December 23, 2025 • 56 mins
The Builder Upper Show goes in person for the very first time! Host Lou Perez sits down with Joshua Mullet of BlackLine and Legacy Services Group for a raw, honest conversation about construction, leadership, faith, and what it truly means to build something that lasts. Joshua shares how his journey in the trades started at just 10 years old, the realities of entrepreneurship when the pressure is heavy, and why the power of team can change everything. The conversation dives deep into mentorship, mental health in construction, leadership through adversity, and the moments that test whether you quit or keep going.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey everyone, I'm Louperez, your host of The Builder Upper Show,
a podcast where we talk about everything in construction and trades.
Now let's get into it all right. I have my
guest and this is a special moment here Builder Upper
(00:23):
Show in Person with the very own Joshua Mellet from
Black Line.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Joshua, how you doing today?
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Uh, it's awesome. I so appreciate you inviting me to
your podcast, and to be on the inaugural in person
podcast for the Builder Upper Show is pretty exciting.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
This is big, This is big, so I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
So the you know, the whole point of The Builder
Upper Show is to unpack stories of construction owners and
really dig into the history of of how you got
to where you're at today. But at the same time,
let's tell the viewers more about you, who helped inspire you,
(01:11):
what helped inspire you to get to where you're at today?
And then but before I get even to like those
type of questions, yeah, let's make it super simple.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
When did you get into construction?
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Oh? Boy, the first time I got into construction, I
think I was probably about ten years old, okay, and
my dad was a handyman, carpenter, so like he would
be doing little deck projects for people, replacing their windows
and their doors. And I can remember one time. I
always wanted to make money. It's just what I wanted
(01:43):
to do because my parents said, if you want money,
to spend on things. I remember I wanted a Nintendo.
It was a big deal when I was a kid.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Nintendo was the best.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Oh it was awesome. And I had an Atari, but
that was just not the same, no, And so I
wanted a Nintendo. And so Dad was like, then you're
gonna have to pay for it. And so I talked
him into letting me come to his job sites and
I would clean up for a dollar an hour. That
was a good deal, like to a lot of cleanup.
(02:14):
And that was my first entry into construction, getting to
experience it.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
So, you know, you're you have an interesting background of
where you're at today. You know, tell us what do
you do today and why do you do it.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
That's a funny question because my team you've met, some
of would ask that same question, what do you do?
Speaker 1 (02:36):
What are you hiding behind the scenes.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
So I'm the chairman of an organization called Legacy Group,
which owns a couple of companies, and so that sounds
way cooler than it actually is. But one of the
main companies that I'm involved with is black Line, and
so black Line is a company that tells the stories
(03:03):
of the men and women who do the work. Our
vision is to lift the view of the skilled trades.
That's why we exist, and so we do that through
two ways. One we get hired to actually three ways,
if I'm saying this right. We get hired to tell
people's stories and help them build their brands, so, you know,
to help you build out your social media, to tell
(03:24):
your story through video, you know, and communicate what it
is that you do and why you do it, which
actually really helps your bottom line because it attracts talent,
it attracts clients, all of that stuff, and it attracts
the talent and the clients that align with who you are,
which is kind of important if you like profitability. And
(03:45):
then we also at black Line have our institute. We
call it black Line Institute Super Creative, I know. And
in that institute, we are an accredited apprenticeship program here
in the state of Pennsylvania where we teach. It's a
four year program and we teach and work alongside companies
(04:06):
to train their people to become electricians and to get
certified by the State of PA.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Amazing, amazing.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
So you know, I got to ask, you do your
own podcasts? How do you get to do all these
It seems like you're you have your hand and a
lot of things. You might have what we call the
curse I do of entrepreneurship.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Yeah, you know, what.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Would you say, like, how do you prioritize this? How
do you manage your time as an owner? I mean
it sounds like we're doing a ton of things, like
do you have any special sauce to being an owner
and then being in the industry but also doing all
these other things to keep you going?
Speaker 3 (04:49):
Uh, there is a special sauce. It's not mine, but
it exists, and a lot of us sometimes don't realize it.
But one of the most important things that I have
realizing the things that I do is the power of team.
You know, when I when I started, I founded an
electrical company doing commercial industrial electoral work, and I realized
(05:11):
I don't want to do this alone. And we've they
developed a reputation of I'm not involved in the day
to day of that company anymore. I sit on their board.
But we developed a reputation of problem solving, and that
really is what business is really about. It's about solving
a problem and bringing solutions to the table for clients.
(05:36):
And the way that I found was the most successful
way to do that was the power of team. And
so if you would have told me that I host
a podcast, or that I would go speak and talk
with organizations and people, or or even consult when I
when I started the company years ago, I would have
said you were absolutely nuts. I would have bet a
(05:57):
million dollars against you. And the reality is the secret sauce.
And this is what I share with people. I've never
actually shared this on camera, but I will share it
here on the Builder Upper Show because it's about from
what you were telling me, what your goal is. It's
about improving the industry and making it better. The power
(06:19):
of team is one of those things that it is
unmeasurable in the way that it can succeed. And so
if you have an issue or a problem and you're
trying to solve it, when you bring the power of
team into that, it totally changes the aspect with which
you look at that issue. So imagine that you have
(06:41):
you know in this picture, and let's say that you know,
a silo is like a circle on it's really tall,
and so you're standing on this side of it. You
and I, like, we have an issue in between us here.
You're sitting over there. I'm sitting here. I can't see you.
I can only see the issue which is in front
of me. When you bring a team into it, say
that you bring four people into it, and I like
(07:02):
this because you'd have a person sitting here to our right,
a person to our left, and then you and me
on either side of it. I can see that person
to my right, and I can see that person to
my left, and they can see aspects of the issue
that I can't see. The other thing that they can
see is they can see you, who sees an entire
other side of the issue, And in that way we
get a three hundred and sixty degree view of what
(07:24):
the issue is. When you bring that power of team
into problem solving, it totally changes it. And so you're like, wow,
you're involved in a lot of different things. Well, the
reality is, it's not just me. Black Line is a
collaboration of people that desire to communicate value of the
(07:46):
individuals who do the work and lift the view of
the skilled trades. And so when we have an issue
or a problem, we deal with that as a team.
And I think you know, we've been talking a lot today.
I think you know exactly what I'm talking about. Yes,
but I think it's important to articulate perspective matters. And
I only have this perspective if I can talk with
(08:07):
that person to my right or to my left, they
can talk with you, and I can see the full picture,
which makes me make educated decisions and solves problems.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Contractors do overcome a lot of adversity. Would you can
you remember a time that seemed like it was really
tough and other than today, other than today, and you know,
just point out some areas where you're just like, you
know what today is tough, but you made your way through?
Speaker 2 (08:40):
And how did you do it?
Speaker 3 (08:43):
How real am I allowed to get here?
Speaker 2 (08:45):
You can get as candid as you want.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
So I've been in business for a little over twenty years.
The electrical company that I found had celebrated twenty years
this past year.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Congratulations, Thank you.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
I remember a little over a decade ago, it was
after two thousand and eight. You know you couldn't win
projects to save your life, and I was trying to
save my life and we were broke as an organization.
And and just just so that I understand your question,
(09:22):
you're asking me when I was in those situations, what
was the thing that got me through? That's what you're asking. Okay,
So I remember my debts were high and my funds
were low and so much so I remember saying to
my wife, So it was her birthday, it was March,
(09:43):
and I remember saying to her, well, why don't we
go window shopping for your birthday where you can look
at stuff? But I can't buy you anything. And where
we live, we have all of these things, like you know,
goodwill or there's reuse it shops they call it, where
they have used things that they sell. And I said,
I can't handle going to look at things in an
(10:05):
actual store. Well let's go to one of those places.
And so we go to this reuse it shop and
we're there. So I'm a big believer. If you need
to get that, you can. But I'm a big believer
in it's your podcast. I'm telling you what you can do.
(10:25):
I'm sorry. In being honest, time is value and I
want to give you the maximum value of my time.
And the only way to do that is to be honest.
So I'll tell you the truth. We're there and we
walk in. I couldn't even bring myself to walk around
(10:47):
with her to look at things because I felt like
such a failure that I couldn't provide for her a
birthday present from a place where they were selling used things.
And so I said to her, I said, hey, why
don't you go look around? And I love books, I
love to read, and I love old things, and so
I said, I'm just gonna go over here and I'm
(11:08):
gonna look at these books. And so I go over
and I'm looking through things. And my faith plays a
big part in my life, and I believe in God,
and I believe in a relationship with God, and so
for me, that's a big part of my life. But
up until this point, I had never experienced God speaking
(11:32):
to me in this way. And so there I am,
and standing there in the aisle. I'm just hoping people
can't see me because I feel like I have a
sign on me that says I'm broke, that I'm a failure,
that I don't know what I'm doing, and I'm looking
at these books and I see this Bible with like
(11:54):
these you know, red edges on it. And I'm a
child of the eighties, so like Clint East would the
old Westerns, you know, and it's like that was the
thing that you saw in every old movie. So it
caught my attention. So I pull it off the shelf,
and I also love this is gonna make me sound
so weird, but in the blue collar world, I love poetry.
(12:15):
And my name is Joshua, right, you knew that. I
pull this Bible off the shelf in this store. It's
old and it's dusty, and I flip it open and
it falls open to the Book of Joshua and in
there and it was like receipt paper, you know, how
fine anything that is. And there's this piece of paper
in there, and I had just been crying out to God,
(12:37):
and I'm like, God, why am I here? Why is
this so hard? Why can't I even buy my wife
a birthday gift? And I'm literally in tears, and I
open up this Bible and I'm like God, I need
to hear from you. I need to know that this
is what you want me to do, because it's hard
and I can't face it anymore, and the Bible falls
(13:02):
open and there's this receipt paper there wedged in the Bible.
You know. It was about like I don't know, yay
big and at the top of it, and it happened
to be in the Book of Joshua, which is my name,
And at the top of it it said, in these
big black bold letters, don't quit. And I'm not going
(13:25):
to try to recite it to you, but it was
a poem, and it said when funds are low and
debts are high, and it went on, it's written by
a guy in the name of Edward Guest. And I
love things that are hundreds of years old. It's really old.
And he wrote this poem. And I read through the
whole thing, and I talked about how you don't give up.
(13:47):
Many who have given up have not attained the victor's cup.
