Shed Geek Podcast

From Timid Speaker to Confident Host: Embracing Purpose and Faith in Business PART 1

• Shed Geek Podcast • Season 5 • Episode 4

Share episode

Send us a text

What if the key to overcoming your fears is hidden in a simple conversation? Tune in as I share my journey from a timid speaker to a confident host, finding solace in interviewing others and embracing public speaking. Experience the warmth of family moments as I recount the magical first Christmas with my grandbaby Cecilia and the excitement of launching a children's book. This heartfelt project not only cherishes family bonds but also sows seeds for Cecilia's future and supports a meaningful cause.

Venture into the world of business with purpose as we highlight the incredible work of Sam and others in their mission to provide shelter to those impacted by Hurricane Helene. Discover how showcasing acts of kindness can ripple through communities, inspiring others to step up and make a difference. I'll reflect on the evolution of the Shed Geek Podcast from a passion-fueled endeavor to a thriving career, exploring the delicate dance of faith and business and the transformative power of engaging our listeners.

As I gear up for a keynote speaking engagement, join me in examining the fine line between good opportunities and "God" opportunities, drawing inspiration from biblical narratives to navigate these challenges. I open up about the stress of balancing professional aspirations with personal beliefs, sharing stories of prayer and respect in the workplace. Through candid reflections and empowering messages, this episode encourages you to pursue purpose-driven projects and embrace the profound impact of meaningful dialogue.

For more information or to know more about the Shed Geek Podcast visit us at our website.

Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube at the handle @shedgeekpodcast.

To be a guest on the Shed Geek Podcast visit our website and fill out the "Contact Us" form.

To suggest show topics or ask questions you want answered email us at info@shedgeek.com.

This episodes Sponsors:
Studio Sponsor: Union Grove Lumber

Digital Shed Builder
Identigrow
ShedPro
iFAB
NewFound Solutions

SHED GEEK:

Okay, welcome back to another episode of the Shed Geek podcast, here with you on a. Oh, what is this? The first Tuesday, second Tuesday I don't know of the new year 2025. Can you believe it already? I don't know of the new year 2025. Can you believe it already? And just doing a monologue today?

SHED GEEK:

I've been encouraged from the feedback that we've received in the past from the monologues. They always make me a little nervous because when I got into podcasting, I did that for the purpose of interviewing others. So it's become kind of unusual for me to just get on here and riff, if you will, alone, because I take comfort in interviewing others. I'm very confident in doing that at this point. Over 300 episodes, episodes. I feel pretty good about doing that. But I face the same fear of speaking that I so often hear from you guys Whenever we talk about Inviting you guys on To do a podcast, because the fear of public speaking Is one of the largest fears known and I don't really I don't even think about it at this point when I interview you guys, but when I have to sit on here and be vulnerable and just talk. That kind of hits home a little bit more and I certainly understand where you guys are coming from. However, for those of you who have or would consider doing an interview, I promise we keep this as painless as we can. We just keep this like a conversation among friends, because that's what it is. It's really simple, something to put out in the industry for fun.

SHED GEEK:

So I wrote down a whole bunch of notes here. I got all my notes, all my notes on my little shed hub paper here Got my innovations manufacturing. You want to talk about feeling like an important person. Influencer that's the word. I don't like the word. I think if I use that word, I think you guys don't like it. You know we all influence in one way or the other. We ask for reviews on our website because we want people to be influenced by them. We ask for neighbors to give us business because we want them to influence their neighbors. So we know that influence works. But I got to thinking about. You know, influencer to most people sounds like somebody sitting in their mom's basement and trying to make a living off Instagram. But you know it's amazing what technology has done and is doing, um, good and bad, good and bad. But I got this.

SHED GEEK:

Last time I was, uh, I was doing a podcast and I was rocking my Innovations Manufacturing long sleeve t-shirt and Adrian said hey man, I appreciate you putting that out there. I'm going to send you a hoodie. So guess what, even though I don't have Innovations on as a advertiser maybe that's because I keep giving them free shout outs I did get a hoodie, and that's certainly appreciated. This is something you guys may be surprised at. I'll have to show you sometime, but I would almost go toe-to-toe with saying I have the largest, uh, at least hat collection in the shed industry probably well over 100 hats from manufacturers and suppliers across the industry at this point. And you're probably like that doesn't make any sense I never see you wearing a hat, but I do, just not necessarily on the podcast.

