This week as the guys are winding down from a beautiful week in Orlando, they recap their experience at the CFI FCICA 2023 Convention and Tradeshow, from what they learned and what they liked to what they think can be improved

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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.

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Huddle we come at you every single Tuesday at 3 P.M Central to discuss

maintaining Ford progress in your flooring career with me as always is Mr Daniel and Jose

Gonzalez if you prefer flooring out of Grand Rapids Michigan

what's up fellas how's it going brother have the trip uh back from uh from the show in Orlando

everything goes smooth everything is good yeah so Daniel Landing had to come

get his tonsils out so I sound really weird today well you sound you're at least I can

understand what you're saying so it sounds like we'll have an awesome podcast and Daniel may be sparing in his

comments uh so today we had planned on

having a show with um designers kind of encompassing Flooring

Design and and color selections and things like that due to some scheduling issues uh we do not have our designers

for that show so we're going to pump that to next week and this week uh we really wanted to talk about the show we

just all got back from anyway and share some insights with you guys on what we

experienced at this you know Daniel uh Jose and myself were always

kind of promoting getting to these shows and this one was fantastic it was the

the first joint fcicfi convention and we've I mean

preferred guys have been to both cfi's convention and fcica's I have as well

and so we thought we'd discussed some of the great things that came out of this uh show as well as some insights we

might have so starting off

what was your guys's uh overall impression of the show was it a positive

joint venture between the two entities um yes yes it was actually

um looking back at the CFI alone and fcica alone it was right and you know my

perspective is because I'm an installer but I also like the business side of things and it was

it was awesome to have both worlds mingle and in the on the same platform

in the same room uh in the same conversations that was uh

it was just not my nerd I was just super sweet to be able to ask you know questions uh from the installers and

then follow up with a conversation in the same conversation all over to the business side um in that aspect and um a good balance

of residential and Commercial Minds uh together as well and I have

that was my favorite one by far um you know yeah not that they did a bad job on their own I mean those shows

we've always heck when we got when you guys and I talk after those shows were

like that was a good show but there was something special about having both sides of the coin at one show you know

you had fcica that really their member group is flooring contractors and then

you had CFI which were really their group of members are flooring installers

and all certified guys so it was nice to have that whole Community together in

one um you know I do think there was some some hay to be

made or some some opportunities for those two groups to come together even better like maybe

um some some some more integration between the two but it was the first year so you know maybe some of that will

come down the pipe but uh we got we we maybe

you know in our previous discussions maybe there's a little bit of segregation between the two entities you

know if you're a CFI you may be hanging out with CFI all the time and I think the beauty of a of a conference like

this is the the opportunity to go out and meet you know other people from the

other side and kind of understand uh maybe why the flooring companies do things the way they do from the

installer standpoint vice versa like the fcic understanding the struggle of the

installer so the flooring contractors that were there you know as uh with fcica

understanding like the the profession of it and the listen

to the installers on some of their their pain points and what they're struggling

with and I just think there was some hate to be made there what do you guys think yeah well 100 and hey just so

everybody knows Daniel just had his uh tonsils out yesterday so

probably going to be a little bit on the quieter side today so if you see them going like this it's

because he's crying about nothing if he starts doing sign language you know why

um no I I think you're you're I think you're spot on with that like

I don't want to say like missed opportunities right but it was the first one and to be able to integrate and mix

everyone properly is going to be kind of hard to do on your first shot I would

say but uh maybe intentional on workshops that that incorporate both uh

maybe um I think we had a conversation or you and Daniel were conversating about like uh

the panels right like uh uh more of those a good mix um

a a better I don't say better because it was still pretty good but

maybe shooting out an email to everyone and giving people who are attending an opportunity to say hey I'd like to join

the panel if there's space for me um or hey uh this is a great topic for discussion uh this is where my struggles

are and you know and a lot of you'll be surprised a lot of people have some of the same struggles at the same time

um because it's just you know I feel like construction is seasonal right so we're all going through some of the same

struggles um the well and and for the first show like I

don't want to paint the picture like oh you didn't do it do it right that's not

the case you did wonderful it was an awesome show but we're just talking about ways that we feel like whether it's you

know uh dead time that could have during the golf tournament that could have been

utilized for the attendees to do a co-mingle and and share you know I think

one of you guys mentioned uh almost like speed dating at lunch or dinner or one

of them or something just to get to the two groups to co uh mingle a little bit

more but I also don't want to paint the picture like I know better than what they did I'm just saying from a true

