The Huddle - Episode 115 - The Role of AI in Flooring Solutions

In this episode with special guest Ken Ballin (Skyro Floors, Ballin Knows Best - https://ballinknowsbest.com) we once again delve into how AI is revolutionizing the flooring industry. This episode discusses innovative platforms like Ballin Knows Best (https://ballinknowsbest.com), which leverage AI to offer predictive analytics, enhanced design simulations, and optimized material usage. We explore how AI tools can streamline operations, improve accuracy in project planning, and offer personalized recommendations for clients. Tune in to learn about the transformative impact of artificial intelligence on the flooring industry, enhancing efficiency and driving forward-thinking solutions.

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!

Create your FREE Installer profile at https://gocarrera.com and become part of the future of the industry TODAY!
GET TRAINED! Find a list of training dates here: https://gocarrera.com/resources/training/
https://www.preferredflooringmi.com
https://www.stuartandassociates.com

what's up team welcome to the Huddle we're your weekly Playbook where we not only strategize on playing the game but

changing it from mastering the fundamentals of the craft to distinguishing ourselves in the market

place we're here to give you the installer a voice and ensure you're equipped with everything you need let's

band together in forun New Legacy in flooring this is where you belong welcome to the team Mr Ken Ballin

hi guys what's guys how's everybody how's everybody doing is

it is it Ballin or Balon like like like come on so everybody knows we're still

answering that huh it is but like like I different single

time I guarantee he answers either way yeah like it's like one of them names

that you know so many people are going to mess up you can't get to well I I think I think Ballin sounds pretty

awesome I'm balling all right so welcome everybody

uh to this week's episode of the Huddle we are going to be talking about artificial intelligence again uh

AI uh augmented reality is probably one of the bigger use cases in INF floring

sales but Ken's got uh some some stuff he's been doing over the last year I

believe maybe even a little longer at this point uh that is you know leveraging AI for Education

basically um and then there's some goofy AI robots out there trying to do our job not doing

a good job but still trying to do our job so I bet their back don't hurt as

much as mine I was gonna say with me as always

is Mr Daniel and Jose Gonzalez but in two separate locations Daniel's

obviously out on a job site although I got to say it almost looks like one of them backgrounds that Zoom gives you

it's it's like perfect it's the flooring background Perfection right there it's a

great idea we should do backgrounds of job sites instead of just the office like that right that's right then you

always can then you always look like you're working for real it's AI generated right yeah

so as mentioned with us today is Ken Ballin in for another episode it's

pleasure to have you here sir hope things have been going well tell us a little bit about what you've been doing

this last though I don't know 100 episodes or 80 episodes whatever it's

been yeah so I mean you know we we started the um online uh Community B

knows best um it's based it's got AI integrated technology it's based around

AI where installers can ask questions from the job site technical questions and get answers in real time

um aside from the bot you know the the the bot is does seem to be a focal point

that everybody talks about AI is the Hot Topic um but you know the real the real focus is the community behind it and

while we do have the AI integrated into the community we also have other resources that installers can use from

you know um job postings within the industry uh resources for um

purchasing um we've got other kind of tech-based um aspects of the APT as well um where

we'll be developing our own you know social media platform for installers um a there's a a measure it

app that's part of it that um uses utilizes the the light R sensors on some

of the newer phones uh where you're waving your phone across you know the camera spans the room and it'll measure

it in real time for you uh we're developing a species checker for hardwood floors that it will you know be

able to sort between red oak White Oak Ash Maple nice so yeah a layout tool where you can

have you know let's say a floor plan and you can um enter the specs and the size

of the planks you're installing or the tiles and you can you know move it around so you can modify you know avoid

slivers in your installs and same thing with like tile shower layouts where you can take this layout you punch in the

size of the tile and your grout joint and your size of the you know the space available and you can kind of move it

around to um adjust your layout you know according to what you enter into the

app well cool so the the um the community is always a big part of

flooring especially in the installation world and providing them tools it sounds

like the measure uh that is using in the lar uh cameras is that that's what is

that iPhone only um no I mean it was orally um

iPhone only but it it will work on the newer phones the Android phones that have the light R sensor um so that that

sensor is key though like my phone doesn't have the light R sensor so doesn't work on M but um Jason my

partner is he's a he's an iPhone guy and it works on his and I think the the

newer um Samsungs and the Google phones have the Light Art now so it'll be

working in there um but yeah uh you know for us dinosaurs who don't have that

updated technology on our phone gota upgrade hey the new iPhone just got

announced so you can you know get one right now yeah I think I might stick with the

