SPEAKER_03 0:00

I'm Dan Van Orden, founder of Idea Room, and we're proud to be the official sponsors of the American Build Center podcast. Enjoy the episode, guys. Somebody else that will make you feel better.

SPEAKER_02 0:59

Well, hey, hey, hey, what's going on, guys? This is Jared, and welcome back to another episode of America Builds Better. Man, what a morning it's been. I had computer problems. I have having podcasting, streamer issues, but we are here with another episode of America Builds Better. I can tell you something, man. We just got back from the post-frame builder show in York, and you guys showed up, showed out. Thank you guys for tuning in and checking us out and checking out all the content. Um, we really appreciate you guys. We're gonna be bringing you more content. Obviously, we're gonna be here talking today some to some uh some good friends of ours that were also at the show, and we'll talk about trade shows, we'll talk about upcoming things. But as always, I want to give a shout out to the top of the episode to our friends at Idea Room. Design, quote, and close with idea room. If you're in the post frame space, check out the smart build integration. If you're using smart build, how'd you like to have lead gen that goes directly into your smart build from 3D design to bill of materials, all in one fail swoop? Idea room and smart build will help you get it done. Our friends at Shieldwall Media, thank you so much. We had a great time at the trade show. Um, the team at Shieldwall did a fantastic job. They fed us well. Um, beautiful venue there in York and just a great time. But if you're in need of any kind of the uh the construction trade industry publications, shieldwall is the team that you want to check out. It's free to do that. Um, there's a QR code here on the screen. Check that out, or check them out at shieldwallmedia.com. They are building knowledge and building America through helping with publishing. The team over there is great. As always, if you need help with your marketing, higher ranking, stronger businesses, the team at Define will help you get that done. And I can tell you one thing. We are absolutely, absolutely blessed to have Peter and Andrew here from Making Sales Simple. They are the team that puts on the Shed Sales Summit, which is taking place September the 22nd, 2026 at the Makers Exchange in Knoxville. And I can tell you, it's a fantastic venue. They're fantastic guys. Anyone that's been to Shed Sales Summit knows it's great, anyways, but I can tell you it's part of Shed Week, and I can tell you we'll be there amongst other friends. It's the event to be at. So I'm gonna bring them into the studio here, but I am gonna show you a quick presentation. So hang out.

SPEAKER_01 3:27

This is Peter with Making Sales Simple, and I wanted to personally invite you to the Shed Sales Summit this September in Knoxville, Tennessee. First of all, we're going to have some speakers come in that are motivational but also knowledge-driven. So one of the things they're going to teach you is about marketing. And as we look around in this shed industry, there's all kinds of people talking about marketing. But this guy has a proven track for me. Steve Robinson will be joining us in Knoxville, Tennessee. We do not want to miss him. He is known for creating the house campaign for the Chick-fil-A brand, and he will be speaking to us. Make sure you get your tickets at shedsalesummit.com. You won't want to miss it this September in Knoxville.

SPEAKER_02 4:16

Well, hey guys. Welcome to America Builds Better. Andrew Boyle, Peter Miller. They are here from Making Sales Simple, right? Did I get that right?

unknown 4:26

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 4:27

All right. That's right. Simple Shed Marketing. Did I get that right? You're two for two. All right. Shed Sales Summit takes place September the 22nd, 2026, in Knoxville. And man, it's great to have you on the show. Thank you for being patient with me this morning. I always try to share with the uh the audience that when we have uh technical fiascos, as I like to say, um, it's always nice to have guys like you that are patient with me. So thank you guys for that. And welcome to the podcast. How are you?

SPEAKER_01 4:59

Doing good. Thank you for having us on here, Jared. Um, yeah, we understand technical difficulties because we kind of can run through through some of those same same difficulties. But hey, uh modern modern conveniences that help us also can uh hinder us a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 5:14

But uh I'll modern conveniences, modern problems. Technical from ASCO's run amok. So good morning to you guys. And super duper looking forward to Shed Sale Summit, but we're coming off the builder show, the post-frame builder show in York. So we got to hang out and and and spend a little bit of time together, not as much as I would have liked. Um, for those of you that are following Andrew and Peter along, um, looks like they had a blast in Washington. I heard they got some scooters and different things, and uh might be some content coming your way on that. But yeah, we're here today. Yeah, we're here today to hype up Shed Sale Summit.

SPEAKER_00 5:51

Absolutely. So we whenever we go to these shows, we got to do something fun. And we found out DC was only like an hour and 45 minutes away. I had never been there. Um, it was a lot of fun seeing the setup for UFC 250. But the the post-frame builder show was great. I mean, Gary did a great job putting that on. Uh, of course, your booth there, Jerry, with the the podcast setup would look great. And the food, like you said, was awesome. Great job. If you guys didn't go, make sure you go to the next one.

