Shed Geek Podcast

Shed talk with Irvin Plank PART 2

• Shed Geek Podcast • Season 5 • Episode 40

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There's a profound wisdom that emerges when business expertise meets humanitarian purpose. In this revealing conversation, Irvin Plank brings both worlds together as he explores untapped opportunities in the shed industry while sharing transformative experiences from disaster relief efforts in North Carolina's mountain communities.

The discussion begins by challenging industry norms, questioning why shed dealers rarely offer pure rental options when the demand clearly exists. Irvin shares fascinating customer stories that highlight a market gap—people who completed entire rent-to-own contracts without ever removing buildings from sales lots because they simply needed accessible storage. This practical business insight opens doors to innovative service models that could create new revenue streams for forward-thinking dealers.

Yet the conversation takes a powerful turn when Irvin describes his work in mountain communities devastated by Hurricane Helene. What began as cleanup efforts evolved into something deeply spiritual. "If you want to find Jesus, go up in those mountains and help somebody," Irvin's young colleague often says. The disaster literally and figuratively cleared barriers between neighbors who had lived near each other for years without connection, revealing how crisis can rebuild community in unexpected ways.

Perhaps most compelling is Irvin's perspective on helping others regardless of differences. "Did we ever think about asking these people who they voted for?" he reflects, highlighting how political divisions become meaningless when facing human need. This refreshing viewpoint offers a powerful reminder about priorities in an increasingly divided world.

Whether you're seeking business insights or deeper purpose, this conversation delivers both. It's a masterclass in seeing business opportunities while never losing sight of the humans we ultimately serve. Listen now and discover how combining professional expertise with genuine compassion creates impact that extends far beyond the bottom line.

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

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

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Sam:

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. Um you, you said something that, um, I've been hammered on this a little bit in the last couple of years and I kind of forgot about it the last six months or so. You said something about you just rent them. You don't rent to own them, you just rent them out because they want a six-month rental.

Irvin:

Yeah.

Sam:

Right. Why is nobody doing that on sheds?

Irvin:

We've had some people ask about that. I don't know why people aren't doing. You can do it. I mean, it's just like anything else. You figure out the economics of it. Shed a shed is going to lose its value. You take a brand new shed and start renting that thing out. You know how they are a year later that thing's going to be depreciated, but still you just adjust your price board.

Irvin:

I mean, uh, you know everybody thinks the rent to. I don't know what everybody thinks, but the, I think kind of the common, the common thought about rent to own thing. Man, that's just the coolest thing as far as economics. Man, this thing here, this here is the mother of. Well, ain't no different anything else. You got it. It is not a uh you just walk away from and don't take care. You gotta work on that thing yes sure it's a.

Irvin:

It's a. It's a good business, same as anything else. If you work at it and you have you have people, you have a demand for it and a way to fill that demand. Any business like that is good business. That's just kind of the nuts and bolts of all businesses, are them things right there? But you know what's even better rent-to-own. See, when a rent-to-own deal is done, they're paying a certain amount. You know you got a rent fee on that thing. Yeah, when that rent-to-own thing is done, they're paying a certain amount.

Irvin:

You know you got a rent fee on that thing, yeah, oh, when that rent to own thing is done, you got to go find another contract.

Irvin:

Yeah, when somebody's renting from you, you don't have to go get contracts.

Irvin:

You don't have to go do nothing, that's yours. It's a little different thing, it's the same.

Irvin:

It takes a lot of capital.

Irvin:

It takes a lot of capital for it to work. Now, when it's empty, you ain't making no money on it. One thing that's good about rental contracts is generally you don't start one unless you have a customer. What I'm saying is you don't own a building unless you have a customer. What I'm saying is you don't own a building unless you have a customer. That's how a lot of people do it.

Irvin:

Now there are some people that own a factory and all that sort of stuff, but the idea that you can, and there's rent to own people that don't, that are late, they don't pay their bills. They don't pay for a long time. It's the same as your container sitting there empty and not getting paid on it. That happens too.

Irvin:

Yeah, the nice thing that I liked about it.

Irvin:

I don't know that you can do it. You can't do it near on the scale as you can rent-to-own, that's for sure, but it's a pretty nice little profit center. Can rent to own, that's for sure, but it's a pretty nice little profit center. The container thing, really I like because they appreciate Sheds go down, sheds go down to a certain place, and then they're just going to stay there. Yeah, yeah, but I don't know why people another thing sheds ain't going to handle as much moving.

Sam:

Oh yeah, you can move a container a hundred times. It's a steel box.

Irvin:

Yeah.

Irvin:

I'll tell you where you run into a little bit of problems. So, I'm sitting here at my place here and I want to rent containers, and then I have containers and sheds that I want to rent to own. So, when you go out there marketing to people, you know like one of the big things about sheds is hey quit. You know, you don't have to pay this dead- end self-storage rent if you buy a shed, we'll get you taken care of over here. Well, if I'm the self-storage guy, I'm taking money out of my self-storage pocket to do that.

Sam:

You are.

Irvin:

But, I still want the customer to you know, I want to serve them in the way that's best for them, including financially.

Sam:

Yes.

Sam:

Yep.

