Episode 1 - Painting a New Future: The Power of Communication and Employability Skills

Show Transcript

00:00:03:08 - 00:00:27:13
John Morris
My name's John Morris, and you're here with us on workforce skills. This is our first podcast. Basically, what I intend to do with these podcasts is to help others out there learn what I've been teaching for Last a little over two years now. It all started and I'll just start at the beginning for everybody so they know our background, where we come from.

00:00:27:15 - 00:00:52:21
John Morris
So I own my own painting company. Started out as PhenixHousePainting.com, ended up with a DBA of PHP Commercial Painting. We only do commercial and industrial now. During COVID, we struggled and we had like a three month period where we kind of didn't know what was happened. Work kind of died down. We started picking up again, especially on the residential side at that time before we quit doing it.

00:00:52:23 - 00:01:23:21
John Morris
And it was amazing how many people didn't want to work. So we were trying to find basically labor for the business. We didn't know where to turn. Greg, who works for us, he reached out to Saint Joseph, here in Phenix, Arizona. Reach out to multiple entities, Department of Corrections. We were looking for anybody and everybody. Turns out somebody had found our newsletter and we ended up getting hooked up with a group called New Freedom, which is a behavioral health center.

00:01:23:22 - 00:01:44:20
John Morris
They basically help people that come out of prison off the streets for 90 days. They can live there. They kind of reactively acclimate them into society. They brought someone to our office. We hired him. I think he was one of the first 30 people that ever went there. Their facility houses 400 people. And at the time they only had about 30.

00:01:44:20 - 00:02:05:18
John Morris
And we hired this guy and we had mentioned to them, What if we come in on the weekends and help teach these guys how to paint, you know, brush, roll spray? We can just teach them the basics, you know, give us about ten guys. And we're taught at time they weren't ready for it. Fast forward another year, year and a half down the road, and all of a sudden we get a call, Hey, we're ready for you.

00:02:05:20 - 00:02:34:20
John Morris
Ready for what? I completely forgot about it. And so we ended up doing a tour of the facility and it was amazing. They were full capacity and they wanted us to come in and start a class teaching guys how to paint. And it's like bells were going off. I just. I saw vision in there. What I saw is a lot of people that were hungry for change and wanted to make a difference in their life going into this situation.

00:02:34:20 - 00:03:04:07
John Morris
I didn't know what it consisted of. I've never taught a class before. I've never done anything like this. But then everything in my life I've done and accomplished, I never did before. I tried it. So I'm looking at this situation. I'm thinking, how do we proceed with this? So we ended up starting a life skills and employability skills class for Tuesday and Wednesday evenings from 6 to 8, and then Saturdays and Sundays from 9 to 4 hands on training.

00:03:04:09 - 00:03:27:02
John Morris
Over the first few classes, I realized that the hands on training wasn't what mattered anymore. It was the life skills class that made the most difference and was the most impactful for people going through this program. Some of these people going through this program have never had a job in their life. Some of them been using drugs their whole lives.

00:03:27:04 - 00:03:46:04
John Morris
They had no sense of direction or where they were going. So what we created was how to teach them to become something more. I had to write a curriculum that had to get approved through the state of Arizona and through the insurance companies for it to be billable for them. Even have these classes in this facility never doing this.

00:03:46:06 - 00:04:10:01
John Morris
It was it was intimidating for me at first as I started it. The biggest thing that I wanted to see was a fix for my company with labor. That's. That's all I was thinking about walking into there. I saw a labor situation. I saw 400 people that needed a job that we could train and teach. But the first class, they put 25 people in there.

00:04:10:03 - 00:04:28:14
John Morris
We ended up with 18 at the end of the four weeks. And what I realized going through there is I can't hire all these people. I can maybe hire three or four out of this class. What happens to the rest if I can't get them jobs and this is going to fail? So I started reaching out to other contractors and it was difficult.

00:04:28:14 - 00:04:50:12
John Morris
They couldn't understand what I was trying to accomplish. But over a period of a year, we ended up having about 40 paint contractors in the Valley all willing to hire out of this program. What I also saw in that first class was the people we were teaching. Over time, it became more than a fix for the company, more for a change for the industry and the labor force.

00:04:50:14 - 00:05:16:20
John Morris
It was the difference we were making in these individual lives. What I saw was people that were hungry for something more that never had an opportunity. No one ever believed in them, and that's what the difference was. What I saw in these people was nobody different than myself. I was exactly like them because we all have a past.

00:05:16:20 - 00:05:46:20
John Morris
Some of us have been locked up. Some of us have in a lot of us are just one second away from getting locked up, go into the streets. It's one decision that could change everything. That could change your entire life going the opposite direction. But what I realized over that period of time of teaching these classes and the impact that we made on thousands of people over the last couple of years, it was how do I get the message out there even further?

00:05:46:22 - 00:06:06:19
John Morris
And so that's where we've started this podcast, and this is where we're going to go each week moving forward for the next ten weeks. Hopefully I'll have a guest on here with me today. I have Will Marcial with me. He actually went through this program at New Freedom. He went through this class. He went through our training.

00:06:06:21 - 00:06:30:11
John Morris
He's been one of our biggest success stories. And it's an honor to have him on here on first. You know, our biggest goal today is to talk about basic communication, employability skills. What it take to get out there and get a job? You know, so at this point, I'm going to throw the mic over to you, Will, and maybe have you just share a little bit of your story, you know?

00:06:30:13 - 00:06:54:10
John Morris
You know, it's it can be intimidating from where you've come from. So just let everybody out there because this podcast is going to be guys on the yard can hear this, you know, and across the country, we don't know who's going to listen to this, but your story and what you've accomplished could give somebody else that motivation to get to where they need to be.