SPEAKER_01 6:20

Smoked chicken. Uh, I I don't I don't know I've ever had it quite that way, but man, you you definitely never forget it different different kinds of foods that you get across the country, and man, he he knocked it out of the park, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_02 6:34

Yeah, they had a uh they had a meat and cheese, like a uh like a charcuterie board that was like I don't know, probably the length of a six-foot table, something like that. And it was just like take it at your own risk, right? And you know, deviled eggs, and uh there was some kind of barbecue, and you know, of course, for those that are that are fair to partake, there's all kinds of drinks and fun stuff for those um as well. So, you know, that that social time afterwards is nice to meet with people and and shake and howdy and talk a little bit more about their businesses, what they want, and what they need. So that's a good time. I will tell you, for those of you that don't know, construction roll forming. I'd be amiss if I didn't say that. Construction roll forming uh show's coming up in September. It's the week before Shed Expo. And really, if you guys are going to Shed Expo, find the time to go to Shed Sale Summit. I'm just gonna keep plugging you guys if that's all right. You know, it's it's it's a little bit easier to do this year, right? It's on Tuesday, so it's just it you don't really have to make an extra day, just come a few hours early and find yourself over at the makers exchange.

SPEAKER_01 7:43

And talking talking about uh, you know, what's going on there, like you come a little bit early and you get the opportunity to network with you know people that are in that that particular field, you know, shed sales. Um I'm really excited with our panel and such. And we've we've got that teased up to to go out here shortly, but uh we're gonna have CEOs and and presidents, vice presidents uh of uh uh companies. Um it's it's really gonna be like I say in the in the ad, it's knowledge driven. You know, we want people to learn something from this so that that way they can take it back and use it. Because, you know, everybody starts out with a a small business and they want to they want to have their business grow. Well, one of the ways you can do it is you can try and fail and you figure it out, right? Well, hopefully you figure it out. Or you can listen to somebody else who's done it before and is willing to share some of that wisdom and be able to take that to the next level and be able to use that to grow your business that much faster. Um shed sales are something that's near and dear to my heart. I if I get the chance to sit behind a desk and try to sell, I I like doing that. Some of my sales people in my shed lots are probably not liking that too much because they're like, give me the sale, I want to take it. But it it's kind of uh kind of old hat when I get back in a lot that I just want to I want to reach out there and help somebody. Um and with the Shed Sales Summit, same thing. We just want to reach out there and help somebody.

SPEAKER_00 9:28

Absolutely. I and I I know that the the post frame industry and shed industry some are a little different. Um, but if I could encourage you, if you're not necessarily in the shed business, it's still a great opportunity to come and learn because our speakers are not in the shed industry either. I mean, he was the the CMO of Chick-fil-A, the other guy is a business psychologist. So don't think that they're just gonna be talking about storage sheds and like I don't build storage sheds, I build barn dominiums or post-frame. You're gonna learn something. Uh, I mean, just going from one Chick-fil-A to 5,000 or however many there are, there's got to be a lot of knowledge that uh he's gonna be able to bring to us. Uh so whatever industry you're in, uh, you're welcome to come to this event. Uh, you're gonna learn something. This speaker is one that Peter, uh Peter's been to a lot of events, uh, along with me. And this is the one that he remembers the most, uh, this speaker. And that's uh when we started the Shed Sales Summit, I think three or four years ago, we started planning it. Uh, it was one of Peter's goals to have uh Steve Robinson come in. And so this year we took the leap, we we swiped the credit card and said, uh we know it's expensive, but let's get uh you know a really professional, someone that's not just a good speaker, but that has the reputation to back it up. Uh and so we're super excited about this, you know. So no matter what industry you're in, everybody's welcome.

SPEAKER_02 10:51

Yes. I I love it, man, because I love seeing, you know, so he was the chief marketing officer for Chick-fil-A, which you outlined really well in your commercial. You did the cows campaign. Um, he's been all I mean, just go look it up. There's there's plenty of videos to see of Steve, but I have to tell you, I'm just as excited for Owen Fitzpatrick. So if you haven't checked it out, check out Inner Propaganda Podcast. Um, he has a lot of YouTube content. You guys have probably seen him and haven't even realized that you've seen him. He does a lot of short content, he does a ton of psychology-driven marketing. So he likes to look at you know, driving the inner ideas, what drives customers to make purchases. And I mean, I gotta be honest, I'm super stoked for Owen Fitzpatrick. So that I'm I'm just to let you guys know.

SPEAKER_01 11:43

A benefit there, Jared, is I don't know if I I don't think I mentioned on there, but everybody who gets a ticket and attends, they get a free book from Owen on the his new book, Inter Propaganda. So, like, there you go. You know, like, hey, you wanna you want to learn a little bit even more after you leave? Guess what? You got you got something you're taking home with you. Um, and and Owen is really interesting. He's been on TEDx TEDx Talks before. Yep. Um, he's he's he's really got a a good resume as far as uh being able to back up what he's saying.

