EntreLeadership - How to Reform an Industry with Aaron Witt

Episode Date: January 11, 2021

Aaron Witt is the dirt-obsessed millennial behind BuildWitt, a fast-growing media company on a mission to reform the mining and construction industries. In just three years, the 25-year-old (yes, you read that right) has grown his company from just a single, self-proclaimed dirt nerd with a camera to a 20-person team serving top blue-collar businesses across the country—and changing the game. In this episode, Aaron shares his inspiring guiding principles, lessons in humility, and experiences that are sure to fire up your entrepreneurial spirit.   entreleadership.com/podcast Aaron Witt on LinkedIn BuildWitt’s Instagram BuildWitt's website #399: The Practice of Shipping Creative Work with Seth Godin Dirt Talk by BuildWitt podcast  List of BuildWitt Values (scroll down on the page to view) The EntreLeader's Guide to Hiring EntreLeadership Toolkit - Top tools to help your business grow and thrive Schedule a call with Tim, the Producer   Want expert help with your business question? Call 844-944-1070 and leave a message or send an email to [e-mail]. You could be featured on a future podcast episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey, have you ever found yourself saying, I just can't find good people these days? You know, you hire somebody and then less than a year later, maybe just months later, they're gone. And now you've got the same open position to fill. You know, people come in late, so you've got to fire them, or your competitor gobbles them up, or they just quit. And you've heard it said, you just can't find good help these days. Why is that? Is it a work ethic issue?

Is it a problem with this generation of employees? From the Ramsey Network, this is the Army. Entry Leadership Podcast, where we help business leaders grow themselves, their teams, and their profits. I'm your host, Daniel Tarty, and my guest today is Aaron Witt. You're going to love this guy. Aaron's the president, and check this out, Chief Dirt Nerd at BuildWit. And Aaron's on a mission to take what he calls the dirt world, you know, heavy construction,

mining, blue-collar people with shovels that roll up their sleeves and get after it. Well, he wants to take that whole world to a better place. And the fact is, right now, 80% of contractors in this space, are struggling to fill open positions. And Aaron doesn't buy that it's a work ethic problem, and he's not convinced that it's a generational issue. He believes that it's a problem with the industry where the status quo mindset focuses on production and profit instead of people.

And Aaron wants to do something about it. He wants to help the businesses in this industry that are fed up with the status quo actually do things different and turn the whole thing on its head, and I think he's going to do it. You guys are going to like this. Aaron started Buildwick after spending several years working at five different heavy construction businesses that were not working the way he thought they should.

So got a job at 18 right out of high school in construction. Cold called the owner of a construction company working a few streets down from my house, asked him for a job. He said, you don't think about it. Give me a call in a few months and maybe we'll see. Kept calling him, kept calling him. Finally, he gave me a job. So there I was 18 years old out in the ditch of the shovel.

I love the passion that you, I can't imagine many high schoolers are going, I want to go get in a ditch with a shovel. You know, I mean, most of them are trying to get their education and go the other direction and go to the white color path. But, I mean, you have this thing about actually rolling up your sleeves and doing the groundwork. It's so much fun once you do it. There's so much satisfaction in it, so much pride. You just have more fun with the people you work with because you're all working.

working hard and trying to make things happen and solving problems every day, working outside for better or for worse. You know, it could be hot, it could be cold, it could be beautiful. There's just something about it that's always drawn me to it, always got me excited, and I've just chased it. So you're working in construction, right? And then you noticed a problem, an opportunity. There's something bugging you about the stigma around this space. So, yeah, I worked for a few different construction companies, and I, I went to school for construction engineering. So I have an engineering degree. I don't know how it happened, but I passed all my classes somehow. They gave me the degree. They can't take it back now. It's in a safe of my home. So they have to come get it. I like it. But I worked for a bunch of different construction companies. So I was raised. Everybody's, every friend's dad was somebody growing up. So one of them, Fortune 500 CEO, the next one, president of the biggest car dealership in the world. They were all these really powerful guys doing all sorts of

amazing things. And I absorbed all these lessons. I saw these business owners and I thought, that's what I want to do. I just thought that was the natural progression because it was so normal growing up that I just thought that's what I would do too. So I wanted to start a business and I wanted to start a construction company. So to start a construction company, I needed construction experience. So I tried to go work for as many construction companies as I could while I was in school for construction engineering. So I worked for all sorts of companies. And doing anything from laboring in the ditch or the shovel, like I said, to managing work, to working on the railroad, to doing drilling and blasting work, a lot of away from home,

a lot of long, just seven days a week, working overnight, working all the time where all my friends work, hard work. Yeah, all my friends were back home messing around because you're in college. But I was out there, you know, just that was the path. That was for me. So graduated college. I said, all right, I'm going to go get a job in construction. that's what I'm going to go do. But just before I graduated, I wanted to start telling stories on the

internet. So I started to evaluate my life, like, what is the unique story I have to tell? And I noticed no one was really telling a very good story in construction. The quality was very low. I followed some of these construction pages on the internet, but the photos weren't very good. The level of storytelling wasn't very dynamic. And I thought, well, I have all these pictures and these videos and these experiences from my time in construction so far. I'm just this kid, 22-year-old kid, but I think I have some value to add here. I think I have a story to tell. So I just started telling my story on the internet. And that's where it really started to grow, was I started to notice that, hey, there's no one doing this. And then, hey, there's actually some problems here. There's actually some

workforce issues and perception problems that we might be able to address. I want to talk about, we'll talk about the problems a second. But I'm just fascinated by it. There's not many people that in college have have the drive to go to school and then also take on all of this crazy work. I mean, self-imposed, you know, self-inflicted. I mean, you just have a unique drive and enthusiasm to say, hey, let me add this and bring it on. Not many people have that. Did you have somebody that instilled that in you? Was there a coach? Was there a mentor? Or is that just kind of how you're wired? So it was absorbing it from. from all these people growing up.

So I mean, I'm super fortunate with where I am. I didn't have to worry about debt. I didn't have to worry about a lot of things people have to worry about. And I grew up in a world that people just owned businesses. People just created whatever they wanted to create. There was no, it was just imagination at that point. If you wanted something, you could go get it.

That's how I was raised. A lot of people aren't even raised to believe that that's the case. So they start behind from the very beginning. So I was in a really fortunate position. And then I had two, kind of a blend of two people. I had my father, who is not traditional male. He's very loving, very caring, very thoughtful, very, very soft-spoken, always making jokes, just really, really loving father figure. And then I had my friend's father who was just a piece of work.

I mean, just you could not please the guy. He'll never say good, he'll good job. He's just the traditional male. You know, he's climbed six of the seven summits and Bend in Antarctica, Benged North Pole. I mean, he's just had this crazy life, built these enormous businesses worth more money than, you don't know how much money this guy has because he doesn't show it, but you know it's there. Still wears the same clothes he wore 15 years ago, though. I worked for him in Montana. That's where I worked because I borrowed money from him.

So he lent me $300 for my aquarium, my aquarium at the time. I wanted to take my freshwater aquarium to salt water. So I was talking to him about it while I was out my friend. house and he called me up that day after I left and said, I'll own you the money with interest. And so I'll give you the money now. I'll give you the few hundred dollars now in cash. If you come up to Montana and work, you know, pay you $10 an hour plus I think it was maybe $30 interest, you know, three hours interest. And then after that, once you pay it off, I'll pay you. So I went up there and I got that work ethic instilled in me to at a level I'd never I'd never been

exposed to before. So that's where I really picked up the, just the backbreaking, hard work side of things that a lot of people I grew up with never got. They never got that humbling while they were growing up that said, you know, hey, this is, this is, you think that's work? No, this is work. And this is, you know, no one's going to thank you. No one's going to care about you. You're just out there doing it. So it was a combination of having him, having my dad, being able to blend those two things, and then being being around people that had done it my whole life. I'm curious what your dad thought. Was he surprised by your career path?

You're saying, all right, you're a tax attorney, white collar world. I could just go to school. Dad, I'm going to get in a ditch with a shovel. That's what I want to do. So that's another area I've been very fortunate with. A lot of parents, they push their kids into a certain role. Maybe it's what they've done. Maybe it's what they think is best for them.

