The Huddle - Episode 82 - Live from TISE 2024

This week the guys are in beautiful Las Vegas, Nevada and are joined by Roland Thompson and The FLORGOD himself to discuss the trade show, getting trained, and more.

Create your FREE Installer profile at https://gocarrera.com and become part of the future of the industry TODAY!

GET TRAINED! Find a list of training dates here: https://gocarrera.com/resources/training/

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 ashlynn@gocarrera.com today!

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

hey what's up family what's what's up floring family welcome to the Huddle

we're here every Tuesday at 1 pm central two sorry I'm in Vegas so I got my time

all mixed up 3 pm Central to discuss maintaining forward progress in your flooring career so uh real quick we're

going to be changing the intro we're just going to say all right crew huddle up so that's going to be our new intro

we're shortening it up um so today we're here live from TY here in Las Vegas uh

give a second for everybody to start join us here on social and watch our live stream but uh real quick I've got

some guests with me you guys know Rand he's been with us before I'm gonna actually pass it down

you know Daniel Roland just give us a brief intro on yourself sir I've been in the business since 1972

so they told me I'm the old guy5 years old oh am I supposed to push

something talk okay I was I was G I was gonna no any what can you say you know

I'm old but anyway I've been in since 1972 uh I believe in training I believe

in education of the installers doesn't matter uh you know we're in it together

and we're g to see what we can do with this uh program my man all right we got Mario with us

too Mario is going to give us a quick intro better known as the floor God give

us a quick intro Mario yeah you guys all know me as Mario Flor God you know the int for of the

group been in the trade probably since 1978 full-time finally got CFI certified

so I'm excited to be here awesome well thanks for joining us guys today we got a good good quick show for you this week

we're going to be shooting two overtimes to the Huddle so uh we'll be live

tomorrow be uh be cognizant that also we're going to go live just uh off and

on throughout the show so if you can't join us here at Ty we are going to try to bring Ty to you so Daniel's gonna be

walking around with the 360 camera off and on throughout the uh show and hopefully kind of bring that into your

living room for you today I wanted to start off uh with Rin

one of the things that is new well let me not say new it's a it's a long-term

Tradition at CFI but they are trying to revitalize and they want to rejuvenate the local chapters Rollins kind of uh

heading that up for CFI and I wanted to bring him on and just try to understand

a little bit about where where it all started what is what is CFI chapters why

are they uh why were they ever um created in the first place and kind of what's your vision what's cfi's vision

for bringing them back to life thank you Paul you know CFI when I

first started I'm I'm sort of going to cover a few topics I'm going to cover you know what chapters are when what

they started for what they're what they do for your local area and and how you

can be involved okay all right so we're sort of hit those topics you know when CFI started

years ago you know the internet wasn't around and so for it to be known it it

became up to the people so they had come into an area you didn't have chat rooms

correct we didn't we didn't have you guys you know so so you know it was

dependent on the trainers that went out once they you know did the certification

then they would help form a local chapter then it would then they moved on

well then the the local chapter's job was to then reach out to the community

of installers in the area and let it be known was the was the purpose of that

to uh get more of the uh local installer certified

CFI uh while in tand creating a community well basically that's what it

did and and truthfully if it wasn't for that back then I don't know when out have got CFI

certified C CFI started the chapter in Mya speak up you don't have to hold that

talk louder yeah it's so loud here either one too okay hey so CFI when

they came into our area uh you know I didn't go out there I I'd been doing it almost 30 years I'm I'm like why do I

need to be certified you know it it wasn't something that I even thought about well they formed a local chapter

the Maryland chapter at that time now it's the de Marva but at that time it was the Maryland chapter and I started having the chap

the chapter president at that time was Pat Fel uh he knew who I was uh some of the

re uh retailers Junior Harris that knew who I was they started saying ran you

you need to get involved you need to get involved you need to get involved you know so finally I said well you know

they said well you know you know I'm like ah why why why but then they presented it to me so it was a local

chapter it wasn't Main Headquarters that presented to me it was the local installers the local people that ran the

chapter that finally got it to where I understood oh okay this is a good

organization I can't tell you how important that is I mean the fact is is that the number one reason we did

surveys on this the number one reason that we um that that we get told when we

ask the question from the installation Community why are you not

certified the number one answer is I don't know how to which the local

chapters would solve the number two answer is they don't see the value like

why I'm already a good installer I already stay busy already get work M they don't understand the the damage uh

that that does to the industry in my opinion and the good that they can do if you are a good installer in getting

