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
Building Community Through Steel
Ever wondered why some building dealers thrive while others struggle to stay afloat? The answer might be simpler than you think.
When Jared sits down with Shannon "The Shed Geek" for this captivating conversation, they cut through industry noise to reveal what's really happening in steel structure and shed sales. Shannon brings his years of experience building the Shed Geek brand and community to share wisdom that applies across the construction space.
Their honest discussion tackles the dangerous "race to the bottom" mentality plaguing dealers and manufacturers alike. "You want to know why you don't make money selling steel buildings? Because you're selling cheap steel buildings," Jared points out, highlighting how quality-focused businesses ultimately win the long game while fly-by-night operations eventually disappear—often leaving customers stranded with warranties that can't be honored.
The duo doesn't shy away from challenging topics, including how technology and AI are reshaping the industry landscape. Rather than fearing these changes, they encourage dealers to embrace them as tools that enhance rather than replace human expertise. Shannon frames it perfectly: "I find that the industry does that because we simply insult what we don't understand."
Perhaps most valuable is their exploration of how personal values shape business success. Both hosts share candidly about standing firm in their beliefs while building genuinely helpful communities through the Steel Structure Sales Professionals and Shed Sales Professionals Facebook groups—spaces where competitors come together to elevate the entire industry rather than just their individual businesses.
Ready to transform your approach to selling buildings? Listen now, then join these thriving communities where rising tides truly do lift all boats.
To suggest show topics or ask questions you want answered email us at info@shedgeek.com.
This episodes Sponsors:
Studio Sponsor: J Money LLC
Hey, hey guys, what's up? This is Jared with the Steel Kings podcast. Back at you for another episode of the podcast Checking in today, without Eric. He is out on assignment but I am here and ready to hang out for a bit with you guys. I hope you are having a great day. It is Wednesday, July the 23rd, here. You guys are going to get this probably in a couple of weeks, so in the meantime, check us out on the social media channels, check us out on the website. I wanted to talk a little bit about this guy we're going to be bringing in. You guys are really familiar with Shannon. He is the Shed Geek. He is the host of the Shed Geek podcast that is every Wednesday. Host of the Shed Geek podcast. That is every Wednesday. Check out your local podcast network, but I am going to bring Shannon into the studio with me now.
Shannon:Shannon, what's up, dude? How are you man? What's going on? Buddy, it's good to talk to you and catch up and just get on here and talk industry business with you a little bit yeah man.
Jared:Yeah, so we uh we talk on a regular basis. I think we had you on maybe a month and a half, two months ago, something like that, and we want to check in with you because you are the pod father of the shed geek podcast network. Uh, we refer to you that way on the show fairly often. Um, we wouldn't have the show without you. Obviously, we've got to give you some studio time with the Steel Kings and with Eric being. Eric just got back from Belize. He's doing another mission, some sort of mission trip or something going into this week. We'll see him back here probably next week on the podcast, by the way.
Shannon:I had my wife bring me this there you go man.
Jared:I was too late. I was trying to get it before we started. That's all right, man. I got to get me some black frame glasses and get on the Shed Geek wagon. There you go, man. Now you're looking more like me. There you go.
Shannon:I knew you was wearing your backwards hat. That's right, that's right.
Jared:It's the backwards hat. The backwards hat for me is like the glasses for you. It's just a brand. Everybody knows me as the guy who wears a backwards hat. I think we talked about that recently. Right, I'm the guy who wears the backward hat and tells it like it is. I'm not always everybody's favorite guy, but I can tell you you'll. You'll always get the truth from me, even when it hurts.
Shannon:Why does this, why does this fitted hat make me look like I'm like? I'm like I don't know.
Jared:I don't know. You know, I've been wearing hats for years and I can tell you what happened, I don't know, three, four years ago. Yeah, see, the fitted hats now are more frontward facing, but for years nobody wore adjustable hats backwards, it wasn't a thing. And then all of a sudden I don't know if it was the Morgan Wallen thing I'm sure there was somebody somewhere that's a lot more hip than me but all of a sudden I wasn't able to get the flex fits the way I used to. I used to custom order them and all that. And now all of the really nice hats you know, like this one's, Huey. I wear Huey hats a lot. Um, little shout out to Huey, but uh, I do like Huey a lot. Um, they tend to fit my big framed head. I wear like a seven and three quarters almost an eight.
Shannon:Oh, you're like me. I got a big noggin, so that's right. It takes a big hat I don't know what all's in there. To have to have such a big head, I don't feel like Not much.
Jared:Not much up here, not much here. I was, I was, I was. I don't know if it was a blessing or a curse, but I was cursed with this large dome. It takes a lot to cover it up. This hat here I really like. I think the hat suits you right. We're getting casual Shed Geek today.
Shannon:No suspenders, no bow tie, no formality here, I like that.
Shannon:I'm in the new office. I don't even have my filter on. You know, um, you could, uh, if that's how we like it, well, if I can take you guys around and almost show you what we've done, it's kind of been fun and amazing what we've done in our new office, and even thinking about the future and like where it's going and shed geek and like, uh, all the affiliates and brands and just the cool. You know, sometimes it's easy to forget. You know you've been doing this for five years and it's easy to forget that you don't stop and look back and see what you've been trying to build, because you've just been very intentional about what was the buzzword a couple of years ago Grinding. You've just been grinding you know, You've just been hitting it.
