Beyond Spreadsheets: Streamlining Your Shed Business

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Shannon (01:41):
Welcome back to another episode of the Shed Geek
Podcast.
And here we are just knockingthem out today.
Three podcasts we're on two outof three and excited for this
conversation.
Always, always, always, awelcome guest, someone I enjoy
talking to just as much off theair as I do on the air, and you
guys may know him.
He's world-renowned, or youknow what.
If not, he's at least kind ofour friend and always pleasant

(02:03):
to speak with.
So, Tristan, what do you do,man?
Tell the people about who youare and what you do.

Tristan (02:09):
Yeah, well, Shannon, thank you for having me back on
the podcast.
We really enjoy ourrelationship and it's been like
five years now.
So the Customer AlignedLogistics has a product called
CAL, and CAL is basically, youknow, think of CAL as like a
good friend, somebody just kindof, you know, want to help you,

(02:30):
you know, change the motor inyour truck or give you a ride to
the airport or, you know, justkind of make your life a little
simpler, but, you know, alwaysthere for you.
And that's what we call theproduct CAL.
And so, we created some newproducts, Shannon, and we wanted
to just kind of, you know,share them in industry a little
bit, and of course, you're, youknow, a valuable marketing
partner and you use one of ourproducts, but also with Shag

(02:52):
Geek Rentals.
But also we advertise on yourpodcast because we recognize
that if you want to getinformation out, you know, the
Shag Geek podcast is a great wayto share your, share your
vision with, with your potentialclients and what you're doing,
and, and so we've got a few newproducts that I just wanted to,
you know, hop back on with youand walk through some of the
things that we've been workingon in the last few months.

Shannon (03:15):
Excellent.
Well, I appreciate the kindwords.
We'll get the check in the mailand uh, yeah, always, always
appreciate, you know, uh, theyou know, appreciate the
kindness that you bring, and Ithink it's probably as much your
, as I say to the last guest,your ministry and just the way
that you approach people is justas important a lot of times in

(03:37):
business as the business itself.
So, I can't say any more kindthings about you as well, too,
and appreciate those kind words.
So, tell me what are some ofthe new things?
I'm curious because I'm a shedgeek and you do so many things.
It's not even just the shedworld.
You do so many things, but Idon't know how it pertains to

(03:57):
sheds.
So, you have the floor, sir.
I'm curious.

Tristan (04:01):
Well, that's great.
So, we've been hanging aroundfor four or five years, we've
been in logistics for 25 years,right.
And then about a year ago,almost to the day, we sold our
organic farm and home deliverycompany and so we were
delivering fruits and vegetablessince 1998, you know,

(04:23):
collaboration, like I just lovethat, right.
So, I'm always serving oncommittees or at the county
meetings or in the farm world,and I just happened to stumble
into this marketplace throughDave Ramsey, of all things right
.
Just, you know, we were in amastermind group and one of my
co-masterminders, or whatever wecalled ourselves back then, was
in the shed business, you know.

(04:44):
And so, we kept in touch overthe years.
And then when, when I startedthis new software company,
because we recognized, duringthe pandemic, people needed, you
know, efficient tools, and sowe were, we were, you know,
selling to like bagel companiesand meal delivery companies,
because we were in the foodspace, and then I ended up
talking to my friend Mike and,boom, you know, he's like, can
you help me?
I'm like, I mean, you deliver abox, a box of food, you deliver

(05:08):
a box on a trailer, and that's.
That's close enough, you know.
And it's not close enough atall, Shannon.
It is not close enough at all,you know somebody says can you
help?
me, I'm like, absolutely.
And so we started pivotingtowards sheds and we went to
that first shed expo, like fiveyears ago, and it was in Grand

(05:28):
Rapids that year, and there werea few people that were willing
to work with us at that pointbecause we were kind of new to
the marketplace and we weren'tvery I say sheddy, we weren't
very, you know, we were, wecould do it and we had some good
tools, but it was still prettyclunky, right and so.
So, then we know we have, youknow, several clients now, and
then last year we committed torebuilding the interface to make

(05:52):
it very shed specific, verysales specific, and so we spent
a whole year retooling this.
So now it's super clean andcrisp and it's only the tools
you need to see.
And so a lot of the softwarehas a bunch of extra stuff
attached to it that doesn'treally apply to you, but it
comes with the platform you'reon and you know, and so, like
you know, people start clickingon things they shouldn't click

(06:14):
on and end up over here and overthere, and you're like, you
know, I'm like, ah, so we tookaway, you know, all that extra
stuff that wasn't reallypertinent for a salesperson to
see or need or an office person,and we just made it really
clean.
And you know I like really goodtools and you know, the better

(06:34):
the tools designed to do the jobis supposed to do, you know
it's worth it.
But it has to be appropriatelyscaled right, it has to make
sense for your business and solike.
So, we have a farm, and we grewvegetables for years, right, and
so I sold my distributioncompany, essentially, and I
still have my farm, I still havemy equipment, Shannon.
So last year we sat under thewalnut tree, and we watched the

(06:58):
sunset over the Cascades.
I'm like this is really nice 25years.
I never looked up at that timebecause I'm here, am I watering,
weeding, looking forgermination, you know, planting
something?
Who had time to sit under thewalnut tree and actually watch
the sunset?
Right and so.
But this year we decided to doa garden, right.
So now I'm going from 10 acresof vegetables to a 40 by 60-

(07:20):
foot plot, right, I have thesame equipment to do.
You know, 100 acres, really.
So, it takes longer for me toswap implements than to use them
to drop pick up the rototiller,pick up the spader, pick up the
mower again, you know like itjust takes more time to actually
swap it than to use it, butit's still fun to get back in

(07:41):
that tractor and drive, you know.
So, like I, I work the soilmore than I probably should
because I've got the tool on andI don't want to swap it again,
right?
So really, I just need a niceTroy built rototiller at this
point, you know, but you know so.
So, so I'm not scaled anylonger for a 40 by 60- foot
garden, right, and our software.
Really, when I think about it,we now are the opposite.

(08:04):
We can do a 60, 80, 100- acrefarm.
We can handle 20, 30, 40, 100dealers, but one of the things
that I've discovered is thatnobody really serving the steel
industry as well.
So, we have these three tools.
We have the hub, thetransaction hub, CAL Central and

(08:25):
CAL Complete, and so these arethe three new products that
we've been working with andthey're just, they're not based
on your revenue, they're basedon the tools you need.
So, if you just need a Troybuilt rototiller, you know, the
transaction hub probably isperfect for you.
Or but if you need maybe alittle bit more, say you need

(08:45):
inventory, then the CAL Centralworks, and if you need a
full-blown system, then the CALComplete product works right.
And then we have the integrationin the RTO industry, where
there's like a dozen of them now, and so we have an RTO hub
product to just for contractorigination, not for like
contract management.
It exports into RTO smart or itexports into RTO pro or your
own head.
Now solution, it just helps youget a contract from your

(09:07):
dealers.
You know a digital contract, soyou have to wait for snail mail
or fax or you know, butbasically those are the ways you
get them.
You know and we, and we justmade that easier to do, and so
we have these four products inindustry that serve the industry
and because we're connected toShed Pro and IdeaRoom, we also
have that engine.

(09:28):
So if you just need to be ableto create a contract because,
say, you're a dealer sellingjust steel buildings, all you
really need to do is to get yourhash mark, your building ID
from your Shedpro or IdeaRoomemail and drop it in our system
and then it creates a customerand then you can walk it through
to your RTO partner and youknow and place the order there.

(09:51):
And so we inadvertently createda really nice, you know steel
product that doesn't have a lotof extra stuff in it, because
you really just need to get adrawing and a contract signed,
and then we have a little bit oforder management in there, just
to you know, so you can cancelorders, modify orders.
But you know, for the most part, all those guys want to do when

(10:11):
they're dealers is just really,you know, let me get my drawing
, make sure it's correct, andthen let me send the contract to
the RTO company or finance.
And so, we're really excitedabout this product because it's
going to make it easier fordealers to actually, you know,
you know, sell their building.
So, a manufacturer with 100dealers or 200 dealers, you know
, this part would be great forthem.