My dad, the only career advice he's ever given me is don't go to law school. Not because he hates being a lawyer. he loves being a lawyer. It's so aligned with who he is and it's just, he's so fulfilled because he loves his work. He loves the challenge of what he does. But he knew that I would hate it because it's so against my personality. He knew I couldn't just sit still. From a very young age, he knew I'd hate what he does. So that was the only career advice. He said, don't, don't be a lawyer. Otherwise, he never told me what to do. How cool is it, though, that your dad, instead of trying to offset some kind of insecurity, a lot of parents do this. I mean, They try to shape their kids, not necessarily into who their kids need to be, but into who they want them to be to meet something that has to do with their ego and their insecurities. And instead of actually going, now, this is how my child's wired. Let me breathe life into that. And it sounds like you really did that. He did it to a T, and I didn't really understand his genius until recently when, you know, he's just had to back away from me, from raising me, really, and just kind of kept me within bounds.

but just let me go. He hasn't, he hasn't ever been there whenever I screw up or anything like that. And then my mother, too, she's just let me do my thing. So she's never told me what to do. She's never told me where to go. She's never told me what time to be home. They've just trusted me to do the right thing. And when you trust your kid, I think you just, it's a lot healthier than when you have all these restrictions. Yeah. Hmm. Yeah. So you jump in and you're working these different jobs in construction. Yep. Sounds like you started realizing, man, there's some really cool things. people that are doing this stuff, but they don't have a voice. Absolutely. And you really took it on

yourself to give them a voice. And they, the funny thing is they don't necessarily want a voice. So they don't, they don't, their story's not out there because they have no desire to put it out there. They're just the most humble people I know. All the business owners we work with, they're, they're worth more money than most other people I've ever met, you know, some very powerful real estate people and doctors and all the traditional, the people that you traditionally think have money. some of the business owners we know have just more money than you know what to do with yet you'd never know it they don't they don't talk any differently they don't dress any differently they don't they don't act any differently they don't sit at the head of the table they're as humble as it gets because this industry this work

it just beats you down and humbles you it you can't have this enormous ego um you see how a spotlight needs to be shined on this i mean it's not necessarily just the people but it's the ideals right It's what America was built on hard work, rolling up your sleeves, not being boozy. I mean, we've gotten really comfortable. We've got all our creature comforts. You know, everything is on demand. But there's this whole undercurrent in our country that nobody sees of really hardworking people who are busting their tail every day. Yeah.

Yeah. And so that story, whether they like it or not, it needs to get out there because now they've gotten away with not telling their story for up until now. They've just been in the shadows. And they like the shadows. Like I said, they're humble. They're just doing their thing. And they're not doing it for anyone else. They're just doing it because they love to be there.

If you don't love this industry, it's going to chew you up and spit you out. You're not going to make it very far. So they love being there. They haven't told their story. However, now these people have started to retire. There's these older people that average age in construction, average age mining, average age in blue-collar world, it started to creep up, creep up, creep up. And now these people are retiring.

They're leaving. And you don't have a whole lot of young people coming at the bottom. So how do you solve that? Well, you have to get the stories out there. You have to educate people on what this industry actually does, how important it really is. No one, you know, despite all the technology, despite all the bouginess in society, no one could function without it. You couldn't turn the lights on. You can't shower in the morning. You can't drive to work. You wouldn't, you know, you want to talk about healthcare workers and how important they are right now. That's fantastic. They are important. But what's a health care worker without a hospital or without power, without water? That's what we do. That's what we provide.

You know, the three basic human needs, food, water, shelter, that's what this industry does. And it's not going away. You can't outsource it. You can't out-innovate it. It's just, it's always going to be there. You always need people to do it. Yeah, it's a very practical component that we take for granted. Totally take it for granted.

Because it's just been established that this is just how things are. But we forget that they didn't just show up these buildings that we work in and live in. No. You know, people in cities, we just think it happens. If you turn the lights on. you flip the switch, the lights go on. That's just how it happens. Well, it's not just how it happens. There's a lot of people behind just that reality. It's a privilege just to have consistent power. A lot of countries don't even have that. A lot of places all over the world don't even have consistent power. We have that. We've just accepted it as a basic right, a basic, just human principle in this country. It's just not the case. So we go out and we see, I tell people we kind of peek under the hood of America. We see, how it really works. We go to the steel mills. We go to the coal mines. We go to the tunnels under Chicago and we see what really happens beneath the surface to make all the prettiness that everyone

else sees happen. You know, one of the things we get a lot and feedback about this podcast is we'd like to have not just the big names and thought leaders about leadership in the space, but real business owners just like you. We'd like to hear them talk about their business, how they started it, what they're doing. You know, boots on the ground kind of thing. And so I'm curious, like, when you started this, what were the early days like when you have this dream and clearly this passion, but that doesn't guarantee immediate success?

What was some of the early struggle getting this thing off the ground? So when I started, I went to work for a construction company and then I went to work for a construction software company. They found me. I started posting on social media. It started to get a little traction. So they found me online. They said, hey, we have this program, you know, all about trying to get people into the blue

claw world. We want you to run it. And I said, that's awesome. So I went down there. I made it a few months. It just didn't work out. They wanted to do it one way. I said, well, no, I think we should do it this way.

And they said, well, we're the ones paying for it. So you're going to do it this way. And I said, all right, well, I'm going to go do it my way. I quit. I called my dad, said, hey, dad, I quit my job moving in with you, by the way. You know, I'm coming home Friday. I was in Texas at the time. Packed up, broke my lease, moved in my dad, so I didn't have to pay rent, no expenses whatsoever. And then sat there and said, all right, you know, I have this little social media following. I've proven the concept.

People are hungry for these stories. Now I need to go find the stories. So I started reaching out to businesses, construction businesses online that I'd followed and just said, hey, you know, this is who I am. I'm this 22-year-old kid. I don't know much, but I love dirt. I want to come see you guys move dirt. Can I come out and maybe take some pictures of it and share it online? Most people said, you know, kick rocks. Some people said, come on out. So I'd be driving, you know, on a just random Tuesday. Now that I didn't have a job from Arizona to California, six hours, started two in the morning, make it out there for sunrise, spend two hours on site and then drive home, you know, in the afternoon. So I didn't have to pay for a hotel room or anything.

It was just as bare bones as it could be. Would get those stories and would show. share them online. And then these companies, they started to see what we were doing. They're like, you know, this is actually pretty cool. So could you do this for us? And I said, absolutely, I could do it for you. You're going to have to pay me. And they said, well, how much? And I just started making up numbers. I said, yeah, you know, this or that. And we started because initially, I mean, you're doing these kind of pro bonner, or almost as a hobby initially. I mean, you're doing it because it's fun. Yes. And when you share that, what were the stories? I mean, it was footage of the job site? Yeah, but it was, it was, it was, it was,

a lot of it from, from me personally. So I'm just this kid that loves the industry that's learning a lot. So it's me from my perspective, my personality, sharing what I'm learning. Okay. So yeah, there's this earth-moving operation in Southern California. Here's why they're moving the dirt. Here's what it takes to build a whole subdivision. You can't just build a house on a slope. You have to go grade it. You have to go put a lot of effort into reshaping the earth to accommodate those homes in the first place. That's the kind of storytelling. Or, hey, there's this guy. He's an awesome guy. here's how he started. Here's where he's at now. Here's what he loves to do. And here's, here's why he loves to do it. So it was about people. It was about companies. It was about projects.

It was about equipment. It was about the intricacies of how these projects come together, but all from my perspective. So I really tried to leverage just me being this kid that loved it, loved it from a young age. And I've tried to weave that into everything we do. So it became a business. I had some savings. So it kind of created a little platform. Yeah. And then these business owners are going, hey, we'd like to actually do this for real. Exactly. Yeah, and it just kind of naturally progressed. So I didn't have this genius plan.

