Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Speaker A: Well, good day, everyone, and welcome to the Cutting Edge Install Podcast brought to you by Omni Cubed, where innovation meets installation, and, quite frankly, everything in between.
I'm your host, Merv Campbell, and it's an absolute pleasure to have you with us today. Whether you're listening, whether you're on the job, whether you're watching, you're very welcome. I hope you enjoy this podcast. And what is it all about? Why are we doing this? Well, we want to celebrate. We want to pop the cork and champagne and say congratulations to movers, to shakers, to pros, to installers, to experts. And we have pretty much all of that in our guest today. We're going to dive into stories, we're going to share insights, we're going to have fun. The old accent would tell you that I'm Irish, when the Irish know how to have fun. So whether you're on the job, whether you're on the road, or you're looking to stay sharp, you have come to the right place. So let's get cracking. I am going to let my guest introduce herself. Some of you may know her, some of you may not. I got to meet her at a glass event and thought, wow, this is someone I would like to talk to further. So I'm going to leave it to you to go ahead.
[00:01:13] Speaker B: Sure, yeah. I'm Alana Stafel. I'm currently based out of San Antonio, Texas.
So you've got the Irish accent going on. I've probably got a little bit of a Southern accent going on. Oh, yeah. We'll just party today.
[00:01:25] Speaker A: Yep, absolutely. This is where it's at. That's so cool. Yep. That's awesome.
[00:01:31] Speaker B: I jumped into the glass industry kind of out of nowhere. I think that's how it happens most of the time.
I was in management of GCs, plumbers and electricians for about 10 years, and then on one random weekend, I was helping out my husband's company at a trade show.
You know, he's in the trades as well, and some glass company was like, hey, what would it take to poach you from your current company?
And I'm like, well, long story short, this is not my current company. This is my husband's company.
[00:02:00] Speaker A: Yeah, it's not even mine.
[00:02:02] Speaker B: I'm like, I don't do any of this. But I was like, I'm open to it. Let's see what you got to say. So I interviewed with them and they hired me on the spot and kind of the rest of his. The rest is history. That's awesome. That's what we do. So did luxury interior glass for a while and then went into commercial after that. So learned, you know, the storefronts, the curtain walls, the interior glass.
[00:02:26] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:02:27] Speaker B: And it's. It's been fun.
[00:02:29] Speaker A: That's awesome.
[00:02:30] Speaker B: A little bit about me.
[00:02:31] Speaker A: That's cool.
Outside of glass. So taking glass aside and everything that goes with it, who are you outside of work?
Kind of what drives you?
If someone's watching this and maybe they know you, but they maybe don't really know you, what might surprise them to learn about you?
[00:02:52] Speaker B: Oh, goodness. Outside of work, I'm a mom and a wife, So I have two kids. They are 8 and 4. So it's a bucket of chaos at my house at all times.
[00:03:01] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:03:03] Speaker B: And then on the weekends, I guess this would be the thing that would probably surprise people is that I sing as well. So I sing on the weekends at my church and elsewhere.
Yeah.
[00:03:13] Speaker A: That's awesome. Good for you. So you have good dulcet tones with that Southern accent.
[00:03:19] Speaker B: Sometimes. I like to think so.
[00:03:21] Speaker A: Oh, come on. Oh, that's good. Good stuff. So you've kind of talked a little bit about the glass industry.
Kind of what drew you in, but what keeps you in it? You know, you're in it, you're working in it. What. What has you stay there.
[00:03:35] Speaker B: Sure. Well, I have enjoyed glass because it's one of those things that for better or for worse, if you do a bad job, people are going to see it.
[00:03:44] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:03:45] Speaker B: And I do, like, an excellent job to be done on every job that I'm at. So it's. You can't hide it. I mean, you go and you see something beautiful and you know, this was a great install. This is fantastic.
And if it's not, that's on your punch list. So it sounds weird, but I do enjoy that, that it's. It's an excellent trade.
[00:04:07] Speaker A: Good.
Awesome. Yeah, it is.
Talking to some of the other guys that are in the glass industry, it's a craft, it's a skill, it's an art.
Sadly, it's something that we don't appreciate half enough.
I always challenge people when they're like, glass, that kind of sounds boring. And I'm like, hey, take a step back in, like, a major city or in a city or even in your home and just see how much glass is actually in there.
And then when you look to see how much is there, see the craftsmanship that's involved, like you take a shower itself, people go, ah, it's so easy to install. And you're like, well, here go you do it and have fun. Try not to break it.
Oh yeah. It'll be, you'll be like, oh, I need another piece quick.
It is a skill, it's an art. And the people who do it, like yourself and others, are very, very talented.
I challenge anyone who listens to this. Take 5, 10, 15 minutes when you're driving through your neighborhood or you're driving through a city and just look, look for glass.
And I challenge you to do that. And then you'll go, it's everywhere. And we don't appreciate it. It is literally everywhere. We don't see it because. Do you see through it? As someone told me one day and I'm like, yeah, very funny.
[00:05:31] Speaker B: Once you're in the industry, you're looking at the glass instead of through the glass. Before that, you're just like my glass. But now, my poor husband, anywhere we drive, I'm like, oh, look at what they did over there, some old glass. And he's like, what are you talking about?
[00:05:46] Speaker A: What are you going on? Right, that's funny. So you're in the glass industry, but how old were you when you did your first glass project and what was that experience like?
[00:06:00] Speaker B: So, ironically, I have only been in the glass industry a couple of years officially, but I realized it was funny. Some of my installers were talking about how long they'd been around and like, ah, you're an old timer. And I realized I actually specced my first glass job at 15 because I was renovating my family's bathroom and I was like, you know, I think frameless glass would be back would be nice.
