Shed Geek Podcast

Building Teams That Actually Work

• Shed Geek Podcast • Season 6 • Episode 21

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Growth isn’t just more orders, more crews, and more hours. Real growth shows up when teams trust the process, managers stop micromanaging, and owners finally get their time back. We sit down with Shalisha Wood of GrowthOps Ally, to unpack how blue-collar businesses—sheds, carports, concrete, and beyond—turn day-to-day chaos into reliable, repeatable systems that boost retention and profit.

Shalisha’s story runs from a family-run food-ingredients company to supporting 11,000 tax offices as a product manager, then into fractional operations leadership. That arc shaped an approach built on respect for field expertise, simple tools that actually get used, and ruthless testing before rollout. She explains why technicians don’t resist technology—they resist confusion—and shows how a few high-leverage moves change everything: weekly one-on-ones to catch issues early, time-saving admin shifts like direct deposit, and policies that are clear, bilingual, and easy to follow.

We spotlight a concrete example you can copy: a digital time-off workflow using QR codes in the shop and in foreman trucks. Requests go in from smartphones, admins approve in minutes, and everyone gets automated confirmation. Adoption worked because crews helped shape the process, and documentation met them where they are. We also break down the real math behind fractional leadership. Instead of paying a full-time C-suite salary, you get senior strategy and hands-on execution that targets the two outcomes that matter—more revenue or lower costs—plus the hidden win of time back for sales, hiring, and quality control.

If you’re sprinting from $600k toward $1.5M and feeling every seam strain, this conversation gives you a pragmatic playbook: empower experts, co-design SOPs with the field, focus on simple ROI-driven tools, and measure what matters. Hustle can launch a business. Systems let it last. Subscribe, share this with a shop owner who needs a cleaner workflow, and leave a review with the one process you’ll fix first.

For more information or to know more about the Shed Geek Podcast visit us at our website.

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This episodes Sponsors:

CAL
Stryker Hunting Blinds
Cardinal Leasing
IFAB

INTRO:

Hello and welcome back to the Shed Geek Podcast. Here's a message from our Studio Sponsor. Let's be real. Running a check business today isn't just about building great jets. The industry is changing fast. We're all filling the squeeze, competing for fewer buyers, while expectations keep climbing. And yet, I hear from many of you that you are still juggling spreadsheets, clunky software, or disconnected systems. You're spending more time managing chaos than actually growing your business. That's why I want to talk to you about our studio sponsor, ShedPro. If you're not already using them, I really think you should check them out. ShedPro combines your 3D configurator, point of sale, RTO contracts, inventory, deliveries, and dealer tools all in one platform. They even integrate cleanly into our Shed Geek marketing solutions. From website lead to final delivery, you can quote, contract, collect payment, and schedule delivery in one clean workflow. No more double entries, no more back and forth payments. Quoting is faster, orders are cleaner. And instead of chasing down paperwork, you're actually running your business. And if you mention Shed Geek, you'll get 25% off all setup fees. Check it out at shedpro.co/ shedgeek. Thank you, ShedPro, for being our studio sponsor and honestly for building something that helps the industry.

Cord :

Welcome back to the Shed Geek Podcast. Here on Shed Geek Fridays, I am in Metropolis, Illinois. Uh, this beautiful, sunny first day above uh 40 degrees in a while. The snow is finally melting. Thank you for joining all those out there listening. Today I am joined by Shalisha Wood of Growth Ops Ally, my business partner, uh, and someone that I am uh very lucky to call a friend. Um, before we get rolling, just a couple quick things so you all know how to stay plugged in with us. Of course, you can call anytime. Shannon's personal cell phone uh is the Shed Geek call in text in line. That is 618-309-3648. So please feel free to bug Shannon any time of day or night. He loves that. Uh email info@ shedgeek.com. Uh obviously use our contact forms on www.shedgeek.com. If you have any inquiries with us, uh anything that we can help with, any connections that we can help you to make, um join our Facebook page, uh, go and follow us. Of course, Shed Sales Professionals, always a great resource. So make sure you're following that. And for anyone out there who has uh plain community friends, um please share with them the 330-997-3055, the plain community call-in line. That's something that we are very proud of. We want to be able to cater to the plain community and their preferences, uh, you know, and what is allowed there. So please pass that on. 330-997-3055. So, with all those things said, Shalisha Wood, founder, um, COO of Growth Ops Ally, uh, co-founder of uh New Leaf franchise opportunities. Um, oh gosh, I mean, how much of your resume can I run down off the top of my head? Um, you know, a uh an operations person from day one family business. Uh tell me something about yourself, Shalisha, that the listeners don't know. I feel like I know everything, but tell everybody else.

