Dirt Talk by BuildWitt

Dan and I break down BuildWitt and explain what our business does, why our mission is so important, and how we make decisions in this episode. Since we get so many questions as to what BuildWitt is, we thought we'd take a bit of time and break it all down the best we can.To learn more about BuildWitt, check out buildwitt.com! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

MILBURN Demolition began in early 2014 as a one-person show -- a guy who thought demolition didn't have to be unsafe, dirty, or old-school.James Milburn stumbled into demolition while going to school at Purdue for Construction Management. After attending demolition conferences, he fell in love with the world of demolishing stuff and decided it was the career path for him. He quickly went to work for a few demolition companies after school and began to learn how the industry operated.What he learned was that the world of demolition is an aging dinosaur. It's not always safe, there is no sense of service to customers or employees, and there is no urgency to try new ways of doing business. James had a choice -- either stay at existing companies with limited upward mobility and potential or pave his path by starting a modern demolition company. Despite the financial risk and his young family, he chose the latter largely thanks to his wife Jess's confidence and support in the vision.Thanks to his retirement savings and a loan from his parents to make payroll, he began the business in 2014. He was a breath of fresh air for massive development companies looking for a better demolition solution, and MILBURN quickly began to win much more work than James could handle. The rest is history...Check out MILBURN Demolition at milburn.com and follow James on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesmilburn/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, I interview Quinton Galbraith, the man behind @caterpillarwrenching on Instagram and a technician at Peterson Cat.From the moment you meet this guy, it's obvious that he loves wrenching on big iron, and he has absolutely no fear of getting his hands dirty.Unlike many technicians, Quinton didn't have any mechanical background before joining Peterson. While he was young, he worked odd jobs from moving to construction. He found the world of Caterpillar equipment through a relative and kept applying until he got a job at Peterson.He started by sweeping floors, then helped in the tool room, and today he does anything from minor repairs to full rebuilds on all sorts of sweet equipment. Nothing is below him, and he's hugely passionate about inspiring others to pursue a career as a technician.He's proof that you don't need experience to be successful as a technician. He's got there through hard work, an open mind, and a ridiculous hunger for learning.Check him and other technicians out on Instagram @caterpillarwrenching or @heavywrenching and check out his new online store to buy stickers at https://caterpillarwrenching.store/! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At the bottom of the recession, Alan Guy, along with two other partners, Richard Leider and HT Tran, started a construction company called Anvil Builders. The three of them began to bidding work in a cramped hotel room in downtown San Francisco and took whatever they could to make a dollar.Less than a decade later, Anvil was leading disaster cleanups after wildfires swept through Santa Rosa, Malibu, and Paradise."I'm employee number 35 at Anvil, which means that there were 34 people at this company that we hired before we even dreamt of getting a paycheck. That was three years before we ever paid ourselves a dime. It was a tough time, but I wouldn't trade it for anything."Learn more about Anvil Builders at https://anvilbuilders.com/ and follow Alan on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/alan-guy/! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tom Squeri is the CEO of Graniterock, a 120-year old materials and construction business based out of Watsonville, California. Even with nearly 1,000 people among their ranks, they're still a humble, family-owned business with a caring and local feel.In 2012, when Graniterock's then CEO Bruce Woolpert tragically passed away, Tom abruptly found himself in Graniterock's lead role from his position of general counsel. While Graniterock's board acknowledged that they had their business units led by talented individuals, they needed someone to continue molding and leading Graniterock's culture.To me, the most shocking aspect of Graniterock is their incredible sense of humility despite over a century of success shaping the Bay Area and Silicon Valley. It's always a good day whenever I'm with Graniterock thanks to their culture, people, and of course, their D11's.Tom and I talk all about training, recruiting, building culture, maintaining humility, and hopefully, everyone who listens can learn as much as I did.Learn more about Graniterock on LinkedIn or @graniterock22 on Instagram! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jason Miller is the President of Midwest Mole, an Indiana-based tunneling contractor.Jason started with Midwest Mole in his teens since his dad was a foreman there at the time. After giving college a shot for a semester, he decided it wasn't for him, so he dove headfirst into tunneling as a career.Starting as a laborer, he worked his way through the ranks to the top as an owner while maintaining an extreme sense of humility. He hasn't forgotten where he started, and he leads the company with that field-first mentality to this day.We talk about the intricacies of tunneling, what his thoughts are on the next generation, and why their line of work is only for a specific type of person. Digging a cramped tunnel by hand deep underground isn't for everyone, which is why the Moles at Midwest Mole are so proud of what they do.Learn more about Midwest Mole at midwestmole.com and follow Jason on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonmiller8/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Garrett Moss is the President of Moss Utilities, a utility contractor in the DFW area that he began three years ago in his early 30's. Even though he's the fifth generation, he's built his own business from the ground up after his father's business closed during the recession in 2008.The growth of Moss Utilities has been wild over the past few years as they went from nothing to hundreds of employees seemingly overnight. While Moss's "success" looks fantastic from the outside, it's come with struggles that Garrett and the business have had overcome.Garrett and I talk about what cash flow struggles he's faced, why it pays to treat his people exceptionally well, why customer service matters in the utility world, and how he's kept his mind straight during tough times.You can follow along with Moss at @mossutilities on Instagram and connect with Garrett on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/garrettmoss/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