00:06:54:12 - 00:07:18:22
Will Marcial
Okay. Good morning, everyone. My name is Will. I work for PHP Commercial Painting. And as John was saying before, I did go through their program, I believe I was in their fourth or fifth painting class. So a little bit of background about me. I have been locked up. I was charged as an adult, as a juvenile at the age of 16.

00:07:19:00 - 00:07:46:19
Will Marcial
I did about 14 years. In 2022, I was released and I found new freedom. Not really sure what I was going to do with myself. I didn't have a vision. I didn't know how to do anything in life as an adult. Kind of just went there to have somewhere to put my head, if I'm being honest. You know, And after getting there, I seen they had a vocational program and then there's something to do.

00:07:46:20 - 00:08:06:20
Will Marcial
They didn't know exactly what it was going to be. They didn't know how it was going to go. But there was a direction, or at least the start of it. So sitting in your first class, I chose painting. And I actually chose painting because I had a friend there who had painted four years. So it was a kind of an easy decision to make.

00:08:06:20 - 00:08:28:18
Will Marcial
You know, sitting in your class in the beginning because as I said, I didn't really know how to live life as an adult or be productive in in any way, really, if I'm being honest. It was boring to me at first for the Tuesday and Wednesdays class because I was like, Here it is. We're going to listen to this, you know, And then the second class again.

00:08:28:20 - 00:08:53:14
Will Marcial
And then it started sticking, you know, repetition. I started hearing it over and over and really paying attention to what you were saying and really listening and trying to incorporate some of the smaller things that you would talk about and put them into my daily life. And it completely changed my entire outlook on what I wanted to do with myself, on how I wanted to live my life.

00:08:53:16 - 00:09:16:00
Will Marcial
It gave me a picture of what I wanted my future to look like, which I never had that before. I mean, I've always wanted to make a change, but I didn't really want to make the change. I didn't want to put in that work that it took to change, if that makes any sense. You know, and sitting there and just listening to all the skills, you know, the game that you were giving us for free, I mean, why not?

00:09:16:00 - 00:09:31:16
Will Marcial
Why not take it? Why not see if it works, try something different. If I continue doing the same thing over and over, I'm going to get the same results. You know, and a very wise man told me every successful person has one thing in common and that's they took a risk. So for me, I took a risk. You know what I said?

00:09:31:16 - 00:09:50:07
Will Marcial
I'm going to put all of my apples in this basket. I'm going to put all my effort into doing everything that this man is telling me and showing me. He's giving me guidelines to greatness. Why wouldn't I take it, you know, down to the to the smallest thing of communication, shaking a person's hand, looking him in the eye, doing what you're going to say.

00:09:50:09 - 00:10:07:18
Will Marcial
Being on time because you're not on time if you're not 10 minutes early. That's religion. And it works every time. It helps you stand out, you know, putting in that extra effort down to the hygiene, getting yourself ready in the morning, the night before, or ready for the morning, the night before. You know, all those little things truly make a difference.

00:10:07:18 - 00:10:25:06
Will Marcial
And they're common sense, but common sense isn't so common anymore. So after sitting in your class for a couple of weeks and finally making a decision and sticking with it for the first time in my life and really putting my all into it, you know, every ounce of what I had I put into your class. Well, that was in there.

00:10:25:08 - 00:10:46:06
Will Marcial
I wanted to stand out. I wanted to make it. I want it to work for you. I wanted to paint. I wanted to make something with my life. And being in your class gave me the opportunity to do that. And ever since, it's. It's been amazing. Where I'm at in my journey now, I could. I would have never guessed it a year and a half, two years ago.

00:10:46:08 - 00:10:47:20
John Morris
And you've never had a job before this?

00:10:47:20 - 00:11:13:23
Will Marcial
I have never had a job in my entire life other than, you know, a port, a job in prison. So it was it was a scary but exciting journey to take, you know, And I'm still on my journey, you know. By no means has my journey ended, but it was it was really exciting and just, you know, hindsight's 2020, so looking back on it, I'm like, man, why didn't I do none of this stuff before?

00:11:13:23 - 00:11:31:05
Will Marcial
It's so easy. Like, it's literally repetition. That's it. You do the same thing every day. The only thing you're going to do is get better at it. If not, then there's something wrong with you. But I mean, I can't be more grateful for where I am in my life right now. And that all started in that classroom.

00:11:31:07 - 00:11:40:08
John Morris
So as you progress through our company in the painting, you know, you start out as a painter. Where did that? You've worked for us for how long?

00:11:40:10 - 00:11:43:11
Will Marcial
It'll be two years this year in September.

00:11:43:13 - 00:11:46:04
John Morris
Okay. So basically about a year and a half now?

00:11:46:04 - 00:11:46:15
Will Marcial
Yes, sir.

00:11:46:20 - 00:11:51:00
John Morris
And that year and a half, What have you accomplished within the company itself?

00:11:51:02 - 00:12:09:12
Will Marcial
Okay. So yes, I started out as a painter. I didn't know how to paint really, you know, got the basics in your class and got them down from there. I just made sure that I showed up to work every day. I was at least 30 minutes early. You know, I got to the shop. I was helping everybody load their stuff up, whether it was for my crew or another.

00:12:09:14 - 00:12:26:17
Will Marcial
And eventually I made it to a lead position. I ran jobs. And then from there I got the opportunity to come into the office and learn how to read blueprints and learn how to estimate. Then I became an estimate. And I did that really well. And the beginning of this year, I now run the entire estimating department for the company.

00:12:26:19 - 00:12:48:14
Will Marcial
So that's where my journey has taken me in a year and a half. Now, that may seem like a fast progression to some people, and it is a fast progression, but I busted my butt to get there every day, day in, day out. I did more than I was asked or paid to do because I have a vision for myself and you want to stand out.

