[00:00:03] Speaker A: Good day, everyone, and welcome to the Cutting Edge Install Podcast brought to you by Omni Cubed, where innovation meets installation and could quite literally be everything in between. I'm your host, Merv Campbell, and it's an absolute pleasure to have you with us.
What's this all about? If it's your first time watching or listening? Well, it's all about celebrating.
When you hear this, it's kind of the festive time of year, and so it is a real time to celebrate. And so we got some real movers, shakers in the installs, experts, game changers, and we're going to dive into stories, we're going to share insights, and we are going to have fun. If you don't know, my accent is Irish before anyone says anything else, born and bred there. And the Irish sure 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 absolute right place. So let's get cracking. It's an absolute pleasure to have Brandon with us today.
It's good to have you on here. We're going to get started.
Tell us about yourself. What's your story? How did you get into the glazing industry?
What drew you in, and who are you?
[00:01:12] Speaker B: Okay, well, my story really starts, I guess, when I first got into the glazing industry.
Like, prior to me getting in the industry, I was in high school and I didn't make it the first time. I decided that doing activities, I don't know if I could say online, but what Walter White produced, that's what I was on.
[00:01:34] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:01:36] Speaker B: Really screwed me up, man. I had to go to inpatient rehab. Luckily, my parents were patient, but just the act of coming out of that is kind of what shaped me of who I am today. So I wouldn't change it if I had to go back. So I was in recovery. I was 15 years old, and prior to that, I had been working for my dad at a tile company from probably the age five. Right. So work has always been in my DNA. One day I decided I need to get a real job. So I went and started at a glass company, Denver Glass Interiors. In fact, here in Denver, Colorado. My auntie was the shop manager there, and I was too young to legally work, but it was a small company, maybe only 10 people, and they just gave me a shot because of family and.
[00:02:14] Speaker A: Awesome.
[00:02:15] Speaker B: So I started in the shop when I was 15 years old and. And my very first job was basically running the flat polisher Inside the shop. And you know, that was many, many years ago. I've worked many, many, pretty much every single job there is do in the leasing industry. I've done it for probably years at a time from production all the way through sales.
[00:02:37] Speaker A: Wow. So you've pretty much seen it all.
That's pretty legit in that time frame. Then what are we looking at? A couple of decades?
What's changed the most then since you kind of got the boots on the ground that very first day?
[00:02:53] Speaker B: Up until now, I think what changed and what continues to change is just the way that information is processed. You know, we went from plumb bobs and levels to using plum lasers and dot lasers, and now we have digital templating.
My buddy Rodney, also here in Colorado, his company is called Redline Templates. And I was basically helping him out since day one. I think he's been in business for 10 or 15 years now. So like the laser templating is like incredible. Where the guy. I'm sure it's the same in the stone industry. That's where he came from. Right. The guy scans, produces the except files, and goes right to the cut line. So it was like the perfect technology to marry with glass because it takes forever to measure, like glass railings or walls.
[00:03:37] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:03:37] Speaker B: You know what else? Clipboards. So I used to be the clipboard master. So call me. What's the guy? Inspector gadget. So I had, right, had like all my rollers, my, my pens, my highlighters. I had 10 copies of every form, like always fully stocked. My clipboard was like this thick and I took that thing, every form.
And so when iPads came out, it was like a game changer. Right. So now I don't even touch whatsoever. I'm huge fan of the iPad. CAD software has really helped me understand the technical side. So like many years ago, maybe 15 years ago, I learned how to use SolidWorks, incredibly robust software to try to figure out complex jobs. And so now we have 3D, which I'm a huge advocate for. Shapr 3D takes the best parts of like a robust software and it puts it, you know, like SolidWorks and it puts it like on your iPad or on your Mac or on your PC as far as I know, Shapr3d one that does that. So I work for those guys sometimes.
Huge fan of the software and also the, the cell phones. Right. So let me tell you a story about, about.
[00:04:44] Speaker A: About.
[00:04:45] Speaker B: About iPads. Okay. So before iPads, they. We used to have what's called the Kindle Fire. And when iPhones or even before iPhones, when phones first were able to take pictures. Like, I would take pictures of all of our work, and I would figured out how to export those pictures onto my Kindle Fire. And then when I go out to talk to people, like sales calls, I would show them pictures on my Kindle Fire, and they were like.
[00:05:09] Speaker A: You were a superstar. You were like, who is this guy?
[00:05:14] Speaker B: So I've always been hilarious.
Like, being innovative. Yeah. Like, people were blown away. Now, of course, everybody does that on their iPad.
[00:05:21] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:05:21] Speaker B: But I just, you know, I. I always look at being, like, innovative and, like, trying to. I'm always, like, looking into the future because I'm always looking for, like, the next big thing that's going to help either the lazy industry, whether it's social media content, cameras, hardware specifically. I go to the trade show every single year for the very specific reason to look for hardware. Like, I want to be the first for our local market with the latest and greatest.
