Calculated Success: Why Your Shed Company Needs Financial Clarity

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Behind every successful shed business lies more than just quality craftsmanship—there's a foundation of strategic leadership, financial clarity, and intentional growth planning. In this revealing conversation with Curt Paquette of Calculate Business Services, we unpack the essential business elements that many shed companies overlook until problems arise.

Curt brings decades of experience helping small and mid-sized businesses navigate challenges like leadership structure, financial management, and growth planning. What makes this discussion particularly valuable is how he translates complex business concepts into practical applications specifically for shed businesses, whether family-owned operations or growing companies.

The concept of "fractional C-level support" stands out as a game-changer for shed businesses that need executive expertise without the full-time expense. This approach provides access to CFO, COO, or HR leadership on a part-time basis, allowing companies to benefit from strategic guidance while maintaining financial flexibility. Curt explains how this model helps identify blind spots that owners often miss when they're focused on day-to-day operations.

We delve into the critical importance of formal documentation—from mission statements to employee handbooks—that create clarity and reduce conflict, especially in family businesses. Curt shares real examples of how establishing clear roles between visionaries (idea generators) and implementers (those who execute) prevents the common tensions that can derail otherwise successful companies.

Perhaps most valuable is our honest discussion about financial management. Many shed business owners excel at building and selling but lack confidence in financial matters. Curt compassionately addresses this reality, emphasizing that seeking help isn't a weakness but a strategic strength. His practical guidance on understanding key financial statements and using them to make informed decisions provides immediate takeaways for listeners.

Whether you're running a small shed operation, managing a dealer network, or manufacturing building components, this conversation offers valuable insights to strengthen your business foundation and prepare for sustainable growth.

For more information or to know more about the Shed Geek Podcast visit us at our website.

Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube at the handle @shedgeekpodcast.

To be a guest on the Shed Geek Podcast visit our website and fill out the "Contact Us" form.

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

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Episode Transcript

Shannon (01:48):
Ok welcome back to another episode of the Shed Geek
Podcast and um there again weneed a bell ringing you know for
round three were duking it outCurt Round number three ding
ding ding and so excited to haveyou back on the podcast.
A wealth of information, veryknowledgeable, very intelligent
and very welcome business tothis industry and so needed.
So, we have introductions, butI'll tell you what.
Just for those who don't knowwho you are, what you do, tell
us a little bit about yourselfand your needed.
So, we have introductions, butI'll tell you what.
Just for those who don't knowwho you are, what you do, tell
us a little bit about yourselfand your company.

Curt (02:10):
Sure, Curt Paquette with Calculate Business Services.
My brother and I, Clark, havebeen running this company for a
number of years now and havebeen in the shed industry for
quite a few years, have loved it, enjoyed it and really we were
a support services for small tomid-sized companies, helping
them out anywhere fromaccounting, bookkeeping, tax

(02:33):
support.
We've done quite a bit ofC-level support for them,
helping companies with ourorganization, really helping
them think about stuff that theydon't have time to think about.
I think that's the key piecethat we love to be able to do
with our organization reallyhelping them think about stuff
that they don't have time tothink about.
I think that's the key piecethat we love to be able to do
with our clients and enjoying it.
I wake up every morning, can'twait to see what's on my plate
for the day and finish up theday with my wife telling me it's

(02:57):
time to close out the day.
But it's a great thing and mybrother and I love working
together and love helping peoplething and my brother and I love
working together and lovehelping people.

Shannon (03:07):
But you know you already hit on something that's
very relevant to my day, my week, my conversation and even
something we discussedpre-interview this morning,
which is, you know, we boughtthis office space so that we
could try to balance our life alittle bit.
I'm a workaholic if I'm notcareful and when I was working
out of my office at home, youknow, I didn't know when work

(03:30):
was work and home was home, andmy wife has done the same to
tell me like let's shut it downat this time, try to go home.
I still answer phone calls, geton social media, answer emails
and things off my phone at homecalls, get on social media,
answer emails and things off myphone at home.

Curt (03:49):
But usually it turns into.

Shannon (03:49):
Can we talk tomorrow, right, as opposed to let's get
on a call right now, and seven,eight, nine o'clock I'm always
on a video chat, call, podcast,something.
You know how does that?
How does that work for you?
What is work-life balance?
Is that a real thing?
Does that happen?
Work-life balance.

Curt (04:07):
Certainly, when you're on your own business, which you are
very aware of, it has to be avery front of mind type of
activity and because we do thatand we're somewhat family
oriented like you are, if youdon't do that, you are going to
lose the time with your familyand you, as the family leader,

(04:28):
the family member, you're beingthe example.
So, if you don't do it, you'renot letting your family do it,
and we really try to encourageour clients in that same way.
So, what we practice, we do, Itry very, very rarely to call or
text anyone after hours becauseI want to respect their time.

(04:49):
I try to do everything that wecan do with the clients within
those times because those thingsare important Having the
physical aspect of your lifewith family and exercise,
whatever that may be, whichsometimes is a very challenging
thing for us to do, but even onthe spiritual side, right.
So, understanding the weekendsSunday is an important day for

(05:13):
most people and don't doanything on Sunday.
I have people sometimes say, hey, I'll finish that up on Sunday.
I said, no, you're not, Not forme, you're not.
So, I really try to make surethat that happens and we try to
do the same thing with ourclients and encourage that same
behavior.
So, we do try to practice whatwe preach.
But I did work a little late.
Last night, for example, mywife did come in and say are you

(05:36):
done yet?
So those things are a work inprogress, but the same moment I
really work hard on that piecebecause I want to set the
example, not only for my familybut for my clients and my
employees as well.

Shannon (05:48):
It's affected us very much.
With the addition of family, Ofcourse, our granddaughter came
along and surprised us.
You know, it seems as thoughthe kids came back from the
wedding honeymoon pregnant.
So, you know, it didn't takelong before we became

(06:09):
grandparents as the marriage oh,that's an exciting thing.
It's so fun.
She's here today.
She's awesome, and theysurprised us this Easter with
the fact that she's going to bea big sister.
So, we're going to have twograndbabies under two and that
has slowed down our road timeand I admit that to the
listeners if you haven't seen meas much on the road.

(06:30):
That's why we've been trying tofocus on family, doing a little
bit more video casting andthings like that, which has
worked out really good.
But we will mix some of ourtravels in.
We're excited to see somepeople and you know that's tough
because as you're, as you're onthe road, that's sort of your,

(06:52):
you know.
Oh, I don't know what the rightterm is to use, but you know
and sales, a lot of timesthere's the people who find the
business, but then there's thepeople who tend to the business.
You know, and I'm, I'm, I'mheavy on vision, I'm heavy on
how these ideas there's this youcan do, there's that you can do
, there's all this right, I needsometimes those implementers to

(07:16):
come in and rein in, settle mea little bit.
You know, what is your, what isyour thoughts on that?
In the industry, are you seeingmuch of that?
Do you align with that, do youagree?
I?

Curt (07:29):
agree completely.
And a lot of times, if clientsaren't aware of those things,
that's where it becomes thechallenge.
And so, as I kind of analyze anorganization I look at, you
know a number of differentthings.
Do they have a nice, clear,concise mission statement?
Do they have a clear andconcise vision statement?

