The Huddle - Episode 100 - Apprentice to Expert

In our 100th episode "From Apprentice to Expert: Navigating Career Paths in Flooring Installation," we delve into the vast career opportunities available to flooring installers. From starting as apprentices to becoming seasoned experts, the journey doesn't stop there. This episode highlights the importance of ongoing education and skill development, enabling installers to advance into various roles such as inspectors, business owners, salesmen, project managers, and technical or sales representatives. Tune in to learn how your career ambitions can guide your educational pursuits, opening doors to diverse professional paths in the flooring industry.

The Huddle was created by Paul Stuart of Stuart & Associates and Go Carrera, alongside Jose and Daniel Gonzalez from Preferred Flooring. Aimed at helping you maintain forward progress in your flooring career, they cover topics from personal and business growth, to installation tips & tricks and everything in-between.

Want to be a guest on The Huddle? Email thehuddleforwardprogress@gmail.com today!

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https://www.preferredflooringmi.com
https://www.stuartandassociates.com

what's up team welcome to episode number 100 of the Huddle 100 he's been wait

he's been waiting all day say one he's been practicing in the bathroom I heard him well you are here at your weekly

Playbook where we strategize not only on playing the game but changing it from sorry about that have a little

technical difficulty but we still know how to help you master your craft and distinguish yourself in the marketplace

we're here to give you the voice and ensure you're equipped with everything you need let's band together on this

episode 100 to forge a new Legacy in flooring welcome to the team this is

where you belong what's up fellas what's going on

brother Day in the Life brother 100th episode uh I'm Paul Stewart founder and

CEO of go Carrera with me as always Mr Daniel and Jose Gonzalez a preferred

flooring up in Michigan and and uh host

extraordinaire of the Huddle flooring podcast we're all right you know I'm

pretty impressed that we we've uh we've reached a hundred we got a congrats from

Tom thank you sir appreciate that Tom runs a uh podcast in the UK so he knows

how how hard it can be to stay on on uh a a schedule and get to a 100 episodes

so dudes thank you so much for being here this entire time thank you to all of our um all of our uh audience and

people who watch the Huddle we certainly appreciate you guys uh you're why we do

it a lot of the topics ideas discussions come from you guys

so all right well today's episode is about moving from Apprentice to expert

um there a lot a lot of different Avenues we can go down so uh you know

I'll get it out of the way you know we got to get educated and it takes experience and those are the the two two

things we got to have to move you know from from any level to the next level so

certainly it requires a lot of training uh years of experience um but if you're

at that point there are some key uh key metrics I think or key key thought

processes that uh you have to think about to go to expert so let me get Mr

Daniel's take what's your take on moving from

Apprentice to expert because it's not like one day you go in you're an apprentice and the next day you're an expert so no absolutely not it's the the

biggest thing is to and I I used to say this all the time and I need to start saying it again it's never stopped

learning right um I think like when I was in school it was

always I always want it to be done you just want to put everything down and

then just never have to learn again but in the in reality that that's not the

case I wish it was but it's not like if you're not learning something new every day you're falling behind and it I guess

it's not even something new it's like being better than you were the day before because there's always something

that you you're you're lacking right so you can become better at what you're doing every single day and I think um

that that's the ticket and I think it really like for me it actually started

when I graduated high school and um it was one of my uncles he in my graduation

card he he wrote in there that uh that he was proud of me and that I'm always

the best at everything I do and I really took that to heart and then kind of tried to well year a few years later

anyways thinking about that and then just trying you know what he's right I am really good at what I do let me kind

of focus all my energy into what I'm doing so that way I can be the best and uh I think that's what really

motivated me into you know doing the installer of the year and honestly I

didn't really think I was that good I thought I was just mediocre at best but

then you know people started ask me where where I learned the stuff from and it's like that guy is sitting you know

in that in that desk right there and we we taught ourselves and it's they they

their minds are blown with the amount of information that we know just by teaching yourselves and that's because

of that mindset you know you have to want to learn and and better

yourself well you say you taught yourself and that's always an important part but you also went and got taught

and open had open mind on learning and I I tell I we all have kids so you know

I've got three new ones in the in the house I say new hell they've been there for about years now so it's not so new

but uh the 14-year-old uh you know he he would

love what I've tried to talk to him about is um learning how to learn like

when he gets down on school or whatever I'm like dude school is teaching you how

to learn more I mean a lot of this stuff you may not actually use until you get

out in the world uh but you got to learn how to learn and that's part of what

school can do for you but what I was going to say is at 14 you know he went out for track for the

