Custom Materials, Inc - Custom Fabrication

Running the Bases today with Taylor Robinson the CEO of Custom Materials, Inc (CMI) - an Ohio-based custom fabrication and design company.  CMI is a privately owned Chagrin Falls, OH based fabrication company, going 55 years strong! Taylor started working with the family business in 1996 and has seen the business pivot and grow during the course of time.  Now heading up the charge as CEO, Taylor sees new opportunities and industries for the next 55 years!

Taylor explains how the company has been able to endure the ups and downs of economies and challenges over the past 5 decades.  He credits the focus on family values as a key role.  Not just the personal family, but the extension of employees, clients, and vendors.  It’s about building those relationships on a different level.

Selecting the right team member, investing in development, and cultivating relationships is crucial to delivering the product quality and client experience that’s expected for CMI & Taylor’s standards.  As he states “We have to constantly look to improve what we do.”

It’s a fun and relaxing show as Taylor rolls through his thoughts on family, faith, and how to endure and succeed in this game of business!

Learn more about Custom Materials, Inc and Custom Fabrication at https://custommaterials.com

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Transcript

Randy: 0:13

Running the bases with small businesses. I'm Randy Rohde. And I have a passion to work with small businesses and I love baseball. So I thought, Hey, let's bring them together. So every episode I sit down with local entrepreneurs, business builders, and small business owners to talk about their wins and wefts their tools of the trade and to give actionable tips to other business managers, we'll cover the basis with entrepreneurship, operations, sales, digital marketing innovation, plus a little fun baseball, Todd, thanks for joining us today. Settle in. Grab your Cracker jacks and. Thank you, Gary. Thanks for taking this out there. It's got to show off a little bit. Here we go. Hey, this is Randy Rohde and you are listening to Running the bases with small businesses welcome. And today our guest is an Eagle Scout, father of four speaks German. And by the way, he's also the CEO of a 55 year old company with 40 employees, Custom Materials Incorporated., Taylor Robinson. Welcome.

Taylor: 1:45

Glad to be here, Randy. Thanks.

Randy: 1:47

Hey, you look great. Good to see you., okay. Before we get into custom materials, I have to ask you, do you really speak German?

Taylor: 1:54

As they say in German, newer and you know what? That means that that means only a little, I have studied German for seven years. That was four years in high school. I'm sorry, three years in high school, four years in college, in the Germany number numerous times. But my German, in terms of speaking it. As dwindled

Randy: 2:21

Has dwindled. Well, I was going to say, and the whole reason why I'm here and making an issue about chairman is because, I mean, you'll see people, you're talking to people, they speak different languages, but rarely do you find anybody that speaks German French as well as one of those kind of rare. So German, it was like, wow, you really speak German, right?

Taylor: 2:41

Yeah. So. Why did they choose German? Right? That's the question. Yeah.

Randy: 2:44

Well, and to say practice, even who you going to talk to, that speaks German. Cause you've got to practice it

Taylor: 2:49

At the time. And when I did the site on German, I was playing soccer for chagrin falls. That would have been in the eighties and the nineties and our head coach, Mario Gerhard. I gotta give credit to him. Uh, he's German, natural German, and well, I decided that everybody wants to speak French. Everybody wants to speak Spanish. Why not German. So that's, so it was written. So I went into German and high school and then, uh, decided to pick that up, uh, as part of my major, when I went off to Hillsdale college,, I've been in Germany many times., and of course recently it's a little more difficult, but,, I knew I was really understanding the language when I started dreaming in German in college You used it quite a bit during my early career. Uh, and then,, you find out that most, everybody in the world speaks English quite well. So I don't use German as much as I used to., but one thing I, I can say this I've been in many meetings where the opposing party who are German speaking in German, and I'm able to interpret to my associates after the meeting on what they really said. During the meeting

Randy: 4:02

to hear enough of whatever's going on. All right. Well, that's good., so tell us about, um, CMI custom materials, inc. What do you do there? W what's the service? What do you guys manufacture? Cause it is a manufacturing

Taylor: 4:17

Thought about that. When you sent me these questions really up front in a nutshell cost materials, engineered solutions, that's really the platform of what we thrive to be on., the company started in 1964. My grandfather, God bless his soul now deceased,, put his heart and soul into building this business. But over the years it became more than just making a widget more than making a, a component. It became,, what higher value can we provide to the clients, uh, where you are? We're in the business of manufacturing, but it's more than just the widget. It's it's. What is the client really trying to solve? And then most of the clients that we deal with, the big ones are trying to solve problems on an engineering level. And that's where we bring in our, I think our key, uh, our key traits as a business, when we're able to bring in our resources from experience, uh, not only in engineering, but in our manufacturing processing to help these clients solve their engineering problems. That's where the benefit really comes into play., Randy: Do you work specifically with an engineering and manufacturing kind of problem or task or specific kind of materials or what's the, what's the story?

