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
From Tornadoes to Triumph: The Story Behind Dayton Barns
Join us on an inspiring journey in this episode as we explore the relentless spirit driving the Steel Kings. From the struggles of the slow season to the unexpected tragedy of tornadoes that served as a catalyst for the birth of Dayton Barns, we recount our experiences in a candid, engaging manner. Whether you're a seasoned contractor or a newcomer in the metal building industry, our stories resonate with anyone facing challenges in their career path.
We open up about the transition from selling wood sheds to metal buildings, sharing invaluable lessons learned along the way. Personal growth, effective marketing strategies, and building strong relationships emerge as crucial themes within our discussion. You'll discover practical insights that can uplift your motivation and help you navigate through periods of stagnation.
Our episode highlights the importance of adaptability—essential for anyone looking to thrive in a competitive market. Complacency isn't an option; instead, we advocate for taking bold steps toward a brighter future. As we conclude, we extend a warm invitation for our listeners to join the Steel Kings community, whether you have queries, challenges, or stories to share. Let's connect and grow together on this resilient journey toward success. Don't forget to subscribe and share your thoughts!
For more information or to know more about the Shed Geek Podcast visit us at our website.
Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube at the handle @shedgeekpodcast.
To be a guest on the Shed Geek Podcast visit our website and fill out the "Contact Us" form.
To suggest show topics or ask questions you want answered email us at info@shedgeek.com.
This episodes Sponsors:
Studio Sponsor: J Money LLC
Shed Geek Marketing
Hey, this is Joel Oney at the J Money Studio in the heart of the Buckeye State, and I want to personally welcome you to today's episode of the Steel Kings podcast with my good friends Jared Ledford and Eric Olson, better known to you as the Steel Kings. Be sure to check out J Money LLC dot com for financing solutions for your buildings. And now let's get back to the steel kings podcast all right, man.
Jared Ledford:Hey guys, it's Jared and eric with the steel kings podcast, episode number two. We are back at you. Yeah, we're back at you again. Uh, bringing you some hot content. Um, quick house cleaning here at the beginning of the show. We are brought to you and sponsored by the guys over at J Money. If you've got a project that you need financed, whether it be a woodshed metal building, if you're a home improvement contractor, they can help you out. Give those guys a shout over at J Money. Joel and Katie will get you taken care of. Eric. What's up, dude? How are you today, man?
Eric Olson:what's up, Mr. Jared? Just another day, uh yeah, man yeah mid-February, trying to fight through this last little bit of the of the slow build season and uh, things are starting to pick up. So, man, it's perfect time for episode two.
Jared Ledford:Yeah, man yeah, we, yeah, we uh. So a lot, a lot of our listeners right, or sitting on the shed lot or selling metal buildings, maybe in their house, or maybe they're working for a company, right, and we're all feeling the stresses of the slow time, right, that that last half of December into like the middle of February, it's like, you know, we've earned that, we've earned that, you know, six week, eight week kind of drop off. You take some time off, you get your batteries recharged and you head back out and you're thinking, oh man, it's time for another busy season, so taxes are coming due and, uh, those are good times for building salespeople, right?
Eric Olson:Yeah, you gotta put. You gotta put your mower somewhere. That's right. I'm looking at my backyard. I'm like that grass isn't going to mow itself soon. I'm looking forward to the warm weather. I've always thought in the wintertime that's when we've done our building you thrive when you're busy doing sales. Then, somewhat, when it dips off, you got a little bit more free time so you can start building and thriving that way and kind of a build mode with the visions. So. So, we're kind of teetering in between wrapping up the building and ramping up advertising for sales.
Jared Ledford:So yeah, man.
Jared Ledford:Yeah, it's a it's really this is probably my favorite time of the year, right, because it's that refresh, that that new energy that you know we're going through a lot of major changes here. We're expanding and new business relationships for twenty five and you know, I hope you guys out there listening or are doing that same thing, right, making those plans, getting that three- month, six month, you know, one year, three- year, five- year. Update those vision boards, get your plan of action, you know, get those manageable action items. As a one of our as one of our friends will tell you, action items, uh, produce results, right, so, um, you know, I want to get into a little bit.