[00:05:44] Speaker A: That's awesome. That's really cool. That's legit. Yeah, it's funny technology. Some people love it, some people hate it. And I'm sure there's somewhere, Somewhere, some guy, somewhere that's still walking around with a clipboard and about 500 reams of paper and still going at it, and it's there.
We even have it in this building, too. It's like, no, there's people who brace it and people who don't, but. Oh, that's so funny.
Kind of talking about sort of younger years and kind of shaping who you are.
What's a moment in your career that it kind of really shaped you to and how you lead or how you work today?
[00:06:26] Speaker B: Okay, well, I have a story for that as well. So I was maybe 16, maybe 17.
I had been working in the shop, you know, for a little while. And actually, no, I think it was early on. So, like, my very first job, now that I think about it, was a delivery driver. So they had like a. We call it the rack truck. It's like a chevy, you know, 3500 with big old glass racks on it. So my first job was to get in that truck and drive it. The problem is that I had no idea how to drive a stick shift, and so essentially had to learn right there on the spot.
[00:06:59] Speaker A: Oh, my goodness.
[00:07:00] Speaker B: Can you imagine? Like, and it's not just like, a little car, you know, or something easy. It was a big old, you know, like, truck. And so.
[00:07:07] Speaker A: Oh, my word. Dude.
[00:07:09] Speaker B: Yeah, dude. So, like, I remember I was driving that rack truck and I had a Stinger, like a big forklift attachment in the back, and I. I took off too fast somehow and. And the stinger fell out onto a busy street. So I, like, get out and put it back in there. Scared. Scared me to death, but it's all right. And then one time, I almost. I cut off a cop. I literally cut him off. Almost ran him off the road.
[00:07:31] Speaker A: He pulled me over.
[00:07:32] Speaker B: Of course, I just had to be like, I'm sorry, man. I.
I never drove this truck before, you know. He said, that's okay, whatever. But anyway, long story short, I had to basically sink or swim, figure it out and do it. And so that basically set the tone for my career moving forward.
[00:07:48] Speaker A: There you go. Yeah. It's funny, growing up in Northern Ireland, we don't have automatics. Automatic is a luxury. If you want an automatic car, you pay a lot of money. And so coming here and loving for. Well, I've actually been here 10 years now. But going back the first time to see my parents, it had been a long time, and obviously we rented a car, and I would say by the time I got it back, I had burnt the clutch out of that thing so bad. Just because I'm like, what? You get so easy at driving automatic. That's hilarious. Yeah, you look at the stick and you go, okay, here we go.
And then you're doing a hill climb and you're like, you know, riding the clutch, and it's like, oh, this thing's about to snap at any moment. Oh, man, that's too funny.
[00:08:35] Speaker B: Is the stick on the opposite side over there?
[00:08:37] Speaker A: Yep, it sure is. Oh, yeah, it sure is. You're doing it with your left hand and it's like. It's so funny. Yeah. Anyways, yeah, sink or swim, that's definitely a good way to look at life. It's either go for it or dry. That's one of the two. So that's so cool. So, current roles, obviously, you're a bar and glass.
What does your typical world, your day, look like, where you're at morning to evening?
Do you have set times to do things, or is it kind of whatever comes your path, you'll take it?
[00:09:11] Speaker B: I kind of just whatever comes my path. But my role essentially is sales and operations.
So I've been at Bear and Glass for eight years now, I think. And basically I take sales calls, I convert them, I train the people.
Right now I'm in the process of trading, like, a new measurer, getting everybody in the office on board with using the iPads, getting people in the field, bringing them into the office, teaching them how to order glass. Right. Like, it's just keeping the wheels turning. So I basically, like, built all the processes and everything that we use, and I kind of just make sure that everyone's doing their part and there's records of everything, training a lot of people, constantly hiring. So pretty much I do it all. We're a small company, you know, help the crew with designing and ordering. Always looking for new ways to improve the process.
And of course, you know, when I can, when I have an opportunity, I try to get pictures and videos of our completed projects and then post them on social media, which is like a whole another arm of what I do outside of business hours. But I have a lot of fun doing it.
[00:10:23] Speaker A: That's awesome. That's so cool. So leading, leading people, it's a gift, it's an art.
Obviously, in different sectors, it's for different people. Stone, glass, tile, whatever.
But is there one thing, say, in the glazing sector that you wished sort of more people knew about to help these days?
[00:10:46] Speaker B: Yeah. So when I was like, at my. The first company I worked for, it was like any other glass company was the devil, right? They were the enemy. It was like, you don't talk to them, you don't associate with them. You. You know, it's like, it's almost like they hate each other, you know?
[00:11:01] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:11:01] Speaker B: Yeah, Pretty much like that's like the culture that I basically grew up in. And now that I'm basically in a leadership role at a smaller glass company, I know so many people in the glazing industry and I talk to other glazing companies. We help each other out. If I need some hardware, someone could have my back, or if there's a certain kind of project that we don't want to take on, I could pass it on to the next company and it comes full circle. So I think what. What glazing companies can do better as far as how it used to be, is they just can work with each other. Right? You have to be at least all the time.
