like freshman in High School Passing periods Lunch Period like I was just cold calling gc's and developers you're a 16 17y old kid and you're trying to trade up enough to have 50 Grand what we're doing is building something bigger than any one of us building American infrastructure to build American Dreams you realize that's crazy like I love crazy that's crazy from South bin to Evansville and everywhere in between this is get in the show focused on the hooer state and the incredible stories happening here today I'm Nate spangle founder of get Indiana and I will be your host for today's conversation before we get into it just a reminder this episode of of get in is brought to you by cluster truck indies's goto delivery kitchen if you haven't tried cluster truck yet you are missing out they have over a 100 menu items everything from hand stretched Pizza to Tacos salads breakfast burritos and my personal favorite the pad Tha ad chicken they've got something for everyone plus delivery as always free now here's the best part if you order right now by the time this podcast is over your cluster truck order will will already be at your door it's that fast so whether you're catching the game or just too busy to cook head to clustertruck.
com order now and use code Indie n Dy at checkout for 20% off orders of $25 or more trust me your stomach's going to thank you reminder that code is Indie i n d y now let's get into the episode today I'm joined by the man the myth the legend will Schuler CEO and owner of willpower excavation a leader in Indiana's excavation and utility Contracting industry and will is also the youngest member in the history of YPO he is a hustler you may remember the episode we did with Scott lingal and Austin talking he was a shout out that started the conversation I think last fall maybe summer and I'm super pumped to sit down and talk with will today he's got deep Indiana roots and a strong entrepreneurial drive he has built a company that shapes Landscapes while championing values like ownership teamwork and simplicity today we're going to be digging deep into the birth and growth of willpower excavation that's a that's a dirt joke for anyone out there and we're going to talk about what's uh what's coming on the pipeline the road ahead and all the ways that you're making impact in our Central Indiana Community will welcome to get in ah super thankful to be here Nate dude I am pumped okay so I'm not even going to butcher the story that I think um Scott told originally but this whole thing started I I mean it goes back there's a family farm business this this journey through that got you to showing up to Hamilton Heights High School with invoice from a customer that then like launched your business right so take me back to early days where was entrepreneurship first present in your life yeah fantastic question entrepreneurship uh has always been present in my life I was born in Wabash County Indiana uh my dad's a farmer and and my mother was a public school teacher and so my dad my whole life growing up and and still this day has been an amazing entrepreneur that that I've always looked up to what school system in W bash County uh you know it Northfield Norman oh buddy you're that's that is the country School of north of w bash there you go W bash is funny there's a there's a County School in the north side of town in the cornfield so that's Northfield and then one on the south side of town in the woods so that's Southwood and then you got W shityy school but W how long did you live up there uh I lived up there my whole life up until uh 14 or 15 years old so okay whole family was originally from there and and family farm operation uh just outside of North Manchester lived out in the countryside and so it was a wonderful way to grow up and like that's where my story started was was growing up on the Family Farm we were almost raised a couple Generations back like it was work for everything uh it was a r crop operation you know 4H animals and stuff uh family had done Hogs and stuff even in the Simplicity of like we never had satellite TV or Direct TV like it was it was just satellite and you could only get the channels with Andy Griffith Mash I Love Lucy and then you had like 153 that had the radar on it dude and that speaking you're speaking my language I grew up I think I was like I don't know third or fourth grade we moved out to the country bourbon right like we were we were Triton which like we played Northfield uh in football every year and like I remember watching MASH and I Love Lucy and it was you're right I've never thought of it but raised a few Generations back yeah it's amazing it's still this day like I don't watch much TV uh journey I got home from church the other day and it was like I want to watch some black and white Andy Griffith like what a core value great show is is uh it's amazing so how did you end up from Wabash down to the Indianapolis area yep so it was quite the transition uh so us six kids and Mom and Dad uh were part of a bigger family farming operation and so I had my whole life planned out from seven or eight years old like I wanted to spend my life doing what Dad did go to go to Purdue like both my parents were boiler makers and and come back to the family farm operation and continue to grow that Legacy so that was all planned out and never wanted to leave W bash County uh but then some things started to Chang and I don't know I was probably 12 or 13 years old when I started to see changes in the family farm and and the books and all the things that go into a family business like that so uh unfortunately when I was 13 or 14 years old my grandmother had passed away and she was the bookkeeper for the family farm and and kind of the glue that held the whole family together uh and so that set that set the farm on a different direction where uh in family fighting and and there were some major issues where the other side of the family had had uh illegitimize some books and and it wasn't being ran as a healthy partnership or business and so that quickly spiraled into Hatfield McCoy's massive family fight Community fight uh and outf falling within the family and the farm and so I was 14 or 15 like I said when I started to see that that fall apart and and pretty rapidly it got to the point of I mean all sorts of threats and slander and and nastiness and theft uh and cops being called and just this terribly vicious story that developed and so my parents made a conscious decision to to kind of move us kids away and and it was it was a safety thing at the time like they wanted to get us get us out of the out of the community and out of the nastiness I mean just silly stuff going on so so they picked us up and moved us an hour and a half away when I was just 16 years old just 15 to 16 what grade were you in I don't know what is that is that freshman sophomore year yeah freshman year man and you grew up in a small community like those are your lifelong friends K to 12 and like it I had maybe 70 80 kids in my class and like knew everybody my mother was a teacher at the school she was the worst grade I ever got in school my entire of course she was right no one's harder any than mom is so you pick up and move where you guys moved down to yeah we moved to siso okay and it was no real connection like it was just a spot on the map I uh mom and dad started looking for a good place to move us kids to and and there's a family in Boon County awesome family the the lamb family Don and lamb they had been a fraternity brother with Dad in college and they'd always kind of farmed together and been good friends and so we'd always kind of came down to Boon County area and around the north side of Indianapolis and visited with them and so so Mom and Dad thought that was a good spot to move out six kids to so uh picked up and moved where are you at in the in the range of the six kids number five of six so you're the young side of that yeah yeah I got all the uh all the character none of the baby and is what I tell people there we go uh how old were how much space is there between your siblings he I've got triplet sisters uh that are two years older than me and they Juniors oh yeah in high school and they're like yeah we're leaving like sorry about trying to be the prom queen or whatever like we're picking up and Le that's really hard man yeah it is and then another brother two years older than that um and then a baby sister who's seven years younger than me is the six of us there you go um so you guys pick up move down to cisero and like when you I mean your dad spent his whole life farming y it's like what do you like what kind of career do you go try to find in a new place yeah so Dad Dad had transferred some Farm ground and was still farming a little bit uh and then he was always buying and selling ground he's a he's an amazing real estate entrepreneur and and he would always you know make money by buying and selling the ground he was farming on so so he never missed a beat and was just selling and transferring and 1031 and buying and selling Farms my mother you know retired or stopped teaching and she moved down and so my parents moved down we all moved to Cicero so us six kids I mean we had always we'd been raised to work like we had to work the Family Farm And we weren't paid for that that was expectations so then we'd ride our bike down or or drive the drive the gator down to the next Farm's over to go make money played some sports up until the time where I was needed in a combine or needed in a tractor and so none of us were super big into sports it's like Fall's a busy time in in a farm family uh along with every other period of the Season yeah right it's like Fall's really busy but at least just in the spring really like that summer it's pretty busy yeah so it's such a crucial part of my story is is that upbringing that life I mean pretty common in farm toown communities but the amount of school I missed to be needed on the farm and it wasn't it wasn't like unheard of or unseen or hidden I think in one school year I missed 30 days 35 days like cuz my dad would need me in a combine beans would get ready and and he'd send me a text at 9:30 10 a.