certified and uh you know learning how and plus at the end of the day every guy

that we have sent to certifications no matter how good they were they came back and they were like

dude I should have went a long time ago I I didn't know what I didn't know you

know what I'm saying so anyway that that sounds like uh you know the good thing

of the local chapters or the the approach right well the old the saying that CFI had for years and it's still

there but it was if it's to be it's up to me and that's what the chapters is if

it's to be it's up to me all right so they come into you know we come into your you come into your AA you start a

chapter you a few things it does for you it it it gives you a not you have a

network getting certified you have a broad Network all over that you can reach out to but it's always good to

have a local network that you can reach out to you know if if I open my mouth

and and say Hey you know we're going to do this building for America's bravest house one phone call to to my chapter

members and we'll have 20 guys come and knock out this house for for a building

for America's bravest tunel SS Foundation we've done seven of them and it was all done by the local chapters

installers so it it's a networking locally that you know we've had

installers that got into a bind they had a deadline and they couldn't make it they made a phone call and I guess what

whole bunch of us jumped in our trucks and headed out there and and you know you don't all have to be like us we said

hey we don't want to we just you get done we didn't ask for money we were a team we were we were a Band of Brothers

and Sisters You nowadays we got sisters but Brothers you know brothers and sisters that came in to that rescue of

that installer that got in a bind you know and so it's it's a local networking

that you have and you can reach out then you can reach out and the dealers in the

area start understanding what CFI stands for it helps bring that the the local

Distributors all of a sudden are seeing what CFI stands for and and so it's it

that has to be done locally headquarters can only do so much and they can only read so much when they see it being

preached in the local area it means more and then when that

happens installers that like you said well why do I need it you know like I

had a good reputation you know I was probably the biggest you know doing the work in the

area you the guy I was talking about you know and so you know it's like you know

uh why did I need it it really was a stamp on my on my career and then well

everybody likes to belong so right and then it El then then it started

elevating my career because then I got known more got known more by this no

more by that so it enhances everything else so a local chapter is is something

that you get involved and that's why we're going to go back to the where we're to stay on topic so that's what

CFI chapters were about all right it sort of started fading because of the

internet and and because it it takes a while and to to keep a strong chapter

going it takes some dedication and so we just saw that it was starting to fall

out of its way but we see the value of having this

so what is the I don't want to CCH off but I just want to ask what's the what's

the vision for the Rejuvenation of the chapters I think they you you've made a

good case as why the chapter should exist and and how they got started but

tell me what what is the vision for the rejuvenation and and like mechanically

what should people do in their areas well you know part of it was they started chapter you know and and their

hearts were in a good place they wrote a chapter guide and it was that thick and

you go read through it and you're like oh I can't do this I mean this is you know going take me forever so we

realized that we needed to simplify it and we made it too difficult to to to

have a chapter so it was just falling to the side so now we have a quick guide

it's it's it's on our site and they can contact me my info is on there what is

what is the website uh CFI CFI installers dorg yeah ww CFI install. org

and you can get that so but we have it's a we just came out with it it's now on the site it actually we had put it out

in out in print uh to the to the news media uh but you know it's a quick start

on how to start a chapter what a chapter is for uh given ideas of of what to do to

run a chapter and then we're going to walk you through it so if they call and contact me or they contact headquarters

to take talk to any of the other board members they'll be able to sit there and say okay this is what you need to do

and it's really it's it's the opportunity to be

able to take and have the the Huddle and and go Carrera and and that involved

locally instead of just naturally yeah all right because you know like you guys

you guys are reaching out to the local installers to be able to sign up and

have their ham ratings to help them this is a tool that can help you reach those

local installers to understand what the value of the hammer rating and and being involved in

you guys it also is a tool the local guys I mean you can go on and and watch

things you know on on the net and YouTube and all this kind of stuff but it's when that local guy comes up to you

and go hey this is great you know and you know that installer that's telling

you this is like you and is out there everyday h you know so they understand that that

that you know that's why you know I still get out and I'm I did aund and some yards with tear up and glue down

tear up and tax driping on a concrete basement and work till 10 o'clock the other night you know because I'm going

to be in there with the installers you know and and and that so they understand that and see that so this local chapter

you know we're you know our goal is for local chapter is to get it back up and

running get it to where it's it's easy to to get back involved it's an easy

trans you know transformation of of having it and understanding it and then

you know reaching from you know headquarters can only do so much you

know they're down in Dalton Georgia and you know we have people in in in Texas

and all that that or they can only do so much you need that local presence you

know and that's why and that's why if you look at we'll use the the uh the

Elks right Elks has their main headquarters but they also have them in

all small towns the VFW small towns they got VFW they got a headquarters but why

because they want to reach the local people and reaching local people is having local people there counting what