Jared Ledford:We left off last time. We told a little bit about the Steel Kings, the origin of the Steel Kings. I want to get into the nitty gritty of what we do here and how we really started, because I think a lot of the people that are listening to us right now are where you were almost six years ago now, right, I mean, we're getting into the sixth year, almost six years ago now right.
Eric Olson:I mean we're, we're getting into the sixth year. Man, we are in the sixth year. It's, it's hard to believe that this thing's uh, it's, it's, it's not a toddler anymore. You know this thing is, this thing is walking, running, eating. You know screaming, um. So, I guess you know we, we kind of scratched the surface, I think, of what we, how me and you connected and kind of painted the picture. But you know, ok, what, what's the root, what's the source of the business. You know where did it actually come from and I think you know you got to go to some of the unseen parts of it which you know happened before, I think, the business even started, which was pretty much like what was going on in the summer of 2019. You know, prior to the October launch of Dayton Barns, you know we're, you know we're, we're coming off of if you're in the Ohio area and you're listening from Ohio, if not, do a quick Google search if you want to know.
Eric Olson:We got hit by like 20 tornadoes plus in May of 2019. And my, my family, owns a property North of Dayton and I think over 200 trees got knocked down in an F4 tornado and, um, I had I had just recently left a career job to take the summer off and kind of regroup, wasn't sure what I wanted to do. I was kind of sick of chasing the corporate title, um, which I always kind of thought was you know if I could, just if I could just get here or make it there or get this thing, and that I would find some happiness and decided to kind of flip the table over and my dad and I bought a bulldozer, we started pulling out logs and just trying to figure out what are we going to do with all this wood? Basically, and I know you guys, are listening oh, you made sheds.
Eric Olson:No, didn't make sheds, we'll get there. But I started working with my hands a little bit and so I actually started making rounds of cross sections of tree trunks, putting hairpin legs on them and selling them on Facebook and I ended up kind of figuring out just through the devastation of a tornado, like you can make money on your own, you can start a business, you know, you can. I was so dead set that nine to five was it and figured out that you know to pay your bills, really you just need to have income and get creative was one of my fortes. I think that kind of led me to be a little more open about how to make money and how to provide for yourself etc.
Eric Olson:My brother-in-law had a shed business in Dayton. He had a couple of locations that was selling pretty well-known manufacturer's sheds. They decided to pass up on the Huber Heights location because he was getting busy doing something else. That location became available and I think due to the risks I was taking over the summer with, you know, not working officially, it kind of led me to take that leap of faith and in reality out birth Dayton Barns, which was which was 12 sheds, you know side, side lofted, or a cabin, a A-frame cabin, a lofted cabin, garden shed, utility shed, a garage lofted garage, and I had like two metal buildings there and I just said yes, and the first day we opened was October 15th 2019. And I sold my first shed there. There was a side lofted, 10 by 16.
Eric Olson:Hideous guy's name was Brian, lives in Vandalia, got a picture of him we can probably post somewhere if we want. Um, he, I got a picture of him, and it was a. It was a 10, 10 by 16 side lofted shed. And man, I think now we're probably pushing 10,000 units sold and um, that that was. That was kind of like the start, the start of it. And um, yeah, you know, I know that that's kind of the precursor, but left corporate world to take a risk and now we're making a podcast six years later. You know.
Jared Ledford:Yeah, talking to people, you know, I think I think we're talking to talking to it. Yeah, we're talking to a lot of those people that are kind of sitting in those same shoes. Right, they're sitting on a shed lot or they're sitting on a, you know, like I said, they might be selling metal buildings at home, or they might be working for a company. You know what drove you? What was the motivating factor? Was it the money? Was it the freedom? Know what about the industry? Really, you know, not everybody sticks with it. Right, there's, you know, there's, a lot of people that have done it for a long time, but there's a lot of people that they do it. They'll do it for, you know, a little bit of time and they give it up. What about it? For you, stuck with you.
Eric Olson:You know, it wasn't the money on day one, that's a fact. Day one, that's a fact. Yeah, true story.