m. be like hey I'm going to send one of the guys to come pick you up need you in a grain card or need you in a combine or I would give my mother a hard time and try to hookie as much school as I could and Skip as much school as I could to be in a ripper or oh absolutely I me that's especially you're you know you're eighth ninth grade dude that's way more fun than being uh than being in Geometry or whatever and so so that starts to Parlay and as I know the story goes you come down you're going to Hamilton Heights I think for Indianapolis people they're like that's a farm school but like from Northfield that is nowhere near Farm school right but you're going to Heights and are you fitting in there are you making new friends again yeah I always love school was usually near the top of the class and I love to learn and so so we moved to Sister summer of of what would have been freshman or sophomore year and so I was more worried about job like I I just worked crazy hours and always had something to do it's like moved to a new area don't know anybody and and uh and so that summer before going into Hamilton Heights is kind of what started the excavation path didn't know anybody to farm with didn't have any Farm ground here locally dad was in a transition period with his ground and so I saw a sign on the side of the road outside of Sheridan that said hiring operators and laborers and I had called around a couple different construction companies and asking for a job uh in farm operations but i' always had this interest from the side in excavation because it does overlap with agriculture I mean we were always digging ponds or or putting in drainage or tearing down tree lines that kind of stuff and so so the summer there before going into Hamilton Heights got a job for for a small excavation company and it was a blast uh but then going into school it was good one funny story is sitting with the school counselor and this was pretty like last minute to put together a school schedule and we're picking classes and stuff and and I saw one and it was entomology I was like oh yeah study of bugs I like that and so I went into that class and I get a couple weeks into that class when school started before I asked I like when are we going to start learning about bugs and I said entomology is not the study of bugs it's the study of words maybe it's etymology etmy etymology funny story that I made it a couple weeks into class before realizing that emology is in fact not the study of bugs like I thought it was emology ET e t y m o l o g y is you see my confusion there and then ETO enology maybe that's the study of bugs anyway Hamilton hdes was great the uh the teachers were fantastic quickly made some good friends you know in the class I love that so you're working as uh a labor in construction nights and weekends and and quickly was operating and they quickly was like leading some guys and and trusted to be left alone on job sites and and I'm talking I mean homeowner septic sewers and basements and and just grading projects drainage projects and and the guy who owned that Excavating quickly quickly latched on like oh this is a farm kid I could run anything I could drive anything I was pretty smart with numbers and math and reading blueprints and so uh it was quick that I was taking leadership role there and and he entrusted me with a lot and so I think within 6 months of like moving to Indianapolis and going to work and being an employee at this excavating company at 6 months I was already like hey what's your thoughts on on this business or businesses in this industry like what's the biggest problem you face and just asking them these questions where did you learn to be curious about that probably my father just with the farming the farming world I mean I knew the a sum of the uh the operations and and economics of of business and farming and and I saw the challenges of of the business model in agriculture and also the the ugly outf falling of the family farm operation boy that's a rapid education of what can go wrong in business and and what business can be and Partnerships can be and that would kind of like maybe even leave a bad taste about farming just in general you're like yeah it it certainly left a bad taste like something I still kind of work through is is the idea of Partnerships and and how quickly Partnerships in business can get miscued or get sideways and dude it is we had we've had lots of people on that talk about that yeah and it is like a spouse like someone that you trust completely they say More Money More Problems right like when things start getting out of whack a little bit and so having control and being the decision maker and things like that like especially in your core business it's tough because you don't have someone to B bounce ideas off of with a lot uh but on the other side you don't have someone to like put their hand in the cookie jar and take too much so it's like a it's a give and take there certainly so you're you're rcking and rolling with the excavation ask him a bunch of questions looking for opportunities I think at one point I asked like you know what's your thoughts is there ever room for for me to grow into an ownership position or or anything and like to think back that guy should have laughed laughed me off right there it's like here's a 16 17 a 16year old kid asking if he could ever take ownership stake or or find a way to partner or if there was ever any opportunities and um but he didn't laugh me off he respected me and he knew I was serious about it do you still keep up with him yeah a little bit I I still you know respect him a lot and and we don't compete much or anything like that he's still in business and doing well and and he had told me at that time he's like well you I've got two boys in college and and they're going to come back and and and they did rett's running that business and and doing well and so um so from there I I knew as like okay I I see opportunity here it's something that really interests me I've got a passion for it and I saw a place in the marketplace for it um and so just dumbly I would say like I thought man I I could get into this and I called it a Craigslist Hustler like I was always buying and selling trucks and tractors and three-wheelers and four whe wheelers and like always tinkering always fixing uh I loved I loved mechanical uh repair and and just kind of always had an engineering mind so like I was already working out the Solutions in my mind at that time of I built a built an old truck and and had a little bit of money saved up from working other farm jobs and okay if I could sell this and roll that there and buy an excavator and and if I can get the cash flow to work it's like flipping the uh the red paper clip into a house right it's like you got to keep trading up you got to keep trading up okay so you get to the point where you have what does an excavator cost 40 50 grand for anything decent so like you're a 16 17 year old kid and you're trying to trade up enough to have 50 Grand I started more creative than that I started by renting equipment and so like the first job was was funny enough uh at school I started I started talking about this and what I did was I just had an Excel spreadsheet on my school provided computer and I just started researching any homeb Builder developer commercial GC like I'm just straight Google search I have no relationships my I don't have any family connections like I don't know you're in a place that you don't like your dad doesn't know anyone except for one other farmer in Boon County exactly so I just start making the succcess spreadsheet and I would just stalk them on Google as much as I could or or on the state database and and look up who their who their LLC was filed under and and all those kind of things and I just built out a spreadsheet of every home builder developer commercial GC who their owner was any contact information I could find for them email addresses phone numbers and so it was like freshman in high school I would try to get my classwork done fast so I could sit in a quiet spot and make cold calls and it was try to call five of them a day passing periods Lunch Period like I was just cold calling gc's and developers and and clients oh they're like yo uh you want to come to sit at the lunch table you're like no I got to make my five cold bus yeah and and I wouldn't like I would call these clients and I'd be like I could come by anytime after 3 o'clock today or four o'clock today I would never mention I would never mention my age in my circumstance for that I was in school and I would try to set up you know hey ask for an opportunity to come by your office look at any upcoming jobs you've got any issues you've got that I could help you on and like who was the first one that like booked a meeting with you a guy named Mark gradison was I think the number two name on that list and quickly got back to me and uh he's got a custom homebuilding business in Indianapolis and so so we met on a job site and it was like hey I've got this problem can you solve it yep I'll do it I'll do it for x and just went right to it with Mark and there was other guys to like like did he you walk up and he's like what the like who is this kid oh no I was I I matured pretty quick and so I always would avoid talking about age would avoid talking about anything that pointed to age or or maturity or life circumstance like I came in as professional and and and I try to keep it short and sweet you got a problem I can solve it I see as facial hair I've been trying to grow this since like 13 years old like facial hair helps he's got the dad's Rogue a on the cheeks right like I I need this beard to get this next J okay so you you're down in Broad Ripple and you get your first gig yeah rent a mini excavator from from uh from Joe brigh that owns bob cat Indy or owned Bob Cav Indy and so rent an excavator negotiated some payment terms where it's like pay for materials up front pay for for time and labor and equipment on the backside um so I could get just enough money in to buy some materials and get going and then it was just rent a machine for the day work a 16-hour day while I had that on rent and then off R it and send it back and you know rented rented rented and then at some point bought the first excavator and I did it by selling trucks and and flipping and and saving money and that kind of stuff and I guess yeah like I didn't even think about that where it's like I don't know what's the cost to rent a bobc or rent an excavator for the day yeah 700 bucks for a day so you got 700 bucks and it's like okay well in 16 hours I can get two I can get two full days of work out of one 24hour rental some of the equipment rental companies have got smart enough where it's like a day and then in fine print or eight hours whichever and so like you got you got to be tricky about that and figure it out wow so you're getting those first job and like so so the first one comes from what his name mark grattis grison I feel like I've heard seen the name right that's like a decent sized