SHED GEEK:

It's a new year, 2025. It's cold. It's cold here today. It is Tuesday, the 7th, so I think we're getting down into the single digits here in Southern Illinois Just had an ice storm come through, got some snow coming and a big round of snow coming this Friday and we got to try to get out to North Carolina next week, so I'm really hoping that that doesn't impede our travels too much. But we'll see.

SHED GEEK:

Christmas was good. Um, as you guys probably saw, this year we took a couple of weeks off at Christmas. Uh, the week of Christmas and the week after, uh, we didn't put out any shows. Uh, that's the first time we've done that. Uh, in our four years almost now of bringing you podcast, it just seemed like you guys would want to be at home with your families during that time. I was pleasantly surprised to see that there were still quite a few listens that came in during those two weeks from previous episodes. So, thank you guys for that.

SHED GEEK:

But we wanted to not only take a break with our family but give you guys a break from us for a little bit. Uh, exciting stuff. I don't know. This was our grand baby's first Christmas, uh, Cecilia, and I think I might've mentioned it one time before, but I'll bring it up again.

SHED GEEK:

Um, we're actually putting together, as we speak, a children's book. Uh, I don't know, it's going to be shed related. It'll be something along the line of like, my granddaughter's name is Cecilia Rose. So it's going to be Cecilia's shed adventure and I just thought, you know, why not use this platform to do something fun, something cool? I'm open to suggestions. We want to sell the book, but I want a portion of the proceeds to go towards a cause and I want the other portion to go into her savings account, hopefully, so that I can establish a little bit of foundation for her as she begins to get older. So we will be selling it.

SHED GEEK:

I hope you guys will consider buying it for your children. We need to find a good cause to put this towards and we need to come up with a percentage, and I just haven't thought that far ahead of time, but I sure hope you guys will support it. It's fun. That's the best thing. Selling fun, fun, I guess. As a grandpa, I just felt like there would be nothing cooler than being able to sit with my granddaughter and read a book to her about her. I thought that would be kind of cool. I thought she would enjoy that and it just fits that it's shed related. So we tried making it a family, fun, little shed adventure book and you'll just have to wait and see what it's about and hopefully you guys will support that, um, you know, again, making it charitable, uh, also, and not just making it as a um money grab, if you will.

SHED GEEK:

So

Advertisement:

Digital Shed Builder is an online shed configurator that strives to provide incredible visual quality, fantastic customer service and an amazingly low price point, making it a perfect fit for any shed dealer looking to increase their online sales. Digital Shed Builder is simple to use, taking less than five minutes to integrate on your site. The get a quote feature streamlines your sales process, showing you exactly what your potential customers need. They offer a highly customizable experience that accurately represents your brand and unique shed offerings, working with you directly to set up everything you need in a configurator, with no extra startup cost, no lengthy contracts or commitments and no hidden fees. Digital Shed Builder has been created with quality, simplicity and affordability in mind.

SHED GEEK:

Trying new things on the podcast Something I wrote down in my notes here that I wanted to talk about. You know, obviously everybody in business tries new things. We've tried some this year. Some have worked, some haven't. You know we try not to live in the past. You live and you learn. You know, Sam, Susan, we've had uh, those guys on uh. You know, uh, uh, Sam, still running strong. But my goodness, you know he's. He's got so much going on out there and, um, hey, if he, if he can maintain and continue to put out episodes, that's great, but if he can't, uh, he can't blame the guy. Uh, you talk about charitable. Talk about charitable. Sam has one of the biggest hearts Of anybody. I know, especially in terms of you guys are getting a lot of that Computer in my glasses. It looks like, you know, he's got one of the biggest hearts.

SHED GEEK:

I mean for them to find a way To donate 200 sheds, I think it is, to those suffering from the after effects of Hurricane Helene in North Carolina, western, north Carolina, east, Tennessee. That's pretty amazing. It's pretty amazing for the shed industry for what they've done. I've seen sheds come from Pennsylvania, Michigan, Texas, Oklahoma I'm just trying to think of some off the top of my head. That's just wild, that's amazing. And I know they got a little bit of coverage for it, but it probably deserves so much more.

SHED GEEK:

And I want to stop and talk about that for a minute. You know, oh, I should have probably been prepared for this because you're going to see my failure here. But there's a Bible verse that talks about, you know helping those and helping those quietly. You know that you've already received your reward here on earth. You know if you're doing it sort of for the vanity I just want to speak on that because you know I agree with that. Obviously it's biblical.