Sam:

I agree. Yep. And. I think for the majority of the part. If you sell with that attitude, your customers realize it. You sell on trust and you buy their trust because they're like, hey look, if we could self-story cheer with him and he'd be fine with that. We could rent to own it and he'd be fine with it. We can pay cash and he'll still treat us the same.

Irvin:

That's right, and I've had people rent to own and leave their stuff on my property and I rent them. I leave their stuff on my property and I rent them. I charge them lot rent.

Irvin:

Yeah, yep.

Irvin:

And I have one here now who's been. I've been charging a lot rent after they paid their container off for two years probably now.

Irvin:

Yeah, yeah, I mean, you know, it's one of those things If I run out of space.

Irvin:

I would need to move it, but right now I don't really do that regularly, but I have done that.

Sam:

Yeah, yeah, I had two buildings, one in Georgia and one in South Carolina, that they both paid out the whole rent-to-own contract and the building never left a lot.

Irvin:

Did they ever deliver? Did you ever?

Sam:

No, I never delivered it. They used it where it was on the lot.

Irvin:

Oh they used it there.

Sam:

And they paid their rent-to-own contract all the way out. Wow.

Sam:

One of them was 24 months in Georgia and the other one was 36 months, and they paid them completely out and never moved the sheds like. We never delivered them, we never picked them back up. They, they didn't have nowhere to put them. The one of them lived in a townhouse and the other one lived off a cliff somewhere up above Easley and they, they would. You know, I'd work Saturday sometimes to give the sales guy a day off or whatever, and I'd be sitting in there and here he'd come rolling in his little red pickup and he'd get something out of his shed and he'd go back home. Later on, He'd come rolling back in again and he wanted to know when he came in can he leave his shed here? Because he tried to buy a shed four or five different places and they wouldn't let him leave it there. Oh yeah, why not?

Irvin:

Yeah, the marketplace is telling you to do something, man. There's a thing In fact, I was just telling you earlier that I set up a shed for my neighbor to build a house. Make a house out of Well it was a 14 by 40, I think it was a 14 by 44, and it was a rent to own that never left our yard in Fallon ever and the people never used it. And I don't know how long.

Irvin:

They paid on it for quite a while and then and then she was going to sell it to her cousin. So, I, yeah, we'll do that. They're in California. Well, their County wouldn't their County? All of a sudden got goofy about something, about the drawings they needed and we could not get them. There was no way we could get them drawings and make their county happy and they just said, well, we'll just keep it. It never left our yard, yeah.

Sam:

Yeah, it happened. It's crazy. So where are you going the next five years?

Irvin:

Oh boy, in the next five years.

Sam:

Yeah, what do you see out there? What are you looking for? I mean, like, is the shed industry going to hold up for five years? I mean you said you know you don't want all your eggs in one basket and everybody says that these days You're preaching to the choir. I've got 10 eggs right now in my basket and I'm looking for two more yet Because I have zero faith in any of my 10 past. You know further than I can see right now Because, dude, I don't know what's coming. Some of these guys, they're just going wide open, straight into their one big egg. I guess more power to them, maybe they're more focused, but what do you got? What do you see?

Irvin:

Well, I mean, as far as the shed world man, I don't know, I'm not in the middle of the whole, near as much you know, in the middle of the whole, near as much, you know, in the middle of the whole environment industry as you would be. There's not, as you know, as many people out here in this industry and you hear people talking about consolidation, acquisitions, those sorts of things, and I don't, frankly, know that much about that. How, how much of that's going on. I do think. I mean, just when I go, look at where we're at today, where we were at what what COVID did to everybody. Covid brought a whole bunch of people in and.

Irvin:

I'm pretty sure COVID, our company, ain't much different than it was before COVID started. Frankly, we thought when COVID hit and we were going through that storm, we thought we were pretty cool people because, I mean, whatever we did was working like magic.

Irvin:

And whenever that disappeared, you know, everything was back pretty much like it was before that, and so demand has stayed. One thing I was going to say demand has stayed steady, and I don't know that I would expect that to change. I don't know if regulations would get a whole lot different, but I've been around this since 2002.

Irvin:

I wasn't around it that much when my dad started, but yeah you know, I really got into it in 06 and there were times in there when I wasn't around it much, but it's. I mean I have six brothers and they've all I think every one of them has been in the shed business a little bit somewhere along the line as a builder or a hauler or all the above, and whenever, whenever my family's together sheds are a thing that get talked about, and for all these years it's not really. I mean, it has its ups and downs, but it stays there.

Sam:

Yeah.

Irvin:

I don't really have any reason to think it wouldn't do that. I think for us out here, kind of, I think our weak spot is just taking care of our people. Getting how would you say having uh, getting better at taking care of people and attracting the right kind of people yeah our road, even if we just stay right where we're at and dollars sold and just get build efficiencies in our processes.

Irvin:

That for for up for our particular company. I think that's a big, that's a big uh uh runway in front of us that we can. We can quite easily get better at yeah, but I, I don't, I mean, people just buy too much stuff.

Sam:

They need sheds and when they get like me. They need barns.

