David - DTB Fab

Today I'm talking with David from DTB Fab. He's built his business on nights and weekends for years while holding a full-time job, and he's made it work. We break down how he got his first jobs, how he balances family and work, and the biggest mistakes that will cost you time and money while you're trying to do the same thing. So let's get into it. All right, David with DTB Fab man, how you doing bud?

I th I thought I could figure out how to do it and that took ten years, but uh like everything else that's how much to do that? I could just buy a welder, you know and So the passion's been there the whole time, the the the excitement, the drive and then

Putting it all to fruition. I yeah, maybe it was twelve twenty twelve, I think, that I I went L L C and and just everybody around me that I was working on my stuff, hey, can you fix this for me? Can you weld that for me? Can you put this piece together? Can you bend this piece? And And that's where my own side took off.

go there, he'll work on it, he'll fix it. He's kinda stupid and he never says no's. It uh yeah, it's been a ride. I I can't really define this one aspect that I do X. It's sort of uh I do what they bring me next week. Yeah, yeah, having uh having two full time jobs and then so my own with D T B is pretty much another forty to sixty hour week most times and I tried to keep it a side job till it just it became its own entity and it's everything from

Bikes, boats, air airplanes, the only thing I haven't actually done yet. And that job shop type stuff, anything that the I fall into that category of like I'm beyond homeowners and hobbyists and not quite giant shop, you know, uh blueprint jobs and So whether it's small structural stuff to to building bikes, to sheet metal on cars or anything sort of in between and that also comes with a lot of nuts and bolts and I motor work and

Yeah. And and well earned that I realized in the last twenty years. Yep. Um yeah, everybody earns their salt, but uh then it became addictive. You know, I I never did drugs, never done one in my life, but buying tools and learning how to do things is absolutely addictive.

when I get there, but yeah, I I I guess the only reason is that I can still do both and I can manage that. And I have a wicked supporting wife. She she understands when I'm in the shop all night, she she has her own passions and hobbies and things, so It's not like she's waiting for me every night and I'm just a curmudgeon, but Yeah, no, having a supporting family and and a whole circle of people that support you is huge. It makes things so much easier on me.

I forget now it's thirty five hundred, four grand or something to do all the metal work in the car and that was just to do the metal work. I'm like, What do you wanna mind? I don't have that kind of money, like I'm making like two hundred dollars a week, you know? And uh I figured in my brother and I my brother and I both do the the same thing and we're passionate in the cars as much as we were with the Korea we were building and that turned into well, we could buy a welder.

Like that's cheaper than hiring this body guy. Like we we can do it and move. Oh man, that was uh

he was renting a shop with a friend and then it turned into instead of buying a house, me and my brother bought a commercial garage together and we were working out of there just turned out to be like, let's just build our stuff. We wanna build cool stuff, you know? Mm. Then it was

Wow, it's getting expensive. Like we we have a tool addiction, we have this hobby for cars and quads and and bikes and everything and then it was people would come by and what are you working on? Like, yeah, you know, made this frame. Oh man, can you weld this for me? Yeah, okay. Yeah, and then he told his friend and then Hey, can you fix this for me? Can you do this thing? Can you fix this? You know, what a transmission case is just

It's it's not a way to start a business, but it was like, uh yeah, sure. And then they'd leave and I'm like, What the hell are we gonna do? I have no idea what I'm doing right now and uh You know, it was it was a little bit of blissful ignorance. Uh yeah. But I had the tenacity. It it was I was gonna figure it out and there were a lot of jobs that cost me money to to grind my teeth and I did a lot of like rocker panels and just miserable work to

Just sort of to like learn. I'm like, Yeah, I'll you send me anything and I'll do it and even if it's a hundred dollars, if I whatever I make I'm making money to do something otherwise I wouldn't be making and So I kept kept f sort of pushing with the motorsports and then As that started to take off.

