Speaker 1: Welcome to the Good Stuff.
Speaker 2: I'm Jacob Schick and I'm joined by my co host
Speaker 2: and wife, Ashley Shake.
Speaker 3: Jake is a third generation combat Marine and I'm a
Speaker 3: gold Star granddaughter, and we work together to serve military veterans,
Speaker 3: first responders, frontline healthcare workers, and their families with mental
Speaker 3: and emotional wellness through traditional and non traditional therapy.
Speaker 4: At One Tribe Foundation, we.
Speaker 2: Believe everyone has a steared itself, not only about the peaks,
Speaker 2: but also the valleys they've.
Speaker 1: Been through to get them to where they are today.
Speaker 3: Each week, we invite a guest to tell us their story,
Speaker 3: to share with us the lessons they've learned that shaped
Speaker 3: who they are and what they're doing to pay it
Speaker 3: forward and give back.
Speaker 2: Our mission with this show is to dig deep into
Speaker 2: our guest's journey so that we can celebrate the hope
Speaker 2: and inspiration their story has to offer.
Speaker 3: We are thrilled you're joining us again.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Good Stuff.
Speaker 2: Our guest today is our dear friend, mentor Dan Tinker.
Speaker 2: He's the CEO of SRS Distribution, one of the largest
Speaker 2: roofing companies in the world, and is at a founding
Speaker 2: member of Raise the Roof foundation we met years ago.
Speaker 2: He came on as a board member to help scale
Speaker 2: One Track Foundation to accomplish bigger and better goals, and
Speaker 2: through his leadership, we have been able to achieve this.
Speaker 3: The Tinkers are truly relationship and family goals for us,
Speaker 3: and he's here today to tell us the story of
Speaker 3: how his life and path from a wayward college student
Speaker 3: changed in an instant when he met his wife of
Speaker 3: thirty years, and how he spent decades stepping up to
Speaker 3: the challenges and opportunities in front of him to make
Speaker 3: his life, family, his company, and the world a better place.
Speaker 2: We're so proud to bring this conversation to you because
Speaker 2: this man is someone that I truly look up to
Speaker 2: and I value our relationship greatly because not only does
Speaker 2: he help me grow as a leader in business or nonprofit,
Speaker 2: but as a human being, as a father, as a husband.
Speaker 2: He's not only a successful businessman and Audrey, they don't
Speaker 2: only lead by example, they live by example, right And
Speaker 2: the fact that he's always been there for me When
Speaker 2: I've asked him for something, for someone or for a family,
Speaker 2: He's never hesitated to step up. He takes my call,
Speaker 2: he listens to my why, and he makes it happen
Speaker 2: every single time.
Speaker 3: Definitely one of the most generous philanthroprists we know, ladies
Speaker 3: and gentlemen.
Speaker 2: Dan Tinker, my brother, Dan Tinker, Welcome to the Good Stuff.
Speaker 5: Thanks for having me honor to be here.
Speaker 3: I know it's our first season and so we've had
Speaker 3: a lot of first but as a lifelong Texas Longhorn,
Speaker 3: I have to point out we have our first Aggie
Speaker 3: on the show today.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he is from the colt that love.
Speaker 5: It, love that call out.
Speaker 3: He's thirty seconds in and we've already got a woop.
Speaker 3: No Texas A and M University Grad. Proud Texas A
Speaker 3: and M University Grad. It's funny because every episode we
Speaker 3: always joke the good stuff.
Speaker 4: It's a lot of good stuff. You know. We go
Speaker 4: deep and then we came out and.
Speaker 3: We celebrate the successes of life and we talk God,
Speaker 3: and we talk a lot of football and a little
Speaker 3: bit of cussin. So there it is our football intro
Speaker 3: for this show. But honestly, I love the tradition at
Speaker 3: Texas A and M. I can say that.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, we're recording.
Speaker 6: We are recording, and I think there's a lot more
Speaker 6: people to serve in the military from A and M
Speaker 6: than Texas and we have checked the facts on that,
Speaker 6: but I'm pretty sure with that big core programming former
Speaker 6: military school, so.
Speaker 1: I didn't. I didn't join the Marine Corps to.
Speaker 2: Go to college, so maybe I'm just an.
Speaker 5: Exception of the rule.
Speaker 3: I had the privilege of going covering a game at
Speaker 3: Texas A and M and just being there at Kyle Field.
Speaker 3: It was unbelievable because Jake and I talk about it often.
Speaker 3: We respect tradition, whether it be looking at news over
Speaker 3: what's going on in England with a monarchy, or the
Speaker 3: military service here in the United States and ancestry, the
Speaker 3: Marine Corps, Daughters of the Republic of Texas, whatever it
Speaker 3: might be. We respect tradition, and A and M does
Speaker 3: it like none of it.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think that's right.
Speaker 6: I think the value system at that university really sets
Speaker 6: the tone, which resonated with both my wife, Audrey and
Speaker 6: I that.
Speaker 5: We were at the right place for us, no doubt.
Speaker 6: Just what that school stands for is something we were
Speaker 6: proud to be a part of it. We were not
Speaker 6: crazy like Aggie's, we were not raised in Aggie families,
Speaker 6: so we both ended up there kind of in weird
Speaker 6: routes that we were not like lifelong. We were definitely
Speaker 6: going to go to and M It was very much
Speaker 6: a last minute decision our senior year. So we were
Speaker 6: just so lucky to end up where we thrived, and
Speaker 6: we certainly are passionate about it now, but everybody there
Speaker 6: is either borderline fanatical or passionate about the university, and
Speaker 6: to me, that's the important part. You want to be
Speaker 6: around people that love where they're at and love what
Speaker 6: they're doing, and love who they stand for.
Speaker 3: And you have an incredible story. You and Audrey have
Speaker 3: an incredible story that we'll dig into, but first we
Speaker 3: want to talk about how we even got to know you.
Speaker 3: You and Jake have known each other for years, have
Speaker 3: a lot of great memories and fun times, and I knew.
Speaker 1: That'd make you lat Yeah, no, I mean and nothing bad.
Speaker 2: You know, Dan's only been a grea friend to me
Speaker 2: and like an older brother who's been a mentor. And
Speaker 2: I've learned so much from you. Obviously, you've come up
Speaker 2: through the ranks big time in the corporate world and
Speaker 2: you've earned what you've.
Speaker 1: Nothing's been given.
Speaker 2: I've learned a lot from you and when I was
Speaker 2: asking you to be on the board for one Tribe
Speaker 2: and I said, you're not leaving.
Speaker 1: This place, do you say yes? Because especially those are
Speaker 1: my drinking days, so I definitely meant it. But I've
Speaker 1: learned a lot.
Speaker 2: Aside from the fact you're a great dad and a
Speaker 2: very present father, very present, dedicated husband, you're a great
Speaker 2: example for not only me but everyone within the tribe.
Speaker 1: And it's just been a very humbling experience.
Speaker 2: And everyone can point to people that have really made
Speaker 2: an impact and made them better humans by default, and
Speaker 2: you know, you're one of those people. For me, and
Speaker 2: I know for Ash now and you and Audrey and
Speaker 2: the kids. It's nice to say that as small as
Speaker 2: our circles are, you're definitely in there.
Speaker 1: So you made the cut.
