June 30, 2025 • 52 mins
What happens when two metal building dealers pull back the curtain on their real lives? This episode takes a refreshingly candid approach as Jared and Eric share what actually drives them beyond business.
The conversation kicks off with Jared explaining how he found unexpected motivation from "Power Moves with Shaquille O'Neal" on Netflix. Watching Shaquille O'Neal and Allen Iverson rebuild the Reebok brand sparked a reflection on his own entrepreneurial journey from shed lot newbie to industry voice. Rather than keeping business and personal separate, the hosts weave them together, demonstrating how passion fuels sustainable success regardless of your industry.
In a rare glimpse behind the operational curtain, listeners get to witness Jared craft a complex building quote in real-time for a 60×120 structure in Choctaw, Oklahoma. The multi-step process showcases exactly how pricing decisions get made and highlights why responsive customer service matters more than ever during uncertain economic times. As steel tariffs drive prices up 50% industry-wide, the hosts predict customers will increasingly prioritize reputable dealers over bargain-basement pricing.
Perhaps the most significant revelation is the Steel Kings' expansion into pole barns after years of consideration. With concrete regulations tightening in Ohio (now requiring 32-inch footers throughout entire structures) and prices skyrocketing, pole barns present a strategic alternative that many customers find attractive. This business pivot comes alongside Jared's personal transformation – his 18-month sobriety journey that has redirected energy back into growing the business.
Want a glimpse of what successful dealers discuss when they think no one's listening? This episode delivers exactly that while reminding you that behind every business are real people battling real challenges. Subscribe now and join the conversation about where the industry is heading next.
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.
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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.
Jared Ledford (00:31):
Hey, what's up guys?
This is Jared and Eric.
We are the Steel Kings.
Welcome back to another podcastwith us, Eric.
It is a beautiful Monday.
This is episode number 17.
And we're just hanging out.
We're just hanging out today.
What are you up?
to man.
How are you yeah?
Eric Olson (00:48):
bro, I, you know you , you hit go on the on the music
.
And I got a text message from aprevious customer from two
years ago who just texted me andsaid the shop I have is still
doing perfect and doing great.
I need a 60 by 120 by 20 inChoctaw, Oklahoma, all right,
(01:09):
that is a big
Jared Ledford (01:11):
Choctaw Oklahoma.
it is man.
Eric Olson (01:14):
I feel like I'm Tim McGraw song.
Jared Ledford (01:16):
Yeah, bro, like an Indian outlaw kind of vibe.
Eric Olson (01:19):
Yeah, Indian outlaw.
Jared Ledford (01:21):
A little 90s country vibe.
Yeah, I'm doing really goodtoday.
Doing I am doing really goodtoday, man, I'm enjoying my
Monday Um we are getting.
We are getting busier.
Um, we talked about steeltariffs last week.
We're going to hang out alittle bit with you this week.
Um, we're just going to showyou kind of a behind the scenes
kind of look at what we do.
Um, one thing I wanted to givea quick shout out at the
(01:41):
beginning of the episode.
So, one thing I wanted to givea quick shout out at the
beginning of the episode ourstudio sponsors, J Money.
Look, J Money started with Joel.
He's a farm kid from NorthernOhio.
He turned his passion forbuilding and banking into a
mission to help craftsmen growtheir businesses with smart and
simple financing.
If you sell steel, buildingsheds or any home improvement
(02:02):
service, J Money gives you andyour customers the power to say
yes, even when the cash is tight.
And we know the cash is tightright now, don't we?
Eric?
Eric Olson (02:10):
Yeah, it's up.
The steel tariffs are tight 50%increase about five days ago to
June 9th today.
Jared Ledford (02:18):
So, check out the team over at jmoneyllc.
com and get those paymentsolutions and get those great
results for your customers.
Man, I got to tell you we don'tnormally talk about this stuff,
but one thing that I wasexcited about and I know not
everybody's got Netflix, but wewere talking about a new show,
power Moves with ShaquilleO'Neal so that got me a little
(02:40):
bit motivated to talk at thebeginning of the episode what
gets you guys motivated?
What do you guys listen to?
What do you watch?
What gets you moving whenyou're not talking about steel
buildings and wood sheds?
I sat down and powered throughI think it's six or seven
episodes Just a couple guys whogrew up playing basketball Now
(03:00):
they're rebranding the companyReebok, and Eric and I were
talking offline, you know, justkind of reminiscing about being
young and wanting a new pair ofshoes, and you know, I just
thought that was something I'dshare with you guys If you guys
are Netflix fans or if youstream or watch anything.
Uh, check out power moves withShaquille O'Neal.
I it really motivated me, mademe feel good Like those guys.
(03:21):
Uh, Shaquille O'Neal and AllenIverson, they're getting back
into an industry that theyreally love, which is shoes and
apparel, and I know that that'snot sheds and metal buildings.
But like I couldn't feel anymore motivated today just to
like see somebody else and Iknow, trust me, Shaquille O'Neal
is like a multimillionaire, sois Allen Iverson.
I'm sure they get whatever theywant, right, but like they're
(03:46):
grinding, they're grinding, youknow they're grinding and it
like motivated me a little bitto like be excited today and
like just say, like man, Ireally love what I do Selling
wood sheds and metal buildingsand we're getting into pole
barns.
Like I am just jazzed up today,man, I'm feeling good.
Eric Olson (04:00):
So, but so what?
So?
So, it's Alan, Alan Iverson andShaq.
Are you know shack?
You know shack's big claim tofame when, when he got his shoe
deal with reebok, um, he, he, hewas you remember he, he comes
from you know sub, you know apoor background.
(04:21):
And yeah, um, and he wasfrustrated with how, uh,
expensive shoes were and so hecame up with the shack brand.
Originally, yeah, and, um, andhe was selling super cheap shoes
at Walmart because he wantedeverybody to be able to if they
want to wear shoes, they want.
He wanted them to be able toafford, um, his shoe brand.
(04:42):
So, he struck a deal withWalmart, and I think, I think
that was his initial, you know.
So, I think he, he owns a claimto fat, he owns forever 21,
which is like a chick store.
Jared Ledford (04:53):
Yeah, he dude, he owns every.
He owns Eddie Bauer, Nautica.
Like, if you really dig into it,dude he his apparel company,
his app companies like this yeah, this conglomerate, right, and
they own all these businessesand you know, I was just I just
wanted to share that with youguys that, like this is just one
guy and he started from nothing.
He was obviously anexceptionally talented
(05:15):
basketball player, um, but likethis is a guy who believes in
what he's doing, has all kindsof avenues, and I mean it took
one guy and now he's doing allthese crazy and cool things and
like motivating the guy like mewho sells metal buildings and
wood sheds on a Monday, um,coming off of a weekend, and you
know, it's just one of thosethings, man, I thought I'd share
that with you.
Um, and it's probably not foreverybody, but you know it's a
(05:37):
cool show.
You know, Shaq is literally thepresident of Reebok basketball
now and he's like a shot callerfor a company that signed him
when he was like 20 years old toendorse their shoes and I just
thought, man, how cool is that?
Like, maybe one day the steelKings will be like officially
taken over a metal buildingmanufacturer which said
(05:57):
manufactured, saying like hey,you know, this is where we came
from.
We started as two guys sittingon a shed lot.
You know, Eric did it before me.
He found me, I bought a metalbuilding and, like, bro, we're
getting into pole barns.
I'm super excited about that.
Um, we are absolutely thrilledand excited about what we're
doing on that side of thebusiness.
(06:18):
Oh yeah, definitely actuallymanufacturing things, like
actually a part of the processof like getting these things.
When we say from start tofinish, we mean it right.
Like we source the leads, wesell the product, we work to get
the product scheduled and getthe materials supplied and then
we work with contractors to getbuildings put up.
I mean it is an exciting timeliterally to be alive for us.
(06:41):
And I just thought, man, on aMonday morning, if you're
feeling blue, you know, get outand do something, man, cause I'm
telling you, staying positive,positive mental attitude has
been good for me this lastcouple of years.
Eric Olson (06:53):
Yeah.
Jared Ledford (06:55):
I talked to you on a treadmill this morning, my
bad.
Eric Olson (06:57):
Man, I was on a treadmill, yeah we're both,
we're both, we're both tryingthey opened up a plan of fitness
in in Springboro and it's uhand it I.
I was going to the Middletownone, which is kind of far, but
now Springboro, man, and youknow Springboro is like yuppie-
ish and it's like, yeah, you'vegot everything.
(07:19):
You've got a super Kroger, aStarbucks, a plan of fitness, a
car wash, like of them, likereally good car washes.
You know like people scrub yourvehicle.
Jared Ledford (07:29):
Like that actually takes the dirt, that
actually gets the bird poop off.
Eric Olson (07:32):
Yeah, yeah.
So, like I go to that thing, Imean I get a Starbucks, I go to
the gym, I get a Starbucks, I goright to the drive through and
then I hit Kroger on the wayhome and then I throw it on my
Blackstone.
It's like it's a nice, it's anice gig.
You know chatting with my bestbud about what we're doing, you
know, and I think you know to,in the spirit of
entrepreneurship, it's like, youknow, shack, shack.
(07:54):
Does he need to work?
Probably not, you know.
And could we just sell woodsheds?
Me, and you probably.
Could we just sell steelstructures?
Yeah, probably, um, but we arequesting to do everything that
you could.
I'm not putting red iron outfor any reason, but maybe that
ends up being some sort of thinglater in life too.
Jared Ledford (08:16):
Quick shout out If you're a red iron supplier
and you're looking for a dealer,give us a shout.
I think what I've beenmotivated about and what really
motivated me about that showsexactly and I was hoping that
you would say that.
I was really hoping that youwould say that because it gets
to a point in your lives whereyou can do for yourself right
and you can make money, andthat's great and money's, you
(08:37):
know, money will get you whatyou think you want.
But like it's so much more funto do it with other people and
empower them to do the same andgive people opportunities.
And that's what I love aboutworking with you, Eric, is
you've given us this opportunityto like take what you struggled
to learn something that youweren't any good at.
I mean, you've been, you'vebeen, you know, pretty open
(08:59):
about that.
Like, look, Eric learned itfrom nothing sauce.
Eric showed up at a shed lot,probably didn't even know the
first thing about a shed and
Eric Olson (09:08):
uh, you know for the record, I cried on my first day
because I was like what, whatam I doing here?
I don't know what I'm doing
Jared Ledford (09:18):
And like we're sitting back now I'm like, just
like Eric saying we're havinggood times.
You know Eric's out, traveling,enjoying, enjoying his new wife
and, you know, living his bestlife.
We talked about the revivallast week.
Eric's going to have a coolepisode coming your way with a
little bit more about what hedoes and a little bit more about
him personally.
And I will too, because I think, sharing that with you guys,
the feedback that I get you knowwe read the comments, we get
(09:41):
the emails.
You know I'm the fat, bald guy,we read the comments, we get
the emails.
You know I'm the fat, bald guy.
You know I'm thinning upstairs,my hair is a little bit gray,
whatever else.
But, like you know, the fact ofthe matter is I'm just a guy
like you, selling metalbuildings, having a good time,
and I want this podcast to befun and exciting and we're not
(10:02):
always going to get on here andjust talk about wood sheds and
metal buildings, like that is afact.
Eric and I have talked aboutthis and we want to shoot, just
shoot with you guys, like thisis what we do on a day to day
basis.
Like we talked about it before,we don't get a whole lot of
time to just hang out.
We're best friends.
Um, I think we both stay intouch with you as much as we can
, but, like I just was, I wasjust talking to Eric offline.
I'm like, bro, I got all thisstuff I want to tell you.
(10:23):
I feel like I haven't talked toyou.
So let's just talk on thepodcast, let's just talk to the
people we're hanging todayForget about it, that's right.
Eric Olson (10:31):
We're hanging today.
You can see I'm distracted alittle bit, it's mainly because
I'm chasing this.
