Building Community Through Steel

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Ever wondered why some building dealers thrive while others struggle to stay afloat? The answer might be simpler than you think.

When Jared sits down with Shannon "The Shed Geek" for this captivating conversation, they cut through industry noise to reveal what's really happening in steel structure and shed sales. Shannon brings his years of experience building the Shed Geek brand and community to share wisdom that applies across the construction space.

Their honest discussion tackles the dangerous "race to the bottom" mentality plaguing dealers and manufacturers alike. "You want to know why you don't make money selling steel buildings? Because you're selling cheap steel buildings," Jared points out, highlighting how quality-focused businesses ultimately win the long game while fly-by-night operations eventually disappear—often leaving customers stranded with warranties that can't be honored.

The duo doesn't shy away from challenging topics, including how technology and AI are reshaping the industry landscape. Rather than fearing these changes, they encourage dealers to embrace them as tools that enhance rather than replace human expertise. Shannon frames it perfectly: "I find that the industry does that because we simply insult what we don't understand."

Perhaps most valuable is their exploration of how personal values shape business success. Both hosts share candidly about standing firm in their beliefs while building genuinely helpful communities through the Steel Structure Sales Professionals and Shed Sales Professionals Facebook groups—spaces where competitors come together to elevate the entire industry rather than just their individual businesses.

Ready to transform your approach to selling buildings? Listen now, then join these thriving communities where rising tides truly do lift all boats.

To suggest show topics or ask questions you want answered email us at [e-mail].

This episodes Sponsors:
Studio Sponsor: J Money LLC

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Episode Transcript

Jared (00:25):
Hey, hey guys, what's up?
This is Jared with the SteelKings podcast.
Back at you for another episodeof the podcast Checking in
today, without Eric.
He is out on assignment but Iam here and ready to hang out
for a bit with you guys.
I hope you are having a greatday.
It is Wednesday, July the 23rd,here.
You guys are going to get thisprobably in a couple of weeks,

(00:47):
so in the meantime, check us outon the social media channels,
check us out on the website.
I wanted to talk a little bitabout this guy we're going to be
bringing in.
You guys are really familiarwith Shannon.
He is the Shed Geek.
He is the host of the Shed Geekpodcast that is every Wednesday
.
Host of the Shed Geek podcast.
That is every Wednesday.
Check out your local podcastnetwork, but I am going to bring

(01:12):
Shannon into the studio with menow.

Shannon (01:13):
Shannon, what's up, dude?
How are you man?
What's going on?
Buddy, it's good to talk to youand catch up and just get on
here and talk industry businesswith you a little bit yeah man.

Jared (01:25):
Yeah, so we uh we talk on a regular basis.
I think we had you on maybe amonth and a half, two months ago
, something like that, and wewant to check in with you
because you are the pod fatherof the shed geek podcast network
.
Uh, we refer to you that way onthe show fairly often.
Um, we wouldn't have the showwithout you.
Obviously, we've got to giveyou some studio time with the

(01:46):
Steel Kings and with Eric being.
Eric just got back from Belize.
He's doing another mission,some sort of mission trip or
something going into this week.
We'll see him back hereprobably next week on the
podcast, by the way.

Shannon (02:08):
I had my wife bring me this there you go man.

Jared (02:12):
I was too late.
I was trying to get it beforewe started.
That's all right, man.
I got to get me some blackframe glasses and get on the
Shed Geek wagon.
There you go, man.
Now you're looking more like me.
There you go.

Shannon (02:26):
I knew you was wearing your backwards hat.
That's right, that's right.

Jared (02:30):
It's the backwards hat.
The backwards hat for me islike the glasses for you.
It's just a brand.
Everybody knows me as the guywho wears a backwards hat.
I think we talked about thatrecently.
Right, I'm the guy who wearsthe backward hat and tells it
like it is.
I'm not always everybody'sfavorite guy, but I can tell you
you'll.
You'll always get the truthfrom me, even when it hurts.

Shannon (02:49):
Why does this, why does this fitted hat make me look
like I'm like?
I'm like I don't know.

Jared (02:56):
I don't know.
You know, I've been wearinghats for years and I can tell
you what happened, I don't know,three, four years ago.
Yeah, see, the fitted hats noware more frontward facing, but
for years nobody wore adjustablehats backwards, it wasn't a
thing.
And then all of a sudden Idon't know if it was the Morgan

(03:16):
Wallen thing I'm sure there wassomebody somewhere that's a lot
more hip than me but all of asudden I wasn't able to get the
flex fits the way I used to.
I used to custom order them andall that.
And now all of the really nicehats you know, like this one's,
Huey.
I wear Huey hats a lot.
Um, little shout out to Huey,but uh, I do like Huey a lot.

(03:39):
Um, they tend to fit my bigframed head.
I wear like a seven and threequarters almost an eight.

Shannon (03:46):
Oh, you're like me.
I got a big noggin, so that'sright.
It takes a big hat I don't knowwhat all's in there.
To have to have such a big head, I don't feel like Not much.

Jared (03:58):
Not much up here, not much here.
I was, I was, I was.
I don't know if it was ablessing or a curse, but I was
cursed with this large dome.
It takes a lot to cover it up.
This hat here I really like.
I think the hat suits you right.
We're getting casual Shed Geektoday.

Shannon (04:16):
No suspenders, no bow tie, no formality here, I like
that.
I'm in the new office.
I don't even have my filter on.
You know, um, you could, uh, ifthat's how we like it, well, if
I can take you guys around andalmost show you what we've done,
it's kind of been fun andamazing what we've done in our

(04:37):
new office, and even thinkingabout the future and like where
it's going and shed geek andlike, uh, all the affiliates and
brands and just the cool.
You know, sometimes it's easyto forget.
You know you've been doing thisfor five years and it's easy to
forget that you don't stop andlook back and see what you've
been trying to build, becauseyou've just been very
intentional about what was thebuzzword a couple of years ago

(05:02):
Grinding.
You've just been grinding youknow, You've just been hitting
it.
I've been mimicking my father,which told me you're just going
to have to work hard in life.
You can outwork a lot of people.
You can work harder than a lotof people and you'll get more
gain than even people who aremore talented than you if you

(05:23):
can just outwork them.
That's the way I operated insports.
You know, I wasn't always thebest player on the field or on
the court, but I was one of thehardest workers always, you know
.
So, you know it's just kind ofthe approach I've taken to
business, and I don't know I'mhitting 45 this year.
Jared, I am a grandfather nowalmost two times.