attendees perspective it looked like it went well I had a great time it was my

favorite show but there was some clear kind of separation between the groups that I

think we there's just like you guys said there's some opportunities there Robin said that his grandson showed me how to

dance in 100 he did if you look at his Facebook there's a video on there of me dancing with his grandsons that's

awesome yeah and that's something too that happens there too and that's where the mingling comes into play right like

you get to to learn who people are on a personal level not just a professional or a work level right like it's it's

you get to find out who people are outside of the professional facade outside of the installation mindset and

um it might make it easier for a lot of people too if there were an intentional

um circumstances or or events or or games to play together where you I don't want

to say Force together right because you still got to participate but to where

some of the the introverts uh who might stay in their Corner um can get set at a table with someone

else uh who they don't normally bump elbows with and not saying that I didn't do that because I I'm everywhere all the

time right like I don't have a problem mingling I I it doesn't bother me to mingle but you know they're for those

who do and it's opposite for me right because I'm not really one to put myself out there and just start going to talk

to people but um over the past couple years we we constantly talk about you know pushing

forward right forward for Progress forward progress and it's

like if you're not going to put yourself into some of these uncomfortable positions then you're not going to grow as a person so I you know last year at

CFI convention um I seen a gentleman sitting there by himself it was uh Jose right yeah I seen

him he was sitting there by himself and it was his first time there so that's when we brought cookies so I grabbed the cookie and just went

and sat next to him and started talking to him and then you know him and Crystal came and joined us and I mean he he

probably text me you know once or twice a month just to see how I'm doing so it's how relationships are fostered and

I think it's really important to to put yourself out there like that even if you're not very comfortable with it

because me being uncomfortable with it had no comparison on how uncomfortable he was

not knowing a single person there yeah yeah that's a good point I mean we can

talk about the show being set up to facilitate some of that but in a lot of

ways it was I mean the dinner and the the music and things but getting

together like installers or companies

have to kind of step out of your comfort zone to go meet the other side and and

it can't just be everybody else setting it up it does have to even if it was set

up even if it is set up absolutely perfect for example there's going to be you have

to take some steps to go kind of put yourself out there like you said like even after dinners me him and

Crystal would sit at different tables just just to not be all in the same group because I mean we see each other

all the time I don't want to talk to this dude yeah and that was that's intentional

right so when I walk in and they're there first I walk in to see where they're at and then I go the opposite

way I that I mean it's strategic but

got to be uncomfortable oh you get a lot out of it I think I mean didn't you get like

I I that divide and conquer kind of deal you never know who you're gonna meet and

end up being friends with and texting long term and and or what connection it

doesn't always have to be about business either I like the fact that there were several people now I'm a company and an

installer so I Bridge both sides and that's what's easy for us we know the CFI guys and we know fcica guys so just

to be clear that's why we feel like we have a somewhat of a unique perspective that we have a ability to kind of make

some of these comments we we realize that some fcica people have never been

to and many have never been to a CFI convention and vice versa and so there

are opportunities to connect with other the other side um you know at a at a convention or

something like that may not be as as prevalent and that's why you know us saying this could be you know maybe

think about doing something like this I think we provide a pretty unique perspective because I've been going to

CFI for many years so of you guys and the same with fcica for many years so we

we know the flavor of both sides apart and how they came together was pretty magical and I I thoroughly enjoyed it

but I think it'd be uh you know it's also fun to think about like what more

could have been done and how how can it be better next time and even because no matter how good it is

things can always improve I guess that's my point it was an awesome show but it can forward progress and everything Ford

progress baby yeah and this is our huddle where we discuss that so exactly

right I think the the cool thing uh and you know uh like for little plug for Pat

Kelly but it was synergistic the way everything came together and the

the people the the keynote speakers that came in this time like I don't know if

one side or the other would have access to them or if they would have interest but man that was

there was some great information and great and great stories there and I and

like I absolutely loved it um they're opening a keynote speaker for for the event really set the tempo I

don't know if CFI convention ever had a keynote speaker like that before Dave Garden Dave Gardens everything no

speaker well I don't remember a keynote outside of

you know Robert uh Barton back when he was kind of doing it

um or Dave um was fcica brought to the table was I

mean how often do you get to talk to a guy that runs bonnets you know that's

the CEO of bonnets right and that's a very large commercial floor covering contractor and it gave installers who