SPEAKER_02 12:20

What I appreciate the most from you guys, from an insider that's also outside, right? I'm not like everybody that sells sheds or metal buildings or post frame buildings. I I'm really out there in the I'm trying to learn all the time. I watch a lot of uh short and long form content on YouTube on how to market and sell to people and how to reach the inner parts of their of their psyche to help them make educated decisions. People buy from people they like, know, trust, and feel safe with. That's the one that you often miss is feeling safe when you make a purchase, right? So people don't care as much about the price or the lead time as they do about feeling safe with you. So that's a big one for me. And I think Interpropaganda and Owen Fitzpatrick fits that bill very well, which I appreciate. But what I really do appreciate about you guys is you guys are bringing unique perspectives to the shed industry. Okay. These are not your typical cookie cutter kind of keynote speakers that are just going to come in and specifically talk to you about the shed industry. Because a lot of times what the shed industry needs to hear are the outside voices of companies that are more successful than them, of industries that are more successful than them. And we need to be able to go outside of our comfort zone ever so slightly to grow our market, to grow our our niche, because portable buildings are just that, they're a niche, right? You know, they're not for everybody, but they can be.

SPEAKER_01 13:55

That's the thing, they can be for everybody, and and that's a thing that you just said there with the the market, like the shed industry is a great industry. I love it, but also at the same time, my question would be it's kind of I think some people would say would be almost in the infant stage. There is so much room to grow this industry when you look outside uh in different industries, and that's kind of what what our thought pattern is. Hey, we listen to our past attendees, and that that has a huge impact on the direction that we go on on where it is, because they're telling us, they're saying, Hey, Peter, we want to find out about the psychology of the sale. Guess what? That was like, all right, you put it on my list, and I started I started working to find that that particular person. Um marketing has always been a hot button in the the shed industry because everybody how can I say everybody claims to have the answers, right? In in marketing. Um and I think there's there's a lot of different angles that you can go about in marketing to to accomplish the job. Um and one of the things is find somebody who's ha has the proven track record. If somebody has, you know, if somebody hasn't seen a cow's you know, holding up a sign that says eat more chicken, um, you know, that's you you see it driving down the road on a billboard. That's right. Um they're they're they're covering not just digital, they're covering, you know, in person. They have the cow walking around in Chick-fil-A. Come on, that's uh that's pretty that's pretty genius right there. Um and so so going back to our and I'm I'm taking over the conversation here, guys. Just tell me to shut up whenever, but whenever we hear back from our attendees what they want, we we dive into that and we try to provide that because ultimately we want you to have value. Um I understand it costs money, and so I don't want you to waste your money, I want it to be a good value proposition, and that's what we're striving to do is provide a great value um at the least amount possible.

SPEAKER_02 16:10

What I what Peter and I have talked a couple times over the last few weeks, like at length, probably 35, 45, an hour-long conversation. And I think the thing that I really appreciate is that you're giving an opportunity to those who are already coming to Shed Expo, an opportunity to get some additional time, right? That's the one thing that I don't really love about trade shows is okay, so I'm going for a two-day trade show. I've got to come at least a day early, maybe two, depending on if I'm an exhibitor or if I'm just a visitor. But this, the setup this year is particularly good. Again, September 22nd, um, at Makers Exchange, we'll be doing Shed Sales Summit. And I'm really excited because now it's just one day before Shed Expo starts. So if you are heading down or flying in, you've got plenty of time now, it's June to make some plans for September. And you'll want to make those plans. I mean, instead of buying a hotel room for an additional night, you're probably already staying on Tuesday night, anyhow. Throw a little bit of money at Shed Sales Summit, and you'll get something out of it, guys. I mean, you're world-class speakers, world-class speakers, right? And a networking event with I mean, when can you go and say, I'm gonna be in a room with people who are like-minded? Because it takes a like-minded individual to sit in that room and want to grow their business. You have to want to do better. That the thing that I want to do with America Builds Better, just so you guys know, and so everyone knows, I want to help contractors, and that's contractors, whether you're building pole barns or metal buildings or sheds. I care about your individual performance, right? I want you to win, and I mean that. Like Peter's gotten to know me pretty well over the last month. I mean that entirely, whole heart. So the way that I look at it is, and I actually just pulled it up because I wanted to make sure I read the stat directly. There is a big box retailer or multiple big box retailers out there that carry a certain type of shed. We're just gonna leave that at that big box retailer shed, 350 to 600 million dollars in annual revenue. Okay, that's a lot of revenue leaving on the table with small business owners, regional contractors, people in the business that we love, which is truly the shed industry, not the mass-produced building world. That's not what we're all about. We're about taking care of plain community, small manufacturers who might sell to bigger, you know, conglomerate manufacturers like Stormore or Sheds Direct or any of those guys. But if you're one mom and pop shop and you make, I don't know, 50 sheds a year, that's who we care about too. We want to reach you and we want to let you know that there are people in the industry around the industry that want to help you succeed, and that's what Shed Sale Summit, Shed Expo, NSRA, all of these events that take place are all about. They're all about giving you that knowledge, that next level experience to come. Have a shared experience with somebody who's doing things just like you, and maybe there's somebody in that room that can share something with you that can help you make your business better tomorrow.

