Securing Tomorrow: The Blue-Collar Blueprint for Business Immortality with Jake Hall

Brad Herda [: 00:00:00

Welcome to Blue Collar B's, a podcast that busts the popular myth that we can't find good people, highlighting how the different generations of today, the boomers, Gen X, millennials and Gen Z, are redefining work so that the industrial revolution that started in the US stays in the US. The Blue Collar B's podcast helps blue collar business owners like you build a business that'll thrive for decades to come by turning that blue collar B's into some blue collar business solutions.

Brad Herda [: 00:00:32

In this episode, you're going to learn about future proofing your business through multiple generations. The value beyond the paycheck, what instant gratification does not mean to you. And parents and the industry are part of the solution.

Steven Doyle [: 00:00:49

Our guest today is Jake hall, the manufacturing millennial who shares his passion and concern for the manufacturing world, taking advantage of being the first in the room to become the expert. We hope you enjoy the show. Welcome back to Blue collar B's, Brad. How are you doing today, my friend?

Brad Herda [: 00:01:09

I am fantastic, Mister Stephen Doyle, as we are recording here this week, this is the week of our 7th anniversary of us being together. Mister Doyle.

Steven Doyle [: 00:01:19

Wow, that sounds so wrong right now.

Brad Herda [: 00:01:21

How are you recognize that we've been together seven years in some way, shape or form together. I mean, the same and capacity of working together. Not like together together. Yeah, yeah.

Steven Doyle [: 00:01:33

Thanks for the clarification. Cause, yeah, I'd. I'm just gonna get ready to clarify, but yeah, it is seven years this week when we met in San Diego for our certification class. So.

Brad Herda [: 00:01:45

Yep. And yes, watching the timid Steven Doyle trying to answer questions was. Was hilarious. Fucking hilarious. It was awesome. It's your PTSD, but that's okay.

Steven Doyle [: 00:01:56

Yeah, it is my PTSD, ass wife. Way to bring it up on the show.

Brad Herda [: 00:02:01

It's all good vulnerability.

Steven Doyle [: 00:02:05

It is. It is. So, Brad, who do we have on the show today?

Brad Herda [: 00:02:10

We are blessed today to have Jake hall, who is known as the manufacturing millennial, which might give it away as an advocate for automation, skilled trades and the further worker by helping revolutionize the way people and companies present through social media and adopt new technology. He's got a ton of followers, does a ton of content. He's a advocate for getting young people and getting any people into construction trades, technology. We are blessed to have him here today in his busy schedule. Thank you, J. Cole, for being here.

Jake Hall [: 00:02:44

Yeah, it's great to be here, guys. I'm excited to have a conversation today.

Brad Herda [: 00:02:49

I can't wait to see where this goes.

Steven Doyle [: 00:02:51

Yeah, just the pre show alone, right?

Jake Hall [: 00:02:54

Exactly, exactly.

Steven Doyle [: 00:02:56

But before we get started, we ask everybody this question and we don't want to assume anything, but, Jake, which generation do you belong to fit in with?

Jake Hall [: 00:03:08

I am part of the millennial generation. So millennials, I think right now are between the ages of 40 and 24. I think millennials are falling. I'm 34, so I fall pretty much split right in the middle of the generation.

Brad Herda [: 00:03:24

It depends on your def. There's things all over the place. So for us, we have the millennials going to 27.

Jake Hall [: 00:03:33

Oh, really? Our millennia is in Gen, Gen, Gen. Gen Z starts at 26, 26.

Brad Herda [: 00:03:39

Yeah. 1997 was the common connection. Right. And that holy cow piece. That holy cow piece is the biggest thing that I find with owners. When you go, hey, Gen Z, you know those kids that used to be in like third grade?

Jake Hall [: 00:03:52

Yeah.

Brad Herda [: 00:03:52

They're 26 years old now and they're entering the workforce and they're our biggest opportunity in the workforce to allow the boomers to retire and transfer knowledge, so.

Jake Hall [: 00:04:02

Exactly, exactly.

Brad Herda [: 00:04:03

So, yes.