00:12:48:14 - 00:13:02:01
Will Marcial
And that's how you do it, by putting in that extra effort. I've never put an extra effort into anything in my entire life, so, you know, why not start with myself? Let's put some extra effort into myself. And it's paid off for me tremendously in the last year and a half. Yeah.

00:13:02:03 - 00:13:30:10
John Morris
One thing that stands out with you more than some others is your communication skills. The way you talk, the way you pronounce, the way you. You are able to sit on a phone and talk to a general contractor or superintendent and get your point across very smooth. You don't struggle at that. It's very natural for you. You know, when it comes to basic communication with somebody, You know, it's interesting because I don't even see the tattoos on your face anymore.

00:13:30:13 - 00:13:52:18
John Morris
And you've got them on your face, your neck, your arms everywhere. And I don't even see that. What has been the reaction to people as you talk to them in the office? You talk to a brand new superintendent, brand new contractor, and then, crap, here comes this guy in a job walk covered with tattoos. How is the how a reception to you or how is that?

00:13:52:20 - 00:13:53:23
Will Marcial
I mean.

00:13:54:01 - 00:13:57:02
John Morris
Because you've already communicated. They know you know what you're doing.

00:13:57:05 - 00:14:27:14
Will Marcial
It's 50/50. I mean, I've gone to job walks, I've gone to meetings and I've been welcomed with open arms. And, you know, nobody's seen it. There's been other times I'm looked at as a disease and certain people just don't want to talk to me. But I still communicate with them, and I'm still friendly. And I guess the biggest the biggest part of getting to where I'm at communication wise and, you know, having these general contractors or whoever it may be, Listen to what I'm saying, is that, you know, I put action behind my words.

00:14:28:06 - 00:14:44:11
Will Marcial
So if I tell you something once, I'm not going to tell you a second time on my show. You. So then, if I tell you something after that, now my words hold weight. So I'm putting actions behind these words. I'm not just telling anyone to dream or telling them something I don't know about. If I speak, I know because I'm speaking.

00:14:44:11 - 00:15:00:20
Will Marcial
I know what I'm talking about. I know that I'm going to do it. I'm not speaking just to speak. I guess that would be the biggest factor in communication wise in talking to these general contractors and whoever else I may be talking to and getting them to listen is they can tell that I'm not on any BS.

00:15:00:21 - 00:15:01:12
John Morris

00:15:01:14 - 00:15:05:16
Will Marcial
If I talk to you and I look you in your eyes and I tell you something, that's what it is.

00:15:05:18 - 00:15:26:00
John Morris
Yeah. So tonight we have a brand new class we're starting. It's a whole new group. And one of the first things that I always share with the class is my goal is to change the way you walk, the way you talk, the way you carry yourself, the way you dress. Everything. How have you changed over the last year and a half from the time you got out of prison into a new freedom into our class?

00:15:26:02 - 00:15:32:05
John Morris
What's changed about the way you walk, the way you talk, the way you carry yourself, your own personality?

00:15:32:07 - 00:15:35:16
Will Marcial
The biggest thing would be the vocabulary.

00:15:35:18 - 00:15:36:10
John Morris

00:15:36:12 - 00:16:01:00
Will Marcial
The bros, the ums. You know, things like that. I've cut them and I've minimized them. I'm not going to say they're totally gone because, you know, no one's perfect. But I really focus on if someone else was talking to me and using those words, how would I take them seriously? So I try to put myself in the person that I'm talking to shoes as if it was me and I was myself talking to, you know, myself.

00:16:01:00 - 00:16:09:07
Will Marcial
And how would I take them? Would I take them seriously if they were continually calling me bro or dude or saying and sounding unsure of themselves?

00:16:09:09 - 00:16:20:04
John Morris
Yeah, we had a guy in our class. I don't know if he was there when you were there, but man, he called me dog all the time. It's like, Dude, dude, I'm not your dog, bro. Yeah, it's. Those are some of the worst words you could use.

00:16:20:08 - 00:16:32:16
Will Marcial
Yes. And going back to that, when people talk to me like that, I don't truly take them seriously because I'm looking at them. I'm like, You're not even taking the time to present yourself into me in a manner that deserves to be taken seriously in my eyes.

00:16:32:21 - 00:16:54:05
John Morris
They still need to learn that side of the communication skills for employment. And some people don't understand that when they come to even when we run an ad and we hire someone who walks through the front door. And it's interesting, the verbiage, the language, how they talk, you know, I look at them are their pants below their waist and hanging halfway down there.

00:16:54:05 - 00:17:02:13
John Morris
But, you know, I don't need to see that. Or is a guy going to answer his phone in the middle of an interview with me? Well, that's not a good way to communicate.

00:17:02:13 - 00:17:03:23
Will Marcial
You're coming in with sunglasses on?

00:17:04:01 - 00:17:04:13
John Morris
Yes.

00:17:04:18 - 00:17:21:01
Will Marcial
Going to the interview with sunglasses on. No. All of those things that I never really thought about before. They all play a big part in the way that I view other individuals who come to talk to me about business or whatever it may be. All of those things. Are they carrying themselves the way I would carry myself?

00:17:21:02 - 00:17:36:20
Will Marcial
Now nobody's going to carry their self exactly the same way as me. But you're going to be able to tell when somebody's serious about what they're doing or whether they're just coming in to talk. So the way I dress, all of that has changed. You know, I'm not walking around with my pants hanging off my butt because my butt...

00:17:37:00 - 00:17:57:00
Will Marcial
It's nobody's business but mine. So your class has really helped me progress in life. Not just in work. I've been able to get an apartment with my record. More than one. You know, I've been able to buy vehicles with my record all off of the way that I present myself to them. Because on paper, I don't look too great yet.