SHED GEEK:

Uh, but there for a long time, um, I, I would see people who would do things. Uh, Dylan's a good example. Uh, a lot of you guys know Dylan, president of shed geek marketing, and uh, he would go out and do these really cool things while he was establishing his videography business and things like that the Dylan Street Cinema. It was a really cool thing that he was doing here in town. But sometimes he'd just go out and bless somebody. He'd go out and he would give a server a hundred dollar tip and he would record it. And I used to think to myself and I've told Dylan this like man, you shouldn't be putting that out there If you're going to do that for them. You know you don't need to bring the camera along when it happens.

SHED GEEK:

But he said something that really stuck with me. He said you know how many more people are encouraged to go out and give because they saw these videos when you scroll through Facebook and you see these different reels or Instagram or TikTok or whatever you're on, and you see these different reels of people being blessed or people doing really wholesome good, charitable ministry. It encourages us and it reminds us. So you never really know what's on a person's heart or why they're doing something. But if you've been around Sam for very long, you know that that Sam loves to help people, at the expense of himself sometimes. And you know we're we're we're all far from perfect, so there's plenty of things that you can pick on Sam or all of us for.

SHED GEEK:

But the reality is, you know, between Mayfield and between North Carolina, seeing his heart, I've tried to tell him I'm convinced that his heart is in ministry in general anyway. In general anyway, sheds are just sort of an afterthought or a vessel to get him where he needs to go in his ministry. But his heart's big. I support him in absolutely everything he's doing. It's amazing seeing them organize this and have all that come together. So I'm going to leave that alone.

SHED GEEK:

I just wanted to talk about, you know, seeing all of this different stuff in the news, seeing it on Facebook, seeing all these different you know, for those who are like, hey, you don't have to publicly display it all the time. I hear you, I hear you, I understand what you're saying, what you're saying, but I think we've got to look upon the heart in this matter and say you know, the exposure that it brings allows others to either be convicted to do something, to be encouraged to do something, inspired to give. And I've gotten that because I've gotten so many text messages that said, hey, can you give me that guy, Sam Byler's number? We want to donate a shed or something. I don't even tell, I don't even. I don't even tell him, we just send it, we just send them his number. You know, and I'm glad he's doing it, absolutely glad he's doing it. And, trust me, it's far fewer contacting me that's contacting him. He has just done some amazing stuff out there.

SHED GEEK:

So, uh, wanted to touch base on that. You know we try things where we try things here to to get listener engagement. We tried to uh, I'd almost have to go back to like the um beginning of the podcast and why, why we even began. Um, you know, when the idea came to me, it was like uh, we're already having all these conversations, we're going from one place to another. Uh, why doesn't somebody record these.

SHED GEEK:

You know it was a labor of love and I can speak on this really, uh, very pointed whenever I say this. It began as a labor of love. It has definitely turned into a career, a job with many other opportunities. So even the nature of myself has changed. I'm being a bit vulnerable here telling you that today, but even the nature of how I view the podcast has changed, because it's more of a business project now, while still being very personal to me and a labor of love. But you know, when I lost my employment, when I didn't sell out the podcast and I lost my job and I decided to keep it, I had to make it work. So you know, I had to sell advertising and it took a little bit to develop a plan to get something else going. And obviously we have now and that's become pretty stable, pretty secure. I'll talk about that even a little bit further. But those are the different things you try I mean we're four years in almost and just try to put information out, try to put good content out that you guys want to listen to.

Advertisement:

Here at IdentiGrow, we have been providing custom nameplates for the shed and furniture industry for over 20 years. We are so pleased to know that shed manufacturers see the value in expressing their shed brand to potential customers using an IdentiGrow nameplate. When you add an attractive decal to your product, you will more than pay for the cost. With increased sales, clients will not only be able to identify the shed brand, but it will help to brand and advertise to potential customers who can easily see the nameplate. But it will help to brand and advertise to potential customers who can easily see the nameplate and, in many cases, find a phone number or website to shop for themselves. At IdentiGrow, we are happy to continue to serve and invite you to visit our or give us a call at 540-283-9193. You can even fax us at 540-283-9194 or visit our website by clicking on the Shed Geek newsletter and then simply fill out some basic information for a free catalog or free samples. Thank you, shed Industry, for allowing us to serve you in identifying your sheds. Identigrow, Identify your products, grow your business

SHED GEEK:

And one of those things in March is going to be the Steel Kings. You know, Jared and Eric over at Dayton Barns are going to be launching the Steel Kings podcast. They're going to be focusing heavily on the steel side of the industry, which is a sister, a cousin if you will of the shed industry. It seems as though a lot of that's it's foreign to a lot of people who work for a company, or they can sign for a company, who requires that they don't have any other product on the lot, which I almost want to. I almost want to stop there, because you know we can talk for hours and hours upon different things, including, you know, if you're a 1099 general contractor, I mean you are your own business owner. I mean nobody can tell you what you can and can't do With. That being said, if they're bringing you free inventory, they might have some rules established that they would prefer to see and it probably would be of you to you know.