Android it does it does all the same things as the other iPhone except for it's newer

yeah all right so um getting into some AI talk I I I

realize that the bot is um you know AI driven um what kind

of it's it's obviously a really good tool for installers out field what other

aspects or applications are you seeing with that kind of Technology with you

know um whether it's AI generated you know I guess that'd be more augmented

reality almost what you were talking about where you're uh kind of laying out a wall or you're taking a picture of

your house and getting your your desired flooring kind of showing in it but uh

from the AI perspective what kind of other technology can this do this is a language model right what other dreams

do you have for this chat bot I'm sorry what was that last part I missed you like what other goals or

dreams or ideas are you you guys playing with with this chat bot so um aside from

the the actual you know the Tex thing bot itself that's on the that's integrated onto the website that you can

go to um we've actually gone ahead and I

can't believe I'm saying this like I I there was a time in my life where if I you told me these words would be coming

out of my mouth I would have laughed but we've um gone ahead and essentially cloned me and we'll be importing

importing my voice into the text you can talk to it and it's me responding to you

know your questions and everything um and that you know like so I can ask this

bot a question and you'll answer me I will answer you yes that's that's one way to get someone's to answer a phone

you put more of the that Jersey accent on it though please like just like I just want to hear more so funny enough

like I to actually talk to it for a few minutes for it to pick up my voice and you know kind of plug it into the

technology but um but yeah that that's kind of the uh you know the the next

step in the process I guess from the basic you know texting bot um but the

the idea behind that is that um you know we really want this to

be allinclusive you know we want it to be a resource for installers across the industry and um you know not every

installer is quick with you know the typing or you know being on the phone and you know plugging and you know some

are have better grammar than others some are have better vocabularies and um so

having the option to be able to just talk directly to it instead of typing um it kind of opens it up to a little more

uh usability with you know it's not just um you know it's not just going through

the entering text and receiving messages and like that uh some might feel like it's faster to just talk to it and have

it you know respond back um so it it's really my my hope is that it turns into

something that everybody wants to use and everybody will get benefits from and um you know the going back to the

community side of things I um My Hope Is that installers across the uh industry

and you know on all sides of the industry really find the benefits in in using it as a resource in their you know

day-to-day installation career that's pretty cool there I I I

know it almost seems silly that you text um or or talk into a text bot but you

know that's I've got an employee that all he does is talk to his iPhone for

every single text message everything it just you know people find it easier they

can get their point across faster so there's obviously it's being used um and

you're right sometimes you just I don't care maybe you got gloves on and you're you're cutting tile or whatever and like

texting if you can just uh talk into it could be a a potential time SA and

certainly probably get now do you hear that I guess does anybody get to catch the tone of the uh person on the other

side so as as of right now it it would be like a phone call so like I can't

hear I can hear you talking to me um but I wouldn't be able to I mean I can hear

myself talking but I I wouldn't you know like your voice sounds different to you than it does to everyone else at least

your yeah so like thing where you know you're you're not going to get be able to hear us giving the

response um but you know we would hear the the interaction

gotcha yeah so a lot of you know we talk about AI because it's you know it's kind

of one of them most popular uh it's the end thing to talk about right now in

flooring though you know it's mainly been um

the the main applications anyway have been through sensors and monitoring systems there's a uh you know there's a

company that is launching a like a a

hard hat sensor camera along with the safety vest sensor camera for all their

workers on this job site and it's for monitoring and the the AI will uh

establish like all kinds of this kind of scary but but it monitors and points out