00:17:57:16 - 00:18:00:19
Will Marcial
But when you talk to me and you have a conversation with me.

00:18:00:21 - 00:18:03:03
John Morris
You can see the change. You can see you can hear the change.

00:18:03:03 - 00:18:17:10
Will Marcial
And you know that I'm not here to play any games because I'm not. This is my life. And I'm not trying to play any games in my life. I will not play games with my life. Everything I do, I have a goal in mind, and I'm working towards it endlessly. Tirelessly?

00:18:17:12 - 00:18:39:05
John Morris
Yeah. And you just recently got married. You have a brand new baby girl, you know, So you have more to lose than you ever had before. Exactly. So it's this You just got to keep moving forward. You know, it's interesting, as we've seen guys come and go through our program and our classes and some people are open to this.

00:18:39:07 - 00:19:01:13
John Morris
They're open to change. They're willing to listen. I can tell when I'm teaching class that someone's been on the yard way too long. They got that brick wall up. You can tell, man, this guy can't teach me anything. This common sense. I already know this. You know, why am I here? And it's just. But as time goes on and each class progresses, they hear the message, and you can see the walls start to break down.

00:19:01:15 - 00:19:26:01
John Morris
And they realize that there is something better out there if I just. And it's. I'm not trying to get anybody to come in, drank the Kool-Aid and just do what I say. It's this is to help you have a better opportunity, a better life. I think the breakdown right now that I see in construction, I read an article here recently for every 50 people getting out of construction, there's only three new people going into it.

00:19:26:03 - 00:19:42:16
John Morris
So what does that do for the industry in our country? You know, there is no labor force out there. So the new labor force is what we're creating right here. The new labor force is the guys that are sitting in prison right now, the guys that are on the streets, that are on drugs, that want to get off and better themselves.

00:19:42:18 - 00:20:09:15
John Morris
It's the homeless right now that if we can teach them to have something better. That's where the change starts. That's what's going to change the industry out there, in my opinion. This is how it happens. And it's guys just like you come through this program and you know, our company right now, it's I would say our companies, 98% of everybody that works for us has been locked up at one time or another or on the streets or homeless.

00:20:09:17 - 00:20:34:01
John Morris
It's except for the girls in the front office. You know, but that's the reality of it. And what I've seen personally with our company is we've grown 1,000%, if not more, since we started this program. And each year just keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger. You know, when we first started this program, only two estimators, I now have four and we're adding a fifth.

00:20:34:03 - 00:20:55:08
John Morris
And you're in charge of those guys. You know, you're running that whole department. And in a company like ours, that's the very beginning of where our business starts. You know, that is I mean, without the estimating department, there is no work, There is nothing. So you guys have to be on point back there and you have to run a tight ship and it comes down to communicating properly.

00:20:55:09 - 00:21:13:07
John Morris
And I know there's I remember there was an issue between you and one of the guys back there as you were stepping up and taken more charge. And it was a struggle experience and you had to learn how to communicate with somebody that was frustrated and getting upset, you know, and you had to remain calm where in the past you might not have.

00:21:13:09 - 00:21:19:18
John Morris
It's first thing you think is you just want to smash them, you know? And you can't be about that anymore, you know?

00:21:20:00 - 00:21:21:08
Will Marcial
You know, no violence solves nothing.

00:21:21:08 - 00:21:53:09
John Morris
No. So for guys out there that might be listening to this, that are sitting on the yard or on the streets or just in their car thinking, I'm going nowhere with my job, what advice can you give to them that helped you get to the next level that that got you where you're at? I mean, what you know, you mentioned taking a risk and I firmly believe that, you know, the most successful people out there, the biggest common factor with them is they always took a risk and they weren't scared of the outcome.

00:21:53:11 - 00:22:13:11
Will Marcial
I would say, like you said, take a risk, believe in yourself, put effort into yourself. Don't make an assumption about something you know nothing about, which is a different way of life. Change your view. Pay attention. Soak it up. Actually try to understand where someone else is coming from and that might transfer into your life.

00:22:13:13 - 00:22:14:22
John Morris
And that journey is not easy, is it?

00:22:15:08 - 00:22:17:01
Will Marcial
no. There's no days off in this journey.

00:22:17:01 - 00:22:18:13
John Morris
There's still hard bumps.

00:22:18:15 - 00:22:34:22
Will Marcial
Is putting one foot in front of the next. If you can get up every day and put one foot in front of the next, you're going to make progress. You're not sitting down. You're not wasting time. You're not being stagnant. You're in motion. That's all you have to do is continue to be in motion.

00:22:35:00 - 00:22:50:00
Will Marcial
You're going to get tired, push through it, create a new pace for yourself. Put one foot in front of the other every day. Don't stop. Don't let off the gas. Don't take no breaks and don't take no days off. And you will change your life.

00:22:50:02 - 00:22:55:10
John Morris
So what do you say to the guys out there that. Well, I don't get paid enough for this.

00:22:55:12 - 00:22:56:16
Will Marcial
You sound like you're complaining to me.

00:22:56:19 - 00:23:05:14
John Morris
Okay, There you go. You know, it's amazing how many guys. Well, I don't get paid enough to do this. Well, you're never going to get paid enough unless you do it. Exactly.

00:23:05:14 - 00:23:07:09
Will Marcial
You know, you just got to keep do it without complaining.

00:23:07:11 - 00:23:07:20
John Morris

00:23:08:02 - 00:23:09:12
Will Marcial
You might get what you're looking for.

00:23:09:12 - 00:23:26:10
John Morris
Yeah. Now, it's. How many guys have you seen come through our program or come through our company? And they left our company to go make a buck or two. Where are they at now? One guy left. He's going to make a couple more bucks. Go work for the union. And I. I know they're struggling out there.