Speaker 6: I appreciate that now. I remember the day I'm at
Speaker 6: you a very vivid You were late, of course, and
Speaker 6: to our meeting at Castle Hills with Mike Brower, and
Speaker 6: when you enter a room, everybody knows it. But I
Speaker 6: knew I wanted to be a part of the tribe
Speaker 6: and twenty two kill. At the time, there was something
Speaker 6: missing in my life on the military veterans side. I
Speaker 6: mean certainly our company had given back. We've been doing
Speaker 6: a lot on hiring veterans, but I really felt like
Speaker 6: I still need to do more.
Speaker 5: And really it was resonating.
Speaker 6: Around this whole mental wellness and the need that when
Speaker 6: people talk about wounded vets, they think about, you know,
Speaker 6: flesh injuries. They don't think about the mental side ever.
Speaker 6: But you know, I'd argue many many veterans come back
Speaker 6: wounded physically, but almost all of them come back wounded
Speaker 6: mentally in some way, and we just don't do enough
Speaker 6: for them.
Speaker 5: So the cause was there right out of the gate.
Speaker 6: And then your personality, you're no nonsense and hit me
Speaker 6: right in the face, punch me in the face kind
Speaker 6: of with an attitude of like, hey, if you're going
Speaker 6: to do this, I need you all in and I
Speaker 6: don't know how to scale an organization like you do,
Speaker 6: and I need you for these things where you can
Speaker 6: add value. And that's really the main thing I leaned
Speaker 6: on to make the decision to join the was do
Speaker 6: I like the CEO?
Speaker 5: And can I add value?
Speaker 6: And once I said check, check, which was about again
Speaker 6: thirty seconds in, yeah, we were ready to roll.
Speaker 2: Well, it's been a tremendous asset to this foundation. And
Speaker 2: you know, because of your influence and because of your discipline,
Speaker 2: we felt a lot of people and most of which
Speaker 2: that will never ever personally meet, and that to me
Speaker 2: is one of the beautiful parts and aspects of this job.
Speaker 1: We just create force multipliers for their greater.
Speaker 3: Good And because of everything you just said, that's one
Speaker 3: of the reasons we said we've got to have Dan
Speaker 3: on the good stuff. You have achieved so much as
Speaker 3: a father and a husband, so family first, but then
Speaker 3: as a businessman, just great achievements, and then to take
Speaker 3: all of that and turn it around and really use
Speaker 3: that platform to contribute back. It's really beautiful everything that
Speaker 3: you and your entire team have been able to accomplish,
Speaker 3: and that's what the good stuff is all about. We
Speaker 3: feel so blessed to have you as a friend and
Speaker 3: a mentor. We wanted to share this goodness with our listeners.
Speaker 3: Right your story is one of great achievement in the
Speaker 3: business world. You've accomplished so much and then used it
Speaker 3: to help so many others.
Speaker 4: Today we want to hear.
Speaker 3: About the love story that's responsible for the man that
Speaker 3: we now admire.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it all starts with the motivation and what motivated
Speaker 6: me to do all of that and have the career
Speaker 6: I've had, And that really does go back to a
Speaker 6: pivotal moment in my life where I had just entered
Speaker 6: A and M as a freshman, and I was like
Speaker 6: every eighteen year old boy away from home at the
Speaker 6: first time.
Speaker 5: I was dumb, stupid. That's not hat was thinking. I
Speaker 5: was thinking I didn't need to go to class.
Speaker 6: I spent more time playing sand volleyball on my first
Speaker 6: semester than and I didn't even I don't even know
Speaker 6: where my classes half of them were. I somehow got
Speaker 6: through the semester with like a one point something GPA,
Speaker 6: and I somehow luckily at Christmas break intercepted the mail
Speaker 6: from A and M to my parents saying that I
Speaker 6: had been put on academic probation at Christmas break, so
Speaker 6: I was on the fast track to be back here
Speaker 6: at community college within probably four more months.
Speaker 5: Had I not met my wife.
Speaker 6: And started dating her two weeks later after I got
Speaker 6: back from Christmas break, So in many ways, she not
Speaker 6: only saved my life in some way, I say it
Speaker 6: that way and people say, well, that's overly dramatic, but
Speaker 6: it really is true. She certainly saved the life I
Speaker 6: have today.
Speaker 5: The life I have to day.
Speaker 6: Wouldn't have happened had I not met her, had the
Speaker 6: courage to take the risk to ask her out when
Speaker 6: everybody else wanted to and didn't.
Speaker 4: Wow, that is beautiful. It gives me goosebumps. But I'm
Speaker 4: not emotional yet. I usually cry.
Speaker 1: So what was the first meeting?
Speaker 2: Like, like, what was the I see her and I
Speaker 2: have to ask her out, especially before I get put
Speaker 2: on academic probation.
Speaker 6: I was fortunate enough that two of her high school
Speaker 6: classmates were in my dorm and on my hall, so
Speaker 6: when we started hanging out in groups. She was in
Speaker 6: a dorm close proximity to mind where we'd have common
Speaker 6: places with meals. One night, we'd have big groups of twelve, fifteen,
Speaker 6: twenty people that we'd beat together and go out at
Speaker 6: night and stuff like that.
Speaker 5: So I remember I think being seen in her for
Speaker 5: the first time.
Speaker 6: She was actually playing in her mural soccer and she
Speaker 6: was out on the soccer field and one of my
Speaker 6: buddies said, Hey, that's that girl Audio I was telling
Speaker 6: you about.
Speaker 5: And I saw her, and I was like, I would
Speaker 5: love to marry that woman someday.
Speaker 6: And I had no game and nothing, you know, no
Speaker 6: reason to think that I had any shot, and.
Speaker 5: So I was totally cleoless.
Speaker 6: But I was like, you know, you have to have
Speaker 6: high aspirations. And she was dating he high school sweetheart
Speaker 6: the first semester, so it gave us a chance to
Speaker 6: get to know each other a little bit in a
Speaker 6: very non pressure situation because she had a boyfriend, so
Speaker 6: we were just becoming friends casually with a big group.
Speaker 5: So it was very easy for me to just get
Speaker 5: know her.
Speaker 6: And if once you're around her, do you understand her personality?
Speaker 6: And she's a beautiful person outside but way more so
Speaker 6: than out. She just has an infectious smile. She never
Speaker 6: met a stranger, very kind, very sweet. Luckily she broke
Speaker 6: up with her high school sweet couldn't get into and
Speaker 6: m thank god. I can't say I had anything to
Speaker 6: do with that, although looking back, I would have tried
Speaker 6: to get it back on out of that, but she
Speaker 6: came back and they had broken up, and I, honestly,
Speaker 6: I was just the first one that took the risk
Speaker 6: and had the courage to actually ask her on an
Speaker 6: individual date as opposed to just going out with our group,
Speaker 6: setting friends all together in a group. So she said yes,
Speaker 6: and I was like, holy crap, now what do I do?
Speaker 6: So again, I didn't have yeah front pressure. I didn't
Speaker 6: have a lot to offer at that time. You know,
Speaker 6: I'm pretty good at sand volleyball, but I'm not really
Speaker 6: going to class very often, and I'm not sure I'm
Speaker 6: gonna be here very long. And she thought I was
Speaker 6: full of shit too, because I talked about stories of
Speaker 6: my high school days with my buddies and how.
Speaker 5: Much beer we drank and all that. So she didn't
Speaker 5: come from that environment.
Speaker 6: She had a much better high school experience of doing
Speaker 6: the right thing and always busy and in athletics and academics,
Speaker 6: and so I don't think she drank alcohol till she
Speaker 6: got to college, where I think I drank more in
Speaker 6: high school than I did at A and M. So she
Speaker 6: thought all that was like, you know, me just making
Speaker 6: up stories. And then she met all my friends fro
Speaker 6: high school and she realized I wasn't longing butter On.
