Thursday, August 25- This episode showcases some of the awesome people within EWN at the first annual EWN Tailgate Week hosted at our Decatur, TX headquarters.
Quick Links:
James Cross on Linkedin
Jim Schauer on Linkedin
Episode Transcript
[0:00] [music]
James Cross: [0:25] Look at that. We just had the air. We got to your live team.
Jim Schauer: [0:30] That is intense, those people walking by. They are serious.
James: [0:34] Kelsey, we’re live. We’re rolling right in. We’re not even telling people anymore. We’re just like a real podcast.
Kelsey Klingler: [0:40] Just hanging out.
James: [0:41] You’re just listened to a commercial, and then all of a sudden, we jump in.
Jim: [0:46] There is no skipping a beat with us.
Kelsey: [0:48] [laughs] No. Especially not you.
James: [0:50] Kelsey, we are here. We’re live at tailgate week. We’ve been asking everybody how it’s been going. Day one was cool.
Kelsey: [0:55] It was.
James: [0:56] Had a blast?
Kelsey: [0:57] Yeah, it’s been a lot of fun and seeing everyone. It’s been a while since we’ve all been together. And I work remote, so that’s been great seeing everybody and how much we’ve learned.
Jim: [1:06] Where are you out of again?
Kelsey: [1:05] Indiana.
James: [1:05] I’ve heard of it.
Jim: [1:07] Oh, OK.
Kelsey: [1:08] Yeah, it’s been good.
James: [1:09] Indiana office?
Kelsey: [1:10] Yep.
James: [1:10] We’ve got several of those Indiana folks up there.
Jim: [1:14] Yeah, we do. We have at least three; Steve, Adam, Kelsey.
Kelsey: [1:18] Yep.
Jim: [1:21] This week so far. Going into the week we all had our eyes wide open to have a fun, energetic, interactive week. What about you?
[1:30] What’s the one thing so far? We’re halfway through the week. Anything that’s hit you so far as a great experience or great takeaway?
Kelsey: [1:37] I think everything was good. I appreciate the fact we practice what we preach. We’re always the ones doing the teaching and the courses. It’s good to be on the other side of that.
James: [1:50] Slow down.
Kelsey: [1:50] Yeah, and be learning some things and relax and practice what we preach. I think it’s been good.
James: [1:57] Yeah, it’s been nice to slow down and train ourselves. You’re right. Sometimes you get going so hard that you can’t stop. You want to help everybody, but you can’t.
[2:08] Put your mask on first right?
Kelsey: [2:10] Right. Exactly.
James: [2:10] We talk about it all the time in SMS world. Kelsey, we got a whole other day. Then we’re partying, and then you’re heading back.
Kelsey: [2:20] Yep.
James: [2:21] Get some of that Texas heat before you go back. We’re going…
Kelsey: [2:24] It’s been a little steamy, but we’re making it.
James: [2:26] Man, it is warm here. We’ll be safe. We’ll be good. It’s going to be fun. You could throw…you can dunk Jim…
Kelsey: [2:34] That’s the plan.
James: [2:35] several times.
Jim: [2:35] Allegedly, I might be in the dunk tank tomorrow.
James: [2:37] We have a dunk tank going…
Jim: [2:39] Allegedly.
Kelsey: [2:39] It’s happening.
James: [2:40] a dunk tank going on tomorrow.
Jim: [2:43] We’ve got to get some video of that.
James: [2:45] All the proceeds going to local charities.
Jim: [2:48] That’s wonderful. What a great…For that, I would drop a…
James: [2:51] I’d drop two bills on it. I can’t wait to dunk Russell, just going to be honest.
James: [2:56] The kids are coming. They’re like, “Uncle Russell’s going down.”
Kelsey: [2:59] [laughs] Yeah.
James: [2:59] I bought one to dunk everyone by hand, and then I bought…
Kelsey: [3:03] A surprise dunk?
James: [3:05] There’s an insta‑dunk option for 30 bucks. I bought one for everyone, including myself.
Kelsey: [3:11] Oh, I didn’t know there was an insta‑dunk.
James: [3:12] 30 dollars to buy a ticket.
Jim: [3:14] So, I’m getting wet tomorrow no matter what?
James: [3:15] 100 percent.
Kelsey: [3:15] Put your scuba suit on.
James: [3:19] Then I bought a 30 case of tickets to throw…
Jim: [3:22] To throw?
Kelsey: [3:23] I didn’t know there was an insta‑dunk.
James: [3:23] for charity. We’ll put the demo up.
Jim: [3:28] This is going to be great.
James: [3:30] It’s going to be great. Kelsey, thanks for joining us.
Kelsey: [3:32] Thanks you guys. Have a good week.
James: [3:36] All right. We’ll be back. We’re trying something new, Mayra. We’re doing a cold open where you don’t even talk about that you’re going on. Just start…
Jim: [3:46] Like right now, Mayra’s joining us. This is a great thing. She was walking by and she said, “I want to be on with you gentlemen.”
Mayra Maese: [3:53] Absolutely.
James: [3:53] Standing in. It is tailgate week, Mayra, and for a lot of people they don’t know what that means. What’s funny is Coleman said yesterday he doesn’t know what it means either. It’s our first one, and we’re kind of making it up as we…
Mayra: [4:05] As we go.
James: [4:06] As we go, but I would say up to this point, I don’t know about y’all, but I had a blast yesterday.
Jim: [4:12] It was great.
James: [4:13] Looking around and seeing all the conversations and everything. How was it for Mayra?
Mayra: [4:17] It’s been good to see everybody together.
Jim: [4:20] It’s been a little…
Mayra: [4:21] You going to edit this?
Jim: [4:23] No!
Mayra: [4:24] Oh no.
James: [4:24] No we never edit. We just go.
Mayra: [4:26] Oh my God, yeah, OK, take two.
Jim: [4:29] We just go, yeah.
James: [4:27] No, we don’t edit. We’re still live.
Mayra: [4:32] It’s actually been really good. It’s been really good to see everybody.
Jim: [4:35] What’s been your favorite part?
Mayra: [4:36] My favorite part is to see us coming together and play the games. Yeah, just randomly. It’s awesome. You get to see a little bit more of the personal side ‑‑ outside of the business side.
Jim: [4:47] I’m going to take you down a wormhole at that. People getting together playing games, what does that do for our company and all of our team? It builds what?
Mayra: [4:56] People trust. It builds human…
Jim: [4:58] Synergy?
Mayra: [4:59] Yeah, synergy, for sure.
Jim: [5:01] I love it. We all thrive on that. That’s why we do so many in‑person things that we do in the industry as well as internally. It’s wonderful this week.
James: [5:09] We have a whole other day today…
Jim: [5:11] We have a day today.
James: [5:12] of training.
Mayra: [5:13] It started out great already.
James: [5:15] Then we have CareFlight just came in…
Jim: [5:16] Helicopter.
James: [5:17] locally here, and we’re getting to check that out. We have Wise Health Systems here. We have several sessions going on. Lonestar Consulting here. Jack and Jeremy here doing some things.
Jim: [5:27] Yep.
James: [5:27] What else is?
Mayra: [5:28] Emergency Management?
James: [5:28] Yup, EMS.
James: [5:28] Yeah, EMS.
Mayra: [5:29] Hagen Julie Elliott.
James: [5:32] It’s like an alumni. EWN alumni, Julie Elliot, coming back to teach us about emergency management. Lots of cool stuff. Then we have the tailgate party tomorrow.
Jim: [5:43] That will be fun.
James: [5:45] And then the dunk tank.
Jim: [5:45] Who’s going to be in the dunk tank? Is that you?
Mayra: [5:47] No. Coleman will be in there.
James: [5:50] Coleman?
Mayra: [5:50] I do want to say though…
James: [5:51] It’s funny how out of all the people, she brought up Coleman out of them.