It said, because they gave up too early. They quit
too soon. And at the bottom of the paper it
was written by an our area where we live, a
businessman who everybody would know his name, and he had
gotten these things printed out and he handed them out
to people throughout his life, and so this had been
(14:09):
handed to someone. They stuck it in this Bible, and
they did this, and so I felt like in that
moment that God was saying, Joshua, don't quit, don't give up.
And then the averse that it was stuck in in
the Bible not only carried my name, but it said
be strong and courageous for wherever your foot treads his
(14:31):
land that I have given you. So I don't know
if you were ready for this faith based answer, but
it's what I believe. And that changed my life in
that moment. I felt like God was speaking to me
in that moment. And let me be really clear, I
was broke. There was no way to succeed. There was
(14:53):
no way to get out of the situation that I
was in. And you might think, oh, well, then God
gave you millions of dollars. No, no, he didn't. I
had to have a lot of really hard conversations. But
this is what I learned. The Lord gave me the
strength to go and have hard conversations with people, and
I worked out deals with vendors and contractors, and I
(15:15):
chose not to ignore the calls when they came and
I couldn't pay the bill. And one of our vendors
in particular, you know, imudiple of them. As we talked
and we worked through things, and that was it. I
just faced them and I believed that success was there
and I believe that the victor's cup was coming. And
so when I did this, I found out that well,
(15:40):
people wanted to work with me. So and this was
in the electrical company that I was building at the time,
and today here we are almost a decade later, maybe
a little bit more than a decade. One of our
largest vendors was one of the people that we could
not pay in that timeframe. And they are actually worldwide international,
they're huge, and to their credit, they wanted to work
(16:04):
with the little guy. And I called them up and
I said, I can't pay my bill and I don't
know how to pay it. And they worked with me,
and to this day, we have an almost unlimited credit
limit with that vendor because of that relationship. And this
is my point. What our vendors realized was that they
could trust us when you pick up the phone and
(16:26):
answer when things are hard, they want to work with you,
and they wanted to build relationship. Not everybody does, and
let me be really clear, not every phone call that
I made ended well, some of them weren't, but we're
still here. That company is now operating without me, and
it is being successful. And with black Line, we are
(16:50):
now promoting and building into the trades, in investing not
just in people, but in other companies and their culture
and building that out. I answer your question, it did.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
That was a very solid answer. And I love that
you were open to sharing your faith and it sounds
like that's kind of built into your foundation.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
When did that start?
Speaker 3 (17:18):
When did my faith start? Well? I grew up in
a home where we talked about God, we believed in God,
and I went to church ever since I can remember,
and so I always thought that's what I was supposed
to do when I grew up, supposed to go be
a missionary, be pastor me something like that. And so
(17:38):
when I was about I don't know, twelve or thirteen,
maybe fourteen, I can't really remember. I don't You can't
fact check it because there was no social media to
go back and check back. Then that would be about
I remember I was at a camp and it affected
my life in a way where I felt like I
(18:01):
was supposed to. I was in this thing, you know
in churches they do this thing if you if you
haven't been to a church, we sing praises and worship.
And so I was in one of these sessions.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Can I give a shout out?
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Please do west Osha Lakes Church out in Patock Lake, Wisconsin.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Yes, yes, we know praises and.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
Worship, so then you know what I'm talking about. And
so there I was, and I was in the back
because I didn't want to see me, and so I was.
I was hiding in the back. I didn't realize I
was hiding. I just thought I'm sitting in the back,
A big deal. And I think I was probably about
fourteen because I was definitely aware of the girls that
were in the audience, and I wanted to look cool,
of course. I wanted to look cool, of course, and
(18:43):
I had this nudge. I've never heard in my entire life,
I've never heard God's voice audibly. Some people are blessed
and they have, but for me, it's always been a
thought or you know, something like that. And so I
had this thought, and it was go up front, and
I want you to get down on your knees in
front of everyone and raise your hands up and praise me.
(19:08):
I was more scared. I think than I have been,
and we might get to this. There was a point
in my life a few years after that that I
was more scared and this was more scary than that
than I had ever been in my life, because what
would people think of me? What would nobody else was
doing that? And so there was like this hook in
(19:30):
me like I couldn't leave it alone. I couldn't, I
couldn't get away from it. And so I was like, fine,
if I believe that there's like a one percent chance
that God is real and that this is real and
he's telling me to do this, if there is one
percent chance that that is actually true, that I have
to do that. And I thought to myself, well, what's
(19:54):
the worst that could happen? Some people laugh at me
and think I'm stupid, Well, then they would be accurate
because I am stupid. So I go up front, and
as I get up front, I just feel pressure forced
to my knees and I lift my arms to the
heavens and I praise God change my life. And from
(20:16):
that point on, I knew that I wanted to have
a relationship with God and I want to know more
of who he was, and that has followed me through
my marriage, through my business, through my life. It drives
everything that I do and the why of why I
do it because I believe that Jesus is real. I
believe that He cares for you and me. And if
I believe that and I'm not sharing that with people, listen,
(20:38):
I don't want to force anything down anybody's throat. But
if I don't talk with you about what I believe,
and if I really truly believe it and I don't
talk about it, what does that say about me? What
does that say about how I care about you? And
so when people ask, I answer honestly. If they don't,
unless I feel a nudge like I felt to go
(20:59):
up front, I don't say anything. But that would be
the point when I felt like God changed my life.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
You feel like you get that like little feeling where
somebody needs to hear it, and I feel like that
comes naturally. Do you ever, you know, how do you
incorporate that within business? I know some people I know
some people are like, you know, keep it separate and whatnot.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
But church and state, Yeah, exactly exactly.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
So you know, how do you, as an owner, you know,
navigate that or feel I mean, are you open to
sharing that with your employees and encourage them, and yeah,
I'd love to hear your your thoughts on that.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
So I don't say this publicly very often, and with
Black Line, I live a more public life with the
Line and hosting a podcast, which is also a thing
that a decade ago, I didn't even know if that
was a thing, and if it was like three people
listen to podcasts, if anybody I don't remember, yeah, yeah,
(22:07):
But I would to answer your question, I would say
this if I'm if I'm going to be honest with you,
I don't believe in the separation of church and state
in that way or business and what I believe. If
I believe it and I believe that it's true, then
it's going to affect my decisions in the way that
I look at things. But this is what I'll say.
(22:29):
I relate with a lot of business people. Some of
them believe it I believe, some of them don't. But
most of the successful ones implement the principles of what
I believe, and they're biblical things because they work. I
have one business guy that I work with and he
does not believe at all what I believe, but he
implements certain principles, because it's like the tenets of faith
(22:50):
actually work. If you believe for this, it works. And
so to that point, I'm like, Okay, at work, it's
weird to say this, but I believe that you and
I have assignments, and so assignments are where we work,
where we live, our lives, and what we do. But
(23:11):
if I believe that Jesus Christ died for me and
paid for my sins, then I believe that I have
a calling. Is it all right? I'm going all in, man,
I'm sharing the full thing. I believe that it is
my duty and my responsibility to share that with you
because I believe in a heaven and a hell, and
(23:34):
I want to see you in heaven with me. And
so then I have a calling to share Jesus with
the world. And if you read the Bible, it's pretty
clear on what will happen to me if I don't,
you know, and if I believe that God is real,
and I do because I have lived things out where
I've seen God do things that I cannot explain. You know,
(23:55):
before that moment, when I was fourteen and even a
little beyond it, I didn't think that the mere that
happened in the Bible, happened anymore until I went into business,
and I felt like God called me to business, which
didn't make any sense to me, but business was my assignment.
My calling is the same. And so in boardrooms and elevators,
(24:15):
in podcasts and everywhere, when people ask questions about my faith,
I share it. I don't shove it down their throat,
but I don't hide it. And so I really truly
believe that if we're going to live an authentic life
and we're going to live things out, then we need
to live out what we believe and whatever that is
that you believe. If you believe what I don't believe,
(24:37):
or you believe what I do what I believe, great,
but be authentic in it, be real, be truthful, because
who wants to live in a world where it's fake.
And that's one of the things that we're trying to
do with the line is we're trying to have an
authentic and real conversation, which is what I love about
the Builder Up Or podcast is you're wanting to have
(24:57):
the same conversations that we want to have, real and authentic.
And when we do that, that's what we're hungry for
who wants to talk to someone that's gonna put lipstick
on a pig or sell you something that isn't true. Listen,
this is what I know from my life in business,
and in business in particular, my faith plays a big part.
(25:18):
I don't want to have a Christian company, but I
don't mind having a company of Christians. And is what
I mean by that is like our culture is permeated
by what I believe. But we have people that work
for us that do not believe what I believe, and
it is a safe place for them to work. But
if they want to hear about what I believe, my
door is always open. And I could give you a
(25:41):
list of men and women who have come to my
office and I have prayed with and I've shared what
I believe with. And I have those who said I
don't want to hear about what you believe in that
I want some encouragement, and I can do that too.
But the reality is, if I'm going to be truthful
with you, then I need to be authentic and real
about what I believe.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
I think that's where you and I relate a lot,
because you should never hide your faith. I agree, and
not everybody especially when you're growing a company, you're scaling
a company, and you're hiring people. Not everybody's going to
be a believer, yes, but that does not mean to
(26:23):
turn those people away.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
And some of my best people do not believe what
I believe.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
Right, same, yeah, same, same, And uh, you know, the
founding team is very aware of my beliefs, and I've
always been open. Anytime we're talking to a contractor and
we have a tough situation, they're dealing with some of
the craziest complex situations.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
I'm going to pray about it. Yeah, that's going to
help us through.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
You're going to talk about problem solving.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
That is huge, That is huge. And I can't tell
you how many times we've gotten to a point where
we've had prayers answered and then immediately give that glory
to God.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
Come on, and like, that's just the way. That's what
it's about. That's what it's about.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
So it's like and not everybody has to be on
the same page, but me personally, that's going to be
my path.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
That's the way that I do it.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
And it's not being forced to anybody just but because
I'll be open about it. And I really like how
you're truthful and you're sharing the way that you go
about it because it's it's real, it's personable, it's relatable,
it's amazing, and I appreciate what you're doing there.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
Well, I'll be really honest with you. I don't know
that I've ever been this upfront publicly about my faith
only because no one's ever asked me so directly. So
I appreciate your direct questions. And the truth of it is,
we need to be honest.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
Yeah, you know.
