Episode 11: Building Bonds and Challenging the Future- Discussing career change, growing up, and growing together with electrical tradesman Alexander Trevino

SPEAKER_03 0:09

You're listening to the Learnins and Missteps podcast, where we intend to change the image of careers in the trades. We celebrate the real men and women who have built careers in the construction industry by bringing their personal stories straight to you. I began my career as a plumber's apprentice in the late 1900s. Over the last 26 years, I've had the fortune of meeting some of the most resilient, intelligent, and inspiring people who happen to be construction workers. My career path as a plumber has provided me with experiences and opportunities I thought were inaccessible. And I want you to know that the trades are a place where dreams can come true. These stories are brought to you by three brothers who share a mother. I am Jesse, your host. Our in-house writer is Ernest, aka La Voz. Hello. And our co-host, Renee. What's up? Y'all ready? Yes, sir. Dale. Hey, what's going on? I am flying solo with this opening. Our in-house writer, La Voz, is occupied otherwise. I'm gonna do my best. Don't want to let him down. Have you ever reconnected with an old friend that you hadn't seen in 10 plus years and felt like no time passed at all? On this episode, you get to hear a conversation between Renee Caterpillar Duron and Alexander Trevinho. Alexander's a first-year electrical apprentice. After having had a career in social work, uh decided to take to make a significant switch. And we get to hear about the family dynamics associated with that. Alexander also shares with us his personal experience in the education system. And then the somehow, some way, Alexander gets Renee and I to start talking about our relationship. And we have a bit of a special moment that I hope you guys enjoy. And these two young men offer some powerful advice to all the journeymen out there. This advice would help our apprentices tremendously. And not only would it help the apprentices, but it would go a lot, my opinion is that it would go a long way in changing the construction culture out there. So stick around. I'd love to hear your thoughts about that. Also, some of you have indicated an interest in contributing to this podcast, even more than already sacrificing the time and letting us bend your ear every other week. So we created a Patreon account, and there's three options. You can sign up to be a member of the composite crew. Uh, you can also be a maintenance tech, or you can be a builder because we need all of them. Signing up for composite crew maintenance tech or builder is going to give you access to exclusive content. That doesn't mean that we're going to be changing or stopping anything that we're already doing. It's an avenue for you to contribute if you feel the urge to do so. You can find all this details and information at patreon.com slash learnins and missteps. We appreciate you listening and spreading the word. So here we go.

SPEAKER_05 3:30

Dude, so like I I had to like resist not like asking you all the questions already when you hit me up and then because like I wanted to catch up with you right there, but I was like, no, we gotta get that, we gotta get that in. So we're gonna catch up right now. So can you like I mean I I'm embarrassed to admit, but I feel like I don't remember exactly how we met.

SPEAKER_01 3:56

Oh bro, yeah, man. I met you, man.

SPEAKER_00 4:00

Oh dude, we were like it was like in the transition to like freshman year, and you were like short and you had like long angly arms and a big old afro, bro, and you would like clown on everybody's moms, and like it was funny. It was real funny.

SPEAKER_01 4:20

Yeah, dude, you did that, bro.

SPEAKER_00 4:24

Yeah, man, you were like the funniest guy in the class. And then I remember because I just met you that one, that one summer. It was like a two, three-week thing or whatever, and then never we never talked to nothing because we went to different schools, and then you showed up like at Burbank senior year or something, yeah, or like the end of the semester, and then that was it. But yeah, bro, that's how I remember you, man. That little that little candid little round, big ol' afro, those awkward years. Yeah, it was it was cool.

SPEAKER_05 4:54

It was great. So what um do you remember what prep it was? Was it like Navarro Academy? Do you remember?

SPEAKER_02 5:00

Yeah, it was Navarro, bro. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 5:02

So okay, cool. So we that's how we met, and then and then I remember I now I remember now the gears are turning. It's like uh it was like a college prep thing, right?

SPEAKER_00 5:10

It was something, dude. I just know my mom made me go in the summer, and I was all upset about it.

SPEAKER_05 5:15

Same right here, this floor right here on the freaking podcast, right? Where he's the one that made me go.

SPEAKER_01 5:22

How dare he try to further your life, bro?

SPEAKER_05 5:27

So you were telling me about how you went to school, right? You started you went to college, right?

SPEAKER_00 5:33

So yeah, I did. I got my bachelor's in sociology, and then I went to the nonprofit world after that.

SPEAKER_05 5:39

Wow, so what was your nonprofit world?

SPEAKER_00 5:42

I started with Family Service Association, it's just a nonprofit that caters to everybody from like little little kids, like babies to like elderly. I started in their youth program, so I would like go teach different curriculums at like Poe Middle School, uh Memorial High School. I did that for a year, and then my next job was at Good Samaritan, working with youth, uh, mainly at Lanier High School. And so I was there for about a couple years when working with youth there. What did you do with the youth? With Good Samaritan, it was more like teaching them like uh like goal setting and like accomplishments and how to get to where they want to be. Um, I was mainly put in classrooms where they weren't on track to anything. They were kind of just like passing them through, freshman, sophomore, junior, just trying to get them out of there. So I'd work with them and like try to teach them like real life skills that they wouldn't be taught in class. So I would create lessons around like financial literacy. Um, I would talk about career possibilities and without college, like because you don't need college to make money. That's one thing they pushed a lot in high school. Like, you gotta go to college, you gotta go to college. You can man, I regret that so much. It's true, man. That's freaking student debt, bro. That's again.

SPEAKER_05 6:59

Do you use did you have to use your degree like when you when you started doing working with the kids at the nonprofit? Did you need that degree to get in there?

SPEAKER_00 7:07

They wanted either a social work degree, a sociology degree, or a psychology degree.

SPEAKER_05 7:12

Ah, okay.

SPEAKER_00 7:13

And then made the huge career change.

SPEAKER_05 7:16

That's freaking cool, man. That I didn't even know like that existed, like that you can go to school and like focus on those nonprofits for the kids in schools. I knew there was a need, but I didn't know there was like a job for that.

SPEAKER_00 7:28

Yeah, bro. So like sociology like encompasses it's basically the study of people. Yeah, like and you know, I thought that was super interesting because people are always changing, like, no matter what, no matter where you go, there's always a different dynamic, there's always somebody with a different story, like, and you can take it all the way to like marketing trends. If you pay attention to youth or even adults, bro, like there's always certain things talked about, always certain things people are doing. You get like the cultural aspect of it, like, why do they do what they do?

SPEAKER_05 7:59

Thank you for sharing that with us because I'm interested in stuff like that too. So maybe I'll get into that. Yeah, dude. After the 75 hard challenge. After the 75 hard challenge.

SPEAKER_00 8:12

I got a I got a couple books for you, bro. Yeah, dude, I was on uh Facebook and I saw your like it was like two hours ago, and I wake up like at six. This dude's been up since four. It's like I'm straight up not having a good time, and I was like, Yeah, dude, I wouldn't either, bro.

SPEAKER_01 8:28

I wouldn't have a good time either, man.

SPEAKER_05 8:31

Actually, I'm behind now because I I failed the challenge yesterday. So now I have to start over. Yeah. Oh dude, but I feel great, dude. Like it's weird. You would assume it's like daunting, you know. Oh man, I gotta start over. This kind of this challenge is tough because it's like five critical tasks that aren't really that hard. But what's hard is to be consistent with all five every day, even though I'm starting over, I feel like invigorated, man. I just feel like I can do anything, you know. And I wonder what it's gonna feel like at the end.

SPEAKER_02 9:04

That's I got a couple books you can read, man.

SPEAKER_03 9:07

You're talking about going and getting a sociology degree and Alexand. So you go by Alexander, Alex, Ale, Alejandro. Alexander's good. Alexander? Okay, cool. And Alexander said, like, you don't have to go and get a degree. Did I hear you right?