Eric Olson:I think I was in a humble place of not caring so much about what it looked like. I think that, from a baseline standpoint I'm a, you know, you know me pretty well I like to make things better, like whatever the thing is, people, places and things you can, you can make it better. You can always feel better, dress better, you know, be more organized, you could be healthier, you could get stronger, you know, and I think that over the course of my life I've always strived and never quit. You know, my past is colorful, and I've just never given up on anything. So, I think, realizing okay, I've got a desk and a laptop and 12 sheds, okay, so now I need a new desk. I want a better computer. I want, okay, I need more customers. So, then I need better signage.
Eric Olson:And then I needed to make a Facebook page and then a website. And I just kept, okay, next thing, next thing, next thing, make a Facebook page and then a website. And I just kept okay, next thing, next thing, next thing. And then, you know, I came up for air, I think, and realized I was decent at seeing exactly where we were and like, whatever the next step was, you know, and I said I think that was the to answer your question. I think that was really what I, you know, constantly trying to make it better, getting to the next level, and then, okay, what's the next thing? And, man, that never ends, and like we're sitting here today, you know, on the edge of 2025, like what is our next step? Man, it's never. That flame has never went out once. So, I think it's probably the vision of how can we keep going was probably because it certainly wasn't money or fame, it certainly wasn't anything flashy at the beginning.
Jared Ledford:Yeah, I think it's funny. You say October 2019. So, you and I met, I think, February of 2020. So, you were still relatively young in this industry and really getting your feet wet and you made an impactful we talked about this on the last podcast. You made an impactful friend, right, I mean we were. We became pretty quickly. I would say we were friends pretty quickly and you know, I was brought into the loop as a customer, and I didn't join on until loop as a customer and I didn't join on until gosh. I didn't start until February of 22.
Jared Ledford:So, walk me through the process of how you transitioned yourself from the wood guy in your area because you quickly became kind of a force to be reckoned with that wood company. You were selling a very good and to be completely transparent, and I'll let you tell the story. But the way you've told me is hey, it came down to money, it came down to commission, right? Everybody that's on this, that sells on consignment for a wood manufacturer, knows that the commission a lot of times is pretty much what it is. There's not a whole lot of negotiation. They'll pull your lot, they'll take your sheds away. Tell me about that process without getting into too many details, but give me the. I want the whole story, right? Well, these are our friends that are listening. They deserve the whole story, the truth and nothing but the truth.
Eric Olson:Okay, All right.
Eric Olson:It's a heck of a question and I as the listener you're thinking, you know, we all want more money, right? I would say again, we all want more money, right? I would say again, it honestly wasn't so much about the money. I was a youth pastor at the beginning of the business, and I had some kids in that youth group that thought this thing was the coolest thing ever and I think, inadvertently, we needed more money just so I could pay people because they shared the same passions. Um, so, and so I think then I began to see, like, okay, other people can learn this, and so we started the Troy lot. We had a fella running the Troy lot and then. So, then we was, we were two locations, and which was fun, but we also had to pay base salaries and different things and, um, so, so we've got two parts to that answer. One's the wood part and then the other part is the metal and how that kind of came into fruition.
Eric Olson:Um, when you're expanding, you absolutely have to have more than wood. And unless you're in, unless you're moving sheds with the, with the uh, with the uh meal yeah, the meal unless you're, unless you're mulling them or uh, or, like you know, manufacturing them or something, some portion of the sales process and the whole customer experience. If you're not doing that particular part of it, you can only grow through selling more buildings. And you can only sell more buildings if you expand either through advertising coverage, area locations. And so the guy kind of outgrew.
Eric Olson:Working with me and Huber, we decided to take over the Troy lot, which is super profitable. It's still rocking today under a different leadership named Pete, and if you're in the Troy area stop by. He's got a great shop on 25A and I think what I realized through that portion of it is that the steel revenue actually started superseding the wood and what I realized is that these are two different customers and two of them, two different advertisements, two different talk tracks, two different permit applications, two different sales processes. You know, because a lot of shed people are, are RTO or um, they're, they're smaller, um. You know, price points, um and the sales process is shorter and um and in reality, uh, you know you're looking at like three to six, k is pretty much an average shed, um, maybe a little bit higher than that, but um, the metal, totally different ball game 30 by 40, 30 by fifties.
