Good News York by Growth Mode Content - GNY EP.37 Feat. Jim D'Agostino

Episode Date: May 13, 2025

Good News York: TDO's Impact on Local Manufacturing and Micron's Influence on Central New York In this episode of Good News York, Matt Masur from Growth Mode Content and his co-host Mikey B welcome Jim D'Agostino, CEO of Central New York Technology Development Organization (TDO). Jim shares insights into TDO’s mission of providing consulting, coaching, and training services to small and mid-sized manufacturers. He discusses the organization’s rebranding from a technology development focus to Train, Develop, Optimize, and highlights their role in leveraging grants to help businesses improve. Jim also explains the significance of their recent acquisition of DLS Quality Management and its impact on TDO's service offerings. The conversation touches on Micron’s arrival in Central New York, anticipated to create a surge in employment and supply chain opportunities. The episode concludes with light-hearted discussions about local events, including the New York State Fair concert lineup and viral TikTok trends. 00:00 Introduction and Welcome 00:21 Meet the Guest: Jim D'Agostino 00:47 About TDO: Train, Develop, Optimize 01:32 Services Offered by TDO 04:39 Funding and Grants for Businesses 09:30 Navigating Business Challenges 15:13 TDO's Expansion and Acquisitions 19:53 Impact of Micron's Arrival 23:29 Staying Updated with Technology 27:56 How to Connect with TDO 32:06 Favorite Projects at TDO 32:31 Jim's Passion for Quality Management 33:20 Team Members' Unique Interests 34:36 Jim's Contact Information 34:59 Tuesday Newsday Introduction 35:22 Shawnee Davis Wins SBA Award 36:41 New Podcast Announcement 37:37 Tuesday Newsday: Kool-Aid Man Challenge 40:39 TikTok Trends Discussion 46:37 New York State Fair Concert Lineup 49:41 Syracuse Football Updates 50:39 Micron Facility Rendering 51:04 Darien Lake Mind Eraser Makeover 51:53 Conclusion and Sign-Off

You're listening to a podcast right now, driving, working out, walking the dog. If you're into podcasts, chances are you have something to say too. With RSS.com, starting your own podcast is free and easy. Upload an episode and we distribute it to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and more. Track your listeners, see where they're from, and start earning from ads just like this. If you've been thinking about starting a podcast, this is your sign. Start your new podcast for free today at RSS.com. You're listening to a podcast right now. Driving, working out, walking the dog.

If you're into podcasts, chances are you have something to say too. With RSS.com, starting your own is free and easy. Upload an episode and we distribute it to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and hundreds more. Track your listeners, see where they're from, and start earning from ads like this. Even with just 10 listeners a month. If you've been thinking about starting a podcast, this is your website. Start free at RSS.com. Hey folks, I'm Matt Major from Growth Mode content.

Welcome. It's Tuesday, Newsday. Welcome to Good News York. I'm joined again by my coffee drinking co-host, Mikey B. Yes. And we got a guest. Dude, we have a great guest. And I can't take credit for this one.

This was all you. Well, you know. And Mr. Jim D. I want to make sure I say it right. Correct. Nice. Or not to call me Jimmy D. Whoa.

You're Mikey B. Mikey B and Jimmy D? There you go. That's it. I don't think the world's ready for that. I'm just going to let you guys go. This is perfect. D and Mikey B.

We need a podcast. There you go. Just based on that. That's awesome. Jim is the head of an organization called TDO. Train, develop, and optimize? Did I get it, right? You got it right.

We are crushing you. So officially, though, our name is Central, New York, Technology, Development, organization. Wow. And then probably five or six years back, somebody wasn't me, somebody brighter than me, asked the question, what technology does TDO develop? And we were like, hmm, we really don't develop anything. So we rebranded, and that's where the train, develop, optimize came from.

That's awesome. So why don't you tell us, let's dive right in. Tell us a little bit about what you do do at TDO. Sure. So I'm the CEO and center director for TDO. TDO is a nonprofit coaching, consulting, training organization. We work primarily with manufacturers, but the stuff that we deliver, the services that we deliver,

aren't exclusive to manufacturing. You know, we really break down processes and get into the inner workings of organizations. So a lot of the stuff that we get into could be applicable in any industry. And in fact, we've worked with health care practices, streamlining, like the paperwork intake process. Wow. We've worked with warehousing, distribution, banks, insurance, you name it. So, yeah, so TDO currently there are 10 of us, including myself. we are all, except for one,

degreeed engineers, and we like to say do-gooder nerds. I love that. And recently, over the last year, we brought an HR consultant, a people specialist aboard the team. She's the only non-engineer on the team. And we can talk about that a little bit more later.

Yeah, the solutions that we provide are, you know, we do a lot of lean, Lean Six Sigma consulting. We do supply chain management, environmental health and safety consulting, quality management stuff. Wow. And like I said, with our hire a year ago, now we can get into people, talent management. you know, how are you, what kind of strategies are you developing to retain employees, attract employees. So, you know, we like to think that, you know, in our swim lane, we've got a pretty wide set of services that, you know, appeal not only to manufacturers, but really to anyone looking to, you know, be more productive,

grow their business, help with people issues, things along those lines. That's incredible. You mentioned manufacturing, and I know that's one of your core kind of demographics there, and as well as a number of others. Are there sizes of businesses do you work with? Do you work with a startup versus, do you know, 100 employee company? So typically we work with the small to mid-sized folks. We're not opposed to working with larger manufacturers, but what we find most of the time is that the larger manufacturers, they have their own resources. They have their own engineers, their own HR specialists, supply chain folks.

