Brad gets personal, recounting his transformative encounter with a second-generation business owner whose business met its end amidst a union strike. This story isn't just a cautionary tale; it's the kindling that ignited Brad's dedication to helping business owners navigate the complex decisions that can make or break their legacy. 

Brad gives shares his tips on how to approach the transition from generation to generation. 

Brad shares what he is looking forward to and some his goals for 2024. And how he benefits from accountability and partnering with other business owners. 

Highlights

2:59 - Brad shares how and why he started his coaching business. 

9:08 - Brad gives some tips about how to approach the conversation as the child or younger family member of the older business owner. 

12:17 - Brad shares what some of his goals are for 2024 and why he decided to not pursue a goal he had for 2023.

Steve Doyle:

Website

LinkedIn

Email

Brad Herda:

Website

LinkedIn

Email

00:00 - Speaker 1

Welcome to Blue Collar BS, a podcast that busts the popular myth that we can't find good people, highlighting how the different generations of today the boomers, gen X, millennials and Gen Z are redefining work so that the industrial revolution that started in the US stays in the US.

00:19 - Speaker 2

Everyone, welcome back to Blue Collar BS with your co-host Brad and our other co-host, ding. So really, really, wow, okay, we might need to change that up a tad, just to not, because I don't know if I can trust you anymore, ms Bedoyle.

00:38 - Speaker 3

What, Come on what? It's gonna be the number one. It's gonna be that kind of show today Brad.

00:46 - Speaker 2

It's gonna be that kind of show. What kind of show are we having today, sir?

00:50 - Speaker 3

Well, you know that kind of show where you kind of talk to each other and kind of that last show where you kind of set me up and you interviewed me and kind of screwed me over.

01:02 - Speaker 2

Really Screwed you over. Yeah, perfect.

01:04 - Speaker 3

Well, you know, payback's a bitch, so today's your day.

01:08 - Speaker 2

Brad, awesome, I can't wait. I can only imagine the things that are gonna spew out of your mouth.

01:15 - Speaker 3

I don't even know what's gonna spew out of my mouth. That's gonna be. That's the beauty of this.

01:20 - Speaker 2

Yeah, that's why. That's why we record and then have somebody edit and produce and do all those things, so that way we're not live streaming and getting sued. Exactly, exactly.

01:35 - Speaker 3

But I've been, I've been pretty good so far. Well, you know, today could be another day, yeah, yeah.

01:42 - Speaker 2

So Could be.

01:44 - Speaker 3

Let's kind of just peel back this onion a little bit. So I'm listening.

01:49 - Speaker 2

You like onions?

01:51 - Speaker 3

I love them. I love, actually I love red onions. They're like the best. They smell like. They smell amazing, Make your breath great. It's great so, brad, for our listeners. I can see just just booting with every hit, just like just the tension, like like what's it go? Oh, I'm just, I'm just waiting. What's he gonna ask? So far listeners, you know blood and I would know each other for a little while now. What involved with this business coaching scenario for a little while have similar backgrounds.

02:24 - Speaker 2

It'll be about when this airs. It'll be like seven years and one month.

02:28 - Speaker 3

Essentially, most likely It'll be. It'll be really interesting. So, with all the experience that you have and how we ended up here, what led to your desire to help business owners transform their businesses?

02:48 - Speaker 2

That's a good question. I actually have an answer for that. Wow, I actually have an answer. Do you want to hear it? I do want to hear it. So what do I listen to? Otherwise, it's a really boring show.

02:59

Imagine a second-generation sheet metal shop business owner and at the time I am working in my subcontract manufacturing and I behaved very differently than many others in the purchasing world because I created those relationships of trust. I created the relationship of sharing the information so that not only would our organization be successful, but their organization will be successful, because if we don't have good suppliers, we don't have good product coming in and we can't ship and make our dollars and cents out the back door as we're producing. So now imagine that second-generation business gets put into a situation where the union says, hey, we want more money or we're going to strike. Now imagine that business owner has the opportunity to make that decision. That owner is one that doesn't like conflict, doesn't like getting into conversations, that he's 100 percent customer focused, likes to support people, wants to be the good guy, probably talk to his spouse, probably talk to the accountant and probably talk to his financial advisor. He decided to liquidate and shut the doors and move on with life. So all those people were displaced, all those assets were sold off and then he traveled the country for another 10 years while his family stayed here and he went around the country looking for work.

04:36

So that second-generation business owner from a family business you think, oh man, I got all this experience, all this opportunity. People hire him up all replaced. Nope, not so much, because now he's a threat because he owned his own business. He's overqualified all these other things.

04:56

When I look back and reflect on potentially what those dollars were and what what he might have needed to do to take the risk and find some things, there was, from outside perspective, lots of money on the table to be able to solve those problems from an operations and business perspective, because the business had grown from two or three people being able to handle everything to hey, we got 40 people now doing all these things and the business never evolved. So we just did those same things we did with two people, three people, as we're doing with 40, and there was just potentially dollars that were there. So being able to put somebody into a better position to make an exit, to have a decision, to get what they need out of their business, versus just shutting it down and saying I don't want to take the risk. That is why I am doing what I am doing. That's awesome.

