Shed Geek Podcast
The Shed Geek Podcast offers an in depth analysis of the ever growing and robust Shed Industry. Listeners will experience a variety of guests who identify or specialize in particular niche areas of the Shed Industry. You will be engaged as you hear amateur and professional personalities discuss topics such as: Shed hauling, sales, marketing, Rent to Own, shed history, shed faith, and much more. Host Shannon Latham is a self proclaimed "Shed Geek" who attempts to take you through discussions that are as exciting as the industry itself. Listeners of this podcast include those who play a role directly or indirectly with the Shed Industry itself.
Shed Geek Podcast
Transforming Spaces: The Evolution of Sheds with Cody Petershein
Join us as we chat with Cody Petershein from Yoder's Storage Sheds, a family-run business that's transforming backyard spaces across the country. Dive into Cody's insights on how his father-in-law, Clifford Yoder, turned a passion for sheds into a thriving enterprise. Discover the parallels between running marathons and growing a business and hear how Cody's journey from building sheds to leading sales helped launch their company in July 2020.
Explore the shifting landscape of shed design and customer demands, from the sleek single slope styles to the fully finished backyard bars and home offices. Cody shares how personalized customization has become key to industry success, adapting to the unique needs of customers who see sheds as more than just storage spaces. Hear anecdotes about maneuvering sheds through challenging terrains and the creative uses found for these versatile structures, from golf simulators to power-equipped offices.
Building trust and community is at the heart of Yoder's Storage Sheds' expansion efforts, as they navigate state deliveries and compete with big-box retailers. Cody shares stories of successful marketing strategies and the invaluable role of their sales team in building lasting customer relationships. With a nod to Ernest Shackleton's legendary perseverance, we discuss the importance of resilience and teamwork in business, highlighting how a positive work culture fuels both employee satisfaction and company growth.
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Okay, welcome back to another episode of the Shed Geek podcast and I'd like to welcome Cody to the show today. Cody, you just want to introduce yourself and the name of your company. Maybe a little bit about you know, how you guys operate or what you do.
Cody Petershein:Yeah, absolutely so. I'm Cody Petershein with our company Yoder's Storage Sheds, my father-in-law, Clifford Yoder. He's the owner, I'm the general manager. So yeah, that's us.
Shed Geek:That's you. Well, thank you for sitting down with me today. We really appreciate this opportunity. When we're on the road, it feels nice to meet with shed folks. It's kind of our people, shed people, so we enjoy being able to do that. I hate that we missed Cliff, but I'll tell you what kind of cool seeing what Cliff's doing, because he's kind of reinvigorated or maybe found. This seems like this passion of running.
Cody Petershein:Yeah, yeah, he's been doing it for a couple months now. He's getting good at it. He's a whole lot better at running than I am. Uh, I personally don't enjoy running, but not, unless something's chasing you right. Yeah, I try to avoid those situations.
Shed Geek:Well, uh, I think it's pretty awesome. Uh, yeah, I I've, I've watched him, you know, and he was talking about how he slimmed down a little bit and found that passion. You know, I've, I've sort of enjoyed going to the gym and uh, now in my 40s, trying to work on that a little bit myself. But man, he's running what'd you say?
Cody Petershein:13 miles today yeah, yeah, 13 actually. They just completed it about an hour ago. So, uh, yeah, him and his wife, uh, so, Naomi his wife, they did it together and, uh yeah, they both got it done.
Shed Geek:So, man, way to go Cliff and Naomi, who I don't believe I've had the pleasure of meeting, but uh, great job. And uh, yeah, I've been seeing where he's been posting things and uh, it's, it's cool to find those passions. But uh, shed seems to be another passion. Um, you know, I think cliff started back in South Carolina, North Carolina, building sheds before he came out here, or something like that. So, tell me a little bit about how, how uh Yoder's works, how you got started, um, yeah, let's just kind of go from there.
Cody Petershein:yeah, absolutely so. Uh, kind of a background of both cliff and I. Obviously, cliff's been in the shed industry for a long time. Um, I think he was in it. Well, he's been in it for about probably 15 years now.
Cody Petershein:So, you know he started, like you said, he started back in South Carolina. He was building for Graceland there and you know he built there for I don't remember how many years he was doing that. He did then get an opportunity to manage a shed shop in Montana, which he did for a year, and then moved to Delta, Colorado, which is where I was from. And, yeah, I started working with a company Cumberland there and through that, obviously you know, met his daughter and, yeah, we started dating and I was looking also for a change of jobs and he was like, well, hey, why don't you come build sheds with me? So I came and I did that. I started that February of 2015 is when I started building sheds and so built there for about two years. Cliff was there for about a year. They worked then with a company here in Canyon City which what brought them over here was New Horizons, and so they worked there with them in their the youth program program, so they were house parents there, and so they did that for about four years. So in 2016 to 2020, is is when he was doing that.
Cody Petershein:In that time, and let's see, I moved to Canyon here well, we're in Penrose, but I moved into this area in October of 2017 and I was working for another company there. I built for them and then a sales position opened up, so, and I was working for another company there. I built for them and then a sales position opened up, so, and I was always interested in doing something like that and, uh, you know, office work has always been appealing to me. Everything I'd done up to that point was, all you know, physical work, which was good. I really appreciate having that opportunity to do that, cause, uh, I think it taught me a lot and it teaches you so.
Cody Petershein:Yeah, being hands-on is the best way to start, and so, you know, I did the sales for about two and a half years with the other company that I was with, so that helped me out then when we started our own company in July of 2020. You know, we had the idea of well, we both know Sheds, we know it very well. We enjoy it. Instead of working for somebody else, why not do our own? Yeah, and so that's what we did. Uh, Jeremy would be cliff's son. He'd been building sheds for a long time. He built for a letter since it was 14.
Cody Petershein:So oh, wow uh, so he started with us as well. So, it was the three of us. It was Cliff, Jeremy and myself. So, Jeremy did the building, I did the sales and Cliff did the general running of things and kind of whatever needed done. So, we started then, and it was just us three. And here we are in 2024.
Shed Geek:I say the rest is history. As they say right Now, all of a sudden, it's turning into more and more and yeah, there's a new building, more staff, yeah, new building.
Cody Petershein:Uh, it's crazy. Uh, just this last winter. So, we always have a big Christmas supper with everybody. Um, it was very interesting to reflect this year, this last Christmas, on the growth that we've seen. We started out with the three of us and obviously we had a hauler then too, so there was, you know, four, four families pretty much. Um, and to look at it now and see there was 11 employees, there was 22 or 23 people around the table last time.
Cody Petershein:So starting out with, you know six, eight people, and now we had 23 sitting around the table, because we always invite their wives as well.
Shed Geek:Yeah, sure.
Cody Petershein:Because they're hey, they're supporting their husbands in the work that they do, that's right. So, we want to include them as well. So, it was very interesting to reflect on the growth that we've had and we're very grateful. And yeah, like you mentioned, with the new building, so we built a 70 by 100 shop, and we moved out of a 40 by 60 shop.
Cody Petershein:So, putting that into retrospect- we could fit the entire old shop in a corner of this shop and, yeah, so having that extra amount of space. So now we have two build bays instead of one, and we're roofing and painting inside instead of outside. It's just greatly improved everything. We're very grateful for the growth that we've had and to our customers who've made that possible sure?