So, yeah, really where we're best suited is for those small to mid-sized folks that either don't have the resources or they don't have enough of them. Yeah. And just need a little extra expertise there. That's incredible. And so you said you're a non-for-profit. So how does that work? Do you charge for your services?

Is there grants involved? Like, how does all that happen? So yes and yes. Okay. So we are nonprofit, but we say, you know, we like to say we're not for free. Yeah. But with that said, there are a tremendous amount of grants right now. You know, I'll tell a little story.

Prior to my time at TDO, I was a plant manager for a Tier 1 automotive company. Oh, wow. And, you know, we were doing, you know, a lot of training. We were paying for a lot of consultants. and I had no idea that TDO existed, nor did I have any awareness of all the grants and pots of money that are out there. Gotcha. When I was recruited to TDO and I found out about all the different programs and funding

and grants, it really ticked me off. And I still, even seven and a half years later, I still have a chip on my shoulder from that. And so we do a tremendous amount of just awareness when, you know, we take, we go out on visits, we go to networking events. And my number one priority is making folks aware of just what's out there. All the grants, the funding, of course, I tell them about TDO, but we have, we do not have a pushy sales model. Sure. Some folks are, they're not ready or they don't need what we have to offer, but we at least, want to make them aware of all the different pots and money that are out there.

If I may, because I find when I was, I went back to college and people were telling me, you know, make sure you look around. There's a lot of different, you know, scholarships and things. And there's so much money you can find. So if I'm, I'm starting a new business, where are some of the places you can go to look for because you're right. It's not very transparent. It's not like they advertise.

Hey, we got all this money for you. So like a regular guy like me, what's a good first step? Yeah. And so that is a big part of the problem. There isn't like a one-stop shop to find all this stuff there. So every county has a workforce board. So they get money from Department of Labor, other sources. So they have training dollars.

So, you know, that's one source there. In our five-county region, which, you know, our nonprofit, we cover the five counties. Onondaga, Cayuga, Cortland, Madison, Oswego. Wow. every all of those counties and all the counties across the state have a workforce board um but in addition to that the utility companies have manufacturing dollars so national grid has a manufacturing productivity program NYSEG RG&E has a manufacturing accelerator program to help manufacturers uh so that's another source of money our utility bill is probably funded their entire month this past month for NYSEGG

Check out your bill in the real fine print at the bottom, and you'll see an economic fund that we're paying into. So that's another pot of money. There's CNY Works. You know, I mentioned the workforce board. It's honor dogged County has CNY Works. Oswego County has, you know, their workforce board. All the counties do. Workforce Development Institute, WDI.

That's another pot of money. Jeez. So, like, it really is. dizzying and in in from time to time there are other you know one-off isolated grants that you know we met and I've talked about some related to like cyber security you know sometimes the feds or even the state they release a pot of money specific for like cybersecurity CMMC type stuff but you know what we what we tell folks when we're meeting them with them is it's you know please

don't try to remember all the different pots of money that are out there. It's dizzying. There's a ton of stuff. Just let us know. We don't take a cut. We don't mark it up. We're happy to connect you with the funders. We exist as a nonprofit to help those manufacturers out. And there's nothing in it for us other than helping out those manufacturers there. And a lot of folks, like when we tell them that, they're like, there's more to it. There's got to be a catch. But guess what? The 100 or so clients that we engage with every single year, they learn pretty quickly. There is a lot. There is a lot of, a catch and we really are a bunch of nerdy do-gooders.

I love that. That should be the new company name. Forget TDO. Nerdy-do-gooders. I love it. I love it. I think it should be the name of your podcast. NDG.

N-D. It's a perfect. Go-D. Yes. I love it. I love that. I love that. Jim, I want to get into the weeds just a little bit because I know from the IT world that

anytime you're doing anything, even an improvement, if you're changing a process, in the slightest way, there's pushback and hesitation, and in many cases, it makes that fail. As you're working with folks to improve their processes, how do you navigate those sorts of things? Yeah, so another excellent question. So the people person, the HR consultant that I brought aboard last year was brought aboard for that reason. Oh, wow. So, you know, when we'd be working with a manufacturer and we're delivering what we know

are really excellent top-notch solutions. We're fixing processes. We're relaying things out. We're making them leaner and more productive. But the problem we found was not all the solutions would stick. We would check in with a client three to six months later and find out, oh, they had turnover. Oh, you know, they rearranged this or things kind of fell by the wayside. Yeah.

So along with the consulting engagements that we do now, we plug our HR consultant, our people, person into those as well so that she can work on the culture, work on the people side of it, and make sure that whatever solution we deliver, it's going to stick. We get measured on that. And that's another thing that I wanted to mention to you guys is, you know, we, so TDO is part of an organization, a national organization called the Manufacturing Extension Partnership. It is currently housed and funded through the National Institute for Standards and Technology, NIST and IST. Gotcha.

So NIST MEP is a national network. All 50 states have an MEP presence plus Puerto Rico. So there's 51 state plus Puerto Rico centers there. And then every state has its own derivation. They figure out what they do with those funds. New York has also all of the. MEP funds are filtered through Empire State Development through NISTAR. NISTAR opens it up and says we have 10 economic regions of New York.