Not take off. I don't want to make it sound like it like launched a stardom. It was more just like a a progression of every night I had something to do. Every night I had to meet somebody and then and then it became people I didn't know. And it's like so and so wants to go by. It's like, All right, here's my number, like I drove um

So those tattoo I drove a tow truck at night for eight years, so every night, weekend and holiday I was driving a tow truck. Um then those would break and I'd fix those and I'm like, Hey, can I just fix it? Just let me fix it.

And I would do it for nothing. And then he would throw me a few bucks and and that was another way to learn. Like I get to drive a truck, I'm not paying for a truck. I don't have to I have no responsibilities but answer the phone and go to a car if it if it ends up upside down the highway but It was everything was like a trial by fire and

I just kept pushing, like, give me more, give me more, give me more and Yeah, then it turned into getting nicer work. Like once the grungy stuff started fade away, I was like, Man, I don't want to do another set of rockas and a Chevy like Give me something better. You know, somebody hey, can you build an intercooler for me? Can you can you do like intake tubing for me? It's like, Yeah, uh all right. We learned how to weld aluminum.

That was another thing at that time in the like early two thousands. either went to a big giant shop and it was a understandably a lot of money, but we were the guys that were like, Yeah, sure, bring it down and we'll like we can do your little project for you and um that really spearheaded into a a different avenue of building bikes was a big thing. Build a bike for a friend of mine that when he got sick, he was in midway and building a bike and he got sick and

Uh it was terminal. So we we ended up like just just ganging up and and getting the bike done for'em and it came out absolutely unbelievably killer. Right. And then a couple of other people reached out, hey, can you do it? Jesse James and In all the way.

That like there wasn't good enough anymore. Now it's it's like gotta be perfect. And when you get to work on some really cool stuff with expensive paint and chrome and the tolerances got tighter, the the attention to detail got better.

That's when it really kicked off that like getting passionate about doing things and and still filling the gaps with, you know, anything in between. Whatever people brought by and and that's what sort of necessitated like especially stopping working if it was in somebody's homes doing a railing or or doing uh working on vehicles and things that like I should probably turn to someone L L L C and and try to separate myself and maybe have some protection and

Yeah. I won't screw anything up. I'm working on track to trailers. It was a lot of that too, the tow trucks and track to trailers and pintle plates and and so much of that kind of work that

kind of a wild ride and and it's everything in between. I'm always amazed'cause I get so much different stuff. I think that's the most fun in it. That I don't have one I don't do just stainless sanitario. Like it's not

We had that car we replaced every piece of metal except for the trunk lid, the windshield frame, and the the rear seat pillars. Everything oh man, that car was in so many pieces and that That was one of those that was actually a job that Scared the death out of me because we had it so far apart and it was a convertible and I mean we didn't rope.

You know, I didn't like I I never I was mentored by anybody. Like we really just were like reading books and trying to figure it out and using the best of our knowledge. Which it was limited. But um yeah, we he got that car back and the only thing he had to do was uh they had to push the passionate side pillar a sixteenth of an inch. Everything lined up, man, and

Yeah, without somebody over your shoulder, without somebody telling you how to do it. Yeah, I think everybody's probably had that feeling at one point in their lives when they succeed, when they know they succeed. Yeah.

The last year I it took me a year and year and a half to do a nineteen thirty four Morgan three wheel of frame from England that was all brazed together and cast pie it was cast uh cast sections and then tubing in between and I had to make every piece.

I couldn't find any castings. I reached out to a few people that had cast pieces for me before for pan head frames and things and they they were out of the game and then the pieces were too expensive to even attempt. So I made everything out of steel and replicated everything and braised it and did it the The way they did in England in nineteen thirty four. Yeah, that that was that was an incredibly satisfying project.

It was a year and a half worth of work, but it came out perfect, you know, and I'd I'd put it up against anything. That was that was satisfying. Yeah, yeah. That's cool. So taking I guess taking things that that, you know, uh don't exist in in in re reproducing'em, replicating'em or even just your own design, your own uh an artistic side of it is is satisfying.

So I had my own maintainer, F five fifty, crane and everything and I was running around like a maniac and That got to a point that i it was that was construction equipment, that was buckets and and fixing booms and excavator parts and loaders and and it was like that got out of control in a hurry.