BuildWitt VP Dan Briscoe and I talk about how we met, why he joined BuildWitt, and how it’s worked out so far.Dan’s been with me since day one and has had an enormous impact on our business. That said, he’s typically behind the scenes, so everyone online thinks all this BuildWitt stuff is just me. If it was just me, it would be a disaster.The nice thing about the podcast is that we have a new avenue to show everyone how we make the sausage at BuildWitt. Stay tuned for more episodes from Dan and me talking about how we’ve structured our company, how we do sales and marketing, and all the screw ups we’ve made so far.To follow along with Dan, connect with him on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/dfbriscoe/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The world's in a crazy place, and business owners are scrambling to ensure the future of their companies. With so much uncertainty, I thought I'd interview someone who's lead a successful business through many troubled times. While I don't know what to do, Herb Sargent, President of Sargent Corp, might have a better idea.First, we briefly touch on his response to the crisis and what new policies Sargent Corp has enacted over the past few weeks to keep their people safe while continuing to work.Next, rather than COVID itself, we focused a majority of our conversation on preparing a business for a downturn. There's no doubt that there are troubling economic times here and on the horizon, and I wanted to dig into what Herb's doing to prepare.There's tons of incredible information in this interview for both business owners and anyone in society. It's an excellent glimpse behind the scenes of what leaders are facing, and I left the conversation feeling inspired. Hopefully, you do too! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While the podcast is titled Dirt Talk, we barely touched on dirt in this episode and instead discussed life, religion, marriage, painful lessons, and leadership.Many people know Mikel Bowman as an extremely upbeat and inspirational mining industry leader, but it took a lot of pain and work to get to where he is today. We dive into his past only a few minutes in to talk about his mistakes early on, how he met his wife, and how he eventually found his way into Bible college.From there, he went on to become a counselor, and after a number of difficulties both personally and professionally, he knew he needed a major change. That's when he found the mining industry, which is where he's been ever since. He started by doing anything and everything he could, worked his way up to a driller, and today he's Turner Mining Group's, Chief Culture Guru."Yes, there was the motivation of wanting to be home with my wife and kids. Two, the stress of what had previously happened over the past seven years had deteriorated our marriage, and I knew and felt in my heart that I was going to lose my wife. And she was literally my best friend. I think on my deathbed, that would've been my biggest, most glaring mistake. That if I lost her, I lost everything.My drive is to want to do better and make me better. I don't get up in the morning and think, 'gee, my boss isn't looking at me this way, or I'll never progress because of my race or religion.' I think about, 'how do I punch yesterday's Mike Bowman in the gut and defeat him? How do I do better every day? How do I beat my own records?' Because I'm not competing against anyone but me."Learn more about Mikel and follow along with him at @mikelbowman243 on Instagram and @Mikel Bowman on LinkedIn! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices