This week on The Huddle Paul, Daniel, Jose are joined by special guests Crystal Sims and Jen Zurn who discuss their lives as flooring installers, obstacles they've faced as women in the industry, and their love for flooring.

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The HUDDLE is where the flooring industry can get together and talk about everything! Lead by Paul Stuart from Go Carerra who is joined by Daniel and Jose Gonzalez from Preferred Flooring.

https://www.preferredflooringmi.com

https://www.stuartandassociates.com

what's up everybody and welcome to this

week's huddle we come at you every Tuesday three o'clock Central to discuss maintaining forward progress

in your flooring career sorry about that um today's a special episode

um with me as always is Daniel and Jose from preferred flooring uh we're gonna be joined today by

Crystal Sims the installation Guru and

uh Jen zern as well so they shot a a video uh when was that Crystal

at the CFI convention at the CFI convention with Mohawks accessory

um side of their business and it was it was a pretty awesome uh insight into

these ladies oh I I would call it kind of struggle in

the start of their flooring careers I think all of us have some of that um but they have a particular aspect as

as being women in the flooring industry so we thought we would dive deeper into

that conversation with them so welcome Crystal thank you for joining us and Jen should be joining us here

shortly yeah she said she's commuting but she's going to jump on her phone so

all right so we get Jose and Jen in the cars

I've been there as usual lately I've been there a few times myself so

all right so um you know maybe we'll wait for Jen to get

on to start any q a with the ladies but um Crystal can you tell me how that

um interview kind of came to be and and where that where that idea got started

I think Megan um from is it Megan from FC magazine FCI

magazine FCI magazine reached out and asked if I'd be willing to do an interview for them uh during the CFI

convention and I'd actually she had um talked about the

generational Gap is where it where it started from and I just was like I think that Jose and Daniel have a lot more

insight uh as to the generational Gap and so I asked her if the three of us

could actually be there together and so I didn't even know they were going to

separate that interview into me talking about the women in the industry so I thought that was pretty cool once I once

I seen that was coming out she has an issue to where she

she gets nervous and she's like I just wanna want you guys to be there with me you know been like that since she was

she was a kid why don't you just come with me will you just come with me it wasn't even that though I just I just

felt like they would present a lot better for that

installation crisis yeah the the topic that they were looking for and so that's

kind of why I offered the three of us because we all three of us have a little bit something else something different

to offer yeah well you kind of have the two birds with one stone thing though

you know you are younger and uh a woman so you can speak on both aspects so I

enjoyed the the um the video I thought that there was some

particular things in there uh one question in particular for you was I

noticed you said thing and and I wanted to just be transparent and get it out there like I know a lot of uh men in the

industry are walk on eggshells so to speak in talking

to women or not even just two women but to give you an example if I put out a if

I'm talking to the crews and refer to them hey you guys need to do X Y and Z and if

there's a lady on there am I messing up by that but I heard you kind of refer to yourself as one of the guys so that

seems to be maybe a key uh Insight at least for me does that bother you if

you're in the crowd of a of if you're one of two women on a crew and you're referred to as you know

not specifically but as the crew overall as as the guys or you guys is that is

that did I um did I explain that well enough I'm curious no I get it uh I it doesn't

bother me at all Jen needs to be added as a panelist she said

looks like they're working on it all right you know um one thing too is and this is kind of like the little inside

joke is um as as Crystal started progressing in the the her career in the flooring

industry I I never referred to her as uh like her like that's baby sister right

that's what we used to say all the time or if someone could do it I say you want me to go get my baby sister to do it for

you and you know that kind of like uh broke the ice with the guys as far as

um how she was viewed it she was never viewed as lesser than

uh she was always viewed as an equal and some of that might have been because Daniel and I are her brother and

obviously we we are geared a little bit differently but uh the other part is that she just kind of earned that

respect man like she earned it she lifted everything she hauled everything she did she did all

the Hands-On she did all the grunt work she started no different than anybody else would as a a green horn in the

industry um and that earned her a ton of respect from uh anyone woman or male or female that

weren't around her with her um or continues to work around her or whether she earned that respect herself

we didn't do any of that she did all that herself yeah I'm curious with day-to-day

interactions and things like that with your Crews and stuff so looks like Jen's joined us now hey Jen how are you

pretty good sorry about that technical difficulties

we got you in we blame everything on Paul anyways it's my fault

so um interactions day-to-day interactions because you lead a crew is that correct Crystal I do