(05:46):
I will be by the end of thisyear.
I do think that you start toslow down.
Whether you want to or not,your body starts to pitch up.
You just slow down a little bit.

Jared (05:59):
I have a problem smelling the roses.
I do not stop.
Very often.
You know that about me.
I run full speed ahead, likethis week.
I'm getting ready.
I mean if I could show you mywhiteboard right now.
So, Shannon and I have beentrying to fit in content time
and I'm looking at about sevennames of people.
I got a call, I've got acommunity picnic.
So, I don't know.

(06:20):
I don't know that I've sharedthis with you guys, but I'm on
the board of directors for thechamber of commerce where I live
and I'm on the park board andI'm really heavily involved with
local community.
I think that that's importantand you know for me this is a
stressful week anyways becauseour community picnics this
weekend.
So, I'm wearing multiple hats,including podcaster.

(06:40):
I'm wearing business owner hatwith Dayton Barns and five
rivers pole barns, because we'reobviously a big supporter of
that community picnic.
We have a shed on site.
We really look to sell probablythree or four buildings We'll
look to sell, whether it be woodsheds, pole barns or steel
buildings.
But I'm also trying to helporganize this community event

(07:05):
and this year I was tasked withputting together the community
picnic book, which needed acomplete overhaul.
If anybody knows me.
They know I'm not going tosettle for anything that's not
absolutely perfect.
So, I've been working back andforth with printers, picking up
3000 picnic books, shootingpodcast episodes for you guys
trying to handle business things, and I'll tell you, man,
grinding is the word.
Grinding is definitely the word, but you can't teach people to
grind.
Shannon, I've realized that itis something that you were born

(07:32):
with.
It was inherited from whoeveryour parents are, whoever their
parents were.
You cannot teach somebody togrind, no matter how hard you
try.

Shannon (07:38):
I remember asking the question oh, what was it?
I think I did a salespresentation at one of Gary's
first shows Gary Reichert ofShield Wall Media, I think it
was the garage, shed, carportbuilder show, that I was doing,
an educational segment, and Iposed the question are good

(07:59):
salespeople taught or goodsalespeople born that way?
People taught or goodsalespeople born that way?
They just do, they just have anact.
And I always love to have thosediscussions because you know
like what makes a person hungry.
Looking at the Shed SalesProfessionals page, I was
watching a comment from PeterBiller Making Sales Simple one

(08:22):
of the hosts of the Shed salessummit at this year's expo and
he said uh, you know.
He said uh, uh, why do salesnot get closed?
And he was talking about sheds,but that could be very
relatable to steel buildings too.
If you're selling carports andsteel structures, red iron,

(08:42):
whatever you're doing, postframe, you know what is the
reason why things don't get sold.
And there was 50 comments onthere.
That was just amazing to breakdown the thought process of
different people.
You know, if you're notgrinding, you're not working,
you're not, you know.
You know I've heard some peoplesay I've taken an A plus
salesperson, put them in a Cminus locations location and

(09:04):
they outsold an A-plus locationand a C-minus salesperson.

Jared (09:11):
We realize that in real time here at Dayton Barns we can
figure that out in real time.
You might have the greatestsalesman in the world, but if
you stick him on a poor shed lotor poor location to sell, that
guy's not going to thrive.
It takes more than just theright person.
It takes the right location, ittakes the right product.
So, you know people, price andproduct the three Ps of you know

(09:34):
success in business, at leastfrom a sales perspective.
Right, you mentioned Gary and Ifigured I'd take the time to
share with you guys.
You know we had Gary on thepodcast.
I think when this episodelaunches this will be the
follow-up episode, so I'm gladyou brought that up.
We're going to be at theConstruction Role Forming Show
October 1 and 2 this year at theDayton Convention Center.

(09:55):
They're in Dayton, so superclose to us, not too far from
you.
Shannon.
Check out the guys over at Roleroll forming magazine, shield
wall media.
You guys got a real taste ofwhat Gary's all about last week.
He's another guy that tells itlike it is.
We'll absolutely, we'llabsolutely give you the truth,
even when it hurts.

(10:15):
But I can tell you we are superduper looking forward to being
at the construction roll formingshow at the Dayton convention
center October 1 and 2.
Check them out.
I think it's $50 to register.
They give the door, the doorgate, back to a charity of their
choice.
So come, check us out, we'll bethere.
The Steel Kings Shannon, I think, is going to drop in for a

(10:37):
visit, might even get a visitfrom Joel, some of our other
friends, the guys over atVersaBend, so I'm just going to
jump right into it, you know.
Let me segue to our sponsorsfor a few minutes.
I know, Shannon, this isn'tgoing to bother you any, but the
guys over at Versabend, checkout the guys over at Versabend.
They have what you need to getstarted.
If you're already started, theygot the tool that's going to

(10:57):
take you forward.
I can tell you it bends twoinch, two and a quarter, two and
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It does that two by three,rectangular, all in three
precise bends.
You don't need any tools toswitch up.
It's just going to give youspeed, accuracy and less
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If you're outside the state ofSouth Carolina, average shipping

(11:18):
is about $600.
So you're about $20,000 intothis project.
Check them out at csccarport.
supply or call 864-446-3645.
Make sure to tell Wendell, theSteel King sent you.
So, Shannon, we were talkingabout sales, we were talking
about people, we were talkingabout locations.
You and I have been working ona project now for the last I

(11:41):
guess a couple of months nowsince you added me as
administrator.
But I think one thing that wedefinitely want to talk about
today is the Steel Structuressales professionals page on
Facebook.
You want to give us a littlebit of an overview on that.