So we have 10 regional centers, TDO being one of the 10 regional centers. And then we have one statewide virtual hub called Fuse Hub there. And so the MEP network has impact metrics that we are held to. Every quarter, we get a report card from the federal government. And yeah, so every manufacturer that we work with gets a survey when they're done working with us. And the survey asks very objective questions. Did TDO help you retain sales, grow sales, retain jobs, grow jobs, cost savings, investments, all these very objective categories? And every quarter, we get a report card from the feds that tells us how well we did with all those.

categories there. I'm happy to say for the last five years running, we've gotten perfect hundreds on our report card. Wow. We're going to put it on the fridge. There you go. Got to put it on the fridge. We put it on our fridge at TDO. But also, though, that helps with our sales pitch.

Again, back to the comment I made earlier, like people think, oh, there's got to be more to it. Well, we have skin in the game with this as well. I mean, that's a big part of it there. And it's almost like the anti-consult. You're listening to a podcast right now. Driving, working out, walking the dog. If you're into podcasts, chances are you have something to say too. With RSS.com, starting your own is free and easy. upload an episode and we distribute it to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and hundreds more. Track your listeners, see where they're from, and start earning from ads like this. Even with just 10 listeners a month. If you've been thinking about starting a podcast, this is a podcast, this is a lot. This is a lot. This is your sign. Start free at RSS.com. Model 2.

We have skin in the game, which most consultants can't say that. Right. You know, whatever they deliver, they're still going to get paid and they'll walk away. If we deliver a less than optimal product or service, we're going to get, you know, the impact metrics are going to reflect that. And ultimately, our funding could be affected by that as well. So when we go in and sit down with the manufacturing, we tell them if we don't deliver what we say they were going to deliver, you'll reflect that in the survey results, and, you know, we won't be

back. So you have the ultimate locked in advertisement. If you think about it, if you want to spin it positive, like, oh, it sucks. We get a report card every year from the feds. What better advertisement then, look, here is facts and numbers. If we don't deliver, we're out. Exactly. All these businesses these days live and die by, like, their Google reviews and their Yelp reviews

and things of that nature. you're literally getting those five-star reviews from every client. That's to me, what a great selling. I want my internet provider to have that. How do I know you're going to deliver for me? Because we've literally delivered for every other client. And if we don't, I'm out of a job. Yeah, right.

And that's amazing. So yeah, that certainly helps with the sales pitch there. Sure. Sure. But, you know, with that said, you know, we do hear all the time, you know, like the story I mentioned earlier from my previous employer. I didn't know TDO was out there. Yeah. And we hear from manufacturers all the time, oh, geez, I didn't know you guys existed.

And that still hurts. Sure. Despite, you know, our best efforts. And that's why I appreciate the invite today. Absolutely. You know, the more folks we can reach and at least to make them aware of us, but also all the different programs that are out there. And, you know, even folks that tell us, maybe we're not ready for TDO, that's fine.

Yeah. But I guarantee you're spending money on training. You're spending money on a third party of some sort. Let us help you get money for that. There's nothing in it for us other than helping you guys. So let us help you. Sure. What we do.

That's an incredible place to be, honestly. Like, what a good way. Yeah. So, Jim, tell us a little bit as well. You've got your organization acquired another organization, right? You've expanded a little bit. Can you talk about that a little bit? Yeah, for sure.

Sure. So, yeah, about a little over a year back, you know, one of the services I mentioned that TDO provides is within the realm of quality management. So when a business wants to get ISO certified, you've heard of ISO-9,001. So ISO-9,001 is a requirement for a lot of different industries like aerospace and defense. You know, if you want to be in that supply chain, Lockheed and Boeing, they say you have to have an ISO-9,00 certification. And that proves that you meet some certain criteria. You're a reputable company. You have your act together. You have procedures. You're structured. You have processes. So TDO had always provided those consulting services in the past.

But TDO could not go in and certify a company and say, yes, you meet the standard. Here is your ISO certificate. So about a little over a year back, we for many years had been doing work with. with what's called a registrar. So when a company is ready to be ISO certified, we would connect them with this, you know, really one of the only local registrars called DLS quality management.

I reached out to the DLS folks and, you know, just wanted to check in with them. We were getting a lot of questions from our manufacturers about the succession plan for DLS. Sure. And so when I reached out to the owner, at the time, Dwayne, who's a great, great man. Dwayne said, I think I knew your grandfather.

I said, I don't think you did. My grandfather passed away in 2005. He said, no, he retired from GE. I worked with your grandfather. So I started doing the math, and I was like, Dwayne, I'm going to deny that I ever asked you this, but how old are you? And he laughed. And he said, well, he said, you know, it's a good thing we're talking.