Shannon:I've been mimicking my father, which told me you're just going to have to work hard in life. You can outwork a lot of people. You can work harder than a lot of people and you'll get more gain than even people who are more talented than you if you can just outwork them. That's the way I operated in sports. You know, I wasn't always the best player on the field or on the court, but I was one of the hardest workers always, you know. So, you know it's just kind of the approach I've taken to business, and I don't know I'm hitting 45 this year. Jared, I am a grandfather now almost two times. I will be by the end of this year. I do think that you start to slow down. Whether you want to or not, your body starts to pitch up.
Shannon:You just slow down a little bit.
Jared:I have a problem smelling the roses. I do not stop. Very often. You know that about me. I run full speed ahead, like this week. I'm getting ready. I mean if I could show you my whiteboard right now.
Jared:So, Shannon and I have been trying to fit in content time and I'm looking at about seven names of people. I got a call, I've got a community picnic. So, I don't know. I don't know that I've shared this with you guys, but I'm on the board of directors for the chamber of commerce where I live and I'm on the park board and I'm really heavily involved with local community. I think that that's important and you know for me this is a stressful week anyways because our community picnics this weekend.
Jared:So, I'm wearing multiple hats, including podcaster. I'm wearing business owner hat with Dayton Barns and five rivers pole barns, because we're obviously a big supporter of that community picnic. We have a shed on site. We really look to sell probably three or four buildings We'll look to sell, whether it be wood sheds, pole barns or steel buildings. But I'm also trying to help organize this community event and this year I was tasked with putting together the community picnic book, which needed a complete overhaul. If anybody knows me. They know I'm not going to settle for anything that's not absolutely perfect. So, I've been working back and forth with printers, picking up 3000 picnic books, shooting podcast episodes for you guys trying to handle business things, and I'll tell you, man, grinding is the word. Grinding is definitely the word, but you can't teach people to grind. Shannon, I've realized that it is something that you were born with. It was inherited from whoever your parents are, whoever their parents were. You cannot teach somebody to grind, no matter how hard you try.
Shannon:I remember asking the question oh, what was it? I think I did a sales presentation at one of Gary's first shows Gary Reichert of Shield Wall Media, I think it was the garage, shed, carport builder show, that I was doing, an educational segment, and I posed the question are good salespeople taught or good salespeople born that way? People taught or good salespeople born that way? They just do, they just have an act. And I always love to have those discussions because you know like what makes a person hungry.
Shannon:Looking at the Shed Sales Professionals page, I was watching a comment from Peter Biller Making Sales Simple one of the hosts of the Shed sales summit at this year's expo and he said uh, you know. He said uh, uh, why do sales not get closed? And he was talking about sheds, but that could be very relatable to steel buildings too. If you're selling carports and steel structures, red iron, whatever you're doing, post frame, you know what is the reason why things don't get sold. And there was 50 comments on there. That was just amazing to break down the thought process of different people. You know, if you're not grinding, you're not working, you're not, you know. You know I've heard some people say I've taken an A plus salesperson, put them in a C minus locations location and they outsold an A-plus location and a C-minus salesperson.
Jared:We realize that in real time here at Dayton Barns we can figure that out in real time. You might have the greatest salesman in the world, but if you stick him on a poor shed lot or poor location to sell, that guy's not going to thrive. It takes more than just the right person. It takes the right location, it takes the right product. So, you know people, price and product the three Ps of you know success in business, at least from a sales perspective. Right, you mentioned Gary and I figured I'd take the time to share with you guys. You know we had Gary on the podcast. I think when this episode launches this will be the follow-up episode, so I'm glad you brought that up. We're going to be at the Construction Role Forming Show October 1 and 2 this year at the Dayton Convention Center. They're in Dayton, so super close to us, not too far from you. Shannon. Check out the guys over at Role roll forming magazine, shield wall media. You guys got a real taste of what Gary's all about last week. He's another guy that tells it like it is. We'll absolutely, we'll absolutely give you the truth, even when it hurts. But I can tell you we are super duper looking forward to being at the construction roll forming show at the Dayton convention center October 1 and 2. Check them out. I think it's $50 to register. They give the door, the door gate, back to a charity of their choice. So come, check us out, we'll be there.
Jared:The Steel Kings Shannon, I think, is going to drop in for a visit, might even get a visit from Joel, some of our other friends, the guys over at VersaBend, so I'm just going to jump right into it, you know. Let me segue to our sponsors for a few minutes. I know, Shannon, this isn't going to bother you any, but the guys over at Versabend, check out the guys over at Versabend. They have what you need to get started. If you're already started, they got the tool that's going to take you forward. I can tell you it bends two inch, two and a quarter, two and a half inch square tubing Plus. It does that two by three, rectangular, all in three precise bends. You don't need any tools to switch up. It's just going to give you speed, accuracy and less downtime.