(07:49):
Do they have the core valuessettled in their mind?
Do they know what their cultureneeds to be?
And are they then, from knowingthose things, are they hiring
the people that fit the mission?
Are they hiring the people thatfit the mission, vision and
culture and core values?

(08:09):
And then you know, even lookingat companies, you're trying to
identify who is that youmentioned?
Who's that visionary right?
Who's that person who has 20ideas every week?
One is probably good andattainable, the other are not
right, but that's really what itlooks like.
And then you've got the personwho says all right, I'm going to
take your ideas, I'm going torun with those things.
And we see that in a lot of thesmaller companies, even to some

(08:33):
of the mid-sized companies,those people haven't been
identified.
And especially in familybusinesses, if those things
haven't been identified, guesswhat you're going to have?
You're going to have conflictIf those things haven't been
identified.
Guess what you're going to have?
You're going to have conflict.
So, it's important that, as aleadership team, you sit down
and you identify what is youknow there's that phrase out
there what are people's uniqueabilities?

(08:53):
And if their unique ability isto be that visionary because
they're just creative, they loveto think about ideas what's the
next shiny, you know shiny tool, or shiny penny, whatever that
may be?
Then there's the people who sayyou know what?
I got it, let me take that andlet me operationalize it, let me
put it into something thatworks so that we can run this as

(09:16):
a fine oiled machine.
And so, making sure you've gotthat group of people, because
one person can't handle boththose pieces.
It's just not going to work.
So, if you have just thinkabout it If you have operations,
you have finance and you havesales and marketing, if you're
missing any one of those pieces,your company will have
challenges.
So, making sure you've got aperson, each of those seats, who

(09:40):
has a unique ability to besuccessful in those seats.
Those are the key pieces andthen that supports this
visionary that's out there.
And so we just, you know, thoseare some of the things we like
to talk with our clients about,not to overwhelm them, but to
say, hey, let's try to thinkabout your organization, how we
can improve that organization.

(10:01):
So those are the things wethink about a lot try to help
our clients out with.

Shannon (10:10):
One of my favorite, you know quotes and I'm
paraphrasing so it's notactually a true quote but you
know is the one of the greatestdeficiencies of all of humanity
is consistency, right and like.
If we consistently worked out,we would.
We would have weight loss andmuscles right, muscle health and
flexibility If we consistentlyate right, you know, if we

(10:31):
consistently read our Bible weconsistently read, you know,
literature to you know, be moreeducated.
So, so, like, that's the thingthat's the hardest thing for us
to oftentimes accomplish anyway,thing that's the hardest thing
for us to oftentimes accomplishanyway.
And you're spread a lot oftimes as a manager, project
manager, owner.
You're like chief, everything.

(10:51):
I'm chief sales guy, chiefmarketing guy, I'm chief builder
, chief hauler, chief trashtaker, outer, whatever it is.
You do whatever is on there andwhat happens is it's like you
get out of alignment with onedirection.
You don't realize it as ithappens, but you get out of
alignment and you begin to focustoo much attention on one and

(11:14):
you don't have anything to pullyou back.

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Shannon (13:00):
You know, like yourselves, like the business,
you guys offer mission, vision,core values, culture.
You know we, yourselves, likethe business, you guys offer
Mission, vision, core values,culture.
You know we're five years inand I don't think we've
identified these things inwriting.
Like education throughentertainment has always been
the tagline, you know our corevalues and our culture surrounds
ourselves with trust.

(13:20):
Like we refuse to take abenefit of money or something
else, to sacrifice that for thelong term because that'll come
back to bite you right.
So, it's not a long- term goalto take something quick now.
We're no benefit later We'vegot to focus on trust.
So, we've made that.

(13:41):
But I need to sit down and Ineed to establish what is our
mission, what is our vision,what are we hoping to accomplish
?
But if you point a gun atsomething and don't know what
you're aiming at, what could youpossibly hit?

Curt (13:54):
And I think that's important.
It is a very challenging task,it's time consuming, it takes
people away from their comfortzone because they're having to
confront these issues and nobodyreally likes to do it.
But it's a necessary thingbecause once you develop those
things, that's part of youronboarding process.

(14:14):
When you bring new people onboard, you share those things
because you know what that does.
That helps eliminate or getpeople excited about wanting to
work for you.
I was with a client and it was apotential I think it was a
project manager or some projectlead supervisor came into the
office and a competing companywas closing their doors.

(14:37):
Came into us the client andsaid hey, this would be an
opportunity for me to be able towork for you.
He looked around and saw allthe mission, vision and the
biblical things that thiscompany was really trying to be
and said within five minutes Idon't think this is a company
that I really want to work for.
So, guess what?

(14:57):
Within five, 10 minutes, werealized that wasn't the right
person.
Could have been the right seat,but not the right person,
because culture is veryimportant, that you want to not
lose and you want to grow.
So all of those things take timeand effort.
But if you don't write thosedown and you don't share those
things, then guess what?
You may not be able toarticulate nor even eliminate I

(15:22):
don't mean that from a reallystrong term, but eliminate those
people who will not fit inthose things.
So, you've got this inbuiltkind of filter that occurs
before a person even walks inthe door, because all those
things are known, the peopleknow it, they're present and
they're all there and we justfind that that has been a huge
help for companies.

(15:42):
It doesn't matter what size youare, it helped for all
companies.

Shannon (15:46):
We have a unique like, we have a unique world in Sheds
right, because we have oh gosh,we have, you know, family run
businesses, small operations,moms and pops, very large
organizations that are veryestablished.
We talk to a lot of thesecompanies in a variety of

(16:08):
different directions you knowwhat I'm saying Based off of
their, their, their mission andtheir vision and where they're
going.
Culture plays a big role intothat because, you know, I take a
lot of pride in that, the ideathat we consider ourselves to be
a faith-based industry in manyways, you know, because there's

(16:30):
just so many good people in thisindustry Love it, that we get
to talk, you know, and like beunashamed, you know, like proud
of, like our faith, you know,like we just get to unlike what
feels sometimes, like socially,we have to, you know, to keep
this in the box over here.
We get to share and we shareopenly and we've made that a

(16:56):
staple here at the podcast tosay I'd rather it go away than
to deny, like God and all thesethings.
But what happens is, with a lotof these businesses, oh, I got
to be careful here.
I want to make sure that I'msaying the right thing or not
saying it in a way to offend.
There's a lot of family runbusinesses and with that comes
this little word that creeps inthat no one really ever talks

(17:16):
about, and that's nepotism, youknow and we've seen this, you
know where you know, second,third generation or whatever
comes up and then there'sconflict, even, maybe even
between the culture, thegenerations.
Man, how do you, from you guys'perspective and the business

(17:37):
services that you offer, give mesome advice on that, because
we've even experienced some ofthat that we've had to be like,
okay, let me think through this,but how do you approach it?
How do you approach this smallfamily-owned entity, if you will
?

