Hello, this is Corey. Hey, before we get into today's episode, I want to share something with you. I've been very fortunate and blessed to see an uptick in my coaching business over these last few months, and it's because leaders need help. So if you're one of those leaders that has found yourself, kind of in a rut, the working from home is difficult, your priorities have been changed and even questioning your purpose and kind of what are you going after. You are not alone. I put together a webinar called the power of priorities and purpose. You can find it at my website, Corey M carlson.com. And there, there will be a tab on the left. Is this for you? Click on that, watch the webinar. It's about 20 minutes long. You'll learn the five capitals framework, which will help you with prioritization. You'll also learn a process to put together and think through a vision for your life. And so I wanted you to check that out as a kind of a blessing and a go forward to see if it helps get you moving. And if you want further information, then we can talk about a coaching program, but you will find absolute value in this webinar. So I encourage you to go check it out. Thank you very much and onto today's episode.
Welcome to the win at home first podcast. I'm your host, Corey Carlson. This podcast is where we talk about how successful business leaders win, not only at work, but also at home. On this podcast, we will go behind the scenes with great leaders to hear stories of how they win. Thank you for listening and on to today's episode.
Hello, this is Corey, and I'm excited for you to hear this conversation I had with Nick Manning. He's a good friend of mine. He's also the owner of Manning contracting, and we actually did this podcast in person. We did it together across from each other at a very small kid table, but we had to do it in person and we couldn't find a quiet location. So we did it from his house and we had a great time. And we also discuss a lot of amazing things from the importance of instilling confidence into those that we lead this idea that someone has got to do it, therefore it should be you, and how he uses what his dad told him to help give him an elevated mindset and how we can take that into our own lives.
(02:11): And this idea of not only do we need to be great leaders, we also need to be great followers. It's a fantastic episode with a lot of fun. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Thank you very much.
(02:23): Oh, it's Carlson. You're listening to the win at home first podcast today. I'm excited to be joined by a good friend of mine, Nick Manny. He owns Manning contracting. And over the last few years we came closer friends, but also just watching him operate as a business owner. He's also has a successful marriage. He has four kids, and yet he seems to be successful and involved in everything. So I'm excited to be here with Nick today, to learn from him, to learn how he does it and hopefully share with all of you listeners. So we all can get better in all areas of our lives. So Nick, thanks for being with me today. Thanks for me. Thanks for doing it in person.
(03:00): I I'm zoomed out. And the only thing I can correct there is I am not successful in all of the things I am doing. I'm trying hard and all the things I'm doing, but I fail. I fail often and try to correct course. Correct. And get better.
(03:13): All right, Nick. So what is the key leadership trait that you believe leaders need to win at home and at work?
(03:20): I would say for me, a couple of things, one that I don't think is talked about a lot is instilling confidence. We talk a lot in our business about I'm in construction and we are a commercial contractor and we also do some residential work. And to me it's always whether we're doing it or someone a lot bigger than us, it's just sticks and bricks and relationships. And for me, I want to instill confidence in the people that are around me, that we can make the choices that need to be made. We can, we can be solution-driven and we can deliver for our customers on the flip side of that. When I come home and spend time with my kids, I work really hard to make sure they understand that they need to be confident. They're a child of God. We love them. They're perfect. The way they are I'll sound Susie. Last night, one of our kids was getting in the shower and, and I said Hey, you know, so-and-so is going to come in here with you. And, and he was like, well, I don't want anybody to be in here with me. I don't want them to see my privates. And you know, my kids are young and I was like, well, dude, why, why do you care about that? And he said, well, I have a really big butt. And I was like,
(04:25): I was like, and I played college football. And I remember saying to him, I'm like, dude, that's good. Like when you watch film and like, you look at those people that are fast and strong, like they have big butts, like that's a good thing. And then I was saying to Susie, I'm like, how bad does that suck that he has any insecurities at nine years old? Like, I just can't believe that. And I was like, Oh. And I said to her, I was like, I've guaranteed. That's how God looks at us. And I'm an insecure person, like anybody else. And you know, I'm sure God's like, Hey, like I created you in my image. Like, why are you so insecure? And so I think for us, when we think about our, we have four kids and three boys and a girl it's like, when, if I sense any insecurity from them, it just, it crushes me.