[00:06:28] Speaker A: Here, look at you.
[00:06:29] Speaker B: And did some research and found the clamps we needed and figured out what thickness of glass and measured it and told my dad, hey, go down to the glass shop, this is what we need and tell him to order it.
[00:06:42] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:06:43] Speaker B: And we put it in.
I had a laugh when I realized that because I was like, guys, I've been in this industry longer than all of you. All of you in a very, very technical sense.
[00:06:54] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, yeah, totally. Wow. 15. That's a shout out to all 15 year olds. Get off your devices, get off your screens and go do something. That's amazing.
[00:07:05] Speaker B: To be fair, we didn't really have the screens back then. Like, I think I had the Nokia phone.
[00:07:11] Speaker A: Oh yeah.
[00:07:11] Speaker B: So I could play Snake. I'm sure that was about the, that.
[00:07:15] Speaker A: Was the extent of the games that were on it. Yep, I had the cm, I had the old Nokia.
And one of the old tricks was In Ireland, if you sent a text and you counted the revolutions off the little timer and you turned it off quick enough, it didn't charge you.
But that was kind of annoying because you were constantly on and off with your phone.
[00:07:35] Speaker B: But I missed that trick right there.
[00:07:38] Speaker A: Sorry. Nokia, if you're listening, please don't come after me. I know that you're. Maybe I'm going to get sued next week. I'm like, oh, come on.
But no, that's hilarious. Wow.
[00:07:48] Speaker B: 15.
[00:07:48] Speaker A: That's awesome. And your dad obviously trusted you.
[00:07:54] Speaker B: You know, I was actually homeschooled, which had a bad rap back then. It's more common now.
But I think the coolest thing was our parents always drilled into us that it's not as important to learn as to know how to learn.
Because there's only so much that you can be taught in a classroom environment.
Totally. It's just they're giving you something and you're memorizing it. Whereas if you know how to go find information.
[00:08:20] Speaker A: Totally.
[00:08:21] Speaker B: You can do the research and you know what you're reading and you know how to read the studies and yeah, then you can do it and you can go do it.
I think that's the most beneficial thing I ever learned in school, to be honest, was not just the knowledge, it was how to learn. So, yeah.
[00:08:36] Speaker A: Yeah, the hands on. Yeah. My three kids are homeschooled too.
And my eldest boy, he's 14 and so he's really into RC cars. Well, he likes to crash them and break them and then buy parts to fix them. And so he's constantly looking at like drawings and part drawings. And then dad gets the list of, hey, can we go to the RC store to get these? And I'm like, sure. They're not that expensive. But it's more the hands on. It's the.
You're so right. You can only learn so much. They do it online through Bob Jones, but they learn there.
But there's only so much this does until you get your hands dirty and you actually go do things or take the learning and put it into something practical. So. Oh, that's so cool. That's awesome. Wow.
15 year olds do it. Go learn something other than a screen.
[00:09:29] Speaker B: Maybe not glass out the gate, but why not something.
[00:09:33] Speaker A: Yeah, do a project, Learn how to measure something properly.
[00:09:36] Speaker B: That's a good start.
[00:09:37] Speaker A: Yeah, go help your parents or go help your dad if he's out in the garden and he's cutting stuff up and yeah, just learn like so many, so many people now, like basic skills like reading a tape measure. They don't know they can't even read a tape measure. It's not, it's so. It's really sad. We have one of our engineers does some training with young, young people and that's his very first class, how to read a tape measure. Because they don't know. They've not been taught. So.
Okay, moving on.
You've basically done it. Sounds like pretty much about everything in the industry.
Can you tell us the story of how you learned how to cut and fabricate glass?
[00:10:18] Speaker B: Well, again, like everything in glass, I was thrown in whether I liked it or not.
We had a trade show coming up for my little. It was the luxury interior glass at that time.
[00:10:32] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:10:32] Speaker B: And there was a mirror planned that was like a free form organic edge mirror for in our booth. And the guy that was supposed to cut it at our shop called in sick the day that it needed to be cut in order to be finished in time.
And they were like, the whole booth has been planned around this and we don't have anybody here that can cut it. And I was like, how hard could it be?
You know, famous last words, right?
[00:10:56] Speaker A: Oh yeah.
[00:10:56] Speaker B: So but watched a couple YouTube videos and put on my cut, you know, level five gloves and my little glasses and drew it out and got moving. So figured it out.
[00:11:11] Speaker A: That's so fun.
[00:11:13] Speaker B: A very non official way.
[00:11:15] Speaker A: There you are.
You're quite a brave person. It seems like you just put your hand to whatever and you'll learn.
[00:11:21] Speaker B: That's which can be a problem at times. But it can be.
[00:11:24] Speaker A: You can overdo things and take a lot more on than you need to. But that's such a blessing to have people like that.
Kudos to you. Good job. You've worked in glass companies, obviously some of them, they don't last all that long, sadly. Doors close and I'm sure that you've learned a lot through the years from that. But what are some lessons or even red flags that you think business owners even today should look out for and even warn, be warned about?
[00:11:57] Speaker B: Sure, let me here. I actually jotted down a few notes. Let me pull out my trusty notepad here.
[00:12:02] Speaker A: There you are.
[00:12:04] Speaker B: I think that it's.
You can see when you're going into troubled waters, right as a business owner and you're like, oh, you know, maybe, maybe you didn't sell the job you needed to sell or whatever's going on. I think there's a few things that you can do to push through and avoid those seasons.
Know your niche.
There's all kinds of things you could be doing out there. You know, you can, you can do commercial, you can do residential, you can do just windows, you can do. There's so many things you could be doing. But if you really know your niche, you can hone that and get really good at it.
