Behind the Toolbelt
Behind the ToolBelt is a live, raw, and uncut podcast that brings real, unfiltered conversations about business, leadership, and the entrepreneurial mindset. Hosted by Ty Cobb Backer, CEO of TC Backer Construction, this live show features industry leaders, innovators, and experts sharing their experiences, strategies, and insights. From building successful companies to overcoming challenges, each episode offers valuable perspectives for entrepreneurs and business owners and leaders looking to grow, and make an impact.
Behind the Toolbelt
Innovative Partnerships and Leadership Harmony: Elevating Safety and Growth in Construction
We explore the dynamic intersection of leadership, technology, and community at the SRC Summit, reflecting on five transformative years in business. With a focus on employee empowerment and the evolution of work culture, we discuss how collaboration and compassion are key to thriving in the roofing industry.
• Celebrating five years of insights and experiences
• Highlights from the SRC Summit in Texas
• Equipment advancements with Equipter and safety considerations
• The importance of leadership in fostering teamwork and community
• Personal reflections on leading with empathy and purpose
To watch your favorite episodes of Behind The ToolBelt plus much more content, go to our YouTube Channel and subscribe.
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And we are live. Welcome back to everybody to Behind the Tool Belt, episode 267. We've just celebrated our five-year mark, january 23rd Five years and we get to actually kind of celebrate it here, because it didn't fall on a Wednesday. I think it kind of fell last week sometime I think a week, ten days ago, something like that but we didn't really promote it too much. But here we are at SRC Irving, texas April Hall.
Ty Cobb Backer:I think it's the 13th annual SRC Summit here in Texas and she's done a magnificent job once again this year. So we're super pumped, super stoked. There's a lot of great speakers. The quality of attendees at this event has been great I think, better this year than always. But for whatever reason, this year there's a lot of not just speakers, I'm talking about the quality of attendees that are coming through and the vendors quality of vendors, speaking of which, we have Zach here from Equipter, chris Hofstra from LeadScout app and many, many more, matt Farouk Just the list goes on. I've seen a lot of great people here, a lot of great vendors, so we're super pumped. And then Miss Erin's over there, manning Woo, manning Woo, manning Woo, manning the booth over there, while Chris is over here doing a podcast.
Chris Hofstra:Will's over there too, I think Will.
Ty Cobb Backer:Yeah. Well, he's kind of like a woman, so yeah.
Chris Hofstra:He's got a feminine side.
Zack:He's got a metrosexual side to him, he works out.
Ty Cobb Backer:Yeah, he does. He does take care of his body. So anyhow, thank you guys for coming on to the podcast today. Obviously we're trying to promote Need Scout and formulate a partnership with Equipter, who is actually local to our area in the northeast corridor of Pennsylvania, south Central.
Zack:Yeah, Lancaster.
Ty Cobb Backer:Yeah, south Central PA, about 30 miles east from where we are in York, pennsylvania, so thought it would be pretty cool. We've seen this guy at many shows over the years really you and Aaron and so I thought why not? We were talking already off mic and thought why not just make the conversation, extend the conversation over here while we're going to film?
Chris Hofstra:It's the beauty of behind the tool belt. You just never know. No, in a film.
Ty Cobb Backer:So it's a beauty of behind the tool belt. You just never know. No, you don't. So we're hoping this time next year we're. We're doing a podcast inside of an equiper that they gave us we didn't purchase, right so we can promote their product.
Chris Hofstra:Cause? I mean, you're already using it.
Ty Cobb Backer:Yeah, we're already using it. Yeah, yeah, we use about four to five a week.
Zack:Four to five a week, that's good. Yeah, mostly your residential projects, or are you doing commercial stuff?
Ty Cobb Backer:Yeah, mostly residential and our charitable events.
Zack:Yeah.
Ty Cobb Backer:Yeah, they're very convenient, they're light, they're easy to manipulate. You can drive them around the house. I mean, they're just they are. It's a good piece of equipment.
Zack:And it catches people's eye that is, yeah, the marketing aspect of it is something that you initially, off the cuff, you won't be like oh, that's a great marketing piece, but like we tell guys all the time wrap it in your company information get your fancy banners on there when people are driving by. It's going to catch their eye because they've never seen anything like it. Most of your business traditionally don't have this.
Ty Cobb Backer:So, yeah, marketing aspect of it. It's a huge, huge thing for this. It makes you look much more professional, not that you're still not using tarps and things like that, but it definitely keeps the yard and the job site cleaner. It helps you, you know, obviously, if you have to transport materials to the job site too, it helps you get up to the roof. But I think, most importantly, I think, the safety of using it and the debris removal off of the roof.
