Shed Geek Podcast
The Shed Geek Podcast offers an in depth analysis of the ever growing and robust Shed Industry. Listeners will experience a variety of guests who identify or specialize in particular niche areas of the Shed Industry. You will be engaged as you hear amateur and professional personalities discuss topics such as: Shed hauling, sales, marketing, Rent to Own, shed history, shed faith, and much more. Host Shannon Latham is a self proclaimed "Shed Geek" who attempts to take you through discussions that are as exciting as the industry itself. Listeners of this podcast include those who play a role directly or indirectly with the Shed Industry itself.
Shed Geek Podcast
Family Values in the Shed Industry Part 2
Sam Byler opens his heart in this profound conversation about the two pillars holding up the shed industry: family and relationships. Drawing from 35 years of marriage, Sam shares wisdom that transcends the personal and perfectly applies to business success: "Don't let kindness fool you into thinking it's weakness." Through stories of compromise, growth, and choosing peace over being right, listeners gain insights into how relationship principles directly impact business outcomes.
Looking ahead, Sam offers a sobering yet hopeful industry forecast about what he terms "the grind" - a challenging period he believes will extend through much of next year. Rather than viewing this negatively, he encourages industry professionals to "be content in the grind" and "embrace the suck," highlighting the resilience required in an industry affected by everything from weather to economic fluctuations.
The conversation takes a fascinating turn when discussing disaster response efforts in the Southeast, where hurricanes and flooding have created tremendous need. Sam reveals how the industry has mobilized to provide shelter solutions while balancing business opportunity with community service - delivering over 500 sheds to affected areas in just four months.
Most powerfully, Sam articulates the fundamental truth at the heart of the shed business: "You cannot do this business without relationships." Whether in manufacturing, hauling, or retail, success depends on building strong connections. This episode also reveals that the podcast series with Sam will conclude in August unless circumstances change, making this conversation even more valuable for listeners seeking his unique perspective.
For anyone in the shed industry facing challenges in business relationships or wondering how to navigate uncertain times ahead, this episode provides both practical guidance and heartfelt encouragement from someone who has mastered the art of balancing personal values with professional success.
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This episodes Sponsors:
Studio Sponsor: Union Grove Lumber
Cardinal Manufacturing
Shed Geek Marketing
Cardinal Leasing
Shed Challenger
Welcome back to part two of a two-part episode. Be sure to go back and listen to part one. You might've missed something. Hope you enjoy the conversation today.
Shed Geek:I'm curious, I want to ask you a question. Uh, while we're talking about family, marriage and all of these things in the in the industry, like, and how they relate to the industry, what's you and what's you and Miss Karen story? You know I consider her meek and quiet and, uh, just supportive and, um, you know you're like me, you're loud and proud and out here just going everywhere a hundred mile an hour and you know getting stuff done and knocking things down. She just seems like the kindest. You know getting stuff done and knocking things down.
Sambassador:She just seems like the kindest you know and best supporter for you I would, I would say the single best. I'll get into the story a little bit because people need to know it a little bit. Comment that I can leave about my wife is don't let her kindness fool you into thinking it's weakness and I even dare say the proper way, if I can figure out how to say this don't think it's meekness. She is definitely 100% the closest thing to my mama as I've ever known, which is kind of crazy, because they say sons marry their moms and daughters marry their dads.
Sambassador:you know, I don't know if you've ever heard that or not, but I was told that yeah, yeah, a long time ago, and my and my simple answer to that would have been at 18 years old. That and I've said this for years, even after my, even after being married my mama died. Um, basically six months after we got married, I lost my mom and, but she had had health problems for years already. My wife never seen my mom in her 100% true form. But my wife will tell you in a heartbeat that there was not a more loving, more sweet, more gentle soul on earth than my mama, and all her sisters will tell you that Everybody that knew Leah Byler would say that she never had a bad word for anybody. She never said anything bad about anybody, and the closest thing that I found on this earth to my mom is my wife.
Sambassador:Now, that does not mean at all that they cannot hold their own, because they can. My mama held her own with my daddy many a time, um, when at the still waters run deep and, be you know, speak soft and carry a big stick. That all fits my wife to a team. I love her, love her dearly for it. We I mean, lord, I can't even think where I'd be today with I wouldn't. I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for my wife, um, we weren't quite as young as y'all were when we started, um, when we started dating. But we were young, um, and you know, we dated for two years and I got married six weeks after I turned 19. Um, so I was, you know, married young, grew up, basically grew up together. Both of us did. She came from a complete different background than I was used to and, you know, same for me to her, but we, we learned how to do life together. We learned, we learned how to deal with humans, with each other.