first time this year and wanted like wanted to be the the king Supreme on the

team like first year going out like everything he does he wants to it's one

thing um he wants to be the best which I truly support and appreciate but

expecting to be the best without putting in the years of work that other kids have put in is a different story and I

see that same kind of thing in floring in the trades in general like you come

in and you're here for six months and you want to you're you you were you know

with an installer for six months and you want to be the looked at as the best not

that you are striving to be the best but you want to be considered the best uh and you just don't know what you don't

know yet um so one of the things that in

in my opinion that like makes a makes it clear that you're no longer an

apprentice is not that you quit learning you like you said D you don't ever stop learning but you are also then prepared

to start teaching and that's kind of where I seen

as I got better and better where I really I wasn't scared that someone's going to come take my job or you know

this fear that I'm going to be I'm training my replacement all this stuff we've heard in the industry that wasn't

there and that's when I think you become an expert is when you're so when you've become so proficient at your your

craft not only can you teach but you're willing to teach and you want to teach

um that to me is the difference between like an expert and uh you know we'll

call it a a journeyman or a um or an

apprentice yes sir how about you Jose

it's just one of make get up and do some push-ups something get the energy go oh

Energy's there Energy's there bro I just like listening to everybody else talk nobody wants to hear my D voice all the

time come on now you sound so you got that you got a voice for radio bro come

on yeah face for radio yes

um you know it's hard to say man because like like Daniel said just you know his story and my story are very similar as

far as when we decided that this was the career and and we're always going to remain apprentices right like we're

always learning something um uh and like Daniel said well let me

add to that that Daniel was the first one in the household to graduate from high school out of my parents myself and

everything and I'm the oldest so I do want to add to that so that's why that card means more than he thinks to him

about my uncle being proud um and as far as as like when that

transition was made I don't even know if that transition's been made for me yet or not right like everybody tells me it

is everybody tells me that we're good at what we do um but yeah but being good is one thing

dude like when we're talking about going from Apprentice to experts like what what is that that or or even to a full

journeyman what some of the best guys I know want to teach someone else what they know and you guys are the op teach

dude I want to teach wanting to teach and wanting to help and get out on site and show

somebody like I know you guys have went helped people finish jobs but you're also kind of showing them how to finish

a job and how to get from where they're at to a completed a successfully

completed project that that's where expert is to me it's the guys that are

not scared to teach other people what they've learned because they are so confident in what they know and and how

they perform you can teach one other thing and and I'll let you sorry for

butting in by the way because oh no I love it it's what it's for it's what it's about brother but is want you you

know not only are you willing to teach but you understand that there's still a

lot after you've taught somebody to be considered an expert by your client and

that's really what we ought to be thinking about is from a customer standpoint what makes an expert right

there's still a lot you can show somebody how to properly groove or cut

or weld or grout or any of the disciplines but there's still a lot they

have to do to be considered experts from the customer they have to execute there's a lot of execution in there

so you know carry on if that thought helps at all but that's kind of my uh my

two cents no it all any information helps right like so I wrote down I wrote

down I keep looking over here because I'm writing down notes as as we start talking like I always do uh

um I think uh once I hit that um once I decided that I wanted to teach

instead of instead of keep going because I'm still learning but that Comfort level that put you in the classification

of expert you're right I am comfortable talking about a lot of things with the client um I am comfortable giving them

answers I'm comfortable educating them I might not have all the the scientific

terminology down like Daniel does because that's what that dude likes to remember uh but the um being able to

explain anything in the manner in which anyone can understand is my superpower um and that is through learning

alongside of everyone and and going through my my trials and tribulations as

an apprentice as as a journeyman learning everything that I that I did to get to that label the the expert labels

bestowed upon me I never once started telling people I'm an expert I just tell people or have told any anyone who's

asked that I'm I'm my knowledge is pretty extensive in this category but

they're still more I like I like what you said it's not a self identifying thing it's what other people identify

you as an expert um you know you can claim it after after other people people

have told you though so you you are one of the more humble guys I know I'm

trying to be man because I don't like I don't go out there and and and push that um that agenda from about me on anybody

well you're just that way man both you guys are and that's just kind of how it works uh maybe that's a a good sign

because a lot of the real good guys that you know they're like oh man I'm I'm pretty good except for it I think he

tell you how good he is it's like uh that goes back to that old school Bruce Lee um comment when they asked him if he

was good he said um if I told you I I was a good I would be boasting but if I

told you I I I wasn't you know I'd be lying yeah so says that that her dad you

know set the standard for her at a young age trained everyone that walked through the door and never hesitated to show

someone another way and I think uh oh we got another comment coming in right here

also rewarding them for advancing their skills even with something as simple as not only traving glue but now they are

trimming a wall they're making a seam and you know it's not even just showing them another way it's um being an expert