Shalisha Wood:

I know there's a lot to know. I was like, I feel like every role I've had has helped with what I'm doing now with operations. Um, I used to work for you know, I was a general manager of a food distribution company, and then I met Joshua, my husband, and um, he was gonna buy a second tax office, and he needed a manager, and he was like, Well, you can join me. And I told him he couldn't afford me.

Cord :

So always likes to hear.

Shalisha Wood:

Right. Um so then I actually did come and join him, and so then I learned taxes and I ran it, and um, we ran the offices together. So, through that, I mean, honestly, you know, there's a difference between managing for someone else and then hiring an employees for yourself. So, uh being a business owner, then we sold that office, we sold those offices back to the company, and then I, you know, had an opportunity to work for corporate and I was a franchise consultant and I led offices. I had 90 offices, 50 franchisees. Um, it was in a Fortune 500 company, and I was a top performer in the second year, top 25 out of 400. And then I got offered to be a product manager, so then I did that, and you know, led the software and did rollouts for 11,000, you know, tax offices. And then I had an opportunity to be a COO, chief operations officer, so then I did that, and then I was like, you know what? Of all the things I've loved, working with the business owners, being a business consultant was my favorite. I loved working with owners, and I was like, so how can I do what I do with operations and do it for owners? So that's why I'm now a fractional COO because I just love that work.

Cord :

Yeah, and uh as listeners can probably tell, um, you obviously are uh full of energy. You are one of the um the most just get stuff done type of people. In fact, you really and truly, and I know I've told you this before, you remind me a lot of my mom, uh, who was running hospitals and uh you know surgery departments, and now she's uh you know, runs a cancer research center. Um, she's been doing that my whole life. And I think I've said to you before, she's just a person who gets stuff done. And me and you immediately hit it off as just like, you know what, let's just buckle down, nose to the grindstone, uh execute, right? Um, but if we can back up just a little bit, Shalisha, because uh I know it's um you know the early part of the story and it's before the operations and all the franchise experience um and all the corporate experience and everything like that. But um I know you skip over it sometimes, but I really want you to tell us about the family cheese business being a Wisconsinite and being in the cheese business. And um if you don't mind, just give us a little background of you know growing up and uh and how you kind of made your initial bones in business. As I think you said you didn't you start when you were like 16 working, yeah.

Shalisha Wood:

I started so it was it's my dad, my parents' business, and so it's actually technically not a cheese company, but I know, I know they sell food ingredients like that. Yeah, so they sell food ingredients to cheese companies, so like you know, peppers, pepper jack cheese, and spices and custom blends, and so you know, just through that process. Um, you know, when you're a teenager, you're like, I don't know what I want to do for the rest of my life. And so I was one of those kids, and you know, I took that aptitude test, you know, in high school, and they're like, This, you know, and some kids got real great direction. I got nothing, they're like, you can do anything, and I was like, that's nothing that gives me no guidance, and so I was like, I'll just do business, and so I was going to business school when I, you know, graduated high school, and I was working for my parents, and honestly, it was a wealth of expert experience and expertise because every time they needed us uh help in an area, I went there, so I did purchasing, I did sales, I did accounting, and honestly, it what gave me well-rounded experience in every position, and so um one of the things they always struggled with was a manager that could lead the office people and the warehouse and the general laborers and you know the processing, and so I was really good at it because you know you gotta talk different to white collar than you do to blue collar, and so um while I was over um, you know, the warehouse and helping them in the GM, it was the longest retention they've ever had of blue-collar folks because they stayed. Yeah, um, you know, I was really focused on, you know, we were very honest and open, and they were open and honest with me, and it worked very, very well. And I was like, I love this work, I love doing both. I mean, that's kind of you know how I got started and I realized, hey, I can actually do this management thing.

Cord :

So yeah, absolutely. And um growing up with uh four or five brothers. I mean, another trait that I certainly um admire in you is that you do just have the tenacity to say what needs saying, which I know you've told me is a little bit of a product of probably both that sort of upper Midwest, straightforward Wisconsin raisin, but also being the girl in the family amongst all the boys.