SPEAKER_01 19:24

And right, and that is that is, you know, you I couldn't have said it better. I don't think there NSRA is is is taking you know leaps and bounds. I don't want that that it sounds bad, but the the you can see the effort that they've put into their their event, so it's it's the conference for the year, you know. They're bringing in like they bring John John Deloney and John Felkins in last year, and then another guy. Like those guys are not cheap. That is that is that is very expensive. And we we kind of know that same same uh situation this year, but that's that's something that shows that they're wanting to invest back into the industry if you're in rent to own, but even if you're not in rent to own, it's a great place to network as well. Um, and then of course we all know that the Shed Builder Expo, like, hey, it's known as the reunion part of it because everybody likes that community feel of getting together. And and that's that's one thing we love about it too.

SPEAKER_00 20:28

Yeah, for sure. Absolutely absolutely. It's the NSRA. I was tied up last year and couldn't make it, but then I seen some videos of it like I'm definitely going this year. I have to just make it work because the John Deloneys and all their speakers, again, they're not in rent to own. They don't know probably anything about rent to own other than what you know they the NSRA told them about it. So it's not like, oh, I'm not in that, I'm not gonna go. If you're already in town, go to it. You're gonna learn something. And that's why with the Shed Sales Summit this year, um, we're we're trying to do a little bit different, and um we're trying to bring in speakers like with Owen Fitzpatrick. We're we're just giving his book away. Everybody that comes gets his book because we're not wanting speakers who are very careful to get speakers that aren't gonna be just up there selling you something, like, hey, this is the best thing, buy it. We want speakers that are actually gonna give you stuff to learn to help your business, and whether that's using if they had a service, which they don't these guys don't, or anything. I just we want some that's just you're gonna be able to go home, be able to write down, find whoever you want to, you know, every business in a different stage. And so our goal is to help those businesses learn. And I've been to several shows, I love listening to YouTube stuff, like you said, Jared. I'm I'm a YouTube guy, I hardly ever listen to the radio, it's always YouTube, and it's crazy how many times I I've heard it 10 times, but like it'll spark something. Like, I'm gonna go change that. I actually listened to something this morning before I got to the office. And I've already put it into play uh right before the show I was doing the stuff that they suggested and on Facebook and stuff. I'm like, you know, but I've I've heard that a hundred times, but it's just a different way of hearing it. That's what we're hoping to get out of the Shed Sales Summit, is not to come and try to get people to buy these people's stuff, but come and be able to take something home and help the industry.

SPEAKER_01 22:21

Yeah. And I think that's one of the things that I would follow up with that is like we're learning just like I said earlier about businesses, and you learn through stepping into potholes or or not knowing what to do. We're we're trying to avoid those, okay? But there is no other shed summit that I can look at and be like, okay, they did it this way. So I look at similar, similar events that maybe are outside of the shed industry, and I try to, you know, work it around that way. I'm not saying that our past speakers have been bad because they've been good. There's been good value proposition there too. It's just we're raising the bar and raising the bar. And and I think in that, you know, in the end, then the attendee is the one who is going to win at that point.

SPEAKER_02 23:07

And we've talked about this, Peter. Like, I just want to, I mean, I would be remiss if I said, you know, I get asked a lot, you know, one of the first questions is, well, you know, you you get on here on your podcast and you talk about idea room or smart build or shield wall or whatever that is. I'm not getting paid to do any of that. Like a lot of what I do and a lot of what Peter and Andrew do is just passion projects for the industry. You know, you can check our bank registers. I mean, not actually check our bank registers, but figuratively, we're not making money on things like this. And I, you know, I don't want to make an assumption for you guys, but I think it's hard to sit back and say, well, we're making a lot of money on Shed Sales Summit. Shed Sales Summit is a passion project for you guys, and it's something that you're giving back to the industry and your hard work effort. And that's why, you know, when Peter and I talked about it specifically, like I want to be an advocate for that because that's the kind of stuff that like really gets me going. Get out in your communities and do something good for somebody else and make you feel better. Everybody says they're gonna do something, very few people do, and that's another thing that we want to highlight, right? I mean, we want to highlight getting out and doing these things, like Peter, you put your money where your mouth is. Andrew, you put your money where your mouth is. You're doing something for the industry that nobody else really saw fit to do, and that's why we want people to come and enjoy it, right?