Builder to like give you an opportunity of the first one and you deliver on the Pro and he's like cool like yeah and like don't get me wrong the first one was like a $22,000 like probably manual shovel if I remember right around something and then it was a $4,000 and then an $8,000 and like it wasn't just what's the time frame on that where are you running like a 2,000 to a 4,000 to an 8,000 and rapidly to uh one week over the next like as quite quick as I could get the cash flow to do it I was rolling into the next rolling into the next dude and like you're uh 16 I was almost 17 probably at that time but 16 so you're almost 17 years old and you're getting checks for two grand like some kids will work a summer and not make two grand yeah but but also keep in mind like I had been working and making money since I don't know 11 years old like 12 years old again we didn't get paid to work on the family farm so there's a hog farm down the road and I would ride my bike or drive the gator or a four-wheeler down there and pressure wash hog rooms at night like after school before the baby pigs had come in for the next rotation of hogs I'd get paid like $60 for every hog Barn I watch so like I'd been hustling and making money and buying snowmobiles for a th000 bucks and fixing them up and selling them for 2,000 like just anything you can imagine I mean you're you're 16 years old what was fun to you like what part of your life did you look at and were like man this is fun Farm kids can come up with some pretty fun stuff so like we would we would go mess around I don't want to say like light stuff on fire but pretty well oh yeah tearing down trucks yeah tearing down trucks and building trucks like the first real business was actually will power and performance and I was working on diesel trucks for people in in the hay barn and at this time I was 13 years old and like tearing down LBZ durma axes and doing injectors and turbos and trucks and and I mean pulling Transmissions putting axles how you learn how to do that growing up on the farm I've been turning wrenches since since my hand was big enough to hold a wrench like I we were driving tractors before we could reach the clutch we would stand there to be able to push the clutch in on tractors and so it just comes with it like growing up in that way it sets you so far ahead and and just knowing the Mechanicals when you think through like parenting that way like do you think that's hard obviously you need help on the farm but like there's a mixture between you don't want your kid to ever get injured or hurt but you also don't want to baby them and like how did they how did your parents think about that the older I get the more I look back and respect my parents like my parents at one point had five kids under four years old love my mother man she is a strong mother to be able to turn us loose in the farm and let us run wild and it's like we had a certain area of boundary protection where it's like we're running wild but we're running wild on the farm so it was more of an early education on on you know PTO safety and mechanical and pinch points and like hey don't be an idiot put jack stands under that before you crawl under something and and Brace that up and and you know don't put your hands where you where you would yeah and it's like some kids learn by like they have to touch the stove but you got to freaking you see it and you get hurt I mean I always had a black fingernail or or something cut up and it's like you do learn by mistake a little bit but my dad and the farm hands did a pretty good job of keeping us safe but letting us explore and letting us learn our own ways and and uh which I think is a powerful way to learn nowadays you'd call that experiential learning back then you us you just call that farm living right so so there's one big inflection point that I've heard about when it comes to willpower excavation right is was your senior year of high school talk to us through that this big turning point for the business so it was just roll roll roll as far as cash flow bigger jobs bigger job bigger jobs and and then it was nights and weekends and hiring my buddies at school and you're employing your friends oh yeah within six months I had employees and within eight months I had a full-time employee his name is Tyler uh and ran into him on a job site and I mean this guy's 30 years old and had some experience like ran into him on a job site was working for a landscaper and and he asked me for a job I was like let's do it and so I would I would go to school during the day and leave him a list and be texting with him like you need to do XYZ shut up within six so you're like a sophomore junior yeah and you have a full-time employee and you're going to Hamilton Heights High School and I was probably I mean he's making good money I was probably paying him 26 28 bucks an hour um dude you realize that's crazy in the best way possible like I love crazy that's crazy yeah it was a good time and then would I would join him at 3 4:00 as soon as I could get out of school and and we'd work I mean he'd work with me until the evenings and he'd go home and I'd work all night and and then set him up for success in the morning did it ever did it ever get hard to be like why the hell am I going to school uh yeah I always enjoyed school and enjoyed learning and I was always pretty good at academics and so like I would find ways to go faster this was like in the early days of of online school and I figured out like I I need to knock out X Y and Z for my college credits and so like I did my four language credit all as American Sign Language online because I could do it so rapidly and so quickly rather than amican sign language online ASL baby but you were planning on going to college oh yeah my whole life I'd planned to I mean I'd look forward all my older siblings went to college my parents were both boiler makers like I I really look forward to that and and I knew I'd have fun and and be around great people and so I'd always planned I mean I would always set myself up financially I was saving for college and academically I was well prepared for college I even had scholarships and stuff already lined up into Junior and Senior year and then there's this inflection point your senior year right on going to col really like caught in this decision i' gotten far enough ahead academically where my junior or my first half of senior year I was far enough ahead on courses where I did work program so I'd go to school for three periods in the morning and I'd leave at 11:00 but the it was tricky cuz I went and worked for my own business got a bigger Taste of like how much I could punch through and how quick we could go well how did you even get cuz like did they look at you funny like you can't go work for yeah a a little bit awesome School Corporation awesome teachers like it was the kind of school that there is Teachers praying for you quietly through the walls and stuff and so I mean I was showing up to school with with work trucks and bulldozers like I've got pictures of semi- trucks and bulldozers in the school parking lot cuz I had to be at school at 7:15 and and I'd leave with them and so so the school knew I was pretty legitimate in that aspect like I wasn't hiding anything did the principal ever look at you like what will what the heck are you doing yeah uh the principal Mr Mason was an awesome guy the first funny story the first day at Hamilton Heights High School I made a couple friends and and we walked in we had left our trucks out in the parking lot and somebody said it was about to rain and so some guy went out there guy named Brent went out there to start our trucks or roll our windows up on our trucks and I I liked old classic trucks and so he went to roll the windows up my truck and it's crank windows but he doesn't know that he thinks you always got to turn the key on to roll up electric windows so he accidentally starts my truck but it's in gear it's in manual my truck takes off first day at Hamilton I takes off across the parking lot driving itself cuz he accidentally started in first gear and drove through the fence and out onto the track field and so we all run out there and the maintenance guy comes around like oh man you guys really screwed up and then the principal comes around and I was like give me the day like give me tonight look at it tomorrow and then let's talk about it and so the principal's like all right and so after school I made that guy who drove my truck through the fence go with me and we went and fetched a welder from the farm and a torch and we came back and we and we cut and bent and welded the fence back together that night at Hamilton Heights and so like from there forward the principal and I were good like he he he was an awesome guy and and uh that is so sick okay dude this is like a movie like do you ever stop and think that they're like man what you've been doing is just awes it's inspiring and it pumps me up dude like first day high school you're convincing the principal to like don't get me in trouble don't don't give me an invoice or whatever I'll fix this thing and you fix it JC heart company is your answer to navigating the apartment rental Journey with almost 50 years of creating enjoyable living experiences in Indiana you'll be sure to find your new home sweet home you're going to find 30 communities in the best areas Indiana has to offer Hamilton County downtown Indie Bloomington just to name a few along with five brand new luxury communities visit Home asjc heart.
com Nate to find their list of locations and reach out to one of their many dedicated leasing agents for a personalized tour tell them n sent you and they're they're going to take good care of you looking for a career in Property Management you'll also find a list of open positions on their website along with all the reasons why JC har is named one of Indiana's best places to work want to sneak peek into Life as a JC har resident or associate be sure to check them out on Instagram at home is JC har or visit home ISJ cart. com Nate one more time home is JC har man so so senior year they're like they know you're legit and you're like yeah you can go work work program far enough along and like at some point that year I realized like hey this is such a good opportunity and this is such a blessing like I really felt like I was on my path and I knew it and so I was like this whole idea of college and this this whole societal pressure and societal expectation of college like I don't care like I think I I think I feel confident that this is my path and this is a great opportunity how are you getting new business at the time gone still I mean just in relationships is is ultimately what it was like do good work for this guy and and then ask him about hey what about this other Builder developer could you make an introduction for me can you give me a a rough estimate like you have employees you're working senior year of high school like what kind of Revenue is willpower construction doing then my senior year I wrapped out that year at 1.