Shannon (11:56):
Yeah, absolutely, it's been through a few different
hands.
Now, as you guys know, you know, Facebook kind of controls the
algorithm of you know howcontent is administered and who
it's administered to.
I mean, there's you know,there's so many friends that I
don't see their contentregularly and things like that.
With a business page, the onething you find immediately is a

(12:19):
you know, fakebook's made itpretty clear that they want to
make money.
If they're going to allow youto use their platform to grow
your business, why aren't theyseeing any benefit from it,
which is actually veryreasonable?
They built the platform butthey've made it kind of clear

(12:40):
that for businesses, they wantmoney, right, they want those
meta ads.
Kind of clear that forbusinesses, they want money,
right, they want those meta adsthey want, you know, you know.
So it's funny because with aprivate page, with a closed page
, the algorithm seems to be muchmore free flowing and typically
, like I administer a couple ofpages in the in the industry, we

(13:02):
were given the shed sales,sales Professionals page when it
was, you know, five or sixyears old and had about.
It might've been five or sixyears old at the time, maybe not
.
Whatever it was, you know, had500 people on it and we've, you
know, I've actively grown that.
I've actively worked to getthat, to get that in that

(13:23):
algorithm, in that space wherewe now get 30 to 40 people a
month attempting to get onto thepage some that are shed sellers
, some that aren't.
Well, um, uh, now there's, youknow, 5 000 people on there, or
more, I don't even know.
I haven't looked in a long time.
There's a lot of good contentgenerated on there.
It it's free content.

(13:43):
It's closed to just the memberswho want to be on there,
although what they've got to dois tell us what company they
work for and that they're in theshed industry.
We just need some minimal proof.
Well, we had a page that I hadkept for Shed Geek and then we
moved that into a couple, rolledit into a couple different page

(14:06):
titles and finally I've landedon hey, this needs to be, there
needs to be a steel structuressales page for professional
steel structure sellers, justlike there is for shed sellers.
But I've noticed that it justhasn't taken off quite as well.
It hasn't quite caught thealgorithm for Facebook to really

(14:26):
start to push it out.
It's kind of operating verysimilar to that of a business
page at the moment, but there's,I don't know, as you can see,
there's probably what 1,000members on there.
I don't know.

Jared (14:37):
Yeah, it looks like 1,300 members and what I'll tell you.
So I want to show you guys alittle bit.
So those of you that arewatching along, the Steel
Structure Sales Professionalspage is laid out almost
identical in format to the ShedSales Professionals page, which
looks like this what I likeabout the Shed Sales
Professionals page is, if youguys haven't been on there,
check it out, send Shannon aninvite, he'll review and get you

(15:01):
in there.
But, like this morning I justwatched an interview with my
friend, Charles from the ShedBusiness Journal there's all
kinds of content here that isrelevant to what we do every day
, which is selling structures,whether it be steel buildings,
wood sheds or otherwise.
I like what Shannon's reallyhelped create here, which is a

(15:23):
social media network basicallyaround sheds, a network
basically around sheds.
So, you can see what's possiblewith interaction not just from
Shannon, not just from Jared,but from everybody.
We're not going to mute anybody.
We're not going to keepanything hidden.
We're going to talk about thelogistics of things inside and
outside the industry good, badand different.
I've seen a lot of informationon different suppliers, lots of
different information aboutvendors and things like that.

(15:44):
So you jump back to the steelsales, the steel structure sales
professionals page, kind of thesame vibe.
We got this shed businessjournal sharing this morning,
which that's where I actuallysaw Charles's interview, which,
if you guys don't know, Charles,he's a great guy in the
industry.
But I can tell you we want youguys to be proactive and part of
this community with us.
Shannon's given me anopportunity to become an

(16:07):
administrator here and same withEric, and we want to interact
with you guys.
I think a lot of times, Shannon,in the steel side people tend
to pull the curtain back sotight they don't want anybody to
know what they're doing.
And again, I'm fulltransparency.
I'll help out anybody.
I am not opposed to walkingthrough.

(16:28):
What makes me successfulselling steel buildings and wood
sheds.
You know I am really.
I am really a proponent ofrising tide raises all boats.
If we can all do better in theindustry we've talked about this
and maybe this is the topic weneed to hit again today is if we
can stay in the pocket and makethe whole industry better as a

(16:50):
whole, we will all do better forit.
Right now, specifically withsteel, it's a tough.
It's a tough sale man.

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Shannon (18:41):
It's tough because you know, as a as somebody, a friend
, reminded me the other day youknow you're, you're talking
about people's livelihood, theirmoney, you know their potential
, you know I mean you and I bothknow you've got shade tree
mechanics out there and thenyou've got top notch you know
what I mean Certified, trainedmechanics that see their trade

(19:04):
as a, as a lifestyle, right, andI think it's the same way in
any, in any business that you'rein.
If you've ever worked anywherein your life, you know that you
have employees that go above andbeyond and you have employees
that just do the minimal andthey're content with that.
And I would say it this way Ithink you, you always, are going

(19:24):
to see that in the shedindustry and in the steel
industry Also.
The cool thing that we're doingis we're kind of defining these
industries separately, with apodcast, with a, with a private
Facebook page where you can beinvolved and share ideas, learn
from others, where you can beinvolved and share ideas, learn
from others.
I've heard a lot of people sayI don't comment on the page as

(19:46):
much, but I learn a lot from theother things that people say.
It's kind of like when you asksomeone to be on a podcast, they
say, well, I don't have nothingto offer, but I love listening
and I'm like well, trust me,give other people something to
listen to also and come on andshare your story because you may
be surprised, you don't have togive away a competitive
advantage.
But I, but I do think that theshed industry and the carport

(20:10):
and that's the thing we couldjust say carport, like we could
call this carport salesprofessionals but it really
encompasses more than justcarports.
Right, when you say stillstructures, it's, it's very, it
can become very broad.
I mean, even the term shed canbecome very broad, you know.
So, so it's.
It's just one of those thingswhere it's like hey, simon,

(20:32):
sinek, find your why, what'syour motivation, what's your
reason, Jared, at the end of theday, like, why do you wake up
and do what you do every day?
Why do you do a podcast?
Why do you host a podcast?
Yeah, absolutely, man,absolutely.
You know family is the key, butyou know, if you're going to be

(20:53):
involved and you're going to doyour best for your family,
you're going to want to be thebest at your trade, that's right
.
You know, Simon Sinek says thatabout you know Apple, right, he
said.
You said they just happen to bein the computer business, but
you could put them in any otherindustry and the mindset
wouldn't change Like hey this iswho we're going to be, if we
were selling pizzas, or if wewere selling tractors, or if we

(21:15):
were selling cars.
We just happen to be sellingcomputers.
That's our trade.