SPEAKER_01 24:34

Yeah, because uh uh look at that. If you could go back to the bank registers, we've done this, this is your number three. We you run everything through, we've not made any profit on this at all. Zero. And and and I'm not saying that to be like, oh, good job, Peter. No, because this, like you said, it's a passion project. We're we're designing this to be able to uplift, as what's that saying? A rising tide raises raises all boats. We're uplifting the whole industry as as much as possible. Um, because we know that if we all grow together stronger and better, then what does that help? That helps our customers, you know, just like we're trying to help the attendee, if you wanted to call it the customer, we're raising that customer up in the shed sales summit, but then we're also hoping that translates back to the shed industry and the shed sales professionals and the pole barn professionals and whoever is out there. You know, we're gonna have uh some somebody, uh, I I don't want to break it just yet, but there's other industries that's gonna be there that are going to input into this this event and help those professionals that are selling be able to deliver a better experience for the customer. Um, that is that is our goal. We want it to raise and uplift everybody because at the end of the day, everybody gets a better experience, everybody gets a better product at the end.

SPEAKER_00 26:07

Yeah, if I could give a speaking of putting money where your mouth is, if I give a shout out really quick uh to J Mag, they were our premier sponsor last year. This year, uh we've gotten, as you've seen, we kind of upped the bar on our speakers, which you know, these the the bigger the the uh their you know credentials, the more they cost, uh, and rightfully so. Uh and we called J Mag uh Jim, you know, Jim at JMAG, and um without hesitation, it was like, yep, I'll I'll be the diamond sponsor again. Uh so our sponsors are the ones that really you know make this possible uh because it is very expensive, the venue is expensive. Uh so a shout out to all of our sponsors, but especially Jim and J Mag for taking that top spot once again.

SPEAKER_02 26:51

Yeah, I I love the guys at JMAG. So we actually started working closely with JMAG on a couple of projects, and Jim is a fantastic guy, and I love that you guys are sharing content from last year's Shed Sale Summit. So if you want to preview, check out Shed Sale Summit on Facebook. Follow links through ShedSalesummit.com. There are tons of great clips of Richard and Jim and Craig and all you guys. Andrew, you've got a bunch of good clips on there. I mean, honestly, check out the content because it's rich. And I can give a quick shout out. I'm calling it right from the website, so correct me if I'm wrong. JMag, Shed Geek, Simple RTO, Eternity Building, Shed Suite, Making Sales Simple, Velocity 360, RTO National, Simple Shed Marketing. So the teams at all of those companies, and go back and listen to the last episode that Peter did with Shannon over on the Shed Geek podcast. Um, lots of good information there. And we want to continue to get the information out to you guys. That's what it's all about. Peter and I have talked about this a lot. Like, I jumped in on Shed Talk Live. If you guys haven't checked out Shed Talk Live, check it out on YouTube, Facebook, all of the different social channels. Andrew and Peter are putting their money where their mouth is again. They go live, they don't even record. Like right now, we're recording. I can go back and make edits and make changes. They go live and they just take like basically phone call. So it's like old school trading post, right? You call into the radio show, and hey, it's me, whoever. And that's a fun environment, man. You guys shouldn't if you're listening to me, you should definitely check out Shed Talk Live or Shed Geek or Building Ones Live. Like, there's so much good content out there that is directed at you, Mr. Contractor, you, Mr. Shed Dealer, you, Mr. Metal Building Salesperson, whoever it is. That's what we're here for. And I'd be remiss if I didn't give a shout out to the guys over at Velocity 360 as well. I don't know how closely they're working with you guys, but we love the team at Velocity 360. Joe and his team are doing great things for the shed industry. Um I'd be remiss if I didn't say that again for them.

SPEAKER_01 29:02

Absolutely. So and and and Joe, it Joe was one of our speakers last year. Um that was one of the things that that was eye-opening. Think about it. Like, he he he's brought into the industry something that's like just like wow. And and it's changed, it's changed the industry, I would say.

SPEAKER_02 29:21

And so, yeah, the guys at VLIS Velocity 360 have done a really good job at what they're doing, and we're happy to have them on board as a sponsor and look forward to making pivots, he's making pivots in his business based on his experience at Shed Sale Summit, based on feedback, seriously, based on feedback that he got at Shed Sale Summit from people who came and gave that. You know, I always think thinking singularly, acting collectively, right? Everyone comes into a room thinking their own thoughts about the industry, about their personal businesses. And if we can think those thoughts and bring them into a room and act on those collectively, walking out of the room, there is someone having an experience that I've not had yet. And etc., etc. etc. on and on and on. And again, where will you go and get an opportunity to be in a room with a few hundred people that do what you do in any capacity? And you can drop the barrier of this is my shed lot, no, this is my shed lot, no, this is my shed lot. Like, that's not what this is about. Okay, and again, you don't have to come and say anything, you can come sit and enjoy lots of rich content, lots of opportunity to learn and make yourself better so you can do better for your business tomorrow.

SPEAKER_01 30:44

And another point to that. Another point to that, you can sit there, not say a word. We're gonna feed you, we're gonna feed you a plate of dinner. This isn't this isn't a buffet. We're gonna we're gonna do a play to dinner. You guys get to enjoy a really nice meal amongst everybody around there. We're gonna have Don't Tell the Bishop there. He is gonna be entertaining, I promise you. If you don't know who Don't Tell the Bishop is, he's a he's a comedian. Um, and we got to understand comedy a little bit. Some people may not like all comedy, but we're gonna take we're gonna take this and say, this guy, this guy, what we've seen, he is a funny guy. He's gonna be uh entertaining, but then we also have an award ceremony. And I don't know if you have it right there on on the website, but you can click on the award side of things. Jared, if you don't mind, roll down through those and and can you read off what those those 10 different awards are?