SHED GEEK:

Consider that if they're bringing you free inventory, one of the biggest trouble spots for consignment dealers, Jared would say, is that you know you got to look at the opportunity these manufacturers are bringing you when they bring you $100,000, $200,000 worth of free inventory and pay you 10% to sell. That's pretty awesome. Most places you have to pay for floor planning or something or you're going to have to wholesale that product. But it's also very complicated in that if you're treated like a W-4 employee, a W-2 employee, but you're a private contractor. You need some autonomy. So if I were putting on my consulting hat and people ask me this all the time and I was a consignment dealer I would say maintain your autonomy, maintain your digital platforms and maintain your brand. However, you need to look at the reality that growing a brand is really, really hard, especially as a single individual shed dealer location, whereas the shed manufacturer has, you know, 20, 50, 100 lots. I would put my consulting hat on for a manufacturer and say you actually need to franchise everything. You need to own all of your digital assets, your Facebook pages. If you can use the McDonald's model, you probably even need to either own the lease or buy the property, because if a dealer decides that they want out, you've got to move all these sheds. But that's the protection that is offered if you're a consignment dealer and we can talk more about that. Feel free to call me if you've got questions.

SHED GEEK:

I want to make sure to bring that back to a previous podcast that's already gone out, where I mentioned somebody said you know we want your dealer network over here at Shed Geek. I can assure you we do not want anyone's dealer network. We do not, you know desire to take anybody's dealer network. We don't want to create a company. We've talked about all of these things but that's just not an avenue we want to pursue. And you have me on here publicly saying that I mean, if you see something different, say something. But that's just. You know. I hate to see those rumors fly and things like that, because it's just not what we're trying to do. We have entertained the idea of getting into sales and I'll address that why later in Shed Geek Marketing.

SHED GEEK:

But Steel Kings, it's going to be awesome. I'm super excited about this one because these guys are good conversationalists, they're sharp, they've been doing this for a long time, they're selling for multiple companies. They understand the steel side. There's some exciting other things coming up that I just can't discuss yet because I'm either legally obligated and protected not to or just because it doesn't make sense to let the cat out of the bag yet. But there's some cool stuff happening. It's going to be really exciting. I would say the majority of you guys probably do sell some kind of steel buildings, and when I say steel I mean manufactured on-site carports, garages, larger expanded metal buildings, maybe not to the point of red iron, or maybe even stick-built pole barns. Maybe some of you guys do that, but at least several of you do utilize some type of vendor for RV carports or things of that nature and it's really interesting because you know I've got some thoughts on that part of the industry and where it meets the shed side and, who knows, maybe we'll get on there with Jared and Eric Simon and have some of these discussions so super excited. I promise you guys are going to enjoy that.

SHED GEEK:

It's going to come out every Monday Celebrating four years in March of the podcast. I think I mentioned that already. March 4th we'll start the fifth year. I know that's kind of hard to believe. Also in March there's some other milestones which are really cool for us, because March 1st is the end of four years, beginning of five years. But March 4th is actually my 25 year wedding anniversary Me and Miss Geek, me and Deanna. She has been by my side for 29 years total. We started dating at 15 years old in high school and then ended up getting married. On the same day PD Weaver got married. Nonetheless, I always wish him a happy anniversary. It was the same day, same year, that he got married. So happy anniversary, pd and his wife. And then it will be the first birthday for our granddaughter, cecilia Cece. She will be one year old on March 11th. So a lot of milestones happening in March.

SHED GEEK:

Again, just writing down things that I think maybe you want to hear, maybe you don't.

SHED GEEK:

Writing in both magazines. Oh, it's been great being able to write for the Shed Business Journal. The Shed Business Journal, former Shed Builder Magazine, marty and his crew over there have just been excellent. I really appreciate what those guys have put out for years. It's been pretty awesome. So I'm enjoying that, my opportunity to be able to share my thoughts just in that. Also, the Garage Shed Carport Builder Magazine, garyert and what they're doing at Shieldwall Media Appreciate those guys very much.

SHED GEEK:

Attending the trade shows will obviously be back. I think it's in Knoxville next year for the expo and then we're going down in January visit the Marty day of the GCB show uh, GSCB show, uh, this year in January, because, uh, we actually have a dealer day event that we're speaking at. Yeah, I just uh, you know I have to. I have to take care of that business first. It Gary to make the most sense, but we'll be in North Carolina doing a speaking engagement on the 15th and a travel down to Greenville on the 16th by the time this show comes out, um, that will have already happened, because that's next week.