, Taylor: 5:38

most of our experiences really in the electrical industry,, that's where our. Roots come from,, when, I mean by that as companies that have been in the transformer or motor worlds or generator, world building those types of products, uh, and we gained those experiences and those engineering solutions over the years., and that's really where we still continue to play today., but it moved, I mean, obviously with the changing of., the way things are based on the,, the current world events. Um, a lot of the actors we're seen as primarily in certain industries, like our defense industry, that's been very, very solid. we certainly did. Don't look for the things that are outside the scope,, of what CMI can do,, in terms of its capabilities. And we don't. Well, don't try to reach for the stars and things that we know are well beyond what we're really capable of doing. And that's, it's really where we shine. I mean, we're able to, to bring in a lot of our different departments, where are we? You can,, provide multiple solutions, uh, in terms of processing capability and where we're also able to leverage our supply chain. Who's got very good,, strengths in their own things that they do, uh, to bring together a full solution for., problems that our clients are having. Hm that's that's really where the benefit is. And I think that's in a nutshell where small businesses need to be looking. You know, uh, one of your questions I don't want to get ahead on it.

Randy: 7:05

Yes. Yeah. Don't don't get ahead here. Let me, let go back to this though. So you had an opportunity, so your grandfather started the company two years ago. sure probably as you were growing up, but you've probably spent a lot of time as a kid in, in the business doing different things. I'm assuming, right. You probably went and. Swept the floors boxes. I swept the floors. I cleaned toilets. I don't know what else you want to do all that stuff, but 55 years. So I can today's world. This is amazing. I think so 55 years, I mean that in itself is an accomplishment. And so what has been kind of that value proposition? What has it, that's kept you in the game all of these years?, Has it changed over time?

Taylor: 7:55

some of it, obviously some of it has,, but I think what has really, we kept CMI as the company. It is today is, uh, how we view,, family values. And I'm not talking just about our personal family. I'm talking about our extended family, which would include our employees. And we even say, well, our suppliers and our customers are part of our family. So. it's building those relationships on a different level. And then, we live in a digital world. you hear all of these things out there where everybody wants to go,, digitally through video, through,, telephone, through emails, whatever you want to say, but it still comes down to relationship. And I'm maybe I'm a little old school, but, When this economy, this world gets back to what the roots are allowing face to face human interaction. That's still very important in today, his business.

Randy: 8:55

Well, I agree. I think,, and I'll be transparent. You're one of our clients and we do a lot of different kinds of things from a digital standpoint, but. I completely agree with you. I think the relationship that a business builds that connectivity with their clients, and I mean, you've got a big team there you've have a number of, of employees working in the company, but as you extend that relationship out to the employees as well, and you build and solidify that it all benefits the company. And I think,, if I'm hearing this right, is that. That helps sustain you over the course of the long haul over the number of years. First is kind of the short, let me get it while I can.

Taylor: 9:41

Absolutely. And particularly right now, right? I mean, let's be honest. The global pressures from this pandemic have been just insurmountable for all companies, whether it's manufacturing, whether it's restaurants, whether it's healthcare. Any industry you're talking about has not been factored, right? The key is to be able to succeed, stay in that through, I think your in depth ingrained network relationship you have with your client, but your existing client base. And certainly with the ones you're trying to establish, you have to be able to pivot, you know, one of the things you talk about it., or maybe I'm jumping the gun on you. Yeah, go ahead. You have to be able to pivot quickly. Small businesses have that luxury. They don't have a huge corporate organization that they have to try to move very quickly. You look at some of these companies that have struggled. Some of these large corporations are able to, they're not able to move that fast. So they're caught in this pandemic very, very rapidly. And they're not able to sustain it. So I'm gonna look at some of these big companies that are going bankrupt., and those are one of the things,, that I, that I see as how, how smaller businesses can really survive. This is to be able to pivot fast, be able to sustain through their, their relationships. And that's key for small business. It's got to have the relationships and it's not just, it's not just through., associates or employees that work for you? It's it's through top level management. I'm on the phone with our customers all the time. I'm on the phone with our suppliers all the time. I'm on the emails with them all the time, and that's just numerous techniques to keep in touch and communication.

