WEBVTT 00:00:24.399 --> 00:00:26.719 man, what a good conversation with Aaron. That 00:00:26.719 --> 00:00:30.719 was kind of humbling for me just because what 00:00:30.719 --> 00:00:33.079 he does, I'm that person that he's targeting 00:00:33.079 --> 00:00:35.619 to. So that was a super fun conversation towards 00:00:35.619 --> 00:00:38.119 the end there. We talked about ego, we talked 00:00:38.119 --> 00:00:41.100 about therapy, we talked about him starting his 00:00:41.100 --> 00:00:43.780 businesses and what's his drivers and things 00:00:43.780 --> 00:00:47.119 like that. And I just, I really loved that conversation. 00:00:47.259 --> 00:00:50.070 I can't wait to go listen to it again. Aaron 00:00:50.070 --> 00:00:52.329 was the perfect first guest to have on the dirt 00:00:52.329 --> 00:00:55.329 bags podcast. And, you know, he just encompasses 00:00:55.329 --> 00:00:58.890 that dirt bag vibe. So he's got it going. You 00:00:58.890 --> 00:01:01.289 know, we had a great conversation and let's dive 00:01:01.289 --> 00:01:07.450 into it. All right, guys, we are here. Episode 00:01:07.450 --> 00:01:10.870 one of the dirt bags podcast. Luke and I are 00:01:10.870 --> 00:01:13.310 stoked to have our first ever guest on. We've 00:01:13.310 --> 00:01:16.269 got Aaron Witt. What's going on, man? Where in 00:01:16.269 --> 00:01:19.200 the country are you recording this from? I am 00:01:19.200 --> 00:01:25.599 at home, Nashville, Tennessee. Yeah, I'm happy 00:01:25.599 --> 00:01:28.540 to be home whenever I get the chance these days 00:01:28.540 --> 00:01:32.719 because it is quite rare. What do you think? 00:01:32.719 --> 00:01:34.939 You're home for a couple days a month or it seems 00:01:34.939 --> 00:01:38.459 like you're always traveling? Yeah, it was just 00:01:38.459 --> 00:01:40.719 a few nights at home in January. February has 00:01:40.719 --> 00:01:43.989 been a little bit better. Not by much. So I'm 00:01:43.989 --> 00:01:46.109 here for a few days and then I leave again Wednesday 00:01:46.109 --> 00:01:48.390 morning. It's just about, just about every week 00:01:48.390 --> 00:01:51.230 right now. I was going to say, do you travel? 00:01:51.650 --> 00:01:54.010 Like it's probably the better question to ask. 00:01:54.090 --> 00:01:56.930 How many days don't you travel a month? I don't 00:01:56.930 --> 00:01:59.569 count because I think I'd just be sad about it. 00:02:00.129 --> 00:02:03.870 It's, it's, it's a good deal. I, I, I bitch about 00:02:03.870 --> 00:02:07.489 it because I like to complain, but I, it's, it's 00:02:07.489 --> 00:02:10.180 awesome. And it's why. largely why I'm at where 00:02:10.180 --> 00:02:12.139 I'm at because I've been able to see so much 00:02:12.139 --> 00:02:15.180 cool stuff so quickly. So it's, it's, it's awesome. 00:02:15.439 --> 00:02:19.060 I'm super, super grateful for it. Sure. What's 00:02:19.060 --> 00:02:22.340 been like, Luke, go ahead. Sorry. When did you, 00:02:22.379 --> 00:02:24.120 when did you guys close on the office space? 00:02:24.139 --> 00:02:26.039 I know we've been following you guys for a while, 00:02:26.139 --> 00:02:28.520 but when did you actually close on the building? 00:02:29.659 --> 00:02:37.340 Signed the lease fall of 2019 or like December 00:02:37.340 --> 00:02:41.319 of 2019 started construction last March finished 00:02:41.319 --> 00:02:44.960 up maybe September. So we've been in here since 00:02:44.960 --> 00:02:48.360 September. Right now it's February. So not super 00:02:48.360 --> 00:02:52.159 long. But yeah, it was about three years in business 00:02:52.159 --> 00:02:55.979 before we got the office space. I just crashed 00:02:55.979 --> 00:02:59.020 coffee shops wherever the hell I was in the United 00:02:59.020 --> 00:03:01.860 States for three years worked out of my apartment. 00:03:02.879 --> 00:03:05.080 my girlfriend's house at the time, my parents' 00:03:05.539 --> 00:03:08.020 houses. It was just, it just kind of worked wherever 00:03:08.020 --> 00:03:10.539 the hell I was. And then three years down the 00:03:10.539 --> 00:03:12.360 road, moved to Nashville and figured, hey, I 00:03:12.360 --> 00:03:15.099 think we need, we need a dedicated space for 00:03:15.099 --> 00:03:17.080 the company for a few different reasons. So that's 00:03:17.080 --> 00:03:19.680 where we, when we settled down here. And now 00:03:19.680 --> 00:03:21.300 we've got this little spot here pretty close 00:03:21.300 --> 00:03:24.060 to downtown Nashville. Did you have a team when 00:03:24.060 --> 00:03:26.939 you were jumping around or was the team, did 00:03:26.939 --> 00:03:29.000 the team come when you did get the building? 00:03:30.960 --> 00:03:34.900 We had a little bit of a team. So it was like 00:03:34.900 --> 00:03:36.759 I have bigger plans for our office space than 00:03:36.759 --> 00:03:39.180 just using it as office space. We're working 00:03:39.180 --> 00:03:42.319 on a separate project right now that should be 00:03:42.319 --> 00:03:45.479 a little bit bigger picture. But it was to the 00:03:45.479 --> 00:03:47.780 point where, okay, we have a team now. We got 00:03:47.780 --> 00:03:51.180 people running around. We need a place to meet 00:03:51.180 --> 00:03:54.620 that's just dedicated to our business because 00:03:55.599 --> 00:03:57.960 doing the whole over the computer thing seven 00:03:57.960 --> 00:04:00.819 days a week is awesome. You can be really flexible. 00:04:00.819 --> 00:04:02.919 You can hire from wherever you want, but also 00:04:02.919 --> 00:04:08.699 it has significant drawbacks that I think are 00:04:08.699 --> 00:04:12.080 very much understated in today's virtual business 00:04:12.080 --> 00:04:18.120 world. That's cool. I kind of have a question 00:04:18.120 --> 00:04:20.000 right off the bat, just shooting from like when 00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:22.160 you guys signed your lease and the team and everything. 00:04:22.660 --> 00:04:24.660 Aaron, when you were working, did you work at 00:04:24.600 --> 00:04:28.319 key with or what was like your job? I remember 00:04:28.319 --> 00:04:31.120 you saying you were like the jumping jack guy. 00:04:31.199 --> 00:04:34.600 You were always backfilling pipe or you were 00:04:34.600 --> 00:04:36.939 counting the blasts. Are those two different 00:04:36.939 --> 00:04:39.459 companies or were those the same? Yeah, it was. 00:04:39.839 --> 00:04:42.519 So when I got into construction, I got a job 00:04:42.519 --> 00:04:45.120 at Pearson Construction Corporation and I just 00:04:45.120 --> 00:04:47.540 asked for a job. So the job they gave me was 00:04:47.540 --> 00:04:51.060 labor, of course, because that's the job available 00:04:51.060 --> 00:04:53.019 when you go work for a construction company doing 00:04:53.019 --> 00:04:57.540 pipe. So I started out on a pipe crew as a laborer 00:04:57.540 --> 00:05:00.800 for Pearson. The next year I went to work for 00:05:00.800 --> 00:05:03.000 a company called Markham as a laborer. And that's 00:05:03.000 --> 00:05:05.759 when I just lived on a jumping jack for a month, 00:05:06.120 --> 00:05:07.839 backfilling waterline. And then I got put with 00:05:07.839 --> 00:05:10.899 an awesome pipe crew, a bunch of Mexican guys 00:05:10.899 --> 00:05:13.819 that were just the absolute, they were just animals. 00:05:13.899 --> 00:05:16.579 It was so much fun working with these guys. And 00:05:16.579 --> 00:05:18.759 I was the, the wereo, the wereito, the little 00:05:18.759 --> 00:05:20.699 white, white boy on the crew. That's what they 00:05:20.699 --> 00:05:25.370 would call me. And then third summer, third year 00:05:25.370 --> 00:05:27.610 went to work for Skanska on the railroad, because 00:05:27.610 --> 00:05:30.569 I was told that, hey, it's cool, you're getting 00:05:30.569 --> 00:05:32.750 equipment experience, you're laboring, you're 00:05:32.750 --> 00:05:34.769 doing construction stuff, but you need to learn 00:05:34.769 --> 00:05:37.990 how to manage work and how the office side of 00:05:37.990 --> 00:05:40.730 projects come together. So reluctantly got a 00:05:40.730 --> 00:05:43.750 job as a field engineer with Skanska, they sent 00:05:43.750 --> 00:05:47.670 me out to the railroad. That was just incredibly 00:05:47.670 --> 00:05:50.329 miserable, but also very enlightening learned 00:05:50.329 --> 00:05:53.699 a lot that summer. And then fourth year was with 00:05:53.699 --> 00:05:56.560 Kiwit doing drill and shoot up in Washington 00:05:56.560 --> 00:05:59.079 as an engineer, but also part -time laborer, 00:05:59.079 --> 00:06:02.319 helping load every single shot we did. So I was 00:06:02.319 --> 00:06:06.100 the powder monkey, throwing bags of powder around. 00:06:06.199 --> 00:06:07.600 And we didn't have a truck. We didn't have a 00:06:07.600 --> 00:06:10.879 powder truck. When you load big shots typically, 00:06:11.379 --> 00:06:14.759 you have a truck that's full of AMFO. And it 00:06:14.759 --> 00:06:16.899 comes along and you have a hose and you put the 00:06:16.899 --> 00:06:19.000 hose into the hole and it fills the hole up with 00:06:19.000 --> 00:06:21.439 how much AMFO you need. we didn't have that fancy 00:06:21.439 --> 00:06:24.819 stuff we just had 50 pound bags of ammonium nitrate 00:06:24.819 --> 00:06:27.199 fuel oil so i'd have to haul all those to each 00:06:27.199 --> 00:06:30.620 hole load each hole and then stem each hole which 00:06:30.620 --> 00:06:34.459 is basically filling up the hole to the top with 00:06:34.459 --> 00:06:36.800 gravel once you've loaded it with the explosives 00:06:36.800 --> 00:06:39.839 and uh i just did that with basically a five 00:06:39.839 --> 00:06:41.720 gallon bucket you just fill it up with rock you 00:06:41.720 --> 00:06:44.399 pour it down the hole and you repeat until the 00:06:44.399 --> 00:06:47.180 hole is full and it takes sometimes a lot of 00:06:47.180 --> 00:06:50.120 damn buckets of gravel to fill it up So did that 00:06:50.120 --> 00:06:53.459 and then went to work in road construction after 00:06:53.459 --> 00:06:56.360 I graduated college. So it was a lot pretty quick. 