March 10, 2025 • 40 mins
Join us on an inspiring journey in this episode as we explore the relentless spirit driving the Steel Kings. From the struggles of the slow season to the unexpected tragedy of tornadoes that served as a catalyst for the birth of Dayton Barns, we recount our experiences in a candid, engaging manner. Whether you're a seasoned contractor or a newcomer in the metal building industry, our stories resonate with anyone facing challenges in their career path.
We open up about the transition from selling wood sheds to metal buildings, sharing invaluable lessons learned along the way. Personal growth, effective marketing strategies, and building strong relationships emerge as crucial themes within our discussion. You'll discover practical insights that can uplift your motivation and help you navigate through periods of stagnation.
Our episode highlights the importance of adaptability—essential for anyone looking to thrive in a competitive market. Complacency isn't an option; instead, we advocate for taking bold steps toward a brighter future. As we conclude, we extend a warm invitation for our listeners to join the Steel Kings community, whether you have queries, challenges, or stories to share. Let's connect and grow together on this resilient journey toward success. Don't forget to subscribe and share your thoughts!
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 info@shedgeek.com.
This episodes Sponsors:
Studio Sponsor: J Money LLC
Shed Geek Marketing
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Intro (00:00):
Hey, this is Joel Oney at the J Money Studio in the heart
of the Buckeye State, and Iwant to personally welcome you
to today's episode of the SteelKings podcast with my good
friends Jared Ledford and EricOlson, better known to you as
the Steel Kings.
Be sure to check out J MoneyLLC dot com for financing
(00:22):
solutions for your buildings.
And now let's get back to thesteel kings podcast all right,
man.
Jared Ledford (00:30):
Hey guys, it's Jared and eric with the steel
kings podcast, episode numbertwo.
We are back at you.
Yeah, we're back at you again.
Uh, bringing you some hotcontent.
Um, quick house cleaning hereat the beginning of the show.
We are brought to you andsponsored by the guys over at J
Money.
If you've got a project thatyou need financed, whether it be
(00:53):
a woodshed metal building, ifyou're a home improvement
contractor, they can help youout.
Give those guys a shout over atJ Money.
Joel and Katie will get youtaken care of.
Eric.
What's up, dude?
How are you today, man?
Eric Olson (01:06):
what's up, Mr.
Jared?
Just another day, uh yeah, manyeah mid-February, trying to
fight through this last littlebit of the of the slow build
season and uh, things arestarting to pick up.
So, man, it's perfect time forepisode two.
Jared Ledford (01:23):
Yeah, man yeah, we, yeah, we uh.
So a lot, a lot of ourlisteners right, or sitting on
the shed lot or selling metalbuildings, maybe in their house,
or maybe they're working for acompany, right, and we're all
feeling the stresses of the slowtime, right, that that last
half of December into like themiddle of February, it's like,
you know, we've earned that,we've earned that, you know, six
(01:44):
week, eight week kind of dropoff.
You take some time off, you getyour batteries recharged and
you head back out and you'rethinking, oh man, it's time for
another busy season, so taxesare coming due and, uh, those
are good times for buildingsalespeople, right?
Eric Olson (02:00):
Yeah, you gotta put.
You gotta put your mowersomewhere.
That's right.
I'm looking at my backyard.
I'm like that grass isn't goingto mow itself soon.
I'm looking forward to the warmweather.
I've always thought in thewintertime that's when we've
(02:23):
done our building you thrivewhen you're busy doing sales.
Then, somewhat, when it dipsoff, you got a little bit more
free time so you can startbuilding and thriving that way
and kind of a build mode withthe visions.
So.
So, we're kind of teetering inbetween wrapping up the building
and ramping up advertising forsales.
Jared Ledford (02:40):
So yeah, man.
Yeah, it's a it's really this isprobably my favorite time of
the year, right, because it'sthat refresh, that that new
energy that you know we're goingthrough a lot of major changes
here.
We're expanding and newbusiness relationships for
twenty five and you know, I hopeyou guys out there listening or
(03:01):
are doing that same thing,right, making those plans,
getting that three- month, sixmonth, you know, one year,
three- year, five- year.
Update those vision boards, getyour plan of action, you know,
get those manageable actionitems.
As a one of our as one of ourfriends will tell you, action
items, uh, produce results,right, so, um, you know, I want
(03:22):
to get into a little bit.
We left off last time.
We told a little bit about theSteel Kings, the origin of the
Steel Kings.
I want to get into the nittygritty of what we do here and
how we really started, because Ithink a lot of the people that
are listening to us right noware where you were almost six
years ago now, right, I mean,we're getting into the sixth
(03:43):
year, almost six years ago nowright.
Eric Olson (03:44):
I mean we're, we're getting into the sixth year.
Man, we are in the sixth year.
It's, it's hard to believe thatthis thing's uh, it's, it's,
it's not a toddler anymore.
You know this thing is, thisthing is walking, running,
eating.
You know screaming, um.
So, I guess you know we, wekind of scratched the surface, I
think, of what we, how me andyou connected and kind of
(04:05):
painted the picture.
But you know, ok, what, what'sthe root, what's the source of
the business.
You know where did it actuallycome from and I think you know
you got to go to some of theunseen parts of it which you
know happened before, I think,the business even started, which
(04:26):
was pretty much like what wasgoing on in the summer of 2019.
You know, prior to the Octoberlaunch of Dayton Barns, you know
we're, you know we're, we'recoming off of if you're in the
Ohio area and you're listeningfrom Ohio, if not, do a quick
Google search if you want toknow.
We got hit by like 20 tornadoesplus in May of 2019.
And my, my family, owns aproperty North of Dayton and I
(04:47):
think over 200 trees got knockeddown in an F4 tornado and, um,
I had I had just recently left acareer job to take the summer
off and kind of regroup, wasn'tsure what I wanted to do.
I was kind of sick of chasingthe corporate title, um, which I
always kind of thought was youknow if I could, just if I could
(05:11):
just get here or make it thereor get this thing, and that I
would find some happiness anddecided to kind of flip the
table over and my dad and Ibought a bulldozer, we started
pulling out logs and just tryingto figure out what are we going
to do with all this wood?
Basically, and I know you guys,are listening oh, you made
sheds.
No, didn't make sheds, we'll getthere.
But I started working with myhands a little bit and so I
(05:32):
actually started making roundsof cross sections of tree trunks
, putting hairpin legs on themand selling them on Facebook and
I ended up kind of figuring outjust through the devastation of
a tornado, like you can makemoney on your own, you can start
a business, you know, you can.
I was so dead set that nine tofive was it and figured out that
(05:53):
you know to pay your bills,really you just need to have
income and get creative was oneof my fortes.
I think that kind of led me tobe a little more open about how
to make money and how to providefor yourself etc.
My brother-in-law had a shedbusiness in Dayton.
He had a couple of locationsthat was selling pretty
(06:15):
well-known manufacturer's sheds.
They decided to pass up on theHuber Heights location because
he was getting busy doingsomething else.
That location became availableand I think due to the risks I
was taking over the summer with,you know, not working
officially, it kind of led me totake that leap of faith and in
(06:37):
reality out birth Dayton Barns,which was which was 12 sheds,
you know side, side lofted, or acabin, a A-frame cabin, a
lofted cabin, garden shed,utility shed, a garage lofted
garage, and I had like two metalbuildings there and I just said
(06:57):
yes, and the first day weopened was October 15th 2019.
And I sold my first shed there.
There was a side lofted, 10 by16.
Hideous guy's name was Brian,lives in Vandalia, got a picture
of him we can probably postsomewhere if we want.
Um, he, I got a picture of him,and it was a.
(07:18):
It was a 10, 10 by 16 sidelofted shed.
And man, I think now we'reprobably pushing 10,000 units
sold and um, that that was.
That was kind of like the start, the start of it.
And um, yeah, you know, I knowthat that's kind of the
precursor, but left corporateworld to take a risk and now
we're making a podcast six yearslater.
(07:40):
You know.
Jared Ledford (07:41):
Yeah, talking to people, you know, I think I
think we're talking to talkingto it.
Yeah, we're talking to a lot ofthose people that are kind of
sitting in those same shoes.
Right, they're sitting on ashed lot or they're sitting on a
, you know, like I said, theymight be selling metal buildings
at home, or they might beworking for a company.
You know what drove you?
What was the motivating factor?
Was it the money?
(08:02):
Was it the freedom?
Know what about the industry?
Really, you know, not everybodysticks with it.
Right, there's, you know,there's, a lot of people that
have done it for a long time,but there's a lot of people that
they do it.
They'll do it for, you know, alittle bit of time and they give
it up.
What about it?
For you, stuck with you.
Eric Olson (08:18):
You know, it wasn't the money on day one, that's a
fact.
Day one, that's a fact.
Yeah, true story.