Shed Geek:so, yeah, well, man, congrats first of all, and uh, congrats to you guys. It's uh, you know me and cliff sort of share that. You know that we both started at Graceland. I started in purchasing and I think I talked to him one time and said you know, I'm pretty sure I was ordering a lot of the stuff that you guys would have been using to build years ago, and we had no idea who each other were. So, it's kind of funny how yeah things like that work and gosh.
Shed Geek:That's been maybe 12 years ago since I was in purchasing and you know my time there was, was, was, was good, uh, you know, I just moved on to other and different opportunities. So, um, uh, appreciate that story, man. It's kind of cool to see the shed history, first of all, how things come together, uh, connect the dots, you know, uh, because the shed industry is a big industry, it's nationwide, but then it's very small, isn't it?
Cody Petershein:And the and the people once you start getting to know different owners as far as you know different companies. And you know they may own several shops across the US. It does narrow it down as far as the shed industry as a whole, especially at the Shed Expo which I'm looking forward to. You get to meet a lot of people Like a family reunion. Yeah, pretty much. Yeah, it's great.
Shed Geek:You get to meet a lot of people. Like a family reunion. Yeah, pretty much. Yeah, it's great you get to go see so many different people and yeah, we've been saying that for years it's like a, it's like a family reunion of just a bunch of big, a big shed family. Oh, yeah.
Shed Geek:Yeah, so always enjoy it, looking forward to it. I don't know if this episode would be out before then or after. It'll probably be out after, so the shed expo will have already come and gone by the time. People are listening to us. So, kind of amazing. But, uh, yeah, uh, first of all, the most natural thing, um, it's a beautiful area, absolutely gorgeous out here. So, we're close to canyon city, Royal Gorge, uh, area south of Colorado Springs.
Shed Geek:You guys are about an hour and a half out of Denver, yeah, about south of Denver, two hours, and uh, right at the base of the mountains and and all that it seems like, and uh, that's just absolutely gorgeous. But you know, to my surprise, um, it seems like you could drive you know for for several miles and not see any shed companies. Way out here in the middle of the space, there's a couple other shed companies. Way out here in the middle of the space, there's a couple other shed companies around. So, you guys do have competition, but friends as well too.
Cody Petershein:Right, yeah, all the companies that are around here, I know most of the people that own it. I would say, just to name a few, the Shedyard, Colorado Shed Company Dream wood Cabins I'll be Dirksen now um, you know, I've met the owners of all those companies. I haven't met the owner of Leland's.
Shed Geek:Um, that's what he sounds like a great guy yeah, um, but yeah, we got a chance to interview Leland and he really is and has a lot of shed history.
Cody Petershein:You know, yeah, which is pretty awesome. Sounds like he's doing very well in the shed industry. Yeah, I love seeing what he's done.
Shed Geek:Had a really good. I enjoyed our conversation when we got a chance to sit there in his office. It was pretty nice to speak with him at length and, yeah, it's especially exciting to be able to speak with people who have such long tenured history in the shed industry. I would be curious to know Cliff's thoughts on what it looked like 15 years ago and his opinion to what it looks like now.
Cody Petershein:Yeah.
Shed Geek:Uh, maybe we'll get those sometime, but uh, but uh even. Even in your own experience, you said, uh, 2015,. You started. You've got nine years in now. What are some of the biggest things that you feel like you've seen change just in this small time? I feel like there's been a lot of change, particularly in that time, but I'm curious your thoughts.
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Cody Petershein:Oh yeah, there's definitely been a lot of change. Obviously, the styles that go out is one big thing. That's changed the shed industry, from my experience has you know, it started out with basic. It was the very basic, just a standard, what we call a utility style, just a basic, regular truss, nothing fancy, not really any windows. Well, yeah, you'd have some windows, but loft, barn or utility, those were the two common ones that went out. Now what I'm seeing and we've even come up with a few new styles that well, there's one specifically that we've introduced it's a steep utility, so it's a 12, 12 pitch roof with a six foot wall.
Cody Petershein:it it's a castle, if you will yeah we've got one actually out here in the in the shop that's being built. I'm not sure if it got pulled out yesterday or not, but it's got six foot walls. Uh, it's got a 12, 12 pitch roof. It's a 12 by 24 goodness. From ground to peak it sits at 13 foot three. It is a big building now.
Shed Geek:Do you have any issues like out here with in, you know, any height restrictions or stuff like that?
Cody Petershein:we do. A lot of our bridges sit around 15 to 16 feet, so in a building like that, we're going to have to pull what's called a chapter 6 permit, two pilot cars, get it guided and specific routing that comes with that. So, yeah, we do have that. Um, there is a lot of regulations in Colorado when it comes to sheds, even when it comes to permitting the building itself. I know that that's been a challenge for a lot of customers, um, because of those regulations. But you know, hey, it varies by state. It's the state's rules. You got to abide by them. You do what you got to do, but for the most part it goes well.
Shed Geek:Do you run into more like state um uh permitting issues or like local municipality?
Cody Petershein:issues it. It varies by county, so you know it's not necessarily all the state, it's a lot more by county. Some counties don't care and they're just like hey, do what you want, yeah, um. And then there's other counties that they want to know all the specs, they want the engineering down to the t and the trust engineering and the snow loads and wind ratings, which I get it.
Cody Petershein:They're trying to protect people on their property. Um, and, and you know, then there's some that they just want the basics, those are the fun. Then there's some that they just want the basics, those are the fun ones. That if, if, the if they just want the basics, or even if they don't want anything at all, those are the fun ones for us. But, uh, we do have all the engineering, we have everything we need, even when we run into situations where, uh, we do need those extra things and we need to get them. You know, we've, we've always got those done and taking care of the customer and make sure they get what they need.
Shed Geek:It's. It's kind of interesting Cause it seems like, um, uh, you know, being from where, where I live in Illinois, uh, even at Southern Illinois, we, we do see a healthy amount of restrictions, but like the maybe the misnomer in my mindset is anywhere out West is kind of cowboy, right, you know, like any, anytime you go out West it's kind of like ah, there's, there's, there's freedom in um, every sense of the word, especially if you want to, if you want to bring in a trailer, a tiny home, a shed, house conversion, whatever it is that you want to do. Uh, you're probably not going to have to have all of these restrictions, or maybe even be modular certified, but not necessarily the case. Even in a big, open area like Colorado, you do still have some rules you're going to have to abide by.
Cody Petershein:We do and depending on the city, obviously the northern counties and northern cities are a lot more stringent the further south you get down here. If you get down into like Walsenburg area, they still have regulations but they're not typically as strong. But kind of back to the, the styles you were mentioning, the changes. Single slope has been another very common uh seller of ours and we've recently started doing well. About a year and a half ago we started offering a fully finished out building. Now that's with power, that's not with um plumbing.
Speaker 3:We don't do any of that.
Cody Petershein:We don't do live-in structures but we do like home office, so that's something that's been a really good seller for us, and the single slope has been a good pair with that. A lot of people like that um, you know, it's got led lights in it, it's got, it's fully wired and ready to plug in, and then we hook it up with an RV plug on the outside to where you can just pop it into an RV plug and you've got power to the whole thing 30-amp, 50-amp, Both kind of.