Shalisha Wood:

Yeah, so I have two sisters and I have four brothers, and so you know I'm the middle kid, and so I got older brothers, I got younger brothers. Um and so, you know, the boys think that because I'm a girl that they can boss me around and that they can intimidate me. And I made sure they knew they could not intimidate me. They could intimidate my sisters, but they weren't gonna intimidate me. Um, like I always say, intimidation is a feeling I choose not to feel. So, you know, I might I might be a girl, but I still can reckon with you.

Cord :

So that's right. Well, I've seen it firsthand. I've seen it firsthand, and uh, you know, just really um obviously we've grown to be uh friends and uh colleagues and everything else, but certainly admire that quality in you and um you know that is what leads to getting business done right in in are you a dealer who sells multiple products at your shed lot?

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Cord :

In business, there are so many things that um go unsaid because of uh what the sort of structures are and what the expectations of employees and employers and kind of what those unwritten rules are. And you know, I know in the shed industry specifically, uh, you know, there's been a big push in the last several years to adopt some of the like EOS uh methods where you know you're trying to have those very frank, very straightforward conversations, but truthfully, so much of that does come back to uh management and team members and building a team that is intentional, um, which I know all those things EOS stresses as well. Um, you know, but there has to be someone who is who is really and truly being intentional with that team building from day to day. And that's something that that I found you touched on it just a little in kind of introducing yourself there, but if you don't mind, you know how do you think about teams and how do you think about um you know from day one and training? Because I just know from watching you, I've watched you build um some of the best, most loyal, uh, well-trained, you know, relationships with those, whatever you want to call it, blue-collar technician, um, you know, that sort of uh, you know, the people who it takes to actually produce right the outcomes of the business. And so many times that is not the focus. And I just think you have a really good way of doing it. So, if you don't mind uh to share a little bit about that.

Shalisha Wood:

Yeah, sure. So um I feel like I'm the opposite of a micromanager. I guess that's the best way that I can explain it. Is um these folks, if you know, if it's an auto mechanic or whatever, they are experienced, they have the education, and they know what they're doing. So I'm definitely not one of those managers that comes in and is like, oh, well, you could this is how you do it. I shut up when it comes to them doing their work. I honestly, I look at how I can support them. I ask more questions than I do any telling. I ask how I can support them. My focus honestly is just to give them the tools and resources they need to get their job done. So, whatever that is. And that's basically how I present it to them when I first meet them. Anytime I take on a new team, as I'm not here to change things unless they need to be changed. I'll ask their opinion if they feel like there's a change that needs to occur, but I don't change something just because I'm a new person on the team. I know that's an approach a lot of managers take. I honestly think it's kind of an ignorant one because you are not there long enough. You really don't know the systems and processes, you don't know enough to know what to change. And so honestly, when they're whatever field they're in, I let them be the expert in that field. And that I mean, they love that because they're like, hey, I just got respect. And so, you know, then when it comes to they need something, they'll call me, they'll reach out to me. I kind of just step back and let them do their thing, and I'll come in when they need support, but unless they need me, I mean, I really feel like you should empower your team, they know what they're doing. If they need training, train them, but then step back and let them do their job.

Cord :

