From Backhoes to CEO: How Tim Tuoni Built a Site Development Company from the Ground Up

Tim Tuoni went from riding backhoes as a kid to running Tuoni Site Development, and he's got zero patience for people who think construction guys are just difficult for the sake of it.

In this episode, Tim breaks down what actually gets mislabeled as "a-hole energy" in this industry: it's standards. It's direct communication. It's not tolerating half-effort on a highway job where mistakes cost real money and real safety. He and Jesse dig into what it's like building a company under public scrutiny, including dealing with the YouTube and social media critics who've never swung a hammer but have plenty of opinions.

Tim also gets real about the moment that changed his trajectory: walking off a job after a safety incident and taking a leap into subcontract work before he was "ready." He talks about the mechanical skills that saved him money and made him dangerous in a good way, how he uses LinkedIn every single day to market himself and scout opportunities, and why he now shows up for Crew Collaborative classroom talks to give students a real alternative to the college-or-bust narrative.

If you need a reset on what actually matters in this trade, Tim's closing line says it all: "It's just f*ing dirt. You're never above a shovel."

Connect with Tim

https://www.linkedin.com/in/timothy-tuoni-16730893/

https://tuonisitedevelopmentllc.com/

In this episode:

• Why the industry's reputation for being "difficult" is really about standards
• Building a business in the age of social media critics
• The safety incident that pushed Tim into entrepreneurship
• Using LinkedIn as a daily marketing and research tool
• Why he's showing up in classrooms to change how kids see this career path

00:00 Just Dirt Mindset

00:18 Meet Tim Toonie

02:09 Construction People Standards

05:41 Mentors And Online Critics

09:52 Why Equipment Life Chose Him

13:03 First Machines First Memories

15:24 Skid Steer Lessons And Antics

18:25 Getting Hired Certified Today

21:09 Starting His Own Company

24:39 Resourcefulness Under Pressure

30:27 Saving Money With Repairs

33:03 Time Versus Money Skills

33:59 DIY Marketing Learning Curve

35:28 LinkedIn Outreach Playbook

39:28 Creative Prospecting For Contractors

42:35 Why He Volunteers

44:02 Trades Versus College Paths

51:27 Where To Connect Online

54:48 Promise Intended To Be

58:00 Never Above A Shovel

Lets leave the Construction Industry Better than We Found It https://www.depthbuilder.com/construction-leadership-lab

Download the free PDF copy of Becoming the Promise You are Intended to Be 

Transcript

Construction People And Real Standards

SPEAKER_00 0:00

I told this four years ago. And I used to be a lot more wound up in a dozer. I used to be very, very hands flying, hat flying, yelling at trucks all day. It says it's just fucking dirt.

SPEAKER_01 0:18

What is going on, LM family, back again with a super awesome guest. Y'all know there was a time when I used to make fun of people who made friends on the internet. And now I meet some super damn awesome people. And it happened to be on a call with the Crew Collaborative, which we might touch on a little bit today. And he is on the board of directors of Crew Collaborative. He came up by way of heavy equipment operator. So you already know we're going to be talking about construction stuff. He is the CEO of Tooney Site Development. And his name is Mr. Tim Tooney. And you're going to get to know if you know what? I didn't even ask you how to pronounce your last name. That was correct. Toonie. Oh success. Thank you, brother. All right, and y'all are going to get to know a little bit more about Tim. But first, this is your first time here. You're listening to the Learnings and Missteps podcast where you get a front row seat to see how amazing people just like you are sharing their gifts and talents to leave the industry better than they found it. I'm Jesse, your selfish servant, and we are about to get to know Mr. Tim. Mr. Tim, how are you doing, my friend? I am doing good, sir. How are you? Dude, I'm stoked if you can't tell. I got a little bit of energy. And I was kind of so I see. I know Tim's out there. He's a baller, he's running his own business. There's a good chance that he may not be able to make it because sometimes it's that way in the industry. It's when you pop in, I'm like, oh yeah, it's gold time, baby. Oh, yeah, I'm always ready. Have my alarm set and forget. I love it. So I like to start off with simple, easy questions, Mr. Tim. So you ready for Mr. Softball? What are people missing about the construction industry? The people. Yeah?

SPEAKER_00 2:16

How do you mean? I think there's a stigma of some of the people in the trades that I think everybody thinks every a lot of people aren't. I I don't know. I don't know the way to put it, but I think there's always a stigma that some of the people are kind of a-holes, kind of hard to work for. And I think there's more or less people aren't necessarily a-holes, there's just a standard that a lot of people try to uphold. And I think that's just sometimes construed the wrong way, where you know, whether you work for a company or you work for yourself, people want to put out a good product. And sometimes I think a lot of people who want to be pushed and want to be held to a standard don't have a problem working for those people, but it's the lazy people that don't want to be pushed that, and I don't think there's necessarily a ton of them, but the ones that do that kind of are lazy that get called out for it, they just want to say, Oh, well, people are a-holes, and it's I think that's a very slim amount of people in our industry.

SPEAKER_01 3:28

Yeah, 10, 4, man. You said a couple things, one standards, which can connect to work ethic. Uh, and it is eas when you say that, it reminds me, give me flashbacks. Uh, amazing woman I was with, she's an educator, she's a teacher, and we were it was a group of us were having dinner or something, and and they were all teachers. I was the only construction guy there. Uh, and one of the guys was like, dude, are you mad? I'm like, No, what are you talking about? Um, and then again later, he's like, Man, are you okay? Are you pissed off about time? I was like, No, what's going on? And and my the girlfriend at the time is like, oh no, no, that's just the way he talked. And so I'm talking to my and he was a cool dude, we're friends. I said, Man, you are. He's like, Man, he's just he's like, You're very you use aggressive language. And now I wasn't cussing a whole lot, right? So maybe a little more than normal, but it was interesting being in that setting, how just my normal way of communication came off as aggressive and angry because they're used to a different type of a different style or tone of communication. So that's one thing to your point about people in the industry, right? It's amaz the people are awesome, yeah. They're gonna tell you how it is, it's like it's not that complicated, let's just keep it the way it is, and also there isn't a lot of room or tolerance for whiny lack of effort.

