record_id: 302f8b3e-f83d-81bf-921f-eeb21cf88c65
created_time: 2026-02-09T17:41:00.000Z
title: 02-09 Interview: Adam - General Manager Candidate
source_url: /

[TRANSCRIPTION]
Speaker 1 00:13:32
Hello, this is Adam. Hey Adam, this is Braden McLeish. How are you today?
Speaker 2 00:13:36
Braden, hey, I am good. How are you?
Speaker 1 00:13:38
I am doing well. I am doing well. Is this still a good time?
Speaker 2 00:13:42
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely, I appreciate you giving me a call back.
Speaker 1 00:13:45
Yeah no no problem did Did you call me?
Speaker 2 00:13:49
I did i did I called you what six minutes ago or or so But it? It only rang once, and then it went to voicemail So I know a lot of times people don't pick up uh. An unknown number, so I totally get it.
Speaker 1 00:14:03
Honestly, it never rang, So now I am going over to my voicemail, and it just popped up with something. You know, so I was like oh okay cool. So no, I uh yeah anyway. So I was like, oh, well, maybe he's waiting for to call me. And here we are.
Speaker 2 00:14:19
So yeah no excellent well listen I am excited that we're able to connect. What I was hoping to do today was just to, you know, get a better idea for your background. Working on recently, hopefully that lines up with this opportunity that I have. And you know, So go ahead and speak about that more detail from there if that sounds fair.
Speaker 1 00:14:38
Yeah, could you? I am assuming it's a garage door company. That yeah, And they're looking for somebody to kind of it almost sounds like. And I am only asking this; I am not trying to jump the gun. I am asking this to more frame my you know sure, F rame my response to you as as I don't want to give you my life story without uh. No. 
Speaker 2 00:15:01
Problem. Yeah, so this is a garage door company. Um, they were bought out by a private equity or they got private equity funding, I guess better way to say itum a little over a year ago. Um, they are in growth mode, you know looking to grow through acquisitions. Um, they have of, A few LOIs out right now, and a couple of branches in California. Um, you know, I think they have the the main branch, like they're the one that this person will be working out of is in Santa Ana. Um, and then they have one I think like two hours away uh from there. And then hold on let me scroll down where is this other one? Um two satellite branches within two hours okay yeah. 
Speaker 2 00:15:50
And then a couple of LOIs out, but this person will be working out of their Santa Ana branch. Um, And the the owner is moving into more of like a business development type role. Um, since private equity came in, So that kind of made space forum them to need a general manager to come in and lead the branch.
Speaker 1 00:16:13
Now did the did the ownerum buy this company? And or did the owner start this company?
Speaker 2 00:16:20
I believe the owner started this company.
Speaker 1 00:16:22
Okay, um, it sounds like a uh buy build sellum model. Um, So I am just asking questions. Uh just so I can understand where where everything's at. Um, I don't have a problem with that at all. Um, I actually very familiar with it. And so I just you know, just okay, cool. I i find more and more as i go in my career, it's more important on who i am working for than it is. Uh. What I am doing, even though what I am doing is important, if that makes sense. So, I try to get the mentality of what are you really trying to accomplish here first. Right,
Speaker 2 00:16:57
Right. So, yes so they're definitely in growth mode. They're, i think they're looking at about four or five years to hold before looking into selling. Um, and they're only a year into it. So you got another good three or four years, you know with this sort of. Set up, I guess you could say. Sure, uh, before you know there are any changes or anything like that.
Speaker 1 00:17:19
Okay, um, that's that's completely fair. I uh, well, i won't I won't continue to ask questions about that because i I don't want to stomp on your uh, your request. Um, no, it's totally fine. That's totally fine. Um so I am currently working for Triune, which is a pool construction companyum It's a family business. So I got asked to. To come in and essentially, it's kind of like this: "like hey, come in. I've been running it myself, but you know the operations aren't quite as tight. You are an ops guy. We want to scale. We want to move into Orange County and Texas." And it's a high end company, So meaning that we don't touch pools underneath a million dollars for the most part. Gotcha.