I think I was in a humble placeof not caring so much about what
it looked like.
I think that, from a baselinestandpoint I'm a, you know, you
know me pretty well I like tomake things better, like
(08:40):
whatever the thing is, people,places and things you can, you
can make it better.
You can always feel better,dress better, you know, be more
organized, you could behealthier, you could get
stronger, you know, and I thinkthat over the course of my life
I've always strived and neverquit.
You know, my past is colorful,and I've just never given up on
(09:02):
anything.
So, I think, realizing okay,I've got a desk and a laptop and
12 sheds, okay, so now I need anew desk.
I want a better computer.
I want, okay, I need morecustomers.
So, then I need better signage.
And then I needed to make aFacebook page and then a website
.
And I just kept, okay, nextthing, next thing, next thing,
(09:24):
make a Facebook page and then awebsite.
And I just kept okay, nextthing, next thing, next thing.
And then, you know, I came upfor air, I think, and realized I
was decent at seeing exactlywhere we were and like, whatever
the next step was, you know,and I said I think that was the
to answer your question.
I think that was really what I,you know, constantly trying to
make it better, getting to thenext level, and then, okay,
(09:46):
what's the next thing?
And, man, that never ends, andlike we're sitting here today,
you know, on the edge of 2025,like what is our next step?
Man, it's never.
That flame has never went outonce.
So, I think it's probably thevision of how can we keep going
was probably because itcertainly wasn't money or fame,
(10:11):
it certainly wasn't anythingflashy at the beginning.
Jared Ledford (10:13):
Yeah, I think it's funny.
You say October 2019.
So, you and I met, I think,February of 2020.
So, you were still relativelyyoung in this industry and
really getting your feet wet andyou made an impactful we talked
about this on the last podcast.
You made an impactful friend,right, I mean we were.
(10:34):
We became pretty quickly.
I would say we were friendspretty quickly and you know, I
was brought into the loop as acustomer, and I didn't join on
until loop as a customer and Ididn't join on until gosh.
I didn't start until Februaryof 22.
So, walk me through the processof how you transitioned yourself
from the wood guy in your areabecause you quickly became kind
(10:56):
of a force to be reckoned withthat wood company.
You were selling a very goodand to be completely transparent
, and I'll let you tell thestory.
But the way you've told me ishey, it came down to money, it
came down to commission, right?
Everybody that's on this, thatsells on consignment for a wood
manufacturer, knows that thecommission a lot of times is
(11:20):
pretty much what it is.
There's not a whole lot ofnegotiation.
They'll pull your lot, they'lltake your sheds away.
Tell me about that processwithout getting into too many
details, but give me the.
I want the whole story, right?
Well, these are our friendsthat are listening.
They deserve the whole story,the truth and nothing but the
truth.
Eric Olson (11:39):
Okay, All right.
It's a heck of a question and Ias the listener you're thinking,
you know, we all want moremoney, right?
I would say again, we all wantmore money, right?
I would say again, it honestlywasn't so much about the money.
I was a youth pastor at thebeginning of the business, and I
(12:02):
had some kids in that youthgroup that thought this thing
was the coolest thing ever and Ithink, inadvertently, we needed
more money just so I could paypeople because they shared the
same passions.
Um, so, and so I think then Ibegan to see, like, okay, other
people can learn this, and so westarted the Troy lot.
We had a fella running the Troylot and then.
So, then we was, we were twolocations, and which was fun,
(12:23):
but we also had to pay basesalaries and different things
and, um, so, so we've got twoparts to that answer.
One's the wood part and thenthe other part is the metal and
how that kind of came intofruition.
Um, when you're expanding, youabsolutely have to have more
than wood.
And unless you're in, unlessyou're moving sheds with the,
(12:44):
with the uh, with the uh mealyeah, the meal unless you're,
unless you're mulling them or uh, or, like you know,
manufacturing them or something,some portion of the sales
process and the whole customerexperience.
If you're not doing thatparticular part of it, you can
only grow through selling morebuildings.
And you can only sell morebuildings if you expand either
(13:11):
through advertising coverage,area locations.
And so the guy kind of outgrew.
Working with me and Huber, wedecided to take over the Troy
lot, which is super profitable.
It's still rocking today undera different leadership named
Pete, and if you're in the Troyarea stop by.
He's got a great shop on 25Aand I think what I realized
(13:33):
through that portion of it isthat the steel revenue actually
started superseding the wood andwhat I realized is that these
are two different customers andtwo of them, two different
advertisements, two differenttalk tracks, two different
permit applications, twodifferent sales processes.
You know, because a lot of shedpeople are, are RTO or um,
(13:56):
they're, they're smaller, um.
You know, price points, um andthe sales process is shorter and
um and in reality, uh, you knowyou're looking at like three to
six, k is pretty much anaverage shed, um, maybe a little
bit higher than that, but um,the metal, totally different
ball game 30 by 40, 30 byfifties.
I sold a couple.
(14:17):
I sold yours.
Yours was the biggest unit thatI had sold.
I think you were a number.
You got the order formsomewhere, I think you.
I think you were number five orsomething that I'd ever sold.
I had to call the company amillion times to try to figure
out how to do vertical panelingpricing, because I was back in
the Stone Age in 2019 and 2020,where you had to, like, use a
(14:38):
piece of paper to figure out theprice.
You know, now it's a little bitdifferent, but so that became,
oh my gosh.
So, if someone sells a metalbuilding, you know we can give
them a slice of it as long as wepay for the advertising.
And I think one thing led tothe next.
You know, kind of go back tothe youth group.
We did a trial run in 2021 inthe summertime where basically a
(15:03):
high school football teamworked at the shop in Huber and
basically, I pumped them leads,they sold buildings.
We overwhelmed a company inNorth Carolina that we won't
mention that.
We sold, I think, a hundredbuildings in like a three- month
time span.
I mean, you know we were doordashing five guys every day.
That's that type of money wewas doing pretty decent, you
(15:24):
know and it was fun.
It was a lot of fun, but whatthat taught me is that, you know
although I felt there was goodcamaraderie with the kids, like
this was also a business wecould have.
We could do professional hiringand you know, and really give
some career opportunities.
And so, we started advertisingnationally for metal building
(15:47):
sales in 2021.
I taught myself how to doFacebook advertising sales in
2021.
I taught myself how to doFacebook advertising, got super
good at that, very detailed,very good, studied that almost
profusely until I was good at it, and then that kind of led to
our first I would say for thelack of a better way to say it
(16:07):
like the first real sales team.
That came um in 2022, um inFebruary, where we had actually
valentine's day.
Basically it's, uh, in a coupledays, that's pretty much a
three-year anniversary, um,three-year anniversary where we
hired five and several of themif most of them still sell metal
(16:28):
buildings, I think, um, yeah,you're you, you were one of
those guys and basically therest is history.
When you hire smart people,they tell you what to do with
your business.
So I think a hidden benefit is,if you're expanding, it is kind
of scary, but if you hire theright people, they'll basically
(16:49):
expand it for you, as long asyou trust them.
You know, because they'rebringing ideas that you'll you
know you would.
I know I've kind of went on alittle rant, no.
Jared Ledford (16:58):
I think that that's fair.
I mean, I think you know Ialways look at it from the boat
perspective.
If you're in a paddle boat andyou're trying to paddle that
boat by yourself or you're usingtwo oars and you're paddling on
both sides, it's always betterto get more people in the boat,
get a little bit more extraenergy, give them a paddle and
everybody can kind of paddle.
You know, walk me through alittle bit.
(17:19):
So, we skipped over just alittle bit that I want you to
touch on for these shed guys.
So, you were in a situationwith your manufacturer where
consignment, everything's goingpretty good.
You're really you're kind ofleading the charge in sales.
You're expanding, you'respending your money right,
you're doing what you can toexpand your territory and really
(17:39):
take shape in a 50- mile bubble, cause a lot of these guys that
are doing just sheds have toreally live in these constricted
confines of like 50 miles fromyour lot.
So, as you start to bring in onadditional costs and additional
need for not just, you know youneeded people to be at the lot
period, but you're trying to.
(18:01):
You were trying at that time togive them a base salary, give
them something to eat on andthen asking them to do the
legwork of selling.
You got into a situation whichI don't mind sharing.
I don't think you mind sharingeither, where your manufacturer,
because of your diligence intotrying to expand, pulled one
(18:22):
over on you.
They took something from you.
Tell me about that.
To me, when I look at Eric Olson, when people ask me what drove
Eric Olson to do metal buildingsales, you know from a shed
perspective.
Again, we love the shedindustry.
We sell a lot of sheds.
(18:43):
We love our guys over at ShedsDirect.
If you guys are in need of amanufacturer and you're
listening to this give thoseguys over at Sheds Direct a call
.