SPEAKER_02 31:41

So, yeah, I actually submitted mine. So Peter and I talked about this last week, and hopefully you got them. I I cared about it, and I want you to care about it too. Shed salesummit.com backslash awards. We've got 10 awards, like Peter was saying. Um, I'll start at the bottom because I feel like shed fluencer is probably the least important award because we all could be considered shed shed influencers or shed fluencers. Um, and I'll just tell you right now, hats off to Shannon. He got my vote. Um, I don't know that there is another shed fluencer that I look at as much as I look at Shannon. So hopefully Shed Geek gets a nod, but I will tell you that was my vote. Uh Manufacturer Excellence Award, I assume this is for a manufacturer that is excelling, right? Doing above uh above above average in all capacities, whether it be how they build, what they're building, what they're bringing to the shed industry, industry innovation award. I looked at this a little bit differently. I looked at someone who specifically is bringing something to the table that the industry needs to move forward, right? So, and again, you look at these awards however you like, but rising star award, someone that I know and can recognize in the industry who wants to do better and is doing better and has built a business and moving forward and building that business even better for tomorrow. Delivery professional of the year. Um, this is probably one that's gonna get a little bit heated. Let's get some, let's get some uh let's get some uh shed haulers, the shed hauler brotherhood. Let's get you guys on there voting. Vote for you know who you think's the best one among you, right? Now's the time. Shed salesummit.com backslash awards, dealer of the year award. That's a big one. That's a big one. All right. That one goes without saying. Sales professional of the year award. Again, listen, if you guys have someone on your team or in a nearby extended team, and you want to give them recognition, now's the time, right? They can get recognized. Mentor of the year award. I liked this one too. Um, I feel like there's so many good mentors in the game right now, people that really care about you and want you to do better. Um, I have to give a shout out to my buddy Charles Hutchins. I mean, Charles is the guy that I look at a lot, so he got my vote. I'm not going to tell you who I voted for in every category, but I will give a shout out to Charles, the the Sheddon Carport uh expert or pro. I don't even remember what he's called, but I see a lot of his content. He writes for the magazines. Um, that's what I want you guys to think about. Someone who mentors you and makes you a better version of yourself so that you can be a better version for your customers. Uh, Lifetime Achievement Award. Um that one probably goes without saying. Someone who's been in the industry a long time, has made an impact, made a difference, continuing to make an impact and a difference. And Peter, I want you to talk about the Shed of Honor Award. That's the that's the big one, right? That's the best picture. That's the number one. So, Shed of Honor, Peter, you take it away, brother.

SPEAKER_01 34:56

So, Shed of Honor is is something that you know people are gonna look at online because think about how do we interact as an industry? How do we how do we talk to people? Honestly, uh unless you go to an event like this, everything is online socials, or maybe you go to church with somebody or another. So that person has stood out throughout the years, and we like to look at it as somebody who's been in the industry a good long time, at least I would say at least five years. Now, that doesn't that's the the kind of the one thing that we looked at at this. We didn't want to we didn't want to put definitions necessarily on there because we felt like then we're kind of shaping how somebody looks at that. When you think of shed of honor, that person needs to be honorable, you know, in how they deal with their business. Think about think about how they're they're doing if they're if they're not being honest about uh something to be able to make some money. I'm sorry, I I wouldn't vote for them as shed of honor. We want them to be honorable first and foremost, they're giving back this same person that's that's gonna win the shed of honor could be the mentor of the year. This same person could be um, you know, so many uh of the other different awards that are there. And that's the other thing I want to put in there is you don't have to put 10 different names. One person can win more than one award. Uh that would be a little interesting, but that's that's where we put it back to the vote. Um I think that's what do they call a democratic process. Uh sure. And so we're we're gonna put it into there. Honorable, they want to they they need to be honest, they need to be trustworthy, they need to be uh giving back, they need to uplift, uplift the industry and push the industry forward. Those would be those would be some of the things that I would put as a criteria that I would look at.

SPEAKER_02 36:57

Did you see my did you see my did you see my votes? No, have you guys looked at that? Okay, you guys are you guys going to look at that? I just I the only reason I ask is because I thought about it a lot, and I understand you could go through the award, you know, voting process and vote for 10, you can vote for yourself 10 times, I guess, but that wouldn't be very much fun. I mean, care about it, you know, care about it because this could be something that in addition to shed sale summit becomes a bigger deal for the industry. There is very little recognition in our space. We're in a very thankless job, unfortunately. There is just not, I mean, you know, if you're a dealer, God bless your heart, I'm telling you, because the manufacturers, shame on them, they don't do the best job in the world. And I'm calling them out right now. You know, I will put them on blast right now because I've been a dealer a long time, and I'm not calling out anybody in particular, Mr. Manufacturer, do a better job of recognizing the people who are selling your products, please. You know, the little the little eight and a half by eleven pre-printed papers or the little you know, five-inch glass glass recognition, like that's great and all, but like give us a shout out on your website. Yeah, shout out your top dealers.