Jared (21:20):
That's what we do.
Apple's probably the bestexample you can give in this
scenario, because they were acompany that basically launched
the personal computer revolutionright and continued to
skyrocket through the early 80sand then, when they lost their
focus of what made their, whatmade their business work, that's

(21:42):
when they started to fall onhard times.
They've always been the highestprice.
None of that is new.
They're still the highest price, but now they're the number one
in pretty much every I wouldsay pretty much every category.
I know their market share fordesktop usage is not as high as
PC with Windows and stuff likethat, but you always get a

(22:04):
quality product.
You get what you pay for andthey're not afraid to charge you
a premium for that good product.
And I think that that's whereShannon and I specifically share
this trait.
Why are we constantly runningto the bottom to pick up nickels
when we can continue on thetrajectory we're on and pick up

(22:24):
dollars or $5 or $20.
We're always reaching fornickels and that's what kills me
about steel sales in general.
From just an overheadperspective.
I just had one happen.
I just talked about it thismorning to one of my sales reps
here, got a call from anindependent dealer I think it
was in New Mexico or ArizonaSold a building to a customer.
I'm upside down.

(22:46):
I had to refund their money,but I'm trying to do them a
favor and really help them outhere.
We don't sell Steel.
Buildings are not meant rightout of the rip to be lived in.
Anybody who's out there sellingsteel like five on center
square, two buildings to live inwithout some serious thought is

(23:07):
just doing themselves adisservice.
They're doing their customers adisservice and what we do is
then we breed our competition todo the same thing that we're
doing, and now we have bred anindustry that is doesn't know
what they're doing sellingthings for you.
You know, you can.
I mean you can, you can.
If you want to buy a five oncenter building and live in it,

(23:28):
is it going to be the same as a16 inch on center stud framed
home?
No, it's not, and that's thekind of stuff that aggravates me
to death.
Is now I have to reeducate.
Not that I'm not willing towrite, Shannon, I'm willing to
re-educate.
Not that I'm not willing toright Shannon, I'm willing to.
I'm willing to educate.
But now that customer whobought that building New Mexico,

(23:54):
Arizona, wherever it was.
If we can't correct the problem, they've got a sour taste in
their mouth for the wholeindustry.
And that was one person in onestate.
It took 10 seconds to make thatmistake.
And for me, if we can't cometogether as a community and say
we're going to go away from Iwant a barn dominium, so I'm
going to sell you a $50,000steel building that you're not

(24:14):
going to be able to finish outanyways, it's going to be a
problem, and I can't.
It blows me away that peopleare advertising and selling that
way.
I mean, am I wrong?
Am I wrong?

Shannon (24:27):
You're a hundred percent right.
You know, I've worked with guysthat sold sheds and I've heard
it out of their mouth, you know,and it kind of set an easy with
me, you know, cause I was.
I've been in business with themand it's like hey, man, just
sell it, let the company dealwith the fallout.
Hey, just sell it, let thecompany deal with the fallout.
Hey, just sell it, let therent-owned company deal with the
fallout.
We're not in rent to own, theyare.
They're taking the risk, it'stheir problem.

(24:47):
That's right.
And I'm thinking well, it'stechnically true, but then, like
everybody's fighting over thepie and they're trying to take
more, more share of the pie,more market share, and I'm over
here thinking we'reshort-sighted on this, let's
make a bigger pie.
To me, the collaborativeefforts can make for a bigger

(25:10):
market.
I'm not saying you won't fallon hard times, Jared, but we got
to get there first.

Jared (25:16):
We got to become that.
First, we often run in ourminds where, from a dealer
perspective, any average dealer,even myself included, is
constantly worried about whatthey're going to make on
commission.
Okay.
That's, that's the number onequestion.
What am I going to make if Isell your product?
Okay, what?
I would argue back to somebodywho is saying just what you said

(25:36):
don't care about it, the RTOcompany can deal with it.
Don't care about it, mymanufacturer can deal with it.
It how much more could theyafford to pay if they didn't
have to take care of yourmistakes?
How much more could you make,how much more leverage would you
have if you called yourmanufacturer and you were their
number one dealer?
Oh man, we never have issuesout of so-and-so.

(25:58):
They're our best dealer,they're our number one dealer.

Shannon (26:02):
and when you say best dealer, you don't even just mean
most money.
It's their best problem solver,that's right.

Jared (26:08):
They're our best communicator.