Randy: 11:26

That's great advice. So you mentioned pivot. How do you know, let me even take a step back. So I'm sure you know, what your grandfather did, what your father in law did, or your father I'm sorry., did and how they operated the business and what they did in the business. Meaning what service and or product there were supply. And I'm sure that it has changed over time. How do you know it's time to pivot?

Taylor: 11:53

Sometimes I like to say, well, Randy, it's just a gut instinct and you know what? It's true entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs who are listening., it is absolutely most of the time I got instinct though. We got to go a different direction now. That doesn't go without keeping up with current events or reading information on data, data, industry, data trends, right? Marketing information that we get from our great marketing team, 38 digital, thank you very much. but you have to be able to take all that information in. Uh, you have to have a good management team, which we do. We have also have a governing board of directors,, and we meet regularly and taking all of that information and getting some,, opinions and,, decisions from all those,, stakeholders in the game. And then. Executing on a plan and a strategy on what you're going to do. I mean, what we were doing and, uh, 1980 and 1970, when I was just a little kid and grandfather was running the business S clearly different than what we are doing today. Right., you have to be able to make those changes as a matter of fact, what we're doing today, versus when I started in 1996. It is very different than what we were doing a lot during those early those days in the 1990s. So, uh, you just have to be able to move. You have to be able to take some calculated risk yes. And make some decisions. Yeah. Yeah. Go forward.

Randy: 13:23

So we had a guest on,, a few episodes ago, he mentioned that he expects to pivot. Every about every 18 months, he's just in his industry is like, I just expect to change., and it really, I really liked this concept and this thought about it. And I've mentioned it a few times, actually, in other shows, But, and I'm wondering like with you,, and your firm, I guess the question is, do you expect to pivot and do you also maybe even look for ways to pivot?

Taylor: 13:54

Absolutely. Uh, actually I don't know if it's more of an expectation. It's more in my mind, it's more of an anxiety of when it's a necessity. Yeah, absolutely., I almost get worried like, uh, uh, when we have a period of business activity and it almost seems like everything's going to good and you go, Oh boy, when is it going to happen? So it's almost,, an expectation or you're almost lulled into a slumber. Hmm of, Oh, wait a minute, wait a minute. I shouldn't be getting all cozy here. I need to be on my toes and ready for something to happen. We, we got to go make it happen. Right. That's really how, uh, that's kinda how I look at it. but the, to answer your other question, yes, we're always looking for the next thing, something different than what our standard competition based on certain product lines,, are not doing. And we always want to try to differentiate from. From what they, from what they do to what we want to be able to do and bring to the table.

. Randy: 14:59

One of the things that seems to be and theme in some of our shows is this concept about pivot. And,, and I think it's an important message so that as we have small business owners who listened to the show and who,, Provide feedback through reviews and such and comment. You know, they're always talking as well about,, kind of anxiety, a little bit about change and not wanting to fail. And, and I think,, again, with some of our past guests, there's like, listen, failure's gonna happen. Don't worry about it. It's it's, don't do the same failure twice, but. Move on. And if you're not feeling you're not kind of poaching, kind of an envelope a little bit to succeed.

Taylor: 15:43

Absolutely. I almost say, if you don't fail, you're not doing it right then. Oh, I'm not going to say, well, we should be failing all the time. We don't want to be failing all the time. Then we won't be in business. Right. You want to get some successes, but failure is part of the business process. I think part of the mindset of entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs are willing to fail now. I don't know all of them, but they're willing to take a risk. They're willing to fail on some of them. Right. You have to be able to do that. And you have to be able to pivot, like you said, pivot into the next thing that's coming your way. Okay. Look,, there's not a lot of competitors over here. Why don't we go on after this?, and there's more value, the more profit, more things to bring, to be able to table, and that's the stuff we want to do. So you gotta be able to. Take that risk. You gotta be willing to accept some of the failures with the successes.

