Ty Greneaux on Acadiana Garage Door's Family Legacy - EP.291

0:00Hire the person, not the skill. You can always train to get somebody that is efficient and proficient in what it is that you hire them to do. You can't hire work ethic. You can't hire people being one time. You can't train that. You can't train people that care. They're going to have it in them.

0:18Alex Bridgeman: I'm looking forward to this for a while. Ty, thank you for coming on the podcast. Think Like an Owner, as you know, is all about growing ambitious small companies that over time become larger. And a lot of them have focused on garage doors recently. And you and I met a couple months ago and it was really fun to spend a lot of time with you. And I'm excited to chat through more of the business through a podcast. And I think one of the biggest things I took away from our time together was the impact your father-in-law had, not just on the business itself, but on you and just the relationship dynamic you had with him and how much of an impact he has still today.

0:58Alex Bridgeman: And I'd love to maybe start there. Yeah, well, thank you for inviting me, man. It's good to be here. It's good to see you again, man. It really, it's been too long. Yeah, so I've got kind of a nerd background, tech degree, never thought in a million years I'd get into the garage door world. Next thing you know, my father-in-law, I'll tell you the short, long story. Very intimidating man. Didn't speak much to him over the years. It wasn't that he did anything wrong or he was ugly. It was just quiet, right? Just a quiet person. And those are some of the ones to be most scared of. You don't know what they're thinking.

1:35We moved to Dallas. I worked for Texas Instruments, and I got a house, 2 ,800-square-foot home,$144 ,000. and they had to cut corners somewhere to be able to pull that off at 144K. Well, what they did was they installed a garage door with no opener. And it was like, perfect. I know my father-in-law owns a garage door company. I'll reach out to him and give him some business and I'll buy his love. A very, very thoughtful thought at the age of 22 years old, right? Like that's what he needed now. So my father-in-law, the good man that he was, came up the next weekend and said, sure, I'll bring you a garage door opener.

2:12He didn't need to do that. He did it because he loved this. And I was like, I'm going to help him do this. And I'm excited. I'm going to bond with your dad. That's what I've kept telling my wife. I'm going to do this with him and we're going to bond. We're going to connect on this. You know, gets the opener there, the garage door opener, puts it on the ground. Well, I don't know what I'm doing. So let me do something. So I rip the thing open, take all the parts out. Well, little did I know that's not what you want to do. So I'm sitting there putting everything out, separating everything and just making an absolute mess of it.

2:41And, you know, it took us about an hour and a half and, you know, I'm asking them as many

2:45Alex Bridgeman: questions as I can. There's a lot of yes, no answers. There's not a lot of detail. And when it was all said and done, like I said, it took about an hour and a half. And every time I tell this story, it makes me laugh, but it also immediately brings me back to that day. It was a painful install. I tried to bond with them and here we are at the end. I was like, wow, Frank, His name was Frank Urban. I said, we killed it. Hour and a half, hour and 45 minutes. This was good. And he turns and looks at me. And again, I remember this like it was yesterday. Well, if you wouldn't have helped, I would have been done in 45 minutes.

3:20And that was a crushing blow of will we ever, ever have a relationship?

3:27Alex Bridgeman: I think it's worse now than before we did the garage door opener, right? And that's the beginning. That's how my garage door entry came about. And that's how I got into the business, funny enough. And fast forward years and years, 2006, that was in 2023, I believe. And in, or 2003, sorry. And in 2016, my father-in-law passed away. And when he passed, ultimately, he ended up being one of my best friends, biggest mentors. I learned more from that man than any business degree or college education I could have, I could have found. And I'll give him all the credit in the world. That man knew how to treat people.

4:07That man knew how to build a legacy. He knew how to impact lives. And it just changed my life. One of the last things I'll tell you about him, and I answer any other questions you have, but I was responsible for taking his cell phone when he passed away. So the people that didn't know he passed, I was the one that had to tell him. What a difficult situation. I'm dealing with my family mourning. I have to be the strong one to figure out what we do post Frank's life. And I'm also having to have calls. Hey, Frank, I need a garage door. I'm like, this isn't Frank, this is Ty. Let me give you the bad news.