Cody Petershein:We do a lot of 30-amp, that's pretty common. So yeah, that's been a really hot seller for us. But yeah, kind of the biggest change which I think everybody can agree with is price. You can no longer get a 10x16 utility for maybe $2,500, $3,000.
Cody Petershein:You're looking at $5,000 to $6,000, depending where you're at. I know back east some of them are a little cheaper. Quality's still the same, but they're getting lumber at a little bit better price than we are here out west. I know further west you go. Once you get up into Oregon I know their. Their prices are higher too, but I think they're paying a little bit more for their stuff too. So that's, that's been a big, uh big factor. That's changed a lot in the industry. Uh, other than that, I'm trying to think what's uh, what's been a big change in the industry? Um, I think marketing and customer base has been a change too, because a lot of customers are going with.
Cody Petershein:They'll buy a shell from us and then they'll finish it out and live in it, which is very, very common this year. And you know everything's built to code. We're doing it all as the county requires it, so there's no issues there.
Shed Geek:Um, a little bit more work on the customers end because they have to do the final finish out or hire somebody, but either way it they still come out way less than buying a new house, because house prices right now are absolutely insane and uh I saw a demographic the other day that talked about that average price of a house and I was kind of surprised to find I think it was like Michigan or Ohio that had like the cheapest housing, like average cost Okay, and California the highest, which I kind of expect that you can, from what I understand you know you can pretty much get a box for a million dollars.
Cody Petershein:Oh yeah.
Shed Geek:You know, and you can weed, eat your yard. So, it's just a totally different experience, especially for such a big state, you know. But they have their population centers and things like that. You hit on a couple things that, yeah, definitely important the single slope and just seeing the new home, the home offices, felt like that got ushered in sort of with covid, a lot of people working from home and uh and uh, seeing the customers demand for, like different styles. You know, they've kind of, they've kind of um. Well, you know, we was talking to someone yesterday and said you know, when we got into this we didn't know we were in an industry, we were just in construction, right, and now it's becoming sort of grown up right it's becoming, uh, an actual industry where and customers are taking, you know, recognition of that and like their demands for what they want to see in the structure right, and one thing we have specialized in is customization.
Cody Petershein:We don't go too crazy with it.
Cody Petershein:You know we're not going to build somebody a shed made out of bricks. Yeah, as long as it fits within the wood category and it's relatively inside of what we do, we try to cater to that and I think that's helped us tremendously. Yeah, you know, we offer a wide variety of options and if it's something that's not on our list and the customer will ask about it, a lot of times the sales guys will come ask hey, can we do this? I would say, nine times out of 10, it's a yes. Um, and because you know it's something that's not too difficult, you know we can do it, so we'll, we'll figure it out. Yeah, and it's been very helpful to us to be able to cater to our customers, um, cause we've had customers that you know. They came to us, they'd been to other companies and those companies didn't offer what we were offering. They came to us and we're like yeah we can do that for you.
Cody Petershein:Uh, we have a specific customer and it's actually local, right here in Canyon city. Uh, I think we have a video. I don't think it's on our website, it's on our YouTube channel. Uh, Yoder's storage sheds. Um, she took a single slope and we did some double glass doors in the front of it. What size was that window on the end? I think it was like a three by five or a three by three, something like that, and she converted it into a backyard bar.
Cody Petershein:It's actually called the Bronze Mantis. That's an interesting story. So, yeah, we built the building for them. She got it out there, she did the full finish out. So, the reason that it's named the bronze mantis is they were finishing out the inside and there was this bronze praying mantis that was living around the area, and they kept seeing it. Well, it uh, somehow it ended up getting into the drywall mixture and when they spread on the drywall mixture, all of a sudden there it was plaster on the side of the wall, in the plaster and you can see it well in the building and there's the outline of it, and so, uh, that's interesting. They named it the bronze mantis and then she got one of those um, not led. What are those? What are those lights that you can?
Shed Geek:get uh, I would call them led, if I'm just. Yeah, it's a little round glass.
Cody Petershein:It's, um, I can't think of what it's called. It's a yeah, it's one of those cool lights that you can get and yeah, it's, it's. She put that in there. It's lit up. It says the bronze mantis.
Shed Geek:So a funny story, because it probably didn't have a name no, I didn't and that came together.
Cody Petershein:Yeah, she's got a full, fully functioning bar inside of there um yeah, she's got a little mini fridge in there for all of her stuff. She's got a fully functioning bar inside of there. Yeah, she's got a little mini fridge in there for all of her stuff. She's got the shelves, the bar area, chairs that pull up to it. So that's one of the fun stories of one of our customers.
Shed Geek:And being able to be flexible and customizable, sort of closed that it sounds like that deal for you. So, there's a testimony, for if you're not just mass producing as a large company and trying to get you know quantity out, but rather focused on quality and being flexible for the customer, there's an example of how to win. Oh yeah for sure.
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Cody Petershein:Yep, absolutely, and that's just the one of many uh that we have closed due to our customization. I mean, we did one uh actually I take that back. We've done several uh where a customer was using it for a living and they wanted a good view of the mountains, because where they were had great view on the property, and they want to be able to see that from inside the structure.
Cody Petershein:So, they got 11 three by five windows in one building. Oh, that's a lot of window. It is that's all window oh yeah, oh yeah and uh all throughout the structure. Uh, some of them were like several, three or four right in a row, but uh, what it does? It lets in a lot of natural light and it satisfies that customer's need for being able to see their views and so catering to that. You know, we won that deal. That was, that was one of the factors of closing that one.
Shed Geek:So, it's just maintaining some flexibility allows you to do so much. What are what are some of your favorite experiences so far in in the shed industry? Has it been your building side whenever you got started, or has it been since you've transitioned into the office side? Uh, we kind of talked about that before on air. You know, going from the building to getting into, uh, office work probably one of the hardest things is sometimes you don't know when your work's done right with the shed.
Shed Geek:You finish it, you look at it and you say, oh, look at what we've created. But with office work, sometimes it it's maybe like, I don't know. Did I do anything today? I know I worked, but I can't see any results of anything being finished.
Cody Petershein:Yeah, you're very much right there, especially on the managing side. There's so many small things, and one thing that's helped me is I have a little task list that I fill in for the day that this is what I want to accomplish today. As I accomplish them, I market complete and it works really well. This isn't an advertisement for Asana, but that's kind of that's what it's that's the app. They're not paying me to say that, but yeah, asana Wink wink.
Cody Petershein:Right, that one, that's. It's a free app and I can go in there and I can create a to-do list. I can create a couple different lists and then I can mark it as doing and done. Um, it's been very helpful for me not to forget a task because it's it can be easy for me, in the mix of the entire day, to forget a task that needs done and, you know, forget about it and move on two days later and all of a sudden I remember.
Cody Petershein:Oh, I was supposed to do that, and so you know. Having a task list and knowing exactly what I need to do today and check stuff off sure helps me out, makes me feel better. When I can complete my list for the day, I know I actually did something you know great word.
Shed Geek:Yeah, so I've got this saying. I picked it up somewhere along the way. It's not mine. Uh, mental notes are dangerous yeah, yeah, mental notes are dangerous.