It's a 60 by 120 by 20 barndough shop.
He wants 12 by 46 lean to wraparound porch Three 12 by 12, one
14 by 14, seven walk-in frameouts to 14 by 12.
(10:52):
Gable porch overhead doors 26gauge sheet metal, 12 gauge
frame and that sounds like ahealthy lead in chalk talk.
And try yeah, it's junk, thoughit sounds like a healthy lead.
I talk, yeah and try yeah, it'sjunk, though it sounds like a
healthy lead.
Uh, I am not sure I'm.
I'm like I'm doing it because,like we're, if we're just
ripping this episode, it's likeI hope by the end of this I got
(11:15):
a price to throw out to theaudience right now.
I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm into the.
I got the wraparounds done anduh, so anyways, yeah, I'll.
Jared Ledford (11:24):
No, it's funny because it was funny because on
the on last week's episode, Iwas looking around.
So, for those of you that don'tunderstand, I'm on a green
screen right now.
Normally I stand right where Iam on my green screen right now,
I'm in an office.
So, our lead generator hadmajor back surgery and I'm
talking like major back surgery.
So, I've been in, I've beenback in the cockpit working
(11:45):
leads.
So, I'm in the office today and, like those of you that can't
see, like, got a screen here,got a screen there, got a screen
over here, so I'm screened out.
I've got an iPad.
You know I'm filtering leads.
Like that's what I was doing onthe last episode.
If you catch my head drifting,I'm watching Facebook, I'm
watching meta, I'm watchingFacebook, I'm watching meta, I'm
(12:10):
watching the Google ads, I'mwatching it all and I'm
filtering leads out to the team.
So, I was just thinking withEric when we were talking
offline.
I'm like let's just work, likelet's just kind of just go
through the motions, right?
I mean, if you're sitting therelistening to us, you know we're
not just podcast personalities,we're not just metal building
salesmen.
You know Eric's a husband, he'san uncle, you know he's got a
lot of stuff going on in hispersonal life.
I'm a dad, you know I love mykids.
(12:31):
I am busy all the time.
I am trying to stay focused onme.
You know my last couple ofyears my journey has been kind
of rough right, and the Barneshas been my saving grace and a
lot of times it's laying on Ericand Eric laying on me, like all
the burdens of the day or theweek or the month or the year or
the whatever, and gettingthrough it.
(12:53):
And I thought, man, you know Iwant to be real with you guys
today a little bit.
I just want to.
You know, you know we talkedabout it last week.
Our business is right where wewant it to be.
We're in the pocket, we'reexpanding but, like our middle
building sales are not wherethey need to be and I know that
we're not the only ones outthere and I don't want to ever
come across like we're betterbecause we're not.
(13:14):
We're exactly like you.
We were in your shoes.
Um, I know there are people onthis call we could learn from,
people on this podcast that arewatching us that we could learn
from.
I'm asking you I'm literallygoing to extend my handout and
give you a virtual handshake.
I am Jared at the Steel Kings.
He is Eric at the Steel Kings.
Drop us an email.
We'd love to talk to you guys.
We'd love to get you on herewith us to hang out for half an
(13:36):
hour 45 minutes.
Talk about you, talk about yourbusiness, talk about Steel.
That's how I got to knowShannon was just having these
kind of one-off conversationsand, like you know, having given
a shout out to Shannon recently, but like Shannon, giving us
the platform to be with you guysand share with you guys, he
just cut it loose, cut it looseyeah, yeah, you know he said
(13:59):
share with the people what youwant to share with them, and
today is the day when we'regoing to kind of pull back the
veil a little bit.
You know I'm sitting hereworking leads.
I think today we have gotten.
Let's see here we're about 35deep right now 17, 23.
We're we're like 23 for 35 onconversions, which is solid.
(14:21):
We're getting good SEO tractiontoday.
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Eric Olson (15:55):
One shed at a time.
Let's take a look at GoogleConsoles.
Something that, with the steeltariffs that we've been
definitely in communication with, is that I think people are
going to return back tobusinesses for their metal
building purchases.
I think that the scams aregoing to return back to
businesses for their metalbuilding purchases.
I think that the scams aregoing to increase online, which
(16:17):
is going to force people to goback to Better Business Bureau
and stop looking for the bestdeal and start looking for the
best company to actually dealwith, like somebody that's going
to like reply.
And, I'm the testimony, I'm, I'mtalking to a guy that bought
from me that he wants to buy forme, bought from Dayton Barns
and, um, people are going toreturn back to their shopping
(16:40):
habits of probably not racing tothe bottom.
I'm not looking for the bestdeal.
Uh, is kind of the vibe I'm.
I think we're starting to seethat a little bit more because
our leads are increasing.
I asked the team, I think, lastI remember what day Tuesday or
Wednesday and I just simply putare the phone calls below about
(17:01):
the same or more?
And basically everybody saidthe same thing.
They have definitely increased,not sure how much, but it's
definitely obvious that they'veincreased and that means that
the traffic to not only ourwebsite but really people coming
to a company rather than aperson is now increasing, and I
think that that's a good sign,because not that you shouldn't
(17:24):
sell stuff off marketplace,because that's pretty much how I
get my leads Going back to acompany that's got a strong
reputation is a solid choice ifyou're trying to buy a metal
building.
Jared Ledford (17:36):
People want the building to show up.
People trust what they can see,what they can visualize.
If you've got active Googleprofiles, I think right now
we're several hundred thousanddeep on SEO as far as index
pages, with several hundredthousand more to come.
And you know what people don'tunderstand about that.
(17:56):
If you're, if you're sittingback and you're thinking, man,
you know I see a lot of DaytonBarnes ads or I see a lot of
dealer X or dealer Y's ads.
Like you know, that stuff costsus money and that's one thing,
Eric, and I have been reallytalking about Go ahead money,
and that's one thing Eric and Ihave been really talking about
Go ahead.
Eric Olson (18:19):
We had a web developer one time that
developed a website for us thatwas on Squarespace and I'm just
throwing this out as adisclaimer If you're working
with somebody, make sure that,if you're trying to really go
into some SEO stuff, know thatthe programs have limited
capabilities.
If you're not going to usesomething like WordPress or HTML
, like you're actually going tocode, code it, that type of deal
(18:40):
, I think that I've learned.
We've learned that the hard way, that you really want to go
with free hand, you want to beable to like, influence, the.
Yeah, so you, you understandwhat I'm saying.
So, feedback.
I didn't mean to interrupt you.
Jared Ledford (18:57):
Yeah, no, no, the feedback that I'll give there
is.
So, you know, if you're workingwith a marketing company right
now, just do your due diligence.
I mean, that's what I would say.
You know I'm not going to saysteer clear marketing companies.
I will tell you that we likethe guys over at Shed Geek
Marketing.
They do a great job with woodsheds and metal buildings and
all that.
But you know, there's lots ofgood marketing companies out
(19:19):
there, just like there's a lotof bad marketing companies out
there.
And make sure that you haveaccess to your Google console,
like one of the things thatstill and Eric's going to laugh
at this One of the things thatstill makes me a little bit
upset.
To this day and I don't carry alot of stuff around We've
worked with a couple ofdifferent marketing companies
and what Eric and I figured outover time is that if we just
learned it ourselves, we couldsave that, save that money and
(19:42):
spend more advertising or hiringmore people or whatever.
But like we had a marketingcompany that we were super tight
with Matter of fact, like wehad a marketing company that we
were super tight with Matter offact, the Steel Kings idea was
kind of birthed in a, just ageneral.
You know, I think we told youthis a long time ago.
(20:02):
The Steel Kings podcast, orSteel Kings, has been a concept
that Eric and I have had andwe've had other partners along
the way and people have droppedoff and people have stayed.
But, like it ended up being meand Eric, which is great.
But this company that we wereworking alongside was doing
marketing blitzes for us, washelping us set up drip campaigns
, doing all this cool stuff, andwe were going to start doing
videos and start doing likeattraction posts through YouTube
and all that kind of stuff anddoing reels.
(20:24):
Well, we had a falling out withthat particular marketing
company just because they didn't, they were not able to grow
with us at the time and we werenot seeing the results and the
return that we wanted to, and italways came down to hey, we
need a couple more thousanddollars this month, or hey, we
need a couple more hundreddollars this week, or hey, you
know this particular ad and whatwe figured out was what we were
(20:46):
doing wasn't broken.
So why were we trying to fix it?
What we did always worked, andwe didn't need anybody
influencing it.
We had to change our logo.
The first thing they wanted todo was come in and change our
logo.
Kind of salty about that.
Love the new logo, don't get mewrong, but Eric had the first
logo designed and it wasperfectly fine.
I mean, we probably spentmultiple thousands of dollars
(21:08):
rebranding the business, andthat was just so that they could
get their hooks into us alittle bit.
But the one thing that drivesme nuts they locked up our
YouTube.
We lost our YouTube handlebecause of all that nonsense,
and you know I would.
I'm just, you know, hindsight2020, be mindful of who you're
working alongside of.
Have control of your socialmedia accounts.
(21:29):
Have control of what it is thatcontrols you.
Um, you know, stay in controlor it'll control you right, so
keep your hands on it.
I want to say too, brother, I,I am just, I'm giddy.
I'm like, I'm like ramped uptoday.
I don't know what it is, butyou know the base yeah, it's a.
It's a good Monday, man.
(21:50):
It's a good Monday First, likekind of nice weekend with good
weather and stuff.
And you know, I just want togive you guys all of the
blessing and all the love that Ican this week.
I really just want you to hearour voices and be motivated to
go out and do something cool,try something new, run a new ad
on Facebook, get on Marketplaceand post 20 buildings, do
(22:11):
whatever it is that's going tomake your business grow, because
right now you're going to needit.
Man, we're feeling it.
We're changing the way we'redoing things.
We're pivoting a little bitSwerve left, swerve right, get
back in the middle.
Swerve left, swerve right, getback in the middle.
We're always trying to pivotwhen we need to, and I think
right now, man, we're makinggood moves.
(22:32):
And one of the things I wantedto do was I want to be more
conversational with thesepodcasts and I want to talk to
you guys directly, like you'rein the rooms with us, so that
way you can turn us on and notfeel like you're being sold a
bunch of stuff.
Yeah, we love the guys.
We love the guys over at theVersaBend team, Cold Spring
(22:52):
Enterprises, J Money, Shed Hub.
We love our partners, but Idon't want you to just hop on
here and think, man, these guysare just hawking ads to me,
these guys are speaking out ofturn, these guys think they're
better than me.
Trust me, we don't think we'rebetter than you.
(23:13):
We sat around and pined on apodcast and in content creation
for years and we just saw theneed in our space to kind of
bring it forth.
You know, bring it to theforefront.
You know there's nobody outthere that just gets on here and
just talks about our industry,talks about the good, the bad,
the ugly, the indifferent.
And that's where we want to beat, man.
We want to give you guys aninside scoop and what we do, and
that involves who we are aspeople, and I see you shaking
(23:35):
your head I mean, it does I, Ikind of dropped this on you.
Eric Olson (23:39):
I kind of dropped this on you out of the blue, so
I mean you weren't expecting itI kind of want to take a video
of what I'm doing and so youguys can see that the entire
time that I we've been on thisshow so far, I want to kind of
show what I've been creating.
So just FYI for viewer, I'mtrying to.
I just 10%.
(24:00):
Okay, you got to love having anowner at your disposal.
You just text, hey here's aquick video.
Can I take 10% off?
He says absolutely so, bam, so.
So, this building is a 60, butI'm not going to say who's from
60 by one 20 wraparound porchI've got.
I've got six huge doors, 18, 36by 36 openings, seven openings
(24:23):
for walk-in door, and I've got.
I got the little trick on thelean twos where you can close
the sides and then do frame outsto kind of cover the bones up.
150k plus I can take 10% off.
