Lia: Welcome to the Sparky Life podcast with Lia Lamela. I share with you my electrical journey, experiences and insight through engaging banter with those I've met along the way. If you're interested in trade tales, an industry fraught with excitement and risk, subscribe and be notified, every Thursday when trade tales continue. If you would like to contribute to the Sparky Life podcast, you can do so in our linktree by clicking on the support the podcast link. We would not be able to create this content or produce this podcast without you. And now, let's welcome the next Sparky Life guest. Our guest today on Sparky Life is an expert in the field base building automation systems. Kyle, with over three decades of experience in this field, joins us today from Pearland, Texas, and he is going to break down the career path of building automation and controls. These systems monitor and control, building wide networks such as HVAC, lighting alarms and security. If you can picture a building and however this building is supposed to run or whatever its purpose base is, the building's central nervous system.
Lia: I am so excited to welcome Kyle Veazey, and I'm so happy to have Kyle with me today to talk about building automation. So we ended up stumbling across each other on LinkedIn. I had a question regarding building automation and you have an amazing resume, a plethora of experience in this field. And I was talking to a girlfriend of mine who was also in building automation, and we always find that it's very difficult to kind of explain exactly what it is because there are so many different career paths. We spoke about that too. So please, can you give us an idea, a better breakdown of what actually building automation is?
Kyle: Sure. So you say it's hard to explain what you do in building automation. What I tell everybody is I'm a glorified thermostat programmer.
Lia: I like it, I like.
Kyle: It, that's it. And they go, okay, yeah, and it's done, you know, because they can relate to thermostat and that's about it. But yeah, building automation is great and I've been doing building automation for 30 years and actually over 30 years, but that's a great number to have about. So, you know, I started out doing pipe fitting, sat next to this guy who was my age now when I was 18, 19, 20 years old, and he had a little pocket protector with a stat wrench highlighter, some pins. And I had cutting oil, you know, cutting oil, that smell, it is, can't get out of your shirt. I said, I want to do what you do. And 30 plus years later, here I am. It's a great industry to be in. It really is.
Lia: And when you asked him or said to him, I want to do what you do. What was the next step after that? Did he give you a career path, or did he give you any recommendations?
Kyle: No. He said, “go talk to this guy.” So I said, okay. I went, talk to that guy, and I did what I shouldn't have done as an apprentice, and went and found my own work.
Lia: Oh, interesting.
Kyle: That was local 211 pipefitters, local. And so I went and talked to him. I said, I want to do what that guy does. And so they, you know, called the hall and said, hey, we want him. And after a little bit of hand slapping, they said, okay, no problem. So I went to work for Landis and Gear Powers back in the day, which is now Seamens. The rest is history. They just started doing pipe fitting and pneumatics. A lot of fun. It's a really wonderful field to be in. And as you can see over the time, you know, you talk about certs and things, are some pictures of panels that I did and some tubing. That's actually some tubing. You can't see it in the picture. But for all the radio audience here, the picture of a Hepa filter and a pharmaceutical plant that we ran, a two tubes, quarter inch stainless tubes on to pick up a difference of pressure across some filters. So that's what that picture is. Building automation is great, and what kept me in it for 30 years is, it's more of an art.
Lia: I love that.
Kyle: For the radio audience, Lia is wearing a very colorful shirt, yellow blue, polka dots and things. An artistic shirt. Okay. So, you know, one day you might be doing tubing. The other day you might be working on gas panel. You know, it's, it's such an art form. That's what's one of the things that's so great about it.
Lia: That's wonderful. I want to backtrack a little because, just to give a premise, like originally, you were part of a union for pipefitters.
Kyle: Yes.
Lia: And then you talked a little bit about a hand slap. So what would have been ideal? What would have been the appropriate way to maybe handle that situation so that anyone that's listening might get a gauge of where they're at, what might be the right steps, and what was the pro and con of the action that you ended up taking?
