Thursday, September 16- What one word would Ted Peet choose to describe his Connections for Life partners? Stay tuned this week to find out.
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Episode Transcript
[0:00] [music]
Jim Schauer: [0:24] Welcome to this week’s episode of “Coffee with Jim & James,” and special guest, Ted, who James will bring in a little bit. Normally, James, you know me, I start with a wacky story.
[0:35] I was trying to think of something like “From the Halls of Montezuma to the Shores of Tripoli,” the time that Ted and I were arm‑in‑arm going out of whatever the boat is, where the thing goes out of the front, and running to the shore, but I never served. I never served. Ted has. If I did any of that it would be a disservice to us all, and especially to Ted.
[0:57] Honestly, James, I think we should bring Ted in and start to hear some of his stories because I think Ted will absolutely surprise our audience with the depth and the breadth, and the things that he does, not just for Faith Family Industry, but also community. I’m excited to hear some of those things, so James, I’m going to pop it over to you, brother, for intro.
James Cross: [1:19] Ted’s one of those people that I’ve got to know quite well over the past year, and I’ve never met.
Jim: [1:26] Neither have I.
James: [1:27] He falls in that category. This year, we’re going to fix that problem, right Ted? That’s one of our goals. We’re going to host a game show together, so I pray that we get to do it in person, but Ted, welcome to the show, man.
Ted Peet: [1:44] Hi guys. Thanks for having me on here. I’m blushing a little bit from that glowing introduction from my friend, Jim. James, you’ve got to step your game up if you’re gonna…you know.
James: [1:54] I just thought it was the box fan.
Ted: [1:56] Gotcha.
James: [1:57] I thought it was the A/C situation.
Ted: [1:59] I’m blushing from, uh…
James: [1:59] For those who don’t know, if Ted starts sweating through his shirt later, it’s not from a pressing question. There’s a little bit of an A/C issue up there in upstate…
Ted: [2:11] Upstate, yeah.
Jim: [2:12] Are we going to confirm or deny that when we got on the Zoom, Ted might have been in his skivvies at first, and then put some clothes on? Let’s just leave that for the audience to…
Ted: [2:20] Let them imagine, let them imagine.
James: [2:22] The pre‑show. The pre‑show is always in the green room.
Ted: [2:26] The green room. [laughs]
James: [2:27] Ted, welcome.
Jim: [2:29] Yeah.
Ted: [2:29] Thanks, nice. Thank you, guys, for having me on. I really feel special, especially after that intro. Now I’ve got to live up to it.
Jim: [2:35] Aw, come on. You are who you are, right?
Ted: [2:38] Yes, yes.
[2:40] Jimmy: Teddy, Teddy, Teddy friend of the show, guest to the show, co‑host on “Connections for Life,” some people say you’re a sales extraordinaire. Now, Joe and Ted or Joe and Chad will contradict that. James, am I right?
James: [2:56] I don’t know. Somebody called him a hero…
Ted: [2:58] Oh boy.
James: [3:00] when we asked him for one word. We’ll get to that later. We’ll get to it later.
Ted: [3:03] Really? I’m intrigued to see who said that. Look, I got to pay him their money.
[3:08] Jimmy: It was James. Just…
Ted: [3:12] Thank you. I’m still flattered.
[3:13] Jimmy: Ted, let’s bring this into our world because we’ve been talking so much off the air and beforehand and with Joe and Chad about everything that we’re doing on…You all are doing Connections for Life, we’re doing on “Coffee with Jim & James.”
[3:31] You folks have had CEOs, presidents, regulators on the show and honestly industry icons, and both of our shows has. We’ve been blessed beyond what we deserve to have that ability.
[3:43] Why don’t you give us a little insight? We gave a little teaser at the beginning, but a little bit of insight into you and to your journey into the industry and just build on that and tell us what’s most important to you, and what makes Ted click? How does that sound?
Ted: [4:03] It sounds like a wordy question that I might be able to answer.
[4:07] Jimmy: That’s a seven‑part question. Start with subpart A.
Ted: [4:11] Subpart A? We’re going to do a docuseries on this. This is like a three‑part episode?