Speaker 3 (28:01):
You're going to get some of my beliefs, even in business,
but I really believe in being honest, and being honest
is just this honesty is not transparency. You know, when
you're honest with me, well, you're not showing me all
of your books, you're not showing me you know where
your p and ls are or any of that. But
(28:21):
being honest is not hiding anything. And so when we
don't hide things, if people ask, well, then we share
what we believe. But it doesn't mean that you tell
everybody everything. I'm a firm believer that transparency, and that's
a word that we like to use publicly a lot,
and everybody loves it. And it's because nobody trusts anybody.
So it's like, I don't want to trust you. I
(28:43):
want you to tell me everything. I'll share this with you.
Early on in business, my wife said to me, She's like,
I want you to be honest with me. And I
was like, well, that means you want me to tell
you everything. And she said no, no, I don't want
to know everything. She said, but I don't want you
to hide anything from me. Now think about that for
a second. If we don't hide anything, what's better transparency
(29:07):
where we just dump everything out there or we refuse
to hide things from our partners or employees and those
who we work with. Listen, you don't need to tell
me everything. I don't have the bandwidth to handle it all.
But if you promise me that you won't hide anything
from me, that tells me something about your character, your integrity,
and who you are, and then I can trust you.
(29:30):
Transparency isn't about trust, it's exactly the opposite.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
Yeah, that's so strong, because.
Speaker 1 (29:38):
The one thing that we're honest about with all of
our employees is exactly where we're at with our company.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
I mean, we have a monthly all hands and we're like,
this is exactly where we're at. Yeah, if we need
to step it up, we gotta step it up. Yeah,
And that's huge.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
The fire is lit because of being honest.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
Yeah, you know, like you have to tell everybody exactly where.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
So I appreciate that too.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
That's great. You know, I want to know and I
love I get. I see you the foundation, I see kind.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
Of where you're at.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
Was there somebody that inspired you or mentored you at
any point in time during this time to you know, kind.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
Of get you to this this spot today? Any individual person,
it's fine, So.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
What is the spot that we're talking about?
Speaker 1 (30:31):
So where you're at today as an owner, your business owner,
you're you're fighting the good fight. I mean, you're openly
sharing your faith. You're that's a strong minded individual that's
not afraid right now to be yourself.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
Who helped you to get to that point?
Speaker 3 (30:52):
So? I don't know that anybody inspired me to go
into business. I had a mentor when I was really
young that I would meet with every week from from
about I think I was fourteen until I was twenty two.
Actually that's a long time. It's a long time. And
I would meet with him and he would he would
mentor me about my faith. And he was a business owner,
(31:15):
and honestly, he would say, uh, people go into business
are stupid, and and I would I would say, uh,
he had an understanding of something. But what what he
mentored me in was in faith first and being honest.
And you know that the tenets of my faith really
(31:38):
those things are essential. And he taught me how to study,
how to process and if can I get can I
get another one of these? It's not beer, it's sparkling water.
In case you're watching, it's like, why enough, I'm want
(32:00):
to say that. So it's it's a water that is dead.
There we go. So all of that to say, you
just gave it to me. Thank you, I forgot you
already gave it to me. So all of that to say,
he mentored me in being honest. He mentored me in
(32:25):
wanting to go after pursuing my faith. And I would
have this conversation with my wife and I'll just say
this because I at our companies that legacy group is
a part of managing. We offer therapy and counseling to
anyone who wants it. Company pays for it. And we
(32:47):
did that because I think that everyone needs that and
it's really interesting. We're very trades based, and in the trades,
in the blue collar world, it's like counseling. I don't
need that. That's what weak people do. And I said
to my wife one day and I, uh, and that's
not true. By the way. Strong people are those who
(33:09):
who get counseling and therapy. And that is what my
mentorship was. My wife shared with me many years ago.
I was like, why, why is it that you know?
I had a friend and this is what spawned this
whole offering counseling and therapy to our people. I had
a friend and he was struggling and he went to
see a therapist. And I said to my wife, I said,
(33:31):
why is it that I don't I don't feel the
need to. I had the same life as he did,
I had the same childhood as he did. And it
was a good friend of mine. And she said, well,
she said, you've been going to therapy since you're fourteen.
I said, what do you mean? And she said, you've
been talking with these different mentors in your life about
what you struggle with, what you are burdened with. And
(33:52):
I think that we are built and made to communicate
with one another. Listen, when you share what you're struggling
with out loud with someone else, and this is actually science,
it affects your anxiety levels in a positive way. And
so my wife just said to me, she goes, will
You've been in therapy all your life, And then I
(34:14):
realized how important that was for other people. You know,
in construction, we have some of the highest suicide rates
in the world in construction. And the reason is we
don't talk to people about how we feel. We don't
talk to people about what we're struggling with, what we're
going through. And you might think, well, no one understands
what I'm going through. Nobody's going through what I'm going through. Bullshit,
(34:35):
Like are we learned to swear on this? Yes, okay,
all right, bullshit. People are going through the same thing.
It might be different. But the reality is we need
to talk about those things. We need to say it
out loud. When we don't, the voices in our head
are far more dark than the reality that we live.
And so I don't know if I'm answering your question
(34:55):
or not, but I'm on this kick right now. The
reality is need to share how you feel. I read
a book once and it said write out everything. I
journal every day, every single day, change my life. I
could show you a stack of journals, this tall that
I've been doing for twenty years. My mentor helped me
do that. Go figure, and I read this thing that
(35:19):
said take all of your fears and write them all down.
And it's like when I wrote them all down and
I would write them out. The reality is it exited
my system, totally changed my perception, didn't change my circumstances.
But all the way back to you asked me, well,
(35:42):
you know, what is your solution? How do you work
through these things? It got out of my system so
I could have a different perspective and see a more
full picture of what's going on. And that's what happens
when you talk with a therapist or a counselor you're
just soundboarding with someone else.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
The support system that you had was right next to you,
and I don't I mean, you were definitely blessed to
have that.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
Not everybody has true.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
People close to them that can help them that way.
But we know, and I know you know that there's
associations out there like absolutely ABC, Associated Builders and Contractors
of America CFMA, has CIASP where they're addressing.
Speaker 3 (36:28):
Both are phenomenal organizations.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
Absolutely, and they are addressing this problem and then bringing
basically creating that safe space and open platforms so that
contractors field workers can feel comfortable talking about this. Have you,
you know, explored these associations and then had those as
opportunities to work with your business as a contractor, Like,
(36:52):
how how have those type of associations really helped you?
Speaker 3 (36:56):
You know, m F A and A b C. You
know A b C is actually how I got my
journeyman's license. I went through their apprenticeship program, great program,
great company, great organization. ABC helped me in business and
my founding. So I have a lot of respect for
that organization. And C M F A. Did I say
(37:18):
that with c F M A there we go. Accountants
and their acronyms, UH helped me in understanding accounting from
a construction perspective, which listen, if you're an accountant, construction
is different just you know, retain it and and UH
or prevailing wag traits.
Speaker 2 (37:38):
Scary, that's a scary one.
Speaker 3 (37:41):
All of that to say, UH, those organizations helped me
tremendously with that. Personally, I didn't experience a lot of
that therapy and helping in that way. There was an organization.
I actually did a podcast with a gentleman from an
organization called U Turn Health and they are focused specifically
(38:02):
on the construction industry and the trades and dealing with
the problem of suicide in our industry. And it's very similar.
I would say to like alcoholics anonymous in this way,
you need to be able to talk with people. You
need to be able to process things. You know, I'll
(38:23):
never forget. I was in a peer group once and
a guy was struggling an executive. Because it's not unique
to a laborer, like this is something that you can
struggle with whether you are putting a shovel in the
ground or you're the guy signing checks. We all have
to deal with this stuff. And I remember having this
conversation and the guy said, he goes, I wanted to
(38:46):
put a gun in my mouth. He goes, I was
sitting in my truck and he goes. And I remembered
what my therapist said, and he said, are you breathing.
That's something to be thankful for. You're breathing. Listen, when
we don't talk talk with people, this is what happens.
I believe that fear and listen. You don't have to
(39:06):
believe in God to believe this. But fear is evil
because fear is used to control, manipulate, and destroy. That's
what fear is used for. Listen, I think that you
should be concerned before I die. I want to jump
out of an airplane and go skydive, and it's something
that I want to do. I'm not going to be
fearful of it, but I will sure as heck be
(39:26):
concerned when I'm checking the parachute. And so I think
concern is real. You know, I've worked in medium voltage
transformers and line work, and I needed to be concerned
to make sure that my equipment was right and things
were right. But if I would have been fearful, that's
when I do stupid shit. That's when I do stupid stuff. Sorry,
I'm a construction worker, so sometimes that the field just
(39:49):
comes out. You know, I still believe in Jesus, but
he hung out with sailors, so I think that he
knew what you know it's wearing. Was all that to say,
concern is okay, but fear is evil because when we
are fearful, that's when you make stupid mistakes. When you
are fearful, that's when you do things that are wrong.
And so like this gentleman was like, if you're breathing,
(40:14):
that's something to be thankful for and grateful for, and
then you think of the next thing and the next thing.
But what happens when we don't talk with people, when
we don't share how we feel, fear creeps in, and
fear is this thing that it continues to darken our view,
continues to hide the way that we think. And when
you're fearful, you don't ask that guy for collaboration on
your right or you're left, and so you don't see
(40:36):
the full picture of what's going on. You only see
this perspective, and you can end up feeling like the
train is coming down the tracks and it's gonna run
you over, so you might as well lay down and die.
That's why you have to have collaboration with people. And
you can look to this guy and be like, is
my perspective right on this? Am I gonna die? Is
this the way that I should look at this? Because
(40:57):
when you bring that collaboration, and that's one of the
great things about where I am today. I have an
executive leadership team that I work with that works within
the different companies that we're in, and they help with
perspective and outlook. I can call them up. As a
matter of fact, I'll probably be a meeting later today
(41:18):
where I'm like, hey, so what is the outlook for
twenty twenty six? How does it look? Because if I'm
being honest with you, tariffs scare me. You know, even
if I think they're the right thing to do, it
doesn't make them not scary. You know. The economy scares me.
You know, I remember my first employee, scariest thing ever.
To this day, every time that a new hire comes
(41:40):
across my desk, I'm like, well, we need to provide
for them. You know. Now my faith helps me because
I don't believe that we provide for any of them.
Someone else is providing for them. Yeah, if I can
be obedient, that's what I need to do so that
I I feel like I'm going all these rabbit trails
and not answering your questions.
Speaker 1 (41:57):
So well, you're actually providing a lot of great information.