Jared:$19,500, no tax. If you're outside the state of South Carolina, average shipping is about $600. So you're about $20,000 into this project. Check them out at csccarport. supply or call 864-446-3645. Make sure to tell Wendell, the Steel King sent you. So, Shannon, we were talking about sales, we were talking about people, we were talking about locations. You and I have been working on a project now for the last I guess a couple of months now since you added me as administrator. But I think one thing that we definitely want to talk about today is the Steel Structures sales professionals page on Facebook. You want to give us a little bit of an overview on that.
Shannon:Yeah, absolutely, it's been through a few different hands. Now, as you guys know, you know, Facebook kind of controls the algorithm of you know how content is administered and who it's administered to. I mean, there's you know, there's so many friends that I don't see their content regularly and things like that. With a business page, the one thing you find immediately is a you know, fakebook's made it pretty clear that they want to make money. If they're going to allow you to use their platform to grow your business, why aren't they seeing any benefit from it, which is actually very reasonable? They built the platform but they've made it kind of clear that for businesses, they want money, right, they want those meta ads. Kind of clear that for businesses, they want money, right, they want those meta ads they want, you know, you know. So it's funny because with a private page, with a closed page, the algorithm seems to be much more free flowing and typically, like I administer a couple of pages in the in the industry, we were given the shed sales, sales Professionals page when it was, you know, five or six years old and had about. It might've been five or six years old at the time, maybe not. Whatever it was, you know, had 500 people on it and we've, you know, I've actively grown that. I've actively worked to get that, to get that in that algorithm, in that space where we now get 30 to 40 people a month attempting to get onto the page some that are shed sellers, some that aren't.
Shannon:Well, um, uh, now there's, you know, 5 000 people on there, or more, I don't even know. I haven't looked in a long time. There's a lot of good content generated on there. It it's free content. It's closed to just the members who want to be on there, although what they've got to do is tell us what company they work for and that they're in the shed industry. We just need some minimal proof. Well, we had a page that I had kept for Shed Geek and then we moved that into a couple, rolled it into a couple different page titles and finally I've landed on hey, this needs to be, there needs to be a steel structures sales page for professional steel structure sellers, just like there is for shed sellers. But I've noticed that it just hasn't taken off quite as well. It hasn't quite caught the algorithm for Facebook to really start to push it out. It's kind of operating very similar to that of a business page at the moment, but there's, I don't know, as you can see, there's probably what 1,000 members on there. I don't know.
Jared:Yeah, it looks like 1,300 members and what I'll tell you. So I want to show you guys a little bit. So those of you that are watching along, the Steel Structure Sales Professionals page is laid out almost identical in format to the Shed Sales Professionals page, which looks like this what I like about the Shed Sales Professionals page is, if you guys haven't been on there, check it out, send Shannon an invite, he'll review and get you in there. But, like this morning I just watched an interview with my friend, Charles from the Shed Business Journal there's all kinds of content here that is relevant to what we do every day, which is selling structures, whether it be steel buildings, wood sheds or otherwise. I like what Shannon's really helped create here, which is a social media network basically around sheds, a network basically around sheds. So, you can see what's possible with interaction not just from Shannon, not just from Jared, but from everybody. We're not going to mute anybody. We're not going to keep anything hidden. We're going to talk about the logistics of things inside and outside the industry good, bad and different. I've seen a lot of information on different suppliers, lots of different information about vendors and things like that. So you jump back to the steel sales, the steel structure sales professionals page, kind of the same vibe. We got this shed business journal sharing this morning, which that's where I actually saw Charles's interview, which, if you guys don't know, Charles, he's a great guy in the industry. But I can tell you we want you guys to be proactive and part of this community with us. Shannon's given me an opportunity to become an administrator here and same with Eric, and we want to interact with you guys.
Jared:I think a lot of times, Shannon, in the steel side people tend to pull the curtain back so tight they don't want anybody to know what they're doing. And again, I'm full transparency. I'll help out anybody. I am not opposed to walking through. What makes me successful selling steel buildings and wood sheds. You know I am really. I am really a proponent of rising tide raises all boats. If we can all do better in the industry we've talked about this and maybe this is the topic we need to hit again today is if we can stay in the pocket and make the whole industry better as a whole, we will all do better for it. Right now, specifically with steel, it's a tough. It's a tough sale man.
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Shannon:It's tough because you know, as a as somebody, a friend, reminded me the other day you know you're, you're talking about people's livelihood, their money, you know their potential, you know I mean you and I both know you've got shade tree mechanics out there and then you've got top notch you know what I mean Certified, trained mechanics that see their trade as a, as a lifestyle, right, and I think it's the same way in any, in any business that you're in. If you've ever worked anywhere in your life, you know that you have employees that go above and beyond and you have employees that just do the minimal and they're content with that. And I would say it this way I think you, you always, are going to see that in the shed industry and in the steel industry Also. The cool thing that we're doing is we're kind of defining these industries separately, with a podcast, with a, with a private Facebook page where you can be involved and share ideas, learn from others, where you can be involved and share ideas, learn from others. I've heard a lot of people say I don't comment on the page as much, but I learn a lot from the other things that people say.
Shannon:It's kind of like when you ask someone to be on a podcast, they say, well, I don't have nothing to offer, but I love listening and I'm like well, trust me, give other people something to listen to also and come on and share your story because you may be surprised, you don't have to give away a competitive advantage. But I, but I do think that the shed industry and the carport and that's the thing we could just say carport, like we could call this carport sales professionals but it really encompasses more than just carports. Right, when you say still structures, it's, it's very, it can become very broad. I mean, even the term shed can become very broad, you know. So, so it's.