4:44And, you know, there's some really crappy people in this world, but when they pass away, people have things, good things to say about them. That's just human nature. Oh, he was a smart man or, oh, he was a good dad or whatever, even though not a great person. This is not what this was. When I would tell people that he passed, they, they would just fall apart. It wasn't like a normal reaction of, and it wasn't like family.

5:08Alex Bridgeman: This was distant people that he had impact, made huge impacts on their lives. And what I quickly realized after going through a few of these phone calls, nobody was talking about how much money he made. Nobody was talking about how successful of a businessman he was. What they were talking about was how he impacted their lives and why their life was better because he was in it. And for me, that was the biggest lesson I ever learned from him because I had to look internally at my own life. What would happen? What's going to happen? What are people going to say when I have to give my phone to somebody to let others know I'm no longer here?

5:45What are people going to say about me? We're going to talk about, man, what a great company he built. Or look at all the toys he had. None of that matters. What matters is your impact on people. And from that day, that time period, I decided my passion in life needs to change. I need to learn to serve others. I need to learn how to impact people. I want them to be better because I'm in their life. I want to be impactful. And after that, truthfully, I changed everything, including my business. And when you start to do it, others start to follow. But people have to see that and they have to see consistency.

6:21And that's one thing my father-in-law always had was consistency in that. And for me, I hate to admit it, but that didn't come by nature. That wasn't just built inside of me, right? We're all selfish by nature, but I would serve others as long as it served me as well. I had to make an active every situation. Am I serving others in this moment? And truthfully, I failed a lot. But the longer you do it, eventually something snaps and that becomes who you are, right? So my passion in life now is to serve others, make people better. Anyone that I come in contact with, I want them to be better because I'm in their life.

6:57That's the legacy that I want. And that's what Frank taught me. And with that, success comes, crazy enough.

7:03Alex Bridgeman: Yeah, absolutely. What were some of the behaviors maybe you started to change? And what was that pivot point for you? So when you're busy, as fellow business owners, we all know, it's like we don't have time to brush our teeth. It's like, oh, I got to take effort. I got to be intentional with my time and take effort in investing in people's lives. So one of the examples are like, have employees, our employees would like to make as much money as they can, but money is not the only thing that drives them, right? Everybody's driven. We got to get our minimum, but what really drives this is all different.

7:44Some people want more time with their families. Some people, hey, I don't want to work weekends or, hey, I like being recognized in front of my peers. But that takes effort to figure out what their motivation is. And as a business owner, good Lord, sometimes all you want to do is just, let me just give you the bonus. Let me just, let me just pay you off, right? Taking the time to learn what motivates your employees and what they care about is, is a huge deal. And I think that's, that's a big part of serving, serving others. That's one example. I could go a million examples because he did that.

8:20That's what he did. You know, that man would wake up at four o 'clock and go to bed at nine o 'clock, was the hardest working person I've ever met, would not stop. He wouldn't sit there and watch TV. Every second of his day was filled with intention and his intention was to help others.

8:36Alex Bridgeman: Can you tell this story on the golf course talking about, well, not talking about buying his business? Yeah. So, you know, I guess that was 2003. I think it was 2006. 2003 was when we put the operator up. In 2006, my father-in-law talked to my mother, or 2005, my father-in-law talked to my mother-in-law who talked to my wife who talked to me and said, hey, my dad wants you to buy the business or get involved in the business. I'm like, really? Well, at that time I was burned out and I was looking for a way to move close back home, back to home so we can have a family. Then I was like, man, this will give me a break.

9:11We'll do this for a couple of years. Yeah, I'll think about it. Well, I talked to my wife, My wife talks to my mother-in-law. Next thing you know, we have the golf beer summit, right? Hey, my dad's coming down. You're going to go play golf with him. And I'm like, your dad plays golf? I had no idea. I didn't know anything about him. So next thing you know, he shows up. We go play golf. We proceed to have 18 holes of the most awkward round of golf you'll ever have. And I was not going to be the one to bring it up, right? He's got to bring it up. He's asking me to buy his business. I don't need, you know, I'm already a little perturbed from the last garage door opener issue we had.