Jake Hall [: 00:04:04

So as you've self identified yourself as the. As the millennial in manufacturing, leading automation, let's start down the journey of how did you actually get started down that? Being as young as you are and Brad being as old as he is, seeing as many things as he's seen because he's such a boomer in this, this, in this area, whatever. How did you get started down this journey?

Jake Hall [: 00:04:30

Yeah, you know, I'll start at the beginning. You know, where I started in the industry. So 16 years old, first job. Going into my junior year of high school, I had the opportunity to have a summer job and go work for manufacturers. So worked for a small company at the time called JR Automation. They're a lot bigger now that I think 5000 employees and did like a $1.6 billion acquisition a while back. So they're not small anymore, but at the time they were in. And I did a lot of the shop grunt work.

Jake Hall [: 00:05:00

I swept the floors. I wiped down and blew off a lot of the manual mills and the CNC equipment. I probably smelled way too much acetone when wiping down metal parts, either going into welding or going into paint. But it was a great experience for me. I was able to be around a lot of engineers, a lot of machine builders, a lot of just leaders in the space to understand what manufacturing had to offer, all the different components and then see at the time, a lot of cool technology that was beginning to evolve within the manufacturing space back in 2005, 2006. So did that, was involved with high school robotics, did the first robotics program, coached the legoleagues was involved with, you know, a bunch of other stem stuff, but went to Grand Valley here in West Michigan, and I went after my manufacturing engineering degree was the, was the approach that I did. It was interesting, you know, when I met with my guidance counselor, I remember, I remember this my junior year, said, hey, what do you want to do? And I said, I want to build stuff. I want to, you know, get involved.

Jake Hall [: 00:05:57

And I work with my hands, elect first robotics, because, you know, we designed the robots, we fabricated them, build them together. I said, great, you're going to go into engineering. And it was interesting at the time, when I look back, is I wasn't a 4.0 student by any means. So it wasn't like I was a straight a student where like, hey, go right into, go right into college because you're going to get a full ride. You know, I got a couple scholarships here and there, but it maybe covered 10% of my total costs. So it was one of those things where like a local community college or a skilled trades program wasn't even suggested. So went to me, went to college, got the four year engineering degree, got a couple of other degrees along the way from there, graduated and went into automation distribution. So didn't do engineering stuff.

Jake Hall [: 00:06:35

It went more into the sales side of things. But we sold vision systems, robotics, PlC's, motion control, all the different types of components that go into custom automation equipment.

Brad Herda [: 00:06:43

That all the cool shit you wish your FRC team had available to.

Jake Hall [: 00:06:47

Exactly.

Brad Herda [: 00:06:49

Run the games.

Jake Hall [: 00:06:50

Yeah, exactly. So it was great. You know, it was, it was probably the best jobs. I think it's still one of the best jobs any, any young professional can have coming out of there is they go into a distributor because they're in so many different companies looking at different products, and, and oftentimes they're always solving problems. Right. You're going in there to sell your product to solve a problem that your customer, your client, or an engineer needs. So your, your diversity of knowledge in your portfolio of solutions just ramps up really quickly, working in the distribution field, but, you know, continue with the story. So I did that for seven years.

Jake Hall [: 00:07:24

And when I went later on and started attending this conference called AHTD, which was the association of high Technology Distribution, so it's all the different distributors across the US come to this event twice a year. And one of the speakers there was talking about how do you future proof your business for the next generation? And I found it really ironic where they were talking about future proofing your business as all these business owners are there in distribution yet no one there was from the next generation attending the event. So I figured, well, geez, I'm the only person there under the age of 40 that's attending this event. There's not any millennials here, which is ironic, because we're talking about millennials and Gen zs, yet no one here is doing it. So the name, the manufacturing millennial kind of stuck. I said, hey, I'm a millennium. I'm very outspoken and very unapologetic when it comes to my thoughts and how the industry is currently being run.

Brad Herda [: 00:08:20

Just like most, it's okay, we're doing.