is looking at them and asking them hey maybe you know something I don't too

right because there's been yeah like uh who's the who's the person that said that it was Steve Jobs or Bill Gates or

something said that they like to hire lazy people because they'll find an easy way to do

something well yeah once you figure out the uh standards finding those shortcuts

and those tricks is is um probably a good sign you

know of an expert as well I think it what Elena said is is

proof maybe for her dad being an expert is the fact is he wasn't he wasn't

scared to show any we've had like plenty of talks on this podcast about how

installers get this mindset that like if I start training somebody else um that

I'm gonna all of a sudden train train my someone to replace me that like you call

a Daniel scarcity mindset you know yeah really the the experts they're not

scared because they they know what they have to offer and they want to teach others they want that knowledge to get

uh sent on to other people so for all you experts out there uh you know train your guys get them get them a good

foundation and you know on job site training that's that's a tradesman's path I mean we all learn on

the job but at the same time we have to get in and get reinforced with some certifications and some some industry

standard training as well that's what helps us really like solidify that we're doing it the right

way and once you have that Foundation I think that's where I've learned uh

you'll learn tricks in those things but you'll also learn how you're supposed to do it and and once you have a really

good foundation you can kind of start to find your way of doing things I know you guys both have little tricks and stuff

of how you do something uh I know a lot of to guys have their tricks of how to

how to do something whether it's mitering a corner or making it you know or even you see a ton of videos on

striking uh you know uh silicone uh corners and things like this everybody

has a little tricks but the fact is you got to do it get that Foundation First that's what I think

anyway yeah just a basic General understanding of what you're doing uh is

is the best foundation um and also adding to that Foundation is is the

science behind it right because the science behind everything will will actually lead you in the right direction and

what I would say what shortcuts or what um I don't want to say shortcuts right

like that's that's a bad word techniques what techniques what techniques or tricks uh that that you can add to your

toolbox uh and keep up your sleeve uh for specific uh materials items

scenarios um I just talked about this with one of my buddies the other day who has uh purchased some some wood flooring

from us and he's like I got glue everywhere I wiped it on my boots I wiped it on them like dude it's like

Daniel was like that too Daniel wiped it on his pants I just started wiping the glue like when I'm gluing started wiping

it when I where I know it was going to be covered on the back of another piece on the wall where the base is gonna go I

said I kept my pants clean like I didn't have any glue on my pants after a while I can't say I can't say I kept mine

clean but I I started carrying a a wet rag with me a wet rag yeah yeah yeah

unfortun down every now and again yeah I just uh uh I would just

keep a wet rag but you know to each their own in the early days I look like

my uh the fronts of my pants were made of glue so I mean you know they would stand

up I would still look like that today right now it become it becomes habit right so

we've identified that clean pants are not a sign of an expert

right come on man an expert at keeping your pants clean but that's about it

um so I I think that depends right because looking at when we were watching

like Chris susum at the installation competition and the way that he was like

calm and collected like some of these other guys were all like like us you know all dirty and stuff and wiping

stuff up everywhere but not this guy he's calm collected not sweating really

super clean and just going about his day and that's him being an expert us not so

much I be sweating all over stuff everywhere it's like there's there's

different there's different looks and it's just what whatever look you take

and it gets the job done I think amen well I I um if you wanted a path uh you

know some of the great training companies out there whether it's CFI aft

you know install uh if you're in the union um there's uh

NCT NCT uh o OPAC like there's all these

different train in fact if you if anybody in the audience would love a

list of the training entities out there where you can go uh to their websites

we're happy to send it to you or you can go to go career's website and go to training and you can see all the

different um organiz a there and although not all of them are on our

website we're happy to send you even the unions and the the different places

where you can get that training but going through those um those entities I tell you what we've had guys go through

I had a couple it's probably been over a month ago now I had one of our guys

that's uh he's been in stallen floors forever but he went through a pattern uh correction course with with Robert uh

Varden and it he came back like in awe and he's been doing Casino work and and

patterned carpet work for a long time so getting to the trainings uh you'll

you'll you know if you've watched the Huddle you know I'm always a a proponent of that because those are are places

where you'll learn little tricks you'll also start to build that Foundation where you can teach other people that's

where I learned how to teach other people is is going through different courses and such and um because you you

take note of how you were taught what resonated with you in the course not all of us are great teachers by by nature

and uh I wouldn't say that I am I had to learn that I would say that I agree with that

last statement like it I have to have to be in a it's got to be a good day for me

to be considered to for me to consider myself a great teacher um there's a lot of there's a lot of outside sources that

