
They want more out of you.
The the company doesn't squeeze bad bademployees.
(30:42):
The company ignores bad employees.
The company, the boss, doesn't like dive intothe bad employee and like, you know, oh, we're
gonna we're gonna like reinvest in you and putThe most legit people in companies are the ones
who get squeezed the hardest because thecompany knows they're going to get more out of
(31:06):
them.
They have more to give.
And this is where it's a vicious cycle.
I don't have all the time to go into it.
It leads to burnout.
It leads to resentment.
It leads to all kinds of other things.
But if you are feeling squeezed, if you'refeeling like you're giving all you can give,
but the company wants more, I'm just gonna tellyou, you're probably legit.
(31:27):
You're probably one of the legit ones in yourcompany.
That's why they're trying to get more out ofyou because they've seen you time and time
again give more, produce more, deliver more,beat expectations more, beat budget more.
So they're like, well, if he's got more togive, let's just keep asking for more.
(31:49):
Companies never ask mediocre employees for I'mI'm I'm sitting here scratching my head.
You can't skip steps.
I'll I'll just sum it up that way.
(32:11):
The way you get to the next level and then thenext level and then the next level is by doing
the current level so well that the game isboring.
You can you can compare this to sports.
(32:31):
You can compare this to video games.
You can compare this to whatever you want.
This is the same this principle is the same inlife.
The kids that, like, win in the video games andI haven't played a video game in twenty five
years, so let me maybe take this one to sports.
The guys that, like, get bored playing a normalgolf shot, and so instead, they they wanna,
(32:53):
like, bend one around the tree just for funjust because they can, they got to the next
level because they hit the boring golf shot somany times that it became boring.
They hit it perfect so many times that itbecame boring.
Kobe Bryant shooting free throws.
Michael Jordan.
Like, they hit the boring they did the boringstuff so well.
(33:16):
They could do it with their eyes closed.
There's a there's a famous and I might mess itup a little bit, but the the concept is true.
There's a famous moment where Kobe's at theline shooting a free throw.
And he this wasn't the Achilles one.
That was a different story.
He he tore his Achilles and then had two freethrows to go make, and he walked up to the free
(33:39):
throw line with the torn Achilles and made bothfree throws with the torn Achilles and then
walked off the court.
Most guys, when you see him tear theirAchilles, they they have to be like wheeled
out.
I think Paul Pierce had to be wheeled out in awheelchair.
That's not the story I'm talking about.
The story I'm talking about with Kobe is hewalked up to the line.
He was getting chippy with somebody.
(34:00):
He bet them half a million dollars he wouldmake both these free throws with his eyes
closed.
He goes up.
I don't even think he touched the rim.
He swished both of them with his eyes closed,half a million bucks.
I don't know if he ever got paid.
But the only reason he ever became legit andhit all the big shots and the big games and the
(34:22):
big moments with all the lights and all thepressure is because he hit the boring shots a
million times.
He didn't skip steps.
He did skip college.
But he was so good in he was so good in highschool, he was like, he was bored.
He was bored.
(34:43):
You you just can't skip steps when it comes toyour career because every time you do and I've
watched guys that do this.
There's one guy that comes to mind.
He used to work for us a long, long time ago.
He got offered some some other bigopportunities, and he skipped a few steps.
(35:04):
And I'm like, man, how did this guy go fromlike, he was a truck driver for us, and then we
did some things.
Like, he skipped like three or four steps, andhe was pretty legit.
He skipped three or four steps.
And and when he got into that, you know, sweetspot role, the role that he always wanted, he
failed miserably.
(35:26):
Now, as I'm sure it was a big learning momentfor him, and he pivoted, and he'll he'll figure
it out and be fine, but he failed miserablybecause he had skipped too many steps.
He didn't have the reps.
He didn't have the scars.
He didn't have all the battle wounds.
Same thing with with with guys that start theirown company.
If you're I'm just gonna say this.
And again, I know this is a rant.
I I'm sorry.
(35:47):
If you're thinking about starting your ownbusiness and you're not running the current
work you have for your current employer withyour eyes closed, like if you're not by far and
above their top performer and you're justrunning their business with your eyes closed
without break a sweat, if you can't do that inyour current job, why do you think you should
(36:09):
start your own business?
Are you dumb or are you stupid?
I mean, I this is a full blown rant.
I'm I'm being dead serious.
Are you dumb?
Are you just ignorant?
If you aren't doing your current job with youreyes closed in your sleep, like making it rain,
(36:34):
it is a thousand times harder to do it foryourself in your own company, running your own
business with your own employees and a millionlike, what makes you think you're gonna be
successful running your own company if youcan't do your current job for your current
employer?
(36:57):
This is fundamental.
This is foundational.
This I'm not saying anything here that is likeearth shattering, brand new revelation.
It makes zero sense to add more chaos, morestress, and more responsibility to your life if
you cannot do your current job without breakinga sweat.
(37:22):
I I just don't know how else to say it.
And I and I don't wanna get long winded, butbut man, I somebody needed to hear that.
I'm trying to teach this lesson to my 10 yearold.
I don't think he quite gets it yet.
I mean, he's 10.
He doesn't understand why he can't just jump onthe mower.
Like, why like, dad, why do I have to weed eat?
(37:43):
It's like, well, and until you can show me thatyou can get the weed eating done efficiently,
you can change the string by yourself, You canmake it look fresh and crispy.
You haven't bird the grass down into dirt.
You don't have the weeds tall and airy.
Like, until you can show me you can do that jobwith your eyes closed, why would I trust you
with a monster mower that's got 39 horsepowerand, you know, like three massive blades
(38:09):
spinning?
Why why in the world if I can't trust you withsome string spinning around the end of a stick,
why would I trust you with a big machine withthree blades spinning around?
Makes no sense.
If we can't trust you to be the best haul truckdriver on-site and do the job with your eyes
closed, please don't drive a haul truck withyour eyes closed.
(38:30):
But but if you can't if you can't do the job sowell and help teach other people how to do the
job so well, if you can't if you're not themost legit haul truck driver on your crew, why
would your boss wanna put you in a different,more critical role?
Why would your boss want to trust you to domore?
This is the one fundamental thing that youngpeople, and I specifically mean young people
(38:56):
because when you get older, you start torealize this.
Why do young people think they get to skipsteps?
They get to leapfrog other people because theyfeel like they should?
Like, life is a meritocracy.
(39:19):
Meaning, if you're legit, you get moreresponsibility.
If you get more responsibility, you get morepay.
If you get more pay, you get more freedom.
Pretty simple.
Like, you wanna chase happiness, just sum it upto that.
If for you, more money equals happiness or morefreedom equals happiness, it's pretty simple.
(39:45):
If you're the most legit at your job, of allthe people that you're surrounded by, all your
coworkers, all the other employees, if you'rethe most legit, you're gonna get more
responsibility.
You're gonna get more shots.
You're gonna get more swings with your company.
Perfect.
You get more swings, you get a promotion.
You get more responsibility.
You get a promotion, you get more money.
(40:06):
Awesome.
You get more money.
You get more freedom.
You get a lot of money.
You get ultimate freedom.
You can do what you want.
The people with the most money, not all ofthem, but the people with the most money have a
lot of freedom.
They can not work whenever they want.
(40:26):
They can show up and do whatever they want.
But people miss this.
You don't get there by being decent.
You don't get there by doing a halfway decentjob.
You don't get there by being a good employee.
You get there by being a phenomenal employee.
You wanna be a business owner, be the bestemployee at your current company, and then you
(40:53):
have a tenth of a chance at becoming asuccessful business owner.
Like, I I know guys that and I and I and when Isay I know guys, I I could name 10 people right
now by name who were some of the best at theircraft.
Best employees, best attitude, showed up everyday, could run circles around everybody.
(41:17):
I could name 10 guys right now that startedtheir own company, and it didn't work.
They closed the doors, and they were legit attheir company.
They got their bonus, the max bonus every year.
They got promotion after promotion.
The owner trusted them.
They had kind of pretty much free range to dowhat they want.
(41:38):
They were legit.
Like, when you compare them to other people,they were at the top of their game.
But then they went to start their own company.
It didn't work.
One guy was a year in, shut the doors.
One guy, three years in, shut the doors.
One guy is just now teetering on shutting thedoors.
I'm just telling you, you can't skip steps.
(42:00):
You have to be legit at the current job youhave and not just your version of legit.
You have to be so legit that everyone elsetalks about how legit you are.
And then, and only then, do you get the nextlevel up and then the next level up.
And so I this one was this one was raw and realfor me today.
(42:24):
This was a it's it's fun.
You know, it's been fun building a companybecause I I get to now deploy I mean, this
company's been around almost as long as my sonhas been around.
So now I get to deploy some of the lessons I'velearned in business to lessons in parenting.
(42:46):
And today was maybe the first example everwhere I just for the first time, I saw my son,
and I'm like, woah, dude, I'm gonna have totreat you like an employee here.
Like, like, I get you I get you want yourpromotion.
I get you want to be bumped up to the nextthing.
I get you want the next shot.
You want to get on the machine and run and go.
Balls balls of the wall, wide open.
(43:08):
I get it.
Looks fun on YouTube.
But, dude, you're not doing your current job.
So so how am I gonna give you more if youhaven't done as much as you can with the first
job we gave you?
So, I don't know if this was helpful.
I don't know if somebody can literally forwardthis episode to one of their young guys that
(43:31):
they're currently, you know, trying to coachand like, you know, again, young guys struggle
with patience.
I'm I am I am in love with the term aggressivepatience.
You know, be aggressive every single day, butbe patient.
It's a long journey, and it takes a long timeto master each job.
(43:52):
But man, this one was real for me, and so I Ihope that it was real.
You know, hopefully, it was relatable tosomebody else.
And hopefully, if you're stuck in a spot now,this gives you a little bit of inspiration or
motivation or whatever you want.
This gives you a little bit of insight intowhat you need to do if you want the promotion,
if you want the next thing.
Like if you're running towards making moremoney or starting your own business.
(44:19):
Like, I'm just telling you, if you can't Don'teven think, don't even daydream about starting
your own business.
If you can't just do your job without eventrying.
Unconsciously competent.
Don't even daydream about it.
(44:43):
That's what I got.
That's what I got.
That's a rant.
That's a wrap.
That's a that's what a 95 degree Saturday willget you.
And, and I, you know, hope hope it comes acrossthe right way.
I gotta go in here and deliver $400 worth of,Chick fil A to a house full of craziness.
So I will see you guys on the flip side.
(45:04):
Pray you're killing it.
Pray you're getting your per diem.
Stop trying to skip steps.
It doesn't make any sense.
You're not gonna get there faster by skipping astep or two.
You don't yeah.
You're not this is gonna be a rant.
This is going to be a rant 100%.
(00:27):
Here we go.
(01:00):
Welcome back to the Purdue M Podcast.
I'm Keaton Turner.
I am a little bit spicy.
I'm gonna I'm gonna explain why.
I'm a explain why I started with yelling at youguys.
But first, what's happening in my life?
It is a it is a smoking hot Saturday here in myworld.
(01:25):
I am, as usual, out running errands for myfamily.
I am I'm an executive admin, I've realized, formy family, for my kids, for my lovely wife.
I am I'm getting Chick fil A for them becauseShelby and I are going on a date night.