Shannon (26:09):
We have the least amount of problems on an install
with this.
That's exactly right.
Because they take what they call.
You know, I used to work for acasino.
I worked for them for 10 yearsand I've shared this before.
You know it was one of thefirst casinos in the Midwest.
It was opened by Merv Griffith,the previous owner of Wheel of
Fortune, and they started herein a poor community where we

(26:30):
were at in the Midwest.
They put it on the boat becausethey had to have it over water
and the one thing I learnedwhenever I went to work for them
is, like you usually walk outempty-handed at the casino, so
you're paying for an experience.
It's much like a vacation, likeusually walk out empty handed
at the casino, so you're payingfor an experience, as much like
a vacation.
Like you pay for the experiencebecause you know you may bring

(26:50):
back a few souvenirs, but yourmemories are really where your
money went and what you got todo.
You know we went jet skiing.
You know, hey, that was fun,whatever you know, but that's
you know you don't take thathome with you.
It's not a tangible asset thatyou can, that you can get back
with you.
So what the casino taught me interms of customer service was
this term called own it, andthis is something that they were
very serious about, very, veryserious about, and that was for

(27:11):
you, the employee, to treat thebusiness as though you were an
owner, you know?
Hey, could you tell me wherethe reward center is?
It's right down, that wayYou'll see it.
No, that's not the answer.
It's.
Yes, ma'am, just walk this waywith me.
I'll make sure to hand you off.
Hey, what was your name?
Okay, ms Jones?
Hey, here's Tony at the rewardcenter, and Tony, because that's
what an owner would do and, and, and, and, and I I hear

(27:35):
sometimes the mentality to pushback against that Jared is like,
well, they don't pay me enoughto do that.
Uh, you know, or, or whatever.
And I'm thinking, man, it's,it's.
I've seen this in sheds happenso much where, just shotgun
approach, try to bring on 30 newlots, you find about two or
three diamonds in the rough, youknow, and you're going to stick

(27:56):
with those dealers because theyend up being three million
dollar.
Your dealers because they justcare.
They just care about who theyare, who they serve.
And then you have the guys thatjust always bring in the bottom
, don't they?
They're just always.
I'm going to do the minimum.
If you don't like it come, getyour buildings, and I think that
just comes down to aneducational thing, like we need

(28:19):
to know who's going to berepresenting us in our company,
I think manufacturers areresponsible here too.

Jared (28:26):
This isn't just a dealer problem, this is manufacturing
led because, just like what yousaid, I'm going to go sign up 30
and I'm going to care aboutthree, and I think that that's
where the dealer manufacturerrelationship has to become
closer and tighter knit.
From the steel side, what I seeis companies like mine, where

(28:46):
you know, eric and I have beensuccessful doing this for a long
time.
We've sold for multiplemanufacturers.
Over the last five, six yearswe have really dove into
focusing on a handful ofmanufacturers.
Shannon, you know some of theseguys.
Yeah, and more often than notand I'm just you know, I'm just
gonna say it like it is theydon't put their money where
their mouth is.
You do what you say you'regoing to do and Shannon knows,

(29:09):
Shannon's witnessed it, he'sbeen here.
He can justify for me that whatI'm doing I can feel good about
.
I feel really good about whatI'm doing here at Dayton Barns.
I feel good about what I'mdoing on a personal level here
in this shop, with these guysand these gals working hard
every day to do what it is thatwe really have found a passion

(29:30):
doing, which is selling premiumstructures to people who are in
need of premium structures.
But what I find a lot is and Ican totally understand if you're
a dealer listening to me rightnow and you're saying well,
Jared, it's one thing whenyou're selling $10, $15 million
a year and blah, blah, blah.
I'm not doing that and I'mstruggling just to sell a half
million dollars or $300,000 ayear and I'm just trying to feed

(29:53):
my family and maybe add acouple additional revenue
streams to my shed lot.
What I will tell you is, if youfind the right manufacturer and
you stick with them and havetheir back when they need it and
go back and forth with eachother, you will often find
resolution with that.
And I know that that's all.

(30:15):
That's cliche.
And you're sitting therethinking, man, Jared, again, I'm
only selling $300,000 worth ofbuildings.
But I can tell you work withthe right manufacturers.
That's number one.
We need to, as a community,stop supporting people who are
driving our sales price to thebottom.
You want to know why you don'tmake money selling steel
buildings?
Because you're selling cheapsteel buildings.

(30:35):
You want to know why you'regetting bad reviews Because
you're selling cheap steelbuildings.
What a lot of people don'tunderstand about cheap steel
buildings is Shannon and I couldmove to North Carolina tomorrow
.
We could decide you know whatwe're done podcasting.
We're done selling.
We're going to start makingmetal buildings and there is a
Jimmy John Jack on every cornerselling scrap and selling tube

(30:59):
scrap and sheeting scrap.
We could start our own metalbuilding company.
Then, all of a sudden, we'd bethe cheapest metal manufacturer
in town.
You know what?
We'd probably make us severalhundred thousand bucks in a year
.
Then you know what happensafter that, that cheap metal
building company.
It doesn't exist anymore, it'sgone.

Shannon (31:20):
I saw a Facebook post the other day.
Somebody said they wererelating it to shed hauling is
what they were doing, if Iremember correctly.
But it was someone who saidsomething along the lines of
getting some electrical workdone.
And a Facebook post had acustomer contact me today.

(31:41):
He was showing the conversationand it said, uh, how much, you
know, how much for this, thisjob.
And they told him their price.
And, uh, they said the otherguy you know did it for this
much last time.
And they said we'll call himthen.
And I said, uh, I would, buthe's not in business anymore.
That's right.

(32:01):
And it was like I mean, thattells the whole story.
Just right, there, that happensall the time.

Jared (32:07):
Now I can tell you okay.
So, you're sitting there,you're Mr Shedlot, you're in one
shedlot, you might sell metalbuildings.
Maybe you don't.
I'm sure you get contacted onceor twice a year from a metal
company that says, hey, we sellmetal buildings for us.
Think about that from myperspective.
Everybody, and their brother,reaches out to me and says, hey,
I started a metal buildingcompany I'd like you to sell for

(32:30):
me.
Okay, well, I need somepictures of what projects that
you've done, with proof thatyou've done them.
I need any kind of confirminginformation, right?
I need workers comp information.
I need your LLC information oryour business information.
We dig deep on the manufacturers.
We work with the companies outthere Eagle American, steel,

(32:54):
star Buildings and Carports, allof these reliable metal
buildings, these conglomeratesthat cover multiple states and
have been in business for yearsand years.
Those are the kinds ofbusinesses you want to work with
and what you find more oftenthan not and I forgot Carolina
carports, because I loveCarolina carports but what I can
tell you from a from a overheadperspective, is they've been

(33:17):
doing it a lot longer than youhave.
They've been doing it a lotlonger than me.
The companies that pop upoftentimes do not come ready to
prepare.
They don't come ready to giveyou the building that you desire
.
So, what's funny is I justnamed four or five companies and
if I priced a 30 by 50 by 14building with two 10 by 10
roll-up doors, I would bet youthe price would be anywhere from

(33:41):
a thousand dollars to themaximum two thousand dollars
difference between all five ofthose companies.
So, you determine where youwant to work with, you determine
lead time, you determineoverall quality, how you feel
about the company.
If a company comes in andthey're seven thousand dollars
cheaper than those fivecompanies, I'm immediately got
red flags going off in my mind.

