June 2, 2025 • 31 mins
The building industry's best-kept secret isn't about materials or designs—it's about the relationship between manufacturers and dealers. In this revealing conversation, Jared Ledford welcomes Shannon "The Shed Geek" to dive deep into what truly makes a successful dealer network tick.
What happens when 10% of dealers sell 90% of the product while the other 90% struggle to make an impact? This fascinating imbalance creates ripple effects throughout the industry, affecting everything from customer service to pricing strategy. Shannon and Jared don't just identify the problem—they explore how professionals can elevate standards across the board.
The discussion pulls back the curtain on controversial practices like rock-bottom down payments that create a "race to the bottom," devaluing products industry-wide. You'll hear candid insights about the challenges of building loyal teams, whether W2 employees offer advantages over 1099 contractors, and how to prevent training your future competition.
Most compelling is their call for a mindset shift from pure competition to strategic collaboration. By working together rather than against each other, dealers can create more value for customers and potentially even approach manufacturers with greater collective influence. Their philosophy—"No one hates it when you help them"—serves as a guidepost for building stronger industry relationships.
Whether you're a building professional looking to improve your business model or simply curious about the inner workings of the metal building industry, this conversation offers rare insights from two veterans willing to share their hard-earned wisdom.
Ready to transform your approach to building sales? Connect with J Money LLC for financing solutions that support your business growth at jmoneyllc.com.
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
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Introduction (00:00):
Hey, this is Joel Oney at the J Money Studio in
the heart of the Buckeye State,and I want to personally welcome
you to today's episode of theSteel Kings Podcast with my good
friends Jared Ledford and EricOlson, better known to you as
the Steel Kings.
Be sure to check out jmoneyllc.
com for financing solutions foryour buildings.
(00:24):
And now let's get back to theSteel Kings podcast.
Jared Ledford (00:32):
Hey guys, this is Jared with the Steel Kings
podcast.
Wanted to let you know thattoday's episode is part two of a
two-part episode.
Go back to last week for partone.
We hope you enjoy part two.
So at the end of the day itreally comes down to for my guys
(00:54):
where the building's coming andwhere it's going, and we just
try to stick with that as ourrule of thumb, because if there
is a problem which more oftenthan not there's not I mean, we
sell a lot of buildings here wedo not run into a lot of issues
anymore, but when we do, it isso much easier to have that
customer get service from amanufacturer that's in their
backyard.
If we know that that customeris going to get a return trip
within three hours or less,we're that much more confident
(01:15):
that that return trip willhappen in a really speedy
process.
And really that's all you canask for.
People are understanding.
If you don't over promise andunder deliver, if you're sitting
there and you're selling metalbuildings, chances are I don't
care what a manufacturer says,they're not going to have your
building done in two weeks.
I just don't.
I don't buy that.
I don't believe it for a second.
(01:38):
I always tell my customers it'sgoing to be six weeks or less
once I get a site picture.
And I don't care if they'retelling me four weeks, three
weeks, two weeks, it's six weeksor less once I get a site
picture and I don't start thattimer until you get me that site
picture.
And again, not all themanufacturers require site
pictures, but I can tell you thesecond you sell a building, and
they go out to install it andthey can't because there's
(01:59):
something going on.
Is the first time.
You'll remember what I said sixweeks or less.
Once I get a site picture, Ihelp the customer set that up, I
send the site picture over tothe manufacturer and we work
together to get it on theschedule.
And I think a lot of what youget on the steel side is you get
what you get, and you give whatyou give.
And when you're talking to amanufacturer, if you're giving
(02:21):
them hey, I've got your orderform filled out for February.
I've got your order form filledout for February.
I've double checked the price,I've made sure that everything
is up to your exact expectationsand, by the way, I'm going to
keep in contact with my customer.
Make sure the process is smooth, please let me know if
something changes on your end,if there's something with their
(02:41):
drawings, if there's somethingwith the process, please let me
know so I can step in and kindof keep that going.
A lot of guys these days,Shannon, will advertise a
building online.
Let's say the building's 20,000bucks, let's say the average
down payment at 20% is gonna beabout 4K.
And they'll say, hey, todayI'll take $1,000 and I'll sell
the building.
And I can tell you that killseverybody.
(03:02):
That kills everybody.
It and I can tell you thatkills everybody.
That kills everybody.
It's the race to the bottom.
It devalues the product, itmakes everything worth less than
it actually is.
And at the end of the day nowyou're going to be the guy
that's giving out $1,000 downpayments and not that.
That's not great.
If you're a single man sittingin your basement or sitting in
(03:22):
your house and you're sellingmetal buildings, again more
power to you.
But think about what money youlose on the next deal.
Not everybody needs a thousanddollar down payment.
That's a promise.
Now there are people out therewho will absolutely fight tooth
and nail to get the cheapestprice and you're not going to
overcome those guys.
You're either going to sellthem at a discount or you're
going to let them walk, but atthe end of the day, we all have
to work together to bring thestandard level up a little bit.
(03:44):
And I think that jumps back towhat you said, Shannon.
I mean, I think that you haveso many dealers out there.
If manufacturers are trulydealing with a 10% 90% split,
the 10% the most talented sell90% of the product.
What about the 90% who sell 10%?
What about the bottleneck thatthat causes?
(04:05):
What about the customer serviceissues it causes?
Think about that.
What's your thoughts on thatone?
Shannon Latham (04:11):
Yeah, man, I see that happen, especially in.
I like to joke around all thetime about sheds with shed guys
and say, let me guess what'syour dealer network?
Look like you got 50.
So probably your number one andyour number two guy are always
competing, or gal, you know, arealways competing for number one
.
Uh, and then you probably gotlike players, three, two, three
(04:35):
through ten that could be maybesomewhat movable.
You know they're kind of like.
You know three could move downto six and six up to three and
10 might move to six or viceversa.
Whatever you know, youtypically see that.
But then you've got like 40that you wouldn't know the
difference from one to the otherand probably two or three of
(04:56):
them that you should have let goof.
That you've just beenstruggling to let go of as a
dealer for six months becauseyou're such a good person and
you know.
So, like, and everyone laughs,and they say, wow, you nailed it
.
And I'm like, yeah, you takethat formula times 300 lots, 900
(05:18):
lots, three lots, whatever itis like, and it kind of holds
true, you know, and maybe that'sbecause there's not effective
training, maybe that's becausethere's not effective training,
maybe that's because there's notgood expectations.
Maybe that's because peopledon't see the buy in whenever
they get these things for free,you know.
Maybe there's just not anexcitement around it.
(05:39):
Where's the cream rising to thetop, like who are the ones who
are losing a sale?