SPEAKER_00 4:58

Is that would you agree with that? Oh, yeah, because I mean, I think I've said it before, and especially when I worked on highways, if you're in a lane closure on a highway, you got nine, ten hours to get something done. There's not a lot of time to put up with people's BS. You've got that short amount of time to get what you need accomplished before you gotta pull that lane closure. So it's just you got to get stuff done, and you ain't got you don't have time for people's crap. 104.

SPEAKER_01 5:27

Now I imagine when you were coming up, you had some pretty at least one or two solid mentors that helped guide, maybe not the softest way, but they guided you and contributed to your path. Anybody stand out like that?

SPEAKER_00 5:43

Oh, yeah. I mean, the first people who taught me when I was back working in Pennsylvania, there was a few guys that were hard on me. One guy was Will Schwartz, but he taught me a lot of the good ways. And then coming to North Carolina, the guy I worked for when I first moved here, Josh Patterson, who I do a lot of sub work for now. And then I worked for a guy, I think a lot of people know him. He's got a YouTube channel, Chris Goomins. So working for him, you he's got, I don't know how many YouTube subscribers. So when you have all his subscribers, Nickel, and every little thing you do on camera every day, you learn a lot pretty quickly from people who aren't even your bosses. They every last little thing you do, they're gonna tell you whether you did it wrong, whether you did it Chris's way and they don't agree with it, or whether you did it his way and or whether you didn't do it, or you did it his way, but you know, they don't agree with the way he does stuff, so then they're gonna tell you stuff. So every little thing you do working on highways, they're gonna tell you every last little thing you did wrong driving by. So it's always always something that you didn't do right. But I think the good thing about construction is there is kind of a million ways to do isn't it not a million ways, but there's multiple ways to get a job done. Yeah. I think as long as you get the job done, it doesn't have necessarily have to be there's more than one way to skin a cat, and as long as you get the job done in kind of a timely manner, I think that's the most important thing is the job gets done in a safe and timely manner, but there is more than one way to get the job done. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:27

Ten, four, and the critics, right? I love the critic. Come on, people, you ain't busted or great, but you're gonna come out here and judge me. And then now with video and social media. I mean, I guess on one hand, it's awesome because you get exposure, right? They see you out there, your name reach on social media, but then of course you're gonna have the critics are like, I wouldn't have done it that way. I don't know why you did it that way. It's like, bro, it breathed. I mean, code and approach to different types of work vary state to state, right? There's some place where that's that's illegal. It's like it's illegal in Texas. I know, right? It's a different code system, and people just don't know the damn difference.

SPEAKER_00 8:07

Oh, yeah. Even like in my town right now, because I'm in the like the town Facebook group, and you have every everybody complaining about the way stuff's done. And I always put my head in there, and it's like, they're there's why are they flagging it this way or doing it this way? And I was like, Well, they're working in a four-way intersection, so you know, stuff takes time, and you're trying to get stuff done at a four-way intersection. You you may not see it, you think, Oh, why they why does it take 10 minutes for them to let me go through? And it's like, well, when you're flagging, yeah, stuff takes time to get to that intersection and for you to actually see it, and then but it is what it is. When you do stuff in front of the public, you're always gonna hear about it.

SPEAKER_01 8:50

Oh, yeah, 100%.

Mentors, YouTube, And Public Criticism

SPEAKER_01 8:52

So when you got into the industry, was to was YouTube like a thing already, or were you in the industry pre-Youtube?

SPEAKER_00 9:01

So YouTube was a thing. I would say it wasn't necessarily a big thing, it wasn't huge, but it was definitely prevalent. I would say, I guess it just depends on it.

SPEAKER_01 9:16

Everybody wasn't not everybody used it the way they do now.

SPEAKER_00 9:20

No, but I mean, like I said, my buddy Chris, he started posting videos probably, I don't know, 2010 or sometime around then. So I wasn't in the industry, but I always had that was something I always thought about it doing, so that's kind of how I learned about it. Ah yeah, there's definitely more exposure in the industry now because YouTube, social media, and that type of thing. So, but definitely gets more and more out there because of social media, I would say now. I I agree a hundred percent.

SPEAKER_01 9:52

And so what was it like obviously you're operating your own business, heavy equipment business, which is a major, major thing that I want to get into because it's a heavy capital investment. But what was it that attracted you to to decide, you know what, I'm gonna go into construction? Was it Chris's YouTube channel, or is it you got family in construction? How did you end up with all the awesome people over here in this industry?

SPEAKER_00 10:20

I was kind of always the kid from I guess I mean, I don't exactly remember when I started. You kind of start remembering stuff as a kid, but three, four years old, always looking at equipment and all that type of stuff. Um so three, four, five, six years old. Once you're starting to get into kindergarten, that was always what I was still wanting to learn about. Every time we kind of did something, I was always looking at equipment, driving down the road with my parents, even first, second grade.

SPEAKER_02 10:50

I'm always, oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 10:53

So, I mean, that's kind of I guess where it started was just always thought equipment was cool. Driving down the road. Even when you get into, I guess, the later grades, middle school, high school. I was still always that kid that wanted to do projects about equipment, about operators. I remember like even we had a class in our junior year of high school where I think it was it was called career development or something like that. And originally the first thing I wanted to do some of the projects about was being an operator and stuff like that. Because I always just thought I always thought equipment was cool, whether it was driving down the road, it's different seeing different pictures of it online at different forums. And then, you know, once there was some people starting to post on YouTube about being an operator, you then you got to see it on video once the internet become kind of became a bigger thing.

SPEAKER_01 11:48

So we need to do the LM Family Member shout-out. And this one goes out to Miss Maya McGlynn, who is the executive director of the Crew Collaborative. And she took the time to leave this awesome comment on one of the posts, and it was so flattering. I said, Man, I gotta do a shout on it. She says, Jesse, seeing you in action, I don't think you could have chosen a more appropriate business name and mission depth builder. That's absolutely how you operate. Cool, Maya. Thank you so much for that. And folks, she suffered me in person in Chicago at the Converge Construction Summit with another past guest, Miss Megan Shapiro. And so Maya was there, and we did a bunch of workshops and we got to interact, got to meet in person for the very, very first time. So, Maya, thank you very much. And folks, y'all already know I need attention. I love attention. So anytime you leave a comment, leave a review, share the post, drop some stars, it makes me feel important, and it gives me an excuse to shout you out in a future episode. Yeah. Okay, so when did you operate your first piece of equipment? And what was it? Do you remember?