So, you're looking at about140-ish for the building, 135
for the building, probably sixor 7K for freight.
(24:44):
Blueprints will cost 5K.
We'll need a lift for a week.
I think you're all in here.
Oklahoma's got a higher salestax than most.
I think it's probably seven oreight percent.
Eight percent probably.
Um, I'm thinking you'reprobably in this baby for about
buck 70.
It's priced up something likethat buck 75.
How's that for shooting Eric atext and getting a quote for a
(25:08):
wildly complicated building inless than 10 minutes Pro tip
salespeople, do it quick, keepthem interested, man, give them
what they're looking for Giveyourself.
Jared Ledford (25:19):
give yourself some room and be willing to make
mistakes.
Especially when you're talkingabout a building, especially
when you're talking about abuilding.
That's that price, I mean,there's more than enough room to
screw a couple of things up.
Customers want to know you'rethere and they want to know that
you're working for them in realtime, and I think that's one
thing that that Eric and I do aa pretty good job of doing.
I mean, we're not, you knowwe're not the best.
(25:39):
I'm not going to sit here andsay that we're the best, but I
can tell you I would challengethere.
You know the one thing that Iget told a lot, and I like to
say this to people too, so it'ssomething to keep in mind.
I always ask people how manypeople have you met?
I met a manufacturing partnerlast year and we just really hit
it off, man, me and him.
We've got to be good buddiesand we chit, chat and we shoot
(26:02):
texts back and forth, we checkin on each other and we parted
ways for the first time.
I said man, how many peoplehave you met in this space?
That's like me.
And he said can't think of asingle one.
And I said, man, I'm going tosay the same thing, right, Like
I had never met a person likehim.
And you know, you want to bethat person for somebody else,
(26:24):
and that's what we find a lot.
I mean, personally, I've notmet somebody in the industry, I
don't like you know, and I hadan interaction recently with
somebody, and they'll know whothey are when they hear the
podcast.
He came up and you know, I hadjust been told through the
grapevine man, you know, thisguy doesn't really like you guys
very much and he's not yourbiggest fan.
(26:45):
And I was like, oh, okay, well,I mean great, I mean I'll get
to meet him, that's fine.
So, I was in a shared room withthis particular gentleman.
Couldn't have had a nicerconversation with the guy.
He came up and kind ofhalf-jokingly said, hey, can I
get an autograph from the SteelKing?
And I was just like, take itback, like whoa, like, okay,
(27:06):
nice to meet you too, brother,nice to meet you too, brother.
And like I just flat, I justflat told him, and I told you
this story, Eric, I just toldhim.
I said, man, I said I don'tknow what you've heard about me,
but I've heard about you, and Iam super impressed with your
business.
I think what you're doing issuper impressive.
You have a, you have a resumeand a pedigree that exceeds who
you are.
(27:26):
And the look on his face when Icomplimented him and he, he knew
what he had said.
He knew the things that I hadheard and I can't say that I
know for sure that he said thethings that I had heard, but I
know that he probably had saidsome of the things, because I
had heard some of the thingsfrom people I really trust,
people that I love and careabout and care about me, and I
just I met him with love and methim with an open heart and I'll
(27:49):
be honest with you, man, I hada great conversation with the
guy.
There's a lot I can learn fromhim and, to be honest with you,
I love sharing that storybecause when he came up and said
, can I have an autograph fromthe Steel King, I thought to
myself well, at least you'relistening to the podcast, at
least you know where I'm atright now.
Right, so you know, know,motivating tip for today.
(28:14):
Yeah, yeah.
So, nobody, nobody, everhesitate to come up and say
hello to me or Eric, I, uh, ofthe two of us, I'm probably the
more open, but you know I'llmeet you with the same level of
respect.
You meet me with um.
I think he was being a littlecondescending at first, but I
met him with some respect, andhe met me back with that same
respect and we now have anunderstanding for each other and
(28:37):
at the very least, there's notas much.
The air is open, right, Eric?
Now I feel like I can talk tothis guy in public.
I don't feel like I have tosteer clear, and that's been one
thing that you and I have beenon a mission the last couple
years, cause we've faced animmense amount of adversity
business, personal life, youname it.
Eric Olson (28:59):
And you know it quieted me right up.
Jared Ledford (29:01):
We, we have absolutely, we have absolutely
met those obligations andbarriers in our lives with full
speed ahead FSA.
I'm going to say that right nowbecause I say it a lot in my
mind full speed ahead always.
There's no reason, there's noreason to feel some sort of way
about something.
If you're feeling some sort ofway about something, address it,
(29:22):
because burying that stuffinside man makes you feel bad.
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Jared Ledford (30:47):
Eric, and I both have demons.
I'm just going to share mine.
I used to drink.
I was an alcoholic and, youknow, not a bad alcoholic, right
, but I'd go out and party, I'dhave a good time.
I haven't had a drink in like18 months and like just calling
myself out for that and saying,you know what you don't need.
You don't need that beer, youdon't need that mixed drink, you
don't need that cocktail.
You're better than that.
(31:07):
And it has allowed me to openmyself up to so much more in my
life.
That challenges me.
Uh, both prefer you know,professionally and personally to
just get ahead of it Right, andcall it out for what it is like
.
Look, you know you're goinghome every night and having a
couple of beers and that's notgood.
You got kids like you, got toget up in the morning and go to
(31:28):
work and that I was never thekind of guy that would not be at
work.
I mean, Eric will tell you I'mat the office all the time.
I don't miss work, I don't goon vacation, I don't do that, I
just don't.
I'm at work, I love work, andall that extra energy now is
going back into the business,and I feel it paying dividends
in my life by addressing it outloud, right, and like sharing it
(31:50):
with you guys.
It's a testimony for me, right?
You know the 12 steps.
I've never actually gone throughAA, but I can tell you.
You know admitting what you.
You know admitting what you are, which in my case is an
alcoholic.
I had a hard time saying no toalcohol.
And you know, saying that outloud is the first step in making
(32:11):
a transition in your life thatcan be transformative.
And I know, I know that y'alllike to party.
I've seen it.
I've seen the steel dealers andthe trade shows, podcasts, yeah
, even the woodshed guys.
I know y'all like to party andI'll take a pass.
And Eric's my witness man, man,he's watched me turn it down.
(32:33):
He has watched me turn it downin public.
And there was a time in my lifethat never would happen,
especially when the day so Idon't know man, I was just
feeling extra lubed up.
Today I feel extra good and,like my vibe's good, Eric was
just at the revival we weretalking about that.
He was, he was vibing um bro,he came back.
(32:55):
He's got a little bit of a tanon him.
It was a little.
It was a little hot and muggy,but Eric's always got a tan
Eric's rocking that year-roundFlorida.
Tan, I don't know what it is,man, I got gotta get some of
that hair I gotta get some ofthat hair brother, I got a plan,
I got a fitness membership, Igot too much hair on my face,
not enough on my head
Eric Olson (33:14):
it's funny it don't take much I got an Italian
heritage, so you know, if I gotoutside for long enough, I get
that bronze kind of.
You know one thing honestly,one thing that I saw over the
weekend um, I think it was areal or like a little short clip
or something was about how,like there's like two brackets.
When men get older, they eitherlook really old or they kind of
(33:36):
stay young looking, and it haseverything to do with
moisturizing and so like, yeah,I've moisturized my face forever
.
It's because I don't and you, Iknow you're the same you got,
you got the hand sanitizer.
It's like, yeah, I'm like ahabitual.
I can't stand crap cuticles, soI'm constantly putting lotion
on.
And I'm like a habitual.
I can't stand cracked cuticles,so I'm constantly putting
lotion on.
And I'm like my skin is stayinghealthy and I'm 40.
I'm almost 40.
(33:57):
In two months I turned 40.
I'm like it was a confirmationseeing that video.
I'm like, yeah, I didn't knowwhy I was doing it.
Jared Ledford (34:05):
I'm a Bath Body Works guy, so I mean, for those
of you that don't know, I likeBath.
Body.
Eric Olson (34:10):
Works that hand sanitizer is so good.
Jared Ledford (34:11):
Eucalyptus and Spearmint.
Yep, eucalyptus and Spearmint,so the aromatherapy line from
Bath Body Works.
I'm not afraid to say it, I'm aBath Body Works guy.
I go like once a you know youcan buy like three items and get
three for free.
So, I get these big lotions,and I get the hand sanitizers,
the little pocket bags.
So, I got shorts on todaybecause it's hot in Ohio today.
(34:34):
But when I got my jeans on.
you can ask Eric Everybody'salways bumming me for hey, can I
get some hand sanitizer?
And it's right in my pocket.
Eric Olson (34:43):
It's because it smells good.
Jared Ledford (34:44):
It does smell good, bro.
Eric Olson (34:46):
You can't put it on your hand and not smell it.
You cannot put it on your handand not take a strong breath.
Jared Ledford (34:52):
And it stays and not smell it.
You cannot put it on your handand not take a strong one.
It stays and it's not like anoverwhelming smell either.
It's like a welcoming, warmsmell.
Eric Olson (34:57):
It's a Seinfeld episode.
Jared Ledford (35:01):
That's true.
Eric Olson (35:02):
It definitely could be a.
Seinfeld episode.
Jared Ledford (35:04):
You can make a whole episode out of man.
What's that smell?
Oh, Jared must be here, but no,Eric does that when he comes to
the office man, he'd be like,oh well, Eric, Jared must be
here.
I can smell it already.
Yeah, 100%, I don't know, man,I was just feeling.
I can't say it enough.
I'm just feeling good today.
I really want to.
(35:24):
If you guys like this, let usknow.
Let us know.
I mean I know we're not hittingyou with all the tread work
today, we're not getting intothe ins and outs of the industry
or sheds, but I mean, you know,I really want to show you guys
a little bit about who we areand what we do.
And again, I, we are so blessedbeyond measure to be in a space
(35:48):
working alongside friends thatwe absolutely love and care
about and doing something thatman, I don't know that.
I'd rather do anything else.
Eric got me this watch one timeand Eric will think it's funny
because there's two guys thatgot watches that might not think
it's that way anymore.
But it says on the backside onthe crown, it says best job I
ever had.
(36:09):
And it's the truth, man, I'venever had a job like this, and
you know, the people thathaven't been able to run with us
.
God bless their hearts, Causeyou know they're missing out on
a really good time.
I can tell you that right now,um ego bravado, whatever it was,
whatever got in their way, man,I hope they're doing well.
I wish them well If they'rechecking us out.
I wish you guys nothing but thebest right out.
Eric Olson (36:31):
Let me tell you some weird crap.
I had a dream last night.
I was telling heather this.
I was telling heather this.
I woke up I want to say hisname but I won't because it's
pointless.
But I had a dream that I calledthat guy on the phone and I was
because, like, for some reasonin the dream I was like me, I
was meeting something there's aministry dating called simple
(36:53):
street, the guy that renovatedour bathroom at the Huber shop
when the kids was in youth still, um, his name was Joel Burton.
He got hit by a car and passedaway unfortunately, but in the
dream I met his wife at over therevival and we was talking
about that moment of thebathroom and everything and how
we was plugged in and, and inthe dream I was chatting about
the ministry and after I left itI got a phone call from the guy
(37:17):
.
Like I literally walked awayfrom the table, and I got a foot
, so funny, just brought him upand I was.
I missed the call and then Icalled him back and I was just
asking like how he's doing andstuff, and he was like super
depressed and sad and, but hewas still selling metal
buildings and yeah, don't knowwhy I'm sharing that, but it's
just a funny.
I wished him all the best.
Like in the dream, I was justtelling him man, I was just
(37:40):
calling a follow-up.
He wanted to know who we wereselling buildings for.
I think he was trying to get alittle.
There you go.
Jared Ledford (37:49):
We've had so many partners over the years, people
that have worked alongside ofus and people that have gotten,
you know, prideful or just readyto move on.