To one of those occasional guyswho say I just want to sell a
building a month and I'm good,and they get in there and they
sell it and they give awaywhatever they got to give away
to get it sold because they'rehappy with that.
They made their extra thousandbucks, you know, and they're
(06:01):
good right Versus a professional.
That's why we started, you know, the steel sales professional
page.
Now the whole idea is to beprofessional, you know, and
sales is a professional careernowadays.
You know, there was a time whereyou got into marketing and then
all of a sudden you would.
You would fall into sales, youknow, but you didn't go to
(06:23):
school for sales.
Fall into sales, you know, butyou didn't go to school for
sales.
No one typically wakes up andsays you know, I want to be a
salesperson today or talks totheir guidance counselor about I
want to sell things, I want tosell ideas, service, products,
whatever it is.
It's kind of something you fallinto in most situations, and
that's definitely the case withsteel sales.
You know, usually got a rep thatcomes around and they find a
(06:44):
nice half acre lot high trafficcount.
They're like, you know, let mecheck these guys out.
Oh, these they seem like decentguys.
Let's say, we'll give you threeor four displays, you know,
free, no cost, and all you gotto do is do this and you get to
make this much money 10, 15percent, whatever it is money,
10, 15%, whatever it is andthere's either marginal
(07:08):
excitement and it never reallytakes root, or there's massive
excitement and they become thosenumber one dealers and they're
gambling.
They're gambling on.
You never know what you'regoing to get, but it doesn't
hurt to have this out therebecause it's exposure.
Either way.
It's a bill though, though.
Uh, some structures out therethrow a sign out there and it's
good advertising nonetheless,even if the dealer doesn't take
care of them and there's anumber on there, you know they
(07:30):
call corporate office andcorporate gets them sold on
something you know, but for theprofessionals out there who are
saying this is my livelihood,this is my living, this is what
I do, yeah, it burns to see theindustry.
You know you're as strong asyour weakest link, so it burns
to see the industry take a hit,you know, and that's why, like,
(07:53):
why do you do these podcasts?
Why do you do these?
This is free.
You know this is free.
Like our time is valuable, likeeveryone else's.
We believe in getting on hereto talk about these things and
create content, createconversation, to create thought,
to challenge thought to youknow all of these different
things so that it keeps theconversation going and
(08:17):
ultimately it betters anindustry, because there's more
cohesion whenever people aretalking.
So, it's not like just sit backand maintain my competitive
advantage and take the things Iknow.
I think there's a true intenthere to want to see the industry
improved through competitionconversations with competition.
(08:38):
I always say everyone I competewith in this.
If there's a company I competewith in this industry, they
always have an open invite onthe podcast.
You know why?
Because I'll never be in aposition to say I've told them
they can't come on or they can'tadvertise.
You know what I mean.
Like I invite the difficultconversations as long as they
(08:58):
stay constructive.
You know my mom used to tell mequit raising your voice and
raise your argument right, youknow.
Like you know, have a betterconversation.
We don't have to just get loudand mean we're selling sheds and
steel buildings.
We're not in gangs.
You know what I mean Like we canhave good, hard, productive
conversations.
That ultimately for a betterindustry and a better experience
(09:19):
for your dealers and a betterexperience for your customers
when we come together forconversation.
So, you know, my, my thought islike when, when and who do we
talk to about those things?
Hey, when do we stop justthrowing some steel buildings on
a random lot and hope that theguy's a winner?
You know what, what if weinvest in those 10% selling 90%
(09:41):
instead of the 90% selling 10?
I don't know.
Just a thought.
But yeah,
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Shannon Latham (11:16):
For me, I don't know a hard answer, Jared.
A lot of times I'll leave it.
Jared Ledford (11:22):
I think conversation, conversation and,
you know, constructive feedbackleads to collaboration.
Right, you know, down the roadthere might be two or three
bigger dealers that might wantto talk to Dayton Barns about
doing something on a realnational level.
You know, I think that that's,you know, I think that that's a
collaboration that could happen,because what we have right now
(11:44):
is we have these quasi bigdealers right, you know, Dayton
Barns is probably in you know avery high percentage of them.
But when you really look at thegross sales and you look at how
much we move the needle, we'renot any much bigger than you
know.
Probably another dozen or twodozen.
You know dealers across theUnited States.
We just advertise.
(12:05):
Well, we're professional andwe're good at what we do.
But I think for me, you know,for the dealers to really start
to have some power here, theyeither have to get together and
collaborate on how they're goingto better their own situations.
You know unions come to mindand all that kind of stuff.
We're a bunch of independentcontractors, we're a bunch of
(12:25):
just, you know, hard-nosedbuilding slingers and shed
slingers.
We're not going to be able toget much done that way, but if
we got together and collaborated, we might be able to be a
dealer network that then wouldhave more power to go to our
manufacturer and say, look,we're going to, we're going to
work together, we're going to.
You know, we're going to lockarms and we're going to work
together.
And you know what I'm going tocover over here.
(12:46):
They're going to cover overthere and they're going to cover
these parts, the problem thatwe've had, you know, w2 to 1099
and 1099 to W2, back and forth.
And if you're sitting out thereand you're working with
independent contractors on adealer lot, what you're going to
find and if you haven't alreadyseen it, you will they'll leave
and they'll go do their ownthing and they'll be selling for
(13:07):
$1,000 down payments.
Don't you worry, you will breed, you will absolutely create
your own demise and we've seenit.
I mean, I can tell you rightnow.
We've experienced it herefirsthand.
We've had 1099s leave over theyears and they go, start their
own metal building business andwe wish them well.
You know, we've never once eventhough we probably could have,
(13:30):
for using imagery and using ourlikeness and using exactly what
we use, we have never, ever goneafter an independent contractor
for trying to do their ownthing.
Now what we found more oftenthan not is it is a canned less
than version of Dayton Barnes.
You know they try to take oneor two things they like about it
and then make it their own, andwhat we end up finding out is
(13:53):
customers end up coming back toDayton Barnes.
That's what we find is becauseyou know, if you've worked with
Dayton Barns for a year let'sjust say anybody you've worked
with a dealer for a year yourlikeness, your branding, your
Facebook, your marketingsomething out there says you
were with Dayton Barnes or witha different dealer, and no
(14:16):
matter how hard you work toexpel that, the bigger dealers
tend to always win out on that.
But they will come after you,your own people that you trained
and taught how to do it and ithappens not just in steel
buildings but in shed sales tooto do it and it happens not just
in steel buildings but in shedsales too.