Sambassador:And you know we still have our days. You know it's still a work in progress. You know it's not like, oh man, I can't wait till I turn 50 years old and I just love my wife every day, just because of who she is. You know, it's no. We were talking about it the other day, about how it still takes a lot of work to make it work. And you know we still mess up, we still get it wrong some days, but there is nobody on the face of the earth that I'd rather do life with. And you know, 35 years coming up in November and we were together for two years before that. So, 37 years, you know it's. It's just. It seems crazy, it doesn't even seem possible.
Shed Geek:Congrats, man. That's a, that's a, it's a great, it's a, it's a great thing. And, yeah, man, I just I don't know Definitely thankful. You know, we too have had to see lots of different versions of ourselves and learn how to deal with people, and the word that I usually give at least yeah, in my opinion, the word that I like to give people whenever they're asking about relationship advice and I don't necessarily get asked all the time, but when I do, I like to tell them compromise. Compromise is one of the biggest words. You know, in the 25 years that we've been together, 29 years that we've been together overall, I have learned that compromise is definitely one of the keys to relationship, in my opinion, and what I mean by that is you know, you're two different people and you're two different versions of yourself over different decades. You're 20s, you're 30s, you're 40s. You're just, you're different. You grow into different people and different roles, and one. You have to make a steady effort to come back together. You know not, it doesn't happen once and you're done. You've got to continue to make the effort every day. But compromise too. There's times that we used to get into an argument on a Friday night, and I might be right on this one and I just thought, man, I gotta. I got to hold on to it.
Shed Geek:I don't know if you guys have ever seen Nate Nate Bergazzi. He's one of my favorite comedians. He's a clean comedian out of uh, out of Nashville, and uh he talks about. It's one of my favorite things. He talks about one fell swoop. You know he said my wife used the term one fell swoop one time and I couldn't understand why she used it. He never uses it, but it's like she heard the word. Now, all of a sudden, she's using it. Every time you turn around, I'm one fell swooping.
Shed Geek:Everywhere we go, he says here's what we're going to do, because you know they're, they got all these different, they got all these different family events I got to go to because of divorces and stuff for Christmas. And she says we're going to go here, do this, do that, whatever we're going to do it all in one fell swoop. And he said I don't. I don't think it means what you think. It means that's not one fell swoop, it would be all at once. And we're talking about going here, coming back, going here, coming back.
Shed Geek:And he said she just felt right, and they went to bed angry at each other and he said well, I can't just have you out here One fell swooping saying it the wrong way to everybody. You got my last name. You know he's hilarious if you watch him. But he says he said you know we don't apologize as married couples who have been together for a long time. There's two things that happen if you ever notice. And his version was. He said you know, she just came over and gave me a kiss before I went to bed. I just kind of took that as, like the argument's over. You know it's time to go to bed. We should go to bed and just be done with it. And he said but I really felt like I had this one in the bag. So he said I walked in the room and said well, it's just not what it means.
Sambassador:Oh boy.
Shed Geek:I thought you idiot. You know, he laughed, of course, and made a joke and he said you know, my marriage almost ended in one fell swoop, you know.
Sambassador:No kidding,
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Shed Geek:I used to. If I felt about my one fell swoop argument, I would drive home like Nate would, and it was Friday night and the next thing I know we're arguing all the way into Sunday and I think what I've learned now and time creates wisdom, I guess, whether we want it to or not, because there's times now that even if I'm right on something, I will choose peace over being right, and I will go to her and I will say I don't want to argue all weekend whether I'm right or whether I'm wrong. I value this relationship and I love you more than this argument and I love this weekend we have together more than this argument. So, whether I'm right or whether I'm wrong, I'm sorry and I want to have a good weekend with you because I don't want to argue and that's changed everything. I mean that changes so much. There's a maturing there that's so necessary. Back in the day I would have been like no no.
Shed Geek:I'm right on this. I'm not giving up, I'm not giving my position away on this.
Sambassador:And when you learn that lesson.
Shed Geek:It's important.
Sambassador:I learned a long time ago that if I just wait, I'll be right later, and it's important. I learned a long time ago that if I just wait, I'll be right later, and it'll all be all right anyway.
Shed Geek:Just let it play out right. Yeah, just let it play out and you never have to look at her and say, was I right, you'll just know.
Sambassador:Disclaimer that's the funniest joke tonight. Yet I'm never right Sometimes if I just let it go and wait six, six months I'll find out.
Shed Geek:She's right anyway, you know, yeah, my favorite thing is my wife's ability to see things that I don't see, when I'm arrogant enough to think that I've got the answers and got things figured out. And uh, you know, she, she sees things that I I'm not able to. I think that's why it takes a team effort. I think people will identify with this podcast who work in our industry, because you have to work together to figure it out, don't you? Whether you're in manufacturing, whether you're in hauling, whether you're in sales, especially those who have to travel, you know, for extended periods of time. Um, it takes real effort to make to make a relationship work, doesn't?