SPEAKER_00 9:23

Yeah, bro, you definitely don't.

SPEAKER_03 9:25

If you read the book and apply what you learn, could you have some effect by gaining some knowledge from the books you're talking about, Alexander?

SPEAKER_00 9:33

What, like just the books without school?

SPEAKER_03 9:35

Yeah, like for Renee. Renee's thinking like sociology sounds interesting.

SPEAKER_00 9:40

You know, honestly, man, this may be like controversial or whatever, but I honestly think like college is mainly teaching yourself. I mean, the moment you show up to class, you don't want to be there. You're kind of in there just so that they grow. And you're kind of in there to take like key point notes, like, all right, we got a quiz on this, I'm gonna write this down so I can read it on my own time, so I can study on my own time. So I can ask my homeboy if he got it on my own time. Like, all of it's like pretty much self-teaching.

unknown 10:13

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 10:14

I mean, granted, you'll get like good professors here and there.

SPEAKER_03 10:17

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:18

But I mean, you mainly kind of get professors that are like tenured in and they're just there for the check. Like they've done their time, like they've met like those students that changed the world and they've had their influence. So, like after that, they're just kind of there, you know. But you'll get good professors for sure, and you you'll learn a lot from them, but I mean you can tell who's there for the check and who's there, like, really, because they love what they do.

SPEAKER_05 10:41

When I was at SAC, uh, I was going for the early childhood education degree, and uh, I hated history, man. I don't know what it is about my brain. I just choose not to remember dates, I guess, and people's names and stuff. I prefer to like learn about concepts and how things work instead of like hard and fast rules, like you know, 1886. This happened. I can't remember that. I have a hard time, I don't know why. I need to work on that, but at SAC, shout out to Professor Buitron, dude.

SPEAKER_01 11:13

That guy was his name, Beatron Megatron.

SPEAKER_02 11:21

Maybe that's why he was roll out.

SPEAKER_05 11:26

He was so good, man. You could just see that like he wasn't like super enthusiastic, but like it just the wisdom and knowledge. It was like he was having a conversation with the class, and he just knew, you know, like he never he there's a there was a uh there's a saying in the in the military that goes death by PowerPoint. And like he wasn't doing that to us, like he was like, he was just talking to you, and then like every now and then he'll write something on the board, you know, and it was so interesting. I learned so much from him. So yeah, I mean, shout out to those good professors that exist out there that really love what they're doing, and it shows. But back to what I was gonna say about back to your point about like it's really about teaching yourself, dude. I took this geology class. We had homework like twice a week, and then every so often there was an exam on site. You had to go test over there, and literally what I did was I would like skim through the book and read like those highlighted words or those bold words and the you know the key terms and stuff for like 15 minutes, take the little quiz online, turn it in, get like a 75 or something, and then repeat every time. And then on the exam, she was like, Yo, we're gonna have an exam uh on chapter one. So I would like speed read chapter one, show up to SAC, just take the fill out the questions, and that's it. And now I have a geology credit. You know what I'm saying? It's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 12:53

And what you do with that, bro, is like you you get one thing, you memorize it, and you didn't learn it, you just memorize, so you dump it, and then you memorize something else, and it's just like you didn't even freaking learn anything, dude.

SPEAKER_05 13:06

You I don't remember nothing about it. Yeah, that's how school is, dude. So you said like you transitioned now, you're uh an electrical apprentice, right?

SPEAKER_00 13:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 13:16

So how did that how did you make that leave?

SPEAKER_00 13:19

Bro, I don't even know. Um I was uh I was working, so like working in like uh social services, it's like draining, man. Is it like emotional? Yeah, yeah. You invest a lot of time, a lot of like hopes and like dreams in the youth. Sometimes they don't take off, and it's like, what did I what did I do wrong? Like, like how did I not lead them or inspire them enough? It's tough, man. Like seeing how generations are now is very apathetic. A lot of people don't care about anything, especially youth. And it looks like it's just getting worse. They don't take much interest in anything, it's all like on their phones, they just look for like instant gratification or like stuff to take their mind off stuff. It's really changing how they focus and what reality is to them. Yeah, because they basically live through their phone and they they get their ideas in life through like celebrities or on Instagram or like TikToks. It was like tiring. Like I remember uh one of my good friends, his name's Darren, shout out Darren. He was flipping hot tubs for a long time, dude. His child sucked, he hated it. I can say that he's not there no more. He moved to a bank. But all this did was like this dude just flipped hot tubs, right? He's like, How are you tired? He's like, I'm over here flipping tubs, blah blah blah, you have no excuse. Making this transition to electrical world was more about like I wanted to learn something different too. I had never worked with my hands, I was never handy, never had to be. So I wanted to challenge myself and really just shake up my life. Because I feel like sometimes there's points in life where you get like you get comfortable, and you don't want to fall into like repetition or anything. So I was like, I'm I'm gonna try this. I'm gonna start at the bottom, I'm gonna start as a green, like as a grunt. I have to take everything that rolls downhill because I wanted to see if I could. It was like overnight, like within a week, I made that change.

SPEAKER_03 15:21

I was talking about it with my wife, and she was like, Oh, that's different. I'm thinking you're a single dude.

SPEAKER_01 15:27

No, you're like married, man.

SPEAKER_00 15:30

She put that ring on it, bro. She put it on you. She backed me and she was excited because she has uh an uncle that's uh electrician. He was a lineman for CPS. All right, worked at the ranks. No, he's making mad money, right? CPS, of course, started last year in January.

SPEAKER_04 15:49

Did you have to take a pay cut? Bro, yeah. Did your wife tell you anything about that?

SPEAKER_00 15:56

Uh I went over like I drew up all the finances, and I was like, we can make it like by the skin of our teeth. Like, we'll be alright. I was like, but we can't do what we've been doing. We we gotta like change our lifestyle a little bit and like eating out, so we had to make some minor cutbacks. But she she also saw the end goal of it. There will be a pay increase along the way, and then once he gets licensed as a journeyman, like that changes, and she had faith in me, I guess, because she let me do it. You know, my license, bro.

SPEAKER_03 16:26

Uh and that is awesome. Having somebody in your life that supports you and believes in you, that's super important. Otherwise, I mean, there's there's some scary ass decision. That's a scary decision, right? That's not like you know, I'm gonna go buy some new sneakers.

SPEAKER_00 16:42

Like, my life, yeah, right after I did that, the pandemic hit. Oh shit, interesting, dude. Super interesting, yeah, man. You worried about were y'all worried about a layoff? Nah, bro. As soon as it hit, we hit we started hitting overtime. It was weird, like work picked up. I mean, the GCs didn't want to shut anything down. They were get issuing us notes, like if we got pulled over. That's when like San Antonio was on lockdown for a couple weeks. And the job I left, they had like got some time off, they got shut down.

SPEAKER_03 17:15

So, what were your earliest career aspirations, man? Like when you and Renee met, like y'all were begging your parents and every adult in your life to go to this summer camp to get college geared. What what were your what were your thoughts then? Right?

SPEAKER_00 17:33

Like when you said I wanted to be an astronaut. That's what I wanted to be. Hell yeah. No, I didn't want to be an astronaut, bro. Oh, okay. I don't know, man. No, I just wanted to be uh useful. Yeah, that was mainly my aspect in everything. Is like I wanted to do something useful. I didn't want to do corporate work or like sit at a cubicle. I knew that I would drive myself crazy, bro. Like, even if I was making six figures, but if I had to be in a cubicle and doing this and that, and I wouldn't be happy. I've never I never wanted to be like that. So I don't know, I kind of just been like floating around. So like when I also went to college because of my mom, bro. So the mobs at school, like, yeah, that's why I took up like sociology and like giving back to the community, working within the west side of town and the south side of town. And I wanted to like invest in that. Like show that like there's a lot of good that comes out of it.