Advertisement:

This is James Price of ShedPro on faith and business. Faith and business those terms can invoke deep emotions and passions in people. I've heard some say business and religion shouldn't mix. You can't be truly faithful in business. Religion is for Sunday, Monday is for work, and still others that say we can't do good business without faith. Let's rethink Jesus. The Gospels don't paint a picture of a stained glass church image of Jesus, but instead he appears as a workplace. Minister Oz Hillman illustrated this idea best with the following numbers Out of the 132 public appearances of Jesus, 122 were in the marketplace. Of 52 parables Jesus told, 45 had a workplace context. Of 40 miracles in the book of Acts, 39 were in the marketplace. The world revolves around the marketplace and Jesus knew that People learn values and gain satisfaction in the marketplace. Faith in business meets people in their comfort zone to impart godly values and godly satisfaction. So, if we rethink Jesus, faith in business should naturally mix. This is James Price. Thanks for listening.

SHED GEEK:

So, but I just want to encourage everybody to continue to go to those events. You know the vendors there. You know they pay a lot of money. They, you know, organize a lot of stuff behind the scenes. They, you know, organize a lot of stuff behind the scenes, excuse me, and they're there to serve you, to show you a product or service that they offer that may help you. So, excuse me If you're going to take the time to travel all that way. You know, what I would encourage you guys to do is go up and talk to the booths. Go up and talk to those at the booth. Don't just walk by, swing in there. Don't just sign your name up to win something hey, nothing wrong with that but swing in by there, talk to them, get to know them, Find out a little bit more about their services and products. That's one time where you're going to have a bunch of people in one place and I definitely see a lot of people just continue to walk by, kind of look it over. But nothing better happens than a, than a conversation, because a relationship ensues, information gets exchanged. Then, all of a sudden, you start to realize you know, hey, there's new products and services constantly hitting the market and I got to tell you. I mean, some of them are advertisers for us. You know what I mean. I think of Solar Blaster fans Dan out there in Arizona. It's an excellent product, it's been around for years. I mean, I think of Solar Blaster fans Dan out there in Arizona. It's an excellent product, it's been around for years. I mean, he's been selling to shed people quietly. He's just, you know. Hey, you know how do I get out there a little bit further? Well, go to these trade shows. You know, get on the podcast. You know we're glad to help you. So I believe in these products. It's a no-brainer to me If you say I'm selling the best shed, the most quality driven shed out there, but you're not adding these new products and services as an opportunity for your customers to purchase. You know something that keeps the shed cooler and takes away static vents. You know circulates the air. You know there's a solar light. You know, and you know I don. There's a solar light. You know, and you know I don't know. I'm a little torn on that because I think I've discussed this before. It's. It's unusual, the, the amount of like.

SHED GEEK:

I don't know what the resistance in the conservative world is towards the idea of solar. It's a little interesting to me because a lot of Amish are, you know, considered conservative, obviously right, and they already sort of embrace this, this idea of solar. Many of them many, I guess don't, but you know, I never really understood the conservative mindset of you know, having such a resistance to it. But you know these. But these are great products. I've got a Solar Blaster fan here. I've got one of the Zulas on my shed out back. The Ares puts together they work great. I don't know. I feel like if the customer knew more about these then they would purchase them. But you've got to show them. So you're going to have to buy a pallet of them or something and put it out there, throw them in some sheds and see what happens. Anyway, attend the trade shows, attend, attend. Attend the trade shows, please, and definitely encourage you to read the magazines.

SHED GEEK:

I spoke about speaking at an event. That's exciting. I have another event coming up in Millersburg, Ohio, February 3rd and 4th. I was asked to be a keynote speaker for two days and I'm super excited about this. This is about my fifth or sixth time speaking and it dawned on me I had sort of a revelation recently where I was like I don't know, this is, you guys will like this.

SHED GEEK:

Being super vulnerable here, I was like am I worthy of being able to develop a keynote speech? Am I worthy of being able to speak for 45 minutes or an hour on a topic that I'm super passionate about, hopefully bringing a some form of knowledge to the conversation and creating some thought provoking revelation? If you will in some ways through a keynote speech. You know, my thought is, if you're going to be a speaker, especially at an event, you want to be memorable and you want to bring good content and you want to really focus on your audience and not only speak from a place of passion and something that you love to speak about, but leave them with some kind of lingering thoughts and leave them better than you found them, leave them walking away and excited to have been there rather than not attend the event at all. So that's what happens in my mind and I thought man, I don't know, am I there? Am I there? Am I at that level? Could I possibly accomplish something like this?