Sambassador:it, yeah, and you cannot do this business without relationships, yeah. So, um, if you're, if you're a big enough company to where you don't have to have B2B relationships, you have to have E2E relationships.
Sambassador:Everyone to everyone, oh yeah, everyone. To everyone, employer to employee, you could say well, I'm not going to have to have relationships with my rent done, I'm not going to have to have relationships with my rent done, I'm not going to have to have relationships with my haulers, I'm not going to have to have relationships with a manufacturer, because I'm just going to do it all in-house myself. Well, you're going to have to build relationships with those people because you're mercy. Can you imagine? You get up in the morning, you build your own shed, you sell your own shed, you haul your own shed, you do your own rent, you pick it back up you sell it again.
Shed Geek:Yeah, you got to have the relationships.
Shed Geek:You got to have relationships. What do you see, Sam? You've been in and around the industry for a long time Anything particular in now, March of 2025, that creeps up on your radar directions that the industry's going some kind of like amazing insight. Do you think it's just a status quo? Do you think there's a lot of change happening or getting ready to happen? That's one of the biggest questions I get. Probably the most common question I get from one place to the next is you know what are you seeing out there? What does your crystal ball kind of tell you? What does it look like? The direction is for things going? You have any like magical insight tonight, Anything that's just tickling your brain there for the direction of the industry versus what it was, maybe the next five years, what we should expect?
Sambassador:So, you know, a couple of years ago we threw around the word collaboration and then we threw around what was that word? It's almost like collaborate but, um, like acquisitions or additions. There you go Acquisition is what I was looking for. So, I've kind of every year I kind of try to come up with what I see or whatever, and I'm going to tell you this is going to sound bad, and I don't mean it as a bad thing, I'm just saying this is what I see and I think it's a good thing.
Sambassador:But the grind, um, I see a grind coming that goes through probably most of next year, even when some, some of us are just gonna have to buckle down and, you know, just accept that it's gonna get. It might get a little, it might get a little tough, it might get a little hard. I'm not saying it from a negative point of view whatsoever, but just be willing to be content in the grind. Embrace the suck I don't know if you've ever heard that or not, but it's a little hard for me because I'm constantly wanting to move. I think is the word. You know, I'm not cool with just holding still and I kind of pick up on that a little bit from just different areas of it, not just in manufacturing, not just in hauling, not just in rent to own. But I kind of gather that everybody's just a little bit in a like I wish the bash was next week instead of in October.
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Sambassador:I want to get everybody together and throw a big party, except I don't want it just for haulers, I want it for haulers, rent-to-own manufacturing, sales guys. I just feel like everybody's stuck in a grind a little bit and some of these guys listen, some of these guys that are influencing me right now have had crazy good January and February already. The Southeast, especially because it's I don't care what they say, I don't care if they blame it on marketing or sales or whatever. Helene took out so much infrastructure in every aspect of living, we know, including storage and sheds and tiny houses, that to replace all of that back is an industry in itself right now. And I'm not talking about just Western North Carolina, I'm talking about Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, you know, up into Kentucky, and now we've had more flooding and more, you know, buildings destroyed through the flooding, again in West Virginia and Kentucky, some down into Tennessee. Um, I don't know if you've been keeping up with the news or not, but South Carolina even we had 178 wildfires. It's insane and you know through that there's more destruction, you know, I don't know.
Sambassador:So, yeah, I guess I'm kind of just stuck there. I'm like just be happy, be happy in this up for the time being because, and you know, for me personally, I'm man, I don't know, I don't know where I'm headed in the next six months. I would have said, you know, I would have said, I'll easily still be involved in the shed industry from the inside, which is what I call us, we're insiders. Um, and now I'm, I'm looking at decisions that have to be made as to still being in, you know, involved in the shed industry, but not as an insider. And it's like, what does that even look like?
Shed Geek:but not as an insider and it's like what does that even look like? Well, you know, the comfort is something that we all want. We want good years, the great years, and things are going good, and things are coming easy. But that's not reality. That's not. That's not for most folks. That's not typically the case. Everything is not always sunshine and bright skies and things like that. There's a whole. My family certainly didn't feel that way growing up and I think we've been blessed to have it better than our family. Our family, you know, and, and you know there's still been roads of despair, dire straits, depression, anxiety, you know, trouble financially, spiritually, emotionally, physically. I mean there there's been all of these, these things, and I feel like I've had it better than my folks, who had it better than their folks. So, I agree with you and comfort is something that we all crave, but I'm not sure, if comfort's what we're promised.