Mayra: [5:55] Coleman is going to be in there. You all cannot miss that. I do want to say thank you all though, for showing up this morning and cooking.
James: [6:01] I still smell like baking.
Mayra: [6:04] We had a fun time cooking home‑made breakfast for our team.
Jim: [6:06] We showed up. Somebody was the master chef though, I will say that.
James: [6:09] I was just rambling monkeys.
Mayra: [6:11] I was looking tortillas.
Jim: [6:13] You did a great job.
James: [6:13] We all stepped in. It was awesome. We made a little drive‑thru. A lot of people showed up and just hung out.
Jim: [6:19] Yeah, it was wonderful.
Mayra: [6:20] That’s good.
James: [6:20] It’s good to break bread with people Mayra. Enjoy the rest of the week. Thank you for joining us.
Mayra: [6:25] Thank you guys.
Jim: [6:25] Thank you for being our inaugural guest today.
James: [6:29] We’ll be right back.
Jim: [6:32] I’m glad that Connor’s here because I wanted to talk to him. I’ve been waiting for a PowerPoint. Is it in my inbox?
James: [6:38] It’s been awhile.
Jim: [6:39] Is it in my inbox?
Connor Elliott: [6:41] Yeah.
James: [6:42] It’s still there.
Connor: [6:43] Just keep checking.
Jim: [6:44] I’ll check right away.
James: [6:46] We’re here with someone very special to us.
Jim: [6:47] Yes.
James: [6:47] He’s been around a long time, but he’s not here anymore. We call him EWN alumni or industry observer. Connor Elliott joins us today. Connor did a lot of work for us on the show and other things.
Jim: [7:02] Design.
James: [7:03] Why are you hear? I’m so confused.
Connor: [7:07] I just really wanted to be on this show and I knew that I would never get on the show while I worked here. So, I’d to leave.
James: [7:12] Boom.
Jim: [7:12] Hit the stop button. We’re done.
James: [7:15] Why you’re really here?
Connor: [7:17] My wife is Julie Elliot and she’s teaching…
James: [7:21] Also former EWN alumni.
Connor: [7:22] Yes. She was here first and then she left and then I came and then I left. Now we’re both still hanging around. We like some…
James: [7:33] Hard to quit.
Connor: [7:34] Yeah. She’s teaching a class and…
Jim: [7:36] What class is she teaching?
Connor: [7:38] It’s about building an emergency kit at home and just kind of being overall preparedness.
Jim: [7:46] It’s a good thing to do. Julie, a lot of credit to her. I want to go give credit to you in a second. She’s working on her PhD right now? Am I correct with that? I’m a…
James: [7:56] Lifelong learner.
Connor: [7:58] Oh, yeah.
Jim: [7:59] Connor left us though to…
James: [8:01] A lifelong learner.
Jim: [8:02] lifelong learner to pursue a passion that you have for aviation. Pace up the speed where you are on that.
Connor: [8:11] I just finished ATP flight school. I have a bunch of letters after my name. Flight instructor and multi‑engine commercial, all that stuff.
Jim: [8:21] Really?
Connor: [8:21] Yeah. I can now get paid to teach people to fly. That’s probably what I’ll be doing until I have enough hours to fly for the airlines.
Jim: [8:30] Is that your goal? Is that what you want to do?
Connor: [8:33] Yeah.
James: [8:33] Good because we’ve been having some delays. Jim has been having some issues in Westport.
Jim: [8:37] Westport and Atlanta.
James: [8:38] Through Westport‑Atlanta, Atlanta has been having an issue.
Connor: [8:41] Airlines are great but I can also do corporate. So if you guys want…
James: [8:43] Private.
Connor: [8:43] a personal pilot…
James: [8:44] Coffee with Jim & James” the aircraft.
Connor: [8:46] That’s the great island object.
Jim: [8:46] First call Matt. Connor, do you approve that? Yes. OK. We’re good to go.
James: [8:51] Connor, we’re going to mix it up because you don’t work here. I’m going to ask it a little bit different way which is, you were here and we did a lot of team building. We did a lot of things together as groups but we went into a pandemic and we didn’t have that option.
[9:06] This is the first time we’ve been back since doing that, which was really cool. A lot of people excited to see each other. How important was that time for you back in the team building days? How many relationships things like that, did you create during those times?
Connor: [9:26] I always looked forward to the team buildings. I’m a social person, anyway. Those are crucial because being able to have designated time or we’re telling people, you have to not work right now. That’s really important.
[9:42] Especially, a lot of people can experience burnout and being told that now’s the time, that’s designated for you to just hang out and get to know each other. Then the better you know your co‑workers and people in other departments, the better you’re going to work together. And so it’s…
James: [9:58] Pretty simple.
Connor: [10:00] Yeah, it’s easy.
Jim: [10:01] Let me ask you a question, a follow‑up to that. Having that history with us. Now that you’re out venturing into other areas, aviation, are you going to take some of those with you and do those in your next venture?
James: [10:12] On every plane that you’re on? Will you be ensuring the culture is where it needs to be, “Oh, I think it’s working”?
Jim: [10:16] Can we go on the plane with you?
Connor: [10:23] I don’t really think there’s another place like EWN, which kind of makes me sad.
[10:28] But I definitely have learned things that, if I’m at a training center with other instructors, I can take some of the things I learned from our team building and incorporate those there, build that camaraderie among co‑workers.
James: [10:42] Connor, good to see you brother. Good luck on everything.
Connor: [10:45] Thanks.
Jim: [10:45] Thank you. Keep us in the loop.
James: [10:47] We’ll see Julie before she heads out, I’m sure. We appreciate you. Good luck.
Jim: [10:53] Absolutely.
James: [10:54] Fly high, my friend. Is that what I’m supposed to say?
Jim: [10:58] Something like that.
Connor: [10:59] People say tailwinds and clear skies and stuff.
James: [11:00] Godspeed.
Jim: [11:02] I like it.
James: [11:02] All right, we’ll be right back.
James: [11:05] Did you do your hair for this moment?
Isaiah Galarza: [11:07] No, I didn’t prepare for this.
Jim: [11:08] He’s OK.
James: [11:08] He just came in hot. Jimmy just grabbed one of… I was going to say newest member, but we’re getting new numbers all the time. You are on the newer side of our new folk, so this might be your first big event team building. Were you at EWN?
Isaiah: [11:26] No Sir, I was not in EWN.
Jim: [11:26] Why not?
James: [11:26] Yes that’s what I thought. So this is your…
Isaiah: [11:29] I was out on school.
Jim: [11:31] When did you start?
Isaiah: [11:34] I’ve been here for a year now.
James: [11:35] You’re an intern to begin with.
Isaiah: [11:38] I was an intern last summer, and I got offered a part‑time job, remotely.
Jim: [11:44] Cool. That’s awesome.
James: [11:46] Isaiah, I guess your title is a multimedia assistant, is that right?
Isaiah: [11:52] Yes sir, I work for the multimedia and education.
James: [11:54] Our friends over in education. I’ve been on the design side, or charged with that group for a long time, so we’ve had a lot of overlap, so love that group over there. What’s a day in the life like for you?
Isaiah: [12:05] Day in the life of multimedia is I come in, I have of course written by one of our technical writers. You know Richard, Sebastian, got a bunch of good technical writers out there.
James: [12:16] Shout out.
Isaiah: [12:16] Shout out to them.
James: [12:17] No free sponsors.
Isaiah: [12:19] Then I get a nice draft of the storyboard, which is just words on a paper because every course is either talking about pipeline, or steel casing, or welds the stuff like that. And then I find some images for them, so they can go on our CBTs.
James: [12:34] I want to ask him something. You hold that thought.
Jim: [12:36] Please, I’m holding it.
James: [12:37] Were you a welder in a previous life?
Isaiah: [12:38] No sir. I was not.
James: [12:40] This is all learning through our own courses. You’ve just rattled off a bunch of things that it’s kind of neat to learn about all these things that run our country and other countries. I bet it’s been pretty eye‑opening.