SPEAKER_01 38:16

But one of the things I I'll I'll talk about, one of our salespeople, they won, I think it was uh uh salesperson of the month, this particular one, and it just sticks out to me. And every time I go in there, guess what? It's right up on his wall. He proudly displays that thing because it meant a lot to him. Did it cost us a lot? No, it didn't. But we took the time to stop and recognize him, and we're not doing this for like bragging and proud, like, oh, look at me, you know, I'm the best here. We're not doing that, we're just saying, hey, honor where honor is due. You guys did a good job. We want to recognize that, or you gals. I mean, think about that. There's a lot of ladies in our industry that's right that are doing a killer job at sales and and all across the board.

SPEAKER_02 39:03

I gotta be honest with you guys. I gotta be honest with you, the best sales reps that I have are female on Metal Buildings. Yeah, I it's not even close, it's not even close. So, and uh and to highlight what you said, Peter, I mean to cut you off, Andrew. We have a we have a nice little setup here at the front of Dayton Barnes, right? We we do the podcast here. I mean, we have probably I don't know, 10 or 12 of like glass. You know, you guys have seen them, right? The the eight-inch glass, you know, and and they do, they look nice, and if if nothing else, that's better than nothing, right? And that's what we want to use it for here is to recognize hey, we've had some successes as a team. They have. Shout out to Big Buildings Direct, they do a great job, they've got a big championship belt they give to their reps, you know. They they they they they like walk around with a championship belt, like a big wrestling belt, big WWE belt. Like who had the best month? That guy, because he's got the belt at his desk. Like, incentivize yourselves, incentivize your teams too. With that, that's kind of fun. We have a goat, we have a little statue goat that goes to the best salesperson each month. So that goat travels around the cubicles and goes from person to person, and we know who had the best month, and then the goat will travel on to somebody else. And if you have it for more than one month, you you know, you got your head hanging high for a little bit. Andrew, I didn't mean to cut you off, brother. Go ahead, man.

SPEAKER_00 40:27

No, absolutely. It's just it's these people that are that meet these criteria obviously have helped you in some form in your career, or maybe your daily motivation, or people like Jared and Shannon. Maybe you turn it on, you just watch them and get content. It's it's kind of your way of just saying thank you. And it takes literally a minute to do. Go on there, fill it out, because it'll mean a lot to that person getting recognized. And for us just saying, Hey, we appreciate you, whoever you vote for. Uh, because we're gonna let you know the the runners up, we'll let them know as well. Like, hey, you know, you you're a runner up. So it just gives them the the you know the praise and gratitude, you know, that they that they deserve for all the things that they've done. Because you know, a lot of it they don't charge for, you know, like uh Charles and all those people out there that just constantly putting that content out that benefits the industry. So let's thank them for all they've done for the industry. Go on there, fill it out, take 60 seconds of your time.

SPEAKER_02 41:26

Yeah, I would be remiss if I didn't say that, you know, specifically for Shannon and Charles. Like those are two guys who have mentored me, those are two guys who have influenced me and what I'm doing in this space and getting outside my comfort zone a few years ago and putting my money where my mouth was when I said, Hey, I've got I feel like I have something I can share with the industry. Whether you like me or don't like me, it's not that my goal isn't for you to like me. My goal is to share content with you to make your businesses better tomorrow. That's what I want to do. I want to help you make your business better. And once you meet me, I'll be at Shed Sales Summit. I'm happy to talk to you. I'm an open book and I don't charge for it either. I I love helping you reach your goals and giving you an idea you might not have had, and that's just who I am as a person. And you know, it's it's probably fortunate and unfortunate at the same time because I carry the baggage of my friends and family and loved ones with me all the time. I care about my friends' businesses. That's why I mean, honestly, why Andrew and Peter are on here. We we were at the trade show, and I stressed to them, I want to get content for your show. I want to try to help Shed Sale Summit reach another level. Because to me, if it's not successful, it goes away. And we've all had things in our lives and in the past that we've enjoyed, gotten good, you know, good service from, and then all of a sudden it's gone. And we wonder why. And it's because we're not as supportive as we could be. If you're hearing me right now, Shed Sales Summit takes place September 22nd, 2026, at Makers Exchange in Knoxville. You would be absolutely remiss if you didn't go. It's a great time. You're already coming for Shed Expo. And to be honest, if you're not coming, you need to. It's a great event. All of it, you need to. So we'll have you guys back again. I told Peter, man, you guys come on whenever you want. Um, because I think there's a lot to talk about. You guys do a lot of stuff. Um, making sales simple.com. If you want some specific one-on-one time with Andrew or Peter, um, they'll help you out with that. Um, shed salesummit.com is of course what we've been talking about on this episode the whole time. And for those of you that might be looking for marketing help, Simple Shed Marketing, check that out too. They do great 4K high quality video content. They do really good job of getting that stuff done for you. And if you want someone who's in the shed space and knows what they're talking about, the team at Simple Shed Marketing. Will help you get it done as well. You guys got anything for me? I think I've given you as much hype as I can on a Friday morning with bad technology. Yeah, we appreciate it. Yeah, man. For sure. I appreciate you guys. Seriously. It was it was a rough one this morning, so I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_01 44:17