Sam:

Sheds don't work anymore, you got to put up a big barn. It's like, you know, some days I'm like what? No, I don't know, man, I feel like I've always said I'm an old soul. And I feel like I've always said I'm an old soul and, you know, I'm growing up 30, 40 years later than I probably should like, where I feel like I fit. But some people think I must have come through the Depression because I can't get rid of nothing.

Sam:

You know, I got trucks that come in and we fix them up. You know, we throw all the old crap off of them to put new stuff on and I almost man, it takes everything in me to load it up in the dump trailer and haul it to the scrapyard. You know, and my poor wife's like, can it not just all go away?

Irvin:

yeah, that's how my wife would be it's, it's uh.

Sam:

Yeah, you know we're. We're in a constant battle about what's out there that's good stuff and and what's junk.

Irvin:

Yeah.

Sam:

It's terrible. And yeah, you know, we literally the shed industry. The shed industry literally thrives on people's extra stuff.

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Sam:

Boy it doesn't fit in the house. So you got to put it in the shed.

Sam:

You know, even if it's a closet that has your winter clothes in it, because your closet ain't big enough for all your clothes. You know, whatever it is, you know it's. You know I mean, yeah, some of our stuff's necessity, you got to put your lawn, you should put your lawnmower in a shed, in the tiller or whatever you got. And you know anymore, if it's outside you better have it locked up. Yeah, um, so, so I, I get that. You know I'm one of the first guys to say I don't understand. I do not understand how you go out and you buy a ten thousand dollar and above camper and you don't put an rv shelter over it yeah it makes zero sense to me, well, how you can do that.

Sam:

It should automatically be just part of your budget.

Irvin:

Part of your purchase yeah, yeah.

Irvin:

Boy, that $10,000 don't get you much of a camper anymore. No, it doesn't, I'm just saying you can put a $10,000 camper in a little shed almost.

Sam:

It's a true story. I'm still buying those ten thousand dollar campers. No, they're not new no no, no, no, yep, this is true. So I, yeah, you know you guys do carports. Do you deal with that?

Irvin:

no, no, and that's probably. It's kind of been looking around and I've got it. I looked around a couple years ago uh, anytime, Uh, anytime. I've looked around, talked to people, I couldn't get service worth a flip for many of the companies I talked to and I did. I did talk to one here in the last few months that that we could work with but the problem they had was getting crews to come out.

Sam:

Yes.

Irvin:

To come out and do the work. That was kind of a bottleneck in their system. Boy, if a guy could, I'm sure there's people around. We have, in fact, the company that I was talking to. They have a dealer just down the road. That's a fairly good. I mean our acquaintance, our fellow business owners just down the road from our shop and file them and they wanted I mean we, we could outsell her all day, every day. But there was no way I'm going to go in there and I told him, I said I'm not going to go take her business away.

Irvin:

Yeah, yeah, she's a feed store, yeah, and doesn't does store and does them things as well. But they had another town that we could sell in.

Irvin:

We really weren't set up to do it that well, and they were going to have a harder time getting their people to go up there.

Irvin:

They were about the only people that I've talked to that possibly would be able to service our part of the country. That's interesting, I mean there's companies all over California. I think the West Coast has a bunch of them, but you get out in some of these more remote places and it's a little bit tougher to have the manpower and crews that will run out and make it worthwhile.

Sam:

You almost need your own install crew that can work part-time and that would be a way of doing it.

Irvin:

That would be a way of doing it Back there where you're at. To do that, do they have to be contractors?

Sam:

No, I say no Um in, as so I it's been about. Let's see, when did we last do installs? 2014, I think it's the last. We had two crews running doing installs and all you gotta do is go get a specialty license, a framing siding specialty license.

Sam:

okay, and you could do it. I guess if they really wanted to get wicked with you they could say you have to have a roofing license, um, and I would probably do that over top of the siding license. But no, you can. You can run off a specialty license and I'm 90 sure that most of most of the carport guys that are coming in install them around here they're not licensed yeah, no they're just no yeah, I they're not like building pole barns or nothing like that, it's yeah.

Irvin:

I know companies that do that, what you just said. They buy the kits and install them. Yeah yeah, use their crews to go do it. That would be more. That would work better for us, I think. Plus it would give our guys a little bit more to do in slow season.

Sam:

Yeah, it is, yeah, yeah, it is, it's worth it's something, um, I actually bought. I bought a carport kit today. Um, I got that sawmill out here and there again it's like a camper. I can't stand seeing that thing get rained on you know, got a lot of money tied up in it. It's got sawdust sitting on it, you know, and fluids around on it. And I told Aaron, I'm like we got to cover that thing, you know. So go buy a carport kit and throw it up over.

Irvin:

What kind of saw mill did you get?

Sam:

Oh, I got a Wood-Mizer LT40. Nice Dude, I love it. I told somebody yesterday that if, if I can find Aaron a helper, I could. That's, that's one of my 10 eggs. Um, I'd actually put a Facebook post up, I don't know. We two weeks ago probably, about if we should like I was looking at it from, should we put it into the mission projects that we're doing or should I do it as a business project? And I immediately had three people step up and said they'll do it, like they'll help fund it if we do it as a business. So, I just kind of automatically did, I just rolled it into another business. It's my 10th and I those guys know me, they know what I do, what all my eggs are. You know my poor sister up in Ohio. She goes crazy because people ask her all the time what in the world does your brother do? She's like I don't know what he does. Nobody knows what he does, you know what does he not?