James: [4:15] Yeah.
Ted: [4:17] Honestly, I got into the industry like most people by pure accident, but prior to that, I’ve had a very unique…Honestly, I can say, I’ve been very blessed in my life to have three distinct different careers.
[4:33] Immediately out of high school, 9/11 happened a month after I graduated. I had a recruiter who was [laughs] pretty hot and heavy about trying to get me in the Marine Corps and I had told him to politely leave me alone several times.
[4:49] I was going to play college basketball that’s what I was going to go do. Then 9/11 happened and there’s a long story that led up to why I wasn’t enrolled freshman semester, but that’s for the couple cocktails in a different time.
[5:01] Joe Buzzanco I still thank you to this day Mr. Buzzanco. 9/11 happened and I went to the recruiter’s office and I made the decision. I said, “I’m going. I want to go now. Get me out of here as fast as you can.”
[5:16] I enlisted in the Corp right after 9/11. I spent five years in the United States Marine Corps building some of the best bonds a man could ever build in his life. To this day my son is named after a marine I served with, and two marines are my children’s godfathers. I have some of the best relationships I’ve ever could have dreamed for, family.
[5:41] On top of that, I learned a certain set of skills that didn’t translate real well to a civilian life, but I also learned a bunch of discipline, and leadership, and structure that has carried me throughout my life since I got out of the marines ’06.
[5:57] I served from ’01 to ’06. When I got out, my father was actually a business agent for a local trade union, the carpenters union. I said, “You know dad, I think construction is a good transition from the military, brotherhood, union, da‑da‑da‑da.” He goes, “Yeah, well, I don’t…You’re not going to be a carpenter. Why don’t you think of something else?”
[6:19] I ended up, I applied and I joined the IBEW 139, the local electricians’ union and I spent 10 years. I went to school for five years, five‑year apprenticeship. I was blessed to be receiving a GI Bill throughout there, and I loved it.
[6:38] However, I had a bad knee that I kept blowing out doing construction work. End of 2014, beginning 2015 I said, “I’m going to go back to school and become a project manager.” I said, “I got to recover from this knee surgery, I’ll take some classes and do it.”
[6:55] Well, I took a couple of business courses, it was like pre reqs for the project management course, and I fell in love with business, man. I fell in love with the industry. I switched my major to business management.
[7:10] While I was doing that, I took a part‑time sales gig with the company my wife was working for, honestly. My wife was a sales manager for a company called Vasco and they sold janitorial supplies. After a dinner, one night with the owners they said, “Well, you don’t know how to shut up. I think you got the gift of gab. If you ever want to try your hand in sales, give us a call.”
[7:33] While I was going to school, I took a commission‑only sales job, hawking janitorial supplies, and while I got my associates degree in business management I worked there for a while. Then, you know how the industry is in sales and business. One of my customers became my next employer.
[7:51] They were a manufacturing company called Reynolds Manufacturing, and they brought me in. The GM said one day, “First, how did you get past my gatekeeper and why am I spending five grand a month on toilet paper and paper towels?”
[8:05] He offered me a job, I worked there for a year and a half as an account manager, and then I got hired away by a competitor called Cameron Manufacturing and Design to be the national account executive for them.
[8:20] I spent another year and a half, two years there, and that’s when via LinkedIn, a nice plug for LinkedIn, I got an offer from…I got an inbox from the HR manager of UPS Go and she asked me if I ever wanted to have a confidential conversation.
[8:37] After the series of interviews and whatnot, I was selected as the candidate to take over as the regional sales manager for Upstate New York for UPS Go, and I’ve been here three years. It’ll be three years on September 1st.
James: [8:50] At what part in the interview did they ask you about your podcasting skills.
Jim: [8:58] Yeah.
Ted: [9:00] Strangely enough, it didn’t come up. I don’t know why. I’m surprised, but it didn’t make it in the interview.
James: [9:07] Maybe they were just thinking more project management out of you, on that side when it came to the podcast.
Ted: [9:13] I don’t think anyone was thinking…Three years ago, I don’t think anyone in our industry, except for maybe the “Pipeliners Podcast,” was thinking about a podcast. Especially not with our organizations anyway, I’ll say.