Shed Geek:I'll remember that. I'll do that. I'll, if you don't write it down, check it off, um. I like that level of organization. I feel like that. That's missing sometimes in the shed industry. Some of the things I see. You know we wing it a lot. Yeah, we'll give it a shot, we'll see what happens. Maybe, maybe we'll get it. But easy to forget, easy to drop task, um. And then there's also this process of being able to get organized and find that development, create systems and processes too. That takes a while. And all the while you're sort of, uh, flailing in the water and you're, you're like I'm going to swim one day, just give me a little bit of time. You know I'm getting there.
Cody Petershein:Yeah, yeah. Kind of back to one of your questions about what's been the most fun. The building is a lot of fun. I would say I've enjoyed all aspects of it. One of the new things that I'm stepping into right now is deliveries. So, we're bringing our deliveries in-house and we had been subbing that out, but we decided to bring that in-house. Uh, we've been wanting to do that for a while.
Cody Petershein:It's just that the time finally came to do so. Um, so I am doing the hauling right now until November. I've got a guy that I talked to he's. He's out of state right now but he'll probably be coming on with us in November. Uh, he's got his cdl class a, which I just got mine, and so that's been a learning experience. It's been a lot of fun learning to do the hauling so kind of interesting. I was thinking about this the other day, me doing the hauling now, which I just did my. I did four deliveries now just just this this week. I got my first four. So, okay, that was fun. So doing that has now put me in every single aspect of the shed industry. I've built sheds, I've built doors and trusses, I've painted, I've roofed, I've worked in the office, I've done sales and I've done general management, which I still am and now I've done delivery. So now I'm in all the aspects of it and, if you want to throw marketing in there, I kind of manage our Facebook marketing too.
Shed Geek:A jack of all trades, you've got a lot going.
Cody Petershein:Now they do say a jack of all trades is a master of none. I don't know that I've necessarily mastered every single one of them, that's okay. I do my best at what I the positions I'm in I try to do my best at.
Shed Geek:Sounds like you're doing great. You say hauling has kind of piqued your interest as maybe an early favorite or as any one of those that you've done particularly stood out for you or been personally fulfilling um, I would say the office work has probably been.
Cody Petershein:I I've really enjoyed that, um, seeing the because I like numbers now and seeing numbers work. Uh, so when you can break down, especially like on the very back side of it when you're trying to work your pricing, and see when you can break down, especially like on the very backside of it when you're trying to work your pricing, and see where you need to be, when you can start plugging in numbers and start looking at percentages, that's a lot of fun for me. I've always enjoyed that. And then seeing those numbers work, you know you actually put them into the physical workplace and you're like, oh yeah, that, that that actually looks good, that works. Um, so that's been a lot of fun. Um, I know that hauling is definitely a challenge. Uh, it's an enjoyable challenge, though you get into so many different aspects of it, like one I just did uh, Thursday.
Cody Petershein:Uh, guy had really deep gravel. It's an eight by eight and for all you shed haulers out there. I'm sure that you know that. Uh, an eight by eight is very difficult with a mule, five and wheels. It's just not really safe or possible. So I tried it with that and then I was like well, it's gonna be safer for the building to you know, I, it's gonna be safer for me to just drag it, strap onto it and drag it.
Cody Petershein:Uh, I said it is gonna make ruts in your gravel. He's like, well, if it's gonna be safe for the building. The customer said this uh, let's just do that. So I did that, was able to work it into place right down to the inch that he wanted. He had a tape measure back there and he was you know, can we move this corner an inch this way? Oh, yeah, yeah. So moved it into place and then, uh, the gentleman had he was an older gentleman and he had just had shoulder surgery. I was like, well, hey, let me rake this for you. I know, I know I don't. Um, I made this mess and so let me grab a rake and I'll do this for you. So, I straightened all his gravel back out and he was real happy. He left his five-star review the next day.
Cody Petershein:There's reward in all of it, I know that sometimes it's not always the most fun when you get into a challenging situation, but the end reward of it for the customer, for yourself, feeling good about what you're doing that's enjoyable. I love working with customers and that's one reason I really enjoyed the sales too. Um, talking to people is something that I really enjoy. Um, you know, just being able to connect with them on their level. You know what makes them excited, what, what, uh, what brings them joy in life, what are their needs?
Cody Petershein:uh we just sold a shed not too long ago. Guys got it for a golf simulator. It's a. It was a single slope. I've been hearing about these like there's.
Shed Geek:Yeah, go ahead, I'm interested in these things that look. They look really awesome oh, yeah, yeah.
Cody Petershein:So, he put a golf simulator inside this shed um, you know, finding, finding those interests and you know what makes the customer happy, so we were able to get that one in there. I think we built that one as an on-site because we couldn't uh get it in there, but, yeah, that customer was really happy with his building um. So, yeah, the things we see people use it for is interesting anything from a bar to a golf simulator to, uh, just a shack up in the mountains to, you know, go spend a weekend at Uh, and then, of course, somebody's backyard home office. Um, there's there's so many different facets of what the shed industry has moved into and the uses for a shed, yes, uh, that's another big change that that has come about. Is, what are people using the shed for?
Shed Geek:Um, and love hearing people's stories about what they're using it for it's amazing honestly, um, because typically we're in this, you know the storage industry, yeah, so we're, we're storing, you know, excess and surplus stuff and trying to keep something maybe safe. You know something mechanical like a mower or a motorcycle, keep it out of the weather, out of the elements, uh, but it's, it's kind of amazing what it's evolved into in other areas of what you can do, where we can sort of infiltrate a space that wasn't necessarily available to us at one point. Right, because they just see us as an outbuilding or a storage shed or something, but now they do see the ability and customization and things like that and say, wait a minute, that could really work for me. For me, you know, whether it be an office or, and what's great is, they can get those delivered, yeah yeah, I mean, I've heard it put this way.
Cody Petershein:I know Jim from JMAG. He said this he's like, you can get your shed delivered to your house just as easy as ordering a pizza, and he's not wrong. I've heard him say that before.
Shed Geek:Yeah, I've heard him say you know, a lot of people don't realize it's like you know, you can. You can get this delivered like a pizza. Uh, we would actually. I've sat with him at dinner a few times and we would ask that question yeah, be like you know. Hey, if you got a storage shed today, where would you? You know we're looking for somewhere to put our storage. Where would you go and like find one?
Shed Geek:And not to our surprise, it seems like nine times out of ten, somebody says like I don't Home Depot, Lowes, Menards, something like that. Yeah, it's like man, we haven't even really peaked as the shed manufacturer or the shed supplier yet to really infiltrate that space in the in the consumer's mind. It seems like and, and we hear about like oversaturation, and I'm like maybe I don't know, I just know that now Home Depot and Lowe's still gets it. And I'm not bashing Home Depot and Lowe's and their sheds or anything that they offer. I'm just kind of amazed that, like you know, they, they have conquered that space in the mind of the consumer versus you know all, all the shed manufacturers out here, right, uh, well, very similar experience to that one time, Jim.
Cody Petershein:Uh, he was out here. He was right here in Canyon City, so we went to Chile's for lunch uh-huh and, uh, he did ask that question to the server. She, uh, she came up and he was like hey, uh, you know what are those things you put in your backyard, put in like lawn, lawn tools or you know stuff like that. She's like a shed. He's like, yeah, yeah that, where could I go around here to get one?
Shed Geek:She said Yoder's didn't she?