how does um from the generational Gap standpoint more than female although I'm sure it'll

roll into there how is the if you have

um older installers on your crew how do you how do you work through that as a as a

younger lead so there's actually only one person on

the crew that is older than me um but we've worked together for

years six to eight years something like that he actually started like a year after I did

and so we work really well together uh sometimes he gets on my nerves because

he does a lot of this but uh I just have to let them know like you are still setting an example in

front of you know these younger guys who tend to follow his lead because he is someone to look up to and so

um I did have that conversation with him where it's just like you know me and you are kind of in this together he uh is a

we call him our glorified grunt man so he's really good at setting people setting you up for Success he's good at

you know loading the tools getting everything set up for for mixing prep and stuff so we are a really good team

in that aspect um but

yeah I don't like as far as running Crews I haven't ran into anything uh on

job sites there's usually everyone is pretty respectful of me but I

I present myself in that way as well like I show up as a professional I'm

shaking hands making eye contact um kind of talking him through what my

goal is for the day and what um kind of our process is and answer any

questions that they have gotcha Jan I was just asking Crystal about

leading crews out in the field from the generational standpoint as well as

possibly um uh being a woman as well but

you know for for the installation crisis and you bring in a bunch of people that means they're going to be our future

leader so I was curious to that Dynamic when you are leading older uh installers

on a crew um just some insight to your experience on that

um I haven't run into too much issues with having older guys on a crew

um you know more often than not you know you you develop that relationship and

they trust you know what you're doing and I think when you have uh crew members

working with you you know coming into that situation they are already aware

that you're in charge um but it's a little different when you're running into other Tradesmen on

the job site that are older that it's just it's not atypical to see a woman leading a crew

yeah so so there there I would say you get some double takes but once you kind

of stay like Crystal's saying you you walk in you introduce yourself look him in the eye shake them shake their hand

and you just kind of go through the I don't want to say motions but you're going through the motions to establish

that you know you're there to work and professionalism

you think it's harder to do that as a female than than it is like if one of us

walked in there and just starts taking control because sometimes you know like he's saying those the older generation

kind of views things a little bit differently and they could take things differently do you think that it's harder for you guys to end up doing that

than it would be for us I so I definitely think that it is a little bit harder

um but I also think the mentality of the

individual plays a big part like for me if another you know individual has a

problem with me being there I it's car carpet carp sorry can't talk it's for me

I don't care that is their problem my brain has like designated it as that so

I then they have to contend with that that's not me that's really the confidence that you

were speaking about in the video too right crystal where you got you had to get to that confidence level is that

once you get there is when you start to have that is that accepting yourself that you have

the authority or is it what is that um I I mean I think I'm still working on

all of that uh is are you ever done working on your confidence levels you know as you learn new things you're

you're starting to build confidence on other things as well uh for me

if someone is giving me a hard time I usually try to work out a deal with them

um how long are you gonna be here uh I just need to do this and I think that's

the difference between me and say Daniel per se because when he shows up he's

like I need this and I need this now she's a lot more empathetic than I am when it comes to stuff like that because

when when I go in there it's this is what I need I need the floor to do the floor you guys got to get out whereas

she goes in there hey this is what I need to do how can we work together and I think that actually helps her out a

lot because it's just not something that I think about doing yeah that's interesting yeah I try to

try to form that that partnership and maybe that's why I'm a likable person

when I'm on a job site because if I need to leave that alone for you know a couple hours in the beginning of the day

but that means I have it at the end of the day I can make a different game plan

to where I can still be where I want to be by the end of the day and everybody's still happy

yeah that's that's working I'm I'm on Daniel's side of that fence

when I was young and first started installing and started running crews in

my lower 20s and would catch so much flat because I looked like I was eight

and I I was like I see people what to do

and and I caught a lot of flack and I was a guy I mean I I caught a lot of

flack from older uh installers I mean I got thrown off a job once because they turned me in for

not having a hard hat on my own my own company guys did that because you know it was it was one of

those combative uh situations this young kid coming in thinking he knows everything and and to

be fair to them I was a bit of a uh egotistical jerk when I I thought first

got going I thought I was awesome and it took some education and some uh training

courses to learn that I didn't know as much as I thought I did which is why I am so heavy on pushing on training now

um but um yeah so I would imagine as as a as a woman in the trade

there's pros and cons like you have a gentler way maybe it's just smarter way of getting