(34:04):
My eyeballs pop out of my headbecause if those five companies
are at a certain price andsomebody is 7,000, I mean, I'm
using this as an example becauseI get it all the time it takes
me about 30 seconds to figureout that their business is
registered to a chicken yard inthe middle of Timbuktu.
They don't have a facility,they're buying used material.

(34:24):
They might have no Googlereviews, they might have no
track record of being inbusiness and just because some
person is selling their productdoesn't mean it's worth even
what they want for it, and youhave to come ready to combat
that information withinformation.
Hey, I'm working with companiesthat have been in business for
20 plus years.
If you want a warranty on thisthing, if you want to make sure

(34:47):
it doesn't blow away on awindstorm, if you want to make
sure you got engineered masterblueprints with it, take it up
with me.
I'll help you out, I'll giveyou the spread on everybody that
I've got and I'll let you makea decision Right, and that's
where you have to be.
In this day and age, man, it isa race to the bottom and it's a
race that.
I don't want to run anymore,quite honestly.

Shannon (35:07):
Well, I think no one wants to win it.
It happens in rent-to-own,which is a very familiar thing
in the shed world.
When you talk about dealerpremiums, the concern starts to
become I'm literally hearingpeople giving away 10% dealer
premiums.
Like.
The concern starts to become, Imean, like I'm literally
hearing people giving away 10dealer premiums anymore and like

(35:28):
I'm wondering you know, when isit going to get to the point to
where I mean there's only two,there's only two plays there.
Right, it's like soak up allthe business and then and then,
once you've got it, change thedealer premiums back, you know,
or just be willing to divide themargins down so low because,
like, really, if you're anAmerican company of any capacity

(35:49):
and you're, it doesn't matterif you're selling socks, sheds
or lollipops, right, like, yourmargin outside of tech usually
falls less than 30%, uh, on yourP and L at the end of the day
in terms of profit.
Like you might make a milliondollars but you only bring home

(36:09):
usually max $300,000 out of thatby the time you get rid of P&L
right.

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(37:19):
Let's grow your businesstogether.

Shannon (37:44):
Let's grow your business together, depending on
how important it is, howadaptable it is.
With AI, we're seeing like somemassive ridiculous now and,
like you know, you're justbeating people to the punch.
If you're seeing those 10 and20X returns on the sale of a
business but most people don'tthat's an investment.
That's not even just a purchase.
Like, you have to have bigdollars and you usually start

(38:04):
running into private equitygroups really quick whenever you
start getting into that and youstart looking at venture VC
guys that we navigate in ourindustry as a whole is the onset
of AI, the onset of justcommercially man.

Jared (38:31):
I don't even know how to really word it, but to me it is
commercial conglomeratization ofour industry as we know it.

Shannon (38:39):
It would not take very long for the right person to
come in and completely overhaulthe industry You're going to see
more Jared, You're going to seemore year company has the

(39:01):
ability to take on a 60 to $80million a year company through
the correct investment in theirdigital assets, Because I'm
going to beat this horse todeath, but like brick and mortar
, is not going away but it's notthe only way anymore and what's

(39:26):
happening is those who are notembracing the technology, which,
by the way, falls in line withevery other retail market.
I want to make sure to stressthis point very heavily.
This isn't a new idea in theworld.
It may be a new idea in theshed and carport world because
you haven't embraced it, but Ipromise there's some sharp guys

(39:47):
and gals out here that are doingsome of this already.
I mean, I'm impressed by some ofthe things that we see in here,
but what I'm getting at is likeyou have the ability to take it
over, but you limit yourself.
You limit yourself by sayingyou know my in-laws used to do
this.
I love them.
My in-laws are phenomenalpeople, they're excellent.

(40:08):
But I remember when you knowthey would talk about having a
PC in their home and they werelike, why would anyone want a
computer in their home?
And they didn't understand itwell, so they typically insulted
it, Right.
Then they got a computer.
Right.
And then the Internet camealong and it was like no way, no
.
And then they insulted it.
Now we go over there and I meanmy mother-in-law's on her

(40:36):
computer online telling me abouther load speed, you know, and
she's like understanding it andshe's speaking more
intelligently about it.
Now it's AI.
And guess what you would thinkafter the last two they would
embrace AI maybe a little more,but instead they're like no, why
would anybody want that?
And then in 10 years they'regoing to be speaking differently
about it.
And I find that the industrydoes that because, like, this is

(40:58):
going to sound a little harsh,but I've done it, so I'm not
making any accusations on anyonethat I haven't done myself, but
we simply insult what we don'tunderstand.
We insult it because we don'tunderstand it.
And I'm seeing companies thathave the potential to make huge
strides right now and I'm seeingbehind the scenes, some of
these large companies arerecognizing oh, we need to do

(41:19):
that to take market share, andthat's just what's going to
happen.
Guys, they're not going to tellyou, they're doing it.
That's why everyone's so private.
That's why everyone's soprotective is because they don't
want you to know, because bythe time that they're doing it,
they want to be able to keepthat first mover's advantage as
long as they can.
That's right, so they'reembracing these ideas and this

(41:40):
new technology and differentthings.
These ideas and this newtechnology and different things
and I know from your perspectiveit's hard to jump into that and
be like, well, let's go investa bunch of money into this
unproven territory and it's likeit's only unproven in the shed
world and the steel world.
It doesn't mean it's unprovenin cars.