00:06:57.040 --> 00:06:59.079 So you were really getting your workout in Jesus 00:06:59.079 --> 00:07:01.740 Christ, I used to do concrete. And just the manual 00:07:01.740 --> 00:07:05.180 labor part, I remember, for when I was like 1617, 00:07:05.300 --> 00:07:08.459 I would work all day, we'd haul up these wall 00:07:08.459 --> 00:07:10.040 forms. And then I'd be like, God, I got to hit 00:07:10.040 --> 00:07:11.720 the gym. But then I'd get to the gym, I'd be 00:07:11.720 --> 00:07:15.779 like, I have no energy left in me. Yeah. But 00:07:15.779 --> 00:07:18.170 going from that, you know, obviously, working 00:07:18.170 --> 00:07:20.790 that really, really manual labor job, you know, 00:07:20.790 --> 00:07:22.310 what was kind of like your light bulb moment 00:07:22.310 --> 00:07:24.870 to where I know you were doing stuff with I build 00:07:24.870 --> 00:07:28.930 America right on the Instagram page. Yes, different 00:07:28.930 --> 00:07:32.110 timing. Yeah, that was my last job before I started 00:07:32.110 --> 00:07:34.430 the company. So I went I was working road construction, 00:07:34.509 --> 00:07:38.410 Texas, HSS, which had I build America found me, 00:07:38.610 --> 00:07:40.750 they hired me moved to Houston started working 00:07:40.750 --> 00:07:43.540 for a software company. did that for a few months. 00:07:43.540 --> 00:07:46.199 And then that's the last job I had before I started 00:07:46.199 --> 00:07:49.399 started build with. So what was like your light 00:07:49.399 --> 00:07:51.339 bulb moment to where you're like, I can do this 00:07:51.339 --> 00:07:53.579 by myself. This is this is what I want to do. 00:07:53.620 --> 00:07:55.699 Like, what was there like an event that happened? 00:07:55.759 --> 00:07:57.360 Or were you just like, I'm doing this already? 00:07:57.360 --> 00:08:03.180 Why not do it for myself? There wasn't I, at 00:08:03.180 --> 00:08:06.920 least for my experience, I light bulb moments 00:08:06.920 --> 00:08:09.199 have been a fallacy. There really hasn't been 00:08:09.199 --> 00:08:12.279 a light bulb moment ever in my life. It's you 00:08:12.279 --> 00:08:14.339 just, I don't know, you take one step and then 00:08:14.339 --> 00:08:17.240 you take another step. And maybe it's a good 00:08:17.240 --> 00:08:19.439 step, maybe a step and shit, whatever it is. 00:08:19.439 --> 00:08:21.420 I don't know if I can swear or not, whatever 00:08:21.420 --> 00:08:25.839 the format of your podcast is. So I went to work 00:08:25.839 --> 00:08:28.040 at iBuild America. And the way I like to put 00:08:28.040 --> 00:08:30.959 it is there were just differences between how 00:08:30.959 --> 00:08:34.179 I thought it should be run and how they wanted 00:08:34.179 --> 00:08:40.080 it to be run. And I was just I was in a very 00:08:40.080 --> 00:08:42.580 fortunate situation in which I could quit my 00:08:42.580 --> 00:08:45.299 job financially and it just got to a point where 00:08:45.299 --> 00:08:48.139 I wasn't I wasn't enjoying it and it wasn't what 00:08:48.139 --> 00:08:52.200 I liked to do and so I just said hey I'm not 00:08:52.200 --> 00:08:55.200 gonna do this anymore and so I just quit and 00:08:55.200 --> 00:08:57.620 it wasn't like I'm gonna go home and I'm gonna 00:08:57.620 --> 00:09:01.259 draft my brilliant business plan on how I'm gonna 00:09:01.259 --> 00:09:04.700 build a marketing business because that's the 00:09:04.700 --> 00:09:07.870 opportunity it's like no I don't want to be here 00:09:07.870 --> 00:09:11.129 anymore. So I'm going to walk in to my boss's 00:09:11.129 --> 00:09:14.450 office and tell him, I am not going to be here 00:09:14.450 --> 00:09:17.549 anymore. I'm going to be done on Friday. That 00:09:17.549 --> 00:09:21.950 was it. And the guy's office I walked into was 00:09:21.950 --> 00:09:24.710 Dan briscoe, who now president of our company 00:09:24.710 --> 00:09:27.669 has basically helped me build the company from 00:09:27.669 --> 00:09:29.730 from nothing. And we've we've built it together. 00:09:30.429 --> 00:09:34.899 So and he ran the marketing. the whole marketing 00:09:34.899 --> 00:09:38.159 function of HSS for quite a while. So that was 00:09:38.159 --> 00:09:41.240 it. It was a, I don't know, there was just differences. 00:09:41.240 --> 00:09:43.019 I just got to a point where, hey, this isn't 00:09:43.019 --> 00:09:45.620 for me. So I quit. And that's what I tell people 00:09:45.620 --> 00:09:47.639 starting out or wanting to start something. I'm 00:09:47.639 --> 00:09:51.519 like, well, don't underappreciate putting yourself 00:09:51.519 --> 00:09:54.100 in a situation that forces you to figure your 00:09:54.100 --> 00:09:57.639 shit out. Because amazingly enough, you're probably 00:09:57.639 --> 00:09:59.580 going to figure your shit out when it's life 00:09:59.580 --> 00:10:01.320 or death when you throw yourself in the deep 00:10:01.320 --> 00:10:04.299 end. you just got to figure it out. And so that 00:10:04.299 --> 00:10:06.659 was somewhat of the situation I put myself into. 00:10:08.039 --> 00:10:11.220 That's really interesting. I think, so correct 00:10:11.220 --> 00:10:13.460 me if I'm wrong, but Dan, he was like the first 00:10:13.460 --> 00:10:16.440 with you and you didn't know anything about websites. 00:10:16.500 --> 00:10:18.720 He had sold the website. You're like, Dan, I 00:10:18.720 --> 00:10:20.559 need help building the website. Wasn't that kind 00:10:20.559 --> 00:10:24.360 of how that went? Yeah. He left the company shortly 00:10:24.360 --> 00:10:27.299 after I did. And he went to go work for some 00:10:27.299 --> 00:10:29.960 other companies because he's you know, high level 00:10:29.960 --> 00:10:33.580 marketing executive and had done sales and former 00:10:33.580 --> 00:10:36.820 military. And he said he's had a long, very successful 00:10:36.820 --> 00:10:39.639 career. So he was going to work for some other 00:10:39.639 --> 00:10:42.679 other companies after H CSS. And yeah, I got 00:10:42.679 --> 00:10:44.860 into that little bit of a pickle where I told 00:10:44.860 --> 00:10:46.299 someone I could build a website, I didn't know 00:10:46.299 --> 00:10:48.620 how to build a website. So Dan was my first call 00:10:48.620 --> 00:10:52.049 because, you know, he was the He was the marketing 00:10:52.049 --> 00:10:54.129 guy. He knew how to do marketing. I didn't know 00:10:54.129 --> 00:10:56.649 how to do marketing. And he helped me out just 00:10:56.649 --> 00:10:59.289 on the side while he was working elsewhere. And 00:10:59.289 --> 00:11:01.490 he helped me out for probably the first year, 00:11:01.529 --> 00:11:05.110 year and a half. He came officially full time, 00:11:05.190 --> 00:11:07.169 maybe a year and a half or two into business. 00:11:07.830 --> 00:11:11.049 But he's basically helped me on the side since 00:11:11.049 --> 00:11:14.730 day one. He had a job for a while, but this was 00:11:14.730 --> 00:11:16.909 a lot more fun than what he was doing at his 00:11:16.909 --> 00:11:19.309 day job. So that's why he eventually came over 00:11:19.309 --> 00:11:22.549 here. Yeah, there's two things that I got from 00:11:22.549 --> 00:11:25.789 that. Sorry, Luke. Fake it till you make it. 00:11:25.970 --> 00:11:28.970 And it's who you know, not what you know. Kind 00:11:28.970 --> 00:11:34.250 of. It's like, yeah, it's like fake it till you 00:11:34.250 --> 00:11:36.990 make it. But I think that's also twisted to be 00:11:36.990 --> 00:11:40.330 disingenuine. You have to have really genuine 00:11:40.330 --> 00:11:43.590 intentions. You have to act a little bit more 00:11:43.590 --> 00:11:45.330 capable than you really are, or else you wouldn't 00:11:45.330 --> 00:11:49.690 get any work in the beginning. Um, but also intent 00:11:49.690 --> 00:11:52.230 has a smell, which I like that's stuck with me 00:11:52.230 --> 00:11:54.750 since I spent time with echelon front this past 00:11:54.750 --> 00:11:58.049 summer. And so if you're just faking it, you're 00:11:58.049 --> 00:12:00.730 just some jive turkey that's trying to act bigger 00:12:00.730 --> 00:12:04.009 than you are with no real intention behind it. 00:12:04.090 --> 00:12:05.629 People are going to pick up on that and it's 00:12:05.629 --> 00:12:08.389 going to re click bullshit. Uh, but if you're 00:12:08.389 --> 00:12:12.250 really doing your best and you're really, and, 00:12:12.389 --> 00:12:15.570 and There is some of that. There is some of acting 00:12:15.570 --> 00:12:17.669 like you're more capable than you really are. 00:12:17.990 --> 00:12:21.309 But also I've done pretty well on the other side 00:12:21.309 --> 00:12:24.070 of things to saying, I don't know what I'm doing, 00:12:24.309 --> 00:12:26.870 but I'm going to do my absolute best. I am going 00:12:26.870 --> 00:12:29.210 to go find people like you were talking about. 00:12:29.409 --> 00:12:30.970 It's important who you know, I'm going to go 00:12:30.970 --> 00:12:33.029 find people that do know what the hell they're 00:12:33.029 --> 00:12:35.529 doing. I'm going to work my ass off and I'm going 00:12:35.529 --> 00:12:37.009 to make this work for you at the end of the day. 00:12:37.070 --> 00:12:38.730 And if it doesn't work at the end of the day, 00:12:38.799 --> 00:12:40.860 I'm going to start all over from scratch and 00:12:40.860 --> 00:12:42.559 I'm going to do it right a second time because 00:12:42.559 --> 00:12:44.419 I probably learned some lessons the first time. 00:12:45.000 --> 00:12:48.240 So you do when you're starting company have to 00:12:48.240 --> 00:12:50.899 act more capable than you really are. But also 00:12:50.899 --> 00:12:53.460 there's so much value in saying, I honestly, 00:12:53.779 --> 00:12:57.519 I have no idea how to do that, but I'm going 00:12:57.519 --> 00:13:00.340 to figure it out. Yeah. I think Aaron that's 00:13:00.340 --> 00:13:02.570 spot on because it really falls into your first 00:13:02.570 --> 00:13:05.389 point that you made. And it's really about just 00:13:05.389 --> 00:13:07.389 taking that first step. And it's not that you're 00:13:07.389 --> 00:13:10.259 being disingenuous, it's just saying, hey, I'm 00:13:10.259 --> 00:13:11.620 not going to be the one building your website. 00:13:11.679 --> 00:13:13.639 I'm just going to throw that out there, but I 00:13:13.639 --> 00:13:15.480 work with people or I'm going to find somebody 00:13:15.480 --> 00:13:17.779 that can do it right. And the good thing about 00:13:17.779 --> 00:13:20.399 me as the leader of this company is I'm transparent. 00:13:20.639 --> 00:13:22.919 I'll tell you how it is and I'll definitely make 00:13:22.919 --> 00:13:24.759 it right. You know, we're in the business of 00:13:24.759 --> 00:13:27.360 people and not transactions. So I definitely 00:13:27.360 --> 00:13:30.740 love that example too of you got to get started. 