They will make it super easyfor you If you are looking to
sell some wood structures onyour property 13 or 14 states, I
forget what they cover, butit's basically the Atlantic
coast up through Ohio andIndiana, southern Michigan.
(19:04):
Cheap plug there for those guys.
But what I'll tell you is Ifeel like that motivated you not
just to expand metal but toalso be even more motivated in
the wood space.
Tell me what happened with themanufacturer.
Eric Olson (19:21):
OK, yeah, yeah.
So, to piggyback, and then I'lljump in there.
If you are in the Midwest andyou want sheds on your property,
you know, uh, hit, hit us upand we'll share uh details with
uh, the uh district guy.
His name's JW, super goodfriend of ours.
Um, he'll get you set upthrough sheds direct.
Love, love, sheds direct.
(19:42):
Why did we end up with shedsdirect?
I think we just were reversingthe tape all the way.
You know, why did we switch offthe original manufacturer?
And gosh, there's so much juiceto this answer.
And so, I want to start withthe zoomed in answer and then
I'm going to say it from prettymuch like a one sentence
standpoint.
You know, and just out of justsheer numbers, we were doing a
(20:06):
couple million dollars a year inwood sales, and so just to say
where we were at, you know, andif you have a shed lot and
you're listening to this andyou're selling a couple of
months, it's not like you'redoing a bad job.
My whole career was sellingsheds as often and as frequently
as possible.
I was working like six or sevendays a month For some time I
(20:27):
lived at the shed lot and I wasbreathing it.
Jared Ledford (20:30):
So, so when six or seven days a week, six or
seven a week.
Eric Olson (20:36):
I'm in, I'm in a week and I'm always working on
my phone, so that's true, yeah.
Hopefully my wife doesn't freakout.
I'm taking messages like allthe time you know,
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Eric Olson (22:05):
So, once I learned that you know the percentage, we
percentage, we were receiving,and, and really this, this is
not stab at manufacturers.
If you're paying somebody,let's say, 10%, and the person
down the street is also making10%, but you're selling, you
know, 75 more times units a year, and really not treating the
(22:32):
more important to your bottomline, which is the person
selling more sheds.
If you're not giving thembetter treatment not personally,
you should be nice to everybody, but if you're not giving them
financial benefit of that,you're really doing a disservice
.
I mean because if you thinkabout how Coca-Cola works, mom
and pop, they pay a differentprice.
(22:52):
If you're Speedway, you'repaying cheaper prices as a
corporate office because you'reselling a million more bottles a
month.
I'm just making numbers up, butyou know.
So, I ended up getting on thephone and did it the right way.
I stated my case, I ran numberson a Google Doc, I called the
person.
That person was defeatist onthe phone with me.
That person knows who I'mtalking about.
(23:14):
No stab, I just said we've doneX, y, z Last year.
This year we've done X, y, z.
We'd like to expand into adifferent, we want to do a third
location.
And in order to do that, we'rereally looking for a two to 5%
increase on our down payments,and here's what we're going to
do with it.
It's not like I'm bullying youinto giving us more money.
(23:36):
And those words were said.
So, I got a phone call back andbasically the answer was just
flat out no.
I knew he was going to say no,that's what he had told me.
Um, that's what he had told me.
And, uh, and, and so I, I inthe moment, thought in my uh, in
(23:59):
my mind, you know, do I, do Iwant to press this thing?
You know, do I want to try tofigure out a different way?
Um, I knew some other companieswere paying a little bit more,
and, um, yeah, and so I, Ibasically said uh, in the nicest
possible way, you know, youguys need to come get your sheds
because we're going to swapcompanies.
And that and that particular guy, he said the wrong thing to me
and honestly, just for juice onthe on the on the show, you know
(24:23):
, because I'm laughing, boththings are going great, but
everybody's winning, honestly.
So, I'm only saying this forthe story.
You know, he, that guy said,said nine, nine out of ten
dealers come back and you knowthis is a big mistake and I and
I was like if I, if I get yoursheds off our property, like I,
I'm never gonna call you again.
(24:43):
And it's not because I don'tlike you, it's just because I
I'm not in business to befriends with people.
I, I want to pay people'spaychecks.
You know, that was the wrongthing, because if you tell Eric
Olson, no, I don't believe inyou, then that's okay, we'll see
you some other time.
Jared Ledford (25:02):
There's a resolution that happened in you
in that moment that I feel likethat took place somewhere around
fall of 21,.
Eric Olson (25:11):
Something like that Right before we hired you guys.
Jared Ledford (25:13):
Yeah, yeah, so we're being brought into this as
we're a hot startup.
We did, I think, severalmillion dollars in metal
building sales online, utilizingthis group of talent, which was
basically intern-type talent.
These were guys who weresponges that soaked it up and,
be honest with you, some ofthose guys have gone on the
(25:35):
metal building metal buildingsuccess right, just metal
building success.
Woodshed success.
You know you're responsible fora lot of talent that is spread
among multiple companies.
Um, so I felt like from anewbie.
You know I'm gonna.
I'm gonna give my perspectivenow a little bit.
I came in in February 2022.
(25:57):
Um, I knew you from a salesrole.
You sold me my building, all ofthat.
It was great.
Um, I think you saw in mepretty quickly.
You know my background.
You know heavily, heavily insales, worked in direct sales
for multiple years, didmulti-level marketing, was a
sales manager at an automotivecompany and then was a service
(26:17):
manager and dispatcher stufflike that.
So I've got the team buildingchemistry.
I'm the head coach right.
I really like to be the headcoach of the team, but you
empowered me.
You're the general manager,right.
You gave me the tools necessaryto kind of do that.
But what I saw from aperspective was this company had
made a mistake.
(26:38):
You had a new company on deckand that company honestly didn't
really work out for us either.
I think the one thing that maybe the call to action here from
a manufacturer if you're amanufacturer, listening to this
take care of your best dealers.
Number one Take care of them,nestle them close, keep them
close, especially if you are ahardcore consignment type of
(27:00):
manufacturer where you arereally doing a majority of your
business through consignmentsales on independent lots.
Take care of those guys.
Now, if you're a dealer, giveyour manufacturer some grace,
right?
I think that the fact that westill have a relatively good
working relationship with bothof those companies that we left
(27:21):
behind when it was time to makea change says how we left in the
first place.
I think we left in ways thatwere fair.
I think, from the outsider'sperspective, I was part of two
of those transitions.
We're actually on our fourthmanufacturer as a company and we
transitioned through.
We did kind of the nationalconglomerate you did with your
(27:43):
first company, we did a regionalconglomerate I think is more of
a fair statement with thesecond go around.
Then we went to astraightforward consignment type
of model with a smallmanufacturer and did a lot of
good things.
They were just really goodpartners but not able to do the
kind of volume that we demandedand do the kind of coverage that
(28:04):
we wanted to do when we got tothe point with Sheds Direct
where we're at now.
We really want to do a national, we really want to sell sheds
coast to coast, we want to be ineverybody's backyard, we want
Dayton Barns and AllsteelBuildings to be a national brand
and it's given us platformslike this.
Meeting Shannon, getting to dothis podcast with you, Eric you
(28:28):
said it, I think, in the lastepisode it's really a dream
that's come to fruition.
At this point, we talked aboutsteel Kings.
You know, one of the things Iwant to add to this too is like
I think that, yeah, I think thecall to action here is a couple
of things from the if you'relistening to this podcast, don't
be afraid to make a change.
(28:48):
If you're uncomfortable, ifyou're feeling some sort of way,
what you're doing today is notwhat you have to do tomorrow or
a week from now or a year fromnow.
We have had a couple ofdifferent business partners.
Some of them leave on goodterms.
Some of them leave on not suchgood terms.
We've had metal manufacturers,we've had wood manufacturers.
We try to leave thosesituations as best we can.
(29:09):
Some relationships can't besaved.
Some can be wood manufacturers.
We try to leave thosesituations as best we can.
Some relationships can't besaved, some can be and some
actually go on and bear fruit inother ways.
We have relationships that welost, that we thought.
I think eric and I, you know weprobably cried over a couple of
them.
Right, we probably shed a tearand, and you know, miss those
people.
But at the end of the day, ifyou're good to those people,
(29:30):
they're going to pay you back inspades and we've gotten paid
back in spades time and timeagain.
Harvesting those relationshipsand really picking the right
people to go into battle with.
I think it took me and Eric aminute, even though Eric saw it
in me.
Maybe I didn't see it in myself, maybe I didn't know enough
about the industry, maybe wedidn't have the right team.
(29:51):
Whatever the case is, wecouldn't be tighter right now.
You know we could not betighter.
Everything that Eric and I doright now is kind of in a
lockstep, you know.
We, every idea that we have.
We bounce off each other.
So, we were lucky enough towhittle down from really what
was a group of five or sixpeople at one time.
(30:12):
Then we kind of took it down tolike three.