Shannon:It's just one of those things where it's like hey, simon, sinek, find your why, what's your motivation, what's your reason, Jared, at the end of the day, like, why do you wake up and do what you do every day? Why do you do a podcast? Why do you host a podcast? Yeah, absolutely, man, absolutely. You know family is the key, but you know, if you're going to be involved and you're going to do your best for your family, you're going to want to be the best at your trade, that's right.
Shannon:You know, Simon Sinek says that about you know Apple, right, he said. You said they just happen to be in the computer business, but you could put them in any other industry and the mindset wouldn't change Like hey this is who we're going to be, if we were selling pizzas, or if we were selling tractors, or if we were selling cars. We just happen to be selling computers. That's our trade.
Jared:That's what we do. Apple's probably the best example you can give in this scenario, because they were a company that basically launched the personal computer revolution right and continued to skyrocket through the early 80s and then, when they lost their focus of what made their, what made their business work, that's when they started to fall on hard times. They've always been the highest price. None of that is new. They're still the highest price, but now they're the number one in pretty much every I would say pretty much every category. I know their market share for desktop usage is not as high as PC with Windows and stuff like that, but you always get a quality product. You get what you pay for and they're not afraid to charge you a premium for that good product. And I think that that's where Shannon and I specifically share this trait. Why are we constantly running to the bottom to pick up nickels when we can continue on the trajectory we're on and pick up dollars or $5 or $20. We're always reaching for nickels and that's what kills me about steel sales in general. From just an overhead perspective. I just had one happen. I just talked about it this morning to one of my sales reps here, got a call from an independent dealer I think it was in New Mexico or Arizona Sold a building to a customer. I'm upside down. I had to refund their money, but I'm trying to do them a favor and really help them out here.
Jared:We don't sell Steel. Buildings are not meant right out of the rip to be lived in. Anybody who's out there selling steel like five on center square, two buildings to live in without some serious thought is just doing themselves a disservice. They're doing their customers a disservice and what we do is then we breed our competition to do the same thing that we're doing, and now we have bred an industry that is doesn't know what they're doing selling things for you. You know, you can. I mean you can, you can. If you want to buy a five on center building and live in it, is it going to be the same as a 16 inch on center stud framed home? No, it's not, and that's the kind of stuff that aggravates me to death.
Jared:Is now I have to reeducate. Not that I'm not willing to write, Shannon, I'm willing to re-educate. Not that I'm not willing to right Shannon, I'm willing to. I'm willing to educate. But now that customer who bought that building New Mexico, Arizona, wherever it was. If we can't correct the problem, they've got a sour taste in their mouth for the whole industry. And that was one person in one state. It took 10 seconds to make that mistake. And for me, if we can't come together as a community and say we're going to go away from I want a barn dominium, so I'm going to sell you a $50,000 steel building that you're not going to be able to finish out anyways, it's going to be a problem, and I can't. It blows me away that people are advertising and selling that way. I mean, am I wrong? Am I wrong?
Shannon:You're a hundred percent right. You know, I've worked with guys that sold sheds and I've heard it out of their mouth, you know, and it kind of set an easy with me, you know, cause I was. I've been in business with them and it's like hey, man, just sell it, let the company deal with the fallout. Hey, just sell it, let the company deal with the fallout. Hey, just sell it, let the rent-owned company deal with the fallout. We're not in rent to own, they are. They're taking the risk, it's their problem. That's right. And I'm thinking well, it's technically true, but then, like everybody's fighting over the pie and they're trying to take more, more share of the pie, more market share, and I'm over here thinking we're short-sighted on this, let's make a bigger pie. To me, the collaborative efforts can make for a bigger market. I'm not saying you won't fall on hard times, Jared, but we got to get there first.
Jared:We got to become that. First, we often run in our minds where, from a dealer perspective, any average dealer, even myself included, is constantly worried about what they're going to make on commission.
Jared:Okay.
Jared:That's, that's the number one question. What am I going to make if I sell your product? Okay, what? I would argue back to somebody who is saying just what you said don't care about it, the RTO company can deal with it. Don't care about it, my manufacturer can deal with it. It how much more could they afford to pay if they didn't have to take care of your mistakes? How much more could you make, how much more leverage would you have if you called your manufacturer and you were their number one dealer? Oh man, we never have issues out of so-and-so. They're our best dealer, they're our number one dealer.
Shannon:and when you say best dealer, you don't even just mean most money. It's their best problem solver, that's right.
Jared:They're our best communicator.
Shannon:We have the least amount of problems on an install with this. That's exactly right.
Shannon:Because they take what they call. You know, I used to work for a casino. I worked for them for 10 years and I've shared this before. You know it was one of the first casinos in the Midwest. It was opened by Merv Griffith, the previous owner of Wheel of Fortune, and they started here in a poor community where we were at in the Midwest. They put it on the boat because they had to have it over water and the one thing I learned whenever I went to work for them is, like you usually walk out empty-handed at the casino, so you're paying for an experience. It's much like a vacation, like usually walk out empty handed at the casino, so you're paying for an experience, as much like a vacation. Like you pay for the experience because you know you may bring back a few souvenirs, but your memories are really where your money went and what you got to do. You know we went jet skiing. You know, hey, that was fun, whatever you know, but that's you know you don't take that home with you. It's not a tangible asset that you can, that you can get back with you.