9:49If he wants me to do it, he's got to have the conversation. Well, he smoked his little cigar and drank his Dr. Pepper. That's what he's known for, cigars and Dr. Peppers. And funny, he lived long, way longer than you'd think somebody that would have that habit would live. But we go through all it. Not one time did we talk about business. It was just awkward hold. And it was slow play, too. So it wasn't the four-hour, three-and-a-half-hour. It was a full four-and-a-half, five-hours. And at the end of it, we're packing up and we're going in this truck. And at that time, he decides to say, so I hear you want to buy my business.

10:28Like, at all times, this is when you want to have that conversation. As we're packing up our clubs, we just had five hours on the course, and you want to do it now on the packing of the clubs and 15-minute drive home. So I'm like, I don't want to buy you. You want me to buy your business, right? It was funny, you know, looking back, back and forth. But ultimately, that conversation started a much larger conversation with, all right, what does that look like? What does that turn into? And, you know, I think anybody in their right mind, if they thought, hey, my father-in-law, an in-law, not just a family member, your father-in-law wants to go into business with you.

11:06What are you? Is this wise? Is this something I really want to do? And I remember my dad, so I was working for Texas Instruments and had a really great job and I was progressing in a career. And from the outside looking in, everything was going well. But I was burned out and was tired of traveling. My dad, when I told him what I was doing, he goes, are you crazy, son? You want to come, nothing against your father-in-law, Frank, but you want to come move back to small town Lafayette, take over a garage door company and leave the corporate job that you busted your butt building a career in? If I'm being honest, I just needed a break.

11:43Alex Bridgeman: I needed a break in the corporate world and all that was going on. I didn't know what I was doing. But, you know, there's those few moments in life where you don't realize how big of a decision point is going to be. That was one of those that, you know, I was borderline. I'll do it. I won't. Okay, let's do it. And I'm super conservative normally. That was one that we just said, all right, let's do it. I'm all in. And here we are all these years later doing huge things. Never in my wildest dreams we would be at this level and as blessed as we've been. What are some things you did in the business that you feel had the biggest impact on how the business grew, the reputation it had, the love that people had for him and the business together?

12:30Alex Bridgeman: What stands out to you? Easy. Treat others the way you'd like to be treated. Easy. Live by that. In every sense of every, it doesn't matter who it is, your customer, your coworker, your boss, treat others the way you'd like to be treated. Be respectful and always do the right thing. People say that, but do you live by it? That man lived by it. The other portion that, man, that was a big learning experience. I think by nature, I'm a giver. That man was a giver. Like without telling anybody anything, right? It was just like, I'd find out about this stuff later. I'm like, you did what? He didn't even tell anybody.

13:09Well, that wasn't the point. The point wasn't to tell people. The point was to fill a need that needed to be filled and be impactful in a way that he could be impactful at the point and move on. And, I mean, he would do stuff. I mean, I can go on and on and on about the things he would do for others that nobody knew. He did it for no glory. He did it for no praise. He did it in quiet with nobody looking. and yeah, you do that long enough, you do that consistently, how can you not be successful? So, and look, this was coming from a man that barely had a high school education, right? But he knew how to treat people.

13:52He knew how to build relationships. He knew how to build trust. The other thing that's crazy is man was an introvert, absolute introvert, yet he knew what he needed to do to support his family. And he put himself in the uncomfortable and figured out how to be comfortable in the uncomfortable. Not only did he do it, he did it, in my opinion, better than anybody else I've ever seen. And I always ask him, I was like, Frank, were you always this way? And he'd laugh. You have no idea. I was like, well, I kind of have an idea. Remember how awkward our relationship started? But yeah, I owe a lot to that man.

14:28What a blessing he was in my life, no doubt. But yeah, and I mean, to that, to setting up the opener in 2003, like in hindsight, knowing all this, all the more information afterwards that you learned about Frank, what explains that, that harsh comment?

14:46Alex Bridgeman: Like I could have done it in 45 minutes if you hadn't bothered me. you know i think it's the i took his daughter this cajun girl out of cajun country right so i mean i could do it he he loves me he cared for me but it was also like he's the one responsible for taking my daughter here yeah i'll come put an opener up i'll do it for you i want my daughter home though right there was that i think that might have had had something to do with it i could see that. But let me be clear. He was never ugly. I think it might have been a joke in his own way, but the way he came off. So I would have been done if he wouldn't have helped.