SPEAKER_03 18:35

For for our audience out there, we're from the Deuce Dime, San Antonio, Sancho, right? And the south side and west side, well, I'll just say San Antonio as a whole, there is like clear socioeconomic divides between different parts of town.

SPEAKER_00 18:54

Bro, don't even get me into that, you know, right? Yeah, man. It's called redlining, bro. After World War II, when all the troops came home buying houses, and like they wouldn't let people of color buy into certain areas of neighborhoods. Where that red line turns out to be is the north side, Alamo Heights area, Castle Hills area, like no people of color were allowed to buy in those areas, and those areas are now the wealthiest. Yep, and they just put like all the people like what's now the barrio, like the west side, south side, east side, put them all there, and yeah, dude, people of color didn't even get a chance, bro, for sure. Yeah, Antonio's super segregated, super cool town, right?

SPEAKER_03 19:38

Like people are nice, but you can definitely see a change in color. Like, if you're driving down 35 and you start like a 35 at 410 on the south side, you'll see a change in color of the people as you go 35 up all the way through downtown and Riddamin and 1604 by the rim. I mean, that's that's not a whine or a complaint, it's a reality. Like you said, Alexander, there are amazing human beings in our side of town, on the south side and the west. I'm still on the south side, I'll be here forever by choice. There's there's tremendous talent everywhere, and it sounds like you I mean, you said, right, like you weren't sure what you wanted to do, you just wanted to be useful, which is actually a pretty profound aspiration, right? Because that most people want to make money. It sounds like you've always had this understanding about contribution and and investing in people, like even when you were younger. Where did that come from?

SPEAKER_00 20:43

Uh it came a lot from my parents. Yeah, my dad was really big, man. He would give you the shirt off his bat, like anything you needed. And that dude, he was uh he was a jack of all traits. Okay, anything, bro. Yeah, anything from cars to plumbing to whatever you had messed up, he could fix it all. But yeah, he had a he had a big heart for people doing what he could when he could, and he was a big man of faith, and he really uh lived by you know that scripture if your neighbor asks for it and you have it, like give it. That's how he lived his life, like daily. So I think a lot of my influence like came from him and and my mom.

SPEAKER_03 21:25

Uh Renee's lucky to have a an amazing influential man in his life, or man in his life.

SPEAKER_05 21:30

Oh, yeah, who is it, Renee? Yeah, a spiritual man in front of us right now. Jesus. He can't stop talking about Jesus.

SPEAKER_02 21:42

He's a spiritual guru. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:45

I like it, man. Talking smack, man. I'm just talking smack. And so, like, is that y'all's relationship? Like, just big brother and you oversee Renee and you've been looking after him since he was young, or

SPEAKER_03 22:00

Oh dude, that that's a freaking amazing question. Um Renee, can I go first? Ale go. Right? Because I'll give my perspective.

SPEAKER_00 22:09

And you all go first anyways.

SPEAKER_03 22:12

Yeah. Freaking jerk. You're so selfish. So so yeah, I mean, Renee's 18 years younger than me. Right. So I was a senior in high school when he was born. And yeah, dude, like it was like, I don't think it was planned. Right?

SPEAKER_00 22:33

Like, usually you don't see like siblings that close with that much of an age difference.

SPEAKER_03 22:38

That's cool. Right. Right. So, but for real, like when he was a little baby, yeah, we were it was, you know, he was a baby. I'd you know, I'd take care of him and stuff. It was awesome. So I got super close to him. So something happened. We don't have for me, anyways, like we joke around. We're we're close, right? We're tied. I love him, I care about him, I need him. I mean, he he really saved my life. But it was around seventh grade when he was in seventh grade that I realized he was having like all of a sudden becoming socially aware, right? Like, I don't know if you remember, but I know when I was in seventh grade, all of a sudden the pro wings that I was wearing meant I wasn't cool. But in sixth grade, it didn't matter. You know, mom was a single mom and she was working her ass off to support us and provide for us. So I ended up kind of picking poor uh models, poor male models to look up to and emulate. And I made a lot of stupid ass decisions, right? I did a lot of a lot of dirt. Um that's partly why I stay in the south side, because you know, my community, my family really tolerated my crap. And if it wasn't for them, I there's no way I'd be where I'm at. So I owe, right? I owe for all the dirt I did, I owe for all the people that stood by me and were patient with me. But when he got to seventh grade, I saw him kind of struggling, and he was in a very similar situation uh that I was when I was in seventh grade. And so I was like, oh shit, I gotta be that guy, right? Otherwise, he's gonna do the same pendejadas that I did. Uh, and I didn't want him to go through that pain. And and he he actually he would write me notes and say, Jesse, could you please get involved in my academic career? Yeah, uh please come and and sit in me in all my classes. Um would you go? I did, yeah, he did.

SPEAKER_05 24:37

Because I got in trouble, because I got in trouble for talking in class.

SPEAKER_03 24:43

He's a clown, so that no, he didn't ask, right? That was just me. I was like, uh oh, he he's he's starting to challenge authority, right? Starting to kind of feel his flex his muscles, and and like it wasn't horrible. He got in trouble for talking smack. But I knew I need to get involved and and show support. So I that was one day where I went to the school, talked to the principal. I said, look, and they're like, What's the problem? Like, he's he's a great student. It's like, yeah, I know. It's what I see, and I don't want that pattern to start, so I want to kind of cut it off right now. So I shadowed him for one day in all of his classes, and dude, let me tell you, by the time we got to the last period, I wanted to screw around with the student and jack around and and just because I was a bad student. I felt like I knew that I had to do something, and all I could do was give them my time because I really did, you know, I was a mess in my own personal life, but through that, I really found myself. It helped me learn about giving back and finding value in the community and finding value in the students, and and like it wasn't all about making money, it took a bunch of years for me to really filter all of that out. But yeah, what that ended up creating is we kind of have like the brother, like we're brothers, but it also created a kind of a paternal relationship. Because when he was when shit went bad, they would call me, right? Like, Jesse, you got to get involved. Like Renee, my wife. But I had to be the the disciplinarian, and so I had to sacrifice like the fun brotherly stuff, like farting in his face and shit, because I had to at least pretend like I was responsible and mature. You know, now that he's a grown man, you know, I've said it before, but he's my hero, man. Like this dude, I want to be like him. He's got some qualities that that I've never had. That his humility, his dedication to his wife and to people. Like at his age, I didn't give a damn about nobody but me and maybe him. And I think for Renee, it was just the most amazing, lucky thing that ever happened to him.

unknown 26:54

That's what you think.

SPEAKER_05 26:55

I remember when I was when I was little growing up, you know, seeing it from my perspective, right? He thinks he's the greatest thing, but when I was in middle school, I was like, man, this guy's an ass. Like, why is he killing my vibe? Like, I'm I'm starting to be cool. I don't even like but but in hindsight, you know, like I remember a time where we were I was having a hard time in in math. I don't remember what we were doing, man, but I I couldn't get this concept of this equation, whatever it was. And like all my friends around uh like my friends around me, nobody was really um really in like being cool at the time meant like you slacked off at school.

SPEAKER_01 27:46

Yeah, you weren't a tryhard, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 27:48

Exactly. Being a tryhard, that's what the that's what we were calling. Oh, you're such a tryhard, you're a schoolboy, you know, school. Exactly. It was you were not cool if you were successful, right?

SPEAKER_01 28:00

If you were smart, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_05 28:02

So and and then he was making me be smart, you know what I'm saying? Like, like if I if I was cool with my friends, it meant I wasn't cool with Jesse, right? That's how I felt at the time. I remember a time where I need help, I needed help in math, and and Jesse was helping me, and like I just wanted to quit so bad. Like, I was like, dude, I'm I'm I didn't tell him at the time. Well, is this in high school? This was in middle school, it was in eighth grade. I remember it. Miss Klein.