potential safety hazards potential Savings in in

um uh time and effort it always makes me think a Demolition Man have you seen

that movie with Sylvester Stallone like you're just getting tickets when you as you walk down the street because you

said the f bomb or something you know it's kind of that it's very reminiscent

of that like you'll be walking through a job site and all of a sudden it's

like Ken Ballin said the f word or Ken Bolan doesn't have his hard hat on or

Paul Stewart didn't have his safety vest zipped up I don't know how far they'll take that but it is a real thing and

it's going to be started um I think they've already kind of started testing it uh but it they're going to be doing

that here uh on like a several job sites

and um I'm trying to find where they said the job sites were going to be I'll I'll look into that but it's kind of

crazy if you think about it that type of stuff and All Those sensors and monitors

that's really where the bulk of this uh this

Technology's been applied like you know one of our good friends over at Flor Cloud they they use sensors and and

their sensors are uh you know designed designed to um measure the ambient

temperature RH all this like your complete environment on the job site if

you have their sensor attached to your moisture testing on commercial job sites

anyway you can even get your get that reading your moisture reading from you

know Jose could have the the reading from Daniel's job site right now at a at

an instant so I'm have the rating from this job site well there you go so floor Cloud's

been a a game changer for our industry I can't think of another uh company that's

come into our industry and kind of caused uh such a wave and such a splash

uh my go career side is very jealous of that they've done such a great job of of

providing a very needed uh service to the industry I know I'm a Commercial

contractor sitting at my desk if I can get the information of a job site that's

four hours away and understand what the job site conditions are and I know

they're working on some other things to even obviously companies like that continue to improve and they're going to

continue so watch a short video ashon if you don't mind playing that about floor

clouds fulltime monitoring of your job site conditions via desktop or mobile

device no more manual check checking for temperature humidity or even dupoint no

need for base stations Wi-Fi or external power sources simply scan the QR code on

the front of your sensors and you're up and running with the most accurate and Innovative sight monitoring system in

the flooring industry dispatch your Crews with confidence and reduce your climate related installation issues

floor Cloud now you know now you know yeah one of the cool things that

floor cloud does uh is and I I don't know how much AI comes

into this but if you give uh you tell the application what products you're using on job site similar to what you

were talking about earlier um you you tell it but instead of like uh the layout stuff what it's

really going to alert you to is when the site conditions are out of spec for any

of those materials so if you have a list of your adhesives your patching materials your thin sets you know your

lvts all your products that you have on the job site it's going to tell you when those products or when the site

conditions are out of spec for those products which is a freaking

GameChanger uh when you have especially when you have you know larger commercial sites even the residential uh I'm

hearing guys uh talk about it so anyway that's that's one industry technology

that is currently like actively using Ai and sensors and all of this stuff so I'd

like to see start testing for moisture to begin with just test at

all what's that what what was that Ken I said i'

I'd rather I'd like to see installers as a whole actually start testing for

moisture you know period to start and then you know go to the upgrade with the technology we know how how hard it is

getting just tested to begin with well yeah most of the time at least

in the commercial world it's driven by the the store or the whoever's holding the contract and we have to just make

sure a lot of times we'll do the testing ourselves provide that information to

the installer that they're good to install the job that it's been moisture tested um but yeah I do do your

installers moisture test Jose Daniel yeah we yeah yeah we would um

require it we do too much resilient to not have that on our um on our agenda

yeah all of our hourlies know how to do it some of the subs just don't they just don't know so we have our install

manager you know take care of that of course if if we got a job that requires

floor Cloud you got the answer right there but you still got to set them still got to know what you're doing with them

it's probably a little bit different in have you looked into floor Cloud at all Ken and what they do and how that

applies in the residential world I don't I don't know how it would in a huge way except for on maybe a massive house but

well they have the the sensor that goes into the wood oh there you go you know for any install on a on a large scale um