Sam:

do? Yeah, what does he not do? Um, so it's, it's just um. But I'm telling you, man, I've I remember as a little kid cutting trees down with Grandpa and hauling them to his cousin's sawmill, and it was like waiting for baby chicks to hatch, waiting for that lumber to come back so you could build something cool with it. You know we'd have to use 20-penny ring shanks and two-pound sledgehammers to drive them. You know we built all of grandpa's barns. They're built out of oak material, metal, and that's just what you did yeah and I always man, I love, I love wood chips.

Sam:

You know, whether it's from a chainsaw, a sawmill or a table saw or a, you know, a planer, that's still. That is still. My passion is working with wood and if I can build something out of this sawmill wood that you know we. So the whole thing that got me going this time about it was we had all those volunteers come in the first three weeks.

Sam:

Um, after Helene hit here, local in my backyard, clean up, clean up neighborhoods, clean up trees, and all I saw was all this huge oak wood just going to waste. And I dude it's like you know, if we can't get anything else out of doing all this free labor for all these people. They couldn't afford to buy to hire the tree services and they didn't, their insurance wasn't going to cover them. Um, I was like somebody needs to saw it up, something needs to happen with it, instead of FEMA just hauling it all off and chipping it. Yeah, it took too long to get around to doing it. I've probably lost. I'll probably have 10 of the logs I could have had good grief and you have a lot and I have 250.

Sam:

I could easy have over 2, 000 I know, is this all on your property? That the 250 are on my property right now, which now you understand why my wife's yelling about always need uh yes, I guess.

Irvin:

Yeah, that's I know I'm with you on the wood thing. I've never I helped direct steel buildings for a little bit in Colorado. I do not like working with steel, I like working with wood. I'm not a builder. That may be a bit confusing to people. I own a shed company, but I'm not a builder. I'm an agriculture man. I milk cows for a living and when I wasn't doing that I was looking at cows' butts, chasing them through the mountains horseback.

Irvin:

I did not do, I don't have, but I know some about it by being around it, of course. I'd rather work with wood. Even my dad had a sawmill. He had one of them wood misers. He just sold it a couple years ago. No way yeah.

Sam:

Nice.

Irvin:

I tell people, there's a reason my last name is.

Irvin:

Plank, it ain't.

Irvin:

Steel. My name is not Irvin Steel, it's Irvin Plank.

Sam:

You even added to it for Facebook. Aren't you still wooden plank on Facebook, or did you?

Sam:

yeah, yeah, oh I got people.

Sam:

I got people ask me all the time about they're like is that his real name? Like wooden, plank? And I'm like, well, of course it is. I'm like, if your last name was plank, why wouldn't you name your kid Wooden? I'd have a Twisted and a Crooked and a Straight. I'd have all kinds of weird kids.

Irvin:

There you go.

Sam:

Yeah, no, it's. Yeah, I do I still. You know that's part of the reason I'm still tied up in sheds is because I still like to build stuff. You know, that's part of the reason I'm still tied up in sheds is because I still like to build stuff. You know, man, if my body would let me, I'd build sheds. Wouldn't bother me in the least. But oh no, I tried that a couple years ago and I paid dearly for that.

Sam:

I'm like nope oh man.

Sam:

Not doing that again.

Irvin:

Yeah.

Sam:

So, even when we had all those volunteers in here on thanksgiving week and we built those sheds here and Jeremy, he's building sheds up there in Barnersville right now for us, um, I, I, you know, I love telling them how to do it or what's up with this or that or whatever, but, man, it doesn't take long at all for me and, and Aaron will tell you, I can't do anything slow so if I'm gonna frame a wall.

Sam:

It's gonna get framed quick. You know we ain't got time to screw around, do this or that it just doesn't work.

Irvin:

You think you're still 22.

Sam:

That's the problem yeah, that is the problem.

Irvin:

It sucks, but hey, speaking of your, your operation in North Carolina, are you still? Is that still things going up there?

Sam:

It's still going. It's a little bit. It's frustrating right now, to be honest with you, because we can't get all three pieces to work at the same time. And my three pieces are getting a shed, finishing a shed and delivering a shed. Those are my three, that's my three-headed beast. And you know, back in January, in the first part of February well, most of February actually June, December, January and February, it was a well old machine in we pretty much had all three pieces whenever we needed it.

Sam:

Um, currently, um, I don't have haulers. They're all busy and I get it. And you know the ones that I did have, I probably wore them out. They're like I never want to see a mountain again. You know I don't. You know it was, it was brutal, it's hard. So, it's pretty much right now it's uh, if it's the B, it's up to me. On the hauling side, and now, even the last two or three weeks, you know, it's been a little harder. I think I've probably got nine sheds that need to be finished out on the inside they're wired. Electrician came in and wired them all up, you know, and now we need them insulated. Well, most of them are insulated, they just need to be paneled and floored um, are you saying when it, when you?

Irvin:

I never thought about that part. I mean, I know it's hard, it's doing it in the mountains, but you're saying when you go deliver it up there it ain't like it's. It's just a pain in the butt in every language. That's just how it is so.