Speaker 6: But she she even says, I didn't think to people,
Speaker 6: you know, yeah, I kind of liked him, but I
Speaker 6: thought he was full of craft. But I think some days.
Speaker 6: She still says, I'm full of craft three years later.
Speaker 6: But anyway, so luckily we had our first date.
Speaker 5: It was fun.
Speaker 6: We I picked her up at the dorm and we
Speaker 6: went out to dinner, went to a movie. Kept it
Speaker 6: very simple, but I you know, I knew. It was
Speaker 6: the first person I had never dated anybody in high school.
Speaker 6: Didn't really went anywhere, had any length to it. It
Speaker 6: was very much just all nothing serious. So I went
Speaker 6: into full court mode. I'm asking her out again. And
Speaker 6: then we were lucky to get together. I'd moved off
Speaker 6: campus for second semester. On campus, I was breaking too
Speaker 6: many rules. So we had a party at our house,
Speaker 6: and I remember that is the year the Cowboys won
Speaker 6: that first Super Bowl, ninety three January ninety three. So yeah,
Speaker 6: we had a party and she stayed over. And I
Speaker 6: was just so afraid that she'd meet some other guy
Speaker 6: that I started walking her to every class.
Speaker 1: And I said, I.
Speaker 5: Was so worried about her breaking up with me.
Speaker 6: I was like, well, if I spend every minute with her,
Speaker 6: she can't meet anybody better.
Speaker 5: So that's when I tried, and then I, well, shit,
Speaker 5: i'm on campus. After I drive up, I might as
Speaker 5: well go to my class that way.
Speaker 6: So I drop her off and I'd walk down the
Speaker 6: campus and say, where's that building I'm gonna going to?
Speaker 6: I should probably go in there, And overnight my grades
Speaker 6: went from like horrible to like almost straight a's the
Speaker 6: rest of my entire time. I finished second in my
Speaker 6: class and my major. Wow with that horrible start, And
Speaker 6: that's all because of her motivating me to say, you're way.
Speaker 5: Better than this. You can do way better things than if.
Speaker 6: Oh by the way, if you're gonna be with me,
Speaker 6: you're gonna be an all star, and you're gonna work
Speaker 6: your ass off and you're not gonna be lazy, and
Speaker 6: you're gonna.
Speaker 5: Go to class.
Speaker 6: She it was that important to me that I would
Speaker 6: have done anything to stay in school, do well, and
Speaker 6: impress her that I'm worthy of being her future husband.
Speaker 5: So it really was a game changer.
Speaker 3: That's an example of when fear can motivate for good. Right,
Speaker 3: and you're there at this crossroads, it's almost your tipping
Speaker 3: point of Okay, I better get off my butt and
Speaker 3: go apply myself. How do you feel like? She besides
Speaker 3: the fear unlock that in you, was it the tough
Speaker 3: love well.
Speaker 6: It was also just positive reinforce of saying, you know,
Speaker 6: she knew I was smart, and she knew I wasn't
Speaker 6: applying myself in and so she is good Catholic guilt.
Speaker 6: She used lots of different tools in her tool kit.
Speaker 6: But she's like, Hey, I'm going to go study for
Speaker 6: three hours in the library. Do you want to go
Speaker 6: with me? And of course the answer was going to
Speaker 6: be yes. So she modeled the behavior that she wanted
Speaker 6: me to do. I started going to mass with her,
Speaker 6: just living the life that I was actually proud of
Speaker 6: as opposed to just being kind of lost. I was
Speaker 6: lost before we started dating, and then she really just
Speaker 6: focused me on, like, you know, what are you going
Speaker 6: to be doing after college? Because that matters to me.
Speaker 6: We were having conversations right out of the get go
Speaker 6: of like what kind.
Speaker 5: Of man are you going to be when you grow up?
Speaker 6: And I was doing a lot of reflection and saying, well,
Speaker 6: I want to be somebody she's super proud of, which
Speaker 6: started and manifested with well, if I want to go
Speaker 6: out and have an awesome career and achieve great things
Speaker 6: and be able to do good things and.
Speaker 5: Help her give back to the world. And make the
Speaker 5: world a better place.
Speaker 6: I got to get in gear, and I got to
Speaker 6: get totally motivated, totally focused, and so it was really
Speaker 6: just about focus, motivation, and then unleashing what I had
Speaker 6: in me. But I just was wasting until she kind
Speaker 6: of showed me the light. And then I emulated her
Speaker 6: behavior of just really ruthlessly attacking studying and then going
Speaker 6: to mass and just grounding myself in the right things
Speaker 6: as opposed to just wanting to party or do other
Speaker 6: things that. You know, we still had a lot of fun,
Speaker 6: don't get me wrong with Yeah, we had a great
Speaker 6: college time and tons of fun.
Speaker 5: The whole way.
Speaker 3: Seems like she, from such a young age, had all
Speaker 3: of her ducks in a row, and she knew what
Speaker 3: she wanted, and she knew what she was looking for
Speaker 3: in a life partner. Where do you think that came
Speaker 3: from instead of her?
Speaker 5: You know, it's funny.
Speaker 6: I always reflect that because her dad was a very
Speaker 6: successful businessman and a wonderful man, one of the kindest
Speaker 6: people you'd ever meet. She always told me, I don't
Speaker 6: want you to be a workaholic because my dad was,
Speaker 6: and we didn't get to spend enough time with them.
Speaker 6: So I was always on the fence of like, does
Speaker 6: she want me to be like her dad or not?
Speaker 6: I think underneath the surface level of that one comment,
Speaker 6: which I tried to balance all that I failed miserably
Speaker 6: throughout most of my career of not being a workaholic.
Speaker 6: But I try to be leave as much at work
Speaker 6: when I get home, try to be way more present
Speaker 6: to our kids than her dad maybe had the opportunity
Speaker 6: to be in his career. Once I exhibited those behaviors
Speaker 6: that were like her father of the work ethic and
Speaker 6: the career ambition, I'm going to lead to be a
Speaker 6: great provider and provide our family with a great life,
Speaker 6: and then allow us to give back to things that
Speaker 6: you're passionate about, Audrey, our church or whatever it is,
Speaker 6: We're going to have the means to do that. You're
Speaker 6: not going to be with some guy that we're hoping to,
Speaker 6: you know, just scrape by and always going to be
Speaker 6: struggling to keep a job or something like that. So
Speaker 6: it really I think it all came back for she
Speaker 6: was looking for what she knew, and I think most
Speaker 6: people do fall back on, you know, their family experience
Speaker 6: and what does good look like and certainly her dad
Speaker 6: was an amazing guy and great business person and just
Speaker 6: a kind soul.
Speaker 3: You know, it makes a lot of sense knowing Audrey
Speaker 3: now that that's where she came from.
Speaker 4: You know, Jay, can I talk about it.
Speaker 3: A lot, generational behavior, generational trauma specifically, you know, when
Speaker 3: we're talking about different things with one tribe going on,
Speaker 3: but how to break those generational curses in this situation,
Speaker 3: it's beautiful to see that there was a generational pattern
Speaker 3: that she got from her father.
Speaker 4: It's the opposite of what we typically talk about, right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean she obviously had a convicted example to follow.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I stopped my whole drinking and drugging journey years ago, five.
Speaker 4: Over five years ago, whatever it was.
