Starting with a shop vac in a Ford Ranger, DT built a grease trap company that now runs 14 trucks across Washington State with his sights set on going national before turning 40.

He's built a team that runs the business smoothly when he's not there, and employees talk up the company so much they're recruiting people from completely different industries.

We explore how unconventional leadership creates this level of ownership, why creative benefits matter when you can't compete with corporate packages, and what happens when you give people freedom to figure things out instead of controlling every process.

Highlights:

1. Why 13 years of trial and error taught DT that internal communication was the missing piece until hiring a CFO.
2. When employees ask for more responsibility, letting them take it and own it completely creates better results than telling them exactly how to do it.
3. Monthly company shutdowns for yard day and meals show employees you value spending time with them beyond just getting work done.
4. How DT's willingness to admit he screwed up 100 times makes employees want to help build the company instead of just collect paychecks.
5. Why mistakes are inevitable but what you do about them determines whether your team fears failure or learns from it.

Make sure to subscribe to the Blue Collar BS podcast where we talk about the real gaps between generations in blue collar work and what it takes to lead across different age groups in today's trades.

Get in touch with DT:

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Get in touch with us:

Check out the Blue Collar BS website.

Steve Doyle:

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Brad Herda:

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This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp
OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy

Steve Doyle (: 00:00

Welcome back to BlueCaller BS, Brad. How you doing today?

Brad Herda (: 00:04

I am fantastic Mr. Stephen Doyle and how is Detroit Motor City?

Steve Doyle (: 00:08

You know, it's beautiful. It's sunny. It's not humid. Thanks for that.

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 00:09

beautiful, it's sunny, it's not humid. Thanks for that. Yeah, you're welcome.

Brad Herda (: 00:14

Yeah, you're welcome. You're welcome. I wish I could say the same. messes up my hair way too much here in the humidity.

Steve Doyle (: 00:20

That's totally I know you've got it. You've got to get out the straightener for that. It just puts too much curl in your hair. So Brad, who do we got on the show today?

Brad Herda (: 00:24

Exactly, yes, gotta get the freight now. Yep, you bet.

Brad Herda (: 00:31

On the show today is gentlemen. I met through I believe Tyler reached out to us as assistant say hey you want to be on the show DT Thomas Thomas and he's a self-made business owner avid hunter goes hunting like three months out of the year for some reason he's got such a great business that he can go away for three months to go do all the fun things father of three started from nothing he's leading the grease trap industry out on the west coast and we are happy to have him here today DT thanks for being here

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 00:36

assistant say hey you want to be on the show, DT Tovason. He's a self-made business owner, avid hunter, goes hunting.

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 01:00

Yeah, thanks for having me, guys.

Steve Doyle (: 01:02

So DT before I forget, which generation do you identify or fit in with?

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 01:04

forget.

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 01:08

Try not to identify with any of them.

Steve Doyle (: 01:10

Hahahaha

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 01:13

I guess I'd technically be a millennial, I believe, 86. But I don't know if I follow suit with that whole line of thought, but yeah. Kind of ride by the own seat of my own pants. So I'm not sure I really fall into any generational aspects.

Steve Doyle (: 01:19

yeah. Yes.

Brad Herda (: 01:20

Yes.

Brad Herda (: 01:34

Stereotype no You have some definite older generation characteristics to you and behaviors than and of the one upon which you were born into for sure

Steve Doyle (: 01:34

Okay.

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 01:43

Yeah.

Steve Doyle (: 01:44

Definitely for sure. So tell us how you got started on your journey.

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 01:50

That's a long journey. I was doing some stormwater cleaning, catch basins and whatnot and a biodiesel company asked if we could do some grease trap cleaning and I was like, I really don't want to deal with grease traps. They stink, they smell. But being the youngest guy in the biz, I said, sure, why not? And

Steve Doyle (: 01:52

You

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 02:13

kind of fell in love with it. was able to walk into a restaurant and shoot the shit with a chef like I'd known him for 20 years. And so, you know, once you get used to the smell, it kind of fun, you know, you get fed at almost every restaurant. If you got a good personality, I mean, I got super fat in the beginning. I was all the way up to like 265 because every restaurant was feeding me and whatnot. So it was great.