Sam:

When we had the bash in Tennessee this is hilarious because I'm going way back, uh, 2019 we had the bash in Tennessee. There was, well, we were all pretty much no namers. That was the first big one. Um, we knew each other on Facebook and some of the pages and stuff. And then you know you have 500 haulers and 500 supporters show up one weekend and everybody's trying to get to know each other a little bit or whatever. And then all of a sudden, this one guy in the mule competition just stomps a mud hole and all the rest of them and you're like what?

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Sam:

What just?

Sam:

happened here, we were doing so good, everybody was doing good, and this guy just comes up and blazes I mean stomped a mud hole in everybody. Well, a lot of those guys, and some of them even admitted on Facebook, you know, when they came and hauled in Marlon coblins's territory. They're like we were a little. You know, martin Hostetler even laughs about it, he's like. You know I was a little upset that I thought I was a pretty good mule driver until that dude showed up. Well then he came up and hauled sheds for me one weekend, delivered a whole bunch of them. And Martin ain't a slouch, he gets it done, yeah, and he left and he's like I understand why Marlon won the mule competition.

Irvin:

Because nothing you do up here is easy and most of it is ridiculous and it's yeah, yeah, if you imagine, I don't, I mean I've been up there some and that's that's every nothing is nothing is level, everything is up and People put houses at places. You just go, good grief.

Irvin:

And then they want you to put a shed up there.

Sam:

Well, in your case, the shed is their house. There you go, and now you run into people that are desperate for a shed, and they'll put it anywhere.

Irvin:

Yeah, yeah.

Sam:

It's poor old Roman. He came in here. I finally got some. I had like 22 sheds over in Memphis that a guy over there Shoot I don't remember his name now. But he basically said, if you send me drivers, I'll load them with sheds. I was like what do you got? What are you going to send me? He said, I don't know, you send a driver over here and we'll make sure he's loaded.

Irvin:

We'll send him with sheds. So, roman, he's from fort wayne flat country.

Sam:

You know, flat as a freaking pancake up there. Yeah, I'll guarantee you, he brings a shed down to a show in Nashville last week and he's got five days to kill before the show ends. You know, by time set up three day show and then tear down. He's like, hey, I'll run to Memphis and get you a couple loads of sheds and run them over there. He's in a semi-truck First, okay, so obviously he probably the mountain. Just what's the word I'm looking for? It just showed a problem that was probably hiding. Already Exaggerated the problem. But he's like man, I lost high range in my transmission. No, no, no, no. Yeah, he's got 18 speed, so he's got a splitter. He's got low and high range and then he splits those gears. He lost the splitter on the high side.

Irvin:

Oh yeah, 18 speed, 500 horse, and then he splits those gears.

Sam:

He lost the splitter on the high side. Oh yeah, and you know, 18 speed 500 horse semi truck, you know, and he's like dude, that mountain showed my, but they pulled our weaknesses out in the heartbeat. Yeah, you know, he's all tore up because he's disappointing me, because he said he's gonna bring two or three loads and he brought one load and I'm like dude, I'm just happy to get one load in here. Yeah, so it. Oh dude, those. I literally roasted one set of brakes going down a mountain, icy mountain, with a cabin one day because I didn't have no trailer brakes on the cabin and it was a completely finished out Texas cabin. It was heavy. I don't know what it weighed, but it was heavy. We were going down the side of a mountain that I found later is like 12 to 14% halfway down it was iced over, bad enough that the Canadian was outside the truck walking.

Irvin:

This is a pickup truck.

Sam:

Yeah, this is my 2500 white truck and we listen. The next day you heard the brakes start Like you could feel. It was like the feelers were starting to squeal a little bit.

Irvin:

Yeah.

Sam:

And the next day they were gone. They weren't just bad, they were gone. All new rotors, all new brake pads, all new everything. I'm pretty sure that I've killed my transmission. My, so that's another long story. The transmission that was in it from factory was fine. I wanted a bigger transmission because I'd built my motor bigger and I put a built transmission in and it's been terrible ever since we started, but at least it's been working. Pretty sure I've pretty much killed that thing good grief it's brutal up there man, man well, I'll tell you what I'm going to right now.

Irvin:

We're kind of putting a plan together to make a bit of a trip back there this summer and, um, by the way, yeah, there's a reunion just down the road from your house. Yeah, yeah, we're, we're planning to take that thing in and, um, and I I don't know yet what I definitely want to come up there. I have no idea yet. You know how it is. You got, I got up in Ohio as well, so we got yeah, yeah.

Irvin:

Virginia, and. But I really want to figure out a way to get a day or two, or um, oh man, what things are going on. Maybe even a little bit more time than that, if, if you're still in the middle of stuff over there, that work you're doing, man, that's, um, that's. I was listening to your podcast. With what is it, Jeremy Was?

Sam:

that the guy. Jeremy Barger.

Irvin:

Yeah, yeah, and I know there could be. There's all kinds of ways of talking about that work. People got all kinds of ideas. I don't care about none of that stuff. I like the way you think about it. There's people that need help, and that's something we just don't do well enough I don't think as uh, as people just help people, as other people who are created in god's image.