(10:38):
So, I'm excited about that onein particular

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Shannon (11:40):
No, I love it.
I was writing down so manythings here as you're talking,
Metaphor came up.
I love the metaphor and the waythat you break down the you
know, the different systems andthe uses, Because one thing that
we found with I will I will goon record here deep enough to

(12:00):
say you know, I think we're abit of a tech adverse, you know,
you know industry as a whole,so that is a bit what makes us
different.
Maybe some of that is the planecommunity, but maybe some of
that's even just theconservative nature.
You know, I was laughing.
I really don't want to get onpolitics, but I will use this,

(12:20):
I'll use this metaphor justbecause I think it's simple
enough for people to grasp.
I was laughing because, youknow, you always hear the
Republican Party is called theparty of no Right.
No, no no, no nothing new.
No, nothing new, right, and, andyou know that, that
conservative nature of us, Ithink about how that spills over
and how it's relatable andthings like our neck of the

(12:42):
world, especially in the techworld, and how it's relatable
and things like our neck of theworld, especially in the tech
world.
And I wrote up this nice littleI don't know what you'd call it
just this little segment inShed Sales Professionals the
other day where I was talkingabout, oh me, and you just
talked about this before you goton here Zoom, oh no, where's
the settings to this Safari?
And then here's the browser andthe user interface and happens

(13:04):
is, you know, like I?
I think back to my, my in-laws,and I remember we were talking
about getting a computer andthey were like why would anyone
ever have a computer in theirhome?
That doesn't make any sense.
And then it turned into theinternet.
It was like why would anyonewant the internet?
And now it's ai and it's like,oh no, that's the worst thing
ever.
And maybe one of these thingsreally are going to be the worst

(13:25):
thing ever, I don't know.
But now today, like mymother-in-law he's like I got to
put it in we're playingsolitaire on this old computer

(13:49):
every day because he just lovesit for some reason.
And I think we're resistant tochange in that conservative and
that's where I'm drawing themetaphor like you did, as the
party of no, we're resistant tochange, we're resistant to
anything new, we're resistant toanything that can help and we

(14:09):
often even criticize it becausewe don't understand it.
And you're in the tech space,right, you're in the tech space
and how it meets this world andit's like you know as a farmer.
Yes, yes, you, you, but you usethat, that farming, like
application to say wait a minute, I can use technology mixed
with this farming andagricultural world to benefit

(14:31):
and scale and do more.
And that's really the samething we're talking about here,
the most simple, you know, justplace right just from our base.
We're just talking about tryingto create systems and processes
to help you be have more time,be more successful and scale in
ways that you can't do as oneindividual in a 24 hour period.

(14:54):
Is that fair?

Tristan (14:56):
It's fair for sure, and you know technology is.
You know whether it's a car ora gun, or you know a cement
mixer, like all those thingscould be used for evil.
You know, technology can be usedfor evil, but it can be used
for a ton of good, right, I mean.
And so, it depends on how youapply the technology.

(15:17):
We want to take tools in theindustry that help you actually

(15:49):
do your job better, and one ofthe things about our tools
that's really helpful.
So, take my story right.
I'm like almost 60.
A lot of the shed companies,steel companies they're not too
far away from my age.
You know mom and dad startedthis, or are they taking it over
from their parents or whatever.
But so, there's anothertransition coming, there's a

(16:10):
succession coming in the next 10or 15 years in the shed
industry, because this is goingto have to either be sold or
it's going to have to be takenover by the next generation.
So, you know, we have ninechildren.
They all worked in the business, they all worked on the farm.
Children they all worked in thebusiness, they all worked on
the farm.
They all paid for their owncars.
They all got their Roths set up.
You know, because we believedin paying our kids and so we had

(16:31):
one or two that were going tolean into our business a little
bit.
Right, because we knew theirskill sets.
They worked with us.
But there were several thatwere not built, you know,
created by God to be farmers andor wholesale.
You know food buyers anddistributors right, that this
was not going to be farmers andor wholesale.
You know food buyers anddistributors, right, that this
was not going to be their skillset.
And so, we just want ourchildren to launch into their
world.
Right, the farm was a part ofit.

(16:51):
You know their parents, whatthey did growing up, was a part
of their story, but it wasn'tgoing to be the end of their
story, and so we just releasedthem to whatever their passions
were, and we've got them allover the place, you know, but
there was one or two that leanedin right.
And then, particularly, we hadone daughter who married a
firefighter.
And one day and this is mebeing a collaborator one day the

(17:13):
firefighter extinguishertesting guy shows up at my farm
and says you know, it's time todo your annual inspection on
your fire extinguisher.
And he's, you know, he's in his70s, he can barely walk right.
He's like, yeah, what do you dowith your business?
One day, and you go well, Igotta sell it to somebody, but I
want somebody to take care ofit.
And so, I said, well, well,I'll have my daughter call you

(17:34):
right.
And so, the one daughter whoprobably could take over my
company, whose husband's afirefighter, you know.
I said, do you want to buy thisbusiness?
And she, she looked at it andthey're in the space.
They understand extinguishers,they understand relationships.
They've been a people business.
It's a recurring model.
Every month they go to the bigmills and every year they go to

(17:54):
the small companies.
And so, when she and her husbandagreed to buy that business
from that older gentleman.
It was gone, like my chance tosell to a child or bring a child
on was gone.
So, then I had to pivot.
But what I had to do to getready to move was I had to
change my name from ClassicFamily Farms five years ago to

(18:15):
Box of Good.
I had to begin to set mycompany up so that it wasn't
tied to me any longer, so Icould potentially move it to
another family memberpotentially, or to another buyer
.
And we had a large company wantto buy us and I just didn't feel
right about selling to aprivate equity firm for lack of
a better word.

(18:35):
Right, because we're a smallfamily business.
I mean.
Also, I didn't want to work forthat company, right, and that's
how that game works Usually yousell, but then you run it for
them, and I wanted to, you know,do something different.
And so, I ended up selling itto two other close friends in
the community that were in asimilar space, who worked on our
software.
But I had to put in play theplan five years before in case

(18:58):
my children didn't want to do it, right?
So, I changed the name of ourcompany, and I rebranded and
today it's still known asClassic Family Farms.
You can't get rid of it becauseyou spent all these years
building it, but it's box ofgood, right.
And so, when they took it overbecause we built these systems
also they didn't show up for 30days after the sale, and I
didn't either, but the employeesthat I had trained and the

(19:19):
software we had built kept going.
They just because they werebusy running their other
companies, and all of a sudden,you know, they got a new company
.
But they were.
They didn't have to be on theground.
And so, building the rightsystems, putting in play you
know a name, change the systems,and then, you know, finding the
right buyer for the right, theright you know person to buy our

(19:40):
company.
It all worked.
And so, we are there.
In the shed industry, there'salways somebody who needs to
begin to exit, and if you're 50,think about it now, and if
you're 60, definitely thinkabout it now.
But what are you going to handoff to your children or the next
buyer?
And so that's why I'm in thisspace today.
In many ways is because Iunderstood the logistics, but
I've lived this story myself,and so, if they're really wise,

(20:03):
they won't do what I did, whichwas, you know, start a new
startup when you're 55.

Shannon (20:10):
I understand, I get it, I do, I promise.

Tristan (20:13):
I love this space, you know, and it it's serving people
, but helping them actuallythink through succession
planning, Like.
I would just love to do that,Like.
And so, when you sign up withCAL as a product, we want to
just help you, you know, createthe best system possible,
centralize your products, yourprocesses and then, at some

(20:33):
point, make it easier to handoff to a child who gets it, you
know, or to another buyerbecause your systems are working
Right.
And so that's what we wouldlove to do with our products is
help you streamline, centralizeyour processes with your
existing network.
Right, you and I talked aboutit, Shannon, you know, CAL is
probably one of the tools outthere that actually is open to

(20:55):
multiple integrations.
I mean, we have a SmartPay andJMag and ShedGeek Rentals and
EasyPay Buildings and RTO ProIntegration and a Smart RTO
Smart Integration, and then wehave, you know, shed pro and an
idea room.
If you're not on our partnerlist, just ask.
You know, the only reason wehave these partners is because
our clients wanted to keep theirexisting network.