Shed Geek:I mean, I think you still got to get up and you got to put your work boots on and you got to go to work, no matter what you're doing, if you're sitting at a computer working away, or if you're if you're in a truck, or if you're swinging a hammer, whatever it is you're doing. You know, I think we're still supposed to do that with, with everything that we have, and I think that if you're following the Lord's path that you're supposed to be on, to be on, I think that's uh, uh, that's going to be evident for you. You're going to know, or you're going to know, that you're not doing it. One or the other, um, and you know, he, the, the, the. The really unique thing is he does put us in. Uh, you know, I I still feel called to be in this industry. You know, there's still many things in my life that are, you know, equally as passionate about and something that me and you both are similar on, and that's prison ministry. Hebrews 13, 3,. Be with those in prison as though you're in prison yourself, and even the downtrodden those that are without. You know, I got a podcast coming up you're going to love. It's kind of going to remind me a lot of this podcast with me and you.
Shed Geek:Today I went to my buddy, joe Ignis, out of Knoxville. He's one of our advertisers on our newsletter. Go check it out, buy his stuff, all that good stuff. Me and Joe have been friends for some time. He's been on the podcast several times. Some of his employees have as well Real good sales guy and all this. He had an event down in Knoxville and I went to it and I got a chance to hear some testimonies there that just blew my socks off and we're going to have a gal on the podcast here before too long named Kelly, on the Wednesday show and her testimony is just tremendous. And I said you know, I don't know if my viewers will appreciate that we're not on here just talking about sheds and maybe the cosmetics of the sheds, the manufacturing and structural integrity of the sheds, the aesthetics and the challenges of delivery and manufacturing and sales and marketing.
Shed Geek:It's really just her story and I haven't really talked about this yet her story and I haven't really talked about this yet and I'm gonna I'll drop a little small nuclear bomb here, but you know even what you've been doing out in western North Carolina and being inspired by, uh, the giving mentality that is Sam Byler, always say you got the biggest heart out of anybody that I that I know. And, um, this gal has a called. Oh, I'll maybe have to tell you on that show, the Widowed Something or Another. And that's kind of part of her story and one of the reasons I want to have her on here is I want to. I feel pretty strong about this, but I want to check. But I really feel like we've been looking for a. There's plenty of opportunity, Sam. There's just what you guys are doing out there in North Carolina. There's more opportunity than that you can do in a lifetime. So not dismissing what you're doing by any means, but I felt really, really called and obligated to hear her story further and to maybe even consider some kind of official campaign around her nonprofit and the story that she's got in helping people. I think I've told you this. We're trying to write a book, a children's book. I want to take half of those proceeds and donate it towards something and there's plenty of things in the shed, industry and associated with to give.
Shed Geek:But I felt so moved by her story.
Shed Geek:You know, I just you know, when. You know, I don't know how to explain it, but I want to talk with her farther and see if we can watch some kind of like official campaign around, like her, her mission work and what she's trying to do for orphans and widows and things like that. It just it was amazing. But you said something that I want to touch on and then I'll shut up because it's easy for me to chat. You said, who knows, even in six months, and I kind of wanted to talk about, you know, even the podcast, even the fun day Fridays that Sam is doing, and what that will look like. You've been great man, just coming on and doing the podcast, and one of my favorite things is that you're still the most listened to podcast I've ever had in four years. And I thought, man, surely people want to hear from the guy because they certainly listen to him, and this has just been fun. We've already been at this. I don't know if you realize this, but we've been at this seven months.
Sambassador:Yeah, so I was, so I was the launch and uh we kind of talked about recordings we were recording two months before that already.
Shed Geek:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Shed Geek:No, it's it. The time comes quick, uh, but you know, ask, asking people to continue to, to be on and provide content at that level. That's a, that's a challenge, you know, uh to, to ask you guys to do that, but it does mean a lot that you do. But we're talking about maybe winding it down near the end of August, uh, unless, unless God changes something or put some kind of like, stay in the middle of that. Um, so I just want to encourage people, first and foremost. If you want to get an interview with Sam Byler, it's time to do it, cause we've got about six months left, uh, for him to join us here and call us, sit down, sit down with us, call us info at shed geek. com. You got Sam's number. Give him a call, tell him hey, let's sit down and do an interview, tell our story, Uh, um, but we'll see where it goes and we'll see where Sam goes. There's no telling right in six months when it holds.
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Sambassador:Oh man, there's so much stuff out there right now. I don't know. I used to always so. I've always done storm response work, love doing it, but it's always been like a. It's not even a secondary thing, it's not even third, it's more fourth or fifth or sixth on the list of what I do, and this time around the momentum we've built off of this one and the people that you know, all the little bobbling heads, that and I don't mean that derogatorily, I'm just saying all the voices that are speaking up that you know I you know, I've got guys telling me I could solve, I could solve the homeless problem in the us.