And I kept up the best I could. And I always wanted to keep like I prefer the shop work uh'cause I think I can do the best for the customer in the shop instead of trying to chase schedules and working all night and being in the dark and And even all those ones, all the construction, that was a lot of friends Friends of friends and hey my buddy's got you know, he just ripped the tooth off. Can you go put a shank on? And yeah, all right. It it was good, but that was a lot of time away from

away from the family too, which is something I never really wanted to go down that road. Mm-hmm. Uh that's what my dad did his whole life. He you know, being in the heating industry, he was always he took on side work and he'd work all night. You know, I d I I don't resent or have anything against that. He did an awesome job and he's a great dad but

I just remember I'm like, Man, I'd I'd rather have if I can be in the shop with the kids even if I'm working, they can run out and hang around and you can be a part of it and I I think I've done pretty well with that. It was a sometimes when it gets when it gets rough, but

If they're around they wanna do something and they're excited about some or if they wanna you know, Hey, what are you welding on? Can we try that? And like all right, I pulled a piece of scrap and there's a part they're like, Come on, come on, come on, hurry up, we need I need to get stuff done but

soccer moms and dads and our kids aren't into sports a ton or band and things like that, so so we don't have that baseball game, hockey game thus, so we don't have a schedule like that that's crazy. your kids? I got uh oh man uh fourteen four fourteen twelve fourteen twelve and seven

Wait, we're doing what tonight? No. And it's like, you know, you you don't say no, you go do it and you get back at the house at eight o'clock at night and you're like, All right, I'll be in the shop, I'll see you tomorrow And uh Yeah, you know, it it's I think that's just the Yeah, to me it's just natural. I think every dad has that same story to tell, you know. Yeah.

We didn't have files on Cameroon, I wanna show you how this works. It was he worked and he showed me how to get work done. Mm-hmm. He he by example he showed efficiency, he showed tenacity, he showed if you know, if it's gotta get done, just do it and nobody's gonna come save you. Get it done.

And I didn't know that as a young kid actually. I d I thought everybody worked like him and then I found out like w what is wrong with him? He's a m he's a mutant, you know, like why is he doing all this stuff by himself and But I grew up so long that that was just normal that I I just thought that's how it was, so I did it and I was like, Okay, yeah and it uh

Like I said, it wasn't like a classroom with him. It was more like whatever you do, I that's the one thing he told me when I was a kid. He goes, I don't care what you do when you grow up, I don't care if you flip pizzas, you better be the best at it and it was That was one of those things that uh you know, really sticks with me and

He was a licensed guy in a lot of trades and, you know, gas fitting, steam fitting and pipe fitting and and um I remember like that one time a year he'd pull out his wallet and have to renew his licenses and doing all the paperwork and the things when when it was all mail and

I'm like, wow, what are those? You know, it was a sprinkle fitter. It's like, you you do irrigation? Like, no, sprinkle this in buildings, you idiot and like it was uh you know, all those things. I just remember looking at that and going like wow. You're like I have to get all those. I have to do that, you know, like it set standards for me and and he never set standards for me, but he he did subconsciously just by how and who he was.

And it and it was him and then uh I I will say it was my brother. Uh he's five years older than me, but as much as we can drive each other nuts, uh in and I know how to wind him up and and he knows how to, you know, knock my teeth out if he had to He he took me along. In my formative youth, you know, buying a car fourteen that I bought off his buddy and you know, he took me along. He he let me experience some things that some might

Glad I did, some I shouldn't have. It was uh hanging around with the guys that you know, the twenty year olds and the twenty five year olds, it was It was life lessons, learning lessons. Uh that's where I drove the tow truck. It was it was one of his buddies growing up and so like I I got to experience a lot of things like five years ahead of everybody else that that was a a credit to him and any tool he had

It was always uh my tool. So like if you bought a welder I was allowed to use it. You know, if it was And and then we started to emulate each other that oh you have this one? Well I'll buy this tool. Like whatever tool he didn't have I'd buy or what I didn't have he'd buy. And so like we we amassed a a giant collection of equipment by doing that. Yeah, and in the same and we learned together, you know, it was

Like trying to learn how to tig weld. It was I remember that he traded a snowmobile. We didn't snowmobile, but somebody had a blown up one, he fixed it, and hey, I got a uh TIG weld, do you want that? Uh um uh Lincoln Square Wave one seventy five. And it's like, Yeah, sure. That was how we actually started TIG welding. And then we sat down and melted electrodes and tungsten and fill away stocking everything.