(21:17):
They wanted to work with peoplethey worked with for 20 years
or 30 years or 10 years, and wewere saying, yeah, we will bring
in your partners.
You know we'll be happily addyour network to our system so
you can maintain yourrelationships and the way you do
business.
We'll just make it online andso that's been super rewarding.
And now we're one of the fewcompanies really Shannon out

(21:38):
there in this order managementspace that's connected to
multiple configurators,connected to multiple RTO
partners and has that ordermanagement piece in the middle,
and I wouldn't want it any otherway.

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(22:56):
Let's grow your businesstogether you know what I mean.

Tristan (23:04):
I wouldn't want to do it because you know, in your
industry, in the shed industry,right, In this industry we're in
.
Or steel, whatever, there arejust different products, there
are different processes.
You know, I have RTO companieswho tell me that the way that
somebody does their downpayments is not right and you
have to do a CRA.
This way, I just tell them wejust help you create your

(23:24):
contract.
You know, in the end you'regoing to get sued and so your
attorney is going to representyou.
So, if your attorney says CRAis the way to go, then you do
that.
And if your says greaterinitial payments is the way to
go, you do that.
We don't really, we just wantto help you do your contract
right.
I don't have to, you know, arguewith anybody about anything,
because we're building yournetwork with your contracts.
You know for your product youwant to serve, and so I'm super

(23:48):
excited about where we are as acompany, right.

Shannon (23:51):
Makes yeah, makes absolute perfect sense.
And me and you just have somuch in common.
You know, like that I just findout, even through these,
through these calls that areamazing, like, like you know, my
daughter married a firefightertoo.
So, you know, it's like, it'sso funny whenever I find out
these, these, uh, just these,these fun little tidbits and
things like that.
One of the things you talkedabout was box of good and

(24:12):
classic family farms and talkingabout branding and just how
important that is and likethat's something that's just
been a staple for us.
Like you know, we've tried tocreate a brand that, like you,
has been built on collaboration.
You know, and like and like.
Look, we were, I like to tellpeople we were collaborating in
the shed industry when it wasn'tcool.
Right, you know what I mean.
Like we were doing it when itwasn't cool.

(24:34):
We were, we were, we wererecognizing competition holds
its special place andcompetition is such a good thing
because what it does, it keepsus all honest and makes us
better, because when someonecomes out with a product I've
been, I've been asked for yearsand trust.
Look, we're in year five now ofthe podcast.
We've got over 300 episodes outhere of content.
You know it's all free contentfor people to just listen to and

(24:56):
hopefully it's helpful, whetherit's storytelling or whether we
get into the weeds and startshowing you demos of you know
what I'm saying Of like yourproduct and the back end of how
things operate, so peopleunderstand it more.
But the point is like we want tocollaborate for success.
Competition helps to keep us inline and but there's a way to

(25:18):
do it Right.
There's a way to compete and Ithink you can compete with
integrity.
I think you can compete withyou know, and it's really hard
when you get into the world ofbusiness, because some people
say, well, it's just business,it's just business is always
kind of unique to me because I'mlike it's never just business,
ever really, because, like, thisis served as like, like, like.

(25:41):
Like I don't put my company in abox, my Jesus in a box and then
my life in a box or my, myfamily in a box, like they all
intertwine so much that it'sinseparable and I don't really
know how to do that.
Uh, and then?
So, then you just have to, andI know people understand this
message because I've had so manyconversations that I'll never

(26:03):
turn into podcasts that theytell me.
You know how do I navigatethrough this, what do I do about
this relationship?
And I'm like, well, we all dealwith that.
You know one lead with, with theLord first, and mine, you know
pray, ask for discernment andyou know listen.
So that's always the firstanswer, obedience, you know.
But the second is, you knowlike, maybe, approach business

(26:26):
different.
The cool thing about being aconservative industry is that
like we should be able to cometogether and have conversation
that is like easy and it doesn'thave to be like even if it's
difficult.
We encourage, on Shed SalesProfessionals page as an example
, all the time Healthy debate,good, constructive criticism

(26:47):
that helps make us better.
Always welcome, always welcome.
A little different.

Tristan (26:54):
What you're talking about is the golden rule in some
ways, right, or just weights.
Sometimes that will talk aboutjust weights, right.
If you come to the table andyou, you know, if you're just
trying to win, you know that'snot going to necessarily be the
best approach long-term, right.
And so, you want to be able toequitably, you know balance that

(27:15):
relationship.
So, in some ways I want you tobe even more successful in our
conversation, like I want tohelp you get to your next
plateau.
I'll also benefit from thisrelationship.
But really my goal is for youto be a better Shannon.
Yeah, right.

Shannon (27:30):
Yeah.

Tristan (27:30):
You know, and so, and if we can't come together then
it's OK.
It's just not meant to be arelationship and I'm at peace
with that.
Right, it's not every shedmanufacturer or every wholesale
shed buyer, distributor is goingto be a cow customer, is going
to be a CAL customer.
But whether they sign up or not, if I can leave that
conversation healthier,potentially better, offered some

(27:52):
advice or potentially evenglean something to help make my
product better, it's okay, it'sstill a win.
So, if you come holding itloosely right like this may go
somewhere, it may not gosomewhere, but it's still better
for the moment, it's a win.
Last night, at our Bible study,I've been, I facilitate.
I don't lead, I facilitate.

(28:12):
You know, I draw outconversations.
We're in Acts 2, right, theHoly Spirit is now descended
upon the apostles and 120believers.
And you know Jesus, the lastthing he said before he leaves,
you know, basically just sharethe gospel to Jerusalem, Judea,
Samaria, the outer ends of theworld, right, and so now we're
seeing in the first centurychurch, the Holy Spirit being

(28:33):
released to these believers.
Right, and Peter delivers thisamazing sermon.
You know, but when I was talkingto my, my group last night, I'm
like you know, really,Jerusalem for us today is church
, because there are people whocome because of grandma or a
wife or their children go toYouTube there, but they're not
really believers, but they'rethere every Sunday because it's

(28:55):
what they do.
And I said let's just startpraying for Jerusalem as our
church and beginning to justhave their ears opened up so
they can actually hear the truththat they've been listening to
for maybe even decades but havenever committed to Jesus.
You know, and they're just likealso is like oh whoa, you're
right, you know, because then wecan go into our communities and

(29:17):
then we can go outside thestate and we can go wherever,
right.
But really, people are comingevery Sunday to church who
haven't really committed theirlives to Jesus yet, you know.
So why not just you know, workon, you know, those people that
are up on elbows with and youknow, and so it was so powerful
in many ways for those people tostart thinking about evangelism
in a positive way and also in anon-scary way, right, because

(29:41):
it's like.
These are people I know, youknow, and in the end they're not
going to be converts to Shannonor Tristan, lord knows one.
Tristan's plenty for this world, we don't need any more of me,
but we need more of others.
We need their skill sets, theirpassions, their personalities
to come into the fold, so thenthey can share the gospel to
other people, but make theirlives better.

Shannon (30:02):
Have you ever just had a moment that God really spoke
to you on something that's likea prayer or something that
you've really been waiting toget an answer on for a long time
?
yeah you're gonna find thisinteresting.
But the conversation that meand you just had really, really,
really tapped into somethingfor me that I was like, wow, I,

(30:24):
I, I have an idea, I havethought and I have like, just
beyond that, like a, I kind ofgot goosebumps right now about
like this yeah, I reallyappreciate you.
That's, that's.
We'll just have to talk aboutthat off air.
But you know, you're talkingabout something earlier, about
the new generations in tech.
And there's a passage in theBible that says you know, there
came a generation that did notknow God or the works of God.