And something that you mentioned was collaboration. Do you feel
like there's any particular employees that you've had that have
really stood out that have. Let's say, I mean as
a you know, fellow founder, there's employees that you look
(42:20):
at and you're looking to, you know, ten x your
business or ten x yourself. Is there any employees that
you have that you could point out or spotlight that
you could bring up And it could be multiple, it
doesn't matter.
Speaker 2 (42:31):
I know that sometimes there takes a team.
Speaker 3 (42:33):
I know exactly who I'm going to tell you about.
So at black Line we're hired to tell story because
I love story and stories ever since I was a
little kid. You know, I worked on a farm and
a farmer would always tell me stories about what he
did and how he did it. And so at black
Line we want to discuss and help you tell your story.
(42:55):
So let me tell you a story. Founded my electrical
company into two thousand and five. And you know, when
you're a founder, you wear all the hats.
Speaker 2 (43:05):
You know.
Speaker 3 (43:05):
I wrote checks, I did accounting, I installed electrical work,
I did it all. And in the beginning the first
five years, our hell, there's no way around it. It's
just stressful. There is no end in sight, there is
no success, there's no feeling of making it. But fast
forward eight, nine, ten years, I will never forget. This
(43:27):
was a point where business changed for me. We had
a couple million dollar job that we were doing in
another state and it was a few hour drive, and
our team was actually driving there every day, and the
foreman on the project that was doing the work. At
(43:48):
this point, I was no longer actually going out and
doing the work. We had. This was a big deal
at the time. We had eight hundred thousand dollars in lighting.
Electrical company. We had eight hundred thousand dollars in lighting
in a connex box, see container, whatever you want to
call it on the job site, and it was outside
of a city, but we're on the East coast, so
(44:10):
it was not a small city we'll call it. And
he left, and he was the one managing the job.
I knew nothing about this, and I won't say his
name because his head wouldn't fit in the room if
he heard this. But so he's sitting at home at
dinner with his family, his wife and his two children,
(44:31):
and all of a sudden he's like, Oh, I don't
think that we locked the conn xbox. It's eight hundred
thousand dollars in lighting in there. It's outside of a
city that if someone finds that out, they will steal
that and we will be done. Because in construction there's
this thing called profit margin. It's really tiny. And so
(44:52):
he tells his wife when we need to go on
a road trip. Never calls me. And now listen, hear
the story here. Wasn't hiding anything from me, but he
took ownership of the job. And so he said, let's
load up the kids. He loaded them all up in
his truck. You know, we had we had crew crabbed
(45:14):
trucks back then, and put the car seats in and everything,
and we're going to go on a road trip. They
just stopped dinner, got up, drove two hours out of state,
locked the con xbox, drove home four hours total. I
find out a week later that this happened because he
(45:35):
wasn't hiding it, and so I was talking it was
just something he had, just something that he had to
get done. And I said to him, I said, hey,
why didn't you call me? And he said, well, that
wasn't your responsibility, boss, that was my responsibility. That moment
I knew I could build an organization with people like that,
(45:56):
people that that was the first time that someone other
than myself had ever taken ownership of a problem and
didn't involve me in it. When you can do that,
then it can So every issue, everything that you deal
with as an owner weighs on you, and weight limits
what you can carry. And so what that did was
(46:18):
he's like, here, boss, let me take this weight. And
so I knew I could trust him. And so now
he has managed projects that are multi million dollar projects,
huge warehouse projects, multiple people. He's essentially managed a company
within our company of people, and I can trust him
with that, and I don't worry about it. It doesn't weigh
(46:40):
on me that that would be the story of a
person that I feel like I can build with.
Speaker 2 (46:46):
Then don't name drop him.
Speaker 3 (46:49):
Yeah you can't have him.
Speaker 2 (46:51):
No, Yeah, someone's going to be going after him.
Speaker 3 (46:53):
Well, full disclosure. He is in the process with some
other people in our company of buying shares of the
company that I started.
Speaker 2 (47:00):
Amazing building with a team that's amazing.
Speaker 1 (47:04):
We So where we resonate with that is we have
we have a saying for any yeah, go for it.
Speaker 3 (47:12):
There you go.
Speaker 1 (47:13):
Yeah, we won't say who it is, but that's total advertisement.
We don't need that on here unless they want to contribute.
That's fine, we go by what's any new employee and
any we continue to push, It's called EOI. They have
to have energy ownership and be experimental, so not to
(47:34):
be afraid to experiment, take ownership of that experiment.
Speaker 2 (47:37):
And just go all out like that.
Speaker 1 (47:41):
That is like the energy behind what we're doing. And
I mean for an employee to take ownership, I get it.
I mean that's pounds off your shoulder, like you're so
much weight, and I'm totally with you, so.
Speaker 2 (47:56):
I really appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (47:57):
Uh if you were, Let's pretend there's a potential customer
watching you on this podcast and they were just like,
you know what makes Legacy different? Like why should I
hire Legacy or even black Line? And you know what
(48:21):
do you guys do that this customer.
Speaker 2 (48:23):
Should Why why should they buy you?
Speaker 3 (48:26):
That's actually a pretty simple answer. We care so when
we take on a project, like so if I'm talking
about Legacy for example, and like Legacy Electric, they do
you know, infrastructure projects and industrial, commercial electric, pretty much
anything you can think of with that, they care about
(48:48):
the project that they want to build your legacy as
if it was theirs, and so the same with Black Line.
We care about your people. We care about your culture
and we want to build that out with you. And
so it's like if this is important to you and
you believe in this, Like we don't take on every client,
Like we have jobs come our way and it doesn't
(49:10):
matter what company it is. Within the Legacy group, we
have jobs come our way that we don't take because
if we don't align, it's nothing against you or us.
But we want to work with who we align with
because efficiency is key and we can be efficient if
we operate together in that way. And so, you know,
(49:30):
if you're looking for an organization that wants to help
you build, then that's what we want to do, whether
it's building your legacy or defining your culture and your
story as a company, that's what we want to do.
Speaker 1 (49:43):
Awesome And where can people reach out to you or
find you?
Speaker 3 (49:48):
Yeah, so so black Line Ltd dot com and they
can you know, find me on LinkedIn Joshua D. Malott, M. E. L.
L Ott. I'm on LinkedIn. I post most days of
the week, and then can find us on YouTube at
black Line Ltd. You can see our podcast anywhere on
(50:11):
any podcast network that you listen to. You search the
line x black Line and will come up. It's a
big ugly picture of my face. And you know we're
out there. We want to lift the view of the
trades and your company. We want to tell your story.
You know. If you are a construction company, you know
(50:32):
we want to be building and helping you with your
infrastructure projects from a legacy standpoint. On the electrical side
as well.
Speaker 2 (50:39):
If there's any.
Speaker 1 (50:42):
Entrepreneurs that are watching this right now, it could be
new construction owners, new entrepreneur, doesn't matter, what advice would
you give to them? And you know, and on top
of that, is there anything else that you would like
to leave with the listen that.
Speaker 2 (51:00):
Are watching this or listening in today?
Speaker 3 (51:04):
Sure? I think the biggest thing for entrepreneurs two words
words that I read in tears in a bookstore. Don't quit.
Don't give up. The reality is you might you might
(51:25):
almost be there. That Victor's cup might be just within
your hand. Don't become one of the people that gave
up right before it happens. I'm not saying don't look
at the factors and the things you might need to
relook at things you might need to change the way
that you do things. But don't quit. Face it you know,
to people who are out there, whether you're an entrepreneur
(51:48):
or you're someone entering the trades, be a leader. You know,
leadership is something that is needed. People are hungry for
people to lead them. And I don't care if you're
holding a shovel or if you are managing an organization,
you're a leader. Someone standing next to you is impacted
by the way that you're living your life. So think
(52:09):
about the way you're living your life, think about the
way that you do your work and what you do.
So lead and don't quit.
Speaker 1 (52:20):
You know, can I take your own advice and then
not quit on this podcast? And maybe I can get
you to selfishly promote technology a little bit and before
and this will be just to wrap it up, and
I know the team would love to hear this. What
do you do with or I guess what do you
(52:41):
use for technology? How do you use technology to help
your business today?
Speaker 3 (52:49):
So I think I know where you're going with this.
I feel like it's right in front of me. So
there are a couple of things. One thing I would
say in business, if you're not utilizing AI and this
is coming from a tradesman here who hates AI. And
I hate technology. I don't like new things. If you're
(53:10):
not using it, you're going to lose. You're not going
to be where you need to be. The other thing
that I would say to you is, and I literally
was working on a project. I would be really careful
what I say because it's confidential, but I was working
on a project and we in one of our companies,
(53:32):
and we were working on a project with another company
that we are managing. And the one company that we
manage uses this thing called Can I say it, yes, okay,
this thing called lumber. And I've been in business.
Speaker 2 (53:49):
It's not right here.
Speaker 3 (53:50):
Yeah, it's not right there, this thing called lumber. And
I have been in business for more than twenty years.
I have used all of the big players when it
comes to platforms, payroll software, all of that stuff. If
you're going to pick a technology partner, which is what
(54:11):
lumber is for us. And I got to see this
point blank just today in our organization working in so
the Legacy Group is involved in multiple organizations, and so
I'm able to see what's happening here and what's happening
over here. And so this arm is utilizing lumber, and
(54:31):
this arm is not a technology company that is willing
to work with you. And I heard my chief of
staff literally just say today, well, I'll talk with lumber
about a problem that I see, and then I log
back in and there's a new button there based on
the input that I gave them. Do you realize the
(54:54):
value that comes from that? That is huge? And the
reality is whether you are a thousand employee company, a
thirty thousand employee company, or a ten employee company, that's
the type of service that you want. And that technology
(55:15):
platform what we're utilizing with Lumber in one of our
organizations is huge in our success. And the people that
work there and I don't know them, I don't actually
work with them. I just hear the praises from my
team about these people that they call and you pick
up the phone. All right, So I'm a Generation X guy.
(55:36):
If I call you and you pick up the phone,
we're already one thousand percent better than anybody else that
I work with. I want to talk with somebody, I
want to process with you, and you guys do that.
Very few technology companies do that. That would be something
that I would say, I stand behind what you guys
are doing, and I'm in the process of bringing it
(55:56):
into every organization that we're dealing with.
Speaker 1 (55:59):
I appreciate that that means a lot, and thank you
so much, Joshua for being a guest on my podcast.
It's been an absolute pleasure, and everyone that's watching please like, subscribe, comment,
and share it with everybody in the construction industry and.
Speaker 2 (56:17):
We will see you next time. Thank you so much, Joshua.