what you want like it's still your goal-oriented I want this you just go about it in a

different manner than say Daniel or I would go in and like move this crap get

this out of the way get the ceiling tile guys out of here now we're supposed to do this today and you have a more

creative path to the same goal without causing all the both tension Rollins

says that um he says he's worked with you know both genders and

he feels like they get um a lot more respect because they have a certain self assurance about

themselves right like I know I'm coming in here and I can work with everyone so that that means that you know I'm coming

in as a partner right off the bat I'm not necessarily coming in and trying to take over the entire job like we're

talking about so concerns and stuff we could learn some

stuff that's why we're talking to them yeah how about you yeah how about you Jen working through

some of those site Dynamics and I think it's just like I said before

it's building the relationship having open communication talking to everybody on site trying to coordinate things so

we can all work together I get some you know pushback a little bit

but I don't think it and maybe it's just me I don't think it's any more than when I see like so my

husband and I were running the installation company and if he showed up versus I me showing up

um he was going to get that same pushback no matter what and

um in but in all fairness to what you were saying Daniel my husband is a very young looking face so maybe that just didn't

help our situation or a female he's young looking I know that

that's why you'll never see him without facial hair I don't blame them

is that that's his only way of proving that that he's 40. [Laughter]

showing the Grays yes yeah yes mine are coming in they're slowly but surely yeah

someone called us Platinum me too I got something to add

to that the theory you guys is uh from what I've seen as far as sitting back and observing is that

meat obviously has a male see check it out as a male I go in there and if I go

in there and I'm assertive no matter if I'm trying to work with or against someone to get the areas

um I'm just considered cocky because I'm a man but if a woman goes in there with it she's just considered confident which

is uh approach totally different you know and it's received differently

um depending on also like gen statue depending on the demographic that you're dealing with or the age demographic that

you're dealing with um and when when I started leading Crews I was young and it's the same thing like

I went incompetent but people still thought I was cocky and I was always leading people my crew was always older

than me and everyone I worked with or under on other projects in generals um they were always older than me too

because I was young I was put in a position at a young age but it gave me a lot of practice and and

I think uh I think Crystal's approach because I've seen it firsthand and uh worked really long enough is she's got a

very great balance between both uh confident

and and getting her point across but she also understands the importance of

holding her part of the bargain if she if she makes a deal if she says hey this

is our compromise she's got to hold up her end of the bargain right otherwise she loses all credibility for future

projects for the future of that project but that goes for anybody not just her that's for anybody and uh I think uh

I think it's a struggle no matter what but I I love the fact that she has her own way of going in and uh

commanding respect so to speak well I remember in the one of the round tables

that you two were on as well that talking about the generation uh the Gap

in and um the women thing came up too but it was really the generational Gap portion

where it was talk you guys talked about I forget who said this but I remember it

distinctly like we're not lazy we just try to find the most efficient way that

would be okay so yeah and with that being like

how can we get the older um maybe this isn't the best question but basically how do we get older people

to realize that it's not lazy maybe just listen for a minute and see if their way

is more efficient and um you know specifically since younger

you know the younger crowd I think are being you know attending more uh

trainings when I say younger I mean the the new people coming in the into the industry now have more access to more

training than maybe five years ago uh maybe some of that's coming through through cim or some other trainings or

just going through a training um you know a course itself uh

certification they talk about professionalism and such just depending on which one you go to but my point is is it because of training you you

possibly know a more efficient way than an old school guy would um and that doesn't have to be combative

so how do you work around that where you're like look just hear me out for a minute if you're being from a not from a

women's standpoint but from a generational Gap standpoint does that make any sense I I get what

you're saying I think we just have to have the conversations um because some of us we all of us it's

human nature that we kind of get tunnel vision um and we get stuck in and seeing things

only in from our perspective so the only way to give consideration to there being anything else is to have the

conversation hey maybe it's not that they're just lazy maybe they just have a different way of working and I mean

because when when Reese said some stuff I you know I was like you know I never thought about it like that and she had

some really great points I actually that would have been a clip that I would love to have gotten actually Daniel I think

you got it it's on YouTube the whole thing is on you yeah she did a fantastic job of explaining it and I think that

needs that kind of stuff needs to be put out there because overall I think the younger Generations get a bad rap for

that um I mean if I look at my kids they see how hard I've had to work as a

contractor and I I can I I ca I doubt that they would go yeah I

want to work that hard no they're going to look at it and go I don't want to work that hard I actually think there might be a different way of doing it