Curt (17:55):
There's the expression eggshells.
Right, I mean it can be thatway, but I always think about it
.
If you set the record straightearly on, you don't have to
address it when it gets too fardown the path.
My goal has always been if youcan't work together, family is
more important than work.

(18:16):
It's just like you know you'vegot God, family and work right,
and so if the work of workingtogether affects your family and
your relationship with God,then you probably need to think
about how you can separateyourself or the person who may
be your family member in orderto preserve family and God.

(18:37):
I think that's a hard thing todo, but I do think it's all
about setting things up front,being completely honest and
transparent.
I've had to do that on a numberof occasions.
You know, when I think of asuccession plan, I prefer my
succession plan to be my family.
But guess what?

(18:57):
If they're not interested, thenI'm not going to force a
succession plan with my familyif they're not part of it.
We do have clients, too, wherethe father started the business
and the kids have taken over andthe parent or even maybe let's
add parents to it they havetaken a lesser role, but that

(19:18):
was established up front and youknow that there is an exit plan
.
When I talk about successionplan, I'm including an exit plan
too.
So those who are running it, asfar as the parents bringing the
children in on it, need tounderstand at some moment they
need to exit.
What does that look like?

(19:38):
What is that timing.
Try to hold on to that and alsomaintain the culture being
flexible.
You got to listen.
It's interesting at my age andI won't tell you the age nor the
generation I'll let you guesson that from my voice but I do
think you know listening to yourchildren, who grew up with the

(20:02):
customers that you're goingafter now, is very important as
well.
So don't forget that sales andmarketing opportunity that you
have with the younger generation.
It doesn't mean that you alwaysagree with them or think that
it's going in the rightdirection, but understanding
that's what you have to workwith.
It's the same thing with justevangelizing right.

(20:26):
Evangelism has changed over theyears.
Why?
Because now you've got thesepeople, all they care about is
getting an answer in fiveseconds, and so how do you deal
with that, even from anevangelistic standpoint?
So, it's okay to make changes,as long as God and the Bible
does not get compromised.
It's okay on those things.
So, I'm kind of equating a bitof things and maybe even

(20:50):
expanding more than necessary,but those are some of the things
that to me, I see and I've donepersonally from my own
perspective with my family- Iwrote this down as you were
speaking because I felt like itjust needs to be said.

Shannon (21:08):
If you sold to people who buy like you, you'll only
attract customers like yourself,and we fall into this trap of
people are going to buy basedoff of similar buying habits to
the way I shop.
So therefore, you're only goingto attract buyers like yourself

(21:30):
, and the reality is you don'tsell to just buyers like.
You sell to everyone, and soyou've got to meet the customer
where they are, as you said.
You know, are we going againstthe will or the word of God?
That's something you alwayshave to consider, but once
you've put that to bed, it'sreally just a matter of learning

(21:54):
and figuring out that.
You know, do I want to do thismyself?
Do I want someone to do this?
How do I approach this?
Who do I trust?
Right, like to do this.
I've seen so many and I'll justbe a little vulnerable here.
I've seen so many companiesbeing taken advantage of and not
to just do this as a plug.

(22:16):
But you know, website's aperfect example.
You know, if we've been talkingmarketing and we find out, you
know they're being charged 1200bucks a month or something to
host their site annually and I'mlike oh, no way are you paying
$1,200 a month, have you?
That's a five to $800 charge inmost places, maybe even three

(22:38):
to 500, depending on who you'reworking with.
You know, for the whole year.
You know, and they're paying$1,200 a month, and it's not as
though they're getting the addedSEO benefits or features or
things like that.
This is just because theysimply didn't know, and you know
that hurts me to see that,because just the fact that

(22:59):
people would take advantage fromsomeone who doesn't know, right
, right, when will that ever bea plan for success, Curt?
Has it ever happened, right?

Curt (23:11):
The only place where that's at most likely.
I mean from the center of theworld.
But, and for us too, that'swhat we want to do.
We want to partner with peopleso that we can we're greater
together than we are separate,right, so if we can work our
minds together to help eachother out, it's a great thing.

(23:31):
As a Christian community, aspeople who want to honor God, I
mean, those things arebeneficial for us to share with
others.
I'm the same as you From aconsulting standpoint.
I could charge you know I'lluse the French word beaucoup
money to do it and people willtake it.
But that's not the industrywe're looking at.

(23:53):
That's not the people we'retargeting.
We want to help those people toget them to grow too.
At the same moment, it's youknow what we do, even for you,
and the experience we have isnot free.
But at the same moment, we'regoing to sit there and help
folks out from a reasonablestandpoint, with the experience

(24:13):
that we have, because our goalat the end is to see the success
with all of our clients.
If all of our clients do agreat job and we're not needed
anymore, that's a success story.
That's a success story, and sothat's why I take a look at them

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, oh no.
Sam, what's going on?
Are you okay?
Yes, I'm fine, Lisa.
I was just trying to get ascrewdriver and all this other
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I'm ready to go buy a shed sowe can have some space in this
garage again.
I agree, I keep looking at theshed Mr Jenkins bought.

(24:53):
Let's ask him where I got his.
Howdy neighbor, we're wonderinghow do you like your shed?
I love it.
It's exactly what I needed, andI couldn't have asked for a
better service.
And where did you get it?
Hmm, I can't remember, but letme check Something.

(25:14):
This nice will probably havethe builder's name on it
somewhere.
Hmm, no, I'm sorry, I can'tfind a name anywhere.
Well, we finally got a shed.
Yes, I just hope we're happy.

(25:35):
The thing is a lot more shoddythan I expected, and I'm sure I
told them I wanted a window, butthey didn't have it in the
paperwork so I couldn't argue.
Boy is this a lousy shed.
We haven't even had it twoyears, have we?

(25:58):
Barely.
It was just a bad deal all theway around.
Mr Jenkins told me the otherday that he likes his shed so
much he wants to get a secondone, but he still can't remember
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Shannon (26:26):
Yeah, no, I'm reading a book this morning.
I really like it's talkingabout, uh, collaborative efforts

(26:51):
, which has been the buzzword ofthe shed industry for a couple
years now.
And uh talked about howcompetition's healthy and
collaboration's healthy and howdo you end the two.
And he called it uh, he calledit coopetition or something
along those lines.
I might be misquoting it, but Iwas like you just created a new

(27:11):
word.
I like you know let's, how dowe value competition, how do we
value collaboration?
How do we work?
It's been kind of the staple ofour podcast to sort of walk this
tight rope of being like hey,you know you compete with
someone, invite them on welcome,difficult conversation,
meaningful conversation thatultimately helps people.
You know advertising.

(27:33):
You know it's like yeah, comeon advertise with you.
You know we can't handle allbusiness you can't, no one can
but let's work together to dosomething good.
Some it's welcome, for someit's not.
When I first met you, you knowone of the things that you were
doing and I like this term, butI need you to break it down for
me a little bit to understand itmore uh, most companies hire a

(27:55):
project manager.
You know a.
Uh, a CEO, you know, chief,whatever you want to call it,
you know, uh, but you used touse the term and I assume you
still do fractional cco,fractional c, level c.
Right that down for me and giveme, like the knowledge, to

(28:17):
understand what what that meansin depth you know, certainly
from the basics.