00:23:26:12 - 00:23:41:11
Will Marcial
I would say I mean, if we're talking percentages, I would say at least 85% of the people who leave our company or get fired because they think they deserve more or worth more without actually putting in the work to show what they're worth.

00:23:41:12 - 00:23:42:07
John Morris

00:23:42:09 - 00:23:49:16
Will Marcial
Have called back. Looking for another job? Yeah, because I'm a firm believer that the grass isn't always greener on the other side. It's green where you water it.

00:23:49:20 - 00:23:50:10
John Morris

00:23:50:12 - 00:23:54:23
Will Marcial
So if you water your grass, it's going to get greener. But if you're going to go look for somebody else's grass.

00:23:55:02 - 00:24:12:07
John Morris
Yeah. What amazes me is how many guys out there. I've seen it over the many years of running my own business, plus working for other companies. There's always that guy that's chasing that extra $0.25 an hour. That extra buck an hour. They're always going to follow that and they're going to leave one company to go to the next one.

00:24:12:07 - 00:24:26:04
John Morris
If they would have just stayed at that one company and just progressed with them, they could have made more money. They could have moved up in position and had that company truck. You know, it amazes me how many guys are always trying to chase that dollar, you know.

00:24:26:04 - 00:24:27:07
Will Marcial
That take the shortcuts.

00:24:27:07 - 00:24:47:12
John Morris
It is there is no shortcut and nothing in life is going to be easy. Work isn't easy. You just have to do it. You have to grind. You have to stay hungry every day. It wasn't easy when we started this program. Here I am, running my own company, working 50, 60 hours a week, and I'm donating my time at the program to teach a class.

00:24:47:12 - 00:25:20:16
John Morris
It put in another 20 to 30 hours a week doing that? I worked five weeks straight before even getting a weekend off. We would skip a weekend in between every four weeks on our classes. It was a grind. It was a struggle. But it was worth every second that I put into it. When I see guys like you or I look at where our company's going in the progression, you know, and now that Greg has stepped up in the company and he's doing a day to day run in the business, and I'm able to step back and help teach more and do more stuff with helping the reentry.

00:25:20:18 - 00:25:44:14
John Morris
You know, that's what I'm looking for. You know, it's you can't just say, well, I don't get paid enough for this. If I figured out how many hours I put in with what I make, you can't look at that. You have to look at the big picture. It's not a sprint. Life is a marathon. You know, we've seen guys I mean, you both have seen guys and heard guys come out of the program that, well, I got to make up for lost time.

00:25:44:14 - 00:25:48:16
John Morris
Who have been locked up for ten years. I got to make up what happens to those guys?

00:25:49:00 - 00:26:09:13
Will Marcial
they end up in the same spot they were before. It's like I said, you can't take shortcut shortcuts to where you want to get. But you don't have to waste time doing it. So when I say that, that's when I go back to work in every day without complaining. Monday to Sunday, no days off. You're going to get to where you want to get a lot faster than if you're trying to find a shortcut there.

00:26:09:18 - 00:26:14:05
Will Marcial
So don’t take shortcuts, but don't waste no time getting there. And it'll happen for you.

00:26:14:07 - 00:26:32:15
John Morris
Yeah. There's producers and there's users out there. I always want to be a producer, you know? I want to produce something that someone needs to use or, you know, it's. What am I going to do to produce more or produce something to better this life that we live in or what we're going through or the company I work for?

00:26:32:17 - 00:26:48:08
John Morris
You know, I never knew I'd be where I'm at. I never graduated high school and I never thought I'd accomplish anything in my life. And here I started this company and its success. And the biggest thing for me right now, it's not about the money. It's about how many more people can I put to work out there?

00:26:48:10 - 00:27:06:22
John Morris
How many more guys like yourself can I help? Have a better life? But at the same time, we've watched them drop off. I remember the first year teaching class. There's 25 people today that I knew going through those classes that are dead today because of fentanyl or something else on the street, or that just it was too tough.

00:27:06:22 - 00:27:23:11
John Morris
I couldn't do it. Well, life's going to hit you. It's going to smack you. You know, you got to take your punches and you got to just keep getting up and keep pushing forward and keep grinding. You know, you never stop moving forward. You know, it's. Yeah. Do I want a vacation? Do I need time off? I would love that.

00:27:23:11 - 00:27:44:18
John Morris
But when it comes to work, it has to be done. You know, I told my wife many years ago, I go my business has to run. I have to be there no matter what. We will cancel dinners. We will cancel vacations. We will cancel other things if the business needs it, because that's what provides us with everything we have that has to come first.

00:27:44:20 - 00:27:57:04
John Morris
You know, and I think too many people out there think that, no, it doesn't. While my family comes first or if you want your family come first, you got to provide for them, get to have a job. You got to have an income. You know.

00:27:57:06 - 00:27:59:18
Will Marcial
It's logical thinking versus emotional.

00:27:59:19 - 00:28:20:05
John Morris
Yes. You know, get the emotions out of it when it comes to business and when it comes to work. There is zero emotion in it. It's all business. It's all logic. It's I think that's a problem with people nowadays are too emotional, you know, or they feel some kind of way. the boss is looking at him and he's moving up in position.

00:28:20:05 - 00:28:21:21
John Morris
I'm not. I should have gotten that position.

00:28:21:23 - 00:28:24:14
Will Marcial
What is that person doing that you're not exactly.

00:28:24:16 - 00:28:34:20
John Morris
What's the difference? What are they doing that you're not doing? What can you do differently to improve your situation? That's what we need to look at. How can I improve my situation every day?

00:28:34:21 - 00:28:37:14
Will Marcial
Extra effort. That's what he goes back to every year.