(05:04): Cause I, you know, I think they're awesome and I want them to feel the same way. So I think getting them very confident. So Lucy had school today in person for the first time. And for me, it was like to go in there. If you know the answer, raise your hand, don't be shy. Like you're a strong, smart, beautiful girl. And I think for me, I love the thought of making sure my kids are confident and same thing at work. I want us to walk around and we jokingly say like chest out, chin up. Like, you know, we, we don't, we don't want to play small
(05:29): Man. I love that example and it is fun because every leader I've had on this podcast has a different example and each one is just power. And so instill confidence. What I like about that, the comment you made about how our heavenly father sees us. And I think that's, what's so beautiful about parenting is in our own parenting. We get such a better understanding of how God thinks and that connection. So I just love how you talk about that cause right. I talked to so many clients every single day and even myself where it's just, I feel broken or I feel not good enough or I'm not bringing my best to work. And just to know that God himself would be looking at saying, Hey, you're doing great. You're uniquely and wonderfully made. And so I love that comparison. It's good. So I've been around you, Nick and seeing how you compliment your kids. Also, you are helping coach my son's soccer team and I've been at the practices and games and get a hear you. And what I love about how you compliment people and help with confidence is most often you're going after character of them talking about work ethic and hustle, as opposed to just pure competency of how many goals you scored or assessed. And I love how you distinguish the difference. And I think that's something that all listeners need to hear about how we compliment character instead of,
(06:47): Yeah. I think for me as a guy that is very below average athletically, but had a little success. And like I said, I played football in college. I realized there was the control of versus the uncle uncontrollables. And I was never going to be the fastest or strongest, but like I could control my effort, my hustle and how hard I worked and how tough I was. I think for me, that's when I, anytime I get frustrated with youth sports, it's simply around that same thing in the business world. I think for me, it's like, you know, we can make mistakes, we make mistakes, we have our fleas. We, you know, things happen all the time. But like an unforgivable mistake for me is like lack, lack of effort so that when I sense that when we're not solutions focused and I don't think we're thinking around corners, that's when I get really been out shaped for me to like making a mistake because I just hadn't had that experience. Or I didn't see that coming. Like, dude, I do that 10 times a day. And so I'm, I'm really forgivable about that. And same thing with youth sports, I'm embarrassed, forgivable about a, kid's just not athletically apt enough to do something, but he tries hard. He thinks through things. He's a great teammate. I'll put that kid on a pedestal all day long. Yeah.
(07:55): You said the word hustle. You and I went on a hiking camping trip a couple months ago and it was awesome. It was a blast connecting with obviously all the guys that were there connected with God, the solitude, but one conversation you and I had with some other guys was, was that quote that you were sharing. And we're talking about is how hustle will beat talent when talent.
(08:17): Yeah. Hard work, beats talent. Doesn't work hard. There you go. There you go. We'll use mine better. What was it again, since I've been butchering it for the last month, I've been telling everybody hustle and hard work, hard work, beats talent when talent doesn't work hard. All right. It's the same thing,
(08:38): But no, it's so true. So for you and Susie with quarantine happening and our lives have all changed, what are rhythms that you personally have added that you're going to keep as the world kind of opens back up?
(08:52): Yeah, that's a good question. I think one of them actually, Susie and I's workout routine and just kind of bouncing that traditionally always kind of own the mornings of my workouts and all that. And we've kind of changed a little bit. So Susie and I are both getting our time in and we've invested in some home equipment so that we can do that. And that's just like a very surface level that 5:00 AM til 7:00 AM, time block in the morning that we all that we all hold sacred. And I think with the kids one, like we didn't, I didn't really love, like I know there's a lot of parents that are like, Oh, this is awesome. There's no sports going on now. I'm like, we can just do this. And that was really good for us for about a weekend or two weekends. I'm actually like a dream Saturday for me is a cup of coffee.
(09:30): And like I got an 8:00 AM soccer game. Then I run to like a 10:00 AM gymnastics meet and it's like a noon, two ball game. Like I love that stuff. But I do think for us what we want to do, we call it book ending time. And when I have, when I have time with no bookend, it is more relaxing. And so we're going to try to keep one day a weekend where there's no bookend. And so John and I would work in the yard or, you know, Lucy and I would build puzzles and not having something that's kind of ticking in the background. Like, shoot, we gotta be here at four 45 was really, really refreshing. And I think we're gonna try and do that and balance that with reality of like, we liked being part of activities and our kids like activities. Okay. With that. Yeah.
(10:07): And so you're good with no structure and just let them be spontaneous.