it's about amen I question got

sorry everyone we're kind of limited right now on microphones we hadit a little malfunction earlier um so what

type of committee does it take to run a successful uh chapter like what what are

you looking for from uh from the flowing industry from installers from certifiers

from trainers what what will constitute a successful chapter or the start of a successful

chapter you know the commitment is is not that bad you know I mean can be it can be what you make it but basically

you know we want to see you have a u meeting you know once every three months

you know uh and put on and it can be anything it can be have sherox in it can

be have it can have uh a glue manufacturer in uh you can have somebody

come and just talk about you know you could do a heat welding class you know

that you put out there and and and it brings them in so it's basically keeping the installers

engaged to education correct this is all education all right it's not telling

guys or women how to install it it's bringing in and keeping them and now

there's things that you're going to demo that to install but so you can have you can have a you can have a seeming day of

nothing but seaming pattern Goods you know stuff that's out there that you see

none but you're doing it in the local inviting the local and they don't have to be CFI certified to come it's open to

anybody it's open to salespeople my all my meetings that I put on are open to salespeople it's open to dealers it's

open to the installers that are out there that just want to learn so and

that helps build your chapter because now they're starting to realize so it's you're not you don't have a closed door this is not a CFI chapter that's only

CFI people that's belongs to the ch chapter it's CFI chapter putting

on education to everybody in their community and everybody in their

reach well education is uh obviously I mean every single week folks we talk

about getting educated uh you know if you if you want

to take it to the next level and get certified hey we we're big proponents of that the the floor God here just you

know mentioned that it took him a while to get certified himself we're all resisant

to it a bit because we got egos you know we think we're awesome and we are awesome but does everybody else know

that um you know that brings up the reason go Carrera is around is to help

you with your digital presence and your uh your like your profile is you online

uh we can't get away from it I wish wish uh you know a lot of us will say I wish we could go back to the good old days

but look we can wish all we want we ain't going back there nope um and that's why CFI is rejuvenating the local

chapters in a different uh at a a different approach a simplified format

um and so I encourage you to go to CFI installers org and check it out get a

hold of uh corporate I would assume right through there my num on on it also

get a hold of Rin and figure figure out how to you know get involved launch your

local CFI chapter he can at least get you in touch with the right people and how to do that I think it's a great

thing when you can have a national brand in CFI with local chapters the bottom

line is just like you said it needs that local presence and I and I see a comment on

here that it it says that um it's a cash grab right and I don't I don't

necessarily think that's right um you're looking at a chapter and we've talked about this

before you don't have to be CFI certified in order to join the chapter it's just like-minded people getting

together and and and doing it like that right I didn't see that now answer if it

was a cash grab I'd be happy no I don't how to say that anyway the trainings we

put on are free you know uh you know we we'll bring in the sherox we'll bring in

that mapay we'll bring in uh you know I mean we took Mill trips to to Mannington

to Armstrong to you know our local chapter did and none of this cost the

installer a cent so we're not saying there that this is going to cost them

we're saying this is something we're putting on because of our time because because we believe in this

industry and we believe in education so you know chapters don't charge so you

know so it's not a cash grab let me clarify something listen a c there's difference difference between a cash

grab and charging uh for a service and uh or or having a um a training that

costs money look you got to invest in yourself if you think it's a cash grab have to pay to uh invest in yourself

you're looking at this the wrong way um we're not running in Dillards and grabbing a bunch of suit coats and

running out the door that's a grab that's a that's a snatching grab that's a cash grab this is about improving your

uh you know your skills and capabilities and displaying them to the world and

regardless of of which industry you're in education and experience are the only

two ways you get good at anything um and so if you want to live on experience

alone good and and I hope I I I wish you the best but you're probably going down

the road of M or have already went down the road of of making a lot of mistakes

to get to get before you get to the point where you're any good um I think

it's uh I don't want to get too far into it but comments like those kind of get me fired up I think it's um it's a

little bit of a diss to the people who have invested their time effort and

immense resources to give opportunities to installers to improve

themselves I agree right because it I was once and I mean I'm gonna have Mario

say something after this because you said that you were in the industry for a really long time until you got certified and so were we and that that was the

thing right it's we weren't looking at the benefits that it was it was like what what can this CER ification do for

me when in reality it wasn't until we started getting into it when it's like what can I do to help the industry in

