Join Paul, Daniel, Jose, and special guest Ben Walker from Go Carrera who will be joining us LIVE from this year's CFI FCICA convention to talk about what to expect this year.

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 the Huddle

your weekly Playbook where we strategize

not only playing the game but changing

it we're here to master the fundamentals

of The Craft and distinguish ourselves

in the marketplace we're here to give

the installer a voice and ensure that

you're equipped with everything you need

let's start a new Legacy in

flooring welcome to the

Huddle on site

today uh from fcic CFI convention we got

Ben I joined him tomorrow morning but uh

Unfortunately today we're going to be

missing our our Staples uh for the

Huddle Daniel and Jose they are out on

site installing some floors I believe

and they may chime in and and

uh talk a little trash on the

on the chat we'll find out but Ben how's

it going how was your trip down well it

was a good trip I left uh at the crack

of dawn this morning uh around 6:00 a.m.

uh uh got here around 100 p.m. flights

were good uh everything actually worked

out pretty well got uh all the go

Carrera gear here with me and uh looking

forward to having a great time over the

next few days

sweet so you nobody's nobody's going to

hate the weather here that's for sure

it's uh bright sunshiny uh a little warm

but but beautiful Perfect Pool weather

uh I think probably a lot of people are

out there right now awesome well you

guys come join us uh this week at uh the

Orlando uh convention we are at oh look

at our

coh how's it

going all right hey Mr what's up brother

how you doing is going so far

everything's good uh we had our two uh

we had nfic and uni click today so we're

just finishing up with that and we got a

lot more to go as far as meetings and uh

invitations meetings are going on I

should be there but I'm here with the

Huddle because I needed to check you out

guys first things first awesome well I

saw you out at the pool or at least I

saw on social media you were out at the

pool yeah the pool's one thing that I uh

need to get on because I never take

advantage of it so uh uh you got to

unwind every once in a while and just

take a little dip for sure nice it's

good to see you we'll be I'm sure

checking in with each other for the next

few days Paul gets here tomorrow around

noon so we'll all uh uh get together

then can't wait to see you guys all

right everybody tomorrow all right we'll

see you see you

brother see there's you know action all

around uh people are getting settled in

I think uh most most people have gotten

here today like he said there's been a

couple of training sessions uh earlier

today and right now uh the board

meetings are are in progress so uh it

quieted down just a little bit uh

because of that I

think makes sense makes sense so uh what

have you had a chance to talk to anybody

a lot of times we'll grab some people

and have them join in so I'm glad Jorge

came and said hi to

everybody um have you had any

discussions about the event itself how

it's being attended that kind of uh

information so I have I've talked to

some leaders of both CF uh CFI and FC

and and I guess the general uh feeling

that that everybody's talking about is

that this partnership meeting really

works out uh uh you know this is the

second time it's happened this way and

and uh you know no one said this to me

as a policy statement but the feeling

I'm getting is that everybody's very

glad it's happening you know on one side

you got all the people who who have the

work on other side the people that that

do the work and and this meeting really

gives a chance to build those build

those kinds of relationships uh to make

our industry function better and to make

sure that it's uh you know winning and

winning for for all sides and everything

uh from the owner and the consumer you

know back to uh uh uh our own industry

and just making sure that that

installers are are getting what they

need out of the deal and that flooring

companies are making their own way too

and I think uh leaders of both

organizations seem to feel like this

meeting is instrumental and and and

making that

happen yeah I mean previous years it's

been

really uh either just CFI or FC and last

year when they came together it was I

loved it uh I really thought it was

awesome and I got a lot of good feedback

from everybody so you know it's not

surprising to me that leadership feels

that way

um go ahead I was just G to say you and

I were here last year and and we both

felt like we got just uh a lot more

value for our money than than it if it

just been one side or the other I think

it's really efficient for uh vendors to

the trade to you know to have this

opportunity to to meet up with uh uh

everybody uh in one

yeah yeah uh our our preferred flooring

Jose and Daniel won't be able to make it

this year so it's going to be a little

bit different I haven't been to a

conference without those guys in a long

time so uh but kudos to them on all

their success and moving moving

forward last year and this year uh you

know I I love the the the I I love these

things these Zips and and I know you

like them a lot too and the one they got

they gave us last year was a really good

one and uh this look at what we're

getting this year it's a a jacket

instead but it's a little bit lighter

weight I think it fits the weather uh

perfectly and it it just looks fantastic

so we're going to be looking sharp as

well that's pretty awesome yeah that

looks like a good some good golf attire

right there well if you guys are out and

about and you can make it over to uh

hang out at the convention if you've not