Shannon Latham (14:40):
Yeah, you're kind of hitting on something
that is a very near and dear tomy heart kind of experience that
I've had in the industry mybuddy Dylan, massive talent,
massive talent, very successfulinside of you know marketing,
even before we got specific tothe shed industry and I'll let
the cat out of the bag here, I'msure some of my shed listeners
(15:01):
listen to on Wednesdays, listento this episode or these
episodes too, on Monday.
But you know, I mean like itwas real simple.
I mean, and we're workingtogether and you together, I
lost a different partner that Ihad.
That stinks.
I hate the way that it happened.
It just is what it is.
People make choices.
(15:21):
You learn to adjust and dealwith those.
It's so interesting.
I remember Dylan saying man, Ican't get anywhere with these
guys.
Like you know, I don't knowwhat it is.
Come on the podcast.
I've had other advertisers,come on, I.
Come on people.
You know I've had some tell meman, you make up half of my
(15:41):
sales and advertising.
I have others say man, I didn'tget a lick from you.
Nobody, nobody's coming to thetable and it's like you know.
Well, you got to start measuring.
You know, thinking aboutmeasuring those ROIs, you know I
got to.
I'm getting into weeds here,but you know I got to.
I got a clickable link.
You know that clickable linkhas so many clicks on it.
Yeah, I can see those links.
But then I go to your websiteand see you got no GA4 tag, no
(16:03):
GTM.
You got nothing set up to beable to track not only what I'm
bringing you in terms of, youknow, like leads, but you don't
even know who's coming to yourwebsite in general.
Anyway, you know.
So I, you know I'm reaching thesame people.
We're encouraging the samepeople to always buy from our
advertisers at what lets us putup free advertising out there.
So, whether it's services orproducts, of course we're trying
(16:25):
to sell something.
We're going to try to sellsomething because those people
pay to get in front of theaudience, you know, and being
able to maintain that audience.
You've got to respect that.
So, like you know, I'm in yearfive now and year one.
You know your comment earlierabout, you know, unions.
You know I've had people tellme before oh, this guy's trying
to unionize this guy.
I would delete those and editthose out of the episodes
(16:47):
altogether because I was like Ididn't want the smoke from it.
You know what I mean.
Like I didn't want the smoke ofsomebody being like he's trying
to do this.
He's trying, trust me.
I've been accused of trying todo a lot of things that I'm not
capable of doing, you know, andit's one of those things where
I'm like, well, I don't know,it's the FOMO, it's the paranoia
, it's the protection mindset,mindset.
You know, I started this rantwith talking about Dylan.
(17:11):
You know, dude's so talented hestarted getting job offers
right off the bat.
I had one guy tell me you know,just tell me what you pay him.
I'll pay him 10 grand more, youknow.
And it's, it's wild for me tothink, but that's kind of
sometimes the mentality of theshed, and still space is like
you got something, I want it,and if I got more money I'm
going to get my way Right.
So, I've seen those situationshappen.
(17:32):
Don't get me wrong.
But you know there's a, there'sjust a place for conversation
of loyalty, like I remembertraining a guy who's a good
friend of mine on how to sellbuildings, and you see these
conversations all the time,Jared, you know what was the
conversation like?
What's what should I pay peoplewho sell for me?
And it's like, oh, you shouldpay them.
(17:53):
A mix of you know this fits inperfectly to the W2 1099
conversation.
Like, we gave the guy 1099.
He was there for three weeks.
He didn't sell a building.
He's like I can't keep doingthis.
I got a family, I got a feed.
You know, okay, I'm going tostart paying you a certain
amount of money and a certain,so I'm going to do a split.
You get a certain guarantee,but enough to only keep you
(18:15):
hungry to sell.
You know I can't pay you asmuch in commission now because
I'm giving you this guarantee.
Work, perfect, you learn how tosell.
He sold for a year.
Somebody come along and said,hey, I'll pay you X amount of
dollars per year.
Boom gone.
You know I'm upset, but I'm notupset because I'm happy for my
(18:35):
friend.
He got a good offer.
But that's typically just theway a lot of business works.
But in terms of like, loyalty,it's like oh man, you just got
to kind of deal with it, you,just you, you do deal with it,
you know.
And like you've got to offerenough value that like we
couldn't afford to pay him tokeep him.
Yeah, you know, we, we, we didall this.
You know, we taught him all ofthis, we.
He was ready to quit and he waslike this industry stinks.
(18:57):
I don't even want to be in it.
I can't sell anything.
Ain't sold nothing for threeweeks, became one of the best
sales people I saw.
You know, it's just a matter oflike, um, you know, I don't
know.
On that on, on that wholeloyalty thing and on the whole
people working with people thing, like I always want to see
people do better.
I never want to hold anybodyback for anything but, but I
(19:22):
think it's just, you know,people are just trying to
protect their investment.
I think that's all it reallyboils down to that.
You know, people, I heard aquote one time that said people
don't do things to you, they dothings for themselves and
whenever you like, acknowledgethat.
You know it takes a lot ofpressure off of you to realize
they're not doing anything toyou.
Being offended is always achoice, so they're doing things
(19:43):
for themselves.
You know, and, and, and I thinkI just rest with that, you know
, at the end of the day.
So, I'm not sure if that lessonin psychology made it across,
but that that is a that is areal conversation to even have
on 10, 99 and W2.
What do I pay it An employeewhenever they come on?
(20:05):
Am I paying workman's comp?
Are they actually, you know,w2,?
Are they under my umbrella?
You know, am I giving themenough to be hungry?
Are they satisfied just comingin every day and punching the
clock, doing the job, gettingout of here and going to the
ballgame?
You know I lost that luxurywhenever I jumped into this
thing full time, both feet first.
(20:26):
You know like I'm on the phoneeight hours a day.
You know I don't do any of theworking.
When people say you're doing somany things nowadays, you just
need to focus on one thing andI'm like, without sounding
arrogant.
First of all, all of these aresuccessful.
Our rent owns up 207%.
(20:47):
Our marketing's up 187%.
The relationship with J Moneyhas been excellent.
What they're seeing in financeand doing.
Love those guys.
You know e-commerce with ShedHub.
Now, the podcast on Mondays andFridays.
I mean, like you also got toremember, it's not me, there's a
team of you know 60 people thatI work with.
(21:08):
You know not 60 people thatwork for me directly, where I
just go and point fingers andsay, get to work, but 60 people
who are collaborators, who knowwhat to do and are willing to
work together and rise above thefray to say let's create a more
conducive environment togetherand a better experience for our
users.
Yeah, yeah, it's likerevolutionary, jerry.
(21:30):
Revolutionary.
It's just a matter of gettingout of your own way and being
willing to work with people tosay let's go seek the best
possible solution for all of usinstead of for one of us.