Eric Olson:I sold a couple. I sold yours. Yours was the biggest unit that I had sold. I think you were a number. You got the order form somewhere, I think you. I think you were number five or something that I'd ever sold.
Eric Olson:I had to call the company a million times to try to figure out how to do vertical paneling pricing, because I was back in the Stone Age in 2019 and 2020, where you had to, like, use a piece of paper to figure out the price. You know, now it's a little bit different, but so that became, oh my gosh. So, if someone sells a metal building, you know we can give them a slice of it as long as we pay for the advertising. And I think one thing led to the next. You know, kind of go back to the youth group. We did a trial run in 2021 in the summertime where basically a high school football team worked at the shop in Huber and basically, I pumped them leads, they sold buildings. We overwhelmed a company in North Carolina that we won't mention that. We sold, I think, a hundred buildings in like a three- month time span. I mean, you know we were door dashing five guys every day. That's that type of money we was doing pretty decent, you know and it was fun.
Eric Olson:It was a lot of fun, but what that taught me is that, you know although I felt there was good camaraderie with the kids, like this was also a business we could have. We could do professional hiring and you know, and really give some career opportunities. And so, we started advertising nationally for metal building sales in 2021. I taught myself how to do Facebook advertising sales in 2021. I taught myself how to do Facebook advertising, got super good at that, very detailed, very good, studied that almost profusely until I was good at it, and then that kind of led to our first I would say for the lack of a better way to say it like the first real sales team.
Eric Olson:That came um in 2022, um in February, where we had actually valentine's day. Basically it's, uh, in a couple days, that's pretty much a three-year anniversary, um, three-year anniversary where we hired five and several of them if most of them still sell metal buildings, I think, um, yeah, you're you, you were one of those guys and basically the rest is history. When you hire smart people, they tell you what to do with your business. So I think a hidden benefit is, if you're expanding, it is kind of scary, but if you hire the right people, they'll basically expand it for you, as long as you trust them. You know, because they're bringing ideas that you'll you know you would. I know I've kind of went on a little rant, no.
Jared Ledford:I think that that's fair. I mean, I think you know I always look at it from the boat perspective. If you're in a paddle boat and you're trying to paddle that boat by yourself or you're using two oars and you're paddling on both sides, it's always better to get more people in the boat, get a little bit more extra energy, give them a paddle and everybody can kind of paddle. You know, walk me through a little bit. So, we skipped over just a little bit that I want you to touch on for these shed guys. So, you were in a situation with your manufacturer where consignment, everything's going pretty good. You're really you're kind of leading the charge in sales. You're expanding, you're spending your money right, you're doing what you can to expand your territory and really take shape in a 50- mile bubble, cause a lot of these guys that are doing just sheds have to really live in these constricted confines of like 50 miles from your lot. So, as you start to bring in on additional costs and additional need for not just, you know you needed people to be at the lot period, but you're trying to. You were trying at that time to give them a base salary, give them something to eat on and then asking them to do the legwork of selling. You got into a situation which I don't mind sharing. I don't think you mind sharing either, where your manufacturer, because of your diligence into trying to expand, pulled one over on you. They took something from you. Tell me about that.
Jared Ledford:To me, when I look at Eric Olson, when people ask me what drove Eric Olson to do metal building sales, you know from a shed perspective. Again, we love the shed industry. We sell a lot of sheds. We love our guys over at Sheds Direct. If you guys are in need of a manufacturer and you're listening to this give those guys over at Sheds Direct a call. They will make it super easy for you If you are looking to sell some wood structures on your property 13 or 14 states, I forget what they cover, but it's basically the Atlantic coast up through Ohio and Indiana, southern Michigan. Cheap plug there for those guys. But what I'll tell you is I feel like that motivated you not just to expand metal but to also be even more motivated in the wood space. Tell me what happened with the manufacturer.