I just thought, well, you know, maybe I'll go out and take some pictures, tell some stories. But the bigger vision has really formed by going out to all these job sites. So now it's been years of every single week on planes, driving hours and hours and hours, going sometimes weeks to five different states in a single week from, you know, some rural, rural area in Indiana to a downtown Chicago 12 stories up across in the Sears Tower in a single day. Seeing all these job sites, meeting all these people, getting a peek under the hood of all these construction companies, and then starting to connect all the dots. Hey, here's the problems. Here's what we

need to do. Hey, guys, here's the path forward because I've seen more of the industry than anyone else has in the past three years. So now I have this clarity to look at it and a different lens to look at it through than anyone else does. And I can say, all right, here's the path. Here's where I'm going. Are you going to come with me? If not, that's okay. You can go over there. We'll go over here. We'll compare notes in 10 years. I know I'm right. So you'll get on board one of these days. But that's what we do. So it grew from just me taking pictures. I just bought a Sony camera. It was the biggest expense of my life, a few thousand dollars. And I destroyed it two weeks after I bought it. So that was awesome. Me just run around the country, taking

pictures and then, you know, someone would say, well, do you do websites? And I said, I'd do websites. Absolutely. When I don't even, I still don't know anything about building a website, but then you just, you call someone up or Dan, who I worked for, that software company, he had left, he had left as well. And so I'd call him up and say, Dan, I, I just promised some guy in Tennessee that I'd make him a website. I don't know how to make a website. Do you think we could do this? And he says, sure, we can, we can do something. So then you just, you find people to know to build websites. You throw it together. and pray it all ends up great at the end of the day. You know what I love? I mean, this is a pure entrepreneur does not overplan and overthink and wait until they have it all figured out. And I think people are missing that today because there's so much information and we get caught up and I've got to learn everything before I just go. I've got to have all the product fully built out and established before I sell something

and say yes. And you're saying, yes, we'll do that. And then you hang up and I've had this moment. We're like, oh, what do we just sell them? We've got to figure out how to make that come true, right? All the time. It's not a lack of integrity. It's not a lack of being genuine about delivering on the promise.

But when you overanalyze and you hesitate and you hesitate, you can hesitate for a decade and never actually ship anything. Yeah. And we talked about this the other day on the podcast with Seth Godin. It's just this idea of shipping. Like when in doubt, ship, go for it, say yes, follow that vision. And then you'll figure out all the stuff as you go along on how you actually produce that thing. Yeah, I couldn't agree more. So many people, they ask me, you know, when's the right time to start business? I'm like, I don't know, tomorrow. There's never a right time. And you're not going to,

I didn't have this grand vision on day one. I just had to put one foot out there and put the next foot out there. And after years of really long days, lots and lots of plane rides, meeting thousands of people, going to all sorts of job sites, having to put up with all this nonsense that we do, you start to connect the dots. And then everything starts to come together. Like, okay, here's, where we need to go. But I would have never found that had I not just started and put myself in a position where I needed to figure it out. You know, I mean, what you're saying is really, you have to have passion more than you have to have a plan. Eventually, you know, we talk about needing to have a plan. Like it's not that plans are insignificant. But if you have to pick one,

you've got to have passion. Yeah. You got to have fire for what you're doing. Okay, so you're talking about what you see in the industry, the problems that need to be solved, You're advocating, you're bringing these stories to life. When you talk about in 10 years from now, what are you hoping happens as a result of what you're doing? So our higher purpose to our business, and this has been since really day one, is make the dirt world the better place. It needs to improve. It's very old school. It's been stuck in its ways for 40 plus years, 50 plus years, whatever it is.

Things need to change. Things need to advance. We need to start treating people better. We need to start investing in people. We need to start training people. We need to start just thinking about problems differently, approaching things from a different angle. So that's over the next 10 years. We've been in business for three.

We're starting to gain some traction, starting to build a team, really exciting stuff. We have a marketing business now. We're forming multiple companies helping these, our partner companies from different angles. They're all heavy construction and mining companies to ultimately just create that change in the industry, show people that there's a better way to build things. You can still be just as profitable, if not more profitable. That's my argument. I'm not asking people to be less profitable. I'm asking them to be more profitable by thinking about their people, by prioritizing their people, by investing in their people.

And hopefully, we're inspiring new people to come into the industry. I just got a message this morning from a kid, hey, I just started a construction program. And I would have never found this industry had I not seen your guys stuff online. And that is worth so much more than any check anyone can. write me. I mean, people are writing us $100,000 checks plus quite more than that nowadays. And the feeling of getting a check worth six figures still pales in comparison to some kids saying,

hey, I'm now in this industry because of you and I, thank you. This is really amazing. Or some guy, you know, while I'm out on a job site, stops his bulldozer, gets out of his machine to shake my hand and just say, hey, I just move my family from this state to this state because of you. I found this company. I'm here now. I love it. I can't, I couldn't be happier and I just want to shake your hand. Thank you.

That's, that's real impact. That's real value. That's real change across the industry. So I just want to take that and just start amplifying it and start, you know, forcing this company or this industry to change. So I want to find the companies that are on board with that, that are already trading their people, right, that are hungry to invest in their people, that are thinking about things differently. I want to go help make them as successful as possible and go create the modern, you know, the blueprint for the modern business in this industry. And ultimately at the end of the day, reform the entire industry as a result. Because if all these people are wildly successful, taking everyone's people, doing all the work, making all this money, everyone else is either going to just still be stuck in their ways and drop off or follow suit. So that's what we're doing. Contrast for me, when you talk about these companies that are treating their people really well.

And then there's this huge group of companies that are not. Yep. And clearly you're saying you can actually be more profitable if you take care of your people. What does that look like? What are you telling them they need to be doing differently? It's all really simple stuff. Construction in the blue car world in general, it's very behind. They don't invest in people.

They're always blaming the people, you know, blaming millennials, blaming colleges, blaming everyone else for their own problems. They don't, there's very little training. benefits aren't that great. Pay, you know, it depends where you are, but they're trying to squeeze their people. There's a lot of layoffs, you know, just when everything's good, you hire people. When everything's not good, you lay people off. And that's just the accepted norm.

So, or if it's rainy for a week, sorry, guys, we don't have work. We're not going to, you know, it's their problem, not our problem. Or, you know, these companies will come in. They'll bid these jobs, a billion-dollar job, work everyone seven days a week, 24 hours. hours a day, just work nonstop, blow it out, make a ton of money, probably burn everyone out in the process, but they don't care. They're just going to go on to the next town, do it all over again. So it's that, it's putting themselves first rather than putting their people first. That's the core problem of some of these other industries have figured it out that, hey, maybe if we prioritize

our people, they're excited to be here, they're more productive, and as a result, we make more money. Everyone's better off. They're better off. We're better off. Wow. That makes a lot of sense. for me personally, I'm trying to create a business that puts our people first. Everything we do is our people, our people, our people, care for our people. I believe an employer needs to give their people everything before expecting everything in return. The industry, they expect everything from their people before they give them anything. It's like, it's just this entitlement that drives me nuts because I give you a paycheck. I deserve all of this in return. Reality is, me as a 25-year-old kid, I can go get a paycheck anywhere. I mean, coronavirus.

change things a little bit, but I've seen all the options out there. I don't need to work for you anymore. It's a, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, in, in the people. So, that's what we're really trying to do is, is, is, as a business, just give our people everything before we expect everything in return. Do we have high expectations? Absolutely. But I'm going to give them everything I have before I say, hey, can you give me a lot in return? And then also, um, that's, um, that's the kind of company we work with. We want to work with the companies that do the same thing and all come together and say, all right, guys, let's go do this. Let's go reform the industry. I imagine the byproduct of treating your people like that is just this massive loyalty. Yeah. And you really couldn't pick and choose who's going to

work with you. Yeah. Because a lot of people in this space are you can't find good work. But if you want to find the top 10%, you can find them if you create this mechanism, like a magnet almost right, like this place is known for treating people right. And so it's kind of like a symbionic, like you can find the best people if you'll treat them like the best people. Is that kind of the idea? It's just a self-fulfilling prophecy. Yeah, it all just comes together. And that's the crazy thing is like going back to plan or something as a business owner. I don't have a plan. My plan is just do the right thing. My plans just treat people right. My plans just deliver value for our partners. My plans just make the dirt well the better place. That's the plan. That's the business plan.

The money miraculously is working out pretty well for us because we're prioritizing. just delivering value and taking care of people. And in all our people, they're extremely motivated. They're delivering phenomenal results all the time. They're going above and beyond for our partners without me having to tell them to do so. They're happy. They're relieved to be with us, which has been the most confusing thing to me. I think, I'm so naive. I think the way we do things is just normal. Yeah, of course we would treat our people right. Of course we would have great benefits. Like, that's just what people do. But they come in our business. They're like, well, we've never had this before. Or I've never even been able to make my own decisions. I'm like, well,

you better get used to it because you got to make your own decisions around here. So let's, let's hurry it up here. But I don't even understand the rest of the world doesn't work that way, which just, it amazes me because it's been so beneficial for us. Well, it's kind of just been ingrained for decades. Yes. That's just how it is. And really, you're, you're changing the story. You're Hey, just because that's how it's been, doesn't mean it has to stay that way. You know, you talk to a lot of people in construction, especially employers, managers. You'll hear things like, well, yeah, training, but guys that drive dump trucks, they just don't read books. Or guys that dig ditches, they don't listen to podcasts. You know, they're not those kind of people.

yet we know that reading and learning and listening to new ideas is the key to personal transformation for any employee. Yeah. Anybody that wants to be better at their job, whether you dig ditches or you sit at a desk and a computer all day, how do you integrate some of these things that we're used to maybe in what we call the white collar world and get that into the trenches with people that are picking up a shovel every morning and do it in a way that's compelling for them? How do we help them learn and grow and develop and have a vision for their life that's bigger than just, you know, if that's where they are and they want to go somewhere, actually helping them create that path? The funny thing is people, they categorize intelligence as getting A's on tests. That's not the end-all, be-all for being smart. That's not the end-all be-all for success. Most of the happiest people I know, most of the most fulfilled people I know, most of the best family people I know.

and the most spiritual people, they're all in the blue-collar world. They're all there. I look at my friends in these white-collar industries. I feel bad for them. I feel bad for them having to dress up every day and work for people that they hate and look forward to Friday every single week and call people that they don't want to talk to. They're doing all the stuff that they just have no interest in. And yet I go look at this entire other group of people. They're solving problems every single day. They're collaborating with one another. They're adding very, value to the world. There's this different level of learning and intelligence in their world. There's, when I ask a blue-collar person, one of these folks, what do you like about your job? Nine times out of ten, they're going to say no two days are the same. No two days of the same. There's always new challenges to overcome. There's always new lessons to learn. There's always a better way to do something. They're always learning, but they're learning not from books, not from traditional learning means in a classroom. They're learning with their hands. They're learning by doing. They're learning by screwing up. They're learning by talking to one another. They're learning by

watching. Just very fundamental ways of learning, but it's still learning and it's still mastering and craft nonetheless. And they're very happy as a result. But to answer the original question, how to bring them into some other mediums, that's what we've done with like our own podcast, dirt talk. It's about not saying, hey, I'm more refined. fine. I'm, oh, I've gone to college. I'm, you know, white collar. My dad's an attorney. I grew up well off. If I told them that, they tell me to screw myself pretty quickly. Instead, I approach them with just humility. I meet them where they are. And I deliver, I try to deliver value from where they are. So how can I deliver value to some guy in the field that most of our

audience has never listened to a podcast before? We've created thousands of new listeners that have never listened to any kind of podcasts. We've been the the very first one. How many, how many podcasts can say that, that they're actually converting people. Introducing people to the space. Introducing people to podcasts in 2020. Doesn't happen very often, yet that's, that's the majority of our audience, people that have, what is a podcast? How do I do that? Well, it's probably already on your phone. Why do they want to listen? I mean, why are they, when they've had these options to listen to podcasts for years now, what is it that they're attracted to when you tell them, this is why you need to listen?

Because they've been following me and they've seen the value I've brought them via Instagram or Facebook or whatever it may be or in the field when we're talking about it. Yeah, I want to talk about that. Or they hear other people that they work with that they can relate to talking about it as well. But we just have, it's just dirt talk. I'm not trying to outsmart anyone. I'm not trying to provide a product for me. I'm trying to deliver value for them. Who do they want to listen to? Let's bring on construction business owners. Let's bring on operators. Let's bring on, you know, I'm working. trying to get the caterpillar historian on to talk about how caterpillar was started in the history of these tractors and deliver them information about what they love and enjoy and have been doing their whole lives but maybe they've never had access to so that's that's what i'm trying to do is is just meet them where they are and and deliver value from their perspective so as a result of this following you've got all these business owners in the construction space now calling you saying, hey, we need some help. We need to find good people.

We're trying to recruit, you know, passionate people that want to work at a place like this. It sounds like the ones that are already treating their people really well. They're raising their hand. They're saying, hey, we're one of those kind of companies. We want to join this movement you're creating. But help us find the other people. You've got a megaphone with your podcast. Help us find the kind of laborers who want to work at an organization like this.

Is that kind of how it's working? Exactly. So I joke when we're trying to sell people in marketing, I say we're a marketing agency. see primary, that's our primary business with a zero dollar, we don't spend any money on marketing because we just tell stories. And our marketing strategy is telling the stories of the companies that we work with, not even talking about ourselves. I talk about it with my personality from my perspective, but I'm always talking about our partners. Like this morning, I posted a post about bulk equipment, highlighting why I just love their business model because it's so different. That's

the marketing strategy. So now we reach millions of people every week with these dirt photos that I've never been on the internet before that not only people in the industry enjoy, but anyone can enjoy, like my mom's always saying, man, that photo the other day was just something else. That's awesome. I'm getting other people. It's just, it's cool. It's, it's, I don't have to work very hard to sell it. I'm not peddling legal documents. I'm peddling enormous trucks. I'm pedaling huge earthmovers, bulldozers, all sorts of fun stuff that anyone can get behind. So we're putting that out there. People are seeing it. And they're thinking, I want that for my business. And so they're reaching out to us. And they, they oftentimes, they say, we don't even know what you guys do, but we want that. So can you do that for us? And our sales process is more so, it's a two-way street. Them vetting us and all right, okay, well, here's how the dollars break down. Is that going to work for our business? And us vetting them. We want to make sure that they already have a great story to tell, that they do treat their people right, that they are the future of the industry, that they don't already directly compete with an

distinct partner of ours. And so once we, you know, we have criteria. If everyone, if they meet that criteria, we sign them on, we bring them into the partnership, and then we help them tell their story. But we turn down a majority of the companies that come our way because we only want to be working with those companies that are going to make the dirt world a better place long term. It would be really easy to compromise on that a little bit, especially when money's involved. But I'm, and Dan talks about this. You know, people have tried to beat us up on price. And he just kind of, he laughs he's like you're not going to be able to beat Aaron up on price I'm not I was around money and I've I've seen it I approach it it's just a tool I'm not motivated by it I'm not enamored by it I'm not controlled by it it's just a tool to allocate it to create new things in the world and to save time and to generate value that's how I see it so turning down money is probably the easiest thing I do because it's just if it doesn't align it's out and it's a slippery slope if you go down that path they're tempted you're you're tempted you're you're you're you're Even when we really need money, we've run out of money multiple times.

Even when you really need that money, you're looking at that paycheck. That would solve all my problems. You do it once. You can't come back from that. And that will jeopardize everything we're doing here. And I look at everything in a much bigger picture. Yes, we're dealing with hundreds of thousands of dollars and now millions of dollars now, but I want to go a lot bigger than that.

So what's that decision really costing me? Is it really costing me that $100,000? Or is it really costing me that $10 million down the road? oftentimes it probably costs me that $10 million. And so I can look at that, do the math in my head. All right, that's an easy decision. We're out. And when we've taken on some of those bad deals that haven't gone well, we got, we took

on so many, we just had so much stupid stuff happen, especially the first year. We didn't know this when we started on day one. We had to learn it through some bad experiences. But every time you get out of the bad experience, this new partner comes into play. and it's just, it's like this perfect marriage, and you're just sitting there kicking yourself, like, what was I doing? Why did I just trade, why couldn't I trade this money for just a little less money for something that's so much more enjoyable? So, as a company, being that discipline has been pretty easy for us. I've never met somebody that has this much fire and zeal and passion for dirt and people who work with dirt.

And it sounds crazy. you've never experienced it. The funny thing is, we just had our company meeting here two weeks ago in Nashville. So everyone came in. We met in person. I think that's really, really important, especially for our young company. We need to meet face to face. We need to form this culture, especially going in 2021. Who knows what's going to happen next year? We need to be as strong as possible as a unit going into a year of quote unquote uncertainty like everyone likes to say. So what I want to be that agency that really speaks the language of the industry. I want to give our people who've never been exposed to it a taste of it. So we talked to the local Caterpillar dealership and said, hey, can we rent a few machines?

And they said, come on down. That sounds great. So they rented us some skid steers, a little bulldozer, some excavators. And we took everyone down there. I didn't tell anyone. We told them we were going down the cat dealership for a team photo. We show up and we say, hey, actually, we're spending the next few hours running these things. They'd never been in equipment before. Really? I mean, almost half our team's women now. So it's not even all these big burly dudes. None of these people have really been in the blue-collar world. You should have seen their faces. They loved it. They had so much fun. They were laughing the entire time. It's more engaged as a single group than I've ever seen people before. And then they were talking about it after. And then they were saying,

man, I just, I view everything so differently now. So people that have never been exposed to it, that didn't have any prior passion for it at all. They get a little taste of, and then they're like, I get it. I get it. This is really, really something. So it's not that I just, I do love it, and I've always loved it, and this is what I'm going to be doing. But it's something that anyone can love, anyone can enjoy, no matter man, woman, child. It's just across the board, cool.

I mean, you really have this gift of introducing people, right, showing people things. You have a vision for something. you have a vision for what's going on in the space and you realize I could show America. This is what it looks like. You have a vision for how fun it is to work with dirt. I can show my employees through an experience. This is how cool this thing is. You know, I'm curious as you're building your company.

So you've got a team. You're hiring. You're imparting this passion into them. You're developing them so that you can replicate yourself. Because obviously this thing for you to achieve the 10-year dream, I mean, you've got to scale and build a team. how are you keeping the reins on the culture? How are you making sure that those filters of who gets to work with your organization when people show up that they've got the same passion

and really a desire to make the difference that you want to make? Because, you know, you just hire the wrong person and all of a sudden that impacts the culture and it kind of spins out. We've done that. We've learned, you know, we did that a few times this year. We had to learn that lesson for the first time. But as we've grown, so we're about a little over- 20 full-time people now up from we just hired number six this time last year so it's been a lot of

growth especially in this year very exciting very fortunate position that we're in so it's it's a few things it's one being just very honest about what we're doing so we're putting ourselves out there telling the story about the company who we are how we do it and just getting it out there so when they come in the door they already know everything about us so everyone knows everything about us from day one, whether they're working with us, whether it's hiring us, or whether they're working for us. So we get that story out there, so we don't have to explain, here's what we're doing, and here's why we're doing it. They already know that because we're honest with everyone we interact with at all times. So ideally, they already know that. Then I've spent a lot of time on our mission and

values. I've probably spent more time thinking through our values than anything else I've ever worked on my entire life. Just if I was boiled down just a single thing I've worked, on. That's it. I've worked on a year and a half of just really thinking through what do I believe in, what is the company believe in, and what's our operating system. Once you have that defined, then you can give everyone, then they know, okay, this is what I'm, this is where I'm supposed to be, this is how I'm supposed to act. Do I align with that on day one if they don't? You know, probably not for you. And then now while they're at our company, they can operate based on that operating system that's already been defined and explained and instilled and trained into them.

I spend so much time talking about our values, talking about our values. When someone exemplifies one of our values, the first one to call it out, like Lori the other day, she bought flowers for a partner of ours. Her dad's going through a hard time right now. So I saw on the card, you know, some flowers in San Francisco. I'm like, what's this? Like, is someone buying flowers in San Francisco with their card? So I asked Lori, did you buy flowers? Yeah, I bought flowers for a partner. I didn't have to tell her to be a friend, but that's one of our values. Be a friend. She was a friend. She was just going above and beyond for one of our partners, really caring for them. I call that on the team call. Hey, Lori, thank you for being a friend. That was really cool of you to exemplify that value and reinforce that value.

And most importantly, I need to make sure I live every single value 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I cannot skip out on a single one of our values, no matter where I go, no matter who I'm I'm talking to, no matter who's there watching me, especially when no one's watching me, I need to make sure that I am living that culture first and foremost. So that's really how we've done it so far. How did you get, I talk to 45-year-old, 55-year-old business owners who still don't have the core values together. You're 25 years old. You've got your values. You've spent a year and a half on them. You've got them dialed in. You're using them as filters for hiring and also for celebrating your team.

The conviction about values and being this dialed in on why they matter, I mean, we're preaching this all the time on this podcast. Yeah. When did you link up how significant that is? Because it's massive. My first year in business, so no one had, I never really had exposure to values before that. None of the companies I worked with had values. And the common values in construction are like integrity, safety, respect.

It's like, what is integrity? Super generic. How does that help me as a person? Like, I don't even know how to, what, you're just going to tell me to be integrity, like not explaining it. So I identified that as one of the key problems in the industry, that there's no real values, no real purpose. So before I go tell companies that they need a value in purpose, I need to go do it myself.

I need to practice what I preach. So that's when I started to dive into companies that I really, really respect, like Whole Foods, like the container store, like Patagonia. common thread between them all, they all stood for something, higher than money, and they all had an operating system. And they didn't just have an operating system, but it was unique to them. It was very well thought out. It was very well defined. And then not only that, but they trained on it. They hired on it. They fired on it. That was everything to them. And so I saw that and I said, okay, well, if all these companies are doing it, they're doing okay for themselves. I respect these

companies. I look up to these companies. Well, that's what we're going to do too. So it's taken me a year and a half of really chewing on them, kind of living them, seeing where they, they sit. Some people, I know they just wrote them down, okay, this is it, whereas I've had to really think through them, modify them, make them our own. And after we've kind of played around with them over the past year and a half, I think they're dead on. They're 100% now. I think that's the right way to do it. You know, when people just write them down to kind of complete an exercise so that they can have values, you really miss, there's a lot of thinking that should go into it. Why do I evaluate? this, what am I willing to walk away from business for? We talked about that earlier. You know,

your inner core convictions, you kind of have to think through some of your own stories and experiences, even how you grew up, what you've always, you know, cared about in the world, things that drive you crazy. A lot of thoughts should go into these to get to the kind of the central, this is what I really value. And I think taking time with that is really important. It's essential. I mean, it's like buying a shirt. You don't just, yep, that shirt looks good. I'll take it. You're going to probably try it on. Like, make sure it fits. Make sure you look good. Like, that's what you want to do your values. You want to, okay, I think I like that. And then you want to go try it on. You want to go see how it plays out. You want to talk to people in your organization. You want to, we were small,

but I involved everyone in the conversation. You know, hey, here's what I came up with. What do you guys think about this? Like at our first company meeting this time last year with five of us at the time, we went through our values. And I remember one, we had work hard, play hard up there. You know, just, it's a common phrase. We all discussed, we're like, that's not really us. You know, and that morning, you know, three or four or five of us, we're up at five in the morning, you know, going for run in the cold, dark, natural morning. Like, no, we just, we don't really play hard.

We just kind of work. And we're just quiet and we're just doing our thing. Like, that's not really us. So we're able to, yeah, let's get rid of that. And let's, let's rethink that. And now, you know, after seeing how they played out, I couldn't be. happier about them. And I couldn't, Dan and I just talked about this this morning. We did a little internal podcast with him and I kind of recapping the year. One of the most satisfying, if not the

most satisfying and gratifying thing about this entire year is not the money, is not a partner, it's not even the impact. It's seeing our culture and our values start to really materialize and start to really take hold without me being there a lot of times. people just doing things that I would like them to do without me ever having even hint at it. It's just happening because we've spent so much time being intentional about it from day one. And that's a big thing for me too is we're investing very heavily at the front end. We're spending a lot of time on that core foundation because we know we want to scale aggressively. And so we're preparing, I'm looking at it like we're already at a hundred million dollar company.

So I'm creating the infrastructure to accommodate that hundred million dollar company. So when we grow to that, it's not, it's going to be painful, but it's not terrible. And it's not excruciating the whole. You don't have to reinvent yourself to get there. No. I mean, you've got to reinvent your leadership. You've got to transform personally. But you don't have to reinvent, like you're saying, the operating system.

And so many companies grow in spite of not having an operating system. Yep. Then they get to 50, 100 employees. And they're dying. I mean, they're not dying from a cash flow standpoint, but they're just bottlenecked on their growth. And they're miserable. And everybody's, there's all this infighting. And nobody knows what to do because they don't have.

that operating system. And I think it's so key what you're saying, like, get this thing early. And then the fruits of that, I mean, the whole thing of, like, people are making the right decision without me there. I'm coaching leaders all the time on this idea of advancing decision making to the front lines. Because if you have to make all the decisions as the leader, you're screwed because the bottleneck on your business is going to be your calendar and your time and that's going to run out. Totally. But if you can, what you're talking about is, hey, here's how you make decisions based on values. And so in a way you have made the decision as the leader,

you just don't have to be there to execute on the decision. Somebody's executing on what you value. Well, and one of our values is make decisions with an exclamation point. You are empowered. It's so important making decisions around here that it's a value. You're empowered to make decisions. You're not only empowered to make decisions. You're expected to make decisions.

That's a basic expectation of working here. And it's accompanied with a quote by, I believe it's Roosevelt. In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is make the right decision. Next best thing you can do is make the wrong decision. The worst thing you can do is make no decision. So I try to educate people on if you're doing the right thing, if you're doing what you genuinely believe is right, it turns out to be the wrong thing. We're behind you 110%.

So we'll go to bat for you every single time. I would rather you make the wrong decision, assuming you were doing what you thought was right, then make no decision at all. A lot of business owners, I think we hear that. We like the idea of advancing decisions, but it can be hard to trust that it's going to be the right decision or that someone's not going to make a decision that embarrasses us or screws up a deal with a customer or whatever. And, you know, I think you have to be willing to take on some mistakes. Absolutely. You know, because otherwise, how do people learn? How do you develop that trust to really lengthen the rope and say, hey, you've got the autonomy to make the decisions. I'm going to have your back

without walking away from that conversation going, oh, God, I don't know if I can trust them to do that. Yeah. Well, it's, we give them so much up front and we, we just give them absolute trust. I don't believe in the phrase trust, but verify. Because if you're having to verify, you're not trusting. So it's, it's, it's an oxymoron. It doesn't make any sense to me. It's just, I'm going to give you all of my trust on day one. I'm going to give you, again, going back to, I'm going to give you everything I got. before I expect yours in return. And when people see, wow, they really are, they really are trusting me. Then they have that, then now the onus is on them that I better not screw this up.

I better not take advantage of this. But you have to, from a very genuine sense, give them that trust. And this is where my age comes into play and is an enormous asset. I'm 25 years old. I don't know what I don't know. I'm very naive. I'm very ignorant. I don't even know what I don't know.

I can't tell people what to do. I just have to trust them. I don't have a choice. I can't tell them how to do their job because like I was joking about earlier about building websites. That's not a joke. I don't know how to build a website. And yet that's an enormous part of our business is developing websites. I don't know how to do it. We have great people that know how to do it. And I trust them to do it. And I trust them to do the right thing. And so now I'm not, I'm not messing with people. I'm really am having to, I'm trusting them genuinely. And then I'm also having to trust them because I don't know. how to do what they do. I love the way you look at it. I'm curious how you look at what you do, do. Like, what's the thing that only Aaron does or only Aaron can do when you're so good at delegating all these other things? I mean, because you clearly play a central role. Yeah. What is the role? What I'm good at, and I've thought about this a lot, you know, early on, the role was everything. I was the guy, and people think that is the business, is just me running around taking pictures. Now, that's that's almost none of the business anymore. That's just for fun. What my my role is is two things.

One, here's the vision. Here's where we need to go. Here's why we need to go there. Here's why this is important. Lay out that higher purpose and define it and allow people to almost see it and feel it before it's reality and make sure the ship is headed in that direction. That's one. Two, operate the business. I'm very good at operating a business. I'm good at making sure. the accountants are where they need to be, the contracts are where they need to be, the insurance is squared away. I'm creating the business behind the scenes that most people don't even know exists at our company to make sure that they can just do what they're good at. If they're a developer, we bring you in, you be a developer. That's what you're good at. That's what you

want to do. That's all you need to worry about. Everything else is taken care of. So you don't have to worry about it anymore. We hire a lot of people that go off and be freelancers. Being a freelancer, it sounds so cool. Wow, my own boss. I can do whatever I want. They do it for a little bit. And then they start to realize there's a lot of stuff here that I didn't really think about, that I have to worry about that, like, accounting. And I don't know, I have to go sign this contract. I don't even know what I'm signing or what's an NDA or insurance. Like, they don't realize all the infrastructure that they need. So then they come back into our business and I just say, we're hiring you to do what your best at. Everything else is taken care of. You don't have to worry about it.

So that's really my role now is selling the vision, selling it to the industry, selling it to everyone that does business with us, selling it to our people. It's just sell, sell, sell, sell, here's the vision, here's the vision, nonstop, that's all I do. And then make sure the business is where it needs to be. The dollars are where they need to be. Legal is where it needs to be. Everyone's protected. The business is safe. I'm doing estate planning right now because what if I go get hit by a bus tomorrow. I want people to know that even if the guy goes away, everything's still intact. It's still there, even as young as we are. So I'm really spending a lot of time operating the business and then setting the infrastructure in place. We spend a lot of money on accountants right now, a lot of money

on lawyers that we don't need to, but I know that infrastructure needs to be there to go where we're headed. You talk about vision, sell the vision, sell the vision, sell the vision, sell the vision. How do you define vision and vision casting? It's just telling people where we're headed and why we're going there. It's really just sharing the insights that I've learned because I'm the guy that's seen all the job sites and met all the people and has been able to connect the dots. It's just sharing those realizations with everybody. Here's what I've learned. Here's why I've learned it.

Here's where the industry needs to go. and here's why. You have to show people where we're going and you also have to give them that why. Why are we doing it? Why are we going there? What's the benefit to me, to the industry, to our partners, everyone involved. What's that? What's that why behind it? So it's that. It's just defining where we're going, why we're going there to everybody. Like early on in the business, that first year, we weren't actually selling a product. I was selling me. I was selling my vision. That's why people were buying from us. They were buying services that didn't even exist, that it had no, there was no portfolio, there was no data, there was no ROI I could point to, and yet people were giving me their money because I was selling the vision, because I was that excited kid they might have seen some, a little bit of them in, and maybe he is on to something or I actually agree with them.

Like, that's a good point. So they were buying the vision and all the people coming into our business too, I tell them, there's risk to be here. We're not this big company that's safe. Nothing we do safe. We're growing very aggressively. We're responsible. We're in a very financially responsible position and we share finances internally so they know that for a fact. But nothing we do here is safe. But here's why, here's that bigger purpose as to why you're here and here's hopefully enough to ease your nerves and give you that opportunity. And I told everyone our company meeting last week, I said, where we're going, it's only down to your imagination.

You can go and do whatever the heck you want to do. Even if it's, not everyone can be the owner of the company, right? Maybe that's irrational, but you can go off on, we're starting all these other companies. For example, we're starting three new companies this year, serving different functions for our partners. We need people to lead each one of those companies. I'm not going to be doing it all. Or maybe you're a developer now. Maybe you want to get into photography.

Let's do it. Let's do it. What's, what's, you know, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's possible as we grow. So it's painting that picture, too, for their own lives, like, hey, you really can live here for 40 plus years, have a wonderful career and maybe have multiple careers at the same spot. what you're saying reminds me of it was shackleford and he had this expedition across Antarctica and this is back I mean this is over a hundred years ago right but he was the first guy that was going to go across Antarctica and you know he put out the posting wherever he's at I think Europe and the whole description of this voyage was you know certain danger many will die likely to run out of food and resources but guaranteed adventure

You know, and there's something about that that certain people are attracted to. And especially early in a business, you need this entrepreneurial. That's what Dave did here. You know, we didn't have a lot of money, a lot of resources. But he hired people who effectively were business owners. And he said, hey, I'm going to give you a piece of the action. You come in and you build this area out. I'm going to pay you like an owner.