Ty Cobb Backer:I think you know, I know when I've used it and I was on you know, rancher or single family dwelling where I felt actually safer because it was at the bottom, yeah, I don't know if anybody's ever looked at it from that point of view, but, being an older roofer myself, I tend to think of, you know, my exit strategy, like if I go to fall off the roof, like where am I going to land?
Ty Cobb Backer:Right, and it's like when I know that that's below me, it's kind of like, oh, okay, well, I only have one story to fall, right until I fall into, you know, a stack of shingles or something like that.
Ty Cobb Backer:But I mean for safety purposes, for you know, um, you know, for my mind, knowing that, hey, you know I'm good to go, but anyhow, that's just how I think the order I get, not that I roof every day, but we do, uh, roofers and recovery, national roofers and recovery day every year and typically we'll have an equipped through there.
Ty Cobb Backer:So we get everybody out there, kim, like all the girls out of the office, like we're all up there tearing this roof off, along with everybody else the production side, the admin, the sales people were up there, so we get the equipter out there. And of course, I'm thinking, if one of the girls happen to, you know, twist their ankle on a, on a hose or something, because they don't know that you can't step on you know your safety line or your right, your, your hose for your nail gun, or else your feet will come out from underneath you that at least the clippers down there's there, yeah, to catch them I'd love to hear more about, like how the technology has evolved in the last what like five years, five years, or how long has it been?
Zack:we've been around for 21 years okay, oh, okay so.
Zack:Aaron started it in 2004. He had his roofing company prior to that for about 20 years, came up with the Equipter 4000 idea from roofing and then kind of saw the need in the roofing industry and so from there him and his son started just building unit after unit after unit and then eventually went full-time into making equipters. So from there we've added multiple models I think we're up to seven or eight right now different models and we're starting to get into some new models that are getting into different industries outside of just roofing. But we have about three or four that are kind of our main units for moving things.
Zack:And we last year at the IRE launched the Equipter 7000, which is our new towable boom lift. It's going to be kind of a mixture between a telehandler and the Equipter 4000. And technology now has really kind of grown into fully remote controlled. There's a lot of new, like safety, computer features, um, that our previous models didn't have. So we're super excited about that and we've already had a ton of pre-orders on that one. So um sure guys that have been looking at them are like can't believe we have a two-year lead time for what we're, what we're waiting on for that unit so we're excited about it should be fully coming out this year.
Zack:Um so yeah, that's kind of when you say remote control?
Chris Hofstra:are we talking like I'm up on the roof on the ridge and I can move it over?
Zack:yeah, essentially. Yeah, so pretty much the from what I understand in the remote control capabilities, it's like 200 feet away, uh, like. Uh, it's like 200 feet away like not blocked, like your view's not blocked from that unit. But yeah, that's pretty much the idea that you could do is stand up on the roof and move it if you want. Not that I necessarily might recommend that, but I'm sure there's going to be guys that are going to do that?
Ty Cobb Backer:Yeah, I was thinking that too, for safety purposes. You might not want to do that, but you may need the situation's below the situation how much clearance you have, right, you?
Chris Hofstra:know everything's kind of circumstantial yeah and it might be more efficient to just kind of keep sliding it down the down the soffit yeah, it's cool.
Zack:It's got three different um steering features so you can do like your crab walk, like your traditional new telehandlers have. There's, I think, all-wheel drive, and then there's rear-wheel drive or two-wheel drive. So a lot of new things that have gone into that unit that we're really excited about.
Ty Cobb Backer:What do you think inspired that?
Zack:I mean, the biggest thing with the 4000 was always like guys wanted to go higher, and so designing a unit that goes higher, obviously, is kind of the main thing, so that one's going to be able to go up to 26 foot, which is twice, twice the height of what your 4000 is able to do, um. But then we also came up with the idea of being able to take your box off and put forks on it, um, like a towel handler. Uh, so there's just kind of the idea, especially more so geared towards commercial industries, since a lot of guys are already using towel handlers with boxes on them. How can we create something that you don't necessarily need to have a CDL driver, a trailer, but that you can have a unit that you can just hook right up to your truck, take it to your drop cell, use it for both the dumping, but then also moving materials and lifting materials? How big is the box? It's very similar to the 4000 size.
Zack:So I think that one is a 4.1 cubic yard.
Ty Cobb Backer:Okay.
Zack:So it's a little bit. The dimensions are slightly different, but the cubic yardage is less.
Ty Cobb Backer:Okay, so the overall size of the trailer is the same, or is it bigger?
Zack:It is a bigger unit. Yes, yep, I don't know offhand what exactly it is, but it's going to be a little bit wider, it's going to be a little bit longer heavier unit as well, but it's actually the weight distribution is going to be better than the 4,000. So a lot of guys are concerned about taking something like that into your yard, but really it's actually going to do better than a 4,000 because it's got four big tires rather than two big tires?
