00:00:00:00 – 00:00:32:23
Welcome to the Builder Hacks podcast, your go to destination for cutting edge strategies, time tested systems, and invaluable insights to revolutionize your construction business and elevate your life. Join your host, Nate Piper and Keith Mills. Seasoned contractors who are not just in the trenches, but are also pioneering the future of the industry through Concord University. In each episode, we dive deep into the minds of the industry’s most accomplished building professionals, uncovering their secrets to success and sharing actionable tips to help you thrive.
00:00:33:00 – 00:00:48:05
Whether you’re a seasoned veteran or just starting out, our goal is to empower you to build a brighter future for yourself and for America. Tune in. Level up and let’s build a better tomorrow together. This is the Builder Hacks podcast. Build your future. Building
00:00:48:05 – 00:00:48:14
America.
00:00:48:18 – 00:01:06:09
You know, there’s, you know, there’s a big part of the population that needs just employees to do a function, right? And I get that, you know, as a, as a business and there’s a lot of, there’s a lot of people at the same time, Nate, for the people who are coming into it who would rather just do that.
00:01:06:11 – 00:01:23:18
Yeah. There’s nothing wrong with that. If that’s the route that you want to go, that’s great. It’s like my wife realize she she wants to go to a place she wants to clock in. She wants to work hard while she’s there. She wants to clock out and not think about that place ever again. Right? Like, that’s that’s what she wants to do.
00:01:23:21 – 00:01:39:11
Yeah. And there’s a lot of people like that. Yeah, and I understand that. Right. I wish, I wish I could have that ability, but I don’t. Right. Like, my mind won’t allow me to go down that path. I’m the event that you’re you’re a lot like I have. Well, like I told you, the story at the beginning.
00:01:39:12 – 00:01:53:20
You’re a lot like I am that whenever you walk out, whether you had, like, whenever I was an employee for somebody else, even when I left there, I was still thinking about it. I was still working on it. Whenever I was working for others, I was working at home on their business that wasn’t getting paid to be doing.
00:01:53:22 – 00:02:16:07
So that’s just what I did, because that’s who I am. Yeah, well, you just get when you when you enjoy something and you’re, and you’re doing something that, that you like doing it, it’s no longer like a, a hurdle that you have to get over. It just becomes a part of who you are. It’s like you can’t control it, like I can’t I can’t control all the, the, the conversations that I have.
00:02:16:07 – 00:02:37:23
And so my like, I still have conversations inside my head all the time, every every one of those calls about anybody who tells you they’re not lying to you. So they’re lying, right. And I can’t turn that thing off like, that thing is, is constantly moving and going. And and I think that’s one of the reasons why I like our industry so much is that, you know, I get I get to experience different forms.
00:02:37:23 – 00:02:57:16
It’s never mundane. It’s never boring. It’s never it’s never a, every day is the same thing. It is. And it isn’t like you get up and you start your day and then something else happens and you gotta adapt. You gotta. You gotta change and you gotta. You know, overcome these things. But that’s what I love about it.
00:02:57:17 – 00:03:19:19
It’s like, I’m not. It’s I’m not doing the rinse and repeat thing every day with the same thing, you know, and that’s and some people will think, well, that’s because you own the business Nate. So yeah like the guys that was like that way before that I’m I’m talking like your days aren’t mundane. It’s never the same thing twice because you own the business.
00:03:19:19 – 00:03:33:11
So there’s always something different coming at you. One of the things though, if you talk to any of the guys, like even the workers like one of the, you know, the assistant plumbers or one of the laborers, their day is never the same day. Never. So if you’re someone who likes that, I’m like, you are doing the same thing.
00:03:33:11 – 00:03:53:09
I couldn’t go, so God bless the people that can go to a job and do the same exact thing every day, the same exact way, for the same exact hours and deal with the same exact bullshit. So because that’s never, ever going to happen for me, I’d go nuts. Yeah, that’s. I’m the same way you are. It’s like I would I, I love I cherish the fact that every day is different because I love to go ahead and solve challenges.