SPEAKER_00 13:11

I guess so. The first time I was in a machines cab, I was we were going to see my parents' house that they had bought, and it was in a neighborhood. So we were one of the first people to move in. So they were still building a lot of the houses. So they became, or they had talked the superintendent of the project into letting me in. The kind of the builder had a backhoe out there, and he would go do for different stuff with it. So we just kind of went around, scraped the road, and the site contractor still had a bunch of stuff on site. So I got to drive around and see stuff. It was probably it was early 2000s, so it was probably an L model cat

The First Machines That Hooked Him

SPEAKER_00 13:51

and stuff like that that you saw. And the backhoe I was in, it was a deer, so it was like probably a 310 like E model, um like that. So that was probably the first one I was in, and then I worked for a guy eighth grade and in high school, I guess, doing like landscaping. We worked at an oil in an oil refinery, so we used skid steer some like stuff like that. So that was kind of my first introduction to it, I guess. Oh man, was that like Disneyland?

SPEAKER_01 14:21

I'm gonna drive around in these things.

SPEAKER_00 14:24

Anytime I could get my way over to a machine four, five, six years old, I always tried it. And then I remember even just my parents, they had to get the yard regraded shortly after the house was bought because it was holding water in the backyard, and it was a D5C cat dozer. So for I think the two or three days it was there. Every day I went and just sat on the seat at the end of the day when my parents got home and just thing wasn't going anywhere, key wasn't in it. But it was the coolest thing in the world.

SPEAKER_01 14:56

You're a little mini guy.

SPEAKER_00 14:59

It was over somewhere, and I think it was all with all the neighborhood kids, and there were seven or eight of us just me in the seat, everybody else just kind of piled around us, and we all just sat in it.

SPEAKER_01 15:09

But oh yeah, yeah, major adventure. That is awesome. The uh so you were like the it was over. You were gonna be an operator, you were going to construct like period. I could see how that comes together. I think the first the first piece of equipment I remember operating is a skid steer. And the reason it was already I had graduated high school was working the summer job. The reason I remember it is because I didn't know how to operate it, and you know how when it starts jerking, and then you start seeing on the joystick, man. I did that. My kid, I felt like somebody was just kicking me in the kidneys all for that whole hour or whatever it was that I was spilling backfill all over the first the first machine I ever did anything productive with was probably was definitely a joystick skidster, so it was a little easier to kind of learn on.

SPEAKER_00 16:05

I think it was plow and snow sand was one of the earlier like B model cats, so that's kind of where I started to learn how to do everything. I kind of learned a lot with joysticks, so that was growing up playing video games, and then you go on to them where everything's on two things pretty much you can you can kind of learn pretty quick. Oh yeah, yes, sir. So did you ever learn how to pop a wheelie and do a 360 on that sketch there? So I did eventually learn when I learned some of the hand and foot control ones because it's a lot easier than that. So I did eventually teach myself how to do it, but I try to try try to keep the hood rat stuff to a minimum. If I'm gonna have to kind of do something sketchy, I'd rather it be because it's something I gotta do productive.

SPEAKER_02 16:54

Right.

SPEAKER_00 16:55

So I do think that's popping, like I think it's black sheep kid, I think is the one guy. That's cool, but I try try to also learn the kind of stuff where I'm gonna be doing it, whether it's being downhill or doing something like that.

SPEAKER_01 17:10

So no, I love what you say. The try to keep the hood rat stuff to them. I couldn't wait, man. I got on that thing, I'm like, let's see one guy. Check this out. I was like, oh, I'm gonna I'm gonna learn how to do that. So of course I wasn't supposed to be doing it, right? I didn't wasn't thinking about what happens if I tip over. I'm like, Ditches looks cool, and so I would stay late, wait till the job site was clear, and then start jacking around, and finally I got it up. Oh, I was like, I do a wheelie, and then trying to get into that three like that spin back now. Like, man, I'm so lucky I didn't freaking doze through a damn trailer or hit the side of the building or flip over because that is hood rest. What did the yeah? No, definitely gotten wealthy over the years, but yeah, yeah. I mean so I learned in the 90s right how to operate forklift, skid steer, excavator, backhoe. Back hole was my favorite. I used to love jumping the ditches. I came up as a plumber, and so I got pretty good at that. I've laid it down on its side a couple times also, but anyways, with the side riggers, I could get back up real quick, you know, to just kind of figure it out. Now, I don't have one single certification that qualifies me to operate any of that equipment. I never got one, but there was a point in my career where it wasn't a big deal, and then all of a sudden it was. So, how if somebody's interested that has the bug right of being an operator, what's the pathway? What suggestions would you have for them in terms of getting the experience and getting the certification? Because nowadays I don't think you can get away with just saying, hey, I'll give it a shot, and they give you the keys and you pop in the cab, or does that still happen? I don't, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 19:03

I mean, there I like in North Carolina, there's no set state standardized test or anything like that. So you're kind of going off of people's resume

How Equipment Operator Hiring Works

SPEAKER_00 19:13

or what they say in an interview. I've worked with companies where you they go put you in a machine on the job site for 15 minutes and at least see if you're competent or something like that. But I mean, around here, everybody kind of knows everybody too. So I've had people pull up on the jobs like that one place where they tried you out where when I got hired. Um I people show up to run my machine, and I knew both two of the people I ended up knowing. So I mean, everybody kind of knows everybody, but it also just depends on what state you're in. I know there's some states where there is different testing, and then obviously where there's unions, North Carolina's not a very big union state. So where there's unions, there's getting into a union, apprenticeship, and all that stuff, which I don't I don't know much about that. So there is that. Cranes, there is a lot more certificate with that. I had no interest in ever really running cranes. As the the one meme goes, the hardest part of being a crane operator is finding a good place to take a nap. But yeah, cranes, there is a lot more with that. But like I said, it's kind of like a state-to-state, even what part of your state you're in, um, as far as I guess what type of certifications you end up needing or anything like that. Four.