[00:11:31] Speaker A: Yeah, totally. That's one thing that's pretty cool about going to, like, trade shows or kind of events where it feels like a family party kind of weirdly in some ways, where it's like everybody knows each other, they all want to hang out. There is a. There is. There is a little bit of competition. You know, let's be honest. It's like, you know, but for the first, for the. For the most part, it's super encouraging to go on like forums or talk to other people who are in like big WhatsApp groups. And so they'll like, throw out a question.
A couple of people chime in, this is how we do it. Might not be the solution for you, but here's at least some ideas. And I think that's one thing that all of us can grow in, even outside of trades, is just helping each other a bit more and not worrying that, oh, they're going to gain an advantage over me. Or every person has, as Liam Neeson says, has a specific set of skills and you're your own unique person. And so it's important to just give that knowledge away. It's like there's no U haul behind a hearse. Is the same that we have around here. Like knowledge, give it away. Like, you'll give away your home, you'll give away your money, you'll give away all your possessions. But one thing that sadly doesn't get given away is what's between your ears.
And so we've got a couple of older engineers here who are very willing and able to train the next generation and are happy to do it. And it's just, it's such a breath of fresh air. It really is. It's so good. So now that's. That's awesome.
[00:13:19] Speaker B: Yeah, it really is good.
[00:13:21] Speaker A: Sorry, go ahead. No, you go ahead.
[00:13:23] Speaker B: Oh, no, no, I was just going to say.
Yeah. So I go to the trade show every year and I have, I know a lot of people online from across the world and that's like the one of year that everyone gets to get together that has met online and that's fantastic. On the flip side, the owner or the president of the company that I used to work for, like, we run into them from time to time because we, we're in the same town. Like, they just act. See us, like how they just give us the cold shoulder. So it's kind of, kind of a strange thing, you know, but whatever.
[00:13:52] Speaker A: Sad, man, it really is. It's like we're only here for a short time. It's like just, just help each other. It's. Yeah, it's sad. It's like the proverbial, you know, teach your kids to open a door for someone going into the grocery store or restaurant or something that's not taught any. It's really sad. But anyways, moving on.
Today's world, it's ever changing. It's growing.
Content is more than just marketing. It's actually, we find, and I'm sure you'll attest it's communication in the glazing sector. How do you see them embracing it? Or perhaps is there opportunities that they're missing that they could be taking up and actually gaining from that?
[00:14:36] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. I could talk about this for hours, but I'll try to keep it short.
I think the biggest missed opportunity for anyone trying to build a presence on social media, not just lasers, is talking to the camera. That's the number one thing that you can do. Of course, everybody that works in construction, they want to show, like, cool pictures and finished products, which is fine, that's great, but that's not enough. You got to connect with people, right? You got to talk about the context of the job, at least, or maybe tell a story of what happened for the job.
And just talking and telling stories and being authentic, I feel like is more valuable right now more than ever now. AI can basically do anything you can possibly imagine.
Being yourself is like the number one thing that you can possibly do well. And then there's probably a second thing you can probably do is just stay consistent, and then that will for sure. If you just do those two things and stay consistent. That's. That's it, man. That's the golden ticket.
[00:15:33] Speaker A: Yeah, it really is. It's.
That's one thing I love about these podcasts, where it's just. It's a conversation. It's not like. It's not forced. There's no real agenda. It's.
We want to highlight people who are doing a fantastic job, like yourself and others.
And it's really sad where a lot of companies are overusing. Like, AI is a great tool. There's no way about it. It's wonderful. But there's certain things that it just doesn't have. And it doesn't have a personality. It doesn't have.
It can't. Like, as we were talking on the podcast, quickly think. And so I think that genuineness is very critical these days when there's so much like, anything you watch now in the back of your mind, you're going, was that AI or is that real?
But when it is real, you're able to, like, that's real content. I get that. That's totally cool. So, yeah, no, let's look into the camera. We used to just full disclosure, and my boss is going to laugh whenever I say this, but we used to have a camera that would point at the side of my head and it would basically show my. The profile of my face, which I thought was cool. It was a really good angle. You know, I thought it was like, whoo this is the cool thing.
But they had a fair point where seeing someone's eyeballs are very important.
And we've literally noticed that there's been more people gravitating to the podcast with looking this way rather than me looking like that.
And so eye contact is another thing. Just. It's so easy to do, but yet so many times we don't do it. But it's.
Yeah. Content for sure.
[00:17:18] Speaker B: Yeah, it's hard to do. So I use a mirrorless camera, and I'm trying my hardest to look over there at the screen.
Screen just below me. I'm trying my hardest to not keep staring at it too much.
[00:17:28] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:17:29] Speaker B: It's a lot easier on your phone because you basically just look down the center of it.
[00:17:32] Speaker A: Yeah, it's the same thing. Oh, yeah, that's hilarious.
When it comes to culture, safety, or even communication on the job site, how have you seen, like, the industry evolve when it comes to those things?