Kyle: Sure. If you're in the local and you're an apprentice, you know, talk to your coordinator, your apprentice coordinator, you know, maybe you find out some names and go through them and see what how you can go work for a company if you're an electrician, if they, if your company doesn't have a control division, whether you're union or merit shop companies will use electrical companies to do their install. That's a great way to get into bars, learn how to install the piping and wiring and all that. That's a little bit different. But learning word of mouth, the instruments, what the instruments are, how to terminate them in the panel. So that's one way if you're an electrician. If you're a pipefitter, do the same thing. If you're in the local, a married electrician, you can go straight to the companies. And if they have an install division, you can go work for their installation team. If they don't, which many don't, ask them who their subcontractors are and then search them out and talk to them and tell them that if you heard this and it inspired you to go get in the biz, tell them the story, tell them some details, give them a few buzzwords, and they would love to have you, especially in this era we're in right now.
Lia: We're, you know, pretty much on average, we need 30,000 people every day or openings every day in the US right now.
Kyle: Right. I'm building automation. Sure ain't going anywhere. It's just getting more and more, better and better.
Lia: It is getting bigger. Everybody knows more, more and more about it. So you went down this amazing path of 30 years in, and we talked a little bit about your experience. You had something happen with your wife and you were able to step away from work, spend time with her, assist her, and then go back to work, which is incredible because that's not usually the setup. Like, if you leave your career, take a long time outside of that career and then try to go back, it's usually very difficult or you're not in the same salary range. And because you're in building automation, you had none of that negative effect. So can you talk about that experience and what that was like?
Kyle: Sure, I'll be glad to. So 30 years of career, working hard and pouring myself into it. There's always pros and cons to how much you like to work and how much you pour yourself into it, but I did a lot of work, a lot of good work, did some overseas work, found ways to make more money all the time. You know, just getting better at my craft, you could say promotion, taking on different things over time. My wife and I have done a good job. She was a teacher for 23 years, so we were able to have a nice, good nest egg. So us working hard, doing the American dream sort of thing, if you will. When the time came to step away, we were able to do that. You know, we had some, not only our savings, but we had some good insurance things and some disability insurance, I encourage everybody to have disability insurance. It was fairly cheap. So that helped a lot. And just her, the stress of everything, it was the right decision. You know, stress kills.
Lia: So true.
Kyle: Sure, you know, just having a good foundation of controls from installation to design, you know, apprentice to manager, if you will, that gave a good foundation to be able to step away and come back. Wasn't focused on just doing startup, just doing design. And that helps on the back side. But you know, working from home took about six, eight months off. Then I started recruiting from home here in this wonderful palatial office of mine in my home. Oh, but that was one thing that was really nice. The recruiting side, had never done that before. Recruiting just for Bas, the Bas industry. So put that on hold for a little while or right now. And then just recently it's last week I started doing design work, contract design work here again and the wonderful home office of mine. But you know, to tie it all together, I did a lot, made some good money over the years. I understand the details. Sometimes too many details of my industry could step away, come back, do something different, go back to it. And it's been a nice run, I'll tell you. It really has. When you're in a really terrible environment, it's hot. There's no wind blowing your sweat when you're running conduit. Why am I doing this? Why am I working hard doing this overtime on the weekends, that sort of thing? Well, it'll pay off and you don't really appreciate it until 20 years later where you go, “Yeah, I need to turn the thermostat down, it’s a little hot in my office.”
Lia: And you can do it because this is where you're at now.
Kyle: Yeah. So it has been a nice and been blessed to be able to take care of her. She lost her leg above the knee about three years ago.
Lia: How did that happen?
Kyle: She had a blood clot underneath the knee, six inch blood clot and 20, 25 plus procedures over three years.
Lia: Holy shit. Yeah. Wow. She is a trooper.
Kyle: Yeah. She is.
Lia: But look at how amazing that you're able to be this, you know, pillar of a partner. To be able to be there, to step away from work and be there with her through that. That's a luxury that a lot of people don't have. So I appreciate that you preface like you had put things in place in order to do this. It's not just the fact that you're in building automation, which is a very high demand and is just getting higher and higher, so that there's a lot of need for it. There's big value in it. But it was also that you set yourself up for success by putting things in place in order so that when life happens, because life happens, right, that you were able to then full throttle be her support and not worry about still having to maintain financials through a career, so to speak.
Kyle: Yeah. Yeah. And she had the disability insurance, was through, through the state and their benefits and stuff. And a big part of our success, financial success was opting into that. Think it was a dollar and a half or something every pay period.
Lia: Wow.