Yeah, no, we appreciate the opportunity. Uh, I said this on the Shed Geek podcast. Like anybody anytime that somebody allows me to step up on a platform and talk about the Shed Sales Summit, I I'm very appreciative. Thank you for that. Um, and to you that are listening to this, um, you heard my personal invite at the beginning. Go get your tickets. Uh, one of the things I will say is last year, um, every year that we've had this, it's increased in attendance. And with this year being on Tuesday, right before the Shed Builder Expo, then the problem, I guess, there's a problem in a uh thing. The problem is it's grown every year, and we only have a limited amount of seats that is available. So if you're listening to this, there is seats right now, but get your tickets and sign up for that. We do have two options for tickets. There's a a standard general admission ticket, which everybody's gonna get a book, uh, from Owen Fitzpatrick, and then we have a VIP ticket that allows you to go after the event and sit with Dave Robinson, Owen Fitzpatrick, some of our panels gonna be there, uh, Don't Tell the Bishop is gonna be there. This is something where you actually get sit down and talk to them and ask them individual questions. Last year we did that, it was just out of this world. It was great during that time. But you choose VIP, general admission, both of them are great value, and we look forward to seeing you in Knoxville September 22nd at the Shed Sales Summit. Absolutely. Andrew, you got anything, man?

SPEAKER_00 45:59

I don't want to cut you. No, man, I just I appreciate the opportunity to get on here, Jared. It's a it's an honor to be on your show. We watch you and it's great to see what you're doing with America Builds Better and just help with the industry.

SPEAKER_02 46:11

Appreciate you guys. Hang out with me for a bit. We're gonna finish up for this week. As always, the team at Idea Room will help you design, quote, and close those metal buildings, those sheds, those post-frame buildings. Smart build integration is here, and I'm telling you, if you need help with it, Jared at America Builds Better.com. I am happy to help you get it set up because it is taking my business personally to the next level. The team at Shield Wall Media, listen, if you guys want trade publications, you want information, you want to know what's going on in the industry, check out the team at Shieldwall Media. They will absolutely get you what you need. What I really love about it is I get the magazines at home and at the office. I actually just got my uh recent copy of Plane Builder. It's right here on my desk. I love the content in the magazines. It doesn't cost you a thing. Just sign up and get it for free. Get it at the office, get it at home, wherever you guys want to read it, it's there for you. And it's online as well. So check that out. The team at Defined SEO, higher ranking, stronger businesses, helping you build better through business development, whether it's SEO, whether it's a consultation, we don't care. We want to help you out. We will take you to the next level if you let us. Okay. The biggest thing about marketing is working with the right team. Okay. I can tell you for this week, guys, it has been an awesome time. All right. Andrew and Peter are great. Shed Sales Summit is September 20, 22nd, 2026, at Makers Exchange in Knoxville. You would be absolutely benefited by spending some time with people in the industry who want to accomplish great things. Andrew and Peter are great for that. Okay. They are absolutely helping America build better through everything that they're doing, through marketing, through Shed Sales Summit, all of the above. Okay. For this week, get out in your communities and do something good for somebody else. I promise you. I promise you it'll make you feel better. It always makes me feel better. America Builds Better is out for this week, guys. You guys have a great week. We'll talk to you soon.

SPEAKER_01 48:18

This is Peter with Making Sales Simple, and I wanted to personally invite you to the Shed Sales Summit this September in Knoxville, Tennessee. First of all, we're going to have some speakers come in that are motivational but also knowledge driven. So one of the things they're going to teach you is about marketing. And as we look around in this shed industry, there's all kinds of people talking about marketing, but this guy has a proven track record. Steve Robinson will be joining us in Knoxville, Tennessee. You do not want to miss him. He is known for creating the house campaign for the Chick-fil-A brand, and he will be speaking to us. Make sure you get your tickets at shedsalesummit.com. You won't want to miss it this September in not.

SPEAKER_02 49:08

Thank you for checking out America Builds Better. If that episode inspires you up, make sure you hit subscribe.

SPEAKER_03 49:14

Be more data, and share this with someone who's updated. We are dropping powerful content from strategy to stories and built out from the builders together.

SPEAKER_02 49:25

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SPEAKER_03 49:34

This is America Gold Industries.