[00:17:48] Speaker B: So crazy thing is that it's largely the same as it always has been. Like, from my perspective, like, the products are more or less the same. The way they get it gets installed is more or less the same. But what I think is that what's different about today is that, like, the safety comes more naturally.
I think people really understand that it's there for a reason. And. Yes. And, you know, you should probably wear your, your, your safety glasses when you're cutting metal, you know, So I feel like people are, you know, the macho ego part of it is way down. People aren't afraid to ask for help, like carrying a big piece up the stairs.
There's no need to basically push it, you know, So I feel like that's a real good thing.
And also the, the superintendents at the job sites and also the tradespeople and pretty much anyone involved is, like, way less experienced now than they were back then. And so communication is like, more of a fundamental part of the entire process because, like, really, everybody knows way less than they used to when I was, like, heavy. So it was like, almost like a different era. So I think, you know, when you hire, you just gotta try to hire for attitude over skill and people. You just go in and talk to anybody and have a good attitude and. And, you know, we just get our work done and. And that's it.
[00:19:05] Speaker A: Yeah, no, that. That's helpful. That's. Yeah.
CFD is a big key. It's. Yeah, there's a. There's a dearth of employees. There's a real lack in gaining good talent and Keeping it.
And so keeping them safe, giving them kind of cool, shiny tools to use, and everything they need is, it's attractive to people to stay on. And it also shows that you care about your employees. You don't want someone carrying a huge piece of glass, like stick it in a cart or whatever. And we have the saying of roll when you can. It's so important because it's heavy. You go home tired, and by the end of the week, you're exhausted, you don't have much recovery, and boom, you're back at it again. So anytime you can do things smarter is definitely helpful.
[00:20:00] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. I, I, myself, my first week as an installer, I fell off an extension ladder. So I learned real quick I was okay, like, I was like leaning against a glass railing at a courthouse, but I had the ladder at too much of an angle, which I had no idea my first week. And I just, you know, rode the ladder all the way down. And so I learned about ladder safety real quick. And so I make sure that when we're on ladders, which isn't often, to be honest, that we play it safe, you know?
[00:20:28] Speaker A: Yeah, for sure. Absolutely.
Kind of speaking to yourself now. What role do you think social media content plays in building trust with clients and even bringing good clients to your team?
[00:20:45] Speaker B: Well, so the social media isn't just for the clients, it's also for the talent. So I do the social media for bearing glass, and I pour most of my effort for bearing glass into Instagram.
[00:20:59] Speaker A: Right.
[00:20:59] Speaker B: That's where we have our following. And the reason I do that is because that's where, like the high end builders and designers like to hang out. Those are our customers. But even beyond that, when someone wants to come and work for us, they're obviously gonna look us up on Instagram and they see all this cool, incredible stuff that we're a part of and they want to be a part of that. So it really helps getting talent in. It also helps with the contractors and designers because I try to build like a very esthetic style, if you will. Like, almost like real estate, right. Like, I want to look immaculate, perfect.
Started working and talking heads. And lately, you know, I try to take a photo or a video of every single product that I can that's different. And if something is different, I talked to a camera, explain why we did this and what are the benefits of it.
[00:21:43] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:21:44] Speaker B: And so what I find is that it's basically like an online showroom, if you will. And then like clockwork, I'll have a customer ask me about a specific thing that I just made a video about like three months ago. And I'll just send them the link and say, here, watch this video. This is why we need two transoms. Or watch this video. This is why I need Starfire or this or that. Like, yes, I basically have it all explained. So that's like one part of it and the other part of it is just bringing in good customers. So I have more than, more than a couple, way more than a couple of customers that found us through our Instagram. We got in the DMs and I think probably my biggest story is all the reconstruction found us on Instagram. They're big time into social media. So I started commenting on their stuff, they started commenting on mine. And one day I made this video, which is just a time lapse of me drawing an arch top shower door. You know, I thought it was a pretty horrible video, but he shot that and that basically led to a quarter million dollars worth of work in the next year. Just one builder and that's just like one story. So, like, I think a lot of people don't understand that, like when you make a video or even if you run an ad, like, you don't necessarily make an ROI off that one video. Your ROI comes from being consistent over time. Right? Comes back.
It just takes a while, but it all comes back.
[00:23:03] Speaker A: It does, yeah.
It's actually very rewarding. We find it here too. Same as you, that it is fun to see the analytics at the end of the month to see how many views and how many likes.
But then it's also pretty cool when this stranger DMs and leaves you a message and I watched your video and I bought your tool and it's making my life a whole lot better. And then they send you a boatload of pictures and you're like, that's why we do what we do. It's pretty awesome. Yeah, it's such a, such a good tool to use. But like you said, it does take time to build.
It definitely takes. It's a slow burner, but it's definitely awesome. So you're making content, you're helping.
If you could create say one unique piece for say, a young person in the trades that they could see, what would that message be for them?
[00:23:59] Speaker B: I would say I would make a content, maybe a story form or something cool. My message essentially would be, don't ever give up.
Good things are inevitable, no matter what you were doing, and always give more than what you were asked for.