Sambassador:And I'm like all I hear is a lot of work, a lot of work, and they're like they, with the momentum you have and the connections you have, if anybody could do it, you could do it. And you're cut out to do it. It's what you're called to do. And I'm like man, I don't know who you guys are talking to, but it ain't the same dude I'm talking to. And then you sit back and you're like what if they're right? What if that's something you're supposed to be doing? What if it's something that you should be looking into? That your calling isn't? You know, I mean, when you stop and think about it, it wouldn't be that hard to do. It's like you know, we have literally in less than five months actually considering the fact we didn't really start until the first of November, November, December, January, February, you know, four months flat we put 533 sheds on the ground and we've probably got 50 sitting there right now that are ready for delivery. I need more haulers and I've got another commitment to I don't know. Some of these guys are committed to still sending me some more. We'll probably get to 600 fairly easy. And you know, and when you start taking those numbers and you start thinking about okay, so what if we had 10, 12, 15 regional hubs, you know to where? The sheds from Maine wouldn't come to here anymore, they would go into Philly or into, you know, somewhere around New York City or you know wherever it's at. And all of a sudden you start doing 10 here and you start doing 10 over there and you start doing, and it's like wow, you can make a really big difference. So, I don't know, I don't know where we're going. Um, I do like the idea that we're both cool with the idea that we can wrap this up at the end of August. Um, and then, if all of a sudden, something changes, we're both good with that too. Yeah, um, I like it. I'm good with that too. Yeah, um, I like it, I'm good with that either way. Um, I could, you know, currently, right now, I could see the end of august wrapping up and being good with it.
Sambassador:Um, if all of a sudden, everybody's like, hey, wait a minute, we want to hear more from him, and they're willing to do the interviews. I'll be honest, I love doing them. I absolutely love doing the podcast, enjoy every minute of it, hearing everybody's stories and stuff. I do not enjoy having to thump on people to try to get them to do an interview. Um, I've got four or five haulers right now that will never probably listen to this, but if they do, um that have told me they'll do interviews but they won't give you the time to do them and it's like you know what, just step up and do one and everybody that does them, you know, when they're done, they're like oh, that was cool, you actually enjoyed doing it.
Sambassador:And there's a couple of them that if we're going to, you know, if I am going to wrap up at the end of August, I got to get a couple of follow ups done and make sure we get those in, because I want to come back and say, hey, you know, here we are a year later. Is it doing what you said it was going to do? Have you landed where you wanted to land? What's it look like? You know, uh, definitely want to follow up on some of those, but the fact that you and I can be cool with it, hey, you know what we can wrap this up. If something crazy happens, we'll keep going. Or you know, yeah, maybe I'm going to do If something crazy happens, we'll keep going. Or you know, maybe I come in and do one every six months, maybe I come in and do one every six weeks, or whatever that looks like. I love it. I'm perfectly fine with that.
Shed Geek:We've had a hit or miss response. You know they say fear of public speaking is actually the fifth highest fear among most people. And I tell people, whether you're afraid of speaking or not, you do it every day now anyway, and if you're a salesperson, you do it as a career. So, you know, fear of speaking is good in the sense that you're afraid to speak in most cases because you want your message to be received. And I've always heard, if you're preparing for a speech and you're nervous, it means you haven't prepared enough.
Shed Geek:But you know we take a different approach here at the podcast. We're blue jeans and t-shirts and work boots. You know, like we haven't organized this in such a way yet and maybe we will, maybe we won't, I don't know to where. You know, uh, it's, it's extremely white collar and without all my ums. We don't, we don't edit all of those out.
Shed Geek:I used to think, oh, sounds so stupid all these ums. I said I'm 154 times my first podcast and I'm like you know what, even if we edit it out, if someone met me, I'm going to say um 154 times in an hour and that's how I sound anyway. And I learned to sort of just be okay with that. But I admit, even whenever I get asked to speak at an event, you know I always tell people there's the nerves, are there because of the accountability, but honestly, we're telling people stories is the way I look at it. You know we can talk about things that you talk about sitting around a, a shed hauler table at a at a barbecue or sitting on a set on a Pine Hill trailer at the at the shed expo.
Sambassador:You know what I?
Shed Geek:mean, those are the conversations we're looking to get. You know and do something that, that, that that promotes the general, where general welfare of the industry as a whole, education through entertainment, have fun, laugh, joke, don't take yourself so serious, get on here and add content and value. And I think, Sam, you operate as an excellent host and, yeah, if God changes that platform and says, hey, let's get more. But we've just had a mixture. When we first started the podcast, I got a ton of people emailing me saying, hey, I'd like to be on, I'd like to be on. We still get a fair share of that, but I have found that, yes, typically you got to reach out to folks if I'm going on a trip or if I'm doing this or that. I think some folks have told me this Well, I'm not really nobody, I don't got nothing to say and I'm like, oh, I'm excited about that Because that's probably going to be the best podcast.