Steve Doyle (: 02:20

Mm-hmm.

Brad Herda (: 02:33

Holy shit.

Steve Doyle (: 02:35

Wow.

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 02:38

But yeah, that's kind of how it just all started. It kind of a fell into my lap in a way. And then I just kind of took off with it. Built a little pumper out of a rigid shop vac and a 55 gallon drum and put five barrels in the back of a little Ford Ranger and drove around and pumped all little grease traps out.

Steve Doyle (: 02:53

Heh.

Steve Doyle (: 02:58

Wow.

Brad Herda (: 03:01

And how many trucks do you have today?

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 03:03

14, 15? Yeah, yeah. It's been it's been fun.

Brad Herda (: 03:06

from a five gallon shop back to 14 trucks.

Steve Doyle (: 03:06

Nice.

Steve Doyle (: 03:10

Nice.

Brad Herda (: 03:14

That is that's that's a growth story right there for sure So, how have you how has it been able to find people to do the work for you and what have you seen? And how have you kept them around?

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 03:18

Yeah.

Steve Doyle (: 03:19

Mm-hmm.

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 03:31

Well, trying to compete with my competitors that are very large was tough. know, I couldn't offer in the beginning stages, I couldn't offer, know, the medical benefits and retirement packages and all that. So I had to think kind of creatively. So I started off by doing about 11 paid days off a year. And that was, so.

New Year's and the 4th July float just on however the calendar falls. We usually take the 5th of July off just because we start super early so we can shut off on the 4th at like noon-ish so everybody can enjoy the 4th and then they don't have to worry about getting up super early. We shut down for about four days on Christmas, Thanksgiving, Black Friday are both paid off and then you get your birthday paid off which is kind of a float day every year.

Steve Doyle (: 04:07

Mm-hmm.

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 04:21

So that was one of those little incentives I could afford that helped separate us from the big guys. And then, you know, your week off paid vacation and all that stuff. It was kind of until about 2018, 19 is when we could actually afford to get medical coverage. So that's when we really started able to bring in some more qualified workers that actually wanted to look for a career. So I'd say about well.

You know, just like all the industry service COVID screwed up a lot of shit for us. The workforce in the Northwest got really tough. Nobody needed to work. Nobody wanted to work. We had some good guys that stuck around.

Brad Herda (: 04:53

Yes, you're not alone.

Steve Doyle (: 04:54

Yup.

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 05:04

And then it wasn't until late 23 when everything really changed for the better. We started getting a really good crew. The guys wanted to see my vision actually grow instead of doing whatever they wanted to do. So that was exciting for me because it was, I was getting burnt out just dealing with whiny, you know, people that didn't want to do anything. So it sucked. Um, but now, you know,

Steve Doyle (: 05:10

Mm-hmm.

Steve Doyle (: 05:20

Mm-hmm.

Steve Doyle (: 05:28

You mean I'm not going to get paid to stay home?

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 05:32

Right so now it's like the guys want to show up they want to do the best they can they want to I mean my one of my leads we had about an hour-long interview and He asked me how many jobs was my record in a day And I told him is like 17 jobs in a day, and he said I'm gonna beat that I'm gonna whoop your ass on that so I hired him right off the bat because if somebody's gonna step up and talk like that You know I need to see if you can prove it, and he hasn't let me down once since he started and that's two years now, so

He's been a rock star. What's that? I think he's at 18 or 19. So yeah, he's got me. So there's part of me that wants to go dust off the boots and get back out there. But I don't know, maybe I'll just let that one lie.

Steve Doyle (: 06:02

Hmm. And how many what's his max in a day? What's his max in a day?

Steve Doyle (: 06:15

Okay.

Brad Herda (: 06:17

Well, who's, how are you going to set up the competition to dethrone it?

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 06:22

I'd have to put in my favor for sure. Get all the easy jobs that have no time restraints and build my own route so I can make it as easy as possible. Call all the customers up that I've had since I started, say, hey, listen, I'm beating all my guys and this is I need to do it. So then there's just no way they could ever beat me.

Steve Doyle (: 06:24

Yeah.

Steve Doyle (: 06:32

Right?