And life has been so crazy lately.
(01:47):
We did not go to the grocery store, and sowe're hitting the easy button for kids dinner.
And Chick fil A is I mean, Chick fil A is alltime.
So they're getting Chick fil A.
And and then Shelby and I are going out.
We are we're actually going to we're gonna goeat dinner first.
We're gonna get a drink, and then we are goingto the soft opening of one of our friend's new
(02:14):
flower boutiques in Bloomington, Indiana.
Shout out Michael and Kelsey Weber.
Shout out Kelsey Weber.
I think the name of the of the new flower shopis Three Blondes Boutique or something like
that.
I I don't know if there's, like, a a storybehind the name Three Blondes.
(02:37):
We're gonna go do that.
And then who knows where the night leads?
It's been so hot here lately.
It's hard to do anything outside.
I but I but I'll tell you well, I'm not gonnaget into it yet.
Got a few more things to get to before we getinto the topic.
So I have a topic, and it's a spicy topictoday.
Thanks for all the messages, guys.
(02:58):
I'll be honest.
I I don't have the Purdium hotline on me, butsome of you guys have been sending me messages
on Instagram.
I got a few text messages this morning.
One from Jason Ewer.
Shout out Jason Ewer up in Vermont.
The per diem phone is in my Bronco, and I leftit in there the other day when I swapped
(03:20):
vehicles.
That's one of the problems with driving morethan one vehicle is I know.
It's it's it's a travesty.
But I left the phone in my other truck, and andI I haven't had it the last few days.
So if you've been messaging me there, I will goget it this evening because I will be parked at
the office later.
So I'll grab the phone.
I'll catch up on messages.
(03:42):
I know I know some of you guys are stillwaiting on mugs.
I got a couple more orders this morning.
I promise I I'm gonna stop saying I promisebecause you guys are gonna think I'm a liar at
some point, but I promise there are more mugsbeing shipped out.
This I you know, I have been blaming myassembly line workers.
But at the end of the day, all these problems,as you guys have heard, these all these
(04:05):
problems roll up to me.
And and I haven't held them accountable totheir deadlines, their targets, their KPIs, so
I need to be a better leader there.
But we will get the mugs packed up and shippedout.
And then I think I think I'm very close tobeing completely gone with the mugs.
I think they're almost sold out.
And I sold a lot more than I ever thought Iwould, so thank you for the support if you
(04:26):
ordered a mug.
Those will never be made again.
So you have something, you know, something thatyou overpaid for.
You you overpaid for a coffee mug, but you'vegot one of the only ones that was handmade that
will never be made again.
So so thank you for your support of thepodcast.
I did get called out this morning on Instagramby mister five forty build himself.
(04:53):
The the sexy viking is, I think, what I'm gonnastart calling him.
I I'm gonna start this new thing.
And I and I actually came up with it thismorning when he sent me a shirtless video on
Instagram for the world to see.
But this dude's ripped.
I mean, Justin you know, you guys have heard metalk about Justin.
He's ripped.
He's got all these tattoos, and he's, like, gotall these Viking sayings and biblical stories
(05:19):
and just I I think he might take the the crownfor the most interesting man in the world.
But he sent me a video this morning drinkingout of his Purdue M coffee mug.
And at the very end, he calls me out to do ashirtless video myself.
And so that's coming.
It's coming very soon.
(05:41):
And what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna spoil this.
I'm gonna I'm just gonna lay it all out therenow.
And and when I get time this weekend or earlythis week, I'm gonna record this video.
But what Justin has just kicked off withoutknowing it is we're gonna start a new
challenge.
Still doing the thirty day chase that man forthirty day challenge.
(06:02):
I've I've slipped a time or two.
You guys heard me slip slip in in Chicago whenShelby and I were eating chicken fingers at
midnight, not our finest moment.
But, Justin, what I'm doing, because you calledme out, I am gonna record a shirtless video.
And when I do, I'm gonna call somebody elseout, and I want them to oblige to the challenge
(06:29):
and take a shirtless video and then callsomebody else out.
Now there's a kicker.
Justin, when he did his shirtless video thismorning on Instagram and you can go you can go
follow him.
It's his handle's the lost dringer, just likeit sounds at the lost dringer on Instagram.
His shirtless video was basically a question.
(06:55):
He's posing a question to me about, you know, aleadership question.
And so I'm gonna answer the question on apodcast episode dedicated directly to you,
Justin.
But I'm also going to start the challenge andask another question of somebody else.
And their shirtless challenge, they gottarespond via shirtless video, and they get to
(07:19):
call somebody else out.
So we'll see if this thing gains any legs.
Might die flat on its face.
People get a little weirded out with theshirtless video thing, but I don't know.
I think it's I think I think we might be ontosomething.
If nothing else, it'll challenge people tomaybe get their physique in a little better
shape before they shoot a shirtless video.
I don't know.
Maybe not.
(07:40):
But, Justin, appreciate the video.
I I'll tell you right now, today's topic camenaturally.
And and it came naturally because I gotfrustrated with my 10 year old.
About six weeks ago my my 10 year old's beenbegging me for a mower, a lawn mower for, I
(08:07):
don't know, probably a year now.
He watches these videos on YouTube of thesekids that start mowing companies or, you know,
land clearing businesses.
He's all he's all about it.
There's so much content on YouTube of guys thatare just videoing themselves mowing.
And my son eats it up.
He's 10 years old, and he and he, like, youknow, he's into this whole, you know, work
(08:29):
thing.
He wants to work.
He wants to work honestly, you know, more thanhe wants to play, which is which is kind of
cool, but but ironic.
And I'm trying to navigate this a little bit.
So he's been he's been begging me to buy amower.
And at first, I was like, alright.
Well, I'm gonna buy you a push mower.
