Betting on People, Not Balance Sheets w/ Bryan Peters (DT 463)

Summary

Dirt Talk Podcast Episode 463

“Betting on People, Not Balance Sheets” w/ Bryan Peters
July 23, 2026
Host: Aaron “Scotty” Witt (BuildWitt)
Guest: Bryan Peters (Founder, AdvancedRack Equipment)

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Episode Overview

In this candid, free-flowing discussion, Aaron Witt sits down with Bryan Peters, founder of AdvancedRack Equipment—a rental business Bryan grew from a single used skid steer in 2021 while holding down a full-time job. The two reflect on money, the changing values of newer generations in construction, the fragmentation and opportunity within the industry, and why sustainably building people—not just balance sheets—is the way forward. Throughout, Bryan shares stories from his entrepreneurial journey and the importance of community, personal growth, and intentional leadership in construction.

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Key Topics and Insights

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1. Re-examining Success and What Truly Matters

Time: [02:40] – [07:40]

• Both speakers reflect on societal pressures to chase material measures of success—wealth, property, and status—and how these don’t ultimately provide lasting fulfillment.
• Scotty describes environments of extreme wealth, from Aspen to Dubai, and concludes that “none of that is fulfilling. It doesn’t fill your cup.” ([04:44] Bryan Peters)
• They agree that joy comes from family, faith, true friendships, and the human connections built through life and business, not from accumulating more.
• Quote:

  “There’s always something bigger to chase... you need to almost run in the opposite direction. Looking at your family, looking at my faith in God, those are the places for me that bring joy... That’s where joy is.” (Bryan Peters, [05:02])

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2. Individualism vs. Community

Time: [07:40] – [11:15]

• Discussion of American individualism: the “I can do it alone” mindset, its strengths in innovation and self-drive, but also the isolation and lack of community it can cause.
• Scotty shares observations from Europe, admiring the sense of community in densely-packed cities, contrasting with the isolating spread of suburban America.
• Reflection on balancing self-reliance with the need for communal support.
• Quote:

  “America is great because we have that individualism... Tell me I can’t, and I’ll prove to you I can…but if that’s the only thing, I don’t think it’s healthy.” (Scotty, [09:27])

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3. Business as a Vehicle for Community

Time: [09:59] – [14:43]

• Both propose that business—especially small business—is uniquely suited to cultivate community in America, especially as larger institutions (government, big corporations) focus more on division or profit maximization.
• Bryan and Scotty discuss the negative impact of running businesses solely by numbers—leading to alienated workforces, poor industry image, and lack of investment in people.
• A generational perspective: Millennials and younger workers are less satisfied with the “bullshit bill of goods” of the American Dream and want more meaningful work and connection.
• Quote:

  “Do we actually have a people problem, or do we have a business problem? ...We have an operational problem within our industry and how we treat people.” (Bryan Peters, [40:33])

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4. Industry Fragmentation: Liability or Asset?

Time: [36:00] – [39:34]

• The construction industry’s fragmentation (many small, independent businesses) is often viewed as a weakness, but Bryan and Scotty argue it’s a hidden strength.
• Large, consolidated companies lose touch with humanity and community; fragmentation enables thousands of business owners to invest personally in their people.
• Fragmentation has contributed to lagging productivity in construction, but it also offers chance for vibrant, people-centric cultures.
• Quote:

  “The fragmentation has been a liability. I think it's an asset big picture if we can figure out how to become more productive.” (Scotty, [37:32])

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5. Profitability, Margins, and Investing in People

Time: [37:53] – [43:39]

• Construction profitability lags behind other industries; business owners squirrel away profit out of fear (e.g., another 2008 scenario) and invest in equipment (a balance sheet asset), not people.
• This leads to the labor shortage and recruitment crisis: “Why don’t people want to work here? ...Where is it? I don’t see it anywhere.” (Scotty, [39:12])
• Not all are failing: Business with a strong people culture are magnets for talent, disproving the idea that it’s impossible to hire.
• Quote:

  “There are some people that have businesses that other people actually want to work at.” (Bryan Peters, [40:33])

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6. Fixing the Industry: Betting on People, Not Balance Sheets

Time: [43:39] – [57:04]

• The path forward isn’t more institutional capital or consolidation; it’s empowering small businesses to invest in people—sharing profit and value at all levels.
• Dangers of private equity and institutional capital: “Their end goal is to just flip it.” (Bryan Peters, [56:49])
• Sharing examples of bonus structures and intentional ownership transitions (ESOPs or otherwise) as ways to avoid the “evil empire” trap and retain community as companies scale.
• Quote:

  “I personally could not sleep at night if I went and took a huge fucking check and no one else at the company benefited from that.” (Scotty, [67:03])

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7. Entrepreneurship, Risk, and Fulfillment

Time: [67:12] – [78:05]