Isaiah: [12:54] Exactly. I have very little knowledge on Pipeline, and for the year I’ve been here I’ve learned a bunch of stuff.
Jim: [13:02] You’ll learn every day and in five years, in 10 years, you’re going to look back and say, “Look how much I did there.” Have you been on a ride away yet?
Isaiah: [13:08] No sir, I haven’t.
Jim: [13:08] We’ll get you out on the ride away. We’re going to get you out.
James: [13:11] Isaiah, it’s good to see you.
Isaiah: [13:13] I appreciate you.
James: [13:14] I hope you have a good week.
James: [13:14] Thanks for stopping on.
Isaiah: [13:16] I appreciate you.
Jim: [13:15] Say goodbye to the audience.
Isaiah: [13:16] See y’all.
James: [13:17] All right. We’ll be back. Ready? I thought we were already starting…
Jim: [13:22] I thought we are staring.
James: [13:24] having a different conversation. We’re live? We are back live with the Roxann Medlin from Oklahoma. I’m just kidding.
Roxann Medlin: [13:31] It’s an insult [laughs].
James: [13:32] It’s an inside joke that no one knows, but Roxann and I.
Jim: [13:37] Because of the boots?
James: [13:39] No, we’re not getting into this.
Jim: [13:41] Never mind.
Roxann: [13:41] It’s an inside joke.
James: [13:42] It is an inside joke.
Roxann: [13:43] That would defeat the purpose.
Jim: [13:44] What do I do? I take inside jokes and make them outside.
James: [13:47] Roxann, we’ve got a few of your friends and your colleagues over there in your area. As some of you may know, Roxann takes care of our clients, makes sure our clients are taken care of every single day, which is super‑duper important. Her team and the client success area‑‑ fantastic.
Jim: [14:03] Top notch.
Roxann: [14:04] Top notch.
James: [14:05] Roxann we’re back together. We’re live here at Tailgate week with all of our friends. How’s it been day one, in the books, day two going?
Roxann: [14:15] It’s been good. It’s been good to get together and have everyone in one place, because we haven’t done that in a very long time.
Jim: [14:22] It’s been years.
Roxann: [14:23] Yeah, it really has.
Jim: [14:23] It seems like it.
Roxann: [14:25] See a lot of…
James: [14:26] I mean, except EWNCON. That was just a couple of weeks ago.
Jim: [14:28] I’m sorry.
Roxann: [14:28] I know. I forgot about that.
James: [14:32] I’ll just talk for my side. I was so busy in that that I didn’t really get to enjoy the time with the team until it was overreached.
Jim: [14:40] Then you were exhausted because it was a 14‑hour day.
James: [14:42] I’ve enjoyed this because I can slow down a little bit and sit down and talk to people, and fix problems for Roxann.
Roxann: [14:48] I have problems?
Jim: [14:53] Did she know that?
Roxann: [14:54] [laughs] I guess I do.
James: [14:55] I sat down and affected change yesterday about this area event. I made sure because before I left, I made sure I did.
Roxann: [15:04] Your responsibilities?
James: [15:05] I’m so responsible.
Jim: [15:07] Let me get us back on track. You’re as worse than I am.
James: [15:13] We’re a blast, we don’t see each other a lot.
Jim: [15:14] I know, but I am the king of tangents. I go all the way down and you guys are…
Roxann: [15:18] Now you can’t keep up.
Jim: [15:20] I was lost when you guys made the second turn on the right.
Roxann: [15:23] Now you know how it is.
Jim: [15:24] With me all the time.
James: [15:26] It is all the time, you basically run a podcast.
James: [15:29] Any high point so far? Any training that stuck out for you, Roxann? Anything you’ve noticed, even with anyone?
Roxann: [15:38] I don’t know. It’s just been really good to have everyone in one spot. There’s a lot of new people, a lot of new faces, and some faces I didn’t know went with what name.
James: [15:51] There’s still people I still don’t know.
Roxann: [15:53] [laughs] It’s hard.
Jim: [15:57] How many new people did you meet over the last 48 hours?
James: [16:01] For the first time.
Jim: [16:02] For the first time in it. They may have been with us a year now, maybe two years, a year and a half.
Roxann: [16:07] I would say at least, three.
James: [16:08] I think that’s a record.
Roxann: [16:10] Training’s been really good. A lot of good information. Active shooter was my favorite.
James: [16:17] Everyone.
Jim: [16:18] Everyone.
James: [16:18] So timely and I think everybody… there’s something you could take away and go to put to work today, right?
Roxann: [16:24] Yeah.
Jim: [16:25] Unfortunately, that’s the world we live in. We need to be careful.
James: [16:28] You went to lunch today with your group, or someone? Is it changed the way even when you sit in a restaurant?
Jim: [16:36] Did you remember it?
James: [16:37] Did you find your exits?
Jim: [16:39] Are you OK?
Roxann: [16:39] [laughs] I didn’t look for my exit.
James: [16:41] Maybe next time. No, I’m just kidding.
Roxann: [16:46] Let me retake that again.
James: [16:48] There’s a lot of good training here. We’ve mentioned that it’s neat to see our impact here locally too, and our partners seeing safety be so important in our community too.
Jim: [16:57] Even your interaction with the community has been great, hasn’t it?
Roxann: [17:01] Yeah. It’s been really good. A lot of to bring the community in, and tie it with what we do day to day. It’s been really neat.
Jim: [17:08] Have them in our world and then thus have us in their world. It’s wonderful.
James: [17:12] Roxann, I can hear the phone ringing, I feel like there are some clowns you need to help with some sampling. We appreciate you coming on. We appreciate everything you do for us in all of our clients.
Jim: [17:23] You’re a trooper. You always put up, she always puts up.
James: [17:25] You have to come on and tell us all about Oklahoma.
James: [17:29] Hey Ashley.
Ashley Jesko: [17:29] Hi.
James: [17:30] Just like that.
Jim: [17:34] What’s going on?
James: [17:35] Are you busy? Are you recording right now?
Ashley: [17:38] This is a gimbal.
Jim: [17:38] Are you recording us recording you, recording us recording you?
Ashley: [17:41] Yeah.
James: [17:41] Is this going on the Snapchats?
Ashley: [17:43] Maybe the company to TikTok. I don’t know. We’ll see.
James: [17:45] We have a company TikTok? If anybody didn’t know, I don’t know what you do there. Do you follow? Do you just add us to your free page?
Jim: [17:54] I need to download that.
Ashley: [17:55] I need your FYP.
Jim: [17:57] What? Never mind.
James: [17:58] It’s cool.
Jim: [18:00] Tactical.
James: [18:01] Ask Ashley on the comments. Ashley we’re at Tailgate Week. I don’t know about you, first day for me. We went to Leadership Retreat the day before, so it’s kind of like the second day. The first full day for everybody was amazing. How was it for you?
Ashley: [18:18] I really enjoyed it. I liked Colman’s monkey talk.
Jim: [18:21] Did you like that?
Ashley: [18:22] I did. I really did
Jim: [18:23] That was fun.
Ashley: [18:25] It gives you perspective on price and walking around with everybody’s monkeys.
James: [18:29] How many monkeys you were holding at the time as you heard that story? You’re like, “Oh.”
Ashley: [18:34] I started thinking “how many monkeys have I handled?”
James: [18:36] It’s like declining slack messages.
[18:38] [laughter]
Jim: [18:38] [message notification sounds]
Ashley: [18:41] That’s why you always say, “I trust you.” You don’t want me to…
[18:43] [crosstalk]
Jim: [18:43] Oh, that’s what he does.
James: [18:45] How was yesterday? A lot of fun?
Ashley: [18:50] It was. I thought the trainings were great. The active shooter was really cool to see and hear.
Jim: [18:55] Did you learn something?
James: [18:56] Gary Henderson.
Ashley: [18:56] I did. I actually have gotten to float around and see all the groups doing all the activities, so it’s been really cool.
James: [19:02] Same.
Jim: [19:03] One reason, too, is that you do a lot of the…
James: [19:06] Capturing.
Jim: [19:07] capturing of the moments.
James: [19:08] She’s the content curator. Hence all the gear.
Jim: [19:14] You’re loaded for a bear. We were at breakfast this morning. All of a sudden, Ashley is walking around with her…
James: [19:19] Watching us cook eggs. It’s really weird what content this is, isn’t it?
Ashley: [19:22] Everything is content, max.
Jim: [19:23] You know what? It is, isn’t it?
Ashley: [19:24] Everything is content.
James: [19:25] Content is king.
Jim: [19:26] Favorite part of the week so far?
James: [19:27] It’s the monkey thing.
Ashley: [19:29] I really did enjoy…
Jim: [19:31] You like that?
James: [19:32] I think that whole day was good. There’s value in all the different groups that we’re getting to spend together, whether it be as a leadership group, or a department, or cross‑departments. So, so valuable.
Jim: [19:45] You pushing me off?
James: [19:49] I was pushing her out. She looks like she’s…
Jim: [19:50] She’s ready to go. No, we’re good.
Ashley: [19:52] Bye, friends.
James: [19:53] All right. Ashley’s out. We’ll be back. We’re coming in hot.
Jim: [19:58] We’re always coming in hot.
James: [20:00] With us, cool man Sterling.
Jim: [20:03] Wait. How do we say that again?
James: [20:04] Cool man Sterling. That’s what we call him in the streets.
Jim: [20:09] Is that the hip sign?
James: [20:11] in the halls. Coleman Sterling, our CEO here. We’re live at tailgate week.
Coleman Sterling: [20:17] Tailgate week.
Jim: [20:19] Let me jump into this. This is the first ever tailgate week. This is an event that we’re holding in the summer months, versus a lot of time we do the holiday time period. What was your vision? Why did you want to come…?
James: [20:31] Tell us what was what tailgate week all about.
Coleman: [20:34] Tailgate week started pretty innocently from when COVID happened, and everybody had to shut down. Energy World Net, we like to have our get together at the end of the year, Christmas parties and such, but we weren’t able to do that.
[20:47] We were missing seeing everybody and enjoying everybody and having some time to fellowship. We decided we’re going to have a tailgate party in the summer time. That way, if COVID has given some restrictions, we can distance, but we can still be there in there and enjoy each other.
James: [21:02] We just wanted to have a party.
Coleman: [21:04] Essentially, we wanted to have a party, but we wanted to have a party that celebrated EWN and brought all of us together.
James: [21:10] Got it. Then, it manifested into what [laughs] is transpired on day one, right?
Jim: [21:17] We’re going to change it.
James: [21:17] You said something funny in the opening when we were addressing the company, which was we don’t know what it’s going to be like, but we’re going to figure it out. Yesterday, we figured it out.
Jim: [21:28] It’s fantastic.
James: [21:29] It was amazing looking around, seeing everybody milling around the conservation, and walls coming down. Everybody was at the table saying, “Let’s go to work.” That was amazing.
Jim: [21:37] Let me ask you two gentlemen something real quick. Did it feel like, for you two, being better at conference host, that we were at a conference here when you walked in?
Coleman: [21:46] That’s a cool question.
James: [21:47] We were in a conference.
Coleman: [21:47] It’s a strange feeling. You feel like you’re in conference mode. You feel like you’re at a conference. Then, you look around and everyone in the room is your peer.
Jim: [21:55] Yes.
Coleman: [21:56] Someone that you work with. It’s not someone that you’re trying to go and meet, or someone that you needed to talk to…
James: [22:00] and who.
Coleman: [22:01] that how it’s work stuff. It’s your friends.
James: [22:05] Man, it’s been awesome. I’m excited for today. I was talking to folks earlier. They were like, “Yesterday was so much fun.” Also, we had our very own Clinton and Shannon do the emceeing, and they like…
Coleman: [22:20] They nailed it, nailed it.
James: [22:22] It’s like the [inaudible]. They had skits. They’ve been making us laugh. It’s been a blast.
Jim: [22:27] Jokes.
James: [22:28] It’s just good to laugh together, to break bread together. I can’t wait to bring our families together tomorrow…
Coleman: [22:34] Yap, we do have families coming out. We got T‑shirts made…
James: [22:39] for the first time in a long time.
Coleman: [22:38] for EWN employees and their family members and the little‑bitty small T‑shirts. It’s all‑inclusive. It’s what we wanted to do. And then it turns into this whole week that we get to learn stuff.
James: [22:49] The Dunk Tank Trio right here…
Jim: [22:53] The Dunk Tank Trio. Are we going to be in it? Wait, together.
Coleman: [22:55] There’s a dunk tank.
James: [22:56] I don’t think they’ll…
Jim: [22:57] I got to go in first. Remember, I’m a little leery about water.
James: [23:00] Well, drama‑phobia over there needs to go in first.
Jim: [23:02] We have to put some chlorine in that.
James: [23:02] Me and my great water.
Coleman: [23:05] Thank you.
James: [23:06] Thanks for doing that.
Jim: [23:07] Thank you for your leadership, and vision, and everything you do for our company. We appreciate you so much.
James: [23:11] Absolutely. Thanks for coming on, too.
Coleman: [23:12] It’s been great. Thanks.
James: [23:14] We will be back.
James: [23:15] We got hot mics.
Jim: [23:16] We have hot mics.
James: [23:17] We are live.
Jim: [23:17] And with us is Jessica Vincelet.
Jessica Vincelet: [23:20] You got it wrong.
Jim: [23:21] Why? What did I do?
Jessica: [23:22] Jessie.
James: [23:23] It’s Jessie.
Jim: [23:23] I’m sorry. I was trying to do the long name in formal.
James: [23:27] Vincelet.
Jim: [23:27] Jessie Vincelet.
Jessica: [23:29] Yes, sir.
Jim: [23:30] I like saying Vincelet.
James: [23:31] Jessie works in our client success department. Tell the world what you do. What’s a day in the life like?
Jessica: [23:39] A day in the life? We are always taking care of our customers’ first line of communication.
James: [23:46] The face, the voice. You’re the ones when I forget my password.
Jessica: [23:51] Yep. I’m there for you.
Jim: [23:52] Are you?
Jessica: [23:53] Yep.
James: [23:53] When I get on chat.
Jessica: [23:55] I’m there for you.
James: [23:56] If I send a letter.
Jessica: [23:58] I’d love to see it.
Jim: [23:59] Let me ask you a question. What is the strangest call you’ve ever taken?
James: [24:04] I don’t like where this is going.
Jim: [24:05] I like it.
James: [24:06] They’re all an opportunity for growth.
Jessica: [24:08] They are.
James: [24:08] All our clients are great.
Jim: [24:09] Anything unusual? Have you ever gotten a person like me that says, “Where is the any‑key?” when you have to hit any key?
Jessica: [24:15] We have had to teach them how to connect to their own Internet a couple of times.
Jim: [24:21] OK. That’s…
James: [24:22] I’ve done that with Jim before.
Jim: [24:24] Yes.
Jessica: [24:25] Yeah, it’s a process.
James: [24:25] Jessie, it’s tailgate week. It’s our first tailgate week. It’s your first tailgate week. What was yesterday like, and what’s been some of the high points?
Jessica: [24:35] I love it so far. We’ve learned a lot of life lessons for in the office, outside of the office. Getting to see everybody is really nice.
James: [24:46] Amen. There’s something about sitting down with people and talking and fellowship…
Jim: [24:51] There really is. Relationships, and we say networking.
James: [24:54] Eating next to someone and listening to them.
Jim: [24:58] Let me give you an example. Myself, out of Florida, and you here out of corporate or headquarters, how often do we see each other if it’s not on the screen?