Kyle: I mean, it's insignificant, right? So those, those little things make a difference. And you know, when you're in your 20s, you don't think anything. You don't think.
Lia: Yeah, no.
Kyle: But it's still what's, what's $3 a month, $5 a month or, you know, maybe you could double it. I would encourage you to double the minimum.
Lia: And because you just don't know, right? You just don't know now, because building automation is just growing all the time. Leaps and bounds. We don't have enough people to keep up with it, actually. And I just recently discovered, which I don't know why this never processed, it seems now common sense as I look back. But I never absorbed that building automation is also in boats, marine yachts. I was like, What? It just, I didn't think of it. I just didn't think of it, because it's DC primarily. And I don't know why, because I mean building automation, AC DC in data centers and smart homes. And so there is DC still in those things, primarily Marine, it's all DC but still, I had no idea. I opened up one of these fishing charters. The panel looked like a fucking control panel. It was all like the same with a PLC and everything. I was like, Holy cow.
Kyle: Yeah. It's amazing how much these little PLCs are where you're going to find them nowadays. If you could have it on your, on your wall, you said it was just a pneumatic thermostat that would hiss at you, you know, and then you'd have a little thermistor. But now it's fully, fully packaged, little smart stats. And I saw one. We went to Branson a few weeks ago and did a train ride there. And it was funny, they had these cars there from the 40s, you know, and although this is all for 80, you know, it said control panel in one of the cars and all I could think, I want to go there, open it. But they said, don't go open any panels. I said, “Okay. You're the conductor. You know, I'll do what you say.” But can just imagine, you know, all these relays and in there and click the click, click the like an elevator, the old elevator. If you ever see those control panels. Those are fun.
Lia: Really?
Kyle: Yeah. It's look, look, look, look, look, look, look. All ridiculous. Had one in Amarillo. Went and looked at not, not the elevator, but just that was in the roof and it was open. They had the panel open and it was just click clack up here, the elevator running. And so, yeah, you're going to find it everywhere nowadays for sure.
Lia: That's amazing. And then, that leads to have the ability to further specialize, to further get involved with particular subjects, I guess.
Kyle: Yes, there is. There's so, you know, when you first start out, if you do a let's call it a standard path, okay, let's call it the long term plan. Like did you get into installation? You do that for a good amount of time. Usually somebody will see how sharp you are. Then they'll go, Hey, here's a laptop, go start up this box. You push these buttons and go look for this. Even if you're on an installation crew, sometimes techs need help and they go, Oh, you know, you show a little interest and look over the shoulder. They're going to want some help at some point. And that's sort of how you kind of get in without getting in, you know, throwing that interest. And then they brag on you and then you go work for the company. But you can do the standard class, a start-up sort of thing, and then get into the water plants or the boiler plants. And then you can stay in that industry for the rest of your life doing class a type buildings.
Lia: Right, right.
Kyle: And then so, let's, we got to know the vocabulary.
Lia: Yeah.
Kyle: What's a class A? And when we say installation, what do we say? What do we, what do we install? And let's make this even smaller. My apologies for the audience. So the class A and I, honestly to God, I didn't know this until about five years ago. Office buildings are classified. I don't know who gives a classification, but class A office buildings would be your nicer buildings. You're very, they don't have to be very tall but they're very nice office buildings. Okay. And as far as installation. If you're a subcontractor or even if you're working for the company in an install, they're the install department. You know, once you pull all the wire and connect all the boxes, the Vav variable air volume and if may be fan powered mixing box, mixing boxes, you're making me think clear.
Lia: Yes. Yes.
Kyle: So once you connect them all, the thermostats to them, once you connect the communication wire to them, you have to start the boxes up. And if you're the air handler, as in, your unit at home and has a blower in and wants the blowers running and blowing air, it doesn't have to be hot or cold per se, but as long as it's blowing, you can start the box up. So you sit down, you plug in the thermostat and you download, just like I said, a glorified thermostat programmer.
Lia: Yes.