Then it was down to two.
Now we've got these two keycomponents here that are doing
some big things in this space.
Um, my call to action really isthat it really is pay attention
to what you're doing today.
It does not have to be whatyou're doing tomorrow.
Um, eric, tell me a little bitabout I want to piggyback, yeah
(30:34):
go ahead, yeah you know and Ithink.
Eric Olson (30:37):
I think that man and that is, um, you know the story
of Dayton Barns is that I havea master's degree in special ed,
like I was a teacher, you know,like I worked at a distribution
center and was like a top guythere for some time, and then
I'm, and then I'm a one guy showselling sheds, and not that
(31:00):
that's a bad thing.
It's like I have never cared,like I've never cared more, uh,
like less, about where thedirection of Dayton Barns is
going.
Because I think, like, if youhave to, you shouldn't care
about.
Like, oh well, we've alwaysdone it that way.
No, like that is the worstthing I think you could ever say
(31:21):
ever is like, oh, we always doit that way.
And I'm like okay, why is itsucking?
Now?
Then you know Complacency,complacency, sorry to say it,
like that.
But like who am I?
I'm not the shed god, so Idon't have all the answers.
I'm the captain of the ship Isteer.
A good captain makes like tworudder turns at most a year, and
(31:46):
that's it, yeah, and if youjust keep going the same
direction, you're going to runinto something so.
I'm like you know.
So, I think the story of DaytonBarns, if you're listening, is
really the story of like,looking at it without your pride
and just looking at it fromlike, ok, what direction and
where does it need to go, andthen just don't care about the
(32:07):
answer to that, you know.
And then once you take a coupleof steps like I would have ever
known you know me, and you wasgoing to end up in Joshua, Texas
, you know, and from a top thetop manufacturer getting the
best pay rate that they evenoffer, you know, and being
(32:28):
aggressive.
Jared Ledford (32:29):
Being in this building, right here, you know
yeah yeah.
So, complacency?
I think that's one thing thatwe do not allow.
Complacency doesn't exist.
We almost change, we changecourse like we might change our
shirt.
I mean, honestly, we will pivoton a needlehead because if we
(32:50):
see an opportunity, in one fail,swoop the opposite direction.
We're going there Because weare always looking for what's
best for the business it's rightthat's right.
Resiliency is another thing thatI think I see in you a lot is
you know how far we've come, theups and downs, and it's kind of
(33:12):
this like promised land, right,we, we, we work to get to this
in this moment in time, where wehave the right building, which
I'm standing in, we have theright building which I'm
standing in, we have the rightteam of people that are sitting
behind me, we have the rightattitude and we have the right
mantra as a team and we reallywant to help people do the
(33:33):
things that they want to do.
And that's not just yourcustomers, that's our employees,
that's our future employees,that's our business partners.
You know we are all about andthis is a big one for you, eric.
Personal development's huge foryou.
I know.
You know we've both done wellover the last couple of years.
You, specifically over the lastyear, have lost over a hundred
(33:53):
pounds and, you know, been veryserious, very meticulous, very
serious, very dedicated, andthat's made you a better
business partner.
It's made you.
It's made you a better friend.
It's made you a better husband.
It's made you a better person.
You're active in your churchbody, you're active in your
community, you're active in yourbusiness and you know I can say
(34:14):
the same for me.
You know, I lost weight a fewyears ago.
I put on a couple pounds.
I'm still a burly guy, but ifyou saw me a couple years ago,
you saw me in 2018, 2019, I'dfill this whole screen up.
If you can see us on YouTube, Iwould have filled this whole
screen up and then some I'd havebeen a couple of screens.
So, I can tell you, man, I mean, if you are listening to this
(34:37):
and you've made it through now33 minutes of us shooting the
breeze about where we came from,don't sit back and be idle
about where you're at currently.
I think this is a call to actionepisode before we really start
getting into the nuances and westart bringing on some guests.
And you know, that's one thingthat I want to kind of outline a
little bit as we finish up fortoday.
(34:58):
You're going to see episodeswith Eric.
You're going to see episodeswith me.
You're going to see episodeswith both of us.
You're going to see somespecial guests.
You're going to get some metalbuilding talk.
You're going to get somewoodshed talk.
We're probably going to spit alittle bit of our motivational
you know, jargon at you and noteverybody, you know, not
everybody buys into that.
(35:19):
But really we're not trying totell you to do anything.
If anything, we're trying toget you to open up your mind.
1% or 2%.
If you feel like you're sittingback and you're frustrated or
having a bad day and somethingthat we say makes an impact on
you, drop us a like, a comment,drop us a line.
I'm Jared at Dayton Barns,j-a-r-e-d at Dayton Barns.
(35:41):
He's Eric, e-r-i-c at DaytonBarns.
We are open books.
You know, we love to be.
We love to be of good serviceto people.
I say that all the time.
I want to be a good service tomy friends and family and loved
ones.
What do you think, eric?
I mean, this is episode two.
We're getting ready to finishit up.
We're going to have someexciting stuff coming down the
(36:01):
road.
We're probably going to visitwith Shannon.
I've got some.
I've got some tips and tricks.
I've got some advertising.
What do you want?
Eric Olson (36:12):
to, and I think I think we could maybe even
scratch the surface later on.
Maybe you know what were wedoing before.
You know I think, as we standhere on the edge, it's like
we've got so much content that'scoming.
If you're a shed dealer,manufacturer, parts components
(36:32):
delivery driver, whatever youknow, tune us in.
We are definitely have a goodtime, no matter what, from a
business standpoint, you knowwe're putting on the hat of
co-hosts in a podcast.
We want you to tune in to usevery week and look forward to
special guests trade showappearances.
We are definitely going to do alive stream from the next.
(36:56):
I think I don't remember whichone it is, but there's one
coming up, I think in May orApril that we're definitely
going to be a part of and behanging with the shed geek
Shannon himself.
Let's go to dinner.
If you're going, let's go todinner, let's network.
And then we're also going toteach you as the Steel Kings
podcast, we're going to teachand discuss and really
(37:17):
intersteel buildings into themarketplace with wood sheds as
well.
They are married and we wantyou guys to want to make money
as a business owner and we'vesomehow over the course of the
past couple of years, figuredout the marriage between both,
where both can be served welland oftentimes customers buy one
(37:39):
each and sometimes in somecases.
So, we really want to create acrowd to follow kind of those
topics and, if you like, usgreat.
Jared Ledford (37:52):
Yeah, these two episodes, these two episodes
right, the previous episode, itwas a kind of a foundational
episode who we are, what we'reabout this episode today.
If you take something away fromit specifically, other than the
call to actions that weoutlined, take away from the
fact that we were in your shoesand, as a matter of fact, we're
still in your shoes right now.
We can speak to where you're at.
(38:13):
We can give you that nickel'sworth of free advice take, take
it or leave it.
We're never going to sayanything other than what's on
our minds, what's on our heartsfacts as we see them.
We have good relationships andbad.
We want to have more good thanbad.
Everybody has something aboutwhat they're doing that they
could do better.
I don't care if you're ElonMusk or Bill Gates or whatever
(38:37):
the most successful professionalperson is in the world.
They always strive to do better.
Complacency is not somethingthat's acceptable, and
resiliency is something thatpays off in spades.
I can't echo enough what yousaid, eric, and I want to finish
up this episode with a call toaction to our friends.
If you are a manufacturer ofwood sheds, metal buildings, any
(39:00):
kind of component that puts ourbuildings together fasteners,
hardware, wood lumber.
We'd love to talk to you.
We have a huge network ofindividuals who not only listen
to this podcast, but listen tothe podcast with Shannon.
We'd love to advertise for you.
We'd love to spend some timeand get to know your products,
even if you're not a paidadvertiser.
(39:22):
We love to know more about theindustry and the components and
the products in which we sell.
We want to know more about that.
So, give us a call, give us anemail, give us a shout.
We're happy to help.
Eric, you got anything.
Last words, finishing up fortoday.
Eric Olson (39:40):
Man, I think we did it.
I think we're ready for episodethree and I'm ready to sell a
million dollars worth of shedstoday.
Jared Ledford (39:50):
That's what I'm saying, man.
So let me say this for the nexttime Check us out next week on
the Steel Kings podcast.
I'm Jared, he's Eric.
We are the Steel Kings.
Check out our friends at JMoney.
Their product is going to helpyou guys sell buildings, whether
it's a woodshed metal building.
If you're a contractor, givethose guys over at J Money a
(40:12):
call.
Joel and Katie are happy tohelp you One last time.
For today, guys, we are out.
Have a great day!
Outro (40:23):
Before you go, the J Money team wants to thank you
for listening to today's SteelKings podcast.
Remember, money is king.
If you need a financing optionon your portable wood sheds or
steel buildings, we are here tohelp.
Just check out jmoneyllc.
com for more information.