Not everybody left on bad terms, but we've had a couple that
have left on some pretty sournotes and like this is one to
understand that like we got suedover this, like we had to go to
court over this, this was notjust a oh I don't want to be
(38:10):
your friend anymore, I'm gonnatake my ball and go home.
This guy filed a lawsuit and,uh, you know, it all got taken
care of.
What, what was, what was.
But you know, it's funny at theend of the day, like I still
think about the good times thatwe had sometimes, because we did
have some good times right, Imean, we were getting Eric.
Eric's face is like well, maybenot as many good times.
(38:32):
I had to work alongside thatguy for a hot minute.
Eric Olson (38:34):
No, no, no, memory of mine is bad.
Jared Ledford (38:41):
Eric was uh, Eric was absolutely getting me
through some times, cause I'mtelling you I am an above board
kind of guy.
I do not like anything evenremotely If it, if it's got one
ounce of stank on it, I'm likeno and I can remember being
because at the time I didn'tknow anything, I was just like
Eric sold me a building, hehired me to be a 1099 contract
(39:02):
worker selling buildings and Idon't know what it was that Eric
saw in me, but I saw a lot inhim and I've worked every day at
this job to pay it forward tohim.
And you know, I've worked likeevery day at this job to like
pay it forward to him because Ifeel like together, we've passed
through this storm of nonsenseand what was you know?
I remember one time he was likeman, we should sell roll-up
(39:24):
doors.
We should sell roll-up doorsbecome a roll-up door become a
roll up door dealer, and I'mthinking no, let's go backwards.
Let's go backwards, that soundslike yeah, let's not sell an
entire building, let's just sellthe components.
How bad of an idea.
Is that yeah?
And I told Eric.
I said, man, this is a bad idea, dude, this is terrible.
(39:46):
And we went through it.
We tried for him.
To Eric's credit, man, he nevertakes an idea and doesn't at
least try it once.
You know, my idea was let's getinto.
My idea was like let's get intopole bars and brother that
ain't no.
Eric Olson (40:04):
That has been let's tell the audience about what's
coming up.
So, we've, you know I went, Igot a chance, okay, so.
So, pole barns.
Let's.
Let's talk about pull barnsbecause, um, we got to shout out
our sponsor real quick.
Let's do that before we getinto something.
Jared Ledford (40:22):
So J money is your partner in financing what
you need to do If you are acontractor, a dealer, a metal
building dealer, a woodsheddealer, manufacturer, makes no
difference.
If you're roofing, doing pools,these guys, the team over there,
will absolutely help yourevolutionize your business.
We've been doing work with Joelnow pretty much the whole time
(40:44):
We've been Dayton Barns.
We've helped Joel, Joel'shelped us.
The reason why Eric brings thatup is because the connection we
have is because for a while Iwas doing I was working with J
Money right.
So, Dayton Barns had becomesort of a pseudo partner.
We were doing some loanoriginations and setting up new
(41:04):
account holders and talking toour friends and like, hey, you
guys need to get this product.
You know it doesn't benefit us.
You know Joel was taking me allover and we went to a couple of
trade shows and went andtraveled and did some head
hunting.
Well, one of the contacts wemade was for pole barns and I
brought the pole barns to thetable, and I was Eric will tell
(41:24):
you I was amped up about it.
I was jazzed up.
They were excited, they knewwho we were.
I was like, okay, this is great, we're going to have another
outfit.
We get requests for pole barnsall the time.
It's a.
It's a.
You know, it's a Pepsi / Cokekind of a thing, you know, Pepsi
being metal buildings, Cokebeing a pole barn.
(41:54):
You know some people just wanta, you know post frame building
period, the end and we wereready to get on board, and we
didn't.
I remember I got voted down byEric and somebody else and Eric
said to me now he never said no,but Eric said, man, you got to
talk, you got to talk dub intoit.
So, JW, who's been on thepodcast, used to work with us
and JW, for whatever reason,just wasn't feeling it and I
think at the time it probablywas the right decision, honestly
(42:18):
, because we weren't ready forit.
Right, and that's where you,that's where you're gonna come
in.
So, we never, we never, wenever put the idea away.
Eric never forgot that I wantedit and then there was a.
Eric Olson (42:24):
There was a lot of.
It's been touching us.
It touched us with diy polebarns and it touched us with me.
Great owner, love that guy,solid Christian man.
But we weren't set up for it.
We sold one a long time ago.
They facilitated the deal.
We used.
One of their contractors soldto a guy that was going to
church with for his hay barnGreat project.
(42:46):
But we still had mastered metal.
I don't feel like.
But I feel like we've had acontractor in our back pocket
for a couple of years who hasbeen doing concrete pads and his
business is stable and I thinkthe shock value of a concrete
pad for a metal building versusa pole barn, which is a 32-inch
(43:08):
footing versus a no-inch footingwhich is just poles and ground,
then you just surface cover thearea with the pad.
Some customers are turned off bythe cost of a concrete building
.
Now the cost of and that's notin every county but in
particular Montgomery County,champaign Green and Miami.
Some of them are a little pickyabout you've got to have the
(43:30):
footing and some of them areeven more than what the plans
call for and so a lot of timescustomers will love the building
quote.
Maybe it's a $15,000 buildingbut the concrete might cost 23.
And they're like well, dang,that's over double the cost and
so, but maybe they'll do the padagainst another structure.
And so, we've been nudged.
(43:52):
I would say nudged if tapped,then nudged, then pushed and
then tackled, in that order, Ithink, over the past.
That sounds about right.
Sounds about right Like past,probably a year and a half or so
.
And man, we just formulated thisthing overnight.
We've got a website up, we'vegot a Facebook page.
We've got social media.
We've got hot overnight.
(44:13):
We've got a website up, we'vegot a Facebook page.
We've got social media, we'vegot hot leads.
We've got some big things goingon.
We've got a particular hugeproject that we're doing that
should be closing here soon, andthat is what has.
When there's no friction in yourbusiness and you protect your
culture of your business, whichis, for our case, work, get the
(44:36):
job done and everything's laxed.
Get the leads done, take careof the leads.
I remember when I first startedthe business I would man the
ship on the messages, andsometimes we get 40 leads,
sometimes we get 20.
The youth boys would behammering them in the other room
and say we're not leaving untilthey're done and so if we get
(44:56):
you know, and so that's whatthat's our policy now and uh,
kind of we're just like hand youknow, going after it and I
don't know where this thing camefrom, but it's came, came up
overnight and we're having somebigger conversations than we've
ever had.
You know, I think the biggestproject we've done is we.
We had a, we had a almost ahalf a million dollar project
we've done this year out inArkansas, but that one is blown,
(45:19):
that one out of the water and.
So, I just feel like over thecourse of this year we'll
probably talk about pole barns alittle bit more, maybe towards
the fall and winter time.
But man, I just that's kind ofa sneak peek into what we're
kind of back scenes working onand stuff and um the biggest
(45:40):
part about it for me, bro, isit's so much fun because it is
fun we're, we're in this, youknow, and we're the end game.
Jared Ledford (45:48):
We're the end game yeah, you're the end game.
Yeah, yeah, I love, I love theprocess of doing it all.
And with metal buildings it'shard because really, like you
were talking about concrete andwe're actually going to have one
of our friends on a futureepisode to talk about concrete.
But if you're in Ohio, let mejust give you this little tidbit
(46:08):
it's a new law 32-inch footerfor the whole building, all over
the place.
Eric Olson (46:16):
Wow.
Jared Ledford (46:16):
It is starting to change.
So not every municipality andjurisdiction is up on that yet,
but it will be.
And I've been saying this youguys have heard me last year on
Shannon's podcast.
I've said it periodically onthis podcast the regulation on
steel buildings is coming.
Pole barns is cool because mostmunicipalities have like a pole
(46:37):
barn sheet.
A lot of times you don't evenneed blueprints, you can just
submit the trust engineering andyou're good, you're golden.
You just do a layout of theposts and you're good.
And I mean people get thesepole barns up because the pole
barn companies have workedexponentially hard to keep
regular.
(46:57):
That's exactly right.
They've been working to keepregulation up.
They don't want anybody gettinginto the industry that doesn't
know what they're doing, becausethey know that the value of the
product is diminished when yourace to the bottom.
And I haven't said it in thelast couple of weeks, I'll say
it now Metal buildings are due,are absolutely due for that.
(47:18):
It's due for regulation, it'sdue for some changes.
The days of generic blueprintsare probably going to come to an
end.
I think there's a couple ofstates Alabama is one of them
where you're supposed to havesites on every building.
Oregon is doing pretty muchsites and seismics on every
building.
It's just one of those things,man.
If you don't educate yourselfand get in a position to be
(47:41):
knowing and educating yourcustomers, forget about it.
You're done.
You are absolutely not going tosucceed five years from now
doing this period.
This is going to requirediligence and hard work and
follow through.
I think that's the biggestthing.
That is killing me today isjust thinking about man.
(48:05):
We get calls all the time fromcustomers and I'm just sharing
this with you.
This is the truth.
We get customers all the time,man.
I put a deposit down with XYZcompany and I haven't heard
anything from them.
Um, is there anything you cando to help?
You know, unfortunately I can'tnow.
I can sell you another buildingand I'm happy to give you a
deal.
Um, we work with company, wework with customers all the time
(48:29):
and I'll say hey, send me aproof that you bought a metal
building.
I'll sell you the exact samemetal building.
I'll follow it from start tofinish.
I'll make sure it's deliveredand installed on your timeframe.
You know I work with customersall the time that are getting
taken for money and you knowthat stuff is gonna.
Those chickens will come toroost, that is.
That is an absolute fact andthose of us who are doing this
(48:52):
right, if you're listening tothis podcast, you're probably in
a 1% because you've taken thetime to get through 46 minutes
of Eric and Jared just shootingat you, just giving you the
absolute truth of it.
You've learned more about me onthis episode personally, and
Eric probably personally, thanyou ever have known.
We're both gonna do personaltestimonial videos for you guys
(49:12):
to share our vision for what wewant for steel, for wood, for
ourselves and, hopefully, if Imotivate one person on this call
today, if you're drinking, stopit.
You don't need to.
That's my motivator for todayand, to be truthful, I know lots
of people who socially drink,and that's fine.
(49:32):
That's your business.
I'm not here to criticize, I'mjust here to tell you.
I had a problem with it and I'mnot going to drink anymore.
That's my biggest thing and Iwant to keep.
You guys can hold meaccountable.
If you ever see the steel King,Jared Ledford, out with a drink
in his hand, you better smackme across the jaw, you better
lay me out right there, cause Iwant to be.
I want to be a testament tomyself and to my neighbors.
Eric Olson (49:52):
I got bills.
Man, I don't got time for that.
I got bills.
Jared Ledford (49:56):
That's right.
I got bills, that's right.
Brother, do you have anything?
else for me.
We're, we're, we're gettingblown up.
So a little bit of a peek behindthe curtain.
The steel Kings have been behindon recording.
As we finish up our secondepisode today, the podfather
(50:17):
himself is asking us where ourepisodes are.
So shout out to this guy fromIdaho.
Eric Olson (50:24):
We were just talking while we were having this
episode.
I said I'm working on somethingreal quick and I'll quote you.
He said what you got going on.
I said I'm on a podcast forSteel Kings.
Lol, here's a live.
Look, I screenshotted us.
And he says I'm going to sit.
I was like I'm going to sit,bro, you want to be alive.
You just want to buy a buildingon live air.
Jared Ledford (50:44):
Yeah, you want to come right out.
You want to come right on withus.
I can tell you the team over atVersaBend and Cold Spring
Enterprises I will tell you.
This machine is a game changerfor your metal building pros out
there.
It bends the two inch, the twoand a quarter, the two and a
(51:05):
half square tubing that we'reall familiar with.
It also does the two by three,rectangular and all in three
precise bends.
No tools to switch the tubesizes.
It just gets you the speed, theaccuracy and way less downtime.