Speaker 2: It's like I tell as, I'm like, yeah, man, some
Speaker 2: days are harder than others because I don't know anyone
Speaker 2: that's living like this. I don't know a person in
Speaker 2: my life that is.
Speaker 1: Living the way I'm living.
Speaker 2: I can't see the next step. Wh's just kind of
Speaker 2: blind faith, just head down, keep going. But I had
Speaker 2: a lot of great examples about work ethic and it's
Speaker 2: good to see because it is there's both sides of
Speaker 2: the spectrum. You know, you have that generational trauma that
Speaker 2: does carry on and oftentimes in the form of self medicating,
Speaker 2: but you also have the generational examples of the work hard,
Speaker 2: stay humble, be kind, that's all that matters, and known
Speaker 2: a the way I don't know, like I could.
Speaker 5: Have told you. Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2: She had something to follow, yep, something significant that.
Speaker 1: She cherished or cherishes dearly.
Speaker 5: Yep. Yeah. And her mother's certainly the same way too.
Speaker 6: She's great. I always laugh when people tell in law jokes.
Speaker 6: I said, I can't laugh with you because my mother
Speaker 6: in law is We're very close and I've never not
Speaker 6: felt like her son as well, and no mean bone
Speaker 6: in her body, so to speak, and just she gets
Speaker 6: a lot of those the motherly qualities from Certling. Her
Speaker 6: mom too, is just an amazing lady as well.
Speaker 2: I love how Audrey has played such a pivotal role
Speaker 2: in you being who you are today. Even if I
Speaker 2: didn't know you the way I know you now, I
Speaker 2: could have told you just by watching you and her
Speaker 2: that was probably the case.
Speaker 1: It's evident.
Speaker 2: The way that you guys are with each other, and
Speaker 2: after thirty years, you know, it's like relationship goals. After
Speaker 2: thirty years, you're still completely in love and it's obvious
Speaker 2: and you don't see it a lot, but you've clearly
Speaker 2: made each other a priority.
Speaker 5: It's tough.
Speaker 6: We've had our times, like any married couple is always
Speaker 6: going to go through ups and downs, and certainly when
Speaker 6: you make work too much of a priority, or when
Speaker 6: kids enter into the situation and they become the priority
Speaker 6: as they need to be.
Speaker 5: At certain times, it's just hard.
Speaker 6: You just have to be able to realize that it's
Speaker 6: not always going to be the same as when you
Speaker 6: first dated. It's not You're gonna constantly learn and the
Speaker 6: relationship has to evolve. And the key is that you're
Speaker 6: committed to each other. You're loyal, you're dedicated, and you
Speaker 6: stay that way and to me, you can work through
Speaker 6: anything else as long as you both feel like this
Speaker 6: is the person the soul made I should be with.
Speaker 6: And then once you build a lot of time together again,
Speaker 6: if you both come to it with the right spot
Speaker 6: and that you're good human beings and you respect the
Speaker 6: other person, you can get through anything as long as
Speaker 6: you commit it. I see too many people just not
Speaker 6: committed even out of the gate. Too many people enter
Speaker 6: into marriage either too casually, they don't date it long enough,
Speaker 6: or whatever reason, they don't admit they're not as compatible
Speaker 6: as they might think they are. And then again I
Speaker 6: just can't stand like a loyalty.
Speaker 5: It's one of my pet peas.
Speaker 6: But I even at the company, I don't tolerate people
Speaker 6: that cheat on their spouses.
Speaker 5: I try to move them on.
Speaker 6: I said, look, if you're if you're going to break
Speaker 6: that one sanctity of the rest of your life. You
Speaker 6: made that commitment to guy that you were going to
Speaker 6: stay with that person the rest of your life, and
Speaker 6: you broke it, you'll certainly screw the company over. So
Speaker 6: I can't trust you. And so to me, I mean,
Speaker 6: I understand there's some need for divorce always when there's
Speaker 6: a bad situation, but then have the have the integrity
Speaker 6: to get the divorce done. And then then if you
Speaker 6: want to go meet other people, God love you. Everybody
Speaker 6: deserves to be happy and find their.
Speaker 2: I completely agreed, But there's right ways to go about it,
Speaker 2: and then with.
Speaker 5: Class and honor.
Speaker 6: And I always you say do what your mother would
Speaker 6: be proud of, but honestly, you just do what you'd
Speaker 6: be proud of. That if you're honest with yourself. You
Speaker 6: really just have to do what you'd be proud of.
Speaker 6: And that's really what changed with me. I wasn't proud
Speaker 6: of the way I was acting in college until I
Speaker 6: met her, But by the time I graduated, I was
Speaker 6: damn proud of the way I performed and finished my
Speaker 6: studies and then got me set up for amazing job
Speaker 6: out of the gate and a great career.
Speaker 5: Because the FINI schools put me on that trajectory.
Speaker 2: I can relate to it in the sense of, once
Speaker 2: I completely did away with the self interest, self gain
Speaker 2: mindset usually which was destructive anyway, I've definitely not was
Speaker 2: not pouring good into my body in any way, shape
Speaker 2: or form. I completely put that in my rearview mirror.
Speaker 2: It's amazing how much things shifted. Not to say that
Speaker 2: clearly hard days are guaranteed, but being able to lean
Speaker 2: in and love hard and do it with conviction and know, look,
Speaker 2: I'm imperfect, I'm okay with that.
Speaker 1: I've made peace with that. I will never fail you intentionally.
Speaker 2: Like that's the difference now, love, loyalty, and faithfulness say
Speaker 2: it all the time.
Speaker 1: I was just like, babe, you know what do you need?
Speaker 1: What can I get for him? Just all I need
Speaker 1: from you, love, loyalty, and faithfulness. I got the rest.
Speaker 2: It's just like anything in a company, or in a
Speaker 2: nonprofit or in a relationship, You're only as good as
Speaker 2: your morale.
Speaker 6: And there are times where you need that person to
Speaker 6: pick you up when you're we have a rough thing
Speaker 6: you have to go through. We're human and one of
Speaker 6: the key needs of being human is having quality relationships
Speaker 6: and interactions.
Speaker 5: And that's the best part or the good stuff.
Speaker 6: It's quality friendships, quality family relationships, quality business relationships that you.
Speaker 5: Have their back. They don't have to watch their back.
Speaker 5: It's just to me. The more people you can put
Speaker 5: in the camp I always had.
Speaker 6: I had a great boss right out of college that said,
Speaker 6: you will not be successful in business unless a whole
Speaker 6: hell of a lot of people want you to be.
Speaker 6: So you better get to know a lot of people
Speaker 6: and always be selling yourself and what you want to
Speaker 6: go do. And people don't want to hear about you.
Speaker 6: They want to hear about how you help them be better.
Speaker 6: So you have to be a man or a woman
Speaker 6: for others if you want to be successful. So to
Speaker 6: your point, the minute you stop focusing on your selfish needs,
Speaker 6: and you say, the only way for me to really
Speaker 6: rise is to have that wave of people push me
Speaker 6: to the front of my career. You know, I took
Speaker 6: my first branch in Little Rock that was the worst
Speaker 6: in our company, dead last. I was the only one
Speaker 6: under forty that they let it run a branch, and
Speaker 6: I was twenty three years old. I didn't know anything,
Speaker 6: but I got there and I realized that branch was
Speaker 6: going to be shut down in like three or four
Speaker 6: months if I didn't perform, and all these people I
Speaker 6: inherited were going to lose their jobs, and so immediately
Speaker 6: I was working for them, not for me. And then
Speaker 6: that kind of ingrained to me that hey, they deserve
Speaker 6: to be led and led well, and it's up to
Speaker 6: me to do it. And I don't get to mail
Speaker 6: it in or quit early, I'm going to die trying.