Shannon:So what the casino taught me in terms of customer service was this term called own it, and this is something that they were very serious about, very, very serious about, and that was for you, the employee, to treat the business as though you were an owner, you know? Hey, could you tell me where the reward center is? It's right down, that way You'll see it. No, that's not the answer. It's. Yes, ma'am, just walk this way with me. I'll make sure to hand you off. Hey, what was your name? Okay, ms Jones? Hey, here's Tony at the reward center, and Tony, because that's what an owner would do and, and, and, and, and I I hear sometimes the mentality to push back against that Jared is like, well, they don't pay me enough to do that. Uh, you know, or, or whatever. And I'm thinking, man, it's, it's.
Shannon:I've seen this in sheds happen so much where, just shotgun approach, try to bring on 30 new lots, you find about two or three diamonds in the rough, you know, and you're going to stick with those dealers because they end up being three million dollar. Your dealers because they just care. They just care about who they are, who they serve. And then you have the guys that just always bring in the bottom, don't they? They're just always. I'm going to do the minimum. If you don't like it come, get your buildings, and I think that just comes down to an educational thing, like we need to know who's going to be representing us in our company, I think manufacturers are responsible here too.
Jared:This isn't just a dealer problem, this is manufacturing led because, just like what you said, I'm going to go sign up 30 and I'm going to care about three, and I think that that's where the dealer manufacturer relationship has to become closer and tighter knit. From the steel side, what I see is companies like mine, where you know, eric and I have been successful doing this for a long time. We've sold for multiple manufacturers. Over the last five, six years we have really dove into focusing on a handful of manufacturers. Shannon, you know some of these guys. Yeah, and more often than not and I'm just you know, I'm just gonna say it like it is they don't put their money where their mouth is. You do what you say you're going to do and Shannon knows, Shannon's witnessed it, he's been here. He can justify for me that what I'm doing I can feel good about. I feel really good about what I'm doing here at Dayton Barns. I feel good about what I'm doing on a personal level here in this shop, with these guys and these gals working hard every day to do what it is that we really have found a passion doing, which is selling premium structures to people who are in need of premium structures. But what I find a lot is and I can totally understand if you're a dealer listening to me right now and you're saying well, Jared, it's one thing when you're selling $10, $15 million a year and blah, blah, blah. I'm not doing that and I'm struggling just to sell a half million dollars or $300,000 a year and I'm just trying to feed my family and maybe add a couple additional revenue streams to my shed lot. What I will tell you is, if you find the right manufacturer and you stick with them and have their back when they need it and go back and forth with each other, you will often find resolution with that. And I know that that's all. That's cliche. And you're sitting there thinking, man, Jared, again, I'm only selling $300,000 worth of buildings. But I can tell you work with the right manufacturers. That's number one. We need to, as a community, stop supporting people who are driving our sales price to the bottom.
Jared:You want to know why you don't make money selling steel buildings? Because you're selling cheap steel buildings. You want to know why you're getting bad reviews Because you're selling cheap steel buildings. What a lot of people don't understand about cheap steel buildings is Shannon and I could move to North Carolina tomorrow. We could decide you know what we're done podcasting. We're done selling. We're going to start making metal buildings and there is a Jimmy John Jack on every corner selling scrap and selling tube scrap and sheeting scrap. We could start our own metal building company. Then, all of a sudden, we'd be the cheapest metal manufacturer in town. You know what? We'd probably make us several hundred thousand bucks in a year. Then you know what happens after that, that cheap metal building company. It doesn't exist anymore, it's gone.
Shannon:I saw a Facebook post the other day. Somebody said they were relating it to shed hauling is what they were doing, if I remember correctly. But it was someone who said something along the lines of getting some electrical work done. And a Facebook post had a customer contact me today. He was showing the conversation and it said, uh, how much, you know, how much for this, this job. And they told him their price. And, uh, they said the other guy you know did it for this much last time. And they said we'll call him then. And I said, uh, I would, but he's not in business anymore. That's right. And it was like I mean, that tells the whole story. Just right, there, that happens all the time.
Jared:Now I can tell you okay. So, you're sitting there, you're Mr Shedlot, you're in one shedlot, you might sell metal buildings. Maybe you don't. I'm sure you get contacted once or twice a year from a metal company that says, hey, we sell metal buildings for us. Think about that from my perspective. Everybody, and their brother, reaches out to me and says, hey, I started a metal building company I'd like you to sell for me. Okay, well, I need some pictures of what projects that you've done, with proof that you've done them. I need any kind of confirming information, right? I need workers comp information. I need your LLC information or your business information.