Kyle: This is sort of what that means, is you plug into the thermostat and you check a few things. You download the code if you have to do it locally and then you run it through its paces, you open the damper, close the damper, open the valve, close the valve or turn the reheat on, whether it's valves or whether it's water or electric heat. You got to go through some tests. So that's how you start learning the sequence of operations. So, okay, so. You run the sequence of operations and you learn how the systems work. You learn how the boxes work and why you should have cold air or hot air or if you have an SCR, silicon cathode, rectifier. Hey, I got it. Yeah. So you learn these different pieces of equipment, the peripherals of it, and then you master that. Then you master the next type of box, like the fan powered box with a series or parallel one pulls air from the ceiling. One is in line with the air coming into the box. So then you go to the air handler. So it's a real stair step progression of equipment you're kind of backing. Backing away at the very end of the box in the office, you backing toward the central plant that has your chillers and your boilers.
Lia: Okay. Yeah.
Kyle: Okay. And we're talking about the traditional path. So that traditional path would be starting off with the installation where you're literally running wire running your conduit, which is your, quote, air quotes raceway. However, that wire is going to be supported to whatever enclosure you're putting that in, whatever box, whatever it looks like, so that it talks to the devices that tell the other devices how they want it to operate.
Lia: Yep.
Kyle: And then you're taking that electrical aspect and in addition, you're using like a computer to program a code or some kind of information so that then this mini computer, for lack of a better word, can speak to the other devices and let them know of any statements. If this happens, then you will do this. So if this gets to this temperature, you will close or you will shut off,e xcetera, right?
Lia: Exactly. Yep. Okay. All right. So that's, that's our standard path. What's another path?
Kyle: Another path would be, let's say you've gone. Let's stick with this. This apprentice who's already installed and she's a journeyman. And what she's doing right now. She is going to do start up for years. And she has done all the plants, done big jobs, half $1 million jobs, those sorts of thing. Maybe she's done some work, so maybe this company doesn't want to get out of that class. A building environment. There's a lot of companies who don't. They do really, really well. And they're good because they do the same thing over and over.
Lia: Right.
Kyle: So you want to move on, You want to do something different. You want to make more money. Well, you can get into it, it's been this way for a while, but it's very vogue for equipment, reps.
Lia: Equipment, reps. Okay.
Kyle: I'll get to that in a minute. But equipment reps, to have their own controls companies. So the easiest way to see this is if you're in a tall building. Let's say you're in the medical center, your medical center. If you look out on top of these buildings, you'll see a lot of ductwork. Sometimes you'll see these round exhaust fans.
Lia: Yes, yes.
Kyle: So a brand that is very known, and it's sort of like a Kleenex or Google. You know, you use it as a general term. It's throwback fans. Well, the fans are pulling air out of the building. So what is it pulling air from? It's pulling air from labs or even hospital rooms. So in these labs. So we talk about the next step. These companies who provide these big fans, these big air handlers, temp troll, iron train, these are the ones. They have a lot of times, have their own patrols division, and they also supply what are called air valves. If you never, if you don't know what an air valve is, just think of a round piece of pipe with a damper in it. So you can modulate these air valves like you do a regular valve and control the amount of air that goes into a room. And you can control the amount of air that goes out of the room. And they work in conjunction with each other in parallel so that it maintains an offset in a room. Covid 19 when they talk about isolation rooms. You need rooms that have more negative pressure than positive pressure. So air is flowing under the doors and through all the cracks into the room. So you're not pushing biohazards out of the room. Okay, so where did the exhaust go? It goes through these big exhaust fans.
Lia: Mm.
Kyle: Okay. So the V box of variable air volume box is now a very expensive variable air volume air valve. So it's applicable, right? So you can move and understand what you're doing. Yes, you can. Hardware, different software, different sequence of operation. But all that work that she has done now, she understands how to program the valve box. The exhaust box is just a valve exhaust box and you learn how they track. So the next step from class A, you go into critical environments. That's the word you need to understand. The term is critical environments that could be these hospitals vivarium regular laboratories, pressurized control rooms, pressurized buildings. So that's sort of the next step.
Lia: Okay. So the next step would be because you talked about what was it, the rep, the rep for the, the devices, right. So the rep for the devices, how would you would reach out to somebody like that? Is that the goal? You'd find out like, who is the rep for this brand?