yeah and then us you know if we saw our parents struggling growing up uh we're

not going to want to struggle growing up we want to do something different put yourself in a different position for yes and easier uh chance of success

right that's awesome and well that's what parents do too right we try to send our kids up to to have it better than us

so right here that comes natural and a lot of that like I I did an

article about self-leveling right and that's what one of the points of self-leveling is is to do things smarter

you know you can go and go ahead and skim that floor three or four times to get it to look the same way that you

could if you just self-level it one time and people don't don't look at it like that

they they think oh you're just trying to take the easy way out well yeah man you only got so many miles on your knees let's uh let's start thinking about

other ways that you can you know prolong your body and having

you know uh the younger generation start with that right away is going to be

really ideal for the industry well and they're coming in knowing the newer tools we talked at one point about the

pot on one of the podcasts about you know just crab stretchers and how revolutionary we found those when we got

them you know I mean it's it's kind of like the cell phone you know the younger generation like my

kids grew up with cell phones like it was part of them you know growing up

um you know understanding that the tools that they have at their disposal coming

into the trade is is better and so they have a better understanding of the

easier ways of doing things and someone like myself who's been doing it forever grab a kicker and start kicking and

there's this thing called a crab stretcher right Kevin said they uh he had a hard time with the age aspect

because Kevin looks young as well still and he's just at a good worth work ethic

we'll get respect at any age and I think I'm looking at it from from kind of our

perspective right we were our we're minorities so we already kind of get that pushback we've been on jobs to

where a lady looks at Jose she's like you go here now and how long they take

you finish this everything it's like lady eyes don't learn English than you yeah we're going to be right here that

was literally a conversation what Daniel just said and so it gives us a different you know kind of view into

um what a woman may end up going through on a job site or a young person because I started off young too I started off

leading Cruise when I was like 19 years old and it's like no one takes you

seriously until you show them and it sucks because showing them sometimes you

have to work extra hard and and that goes back into something that uh I was I

was listening to to a podcast I don't remember which one it was about a week or two ago and it goes back to and this

is the the younger generation that was adding to it and they said that you know maybe us as a younger generation we're

going in knowing that we're trying to find an easier way knowing that we we're going to end up using an easier way but

if we're not willing to get our hands dirty uh alongside the older generation then maybe we'll never gain that respect

and um and that's kind of the takeaway I took from that is that

maybe the same way when I came in right because I was the younger generation at one point I was the person trying to

make things easier and I was approaching a different way but I also dove in next

to them if they were sticking their hand in the five gallon bucket of manure or crap I was doing it with them knowing I

knew a different way in a better way but I did it with them so that way I was able to gain the respect of my peers so

that way they were listening to me later on uh different approach and nobody's gonna put their hand in a bucket of crap

like I just said but it's it's just one of those examples where maybe there is some give and take on

both sides yeah well you guys both said it Crystal and Jan that you know it sounds like

conversation and how you approach it is 90 of it and then you know what comes

out when the Kevin was it Kevin that just said that hard work is respected by yeah

so I think where some disconnect happens is they they assume trying to find the

easiest way is not hard work a but B really what we should

be focused on is in my opinion is are they if if a young person is punctual

and dependable and there for the like works the same amount of time and is like there at 6 30

the same as the other Crews all this kind of thing if they're hard working from that perspective but then they find

an easier way to do things so really it sound you know to me it would be

if a younger person comes on and they're dependable and they're punctual and teachable then that's all I look for

and it doesn't matter to me how old they are or what gender it's those things that are most important Becky says that

uh presenting yourself in a mindset of always being interested in learning and efficiently working is a piece to

combative Minds I do it this way because I've learned this way just to be

transparent and open to questioning like do you feel that X is more effective

than y and it's oh posing is a question yeah like uh the people that say I've

done it this way for 20 years so it's the only way that I know how to do it

and they don't want to stray from that mindset and and what you have to do is you have to come with an open mind all

right I've done it this way for 20 years but this person is showing me that I can get this done and say x amount of time

and still have it done right then maybe we should be listening a lot more to these people than what we have been I

think there's just an also a natural resistance I mean to an older person I

mean like if a 20 year old carpet layer came up to me and wanted to show me a new way

of doing things I don't I can't say that I wouldn't have resistance to what that

Young Person's saying uh it's it's that a bit of that is just natural

um but there again is where we have to recognize those natural tendencies and

judge whether or not they are are serving us or not I mean is it serving us to be so hard-headed sometimes