Eric Olson:OK, yeah, yeah. So, to piggyback, and then I'll jump in there. If you are in the Midwest and you want sheds on your property, you know, uh, hit, hit us up and we'll share uh details with uh, the uh district guy. His name's JW, super good friend of ours. Um, he'll get you set up through sheds direct. Love, love, sheds direct.
Eric Olson:Why did we end up with sheds direct? I think we just were reversing the tape all the way. You know, why did we switch off the original manufacturer? And gosh, there's so much juice to this answer. And so, I want to start with the zoomed in answer and then I'm going to say it from pretty much like a one sentence standpoint. You know, and just out of just sheer numbers, we were doing a couple million dollars a year in wood sales, and so just to say where we were at, you know, and if you have a shed lot and you're listening to this and you're selling a couple of months, it's not like you're doing a bad job. My whole career was selling sheds as often and as frequently as possible. I was working like six or seven days a month For some time I lived at the shed lot and I was breathing it.
Jared Ledford:So, so when six or seven days a week, six or seven a week.
Eric Olson:I'm in, I'm in a week and I'm always working on my phone, so that's true, yeah.
Eric Olson:Hopefully my wife doesn't freak out. I'm taking messages like all the time you know,
ADVERTISEMENT:Hello Shed and Carport industry.
ADVERTISEMENT:I'm Cord Cook, chief Brand Strategist here at Shed Geek Marketing. Did you know that Shed Geek Marketing works with 45 shed companies and county and we are not slowing down in 2025. One of the neat benefits to working with Shed Geek Marketing is working with an agency as opposed to just an individual. When you work with Shed Geek Marketing, you have a team of professionals working diligently to ensure your success From branding guidelines and brand books to websites, google and meta tag tracking that measures the traffic to your website and social media pages, crm setup and full automation build-outs, lead funnel integration and so much more.
ADVERTISEMENT:Worried about whether or not we can serve you, don't be. Shed Geek Marketing works with manufacturers ranging from $1 million a year in sales up to $80 million a year in sales. There is no manufacturer too big or too small. Remember, marketing is an investment that should be making you money. That's why nearly 50 companies have decided to work with Shed Geek Marketing. So, for more information, go to wwwshedgeek. com
ADVERTISEMENT:and submit some basic information and we'll reach out with a discovery call and patiently walk you through how we can best serve you. Thank you for your time and look forward to working with you.
Eric Olson:So, once I learned that you know the percentage, we percentage, we were receiving, and, and really this, this is not stab at manufacturers. If you're paying somebody, let's say, 10%, and the person down the street is also making 10%, but you're selling, you know, 75 more times units a year, and really not treating the more important to your bottom line, which is the person selling more sheds. If you're not giving them better treatment not personally, you should be nice to everybody, but if you're not giving them financial benefit of that, you're really doing a disservice. I mean because if you think about how Coca-Cola works, mom and pop, they pay a different price. If you're Speedway, you're paying cheaper prices as a corporate office because you're selling a million more bottles a month. I'm just making numbers up, but you know.
Eric Olson:So, I ended up getting on the phone and did it the right way. I stated my case, I ran numbers on a Google Doc, I called the person. That person was defeatist on the phone with me. That person knows who I'm talking about. No stab, I just said we've done X, y, z Last year. This year we've done X, y, z. We'd like to expand into a different, we want to do a third location. And in order to do that, we're really looking for a two to 5% increase on our down payments, and here's what we're going to do with it. It's not like I'm bullying you into giving us more money. And those words were said.
Eric Olson:So, I got a phone call back and basically the answer was just flat out no. I knew he was going to say no, that's what he had told me. Um, that's what he had told me. And, uh, and, and so I, I in the moment, thought in my uh, in my mind, you know, do I, do I want to press this thing? You know, do I want to try to figure out a different way? Um, I knew some other companies were paying a little bit more, and, um, yeah, and so I, I basically said uh, in the nicest possible way, you know, you guys need to come get your sheds because we're going to swap companies.