And I had Jake Hubbell, our asset guy.
(08:49):
I had him looking around like a cheap pushmower.
I'm like, I'll let him I'll let him push mowthe backyard.
It's not that massive.
You know, he can do with a push mower.
It'd be good exercise for him, and and andhe'll he'll learn a thing or two about about
push mowing because that's how I got started.
He then as he watches more and more YouTubevideos, he says, you know what?
I I don't want a push mower.
(09:11):
I want a zero turn.
I want a long I want, like, a real mower.
And and so he's been begging for a long time.
And and then, of course, fast forward, my momgets sick.
My dad realizes he's gonna have to spend, youknow, a couple months up in Chicago, and my dad
mows his own lawn.
(09:31):
He's in the same neighborhood.
And so I I said, you know what, Andrew?
I'll make you a deal.
I will buy you a zero turn mower, but we'regonna draft up an agreement, and you have to
pay this mower off.
You have to pay me back for it over thirty sixmonths.
And how you're gonna do that is every week,you're gonna commit to learning how to mow
(09:55):
properly.
You're gonna do all the edging and weed eating.
You're gonna pick all the sticks up in theyard.
We got trees all over our yard, so there's, youknow, there's plenty of sticks to pick up every
week.
And I said that that will be your paymentbecause I'm, you know, I'm spending, you know,
80 or a $100 a week for someone else to do it.
So you do the math.
I mean, you know, thirty six months, fourweeks, a month.
(10:19):
It's it's not hard to pay off a mower.
Drink break.
Hold on.
I gotta get my gallon of water in.
So we start looking.
I look for a few weeks.
I call around.
I do some reviews.
I grew up mowing.
I I used to mow a 100 acres, finish mow a 100acres all summer long, and we use big
(10:43):
commercial Toro zero turns.
Hold on one second.
I'm at Chick fil A.
Hold on.
Yeah.
It's a mobile order for Shelby.
Shelby t?
Yep.
Any changes for
you?
Nope.
Alright.
You're all set.
Thanks, man.
Appreciate it.
You too.
This is gonna be a 400 Chick fil A order justjust knowing how she operates.
(11:05):
But anyway, so I start calling around, and I'mused to Toro zero turns, but our Toro dealer
here in Bloomington are a bunch of old Delbertswho are way past their prime and and just
aren't super helpful.
So I I quickly nixed the Toro route.
Of course, people talk about skag mowers andhustlers, and then there's the old school guys
(11:28):
that are like, oh, Dixie Chopper.
I settled on a Spartan.
Okay?
Before you say anything, I did my homework.
I talked to guys that own Spartans.
I went to the Spartan dealer, and this guysells more Spartan mowers than anywhere else in
the nation.
He's already sold 300 mowers, and this was upthrough, like, you know, May.
(11:52):
He'd already sold 300 mowers.
It's a commercial mower.
It's 61 inch cut.
This thing is legit.
39 horsepower fuel injected Vanguard engine.
I mean, it's it's it's unbelievable.
And the guy that was mowing my yard before, BenWingard shout out, Ben Wingard.
(12:15):
He had several of these Spartan mowers andloved them.
And my yard always looked great.
He always spoke super highly of them.
So I thought, you know what?
Like, let's give it a try.
I bought a used one.
It had four hundred hours on it, but the ownerof the dealership was was giving it to his dad.
And and the the day he was gonna the day he wasgonna gift it to his dad, I was in the store,
(12:39):
and I saw it kinda sitting out back, and I wentout and struck a deal on it.
So I got a four hundred hour Spartan mower formy 10 year old son.
I know it sounds stupid, but stick with me.
I am convinced that when we push our kids,whether you push them in sports or push them to
(13:03):
work or whatever, I'm convinced that thatyou're gonna get more out of them.
When you let a kid do what a kid wants to do,they're gonna end up staying inside.
They're gonna end up eating junk food.
They're gonna end up playing video games orwatching TV.
When you let a kid make their own decisions,they're gonna take the easy path.
And so because my son was, you know, asking towork and and you know, wanted something, I
(13:28):
committed to buying it, and I locked him intoan agreement where, you know, he owes me for it
now.
It's his mower, but he bought it on a loan.
I loaned him the money to buy it, and so he'sgonna work for it.
So I've been teaching him over the last severalweeks.
I think we've had the mower four or five weeksnow, and and it's it's a phenomenal mower, by
(13:48):
the way.
This is a free this is literally a freeadvertisement for Spartan mowers.
Uh-oh.
Hold on.
Problems at Chick fil A.
Shelby?
Shelby t?
Yes.
Yeah.
You're all gonna have Thank you.
Appreciate it.
They got an army here at this Chick fil a on aSaturday.
An army.
(14:08):
The the the Chick fil a payroll has got to begetting close to what our our weekly payroll is
with how many people they have working here.
But anyway, this is a free, free advertisementspot for Spartan Mower.
Spartan was also acquired by Toro.
So I don't know if that does, well for theirquality control or not, but I got air ride
(14:30):
suspension.
I got an electronic chute that open and closesthe chute.
I mean, it's got all the it's got all thethings.
You know me.
I'm gonna go big if I'm gonna go.
So so anyway, I've been teaching him how to runthe zero turn over the last few weeks.
He's been mowing with it.
I mow my place.
I drive it down the street, and I mow my dad'splace while he's up in Chicago.
(14:52):
My son does all the weed eating.
He's picking up sticks.
Well, this morning I mean, it's it's like it's09:30 in the morning on Saturday.
It is already like 92 degrees and a thousandpercent humidity.
I mean, just walking outside.
I I was drinking my coffee on the patio thismorning at 06:30, and I was sweating in my
(15:13):
pajamas.
And so it's it's one of those days.
He starts weed eating, and I see him.