general right it's it's not always take take take right it's what can I give as

well to the industry and and help the industry out as a whole it's not it's it should never be what are you going to do

for me it's what can I do for everyone else at the same time and I'm gonna uh Jose wants to talk and I was gonna get

have Mario give his input on how he feels the getting certified has helped him since you know he's gotten

certified all right so so here it is I'm just gonna add on what Paul said too because he's right it does kind of get

you fired up look installers the industry doesn't owe you anything they don't owe you nothing but if you've been

making money for years and you have knowledge to share or if you've been making money for years off of projects

that are failing or you've been making money for years and feeding your family putting a roof over your head and you

still don't know 100% of of of what you're doing or the process that's where you go in and that's where all of this

comes into play right it helps by presenting to you an opportunity of educating yourself so that way you're

more knowledgeable to minimize the chances of failure to minimize the Chan of of of getting your name out there

under a derogatory mark because something didn't go right that's all it's doing industry doesn't owe you

anything but if you have something to show what the industry has provided for you then I feel like I feel like I owe

the industry something and that's why I'm here with you guys today so it's just I was in the same boat I didn't see

the use for it until I went once I went and attended it's just like I can't

believe I was so pompous in my head to not see the benefit of of not even just the certification just the training and

the information that was provided to me whether I paid for it or not it's just worth this weai in

gold all right well as you guys know I recently got certified but if it wasn't for social media I wouldn't have known

about surfaces or CFI it took me three years of begging of begging for them to

finally come out to the West Coast California so that I could be certified I did it for me and for nobody else but

I have a lot of knowledge now I want to bring CFI to the West Coast make it

stronger than it is it's weak right now so that's my goal of getting into this and hopefully

my knowledge I can help somebody so well if anybody's seen your work they know they know the

quality just from from that and the

certifications um or even trainings look the whole purpose is to just gain that nugget you know what I mean and I think

that the local chapters is about not only gaining knowledge and and and um

new skill sets but it's also about like getting involved in your community getting that's a way that you can be in

your trade and still get involved in the community you talked about one of the things you guys do for your local

community charity work uh and and how the the local chapter came together to

do that look we you if you just don't I don't want people to think so

selfishly like we owe uh we owe our not just our industry but like

like if you are just looking at in in any field what you can get out of it and

you have zero concern about what you're giving back um you know then I think

you're looking at it wrong so I I love Community I love the networking I do

this podcast with you guys because I I love hanging out and chatting I the industry's done very well for me I try

to find creative and innovative ways to improve the industry and to help us move

into the 21st century and you know so at the end of the day kudos to uh CFI for

the Rejuvenation of community the Rejuvenation of local chapters and I

appreciate you being on today Rolland I know you got to go to a speech here so yeah I'm gonna I'm gonna be heading out

uh but anyway what I want to say to to all the in installers all the people watching this is that you know

CFI was started by installers run by installers installers

that gave years and years of their time and effort in into the industry because

they loved the industry and they wanted to see the installation Realms um you know move forward and build build up and

we still have that stand today uh we still want to see the installer be

raised up to the highest levels possible in doing so we feel that getting back to

the local chapters getting them going again getting the installers locally and everything to understand you know what

we're all about you know that that's our goal and I I said uh reach out to me

anytime uh my name's pretty much uh and phone numbers plastered about anywhere they could find me yeah you're

pretty well I know about popular very vocal I'm not afraid to say anything

yeah so anyway so you know you know that's what it's about like I said you know it's you know CFI is for installers

buy installers and yes do do do we you know for the people to think money grab

yes do we need to have some finances to run an organization but so do you for

your work I don't want to spend too much and so but anyway uh thank you for

watching I'm going to be popping out of here all right thanks for joining us Rand and

uh hey appreciate it Rin rollin's got to go to to one of his uh pulse seminars

right now so we appreciate you coming on here and you know we that I mean we we

talked about that comment it was a I'm not discounting it at all right because that's how some people think so if

that's how you think that's how you're going to think it isn't until you actually start getting into the organizations that you actually change

your mind right and get involved and it doesn't have to be with CFI it doesn't have to be with these organizations just

has to be in your community get involved we're not asking you to to give money out to all these you know nonprofits

it's get involved locally go to your local Habitat for Humanity or something

and ask them what you can do get with your other installers and get with the Distributors that are in your local you

know area and say hey I have this idea will you guys sponsor some meals will you guys sponsor some drinks and it's

not a cash grab guys it's just getting together with your local like minded people and and seeing what you can put

together and building the community that way I mean I wish I could show you guys here we're we're you guys are are