Curt (28:23):
Fractional means, in the simple terms, part-time, um.
C level means you're getting aperson who has strategic value
in the organization, who's justnot going to be a doer but going
to be a thinker as well.
I think those are some of thethings A lot of companies have
an understanding.
Okay, how do I get to the nextlevel from a financial
perspective?
And what that is, if I want togrow some, I'm going to probably

(28:46):
have to get a line of credit orborrow money from somewhere,
and what does that look like?
And then, how do I not grow toofast?
So that's kind of that CFOlevel.
You got a CEO level that youknow will help out with strategy
and over mission, vision,culture and core values.
And how do you keep theorganization together and

(29:06):
creating a three to five yearplan.
You know a number of things likethat, and I see, too, why I
love this concept of offeringfractional C-level support is
there's a few areas that Ibelieve that companies have
struggles with, and that is in alot of the small to mid-sized

(29:28):
companies.
That's kind of the humanresources or the people factor
of these things.
You know, do you have ahandbook?
Do you have job descriptionsfor everyone?
Do you have an employeeagreement?
Do you have policies andprocedures in place for the
simple fact of a credit card,you know, do people know how to
use a credit card?

(29:48):
And if they don't use itproperly, that could be terms
for immediate dismissal.
All of those things in placeand those are opportunities,
with employee handbooks, to beable to provide everyone right
up front with what your mission,vision, core values, culture,
all that is and those are greattools.
All that is and those are greattools.

(30:13):
So that's, I think, a really bigmissing piece that I see in a
lot of the small to mid-sizedcompanies.
They don't think about itbecause family.
But at some moment you're goingto have to hire out of your
family because you may begrowing at a rate that you can't
, and so how do you help protectyour culture with all the
different areas, evenperformance reviews?
You know, when someone doesn'tknow they're doing a bad job and

(30:33):
all of a sudden you blow up atthem and not that we ever do
that, right, but you blow up atsomeone and they're like I never
knew that you were upsetting meor this was happening.
So, if you formalize a lot ofthings which not a lot of people
like to do, but it's worth itsweight in gold in order to
formalize a lot of things outthere.
And then you don't have tofirst of all repeat it, you

(30:56):
don't have to remember it.
Why?
Because it's there.
So, all those things I believeare benefits that can come from
a fractional C-level person.
Come in and helping out, and wefound great success with our
clients, and even clients to thepoint of well, if it gets to
where we grow here, can we hireyou full-time.
So those are obviously thechallenges that happen with

(31:19):
working with companies thatprovide C or fractional C-level
support is that you may wantthem and they may say I'll help
you find that person to replaceme, and that also is a piece to
help.
What's your succession plan,what's your growth plan?
And I think those people withthe experiences and using us,
the experience we have, canreally help you get there.

Shannon (31:42):
Makes.
No, makes perfect sense.
I wrote so many things downwhen you were, you know, going
through this.
You know job descriptions, youknow hiring outside of family,
you know.
And then I wrote down formalizeand communication, because
communication is, you know,ultimately the goal here.
It's not just communication,you know, I'm learning, it's
comprehension.

(32:02):
I can communicate, which is solike advertising.
You're communicating, you'rebringing awareness, but
comprehension is top of mind,awareness, isn't it?
It's actually keeping somebodylocked in, right, it's letting
them understand what you do,believing in what you do,
supporting what you do, and Ilike that.
You said formalize it because itgives you well, I mean just the

(32:26):
same as we do in our faith.
Right, we need a, we need a,something to balance it against
something, to balance truthagainst something, to balance
our bearing against an anchor,if you will.
You know, and that's what itreally takes with you know,
you're running a business.
But hey, this is what's this?

(32:48):
The country song say I'm stilllearning to be human.
It's the first time.
Me and Jeff Huxman talk aboutthis all the time.
I'm just now being human forthe first time.
I'm just now learning for thefirst time.
So, like I'm going to need somegrace and some mistakes, but
what formalization does isallows you to go back to a place
of truth.
A source of this is what weagreed upon.

(33:09):
This is what we talked about.
I understand things havechanged over time and things
like that.
How do you approach that?
How do you approach growth?
How do you approach startingout with an idea and then it
turns into this much bigger idea?

Curt (33:25):
First, it's important to make sure you never lose sight
of where you came from.
I think that's an importantpiece.
What are you grounded and whatyou're rooting in and knowing
too, as you grow, that's goingto potentially impact your
culture understanding whatgrowth could do and just making
sure that you're listing thenegotiables from the

(33:46):
non-negotiables.
I think those are certainly keypieces to go through that as
you grow.
And I'll just use our name ofour company to help thought
processes.
But we always talk about havingcalculated growth, calculated
growth.
You got to think through thatprocess.
What are you willing to do?
You know how much is too, muchis very and all parties need to

(34:09):
do.
You talked about communicationCommunicate.
Do you agree upon what thatplan looks like?
As a leadership team, do youagree upon the steps to get
there?
It's a lot of work to do thatand obviously a part of that is
the financial aspect of it.
How do you want to get there?
Do you want to do it from yourown investment?

(34:29):
Do you want to bring outsideinvestors?
Do you want to do a line ofcredit?
Do you want to use banks?
There's just a number of waysto look at it and how do you
navigate it.
There's other simple ways, justlike getting vendors to extend
credit or giving you more limits.
I mean, there's a number ofways you look at it, but you
have to really sit down andthink through that piece because
your eyes can get a whole lotbigger than what reality needs

(34:54):
to be for you.
I've had a boss many, manymoons ago used to say don't
write checks, your body can'tcash.
And so if it affects all ofthose things as far as church,
family and then work obviously,then you've got to be very

(35:14):
understanding of what theimplications are of the
decisions that you're making.
So, it's sitting down,communicating, making sure you
have a good plan, making sureyou got the finance aspect of it
in place, make sure you got themarketing in place.
As you say, the three-leggedstool if you don't have the
right sales and marketing, yougot the right finances, you're
still not going to go.
You got a lot of operations,people just sitting around

(35:35):
twiddling their thumbs right.
But if you got a good salesgroup and you got good financing
but you don't have a goodoperations plan, guess what?
Your customers are going tohate you because your customer
service is no good.
If you got a great sales groupand operations, but you don't
have the financing in places,you're going to fail as well.

(35:56):
So, making sure you've got thethree-legged stool figured out
to ensure that you've got abalanced group of people.
Do you have the right people inplace?
Do you have to invest in people?
It's not always about productsand materials.
You have the right people inthe right seats for that process
too.
So, there's a lot that needs tobe thought about.
It's not, it's not for thefaint of heart, but with a good
plan in place and some goodcounsel and I think that's key

(36:17):
too is never forget the count.
You know, as the bible talksabout, respect the gray-haired
person right, which, in essence,is reflecting the, the people
who have been through it before.
There's something that I wastaught early on too there's two
types of nets you have.
You have a fishing net, whichthat's the people you walk arms

(36:41):
with and you work with day today, and then you have your
safety net, those small group ofpeople that you talk to to say
man, I'm making a very bigdecision.
I need someone who I can trustto talk through this, to tell
and that person's gonna behonest to let me know man,
you're making a big mistake, orboy.
That sounds really good, buthere's a couple of things I

(37:01):
would think about to do it.
So having that network ofpeople and trusted advisors is a
term I love to use.
I think is so important.