Jared (41:59):
And I would argue there are people that are doing it.
If you're waiting, you'remissing it out right now.
I mean, Shannon deals with thema lot more than I do.
To at least educate yourself.

Shannon (42:12):
If you don't spend a dollar with me or anyone else,
no problem.
No problem, yeah, but educateyourself.
Do not be adverse to learningabout it and asking questions.
Where you go wrong is when youdemonize these things.

Jared (42:27):
Shut the wall down.
Yes, shut the wall down.

Shannon (42:30):
At least start to learn , because the more educated you
become, the more intelligentlyyou can speak on what will or
won't work enough.

Jared (42:38):
I cannot agree with that enough because from our
perspective, we're alwayslooking a couple of steps ahead
of where we're at currently.
We're looking at things like AIand I'm a big guy in general
right, Big in figure but big instature too.
As far as I'm big on in-houseShannon's been here.
Shannon knows I have anin-house lead generator.

(43:00):
I don't outsource anything.
I don't like AI by rule.
I like it in some capacities,right.
I use chat, GPT, open source AIa lot, with some marketing
pieces, a lot of differentverbiage.
I've written ad scripts with it.

(43:20):
A lot of the ad scripts youhear me read are ones that
ChatGPT put together for me.
And then I go in and I put mytwo cents on it, right, I'll
take out a lot of the fluff andjust make it straightforward and
straight ahead.
But that streamlines me.
It doesn't just replace me andI think that's where people get

(43:40):
really scared about ai.
It's a tool that can make aperson like me even better.
It's when you try to replacesomebody.
That's where I start to get.
Can I go on a soapbox?

Shannon (43:53):
I'll go, yes I'll get on a soapbox for a minute and uh
, yeah, yeah, absolutely, you'reright.
You know, like I use ai for mydescriptions on the show, right,
like AI creates the descriptionthat you guys read for today's
episode.
Well, I used to sit and writethose and I felt like I was a
decent writer, you know.
But I started gettingcompliments all of a sudden when

(44:14):
we moved over to AI andnonetheless, I got.
I got a compliment from a goodAmish friend of mine who said
man, the description that you'rereading is like, amazing,
you're writing it.
It's amazing.
It makes me want to listen tothe show even more than I've
ever wanted to.
What did you do?
Did you take a writing class?
And I said, no, ai is doingthat.
They're just able to put in thewords better.
They're not able to replace me.

(44:36):
That's right, you know.
And that's the thing about AIand technology in general.
And when I say I get on asoapbox, I use about, I use
about, I'm about to alienateyour audience.
Get ready, you know, about oncea year I get on and make maybe
like a political or social poston Facebook, just simply for the

(44:57):
intentionality of not to arguebut to challenge thought.
You know, yes, Socrateschallenged thought and I believe
that thought should bechallenged, matter of fact.
There's nothing better thanchallenging your own thought and
your religious convictions andthings like that, cause they've
made me stronger and what Ibelieve in a better um speaker
on these things.
That I believe because I'vebeen.

(45:18):
I've been through the fireRight and you know I always like
to talk about things like self-checkout as a perfect example.
It's a easy thing to insultimmediately.
You know self-c heckout isgoing to replace it.
You know.
You know who uses self-checkout the most Walmart.
And guess who?
People feel that they just havethe right to be able to tell a

(45:43):
business what to do.
They believe they just have theright to be able to tell
business how they should do it.
The best way you tell Walmarthow to do things is with your
pocketbook, not with your socialmedia post.
If you don't like it, don't goRight.
But the reality is thingsevolve.
Walmart, who uses the most self-checkouts in the world, also

(46:03):
hires the most people in Americathe most people in America.
So, I find it hard to justifythe argument that they're
costing people their jobs whenthey hire the most people out of
any employer in the world.
They have to resituate basedoff the advent of technology.
A good example is you pump yourown gas now.

(46:26):
So, when you say I won't checkout my own groceries because I
don't work here, but why do youpump your own gas?
Because there was a time wherenot anything was self-service,
it was full service and therewas an attendant who always
pumped your fuel.
And guess what Things change?
They change.
Think about the invent of clickand pull, now Jared.

(46:52):
So now they've changed thosecheckers into just a different
job description, but they stillhire.
They still hire more thananybody in America, right, but
they still hire.
They still hire more thananybody in America, right?
So it's not that they'recosting jobs, that's a simple
argument.
You know, you got to think alittle bit deeper and that's
what technology is doing.
So, I like to use self-checkoutSome days.

(47:13):
I love the interpersonalrelationship, and I go and I'm
not in a hurry.
So I go through the line, Italk to the old lady how are you
doing?
You know what I mean.
If it's an older gentleman, howare you today, sir?
You know I love thatinteraction.
When I'm in a hurry I canprobably get it done quicker.
So beep, beep, beep, and I needto get out the door right, you
know it's.
Things change and they'rechanging in sales, no matter

(47:38):
what industry you're in nomatter what industry you're in.

Jared (47:42):
I have to try to bring the audience in a hair right
Because you said you're takingthem away.
I would say that God encouragesus to ask for his wisdom when
we lack it right.
He calls upon us to turn to himin prayer, and whether or not
you're religious doesn't muchmatter to Shannon or I, but I
can tell you I know a lot offolks out there that think a lot

(48:04):
like Shannon and I that listento this podcast.
Doubt is something God gives usso that he can provide that
reassurance when we lack it.
It brings us closer to him ifwe allow it to right the
obstacle is the way Jared.
That's right.