Jake Hall [: 00:08:25

Wrong, and that's who I am. But the change really didn't happen until spring of 2020, when the pandemic started to go and working in outside sales for another company, at the time, I couldn't go and visit people in person. So I figured I have to go online to try and connect with all these engineers to talk about products, talk about solutions, what we're doing. So I started just to share more content on LinkedIn, talking about the industry, new technologies, the workforce, talking more about generational attraction, cultural within the industry, why new generations not doing what we're doing with the manufacturing or other industries? So the brand really took off, grew a couple thousand followers the first year. After that was another 10,000, 20,000. Now, where I am today, I think across all the platforms, I'm approaching right around 100,000 followers across everything. And really it's just focused on skilled trades, workforce technology, digital solutions, robotics, automation, and really what I feel like talking about that day in a post that's relevant to the industry in some aspects.

Brad Herda [: 00:09:27

Welcome to our show. That's what we do here today.

Steven Doyle [: 00:09:30

Welcome to our show.

Jake Hall [: 00:09:31

And so, March of this year, I went full time manufacturing millennial just because I do a lot of keynote presentations. I speak at a lot of trade shows and associations or directly inside manufacturers. I'll go and speak at their corporate event and meet with their HR team or their marketing team, and I'll talk about, this is the characteristics, this is the culture that next generations are looking for. And this is how you can future proof. And coming from a millennial, granted, there's a whole other generation below us now with agencies, but I feel like I very much am great because I have a lot of mentalities of how it was raised from an older generation perspective, but understand the younger generation and what they're looking for beyond just a paycheck, you know, for example.

Brad Herda [: 00:10:16

So, you know, you got your, got that high school job, you know, when you were 16. That was the start of a culture change that was going on inside manufacturing, to move away from dark, dirty, and dangerous and into clean environments and those types of things. The hazing may not have been quite as appropriate. Yeah, I'm going to guess. I'm sure that's what it was still there. So as you've progressed now to be full time manufacturing, millennial, and yes, you are the millennial generation kind of stuck in that middle section. You got a generation behind you get two generations above. What are the two or three things that are sticking out as pain points for most organizations today to recognize that, hey, we got four generations working.

Jake Hall [: 00:11:01

I think from a manufacturing outlook, one of the biggest pain points is the perception that the industry still has, to a lot of generations, manufacturing is still viewed in a lot of areas as a dark, dirty, dull, dangerous industry. That the jobs left in the eighties and nineties and went overseas, that their parents worked in a manufacturing and came back looking dirty. You know, they were. All. Their clothes were dirty. All, you know, they. They worked Saturdays. They got pulled into a bunch of overtime.

Jake Hall [: 00:11:35

You know, pay was good. I mean, manufacturing still, for an hourly job is still one of the higher paid industries out there. But I think, you know, from. From a job perspective, it was one of those kids during, excuse me. It was one of those perceptions where when my parents generation started raising us, they said, I don't want you to go on manufacturing. I want you to go, go get a four year degree. Because everything was being sold as go get a four year degree, you'll be successful. Because in their generation, a four year degree was not the norm.

Jake Hall [: 00:12:04

So every. So the people who got it immediately reached a certain level of success and opportunity in a lot of cases. However, my generation now, which the average student graduating with a four year degree graduates with about $33,000 of student debt. And to be honest with you, most education degrees now don't teach you a lot. You know, in a lot of aspects, it's a lot of memorization. It's a lot of stuff that's out there, you know, and don't be wrong. There's a lot of very valuable STEM degrees out there, like medical and engineering and all that stuff. Yes, but I'm talking about what I call the GED of a four year degree, which is a business degree or a social degree or a communications degree.

Jake Hall [: 00:12:46

Everybody gets those degrees. And I know a ton of people who I grew up with that got those degrees that don't have any value in what they bring. And so all of a sudden now, these students are graduating with x amount of dollars in student debt. And they felt that they were completely lied to because they said, hey, I'm going to be successful when I graduate with a degree. Now, they can't. They're not marketable. They're working at Starbucks Bucks. They're doing an hourly job where they have a master's degree, and they can't make more than $16 an hour.