$19,500 gets you the equipment.
There's no tax.
If you're outside SouthCarolina.
Shipping average is about $600.
Check out the team over atcsecarport.
(51:27):
supply.
Give them a call, 844-446-3645.
Tell Wendell and the team theSteel Kings sent you.
I will also plug one last timethe team over at J Money, Joel,
Katie, our friends, the teamJason, all of them, J Money
changed our lives.
Doing a great job.
(51:47):
Thank you for giving us anopportunity to present to you
the Steel Kings podcast.
We will be back next week withanother episode.
We'll figure it out along theway.
Shannon, Deanna, we're sorry ittook so long, but hey, we'll be
back at you next week.
I'm Jared.
This is Eric.
We are the Steel Kings.
So check us out next week andwe will talk to you soon.
Peace out, guys.
Hey, what's up guys?
This is Jared and Eric.
We are the Steel Kings.
Welcome back to another podcastwith us, Eric.
It is a beautiful Monday.
This is episode number 17.
And we're just hanging out.
We're just hanging out today.
What are you up?
to man.
How are you yeah?
Eric Olson (00:48):
bro, I, you know you , you hit go on the on the music
.
And I got a text message from aprevious customer from two
years ago who just texted me andsaid the shop I have is still
doing perfect and doing great.
I need a 60 by 120 by 20 inChoctaw, Oklahoma, all right,
(01:09):
that is a big
Jared Ledford (01:11):
Choctaw Oklahoma.
it is man.
Eric Olson (01:14):
I feel like I'm Tim McGraw song.
Jared Ledford (01:16):
Yeah, bro, like an Indian outlaw kind of vibe.
Eric Olson (01:19):
Yeah, Indian outlaw.
Jared Ledford (01:21):
A little 90s country vibe.
Yeah, I'm doing really goodtoday.
Doing I am doing really goodtoday, man, I'm enjoying my
Monday Um we are getting.
We are getting busier.
Um, we talked about steeltariffs last week.
We're going to hang out alittle bit with you this week.
Um, we're just going to showyou kind of a behind the scenes
kind of look at what we do.
Um, one thing I wanted to givea quick shout out at the
(01:41):
beginning of the episode.
So, one thing I wanted to givea quick shout out at the
beginning of the episode ourstudio sponsors, J Money.
Look, J Money started with Joel.
He's a farm kid from NorthernOhio.
He turned his passion forbuilding and banking into a
mission to help craftsmen growtheir businesses with smart and
simple financing.
If you sell steel, buildingsheds or any home improvement
(02:02):
service, J Money gives you andyour customers the power to say
yes, even when the cash is tight.
And we know the cash is tightright now, don't we?
Eric?
Eric Olson (02:10):
Yeah, it's up.
The steel tariffs are tight 50%increase about five days ago to
June 9th today.
Jared Ledford (02:18):
So, check out the team over at jmoneyllc.
com and get those paymentsolutions and get those great
results for your customers.
Man, I got to tell you we don'tnormally talk about this stuff,
but one thing that I wasexcited about and I know not
everybody's got Netflix, but wewere talking about a new show,
power Moves with ShaquilleO'Neal so that got me a little
(02:40):
bit motivated to talk at thebeginning of the episode what
gets you guys motivated?
What do you guys listen to?
What do you watch?
What gets you moving whenyou're not talking about steel
buildings and wood sheds?
I sat down and powered throughI think it's six or seven
episodes Just a couple guys whogrew up playing basketball Now
(03:00):
they're rebranding the companyReebok, and Eric and I were
talking offline, you know, justkind of reminiscing about being
young and wanting a new pair ofshoes, and you know, I just
thought that was something I'dshare with you guys If you guys
are Netflix fans or if youstream or watch anything.
Uh, check out power moves withShaquille O'Neal.
I it really motivated me, mademe feel good Like those guys.
(03:21):
Uh, Shaquille O'Neal and AllenIverson, they're getting back
into an industry that theyreally love, which is shoes and
apparel, and I know that that'snot sheds and metal buildings.
But like I couldn't feel anymore motivated today just to
like see somebody else and Iknow, trust me, Shaquille O'Neal
is like a multimillionaire, sois Allen Iverson.
I'm sure they get whatever theywant, right, but like they're
(03:46):
grinding, they're grinding, youknow they're grinding and it
like motivated me a little bitto like be excited today and
like just say, like man, Ireally love what I do Selling
wood sheds and metal buildingsand we're getting into pole
barns.
Like I am just jazzed up today,man, I'm feeling good.
Eric Olson (04:00):
So, but so what?
So?
So, it's Alan, Alan Iverson andShaq.
Are you know shack?
You know shack's big claim tofame when, when he got his shoe
deal with reebok, um, he, he, hewas you remember he, he comes
from you know sub, you know apoor background.
(04:21):
And yeah, um, and he wasfrustrated with how, uh,
expensive shoes were and so hecame up with the shack brand.
Originally, yeah, and, um, andhe was selling super cheap shoes
at Walmart because he wantedeverybody to be able to if they
want to wear shoes, they want.
He wanted them to be able toafford, um, his shoe brand.
(04:42):
So, he struck a deal withWalmart, and I think, I think
that was his initial, you know.
So, I think he, he owns a claimto fat, he owns forever 21,
which is like a chick store.
Jared Ledford (04:53):
Yeah, he dude, he owns every.
He owns Eddie Bauer, Nautica.
Like, if you really dig into it,dude he his apparel company,
his app companies like this yeah, this conglomerate, right, and
they own all these businessesand you know, I was just I just
wanted to share that with youguys that, like this is just one
guy and he started from nothing.
He was obviously anexceptionally talented
(05:15):
basketball player, um, but likethis is a guy who believes in
what he's doing, has all kindsof avenues, and I mean it took
one guy and now he's doing allthese crazy and cool things and
like motivating the guy like mewho sells metal buildings and
wood sheds on a Monday, um,coming off of a weekend, and you
know, it's just one of thosethings, man, I thought I'd share
that with you.
Um, and it's probably not foreverybody, but you know it's a
(05:37):
cool show.
You know, Shaq is literally thepresident of Reebok basketball
now and he's like a shot callerfor a company that signed him
when he was like 20 years old toendorse their shoes and I just
thought, man, how cool is that?
Like, maybe one day the steelKings will be like officially
taken over a metal buildingmanufacturer which said
(05:57):
manufactured, saying like hey,you know, this is where we came
from.
We started as two guys sittingon a shed lot.
You know, Eric did it before me.
He found me, I bought a metalbuilding and, like, bro, we're
getting into pole barns.
I'm super excited about that.
Um, we are absolutely thrilledand excited about what we're
doing on that side of thebusiness.
(06:18):
Oh yeah, definitely actuallymanufacturing things, like
actually a part of the processof like getting these things.
When we say from start tofinish, we mean it right.
Like we source the leads, wesell the product, we work to get
the product scheduled and getthe materials supplied and then
we work with contractors to getbuildings put up.
I mean it is an exciting timeliterally to be alive for us.
(06:41):
And I just thought, man, on aMonday morning, if you're
feeling blue, you know, get outand do something, man, cause I'm
telling you, staying positive,positive mental attitude has
been good for me this lastcouple of years.
Eric Olson (06:53):
Yeah.
Jared Ledford (06:55):
I talked to you on a treadmill this morning, my
bad.
Eric Olson (06:57):
Man, I was on a treadmill, yeah we're both,
we're both, we're both tryingthey opened up a plan of fitness
in in Springboro and it's uhand it I.
I was going to the Middletownone, which is kind of far, but
now Springboro, man, and youknow Springboro is like yuppie-
ish and it's like, yeah, you'vegot everything.
(07:19):
You've got a super Kroger, aStarbucks, a plan of fitness, a
car wash, like of them, likereally good car washes.
You know like people scrub yourvehicle.
Jared Ledford (07:29):
Like that actually takes the dirt, that
actually gets the bird poop off.
Eric Olson (07:32):
Yeah, yeah.
So, like I go to that thing, Imean I get a Starbucks, I go to
the gym, I get a Starbucks, I goright to the drive through and
then I hit Kroger on the wayhome and then I throw it on my
Blackstone.
It's like it's a nice, it's anice gig.
You know chatting with my bestbud about what we're doing, you
know, and I think you know to,in the spirit of
entrepreneurship, it's like, youknow, shack, shack.
(07:54):
Does he need to work?
Probably not, you know.
And could we just sell woodsheds?
Me, and you probably.
Could we just sell steelstructures?
Yeah, probably, um, but we arequesting to do everything that
you could.
I'm not putting red iron outfor any reason, but maybe that
ends up being some sort of thinglater in life too.
Jared Ledford (08:16):
Quick shout out If you're a red iron supplier
and you're looking for a dealer,give us a shout.
I think what I've beenmotivated about and what really
motivated me about that showsexactly and I was hoping that
you would say that.
I was really hoping that youwould say that because it gets
to a point in your lives whereyou can do for yourself right
and you can make money, andthat's great and money's, you
(08:37):
know, money will get you whatyou think you want.
But like it's so much more funto do it with other people and
empower them to do the same andgive people opportunities.
And that's what I love aboutworking with you, Eric, is
you've given us this opportunityto like take what you struggled
to learn something that youweren't any good at.
I mean, you've been, you'vebeen, you know, pretty open
(08:59):
about that.
Like, look, Eric learned itfrom nothing sauce.
Eric showed up at a shed lot,probably didn't even know the
first thing about a shed and
Eric Olson (09:08):
uh, you know for the record, I cried on my first day
because I was like what, whatam I doing here?
I don't know what I'm doing
Jared Ledford (09:18):
And like we're sitting back now I'm like, just
like Eric saying we're havinggood times.
You know Eric's out, traveling,enjoying, enjoying his new wife
and, you know, living his bestlife.
We talked about the revivallast week.
Eric's going to have a coolepisode coming your way with a
little bit more about what hedoes and a little bit more about
him personally.
And I will too, because I think, sharing that with you guys,
the feedback that I get you knowwe read the comments, we get
(09:41):
the emails.
You know I'm the fat, bald guy,we read the comments, we get
the emails.
You know I'm the fat, bald guy.
You know I'm thinning upstairs,my hair is a little bit gray,
whatever else.
But, like you know, the fact ofthe matter is I'm just a guy
like you, selling metalbuildings, having a good time,
and I want this podcast to befun and exciting and we're not
(10:02):
always going to get on here andjust talk about wood sheds and
metal buildings, like that is afact.
Eric and I have talked aboutthis and we want to shoot, just
shoot with you guys, like thisis what we do on a day to day
basis.
Like we talked about it before,we don't get a whole lot of
time to just hang out.
We're best friends.
Um, I think we both stay intouch with you as much as we can
, but, like I just was, I wasjust talking to Eric offline.
I'm like, bro, I got all thisstuff I want to tell you.
(10:23):
I feel like I haven't talked toyou.
So let's just talk on thepodcast, let's just talk to the
people we're hanging todayForget about it, that's right.
Eric Olson (10:31):
We're hanging today.
You can see I'm distracted alittle bit, it's mainly because
I'm chasing this.
It's a 60 by 120 by 20 barndough shop.
He wants 12 by 46 lean to wraparound porch Three 12 by 12, one
14 by 14, seven walk-in frameouts to 14 by 12.
(10:52):
Gable porch overhead doors 26gauge sheet metal, 12 gauge
frame and that sounds like ahealthy lead in chalk talk.
And try yeah, it's junk, thoughit sounds like a healthy lead.
I talk, yeah and try yeah, it'sjunk, though it sounds like a
healthy lead.
Uh, I am not sure I'm.
I'm like I'm doing it because,like we're, if we're just
ripping this episode, it's likeI hope by the end of this I got
(11:15):
a price to throw out to theaudience right now.
I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm into the.
I got the wraparounds done anduh, so anyways, yeah, I'll.