Shannon (48:19):
The obstacle is the way brother, that's right, You're
not called to an easy life withabsolutely no problems, that's
exactly right.
You know, God said cast yourburdens on me.
That's right, you know, becausehe wants to prove the
sovereignty.
It's like Philip Yancey in thebook Prayers Doesn't Make a
Difference, he said.
How can you pray for a truethankful prayer over your meal

(48:44):
when you've got a cupboard fullof groceries but when you don't
know when your next meal iscoming from?
You're very thankful for themeal that you just received,
aren't you?
So, you know, like I heard onepastor say it this way God
doesn't give you the bench, hegives you the tree.
Like there's a certain amountof work that's required of us to
do and we're not called to haveeverything easy.
All the tree Like.
There's a certain amount ofwork that's required of us to do

(49:05):
and we're not called to haveeverything easy all the time.
And I've been guilty ofexpecting that as a Christian,
that my life's just going to beeasy all the time.
And it's been harder.
It's actually been far harderas a Christian.
That's how I look at it.
It's ironic.

Jared (49:17):
That's kind of how I look at chat.
Right, I had to overcome my ownpersonal objections with AI,
and I did that slowly over time.
Right, I thought about it and Ithought about it and I watched
tutorial videos.
I watched people give me theiropinions on it.
I watched actually how to usechat and really, if you utilize
it as it's meant to be utilized,which is a tool, it is not

(49:41):
meant to be utilized as areplacement, at least not yet
Nothing that we're talking about.
Anybody listening to thispodcast is not on the level
where they can build artificialintelligence to run and operate
their business on a massivescale.
If you are, thank you forlistening, reach out to me
personally, Jared atthesteelkigs.
com.
I'd be happy to talk to youmore, but I can tell you,

(50:03):
utilizing the tools that are putin front of you for the benefit
of your business or personaldevelopment or whatever, that
case is never going to hurt you.
Never going to hurt you to trysomething new.
It is never going to hurt you.
Get up on the horse, fall off,do it a hundred times and maybe,
after one, oh one, maybe you'reriding down the trail and
you're on the horse and you'rehaving a great time.

Shannon (50:22):
But if you don't ever try and you quit.
Mike Rowe, dirty Jobs.
Everybody's seen him onwherever HGTV.
I'm not sure where it was, butDirty Jobs, he said AI is not
coming for your trade.
And that's the beauty.
If you build sheds, if youbuild carports, if you are
involved some labor-intensiveway, it's probably not taking

(50:43):
over.
Um, I'm not saying there's notsome automations to some extent
in the building process, becausewe are seeing some of that
happen, but it's going to behard to imagine that that's
going to replace a workercompletely.
Ai is actually coming after yourcoders, yeah, after your
marketers.
It's coming after your socialmedia people like uh j Troyer I
think it was him, I may getthese names mixed up but he said

(51:06):
AI is not going to replace yourjob, but someone who
understands AI will.
And I thought that was abrilliant comment because I was
like, yeah, it's not that, it'slike coming for you directly or
there's this mischievous thing.
Look, it's like a gun, it'slike money, it's like a knife,
it's like a bomb.
Anything that we invent can bemisused and mishandled.

(51:31):
I mean, it's still the heart,at the end of the day, and I
think you need good people whounderstand it.
It's why we have cyber security.
Some people use the internet forbad things, but that doesn't
mean the internet's bad as awhole.
That means that some people youknow use it for the wrong
reasons.
At the end of the day, it's ahard issue, which is why you

(51:53):
know we talk about this on thepodcast all the time.
You know like one of our maingoals is to spread the great
commission, the gospel, and talkabout Jesus Christ, not because
we feel like we have theanswers, but because we feel
like we know.
Who does you know?
And then you can get into thiswhole other topic about religion
and your faith and how itaffects you and how you believe

(52:14):
and what you believe and how youcarry yourself daily.
And I'm like look man, I'm notperfect.
I never claimed to be.
I'm just a guy who's a willingvessel.
We try to use that in ourguidance of our work.
You know I'm sitting heregetting notifications off a
comment I just made on one ofthe pages this morning just out

(52:35):
of nowhere, and I got my phonesblowing up right Even when we're
sitting here talking about thatvery comment.
I'm like this is what happenswhen you, when you dare to take
a stand, you can say in thebackground but that, you know,
even saying something like Jesuson the podcast has gotten
advertisers that have told methey don't really want to come
on because of my religiousaffiliation.

(52:56):
And I'm like you know, good.
I don't care how big you are inthis industry, because I
believe God's bigger Right.
So, like it doesn't matter tome that you choose not to come
on.
There are some things that Iwon't.
I just won't draw the line onand I'll say well, I'm all about
being willing, but if willingmeans to lose who I am
completely to satisfy you, Ican't If I'm willing on my side.

Jared (53:19):
If I'm willing on my side to be open, you should be
willing to be open on your side,and if we can agree to disagree
on things, that's fine.
My biggest argument withanybody that wants to argue is
that I don't want to argue.
I could care less about it.
It's a waste of my time.
What I can tell you, Shannon,is it has been a big time today.
We hit a bunch of topics.

(53:40):
We're a little bit over on time, so I'm going to be the one
that delivers the bad news thatwe will be back at you with
another episode of the SteelKings podcast.
However, in the meantime, Iwill share this Get out in your
communities and do somethingspecial, do something for
somebody else this week.
Be a good neighbor, be a goodfriend, be a good teammate to
somebody in your life.

(54:00):
Mentor somebody.
Maybe you need mentoring.
Reach out and find thatmentoring, because I can tell
you, Shannon and I both havebeen on the other side of
success and not that I'm on theside of success currently.
Maybe I'm on the opposite sidetoo, but I can tell you find a
neighbor, a friend, someone.
Be charitable with your timeand your love and your attention

(54:21):
.
What I can tell you is I reallyappreciate our friends at J
Money.
I really want to thank them forgiving us the opportunity to do
this podcast with Shannon.
I want to thank you too.
Man, Joel is a great guy.
He's a builder at heart and abanker by trade.
He's helping businesses likeyours grow with fast, easy
financing that your customerscan actually afford.

(54:43):
Learn more at jmoneyllc.
com, and we'll see you next timewith another episode of Steel
Kings Podcast.
I'm Jared and over there,Shannon, and we'll check you out
later.
Check out the Shed Geek Godcaston Wednesdays too.
All right, and we will talk atyou soon.
Peace out, guys.