[00:24:17] Speaker A: Okay, cool.
That's awesome. No, that's.
That's good. Yeah.
Why do you think, sort of younger people, maybe this is totally off script, but why do you think they give up so easily?
[00:24:37] Speaker B: I think it has to do a lot with instant gratification from smartphones, computers, technology, even getting rides to places nobody had to really walk.
You know, like, we had to basically like read books and go to libraries and like work for things.
I think that has a lot to do with it is like, they're just like too spoiled. There's a saying. I can't remember exactly how it goes, but it's like, it's like, you know, generations like. So, like, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, weak men create bad times, bad times create strong men. So it's like a cycle, it's a circle. Yeah, we're on this part of it where, yeah, they had it too easy. So they just don't try as hard.
[00:25:24] Speaker A: Right?
No, I think, I actually think that's a good take on it. Yeah, it's the, it's the one on the right. They just get an Uber. Whereas, you know, if, if I wanted to, you know, back home, buy a bar of chocolate, for instance, or a packet of crisps, or a bottle of mineral, as we call it, or fizzy pop or whatever it is, you had to get on your bicycle and it was, if you wanted it, it was a two mile cycle and you, you worked for it.
Yeah, that's. Now it's doordash. Now you don't even have to make your lunch. You get someone just to deliver it right to your door. It's kind of ridiculous, but anyway, yeah, that's very true innovation.
Obviously, people innovate all the time.
Things change, technologies change.
Have there been any of those that have changed how you guys approach projects or think upon them or even lay them out?
[00:26:23] Speaker B: Well, I'm all about innovation. There's always innovating things. But I just have like a list of things that have been.
Oh, sorry. I already had a list of things that have been innovative for me recently. And that's of course Shapr3d, which I'm a huge advocate of, CAD on the iPad. Laminated glass, which was a huge innovation.
So before laminated glass, like, for instance, like a glass railing where it was done with tempered glass and if that tempered glass breaks and someone could fall through it. And like laminated glass solves a lot of problems for a lot of projects where you want a frameless system, but you also want thermal features or safety features and then just new hardware like there's this piece of hardware called the hydraulic patch fitting hinge. It's essentially like a very robust piece of hardware that can hold a massive door, but it's this small.
So we were one of the first ones to market with that.
You know, maybe it was five or six years ago, it was like innovative. Now everybody does it. Yeah. So now they have a new system called the Fallbrook, which I can go into detail about that, which is new system by Sierra Lawrence. I'm a big fan of it. It's brand new. And that's part of the reason I like it is because it has innovative features, being able to adapt different glass types. And then of course, the digital templating is super innovative when it comes to processing large jobs in the glazing industry.
[00:27:45] Speaker A: Awesome. Wow. What a rat level. That's awesome. Someone's done their homework on the questions. I can tell you. That's pretty cool. That's good. Yeah, Innovations. It's definitely if you're not growing, you're dying. That's a statement we have around here. Even if it's only a small thing, it doesn't have to be like, let's knock down four walls and let's make the place bigger. It could be, let's put the box that we hold stuff from here to here and it takes less time and we're more efficient.
It's not huge and kind of to high level managers or managers at times you have to take a step back and innovate and not always be kind of in the weeds trying to Sometimes we have a lot of sands around here, but we also have the coffee shop effect where we go away to a coffee shop and all we have is our laptop and we just think and we jot down notes and we plan and we ponder because the day to day it can suck you in so much that you don't plan for the next two months, six months, the next year.
And it's always good to be thinking ahead and to your point, picking up new products that are pretty revolutionary but yet are so awesome and boom, let's get it to market. So that's really cool right now. What do you think are the biggest opportunities for lasers or shop owners in the industry? Is there anything in particular that they could really go after and ponder?
[00:29:25] Speaker B: Well, I can only speak for us obviously, but one thing that I feel like that I've been a part of that has basically helped us the entire time is basically going after like the ultra high end residential work and we've always been busy super busy.
Tariffs right now through tariffs through Covid 2008 housing, you know, recession. Because we essentially go after working for the wealthy, they're always going to want to invest in nice real estate and that's basically going to keep us going.
[00:29:58] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:29:58] Speaker B: So I found that like by focusing on that as the main thing over B2C and over commercial and over wholesale, that that line has never died. And that is the reason that that is our main focus is high end residential, specifically custom home builders and interior designers.
[00:30:17] Speaker A: Awesome. See thinking smart, innovating. That's pretty awesome.
That's the positive thinking upon, you know, those people.
But obviously there are pain points.
Is there things that you've seen or noticed that perhaps need to change to make things better or to help improve things?
[00:30:43] Speaker B: Yeah. So obviously nothing's easy, but the hardest, yeah, the heart. I'd say the hardest thing to keep the train moving is just having like reliable vendors and just like being able to get your hardware in your glass on time, you know, scratch free. It's always a battle. In fact, so many glass companies end up fabricating their own glass for that reason. I've been through that cycle before.