Cody Petershein:She sadly did not.
Shed Geek:Oh, I was serving you up there, Cody, I'm sorry, no, you're good he was going to tell me and she said Yoders, man, and you know, the sun came out and the flowers grew. And I'm sorry, not quite the experience, but uh, it would be nice one day. One day, yeah one day.
Cody Petershein:But, uh, she was like, well, uh, you know, I don't really know, she's like, uh, maybe Home Depot. And it is interesting because there was at that time there was three of us right down here in Penrose wow, so there was Colorado shed company. Uh, there's the shed yard and then there's us, you know storage sheds, and it's interesting that somebody that's right there in the city they don't even know about any of us we are literally five minutes out of town and so, yeah, I know a lot of people talk about oversaturation.
Cody Petershein:It's not necessarily so. Um, you know, advertising is a big one for shed companies. I mean, we have to get our name out there. Operating by word of mouth is no longer the driving factor in the shed industry. You know, you got to push your name out there and until your local people that restaurant workers, food service industry, all of them, restaurant workers, food service industry, all of them until you're in that market to where those people will name you off you're not there yet.
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Shed Geek:Good point and I couldn't agree with you more or be happier with the conversation because of the work we do in the digital storefront and trying to create digital storefronts and brands, because that's a hard thing when you think about um the marketplace. Some, some companies have done that.
Shed Geek:Naturally, yeah right, like some companies have done that, like Kleenex. I like to use that as a perfect example, because most people still call a tissue a Kleenex, when it's really the Kleenex is the brand. Or yeah, you know a coke, you know we went and watched a. We went and caught a Braves and Rockies game last night while we were in town. So yeah, it was uh awesome to be able to see him a big baseball guy, so like that was a cool moment yeah uh, but I took a picture of something because I use this quite often.
Shed Geek:it's like they were. They were showing pictures of Coke all over the place. They were like displaying Coca-Cola advertisement everywhere and I was like who doesn't know what a Coca-Cola is? Right, like everybody knows, but they still advertise One of the largest company and probably the most branded company in the history in terms of advertising. And like they still advertise, and for what purpose? Because you don't know, a Coke exists. That's not so much that, as much as it is staying top of mind yeah, well, it's uh that correlation.
Cody Petershein:So red and black, I mean, yeah, that's what now? I guess you could take that Milwaukee and construction world yeah yeah, uh, they. I think Milwaukee had something going when they went with red and black, because if you look at Coca-Cola, is it red and black or red and white uh, red, red and white, but then you do see, like with the coke zero, like you see yeah, okay. So yeah, red and white, it catches your attention it does.
Cody Petershein:When you're walking through a gas station, when you're walking through um like walmart, when you walk down that aisle, what's the first thing you notice?
Shed Geek:you see that, that bright red, red, you know exactly what it is.
Cody Petershein:You can glance at it, get it in your peripheral vision know what it is. It's in your subconscious, it is it is so ingrained that when you think, well, I want to go get a, you know I want to go get a pop. Well, what are most people going to go with? You know, they're going to go with what's in the back of their mind, with what they're always seeing. Well, coke, and I know there's Pepsi products, there's that too, and then there's coke products.
Cody Petershein:But uh, I would say those two companies, Pepsi and Coke, have done phenomenal at putting their brand in front of everybody and I think, until us as the shed industry, because tough shed has done that. They have mastered the marketing and I think they had something going when they paired with Home Depot. They didn't do that by accident and that is why when somebody thinks sheds, they think Home Depot, because they're at almost every Home Depot. You see, tough Shed is there and, yeah, they have done, I think, what the rest of us wish we could do, because they've become the rest of us feel wish we could do and because they've become the Walmart of the shed industry.
Cody Petershein:Um, I think I said that right. But like, when somebody thinks sheds, they think tough shed. Uh, I countless times I hear from customers yeah, I need to get a tough shed. Uh, every once in a while I'll tell people well, we don't sell tough shed, we sell Yoder's Storage Sheds. Uh, yeah, so you know, yeah, and they're like wait a minute.
Shed Geek:Is that a tough shed brand? Is that a? Yeah, you know they're trying to figure that out and we've actually had that experience. Cook was a big name in southern Illinois growing up and like so when we were selling uh for Ervin Stutzman, we were selling summit portable buildings. And somebody walks in and says, uh, how much are your cook sheds? And we're like I don't know same thing. Like you said, like is there Summit? You know portable buildings?
Shed Geek:and it'd be like I never heard of a Summit cook shed, right you're just like wait a minute no, you're trying to back them down and you're like wait a minute, and then you're like, wait a minute, I'm trying to sell to this guy.
Cody Petershein:It's, let's just, let's just get past this and yeah, yeah, at that point you just let it go and you're like all right, well, yeah, what size are you looking for? Yeah, um, so yeah, it tough shed has definitely done it right and they have put themselves as the go-to. Everybody knows about them, even your people that would live in inner city, that aren't necessarily even looking for a shed. They understand that that's, that's where it's at. So you know it, they're at a good place to and what a good name.
Shed Geek:You know like nobody wants to see like mediocre shed. Yeah yeah, weak shed, weak shed, low over shed. Yeah, the name Tough Shed. It just rings a bell. It's simple, it's easy, easily understood and has the you know that potential, if not already, to be a national brand.
Cody Petershein:Right, yeah, right, yeah I mean they had a good thing going. But you know our goal here at Yoder Storage is to make our brand the go-to for our local area. And I say local Right now I'm considering Colorado as our local area.
Shed Geek:I was curious. I wanted to ask you like from a service area, the roads are so long and wide out here and cities so far in between. It's not like in New England or down in South Carolina, North Carolina or something where the population is growing. I was curious at the entire state of Colorado. Do you guys get in New Mexico?
Cody Petershein:We do. I don't know if you've seen the little four brown buildings that are sitting out here all identical.
Shed Geek:Uh-uh, not yet. Anyway, on your way out out you can't miss them.
Cody Petershein:They're just right there at the entrance. There's four brown and I'm not sure what the trim color is. I think it's another shade of brown, but they're uh, they're. Those four go to New Mexico. Interesting thing about that customer he's already purchased four of similar size so wow, looking for eight buildings. So, um, yeah, those are going to New Mexico. We've taken some other buildings to New Mexico. I think we took a 16 by 44 or a 16 by 48 to New Mexico a couple weeks ago.
Cody Petershein:That is one popular area for us which I love seeing that we're getting into that. I want to see us hit Kansas and Wyoming a little bit better. We have yet to place a shed there. We have yet to place a shed there. It's a little bit hard to get there just because you know distance and mileage fees come into play at those distances. So, a lot of people are thinking well, you know that delivery is a couple hundred bucks. Maybe I should shop locally. But then again, we've had other people who they don't necessarily care Like. We had a gentleman buy from us.
Cody Petershein:This was way back when we started. I still remember it was a 10 by 16 utility, six foot double doors on the front, red siding, white trim, white roof. We took it up to the top of Grand Mesa, which is over on the other side of Colorado, which is I can see the Grand Mesa from where I used to live in Delta, and it got taken to the top of there. Well, this customer lives in Aurora, which is up by Denver. The thing is, the company I used to work for in Delta is the closest company to the Grand Mesa. They're at the base of the Grand Mesa, but that guy and through our advertising on google you know he found us and I let him know the delivery. I didn't let him know, hey, you know what? There's another company just right there. I'd advise you go with them. I'm not gonna do that yeah hey I'll throw him a price.