• Bryan’s journey: leaving the family business and a secure salary to go all-in on AdvancedRack; feelings of “an elephant off my chest” once he committed ([73:14]).
• Value of pursuing work that truly excites you—even if it means leaving comfort, fighting through fear, and betting on yourself.
• Scotty and Bryan agree that many are trapped by comfort, not uncomfort. The real risk is ignoring the entrepreneurial call and living unfulfilled.
• Quote:

  “To prove how money does absolutely nothing for you, go get paid a whole bunch of money and be doing something you don’t want to do.” (Bryan Peters, [75:49])

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8. Discipline, Growth, and the Building Phase

Time: [90:33] – [92:55]

• Reflections on building discipline, referencing habits like 75 Hard, and acknowledging that discipline is won and lost daily.
• Both agree: you’re either building discipline each day or losing it; consistent self-improvement is key both personally and in business.
• Quote:

  “You're either building it or you're losing it… Did I do more today? Cool. I did more today. I won the day.” (Scotty, [91:00])

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9. Leadership, Succession, and Ownership

Time: [58:30] – [66:28]

• Discussing acquisitions, ESOPs, profit-sharing models, and leadership succession—recognizing it’s hard to maintain a people-first culture when confronted with big buyout offers.
• Both seek sustainable ways for employees to meaningfully participate in the value they help create.
• Quote:

  “How do you maintain the culture that you build because inevitably you’re going to build that if that’s what you’re trying to achieve.” (Bryan Peters, [35:37])

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10. Generational Change, Family, and Human Values

Time: [94:45] – Close

• Reflections on family, breaking cycles, addressing inherited “demons,” and striving to be conscious, value-driven leaders for the next generation.
• Emphasis on how the next wave is re-defining what matters—seeking more meaning, better work-life balance, and richer personal and professional relationships.
• Quote:

  “Are we soft, or do we just value different things? …That means a lot more to me than a number in a bank account.” (Bryan Peters, [97:35])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “None of that is fulfilling. It does not fill your cup. People try to make it fill your cup. …You need to almost run in the opposite direction.” (Bryan Peters, [04:44])
• “America is great because we have that individualism... Tell me I can't, and I'll prove to you I can. …But if that's the only thing, I don't think it's healthy.” (Scotty, [09:27])
• “Do we actually have a people problem, or do we have a business problem?” (Bryan Peters, [40:33])
• “I think the opportunity is in small business. I think people want community. …I don't think a lot of people want to go work for Fortune 100 companies anymore.” (Scotty, [47:10])
• “I personally could not sleep at night if I went and took a huge fucking check and no one else at the company benefited from that.” (Scotty, [67:03])
• “To prove how money does absolutely nothing for you, go get paid a whole bunch of money and be doing something you don't want to do.” (Bryan Peters, [75:49])
• "You're either building it or you're losing it... Today is it." (Scotty, [91:00])
• "Are we soft, or do we just value different things? …That means a lot more to me than a number in a bank account." (Bryan Peters, [97:35])

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Key Takeaways

• Redefining Success: The next generation of the construction industry doesn’t see wealth or “the American Dream” as the ultimate goals—what matters is the positive impact on people and communities.
• Industry Opportunity: Fragmentation is not a curse, but a competitive advantage—small businesses can drive positive change by prioritizing people and culture.
• Real Leadership: True leaders focus on sharing success, creating transparency, and building cultures that retain humanity and joy at their core.
• Entrepreneurial Courage: Entrepreneurship requires stepping out of comfort, fighting fear, and sometimes breaking with family or tradition in pursuit of true fulfillment.
• Personal Discipline: Growth, self-improvement, and business progress are daily commitments—neither discipline nor culture is ever “finished.”
• Generational Shift: Running up the score on balance sheets means little if nothing is left for the next generation; sustainable, people-centered businesses are the future.

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Recommended Listening Points (Timestamps)

• [04:44] – The emptiness of material success and societal definitions
• [09:27] – American individualism and its strengths/limits
• [37:32] – How construction’s fragmentation can be an asset
• [40:33] – People problem or business problem?
• [56:49] – The hollow promise of institutional capital (PE/VC)
• [67:03] – Sharing proceeds and the ethics of exits
• [75:49] – Leaving comfort for fulfillment
• [91:00] – Discipline: “You’re either building it or you’re losing it”
• [97:35] – Generational differences and what really matters

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For anyone navigating construction, business, or life’s big questions, this conversation is full of wisdom, humility, and an urgent call to build companies—and communities—that serve people, not just balance sheets.