James: [9:28] No. Shout out to Russel Treat over there.
Ted: [9:34] Did I answer all of them?
James: [9:35] Yeah, I think so.
Jim: [9:36] I think you’re good.
James: [9:37] You’re out of compliance on a couple, but we’ll circle back. Ted, you probably feel the same way sometimes, especially being around people that have been in this industry for like 70,000 years.
Ted: [9:50] Yeah, like Jim.
James: [9:52] Yeah. I get on a call with some people, and they’re talking about 20 years here, whatever. I feel like the third wheel with our group, you can feel like the fifth wheel.
[10:07] Ted, our shows and this pandemic and all these things have helped, I know for me, forge relationships that, honestly, I’ve never would have got a shot at. As somebody being newer to the industry, I struggled in that part a little bit because it is daunting when you look across the room and there’s 10, 20, 30, 40 years of experience.
[10:31] Has relationships been an awesome by‑product for you guys in the show.
Ted: [10:38] It really has. Yes. I have to say first, I agree completely being the newbie in the room, so to speak 99 percent of the time, is often an uncomfortable space for me, because I am kind of an outgoing guy and I often tend to overtalk because I want to be involved in the conversation. I don’t want to sit on the fringe. I want to be like, “Hey guys. Can I be your friend?” [laughs]
[11:05] Having the relationships, connections, this show has brought us to a level that I know at least a year ago I never thought possible. I believed it’d be possible in the future, but not at the warp speed like our shows that have taken us there.
[11:24] It’s like a hyperdrive of, “Hey, you’re walking…” I’ve had the privilege of going to a couple shows. I know I talked about it on connections, but people are like, “Hey, you got that show? You’re one of the guys from that show.” I’m like, “You watch the show, really?” They’re like, “Yeah, you’re the one who doesn’t do a lot.” I’m like, “Yeah, that’s me. I’m that guy.”
[11:49] The depth and breadth of the relationships, though. Like you said, the three of us have never met in person, and that’s insane to think about because it’s going to be a big hug, and some good times. Ours is a little unique because we’re sharing some of these same experiences together, and what not. Like keeping something going, and finding the value where it wasn’t found.
[12:15] The other thing that I found out at a couple of recent shows is, imitation is the greatest form of flattery. There’s a couple more of these podcasts on the horizon I care about, and I’m going, “Hey.” We always joke. I reference this, we joke, “Who got the first episode out, us or you?” “I think we beat you by a week,” and like, “No, we beat you by a week.”
James: [12:35] We didn’t hear that one,” like that.
Ted: [12:37] Yeah. [laughs]
James: [12:38] It’s funny. You mentioned Russell Treat earlier. Really, those are the pioneers that were doing it. We were lucky enough to had sponsored one of the Pipeliners Podcast series, and leading up, the year before, right Jim? Before the pandemic, or leading up to it? One or the other.
Jim: [12:57] Leading up to it, yeah.
[12:57] It was really eye‑opening of how much work and how much time he put into it. He’s such a pro. When he gets on, his voice and everything. You’re at home. Watching that, I feel like we’ve imitated in the same way, so to see it cascading, that is a really cool byproduct.
Ted: [13:17] It definitely is.
James: [13:18] Ted, on the same note, what’s some of the big takeaways for you? I know we know the importance of relationships, we talk about that, but you? What did Ted Peet learn in this year during the show?
Ted: [13:33] Wow, that’s a great question. I don’t know if I could pin it down to one single thing, because I’ve learned that you don’t have…I guess a phrase that I’m been utilizing is, you don’t have to be present to be present anymore.
[13:52] That’s what I’ve learned, is that no longer do you have to have a physical presence with someone to be present in their life, to be on the tip of their tongue in conversation or to be still that go‑to resource.
[14:06] Before it was always, “Hey, my guy can be here in a day,” or, “We can get this to you then.” The biggest thing I’ve learned is stay present. No matter what, even when it’s hard, when you’re traveling, and the world’s back open temporarily and you’re trying to get somewhere to get something done, this is important. You’ve got to be present at it.
