This is Rodney. Welcome back to zebra

skates podcast. I have Daniel here. He's our operational

manager. A little while ago, we had Paula, our general manager

on. He's directly under Paula, and it's extremely critical to

have an operational manager number one. And been through a

few, had some great ones that moved on to some bigger

industries, and we had some that it was just a lot, is a lot, a

lot to handle. So you come on board for a little bit now, for

quite a while, and it has been a huge relief for us. And be

honest with you, it's a big role to play if you don't have the

experience, sure, but Paula says your theme song. You make it

look easy, so you do amazing job at it. And I couldn't be more

happy to have you on our team. That's great. So tell me a

little bit about your role and how that looks like for an

operational manager. People that want to be one, people that

wonder, what, really, what does an operational manager? They

drive around the truck, they they're in and out. They got

pretty cushy job. You know? Obviously people think that,

right, little do they know, but a little bit what that looks

like here at zebrascapes,

basically, I'm running everything from the operations

in the office, leaning on my office manager and my other

managers in the field, making sure everybody has what they

need to be efficient and work efficiently and utilize every

tool that they possibly can, making sure materials are always

at the jobs, making sure that when the guys are out in the

morning that there's they're not waiting on anything that we're

just moving the second they get to the yard, they're moving, and

they don't stop until the end of the day, but just everything

from materials to organizing and making sure the guys are taken

care of, even them themselves, making sure that they feel

valued and appreciated.

Yeah, that's that's one thing why you're so

great at it, is you're making employees feel valued and

appreciated. I mean, just the efficiency parts important, and

so many people thrive at the numbers, which is very

important. You watch those numbers, good, but the employees

to get what they want to feel valued. I mean, the last two

weeks, we had probably close to eight to 10 people come for a

here to apply, because someone worked here and said, hey, you

need to come over here, right? We did. One guy brought two of

his brothers over two different companies, and then we just had

another one bring two other ones in the last 10 days or longer.

Why? The reason that is for looking over I talked to them in

person. What? Why do they like working at Zebra scapes and our

great guys that are hard to come by, they don't have to wait on

material. They don't have to wait on material. And one guy

said that's why he loves it here, the material is always

there, right? And that comes with late night planning and

early morning coming to work and putting your stuff together that

nobody

sees, right? Yeah, definitely got to have the

planning together, working with calendars and making sure the

jobs are all in line and that everything's in time or on time

and at the job. Yeah, it's very important.

Yeah, it is. Would also, when you're running

this, and this is also great, you know, a lot this will go out

there. A lot of customers might see it. So if you're a customer,

you know, you're you want to do business. You call zebra scapes

part of our walk us through the protocol, like, what do you if

you got a contract, contract signed with Zebra scapes, and

you walk through the process you have got in place, and how we're

in place right now.

The process for the job, yeah, basically, are the

person that sold the job to the customer. Yeah, would make sure

they walk the job with our lead, Eduardo, yeah, he gets a list of

any materials that he might need, whatever equipment he

needs, of course. And then we're always ready. We walk the jobs,

of course, ahead of time, where we are sending the guys out, and

then Eduardo will walk the job with the lead on the job. He'll

point out anything that needs to be specifically handled, and

then he'll make sure that the materials are there and that the

machines are there that need to be taken, you know, they need to

be used on the job.

Yeah, not only do we have you as an

operational manager, we have the project manager who's runs all

the jobs that are happening, and underneath that, we have each

for each crew as a foreman here in our in our Foreman's, I mean,

18 years of business, I have never experienced such

incredible skill or knowledge. Yeah, we're definitely lucky

right now. Oh man, yeah. And they're keep, like, just today,

a guy came that's very capable. It's like, I don't have room for

him, right? But we don't let him go. We get him. We figure we're

gonna figure something out. But, yeah, that takes so much

pressure off. You sure? I mean, definitely, yeah, what do you

think of Eduardo? Like, what how? I

think he's great. Having somebody underneath you

that's also supportive is really key and essential to the job. If

he wasn't doing his job as good, obviously that burdens me and

makes my job harder, and it makes it harder for the guys in

the field also. So that's kind of like you want to be

supportive of your people below you so that they can also

support you back. And it's kind of a team effort and making sure

that everybody's taking care of each other. Yeah. Yeah,

now he's a he's a stud. I mean, it's six,

seven o'clock, and he's walking the yard, got his checklist, and

everybody else is home, and first thing in the morning that

that tamp was out, and he's got that book out, and he's going

through his list. He

almost makes it too easy for me. You're making it

easy for me. When it goes up. It's, you know,

the other day I left and I'm like, man, what am I? What's,

what's like, what I should be doing here? It's like,

everything's going so smooth. And, you know, Eduardo is, he's

a gem that I never would have dreamt, right? You know, we're

looking for a project manager, and we asked all the guys in the

field. They wouldn't be project manager. No one wanted the job,

but they all said it should be Eduardo. Give Eduardo a shot.