00:03:53:09 – 00:04:14:07
So if you’re a person like that, who the same thing over and over drives you crazy. Well, this is construction’s definitely on. You ain’t got to worry about that for sure. Yeah, well, I mean, that’s why I couldn’t make it on Wall Street. I mean, it is. Rinse and repeat all day. I watched that movie Wolf of Wall Street, and there’s a scene in there where he’s kind of getting started and he’s with, what’s is that?
00:04:14:07 – 00:04:31:17
Matthew McConaughey. And he’s in his palette, his chest, and he’s just boom, boom, boom or whatever. I can’t remember the whole thing, but there’s a sign in there where it’s like, we’re just going to rinse and repeat this over and over and over, and you get into a rhythm, right? And he’s right, and he’s drunk tank that like 10 a.m. right and right.
00:04:31:18 – 00:04:50:15
And I’m like, yeah, I can’t not be that guy. Yeah, that’s not going to work here for multiple reasons. But I am not going to be that guy, you know. And so, you know, and I think that’s what drew me into it because I’m a creative personality. I like to I like to be challenged. I don’t want to be just like a bump on a log.
00:04:50:15 – 00:05:15:14
And I like to have, you know, some, some, some diversity and some, some change of scenery. And that’s the other thing I love about our industry is that I’m not trapped in an office building, you know, all day, every day. I’m trapped more now because I’m, you know, a business owner. But I still love and getting out, driving, checking out job sites, walking things, going places.
00:05:15:16 – 00:05:46:16
biomaterials like my day is not just like, condensed down into one little cubicle or one chair and inside my room staring at a computer screen. Yes, there’s some time I have to be there, but that’s not my life, and I don’t want it to be my life. I like being able to get out and chair and, you know, drive around and, you know, even for life, even for me, that’s the thing that I notice, like the days of that, I have to start in the office and I have to put in time here before I go anywhere is a challenge for me, because if I get out and get started, you know, and that’s
00:05:46:18 – 00:06:07:21
we’ve we’ve had these conversations. I’m usually in the field, I leave my house at 545 in the morning because I like to be on job sites. Any jobs like before seven a am at least somewhere checking up on things and even on the weekends when I do stuff, I’m better off. Even if I just leave the house to go to the post office or take the vehicle to get serviced or whatever it is, because I’ll get more accomplished that day, because I’m not.
00:06:08:00 – 00:06:21:11
There’s more of an urgency and it’s more of a routine for me, and it’s different. I love like the same way you. I love being out there. I love being outside. I love being able to talk to people so, you know, meet them to help them with their challenges. So, you know, work on whatever we’re working on for that day.
00:06:21:14 – 00:06:45:22
That’s the fun part. That’s the different part. And, you know, that’s one of those things that you know, hey, God, God bless you. If you can sit in an office and do the same thing all day long just for those, it’s a different type of it’s a different individual that can and that’s all it is. And and if somebody is out there and they’re, they’re dying sitting in that that chair and that office and they’re, they feel like their lives being suffocated.
00:06:45:24 – 00:07:18:00
Get out, get out now. You have my permission to leave or go find a job outside. You know, like I I’ve got so many stories and so many guys like I have hired. I was thinking about this the other day, and I went back through my old files. Between 2004 to 2016, I had hired over 500, and I think it’s like 518 people or something like that.
00:07:18:02 – 00:07:42:20
And then since then to now, I’ve probably hired another 60 or so. And so I’m almost 600, 600 people in and that I’ve hired, and I can’t tell you all of the, the guys that come in and they do two things. One, they get a tool in their hand and they get outside and watch the light bulb, you know, go off in their mind and in their face.
00:07:42:20 – 00:08:03:09
And then they come in and you look in their eyes, and their eyes are like, deadpan, like they’re just like, I am. I’ve been abused to no end. And then you give them about two, three, four weeks, and the next thing you know, their eyes are just bright. They’re light, they’re lit up, they’re gauged. It’s like I’m no longer dead inside my mind or inside my soul.