00:28:37:14 - 00:28:58:11
John Morris
I want to look at where I'm at and I want to be more involved financially with work in my personal life, in business, emotionally, you know, with my relationship with my wife. You know, that's what we try to do. We try to improve ourselves. You know, these guys that don't do that. And they're always worried about what everybody else has.

00:28:58:11 - 00:29:22:13
John Morris
They're never going to make it, you know, what's going to make you employable. It's showing up on time. You're only on time if you're 10 minutes early. We used to. That was our first thing in the beginning of every class when you went there, you know, and I remember the very first class that we had at New Freedom when we hired a couple of guys, I remember showing up at the office and we opened up the back of the shop at 430 in the morning.

00:29:22:15 - 00:29:44:03
John Morris
There are guys that have been in there for a half hour to an hour. They were already there. They were that hungry, that they wanted something more. And that's when I saw the difference that this is what's going to change our company. And it did. It changed everything that we do. You know, we went from a company of only 12 employees to I think we're hitting 100 employees now.

00:29:44:05 - 00:30:11:10
John Morris
You know, we bought 12 more trucks last year. How many were we going to buy this year? You know, how many more people can we employ? You know, how many more guys are going to get raises this year because they've constantly done what they were told to do. You know, that's our thing when it comes to want more money, want a raise, thinking you're worth more, put that extra effort in the guys that have done the best out there are the ones that ask for nothing, but they prove everything.

00:30:11:12 - 00:30:28:12
John Morris
They just keep doing it. The guys that have progressed the best in our company, they're not the ones sucking up to the boss or, you know, asking for it. It's the guys that just go out and do it. You know, the guys that have never asked for a raise ever are the ones that have the most that work for us because they just keep grinding.

00:30:28:12 - 00:30:35:03
John Morris
They keep proven themselves. How many times are you there on a Saturday and Sunday and you don't have to be.

00:30:35:05 - 00:30:36:05
Will Marcial
Pretty much every weekend.

00:30:36:09 - 00:30:40:01
John Morris
Okay. Yeah. You're doing what it takes to get to where you want to be.

00:30:40:03 - 00:30:59:03
Will Marcial
Because I've signed up for something. I've signed up to run this department and I'm going to make sure that it runs smoothly because at the end of the day, I said I was going to do that and that may require me to go in on Saturday and Sunday to prepare for the week. It doesn't matter. I signed up for it, didn't nobody make me do.

00:30:59:03 - 00:31:19:08
Will Marcial
That is a choice that I made, so I stick with it. It's also a reflection of me. So everything that goes on, if I'm in charge, I can't blame it on anyone. I have to take responsibility for that. I also look at the aspect of now that I'm in charge back here to a certain extent, what can I do to grow and improve back here?

00:31:19:10 - 00:31:34:22
Will Marcial
What can I do to make this better? That all requires extra effort. That's not 9 to 5. That's not 9 to 5. That's where a lot of people start feeling that they don't want to do the extra stuff that it takes. This isn't 9 to 5 for me. This is my life. That's how I see it. This is my career.

00:31:35:00 - 00:31:44:17
Will Marcial
This is what's feeding my family. This is a reflection of me and everything that I'm doing. So why would I not put that extra effort in?

00:31:44:19 - 00:32:07:17
John Morris
Yeah, if you could go back knowing where you're at now and go back to little Will when he was a teenager screwing up on the streets doing stupid shit, what would you? If there is a message, you can go back? Is there anything you could have done to change the direction he was going or was that path kind of inevitable and nobody really made an impact on you?

00:32:07:19 - 00:32:29:01
Will Marcial
I would say, you know, I mean, going back to as a kid, you doing all this stuff I wasn't supposed to. Whenever there was any kind of a redirection, it was never brought from a genuine place. I guess like when I met you guys, it was I knew it was from a genuine place. Again, you weren't getting paid to be there.

00:32:29:03 - 00:32:45:19
Will Marcial
You didn't have to be there. You've been through similar things in your life. So I knew that you were giving me a blueprint to success rather than somebody just come in to tell me to do something because they believe that's the right way, but actually have no idea. Yeah. Of why I'm where I'm at in the first place.

00:32:45:21 - 00:33:05:18
Will Marcial
So how can you help me get out if you don't even know where I've been? If that makes sense. I think that was the most impactful thing, was knowing that you could relate to me. And that's what it was. I think going back as a kid, that's. That's what I would have needed, somebody that I could relate to, to really sit me down and tell me like, what are you doing with yourself?

00:33:05:18 - 00:33:18:17
Will Marcial
Like, why are you doing these things? Do you think they're cool? Because they're not. But I didn't really have anybody that I could relate to to tell me the right direction, because anybody else that tried to give me direction, I was just like, You don't even know what you're talking about.

00:33:18:19 - 00:33:34:09
John Morris
Yeah. What advice can you give to somebody say that's sitting on the yard right now? That might be listen to this. Or on the streets that you might have come across or they might know you What can you what advice can you give to them to get to where you need where you are?

00:33:34:11 - 00:33:41:23
Will Marcial
I mean, it's as simple as you make a decision. You stick to that decision. Just don't falter. Yeah, that's it.

00:33:42:01 - 00:34:01:00
John Morris
Sal, look at me personally. With everything I've been through in life, and I think, Yeah, somebody could have talked to me, too. They're blue in the face until I was ready to accept it and believe it myself. I don't think I ever would have changed. You know, it took me wanting to make the change and, you know, it's we all hit rock bottom.

00:34:01:00 - 00:34:16:08
John Morris
Our lives are we think we're stuck, we're not. And this goes out to anybody out there that's sitting there on the street listening to this or in on the yard or wherever they're at. You know, it's we all hit rock bottom. Some of us hit it a few times.