Don't forget to catch the nextepisode.
We'll still be here.
Have a great day.
Hey, this is Joel Oney at the J Money Studio in the heart
of the Buckeye State, and Iwant to personally welcome you
to today's episode of the SteelKings podcast with my good
friends Jared Ledford and EricOlson, better known to you as
the Steel Kings.
Be sure to check out J MoneyLLC dot com for financing
(00:22):
solutions for your buildings.
And now let's get back to thesteel kings podcast all right,
man.
Jared Ledford (00:30):
Hey guys, it's Jared and eric with the steel
kings podcast, episode numbertwo.
We are back at you.
Yeah, we're back at you again.
Uh, bringing you some hotcontent.
Um, quick house cleaning hereat the beginning of the show.
We are brought to you andsponsored by the guys over at J
Money.
If you've got a project thatyou need financed, whether it be
(00:53):
a woodshed metal building, ifyou're a home improvement
contractor, they can help youout.
Give those guys a shout over atJ Money.
Joel and Katie will get youtaken care of.
Eric.
What's up, dude?
How are you today, man?
Eric Olson (01:06):
what's up, Mr.
Jared?
Just another day, uh yeah, manyeah mid-February, trying to
fight through this last littlebit of the of the slow build
season and uh, things arestarting to pick up.
So, man, it's perfect time forepisode two.
Jared Ledford (01:23):
Yeah, man yeah, we, yeah, we uh.
So a lot, a lot of ourlisteners right, or sitting on
the shed lot or selling metalbuildings, maybe in their house,
or maybe they're working for acompany, right, and we're all
feeling the stresses of the slowtime, right, that that last
half of December into like themiddle of February, it's like,
you know, we've earned that,we've earned that, you know, six
(01:44):
week, eight week kind of dropoff.
You take some time off, you getyour batteries recharged and
you head back out and you'rethinking, oh man, it's time for
another busy season, so taxesare coming due and, uh, those
are good times for buildingsalespeople, right?
Eric Olson (02:00):
Yeah, you gotta put.
You gotta put your mowersomewhere.
That's right.
I'm looking at my backyard.
I'm like that grass isn't goingto mow itself soon.
I'm looking forward to the warmweather.
I've always thought in thewintertime that's when we've
(02:23):
done our building you thrivewhen you're busy doing sales.
Then, somewhat, when it dipsoff, you got a little bit more
free time so you can startbuilding and thriving that way
and kind of a build mode withthe visions.
So.
So, we're kind of teetering inbetween wrapping up the building
and ramping up advertising forsales.
Jared Ledford (02:40):
So yeah, man.
Yeah, it's a it's really this isprobably my favorite time of
the year, right, because it'sthat refresh, that that new
energy that you know we're goingthrough a lot of major changes
here.
We're expanding and newbusiness relationships for
twenty five and you know, I hopeyou guys out there listening or
(03:01):
are doing that same thing,right, making those plans,
getting that three- month, sixmonth, you know, one year,
three- year, five- year.
Update those vision boards, getyour plan of action, you know,
get those manageable actionitems.
As a one of our as one of ourfriends will tell you, action
items, uh, produce results,right, so, um, you know, I want
(03:22):
to get into a little bit.
We left off last time.
We told a little bit about theSteel Kings, the origin of the
Steel Kings.
I want to get into the nittygritty of what we do here and
how we really started, because Ithink a lot of the people that
are listening to us right noware where you were almost six
years ago now, right, I mean,we're getting into the sixth
(03:43):
year, almost six years ago nowright.
Eric Olson (03:44):
I mean we're, we're getting into the sixth year.
Man, we are in the sixth year.
It's, it's hard to believe thatthis thing's uh, it's, it's,
it's not a toddler anymore.
You know this thing is, thisthing is walking, running,
eating.
You know screaming, um.
So, I guess you know we, wekind of scratched the surface, I
think, of what we, how me andyou connected and kind of
(04:05):
painted the picture.
But you know, ok, what, what'sthe root, what's the source of
the business.
You know where did it actuallycome from and I think you know
you got to go to some of theunseen parts of it which you
know happened before, I think,the business even started, which
(04:26):
was pretty much like what wasgoing on in the summer of 2019.
You know, prior to the Octoberlaunch of Dayton Barns, you know
we're, you know we're, we'recoming off of if you're in the
Ohio area and you're listeningfrom Ohio, if not, do a quick
Google search if you want toknow.
We got hit by like 20 tornadoesplus in May of 2019.
And my, my family, owns aproperty North of Dayton and I
(04:47):
think over 200 trees got knockeddown in an F4 tornado and, um,
I had I had just recently left acareer job to take the summer
off and kind of regroup, wasn'tsure what I wanted to do.
I was kind of sick of chasingthe corporate title, um, which I
always kind of thought was youknow if I could, just if I could
(05:11):
just get here or make it thereor get this thing, and that I
would find some happiness anddecided to kind of flip the
table over and my dad and Ibought a bulldozer, we started
pulling out logs and just tryingto figure out what are we going
to do with all this wood?
Basically, and I know you guys,are listening oh, you made
sheds.
No, didn't make sheds, we'll getthere.
But I started working with myhands a little bit and so I
(05:32):
actually started making roundsof cross sections of tree trunks
, putting hairpin legs on themand selling them on Facebook and
I ended up kind of figuring outjust through the devastation of
a tornado, like you can makemoney on your own, you can start
a business, you know, you can.
I was so dead set that nine tofive was it and figured out that
(05:53):
you know to pay your bills,really you just need to have
income and get creative was oneof my fortes.
I think that kind of led me tobe a little more open about how
to make money and how to providefor yourself etc.
My brother-in-law had a shedbusiness in Dayton.
He had a couple of locationsthat was selling pretty
(06:15):
well-known manufacturer's sheds.
They decided to pass up on theHuber Heights location because
he was getting busy doingsomething else.
That location became availableand I think due to the risks I
was taking over the summer with,you know, not working
officially, it kind of led me totake that leap of faith and in
(06:37):
reality out birth Dayton Barns,which was which was 12 sheds,
you know side, side lofted, or acabin, a A-frame cabin, a
lofted cabin, garden shed,utility shed, a garage lofted
garage, and I had like two metalbuildings there and I just said
(06:57):
yes, and the first day weopened was October 15th 2019.
And I sold my first shed there.
There was a side lofted, 10 by16.
Hideous guy's name was Brian,lives in Vandalia, got a picture
of him we can probably postsomewhere if we want.
Um, he, I got a picture of him,and it was a.
(07:18):
It was a 10, 10 by 16 sidelofted shed.
And man, I think now we'reprobably pushing 10,000 units
sold and um, that that was.
That was kind of like the start, the start of it.
And um, yeah, you know, I knowthat that's kind of the
precursor, but left corporateworld to take a risk and now
we're making a podcast six yearslater.
(07:40):
You know.
Jared Ledford (07:41):
Yeah, talking to people, you know, I think I
think we're talking to talkingto it.
Yeah, we're talking to a lot ofthose people that are kind of
sitting in those same shoes.
Right, they're sitting on ashed lot or they're sitting on a
, you know, like I said, theymight be selling metal buildings
at home, or they might beworking for a company.
You know what drove you?
What was the motivating factor?
Was it the money?
(08:02):
Was it the freedom?
Know what about the industry?
Really, you know, not everybodysticks with it.
Right, there's, you know,there's, a lot of people that
have done it for a long time,but there's a lot of people that
they do it.
They'll do it for, you know, alittle bit of time and they give
it up.
What about it?
For you, stuck with you.
Eric Olson (08:18):
You know, it wasn't the money on day one, that's a
fact.
Day one, that's a fact.
Yeah, true story.
I think I was in a humble placeof not caring so much about what
it looked like.
I think that, from a baselinestandpoint I'm a, you know, you
know me pretty well I like tomake things better, like
(08:40):
whatever the thing is, people,places and things you can, you
can make it better.
You can always feel better,dress better, you know, be more
organized, you could behealthier, you could get
stronger, you know, and I thinkthat over the course of my life
I've always strived and neverquit.
You know, my past is colorful,and I've just never given up on
(09:02):
anything.
So, I think, realizing okay,I've got a desk and a laptop and
12 sheds, okay, so now I need anew desk.
I want a better computer.
I want, okay, I need morecustomers.
So, then I need better signage.
And then I needed to make aFacebook page and then a website
.
And I just kept, okay, nextthing, next thing, next thing,
(09:24):
make a Facebook page and then awebsite.
And I just kept okay, nextthing, next thing, next thing.
And then, you know, I came upfor air, I think, and realized I
was decent at seeing exactlywhere we were and like, whatever
the next step was, you know,and I said I think that was the
to answer your question.
I think that was really what I,you know, constantly trying to
make it better, getting to thenext level, and then, okay,
(09:46):
what's the next thing?