Speaker 1 00:18:12
If I started dropping names, you'd know exactly what I was talking about. So everything's. Sure,
Speaker 2 00:18:17
I could imagine, especially out there. Definitely.
Speaker 1 00:18:20
Yeah, well, I mean and and what's funny is is as I you know, I live in Orange County, um which is twenty minutes from Santa Ana. But but the stuff I am doing is, uh here i'll i am on my way to, you know, my next stop this morning is Trevor Noah's house. So you know, if you know who that is, so i do. Um, you know, so everything's like high end, super high precision. Um, and I got asked to come in and kind of scale it. And uh i I oversee um a director of operations. Um, this began a as a as let's scale. And when I got here between the economy and the um and the culture, it was like you can't scale this.
Speaker 1 00:19:10
Um, we need to rebuild. Um, and so um we we tried. Unfortunately, They were they had an entire department of of twelve guys um for their tile crew that were um all related in some way. You've got, you know, some uncles, brothers cousins, mother, you know, working and right. And uh so and and the lead guy, uh, although I kind of said, hey, man, I I. I am not interested in doing your job. I don't want to run tile. I don't want to anything. I want to make you into the best guy you know how to be. He's just kind of said, "I don't really care, man," you know, And so we ended up getting rid of him. And shortly thereafter, everybody else went, so which was fine. We were i kind of saw the we had a delay right? A gap in our in our um in our production schedule um and.
Speaker 1 00:20:07
I kind of use this as an opportunity to said okay, we're going to have a huge downturn coming up here. Um, And so I'm going to give the people a push that want to be pushed out, if you will. Um, and we're going to use this time to rebuild. Um, And so that way I'm not I'm not uh shorting people with hours. But the the uh so on that side, we completely rebuilt the team um and I think the reason why I am going into this without telling you too many too much detail is. If you look at my resume, I started out in transportation. I then went into manufacturing. I went to several different types of transportation as I made my way through. So, you know, started off in LTL we started off in air freight, then LTL, then household, then electronics. Then and then I ended up working for Reconserv, which was the bulk of my career, which was which was roll offs and whatnot, and then transferred over to manufacturing. And. 
Speaker 1 00:21:06
Um, when I left Reconserv, I came to work forum essentially my you know, it's my cousin that owns a company, and it was basically. 
Speaker 2 00:21:17
At Triune or or at Triune.
Speaker 1 00:21:19
Yeah, okay, at Triune. And it's it's basically, hey, how is it that you seem to get to the bottom of every single operation that you run? And everybody asks you to come back laterum after you leave. And.
Speaker 1 00:21:37
I have a unique capability of understanding processes at their root level. So while everybody says that they're what they do is custom, it's not. There's just variables that that need to be applied. Um, and it all comes down to um, do you have the right people and do they know what they're doing? And if you have those those two things, um, And you can understand the you know I am a lean manufacturing or nowadays, it's more than just manufacturing, but. Uh, are you familiar with Lean? Yeah, yeah. Okay, so I am. I am uh that that's my methodology. I, i jumped on it when when not many people knew about it. And uh, i start stripping waste. Uh as soon as i see it. And so i want to i want to do a process value map. And um and uh, i want to be able to understand where we're at.
Speaker 1 00:22:31
We break it down to those things, then we start seeing how we're doing. We can establish KPIs out of that, all that good fun stuff. And then you start going for low hanging fruit, you know. And through that, I usually find that here are the people that actually want to be here. And here are the people that don't. And then and that also helps me to understand exactly what it is we're doing. So now I can I can You know, and Chat GPT is changing my ability to do this so much better. You know, you know, but well, I mean, what is waterproofing? You know how does water get into here? What, you know, it's amazing all the different things that you are able to learn. When when you are the best of the best, You can't just go on to YouTube and watch a couple videos because those guys don't know either because they're not right. I've got. 