[00:12:40] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:12:42] Speaker B: After that, know your cash flow. I'll be the first to say I'm not a financial person. I don't do the books. But if you don't know your books, have somebody who knows your books.
Know where you are right now, know where you're going to be three months out. Because if you don't, you're going to get in some trouble big time.
Like I said, hire that person for the finances if you're not that person.
But for every role, hire and train the right people.
Those right people are ones that you can delegate to. Because as an owner, you can't do it all.
[00:13:13] Speaker A: No.
[00:13:14] Speaker B: You can't be the sales, the ops, the, you know, the go see person and also the installer.
Unless you're that one man team, that's fine. But you gotta have the people that you can trust. Cause if you try to hold onto it all, you'll just, you know, you'll go out before the company goes out.
And I had a couple more. Just communicate.
That's the simplest thing to say, but it's the first thing to leave when things get rough.
I think that it's easy to kind of wanna hide instead and be like, oh, no, that material isn't here in time.
[00:13:49] Speaker A: What do I do?
[00:13:50] Speaker B: I don't wanna call. But if pick up the phone, call your customer and say, hey, the materials got pushed back. This is where we're at. This is what we can do. This is what we can do. Everybody's on the same page and it eliminates 90% of the issues.
[00:14:04] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:14:06] Speaker B: And communicate with your employees as well. I mean, if they know, like, hey, guys, it's a little rough right now. This is what we need to do to keep the boat afloat.
Your employees are in it. They want you to succeed. They want the business to succeed. So they're gonna pull their weight and they're gonna pull extra weight if they need.
[00:14:24] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:14:26] Speaker B: Which they want to do because of your company's culture. So that's the culture in place, that they know what the goal is.
You know, you want to be excellent, you want to take ownership, you want to stay positive, and you want to build not only great projects, but great relationships with your contractors.
[00:14:44] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:14:45] Speaker B: Keeping your contractors happy isn't that every project went perfectly. But it's that they know they're gonna call Merv, you know, they call you Murph and they're like, hey, something's up with this project over here. I need help. And they know you're gonna do it, you're gonna help out.
[00:14:59] Speaker A: Absolutely, yeah.
[00:15:01] Speaker B: And then just reach out for help if you need it. There's consultants and there's people out there that have been in that boat before and they're willing to help because they know what it looks like and they know what the path forward is. And there's some fantastic people in the industry that are touch points for. You don't feel like you're in it alone.
[00:15:23] Speaker A: That's some.
Those are words of wisdom. Anyone who's listening or watching, the more that I've done these podcasts, I may actually take that clip and have that be the pinnacle because it kind of. It brings everything. It brings everything that a lot of people have said.
And I think the greatest one is communication.
Sadly, in our day, everyone hides behind a monitor and a keyboard.
And that verbal communication, whether that's in person or picking up a phone, we're losing that.
We're in a day off. It's a text or it's an email and tone, and all of that is missing in an email.
There's something about calling a customer and saying, hey, here's the scenario, here's where we are.
We're going to make it right, we're going to get it done.
Just give us a couple of days and just explain that either on the phone or in person.
Because a lot of times what happens is, and you've probably experienced it just as much as I have, that you get that cold email and it just puts a bad flavor in your mouth. And so anytime you can have one on one verbal or in person communication, do it not only for your customers, but your employees. And so that means as an owner, you've got to be approachable, you've got to have your door open, you've got to be the person to listen. I talked to a guy this morning and he was said, you've got two ears and one mouth, listen twice as much as you talk. And that's. So that's really critical like today because everyone likes to, I want to have my say, I want to have my peace.
The people who actually stand out are the listeners and those who are well.
[00:17:12] Speaker B: And that's going to help you find your niche too.
Some people can just take every job and run with it, but if you're listening. You're hearing your contractors say, man, it's really hard to find somebody who does this. Well, this like, oh, wow. This pro. We have all these projects coming up and we need this niche filled. So that can help.
And then on the communication piece, good info too, is great. Even if it's just a call to say, like, hey, I just talked to my supplier. Everything's on time.
[00:17:39] Speaker A: Yeah, we're good to go. Yep, that's great. It gives confidence in who you are and your company.
And then you said another part there about everyone's in it to help.
I met you at the Texas last show. I was a long way from home. I was not in Kansas anymore.
[00:17:58] Speaker B: Everybody saying y' all and yeehaw. No.
[00:18:01] Speaker A: And I'm like, I'm like, this is not. What do I. What, how do I respond? I just be yourself. But I would, I would recommend those events so much.
Those were a couple of days of just camaraderie.
Fun. They are fun. Some of them can. You're like falling asleep through some of the presentations. But that's okay. You're there to learn.
And then what was really cool was the, like the meal and the time that we all had together just talking and interacting with each other was really, really awesome. So highly recommend those events.
They're much needed and really good.
[00:18:40] Speaker B: So yeah, I agree with that.
[00:18:43] Speaker A: And I think my camera has frozen.
[00:18:45] Speaker B: I think so too. I was like, I don't know.
[00:18:47] Speaker A: If you're right in the middle of.
[00:18:48] Speaker B: Something here, play it cool.
[00:18:50] Speaker A: Nope, I am, I am. I'm going to go see what's wrong.
The lights haven't went out, so there's par. But what's happening? Who knows? Give me two seconds.
[00:19:00] Speaker B: You can add my coffee break to the bloopers reel.
[00:19:02] Speaker A: There you go. We kind of talked a little bit about the negatives, obviously, shops closing and things to help. But if there was a couple of things that you could highlight. We've already talked about communication as one being really good. But what are some other best practices? You've seen that, that help keep a glass business strong, to keep it profitable, you know, resilient, even in tough markets.