Jared Ledford (11:24):
No, it's funny because it was funny because on
the on last week's episode, Iwas looking around.
So, for those of you that don'tunderstand, I'm on a green
screen right now.
Normally I stand right where Iam on my green screen right now,
I'm in an office.
So, our lead generator hadmajor back surgery and I'm
talking like major back surgery.
So, I've been in, I've beenback in the cockpit working
(11:45):
leads.
So, I'm in the office today and, like those of you that can't
see, like, got a screen here,got a screen there, got a screen
over here, so I'm screened out.
I've got an iPad.
You know I'm filtering leads.
Like that's what I was doing onthe last episode.
If you catch my head drifting,I'm watching Facebook, I'm
watching meta, I'm watchingFacebook, I'm watching meta, I'm
(12:10):
watching the Google ads, I'mwatching it all and I'm
filtering leads out to the team.
So, I was just thinking withEric when we were talking
offline.
I'm like let's just work, likelet's just kind of just go
through the motions, right?
I mean, if you're sitting therelistening to us, you know we're
not just podcast personalities,we're not just metal building
salesmen.
You know Eric's a husband, he'san uncle, you know he's got a
lot of stuff going on in hispersonal life.
I'm a dad, you know I love mykids.
(12:31):
I am busy all the time.
I am trying to stay focused onme.
You know my last couple ofyears my journey has been kind
of rough right, and the Barneshas been my saving grace and a
lot of times it's laying on Ericand Eric laying on me, like all
the burdens of the day or theweek or the month or the year or
the whatever, and gettingthrough it.
(12:53):
And I thought, man, you know Iwant to be real with you guys
today a little bit.
I just want to.
You know, you know we talkedabout it last week.
Our business is right where wewant it to be.
We're in the pocket, we'reexpanding but, like our middle
building sales are not wherethey need to be and I know that
we're not the only ones outthere and I don't want to ever
come across like we're betterbecause we're not.
(13:14):
We're exactly like you.
We were in your shoes.
Um, I know there are people onthis call we could learn from,
people on this podcast that arewatching us that we could learn
from.
I'm asking you I'm literallygoing to extend my handout and
give you a virtual handshake.
I am Jared at the Steel Kings.
He is Eric at the Steel Kings.
Drop us an email.
We'd love to talk to you guys.
We'd love to get you on herewith us to hang out for half an
(13:36):
hour 45 minutes.
Talk about you, talk about yourbusiness, talk about Steel.
That's how I got to knowShannon was just having these
kind of one-off conversationsand, like you know, having given
a shout out to Shannon recently, but like Shannon, giving us
the platform to be with you guysand share with you guys, he
just cut it loose, cut it looseyeah, yeah, you know he said
(13:59):
share with the people what youwant to share with them, and
today is the day when we'regoing to kind of pull back the
veil a little bit.
You know I'm sitting hereworking leads.
I think today we have gotten.
Let's see here we're about 35deep right now 17, 23.
We're we're like 23 for 35 onconversions, which is solid.
(14:21):
We're getting good SEO tractiontoday.
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Eric Olson (15:55):
One shed at a time.
Let's take a look at GoogleConsoles.
Something that, with the steeltariffs that we've been
definitely in communication with, is that I think people are
going to return back tobusinesses for their metal
building purchases.
I think that the scams aregoing to return back to
businesses for their metalbuilding purchases.
I think that the scams aregoing to increase online, which
(16:17):
is going to force people to goback to Better Business Bureau
and stop looking for the bestdeal and start looking for the
best company to actually dealwith, like somebody that's going
to like reply.
And, I'm the testimony, I'm, I'mtalking to a guy that bought
from me that he wants to buy forme, bought from Dayton Barns
and, um, people are going toreturn back to their shopping
(16:40):
habits of probably not racing tothe bottom.
I'm not looking for the bestdeal.
Uh, is kind of the vibe I'm.
I think we're starting to seethat a little bit more because
our leads are increasing.
I asked the team, I think, lastI remember what day Tuesday or
Wednesday and I just simply putare the phone calls below about
(17:01):
the same or more?
And basically everybody saidthe same thing.
They have definitely increased,not sure how much, but it's
definitely obvious that they'veincreased and that means that
the traffic to not only ourwebsite but really people coming
to a company rather than aperson is now increasing, and I
think that that's a good sign,because not that you shouldn't
(17:24):
sell stuff off marketplace,because that's pretty much how I
get my leads Going back to acompany that's got a strong
reputation is a solid choice ifyou're trying to buy a metal
building.
Jared Ledford (17:36):
People want the building to show up.
People trust what they can see,what they can visualize.
If you've got active Googleprofiles, I think right now
we're several hundred thousanddeep on SEO as far as index
pages, with several hundredthousand more to come.
And you know what people don'tunderstand about that.
(17:56):
If you're, if you're sittingback and you're thinking, man,
you know I see a lot of DaytonBarnes ads or I see a lot of
dealer X or dealer Y's ads.
Like you know, that stuff costsus money and that's one thing,
Eric, and I have been reallytalking about Go ahead money,
and that's one thing Eric and Ihave been really talking about
Go ahead.
Eric Olson (18:19):
We had a web developer one time that
developed a website for us thatwas on Squarespace and I'm just
throwing this out as adisclaimer If you're working
with somebody, make sure that,if you're trying to really go
into some SEO stuff, know thatthe programs have limited
capabilities.
If you're not going to usesomething like WordPress or HTML
, like you're actually going tocode, code it, that type of deal
(18:40):
, I think that I've learned.
We've learned that the hard way, that you really want to go
with free hand, you want to beable to like, influence, the.
Yeah, so you, you understandwhat I'm saying.
So, feedback.
I didn't mean to interrupt you.
Jared Ledford (18:57):
Yeah, no, no, the feedback that I'll give there
is.
So, you know, if you're workingwith a marketing company right
now, just do your due diligence.
I mean, that's what I would say.
You know I'm not going to saysteer clear marketing companies.
I will tell you that we likethe guys over at Shed Geek
Marketing.
They do a great job with woodsheds and metal buildings and
all that.
But you know, there's lots ofgood marketing companies out
(19:19):
there, just like there's a lotof bad marketing companies out
there.
And make sure that you haveaccess to your Google console,
like one of the things thatstill and Eric's going to laugh
at this One of the things thatstill makes me a little bit
upset.
To this day and I don't carry alot of stuff around We've
worked with a couple ofdifferent marketing companies
and what Eric and I figured outover time is that if we just
learned it ourselves, we couldsave that, save that money and
(19:42):
spend more advertising or hiringmore people or whatever.
But like we had a marketingcompany that we were super tight
with Matter of fact, like wehad a marketing company that we
were super tight with Matter offact, the Steel Kings idea was
kind of birthed in a, just ageneral.
You know, I think we told youthis a long time ago.
(20:02):
The Steel Kings podcast, orSteel Kings, has been a concept
that Eric and I have had andwe've had other partners along
the way and people have droppedoff and people have stayed.
But, like it ended up being meand Eric, which is great.
But this company that we wereworking alongside was doing
marketing blitzes for us, washelping us set up drip campaigns
, doing all this cool stuff, andwe were going to start doing
videos and start doing likeattraction posts through YouTube
and all that kind of stuff anddoing reels.
(20:24):
Well, we had a falling out withthat particular marketing
company just because they didn't, they were not able to grow
with us at the time and we werenot seeing the results and the
return that we wanted to, and italways came down to hey, we
need a couple more thousanddollars this month, or hey, we
need a couple more hundreddollars this week, or hey, you
know this particular ad and whatwe figured out was what we were
(20:46):
doing wasn't broken.
So why were we trying to fix it?
What we did always worked, andwe didn't need anybody
influencing it.
We had to change our logo.
The first thing they wanted todo was come in and change our
logo.
Kind of salty about that.
Love the new logo, don't get mewrong, but Eric had the first
logo designed and it wasperfectly fine.
I mean, we probably spentmultiple thousands of dollars
(21:08):
rebranding the business, andthat was just so that they could
get their hooks into us alittle bit.
But the one thing that drivesme nuts they locked up our
YouTube.
We lost our YouTube handlebecause of all that nonsense,
and you know I would.
I'm just, you know, hindsight2020, be mindful of who you're
working alongside of.
Have control of your socialmedia accounts.
(21:29):
Have control of what it is thatcontrols you.
Um, you know, stay in controlor it'll control you right, so
keep your hands on it.
I want to say too, brother, I,I am just, I'm giddy.
I'm like, I'm like ramped uptoday.
I don't know what it is, butyou know the base yeah, it's a.
It's a good Monday, man.
(21:50):
It's a good Monday First, likekind of nice weekend with good
weather and stuff.
And you know, I just want togive you guys all of the
blessing and all the love that Ican this week.
I really just want you to hearour voices and be motivated to
go out and do something cool,try something new, run a new ad
on Facebook, get on Marketplaceand post 20 buildings, do
(22:11):
whatever it is that's going tomake your business grow, because
right now you're going to needit.
Man, we're feeling it.
We're changing the way we'redoing things.
We're pivoting a little bitSwerve left, swerve right, get
back in the middle.
Swerve left, swerve right, getback in the middle.
We're always trying to pivotwhen we need to, and I think
right now, man, we're makinggood moves.
(22:32):
And one of the things I wantedto do was I want to be more
conversational with thesepodcasts and I want to talk to
you guys directly, like you'rein the rooms with us, so that
way you can turn us on and notfeel like you're being sold a
bunch of stuff.
Yeah, we love the guys.
We love the guys over at theVersaBend team, Cold Spring
(22:52):
Enterprises, J Money, Shed Hub.
We love our partners, but Idon't want you to just hop on
here and think, man, these guysare just hawking ads to me,
these guys are speaking out ofturn, these guys think they're
better than me.
Trust me, we don't think we'rebetter than you.
(23:13):
We sat around and pined on apodcast and in content creation
for years and we just saw theneed in our space to kind of
bring it forth.
You know, bring it to theforefront.
You know there's nobody outthere that just gets on here and
just talks about our industry,talks about the good, the bad,
the ugly, the indifferent.
And that's where we want to beat, man.
We want to give you guys aninside scoop and what we do, and
that involves who we are aspeople, and I see you shaking
(23:35):
your head I mean, it does I, Ikind of dropped this on you.
Eric Olson (23:39):
I kind of dropped this on you out of the blue, so
I mean you weren't expecting itI kind of want to take a video
of what I'm doing and so youguys can see that the entire
time that I we've been on thisshow so far, I want to kind of
show what I've been creating.
So just FYI for viewer, I'mtrying to.
I just 10%.
(24:00):
Okay, you got to love having anowner at your disposal.
You just text, hey here's aquick video.
Can I take 10% off?
He says absolutely so, bam, so.
So, this building is a 60, butI'm not going to say who's from
60 by one 20 wraparound porchI've got.
I've got six huge doors, 18, 36by 36 openings, seven openings
(24:23):
for walk-in door, and I've got.
I got the little trick on thelean twos where you can close
the sides and then do frame outsto kind of cover the bones up.
150k plus I can take 10% off.
So, you're looking at about140-ish for the building, 135
for the building, probably sixor 7K for freight.
(24:44):
Blueprints will cost 5K.
We'll need a lift for a week.
I think you're all in here.
Oklahoma's got a higher salestax than most.
I think it's probably seven oreight percent.
Eight percent probably.
Um, I'm thinking you'reprobably in this baby for about
buck 70.
It's priced up something likethat buck 75.
How's that for shooting Eric atext and getting a quote for a
(25:08):
wildly complicated building inless than 10 minutes Pro tip
salespeople, do it quick, keepthem interested, man, give them
what they're looking for Giveyourself.
Jared Ledford (25:19):
give yourself some room and be willing to make
mistakes.
Especially when you're talkingabout a building, especially
when you're talking about abuilding.
That's that price, I mean,there's more than enough room to
screw a couple of things up.