Steve Doyle (: 06:43

That's all.

Brad Herda (: 06:43

So what you're trying to say is you want to stack the deck to reclaim the record.

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 06:47

Kinda have to, right? So.

Steve Doyle (: 06:50

That's fantastic. That's fantastic. Hey, you got to you got to know the game to play the game.

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 06:55

That's right.

Brad Herda (: 06:57

So you got 14 trucks, I'm assuming one guy per vehicle, maybe a two shift job, I'm not sure. So how many employees do you have right now today?

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 07:06

23 or 24 and one part time guy.

Brad Herda (: 07:10

And what's that? And what's that age? mean, are they younger, older, run the gamut? What's the switch on that?

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 07:17

think our youngest guy's 26 and then...

We got a couple guys in their 60s, but those are our sales guys. So the workers are- the pumpers are I think anywhere from 26 to 38. And then our haulers that haul the grease out of state, they're in their early 40s or one of them is. So yeah.

Steve Doyle (: 07:28

Mm-hmm.

Brad Herda (: 07:29

They don't count. They're the sales guys. They don't count.

Brad Herda (: 07:36

Okay.

Steve Doyle (: 07:36

Okay.

Steve Doyle (: 07:42

Mm-hmm.

Brad Herda (: 07:44

So how are you working to keep that culture where people are wanting to come to work and keep that culture going so that when you go on your hunting trips and you're gone all those periods of time, right? You're the owner, you're the one taking the risk that there's not the animosity or the, well, DT just beats us senseless all year long so we can go hunting. How are you keeping that from happening?

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 08:12

I don't really know, it just happens.

Steve Doyle (: 08:15

Hahaha!

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 08:18

You know, I mean, I was just gone for two weeks and this was probably the first time I've ever gone on vacation and never had a complaint or an issue be brought up to me until I got back. I mean, we got.

Brad Herda (: 08:20

Thank you.

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 08:33

trucks that broke down trucks had to get towed. didn't know anything about it until I got back to the yard. So that was pretty relaxing because all that would have done was stress me out on my trip. Instead, I was able to relax for once and not have to worry about that. So my team's really good at just figuring shit out on their own and making things work. You know, I mean, I try to let them have as much free rein as possible when it comes to things. And that might be one of the reasons why they're able to do it for me when I'm gone is just not my

Steve Doyle (: 08:44

Mm-hmm.

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 09:03

micromanaging, over controlling them, just letting them kind of run it how they see fit. And you know, they know my level of what I expect. And frankly, they all kind of handle it their own way, but the way I'd want to handle it. So it's pretty cool.

Steve Doyle (: 09:06

Mm-hmm.

Steve Doyle (: 09:17

Yeah. And how long, so, so going on that topic of you were able to go away and fully enjoy because your team executed. How long did it take for you to get the team in place to be able to do that?

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 09:34

13 years. So.

Steve Doyle (: 09:37

And and what changes had to happen for that for that to take place?

Brad Herda (: 09:44

And COVID's not the answer.

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 09:44

Probably communication. Yeah, no communication. think that was our biggest thing we lacked was internal communication. You know, the drivers would be out doing their thing. Then the office staff, even though we're all in the same building and not very spread out, was people just always assumed somebody else was doing something instead of actually talking. So once I hired my CFO Jackson, it really, he got the

Steve Doyle (: 09:52

Mm-hmm.

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 10:13

priority of communication dialed in and I think since then he's just had a year with us and that's really when the communications took off. I mean, he's been a phenomenal input to the company. And so it's just.

Steve Doyle (: 10:15

Mm-hmm.

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 10:31

You know with him being able to lead the charge matt our operations manager, you know, those two guys can run Willing, you know free will and you know the ashley and rachel in the office they they handle their department departments like flawlessly so Everybody's kind of running seamlessly when i'm gone. There's not a lot. I mean it's crease trap pumping. It's not super crazy So I think it's important yeah

Steve Doyle (: 10:47

Mm-hmm.

Steve Doyle (: 10:54

Good be.

Brad Herda (: 10:56

Yeah, but it's important because if it goes wrong, it's not good.

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 11:02

No, well, that's the other problem. We do more grease traps in a week than. Well, I'd like to see somebody that beats us on grease traps. We're averaging 600 at minimum a week on grease traps, so. And that's just because we can't do more because what's that?

Steve Doyle (: 11:15

Wow.

Brad Herda (: 11:18

What is that? What's that for a market? What's that for a market share perspective? If 600 a week is there, what's your what's what's what remains for you to go get?

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 11:26

We're about a third of the industry for Washington State. We're just shy of 4,000 restaurants or commercial kitchens. there's roughly 17,000 in Washington, but we're moving into Oregon and Idaho right now. So we're expanding our service area is pretty big.

Steve Doyle (: 11:37

Mm-hmm.

Steve Doyle (: 11:50

Mm-hmm. That's great. And as you're expanding, and I'm assuming you have multiple offices.

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 11:58

Just one right now.

Steve Doyle (: 12:00

Okay, how do you keep the morale going? Knowing you're expanding and bringing on new people? How do you keep that morale up for for new hires and and for existing employees?

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 12:20

I think it's all gonna stem from.

bringing them on at our corporate location in Sumner, training them here. And then I'll probably see which guys would like to move and start running those new satellite locations. Cause if I, I'm scared to bring on outsiders to run a satellite, I would rather bring one of the guys I trust and I know will run it the way I see fit and move them over there. So I think that's really the only way to see this grow and sustain our culture and sustain how we do our work. Cause it's a tough industry.

Steve Doyle (: 12:30

Mm-hmm.

Steve Doyle (: 12:39

Mm-hmm.

Steve Doyle (: 12:51

Mm-hmm.

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 12:53

We're a trust industry for the most part, right? Grease traps are in the ground. Nobody sees them. A lot of the times restaurants aren't even open when we pump them. So there's a lot of...

Steve Doyle (: 12:56

Mm-hmm.

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 13:04

pumpers out there that are doing wrong by these restaurants. So that's why we take four to six pictures of every stop to make sure we're showcasing everything we do. And then that way the customer believes in us. They give us keys then. And so they give us a lot of trust. So I think in order for us to sustain the growth into new regions, I got to move one of my leads or a tech that's looking to move out of state. One of the pluses is Western Washington. Not a lot of people want to stay in. So, you know, they want to move out.

Steve Doyle (: 13:17

Mm-hmm.

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 13:34

So I think that'll be easy to find guys to move out of state so or to the other side of the mountains where it's

Brad Herda (: 13:44

And how are you going to so so is that plan then just to have the one guy one truck in those regions or is it to add some more to it?

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 13:52

Yeah, so those 14 trucks, we've got two spares right now that are going to get moved out of state or to our satellite locations. We'll run everything from Sumner and we'll just send a guy for a week, go pump a route until it becomes a big enough route to justify the expansion down south. mean, Oregon's only three hours from us, so it's not like it's a super crazy drive. And I mean, we're driving to Oregon every day anyways. So, you know, it's just.

It's a quick little jump for us.

Brad Herda (: 14:24

So as you made mentioned early on about sharing people, people are sharing your vision and going forward. So how are you communicating your vision and expectations on a regular basis or strategically, or even as tactically is it one-on-one? Is it an all employee get together powwows, cookouts? What are you, how are you making sure that what you want to have done get done?

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 14:50

Yeah, so the first Friday of every month, we pretty much shut off pumping and we do yard day and then we have a company lunch or breakfast, depending on what we want to do. We give out employee of the month awards, the wild cards from customers, talk about the ins and outs, and then we pull the drivers all off to the side. We have a chat with them, make sure we're all on the same page. But, you know, I kind of float around the entire company and

You know, not one person is in a different position in my mind. Everybody has the same ability to talk to me and share. I get to know. So like we went to the, professional bull riding. We took everybody, you know, that was able to make it and their families. So, you know, I try to have at least one or two events every year that includes everybody and their family, even for Christmas, like

Steve Doyle (: 15:35

in

Steve Doyle (: 15:39

Mm-hmm.

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 15:47

We were shut down. We do a big Christmas party, free drinks, everything. last year was a blast. Last year was pretty fun. But yeah, think just.

Brad Herda (: 16:00

Tyler, do you agree? Does Tyler agree it was a fun party?

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 16:03

Tyler wasn't here for Christmas. started in March, so he missed it. So he'll get this year for Christmas. Yeah. But yeah, I think it's just more so, you know, I don't want to ever be the CEO that's.

Brad Herda (: 16:09

All right.

Steve Doyle (: 16:10

All right. That's fair.

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 16:19

not involved in the day to days with their, you know, with the company. I think just me being out in the shop, talking with the guys, shooting the shit, you know, that helps build that, that chemistry for us to be able to grow as a team.

Steve Doyle (: 16:32

Mm-hmm.

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 16:32

You know, and that's where my guys will sell it to bring on. I mean, one of the coolest stories we have is my barber for a few years. He ended up in like, granted, I don't sell my company to come work for it. Cause when you're at the barber chair, you're just bitching the entire time about staff, about this, about that. So he's got to listen to my side of the story. But then when I started, buying all my guys, one haircut a month for my barber. So they would just go to him. They're the face of the company. So I figured, you know, we were gone.

Steve Doyle (: 16:49

you

Steve Doyle (: 16:58

Mm-hmm.

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 17:02

forsaken hours why not let them get a free haircut monthly to keep them nice and clean for showcasing us right well the guys end up selling the Jsar barber and he was like November of last year

Steve Doyle (: 17:10

Nice.

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 17:19

I thought he was shooting the shit with me, just pulling my string about coming on working here. but yeah, he, he was dead serious. He went and got his permit and everything. And I was like, all right, I guess you start the first week of December. So, and he's been an absolute rock star. I honestly wasn't expecting him to be such a stellar pumper. and then I

Steve Doyle (: 17:36

Wow.

Brad Herda (: 17:40

Did he bring the chair with him?

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 17:42

I bought him a barber chair so now we have a barber studio and that was the one rule I said you cannot stop cutting my hair and so except that's why I'm wearing a hat today because I tried a new hairstyle and it didn't work so

Steve Doyle (: 17:50

Yeah.

Steve Doyle (: 17:56

Well, I mean. That's right.

Brad Herda (: 17:56

You're young enough, it'll still grow back probably. I don't have that luxury.

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 18:00

Yeah. Yeah.

Steve Doyle (: 18:06

that straightener that you put in that? That's that's that's it. That's it. That's on. Well, I mean, there's always that there's always that so how how have your employees kind of evolved over time to take more of that kind of ownership or buy in approach?

Brad Herda (: 18:08

Yeah, that's it. It's the stress of working with you, Mr. Doyle. That's the problem.

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 18:08

Yeah.

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 18:35

They pushed, so like the drivers, push each other to be better. And that's one of the biggest things. I like competition and the guys are really hard on each other. like Evan, he's one of our leads and.

Steve Doyle (: 18:38

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 18:50

when he's training a guy, he starts to feel like this, person's not going to work out, he's straight with them. He's like, let me know if this is not something you do, I'll pull over right now and you can Uber back to the yard and get your shit and go home. I mean, it's, it's flat out, you know, just these are our expectations. You know, the guys are waking up at two o'clock in the morning to start their shift. It's very easy for somebody to oversleep their alarm.

Steve Doyle (: 19:04

Wow.

Steve Doyle (: 19:11

Mm-hmm.

Steve Doyle (: 19:15

Yeah.

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 19:15

But it puts a lot on us because we got to set up all these routes before. Why is there fucking bubbles? Did you see that?

Brad Herda (: 19:24

Yeah.

Steve Doyle (: 19:24

I was wondering the same thing, man. I was wondering the same thing.

Brad Herda (: 19:28

Your thumb was up just a tad on...

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 19:31

Yeah, that was weird. You know, and then like Rachel, my billing specialist, she wanted a little bit more of a role in promotion. And so she asked me and I said,

If you want it, take it. It's yours for the taking. But if you're going to take that position, you better fucking own it. And she's done nothing but own that position. You know, same with Ashley when she took on running our use cooking oil division. She had no clue what to do, but she's owned that like a boss. And I think just giving the staff the ability to want something and make it their own has been just instrumental.

Steve Doyle (: 20:03

Mm-hmm.

Steve Doyle (: 20:11

Mm-hmm.

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 20:15

You know, it goes back to micromanage and I don't want to micromanage. I don't have time to micromanage. So just allowing him the freedom to be able to take whatever that position is and just run with it.

Brad Herda (: 20:28

So would it be fair to say that you're allowing your team to run towards something instead of being afraid of doing something?

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 20:35

I would say, yeah, 100%.

Yeah, just run it how you want to run it. mean, I run my things differently. You know, I learned everything the hard way just by trial and error. So, I mean, anybody can come to me and I'll tell them how I fucked up 100 times. But obviously, all those screw ups has led to this. So it's kind of been, you know, instrumental. And I think that's where it works is because I have screwed up so many times and I'm very vocal about it that everybody wants to

Steve Doyle (: 20:47

Mm-hmm.

Steve Doyle (: 20:52

You

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 21:09

help bring this company up to be the largest. You know, I want to be the largest grease trap company in the nation. So I will be the largest grease trap company in the nation. So it's, it's not a matter of when it's, you know, I'd like to do it before 40 and that that's coming up real fast. So, yeah, we got to get moving. Yeah.

Steve Doyle (: 21:22

Right on. Right on.

Steve Doyle (: 21:31

Mm-hmm.

Brad Herda (: 21:33

If I do the math 86, yep, that coming real soon.

Steve Doyle (: 21:36

Yep, real soon.

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 21:37

Yeah, I'll be 39 this year, so about a year and a half. So we got a lot of work to do.

Steve Doyle (: 21:43

Mm-hmm.

Brad Herda (: 21:43

So with that level of pursuit in competition, how are you keeping fear out of your team? How are you keeping the fear of making a mistake and the, know.

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 21:59

Mistakes happen.

That's the biggest thing is owning your mistakes and learning from it like I had you know, it's it's everybody's gonna fuck up and cause issues, right? It's just if you make a mess, know, like hoses are always gonna break, you know Dumb things are gonna happen like you didn't clamp your dog ears on the hoses to lock it into the truck You know in the hose bucks and it Blows all over the parking lot like yeah, that sucks clean it up, right? So that's just really what it is. I mean shit's always gonna happen is what you do about

Steve Doyle (: 22:19

Mm-hmm.

Steve Doyle (: 22:25

Yep.

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 22:30

about it that turns it into whatever. So I think that's kind of where the guys are all on the same page. Screw ups are gonna happen, it's inevitable, especially with waking up so early and being tired. Then our state being gray and gloomy majority of the year, it's like things are always gonna come up. Just figure out a solution and make it happen.

Steve Doyle (: 22:35

Mm-hmm.

Brad Herda (: 22:54

So when shit happens like that, how are they, how are they bringing those things to you? Like, so you went on vacation for two weeks, they are, and they let it all go. They didn't tell you a damn thing. You get back and hear all these things. What's your reaction to that?

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 23:10

Damn, that sucks. But it's, I mean, there's nothing really you can. Yeah. But but the other problem or not the problem, but the other thing is, is they already had solutions in place. So they weren't waiting around for me. Why are these bubbles keep popping up, Tyler? You know, so.

Brad Herda (: 23:13

Okay, alright, but the damage sucks is better than standing on the table and jumping up going, what the fuck did you guys do while I was gone, right? I mean...

Steve Doyle (: 23:13

You

Steve Doyle (: 23:31

You

Brad Herda (: 23:31

Turn your hand down, don't leave your thumb up.

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 23:36

That was where I saying that I don't micromanage and allow them to do whatever they want for the most part. you know, they got trucks towed in, they got the issue we had with the DOT, they got everything figured out. And, you know, like one of the axles snapped off our 8,000 gallon trailer when he is backing in to dump it.

Steve Doyle (: 23:42

Okay.

Brad Herda (: 23:57

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (23:57.321)

Right? nobody called me on that one. They fixed there. They got it secured, drove the truck back, got a new axle ordered. It's like that kind of stuff. Just figure it out. You know, so, and they did, and that's, that's phenomenal. And that's the stuff I'd like to see, you know, like when a mess happens, it's not, do I clean this up? It's, Hey, I cleaned this up. you know, what do we do next? So

Steve Doyle (: 24:07

Mm-hmm.

Steve Doyle (: 24:22

Mm And there's a ton of leadership lessons to learn in how you are approaching that because most leaders don't allow their staff the opportunity to learn through that. They stand up and they pontificate and berate their employees. So I mean, I can't applaud you enough for how you're approaching that to allow your team to learn like that. That is huge. Like

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 24:35

Yeah.

Steve Doyle (: 24:50

Brad and I were talking a little earlier about issues that we see that were brought in to help solve. And it's truly because people aren't allowed that opportunity to fail forward and learn.

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 25:03

Yeah, and I don't want to have to sit there and do their job for them. So at the end of the day, know, either fail or learn from your mistakes. So and you know, I think that's been the biggest thing the last year is everybody's really growing individually, but as a team, most importantly. So that's huge for me. It makes my life easier for sure.

Steve Doyle (: 25:12

Mm-hmm.

Steve Doyle (: 25:22

Yep.

Brad Herda (: 25:26

So the big question here, what is the ultimate hunting trophy for you? That you either have already achieved or are wanting to pursue.

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 25:42

I think it's changed. Instead of me getting a species, my almost 11 year old boy went last year for his first time. So I think I really want to see him get his first buck this year. I think that'll be exciting. I think that'll mean more to me than going out and getting a big bull or a big buck. I think watching him shoot and take his first animal is going to be.

Steve Doyle (: 25:55

Mmm.

Steve Doyle (: 26:03

Mm-hmm.

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 26:09

I don't know, that's gonna be a lot. I think it's gonna be an emotional roller coaster, but I think it'll be exciting.

Steve Doyle (: 26:13

Yeah.

Brad Herda (: 26:16

That answer right there tells everybody about your leadership style and why you are as successful as you are as quickly as you are that response right there is awesome

Steve Doyle (: 26:25

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah.

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 26:27

Thank you. Cause like when my wife got her first buck, was very hard. was two really nice ones in Wyoming and I was only focused on making sure her deer went down because we were, you know, with Wyoming being so checkerboarded with private and state land, you know, we had to make sure it didn't leave the private or the state land and go on a private. So, but that was exciting watching her shoot her first buck. that was pretty cool. So yeah.

Steve Doyle (: 26:43

Mm-hmm.

Steve Doyle (: 26:49

Right?

Steve Doyle (: 26:52

Mm hmm.

Brad Herda (: 26:55

Alright Steve bring in bite your tongue go ahead I'm sure he has something.

Steve Doyle (: 26:58

all right. All right. So we incorporated this into the show is at some point along in your career, you've high probability there are things that you may have said that you're like, shit, I should never have said this. Is there is there anything that comes to mind of a situation that actually happened where you're like, shit, I shouldn't have said that.

Brad Herda (: 27:23

And what'd you learn from it?

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 27:26

There's probably too many of those situations to really be specific. Part of problem is our industry, you know, we're immature, you know, like our trucks, when they're on vacuum, it's sucking. When they're discharging, it's blowing. So we use sexual into windows constantly for what we do. So that's a very tricky question because our culture is...

Steve Doyle (: 27:28

Yeah, you don't have to name names.

Brad Herda (: 27:29

Hahaha

Steve Doyle (: 27:52

you

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 27:54

to have fun, right? You Hey, go blow him right now so we can get the trucks emptied, right? It's just that kind of, you know, life. One of my old sales managers, he was a bartender for too many years, probably. And he had jokes all day long. mean, there was never a day you didn't hear five jokes or the same five jokes. but we had to have a talk about

Steve Doyle (: 27:56

Yep.

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 28:23

the style of jokes he was saying, especially being in the Seattle area. I'm like, dude, you're going to get me in a shit ton of trouble. just calm down on those. And that's where, you but it was a good icebreaker. You know, he could walk in, tell a joke and then it opened up the door. But for me, I don't know. I mean, I say a lot of dumb stuff, dumb stuff all the time. So I don't know if I have a specific case. It's just.

Steve Doyle (: 28:25

Yeah.

Yeah.

Brad Herda (: 28:32

especially for the customers that you're serving.