Jared Ledford (21:43):
Yeah, for all of us.
I'm a testament of your abilityto basically just engulf
somebody with your spirit,engulf somebody with your
motivation.
You know you didn't have toreach out to me.
We met in passing.
It could have been a passingmeeting moment and then we could
(22:04):
have never talked again.
And I think what I liked aboutyou is what you liked about me
is I didn't immediately ask youfor anything and I, you know you
didn't ask me for anythingeither.
We just made that interaction.
We had a really good, deep,heartfelt talk and just from
there it's butted into thisfriendship.
It's now, you know, we'reworking on owning a business
(22:26):
together.
We're working on doing allthese things together.
We're on a podcast now, youknow, and we're extending out
through our nucleus, through ournetwork, and now our nucleus is
becoming attached to othermoving parts, and that you know,
I get asked the same questionall the time Well, don't you
sell metal buildings?
Well, yeah, I sell metalbuildings, I sell sheds, I'm
getting into pole barns, I do apodcast.
(22:47):
You know, am I crazy?
Probably I don't sleep a lot.
You know, I'll be honest withyou.
You know I don't take any timeoff, you know.
I let I let the traveling, I letEric do the traveling for us
and I'm here pretty much everyday grinding it out with the
team.
I jump in.
I sell.
I jump out, I lead gen.
I jump back in.
I'm working on the shed lot.
I jumped back out.
(23:08):
I'm on a podcast with Shannon.
I mean this morning I wasstapling sales sheets to the
sheds a mile up the street fromour sales office.
I mean, I was out there pouringsweat.
Matter of fact, here's myt-shirt as proof.
I sweated through that thing.
It's a hot day, brother.
It's a humid hot day.
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Jared Ledford (24:47):
But I can tell you I do a little bit of
everything Shannon does too, butit's the ability to again have
a conversation with somebody andtake it somewhere to do amazing
things.
Um, I think we've got a reallygood point of view today.
Shannon brother, I want tofinish up with you.
(25:08):
I want to we're going to pencilthese in, probably once a month
, me and me and the shed geek.
Um, we'll probably jump over toShannon's podcast every once in
a while, but you know, on thestill Kings podcast, I think
Shannon brings a unique flavorto our team.
Um, we want to get you in herewith Eric.
Um, Eric is in, just so youguys know Eric's traveling in
Washington.
Um, he is out just moving andshaking.
(25:30):
He sold a couple of buildingson his trip, got a couple of
buildings on his trip, got acouple of pictures for us of
buildings that we've sold outWest and, uh, was doing some
really good work for me.
Shannon Latham (25:40):
I'm telling you, you guys are two of the best
that I've seen.
Do it and it's, it's all theaccolades that you say, they
don't go unnoticed.
But I'll tell you, man, my, myfavorite thing is celebrating
the wins of other people, youknow.
So, I love to see you guyswinning, I love to see other
people winning, zig Ziglar.
You know that mentality helpothers get what they want, so
(26:02):
you can get what you want.
You know, we're not seekingriches, man, like we're seeking
fulfillment and contentment.
You know, like that's mymindset is to always be seeking,
you know, to fill my purpose,to fill my passions, to not get
so content that you, you aren'thungry, but to not get so hungry
(26:23):
that you lose who you are withothers, to gain what it is you
feel like you want to achieve,like you want to achieve, so,
like it's a, it's a, it's a,it's a, it's a, it's a balancing
act, you know, and sometimesyou get it wrong and I'll be the
first to tell you I'll goapologize to someone If I, if I
agree that I got it wrong, I'llgo, I'll, I'll, I'll eat my hat,
you know, and I'll just tellpeople.
(26:46):
You know, I'm sorry I messedthat one up.
But, man, it's hard to doanything, Jared.
It's hard to commit to anylevel of anything.
Getting it, doing a podcast,starting a blog, you know.
Writing an article, uh,becoming a salesperson owning a
lot, you know.
Becoming that manager, you know, taking that VP job, whatever
(27:09):
it is that you're doing, youcan't do anything without
resistance and, honestly, man,like you're just going to get
the haters that come along withit and everything else.
You know what I have found?
No one hates.
No one hates it when you helpthem.
Yeah, just keep that.
No one hates it when you helpthem.
So, give them the data, givethem the proof, show them that
(27:31):
you can make a difference andpeople can start to warm up to
even the personalities thatthey're not necessarily in love
with.
You know, show people value.
Show people value and show themthat you're willing to give
them value first and collect onthat value later, and that,
right there, opens up the doorto a lot of possibilities.
Jared Ledford (27:53):
Yeah, brother, I I'm going to end it there.
I think you couldn't have saidit better.
I'm going to give you guys themotivator for the week.
I say this a lot Get out inyour community, be a good friend
to somebody, do something forsomebody else.
Like Shannon said, I reallywant to live by that creed in my
own life.
I love to help out in mycommunity.
I'm involved in my localmunicipalities park board.
(28:15):
I might even run for citycouncil.
Who knows if you're reallysitting back and thinking, man,
you know what I want to dosomething.
Get out there and do it.
Stop thinking about it.
You know Shannon wanted tostart a podcast.
He started a podcast.
Now he's on one with me.
You know here we are.
He just wanted to do it, so hedid it.
You know if you're sitting back,if you're sitting back.
(28:36):
Man, you can change the worldfor somebody tomorrow.
You can change somebody's life.
Shannon Latham (28:40):
Changed, my family's direction Changed.
You know, my son works with menow, my wife works with me, my
daughter works with me.
Like, who thought?
Who would have thought an ideawould turn into something?
You know, just by beingvulnerable enough to go out
there and say you know, dude, Idon't really know at all.
I want to interview the peoplewho do like.
(29:02):
The podcast is the perfectexample of the quote you saw
where it says if you're thejanitor, don't insult the CEO.
Take the CEO to lunch and findout what they know.
Because that's what I did was Itook all the CEOs to lunch by
going out and interviewing themand, dude, it opened up such a
(29:22):
world of opportunity for me thatI don't even know how to pay it
back.
I don't know who to thank, God,of course, but I'm just saying,
you know, I don't, I don't, Ican't say thank you enough
because it's just opened up somuch for me and my family.
Yeah, I have to be thankful.
Jared Ledford (29:39):
So, like, yeah, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cut
your motivation, no, no, I thinkyou know we can talk for hours
and we will talk for hours onthis podcast.
We will absolutely be back withmore useful content.
I want to give a quick shoutout at the end, like I always do
, to the team over at J Money.
They are our title sponsor forthe Steel Kings podcast.
(30:01):
They are going to help you outwith your financing needs.