15:25It's just, it's the way Frank is. And to know Frank was to love him, man. Like, yeah, special, special dude. Yeah, no kidding. What things from the way he ran the business have you kept consistent?

15:41Alex Bridgeman: And then there's lots of ways that the business has evolved and changed since you took over. What goes in each bucket in terms of things you changed or what you kept and said, this is really worth keeping? Obviously treating people as you want to be treated is a key core value that has stayed. You know, I think timing was just perfect to where he took that business as far as he could. He built a foundation. what I had was the systems, programming, solution, knowledge. So when you paired those two up together, it was perfect. So what I had to keep was the people aspect. Treat others, be giving, make that part of your culture, not just make it part of your culture, make it the culture.

16:29What I had to change was bring processes and solutions and systems in place that could support scaling. At the time, whenever I got there, his schedule was, the schedule that he used was the largest calendar he'd be gifted throughout the year, right? So one of our manufacturers would send this big old calendar. All right, Monday, September 1st, we're doing an 18 by 8 raised panel white at such and such address. Well, we'd get there, they'd look at the calendar. Here's what we got. The problem is when a customer would call back and say, hey, I'd like to move it to Wednesday. All right, he'd scratch it out, move it to Wednesday.

17:03But instead of white, he left, changed it to a different color. It was like, and truthfully, that dude had a brain where you could give him an address from 20 years ago. He'll tell you who it was, what color and what size door it was. I'm talking all the time. This was like photographic memory. Well, as he got older, he didn't have it all the time. So more and more mistakes were being made. So the biggest change I made was systems and put processes in place that helped us scale. It helped us get to the next level. So that was the huge thing that I brought to the table that he didn't know the first clue.

17:38That's not what he was good at. And you could tell he was at the point where I was like, please, I thought it would be, all right, I'm going to give you this responsibility. You could take that. Okay, now it was like, take it all, please. Ask me questions, I'll help, but please take it all. Figure it out. and we figured it out.

17:58Alex Bridgeman: What were the hardest things for you to learn and pick up on as you took over the business? I think that's another easy one. My life up until that point was driven. I was an efficiency master. Like, if I could save, you know, 30 seconds of task, give me, if I could do something that would give me five minutes back in a day, that was like my passion. What can I do to get better, faster, quicker, and more efficient? From like shortcut text expanders on our keyboard. I mean, just it's ridiculous. Well, imagine coming into a garage door company that doesn't have standards and processes in place. Imagine the inefficiencies that you would come into.

18:46And what I had to learn was I was so stressed, man, we wrote the wrong address. So we bought the wrong color door or all the things that come along with not having the right systems in place. I had to learn the way Frank would. I was like, Frank, this is so like, God, you know, I'm getting all fired up over mistakes we were making. He's like, tomorrow's a new day. Calm down. We'll figure it out tomorrow. So the one thing he was or one of the things he was great at is you'd have all these arrows coming your way. Every day there's something new that could blow up in your face. He was great at, eh, we'll figure it out.

19:24The sun's going to rise tomorrow. Don't stress out. Now, towards the end of his life, we switched. I became the patient one where he was like somebody, I remember it rained that day and there was mud everywhere and the guys didn't bring their mud boots and they called in to complain and he was like, yeah, you're all fired.

19:43Alex Bridgeman: There's just no patience, no patience towards the end of his life. So we always balanced each other off. Yeah, that was a big lesson. Take the bombs and the arrows and everything that's going to be thrown your way. You're going to figure it out. What is stressing going to do for you? Sometimes stress is good. It gives you motivation to do something that needs to be done. But too much stress and stress all the time when you operate in that consistently, nobody can handle that. And he did a great job of managing that. That was a big lesson I learned from him. Why did that switch happen? It was just comfort level you had and dealing with a number of issues that, oh, yeah, this issue is going to be probably this difficult.

20:23Alex Bridgeman: It's going to take me this long. You kind of know more of the unknowns in the business over time. I think as I'm telling you that in my head just now, I was thinking that. Why did that happen? Funny, in my head, I think I just identified it, which is I think I always balanced off Frank, right? Like where I thought he was too laxed. I'm the one that's going to. No, we got to. No, we, and when I thought he was hard, I would be soft. Right. And as, as we got to the end of life and I saw him just getting frustrated and, and our guys were getting frustrated and his patience was wearing thin and it wasn't, we'll figure it out.