[00:19:24] Speaker B: So I mean, getting the customers in the door is some people's biggest issue, right? Because you're like, I can bid a job, I can do the job. But to get the job, that's the part that I'm really good at. I do the business development, I do the sales. So getting those bait requests, that's the first step. And then getting the customer to like, you enough to hire you. Right.
[00:19:49] Speaker A: There you go. Yeah.
[00:19:50] Speaker B: So sometimes when you're just starting out, I would say the best practice, make sure everybody knows your name.
[00:19:57] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:19:58] Speaker B: Which again, it's about picking up the phone, calling every single contractor or client that you want to have.
[00:20:04] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:20:05] Speaker B: Saying, hey, this is me. This is my company. I'd like to introduce myself. This is what we do. This is what we're great at. We love to bid for you.
And then the next step after that is, again, funny communication.
You get that bid request, you take it, and you run with it. So you're reaching out if you see, hey, we could do something better here. We could cut costs here. Do you want a value added option here?
So staying in their mind and then following up on it, it's. It's easy, but it's hard to find the time sometimes. Right. Because you're like, oh, I'm onto the next bid. I'm onto the next job. We're. We're running. So even just following up. And once you have that job, you know what you're doing. Do the job. So I'd say that's. That's some of the things I see skipped. That can help a lot.
[00:20:58] Speaker A: We're thinking Future, you know, five, 10 years ahead of us.
Where do you see the glass industry headed?
What's missing in the industry?
What are some areas that, in your opinion, perhaps need some help and improvement?
[00:21:16] Speaker B: Yeah. So I know, obviously, everybody's aware of the energy efficiency pushes. We all know they're coming. We all know what we're working on there. So I know that's going to be a big thing, the retrofits going in, figuring out how to bring old buildings up to standards when needed, which there's some really good players coming into the game for retrofits and things like that.
I think where we're going to, from my designers that I work a lot with, I'm hearing that the aesthetics are coming so back into play.
[00:21:51] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:21:51] Speaker B: Because the architects for a long time pushed so towards just like, glass, everything, which I love. I'm like, yes, glass everything.
[00:21:58] Speaker A: Bring it.
[00:21:59] Speaker B: You know, all the glasses. But at the same time, instead of just cold and stark and modern, we're starting to see people move back towards, like, ooh, where's the character? How can we add something unique here, something beautiful?
And, I mean, you've been to Ireland, clearly.
The architecture, the old architecture. Tell me about that. What do you see that's so different?
[00:22:22] Speaker A: We have castles that are older than your country.
I was just there. I'm Born and bred in Ireland for 34 years. My parents are there.
I went to a trade show last month and we went to the coast and I got pictures of an old castle that's. It's in ruins. It's, you know, it's what, 1500s? It's pretty old.
But they're talking about restoring it and bringing it back to like, its glory days, as in what it once looked like now. That's like millions of pounds.
[00:22:52] Speaker B: I'd like to volunteer to put the glass in that castle.
[00:22:55] Speaker A: I would volunteer. I would volunteer to do security at the parking lot. To be honest, I'd be happy enough just to watch it every day. But they're talking, talking about that and it was. It intrigued me to the fact of how are they going to.
Because it's all stone. So how are they going to, you know, put the windows in. There's obviously big wooden doors have to go in.
And that, that's. That's a big job. But yet when it, like I saw drawings of like, when it would be finished and what it would look like, and you're going, wow, that is unbelievable. So architecture in Ireland is very different than anything here, but it's just a different country. And then if I like, we would go to mainland Europe on vacation. So we go to the south of France. Totally different again.
You head over into like Belgium and Holland, and that's a whole other scenario. And, you know, Italy's just, you know, gorgeous to say the least, but it's a whole different architecture. So it's. Each country has their own and it's an. Each. It's a, It's a different set of challenges for everyone.
And here in the States, you guys are. It's funny to hear, like, they want the history to come back again.
[00:24:10] Speaker B: The character we want as much of totally.
[00:24:14] Speaker A: But you're, you're, you're a little bit behind us in Europe, but you're, you know, you have a country like few.
[00:24:21] Speaker B: Hundred years or so.
[00:24:22] Speaker A: Yeah, it's a tis, but a couple of hundred, a big deal. It's like there's things here that are older that are absolutely gorgeous and they need to be brought back. And just there's so many, sadly, there's so many buildings that they're just. All they do now is demolish and.
[00:24:41] Speaker B: Put homes on demolish or cover over. And it's a tragedy.
[00:24:45] Speaker A: It is a tragedy.
[00:24:45] Speaker B: But something that I am seeing, you saw, I'm sure the cracker barrel thing, they changed to like this dystopian is what people Were saying model, and everybody threw a fit over it. They said, absolutely not. I think the CEO was fired. They went back to the old school. That's just a small example of what I'm seeing, though, across the board is people are going, character. We want to see character. We don't want this to become just square buildings and blocks. And nobody wants that, right?
[00:25:16] Speaker A: Nobody wants that.
[00:25:17] Speaker B: I think that we'll see a lot more of that in the coming five, 10 years is like character buildings, which I'm excited to see what the architects come up with. And I'm excited to put some glass in them too.
[00:25:29] Speaker A: There you go. Which brings its own challenges for you and your company and others. But then that's where everyone's so fearful of AI and all this stuff. But you're going, you cannot replace a human.
I'm sorry, but the skill levels that are there, the craftsmanship is just. It's second to none. You can't replace that human touch. And no, it's. Let's advocate. Bring back the old. Let's start a petition, a GoFundMe page.
[00:26:00] Speaker B: Save the old things.