signed up I am sure they'll figure out a

way uh but if you're in the Orlando area

I know there's been a lot of Outreach

come by uh check it out and uh come see

is if you are planning on being at the

conven we'll be at the um at the trade

show with go Carrera there to answer any

questions uh talk about go Carrera core

as well as our newest um initiative

which is JumpStart JumpStart being a

single location where both companies and

uh subcontract installers can find good

helpers uh coming straight out of

schooling uh they've got some knowledge

they've got uh you know some desire to

be in the industry and our goal with

jump start is make that connection easy

uh allow companies and uh floring

installers to uh you know facilitate a

an interview and the hiring process and

allow you guys to get these guys put to

work and and help improve our industry

in a real way by putting uh the the

newly trained to you know help and um

we'll call them you know digital

Apprentice uh people uh getting them to

work so Ben tell me me a little bit

about the uh speaking of the trade show

that will be at tomorrow afternoon and

um how many vendors are

is

yeah when Jen zern and I were talking

earlier she really kind of focused in on

the trade show and first of all 70

vendors which is 20 more than last year

20 more wow a huge increase and uh

they've extended the trade show hours uh

both to for both tomorrow and Thursday

so there'll be more opportunities for uh

for everybody to to chat I think that

makes sense to extend the hours since

there's so many more vendors you know to

talk to so uh I think that'll be a big a

big plus uh uh tomorrow night the dinner

is in the trade show so I've been to

other trade shows where they did it that

way and I always like it because people

it it it kind of gets a little more

social a little bit less structured and

people kind of let their hair down some

and you end up having more productive

conversations uh I I think when the the

social stuff and the the work stuff is

combined like that so 70 vendors 20 more

than last year extended hours better

networking opportunities uh uh the

dinner is going to be right there in the

trade show so a lot of good stuff I like

that yeah that's pretty cool I like I

like the dinner at the trade show too uh

people tend to congregate around food

and have meaningful conversation so it's

it's pretty cool um what about a 10

how how's

attendance uh expected to be this year

the show has grown from last year 360 uh

registrant to date uh and uh uh

everybody's happy with that um good

attendance uh uh and a couple more

things that that Jen really you know uh

focused in on one is uh Shaw and Mohawk

are again the two Platinum sponsors uh

and she said just every year those guys

continue to uh extend their support and

find new ways to help make this

successful so Shaw and Mohawk have you

know really stepped up to the plate and

I know everybody in the industry

appreciates that uh

yeah you know when you talked about jump

start a while ago this is the thing that

really you know jumped out in my mind

and that is training and and uh training

is a focus here at this conference and

and more than ever and you know I'm not

sure what you think about this Paul but

to me it seems like our industry is

focused more on training and devoting

more resources to training than

certainly more than any time I've ever

known about in my what 12 years in in

the in the flooring industry and you've

got a lot more a lot longer experience

than that I'm curious if you

agree I do I think that the industry is

realizing and I won't say too late but

certainly right on time not too early

yeah like that we we've got to get some

influx and some inflow of new people and

have them people uh th those new that

new blood in the industry to get with

some of the um outgoing great installers

this industry has produced and those

Craftsmen passing on their knowledge to

the next generation is so important and

uh so I think training is a part of that

I see a lot of new like training

entities as well as uh more people

getting involved in training it's more

of a topic than I've ever uh remembered

uh it being and there's just some great

ambassadors out there for teaching the

new uh the new blood coming into the

industry and I I I can't thank the fcef

and CFI enough for kind of leading the

charge and other entities out there like

aft and Robert Varden and what they're

doing and flooring Basics with Mark

farnworth and just all these people

jumping into do something uh there's so

much that needs done that there's no

room for just one entity to handle at

all uh in my opinion we have to like

open up the floodgates uh which is what

we did with jump startart you know jump

start used to have some Shackles on it

and our new Resurgence of that is

removing all the shackles so you don't

have to be a member of go Carrera to

hire off a jump start any installer in

the industry you don't need to join go

Carrera uh you can you can get a

subscription to jump for 99 bucks a year

a year and and peruse the new blood and

hire some people get to conference I

can't say that enough I I think that uh

this this last um block of episodes

we've done on the Huddle I probably

haven't mentioned it enough on how

important it is to get involved in the

industry and get out and uh get to know

new people that's where I met many uh

good friends in this business and yeah I

would have to agree with you training

has kind of risen to the top as uh both

a topic and an initiative in the

industry you know when I was running uh

a sort of a small midsize commercial

flooring contractor for about 10