4 million well you're like you're like yo Mr Mr principal not only will I fix this fence I'm going to be the title sponsor of the football field what do you think about like that's so sick my junior year we made 130,000 that was the first year running the business uh so you went from 130 to 1. 4 what was the differ I mean to 10x anything is crazy what was the difference there yeah started buying equipment started rolling into bigger and bigger jobs uh you know my senior year I I was doing the work program so I didn't have to go and I graduated a semester early um and so I didn't have to be at school and and so hiring rapidly building rapidly what was like the first big break you know like the first one where you're like how the heck did we get there's an awesome company called JF construction Westfield Indiana now they're actually based out of ciso but anyway I cold called on them and and we had started with them by hey any opportunity I would love to help you guys out on so the first call I got from them I was probably a junior still in high school and it was a job that another site contractor had faltered and was halfway through and it was a mess and so I came in and looked at it with them and met with their owner and like I'd been cold calling asking these guys to come meet him for 6 months and finally they called me they're like can you meet us on this problem and I went out there and and I was like oh yeah I can fix it yep consider it done this that blah blah blah and I did have Solutions and so then it was like all right fix it and they were frustrated they'd been on this job site for months fighting against this problem and it was like I didn't leave that jobsite for the next four days and like four days later through the weekend and through the next it was done it was fixed and was like back and I think people are like saying oh yeah he's worked a lots hybo you did not leave the job sleep in the truck every day like whatever you have to but but we're going to stay until it's fixed like were your parents like calling you like where the heck are you my poor mother she would she would occasionally call me at 11 or 12:00 at night and she wouldn't say like you have to be home it's like be careful don't fall asleep drive and make it to school in the morning it's like looking back on it the amount of Freedom my parents gave me to do that is is insane but it's earned Freedom right and like and it's like you have to have a track record of not screwing off and like being dedicated to this thing and then you start to earn that like I don't know if that's totally a taught thing or like you're just I mean I think you're just built different which is so sick dude that's that's incredible like I don't know anyone I've never known anyone who knew anyone that made a million dollars as an 18-year-old 17 18 I mean right there it was it was a blast and so even the cash flow side like the the hardest thing I would say has has been the cash flow and like trying to control growth ad MST a wonderful opportunity and so a lot of it was walking this line of vulnerability that like I can't work for bad people like I got to get paid like I'm I'm too young I'm too vulnerable I don't have the financials do people ever try to take advantage of you yeah looking back on it there was overwork underpaid but like that was my education and so I don't hold that against those people they're business guys making a business transaction in a lot of cases and you need to get like uh some credibility under your oh for sure like like now you can come and be like like we do good work like I got a decade of experience how can I ask how old you are 23 he's 23 with a decade of experience in excavation and they're like man that math is it he's like no it maths like well you account for overtime it's more like 20 years but right like if you're rolling 16-hour days like you're getting double the experience in half the time man so like and eventually you get to come in and be like the the gold standard but early on it's like and I love that mindset too you're like yeah they probably took advantage of me I mean I show up as a 16-year-old kid of the job and it's like I I'll do anything it it was just saying yes and figuring out so you asked my about my B breaking point that company jrf like I fixed that job and then that opened the doors of opportunity like well do you want to bid this job and how about this one and that one and then I had some mentors step in uh and quickly taught me how'd you find these mentors they were clients or they were project managers for clients or they were estimators for clients and and I gave them enough vulnerability to see as like like I can solve that problem I can do it really well can you help me figure out what my bid should be or what my estimate should be they would help me on on some of the technical skills and so I was reading every book everything I could find like I was reading anything and everything I could about heavy civil estimating and job cost controls and and purchasing and like it just went from uh residential time and materials like couple thousand at a time to all of a sudden like I'm bid on $100,000 job sites $150,000 large jobsite what was the first one you got six figure six figure deal take five oil change on Michigan Road right up the road here and then the next one was probably a Valvoline Oil Change in on 96th Street uh over by Fishers and what did you bid that probably 200,000 220,000 if I remember right and that's just to like move not to say just move dirt but move some dirt yeah move dirt and put all the underground utilities and for valines you dig the basements you put in dewatering well structures and stuff too but here's how this works like in our world is basically they put out the bid documents plans and it says okay everybody who wants to bid tell us the number you can build it for and like that's the number so you got to figure it out and then you put that number there's no going back on it like they accept your bid and it's like I told them I could build it for 220,000 like all right let's see it and then and then you got to go build this thing for 220,000 and and there's not opportunity to say whoopsie I forgot this or oh I didn't think about that or I missed this and so I pretty quickly started developing I mean it started as Excel spreadsheets and I just obsessed like I the guy gave me some estimating books that his dad had had I'm talking incredible amounts of data on on Productions and efficiencies and install rates and man hours per lineal foot and like very complex equations when you get into it because I got to look at a blueprints of stuff that some of the stuff I'd never built before is like what's it take to put it in the ground materials equipment Labor uh what's your overhead burn rate you know what's your what's your production values um and so started as Excel spreadsheets and and I pretty quickly like figured out uh a good template or or a good equation that got me started down the right path to Bid and Win these jobs and then I won started winning a bunch of them and before I knew it I I was building a Sherman Williams and Bloomington and and building a couple of restaurants and gas stations in Indianapolis and and building some more in munzy in school as a as a 17 or 18 year old and so I was skipping as much school as I could and and just did the did the school ever come to you and say hey will you got to show up my parents kind of I think walk that line where it's like you know you got to make it to school and you got to not overstep and miss too many days so I don't know what my attendance was uh my senior year the day that I was supposed to graduate and walk and and all like no I was working like I didn't I didn't go to my graduation or I never picked up my diploma like it was head down do you look back I mean 23 that's 5 years ago yeah do you look back and zero regret no regret like I I didn't spend any time hanging out like that's some of the sacrifices of Entrepreneurship I spent no time hanging out socially I didn't go I didn't go out to eat with friends or go to parties or do any of that it's like it was 7 to whatever time at school and then it was work and that's all it was and you're getting these big jobs yep you're rolling hiring all the high school buddies hiring some more full-time guys this is like I hate to tell this story if you're a client currently don't listen to the first part of this podcast because it's probably is going to scare him but like my favorite employees were the ones who didn't have driver's license yet cuz they were just stuck with me until I till I took them home it's like I had 15-year-olds from high school uh you know younger classmates and they would leave school with me in a work truck and like we'd work all weekend I'd have their moms call me Wade kenan's one of them uh where Wade's mom would call me at like midnight on a Saturday and be like where is my son at like I haven't seen him in in a day and a half it's like well he's running a bulldozer he's running a hall truck bring him home in time for church and like I had a lot of people get mad at me because I would these guys would just be with me until I took him home and we were having a blast and did they ever like complain and or they having a good time sure no no I I was way overworking people and burning people out and and I ruined some friendships of some high school guys and some peers and stuff because they didn't want to work like that that is a when you're the owner you can see it I don't know if I'm as extreme like I I love what you got going on there but it's I can work till 11: 12 p.