looking this way to this backdrop right but we're looking at the installation competition and the amount of people the

community that is putting this together is amazing I mean I'm looking at we got

Jerry Miller we got Ray nette we got Steve abery we got Rod over here it's

it's a community and without people you know running these things things just don't happen so get involved

guys it doesn't have to be with one organization or the other just get involved

period yeah um speaking of innovation and you know getting

involved um you know a lot of this is

just realizing that no matter how you feel about um where you're at in your

your uh your career you can always do things do something more to to not only

help other people but bring up my my employees bring up some of these young guys teach them get them involved you're

getting involved as a leader will help them so these local chapters I think could be really good breeding ground for

new Young installers coming into into the industry to be to to to have a a uh

that feeling of owning you know like that Community feeling like being a Brotherhood uh that's what Rand called

it so um anyway so Rand had to to uh

bounce out from us I do want to give a quick shout out today uh if you're a

flooring company floring OS is launching today uh this is the newest it is a uh

brand new uh flooring operating system accounting the whole works it's the it's

very Innovative look go career is all about Innovation and staying on the

front lines all too often these operating systems are built in the 1960s and been built upon this is brand new

folks it's using the most uh modern software with the mo most modern uh uh

development uh we're going to do a uh little we're going to have the owner on tomorrow and or no sorry Thursday at our

podcast booth in one of the uh overtimes to give you more information but I

encourage you to look up and uh look into flooring OS as an operating system

that you might want to use for your flooring company uh we're certainly looking into it at steart and Associates

um with that I wanted to uh start to wrap this thing up I I really wanted to

say thank you Mario for joining us give give us give us give us your

best like um your your favorite like

quote or um I already know what it's gonna be give us your favorite quote whether

it's flooring or not my favorite quote

H We rise by lifting others you know and it has nothing to do with flooring it's

just life in general you don't know what the person next is going through they might be having a bad day a hi a hello

it's not giving them money it's just being there to listen have be a shoulder to cry on um what I wanted to bring up

is when I first came to compete didn't know nobody my first time coming to

services and these gentlemen took me in like family even though I was competing

against their sister and you know the floring community is really a family I'm proud to be a part of it awesome

anything to add to that um the only thing I want to add is um you

know the thing that I grew up saying which is very similar to what cfi's little thing is is uh don't talk about

it be about it right um you know that you know put your money where your mouth is that type of stuff sometimes you yeah

don't talk about it be about it you know you don't always have to put forth any of your personal finances or finances

period but at some point it does cost somebody some funs so if you don't like

what's going on and you don't like the how slow paced the change is help be a part of it um don't talk about it be

about it don't be the problem be the solution don't be the problem be the solution

that's awesome um I do before we jump off I do we you see the backpacks behind

us I do want to thank uh the sponsors that that got us uh going at the show on

on the backpacks uh we got QEP Roberts artx

Henry uh and and Divergent adhesives um they also did uh the summit right the

summit's coming up next month make sure you you register you know we'd love to see you out there go Carrera was talking

about exhibiting we want to we want to get get out there and you know Network even more and then uh floor tool store

we appreciate you guys thanks for uh sponsoring the backpacks we we really

really appreciate it and then um My Little Nugget is going to be a quote from the office with from Kevin it's uh

I love it it's many small time make big time so you you don't have to make huge leaps it's the little things all add up

to something big and I think that's what we're doing here especially on this podcast you know we started small we've

been progressing and and we we love everyone that's been commenting keep it up you know follow all of our socials

subscribe on YouTube subscribe to you know your podcast platform Apple Spotify

wherever you know search for us you can find us definitely let us know what we can do better we we thrive on that so we

appreciate you guys and I hope if you are going to be at this show come and see us we have stickers for you yeah I

know the floorida people love swag so come and grab some stickers from us all

right guys that's going to do it for this episode thanks for joining us remember we are going to be um we are

going to be live off and on Daniel will be I I'll post some stuff to the social medias I'll create some events yeah so

if you can't be here with us we're going to try like I said earlier bring it to your house um and then we're shooting

tomorrow and Thursday Thursday will be in the actual podcast booth and if you're at the show come see us we might

be able to get you on the the podcast on Thursday and we are going to have

floring OS on there as well so I want to thank everybody for joining us today thanks for all the comments good or bad

I love to hear from the community we all do we want to hear uh from you guys so

like Daniel just said please consider giving us a like And subscribe thumbs up thumbs down whatever you think but uh

hey thanks for joining us love you guys we're [Music]

out