Speaker 1 00:23:20
I've got pools over living space. You know, in some of these places, it's like if it leaks, you know, there is no leaking here. There is no like oh the guy was wrong on YouTube. No room for error exactly. You know and and these infinity edges. Um, you know, if they're off by a sixteenth inch, and some of these pools are one hundred and fifty feet long with a radius that curls around, how do you? How do you do that? Um right? And and so. I had to figure out a way to deliver that every single time. Where these guys honestly didn't know how to get there, They didn't know how to get there. The first time maybe is the right way to say it. So, I've been able to break each of these processes down into a repeatable format where the guys.
Speaker 1 00:24:15
Uh, what because once you have the right people, then you can start establishing culture. Hey, we are the best. Right. And here is why we are the best. And. So now you are not going to let that other guy do that because that's beneath us. That's not what we do. Um, Mhm and honestly, I, you know, this is usually where I am telling you about K P Is and I am telling you about all the stuff I saved. But if you don't have the right culture, You can't get there, um Some people can get there, and you can get there in certain things. Um, but I establish culture. I do big change management, But I do it in a way that um that I get to keep the people that I want. And I get to force out the people that I don't. And once once i have the right culture where they want to be here, they want to do a good job, then everything's just education: why are you doing what you are doing? Um, And if they know why they're doing what they're doing, then then at that point.
Speaker 1 00:25:14
Um, they can be successful. Um, because if not, it's just well I don't know how I ended up here. Why is it a quarter inch off? Uh, I did everything right. You know or right right.
Speaker 2 00:25:25
Um and and so that can be applied toum you know, if I am reading the the job description uh correctly, it seems like you've got a general manager, and then you've got a bunch of service techs that report toum just some sort of of of uh manager that oversees them or lead or or whatnot.
Speaker 1 00:25:44
Um, So. 
Speaker 2 00:25:46
This person they have t here is about twenty people that are going to report to this person, which are the like the nine techs. T here is like six in office folks and then a few others, which are their words. I don't know exactly what that means, But I am not sure if there are managers in between the techs and the GM. They might be kind of in charge of all of it. Not I am not totally sure.
Speaker 1 00:26:11
Yeah okay I yeah, I am trying to find that line, but either way, you know, whether it's teaching that guy to teach his people or you know going direct, it's much easier to teach direct than you know. When, yeah,
Speaker 2 00:26:27
Definitely I always like finding a leader and bringing him up to be the quote unquote lead. So everything can get done, while I am not looking. Somebody's there to hold other people accountable. Essentially that's what I've done.
Speaker 1 00:26:42
So, what I've done here, We've got a guy that three years ago didn't know how to tile at all. Um, And he's now doing better work than um than the original guy that didn't want to stick around. Um, who was being paid forty five bucks an hour. Um, so we're now just now starting to bump him up and and getting him. And for the record, he didn't speak a lick of English when he started. So um I've got a semi uh, Basic understanding of of uh, Spanish. My my dad's fluent. My family comes from Argentina, um, that's a long story that I won't bore you with. But um, I I can now actually say that I have basic uh Spanish knowledge where but I'm in Southern California. So yeah, I see that bilingual is a is a plus. Um Yeah. Can actually talk it speak. I can actually speak Spanish much better than I used to .
Speaker 1 00:27:42
I went six months with not a word of English going, so it got you know. If there is immersion, then you know there is immersion. So yeah, Exactly.
Speaker 2 00:27:56
Excellent. How many people are reporting to here? Try.
Speaker 1 00:27:59
So on that on the tile side, we've gotum on the tile side, we're back up to four people there. And then on theum. And, then we've got a plumbing crew that handles our layouts and all that fun stuff as well. That's another five, And then I've got my maintenance crew where we do because we do pool maintenance as well, and that's another four. So you know, all told, it's you know twelve. I've done, you know, I've done twenty at three, conservative was twenty at one site, Twenty at another site, darn near or ten and ten at the other two sites when I was in in.