21:00I don't even know why we're doing, you know, I had to go on the other end of it. I had to balance that out. I don't say good cop, bad cop, but, you know, I think there was realization over time that his way, the way he did it was the right way. and I was going to last, I was going to have a lot more longevity if I would have gone that route. So I think it's paired with me trying to balance them out and also some maturity on my own. Understanding that, you know, not every issue is a massive issue. I think our guys in the field, our employees in the office, I think they need to see contrast. If you constantly operate at level 10, people will just ignore you and tune you out.

21:41You have to have a baseline and when you get upset, people are going to listen. Oh, he's never upset. What's going on here? So that's what I always try to do. Have a baseline and then have contrast when it's time to have contrast.

21:54Alex Bridgeman: It's also good to be predictable. Like how that baseline helps your team know, like I can pretty reasonably predict every day that Ty comes in, he's going to be pretty much, he's getting kind of within this normal band of, you know, mood and whatnot. Yep, absolutely. It creates some stability. It creates some security and certainty. And in a small business, a small service business, that can be lacking sometimes. I think I was super blessed to identify that early on and realize that was an important asset that he had and that I needed to expand upon. It sounds like implementing systems was kind of one of the growing pains you guys went through.

22:36Alex Bridgeman: Are there any others that stand out in particular? Just even. over and maybe even after you passed? Yeah, I think trying to graduate or mature into the next phase of business and the mindset that requires to get to that phase of business and then get beyond that. When you're hustling, when you're an entrepreneur at that level, you are putting out fires. You are hustling in every sense of the word, in every area of the business. I remember back then, and I still say that today at times, but I wish somebody had a camera on me and follow me around for a day. I think it would be entertaining because it is both impressive and mind-numbingly nuts to watch what my day looked like.

23:24Well, you can't operate that way. You can't scale that, right? And for me, one of the big lessons learned I had to do was learn to trust the people that I bought in. If I couldn't trust the people that I bought in to take some of that load, I bought in the wrong people. It's my fault again. And, you know, for the first, I would say the first 12 to 15 years of being in business, I never went on vacation. I'd go places, but I was never on vacation. And I remember I was getting to the point of just absolute burnout. I'm like, I have to go on vacation and not touch my phone. I have to ignore, forget a business that I own, forget, I just need a break.

24:06and I remember having that conversation with my office and we were small at the time and I was worried, you know, I'm never one to ask anybody to do something that I'm not willing to do myself. And I had a lot of guilt on that, right? I'm going to put all this on them. They said, go. I went on a cruise, seven day cruise. I got back, we had record sales. So not only can they do it as good as I, they do it better. so that was both humbling and exciting all at the same time trust the people quite a duality it's like wait a second what i there's no way there's no way i wouldn't have done okay he did okay and they tell me you know it was an absolute blessing but it was a huge game changer as well hey you know what i don't have to do it all i i got good people here and i need to trust them.

25:00That comes with maturity. I think most small business owners are control freaks, right? As soon as you can let go, assuming you got the right people, that's a game changer.

25:11Alex Bridgeman: What do you feel like you've let go in the last even just year or two? That's a good question. A lot has happened over the last year or two. Yeah, you've been busy. A lot of avid. I would say just learning to trust the ability of others to the next level. It's one thing to trust somebody to handle sales. It's another thing to learn to trust somebody at these each individual levels of tasks. It's another thing to turn everything over to a team. And with the acquisition that happened with Windsor Door or Windsor America, I'm not the Katie Antichristor lead anymore. Now, ultimately, they do report to me, but Jamie Vaughn, our president, who is our office manager, she stepped up to be president.

26:02Devin. Devin stepped up to be operations manager. Those two are taking my place. I have to hand that over and trust that they're not going to make us look bad. And they are just, they are superstars and such a blessing for us to have them on the team. And I'm so excited about the opportunity that they have in front of them and currently what they're participating in. So it's great. I had to give that up. I had to give up control over the whole business. Now they got it. They're running with it.