Kyle: So typically if you're, whether you're an installer, you can go from installation to these companies as well because they need installers to use, had to find out if they have their own department. So really where all the politicking goes on. Isn't knocking on the door and saying, “Hey, I'm Lia, I want to go work and do Phoenix files.” Right? That's, you can. But that's typically not how it's done. It's going to all be on the job. So if you're doing that you know what'll happen is you'll end up doing even if you work for a company that does class A buildings, they'll have a job here. They're in yonder where you're going to be in a place that's maybe even a class A building, has somebody has to have a hood in there.
Lia: Okay.
Kyle: And this happens all the time. You know, you have one company that's moving in and they need a hood to keep their samples in for whatever reason. Right. When you're on the job with them, go get, go get, talk to them, take them to lunch, tell them who you are. Right. It's hard to break the ice. We all get that. But you just have to say, “hey, you know, what's that on the computer?” And you know, “I've done this, this, this and this. And I've heard on this show that the air valves. Is that what this is?” Break the ice like that, you know, and get to know them and it takes a few months, might even take a year, you know if you're just starting out in, but this is the getting to know people.
Lia: Yeah, the networking.
Kyle: Yes, you see, I was waiting for you to say it. Networking on the job is very critical. And so that's really how you do it. And then somebody goes back to the office and they say they're in a meeting and they go, “Oh, we got all these backlogs. We need somebody new.” And to go out and start all these, you know, maybe let's just call it first level, start up, whatever you want to call it. “Oh, I remember this person on this job.” That's the networking part. And then that's really how you get in. These companies get to know you as the networking.
Lia: Got you. I got you. That makes a lot of sense. A lot of different career paths and construction careers have to do with networking.
Kyle: Yeah. And if you're, you know, one thing that just occurred to me, regardless of where you're at, so if you're just running conduit, it doesn't matter what industry you're in. You're running on a condo, it doesn't matter what it is. Ask your PM. Go up the chain. Ask. Finally, get to the point where you can ask somebody who has the authority to let you go to these meetings with the general contractor. Sit over in the corner. Just listen to the words. Okay? Listen to the acronyms. You don't have to know what they are. You'll figure them out eventually, right? Google's out there, so just listen to see how people react to each other. Get to know who, what they look like and their demeanors and the language they use. Sometimes the bad language they use. So you'll learn, you'll learn just as much what not to do, right in what to do. So, yeah.
Lia: And this is what I talk about when I talk about construction careers and how important soft skills are. And this is what a lot of the construction culture doesn't seem to absorb or recognize. It's so important the soft skills to get you where you want to go, because it's not just being a great skilled tradesmen or trades woman. It's about being able to make those connections with people and speak to one another and engage and work together, collaborate, right.
Kyle: I didn't learn that until I was way too far into my career.
Lia: Yeah, yeah.
Kyle: Lots of mistakes with not having soft skills, but that's a whole nother story that we won't tell.
Lia: But that's the good stuff. It's all good stuff.
Kyle: It's all good stuff. It is. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, soft skills are great.
Lia: In this career path, you can really pick and choose what environment you want to be in, what type of lifestyle you want to have, whether or not you want to be on a schedule Monday through Friday, whether or not you want to be on call in a service like environment, whether or not you want to be in an office designing, whether or not you want to be physical installing, and you can pick and choose. I had no idea that there was this strong building automation aspect with marine boats, things like that. And when I think of being an electrician and being called down to the docks to fix a boat, that sounds like a real nice environment to me. Yeah, I know water's not necessarily your thing, but yeah.
Kyle: Not my thing.
Lia: Yeah, and I'm a water person. There you go.
Kyle: I'll say the travel. If you get to the point where you've done your class a building, you've done it from box to boiler, right? All by yourself. You wrote the code. Maybe you didn't do the graphics, but you did everything. You started up, you commissioned it. You can also travel, work the overtime, ask the questions, be the squeaky wheel. You can travel, you can travel. Just doing startup. When I was recruiting, I was recruiting for a travel team for a major OEM and go all over the United States. They pay pretty much for everything and that's where you really get a lot of your experience. So when you're in your 40s and 50s and you have a situation like mine, you can rely on the experience. Traveling is for money. People associate traveling with money. But really the takeaway from traveling is, is experience of the unknown and growing your, your tool belt of knowledge.