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Shannon (38:07):
You know I like your gray hair statement there.
I never got an opportunity tomake it to that gray-haired
position, unless it's showing upin my beard.
But as I heard the other dayand you probably heard it in the
listeners as well God only madeso many perfect heads and the
rest he put hair on right.

Curt (38:27):
That's what I've's on other places, right, right
that's the way.

Shannon (38:30):
That's just the way it goes.
All those bald people got tostick together.
Uh, I love having a soundingboard, you know.
Uh, I have a sounding board ofpeople to, to, to just contact
and some that contact me, and wejust talk at a very matter of
fact level of kind of like whatwe're seeing or what's happening

(38:51):
, or you know how things aremoving and like the cool thing
is like that effort, just likethe word, never returns void.
Whenever you put that effort in, that effort always has some
sort of residual effecteducating yourself, learning
more, reading more, trying tounderstand the industry better,
communicate with people,collaborate with people.

(39:12):
And it's biblical.
It's a biblical principlebecause iron sharpens iron, you
know, yeah.

Curt (39:17):
And I think the other one too, is that the Bible talks
about you know, if the king goesout to war, does he count the
cost before he goes into battle?
Yeah, and he got to be aware ofthose things because it may not
be worth it and all of a sudden, at the end, you could hurt
your family, you could hurt yourchurch.
I mean, there's a lot of thingsthat you could hurt if you have
not conserved the cost ofdecisions you're making.

Shannon (39:39):
Well and, and you know, a lot of times people don't
think of business at this level.
Curt, you know I mean this issomething you've been doing, you
and Clark have been doing for along time.
I mean you're already workingwith people in the shed industry
.
You're established and workingwith people and looking to grow
right.
So, like this is not guesswork.

(39:59):
This is not like you know.
I hope you know I stumble uponsomething that that works.
But what some of the people whoneed these services, you know,
may not realize is a lot oftimes they're, you know, they're
good at building sheds andthat's what they want to do and
that's what they've alwayswanted to do.
But man, does it change quicklywhen you start to look at a

(40:22):
business as a whole?
One of my early podcasts Icertainly remember talking about
, I certainly remember talkingabout.
You know you can do anythingyou want, but sometimes it might
be hard to do those things.
Well, if you stay verticallyintegrated, some people are

(40:50):
perfectly capable of being ableto hire, salesforce also hire
and do their internal marketing,also be vertically integrated
with their delivery system andnot have to use a third party,
but then maybe they also can dotheir own, rent out, you know,
whatever it is.
But arguably each one of thosecould be a business in their own
and they are, because we knowhaulers who make a living
hauling sheds they don't dothese other things and sales
people who make a living justselling sheds.
So you've got to almostidentify who you are where.

(41:13):
When do I need to use an agency, you know, and when can I, you
know, capitalize on thisvertical?
And is there a common goal thatsays vertical integration is
always the direction we'reattempting to seek?
You know, I we have.
I sat and had a conversationwith politics last night with my
buddy, cord, who works with us,and we were talking politics

(41:34):
and I said is the middle exactlywhat everyone's going for?
Cause?
It seems to be.
When we get to a conversation,it seems to be the middle is
always like this source of truththat we got to come back to.
You know like, well, you knowthis person's got to be wrong
and this person's got to beright and both of you have to
fit that mold at different times.
And I guess what I'm trying tosay.

(41:56):
My overarching thought is hereSometimes, maybe, understanding
the business aspects of yourbusiness isn't for you, it isn't
in the caliber of what excitesyou.
So therefore, it's going toalways get pushed to the side.
And then when you come back andsay well, I don't know my
numbers, did we make money?
Well, it seemed like it.

(42:16):
We sold a lot of sheds thisyear.
But you should know.
You should know, in order toattain growth and your role as a
CEO is different than you knowit maybe needs to grow into a
place where you're not out doingrepairs.
That's a good example, becauseyou need to be running your

(42:36):
business.
I hope I'm not stepping onanybody's toes here.

Curt (42:40):
You know Right I do think that's a great point is you've
got to recognize where you areand who you are is.
You've got to recognize whereyou are and who you are, and
it's not also about making allthe money or the growth.
It is, as I continue to sayyou've got to have the cash flow

(43:00):
in order to be able to grow.
Sometimes people look at theirbank account and says, oh, I got
money in the bank, so I must bedoing okay, and right around
the corner is a catastrophewhich you're not seeing because
you're not looking closely atyour books, which is an
important thing.
The other aspect and it's notfor everyone and certainly even

(43:21):
our listening audience inworking with banks and borrowing
money but those things do havean impact You've got to make
sure your profit and lossstatement is reflecting a thing
that, if you want to borrowmoney, the banks or investors
are going to think positiveabout.
If your balance sheet is not inorder, not having the right
ratios or working capital or anumber of different things that

(43:43):
I'd love to talk about but theaudience would probably fall
asleep on.
But if those things aren't putin place, if your statement of
cash flows is not reflecting apositive thing.
You're going to have achallenge borrowing money from
people, whether it's an investoror even a family member or a
bank.
Those things are going to bechallenging.

(44:04):
So, making sure that you'rereviewing those things and yes,
I got you know.
People will say I've got to drawup business in order for us to
get there.
Well, there are somefoundational things that need to
be done and really, from afinancial aspect, and being
disciplined and responsible forthat should never go away and
should never be an afterthought.

(44:25):
And we do see that my books are.
I can't tell you how manyclients that we've done their
books and their books are a yearbehind and they come can you
fix our books?
They realize it and it's almostlike it's never too late.
We can always go back and fixthem.
But the same moment they'verealized, oh boy, somebody's

(44:45):
asking for something that Idon't have, so I need help.
Identifying those things, Ithink, really are a huge benefit
for companies.

Shannon (44:55):
You know, sometimes we learn the lesson after the cost,
don't we?
You know, that's just thereality.
There's no way to know what youdon't know, you know, and it's
the experience that often takesyou through it.
And here's the cool thing islike you guys have seen it
enough that you can help avoidthat negative experience.
That's what you're hiring for.

(45:17):
You're hiring a professionalfor that exact purpose, so that
you don't have to pay thatcostly lesson.

Curt (45:24):
And I think, too, is that let's just be honest too.
Having someone look at your asa visionary finances is not
something that you love to sitthere every day.
I can't wait to end my dayputting all stuff into
QuickBooks.
That's not who you are and whatyou are, and sometimes people

(45:45):
feel like that.
That's an inefficiency forthemselves and they don't like
to reveal that to people, andthey don't like to reveal that
to people and they don't like toshare that.
Things are a bit messed up, andwe try to tell our clients we're
not here to judge, we're hereto help, because we know who you
are as a person, we know whatas I used earlier that unique
ability that you have and thatis not the books.