00:08:03:11 – 00:08:31:03
And, and that’s that’s another day of what I like. I love about the business is the transfer. What do you attribute that to, Nate? What do you attribute that to that change in them? Honestly, I believe that that, you know, God has played a big role in like however, he manufactured us as an individual to be able to, like, have these DNA deep rooted pieces that go all the way back to the beginning of time of like man is supposed to have tools in his hand.
00:08:31:03 – 00:08:53:12
He’s supposed to be outside beating on rocks, creating like a wheel. You know, it’s like, right, that is your DNA structure, right? And so when, when you’re actually doing that versus staying in, you know, this ambient light is just shining on your face all day and you’re really engaged in the sunshine. You have to deal with the elements that are outdoors.
00:08:53:12 – 00:09:17:09
And I love them even when it’s raining or or heavy windstorms or hail or tornadoes or whatever. Like, I love being able to be outside and feel that because it’s all of your senses together, is working as one and and there’s no other replacement for that. I’ve been traveled the world, you know, I’ve been all over done a lot of things.
00:09:17:11 – 00:09:40:20
But when it comes down to it, being able to go outside, breathe fresh air, have sunlight, even have, you know, clouds that are that are shadowing you. You’re not getting sunlight that still has impact because the UV rays are coming through to you, like just just be able to to do that and then have something and then you then you start to see the small wins of accomplishments.
00:09:40:20 – 00:10:03:03
Like I change something there and then that’s like a reinforcement inside yourself, like I can do that. I did that look to check that out. I think I’m right that I think that right there is always been the biggest thing for me is that whenever you do that and you’re out doing those guys, you actually you produce something that is physical that people can see so that people can use, that they can live in.
00:10:03:03 – 00:10:25:22
I mean, that for me has always been the key is that I always look at it as anything that I’m doing with their home. This is their home. They’re going to be there for, you know, months, years, decades. So making memories. So this is their thing. And we have we have the opportunity to be able to create that special place for them, to then be able to live their lives and create those special memories that they’ll have forever.
00:10:26:00 – 00:10:53:01
Well, one of the problems is, is that they have to be able to do it for themselves before they can do it for somebody else. Right. And and here’s something that I find is kind of interesting. Most of the time when people come to me, excuse me, most of the time when people come to me, they are, you know, in a different phase or, or, or state of mind and what it has to do with, like whatever’s going on in their personal home and their personal life.
00:10:53:02 – 00:11:12:03
Right. And they start to see these small little changes and wins. And what’s interesting is like, their house might be dirty. They’re they haven’t washed clothes. They haven’t, you know, clean their car. They haven’t done any of these things because they don’t they don’t have pride in that anymore. Right. Like they did when they first bought it.
00:11:12:03 – 00:11:31:21
But now it’s kind of like gone down and so on and so forth. Once they start to kind of like take on a challenge and, and it’s small stuff like mow, mow somebody else’s grass. Right. And the first time they do, they’re like, oh, okay, well, this is this is cool. I’m glad I saw Tall weeds and now I see like cut grass.
00:11:31:21 – 00:11:50:07
And that looks good. You know, like, it’s like an instant. It’s like an instant gratification hit. Right, right. Then the next thing you know, now they’re mowing perfect lines and they’re doing it in a section and everything else. All of that translates over well. Once they get done doing that, they’ve got pride in doing some kind of work for somebody else.
00:11:50:09 – 00:12:06:24
Next thing you know, when they leave that job site, they go, oh, you know what? The inside of my truck’s a little messy. You know, the, let me go ahead and vacuum this out. Oh, let me, let me let me run it through the, the the car wash. Right. And it’s just these little things that translates over.
00:12:06:24 – 00:12:29:21
So they do something for somebody else, then they do something for themselves, and then they start getting their, their own stuff together. Then the the work that’s produced outward goes inward. And then it’s a cycle that kind of translates through. And that’s where the impact really happens. And, that’s the parts that I like. And I totally agree with that piece of it.