Jared:We dig deep on the manufacturers. We work with the companies out there Eagle American, steel, star Buildings and Carports, all of these reliable metal buildings, these conglomerates that cover multiple states and have been in business for years and years. Those are the kinds of businesses you want to work with and what you find more often than not and I forgot Carolina carports, because I love Carolina carports but what I can tell you from a from a overhead perspective, is they've been doing it a lot longer than you have. They've been doing it a lot longer than me. The companies that pop up oftentimes do not come ready to prepare. They don't come ready to give you the building that you desire. So, what's funny is I just named four or five companies and if I priced a 30 by 50 by 14 building with two 10 by 10 roll-up doors, I would bet you the price would be anywhere from a thousand dollars to the maximum two thousand dollars difference between all five of those companies. So, you determine where you want to work with, you determine lead time, you determine overall quality, how you feel about the company.
Jared:If a company comes in and they're seven thousand dollars cheaper than those five companies, I'm immediately got red flags going off in my mind. My eyeballs pop out of my head because if those five companies are at a certain price and somebody is 7,000, I mean, I'm using this as an example because I get it all the time it takes me about 30 seconds to figure out that their business is registered to a chicken yard in the middle of Timbuktu. They don't have a facility, they're buying used material. They might have no Google reviews, they might have no track record of being in business and just because some person is selling their product doesn't mean it's worth even what they want for it, and you have to come ready to combat that information with information.
Jared:Hey, I'm working with companies that have been in business for 20 plus years. If you want a warranty on this thing, if you want to make sure it doesn't blow away on a windstorm, if you want to make sure you got engineered master blueprints with it, take it up with me. I'll help you out, I'll give you the spread on everybody that I've got and I'll let you make a decision Right, and that's where you have to be. In this day and age, man, it is a race to the bottom and it's a race that.
Jared:I don't want to run anymore, quite honestly.
Shannon:Well, I think no one wants to win it. It happens in rent-to-own, which is a very familiar thing in the shed world. When you talk about dealer premiums, the concern starts to become I'm literally hearing people giving away 10% dealer premiums. Like. The concern starts to become, I mean, like I'm literally hearing people giving away 10 dealer premiums anymore and like I'm wondering you know, when is it going to get to the point to where I mean there's only two, there's only two plays there. Right, it's like soak up all the business and then and then, once you've got it, change the dealer premiums back, you know, or just be willing to divide the margins down so low because, like, really, if you're an American company of any capacity and you're, it doesn't matter if you're selling socks, sheds or lollipops, right, like, your margin outside of tech usually falls less than 30%, uh, on your P and L at the end of the day in terms of profit.
Shannon:Like you might make a million dollars but you only bring home usually max $300,000 out of that by the time you get rid of P&L right.
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Shannon:Let's grow your business together, depending on how important it is, how adaptable it is. With AI, we're seeing like some massive ridiculous now and, like you know, you're just beating people to the punch. If you're seeing those 10 and 20X returns on the sale of a business but most people don't that's an investment. That's not even just a purchase. Like, you have to have big dollars and you usually start running into private equity groups really quick whenever you start getting into that and you start looking at venture VC guys that we navigate in our industry as a whole is the onset of AI, the onset of just commercially man.
Jared:I don't even know how to really word it, but to me it is commercial conglomeratization of our industry as we know it.
Shannon:It would not take very long for the right person to come in and completely overhaul the industry You're going to see more Jared, You're going to see more year company has the ability to take on a 60 to $80 million a year company through the correct investment in their digital assets, Because I'm going to beat this horse to death, but like brick and mortar, is not going away but it's not the only way anymore and what's happening is those who are not embracing the technology, which, by the way, falls in line with every other retail market. I want to make sure to stress this point very heavily. This isn't a new idea in the world. It may be a new idea in the shed and carport world because you haven't embraced it, but I promise there's some sharp guys and gals out here that are doing some of this already.
Shannon:I mean, I'm impressed by some of the things that we see in here, but what I'm getting at is like you have the ability to take it over, but you limit yourself. You limit yourself by saying you know my in-laws used to do this. I love them. My in-laws are phenomenal people, they're excellent. But I remember when you know they would talk about having a PC in their home and they were like, why would anyone want a computer in their home? And they didn't understand it well, so they typically insulted it, Right.
Shannon:Then they got a computer.
Shannon:Right. And then the Internet came along and it was like no way, no. And then they insulted it. Now we go over there and I mean my mother-in-law's on her computer online telling me about her load speed, you know, and she's like understanding it and she's speaking more intelligently about it. Now it's AI. And guess what you would think after the last two they would embrace AI maybe a little more, but instead they're like no, why would anybody want that? And then in 10 years they're going to be speaking differently about it. And I find that the industry does that because, like, this is going to sound a little harsh, but I've done it, so I'm not making any accusations on anyone that I haven't done myself, but we simply insult what we don't understand.
Shannon:We insult it because we don't understand it. And I'm seeing companies that have the potential to make huge strides right now and I'm seeing behind the scenes, some of these large companies are recognizing oh, we need to do that to take market share, and that's just what's going to happen. Guys, they're not going to tell you, they're doing it.
Shannon:That's why everyone's so private. That's why everyone's so protective is because they don't want you to know, because by the time that they're doing it, they want to be able to keep that first mover's advantage as long as they can.
Shannon:That's right, so they're embracing these ideas and this new technology and different things. These ideas and this new technology and different things and I know from your perspective it's hard to jump into that and be like, well, let's go invest a bunch of money into this unproven territory and it's like it's only unproven in the shed world and the steel world. It doesn't mean it's unproven in cars.