Shed Geek:You know when they get lost in the moment of just chatting and they realize wait a minute, this isn't a. You know it's a professional interview. But this isn't like we're not dressing this up. I'm not asking you a bunch of questions. I don't expect you to preload your, your thoughts, and you know what I'm saying. Like we come across, you know, super, super, uh, crisp and clean on every little detail. We're humans and we're humans here on the podcast. So, we, we will edit out something if you really feel like it's something you didn't want to say, or you or you felt like you sounded stupid on something. I sound stupid all the time, so there'd be a lot of editing for me I'm saying here if I'd ever start editing, I wouldn't have any episodes left.
Sambassador:so sorry, you learned to let it roll. Um, I learned that a long time ago when we started doing recordings with music and recordings with some of the prison ministry stuff we were doing. I talk funny, it's just a given, and I've just got to where you know what? I just embrace it. Nobody can talk like Sam Byler. That means nobody can mimic him, so there should never be any issues there. It is what it is. You just learn to deal with it.
Sambassador:It's fine so yeah, I'm good, it's going to be exciting to see what happens. Um, we're actually talking about maybe exploring, you know, going back to what I had originally planned on doing four years ago. And you know I have a youtube channel and four years ago we had it all set up and we were ready to roll with that thing and see where it goes. And you know, I got completely sidetracked and went way off another direction, which was fine, totally fine. But now I got guys saying, hey, you really need to get back, you know, and if you're going to keep doing what you're doing, you know we got to start doing this and that. And I'm like I don't know. There again, I'm the last guy that should have a YouTube channel.
Shed Geek:No, you're wrong. You're definitely the guy that would be excellent to just follow around.
Sambassador:Well, we would have had an episode today that I promise you would have made them Louisiana boys look just silly, because when you got screwdrivers flying around in circles and somebody's trying to stop them, don't even get me started.
Shed Geek:All the more reason why it would work really well and I would definitely watch it. No, I think it would be great and more than anything, you know, I'm just I don't know I'm grateful for the friendship that we've had. You know, the different times that our careers have kind of connected on different points and things like that. I've always said that you're one of the first people I was drawn to. I was in the industry for quite a while before I knew who you were, so it wasn't really until Facebook and your Facebook lives and things like that where I really got to know you. And then there was that whole time that I reached out to you and you ignored me for two years.
Sambassador:I think that was the other Sam Baller.
Shed Geek:It probably was. It probably was.
Sambassador:I got a big day. Tomorrow I have a fully finished 18 by 40 cabin. That's going to require two to three mills to get it delivered Way back in the sticks and down a dirt lane with all the rain we've had lately. It's gonna be a mess, but it needs a bigger mule.
Shed Geek:Well, when you talk, cardinal listens. And you asked for it, and you asked for it. With its diesel-powered 69-horse engine and capacity to move 40,000-pound sheds, the Mule 9069 is ready to turn your big days into just another day in the good life.
Sambassador:Ah, that's right, You're talking about the one they had up in Michigan at the Shed Show, that monster meal man. That thing was awesome.
Shed Geek:That's right. It's the one you've seen at all, the Shed Holler barbecues. Man, yeah, there's nothing like a little diesel donkey to make my day go so much better, but I genuinely enjoy talking to you every chance we get and I always feel like it's a conversation that feeds me and I really like that we could sit here and talk on this podcast today and kind of brag on our wives and family and things like that and uh not have to talk about the uh.
Shed Geek:maybe people want to hear about the nuance of sales and marketing and hauling and building and manufacturing and all this and you know, what maybe somebody just wanted to hear that that that you know there's a story about family, because that's ultimately what this is all for. I work for my family.
Sambassador:And, my goodness, if the two of us can make it work, anybody out there can make it work. Maybe somebody need to hear, just to know that it's worth sticking it out. And then they're not the only dummies out there trying to get through it. Because I promise you, if Shannon Latham and Sam Byler can figure out how to make the whole marriage thing work happily, then there's hope for everybody.
Shed Geek:I'll tell you what Was it? Albert Einstein that got divorced and somebody told me they said if the smartest guy on earth can't make it work, how's there any hope for the rest of us? And I just laugh at stuff like that. But the truth is compromise I've got to be honest with you I had to lose a lot of myself is compromise like I'd be honest with you? You know I had to lose a lot of myself? Yeah, you know. And I say that I say that not, not so that should sound so like I just lost myself and I'm just a bloated idiot and I just do everything she says I mean I do.
Shed Geek:but uh, in reality, you know, we both have our parts that we play, and she's had to sacrifice a lot too to be with me. You know what I mean. She's had to compromise a lot, because I'm no perfect person by any means, so she has been a great pillar in terms of being able to be someone I can lean on and count on when times are rough and things like that.