00:13:30.799 --> 00:13:33.279 You can't craft up a 10 year business plan before 00:13:33.279 --> 00:13:36.299 taking your first step and even bring it on one 00:13:36.299 --> 00:13:40.710 client or one customer. So, um, Is that your 00:13:40.710 --> 00:13:43.690 first customer you took on? Tell me a little 00:13:43.690 --> 00:13:46.549 bit about that. Did you sell them a website and 00:13:46.549 --> 00:13:50.950 a social media fee? Or what was that first service 00:13:50.950 --> 00:13:54.570 that you sold? Very first company I started working 00:13:54.570 --> 00:13:57.730 with. So I went to lunch or dinner with Keaton 00:13:57.730 --> 00:14:01.649 Turner while I was working for HDSS. And we talked 00:14:01.649 --> 00:14:05.389 about storytelling, mining industry. He had just 00:14:05.389 --> 00:14:07.409 started this mining company. I was working at 00:14:07.409 --> 00:14:09.590 iBuild America. I was doing social media on the 00:14:09.590 --> 00:14:12.669 side, and we just shot the shit for a while. 00:14:14.049 --> 00:14:15.870 He came back to me and said, hey, why don't you 00:14:15.870 --> 00:14:18.210 come work for us? And why don't you do what you're 00:14:18.210 --> 00:14:21.669 doing over there, but for us? And then not shortly 00:14:21.669 --> 00:14:26.169 after that, I left to go do it on my own. And 00:14:26.169 --> 00:14:29.330 so naturally, he was my first call. And I said, 00:14:29.519 --> 00:14:32.899 Hey, I just quit. I'm doing this full time. Can 00:14:32.899 --> 00:14:36.860 you pay me some money to do it for you? And just 00:14:36.860 --> 00:14:39.860 give me whatever you got. And let's go do this. 00:14:39.860 --> 00:14:42.519 Let's go blow your company up. Let's go make 00:14:42.519 --> 00:14:45.379 you guys look really good. Let's go change up 00:14:45.379 --> 00:14:47.200 the mining industry like you're wanting to do. 00:14:47.279 --> 00:14:50.480 I think we could do it together. So he was technically 00:14:50.480 --> 00:14:53.279 Turner mining group is technically our first 00:14:53.279 --> 00:14:56.820 project. Granite Rock was really early on. They 00:14:56.820 --> 00:14:59.539 flew me out to Monterey to go see their quarry 00:14:59.539 --> 00:15:02.320 and I thought I was just, man, I thought I was 00:15:02.320 --> 00:15:04.240 the biggest deal in the world getting flown out 00:15:04.240 --> 00:15:08.019 by a company to go see this quarry and D11s and 00:15:08.019 --> 00:15:11.960 992 loaders. It was just awesome. And then Dylan 00:15:11.960 --> 00:15:14.539 Stevens with Rosso called me pretty quick as 00:15:14.539 --> 00:15:17.840 well. And he flew me out to Nashville, Tennessee. 00:15:18.080 --> 00:15:20.399 I was actually just at his office yesterday. 00:15:20.860 --> 00:15:23.340 Flew me out to Nashville or Murfreesboro. checked 00:15:23.340 --> 00:15:25.440 out some job sites, asked for a website, and 00:15:25.440 --> 00:15:27.960 then there we were. There I was calling up Dan 00:15:27.960 --> 00:15:29.879 saying, I don't know how to do website, like 00:15:29.879 --> 00:15:32.220 I just talked about. So I think those are the 00:15:32.220 --> 00:15:35.679 initial ones. It was really just, just grasping 00:15:35.679 --> 00:15:38.000 at straws, or just throwing things at the wall 00:15:38.000 --> 00:15:41.059 and seeing what sticks. But at that point, I'd 00:15:41.059 --> 00:15:43.279 already had a decent social media following. 00:15:43.659 --> 00:15:46.299 So it wasn't like I was starting from zero. For 00:15:46.299 --> 00:15:48.019 sure. And you know, I think it's great about 00:15:48.019 --> 00:15:51.279 that story is that Luke and I, I mean, Luke is 00:15:51.279 --> 00:15:54.120 one of the our first ever clients in April of 00:15:54.120 --> 00:15:56.799 2020, you know, and same kind of thing. I just 00:15:56.799 --> 00:15:59.220 resonate so much with this and we weren't even 00:15:59.220 --> 00:16:01.559 niche down in the dirt world yet. So we were 00:16:01.559 --> 00:16:04.519 just real estate agency, a bakery, coffee shop, 00:16:04.799 --> 00:16:07.519 demolition company, whatever, we'll do it. And 00:16:07.519 --> 00:16:09.860 what's really cool now is that we are so focused 00:16:09.860 --> 00:16:12.700 and, you know, as of six months ago or so, and 00:16:12.700 --> 00:16:15.159 it's because of Luke and I's relationship of 00:16:15.159 --> 00:16:17.399 how we're growing together and like, you know, 00:16:17.440 --> 00:16:19.620 this isn't I tell Luke and I tell all of our 00:16:19.620 --> 00:16:21.860 clients, we don't do magic tricks. We don't, 00:16:21.860 --> 00:16:24.500 you don't hire us on. And we just automatically 00:16:24.500 --> 00:16:28.059 things blow up and it's, it's more of a, we build 00:16:28.059 --> 00:16:30.600 good marketing habits. And that's why we love 00:16:30.600 --> 00:16:33.879 this industry so much is that we see the value 00:16:33.879 --> 00:16:36.559 that, that you guys bring from build wit of, 00:16:36.639 --> 00:16:38.559 you know, you're trying to reform this industry 00:16:38.559 --> 00:16:40.980 and change this industry. And we're kind of just 00:16:40.980 --> 00:16:43.080 jumping on with you guys and like, Hey, there's 00:16:43.080 --> 00:16:45.990 a whole section of these. excavation companies, 00:16:46.169 --> 00:16:48.809 one to 10 million in revenue, that they don't 00:16:48.809 --> 00:16:50.970 have a digital marketing team, and they don't 00:16:50.970 --> 00:16:53.330 want to hire in a full time digital marketing 00:16:53.330 --> 00:16:56.570 staff. So it's really cool to hear, you know, 00:16:56.730 --> 00:16:58.590 who you've started with from the beginning, and 00:16:58.590 --> 00:17:00.629 just how you guys have really treated each other 00:17:00.629 --> 00:17:02.950 like human beings. And you know, you guys don't 00:17:02.950 --> 00:17:04.470 know everything, they don't know everything. 00:17:04.730 --> 00:17:06.450 But let's work together and like figure this 00:17:06.450 --> 00:17:09.150 shit out. And like, let's win together. Yeah, 00:17:09.230 --> 00:17:12.529 like, everybody's been in that position before 00:17:12.529 --> 00:17:15.339 of just not knowing what the hell's going on. 00:17:16.279 --> 00:17:19.180 And so if you're genuine about it, and you just 00:17:19.180 --> 00:17:22.579 admit, I don't know what I'm doing, they are 00:17:22.579 --> 00:17:25.099 even more inclined to help you out because they 00:17:25.099 --> 00:17:27.700 can then relate to you. And they can then relate 00:17:27.700 --> 00:17:31.099 and say, Yeah, dude, man, have I been there too? 00:17:31.099 --> 00:17:32.839 And man, do I know how you're feeling and they 00:17:32.839 --> 00:17:36.279 can empathize and then that gives you a lot more 00:17:36.279 --> 00:17:39.420 flexibility to figure things out, rather than 00:17:39.420 --> 00:17:42.019 just saying I know everything and then screwing 00:17:42.019 --> 00:17:44.619 things up and then them being upset about it. 00:17:44.700 --> 00:17:47.019 We've had some of that too. I mean, we're definitely 00:17:47.019 --> 00:17:50.099 not perfect. That's for sure. And how, how important 00:17:50.099 --> 00:17:53.880 is it off of that topic to, you know, niche down? 00:17:54.019 --> 00:17:56.420 I was thinking about it yesterday actually, and 00:17:56.420 --> 00:17:58.700 thinking about, okay, if Aaron Witt was a marketing 00:17:58.700 --> 00:18:01.359 agency for small businesses, you know, how important 00:18:01.359 --> 00:18:04.180 is it to niche down in an industry and become 00:18:04.180 --> 00:18:06.759 the expert and, you know, networking with these 00:18:06.759 --> 00:18:08.519 same people, going to these same trade shows 00:18:08.519 --> 00:18:11.319 rather than staying broad and kind of doing everything. 00:18:13.930 --> 00:18:17.190 I'd never really created it like that. It's become 00:18:17.190 --> 00:18:21.150 pretty important to us. But I just I started 00:18:21.150 --> 00:18:22.890 with the dirt world. I didn't start with marketing. 00:18:23.069 --> 00:18:25.450 I accidentally ended up with a marketing company. 00:18:25.569 --> 00:18:27.670 I had no intention of starting a marketing company. 00:18:27.869 --> 00:18:30.769 I'm not all that stoked on marketing. Honestly, 00:18:30.829 --> 00:18:33.230 I'm stoked on the dirt world. I fucking love 00:18:33.230 --> 00:18:36.490 the dirt world. I love the diesel, the smell 00:18:36.490 --> 00:18:39.329 of diesel and the smell of earth being moved 00:18:39.329 --> 00:18:42.279 and the sight of like on my while I'm looking 00:18:42.279 --> 00:18:45.279 at a Hitachi 1200 overfilling the shit out of 00:18:45.279 --> 00:18:49.319 a 775 rock truck at a pit in Corona, California. 00:18:49.359 --> 00:18:53.240 Like, I just love that. Love telling those stories. 00:18:53.779 --> 00:18:56.700 So we just ended up with a business that told 00:18:56.700 --> 00:18:59.839 those stories. And I've just, I've always stuck 00:18:59.839 --> 00:19:03.140 with that because that's, I don't know. I got 00:19:03.140 --> 00:19:06.460 lucky and I figured out early on what really 00:19:06.460 --> 00:19:09.289 gets me going. And that's dirt. And I'm building 00:19:09.289 --> 00:19:12.630 companies that serve the dirt world. So that's 00:19:12.630 --> 00:19:14.869 when someone else says, well, why don't you go 00:19:14.869 --> 00:19:17.250 do general contractors or residential construction 00:19:17.250 --> 00:19:20.190 or railroads or whatever it is? I'm like, yeah, 00:19:20.190 --> 00:19:21.769 we could do that. And it would probably work 00:19:21.769 --> 00:19:23.390 out really well. And we'd probably go make a 00:19:23.390 --> 00:19:25.750 ton of money. But that doesn't really get me 00:19:25.750 --> 00:19:28.509 going at the same time. So let's just stay here 00:19:28.509 --> 00:19:30.630 because we've got something good going. There's 00:19:30.630 --> 00:19:33.450 a lot of room to run. Let's stay focused. And 00:19:33.450 --> 00:19:38.680 so it's not necessarily, I don't know. there's 00:19:38.680 --> 00:19:40.619 so many different ways to do it. You can go serve 00:19:40.619 --> 00:19:43.460 everybody. You can go serve one industry. You 00:19:43.460 --> 00:19:46.599 can go serve two industries. I don't I don't 00:19:46.599 --> 00:19:48.200 know enough to say this is the right way to do 00:19:48.200 --> 00:19:49.460 it. And I don't think there is a right way to 00:19:49.460 --> 00:19:51.420 do it. I just know that it's the right way to 00:19:51.420 --> 00:19:55.019 do it for me, because I love this