Man, it was a disaster, but yeah, we we conquered. Yeah, yeah. It was like and uh the only thing you had was a textbook. You didn't have there was no Jody Gallier, there was no tips and tricks, there was nothing out there. Yeah. And uh you know, it was Wow, this is this is interesting.

Now you know what I'm just gonna do it myself. And um in the age of YouTube, man, like the the well, the knowledge that is out there is like it's freaking awesome. Like like like our kids will it's so funny'cause my kids will like we have much to my dismay, I hate the fact that we have an Amazon Alexa in our house. But listen, my kids use that dozens of times a day. Like my daughter's trying to learn how to spell things.

Alexa, how do you spell constitution? Like how do you spell this? Like set a timer for that? Like like and it's they'll never know a time that there wasn't AI. They would they'll never know a time that there wasn't somebody at their beck and call not e not somebody something at their beck and call to answer the questions that they have. Like think about that for a second.

daily on a lot of equipment I work on and I always say that's actually one thing. Of all the electronics and everything I have and as much as I utilize YouTube and Amazon and Google for all these things, the first thing I do every project I get Doesn't matter if I own it or I don't own it, if it's a car, a quad, anything that was manufactured by someone.

I buy a manual for it. That is the first thing I do. I buy a hard copy manual. And I have just books of it and some things overlap and that's always been my number one rule. Go buy a manual for it and then You know, if the apocalypse happens, I'll be able to fix something.

was incredibly hard.'Cause I I didn't have a teacher. Like the textbook would have made more sense if I had a teacher. I did something like I went to evoke school but I took plumbing and then I took welding. Like when I finished plumbing courses, I'd go down there and hang out, but I didn't get like instructed. It was more like, yeah, you can work on a little project or something if you want. When I did finally embrace YouTube that I found Jody Collier and it was like

Holy crap, this guy like look at all this. Like he worked for Delta and he told me like you don't have to ball your tungsten, like, oh you can just do this. You can you can just run a red and and use it on everything. You don't need to go like all these weird little things that I'm like I thought that was like you know, I'd burn in hell if I didn't do it the right way in the textbook set. And um that uh that opened up like a a a a real different avenue of of success for me too.

And it was great. I d I actually I got to sit and have a glass of wine with him at at FabTech in twenty nineteen when I met him and that was like one of those most amazing things. I got to thank him for it, like just meeting him in person and saying, You have no well, he does know. He he knows, everybody says it but getting to meet some of the mentors that I've learned from on YouTube and being able to thank them has actually been a blessing too because

There's just so much knowledge out there that people share and it's so cool. Yeah, and it's yeah, technology, I can't believe it. Every once in a while I'll read through a book and they come out and look at, What do you read Napha? I'm like, Oh, I need to figure out how to fix it. Just look it up on YouTube. I'm like, oh God.

I I think sometimes it w we just don't see or appreciate the the gap there of like what we're using on our left side to what we're using on our right side and just the gap of So many years and the technology in between both.