I'm I'm kinda mowing the front yard becausethat's where I want the stripes to look
straight and crispy and fresh.
And so I'm mowing the front.
I'm gonna let him mow the back, but he's gottaget all the weed eating done before he can jump
on the mower.
(15:34):
So he starts weed eating, and and he comes upand says, hey.
I'm done, dad.
I'm done weed eating.
I'm like, wow.
That was that was quick, but okay.
Maybe he's just, you know, ready to go thismorning, ready to work.
I said, okay.
We'll get the wheelbarrow and run up to thefront garden beds.
We have some sticks, some limbs, and stuff thathave fallen.
Clean out all the garden beds with thewheelbarrow.
(15:55):
Make a few trips.
And then when you're done with that, I'll beready for you to jump on this and mow the back.
He's like, alright, dad.
And I I'm like, he doesn't seem like he's gotvery much of a pep in his So I'm surprised he's
already done weed eating.
Sure enough, I finished the front.
I haven't seen any wheelbarrow loads moving.
And I'm like, that's odd.
What's what's going on here?
(16:16):
I'm a work my way around the back.
He's nowhere to be found.
I'm like, well, the pile the the limb pile isin the back.
That's where he should be throwing all thesesticks, and it looks like the weed eating is
not done.
I mean, it's done in spots, but it's not evendone very well.
It's actually just, I wouldn't even I wouldn'teven consider it halfway done because there's a
(16:40):
part that he didn't eat at all.
And then the part that he did weed eat, he justkinda rushed through it and left some tall
stuff and so on and so forth.
Drink break.
So finally, I start mowing the back because Idon't see him anywhere.
I'm like, well, he's went inside.
He's over it.
It's too hot.
(17:00):
Here he comes.
He comes running out.
He goes, woah, dad.
Hey.
It's my turn to mow.
I shut the mower off.
I said, dude, do you think I'm gonna let youmow the back after, a, you didn't even weed eat
everything you were supposed to, And b and hegoes, woah.
Woah.
Woah.
I wheat eat it.
(17:20):
Yeah.
I did.
I wheat eat it.
I'm like, bro, you didn't wheat eat.
And and here we go.
We're getting our Chick fil A order as wespeak.
Hello.
Yes.
Hold on, guys.
(17:41):
Is that a big or is that a big order?
Okay.
No worries.
Yeah.
Sure.
Thank you.
Okay.
It's a big order.
Gosh.
Dang it.
I gotta go park.
You know what?
Man, this is this is this is gonna be adifferent rant.
(18:03):
I was I was actually heading down the path ofranting on my story.
And and then I get up to the window at Chickfil A, I gotta sit with the rest of these
Delberts here with their blinkers on becausethe order is so big, they can't even fit it
through the window.
I mean, what are we doing?
Who are we ordering for?
Unbelievable.
(18:23):
That's what it's that guys, this is what it'slike being the big brother.
You gotta anyway, I'm not gonna go there.
So he's like, dad, I did weed eat.
I'm all done.
I'm like, bro, first of all, you didn't weedeat.
But second of all, let's pretend you did for asecond.
What about the wheelbarrow and all the sticksyou were supposed to pick up?
(18:44):
He's like, well, I forgot.
I'm like, you forgot?
You you literally had two jobs.
One was to weed everything, which is your jobevery week.
And then two, I said, when you're done withthat, because I assumed you'd get that done
quickly, you pick up all the sticks.
He's like, well, I forgot.
I just I'm I'm ready to mow.
I wanna mow.
(19:04):
I'm like, bro, you're not mowing.
I'm gonna finish mowing because I wanna get themowing done.
Your job was to weed eat.
So what I want you to do is go back and getyour weed eater and finish weed eating.
And he kinda gave me a little bit of attitude.
And I said, you know what?
We're not gonna do that.
(19:26):
Don't weed eat.
I'm gonna finish mowing, and then when I getdone, I am going to walk you around the entire
property, and I'm gonna give you a lesson.
And he rolls his eyes.
He walks off.
He finishes what you know, he finishes watchingme mow the back.
And then I get to weed eater, and I and I showhim every single spot he missed.
(19:46):
And I'm like, look, dude.
The grass, we don't wanna weed eat the grassall the way down to the dirt because then it
looks bad.
But the weeds, the stuff under all the bigtrees, the stuff out like near the woods or on
the edge of the property, like, that's thestuff you wanna take down to the dirt.
Weeds grow faster than grass.
So to make a long story short, I explained tohim.
He's been watching this guy on YouTube calledHammer.
(20:10):
Some of you guys might know this guy.
I don't know if he's famous or not, but it'slike this guy this dude on YouTube, got his own
YouTube channel.
He does like tree maintenance and landscapingand mowing.
He's got like a skid steer.
And I said, Andrew, do you think Hammer becauseHammer's always the guy running the skid steer,
running the mini excavator, or running thechainsaw.
(20:31):
And then he's got some grunt workers, somelaborers around him that will like drag limbs
or, you know, run the leaf blower and blow thegrass off when they're done.
You know, guys doing other stuff.
I said, Andrew, do you think Hammer just oneday decided he's just gonna jump in a skid
steer and run the whole crew?
(20:53):
And he's like, I don't I don't know.
I said, dude, that's not how it works.
Hammer started where you're starting.
He started by weed eating.
The most simple job.
He started by carrying a weed eater around allday, probably eight hours a day, yard after
yard after yard, and he did that until hemastered that.
(21:18):
He did that until he did such a good job thatsomebody saw him and said, hey, let me give you
a shot on the mower.
And then he did the mower for a long time untilhe mastered that and did such a good job and
produced results after results until someonesaid, hey, we're down a man today.
Jump in the skid steer or jump on the chainsaw.