00:34:16:10 - 00:34:16:18
Will Marcial
Yeah.

00:34:16:22 - 00:34:29:20
John Morris
Some of us think, shit, this is the last one. I'm done. And now there's one or two more in there. We're going to go back to using drugs or drinking. And, you know, it's you have to find that point where just enough is enough.

00:34:29:21 - 00:34:44:16
Will Marcial
Can’t be tired. You have to be exhausted. Yes, this has to be it. And that's what it was for me, because I was just tired of living the way I was living. I didn't want nobody to tell me when I was eating, when I was using the restroom, when I was showering, when I could go outside.

00:34:44:18 - 00:35:03:15
Will Marcial
I didn't I didn't want any of that anymore. I never wanted it. But I realized that I couldn't tolerate it anymore. I was truly exhausted and something had to change. And in order for it to change, I had to change what I was doing. I mean, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over and over and expecting a different result.

00:35:03:17 - 00:35:21:06
Will Marcial
So what could I do to change? I took a risk. Yeah. And I tried something different. And to some people, the risk I took may have not been that big. My risk was sitting in a class and listening to you speak and trying to put it into my everyday life, putting my best effort in.

00:35:21:08 - 00:35:28:00
John Morris
What's interesting now with where you're at and working for us, because everybody in the company is pretty much been through everything.

00:35:28:03 - 00:35:28:23
Will Marcial
Yes.

00:35:29:00 - 00:35:45:05
John Morris
Nobody in our company can do anything without us knowing. You can't lie to us. We're going to know when you're lying. Can't use drugs to know when you're high. You can't fool us because we've all seen it. We've all done it. So it probably helps you stay more accountable because of where you're at. What we're doing.

00:35:45:06 - 00:36:02:13
Will Marcial
I surround myself with people who want the same things out of life, or at least similar things to keep me on the right track because I'm a firm believer in birds of a feather flock together. Yeah, you know, and that's another thing how I told myself, how am I going to elevate myself? How am I going to move to the next part of my life?

00:36:02:13 - 00:36:32:18
Will Marcial
How am I going to get better? And I have a cousin who, you know, he's been to prison and he's now successful. He didn't have all these tools that I had in front of me, but he told me one thing. That's all way stuck with me and it's I elevated my company and in turn I elevated myself. And I didn't really understand what he meant when he told me this, but now I do, because as soon as I changed everything about my life, everything about my life changed.

00:36:32:20 - 00:36:34:21
Will Marcial
That goes with the people that I hung out with.

00:36:34:23 - 00:36:37:07
John Morris
You hang around negative people, you become negative.

00:36:37:08 - 00:36:48:22
Will Marcial
The people that I call on my spare time have nothing to talk about other than good things. Family work. You know, How are they going to progress? What are their ideas to make their life better?

00:36:49:00 - 00:37:11:07
John Morris
Now you've have two years that have come out of the program and they've fallen off the radar. You probably talk to them at the time and they just couldn't make it, you know? And I think that's one thing you realize in life, you know, your friends that you have aren't going to be your friends forever. Sometimes they're only there for a moment.

00:37:11:09 - 00:37:29:13
John Morris
You know, I've realized over the years that there's certain people that they're dragging me down. I got to get them off, you know, I'm shooting for something higher, you know? Yeah, I have to have more in my life and better people in my life. I want to look to that next level. What am I trying to strive for?

00:37:29:13 - 00:37:48:00
John Morris
Where am I trying to go? Who's going to help elevate me to that next level? You know? And what has changed over the years? You know, you have to train yourself. You have to teach yourself, you know, something as simple as, you know, I, I just turned 55 last week and I haven't used an alarm clock in over 30 years.

00:37:48:02 - 00:38:12:12
John Morris
I don't need one. And I'm never late because I've trained myself to wake up. It's a bitch. It's once you create that habit, it never changes. It's always there. I can't explain it, just. It's who I am. Between three and 315 every morning, I'm wide awake. It just naturally happens, you know, it's. And I have the alarm clock that I did have I've had for over 30 years.

00:38:12:12 - 00:38:30:12
John Morris
It's still on a nightstand next to my bed about two years ago. I unplugged it, though it doesn't even come on because I don't even want to see the time. I just wake up, I get up, I. I go out to the kitchen and make my coffee and. crap. It's between three and 315. I don't need clock to tell me where to be or what to do.

00:38:30:14 - 00:38:45:20
John Morris
I don't need someone to tell me to go to work. I know I have to go to work. I don't need someone to tell me what to do. It’s work. I just do it. Those are the best employees, you know, The guys that don't have to be told what to do. They just show up and they do it, you know, they want something more.

00:38:45:20 - 00:39:07:04
John Morris
And I think the other thing that we need to share with people, too, is be humble. you know, it's that's one of the biggest things is you need to learn to be humble when you go anywhere. You're not going to walk into a company and take over everybody's job. You're not going to move up in position. You're not going to own that company.

00:39:07:06 - 00:39:29:17
John Morris
Don't come in there and saying, I'm gunning for your job or I'm going to get this guy fired. I'm going to take that position, you know, be humble, come and learn about the company, learn about how the company runs and how the people work within that that environment. You know, with us, we're a family. We're tight. You know, you put one person in there that has an attitude or something, man.

00:39:29:17 - 00:39:55:17
John Morris
It's like a cancer in there. And we've seen it in the office and we've had to get rid of those guys. You know, we don't want them around. They're not good for us, you know, So anything else you'd like to say to anybody else out there that might be struggling, that wants a job, doesn't know how to do this thinking, Well, I've got a pass, I've got a background, no one's going to hire me.

00:39:55:19 - 00:40:00:23
John Morris
What What's the difference? You know, what can you tell them that Is it that way anymore?