Speaker 6: And we turned it around. We went from dead last
Speaker 6: to branch of the year the very next year out
Speaker 6: of one hundred and sixty five locations, and that really
Speaker 6: vaulted my career forward to where I then got noticed
Speaker 6: by all the executives and.
Speaker 5: Then I just kept climbing after that.
Speaker 6: But it was because I wasn't trying to impress people
Speaker 6: or look good or fake it till I made it.
Speaker 6: I was genuinely sitting with eleven people saying, we're all
Speaker 6: going to lose our jobs if we don't turn this
Speaker 6: thing around. I can lead us to victory, but I
Speaker 6: need you all to do your individual part. And if
Speaker 6: you just believe in me, I guarantee you we're we're
Speaker 6: gonna kill it. And we did. It was so much fun.
Speaker 1: Their loyalty to you and your loyalty to them.
Speaker 4: And your leadership.
Speaker 3: We've talked so much about Audrey's influence on you, but
Speaker 3: if you hadn't chosen to step up and meet the expectation,
Speaker 3: we wouldn't be here talking today.
Speaker 4: Right. That's one of the beautiful things that it's.
Speaker 3: So refreshing to hear from such a large company that
Speaker 3: you have those values. Jake and I've both worked I mean,
Speaker 3: I worked with a Fortune five hundred company for years,
Speaker 3: and it's just so refreshing to hear that the traditional
Speaker 3: values are still being implemented in company.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 6: I firmly believe that I work for the ten thousand
Speaker 6: employees of s RS.
Speaker 5: They don't work for me.
Speaker 6: It is my honor and privilege to serve them as
Speaker 6: their CEO. But I have a huge responsibility that I
Speaker 6: carry and proudly, and I don't view it as a burden.
Speaker 5: I viewed as.
Speaker 6: A great opportunity to give my full self and lead fully.
Speaker 5: And I know I do a really good job making
Speaker 5: the job look fun.
Speaker 6: So lots of people are going to want the job
Speaker 6: down line, But to me, it's all about morale. I
Speaker 6: can work twenty hours a week more than I worked
Speaker 6: today and give the company twenty hours more output. But
Speaker 6: if I can motivate ten thousand people to want to
Speaker 6: work one more hour week, I just created ten thousand
Speaker 6: hours of more output for the company. So I learned
Speaker 6: that I had to be a really master motivator and
Speaker 6: a great communicator. But to be believed as a good
Speaker 6: inspirational leader, it starts with empathy and trust And do
Speaker 6: they really care about me as a person? Or am
Speaker 6: I number? Or am I an asset? And do they
Speaker 6: really care about my life even outside? When we founded
Speaker 6: this company, I knew every employee when we were smaller,
Speaker 6: every employee, every wife, every child or spouse, every child's name,
Speaker 6: every dog's name of everyone in the company. Now we
Speaker 6: got too big at some point where you can't handle
Speaker 6: all that capacity. But the whole point was it was
Speaker 6: a family. We built an environment that said, hey, you matter,
Speaker 6: every person matters.
Speaker 5: It is a family.
Speaker 6: And that's why we coin the one family, One fight
Speaker 6: during COVID too, because it's an environment where everybody in
Speaker 6: this company has everybody's back, not you're worried about who's
Speaker 6: stabbing you in the back. There's only two types of
Speaker 6: cultures and corporations, one that you're worried about politics and
Speaker 6: somebody stabbing in the back, or somebody trying to get
Speaker 6: ahead at your expense, or everybody who says there's no
Speaker 6: limit to what this company can achieve as long as
Speaker 6: no one cares who gets the credit. And that's kind
Speaker 6: of the environment in the culture we just always believed
Speaker 6: in because it's not about being smarter. I enter every
Speaker 6: meeting in every room, I am as not the smartest
Speaker 6: person in the room, and I enjoy that. Actually, I
Speaker 6: can't stand people that enter the room thinking they're the
Speaker 6: smartest person, because I've been humbled enough to know that
Speaker 6: everybody in that room, regardless even if they're a brand
Speaker 6: new warehouse worker, knows more than me about something. We
Speaker 6: all come from different backgrounds, different walks life, and different experiences,
Speaker 6: and every single person on this planet is smarter than
Speaker 6: me at something, and as a result, they're my teacher.
Speaker 5: And so many leaders.
Speaker 6: Just don't get that. They are so insecure and afraid
Speaker 6: to admit they don't know everything, and they're too busy
Speaker 6: trying to convince you then everything to actually learn and
Speaker 6: get better and improve, And to me, that just stunts
Speaker 6: learning and usually puts you in a situation where you
Speaker 6: feel like an imposter or a fraud, and then you're
Speaker 6: not being an authentic leader. And people can smell that
Speaker 6: from allay.
Speaker 3: Well, you really are an authentic leader, and you've earned
Speaker 3: that reputation. Tell us about how you founded SRS Distribution
Speaker 3: and grew it and then started raise the Roof Foundation.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 6: So, SRS Distribution is a national building products distribution company.
Speaker 6: We founded it back in two thousand and eight, literally
Speaker 6: with four or five guys in a room with an idea,
Speaker 6: with no company, and we said, hey, let's go put
Speaker 6: the band back together, meaning the management team we had
Speaker 6: been together at previous company, and let's go do this
Speaker 6: one more time and build something that's never been done.
Speaker 6: Let's do some epic, great bold stuff, and let's take
Speaker 6: all the good things out of every company we've ever
Speaker 6: competed against or been and take all the bad stuff
Speaker 6: and not do any of it. And so we kind
Speaker 6: of set the architecture and the culture out of the
Speaker 6: gate and then didn't even have a company. So then
Speaker 6: we went and found this company out of Florida. We
Speaker 6: bought at a bankruptcy called Suncoast River Supply, which is
Speaker 6: the SRS. And we had six locations. We're doing about
Speaker 6: thirty million in sales, and we were losing.
Speaker 5: A ton of money.
Speaker 6: We had a private equity backer, and luckily they had
Speaker 6: confidence in us because they knew we had done it before.
Speaker 6: And quickly we went out and bought four other companies
Speaker 6: that year and stabilized the company and got going. But
Speaker 6: we've done one hundred and thirty acquisitions now in fifteen years.
Speaker 6: We've opened two hundred new distribution centers. So now from
Speaker 6: six we're all the way to seven hundred locations. From
Speaker 6: roughly one hundred employees after we bought that first company
Speaker 6: to now ten thousand plus employees. No one that we
Speaker 6: know of in brick and mortar distribution a non technology
Speaker 6: or non pharmaceuticalman. No industrial company in America has ever
Speaker 6: in fifteen years gone from basically zero to ten billion
Speaker 6: in revenue. Ever, according to all of our bankers on
Speaker 6: Wall Street, so very proud of that fact. We've grown
Speaker 6: tremendously fast and with a culture that I think is
Speaker 6: what I'm most proud of. We have a family first culture,
Speaker 6: people matter, and then the foundation kind of spins off
Speaker 6: of that. Once we've had success, we all kind of said,
Speaker 6: what are we missing. We're getting wealthier, we're getting accolades,
Speaker 6: we're winning awards as a company. We're proud of the
Speaker 6: way we act, but are we giving back to the communities?