(30:45):
Talking about you know, inIsrael came a generation that
did not know God or the works ofGod, talking about you know, in
Israel and like, you know, andMoses promised to, you know, to
for them to receive the promisedland, and the reality is that's
kind of, if we draw thatmetaphor to that tech side, like
we have 400 plus playingcommunity members who call in on

(31:07):
our landline, you know, likeevery week, and listen to an
episode of the podcast.
They take their time, theystand out there on the phone and
they, they, they're willing toconsume content, uh, to try and
better their self right, uh, totry and better their self for
their craft and honestly, Idon't understand why when people
don't I mean, I get my hands oneverything in the shed industry

(31:29):
that I can to try andunderstand it more, because I
even did this whenever I wasjust in sales.
All the time when I, when Iworked as a sales manager,
whatever it was you know whatI'm saying Like I was always
like I want to know that.
That that collaboration, thereason I say it was I was doing
it before.
It was cool.
I used to go sit down and talkto my competition and be like
y'all got some really coolbuildings, like I wish we had

(31:52):
these buildings.
This is awesome.
Like you know, what's yourexperience?
That was natural.
That wasn't difficult work ortargeted.
That was.
Did I learn through it?
Yes, of course.
But you know, and that's onething I've always appreciated
about you is like your approachto business is really, really,
really like saturated in yourlove for God and, like you know,

(32:17):
you've always used that as acatalyst, you know, as a
starting point.
So, for me, just to give youlike I've always appreciated
that, but let's get into theweeds a little bit.
Like what tell me, you know,break down a little bit more of
the transaction because this isthe newest piece to Cal, so

(32:37):
break that down in whateverdetail is necessary.

Tristan (32:41):
Okay, perfect.
Well, let me just you know, likewe shared earlier, you know, we
kind of stumbled into thisindustry, you know, with all the
tools to serve in this industry, but fully not understanding
the industry and sometimes beingfrom the outside is actually
it's another perspective thatcomes Right.
And so now we've got insideinformation because we've worked
with some really greatmanufacturers, wholesale shed

(33:04):
buyers, you know RTO companies,and so we understand how they
think.
And then now we're folding inour experiences and so, after
that three or four yeareducation, we finally felt like
we understood what they reallywanted or what the marketplace
was asking for, and so we endedup creating these products.
And so the Transaction Hub,initially, when we were

(33:26):
designing it, was designed to bea tool for smaller
manufacturers who wanted to wadeinto technology.
Because you know, you can, youknow there's no inventory here,
but you can create a manualbuilding, you can go and type in
, you know, 8x12, garden shed,you know red trim, blue siding,
black roof, and then you could,you know, put a serial number on
and sell it right, and then youcan attach it to your rto

(33:47):
partner hello.

Today we're going to take a look at ifab's
component saw system.
So, we're utilizing a Dewaltchop saw.
We've put it on sliders easilyto adjust.
We've automated it usingpneumatics so that we can run
all these saws together usingone actuator.
We can either actuate with atwo-hand safety control here or
a foot pedal.

(34:10):
The two-hand safety controlcomes with board clamps here to
clamp in your board, so you'retotally hands-free.
We've got digital readout uphere to find your angle as well
as your length.
So, we have a 90 degree sawhere for your super long angle
cuts.
We've also got a conveyor onthis system to take away your

(34:33):
cutoffs.
If this system is completelymodular, we can add as many saws
as you need.
The rails can be as long as youneed.
For more information, visitwwwifabllc.
com wwwifabllc.
com.

Tristan (34:50):
And so, we just, you know, begin to think okay, how
can we make it easier for peopleto wade into technology?
And then you can upgrade to ourCAL Central product.
And essentially then you getcustomer information, you get
inventory at various lots, andif you're a shed company, you
need inventory as kind of a basecomponent to your building.
But if you're not and this iswhere the product distinction

(35:12):
became really clear to us isthat in the steel industry in
particular, those guys arealways selling virtual buildings
.
They are always drawingsomething, creating an idea room
or shed pro building and thenselling it, and then their job's
kind of finished, right, itgets handed off to manufacturer.
And so we inadvertently, youknow, knowing that was out there

(35:34):
, because we have, we havedealers who sell steel buildings
and carport manufacturers, butwe, we said, whoa, we just
created a really nice, cleanproduct for a dealer to log into
their idea room or shed pro andwalk an order through the
system and have some limitedexposure to it.
And so, if you don't mind, I'lljust share this new screen and
people can just see how crisp itis, and so I will.

(35:56):
I'm going to try my zoom, myzoom etiquette here, and see
what's happening Entire screen.
This one here, perfect.
And then I will pop over tothis product.
Can you see this, Shannon?

Shannon (36:09):
Yep, yep, I've got it.

Tristan (36:12):
So, look at over here, Shannon, this is like super
clean, like there's nothing hereother than what you need, right
?
And so as a manufacturer of aCarports, you could create you
know multiple stores and usershere so you can sign up your
whole inventory here and theneverybody comes to this
dashboard right here where theystart their orders.

(36:32):
And the dashboard is reallynice because it tells you what
you've been working on.
It tells you any quotes you'vegot in the system.
It tells you know where thestatus of these orders are and
not everybody uses the statuses,but if a company does, they're
here and you know.
At any moment you can justclick on this and go right back
to that order and you can workon it if you want to, or if it

(36:53):
was a quote.
And so now this screen here issuper clean.
We used to have two screens forthis and now we just have one
screen, so we have the buildingdetails here.
What kind of deal it is.
Here's a bill, so it's a customorder.
What payments were taken?
Is it a?
This?
Here's a bill.
That's what's a custom order.
You know what payments weretaken.
You know what RTL company is itgoing to go to, potentially.
You want to see the rent to ownagreement it's right here.
You want to see an actualinvoice it's right here.

(37:18):
And so, at this point here, ifyou're a dealer, this is
everything you need to knowabout that deal, and then if you
need to do some checkout againor you can cancel the order and
start over.
But all you really need to dois a little bit of order
management, and so this tool issimple.
For that, it doesn't require abunch of delivery information, a
bunch of inventory informationand extra tools that are like
stacking up down here on thissidebar, because that's just not

(37:40):
your world.
And so, what's really niceabout this is, when you start,
in your dashboard, you cancreate a quote or create an
order super simple.
Or you could actually go toIdea Room or Shed Pro here and
you can click on this importdesign and then you can pick the
configurator if you havemultiple.
So, if you were actually, youwere selling carports and sheds

(38:00):
and you had a configurator forboth, you could do that.
But you just grab yourconfigurator, and you just
import in the design link fromyour email and it will
automatically start thischeckout and create the customer
for you.
It is really simple to do that.
Or you can go right back up tothe configurator right here and
then you can start the checkoutso you can use your idea room or
shed pro tools all day long andbring that order in when it's

(38:22):
finalized, or you can start inCAL and you can do that if you
want to.
Then, of course, if you werelike a shed manufacturer or a
shed you know selling sheds youcan go through here and you can
do a serial number, the price ofthe building, the style of the
building, size, color, and youcan upload any photos if you
wanted to Like.
If you got a repo on the lotyesterday Shannon, you
appreciate this about the AR2industry If you had a repo, come

(38:43):
back on your lot and somebodysaid I want to buy that building
right now, you could just comeright here and type in those
specs and start a contract.
You know and be on your way.
I mean super simple to do um,and so you can.
You can even do existinginventory this way if you wanted
to, so you wouldn't even haveto.
You know, um have this theinventory product.
But if you want an inventory,we have the CAL central product

(39:04):
and that adds in, you know,inventory on different and
things like that.
But if you just really want tobe able to create a product like
this, that's super easy to doand the customer is super simple
too.
You're already going to writethis information down first name
, last name, email, phone number, delivery address or you're
already going to create thatsuper easy.
So, you know, you just do that,and it tracks all the way
through the system if you dothat.

(39:25):
And so, I'll go back here tothe orders.
And so now you can view yourorders in a couple of ways.
You can view them as a listorder, you can sort them to
processing or draft, and so ifyou just want to grab an order
and walk it back to the checkout, what's a good one for that.
I'll just grab this one righthere.
You know, here I can justmodify this building.
So, this one I want to make achange to it.