Of course there's the communication with clients. It seems like everybody in the world is like, doesn't know what's going on at the job site. So it's always, it's always, there's always this happening. No matter how you are communicating, there's a company culture. Right. Keeping everybody on the same page. And I think, I just think that leading by example is probably the best thing. I have absolutely no respect for a boss that has not walked the path that I walked. And you know, so I, I walked, I literally walked the path that, you know, people underneath me have walked and I can basically guide them and lead them and when things happen, I can advise. Like, okay, well this happened to me before back in 2010 and this is what I did and it worked, you know, so I think I kind of figured off the question.
[00:31:52] Speaker A: But yeah, no, no, no, that's, that's very helpful even.
It's kind of ironic, but even today as we record this, we have a number of people who aren't here because they're sick.
And so myself and another employee, you have to take up that slack. Like you just, you can't turn around and say to people, sorry, we can't do what we said we would do today because, you know, Jimmy's off sick somewhere.
And so it's been pretty awesome the last two days getting sort of back into this is what this guy does every day, man, he's doing a really good job. I need to tell him that.
And even. Even things like that are so important, like being walking that path. So you know when you can encourage. Because if someone's doing a good job, you obviously want to tell them, and if they're not, you want to be able to draw alongside and say, hey, you know, you got to. You got to be wary of these things. And watch. So, yeah, no, that's. That's cool.
Personal brand.
You know, we talk about it in construction or glazing, but it matters. How would you define your personal brand?
[00:33:05] Speaker B: So the personal brand I try to put out.
Well, first of all, not salesy, even though I'm a salesman, you know, and for a long time, I don't feel like I've ever been like a used car salesman kind of guy, you know?
[00:33:20] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:33:20] Speaker B: So, yeah, so I feel like the personal brand I'm trying to establish, or whatever you want to call it, is strong, dependable, knowledgeable, and innovative.
[00:33:31] Speaker A: Good. That's awesome. That's really good.
I do think my camera has stopped. I'm going to turn it off and turn it back on. It looks like I've paused in a really stupid face, so I apologize for that, but hang on. Okay, moving on then. We're kind of. We're in the last. We're in the last stretch, my friend. We're the last stretch.
Do you personally think shop owners, installers, tradespeople in general, they underestimate that value of personal branding 100%.
[00:34:04] Speaker B: So do you know Keith Dubman with my architectural glass?
[00:34:08] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, I sure do.
[00:34:10] Speaker B: And why you know him? Because he's all over social media. He does a great job. He's my mentor and my friend. I just recorded a podcast with him a couple of weeks ago. Still working on the edit, but basically, yeah, I feel like everyone should be on there. Even if you're an installer and you're not necessarily loyal to the company that you work for, just posting pictures of your finished work online is going to go a long way when you go to try to work at another glass company. Because the first thing you know, if, like, we hire people, and I could tell that people like installers are proud of their work when they have pictures on their phone. Or I can just go on social media and they can see that they've posted a bunch of stuff.
[00:34:49] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:34:49] Speaker B: And I can physically see that they care enough to put pictures of their work online. So even if you're installed and you think it means nothing now just post it anyway, because it's going to live there forever and it's going to come back and it's going to help you down the line, I promise.
[00:35:02] Speaker A: Yeah, it sure is.
On the flip side, be careful what you say.
Yeah, that also may come back. That also may come back to bite you in the bum. But no, that's. That's so true.
Like, seeing the. What's pretty awesome is we are, as a company just getting into the glass section. We've been in stone for years, but into the glass trade, learning.
What's cool is seeing these men online, meeting them in person, and they're exactly the same.
That's one thing that's, like, really stood out to me is they are genuine, genuine people.
And kind of the old saying, what you see is what you get is so true with these guys. And it's back to one of our very first talking points.
Just being genuine and consistent is so key.
And there's a pulling in or a drawing that when people are like that, that you want to listen to them. Sometimes people talk and you're like, yeah, whatever, I'm not listening to that.
[00:36:08] Speaker B: Yeah, it's just not a performance. Right. You just.
[00:36:10] Speaker A: Exactly. It's just they're. They're. They're quirky, they're cool. They're. They're not. They're not full of themselves.
And. And what's cool? Like, I've done podcasts with a number of these men.
They've not had life easy.
They've not been. They've not been gifted all these things. They've worked their tail, their rear end off to get where they are.
And it shows because they're so passionate about it.
And it's back to the, you know, kids get everything handed into their hand. They don't have to work for it.
As parents, it's okay sometimes to say, you know what, son? No, you're not getting it. You gotta work for it.
My kid loves RC cars.
He has his Ion one, and I'm like, well, work for it. We've got five acres of land to weed eat.
When you've got that done, we'll talk. And by the time you get it done, the weeds will have grown again. So it's a vicious circle. So keep going. But it's true. You gotta work for it.
[00:37:14] Speaker B: So you gotta make him work for it. So my daughter is gonna be 16 in December, or I guess this month. Later this month.
[00:37:21] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:37:21] Speaker B: And I bought her a vehicle to drive and I told her she needs to get a job to Pay for insurance.