[00:26:02] Speaker A: Yeah, Save the old things.
[00:26:03] Speaker B: Not look boring.
[00:26:04] Speaker A: Yeah, go to the thrift stores. Buy everything from there, actually.
[00:26:08] Speaker B: Yeah, I love a good thrift.
[00:26:10] Speaker A: I do too. Yeah. They get me a lot of trouble sometimes, but that's okay.
[00:26:14] Speaker B: I've got my. You can't see it, but my desk is like a mid century little beauty down here.
[00:26:20] Speaker A: That's awesome. That's so cool. We got this totally off subject. People are going, what are they talking about?
[00:26:26] Speaker B: You know, what? Architecture. It's connected.
[00:26:29] Speaker A: It's all connected. We bought a. What is a 10 foot long kitchen table for a dollar at the thrift store.
[00:26:37] Speaker B: You did not. That's awesome.
[00:26:39] Speaker A: Yep. I saw it and I was like, is that a hundred? Even at 100, I'd be like, yeah, I'd buy it. And the guy was like, no, everything out there is a dollar. And I was like, great, I want that right now. Here's my truck loaded up. But yeah, see of the old stuff, what's been one of your most exciting or unique glass projects that you've ever had to work on?
[00:26:59] Speaker B: Oh, goodness.
I thought about this one. When I saw the question. I would have to say the one that, that I was probably the proudest of was the first one I ended up PMing as well as estimating. And I wasn't supposed to PM that one. This is. This is a trend you're sensing. I get thrown into things and I just have to run with it.
[00:27:21] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:27:21] Speaker B: So I estimated the job. We want it. Everything was ordered and then it was a small company and the PM quit and we were like, shoot, oh no.
[00:27:31] Speaker A: What are we doing?
[00:27:32] Speaker B: And of course I'm the GC's touch point. They're like, you're the person we know, you bid this for us. We.
So it's like I ended up doing the all night weekend installs with the guys and, and running the thing and learned a lot. I was like, okay, I can do all the things now I've learned. So, you know, I was thankful that we could pull in some installers that knew what they were doing, otherwise I would have sunk. But that was the most memorable. It was just a few herc doors upstairs and like a big long 10 foot tall glass wall and some more doors with all the security locks and everything as well. So that's its own little paint. But that's so cool. But that one was fun.
And I got to, at the end of the day, you look at it and you go, okay, I did that. That's, you know, in Texas, it's a 10 foot tall wall. Cause everything's bigger here, of course.
[00:28:31] Speaker A: Oh yeah, it sure is. I can attest to that. It is, yep.
[00:28:35] Speaker B: So they had their 3/4 inch thick glass door. Goodness was about 800 pounds, I believe.
It was huge.
You know, floor closer and everything. So.
[00:28:47] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:28:48] Speaker B: Just one of those that you look at and you go, I'm proud of that.
[00:28:50] Speaker A: Yeah, that's one I'll happily put my name to. Well, that's so cool. It seems like you have to be very careful. You seem to just take on anything essentially you shouldn't.
[00:29:04] Speaker B: There's a lot of research behind. Before I jump into things, I read through the full manual before I'm trying to put in a floor closer. I'm asking people for advice left and right, you know, calling the manufacturer. Hey, I have a really stupid question for you that anybody else in the world would know, but I don't know. So you know, again, pick up the phone, ask the questions. Don't just run willy nilly into it. But sometimes you do have to learn.
[00:29:30] Speaker A: And sometimes you gotta learn. You just throw in the deep end, sink or swim. But that's cool. Research it. Research it for sure. Well, you talk about 5 C's of good customer service.
Do you want to walk us through those and why are they important and how can they help others?
[00:29:48] Speaker B: Yeah. So it's kind of just the baseline. Right.
So confidence.
Your customer wants to know out the gate that you Know what you're doing and that you're going to do it well.
So instilling that confidence there. Clarity.
Help them to understand your process up front, whatever that looks like. Every company's a little different. Some have down payments, some have this billing structure. Some are gonna re. Measure three times, which, you know, measure twice at least. But they've got that clarity. There's no surprises.
Communication. There's our theme for today.
Keep them up to date. Let them know immediately if there's issues.
That way they can plan effectively.
[00:30:30] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:30:31] Speaker B: Care.
This sounds silly, but they want to know that you care about them. They want to know you care about their project. They're not just another check on the list and another thing. You're just, okay, I got that done. They want to see that care and then completion.
Well, I think it's so easy to get through all the things and run the things and send the bills and put in the glass and then kind of forget about that last little piece of the puzzle. Did we do it right? Did we check off every box? Did we make sure it was right, Protected? Whatever else is there?
Just getting that project done. Well, that's awesome.
[00:31:10] Speaker A: Wow, that's so cool. Anyone listening? Write those down. I know I am. I'm going to write those five Cs down and put them. We have our customer service guy downstairs, and I'll be like, here, follow these, buddy. Okay.
[00:31:23] Speaker B: Follow along with the book. Everything you've done your whole career here, throw it away.
[00:31:27] Speaker A: Yeah.
Gone. Learned it on a podcast. That's what most people say these days, so, you know, why not?
[00:31:33] Speaker B: I love a podcast. Yeah.
[00:31:35] Speaker A: Join the trend.
I met you at Texas, like I said, and in a room of a lot of people, you stood out because your bubbly personality. You're very positive. You're a very person.
You're a person.
A people person, if I can spit the brick here and say it right.
And just.
You were just fun to talk to. Like, we met at the line getting dinner, and it was like, oh, that's right. Who is this person? And yada, yada, yada. But how do you keep, like, how do you keep yourself positive when things are stressful? You know, things are tough at the moment for a lot of people.