could dictate your patience your uh the way you deliver uh what you're trying to

say um and also making sure you have the time right it's hard to teach when

you're when you're in crunch time or always encourage time I I will tell you that but yeah like teaching is also

something you have to learn too right so it's just one of those other things that you have to take the time out and you

can't just get out there and day one you're going to be the perfect person is just like learning the trade it's

learning how to teach yeah what's your name is John John John the Florin nator he's the

only one that day one he was perfect well I I you

know in all the conventions and different times we've been around

CFI um you know that's one of the things they have a train the trainer because they know that they have to teach others

how to teach you know what I'm saying and uh and uh Dave Garden says it all

the time you know it's important it's it's one thing to be really really good at what you do but being able to

transfer that first off being willing to transfer that but then after being willing having the skill set that it

takes to teach other people I mean you know teachers go to school to teach [Music]

kindergarteners right and then yeah so they go to school to learn how to teach young children uh you're trying to teach

other adults it's as it's as important that you learn how to teach and that's

where you'll learn it is how you learn um and uh you know when I when I first

got in the trade I I was taught not in a great way it was uh it was it was not

the best environment for learning um I hope that's changing in the industry uh

because a lot of mechanics as we called them uh were not the friendliest guys to

work with and uh hopefully as real experts will try they want to pass on

their knowledge that's that's my view and I believe that uh hopefully that's

kind of changing I see a tide going to back to education back to a mix of

Education with your experience and uh I know a lot of the CFI people get on here

and tell you that's that's the key to success in any trade is learn it apply

revise learn reply REI or apply revise you know and continuing that that course

throughout your whole career um that's why you guys are so good at different aspects of floring and not just one

aspect of flooring right you know what I'm saying like understanding what a how a spec reads and you start to understand

like you said Jose about the scientific side really we're talking chemistry when

you're starting to talk about the acrylic adhesives and the latexes and the the the different types of adhesives

on the market and how they apply to the flooring um uh products that you're installing

whether it's an epoxy set or you know get into tile in your epoxy setting and

grouting or thin setting thick setting you know all this stuff uh has to do

with chemistry um and I think that's an important part too is learning that stuff it's hard to

teach somebody you can teach them how to cut something right but if they don't understand the the chemistry of why

they're doing something that they're doing whether it's in residential or commercial um that's where you can have

some issues uh we talk a lot in floring about having to be concrete experts

chemists you know environmental uh experts and and uh flooring experts all

in the same package but there's a lot of Truth to that and that's that expert level is when you can know that not only

I know how to install this product but I know the environment supposed to be installed I know the adhesives I know

the surface profile the concrete that's necessary all that stuff oh yeah yeah

yeah and you know what I do want to add to that because what you just you just made me think of something too it's it's not only knowing it but right but

knowing where to find the information if you don't know it offand um that can

play a very important very crucial role in in that that expert level or expert

category um is understanding who what when where and why and if you don't know

any of that just this is the direction I need to go give me a little

bit yep yeah Elena says that there are just as many professional skills needed as

hand skills to be top tier installer and that's true because

you you just have to be all-encompassing right to to be considered one of one of

those top and because do a lot of what do you consider a top tier I think a lot of

the looking like big picture stuff a lot of the installers are are more independent our our industry is ran more

on Independent installers than the the bigger companies so when you look at it in terms of that you know you need

someone that's going to be running their own business so they have to be personable they have to be great with the the customers with the clients they

have to be good with the the paperwork side they have to be good with you know being able to teach someone

because it's it's hard to do everything by yourself especially when you're talking about like doing carpet you

don't want to be carrying trying to carry up a a 50 foot roll of carpet up three flights of steps by yourself right

so it's just you know little stuff like that so there there's so many important parts to being able to to be one of

those those top guys and then I think one one thing that ends up happening is

um people start looking at it and it's like they look at you and I mean we've

been doing this for 20 20 something OD years already and it's like I want what

you have right now but at the same time I don't want to do all the work that you

put into it and that's where I think we need to start building something out to where it's like where where do I get

from this point where I'm at now to where you're at and I think that's kind of what this episode kind of entails

right it's like how do we all come to an agreement because I've had conversations with people and no one seems to agree to

where where we start where what the next step is and then where where are we

going with it and then without agreement like what's going to happen do does someone like us just put something

together and then just push it out there yeah and there just a lot of variables to to factor in that too right like

individuals have to understand that they'll have limitations set and by themselves not only by themselves as in

this is all I want to do but there are those limitations that this is really all I can do and understanding and

recognizing uh your limitations and boundaries that are set forth is very important in in the progress of from um