Shed Geek:So, I really enjoyed the episode, just being able to talk about that. I don't know how long we've went. I don't know if this is a one-parter or two-parter, but I still enjoy the conversation.
Sambassador:Yep, we'll leave that up to your son over there to figure that out.
Sambassador:I will say this I've got one coming up that I promise you you will not want to miss. We're gonna. We'll make sure we keep it chronologically in order. Um, but I've got one coming up with a fellow that I met soon after we started setting, after we started putting sheds into western North Carolina. Um, he caught us completely out of the blue when we were dropping one of the first loads of the Amish, the Laniker boys, out of northern Indiana, when they brought those big loads in Zach's mother's come in with that I forget. He had six sheds on one load.
Sambassador:I think we dropped them there in Barnardsville and they met a guy named Jeremy Barker. And Jeremy Barker went, did, does facebook lives every day. He did a facebook live with those sheds there and stuff. And I was like who in the world is this guy that's trying to take over our whole operation up there? What is going on? And this dude is nothing but straight. Heaven sent, not just for me but for Western North Carolina and for the shed industry and for what we're doing up there, been an incredible, incredible blessing and help. And he's from the towel industry incredible blessing and help. He's from the towel industry, bath towel, showers and plumbing stuff like that. He's almost the same thing in the towel industry as what I am in the shed industry. I'm going to get him on here. Somebody let him into the hauler page. It wasn't me, I wasn't the one that led him.
Sambassador:Somebody led him into the hauler page and he is just. He loves the Shed Hauler Brotherhood absolutely just loves them to death. And I'm going to get an interview with him and when I do it's going to be a crazy one. So, whatever you do, when you see that interview, come up with Jeremy Barker. Believe you me, it's going to be a good one. We're going to have a blast.
Shed Geek:I look forward to it. I always look forward to it, Sam, the conversations opportunity. I know we plan on getting down there to Texas, to the uh the, uh the, I don't know you call it, are you calling it biannual? I don't know. Every 18 months, I don't know what to do.
Sambassador:So we can't call it annual or biannual.
Shed Geek:Yeah, so anyway, I'm looking forward to getting down there to the to the shed haulers bash, and it'll be in Texas this year.
Shed Geek:Are you going to make the Oklahoma four state barbecue? I should. I was talking to Travis the day and, uh, I definitely plan on being there. I'm trying to get. Me and Deanna's trying to get a lot of our travel coming up, uh, in the next several months, because we want to try to spend a month or two at home in the summer. Yeah, uh, this year, but we're talking about we've got a North Carolina, New York, and then I'm wanting to go to North and South Dakota. I want to go into possibly Minnesota I'm not sure that's a lot of territory, so it depends on how long we're out, but I'd like to spend some time in all three of those states.
Shed Geek:If there's any shed haulers, builders, salespeople, if you've got a product or that that that is specific to the shed industry, let me know. I'd love to swing by whenever we get out there. So, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota that's our plan for this year. Uh, at least in the spring, early spring, early summer, um, but yeah, our plan is to get out there to Oklahoma in April as well so my, my tentative plan is to be there.
Sambassador:I've got some details that have to work out yet, but we're actually taking a family trip out to South Texas right around that same time and then I'm meeting up in Central Texas with the Texas barbecue guys to do some planning for the bash stuff and then ideally, I would like to sneak up there. Ideally, I'm not sure, I don't have all my details worked out yet, but ideally I would like to sneak up for the barbecue and then get my family back home. So, I'm not sure yet, but it's kind of I try to make them all.
Shed Geek:I try to make them all, I even try to support them all to some extent. You know it's hard to give to every area and every direction and, and you know, but we, we do our best. So we, we may just have to change the way we, you know, operate some of that, but I can promise you we want to be a supporter. You know, just the same as everyone else We've been. We've been very blessed with our marketing, our rent to own and our and our finance efforts. Uh, we've got a couple of things more that we're launching from the shed geek brand, or at least, uh, I don't even want to say launching, I don't want to say too much. I'm under some NDAs here, but we got some things that we're working out, that we want to grow the brand and I think, at the end of the day, we want to help people.
Shed Geek:My son got me a book that says Dad, I want to know your story, and in that book we get to write different things about who we are and it's just something to leave behind for him and I thought it was an excellent, excellent Christmas present from him and it's really challenged my thoughts.
Shed Geek:But one of the things today that I was supposed to write down is what my favorite quote is, and I chose the quote you know, the Zig Ziglar quote. You know, to help others get what they want, so you can get what you want and that's kind of become just the song of my life, if you will is to help others be successful. I typically live off of the residual effects of that, but you can never go wrong helping others. You just can't. It's just, I've never had it backfire on me. Um, to help others it's. You know you believe in a God in heaven and you believe that you know, uh, he is for us. I think part of that is essential that he wants us to be for each other too, and he wants us to help each other. I think that's why we're on this rock, you know, is to is to help each other.
