Training Gen Alpha Isn’t Optional with Darryl Gratrix

Doyle (: 00:00

Welcome back to the show, everyone. Brad, what's going on?

Brad Herda (: 00:05

just trying to survive the we're in way better shape up here in the upper Midwest and Midwest than, than those that are down south of us with this cold front and ice and snow and sleet because we actually know how to handle that stuff. I was talking to a gentleman in Atlanta. His his his wife took a plastic level to start chipping ice off of the windshield because she had to go to work.

Doyle (: 00:20

Yeah.

Doyle (: 00:32

plastic level. Okay.

Brad Herda (: 00:34

Cause that's all they didn't have an ice scraper. So she just found something in the garage or basement just to start. What can I use to hit my windshield with to take ice off? like, she could have started the car earlier, you know, but.

Doyle (: 00:42

I'm just glad she didn't take hot water to that windshield. And I'm sure he is too.

Brad Herda (: 00:48

Exactly.

Brad Herda (: 00:52

So yeah, we're in a much better shape up here to deal with it because it's what we do all the time.

Doyle (: 00:58

Yep, that's just. You know you just go out and start your car 30 minutes early. It's OK. That's right once or twice, maybe three times. It's OK. Everything will be alright. So Brad, who do we get on the show today?

Brad Herda (: 01:03

Right. It's a remote start. It's fine. Hit the button on the app. It's all good.

Brad Herda (: 01:13

Well, this is a repeat guest, but it's going to be his first airing. Daryl Greiteckx, founder of NextGen Skilled Trades Consulting, where he works at the intersection of manufacturing, education, and workforce development. 25 years of hands-on experience in the skilled trades and manufacturing sector. Daryl's passionate about closing the skilled trades gap and changing perceptions and building partnerships, creating clear paths for our next generation.

Doyle (: 01:19

Alright!

Brad Herda (: 01:41

Can't wait to talk to about what he's doing with Gen Alpha. Collaborates with manufacturers, school boards, colleges, workforce organizations across Ontario and beyond, helping to modernize how we attract, train, and retain skilled talent. I can't wait to talk about training too to see what's changing there. Also a frequent speaker, a connector, an advocate for the future of blue collar careers and fits our core values on this show to the nth degree. So Darryl, welcome back.

Doyle (: 01:44

Mm-hmm.

Doyle (: 01:56

Yeah.

Doyle (: 02:06

Mm-hmm.

Brad Herda (: 02:09

to the Blue Collar BS podcast.

Darryl Gratrix (: 02:13

Thanks for having me guys and Brad, can you make sure that you send me a copy of that intro when we're finished? You made me sound really good there. That was impressive.

Brad Herda (: 02:22

Well, you are really good. You are really good. You're I mean, so we originally met on LinkedIn is how we found each other originally, because you are out there doing things that are making an impact and making a difference. So as much as your sales conundrums, we were talking is, right, it is you are really good at what you do and your passion shows and comes through. And that's why you're here. And that's why you're going to be super successful at doing what you're doing and promoting.

Doyle (: 02:24

Yep.

Doyle (: 02:29

Mm-hmm.

Doyle (: 02:39

Yeah.

Doyle (: 02:50

Mm-hmm.

Darryl Gratrix (: 02:51

Well, thanks for that. appreciate it.

Doyle (: 02:53

Yeah, so before we get too much into this, Darrell, what generation do you identify with fit in with?

Darryl Gratrix (: 03:01

I am a you know right in the middle of Gen X

Doyle (: 03:07

Perfect. Perfect.

Darryl Gratrix (: 03:08

not pushing the lines of a boomer.

Brad Herda (: 03:14

What are you trying to say? What are you trying to, I think, I think you and Steve, I think you and Steve may have had a little pregame meeting here offline that I'm unaware of.

Darryl Gratrix (: 03:14

Right in the middle.

Doyle (: 03:15

Yeah, we know what he's saying. We know what he's saying, Brad.

you're well aware of now.

Darryl Gratrix (: 03:28

Well, it's also possible, and I've been listening to a few of your podcasts to warm up for this.

Doyle (: 03:33

All right.