05:52 - Speaker 3

So what led to that? What in your past led to that desire To helping those family run businesses?

06:04 - Speaker 2

So when I go back to my first job, which was back in fifth grade, cleaning the grade school the Catholic grade school that we went to I started in fifth grade that summer of taking my bike down there and learning from that custodian on how to clean floors, wax floors, put scaffolding together, get up on top, clean the floors and lights, just all that stuff. It was the learning from others that was intriguing. And then I went to the Coles grocery store and led the front end department you know was the head bagger and all the other things and everybody would always come to me looking for answers because I was willing to support them and share and I'd get all that knowledge. If I didn't know the answer, I'd go find the information out. Some employees were along the way, took advantage of that. But it's like how do I help support that growth and make everybody because if I can make people better around me, then my life becomes easier right, the customers have a better experience and life goes on.

07:11

So it's kind of always been that way, steve. It's always been that world of how do we know? And it just so happens that the blue collar world, the construction, the manufacturing, the building things, the smell of burning steel. It's the best. It is the best smell. It's the best smell in the world. Going into the Ford shop, working at the Ford shop, going to a foundry, it is. It is fantastic being able to see sparks, see things, Look at the cloud of dust that's in a weld shop and go. There's something that people are actually building something and going forward and doing something with. And if I can support those owners, or when I support those owners or those leaders to be better, those people have jobs. Those people can take care of their families. Those people can also then not worry about their leaders doing something stupid to them.

08:01

Right, and say oh yeah, we're closing up shop tomorrow, and now you've got 10, 15, 20 families that are now displaced and going forward. So it has been that way for a long, long time. It's just had a different impact Right as I've moved out through my career.

08:17 - Speaker 3

That's awesome when we're because our show it touches many different people and sometimes our show kind of touches the family members that are not. They're in the business and they are in the business and they're taking. They know that they're kind of next in line to take over, but maybe it's mom, dad, whoever it is. They're extremely stubborn and reluctant for help. What advice would you give those family members that know that they need advice from a trusted person? What advice would you give them to talk to their be able to talk to their parents about? Hey, there's this guy I've been listening to His name's Brad. How can we get them?

09:05 - Speaker 2

give them advice to, just like the car and the insurance commercial.

09:08 - Speaker 3

How can we give them advice to have that conversation to be open, knowing that, be open to the conversation with somebody like I don't know, Mr Brad Hurta, open to the conversation to bringa trusted advisor alongside them.

09:26 - Speaker 2

So the first piece of that question is, I would say, is more about that other individual, more so than the parent side of it. Absolutely To one say here's the recognition that, okay, you're my parents or my siblings or whatever and you're not going to teach me what I need to know, because we have this family dynamic and I want Christmas and New Year's and birthday parties and Thanksgiving and everything to be hunky-dory. So, first, being self-reflective enough to know to go hey, I don't know what I don't know, and to get me where I want to go to do this, I need support in doing that. Then that conversation becomes hey, this is the person I want to help support me on my journey. Then it becomes let's all sit down at the table to say, okay, we're going to go on this journey. There's going to be changes. Some of you are not going to like, some of you are going to like, but we're not here to destroy the family. We're here to prepare the legacy piece of what's going on Not the well. We're going to help Sally dethrone mom and dad so we can take up. No, no, we're going to empower Sally to have conversations and set ground rules and expectations and work through the right.

10:55

What are we trying to do? What's the timeframe? What are we looking to accomplish? Is it two years or five years? Can it be two years if everything's good, because you don't trust Sally to do what you're doing? Well, if you can be on your boat in Florida and get your weekly report and get a thumbs up, thumbs down and talk once a month on the phone and you know you got a good handle on it, is that good enough for you to say it's okay to be in Florida?

11:21 - Speaker 3

Right, mm-hmm.

11:24 - Speaker 2

You know or not, it's also helping the supporting the elder family members. The leaders of the family give them that support of going oh there's somebody else here to help, be a kind of a safety net without them being there, right, but it starts with the other, with the younger family member knowing that they need the support for themselves. It's a much different conversation if that family member says, hey, mom and dad, you need help. That's a much different conversation to work with the parents, because those conversations tend to go very poorly, right, yeah, that tends to go very poorly. That tends to be the hey, who's the other person that they trust outside of the family to make the introduction, versus the family member making the introduction in many cases. Yeah, absolutely.

12:17 - Speaker 3

The next question I got for you is kind of more in a reflection piece. So, like my forehead, gotcha Perfect. Well, I mean, I don't go there because, knowing what you know now, what advice would you give your younger self, ie, your younger self seven years ago? What advice would you give that person, knowing what you know now?

12:45 - Speaker 2

Maybe not hang out with this guy from Michigan at our training.

12:51 - Speaker 3

Right. Pull up bad ideas. Get you all over cuts.

12:54 - Speaker 2

Let's just start there. As I go through all of my entire career, I don't know that there's I would change anything from how it all happened. To go forward, would there be some things of understanding more of that abundance versus scarcity mindset, activity Could have been better, but at the end of the day, we're all going to go through our own journey, to get at our own pace, no matter what would have happened if the roadmap was there to the golden arches to have, here's the pot of gold and all you got to do is these 15 things and do them in that right sequence. And next thing, you know, you're flooded with dollars, you're flooded with whatever happiness that whatever.