Ty Cobb Backer:Okay, makes sense. No, I'm excited to see that. I was wondering if Glenn and Mike were listening to that, because it definitely. I like the feature that it goes up 26 feet. I'm imagining that has outriggers. Yes, beats with that. It goes up 26 feet, I'm imagining that has outriggers. Yes, is that why it's it's wider and longer to facilitate that type of weight? Yeah, that now it does it like boom out or does it go?
Zack:yeah, it's gonna boom out. So yeah, it's very similar to the telehandler style boom, so you're going to be going out and wow, so that's weight distribution is probably going to be. It's going to have like a, a load truck on it. So, okay, different angles, different heights, you're going to be able to probably more than 4 000 pounds fully extended expectation is 4 000 pounds interesting.
Ty Cobb Backer:Do you think it's recommended to keep it attached to the truck when doing something like that, or do you think it'll be fully functional without it being attached to the truck?
Zack:Yeah, yeah, it's going to be very similar. I mean, you're going to be able to drive around your entire property.
Ty Cobb Backer:Yeah, I was just thinking. I'm getting older, I think it's safety.
Chris Hofstra:I don't know. Well, you have more people. The more people you have out there using it, the risk goes up, of course.
Ty Cobb Backer:Yeah, the exposure, yeah, no, that's great. What would you say right now? Until you just mentioned this one, what would you say right now? It's the most popular, it would be the 4,000. And do you think that's because of a price point, or is that just?
Zack:I think, general overall versatility of that unit and, given that it's been around for 21 years now, so it's definitely the most recognized unit of all, but probably, I'd say, 90 to 95% of what we do is that unit as far as sales go right now.
Ty Cobb Backer:So yeah, and it's one and two story residential roofing.
Zack:Like that's going to be. That's going to be the model that you're going to work with, Even with the new one coming out, like from some of the guys that we've talked to that are kind of testing using the product already. I think it's more geared towards commercial applications and then higher-end, bigger residential projects. So a lot of guys are still sticking with their $4,000s and maybe they'll add the $7,000 when they get into those bigger, bigger projects or commercial projects.
Chris Hofstra:uh, so how many guys are, or how often are guys getting the custom tc backer put on the side of the equipter and are you doing that or they kind of in charge of doing the wrap?
Zack:we? Currently we don't have that option. Yeah, so everything is going to be done um by someone locally to them.
Zack:But I would say it depends on if it's a subcontractor versus general contractor who purchases it. Usually, if it's a subcontractor, they're just keeping our equipper stuff on because they're obviously not going to be branding their GC's jobs with their company information. But those general contractors are really, I would say, majority of the time 75% or more are probably doing that. Yeah, I know, for me, when I sell a unit, that's my second follow-up email is talking to them about the marketing aspect and trying to get them to brand it because I mean it's going to help pay for that investment by having that because, like I said earlier, you go into neighborhoods, people are asking about it and people are looking at it and if you can have a giant billboard on your project, why?
Chris Hofstra:not, it just seems like such an. I mean you made the investment in the unit itself and you know, ty, you talk so much about touches.
Chris Hofstra:It's just I mean you can't even really count how many potential touches, just like you know your your job signs and things like that. Um, I was asking dope marketing. They're here, you know what they're doing and you know what are they really seeing. You know, have the most adoption and yard signs by far right, and you just have to. It's almost like it should be a standard. You know, I think maybe that's a little cliche now, because I think everybody is doing that, but I think you also probably see a lot of jobs that still don't have yard signs right.
Ty Cobb Backer:And it's just a missed opportunity. Really is no yeah, to captivate and stand out. I mean, the equiper has definitely been one of those factors in being able to stand out, look more professional, keep the job more organized and you know, the cool thing about it is too so typically Mike and I are actually Glenn and I were just talking about this this morning you know the old school traditional dump trailer and typically, unless you have a newer truck with a backup camera, you need two guys. So go pick up the dump trailer and take it to the dump. No, go back up, back up, whoa, stop. No, pull forward again and get over, you know. But with the equipter you literally just drive it over to your hitch and drop it right onto the hitch. I mean, it is like we like you know, we, we rent them, um, so we do help. You know the cause you know, promote.
Ty Cobb Backer:You know, promote leads or leads out um the equipter, but um, um they. They are slick as shit. And why? I really just I've never just picked a bullet and bought one. I almost bought one from john um, the guy that we rent them from, but I thought for an extra whatever xyz, I would probably be able to buy one, but we've just invested in other things and the timing hasn't been right. But I I think I'm digging this 7 000 mike. I don't know if you heard him talking about this new product that they're launching this year. You should talk to John.
Zack:He has one for rent.
Ty Cobb Backer:Oh really, if you want to try it connect with him.
Zack:He has one.
Ty Cobb Backer:He's probably one of your best salespeople. You don't even have to pay him.
Zack:He does all right, he likes to sell some used units to our customers too.
Chris Hofstra:He's a salesperson that buys the product every bit.
Ty Cobb Backer:Yeah.
Zack:We appreciate you.
Ty Cobb Backer:I bet, I bet, yeah, no, it's great. No, I'm kind of excited to. Maybe we will bite the bullet on this 7,000 version of the Equipter especially if you're getting it for free.
Chris Hofstra:Yeah, yeah 7,000.
Zack:That's a bigger price. Okay, yeah, that one's a little bit more pricier than 4,000.
Ty Cobb Backer:But I think it would look really cool inside of our booth at IRE. Maybe not this year, but next year we could launch your new product. Maybe you'll come out with the 8,000 by then.
Zack:We got a new product coming to I this year too, so we're excited about that one too.
Ty Cobb Backer:Can you talk about that?
Chris Hofstra:Probably not Okay, probably shouldn't we just know it's coming?
Zack:Yeah.
Ty Cobb Backer:Yeah, okay, all right, we'll talk about that now.
Zack:Nothing huge, but it's a new product.
Ty Cobb Backer:Okay, okay, no, that's great. That's great. So how long have you been working with Equipter? I know we've known each other for at least two years, now Two years.
Zack:yeah, no, I've been. This will be my fourth year in July.
Ty Cobb Backer:Okay, what inspired you or encouraged you to go work for Equipter?
Zack:My wife wanted to be a stay-at-home mom, so I needed a job that was going to pay a little bit more than what I was doing. Um, it is a sales job, so, um, some of that I kind of had to work for but gave me a good opportunity. It was an awesome product to sell I. I got it right from the beginning as far as, like the value of it. So, um, something that I started out with and I grew into and I've really enjoyed my time so far, um, learning how to be a better salesman. It was my first sales job, so I'm glad they kind of took a leap of faith with me and and, uh, gave me a shot speaking of staying at home.
Chris Hofstra:Last, the first time I met you, you had your wife and kids with you my one-year-old at the time so she's turning three in about two weeks now, so awesome.
Zack:It's been been a while since that, uh, since that ice storm, and I have another one that just turned one um a couple weeks ago.
Chris Hofstra:So yeah, was Denton Texas right. Denton Texas? Yeah, src 2023.
Zack:Yeah, that was a mess.
Chris Hofstra:Yeah.
Zack:It was a good time, though we really got to be intentional with everybody and the people that were there. I don't know.
Chris Hofstra:It was a really cool element to the community aspect of SRC yeah for sure, yeah, and the venue was cool.
Ty Cobb Backer:The hotel was nice, everything we needed was right there, the restaurant was good, there was restaurants within walking distance and it was good. That was probably one of my favorite shows because of that quarantine that we had to experience.
Chris Hofstra:Yeah, it was a good version.
Ty Cobb Backer:Yeah, a good version of that. Yeah, but it was fun. It was a lot of fun. I always typically went a four-wheel drive and we're from the north, so we found a Buc-ee's at like 2 am in the morning. So we were like the only people on the road and I've never been to Buc-ee's, so that was a complete experience in itself. Was Bucky's during an ice storm? But like there was, I was going to say, thousands of people there probably was thousands of people there 2 am in the morning. Only place open, remotely, probably within a 50-mile radius of Denton, texas. So everybody and their brother were at Bucky's and, man, they just sold everything Anything from cowboy hats to shoes, to food, to making their own beef jerky and stuff. So if you haven't ever experienced the Bucky's um, I highly recommend at least once.
Zack:We drove past it the one that was close by there and yeah, that was crazy, that was huge. Never seen anything like that. That's fun.
Ty Cobb Backer:It's definitely been. Thank you, gio, um, okay. So let's uh let anything like that, that's fine. It's definitely. Thank you, geo, um, okay. So let's uh, let's change pace here a little bit.
Ty Cobb Backer:Man, I and this morning I woke up and, uh, you know, I was thinking to myself we went out to dinner last night and it was, it was cool to watch, um, a group full of leaders sitting there right, the who's who of of tc backer and the who's who of lead scout sitting there, right, the who's who of TC Backer and the who's who of lead scouts sitting there, okay, and I strategically placed myself in the middle of the table so I could kind of collaborate with everybody sitting there.
Ty Cobb Backer:I didn't want to sit down at the one end and not have a conversation with you, or Will, or Glenn, or Mike, or Martine or Gio, and I thought to myself, or Martine, or Gio, and I thought to myself you know what does leadership really mean to me today?