And we started to get into succession planning. They didn't have one. So long story short, we worked with them, you know, over the better part of last year to work out a purchase agreement. So TDO, the corporation, CNYTDO, acquired DLS quality management. DLS is its own separate entity. It is a for-profit business. And the way we have our business model set up now is that all the profits

from DLS quality management are filtered back into our nonprofit work so that we can do more of that. That's awesome. Yeah, and so we love it. It was a natural fit. You know, it's ISO-9,001 is one of those growth services that is still, you know, in high demand with manufacturers. We're looking to grow that business as well, do more not only with ISO-9,001, but also to get into aerospace aerospace has its own certification called as 9100 and there are a slew of others there's an

automotive standard there's a medical standard there's environmental so ultimately you know we'll look to pick up some of those other certifications so that DLS can go out and and be that certification body for those others that's incredible this might be a dumb question but I represent the population that is not immersed in this world so forgive me but uh does that affect your government funding when now that you have this business kind of, you know, supplementing for you guys? Are you still able to do that? Yeah, we're still able to do that. They are two separate entities, two separate tax IDs. But yeah, we were sure to dot the eyes and cross the shares with our lawyer on that. Yeah. Yeah. That's a good one. It's a great way to go in a perfect

partnership. Is that something that that certification is it a one-time thing or is it something these facilities have to do on a very recurring basis? It is a recurring model there. So there is a, you know, the first-time certification. And then, you know, there's a surveillance audit the following year, another surveillance the year after that. And then the cycle starts all over again. Oh, wow. Yeah. So it is a, it is a three-year rotating cycle there. That's incredible. Yeah.

So, Jim, listen, I will get thrown out of Syracuse if I have a conversation with a manufacturing guy and I don't ask him about Micron. So how does they're coming to town and everything that has to do with it affect what TDO does or offers? Yeah, so really it's affecting us on a couple of different planes, one of which we're trying to help our existing manufacturers prepare for that. you know, almost, you know, if you will, like a tsunami. We know that Micron's going to employ, what, 9,000 direct employees.

It's going to be like another 30 or 40,000 in the supply chain. Those people don't exist today here, you know, in central New York. And so we've been telling our manufacturers that, listen, at least for that first wave, they're going to be, Micron's going to be looking to pull the best and the brightest from all your companies. Yeah. And so that's why right now, you know, we preach, you know, really developing those retention and attraction strategies. Most of the manufacturers we work with now already have vacancies that they're trying to fill. Sure.

It's going to magnify and multiply once micron starts breaking ground there. So that's the first piece. We're trying to help these folks either fill vacancies or how do we automate? How do we invest in different technologies that will make you more productive and kind of get you ready for that tsunami? So that's one thing. The other piece that is exciting for us at TDO, we are the recipients of part of the Tech Hub funding, the Tech Hub money that you probably read about. So Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse are what's known as a federally designated Tech Hub region. It was something we won, right?

We had to do some work to win that designation. Exactly. We were, I believe, and I'm going to get crucified if I get this wrong, but we were the first semiconductor tech hub. And so, yeah, we are working locally here with Center State CEO. partnering with them on semiconductor supply chain work. So we're doing prospecting, scouting work. Ultimately, when we get into the next phase of this project with them,

we'll be reaching out to companies that are interested in jumping into the semiconductor supply chain there. That's awesome. Yeah, and so we're running a parallel path. We're identifying, working with Micron and this. their folks and also other folks like Wolfspeed and Global Foundries and InfiCon and others that are already in the semiconductor space. Sure. We're working with them to understand what that supply chain need is so that we can have those

meaningful conversations with manufacturers that really want to get into semiconductor supply chain. So, you know, that's really where, you know, we've kind of got our foot in both of those areas, you know, with existing clients trying to prep them for, for this, you know, big. boom that's going to happen but also on the Micron side trying to help develop that identify and develop that supply chain for for Micron Jimmy Jimmy D I would I would get thrown out of here if I didn't ask this because you were talking about automation and things like that obviously AI is at the forefront of everything

and I feel like that is gonna be a big part of your life how do you because personally, it's so hard to keep up with trends and what's changing. How do you keep yourself up to date on that? Yeah. So you're not alone. It is overwhelming right now. And I feel like we haven't even begun to scratch a surface. I mean, the way we try to stay abreast of all that is really just attending as, you know, many classes, networking events, you know, as we possibly can, trying to stay up to date on all of it.

But like you said, it's literally changing daily. Yeah. And it must be more pressure. But for me, it's like, okay, I don't get it. But you have to advise these companies on that. So, I mean, it must be a little bit of pressure on. Yeah. Oh, definitely.

Definitely. Yeah. And it's difficult right now. I don't know that there's an easy button for that. Yeah. Really, especially right now, because it's evolving so rapidly that I don't know that anyone, even the best and brightest in the IT, world like Matt here, probably really, really difficult to stay on top of everything.

Even he, like when I hear Mac go, I don't get it. I'm like, great. We're screwed. You know, if Matt doesn't get it, what the hell? Who's going to get it? Yeah. It's everything. It changes so rapidly. It's crazy. It used to say the IT industry reinvented itself every six months. And now I feel like it's, yeah, maybe six weeks or less. But it's, you have to stay up. And we see too many people in my industry who don't want to. And then you're in real trouble because you get left behind real quick. And not a place you want to be. Yeah, we're lucky at TDO and with DLS because we do use Matt and his IT team for our third-party IT support.

So we've got the best and brightest here to help us stay on top of all those. With mode technology, shout out. Yeah. Appreciate that. Yeah. We love working with, you know, organizations like you. Anytime, you know, my goal in business is to help people. And when we can help people who help people, as you do in your organization, that just sort of makes my day. So it's been great to work within your team is great.

I can attest to that. You know, when people have technical issues, you kind of see their true colors. Sure. And even in, which we haven't had any major crises. but even when there's an You're listening to a podcast right now. Driving, working out, walking the dog.