Cody Petershein:If he's willing to pay the price, I'll, we'll make him happy, yeah, and so, yeah, he was happy with the price. I think delivery ended up being like six hundred dollars, and so we took it over there, took it up, placed it, set it and then, interesting story. So the, the gentleman that runs the well, what used to be Cumberland, is now Dirksen, but uh, Daniel Plank. He's over there in delta. He likes the snowmobile, uh, up on the grand mesa, so he's riding around up there that winter and he finds this shed. Now there's about five feet of snow all the way up around this building and five feet of snow on top of the roof. Wow, but yeah, it was kind of interesting. He took a picture of it and he sent it to Cliff and myself. And, yeah, it's kind of interesting.
Cody Petershein:How you know, you got companies that are right there, you got companies that can serve you. But proper advertising, proper communication with the customer will still win the deal, no matter where you are. It's the same reason that, oh, who's that they produce cabins out of Pennsylvania. They're shipping buildings here to Colorado frequently as well as further, you know, into Utah here to Colorado frequently as well as further, you know, into Utah. So, and you know I'm pretty sure there's companies that do similar, similar products right here locally or in someone's local area. But customers are still going to Zooks cabins out of Pennsylvania and paying the delivery fee to bring it all the way out here.
Shed Geek:So yeah, they built the value in the customer's mind. Yeah, yeah.
Cody Petershein:They've.
Cody Petershein:they're a trusted brand, trusted brand so you know, developing that trust is the most important thing, and so you know, and that's what we're trying to do the fun thing about what we have done here in Colorado is we have there's a couple locations throughout the state where you know, we sold one guy a building. His neighbor saw it. He's like, hey, where'd you get that shed? The guy told him he's like man, I had a, I had a great experience. All right, I'm going to buy one. So they call us up. And then it happens two or three more times with several of their customers. So, we have throughout Colorado, a couple different places where we have little communities of buildings, especially in the San Luis Valley and in Hartzell. You know, we've got six, seven sheds right in one little area.
Cody Petershein:So I love doing that because what that does is that builds us a rapport and us taking care of every single one of those customers every time and, you know, making sure that everybody had a good experience. That's only going to keep us winning in that area. And so we've got another one in Pitkin, which is over there close to Gunnison. So that's, you know, that's about a 150 to 175 mile run, but we've got four sheds in one little area, literally all on the same street. Uh, they're all, and they're decent size, you know. And one nice thing is we have developed uh, well, I say we, uh, our sales guys are the credit to this. So, yeah, Dave Bontrager and Dwayne Schwartz are our two sales guys, phenomenal guys. They sell very well and I give a lot of the credit to them because they're the face of the company, building the trust with our customers and we've had a lot of customers buy multiple buildings.
Cody Petershein:Well, as you can see, with the four, I mean well, now eight. The guy bought four right up front and then he bought four more. We got another customer that bought one and he was like, if this one goes well, I'm going to come back and I'm going to buy four more, all identical. And he did.
Shed Geek:I was about to say. Normally those customers are like eh is he? Let's get through the first one, yeah.
Cody Petershein:So we didn't even deliver the first one yet and I thought he was going to wait until delivery and get that set. But I guess he had a good enough experience, uh, before that one even showed up that he came back and he got the other four. So, um, very thankful to our sales guys for being the face of the company, building that representation of who we are, and you know what is that message?
Shed Geek:Uh, like if you wanted to give that message to your customer if they happened upon this video, or you shared it on your social or whatever, it would look like what. What is your message to the potential customer of what Yoder's is Absolutely so uh?
Speaker 3:This is James Price of Shed Pro on faith and business. We've heard that suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character. Character produces hope. One of the greatest examples of this that I've seen is the story of Ernest Shackleton.
Speaker 3:In 1914, his team and men set out to cross the Antarctica. The ship got stuck in the ice for over ten months In complete darkness. There was no daylight. Eventually the ship was crushed by the pressure of the ice and it forced the captain and crew to live on the ice for over five months. Then the ice began to thaw and with that it started to break up, forcing the team again to get into the three small lifeboats.
Speaker 3:From there they traveled for five days and found a small rock island. They couldn't live there, they couldn't survive there, so they decided to send five guys in one of the lifeboats. From there those guys had to travel 800 miles by a lifeboat, 16 days in the most dangerous ocean. They came to a land, to another island. They knew on the other side was the port city that they could find rescue, but what stood between them was a mountain that no one had ever crossed, no one had ever climbed before and they had no real climbing gear. Eventually they made it. They reached the port city and from there they kept enduring. They found a boat and traveled back four months to save the rest of the crew. In total it took over two years, but not one man died. Ernest Shackleton's story shows us a great example of how suffering was producing endurance, and endurance produced character, and that character produced hope in the crew. We're given that opportunity in our businesses and we produce hope in those around us. This is James Price. Thanks for listening.
Cody Petershein:Well, who are we at Yoder's Storage Sheds? We're a family owned and operated business. We strive to give the best customer service in the entire industry. That is our goal. We want every single one of our customers to have the best experience that they've ever had buying anything, and you know honoring our word and dedicating ourselves to a high quality product and being loyal to our customers. If the customer was not satisfied, we want to find out why.
Cody Petershein:And then we want to resolve that and repair whatever was wrong and bring their level of um, you know respect of us as a company and knowing that when we say something we're going to keep our word and we're going to do it and we're going to leave them feeling satisfied more than satisfied with their building, you know and dedicating ourselves to the highest quality product possible.
Shed Geek:Man. We've interviewed a lot of people and it's one of my favorite answers. Cody, I think you're very complete in your statement for what you feel about your customer and I feel like that just comes across as genuine, and I think that that, and what you were saying earlier about building trust it's something that we've been trying to build in the industry for a long time, because people do buy from people that they trust, they feel secure, they feel safe, because there's so many negative experiences and sales transactions in so many different products of our own life as a consumer, not just as a salesperson or a manager of our organization, but like we, we gauge our own selves by our experiences. Yeah, you know, so we look at, like, what we're doing and putting out there as an example.
Shed Geek:Uh, when we, when we become the consumer and purchase and I don't I won't say perfected, that's probably not the right word but I I got better at sales, I get better at podcasting anything, whatever it is based off of what I'm seeing in others and my experiences with others. Yeah, so that that to me, when you become a consumer, it drives really uh something in you to want to be like. I don't want my customer to experience this Right. I don't want them to feel like I feel right now in a negative experience. So, man, believe it or not, 46 minutes goes by so quick.
Cody Petershein:It really does.
Shed Geek:Yeah, I try to tell people that all the time. It's kind of amazing at how fast it goes. Just love what you guys are doing, enjoy getting to, like, follow along and watch you guys's progress as you continue to expand, uh, here in Colorado, certainly thankful that you would sit down and have a conversation with me. Anything else that you want to share before I, I I go to this, this uh, and you can be thinking on this. Maybe we'll give an answer, but I've been doing this for a while and it's been fun is letting you turn around and ask some questions.