James: [25:05] Never.
Jessica: [25:05] This is the first time.
Jim: [25:06] Live in person, yeah. So we’re getting able to…
James: [25:09] We drag you on the show. That’s how we operate.
Jessica: [25:11] Yeah, that’s what I’m here for.
James: [25:13] I see Jessie all the time.
Jim: [25:12] There is no problem with us doing that. That’s the way we do it, James. We drag them on the show.
Jessica: [25:16] Exactly.
Jim: [25:17] She was like, “I’m good to go.”
James: [25:19] All right. Jessie, thanks for joining us.
Jessica: [25:21] You’re so welcome.
James: [25:22] Thanks for all that you do for our clients and…
Jim: [25:24] Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for taking care of them.
Jessica: [25:25] It’s good meeting you.
Jim: [25:27] It’s good to meet you. Thank you for teaching people how to connect to the Internet. I need it.
Jessica: [25:32] Thanks. That’s what I’m here for.
James: [25:34] Hey, we’ll be back.
Jim: [25:35] Are we recording?
James: [25:36] We are.
Jim: [25:37] Oh, let’s go.
James: [25:38] Dalton, we’re live. This is how we start now. We just go in.
Dalton Isbell: [25:41] Slide right into it.
James: [25:42] Dalton, we’re live at tailgate week. How are you, Dalton Isbell?
Dalton: [25:46] Very well. How are you doing?
James: [25:48] Good, sir. It’s been a while. I don’t get a lot…
Jim: [25:50] It’s a handshake event. I like that.
James: [25:52] of Dalton time. It’s been a while. This is our first tailgate. I guess, it’s been a long while because we never had one. How was the first day for you?
Dalton: [26:00] It was good. It was exciting. It was good sampling some different areas. I feel like I learned a lot.
Dalton: [26:09] opening, very conversational. It was the way to go.
James: [26:14] Did you meet anybody for the first time?
Dalton: [26:17] I think I met some clients that…
Jim: [26:24] Here?
Dalton: [26:25] Sorry.
Jim: [26:26] I was going to say, “Did I miss somebody?”
Dalton: [26:28] That’s OK.
James: [26:28] Did you meet any employees for the first time?
Dalton: [26:31] I met some employees I hadn’t met before that weren’t at the conference.
James: [26:35] Yeah, same. Who did we have breakfast with? Jenica yesterday…
Jim: [26:39] Jenica, yep.
James: [26:39] at the Coffee Shop. I met…
Jim: [26:41] David was also there. Nathan was there.
James: [26:45] It’s been great to sit down and break bread with people. I think it’s…
Dalton: [26:48] Try to keep track of how many people we’re hiring, how quickly, and being remote.
James: [26:52] Seeing the parking lot this morning when I pulled up…I was a little bit later and seeing it full and parking in the last spot, I was like, “Wow. We’re doing that.”
Jim: [27:01] Yeah, people were there. Felt good about it. Let me ask you a question. Coming into this week, what was your expectations for this week? As of yet, have those expectations been met or we still needing to help you out with things.
Dalton: [27:15] Not having had them before, I don’t think I had any expectations. I was curious about it but…
James: [27:20] We like to set the bar low. That works out. I’m just kidding.
Dalton: [27:21] No, I’ve been getting people from around Decatur from the sheriff’s department and seeing the people ride around here.
James: [27:30] It’s neat to see the community we impact.
Dalton: [27:31] Yeah, that’s been really great. A few from the hospital and some of their stories. I thought that was awesome.
Dalton: [27:37] I was impressed by…
James: [27:39] For those that don’t know. Some of the training that is going on is provided locally. We brought in the Fire Department, the Police Department, Wise Health Systems.
[27:49] We have CareFlight here today. Some things like that going on that are cool, and we get to see we’re a Decatur‑based business. It’s neat to see where our tax money and our people are spending their money, making these things.
Jim: [28:06] I think it’s both ways, because as much as we’re learning from them their understanding what…
James: [28:09] What we do.
Jim: [28:10] Yeah, a lot of people don’t understand when they drive by the office complex.
James: [28:14] They always think we’re an Internet company, and what I mean is like we sell Internet. If I had a dollar for every time one of my neighbors said, “Hey man, y’all provide service out?”
Jim: [28:24] Can I get a router?”
James: [28:26] I don’t know.
Dalton: [28:26] Everybody’s aware of us or pretty close to being aware of us, even talking to be people working here at the conference. You see the pieces fall into place.
James: [28:34] No, it’s totally different.
Dalton: [28:36] It’s just from random things around the community.
James: [28:39] And I love impact.
Jim: [28:40] And I love that we’re here at the Decatur Conference Center. You’re right here.
James: [28:44] Great partners here. We host our instructor‑led trainings around here as well. So it’s good to give back, and walking in almost looks like a trade show. You said it. We’ve got our own stuff set up. You walk, we’ve had our emcees going. So many things happen CareFlight. Just came in. I swear nothing’s wrong. They just showed up, proactive.
Jim: [29:05] We have a helicopter. A full crew that took their time and effort to come see us.
James: [29:12] Dalton, good to see you brother. Thanks for coming on a little bit.
Dalton: [29:14] Thank you my man.
James: [29:14] I’m glad you’re here. Enjoy the rest of the tailgate week.
Dalton: [29:17] I will. Thank you.
James: [29:16] We I’ll be back.
Jim: [29:20] Whoa.
James: [29:21] We’re live.
Jim: [29:21] That’s aggressive.
James: [29:23] Hot mics.
Jim: [29:25] Summer? Spring? Fall? No? I do it every time. It’s Season. I love your name.
Season Eudey: [29:32] Thank you. Thank you.
James: [29:33] Welcome to the show. Season works in our brand apartment season. Season, what’s a day in the life of season?
Season: [29:40] Well, at EWN, I’m the brand assist as you said. I just really help out where I can in both design and marketing.
[29:48] I do things like pack boxes. Made these name tags we have on. I’m really excited. I’m starting to get into the social media EWN, which like the LinkedIn, Facebook and stuff, and I get to make little Graphics when I can.
Jim: [30:02] Cool! Do you like it?
Season: [30:04] I do like it. I really like EWN.
Jim: [30:06] What’s your passion? If you were in the office…
James: [30:09] I didn’t tell her we’re going to ask her this. She’s freaking out.
Jim: [30:12] Well, hold on. You come into the office, 7:30 in the morning, and all of a sudden nobody is there, and you get to do whatever you want for that.
James: [30:19] Not interesting. Whatever you show up.
Season: [30:21] Like 8.
Jim: [30:22] So what would you do? If you didn’t have any duties and you could do anything you wanted that’s within your job description. What would you do during the day?
Season: [30:30] I think something I would do is get better with the design programs, Like Illustrator and Photoshop and stuff.
James: [30:35] Oh my God.
Season: [30:36] I know. It’s only a teach me.
James: [30:38] Oh, I thought was me.
Jim: [30:45] I’m really good with like, never mind.
James: [30:47] He’s not very good with any of that. Season, it’s tailgate week, and this is our first tailgate week. Therefore, it’s your first tailgate week, but you’re one of the newer employees that we’ve brought on here recently. What’s tailgate week been like for you?
Season: [31:04] I’ve enjoyed it. I really enjoyed getting to like see everybody, because really I’ve stayed with my people in my department.
James: [31:10] You stayed in your little box.
Season: [31:11] So getting into different groups, different people from other departments has been nice, and I really liked the training. Yesterday, I won a Minute to Win It game.
James: [31:20] You should have brought your own trophy.
Season: [31:22] I should’ve brought my little trophy.
James: [31:22] For next time.
Jim: [31:24] We’ll show that off. That’ll be good.
James: [31:26] Well, we’re glad you’re here. Thank you so much for joining us.
Season: [31:29] Thank you all.
Jim: [31:29] Thanks for everything you do.