SPEAKER_01 20:34

Well, good, it's good to know that it ain't all that stringent everywhere, because it's kind of well, we need a backhoe operator, but they need to be certified. It's like, okay, I got five guys on the crew that I know can operate a backhoe. What where do we go to get the certification? Like all of a sudden, somebody waved their magic wand. This is a long time ago. But to your point, in different areas, different regions, there are different limitations or laws or regulations, and also the training facilities to accommodate that, right? That's a whole other thing in and of itself. So you knew from the time you were in that big old dozer in the backyard, this is it, I'm doing this forever. What now there's a big difference from operating equipment? There's a lot of hand-eye coordination, right? There's a lot of you gotta be focused, a lot of stuff going on. And starting a business. What sparked that interest in you to go from expert operator to operator?

SPEAKER_00 21:47

Uh so there was a company where I grew up in Pennsylvania, and they're pretty big in like the mid Atlantic. It's Alan Myers. Something about that company just kind of always intrigued me. Their trucks were always spotless, and they're all their trucks are black. All their machines were always clean. They were like very proud of who they were. When I was actually able to visit them when I was in high school and go up to the company headquarters and stuff like that. So just kind of driving through their jobs one day, I just kind of had something in my head that I was going to have my name on the side of a machine one day. Was kind of talking to my one buddy Josh about it a decent amount because we were going up to the western part of North Carolina after the hurricane to try and fix stuff out

Quitting The Job To Go Solo

SPEAKER_00 22:27

there. And one day at work, we I guess we technically hit a fiber line. We came up underneath of it. Ooh, yes. Wore it like six times and found it where they had put their bore pit and pretty much spliced everything up like this, just laid it in the ground. So we came up underneath of it, set it down, didn't break it. And about a week and a half later, the safety guy decided to make a big example out of me and have a big supervisor's meeting. And about two hours later, my buddy Josh texted me and goes, Hey, you want to clear a house lot for me? And I was like, I don't know if I want to quit for one job. And he's like, Well, I got some more if he wants something after that. And went looked at a job that Friday, gave my two weeks that Monday, and started figuring everything out. So you just said, Okay, here's an opportunity and let me go do it. I mean I was pretty much I don't know if it'll happen again, so let's go for it and we'll make it happen, figure it out as we go.

SPEAKER_01 23:27

Man, that's why I tell you you and I have a shared interest, not just coming from the trades and in the industry, but also advocating for careers in the industry. When I talk to parents and counselors specifically, I like to point out that one, they because they think I'm fancy, right? Because I got my own little business over here. And I'm like, I'm just a dummy that they didn't say no to. I just figured it out, right? There's an opportunity. What's it gonna take to make those things happen? And let's make it happen. Anyways, what I like to tell the counselors and and parents out there is look, yes, I started off as a plumbing apprentice. I was a helper, I was pushing a damn shovel for a lot of years, right? Had to work hard and all the things, but the skill set of getting a pile of information, a pile of material, and using my wherewithal to make something that's useful for others. I learned that skill in the trades that is directly applicable to building my business. What do you think of that? Do you think I'm full of it? Or is that feel familiar?

SPEAKER_00 24:39

Oh, yeah. I mean, I think there's so many guys, whether you've been like an operator or foreman or something like that, where you're doing something and something goes south, or you run into like unexpected ground, and a lot of times you can't call an like, yeah, you can call an engineer to figure out a long-term solution, but you got five, ten minutes to try and figure something out to hopefully solve your problem. And we've had some spots. I remember there was working on the highway, we had a culvert, and we fought for two, three weeks to get this thing tied in on either side. They had a diversion going around it. We had everything done. We were waiting for the seating crew to show up to put their matting down so we could pull the diversion ditch out. And the impervious dam they had built, it leaked a little bit, so we had the pump on the one side, but we could pump it into the diversion. So it was clean water to clean water, so it was going great. All of a sudden, I look in there and I just see oval steam chocolate milk, and I'm like, shit, that's not good. So I look at what's coming through the old culvert towards the new one, and I just see a wall of water, and I'm like, shit. So I grab all the hoses, throw them out of there, throw them into our base, and turn two four-inch pumps on as quick as I can, and they couldn't even keep up. And I'm just I filled the basin up in probably seven minutes. And I go across the other end of the highway, and the boring creates smoked a 12-inch water main that was marked, it was marked in the other boar, and or it was marked in the other gore. It wasn't so that they were 300 feet off with their mark. And so I go and I pull back in there, and the erosion inspector from the states there with the CD crew, and I just looked at him, had to look at my stuff like Dibby, what do you want me to do, man? He goes, and I'd say we had to wait and just and then you have to figure out a plan because I couldn't tie that in. Send me back like but you're always just kind of thinking on your feet, and it's like, what can you do to try and avert a disaster? And then if not, try and talk your way out of it half the time.

SPEAKER_01 26:43

True, truth, man. I I think yeah, I that's it, right? We're faced with so many, and it's interesting because I remember I had a few apprentices, very few, coming up that or even journeymen that stand out in my head. There's two that I'm thinking of right now. Use a kitchen sink. Everybody understands what a kitchen sink is, right? You got the handles, the water, uh, the faucet. There are hundreds of variations of a freaking sink faucet. Right? There's fancy ones, some have sprayers, whatever. I have not installed every single variation of a damn faucet. I've installed, let's say, one when I was an apprentice. And that's enough knowledge for me to figure out how to do all the other future variations, right? Like you just kind of okay, something similar. And I've worked with the few people uh in the industry that didn't, they couldn't figure it out. If they didn't have, and I think this is a good thing, I just don't appreciate it. Like if they didn't have the instructions and all the instructions were precise step by step, they couldn't do it. I'm the other way around where the instructions, like, oh, this is good because my hands are kind of dirty and I need to wipe them with something. And then I just figure out and put the thing together. Now, outside of construction, I meet a lot of people that if the steps aren't all lined out, they're like, How do you know how do you know what to do? They can just figure it out. I don't know how to articulate what that is, but it sounds like it's the same thing you're talking about. We get faced with these kinds of things, and it's like, there's no class on what to do when you freaking bore into a water main life. You just do whatever you have available, use all the resources you got, get as get it as good as you can get it, and and then sometimes it's damn it, we're in a bad spot. Pause, readjust, reassess, and then make it up on the next day.