Brad Herda (: 03:35

There's only 180 or so to choose from. Which one did you pick?

Darryl Gratrix (: 03:37

Yeah, the last one I heard was the one with Megan Zimba.

Doyle (: 03:43

OK. Yep.

Brad Herda (: 03:43

yeah, she's awesome.

Darryl Gratrix (: 03:45

Yeah.

Doyle (: 03:47

Excellent. So tell us more about next gen skilled trades.

Darryl Gratrix (: 03:53

Yeah. So as you mentioned, I've been in manufacturing over 25 years, tool and die maker by trade. And, know, as we get on in our years into our careers, you know, I went through that stage where I felt like, well, you know, I really need to start focusing on passing on all my information and skills and to the next generation. And then that kind of transformed into, well, it's tool and die makers, mold makers, machinists.

Doyle (: 04:13

Mm-hmm.

Darryl Gratrix (: 04:23

95 % of the population doesn't know we exist, let alone what we do. So no wonder there's nobody getting into our trades. And so I've definitely felt a strong calling to help try and change that. So over the last few years got involved with, we have a program in Ontario called the Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program, which gets kids involved and signed up as apprentices in high school while doing co-ops.

Doyle (: 04:26

Mm-hmm.

Doyle (: 04:31

Right.

Brad Herda (: 04:31

Thanks

Doyle (: 04:37

Mm-hmm.

Doyle (: 04:45

Mm-hmm.

Doyle (: 04:53

Nice.

Darryl Gratrix (: 04:53

so I've been working with the advisory committee for those three trades. and then as you know, got involved in LinkedIn and started making some comments and posts on the skilled trades and it kind of took off. So, you know, get again, as you get older, got to that point where it's like, well, at that stage where I either try and make a go of this full time or I'm never going to do it. So I gave it a shot.

Doyle (: 05:08

Mm-hmm.

Doyle (: 05:21

Right?

Darryl Gratrix (: 05:23

And as you can imagine, trying to monetize being a skilled trades advocate is quite challenging. So over the last five months, I've kind of settled into, I've got a few partnerships with different companies and different sales roles. So I'm using that to try and pay the bills. And it gives me more flexibility for going to events and promoting the skilled trades.

Doyle (: 05:30

Uh-huh.

Doyle (: 05:40

Mm-hmm.

Doyle (: 05:50

Mm-hmm.

Brad Herda (: 05:50

Right.

Darryl Gratrix (: 05:51

Uh, but yeah, even though, you know, I've got 25 plus years as a tool maker, I now have two or three months under my belt as a salesman. So I'm still in the rookie phase and, figuring that out. Yeah, yeah, for sure.

Doyle (: 06:04

All right. All right. Yeah, for sure. Yeah.

Brad Herda (: 06:06

You're in the honeymoon phase for sure.

So how is the reception to, as you open up doors to have conversations with industrial manufacturers and manufacturers of whatever goods and services, et cetera, how are you finding the reception to?

the question that you're bringing forward about how they're training, how they're finding the next their next tenure. Are they open to the conversation or are they just completely like, why are we even talking about it? What's what's been the take on the at least the conversation?

Darryl Gratrix (: 06:46

Yeah, I think everyone agrees that we have to do more to get the next generation into the trades. But it seems the more and more I talk to people, the more I'm hearing that kids who are getting into it are still having trouble getting that first apprenticeship job. you know, with the state that our economy is in right now, I don't see companies opening up the floodgates to let apprentices in. So

Doyle (: 07:14

Really?

Darryl Gratrix (: 07:16

It's an interesting position we're in because I know in Ontario, we've got approximately 1.4 million people working in the skilled trades. And about a third of those people are over the age of 55. So in the next 10 years, those people are going to be retiring. And if we don't start taking on those apprentices now, then we're going to be in

Doyle (: 07:26

Mm-hmm.

Doyle (: 07:31

Right.

Doyle (: 07:37

Mm-hmm.

Darryl Gratrix (: 07:44

big trouble in 10 years.

Doyle (: 07:46

Mm-hmm.

Brad Herda (: 07:48

Right, because like the Tool and Die program is what, four years to go from apprentice to journeyman to master?