I think the majority of residential installers have their you know their moisture meter their pin meter and their

scanner whatever you know maybe the um like a total check or something like that and you know they're doing their be

the best they can and they're they're being mindful of it but there's always you know upgrades to technology upgrades

to tools um there's always better options that will give better results so

you know I absolutely love the idea of being able to check your job site remotely is everybody GNA do it on every

job site I go back to my joke about getting them to test it all but yeah you

know what I think you know any any sort of um any sort of progression any step

forward is a good step you know many small time make big time I am

waiting waiting to buy my first AI my first install robot but um they are not

around yet the the most uh the the most used way with AI is stuff like what you

talked about about you know the chat Bots that's one thing uh automated

design tools that's another that's more of a big piece that's where broadloom

and and rfms and their they kind of Suite of tools uh predictive maintenance

which is kind of a cool idea to um sensors embedded into different

Machinery or different uh maintenance uh

like there's sensors you can put in wax I'm hearing that will tell you when the

wax is about to uh need to be redone or the maintenance particularly in

healthcare this sounds like nuts but if you start thinking about the application in health care and uh uh Infectious

Disease Control and things like that um that

is that is the uh let's see another one that I looked up that you know all of us

know the manufacturers are are using some of this stuff in supply chain and

inventory management although I don't know if there's a huge uh uh uh uptick

in Inventory management uh from a quality perspective I get told products

and stock and it takes like six weeks still to get it in but um but uh we got

square feet but you gotta give us like six and a half weeks yeah six to eight weeks out though how's that man it's in

Jersey I'll have Ken drive it down you know you just said something

about the the wax and all that so it almost sounds like AI in our industry is

getting ready to integrate itself with the end user and the maintenance portion of it um so it almost sounds like it's

going to be a lot easier to Cipher what the failure is right away if it's a

maintenance issue versus installation issue um well that's an interesting take

on it right yeah now now that that means that um that the gray area for warranty

for limited liability warranties right are about to be you are you are dream he's dreaming right now Jose hey Daniel

Jose is dreaming right now he just sees this day when they go he pulls up a censor he's like yeah look you guys had

you mess clear water damage on the 14th of June of last year the sensor says it

man I was I we watched it happen actually he's dreaming right now I can

see his his gears turning upstairs Ken are you guys more focused on just the installer base then or are you trying to

get into uh the end user for that reason so they can know like maintenance

information and stuff like that or even like check in and install on their job

site or something I could see a a application there where it's like hey are you supposed to you know blah blah

blah whatever they say you know um my my personal goal with you

know with the B no's best platform is to be a resource for install I want to have

this online community you know we've spent the last 10 years or so building these online communities on on Facebook

right so that we had the ability to interact with each other share pictures ask questions get help make contact with

reps and all of that is dependent on Facebook

working you know if something happens and Facebook you know goes away tomorrow

or Facebook evolves into something else um you know all this effort that we've put into building this online community

goes away and what happens to all those installers that you know need that help

on their job sites you know there there are obviously those of us who you know don't need as much assistance dayto day

but like I want to have a platform that is a resource for installers to go

through all the stages of their career from asking questions about job sites about layouts to having you know vendors

that um are you know are are partnering with us to to uh make their products

available to installers to having a an area where you know manufacturers can

post jobs for installers coming to the end of their career and looking to take that next step you know and become a rep

or become you know involved in the tech excuse me side of things um you know

just anything that we might need I'd love to see enough users to have buying power with insurance where we can have

you know get installers covered and have good coverage you know I I know that's

might be a bit of a pipe dream but you know I just see this with so much potential to help the installers and be

a resource that I didn't have when I started you know I didn't I didn't start working for somebody else I just went

out on my own and you know here in New Jersey we have no there's no sort of

Licensing for flooring or tile installers there's you know you register your business you give the state 90

bucks and you're on your own you're in people's houses putting floors down and

you know I I just wanted to be able to have that information about certifications and letting people know

that there is an industry to get involved in you're not by yourselves you know there's so much potential for us to

do good and you know yes it's integrated with AI and as technology

evolved we will you know obviously Embrace that and use that to you know

help more installers but I just think that you know the the focus on

installers for me is always been key so that's you know the subject that's close to my heart um but you know the the the