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Track your listeners, see where they're from, and start earning from ads like this. Even with just 10 listeners a month. If you've been thinking, about starting a podcast, this is your sign. Start free at RSS.com. Issue, all of his folks are nothing but polite and courteous and calm.

And I wish, I hope you can extend that in some of your training because lots of folks could pick up on that vibe. You were joking last week that, you know, we realize like IT is one of the only industries where you have a problem. The IT guy shows up to fix it and you get berated like it's your fault. Like you be like, wait, no, I'm here to fix it. Why are you yelling at me? Yeah. To Matt's point, you know, we, you know, I've got an incredible team at TDO. You know, I brag on them quite a bit, but they're all, you know, wonderful people.

And, you know, we're, over the years as we've expanded the team, when I, when I first took over TDO, there were just three of us, including myself. And now, like I said, there's 10. But as we've added each of the employees over the years, we look for like certain DNA. And one of those is that professional moxie and makeup there. You think about the work that we do and connecting with CEOs and presidents and sea level folks. I need someone that's got a little polish, they're calm under fire. And really, they've been there done that. the folks on my TDO team, they've been directors, they've been plant managers, they've been,

you know, these lofty positions. So, yeah, so to your point, you know, when these issues come up, they've been on the other side of it. Sure. They know how they want to be treated and they extend that same courtesy. I get nothing but respect to people that understand that concept. Treat others as you'd like to be treated. I've lived by that. You don't hear enough. You don't hear enough of it. But anyway, before we get on a completely different tangent, Jim, how do folks reach out? So let's give them the basic information. They want to start with you. They want to take advantage of everything we've been talking about.

Where should they go? Yeah. So our website, www.td.org. So you can start there. There's all sorts of contact info on that. My email is also very simple. gym at tdo.org. You just won the email championship.

That really is phenomenal one. Is your password like one, two, three, easy? Hey, now, Matt, change that. Hey, quick. You know what? Actually, to follow up that question, I think more importantly, when do you feel it's the right time to contact your call? It's a great question. Yeah, so I don't think there's a bad time.

Even if you're like at the very beginning stages of of setting up your business, at least becoming aware of all the different programs that are out there. Again, that's not a bad time to reach out. We work with a lot of other third parties, folks like the Tech Garden, which is now what, Inspire Innovation Hub. We do a lot of work with them, coaching, you know, a lot of the startup folks. But we're aware of a lot of other like incubator.

programs and stuff like that. So even if you're at the very initial stages of your company, that's not a bad time or on the flip side. You know, you're a mature company. You've been around for many, many years. You're kind of stagnant. You're, you know, looking out. You're unsure about tariffs. You're unsure about all this other stuff. That's not a bad time to reach out to TDO as well, at least to, you know, start to get a different be able to get some ideas, do some strap planning, things like that. So really, I don't think there's a bad time to reach out to us. Jim, let me ask you, I got two last questions for you.

The first is we talked about the manufacturers. What about somebody that comes up with a thing? Say I invent this thing and I want to have it manufactured. Are you the type of person I could reach out to and go, where can I find a factory to do this sort of thing? Absolutely. Absolutely. So I mentioned earlier, one of our skill sets is supply chain management. We do a lot of what we call supplier scouting.

So, you know, you reach out with your device and you say, here's, well, I mean, first of all, you reach out with your device and we can help with our engineering resources. We can help with what's called design for manufactureability. I see. So before you even talk to the manufacturer, we can help. we can look at it and say, well, you know, you could probably buy this part off the shelf. If you remove this feature, you could do this or that. So we can help with, you know, DFM, design for manufacturability. But then when you are ready to connect with a manufacturer, we have, what, 15, 1600 here in the five-county region.

Wow. And because of our involvement with the MEP program, we've got a national network, a national scouting database that we can tap into. And we're actually, we're in the final stages right now, we're administering a grant for NIST MEP, a supply chain grant. It's going to sunset later this month, but we've been doing, I don't know, dozens of scouting requests nationally over the last two years or so. So yes, absolutely. If you, if even if, you know, you want to just do some research. You have an established product. You have an established supply chain. You want to kind of shake the branches to kind of see what else is out there. Yeah, absolutely.

Reach out to us. That's incredible. And Jim, the last thing I'm going to ask you is, in your time at TDO, is there a favorite project that stands out? I love that favorite project. They're all my favorites. That's the right answer. Well, I mean, honestly, every single one of us, all 10 of us, I think, have, and most of this aligns with like our skill sets. You know, we have our kind of our pet services, if you will. You know, for me, I grew up coming out of college. My degree is in mechanical engineering, and I got my MBA after.

I've always gravitated towards, well, my first couple of jobs out of college were in quality engineering, so I've always gravitated towards quality management-type projects. I love the ISO-9,001 engagements, especially with the new company we bought. He wasn't kidding about that nerd stuff. Yeah. But honestly, like, I, for me, the most rewarding part of my job is the people's side of it, connecting with these manufacturers, really helping identify the issues, helping to provide resources.

So for me, like in my role, that's the most rewarding part. And I love it. You know, and if you would ask everyone on my team, everyone would have a different answer to you. Our safety person loves the environmental health and safety stuff. Our supply chain folks love the matchmaking that they do, helping folks improve supply chain or find a new supplier. Our HR and people person, she loves people, which is a good thing, I guess, for the role. But she loves the matchmaking. She loves making a successful referral and helping train someone grow them as a supervisor leader.