If you're an independentcontractor working on home
improvement projects, dealers,manufacturers of steel and shed
options, pole barns, you name it, they'll help you out.
The team over at J Moneycontact Joel or Katie.
They'll help you out with whatyou need.
Shannon brother, we are going towrap it up for today on the
(30:23):
Steel Kings podcast.
Check out Shannon's show everyMonday on your preferred
podcasting listening device orYouTube and hit us up if you
need us.
I'm Jared.
That's Shannon.
I am part of the Steel Kingspodcast.
He is the shed geek and thepodfather of our network.
We appreciate you, guys, and wewill talk to you all soon.
Have a blessed day, guys.
Closing (30:47):
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 jmoneyllccom formore information.
Don't forget to catch the nextepisode.
We'll still be here.
Hey, this is Joel Oney at the J Money Studio in
the heart of the Buckeye State,and I want to personally welcome
you to today's episode of theSteel Kings Podcast with my good
friends Jared Ledford and EricOlson, better known to you as
the Steel Kings.
Be sure to check out jmoneyllc.
com for financing solutions foryour buildings.
(00:24):
And now let's get back to theSteel Kings podcast.
Jared Ledford (00:32):
Hey guys, this is Jared with the Steel Kings
podcast.
Wanted to let you know thattoday's episode is part two of a
two-part episode.
Go back to last week for partone.
We hope you enjoy part two.
So at the end of the day itreally comes down to for my guys
(00:54):
where the building's coming andwhere it's going, and we just
try to stick with that as ourrule of thumb, because if there
is a problem which more oftenthan not there's not I mean, we
sell a lot of buildings here wedo not run into a lot of issues
anymore, but when we do, it isso much easier to have that
customer get service from amanufacturer that's in their
backyard.
If we know that that customeris going to get a return trip
within three hours or less,we're that much more confident
(01:15):
that that return trip willhappen in a really speedy
process.
And really that's all you canask for.
People are understanding.
If you don't over promise andunder deliver, if you're sitting
there and you're selling metalbuildings, chances are I don't
care what a manufacturer says,they're not going to have your
building done in two weeks.
I just don't.
I don't buy that.
I don't believe it for a second.
(01:38):
I always tell my customers it'sgoing to be six weeks or less
once I get a site picture.
And I don't care if they'retelling me four weeks, three
weeks, two weeks, it's six weeksor less once I get a site
picture and I don't start thattimer until you get me that site
picture.
And again, not all themanufacturers require site
pictures, but I can tell you thesecond you sell a building, and
they go out to install it andthey can't because there's
(01:59):
something going on.
Is the first time.
You'll remember what I said sixweeks or less.
Once I get a site picture, Ihelp the customer set that up, I
send the site picture over tothe manufacturer and we work
together to get it on theschedule.
And I think a lot of what youget on the steel side is you get
what you get, and you give whatyou give.
And when you're talking to amanufacturer, if you're giving
(02:21):
them hey, I've got your orderform filled out for February.
I've got your order form filledout for February.
I've double checked the price,I've made sure that everything
is up to your exact expectationsand, by the way, I'm going to
keep in contact with my customer.
Make sure the process is smooth, please let me know if
something changes on your end,if there's something with their
(02:41):
drawings, if there's somethingwith the process, please let me
know so I can step in and kindof keep that going.
A lot of guys these days,Shannon, will advertise a
building online.
Let's say the building's 20,000bucks, let's say the average
down payment at 20% is gonna beabout 4K.
And they'll say, hey, todayI'll take $1,000 and I'll sell
the building.
And I can tell you that killseverybody.
(03:02):
That kills everybody.
It and I can tell you thatkills everybody.
That kills everybody.
It's the race to the bottom.
It devalues the product, itmakes everything worth less than
it actually is.
And at the end of the day nowyou're going to be the guy
that's giving out $1,000 downpayments and not that.
That's not great.
If you're a single man sittingin your basement or sitting in
(03:22):
your house and you're sellingmetal buildings, again more
power to you.
But think about what money youlose on the next deal.
Not everybody needs a thousanddollar down payment.
That's a promise.
Now there are people out therewho will absolutely fight tooth
and nail to get the cheapestprice and you're not going to
overcome those guys.
You're either going to sellthem at a discount or you're
going to let them walk, but atthe end of the day, we all have
to work together to bring thestandard level up a little bit.
(03:44):
And I think that jumps back towhat you said, Shannon.
I mean, I think that you haveso many dealers out there.
If manufacturers are trulydealing with a 10% 90% split,
the 10% the most talented sell90% of the product.
What about the 90% who sell 10%?
What about the bottleneck thatthat causes?
(04:05):
What about the customer serviceissues it causes?
Think about that.
What's your thoughts on thatone?
Shannon Latham (04:11):
Yeah, man, I see that happen, especially in.
I like to joke around all thetime about sheds with shed guys
and say, let me guess what'syour dealer network?
Look like you got 50.
So probably your number one andyour number two guy are always
competing, or gal, you know, arealways competing for number one
.
Uh, and then you probably gotlike players, three, two, three
(04:35):
through ten that could be maybesomewhat movable.
You know they're kind of like.
You know three could move downto six and six up to three and
10 might move to six or viceversa.
Whatever you know, youtypically see that.
But then you've got like 40that you wouldn't know the
difference from one to the otherand probably two or three of
(04:56):
them that you should have let goof.
That you've just beenstruggling to let go of as a
dealer for six months becauseyou're such a good person and
you know.
So, like, and everyone laughs,and they say, wow, you nailed it
.
And I'm like, yeah, you takethat formula times 300 lots, 900
(05:18):
lots, three lots, whatever itis like, and it kind of holds
true, you know, and maybe that'sbecause there's not effective
training, maybe that's becausethere's not effective training,
maybe that's because there's notgood expectations.
Maybe that's because peopledon't see the buy in whenever
they get these things for free,you know.
Maybe there's just not anexcitement around it.
(05:39):
Where's the cream rising to thetop, like who are the ones who
are losing a sale?
To one of those occasional guyswho say I just want to sell a
building a month and I'm good,and they get in there and they
sell it and they give awaywhatever they got to give away
to get it sold because they'rehappy with that.
They made their extra thousandbucks, you know, and they're
(06:01):
good right Versus a professional.
That's why we started, you know, the steel sales professional
page.
Now the whole idea is to beprofessional, you know, and
sales is a professional careernowadays.
You know, there was a time whereyou got into marketing and then
all of a sudden you would.
You would fall into sales, youknow, but you didn't go to
(06:23):
school for sales.
Fall into sales, you know, butyou didn't go to school for
sales.
No one typically wakes up andsays you know, I want to be a
salesperson today or talks totheir guidance counselor about I
want to sell things, I want tosell ideas, service, products,
whatever it is.