26:35Alex Bridgeman: What are some keys you've learned about motivating and keeping and making good employees excited to continue working with you? Oh, that's a great question. I think it starts, I think the baseline is respect. Like people want to be heard. They don't want to hear a bunch of words and nothing happens. And I've been guilty of doing that in the past. You get all excited and pumped up and have these plans and then life happens and it doesn't come to fruition. I think you have to break it down to a much smaller level. I think people are motivated and continue to work at the level they do for a company that's no longer mine because I still treat them in the same manner.

27:17I treat them with respect. I try and see what motivates them, try and meet that need, and I try and invest in their life and serve them. Serving others is key. It's absolutely key. There's so much to it. Communication. You don't keep people informed. Their own mind is their worst enemy, right? They make up something in their head that it may be way off, but in their mind, it's fact. So communicating to them changes, especially right now with all the changes that we have coming or that's happening. Continue to keep them in the loop and make them feel empowered. Make them part of the decision process.

27:54I mean, as we went on this journey of finding, hey, is partnering with another larger organization something we should do? A lot of business owners don't share anything with their team until the day comes. Hey, we're now with these guys. Done. You're now working for it. I didn't do that. I made sure they were part of the process all the way through. And in the end, number one, allowed them not to think the worst possible things. Even though I think I did a good job of communicating, they still went to a certain place in their head at times. And we had to just keep, hey, no, here's where we're going.

28:28Here's what we're doing. So communication is key in making them feel like they're part of the decision making. Like I said, listening to them. If they feel listened, they feel valued, and they feel seen, yeah, go anywhere.

28:43Alex Bridgeman: Yeah, it's pretty unique involving your team in that too. It's definitely, you're right, there is some, you know, there's a balance of sensitivity and privacy a lot of owners have. But I mean, talk about buy-in once the decision's made. Yeah, and I don't, If I wouldn't have had buy-in before the decision, if they're like, absolutely not, I definitely don't want to keep that. Imagine going through this process. I'm so excited. We do it. And the team hates it. What did I just do? Especially, I'm not taking a check and running. I'm continuing down this journey with them. I set myself up for failure.

29:20And I think they respect you more for it. Now, that's not always the case. You can't always do that. You can't. Every situation is different. In my case, there's no way I was going to keep that from them. If I was going to yank the existing rug from under them and put a new rug under them, I'm going to make sure they're part of what picking out that rug or understanding why it was picked out.

29:42Alex Bridgeman: What are you hoping to see from Akitiana in the next couple of years? What's the vision for the business look like that you're marching towards? First and foremost, I want to see my people grow in their role, have opportunities afforded to them that I couldn't provide on my own. I want to see success out of these people that have given their blood, sweat, and tears to helping build this business. First and foremost, that's what I want. Second thing, I want to hold up our end of the bargain. Windsor America said, hey, you guys think we want you as part of the team. Y 'all are awesome. Well, I want to continue to be awesome.

30:23So I want to be an integral part of why Windsor America becomes great. I want my folks, my guys and gals to have opportunity that comes along with being great.

30:34Alex Bridgeman: I love it. What about you? What are you excited to do? I'm looking forward to the challenge of all this. What we're building, we're building a 101, something super unique. I want to be part of something special, part of something bigger than myself, and be able to look back. Man, look what we did at Acadiana Garage Doors. And then we took the next step. We went to the next level and did this and had this impact on people. Yeah, I mean, dude, my life is all about serving others. and it's not, I know that sounds cheesy or self-whatever, but that's my goal in life. That's my passion. For the rest of my days, I want to serve others.

31:12And if us building this business into what I think it could be serves others, that's what I want to do. So for me, it's the reward of making everybody around me better and building something bigger than myself. That sounds horrible. That sounds cheesy, but that's my heart, man. That's the truth. I promise you.

31:32Alex Bridgeman: I believe you. I have the ambition to build businesses that have a similar impact on people and communities and lives as Acadiana did. If you're coaching me on businesses we operate around, the Pacific Northwest or whatnot, and you come by and you visit, what are some key pointers or set of principles or values or daily habits or weekly habits that you would probably bring and describe and help us work on? I mean, I think the biggest thing is be selective in who you choose to be a part of the family. I think you, the way I operate, I keep using the word family for my business, but that's what it is.