may be thinking maybe it's a residential installer thinking about getting into commercial can get in there and see and

listen now his wasn't just about you know obviously flooring his was really

about how you set your day up for Success uh but and how you live your life successful

those are man I learned a lot and I go to stuff like that all the time so

I know that you know the installers in the room I took uh an effort to look

around and there was a lot of those guys in there too which was really pretty cool for them to you know maybe

experience something that they wouldn't normally have experience at the at a regular CFI convention

yeah around and said that they used to have the keynote speakers all the time but it the cost got too much so they cut

back and I'm really glad that they they brought it back this year it was some like

it was some really really good information well that was that was the magic of them stories

yeah well that was the magic of them coming together I think the cost it was more cost effective for both sides and

um uh you know combining those resources where fcica they typically would have

some type of a keynote speaker uh and this this was no different so they

were able to bring that flavor to it I also really liked how

you know CFI got to show like their their

strength in numbers or their Community when you know fcica was like we need a chant

too yeah CFI CFI and then fcica just doesn't roll

off quite as quite as well but uh I thought that was pretty funny um

and I enjoyed the fact that they their leadership did seem to talk a bit and

and and you could see them co-mingling uh it would be awesome for those uh

people who are really trying to change the industry continue to

reach to the other side because that installation problem that we all talk about all the time is not going to be

solved by either side it's going to be solved by both sides coming together and using great technology right it's a

collective and that's what we need to realize like we talked about segregation between the two entities but if you look

at our order like the industry as a whole were segregated into not only like

retailers contractors installers manufacturers you can even break it down

even more to carpet wood you know resilient and it's like hard

time everything is so far far separated it's how can we come together as a

collective in order to then you have office warehouse I mean yeah well and and a bit of that's

going to be natural but there are like plenty of ways to kind of come together

from both sides um and I'm sure they got out and talked to

a lot of the installers I did talk to a lot of the CFI guys and

um they enjoyed the show and you know you can't

when CFI is such a tight-knit group of people

not to say that it's small I'm just saying because not but the fact is is that they really love CFI so to embrace

fcica like that was you know that was my only question was

are are people going to be receptive to this co-venture and it seemed like you

know everybody I talked to was like yeah this is awesome man I've really enjoyed it yeah I mean

if you look for something about you're one or something going to find it but if you look for something uh that you could

benefit from man there was way more things to benefit from there than there was to complain about oh yeah by far

it's just the downtime that like you said for

during the golf outing like I've golfed every year I've been there this is the first year I didn't and Dwayne was happy

about that by the way um I mean Dwight they call them Dwight

but uh you know there wasn't anything going on so I took the time to to try not to fall

too far behind on work uh but if there was something going on I definitely would have fell further behind but uh

that's just one of those sacrifices you have to make when you're going out there and and increasing your Social Network

and and trying to do something that benefits the industry not just you but

the industry um and that's always our goal anyway uh trying to make those connections and and

as a matter of fact I think I connected more people to others than I made

connections myself but I still walked away with a couple new new friends okay okay says thanks for sitting with

us Daniel the crazy thing is is like someone was telling me you know they came up to me

and they were like we love your family and you know you guys are the future and all this stuff

right it's like the crazy thing is for me right it's Jorge oh yeah they call me

Julio long story don't get into it but I said the thing that I'm excited for is

like jorhan Jose and Jesus to to get really involved because we're

we got that whole like the Latin side of the industry that's

untouched right now just because of the language barrier and in order to you know grow even more we need to get them

even more involved because I wish I could speak Spanish and they said you look like you can I said yeah that's the

problem well my wife would probably shoot me for

saying this on on air but she's uh Hispanic as well and and uh can't speak

much Spanish uh in fact I have a larger vocabulary than she does but uh right I

have a larger one than we do I always tell her just tell them you're Indian honey

the the I guess really the purpose of talking about this is a we do it all the time

please invest in yourself and get to one of the shows this one if if I believe from what