How do you keep that sort of bubbly attitude and just a positive, you know, vibe and work ethic? A bite?
[00:32:20] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, a whole lot of coffee never hurts.
That's. That's my little energizer.
I have way too much espresso on a daily basis.
[00:32:29] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:32:31] Speaker B: And then I, I believe in Jesus. I believe that he's our sustainer.
So the way I was raised was to do everything as if you're doing it to the Lord, on to him.
[00:32:42] Speaker A: Good.
[00:32:42] Speaker B: My first job, when I was still in high school, I was a night janitor at a school. So it's like, what better way to learn to do things right than when nobody else is there? And you can cut corners, but just knowing, like, hey, like, it's, it's not just for me, even if nobody else sees it, I know it and it's.
It does. It keeps you going. Just having that faith that everything's in, in good hands.
Because I know you mentioned companies close, companies change. And, and it is a tough job market right now.
My husband just mentioned to me the other day, he was like, man, have you seen. On the local.
I don't even remember on Reddit, I think he was like, have you seen how many people are looking for work and can't find anything and are hunting and hunting? And I was like, oh, man.
So just, just trusting that no matter what, if you're keeping God and your family first, like, everything else will follow.
[00:33:42] Speaker A: Amen to that. I agree. 110%. Yeah. If we're called to, whether we eat or drink or whatever we do, we're to do it to his glory. And the more that we do that, the better a blessing it is to others. And we can share that blessing.
You and I kind of have a similar personality. I like people. I like, talk to people.
I joke that I have a couch in my office that the employees come and I'm psychiatrist that talks to them, but it's not. It's more a.
When you know the Lord, you care about people and you want to listen to them and obviously point them to Christ. But it's good to just. It's good to take stock of people and just, you know, be a helpful.
Be that Good Samaritan to everyone, no matter who they are. So, yeah, we live in a day and age where so many people are depressed, they're so downtrodden, they need the Lord first and foremost. But people like yourself and others in the glass industry and other industries are just wonderful advocates of encouragement and just a willingness to help and serve others. So kudos for you for that. You stood out in a room, I can tell you.
I was gonna say, like a sore thumb, but that's kind of not very nice. Cause I'll take it.
[00:35:04] Speaker B: It's fine.
[00:35:04] Speaker A: Sore thumbs aren't very nice. But you.
[00:35:06] Speaker B: I probably cut it Trying to learn something.
[00:35:08] Speaker A: Who knows?
No, it was. Yeah. So, yeah, the Lord brought you across our path, for sure.
You've had a career that's from 15 to now. So, you know, you have a career.
What are you working on? What are you learning?
What are lessons that you could share with others to even encourage them and, you know, maybe point them in a direction?
[00:35:36] Speaker B: Yeah. So right now, I'm a bit of a lone wolf at the moment. I'm running. It's called Texas Glass Girl. It's my company. So I've been consulting with local contractors and even other glazing shops who are looking for advice and technology and help.
So I'm doing that right now. And it's been a learning curve just like everything else, but it's been fun.
And then something I just picked up a couple weeks ago because I cut and fabricate mirrors as well. Just out of my garage, I've got my little carpeted table and such.
So I had seen where people were mixing stained glass with the mirrors.
[00:36:17] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:36:18] Speaker B: Just beautiful things. And I was like, I don't know how to do stained glass, but I've soldered a couple things.
[00:36:23] Speaker A: There you go.
[00:36:23] Speaker B: How hard can it be, right?
[00:36:24] Speaker A: Oh, here we. Here we go again.
[00:36:28] Speaker B: So I did. I went to the stained glass shop locally and looked at everything they had and watched a whole bunch of YouTube videos, and I was like, doesn't look so hard.
[00:36:38] Speaker A: No, that's hilarious.
[00:36:41] Speaker B: So I ordered all the stained glass stuff, and I was like, yeah, I can do that.
[00:36:45] Speaker A: Let's do this.
[00:36:46] Speaker B: It's easy. I already know how to cut glass, so that's just soldering it and, you know, knowing what to put on where. And so that's my thing. I'm learning right now.
[00:36:56] Speaker A: That's hilarious. That's awesome. Oh, that's.
[00:36:59] Speaker B: Why not, right?
[00:37:00] Speaker A: Why not just add another thing to your repertoire? Sure. Why?
[00:37:04] Speaker B: Nothing I've done in my career, so it's more of, like, a side hobby right now. But a lot of the designers I work with have been like, ooh, let us know once you get good at it. And I'm like, okay.
[00:37:18] Speaker A: Yeah. We talk about bringing back old things.
Like, in Ireland, the stained glass windows are something to behold, especially in a lot of the old churches and chapels and things.
But what's happening is they're being removed because no one can fix them or they can't look after them.
There's no one coming up after to learn these things. And it's like, what are we doing?
[00:37:47] Speaker B: Let's not let this die, guys. Come on.
[00:37:49] Speaker A: No, seriously, can we just keep this thing alive? Teach someone or. There's gotta be somebody out there. So, hey, maybe somebody in Ireland is gonna list this and be like, would you mind coming over for six to 10 weeks and fixing all our windows in our churches? And you'd be like, I'm on the.
[00:38:05] Speaker B: First flight to get it down, guys. But I'll be there.
[00:38:08] Speaker A: You go, I'll be there. Yeah. YouTube it on the plane on the way over.
That is brilliant. That is so cool.
So outside of work, we've talked about podcasts.
I'm kind of guessing you're a bookworm as well. I'm sure a little bit.
What are some books or podcasts that you're listening to that's helped sharpen you in business or, you know, personal growth or just to relax?