Speaker 1 (56:31):
If you're a construction contractor and would like to appear
as a guest on our podcast.
Speaker 2 (56:35):
Write us an email.
Speaker 1 (56:36):
It's Lou at lumberfine dot com.
Hey everyone, I'm Louperez, your host of The Builder Upper Show,
a podcast where we talk about everything in construction and trades.
Now let's get into it all right. I have my
guest and this is a special moment here Builder Upper
(00:23):
Show in Person with the very own Joshua Mellet from
Black Line.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Joshua, how you doing today?
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Uh, it's awesome. I so appreciate you inviting me to
your podcast, and to be on the inaugural in person
podcast for the Builder Upper Show is pretty exciting.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
This is big, This is big, so I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
So the you know, the whole point of The Builder
Upper Show is to unpack stories of construction owners and
really dig into the history of of how you got
to where you're at today. But at the same time,
let's tell the viewers more about you, who helped inspire you,
(01:11):
what helped inspire you to get to where you're at today?
And then but before I get even to like those
type of questions, yeah, let's make it super simple.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
When did you get into construction?
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Oh? Boy, the first time I got into construction, I
think I was probably about ten years old, okay, and
my dad was a handyman, carpenter, so like he would
be doing little deck projects for people, replacing their windows
and their doors. And I can remember one time. I
always wanted to make money. It's just what I wanted
(01:43):
to do because my parents said, if you want money,
to spend on things. I remember I wanted a Nintendo.
It was a big deal when I was a kid.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Nintendo was the best.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Oh it was awesome. And I had an Atari, but
that was just not the same, no, And so I
wanted a Nintendo. And so Dad was like, then you're
gonna have to pay for it. And so I talked
him into letting me come to his job sites and
I would clean up for a dollar an hour. That
was a good deal, like to a lot of cleanup.
(02:14):
And that was my first entry into construction, getting to
experience it.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
So, you know, you're you have an interesting background of
where you're at today. You know, tell us what do
you do today and why do you do it.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
That's a funny question because my team you've met, some
of would ask that same question, what do you do?
Speaker 1 (02:36):
What are you hiding behind the scenes.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
So I'm the chairman of an organization called Legacy Group,
which owns a couple of companies, and so that sounds
way cooler than it actually is. But one of the
main companies that I'm involved with is black Line, and
so black Line is a company that tells the stories
(03:03):
of the men and women who do the work. Our
vision is to lift the view of the skilled trades.
That's why we exist, and so we do that through
two ways. One we get hired to actually three ways,
if I'm saying this right. We get hired to tell
people's stories and help them build their brands, so, you know,
to help you build out your social media, to tell
(03:24):
your story through video, you know, and communicate what it
is that you do and why you do it, which
actually really helps your bottom line because it attracts talent,
it attracts clients, all of that stuff, and it attracts
the talent and the clients that align with who you are,
which is kind of important if you like profitability. And
(03:45):
then we also at black Line have our institute. We
call it black Line Institute Super Creative, I know. And
in that institute, we are an accredited apprenticeship program here
in the state of Pennsylvania where we teach. It's a
four year program and we teach and work alongside companies
(04:06):
to train their people to become electricians and to get
certified by the State of PA.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Amazing, amazing.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
So you know, I got to ask, you do your
own podcasts? How do you get to do all these
It seems like you're you have your hand and a
lot of things. You might have what we call the
curse I do of entrepreneurship.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Yeah, you know, what.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Would you say, like, how do you prioritize this? How
do you manage your time as an owner? I mean
it sounds like we're doing a ton of things, like
do you have any special sauce to being an owner
and then being in the industry but also doing all
these other things to keep you going?
Speaker 3 (04:49):
Uh, there is a special sauce. It's not mine, but
it exists, and a lot of us sometimes don't realize it.
But one of the most important things that I have
realizing the things that I do is the power of team.
You know, when I when I started, I founded an
electrical company doing commercial industrial electoral work, and I realized
(05:11):
I don't want to do this alone. And we've they
developed a reputation of I'm not involved in the day
to day of that company anymore. I sit on their board.
But we developed a reputation of problem solving, and that
really is what business is really about. It's about solving
a problem and bringing solutions to the table for clients.
(05:36):
And the way that I found was the most successful
way to do that was the power of team. And
so if you would have told me that I host
a podcast, or that I would go speak and talk
with organizations and people, or or even consult when I
when I started the company years ago, I would have
said you were absolutely nuts. I would have bet a
(05:57):
million dollars against you. And the reality is the secret sauce.
And this is what I share with people. I've never
actually shared this on camera, but I will share it
here on the Builder Upper Show because it's about from
what you were telling me, what your goal is. It's
about improving the industry and making it better. The power
(06:19):
of team is one of those things that it is
unmeasurable in the way that it can succeed. And so
if you have an issue or a problem and you're
trying to solve it, when you bring the power of
team into that, it totally changes the aspect with which
you look at that issue. So imagine that you have
(06:41):
you know in this picture, and let's say that you know,
a silo is like a circle on it's really tall,
and so you're standing on this side of it. You
and I, like, we have an issue in between us here.
You're sitting over there. I'm sitting here. I can't see you.
I can only see the issue which is in front
of me. When you bring a team into it, say
that you bring four people into it, and I like
(07:02):
this because you'd have a person sitting here to our right,
a person to our left, and then you and me
on either side of it. I can see that person
to my right, and I can see that person to
my left, and they can see aspects of the issue
that I can't see. The other thing that they can
see is they can see you, who sees an entire
other side of the issue, And in that way we
get a three hundred and sixty degree view of what
(07:24):
the issue is. When you bring that power of team
into problem solving, it totally changes it. And so you're like, wow,
you're involved in a lot of different things. Well, the
reality is, it's not just me. Black Line is a
collaboration of people that desire to communicate value of the
(07:46):
individuals who do the work and lift the view of
the skilled trades. And so when we have an issue
or a problem, we deal with that as a team.
And I think you know, we've been talking a lot today.
I think you know exactly what I'm talking about. Yes,
but I think it's important to articulate perspective matters. And
I only have this perspective if I can talk with
(08:07):
that person to my right or to my left, they
can talk with you, and I can see the full picture,
which makes me make educated decisions and solves problems.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Contractors do overcome a lot of adversity. Would you can
you remember a time that seemed like it was really
tough and other than today, other than today, and you know,
just point out some areas where you're just like, you
know what today is tough, but you made your way through?
Speaker 2 (08:40):
And how did you do it?
Speaker 3 (08:43):
How real am I allowed to get here?
Speaker 2 (08:45):
You can get as candid as you want.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
So I've been in business for a little over twenty years.
The electrical company that I found had celebrated twenty years
this past year.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Congratulations, Thank you.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
I remember a little over a decade ago, it was
after two thousand and eight. You know you couldn't win
projects to save your life, and I was trying to
save my life and we were broke as an organization.
And and just just so that I understand your question,
(09:22):
you're asking me when I was in those situations, what
was the thing that got me through? That's what you're asking. Okay,
So I remember my debts were high and my funds
were low and so much so I remember saying to
my wife, So it was her birthday, it was March,
(09:43):
and I remember saying to her, well, why don't we
go window shopping for your birthday where you can look
at stuff? But I can't buy you anything. And where
we live, we have all of these things, like you know,
goodwill or there's reuse it shops they call it, where
they have used things that they sell. And I said,
I can't handle going to look at things in an
(10:05):
actual store. Well let's go to one of those places.
And so we go to this reuse it shop and
we're there. So I'm a big believer. If you need
to get that, you can. But I'm a big believer
in it's your podcast. I'm telling you what you can do.
(10:25):
I'm sorry. In being honest, time is value and I
want to give you the maximum value of my time.
And the only way to do that is to be honest.
So I'll tell you the truth. We're there and we
walk in. I couldn't even bring myself to walk around
(10:47):
with her to look at things because I felt like
such a failure that I couldn't provide for her a
birthday present from a place where they were selling used things.
And so I said to her, I said, hey, why
don't you go look around? And I love books, I
love to read, and I love old things, and so
I said, I'm just gonna go over here and I'm
(11:08):
gonna look at these books. And so I go over
and I'm looking through things. And my faith plays a
big part in my life, and I believe in God,
and I believe in a relationship with God, and so
for me, that's a big part of my life. But
up until this point, I had never experienced God speaking
(11:32):
to me in this way. And so there I am,
and standing there in the aisle. I'm just hoping people
can't see me because I feel like I have a
sign on me that says I'm broke, that I'm a failure,
that I don't know what I'm doing, and I'm looking
at these books and I see this Bible with like
(11:54):
these you know, red edges on it. And I'm a
child of the eighties, so like Clint East would the
old Westerns, you know, and it's like that was the
thing that you saw in every old movie. So it
caught my attention. So I pull it off the shelf,
and I also love this is gonna make me sound
so weird, but in the blue collar world, I love poetry.
(12:15):
And my name is Joshua, right, you knew that. I
pull this Bible off the shelf in this store. It's
old and it's dusty, and I flip it open and
it falls open to the Book of Joshua and in
there and it was like receipt paper, you know, how
fine anything that is. And there's this piece of paper
in there, and I had just been crying out to God,
(12:37):
and I'm like, God, why am I here? Why is
this so hard? Why can't I even buy my wife
a birthday gift? And I'm literally in tears, and I
open up this Bible and I'm like God, I need
to hear from you. I need to know that this
is what you want me to do, because it's hard
and I can't face it anymore, and the Bible falls
(13:02):
open and there's this receipt paper there wedged in the Bible.
You know. It was about like I don't know, yay
big and at the top of it, and it happened
to be in the Book of Joshua, which is my name,
And at the top of it it said, in these
big black bold letters, don't quit. And I'm not going
(13:25):
to try to recite it to you, but it was
a poem, and it said when funds are low and
debts are high, and it went on, it's written by
a guy in the name of Edward Guest. And I
love things that are hundreds of years old. It's really old.
And he wrote this poem. And I read through the
whole thing, and I talked about how you don't give up.
(13:47):
Many who have given up have not attained the victor's cup.
It said, because they gave up too early. They quit
too soon. And at the bottom of the paper it
was written by an our area where we live, a
businessman who everybody would know his name, and he had
gotten these things printed out and he handed them out
to people throughout his life, and so this had been
(14:09):
handed to someone. They stuck it in this Bible, and
they did this, and so I felt like in that
moment that God was saying, Joshua, don't quit, don't give up.