It's kind of something you fallinto in most situations, and
that's definitely the case withsteel sales.
You know, usually got a rep thatcomes around and they find a
(06:44):
nice half acre lot high trafficcount.
They're like, you know, let mecheck these guys out.
Oh, these they seem like decentguys.
Let's say, we'll give you threeor four displays, you know,
free, no cost, and all you gotto do is do this and you get to
make this much money 10, 15percent, whatever it is money,
10, 15%, whatever it is andthere's either marginal
(07:08):
excitement and it never reallytakes root, or there's massive
excitement and they become thosenumber one dealers and they're
gambling.
They're gambling on.
You never know what you'regoing to get, but it doesn't
hurt to have this out therebecause it's exposure.
Either way.
It's a bill though, though.
Uh, some structures out therethrow a sign out there and it's
good advertising nonetheless,even if the dealer doesn't take
care of them and there's anumber on there, you know they
(07:30):
call corporate office andcorporate gets them sold on
something you know, but for theprofessionals out there who are
saying this is my livelihood,this is my living, this is what
I do, yeah, it burns to see theindustry.
You know you're as strong asyour weakest link, so it burns
to see the industry take a hit,you know, and that's why, like,
(07:53):
why do you do these podcasts?
Why do you do these?
This is free.
You know this is free.
Like our time is valuable, likeeveryone else's.
We believe in getting on hereto talk about these things and
create content, createconversation, to create thought,
to challenge thought to youknow all of these different
things so that it keeps theconversation going and
(08:17):
ultimately it betters anindustry, because there's more
cohesion whenever people aretalking.
So, it's not like just sit backand maintain my competitive
advantage and take the things Iknow.
I think there's a true intenthere to want to see the industry
improved through competitionconversations with competition.
(08:38):
I always say everyone I competewith in this.
If there's a company I competewith in this industry, they
always have an open invite onthe podcast.
You know why?
Because I'll never be in aposition to say I've told them
they can't come on or they can'tadvertise.
You know what I mean.
Like I invite the difficultconversations as long as they
(08:58):
stay constructive.
You know my mom used to tell mequit raising your voice and
raise your argument right, youknow.
Like you know, have a betterconversation.
We don't have to just get loudand mean we're selling sheds and
steel buildings.
We're not in gangs.
You know what I mean Like we canhave good, hard, productive
conversations.
That ultimately for a betterindustry and a better experience
(09:19):
for your dealers and a betterexperience for your customers
when we come together forconversation.
So, you know, my, my thought islike when, when and who do we
talk to about those things?
Hey, when do we stop justthrowing some steel buildings on
a random lot and hope that theguy's a winner?
You know what, what if weinvest in those 10% selling 90%
(09:41):
instead of the 90% selling 10?
I don't know.
Just a thought.
But yeah,
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Shannon Latham (11:16):
For me, I don't know a hard answer, Jared.
A lot of times I'll leave it.
Jared Ledford (11:22):
I think conversation, conversation and,
you know, constructive feedbackleads to collaboration.
Right, you know, down the roadthere might be two or three
bigger dealers that might wantto talk to Dayton Barns about
doing something on a realnational level.
You know, I think that that's,you know, I think that that's a
collaboration that could happen,because what we have right now
(11:44):
is we have these quasi bigdealers right, you know, Dayton
Barns is probably in you know avery high percentage of them.
But when you really look at thegross sales and you look at how
much we move the needle, we'renot any much bigger than you
know.
Probably another dozen or twodozen.
You know dealers across theUnited States.
We just advertise.
(12:05):
Well, we're professional andwe're good at what we do.
But I think for me, you know,for the dealers to really start
to have some power here, theyeither have to get together and
collaborate on how they're goingto better their own situations.
You know unions come to mindand all that kind of stuff.
We're a bunch of independentcontractors, we're a bunch of
(12:25):
just, you know, hard-nosedbuilding slingers and shed
slingers.
We're not going to be able toget much done that way, but if
we got together and collaborated, we might be able to be a
dealer network that then wouldhave more power to go to our
manufacturer and say, look,we're going to, we're going to
work together, we're going to.
You know, we're going to lockarms and we're going to work
together.
And you know what I'm going tocover over here.
(12:46):
They're going to cover overthere and they're going to cover
these parts, the problem thatwe've had, you know, w2 to 1099
and 1099 to W2, back and forth.
And if you're sitting out thereand you're working with
independent contractors on adealer lot, what you're going to
find and if you haven't alreadyseen it, you will they'll leave
and they'll go do their ownthing and they'll be selling for
(13:07):
$1,000 down payments.
Don't you worry, you will breed, you will absolutely create
your own demise and we've seenit.
I mean, I can tell you rightnow.
We've experienced it herefirsthand.
We've had 1099s leave over theyears and they go, start their
own metal building business andwe wish them well.
You know, we've never once eventhough we probably could have,
(13:30):
for using imagery and using ourlikeness and using exactly what
we use, we have never, ever goneafter an independent contractor
for trying to do their ownthing.
Now what we found more oftenthan not is it is a canned less
than version of Dayton Barnes.
You know they try to take oneor two things they like about it
and then make it their own, andwhat we end up finding out is
(13:53):
customers end up coming back toDayton Barnes.
That's what we find is becauseyou know, if you've worked with
Dayton Barns for a year let'sjust say anybody you've worked
with a dealer for a year yourlikeness, your branding, your
Facebook, your marketingsomething out there says you
were with Dayton Barnes or witha different dealer, and no
(14:16):
matter how hard you work toexpel that, the bigger dealers
tend to always win out on that.
But they will come after you,your own people that you trained
and taught how to do it and ithappens not just in steel
buildings but in shed sales tooto do it and it happens not just
in steel buildings but in shedsales too.
Shannon Latham (14:40):
Yeah, you're kind of hitting on something
that is a very near and dear tomy heart kind of experience that
I've had in the industry mybuddy Dylan, massive talent,
massive talent, very successfulinside of you know marketing,
even before we got specific tothe shed industry and I'll let
the cat out of the bag here, I'msure some of my shed listeners
(15:01):
listen to on Wednesdays, listento this episode or these
episodes too, on Monday.
But you know, I mean like itwas real simple.
I mean, and we're workingtogether and you together, I
lost a different partner that Ihad.
That stinks.
I hate the way that it happened.
It just is what it is.
People make choices.
(15:21):
You learn to adjust and dealwith those.
It's so interesting.
I remember Dylan saying man, Ican't get anywhere with these
guys.
Like you know, I don't knowwhat it is.
Come on the podcast.
I've had other advertisers,come on, I.