Ty Cobb Backer:Right, ten years ago, something totally different. And I just thought it was really nice to watch you with your team, okay, and the laughter and the leadership that you display, and Mike, who runs our complete Southeast region of the country plan, who runs the entire mid Atlantic, not almost, not quite nine States, but a lot, five, five out of the nine that that we operate out of, and, of course, nick sitting there, who's you know, the man behind the scene and stuff. It just made my heart happy today and thinking what does leadership actually mean to me today? And you know somebody would ask me that question. I'm not going to answer it right now but, chris, I think I want to hear your spin on where you're at in the season of your life, like what does leadership actually mean to you today?
Chris Hofstra:Yeah, that's a great question. You know, I feel like LeadScout. You know we've been around five years. The product has changed a ton, but the team hasn't really.
Chris Hofstra:It's kind of been me and you know a couple of our co-founders and you know just kind of hustling and grinding founders and you know just kind of hustling and grinding, um, kind of a uh, you know, owner operator kind of mentality which I think a lot of roofers here today can, can resonate with. And you know, now Aaron's been with us for a couple of years, um, we'll just started with us. We've got another person hopefully coming soon. Um, if she's listening, that hopefully is exciting for her to hear her say that. So I think it's the answer is I'm trying to learn that. You know, and I think part of you know, what I intend to bring to that, to this team and to leadership, is just, you know, getting to know them, getting to know why they're there. You know, it's kind of like when you made the switch to Equipter, there was a reason behind that. Right, there's some, there's something that's driving you to do well at Equipter, and getting to understand the people that are coming into Lead Scout and why are they here? Right, and and acknowledging the fact that we might just be a stepping stone, right, we might be a, uh, just a stop in their journey, right, and so what can we do to ensure that if, whether they're here for a few months or a few years that they're they look back and they said, man, I'm so glad that I had that time at lead scout. Um, and I think that's kind of. You know, my hope, my goal and you know a lot of that has to do with just the places I've been. You know the companies that I've worked for and the leadership that was there and the way that they invested in me, regardless if I was committed for 10 years or 10 months. In fact, one of the companies I worked for is a publicly traded national company because I came from the freight business and so you know I went to Fort Smith Arkansas was our corporate headquarters, and I went there for a week training and I mean this was incredible in-depth training on how to sell this product.
Chris Hofstra:Um, you know that we were selling and you know, in in kind of their storytelling, the founder of the company was asked one time when they're building this training program. You know you're investing a lot of time and money into these people that just got signed on. Right, what if they leave? Right, I mean you're giving them all the industry insights and kind of the, as we would say, kind of the secret sauce. Right, we're instilling all this information and downloading all this information. What if they leave and go work for one of the competitors? And I'm blanking on the name of the founder, but he said well, what if I don't and they stay?
Chris Hofstra:So the reality is is, regardless if they're planning on being there for five years, like you've been with EquipGrid for five years, or five months, it's our obligation to make sure we're setting them up for the most success possible and it doesn't really matter because we might just be a stop along the way and, unfortunately, if we don't do that and they stay, that's worse. Yeah, right, and I. That really impacted me and I think has carried into my role. Now, to answer your question is like how can I make sure that aaron and will and anybody that comes to lead scout is better off than they were before? And as a golfer, that's an easy concept. Right, I'm going to leave that golf course better than I found it, right? Um, and that's a job as leaders, I think, with our employees great, great response.
Ty Cobb Backer:So this leads me to my other question. So, with you working at other places, was there somebody or something that you've picked up, that you've implemented today in your leadership style?
Chris Hofstra:Nothing's coming to mind. Sorry, I didn't really hear my voice there. Nothing's really coming to mind.
Ty Cobb Backer:Well, the reason why I'm saying that is because you're talking about leaving an impression right on these individuals that that may stay, that may. It might just be a stepping stone. And this is such a great topic because I talk about this sometimes on our podcast.
Ty Cobb Backer:It is, it is our, it is our responsibility. And if they, what if they stayed right, if we didn't pour into them and they stayed and they stayed right, but but this is the thing it's. They're going to be different if they do. They're going to be different if they do think. They're going to be different when they leave here. So there has to be something along the way. There was there an impression that somebody left with you, with whether it was good or bad, it doesn't have to always be a positive sure.
Chris Hofstra:I think maybe, if I'm understanding the question right, um is just kind of that concept of finding the right people and you figure out the seat later. So I think part of ensuring that this stop if it's a short-term or long-term stop is the most beneficial, is making sure they're in the right seat and so. But you don't you typically, I guess you actually do typically try to fill a seat, but if you're hiring people the right way, you're looking for the right people and that seat that you're hiring for might change, right. So I think part of it is understanding, okay, what makes this person filled? How do we fill this person right? And there's all kinds of personality tests and things that you can do, and I'm curious to know if you've done that or if Quipter does that.