Darryl Gratrix (: 07:54

Yeah, it's a four year apprenticeship.

Darryl Gratrix (: 08:01

Yeah, it's a four-year apprenticeship. then as we know, it's, know, chillier as much as we would like to think after five years or even 10. You know how it was in our 30s where we thought we knew everything now. And then once it gets to your 40s and 50s, you realize, actually, I didn't know that much at all.

Doyle (: 08:14

Mm-hmm. yeah, 100%.

Doyle (: 08:22

Yep

Darryl Gratrix (: 08:24

Yeah.

Brad Herda (: 08:24

Well, but all the 16 year olds know everything, so it's okay. It's fine.

Darryl Gratrix (: 08:27

yes. Yes, I've got a few of those in this house.

Brad Herda (: 08:31

Hahaha!

Doyle (: 08:33

Same, same boat. Same boat.

Brad Herda (: 08:38

But we all went through the same phase at the end, right? I mean, when you were in high school or teenager, parents didn't know shit, right? It's like...

Darryl Gratrix (: 08:41

Yeah.

yeah, what do my parents know?

Brad Herda (: 08:47

And now that you're in that seat going huh, maybe they weren't as dumb as I thought. shit, they do know what I did. Damn I'm in trouble.

Darryl Gratrix (: 08:52

There you go.

Doyle (: 08:52

Hehehehe

Darryl Gratrix (: 08:56

Yes.

Doyle (: 08:56

Mm-hmm. Yep.

Brad Herda (: 09:00

So.

How are you approaching the the gen alpha dilemma that's slowly coming abroad because you know, they're 14 years old, they're the next piece coming in, they, they are truly the first full digital generation. They will have a completely different expectation and completely different mindset to work. And what's expected in training and onboarding and things like that. How are what are you seeing or doing or promoting to help organizations

understand that they're not going to be hiring 48 year olds to come in and backfill these roles that 59 year olds 62 year olds left.

Darryl Gratrix (: 09:44

Yeah. Don't know, is it just me, Steven, or does it feel like Brad just asked about five different questions there?

Doyle (: 09:51

it's common. Just pick one aspect run with it.

Brad Herda (: 09:52

It was, it was, it was a, it was a run on sentence. It was a run on sentence. It gave you lots of freedom.

Darryl Gratrix (: 09:53

It was good.

Darryl Gratrix (: 09:58

Yeah.

In terms of attracting the younger kids that ties into one of the companies I've partnered with is a company that creates virtual reality for training, safety training, specifically for skilled trade. So we have some made up for welding, CNC lathe, driving a forklift. So I would...

Doyle (: 10:13

Mm-hmm.

Doyle (: 10:26

Mm-hmm.

Doyle (: 10:29

Yeah

Darryl Gratrix (: 10:30

Yes.

Brad Herda (: 10:30

That could be a fun one. That could be a fun VR glasses.

Doyle (: 10:32

That could get pretty wild.

Darryl Gratrix (: 10:35

Well, it would, it is, and you can imagine it's even more fun when you can have four or five, we have five headsets. So you can have four or five of them in the same area driving, all driving forklifts. So it's not, well, even better, it's more, it's more fun than that, Brad. You can actually lift the other person up, just lift their whole forklift right up in the air.

Doyle (: 10:37

Alright.

Brad Herda (: 10:49

It's like bumper cars.

Doyle (: 10:49

Yeah.

Doyle (: 10:58

Not that you haven't tried this before.

Darryl Gratrix (: 11:02

No, never. No. But yeah, so we find, you know, because virtual reality is still the cool thing, you know, kids are excited just to put the headset on and try something. So that's definitely been one avenue that we're using to get to the kids. And it seems to be, you know, the price, like everything, the price is coming down. So more and more.

Doyle (: 11:07

You

Doyle (: 11:13

Right?

Doyle (: 11:18

Mm-hmm.

Doyle (: 11:30

Mm-hmm.

Darryl Gratrix (: 11:31

people are developing that. In the last few years, the Ontario government has run a program called Level Up. And usually it runs in the fall in about 20 different cities. And basically it's just a big open house with different companies that come and exhibit. And then they bring in busloads of kids, know, 2500 or 3000 a day.