(21:42):
And so I went through this father son lecturemoment, and here here my wife comes pulling in.
We're up at the front of our driveway.
My wife is pulling in.
I'm soaking wet because I've been weed eatingnow, the whole property with him right there by
my side.
I'm showing him everything we're doing.
She pulls in and she's like, hey.
You know?
And she wants to chat.
And I'm like, babe, I we're not talking rightnow.
(22:03):
I kinda I kinda bit her head off a little bit.
She she perked up.
She goes, what?
What happened?
What's wrong?
Everything was good when I left.
I'm like, well, our son decides he no longerwants to work.
He just wants to jump a few steps and be thesupervisor.
He just wants to manage everything.
He wants to sit on the machine and watcheverybody else work.
(22:25):
He wants me to weed eat and him to mow, the 10year old.
And she rolls her eyes, pulls down thedriveway.
Here's why I'm picking this topic.
One, because it's relevant to what's goingthrough my head today.
As I finished mowing, I thought to myself, youknow, this is so spot on with what happens
(22:48):
across so many industries, especially withyoung dudes.
They see something on YouTube.
They see something on Instagram.
They see some Delbert on a podcast sayingsomething inspirational.
And what do they do?
They decide they're gonna skip a few steps.
(23:09):
They decide sorry, I had to take another drink.
I'm on one today.
They decide they don't want to put in the work.
If somebody else can run the equipment, Ishould run the equipment.
If somebody else can manage the project, Ithink I can manage the project.
If somebody else can, you know, sit in theoffice and call the shots and make the big
(23:32):
bucks, I think I should do that.
And they skip the steps.
Skipping the steps has never one time been thecorrect long term career path strategy.
Never one time.
I know it sucks going through it.
(23:52):
It really sucks when you're trying to climb theladder, whatever ladder you're on, whether
you're in, you know, field operations, whetheryou're on a landscape crew, yard crew, whether
you're in construction, you know, heavy civil,mechanical, electrical, whatever.
The day to day sucks.
Uh-oh.
Here we go.
(24:14):
Hello.
Yeah, Shelly.
Thank you.
Wow.
Look at all this.
Unbelievable.
It's my lucky day.
Oh my gosh.
I would be stealing a fry.
Oh my gosh.
There's, like, five orders of fry.
I would be stealing a fry, but we're chasingthat man, and I'm not allowed to eat anything
fried.
(24:34):
So we're gonna go past this.
Here here's the problem.
No one and I'm I'm not talking about Chick filA.
Chick fil A is a problem.
But skipping steps, if if you if you can't doyour current job unconsciously competent, we we
(24:58):
talked about this recently, if you can't doyour current job so well that you don't even
have to think about it, why in the world do youthink you should jump to the next job?
Why in the world would you think you, for somereason, wanna get more you know, take on more
responsibility, take on more stress, take onmore pressure.
I mean, sure, yeah, you might get paid more,but why would you take on more if you can't do
(25:23):
your current job without breaking a sweat?
If you can't do your current job with your eyesclosed?
If If you can't do your current job in yoursleep, why would you want to skip that step and
go on to the next job that's harder, that'smore stressful, that's more responsibility?
(25:43):
Why are you trying to climb the ladder and skiptwo or three rings along the way?
Rungs along the way.
Rungs of a ladder, not rings of a ladder.
This blows my mind, and it really struck methis morning with my 10 year old because he's
normally not the type of kid that wants to,like, skirt his way out of hard work.
(26:06):
He's normally the one that loves hard work.
Like like, kind of kind of odd because I didn'tlove hard work as much as he does at his age.
And so I'm I'm wondering.
I'm like, dude, are you seeing these YouTubevideos and, like, seeing these other young kids
that are doing something that's, I don't know,you know, quote, unquote, cooler than what
(26:29):
you're doing.
They're running the mower, and you're runningthe weed eater, and and so you wanna just skip
a step and and jump on the mower.
It never makes any sense to me when I see ayoung guy who's passionate, who's assertive,
who wants to build their career.
(26:51):
It never makes any sense to me why they can'tget this concept of being aggressively patient
through their head.
Aggressively patient, but mastering the jobthey're in before they go take on another job,
mastering their current craft before they pickup another craft.
(27:15):
To bring this personal, like, as if the storyalready wasn't personal enough, I have never
one time with any employee ever on any of myteams, I have never one time seen someone doing
a mediocre job and thought to myself, you knowwhat?
I'd like to give him more responsibility.
(27:36):
He's mediocre.
He's doing a halfway decent job.
Let's give him more.
Let's give him more responsibility.
Let's give him more work to do, and then hewill do a better job.
It makes no sense.
It makes zero sense.
This is why this one's a rant.
(27:58):
This happens time after time after time.
I've seen I've had people come up to me who aredecent, you know, good human beings, decent
employees, young, don't know what they don'tknow, unconsciously incompetent, as some would
say.
And they're like, hey, how do get to be aforeman?
(28:20):
How how do I when when can I how do I get to bea superintendent and, like, make the make the
big money?
And I kinda I'm kinda, like, looking around,like, am I getting punked right now?
Like, the dude's the dude's 18 years old, andhe's asking how to become the superintendent.
I'm like, dude, you just ran your haul truck upon the berm.
(28:46):
What what in the world makes you think you'reeven qualified to jump from the haul truck to
the next thing, like the grader, the watertruck, let alone the dozer or the excavator?
Young people see the highlight reels onInstagram, on LinkedIn, on YouTube, on TikTok,
(29:10):
and they think they should be further alongthan they are.
And they think the only way to get furtheralong is by skipping steps.
You can't skip steps.
Every step and I've talked about all themistakes.
Like, you know, the the ride is is worth thefall.
I've I've talked about all these things.