Chris Hofstra:We're actually not doing it at Lead Scout today. I want to but just understand, like, what's your MO, what's your modus operatus that fills you. So at the end of the day, you're not feeling drained, you're feeling full. That gives that fills you. So at the end of the day, you're not feeling drained, you're feeling full, and we might've brought you in for a certain seat, but maybe we need to move you.
Chris Hofstra:So I think maybe my answer would be what I've seen from other companies is hey, we brought you in for this role, but I think this role you'd thrive more and it'd be better for you to be, better for the company. So I think, just being willing to listen and understand, and the more time you're spending, I think, as a leader, you often start to shift your focus away from the customer and more to the people that are taking care of those customers. And how can I ensure that Aaron or Will or whoever it is, is in the right seat and thriving? And I have to be in tune with that, probably more than I was before, when I would know every roofer that signed up for LeadScout and I would know more about them right, because I didn't have anybody else here. I mean myself and the customer.
Ty Cobb Backer:Yeah, so great response. That was a great response, even though you know I was looking more for like, yeah, there was this guy I worked for. But I think the nugget that you just dropped was is the lesson that you've learned that when you went to work at other places, that they they've found other positions for people, even though they may have hired them as a salesperson, but they were better at marketing or something like that. And I think that's definitely something that a lot of companies need to be more open to as well, because there's also talents that people don't even know they have, either Right, or there's talents that you know us as managers or entrepreneurs might be blind to them having and I'm saying that for my speaking for myself, because you know I've hired somebody and Chris Baker is a great example of this Like we hired him for something totally different than what he does today and literally he's moved probably five positions since he's worked for us in the past six, seven years he's been with us. I would say at least four of those positions he's created for himself, right, and being open-minded enough to allow that to happen and not say, no, I need you over here, you can't go over there, you can't grow, you can't expand, you need to stay dumb right here. Literally, that's what you're saying to yourself.
Ty Cobb Backer:I've I've been in that position. I've I've been narrow-minded myself and thought that way, like no, you're more important over here, right out of fear of lack of sales if I move this person out of a sales business or whatever the case might be. But to allow enough room for people to grow and flourish in is is definitely a great mindset to have as a leader, right Like we, and one of our key factors that that that we need to have to is identifying that earlier than sooner than later is finding people's talents and and knowing their strengths and their weaknesses. Just because they have weaknesses doesn't mean that they don't have strengths. So it is our position, it is our job to put them in a position where they're going to grow and expand because they're stronger over here. It is our job to set them up for success and not failure.
Ty Cobb Backer:And I think, if you can keep that open mind and allow them to have an open mind and an opinion and a thought, and empower them and give them ownership in a project and create a task for them to manage that project, I call people PMs, like you're PMing this project, you know, and when you can do that for someone, like really. And then when they come to you and ask you questions, like no, you decide, and when you can say that and feel confident enough that you know in yourself and really that's, at the end of the day, it's about how confident I feel about myself and I'm, you know, I. I'd like to get some input and insight from from your experience of of your career.
Zack:Yeah.
Ty Cobb Backer:I know it's a little off, but this is typically the shit that we are. We talk about behind the tool belt and hence we're kind of the name behind the tool belt came from, like the good, the bad and the ugly, and I'm not I, and I know for a fact that you work for a great company, so why don't you give us a scenario where, like wherever you were before compared to where it is now and what you've learned from both?
Zack:Yeah, um, I think previously I was at a company that did exporting to Bermuda. We had customers in Bermuda that we would export stuff to, and I think where Equipter differs is in, like, their intentionality with being a family and investing in their employees. As far as just, for instance, we have a fully stocked kitchen that breakfast, lunch, snacks, like pretty much everything Like we, they give us to it for free, and that's always something that they've done. Since Aaron had a roofing company, and something small like that for me just shows that like, hey, like we care about you, we're going to take care of you, and it costs them a heck of a lot of money, um, that they don't have to spend on us, but they choose to spend on us because, um, they won't, they treat us like family and they want us to feel like family.
Zack:So that whole culture, um, that they've created, adequate there, um, and then just even um, like spiritually and uh, just caring about the person general. They've gone out and they've brought in legal migrants from other countries that Aaron has met through his missionary organization that he kind of runs with and he's giving them jobs here in our company and they're great employees and he cares about them, he cares about their family and he's very intentional in that aspect of it. So, as far as like leadership, that's something unique that they've shown, shown me in the company, and I come to really appreciate it.
Ty Cobb Backer:That's a great response. That's a great response. Now let me ask you this has there been something that you you've been taught by their type of leadership that you've been able to implement into your own household, like whether?