And I know I looked at him like, I mean, you would agree,

right? Sure. Yeah, he's super young. Very quiet, yeah,

very quiet. All that drive,

yeah. I'm like, there is no way, but the

whole team voted him in, and wow, was he a shock. Very big

asset, huge asset. And he I asked him, how's it going? He

goes, there's times i It goes, good, but there's a lot of

pressure. And we talked about pressure creates character and

builds it. And he said, I'll let you know when it's too much, as

in, let up a little bit. But he's, he's incredible. Yeah. And

so, building our team is, you know, you mentioned the very

beginning the importance of our employees and getting what they

need and making sure. I mean, you know, Paula, our general,

built an amazing team of core value. And so share a little bit

about how, how you get them to buy in, like, it's so hard to

stop the turnover rate and to get them to buy in. When someone

offers, you know, 50 cents more or whatever, and it's like, you

know, they just did now, they don't even think twice, even a

couple bucks, they're like, I'm staying here. Yeah,

no, I think it's an atmosphere, you know, you create

an atmosphere where they feel appreciated more than anything.

Instead of pointing out all the wrong things or too many wrong

things, I always try and make sure that they know what I

appreciate about them and what I appreciate even about the day

that they put in, yeah? But then that there were a couple other

things that need to be addressed, yeah? So mainly

appreciation, showing them that I appreciate what they do do,

right, and what they do good. And then, if I have to, you

know, coach them on other things. It makes it a lot

easier, because they know that they're appreciated. They're not

just getting hounded and not just getting berated with

negativity, yeah? So staying positive, having a smile on your

face, trying to keep the team positive, shaking their hands in

the morning, saying, Good morning. How are you doing?

Yeah, just every single person, I try to ask them how they're

doing, yeah, and see how they're doing. If they look down or

don't seem good, you know, then try and talk to them. Cheer them

up a little bit. Yeah? Get him an energy drink if you

got here, yeah, it's very it's very good

to talk about their personal level, sure. You know, here we

just started a dream board, but, and people are starting to talk,

but to get them to understand they are here a lot, and they're

here more than their home, right? So we need to talk about

their personal life and how things are going away from it.

You know, I talked to one of our guys today, and he's has his

stepdaughter coming in. And I'm like, get out early. Just go,

like, you get your things done and cut out at noon or whatever,

because that's important. You don't get to see her very much.

It's important for them to know that we have their back, their

their family, not just them, sure. And so we strive hard on

that. And you're doing, I'm just, you know, in the past, you

brought an operational manager, and you try to fit him in. You

work in, there's a lot of don't want to bull rush it. Some

people say you don't want to sit back too much. And you go

through these systems, and, you know, you came in just so

smooth. So a little bit about your experience. You've been

doing this a while.

Yeah, been doing construction my whole life, ever

since I could work, and then I picked up landscaping when the

passions. I really liked doing landscaping. It's one of the

nicer, easier ways, not easier, but quicker, ways, to make

something transform, you know, a house or a property. It's just

always been really satisfying to me, even mowing it lawn. Yeah,

tell

me a little bit about your what you learn

the most about leader, like, how did you get to where you are

today? Make it look so easy,

a lot of mistakes, a lot of trial and error,

conflicts with people, you know, and learning how to get through

conflicts customers or employees or even managers. I mean,

sometimes management's hard to deal with, but I don't know. I

guess just, you know, adapting to each job that I've come

across, and having multiple avenues of education. You know,

I've had a lot of mentors and trainers that have taught me a

lot about not just the job, but people involved and that kind of

thing. So I guess just the experience a lot, and then doing

different things throughout my life, I've, you know, tried to

tackle a lot of different things, building my own house,

they can risk, yeah, taking risks and trying to learn as

much as possible. Really, I'm always wanting to learn and

willing to learn. And I think that if you're not willing to

learn or wanting to learn, that it's really hard to get on, get

through a job, you know, to do a job if your pride is too big to

not. Want to learn and need to learn, then it's going to be

real hard for you. I've always been open to learning and trying

new things and learning new things, different ways, new

ways, you know, yeah, trial and error and messing up quite a few

times and learning from my mistakes, for sure.