obviously not right a great thing that you know I went through a certification with William Thornton and we were doing

some heat welding and he was watching me right and I'm heat welding and I'm

explaining it to another person that was doing the certification and he was just like I never would have thought to

explain it and do it that way I'm gonna write that down so that that's the way that I'm gonna teach it from now on so

this is someone that's been in the industry for years still learning and you can you

have to be able to take that information and run with it instead of being so locked into your ways that you know

no new information can penetrate yeah I think that'll always be training I'm I'm

wondering too if a lot of the their resistance to learning something new is they don't see

the time that it saves them right up front some of these things take a little bit more practice and I know for like

one of the guys on our Crew He said if he doesn't understand something right away or if he doesn't get the concept he

doesn't want to do it that way because he knows that his way is effective even if it's going to save him time in the

long run it saves him being frustrated in that moment so just just throwing out

there that it could be they just are not adapting as as well to New Concepts as

yeah I could just take that's that persistence in training you

know and then being persistent in trying you may not pick it up the first time and run after it but you know when

things are maybe when you're not on such a high pressure job you try that new technique or you try that new way

um but yeah I I'm curious for you and Jen did how was training for you guys you've

guys been through different certification courses and things of that of this nature different training how

has that been for you is it open arms are you treated any differently when you go to different trainings

both both aspects women and and your age when you first started getting trained

I say smirks right almost 21. I feel like uh when when I

started um Well everybody's nice that's that's

great but when you watch the guys interact they're not as nice with each other but they're definitely more

accommodating for you and you're like dude I'm an installer you're an installer let's just look at things that way I'm not delicate you don't have to

watch what you say it's fine my mother probably taught Sailors how to swear so let's move on

um so I feel like uh that is something I've run into a lot and it's just it's not the case and I

just want to be treated as any other installer and um I have a good bathroom to go to right

yes yes that um but and a maternity area all right

when so if you're pregnant I think we had to accommodate a um breastfeeding breast pumping you know

I've seen that in some of the other female uh flooring forums where women

are actually on site with their kids and do that so um more power to them I mean when having

one of the kids I was like installing floor and I told my husband I'm like yeah I think I'm having contractions I'm

going to go back to installing later and ten minutes later it was hey

could we just call the doctor I don't want to deliver the baby and it's just like yeah actually you were actually

installing pregnant and and having contractions yeah and Captain I remember

it perfectly it was a salon in Milwaukee I was doing VCT I was going around the door jamb

and and oh okay guys when you when you stub your toes and you

don't show up to work there's a new level of experience yeah no excuse what

what in the world that is awesome

I said both times I I delivered like a week after I stopped working

wow you're like oh break let's do it

that is crazy so um so that shouldn't get in the way either it sounds like not into not not that I

would uh encourage or discourage either any women to to uh install pregnant but

at the end of the day it shows you that it's not necessarily just like Jen said

it's don't don't treat her as you know more uh fragile or anything her ears and

her body are just fine to do the job she's there to do I think that's the case that we gotta focus on and then

when you have a a woman that's pregnant on a job site too you should see like if you're working in

an office setting like and someone starts complaining about the fumes it's like

a few months pregnant right now you're you're gonna be fine yeah Jen what I'm

sure that this question is going to come up in the chat but I want to know how many contractions does it take for you

to do a door cut I know so I have a high pain threshold so like to me it's like oh well that's

weird and I just kind of go back to it and they're like okay there's another one and but that's be that was it and

then I'm like you know I wonder if that's what it is nah and I was like well I better say something in case it

happens that way it's not my fault I'm gonna be honest to you and and to

Crystal like that just amazes me that you guys are able to function and and go

like I don't want to say like it it's it's an obstacle right but like to me

you know well they just show it yeah I to me it's like some some guys I

know uh including maybe myself as some in some cases always try to find an excuse not to work and that's what

that's where I was going with that is uh it wasn't even an option it wasn't even and you guys were doing that and I I

love that that absolutely amazes me that we are creating life you're creating

you guys are soldiers I don't know what the deal is hey do we have matching scars

it's right here I didn't do mine pregnant though yeah we told her to take

the week off she said no we could I could work one more week we're like I don't think that's what it was the day

she came back to work she's like oh um

every time I cut myself I don't want to tell anyone either except this time they uh I got eight stitches here it's the