SHED GEEK:

And someone reminded me Shannon, you've been speaking for a living for near four years already on a podcast. You've just taken a little different approach towards it. But speaking is what you do, it's what you have done, so you know, and being able to garner a crowd of a thousand people every week listening to a podcast, that's exciting. Now I usually interview people, like I said before, so maybe you're not as interested in me, but maybe you're interested in the guest. That's the way it should be, but maybe I find some kind of niche in being able to formulate the questions. So, for that reason, maybe I can formulate a thought and a keynote speech. That's a bigger thought right that leaves you walking away glad you attended, feeling as though you were happy that you were there, got to hear what I had to speak on. I can promise you this I'm investing a ton of time and mental energy and preparation into this speaking engagement. So, for that reason I think I was premature earlier attempting to do this, but I think I finally gathered a place and we're going to put something on the website soon for being able to book the Shed Geek to come to any events speaking events I don't care if you're a competitor, it doesn't matter to me. As a matter of fact, I love speaking to those that I quote unquote compete with Many of them we collaborate with first before we ever compete with them. So super happy, you know.

SHED GEEK:

I believe difficult conversation is even necessary. I always invite our competitors onto the show. It's on them if they don't show. And many of them have refused to come. They don't like the idea that I would have a platform and we may compete with them in some way.

SHED GEEK:

But I believe that difficult conversation I'm fine with it playing out in front of an audience. I don't have anything to hide, so let's have the conversation. I'm excited for the success of others, even the success of many of my competitors, matter of fact. So many of them have led and paved the way for us to even be here and we hope that we leave it better than what we found it, as many of them have left it really nice for us and we appreciate them. So I love the idea of even difficult conversation, because I was taught that you don't raise your voice, that you raise your argument, you create a better argument, so the customer wins in the end.

SHED GEEK:

And if we're a B2B, business to business project here at the podcast, then you are our customer, mr Listener or Mr Dealer or Mr Holler or whatever. So I'm a big fan, big big fan, of difficult conversation that can maintain civility but that can increase knowledge without having to be passionate. Be loud, just don't be disrespectful. But I'm happy to have people on here who even disagree. I would love to have people on that disagree. I think it makes for a good conversation and we get somewhere, we grow.

SHED GEEK:

It's just the same as your faith is challenged. You know you don't look for problems, but you know . life you'll find problems. Naturally they happen and the testing of your faith is through resistance and trial and tribulation. In my opinion, right. So, as my pastor says, you don't go through it, you grow through it. You know you should want difficult, embrace difficulty in your life, because it's the perseverance of your faith. But I'm going to get off my soapbox now.

SHED GEEK:

Speaking opportunities, speaking opportunities. Speaking opportunities If you want to book us or me or someone related to Shed Geek to be a keynote speaker at an event, a dealer day, speak to be a keynote speaker at an event, a dealer day. If you want us to put together 45 minutes or one hour presentation and even send it over first, I mean that's something we can do. I'm putting myself out there because I've done this now about, I think, five or six times, and I'd really like to do it five or six times just this year, if I can. I love the travel, I love getting to meet people and I don't like speaking for speaking sake, but I do like speaking for the intention of being educational. And yeah, that's throwing it out there. Guys, I got three pages of notes and I'm not even through one page.

Advertisement:

At IFAB LLC, our passion is welding, fabricating and design. That's why, in 2015, we begin to commercially market our product to the shed, portable building and mini barn industry. Our product is primarily used to build trusses. Our truss saw system cuts boards in one motion and our truss press system installs and presses the gusset plates to a finished truss. We custom fabricate jigs that assure perfectly symmetrical truss setup without error. We also have other products designed to help your shed builder increase quality, efficiency and save money. Our precision door table will build your custom doors square every time and easily adjust to build any door. For products like these or other custom fabrication services for your barn shop, visit ifabllc. com or call 563-422-7496, or simply email us at ifabllc@ gmail. com.

SHED GEEK:

Opportunities oh goodness, I want to talk about opportunities for a minute. I guess it was about six years ago. I had no opportunities. It felt like, if you know what we were making for a living, it was pretty pretty desperate. You know, um, yeah, it was pretty rough raising a family. You know like there's been many times I've been lost in my career, lost, and you know it's not until you get centered with the Lord that really you start to begin to understand your purpose, find your purpose and really lean into things whenever opportunity does come your way.