That's awesome. So, yeah, I mean, honestly, we work with so many different manufacturers and all of us have such different skill sets that I think, you know, we all just, we have our own little dishes and pet projects and demographics. That's awesome. Jim, you're the man. Thanks. We're rooting for you. I'll tell you what, if you send your federal report card every year, we will hang it on our fridge. I like that.

No, we're going to. I like that. That's great. And I'll pay attention to the comments. A little disruptive in class, but he's doing okay. Yeah. He's a do good nerd. There you go.

I love it. He tries. Jim de Augustino, TDO. TDO.org is the website. Probably the best place to get some info and the contact, the phone numbers, all that fun stuff. And his email, I remember it because it's the most simple. You're going to get emails in the middle of night from him now, just because you're the only person. It's just so easy.

You're like, Jim, can you call Matt for me? Appreciate it, guys. Hey, thanks for coming on, man. Thank you. And hey, guys, we will be back in just a minute with Tuesday, Newsday. We got some news stories and fun stuff that Mike and I are going to talk to you about. So stick around. We'll be right back.

Hey, folks, welcome back. Mike's not ready. Fucker. So I'm just going to roll without him because I think it's funny. Oh, you're right. really rolling? I really am. Oh, shit. I'm not even kidding. So I want to mention, I think we mentioned last week on the show that our good friend

and creator here at Growth Mode content, Shawnee Davis, was winning an award. I think we mentioned that. I don't know. We talk about a lot of things. She won the SBA, the Small Business Administration, Small Business Person of the Year for our local region. She got this incredible trophy. And Danny and I attended the awards ceremony. We shot some video. We got some great interviews with some of our good profound friends and Shawnee's biggest supporters. She's the coolest person on the planet. And I just wanted to give a little shout out to that. We'll roll the video that Danny put together from our time there and just another, again, tip of our hat. Yeah. And it also makes us- Shawnee Davis,

gives us a little validation because we've been raving about her since this started. And, you know, maybe people are like, oh, my God, they just, oh, Shawnee, Shawnee, Shawnee. Well, now you see why. This is a prime example. I said somewhere on one of my posts that I don't think they actually make enough awards to properly recognize all the way Shawnee is awesome. But I appreciate them trying, you know? Yeah, absolutely. It's a valiant effort.

Absolutely. The other thing I want to mention quickly is this week, later this week, we are going to drop the first episode of the Where's the Money in that podcast? So this is a fun thing that I did, and we started the first episode with my buddy Joe Doherty. It's been on Good News, York. And the idea is, is we just look at these random business ideas. And especially like on TikTok, on the internet, there's these people that are like, here's a business idea. You can get rich. What we're doing is we're taking some legit business people.

And we're watching those and having a little fun with them discussing the business model, talking about business a little bit. It's a very lighthearted but professional show. And I think you're going to love it. There's a trailer that we just dropped on the growth mode content sites that you can check out right now and later this week. That podcast will be out and everywhere you get your podcasts. So you ready? I'm ready. I'm ready for your stories.

I'm ready for- What's going on on a Tuesday, Newsday, Mike? Tuesday Newsday. Here it is. This one really just, I want to get right to this one because no pun intended, it jumps out at me. The Kool-Aid Man Challenge is being blamed for vandalism trends. Oh, yeah. New York State.

A viral TikTok trend is being blamed for a vandalism spree in New York State. Pause. Hold on. Hold on. I know. It's good news you're going to. A viral TikTok trend? Is this one of those bullshit media things that they completely made up and they just claim

as a viral trend? No. I've seen, well, I mean. Because I've not seen this trend. I think it's a TikTok trend. Viral. I would say baby AI is viral. I would say 100 gorillas.

That's a viral, but I don't know about this. You be the judge. According to SIL live, or S-I-L-L-L-L-I-L-Eve, excuse me, multiple homeowners on Staten Island have reported damages to their property believed to be part of the Kool-Aid Man Challenge. Social media users have posted videos of themselves busting through fences and yelling, oh, yeah. Wait a minute, wait a minute.

Like Kool-Aid man mascot. Is Staten Island? I know. How can they tell? I, that's, you took my joke. That's kind of where I was going. Yeah. Besides being annoyed by late night disruptions, homeowners say the human-sized holes in their fences cost hundreds of dollars to fix.

Property damage over $250. There's no way this is a real story. This is a very real story. According to the Post, the Kool-Aid Man Challenge first emerged in 2020 with 15K, how is it a viral TikTok trend if it started in 2020? You know, it will take off any day now. And it emerged in, of all places, 15 cases reported in Omaha, Nebraska. You're listening to a podcast right now.

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At least four incidents were reported in Westerly, New York in 2021. They went from cow tipping to Kool-Aid Manning. And then another 2021 and another five occurred in. All right, listen, this is a hot take and I want to put out a disclaimer that I do not advocate for property damage. No, this is the coolest thing I've ever heard. Yeah, it's Kool-Aid. Oh, yeah. If you're going to damage property, do it as the Kool-Aid.

Yes. Yeah. I mean, if you're going to do it. acceptable. Almost. Not quite, but almost. It is almost. If somebody coolated through my backyard fence, I would laugh my ass off.