Apprentice to expert right your expert might only entail one or two things versus several things so like it's just

you kind of bro you kind of broached the you know from a skill set standpoint

into uh the fact that our industry is so heavily uh represented by uh subcontract

independent these the independent installer in general whether you're getting your work

from excuse me getting your work from the market or you're getting your work

from shops your your own company and like you said Daniel now you got to

learn some of these other skill sets to be professional you can still be an

expert but that we've talked about this plenty of times you need to decide whether or not your expert level um in

ation skills um should be a should be if you're say you're an employee if you

should go over to that other side because there's so much more that you got to deal with but go back hly like I

think we just have to start looking at it as a long-term thing right it doesn't

matter if you want to go to if you feel like you want to go to the other side it's you only you got to start looking

at everything is you only have so many miles on your knees once you once you hit that that M that last mile what are

you going to do after that and we're kind of going through that right now um because you'd be proud of that that guy

right there Jose put a spreadsheet together for the guys to go through and we're keeping track of stuff on every

project and you know just like with everything new there's going to be some push back with everything and um we have

what what I call the Monday meeting but today's Tuesday since yesterday was a holiday and uh we had the meeting this

morning and he's like yeah man like this is one of the guys was like this is just really like I'm having a hard time with

it because I'm used to just showing up doing my job and going home and I said yeah but what you need to realize is

that you know we have someone here that used to work at a factory and even in a factory he was doing this exact same

thing so it doesn't matter where you're kind of like going this is something

that you're not going to get away from and if you're going to keep on pushing back you're just going to keep on holding yourself back yeah so tell me

about the spreadsheet what's the purpose of it well at first I had to get my sheet together um to learn how to do it

that's the that's I just want to open with that but Daniel can explain the purpose now so the the purpose of the

spreadsheet is just to keep track of the project on a daily and a weekly basis so

that way we can see where we're falling short like where time next where where

time is lost what is our Act a what's the average that people are putting in and stuff like that so that way we can

better do job costing and stuff like that yeah it also gives us a little bit of a metric as to where we're failing as

Leaders to to educate and to train right um that's also what it does because if

we're consistently showing that one person is um not completing x amount of

square feet in in the time frame that everybody else is or they're

you can just tell what's a burden a a t a a burden of a task on someone's

shoulders right so we're trying to alleviate some of that and understand where we're falling short and what can

we do to be better so that way just trying to identify areas for where there's room for improvement right all

the way around it's not just one person it it is it is a wide open window um on

on what people are doing right because it's a sheet that everyone can view and they can edit their their own stuff um

but it it's also a wide open view on where production is being made where production is being lost and where we

can be better um and it also tracks all the information that we need for billing and and and surprises at the end um

because that's something let you guys becoming experts in business right I mean you're just going from one one

thing to the next and that's kind of what you were talking about Daniel is like yeah and when you when you do

decide to go over you're always trying to find room for improvement maybe that's one of those identifying factors

of a expert is someone who's constantly looking for how can I be better at what

I'm doing whatever that is you guys are you know known as installer uh expert

installation professionals but you're also running a a full business that employs other installers and so you're

trying to find ways to improve that whole experience for your customer and your employees right yeah there's

there's a lot that goes into it there definitely a lot that's just tip of the iceberg there too yeah I mean we've had

episodes on on uh running a successful sub company and and starting kicking

your uh business from a you know launching a business and all that but it's all about being willing to learn

and having an open mindset and really being a problem solver thinking about those areas where we're we're falling

short and what kind of systematic approach can we take to to improving those and that's where your spreadsheet

comes in I mean you know um that's a lot of the reason why the metrics that are tracked on

goera is professionalism attitude punctuality dependability and

exceptional quality one of those have to do with your craft the others have to do

with the way you approach your craft and that's that's another thing I'm telling you what if you can knock those five

metrics out the park whether you're working for a shop or you're working for a uh direct with a um you know a client

a customer those are the things that everybody looks for um you know that

we've been blessed this last month on go career to have a an enormous amount of work orders going out on the network and

guys getting kudos for these metrics and you're starting to really see where guys

are standing out and and approaching the business a little bit different L um

it's it's one of those great equalizers right now in the in the industry is most of the like we have had such good luck

knock on wood uh with getting our work orders filled not for my company even

we're talking we have 16 other clients on go career but what I'm getting at here is that most really

um most of your handyman kind of installers that do not necessarily do

the best work they won't even get on that platform uh so the very first thing

that I've noticed is being willing to like put yourself out there here's what

I know uh and I want to improve and getting your Hammer rating and those

kinds of things those are steps kind of in that same direction they can be applied through anything goker is just

an example of it but if you did whether it's in business like you guys are doing

a spread spreadsheet to help improve yourself that means you have to track what you're doing now and discover where