Yeah, yeah, I think that I mean it's so basic, right? It's it is it's such a basic concept. Um, but you know, uh you and I talk about some of these things um frequently because obviously, from a growth ops um perspective, and just so everyone kind of understands, you've probably heard it before, you've heard me talk about it. Um, but just to be clear, uh Shalisha and I are you know co-owners, co-founders of GrowthOps Ally. Uh it is a fractional C-suite and executive services company. So we come in and offer uh for Shalisha, that's uh operational um support, COO, fractional COO services. For me, that's marketing. Uh, we also have uh CFOs uh that we partner with, and we've even gotten into some kind of um very niche down you know type of stuff. We even had a request for uh you know an OSHA, a fractional uh OSHA person, right? To be uh a safety, occupational safety and health. But um anyway, I guess what I'm what I'm getting to here is it's such a such a common sense approach, but that you know, so many um owners, so many people who have hustled their way to success, um which is very much, I mean, we think about it in in home services, we think about it uh in you know kind of industrial uh you know construction or um you know the different fields that we operate in. But it's just as true in sheds, which is you can start putting sheds together yourself in your backyard, or you can be, you know, uh very curious and entrepreneurial and find a guy down the road, you know, who has a shop and is a good carpenter, um, you know, and start uh you know having kind of that subcontracted uh shed manufacturer and whatever else. But my point is the guys who succeed, who have that success and who go from zero to you know pick a number in the shed industry, you know, it's probably you can go from zero to 800, 1.2, 1.5 in a year. Like that's not at all outside the bounds of of anything reasonable. Um, you know, but the people who manage to do that often move so fast and are so focused on um you know the incoming, right? Because when you're in that startup mode, uh gosh, yeah, I mean you gotta you gotta sell jobs, you gotta build jobs, you gotta collect on jobs, right? Like the money just has to churn really fast in the beginning. Um, and so those people succeed. And one thing that I think you and I, you know, talk about frequently, and that I think is just true of general psychology is that that person is not always the best then at doing the things you're talking about, building, creating long-term teams, um, you know, putting uh handbooks and uh time off procedures and insurance and all these, you know, uh how do you retain employees? Well, what kind of benefit what kind of benefits can we offer? Can we afford to offer? Right? Um, how much how much time is that sort of hustle first um person able to put into some of those very detail-oriented uh you know types of tasks? And so, you know, maybe just uh, you know, I don't want to make anyone listening who is a manufacturer, an independent dealer who kind of has that, you know, blinders on, narrow focus. We're certainly not saying anything negative, right? That's what America is. Hustle, hustle, hustle.

Shalisha Wood:

Yeah.

Cord :

Um, but maybe talk a little bit about how you kind of approach bridging that gap between the owner, the founder, the people who are just run, run, run, and then finding a way to settle into, you know, let's build long-term teams with long-term value propositions, not just to our customers, but to our employees, right? And does that then improve the value prop that we're sending to our customers? So anyway, that was long-winded, but I know you're great at sort of wrangling, uh, you know, and getting those things in order.

Shalisha Wood:

Yeah, so I mean you're totally right. Like most owners that have gotten to where they are, they just I guess tunnel through, they're just driven. They just, you know, they just power through and they get it done. And so that doesn't work when you're building a team, you can't just power through people, and so that's where I come in and I try to pull the power through a little bit back, you know, um, and kind of just coach them. And honestly, in in a lot of ways, as a COO, I'm a coach as well to the owners when I see things um that are like, hey, you know, I know it's probably what you meant, but that's probably not how it was perceived. And a lot of times they're like, What do you mean? And you know, like I had this with one of my clients, and I told them and he went and asked the person, and they're like, Well, she's right, that's how I received it. And he was like, I had no idea. And he was totally shocked, and so, but uh honestly, they're just so focused on you know that bottom line, getting that revenue in that because that's you know, when they started, they had nothing, they had no revenue, and so sometimes they're still in that mindset, so it's a hard mind shift to change. And so, one of the things I do, I try to do is I look at what the owner is actually doing um day to day, week to week, month to month, and I try to take work off of them, and so that can be anything, honestly. Um, you know, switch if they're doing paper checks, switch them to direct deposits so they're not hand delivering paper checks and you know, payroll checks to people, make it be anything. I really just try to be very customized to what they're doing to free that time up and so that they have those time that that time to talk to their employees and to because the reality is unless you talk to your employees and you have that relationship, you're not gonna build that relationship and build that retention. You really don't know where they're at. Because a lot of times, you know, especially owners are like, I had no idea that this person was gonna quit. I had no idea that they were dissatisfied. Well, you're not having those conversations, you know. My recommendation is to have a one-on-one with your teammates every week. Give them that undivided time, especially as a blue collar owner, when you're going to different job sites, you're doing different things. A lot of times you don't have that time and you're taking phone calls and you're doing this. Even if you gave your team members an hour, your leaders, an hour a week on divided, where they get your attention, they're gonna feel that support. And so there's just little things that you can do that at first you're like, well, I can't change, I can't do this. You can, but you got to do them in bite size to get there. And you can build that retention, but you need to be honestly looking at it and saying, okay, my retention is not the greatest. What are my numbers? Because the numbers tell the truth. Regardless of how you feel, the numbers do not lie.