industry. We're 00:19:55.019 --> 00:19:57.920 on to something. The industry needs help. And 00:19:57.920 --> 00:20:01.819 I want to be the group to at least help accelerate 00:20:01.819 --> 00:20:08.109 the change in the in the dirt world. How did, 00:20:08.390 --> 00:20:11.269 again, kind of hammering that down a little bit 00:20:11.269 --> 00:20:14.529 more, how did you find that Aaron? Like how did 00:20:14.529 --> 00:20:17.069 you figure out there's such a need for that industry 00:20:17.069 --> 00:20:18.730 other than, you know, I'm sure you maybe saw 00:20:18.730 --> 00:20:21.049 it through, you know, previous jobs that you 00:20:21.049 --> 00:20:22.670 were at. And again, you always talk about the 00:20:22.670 --> 00:20:25.089 human piece. You know, people don't treat humans 00:20:25.089 --> 00:20:28.150 the best. So what, I mean, obviously you love 00:20:28.150 --> 00:20:30.430 the dirt world. What were you, were you just 00:20:30.430 --> 00:20:31.930 like, I just want to tell stories and see if 00:20:31.930 --> 00:20:33.670 something goes from there. Or you're like, Hey, 00:20:33.750 --> 00:20:35.950 this industry is so under captured. We're going 00:20:35.950 --> 00:20:38.599 to try to run with that. It's just again one 00:20:38.599 --> 00:20:41.099 step after another everybody thinks it's this 00:20:41.099 --> 00:20:43.140 it like maybe it's been a light bulb moment for 00:20:43.140 --> 00:20:45.819 other people It hasn't been for me I I give we 00:20:45.819 --> 00:20:48.559 have onboarding and so every time someone's hired 00:20:48.559 --> 00:20:50.740 on they have three days of onboarding before 00:20:50.740 --> 00:20:52.819 They start anywhere. No matter who they are at 00:20:52.819 --> 00:20:54.720 the company. They could be an executive. They 00:20:54.720 --> 00:20:56.279 could be an intern They go through the exact 00:20:56.279 --> 00:20:58.940 same onboarding experience One of the classes 00:20:58.940 --> 00:21:01.839 the one I teach is on mission and I basically 00:21:01.839 --> 00:21:04.589 explain how our mission came to be and it's a 00:21:04.589 --> 00:21:06.970 long list and it's to illustrate that it's been 00:21:06.970 --> 00:21:11.670 an incremental process. So I started out, I borrowed 00:21:11.670 --> 00:21:14.230 money from my friend's dad for a fish tank and 00:21:14.230 --> 00:21:17.130 ended up working in Montana as a result. Okay, 00:21:17.269 --> 00:21:19.809 I got my ass beat. I started to see the world 00:21:19.809 --> 00:21:23.220 and sit there and say, huh. Maybe I should choose 00:21:23.220 --> 00:21:26.920 something that I find interesting to do as a 00:21:26.920 --> 00:21:29.400 job because I have that opportunity. Financially, 00:21:29.640 --> 00:21:31.480 I don't have this financial pressure on me right 00:21:31.480 --> 00:21:33.500 now. I don't have parents forcing me to be a 00:21:33.500 --> 00:21:36.680 doctor. I can go choose whatever I want to choose. 00:21:37.039 --> 00:21:39.740 So let's think through what gets me going. Well, 00:21:40.480 --> 00:21:44.019 I love every time I drive by a bulldozer. I think 00:21:44.019 --> 00:21:46.920 it's the coolest thing in the world. So why don't 00:21:46.920 --> 00:21:49.160 I call a construction company and ask for a job? 00:21:49.349 --> 00:21:52.529 I call a construction company, I ask for a job. 00:21:53.029 --> 00:21:55.730 Rich Pearson, he's the owner of a construction 00:21:55.730 --> 00:21:57.750 company. And I'm sitting there, I'm like, man, 00:21:58.089 --> 00:22:00.170 I want to start a construction company, because 00:22:00.170 --> 00:22:03.109 that sounds awesome. How the hell do I do that? 00:22:03.289 --> 00:22:06.369 Well, go study construction engineering. Well, 00:22:06.609 --> 00:22:08.549 go work for as many companies as you can while 00:22:08.549 --> 00:22:11.460 you're in school. Okay, cool. I can go do that. 00:22:11.579 --> 00:22:13.900 So I go do that. While I'm in school, I listened 00:22:13.900 --> 00:22:16.079 to a podcast by Andy, you know, Andy Fercella 00:22:16.079 --> 00:22:18.259 talking about personal branding. And I'm thinking, 00:22:18.359 --> 00:22:21.119 huh, what's my unique story? Well, I'm this young 00:22:21.119 --> 00:22:23.539 kid. I'm going to all these job sites. I'm learning 00:22:23.539 --> 00:22:25.720 a lot. Why don't I start posting about that on 00:22:25.720 --> 00:22:28.900 the internet? Create this this stupid page on 00:22:28.900 --> 00:22:30.900 Instagram called build with that I just made 00:22:30.900 --> 00:22:34.400 up in college one day. Fantastic. I go to work 00:22:34.400 --> 00:22:36.809 in road construction. I'm going to go work for 00:22:36.809 --> 00:22:38.529 a few years. I'm going to go save up. I'm going 00:22:38.529 --> 00:22:41.569 to go buy a backhoe like you or whatever the 00:22:41.569 --> 00:22:43.289 hell you bought a skid steer for the first time. 00:22:43.309 --> 00:22:46.069 And I'm going to just give her hell. Awesome. 00:22:46.890 --> 00:22:49.650 Well, then HDSS calls me. Hey, we noticed you're 00:22:49.650 --> 00:22:51.609 telling these cool stories. Why don't you come 00:22:51.609 --> 00:22:54.829 to do it? Do it for us too. Well, okay, great. 00:22:55.309 --> 00:22:57.710 I'll go tell I shoot if I can go do this full 00:22:57.710 --> 00:23:00.670 time. Why the hell not? And then like I just 00:23:00.670 --> 00:23:03.890 explained, you you know, go to HDSS doesn't work 00:23:03.890 --> 00:23:06.839 as planned quit. Okay, I'm gonna go tell stories. 00:23:06.859 --> 00:23:08.740 I like telling stories, but I want to go do it 00:23:08.740 --> 00:23:11.319 on my on my way. Well, shit. Now I need to go 00:23:11.319 --> 00:23:13.339 find some stories to tell. So now I need to go 00:23:13.339 --> 00:23:16.000 to LinkedIn and find some people like Dylan Stevens 00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:18.700 or Keaton to hit up and then granite rock and 00:23:18.700 --> 00:23:21.700 then okay, hey, now Dylan wants a website. So 00:23:21.700 --> 00:23:23.900 now I need to do websites and hey, I want video. 00:23:23.940 --> 00:23:25.819 So now I need to go build a marketing business. 00:23:25.960 --> 00:23:29.839 And that's just see the see the I don't know 00:23:29.839 --> 00:23:31.940 if you I don't know if you wanted all that but 00:23:31.940 --> 00:23:36.619 it went from it went from Huh, I have a very 00:23:36.619 --> 00:23:40.099 unique opportunity. I can go do anything. Let's 00:23:40.099 --> 00:23:43.000 start with something that gets me going. And 00:23:43.000 --> 00:23:46.680 then I just took it from there. My favorite thing 00:23:46.680 --> 00:23:49.019 and I'm not trying to switch the topics at all. 00:23:49.140 --> 00:23:50.680 But Luke, did you notice as Aaron was talking 00:23:50.680 --> 00:23:53.089 how passionate he was? just about the whole process. 00:23:53.230 --> 00:23:54.710 So I think that was my favorite part of the whole 00:23:54.710 --> 00:23:56.869 thing about just the actions and then your purpose 00:23:56.869 --> 00:23:58.410 and telling that story. I think that was super 00:23:58.410 --> 00:24:00.990 cool. Just show it shows how passionate you are. 00:24:01.009 --> 00:24:02.589 And I love that Luke, I noticed you were kind 00:24:02.589 --> 00:24:04.750 of smirking too. And I had a big smile on my 00:24:04.750 --> 00:24:07.049 face. So hopefully, whoever is listening to this 00:24:07.049 --> 00:24:08.549 goes and watch that because that was pretty cool. 00:24:08.710 --> 00:24:11.289 Well, that's where the like I talked about to 00:24:11.289 --> 00:24:14.869 intent and if I wasn't super jazzed about this 00:24:14.869 --> 00:24:18.440 industry, I couldn't fake being jazzed about 00:24:18.440 --> 00:24:20.339 this industry, you can just pick up on yeah, 00:24:20.339 --> 00:24:22.259 the guy's not bullshitting. He's actually stoked 00:24:22.259 --> 00:24:25.079 on it because I am stoked on it. So it's like, 00:24:25.380 --> 00:24:27.720 find what you're stoked on. And maybe it takes 00:24:27.720 --> 00:24:31.519 you decades. Like I said, I got super lucky and 00:24:31.519 --> 00:24:33.839 found it pretty damn quick. Sometimes it takes 00:24:33.839 --> 00:24:37.940 a long time. I don't know. No, absolutely. Absolutely. 00:24:38.599 --> 00:24:40.920 Aaron, I was listening to your video. I think 00:24:40.920 --> 00:24:43.079 it was with Randy the other day. And you guys 00:24:43.079 --> 00:24:45.910 are talking about uh, different businesses scaling 00:24:45.910 --> 00:24:47.890 or not scaling and, you know, being comfortable 00:24:47.890 --> 00:24:49.890 with where they're at. Uh, I thought it was super 00:24:49.890 --> 00:24:52.769 interesting because I, you know, talked to a 00:24:52.769 --> 00:24:55.029 lot of businesses and not all of them want to 00:24:55.029 --> 00:24:57.470 go to the moon and, you know, scale their business 00:24:57.470 --> 00:25:01.089 like crazy. Um, what, what do you think is different 00:25:01.089 --> 00:25:04.170 between, you know, somebody and obviously neither 00:25:04.170 --> 00:25:06.269 is right or wrong, but what is different between 00:25:06.269 --> 00:25:08.490 somebody who maybe is good with where they're 00:25:08.490 --> 00:25:10.869 at in their business and somebody who wants to 00:25:10.869 --> 00:25:14.700 scale it up or what have you kind of seen? I 00:25:14.700 --> 00:25:18.099 just think first is like self -awareness. It's 00:25:18.099 --> 00:25:20.700 just super sexy to wanna go scale the hell out 00:25:20.700 --> 00:25:23.740 of a company and go be the man, go be Mr. Elon 00:25:23.740 --> 00:25:28.000 Musk. And sure, it's, yeah, and it's ego and 00:25:28.000 --> 00:25:29.799 like rightly so, like we're all young males. 