Come on people.
You know I've had some tell meman, you make up half of my
(15:41):
sales and advertising.
I have others say man, I didn'tget a lick from you.
Nobody, nobody's coming to thetable and it's like you know.
Well, you got to start measuring.
You know, thinking aboutmeasuring those ROIs, you know I
got to.
I'm getting into weeds here,but you know I got to.
I got a clickable link.
You know that clickable linkhas so many clicks on it.
Yeah, I can see those links.
But then I go to your websiteand see you got no GA4 tag, no
(16:03):
GTM.
You got nothing set up to beable to track not only what I'm
bringing you in terms of, youknow, like leads, but you don't
even know who's coming to yourwebsite in general.
Anyway, you know.
So I, you know I'm reaching thesame people.
We're encouraging the samepeople to always buy from our
advertisers at what lets us putup free advertising out there.
So, whether it's services orproducts, of course we're trying
(16:25):
to sell something.
We're going to try to sellsomething because those people
pay to get in front of theaudience, you know, and being
able to maintain that audience.
You've got to respect that.
So, like you know, I'm in yearfive now and year one.
You know your comment earlierabout, you know, unions.
You know I've had people tellme before oh, this guy's trying
to unionize this guy.
I would delete those and editthose out of the episodes
(16:47):
altogether because I was like Ididn't want the smoke from it.
You know what I mean.
Like I didn't want the smoke ofsomebody being like he's trying
to do this.
He's trying, trust me.
I've been accused of trying todo a lot of things that I'm not
capable of doing, you know, andit's one of those things where
I'm like, well, I don't know,it's the FOMO, it's the paranoia
, it's the protection mindset,mindset.
You know, I started this rantwith talking about Dylan.
(17:11):
You know, dude's so talented hestarted getting job offers
right off the bat.
I had one guy tell me you know,just tell me what you pay him.
I'll pay him 10 grand more, youknow.
And it's, it's wild for me tothink, but that's kind of
sometimes the mentality of theshed, and still space is like
you got something, I want it,and if I got more money I'm
going to get my way Right.
So, I've seen those situationshappen.
(17:32):
Don't get me wrong.
But you know there's a, there'sjust a place for conversation
of loyalty, like I remembertraining a guy who's a good
friend of mine on how to sellbuildings, and you see these
conversations all the time,Jared, you know what was the
conversation like?
What's what should I pay peoplewho sell for me?
And it's like, oh, you shouldpay them.
(17:53):
A mix of you know this fits inperfectly to the W2 1099
conversation.
Like, we gave the guy 1099.
He was there for three weeks.
He didn't sell a building.
He's like I can't keep doingthis.
I got a family, I got a feed.
You know, okay, I'm going tostart paying you a certain
amount of money and a certain,so I'm going to do a split.
You get a certain guarantee,but enough to only keep you
(18:15):
hungry to sell.
You know I can't pay you asmuch in commission now because
I'm giving you this guarantee.
Work, perfect, you learn how tosell.
He sold for a year.
Somebody come along and said,hey, I'll pay you X amount of
dollars per year.
Boom gone.
You know I'm upset, but I'm notupset because I'm happy for my
(18:35):
friend.
He got a good offer.
But that's typically just theway a lot of business works.
But in terms of like, loyalty,it's like oh man, you just got
to kind of deal with it, you,just you, you do deal with it,
you know.
And like you've got to offerenough value that like we
couldn't afford to pay him tokeep him.
Yeah, you know, we, we, we didall this.
You know, we taught him all ofthis, we.
He was ready to quit and he waslike this industry stinks.
(18:57):
I don't even want to be in it.
I can't sell anything.
Ain't sold nothing for threeweeks, became one of the best
sales people I saw.
You know, it's just a matter oflike, um, you know, I don't
know.
On that on, on that wholeloyalty thing and on the whole
people working with people thing, like I always want to see
people do better.
I never want to hold anybodyback for anything but, but I
(19:22):
think it's just, you know,people are just trying to
protect their investment.
I think that's all it reallyboils down to that.
You know, people, I heard aquote one time that said people
don't do things to you, they dothings for themselves and
whenever you like, acknowledgethat.
You know it takes a lot ofpressure off of you to realize
they're not doing anything toyou.
Being offended is always achoice, so they're doing things
(19:43):
for themselves.
You know, and, and, and I thinkI just rest with that, you know
, at the end of the day.
So, I'm not sure if that lessonin psychology made it across,
but that that is a that is areal conversation to even have
on 10, 99 and W2.
What do I pay it An employeewhenever they come on?
(20:05):
Am I paying workman's comp?
Are they actually, you know,w2,?
Are they under my umbrella?
You know, am I giving themenough to be hungry?
Are they satisfied just comingin every day and punching the
clock, doing the job, gettingout of here and going to the
ballgame?
You know I lost that luxurywhenever I jumped into this
thing full time, both feet first.
(20:26):
You know like I'm on the phoneeight hours a day.
You know I don't do any of theworking.
When people say you're doing somany things nowadays, you just
need to focus on one thing andI'm like, without sounding
arrogant.
First of all, all of these aresuccessful.
Our rent owns up 207%.
(20:47):
Our marketing's up 187%.
The relationship with J Moneyhas been excellent.
What they're seeing in financeand doing.
Love those guys.
You know e-commerce with ShedHub.
Now, the podcast on Mondays andFridays.
I mean, like you also got toremember, it's not me, there's a
team of you know 60 people thatI work with.
(21:08):
You know not 60 people thatwork for me directly, where I
just go and point fingers andsay, get to work, but 60 people
who are collaborators, who knowwhat to do and are willing to
work together and rise above thefray to say let's create a more
conducive environment togetherand a better experience for our
users.
Yeah, yeah, it's likerevolutionary, jerry.
(21:30):
Revolutionary.
It's just a matter of gettingout of your own way and being
willing to work with people tosay let's go seek the best
possible solution for all of usinstead of for one of us.
Jared Ledford (21:43):
Yeah, for all of us.
I'm a testament of your abilityto basically just engulf
somebody with your spirit,engulf somebody with your
motivation.
You know you didn't have toreach out to me.
We met in passing.
It could have been a passingmeeting moment and then we could
(22:04):
have never talked again.
And I think what I liked aboutyou is what you liked about me
is I didn't immediately ask youfor anything and I, you know you
didn't ask me for anythingeither.
We just made that interaction.
We had a really good, deep,heartfelt talk and just from
there it's butted into thisfriendship.
It's now, you know, we'reworking on owning a business
(22:26):
together.
We're working on doing allthese things together.