(10:11): No, not normally. Right. I'm a structured person, but like on a Sunday for me, like I love again, like, and maybe I'm different for me. It's like an activity church, the best activity now that it's back in person. And then the rest of the day is wide open and one day a week like that. And you know, that'd be a traditional right Saturday for some folks that a Sabbath for us. Cause we're not looking at our phone. We're not looking at our schedule. Nothing's going on other than like feeding the kids and we're playing and enjoying that time.
(10:43): That's neat to hear. I mean, I can learn from that. I know others can too is just resting on Sabbath because even on Sabbath, if I'm staying home and I'm not working, meaning the laptop's not coming open, there's still a part of me of, I need to do this. I need to do this. Check the box. I need to go do a day with my kids. I need to go do this. I need it. I need to make sure I'm reading, check the box. It's still, my Sabbath can turn into a bunch of tattoos. So it's cool. Just to hear you give yourself just grace just to, to rest. Right. And to be present.
(11:12): My wife has been the one that's been really good about that. So I used to do a lot of home stuff. So Sunday would come along and it's like, all right, I'm going to cut the grass. I'm going to edge it. I'm a blow everything off. And that'd be like a three and a half hour time chunk. And for her like that, just finally, she was like, we got find it. And we were fortunate enough and it's very inexpensive to find someone to do that for us once a week. And it wasn't because we didn't have time. It was just like that time for her was like, I want you to spend that time with the kids and with me and not just like maintenance for our house.
(11:40): Yeah. That's awesome. Well, you've you and I talked about the five capitals before the spiritual, relational and physical than intellectual financial in that order, but it's leveraging lower capitals for greater capital. So financials hire out, mowing the yard, hire out whatever it is for us. It's even grocery shopping and click list. Yep. So that, you know, we, relationally we can spend more time with family or friends and said so good. So shifting to a part of your, to your career, cause that's a big part of where I also get to see you lead and win well, is, is you run your construction company with your wife, but that's not what you did at first. I mean, you came out and you did strikers and medical supplies, so I'd love to have you just transition there for us.
(12:23): Yeah. So my dad started this construction business in 1986 and I never thought I'd have anything to do with it. I worked in the summers for him, framing and demo and clean up most of the time, just being a gopher for guys on sites got out of college. My mom's whole side of the family coaches, high level college football. So I'm the only male descendant of John hope. My mom's dad that doesn't coach football for a living. So when I first got out of Miami, I stayed on as a G a graduate assistant for a year. Cause I thought I was going to coach very quickly found out that wasn't going to work for Suzy real estate two to three years after moving and doing all that wasn't for her. And she was much more important to me than, than coaching football. So got out of there and then went into sales, Stryker medical had a great time there.
(13:08): I moved into leadership pretty early there and then just probably I'm 37 and really around the age of like 29 30, just started kind of getting that like, all right, I'm going to go do my own thing feeling. It was one of those things where it's like, you would sit in church and it was like, this sermon is telling me to leave my job. And I was like, is that just because that's what I want to hear. And so Susan, I wrestled with that. She she's hyper talented much, much more talented than myself. And I knew if I went into business, I'd want to go into business with her. She's she's my, you know, the end of my yang and what she does really well is all my deficiencies and what I can do. Okay. Like she doesn't really focus on. So it felt like a good marriage from a business perspective, but it's scary.
(13:47): And we had kids and really, really nice high paying jobs and making that leap was going to be hard. But I think for us, like, I mean, I was telling you earlier, I got to the point where I was a leader and I was interviewing people in Marriott lobbies and they were 20 years older than me looking for jobs. And I just kind of was like, man, I don't like this. I don't, it would make me feel like I want to hire everybody. Cause I felt bad that I was looking for a job. And so I think for Susan, I would kind of got to the point where we wanted to bet on ourselves and we love the construction industry. I think there's a really good opportunity in this industry and a bunch of different ways, you know, for us to get in, grow a business.
(14:22): We really liked the commercial side of the business and we have 18 employees now and big growth plans for the future. And for us, it's like, we want to be a very authentic leaders and, and you know, we talked about our core values and those, those kind of have to frame who we hire and how we hire and how we work and how we deliver for our customers and be in part of a business where you can do that has been really fun for us because we can make it. What I mean, when we write up a job profile, what do you want to make it? Like, how do you want to pay this guy? And it's like, can we afford that? And it's like, I think it's just, it's, it's it's fun being able to do that.
(14:54): Yep. That's cool. Going back to the transition from striker to Manning, how long was that process?