I understand they're going to do it again next year it's a great opportunity to get up uh get out of your seat get

out of your comfort zone a little bit get out to uh a show which is it's set

up in a way where you can kind of Disconnect from your day to day for a minute and get to really network with

other people and I know that one thing that I benefited greatly from was

talking to other companies and other installers about their approach to

projects like I found I I've heard I heard everything from the installer like

actually going to job meetings and stuff like that as a sub and I was like

that's wild and he loved doing it I won't say that's right or wrong it's not my my position to say I'm just saying

it wouldn't happen around here and you know so in other areas things just work

differently um you know knowing that some there's so many companies that

are dealing with the labor side of things that when when

trying to connect with the labor side of your business or you know that

opportunity what I found a lot of the ones that were good at it or doing well or seem to have a good thing going was

they really connected on a personal level to their installers they they like knew them not just their name and what

they installed but like knew their life and you know about their family and I

had a couple conversations with some company guys who were like yeah we knew we

give you know birthday gifts to you know subcontractors when we know it's their birthday and just stuff like that things

you would do for your in-house crew they're doing for their their crew

overall and I think that shows that appreciation to them and so the more that that can happen you know even I

don't do that we do one subcontractor thing a year where it's like thanks for working so hard but it showed

me it's just not enough we got to do more right I think um like with this joint thing it was my first time being

able to sit with the next gen group with the fcica and it was like real personal because it

was just a few tables in there because it wasn't really like announced or anything but

I mean you go in there and with our unique perspective like you

said we're contractors and installers and then you talk to some of the contractors and they're like how do you

guys like we talked about pricing because you know I'm pretty transparent with everything and he's like I can't believe you guys would get that and I

said yeah but I can't believe you're not getting that because you know after that conversation he's like I'd like to have

my employees as W-2s and have them uh have retirement and all this stuff

and it's like that's that's the thing that we need to talk about it's you talking about pricing and you the things

you want to do at some point you know you got to raise those prices in order to set yourself up that way

but but when I was on stage you know but that's that's what I said it seems like

there's too many people out there that try and keep the installer hungry just to keep them working because they

want to keep essentially hold them hostage you're going to work for me I'm going to keep you as hungry as I can in

order for you to keep doing that but still have you make some money

but that that's not the thing right we gotta as an industry we just have to be better

and know that we're in business for profit and then in order to take care of your

employees you have to charge what you need to charge you can't just accept any rate that's out there

and I mean he was like I would love to do this and I said that that's how you got

to do it man you just have to start doing it but the more the more we can train

people and get people on the Level Playing Field the more those bids will kind of even themselves out and we won't

it won't be you know I just lost this bid by thirty thousand dollars yeah I

think that you're probably more hitting than nail on the head than

you even can imagine the the fact is is it's it boils all the way down to valuing what that installer does for

your company I don't know where that got lost I talked to some Old-Timers you know that talk about

I mean talk about how much respect they got from the companies that of course they

were more W-2 back then but then also when they walk on a job site that the

amount of respect they would get from the general contractor and I I came into the industry when uh that wasn't the

case in you know 95 even I'm talking real Old-Timers so I'm I'm kind of an

old-timer but not not to the Glory Days when we were respected as a trade I

think you know who was it that did the uh heat welding

uh class dick Schmidt dictionary yeah genius if you want to be politically

correct penis Schmidt it's I I

that's my brother yeah I have a a question if that came from him or you but that came from

but you know he his um his his comment about

uh sheet vinyl being the most hand skill required portion of fluorine and that

flooring overall is the most hand skilled in trades was like

right at my heart and no no no no no no not trying to really uh like poop on the

old electricians or anything trying to downplay anyone yeah but you know you don't need a ton

of hand skill for to for as an electrician

and again not on the electricians here I'm just saying when you start to look at the hand

skills required to put down sheet vinyl and and and do that installation it does

require and it was just like you see the love and of course he's an installer so he's going to have that love for us but

the the truth is is we deserve a lot of a lot more respect on a job site than

what today's General Contractors um kind of have for us and

um you know that one of the things that stuck with me from talking to you know a

guy that's been installing for years and years and years and Market the ntca I'll talk about it too

um going in and like it's ready like you're the thousand pound gorilla and it's

because the GC understands that everybody walks on your floor like you can section off

areas easier for you know painting or whatever it just takes up a wall not the

entire floor and for us to do our jobs the most efficient in the way that it best benefits the job as well as all

parties involved so the flooring contractor flooring installers profitability all the way up to the GC

schedule is having the area open and and ready to rock and roll for us

um I think part of that this uh that part of the Fall was when

and again I not to say anything bad about Subs because I was a sub as well and go