Eric Olson:And that and that particular guy, he said the wrong thing to me and honestly, just for juice on the on the on the show, you know, because I'm laughing, both things are going great, but everybody's winning, honestly. So, I'm only saying this for the story. You know, he, that guy said, said nine, nine out of ten dealers come back and you know this is a big mistake and I and I was like if I, if I get your sheds off our property, like I, I'm never gonna call you again. And it's not because I don't like you, it's just because I I'm not in business to be friends with people. I, I want to pay people's paychecks. You know, that was the wrong thing, because if you tell Eric Olson, no, I don't believe in you, then that's okay, we'll see you some other time.
Jared Ledford:There's a resolution that happened in you in that moment that I feel like that took place somewhere around fall of 21,.
Eric Olson:Something like that Right before we hired you guys.
Jared Ledford:Yeah, yeah, so we're being brought into this as we're a hot startup. We did, I think, several million dollars in metal building sales online, utilizing this group of talent, which was basically intern-type talent. These were guys who were sponges that soaked it up and, be honest with you, some of those guys have gone on the metal building metal building success right, just metal building success. Woodshed success. You know you're responsible for a lot of talent that is spread among multiple companies. Um, so I felt like from a newbie. You know I'm gonna. I'm gonna give my perspective now a little bit. I came in in February 2022. Um, I knew you from a sales role. You sold me my building, all of that. It was great. Um, I think you saw in me pretty quickly. You know my background. You know heavily, heavily in sales, worked in direct sales for multiple years, did multi-level marketing, was a sales manager at an automotive company and then was a service manager and dispatcher stuff like that. So I've got the team building chemistry. I'm the head coach right. I really like to be the head coach of the team, but you empowered me. You're the general manager, right. You gave me the tools necessary to kind of do that. But what I saw from a perspective was this company had made a mistake. You had a new company on deck and that company honestly didn't really work out for us either.
Jared Ledford:I think the one thing that may be the call to action here from a manufacturer if you're a manufacturer, listening to this take care of your best dealers. Number one Take care of them, nestle them close, keep them close, especially if you are a hardcore consignment type of manufacturer where you are really doing a majority of your business through consignment sales on independent lots. Take care of those guys. Now, if you're a dealer, give your manufacturer some grace, right? I think that the fact that we still have a relatively good working relationship with both of those companies that we left behind when it was time to make a change says how we left in the first place. I think we left in ways that were fair.
Jared Ledford:I think, from the outsider's perspective, I was part of two of those transitions. We're actually on our fourth manufacturer as a company and we transitioned through. We did kind of the national conglomerate you did with your first company, we did a regional conglomerate I think is more of a fair statement with the second go around. Then we went to a straightforward consignment type of model with a small manufacturer and did a lot of good things. They were just really good partners but not able to do the kind of volume that we demanded and do the kind of coverage that we wanted to do when we got to the point with Sheds Direct where we're at now. We really want to do a national, we really want to sell sheds coast to coast, we want to be in everybody's backyard, we want Dayton Barns and Allsteel Buildings to be a national brand and it's given us platforms like this.
Jared Ledford:Meeting Shannon, getting to do this podcast with you, Eric you said it, I think, in the last episode it's really a dream that's come to fruition. At this point, we talked about steel Kings. You know, one of the things I want to add to this too is like I think that, yeah, I think the call to action here is a couple of things from the if you're listening to this podcast, don't be afraid to make a change. If you're uncomfortable, if you're feeling some sort of way, what you're doing today is not what you have to do tomorrow or a week from now or a year from now.
Jared Ledford:We have had a couple of different business partners. Some of them leave on good terms. Some of them leave on not such good terms. We've had metal manufacturers, we've had wood manufacturers. We try to leave those situations as best we can. Some relationships can't be saved. Some can be wood manufacturers. We try to leave those situations as best we can. Some relationships can't be saved, some can be and some actually go on and bear fruit in other ways. We have relationships that we lost, that we thought. I think eric and I, you know we probably cried over a couple of them. Right, we probably shed a tear and, and you know, miss those people. But at the end of the day, if you're good to those people, they're going to pay you back in spades and we've gotten paid back in spades time and time again. Harvesting those relationships and really picking the right people to go into battle with.