Doyle (: 11:55

Mm-hmm.

Darryl Gratrix (: 11:59

So more and more of those exhibitors are investigating or starting to invest in the virtual reality to make it more enticing because I wasn't an exhibitor this past fall, but I was the fall before. And I can verify that when you have a table full of plastic parts, some old inserts in a video going, the engagement is less than spectacular.

Doyle (: 12:08

Mm-hmm.

Brad Herda (: 12:28

Unless you got, unless you got candy, if you got candy to give away or a water bottle or something, whatever the giveaway is.

Darryl Gratrix (: 12:30

Yeah, yes, yeah. But you know, after the first 15 minutes and, you know, the first 20 kids have taken two handfuls of candy, then you've lost them.

Doyle (: 12:34

Okay.

Doyle (: 12:42

Yep.

Brad Herda (: 12:43

Right. And you got two days left.

Darryl Gratrix (: 12:45

Yeah.

Doyle (: 12:46

Okay.

Brad Herda (: 12:49

So how are they, how is, what about the conversation with the employers? How are they accepting the fact that they may need to change how they onboard somebody? Cause the follow around and OTJ that you probably did through growing up and just follow George around and get yelled at and say, sweep this up and sweep that up. That is not going to fly from Jen Alpha's viewpoint.

Darryl Gratrix (: 13:07

Yeah.

Darryl Gratrix (: 13:13

Yeah. Yeah. That's an excellent segue, Brad. Just so the audience knows, we didn't plan this, but it actually ties into another product that I'm selling that I partnered with. It's a Swiss company called Rhyme and Technologies, and it's training app. Super concept. You strap a GoPro or a camera to your chest and video yourself doing

So you're doing a PM on a mold or a die. If you're an electrician, say you're wiring up a panel and you narrate it while you're videoing it, then you dump it into this app and it creates a work instruction for you. Then which, you know, that's all right. It's kind of cool. But the best part is for the person who's training, they can watch the video, look at the work instruction and then interact with it using AI so they can ask questions.

Brad Herda (: 14:13

Nice.

Darryl Gratrix (: 14:13

So yeah, super cool. And the plus for employers is you get to try and capture all that knowledge before George retires in five years and all that knowledge walks out the door with them.

Doyle (: 14:26

Mm-hmm.

Darryl Gratrix (: 14:28

So that's one way to try and engage in training. And I would say most companies that are successful and going to continue to be successful or investigating those type of ideas, they're not going with the, follow George around for four years and that's your apprenticeship. Cause you know, the companies that know, no, that's not going to work. That's not going to cut it.

Doyle (: 14:55

So when you're out talking with kind of like those businesses that are actually looking at, you know, hiring for skilled trades, what have you heard as being the most common restriction that they're kind of putting out there that they're seeing?

Brad Herda (: 15:19

He only asked you one question. You suck, Doyle.

Darryl Gratrix (: 15:22

You

Doyle (: 15:23

Hey, I'm just trying to be clear. Clarity wins.

Darryl Gratrix (: 15:26

You know, now I'm seeing the benefit of Brad's question. You know, because I had four or five choices, it was easier to answer. Now, Steve and this question's a little tougher to answer.

Doyle (: 15:30

Yeah.

Doyle (: 15:35

Yeah, I know.

Doyle (: 15:39

Well, that's what we do here.

Darryl Gratrix (: 15:41

Brad Herda (15:43.946)

That's my line.

Doyle (: 15:45

It is.

Darryl Gratrix (: 15:51

Definitely again, specifically for our trades, tool and die mold making CNC. One big restriction is still not a lot of people getting into the trades, into our trades, again, because no one knows about us. In the fall, I did a eight week contract for a company, just helping them out while they were looking for a tool manager.

Doyle (: 15:54

Mm-hmm.

Doyle (: 16:02

Mm-hmm.

Doyle (: 16:16

Mm-hmm.

Darryl Gratrix (: 16:17

We were trying to hire just one CNC person and one mold maker. And I want to say it wasn't zero, but it was almost zero people applied. the one, you know, so it's, that's, that's still a big, big issue.