(15:01): It was a long process because it was just by way of that job. I was able to kind of do both for a little bit. I mean I started, I mean, it was probably a three year process of kind of doing some stuff and building this business and in association with my dad's business and Dayton trying to get stuff going here so that we felt good enough about pulling back. And then it was just, you get to this point where it's like, you've heard burn the ships. And I got to a point where it's like, Oh, I could probably continue to do both pretty comfortably and handle both and higher. And, but like, there was a reality of like where I wanted to go with the business. Like I kind of needed my back against the wall and be swinging. And I think for me, it's like, I wanted a big fat finger in my chest and pushed against me against the law saying like, you have to do this and you have to win. And that was the only way to do that was to leave striker at that point and really go all in on ourselves, which was like August, 2016
(15:55): While also four years ago. Yeah.
(15:57): Yeah. That's when my dad and I went and traded off some tax ID stuff and made that shift and momentum shift, but we didn't get an office down down here. So we have an office in Dayton until 2018 and then it's kind of grown from there.
(16:10): Yup. So I'm four years and now you're up to 18 employees. Another thing just from conversations, I know you do well is you create a healthy and productive culture productive in the standpoint you're growing. And so things are good, but it's healthy and people get along and they enjoy each other and you even hire family and friends of friends. And it's really neat how that works. And I mean, I know my wife,
(16:34): Our bookkeeper's probably the most talented,
(16:37): Right. And so, no, I know all that. And I also know you you've been, you finalized, rolled out your culture and what those core values are, archive your culture code love to have you just show.
(16:49): Yeah, absolutely. And to your point, I mean, I've been very fortunate to bring some folks from striker over folks that I know very, very well and I know their, their talent level, which does Trump, a lot of things that, you know, and then I know who they are as a person and that trumps everything. And, and so I think we've been very fortunate to bring some talent in, but one of the things that just seems to be a through line of the business and, and kind of, like I said, Susan, I get to make that rule. And, and everyone knows our core values is kind of who we're going to be. And there is a big faith component in our business. And probably like, I'm the one that needs to get reminded that sometimes, you know, I think sometimes I can get caught up and running and trying to win and go on.
(17:28): And I think the grounding that needs to happen happens with some of the folks who brought in, but our core values are honor fortitude, quality and communication. So honor for us, it's honor, God, honor our customers and honor our employees with how we work and do what we do fortitude. So I've always said, fortitude to me is just running towards gunfire, which don't have written on our board, but it's basically like the grit to get through tough times. And so construction is an industry that's, that's, that's just got that. Like there's going to be complications and issues every single day, all the time. And I never want our reputation to be one where man, every time you're on a job with meaning contracting and an issue comes up, like they're pointing fingers at the subs. And then they point to the Prince and certainly there's times where it's like, well, let's look back at the printer.
(18:13): Hey, did the sub consider this? But for us, it's like, those facts are behind us. At some point we just got to run towards gunfire and run towards a solution. And I think that's something that anyone that's worked with us knows is, is we're not gonna, we're not walking off the job. We're not, we're not running from issues. We're going to attack those issues and we're going to deliver for our customers and then quality at the end of the day, we're at work, we do construction. And so we want the quality of our product to be, you know, one of which we're proud of and then communication again, construction's a, a really fast moving complicated industry in a way. And the communication could be really bad and that's non-negotiable for me. And so how we communicate and this falls on me too, it's like, how are we communicating with our employees?
(18:57): How are we communicating with our customers? And for me, I've always said, it's never fair to sit down with an employee and tell them about an issue that's going on at work. And then be surprised by it. The first time they might be like, really, I didn't recognize that the seventh time, the eighth number, if you go to unfortunately say, Hey, this isn't a great fit. Then being surprised is on the leader, right? It's gotta be it's up to us to communicate that to them say, Hey, here's where I think we need to get better because this is where we're trying to go. And if that's a pace that you can't keep up with, and this might not be a great fit, right. And so how we communicate internally is that way. But then obviously with customers, customer needs to know what's happening again, it's construction and we're doing big projects right now. And lots of people are involved and it's up to us to communicate to them how things are going. And, and I think that for us, that's a, that's a big time core value. I love those values. Thanks for sharing. And did you have difficulty
(19:47): Including God or not?