[00:37:26] Speaker A: Yep. Guess what?
[00:37:27] Speaker B: She has a job, so I'm paying for the car. I also told her if she gets straight A's or maybe, you know, four A's and one B would be good enough. Yeah, I'll wrap her Jeep in a pink wrap. And she's like working towards it. So, you know, I, yes, I spoiled her, but I also lead by example, you know, work. She's fully aware and she's only been working for a couple weeks, but she's, you know, taking it seriously. So she's starting off, you know, starting off strong.
[00:37:53] Speaker A: That's so cool. Well, you're a good dad. That's a good dad. Keep it up. Yeah, we got to that. Next generation is so key.
It's scary, but it's pretty cool to be able to influence and have that. And here at Omni Cubed, we pride ourselves in kind of bringing young fellows into work, like young lads, young ladies, and then growing them. Maybe it's their first ever job. Well, we help teach them timekeeping matters, you know, respect to these people around you.
We have such an awesome company culture. It's a huge, big family and it's. Yeah, it's pretty awesome to see someone come in young.
You invest in them and then you look at them now and you go, wow. Like, we've one young lad who came in on the saw, worked his way through. He's now the machine shop manager.
There's no ceiling to where he can go.
He's phenomenal. But he's also driven and he's passionate about what he does. So, yeah, pretty cool.
So we're talking about personal identities.
How is having a strong personal identity in the industry, how has it helped you either in your business relationships or even influence that you might have with people?
[00:39:19] Speaker B: So, you know, my old company, when I first got into sales, I was really scared because I'm kind of an introvert. I stumble over my words a lot and I don't know, I just had a lot of things against me that I thought wouldn't make me a good salesperson. But I ended up being like the number one salesperson for, like, basically every year since I started until I moved on to something else. But my thing is just being confident. Like number, number one thing is just to be confident, like the experience.
So, like the experience of having installed combined with, you know, being confident, like those two things lead to innovation, right?
[00:39:55] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:39:55] Speaker B: Don't be scared to try new things. When you find something that works, double down. And, you know, we've set many trends that way. And constantly, you know, constantly pushing the envelope, you know, within reason. So you don't want to design some crazy glass system that's going to get somebody killed, but you definitely want to try to do something that's different from what everyone else is doing.
And leading by example, you know, makes your teams try even harder. And then also, you know, just keeping your cool is also essential to not be super emotional when things get tough.
[00:40:24] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. Amen to that. Oh, dear.
So true.
You're kind of talking there about all those things, but if there was one kind of one major piece of advice or like a phrase or a saying or even something to do for a young person who's wanting to enter in and they're wanting to build, like yourself, a long career that's successful, what advice would you give them?
[00:40:53] Speaker B: It's the same advice I give to every young person that's going to try to do literally anything, especially in the workforce. So literally, if you do this one thing, you'll be successful.
Show up every day on time and do your job.
That's it. If you just do that, that those two things, you'll be ahead of 90 of people. And then at that point, just have a, you know, just have a willingness to learn. But if you just show up every day on time and do your job, give a little more than what you asked for, that's literally it. The sky's the limit, dude.
[00:41:26] Speaker A: I. I laugh, but it's so true. It gets kind of sad where it's like, yeah, if you actually show up on time and you do your job, like, you'll be ahead of the game. Hi. Sad. Like, that's. It's kind of. When you take a step back and you look at it the bigger picture, like, that's kind of sad, but it's also.
It's so true.
Oh, man. Yeah.
[00:41:47] Speaker B: Yeah. It's. It's like the. It's. Because the way the world is now, the entire world is in bad shape. So if you just do those two things, like, you're automatically ahead of 90%.
[00:41:56] Speaker A: Yeah, you sound like a sore thumb. You're like, oh, wait, hang on, you need arrears already. Oh, yeah, that's hilarious. So funny.
So true as well. Okay. Over your lifetime, you've done many projects, you've done many different things, but is there one particular job or project that you've worked on that really stands out for you over the years?
[00:42:24] Speaker B: Yeah, so there's this curved glass railing that I measured.
This was years ago, before digital templating or Even lasers. So I used a. It was a helix. It was a helical shape. So it's like a spiral staircase that goes like this.
[00:42:39] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:42:40] Speaker B: Right. And so I measured, and I figured out, like, the rise and run, the radius, arc length. I measured it all by hand. And it was. When I was first into sales, it was kind of a big job. I felt like if I screwed this up, they probably take me out of sales or fire me maybe. Maybe I was tripping. But. So anyway, I did this. I. I got help. I figured everything out. We ordered it, and. And. And I went on vacation. The week that the glass arrived and it was getting installed, and that was. It kind of ruined my vacation because I was like, damn, what if none of that glass space. I just. $80,000, you know, anyway, it all fit like a glove, and everything was fine. It elevated me to the next level.