You're taking all the risk, but we're going to celebrate on the upside. And you're going to build this thing together with me and we're going to go, it's us against the world. You know, and you need the right kind of people. You don't need yes, man, for that stage of it. You really don't need that ever. But especially when you're getting some off the ground, you need people who are entrepreneurial. It sounds like you're creating a very entrepreneurial environment. Absolutely. I just want, you know, find the right people, get out of the way. Make sure they understand the vision, give them the tools that they need, train them up to speak the language of our industry, but ultimately just get out of their way. Just let them do what they need to do. What's the hardest part of the biggest challenge for you at this stage? for me it's been the the the cost to it that I didn't foresee on the personal side of things so it's it's being so dedicated and fixated on one thing at a young age everyone else I know is just trying to find themselves is just kind of messing around is maybe even just buying a house and settling down and and I'm in this fight that no one no one can understand I'm on this own little island. It's lonely. It's really, really lonely.

And since I started all this, I've been through three relationships. They were all great. But it's just I'm not all that available right now. And I've had more problems with my parents personally in the past three years than the rest of my life combined. And I'm sitting here scratch at my head like, what's going on? Like what changed? And then I sit there, I'm like, oh, man, that's the business. And it's not even that that I'm, that I'm.

being rude or anything like that. It's, it's, it's, you know, like, like for my dad, I've learned that it's just the, there's like a feeling of a potential abandonment there that my kid is just really, like, he's really running off now and he might just, I don't want him to just forget about me. And so there's been all these emotions there that I've had to deal with and figure out that I could have never foreseen. So it's that, it's that cost of doing business. That's not money. That's not screw ups. That's, that's that underlying. cost that people talk about in business and you sit there and when you before you get into it you're like yeah no absolutely like no girlfriend sign me up i can do that if i get to go have a business and go make

some money not a problem and then you start to pay that tax and it starts to really sting and that's when you know it's been i've had mental health issues the first time of life over the past few years too it's just it's the anxiety it's the monotony of every day it's it's having to work work through all that too, that all this is just drug up. It was all there, but it's created an environment, this lonely world that I've had to face a lot of these things that I've never faced before. And that's, that's been the struggle for me. How do you combat the loneliness? How do you find people like you who have this, this thing, this blessing and this disease called entrepreneurship? Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's a few, it's a few things I've learned. It's, it's

one, just getting to know myself better. If I have me, I better get to know me. So I've been in therapy for the first time of life for the past two years, huge help, just learning more about who I am, how I operate, and just getting more comfortable with me. So if I'm alone, that's okay, because I like who I am. I like who I see when I look in the mirror. That's pretty cool. That's a good feeling. So that's been a big, big piece is just approaching it from, from an internal point of view. Externally, we're fortunate enough to do business with business owners. So everyone, we work with all these construction companies, we work with like yesterday, Reed contracting. We had lunch with Mike Reed, the guy, you know, who's ever names on the front door, that's who we

do business with. And I talk to these guys about that too, like just, you know, kind of, most of the time I have to bring it up and then it loosens them up a little bit because we work in a world that's not very comfortable talking about mental issues and personal stuff. Any kind of weakness. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a very macho world. Sure. So that's still a new concept. But when I talk about it, you know, they can relate. And there's just an immediate conversation there that we can have because we kind of know where each other are at in a deeper sense than most everyone else can relate to us.

So it's a little bit of that. And it's just understanding all my friends, they're just, they're in different worlds, and that's okay. You don't have to be in the same place as everyone else. You can be doing different things. You can be valuing different things. Maybe you can grow apart. Maybe you can learn together. So that's been a big thing, too, is just understanding that, hey, everyone is in a different

spot and that's okay. I'm inspired just because you're, you know, I mean, you're talking about three years of essentially being married to your business, but dude, you're 25. I mean, you're building something that you're going to have more margin with your time. You're going to have more margin financially. I mean, there's going to be a season because this thing is in, you know, it's in whitewater mode. Yeah. You're going through the rapids right now, and so you're putting a hundred percent of you into this thing. And it's not like you've got little kids at home that you're neglecting, you know, but someday you're going to have the margin in the space and you're going to have this business

and this operating system that you've built that's running this thing. And I don't think it has to be true. I hope it's not true. And I don't think it will be for you that the rest of your life it's going to be this lonely and this one-legged stool, if you will, where you're all in. I mean, you're investing in something now that's going to grow up and afford you the opportunity to do everything you've dreamed about and have a very well-rounded life. And so if there's ever a season to do that, I mean, you're mid-20s. Dude, you're killing it. And that's how I view it.

I've been given every opportunity. So now's the time to do it. And people have criticized me like, you're not living it up. That's not what you're supposed to do, the 20s. I'm like, I'm living more life than you've probably lived your whole life in the past three years. Like, we've done some crazy stuff. I don't, I can't squeeze anymore into these days. They're full. And I couldn't, there's nothing else I want to be doing. So it is, it is tough, but it's not me, it's not me groveling or looking for sympathy or anything like that. Like, there's nothing I'd rather be doing. Yeah, but I don't buy that. I mean, people saying you're not living it up, and especially if they're your peers, I mean, there's probably some jealousy. There's probably some, I don't get it. I can't relate.

But you talk to people in their 40s and 50s who are going, oh, I lived it up too much. I wish I had gotten started earlier on. Simple things like investing because of compound interest. Simple things like learning how to grow myself as a person in my career path, starting a business. I mean, you waste all this time in your 20s if you're not careful, and then you look up and you've got a family and the kids. And most people my age can't do what you're doing right now without losing something they really care about. And so I think there's really a principle here. and the earlier you can start on investing in the right things,

you just have so much more runway to set your life up for success and to bless that many more people. You know, because I know you're not doing it just for you. I mean, you really care about these people. Yeah, and I've been focused, and a lot of people my age, they compare them to me, which has been another thing that's deteriorated relationships, is they compare, and why, you're just so far along or this and that. It's like, well, I've been focused,

I've had the opportunity to focus on one single path, since I was 18 years old. So by the time I'm 30, I've been doing one single thing for over a decade, which most people can't say. So yeah, I am that far because I've been so focused on one single thing. And I'm happy to pay the tax now because I do know that it'll be able, I've seen the life that you can live. I've seen it.

I lived it. And that was the genius of how my dad raised me. He intentionally put me in that environment to show me what was possible and then said, If you want it, go get it because there's no money here for you. I tried to borrow money from when I started the company, said, kick rocks. You're not. No, it's you're on your own, bub.

So he showed me what was possible and then said, if you want it, you go get it. And I've looked down, I'm like, that's pretty cool. That's really cool. I want that. I'm going to go get it. And not only am I going to have the money and the ability to take care of people, but it's like, I want to be the only dad in the pickup line at my kid's school. All the moms are.

there because all the dads are off at work, I'm going to be there too. I'm going to be there too picking up my kids because I've paid the tax up front and all these other guys, they're going to have to pay it for the next 30 years. I don't have to do that. A lot of people in your generation, you know, it's the greatest opportunity that's ever been available in the world with the technology that's available. I mean, you look at how you started your thing. You're taking pictures and you're posting on a technology that didn't even exist in your... ago and you built this massive platform. I mean, the opportunity is just infinite now. I mean, there was a time you just couldn't do this stuff. Yet I look at, and it's not just your generation.