(46:07):
So, we come in here to help you, not to critique you, not to
criticize you, not to judge you,but to know that you're trying
to run a business and that's notwhat you love to do, nor your
core competency.
So, let's come in and be thatpartner for you and help you so
that you feel comfortable andyou can feel relieved.
Hey, I got someone who knowswhat to do and takes care of the

(46:29):
books, and I can do what I loveto do best and guess what we're
going to?
We're going to be successful.
That's where we want to get ourclients and even the industry,
whether it's us or not, butthat's the passion that we kind
of have with this industry andwe see with small to mid-sized
companies.
So that's what, as you can seeprobably from my voice, that's
what that's we're passionateabout.
That keeps us up, and it'smaybe not just the books, but

(46:51):
just helping those companiesgrow and get to where they want
to be.
And then even, as the Biblesays, you know, having an
inheritance for our children,our families.
Those are things that we thinkabout as well, and so when we're
talking to clients, those arepart of the things we want our
clients to think about as well.

Shannon (47:08):
You know again and forgive me, audience, if it
sounds like a constant plug Ipull on my own experiences to
shape my thoughts.
So, you know, I couldn't agreewith you more.
One of the lessons and I'vesaid this on here many times
that we learned to use marketingas a perfect example.

(47:28):
You know, it was like we.
We learned that people justdidn't have that knowledge and
it was like you know, so manytimes before they had been, I
think so many people had feltbecause I don't understand that.
Are they going to look down onme for not having this knowledge
of this in-depth?
What is the difference in?

(47:49):
You know what I'm saying, likelocal seo and or you know, or
what is I?
You know, I don't know.
I'm trying to think of justdifferent things.
You know what I mean, from tagmanagers to automation funnels,
like all these different things.
Well, they don't live in thatworld.
They just don't live in thatworld every day and it's okay.
That's okay and that's what wehave to get them to realize.
It's okay.

(48:10):
We became consultative and wewere like tell me what you do,
know, you know, and then wewon't.
You know, there'll be noexchange of money, you know,
until you're educated on what topurchase.
The reality is you don't.
There's things you don't alwaysneed to purchase and there's
things that you don't need topurchase until this time or

(48:30):
whatever.
But for people who are lookingto make a buck or a quick buck,
it's just kind of like you knowit's easier to sell because you
dumb the process down to whereit's kind of like, oh this, and
then you make all these promisesand it's like that has never
been a recipe for success longterm.
So it's like we want yourbusiness to thrive, so we

(48:54):
started using the tagline.
When you talk about mission,vision, core values and culture
from a mission statement or avision statement, one of our
favorite things to say is hey,we're supposed to make you money
, not cost you money.
I need you to understand that,that this isn't just another
item on your balance sheet atthe end of the day that says,

(49:18):
well, we had to pay for that.
It's like, no, we should bemaking you money, just the same
as anything you invest in.
You invest in a two by four tobuild a shed, to sell it, to
make money, it's all the same.
And we just tell them if we'renot making you money, we'll
shake your hand and walk awayRight.
So like that's.
You know you got to build thatconfidence in them to be like

(49:40):
you know we we've had to beeducational.
That doesn't mean we know itall, you know, I bet.
I bet Curt and Clark would sayyou know there's areas of growth
that we still learn.
Sure, you know something andyou know it from your experience
and you can prove case studiesto show where this worked you

(50:01):
know.

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Curt (51:28):
So yeah I love it and I think too, Shannon I, I think
the other thing I think aboutthat we try to bring our clients
to.
Why?
Because I've seen it allthroughout my business career,
and that is you surroundyourself with smart people.
If you surround yourself withsmart people, you're by their.

(51:48):
That association makes yousmart, and I don't mean it's
anything for self-gratification,but that's a smart business
plan to have.
So, we've tried to in ourbuilding of our company is also
bring other people to the table.
So, for example, we have abanker we love to introduce to

(52:08):
people when they need lines ofcredit or investment or whatever
.
We've got an insurance broker.
These are Christian folks thatwe try to also bring on board
because they're trying to do theright thing.
We have an insurance person wedo, so even some of the clients
that we work with we canintroduce them to other clients
because they can potentiallywork together and even get
additional clients.

(52:28):
So those are some of the thingswe love to bring to our clients
.
It's not just us, but it'sother people.
We have not had one partnerwhere we've created this well,
if you give me something, I'llgive you some money or we'll do
something.
No, I mean it's the same thingwith software.
We've developed a lot offriendships with software.

(52:50):
Software is stuff for us.
It's just software for ourindustry, for the shed industry,
the relationship, so that wefirst of all know how to use it.
Not know everything, but knowenough to be able to guide our
clients on what's the rightdecision-making process.
To be able to get there andpart of it is not just going out

(53:12):
and looking at the software orwhatever it's understanding.
What is your business process?
If you don't understand yourbusiness process, you could make
a wrong decision on thesoftware.
Why?
Because it's got some beautifulbells and whistles.
It looks terrific, but behindthe scene you got a duck that's
floating on the water, butunderneath the feet are just

(53:32):
paddling like crazy.
Right?
And so making sure that we'rehelping companies navigate
through that, because we've beenthrough it.
We've made those same decisions.
We've helped clients make thosedecisions.
We don't want them to make abad decision.
We want them to make aneducated, good decision.
We'll lay out the facts.
At the end of the day, it'stheir decision.
Educated good decision We'lllay out the facts.

(53:53):
At the end of the day, it'stheir decision.
But we would not be helpful andconsultative and be a partner
if we weren't sharing the good,bad and ugly about the things
that they're looking at versuswhat they're trying to do as a
company in their businessprocesses.

Shannon (54:06):
A person that loves you will tell the truth, even when
the truth is difficult.
That's the reality.
A person who loves you willtell you the truth, even though
the truth is difficult.
There's no more love shown inthe um, uh-oh, my internet was
cutting in and out there for aminute, so, uh, but there's.
There's nothing more difficultthan, you know, being told a lie

(54:29):
to feel better, you know,doesn't solve the root of the
problem and I appreciate thatthat you guys do that, you know.
You spoke on surroundingyourself with people smarter
than you.
I cannot give enough credit topeople that we have partnered
with.
I simply cannot.
I will be forever indebtedbecause I've truly done what

(54:51):
some people's successes areconsidered as the key to success
.
I will be forever indebtedbecause I've truly done what
some people's success is, uh,consider is the key to success,
which is surrounding myself withpeople smarter and more
talented than me.
Uh, and being able to, you know, uh, promote them.
And as the old, you know, zigZiglar quote says you know, help
others get what you want orwhat they want, so you can get
what you want is really thestory of my success's like

(55:11):
whenever people talk to me, youknow, and say you know how did
this work?
I'm like help people, serve,serve first, always serve.
We put a podcast out to helppeople you know what I mean and
to have conversations.
Because all those conversationseven this morning a
conversation happened what doyou see in the industry?
I'm hearing it's, it's April.
What are we?
April 25th?
I'm.
I'm hearing April slowed down alittle bit.