Lia: Love that. I love that. Absolutely love that. That's a great point. I hear that a lot with traveling, being in skilled trades about, you know, the money aspect. But you hit the nail on the head about the unknown because when you get complacent and you get into a rhythm of things and doing the same thing over and over again, you're not growing. So if you really want to advance and you really want to grow in your craft, that's a great point. That's a great point.
Kyle: Do it early. Do it often. And when you're tired and you're back, then you can go, “Oh, okay, I'm gonna take off six months and wait for somebody, you know, put out feelers and, you know, do the job that I want to do locally.” And it's great for telling stories. To talk about icebreakers and stuff is always a story. There's always a story.
Lia: You got a good travel story?
Kyle: Yeah, sure.
Lia: Let's hear it. I want to hear it.
Kyle: I've got a few of them, but let's see. Okay, I'll tell this one. So we were, I was doing a job in West Africa.
Lia: Oh, wow. Exciting.
Kyle: Yeah. So the…What was that? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So there's a, it's West Africa geographically, but it's an island. It's called Equatorial Guinea. And the capital of Equatorial Guinea is Malabo. Malabo is on this island. This island is basically a volcanic island, but there was a refinery there already. So they were building a new natural gas plant. They take natural gas and they refine it. And it's a trip to get there. So we fly to Spain and when I get there early in the morning and I would have to wait all day in the airport.
Lia: Wow.
Kyle: And yeah, me too, made many trips. So one of these trips I made is took a draftsman with us because he was going to help me start up. So we land in Malabo and we're waiting and waiting and waiting. And we're the last ones at the baggage claim. And there's no baggage for Kyle and Ryan. Yeah. So we got a job site and they had to give us clothes, you know, work. Clothes. So all we have was on our back. So my wife had to go shop for us, and at that time Ryan, he wasn't married, so she had to go shop for him and me.
Lia: Oh, wonderful.
Kyle: Yes, she is. See, you know, and that was interesting. That was interesting. And at that same place, I thought I had malaria one time.
Lia: Oh, no.
Kyle: Yeah. One time I went over there, got in, went to sleep and I had a bad migraine. I never had a migraine before, believe it or not. A real migraine. You know, God bless those people who deal with them, but they tell you one of the symptoms of malaria is migraines. Oh, so, I thought, “Oh, hell, I just landed and I got malaria. So I go to the, they have a little nurse, not nurse, but a little medical thing. And people in there. Doctor, the nurse, they said, “No, you just got a headache.” You know, they did testing. Prick your finger or whatever. Test for malaria. Oh thank God. Don't have malaria. Yeah. So those are a couple stories there for good old Malabo. Great place, great place, great people.
Lia: Well, that's very exciting. I know many people who would love to travel and to have your company pay for your travel, even though there, sounds like it wasn't all peaches and cream, with no staying in an airport all day in Spain. When you said Spain, I got excited; when you said staying in the airport all day, ooh, not so fun.
Kyle: Yeah, but still, you take the good with bad, right?
Lia: That's right.
Kyle It's all a story. Right? Think of every bad situation as a story.
Lia: There you go. That's a great outlet. Yeah.
Kyle: Yeah, for sure. For sure.
Lia: So with all of your life experience, with all the good things that you've learned along the way, what tool is in your tool belt? What's the number one thing with you that you take with you every day that you utilize that you've learned, this with me every day, this helps me get to my goals, this helps me achieve?
Kyle: Well, I probably learned it a little bit too late in life, but patience is the tool probably. And you can sub categorize, you know, you don't have to be the smartest person in the room. And tying that back to asking to go to the meetings with the general contractor.
Lia: Yes.
Kyle: Early in your career and you need to do it early and often you see how people respond and see how people act in these meetings. And you will see what this means. You don't have to be the smartest person in the room. Yeah, I've never done that. I've never tried to be the smartest person in the room, I'll tell you that right now. So talk less, listen.
Lia: More patience.
Kyle: And you'll see what you'll be, surprised what you hear.
Lia: I'm still working on that patience part. I'm so, I'm working on it. I'm working on it. But, man, it's not easy. No, not easy.
Kyle: But practice. That's why you had to, you know, had a high school football coach. Practice doesn't make perfect. You know, perfect practice makes perfect, is what he used to say. But you've got to get into the meetings, even if they're small meetings, toolbox meetings or whatever. Get in, listen, listen and listen and listen some more. And then you might have something to say a little later.