Irvin:

That's just another you know, creation here in god's image kind of a thing. And I know there's that boy, there's. It sounds like there's a real mess back there.

Irvin:

I mean and some of the things that y'all talk about. I'm not that familiar with.

Irvin:

It makes sense, but the emotional and mental stress these people go through and it just it'll be there for years. Yeah, it will It'll. Those seeds are going, the fruit's going to come out of it down the road if there ain't some help and.

Sam:

I think that's just a tremendously valuable thing that you're doing for that community there it will wear on you even the emotional side that comes in from having to tell people every day that you can't help them anymore because you just you're maxed out, you just there's like, there's no. You know, I'm, I'm like, I don't. I'm not going to give you false hope and tell you I'll put you on the list and then you know, six months, a year from now, you're still not like, I'll never get to you. Yeah, and they're like. Well, still put, they're like, they're like. I don't care, I still want to be on the list.

Irvin:

Yeah, yeah.

Sam:

And I'm like no, I'm not. You know, I I'm not going to put you on a list when I know I can't and it's it's some days I feel like I got the PTSD of all of them on me. I don't know, I got the PTSD of all of them on me.

Sam:

I don't want to cry about it because I don't want to, but it's like it does. And Aaron will tell you know, young, young dude like him, fixing turn, 25 years old, whole life in front of him, never really has been into anything like what we're doing now. He will tell you in a heartbeat two things. He will say if you want to find Jesus, go up in those mountains and help somebody. That's where you're going to find Jesus like you've never seen him before, he said. And the second thing is we don't help each other enough.

Irvin:

Just in a circle of friends or just as humans as humans yeah yeah, we don't help each other enough yeah we've.

Sam:

We've somewhere along the line. We've become dependent upon the government helping people. And then, you know, people like us want to say that it's we, the people, we want we, the people, to be in charge of this country, but we, the people, ain't willing to step up and do what needs to be done boy.

Irvin:

That's a fact and. And we also talk about how, back in the good old days, and you know all the different mindsets and the way community work, maybe not, maybe not so much about community, but other things that were different 30, 50 and 100 years ago. Well, one of the things that were different 30, 50, and 100 years ago, well, one of the things that was also different was sense of community that we lost in a lot of ways and that right there where we just helped each other and we talked to each other and do these different things, I mean I live out here in the middle of nowhere. Now. I lived in some places very remote.

Irvin:

I lived in one ranch I lived on. They did a study or I guess a study, and they were trying to find the most remote location in the United States and they went by five things how far you were from the post office, a power line, paved road, a railroad, and I guess town was the other one, and that ranch I was on was the furthest one with all five of those things. But there's other places that are further away from town but they got electricity or something.

Irvin:

I don't know, maybe the other thing was a telephone line. In those remote places you have that sense of community. You might have a neighbor that lives. I think our closest neighbor was 20 miles away and when they drive by. They stop and talk to you and they don't care. Like they do not care what time of the day it is. No.

Irvin:

They don't want to stop and talk, but when they want to stop and talk, nobody cares yeah, yep you're in the middle of a project. If you are, they'll just jump in and help you while they talk yeah, yep you're eating, it does not matter, it's it's.

Irvin:

And now where I live it's a remote area, but it's remote as in when you get away from this centralized, there's a lot. I see a lot of houses from where I live and I got neighbors that moved in next to me Um shoot, it's probably a quarter mile of their house and we never even went over and seen them. I don't, why do we do that? Why didn't we go see that when they like take him.

Irvin:

I did go visit him with him one day. But yeah, I mean, we live right. now, but we all get chop chop chop running. Yeah, Looking at our stupid phones doing all kinds of other stuff. Yes, sir, yep, that's a community man, that's a big, that's a powerful thing.

Sam:

Yes, it is, it is. You know, that's something that we brought up there, though. Um, even the mattress sisters sitting there talking to them one day, and Cynthia made the comment that that river that's right there behind them, she's like I never. I never saw that river before. I've lived here for six years and I've never saw that river, because there was always too yeah, there always too much shrubbery and bushes and trees and stuff in the way. She said all those neighbors over there? I didn't even know they were over there, and now they're right there. And I asked her. I said Cynthia, how many of those neighbors did you know before the storm? That one, and she pointed at the one house up there. I said what about those and those and these and this and this one? Nope, they drive by, we'd wave at them.

Sam:

I said how many of them, do you know? Now she goes all of them. Yeah, I'm like so do you think that's a good thing or a bad thing? She says, oh, it's very much a good thing. Yeah, and you hear, you hear it all over those. There's 25, 30, 35 communities up there that are like Barnardsville and every one of them will tell you that you know now, they know people they never they.

Irvin:

They know neighbors they never knew before yeah it's and and just just a little bit of communication. Man just know, and and you're in the same boat. I was thinking about some of that stuff here the last couple days, about something else. I can't remember exactly what it was, but it was kind of how you know how we get.