Doyle (: 16:22

Mm-hmm.

Doyle (: 16:32

Right.

Mm-hmm.

Doyle (: 16:39

Mm-hmm.

Brad Herda (: 16:39

Right, because this is the part that gets really frustrating. Because we were stealing from the same pool. We're not trying to add more, make the pool bigger, and we're not trying to add people into the pool so we can find more people. So we gotta get Gen Z, we've gotta get younger Gen Alpha involved, and we gotta get it sooner because it's a math problem at the end of the day.

Doyle (: 16:48

People. Right.

Darryl Gratrix (: 16:50

Yeah.

Darryl Gratrix (: 17:05

See ya.

Doyle (: 17:06

Mm-hmm.

Brad Herda (: 17:07

And most organizations can't automate or AI their way out of making things because they can't afford the infrastructure to do so.

Darryl Gratrix (: 17:18

And it's with CNC machining, can automate it and it helps for sure. I've experienced that, but when you get down to putting a mold together, a die, assembling it, fitting it, we're years and years away from AI or any bot being able to help with that.

Brad Herda (: 17:40

Well, AI is not going to, I mean, you might be able to, I mean, there's a lot of things that are out there from a machine maintenance perspective, but you know very well that when you hear a sound change, something's going on, you react and or, or before you, you just know, you have to learn those things. And I don't know that with all the ambient noise, all the different things, I'm not sure that you're going to get to that level of programming and automation to protect things. enough.

Darryl Gratrix (: 17:54

Yeah.

Brad Herda (: 18:10

or it's going to be overprotective where it now becomes completely unproductive.

Darryl Gratrix (: 18:15

Yeah, and you're right. I've seen that many times in a CNC shop where you want to see five or 10 guys run at a full out sprint. You just need that wrong noise in the machine and everyone sprinting. The only thing that might, the only way to get them moving faster might be bringing in a couple dozen donuts.

Brad Herda (: 18:32

Correct. Save that.

Doyle (: 18:44

Hehehehehe

Brad Herda (: 18:47

Wow. Okay.

Darryl Gratrix (: 18:50

And I can say that because I would be one of them. Yeah.

Brad Herda (: 18:55

That's fair. That is fair. So Darrell, how do organizations find you besides on LinkedIn? How do they get ahold of you to the the training piece, I think is an absolute there shouldn't be anybody that's listening to this show should be saying no to an opportunity to learn more about that. They should be knocking down your door to be able to say, Hey, how do we make this happen? Because I don't care if you're a

Darryl Gratrix (: 19:16

Yeah.

Brad Herda (: 19:23

a rough framing company, a manufacturer, even forklift driver, right? Just have your capture the knowledge. So how do they find you? Where do they get you? How do they contact with you? What's going on?

Darryl Gratrix (: 19:30

Yeah.

Darryl Gratrix (: 19:37

Yeah, like you mentioned, LinkedIn. I've got a website I just started at nextgenskilledtrades.com. And if you like afterwards, I can provide some other links in the show notes. Yeah.

Brad Herda (: 19:51

Yeah, that'd be great. Whatever you got, we'll put it out there.

Brad Herda (: 19:57

Okay, so here's the rapid fire part of the show here, Daryl, if you've listened to any. So here you go. Dumbest thing you ever heard in a meeting.

Darryl Gratrix (: 20:02

Okay.

Doyle (: 20:09

Yeah, yeah.

Darryl Gratrix (: 20:12

Wow. Yes.

Brad Herda (: 20:12

Be careful, be careful. We don't want any legal issues.

Doyle (: 20:17

Hehehehehe

Darryl Gratrix (: 20:20

Yeah, I might have to just pass on that one for now. Let's see if we can come back to it.

Doyle (: 20:22

Uhhh...

Brad Herda (: 20:24

Okay, you've got a time machine. What year are you going back to and why?

Darryl Gratrix (: 20:32

1985, I was, you know, let's say 10 ish, 11 ish. Yeah, you had the freedom, you could go out on your bike, do whatever you want. Parents didn't care, didn't have to worry about, you know, people videoing you with your phone, with their phones, reporting it back to your parents. Yeah, it was a good time of life. weren't old, you know, you were young enough, you didn't have to go to work yet.