years hiring people was was the hardest

thing and hiring people who actually

worked out uh was the hardest thing and

I did not even aspire to finding new

folks with some training I I that that

was just beyond uh uh some anything I

thought that that could happen and you

know now with jump uh though we are

bringing those kinds of opportunities to

people both uh flooring companies who

hire employers or for them to

to make sure their installers who hire

employees know that you know they can

actually get people headed down the

apprenticeship path who have two five 10

weeks of basic training under their belt

so you know they've made that commitment

to their career and you also know that

that're they're not walking out there

not knowing how to R the tape measure

for example you know they've got some

basic skills that are going to give them

a a a huge Head Start uh so I I think

with jump start sort of bridging that

gap between all these new training

opportunities and with the huge number

of jobs that we know are out there and

are coming that you know jump starts

really hitting it at the right time so I

know we're going to be talking about

about jump start all week and may

haven't just kind of practicing on that

a little bit right now but I think it's

really the big step that needs to be

taken yeah I agree well and another big

step is like uh you know the existing

installers in the industry get involved

in the industry I think that's important

get involved with your local Chapters at

CFI um I know that Rand has done a lot

of work on that uh I think we we bring

that up pretty often here on the Huddle

uh but that's getting involved on a

local kind of Grassroots level with

training and sharing of ideas and then

getting to a conference uh whether it's

fcic and cfi's Conference or getting to

surfaces or any of these opportunities

to get to know some uh some other

installers um you know one of the big

things is if you're wanting to grow in

your in any anything you do any

profession the best thing you can do is

get to know people who have done what

you want to do in that profession so if

you're wanting to build a flooring

company and you're wanting to get off

your knees get around people who' have

done that I'm happy to talk to people in

fact I've mentored many uh many guys in

in this regard is if you're wanting to

start your own flooring company and kind

of get your wheels turning and get first

steps um you know I'm happy to chat with

you so as Daniel and Jose they've uh had

those same conversations and you you'll

find multiples of those people I mean

you've done it Ben as well you went

through that uh or if you're just

wanting to build one of the larger uh

labor Shops and and be a labor provider

or be a successful subcontractor many uh

people out there Jorge was on earlier

he's very successful subcontractor does

very well for himself found his Niche

and knocks it out of the park and those

are the types of caliber people you'll

get to know when you get to conference

so you know today was is really a little

bit of a shorter version I just wanted

to kind of show people uh what what uh

CFI and FC have put on um would you be

able to like just kind of give us a 360

of the atmosphere there I know it's died

down because there's a lot of board

movings but yeah so things have

definitely quieted down uh if you go up

those stairs and go to the left that's

where all the training sessions are

whole bunch of signage there at the top

of those stairs and then you know over

here you can see all the uh uh seminars

and workshops that are happening over

the next couple of days people are still

getting registered and getting all their

cool swag over at the registration desk

uh you know this is a big place I think

there's what something like eight or 9

rooms here probably and uh so 360 people

doesn't fill it up but we're sure

filling up this part of it and it's just

a little bit quieter right now because

of because of all the meetings that are

going on any uh any seminars or uh

breakout sessions or anything that come

to mind that you're kind of excited

about have you had a chance to uh look

at any of

the well you know for me uh the training

or the uh the networking sessions always

uh uh probably top of mind but you know

tomorrow for example people are going to

be uh uh learning how to install modular

products uh there's also a contract

session to uh that's one of the things

you taught me Paul that you know all

contracts are not created equal and

having an understanding of the contract

between the installer and the uh the

flooring contractor between the foreign

contractor and the GC really does make

uh understanding that and be being able

to negotiate those things effectively

changes your whole company and so

there's a seminar on that on that is

Jeff doing that

one uh yeah

so Sloan Bailey is doing it yeah okay

awesome and I met him last year and he's

clearly an expert on the subject no

question

about yeah that's another great thing

you guys get when you go to to

conferences these are trainings put on

by worldclass people that you get to

benefit whether it's contract reading

hand skills there I know there's a

various uh number of manufacturer uh

product demonstrations and and all of

this going on yeah I was just getting

ready to talk about product

demonstrations you know uh uh that's the

other element of the of the trade show

both inside the trade show and I think

in some other rooms as well but focus on

inside the trade show there's going to

be product demos going on pretty much

the whole time so you know these things

do not stay the same you know even in my

you know 12 year uh history in flooring