(39:46):
I modify it, it'll open back upin the checkout and then I can
take it right back to, in thiscase, idea room for editing, or
I could add a ramp to this.
I could add a discount for, youknow, a delivery fee or a
discount, you know, a seniordiscount, military discount.
I can switch between buyoutright and rent to own and it

(40:06):
will change the tax structure ofthat issue.
And whatever RTO company youhave, we have some clients who
use four different RTO companies, and the reason why they use
four different RTO companies isbecause they sell decks,
carports, sheds and play setsand every RTO company has a
different flavor and productsthey want to work with.
And so you know, if you hadmultiple RTO companies you

(40:28):
worked with, there'd be a dropdown here and you'd select the
right one for the right productat that moment and then you just
walk this through this system.
So, Shannon, I'm like I'm a bigfan of clean, crisp tools, but
in our world now you're notbuying tools you don't need any
longer, right?
You're just going to pay forthe suite of tools that make
sense for your company.

(40:49):
And if you need inventory, thenjust go to the CAL central
product.
And if you need a full blownorder management system, you
know, then you can go to the CALcomplete product.
You know, and so, and that's whyyou know, this collaboration
stuff is so exciting, because ifwe didn't have idea room, if we
didn't have Shed Geek Rentalsright, if we didn't have JMAG or
SmartPay, we wouldn't be ableto take all these partners and

(41:11):
pieces and learn from them andthen now build a conduit to each
of them to do a better job ofserving the customer in front of
the salesperson.
Because without a sale, none ofthis matters.
If we don't close a deal on abuilding of some sort, there's
nothing for the manufacturer todo, there's nothing for the
marketers to do.

(41:31):
Right, we really need to get areally easy way to sell a
building and for us, that ordermanagement, point of sale
solution.
Oh man, I love that.
I love making processes simpler.
And now you can do that.
When you're on vacation, whenyou're traveling to a shed hall
or bash in Oklahoma, you couldlog in and you could sell a

(41:52):
building, check in on order fromright there, because it's all
Wi-Fi right and the nextgeneration can use their phones,
they can work from any place,they're not tied to paper, but
even if you want to use paper,you can just upload it into our
system and take a wet signatureon an existing invoice that
you've been using and add thatto the system as well.
So, we have ways for you to doit.

(42:13):
Old school, new school,collaborate school, I don't care
.
We just want to help youtransition.
But you're going to have totransition if you want to grow
your business and if you want totransition to the next
generation, they're going toneed different tools.
And so for us, in addition toclean tools, it's really
important to remember that wewant your network to come into

(42:34):
our system.
We want you to keep those samerelationships.
You know we're not asking youto switch RTO companies.
We're not asking you to switchconfigurators.
I mean, if you want to, that'sfine.
We're not saying you can't.
But if you really want to keepa certain relationship, you know
we want you to keep that aswell, and so we'll find a way to
integrate it into our system.

(42:54):
And then now we have thoseclients.
You know, like we were talkingabout earlier, four or five RTO
companies.
That's complex to keep track of, but really, when you have a
chicken coop or a play set or ashed, not all RTO companies play
in those sandboxes.

Shannon (43:08):
You know I wanted to.
I cause I want to, I want tomake sure we address the carport
and the metal.
So, I wrote this down so that Iget back to that conversation.
But I even wrote down the fourdifferent RTO companies because
I really wanted to save thisconversation for my next guest.
And we're going to have itagain with Nick Gerard, the, you
know Nick is, if I understandit correctly, the first time we

(43:32):
interviewed him.
He has the official position ofthe general counsel for the NSRA
, rebranded NSRA from the NSRA,you know, and Nick, you know,
deals with a lot of these things.
I know Ed has been, you know, abig part of the industry for so
long.
I just, you know, I always hearthat he's retiring.
You know, deals with a lot ofthese things.
I know Ed has been, you know, abig part of the industry for so
long.
I just, you know, I always hearthat he's retiring, you know,
but he's still so presentbecause he's so valuable to this

(43:54):
industry.
We actually have an interviewwith him at the NBSRA that we
didn't get to air because therewas so much like background
noise and it's dreadful becauseit was like such a good
interview and you guys are overhere, unfortunately, but we keep
getting Nick on, you know, tohave a conversation about it and
especially talk about RTO at ahigh level.
But I've been thinking aboutthis and I wanted to save this

(44:16):
conversation with him because itwas RTO specific.
But this is a good example ofhow all of these things affect
us.
You know what I'm saying.
Like the leg bones connected tothe knee bone, right, like it's
just, you can't make one movewithout having to think about
how it's gonna affect somethingelse, and this is a conversation

(44:36):
I have for you.
I'm curious about this with thefour different RTO companies.
Different ones have differentflavors.
They do certain things.
What are your thoughts on adirect-to-consumer, rent-to to
own approach?
You know what.
What I mean by that is like somany of the relationships are
held with the.
If you went to the bank and yougot a loan you know just a,

(45:01):
just a, just a private loan, putup collateral or whatever you
go to the store and you say, hey, I've got, you know, up to
$8,000 I can spend.
You know what shed can I get?
Most people don't care whatbank you went to, because
finance doesn't really have asmuch of a impact in the industry

(45:25):
, as rent to own does.
But like if someone came andsaid, hey, I was sitting here by
XYZ rental company, can thatsalesperson then sell that shed?
Or is this relationship in sucha way that it's like, oh no,
we're vertically integrated, wehave to sell this, you know,

(45:45):
this shed, or maybe the RTOcompany owns our, or maybe the
RTO company owns our inventory,or maybe the RTO company has us
on a contract or whatever it is.
You know, would it be healthyfor the John Q public to just be
able to go shop where they wantto shop, you know, if they're
being sent there by the RTOprovider who's already has the

(46:07):
financing piece to that?
Because your system would beable to help with that
tremendously, because you canjust let in any RTO company.
It doesn't matter if you use 10different RTO companies, you
know, and it creates good,healthy competition too.
So that's maybe the opposite ofcollaboration and maybe some
bigger thoughts.
I really want to get Nick'sthoughts on it later today.
I've asked everybody, but as atech guy.

Tristan (46:30):
I'm curious, you know yeah, um, well, you know, not
every manufacturer, an rtocompany see the same way, they
see it the same way, right.
So not everything's a good fit,always right.
And so for an rto companycompany to sort of take a
blanket amount of money and giveit to a pre-approved buyer, so

(46:51):
to speak, like a line of credit,you know, what do you do about
repos, potentially?
What do you do about inventory?
What do you do if they don'tbuy in your area, you know, and
so like there's some geographiclimitations.
And then you know, maybe thatmanufacturer doesn't work with
that RTO company for whateverreason, right.
Or maybe the RTO companydoesn't work with that
manufacturer for whatever reason, you know.

(47:13):
So, there would be some thingsto work out like that you
probably could.
You know, regionally develop,that you know.
But in the end, you know, theRTO company has to be
comfortable with the inventorythat's being purchased,
comfortable with the inventorythat's being purchased.
And that's one reason why theindustry is kind of built like
it is, because maybe they justdon't want to have that kind of
building where they can't pickit up, or maybe that community

(47:34):
needs to have two payments downversus one payment down, or you
know, and then you know, can itbe?
cash.
So, I think that there'sactually a place to play in that
sandbox.
You know, it's kind of like ahome equity line of credit in
some ways.
And in our industry, the RTOindustry, some RTO companies now
that we work with, they want tobuy a CAL product for selling

(47:55):
shares because they have theirown repos, they get them back
and they need to place.
Some Other people have justsold them back to the
manufacturer and so theyeliminate that step.
But some people actually have toresell buildings.
They pick up.
And so now they're like well,we actually have to resell
buildings, they pick up, youknow.
And so now they're like well,we need a CAL product to sell
our contracts back to ourselves.
Because, you know, in one casethe RTO company you know takes a

(48:18):
repo building to a lot and thenthey use a different company
for RTO and they sell thatbuilding and they're like wait a
second, why wouldn't you giveit back to me?
Well, there's not a path backto him, right?
Or this RTO company is likewell, if I had your product,
then they could log into mysystem and sell my building back
to me and I can rent it out.
So, it's really interestingthat.
So, is there a place to play,potentially, in a financing

(48:40):
world where the building wasn'ttied, maybe, to a repo or the
language was in know in thecontract that you know?
The manufacturer will buy itback at a discount from us and
we will refund you whateverprice of the building so you can
then sell it again.
Well, here's the good thing inmy mind.