I mean, I see my peers and even people older than me wasting so much time when they could be getting after it and doing something. Yeah. What do you say to them? I mean, I don't want to shame them. I get it and I get that we just get distracted, but you figured out a way to focus in a world that's very noisy and very distracted. I've just, I've tried to show people like, I've wanted to tell even, even my siblings, like, hey guys, you have the same opportunity I have here. You can do a lot with it. I'm doing a lot with it. Like, hurry it up here. If I told them that, though, no, I don't think they'd buy it. I want to show by, here's what I am creating. Here's what I am doing. I want to show, show people, tell people by doing. I want to, I want to be the example for what really is possible. And, and,

That's just, that's how I live. It's like, if you want to do that, that's fine. I'm not going to go tell you to do otherwise, but I'm going to show people, here's what's possible. I was this, this kid, I don't have any resources that you don't. I had a great childhood and this and that. So I do have things that people didn't have, but I'm not, I'm a complete idiot. I'm the first one to say, you know, my Instagram bio, my personal Instagram bio, I would say self-proclaimed idiot because I'm a total moron. Like, I'm not, I don't have anything anyone else has. I'm just doing it every day, just waking up. Yeah, but you're focused. And you're hungry. Focus, hungry, but I guess what I could say to people too is it's a lot more fun doing this than doing something you don't like to do. So even though it does suck a lot of days, even though it's absolutely exhausting, it's so much more fun than the other jobs I've had that are just not what I wanted to be doing. So I wouldn't trade anything for it. And it's just, it's a much richer lifestyle that I lead right now that I couldn't even imagine for myself a few years ago that I wouldn't trade for anything. So it's worth the additional effort, but some people just don't want to put in the effort. Okay. I don't know what to tell them. I'm just going to show them

what's possible. If they want to do something with it, that's fine. No, that's all you can do. Yeah. As we wrap up, you know, hundreds of thousands of people listening this podcast, most of them small business owners just like you. Based on your journey, what's the one thing? What's the message you want small business owners to hear to encourage them equip them and what we need to be doing right now as leaders in this country caring for people looking out for people thinking about people investing in people letting people make their own decisions just i think a lot of people are afraid right now i think a lot of people are lonely right now a lot of people just need that that care that love that i've never subscribed to the rule with fear mentality you know just just crush people

And I want people to be afraid of me. When you need to be tough with people, if you've got to be straight with someone, you can be straight with them. You can't just be too cushy and lovey and, man, I just, I really love you. And shielding them from reality at the same time. But people just need care. They need love. And they want to feel important and they want to feel part of something. So if you can create that for them, if you can give them that little bit of security right now, I think it goes a long ways.

And it's gone a long ways for us. It's, this year we tripled. So we tripled revenue this year and we re-roatheed more than that. No debt, no banking relationship, no investors, still have 100% equity. And we've done that because I think our people just, they believe in what we're doing. And they believe what we're doing because we have cared so deeply about them every single day since day one. That's been my priority. And now it's starting to pay off as a result. Even if we, even if we didn't want to grow, I could, my people were happy and they knew I cared about them. They'd be serving my customers better. They'd be. creating new ways to do things. They'd be generating new value and just adding more to the business than what would previously be there otherwise. So that's what I would say. So good. Aaron, I got to preach at our audience for a second. Quit dogging millennials people because they're full of people like Aaron. Yeah, there's some crappy people out there. And that's true in every generation. But Aaron, I mean, you give us so much hope for our country's future. You give us so much hope. for entrepreneurship. You give us so much hope for the next generation of, you know, people that

want to make a difference in the world. And I don't think it's a millennial thing. I don't think it's a generational thing. I think it's a character thing. And it's people like you that show up and they say, hey, I don't care what my peers are doing. I'm going to do this. I'm going to do the right thing. And dude, I'm just telling you, it's inspiring. And I've thoroughly enjoyed this conversation. I just, I'm going to be thinking about this for days because, I mean, it's not often somebody comes long and just they have this clear vision they have this clear of values they know where they're going with their life the season of life that you're in and uh dude you've got a bright bright future so thank you for sharing today it's it's been a blessing i appreciate it i joke my dad i tell

them there's still plenty of time to mess it all up though that's true for all of us yeah so uh you got the humility there keep keep the humility that's how you don't mess it up i know a lot of people are going to want to check out your instagram and see these this content stuff that you but now what's the best way that people can find out more about you? It's just at BuildW-W-W-I-T-T-T. If you don't want to be spammed with bulldozers, I'd suggest not following because that's all it is. Don't expect anything else.

And then Aaron Witt on LinkedIn, sharing blue-collar stories every single day of the week. Aaron Witt, great to have you in the Entry Leadership Studio. Hope we can have you back sometime. Thanks, man. Thanks. Appreciate it. After hearing that, you know what my first thought is?

What's your excuse? I mean, come on. Here's a guy. He's 25 years old. He's got his core values. He's got his mission. He's got his operating system. He's got his accountants and his attorneys.

He's hiring people. He's got his platform and his social media. He doesn't feel like he has to know it all because he doesn't. But he's winning. Oh, and when's the biggest growth he's had in 2020? When everybody else is on the beach, sucking their thumb, whining about the economy, whining about the pandemic. Like, here's somebody who's not going to be denied.

I think I felt some healthy conviction just talking to this guy. And as I've reflected on the conversation, I thought, you know what he has? Yeah, he has passion. And yes, he has youth, and there's some energy that comes with that. But what he really has is focus. He is laser focused on a 10-year vision on how he's going to disrupt an entire industry. And you know what? I think he's going to do it.

I mean, the look in his eye, I wish you guys, because you should go to YouTube and look. I mean, the look in this guy's eye, he's got the eye of a tiger. Like, we hear that phrase, we throw it around. Like, he actually has it. Like, he's just not going to be denied. And he's not a big, burly dude. Like, he doesn't have the physical presence. But, man, you talk about heart.

I mean, you talk about somebody you want to follow. Like, I want to hang out with this guy more because he's contagious, his energy and his passion. But he's also humble. he also understands it's about people when your burning desire is to help people not just make a profit but to help people and to do it in a big way and you can find out where people are being marginalized and people don't have a voice and you give them a voice and you bring your leadership to those conversations man you're unstoppable that's where errand's at and i hope in hearing this conversation that you evaluate where are you at

Are you fired up right now? Or are you just kind of going through the motions? And you know what? If you're just going through the motions, it's okay that you got to that space because we all do. It's just not okay to stay there. It's not okay to live there because you have too much to contribute. And I hope that,

and that hearing Aaron's story today is a good reminder of that for you. Oh, God bless America. What an incredible inspirational conversation. You know, like Aaron said in our conversation, you've got to hire great people, and you've got to hire people to your values. You've got to make sure you use your values as a filter. We're so huge on hiring and how important hiring is here at Entree Leadership. You guys hear us talk about this all the time. One bad hire can cost you tens of thousands of dollars, but the right hires are what actually build your culture and help your mission excel. That's how it works. It's why we put together the 12-step hiring guide. Now, these 12 steps are the same 12 steps that every person, I've hired here at Ramsey Solutions. I've hired hundreds of people here at Ramsey. I've gone through all 12 of these steps for every person I hired. So is Dave Ramsey. So is everybody on our operating board. It's the recipe. It's what we actually use. It's not a piece of content we put together so we can have a thing to give you guys. It's our freaking plan people. So we're giving it to you for free, for fun,

because we love you, and you need to make sure that you're hiring good people. So to get this free guide, just click on the link in the show notes. Hey guys, I hope you enjoyed this episode of the Entrel Leadership Podcast. And if you did, share it with somebody. And what an inspiring conversation to share. And look, thank you for helping spread the word. It's not lost on me that the way this thing grows is you send it to your friends and business colleagues. We hear all the time every week someone says, a friend of mine just shared this with me.

Where have you been? So thank you for helping us really grow this thing. That's what it's all about. Also, this is cool. You can now watch interviews and highlights of the Entry Leadership podcast on YouTube. So be sure to follow us over there. Now, look, if you're a small business owner between about two and 200 team members, we'd love to have a live conversation with you and get your feedback on the show,

ask you a few questions to figure out how we make it even more valuable for you. To set that up, just click on the link in the show notes to fill out a quick survey so that our team can call you and set up a call with our producer, the man, Tim Hull. You can actually, you hear his name all the time in the closing, you can actually speak with Tim, and he actually wants to hear from you on what we can do to improve. No, you can't say get rid of the host, Daniel Tarty. That's not on the list. But everything else is on the table, people.

Follow us on social media at Entree Leadership. You can also follow me on Instagram at Daniel Tarty. We'd love to hang out with you over there. This episode was produced by Tim Hull. It was edited and mixed by Will Rutter. I'm your host, Daniel Tarty. And on behalf of the entire Entree leadership team, thank you for listening. Until next time, keep learning and keep leading.

If you enjoy this podcast, you should check out other great podcasts from the Ramsey Network, like The Dr. John Deloney Show. Mental health challenges and hurting relationships happen to everyone, but they don't have to define you. I'm Dr. John Deloney and I help people navigate through the messy things in their lives on the Dr. John Deloney show. I'll walk alongside you as you face parenting, marriage, and other relationship challenges, and I'll walk alongside you as you try to connect with people as you face depression, overcome anxiety, and learn how to change your life. Listen, I want you to be well. Listen to the Dr. John Deloney's show wherever you listen to podcasts.