We're on a podcast now, youknow, and we're extending out
through our nucleus, through ournetwork, and now our nucleus is
becoming attached to othermoving parts, and that you know,
I get asked the same questionall the time Well, don't you
sell metal buildings?
Well, yeah, I sell metalbuildings, I sell sheds, I'm
getting into pole barns, I do apodcast.
(22:47):
You know, am I crazy?
Probably I don't sleep a lot.
You know, I'll be honest withyou.
You know I don't take any timeoff, you know.
I let I let the traveling, I letEric do the traveling for us
and I'm here pretty much everyday grinding it out with the
team.
I jump in.
I sell.
I jump out, I lead gen.
I jump back in.
I'm working on the shed lot.
I jumped back out.
(23:08):
I'm on a podcast with Shannon.
I mean this morning I wasstapling sales sheets to the
sheds a mile up the street fromour sales office.
I mean, I was out there pouringsweat.
Matter of fact, here's myt-shirt as proof.
I sweated through that thing.
It's a hot day, brother.
It's a humid hot day.
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Jared Ledford (24:47):
But I can tell you I do a little bit of
everything Shannon does too, butit's the ability to again have
a conversation with somebody andtake it somewhere to do amazing
things.
Um, I think we've got a reallygood point of view today.
Shannon brother, I want tofinish up with you.
(25:08):
I want to we're going to pencilthese in, probably once a month
, me and me and the shed geek.
Um, we'll probably jump over toShannon's podcast every once in
a while, but you know, on thestill Kings podcast, I think
Shannon brings a unique flavorto our team.
Um, we want to get you in herewith Eric.
Um, Eric is in, just so youguys know Eric's traveling in
Washington.
Um, he is out just moving andshaking.
(25:30):
He sold a couple of buildingson his trip, got a couple of
buildings on his trip, got acouple of pictures for us of
buildings that we've sold outWest and, uh, was doing some
really good work for me.
Shannon Latham (25:40):
I'm telling you, you guys are two of the best
that I've seen.
Do it and it's, it's all theaccolades that you say, they
don't go unnoticed.
But I'll tell you, man, my, myfavorite thing is celebrating
the wins of other people, youknow.
So, I love to see you guyswinning, I love to see other
people winning, zig Ziglar.
You know that mentality helpothers get what they want, so
(26:02):
you can get what you want.
You know, we're not seekingriches, man, like we're seeking
fulfillment and contentment.
You know, like that's mymindset is to always be seeking,
you know, to fill my purpose,to fill my passions, to not get
so content that you, you aren'thungry, but to not get so hungry
(26:23):
that you lose who you are withothers, to gain what it is you
feel like you want to achieve,like you want to achieve, so,
like it's a, it's a, it's a,it's a, it's a, it's a balancing
act, you know, and sometimesyou get it wrong and I'll be the
first to tell you I'll goapologize to someone If I, if I
agree that I got it wrong, I'llgo, I'll, I'll, I'll eat my hat,
you know, and I'll just tellpeople.
(26:46):
You know, I'm sorry I messedthat one up.
But, man, it's hard to doanything, Jared.
It's hard to commit to anylevel of anything.
Getting it, doing a podcast,starting a blog, you know.
Writing an article, uh,becoming a salesperson owning a
lot, you know.
Becoming that manager, you know, taking that VP job, whatever
(27:09):
it is that you're doing, youcan't do anything without
resistance and, honestly, man,like you're just going to get
the haters that come along withit and everything else.
You know what I have found?
No one hates.
No one hates it when you helpthem.
Yeah, just keep that.
No one hates it when you helpthem.
So, give them the data, givethem the proof, show them that
(27:31):
you can make a difference andpeople can start to warm up to
even the personalities thatthey're not necessarily in love
with.
You know, show people value.
Show people value and show themthat you're willing to give
them value first and collect onthat value later, and that,
right there, opens up the doorto a lot of possibilities.
Jared Ledford (27:53):
Yeah, brother, I I'm going to end it there.
I think you couldn't have saidit better.
I'm going to give you guys themotivator for the week.
I say this a lot Get out inyour community, be a good friend
to somebody, do something forsomebody else.
Like Shannon said, I reallywant to live by that creed in my
own life.
I love to help out in mycommunity.
I'm involved in my localmunicipalities park board.
(28:15):
I might even run for citycouncil.
Who knows if you're reallysitting back and thinking, man,
you know what I want to dosomething.
Get out there and do it.
Stop thinking about it.
You know Shannon wanted tostart a podcast.
He started a podcast.
Now he's on one with me.
You know here we are.
He just wanted to do it, so hedid it.
You know if you're sitting back,if you're sitting back.
(28:36):
Man, you can change the worldfor somebody tomorrow.
You can change somebody's life.
Shannon Latham (28:40):
Changed, my family's direction Changed.
You know, my son works with menow, my wife works with me, my
daughter works with me.
Like, who thought?
Who would have thought an ideawould turn into something?
You know, just by beingvulnerable enough to go out
there and say you know, dude, Idon't really know at all.
I want to interview the peoplewho do like.
(29:02):
The podcast is the perfectexample of the quote you saw
where it says if you're thejanitor, don't insult the CEO.
Take the CEO to lunch and findout what they know.
Because that's what I did was Itook all the CEOs to lunch by
going out and interviewing themand, dude, it opened up such a
(29:22):
world of opportunity for me thatI don't even know how to pay it
back.
I don't know who to thank, God,of course, but I'm just saying,
you know, I don't, I don't, Ican't say thank you enough
because it's just opened up somuch for me and my family.
Yeah, I have to be thankful.
Jared Ledford (29:39):
So, like, yeah, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cut
your motivation, no, no, I thinkyou know we can talk for hours
and we will talk for hours onthis podcast.
We will absolutely be back withmore useful content.
I want to give a quick shoutout at the end, like I always do
, to the team over at J Money.
They are our title sponsor forthe Steel Kings podcast.
(30:01):
They are going to help you outwith your financing needs.
If you're an independentcontractor working on home
improvement projects, dealers,manufacturers of steel and shed
options, pole barns, you name it, they'll help you out.
The team over at J Moneycontact Joel or Katie.
They'll help you out with whatyou need.
Shannon brother, we are going towrap it up for today on the
(30:23):
Steel Kings podcast.
Check out Shannon's show everyMonday on your preferred
podcasting listening device orYouTube and hit us up if you
need us.
I'm Jared.
That's Shannon.
I am part of the Steel Kingspodcast.
He is the shed geek and thepodfather of our network.
We appreciate you, guys, and wewill talk to you all soon.
Have a blessed day, guys.
Closing (30:47):
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 jmoneyllccom formore information.
Don't forget to catch the nextepisode.
We'll still be here.
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