Shannon (48:57):
The good thing is the risk is on the rto company.
If there's no repo network, itdoesn't really matter right.
All it really matters to themanufacturer, the salesperson,
is that they get sale.
They don't have to deal with itif it comes back.
It's the you know the RTOcompany is already taking like
the understanding of that riskand saying, well, it's not your
problem, we'll deal with it.
So, it doesn't matter if youhave anything set up or not,

(49:20):
we'll deal with it.

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Tristan (50:26):
it'd be the customer then would have to figure out if
the building met the RTOcompany's underwriting standards
.
You know, probably would bewhere the conversation would
just have to go, but that can befigured out you know it could
be like an on the fly thingwhere you get pre-approved and
then maybe you get a list ofmanufacturers or region you can
sell.
I think that that's doable,Shannon.

Shannon (50:46):
I feel like if the consumer is savvy enough to go
to the RTO company first, Well,and I think that's the key, I
think the key is that in mostcases, they won't find the RTO
company, the RTO company willfind them right, and I think
that just comes down to goodmarketing, right.

Tristan (51:04):
So you know how to get in front of customers.
The RTO company, much like theShed company, has now a record
in our world anyway, of thepurchase, and so they could go
back and market to somebody whohad a building five years ago
and if they were a good clientthey could say, oh, this person
never missed a payment.
We're going to extend them avoucher to go out and buy
another building.

(51:24):
You know, potentially right sothey could do.
You know, much like a ShedCompany could do.
You know, potentially right sothey could do.
You know much like a shedcompany could do.
You know, just market to theirclient list of existing buyers
and maybe just touch them everythree to five years with an
offer like that.
So that would be really avaluable tool, Shannon, I think.
I think that could open up thedoor to more, more sales and
then it could also give us sortof the parameters at that point.

(51:44):
You know, take it to thesemanufacturers or these dealers,
you know, to use this coupon.

Shannon (51:50):
Yeah.

Tristan (51:51):
Yeah, yeah, I think that actually and I'm glad you
brought that up, Shannon I thinkthat's a really unique
opportunity for marketing forRTO companies to maybe even
generate more, you know bettersales, you know.

Shannon (52:02):
Well, you know, we've, we've talked about it and the
one thing I, you know, I get islike, well, just like with the
podcast, I've got a couple offriends here listening to this.
Don't take this so personal,friends, don't take this so
personal I got a couple that arelike, you know, we tried this
and I'm like, yeah, but I meanlike we got told a podcast
wouldn't work.
We, you know, we got toldmarketing in this industry

(52:24):
wouldn't work.
We got told a lot of thingswouldn't work.
That we were able to breakthrough the barrier on some
things.
So, I think sometimes it's justyour systems and processes and
working with people who have,like, the mindset to say like
let's explore, you know, howdoes it benefit us?
Not necessarily it really.
To me it's more of a benefit ofthe industry as a whole.
It's not just looking at ourbottom line.

(52:46):
It's like saying, because youknow, like there's this
conversation about theunhealthiness of premiums and
different things that are beingadded to their rent-owned world
because it's so competitive,that's like how do we scale that
down and not have a race to thebottom?
Like, even if it costs us, ourbottom dollar, like to me that's
the true mark of business islike you know, there's two

(53:08):
schools of thoughts here.
Help myself first, help theindustry first, and like you're
gonna have to put yourself maybein one of those camps.
And like we put ourself in thecamp of like help the industry
first, because if we help theindustry we will be helped.
We know that it's zigzag.
Help other people get what theywant, so you can get what you
want.
So, like we're service-based,how do we serve the most and

(53:28):
then that benefits us in the end?

Tristan (53:34):
So I think you couldn't do it any different anyway,
Shannon, Like I don't think thatyou could actually not just
serve the person in front of you.
Like I just don't.
I don't see that.
That's even in your DNA, youknow.
Let's talk about the industry alittle bit.
You know, like during thepandemic, you know we had
material surcharges through theroof like yeah print, you know,
your brochures because the pricehas changed overnight.

(53:55):
Right, you just had to sure.
And then you know what happenedat the beginning of this year
with tariffs, surcharges.
Nobody even knows what's goingto happen in the next six months
on price especially on thesteel side.
It's so unpredictable doors andwindows you know the plastic,
and so there's so unpredictableDoors and windows you know the
plastic, and so there's just aton of stuff going on in this
world.
And so now we're back to like adynamic, you know industry

(54:18):
where pricing is in flux andnobody can really forecast as
easily as they used to becausethey don't know the prices.
And so a system like CAL or anyother system kind of in that
order management makes it easierto absorb these order
managements because your pricingcan be just immediately updated
.
Right, if you change it inShepro or IDA room, it
automatically changes in CAL.
If your RTO company needs tochange their divisors, it

(54:40):
automatically changes in CAL.
Right, if you need to update anexisting inventory, you can
update that price in CAL.
You could just add a materialsurcharge as a line item if you
wanted to.
That's so valuable Right there.
But also think about ourpricing structure.
We sell a suite of tools, right?
So we're $249, $399, $799, ormaybe we're $499.

(55:02):
And that's based on the toolsyou need, not on your revenue.
You're not going to tip into adifferent revenue bucket if you
sell one more shed because of a40% price increase you had to
pass on.
If you didn't sell one morebuilding, it doesn't matter,
because our pricing is not basedon revenue, because really,
when it's a $2,000 shed or a$20,000 tiny home, that extra
zero doesn't take any more data.

(55:25):
What takes data actually isusers, complexity, deliveries.
Those are the things that takeup the space in our systems, and
so pricing on like a unit-basedcost, you know, is actually, in
my mind, the most equitable.
I was so irritated at Visa thatthey took 3% on the next million
dollars I sold.
What did they do to grow mybusiness to get that extra raise

(55:49):
Right?
And it was the same in the shedindustry.
You know you sold buildings 40%higher.
Maybe you didn't sell any morebuildings.
You know you sold 40 buildingsbut you had to sell them for 40%
more because price increases.
All of a sudden, your revenuewent up and everybody else's
sales went up to you as well.
You know your, your ordermanagement solution is based on.
Revenue went up.
Maybe you didn to sell morebuildings.

(56:09):
So when we talked to KyleSummers you know a friend of
yours and at JMAC, he saidTristan, if you can figure out
how to price your product onunits sold.

Shannon (56:18):
Mm-hmm.

Tristan (56:19):
Mm-hmm.
And so if you sell it for, youknow, $2,000 or $20,000, we just
charge a $10 order managementfee.
That's $10.
And we do all that stuff in themiddle that you need and
connect all your parts togetherfor that Right.
So we have a base, so manycompanies, especially when
they're small.

Shannon (56:37):
They, they, they, they desire that static pricing
because you know, like, whenscalability happens, they, they,
they want to know that, likewe're not going to pay the farm,
right, I know.
And it's, and it's a really bigthought because there are some
who even advertise with us whoare like, oh, I adamantly reject
that thought, and like somethat like, oh, that's absolutely

(56:59):
the way to go.
And it's like how do wecompromise and come to a
solution on what that is?
And I think the answer, at theend of the day, is you just have
to do what's best for yourcustomer.
I think you have to listen,right, listen, because you've
got to be able to take thatadvice and you've got to be able
to allow for criticism andopinion, but at the end of the
day, it's what is best for yourcustomer, right?

Tristan (57:21):
And that's my pricing model, because that's the kind
of business owner I sort of amright.

Shannon (57:25):
Yeah.

Tristan (57:26):
Some products.
Like you know, we looked atdoing HubSpot, but as soon as
you tip into HubSpot's, likeservices, it starts to scale
hard.
Like you're saying, I can'tquite afford that, right and so
for us, you know, we thought, asa business owner, what kind of
pricing would make mecomfortable?
Right, and a base plus a flatfee per order.
You know, you just know yourcost.

(57:47):
You know, you just know rightnow how simple that's going to
be it's.

Shannon (57:49):
It's kind of similar to the conversation about you know
, d2c direct to consumer,because you know, like you're
using the spirit of uhcompetition to benefit the
industry.
They're here for the customer.
Ultimately, I mean, what'sgoing to happen is like you're
not going to have the.
You don't have to have like theloyalty.