Randy: 16:32

To tie it into baseball. Even the best baseball players, they only get on base or they, I should put it this way. They fail to get on base seven out of 10 times.

Taylor: 16:41

Absolutely. Your beloved Cubs. How many times did they lose? And then finally they're failing all those years.

Randy: 16:48

Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Because that was a great year and they're on their way again this year in those odd season. All right. So,, pandemic, I mean, you've mentioned it a few times. Obviously it weighs on every small business in the world right now., and it has been incredibly challenging for most business. How about yours? how have you guys kind of looked at the current situation and what kind of steps have you done to mitigate and move on?

Taylor: 17:16

Well, lucky, lucky for us. We have this large workspace, 50,000 square feet. We only have roughly 40 employees under one roof, so there's plenty of space to social distance per se., and so yes, we took all the appropriate measures, just like,, were submitted by the Ohio guidelines. And then the CDC protected, make sure that all of our employees were felt,, safe and comfortable in the work environment. We did not have the luxury of closing the business because of a lot of the,, defense and military things that we do as part our government. we had to maintain operations, make sure that those programs were going forward., in a sense, it was like, well, geez, you know, here, this thing's crashing down around the country. A lot of cut me off. A lot of the. The entire fabric of our society was shutting down., uh, it almost felt like, well, gosh, we haven't, nobody's seen us a lot down, but,, it's not like we haven't had our challenges. And we had,, employees who were definitely,, fearful of the situations. And, uh, so we lost a few employees and, uh, the ones that were dedicated, who've been with us for a long time. They never missed a beat. They kept coming in and doing their duty., so we're very thankful for what they did Ariana right now, we continue to operate the status quo. We've got a lot of customers that still rely on us and who entrust us with their business. And we thank them very much. And so we're very fortunate where we are right now.

Randy: 18:37

Yeah. good to hear it. All right. So,, Taylor, you know what time it is and it's time for the seventh inning stretch? No, I'm not gonna, I'm not going to have him say don't worry. Uh, it is time for the seventh inning stretch. This is a time during the show. I gotta ask you, uh, some funny baseball questions just to take a little different direction here, doing different turn of the base, if you would. Uh, so the research team. Kind of pulled together, being that you're in, um, some manufacturing and stuff. I thought I would ask you some questions are around,, the making of baseballs. I want to w we'll we'll just test your knowledge here around manufacturing and baseball. So baseball, how a baseball is made or what, what has made up. So you may know,, baseballs right now are kind of made of leather, right? Cowhide, leather, outer court. Do you have an idea of when the cow hide leather ball was adopted by good question, league baseball.

Taylor: 19:43

1920,

, Randy: 19:45

actually you would think that it would be, uh, baseball. What is this? The hundred and ninth or 110 year of baseball, something like that.

Taylor: 19:54

I attribute everything to the Indians last world series when in the 1940s. So,, Randy: actually you would think that ago or so I'm actually not until 1974. I'll be darned. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The, the leather ball,, you know, the size and weight of the ball. How about the circumference? I'll I'll even tell you it's in, you mean the diameter circumference or conference? Yes. I'm going to say. Five inches, six inches in circumference,

Randy: 20:24

nine to nine and a quarter inches. That's the regulation. How about weight? How about weight?

Taylor: 20:32

Oh, wait. Oh, it's gotta be less than a pound, half a pound, maybe a

Randy: 20:35

five to five and a quarter ounces ounces series. There you go. All right. you know that you got that fun little red stitching around the baseball. Yeah. There are 108 stitches in a baseball. Wow. Okay. So if you took all of that fun little red waxy string and just laid it all out on the floor and measured it, how long do you think that is?

Taylor: 21:03

5,280 feet.

Randy: 21:08

That is not a mile 88 inches, 88 inches, which just seems like a lot when you're thinking like a baseball, just shy of eight feet. Yeah. How about that? I'll be done. Yeah. So there you go. All right. So thanks for playing,, seventh inning stretch with us. Let's get back into it., over the years, I'm sure that your company has many challenges. I mean, you guys have 55 years, you've gone through a lot of cycles of recessions and all different kinds of things., what have been some of those challenges? Have you guys tackled them? How did you approach those challenges?