00:25:30.420 --> 00:25:34.240 So fuck yeah, I wanna go be the man. Like that's, 00:25:34.359 --> 00:25:40.180 it's just wired in us. Self awareness, I think 00:25:40.180 --> 00:25:42.920 is big to just understand like, do I really want 00:25:42.920 --> 00:25:45.480 to go scale a business? Do I really want to just 00:25:45.480 --> 00:25:49.019 operate? Like, like Randy, he scaled his business 00:25:49.019 --> 00:25:51.900 up to a certain size. But he was just staying 00:25:51.900 --> 00:25:55.160 where he was, because they were doing very, very, 00:25:55.299 --> 00:25:58.180 very, very well. And that's what they could do. 00:25:58.819 --> 00:26:01.480 And that's what they could do and stay very well 00:26:01.480 --> 00:26:03.900 without having to take additional risk. He was 00:26:03.900 --> 00:26:06.039 stoked with where they were. So they were a mid 00:26:06.039 --> 00:26:08.640 -sized business, but he wasn't going to go scale 00:26:08.640 --> 00:26:10.440 the hell out of that thing because he didn't 00:26:10.440 --> 00:26:12.359 want to take on the risk. They were making the 00:26:12.359 --> 00:26:13.900 money they wanted to make. They were employing 00:26:13.900 --> 00:26:15.440 the people they wanted to employ. They're building 00:26:15.440 --> 00:26:18.160 the projects they wanted to go build. So it doesn't, 00:26:18.240 --> 00:26:20.920 it's not that there's, okay, hey, you don't want 00:26:20.920 --> 00:26:22.640 to go scale a business. So you're just going 00:26:22.640 --> 00:26:24.460 to dig basements. If you want to go just dig 00:26:24.460 --> 00:26:28.200 basements, fantastic. Like a Devin Dyer, he's 00:26:28.200 --> 00:26:30.809 got it good, man. He's got it so good. He employs 00:26:30.809 --> 00:26:33.769 maybe 10 guys. They do all the biggest basements 00:26:33.769 --> 00:26:36.269 in Salt Lake City for all the wealthy folks up 00:26:36.269 --> 00:26:38.589 on the mountains. The basements they dig are 00:26:38.589 --> 00:26:41.450 just insane. And he's home with his family every 00:26:41.450 --> 00:26:43.950 day and living the life he wants to live. Or 00:26:43.950 --> 00:26:46.150 you can go grow a business up to a certain point 00:26:46.150 --> 00:26:48.750 like a Randy Blunt and then say, Hey, this is 00:26:48.750 --> 00:26:52.269 really good. Let's kick it here. Or you can say, 00:26:52.470 --> 00:26:54.349 No, I just want to go send it to the moon because 00:26:54.349 --> 00:26:56.670 that's, that's really what I want to go do like 00:26:56.670 --> 00:26:58.410 a Dylan Stevens, like he's going to go do with 00:26:58.410 --> 00:27:02.559 Rosso. I guess like we're doing right now. It's 00:27:02.559 --> 00:27:09.480 just like there's not right or wrong. It's I 00:27:09.480 --> 00:27:12.220 don't know. It's just again, what's right for 00:27:12.220 --> 00:27:15.920 you? What's where you at? What do you want? Figuring 00:27:15.920 --> 00:27:19.599 that out and then building a business that that 00:27:19.599 --> 00:27:23.200 is tailored to that desire or being a part of 00:27:23.200 --> 00:27:25.140 building a business that's aligned with that 00:27:25.140 --> 00:27:28.579 because that's another point is I tell people 00:27:29.949 --> 00:27:31.650 Honestly, the whole building a business thing 00:27:31.650 --> 00:27:34.750 isn't super sexy. Like, you know, my brother 00:27:34.750 --> 00:27:37.829 comes into town. I'm like, sorry, Tyler, I'll 00:27:37.829 --> 00:27:39.630 hang out with you. But I'm not going to the bars. 00:27:39.710 --> 00:27:41.410 I'm not hanging out with people. I'm not dating 00:27:41.410 --> 00:27:44.309 right now. I'm still waking up same time Saturday, 00:27:44.329 --> 00:27:46.849 Sunday. I'm still in the office Saturday, like, 00:27:47.490 --> 00:27:50.519 and it's not that and I don't go tell people 00:27:50.519 --> 00:27:52.700 about that on the internet like yeah I'm just 00:27:52.700 --> 00:27:55.539 fucking I'm grinding on a Sunday here I am I'm 00:27:55.539 --> 00:27:57.279 a business owner I'm working but that's just 00:27:57.279 --> 00:28:00.180 like the reality of just you just have to do 00:28:00.180 --> 00:28:04.819 it at that point and it's just something that 00:28:04.819 --> 00:28:08.160 doesn't align with a lot of what people want 00:28:08.160 --> 00:28:10.200 I don't know I'm still trying to figure all this 00:28:10.200 --> 00:28:12.279 out so I can't speak on it very well I'm in the 00:28:12.279 --> 00:28:15.640 midst of it right now yeah Aaron I am as you're 00:28:15.640 --> 00:28:18.049 talking about that too as thinking about another 00:28:18.049 --> 00:28:19.769 question that we could kind of dive into that 00:28:19.769 --> 00:28:22.210 I was really curious about actually is, you know, 00:28:22.289 --> 00:28:25.950 you've got construction, business, dirt, what 00:28:25.950 --> 00:28:28.589 do you do outside of that? Like, obviously, there's 00:28:28.589 --> 00:28:30.329 things that you like to do, like, what are some 00:28:30.329 --> 00:28:32.269 of those things that you like to do when you're 00:28:32.269 --> 00:28:35.670 not at work, or even just appreciating a dozer? 00:28:38.089 --> 00:28:40.990 Honestly, this is this is it right now. I've 00:28:40.990 --> 00:28:43.369 gotten to a point where like we just grew our 00:28:43.369 --> 00:28:46.970 business from 35 to over 70 people in two months 00:28:46.970 --> 00:28:51.630 and the business is getting much bigger and we're 00:28:51.630 --> 00:28:53.750 going to go take even bigger swings this year 00:28:53.750 --> 00:28:57.210 and we are in full send mode right now and I've 00:28:57.210 --> 00:29:01.750 just gotten to a point where I've sat down fully 00:29:01.750 --> 00:29:04.309 swallowed the bitter pill and I've just acknowledged 00:29:04.309 --> 00:29:08.410 I need to focus I need to just get dialed in 00:29:08.410 --> 00:29:12.019 on this because I can't afford for my focus to 00:29:12.019 --> 00:29:15.819 be anywhere else right now. And so this is like 00:29:15.819 --> 00:29:18.180 I've gotten it. I've got it dialed right now. 00:29:18.519 --> 00:29:21.259 And and but the cool thing is, this is all I 00:29:21.259 --> 00:29:23.759 want to do. I'm having so much fun building this 00:29:23.759 --> 00:29:26.119 thing right now. And like, like, don't get me 00:29:26.119 --> 00:29:29.420 wrong, it's it's it's brutal some days, but I'm 00:29:29.420 --> 00:29:31.500 having so much fun right now. I just want to 00:29:31.500 --> 00:29:34.500 work. I just want to I just want to do this. 00:29:34.559 --> 00:29:36.880 I just want to be with our people. I just want 00:29:36.880 --> 00:29:39.559 to solve problems. I just want to have conversations 00:29:39.559 --> 00:29:41.799 on, you know, challenging each other. I just 00:29:41.799 --> 00:29:43.519 want to be on job sites. I just want to be at 00:29:43.519 --> 00:29:45.619 our office. I just want to be a part of this 00:29:45.619 --> 00:29:48.700 of this company because I'm having so much damn 00:29:48.700 --> 00:29:53.000 fun. So there's not really anything else like 00:29:53.000 --> 00:29:55.759 yesterday. I did some skid steer work, but that's 00:29:55.759 --> 00:29:58.480 still aligned with build it. So I guess that's 00:29:58.480 --> 00:30:01.599 my one escape right now is getting in my machine 00:30:01.599 --> 00:30:04.559 once every six weeks when I have an extra day 00:30:04.559 --> 00:30:06.539 to do it and trying to do a little bit of work. 00:30:06.579 --> 00:30:09.720 But other than that, it's just travel, work. 00:30:11.640 --> 00:30:14.740 I'm just dialed in right now. Do you guys have 00:30:14.740 --> 00:30:17.579 any merch for your original company with like 00:30:17.579 --> 00:30:20.099 that first logo? We need to get some. I was thinking 00:30:20.099 --> 00:30:21.940 about that this morning. Like some old school 00:30:21.940 --> 00:30:25.000 hats, you know, with the little wire thing. Everybody 00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:27.900 loves it. And I'm still bitter at Chase Harris, 00:30:28.240 --> 00:30:30.640 he's creative director for a company. He took 00:30:30.640 --> 00:30:32.839 he took that from me and made our new branding, 00:30:33.220 --> 00:30:37.700 which our new branding is like, far beyond just 00:30:37.700 --> 00:30:39.640 a lot more sophisticated, a lot more appropriate 00:30:39.640 --> 00:30:42.579 for where we're going. But everybody loves that 00:30:42.579 --> 00:30:46.140 stupid little dozer logo that I made on 99 designs 00:30:46.140 --> 00:30:49.819 when I was a senior in college. Set the build 00:30:49.819 --> 00:30:53.380 with reading logo, right? Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 00:30:53.400 --> 00:30:56.150 Yeah, I put it because Because I asked Chase 00:30:56.150 --> 00:30:58.750 and I asked Chase before I created bill with 00:30:58.750 --> 00:31:01.809 excavating grading. I said, Chase, I need a bill 00:31:01.809 --> 00:31:04.009 that excavating grading logo, or I'm going to 00:31:04.009 --> 00:31:06.049 make one myself. And he said, knock yourself 00:31:06.049 --> 00:31:09.269 out. I'm like, well, say no more. I'm going to 00:31:09.269 --> 00:31:11.650 knock myself out. So I made my own damn logo, 00:31:11.890 --> 00:31:14.170 and he can't do anything about it. Well, I like 00:31:14.170 --> 00:31:19.329 it. I see you post, like, obviously joking, but 00:31:19.450 --> 00:31:21.210 Some people don't understand that you're joking 00:31:21.210 --> 00:31:23.730 with the whole grading and excavating side of 00:31:23.730 --> 00:31:27.490 things. I love the responses that you give on 00:31:27.490 --> 00:31:30.210 TikTok where you're like, no, I'm fucking terrible 00:31:30.210 --> 00:31:32.109 at service. I'm fucking terrible at what I give 00:31:32.109 --> 00:31:34.170 for my product, but I love what I do. And people 00:31:34.170 --> 00:31:36.490 are like, are you kidding? Why would you do that? 00:31:36.809 --> 00:31:41.190 I always get a kick at those. It's all just one 00:31:41.190 --> 00:31:46.390 big joke. So I'm an idiot. And so messing with 00:31:46.390 --> 00:31:50.970 people is a ton of fun. It's good for branding 00:31:50.970 --> 00:31:53.970 because everybody's talking about our skid steer 00:31:53.970 --> 00:31:57.029 that looks like a Holstein cow because it's ridiculous 00:31:57.029 --> 00:32:00.069 and it's amazing how many people care about my 00:32:00.069 --> 00:32:02.910 little like how many 259 d3s are there and yet 00:32:02.910 --> 00:32:05.829 they all care about mine and so it's working 00:32:05.829 --> 00:32:08.230 and then three I talked to Eric jumper about 00:32:08.230 --> 00:32:11.630 this morning doing just a little bit of work 00:32:11.630 --> 00:32:14.609 gives me and I've done work before but just like 00:32:14.609 --> 00:32:18.670 being out on your own as a quote unquote contractor 00:32:18.670 --> 00:32:20.829 like there's no one there's no form in there 00:32:20.829 --> 00:32:23.769 there's no crew there's nobody to save you it's 00:32:23.769 --> 00:32:27.049 your machine you're trying to go build some kind 00:32:27.049 --> 00:32:30.890 of work it gives me a whole new appreciation 00:32:30.890 --> 00:32:33.970 and perspective to view the dirt world through 00:32:33.970 --> 00:32:38.069 and it's it's been really valuable like even 00:32:38.069 --> 00:32:41.650 something as simple as how how much of a pain 00:32:41.650 --> 00:32:43.750 in the ass it is to chain a machine down on a 00:32:43.750 --> 00:32:46.640 trailer you're like so every time you move a 00:32:46.640 --> 00:32:49.420 machine you have to chain the thing down and 00:32:49.420 --> 00:32:52.980 this is how you do it this sucks and just going 00:32:52.980 --> 00:32:58.039 through those kinds of of motions and just even 00:32:58.039 --> 00:33:01.039 just a little fraction like one percent of what 00:33:01.039 --> 00:33:03.819 a contractor does day to day gives me so much 00:33:03.819 --> 00:33:07.940 more appreciation for the dirt world so it's 00:33:07.940 --> 00:33:10.160 yes it's a joke but also it's been really really 00:33:10.160 --> 00:33:12.420 valuable from a branding standpoint and from 00:33:12.420 --> 00:33:15.819 just a personal growth standpoint. For sure. 00:33:16.500 --> 00:33:18.559 So, well, obviously, you get both appreciations. 