you you may not be doing the best so that you can improve and uh you know

expert like I I think of really good installers they want to know I like I

want to know if my employees think I'm a good boss and so I encourage them to tell me you know if they feel like I'm

falling down somewhere to just display that come and talk to me about that let's get better together and

you guys have that same attitude and customers love it um at the end of the day it it all ends up showing in the

products that we put down gotta put a little bit of that love into it that's for sure and you talk

about giving Kudos I do just want to bring up um I want to give kudos to Dan

and Denise uh from D and D flooring I don't know if you guys even have seen

But Denise has been going through a bunch of stuff with surgeries and and whatnot so they've uh fallen on some

hard times so I just want to give them you know this the support that they need right now they do a lot for the industry

as well so if anyone has anything that they can do you know scan this right

here go to the GoFundMe and give what you can I mean even you know $5 you know

can can go a long way with what they got going on right now so we we appreciate

everything that Dan and Denise do and I'm supporting them today um Dan

was one of my uh one of our certifiers over when we did the nfic and uh he

argued with me for a long time about doing it but I'm sure we'll see him at the at

one of uh the sheet vinyl certifications at some point even though he said he's not going to do it but that's the that's

the yeah let's leave that up for a little bit guys let's support uh Dan and Denise and that's the beauty of uh help

out our fellow flooring uh yeah folks it is one of the let's show them that you

know uh what the flooring industry is all about I've seen it in CFI uh I've

seen it you know sharing like bulking money together to help other people I know there's other uh uh funds out there

uh in our industry and um you know you guys should scan this and and let's help

them out absolutely they're they're great people so we're definitely going to

going to be donating to them and we hope you guys all do too and just you know like I said any little thing helps and

they're great people they support the industry so let's start uh supporting the people that support the industry as

well amen certainly an expert in my mind Dan

I wasn't invited so what your guys is um you know

as we're going through this you know discussion you like I said at the very

beginning we could take it down multiple paths but if if you guys are out uh

anybody in the audience that's newer to the industry you know something you guys

said earlier brought kind of struck a chord with me one thing uh I mentioned

about my son wanting to be like the king Supreme the day walks on the job you

know take take this seriously if you really want to be a professional you got to take it seriously and that's putting

in the work to get better and um you know setting yourself up for successes

it's it's not going to happen uh if you are wanting like you said Daniel people

wanting what you have at 20 years in the industry in six months I mean you look

at it look so my son and I um for his birthday went and seen gret ofan Fleet right I was wearing the the concert

shirt last week on the show and then if you they're from Michigan and if you just look at it in

terms of just a band right you can kind of relate anything

to different things right so you relate being in a band and you're playing shows

for just your family and then you get a little bit better better and then you start playing shows

at at bars and then you get a little bit better and then you start playing shows at you know these small concert venues

and then now you look at them and they're I mean I seen them in Vegas and they played T-Mobile Arena and then

they're over here and they're playing you know van andle Arena and it's like

they went from one of those opening acts to be in that headliner and you can't be that headliner without putting in that

time you got to start somewhere and you can't just be that that that person that

just goes from zero to 100 like that and being under someone's Wing that that can

show you how to do do things is one of the main main ways to go yeah opening X

like learn from the the main the main show and that's the benefits of taking

your lumps along the way instead of just getting pushed all the way up there right you take your lumps you're You're

Building long-term uh long-term success right you're looking at the long game if

you're skipping and jumping and you're already at the Finish Line when it took people years I can I can almost assure

you that that long game isn't going to be very long um you know for some and some people it might work out like that

no well do you w to be do you want to be call do you want to be known as the best or you want to call yourself the best or

you know great or good or whatever well we've also other people do it that

other people do it that it becomes special especially at the installation competitions because I mean if you're

you're in there I mean you're probably one of the better installers in the nation so yeah kudos to you already but

when when it comes down to it and there are guys in there that are judging your

every single move and you're still not making the cut and then instead of being like all right I could have done better

you get angry and then start resenting people that's when you kind of got to

take a look at yourself and these people unfortunately never will but that's you

know their progress some won't yeah some some will learn some but there there is

those people right where it's like they're going to be the best they know they're the best they'll always be the

best regardless of what any of what happens regardless of the evidence yeah

yeah and you know I talk to them you know face to face it's like man

why you didn't win these reasons right here and I wasn't even a judge and I can tell you

what you were doing wrong and it's they thought that doing things the

hard way was going to be like showing the judges that all right I'm doing it

the hard way I should get more points no man that's where you got to realize is that

uh you got to work smarter not harder because getting it done efficiently and

the right way is way better than doing it the hard way and it's still being wrong well and that's where you really