Jared:And I would argue there are people that are doing it. If you're waiting, you're missing it out right now. I mean, Shannon deals with them a lot more than I do. To at least educate yourself.
Shannon:If you don't spend a dollar with me or anyone else, no problem. No problem, yeah, but educate yourself. Do not be adverse to learning about it and asking questions. Where you go wrong is when you demonize these things.
Jared:Shut the wall down. Yes, shut the wall down.
Shannon:At least start to learn, because the more educated you become, the more intelligently you can speak on what will or won't work enough.
Jared:I cannot agree with that enough because from our perspective, we're always looking a couple of steps ahead of where we're at currently. We're looking at things like AI and I'm a big guy in general right, Big in figure but big in stature too. As far as I'm big on in-house Shannon's been here. Shannon knows I have an in-house lead generator. I don't outsource anything. I don't like AI by rule. I like it in some capacities, right.
Jared:I use chat, GPT, open source AI a lot, with some marketing pieces, a lot of different verbiage. I've written ad scripts with it. A lot of the ad scripts you hear me read are ones that ChatGPT put together for me. And then I go in and I put my two cents on it, right, I'll take out a lot of the fluff and just make it straightforward and straight ahead. But that streamlines me. It doesn't just replace me and I think that's where people get really scared about ai. It's a tool that can make a person like me even better. It's when you try to replace somebody. That's where I start to get. Can I go on a soapbox?
Shannon:I'll go, yes I'll get on a soapbox for a minute and uh, yeah, yeah, absolutely, you're right. You know, like I use ai for my descriptions on the show, right, like AI creates the description that you guys read for today's episode. Well, I used to sit and write those and I felt like I was a decent writer, you know. But I started getting compliments all of a sudden when we moved over to AI and nonetheless, I got. I got a compliment from a good Amish friend of mine who said man, the description that you're reading is like, amazing, you're writing it. It's amazing. It makes me want to listen to the show even more than I've ever wanted to.
Shannon:What did you do? Did you take a writing class? And I said, no, ai is doing that. They're just able to put in the words better. They're not able to replace me. That's right, you know. And that's the thing about AI and technology in general. And when I say I get on a soapbox, I use about, I use about, I'm about to alienate your audience. Get ready, you know, about once a year I get on and make maybe like a political or social post on Facebook, just simply for the intentionality of not to argue but to challenge thought.
Shannon:You know, yes, Socrates challenged thought and I believe that thought should be challenged, matter of fact. There's nothing better than challenging your own thought and your religious convictions and things like that, cause they've made me stronger and what I believe in a better um speaker on these things. That I believe because I've been. I've been through the fire Right and you know I always like to talk about things like self- checkout as a perfect example. It's a easy thing to insult immediately. You know self-c heckout is going to replace it. You know. You know who uses self- checkout the most Walmart. And guess who? People feel that they just have the right to be able to tell a business what to do. They believe they just have the right to be able to tell business how they should do it. The best way you tell Walmart how to do things is with your pocketbook, not with your social media post. If you don't like it, don't go Right. But the reality is things evolve.
Shannon:Walmart, who uses the most self- checkouts in the world, also hires the most people in America the most people in America. So, I find it hard to justify the argument that they're costing people their jobs when they hire the most people out of any employer in the world. They have to resituate based off the advent of technology. A good example is you pump your own gas now. So, when you say I won't check out my own groceries because I don't work here, but why do you pump your own gas? Because there was a time where not anything was self-service, it was full service and there was an attendant who always pumped your fuel. And guess what Things change? They change. Think about the invent of click and pull, now Jared. So now they've changed those checkers into just a different job description, but they still hire. They still hire more than anybody in America, right, but they still hire. They still hire more than anybody in America, right? So it's not that they're costing jobs, that's a simple argument. You know, you got to think a little bit deeper and that's what technology is doing.
Shannon:So, I like to use self-checkout Some days. I love the interpersonal relationship, and I go and I'm not in a hurry. So I go through the line, I talk to the old lady how are you doing? You know what I mean. If it's an older gentleman, how are you today, sir? You know I love that interaction. When I'm in a hurry I can probably get it done quicker. So beep, beep, beep, and I need to get out the door right, you know it's.
Shannon:Things change and they're changing in sales, no matter what industry you're in no matter what industry you're in.
Jared:I have to try to bring the audience in a hair right Because you said you're taking them away. I would say that God encourages us to ask for his wisdom when we lack it right. He calls upon us to turn to him in prayer, and whether or not you're religious doesn't much matter to Shannon or I, but I can tell you I know a lot of folks out there that think a lot like Shannon and I that listen to this podcast. Doubt is something God gives us so that he can provide that reassurance when we lack it. It brings us closer to him if we allow it to right the obstacle is the way Jared.
Jared:That's right.
Shannon:The obstacle is the way brother, that's right, You're not called to an easy life with absolutely no problems, that's exactly right.