And, man, that never ends, andlike we're sitting here today,
you know, on the edge of 2025,like what is our next step?
Man, it's never.
That flame has never went outonce.
So, I think it's probably thevision of how can we keep going
was probably because itcertainly wasn't money or fame,
(10:11):
it certainly wasn't anythingflashy at the beginning.
Jared Ledford (10:13):
Yeah, I think it's funny.
You say October 2019.
So, you and I met, I think,February of 2020.
So, you were still relativelyyoung in this industry and
really getting your feet wet andyou made an impactful we talked
about this on the last podcast.
You made an impactful friend,right, I mean we were.
(10:34):
We became pretty quickly.
I would say we were friendspretty quickly and you know, I
was brought into the loop as acustomer, and I didn't join on
until loop as a customer and Ididn't join on until gosh.
I didn't start until Februaryof 22.
So, walk me through the processof how you transitioned yourself
from the wood guy in your areabecause you quickly became kind
(10:56):
of a force to be reckoned withthat wood company.
You were selling a very goodand to be completely transparent
, and I'll let you tell thestory.
But the way you've told me ishey, it came down to money, it
came down to commission, right?
Everybody that's on this, thatsells on consignment for a wood
manufacturer, knows that thecommission a lot of times is
(11:20):
pretty much what it is.
There's not a whole lot ofnegotiation.
They'll pull your lot, they'lltake your sheds away.
Tell me about that processwithout getting into too many
details, but give me the.
I want the whole story, right?
Well, these are our friendsthat are listening.
They deserve the whole story,the truth and nothing but the
truth.
Eric Olson (11:39):
Okay, All right.
It's a heck of a question and Ias the listener you're thinking,
you know, we all want moremoney, right?
I would say again, we all wantmore money, right?
I would say again, it honestlywasn't so much about the money.
I was a youth pastor at thebeginning of the business, and I
(12:02):
had some kids in that youthgroup that thought this thing
was the coolest thing ever and Ithink, inadvertently, we needed
more money just so I could paypeople because they shared the
same passions.
Um, so, and so I think then Ibegan to see, like, okay, other
people can learn this, and so westarted the Troy lot.
We had a fella running the Troylot and then.
So, then we was, we were twolocations, and which was fun,
(12:23):
but we also had to pay basesalaries and different things
and, um, so, so we've got twoparts to that answer.
One's the wood part and thenthe other part is the metal and
how that kind of came intofruition.
Um, when you're expanding, youabsolutely have to have more
than wood.
And unless you're in, unlessyou're moving sheds with the,
(12:44):
with the uh, with the uh mealyeah, the meal unless you're,
unless you're mulling them or uh, or, like you know,
manufacturing them or something,some portion of the sales
process and the whole customerexperience.
If you're not doing thatparticular part of it, you can
only grow through selling morebuildings.
And you can only sell morebuildings if you expand either
(13:11):
through advertising coverage,area locations.
And so the guy kind of outgrew.
Working with me and Huber, wedecided to take over the Troy
lot, which is super profitable.
It's still rocking today undera different leadership named
Pete, and if you're in the Troyarea stop by.
He's got a great shop on 25Aand I think what I realized
(13:33):
through that portion of it isthat the steel revenue actually
started superseding the wood andwhat I realized is that these
are two different customers andtwo of them, two different
advertisements, two differenttalk tracks, two different
permit applications, twodifferent sales processes.
You know, because a lot of shedpeople are, are RTO or um,
(13:56):
they're, they're smaller, um.
You know, price points, um andthe sales process is shorter and
um and in reality, uh, you knowyou're looking at like three to
six, k is pretty much anaverage shed, um, maybe a little
bit higher than that, but um,the metal, totally different
ball game 30 by 40, 30 byfifties.
I sold a couple.
(14:17):
I sold yours.
Yours was the biggest unit thatI had sold.
I think you were a number.
You got the order formsomewhere, I think you.
I think you were number five orsomething that I'd ever sold.
I had to call the company amillion times to try to figure
out how to do vertical panelingpricing, because I was back in
the Stone Age in 2019 and 2020,where you had to, like, use a
(14:38):
piece of paper to figure out theprice.
You know, now it's a little bitdifferent, but so that became,
oh my gosh.
So, if someone sells a metalbuilding, you know we can give
them a slice of it as long as wepay for the advertising.
And I think one thing led tothe next.
You know, kind of go back tothe youth group.
We did a trial run in 2021 inthe summertime where basically a
(15:03):
high school football teamworked at the shop in Huber and
basically, I pumped them leads,they sold buildings.
We overwhelmed a company inNorth Carolina that we won't
mention that.
We sold, I think, a hundredbuildings in like a three- month
time span.
I mean, you know we were doordashing five guys every day.
That's that type of money wewas doing pretty decent, you
(15:24):
know and it was fun.
It was a lot of fun, but whatthat taught me is that, you know
although I felt there was goodcamaraderie with the kids, like
this was also a business wecould have.
We could do professional hiringand you know, and really give
some career opportunities.
And so, we started advertisingnationally for metal building
(15:47):
sales in 2021.
I taught myself how to doFacebook advertising sales in
2021.
I taught myself how to doFacebook advertising, got super
good at that, very detailed,very good, studied that almost
profusely until I was good at it, and then that kind of led to
our first I would say for thelack of a better way to say it
(16:07):
like the first real sales team.
That came um in 2022, um inFebruary, where we had actually
valentine's day.
Basically it's, uh, in a coupledays, that's pretty much a
three-year anniversary, um,three-year anniversary where we
hired five and several of themif most of them still sell metal
(16:28):
buildings, I think, um, yeah,you're you, you were one of
those guys and basically therest is history.
When you hire smart people,they tell you what to do with
your business.
So I think a hidden benefit is,if you're expanding, it is kind
of scary, but if you hire theright people, they'll basically
(16:49):
expand it for you, as long asyou trust them.
You know, because they'rebringing ideas that you'll you
know you would.
I know I've kind of went on alittle rant, no.
Jared Ledford (16:58):
I think that that's fair.
I mean, I think you know Ialways look at it from the boat
perspective.
If you're in a paddle boat andyou're trying to paddle that
boat by yourself or you're usingtwo oars and you're paddling on
both sides, it's always betterto get more people in the boat,
get a little bit more extraenergy, give them a paddle and
everybody can kind of paddle.
You know, walk me through alittle bit.
(17:19):
So, we skipped over just alittle bit that I want you to
touch on for these shed guys.
So, you were in a situationwith your manufacturer where
consignment, everything's goingpretty good.
You're really you're kind ofleading the charge in sales.
You're expanding, you'respending your money right,
you're doing what you can toexpand your territory and really
(17:39):
take shape in a 50- mile bubble, cause a lot of these guys that
are doing just sheds have toreally live in these constricted
confines of like 50 miles fromyour lot.
So, as you start to bring in onadditional costs and additional
need for not just, you know youneeded people to be at the lot
period, but you're trying to.
(18:01):
You were trying at that time togive them a base salary, give
them something to eat on andthen asking them to do the
legwork of selling.
You got into a situation whichI don't mind sharing.
I don't think you mind sharingeither, where your manufacturer,
because of your diligence intotrying to expand, pulled one
(18:22):
over on you.
They took something from you.
Tell me about that.
To me, when I look at Eric Olson, when people ask me what drove
Eric Olson to do metal buildingsales, you know from a shed
perspective.
Again, we love the shedindustry.
We sell a lot of sheds.
(18:43):
We love our guys over at ShedsDirect.
If you guys are in need of amanufacturer and you're
listening to this give thoseguys over at Sheds Direct a call
.
They will make it super easyfor you If you are looking to
sell some wood structures onyour property 13 or 14 states, I
forget what they cover, butit's basically the Atlantic
coast up through Ohio andIndiana, southern Michigan.
(19:04):
Cheap plug there for those guys.
But what I'll tell you is Ifeel like that motivated you not
just to expand metal but toalso be even more motivated in
the wood space.
Tell me what happened with themanufacturer.
Eric Olson (19:21):
OK, yeah, yeah.
So, to piggyback, and then I'lljump in there.
If you are in the Midwest andyou want sheds on your property,
you know, uh, hit, hit us upand we'll share uh details with
uh, the uh district guy.
His name's JW, super goodfriend of ours.
Um, he'll get you set upthrough sheds direct.
Love, love, sheds direct.
(19:42):
Why did we end up with shedsdirect?
I think we just were reversingthe tape all the way.
You know, why did we switch offthe original manufacturer?
And gosh, there's so much juiceto this answer.
And so, I want to start withthe zoomed in answer and then
I'm going to say it from prettymuch like a one sentence
standpoint.
You know, and just out of justsheer numbers, we were doing a
(20:06):
couple million dollars a year inwood sales, and so just to say
where we were at, you know, andif you have a shed lot and
you're listening to this andyou're selling a couple of
months, it's not like you'redoing a bad job.