00:12:29:21 – 00:12:53:06
Whenever you’re talking about that, the part that ran through my head. So is that pride piece of it’s how you do anything is how you do everything. Yeah, that’s what it comes down to. So whenever you’re getting that pride in doing, you know, like you’re talking about the lawn mowing the lawn example. So and you feel good about that and it starts to bleed over and everything else, the more of that you start to do so, the more of those things you start to do outside of just taking action.
00:12:53:08 – 00:13:11:09
So it raises the level of the action that you’re taking because you actually in most of those cases, you start to look at it as you’re accountable and responsible for things now, and whether you’re accountable and responsible for things so and other people and this is like and it’s some people are more driven by they’ll do it for somebody else.
00:13:11:14 – 00:13:27:24
So if someone else is watching and is expecting a result, so they want to do it for them. And then there’s other people where whenever they’re looking at that, it’s like, I’m doing this for me. So because this is who I am and this is how I show up for everything. So which means my results are always going to be the best because that’s what I do.
00:13:28:01 – 00:13:46:13
Yeah, well and either way, whatever motivate you is great. Just figure out what that part is that motivates you. And it’s amazing though how it does bleed into everything. Every not just those little steps like that now and it’s that. So it’s one of those things where if you’re one of those people out there right now, like me, it was talking about before, it’s trapped in an office job that they literally hate.
00:13:46:13 – 00:14:05:12
And you’re like, why am I here? So whatever you’re doing and you don’t like it, you know, if a, I would say, have you been there long enough to actually get good at it? So because it’s just brand new and you’re just struggling because it’s new. So then give it time, get good at it, find out whether this is what you want to do first because that’s challenging many people.
00:14:05:12 – 00:14:20:09
Just jump the jump, the jump, the jump, figuring that the grass is greener on the other side. And we always know that it typically isn’t because you’re taking you with you. And if you’re the challenge, you showed up at the next place too. So it was what ended up happening. but get good at it first. You get good at it and it doesn’t work for you.
00:14:20:12 – 00:14:38:16
Go do something else, find something else that might go ahead and do that and give that same effort that you put into getting great at what you were doing before, into the same business now, or the same perceived pursuit that you’re going after. So because when you go ahead and do that, that gives you the opportunity to have that fulfillment, that feel good about yourself, to make an impact in the world.
00:14:38:18 – 00:14:52:16
So, you know, and that’s like people that’s what I see is the majority of the people in this industry who are good at it. They all have the same characteristics. So it’s those pieces we’ve been talking about. They have pride in what they do. So they’re well, they’re always going to do the best job that they possibly can.
00:14:52:21 – 00:15:06:07
So my best trades look out for each other. It’s one of the reasons why the guys that work for me. So I’ve got it right now. I’ve got a core set of people that have been working for me for over ten years now. So and that’s the majority of them. That’s because of the fact that they watch for each other.
00:15:06:07 – 00:15:23:18
They’ll let the other trades know or they’ll let us know that, hey, we saw this. You might want to get this taken care of. You know, that responsibility where it’s not just their piece, it’s the whole piece so that they’re taking ownership of, you know, those types of traits are if that’s you so doing, no matter what you do, you’re going to be successful.
00:15:23:18 – 00:15:40:05
And that’s an awesome thing. Find that thing that you love. So you know, if you love being outside, like we love being outside and seeing people and interact and, and creating something physical that you get to see for, you know, decades. So if not longer later. So all of those pieces then, this is a place you might want to go ahead and look at.
00:15:40:06 – 00:15:53:19
So as long as you’re okay with the hard work, as long as you’re okay with being out in the elements. So the construction industry, there’s a ton of opportunity. And that’s the piece that we always talk about. So there’s a there is if you no matter what it is and there’s so many different things you can do here.
00:15:53:21 – 00:16:12:04
that’s something to step into for sure. Yeah. Great. Great great segment there. Well, if you’re looking for us here on, the The Builder Hacks podcast, check out our Instagram page and our Facebook page, and, we look forward to talking to you again.
00:16:12:04 – 00:16:22:11
Oh.