[00:38:34] Speaker B: Yeah. Oh, well, here I have a couple on my desk right now. And I say a couple because I have a bad habit of starting a book and then starting another one at the same time.
[00:38:41] Speaker A: I will hold my hands up to the scene.
[00:38:43] Speaker B: I've got my project management for the unofficial project manager.
[00:38:47] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:38:48] Speaker B: We've got CS Lewis, the Screwtape letters, just for funsies.
[00:38:52] Speaker A: Yep, those are good.
[00:38:53] Speaker B: And then a dear friend of mine wrote this, so I'm enjoying this one. It's called the Found Voice. You can see it.
So a poetry for a new life. It's just some beautiful poetry. So those are the three on my desk right now.
[00:39:06] Speaker A: Excellent.
[00:39:07] Speaker B: Yeah. And then podcast, there's a.
I have niche podcasts.
[00:39:13] Speaker A: Okay. Okay.
[00:39:15] Speaker B: So I listen to some fun business ones, but most of the time, when I listen to podcasts, it's like to just let off steam.
[00:39:23] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:39:23] Speaker B: So my current favorite is called Blurry Creatures, and I'm getting a whole lot of judgment for that one, but. Okay, it's. It talks about Bigfoot and aliens and everything else.
[00:39:33] Speaker A: Hey, each to their own. Each to their own.
[00:39:36] Speaker B: Come on.
But it looks at it from a biblical worldview, so that's cool.
[00:39:41] Speaker A: There you go. That works.
That works. That's awesome.
[00:39:45] Speaker B: Feel free to cut that out, but that's my fun little.
[00:39:47] Speaker A: We'll be keeping that. We'll be keeping that one in. Yeah. And. Oh, great, my camera's died again. This thing.
Oh, here we go.
Oh, batteries. You gotta love them.
Okay, C.S. lewis.
I was in Ireland, obviously, last month, and I got to.
I got to visit, obviously. He's from Belfast in Northern Ireland, so I got to go see where he was born, where he lived.
Pretty awesome.
[00:40:17] Speaker B: So how stinking cool is that?
[00:40:19] Speaker A: Yeah, it's pretty legit. So when you go to Ireland to do the stained glass windows, you can. You can call in and see S. Lewis's place, too. Yeah, it's pretty awesome. They have like a little.
Take a little area where it kind of shows his desk and his pens, like his, you know, he used to like writing with a quill and stuff, and his pipe that he smoked and stuff. So that's pretty legit when you can actually go see someone who, you know, we've all read the Chronicles of Narnia, you know, all of those screw tape letters. He has some good ones on the sand. Yeah, he was a really good writer. Him and Tolkien together were quite a pair, but. No, that's good. Okay, so daily habits. We all have them. Some are good, some are bad.
What are some habits that help you stay motivated, Help you kind of stay on top of your game?
[00:41:08] Speaker B: Oh, gosh. You know, it's funny. Something just popped into my head that I wasn't going to talk about, but my kids have this thing that they do with me before I leave for work, and they. If I forget, I hear screaming from across the house and I'm like, what? Okay.
And they give me, you know, I give them kisses and they give me hugs, and then we do, you know, the little. They hold a half a heart, I hold a half. And we do the hearts and the, you know, and it's just. It seems like it's getting longer and longer these days with additional things they've added on. But, you know, having that, just that motivation before I go out the door of, like, why I'm doing everything, you know, because if the, if the industry crumbled tomorrow, like, my family's still going to be there. So that's such a motivation to me every day.
I already said I drink a lot of coffee, so that's a. That's a. A must for me.
[00:42:04] Speaker A: There you go.
[00:42:05] Speaker B: Keeps me going.
Trying to stay hydrated as well with water is. Is good. These are just basic health tips.
[00:42:12] Speaker A: Basic health tips that we're doing 101 Health 101 here on the top.
Yep.
[00:42:17] Speaker B: Yeah. So I. I don't have a habit of working out all the time. I wish I did, but actually have a curve in my spine, so it's not my best.
[00:42:27] Speaker A: Not your best. Best thing to do.
[00:42:29] Speaker B: But, gosh, what are my other daily habits? That's. That's my big ones.
[00:42:35] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:42:36] Speaker B: I love my family. I go and I work hard and I drink a lot of coffee while I'm doing it.
[00:42:40] Speaker A: Yeah, I think that's, I think a lot of people in the industry were.
I know I am. And a lot of other people, like family comes first. Like we love the glass industry, we love the stone industry, the tile, we love these industries, we love the people in it.
But the people you go home to at night, those are your true, true people.
They'll tell you warts and all, they'll tell you all your faults, all your feelings and you're like, okay, I have a 16 year old, I have a 16 year old daughter who is very like me and she likes sarcasm and there's sometimes her mother, my dear wife will tell the two of us, can you just knock it on the head? It's a little much. Okay, can we just have a normal conversation? But it is awesome to come home. I have a 7 year old who will meet me at the back door and it's hugs and it's so good to see you dad. And those are the things that just when you're having a crummy day, knowing that you're going home to people that really, truly love you is something special.
But it works both ways and we have to love them and so providing for them and being the best, you know, obviously parent we can and training them and nurturing them because there's a void, we're seeing it, there's a void, there's a generational void with workers, with craftsmen, with all of these type of things that I'm trying to get my 14 year old to like think of a tree that you'd like to go into.
In our area, it's hard to get a good plumber, can't get an electrician, a welder, there's no hope.
So.
But yeah, those are, those habits are good. Keep, keep your family, that's the main thing. Yeah, all those hearts, take it, take as long as it takes. You know, the customer. Sorry, I'm five minutes late. I was with my children.