But I just think, you know, having confidence. So I. Of course I was scared, but I sought out help from the carpenter that was there, from one of my mentors, like, you know, and then another mentor of mine, like, we all came together to basically figure out how to do this math and how to basically double check it before we ordered it. And so I think that was just. That was it, man. Just. Just not being afraid to ask for help and then also not being afraid to go for it.
[00:43:48] Speaker A: That's awesome. There you go. Don't be afraid. Fear not.
Yeah, there's always that one that stands out, isn't there?
That's pretty legit. Doing it by hand. Dang, dude.
[00:44:02] Speaker B: Yeah, I'll send you a picture.
[00:44:03] Speaker A: Yeah, send a pic. That would be pretty cool to follow up with. Even some clips to go away. That'll be awesome.
[00:44:09] Speaker B: Yeah, that'd be one piece of B roll. If I give to you as that.
[00:44:11] Speaker A: There you go. That's awesome.
So cool. Well, we're coming to the end of 2025.
We're obviously, you know, in our careers.
[00:44:23] Speaker B: We're working.
[00:44:23] Speaker A: Well, if you could go back in time, jump in the DeLorean, and it takes you back to your very first day or your younger self, what's one bit of advice that you would give yourself, even working through all these years?
[00:44:41] Speaker B: Okay.
I think that I would tell myself to be patient and to be intentional. So, you know, when you're young and you're coming up, it seems like you can't get there fast enough. Yeah. And of course, the older people, the people ahead of you are like, you just gotta be patient. Like, it'll come and. But when you're on the rise. It doesn't seem like it's gonna come fast enough. So I would just tell myself, be patient and be intentional. So that's like the philosophical thing, the maybe not so popular thing I tell myself is don't go to college because it's only.
[00:45:15] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:45:15] Speaker B: So that's it.
[00:45:16] Speaker A: That's it. That's it. That's all she wrote. That's awesome. Yeah, it's.
It's funny you say that because I never went to college.
My father was a farmer. We didn't have tons of money.
I didn't go to college, but I went and served at Bombardi Aerospace as an aeronautical engineer. Hands on training.
It was a six year course.
We did it in four.
And then obviously September 11th hit. But the experience through that was just nothing. I would never change that for the world.
And I look at my. I look at my son who's 14, and I'm like, dude, you got to get a trade. Because there's like, it's. It's a dying art, like in our area to find a good plumber, electrician, welder.
There's ton here and it's like, what, that. What's going on? But yeah, that's.
[00:46:15] Speaker B: Yeah. And the good ones can pretty much name their price, but you don't necessarily need to be in a trade, like. So I went, got my degree in electrical engineering. I'm still paying money to this day. I. I had a fun going, but it basically wasn't worth it. I thought again, I wasn't being patient. I didn't feel like I was going up fast enough. So I was like, maybe I could speed it up by getting a degree, trying something different.
But, yeah, that didn't work out.
It's all right. Because the path that I'm on is something completely different. You know, it's good. And now what I'm doing right now, talking to this camera right here, right?
[00:46:55] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:46:57] Speaker B: A whole new skill, skill set that I.
And I'm having a blast. Right?
[00:47:02] Speaker A: That's awesome. Yeah, Keep smiling, my friend. Keep smiling. Brandon.
That's it. That's all we have. It was an absolute pleasure, my friend.
You are a friend of a friend. We got to know you. We were like, hey, let's get a podcast together.
This has been really. I've enjoyed it. It's been really awesome.
Thank you for coming on. I know you maybe weren't feeling the greatest, but I really appreciate you coming on here. And if anyone's listening to this young, old, like, reach out to either the two of Us, we're not gurus in any way or shrinks by any stretch, but there's a little bit of knowledge here, there's a little bit of depth and things. And yeah, especially for young people. I'm very passionate about getting young people into these, these type of jobs, into these scenarios, like having good people alongside to help them. And so, yeah, reach out to Brandon, reach out to me.
We're both on LinkedIn, obviously, Instagram as well. By all means. Yeah, check us out and just see, just, just watch.
[00:48:12] Speaker B: Right in the trades, like, having a mentor is like key.
[00:48:15] Speaker A: Oh, huge.
[00:48:17] Speaker B: You know, maybe I had five good mentors and each and every one, like poured into me. And so now that's for people that work with us. But like you were saying, reach out to me if you have a question. Yeah, you could ask a lot of people that I know. I actively give information for free.
[00:48:33] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:48:33] Speaker B: And I advice that and, and people actually take it and they're like, oh, my God, that actually worked. Like, yeah, that worked.
[00:48:38] Speaker A: I can't believe it. Yeah. So, yeah. Awesome. Thank you, sir. Well, that's a wrap. On this episode, the Cutting Edge installs. If you've enjoyed this episode, be sure to follow or subscribe. Leave a quick review, share it with your crew. Keep an eye out for the next episode. It's on every other Thursday at 8am Pacific Time. For more information about Omni Cube and the tools that we design here, and to help fabricators, installers, to help them work safely and every day, go check out our
[email protected] and until the next time you hear my dulce tones, stay safe and cheerio. See you later. Thank you.
[00:49:13] Speaker B: Thank you.