installers that feel like they're stuck subcontracting for stores you know that

that kind of strikes a nerve with me because I went through a phrase where I was a sub and you know I had all my eggs in one basket and I just want those guys

and girls to know that there's more out there and we can help you develop your business you know there are those of us

involved that's it right there you know they they have experience throughout and

you know our team of mentors especially have experience in different fields of the industry and you know they might

have certifications in this flooring category um they might have you know education in this you know other spots

that can help you know I have my Bachelor's in Business Administration with a marketing concentration from M

I'm always I'm constantly you know answering questions about business marketing and marketing in the flooring

industry and you know just to have these resources available I think huge for

install yeah I think it's good for installers to have a have the option one

of the things that is is you know you you talk about installers that got stuck

or feel like they maybe a sub stuck at a store there's also uh you know one of

the things that I think as an industry we learning and why for example what go career does is open you up to other

stores and other opportunities out there and then what you're doing is saying hey you don't have to work for stores if you

don't you know if you want to get in I mean if you're going to do big commercial work you're gonna be working for a store like it's very hard for a

sub to go get a $8 million insurance policy and and do a a u hospital but if

you're talented in that there's other you can work for other stores that

sharing of that that that just opening up the options you know go ahead I'm sorry no no no I

was just saying every everybody works differently everybody has different things that um you know fulfill them and

if you know if Joe is great installer and doesn't want to deal with owning a

business and he wants to work for somebody else and that makes him happy and his bills are paid then that's

absolutely what he should do I don't ever want anybody to think that I'm talking down um to a certain style of

installation because you know there's so many different flavors and whatever you like

whatever makes you successful you know in your everyday life is absolutely the way you should go if you enjoy subbing

and you know that does it for you that's awesome I want to help you be the best subcontractor you can be if you're

miserable of subcontracting and you want to own your own business I want to help you be the best business owner you can

be if you're looking to join a commercial crew and be part of a a union

shop that's not really my area of expertise but you know what I'm gonna find you that person that will help you be the

best you can be on that path you know we need to really focus on looking out for

each other and helping the installers as a whole and you know helping them find the right fit for them because what

works for me might not work for you and you know what makes me happy might not make you happy yeah so so you need a

side on here B knows best and then you got to have a hashtag or uh was it

forward slash I know a guy I know I like that well there's

there's a I like what you said there there's certainly Different Strokes for

different installers like the way that you you know want to go about things I

mean I want to make it clear make no you know uh mistake about it a sub is a

business like if you're subbing from companies you better have some business Acumen to you as well

but if you I think what you're talking about is if you want to go out and start supplying your own materials or kind of

working directly with uh contractors or doing your own thing that way and not

subbing from a company that you'd like to be able to be a resource for those folks be a resource yeah be a resource

for the sub that's wanting to know how to put the best sub crew together um and speaking of that I want to kick up a our

QR code for Jumpstart as a quick note here here um jump is a a new initiative

by go Carrera I say new but we've really just uh launched it uh the version two

of it here recently and this is all the new guys coming into the industry are

going on jumpstart we're working with the fcef uh working with CFI working with

you know we're I've talked to the ntca and we're going to find ways to work with all the training entities out there

so that we can all as installers companies all of us can have

a single source to be able to go to find the new guys because we've got to get these new guys to work Ken Ballin as a

as an installer needs to hire people you need to have helpers and one of the

biggest complaints we see in the industry especially on the Facebook post is how hard it is to find helpers and

that is the that is obviously a very gentle way to say it it's much more colorful than that if you get on the

different everyone everyone besides me is lazy is basically what everyone says

yeah and and doesn't show up to work or doesn't really want to be in flooring blah blah blah well these guys have went

through some level of training whether it's a 10-week course through the fcef or it's a five-week introduction through