Jake Hall [: 00:13:18

You know, so what I'm getting to is the perception of what people think is real is not actually what the industry is. So the industry isn't dark, dirty, dull, and dangerous? Yeah. Head to Geary, Indiana, where steel manufacturing is happening still. Yes, it is. But. But that's a. That's a small silo of what automation technology and manufacturing is these days, where it's the same thing with skilled trades. Skilled trades for so long was, oh, you go into that degree to, you know, and you can't do anything else.

Jake Hall [: 00:13:51

And all of a sudden, now I know welders who are making more than engineers. I know more skilled tradespeople who are starting their own companies, hiring their next apprentice, who now I know, I know a guy who's 32 years old. He has 14 people working from him. Now. He lives in a million dollar house, and he's just got up. He started off as an apprentice. And you go over here and you're still talking with engineers who are still paying off student debt ten years ago. And so it's one of those things where the perception of manufacturing is all dark, dirty, it's ancient.

Jake Hall [: 00:14:31

And the perception is that you can't go and be successful in the industry unless you have a four year degree, which is completely false as well, because now all of a sudden, people can go and not even go to college, become part of a vocational school, go part of a community college, graduate with a two year apprentice degree, and, you know, robotics technician or PLC programmer, or a machinist, or a CNC programmer, or go to a Haas or a fanuc or a kuka training class, and all of a sudden, your debt is hardly anything. And so that's the big thing. So that's the perception of the industry is a huge issue. The other big issue as well. It just goes right back to the parents. Parents have the best impact for their kid's generation to get them aligned with how they're going to be successful. And it sucks in a lot of ways, because a lot of kids these days don't even have two parents growing up. So you have a single mom or a single dad who is trying to.

Jake Hall [: 00:15:31

My parents are divorced, you know, and you see a single mom and a single dad just trying to get through life. And they can, they say, oh, yeah, I'm hearing this. So just go and pursue this, rather than trying to invest in a kid and teach them, hey, there's. There's risk when you graduate with $30,000 in debt because you're going to have this thing you have to pay off for. They don't even think about, you know, until it's way too late. So, you know, the other thing with manufacturing is that the other thing that I would say that manufacturers face is just the cultural change that new generations of millennials, of Gen Zs and younger millennials want to see. And that's just value beyond the paycheck, in a sense, where before you look at the Gen X generation, the baby boomer generation. Brad, Steve, you want to guess how many jobs the average baby boomer had their entire career?

Steven Doyle [: 00:16:23

One.

Brad Herda [: 00:16:24

Two, three?

Jake Hall [: 00:16:26

I mean, we'll get there, you know, but the average, the average, you know.

Brad Herda [: 00:16:30

Job got out of high school. Once I got out of high school. Two.

Jake Hall [: 00:16:33

Yeah, yeah, but it's one of those things, the three drops. Anyone want to guess what the average amount of jobs a millennial will have by the age of 30?

Steven Doyle [: 00:16:40

Ten.

Brad Herda [: 00:16:40

By the time they're 30? I'm going to say it's twelve.

Jake Hall [: 00:16:43

Yeah. 1212. Really? You know, all of a sudden, you look at, it's not industry related, it's just generational related. And so when we look at how do we bring, how do we attract a generation into an industry that's viewed as old or ancient compared to the.com, the tech and the app industry that's out there. It's the culture of the company. A lot of cases, well, where we got to add more value to a company beyond just a paycheck. We got to create purpose. We got to focus on the impact that they're going to create.

Jake Hall [: 00:17:12

We have to make sure that manufacturing is much more, I guess you could say, focused on individual contribution rather than just big picture product.

Brad Herda [: 00:17:21

Jake, Jake, Jake. Check. I'm not going to go tell you thank you just because you fucking showed up and did your job today. That's what you're supposed to do. How could I come and say thank you for that?