Speaker 6: Are we giving back and certainly veterans was the first
Speaker 6: pillar that we said we've got to start. The second
Speaker 6: was people impacted by whether related disasters, because we do
Speaker 6: in the building industry benefit when there's hurricanes and tornadoes,
Speaker 6: so and that gives you a sense of guilt that, hey,
Speaker 6: I'm profiteering off of people's homes being damaged. So you
Speaker 6: want to give back into that community, just like the
Speaker 6: veteran community.
Speaker 5: Ron our chairman, and I both had fathers serve the military.
Speaker 6: And believe that we only get to play this game
Speaker 6: of business and have war without blood in the business
Speaker 6: world because our military is off protecting our freedom and
Speaker 6: protecting our American enterprise system and entrepreneurship. And the fact
Speaker 6: that we're still the only country in the world that
Speaker 6: you can be born and in your own lifetime change
Speaker 6: your multi generational famili's trajectory in one lifetime is the
Speaker 6: reason why everybody fights to get in this country and
Speaker 6: doesn't fight to leave absolutely, and that is defended by
Speaker 6: our military. So that's why it's a kind of as age.
Speaker 6: So and then we certainly want to support other local
Speaker 6: charities and all the communities we serve, which is our
Speaker 6: third pillars. So we started raised the Row Foundation ten
Speaker 6: years ago with just a dream of again to make
Speaker 6: a difference and use the power of our influence with
Speaker 6: the company because of our now eighty thousand customers, ten
Speaker 6: thousand employees and probably twenty thousand suppliers and reach a
Speaker 6: big audience and use our voice in a strong way
Speaker 6: to do good. We just didn't realize it. We would
Speaker 6: just take a life of its own, and now we
Speaker 6: have a huge endowment that we've built out and we've
Speaker 6: been able to donate probably almost fifteen million dollars to
Speaker 6: other nonprofits. The company pays for all the operating costs,
Speaker 6: so one hundred percent of the money we raise gets
Speaker 6: passed on to other nonprofits. So we're proud of that.
Speaker 6: And again we're just getting warmed up on that. As
Speaker 6: the company grows, it grows along with it, and it resonates.
Speaker 6: Our customers actually want to buy from us because they
Speaker 6: know we give back and it matters to them. If
Speaker 6: we're the same price as somebody else in the market
Speaker 6: for the same products and the same service level, they
Speaker 6: will tip the scales our way because they say, one,
Speaker 6: that's a company whether people are proud to be there.
Speaker 6: But two, look at all the veterans that are hiring,
Speaker 6: look at all the minorities they're hiring and get given
Speaker 6: careers to. And they're doing it the right way.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 6: Unfortunately, in this country, after Enron and Tycho and a
Speaker 6: few other bad actors around two thousand and two, two
Speaker 6: thousand and three, ever since, corporations in the media and
Speaker 6: in movies and sitcoms and everything have been vilified. You
Speaker 6: name me one movie or TV show since two thousand
Speaker 6: and two where a businessman or a CEO or a
Speaker 6: corporation was something that little Johnny or little Susie aspired
Speaker 6: to go be someday when they're sitting in elementary school.
Speaker 6: When I grew up, they was I admired my father
Speaker 6: in the seventies and the eighties because on TV they
Speaker 6: admired corporations and successful business people and successful companies.
Speaker 5: They were admired.
Speaker 6: Unfortunately, we've lost that in this country and we've got
Speaker 6: to get that back now. Not all companies are good,
Speaker 6: and then they are certainly bad actors, and they deserve
Speaker 6: to be called out and identified.
Speaker 5: And I'm all for that.
Speaker 6: And what I'm hoping is SRS is that company that
Speaker 6: people emulate and say it.
Speaker 5: Can be done.
Speaker 6: You can be an amazingly successful company. Your employees can
Speaker 6: get very wealthy, not just the top, all the way
Speaker 6: to the bottom. Everyone in our company has equity in
Speaker 6: the company, so we're sharing the wealth.
Speaker 5: You can give back to your communities.
Speaker 6: You can give through a foundation or just charities, and
Speaker 6: you can do the right thing where your suppliers are
Speaker 6: proud of, your customers are proud of your employees are
Speaker 6: proud of you, and certainly the investors are proud of
Speaker 6: you and everybody's winning.
Speaker 5: Nobody, there's nobody losing more. Companies need to have the courage.
Speaker 3: To lead that way right and it does need to
Speaker 3: be on the headlines. I can't name a TV show
Speaker 3: for you, but I can name a podcast that is
Speaker 3: all about celebrating the good stuff, and that is.
Speaker 4: The good stuff.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Like I did that, well done.
Speaker 4: But that's the point.
Speaker 3: We want to celebrate the good because there is still
Speaker 3: so much out there. I'm sitting here thinking, you know,
Speaker 3: I'm in marketing, and so last night I unfortunately started
Speaker 3: looking at what was trending on Twitter.
Speaker 4: It's just depressing.
Speaker 3: We have to be protective of everything we put into
Speaker 3: our body, whether that be food, whether that be stories, TV,
Speaker 3: everything we're reading, and I just thought, you know what,
Speaker 3: I need to put this down.
Speaker 4: It's not doing anything but upsetting me.
Speaker 3: It's good to have the knowledge, but let me shift
Speaker 3: and let me pivot because there is so much good
Speaker 3: and SRS Distribution raised the roof you and Audrey and
Speaker 3: everything that your entire family is doing.
Speaker 4: Its incredible stuff.
Speaker 3: What would you say to a young man that was
Speaker 3: in the same boat as you after that first semester
Speaker 3: in college?
Speaker 4: What would you say to him.
Speaker 5: Oh, God, that's easy.
Speaker 6: I would say, first of all, get off your ass
Speaker 6: and get in the game. Get focused on being somebody
Speaker 6: and being that somebody you're meant to be, and realize
Speaker 6: your full potential. There's nothing sadder in life than coming
Speaker 6: across people that have amazing talent and amazing opportunity and
Speaker 6: they don't take advantage of it. I see it every day,
Speaker 6: and it's not just in the work life. It could
Speaker 6: be in other careers outside of business too, that you
Speaker 6: just see people that say either they're afraid, they're not willing.
Speaker 5: To take risk.
Speaker 6: I always tell everybody all the big movers in my
Speaker 6: life that have led to where I've been able to achieve,
Speaker 6: every one of them. Marrying my wife, the success of
Speaker 6: the company, my career, my achievements in school or with philanthropy,
Speaker 6: everything started from me taking a risk. If I played
Speaker 6: it safe, I would have never dated Auder. If I
Speaker 6: played it safe, I wouldn't have graduated from A and
Speaker 6: M and gotten off to this great career. If I
Speaker 6: played it safe in business, I would have never gone
Speaker 6: to Little Rock and turned around the worst branch. I
Speaker 6: would stayed at corporate and probably still sitting in a
Speaker 6: cube someday or somewhere. And I think people they need
Speaker 6: to find other people in their lives that can give
Speaker 6: them that courage or build up the courage in them,
Speaker 6: that believe they see it in them to where they
Speaker 6: can push them over to that risk. And when I
Speaker 6: say risk, I don't mean dumb things like driving your
Speaker 6: car one hundred and forty miles in there.
Speaker 5: I mean risk by saying.
Speaker 6: What's the worst could happen here? But let's be bold
Speaker 6: and be aggressive. You only get one shot at this life.
Speaker 6: Do you really want to sit back when you're eight
Speaker 6: and say, had I only asked Audrey out, I would
Speaker 6: have married her instead.