SPEAKER_00 28:30

You're already ready to drop out, bro.

SPEAKER_01 28:32

Yeah, I was ready to drop out because I was never gonna win.

SPEAKER_04 28:39

I'm never gonna be cool.

SPEAKER_05 28:40

I don't want to do this no more. It'd be the ultimate cool if I just drop out, you know. But no, um, I remember he was showing me this equation, right? And I just wasn't getting it, and I didn't want to get it, you know. At the time, I didn't want to get it, I just wanted to be cool, you know. I didn't I was like getting so frustrated, and then like I was just thinking about okay, so if I allow myself to understand this concept, I'm gonna start getting A's again, and then now I'm not cool with my friends no more, right? And I remember and I was just like, and I broke down into tears when he was teaching me this concept of the math equation, and then and he's like, Why are you crying? Like, are you getting bullied or what's what's up? And I didn't tell him, I never told him, but that was that's what was going on in my head at the time. But he told me this, and then I never I'll never forget it. He told me, he said, 'Are you gonna cry every time it gets hard?' That's what he told me. And like, dang, like that just clicked. It just clicked, and like, I feel like that's that's kind of what our relationship is now, at least for me. It's like I don't need to cry every time it gets hard or complain or woe is me. There's people out there that want to see me do good. There's people that believe in me, you know, and and I feel like he's that the that person, you know. He's he's one of the pillars in my life where that always believe in me, even though even when I don't believe in myself. And he's I feel like he's like the the side rails of a of a cliff. Like if I if I mention if I make the reference to life as like a mountain or something, he's like the rails on the side, you know. Like I'm starting to go this way, but he's lived through that experience of going over the edge, and he's he's there, and he's just a cone, you know. He's just a couple of cones, he's not like a freaking hardcore barrier. He's you know what I'm saying? He's he's just a cautionary, too. He's not like a helicopter parent either. You know, he lets me fail and he gives me he gives me advice. He never tells me what to think, but rather how to learn. And uh, I feel like that's what our relationship is now. And I feel like, you know, whether I realize it or not, or accept it or not, I feel like my path is similar to what his path was, but at a much faster rate because because of his guidance. Yeah, because like like I got I got into the mugrero too, like when I was in my early 20s, I was partnering a lot, and that's probably why I don't remember how me and you met, Alex. Oh that weed, bro. I didn't want to say what it was, but exposed, exposed. But yeah, dude, like I I feel like but I feel like that's that's what we got going on. He's like he's like uh a guardrail with like a launching pad and like my map, you know. And I'm grateful. I didn't say that, I just said you were laugh.

SPEAKER_03 32:00

So Alexander, when you so you said, All right, hell with it. I'm gonna do something new, I'm gonna challenge myself. Yeah, like total change. You went from nonprofit world, working with people, developing community, developing people, like giving all your heart to now you're going into an industry that like they don't want to hear what you think. You just gotta put shit in. Follow direction and and put it in. What kind of culture shock did you experience?

SPEAKER_00 32:31

Yeah, man, it's like you're an inside dog, and then you get thrown outside, right? You're like, oh what the hell? Like coming from sitting down half the day to always on your feet, always on ladders, no AC. Yeah, man. They don't they they tell you like straight up, yeah. We don't I don't pay you to think. You just do what I say. That's it. So culturally, I don't I don't know if it was more of a culture thing, but more of uh an individual thing. I knew I had to swallow my pride and I knew I had to go through it. And that's the only way I would one like number one learn, learn the right way and gain the trust and respect of like who I work with. Because like there was there were some other green guys I would go in with and like they would talk back, they would complain, or they would already try to put their two cents in. And this guy that's telling you to do something has been doing it for 10 plus years. I mean, maybe five has a journeyman's license. Like, obviously he's telling you to do something because the most effective way. I mean, like now, I'm starting to like try to like figure it out on my own and maybe challenge a little bit, but that took a lot of work, bro. That took a lot of like like they say, uh, was it shit rolls downhill? Yeah, that's it, bro. I would I would show up for for a while, I wouldn't even use my tools, bro. They just had me going up and down a ladder and firecocking everything, and like, yeah, dude.

SPEAKER_01 34:05

So like my best like full of stuff, and I was like, damn it, bro.

SPEAKER_00 34:11

And um I would have to sweep the buildings every Friday, and usually they would rotate, but they're like, um, we're gonna sweep back. All right, get Alex to do it. So like, alright, like here I go. I'm sweeping, like I'm getting paid the same, whatever. Just like I wanted to learn, dude. I was I was eager. Like I wanted to get to where I wanted to be. You you gotta get thick skin. And like they try to push your buttons and they try to like they try to break you, basically. Like break you.

SPEAKER_01 34:42

Yeah, yeah, it's all it's all a mental game, bro.

SPEAKER_00 34:45

You get into the field and all these guys are like machief's mo and like yeah, like this and that, like all driven on pride and selfishness, and they're going to eat you up, and you either stand your ground, you give up, or you just become exactly what they want you to become, and yeah, because you can't be a pushover either. No, you get you get eaten up too. So they won't respect you for that.

SPEAKER_05 35:11

So I remember uh when I was doing HVAC, I I had a similar experience too, where I wanted to do HVAC stuff, you know.

SPEAKER_00 35:19

I wanted Was it like commercial? Because I'm a commercial, yeah. It was commercial, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 35:23

So I wanted to you know put the duck together, I wanted to hang the duck, I wanted to be the guy that drills the hammer straps or the freaking hanger straps and all that stuff. I wanted to do HVAC stuff, but they had to do hot guy shit. Exactly. I wanted to do hot guy shit.

SPEAKER_01 35:38

But I was like, I told my girl I did something, yeah, dude.

SPEAKER_05 35:44

Like instead, I was coming home to my friends and be like, yeah, I did freaking pooky all day, freaking painted all this firecrocking all day, you know. I didn't do anything in my head, that's what I was thinking. And I mean, fast forward a couple of months, I ended up quitting. I was like, dude, I'm not even doing HMAC stuff. So my question to you is what keeps you in the game? Like, even though how did you get past that? How did you overcome the initiation?

SPEAKER_00 36:11

Ah, dude, it was tough, bro. Um one, I did it mainly because like my family knew I made the career change, my girl knew I made the career change, her parents knew I made the career change, and I I didn't want to quit, bro. Um, that's one thing. Like, I try to see things through. And honestly, like I wanted to make sure mainly her parents knew she was in good hands. Like, because her her dad, I mean, he he works for he works for Saws, and he started in commercial and you know, in sewage, he worked his way up. It was mainly people knowing that I made the transition and knowing that I didn't want to let a lot of people down. And I've always just been like a big picture guy. So like I know I'm right here, but I know what the end game is, so like if I can just like fight through it just like a little longer, like I'm gonna get there. But like even I just you just gotta like embrace the suck, you know. Like, I'm here, it is what it is, and you just keep pushing forward. And yeah, for sure, dude. I wanted to quit, bro. I was like stupid, man.

SPEAKER_02 37:22

Why did I even do this?

SPEAKER_00 37:24

Like, I'm over here, like I'm trying to like bend pipe. I want to get shocked already, like, I want to get in there, bro. I'm trying to get hit, but yeah, I had to go through that, and it was like maybe four or five months. No, three, four months, and then I started getting my hands in there and bending pipe, and the first guy he taught me his name's Ram. Shout out Ram. He started giving me a little more responsibility. Granted, when I messed up, bro, everybody knew, man. Oh, yeah, everybody knew, dude.

SPEAKER_01 37:57

I was like, ah, and it just makes you not want to mess up anymore.