SPEAKER_00 28:42

Yeah, I mean, we have we run into guys all the time that they'll complain about what the what equipment they have, and I'm like, you know what? It's what you're what you got. If I'm working for somebody else and that's that's what I was given, make it happen somehow.

SPEAKER_01 28:57

Oh man, I love that. You that reminds me of uh a saying I heard having access to resources doesn't matter if you're not resourceful, right? And so right, all the resources in the world don't matter if that individual is not resourceful, if they don't know how to leverage whatever they have. So if it's an old beat-up piece of equipment, it's a brand new one with an air-conditioned cab, come on, man. The job is to dig the thing or move the dirt, move the dirt.

SPEAKER_00 29:29

Both of them will move five million dollars in dirt equipment. If you can't move dirt efficiently, it doesn't really matter.

SPEAKER_02 29:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:39

I used to play softball a lot, and I'd have big tournaments every so I'd be at big tournaments traveling or beer locally and just the local tournaments, and it was always the one or two guys that would show up with wristbands and headbands and bat bags, and they had like all the flashy gear looking to get picked up on a team, and then he put them in, it's like, hey, what if what happened to Spider-Man over here? He's got all the gear, but he can't, he he just don't have game.

SPEAKER_00 30:08

Yeah. I've been with people who got you know, you golf with people like that, and they'll claim to be this handicrap, and then you get out there and you're it's like, all right, man, like I already told you I suck, so I don't I don't know what you're yourself in the press today, but I'm told the truth. You trying to hide it.

SPEAKER_01 30:27

So along the way, I I'm assuming you've built a ton of skills, and so specifically transition into business operator, owner operator of your business there. What are some of the skills that you had to learn that you absolutely did not expect you were going to have to learn to run your business?

SPEAKER_00 30:50

I would say, I don't know if it's necessarily that I didn't expect to learn, but it definitely has saved me some money. Is like starting working for other people, kind of picking up on like being somewhat of a mechanic to where I can do some basic stuff, not having to get a $500 service call for every last little thing you need, like an oil changer. I mean, today we swapped the cutting edge on the dozer, did the teeth on the extra teeth on the excavator,

Owner Skills That Save Real Money

SPEAKER_00 31:19

swapping hydraulic hoses, even something like basic the week or two ago, the pin the keeper bolt that keeps the pin for our thumb on, it had been folded up for two, three months and it walked out. So it fell down on them at one point. So even something like that, just getting that line back up, and if you're just standing around there waiting for somebody to come do it for you. So I guess you really don't think about that, but it's when you can save yourself five, six hundred dollars, even once or twice a month. Yeah, and loss production, especially when you have a few people standing around who have on-road trucks running at 110, 120 bucks an hour that are now just sitting there. So that was one thing that's definitely been, I guess, beneficial that I didn't think would be as useful. I mean, marketing, obviously, you think about that, but now like obviously to get your name out there, but even like with the social media stuff, and I guess trying to figure out the best ways to market to where I don't have to pay as many people to do it or keep that as like a low budget of an item as possible, especially when I'm starting out just getting my name out there, trying to figure that out. I mean, I I think I had a good expectation of what I was getting into, but you find stuff that you figure out how to do on your own that can save you the money. I guess that's kind of what I've learned more is the stuff that saved me money is kind of what I tried to teach myself to do. And the stuff I'm not good at or don't have the time for, I have other people do for me.

SPEAKER_01 32:59

Oh man, that right there is is gold. So, folks, for the LM family members out there, there's two big giant resources time and money. And if you don't have a lot of money, you probably got some time. So learn a skill that you can't pay for. Like you can either buy it or build it. Like you you mentioned marketing. I started my little consulting this year just over four years ago. I didn't know what the hell I was doing, Tim. I just knew that I had to start my own business to do stuff that I found meaningful and impactful to me. And I remember one of my former bosses, kind of mentor, he he's like, All right, man, like I uh you're always that kind of guy. I could tell you're gonna go do some crazy yeah. He said, So what's your business development plan? And I was like, what the hell is that? Like, what the hell about that? Anyways, I started learning about oh, I gotta market, I gotta let people know I got a business. That's the easiest way I can think about it. And then I said, you know what? Once I got everything set up, the LLC and started getting business, I had to learn how to do an invoice. I never did that before, but YouTube, right? Just YouTube. Oh, okay, I could do that. Done, handled. So I said, you know what, I'm gonna learn how to do learn everything there is to know about marketing. And I spend about again, you let's say about eight solid hours of just what is marketing, what is it all comprised of. And I was like, oh damn, this is a lot. Way more than like advertising, branding, email sequences, like all just massive. And I said, Okay, I know what's gonna happen for me to learn this. I can do it, and I'm gonna suck at it for a long time before I get half decent at just one of those things. It's gonna be 10 years until I figure get half decent at any like all of it. And so I said, you know what? I need to pay somebody to help me with this because I don't know, like I to just to flatten the learning curve. Yeah, but then there's a couple of other things just you know what? I like editing videos and shit. Like, I could I learned how to do that, I could do that now. You know, marketing and the copywriting and all the other kind of like whatever, man. Y'all do that. I'm just gonna come and flap my gums for a little bit and do the editing, and we're gonna be good. Yeah. Um, so so I'm assuming you've started leveraging social media to get your reach out there and let people know, hey man, we got we got our thing going on over here.