Speaker 5: Of John or Fred.
Speaker 6: Had I only not left company A when I worked
Speaker 6: for an asshole, then had the courage of myself to
Speaker 6: without A didn't even have a job.
Speaker 5: One time in my.
Speaker 6: Career, I had a boss who was a complete jerk
Speaker 6: and I just quit and he couldn't believe it. I
Speaker 6: didn't have a job yet, I said, I don't need
Speaker 6: another job. I'll find another job.
Speaker 5: You're a jerk. I'm out of here.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 6: And to me, I see too many people in their
Speaker 6: careers work in a career or field they don't love,
Speaker 6: which to me is ridiculous. I mean I tell every
Speaker 6: person in high school or college I meet, follow your passion,
Speaker 6: do what you love, and you'll never work a day
Speaker 6: in your life. My twenty seven year career, I have
Speaker 6: never viewed it as work.
Speaker 5: I love it.
Speaker 6: If it was taken away from me, I would be depressed,
Speaker 6: because to me, it's cathartic to work and to achieve
Speaker 6: and to do good things and stimulate, especially your mind,
Speaker 6: but also other people, and test your metal and grow
Speaker 6: and improve. The minute you stop learning and growing, you
Speaker 6: know you're already kind of headed down a bad path.
Speaker 6: I mean, I see it all the time when people retire,
Speaker 6: they seem to lose their way and they have a
Speaker 6: hard time reconnecting and being happy and whatnot. And it's
Speaker 6: not all about being a workaholic. You can have work
Speaker 6: life balance and you can crush it in your career.
Speaker 6: And you don't have to be an extrovert and you
Speaker 6: don't have to be a CEO. You just have to
Speaker 6: do you like you always say, be your authentic self
Speaker 6: and just find happiness, find true joy. I always tell kids,
Speaker 6: if you wake up and you're in the shower and
Speaker 6: you're like I'm dreading going to work or dreading doing
Speaker 6: whatever I'm doing.
Speaker 5: You're doing the wrong thing right Stop, don't just keep
Speaker 5: doing it.
Speaker 6: Don't feel like you're on a treadmill. Get off and
Speaker 6: find a different path. And the only way that you
Speaker 6: can do that safely is have a lot of mentors
Speaker 6: and a lot of friends that can give you good
Speaker 6: advice on what you should do and ask them.
Speaker 5: Use other people.
Speaker 6: There's tons of people on this planet that are way
Speaker 6: experiencing you, and again, have the humility, don't be afraid
Speaker 6: to ask that you don't know everything, and step up
Speaker 6: and make good decisions and just take control of your
Speaker 6: own life. I see too many people just going through
Speaker 6: the motions of life and wake up at the end
Speaker 6: and say I'm unfulfilled. I didn't achieve what I wanted.
Speaker 6: I didn't provide for my kids, I didn't the way
Speaker 6: I wanted to, or I didn't set myself up where
Speaker 6: I could retirely and enjoy the wealth I created while
Speaker 6: I've still had the physical ability to do it. To me,
Speaker 6: that all was a lack of planning and a lack
Speaker 6: of willingness to admit where you're at and then take
Speaker 6: the risk and jump and again not a big risk,
Speaker 6: just a risk to say, maybe out of my comfort zone.
Speaker 5: But that's okay. That's how we grow.
Speaker 4: Absolutely so motivating. I love it.
Speaker 2: Pumped up now, It's also true. I just had a
Speaker 2: conversation with the guy last night and I said, look, man,
Speaker 2: everything we want is on the other side of our fear.
Speaker 2: So many people's greatness is dictated by their fear. Stop
Speaker 2: submitting to the fear channel it. Use it to help
Speaker 2: you go and grow. It's like to tell the boys,
Speaker 2: be willing to get comfortable being uncomfortable.
Speaker 1: Sky's the limit.
Speaker 5: Yep.
Speaker 1: How do you celebrate your wins today?
Speaker 6: I think I celebrate my wins by trying to give
Speaker 6: other people the light as much as I can. It's
Speaker 6: hard being the CEO because everybody wants to put.
Speaker 5: You on that pedestal. If we fail, it's my fault.
Speaker 6: But if we win, it's because of the hard work
Speaker 6: of all the employees, and I think that's kind of
Speaker 6: the way you have to have that right mindset. To me,
Speaker 6: it's celebrating is more about appreciating and showing gratitude for
Speaker 6: the people that actually helped the achievement happen. And making
Speaker 6: sure you're not forgetting who actually got you there or
Speaker 6: did the work or achieved the goal, and making sure
Speaker 6: you're putting that spotlight on them and not yourself as
Speaker 6: much as you can, and saying it's the company that
Speaker 6: won that word, it's not the CEO, it's not the person,
Speaker 6: it's the company did that or achieved that milestone. And
Speaker 6: it's a team sport. And so to me, it's more
Speaker 6: about just spreading the credit and also celebrate aggressively.
Speaker 5: I mean we do.
Speaker 6: We make it a big deal every time we hit
Speaker 6: a new milestone, whether it's another billion in sales, or
Speaker 6: whether it's another one hundred locations we've opened, or if
Speaker 6: we pass another competitor and we get one step to
Speaker 6: the largest in our industry. Every time we try to
Speaker 6: stop and celebrate.
Speaker 5: Because you know, you're.
Speaker 6: Asking people to work in long duration now fifteen years,
Speaker 6: to build this company. You have to keep them grounded
Speaker 6: and that, hey, we're asking you work on a very
Speaker 6: mundane daily environment. That we try to make it as
Speaker 6: fun as possible.
Speaker 5: And that's my job.
Speaker 6: Is I want you to get a speeding ticket on
Speaker 6: the way to work, not on the way home. I'm
Speaker 6: creating an environment where you're thriving and enjoying being alive
Speaker 6: and contributing. Prison for me would be sitting there key
Speaker 6: punching something into a computer all day. You could pay
Speaker 6: me double what I make as a CEO to put
Speaker 6: in like numbers into a computer scrape, and I would quit.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 6: So people say, well, do you love your job? I
Speaker 6: said absolutely, And they say, well, what's a typical day
Speaker 6: like for you? I said, I haven't had one in
Speaker 6: twenty seven years, so I'm not sure every single day
Speaker 6: has been different. One day, I'm dealing with a personnel problem.
Speaker 6: One day, I'm dealing with the marketing issue. Next day
Speaker 6: I'm dealing with a supplier or a customer that's pissed
Speaker 6: off at us, or we've got, you know, a new
Speaker 6: distribution center that's behind schedule, or I've got an e
Speaker 6: commerce problem, or.
Speaker 5: I've got whatever.
Speaker 6: But the beauty is I love that because it keeps
Speaker 6: you again mentally stimulated, and every challenge is an opportunity
Speaker 6: to excel. And as long as you look at it
Speaker 6: that way and say, this is just a fun new
Speaker 6: thing I get to do, that's just thrilling to be
Speaker 6: able to say I'm gonna we're gonna tackle this as
Speaker 6: a team and we're going to shriind ourselves with the
Speaker 6: smartest people we can, the hardest working people we can.
Speaker 6: We're all going to have fun and we're all gonna
Speaker 6: we're gonna get it done. And so to me, that's
Speaker 6: the way you have to attack business and if you
Speaker 6: want to be super successful.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I love this saying real quick that you guys say,
Speaker 2: I think we heard the first time. Well it's several
Speaker 2: years ago, but the whole goal have fun and give back,
Speaker 2: make money.