m. at night and I have a problem like it's fun to me like uh building something is fun and seeing the product where where you get to the other side and you're like man that's a good video or that's good like for you I'm assuming it's the same thing like to get to the other side and like have another project done under your belt it's a great feeling but then when you're when you're paying them 15 20 25 even like you're paying them really well an hour even it's still like man like what's this like if you're not the owner I can see how they'd be like what's this all for right uh so so you're rolling with that you're work through graduation day I love it it's like all your friends are reading uh Lord of the Flies and you're reading estimator books estimator uh production data book from 2003 like I found I found some government uh reports of like how fast they could dig trenches in The Warfield I was like awesome like their same equation and their production data of how fast they can dig trenches in a war zone is directly applicable to how fast I can dig trenches to put Utilities in the ground I was enrolling classmates to help build these Excel spreadsheets and calculators for for aggregate calculators and pipeline runs and and uh and production efficiencies and and and hours based on based on conditions and variables and just building these insane I started Dayton Journey right about that time and I was emailing her Purdue business she's a little older than me her Purdue business professors as her tassie's theoretical uh business strategy and like limits of Exel how you meet Journey we grew up the same Farm toown she was County Fair Queen so you always got to have a crushing oh absolutely and then she goes to Purdue and you're like in between jobs you're like hitting her up on Instagram or whatever like no I'll set the story straight I was she reached out to me first so no she this was uh I was probably just out of senior year high school and and doing the dirt business thing and so we started chatting doing the dirt you got to make so then wait was this like a a point of contention not contention but like now you got a reason to take a break from something how do that work no I didn't she poor girl she would she would like her or start off like the first time she ever um came on a date her friends and her came out to a job site and it was like I'm Shoveling and talking to her while I'm Shoveling and running the excavator yeah it was she would have to come to a job site cuz I would not leave and so like I'd be in Muny at a job site and she would stop and pick up text her at house or pick up food and come out and sit in the excavator with me or sit in the bulldozer with me or sit in the work brother I mean she deserves like a gold star for that one holy smokes so there everyone else goes to college you keep working head down head down you're doing you do seven figures senior year and then what are these big inflection points of growth along the journey right so you 10x from your from Junior toor yeah 2020 was my senior year in high school or what should have been my senior did 1.
4 million the next year I did 6. 5 million how many employees are you you're 19 boy I probably had 12 or 15 you're getting these big commercial jobs yeah and it was just those same relationships those same cold calls like Mark in particular like I was doing custom homes but I figured out like Mark's got this this really large scale development company in the background so I was like Mark I would love an opportunity to solve problems there for you and so I would to solve problem whatever the problem is we'll figure it out and so we started by doing punch lists behind other contractors and finishing and cleaning up and just I want to be the go-to problem solved guy you got an issue call me we'll come fix it and they were frustrated with some large contractors who had who had done all the all the meat and gravy and potatoes of a job site and then that last one % of like the little p stuff that seems annoying to a contractor but is so crucial to to a homeowner or the final use product you know buyer how do you instill the same passion that you have into your employees uh for me it's been about transparency and and a and a common goal and a common core purpose and just being being real about like hey what we're doing is is building something bigger than any one of us so our core purpose is building American infrastructure to build American Dreams dumb luck like early on I just knew is like if people are going to trust me to come work for me I better walk the talk and and just be show them everything and be transparent so since the Inception of willpower excavation I've shown all of our financials every quarter to every employee and like sit everybody down do a quarterly meeting what we're doing well what we're doing bad how we're doing on safety and then here's all the financials like full p&l full balance sheet what our capex expenditures have been uh you know what's our biggest risks how's our cash flow what's the accounts receivable like I mean these are blue collar guys and so we all had rapid education together on building this business and how it worked and so I think that early on instilled like the right guys and gals latched onto that and knew that like Hey we're we're really doing something here and that's that's where the care came in man how many employees are you up to now about 80 80 employees we're pushing to do about 30 million this year is that wild to say or did you expect this I I think we're moving and growing so fast that like driving for more driving for more we need to pause a little more and say what a blessing and what a what an opportunity that our clients have helped us get here and our people have helped us get yeah you clearly ambitious right and you want to make build American infrastructure to build American Dreams that's powerful and I I I believe that you are walking the talk or walking the walk and talk and you talk to talk but you do also walk the walk we were talking about it before it's like you have your helicopter pilot's license and you'll drive around you'll fly not drive fly around jobs in Indiana and hover over and like see your equipment and see your employees working on the like there's got to be a moment of just insane gr like God is great there man holy like that core purpose has developed starting off like I probably would have gave you a dumb answer of like oh the best part of this business is is the jobs or the equipment or the X Y or Z it's like it quickly became clear it's the impact we get to have on people like that's that's the people in our organization and it's clients and its vendors and its Community as well but the amount of guys and gals that we've brought into this business fresh into the business or the industry or or into our company it's like we've had a lot of guys and gals come in and not have a developed skill not know what they want to do with their life not on not on a path and then we've put them around great people and taught them something and made them you know take them from a $20 an hour employee into a $40 and $50 an hour and making making great money and great benefits and like putting around great people and and all of a sudden it's like here's a guy that delivered pizzas 5 years ago or three years ago and now he's a pipe foreman and he's doing awesome work and he's making $100,000 a year and he's buying a house and he's found a great girl and starting to have kids like we're empowering him to live his version of the American dream like by far the most rewarding thing we can do is that impact on people it's amazing there's so many there is so many moments where despite the chaos despite the busyness like I can always feel that that hand of blessing and gratitude for for the opportunities like I deal with the stress and I deal with the pressure because I know that it could all go away today and I really think that that I would be just fine because I know that like this none of this is mine it's it's all his and it and it's simply passing through and all we can do is be stewards of it and so like it's such a it's a piece Within Myself where I know that I've been blessed to learn so much and be around so many great people you know an outside thing happens and every everything crumbles tomorrow we have another 2008 or whatever happens it's like I don't stay up at night worrying about that because because I know that my trust is elsewhere and and that we can rebuild and we can do this with good people and and the knowledge we've been we've been blessed to learn and and the path we've been on so all right when you're coming up like you're 23 now how much of it is you have to have blinders on perseverance like you know what the right thing to do is and how much of it is I got to get around the best people and take advice from people been doing this for 30 years first few years we're all blinders and head down probably the first two or three years certainly had to surround myself with the right people and iron sharpens iron so clients had step in and become mentors to me and and became close friends and who was like one of the early people that just made an outsized impact in your life Mark grison Tim bar and Jonas ludowski uh were three guys that I did a lot of business for early on they each called me Mark and Tim called me and applauded me like they had a moment with me it was almost like an intervention where it's like we love what you're doing you've got to find a sustainable Pace like don't give yourself a stroke by the time you're 25 like go find a hobby and get yourself more involved on the business community and and work on leadership development personal develop as hard as you're working on a bulldozer an excavator and I think that was a pivotal moment for me was I knew they were right but somebody had to tell me that for me I went and got involved in entrepreneurs organization and try to just start mixing myself in into more of the business owner community and and the bus and where did you how did you end up in YPO yeah so I was in EO which is entrepreneurs organization a lot of the same thing about YPO but I was in that for a few years and then joined YPO as well quick pause to tell you about one of my new favorite spots in Indianapolis Back N golf if you haven't been yet you're missing out this is the perfect way to get your swings in no matter what the weather's like outside this place isn't your average golf range it's a full-blown experience locally owned locally operated these guys are all about bringing the community together for a good time they've got climate controlled Baye great food live music and a bar that keeps the drinks flowing and if you're looking for a place to host an event birthday corporate outing bachelor party Back N is the spot they know how to throw down and make sure your crew has an unforgettable time so next time you're looking for a night out that's more than just another bar head to back Knight swing some clubs grab some 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com or just pull up and see what all the hype's about tell them you heard about it on get in I don't know if that's super common or not like I don't know a lot of blue collar people don't strike me as like I want to go join EO right like what made you want to go do that an aspiration to be around people whole lot smarter than me and and a knowledge that iron sharpens iron is all it was and so so started