SPEAKER_00 36:18

Yeah, I mean, I try to post on the company page most days. And then, I mean, at least if I don't, I make sure to try and post on LinkedIn every day for them from the company. And then I'm also just kind of I look at everybody who views the company page or views my page. I'll look at who they work for or if they add me, and it says project manager at so and so or whatever. I'll go look up that company, see where they do work at, and then just try and message that person, but also fill out like the vendor portal online for people like that. Try and just trace leap trace anything that way, and then just try and see what type of work they do. And if it's a larger company, say, hey, we can come help you on y'all. Might want to do some of this bigger stuff, or but hey, if you need some greenway trails done or pickleball courts or stuff you don't feel like sending a crew back for, give them stuff that you kind of see that they need, or even like stuff you may see that they post and say, Oh, well, you know, they're kind of still, hey, I see their ponds could sediment ponds could use maintenance. Hey, we do sediment pond maintenance and stuff like that. And just try and get your foot in with different things like that. So, you know, just try and think a little, I guess, outside of the box because there's all the old companies around here, everybody knows the big names. So to try and get your name in the door to kind of show what sets you apart from those other companies, you just have to kind of get creative with it and just try to figure out what works best. And it's not gonna work the same for me trying to get in with company A, and company B is gonna something else is gonna work with them, which something else is gonna work for company C. And so you just gotta keep keep going at it. I tell my Rome wasn't built in a day, so yes. Oh, oh Tim, you just but I'm terrible. I have to remind myself there because I'm terrible. I compare myself to other people who I know who I'm friends with, I'll look at their company and and I'll forget. I'll be like, because you just time flies, and I'll be like, man, there I should be further along where I'm at. You know, so and so's already here, and then I'm like, oh shit, they're in year seven, and I'm like in my first year, so I'm probably not doing as bad as I think. But then I just try to stay in that mind. Then I'm like, all right, I got time, I'll get there. And then two days later, I'm back to trying to push to get further quicker. But yeah, you just tell yourself Rome or America wasn't built in a day, so yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:53

No, man. So there's two big things. So LM family, if you didn't catch that, what what I heard you say, Tim, so correct me where wherever I mess up. On LinkedIn, you post on the company page with the high frequency, sounds like the goal is every day. And I'm looking at it right now. You got pictures of work happening, which of course is awesome, right? That's one thing that I need to do better at is when the rare occasion that I'm out on a job site, take some damn pictures because people go crazy over them. And and it's hard because I'm a house cap now, right? I'm mostly I'm a I'm a freaking office dweller. I don't really get out in the field, but when I do, I should take pictures, anyways. So you post, people engage, and you go and see who engaged, do some research, find out who they work for, where they work at, send them a DM and say, hey man, whatever. Thanks for engaging. This is what we do. Get on their their portal as a vendor, figure, fill out the information, and just let them know, hey, thanks for engaging, and we're open to serve you if you ever need any of our services, even something small, we're happy to help you out with that. Did I get that right? Yep. Just kind of anybody can do that. Anybody can make a yeah, it's not.

SPEAKER_00 40:12

I mean, it's it's doing your research on just because there's not like what I do is not I can't put up door hangers and go or send you stuff like that. There's some door hangers are great for some industries, but for us it's not really if I go into a subdivision, nobody really needs a 210 excavator in there. And the most thing they might need is a dingo for half a day for a little grading job, and you know. So I'm that doesn't really put me in front of the people that I want to be in front of. So and that's one good way to put me in front of them, and then you can kind of also figure out where some of the like home builders are building. Go drive out to the job, try and meet the superintendent or PM out there, give them a card, or worst case, leave a card in the job trailer if nobody's out there that day. So you just gotta like I say, get creative because you're somebody if you're new into it, you're competing against companies that have been around 50, 100 years. Yeah. So you're especially if you're trying to get into some of the bigger stuff, you're gonna compete against some people and you've gotta figure out a way to because you could do great work, but you still gotta get your foot in that door somehow. And you gotta figure out some creative way to do it.

SPEAKER_01 41:34

Yes, yes. No, man, I love it because it's I mean, that's work, but it's not like you need a marketing agency to do that. Anyone can do that. Yeah, I've had conversations with people often, it's just so hard. I don't like, I'm not, I don't want to be a slave to the algorithm stuff, dude. I did it. It's not that hard. I would love it, I'm sure you would too, Tim. If every time I posted, I would get a client. So if that doesn't happen, every now and then I'll have a post that somebody says, Hey man, I saw this thing, we're looking for somebody, we need some time management over here. Yes. But most of the time it takes a lot more effort on the back end. Um, and uh it's like the post is just a good excuse for me to reach out to that person. Oh, you're interested in this, let's let's connect. And then, like you said, just let them let me introduce myself. Uh and if I can serve you, I'm happy to, and then move on to the next one. Uh it would be nice if everybody I mean, I think you said it you said uh if you have a great service and great company, it don't matter if nobody knows about it. You gotta you gotta help people know you. Yep. Oh yeah. Oh, that's so awesome. I love it, man. Props to you. I think you know what's exciting, Tim, is is knowing that you're doing this, you came up the trades, equipment operator, started your own business, figured out, fine, being creative about getting your name out there to get business and serve people out there. You have high work ethic, uh high integrity, and you also volunteer and give time to the crew collaborative. So, where did that come from? Is that did somebody does somebody have some video or pictures of you that they said, hey, you better volunteer over here, we're gonna show everybody these pictures, or like is it blackmail?

SPEAKER_00 43:28

I think originally, like right when Chris, I think originally it was just Christina put out something about a classroom talk, like I don't know, it was four years ago, maybe I'd have to even ask her. It's been a minute, but it made it maybe even further back than that. But I just remember her posting something about it, and I was like, that would be cool. Because I just remember going back when I was in high school, we kind of got discouraged from going into the trade side of things. So I was like, Yep,