(55:34):
I'm hearing, uh, you know,these people say this is that
well, what are you hearing?
You know people want tosoundboard, to check different
things off of.
There's something we're missing.
Going back to your earlierpoint, is there something we're
not seeing?
That's obvious.
Um, I think of the book.
Uh, I can't think of his nameright now Chris Voss talking

(55:56):
about negotiation.
I can't think of the name ofthe book right now, but he's got
a group called the Black SwanGroup.
He has a group called the BlackSwan Group and what I always
liked about that in reading thebook Never Split the Difference.
That was the name of it.
Never Split the Difference, hesaid.

(56:20):
The Black Swan Group is why henamed his company, because what
they were attempting to dothrough their consultative
practices was, when you look outinto a pond of white swans.
What's the most obvious thingthat sticks out if there's one
black swan and that's whatthey're attempting to do is find
the black swan in your business.
Right, and be like.
This is the obvious thing.
Everyone sees, we see it, theysee it.

(56:42):
You don't see it because you'rethe black swan looking out and
you just see a bunch of whiteswans.
So, you assume you know you fitin like everyone else.
But it could be yourcommunication, it could be your
message.
I try to explain that inadvertising, constantly on the
podcast, I'm like we get infront of the same people every
time.
You know we got the samethousand listeners constantly.

(57:04):
If they're not understandingyour message, change your
message.
If they're not, you know what Imean.
Like you got to keep doing whatyou can do to get in front of
the people and that's very likeinterpretive if you're a
manufacturer who's advertisingyour product to the public,
because at the end of the day,we're trying to sell a shed, are
we not?
I guess we're all here doing,we're talking about all these
different things at the end ofthe day, we're trying to sell a

(57:26):
shed and I'm like are peoplehearing your message?
Do they believe in you?
Know they'll buy from you ifthey do.

Curt (57:34):
Solomon said it.
Well, right, there's nothingnew under the sun.
So how we do things and how weproduce sheds and any nuance,
there's nothing really new.
It's the people aspect.
Right, absolutely.
How do we get people excited?
How do we get people engaged?
How do we communicate withpeople?
How do we ensure that ourorganization is not this club?
There's a clique over here,this group occasionally here.

(57:58):
Well, I guess the guys went soidentifying the diamonds in the
rough, and the people who areexcited are part of this process

(58:18):
, because there isn't anythingnew under the sun.
There really isn't.
Putting lipstick on a pig isstill a pig.
I mean, you understand what I'msaying in that aspect, but I do
think it's helping the peopleaspect and helping companies
recognize the value they have intheir people.
I think it's also an importantaspect that we like our clients

(58:39):
to think about how do youdevelop the people?
We have clients that they'vegot people that they brought in
because they've had a ministryto that person and that person
feels like well, you just gaveme the job because you're
ministering to people.
Well, that's terrific, but nowwe're creating a value in you.
How do you invest in thosepeople?

(59:01):
So that's a piece too, peoplegot to feel wanted, they got to
feel like they belong.
All those are aspects of thosethings we talked about mission,
vision, core values and culture,and putting all those pieces
together is what we love to beable to help folks connect those
, all those dots to help themmake a thriving, successful
business I'm gonna, we're notgonna stop.

Shannon (59:23):
I got a little bit more to go, but I do want to take a
break to.
Uh, how do people find out more, Curt?
You know to have some kind ofconversation with you start with
a discovery call, somethingalong those lines.
How do they find out more aboutyou?
How do they reach you?

Curt (59:41):
So, I think one of the things that we love to be able
to do with our clients is reallyto give them a, you know, 30
minutes of free consultation.
So how do you schedule that?
Go to our website, calculatellc.
com, and go to the contact usarea and it'll get to us and
we'll schedule something to chatwith you.
You know, one of the things welike to do is nothing may come

(01:00:03):
about it, but at least you'vegot a conversation with someone
to bounce some thoughts off of.
So again, it's calculatellc.
com and just hit the contact usand we'll get the information
and be able to chat with you.
And we'd love to be able to dothat because love to be able to
find out what makes you tick andwhat challenge you may have.
And if there's a fit there,then terrific.

Shannon (01:00:23):
If not, hopefully we've given you some ideas that you
can move forward withno-transcript things, including

(01:00:59):
a way to listen to episode orwatch the episode on YouTube.
There's even a show directoryif you need to go back and
listen to previous ones.
We get about 400 call ins aweek through the plane
communities who use the phoneline to call in and go back and
find your place and listen todifferent episodes, so all

(01:01:20):
that's available.
If you don't have access toInternet, through iBuyFax, find
a friend or driver or somebodyhauler, somebody that can get
you access to that and print itoff for you, somebody that can
get you access to that and printit off for you.
Obviously, it grows every weekas we continue to put out shows,
but encourage you to go onthere.
We want to try to put someblogs and different things on
there for you guys to go andread so that it's offering you

(01:01:43):
good content besides justlistening to me and Curt sit
here and talk about my bald head.
There's a lot of good thingsthere and you can find out where
to find out more about Curt andClark and their business and
what they do.
So I encourage you guys to gocheck those things out.
I'm curious, Curt, what is yourbest business piece of advice

(01:02:06):
right now through 2025, if youhad to narrow it down.

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increasing your education withthe advice of proven industry
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professionals out thererepresenting our products in the
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I can't wait to be in Knoxvilleat this year's Shed Sales
Summit.
I hope to see you there.

Curt (01:03:08):
Well, I think of a couple things, Obviously going back to
the roots, as the Bible says, ithas everything that pertains to
the life and godliness.
So, stay connected that way,and I also say, as in a
multitude of counselors, there'ssafety.
So, surround yourself withgreat people, talk about the
things you're going through,collaborate you mentioned it

(01:03:30):
already communicate andcollaborate.
I think those are some keypieces and be consistent.
I think those are some veryimportant aspects that I could
give to people and I've tried tolive those myself as I move
forward.
I make my own mistakes and Ialways like to keep short
accounts so that if something iswrong, I take care of it and

(01:03:52):
deal with it and make it right,any questions you have for me,
any question at all.

Shannon (01:03:58):
One question, two question podcast family sheds,
just anything that comes to mindthat I can elaborate on.

Curt (01:04:08):
I, ..
consider you a great friend andevery time we connect, there's
just something about ourconversations where it seems
like we could talk for hours,and I certainly appreciate that.

(01:04:30):
And for us, I think, as we'regrowing at this moment, we haven
had done a lot of marketing outthere because word of mouth has
been terrific, but at the samemoment, there are probably
people out there that that needour help, and I think we've gone
to you to help us with that,because I think it's a great
partnership.
You want to help, we want tohelp.
I mean, are you?
know I was going to say fromyour perspective.

(01:04:52):
You know what would you saybased upon what we've talked
through.
You know what are some of thethings you're seeing the
industry, that that that we'rehitting the mark on, or is there
something that we shouldconcentrate, a different on,
that could really help yourlisteners, um, uh, be able to be
more successful, or in whateverlife spirit, whatever that may

(01:05:15):
be.