You get to appreciate a little more, at least in my mind,'cause I I learned on like cheap used tools that like anything I could afford or find or that somebody would give me or let me borrow. Mm. And then when I finally did buy nice stuff, when I bought a dynasty, I'm like, Oh my God, this is what a like this is how it takes well it can perform. Like, wow, this is amazing. You know, I don't know if I would

if I learned on a dynasty it might have been like, uh, you know, give me some other piece of crap and I couldn't now I'm like, uh, I feel like I'm capable of like you can pretty much give me anything and you know, I I sometimes I really embrace the fact that learning the hard way

learning the tough way and uh you know, learning how to do something by hand and then using a power tool is like a a game changer. It's in plumbing when you threaded pipe by hand, you really appreciated when you got a power threader. It was like, wow, all right, this is way better

Yeah, I I just wonder if what, you know, learning how to scan for information and and read books and retain the knowledge from a book as a side to like, Hey chat, how do you fix this? And what do I do with this? Like even though the information's there, I don't know if that retainability will be the same and

But I guess I don't know, I'm sure it's the same thing, you know, when I was an up and coming plumber they called us plastic plumbers'cause all the old guys did did uh no hub pipe and and soil pipes, so we were the PVC guys and they thought we were hacked. Yeah, I guess every generation has their somebody they gotta pick on and Yeah. It'll be the same. They'll they'll be smart, they'll figure it out.

You know, we all had that one guy. It was always that one guy at the car show that knew every stat about a Chevelle. Like, Oh, seventy one, they did this and did that and didn't you're like, Man, how do you know this stuff?

Yeah, I'm gonna go buy that plasma table now. The computer side of everything actually is still 'Cause it's the part that it brings me back to the old days. It it the people that know it just just talk about it and it's like, Oh, you just do this, this, this It's like, Yeah, yeah, well hold on. Like, what is this, this and the

It's just like this I feel again a seventeen year old kid again that doesn't know what's going on and like I showed up late to the class and hey, teach, can you help me out? and It's a Yeah, I feel I feel like every ten years I sort of see this go through this like, Hey, I'm gonna start doing this now and it's another avenue that is scary, but there's so many people

You know, you had Dylan on the Dylan Highs on uh a few weeks ago there and he's another one. I talked to him a little bit and asked him some questions. I told him I actually I ordered a a laser table and I was talking to him about that and now that I've gotten more comfortable reaching out to people and you know, whether it's Instagram or

YouTube and us looking up information, people are so available with their information. They're so willing to share. There's there's less gaslighting I feel like than when I grew up. That like people trying to like hold on to some secret.

You know, it depends on what you want to do. You can show anybody all your secrets, but they have to go do it if they want to be successful. Yeah. Some do, some don't. And the ones that do, they deserve it. They deserve the the knowledge.

side of World War Two, you know, manufacturing and how they, you know, embrace that is that amazes me to this day. Like I was watching one the other day about uh oh a building they put up I forget which building was C not the CS T it was one of the buildings in New York that they built and they did it in like fourteen months.

And it just blows it was Empire State. Yeah, it was the Empire State. It was documented and not. That they built it in like fourteen months. It blows my mind that they could do that and how they did it by hand with all the stuff we we have nowadays. Yeah, so I usually listen to a mix of history, mechanical, uh the books. I don't know, I get so many books now, I got so much stuff in my audible right now that I'm not even sure where I left off. Um

Some hunting stuff. I do that. Uh working hands and grind. Well dot com, of course. Uh the home service expert is that Tommy Mellow one I was talking about. He's a funny guy. But yeah, it's uh I don't know, it's a mixture of like cars and stuff, but like I said, it's you know sometimes it's uh Pascas, those those guys are alright, the donut media.

I don't know. Some s I kind of float around. It depends on the mood. You know sometimes you drive home without the radio on, you're like, Oh my god, what happened today?

I have visions of grandeur to to do blacksmithing, but I think that might be beyond my reach for at least the the near future. My brother wants to buy it so actually I might sell I might sell it to him. So Yeah. I have a real hard time letting go of stuff.

high end professional grade, it's accessible, you know, it to someone like me that you know, if I'm going from hand cutting everything to three quarter plate on a table that's giving me no issues, I'm impressed with that. The press break. I forget what it is. Thirty, thirty inch? thirty inch width, I think, twenty eight between the frame, but you can do up to quarter inch, three, three eighths possibly. Um depending on the size. But yeah, it's it's the options. Uh again, that's like a