Steve Doyle (: 28:50

What's a lesson you've learned? From it.

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 28:55

to be more cautious.

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 29:00

I don't know if that'll work, but try, I guess. That's the only thing I can do.

Steve Doyle (: 29:06

Yes.

Brad Herda (: 29:07

That is a true statement. So DT, how, so if there's, we've been picking up some West coast audience. If there's people that want to get a hold of you because they're in the restaurant industry or they need grease traps cleaned, or they just want, there's other industry leaders that just say, Hey, this would be a cool guy to talk to. How do people find you and get ahold of you?

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 29:25

Wesco or WC renewables.com is our website. And then, I think Tyler's going to throw it up on the screen. and then our phone numbers, 206-687-3772 or info at WC renewables.com. Those are our main ways to get ahold of us. And then, yeah.

Brad Herda (: 29:51

Okay. Awesome. Thank you so much for sharing and congratulations on the success you've created in the future success that you're going to generate for yourself, your team members, their families, the people you serve, et cetera. Cause it's all one big look, one big economic circle and you're a big part of that. So thank you for doing what you do.

Steve Doyle (: 29:52

All right.

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 30:17

Yeah, thanks guys. yeah, we also have a YouTube channel we just started. So we had a bunch of videos up, but there was a lot of real inappropriate stuff in it. So we ended up taking them down and we're trying to clean it up a little bit. We do we know we do a lot of churches and school districts. So we're trying, you know, it was like maybe not so much on the sexual things that we talk about. But.

Brad Herda (: 30:21

That's... that's...

Steve Doyle (: 30:21

can't. gotta go look.

Steve Doyle (: 30:30

man, come on.

Brad Herda (: 30:33

Come on, they-

Steve Doyle (: 30:37

Okay

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 30:44

You know, we're trying to clean it up to really get back into the the fun of our business, right? You know, just because it stinks doesn't mean, you know, we can't have fun with it. So, you know, more educational videos so the cities can put it up because we do a lot of work with the municipalities. So.

Steve Doyle (: 30:50

Great.

Steve Doyle (: 30:56

Mm-hmm.

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 31:03

Try to keep it like PG-13, maybe slightly into the R category. But yeah, the educational will keep definitely Y rated or PG rated. But yeah, we're trying to build that. I think it'll be fun to showcase some more of what we do.

Brad Herda (: 31:21

That'll be spectacular and showcase your audience. Showcase your customers, right? I mean, that's...

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 31:25

Yeah. Well, that was one of the things we really wanted to do was when we flipped the lights on at two o'clock in the morning and the rats scurry, you know, that was kind of one of those fun things we wanted to showcase or the, you know, some of the restaurants that are feeding the rats that get this big of bodies. And it's like, what are you feeding the rats for? So, you know, we wanted to showcase that without really shutting a restaurant down, but, you know, just it's kind of odd. You're feeding rats and cats.

Brad Herda (: 31:37

problem.

Steve Doyle (: 31:38

Bro!

Yeah.

Right.

Steve Doyle (: 31:52

Yeah.

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 31:54

and then we never see the same cat twice. but yeah, just have fun with it. So.

Brad Herda (: 32:02

Yeah, that owner's not going be very happy about that, I'm sure.

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 32:06

Now, well, I mean, how are you going to feel if you go eat a cat for dinner thinking it's a well, hell was that one that just came out? They were feeding pigeons as duck at an Asian restaurant. That was funny. So, yeah, they got shut down. I don't know what state that was in, but that was funny. I mean, it's only funny because I didn't eat it. But, you know, it's yeah, that's comical.

Brad Herda (: 32:21

my!

Brad Herda (: 32:27

They're not even the same size.

Steve Doyle (: 32:36

awesome so

Brad Herda (: 32:37

Wow, we might have to do a second show of completely inappropriate things.

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 32:41

Yeah, maybe.

Steve Doyle (: 32:42

All right, I'm in. I'm in, so.

Brad Herda (: 32:46

All right, DT, thank you so much. Have a great rest of your week and we appreciate you being here.

DT (WestCoast Renewables) (: 32:50

Yeah, thanks guys. was good talking with you.