(19:49): I, yeah, I know. So I know a lot of people do. Yeah, I did. I did transparently. I mean, it's like the guy that does our operations was, was challenging me on it. Cause Susan, I always said like, this is going to be like, we're going to put mission into our work every single day. You know? And then there was a point where our COO was saying like, Nick, if you're going to say this, like you can't like stumble over the words and you're going to present to people that may be don't believe in God. And you're going to say, you know, we're going to honor God first. And that's the first thing that we say, and I had the fear of like, let turn somebody off. If we open up, we want to open up every presentation. All right. We're looking at this project.
(20:27): It's $25 million and we got to do an interview. And the first thing I'm going to do is go, all right, just so you know about main contract. The first thing you need to know is these are our core values. First thing I'm gonna say is we honor God. And they're going, what does it have to do with building a building? You know? And so there was definitely that fear, a little bit or insecurity, or there's a standard, I think as soon as you say that there's a standard, you're going to be held to be judged it. Right. It's like, as soon as we say that, and then we make a mistake and I'm like, well, that's your Christian? Like, how does she end that? And so Christian, we're not Jesus. Exactly. Yeah. But I, you know, I think I, I recognize that. And, and just in time, actually, that camping trip, like you get to this point where it's like, all right, we gotta be about more than just a business.
(21:09): And certainly we've got big time growth plans and I'm not someone that wants to play small. I'm not someone that likes losing. I can't understand it. There's a project that's happening across town. I never even heard about. And it's being built and it's three times the size of our revenue. Like I'm, I'm upset, trying not to curse. I'm upset that we didn't get the project. Right. Like that's like there was a $335 million bridge announced for the city of Cincinnati. And I, like I said to Jordan, I'm like, we gotta win this thing. I've never built a bridge, but you know, so like, believe me, like I want to win. But at the end of the day, like for us, like, we definitely want to be about more than just construction. I think this industry really has a great opportunity to solve some socioeconomic issues and faith issues. And you have family issues and family issues, you know, we're, we're on job sites that have 300 people on them. Like, there's, there's an opportunity for some mission there, for sure. Just being the light, just being alive. Like you talked about the very beginning, instilling confidence in whatever tradesman you're walking by phrase, woman, whatever it may be.
(22:11): It's pretty that's. That's awesome. Thank you very much for listening to today's episode. I hope you are joining so far before we go back to the rest of this episode. I want to share with you my book when at home first, some of you have read it. So thank you very much for others of you. You have not. And I encourage, if you're looking for a resource to help you with these times of your work is now in your home and your home is now in your work and what this looks like. This book is being helpful to many leaders like you whores magazine said it was one of seven books. Everyone on your team should read in the book is broken up into four different sections to help you versus about you. Understand who you are. The second is marriage in ideas and tips to help with your marriage. Third is parenting and the last is work. So these four different sections to help you recalibrate during this time and to help move forward. So if you are needing additional resource, I encourage you to check out my book went home first. It is available on Amazon, as well as audible and so on to the rest of the episode. Thank you very much.
(23:24): Talking about Values for the company. How are you at with that for your family or your personal life? Susan? I, we're very aligned with kind of what we want our kids to be like and how we want to raise our family and the vibe of the household we want to have. We've done the family planning weekends, and we have a blast and we drink wine and eat charcuterie boards ended up not doing a whole lot of planning, but I think it's good. I think like for me, I know Susie, like hers is like, she wants like a big deal to her as the kids being good teammates. So in our house, we talk a lot about being a teammate, like love that I got to help, you know, and that is, that is one that like that's a Hill she's willing to die on is like, we gotta have like, John, are you being a good teammate to Lucy right now?
(24:08): Susie was a college volleyball player. And like that is just sending on our business. As soon as she feels like someone's on an Island or not operating within the team, the structure of the team. Like she will not much frustrates her. That'll that'll throw her over the edge. And then I think like one of the questions we tell our kids to ask every single day is like, it's the question of like, is there anything I can do to help? And so, you know, that's, that's a big piece for us. We want, we have four kids, we may have more. And I think for us, we want kids that are willing to help. We want to pick up a bag of mortar when they're running our construction business and carrying it up to the, to the tile guy. Nothing above, you know, working hard. And so I know for us, like we expect our kids to represent like hard workers that are willing to help that that are good teammates. And I think that's how we form our family. And then around that, it's like, let them be kids, let them, let them have fun them up. I mean, you've seen me coach, like our kids fall and scratch their knees. We're not running over and pick them up and that might come back to haunt us. I don't know. But like we are now live in bubbles. Susie is a, and Susie is a great teammate for me on that because like, you know, let them work and fall and get themselves back up.