Speaker 5: Funny.
Speaker 6: Give back started with our chairman Ron because his dad
Speaker 6: used to ask him early in his career only two things.
Speaker 6: They co invested in our first company that I went
Speaker 6: to work for Ron out of college, Cameron Ashley. Together
Speaker 6: he and his dad both put an investment in that company,
Speaker 6: and every time he talked to his dad, his dad
Speaker 6: didn't ask him how the investment's doing. He said are
Speaker 6: you making money and are you having fun? And he said, yeah,
Speaker 6: we're doing both.
Speaker 5: And then later on in.
Speaker 6: Life we added the give back because we were able
Speaker 6: to open up the foundation and get it started and
Speaker 6: really do some great things.
Speaker 5: Which is way beyond the money.
Speaker 6: We get more fulfillment out of meeting people like yourselves
Speaker 6: and meeting people all over this great country that do
Speaker 6: great things again that doesn't often goes unnoticed, picking up
Speaker 6: where others just aren't getting it done for our communities.
Speaker 3: What's one piece of relationship advice to bring it back
Speaker 3: to your beginning, to bring it back to Audrey and
Speaker 3: your beautiful love story with her. What's one piece of
Speaker 3: relationship advice that you've either been given or that you
Speaker 3: could give.
Speaker 6: The biggest thing to me for relationships is you've got
Speaker 6: to meet the other person where they are at that time,
Speaker 6: and you've got to support them and know where their
Speaker 6: needs are at that moment. And that's going to change
Speaker 6: all the time. Audrey and I don't resolve like arguments
Speaker 6: the same way She's like Jake. She's going to smack
Speaker 6: me in the head until I finished the discussion where
Speaker 6: I'm just going to go one her off and say,
Speaker 6: I know we're gonna calm down and then we'll have
Speaker 6: a very peaceful, logical conversation about the issue in an
Speaker 6: hour or two or tomorrow or whatever. So we've had
Speaker 6: to adjust to the two different styles of needing, two
Speaker 6: different resolution types. You figure out what works for you
Speaker 6: and what doesn't. She likes to confront and be aggressive
Speaker 6: because that's the family she grew up in.
Speaker 5: Was that way.
Speaker 6: I grew up in a family that didn't like conflict,
Speaker 6: and so whenever there was conflict, it was just kind
Speaker 6: of one of those well we don't talk about those
Speaker 6: kind of things at the dinner table.
Speaker 5: Avoids, and so that was just the way I was raised.
Speaker 6: So I have more of the oh, she's hit me
Speaker 6: off guard, I've got to I've got a retreat.
Speaker 5: It's the fight or flight. I'm in the flight moon
Speaker 5: right away.
Speaker 6: First of all, I have the appropriate level of fear
Speaker 6: of my wife. So that's probably the part of the
Speaker 6: issue which every husband should.
Speaker 5: I probably do too much flight, not in a fight.
Speaker 6: But we're both strong willed people and both very type A.
Speaker 6: So when you're both driven that way, you have to
Speaker 6: be able to ways that you both can be right.
Speaker 6: But then together you find a way to make it work.
Speaker 6: It's not always perfect and it's not always easy. But
Speaker 6: I think the point I'm saying is I think Jake
Speaker 6: says things like this before anyway tells you the relationship
Speaker 6: is perfect.
Speaker 5: They're lying to you. It's Basically, it's so true. You
Speaker 5: have to work on it. It's a craft.
Speaker 6: And there's different times in our time together where it
Speaker 6: was fantastic and we were able to focus on each
Speaker 6: other so much, and then there's times where I had
Speaker 6: to completely focus on work or she completely had to
Speaker 6: focus on the kids or whatever, and that those were
Speaker 6: the right decisions. And to me, it goes back to
Speaker 6: do you do you really truly believe the other person
Speaker 6: loves you unconditionally and is going to be there for
Speaker 6: you if something bad happen. If you did get in
Speaker 6: a car accident and you're in a wheelchair, will they
Speaker 6: push you around that wheelchair the rest of your life?
Speaker 6: If you fundamentally cannot say that you shouldn't marry that person, agreed,
Speaker 6: And too many people do and say, oh no, there's
Speaker 6: no way my spouse would stick around if that happened
Speaker 6: to me.
Speaker 5: I said, then you're you're.
Speaker 6: Already already wit up your mind?
Speaker 1: What are you doing wasting valuable time?
Speaker 4: Well, we truly.
Speaker 3: Appreciate you for the man that you are, for the
Speaker 3: leader that you are, the mentor that you are, and
Speaker 3: great friend love, all of the wonderful advice that we've
Speaker 3: gotten here today. It's truly an honor to be able
Speaker 3: to sit down with you and capture all of this
Speaker 3: for our listeners.
Speaker 4: So thank you.
Speaker 6: Oh, You're more than welcome. The honor and the privilege
Speaker 6: is all mine. You two are a huge inspiration to
Speaker 6: Audrey and I both. We certainly love everything you guys
Speaker 6: stand for, and your unwavering commitment to people, not just
Speaker 6: in the military, but anybody really you meet that needs
Speaker 6: you is pretty amazing. You guys don't realize how much
Speaker 6: you inspire lots of people to do good.
Speaker 5: So thank you.
Speaker 2: Thank you for being such a steadfast, present leader. It's
Speaker 2: very humble too, I might add, and that is not
Speaker 2: hesitant at all to give back.
Speaker 4: Dan, thank you so much for being part of our show.
Speaker 5: Absolutely, thank you guys for having me. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 3: I don't think I ever leave a conversation with him
Speaker 3: where I don't have just a ton of inspiration and
Speaker 3: just nuggets to think about to make me want to
Speaker 3: be better.
Speaker 1: Well that's because you don't sit in on the board meeting.
Speaker 2: No, he's exactly, I mean, he is everything in every reason.
Speaker 1: Of why we wanted to do this show.
Speaker 2: He and Audrey and the Tinker family is the reason
Speaker 2: that we have the good stuff.
Speaker 3: Such great people, a great family, even though they're Aggie's
Speaker 3: twenty seven to twenty five.
Speaker 4: There it is, there it is.
Speaker 1: That's my humble, gorgeous wife.
Speaker 4: All the livelong day.
Speaker 2: So for everyone that doesn't know what she's talking about,
Speaker 2: twenty seven to twenty five was the final score. The
Speaker 2: last time the University of Texas played Texas A and M.
Speaker 4: When was it twenty eleven?
Speaker 1: Twenty eleven. That's the last time A and M and
Speaker 1: Texas played? Yeah, it was twenty eleven.
Speaker 4: Yeah, because A and M won't play us because they're scared.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there it is.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a whole other way to take away from
Speaker 2: such a beautiful story.
Speaker 3: It's still beautiful. Twenty seven heye hook them. Thank you
Speaker 3: so much for listening today, and if this episode touched you,
Speaker 3: please share it. Be part of making someone else's day better.
Speaker 1: Put on your bad ass caves and go be great today.
Speaker 2: And remember you can't do epic stuff without epic people.
Speaker 2: Thank you for listening to the good Stuff. The Good
Speaker 2: Stuff is executive produced by Ashley Schick, Jacob Schick, Leah
Speaker 2: Pictures and q Code Media, hosted by Ashley Shick and
Speaker 2: Jacob Shick. Produced by Nick Casslini and Ryan Countzouse. Post
Speaker 2: production supervisor Will Tindi. Music editing by will heywood Smith,
Speaker 2: Edited by Mike Robinson,