Cord :

Yeah. You know, I feel like so often when we talk and kind of uh sidebar and you know uh think about uh you know how to how to whatever the business problem of the day is, right? And we obviously bounce things back and forth off of each other, um, even for clients that we don't necessarily interact with directly. You know, I'll bounce something off of you for one of mine, and you'll bounce something off of me for one of yours. But you know, I think one of the what you're doing in operations or in that COO role, right? Improving operations, is you're always trying to translate what the situation on the ground is, right? Where is the efficiency? Where is where can we improve? Um you're always trying to try to translate where the situation on the ground can actually add up to all the things that get talked about in a conference room or if you're big enough, a boardroom, or whatever else. Um, you know, and of course there's all kinds of systems that that kind of attack that, you know, uh EOS or the Kaizen system, you know, from the Toyota back in the day or whatever it is. But you know, I think for me, I've just I've come to kind of recognize you as being a sort of embodiment of those type of philosophies, um, not to just, you know, whatever, just uh throw flowers at you. Um but like I really think that, you know, just naturally, and I'd say that being the middle child of seven uh and having to peacemake and then having to help in the family business, you know, inevitably has given you this gift of being able to really translate both sides of that equation. Um, and you're just really, really good at it. So um, you know, I've seen it in person, but you know, I think when it comes to uh the shed industry and kind of you know making this this hit home for them, you know, I I think one of the biggest struggles, and this isn't unique to sheds, but one of the biggest struggles you face in that you know, 600, 800 million, 1.2, 1.5, is like you're really just you're struggling to figure out where does where do I get the most bang for my buck on scalability here, right? Yeah. Um, you know, where do I invest? Um, where can I really take advantage of an investment? Because, you know, an investment in uh software, you know, might cost you one and a half uh um you know, full-time guys, right? Depending on depending on what that software is and um, you know, what the onboarding is and what the recurring is. And so I think one of the other things that I that I think that we have really tried to do well, at least, um, is the sort of value prop around what that fractional, you know, why fractional is valuable to that sort of growing level of business. Do you mind to just kind of touch on how the business model itself, the pay structure, like how that actually truly benefits these owners and founders and uh you know CEOs, uh, you know, in that way?

Shalisha Wood:

Yeah. So if you're looking at hiring like, you know, a CMO, like a full-time chief marketing officer or full-time operations person, I mean, you're gonna be paying a full-time wage. So if you have health insurance, you're gonna be paying a full-time wage all year. And so the benefit with someone like you know, me and you when it comes to marketing operations in a fractional capacity is that you're only gonna pay part-time, you're only gonna pay like part-time wages, but honestly, you're gonna get the benefit of full-time because you're still gonna get those ideas and that strategy, that strategy and that coaching. And the difference between like a business coach and us is a business coach will just lead you to the water, they'll say, Hey, these are some ideas, but with a fractional person, they're not saying, Hey, these are the ideas, they're saying these are the ideas that I'm gonna implement and I'm gonna do for you, and I'll get it done. And so, like, especially when it comes to all the operation stuff that I might suggest or I might do, like, for example, like you had talked about a software. And so, when I look at a software, I look like there's so many things in my mind that I run like I run through in my mind when I'm gonna give a suggestion to an owner. And so, I'm always at the top is this gonna increase revenue or is it gonna decrease expenses? It has to do one of those two things, and then if it doesn't do one of those two, okay, well, let's look at does it save the owner time? Because if it saves the owner time and he can then go or she can go then go and make more money, well, then it's worth it. And so sometimes it may not be a direct, okay, this will actually increase revenue tomorrow, but it will if we free up the owner's time because then they can go do it. And so those are the things when you're looking at it, um, it's like high level, and I feel like it's full throttle that you're still getting the benefit of an operations person, even if it's part-time. Now it may take longer to roll out if you only have someone working five hours a month or 10 hours a month, depending on you know the package that you pick. But the reality is you still get that benefit of having an operations person who has the experience and expertise of a full-time person, but you're paying a fraction of the cost.

Cord :

Yeah, absolutely. You know, maybe just to kind of give um give the listeners just a little bit of uh a taste of what you're talking about, you know, because we're talking in the abstract a lot. And, you know, um, of course, I've witnessed firsthand um just how you are laser focused on execution, um, but maybe, you know, something that would relate uh directly if you're comfortable talking about it. I know that you have a um, you know, like a commercial concrete, you know, which I think is pretty similar, you know, in a lot of ways to the way that the shed industry operates. Obviously, it's on-site and you know, GCs and everything else, but like in general, um, you know, if you just have maybe even an anecdote or just kind of you know a day-to-day or an implementation or something that kind of that kind of goes directly to your experience in that um industrial, you know, manufacturing type of a setting.

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Shalisha Wood:

Yeah, so one of the things that we implemented, um, he had no time off policy. And so he's got three, four crews, and so they don't obviously, he's a concrete company, construction company. So he's going to different job sites. And so when I started, he was like, It's not possible, I can't do one. And I was like, Well, you can. And you know, I'm gonna be straight with y'all. Don't tell me I can't do it because I will do it. Okay, I will find a way, you know, through, around, or blow up the mountain, I will find a way, you know. So uh, so we actually did a digital one, and he was like, That's not possible. I was like, Yeah, it is, and so what we did is we created a process and we explained it to them. And there's QR codes at the shop where they have their Monday morning meetings, and there's also QR codes in every foreman's truck, so they can literally scan it with their phone and submit the digital time off request, and it's worked fine, it's worked great because then through you know, um, the process when they submit it, it goes to the admin person, it's all directly like I set up the workflows, goes to the admin person, they approve it, and then an approval goes back to the employee and they know it's been approved. And so literally all they gotta do is scan a QR code. So, yeah, they're not all in the same place. Yes, they don't use computers, but it's a digital process because they all have smartphones. So, I mean, that's just an example of you know, okay, we didn't have one, we need one, right? And you need to have a process, especially as you grow, because he has like 25 employees. Like, as you grow, you really need to start having a process, yeah, and not be like, Hey, I told the owner I'm off that day, and then nobody knew that. And so, you know, you have to have a process where the whole team knows, and so that's one way where I helped. We're like, Okay, yes, it, you know, it's a challenge, we'll figure it out, you know. And at first he's like, We can't do digital, it's not gonna work. I was like, it will work, just let me do it.

Cord :

Well, and I think there's this, uh, and this is in uh a ton of that sort of you know, technician-centric or type of industries. There's a lot of like, my guys won't do that. Yeah, you know what I mean? There's a lot of like, oh, well, you know, they're somehow tech illiterate. And it's like, well, they're not, right? Like they're they are, you know, you go to a job site, um, you know, and of course we're talking about, you know, uh the English world primarily in concrete. Um, you know, but you go to a job site, and I mean these guys have their they've got earbuds in, they're listening to their podcast, they're cruising, you know, like they're you know, it there's no lack of ability, right? What there is there's lack of um clear communication and clear expectation, right? But also clear benefit to you know, I mean there is clear benefit to having a digital time off policy. So instead of, you know, I mean, I know I know the psychology, right? Of being like, I'm gonna I'm gonna craft a really good text message to my boss to try and explain why I need this day off, right? And of course you're gonna do that in in in off hours usually if you're taking time to text and ask for time off. It's probably in you know, after five o'clock or whatever else, right? So now you're texting a boss in the evening, right? And you're relying on them to not only see it respond to it, but then somehow register it into some version of a calendar when they're no longer in the office, right? I mean, how much sense does that make? It doesn't. And so, you know, and all this stuff is just common sense, but it really is the tact by which you um implement it, the communication that goes along with that, and then the tenacity, um which you personally have, and of course others do as well, but the tenacity to execute um to the nth degree and make sure that because it's so easy when something new is put online that if there's a bug in it, right? It's so easy for people to be like, well, it's new and now and now I've already experienced a glitch and I'm done. You know, and it's easy for people to adopt that reality and without having a like clear sounding board for that, um, you know, clear feedback and saying, Oh, okay, great. I will uh I'm on it right now. I am calling whatever it is, uh, you know, I'm calling whatever the software provider is or whatever, right? Um, you know, to make sure that that gets worked out. People then go from it's something new, it's something that doesn't work. Uh I'm not being heard by the fact that you know what I mean, like all these things compound, and like that's what leads to, you know, my guys won't do it. You know, it's not that they can't figure out how to operate their cell phones. Trust me, they got that part down. You know, my grandmother, 92 years old, she's got it down, you know. So anyway, go ahead.

Shalisha Wood:

Uh so I was gonna say is so being a product manager, um, and one of the roles I had, I you know, worked with the dev team, but then I had to roll it out to 11,000 tax offices. I mean, I'm so used, honestly, to testing the crap out of something before I roll it out for a lack of a better term. Like I test it, and so we also have a bilingual crew, so everything I have to do is in English and in Spanish. And so I'm gonna be honest with you, I use Google Translate because I am, you know, I know I took four years in high school with Spanish, so I have, you know, I know some words, but not enough to translate a sentence, you know, a time off policy. Um, so I test it a lot, and you know, I'll like you know, when we rolled it out, we had a superintendent. So, I sent it to him who was a Spanish speaker, and I was like, Does this make sense? I want, I'm gonna test it with you because then if you make you know, whoever's gonna be in the field help implement it, if you make them a part of the process of developing and whatever feedback he gave me, I did. If he was like, hey, do it this way or do it that way, I did it that way, and so that way when he when I rolled it out, he was already bought in because he helped develop it, and that's the big thing, you know. You know, when I worked as a product manager, I felt like I was a very different product manager. I actually got scolded. This is when I realized I needed to get out. I got scolded um by my bosses because I cared too much about the field. And I was like, you are a corporate picture of a corporate company. Like, like literally, like when I got scolded, I was like, okay, wait a minute here. Did I not meet every company objective? Did I not hit it? No, I hit every target and I surpassed every company target, but I also delivered it efficiently to the field. Like I was like, dude, I should get a flipping promotion. Scolded, and I was like, I'm in the wrong company, like I need to leave. And so, I was like, this is never gonna align. And so, like, I mean, all that I still take to every owner I go to, like, because the owners they care about the field, they care about their employees, those are the ones I work the best with, not the micromanagers, the ones who really truly care. And so, when I roll something out, I get the people who are gonna be on the field, I get their input, I get it. So then when whatever feedback they have, and then when we roll it out, they were a part of it. Then they're like, they can talk about it. Well, yeah, I did this. This is the way we should do it. They're a lot more bought in. You don't have that fight of getting them to do the buy-in, you already have it.

Cord :

Yeah, yeah, and you may not you may not realize it, but everything uh you were saying right there, the little anecdote about you know the crews and the bilingual crews and the Spanish speaking crews, you don't even know it, but you're speaking directly to the carport industry right there. So, for all of our carport listeners, um, you know, that is an on-site um an on-site build. You know, those are not pre uh pre-manufactured in the same way that uh that wooden sheds are, um, and primarily they're on-site built by bilingual or Spanish-speaking crews. Um, and it winds up for dealers and for salespeople being a big frustration because they don't have any control, you know, that over that in the first place, right? It's the carport company, but also there is there is no way to um kind of have that interface, right? So that's just one small example. You're talking about time off, and but it translates to everything else, it's an approach, right? And so um anyway, Shalisha, look, this is um, I mean, you and I, we know uh we do this commonly, we could continue to talk, but one of my big focuses uh for the listeners out there who have hung on for I think we're at minute, whatever it is here, uh, you know, 32 or 33, I really want to focus on Shed Geek Fridays being slightly more bite-sized, um, something that you can listen to in your uh in your commute, right, to and from work versus kind of having to um maybe use some of the time once you get home. I do this commonly, right? You start a one-hour podcast on the way home and it's a 30-minute drive, and then you're kind of like, you know, leaving your earbud in while you walk in to the house or maybe putting it back in, you know, once you get into bed and you know, maybe not um, you know, then fully focused. And so, I want it to be slightly more bite-sized. Um, and so I think we will cut it off here for today, Shalisha. But gosh, I feel like um, you know, I feel like we should maybe touch base, you know, once a quarter or once every six months and just kind of have you come back because I know that you really keep your finger on the pulse of you know what is going on uh in the kind of blue-collar um home service, manufacturing, industrial, all these hands-on industries that we really dig into. And I think just the sort of Shalisha, you know, of the of the day uh type of content is going to be very relevant in translating, even if it's not shed specific, right? So much of this stuff just kind of overflows uh in and our general business problems, especially in those blue-collar trades. So, Shalisha, thank you so much for being on the podcast today. Uh, you know how much I appreciate you, I hope. Um, and uh and just uh wish you nothing but the best, and let's do it again.

Shalisha Wood:

I loved it.

Cord :

Well, thank you so much. Thank you for listening, and I will see you next Friday on the Shed Geek podcast.

OUTRO:

Thanks again, Shed Pro, for being the Shed Geek's studio sponsor. If you need any more information about Shed Pro or about Shed Geek, just reach out. You can reach us by email at info@shedgeek.com. Or just go to our website www.shedgeek.com and submit a form with your information, and we'll be in contact right away. Thank you again for listening, as always, to today's episode of the Shed Geek Podcast. Thank you and have a blessed day.