Jake Hall [: 00:17:30

Well, here's the thing. I don't have to come and work for you to show up at your job because I can go work for Amazon, Flex, get paid dollar 24 an hour, decide when I want to work and decide when I don't want to work correctly. It's one of those things where it's like, yeah, you're paying me, but I don't have to work for you. And that's the whole thing is because here's the thing, 8 million people now use Lyft, uber eat Grubhub on a daily, weekly or monthly basis that no one used ten years ago because those jobs didn't even exist. Those applications didn't even exist. So the mindset of, oh, show up and do your time is such a foreign, it needs to be such a foreign thought process now because you know what? Next generations can sit in their car, choose what hours they want to work. And Brad, here's the thing. Yeah, you can show up for your work, but are you going to pay me every single day after showing up for work or are you going to pay me every other week? Because I can go on Amazon and I can get a paycheck deposited in my account at the end of every single day.

Brad Herda [: 00:18:28

Correct?

Steven Doyle [: 00:18:28

Yep.

Jake Hall [: 00:18:29

You know, and so it's one of those things where don't, don't moan and groan when you can't put in the same opportunities that younger generations have. Now here's the issue that millennials and Gen zs have. They are so much embedded on instant gratification of do good. Get that? Now they have a really hard time looking beyond long term process. And this is where manufacturers, in my opinion, still have, or people in the construction industry or whatever the blue collar industry as we call it, have. It's leadership, it's mentoring, it's career growth opportunity. Because while Amazon can pay you at the end of every shift, working for Amazon for five years, working for Grubhub for five years, you're not going to get promoted. You're not going to see advancements within the company because you sat in that car for three years driving around 1000 customers.

Jake Hall [: 00:19:26

You're never going to get that opportunity. We as an industry have that opportunity to give. However, it's not well communicated and it's not expressed enough to show impact beyond a daily or a weekly or a monthly job.

Brad Herda [: 00:19:45

It's not even communicated at all. That's not, let's not even communicate poorly is a particularly in a trade environment. Right? There's how that framer that might have six guys working for him, there's no way that framing guy has a career plan for, you know, Aaron, the 18 year old guy that just started to say, okay, what do I get to look like in the next three years? He has no plan for that other than just go to the next job, go to the next job, go to the next job. And Aaron's not going to stick around very long because that self, that appreciation, those things, he might like that I got something and I can build it. I can see it. At the end of the day, however, he's going to go find the framing leader that's going to fulfill those other needs or fulfill those other parts of what his desire and drive is.

Jake Hall [: 00:20:32

Absolutely. And here's the thing, too, that I really want to focus on is people always say, well, how do small companies compete with larger companies in that area? And I think the big thing is, we need to realize is a majority of the employees that you hire in are local. And here's the facts. I'm going to use manufacturing because that's the industry that I'm most knowledgeable. 98.6% of manufacturers in the United States classify as a small to Medium sized business. 98.6%. So when you look at, yeah, you're not going to be able to have the same benefits as a Tesla or a GM or a SpaceX. All the really flashy, fancy manufacturing companies that are out there.

Jake Hall [: 00:21:14

But you know what? There's a. I know hundreds around this area that are involved with their local robotics program. They're involved with their local STEM program that open up the doors to have a community one night where they invite their parents and they say, hey, listen, your kid might not be made out to go to a four year degree, but you know what? He can come to my shop during the summertime, have an internship, and we're going to teach him how to read calipers. We're going to teach him how to do some manual milling. And all of a sudden, that individual impact from a very small scale can have tremendous growth over long term. But the biggest thing that manufacturers are doing, are not doing well, is getting involved with their local communities, getting involved with their local educational centers. Because here's the thing. The companies that are getting involved with local co op programs or internships through the local universities or community colleges are doing great because they're pulling the best talent out of there because they're involved.

Jake Hall [: 00:22:12

So when they call up the dean of engineering or the professor who's running the machining class and say, hey, I need some guys, they're going to say, oh, yeah, grab Tim or grab Stephanie or Grab Jessica, because they're doing great and they're going to pull that talent out there. But if you're not involved with where the talent is you're lost. And so that's the other big thing that they answer your question, Brad, on what are manufacturers and companies doing wrong? They're not engaged in the local talent community.

Steven Doyle [: 00:22:40

Correct.