And then the averse that it was stuck in in
the Bible not only carried my name, but it said
be strong and courageous for wherever your foot treads his
(14:31):
land that I have given you. So I don't know
if you were ready for this faith based answer, but
it's what I believe. And that changed my life in
that moment. I felt like God was speaking to me
in that moment. And let me be really clear, I
was broke. There was no way to succeed. There was
(14:53):
no way to get out of the situation that I
was in. And you might think, oh, well, then God
gave you millions of dollars. No, no, he didn't. I
had to have a lot of really hard conversations. But
this is what I learned. The Lord gave me the
strength to go and have hard conversations with people, and
I worked out deals with vendors and contractors, and I
(15:15):
chose not to ignore the calls when they came and
I couldn't pay the bill. And one of our vendors
in particular, you know, imudiple of them. As we talked
and we worked through things, and that was it. I
just faced them and I believed that success was there
and I believe that the victor's cup was coming. And
so when I did this, I found out that well,
(15:40):
people wanted to work with me. So and this was
in the electrical company that I was building at the time,
and today here we are almost a decade later, maybe
a little bit more than a decade. One of our
largest vendors was one of the people that we could
not pay in that timeframe. And they are actually worldwide international,
they're huge, and to their credit, they wanted to work
(16:04):
with the little guy. And I called them up and
I said, I can't pay my bill and I don't
know how to pay it. And they worked with me,
and to this day, we have an almost unlimited credit
limit with that vendor because of that relationship. And this
is my point. What our vendors realized was that they
could trust us when you pick up the phone and
(16:26):
answer when things are hard, they want to work with you,
and they wanted to build relationship. Not everybody does, and
let me be really clear, not every phone call that
I made ended well, some of them weren't, but we're
still here. That company is now operating without me, and
it is being successful. And with black Line, we are
(16:50):
now promoting and building into the trades, in investing not
just in people, but in other companies and their culture
and building that out. I answer your question, it did.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
That was a very solid answer. And I love that
you were open to sharing your faith and it sounds
like that's kind of built into your foundation.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
When did that start?
Speaker 3 (17:18):
When did my faith start? Well? I grew up in
a home where we talked about God, we believed in God,
and I went to church ever since I can remember,
and so I always thought that's what I was supposed
to do when I grew up, supposed to go be
a missionary, be pastor me something like that. And so
(17:38):
when I was about I don't know, twelve or thirteen,
maybe fourteen, I can't really remember. I don't You can't
fact check it because there was no social media to
go back and check back. Then that would be about
I remember I was at a camp and it affected
my life in a way where I felt like I
(18:01):
was supposed to. I was in this thing, you know
in churches they do this thing if you if you
haven't been to a church, we sing praises and worship.
And so I was in one of these sessions.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Can I give a shout out?
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Please do west Osha Lakes Church out in Patock Lake, Wisconsin.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Yes, yes, we know praises and.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
Worship, so then you know what I'm talking about. And
so there I was, and I was in the back
because I didn't want to see me, and so I was.
I was hiding in the back. I didn't realize I
was hiding. I just thought I'm sitting in the back,
A big deal. And I think I was probably about
fourteen because I was definitely aware of the girls that
were in the audience, and I wanted to look cool,
of course. I wanted to look cool, of course, and
(18:43):
I had this nudge. I've never heard in my entire life,
I've never heard God's voice audibly. Some people are blessed
and they have, but for me, it's always been a
thought or you know, something like that. And so I
had this thought, and it was go up front, and
I want you to get down on your knees in
front of everyone and raise your hands up and praise me.
(19:08):
I was more scared. I think than I have been,
and we might get to this. There was a point
in my life a few years after that that I
was more scared and this was more scary than that
than I had ever been in my life, because what
would people think of me? What would nobody else was
doing that? And so there was like this hook in
(19:30):
me like I couldn't leave it alone. I couldn't, I
couldn't get away from it. And so I was like, fine,
if I believe that there's like a one percent chance
that God is real and that this is real and
he's telling me to do this, if there is one
percent chance that that is actually true, that I have
to do that. And I thought to myself, well, what's
(19:54):
the worst that could happen? Some people laugh at me
and think I'm stupid, Well, then they would be accurate
because I am stupid. So I go up front, and
as I get up front, I just feel pressure forced
to my knees and I lift my arms to the
heavens and I praise God change my life. And from
(20:16):
that point on, I knew that I wanted to have
a relationship with God and I want to know more
of who he was, and that has followed me through
my marriage, through my business, through my life. It drives
everything that I do and the why of why I
do it because I believe that Jesus is real. I
believe that He cares for you and me. And if
I believe that and I'm not sharing that with people, listen,
(20:38):
I don't want to force anything down anybody's throat. But
if I don't talk with you about what I believe,
and if I really truly believe it and I don't
talk about it, what does that say about me? What
does that say about how I care about you? And
so when people ask, I answer honestly. If they don't,
unless I feel a nudge like I felt to go
(20:59):
up front, I don't say anything. But that would be
the point when I felt like God changed my life.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
You feel like you get that like little feeling where
somebody needs to hear it, and I feel like that
comes naturally. Do you ever, you know, how do you
incorporate that within business? I know some people I know
some people are like, you know, keep it separate and whatnot.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
But church and state, Yeah, exactly exactly.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
So you know, how do you, as an owner, you know,
navigate that or feel I mean, are you open to
sharing that with your employees and encourage them, and yeah,
I'd love to hear your your thoughts on that.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
So I don't say this publicly very often, and with
Black Line, I live a more public life with the
Line and hosting a podcast, which is also a thing
that a decade ago, I didn't even know if that
was a thing, and if it was like three people
listen to podcasts, if anybody I don't remember, yeah, yeah,
(22:07):
But I would to answer your question, I would say
this if I'm if I'm going to be honest with you,
I don't believe in the separation of church and state
in that way or business and what I believe. If
I believe it and I believe that it's true, then
it's going to affect my decisions in the way that
I look at things. But this is what I'll say.
(22:29):
I relate with a lot of business people. Some of
them believe it I believe, some of them don't. But
most of the successful ones implement the principles of what
I believe, and they're biblical things because they work. I
have one business guy that I work with and he
does not believe at all what I believe, but he
implements certain principles, because it's like the tenets of faith
(22:50):
actually work. If you believe for this, it works. And
so to that point, I'm like, Okay, at work, it's
weird to say this, but I believe that you and
I have assignments, and so assignments are where we work,
where we live, our lives, and what we do. But
(23:11):
if I believe that Jesus Christ died for me and
paid for my sins, then I believe that I have
a calling. Is it all right? I'm going all in, man,
I'm sharing the full thing. I believe that it is
my duty and my responsibility to share that with you
because I believe in a heaven and a hell, and
(23:34):
I want to see you in heaven with me. And
so then I have a calling to share Jesus with
the world. And if you read the Bible, it's pretty
clear on what will happen to me if I don't,
you know, and if I believe that God is real,
and I do because I have lived things out where
I've seen God do things that I cannot explain. You know,
(23:55):
before that moment, when I was fourteen and even a
little beyond it, I didn't think that the mere that
happened in the Bible, happened anymore until I went into business,
and I felt like God called me to business, which
didn't make any sense to me, but business was my assignment.
My calling is the same. And so in boardrooms and elevators,
(24:15):
in podcasts and everywhere, when people ask questions about my faith,
I share it. I don't shove it down their throat,
but I don't hide it. And so I really truly
believe that if we're going to live an authentic life
and we're going to live things out, then we need
to live out what we believe and whatever that is
that you believe. If you believe what I don't believe,
(24:37):
or you believe what I do what I believe, great,
but be authentic in it, be real, be truthful, because
who wants to live in a world where it's fake.
And that's one of the things that we're trying to
do with the line is we're trying to have an
authentic and real conversation, which is what I love about
the Builder Up Or podcast is you're wanting to have
(24:57):
the same conversations that we want to have, real and authentic.
And when we do that, that's what we're hungry for
who wants to talk to someone that's gonna put lipstick
on a pig or sell you something that isn't true. Listen,
this is what I know from my life in business,
and in business in particular, my faith plays a big part.
(25:18):
I don't want to have a Christian company, but I
don't mind having a company of Christians. And is what
I mean by that is like our culture is permeated
by what I believe. But we have people that work
for us that do not believe what I believe, and
it is a safe place for them to work. But
if they want to hear about what I believe, my
door is always open. And I could give you a
(25:41):
list of men and women who have come to my
office and I have prayed with and I've shared what
I believe with. And I have those who said I
don't want to hear about what you believe in that
I want some encouragement, and I can do that too.
But the reality is, if I'm going to be truthful
with you, then I need to be authentic and real
about what I believe.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
I think that's where you and I relate a lot,
because you should never hide your faith. I agree, and
not everybody especially when you're growing a company, you're scaling
a company, and you're hiring people. Not everybody's going to
be a believer, yes, but that does not mean to
(26:23):
turn those people away.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
And some of my best people do not believe what
I believe.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
Right, same, yeah, same, same, And uh, you know, the
founding team is very aware of my beliefs, and I've
always been open. Anytime we're talking to a contractor and
we have a tough situation, they're dealing with some of
the craziest complex situations.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
I'm going to pray about it. Yeah, that's going to
help us through.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
You're going to talk about problem solving.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
That is huge, That is huge. And I can't tell
you how many times we've gotten to a point where
we've had prayers answered and then immediately give that glory
to God.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
Come on, and like, that's just the way. That's what
it's about. That's what it's about.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
So it's like and not everybody has to be on
the same page, but me personally, that's going to be
my path.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
That's the way that I do it.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
And it's not being forced to anybody just but because
I'll be open about it. And I really like how
you're truthful and you're sharing the way that you go
about it because it's it's real, it's personable, it's relatable,
it's amazing, and I appreciate what you're doing there.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
Well, I'll be really honest with you. I don't know
that I've ever been this upfront publicly about my faith
only because no one's ever asked me so directly. So
I appreciate your direct questions. And the truth of it is,
we need to be honest.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
Yeah, you know.
Speaker 3 (28:01):
You're going to get some of my beliefs, even in business,
but I really believe in being honest, and being honest
is just this honesty is not transparency. You know, when
you're honest with me, well, you're not showing me all
of your books, you're not showing me you know where
your p and ls are or any of that. But
(28:21):
being honest is not hiding anything. And so when we
don't hide things, if people ask, well, then we share
what we believe. But it doesn't mean that you tell
everybody everything. I'm a firm believer that transparency, and that's
a word that we like to use publicly a lot,
and everybody loves it. And it's because nobody trusts anybody.