[14:28] Joe and Chad, I can’t wait to watch their interviews because they’re going to totally light me up. They do so much more on the show than I do. I just show up because I’m ripping and running. I’m trying my best, but they balance it so much better than I do.
[14:44] Go ahead, Jim.
Jim: [14:44] No, go ahead. Keep going, brother. Keep going.
Ted: [14:47] That’s what it is. You don’t have to actually have a physical presence in life anymore to be a part of somebody’s life. That’s the greatest thing I’ve learned.
Jim: [14:58] This medium has helped, though.
Ted: [15:00] It has.
[15:01] [crosstalk]
Jim: [15:01] helped build relationships. Although, a year and a half ago, this was foreign, Ted. When James said we’re going to do a podcast, I’m like, “On what? On camera?” I’m like, “No way.” You watch the first episode of us, I’m like, “Welcome to…
Ted: [15:18] Same with us.
Jim: [15:19] the show.”
Ted: [15:21] The other thing I’ll say is that it’s brought a sense of humanization. I don’t know if that’s a word. I’ll make it up if it’s not. It showed that everybody is just human. We all have the same stuff going on in our lives.
[15:42] I had to partake in Zooms prior to COVID and whatnot. If my door would’ve popped open and my kid walked in, it would’ve been a fireable offense. It would’ve been so lack of preparation and lack of professionalism that it was catastrophic to you. Now I got basketball shorts on.
James: [16:06] All right. [laughs]
Ted: [16:07] You do, too. “You got to take your kid to school now?” “Yeah, I know. I got to be there to pick him up at 7:15.”
Jim: [16:15] We’re comfortable talking about that. Two things, one, we’re fine with saying I got to run to the store because we’re out of whatever.
Ted: [16:22] Whatever.
Jim: [16:23] Side note, though. James had a little guest. We did a recording…
James: [16:27] Earlier. Funny enough, what are we, this would probably be 75 episodes in, somewhere…
[16:31] [crosstalk]
James: [16:32] today, right now is. All these episodes in all this time and my daughter has never made it onto a show. She’ll barge into every meeting, say hi to everybody. It never happened until this morning when we were recording Joe.
Ted: [16:47] [laughs]
James: [16:49] She just bailed in, popped in. I was like, “Look at that.” You’re right. A year ago, we would’ve been freaking out about that.
Ted: [16:57] Can we do that? Can we start over.
James: [16:58] Ooh, re‑record?
Ted: [17:00] Yeah.
James: [17:01] That’s the funniest one, for sure. We talk about those kind of moments all the time, where we have guests on that are like, “I need to cough,” or, “I need a drink.”
Jim: [17:10] Can we pause it? Can we take a break?”
James: [17:12] Like, “It’s OK, man. We’re not editing. We’re putting it out in the…
[17:17] [crosstalk]
Ted: [17:17] I need a bio break. That used to be a term. Who needs a bio break?
James: [17:21] People just fall off.
Ted: [17:22] Just turn your camera off and get up and move. That’s what people do.
Jim: [17:26] An example of that, Ted, is you, though, on “Connections for Life.” We watch it. The lollygaggers, Joe and Chad, they’re always in their office in the home.
Ted: [17:36] [laughs]
Jim: [17:37] Chad’s yelling for Lindsay, and Joe’s yelling for Sarah, “Bring us coffee.” Then, all of a sudden, Ted pops on. Ted’s in a truck, most of the time not driving, most of the time pulled over…
Ted: [17:50] Most of the time.
Jim: [17:51] on the side of the road, safe, but doing it from the road. You have been going, brother. How’s that been? How’s it been juggling doing “Connections for Life,” getting back on the road, managing all that?
Ted: [18:02] Wow.
Jim: [18:03] That was really two questions.
James: [18:04] Really, Ted…
Ted: [18:05] First, let me compliment you on your transition.
James: [18:06] [laughs]
Ted: [18:06] That was a smooth one. Very good job, my friend.
James: [18:09] We’ve been working on that. We’ve been workshopping transitions.
Ted: [18:13] That’s a part of this thing that you didn’t know how to do at first, and now…
James: [18:17] Doesn’t it ruin everything, Ted, now, when you watch interviews or you watch people and you’re like, “Man, that was a really terrible transition”?
Ted: [18:24] It does, 100 percent. When you’re watching something else and you’re like, “You could’ve led in so well with that question at that moment.”
James: [18:30] Dropped that moment. I know that wasn’t the real question.
Ted: [18:34] [laughs] Great job…
[18:35] [crosstalk]
Jim: [18:35] How are we going to juggle it, Ted? How are you juggling? We’re on the on‑ramp to try to get back into the industry. We’re just kicking off, but you’ve been out in the field doing things. What’s it like?
Ted: [18:48] I gotta say that it all started, because I couldn’t take it anymore. Honest to God, I said in December, I had about had my wits end. We started the show, because we knew we had to stay relevant. We knew we had to stay in front of our customers, we knew we had to do this stuff, and we didn’t know how we’re going to do it. We decided to do it this way.
[19:09] That was great for the time being, but it’s also extremely hard for guys like Joe, Chad, and myself to literally be cooped into your office every day. I travel three days a week, normally. Yes, because it’s my job, but that’s also what I love to do in certain regards.
[19:26] I love to be busy. I can’t sit. Even in construction, when I did that for 10 years, construction is the only job in the world where you work yourself out of a job, every single project. That way, I’m only going to location for three to six months.
[19:43] Then I get to go somewhere new. I get to go to a different job site, a different drive to work, a different thing like that. That’s what the best part of my job is and I didn’t get to do it for nine months.
[19:55] As the end of 2020 happen, I just said in my head, I said, “Listen, I’m going to pretend that the world’s open and I’m going to start calling customers and make an appointment. If they’ll see me, I’ll go there. If not, I’ll find somewhere that will.”
[20:09] It was slow going at first, but as you mentioned, I feel pretty much every episode, as of late, in the last three months, I’ve been on the road or…
Jim: [20:17] Seems like that.
Ted: [20:17] every pre‑call or everything else. Initially, it wasn’t that bad because, again, my colleagues, who are fantastic and I have to sing their praises, picked up all of the slack that I left out there. There was a lot of slack.
[20:30] I say it jokingly most of the time, but I have to give Joe and Chad Cuvo, as my brethren on this thing, that they do 99.9 percent of the work for every show lead up. I show up and insert myself in because I was, I think, here when it started. [laughs]
[20:49] It’s gotten more difficult, but, as with anything in life, you figure it out. You figure out how to do it. If you think back to everything you’ve ever gone through in your life where you were like, “Golly, I can’t take anymore,” you’re undefeated in those moments. You’ve literally made it through every one of those moments in your life.
[21:09] If you keep that mentality and continue to keep rolling with it, like, “Listen, there’s a lot more work. There’s a lot more stress, but guess what? I’m undefeated in those situations. I’m going to get a way through it. I’m going to make it to the other side.”
James: [21:22] This is the basketball coach coming out in him. Can you feel that?
Ted: [21:26] [laughs]
Jim: [21:26] Without a doubt.
James: [21:27] This is the halftime speech. It’s his halftime speech…
[21:31] [crosstalk]
Ted: [21:31] That’s probably part of it.
Jim: [21:33] We’re going to win in state. Come on.
James: [21:32] For sure.
Ted: [21:33] We win nationals. That what we want to win…
James: [21:36] There you go.
Ted: [21:37] nationals.
James: [21:39] Ted, we all have our value to bring. When you look at the show and what it’s accomplished, we joke you’re the guy that gets to play the role. The character you play is that you don’t do anything on the show. That’s the jokes that are made.
[21:57] What do you feel like you brought to the table as far as the show goes? If it’ll help, we’ll let Jim go first. [laughs]
Jim: [22:02] Ooh, put me on the spot. [laughs]
James: [22:05] Buy you some time if you need it.
Jim: [22:07] What do I bring? First of all…
James: [22:09] What does Jim bring to the show?
Jim: [22:11] Ted and I are alike because 99.9 percent of the work, James is the mastermind behind it. What do I bring to the show? I bring levity. I bring some funniness.
Ted: [22:21] Great word.