(25:16): It's so important that, I mean, every company, every family has values. It's just whether they're defined or not. That's right. And so for you guys to be calling out and affirming the idea of being teammates, helping others, and it just makes such a big difference that that is kind of their rally cry. And so that's so cool. I know for you, you know, being a business owner, working hard, we've talked a lot about ambition before and other discussions, how do you balance that tension of growing a business? This is your highest revenue ever. There's stress of different jobs happening. Plus you want to sustain this. Now you have 18 families depending on you, but at the same time, taking your foot off the gas, being able to work out, being able to play with the kids and not be stressing out. I know a lot of people, especially now there's this fear, lack of control that people are dealing with. So how do you address that in your own life? Yeah.
(26:11): Good question one. I think we'll make a quick hire if needed. So I think in construction, especially we're hiring people that are a lot of times taking things off my plate that I used to do myself. And the reason is that is I don't want to work 140 hours a week. I want to come home. I try to be home by six o'clock every night and some nights it's earlier, I coach soccer and wrestling and all those things. So those nights I'm home a lot earlier. And when I'm home, I'm all in on the kids. Now I got it. The hard part is balancing that and being all in on Susie too, because when I get home, I got this hours and her, and I spend time together at work. But the way I balance it is that I come home. My phone goes in another room.
(26:49): I don't look at it. And you know, you kind of get that six to eight hour timeframe when it's like kids and baths and all those things. I just don't look at my phone because it'll, it'll suck me in. And then because of my job, I do have some freedom during the day. If I need to, I'll pop in, try to take each kid to an individual breakfast or lunch once a month. And that's a blast. The kids love it. I love that. Going camping with the kids next weekend. I, you know, I think for me, it's like, you know, wagging the dog when I can't now transparently Corey back in 2017 and 18 and 16, like it was worse. It was bad. I mean, it was like, I mean, it was all hours all the time. I would still pull back hanging with the kids, but then as soon as they went down, it was like, you're on a computer till 1:00 AM putting together a big change.
(27:34): The health of our business grew. So one, it's just, we grew to, I realized I can hire someone else to do this. And it makes sense from a business standpoint too, to put this in someone else's bucket. And I had a great leader at Stryker that always said, you know, the, the, the role of the person at the top is top line and talent. And so you can say like, talent is going to be the people you bring into the company. I think culture falls in talent. And then top line is like sales. So relationship management, those things. And so every day I try to look at like, what am I doing for top line in town? And if it falls, if anything falls in that, that line, then I, I have to try to find out where someone else in our business can do it. And I think that changed, I think like just the security of our business has grown a lot. And so pipeline's grown and you know, every, every night I'd go to bed thinking like, I'm gonna wake up,
(28:23): Jeremy, no more work to do. And like, all right, God, I gotta get this. You know? And it's just like
(28:26): That reality, that productive paranoia that Jim Collins calls it it's like, it, it still exists. Sometimes it can be paralyzing paranoia. For me, I'm a traditionally pretty like concerned individual in regards to like pipeline. You know, I think getting that under control has been good. And then just realizing at the end of the day, like a healthy kids, I've got a beautiful wife, like, you know, that's the stuff that matters. It's like I said to you when we were camping, it's what did I say? It's like, I don't know. The last time
(28:54): You said I botched the quote. I tried botched this too. We were saying, I was saying like, I have to, my struggle is
(29:01): Pride comparison and competitiveness, competitiveness. My demons of like, I lay in bed and I'm just like, Oh my gosh, this guy is doing this and this guy's doing that. But I'll say like, pride, ego and comparison are also my fuel. Right. And so I think it's like, how do I use that as fuel in a healthy way and really make my fuel be all right. I've been blessed to have this town, this team and these people, how do I honor them with the work we do? That's, that's, that's that, that mindset is a constant battle. It's an, it's a battle each. I mean, as you know, small business will eat you alive. If you let it, it absolutely will. I have something to do at all times. I could justify a drink with a potential client. I can justify dinner with, you know, this bank guy or whatever. Like you could just be gone all the time and like work in your, you know, until every hour and you could justify it. You can say, Oh, this is, this project came because of that dinner. And it's just for me that it's like, we're going to blink our eyes and it's, these kids are gonna be grown.
(29:56): So now you put boundaries around to know, Hey, these, these nights, I've got kids practices, the six to eight phone on the counter, the, these morning, these particular mornings each month, I'm doing breakfast with the kids. Yeah. I mean, that's, that's awesome.