Transcript

[Scotty]

This episode of the Dirt Talk podcast is with Brian Peters, who's founder of AdvancedRack Equipment. AdvanceTrack is a construction equipment rental company he built from a single used skid steer in 2021 while working a full time job. And he's a former operator in the family equipment business that first lit his entrepreneurial fire at age 14. He walked away from a comfortable salary, went all in on his own company and spent a year navigating far more uncertainty than he before the business finally found its footing. He reveals why construction's fragmentation is not the industry's liability, but its greatest asset. And why the only way to fix a broken industry isn't through institutional capital or consolidation, but through small businesses that can choose to pour into their people instead of chasing a number on a balance sheet. Brian has been a friend of mine since I met him in I think early 2019 when he was with his family equipment business in Texas. I have become friends with him since, have always kept up with what he's got going. He started advanced track in 2021, was very excited for him even though he was working for another company at the time. It was kind of this side hustle. And then I got really excited for him when he went all in just a few years ago and has since absolutely taken off. He is brilliant. He understands equipment better than just about anybody. And I could not be happier for his success where he's going. And I think all of this is just the beginning. So I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did. Here it is. Brian Peters, Advanced Track Equipment. Are you in Dallas?

[Brian Peters]

Where are you? We live in Argyle, so like just south of Denton. So yeah. And so, you know, I left Moss in January of 25 and we thought heavily about moving back down to, you know, San Marcos, New Braunfels, Dripping Springs area.

[Scotty]

Pretty, I really like it down there.

[Brian Peters]

We do, we really like it, but it's a little more, it's a little less our speed, I guess is what I would say.

[Scotty]

That's fair.

[Brian Peters]

And, and we like, you know, the conservative values in Dallas and you know, know we found a church and just really have, you know, started to build a community for the first time since we were in Bakersfield. And for us that's been eight years now. So it's been, it's been a really good thing for us as a family.

[Scotty]

That's good.

[Brian Peters]

But I say all that, say that, you know, you're, you're dealing with that kind of, that keeping up with the Joneses that everyone has and it's hard to. It's hard to pull yourself out of it. It really is. Because you. It's like everyone that you meet and interact with, it's like, oh, yeah, you've got that. Okay, well, then, you know, someone else needs this or whatever, and you. You start to, like, harbor envy and you don't even realize it. Right. Like, and it. And it may not be for, like, the thing that that person has. It may be for their business or their. Their quote, unquote success that they've had. But then you get that stuff, right? And then it goes back to Scotty's comment, right? It's like, what is it for?

[Scotty]

And that. That's why I'm really. I'm more and more and more and more grateful that I grew up the way I did, which is, in a way, most people don't grow up. I grew up around a shitload of money. Everybody had so much money. Like, private planes, boats.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah.

[Scotty]

Not two houses. At least three houses. Like, we were the only ones that didn't really have that kind of stuff. My dad was like, you know, the. We were, like, the lesser than in this world. He was still. We were very well off. We were doing just fine. And I've been around it enough to know it's like, it's not that great. It's fine. Like, some of the stuff is pretty cool. Yeah. Like, do I want a plane? You bet I want a plane. But the. All the glitz and the glam. Or I thought about it, in December, I was in Abu Dhabi in Dubai. Then a few weeks later, I was in Aspen. So two of the wealthiest places in the world. And Aspen in December is like, that's where Jeff Bezos is. And everybody is hanging out. And I'm just looking around the town and thinking about it. The whole time, I'm just like, this is. This is it, man. Like, this is what people work their whole life to. This. This is it.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah.

[Scotty]

You go to Aspen in December, and I'm here with these people and it's fine. But, like, I don't know, I could sit here and for a few hours tell you places that I've been that are better.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah.

[Scotty]

I think.

[Brian Peters]

I think for me, what I've realized is, like, none of that is fulfilling.

[Scotty]

No.

[Brian Peters]

Like, it doesn't. It does not fill your cup. I mean, people try to make it fill your cup. Right. And I think for me, it probably. I probably went through, like, as I've got. As I think back on my life, I've probably gone through those Phases where it's like, oh, I want that, because I want to be able to do this. And then I want that. Right? And it's. You just think bigger and bigger and bigger. And once you get to those. Those, you know, milestones, if you will, and you cross over to the other side, it's like Scotty said, it's like waking up a Masters winner. You're. Yeah, it's cool you did that. Right. But it's still the next day, right? And there's always something bigger to chase. There's always. So I think you need to find the joy in life, right. That's outside of anything that, you know, what I think our society has labeled as success, Right. You need to almost run in the opposite direction. Like, entirely opposite direction. And I think that looking at your family, looking at, for me, my faith in God, those are the places for me that bring joy. Right. My friendships, like, true friendships, people that'll call you on your BS and be like, hey, man, you. You need to write the ship right to me, like, that's where joy is. Right?