make hay in this business is once you know how to do it finding those

efficiencies and getting better getting quicker we always said quality before speed and if if you can get that quality

first and then find the tricks to get faster um that's where you're going to make really good money in the business

and right and that's why that's why we're constantly reinvesting and we have

an issue with buying new tools right because you have to buy the new tools they're always it's like always the the

next best thing and it's like let me see if it really is sometimes it is and

sometimes it's not and but right you know what when it is it really is and it does save you some time so yeah at the

end of the day you know a a hammer is just a hammer to anyone but there's

there's different reasons and different H or there's different hammers for different purposes and knowing and

understanding uh even a tools limitations and then what you could

benefit from upgrading or buying a different version of the same the same

tool um there's a a lot to be said of someone who is willing to understand

that you know a hammer is just a hammer until it doesn't work for what you need it for um and I want to add to the

question you or whatever you said to Daniel about uh being the best I'm not gonna lie dude when we started preferred

flooring I straight up tell Daniel my goal is to be the best installation outfit out there like I wasn't lying you

know I was a little I was a little upset I was a little little uh probably a a little FL

chip on my shoulder uh when when I got let go uh because I I knew that I was

good at what I did I never said I was the best I knew that I was better than what they had didn't say I was the best

I just said I yield the best outcome and I know

the majority of what we're doing here and I know what I'm generating for you

yeah but it's different to have a it's different to have a goal of being the best and saying I'm I'm the best

self-proclaim to be the best without the evidence right hey ha have the evidence

um you know uh if you feel like you're the best but you're you know there's

plenty of ways to uh display that first off it's like the success of your

installation business if you're installation business if you're the best and we're talking you know once your th

this is why these conversations can get hard to even have sometimes because yeah are we because right you are you the

best at the individual skill set maybe and and that might be able to

um uh display itself very well if you're an

employee installer you start going to out into the the independent World well you got

to be the best at other things to be the best installation outfit as you said it

takes a dedication to learning new skill sets uh uh the humbleness to say I'm not

doing things as efficiently as possible and the courage to get out there and

talk to other people about how to get better uh one of the things a lot of flooring companies get to do which installers can

do as well by getting involved in the um the different trade shows and the different uh conventions that are out

there but you know being part of an association whether it's the fcica or fuse or starnet or any of these

or commercial one I think is another one uh the commercial

USA you get to get around other flooring companies and share best practices the people who are like some of the guys

that I admire in fuse because Stuart Associates is a fuse member are the guys

who um are willing to just tell you straight up what they do that's made

them successful like they you can literally just copy them and they don't care you're in a different region uh

they don't have a lot you know the competition is just uh you know there's always a little bit of that but at the

end of the day the really good ones are like we know there's a lot to the execution side of this so we'll share

our knowledge but it's up to you to execute right and um that that's a lot

of whether you're you're doing a a the hand skills training or the professional

skills training and learning that you know how to become a Prof professional

you know this episode is really about expert versus not versus but going from

Apprentice to uh expert but the my my daughter just sent

me a deal my my saying is at the end of the day so you know at theend beginning day I might

change it to the beginning of the day at the beginning of the next day tell you what do donate a dollar to Dan and

Denise for every time said at the end of the day and uh they they'll they'll

they'll probably fund that whole um issue they got going on and at least we know asin's paying attention yeah but

true true that you know one of the things I think about it when I try to get better at something is who can help

me get there and that takes humility and I got to swallow some lumps in my you

know throat sometimes and be humble enough to go ask somebody for help or ask somebody for uh advice or go to that

seminar at the fuse conference instead of going hanging out with people uh you

know all these conferences you can go to the seminars you can learn the stuff or you can go hang out in the hall or go

down and grab a a a beer with the guys at the bar um going to the seminars

learning applying yourself and and actually trying to get better um there's

some companies uh you know one of them Garmin comes to mind at infus that Scott

just he's a he's an expert at every level in my mind I look at him and I I know he does things right and we try to

kind of pick his brain when we're at the conference so those things are are the

same set of skills or I don't even know if it's skill the same kind of Pathway

to be becoming a really good installer if you're just getting started if you

are in the audience and you're just getting started again we at the Huddle really push for you to go get the

industry training it's the way that you're showing your dedication and when you mix that um that education with your

experience that's that's where you get you know you can I I agree Kevin you can

learn some stuff at the bar I've had well Kevin was drinking beers I was not

drinking beers but I learned some stuff from him too so yeah well you can but that th those

those bar trips are usually uh after maybe not always but a lot of the times

uh I've got to sit and chat and learn has been uh you know right at the end of the day or at the end of the the the uh