Trade Advocacy And Better Career Fits

SPEAKER_00 43:58

it'd be cool to at least get in front of kids. I was an operator at the time, so I did it from my voltage cab and shared them that showed them from working on the side of the highway. So that just was kind of where it started. I always just thought the classroom talks were cool, which got me into it. And then Zach Taylor one day just messaged me back. I think it was right it was right before Calnexpo this year. He was like, Hey, we were talking about something on the board, getting new people on the board, and your name came up. Would you be interested? And I was like, Yeah, sure, why not? Didn't really think of myself as a board member, but yeah, here we are. So but yeah, no, I just thought it was a cool group and idea that. Really needed to be done because like I said, when I was in high school, it was you were always kind of steered away from it, I guess. Even like the we had Nav Tech school that was like attached to our high school where you went like kids would go, I think, for like half a day, and then they would come back and do the rest of their classes. And that was always kind of discouraged upon per se. It wasn't here it was always just for the kids who were always in trouble and stuff like that. Hey, just go there. Where I think is I know a good amount of people who went to college and that are now doing trade jobs and doing the physical work, not just like manage like doing the actual labor jobs. And so I think a lot of kids my age, if you would have brought them back and told them what they know, they probably would have maybe made a different choice. Not saying it was wrong, but just I think if they would have realized what was out there, so just putting that out in front of kids, I think, is that there is more than one pathway to college. Because I went to college for two years and it just it wasn't my thing. I usually just didn't go to class. I just taught myself before the test enough to pass the test. And then just but after it was like, why am I spending $20,000 for out-of-state tuition? Because I was from PA going to school in North Carolina, so why am I wasting money? So and really wasn't learning what I wanted. We were learning more about vertical construction, and I was like, I want to move dirt, put pipe in the ground, and build highways, and that that's not what I'm learning about. So yeah, that's for my buddies that I'm still really good friends with and see all the time now, but that's about the best thing I got out of college per se. And I guess, and a little bit, I guess, thinking on your end of hey, I'm wasting some money and maybe I should make some better decisions.

SPEAKER_01 46:36

Yeah, yeah. Good for you, man. I and and so one applause to you for all the things you've done and accomplished and giving back. I think you know it. There's so many people. Here's my favorite, favorite, favorite, because I hear it a lot. There ain't enough people, nobody wants to come to the industry. Wow, wow, uh okay. When's the last time you talk to a group of high school kids or middle school kids? Well, I don't have time for that. Okay. So you're gonna piss and mold, and we ain't got people coming, but you ain't gonna bust a grate to get out there and get involved and get in front of these kids. You don't get to complain, you're part of the damn problem. So you're running your business. I'm sure you got people hundreds of thousands of dollars out there every day. And you while you're on these calls with these kids, I were on one of the calls with you. My point in saying all of that is it's possible people just gotta have a little bit of givea damn and contribute the time to make that connection. Because I know I was in the similar boat, man. It was graduate, you either go to college or flip burgers and maybe join the military, right? Those were the options. Very three options, really. Yeah, yep. Nobody said anything about construction. Now, my dad's a plumber, and I'd done side work with him in the summers and stuff, and I knew I didn't want to do residential construction because I just have flashbacks of my dad yelling at me all the time. So I did it, was never I didn't know what was available, and then I got a summer job on a commercial job site to save money to pay for tuition. Oh no, to pay for room and board, because I had my tuition covered and try to be a walk-on at Tyler Junior College. And man, I'm gonna tell you that first day I walked on that job site, I was like, Oh, this is where I belong. I'm a nerd boy, right? I'm school was easy, yeah, but I always got in trouble because I was loud and I was my energy, I couldn't sit down, and like the teacher was going, like, man, teacher, speed up. You can't run, man. It's not my fault they're dumb. Come on, man. This is give it a test. I'm ready to go. So the classroom is where I felt inferior because I would get in trouble for the things that were natural to me. Yeah, I went on that side team, and I was nobody gave a shit about how loud I was, about how much I wanted more. They gave me more. Oh, you think you can do more? Well, here, take this from here, try this and try like shit, give it to me. And so for me, it's uh it's a thing that I've got a lot of friends over the years that have came back, even reached out to me and said, Hey man, I've done this career corporate thing, it sucks. Can you give me a job in the trailer? Hell yeah, I can. Let me let's make some calls and they they're having fun, anyways. For me, it's a question of one, we gotta let people know that there's options, and and it, yes, you're gonna sweat a little bit, but you'll be okay, you'll survive. Um, but more importantly, is like we gotta stop pushing kids into environments that don't that aren't designed to help them grow, right? Like I have a brother who's a year younger than me. Construction is not his his game. He's a he likes the structure and the classroom and the rules, and and like he thrives in that. You don't need to be up job size.

SPEAKER_00 50:03

I'll say everybody, I think everybody in this world has their place to do something to be a productive member of society. Whether you're building something, whether you're cooking something, whether you're a doctor. I can never sit in an office for 10 hours a day. I would go absolutely nuts. So I think everybody has their role, and obviously not everybody chooses to be a productive member of society, but I think there's something that your personality, your skill set, your your you fits into to where you can work and be a productive contributing member to our society. So not everybody's gonna do good in 90-degree heat with machines flying around everywhere and trucks flying and all that type of stuff, but and I don't think it's right to necessarily tell someone, hey, you need to do that. Just like I don't think it's right to tell people, hey, you need to go to college and go work, but nine to five shirt and tie job went and like the classroom wasn't for you. It really wasn't for some of the classes were for me, but my big thing was like, why am I doing why am I solving for X? What is X? Like, I don't mind doing I'm very good at math, but like calculus and that type of stuff, why am I using this? If I didn't have a Y and like I couldn't see it in front of me, I just didn't really I was just like, why am I like why am I doing this? I'll do it good enough to pass the test so I don't get hollowed at by mom and dad. But outside of that, I really don't want to be here. There's much better things I think I could be doing. So but yes, oh man, I love that.

SPEAKER_01 51:53

And yeah, like there's a place for everybody, man. You said it's beautiful, and it's a hundred percent true. So I'm looking forward to being on some more of them crew talks with them youngsters out there because they're those are fun, man. I like doing that. Oh, yeah, they're good. Okay, so we're fixing a transition into the closing question, Tim. But before that, where do we send people if they want to connect with you, learn about equipment operating, learn about moving dirt, learn about your company? Where's the best place to send them?

SPEAKER_00 52:24

So my LinkedIn is Timothy Tooney, T-U-O-N I. The company is Toonie Site Development LLC. That's on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. And then my Instagram name is a little obnoxious. Just type in my last name and then put a bunch of SIs after it. I think there's 11 of them. If that's a story for another day, I never thought Instagram would honestly be kind of important in my life. Not necessarily. I'll tell the story real quick. So it started way back when going to ECU. We came back from the bars overserved one night, and one of my buddies said something about a grilled cheese. We were we were going out on 20 bucks a night back then and coming back having a good night. So we were doing good. But he said something about a grilled cheeses, and we all kind of gave him crap for it for the couple of SIs on the end, and everybody just called me by my last name before that. So then he called me tunicuses, so I just kind of went with it. And when I made an Instagram, I was not big on taking pictures, thought it was the dumbest thing in the world. So I was good, I'll just make my name obnoxious. Never changed it after that. And then I started meeting all these people, still hadn't changed it. I was like, you know what? I'm committed to the stupidity at this point, so let's ride with it. That's a great story.