Jim: [22:23] I bring a lot of normality where people can be like, “I just need to escape for 30 minutes, and here Jim, just like he’s at a trade show, talking about some darn subject about whatever.” It’s a release for me. If people can relax for 20 minutes, I’ve done my job.
James: [22:41] There’s a subpart with Jim, too, that I don’t think he gives himself enough credit for. That’s the amount of knowledge he has in the spectrum of it. It’s a wide scope. I’m trying to get him to lean into that more.
[22:58] We got to remember that, like me and you, Ted, not all of us have been in this industry for 20 years.
[23:05] Sometimes we use terms even that maybe we don’t know fully what the definition is. Jim brings it in a way that you see the full picture, but it is a flyover. That’s one of your super talents, too, Jim, your superpowers.
[23:23] [crosstalk]
Jim: [23:23] I appreciate it.
James: [23:24] Ted, this is about you, man, not…
[23:26] [crosstalk]
Ted: [23:26] About me, what do I bring to the show? In certain regards I joke about it, but one of my jobs is to keep Joe and Chad on task.
[23:40] For example, in here, you guys communicate in the chat box the way we do. We often tell our guests, “Hey, you have to ignore the chat box. That’s us cussing each other out in there, and it’s me saying shut up and move on to the next question. Hey, we’ve got to transition here or something like that.”
[23:58] As the show has gone on and gone on, that role is less needed because the guys can realize it, and we’ve grown. We’ve got better at it.
[24:08] Truthfully speaking, the other thing I’ll bring to it is that newbie mentality. Oftentimes, like you said, we’ll have a guy like Chip McElroy on the show or someone from a completely different industry. That’s where I’ll shine.
[24:28] When we had the lobbyist’s lobbyist in there, I can speak to her, Liz Bowman. When we’ve had Jim Cantrell on there, who’s got a wealth of gas knowledge that’s far reaching beyond mine, I can be the guy who asks the dumb question, so to speak.
[24:44] I’m not afraid to ask. That was the other thing. “Can you explain that for me because I’ve been doing this for 36 months?”
James: [24:52] He uses a lot of acronyms. “Can you slow down a minute?” I don’t have a problem at all pausing the whole thing and going, “Hey, guys…
Ted: [25:00] Make this about me for a minute.
James: [25:01] I have no clue what you’re talking about.”
Ted: [25:01] I’m the guy watching the show who wants to learn.
James: [25:04] For sure. That’s a good viewpoint. A lot of people don’t see it as the lens. That’s all we’re trying to provide. Jim has a different lens than I do. Ted, you have a different one than us. It’s really cool. That diversity of our backgrounds is what makes our show so cool.
Ted: [25:18] That’s 100 percent true. I can’t stress that enough. Honestly, it wouldn’t work if it was just three Joes or three Chads or three Teds.
James: [25:30] The show would be seven hours long if it was three Joes.
Jim: [25:33] Oh gosh. That wouldn’t end.
[25:36] [crosstalk]
Ted: [25:36] The show wouldn’t exist because they would fight with each other.
James: [25:39] They would never get it. I’m sorry.
Jim: [25:40] [laughs]
Ted: [25:40] They would never get along.
James: [25:41] What are we talking about here? Are we trashing the other guys? That’s for later. That’s for fun.
Ted: [25:45] That’s for later.
Jim: [25:48] Ted, building off that, do me a favor. Describe yourself in one word and why do you choose that word.
Ted: [25:59] Golly, that’s a great question. It’s a tough question.
James: [26:00] It has to be a clean word. Keep it clean.
Jim: [26:03] It’s got to be G‑rated.
Ted: [26:06] I don’t want this to sound, I guess, cocky. Cocky I don’t mind, but condescending I don’t want it to sound like, but a leader. Leader is a word that I would use to describe myself only because I hid away from describing myself as that for so long.
[26:29] As I’ve got older, I’ve realized I’m not always the best leader, but I’m always willing to lead. I’m always willing to take the chance. If somebody needs to step up, if you need some direction, it may not be right, but I’ll be willing to be the tip of the spear for something.