Shed Geek:And um.
Shed Geek:I, I we've been able to be very successful in four years of doing that. We want to be more successful, not just so that we can brag on our success, but so that we can brag on him. And I've said before, if he gives me a billion dollars and maybe that means he wants me to be charitable he just wants to give me a simple salary and have me take care of my family. Maybe that's the focus he has on us. Whatever it is, it doesn't matter at the end of the day because it's his and not mine. It doesn't matter at the end of the day because it's his and not mine. So, whatever wealth I think that I've generated is just uh, uh, to be a willing vessel to do the work that he's put me here to do anyway. So, um, I I wrote that quote down because I truly believe that's become part of my mission in life is just to help others. Me and you, I think, are similar in that way. We just go about it different ways. Maybe we take different routes to get there, but that's okay. I still say you got the biggest heart of anybody that I know. I'm super happy to have you on Heroes in the podcast. I look forward to the next six months and I want people to call in text email, fill out a lead form on the website. Whatever you got to do, I want to get some more interviews, not only with myself but with Sam Byler, and let's just see where this thing goes and, who knows, if this ends in August.
Shed Geek:I've really, really contemplated trying to get a host in the post frame space. Yes, we've got the Steel Kings taking care of Monday now and they're really focusing on the steel side of the industry. We're taking care of sheds. It'd be nice to have a post frame person out there who's a personality, who really knows a lot about it and, uh, could, could, could host a podcast to help bring stories and different things to the forefront. That would be awesome. Um, you know, the shed sometimes becomes the common denominator in all of these things. Sam, we don't mind to host it here on our platform, but we're just thankful. We're thankful for the whole industry and what you've done, embracing us, even those who challenged us or even those of you who don't like us. We love you back anyway, absolutely 100%.
Sambassador:I agree. Those of you who don't like us, we love you back anyway, absolutely 100, I agree anything.
Shed Geek:Anything else you got my friend no, I'm good.
Sambassador:Um, we're crazy busy right now still trying to. Um, we'll never it's. It's. I'm back to my clan starfish story. You know that you can't, you can't get them all, but the ones you can get you can make 100 difference to them. Um, so that's what we're still focused on. It's.
Sambassador:There's some big questions out there as to how far and how long that goes and I've always said you know, as long as people keep giving me sheds and as long as haulers keep showing up and delivering them, I keep going and I keep wondering every week. You know, is this? It is this the week I won't get any haulers? Keep showing up and delivering them. I keep going and I keep wondering every week. You know, is this? It Is this the week I won't get any haulers? Or, you know, is it going to be next week? So, if anybody out there wants to, you know, if you have any interest whatsoever in coming and getting the huge blessing of being involved in helping change people's lives.
Sambassador:You know we still need sheds, and we still need guys to deliver sheds, because I'm still focused on doing it professionally. I'm still focused on doing it with the right guys, the right equipment. I'm not letting just anybody with a flatbed show up and pick up our sheds and deliver them. I want the shed industry involved and pick up our sheds and deliver them. I want the shed industry involved and right now. You know it's a challenge because I've probably got 50 sheds sitting there right now that we can get out by the time this episode comes out. Who knows, I might have more than that. Even so, there's a huge opportunity to be able to come and be involved doing what you're already doing. You know you don't have to bring a chainsaw, you don't have to bring a skid steer, you don't have to come frame a house, hang sheet, rock or all that. There's people that still just need a place to where they can be secure until they get all that stuff.
Shed Geek:So, yeah, I'm good. I definitely appreciate your heart. I love kind of where the conversation went today. We didn't have any plans necessarily.
Sambassador:We wanted to get on here and talk. You said something about your anniversary. It's like, oh, this needs to be talked about before we end this.
Shed Geek:How?
Shed Geek:How family is affected in the industry is as important a conversation as any. And we could, who knows? We could go down so many roads, but I hope the listeners receive it today because it's sure been fun. And you know we don't, we don't talk just for because we're bored, but we wanted to get on and talk about the shed industry. And who knew that family would be the topic of that?
Sambassador:and who knew that family would be the topic of that. So anyway, as Shannon said a little bit ago, reach out to him. Info@ shedgeek. com. You can reach me at Sam@ shedgeek. com. Both of those are still available. You're on Shed Geeks on Facebook, Shannon Latham's on Facebook, Sam Byler's on Facebook. You can reach us through that. Feel free to reach out to us. Would love to hear from you, and I know Shannon would too. So anyway, without further ado, thank you guys for joining us once again for hanging out with us at the Shed Geek Podcast, Friday fun days with your host, Sam Byler, Sambassador style signing off. We'll see y'all next week.