SPEAKER_01 53:46

You gotta have you recorded that story and post it. You need to make that's a post all by itself. That's a good story.

SPEAKER_00 53:52

I know I I've told some people like people who have asked me about it, like where it came from. I've told them that story. And then before Instagram had your email attached to it, and you had to remember it when you got a new phone. That's how I knew there was a size, I think, because I had to count the ones. So you just kept adding it so like the first time I did it, I just spammed SI back and forth really quick until I just stopped and then never thought too nothing of it. And then here we are like 12, 13 years later, and I've met some great people because of it. It's afforded me a lot of cool opportunities, but yeah, my name's a little obnoxious on there, but it is what it is at this point.

SPEAKER_01 54:33

I love I'll I'll make sure we have the the links and stuff so in the in the show notes so people can connect with you and follow you. And yes, I'm looking at it now. There's a lot of SIs in here. You don't have to type all of them, just type a bunch of them and go pull them. Uh perfect. All right. So are you ready for the grand slam closing question, Tim? Yes, sir. Okay.

unknown 54:55

All right.

SPEAKER_01 54:55

And I'm excited because I don't know if you've probably hear this a lot, but you have a very calm, humble demeanor. But you've accomplished a lot in a relatively fast pace from my perspective. And and you've got a lot going on, you got a business, you're growing it, you're learning things, you're giving back. And so, because of all of those things, there's a lot of depth to you, man. And because of that, I feel like your answer to this question is gonna be one of those those things that's gonna stick to people's ribs and help them in a big way. So here's the question What is the promise you are intended to be?

SPEAKER_00 55:39

So I have, and this is in my truck, um it's written on a label maker, and I think it ties back to what you should be. And can I curse? Yes. Okay. So it's and I got told this when he said the calm demeanor thing. I got told this four years ago, and I used to be a lot more wound up in a dozer. I used to be very, very hands flying, hat flying, yelling at trucks all day. It says it's just fucking dirt. Or and you could take it anything, it's just fucking pipe. But I when you remember that of what you're doing, yeah, what we do is important. But it's just fucking dirt. There's a lot more important things to me, to the to the people around me. And I think if you

It’s Just Dirt And Never Above Shovel

SPEAKER_00 56:30

remember that and do let people be with their kids if they work for you, realize sometimes there's when we went out to the mountains when Hurricane Aline kind of leveled that place, you kind of realize the value of some stuff when people fucking lost everything and you're and you're complaining about something small at work, or that's kind of whatever, it's just fucking dirt. And there's bigger things in this world than what you do at work. And I think if you apply that to when something goes wrong at work, when somebody says, Hey, I gotta go, my wife's you know, X-Y's new, or whatever. I think if you kind of take that and you promise yourself that it'll all it'll always just be fucking dirt. And whether it's you work for yourself, you work for a company, you're just a supervisor or whatever, and just kind of and I think another one that'll kind of go with that is I always told this you're never above the shovel. Oh, yeah. I had said that on the Dirty and Draven podcast, I think, a few years ago. But just remember that you're never above doing anybody's job. You're the owner, if you're the foreman, you should be just as dirty as your people. I think that gets you a lot further. Yeah. So it's it's you promise yourself that's kind of your promises. It's just dirty and you remember that and take that into all your decisions. I think that'll kind of promise that you're a you lead the industry better than where you started it. And if you remember it's you're never above a shovel, you'll you may be s somebody might be struggling through their first day, and they might remember you down there in the LUD with them. Um whatever. That's the roundabout answer to a way for a question, but that's just that's the C student answer to the question.

SPEAKER_01 58:24

Dude, gangster. That's what I say. That's a gangster answer. It's just fucking dirt, and you're never above a shovel. That's some fundamental principles that'll help you lower your stress and really have perspective on what really freaking matters, man. Straight up, dude. That was the shovel thing. I remember my dad, like I said, he's a plumber, and I was telling him, man, I can't wait till I get my plumbing, my journeyman license. He's like, Wow, why are you so excited about that? And I was like, because then I won't have to touch the shovel anymore. Uh my helpers will do it. And he said, he grabbed the shovel, he said, Man, you'll never, this is your number one best tool. You will never, if you think that way, you are not gonna be any type of damn plumber that's gonna last worth the damn. I was like, What are you talking? What are you like what? And fast forward to now over 30 years, right? You're not above a shovel. And it was there's not a single job I've ever been on that didn't need a shovels.

SPEAKER_00 59:24

I mean, I had a guy who worked for me when I was at Flatiron. I mean, he's I don't know, he's gotta be at least 10 years older than me. And he said, Man, I never had a foreman come and shovel my tracks for me at the end of the day when I was just parking up, and I was like, I was just kind of like, yeah, whatever, nobody deal, but anytime I ever asked them to do anything or and it wasn't but hey Dave, I need you to go run this machine today, and or hey, I I always go, Hey, I know this is gonna suck, but right we get we got a BS test today, so meaning you gotta figure this one out. Well, okay. He'd always laugh and say, Oh shit, here we go again. But yeah, doing that kind of stuff, I think when you have somebody when you get put in that spot where you need somebody to go do a tough job or a shitty job, and it's not less he always ran dozier for me, but some of the times I needed to put him in an excavator and he was damn good in one.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:17

And if there was some times I really needed somebody to go in the mud or grade some mud or something like that, and hey, you need to do it in one shot. And he would go and do it. Yeah. And I think just if you had mindset, people are a lot more willing to do stuff to help you out that may not necessarily be their job, Curtis Ari.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:43

Yeah, man. No, it's solid, solid advice. Mr. Tim, did you have fun? Oh yeah, yes, sir. Me too, man. Good times.