32:15This is our family and I protect it like it's my family. So if we're going to bring a new person, a new family, we're going to blend families here, I better enjoy working with those folks. They better have a culture that matches up with our culture. They have a, they better have a vision that matches up with our vision. And first, I would also say 100%, never mislead. Always be honest. You can mislead to get what you want, but once the truth comes out, it does no one any good. Maybe you had short-term gain, but in the long term, y 'all are all gonna be miserable. So be brutally honest upfront, protect this family like it's your family

32:54Alex Bridgeman: and choose people that align with you. For choosing people in terms of new hires, What do you tend to ask or try to figure out quickly in assessing a new candidate? I guess it depends on what you're hiring, right? Sometimes you have to hire the skill. It is what it is. I need an accountant. I need a great accountant. I need a whatever. I need a marketing person. I got to hire. But for trainable positions, I hire the person every time. Every time I hire the person and we train the skill. For the positions where there's a skill we actually absolutely have to hire, I'm going to get all the candidates that meet the criteria that we meet.

33:33And then I'm going to see if the person matches what I want to see. Hire the person, not the skill. You can always train to get somebody that is efficient and proficient in what it is that you hire them to do. Can't hire work ethic. You can't hire people being one time. You can't hire people that you can't. I'm sorry, you can't train that. You can't train people that care. They're going to have it in them, you know.

33:58Alex Bridgeman: Are there any things that you ask in particular or questions you like that you get the most out of, you think? There is. There's, you know, today I interviewed somebody this morning. It's fun. It can be a good time. But I think this is one of the key. One of the things that I ask is like, listen, I'm going to ask you a series of three questions. Two of them, you probably had them. You probably have an answer off the top of your head. The third one is going to be tough. Most of the people, when we hire them, we hire them on a 90-day probationary period, right? So at the end of 90 days, we sit down and have a review, and then we make a decision.

34:33Do you get a raise? Do we keep you? Do we let you go? Or whatever. So the first question I ask, what are your strengths? What do you excel at? Most of the time, they have something off the top of their head, really easy, barely paying attention, kind of paying attention, but really not. What do you struggle with? What do you, you know, and they have a prepared answer for the most part. The last one, when I ask them the question, I give them some parameters. I said, the last question I have for you is, after 90 days, we're sitting here crossing the table with each other where we're sitting here now.

35:03What is it about you that I wish was different? What would I want to change? I say, before you answer that, understand why I'm asking the question. Number one, this is an incredibly hard question. So I want to see how well you think on your feet. Number two, I want to see how honest you're going to be. Number three, if you are honest, can I handle the answer that you're going to give me? Now, that, giving them those three items ahead of time, really makes them get in their head and think about things. Like, oh, God, so this isn't just, okay, he really wants, and you can see how people respond under fire.

35:34And then it's truthful. If they're truthful, if I've had some crazy answers to that question, am I okay with that? 90 days from now, is that really something I want to put up with and wish was different? This guy, gal just told me what it was. Oh, no. So that's always been a question answer game that I've enjoyed that gives me a lot of insight, a lot of insight. And then, you know, there's a few other ones, but that's the big one.

36:02Alex Bridgeman: Have you found that most of people's responses have been pretty accurate to 90 days after being hired? Yes, every time. The ones I hire every time. Because I'll bring it up in that 90 day. Hey, you remember you were dead on right about this. What do we need to do to address it? You identified it 90 days ago. You said you were going to work on it. Yet here we are, and I'm bringing it up again. Why are we still experiencing that? Why has that been addressed? You have no excuse. You're self-aware enough to know this is what we're dealing with, right? So, yeah, it is. It's shockingly how accurate people can be.

36:38I had the guy this morning that I interviewed. He sat there, and it's always kind of the same, right? It's kind of deer in the headlights. It's like, oh, I even had one just not answer. I don't know. Right. But the guy this morning said, well, I got a problem with, you know, at times being unprofessional. Like, OK, well, you know, I've owned a business in the past. And when I'm in front of the customer, you know, sometimes we'll just butt heads and I'll really go at it. Well, guess what? That is not our culture. That's not what we're looking for. Can that be fixed? Can that be addressed? Maybe.