So it's like, I don't want to trust you. I
(28:43):
want you to tell me everything. I'll share this with you.
Early on in business, my wife said to me, She's like,
I want you to be honest with me. And I
was like, well, that means you want me to tell
you everything. And she said no, no, I don't want
to know everything. She said, but I don't want you
to hide anything from me. Now think about that for
a second. If we don't hide anything, what's better transparency
(29:07):
where we just dump everything out there or we refuse
to hide things from our partners or employees and those
who we work with. Listen, you don't need to tell
me everything. I don't have the bandwidth to handle it all.
But if you promise me that you won't hide anything
from me, that tells me something about your character, your integrity,
and who you are, and then I can trust you.
(29:30):
Transparency isn't about trust, it's exactly the opposite.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
Yeah, that's so strong, because.
Speaker 1 (29:38):
The one thing that we're honest about with all of
our employees is exactly where we're at with our company.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
I mean, we have a monthly all hands and we're like,
this is exactly where we're at. Yeah, if we need
to step it up, we gotta step it up. Yeah,
And that's huge.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
The fire is lit because of being honest.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
Yeah, you know, like you have to tell everybody exactly where.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
So I appreciate that too.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
That's great. You know, I want to know and I
love I get. I see you the foundation, I see kind.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
Of where you're at.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
Was there somebody that inspired you or mentored you at
any point in time during this time to you know, kind.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
Of get you to this this spot today? Any individual person,
it's fine, So.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
What is the spot that we're talking about?
Speaker 1 (30:31):
So where you're at today as an owner, your business owner,
you're you're fighting the good fight. I mean, you're openly
sharing your faith. You're that's a strong minded individual that's
not afraid right now to be yourself.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
Who helped you to get to that point?
Speaker 3 (30:52):
So? I don't know that anybody inspired me to go
into business. I had a mentor when I was really
young that I would meet with every week from from
about I think I was fourteen until I was twenty two.
Actually that's a long time. It's a long time. And
I would meet with him and he would he would
mentor me about my faith. And he was a business owner,
(31:15):
and honestly, he would say, uh, people go into business
are stupid, and and I would I would say, uh,
he had an understanding of something. But what what he
mentored me in was in faith first and being honest.
And you know that the tenets of my faith really
(31:38):
those things are essential. And he taught me how to study,
how to process and if can I get can I
get another one of these? It's not beer, it's sparkling water.
In case you're watching, it's like, why enough, I'm want
(32:00):
to say that. So it's it's a water that is dead.
There we go. So all of that to say, you
just gave it to me. Thank you, I forgot you
already gave it to me. So all of that to say,
he mentored me in being honest. He mentored me in
(32:25):
wanting to go after pursuing my faith. And I would
have this conversation with my wife and I'll just say
this because I at our companies that legacy group is
a part of managing. We offer therapy and counseling to
anyone who wants it. Company pays for it. And we
(32:47):
did that because I think that everyone needs that and
it's really interesting. We're very trades based, and in the trades,
in the blue collar world, it's like counseling. I don't
need that. That's what weak people do. And I said
to my wife one day and I, uh, and that's
not true. By the way. Strong people are those who
(33:09):
who get counseling and therapy. And that is what my
mentorship was. My wife shared with me many years ago.
I was like, why, why is it that you know?
I had a friend and this is what spawned this
whole offering counseling and therapy to our people. I had
a friend and he was struggling and he went to
see a therapist. And I said to my wife, I said,
(33:31):
why is it that I don't I don't feel the
need to. I had the same life as he did,
I had the same childhood as he did. And it
was a good friend of mine. And she said, well,
she said, you've been going to therapy since you're fourteen.
I said, what do you mean? And she said, you've
been talking with these different mentors in your life about
what you struggle with, what you are burdened with. And
(33:52):
I think that we are built and made to communicate
with one another. Listen, when you share what you're struggling
with out loud with someone else, and this is actually science,
it affects your anxiety levels in a positive way. And
so my wife just said to me, she goes, will
You've been in therapy all your life, And then I
(34:14):
realized how important that was for other people. You know,
in construction, we have some of the highest suicide rates
in the world in construction. And the reason is we
don't talk to people about how we feel. We don't
talk to people about what we're struggling with, what we're
going through. And you might think, well, no one understands
what I'm going through. Nobody's going through what I'm going through. Bullshit,
(34:35):
Like are we learned to swear on this? Yes, okay,
all right, bullshit. People are going through the same thing.
It might be different. But the reality is we need
to talk about those things. We need to say it
out loud. When we don't, the voices in our head
are far more dark than the reality that we live.
And so I don't know if I'm answering your question
(34:55):
or not, but I'm on this kick right now. The
reality is need to share how you feel. I read
a book once and it said write out everything. I
journal every day, every single day, change my life. I
could show you a stack of journals, this tall that
I've been doing for twenty years. My mentor helped me
do that. Go figure, and I read this thing that
(35:19):
said take all of your fears and write them all down.
And it's like when I wrote them all down and
I would write them out. The reality is it exited
my system, totally changed my perception, didn't change my circumstances.
But all the way back to you asked me, well,
(35:42):
you know, what is your solution? How do you work
through these things? It got out of my system so
I could have a different perspective and see a more
full picture of what's going on. And that's what happens
when you talk with a therapist or a counselor you're
just soundboarding with someone else.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
The support system that you had was right next to you,
and I don't I mean, you were definitely blessed to
have that.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
Not everybody has true.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
People close to them that can help them that way.
But we know, and I know you know that there's
associations out there like absolutely ABC, Associated Builders and Contractors
of America CFMA, has CIASP where they're addressing.
Speaker 3 (36:28):
Both are phenomenal organizations.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
Absolutely, and they are addressing this problem and then bringing
basically creating that safe space and open platforms so that
contractors field workers can feel comfortable talking about this. Have you,
you know, explored these associations and then had those as
opportunities to work with your business as a contractor, Like,
(36:52):
how how have those type of associations really helped you?
Speaker 3 (36:56):
You know, m F A and A b C. You
know A b C is actually how I got my
journeyman's license. I went through their apprenticeship program, great program,
great company, great organization. ABC helped me in business and
my founding. So I have a lot of respect for
that organization. And C M F A. Did I say
(37:18):
that with c F M A there we go. Accountants
and their acronyms, UH helped me in understanding accounting from
a construction perspective, which listen, if you're an accountant, construction
is different just you know, retain it and and UH
or prevailing wag traits.
Speaker 2 (37:38):
Scary, that's a scary one.
Speaker 3 (37:41):
All of that to say, UH, those organizations helped me
tremendously with that. Personally, I didn't experience a lot of
that therapy and helping in that way. There was an organization.
I actually did a podcast with a gentleman from an
organization called U Turn Health and they are focused specifically
(38:02):
on the construction industry and the trades and dealing with
the problem of suicide in our industry. And it's very similar.
I would say to like alcoholics anonymous in this way,
you need to be able to talk with people. You
need to be able to process things. You know, I'll
(38:23):
never forget. I was in a peer group once and
a guy was struggling an executive. Because it's not unique
to a laborer, like this is something that you can
struggle with whether you are putting a shovel in the
ground or you're the guy signing checks. We all have
to deal with this stuff. And I remember having this
conversation and the guy said, he goes, I wanted to
(38:46):
put a gun in my mouth. He goes, I was
sitting in my truck and he goes. And I remembered
what my therapist said, and he said, are you breathing.
That's something to be thankful for. You're breathing. Listen, when
we don't talk talk with people, this is what happens.
I believe that fear and listen. You don't have to
(39:06):
believe in God to believe this. But fear is evil
because fear is used to control, manipulate, and destroy. That's
what fear is used for. Listen, I think that you
should be concerned before I die. I want to jump
out of an airplane and go skydive, and it's something
that I want to do. I'm not going to be
fearful of it, but I will sure as heck be
(39:26):
concerned when I'm checking the parachute. And so I think
concern is real. You know, I've worked in medium voltage
transformers and line work, and I needed to be concerned
to make sure that my equipment was right and things
were right. But if I would have been fearful, that's
when I do stupid shit. That's when I do stupid stuff. Sorry,
I'm a construction worker, so sometimes that the field just
(39:49):
comes out. You know, I still believe in Jesus, but
he hung out with sailors, so I think that he
knew what you know it's wearing. Was all that to say,
concern is okay, but fear is evil because when we
are fearful, that's when you make stupid mistakes. When you
are fearful, that's when you do things that are wrong.
And so like this gentleman was like, if you're breathing,
(40:14):
that's something to be thankful for and grateful for, and
then you think of the next thing and the next thing.
But what happens when we don't talk with people, when
we don't share how we feel, fear creeps in, and
fear is this thing that it continues to darken our view,
continues to hide the way that we think. And when
you're fearful, you don't ask that guy for collaboration on
your right or you're left, and so you don't see
(40:36):
the full picture of what's going on. You only see
this perspective, and you can end up feeling like the
train is coming down the tracks and it's gonna run
you over, so you might as well lay down and die.
That's why you have to have collaboration with people. And
you can look to this guy and be like, is
my perspective right on this? Am I gonna die? Is
this the way that I should look at this? Because
(40:57):
when you bring that collaboration, and that's one of the
great things about where I am today. I have an
executive leadership team that I work with that works within
the different companies that we're in, and they help with
perspective and outlook. I can call them up. As a
matter of fact, I'll probably be a meeting later today
(41:18):
where I'm like, hey, so what is the outlook for
twenty twenty six? How does it look? Because if I'm
being honest with you, tariffs scare me. You know, even
if I think they're the right thing to do, it
doesn't make them not scary. You know. The economy scares me.
You know, I remember my first employee, scariest thing ever.
To this day, every time that a new hire comes
(41:40):
across my desk, I'm like, well, we need to provide
for them. You know. Now my faith helps me because
I don't believe that we provide for any of them.
Someone else is providing for them. Yeah, if I can
be obedient, that's what I need to do so that
I I feel like I'm going all these rabbit trails
and not answering your questions.
Speaker 1 (41:57):
So well, you're actually providing a lot of great information.
And something that you mentioned was collaboration. Do you feel
like there's any particular employees that you've had that have
really stood out that have. Let's say, I mean as
a you know, fellow founder, there's employees that you look
(42:20):
at and you're looking to, you know, ten x your
business or ten x yourself. Is there any employees that
you have that you could point out or spotlight that
you could bring up And it could be multiple, it
doesn't matter.