And then make them pay it. And then hand them the bill. Absolutely. You got it exactly. You stole my thunder. I was going to say, if someone Kool-Aid manned my property, I'd be like, you, that was good. Here's the bill.

This is the nerd in me because I'm thinking analytically now. How does this actually work? Because are you wearing a Kool-Aid man suit, Which is, I'm assuming it has to be like a giant like sumo suit with lots of cushioning. In which case, how the fuck does it break through a fence? That's a great. Or are you just a fat guy in a red shirt who was like cannonballing? And in which case, how is that just not an average drunk night instead?

I suppose I should have had videos queued up for us to check. Are there videos of this? Well, apparently it's a viral TikTok trend. Yeah, well, I still. I mean, I don't know. I think you just, fuck it. You find weak fence. Fuck it.

We'll do it live. Fuck it. You're going to look at us. I'm going to look it up. Well, while you're looking it up, that segues me too. I was thinking of like, I've always wanted to start a, like, I don't care to be a TikTok trend starter, but I was like, I bet you I could come up with some. Maybe a little. I have some ideas for TikTok trends.

Hold on. We'll put this video on afterwards. All right. Insert video here. All right. Yeah. We'll put this video on afterwards. video here, but I just want to point out that what I can see in this video, this is the first

one I found when I looked for TikTok or Kool-Aid Challenge 2025. It's just a bunch of kids in black hoodies who jumped through the fence. That's bullshit. So technically they're red hoodies. They are technically cool-aiding through the fence, but there's absolutely no commitment to this bit whatsoever. See, that's bullshit. Fucking kids.

If you're going to do it, at least have a red sweatshers. Right. I would say it's only funny if you dress or, you know, at least make an attempt. to look somewhat like Kool-Aid? Otherwise, you're just an asshole jumping through a fence. When I was a kid in college, I worked at this pizzeria, and there was this dude who also went to college in the local area. Stayed in one of the dorms, and this is a typical drunk college kid thing.

His dream was to get drunk enough to run and jump through a glass window like in a movie. Fuck, wow. Bars real low for a movie. That was his college aspiration. And that was 1999. Did he? I think so in all honesty I think he did try and the window was too much

he didn't break it he just hurt himself it's like jumping into a wall you know yeah but again you know is this this is a trend I don't know I'm noticing a trend maybe I'm wrong but and this is alarming kids breaking fences is not new no have you seen people like suddenly there's cars driving through business windows

Does that seem like that's catching? It just seemed to be a rash of those. Like it started off with the dude at the dealership, right? And I was like... Oh, most recently. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was the big one. Now I just, while I was looking for news today, I saw someone in Vestel drove through like a restaurant window.

What the hell is going on? I mean... Dine and crash? Dine and dash? I don't know. Some of those, I think, are folks that either had a medical event, you know, or they're old folks who confused the gas for the break. Or young kids. who, you know, in a pinch freak out, hit the wrong pedal.

The most amazing part of it, and I knock on wood, is that no one's been killed or seriously hurt yet. Like, it just worked out. Sure. So let's not, can we stop that trend? I don't like that trend. Here's a couple ideas for trends. I just want to tell you real quick update.

Okay. As I'm flipping through the talk. Breaking. Every video I see is that same sort of kids run into a fence and the fence breaks. This is bullshit. I'm really disappointed. I'm sorry I even brought this up, man.

Fucking horrible. This is not news. Do they not watch Family Guy? I know. Yes. Yeah. If anyone made it a trend, it's Family Guy. Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah. Kool-Aid man. It's like a little bit, it's like not so much. It would be great if it just came through the wall right now. That'd be sick. And then we'd give them the bill. All right. All right.

Here we go. What if the TikTok trend is? ASMR screaming ads, okay? Where people are watching ASMR. Is it considered ASMR if it's screaming? No, like in the middle of the ASMR, you break in with an ad, you pay for an ad, and it's just, ah!

And it scares the shit out of them. That's not that good. This is the one I'm really banking on. Is that a trend or did you make that up? I just made it up. Oh, thank God. But here's what I actually thought of with my daughter last night. What if we started a trend to see if you look like your mom or dad,

Like, who do you look like more? You hold their cell phone with the face ID up to your face, and if it unlocks to your face on your mom's phone, you know you look more like your mom. I think you just came up with a good trend. Or if you come up, if it. I was ready to shit on it, but that's, that's not bad, right? A good one.

Thank you. I thought you were going to. Your kid came up with that one. No, no, no. I did. Oh, okay. She didn't bite on it. I go, wouldn't that be a sick trend, daddy?

And she goes. So it sort of reminds me of this, this other trend that I've seen with siblings, where they'll put two siblings like, with a door between them so they can't see each other but the camera can see both sides you know what I mean? There's a spider between them

and they'll go how do you sip your coffee and they both make the exact same gesture like how do you wave hello and they both do the same you know without seeing each other it's one of those bits and you see how incredibly similar they are

I like that though with the face lock who do you look like do you look like them enough? I feel like Apple will have us beat up if that works true and what happens if you don't be a great bit is then the milkman walks in

and then you unlock his phone and then you find out oh that's why my parent you know never mind the new apple paternity test yeah and then my last idea was

you know how they they pick the pope when you see white smoke I do know how they do that yeah yeah what if we do like it's white smoke and we go oh I think they found a new pope and then it's just someone smoking weed

all right you know what let's skip this bit and we'll move on. I want to talk about, well, first, let's do this. Red suit. We're almost out of time. What do you got?