Taylor: 21:47

the most recent one was,, we had, uh, a very difficult quality situation that we had to do after every company. And if you're in manufacturing is not immune to a quality problem. I'm sorry if you're a manufacturer, everybody is in it. Right., so we had one of RSL. We had it pop up and it was a difficult, very difficult situation., and it was with one of our key customers. We've we've been doing business with for well over 35, 40 years. it was at a very critical time when we were also going through a total,, requalification of our ISO program, which is, uh, international standards organization for, uh, quality, uh, documented and process quality system., so that was going through a major revision and we were, we were just in the throws of, uh, upgrading the entire company to the new standard. And we were hit with this quality problem. And boy, I'll tell you that absolutely tax the entire company on that. I give our team a lot, a lot of credit. We, we brought in pretty much everybody that was a contributor into the, uh, into this meet any of these. We had weekly meetings to, to respond and document and thoroughly. Go through how we were going to correct. Uh, not only the situation, but how we were going to prevent it from any future occurrences. And that's, that's key when you're talking about quality system. that really brought in all the experience from multiple departments for our company. And this thing went on for geez, quite a. I'm going to say a couple of months until we finally,, we were finally able to put it to bed with, uh, the client and the supplier honestly even the supplier and the customer and the situation where this was affected also went through a ma a major quality review of their own systems. And, you know, at the end of the day, I thought, boy, this is, this is going to be a reputation hit for, for the company. But. Honestly, we turned a negative, very negative potential situation in a very positive situation, right. And the customer,, who we've been, like I said, it's been a very loyal customer. 35, 40 year customer actually used our documented response and the technique by which we went through to, to correct the situation. As a model for not only themselves, but even the rest of their supply chain. And we're talking about fortune 500 companies, a huge company. So it made me realize that it, well, you can't do all of it yourself. Number one, I can't be the guy that handles everything for the business. You gotta have key people, key managers that you can draw from. Do you help you resolve things like this, that come up.

Randy: 24:44

you talk about, you know, again, I think you're, uh, uh, a long rooted company,, uh, many, many, many years in existence. You have clients that are nearly 35 years, I have a client, the same client customer. That's a long time to hold onto that, which I would say kind of is attributable to the relationship that you guys,, bring,, and build over those years., But also, you know, you, you began to touch on some stuff and I'm wondering if you can kind of expand on that, but the learning moments within that particular situation.

Taylor: 25:21

Oh yes. what we learned is,, even a Bulletproof system that you supposedly go through and document and put all these controls and things into place,, doesn't necessarily mean that it. Is foolproof. So, so what are we learning? What did we learn and is that,, in business and in particularly in manufacturing, you have to be diligent and you have to be constantly,, looking to improve yourself and your company and the people that work for you every day. It is a consistent, it takes perseverance. You cannot, you cannot think that you're going to stop and just. Smell the roses all the time. I would say, I know you shouldn't do that when you have the chance to, but you have to continue to be diligent. You have to be consistent. You have to have regular mediums. We do that all the time and you have to communicate and, and constantly look to improve what you do.

Randy: 26:20

So you've got, let me kind of talk about a little bit,, around your team and you, and as a boss. So you've got 40 people on your team, or so,, how do you, I manage a team of that size

Taylor: 26:33

daily communication., you know, we've, certainly used, uh, all of the tools that are available today. Uh, back back when I started in the nineties,, it was a lot of. Written memos, a lot of facts, similes, a lot of,, dial phone calls,, snail mail, postage mail, right?, now it's emails now it's cell phones, text messages., we use all those tools., we still find it very important that you have to have, regular meetings with your staff, whether it's., just with, the workers or whether it's,, with the management team. And we do those, we do those quite a bit. We, uh, we do a lot of what I like to say hall, uh, standup hall and beatings, where a couple of people are in the hallway trying to figure something out. Right. Uh, we, we still do that today. but it takes a, it takes a diligence. You've got to have consistency. Uh, so we do production meetings every week. We do management meetings, uh, at least once a month. Uh, we have, uh, board meetings. We do have a working board of directors. We have that at least three times a year, two to three times a year. uh, it's constant diligence. We, we, uh, we release an internal monthly newsletter to make sure we're communicating with people. So, whatever tools we can,, grasp at, uh, try to take advantage of those, make sure we're communicating with our, with our people.