Jared Ledford:I think it took me and Eric a minute, even though Eric saw it in me. Maybe I didn't see it in myself, maybe I didn't know enough about the industry, maybe we didn't have the right team. Whatever the case is, we couldn't be tighter right now. You know we could not be tighter. Everything that Eric and I do right now is kind of in a lockstep, you know. We, every idea that we have. We bounce off each other. So, we were lucky enough to whittle down from really what was a group of five or six people at one time. Then we kind of took it down to like three. Then it was down to two. Now we've got these two key components here that are doing some big things in this space. Um, my call to action really is that it really is pay attention to what you're doing today. It does not have to be what you're doing tomorrow. Um, eric, tell me a little bit about I want to piggyback, yeah go ahead, yeah you know and I think.
Eric Olson:I think that man and that is, um, you know the story of Dayton Barns is that I have a master's degree in special ed, like I was a teacher, you know, like I worked at a distribution center and was like a top guy there for some time, and then I'm, and then I'm a one guy show selling sheds, and not that that's a bad thing. It's like I have never cared, like I've never cared more, uh, like less, about where the direction of Dayton Barns is going. Because I think, like, if you have to, you shouldn't care about. Like, oh well, we've always done it that way. No, like that is the worst thing I think you could ever say ever is like, oh, we always do it that way. And I'm like okay, why is it sucking? Now? Then you know Complacency, complacency, sorry to say it, like that.
Eric Olson:But like who am I? I'm not the shed god, so I don't have all the answers. I'm the captain of the ship I steer. A good captain makes like two rudder turns at most a year, and that's it, yeah, and if you just keep going the same direction, you're going to run into something so.
Eric Olson:I'm like you know. So, I think the story of Dayton Barns, if you're listening, is really the story of like, looking at it without your pride and just looking at it from like, ok, what direction and where does it need to go, and then just don't care about the answer to that, you know. And then once you take a couple of steps like I would have ever known you know me, and you was going to end up in Joshua, Texas, you know, and from a top the top manufacturer getting the best pay rate that they even offer, you know, and being aggressive.
Jared Ledford:Being in this building, right here, you know yeah yeah. So, complacency? I think that's one thing that we do not allow. Complacency doesn't exist. We almost change, we change course like we might change our shirt. I mean, honestly, we will pivot on a needlehead because if we see an opportunity, in one fail, swoop the opposite direction. We're going there Because we are always looking for what's best for the business it's right that's right.
Jared Ledford:Resiliency is another thing that I think I see in you a lot is you know how far we've come, the ups and downs, and it's kind of this like promised land, right, we, we, we work to get to this in this moment in time, where we have the right building, which I'm standing in, we have the right building which I'm standing in, we have the right team of people that are sitting behind me, we have the right attitude and we have the right mantra as a team and we really want to help people do the things that they want to do. And that's not just your customers, that's our employees, that's our future employees, that's our business partners. You know we are all about and this is a big one for you, eric. Personal development's huge for you. I know. You know we've both done well over the last couple of years.
Jared Ledford:You, specifically over the last year, have lost over a hundred pounds and, you know, been very serious, very meticulous, very serious, very dedicated, and that's made you a better business partner. It's made you. It's made you a better friend. It's made you a better husband. It's made you a better person. You're active in your church body, you're active in your community, you're active in your business and you know I can say the same for me. You know, I lost weight a few years ago. I put on a couple pounds. I'm still a burly guy, but if you saw me a couple years ago, you saw me in 2018, 2019, I'd fill this whole screen up. If you can see us on YouTube, I would have filled this whole screen up and then some I'd have been a couple of screens. So, I can tell you, man, I mean, if you are listening to this and you've made it through now 33 minutes of us shooting the breeze about where we came from, don't sit back and be idle about where you're at currently.
Jared Ledford:I think this is a call to action episode before we really start getting into the nuances and we start bringing on some guests. And you know, that's one thing that I want to kind of outline a little bit as we finish up for today. You're going to see episodes with Eric. You're going to see episodes with me. You're going to see episodes with both of us. You're going to see some special guests. You're going to get some metal building talk. You're going to get some woodshed talk. We're probably going to spit a little bit of our motivational you know, jargon at you and not everybody, you know, not everybody buys into that. But really we're not trying to tell you to do anything. If anything, we're trying to get you to open up your mind. 1% or 2%. If you feel like you're sitting back and you're frustrated or having a bad day and something that we say makes an impact on you, drop us a like, a comment, drop us a line.