CFI or an introduction of flooring uh aft has a two- we and a onewe course and

so these types of things that uh you know these young guys and

and men and women both are saying Hey I want to be I've I've gotten training now

I want to be hired we have to find a way to place them and hire them and that's that's what jump start does so if you're

on here and you're a company or a subcontractor that's looking for good help get on get a subscription it's

cheap as you could ever imagine it's 99 bucks for the entire year you can schedule interviews and meet with people

and hire people as many as you want and we'll also we're always uh on the watch

for uh areas that really need help and we get with the training entities about

getting some trainings put in those areas FCF let's get a college uh course

put in that area so are you familiar with the FCF Ken I know you are because I've seen your picture on

there I've been on a few other a coule

so that that is uh we're we're attemp we're our attempt is to place the

individual it's it's very cheap to get involved and hire off a jump start and

you know I I've got a real passion for trying to get people placed like like

you know all the training we do if you talk to a lot of the training entities one of their biggest heartbreaks is that

the people they're training are not getting jobs in flor in and that's what

our goal at Jump Start is so we'd love your participation your support and your help uh if you don't have anybody in

your area it's 99 bucks for an entire year so only 27 cents a day yeah

27 that's right you can support getting the new guys placed uh this helps all of

the background stuff that has to happen to get the individuals put on uh We've teamed up we're teaming up with some

some municipalities uh the state of Ohio is working with us and so through their

programs and like flooring Basics is another training entity that is bringing

um disadvantage you through the you know Juvenile Detention uh they're getting

training and then they're coming out and we're trying to catch them when they're young turn their lives around give them

a I needed a second chance when I was when I was young and uh so I got a real

heart for that to be honest with you I'm hoping that a lot of people a lot of these uh young kids get get jobs through

jump start I was also stupid well we've

we've there's a lot of us that have been in that in that realm and needed a second chance and Florence's given us

that second chance um so the uh I'd

rather I'd rather my floor I'd rather rather have my new hire pay me for training course five weeks free of work

yeah well I think that that uh you

know lot is the opposite of apprenticeship yeah good helpers and get them trained

up though get them plugged in um you know that's a big part of like our

future flooring success a big part of it is getting the new hirers hired like the

new people in our industry re hired so uh I don't know maybe we can work together Ken it's always fun when you

you get on these podcasts and you're like hey Ken's doing this thing maybe

one of the things that Ken can do uh is help help people get hired and as well

as help your any of your clients you know find the new talent coming in the

industry right all these things tie together too it's just like you know this is if if were to all work together

very fluidly I bet you this would lift the industry fairly quickly everyone can feed off of each other's programs and

feed into it and plug each others in and and it would well it takes a little time because we all what happens is we all

start these things and we we meet at conferences I know Ken and I have had a few conversations and it's been really

positive but you know you get back to work and you get to work um I think that it'll start to Jael what Ken's doing is

awesome the installers absolutely need a resource of someone uh you know that's

gonna yeah I know you you're you're closed lip about the ideas anymore but

um you know helping installers to pick the right path even um and and giving

them the resources to where they can possibly start their own business start buying materials because you have vendor

connections these kinds of things um you know I anything for entrepreneurship for

me is a positive and anything that's going to make an installer uh a better

installer uh is is another one and I think hiring the new guys getting people who want to be in floring is a is a

decent start definitely definitely oh and you know what like we we we joke around

about you know how people interact with everybody and everybody's concerned about their competition but you know I

made this comment earlier this week I said the people at the top are collaborating not competing compete

competition for the bottom theaters and that kind of sent some waves over the uh

Facebook Airwaves earlier I missed that that's that is true man very very

true I I missed that post that was uh that probably did send some some Shock

waves through you know the the the funny part is is if it's factual is when

people get offended when they should be appreciated you know facts and people get offended because

nobody likes to hear it like that I guess but that's the way you said that is absolutely true like you're right

they're collaborating not competing well why look at look at the top flooring companies in the nation they're all part

of either starnet or or fuse Alliance uh the top retailers are either part of CCA