pulling myself away to to make carve out time for those events and and if you don't know like EO you have to make a million dollars or more a year revenue and you have to be uh the majority owner founder of the business like it's a very legitimate group of people to look up to like that's already one really really insane like you're making a million bucks a year and you own a business like that's a milestone then YPO is 10 million right 15 15 million and under a certain age right under 50 to get in and then I think you can you can but if you get you have to get older right so it's like you're you're getting invited into YPO so when I started in EO like I tried to hide my age I wasn't 21 I hate to like put this out on the internet but I had a fake ID from uh from from one of my employees and and and a friend who we pretty much looked alike so I was going to these EO events with with my different ID and like trying to make sure nobody knew that I was only you know 19 years old or 20 years old at the time and and and you're cuz you're building a business man and you're trying to get in the smart the into the rooms with the smartest people yep right and like that's one thing where I think early on right you got to have your blinders because you got to build you got to take nothing turn it into something but then it's the the age old adage of what got you here won't get you there exactly right and so and I think the the entrepreneurs Pride sometimes can get in the way of like you don't know you this I do this I do it the best like I'm I'm Steve Jobs and like what I say is is the almighty hand right and it's like this is how it needs to go and it's like I think the best entrepreneurs like I and this is how I try to live my life is I want to be the dumbest person in all these rooms oh yeah like I'm sitting here right now in the studio like dude I'm so glad that I'm the dumbest person in here cuzz I'm learning so much Li to dude like uh and it's always about certain things right everyone has like man like everyone has their area of expertise or whatever but the more time you can spend being the novice at something and learning something new man like that's what I love about this it's like in one week we go from 23y old building this crazy cool business that's like growing like a weed and like yesterday I had a rookie indie car driver on and it's like I'm learning like about the ranks of driving it's just crazy man it's like some of your recent podcasts like Chase Flashman he's in YPO with me and like I had never heard his business Story I mean even Scotty's brew house like some of the other more recent ones you've done have been amazing D people are going to love this one I can't like I can't wait to share this like I want to go edit it right now cuz it's such an amazing story and I think that a lot of people hear these and are like that could never be me right and it's like well you know if you do what everyone else does you're going to get what everyone else gets and I know that parents are really really like the safe route like I went to college and like did I do I use that much of what I learned like the actual books and the learn like no I'm not using ethos posos and logos for my communication degree like but do I communicate all the time and have I built a business around this like yes and I think that parents maybe don't encourage entrepreneurship enough cuz not cuz they don't want their kid to be go be special but because they don't want them to fail I'm now aware people ask me for advice and I I struggle to give advice because everybody's on such a different path and such different variable and in general like I don't give out the blanket advice to go be an entrepreneur it is a lot of sacrifices it's a ton of risk and like it's it's a it can be a very stressful and a very pressured life and you know there's a lot of people that I don't want to say aren't built for that but aren't don't have the right mentality around it from my perspective what I see and like what I'm feeling it's a lot of compartmentalizing where it's like okay right now I need to have my tax hat on and learn like I got to be as big of an expert right now about taxes as I can and then like building culture and recruiting employees and getting talent and then all by the way you got to know how to edit videos and you know how to got to know how to push dirt and like win these bids and sell your ass off like it's but it's like when you get out of the tax or when you get out of the bulldozzer you got to have to like leave that there for a second and go put on your HR hat or your Excel spreadsheet hat and and it's fun if you're a problem solving individual it's really fun but if you're one that like likes to turn stuff off and like I just want to leave work there probably not for you man yeah I I have asked people before is like I cannot wrap my mind around what people do with their time and I don't want to come off in the wrong way here of of like oh people are lazy but it is shocking to me like we moved into a new office at Keystone in 465 and I always thought 9 to5 was kind of a joke it's like no there's a lot of people that that work 9 to four and and we are always we're in an office building every single day will power trucks are the first ones there and every single day they're the last ones to leave it's like there's hundreds of businesses through this business park I'm like what do you guys do with your time what do you say to the people that might look at you and say like well life's about more than work and very true is a thing not for me yet I think that it's something that you know you maybe you have kids and you start to get a little bit older but it's like you got to make hay while the sunshines right like you're 23 you can really set yourself apart from your Pierce and you already have right like I'm 27 uh no kids not married yet like I feel this is the time where I can go set myself apart and go like build something special cuz one day there will be a time where certainly you you see that you know work in a bulldozer for 16 hours like I'd rather go watch my kids te- ball game or whatever or go you know spend time there the other thing that's different is like it's not work and it's it's sunny Beck has got a quote in uh in the Beck side where it's like do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life or or some iteration of that it's true and don't get me wrong there's bad days and there's there's work where it's trudging and it's miserable and it's just no fun but in general again I I know that I'm on my path and I was know I was made for this like I'm so alive for this I couldn't imagine not working 16 hours thinking about the Excavating business or 20 hours or or all the other impact that we have this is from a guy who literally digs ditches for a like you know they always you could be digging ditches and he's like oh give me the ditches is actually born to dig ditches man this gets me fired up it's incredible dude and again like work life balance I think is something that we've overcorrected as a society if you can be passionate about your work it's like what's wrong with being working six or seven days a week what's wrong with with making this much of an impact what's wrong with being this hungry for it uh and sometimes I think we sell ourselves short of like okay 40 Hour Week 50 hour week then what sit around and watch Netflix like sit around and watch TV scroll Tik Tok it's like if you're going to do that you might as well be doing something productive and fulfilling and and sustaining and and so I think this whole work life balance debate in our culture right now is a little misconstrued family events those kind of things like I get that a lot of us are using it as an excuse to be Kickback lifestyle things that AR aren't fulfilling their fullest Destiny and and it's like if it is true that you were put on the earth you're here to make a huge impact to do something special like you have a purpose you're actually doing yourself a huge disservice by not cutting yourself short you're cutting yourself short and I do see the other side where not everyone's wired that way yeah and what I was doing like back then is not what I'm doing today again what gets you here isn't what gets you there it's like that was unsustainable working 40 and 50 hour days and and contiguous it's like don't get me wrong I get six hours of sleep a night seven hours of sleep at night like there's there's healthy habits and so don't don't misconstrue what I'm saying but in general it's like man if if you can find something you love like I have and and a lot of our people have it's amazing was there ever a time where you wanted to give up no not a second like there's times where it's hard but you never like like like there's never been the moment where you're just like why the heck am I even doing this not a single moment in my mind like and we've been backed in the corner struggling with cash flow struggling with problems struggling struggling struggling and I've never been more alive there's been so many moments where no matter how hard the day is no matter how vicious of problems I'm up against it's like I can still pull myself out of the dayto day and put myself in another light and another perspective where it's like man how awesome how awesome that I've got these problems and there's a stoic uh I think it was Marcus aelius had said I pray not for lighter burdens I pray for broader shoulders oh and it's like man bring the pain I'll laugh in the face bring the problems I'll smile bring the bring the bring the stuff nobody else can solve and I love it do my like passion project right or my like free time thing I coach wrestling it's Shard so like for two hours a day during the winter you can't call me text me page me like I'm molding young minds is what we say and I always tell them it's like don't pray for an easy opponent pray for the strength to beat the good ones right like pray for the like if you're over there like I hope my life is super easy like you're not going to have when you're 90 years old what stories you going to tell yeah like I had a cupcake life and cupcake opponents and no but it's like man we were backed in the corner and I figured out this way to get us out of this and make payroll and land this new project and it was crazy and it's so simple it's like if I'm going to ask God for wisdom he's going to have to give me hard things to to to learn and fail at to build that wisdom it's like it's it's so easy and so simple and so applicable and so one lesson that that I write down in my Z is like buy your education I people that tease me about not going to college i' be like oh I I paid for my Harvard Education 10 times over a year and it's like I I'm going down through education and I'm paying for it just not in the typical way do you feel like people look look down on you for that that you didn't go to school some people do but that's of any society and any demographic there's dummies out there and so like but the people who know no and they don't look down on me and they and they don't hold my age against me and they don't X Y and Z but generally like Society I do a little bit of work now advocating to high schoolers and middle schoolers of like you don't have to go down this societal pressure Path college is a great thing our society has overcorrected that pendulum and like we're we're pushing too many kids to go down this this college path uh is is all I advate and