SPEAKER_00 38:02

Yeah, like I don't know how familiar you are with the trade of like uh electrical world. I'm sure just being around it, I'm sure you learned something, but like in bending pipe, if you're if you're doing like an offset, and an offset is basically like a like an S, right? Yeah, and in order to do that, you bend it one way, flip the pipe, bend it another, but you gotta make sure it's straight. And if it's crooked, they call it a dog leg, right? Oh, mine was like a little bit crooked, and he's just barking loud, dude.

SPEAKER_01 38:39

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh everybody else starts barking too. They're like, bro, this dude can't do he did a dog like dog leg, and I was like, damn it, bro.

SPEAKER_00 38:49

And like, all right, just can't let it happen again. But yeah, dude, yeah, I wanted I wanted to quit, bro, because it sucked, it sucked feeding at the bottom, like it's not fun at all.

SPEAKER_05 38:59

Dude, there's there's just something motivating about a good woman, right? Because like I I had that I I couldn't handle that for some reason. Just the I don't know at the time when I was working at the HVAC, I didn't want to embrace the suck for whatever reason. I think it was pride, exactly.

SPEAKER_04 39:17

I was like, dude, these guys are disrespecting me, they don't even know who I am. Exactly my name. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 39:24

When everything is said back, and you're like, I don't know nothing, bro. Yeah, exactly. I don't even know who I am.

SPEAKER_05 39:32

You nailed it for real. I was like, what, like I was like 19, 20 when I when I was working in each rec. I didn't even I really didn't know who I was, you know. I didn't know who I was, I was swelled with pride, you know, I was in the best shape of my life at the time. So I was like, how were these people telling me, you know, like at the time, and and but fast forward a couple later, a couple of years later, I find myself I I had um I had my son, and I believe I was 21 years old. Yeah, and uh correction because I remember on the previous episode I said I had my son at 19, but I was actually 21. Um, anyway, I had my son at 21 years old. I had my son at 21. I was working at a children's center. Uh I was I really loved my job at the time, but like it was only paying 950, you know. And my my wife was pregnant. Well, she was my girlfriend at the time, she was pregnant, and I was like, dude, like we can't, we're we're not gonna be able to fit our family into my mom's house in just my room, you know. I we got a crib, we gotta set up a crib, we gotta set up the changing station, like everything that you need for a child. And I was like, I need to make money, man.

SPEAKER_01 40:51

You know, that 950 is gonna cut it, dude.

SPEAKER_05 40:55

That 950 is not gonna cut it, bro. So I I started applying places, and uh my buddy shout out to Ruben Gallegos. Uh he was like, bro, come work at Saul's. Uh he was a meter tech, uh and he was like, Yeah, man, I love my job. Um, you know, I just fix a meter here, replace it. I got my own truck, you know, nobody's really telling me what to do, and blah blah blah blah blah. And I was like, Yeah, that sounds like me. I don't want to be told what to do either. So I was like, cool. He said, Yeah, but uh apply for utility tech. Apply for utility tech and then uh do that for a little bit and then apply for meter tech because it's not an entry-level job. Meter tech's not an entry-level job, right? So do be utility tech, but little did I know I'm gonna freaking have to humble myself again, yeah. Because oh my gosh, dude, like I thought I had it bad at the HVAC place, but it was 10 times worse as a utility tech. I was like, not only were people freaking talking mess and barking, and oh yeah, Rene no sabe this, Rene no sabe that, and no violent and all this stuff, and like all this mess, and like you know, I was I would make a mistake and they take away the tools from me. No, let me do it, you know, like like super machines to the max, like to the maximum level. But you know, I was like, I have to freaking do it. I can't quit this time, you know. I got my wife and my son, like I cannot leave this legacy of a quitter behind for my son. My son, I got people watching me now, you know what I'm saying? And but the the key is that people were always watching me the whole time, you know what I'm saying? It wasn't four, but that that like like that's what I'm saying. Like, the shout out to my wife, too, you know, for believing in me. And because I would come home, be like, man, Bon, please let me quit. I would tell her that, like, please let me quit.

SPEAKER_04 42:53

I I'll I'll go back to school, just let me finish my degree. Exactly. She's like, Y'all thinking right, we're not gonna live here forever and stuff like that. And my mom's house.

SPEAKER_01 43:05

If she was with you at 9 50, she deserves the world, bro. Exactly, bro.

SPEAKER_05 43:12

Oh man, I'm so faithful, and I but I had to I had to go through that initiation too, so that I can enjoy and appreciate what I have now. Like right now, I I moved up twice and I'm in uh leak detection now, and it's you use more of your your head, but now like had I not gone through that, I wouldn't have the knowledge and the big the the vision of the big picture that you were talking about to do my job as a leak detector. If I didn't if I wasn't there in the whole underground, seeing what the pipe looked like, seeing what the the fittings and the what all the problems, the type of cracks, the type of breaks, the the material in the ground, all of these. Things had I quit when I was getting initiated, or when had I not embraced the suck, I wouldn't have the vision I have now to do my job. And I again shout out to my wife for making me stick, stick it out, and staying with me and listening to all my bitching and complaining. Because uh it wasn't if it wasn't for her, I wouldn't have made it.

SPEAKER_03 44:22

So what advice, what advice do you guys have for the the journeyman or the experienced people that that are initiating that new squinkle, that new green horn that just hit the crew?

SPEAKER_05 44:38

I wouldn't go first on this one. You always go first! See, I get it from him, I get it from him. Uh so I I'm always gonna every time anybody asks me about that, I always want to talk about my mentor Francisco Escajera. Uh, we have an episode about Francisco who taught me everything I knew about the distribution system, the water distribution system. Like he would he would be one of the guys too to say, like, no sabe, right? But after he was telling me no sabe, here this is how you do it, and this is why. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, I mean, there's nothing wrong with talking a little shit, you know, but teach the guy, you know, show him like it's I feel like our culture, and I'm speaking in my experience, there was a culture, and it's still there, of like you have to know everything right now, you know, and if you don't, you ain't worth a damn or something. Like it's like we need to I don't know what it is, uh maybe some pride or I don't know, but you know, nobody knows everything, especially at the beginning, you know, and and I feel like if we could just be patient with the new guys and and instead of just barking at them and like blasting them in front of people and everything, if you're gonna do that, show them as well, and just just remember how you started too. Don't forget and just have just be patient, like Francisco was with me, you know. He always, he always, and then when I started doing the job right, he reinforced my good habits with with a little bit of praise. He but yeah, that's good, that's how you do it, man. And now you're gonna show, and he also instilled in me to show other people too, show the next guy on our team because like my foreman at the time, he was an asshole, dude. He was an man, I hated that dude. I I wanted to freaking beat him up so bad, and like um, he he instilled in me to not do that too, you know, don't repeat the cycle. And like my I say my foreman was an asshole because like every every guy we so in our crew we had it's a four-man crew, a full crew is a four-man crew, two utility techs, an operator, and a foreman. So every guy that would show up on our crew, they would quit, they would end up quitting. So it was just me, Francisco, and my my foreman, who I'm not gonna name. Um, and the third, the fourth man would always quit because he he they couldn't handle the the pressure that my foreman was putting on them, right? And and there you could say, well, then if he couldn't handle the pressure, uh then you know, we don't need you here. You could you could say that, but I wonder what happens if we change up, flip the script and start uh developing our guys, yeah, and change that culture, you know. I wonder what happens because like uh I mean I'm not trying to toot my own horn, but I really enjoy what I do, and I feel like I do a really good job at it too. And if it if it wasn't for these people that gave me patience and and kindness and guidance, I wouldn't be here. I I wouldn't be able to produce the quality of work that I produce now if it wasn't for that guidance. I guess that finishes my my rant.

SPEAKER_03 48:05

Holy shit. What about you, Alexander? What advice do you give to the journeyman out there?