products have changed dramatically even

in that small amount of time and and uh

coming to these conferences really gets

you ahead of the game these

opportunities to use these new products

and to use them effectively uh uh and to

use them uh to make money well like one

like Daniel just uh chimed in probably

from the job side at the moment but uh

you know he said lots to learn and

certainly is uh and the cool thing

is that's that those are often the

Stepping Stones to take you to the next

level where you're want to be um whether

it's product knowledge or learn how to

read a contract that's one of the things

that I talk to to guys who want to get

out on their own is that you're now

falling under the flooring company's

contract that you are uh doing so when

you if you go do a project for a

flooring contract

it behooves you to ask them about the

contract and are the terms and

conditions that you as the installer are

going to fall under so uh all that kind

of stuff is just knowledge that that

invaluable and you get it for free and a

lot of these people if you were to sit

across a desk from them would charge you

$350 an hour to tell you this that's the

thing right I mean uh uh one of the ways

to really leverage your uh uh your your

training dollars or your own development

dollars is a come to conferences like

this because uh like you just said I

mean you get access to these industry

leaders and very experienced people and

you can pick their brain for free uh

instead of paying a big dollar amount uh

hourly so it's a huge way to to get the

most out of your uh uh your development

budget I think uh Additionally you know

there's uh uh estimating uh Kathy case

is uh going to be uh here on Thursday

and she'll be talking about estimating

and uh she's Cly an industry leader

there uh blueprint blueprint reading

another uh also Kathy with some Partners

so there are hand skills seminars and

training and there are also you know

estimating and administrative and office

skill uh kind of training so here uh

because of this partnership you really

you really kind of get it all yeah

that's pretty

awesome and you you were there early

enough did uh you kind of touched on it

there for a minute but you were there

probably early enough to kind of get a a

feel for the energy in the building does

it feel like uh like you said

everybody's excited for for this year's

uh

convention yeah people are people are

happy and uh uh you know I really like

to see like Jorge I I saw it on Facebook

where he was getting some pool time

yesterday and you know there is nothing

wrong with that I I think that uh who

knows who who he might have met at the

pool uh that helps him career-wise and

on top of that it gives you a chance to

to kind of slow things down a little bit

the energy is good I think people are

here to uh both to learn and to have a

good time so uh I I think it's going to

be a great few days uh with uh have a

good time part you know I'm certainly

old enough and probably a lot of our

listeners are old enough to remember

cheers and so uh uh the Thursday night

uh uh celebration dinner the whole theme

is cheers and sports bars be a whole

bunch of different you know kind of

games that you find at sports bars

people are going to be playing that and

uh and and get some cheers themed stuff

going along with it that's

cool all right well guys getting out to

uh the convention this one in particular

is very installer focused and so for the

installers that watch us on a week uh

week in and week out basis the the

getting out there is it's fun I I'd love

to meet people I'll probably go live a

few times while I'm there uh on the

huddles uh Facebook page as well as go

career's Facebook page and kind of show

you guys some stuff that's going on out

there live uh hopefully bring some of

the convention to your uh to your

fingertips and uh give you a little bit

of the experience and of course I'd love

to meet you in person so with that we're

going to cut this we're going to cut

this uh a little uh shorter than normal

and uh come out and see Ben and I at the

convention and at the trade show uh

we're going to you

know Daniel says

uh hi to everybody and he's sorry that

they are GNA Miss uh I think they're

sorry they're missing uh maybe the

Huddle as well as the convention or one

or the other to be fair these events are

really not quite the same when Daniel

and Jose are not here with with uh you

know lit up backpacks and everything

else that that they table so that will

be something we'll all Miss for sure but

uh yeah we're definitely going to miss

you

guys well hey man thank you everybody

for joining us and uh thank you to all

of our sponsors we didn't have a

sponsorship video this week but just a

special Cloud shout out to floor cloud

and wanted to

um Paul and Kevin holding down the fort

yes we will and we are still going to

miss you guys hope that uh maybe you

maybe you can jump on a few of the lives

and and uh uh get a feel that being said

everybody have a great week we'll catch

you guys next week we're committed to uh

being here bringing you uh industry news

with the blue collar Cruise uh bringing

you uh on location uh when we're at

convention and then our weekly topics

mentioning topics if you're catching us

on Facebook or Instagram or uh uh

YouTube leave us a comment about any uh

topics that you'd like for us to dive

into get deep on uh do research on we

have a a good research team that can

really find some uh you know answers to

our questions and with that being said

we'll catch you guys next week and Ben

I'll see you tomorrow around noon sir

safe travels all right thank you