Irvin:

We do it in families a little bit Well. We fight with each other until somebody picks on us and then we're all of a sudden big buddies, picks on us, and then we're all of a sudden big buddies and as soon as it's the same thing. If you, if you were wandering around in Hong Kong, and you run into an American and he might be a flaming liberal Democrat but he's an American, you're going to be happy to talk to that guy

Irvin:

yep, you are like it's us over here kind of a thing, and all of them little. You are like it's us over here kind of a thing and, um, all of them little you know, but it's you know you could we're a whole lot more. We have way more in common than we do not in common and it kind of would help each other work on those things a little bit. Think about those things we, we would probably connect a lot better and I'm just the next guy on all that

Sam:

yeah, that was something that came up. You know, working up there too is the fact that you know, Aaron and I would talk about this coming home some days, about the people we helped that day, and, uh, you know, they'd cry, we'd cry, um, they'd cry, we'd cry, they'd be happy, we'd be happy. You know, it was all kinds of emotions across the board, yeah, and on the way home I'd pull up you know Facebook or something, and here are two of my buddies ranting about the opposite political party and I'd look at Aaron and I'd be like, look seriously, like did we, did we ever think about asking these people who'd you vote for? You know, are you, are you a Trump fan or are you not a Trump fan? You know, and, man, it has, like most of my friends are probably say, you know, the dude's done went off the deep end because he doesn't support anybody anymore. I don't care, it doesn't matter anymore when, when people need help, you don't care who they are.

Irvin:

Yeah.

Sam:

You're back to the human race. And even when I find out three months later when some of them start posting up stuff, I don't care if that's. If that's where they are and that's what they want to believe, I'm fine with that. I made a friend with them. I'm going to be a friend with them. If they want to walk away, that's on their part, but I'm not going to.

Irvin:

Exactly.

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Irvin:

Yeah, their raw issues on both sides are the exact same thing. In fact, in the grand scheme of things, there's very small differences. We make huge and some of them, if you go down them, you know they do. They do manifest themselves. Down the road is significantly different. But if you're going to get, if you're going to connect with people, and you first all ain't me or you no human being is going to change the whole world or even a very big part of it, like yeah those people by far are only going to influence, really influence a small number of people I heard a guy talking about that, I think yesterday.

Irvin:

Do you know who the richest guy in the world was 30 years ago?

Sam:

30 years ago. I'm going to take a shot and say it was Sam Walton.

Irvin:

Do you know who the richest guy in the world was 60 years ago?

Sam:

No.

Irvin:

What about 90 years ago?

Sam:

No clue.

Irvin:

Rockefellers this was the richest guy in the world and nobody knows who they are. Oh, I know you made a guess. And so even the richest guy in the world today? And I don't. I was thinking this guy said someone else. I had never heard of the guy he said. Whatever the case, his point was even the richest guy in the world doesn't have but so much influence. Oh no. That's the end of the line. The influence he has is usually not deep with huge amounts of it.

Irvin:

What you're talking about there is if you can put aside those differences, or if those differences keep us from loving each other and caring for each other. We need to look in our hearts and see what's going on.

Sam:

No kidding, yep.

Sam:

Yep, yeah.

Sam:

I don't know. You know, for me it even goes deeper. For me, as a Christian, it even goes deeper in that, in the fact that when you look at Jesus being from Nazareth, which was looked down upon, and then he was always bringing up the Samaritans, or helping the Samaritans or getting them involved, you know the woman at the well, she was a Samaritan. She went back and turned into the biggest evangelist during Jesus time. She brought the whole city back around. You know, based on him, and it's like I'd rather err on the side of not caring about all this stuff that I'm supposed to care about than err on the side that I care too much about it. You follow me.

Irvin:

Yeah.

Sam:

Because I'm going to err on the side of loving people and doing what I feel like is the human right thing to do. You can take it or leave it.

Irvin:

Yeah, no, I don't think there's enough of that. There's room, I mean, there's room for concerns and all that sort of stuff. There's room for concerns and all that sort of stuff. There's always that. But in a crisis like this type of thing, is man somewhere along the line? Somewhere along the line there's room to just humans helping humans.

Sam:

Yeah.

Irvin:

Yep, it's not like you went into a. Well, I don't even know. I'm not even going to say what I was thinking, because it's all of it can get. You can make an angle about any group of people to not help them for whatever reason oh, you could, yeah, you could.

Sam:

You could a little. Well, you can people do. You can make an excuse and talk yourself out of helping anybody yeah yes, very true buddy.

Irvin:

Yeah, yes, very true. Yeah, I definitely think, and if you study the life of Jesus, what you're talking about, that that was not, and that's what everybody likes to talk about. How, especially when they're the ones who are in a pickle about something. Well, you know.

Irvin:

Jesus helped everybody, so you should help me why ain't you helping other people?

Sam:

in a pickle like me yeah yeah, yeah, I've got people all the time that I you know. They're like well, I wish I could help and I'm like well, you can. Every dollar helps and every prayer helps. You can always. I mean, oh my word, have I ever learned how important like I've done disaster work my whole life yeah this is by far by far, I mean, I'd almost put a 10 multiplier on it by far the most demanding physical and spiritual one we've ever done.

Sam:

I see, I know it's always been a little cliche to say that well, first of all, pray for us, second of all, fund us, but it has never been truer than in this case. That I don't know. There's all kinds of conspiracy theories and all this bull crap.