SPEAKER_00 48:11

Oh man, you guys got the time? Yeah, I mean, I think it's pretty similar to that. I think the talking down and correcting and like the talking shit aspect, I think it's I think it's kind of necessary. Guys go in there already big headed and they need to be humbled. Just like everybody needs to get their butt whooped in life at least once. Yes, like you sometimes you sometimes you need an ass beating to get straight. That's yeah, that's just how it is, bro. When you get put in your place, you're like, alright, I I guess like I go from here. And so like I think that's good. Little bits of encouraging encouragement go a long way. I remember one time, bro, after a long day, like the guy was teaching the guy I first learned with, he was like, you know, you're actually decent and you'll never hear me say this again. He's like, and if you tell anybody I said that, he's like, I'm gonna deny it. Alright. And I was like, Alright, bro, I got you. But inside I was like, damn, like, I'm okay. Yes. After lunch, they were they were saying something I did wrong. Because I came in with no experience, no commercial experience, nothing like working with my hands. And there was one journeyman there, and rest of so journeymans have white helmets, and everybody else has gray. But if you're not a journeyman, you have gray helmets. Bunch of gray helmets there, one journeyman, and he's uh he he everybody's just clowning, and he looks up, he's like, Hey man, it's all good. He's like, I started with no experience, and the guy that started with no experience is the only one with a white helmet. So I was like, Alright, like there's another, like, oh pick that up, I'm gonna run with it, like that's it. So it's also those little bits of encouragement that like they go a long way, bro. And I'm not saying like they need to pat your back, encourage you, and be your cheerleader along the way. It's just remembering, like, one because you you know when you see a man defeated, when you see like they're getting like either it's frustrated, impatient, or they're on the brink of quitting, like feeding them that just a little bit, and then you go you go on to like just punching them around after that. That'll be enough.

SPEAKER_05 50:17

That'll be enough for them to get to me, you know, like yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Thinking back on that real quick. Umink. Uh, he he talks about that, that balance that you were talking about. Like, you don't gotta kiss somebody's ass and you know, always be praising them, worship, worshiping them, but but at the same time, you don't always gotta be constantly grilling. He talks about it in his book, um, The Dichotomy of Leadership. That's the book I'm reading right now. He was like the task unit commander of like one of the most decorated task units in the Navy SEALs called Task Unit Bruiser. And even him, a hardened killer, he talks about his regrets at sometimes like pushing people over the edge, and that there's there's times where you gotta hold the line and be like, yo, you're you're being a shit bag right now. And then, but there's also times for praise and positive reinforcement.

SPEAKER_03 51:16

Man, that was um, thank god that wasn't a real long rant. But I'm gonna talk more. That's an important point. It's high turnover, too. It's high turnover, right? Because man, you gotta, like you said, you gotta have some thick ass skin because if you if you're um if you're dainty, it it ain't easy, man. It it it's absolutely difficult. So you guys, way back in the day, again, you know, when y'all were like super happy and just looking for a summer program to go and and expand your knowledge. Y'all were what six, seventh, seventh, eighth grade?

SPEAKER_00 51:52

Yeah, around there.

SPEAKER_03 51:52

Yeah, I think it's around okay. Uh and so what I've gathered so far is like y'all y'all haven't been tight all this time. So, how did y'all reconnect?

SPEAKER_05 52:02

That's a good question. I think I posted something on Facebook, and then you you just messaged me on Facebook Messenger, Alex.

SPEAKER_00 52:11

Yeah, am I right? Yeah, you you shared the podcast, and I read uh the title of Learning the Missteps, and then I read what it was about. I was like, yo, that's super good. And um, I don't know if it was him running it or like how long he's been a part of it. Um, but yeah, I just reached out to him and I was like, dude, like that's important for people to know because there's a lot of like negative stigma like towards the trade. You do you do a trade if you don't know nothing, if you're not good at anything. If uh you wanted to be a bum and didn't go to college, it it's it's dumb stuff like that that they pour into you in high school.

SPEAKER_03 52:51

So on that line of think of questioning, have you have you listened to any of the the episodes prior to getting on? Um I've listened to a couple cool and you listen on like Apple Podcast or Spotify?

SPEAKER_00 53:06

There's like a a link to a website or something. Oh, okay, okay, okay, cool.

SPEAKER_03 53:11

All right, then I'll give you a pass because I was gonna say if you listen on Apple Podcast and you didn't hit like, subscribe, and hit a comment though. And that goes to all your other listeners. No, man, but you I mean that's that's the whole purpose behind this podcast is you know, I think a lot of us, the three of us for sure can agree that there was there's a certain type of messaging out there that says go to college or flip burgers. And those are not the only options. And a career in the trades is is exactly that, a or can be a career. The income, you know, maybe not right out the gate is is awesome, but as you progress, second year, third year, fourth year apprentice, journeyman, you can make a lot of damn money. And and you get to see your work at the end of the day. You know what the hell you did, right? And people building the buildings that people live in, building the buildings that people get uh medical care. Like we're we're we're essential, baby.

SPEAKER_00 54:28

All these non-essentials, breathing our essential air, bro. Yeah, that's a good one.

SPEAKER_03 54:37

Were you surprised, Alexander, by like the complexity of the work in the electrical trade or like the level of math that's applied, or the intelligence that those men and women out there actually doing it day after day? Did any of that kind of catch you off guard?

SPEAKER_00 54:54

No, yeah, because I did school too. Like I'm doing school right now with through my company, and yeah, man, it's wild. You know, you just always flip a switch or turn this on, and you don't think of everything firing to make that happen, and you know, everyone in their homes basically living in a toaster, you know. You got like just so much wire all around the house and powering everything and white things short and all that stuff, what could go wrong? Low voltage, high voltage, don't want to get those confused, you don't want to mix like your pop with your neutral, like no, yeah, dude. Like, it's just so much going on in all the math when like you're finding resistance, you're finding the current or the ampage or the wattage, even in your bending, the deductions you have to do for size of pipe, like yeah, I didn't know, bro. So it's surprising a lot to figure on, pick up on, and then you know what circuits are what color, uh I mean what color circuits and what number, and yeah, there was there was a lot to get a grasp on, like a lot to chew on, and a lot to think about while I was just firecocking everything, you know.

SPEAKER_03 56:11

So you you mentioned that you're going to school. I guess uh the apprenticeship.

SPEAKER_00 56:17

Yeah, so it's like a trade school okay that that it is through an apprenticeship, so like you're not an apprentice with the company unless like you're doing schooling.

SPEAKER_03 56:27

Is that with IEC or oh yeah, it's IEC. That's an important thing. I I I don't I want to be clear with our audience that that I personally am not bashing college, right? Because some people they the the their aspirations and their contribution to the world is gonna require them to have that learning and require them to have that degree. It's important to them, it's important to the family. That's cool. Go do that. But when you enter the trades, you may not have to go get a degree, but baby, you're still gonna have to go to school, yeah, right? You're still gonna have to apply yourself to continue building your knowledge, and I think that goes for anything, right? For any industry, for any job, for any career out there. If you don't, I mean, Renee, Caterpillar Renee posted something on his on his live post, which everybody needs to check it out. They're fire, baby.

SPEAKER_01 57:21

That morning inspiration, bro.

SPEAKER_03 57:23

He was talking about the parable of the of the plumber and the pipe wrench, how the plumber can build their their knowledge, they can build their skills, they can build their influence. The pipe wrench doesn't. The pipe wrench serves only one purpose, right? It can only do what it's designed to do. And so we have the option as human beings, we can be the tool and not further our learning, not not make the sacrifices to go and educate ourselves on the things that interest us or that will provide value to our family and our communities and ourselves, or we can do the opposite and and and make those that commitment and and become what we're intended to be. So, summary, right? Yeah, if you don't go to university, that's okay. But don't think you're gonna come into the trades and and make the journeyman dollars without having some learning because because you got another thing coming. You don't go to school, guess what you're gonna do? You're gonna firecock, you're gonna pookie, and you're gonna push a damn broom. Forever.