(58:11):
Such a way, like loyalty is agood thing.
What I'm saying is like youdon't have to have the loyalty
in such a way that we only useone bank for the entire industry
.
Or like we only use RTO companyor we only use one software.
It creates competition thatmakes the rest of us go back and
improve.
And there look I, I.
I know people like don't likethat because you want to protect

(58:31):
what you've built.
So, I totally get that.
You know you want to protectthat, sit on it, own it and run
that for a long time and likechange disrupts that.
Because it's kind of like Idon't know we've got this thing
but it's like you can't stoppeople from helping people.
Like that's not a real andviable like opinion.
You know.

Tristan (58:52):
It's interesting, you know, like, I had like 12 people
in my office when, back in 2012or 13,.
We were running this producecompany doing a thousand
deliveries, you know, a week,and when Facebook came online,
people stopped calling.
They wanted to do morethemselves, and so we had to
create the tools for them toshop online themselves and place
the order themselves.

(59:12):
And you know, and so all of asudden, you know, now I'm down
to three people running threetimes the volume in my office
because the systems are doingthe things that people no longer
want to do.
Nobody just called I mean, asmuch as I loved, you know, mike
or Jim or whatever, you knowthere just wasn't anything for
them to do in the office anylonger because nobody wanted to
use their phone.
Right.
And so, if you're notmulti-tasking in our systems,

(59:34):
you know, and we created crosstraining across the board, right
.
And so with CAL, you know, youcan have somebody.
You know, you know, literally,you know building buildings and
also answering phones,potentially or walking orthosis,
because if somebody gets sickneed to have somebody step back
up, and so now you can havepeople using the tool in
different ways, and then youunlock these talents you never
knew happened because theydidn't have a tool to use.

(59:56):
And all of a sudden you findout that guy shouldn't be
building for you, he should beactually answering phones or
placing orders, or you know whatI mean.
Like you, just wow, that kid isgood at using these kinds of
systems, but you don't knowbecause you don't have the
system in place for them toactually participate.

Shannon (01:00:09):
It comes down to being the shepherd.
You know, honestly, at the endof the day, Tristan, you know
the way of the shepherd a bookthat I got suggested to that I
should read from a shedmanufacturer and like, yeah,
just shepherding the flock andunderstanding them.
You know, on this last podcastwe talked about PI, the

(01:00:30):
predictive, predictive index,you know, to use as a tool to
understand personality anddifferent things like that.
And there's a whole psychologythat goes into that.
And, like you know, one of themost perfect examples before we
end here today is is whathappens to great performing
salespeople.
You know.
You know what the number onething is that happens to a great
performing salespeople.

(01:00:50):
You know what the number onething is that happens to a great
performing salesperson.
Let's put them in charge becausethey know how to sell, but
nothing says they know how tomanage people right.
They know how to sell and guesswhat happens?
They usually keep sellingbecause they want to sell,
because they're good at it too,and people can't always learn
the way they learn.
They can't always have what itis they have, but it doesn't

(01:01:13):
mean they're a people manager.
And that's the trap we putourself into, because we were
like oh, they're good, go teachothers.
No one said they could teach,we just know they can sell.
They might be a terribleteacher and they usually get put
into a position that's notcomfortable.
So it's understanding yourflock.
You know it's being a shepherdthat can do that, whatever those

(01:01:33):
tools are to use it.

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Shannon (01:03:27):
Before we go I just want to touch on this.
You know we've got Monday showout now with Eric Olson and
Jared Ledford over here atDayton Barns doing the steel
kings podcast and they'reputting steel content out there
and I'm so happy to know that,you know, and for people to
acknowledge and just see therepresentation of, even though

(01:03:48):
we're in the sheds and we're theShed Geek podcast, right?
You know we're one of themedias that are bringing you
that content constantly.
There's more to shedsoftentimes than just meets the
eye and steel is, I mean.
I know guys that got intoselling sheds and they're now
selling more steel than they aresheds, which is why some

(01:04:08):
companies say we don't want youto sell those products because
it's competing with the businessof ours or it's taking your
time and attention.
And then there's others thatare like how do we bring this
into a circle together and learnhow to work in all these areas?
You've accomplished that withthe product.
You know that's part of yourvalue proposition, right?

Tristan (01:04:31):
the product.
You know that's, that's part ofyour value proposition, right,
we can do sheds, or we can dosteel, or we can do shed steel
gazebos, decks, car parts, youknow.
And so, depending on your model, we can serve you.
Um, you know it's rewarding tohelp somebody, um, basically
have a tool that helps them dotheir business right, and that's
what we're excited about islike helping people do what

(01:04:53):
they're passionate about, to dowhat they do really well.
And, of course, this side ofheaven, nothing's perfect right,
we're always going to betweaking Things, aren't going to
be 100%, but, you know,stepping out into technology a
little bit and making it easierfor your team to do their job.
I mean, we had one RTO companysay Tristan, I'm interested in

(01:05:14):
this particular manufacturerbecause I get one contract a
month from this guy at a garage,basically a gas station, who
sells a steel building every nowand then and he has to call me
every time because he doesn't doit often enough.
If he just had your system hewould never have to call me
again, because it's the sameprocess he logs in, gets his
building, walks into the system.

(01:05:35):
You know there's no paperworkfor the guy to fill out at all,
there's no, you know, signatures, no, back and forth.
It's tied to a configurator,tied to his contract.
He's like oh, my goodness,Tristan, the guys who do one or
two buildings a month wouldbenefit from having your system
because it's just so simple touse.
And I'm like, wow, you knowwhat?
I'm just glad I'm able to helpyou.
You know, serve your team butalso serve that person, because

(01:05:56):
if it's easy for him to make asale, he'll sell probably three
or four.
Now, right, because it.
You know, he's like oh, I gottado this to sell that building.
I gotta do this and this andthis.
Now it's like, if it's justlike five minutes, it's like, oh
, he'll probably sell even moreright, he'll.

Shannon (01:06:10):
There's a whole conversation to have there.
Uh, that opens up a can ofworms of like, why is that guy
selling if he's not engaged?
But I'm gonna leave thatconversation alone because we're
gonna have to have you back onin the future for another time.
Um, any, any shout outs, anythoughts, any, uh, just anything
that you want to share today.

(01:06:31):
You know it's exciting we'regoing into year five of the
podcast.
You know well over 300,.
You know free shows that youcan listen to and glean from and
hopefully learn from.
Uh, and you've been a part of anumber of those and hopefully a
part of a number more of those.
I just appreciate, like,sometimes even the conversations

(01:06:52):
we have that are non-shed talk,um, you know, talking about the
grandbabies and just differentthings and uh, just by the way,
on that second grandbaby on theway, that's super excited.
I, I'm telling you, me and mywife are over the moon.
We love to.
We love being parents, right,and we love to be grandparents,

(01:07:15):
like we enjoy it.
It's something that we, youknow.
My wife is just the bestgrandmother.
She really is the best.
She, just she, she, she's thesecond mother to that, to that
baby.
I swear she just loves her todeath.
And she, she, really, she's gotthat gift.
I don't, I don't know how toexplain it.

Tristan (01:07:32):
We have 10 and 11 is on the way, and I've had to tell
my kids this generation, youknow they don't want to tell you
until they're sure like threemonths into it, Right, and then
they don't want to.
You can't tell anybody untilthey've told somebody on social
media, right that?
they're you know, and then iftheir friends announced before

(01:07:53):
they do, they got to waitanother two weeks so they can
have the limelight, I'm like,whatever.
I'm like, just don't tell me.
Just don't tell me until I cantell somebody, please, because I
just can't hold good news inlike that.

Shannon (01:08:00):
I just don't want to like, you know, I was like just
don't tell me until I can tellsomebody please, because you
know, yeah, I do, I totally getit.
It was exciting for us.
You know she told us on Eastershe brought Cecilia out in a
shirt that said promoted to bigsister and I'm over here going
well, that's a stupid shirt.
Why did she get her that shirt?
She's not a big sister.