You cannot skip steps.
(29:34):
And and I get so frustrated when people, forfor whatever reason, think they're gonna get
further ahead by not perfecting the job they'rein, and that somehow they're gonna be better in
the next job that they're in.
The only reason you get another shot to dosomething more is because you're so good at the
(29:55):
job you're doing that the company can't affordto keep you in your current job because you're
producing results at such a high level.
They're like, man, we've we've gotta get moreout of them.
Like, selfishly, let me give you a littlesecret.
This is how companies work.
This is how management works.
If you're a high performing individual, produceresults all the time, dependable, trustworthy.
(30:19):
If you're legit, I'm just gonna sum it up inone word.
If you're legit, guess what happens to you?
You get squeezed.
You get squeezed to death.
The company wants more of you.
They want more out of you.
The the company doesn't squeeze bad bademployees.
(30:42):
The company ignores bad employees.
The company, the boss, doesn't like dive intothe bad employee and like, you know, oh, we're
gonna we're gonna like reinvest in you and putThe most legit people in companies are the ones
who get squeezed the hardest because thecompany knows they're going to get more out of
(31:06):
them.
They have more to give.
And this is where it's a vicious cycle.
I don't have all the time to go into it.
It leads to burnout.
It leads to resentment.
It leads to all kinds of other things.
But if you are feeling squeezed, if you'refeeling like you're giving all you can give,
but the company wants more, I'm just gonna tellyou, you're probably legit.
(31:27):
You're probably one of the legit ones in yourcompany.
That's why they're trying to get more out ofyou because they've seen you time and time
again give more, produce more, deliver more,beat expectations more, beat budget more.
So they're like, well, if he's got more togive, let's just keep asking for more.
(31:49):
Companies never ask mediocre employees for I'mI'm I'm sitting here scratching my head.
You can't skip steps.
I'll I'll just sum it up that way.
(32:11):
The way you get to the next level and then thenext level and then the next level is by doing
the current level so well that the game isboring.
You can you can compare this to sports.
(32:31):
You can compare this to video games.
You can compare this to whatever you want.
This is the same this principle is the same inlife.
The kids that, like, win in the video games andI haven't played a video game in twenty five
years, so let me maybe take this one to sports.
The guys that, like, get bored playing a normalgolf shot, and so instead, they they wanna,
(32:53):
like, bend one around the tree just for funjust because they can, they got to the next
level because they hit the boring golf shot somany times that it became boring.
They hit it perfect so many times that itbecame boring.
Kobe Bryant shooting free throws.
Michael Jordan.
Like, they hit the boring they did the boringstuff so well.
(33:16):
They could do it with their eyes closed.
There's a there's a famous and I might mess itup a little bit, but the the concept is true.
There's a famous moment where Kobe's at theline shooting a free throw.
And he this wasn't the Achilles one.
That was a different story.
He he tore his Achilles and then had two freethrows to go make, and he walked up to the free
(33:39):
throw line with the torn Achilles and made bothfree throws with the torn Achilles and then
walked off the court.
Most guys, when you see him tear theirAchilles, they they have to be like wheeled
out.
I think Paul Pierce had to be wheeled out in awheelchair.
That's not the story I'm talking about.
The story I'm talking about with Kobe is hewalked up to the line.
He was getting chippy with somebody.
(34:00):
He bet them half a million dollars he wouldmake both these free throws with his eyes
closed.
He goes up.
I don't even think he touched the rim.
He swished both of them with his eyes closed,half a million bucks.
I don't know if he ever got paid.
But the only reason he ever became legit andhit all the big shots and the big games and the
(34:22):
big moments with all the lights and all thepressure is because he hit the boring shots a
million times.
He didn't skip steps.
He did skip college.
But he was so good in he was so good in highschool, he was like, he was bored.
He was bored.
(34:43):
You you just can't skip steps when it comes toyour career because every time you do and I've
watched guys that do this.
There's one guy that comes to mind.
He used to work for us a long, long time ago.
He got offered some some other bigopportunities, and he skipped a few steps.
(35:04):
And I'm like, man, how did this guy go fromlike, he was a truck driver for us, and then we
did some things.
Like, he skipped like three or four steps, andhe was pretty legit.
He skipped three or four steps.
And and when he got into that, you know, sweetspot role, the role that he always wanted, he
failed miserably.
(35:26):
Now, as I'm sure it was a big learning momentfor him, and he pivoted, and he'll he'll figure
it out and be fine, but he failed miserablybecause he had skipped too many steps.
He didn't have the reps.
He didn't have the scars.
He didn't have all the battle wounds.
Same thing with with with guys that start theirown company.
If you're I'm just gonna say this.
And again, I know this is a rant.
I I'm sorry.
(35:47):
If you're thinking about starting your ownbusiness and you're not running the current
work you have for your current employer withyour eyes closed, like if you're not by far and
above their top performer and you're justrunning their business with your eyes closed
without break a sweat, if you can't do that inyour current job, why do you think you should
(36:09):
start your own business?
Are you dumb or are you stupid?
I mean, I this is a full blown rant.
I'm I'm being dead serious.
Are you dumb?
Are you just ignorant?
If you aren't doing your current job with youreyes closed in your sleep, like making it rain,
(36:34):
it is a thousand times harder to do it foryourself in your own company, running your own
business with your own employees and a millionlike, what makes you think you're gonna be
successful running your own company if youcan't do your current job for your current
employer?
(36:57):
This is fundamental.
This is foundational.
This I'm not saying anything here that is likeearth shattering, brand new revelation.
It makes zero sense to add more chaos, morestress, and more responsibility to your life if
you cannot do your current job without breakinga sweat.
(37:22):
I I just don't know how else to say it.
And I and I don't wanna get long winded, butbut man, I somebody needed to hear that.