That's like a stepping stone tool for me. That's kinda how I judge myself if I if I buy that and I don't outwork it, then I'm glad I didn't buy the the twelve foot yeah, fifty thousand dollar break that um I I I it seems to be my ammo. I I start little and then uh if I can figure out the little one, I either go hog wild and go out of my mind and buy the the big expensive stupid one or I I keep with what I have.

to go chasing around run forty minutes to go fix something, I'm not their best option. And there's a few other guys around here. Th there's guys I know that I'll recommend the work to them and, you know, it's um

sharing the wealth and then some of the some of those guys too, there's some great fabricators around here that, you know, they might only do the just heavy equipment stuff and when they need something tig welded or something finessed a little bit, they send it my way. So that's been a r a real blessing too.

There's one race car builder around here that he he does just amazing work and he has me do his TIG work for him. Those are the parts that I really enjoy doing. I feel like I can I can give the best product, so I try to stick with that. But if you're in a jam and he isn't, you know, I was I was inside Trash Compact as a month ago.

in rebuilding that engine for him was was like a a just a fun thing to do. And everybody was so excited and everybody got to learn. So, you know, Lucas and Man Made Mass and and Jimmy and Dirk Maul like all them guys from that From that sort of crew got to see and learn and do and be a part of it too. And and that that was really that was cool to show everybody. Like they all have that that desire to learn those things. They just hadn't been as exposed to it.

He actually didn't know. It was when the motor blew up, Lucas asked me if I could look at it. So I'm like, Yeah, sure. So I picked it up, brought it back to shop and then at the end of that night I had the motor out of the machine. It was upside down and torn apart and the pistons were out and

just so much fun. And that's what comes from personal projects. Uh like getting someone's personal you know, something they're really emotionally attached to or I've been able to restore some things. I've been able to fix them like childhood toys, things like that. Like nonsense things that everybody else wouldn't think any

any bit of but you know, you see a a seven year old guys light up that you fix something for'em, that they can give to their grandkids or something. You know, those are the those are the ones that really really stand out on on what you're doing. You feel like you're doing something good. In the world besides some, you know, miserable contractor that broke his machine and he's just pissed'cause he can't go plow or something and he's angry. It's like, Yeah, I didn't do it.

Mm-hmm. You know, and they didn't notice it till you said it. Yeah. It's uh you know, you're you're a doubter in your own abilities. And that's why I said there's a few jobs that that give you that like you stepped up or wrong on a ladder, you know, it it it builds that confidence in you. And I guess in saying that that that's what I I guess I don't w I never want to be arrogant either.

You know, sometimes like I said, I took jobs on that I didn't know how to do, but I did that from a level of I will get it done. I don't care the cost. If it costs me money, I'm I'm gonna learn and I'm gonna do it and I'm gonna give them the proper proper result. But the confidence was always like I don't know, I don't know, you know, I'm always doubting my I didn't do a good enough job. I should have done better, you know, and I

I try to build that up in other people when I'm around'em because I now I know that feeling. So I guess if that's one thing I'd change would be uh it you know,'cause I think the if information, the accessibility, my my hard work, it was always there. It was just like

There were a lot of jobs I'm like I I don't want to do that. I don't think I can do that. Where I should have been like, I got that. I can do that. But I suppose anybody that works anybody that works themselves, I'm sure, would say the same exact thing that, you know, a younger self there's also a lot of things that I did bad. You know, like I said, there were

the first cows I worked on and the first things I welded on and my first TIG welds that I d even did for other people. I'm like, oh my God, why throw that away? Please don't tell anybody I did that. It's um you know, but you don't know until you get to the side of the fence. You know, now that we're over here, it's like we can look back and go, Wow.

eight hours and I look at it and go, I can't charge them that much money. Like somebody else could have done it faster and that was that was a dumb way to look at it. Like, well somebody else might not have done what I did. Like that goes back to that that confidence thing that

I always felt like I was too much money or I always felt like I wasn't getting enough I I don't know how to explain that. It was but it was just'cause I I didn't have the education or experience in in business to understand that side of it. I knew how to work on my hands. I didn't know how to I didn't know how to do billing and I didn't know how to do business properly. I I guess I was kinda winging it really. Yeah.