00:33:18.799 --> 00:33:21.279 You know, you're talking to, you know, the people 00:33:21.279 --> 00:33:22.920 that kind of have set the bar on the industry. 00:33:22.960 --> 00:33:24.359 And then, like you said, you're going out and 00:33:24.359 --> 00:33:26.240 kind of doing it on your own. So you see both 00:33:26.240 --> 00:33:30.579 sides, you know, into that a little bit. If I'm 00:33:30.579 --> 00:33:32.799 sure you get multiple questions on, oh, Aaron, 00:33:32.839 --> 00:33:34.640 how do I start my business? How do I start my 00:33:34.640 --> 00:33:37.410 business? But like. I feel like there's a lot 00:33:37.410 --> 00:33:39.809 of opportunity in the sub -side of work. So if 00:33:39.809 --> 00:33:43.329 someone's trying to get into that type of field 00:33:43.329 --> 00:33:45.589 and you're having these conversations with these 00:33:45.589 --> 00:33:50.329 bigger companies, how do these people get in 00:33:50.329 --> 00:33:53.170 the door? How do you make that introduction to 00:33:53.170 --> 00:33:55.069 say, hey, I do this type of work. If you guys 00:33:55.069 --> 00:33:58.329 don't do this, I'd love to get on board with 00:33:58.329 --> 00:34:00.529 you guys and show you what I can do. Is there 00:34:00.529 --> 00:34:04.140 any opportunity in that space? I look at it like, 00:34:04.400 --> 00:34:06.660 if I started out as a subcontractor, I think 00:34:06.660 --> 00:34:08.500 I've talked a little bit about this on our podcast. 00:34:09.199 --> 00:34:13.539 LinkedIn is crazy powerful. You can find a lot 00:34:13.539 --> 00:34:15.920 of people on there. And I would start talking 00:34:15.920 --> 00:34:18.420 about my work on LinkedIn. That's step one. I'd 00:34:18.420 --> 00:34:20.659 start documenting what the hell I do. I would 00:34:20.659 --> 00:34:23.039 go build a little potato website showing what 00:34:23.039 --> 00:34:25.920 I do. I'd be taking pictures of every job every 00:34:25.920 --> 00:34:28.829 single day. I'd be sharing about my jobs. I'd 00:34:28.829 --> 00:34:30.889 be sharing about my experiences. I'd be sharing 00:34:30.889 --> 00:34:34.030 about the GC I'm working for and how kick ass 00:34:34.030 --> 00:34:36.250 they've been on this job. I'd be sharing about 00:34:36.250 --> 00:34:38.329 the other subcontractors as long as it was cool 00:34:38.329 --> 00:34:41.230 with them. I would be hitting up people on LinkedIn. 00:34:41.510 --> 00:34:44.170 Okay, hey, who are the guys that I would be working 00:34:44.170 --> 00:34:46.550 for in Nashville, Tennessee? Who are the big 00:34:46.550 --> 00:34:49.309 GCs, for example, or who are the big contractors 00:34:49.309 --> 00:34:51.150 that sub this workout? Okay, I'm going to go 00:34:51.150 --> 00:34:53.590 be a silt fence contractor. Okay, so who needs 00:34:53.590 --> 00:34:56.050 silt fence? Who are those contractors? And then 00:34:56.050 --> 00:34:58.449 who are the bosses at those contractors? Who's 00:34:58.449 --> 00:35:00.429 the the general manager, the vice president, 00:35:00.610 --> 00:35:03.670 the president, whoever it is, the equipment manager, 00:35:04.050 --> 00:35:06.170 start hitting them up? Hey, just so you know, 00:35:06.369 --> 00:35:09.250 I'm you know, I'm in this is where a little bit 00:35:09.250 --> 00:35:12.369 of you want to be credible, but also honest, 00:35:12.630 --> 00:35:15.110 hey, I just started up a con, you know, a company 00:35:15.110 --> 00:35:18.250 not too long ago, I'm I've been busting my ass, 00:35:18.250 --> 00:35:20.349 I'm having a lot of fun, but I'm always looking 00:35:20.349 --> 00:35:22.650 for new opportunities. So here's my website, 00:35:22.730 --> 00:35:25.170 check us out and let me know if I can ever help 00:35:25.170 --> 00:35:29.469 you out. That's probably where I would start. 00:35:29.550 --> 00:35:31.690 And then don't underestimate just picking up 00:35:31.690 --> 00:35:34.630 the phone calling people or going up to a job 00:35:34.630 --> 00:35:37.550 trailer and knocking on the door. Hey, guys, 00:35:37.650 --> 00:35:40.550 what's going on? I saw like, just just letting 00:35:40.550 --> 00:35:42.510 you guys know if you ever need silt fence, like 00:35:42.510 --> 00:35:46.070 I'm just a kid. I'm just a guy. I'm just some 00:35:46.070 --> 00:35:48.809 person started a company not too long ago. Like 00:35:48.809 --> 00:35:50.630 I said, I've been, you know, working hard, but 00:35:50.630 --> 00:35:52.750 always looking for new opportunities. If I can 00:35:52.750 --> 00:35:54.030 ever do anything for you guys, just give me a 00:35:54.030 --> 00:35:58.050 shot. Yep. Absolutely. No, awesome points. I've 00:35:58.050 --> 00:35:59.769 Yeah, like you said, your LinkedIn is huge. And 00:35:59.769 --> 00:36:01.170 Luke actually turned me on the LinkedIn about 00:36:01.170 --> 00:36:02.849 a year ago, and it's been a huge game changer. 00:36:03.909 --> 00:36:07.360 But yeah, it's been a great tool. But as far 00:36:07.360 --> 00:36:10.539 as like, you know, the conversations, I feel 00:36:10.539 --> 00:36:13.199 like on those ends, because don't you have to 00:36:13.199 --> 00:36:15.159 be following each other on LinkedIn in order 00:36:15.159 --> 00:36:17.159 or you have to have like a connection or something 00:36:17.159 --> 00:36:19.440 for that message to show up or connect? Or do 00:36:19.440 --> 00:36:23.519 they? No. So so what I did was, you know, while 00:36:23.519 --> 00:36:25.800 you're while your girlfriend or whoever's sitting 00:36:25.800 --> 00:36:28.579 there watching The Bachelorette, you're sitting 00:36:28.579 --> 00:36:32.280 there on LinkedIn. OK, hey, I want to go be a 00:36:32.280 --> 00:36:34.400 subcontractor for Rosso. So I'm going to search 00:36:34.400 --> 00:36:37.659 Rosso and I'm going to start Connect, connect. 00:36:37.880 --> 00:36:40.820 Here's a brief intro. Hey, my name's Aaron. I, 00:36:40.840 --> 00:36:43.639 you know, I'm doing silt fence now in the area. 00:36:44.420 --> 00:36:47.079 I'm trying to connect to local contractors. If 00:36:47.079 --> 00:36:49.320 I can do anything for you, give me a shout. Connect, 00:36:49.340 --> 00:36:52.539 connect, connect, connect, connect. Maybe 40 00:36:52.539 --> 00:36:55.079 % of them accept. Okay, cool. Now your connections 00:36:55.079 --> 00:36:58.460 are 40 % greater in the, you know, in the market 00:36:58.460 --> 00:37:00.880 you want to go into. And then also, you can go 00:37:00.880 --> 00:37:03.219 get, okay, for $50 a month, I can or whatever 00:37:03.219 --> 00:37:05.389 it is, I can go get the LinkedIn premium. and 00:37:05.389 --> 00:37:07.849 I can send messages to people. So now you can 00:37:07.849 --> 00:37:09.969 start targeting people even further and start 00:37:09.969 --> 00:37:13.210 reaching out to them and write custom messages 00:37:13.210 --> 00:37:16.050 to these people that go right to their inbox, 00:37:16.110 --> 00:37:19.570 even if you're not connected with them. And then 00:37:19.570 --> 00:37:21.989 also, you know, if you're posting about it every 00:37:21.989 --> 00:37:24.250 day, and now you're connected with a few of these 00:37:24.250 --> 00:37:28.150 guys, you go on to your newsfeed, you see posts 00:37:28.150 --> 00:37:31.050 from people that you're not connected to because 00:37:31.050 --> 00:37:33.590 other people have liked them that you have in 00:37:33.590 --> 00:37:37.079 common. So now you're still getting your work 00:37:37.079 --> 00:37:38.460 in front of these people that you're potentially 00:37:38.460 --> 00:37:40.300 not connected to. So there's three different 00:37:40.300 --> 00:37:43.039 ways that you can access people that you're not 00:37:43.039 --> 00:37:46.400 directly connected to very, very easily. Huge. 00:37:46.710 --> 00:37:50.210 Huge. Love it. You can't just set up the automation, 00:37:50.409 --> 00:37:54.090 you know, and blast out automated messages to 00:37:54.090 --> 00:37:56.869 these people without posting content. And I still 00:37:56.869 --> 00:38:00.150 don't even do automated messages. And no one 00:38:00.150 --> 00:38:01.889 wants an automated message. Every time I get 00:38:01.889 --> 00:38:04.550 one, I'm like, fuck you. Yeah. I'm like, you 00:38:04.550 --> 00:38:06.349 could have taken two seconds to just research 00:38:06.349 --> 00:38:08.809 my company and then reach out to me. And I guarantee 00:38:08.809 --> 00:38:10.190 I probably would have jumped on a call with you 00:38:10.190 --> 00:38:12.550 because I'm interested in helping people, people 00:38:12.550 --> 00:38:15.170 helping me. Just being in the business of people. 00:38:15.510 --> 00:38:17.369 So, but Aaron, I think you made a few really 00:38:17.369 --> 00:38:19.489 good points there. Uh, the LinkedIn algorithm 00:38:19.489 --> 00:38:22.030 right now is better than any other social media 00:38:22.030 --> 00:38:24.969 platform. In my opinion, uh, Facebook, Instagram, 00:38:24.989 --> 00:38:28.369 they're very saturated. Um, but LinkedIn right 00:38:28.369 --> 00:38:30.610 now, there's a lot of people watching. There's 00:38:30.610 --> 00:38:32.230 a lot of people wanting to do business. That's 00:38:32.230 --> 00:38:34.210 why they're on there. And there's not a lot of 00:38:34.210 --> 00:38:37.110 content producers. So if anyone's listening and 00:38:37.110 --> 00:38:39.630 you kind of wondering where you want to go. Create 00:38:39.630 --> 00:38:41.809 a personal LinkedIn and create a business LinkedIn. 