[26:46] That goes back to, whether it be athletics or military or construction, running work, and that kind of stuff, my life, I want to ascend. I always want to get to that next level, whatever that next level is.
[27:05] It’s that Gary V. mentality of I’ll never stop. I want to use 20 hours out of every day. I really only sleep four, so why am I wasting the rest?
[27:18] I can coach four hours of basketball in a day. I worked 12 hours because my day starts at 5:00. I can do the UPSCO stuff ’til 5:00. After 5:00, I still got time to go coach my kid’s team or volunteer at my church or whatever’s available.
Jim: [27:40] Let’s do something fun. One word to describe Joe and one word to describe Chad. Keep them G‑rated.
Ted: [27:46] Yeah, I got you. My word to describe Chad is genuine. Chad was hands down one of the guys who really opened the door, open arm welcomed me to UPSCO and to the sales team.
[28:10] When I was going through the initial struggles that any new hire goes through, and anyone who’s trying to learn something while still being…You know how sales is, man. “You’re not held accountable to any numbers this first year, but…” Yeah, right.
James: [28:25] We’re going to hold you accountable twice next year.
Ted: [28:28] Yeah.
Jim: [28:29] Yeah.
Ted: [28:29] Chad was so genuine, and initially you’re wary of that kind of stuff, but he just truly, truly is one of the most genuine people I’ve ever met. He’ll tell you whether you’re messed up, or that you’re doing the best thing in the world, just stay the course because it’ll be worth it in the end.
[28:53] It was so awesome to get to become his friend, and to have a work colleague become so close to someone in my life. I call Chad for parenting advice, because his kids are…he’s got a son older than my son, and it’s really, really special to have that relationship.
James: [29:11] Ted, we said one word.
Ted: [29:15] Yeah, my bad.
James: [29:17] I’m kidding.
Ted: [29:18] [inaudible]. I told you, I’m a talker. I’m a talker. As far as one word for Joe, golly, that’s tough. That’s really tough, because Joe is tough to describe in one word.
Jim: [29:36] Yeah, he is.
Ted: [29:38] He’s real, but it’s not a negative. It’s such a positive that it’s hard to find a word that accurately describes him. If I have to pick one though, it’s going to be “real.” Joe is Joe Surratt no matter what.
[29:58] Joe Surratt is wearing flip‑flops and a pair of jeans at the trade show where everybody’s in their khakis, they are dressed shoes and they are button‑down and he’s the most knowledgeable guy in the room.
[30:09] He’ll do that because he’s going to be as real with you as he expects you to be with him. It’s this phrase that I use all the time that is, “Joe is disarmingly honest.”
Jim: [30:23] Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Ted: [30:24] Disarmingly honest, because no matter what, your guard’s going to go down around him because he has nothing to hide, nothing to go through. He is the 100 percent, “Here’s me and all of my flaws and this is why it’s going to work.”
James: [30:41] Love it.
Jim: [30:42] That’s good. That’s good. Ted, I hate to do this, but we got to unfortunately wrap this down. I could go on for another hour [inaudible].
Ted: [30:52] I’m just here to fix my AC right now so I can stop sweating.
James: [30:58] The good news and the bad news Ted is, your connection is went to crap.
Jim: [31:03] At the end of the…
James: [31:03] It couldn’t have come at a better time.
Ted: [31:07] Perfect.
James: [31:08] See perfect timing, perfect vision.
Jim: [31:10] Ted, thank you for joining us today. We really appreciate Ted…
Ted: [31:13] Now it just came up. Your Internet connection is unstable.
Jim: [31:15] There we go.
James: [31:15] It’s unstable as your life.
Jim: [31:16] At people who are on the LinkedIn platform as well as the other platforms, check out Ted, connect with him, he’s a great guy, as you can tell, loves to chat. If you want to spend eight hours talking about something, Ted is the guy. Thank you Ted. Thank you James. Until next week on “Coffee with Jim & James.”
Ted: [31:36] Thank you guys for having me on here.
Jim: [31:36] Absolutely. Stay safe Ted. All the audience, stay safe. We’ll see you next time. Have a great day everybody.
James: [31:42] Bye‑bye everybody.
[31:44] [music]