(30:13): Yeah. It's been good for us. I I'm a, I'm a big reader I read when at home first, obviously there you go. And so now I read those things and like, I know what works for me and when I can plug in and when I can pull out. And I think knowing that and having, I think some of it's to just confidence in our business and our pipeline, like, it's not going to be the end of the world. If I don't answer that call right now, I'll make that call at nine tomorrow morning, run around in my truck. Just realizing that
(30:39): That's, that's a big thing because a lot of people don't think that. I know there's been times in my life with a scarcity mindset of, especially on the business development side where I've got to go meet with every prospect, I would do all these different pieces and then start to realize when times happened, where I'm unable to do that for different reason. And God shows up with provision and you're like, wow, I don't need to do that all the time. Yeah. It's hard.
(31:01): It's like a scarcity mindset is a great way to put it. Cause I think it's always goes back to like my core of like that hard work piece. Well, I'll just, I'll out work. Then I'll go. I will run through a wall. I will chew glass and I will make sure this gets done. Right. And there's a point where that gets unhealthy. And and like I said, he just try to focus on the things that matter.
(31:21): Yep. That's another thing I liked talking to you about too, is just mindset where you are very good about having a strong mindset, almost an unbeatable mindset, but yet I know there's days that you get beat up or the job doesn't go well, or the subcontractor wants to fight about, you know, the particular invoice, whatever it may be. So how do you recalibrate on those days where it's just, it's not going as well.
(31:47): My dad wired me or however he wired me. I never thought about it much, but he always said, if someone can do it, it might as well be you. I want, wanted to play in the bangles when I was playing youth football. And he's like, well, there's 53 guys on the roster. Someone's gotta be on it. It might as well be you. And so it will be, yeah. So for me, it's like running this business. I'm always like, well, this is the project I want to go towards. It might as well be us. Like someone's going to do it. Someone's going to roll the prints out. And someone's going to do this project. And for us, it's like, when, when those days come where you lose a project, right. We found out yesterday there's a monster project that we were pretty excited for and it was punching up for sure.
(32:22): And we lost out to some bigger commercial construction companies. And it sucks. But I think at the same time, it's like, it also like sharpens. It sharpens you, it digs you back into your pipeline. We focus on the things we can control. You know, we look around and just say, okay, let's go find two more. That are just like that. And let's go win one of these. And as weird as this sounds like one big one for me is my workouts. I mean, I, I go into, I go into my workout and lift weights and like, the lights are off the music's on. And it's definitely like a Headspace then for me, it's just a, it's it's quiet. And my brain seems to work better when I'm working out. Yeah. I love that idea of when you
(32:58): Lose a job, obviously do the reflection, why we lose and maybe we need to, you know, sharpen our pencils
(33:04): Yeah. And construction, but just this idea of all right. We've learned now let's go. Yeah. I mean just Jocko Willink thing. I told you about that. Good. Yeah. It's like, Oh, this happened good. Well, here's why it happened. All right. These are the things we can control that we could have done better to give them a shot. These are the things we can't control. So let's look at what we can control. But then also one of the things we definitely can control is how do we replace that project? And so I typically like, Joe Jordan always says like, you need one hour away from everybody after like, something like that happens for a walk. I, you know, do my thing. And then it's like, all right, I'm super dialed in. I'm excited. I'm glad we lost. Cause here's how we're going to get better. And we're going to look back 24 months from now and be like, man, thank God we lost that project because what we did because of that. And, and you know, the just, I don't know, it's just the way, the way we operate. It's good. I bet that's contagious with the company. There's probably others.
(33:53): Your employees are probably starting to notice that themselves, if they trip up,
(33:57): They're like good. Now let's start moving forward. Yeah. We had a guy that started with us and this could have been a really big deal. I mean, and we gave him a lot of responsibility right away because we're small. And you know, just by way of our size, like you get a lot of responsibility. Once you joined the business and he made about a quarter million dollar mistake. And I remember looking at him, it was like seven o'clock at night. Cause we were trying to figure out how we can recoup it. And he had tears in his eyes and I grabbed him like, this is good. This sucks right now. And I've made 10 mistakes today. Your mistake is bigger than the ones I've made, but there's still mistakes. And like, this is why we're going to be better. And you're going to be better at doing this, this and this because of this mistake.