My whole career was sellingsheds as often and as frequently
as possible.
I was working like six or sevendays a month For some time I
(20:27):
lived at the shed lot and I wasbreathing it.
Jared Ledford (20:30):
So, so when six or seven days a week, six or
seven a week.
Eric Olson (20:36):
I'm in, I'm in a week and I'm always working on
my phone, so that's true, yeah.
Hopefully my wife doesn't freakout.
I'm taking messages like allthe time you know,
ADVERTISEMENT (20:47):
Hello Shed and Carport industry.
I'm Cord Cook, chief BrandStrategist here at Shed Geek
Marketing.
Did you know that Shed GeekMarketing works with 45 shed
companies and county and we arenot slowing down in 2025.
One of the neat benefits toworking with Shed Geek Marketing
is working with an agency asopposed to just an individual.
When you work with Shed GeekMarketing, you have a team of
(21:09):
professionals working diligentlyto ensure your success From
branding guidelines and brandbooks to websites, google and
meta tag tracking that measuresthe traffic to your website and
social media pages, crm setupand full automation build-outs,
lead funnel integration and somuch more.
Worried about whether or not wecan serve you, don't be.
(21:30):
Shed Geek Marketing works withmanufacturers ranging from $1
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you money.
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Geek Marketing.
So, for more information, go towwwshedgeek.
(21:52):
comand submit some basic
information and we'll reach outwith a discovery call and
patiently walk you through howwe can best serve you.
Thank you for your time andlook forward to working with you
.
Eric Olson (22:05):
So, once I learned that you know the percentage, we
percentage, we were receiving,and, and really this, this is
not stab at manufacturers.
If you're paying somebody,let's say, 10%, and the person
down the street is also making10%, but you're selling, you
know, 75 more times units a year, and really not treating the
(22:32):
more important to your bottomline, which is the person
selling more sheds.
If you're not giving thembetter treatment not personally,
you should be nice to everybody, but if you're not giving them
financial benefit of that,you're really doing a disservice
.
I mean because if you thinkabout how Coca-Cola works, mom
and pop, they pay a differentprice.
(22:52):
If you're Speedway, you'repaying cheaper prices as a
corporate office because you'reselling a million more bottles a
month.
I'm just making numbers up, butyou know.
So, I ended up getting on thephone and did it the right way.
I stated my case, I ran numberson a Google Doc, I called the
person.
That person was defeatist onthe phone with me.
That person knows who I'mtalking about.
(23:14):
No stab, I just said we've doneX, y, z Last year.
This year we've done X, y, z.
We'd like to expand into adifferent, we want to do a third
location.
And in order to do that, we'rereally looking for a two to 5%
increase on our down payments,and here's what we're going to
do with it.
It's not like I'm bullying youinto giving us more money.
(23:36):
And those words were said.
So, I got a phone call back andbasically the answer was just
flat out no.
I knew he was going to say no,that's what he had told me.
Um, that's what he had told me.
And, uh, and, and so I, I inthe moment, thought in my uh, in
(23:59):
my mind, you know, do I, do Iwant to press this thing?
You know, do I want to try tofigure out a different way?
Um, I knew some other companieswere paying a little bit more,
and, um, yeah, and so I, Ibasically said uh, in the nicest
possible way, you know, youguys need to come get your sheds
because we're going to swapcompanies.
And that and that particular guy, he said the wrong thing to me
and honestly, just for juice onthe on the on the show, you know
(24:23):
, because I'm laughing, boththings are going great, but
everybody's winning, honestly.
So, I'm only saying this forthe story.
You know, he, that guy said,said nine, nine out of ten
dealers come back and you knowthis is a big mistake and I and
I was like if I, if I get yoursheds off our property, like I,
I'm never gonna call you again.
(24:43):
And it's not because I don'tlike you, it's just because I
I'm not in business to befriends with people.
I, I want to pay people'spaychecks.
You know, that was the wrongthing, because if you tell Eric
Olson, no, I don't believe inyou, then that's okay, we'll see
you some other time.
Jared Ledford (25:02):
There's a resolution that happened in you
in that moment that I feel likethat took place somewhere around
fall of 21,.
Eric Olson (25:11):
Something like that Right before we hired you guys.
Jared Ledford (25:13):
Yeah, yeah, so we're being brought into this as
we're a hot startup.
We did, I think, severalmillion dollars in metal
building sales online, utilizingthis group of talent, which was
basically intern-type talent.
These were guys who weresponges that soaked it up and,
be honest with you, some ofthose guys have gone on the
(25:35):
metal building metal buildingsuccess right, just metal
building success.
Woodshed success.
You know you're responsible fora lot of talent that is spread
among multiple companies.
Um, so I felt like from anewbie.
You know I'm gonna.
I'm gonna give my perspectivenow a little bit.
I came in in February 2022.
(25:57):
Um, I knew you from a salesrole.
You sold me my building, all ofthat.
It was great.
Um, I think you saw in mepretty quickly.
You know my background.
You know heavily, heavily insales, worked in direct sales
for multiple years, didmulti-level marketing, was a
sales manager at an automotivecompany and then was a service
(26:17):
manager and dispatcher stufflike that.
So I've got the team buildingchemistry.
I'm the head coach right.
I really like to be the headcoach of the team, but you
empowered me.
You're the general manager,right.
You gave me the tools necessaryto kind of do that.
But what I saw from aperspective was this company had
made a mistake.
(26:38):
You had a new company on deckand that company honestly didn't
really work out for us either.
I think the one thing that maybe the call to action here from
a manufacturer if you're amanufacturer, listening to this
take care of your best dealers.
Number one Take care of them,nestle them close, keep them
close, especially if you are ahardcore consignment type of
(27:00):
manufacturer where you arereally doing a majority of your
business through consignmentsales on independent lots.
Take care of those guys.
Now, if you're a dealer, giveyour manufacturer some grace,
right?
I think that the fact that westill have a relatively good
working relationship with bothof those companies that we left
(27:21):
behind when it was time to makea change says how we left in the
first place.
I think we left in ways thatwere fair.
I think, from the outsider'sperspective, I was part of two
of those transitions.
We're actually on our fourthmanufacturer as a company and we
transitioned through.
We did kind of the nationalconglomerate you did with your
(27:43):
first company, we did a regionalconglomerate I think is more of
a fair statement with thesecond go around.
Then we went to astraightforward consignment type
of model with a smallmanufacturer and did a lot of
good things.
They were just really goodpartners but not able to do the
kind of volume that we demandedand do the kind of coverage that
(28:04):
we wanted to do when we got tothe point with Sheds Direct
where we're at now.
We really want to do a national, we really want to sell sheds
coast to coast, we want to be ineverybody's backyard, we want
Dayton Barns and AllsteelBuildings to be a national brand
and it's given us platformslike this.
Meeting Shannon, getting to dothis podcast with you, Eric you
(28:28):
said it, I think, in the lastepisode it's really a dream
that's come to fruition.
At this point, we talked aboutsteel Kings.
You know, one of the things Iwant to add to this too is like
I think that, yeah, I think thecall to action here is a couple
of things from the if you'relistening to this podcast, don't
be afraid to make a change.
(28:48):
If you're uncomfortable, ifyou're feeling some sort of way,
what you're doing today is notwhat you have to do tomorrow or
a week from now or a year fromnow.
We have had a couple ofdifferent business partners.
Some of them leave on goodterms.
Some of them leave on not suchgood terms.
We've had metal manufacturers,we've had wood manufacturers.
We try to leave thosesituations as best we can.
(29:09):
Some relationships can't besaved.
Some can be wood manufacturers.
We try to leave thosesituations as best we can.
Some relationships can't besaved, some can be and some
actually go on and bear fruit inother ways.
We have relationships that welost, that we thought.
I think eric and I, you know weprobably cried over a couple of
them.
Right, we probably shed a tearand, and you know, miss those
people.
But at the end of the day, ifyou're good to those people,
(29:30):
they're going to pay you back inspades and we've gotten paid
back in spades time and timeagain.
Harvesting those relationshipsand really picking the right
people to go into battle with.
I think it took me and Eric aminute, even though Eric saw it
in me.
Maybe I didn't see it in myself, maybe I didn't know enough
about the industry, maybe wedidn't have the right team.
(29:51):
Whatever the case is, wecouldn't be tighter right now.
You know we could not betighter.
Everything that Eric and I doright now is kind of in a
lockstep, you know.
We, every idea that we have.
We bounce off each other.
So, we were lucky enough towhittle down from really what
was a group of five or sixpeople at one time.
(30:12):
Then we kind of took it down tolike three.
Then it was down to two.
Now we've got these two keycomponents here that are doing
some big things in this space.