Brad Herda [: 00:22:41

And you're not the first person to say that. We've had several other guests in the show that that is how they have found their talent pool and have found significant success for their business and in their community. Scott Forge is one of those companies that comes to mind. They're partnered with McHenry College, and all they do is just bring talent in from McHenry Community College and just continue to drive. And no matter what anybody wants to say, shop floor guys are the most knowledgeable guys you will ever meet, and they are some of the smartest dudes ever.

Steven Doyle [: 00:23:13

Mm hmm. Absolutely. Hey, Jake, I do have a question for you. Since you obviously see a lot of trends, what would you say are, like, the top three trends for the younger millennials and Gen zs wanting to get into the trades, what do you see? Are those trends that they're looking for?

Jake Hall [: 00:23:37

Trends. So what are the trends that younger generations are looking for when getting into trades? I think one of the things that I'm seeing the most of is what does pay and reimbursement look like? Is one of them. Right. Because people are conscious, focused on money. They want to know how they're going to get reimbursed. So, like, for me, I'm seeing a lot of people are coming in, say, hey, come and work for us. Put in 40 hours a week. We're going to pay you $14,500 a year.

Jake Hall [: 00:24:09

And, and educational reimbursement, thats going to go to your night classes or weekend classes or classes that you have during the week. Thats one trend that Im seeing. Another trend that Im seeing as well is how are companies leveraging technology to meet in the middle, where trades has been viewed as an older profession, yet technology is always driving new solutions. So how can I use my phone? How can I use projected augmented reality or AR or VR to do training to grow? You know, for example, Lincoln Electric has some really cool AR based training goggles, right where you go out there, you throw on, you know, an oculus headset or something along those lines, and you have a teach pedant, and it's teaching you how to do welding. You know, are you, are you adopting technology? That's the other trend. I would say the third trend that we're seeing is the cultural view of what other people would think of the industry. And I think it's one of those things where we need as an industry to do a better job showcasing the impact of what we do. For example, no one thinks about the h vac person until your heating goes out in the winter, your ac stops working in the summer, or that plumber all of a sudden when your toilet's backed up or your garbage disposal's leaking, a bunch of water going onto your floor.

Jake Hall [: 00:25:40

No one thinks about trades until they need the trades. I think what we need to do as an industry is doing a better job vocalizing the true impact that trades, or just the industry in general, if it's manufacturing or construction has on people's daily lives. And if we can see that, then the trend is for next generations. They're going to want to be a part of something because all of a sudden, they're part of something much bigger than themselves. And I think going back to just society in general, kids love gaming in large groups and being a part of Discord and steam chat rooms because while they're focused on something, but very specifically, they like to be a part of something big that could be like, you can look at Reddit or forums or anything like that. Right. They like to be a part of a group that has the same passion because it's bigger than just themselves. And I think that's.

Jake Hall [: 00:26:35

That's another trend that we're seeing in the industry.

Steven Doyle [: 00:26:37

Awesome.

Jake Hall [: 00:26:37

Yeah.

Brad Herda [: 00:26:37

And with everybody, you know, think about road construction. Back in the day, you're on road construction, all the cool things you got to see. Now everybody's heads down on their phone, so no one pays attention to what's going on behind the orange barrels anymore. And if you look at all the dot work that's happened across the country, then you think about all the dirt that's been moved, all the concrete's been poured, all the welds that have been made. All that stuff is like, it's pretty cool stuff. And we're missing out on the opportunity to show and showcase where things are happening and how things are happening and.

Jake Hall [: 00:27:10

Exactly.

Brad Herda [: 00:27:10

Nobody's gonna go. Nobody's gonna go and go through the industrial park and say, hey, this is made here. Made here, made here, because they don't care.

Jake Hall [: 00:27:18

Yeah. And I think that's the big thing. And that's why we as the industry need to change the way we use social media, for example. Right? For. For people's social media pages, their YouTube, their LinkedIn, their Instagram, they need to be far less focused on the product that they make and focus more on the people that are within that company. It blows my mind when people post line cards on their LinkedIn page thinking anyone actually cares. Right, right.