I'm trying to teach this lesson to my 10 yearold.
I don't think he quite gets it yet.
I mean, he's 10.
He doesn't understand why he can't just jump onthe mower.
Like, why like, dad, why do I have to weed eat?
(37:43):
It's like, well, and until you can show me thatyou can get the weed eating done efficiently,
you can change the string by yourself, You canmake it look fresh and crispy.
You haven't bird the grass down into dirt.
You don't have the weeds tall and airy.
Like, until you can show me you can do that jobwith your eyes closed, why would I trust you
with a monster mower that's got 39 horsepowerand, you know, like three massive blades
(38:09):
spinning?
Why why in the world if I can't trust you withsome string spinning around the end of a stick,
why would I trust you with a big machine withthree blades spinning around?
Makes no sense.
If we can't trust you to be the best haul truckdriver on-site and do the job with your eyes
closed, please don't drive a haul truck withyour eyes closed.
(38:30):
But but if you can't if you can't do the job sowell and help teach other people how to do the
job so well, if you can't if you're not themost legit haul truck driver on your crew, why
would your boss wanna put you in a different,more critical role?
Why would your boss want to trust you to domore?
This is the one fundamental thing that youngpeople, and I specifically mean young people
(38:56):
because when you get older, you start torealize this.
Why do young people think they get to skipsteps?
They get to leapfrog other people because theyfeel like they should?
Like, life is a meritocracy.
(39:19):
Meaning, if you're legit, you get moreresponsibility.
If you get more responsibility, you get morepay.
If you get more pay, you get more freedom.
Pretty simple.
Like, you wanna chase happiness, just sum it upto that.
If for you, more money equals happiness or morefreedom equals happiness, it's pretty simple.
(39:45):
If you're the most legit at your job, of allthe people that you're surrounded by, all your
coworkers, all the other employees, if you'rethe most legit, you're gonna get more
responsibility.
You're gonna get more shots.
You're gonna get more swings with your company.
Perfect.
You get more swings, you get a promotion.
You get more responsibility.
You get a promotion, you get more money.
(40:06):
Awesome.
You get more money.
You get more freedom.
You get a lot of money.
You get ultimate freedom.
You can do what you want.
The people with the most money, not all ofthem, but the people with the most money have a
lot of freedom.
They can not work whenever they want.
(40:26):
They can show up and do whatever they want.
But people miss this.
You don't get there by being decent.
You don't get there by doing a halfway decentjob.
You don't get there by being a good employee.
You get there by being a phenomenal employee.
You wanna be a business owner, be the bestemployee at your current company, and then you
(40:53):
have a tenth of a chance at becoming asuccessful business owner.
Like, I I know guys that and I and I and when Isay I know guys, I I could name 10 people right
now by name who were some of the best at theircraft.
Best employees, best attitude, showed up everyday, could run circles around everybody.
(41:17):
I could name 10 guys right now that startedtheir own company, and it didn't work.
They closed the doors, and they were legit attheir company.
They got their bonus, the max bonus every year.
They got promotion after promotion.
The owner trusted them.
They had kind of pretty much free range to dowhat they want.
(41:38):
They were legit.
Like, when you compare them to other people,they were at the top of their game.
But then they went to start their own company.
It didn't work.
One guy was a year in, shut the doors.
One guy, three years in, shut the doors.
One guy is just now teetering on shutting thedoors.
I'm just telling you, you can't skip steps.
(42:00):
You have to be legit at the current job youhave and not just your version of legit.
You have to be so legit that everyone elsetalks about how legit you are.
And then, and only then, do you get the nextlevel up and then the next level up.
And so I this one was this one was raw and realfor me today.
(42:24):
This was a it's it's fun.
You know, it's been fun building a companybecause I I get to now deploy I mean, this
company's been around almost as long as my sonhas been around.
So now I get to deploy some of the lessons I'velearned in business to lessons in parenting.
(42:46):
And today was maybe the first example everwhere I just for the first time, I saw my son,
and I'm like, woah, dude, I'm gonna have totreat you like an employee here.
Like, like, I get you I get you want yourpromotion.
I get you want to be bumped up to the nextthing.
I get you want the next shot.
You want to get on the machine and run and go.
Balls balls of the wall, wide open.
(43:08):
I get it.
Looks fun on YouTube.
But, dude, you're not doing your current job.
So so how am I gonna give you more if youhaven't done as much as you can with the first
job we gave you?
So, I don't know if this was helpful.
I don't know if somebody can literally forwardthis episode to one of their young guys that
(43:31):
they're currently, you know, trying to coachand like, you know, again, young guys struggle
with patience.
I'm I am I am in love with the term aggressivepatience.
You know, be aggressive every single day, butbe patient.
It's a long journey, and it takes a long timeto master each job.
(43:52):
But man, this one was real for me, and so I Ihope that it was real.
You know, hopefully, it was relatable tosomebody else.
And hopefully, if you're stuck in a spot now,this gives you a little bit of inspiration or
motivation or whatever you want.
This gives you a little bit of insight intowhat you need to do if you want the promotion,
if you want the next thing.
Like if you're running towards making moremoney or starting your own business.
(44:19):
Like, I'm just telling you, if you can't Don'teven think, don't even daydream about starting
your own business.
If you can't just do your job without eventrying.
Unconsciously competent.
Don't even daydream about it.
(44:43):
That's what I got.
That's what I got.
That's a rant.
That's a wrap.
That's a that's what a 95 degree Saturday willget you.
And, and I, you know, hope hope it comes acrossthe right way.
I gotta go in here and deliver $400 worth of,Chick fil A to a house full of craziness.
So I will see you guys on the flip side.
(45:04):
Pray you're killing it.
Pray you're getting your per diem.
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