Ty Cobb Backer:it was a spiritual aspect, or you know, because you're a leader, whether you're a sales manager, you're the leader of your household. Yeah Right, so we're all in this building, we're all leaders, yes, whatever domain you're in. So is was there, is there something? Was there something that you may do differently now in your household because of the the impact that working at Equipter has had on?
Zack:yeah, yeah to your spiritual point, I think. I think that has been a huge thing for me and for leading my family in that aspect. It's not just where we're like oh.
Ty Cobb Backer:I'm going to read my Bible right now.
Zack:It's everyday things, it's everyday thoughts, everyday actions that I'm doing. That I'm doing with my family that not only do I need to trust in God or do I need to put my faith in God, but looking to him for guidance, for wisdom, for leadership in that aspect. And for them it's for Aaron, dave and Ray. For them that's huge. It's like whether we're going to be a $35 million company or we're going to be a $25 million company, like God is in control and we can trust in him and know that he's going to give us everything that we need. And like he's going to provide the people to work here. He's going to provide the sales, he's going to provide the leads generated, like they fully trust in God, no matter what, and that, to me, is very encouraging, but also very respectful.
Chris Hofstra:Yeah, I, you know, just to add to that, as as a fellow father and husband, you know, I think there's these times when we get to our end, right, and it, and it doesn't have to be this big moment, but just maybe it's just a day. We're having a hard time parenting, we just don't have the patience, we're short tempered or you know whatever. And you know, I think you know, I'm blessed to have a wife that cares about me in a spiritual sense. So when I'm having a bad day, whatever reason, a lot of times our first question is have you prayed about it? You know, and you know, ty, you always say I'm not a Bible thumper, but I get on my knees all the time, you know, and it's kind of the same thing.
Chris Hofstra:And where are we? Where does our help come from? Where does our support come from? Because at some we all as humans, whether you have a faith in God or not, you get to the end of yourself and there's nothing else there. Right, and I mean from a.
Chris Hofstra:If we're going to get spiritual about it, I think there's, there's a rhetoric, there's a message out there that says you just have to deep, dig deeper in yourself or something, but unfortunately, you're just going to, you're not going to find that help, um, and you're just going to keep digging it's. It's a bottomless hole until you find where the real help comes from. And I think so to your point. When you see a company that seeks the real helper, then when you're in those moments at home or with a customer or with people that you're working with or managing, and you realize that whatever it is that you thought you had you're failing at and it might just be that day or that moment Having an example of like where can I get help? And it could be on a fellow employee, it could be a friend. I think God shows up through those those scenarios as well.
Chris Hofstra:Sometimes it's just getting on your knees and saying, lord, I need help, like I was. You know part of my French I shit the bed with how I handled that situation with my daughter and my son. You know, I let my own pride or I let my own issues from the day get in the way, and I didn't. I didn't have the mercy or the patience that I should have had. That you have with me, lord, and so I need your help. So I, you know, I think, ty, you, you exhibit that in your leadership with your company. You talk about it all the time on the show and behind the show, about where you seek help, so you can be that help to those that that are at TC backer, and so I think that's a it's a great topic and I don't think a lot of people want to come out of the closet and talk about it, especially live on YouTube and Facebook right now.
Ty Cobb Backer:But you know it's a great and it's where I seek my wisdom and it's where I seek my, my strength to carry out whatever mission that I put us in sometimes or you know, but you know that that that's, you know. I like how you touched on you know he puts people in your life. He puts people in your life and most likely that's where I get the message that I'm seeking is through another individual. Not that I don't get thoughts right Nobody speaks to me but I'll get thoughts when I seek for the answer, for clarity and vision for the company, the direction, um, dealing with situations and stuff like that. Yes, I have people that counsel, but they're my trusted advisors and they they have the same beliefs and faith and systems put in places as as I do and and I'm not perfect, by no means and just to circle back on a thought that you were talking about, your daughter, and it's like that. That seems to be where I fail the most is with my own immediate thinking, like I have more patience and tolerance for coworkers, people outside of my household. I tend to practice these principles better, you know, with a homeowner, you know, or different situations and stuff like that. And at home is where that's where for me it needs to start. You know where I really need to shine like a diamond. And you know, when I started this conversation with you guys with my morning thoughts, you know what I mean. I have my morning thoughts, right, I do. I've got a couple of books that I read in the morning and you know I was thinking what leadership means to me and this I'm going to touch on some entrepreneurial stuff means to me, and this I'm going to touch on some entrepreneurial stuff. And you know, getting into business, being being a business owner for me in the season that I'm in right now and I'm not saying this is why I started out. Where I was going to start out in business, it was obviously to provide for myself and for my family and stuff. But being an entrepreneur, you should be in the business of serving others, okay. And if it's for profit, if that's your driving force, you're not going to live a very prosperous life, and what I mean by prosperous and wealthy, and you know those words that we tend to use for monetary sediments, for money. Right, I don't mean it that way, and the warmth that I feel by doing the right thing for somebody else is more important to me today than the bottom line.