James: [31:31] We’ll be back.
James: [31:33] We’re here with the Russell Griffin. Speaking of safety.
Jim: [31:38] Speaking of it, who embodies it day in and day out. Whether it’s the week day, or the weekend, Russell embodies something.
James: [31:45] We were just with Russell a few weeks ago in Nebraska
Russell Griffin: [31:49] We were.
James: [31:50] We didn’t have you on the show.
Russell: [31:51] No, you didn’t.
Jim: [31:53] It was on purpose.
James: [31:53] It was so hot there.
Russell: [31:54] It was not on purpose. James really did it on purpose.
James: [32:00] Russell, we’re at tailgate week, and we’re asking everybody how day one went and what they’re excited about most. How was your day one?
Russell: [32:08] It was really good. The sessions have been really good. Getting to talk to some of the people setting appointments up, like tomorrow morning. Kind of a little bit where we condition work but, I’m going to meet Danny, talked to her at the coffee shop. I really don’t know that much about Danny, but looking forward to that.
James: [32:27] We did that yesterday, we were late yesterday in full disclosure.
Jim: [32:30] Allegedly, allegedly.
James: [32:33] But it was all for good. We were sitting at the coffee shop.
Jim: [32:38] We were networking. We were building relationships within our company. Let me ask you something…
James: [32:43] Sorry not sorry.
Jim: [32:44] Yeah, I’m not sorry, because that’s something that carries on day in and day out. Once you build that relationship, it’s so easy to have that phone call with somebody. But let me ask you a quick question.
[32:54] Tomorrow or next week you’re going to be at a coffee shop, and somebody is going to say to you that you maybe know from the community, “What did you do last week?” and you’re going to say, “Well we had tailgate week”. What’s the one thing that so far you want to tell that person that really has impacted you this week?
Russell: [33:13] There is a lot. That’s a really good question. I don’t have an answer to that question.
Jim: [33:19] It’s a person on the industry.
Russell: [33:23] I don’t have one of this mugs.
James: [33:25] OK, we’ll give you one if you answer.
Russell: [33:30] It hurt me to have James’ autograph that have family members.
Jim: [33:36] I would be honored to put my…
Russell: [33:41] I think that getting to see some of the departments. What made me think of it was in Amber strobe. The work that her and Roxanne have put in. All of this has come together has been incredible, not that they don’t do incredible things.
James: [33:59] You know they had a real job too, while they did this as well.
Russell: [34:03] That in itself is a big thing because this is coming off big.
Jim: [34:08] It has actually far exceeded my expectation each and every day, so far. I’m looking forward to the rest of the day and tomorrow.
James: [34:15] We’re also good you brother.
Russell: [34:16] Thank you.
James: [34:20] We’ll be back.
[34:22] And then we just come in live.
Jim: [34:25] Everything in my mind right now is Regulatory Compliance. Everything, right?
Brian Dresel: [34:28] Welcome to the club
James: [34:29] Or on the stream.
Brian: [34:30] I love it. That’s my world.
James: [34:33] Firstly, clean‑shaven, Brian Dresel.
Brian: [34:35] Yes, a lot of people ask me if I’m over 21, because I shaved off.
Jim: [34:42] It did take me a few minutes the other day. I’m looking at Brian. I’m like, “what is different? Oh wait a minute.”
Brian: [34:49] The temperature hits 100, the beard has to for a while.
James: [34:52] I’m struggling under it.
Jim: [34:53] Well it’s 108 heat index here in Texas.
James: [34:57] Brian, we’re all here together. It’s tailgate week, our first one. We’re trying to figure out what this really means. I think as a company, Coleman said it yesterday, we’re going to wing it a little bit, and I say, after day one, I think the wing in that worked. What do you think? What’s your…?
Brian: [35:13] I think it’s been great. A lot of people may not realize that Energy Worldnet that is a good size company. We actually have 100 employees and not all of them are based at one location. We gathered everybody together to spend this time, talk about safety. We’re a safety focused company.
James: [35:31] Everything on my agenda it’s safety, safety, safety.
Brian: [35:41] That’s what I’ve really enjoyed about it so far. It’s just a really good safety focus.
James: [35:47] The common thread between all of it’s been that, so cool to see.
Jim: [35:43] In your history, you embody safety, your time with [inaudible] utilities and such like that. You’re longstanding in the community. Let me ask you a question. This event, so far, what’s been your biggest takeaway? What’s the one thing that at the end of the day you’re like, “I’m really glad this is happening.” Is there one thing you can hit on?
Brian: [36:00] Only the safety…
James: [36:01] He’s going to say safety. I knew he was going to say safety. He’s such a sucker for safety.
Brian: [36:05] The session that I think was the best, where we get some good active shooter training.
James: [36:07] Absolutely. Gary Henderson.
Brian: [36:11] You don’t think about that all the time, but how…
James: [36:13] Shoutout to…
Jim: [36:14] Jeff Henderson?
James: [36:14] Henderson’s ever since that.
Brian: [36:16] It was good training. All of the sessions have been great, but that was a good one. It forces you to take a different look at the room that you’re in…
James: [36:23] Everything?
Brian: [36:24] what you’re doing and be ready for the unexpected, be ready to help other people.
James: [36:30] Very timely, unfortunately. Man, we’re excited we have a whole other day today, a lot of training going on. We had CareFlight show up ‑‑ not for anything bad ‑‑ to show off the helicopter. Then we’re going to get together tomorrow where everybody has a good time.
Jim: [36:48] For a really fun, family‑centered event, which should be great.
Brian: [36:52] A good experience.
James: [36:53] Brian, good luck for the rest of the….
Brian: [36:54] Thank you. I appreciate it.
James: [36:56] I almost said conference, but you know what I meant. It looks like a conference.
Jim: [36:59] It is almost like a conference. It does. Doesn’t it look like a conference?
Brian: [37:00] It’s like a EWN focused on EWN employees, self‑improvement continual.
James: [37:05] Continual, a whole conference. Stick around. All right, Brian.
Brian: [37:09] Tell Jeff I said that.
James: [37:09] We got it recorded, right?
Jim: [37:11] Oh, it’s going to be…
James: [37:12] All right, we’ll be back.
James: [37:15] Look at that smile.
Jim: [37:16] I’m the one that’s nervous.
Stephanie Hubbard: [37:17] You’re nervous?
Jim: [37:18] I’m always shy.
James: [37:19] The Stephanie Hubbard. Stephanie, how many jobs have you had at Energy World now? I feel like you’ve probably done a little bit of everything.
Stephanie: [37:27] I have done everything.
James: [37:28] Officially or unofficially.
Stephanie: [37:29] That is correct. I wore a lot of hats.
Jim: [37:33] OK. What’s been your favorite hat? What’s your passion?
Jim: [37:38] That’s vintage, I learned.
Stephanie: [37:39] I actually like accounting. I mean, account management. You get to deal with clients and talk to them on a…
James: [37:44] What a PC answer. It’s just the current world that I’m in right now. No, it’s great…
Stephanie: [37:49] It really is.
James: [37:50] It does. If you think back, your roles before you were account managing then too, I mean…
Stephanie: [37:56] I was, but I was…
James: [37:56] It’s kind of neat to be able to be more proactive with everything.
Stephanie: [37:59] It is. It is fun to actually get to know the clients and build that relationship with the clients. When you’re collecting money and sending them invoices, they’re usually not your best friend. [laughs]
Jim: [38:08] No, right? Let me ask you a question though. In your world, how do you build that relationship with that client? You know, over the phone or has Zoom. Now that we’ve been through this…Zoom has really accelerated so much.
James: [38:21] It’s been tougher.
Jim: [38:23] Has it been easier.
Stephanie: [38:24] It’s actually been pretty easy. You know, clients in the Southeast are…
James: [38:29] They got to do it too?