Um, my call to action really isthat it really is pay attention
to what you're doing today.
It does not have to be whatyou're doing tomorrow.
Um, eric, tell me a little bitabout I want to piggyback, yeah
(30:34):
go ahead, yeah you know and Ithink.
Eric Olson (30:37):
I think that man and that is, um, you know the story
of Dayton Barns is that I havea master's degree in special ed,
like I was a teacher, you know,like I worked at a distribution
center and was like a top guythere for some time, and then
I'm, and then I'm a one guy showselling sheds, and not that
(31:00):
that's a bad thing.
It's like I have never cared,like I've never cared more, uh,
like less, about where thedirection of Dayton Barns is
going.
Because I think, like, if youhave to, you shouldn't care
about.
Like, oh well, we've alwaysdone it that way.
No, like that is the worstthing I think you could ever say
(31:21):
ever is like, oh, we always doit that way.
And I'm like okay, why is itsucking?
Now?
Then you know Complacency,complacency, sorry to say it,
like that.
But like who am I?
I'm not the shed god, so Idon't have all the answers.
I'm the captain of the ship Isteer.
A good captain makes like tworudder turns at most a year, and
(31:46):
that's it, yeah, and if youjust keep going the same
direction, you're going to runinto something so.
I'm like you know.
So, I think the story of DaytonBarns, if you're listening, is
really the story of like,looking at it without your pride
and just looking at it fromlike, ok, what direction and
where does it need to go, andthen just don't care about the
(32:07):
answer to that, you know.
And then once you take a coupleof steps like I would have ever
known you know me, and you wasgoing to end up in Joshua, Texas
, you know, and from a top thetop manufacturer getting the
best pay rate that they evenoffer, you know, and being
(32:28):
aggressive.
Jared Ledford (32:29):
Being in this building, right here, you know
yeah yeah.
So, complacency?
I think that's one thing thatwe do not allow.
Complacency doesn't exist.
We almost change, we changecourse like we might change our
shirt.
I mean, honestly, we will pivoton a needlehead because if we
(32:50):
see an opportunity, in one fail,swoop the opposite direction.
We're going there Because weare always looking for what's
best for the business it's rightthat's right.
Resiliency is another thing thatI think I see in you a lot is
you know how far we've come, theups and downs, and it's kind of
(33:12):
this like promised land, right,we, we, we work to get to this
in this moment in time, where wehave the right building, which
I'm standing in, we have theright building which I'm
standing in, we have the rightteam of people that are sitting
behind me, we have the rightattitude and we have the right
mantra as a team and we reallywant to help people do the
(33:33):
things that they want to do.
And that's not just yourcustomers, that's our employees,
that's our future employees,that's our business partners.
You know we are all about andthis is a big one for you, eric.
Personal development's huge foryou.
I know.
You know we've both done wellover the last couple of years.
You, specifically over the lastyear, have lost over a hundred
(33:53):
pounds and, you know, been veryserious, very meticulous, very
serious, very dedicated, andthat's made you a better
business partner.
It's made you.
It's made you a better friend.
It's made you a better husband.
It's made you a better person.
You're active in your churchbody, you're active in your
community, you're active in yourbusiness and you know I can say
(34:14):
the same for me.
You know, I lost weight a fewyears ago.
I put on a couple pounds.
I'm still a burly guy, but ifyou saw me a couple years ago,
you saw me in 2018, 2019, I'dfill this whole screen up.
If you can see us on YouTube, Iwould have filled this whole
screen up and then some I'd havebeen a couple of screens.
So, I can tell you, man, I mean, if you are listening to this
(34:37):
and you've made it through now33 minutes of us shooting the
breeze about where we came from,don't sit back and be idle
about where you're at currently.
I think this is a call to actionepisode before we really start
getting into the nuances and westart bringing on some guests.
And you know, that's one thingthat I want to kind of outline a
little bit as we finish up fortoday.
(34:58):
You're going to see episodeswith Eric.
You're going to see episodeswith me.
You're going to see episodeswith both of us.
You're going to see somespecial guests.
You're going to get some metalbuilding talk.
You're going to get somewoodshed talk.
We're probably going to spit alittle bit of our motivational
you know, jargon at you and noteverybody, you know, not
everybody buys into that.
(35:19):
But really we're not trying totell you to do anything.
If anything, we're trying toget you to open up your mind.
1% or 2%.
If you feel like you're sittingback and you're frustrated or
having a bad day and somethingthat we say makes an impact on
you, drop us a like, a comment,drop us a line.
I'm Jared at Dayton Barns,j-a-r-e-d at Dayton Barns.
(35:41):
He's Eric, e-r-i-c at DaytonBarns.
We are open books.
You know, we love to be.
We love to be of good serviceto people.
I say that all the time.
I want to be a good service tomy friends and family and loved
ones.
What do you think, eric?
I mean, this is episode two.
We're getting ready to finishit up.
We're going to have someexciting stuff coming down the
(36:01):
road.
We're probably going to visitwith Shannon.
I've got some.
I've got some tips and tricks.
I've got some advertising.
What do you want?
Eric Olson (36:12):
to, and I think I think we could maybe even
scratch the surface later on.
Maybe you know what were wedoing before.
You know I think, as we standhere on the edge, it's like
we've got so much content that'scoming.
If you're a shed dealer,manufacturer, parts components
(36:32):
delivery driver, whatever youknow, tune us in.
We are definitely have a goodtime, no matter what, from a
business standpoint, you knowwe're putting on the hat of
co-hosts in a podcast.
We want you to tune in to usevery week and look forward to
special guests trade showappearances.
We are definitely going to do alive stream from the next.
(36:56):
I think I don't remember whichone it is, but there's one
coming up, I think in May orApril that we're definitely
going to be a part of and behanging with the shed geek
Shannon himself.
Let's go to dinner.
If you're going, let's go todinner, let's network.
And then we're also going toteach you as the Steel Kings
podcast, we're going to teachand discuss and really
(37:17):
intersteel buildings into themarketplace with wood sheds as
well.
They are married and we wantyou guys to want to make money
as a business owner and we'vesomehow over the course of the
past couple of years, figuredout the marriage between both,
where both can be served welland oftentimes customers buy one
(37:39):
each and sometimes in somecases.
So, we really want to create acrowd to follow kind of those
topics and, if you like, usgreat.
Jared Ledford (37:52):
Yeah, these two episodes, these two episodes
right, the previous episode, itwas a kind of a foundational
episode who we are, what we'reabout this episode today.
If you take something away fromit specifically, other than the
call to actions that weoutlined, take away from the
fact that we were in your shoesand, as a matter of fact, we're
still in your shoes right now.
We can speak to where you're at.
(38:13):
We can give you that nickel'sworth of free advice take, take
it or leave it.
We're never going to sayanything other than what's on
our minds, what's on our heartsfacts as we see them.
We have good relationships andbad.
We want to have more good thanbad.
Everybody has something aboutwhat they're doing that they
could do better.
I don't care if you're ElonMusk or Bill Gates or whatever
(38:37):
the most successful professionalperson is in the world.
They always strive to do better.
Complacency is not somethingthat's acceptable, and
resiliency is something thatpays off in spades.
I can't echo enough what yousaid, eric, and I want to finish
up this episode with a call toaction to our friends.
If you are a manufacturer ofwood sheds, metal buildings, any
(39:00):
kind of component that puts ourbuildings together fasteners,
hardware, wood lumber.
We'd love to talk to you.
We have a huge network ofindividuals who not only listen
to this podcast, but listen tothe podcast with Shannon.
We'd love to advertise for you.
We'd love to spend some timeand get to know your products,
even if you're not a paidadvertiser.
(39:22):
We love to know more about theindustry and the components and
the products in which we sell.
We want to know more about that.
So, give us a call, give us anemail, give us a shout.
We're happy to help.
Eric, you got anything.
Last words, finishing up fortoday.
Eric Olson (39:40):
Man, I think we did it.
I think we're ready for episodethree and I'm ready to sell a
million dollars worth of shedstoday.
Jared Ledford (39:50):
That's what I'm saying, man.
So let me say this for the nexttime Check us out next week on
the Steel Kings podcast.
I'm Jared, he's Eric.
We are the Steel Kings.
Check out our friends at JMoney.
Their product is going to helpyou guys sell buildings, whether
it's a woodshed metal building.
If you're a contractor, givethose guys over at J Money a
(40:12):
call.
Joel and Katie are happy tohelp you One last time.
For today, guys, we are out.
Have a great day!
Outro (40:23):
Before you go, the J Money team wants to thank you
for listening to today's SteelKings podcast.
Remember, money is king.
If you need a financing optionon your portable wood sheds or
steel buildings, we are here tohelp.
Just check out jmoneyllc.
com for more information.
Don't forget to catch the nextepisode.
We'll still be here.
Have a great day.
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I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com