00:40:01:01 - 00:40:23:05
Will Marcial
Your past doesn't matter. Number one. Your past doesn't matter. Your past matters to the extent of it's got you to where you're at. Other than that, don't let it hinder you by continually dwelling on what you've done or what you could have done, because it doesn't matter. Honestly. What matters is what's in front of you and what you do moving forward.

00:40:23:07 - 00:40:27:14
Will Marcial
That's the biggest advice I can give you. Don't be embarrassed about your past.

00:40:27:16 - 00:40:29:01
John Morris
But you don't need to talk about it either.

00:40:29:01 - 00:40:32:13
Will Marcial
No need to. Don't. It is your business. Yeah, it is your business.

00:40:32:17 - 00:40:46:06
John Morris
No one needs to know what you were locked up for. No one needs to know what was your past. It's what you do today. Moving forward. How are you going to be a better person today than you were yesterday? I don't care what you had for breakfast. It's. What are we doing next?

00:40:46:08 - 00:40:48:12
Will Marcial
You know what's going to eat? What I'm going to eat for lunch.

00:40:48:12 - 00:41:08:04
John Morris
There you go. You know, just constantly moving forward. That's the change. You know, if you can learn to put the past in the past, but learn from it, you know, and some people might say, well, I've never had a job like yourself. Well, take that street hustle. Make it a work hustle. Exactly. That's the change. You know, find a way, find the positivity and everything that you do.

00:41:08:09 - 00:41:31:18
Will Marcial
There are so many skills. I mean, speaking from being in prison for as long as I was, that people have that are in prison that they don't even know are skills, but you can transfer, like you said, all that negative stuff. You can transfer it and turn it into something positive because there's a lot of stuff that you know how to do that it's just normal to you because of the environment you're in.

00:41:31:20 - 00:41:36:13
Will Marcial
But out here you can turn it into a skill and really stand out because of that.

00:41:36:14 - 00:41:44:15
John Morris
Well, think about how hard you work for that next that next fix, that next drug or that you're worked so hard to rob somebody or break into somebody's house or steal from.

00:41:44:15 - 00:41:46:00
Will Marcial
Someone should put it into something.

00:41:46:00 - 00:42:02:19
John Morris
Positive, into something else. I mean, you work so hard to do something like that. Let's focus on the positivity. You know, put it towards a job, put it towards something better for yourself. I'm telling you, work is easy. You just got to put your mind to it, you know? Don't think about it. Just do it. Be about it.

00:42:02:21 - 00:42:25:08
John Morris
You know, it's you. You have to strive for something better. So for me, I'm looking for guys that want to work, that want something better, that want to change our lives. You know, I look at guys like you will, and it's an honor to be a part of your life, you know, to meet you and have you go through our class and see the growth and where you've gotten from then till now.

00:42:25:10 - 00:42:43:21
John Morris
And I can't wait to see where you're at. Another couple of years from now, another five years, ten years, maybe one day you own your own company. You know that's a possibility. Or maybe you work for our company for the rest of your life. That's okay too. But you're constantly doing something better for yourself. Exactly. You know, the biggest goal is not to go backwards.

00:42:44:00 - 00:43:03:07
John Morris
Always go forward. You know, we have to do better you know, it's if you ask any successful person and what they've done in life, you know, it's somebody else or have you ever been broke? Yeah There have been homeless. Yeah, I lived in my car. There have been lock up. Yeah. Ever used drugs? Yeah. Done it, drank, had issues.

00:43:03:07 - 00:43:24:03
John Morris
I've had my problems, but that's not who I am today. It's who I am moving forward. You know, everybody's been broken their life. Everybody's been smacked around. They've had a hard time. But you got to strive for something better, find the right company. And I know we're sitting here talking about the painting company, but painting is not for everybody.

00:43:24:05 - 00:43:42:10
John Morris
You know, I don't care if you want to be a greeter at Wal-Mart or somewhere else, be the best damn greeter you can be. Whatever it is, just be the best at it. That's all you going to do. Strive to be better than the next one. Yeah. You know, and everybody around you try to be better than those around you, but at the same time try to lift them up with you.

00:43:42:12 - 00:44:00:09
John Morris
You know, there's no. Yeah, it's kind of cliche here. All the time. It drives me nuts, but there's no Iron team, you know, we want to lift everybody up around us. My goal within the company and teaching these classes is I want to get everybody to my level. That's what I want to see, because I've been where you guys were at.

00:44:00:09 - 00:44:19:02
John Morris
I've seen rock bottom. I know what that's like and I've made it. And I know if I can make it, anybody can make it. And that's what we're looking for. So now I appreciate you coming on and being the first one to do this with me today. This has been kind of cool. I don't know where this leads.

00:44:19:02 - 00:44:38:05
John Morris
I don't know what happens with this podcast or who's going to hear it. But anybody out there, I just want them to know that there is something better for you out there. You've just got to find it and you've got to work for it. And it's not going to be easy. It's going to be a struggle. Nothing in life is easy.

00:44:38:07 - 00:44:54:03
John Morris
If it was, we'd all be doing it. You know, it's you're not going to be a millionaire tomorrow. You're not going to get rich tomorrow. You got to work and you're gonna have to work from now until the very end. That's just part of life. That's what we do. And if you can learn, except that it gets easier, that's the biggest thing.

00:44:54:03 - 00:45:11:12
John Morris
Just accept what has to be done. I got to go to work today. I got to make a paycheck. I got rent to pay. I want to buy Christmas presents for the kids at Christmas. You know, What are you doing to better yourself and the people around you? That's all we're looking for. So thank you very much for being here today.

00:45:11:13 - 00:45:12:20
Will Marcial
Yes, sir. Thank you for having me.

00:45:12:22 - 00:45:13:11
John Morris
Of course.