and I say like college was worth it for me cuz I learned a lot about life and I made really really good connections and you needed the sticky point to get those connections right so now when I reach out out to someone from depal or I have fraternity brothers or this that like it was really good for that like did I learn how to build a media company focused on the state of Indiana like not that much about the ex's and ho that's all like a lot of self-taught stuff but the the mentors and the people like having that connection point of of college helps there there are kids that go there and don't get any value out of it because they the Str the basic structure is like to get send you through there go four years go get a job like you could have done that y somewhere else probably so here's the like the stigma around it is my problem with it is is parents and teachers and and people within the business Community putting a stigma around the kids that don't go to college and like a very real life example is a good friend of mine graduated high school top of the class went to a great College became a civil engineer he interned with us for a couple Summers and just incredibly smart gifted individual he went through four years of college became a civil engineer like he came back at the end of college little bit of student debt probably or most due and and he took a couple job offers great job offers and like his first year out of college civil engineer making great money you know high 60s mid 60,000 close close to the low 70s it's like that's a wonderful path he's on we need more civil engineers but alternatively like I've got other guys that graduated in the same high school class with him that came onto our team and learned skills and and learn paths and they they quickly climbed the ranks and became a pipe Foreman making an $85,000 your salary and like some of them in the same four years that that guy went to college to be a civil engineer the same guy climbed to be a level two pipe Foreman in our organization and they're making a 100,000 105 $10,000 a year and probably have instead of 100K in debt have 100K in the bank oh yeah and buying houses already and having great Equity built into them and like on an awesome path and set themselves up super well and it's not just my company like they've built that skill there's a lot of great competitors I have that would pay them the same money to go work there too so it's not just like a a unicorn no they've they've learned something that makes them so valuable in the marketplace that was this year that I saw that that uh example play out the argument that other people have is well I don't want to go to college because I'm going to be like a twitch streamer or whatever and it's like I hope it works but a lot of times like the argument is like I don't want to go to college because that's what people want me to do so I'm going to deliver pizzas at Dom and it's like okay well if you're you know like you have to still find your education you have to have this curiosity to like go out and make something of yourself Y and a lot of times college does give you the guard rails of like so you have four more years of taking uh guided steps towards something right like a lot of people that graduate high school and if they don't have a path Career Development like Milestones easy to go down the wrong road if they don't have a path a constructive path and all you're thinking is like well now I just have to work for the next 30 Years cool better get started on that and and I think that it is interesting you graduate college and there's not a lot more Milestones like career it's like a lot of times you think it's like okay graduate middle school graduate elementary middle school high school college for me I did or fellowship program so two more years and then after I finished or it was like now I have forever yeah what is that like where where's my like okay I'll turn 30 or whatever but like I don't know I just find that interesting man this has been an incredible episode I have some fun questions here at the end if you want to rip into them but I just want to say like it's spiring I know like I appreciate how humble you are but I also really really appreciate you coming on and telling your story like I think if in the right ears that hits the right high school kid or whatever it might be like it's going to make a huge impact yeah like an outsized impact in their life of I can go build this thing but also like the hard work that it takes to get there I worked 40 hours consecutively and like he's it's like no no no I did not leave this job site until we got the problem fixed and that's what it takes if you want to be a true outlier if you want build something truly special and I'm fired up coming out of this one man I do want to take just a second to recap where we are today uh in case any clients or future clients potential clients are listening and venders and stuff and so yeah like there is a transition where a lot of our stories today was was the piracy of getting started and the scrappy do whatever you can to get out of the co corners and Entrepreneurship and so we've grown into an organization so much bigger than just me and this story of how I got off the ground and so like today I'm the CEO and and I have hired everybody I can way smarter than me and way better than me and way more experienced than me and so like today we are very much the well-refined distilled Navy built with process and procedure and track record and road map all I would say is like it it's constant growth and so today there is a there's an entire organization of people much larger much better much bigger than me that that is willpower excavation that is fulfilling that core purpose and doing those things in the community and what's like the jobs size or scope or what things are you building these days we're heavy Earth workor utility infrastructure so we work a lot in the in the private sector building big box logistic industrial Economic Development communities and and business parks and those kind of things and then we build entire subdivisions uh infrastructure packages we put in all the water and sewer and underground and move all the earth work and then grow in the public market we just finished a National Guard base for the Department of Defense um we're building an entire new school campus for Westfield right now I saw that yeah it's been an amazing project we do a lot of lift stations deep sewer interceptors working with municipalities we're we're starting to starting to work directly with the state and and working on American infrastructure Bridges roads I mean building American infrastructure to build American Dreams to build American Dreams holy smokes dude first question how hard was it to get like certified to work for the dod not that hard don't use that against me but like every problem is just problems to solve it's just like a it's an equation of solutions and so it wasn't that hard and it was just hey we had to we had to meet this financials criteria and and this EMR spec and safety spec and this background checks and and X and Y and Z it's like yes that's a complex problem for to have an EMR below an EMR is a safety factor it's a complex problem but it's not you just do the right things over time with good people and so like I would say not hard but there you go right turns out things are pretty simple when you boil them down that way uh what piece of Machinery have you bought that is like you just like geek out on we've got a a monster excavator it's a PC 750 that we use for setting Bridge boox covers or really deep sphere infrastructure or mass loading and moving 15,000 cubic yards of dirt in a day like but what you need to know is like it is a machine bigger than this building no fence against your building it's very nice uh and and and it's really cool like we got to move we got to split it up into four pieces to take it down the road and move it to the next job site but uh like in the image the image it just looks like a a an just an excavator but like sizewise it's that big yeah like your head if you stand next to that machine the top of the tracks is about where the top of your head is Holy yeah it's just cool machines and even cooler as the stuff we get to do with them like it's horsepower and iron and weight and it's like it's nothing for us to thr throw 50,000 lb 100,000 lb around with 800 horsepower and and just cool stuff if if you're uh that is cool stuff yeah we're just little boys with big to dude you get uh little toys yeah put that on the t-shirt it's like uh like there's a whole Tik you could just like take your phone out and become Tik Tok famous in like two days for my male audience like this is what moving for the boys for the boys U okay well this next question is our younger years segment it's brought to you by our friends at or Fellowship there are great organization here in Indiana helping develop young Business Leaders across the state if I do if I'm not mistaken I think you guys are part of the or fellowship program yep we're getting involved and trying to do some hiring and and partnership with the or heck yeah well the question is will what advice would you give to your 22-year-old self so last year what advice would you let's go back let's go back and say what advice would you give to your 16-year-old self yeah work incredibly hard no matter you know what others say or what others think like work incredibly hard no matter what there you go David Goin says is if you want to push to your fullest potential like people will think that you are insane in a bad way it's like people will think that you are crazy for working that much or caring that much or or risking that much or like whatever that is and so just don't live in mediocrity push to your fullest and no matter what that is right whether it's your I don't like you could be training for a race you could be building a business being a dad whatever it might be apply to your fullest extent that God Made You for yeah I agree and and usually when you're doing something unique and different people are going to look at you a little funny and then they'll be like oh yeah like and then they wonder how you got there and it's like well hard work is a cure to most things if you want to amount work incredibly hard do the right things for good people and then it's just a then it's just a factor of time so yeah wow man I love it all right we got some fun questions here so people need to know that you do raise Black Angus beef cat a side hob oh yeah I do I uh I'm still very involved in agriculture I've got a heart and a love for it so I just raise enough to to hand chore cattle every night I tell everybody it's my therapy so I'm making a website right now where you can get on and and buy some beef so hold tight but it's a it's going to be willpower Farms willpower all right I love that so besides willpower Farms beef where is your favorite place for a good steak it is hard to beat good old Texas Roadhouse shut up I'm serious like a Fort Worth ribey medium rare and some Texas Roadhouse rolls and like some mashed potatoes and green beans top it with the apple pie unbeatable Texas Roadhouse you already here first but that is spoken like a true man of Wabash County baby let's go I love it simple creatures what's your most important company value everyone shovels is our first core value doesn't matter who you are where you're from what your background is like I'm no better