Lia: Awesome.
Kyle: And people will, and people will actually listen to you because you've already seen the mistakes they made.
Lia: Mm. Mhm. Very right. Yes. Is there anything that you use today that helped you cultivate your patience, Any tangible tools that you could offer?
Kyle: Well, yes, my wife was in the hospital. I was sitting next to her and this was, actually it was an isolation room. Believe it or not, it had a ball in the wall and I won't go to the 15 minute explanation of that. But it had a ball in the wall.
Lia: Okay. Ball in the wall.
Kyle: Google that.
Lia: Definitely googling it.
Kyle: So we were in an isolation room. Not that she was sick. They just had this room they put her in and I actually texted a colleague of mine and told him, thanked him for all he'd done in isolation rooms. You know, you're in that environment, you're feeling really emotional and, you know, thank you for all the work he gave me over the years and things. And I had a conversation with God and I said, I can't do this is, I can't do this anymore. I can't control things. I can't make the doctors do any things. I can't make them give her more pain medication. So I just, I ask God to just take the battle off of my hands, and it over time, and you give up the struggle and you give up that stress, you know, you give it to God and you know, it's the skies did in part and sun came down and angels came. It's just one of those things you give up and God listens and makes a difference. It made a difference in my life. And I'll let him deal with the battle and the stress. And I just took care of Valerie. I took care of me. My mother in law is, really was and is, a godsend. And so just giving it up, not letting it get to you. And for me, it was asking God, that was my tool.
Lia: It sounds like acceptance.
Kyle: Yes. Not fighting back.
Lia: Yeah. Being present and accepting. I love that. I love that. That's great. And having that connection with something bigger than you?
Kyle: Yeah, absolutely.
Lia: Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. Oh, thank you so much, Kyle.
Kyle: Thank you for having me. And if you, another thing I might say is fundamental. Yeah, mentors are really important. I've advertised this on LinkedIn a bunch about having, putting myself out there to be a mentor. So I'm open to if you like to converse with me on LinkedIn, if you have any questions, follow up questions, I'll be happy to answer them. Whatever I can do to help the next generation get into or further their career. And that's what this is for. You know, the podcasting and showing us old guys that are getting out of the industry. We need to support the new men and women that want to make a fantastic career out of this.
Lia: Wonderful. And where can people find you?
Kyle: I'm on YouTube and Instagram. And LinkedIn. Name is just Kyle Veazey, and the last name is v, e, a, z, e y. Victor, Echo, Alpha, Zulu, Echo, Yankee. For all the military people out there. The tool that wanted to be on TV, here is the fellow. It fell out of my jaw. This is the actual tool that I would not do without. This is a fellow eighth inch screwdriver. Okay. You've been on TV. I'll put you back now.
Lia: I call him a tweaker.
Kyle: There you go. It is a tweaker. For terminating control panels. And on Instagram and YouTube, it's the flat top recruiter.
Lia: So appreciative. So, so appreciative and grateful. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. This is absolutely wonderful. Not surprised from speaking to you previously, I knew it was going to be good.
Kyle: Two hours of nonsense.
Lia: There's no amount of nonsense that could give me this amount of goosebumps that I wouldn't sign up for again.
Kyle: Well, good luck to you and your audience and hope this helps.
Lia: It was awesome. Speaking to Kyle, automation as an art form. Kyle taught us about seeing the fullness of skilled trades and all its beauty and making the most out of every opportunity. He starts by sharing about how the intricate and genius craftsmanship that is the heart behind his own field of building automation isn't just a trade, it's an art form. And when you can appreciate your work with a level of awe and admiration for detail, it makes everything so much bigger than just a job. Kyle tells us how to get the most out of your trade career, starting with connecting with coworkers through the simple art of soft skills and storytelling. Networking doesn't have to be stressful and nerve wracking. It can be light hearted, surprising and fun. Keep listening to the Sparky life to know how to connect with other tradies who might have more knowledge on the unique opportunities in the trades. What skilled trade would you like to hear from next? Thank you for joining us. If you felt a spark in today's episode, I invite you to write a review. I'd love to hear what lit you up. Take what resonates with you, and if you'd like to hear more of the Sparky Life, please subscribe, like, follow and share. Until next time, create the sparks in your life.