It's not in the size, the scope, the big numbers don't matter. It's it's getting the little things right that that makes the difference. But it was definitely people, for sure.

And then it goes back to time. I spent a lot of time handmaking things that I could have just shot right out of the machine.

That's where it kinda goes back to what machine would I sell should probably be that Chicago break,'cause I have the accessibility and sourcing materials. It's like I need this. Just send me these pieces bent and done and And then it shows up and that's such a relief. It it just being able to come in and then like, okay, I can put it together, like everything everything is done that way. Uh

It's I started out buying like I'll just buy full length material. I need two by two tube, just send me, you know, twenty two photos or whatever twenty four photos and I I'll I'll handle it. And then that was that was actually one of the things I I guess I can go back on that one is that one of the things I really learned was stop handling products.

that I was handling product way too much. Instead of calling and saying I need twenty pieces at two feet, it was I'd buy the whole thing and I'd cut it. And they d they weren't charging anything for it. It wasn't it wasn't a big deal. I just

Again I felt like I was bothering'cause I was a small shop and I'm calling these big places and I'm like, Man, these guys don't want to deal with me and now some of these people are my best friends. And I go in and I hang out with them and I talk to'em and that's where that that part changed that Yeah, handling material and trying to do everything by yourself doesn't help all the time.

Just let them cut it. You know what I mean? Like it's just I I I I I I never realized the value of them cutting. Like it's like five dollars a cut. You know what I mean? Like that that's what I ballpark. But when you're cutting like eight by eight square tube, like pay the five dollars.

There's a lot of friends now that and they understand and respect it. It's like, no man, I don't I don't wanna do that for you'cause I don't want that to get in between us as friends, you know? Mm. And Like I said, I'll help any friend do anything and I don't care what it is, if it's carrying a sofa down the stairs or well done something for'em, but it's like knowing expectations is

A tough thing to figure out.'Cause everybody wants to be your friend, especially if you're the only guy that can fix something or do something, or you're the you're the well the guy that fixes a guy, you know. You buy a lift and everybody needs their oil changed, or you buy a trailer and everybody has something to move. It's uh the age old problems of of owning stuff, but

Um or I'll or I'll hear something, I'm like, Hey dude, why d like I'll help you out with that? I didn't want to bother you. It's like, no, no, no, no. Like this is one we can do. And yeah, it's it's uh Uh it's a fine line. I g I guess that's a personal characteristic that everybody has to learn for themselves. That you be polite till you can't be polite anymore, sometimes there's that. You just gotta tell'em to get lost or

Uh yeah, I don't think there's any written rule for how to deal with that. But avoid'em. If nothing else, just avoid them.

If they want to talk for two hours, talk to him for two hours. If he wants to sit there and smoke a cigarette and take his time and drink his whiskey and he's just fotting around and the story wanders. Wait and listen. Wait and listen. Listen to the guys. Yeah. Uh there's so many people out there that are so incredibly smart and they don't share. They're not on YouTube. They're not on social media. They're not anywhere to be found. They're not in textbooks. They're in person and you gotta

You gotta sit and listen to my father always told me you got two ears and one mouth. Shut up and listen. And anytime I'm in a room with somebody I I d I mean I know we're sitting on the air talking now, but I'm usually quiet. I I just listen to people, listen to people and I I want them to keep talking. It's infectious when when you get to

learn so much from so and it all comes from experience. They're not it's not like reading a textbook where, you know, X, Y, and Z it's it's experiences, personal experiences. Those are where I've learned so much of what I've done in my life. And most of'em are willing to share it if you're willing to shut up and listen. If you walk in and go, Oh, I did that. Oh, I've been to one of those. Oh, I've done one of those things, they're not, they're gonna shut down. They'll stop talking to you.

'Cause they don't want that. Nob nobody wants that. Let'em tell the stories. Let them let'em tell uh tell you what they did before you tell'em what you do.