(01:08:20):
I was like why, that sure don'tmake any sense.
So so look they're, they're ablessing.
And like, honestly, you begin toget to a point in your life
where you start to look at notwhat's ahead but what's behind.
And you know that's, that's areally special place to be and

(01:08:44):
it changes the way you doeverything.
I mean after Deanna's, you knowcancer diagnosis and everything
she went through and all thechemo and all of that.
You know it just changes yourmindset on the way you do
business.
It changes the mindset on theway that you you're around
people.
I mean really just friends,family, foes, all of it.
You know you just your, yourmindset begins to, you know,

(01:09:05):
change.
Getting to meet people in thisindustry like yourself and
others that have just been sucha bright light to us can't say
enough good things about you.
Appreciate, you, appreciateKyle, for introducing us to you.
I think initially at maybe oneof the expos.
So, you know, because that'sbeen a good relationship that's
developed out of this.
So, any thoughts that you wantto share just with the industry

(01:09:29):
before we go.

Tristan (01:09:35):
The industry.
You know, as business owner tobusiness owner, Shannon um and
I'm talking to the shed ownersright now and the steel owners
you have to plan for the future.
You have to look down the pipeand think when am I going to
exit, because we're all going toexit.
How am I going to set this upfor the next generation or the
next buyer?
What processes can I put inplace today to make it easier
for my company to sell, to selltheir buildings, manage the
ordering process?

(01:09:56):
You know, you just have to be aplanner.
And you know, when you're 60,you know you're probably a
little behind the eight ball,you know, but sure, at 50, I
would say, you know, start doingit.
It's like you know what DaveRamsey would say.
You know, if you didn't, startearly start now.
you know it's time.
You know it's time and I wouldlove to be a part of those
conversations.
Even if you don't sign up forCAL, I'm happy to have a

(01:10:17):
conversation about your nextsteps or how we could transition
.
You know, I was talking to oneof my dealers before I got on
the call this morningmanufacturers, dealers and he's
like Tristan, you just helped mego to the next step from a
conversation we had.
You know, and, and, and I justwant to, you know I, that, for
me, is so rewarding if I canjust help you, you know, unlock
a little bit more of what youneed to do down the road.

(01:10:38):
You know, that's like a pat onthe back, right, like I'm happy
to do that.
You say serve somebody, yeah,yeah, how can I do that?
How can I do like you know hegets the ball.
I'm going to go for a walk,ready to go, you know, so for me
, like I would be happy to, youknow, even just have
conversations with people whoare thinking about the next
steps, and even if it doesn'tlead to a cow sale, I'm fine

(01:10:58):
with that, because in the endyou know, if you're not quite
ready, that's okay.

Shannon (01:11:03):
That's because you're a helper.
You're a helper first, andhelpers, you know, always help.
They can't stop that.
They can't help theirself.
It's very true.
Yeah, start planning todayright.

Tristan (01:11:16):
Start planning today for the exit strategy or the
next thing you need to do inyour business.

Shannon (01:11:20):
How do they reach you?
How do they have thisconversation?

Tristan (01:11:23):
Yeah, they can.
You know, go to our website,which is just calcanhelp.
com, and you can click on one ofShannon's links on the
advertising pages and get there.
You can call me if you want to.
It's 425-359-3279.
I almost always pick up and ifI don't, I'll call you back
through a voicemail.
So yeah, but mostly, however,you want to engage email phone,

(01:11:47):
I'm happy to do that.
Schedule a demo on our website.

Shannon (01:11:49):
You can do that too, so , but anyway, On that note, I
want to say something that I'venoticed here recently that we've
been paying attention to.
That we'll probably start toexplore over the next several
years.
But on that advertising guys, Ican't insist enough that you
guys create you know anyadvertisers create a digital
footprint so that you can kindof see where these leads are

(01:12:10):
coming from.
You know, we get in front ofthe same people every time and
like, I'll look.
And the other day I noticed,you know, one of my advertisers
got 13 clicks on their websiteand I go to their website and I
realized there's no way to trackthat and I'm like, hey guys,
you're missing out on a on agreat opportunity.
So, it may not be that thepeople aren't listening,
clicking, watching, wanting toknow more information.

(01:12:32):
It's maybe that you're notdoing all that's necessary to
gain, you know, that digitalfootprint, because this isn't
like guesswork, it's like, hey,I can see someone went here,
clicked here, spent this muchtime on and then wanted to know
more about it.
So, I just can't encouragepeople enough to one go sign up
for that newsletter.

(01:12:53):
We want to start creating someblogs and, Tristan, if you want
to write some, anybody in theindustry if you want to write
some, put some stuff in there,stuff that's helpful to the
industry.
It doesn't even have to be likea sales approach, like I'm
trying to sell you something.
Here it's like, hey, this isinformation that sell you

(01:13:17):
something.
Here it's like, hey, this isinformation.
That's what the podcast is.
It's just information, you know, um.
So, I, I wanted to point thatout.
Um, yeah, like I, I I love tosee people go and like know
where those leads came from andlike we want to bring you
business.
That's why we do what we do.
If you're paying money, we wantto show you value.

Tristan (01:13:27):
So um, it's super important, you know, knowing
where your dollars got spent andhow it returned to you.
The reason why we're talkingabout the session planning today
, even a little bit, is that youknow people who click on my
emails that I send out are 55 to65 year old males.
You know they are.
You know, I mean, we just knowthat they're thinking about.
You know how to make theiroperations more modern,

(01:13:50):
potentially streamlined andprobably thinking about their
exit strategy.
You know, and so we want toserve them.

Shannon (01:13:56):
Well, you know, especially with this recent you
know acquisition slashcollaboration with Shed Hub that
we've done to bring thee-commerce part into sort of our
platform.
You know like we've acquired somany more emails now you know
like we're just you know we're,we're, we're seeing a network of
five or 6,000 people.
These emails go out to two,three times a week.

(01:14:17):
So, you know they, they want togo places, learn more, know
more and, like we want to be,you know, part of that media
that brings it to them.
We're the only one in thisspace right at the moment.
I know that I'm sure there'llbe more, but like we're, you
know we're in that space and wewant to, we want to help, we
want to help you, we want tohelp the listeners, we want to
help everybody because we, wewant to serve too.
So, I just can't say enoughThank you, thank you, thank you

(01:14:41):
for being on here.
They can go to calcanhelp.
com.
They can go.
Click on the links If you'vegot a question.
We'll get you in touch withanybody.
We're happy to do that.
I'm just thankful to have yourfriendship and to get to know
you and excited to see you go inplaces.

Tristan (01:14:58):
We're going to see you in September at the Shed Expo.
We'll look forward to that.
All right, Shannon, I'm goingto let you go.
Thank you for this time, though.

Shannon (01:15:10):
I want to do one thing, because I always ask and, like
I've had so many people say,I've even had a couple, and I'm
driving this point home onpurpose we're never going to
stop saying that we love Jesuson the podcast.
We're not going to do it foradvertising dollars, we're not
going to do it for marketingbusiness, RTO business, finance
business, Shed Hub business, Idon't care what it is.

(01:15:31):
We're never going to stopsaying that.
So, I'm just excited that oneyou love Jesus and you're an
advertiser with us.
So, I know you feel the sameway and for that reason I'm
going to ask you to pray if youdon't mind, so that we can get
out of here today.

Tristan (01:15:46):
Absolutely, I'm happy to do that.
All right, let's pray.
Father, I want to thank you forrelationships and the
importance of relationships,lord and next generations and
the industry as it transitions,as there's uncertainty, we just
ask that you would just give thecommunity wisdom, wisdom on you
know, their next steps, on howto do pricing, how to serve
their teams and how to serve thecustomer in front of them.
And so we just thank you forthese opportunities to serve

(01:16:08):
people and, to you know, helpthem get the right buildings,
help them have the rightprocesses, help them, to you
know, strengthen relationshipsin Jesus name, amen.

Shannon (01:16:17):
Amen, appreciate you.
We all got places to be and go,but it means a lot that you're
on here and I'm wishing younothing but continued success in
2025, Tristan.

Tristan (01:16:27):
All right.
Thank you so much, Shannon.

Shannon (01:16:29):
Thank you, have a good day.

Tristan (01:16:29):
Okay, bye, bye.

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