first time they made me go to the hospital and I didn't want to the the crazy thing is is that everyone always

like they don't want to tell me but also they do want to tell me because I'm really good at like stitching people up

in a just real quick so you can be all right nurse Daniel

no nurse Dan Porter has said that uh the babies were learning installs in the womb all right we got new installers

coming on board soon I can say I don't know if it's because I worked through my first pregnancy I uh I stayed home most

of that but my second two I was actually doing flooring and them kids are like

way more hyped it might be the things I was smelling

so what what um after the the uh video with mohawks

accessories side um when did that come out and and have you

guys has anybody reached out has has other women who are thinking about

getting into our industry have any reached out to either of you two over

the the time here I I think that very regardless of it came out like this week

right gotcha today's Tuesday and then it was

last week last week Friday or something it'll be interesting to see I I wish

um I hope more ladies watch and consider

it what are the pros like what would you tell a woman that is especially a younger woman because right we're we're

talking about the generational Gap in a way and we're talking about women in construction in a way so what advice do

you give to younger uh women who are considering it like what should they

drop is if they have some concerns what were what are some of those that might come up that they just need to drop and

give it a shot maybe they're preconceived notions or

any of that like for me coming into it I was a

little the construction portion of it because I

had never done construction before but I can honestly say that it has made me a

lot stronger woman because of it and foreign that's because of all the people

that I have surrounded myself with who I've learned from have helped me feel

more confident in my skin and like leading Crews and being able to go out

and talk to different people and um

kind of coordinate different jobs that were needing to be done has helped me

become a better leader and I just feel like I don't want to say powerful but

you feel like like a badass like and it's not because you want the attention or anything it's because you're put into

this leadership position where you can

kind of lead other people to to different successes as well

yeah leadership's leadership regardless of gender or age so if you display those

you know those leadership qualities one of them's being willing to do what

you're asking of others right we we know that's a leadership quality also you

know being punctual and dependable for your staff or for your subordinates

or whatever that that you know being there and uh

being a you know a good leader it it doesn't matter whether you're a woman or a man but it's particularly important it

sounds like for your own confidence to get built you know what I mean like it's

self-generating when you show up and then you do the work and you're you're on time and regardless of your age and

people recognize that if like it was said earlier those things

are respected traits it really doesn't matter what your gender is or what your age is and not only that is a I think

that being in the flooring has actually led me to other uh have other capabilities outside

of flooring as well um foreign just other aspects of construction I've

learned to uh you know painting I can do I can re remodel our I remodeled our

bathroom which I put our bathtub in I put our sink in I didn't do the electrical because that's not what I do

yeah that's scary she calls someone else for electrical well actually I let my

husband mess it up first and then we call them um but I've like Charlie right I've

recently taking up taken up making uh like baking and stuff and just being

because I can be creative with my hands on the floor I can be creative in other

aspects of my life as well hey hold up guys you heard that right like she just now took up baking

so all you guys who think that the stereotypes that that's what women are doing that's what they're learning no no

no no no no that's pretty awesome yeah that you can find the love of

something else through um whether it's some can you know

um carpentry work or some Plumbing work just building your confidence to be able

to jump into some of those things is you know I know a lady who started a company

um here in Wichita about four or five years ago and I actually know her husband pretty well and she started a

company of handy women I forget the name of it but it's it's all women that go in and

in the residential world and do handyman at work for uh customers and they are

killing it they are killing it and they're killing it because they found that

look a lot of a lot of consumers uh now this may not you know go right over into

the you know commercial construction world but in the residential World a lot of consumers like having uh women do the

work I mean that's the bottom line and they are killing it she's adding um

a couple weeks ago I was traveling down in Dallas with Chris and he was telling me they're ready they're trying to find

more women to add to their to that business and I don't know how it's all set up but I thought it was pretty

interesting that they went into a male-dominated field and really just are killing it and it had to be the stuff

you guys are talking about the confidence to do that and obviously they got to do good work or at the end of the

day because that's what that's kind of like the Delta no matter what if you're not doing good work

you can get thrown out right but if you're doing good work and you couple that with the demeanor and the approach

and the creative um thought process that you guys have

it's proven to be a win for them I can say that it does uh cross over to

the commercial aspect as well because I find that when I go on to job sites where women are are the owners or the

designers are women I can actually relate to them a lot more and I think they feel more comfortable and more at

ease that we can communicate on that level that's a good point we've actually

gotten uh invites because they preferred uh to have uh Crystal there as their

installer and that was because like uh uh the designer uh obviously the female at one of the projects or the lady who's

in charge of uh getting uh everything moved out uh in charge of her Crews and

the office staff um really loved the fact that uh Crystal as a crew leader

um was there and and it and it just kind of I don't say it fed into it right but it it's women are not shy women will