Randy: 27:52

So what I hear is kind of a constant through which is very intentional and Communication is a significant kind of piece. That's just always staying in touch. Yeah. I always have to have it. Yeah., Taylor: yeah. You know, in the small business world, if you're not dealing with that and you're, you're thinking you're going to be able to kind of hide out and, uh, ignore trying to do that here. You're going to be in trouble or you've got,, you've got too many competing,, external., pressures to, be able to,, think that you're going to have that luxury. You can't, you can't do that in a small business. You've gotta be able to. Uh, to move,, quickly pivot, right. That word pivot again, right? Yeah. Uh, you've gotta be able to communicate with your team and, and make decisions and then execute them. And that's what you gotta be able to do. Right. So you are the boss. You are . I don't know what it is in German. Uh, w what is it in German? Geez. You asked me that question. Ah, but you're the guy though. You're the one people are like, you know, Taylor tell us. Right., where do you get your support? How do you stay focused and, and feel like you're not the lone man at the time. Do you feel lonely quite a bit? I know, I know it's a common thing. You run your own business. I know,

Taylor: 29:16

I get, I give all the credit to where it's two 23 years of marriage, Randy, 23 years from now. My wife has been one of my loudest and most ardent supporters. I couldn't, couldn't be luckier. And I also got a good,, four lovely children who have been by my side. I cannot. Disregard all of the managers that we've have and the, and the loyal employees who have,, put in their own heart efforts to make sure that this company and this organization continues to do what it does best.

Randy: 29:52

So let's talk a little bit about strategy and,, what you guys are doing today to plan for the next 55 years. I won't ask you, where do you see the company in 55 years for now, but I bet in the next, you know, three to five years, where do you kind of see the company a couple of days ago?

Taylor: 30:15

I thought, well, you know, I don't know if I have an answer to that one. Right. I want to, and don't get me wrong. We do plan for that. We do plan. We write down,, strategies and plans and things that we want to try to do in the next three to five years. But honestly, today, as we sit here today with the current global issues and the current economy, it's not three to five years, what are we going to do in a year? Right. That to me is the key right now. we are very, very fortunate that,, our defense, our military is realized in our company for a lot of support. NATS has been a shining star in this whole thing that we've been facing in this country is that as that our military and our defense systems need that small business support right now. And they they've been able to keep the small businesses going. So. We've been very, very lucky in that regard that we've, we've had those, affordabilities uh, because the commercial, uh, activity in the industry sector right now is very, very challenging, very challenging, whether you're a bigger company or medium sized company or small company, if you have a lot of focus in aerospace, as we know, and,, automotive,, those industry sectors have been very, very challenged. Uh, because of, uh, the things that have been happening to those industries in terms of what this pandemic has done.

Randy: 31:36

I think you touched on a lot of different aspects of where we are today, but I would say, I don't think that you're probably much different than other companies and businesses that are out there that kind of had a game plan. Hey, this is what we're going to do in the next two years. And we'll do this and we're moving toward this. And then all of a sudden who would have thought that come, you know, March that we were quarantined and we. Dealing with a worldwide pandemic and, you know, life changes instantly

Taylor: 32:06

just 99% hit rate back on a survey that what's your five-year plan. And then it hasn't changed. And a lot of them would say, absolutely, I've gone to a one-year plan. Yes. Yeah.

Randy: 32:18

I'm not sure that we're thinking five years here., but I, I do think, and I want to underline,, and you mentioned this as well as like. But it hasn't stopped you thinking about, well, what's around the corner.

Taylor: 32:30

So I mean, we will, at some point, this country will come out of this., well, the world, the country. Absolutely. They will come out of this. And so what, you know, what is it going to be on the other side? Well, it's going to be a lot different for sure, You have to have that in mind, you have to think, okay. And this, this goes back to when do you know when you're going to be making that pivotal move? Right. Well, as we know right now, it's the way we got to just get through calendar year. I mean, that's number one. Everybody's, everybody's been kind of thinking that,, but w it, it will come out and we will all come out of this. At some point, I have faith in,, our. Administration and what they're going to do to help keep supporting businesses so they can get through this financially., and so what will it be on the other side, if you're in the restaurant industry, that's, that's huge challenge for the people in the restaurant industry. I have a lot of compassion for those people right now because, uh, that was business. I was small as a suffering tremendously. So, you know, they're thinking, well, geez, what am I going to do? If I have my restaurant makes it through this with maybe they're thinking a career change, I don't know. uh, eventually we will come out of this. Right. So what is it going to be on the other side? It's certainly going to be a lot different. It's not going to be like, it was in 19, our sirens in 2019. Right. uh, you, you, you have to have the plan for the next phase and that's their two to three-year plan, but., right now it's planning to plan for your number one, right through your number one.