Jared Ledford:I'm Jared at Dayton Barns, j-a-r-e-d at Dayton Barns. He's Eric, e-r-i-c at Dayton Barns. We are open books. You know, we love to be. We love to be of good service to people. I say that all the time. I want to be a good service to my friends and family and loved ones. What do you think, eric? I mean, this is episode two. We're getting ready to finish it up. We're going to have some exciting stuff coming down the road. We're probably going to visit with Shannon. I've got some. I've got some tips and tricks. I've got some advertising. What do you want?
Eric Olson:to, and I think I think we could maybe even scratch the surface later on. Maybe you know what were we doing before. You know I think, as we stand here on the edge, it's like we've got so much content that's coming. If you're a shed dealer, manufacturer, parts components delivery driver, whatever you know, tune us in. We are definitely have a good time, no matter what, from a business standpoint, you know we're putting on the hat of co-hosts in a podcast. We want you to tune in to us every week and look forward to special guests trade show appearances. We are definitely going to do a live stream from the next. I think I don't remember which one it is, but there's one coming up, I think in May or April that we're definitely going to be a part of and be hanging with the shed geek Shannon himself.
Eric Olson:Let's go to dinner. If you're going, let's go to dinner, let's network. And then we're also going to teach you as the Steel Kings podcast, we're going to teach and discuss and really intersteel buildings into the marketplace with wood sheds as well. They are married and we want you guys to want to make money as a business owner and we've somehow over the course of the past couple of years, figured out the marriage between both, where both can be served well and oftentimes customers buy one each and sometimes in some cases. So, we really want to create a crowd to follow kind of those topics and, if you like, us great.
Jared Ledford:Yeah, these two episodes, these two episodes right, the previous episode, it was a kind of a foundational episode who we are, what we're about this episode today. If you take something away from it specifically, other than the call to actions that we outlined, take away from the fact that we were in your shoes and, as a matter of fact, we're still in your shoes right now. We can speak to where you're at. We can give you that nickel's worth of free advice take, take it or leave it. We're never going to say anything other than what's on our minds, what's on our hearts facts as we see them. We have good relationships and bad. We want to have more good than bad. Everybody has something about what they're doing that they could do better. I don't care if you're Elon Musk or Bill Gates or whatever the most successful professional person is in the world. They always strive to do better. Complacency is not something that's acceptable, and resiliency is something that pays off in spades. I can't echo enough what you said, eric, and I want to finish up this episode with a call to action to our friends.
Jared Ledford:If you are a manufacturer of wood sheds, metal buildings, any kind of component that puts our buildings together fasteners, hardware, wood lumber. We'd love to talk to you. We have a huge network of individuals who not only listen to this podcast, but listen to the podcast with Shannon. We'd love to advertise for you. We'd love to spend some time and get to know your products, even if you're not a paid advertiser. We love to know more about the industry and the components and the products in which we sell. We want to know more about that. So, give us a call, give us an email, give us a shout. We're happy to help. Eric, you got anything. Last words, finishing up for today.
Eric Olson:Man, I think we did it. I think we're ready for episode three and I'm ready to sell a million dollars worth of sheds today.
Jared Ledford:That's what I'm saying, man. So let me say this for the next time Check us out next week on the Steel Kings podcast. I'm Jared, he's Eric. We are the Steel Kings. Check out our friends at J Money. Their product is going to help you guys sell buildings, whether it's a woodshed metal building. If you're a contractor, give those guys over at J Money a call. Joel and Katie are happy to help you One last time. For today, guys, we are out.
Jared Ledford:Have a great day!
Outro:Before you go, the J Money team wants to thank you for listening to today's Steel Kings podcast. Remember, money is king. If you need a financing option on your portable wood sheds or steel buildings, we are here to help. Just check out jmoneyllc. com for more information. Don't forget to catch the next episode. We'll still be here. Have a great day.