Speaker 1 00:28:38
The trucking world, you know. I had up to fifty, you know, direct reports. So I can do all levels of it, whether it's you know whether it's direct reports to managers and they're overseeing others. Um I have a little bit of that here. Um I like i i you know my my biggest thing, and i'll say this as well without rambling too much um. When I was at Recon Serve, I decided I was going to develop my transportation manager, who started off as my office assistant. And my office assistant once we made that transition, And so he ended up as my assistant in the office and took over as transportation manager and then left me to become an operations manager of a company that is, you know, was doing twice as much. And that was all you know, I saw the guy.
Speaker 1 00:29:35
I actually knew him personally from a church thing. Said, "This guy just needs a shot, " and now he's, you know, he's doubled his salary since since uh since he left. That's great to see. And then my office manager started off as my assistant, became the office manager when I left that company. They said, "Hey, what are we going to do about the sister company that we ran here? " Because I am still friends with with a couple of higher ups and I said. You know, you are going to use the office manager there. You are going to promote her and send her over there. And next thing I know, it's they're making more money over there than they ever have. You know, And she's since left ;, she had doubled her salary there and then went off and now she's running another company now. And so my thing is, let's talk about how to understand this properly, right? Let's let's let's. 
Speaker 1 00:30:33
Design metrics to evaluate your performance, and then here is how you are going to lift up your people. And then now go do it. And I'll not that I am never the guy to sit back, but now I look at things and I go, okay, What are my metrics for these people? So I can keep on lifting them up? And, then what can we start doing you know to grow the business because that's really where I want to spend my time.
Speaker 2 00:30:59
Right? So you have full P and L responsibility. I see here on the, On your resume, is that right? Correct. So, you know, Can you kind of break? I guess that down for me as far as like revenue, gross margin, operating expenses things kind of along those lines?
Speaker 1 00:31:19
So everything's a little bit different with what we're doing right now because I mean ultimately right now, we're doing about two million dollars a year. We, We're doing about twenty percent margin, and but we do everything as job by job. So, We create a budget for every single job, and then we apply everything towards that. So, for instance, I actually just finished a job, and I am only going to show tell it to you, because you know, we did really well ultimately. Ultimately, we you know when I took over, we were first we were doing. 
Speaker 1 00:32:05
We were at like one hundred and sixty dollars a square foot to install, which was horrible. My boss actually thought that all of our money was through efficiencies, and I was able to show him, "No, You are making money on your markup from materials. ; has nothing to do with it. " And. So and now we actually, you know, we just got down to ninety dollars a square foot.
Speaker 1 00:32:35
So, I am going to give you my job costing budget. So, each pool is different. So, If we're doing a remodel, like, you know, we're it's not going to be that million dollar pool because we're not doing the heart of it. But for instance, We just finished a job that uh, you know, was two hundred, twenty two thousand dollars, and we were supposed to do it with a twenty percent. Profit margin, we ended up finishing up with thirty eight percent. So we we made eighty four thousand dollars on it. Um, Because we're really starting to hone in like as we do go from pool to pool, I am going that wasn't the way to do it. Let's can we do it this way? You know and and as we're refining and unfortunately, We're not one of those pool companies that that will do fifty pools in a year. We do four or five um and so. 
Speaker 1 00:33:33
And. And this year, we're probably going to do seven because we're starting to move real fast. But, you know, but when when here and this is not a joke. When Jay Z and Beyonce want to purchase, you know, Sixty acres in Montecito, and they want a six million dollar bid one for the pool. And then the cold plunge and then the master spa. And you know, you end up it just Those jobs, so it's harder for me to say. So at that point in time, we essentially create a budget for each job and then we apply to that. So, But I can tell you at ReConserve just to kind of answer your question a little bit more, I am not.
Speaker 1 00:34:33
Totally outside of what you are looking for, or recon serve. We were doing. I thought I had this number here. Um, yeah, I had a thirty five million dollars asset portfolio, But that was that was all through assets across my the three companies i was I was overseeing. We did about ten million dollars. Um we did about ten million dollars a year over the three of them. And we were largely coming back about twenty percent profit margin there as well.