Doyle (: 20:45

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Doyle (: 20:52

Yep.

Doyle (: 20:55

Mm-hmm.

Brad Herda (: 21:03

That is true. What's your go-to excuse when running late?

Doyle (: 21:05

That is

Darryl Gratrix (: 21:12

Usually, and this is an honest answer, usually as I just didn't leave myself enough time, you know, I half an hour would do it. You know, if everything went perfectly, it probably would have, but you know, if I'd left that five or 10 minutes earlier, probably would have been a good idea.

Doyle (: 21:23

Mm-hmm.

Brad Herda (: 21:23

Mm-hmm.

Doyle (: 21:32

Mm-hmm.

Brad Herda (: 21:32

Beer or bourbon?

Darryl Gratrix (: 21:36

Bourbon.

Brad Herda (: 21:39

Or coffee or energy drink.

Darryl Gratrix (: 21:43

coffee.

Brad Herda (: 21:45

Go to curse word.

Shows explicit, you can use it if you want. It's your own company. Nobody's gonna fire you.

Darryl Gratrix (: 21:56

You know, try as much as I can I try not to swear But you know usually usually it's pretty simple. It's just yeah. shit or crap Or something else. Yeah

Doyle (: 21:56

You

Brad Herda (: 22:02

Okay.

Doyle (: 22:02

Perfect.

Brad Herda (: 22:08

Okay.

Doyle (: 22:08

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Brad Herda (: 22:14

Canada. no, not that.

Darryl Gratrix (: 22:15

Yeah, yeah.

Doyle (: 22:15

Yeah

Brad Herda (: 22:19

Favorite candy.

Darryl Gratrix (: 22:22

Hmm, does that include chocolate bars or strictly candy?

Brad Herda (: 22:26

Whatever whatever call it a sweet treat.

Doyle (: 22:27

All of it.

Darryl Gratrix (: 22:27

Yeah, okay, definitely a chocolate bar. Let's say O'Henry.

Doyle (: 22:33

all right.

Brad Herda (: 22:35

That's good. Early bird or night owl?

Darryl Gratrix (: 22:39

Early bird.

Brad Herda (: 22:41

Favorite tool, literally or metaphorically?

Doyle (: 22:45

you

Darryl Gratrix (: 22:46

It's gotta be the adjustable wrench. So many uses. You can also use it as a pry bar, as a hammer, and a wrench.

Doyle (: 22:56

Mm-hmm.

Doyle (: 23:00

Mm-hmm. Yep.

Brad Herda (: 23:01

Okay. what was in your lunchbox today?

Darryl Gratrix (: 23:08

Well, you know, now that I'm working from home, I don't need a lunchbox, so... But I had Greek salad for lunch.

Doyle (: 23:12

All right.

Brad Herda (: 23:15

Okay. Dream job as a kid.

Darryl Gratrix (: 23:20

Hmm. NHL player play alongside Gretzky. Be an Edmonton Euler. Yeah. For sure. was.

Doyle (: 23:25

yeah. Yeah.

Brad Herda (: 23:27

But he was in LA. He was at, I suppose when you were younger, he was still up in Edmonton.

Darryl Gratrix (: 23:33

No, was in it. Yeah, that was the, you know, that was 84 to 88 when they won four out of five cups.

Brad Herda (: 23:39

Yep. Yeah, he was still there then he didn't go to LA quite yet. Best pizza topping.

Doyle (: 23:40

Mm-hmm.

Darryl Gratrix (: 23:42

Yeah.

Darryl Gratrix (: 23:49

Mmm, feta cheese.

Brad Herda (: 23:52

interesting. I like that much better much better answer than pineapple favorite tv show to binge

Doyle (: 23:53

Huh. All right.

Yeah.

Darryl Gratrix (: 23:58

You

Lately, it's been it's I've got nothing left because we're all caught up. It was the chosen.

Doyle (: 24:09

that's a good one.

Darryl Gratrix (: 24:11

Yeah.