Customers want to know you'rethere and they want to know that
you're working for them in realtime, and I think that's one
thing that that Eric and I do aa pretty good job of doing.
I mean, we're not, you knowwe're not the best.
(25:39):
I'm not going to sit here andsay that we're the best, but I
can tell you I would challengethere.
You know the one thing that Iget told a lot, and I like to
say this to people too, so it'ssomething to keep in mind.
I always ask people how manypeople have you met?
I met a manufacturing partnerlast year and we just really hit
it off, man, me and him.
We've got to be good buddiesand we chit, chat and we shoot
(26:02):
texts back and forth, we checkin on each other and we parted
ways for the first time.
I said man, how many peoplehave you met in this space?
That's like me.
And he said can't think of asingle one.
And I said, man, I'm going tosay the same thing, right, Like
I had never met a person likehim.
And you know, you want to bethat person for somebody else,
(26:24):
and that's what we find a lot.
I mean, personally, I've notmet somebody in the industry, I
don't like you know, and I hadan interaction recently with
somebody, and they'll know whothey are when they hear the
podcast.
He came up and you know, I hadjust been told through the
grapevine man, you know, thisguy doesn't really like you guys
very much and he's not yourbiggest fan.
(26:45):
And I was like, oh, okay, well,I mean great, I mean I'll get
to meet him, that's fine.
So, I was in a shared room withthis particular gentleman.
Couldn't have had a nicerconversation with the guy.
He came up and kind ofhalf-jokingly said, hey, can I
get an autograph from the SteelKing?
And I was just like, take itback, like whoa, like, okay,
(27:06):
nice to meet you too, brother,nice to meet you too, brother.
And like I just flat, I justflat told him, and I told you
this story, Eric, I just toldhim.
I said, man, I said I don'tknow what you've heard about me,
but I've heard about you, and Iam super impressed with your
business.
I think what you're doing issuper impressive.
You have a, you have a resumeand a pedigree that exceeds who
you are.
(27:26):
And the look on his face when Icomplimented him and he, he knew
what he had said.
He knew the things that I hadheard and I can't say that I
know for sure that he said thethings that I had heard, but I
know that he probably had saidsome of the things, because I
had heard some of the thingsfrom people I really trust,
people that I love and careabout and care about me, and I
just I met him with love and methim with an open heart and I'll
(27:49):
be honest with you, man, I hada great conversation with the
guy.
There's a lot I can learn fromhim and, to be honest with you,
I love sharing that storybecause when he came up and said
, can I have an autograph fromthe Steel King, I thought to
myself well, at least you'relistening to the podcast, at
least you know where I'm atright now.
Right, so you know, know,motivating tip for today.
(28:14):
Yeah, yeah.
So, nobody, nobody, everhesitate to come up and say
hello to me or Eric, I, uh, ofthe two of us, I'm probably the
more open, but you know I'llmeet you with the same level of
respect.
You meet me with um.
I think he was being a littlecondescending at first, but I
met him with some respect, andhe met me back with that same
respect and we now have anunderstanding for each other and
(28:37):
at the very least, there's notas much.
The air is open, right, Eric?
Now I feel like I can talk tothis guy in public.
I don't feel like I have tosteer clear, and that's been one
thing that you and I have beenon a mission the last couple
years, cause we've faced animmense amount of adversity
business, personal life, youname it.
Eric Olson (28:59):
And you know it quieted me right up.
Jared Ledford (29:01):
We, we have absolutely, we have absolutely
met those obligations andbarriers in our lives with full
speed ahead FSA.
I'm going to say that right nowbecause I say it a lot in my
mind full speed ahead always.
There's no reason, there's noreason to feel some sort of way
about something.
If you're feeling some sort ofway about something, address it,
(29:22):
because burying that stuffinside man makes you feel bad.
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Jared Ledford (30:47):
Eric, and I both have demons.
I'm just going to share mine.
I used to drink.
I was an alcoholic and, youknow, not a bad alcoholic, right
, but I'd go out and party, I'dhave a good time.
I haven't had a drink in like18 months and like just calling
myself out for that and saying,you know what you don't need.
You don't need that beer, youdon't need that mixed drink, you
don't need that cocktail.
You're better than that.
(31:07):
And it has allowed me to openmyself up to so much more in my
life.
That challenges me.
Uh, both prefer you know,professionally and personally to
just get ahead of it Right, andcall it out for what it is like
.
Look, you know you're goinghome every night and having a
couple of beers and that's notgood.
You got kids like you, got toget up in the morning and go to
(31:28):
work and that I was never thekind of guy that would not be at
work.
I mean, Eric will tell you I'mat the office all the time.
I don't miss work, I don't goon vacation, I don't do that, I
just don't.
I'm at work, I love work, andall that extra energy now is
going back into the business,and I feel it paying dividends
in my life by addressing it outloud, right, and like sharing it
(31:50):
with you guys.
It's a testimony for me, right?
You know the 12 steps.
I've never actually gone throughAA, but I can tell you.
You know admitting what you.
You know admitting what you are, which in my case is an
alcoholic.
I had a hard time saying no toalcohol.
And you know, saying that outloud is the first step in making
(32:11):
a transition in your life thatcan be transformative.
And I know, I know that y'alllike to party.
I've seen it.
I've seen the steel dealers andthe trade shows, podcasts, yeah
, even the woodshed guys.
I know y'all like to party andI'll take a pass.
And Eric's my witness man, man,he's watched me turn it down.
(32:33):
He has watched me turn it downin public.
And there was a time in my lifethat never would happen,
especially when the day so Idon't know man, I was just
feeling extra lubed up.
Today I feel extra good and,like my vibe's good, Eric was
just at the revival we weretalking about that.
He was, he was vibing um bro,he came back.
(32:55):
He's got a little bit of a tanon him.
It was a little.
It was a little hot and muggy,but Eric's always got a tan
Eric's rocking that year-roundFlorida.
Tan, I don't know what it is,man, I got gotta get some of
that hair I gotta get some ofthat hair brother, I got a plan,
I got a fitness membership, Igot too much hair on my face,
not enough on my head
Eric Olson (33:14):
it's funny it don't take much I got an Italian
heritage, so you know, if I gotoutside for long enough, I get
that bronze kind of.
You know one thing honestly,one thing that I saw over the
weekend um, I think it was areal or like a little short clip
or something was about how,like there's like two brackets.
When men get older, they eitherlook really old or they kind of
(33:36):
stay young looking, and it haseverything to do with
moisturizing and so like, yeah,I've moisturized my face forever
.
It's because I don't and you, Iknow you're the same you got,
you got the hand sanitizer.
It's like, yeah, I'm like ahabitual.
I can't stand crap cuticles, soI'm constantly putting lotion
on.
And I'm like a habitual.
I can't stand cracked cuticles,so I'm constantly putting
lotion on.
And I'm like my skin is stayinghealthy and I'm 40.
I'm almost 40.
(33:57):
In two months I turned 40.
I'm like it was a confirmationseeing that video.
I'm like, yeah, I didn't knowwhy I was doing it.
Jared Ledford (34:05):
I'm a Bath Body Works guy, so I mean, for those
of you that don't know, I likeBath.
Body.
Eric Olson (34:10):
Works that hand sanitizer is so good.
Jared Ledford (34:11):
Eucalyptus and Spearmint.
Yep, eucalyptus and Spearmint,so the aromatherapy line from
Bath Body Works.
I'm not afraid to say it, I'm aBath Body Works guy.
I go like once a you know youcan buy like three items and get
three for free.
So, I get these big lotions,and I get the hand sanitizers,
the little pocket bags.
So, I got shorts on todaybecause it's hot in Ohio today.
(34:34):
But when I got my jeans on.
you can ask Eric Everybody'salways bumming me for hey, can I
get some hand sanitizer?
And it's right in my pocket.
Eric Olson (34:43):
It's because it smells good.
Jared Ledford (34:44):
It does smell good, bro.
Eric Olson (34:46):
You can't put it on your hand and not smell it.
You cannot put it on your handand not take a strong breath.
Jared Ledford (34:52):
And it stays and not smell it.
You cannot put it on your handand not take a strong one.
It stays and it's not like anoverwhelming smell either.
It's like a welcoming, warmsmell.
Eric Olson (34:57):
It's a Seinfeld episode.
Jared Ledford (35:01):
That's true.
Eric Olson (35:02):
It definitely could be a.
Seinfeld episode.
Jared Ledford (35:04):
You can make a whole episode out of man.
What's that smell?
Oh, Jared must be here, but no,Eric does that when he comes to
the office man, he'd be like,oh well, Eric, Jared must be
here.
I can smell it already.
Yeah, 100%, I don't know, man,I was just feeling.
I can't say it enough.
I'm just feeling good today.
I really want to.
(35:24):
If you guys like this, let usknow.
Let us know.
I mean I know we're not hittingyou with all the tread work
today, we're not getting intothe ins and outs of the industry
or sheds, but I mean, you know,I really want to show you guys
a little bit about who we areand what we do.
And again, I, we are so blessedbeyond measure to be in a space
(35:48):
working alongside friends thatwe absolutely love and care
about and doing something thatman, I don't know that.
I'd rather do anything else.
Eric got me this watch one timeand Eric will think it's funny
because there's two guys thatgot watches that might not think
it's that way anymore.
But it says on the backside onthe crown, it says best job I
ever had.
(36:09):
And it's the truth, man, I'venever had a job like this, and
you know, the people thathaven't been able to run with us
.
God bless their hearts, Causeyou know they're missing out on
a really good time.
I can tell you that right now,um ego bravado, whatever it was,
whatever got in their way, man,I hope they're doing well.
I wish them well If they'rechecking us out.
I wish you guys nothing but thebest right out.
Eric Olson (36:31):
Let me tell you some weird crap.
I had a dream last night.
I was telling heather this.
I was telling heather this.
I woke up I want to say hisname but I won't because it's
pointless.
But I had a dream that I calledthat guy on the phone and I was
because, like, for some reasonin the dream I was like me, I
was meeting something there's aministry dating called simple
(36:53):
street, the guy that renovatedour bathroom at the Huber shop
when the kids was in youth still, um, his name was Joel Burton.
He got hit by a car and passedaway unfortunately, but in the
dream I met his wife at over therevival and we was talking
about that moment of thebathroom and everything and how
we was plugged in and, and inthe dream I was chatting about
the ministry and after I left itI got a phone call from the guy
(37:17):
.
Like I literally walked awayfrom the table, and I got a foot
, so funny, just brought him upand I was.
I missed the call and then Icalled him back and I was just
asking like how he's doing andstuff, and he was like super
depressed and sad and, but hewas still selling metal
buildings and yeah, don't knowwhy I'm sharing that, but it's
just a funny.
I wished him all the best.
Like in the dream, I was justtelling him man, I was just
(37:40):
calling a follow-up.
He wanted to know who we wereselling buildings for.
I think he was trying to get alittle.
There you go.
Jared Ledford (37:49):
We've had so many partners over the years, people
that have worked alongside ofus and people that have gotten,
you know, prideful or just readyto move on.
Not everybody left on bad terms, but we've had a couple that
have left on some pretty sournotes and like this is one to
understand that like we got suedover this, like we had to go to
court over this, this was notjust a oh I don't want to be
(38:10):
your friend anymore, I'm gonnatake my ball and go home.
This guy filed a lawsuit and,uh, you know, it all got taken
care of.
What, what was, what was.
But you know, it's funny at theend of the day, like I still
think about the good times thatwe had sometimes, because we did
have some good times right, Imean, we were getting Eric.
Eric's face is like well, maybenot as many good times.
(38:32):
I had to work alongside thatguy for a hot minute.
Eric Olson (38:34):
No, no, no, memory of mine is bad.
Jared Ledford (38:41):
Eric was uh, Eric was absolutely getting me
through some times, cause I'mtelling you I am an above board
kind of guy.