Carrera is all about Subs so this is not negative but when sub Contracting really

started coming to its own in the late 80s and then really catching wind in the late

90s where the the those guys now are their own

company and they're showing up on job sites at 10 o'clock and things like that and it was really prevalent when it

first started happening um that's where we got our bad name that's how we're getting a bad name as

installers is if we don't say what we're gonna do and be there when we say we're going to be there and showing up at the

same time or at a a regular construction schedule time not you know they're often it's it's

better for us if we're coming in the afternoon and working if you set that up with your GC great but if it's a seven

to three Thirty project or seven to four project man flooring guys showing up at 10 30 or 11

just it it's going to give us a bad name as an industry that is that's one thing that that when when I started everyone

had this uh uh idea or perception that the flooring Gap is going to show up at

10 o'clock between 10 and noon and leave at three right like and and we didn't want to fall into that category and to

go back to what you're saying about what happened to the industry I think you're right the the the the rise of the of the trade

contract the subcontractor and the uh availability of the 1099

um kind of put an individual as me against the world oh they're doing it for how much but I can

do it for this much and then when I can do it for this much and it and it was everybody going down down down and that

they set the standard and that's where everything kind of fell apart and the lower down you go and the wages the

the the different demographic that you're going to attract right I don't need to make a living I just need to make x amount this week yeah look at my

looking at trying to get through the week instead of looking at building a career and we got to get that back and

look Subs are awesome and we we have to have them as an industry now

um but I do think that you know the more professional that they treat their

business the more uh professional that they act on job sites and the more

professional that they um appear to the to the you know like

their outward appearance the better off the industry is going to be and we all we can do is continue to you know

encourage like the professionalism and reward that

encourage high quality work and reward that and encourage punctuality

dependability you know attitude like track and record that stuff so that you

know who should be you know who should be rewarded for taking care

of the the the project and and who should be rewarded for really keeping you know our in almost uh elevating our

our reputation back to where it should be it's it's all of us that have got to do it like all the the installers that

watch his show it's we're the ones that have to do it we have to like I would rather a guy say I'm going to

show up at nine and then I tell my my GC or my superintendent my my

crew will be there at nine now they won't be they'd still rather him be there at seven when the job site opens

like the other trades and if you look at the the one thing that these other

trades do that that's it like us and painters are known for just kind of coming and going as we

please from an industry standpoint but then you got electricians they're there at 6 30 or 7 o'clock and your HVAC guys

and your your framers even I mean like you're still workers for sure you know

they're just they're they're there when the job site starts they leave when the

job sites close um and if and sometimes like I said I know that there's plenty of instances

where it's better for the project the GC the installer all of us to just work

from three to ten because the job site gets can get cleared out uh but making

that deal with the GC that's a different situation than just showing up at 10 or 11 or whenever you get there and the GC

is like hey man this job's open it and there's nothing that'll tick off a superintendent more than showing up at

11 and then trying to stay after he's planning on leaving and he was there at

six there's nothing that will take one off faster usually with my in my experience I've

got to make arrangements where we know that that's going to happen like if we have a two-hour drive or something like that yeah

we try to be open and honest I know sometimes you just gotta conform to the schedule that's set forth by the

general right like they have guidelines for a reason um you gotta you gotta honor that you

gotta respect that this the same way you want them to honor your wishes and respect your your wishes to get your

area they have to sacrifice the floor for you to do the floor we need to we need the floor to install the floor a

lot of times that's just communicating and letting them know that you're going to be there late anyways because like you said they leave at a certain

time that gives us free reign to get things done in some of those common areas so that's always my excuse right

yeah we show up at this time you guys leave at this time just let me know how to lock up I'll lock everything up

because then I can get all this done after you guys leave yeah if you communicate you're right it

it that goes a long way uh but if you're a company and your sub doesn't

communicate with you that that's what he wants to do and he just shows up or you

know the crew just shows up at whatever time is is uh best for them

but nobody else knows then that just doesn't work so back to the show we got off on a bit of a tangent uh because we

love uh installation but on on the show what did you guys think of the uh the

party you know the the farewell um I forget what it was what they called it but the the music and the food and

the the atmosphere and the gains and you know all that first off let me let me let me mention

something um the beginning of the show they did have like a uh a Social Hour

um but then they have a live band like it's so hard to socialize and

mingle when you have a live band in the corner of a small room like that the Acoustics did not compliment just that