Speaker 3 00:35:08
Gotcha, okay, excellent.
Speaker 2 00:35:13
And then I assume you are probably looking over EBITDA as well, right? Correct. So I mean, when when you see that things are starting to go off, say you miss it by a certain percentage or whatever what? What are some of the first levers that you go for, you know, to try and get things back on track?
Speaker 1 00:35:35
Well, ultimately, you know, you should never be seeing it. You should never see that you went over. You should see that you are going to go over. I'll say that first. You know, i think I think that you create a budget and that's your plan. And then your P L is your report card, if you will. But the first thing. We're doing here is we're doing KPIs, and so if you can start mapping out each process and saying what is, you know, and that usually you can find that by what we're currently doing. Right? So, what does it take to install a garage door? You know, what are the different steps to it? How are we doing compared from employee to employee?
Speaker 1 00:36:25
And so, once you can start getting metrics on all of that, at that point in time, those numbers stand out themselves. And so you go, "Hey, employee F," you know is is doing everything twenty percent lower than than the others. Sure. Well, what's going on with him? He's a good guy. Um. And then you can start dialing everything in from there and going well, shoot You know what he's actually really good on the repairs and he's better than everybody else. But when you give him a fresh install, he's slower than everybody else. Um. And you can use the numbers to start looking into going, okay, what is going on? And then in a situation like that, you know, The first thing I'd do is I'd probably talk to the lead and go. Hey, what's up with this guy? You know. Right. And what I find a lot of the times is again, it's an education thing. Oh he's got his way and and I told him and he won't respond. And uh.
Speaker 1 00:37:23
You know, he wants to do it his way. And so, Um in a situation like that, depending on how big the company was at that time. I might do a ride along with the guy. And uh, going hey, let's talk about it or or I might pull him in first and go, Hey I am just seeing these numbers. You know, i know you are trying real hard. You know, I love, how you do things over here here and here. I want to help you, but i am seeing. I am seeing some sort of deficiency here and I know that has nothing to do with your. Your effort, and so how can I help you? And then you start having that conversation with them. Does that answer your question?
Speaker 2 00:38:02
Yeah, no, that was great. I appreciate that. So yeah, I mean, i I definitely think that you have the right background for for what they're looking for. They're at about ten and a half million in revenue. This person is going to have full P L responsibility, also responsible for operational execution team leadership. And growth strategy for the branch, you know, blending hands on operational leadership with strategic planning and financial accountability, and overseeing everything from installation, service repair, sales, customer experience and administrative functions. So that's kind of what they have in mind for this person. Eventually, they want this person to grow and kind of go into more of a regional director type.
Speaker 2 00:38:52
Position where they're able to oversee multiple branches, But at first it will be, you know, strictly the the Santa Ana branch for now.
Speaker 1 00:38:59
Gotcha, gotcha. And, and that's very similar to what if you, if you read my my little deal on on Reconserved California, you'll find it's it's very similar there. Um not not so much, but it's it's hey I like this one. Okay go help out. Ontario. Oh, we got the sister company over hereum andum and then essentially. You know, in Stockton, there too, but that was that was an easy fix. We just had to get the right guy in there. Um, sure. But uh, but yeah i I love the opportunity. Um ium like I said i've got got a bunch of questions, but I know you are also uh you might be the guy, But that's not the conversation right now.
Speaker 2 00:39:42
So I'll tell you I am probably not they only tell me. So muchum But yeah, I mean the so the interview process, First one is going to be with their their CEO. Okay, He's the guy that that took over the business. And everything has has been kind of getting everything uniform moving forward, things like that. Uh second one is going to be with the legacy owner. Um, you know, the guy they're moving him into more of like a business development role. But obviously, he's gonna gonna have a say um in who fills this role um and then they'll have you talk to their CFO I believe.