Ty Cobb Backer:You know, when we had a conversation yesterday about when COVID hit and most businesses in Pennsylvania had just closed down and got a business and we elected not to and we kept anybody and everybody on, I sacrificed profit, I went more into our people and that was a true testament to where I really don't talk shit on the mic in front of the camera, because I think there was a question that came up. Somebody actually interviewed me on our podcast yesterday offline. They're like I want to interview. I was like where, right here. I said okay, so we started.
Ty Cobb Backer:He was getting, I was getting pretty deep with some of those questions and I thought you know, that's where the rubber met the road for me and there's been many times because of the questions he was asking me, for me, and there's been many times because of the questions he was asking me, there wasn't just one time where I've not intentionally tried to show, but just the type of person I guess that I am right, wrong or indifferent, and it might make me a horrible business person at the end of the day, who knows? But I know the fulfillment that I feel from the impact that I have in sitting at that dinner table last night and the impact that we're having on each other, all of us. We couldn't do any of this without each other, first and foremost, and not one time have we talked about money or or profit or any of these things. Yeah, yes, it's important, okay, but I'm not being ignorant to the fact that we're here. But what seems to happen is is when you get your priority straight like that, we get rewarded 10 X 10 fold by continuously showing up, suiting up and doing the next right thing, especially when nobody's watching, you know, and you almost got to feel like he's watching you all the time, right, like you're always being watched. Somebody it could be your kids that are watching you. It could be, metaphorically, the man in the sky. You know that's watching you, die in the sky, or whatever you know.
Ty Cobb Backer:So for me, leadership is about impact.
Ty Cobb Backer:Today, and the season that I'm in right now and I'm not expecting everybody to be kind of where I'm at, I've been very blessed over the years have made a lot of business, entrepreneurial decisions, didn't ask enough questions, I mean all the things I shouldn't, I don't even if I had to sum it up of, like, how we're doing business today.
Ty Cobb Backer:It is nothing that I've done for us to be where we're at today. It's because something has been watching over me and has placed the right people at the right times in my life to to work these things out. Where I may have made bad decisions or the wrong choice, financially or or verbally. You know what I mean. So, anyhow, I just I I really wanted to talk about that today, because this is our, you know, our Wednesday edition at our 12 o'clock Eastern Standard Time, behind the tool belt, and I really wanted to kind of get a little deep. And I knew, chris, I know you're down for that and I was kind of hoping you are and are. So I don't know where we're at as far as time here.
Chris Hofstra:Yeah, I don't know if Zach even knew what he was signing up for as far as time. Do you have anybody else at the booth? No, we might need to have him get back to the booth, yeah.
Ty Cobb Backer:Yeah, so, but thank you guys for coming on and being, you know, vulnerable and willing to come on the mic with us, and thank you for you know, because five minutes before 12 o'clock you're like oh, that's three minutes from now I was like yeah, yeah, but that's kind of how we roll.
Chris Hofstra:Yeah, it's kind of kind of what I love about it yes, right.
Ty Cobb Backer:So true, authenticity and being a genuine person and, uh, you know, doing right always. You know, I read something the other day and I know I'm not going to remember how to say it, but, um, doing something right can't be wrong, or I don't? I don't, I'll have to. I'll have to find who said it. Actually, it was Ted Lasso that said it and I posted it the other day there's some wisdom, 13 lessons.
Ty Cobb Backer:So go on to my Facebook. The other day I posted 13 lessons that I've learned from Ted Lasso. I actually posted those 13 lessons, so it's in there, and I actually got that from from somebody else, so I'm not that wise to sit there. I did write it all out and kind of broke it out a little bit, but obviously whoever wrote that, that's the story of Ted Lasso.
Chris Hofstra:He's like he's a modern day Jesus.
Ty Cobb Backer:Yeah, yeah. So I love leadership stuff. So if you haven't checked out Ted Lasso, I'm going to plug past Ted Lasso. Love it so, but anyhow, we're going to wrap it up. No, I'm good. Thank you, though. It's been great. Thanks, zach. Yeah, it's good to be connected.
Chris Hofstra:Yeah, always a pleasure, zach.
Zack:Yeah, I wasn't sure if you did you get your beard last time I had a bigger beard, yeah, now it's just a little scruff.
Ty Cobb Backer:Yeah, cool, awesome, all right, man. Well, thank you guys for joining us for our weekly edition of Behind the Tool Belt. We will see you next week for episode 268, and I believe our guest will be Matt Farouk. So until then, you guys, be safe and take care of.
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