SHED GEEK:

Early on in the podcast, Joshua Lobos said the problem with Americans is that you have too much opportunity and you don't know what to do with it. Even then, while the podcast was beginning, I didn't understand really what he meant. But man, do I now. You know it's been really awesome having all this opportunity and connecting with people. We've got about four tech softwares right now that we're discussing some type of integration or collaboration with, and you know at least one of them has been a conversation happening for probably a year now and I just haven't gotten peace about it Now. Finally, this year in January, I told all three of them I'm just going to put everything on hold for three to six months. We believe that we sort of understand the market and where it's going and who's moving and shaking. I'm not saying we've got it all figured out, but kind of see, I feel like we've got decent eyes to see from just what's happening in the industry. I mean, we're completely invested into the industry.

SHED GEEK:

But I had somebody recently tell me this I can't even remember who you were. Remind me who you were, Cause I don't remember who it was. But I remember you were talking to me and you said that a pastor had preached this message and that you had, uh, remembered it and you, you, you passed that on to me and I thought it was pretty awesome. You said there's no greater burden than a good opportunity. Write that down if you will. If you're somewhere today and you really want to think about, think that through and chew on that. I've been chewing on it for well over a month. There's no greater burden than a good opportunity.

SHED GEEK:

And you know, I think about John Bevere. I probably mentioned him before. He's a pastor and author, christian author. He wrote a book called Good or God and he actually talked about the YouTube clip of him talking about being at a pastor's retreat or get together. I don't know what the right word is, but I think he said he was in Switzerland maybe.

SHED GEEK:

Anyway, he said you know, not every good opportunity. God spoke to him, said not every good opportunity is a God opportunity. And he said what do you mean? He said he kind of gave him scripture to back it up. He took him into Genesis and he said when Eve saw that the fruit was what? When Eve saw the fruit was what is when she ate from it? When Eve saw that the fruit was what? When Eve saw the fruit was what is when she ate from it? When she saw that it was good. And he said, it was almost as though the word good leapt up off the page at me, you know, because God had commanded her not to eat of the fruit. So a God thing would be not to eat of it. But even though the fruit was good, she saw that it was good, she ate of it. And you know, he just goes on to say you know, not every good opportunity is a God opportunity, not every great opportunity is, and many times they're a burden.

SHED GEEK:

One of the favorite things I heard a pastor say one time is you can go broke even on good deals. Say one time is you can go broke, even on good deals. You can go broke even on good deals if you continue to. But this was a good deal. But, yeah, you can go broke on good deals all the time. You've got to be disciplined. So, talking about this, no greater burden than a good opportunity.

SHED GEEK:

The biggest burden I face is, you know, if I decide to work with one person, I make this person mad, and I don't know if you guys have ever struggled with those things. If I decide to work with one person, I make this person mad, and I don't know if you guys have ever struggled with those things, but I struggle terribly with them. I don't struggle with things outside of my control. That's the advice I get most of the time. If it's out of your control, don't worry about it. Well, if it's out of my control, I don't worry about it. You know, if I'm on a plane, it's going down. I can't control that. If there's an earthquake, I can't control that. I don't know what to do about that. But what I can control are the small daily communication efforts and lack of efforts among people and consistency and the worry if someone over here is frustrated with this idea. But I got to remind myself. Ultimately, I can't control how people think what they think.

SHED GEEK:

I really want to work with everyone. It's also not a reality. It's a bit naive. It's difficult and I'm thankful for good opportunities. I am because I know that I didn't have them and I'm sure there's going to be a time in the future where they'll go away. But at the moment, man, I'm struggling. I'm struggling to. You know, we've created Shed Geek, financing, rentals and marketing, and I'm really trying to figure out, you know, if I, if I move on something after, after that, what should that look like? What will it be? Who should I work with? At Best Align, sort of like what we do. And yeah, we will figure it out. But I really want you guys to chill on that. No greater burden than a good opportunity, because when these good opportunities happen, they come with a lot of stress and just different things as well too.

Advertisement:

Running a business can feel like trying to balance a dozen plates, except none of them are actually plates and one of them's on fire. Enter Newfound Solutions. Think of us like your business BFF, always ready to lend a hand with whatever you need. Have you always wanted to start your own rent-to-own company, but don't quite know where to start? Rto Partners is here to help, overwhelmed by all the moving pieces and running your own rent-to-own program. Rto Smart is a software that encompasses everything you need on one platform. Or leave the rent-to-own up to us and focus on what's more important to you. Newfound Rentals has you covered with traditional rent-to-own options for your customers. Shed Connect understands the complexity of the digital marketplace. We take the hassle out of online sales and unlock the full potential of your brand. With CoCreative, we'll make your brand look so good your audience won't be able to look away. Newfound Solutions five powerful sub-brands helping you succeed across every aspect of your business. Visit NewfoundSolutions. com today and let us do the balancing so you don't have to.