Empower women all the time but a guy is always hesitant to empower another male

because they're a male and that's a superpower that women have is is they

don't care right is right wrong is wrong she's done a good job that deserves some notoriety and I love that

and and to that point Jose um you know one of the things because Crystal and I had jumped on a call with

uh she was a new installer and she was going through the two or five week out in Wichita and uh Dwayne Pruitt reached

out and asked us if we jump on a call with her and talk and one of the things that we you know had mentioned is how

great the other females in our industry are like we're each other's cheerleaders

and you don't always get that because you know where it's it's not a competition we're you know we're happy

to see each other's successes and um I mean it's it's fantastic to see the

older generation you know we have Susie Namba Kathy case and you know this generation with Crystal and Elena

lagator and it's really encouraging when you see the Next Generation coming in

that you can encourage them and then feel like yes I do have a place that you

know even even though there might be some intimidation Factor because it is male dominated they can see that they're

getting that support from their their females uh that are also in the industry

yeah because I don't think you know no one empowers a female like another

female and I've seen that not not just in this industry but um my wife used to

teach pole dancing classes and that was the main focus There Was You get these

women that are so like down on themselves and they you just get them in a group and you Empower them up to the

to a point where you know their confidence is is just out there now and she she did

some poll classes too structure pull though probably doesn't hurt as much but um

Rollin does ask a good question and he says that you know both you guys came from families that were in the industry

do you feel like this helps you compared to someone that's starting out fresh in the industry

that is a good question hey we were still fresh though Robin I'll just let you know that we were

still fresh when shooting when she came in we were yeah but we we were already started though so yeah that's a bigger

Advantage for them coming in fresh and having so many women that are

already established in the industry do you guys have a a month is there any

monthly women in Florence group or anything where you guys meet on a monthly basis or anything and just I

believe they just start getting that ball rolling so yes it is starting

sorry we've got some feedback

okay has technical difficulties Jed you said they just got that ball

rolling on that yes yes maybe we'll get some information on that so that way we can share some of

that that information on some of the live feeds or the podcast so that way uh women who are currently in the industry

or looking to get in the industry have somewhere to go to to get information um that would be awesome I just always

give everyone Jen's number so I think that and a flooring group

you know there is women in the flooring um group on Facebook there I think

there's one there's actually quite a few of them yeah I got kicked out of a couple because I'm

not a lady so um Jose

is it only for women is that is that a group only for women or is it just based

on that that a few different pages Alana says women of the flooring business and yeah

I think there's two different ones one everyone is allowed to go to and the other one only women right yeah so and

there are there's there's multiple ones there's like women in floor installation there's uh CFI gals there's tile chicks

so the the premise is is the reason why they don't allow uh guys in there and it

has no it's nothing to do because with you being a guy because you could be the most encouraging one it's so there's a

place for other women to go and be able to ask questions Express concerns where

they feel comfortable and other women who might be in those circumstances without being

may be judged by other guys no matter how encouraging they are because you know Kevin Kevin brought up

uh that's how chick Shannon right and she does amazing work she she's got great videos you know we met her

um and you know her and I think it's her

fiance right they're not married Chris yes yeah they're they're great people and you get on some of these groups and

it's just the amount of crap that people talk for no reason is and it is it's

like just because she has you know more followers than you you'll be fine man like there's no reason to talk crap and

that it's okay right because I've been on that side of things too where people

talk crap about me but you're always if you don't have haters then maybe

you're doing something wrong right it's like don't bother me one bit you can there seems to always be there seems to

always be a um I'd say a minority of people on these

Facebook groups that their goal is to like find something negative

um I've read through plenty I'm on Plenty of the Facebook groups and women are men it's like

there's just a a a portion of them that are always going to go down negative and there's a portion that's always trying

to find the positive and you can clearly see them uh but but I was just curious

if there was that uh aspect and obviously there is because and that's a good thing I I don't see a

not that a man should be in there but there should be some the some that are mixed with that being

the focus and some that are just women only and that's kind of uh would allow more men to show their

support and also like we're all everybody is all in different parts of the country if so if someone

needs a job in Wichita and they're a female and they they have a good track record or or are hard workers we we

would like to know them you know yeah it's also a way of you know gainfully employing people who

want to be gainfully employed so I was just curious if that dynamic's there that's that's awesome that it is I just