Speaker 2 00:40:19
So it's a three step interview process. They are very motivated to hire somebody pretty quickly. The only other thing I guess to talk about right now would be compensation. You know, if you are open to sharing, What are you earning currently with Tribune? And what would you need for it to make sense for you to start somewhere new?
Speaker 1 00:40:39
Um, I can be open to sharing with what I am doing. I wouldn't again; it's family. Um, One of the reasons why I I am looking to get out um is because we started with a hey, prove yourself, and then we can, you know, bump you. And uh I didn't mind coming in at the time at a lower point cause, you know, so I came in at at one forty, um and uh i've I've done on my side and and the other side hasn't happened yet. And so, um, so that's one of the reasons why I am looking to leave.
Speaker 1 00:41:16
Um, I think that uh, you know, one forty would be the lowest that I could eat. You know, stomach. I am interviewing for jobs that are on the higher end currently. Um, but I also know that I am kind of outside my realm. This might actually be a better fit than the other stuff that I am interviewing for. Somebody asked me the other day. You know what I am really looking for, and my response was, "Because I want to be careful in how I am responding to this. You are not going to hire a guy that is just going to come and you know, level up just so he can level up again, right?" And so, I don't want to give off that scent. And so, I am trying to be careful about my words because I think it's very easy to look at that. I don't mind.
Speaker 1 00:42:15
Stepping into something, you know, I want to be able to pay my bills, and then I want after that I want to have fun. You know, Um and so that's what I am looking for is the is the one forty. You know and and from there yeah I am forty five years old. You know, I am not looking to jump around. That's not my game anymore. I want to build something. Um, and, I am assuming reason why an opportunity like this looks good is you started off saying you probably got about three more years, but. I am assuming that this is not going to stop. They're going to continue to do this, and I love this. I love turnaround operations, And if there was some sort of tie in with merit base or bonuses and whatnot, then you know I am game for all of that. I just i want to take part in something. The reason why I am familiar with the buy build sell thing is because I considered it.
Speaker 1 00:43:13
Um, quite a bit. Um, And so I love the the PE idea of like, hey, let's go get something and let's make it better and let's make some money off of it. Right, that's my spiel.
Speaker 2 00:43:25
Absolutely excellent. So this one I can definitely get you a little above the one forty, just because I always want to try and give somebody a raise, you know, if I can, their range uh goes up to one fifty, um you know, so I can get you in at one fifty, and then it also has a fifteen to twenty percent bonus. You know. Depending on company performance, personal performance, but you know, as long as you are in there doing your job correctly, it'll all come for you. Right? So yeah, Salary will be at about one fifty, with the fifteen to twenty percent bonus onsite in Santa Ana. But yeah, I mean it still at least give you a little bit of a bump. I don't know, you know, the kind of of uh salary cut, you took to go there. But hopefully it at least gets a little bit closer to.
Speaker 2 00:44:12
Where you work previously,
Speaker 1 00:44:14
Yeah, I think that's that's like I said, I am more looking to uh to build something than I want to get in somewhere where I can see myself. You know i i i don't want to be that guy, ten years from now that goes. Oh, nobody hired me because of my age, like, you know, and and i am in a situation right now, where when i sidestepped to come to construction, um that kind of. That kind of, as I am interviewing everybody's like," Yeah, we love you, but you don't have experience in unicorns." And it's like," I agree," right?
Speaker 2 00:44:50
It's crazy. Yeah, exactly. So luckily, but I mean they're they more want somebody with like home services. So like pool insulation and all that is like right up that alley, because if they're like, you need to have garage door experience. Like good luck man. Like that is so specific.
Speaker 1 00:45:10
Right, Right, And that's largely what I've been up against lately is somebody, you know saying that exact thing. And it was just like, so I've got food experience, but I don't have pasta experience. So that's not you know and soum and so I don't mind. I guess that's a long winded way for me to say it. You know, I don't mind stepping into a roleum that you know when i, The trucking company that I used to work for, Eagle Truck Lines, was my dad's company. And you know, Nobody wanted to turn over when he sold the company. ;. Nobody wanted to turn over a large terminal over to a twenty one year old kid. You know, And so and so but I, okay, fine, i'll find a job that I can and people will see what I do and then I'll do it. And, that's my thought now, : um i'll get somewhere, they can pay my bills um and.