conference right on Justin I feel like an expert is never achievable in the real world we should always be learning

till the day we hang up the pads respect to everyone who's made a career of this

I agree you never stop learning but expert doesn't mean that you can't learn anymore you know what I mean like expert

y doesn't mean that you can't get better um yeah so did someone say beer no yeah

I I think that like overall like this is all great conversation but I I still

think the fact of the matter is is that without anything set in stone and without someone pushing it out there

like looking at what the union is doing and putting it in terms of all right

you're starting here you have to do this in order to move here in order to move to that next level this is what you have

to do without someone actually putting something out like that and we've been working on something like that um it's

just hard with how small we are like doing we used

a hammer rating for for that it's just we don't know where to say expert at to

five and the the I mean we've had we we talked to you guys about it too especially you know when we first

started talking and that was the thing you're and I brought it up to you like we were working on this you guys invited

us over and you're like how many levels are in there and we start counting and you're like how many you know hammers

are in the hammer rating and it everything kind of lined up together so yeah I mean it it it's it does it

everything lines up it's just a matter of someone taking initiative and saying all right in order to get from here to

here this is what you need to do and titles aside man it's just you need to be able to see where you need to go in

the industry like in order to move here this is what I have to do and then um looking at it from a different

perspective too it's like baby sister was in here a couple weeks ago and she

was asking questions and I said what you need to understand is we're we're doing we're set up we're one company but we're

kind of set up as two because we're doing the labor and we're doing the sales so it's

like we're two companies in one and she was like wow I never really looked at it

that way either so it's like yeah your sales and service and

that's that's where you're a full service flooring company um if you're selling your labor awesome be an expert

at it uh we're nearing the end of our podcast what I want to thank everybody

this is our 100th episode uh I I

100 I want to thank all the audience for for coming in live each week um

sometimes we have four or five people sometimes we have 25 people uh we get a

lot of interaction on our on our socials and on our YouTube channels and such so please if you like it the Huddle you

want to support us go give us a like subscribe um you

know communicate with us leave comments and also every time we we put down uh we

love topics we love the topics that come from the audience because it it really tells us what you guys want to have us

dig into um we come up here and we we ablib a lot but there's research that

goes on on uh topics that we don't know about so so if you uh if you like us

give us some uh give us some love best of luck Kevin Kevin Kevin's

going to Atlanta to do his uh nfic Masters next week yeah and look Kevin

Kevin doesn't install on a daily basis you know what I'm saying right he

go he goes home he goes home and practices in the garage don't let him trick you

all right fellas well we're nearing the end you guys got anything um close us out

with um yeah if if if you're on that path or want to put yourself on that path from

um Apprentice to expert uh make sure that you are doing your best to be the

best for you right because if you're doing it for someone else you're G to lose interest but if you're doing it for you for your career for your family

whatever whatever drives you do it for you because e e eventually someone will take notice and um that that label of

expert will get bestowed upon you as a gift and not a label that is uh um

selfed yeah self-proclaimed yeah I would say that and I think I wrote down something right here too is uh like my

interpretation of expert is where uh where knowledge experience execution and

education all come at a Crossroads that's where that's where you get that that label from

nice well like you said that everyone like that label of expert kind of gets

bestowed on to you right and that's kind of what has happened to us especially in the resilient world and we definitely

appreciate that but we're still learning something every day amen and this is what like Kevin

says right here never be afraid to reach out for a direction and I think that's what set you apart is

taking what you don't know realizing what you don't know being humble and

then asking for that direction yep consant learning for sure

and you'll take those next steps you'll whether you're start going to be just the best employee ever and uh and be the

best installer at at your company or you're going to go out and strike your own path and open a labor shop or you're

going to go sales and and uh and installation whatever path you decide

you're going to have to put on your learner hat and be willing to ask for help

so all right guys well congrats a hundred times we've been on this uh

podcast almost every time together and uh I want to thank you guys for always

being here and carrying the torch and and um always bringing knowledge always

being engaged it's it's been awesome and we're going to continue to do this thing again if you guys you know want to

support us Hammer that like And subscribe and uh you know comment on our

socials let us know what you're thinking of and and let us let us know what to talk about a little bit we got our we

got our can I started I just got a well yeah you can replay it as you can

always watch it you can always watch it Rin um so yeah thanks to every everybody

100 shows is uh is it's a quite defeat and I I I appreciate everybody involved

including all the people in the background that make this possible so thanks to Ashlin she's our SI she's our

Silent Assassin in the background and uh we we certainly

appreciate all her uh efforts and putting this together keep basically

does everything we just we just show up and then start talking yeah

all right guys well thank you so much we will see you guys next week and from

there see you thanks everyone