Global or sha floring like they're all part of something they get together in annual events and they collaborate they

talk like at fuse conferen says we don't we don't if someone says hey what do you

got going on what kind of jobs you doing we're not like oh well I got this National job I'm working on no we share

all that and we we all interact and work together to try to get better you know it's funny to mention that because we it

that travels through to all the way down to installers single installers you know

every every summer every you know mid July um I host something here called we

call Jersey night and we invite anybody in the industry whether it's in Star

Wars rips you know if you're in the area you're in South Jersey M Jersey night um

you know we just we have it at a local Irish pub and we sit around and have food and drink beer and we just talk

shop and there's no you know you don't have to present you don't like we're

just sitting around like it was just a bunch of this of barbecue and you know the number of installers that what in

any other space would call themselves competition um you know here for some

reason if you're inside this circle you're just part of the network you're part of the family and you know I can

reach out if I need help or you know people have reach out to me and you know even the Reps will come out and you know

we'll talk shop with them and it's just a totally different vibe when

everybody's on the same page you know well it does it does give the better

Vibe when everybody's sitting there communicating and sharing War Stories and sharing Solutions and and and and

that's what helps the industry grow it doesn't matter what part of the industry you're in but that's that's what everyone needs everyone needs to hear

what they experience and what they've done because it's going to relate to someone who's currently going through

all of that and that's where everything that you're doing comes in handy because it's at someone's

fingertips they don't have to find uh failure in order to find that path to

success right they can no there there's around it a little bit yeah we're out

here we're looking to help like we want to see people I want to see everybody succeed I want to see every installer on

every job site never have a failure never have an obstacle they can't reach

I want them to know that we're here and we have the resources to

help yeah and getting together is important in one way or another and it

goes back to your collaboration um you know getting together and collaborating means you're talking about things that can benefit

another person and so you're telling someone good information that might help

them become uh a better flooring installer a better contractor a better

rep if reps are coming to it so that collaboration and and freedom of of

speech I would say you know like freedom of of talking where you're not feeling like you have to govern everything is

that's really cool Jersey nights well if you're in Jersey in June is it July mid

July ju mid July in Jersey stop by and and uh hook up with Ken but you know

what we have I've had reps come from across the country just for Jersey night we had Chris from came all the way here

for Jersey night we had uh the Bostic guys out from wossa come in to Jersey

night like people people travel for it man it's it's it's a special thing um I

I all I always get excited I'm glad to hear that that's that collaboration that

getting together is kind of the core of what CFI is doing with their local

chapters again trying to reignite the local chapters I shouldn't say try and Rollins doing a great job of like

placing and getting the local chapters back up and running and I think that's a you know all of those types of things

are uh going to be positive influence to the industry um you

know big big part of of what we do over at go career is just try to separate the

oil and the water and neither one is bad but you do need to know if you're working with a a really really high

quality highly certified kind of installer if you're working with a more maybe a newer guy into the industry and

um you know all of those types of deals all of this stuff is going to gel I'm not sure when uh it's it's all going to

kind of come together but uh the industry's been screaming for stuff like what you're doing Ken and what what

we're doing at go career and what you guys do all the time Daniel and Jose and getting out and training and teaching

and giving your knowledge away um I like getting on the podcast and talking to people trying to do positive stuff in

the industry and so it's pretty cool Rollin said he's got 10 up and running with more being talked with so yeah

yeah he's he's a rock star uh thank you Rand for doing that he's he's getting

them together and and I know that there's some others I know we're trying to um

witcha one CF CFI guys should be reaching out to you Rin about getting

the local chapter fired back up here too so uh what else we got guys we got about