I just found another women's group on on Facebook I just typed it in to see what went on and I'm a little jealous of the

name it's called Wi-Fi

pretty good name

we're getting close to the end here uh it's funny how quick an hour goes jeez

um I do want to remind before we close that we have to forward uh Ford progress

scholarship uh if you guys don't know about that we mention every week but

it's uh fcica's Sim program uh go career

is sponsored uh one of those courses and so there's a scholarship uh

that we've emailed and emailed out I wonder could we post that like during

our next during next week's we got another email about it today as

well and then I also posted to the groups about it since I can't since I can't win it I

might as well ineligible that's right me too you and me together but uh

you know apply for that scholarship uh we will be selecting the winner on

December 15th uh or thereabouts and so yeah get on and

I want to make sure to to uh announce that oh the deadline I'm sorry let me make a

correction the deadline is December 15th and we will announce it January 10th the

day before my birthday hey

so uh uh anything and closing uh you guys would like to close with

are you talking to our guests I'm talking to Jan and Crystal our our unique guest for the week

well I would suggest that if there's any females looking to get into the industry one I'm more than happy to jump on a

phone call Zoom meeting whatever it is and talk about it

um and and two you know if if it's something where you like working with your hands

and even though it's a male dominated industry uh there is a place here it is

a very uh encouraging inviting trade

um I I just take take the time and explore the possibilities

thank you for saying that that's that's awesome yeah it is I feel like Crystal

uh I say ditto well I want to thank you guys for

joining us this week I know an hour's uh short time to get through everything but

I hope everybody gained a little uh insight to the perspective of being

younger coming into a trade that's also

you know um older dominated too I mean our average installer in the industry is

somewhere between 53 and 58 depending on which study you read so not only are you

got that battle but also uh being in a male dominated field so you guys are

you know lionesses in my mind and and uh I appreciate your leadership in this

this uh this Arena so it's a big lesson for men and women I think a lot of the

stuff we we talked about on this call so I appreciate you guys these people are saying that they need to see more of you

guys on here so you might have to just uh-oh we might have to just take a break

we'll call it the Crystal and Jen show yeah there you go crazy train oh let me

let me write the opening uh the opening uh statement and music okay you have to

only in song and dance Farm Jose interpretive dance so

um I want to add before before we let everyone go if we end because I want I want to add something that uh cross my

mind during this whole conversation is guys maybe we can learn something from

women entering the any industry not just flooring but you know we put ourselves in a situation

right now where the older generation was not willing to share information yet we have women coming in to every aspect of

life construction business and they're willing to pass that information on to the next because they are so supportive

of building one another up we probably wouldn't even be in a

shortage of Labor right now if we had that vision and that view and shared

that same Drive uh that women do we would we would be more than willing to share information and pass it out once

they pass it down but pass it on and pass it down uh because we would be building up the community around us

instead of making sure that we are the only one on that totem pole that should never be the case in any industry no

matter what we should be more than willing to share with with everyone around us essentially

creating a village right that's so just food for thought that's what popped in my head during this whole conversation it's not a flooring competition it

should be a flooring family yeah the competition is only you know a few times a year for the Regionals and then once a

year in Vegas yeah and I'll add to that that the the

lessons that you can learn is we're all installers so like the supporting that

you're talking about Jose would have been really nice when I first got in I could tell you that

you're not treated the best sometimes if you get with an old installer doesn't

want to see you there so if we could be more supportive of installers in general gender be damned and age be damned just

support another skilled trades person and uh support their journey by sharing

one of our core values in my company is that we share our knowledge and we make others feel that by showing them

and so you know the only way you can really break down the barriers is to not

have them in the first place and recognize an installer for their work as an installer so maybe Jen kind of

touched on this earlier and I know crystal said it too like we're not We're Not Fragile and all this stuff

treat us like installers give us the knowledge pass it on and allow us to do a great job

just like crystal said in the video let me show you right but also don't join our groups

[Music] well thank you guys that I'm gonna

we will see you guys next week and thank you Jen and thank you Crystal for joining us it was awesome I hope you

guys enjoyed it as well and we'll catch you on the next episode thanks guys