13:36

99% of us won't go do those 15 things in the prescribed sequence of doing them, because it's just not human nature to be told what to do in many cases. So I don't know that the outcome would be any different. It may have been shorter, but all those other things have created opportunity for me to be better at what I do today, to be a better person, be a better coach, be a better mentor, be a better support system to my network as well. I don't know that I would. I don't know that I would say that there's anything different. I would do other than sometimes like like the movie and risky business. Sometimes you just got to say what the fuck it's like, how we started the show right. I mean just press record and see what happens.

14:28 - Speaker 3

Don't think, because when we, when we think and overthink, we don't do Just do Make the decision, and that's where I've gotten better.

14:40 - Speaker 2

Make the decision. Don't say, well, I'm still thinking about it. No, you're not thinking about it, you've decided not to do it. Correct, just be good with it. Just be very clear that you've decided not to do this Versus. Oh, I wish I could do that. No, you've decided not to Correct. It's very simple. And taking away that stress and that anxiety of doing those things and making that all happen.

15:03 - Speaker 3

15:15 - Speaker 2

Yeah, looks like probably early January, mid January.

15:21 - Speaker 3

15:29 - Speaker 2

Well, one would be for you to get off your ass and do the things we've talked about with this show to make that happen. That'd be one To Shane, right To Shane hey, got all this stuff. We're going to go cool, right, because here's the deal. We know we can support a bunch of other folks and we're stuck in our own bullshit of, well, we can't. Well, we need all this blah, blah, blah. Do we really? Probably not, right.

16:01

16:51 - Speaker 3

or not.

16:55 - Speaker 2

I am in conversations with a insurance partner of mine where she is strongly urging me to get some of my licensing together to support what's going on, because she's a great referral partner Awesome. So we're doing these things and we make things happen and it's like, oh well, why don't you just do that so I can pay you? Like, hmm, okay, Maybe, but that's not what I want. That wouldn't be the reason I would do it. So that's the question that I got to kind of figure out. So that might happen in. There's some conversations that need to take place and some things that need to be decided on.

17:40 - Speaker 3

Honestly, I'm excited. I'm excited about where you're projecting.

17:45 - Speaker 2

You getting your shit done, I'm excited.

17:48 - Speaker 3

18:46 - Speaker 2

Right, yeah, last year, at one of my conferences that I attended on a regular basis with some groups, the goal was to get on three stages, to get paid to speak three times and make five grand speaking to speak on the multi-generational workforce and the differences and what's there and how that can impact. I did not pursue it. I made the decision that I was gonna focus on some other things. I had some great client gigs this year and I opted not to do that. Do I wanna get on stages and talk about the multi-generational workforce and the differences it can have and bring in some other factors into how that works? It's just when you talk about it and you help people understand that Gen Z is more like the boomer and they will be loyal and they will do the things and they will make it all happen and get through your own mind games and head blocks of well, that's not how we did it. Okay, but you know what. You're doing it the way your great grandparents did.

19:43

Right, you're not churning your own butter either, right, right, you're going to the store and buying it. In fact, you're probably not even going to the store anymore. You're having somebody deliver it to you. So life has changed. Businesses changed, plans need to change and we need to change to support bringing young talent into the blue collar workforce, in manufacturing, in construction, in trades, and rethink what that means, but understanding at a high level what those generations bring forward. We're all individuals, but in general we have some very commonality by a generation perspective, right, right. So that to me is super, super exciting and super passionate about it, and we work on that with our clients on a regular basis, right.

20:27 - Speaker 3

Well, it's been awesome.

20:28 - Speaker 2

I'm thankful that you were willing to be a participant in today's you were, I was expecting a whole lot of other shit out of you, steve. To be honest, I'm like hmm wonder what he's going to take all this. So I appreciate your keeping it in the professional realm, so to speak.

20:44 - Speaker 3

You know, I do do that along the way. I do do that I can. Sometimes it's more fun to just kind of throw that curveball at you.

20:52 - Speaker 2

That's right, steve, the softer side. Who would have known? My business sucks.

21:00 - Speaker 3

Yes, got my business sucks on. It's Wednesday, it's business time, anyways, anyway, and there we go.

21:09 - Speaker 2

You go look up that song and video? Yeah, it's hilarious.

21:14 - Speaker 3

Well, Brad, thank you very much for indulging me on today's episode with kind of digging in a little bit deeper on who you are, why you do what you do and what you're looking forward to. So thank you very much.

21:25 - Speaker 2

Nope. Thank you, mr Doyle, for keeping it, keeping it real. I appreciate it. We'll talk to you soon. All right, thank you for listening to Blue Collar BS brought to you by Vision Forward Business Solutions and Professional Business Coaching Inc. If you'd like to learn more on today's topic, just reach out to Steve Doyle or myself, brad Hertha. Please like share rate and review this show, as feedback is the only way we can get better. Please keep Blue Collar Business strong for generations to come.