Randy: 33:55

Right? Good. Well, and again, I think the message though, to get across is that you still have to plan,, today is going to change what tomorrow will be and as a business and you want to survive, you're like, All right. These are the steps we're going to do to keep pushing on that's right? Yeah. Yeah. All right. So we're coming in here to the bottom of the ninth., What advice do you have for rookies? I mean, you are an old grizzled veteran, right? I mean, you have put years on the books. I like to think I'm still the young guy out there.

Taylor: 34:27

He's got a lot of fight left in you. You're not, you're a businessman, you're an entrepreneur. You wake up some days. You're like, Oh my goodness, I gotta do this battle one more time. And. Then you go, wait a minute. I got a lot of people. I got a lot of people counting on me right. In your case, your family. So that's important. So I thought about this question. I was looking at this,, yeah. I looked at my kids. What's my advice. Well, right now, please rise for the rookies. You have to have faith. You have to have faith. I am a practicing Catholic. Our family is,, practicing Catholics. I mean, you have to have a deep root of faith because,, if you don't have that, then, yeah, you're, you're missing some sort of higher guiding light. In my opinion, Evie, you've got to have something that's bigger than you, bigger than your family. And a deep rooted faith, I think is very important. You also have to have your family and, Yeah, the love of your family. Uh, we try to, um, it's been challenging for the pandemic during the pandemic. Uh, uh, I've been fortunate or my, I should say my youngest daughter has been fortunate. We had a late in life daughter, five years old now. we always send out, geez, you know, all the kids are going to be gone by the time she's getting in her teenage years. So it'd be different type of family dynamic, As sort of a blessing in disguise is actually,, all of our family members have been able to be home. So she has had the benefit of actually having her entire family. Now we're her oldest sibling is now going on 23. To be around. So she has the sense of right. Of having a family. That's very important. You have to have your faith, you have to have your family, uh, to bring that together. And that, that helps give you, uh, pillars to lean on,, when you're, uh, moving into your own entrepreneurship venture, And finally, I always say,, things I always say are important to talk about threes. The third thing I would say for anybody who's in this,, entrepreneurial business, any entrepreneurial business, you have to have perseverance every day. You've got to get up. You've got to be persevering towards. Accomplishing the next task that it it's difficult as it might be. Some days you use her, some days are harder than you got up. You're able to go after it every day. Those three things at the end of the day, I think you'll make it. Okay.

Randy: 37:03

I love that. I love all three of them actually. They're great. And I will make a quick comment about the thing on the family. And as you mentioned about kind of this time that we're dealing with and being quarantine or isolated somewhat., my wife and I were talking about this, I don't know, a few weeks ago,, at least a benefit, it seems like is that., the kids have been home. I mean, we've had to be home and we've had to do more things together as a family unit than,, we have kids that are in similar ages that, you know, they're off doing their thing. I may see my son, like for a half an hour during the day,, he's gone and he's got his friends, right. But the pandemic and everything that's done, it's allowed us to really unify as a family unit. Then I look at it as like, well, this has just been a real kind of blessing as well. I think so, but I'm ready for let them to go exploring, get back out as well. Well, listen, Taylor,, let me ask you, is there anything that I didn't ask you that you wanted to get across?

Taylor: 38:04

I don't think so.

Randy: 38:05

Okay. All right., well, listen, thanks for being on the show today. I really appreciate it., it's been great having you and,, been great having you as a client all these years and,, and hopefully we'll extend we'll, we'll be that 55 here. A company can only hope we can only exactly. Alright. And for those of you listening, Hey, thanks for joining us today. And if you like our show, please tell your friends, subscribe and review. And as we say, we'll see around the ballpark, running the bases with small businesses is brought to you by. 38 digital market, a digital marketing agency, committed to client growth with lead generation higher conversions and increased sales connect with us today at 38 digital market.