was probably not the best of ideas you guys some people were either into the music some people were into socializing

and then there's people like me who left the room because I was getting frustrated that I couldn't hear anybody and no one can ever hear me over that it

was really hard to have conversations yeah in fact a lot of people were gathered

out in the hall because it was just too loud in the room so either that that could be done uh in a way

probably where where it could facilitate the conversation because we were getting into like talking to other I had met new

people from the Press from uh Floor Covering weekly for example and I'm trying to talk to them and you know it

was really difficult to hear but the idea was awesome and it did facilitate a

lot of conversations problem was just couldn't couldn't quite finish them so yeah good point there the party night

though was less about conversations and more about Jeff and his wife dancing Jeff King and and uh Luba yeah yeah it

was it was pretty uh pretty fun to see people kind of Cutting Loose and having a good time I'll tell you that and that

right there that the music everything that fit in right there like the first

off the food spectacular guy whoever whoever did that selection good job

um the whole the whole time the food yes I gotta say the whole time the food was

really fantastic 100 um I really enjoyed uh the the send-off

night right like uh it's I look forward to that because that's everyone has got their week behind them

everyone has made their connections or they're at the back end of their connections and and you get to

you get to catch people at their most relaxed state

um and that's that right there at the end is when you get to know someone more on a personal level and that's and

that's the important thing right there is it's one thing to go there and make a connection um and to walk away with that but it's

another thing to make a personal connection with people and find Common Ground uh uh life in general and that

actually creates in my experience way better uh relationships business-wise or

person um and sorry Mike Kelly I didn't really mean to

beat you that bad at the end there in the cornhole [Laughter] well the cornhole was fun too A lot of

people played it for a little bit it would have been cool to maybe do like sign some people up for a little tournament or something would have been

cool but it was a song next time but they kind of had that with the

basketballs um yeah the uh the activities I like all that stuff like nothing

brings adults together like playing a kids game again and being able to have

that that friendly banter back and forth right like I I just I'm all for that I'm all for

that I don't know I pretty much stayed at like the photo booth the whole time yeah I didn't even make it over to the

photo base it was yeah we know we were looking for you we got Ben yeah you got I seen Ben and your guys's

uh photos it was pretty awesome I'm waiting to see what what my sister's

photos with clucky but um we'll see what happens with that and clucky was a welcomed guest if you weren't you have

to go next year maybe to to learn about clucky but uh that was pretty funny the

whole time her timing is good let me just tell you your sister has great timing

what's that it's just not caring yeah yeah

well um I don't want to you know extend this to fill an hour we were intending

uh to kind of go over and just talk about the stuff that we loved and the

the stuff that we just seen some opportunities and and discuss how the show went I would say that for me it was

the best show and in spirit of like Daniel mentioned earlier the the Huddle

and our tagline of maintaining forward progress we can all do better no matter

how good we are and um and so there's just some some nuggets

in this that maybe uh we can see some some positive change in the future and

I'm sure these you know the the leadership has had these discussions and you know knowing those guys they've

probably got some some plans already around it but just uh three guys perspective that's been to all the shows

and and uh spent time with all the people it was It was a

it was as close to a 10 of a show that I could give it was really awesome I really enjoyed it

and we were talking about making yourself uncomfortable Jose is actually on here now he's the guy that I'm gonna

sat next to that was sitting alone at the table great guy man and you wouldn't uh

wouldn't even have known if I wasn't just taking the time out to go talk to him yeah that's a great lesson for all of us

to just you know put yourself out there a bit I'm an introvert by nature but I force

myself to get out and talk and and communicate with people and and I know that

from from the perspective that you know after a big party like that or a big

Gathering I'm exhausted I'm not energized my business developer at the flooring company she she'll go to one of

those things and want to go out for you know drinks with everybody afterwards and go continue the thing and I'm like