Brad Herda (: 24:12

Favorite movie quote

Darryl Gratrix (: 24:17

It's a Bute Clark. Or she's a Bute Clark. Christmas Vacation. Or the shooter's full.

Doyle (: 24:22

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yep.

Darryl Gratrix (: 24:29

if that gives you any kind of sense of, you know, what kind of sense of humor I have or lack thereof.

Doyle (: 24:33

Yep.

Brad Herda (: 24:33

Favorite music.

Darryl Gratrix (: 24:38

Again, you know, I don't listen to a ton now, but you know, being the age that I am that early, early to mid 90s, early grunge music, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Down Garden. Yeah, those are the glory days.

Doyle (: 24:52

Yeah! Yeah! Mm-hmm!

Right?

Brad Herda (: 25:01

This is a stupid question, but I'll ask any favorite sport. I'm assuming it's hockey, but I don't know that for sure. Given the fact that you've got a half rink sitting out in your backyard.

Darryl Gratrix (: 25:06

Yeah, hockey. Yeah.

Doyle (: 25:09

I mean, he could say curling. He could say curling.

Brad Herda (: 25:13

He could, but you're not building a curling rink outside. He's playing hockey out there.

Darryl Gratrix (: 25:13

Thank

Brad Herda (: 25:19

bucket list vacation location

Darryl Gratrix (: 25:26

Hmm, that's an excellent question.

Brad Herda (: 25:31

We get to the truth here, Darrell.

Darryl Gratrix (: 25:34

Yeah, yeah, you guys sure do.

Brad Herda (: 25:36

We dig deep.

Darryl Gratrix (: 25:41

Darryl Gratrix (25:44.878)

Hmm. You know, I'm not sure maybe Italy.

Not sure, I don't know if I'll ever make it to Hawaii or Australia, but you know, let's just say I'm not a big traveler, so I have lots, lots of options there.

Brad Herda (: 25:57

OK.

Doyle (: 26:01

Mm-hmm.

Brad Herda (: 26:02

Okay, Edmonton doesn't count.

Doyle (: 26:06

Hehehehehe

Darryl Gratrix (: 26:06

No, I've been yeah been there done that bread

Brad Herda (: 26:12

Living or dead, who would you want to have a conversation with?

Darryl Gratrix (: 26:17

Hmm, Jesus.

Doyle (: 26:18

Mm.

solid.

Brad Herda (: 26:23

That is that would be some good stuff.

Doyle (: 26:25

Mm-hmm.

Darryl Gratrix (: 26:25

Yeah.

Brad Herda (: 26:27

You could get them all the water and get completely hammered.

Darryl Gratrix (: 26:30

Yeah.

Doyle (: 26:31

Yeah.

Brad Herda (: 26:35

We went to Turkey, our cruise over in Greece, we went to Ephesus and it's like it was just bizarre walking through some of those places and just walking through a lot of the history and thousands of years old of stuff and it's like huh this is very interesting. You are old enough to answer this last question, many of some of our guests are not old enough to answer this question but this is the last one. Ginger or Marianne?

Darryl Gratrix (: 26:49

Be a

Doyle (: 26:49

Mm-hmm.

Doyle (: 26:57

Mm-hmm.

Doyle (: 27:02

Hehehehehe

Darryl Gratrix (: 27:05

I did. Yep. Again, that falls right into my wheelhouse. You know, come home after school, like that was four o'clock or 430. Every day. Yep.

Brad Herda (: 27:07

you

Doyle (: 27:10

Mm-hmm.

Doyle (: 27:14

Somewhere in there.

Brad Herda (: 27:14

Something like that. Yeah, it was right after school. Yep.

Darryl Gratrix (: 27:21

Well, you know, being the good Christian man that I try to be, I'm gonna have to say neither and I'll go with my wife.

Doyle (: 27:29

Safe answer. answer. Solid.

Brad Herda (: 27:37

She better all I gotta say is that when the episode comes out I better see a review from mrs. Darrell great ex

Darryl Gratrix (: 27:47

Yeah.

Doyle (: 27:48

Solid answer.