Speaker 1 00:46:06
And but but now I am I am smarter. So I I want to I want to drive my. Uh, I want to get myself on a track with a company that that uh is looking. To, honestly, to grow to do big things and uh. Yeah, you know. If, if am your you know your change agent, the guy that you know, goes in and fixes all the problems, umum happy to be that guy love that kind of stuff,
Speaker 2 00:46:30
Excellent, excellent. So, The only other thing I want to talk about real quick before I let you go, I see you were a company owner here at Surcass. So, what made you leave ReConserve to do this? And then what made you stop to go to Tryon?
Speaker 1 00:46:46
Um, I'll give you a candid answer. i was withum I was with ReConserve for fourteen years. The owner of the company has his name up on buildings.;. He was my mentor. Uh, he's hundred years old, still shows up to work every day. Um, we had we had a fantastic relationship. We had a better relationship than he and his son did. Um, he hired his son. Um, And uh as I was running around and and uh fixing everything in Southern California. Um I had been promised a regional uh title. And uh and then it was tied to all I have to do is get my.
Speaker 1 00:47:29
Is to get the approval of the son. And when the son's number two is calling you up and saying, "Hey, dude, it's personal," you are never going to get it. You need you need to start finding your way out. You know that that's that's what made me have a concern. Um i I was I couldn't get stuff approved anymore. Um, you know, We were doing a whole. It was a it was a plant that I was running. That was that was uh um. It was built in nineteen sixty two, so everything's starting to fall apart. And I, it's like hey, how many patches do you want on this thing? We need to just replace it. You know and and so my labor starts going down and everything. And and six months later after I left everything had been approved. My buddy was the one that took over for me. He's like all I did was grab all your quotes and turn them all in, and they all got approved. So it was that kind of situation unfortunately.
Speaker 2 00:48:24
Well he was definitely out for you Yeah. 
Speaker 1 00:48:26
Yeah, in fact, I am having just to give you an idea. I still exchange emails with the owner of the company and I am having dinner with uh that number two on Wednesday. Um so that it everybody loved me. You know, it's it was just him. It was just him. Um I I made him look bad in front of his dad in a situation that I had no clue of. And, i i won't bore you with the story. Yeah. Um and uh so i went and i left um because i just i had. I had uh I had achieved tenure, if you will. I my I got my golden parachute and it was like okay, I don't have to put up with this crap anymore. Um, I am out and uh, I wanted to create a. I decided that i i wanted to kind of sit back and for six months or so and figure out what i wanted to do with the rest of my life. And then uh covid hit. Found myself at home with three little boys, and uh, you know, because they couldn't go to school.
Speaker 1 00:49:25
And said, "Okay, Maybe I can start up a side business to create some passive income or something like that with my extra time." Um, I did that with Cirrus. It was uh, I was sourcing. Uh i was I was uh basically analytically researching what products were selling well on on e commerce sites like Amazon and I. Would um i would essentially figure out what was wrong with those. Items and create my own design, my own source them, And uh had them sourcing them in China, and uh bringing them over here and then selling them on Amazon. Did pretty darn well. And when the economy started hitting, I said it's time to leave. And uh that's when my cousin said," Hey, You know, I've been watching your career for a while. Can you can you help me?" And I said sure. And and that's the long winded story. Excellent.
Speaker 2 00:50:27
Great, so this company, um the the company itself they're called Besser Bros. That's B E S S E R. Um They the holding company for for them is called Wheelhouse. So I guess technically you'd be working for Wheelhouse but at Besser. Um And once we start the interview process and everything like that, you know I don't know have you ever worked with a recruiter before?