(34:34): Like we'll figure this out. This is just money. And we did figure it out thankfully. But the reality is like, use this to get better. Don't use this to create a reason to go run and hide or quit or not want to take on responsibility and feel like you can't make decisions. Like there's an opportunity when you get that, that, that call out. Or I was called the finger in the chest. Like, this is why we're going to be really, really good. And let's use this and let's operate from this. And this is fuel for our fire. And I think like he took that really seriously and he was new to us and he came from a really big commercial construction company. And like watching him grow in that moment has been really exciting. That's awesome.
(35:07): Yeah. That's cool. That's such a neat application of a biblical truth. Where in Romans, where it talks about, you know, God will use all things for good. It is just having that mindset as a leader of whatever it takes place. We are, we believe in that truth that God will use all things for. Good. So even in this small example in our day-to-day life, we're going to figure out how the heck are we going to use this?
(35:28): Yeah. I think for me, yes, absolutely. Right. Cause you're, you're going to use it for good or for bad guys. Use it for good. Right. You've heard that. You've heard thought like, don't let that same team beach it twice. You play a game on a Saturday and you lose and you spend the whole next week socking about it. And then you lose again to a worst team because you're still thinking about the first loss. And it's like, no, no, no, you don't lose that game on Saturday. You watch film, you lift weights, you run sprints and you come back and you come out and you're, you're a better version of yourself. You can't ever lose to the same team. You can't lose it the same mistake twice.
(36:02): Yeah. That's awesome. What are you hearing and learning from God right now?
(36:06): I am hearing. It's interesting. I've been challenged a little bit to figure out a way to follow better, which I know sounds odd, but it's something I've been, I was just talking about it this morning. I am, as our business grows. There's times where I need to let other people lead the conversation and run with the things that they are really good at. It is very easy for me to be like, all right, everybody get behind me. Let's go. Like, I'll be the first one through the wall. And everybody will swallow. I think that an area where I gotta, I gotta make sure I do better for the health of our business, for the health of my family, for everything is let other folks who I brought in who are very talented lead. And then I follow. And I think for me, it's like, that's an odd concept.
(36:50): I remember I was number 56 growing up and people would be like, Oh, you're like Lawrence Taylor, like Morris Taylor's number 56. And it bug me. Cause I was like, no, like I don't want to follow anybody. Like I'm 56. But the reality is like, there's a, there's a healthiness to running behind somebody and having their back and letting them grow. And I know we've brought people into our business who are better at the things that we're asking them to do than I would be. So that's an odd concept, but I would say that. And then I think for me finding quiet, honestly, silence, my days, my brain can get real busy and like I got to figure out a way to find that, that quiet time.
(37:26): I love about your idea on learning to follow is I spent a lot of time talking with other leaders like yourself on this idea of following for a couple of reasons. One, if you you've equipped and empowered your team to do things, and if you allow them to step up, you start to raise the lid of the organization, right? So instead of being the certain size revenue you are right now, you could be two X and time. If you are stepping out at different times to allow them to run the meeting, to allow them to be responsible for a forecast or a project or whatever, it may be a certain time. So it raises the lid of the organization. And then the other is that outside perspective to have people speak into your life, to maybe see where some blind spots are or to see maybe just some new ways to look at things. So I love that that's a season that you feel you're in.
(38:15): Yeah, definitely. I think to your point, like Susie would tell you when things start to go wrong, I immediately am like, just send it over me, send me their contact them, I'll run with it and I will figure it out. But then to your point on like the, you know, just like getting built into and following, and I've had good coaches my whole life. And like, I know that the fruit that can come from that and like the sharpening that can, and it can get lonely kind of at the top, absolutely people who played sports, especially with college athletics, like yourself, understanding coaches and using them. Well, thank you so much. How can listeners get ahold of you just to learn more about you and maybe even culture of a company and things that you're doing probably the best way to be through Instagram. So Manning contracting on Instagram and that goes right to me. I'd probably be the best way. It sounds great. My emails, just Nick and I see@mainlandcontracting.com. All right. That's good. Now it works. Awesome. Well, thank you so much, man. This is awesome. I love the love. The podcast. Love the book. Happy to be, you know, appreciate the Anon. Yeah. Well thank you.
(39:16): I want to thank you for listening to my podcast. When at home first, I am so grateful to hear from listeners like you, that this content has been helpful. So now I would love for you to pay it forward. I want to get this message in the hands of more listeners. We need leaders to be winning both at home and at work, especially during this time. So please take a minute to share this episode with somebody you think would find value in it, as well as rate and subscribe as a thank you, please visit my website corymcarlson.com to download a free resource that people are finding value in. Thank you very much.
(39:54): This is ThePodcastFactory.com.