Brad Herda (: 27:51

better listen to this episode with that response. Absolutely. Honey, you got to wait till the end. It gets better. Trust me.

Darryl Gratrix (: 27:57

Yeah.

Doyle (: 27:59

Solid answer.

Brad Herda (: 28:04

so what's the one thing our audience needs to know about about Gen Alpha that they're unaware of right now?

Darryl Gratrix (: 28:17

It's, think in the the trades, as you guys know from being on LinkedIn and at different events we are, we're getting better at getting the word out there so that they can at least be aware of the trades and be informed so they can make a decision. And I think that's the key is that everyone has to just keep pushing.

You know, if you're running a tool shop and you are not involved in local high schools, colleges, you know, you need to get out there and get into those schools and show everyone, you know, just how cool our trade is and all the cool stuff you can do. Because if they don't know, you know, how can they can't make a choice if they don't know about us.

Doyle (: 28:51

Mm-hmm.

Doyle (: 29:07

Mm hmm. Absolutely.

Brad Herda (: 29:08

Correct.

Darrell, thank you so much for being a guest on BlueCow RBS podcast today. Let's go down this path a bit. Your backyard rink, I see some things that you've done out there. How is it holding up through the winter? And are you winning is the question.

Darryl Gratrix (: 29:28

the biggest battle we have in where the area that we live in, is called the snow belt, is just keeping the snow off of it. It's almost a full-time job. But luckily, kids are old enough they can help. And we've been doing it for about 15 years. And I'm pretty much set to retire from it, but they wanted to...

Doyle (: 29:35

So,

Doyle (: 29:47

Right?

Doyle (: 29:56

Mm-hmm.

Darryl Gratrix (: 29:57

they wanted to do another year. So I said, you know, that's fine, but you guys aren't going to have to step it up and help out more. So.

Brad Herda (: 30:04

Okay, but are you winning? Are you outscoring them?

Doyle (: 30:04

Mm-hmm.

Darryl Gratrix (: 30:10

Yeah, you know, once Noel has a dad, you've got to let them win just so they don't lose total self-confidence.

Doyle (: 30:17

No, you don't. No, you don't. No. Listen, you got to build a tough culture. You got to build them tough to let them know to save their drama for their mama. Go to your mama and wine because dad is now here. No easy rides. My kids know this. I don't care if it's a board game, putting puzzles together. I don't care. You're going to beat me. You're going to beat me.

Darryl Gratrix (: 30:22

I thought Steve.

Darryl Gratrix (: 30:32

Yeah.

Darryl Gratrix (: 30:44

Yeah.

I was just trying to keep up the image of being a nice guy,

Doyle (: 30:50

No, nice guy's been a blast.

Brad Herda (: 30:53

my gosh. my god. Really? Okay. Great. Right. Perfect. Thank you so much. Sorry about that, Darryl. I apologize for the opinions expressed by Stephen Doyle are those of his own, not not those of this show or guests.

Darryl Gratrix (: 30:58

Thank

Doyle (: 30:58

Yeah, we're going down that path now.

Yeah

Doyle (: 31:11

are mine alone they are mine alone and i own them

Darryl Gratrix (: 31:13

Yeah.

Brad Herda (: 31:20

wow. All right. Daryl, thank you so much for taking the abuse. We appreciate it.

Darryl Gratrix (: 31:28

Well, thanks for having me. you know, even, even if I was thinking in my head what Stephen was saying, I didn't want that, you know, to be recorded for everyone to hear.

Doyle (: 31:36

everybody can hear it. Like just know if you if you come to my house, and you start throwing some cards down. My youngest daughter knows the rules and she's gonna beat you. She still doesn't beat me but she's gonna she's yet. She's getting close. So

Darryl Gratrix (: 31:52

Yeah.

Brad Herda (: 31:55

heart shark. All right, Del, thank you so much. We'll look forward to putting all the all the links in the show notes for all the great products, tools, resources, etc that you have available so we can help others in the industry be better. So thank you so much, Darrell for being here.

Darryl Gratrix (: 32:13

Yeah, thanks again for having me guys.

Doyle (: 32:13

Yeah, thanks, girl. Yeah, thank you.