Shannon:You know, God said cast your burdens on me. That's right, you know, because he wants to prove the sovereignty. It's like Philip Yancey in the book Prayers Doesn't Make a Difference, he said. How can you pray for a true thankful prayer over your meal when you've got a cupboard full of groceries but when you don't know when your next meal is coming from? You're very thankful for the meal that you just received, aren't you? So, you know, like I heard one pastor say it this way God doesn't give you the bench, he gives you the tree. Like there's a certain amount of work that's required of us to do and we're not called to have everything easy. All the tree Like. There's a certain amount of work that's required of us to do and we're not called to have everything easy all the time. And I've been guilty of expecting that as a Christian, that my life's just going to be easy all the time. And it's been harder. It's actually been far harder as a Christian. That's how I look at it. It's ironic.
Jared:That's kind of how I look at chat. Right, I had to overcome my own personal objections with AI, and I did that slowly over time. Right, I thought about it and I thought about it and I watched tutorial videos. I watched people give me their opinions on it. I watched actually how to use chat and really, if you utilize it as it's meant to be utilized, which is a tool, it is not meant to be utilized as a replacement, at least not yet Nothing that we're talking about.
Jared:Anybody listening to this podcast is not on the level where they can build artificial intelligence to run and operate their business on a massive scale. If you are, thank you for listening, reach out to me personally, Jared at thesteelkigs. com. I'd be happy to talk to you more, but I can tell you, utilizing the tools that are put in front of you for the benefit of your business or personal development or whatever, that case is never going to hurt you. Never going to hurt you to try something new. It is never going to hurt you. Get up on the horse, fall off, do it a hundred times and maybe, after one, oh one, maybe you're riding down the trail and you're on the horse and you're having a great time.
Shannon:But if you don't ever try and you quit. Mike Rowe, dirty Jobs. Everybody's seen him on wherever HGTV. I'm not sure where it was, but Dirty Jobs, he said AI is not coming for your trade. And that's the beauty. If you build sheds, if you build carports, if you are involved some labor-intensive way, it's probably not taking over. Um, I'm not saying there's not some automations to some extent in the building process, because we are seeing some of that happen, but it's going to be hard to imagine that that's going to replace a worker completely.
Shannon:Ai is actually coming after your coders, yeah, after your marketers. It's coming after your social media people like uh j Troyer I think it was him, I may get these names mixed up but he said AI is not going to replace your job, but someone who understands AI will. And I thought that was a brilliant comment because I was like, yeah, it's not that, it's like coming for you directly or there's this mischievous thing. Look, it's like a gun, it's like money, it's like a knife, it's like a bomb. Anything that we invent can be misused and mishandled. I mean, it's still the heart, at the end of the day, and I think you need good people who understand it. It's why we have cyber security.
Shannon:Some people use the internet for bad things, but that doesn't mean the internet's bad as a whole. That means that some people you know use it for the wrong reasons. At the end of the day, it's a hard issue, which is why you know we talk about this on the podcast all the time. You know like one of our main goals is to spread the great commission, the gospel, and talk about Jesus Christ, not because we feel like we have the answers, but because we feel like we know. Who does you know?
Shannon:And then you can get into this whole other topic about religion and your faith and how it affects you and how you believe and what you believe and how you carry yourself daily. And I'm like look man, I'm not perfect. I never claimed to be. I'm just a guy who's a willing vessel. We try to use that in our guidance of our work. You know I'm sitting here getting notifications off a comment I just made on one of the pages this morning just out of nowhere, and I got my phones blowing up right Even when we're sitting here talking about that very comment.
Shannon:I'm like this is what happens when you, when you dare to take a stand, you can say in the background but that, you know, even saying something like Jesus on the podcast has gotten advertisers that have told me they don't really want to come on because of my religious affiliation. And I'm like you know, good. I don't care how big you are in this industry, because I believe God's bigger Right. So, like it doesn't matter to me that you choose not to come on.
Shannon:There are some things that I won't. I just won't draw the line on and I'll say well, I'm all about being willing, but if willing means to lose who I am completely to satisfy you, I can't If I'm willing on my side.
Jared:If I'm willing on my side to be open, you should be willing to be open on your side, and if we can agree to disagree on things, that's fine. My biggest argument with anybody that wants to argue is that I don't want to argue. I could care less about it. It's a waste of my time. What I can tell you, Shannon, is it has been a big time today. We hit a bunch of topics. We're a little bit over on time, so I'm going to be the one that delivers the bad news that we will be back at you with another episode of the Steel Kings podcast. However, in the meantime, I will share this Get out in your communities and do something special, do something for somebody else this week. Be a good neighbor, be a good friend, be a good teammate to somebody in your life. Mentor somebody. Maybe you need mentoring. Reach out and find that mentoring, because I can tell you, Shannon and I both have been on the other side of success and not that I'm on the side of success currently. Maybe I'm on the opposite side too, but I can tell you find a neighbor, a friend, someone. Be charitable with your time and your love and your attention.
Jared:What I can tell you is I really appreciate our friends at J Money. I really want to thank them for giving us the opportunity to do this podcast with Shannon. I want to thank you too. Man, Joel is a great guy. He's a builder at heart and a banker by trade. He's helping businesses like yours grow with fast, easy financing that your customers can actually afford. Learn more at jmoneyllc. com, and we'll see you next time with another episode of Steel Kings Podcast. I'm Jared and over there, Shannon, and we'll check you out later. Check out the Shed Geek Godcast on Wednesdays too. All right, and we will talk at you soon. Peace out, guys.