than the guy who just started here today nobody's better than doing the work and we're all here to to chase towards a common everyone shovels I think ashon Kutcher has a good quote or story about that where he was like whether it was sweeping up the shop at his first job or whatever to apart or whatever like you're never better than the opportunity that's right in front of you correct I mean it's probably hard like you start getting success it's hard to remember that stay grounded sometimes and but it's the most important like when your when your name is on top of the biggest building it's like the most important time to know that everyone shovels y it's so much bigger than than even the work it's like weaving faith and our care for people within that it's like we're all in this thing called life together it's a it's a Brotherhood and a Sisterhood of like we're all here to work through it together and try to help you how do you balance showing people that you're not above shoveling but knowing that you your company won't succeed if you're still the one shoveling yeah and transparency and like the people who know no is is my work is done from the desk uh anymore but I'll grow out in the nights and weekends and join the boys and and girls and have a good time but uh transparency that people understand roles and expectations and road maps but still getting the job done and and helping each other out so I love that man and uh so if anyone else he Will's also a helicopter pilot yep so that was like when he got this side hobby de sided to pick up fine helicopters yeah what's been your best day trip in the helicopter uh journey and I had uh had been dating for two or three years Journey's my wife and uh I just threw in the helicopter and we flew down the White River and found a sandbank in the middle of River and and landed and had a picnic out there like dude it's a movie it's literally a movie people like if someone from Hollywood listens to this episode like let's get this thing produced and make it real you flying dude like you're making us it's tomorrow's Valentine's Day and you're making us look bad like Lauren's gonna listen to this and be like he didn't RI me a helicopter and fly me down the White River what the heck dude I love that that's so cool and so for those Journey's wife they just got married like three weeks ago two weeks ago three weeks ago where was honey what did you guys do yeah so we got married at the buil well event center right down the road here highly recommend that and then we went to uh bamp Canada for the honeymoon and did you fly your own helicopter up there no but I did get I found a helicopter company and uh and their pilot went with us but we went up flying and so around the uh around the Canadian Rockies and and the Purcells and the different Mountain Rangers was it hard to take some time away no I've got an awesome team where it's like I can I can be away for a week two weeks I I could be away for a long time and I've got a team wellb built that runs the business very very well and makes makes the right extreme ownership decisions so it's not hard for the business it's hard on me like I'm not a seven 7-Day vacation sounds terrible to me like I want three four days Compact and I'm ready to back to work like I'm missing it just did you bring some serious energy back coming back from the honey oh yeah I'm I'm like sending 2 am emails like what do you think about this idea maybe we should start this process like so when I'm on vacation my team gets more of a load from me me emailing from somewhere and and uh and bombarding him with fresh ideas dude I love it this has just been an incredible conversation an incredible story man I'm like I I'm not in the market to have heavy Earth moved right now but if I ever have dude you know that I'm call and I hope that anyone out there that's listening that might have some heavy Earth that needs to be moved cuz you're building American infrastructure to build American Dream to build American Dreams I was going to say fuel American Dreams build building American infrastructure to build American Dreams I think that's so powerful we've come to the final portion of the show I ask these same three questions to everyone that sits in that chair okay so the first one what's something the world needs to know about Indiana Indiana is a state filled with good people that are connected to their land their work their families their faith their Community it's like it's just good people I love Indiana I couldn't imagine living anywhere else or raising a family anywhere else I think that that needs to go on a commercial like I think that the the state of Indiana needs to take this footage and put that on a commercial all right what is a Hidden Gem in Indiana chills ice cream and delights in North Manchester Indiana you have got to go it is a worldclass experience with worldclass food guy named janszen kripe who recently has became my brother-in-law is a beast and making an awesome business out of it he's starting to push into other locations and and uh and he's going to do big things to point to your next question but you got to go discover chills ice and let it be known like I uncovered both of these guests independently like it wasn't until Janson came in and he started talking about will and I was like how do you know like he's like I know will way better than you he's about to be my brother-in-law and like jansen's episode awesome like you talk about totally different businesses but ultimate Hustlers like ice cream and donuts to moving heavy earth right uh incredible Jansen and actually I'm going up this uh this spring/ summer we're going to go up and check it out uh his story also again incredible like getting to throw up his first Little Shack and serve ice cream in the Summers like that's funny how that all works out where entrepreneurs find their way into each other's lives dude Jansen you're a killer uh everybody go try chills ice cream inight and his Hidden Gem was Rhinestone and Roses which is my wife and her sister which is and I actually and then oh my gosh this is like the most indana thing the most Indiana thing was your brother-in-law is Jansen y jansen's sister runs rhinestone and Roses I was down at my girlfriend Lauren's house and her soon Tobe sister-in-law Carly Fitzpatrick went to Purdue with joury and was like talking about Ryan and I was like I know about Ryan that was a Hidden Gem like Indiana is a big small I'm down in Batesville and they're talking about North Manchester and these like we've done a lot of work there dude it's a good spot uh there did you work on the hospital uh we did not we did work like right off the interstate that Tractor Supply that strip mall and stuff we did some utility look at that dude come on they're going to be so pumped that you mentioned badville they love it when we talk about the Bulldogs uh final question for you will I know you're out there you're talking to people you're you're seeing Hustlers who's someone we need to keep on our radar a whoer that's doing big things Aaron Brockett at Traders Point Christian church and that Ministry team the amount of impact they're having on people and the faith in the community in in Indiana is like empowering such big things and and uh and bringing God's word into fulfillment through people in their lives and so I would point to them and what they're doing I've called that my home church for a couple years now and it's and just went through premarital counseling with them and so it's such a blessing to grow in my faith I see like it's once a Sunday at least someone is tagging him on social media and something that he's doing you got to watch some of his some of his sermons I mean it's amazing and everybody else at traders point like I I I don't go the main campus I go to their satellite location in carel and um and it's incredible some others I joted down that like I got to mention to right up on the list like Don Palmer and Greg enus have you ran across I know I know Greg yeah awesome guys is that citizen 7 yes and Don Palmer's a guy I really look up to and the amount of connections like selfishly the amount of connections they've helped me make in the business world but just in general like uh the amount of people good people in Indiana like Scott lingle and and Dom Palmer and and uh and several clients that we have like Tim Walter and and Mark grattis and and hegerman like it's a big small town of great people and that's the only reason that we've had any Taste of success is on the backs of and the shoulders of of great people like that so our our frequent listeners are going to know that I say this a lot I think your story is the most applicable for and I'm going to give a little little story about like why all these people where it makes sense they'd want to help you so you're driving down the road and you see someone hitchhiking you stop and pick him up oh yeah every day no you don't yes no you don't yes okay well you might be that's why you're the outlier the if I'm in Indiana I'm in Ohio How The Story Goes how the story goes right the average American driving down the road sees a hitchhiker just standing there with his thumb up does not pull over and help them out but you see someone pushing their car you see someone on the side of the road like trying to get it to a gas station putting in the work putting in the work are you now it's 100% likely that I'm going to pull over and help can the rest of my schedule like I'm or I somebody struggling to change a tire I drive a work truck I'm like oh I can zip this thing on in 20 seconds yeah right and it's like you see people pushing their car so these seasoned entrepreneurs that have been around they see you pushing your car and you're not just standing there saying I have this idea and I need some help like no they see you pushing and they want to pile on and help yeah again you're the outlier cuz you stop and pick up hitchhikers but like but like people see you pushing your car and they want to tag on and help and that's like an adage that is just resonated with me throughout my entire life since I've heard it the first time that's all it is and and it's like you're out here pushing your car and it's that's my story is all of the people that have stopped to help push incredible episode you're going to have to come back on it and I we can even talk less about the journey and just more about life and whatnot but we just have to this is going to be a repeat episode at some point cuz like my whole day is like people I'm going to go into this meeting in like five or minutes or whatever and uh I'm going to bring some juice cuz I'm fired up man will thank you for sharing your story uh thank you for all the amazing work you're doing remember he is building American infrastructure to help build American Dreams yep thank you Nate thank you for listening to this episode of get in if you like what you heard make sure you leave us a review wherever you listen to podcast this show is made possible by our friends up at Sweetwater whether you're looking to start a podcast or take your content to the next level click the link in the description to see all my gear recommendations at sweetwater.
com if you want to behind the scenes look at everything we're doing across the state make sure you follow me on Instagram and Tik toac @nate spangle thank you thank you so much for listening and being part of what makes the hoer steak great we'll see you next time here on get in