Well, are we? Okay, I've got a couple stories left here, all right? God, you're rushing me through Tuesday and Tuesday. Where is it? Where is it? He's more fun when he's flustered. I know, I know. I got it right here.

What do you got a lot of things highlighted? What's on the paper there, buddy? I know, hold on. I must have mixed it up. Okay, well, we're going to start. Skip that story. All right. And we're going to just get right to.

Please. The New York State Fair concert lineup has been announced. The great New York State Fair. And Red Jump Suit App Eratus is coming on August 25th at 6 p.m. At the Chevy Court, okay. And the reason I'm bringing that up is, and I lost the story somehow, is that one of the band members went to school in Cicero. And so it's no homecoming. Yeah.

They had a couple hits. songs. No, I'm questioning that because I feel like they're like amphitheater style band. Are they not pretty big? I mean, like real big? I think they're at state fair level at this point. They were early 2000s. They had a couple hits.

All right. Here's what we got, though. August 21st, Chevy Court, you got cheap trick. Later that night. Won't you to want me. In case you wanted to feel like you were at a bar in Florida, A smoking cigarettes. Steve Miller band is going to be at the suburban park.

Hold up. The real Steve Miller band? Yeah, the Steve Miller band. I thought Steve Miller died like a decade ago. Dude, I could hit Steve Miller with my car and I wouldn't even know. I don't know what he looks like. Him or Van Morrison. I agree.

He's underrated, though. He's a great song right. Phenomen. August 23rd OAR is coming. Lose Lonely Boys on the 24th at 1 p.m. And then if you're feeling crazy, Buster Rhymes is at 8 p.m. On the 24th? Buster?

Yeah. Hell yeah. Got you all in check. August 20th. I legitimately love Bustle. Sister Hazel coming. August 26. I'm giving you the whole concert.

August 27th, our boys, the red hot chili piperers are going to be at the Chevy Court at 6 p.m. And then August 31st, Blippy will be there if you have children or if you're a psycho. You can go see that. And then August 31st, we're closing it out. Hold on. I see one you didn't highlight there. What?

What's that one on the 29th you didn't highlight? I almost did. Yacht Rock review? No. Oh. Oh, DJ Polly D. Paulie D. Oh, is that the dude from Jersey Shore?

Jersey Shore. Let's go! There's a reason I didn't highlight it. Because you didn't want me to do that. It smells like Red Bull. It's probably for the best. Yeah. August 31st.

The hot take, I genuinely like Polly D. I just lost every ounce of respect. I don't know if that I want to see him DJ at. the state fair though i'm just going to say that's a dude that had like the rectangle he's yes yeah i didn't want he's a legitimate dj though here's the thing like that's that's that was his sort of career before that so i give i got to give him credit so he's not like he's not one of those dudes it's like i'll go into this after he got fame from the show i respect you obviously propelled him but uh that makes sense shout out to polly d and then uh

okay it's at night though because that was my other concern like is he gonna DJ in the middle of the afternoon that just feels like a weird vibe but nine o'clock yeah no it's it's it's late night. It'll be t-shirt time. I will be Yega-Bomph. Also, I wanted to... Babs are here. Mention a couple things.

One, in sports, real quick. Cuse football kickoff. They did announce one Cuse football game time and date, November 22nd at Notre Dame 3.30 p.m. That's going to be a big one. And also, big news, we have a couple. We've got about three four-star recruits

that have committed to Syracuse Orange Football, Amari Goff, wide receiver, four star, Jerius Rogers Edge, four star, and Javion Cooper offensive tackle four star. So look, the coach got hired. They said he would bring a lot of, he would do wonders for recruiting,

and there's three or four star guys coming in. I do want to mention, Danny, I got a pick on the, on the, you just want to pop it up here. Take a look at this pick, man. I want to see what you think this is. There's a picture. Yeah, I want to see what you think this is.

It should be there. He's working on it. Give the man a second. Listen, Danny Tripodi, we love you. Wow. Is that it? Yeah, what do you think that is? Is that Micron?

That is Micron. That is a rendering of, and I should have done, you know, if it was actual, if I was an actual news, man, I would have done the work. I want to say it's the rendering of what it's going to look like. I think that's the finished, like, 2040, 24, or something like that. But that is fucking massive. It's a big place. As we just heard from our guest earlier, 9,000 employees are going to put in that place. Just directly 9,000 and then some.

And finally, I wanted to talk about, have you been to Dary and Lake? Not in a while, but yes. Yeah, me either. Do you remember the mind eraser? Nope. All right, the mind eraser, one of the many. They're just the one that spins you like a... No, this is the one where your feet are dangling. You're suspended, that kind of one.

Okay. You know, and you're going on. Oh, okay. Yeah, they are getting a gigantic makeover for safe. purposes. So they're going to redo that one ride? New. Not just a different ride?

No, that's the only one that is getting a safety upgrade. So I say this with peace and love because I don't want people to be afraid to go on some of these roller coasters. I'm a big roller coaster guy. It's getting an upgrade. However.

It's supposed to be a little afraid. Isn't that the draw? Yes. You have to be a little afraid, but don't worry. It's safe. Anyway. So that's pretty much it for news. We'll see you tomorrow. We'll see you tomorrow on Good News York. Peace out.

That was great.