00:38:42.010 --> 00:38:44.030 If you own a business. it's not going to take 00:38:44.030 --> 00:38:46.070 off right away. But just getting that consistent 00:38:46.070 --> 00:38:48.570 rhythm of posting on there and just documenting 00:38:48.570 --> 00:38:54.610 what you do. Exactly. I've got kind of going 00:38:54.610 --> 00:38:56.429 back here. I've got one more question, Aaron. 00:38:57.949 --> 00:38:59.429 You know, you talked about obviously how you 00:38:59.429 --> 00:39:00.829 love what you do. And that's kind of your driver 00:39:00.829 --> 00:39:03.539 right now. during like the tough times, like 00:39:03.539 --> 00:39:06.380 the early earlier times, how did you stay so 00:39:06.380 --> 00:39:08.199 motivated? I know I struggle with it a lot to 00:39:08.199 --> 00:39:10.940 where I'm like, God, this day just fucking sucks. 00:39:11.199 --> 00:39:12.619 This happened, this happened, this happened. 00:39:12.699 --> 00:39:13.900 You're like, I just want to throw in the towel. 00:39:14.179 --> 00:39:16.920 What did you do to, you know, keep that motivation? 00:39:20.519 --> 00:39:22.739 Other than the passion side of things, obviously, 00:39:23.039 --> 00:39:26.519 I mean, yeah, step, step one, choose a career 00:39:26.519 --> 00:39:28.980 or go build something you genuinely believe in. 00:39:29.730 --> 00:39:32.550 So there's, there was the higher purpose and 00:39:32.550 --> 00:39:35.969 the mission isn't just for selling people or 00:39:35.969 --> 00:39:39.150 for employment. It's really, it's really for 00:39:39.150 --> 00:39:41.949 you first and foremost, because you need to show 00:39:41.949 --> 00:39:44.369 up and yeah, the days are going to be long and 00:39:44.369 --> 00:39:47.469 it's going to be pretty harsh, but you know why 00:39:47.469 --> 00:39:49.829 you're doing it beyond, well, I'll make some 00:39:49.829 --> 00:39:53.230 money one day. It's, it's the mission. So the 00:39:53.230 --> 00:39:58.969 mission's one. Two, just I don't think people 00:39:58.969 --> 00:40:02.289 talk about this enough. I keep myself very physically 00:40:02.289 --> 00:40:06.590 healthy and very emotionally healthy. It gives 00:40:06.590 --> 00:40:10.949 you a massive advantage. I've worked out seven 00:40:10.949 --> 00:40:14.289 days a week for three, almost four years now. 00:40:14.510 --> 00:40:18.289 I have not missed a day where I haven't worked 00:40:18.289 --> 00:40:21.510 out. I eat very well. I drink lots of water. 00:40:21.769 --> 00:40:25.250 I sleep very well at night. I go to therapy every 00:40:25.250 --> 00:40:28.539 other week. I'm just dialed in from an emotional 00:40:28.539 --> 00:40:31.900 physical standpoint so I can just tolerate more 00:40:31.900 --> 00:40:37.699 than most and then and then three I've somewhat 00:40:37.699 --> 00:40:41.159 had to rewire my brain and something like 75 00:40:41.159 --> 00:40:44.539 heart has very much helped with this to really 00:40:44.539 --> 00:40:49.920 like the misery like yes this sucks let's get 00:40:49.920 --> 00:40:52.900 it like the Saudi trip we just went on was so 00:40:52.960 --> 00:40:56.139 brutal. We just got the shit kicked out of us. 00:40:56.139 --> 00:40:59.820 It was in a seven day period, 120 hours of just 00:40:59.820 --> 00:41:03.780 travel, not work, not sleep, just travel. It 00:41:03.780 --> 00:41:07.820 was gnarly. But I was I was like, I was just 00:41:07.820 --> 00:41:10.420 licking my chops before that that trip because 00:41:10.420 --> 00:41:12.900 I knew it was going to be gnarly. And it's like, 00:41:12.900 --> 00:41:15.900 yes, this is what we do. This is what we're this 00:41:15.900 --> 00:41:17.460 like angel and I were like, yeah, this is what 00:41:17.460 --> 00:41:19.719 we've been training for for years. Like, we're 00:41:19.719 --> 00:41:24.000 ready to get it. And That's the kind of stuff 00:41:24.000 --> 00:41:26.780 that you need to learn to love because it's never 00:41:26.780 --> 00:41:29.260 going to go away. And that's the kind of stuff 00:41:29.260 --> 00:41:31.880 that differentiates you from other people as 00:41:31.880 --> 00:41:35.079 well. That's that to feed that competitive part 00:41:35.079 --> 00:41:37.780 part of you. It's like, yeah, hey, this other 00:41:37.780 --> 00:41:39.500 people aren't willing to do this shit. This sucks. 00:41:39.599 --> 00:41:42.500 But here I am. We're here making it happen. So 00:41:42.500 --> 00:41:43.840 I think those are the three things I've done 00:41:43.840 --> 00:41:47.320 is kind of rewiring myself through 75 heart or 00:41:47.320 --> 00:41:50.710 something like that to really enjoy. the tough 00:41:50.710 --> 00:41:53.309 things because that's part of the process, having 00:41:53.309 --> 00:41:55.710 that higher purpose, and then getting myself 00:41:55.710 --> 00:41:59.670 just physically, mentally, emotionally dialed 00:41:59.670 --> 00:42:03.710 in so that I can just tolerate more. Absolutely. 00:42:03.989 --> 00:42:06.309 Luke, remember Mr. Elliot always used to say, 00:42:06.349 --> 00:42:09.010 embrace the suck. And I did and I hated when 00:42:09.010 --> 00:42:10.590 he would say that at the time, but definitely 00:42:10.590 --> 00:42:12.949 makes it Mr. Elliot was Luke and I used to wrestle 00:42:12.949 --> 00:42:15.230 back in high school. And I remember that would 00:42:15.230 --> 00:42:17.550 just kill you. you know, physically and emotionally, 00:42:17.650 --> 00:42:20.210 but he'd always say embrace the suck. So, you 00:42:20.210 --> 00:42:22.329 know, some correlation there is, you know, always 00:42:22.329 --> 00:42:25.730 kind of wanting more and more and more, but I 00:42:25.730 --> 00:42:28.710 think Aaron, I think that description you just 00:42:28.710 --> 00:42:30.909 gave is like the perfect definition of a dirt 00:42:30.909 --> 00:42:32.829 bag. And I mean, that's why we're here, man. 00:42:33.030 --> 00:42:36.070 It, uh, I think it's hilarious just because it's 00:42:36.070 --> 00:42:37.989 kind of a joke, but then at the same time, like, 00:42:38.309 --> 00:42:40.829 it's not really like where we like to have fun. 00:42:41.030 --> 00:42:43.260 We like to play in the dirt and we like, to do 00:42:43.260 --> 00:42:46.900 big things too. And Luke and I are still nailing 00:42:46.900 --> 00:42:49.440 down that definition. But honestly, I think you've 00:42:49.440 --> 00:42:51.969 been a great. first guest, like thank you for 00:42:51.969 --> 00:42:54.449 taking time out of your day to be on this podcast 00:42:54.449 --> 00:42:56.809 and to just, you know, bring more of this out 00:42:56.809 --> 00:42:59.429 there. You know, we want to bring more content, 00:42:59.550 --> 00:43:02.070 more information and more resources to people 00:43:02.070 --> 00:43:04.650 that are in the dirt world because, um, Luke 00:43:04.650 --> 00:43:06.889 and I have a passion for it and it's clear that, 00:43:06.889 --> 00:43:09.289 uh, you do as well, Aaron. So, uh, kind of as 00:43:09.289 --> 00:43:11.829 we wrap up here, um, actually before we wrap 00:43:11.829 --> 00:43:14.389 up, Luke, I know you wanted to talk about ego 00:43:14.389 --> 00:43:18.329 because that's been huge. Um, what Luke, I'll 00:43:18.329 --> 00:43:20.550 just let you jump into that topic because you 00:43:20.550 --> 00:43:23.110 and I have been talking about it. Yeah. Honestly, 00:43:23.610 --> 00:43:25.630 Mike, it's kind of, you kind of answered it a 00:43:25.630 --> 00:43:27.409 little bit, Aaron, but how do you keep your ego 00:43:27.409 --> 00:43:30.429 in check? Like, how do you, obviously you have 00:43:30.429 --> 00:43:32.329 build with on the side of the building. When 00:43:32.329 --> 00:43:33.710 you look at that, you're like, fuck, that's my 00:43:33.710 --> 00:43:36.210 name right there. I'm the man. Like fucking fuck 00:43:36.210 --> 00:43:39.489 with me. Like I, I think I struggle with it too, 00:43:39.510 --> 00:43:41.710 but everyone has a huge ego. How do you, how 00:43:41.710 --> 00:43:44.309 do you control yours? Is that part of, you know, 00:43:44.389 --> 00:43:47.400 the the mental toughness that you have developed 00:43:47.400 --> 00:43:49.019 through your working out your eating habits, 00:43:49.099 --> 00:43:51.840 things like that? Or is it more so, you know, 00:43:51.920 --> 00:43:53.880 like you had said, that higher purpose to where 00:43:53.880 --> 00:43:56.679 I'm, you know, that purpose is so much greater 00:43:56.679 --> 00:43:58.280 than I am. And that's where I kind of have to 00:43:58.280 --> 00:44:05.159 ground myself. Um, I, um, so I, funny enough, 00:44:05.239 --> 00:44:07.079 this is not going to be super relatable, but 00:44:07.079 --> 00:44:09.619 I actually, I got to talk to Jaco about this 00:44:09.619 --> 00:44:16.199 last summer and, um, I wasn't self -aware. I 00:44:16.199 --> 00:44:17.960 think you kind of have two types of people. You 00:44:17.960 --> 00:44:20.159 have people that are just naturally like they're 00:44:20.159 --> 00:44:23.380 just the big ego and you need to dial them back 00:44:23.380 --> 00:44:25.219 a little bit. And you know this managing people, 00:44:25.219 --> 00:44:27.139 you have to dial them back a little bit. And 00:44:27.139 --> 00:44:28.519 then there's other people that you have to build 00:44:28.519 --> 00:44:31.000 up and they don't naturally have that confidence. 00:44:32.579 --> 00:44:35.460 I'm actually, I don't actually naturally, I'm 00:44:35.460 --> 00:44:38.460 not actually naturally confident. I've had to 00:44:38.460 --> 00:44:45.519 build myself up. So I, I struggle more, like 00:44:45.519 --> 00:44:49.320 I need to add a little bit of ego rather than 00:44:49.320 --> 00:44:51.699 take it away a lot of times. And I'll make jokes 00:44:51.699 --> 00:44:53.699 about me being the man and this and that, and 00:44:53.699 --> 00:44:56.460 people can misconstrue that into me just being 00:44:56.460 --> 00:44:59.559 a dick. And sometimes, yeah, sure, I can have 00:44:59.559 --> 00:45:02.820 an ego. But I've actually been on the other side 00:45:02.820 --> 00:45:04.500 of the spectrum where I've had to build myself 00:45:04.500 --> 00:45:06.980 up and build that confidence, which is where... 