Sam:

I don't buy any of that, you know for the record Um but I'm saying that the spiritual warfare that has happened in the last seven, almost eight months now hold it. It's coming right up on eight months in a couple of days. Um dude, it's crazy. And almost everybody that's come and helped us that's been here for at least a day or two. They will tell you they have felt it.

Irvin:

I see.

Sam:

When I tell people on Facebook that you can always pray for us, it's a most definite always pray for us. Yes, we are. I mean I've been blessed beyond measure for the people that have funded us. You've helped us. A lot of people have helped us. Yes, we are. I mean I've been blessed beyond measure for the people that have funded us. You've helped us. A lot of people have helped us. But at the end of the day, we wouldn't have gotten anywhere without the prayers we've got. It's crazy.

Irvin:

And the fact that you can sense that or feel that tells you that there's a battle going on. I mean if there's no tension, then there's nothing pushing against good.

Sam:

Yeah, yeah.

Sam:

And so that ought to tell you that, that that preaches right there, man yep, yeah, it does, and that's why Aaron says what he says about you want to find, if you know, if you're going to church every Sunday and you can't figure out where this Jesus guy is they're talking about, go to the mountains and work on it, you know, just go up there, you'll find them in a hurry. It's, it's unbelievable. So, wow, yeah, it's, it's been amazing. It has been. You know, two weeks ago we kind of halfway open the shop again, um to start taking some work back in, because I mean, at some point a turnips dry. Um, I, you know, I got to do something and so we're starting to build back up a little bit. Try to get some funding, you know. Try to get some. Try to keep ourselves afloat so we can. Actually, you can't help anybody if you're not living anymore.

Irvin:

That's right, that's a fact.

Sam:

So we're kind of focused on that a little more right now, which the sad thing about that is we don't get as much done as quick as we did, but at least we can keep going. Oh yeah, so that's before I forget, between Hartwell, Georgia, where that reunion is, and Martinsburg, Ohio, where you're going on that same trip at some point right along the way is Barnardsville, and there's a really nice place there you can stay at.

Irvin:

I see.

Sam:

So there you go, just for the record.

Irvin:

Well, very good. Well, Barnardsville, yeah, that's definitely on the planning board. Try to figure out how to do that. Yeah, absolutely. Our plan is actually go to Harrisonburg. We have a bunch of friends in that area as well.

Sam:

Oh nice.

Irvin:

And then go to Ohio. But you can do the same thing, oh yeah same thing Still runs you up. You're still going up to Ohio.

Sam:

You can do the same thing, same thing. You're still going up to 81. Yeah, that's cool. When is that reunion?

Irvin:

I think it's the third week in July.

Irvin:

Okay, that's what it is yeah, yes, sir.

Sam:

Cool deal.

Irvin:

It's been good chatting with you absolutely, man I've really enjoyed this. I like, I like listening to you guys's conversations keeps me yes sir, the loop with the I don't. I'm not very like. I said, I'm not I I can get in the loop pretty quick but i'm not in the day to day loop of the shed world to fill out here. But yes, sir, my pleasure.

Sam:

Anything you want to throw out there for anybody listening. What do I want to?

Irvin:

throw out there for anybody listening. Help. Sam get those people taken care of.

Sam:

I'll take all of that we can get but, like I said, I've been blessed.

Irvin:

Yeah it is, it has been amazing yeah yep no, yeah, we'll keep plugging yeah, just man, there's, there's so many opportunities and one thing, one thing that I've learned this is I like business, I've, I've like I was telling you earlier, I was in the cows and I got my children at the age now where they can help in that kind of work and I want to do more of it, mostly because of them um I spent 20 years doing it and it's still a good, a good exercise to get out, do other things doing that sort of stuff.

Irvin:

But, um, one of the things that I learned in the in away from the cow business and in just regular business, where you're helping people every day, is the influence or the difference you can make in people's lives. Man, if you'll just listen and this is to all the people in this industry and any, any type of business man take advantages of those times that you can, that you got somebody in front of you that's in a pickle, and pray with them, help them you know, listen to them just sometimes they just need somebody to listen to.

Irvin:

Sometimes I want them to get on out of here cause I got other stuff to do but, it's kind of a it's.

Irvin:

it's a healthy thing for me to sit there and slow down and listen to my fellow humans and be there for them in some manner 100%.

Sam:

I agree Cool deal. Well, thank you, man. I appreciate you coming on, appreciate you as a fellow businessman in the shed industry, but also as a friend and a cousin. Look forward to many good times.

Irvin:

Absolutely man Hang in there we're praying.

Sam:

We'll keep plugging away, thank you.

Sam:

All right guys. Thank you once again for joining us and listening to another episode. Actually, I think we talked long enough. This probably turned into a two-part episode, so that's perfectly fine. That's good stuff. Anybody that wants to come on, reach out to me. I need people. Shannon's always asking me. Hey, you got more guys coming on the show, so anytime you guys want to just chat for a while and come on and talk, just reach out to me. I'd be happy to set up a Zoom call. Come see you, do whatever we need to do. But thank you once again for listening to another episode of the Shed Geek Podcast. Sambassador Friday Funday style. Until next time, thank you and God bless.