Shed Geek:Where I've been grilling you this whole time, uh of me, whether it's shed related, uh, podcast related, marketing or whatever, just in full transparency, uh, happy to answer in the best way I know how. But, but, um, before that, is there just anything else that you want to? You know, carry on, or any shout outs or anything that you want to do, uh, or to your customers, or anything else that you want to say on behalf of the owners before we do that, Absolutely Well.
Cody Petershein:Yeah, I've gave a shout-out to several of our people our sales guys, Dave and Dwayne. I also want to give a shout-out to our production team, because we couldn't do what we do without them Jamie Lapp, Landon Stolstfus, Glenn Yoder, which is actually Cliff's brother, and then Vince Miller he does our painting and roofing, and then our on-site crew, Marlon Yoder, his brother, junior, and I think they have another guy working for them and so, yeah, they do good work, they keep us rolling, they make happen what we need to make happen. We can put all the words together in the office and all the stuff here, but in the end, the product that they put out is what's satisfying the customer. So, yeah, forever grateful to our production team and what they do, because they're producing the end product that the customer is going to see and look at every day.
Cody Petershein:Yeah, and if that's done right, that customer can be thankful every day that they look at that shed and think I'd made the right choice. You know, I I got exactly what I wanted and it's perfect so yeah, word they're, they're the that, they're one of the main cogs of the machine. Yeah, every aspect has its need. You think of a business as a machine. You can't do one without the other. That's right.
Cody Petershein:You know you can have the best sales team in the world, but if the production team isn't what they need to be, the company's not going to do well, and vice versa. And then then you know management that's another big one. But yeah, I think the biggest driver of the industry is the production team. So, making sure that they're taken care of and getting what they need, uh, and making sure they're happy when they come to work. You know, creating a culture that's another big thing about Yoder's is we try to provide a work culture within the shop and the office together that everybody has fun, everybody loves coming to work and everybody loves seeing each other.
Cody Petershein:Because good relationships and that's one thing I've learned this year is relationships is probably one of the most important things personally and in business. Relationships with customers number one, but also I think the main part of that is also relationships with your people. You know the team that operates the business is it's a team. You know the sales team, the build team, um, the management, the hauling all of that working together cohesively is that's what's going to make or break a business and done correctly, it'll be a very high functioning business.
Shed Geek:And I love that. You said fun. You know it. It seems like it's all work all the time and you know people love fun. You know we're, we're, we. We like to think that we're selling fun a little bit here with the podcast, right, like you know we're, we're, it doesn't have to be all business, it can be uh enjoyable. Obviously, normally I put on my little bow tie and suspenders and uh even poke fun at myself a little bit for being a shed geek.
Shed Geek:But when it's all said and done, I think, uh, life doesn't have to be so serious. I think the lord gives us sense of humor. I think it's okay to laugh and joke and cut up and create that good culture where people just really want to come to work.
Cody Petershein:One of the comments that was made by one of our sales guys. He told me the other day he's like I love coming to work. I wake up in the morning and I am excited to come and do my work and make the phone calls.
Shed Geek:It's one of the best testimonies you can honestly get.
Cody Petershein:It is and and honestly it, it, uh, it moved me when I heard that. I was like that is awesome, that is.
Speaker 4:That is what I want I.
Cody Petershein:I want all of our guys to feel that way, Not because I, I want them to feel that way.
Shed Geek:I want them to be genuine, not not.
Cody Petershein:Not just that you want it, but you want them to actually feel that man and I.
Shed Geek:I feel that statement so hard right now, Like that makes so much sense to me, because you can want it, but you can't. You can't make them want it. Right, like you got to figure out? What is the? What are those things that you just said? A mouthful there that I'm going to be chewing on. I feel like all day Cause. Um, I mean, that's where I, that's where I'm at, I'm 43 now myself and I'm like gosh, I never saw myself doing this. I'm driving out here, I'm looking at the mountains and I'm like never would have had this opportunity, you know, and we had to create this on our own, you know, and it was like man's you, we put our nose to the grindstone and it's just been, it's just been excellent. I. I don't think I've had a career or a job or anything in any way, shape or form that I could be as happy as, like what I'm doing now, and you're always like waiting for the other shoe to drop and it's like oh no, you know what I mean.
Shed Geek:Where's it coming from? I hope it doesn't go away, yeah, but it's. It's really been just a yeah. So, like I can echo the sentiments and the testimony of your guy there, it's nice to like really truly enjoy it. I love it that you guys have created that culture. Congratulations to you guys. Well, thank you.
Cody Petershein:Yeah, one thing that's we try to drive that. I mean these are just the small things, and obviously it goes way deeper than this, but some of the face value things that we do. You know we always bring in donuts every Monday morning.
Shed Geek:Oh man, Any of you shed guys that are in the area? A man after my own heart.
Cody Petershein:Oh yeah, donuts are the way to go, so any shed people coming through Penrose, Colorado on Monday morning stop in, we'll have some donuts for you. Oh man Well, hang out a little bit. And then, on Friday we take everybody out to lunch.
Shed Geek:That's great.
Cody Petershein:Shop takes care of that. We take all the shop guys, office guys. We all go out to lunch and do that together. It's something that everybody can look forward to on a Friday.
Shed Geek:For sure, take notes.
Cody Petershein:Shed Industry Take notes today, I know there's a lot of companies that do that as a culture and I tell you for those of you that don't I'm not bashing you at all, but try it. Try it once, see how much it builds you guys.
Shed Geek:It's been a lot of fun for us. Start eating those donuts every Monday and lunch every Friday with the crew. You're going to start running like Cliff did. Huh, yeah, yeah, but you know what?
Cody Petershein:the.
Cody Petershein:The end result of relationships is it's so much better oh yeah because the camaraderie that we can build, uh, with everybody, especially when we're all sitting around the table at a restaurant, we're all having a good time, we're all having fun, yeah, um, you know it's, it's I wouldn't trade that for anything the, the relationships that we can all have together because we can all go do it together and it's not work related, it's, yeah, uh, I think one time we took everybody to top golf, we hit a goal oh yeah, took everybody to top golf, that was oh we all had a blast um so I remember JMAG did that for all the dealers that that was a blast who wouldn't enjoy top golf, right?
Shed Geek:right, like just going and hanging out with people and things like that. Yeah, dude, those are just things that you have to do, because nobody wants to wake up every day disappointed or frustrated or hiding or holding on to something that they're not transparent with.
Shed Geek:with you know, management, and it's like you said you want them to have that genuine testimony of like man I really enjoy getting up and come to work, because there's just so much mundane in the world today that, like you know, we need to be able to be honest with each other and have those conversations. And, man, I, just I. Yeah, like I said, I take notes. For those who aren't doing it, I agree with you. No, no bashing here, just saying try it. You might be surprised at what you'll find, Cody, um, any questions you'd have for me, just uh, if you don't, it's no problem, no pressure, but if you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer them. Uh, I, I said grill you for an hour long and, and, uh, I feel like I should just return the favor and at least answer one or two questions, if you have any gotcha I can't really think any off the top of my head, I guess.
Cody Petershein:uh, one question I could ask you know what's been your favorite experience here in Colorado so far?
Shed Geek:Ooh,
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Shed Geek:Uh well, I feel like we're getting ready to have a couple of those great experiences, but I have to go at the Rockies game last night just because I'm such a, I'm such a baseball fan.