00:45:06.829 --> 00:45:08.889 that just showing up every day comes in, which 00:45:08.889 --> 00:45:12.429 is where dealing with the nonsense comes in consistently, 00:45:12.530 --> 00:45:15.369 which is where working out every day, and the 00:45:15.369 --> 00:45:17.889 discipline that takes comes into play to build 00:45:17.889 --> 00:45:20.630 everything I can up so that I have the confidence 00:45:20.630 --> 00:45:27.670 to go, go deliver. But also, I guess to control 00:45:27.670 --> 00:45:30.409 ego a little bit, again, going back higher purpose, 00:45:30.690 --> 00:45:34.829 like, hey, this isn't build its mission is to 00:45:34.829 --> 00:45:37.050 go make Aaron with the man build its mission 00:45:37.050 --> 00:45:39.750 isn't to go make Aaron with rich is to go make 00:45:39.750 --> 00:45:43.010 the dirt road a better place. I'm a part of that. 00:45:43.570 --> 00:45:46.530 And just just reminding yourself like this is 00:45:46.530 --> 00:45:49.590 why you're here not to go serve yourself I think 00:45:49.590 --> 00:45:53.610 is super, super helpful. Absolutely. No, definitely 00:45:53.610 --> 00:45:56.070 hit it on the head there. And I didn't mean to 00:45:56.070 --> 00:45:58.630 I wasn't assuming that you had a big ego. I just 00:45:58.630 --> 00:46:00.920 think it's like Like I thought that's where I 00:46:00.920 --> 00:46:03.880 was until nine months ago. It just takes self 00:46:03.880 --> 00:46:06.119 awareness. You have to really audit. Okay. Who 00:46:06.119 --> 00:46:09.019 the hell are you? How are you? How are you? Like 00:46:09.019 --> 00:46:12.260 what are your natural gifts abilities? What was 00:46:12.260 --> 00:46:15.480 your upbringing like? How were you wired? Because 00:46:15.480 --> 00:46:18.639 is sure you have some natural gifts and abilities 00:46:18.639 --> 00:46:21.139 you're working with. Sure. You have some probably 00:46:21.139 --> 00:46:22.579 some great things that happen in your childhood, 00:46:22.659 --> 00:46:24.179 some terrible things that happen in your childhood, 00:46:24.260 --> 00:46:26.340 childhood that you still carry with you today. 00:46:26.659 --> 00:46:28.500 How does all that come together into who you 00:46:28.500 --> 00:46:30.519 are? And then the more you understand who you 00:46:30.519 --> 00:46:33.059 are, the more you can tailor your actions and 00:46:33.059 --> 00:46:35.760 build your life accordingly, so that you're not 00:46:35.760 --> 00:46:38.719 being dictated to by past experiences or emotions 00:46:38.719 --> 00:46:40.340 or whatever it is, you can be a hell of a lot 00:46:40.340 --> 00:46:43.400 more productive. How did you? How did you find 00:46:43.400 --> 00:46:46.360 those things? Was it? You know, again, speaking 00:46:46.360 --> 00:46:48.460 asking personally here, how did you kind of do 00:46:48.460 --> 00:46:51.460 like a self audit? Was it through the therapy? 00:46:51.539 --> 00:46:54.320 Was it through just kind of, you know, almost? 00:46:55.559 --> 00:46:58.139 I can't think of the word right now. But like 00:46:58.139 --> 00:47:00.920 reflection, just like self reflection. Yeah. 00:47:01.059 --> 00:47:04.420 Self reflection, creating just dead time. Like 00:47:04.420 --> 00:47:06.519 in a few weeks, I'm going to Savannah, Georgia 00:47:06.519 --> 00:47:08.960 to just think. So I'm just going to walk around 00:47:08.960 --> 00:47:11.139 Savannah for five days and just think you have 00:47:11.139 --> 00:47:13.579 to create that space. to even reflect in the 00:47:13.579 --> 00:47:15.719 first place you have to go to a therapy has been 00:47:15.719 --> 00:47:18.500 enormously valuable having an outside perspective 00:47:18.500 --> 00:47:21.539 on on your life that totally unbiased that's 00:47:21.539 --> 00:47:24.219 not family that's not friend that's not co -worker 00:47:24.219 --> 00:47:26.519 that's just someone completely and that actually 00:47:26.519 --> 00:47:30.760 is clinically and from a educational background 00:47:30.760 --> 00:47:35.599 equipped to guide you through that is super valuable 00:47:35.599 --> 00:47:40.519 it's podcasts it's reading books it's having 00:47:40.730 --> 00:47:44.050 difficult conversations. It's, okay, hey, I've 00:47:44.050 --> 00:47:49.829 always voted x, y. What's my reasoning for that? 00:47:50.070 --> 00:47:52.949 Huh? That's interesting. I've never even questioned 00:47:52.949 --> 00:47:54.829 how I voted because that's just how my parents 00:47:54.829 --> 00:47:58.409 voted. So that's how I vote now. It's like, a 00:47:58.409 --> 00:48:01.170 lot of that it all comes together into, okay, 00:48:01.170 --> 00:48:03.190 wow, this is actually I'm starting to figure 00:48:03.190 --> 00:48:06.280 myself out a little bit better. Okay. Yeah, no, 00:48:06.460 --> 00:48:08.559 definitely. Thank you for that. That I mean, 00:48:08.599 --> 00:48:10.260 that obviously kind of hits home too, because 00:48:10.260 --> 00:48:12.760 one, I always used to think therapy was for the 00:48:12.760 --> 00:48:14.420 birds. I'm like, God, if you go talk to somebody, 00:48:14.420 --> 00:48:16.800 you're kind of soft. And, you know, no offense 00:48:16.800 --> 00:48:19.800 on that. But I, I would absolutely go just to 00:48:19.800 --> 00:48:21.780 try to figure that stuff, you know, that stuff 00:48:21.780 --> 00:48:25.000 out myself as well. So maybe, and maybe it does 00:48:25.000 --> 00:48:28.039 make you soft. Okay. Yeah. As someone's like, 00:48:28.099 --> 00:48:30.239 wow, you're, you go therapy yourself and like, 00:48:30.360 --> 00:48:33.000 check. Cool. Yeah. Great. I guess I'm, I guess 00:48:33.000 --> 00:48:36.050 I'm soft. Yeah. Because I guess it's like like 00:48:36.050 --> 00:48:38.269 I'm self confident enough to know that it's doing 00:48:38.269 --> 00:48:41.050 me such so much benefit that okay Who gives a 00:48:41.050 --> 00:48:43.050 shit what you think about me going to therapy? 00:48:43.090 --> 00:48:45.170 Like it's giving me such an advantage and clearly 00:48:45.170 --> 00:48:47.869 you need it more than more than I do right now 00:48:47.869 --> 00:48:51.230 But you're just gonna go live the life that you're 00:48:51.230 --> 00:48:53.619 living that probably isn't very aligned with 00:48:53.619 --> 00:48:55.579 where you want to go. And I'm going to go over 00:48:55.579 --> 00:48:57.480 here and actually going to go, I'm actually going 00:48:57.480 --> 00:48:59.440 to go do it. I'm actually going to go do it according 00:48:59.440 --> 00:49:02.039 to what I want to go do, because I'm now no longer 00:49:02.039 --> 00:49:08.260 controlled by those emotions. Absolutely. You're 00:49:08.260 --> 00:49:11.139 dialed in man. Like Luke and I are so pumped 00:49:11.139 --> 00:49:13.820 to be a part of this journey as well. You know, 00:49:13.920 --> 00:49:16.829 we That's the unique thing about this industry 00:49:16.829 --> 00:49:19.289 is we don't see competition between all of us. 00:49:19.289 --> 00:49:22.110 It's like we're we're all in this together. So 00:49:22.110 --> 00:49:24.630 definitely appreciate you being on the show. 00:49:24.630 --> 00:49:26.989 Kind of as we wrap up here, what's the best way 00:49:26.989 --> 00:49:30.929 for people listening to either follow along with 00:49:30.929 --> 00:49:33.690 what you're doing, some of your podcast stuff, 00:49:33.789 --> 00:49:35.489 you know, the app, what's the best way for people 00:49:35.489 --> 00:49:38.809 to kind of get in touch with you guys? Yeah, 00:49:38.969 --> 00:49:42.550 build with on any kinds of social media, Instagram, 00:49:42.710 --> 00:49:47.139 Facebook. LinkedIn, TikTok, Dirt Talk podcast. 00:49:47.599 --> 00:49:49.539 That's starting to really grow, which is pretty 00:49:49.539 --> 00:49:52.159 cool. And then the BuildWit app now, you can 00:49:52.159 --> 00:49:56.440 search BuildWit. And we're there and it's actually 00:49:56.440 --> 00:49:59.539 pretty damn slick. Yeah. What can you tell us 00:49:59.539 --> 00:50:01.380 a little bit about the app? I've seen you on 00:50:01.380 --> 00:50:03.940 everything else, but I haven't dove into the 00:50:03.940 --> 00:50:06.159 app yet. So we put together this thing called 00:50:06.159 --> 00:50:08.780 BuildIt Leaders to start educating people on 00:50:08.780 --> 00:50:10.820 leadership and other things in the dirt world 00:50:10.820 --> 00:50:14.010 last summer. People asked, can I do different 00:50:14.010 --> 00:50:16.530 things with it? And the reality was, we are constrained 00:50:16.530 --> 00:50:19.889 by the platform we use to put the content out 00:50:19.889 --> 00:50:21.750 into the world. So we were like, well, why don't 00:50:21.750 --> 00:50:23.909 we just go create our own platform? So we created 00:50:23.909 --> 00:50:26.329 our own app to house all of the Build It Leaders 00:50:26.329 --> 00:50:29.570 content. So it's somebody like Jaco talking about 00:50:29.570 --> 00:50:32.590 leadership applied to the dirt world. It's all 00:50:32.590 --> 00:50:34.369 completely for free. You just download the Build 00:50:34.369 --> 00:50:36.550 It app, you make an account, and there you go. 00:50:36.650 --> 00:50:40.500 You can learn how to lead more effectively. This 00:50:40.500 --> 00:50:44.199 is the very first course on leadership is Everybody's 00:50:44.199 --> 00:50:46.300 a leader regardless of if you're a laborer if 00:50:46.300 --> 00:50:48.199 you're a foreman if you're a superintendent estimator, 00:50:48.199 --> 00:50:50.739 you're all leaders at the end of the day So there's 00:50:50.739 --> 00:50:53.340 that we have the your talk podcast on there and 00:50:53.340 --> 00:50:57.000 then we have the build it vlog as well So it's 00:50:57.000 --> 00:50:59.099 all build it content and then all of our leaders 00:50:59.099 --> 00:51:02.079 content in one place all complete for free and 00:51:02.079 --> 00:51:05.019 no ads No nonsense. We're not we're not smart 00:51:05.019 --> 00:51:08.449 enough to monetize it quite yet. So while it's 00:51:08.449 --> 00:51:10.789 pure, I would go and enjoy it because it's it's 00:51:10.789 --> 00:51:13.469 really good stuff. And it's helped me advance 00:51:13.469 --> 00:51:18.750 my life in in incredible ways. Absolutely. And 00:51:18.750 --> 00:51:20.929 yeah, so there it is. I mean, go check out the 00:51:20.929 --> 00:51:24.070 app and you know, definitely give you know, build 00:51:24.070 --> 00:51:25.929 with an air and a follow on Instagram if you're 00:51:25.929 --> 00:51:29.030 not already. And Aaron, thanks again so much 00:51:29.030 --> 00:51:31.769 man for being on the first episode of the dirtbags 00:51:31.769 --> 00:51:34.789 podcast. It's been a pleasure talking to you 00:51:34.789 --> 00:51:37.710 having you on. And we just are wishing you all 00:51:37.710 --> 00:51:39.869 the best, man. Appreciate you guys having me. 00:51:40.170 --> 00:51:41.429 Thanks. Thanks, Aaron. Appreciate it.