13 minutes and we can cut her off early but if you uh if you have some really

cool stuff to talk about or not I was gonna ask if he if he's had anyone like

talk to talk to you about not trusting AI still so you know I and it it does it

does come up um but you know as as far as as far as the B's best site is

concerned and our specific technology um you know I said from the start it's a guided text so every

question that comes through we see and I can jump in and I have the ability to

like give it feedback give the bot feedback you know give it a yes or a no that's a good answer it's a bad answer

and I can respond to the user directly you know with the correct answer um but

it's a resource it's like anything else any other form of technology that we've seen you know from the initial um

introduction of the internet to you know the search engines the first you know the Yahoo the sges the Google as they

came along you know you're going to learn how to use this technology and use

it properly are there glitches are there thing like have you ever plugged in a Google Search and it didn't really give

you what you were looking for the AI search Bots do the exact same thing and

you do have to kind of you know tweak your question a little bit and you can kind of guide it to give you the right

answer but it's the more you use it the more you integrate it integrate into the

technology the easier it becomes it's like anything the first first time you use it it's going to be a little quirky

but the more you use it the more you get used to it the more you can make it useful for

you yeah one of the like just for emails I was talking

to Jose yesterday and he's like I had to put this email in there because I sounded like an a-hole and I need to we

we don't call it chat GPT we call it Chad Chad well you know and it's even with

this short am of time that we've had chat GTP um you know you find different

uses for it that you didn't really know it could do like I was um oh I was

trying to change the belt on my lawn mower over here and I don't know anything about that stuff so like I'm

going through YouTube videos and you know trying to get this and like something I couldn't find this this one

little aspect that was holding me up and um bro it's called attenion pul so I

took a picture of it I plugged it into J chat dtp and I I typed in how is the

belt supposed to fit around this one part and sure enough it spit it out

right like that and I was like huah to take that picture that I sent it

Point like it was literally my finger pointing to this part and it knew like how to help me and

like it wasn't so it wasn't just answering a question it wasn't like asking you know for the correct

terminology it was able to pick up on that silly little picture that I took

and you know I got the job done I was able to do it and it's not anything I mean I'm not going to go start a

lawnmower repair company by any means but like it got the job done it helped me and I you know I had to learn how to

kind of tweak my question to get the response that I needed you know yeah I

get cool that's I totally understand that you're right and and sometimes you said tweak your question right like you

were talking about the Google sometimes your question has to evolve right you start finding uh better terminology to

plug in through your Google searches until you just get really like well that's that's how chat GPT works I mean

you you you've got to train it a little bit before it's going to actually if you're using it for a specific manner uh

you can train it a little bit to to to talk more like you or do do

to give you the right answer even if you don't know what you're looking for you can ask and you can change how you ask

um and the same is the same as with arbot and I mean yeah it's based off of the latest GTP but I mean it's kind of

you can kind of input additional queries we'll say what to um kind of modify the

response yeah and you know I've asked chat GPT how to ask

something or what's the best prompt to use for XYZ or whatever so there's a lot

of there's a lot of uh a lot of that technology used in like information

technology like using Gathering the information in a way that's palatable to the user and um I'm a I'm a big

proponent of that kind of stuff I I uh I've saved a lot of time uh writing you

know emails or or responses legal resp responses to to different things that

come across and happens in business so yeah that it's evolving for sure and I'm

sure it's the same with your your um you know your chatbot being it's it's

learning as it goes I'm sure that as you give a right answer it's considering that right answer if it's giving the

wrong one and you have to step in that it it's learning from that stuff so it's

kind of crazy for sure for sure all right guys well we have come to the

end here Mr Daniel and Jose thanks as always for joining even out on job sites

with that beautiful background Ken thanks for joining us

again it's a it's always a pleasure to chat with you man I love think like getting in your brain a little bit and

and hearing what you got going on well careful that could be a scary place

that's that's why Daniel hasn't answered yet if he if he didn't already because been doing that right

there yeah so how much longer you got out there Daniel

forever no everything should be done as much as it can this week but then we

start um another big one next week so right back

at yeah all right well that's that's uh that's your man right there out on the

field preaching what he teaches or teaching what he preaches or whatever

way that goes practicing practicing do doing what I do doing what he do all

right guys hey it was a pleasure chatting with you guys today and for all the audience thank you for joining us

and Rolland had to run and get chicken dinner so he said have a great night guys can buy those fire bro the

rotisserie rotisserie we will chat with you guys next week every Tuesday at 3 pm

Central thanks everyone see you a