Speaker 1 00:50:57
Yes, um, okay. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:51:02
Okay. All right. Cool. So, you know that we're I mean, we're here to be your liaison between you and the company. You know I am here to give you all the answers to the test and get you as much money as possible. Um We get paid a percentage of like based on your first year salary So. If I can get you a million dollars I'd get two million dollars Right Right Um You know. So we are going to negotiate for you on that level as well. And just you know, make sure that you are fully prepped for every single interview. Have as much information as I have available to give you, great. Um, and things like that. Soum, you know, let me start doing some work on my end. Get your information over to Pesser slash Wheelhouse. Um and I will reach out as soon as I have any sort of feedback for you.
Speaker 1 00:51:48
Okay and if there is anything you need me doing on my sideum, you know hey really look great if your resume, You know, spoke a little bit more to this or that. You know, um, obviously without. 
Speaker 2 00:52:00
Honestly I think your resume. I mean between your resume and the notes that I have from our conversation. You know, I am fairly confident that I can get you that first interview. And then you know, then it's then it's up to you.
Speaker 1 00:52:13
Okay, that's fair.
Speaker 2 00:52:15
Yeah yeah no I think your resume is good. I have the amount of people that you managed, Well, here here at Triune, Do you manage any like in office people, whether it's anyone in like accounting or marketing or customer service or or anything like that, Or is there like a general like a manager that looks over like the rest of them?
Speaker 1 00:52:36
No, honestly we don't. We have an officeum that we never show up toum because we're both in Orange County. Um I mean we have, We we have a back office person that's out in South Carolina, So every once in a while, it's it's uh, you know, hey, can you do this for me, Um but honestly, he's he's kind of he's semi retired. So it's it's uh it's like no I'd rather do myself than than deal with him. Um but I mean I I uh I have I definitely have in the past um you know, at at.
Speaker 1 00:53:15
At Reconserv, we had all of that. We had a corporate structure, but we also had uh, We did a lot of the, the office manager did a lot of the uh. The data entry, the customer serviceum. So on and so forth. And and uh and then Eagle Truck Lines, which was which was my dad's company, or even at at United and whatnot that we we had all of that as well.
Speaker 2 00:53:38
Okay. All right, excellent, excellent, yeah. Cause I mean this person is going to be, you know, have everybody. Reporting to them, so they want somebody that kind of understands both the the operational side, yeah, but also sort of like that back office side. So got that experience.
Speaker 1 00:53:53
Yeah, it's it's definitely a different uh you, you can't talk to to those ladies the same way. And it might not all be ladies, but you know, they'll eat you up. I understand. You got to be, uh you know, yeah I was I was always the uh, the favorite son, if you will. Soum I get it. 
Speaker 2 00:54:13
Awesome, awesome. Awesome, okay, cool. Let me start doing some work on my end. Um, I and I will let you know, as soon as I have some feedback for you. That works great. I appreciate it, Adam. My pleasure. Thanks, Braden. Talk soon.
Speaker 1 00:54:24
You got it? Take care Bye bye. 
Speaker 2 00:56:56
Hi, You've reached Ashianna Cleesh. Please leave your name and a message, and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Thank you. Goodbye.
Speaker 1 00:57:04
At the tone, please record.
Speaker 1 00:58:17
If we can submit either through. The insurance company, then it should be fine.
Speaker 3 01:00:40
Good morning, Grace America. Welcome to Big Weekend Pod. And what a week it was! I talk about pretty much everything at least a little bit during the week, so I guess I am excited by five seconds.

[AI_SUMMARY]
The conversation between Adam, a General Manager candidate, and recruiter Braden McLeish covers Adam's professional philosophy and leadership style. Adam emphasizes the importance of culture and operational processes over specific tasks, driven by his experiences in family-run businesses. He is currently seeking a stable role after feeling undervalued at Triune Construction. Adam's approach includes Lean methodology, mentoring talent, and a focus on strategic growth. He shares his career history, including challenges faced at ReConserve, and expresses a desire for a merit-based environment where he can contribute meaningfully.