Speaker 2 (42:31):
I know that sometimes there takes a team.
Speaker 3 (42:33):
I know exactly who I'm going to tell you about.
So at black Line we're hired to tell story because
I love story and stories ever since I was a
little kid. You know, I worked on a farm and
a farmer would always tell me stories about what he
did and how he did it. And so at black
Line we want to discuss and help you tell your story.
(42:55):
So let me tell you a story. Founded my electrical
company into two thousand and five. And you know, when
you're a founder, you wear all the hats.
Speaker 2 (43:05):
You know.
Speaker 3 (43:05):
I wrote checks, I did accounting, I installed electrical work,
I did it all. And in the beginning the first
five years, our hell, there's no way around it. It's
just stressful. There is no end in sight, there is
no success, there's no feeling of making it. But fast
forward eight, nine, ten years, I will never forget. This
(43:27):
was a point where business changed for me. We had
a couple million dollar job that we were doing in
another state and it was a few hour drive, and
our team was actually driving there every day, and the
foreman on the project that was doing the work. At
(43:48):
this point, I was no longer actually going out and
doing the work. We had. This was a big deal
at the time. We had eight hundred thousand dollars in lighting.
Electrical company. We had eight hundred thousand dollars in lighting
in a connex box, see container, whatever you want to
call it on the job site, and it was outside
of a city, but we're on the East coast, so
(44:10):
it was not a small city we'll call it. And
he left, and he was the one managing the job.
I knew nothing about this, and I won't say his
name because his head wouldn't fit in the room if
he heard this. But so he's sitting at home at
dinner with his family, his wife and his two children,
(44:31):
and all of a sudden he's like, Oh, I don't
think that we locked the conn xbox. It's eight hundred
thousand dollars in lighting in there. It's outside of a
city that if someone finds that out, they will steal
that and we will be done. Because in construction there's
this thing called profit margin. It's really tiny. And so
(44:52):
he tells his wife when we need to go on
a road trip. Never calls me. And now listen, hear
the story here. Wasn't hiding anything from me, but he
took ownership of the job. And so he said, let's
load up the kids. He loaded them all up in
his truck. You know, we had we had crew crabbed
(45:14):
trucks back then, and put the car seats in and everything,
and we're going to go on a road trip. They
just stopped dinner, got up, drove two hours out of state,
locked the con xbox, drove home four hours total. I
find out a week later that this happened because he
(45:35):
wasn't hiding it, and so I was talking it was
just something he had, just something that he had to
get done. And I said to him, I said, hey,
why didn't you call me? And he said, well, that
wasn't your responsibility, boss, that was my responsibility. That moment
I knew I could build an organization with people like that,
(45:56):
people that that was the first time that someone other
than myself had ever taken ownership of a problem and
didn't involve me in it. When you can do that,
then it can So every issue, everything that you deal
with as an owner weighs on you, and weight limits
what you can carry. And so what that did was
(46:18):
he's like, here, boss, let me take this weight. And
so I knew I could trust him. And so now
he has managed projects that are multi million dollar projects,
huge warehouse projects, multiple people. He's essentially managed a company
within our company of people, and I can trust him
with that, and I don't worry about it. It doesn't weigh
(46:40):
on me that that would be the story of a
person that I feel like I can build with.
Speaker 2 (46:46):
Then don't name drop him.
Speaker 3 (46:49):
Yeah you can't have him.
Speaker 2 (46:51):
No, Yeah, someone's going to be going after him.
Speaker 3 (46:53):
Well, full disclosure. He is in the process with some
other people in our company of buying shares of the
company that I started.
Speaker 2 (47:00):
Amazing building with a team that's amazing.
Speaker 1 (47:04):
We So where we resonate with that is we have
we have a saying for any yeah, go for it.
Speaker 3 (47:12):
There you go.
Speaker 1 (47:13):
Yeah, we won't say who it is, but that's total advertisement.
We don't need that on here unless they want to contribute.
That's fine, we go by what's any new employee and
any we continue to push, It's called EOI. They have
to have energy ownership and be experimental, so not to
(47:34):
be afraid to experiment, take ownership of that experiment.
Speaker 2 (47:37):
And just go all out like that.
Speaker 1 (47:41):
That is like the energy behind what we're doing. And
I mean for an employee to take ownership, I get it.
I mean that's pounds off your shoulder, like you're so
much weight, and I'm totally with you, so.
Speaker 2 (47:56):
I really appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (47:57):
Uh if you were, Let's pretend there's a potential customer
watching you on this podcast and they were just like,
you know what makes Legacy different? Like why should I
hire Legacy or even black Line? And you know what
(48:21):
do you guys do that this customer.
Speaker 2 (48:23):
Should Why why should they buy you?
Speaker 3 (48:26):
That's actually a pretty simple answer. We care so when
we take on a project, like so if I'm talking
about Legacy for example, and like Legacy Electric, they do
you know, infrastructure projects and industrial, commercial electric, pretty much
anything you can think of with that, they care about
(48:48):
the project that they want to build your legacy as
if it was theirs, and so the same with Black Line.
We care about your people. We care about your culture
and we want to build that out with you. And
so it's like if this is important to you and
you believe in this, Like we don't take on every client,
Like we have jobs come our way and it doesn't
(49:10):
matter what company it is. Within the Legacy group, we
have jobs come our way that we don't take because
if we don't align, it's nothing against you or us.
But we want to work with who we align with
because efficiency is key and we can be efficient if
we operate together in that way. And so, you know,
(49:30):
if you're looking for an organization that wants to help
you build, then that's what we want to do, whether
it's building your legacy or defining your culture and your
story as a company, that's what we want to do.
Speaker 1 (49:43):
Awesome And where can people reach out to you or
find you?
Speaker 3 (49:48):
Yeah, so so black Line Ltd dot com and they
can you know, find me on LinkedIn Joshua D. Malott, M. E. L.
L Ott. I'm on LinkedIn. I post most days of
the week, and then can find us on YouTube at
black Line Ltd. You can see our podcast anywhere on
(50:11):
any podcast network that you listen to. You search the
line x black Line and will come up. It's a
big ugly picture of my face. And you know we're
out there. We want to lift the view of the
trades and your company. We want to tell your story.
You know. If you are a construction company, you know
(50:32):
we want to be building and helping you with your
infrastructure projects from a legacy standpoint. On the electrical side
as well.
Speaker 2 (50:39):
If there's any.
Speaker 1 (50:42):
Entrepreneurs that are watching this right now, it could be
new construction owners, new entrepreneur, doesn't matter, what advice would
you give to them? And you know, and on top
of that, is there anything else that you would like
to leave with the listen that.
Speaker 2 (51:00):
Are watching this or listening in today?
Speaker 3 (51:04):
Sure? I think the biggest thing for entrepreneurs two words
words that I read in tears in a bookstore. Don't quit.
Don't give up. The reality is you might you might
(51:25):
almost be there. That Victor's cup might be just within
your hand. Don't become one of the people that gave
up right before it happens. I'm not saying don't look
at the factors and the things you might need to
relook at things you might need to change the way
that you do things. But don't quit. Face it you know,
to people who are out there, whether you're an entrepreneur
(51:48):
or you're someone entering the trades, be a leader. You know,
leadership is something that is needed. People are hungry for
people to lead them. And I don't care if you're
holding a shovel or if you are managing an organization,
you're a leader. Someone standing next to you is impacted
by the way that you're living your life. So think
(52:09):
about the way you're living your life, think about the
way that you do your work and what you do.
So lead and don't quit.
Speaker 1 (52:20):
You know, can I take your own advice and then
not quit on this podcast? And maybe I can get
you to selfishly promote technology a little bit and before
and this will be just to wrap it up, and
I know the team would love to hear this. What
do you do with or I guess what do you
(52:41):
use for technology? How do you use technology to help
your business today?
Speaker 3 (52:49):
So I think I know where you're going with this.
I feel like it's right in front of me. So
there are a couple of things. One thing I would
say in business, if you're not utilizing AI and this
is coming from a tradesman here who hates AI. And
I hate technology. I don't like new things. If you're
(53:10):
not using it, you're going to lose. You're not going
to be where you need to be. The other thing
that I would say to you is, and I literally
was working on a project. I would be really careful
what I say because it's confidential, but I was working
on a project and we in one of our companies,
(53:32):
and we were working on a project with another company
that we are managing. And the one company that we
manage uses this thing called Can I say it, yes, okay,
this thing called lumber. And I've been in business.
Speaker 2 (53:49):
It's not right here.
Speaker 3 (53:50):
Yeah, it's not right there, this thing called lumber. And
I have been in business for more than twenty years.
I have used all of the big players when it
comes to platforms, payroll software, all of that stuff. If
you're going to pick a technology partner, which is what
(54:11):
lumber is for us. And I got to see this
point blank just today in our organization working in so
the Legacy Group is involved in multiple organizations, and so
I'm able to see what's happening here and what's happening
over here. And so this arm is utilizing lumber, and
(54:31):
this arm is not a technology company that is willing
to work with you. And I heard my chief of
staff literally just say today, well, I'll talk with lumber
about a problem that I see, and then I log
back in and there's a new button there based on
the input that I gave them. Do you realize the
(54:54):
value that comes from that? That is huge? And the
reality is whether you are a thousand employee company, a
thirty thousand employee company, or a ten employee company, that's
the type of service that you want. And that technology
(55:15):
platform what we're utilizing with Lumber in one of our
organizations is huge in our success. And the people that
work there and I don't know them, I don't actually
work with them. I just hear the praises from my
team about these people that they call and you pick
up the phone. All right, So I'm a Generation X guy.
(55:36):
If I call you and you pick up the phone,
we're already one thousand percent better than anybody else that
I work with. I want to talk with somebody, I
want to process with you, and you guys do that.
Very few technology companies do that. That would be something
that I would say, I stand behind what you guys
are doing, and I'm in the process of bringing it
(55:56):
into every organization that we're dealing with.
Speaker 1 (55:59):
I appreciate that that means a lot, and thank you
so much, Joshua for being a guest on my podcast.
It's been an absolute pleasure, and everyone that's watching please like, subscribe, comment,
and share it with everybody in the construction industry and.
Speaker 2 (56:17):
We will see you next time. Thank you so much, Joshua.
Speaker 1 (56:31):
If you're a construction contractor and would like to appear
as a guest on our podcast.
Speaker 2 (56:35):
Write us an email.
Speaker 1 (56:36):
It's Lou at lumberfine dot com.
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