37:12Do I want to face that? Do I want to address that? Is that? No. I want somebody that at heart has a servant's heart to serve others. That's not serving others. And if you know if that's the answer you gave in an interview with a person responsible for hiring you, I appreciate the honesty. That was good. But I'm not going to be able to handle that issue that you were honest about.

37:38Alex Bridgeman: What are some things like, okay, this is fine. Like 90 days from now, this is the issue. I feel okay accepting that. And of course, there's others like the one you just mentioned where you're not. That's not going to fly. Yeah. I mean, stuff like, yeah, I have a struggle with being on time. Okay. Well, I'm glad you have that problem. Let's put some things in place so that you're not late. What can we do? I've had people, you know, have a tendency to talk a lot. I'm like, what does that mean? Well, we found out real quick what that meant. they are they like to talk i had another one that admitted you know they have an issue on the phone they're they're on the phone a lot because they have some family issues they have to deal with well we found out what those family issues were it was valid i understood it i understand hey at this point in your life that's what you have to do so it's stuff like that where it's like all right that's something we can work around that's something we can figure out yeah that makes sense any other like example answers stand out as like wow I didn't know that that's probably the worst answer I could tell you on a live podcast I had one young lady tell me she has bad gas I just sat there and did she just say what she said she I think I heard that that was one that I laugh every time I think about it that was the most oh she was she was struggling so much and She wanted the job so bad, my heart broke for her.

39:06And then when I got to that point, that was the answer. I was just crushed. Let's see, what else? We've had people admit to felonies, even though on the application, have you ever been convicted of a felony? The answer, no. But then in that answer, yes, I have. But it's off my record, okay? I don't want to ask you, but don't know. What it was was this, this, and this. I'm like, holy crap. And thankful because, I don't know if my judgment is horrible or what, but up until that point with that interview, dude, I was impressed with him. He was great. And then he threw that bomb. I'm like, well, sounds good.

39:46Alex Bridgeman: Stuff like that. There's always, over the years, I've been doing this now, over 20 years, I've interviewed and hired a lot of people. Nothing surprises me anymore. Nothing. are there any records where you saw that some crime had happened that they were in and it was it ended up you still ended up hiring them and it worked out okay and i had somebody that probably shouldn't even mention it but i had a guy no it's fine i had a guy who worked for me and his cousin he he was a good kid good worker he had a dui that caused some major life issues with other people. And I had a heart and I'm like, all right, like we can hire him.

40:29He just can't drive. And he ended up being a great worker, ended up being a huge blessing. He had some heavy things to deal with in life, but I'm glad we gave him the opportunity because he performed well for us. So, you know, not everything's a no. I like to give second chances. Shoot, number of second chances that were given me, I have to give others that. It doesn't always work out, but I'm never sorry for giving somebody an opportunity that I think deserves it. Even if they fail in the end, if I had something on my heart, if they showed enough for me to give them a chance, I'm always, I'm happy to do it.

41:05Absolutely.

41:06Alex Bridgeman: In closing, what are any last pieces of advice or words of wisdom for other owners? Yeah, it's never as bad as you think it is and it's never as good as you think it is. Ever. That's the truth. I guarantee you if you ask any businessman or woman, any entrepreneur, that's the fact. And if you can keep that in your mind when you're facing those hard, hard times, it's not as bad as you think it is. Also, when you're flying high, don't get cocky. Don't get arrogant in this. You're going to get humbled real quick. You're not as good as you think you are. Stay level. Stay baseline. Show some contrast when it's time to show contrast.

41:50podcast you know yeah that's what i would say that those words were told to me and boy how true

41:57Alex Bridgeman: has that turned out to been i love it ty thank you for coming on the podcast it's great to see you again and spend more time with you excited hopefully do it here in portland here sometime soon yeah yeah absolutely i'd love to do it in person absolutely see you soon

42:16Alex Bridgeman: thank you for listening i hope you enjoyed today's episode of think like an owner If you enjoyed the show, please consider leaving us a review and telling a friend to help more folks find Think Like an Owner. For full episode transcripts in our weekly newsletter, please visit our website at tlaopodcast.com.