Brad Herda [: 00:27:48

You know, with the. With the parking lot and the picture of the building.

Jake Hall [: 00:27:54

Or, you know, the one thing you click on the website right away, all of a sudden it pulls up. Our company has been around 66 years, and it's a third generation. Like, no one cares, you know, and. And maybe a little bit. There is. There is value to that because there is focused on the culture that's being created within the company. But you got it. You need to do better than that.

Jake Hall [: 00:28:18

You need to showcase the people. You need to showcase the person that's not going to be inherited to the company because they don't. Their parents didn't own the company, but they want to know how is that going to company going to help me succeed and grow? You know what? Maybe it's Jessica who started off as a machine operator, who then became a floor technician, who then went and became a maintenance assistant, who then became a maintenance shift operator, who then became a floor plant manager, who then became assistant director of operations, who now became the vp. That's the story you want to highlight because that's the realistic and actual opportunity that could be achieved through growth within a company. Yet for so long, I don't see, hey, here's a person who started here and got to here. It's, check out my new product. And that's. And that's what we're.

Jake Hall [: 00:29:11

That's what we're missing.

Steven Doyle [: 00:29:13

Absolutely.

Brad Herda [: 00:29:15

So if people want your energy and enthusiasm in their buildings to come and talk to their leaders or talk to their organizations, or just find out more about you, where do people find you? It shouldn't be that hard, but where? I'll let you yell us.

Jake Hall [: 00:29:31

So, a couple things. One is, uh, the manufacturingmillennial.com. you know, find on my website. Reach out to me there. Or, um, LinkedIn. You know, come on my platform, see the content I'm talking about. Uh, connect with me on LinkedIn to search J. Cole.

Jake Hall [: 00:29:46

Probably the first one that pops up. If not, just search J. Cole manufacturing, and you're going to find me. I'm wearing a blue Chicago Cubs hat with a blue background. It's too bad.

Brad Herda [: 00:29:55

Gotta steal a manager. You gotta steal a manager to win. It's okay.

Steven Doyle [: 00:29:58

Wow.

Jake Hall [: 00:29:59

We just. We just take care of them, you know? Wait, how many. How many playoff games did they win this year?

Brad Herda [: 00:30:06

How many did you win this year?

Jake Hall [: 00:30:08

Doesn't mean we won the same. Exactly.

Brad Herda [: 00:30:11

So you're paying more for this the.

Jake Hall [: 00:30:14

Cubs expectations to win. We're here. While the brewers expectations to actually do something, we're here.

Steven Doyle [: 00:30:20

Right? That's so funny.

Brad Herda [: 00:30:22

What's your point?

Jake Hall [: 00:30:23

But my point is it doesn't matter anymore because we're paying, because we're paying players a billion dollars a year to actually only get paid $2 million per year, put the rest on deferment for tax evasion. And that's how every single future star player is going to get paid for, is they're going to get paid a very minimum with a huge chunk later when they'll move to a state with zero income tax, and all of a sudden the Dodgers are going to sell their program in 2035, so then they don't have to worry about the Otani deal. That's what's happening.

Steven Doyle [: 00:31:00

That's awesome.

Brad Herda [: 00:31:01

Awesome.

Steven Doyle [: 00:31:02

That is awesome.

Brad Herda [: 00:31:04

All right. Well, Jake, we thank you so much for your time today and your energy and your passion for what you're doing for the industry and connecting with a, with that millennial generation and younger to support that. And our hopes are that the old bastards like myself are actually paying attention and understanding and learning, because without the younger millennial crowd and without the Gen Zs, we don't have businesses to do anything with. So thank you so much for what you do.

Jake Hall [: 00:31:31

Absolutely, guys. It's a pleasure to be on.

Brad Herda [: 00:31:34

All right, thanks. Thank you for listening to blue collar B's, brought to you by vision for business solutions and professional business Coaching, Inc. If you'd like to learn more on today's topic, just reach out to Steve Doyle or myself, Brad Hurda. Please, like, share, rate, and review this show, as feedback is the only way we can get better. Let's keep blue collar businesses strong for generations to come.