SHED GEEK:

Oh, one of the areas I talked about trying new things on the podcast that excites us is the idea of not just bringing on shed dealers, shed haulers and manufacturers, but maybe trying to work in. You know we did this before had guests that came in that were kind of in business related fields, you know whether they offered business services or something along those lines CPAs, different thoughts like that. I really want to get back to that because we're going to do a mixture of some travel this year and we're going to do a mixture of staying at home. I'm probably going to do a lot of mobile podcasts but as we plan our trips, I love to see people and get those interviews while we're out and about. It just makes a lot of sense. It's exciting. But I think I want to try to focus on some folks that just have some general business acumen and business knowledge and you know things like that. I want to try to bring some different guests to the table so that we maintain our consistency and being the Shed Geek podcast and being the Shed Geek podcast, but they also just really focus on bringing you dynamic content. That is really exciting to want to listen to, that you guys are encouraged to want to turn on the radio and click into Spotify or whatever, or the newsletter, wherever you find the podcast. And yeah, I want to focus on different guests. I love to interview shed haulers, dealers, manufacturers, suppliers of the industry, but also think that there's a ton of business men and women that are listening to this podcast, so I feel as though I owe it to them to have not only people in the industry but also people outside the industry that see it from a different point of view and just have some different thoughts on it and have some really interesting stories and exciting stories that you guys might find interesting as well. Considering doing more monologues I think I addressed this already terrifies me to get on here and do it. Feels like I'm rambling, sounds like I'm rambling as I'm doing it, but I'm super excited. It might have been James Lynn that gave me a shout out last time whenever I did the monologue, and he talked about how encouraged he was by it and how much he enjoyed it, and even encouraged me to do more of them. There's others that have sent out emails and text messages that suggested that they liked it, so maybe I'll try to do some more of those.

SHED GEEK:

Try to do some more in-house stuff with Shed Geek Rentals, Shed Geek Marketing, Shed Geek Financing, not just as a money grab to try to get your business. We always want your business. We don't hide from the idea that we want business. We always want business. We're always willing to entertain the idea of doing business. It's not even like a, it's not a secret. It's something we have to do for the nature of staying in business.

SHED GEEK:

But there's something, there's a purpose, there should be a purpose to your business that goes beyond the financial. There has to be a purpose, and if there's not a purpose to your business, I would make the argument that you're not doing the right thing, you're not in your right calling or whatever. There should be something that supersedes financial gain. Financial gain is necessary. I mean, you can't, you can't, build a church without money, you can't operate a church without money. Those things happen. We know that. You know. Give Caesar what is his. We understand the concept of it, but I would just tell you there's, there's, there should be a purpose beyond that, and ours is to educate, to network, to build ministry through this. It may not be full-time ministry, maybe it's some form of evangelism, maybe it doesn't match your own religious views or opinions or match exactly perfectly with your faith.

SHED GEEK:

One thing that surprised me was, you know, whenever I actually had a company ask me to remove a prayer, I was kind of surprised and I won't tell you who it is, but I was representing a company on a podcast and good luck finding it. There's 300 of them. But you know, I was kind of surprised that they actually asked me to remove the prayer because they said that that would not be the typical way that they would pray in that type of setting and I found it was educational. Rather than be offended, I took it out because I couldn't understand it. I was like, wow, this is just a prayer.

SHED GEEK:

I feel like I can stop and pray to God any time of the day and he hears me and he says that he places a song in your heart and I believe that you have a song that you sing with the Lord and I believe that only he hears it and only you hear his voice there. There are times that that that you're that close. He knows the knows you before he was born. He knows the hairs on your head Right, which, for me, I'm making easy work for him. But I just kind of felt like hey, that that was odd, but it was their thing and I didn't want to disrespect it and I understood it. You know.

SHED GEEK:

The best I could, I removed the prayer. We still pray for them, so it doesn't change anything, right? That's the one thing I tell people who are even atheists. One thing you can't stop me from doing is praying for you, so I can always pray regardless, even if we don't necessarily agree or see eye to eye completely on the organization of the religion, if you will. So I got down a rabbit trail there, but I will consider doing more monologues. I hope you enjoy them. If you don't let me down easy, I don't want to bore you to pieces.