I'm worn out I'm ready for bed so that's how I know I'm an introvert and uh

extroverts get the energy from those you know really intense conversations and

like uh that atmosphere and I I I get depleted a bit from it but that doesn't

mean you don't do it is the whole point you you met a friend you gained a a colleague through the deal and that's

what happens when you put yourself out there a bit um speaking of putting yourself out there I want to thank everybody that

watches the show I'm continuously kind of uh humbled when I go to a show and

they say hey man the Huddle's awesome and you guys are great and Daniel and Jose I love those guys man they're and

they just start gushing about how much they they uh love the show and how many people tuned in through different uh

media outlets and it's really just humbling and cool and I appreciate

everybody who joins and and they came up and said hi and and knew me from the

Huddle and we hadn't met yet and it was really awesome yeah and I like uh

the fact that even though some people like hey you know what why should we have I watched this other podcast too

but for them uh not to say any name for them to recognize it

there is a difference right like between uh one podcast of the next

because I know there's more than one out there uh some are installer based some are business based some are a few you

know a mixture of in between and um any feedback negative or positive you

guys I love it because all I can do is is help us all be better yeah and who knows maybe you'll come in and

join one day and give us some perspective too um we know we know you talk about being

introverted a lot of these guys want to say something they just don't want to be on screen or something like that yeah

well they have those cool uh avatars that you could be like uh you could be an elephant or something if you want be

a rhino it doesn't matter yeah and blur your background I mean you can be a whole different character oh you're mad

so the uh I I would uh like to bring up that what we are going to start uh some

improvements for the uh podcast here the Huddle

um we're gonna try to have one or two guests on on a monthly basis uh add a

little bit of of few more guests we've got a lot of guest requests at the show too right what's

that different perspectives you can get some professionals on there that know things more than we do yep expand the

the um you the knowledge base as well as others perspectives uh everything from

design to um to finances and and so this next year

several manufacturers reached out and you know they they want to be part of the show uh we've got

other technology companies in our industry that want to come on and and

um as well as some installers want to come on which that really warms my heart I'm I'm hoping to get some of those guys

on like haven't installed you know do one you know every other month or something uh or as many as we could feel

of like in style installer fireside chat and just like rap about the the rough

stuff going on but then the great things that you love about the industry um yeah I'm looking forward to a lot of

the changes we're gonna have the production level a little bit you might see I got a mic finally and I'm not just

using the uh the uh computer audio and so some of those things are going to

happen we're gonna get our our the studio here set up a little bit better and uh bring on some guests some New

Perspectives some new friends and um hopefully be able to provide our

community with some more value I a lot of the feedback that I got and I'd love

to see if you guys Echo this but was they love this conversational style not

just always interviewing somebody so we'll toss in some interviews but I don't want to abandon this because I

love rapping with you guys over you know subject lines but that doesn't mean that we can't just have more panelists and us

still just have that fireside chat kind of thing this conversational based deal

and it it keeps it authentic too um you know we're not so monotone

reading the script uh I don't even think we've ever really

yeah that we might have some ideas but then we spin off it's what we do it's what we do yeah

well it comes like you said more authentic and it's just true I mean we don't plan these things out with a great

level of of planning I don't honestly know that I would want to I

like getting on here having a topic uh prepping a little bit understanding the

topic and and some of the insights I can provide and then chatting with you guys

and then we we shoot the show so there's not a ton of you know heavy heaviness to

it so that's why I'm saying like the more the merrier if we can have you know I I like

I would really like to have you know 10 10 15 installers on just having a

fireside chat you know got it some controls we have to do because of you know the the nature of

it um you know nature of a podcast of everybody in stock and no one's heard so

but you can have like a subject line and and multiple different perspectives and

I look forward to some of those here this next year so so do we

all right fellas well thanks for joining and again I enjoyed hanging out with you guys at the show we were all running

like crazy so we didn't get to spend as much time together as as uh I would have liked but

I just I I love spending time with you guys so I had a fun time the show was

awesome and uh I could tell you guys enjoyed it as well so I'm what man I'm still tired

all right well until next uh week you guys have a good productive positive

uh next seven days and we'll see you guys next week at 3 P.M Central uh on

Tuesday we are going to have designers on and talk about some colors and

designs and flooring and you know Aesthetics versus performance and some of those so if you're in the if you're

an installer that provides materials this could really be beneficial for you to join next week

if you go even if you go to the home uh you know like floor decor and buy product and then resell it to your

client picking those products out assisting your client with those selections these designers will have

some good insight for you yes sir and hey just so everyone knows whoever tuned in last week I just want

everyone to know that Dave is okay he is he survived I've seen him in person he's

fine Dave went down

yeah go watch uh last week's episode to uh get some more insight on that so until then guys have a productive week

thank you so much again and we will uh catch you next week thanks everyone all

right bye guys