Yeah, I, you know, I tell people that are

very nervous to make decisions. I'm looking for them to fail.

That's what you grow and you can, you can look at that as a

past leader you had of who, not what, not to be right, right

compared to and where you want to be. And so everybody either

learn either fall forward or you're going backwards. So even

if you fall long as you're moving forward, is something

that we really push. I want people to make decisions, and

when they fail, you coach them. And so, you know, we do a lot of

that here. Paul is extremely good at implementing them and

how to get them to be coached there. So earlier, we talked

about with how the job start with, let's we want to talk

about, like the project of the going through, finishing it up,

and just the efficiency, how to get a how a customer is

expected, and how we're like, What's our goal?

Our end goal is to make it look good and be efficient at

the same time, keep the customer satisfaction, of course. But

when the guys show up and, you know, they're well dressed, not

perfectly dressed, but they're not looking like slobs, yeah,

you know, the equipment looks good. The trucks look good.

They're keeping the equipment maintained, I think. And it

shows a lot to the homeowners and the customers when we show

up, when we say we're going to 100% show up with a nice, you

know, decent looking truck, nothing that's looking like a

hoopty, beat up, you know, tools all raggedy. I think it's really

good to give the guys the equipment that they need. And

that shows at Zebra scapes, of course, I think that makes the

customer feel like we know what we're doing and they're

comfortable with it, yeah? But as far as going through the

entire job, you know, just the efficiency of the guys, and

that's a part of it, is us just checking up on them, and Eduardo

being there and checking up on them,

and, yeah, and you checking up on it,

right? Yeah, going

out and just and not making them feel like we're

checking up on them, but just let them know that we're there,

one for support, and two to make sure that things are running

efficiently. And I think that really helps them make that run

efficiently. It's also, you know, the atmosphere again, if I

show up positive and, you know, have a couple of sodas for them,

or some waters and whatnot, yeah, you know, or some lunch,

you know, it really helps them out a lot, and it gets that

momentum going on the job, yeah, even the positive push on the

guys gets the momentum going and keeps it going. And I think the

customer really sees that. They see that we take care of our

customer, our employees, and that helps a lot. And then, of

course, at the end of the job, when we're tying it up, we're

usually there on the last day, one of us, or Eduardo at least,

walk the job with the homeowner and the customer salesperson,

right? And the salesperson make sure that everything was

addressed properly and that they're 100% happy. We usually

have 100% happy people,

yeah, yeah, for sure. That's very critical

community. It comes down to one thing, really, and we talk about

it on a weekly basis, communication, yes, for sure.

You know, we have apps that we go off of, how we communicate

with clock in pictures and sometimes too many things to

track. We're trying to find the right one. But the big part is

that is just building our core value and our guys. I mean,

that's it's, to me, it's so exciting when you're out there

and you got a group of people and you're like, hey, got to do

this. Well, you know, someone's not feeling good, or something's

not coming in, well, they just switch, you know, jump different

trucks. I mean, that's in the past. It's very hard to have two

guys flip trucks, or three or four guys move around with no

complaints, just, hey, I'll take that job. Because, you know, if

someone got hurt or someone has to leave early instead of

saying, and I'm sticking with my crew, right? It's a, you know,

we've got a great system here where we're bought in and we

support each other. It's real team. Yeah, it's a real team.

And I see that, you know, a lot of just how they communicate.

I'm super impressed. You know, a senior, one of our senior guys,

he's always open to taking the newest guy in training him. Like

he's all about hey, I'll take him. I know he anytime I ask

him, Hey, I have a new person you I want to see. He knows what

he's talking about, and can you train him? And he's has never

said no, right? He's always like, Sure, no problem. Take a

guy that I just spent nine months with, and I'll pass him

on. I'll give you another guy, which is great. Yeah, he's a

good trainer. He's a teacher. He's a good thorough for sure,

he keeps things moving. So Daniel, thanks for joining us

here. I any questions you guys have on leadership, we're

learning and we could anything how we can improve. Thanks for

listening. Put the comments below any questions you have.

Thank you.