SPEAKER_00 58:33

I'll bash school. I'm not gonna bash school. I'm gonna bash like the system and how it's set up, dude. The university is great, yeah. That's fine. But like how it's set up and how it specifically screws up just minorities in general, bro. Even minorities, like low socioeconomic, like you can be white too and like not make a lot of money. I'm not saying all white people are rich or whatever. Because you have to take out loans, and you gotta you that's the way you gotta pay for it. And you know, while you're signing for those loans, you're not really thinking you're young, you accept this letter, like you see the scholarship money, and then you have ten thousand dollars in loans for a semester. And you don't think about it, like, yeah, I'm just trying to go to school, I'm just trying to learn, whatever. So you do it, and then that jacks up every semester, and then you come out owing like 80k, 60k, 100k, and that debt's with you, bro. And they don't they don't tell you that, but like the trade school do it right. So my company's paying for my school.

SPEAKER_05 59:39

Oh, what would you say to those that say, well, that 10k scholarship or whatever or loan you got is an investment on your life? What would you say to those people?

SPEAKER_01 59:49

Uh oh. Uh oh, uh oh, no, I mean, yeah, that's that's what my mom tells me all the time. Thanks, Mom. Thanks, Mama Renee.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:02

God yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, I mean, you can look at it like that for sure, and but like realistically, unless you're on a set track. Yep. If if you're going to college and like you don't know what you want to be and you change your major three times, all right, so something's an issue. Like some people are one-track minded, like, I'm going to be a lawyer, going to be a doctor, and it's usually like either stuff that was in their family or that that's really what they want to do. That's an investment, bro, because you know what you're getting in return. But for people that kind of just go for the experience and want to figure it out, I don't know if you can call that an investment because you don't really have an end game of what you're investing on. You're kind of just like that's good, you're kind of like putting the down payment for like a what if or a maybe, and it's like, I I don't know, bro. Cause yeah, I feel like if it's it's investing, if you know it's gonna pay off, you have you know how to get there, you know what it's gonna take, and you do everything you can. But like most people that are like 18, fresh out of high school, they don't think like that. I'm gonna go to college, I gotta, I gotta find myself or whatever, you know. I gotta I gotta find my people, I gotta figure out what I'm interested in. And they're investing and they don't even know where they're going. So they're just kind of like putting money in there, you know.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:25

Yeah, that that's like buying a lottery ticket and calling it an investment.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:30

You might win.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:31

Yeah, you might, but maybe not.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:35

All these GameStop shares, bro. Worried about it. Like, I'm gonna go buy some stock room from GameStop.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:42

No knowledge of the market or anything or how it's gonna fluctuate, but you dish that money, and then you might you might catch out, you might not. It just depends. I should have bought stock in GameStop, honestly, a long time ago.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:57

No, that's a good, I mean, that's a good delineation. The return on investment is not it's not guaranteed. Going to college does not guarantee financial security when you finish. Having a plan, understanding your direction, that's more important than going into college. Because otherwise, you gonna you gonna come out with some debt, baby. And if you don't know what it is you want to do, or you end up like you said earlier, Alexander. You know, I knew I didn't want to be in an office. I could have made six figures, but man, I would have lost my damn mind doing that kind of work, right? Like if you don't know what the job looks like, why the hell are you gonna go spend all that money to go get that degree to get that job? Um, Shannon, she one of our uh the one of the ladies we interviewed, she's an electrical apprentice up in Canada. Shout out, Shannon! She thought she wanted to be an accountant because there were accountants in her family. Right. And then she realized as she was in school, like, wow, like, yeah, you know, they on the brochures they say, you know, accountants make 80 to 120 grand a year, blah, blah, blah. But what they don't say is the small percentage of accountants make that kind of money. The vast majority of accountants are around, you know, say let's say 40, 50k. I don't know. I'm just throwing numbers out there. So to make 40, 50k a year, to have this let's be conservative and say it's 30 grand of debt coming right out of college, like you're broke. You you're broke. You you you you're not gonna have maybe you're living on your own, like probably not. Um, you go through the continue extension of the college diet of freaking ramen and and pizza for another four years to pay off that damn debt, you know. I'm with you, man. Like the the cost of it is disproportionate, doesn't make any sense. If we're if it's supposed to be the developing people and providing the opportunity, right? Opportunity for what? To pay pay your ass? Like, thanks a lot.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:11

Yeah, dude, it's it's a lot of it's a lot of that, and you gotta have a plan, but you gotta have people that you know, and they don't tell you that either. I mean, when you're in there, college, you're supposed to network in college, bro. And if you don't have nobody inside of the game you're trying to get into, you you're behind. Like if you have no connections, if you don't know so and so, but like that's how usually people with Ivy Leagues, Ivy League schools, that's how they work. Like it's it's legacy students. My mom and dad came here, they do this, I'm just following their footsteps, and it's all it's kind of mapped out. The same thing, like you're saying, you owe uh the guy that taught you everything, you had a mentor, and he guided you and he taught you, and like you knew somebody and he helped you along the way. But then the other key component is grit. You gotta have grit to do anything to reach your goals. And coming straight out of high school, you don't really understand grit. Either you kind of just passed along, or maybe you did work hard and you fought through stuff that you didn't understand. But I mean, speaking from experience, high school wasn't that difficult. I know it was difficult for some people, but it just depends on how you focus and push yourself and the grit you have. Like, there's there's smart people and then there's people that don't really get it, but they'll outwork you. And like that's a grit in itself, they're gonna go farther. Like you you have you have it all in here, but you don't produce, but they'll outwork you and that's gonna show more and they're gonna learn along the way. So I think it's it's like that too with college that I dunno I don't know, man. They just need to re educate people on it 'cause it's it's a big investment to Kind of screw over somebody young and they get out and they're like, oh, what the hell?

SPEAKER_03 1:06:04

Los Calguantan. Ganan. The ones that keep pushing, man. You gotta put it out there, make it happen. Alexander, thank you for giving us your time this morning. And I'm excited to hear your response to this next question because I get the sense that you're a humble, a humble, honest, introspective man that has a vision and and a purpose within him. And I'm not trying to butter you up, but that's what comes across. Like you could see how the system's jacked up and how people are suffering because of it, and you give a shit about it, right? You're not just complaining, you're saying, man, it's wrong, we got to do something different. That's kind of what I'm getting over here. So, what fingerprint do you want to leave on the world?

SPEAKER_00 1:06:52

Dang, that's a loaded question. What fingerprint do I want to leave on the world? You know, that's something like I always like uh thought about through through like high school and college. I mean, which is why like I just wanted to be useful. But fingerprint, man, anybody can do anything, like as cliche as it is, um you can do whatever you set your mind to. You really can. That's exactly how it works. It just takes willpower, it just takes getting out of bed every morning and taking that first step. So the fingerprint that there is always hope to further yourself. No no matter the situation, no matter how crappy it is, like there's always opportunity. And I think just like leaving that type of wisdom with those who have either met me or had some type of relationship is just knowing like that there's always a way. And that's something I just like uh recently learned just like from the career change in itself. Like you get stuck in certain certain situations. This this ain't gonna work, dude. There's no way to get done what you want to get done. Like you have plumbing up, you have HVAC up, we took everything down because water can only flow one way, so we gotta work around everything else. There's no way. But the thing in the trade is you always figure out a way, bro. And I think just taking that with with life and leaving that fingerprint with those that I love and I care about. There is always a way to make any situation better and to learn. Because I think that's like the the best thing like you can take away from like just being a human being is learning and growing from what you're doing and from other people. Like that's it.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:55