Stephanie: [38:33] very personable. Sometimes, I had clients that call in just to check on me if I haven’t talked to him, or just call me tell me how their doctor visit went.
James: [38:41] I’m driving and it’s Monday.
Jim: [38:43] That’s wonderful. That’s a great relationship. That is an ebb and flow with are our lifeblood, our clients out in the industry. That’s wonderful day.
[38:51] Steph, you’ve been here a long time, how many years now, collectively?
Stephanie: [38:55] Nine years.
James: [38:56] Nine years. That’s one of the long we are running ones. So you remember kind of, you know, not all the way back, but we’ve always been a close group that did things together. Then we made it more official, like team building and we made it company‑wide, but this isn’t new for us. Just naming it tailgate week, can bringing us all back is really nice though. Had a blast.
Stephanie: [39:21] It’s been fun, especially all being in the same room together, because we’ve heard so many different people that…
Jim: [39:29] How many people have you met for the first time yesterday?
Stephanie: [39:31] About four.
Jim: [39:32] OK, all right.
James: [39:33] That’s wild to even say that, right? The higher, four people, would be a nice thing to say, right? You think there’s just four people you haven’t met out of the 50 people we hired over the last couple of years.
Jim: [39:46] It’s incredible.
James: [39:47] Tailgate week’s been a blast, yesterday was fun. I think the emcees have been fun, and today we got a whole another day of training. Any of the training have been cool that you’ve got to sit in on?
Stephanie: [40:01] I really like the active shooter.
Jim: [40:04] That’s good. A lot of people love that…
Stephanie: [40:06] Really enjoyed it.
James: [40:07] Have you seen that one before? Because I haven’t seen that.
Stephanie: [40:09] I have not.
James: [40:10] Yeah, he’s awesome.
Stephanie: [40:12] Gary is…
James: [40:12] Former Lonestar‑…I’m sorry. Texas Ranger. Yeah, very cool. We have to Texas Rangers in the building yesterday. I didn’t even realize that.
Jim: [40:22] Did we have two? Who was the other one?
James: [40:22] [inaudible]. He said I gave Gary a hard time because there’s this unspoken rule that if you ever cross into another ranger’s territory, you’re supposed to let them know. And they didn’t know.
Jim: [40:37] Well, they were hugging and everything like they got some history.
James: [40:41] That’s good stuff, isn’t it? So lots of good training. Steph, thanks for what you do.
Stephanie: [40:45] Absolutely.
Jim: [40:45] Thank you.
James: [40:45] Thanks for being on with us, and enjoy the rest of it. We’ll be back.
Stephanie: [40:49] Have a great day.
James: [40:50] We’re live with Kim Harris. Kim, did you just hit five years?
Kim Harris: [40:54] I did. Five years.
Jim: [40:55] You got the horned toad?
Kim: [40:56] I did.
James: [40:57] For those of you that don’t know. We have a tradition here. We have this little…our founders, our owners, the Hornbeck’s, started this tradition. I think we’ve talked about it before on the show because I got one.
Jim: [41:10] I think we have. Yep. I haven’t gotten mine yet. I’m only four years.
James: [41:13] At the five‑year mark you get this little sterling silver horny toad, and you got yours yesterday.
Jim: [41:19] On stage. One on stage.
Kim: [41:21] It’s awesome. It’s at my house on my shelf so I can see it every day.
James: [41:28] It’s a thing, right?
Kim: [41:24] Yeah.
James: [41:24] That’s quite the accomplishment. You have been here, and you have experienced some of our team buildings in the past. It’s nothing new for us to get together, but with all these new faces it is a treat to be here.
Kim: [41:38] It is. It’s awesome because I’ve been here since the company five years ago. We’ve grown so much.
Jim: [41:43] How much do you think we’ve grown in the last five years?
Kim: [41:46] Double.
James: [41:47] More than double.
Jim: [41:48] More than double, yeah. 60 percent.
James: [41:51] More, probably. Anyway, who’s counting?
Jim: [41:53] Math.
Kim: [41:54] Yeah. It’s awesome to get everybody together.
James: [41:57] We grew up like that in here. I say within the company, we’ve had a pretty…we grew up in the same amount of time. I’m here a year more, so we started team building around that time. It feels good to be back for sure.
Jim: [42:14] It’s wonderful.
James: [42:15] And tying on all the training with it too. I don’t know if you got to catch a lot of sessions yesterday.
Kim: [42:20] I did.
Jim: [42:21] What was your favorite?
Kim: [42:22] The active shooter training.
[42:24] [crosstalk]
James: [42:24] Gary’s great.
Kim: [42:24] He was great.
James: [42:26] He’s so good. His stories are awesome. You hate the…here’s the deal. It’s one of those weird ones that you’re like, “That’s a great course.” The topic, the reason you have to do it, it sucks. He makes it where it’s very real, so relatable and interesting.
Kim: [42:43] He made it so interesting that I want to do it myself.
Jim: [42:47] Really? OK.
Kim: [42:48] Yeah.
Jim: [42:49] That’s a great thing. Did you expect that this week? To get this amount of training and sessions and interaction?
Kim: [42:54] No, I didn’t. It’s awesome.
Jim: [42:57] Would you do it over? Would you do this week over? If it was Monday, would you say, “I want to do it again.”
Kim: [43:02] Yeah, let’s do it.
Jim: [43:04] See, that’s a positive thing.
James: [43:05] Love it. Well, thank you for everything you do. You want to say hi to our clients? I know a lot of them know you and love you.
Kim: [43:12] Hey, everybody.
Jim: [43:13] Oh, I’m sorry.
Kim: [43:14] No, I’m good. Thank you.
James: [43:15] We got it. All of it. All right. Enjoy the rest of your week. Thanks for joining us. We’ll be back. Nathan.
Jim: [43:21] I’m excited about this. Through our…
James: [43:24] I thought this was second on a project I was past due on.
Jim: [43:27] We were tied at the hip electronically for like six months during the tracer pre‑launch. Nathan and I…
James: [43:35] If there’s anyone I can relate to it could be Nathan. Because I had to raise him the first year of pandemic. You had to raise him the last one.
Jim: [43:43] When Nathan sent me a slack message, I was like, “Oh, boy. Where we at now?” Nathan’s like, “Where’s this? Where’s this? Where’s this?” PMO extraordinaire.
[43:50] I tell you what, you held us together. You were the glue, and I appreciate you each and every day of that. So thank you for everything you do, and thank you for joining us. Thank you for being brave being on.
James: [44:01] Nathan has been a long‑time listener. I think he was our first fan ever.
Jim: [44:05] Was he the first one to hit the like button?
James: [44:07] He was the first one to admit it.
Jim: [44:08] Yeah, a lot of people do that anonymously.
James: [44:11] They’re like, “Yeah, we watch.”
Nathan Henson: [44:13] I thought it was a race. I was racing myself.
James: [44:15] Top fan. Top fan. Nathan’s always following us around. It’s a good way to learn about the industry. That’s something you told us. If you don’t get to go out to shows and you can listen and somebody can tell you what’s in their heart. Man, I’m listening.
Nathan: [44:29] What they do is some best practices, some safety topics, and they…
James: [44:33] Very similar to what we’re doing here this week at tailgate week. We’re bringing in…There’s definitely a common threat of safety. That was intentional. We’re a safety company.
Nathan: [44:41] Yep.
James: [44:41] Our vision is to make the world a safer place to work. A lot of cool training. Any cool training stick out for you? If you say active shooter…
Jim: [44:51] You’re going to be number nine in a row.
Nathan: [44:53] It was good. It was really good. For me, coming from my background in software and project management, it actually was learning more from some of the [inaudible] that came in and talked about some of the equipment and some of the things that…
Jim: [45:08] Oh, you like that.
James: [45:09] I think we need more of that out in the industry. Literally, back a truck up and start pulling tools out. What does this do? Where does this plug in?
Jim: [45:19] Did we do a fusion yesterday or is that today?