I do not like anything evenremotely If it, if it's got one
ounce of stank on it, I'm likeno and I can remember being
because at the time I didn'tknow anything, I was just like
Eric sold me a building, hehired me to be a 1099 contract
(39:02):
worker selling buildings and Idon't know what it was that Eric
saw in me, but I saw a lot inhim and I've worked every day at
this job to pay it forward tohim.
And you know, I've worked likeevery day at this job to like
pay it forward to him because Ifeel like together, we've passed
through this storm of nonsenseand what was you know?
I remember one time he was likeman, we should sell roll-up
(39:24):
doors.
We should sell roll-up doorsbecome a roll-up door become a
roll up door dealer, and I'mthinking no, let's go backwards.
Let's go backwards, that soundslike yeah, let's not sell an
entire building, let's just sellthe components.
How bad of an idea.
Is that yeah?
And I told Eric.
I said, man, this is a bad idea, dude, this is terrible.
(39:46):
And we went through it.
We tried for him.
To Eric's credit, man, he nevertakes an idea and doesn't at
least try it once.
You know, my idea was let's getinto.
My idea was like let's get intopole bars and brother that
ain't no.
Eric Olson (40:04):
That has been let's tell the audience about what's
coming up.
So, we've, you know I went, Igot a chance, okay, so.
So, pole barns.
Let's.
Let's talk about pull barnsbecause, um, we got to shout out
our sponsor real quick.
Let's do that before we getinto something.
Jared Ledford (40:22):
So J money is your partner in financing what
you need to do If you are acontractor, a dealer, a metal
building dealer, a woodsheddealer, manufacturer, makes no
difference.
If you're roofing, doing pools,these guys, the team over there,
will absolutely help yourevolutionize your business.
We've been doing work with Joelnow pretty much the whole time
(40:44):
We've been Dayton Barns.
We've helped Joel, Joel'shelped us.
The reason why Eric brings thatup is because the connection we
have is because for a while Iwas doing I was working with J
Money right.
So, Dayton Barns had becomesort of a pseudo partner.
We were doing some loanoriginations and setting up new
(41:04):
account holders and talking toour friends and like, hey, you
guys need to get this product.
You know it doesn't benefit us.
You know Joel was taking me allover and we went to a couple of
trade shows and went andtraveled and did some head
hunting.
Well, one of the contacts wemade was for pole barns and I
brought the pole barns to thetable, and I was Eric will tell
(41:24):
you I was amped up about it.
I was jazzed up.
They were excited, they knewwho we were.
I was like, okay, this is great, we're going to have another
outfit.
We get requests for pole barnsall the time.
It's a.
It's a.
You know, it's a Pepsi / Cokekind of a thing, you know, Pepsi
being metal buildings, Cokebeing a pole barn.
(41:54):
You know some people just wanta, you know post frame building
period, the end and we wereready to get on board, and we
didn't.
I remember I got voted down byEric and somebody else and Eric
said to me now he never said no,but Eric said, man, you got to
talk, you got to talk dub intoit.
So, JW, who's been on thepodcast, used to work with us
and JW, for whatever reason,just wasn't feeling it and I
think at the time it probablywas the right decision, honestly
(42:18):
, because we weren't ready forit.
Right, and that's where you,that's where you're gonna come
in.
So, we never, we never, wenever put the idea away.
Eric never forgot that I wantedit and then there was a.
Eric Olson (42:24):
There was a lot of.
It's been touching us.
It touched us with diy polebarns and it touched us with me.
Great owner, love that guy,solid Christian man.
But we weren't set up for it.
We sold one a long time ago.
They facilitated the deal.
We used.
One of their contractors soldto a guy that was going to
church with for his hay barnGreat project.
(42:46):
But we still had mastered metal.
I don't feel like.
But I feel like we've had acontractor in our back pocket
for a couple of years who hasbeen doing concrete pads and his
business is stable and I thinkthe shock value of a concrete
pad for a metal building versusa pole barn, which is a 32-inch
(43:08):
footing versus a no-inch footingwhich is just poles and ground,
then you just surface cover thearea with the pad.
Some customers are turned off bythe cost of a concrete building
.
Now the cost of and that's notin every county but in
particular Montgomery County,champaign Green and Miami.
Some of them are a little pickyabout you've got to have the
(43:30):
footing and some of them areeven more than what the plans
call for and so a lot of timescustomers will love the building
quote.
Maybe it's a $15,000 buildingbut the concrete might cost 23.
And they're like well, dang,that's over double the cost and
so, but maybe they'll do the padagainst another structure.
And so, we've been nudged.
(43:52):
I would say nudged if tapped,then nudged, then pushed and
then tackled, in that order, Ithink, over the past.
That sounds about right.
Sounds about right Like past,probably a year and a half or so
.
And man, we just formulated thisthing overnight.
We've got a website up, we'vegot a Facebook page.
We've got social media.
We've got hot overnight.
(44:13):
We've got a website up, we'vegot a Facebook page.
We've got social media, we'vegot hot leads.
We've got some big things goingon.
We've got a particular hugeproject that we're doing that
should be closing here soon, andthat is what has.
When there's no friction in yourbusiness and you protect your
culture of your business, whichis, for our case, work, get the
(44:36):
job done and everything's laxed.
Get the leads done, take careof the leads.
I remember when I first startedthe business I would man the
ship on the messages, andsometimes we get 40 leads,
sometimes we get 20.
The youth boys would behammering them in the other room
and say we're not leaving untilthey're done and so if we get
(44:56):
you know, and so that's whatthat's our policy now and uh,
kind of we're just like hand youknow, going after it and I
don't know where this thing camefrom, but it's came, came up
overnight and we're having somebigger conversations than we've
ever had.
You know, I think the biggestproject we've done is we.
We had a, we had a almost ahalf a million dollar project
we've done this year out inArkansas, but that one is blown,
(45:19):
that one out of the water and.
So, I just feel like over thecourse of this year we'll
probably talk about pole barns alittle bit more, maybe towards
the fall and winter time.
But man, I just that's kind ofa sneak peek into what we're
kind of back scenes working onand stuff and um the biggest
(45:40):
part about it for me, bro, isit's so much fun because it is
fun we're, we're in this, youknow, and we're the end game.
Jared Ledford (45:48):
We're the end game yeah, you're the end game.
Yeah, yeah, I love, I love theprocess of doing it all.
And with metal buildings it'shard because really, like you
were talking about concrete andwe're actually going to have one
of our friends on a futureepisode to talk about concrete.
But if you're in Ohio, let mejust give you this little tidbit
(46:08):
it's a new law 32-inch footerfor the whole building, all over
the place.
Eric Olson (46:16):
Wow.
Jared Ledford (46:16):
It is starting to change.
So not every municipality andjurisdiction is up on that yet,
but it will be.
And I've been saying this youguys have heard me last year on
Shannon's podcast.
I've said it periodically onthis podcast the regulation on
steel buildings is coming.
Pole barns is cool because mostmunicipalities have like a pole
(46:37):
barn sheet.
A lot of times you don't evenneed blueprints, you can just
submit the trust engineering andyou're good, you're golden.
You just do a layout of theposts and you're good.
And I mean people get thesepole barns up because the pole
barn companies have workedexponentially hard to keep
regular.
(46:57):
That's exactly right.
They've been working to keepregulation up.
They don't want anybody gettinginto the industry that doesn't
know what they're doing, becausethey know that the value of the
product is diminished when yourace to the bottom.
And I haven't said it in thelast couple of weeks, I'll say
it now Metal buildings are due,are absolutely due for that.
(47:18):
It's due for regulation, it'sdue for some changes.
The days of generic blueprintsare probably going to come to an
end.
I think there's a couple ofstates Alabama is one of them
where you're supposed to havesites on every building.
Oregon is doing pretty muchsites and seismics on every
building.
It's just one of those things,man.
If you don't educate yourselfand get in a position to be
(47:41):
knowing and educating yourcustomers, forget about it.
You're done.
You are absolutely not going tosucceed five years from now
doing this period.
This is going to requirediligence and hard work and
follow through.
I think that's the biggestthing.
That is killing me today isjust thinking about man.
(48:05):
We get calls all the time fromcustomers and I'm just sharing
this with you.
This is the truth.
We get customers all the time,man.
I put a deposit down with XYZcompany and I haven't heard
anything from them.
Um, is there anything you cando to help?
You know, unfortunately I can'tnow.
I can sell you another buildingand I'm happy to give you a
deal.
Um, we work with company, wework with customers all the time
(48:29):
and I'll say hey, send me aproof that you bought a metal
building.
I'll sell you the exact samemetal building.
I'll follow it from start tofinish.
I'll make sure it's deliveredand installed on your timeframe.
You know I work with customersall the time that are getting
taken for money and you knowthat stuff is gonna.
Those chickens will come toroost, that is.
That is an absolute fact andthose of us who are doing this
(48:52):
right, if you're listening tothis podcast, you're probably in
a 1% because you've taken thetime to get through 46 minutes
of Eric and Jared just shootingat you, just giving you the
absolute truth of it.
You've learned more about me onthis episode personally, and
Eric probably personally, thanyou ever have known.
We're both gonna do personaltestimonial videos for you guys
(49:12):
to share our vision for what wewant for steel, for wood, for
ourselves and, hopefully, if Imotivate one person on this call
today, if you're drinking, stopit.
You don't need to.
That's my motivator for todayand, to be truthful, I know lots
of people who socially drink,and that's fine.
(49:32):
That's your business.
I'm not here to criticize, I'mjust here to tell you.
I had a problem with it and I'mnot going to drink anymore.
That's my biggest thing and Iwant to keep.
You guys can hold meaccountable.
If you ever see the steel King,Jared Ledford, out with a drink
in his hand, you better smackme across the jaw, you better
lay me out right there, cause Iwant to be.
I want to be a testament tomyself and to my neighbors.
Eric Olson (49:52):
I got bills.
Man, I don't got time for that.
I got bills.
Jared Ledford (49:56):
That's right.
I got bills, that's right.
Brother, do you have anything?
else for me.
We're, we're, we're gettingblown up.
So a little bit of a peek behindthe curtain.
The steel Kings have been behindon recording.
As we finish up our secondepisode today, the podfather
(50:17):
himself is asking us where ourepisodes are.
So shout out to this guy fromIdaho.
Eric Olson (50:24):
We were just talking while we were having this
episode.
I said I'm working on somethingreal quick and I'll quote you.
He said what you got going on.
I said I'm on a podcast forSteel Kings.
Lol, here's a live.
Look, I screenshotted us.
And he says I'm going to sit.
I was like I'm going to sit,bro, you want to be alive.
You just want to buy a buildingon live air.
Jared Ledford (50:44):
Yeah, you want to come right out.
You want to come right on withus.
I can tell you the team over atVersaBend and Cold Spring
Enterprises I will tell you.
This machine is a game changerfor your metal building pros out
there.
It bends the two inch, the twoand a quarter, the two and a
(51:05):
half square tubing that we'reall familiar with.
It also does the two by three,rectangular and all in three
precise bends.
No tools to switch the tubesizes.
It just gets you the speed, theaccuracy and way less downtime.
$19,500 gets you the equipment.
There's no tax.
If you're outside SouthCarolina.
Shipping average is about $600.
Check out the team over atcsecarport.
(51:27):
supply.
Give them a call, 844-446-3645.
Tell Wendell and the team theSteel Kings sent you.
I will also plug one last timethe team over at J Money, Joel,
Katie, our friends, the teamJason, all of them, J Money
changed our lives.
Doing a great job.
(51:47):
Thank you for giving us anopportunity to present to you
the Steel Kings podcast.
We will be back next week withanother episode.
We'll figure it out along theway.
Shannon, Deanna, we're sorry ittook so long, but hey, we'll be
back at you next week.
I'm Jared.
This is Eric.
We are the Steel Kings.
So check us out next week andwe will talk to you soon.
Peace out, guys.
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