Damn powerful, baby.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:04

I knew I had a good one. I knew I picked a good one. That's why I went and found you, and uh, went out there and dug through my friends' list. I like we gotta interview this guy.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:16

I don't want to make y'all not offer anything.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:21

I mean, it's real, like I could feel like that's you mean it. You ain't talking shit. It's what you believe, it's what you're gonna do. Well that asked.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:29

Oh shit. Renee, you go first.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:34

Okay, well, I'm gonna cheat because I got a prop. I'll start with with my family. What fingerprint do I want to leave on my family? My boss, one day we were having a conversation. It was me and my other foreman, and we were talking about the culture of leak detection and how we need to change it. We want to change it. We want we want to leave because there's a stigma of leak detection that oh, leak detection don't do shit. Like they never get dirty, they never they have it cake because they're not in the hole anymore, you know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_01 1:10:08

But they don't know the pretty boys with them exactly.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:13

We are the pretty boys and we get all the easy stuff, right? And that's totally untrue. And we we were talking about having a conversation about eradicating that stigma because we don't want to be hiring people into our team that are coming in with that mindset that you know we don't we don't uh do shit because we don't want people like that. We we need people like out outs, uh think outside the box, um, come up with ideas and who are gonna take leak detection to the next step because we're growing, we're growing. There's new leak detection technology comes coming out. Uh, we need people that are tech savvy, we need people that are uh adventurous. And he played a song from Johnny Cash, the legend of John Henry's hammer. He was playing the song, and I was I just got the chills at this part of the lyrics. I can turn a jack, I can lay a track, I can pick and shovel to. And then his boss says, Can you swing a hammer, boy? I can do anything you hire me to. Long story short, he can turn a jack, he can lay a hammer, pick and shovel too, he can do all that stuff, whatever you hire him to. And in the end of the story, he outworks this machine that's supposed to do all that stuff too. Yeah, and I I think that's a wonderful story of just grit, you know. Yeah, I'm not the smartest tool in the shed, you know, I'm not the best speaker, but I got grit, man. You know, and I'll freaking outwork you, dude. And I want to leave that behind for my son and my daughter. Don't freaking beat yourself up, eradicate that freaking I can't voice in your head that tells you you can't do something. I want them to look at their dad and be like, yo, like, dad did it, I can do it too. So that's that's the fingerprint I want to leave for my family and for my community as well. Like, I know a lot of people that are just hella talented at what they do. Like, shout out uh to Amanda. I have a youth group every Friday, and one of the the girls that goes there, she's eight, she's 20, and she's an amazing artist, man. I was like, dude, like you ever thought about like doing something with your art, you know, like getting paid for it, making a business, building a business around your art. And she's like, Yeah, I'm looking into it, but I just don't I don't have the money, uh, I don't have time, you know. I don't I'm not that good, and I don't know how to do this as cases, yeah. Like, dude, just start, you know what I'm saying? Just start, start now, start with what you can, and start with you know now, and then keep building on it, keep compiling the knowledge and practice for when that opportunity comes, or you you you start molding the opportunity, and you can finally take off on that, you'll be ready because you've been doing it with all the grit that you've been acquiring over the years that you've been drawing. Well, I know too many people that have these wonderful talents and things that they've been practicing on, they didn't even know it because they just love it, and that just tell themselves they can't, and they get stuck in a space where they're doing something they hate, you know what I'm saying? And it doesn't, I don't it doesn't have to be that way. And I I want for my community to feel comfortable with sucking now and being great later. That's why I'm doing this morning, this 4 a.m. morning stuff. I want to show people like bro, I don't I don't know where I'm going, you know. I I'm just going, I'm just moving, and you can too. I'm a caterpillar right now. It's okay, you know, just start.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:54

You're gonna be a beautiful butterfly. That's good.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:58

Oh shit, I guess it's my turn, huh? So I've got a few fingerprints that I want to leave. One of them is is changing the image of careers in the trades. You know, I'm a tradesman, came up as a plumber right out of high school, right back in 95, started as a plumber's apprentice, did the deal, and have have experienced amazing, amazing things as a result of entering a career in the trades. I don't do that type of work anymore, but had I not entered uh the trades, entered plumbing, I would not have discovered the other gifts and talents that I had within me. Like I know I wouldn't know. There's just no way. So that's one fingerprint helping change that for the educators out there, for the students, for the parents, for the world at large, right? Like you better recognize, fool, we got game. The other fingerprint is very similar to what both of you have touched on, but you know, I think everybody, we're all blessed with some skills and talents, but discovering them and learning how to apply them and leverage them is a very it's an uncomfortable situation, right? Because you got to get your hands dirty, you got to put the reps in. And so what I what I want to, what I will do, what I intend to do, is help people discover what their contribution is, right? What their skills and talents are, and how they can share them with the world to to make it better, right? To make it the right way, to make it the way it needs to be. The other fingerprint I want to live, leave is like change the world, help people understand that we can change the world one world at a time, right? And what I mean by that is every time I interact with somebody, it's an opportunity to help affect them. And and it can be this easy. Make eye contact and freaking smile. And guess what? Usually that person will smile back. If I don't smile, I don't have any effect on that person. I'm just another damn face walking by. A little small. But it's it's that. It's exactly that. Every interaction that I have with another human being is an opportunity to make their day better. And and so what I'd like to do is help people understand that we have a responsibility and we have the power to make somebody's day better. Um, though those are I'll be like the three-toed sloth, right? Those are the three fingerprints that that I'm working to leave on this world, man. Thank you for asking, though. So, group hog or what? Renee, you got any last thoughts?

SPEAKER_05 1:16:56

No, that's it. I laid it out on the table. I mean, you told me you don't want me to rant no more, so feelers.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:14

Alexander, any last thoughts or any topics that you that we didn't cover that you wanted to touch on?

SPEAKER_00 1:17:21

I appreciate uh what you guys are doing and taking the time with me. And I think it's awesome like changing the the face of the trades and how it really is and what you can do and how it can change your life. I think that's awesome, man. The trades are really a way to to measure a man, honestly. Because it's it's not it's not easy, um, requires a lot of thinking, and like they say, figure it out, get it done. And you know that's that's what we gotta take on with life. With every obstacle, we gotta figure it out, and at the end of the day, we just gotta get it done.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:59

Man, Renee, that conversation with Alexander was an inspiring, motivating conversation. It really was. Um, and you even seen said some nice stuff about me, so thank you, little brother. Last time I shouted out to Ontario, Canada, uh, because we've had uh quite a few listeners that have been consistently with us. I don't want to make our hometown people, the hometowners, uh, feel like I forgot about them. So shout out to San Antonio, Texas. All right, Mr. Caterpillar. What shout out you got?

SPEAKER_05 1:18:33

We got a shout-out for Amy Elizabeth. She says, the advice at the end of Renee's episode was exactly what I needed to hear for my son, who was complaining about things being hard. Let's give him some more advice that it's only gonna get harder from here, brother, especially if you're growing. We're truly humbled that that our advice could help you. And thanks for listening, Amy Elizabeth.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:58

Yeah, we appreciate you, sister, and and the rest of y'all, the feedback that you provide is like fuel for us. You know, it's some work, we enjoy what we're doing, but knowing that it has an impact on you is really meaningful to us. So please give us your feedback: social media, text, email, phone calls, whatever. Um, and we'll we'll go ahead and share that with the rest of our audience. So keep it coming and we'll talk at you next time. Man, you are one dedicated listener, sticking with us all the way through to the very, very end. Please know that this podcast dies without you. And we invite you to share how the episode is impacting you, along with your thoughts, questions, and suggestions. You've been gracious with your time, so we added social media links in the show notes to make it super easy for you to connect with us. Be kind to yourself, stay cool, and we'll talk at you next time.