James: [45:19] It’s today.
Jim: [45:19] That’s today? That’ll be good. We got to get that…
James: [45:21] I got to do that last time.
Jim: [45:23] Did you?
James: [45:23] Yeah, I had the whole pipe and stuff. I’m basically a pro. Nathan, you’ve also seen the coolest byproduct of getting together and that’s just the energy here. You see people talking and things going on. Their minds are churning. What’s it been like for you to get together with folks that maybe you hadn’t got to spend a lot of time with?
Nathan: [45:46] I’m fortunate enough and blessed enough to get to interact with all the different teams at EWN. There are not a lot of new faces for me, but there are a lot of new conversations, a lot of development that has happened.
[46:01] We’ve gotten deeper into some of the conversation that we’ve only been able to touch on the surface as we’ve been remote in different areas.
Jim: [46:08] Why has that happened, because you’re face‑to‑face?
Nathan: [46:10] That’s right.
Jim: [46:10] It’s amazing.
James: [46:11] The walls are coming down. We needed the first day. We needed the first day. We needed to laugh. I joked about it, but Quinton and Shannon have done an awesome job keeping it light. Man, when they came on imitating us yesterday…
Jim: [46:23] Wonderful. It was hilarious.
James: [46:24] I missed the one this morning. I hated that I did. I hope we have it recorded. They brought life to it, made us laugh, make fun of ourselves a little bit, and bring some of those walls down has been nice.
Jim: [46:35] It’s been wonderful. We have been asking everybody a very important question. They want to see where you answer. What is your favorite department within EWN?
Jim: [46:48] Take your time.
Nathan: [46:48] I would have to say Tracer.
James: [46:51] Is that a department, even now?
Nathan: [46:56] Tracer wouldn’t be where it is without Brian Dresel.
Jim: [46:58] Tracer is a division.
James: [47:02] I like it. We can both win with a brand sidecar.
Jim: [47:07] What do we always do. We always come up with win‑win situations. Why? It’s one of our habits that we like to do. You see what I did there? I brought it all together.
James: [47:16] You’re getting there.
James: [47:17] Nathan, good to see you, brother. We’ll see you around. Have a good rest of it.
Jim: [47:23] Cut me off.
Nathan: [47:24] Appreciate it.
Jim: [47:22] Aaron, thanks for joining us.
James: [47:24] Coming in hot.
Jim: [47:24] How are you doing today?
Aaron Bowers: [47:25] I’m doing great.
Jim: [47:27] Tailgate week. Your expectations when you came into tailgate week. Have they lived up to your expectations?
James: [47:33] being a remote person, too.
Jim: [47:36] We’re both remote, Colorado, Florida. What do you think?
Aaron: [47:40] It’s been great. I love seeing all the faces. I love all the information and all the camaraderie, all the exchange of information. It’s great.
James: [47:49] Sitting down at a table, and there’s three other departments sitting there. They’re talking about, not even a problem, just talking, an opportunity, a new idea or whatever, about a class that they were in. Have you got to check out any of the classes?
Aaron: [48:04] I got to check out a couple. One of the ones was the Drunken Goggles.
Jim: [48:10] The Google Goggles.
Aaron: [48:12] I liked that one.
Jim: [48:13] Did you? How did you do? Did you pass? OK.
James: [48:16] Well, that’s a good try.
Aaron: [48:17] I tried, tried an effort.
James: [48:18] I said if I put the beer goggles on…
James: [48:21] and they throw me a bomb, I’ll nail it and catch it. What does that say about me?
Jim: [48:25] Allegedly, nothing at this point, allegedly.
James: [48:29] There’s a lot of good content here. We’re loving it, and like you said, being around each other. You and I, we’ve seen how powerful it is to get together. We spend a lot of time team building over the years from pumpkin carving to Christmas parties, and the weeks we would be in, and the value in getting to be in‑person.
[48:50] Some of these new folks haven’t had that opportunity. It’s neat to see them getting that value too.
Aaron: [48:56] What I have seen is a lot of them have flipped their mentality. Some of them had that little hesitation like, “No, you know, this is training.” Then, when they come in they’re like, “The energy here is awesome.”
Jim: [49:09] Grabs them…
James: [49:10] I wanted to get out this morning. I woke up earlier because I was excited to get up and get started.
Jim: [49:16] Start cooking.
James: [49:17] Well, that too.
Jim: [49:18] 6:00 AM.
James: [49:19] I was pumped to get in here and see our people.
Jim: [49:21] I was too. That’s what makes it for me is the interaction and same with you.
Aaron: [49:25] I love it.
Jim: [49:26] We see each other so often on a Zoom call or something like that.
Jim: [49:29] but when we are face‑to‑face, there is no substitution.
James: [49:33] There’s nothing like it. Go head, no, no.
Aaron: [49:35] I was going to say I’m one of those rare engineers that I’m one of the extroverts.
Jim: [49:41] He is.
Aaron: [49:43] Most, my team, I’m starting to convert some of them.
James: [49:46] Oh, hail. For real.
Aaron: [49:47] One of them is Josh Owings. He’s one of those ones that’s been traditionally his whole career. Since I’ve known him, he’s a super introvert. When I meet him, he had cue balls up.
Aaron: [50:01] I tore those walls down at that company.
Jim: [50:03] Did you?
Aaron: [50:03] Every single, I went into a room, there was probably a 25‑by‑20‑foot room. There were five desks in there, but it was a maze of cubes. Nobody talked.
James: [50:14] Literally, walls of…
Aaron: [50:16] They went into their hole, and they like…And so, I went to my boss, and he was an extrovert, but he was nontechnical. I was like, “Hey, I got this radical idea.” He said, “What is it.” I told him, and he was like, “Yeah, let’s bring it up in the meeting.”
James: [50:28] Let’s not.
Aaron: [50:28] Everybody in that room, including Josh, their eyes went huge, like what.
Jim: [50:34] They were panel.
Aaron: [50:35] Oh, yeah. It’s like you’re taking down my security blanket.
Jim: [50:38] What happened?
Aaron: [50:39] We did it.
James: [50:40] They tore down the walls.
Aaron: [50:41] They opened up. They talked more. They started laughing more. Most of them were walking around just like…
Jim: [50:47] Well, let me ask you a question. How long did it take? You tear down the walls, people come in, and they’re in a new environment. They’re at their same desk, but a new environment. How long did it take for that interaction to come about?
James: [50:59] It’s so long.
Aaron: [51:00] You and I haven’t had this opportunity yet, but we’re going to have this opportunity, but James and I have. James knows how I am. I’m one of those guys that jumps in and do it. I’m like, “OK, as soon as I get the green light, I’m going to go do it.” Literally, that next day.
Jim: [51:14] You tore down the walls?
Aaron: [51:15] I went in there and started tearing down the walls. They were like, “What are you doing? What are you doing? I was like, “We agreed to it.”
Aaron: [51:20] We all said we’re going to do it, so I’m going to do it. Like I said, they all adopted it. Over the years, I worked with Josh a lot because I saw something in him that I was like…
James: [51:29] We’re going to have to get Josh.
Jim: [51:31] Oh, yeah.
James: [51:31] I’m going to go tell Josh that’s part of your…
Aaron: [51:33] I’m going to get him to come and do it…
James: [51:36] [laughs] I love Josh. I’ve spent a lot of time with him. We’ve grown up in the company together as a part of that group that was here when I got here. We trust each other. We’ve gained a lot of trust. We’ve worked together a lot. It’s good to see him in the bigger group, right?
Aaron: [51:53] Oh, yeah.
James: [51:54] So cool, so cool. Aaron, thanks for joining us.
Jim: [51:57] Thank you, brother.
James: [51:58] Always good to see you.
Jim: [52:00] Always brother.
Aaron: [51:58] Good to see you.
James: [52:00] Have a good rest of the week. We will be back.
Transcription by WatchingWords