Shannon (01:05:16):
Well, you know, you know I'm excited Anybody who's
advertising with us.
We're excited to be able to, tohelp them.
One of the and this gets me introuble sometimes, but you know
you can't make what is thesaying.
You can make some of the peoplehappy all the time, all the
people some of the time, butnone of the people all the time
right.
And you know, the one thingthat I've noticed about the shed

(01:05:38):
industry, which is maybecomparable to other industries,
is when they sell, theirexpectations are very high.
When they sell, you know, agood example is like you know,
well, we called them.
They didn't answer the phone.
You know, know, it's like well,maybe they were working right,
or but there's just no.
It's just kind of like theburden is on the buyer.
Right Because theirexpectations for their product,

(01:05:59):
because they know their product,they believe in their product,
they like their product and theywant to sell that product.
But their expectations forbuying are a little bit
different, and maybe that's thecase in all situations.
But what I've noticed in theindustry you know, like even
guys like Peter Miller, and whatthey're doing with making sales
simple, you know, like is itthe end, all be all of

(01:06:22):
everything.
Sales, no, but guess whatdidn't happen.
There was no official salestraining that was happening in
the industry.
And, like, how dare they getchastised for creating something
that's attempting to be helpful?
And oh no, they you know what.
If they want to make a dollar,or you know, I guarantee they're
not getting rich off of thatprogram, so it's got to be an
ulterior motive.

(01:06:43):
It's the same with.
It's the same with you guys,you know what I mean.
Like you have this businessacumen and this business
knowledge and this just you knowwhat I'm saying, like this
experience, and so the part forme is to get people to embrace
programs, whether it be software, you know, or just different
programs that hit the industry,you know.

(01:07:04):
Have your mind be opened andnot so closed to new ideas and
new things, because it is theinnovators, you know, that got
us to where we are today, youknow.
And there's nothing wrong withsitting on tradition, because
tradition is an awesome thing.
It got us here.
But I remember our pastorpreaching a message one time

(01:07:25):
about how the church really gavea lot of pushback about the
song Amazing Grace.
Whenever it was written, youknow, and we think of.
Amazing Grace is like this oldfashioned thing now, right where
you would have new Christianscoming up, especially those that
are probably more you know.
Oh, I want to get myself introuble, but you know more of a

(01:07:47):
production style church orsomething to help bring in the
world.
And you know you can't becomethe world to reach the world,
you know.
But at the same time it'sreally nice to have this mixture
of tradition and progressivism,because you need a little bit
of both.
Each generation's music alwayssays this is terrible until the

(01:08:11):
new one comes out, and then thenew generation says that was old
fashioned.
It's that way in our clothing alot of times and all that you
know.
The only one true thing thatdoesn't change is God and his
word, and we try to measureagainst that.
But you know there are ideas,practices, things like what you
guys are doing, so many othersthat is helpful and the question

(01:08:32):
is not is it helpful?
It's?
Will you prepare your mind, asa listener here to this episode
today, to entertain that idea?
Because that's where the magicstarts, because that's when
discovery calls happen,information becomes unfolded.
So, like I encourage everyoneto call, I love that you guys

(01:08:53):
put yourself out there and Ilove that you're willing to
spend an hour with me to cometalk about what it is.
You know we're putting contentout there for free right now
just for people to consume.
That hopefully helps them, andI think that ought to show
something about our character.
Right Is that we want to helpfirst.
You know money's just thenecessary part of what business

(01:09:14):
is.
But to be a servant and I knowthat you and Clark are servants
I've learned that about you guysin in your heart's approach at
what you do.
So, you know, are you missinganything?

Curt (01:09:25):
Not that I'm aware of, but I'm always learning too you
know I'm always learning too andI think it is.
It goes back to and we'rethrough this.
Hopefully we're trying toexpress to people that we're not
, we're not saying we're, we'rethe, the typical consult that
you have out there that you'veheard about, that comes in here

(01:09:45):
and gives you a bunch of greatthings, gives you a, gives you a
500 page PowerPointpresentation and says go,
implement Right, or, as the HolySpirit's, that paraclete for us
, that person that comesalongside of you and helps you
and encourages you and tells youwhen you're wrong and tries to
lift you up and be there for you, for a crying shoulder,

(01:10:07):
whatever that may be, that thatthat's what we are, that
paraclete that we're trying toget for you, and I think that
hopefully that message comes.
We are that paraclete that we'retrying to get for you and I
think that hopefully, thatmessage comes across.
And it's not about judging,it's not about it's about, as
you mentioned earlier, iron,sharpening iron if we can be a
help and encouragement to you inyour spiritual life, that's the
ultimate for us.
And, along the way, if we'rehelping you on your business,

(01:10:29):
well, terrific then right.
But uh, and most importantly,we're trying to be that that
person comes alongside you tohelp you to through your work
journey, in your life journey

Shannon (01:10:39):
Calculate llc.
Is the website?
Uh, Curt and Clark Paquette uh,just been excellent.
Knowing you guys, I'm excitedwe finished.
Unfortunately, Curt, it lookslike we're going to have to do a
round four because you know itdidn't get finished today, so I
look forward to that.

Curt (01:11:01):
Always a pleasure being on with you and getting to know
you and just kind ofcollaborating and thinking
through these things.
I know we have a very commonpassion and a common desire and
that makes working together somuch easier, and so I appreciate
your friendship.
I appreciate your allowing meto be on this, and Clark does as

(01:11:21):
well, but I look forward tocontinuing these discussions and
this friendship.

Shannon (01:11:28):
In the mind of a guy who struggled to find purpose.
It means more to me, the kindwords that you say here today,
than you'll ever know.
It has been my life's journeyand this industry has been so,
so good to us and couldn't do athing without God's permission.
Couldn't get up and walk out ofthis door today without his.
So, who would I be to not giveit all to him?

(01:11:49):
Kurt, I think we've asked youbefore, but I know you're a man
of faith.
I love you, know that we canstill do prayer here, you know
today on the podcast, and thatyou know that reaches people in
their day, where they are.
Would you care to just say aprayer over the industry as we
finish?

Curt (01:12:08):
I would love to.
I would love to.
God, I pray that you would helpus, most importantly, to love
you, to obey your word, thatpeople would see how important
it is to love you and to loveyour son and to recognize that
the hope that we have can onlycome from Jesus Christ.
And we pray that our lives pointtowards you and encourage

(01:12:32):
others to come to you.
Lord, we know the Holy Spiritis in the business of doing that
, so we pray that you would.
We do his great work in thataspect and we do pray for our
industry.
We know it's an industry thatcares about you and has a desire
to honor you.
We pray that you protect it.
Protect it from anything thatmay come in to regulate and ruin

(01:12:54):
all the great things that it'sdoing.
I pray that you continue tohelp growth occur, that there
would be spiritual wisdom, thatwe would lean upon one another
as a Christian organization does, and we pray that you'd be
pleased with all we say and doand, most importantly, that
you'd receive all the honoringglory.

(01:13:15):
Thank you for Shannon, thankyou for what he does, thank you
for the friendship we have andpray you bless his ministry as
he seeks to encourage thisindustry into improvement and,
most importantly, to honor you.
We pray this in Christ's name.

Shannon (01:13:30):
Amen, amen.
Can't say enough good about youand Clark Calculate LLC guys.
Go check them out today.
Get you a discovery call.
They're excellent people and Ithink you'll be blessed by it.

Curt (01:13:44):
All right, thank you, Shannon.
Have a good day.