Shed Geek:Uh, now I've kind of dipped out of it, dipped my toes out of it the last couple of years I'm not trying to be a fair weather fan Cardinals haven't been producing quite like we expect. We're not a 500-ball club team. We like winners over in the Cardinal organization, so we're just used to championships and wins and things like that. But I've been busy. But being able to go, I remember the, the expansion teams coming in, uh in the 90s when the diamondbacks and the Rockies came in and uh, I was even telling stories with my, with my family last night about like seeing the, the Colorado Rockies and the Arizona Diamondbacks and how that changed and the expos went away and things like that.
Shed Geek:So to be able to, we would like to be able to visit as many baseball parks as we can. Theoretically I'd love to see the Cardinals play their team at their place, because Cardinals aren't my team. But love, definitely loved watching the game. Rockies did pull out a six to five win over the Atlanta Braves, which is surprising considering how strong Braves team they have. But they're riddled with injuries. But we're going to go see the, the uh gorge today. Uh, we're staying down near Durango. We're going to be in Telluride, go over and see Moab go down to the four corners, so we'll spend a week down here and uh, hopefully I can get maybe some more interviews, but also some really cool experiences, and uh, thankful that the Lord would continue to bless our opportunity to be able to do something like that.
Cody Petershein:Yeah, absolutely.
Shed Geek:Well, that's awesome Rocky's game is my short answer.
Cody Petershein:There you go. Yeah Well, interesting fact, I'm a Cardinals fan too.
Shed Geek:All wise people are, cody, and I knew you were a wise guy.
Cody Petershein:Well, I was born in Illinois. I don't know if you knew that.
Shed Geek:No way.
Cody Petershein:Really Born in Springfield, Illinoisans my family lived in Mount Vernon for a number of years out of here. Okay, it's kind of interesting when I was visiting with Jim uh last oh, he's right there.
Shed Geek:He's close.
Cody Petershein:Yeah, it was an hour away, I just drove up there and I got to meet some people that our family knew. Uh, talk with them, he's got a meat processing plant. Actually the deer which you can't see is up on the wall. I'm going to give a shout out to Jim say thank you on the live air for that, for that experience and that deer uh if that nice deer got some good deer in southern Illinois, yeah, so actually we took the deer up to, uh, Mount Vernon, well, Blueford, uh, a friend of a friend that we knew that that's there he's got a meat processing plant what a small world.
Cody Petershein:Oh yeah so. But yeah, we moved to. I was five when we moved out of Illinois to western Colorado. So, yeah, both my brothers are Cardinals fans and so I just kind of grew up with that. That's kind of why I started following the Cardinals.
Shed Geek:Great teams yeah got to watch.
Cody Petershein:A number of years ago it was probably about six years ago or seven actually Got to watch Cardinals-Rockies game in Bush Stadium right there in St Louis.
Speaker 4:That was a blast.
Cody Petershein:Yes, and they did win. So, the cardinals won. That's what's important yes, yes uh, but yeah, um, you know what?
Shed Geek:what are some things that you've seen in the shed industry that uh kind of your biggest changes that you've seen oh, man, we try to follow, you know, the trends as best we can, but, um, um, so when I got in, like maybe 12 years ago, had I known back then some of the areas that I could have got into, that would have been just wildly successful. Um, man, you know, hindsight is 2020. Um, I started in purchasing and didn't even really know the side of the business that was like sales and marketing, but I I've sort of grown this natural hunger. Um, the podcast is still my, my, absolute, most favorite thing to do, because I'm a, I'm a relationship-based seller, uh, and I'm a people person, or try to be.
Shed Geek:I'm. Maybe I'm not everyone's people person, but I try to be as many as I can. And, and, uh, I do love people and their stories and uh. So, sales for me never was really about like learning all the tactics I've tried those things, classes, I support all those things, a lot of them, uh, but, but they're not. They're not always. You know I just don't fit into a good mold. You know I'm not always. Yeah, I just don't always fit well into a process and I'm going to build a relationship somehow and that's usually through conversation and finding, you know like-minded people with similar interests and things like that. So because of that, it led me down this natural path to the podcast. But I'm excited about what we've done and expanding into the marketing world. That's become like one of my favorite things and me and dylan to hop on calls and talk to people and what we've really done is taken a like a long approach at marketing, because what I found in the shed industry is like if you're trying to sell something to people like a service, like we are, they might want to understand it that way. They understand what they're purchasing and I think that's where a lot of people have maybe not failed, but left the door open. Let's say that, um, we will do a long form discovery call an hour or two or whatever and tell them ask your questions in your broken language so that we can try to explain it in in the way that we know how. Um, so that's become very fun for me to, to learn about all these things that you know.
Shed Geek:I could talk about what SEO was, but now learning it and being able to explain it on a different level and I find my knowledge, Cody, constantly growing in that you know PPC campaigns and people are like what's that? And there's the world's changing in the way the consumer decides to purchase. So, like these digital storefronts are super important to me because you can reach people within a hundred mile radius that may never drive by your lot, yeah. And so that's interesting to me because you're just sort of watching history play out and you're part of it. I mean Google and Facebook. They're constantly gathering data on us. Why? Why? So that they can market yeah, that's the name of the game. So that's become like I didn't know that was an interesting thing to me until I until I began to understand it on a different level and I still have a long, long way to go, but I'm humble in my approach and that's been kind of exciting.
Shed Geek:Beyond that, humble in my approach, and that's been kind of exciting. Beyond that, it's probably going to be out there now. I mean, we do some, some RTO, but finance is going to be a thing that we're jumping into and I feel like that's going to be a big thing in the industry at some point, because we find banks that can, like, take the risk on these unsecured loans. I don't know if it'll ever, how much it will affect the shed industry. But I believe you know, because our deal one is so competitive and two is a is a crutch for so much of the industry and the sales in it, I believe that we want you know some alternatives to that with things like finance. So, I'm kind of paying attention to that right now and I'm just watching where it goes. I mean, honestly, you know I'm I'm having a great time having conversations with guys like yourself that I can ask a million questions beforehand like, hey, where should we go? What's a good place to eat? Where?
Cody Petershein:should we? I got, I got some. I got some suggestions there. Now, what you said about financing, that's a big one. Uh, definitely had a lot of requests for that sure you know, a lot of people like the RTO as well, but the financing is something, and obviously that provides a little bit different payment plan. As far as I think, it ends up being a little bit less, but rent-to-own is a very good option for a lot of people.
Cody Petershein:However, there is other people that want the financing side of it. And yeah, let me know where that goes, because I'm very interested to follow along with that and if it's something that you all offer, I'd love to bring that on and bring that as part of our process.
Shed Geek:Yeah, love to have a conversation with you, and we're trying to watch that and build analytics to it as much as we can too, to watch how it goes. I think that people like the risk-free nature of it too.
Cody Petershein:Absolutely.
Shed Geek:Especially when you think about the repos and things like that from the rent side it's, and then you get into the danger and I know that's not common necessarily, but you know it's just that it exists. So yeah, we're watching it and we hope it goes well. And hey, man, I can't thank you enough for sitting down with me. I've really, really enjoyed this. You're an intelligent fella and you speak well and I really enjoyed the conversation.
Cody Petershein:Well, thank you. I appreciate the opportunity to come on and speak with you. It's been an absolute pleasure, thank you.