If they say anything bad about that, there's something seriously wrong with them.
[00:44:37] Speaker B: But I will say I worked with a military guy for a while that his, he was gruff and he was like, if you're not 10 minutes, you're already late.
Which I'm like, that's not true. But I like to be on time.
[00:44:50] Speaker A: Yeah, likewise. I do too.
I'm kind of with them on that.
As a manager of people, I'm like, just be early. Like being on time, you're late, you're already stressed out. Takes you half an hour to get sorted out. Then you got to Go get coffee. You got to get that caffeine hit. And you're like, come on, damn, it's early. You got to get the caffeine in.
[00:45:12] Speaker B: Well, yeah, be at your desk, be ready, have your coffee, but be on time. Yeah, I'm a happy camper.
[00:45:18] Speaker A: Yeah, get it all done.
You've seen a lot, you've done a lot, you've learned a lot.
What advice would you give to someone, especially women? Like, I have a 16 year old daughter.
What advice would you give someone that age or maybe a little older who's considering entering the glass trademark?
[00:45:40] Speaker B: Especially to women, like, don't let your gender stop you.
And it's not even just a glass ceiling thing.
Women are valuable in the trades.
They add something that men can't at times.
It's, it's a lot of fun to work with the men too. You see what you're capable of. You see the things you can do too. And, and it's, you know, men and women both have their places and their purposes, but don't let anything stop you.
It's fun showing up to job walks and being the only woman there sometimes.
I remember one time I walked up to, it was at a college campus and I got my little steel toe boots on and I'm ready to go. But all the guys waiting for the job walk moved and opened the door because they thought I was going inside.
I was like, no, I'm here for the.
[00:46:31] Speaker A: No, no, I'm here for.
[00:46:32] Speaker B: Fuck.
We're all here for the same thing, guys.
[00:46:35] Speaker A: Come on.
[00:46:36] Speaker B: Like, don't let it stop you.
It's just take it as a fun thing to be the surprise and awesome and just do it. It's fun. The trades can be a lot of fun no matter which one it is. Like you said, the welding, the plumbing, the electrical for guys and gals.
If you're looking at college plans or whatever else and you don't really know what you want to do yet or you don't actually want to go to college, that's okay. Yeah, there are some things, if you're going to be a doctor, please go to college.
[00:47:08] Speaker A: But that would be advisable if you don't.
[00:47:11] Speaker B: Yeah, no, 100%, just do it.
[00:47:17] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm with you 100% on that one.
So, so important.
And one thing I would add to that is ladies have sometimes a better eye for things than men do.
So we're talking about aesthetics and how things look.
I'm very thankful for how my wife has decorated my home.
It's beautiful. There's pictures on the wall. If it was me, it would be a little blander. There wouldn't be as much color. It would be kind of drab and boring. But that's where we're thankful for that creativity, that, like, you know, that eye for, like, beauty, things like that. That's just.
Men don't. Men they can see, but at times they don't.
And it's just such a treasure to have input like that and just. Yeah, don't let anything hold you back.
My 16 year old, she loves animals.
Go do something that you like to do because you're going to be doing it for the rest of your life and you kind of need to enjoy it.
There will be days when you're going, oh, not again.
But for the most part, it's like, yeah, let's get up, let's get this done. So no, that's awesome. Okay, final question.
If you were able to jump in the DeLorean car and you could go back in time and you could see yourself as that 15 year old telling your parents, I need all these things, what's one bit of advice that you would give yourself before entering the glass industry or just life in general, what would that be?
[00:48:55] Speaker B: Oh, goodness, 15 year old me, that's a hard one. Because 15 year old me was already doing some things career wise. But, you know, at that age, I wanted to be a designer. I wanted to be an interior designer specifically.
And I didn't do that because I didn't want to have debt for school. I didn't want to take a school loan out.
[00:49:17] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:49:18] Speaker B: And it just seemed kind of unachievable at that point. Right?
[00:49:22] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:49:22] Speaker B: So I was like, I'll just, you know, I need the money, I'll just jump into something else. And I started in banking, actually, before I went into the facilities. So. Okay, 15 year old me, just go for your dreams.
I think that there was a saying I just read the other day that it's so true that people are doing the things you wish you could do and they're a lot less capable, they're just more confident.
And sometimes that's true. Like, you know, don't get yourself into trouble by taking on too much, but if there's something you want to do, just go for it. Yeah, just figure it out and go for it. Yeah, be confident. Be who you are and everything works out.
[00:50:05] Speaker A: There you go. There you go. Awesome. Well, thank you so much.
Just so people know, we had some technical issues before we got this podcast going. It was touch and go. Whether it was going to happen, but somehow we managed it and it's probably one of the funnest podcasts I've been on. Thank you so much.
I really appreciated this conversation and I hope the listeners do too.
And if you've got any questions or anything, you can reach out to the two of us. You'll find Alana on LinkedIn. You'll find me on LinkedIn if you need to talk to someone. We live in days and age where people, people bottle everything up. It's good to talk to people if there's stress and strange, which there is.
But that's a wrap. That's a wrap on our episode of the Cutting Edge Installs. If you've enjoyed this episode, be sure to follow subscribe Leave a quick review if you're listening to it and you're going, I'd like to be a guest on there and talk to Merv. By all means, just shoot me an email or leave a comment on these things and keep an eye out. We do these podcasts every other Thursday at 8am Pacific State Time, so if you want to watch more or even go back and see some others, go do it. For more about Omni Cubed, go on our website. You'll learn more about the tools we design that help fabricators and installers and keep people safe. Check out our website omnicubed.com until next time you hear my dulcet tones with a guest. I I wish you all the best. Stay safe and cheerio. Thank you.