[Scotty]

Yeah. I've been thinking about this over the past few days, few weeks especially, too, with the Europe trip. Yeah. What I really like about Europe, I've spent a fair amount of time there. I've seen quite a bit of Western Europe. I've never seen Eastern Europe. I like, though, how human it feels because everybody is together in a sense. You don't feel isolated there. Everybody. You're walking down the street and there's people just hanging out everywhere. There's like. I don't know if I'd want to live that way, but I really appreciate how they live. And it's. It's so. It's so dense. It's so compact. And so everybody's kind of in it together in a sense. And there's this. There's this community feel that just doesn't really exist as much in the States. Like, even I came back to my neighborhood in Tennessee, and it's just, you know, so spread out and it's so isolating in a way. Like, you're around. You're kind of around all these people, but you have no idea who any of these people really are. Like, there's really no sense of community. And maybe that's a romantic way of looking at it, but, I mean, it was everywhere. It was everywhere I went. Like, I just kind of observed. But in Italy and in Switzerland and in the Netherlands and in Belgium and in France and in Norway, like, I went to quite a few places this Trip. And it's all kind of the same. Like, you just feel communal. Yeah, it made me feel a little bit more connected. It made me feel a little bit more human, which was so, well, interesting feeling again.

[Brian Peters]

Like, I think that we have, you know, in. In. In the States, I feel like we have this mentality. It's like, hey, this is all on you. This is all on me. It's. It's very individualized, very individual. And so we go down these path, like, I don't need you. I don't need you. Right. Like, I can do this myself. Right. Like, you know, someone in my life used to always say, like, I can do everything, right? Like, I don't need you. I can do everything. And to me, that's not. I mean, again, like, from a faith standpoint, it's not biblically true, Right. But two, it's just not true in general. Like, yeah, sure, some people have built all of that stuff, and then what do they have? Right? They have a whole bunch of stuff. And. Or what? And again, like, that stuff can be literal things. It could be money, could be businesses, could be whatever, but they're alone. And so I think that when we think about, like, community, that's been. And I've wrestled with this big time because I've had some opportunities to take on partners. And part of me is, like, wants to take on a partner. Just so I'm, like, in the trenches with someone. Right. But then the other side of me is like, no, don't do that. Don't give away equity, right? So it's like this constant struggle, right, of like, hey, I'm gonna. I wanna do this, but I don't want to do this. Right. And. But at the same time, it's like, there's this. When you do have that sense of community and you put your trust and in other people around you, right. And their ability to. To help you through whatever it is you're going through. I don't know. I just think you. I think that's where you discover, like, happiness and joy in life. Right?

[Scotty]

Yeah. And I think it's a balance. I think America is great because we have that individualism. The way I. I explain it to people is we have this, like, you attitude.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah.

[Scotty]

That just doesn't exist anywhere else. I've been in the world. It's just not there. And I think that's really unique. Like, I do think that that's. Tell me. I can't.

[Brian Peters]

That's right. And I'll prove to you I can.

[Scotty]

Yeah, you don't think I can. All right, you, bud. Just wait and watch. Let's go.

[Brian Peters]

Y.

[Scotty]

And that's created a lot of value in my life and people around me and in. In. In everything we have in our world. But then if that's the only thing, I don't think it's healthy. And I. I think.

[Brian Peters]

Well, I think you've missed it.

[Scotty]

Yeah. And I think community in the States is missing. And I think you can. I almost see business as a way to create that. I'm really trying to think more about how. How do we create community within our business with our people? I don't think. I think we did a good job at it, and then we kind of got away from it, and I want to get back to it. How do we create community with our customers? How do we create community with dirtworld? That's a great example. How do we create a community with even social media, with podcasts, and make people feel like they're along for the ride, they're with us. And connect the industry, make the industry a community. And that's what's got me frustrated with a lot of the people in the industry, the leadership. Those that have got the industry here is like, they're kind of missing the whole point. They're just like, what? Let me just keep running the score up even more. And I'm watching them like, what's the point of just running the score up more? Like, how much more money do you need? What are you even doing with all this money? Where's it going to go? You're going to give it to your kids? Okay, cool. How's that going to go? How is that going to go? And you're going to go stuff it in. Go give it to JP Morgan. They're not making the world a better place with it, let me tell you. They're not shoveling it back into the US Economy and into construction.

[Brian Peters]

No, I think these business owners, and I don't fault them because I think it's just. It's been the way that society has kind of fueled people. Right. Like, for. For the last several decades. So I don't fault them for it. And I think that we have. To your point, I think the United States has always had this can do attitude. Right? Like, prove to me. Let me prove you wrong. Right? You think I can't do this? I'm gonna prove to you I can. But again, it. It isolates that mentality. Isolates. And what we're. And I think, like, the millennial generation and those, you know, I Guess behind us, I think they're in a position where that there's. We want more than that, right? Like, we want more than just that aspect of it.

[Scotty]

And it's. We've learned that it's a bullshit bill of goods.

[Brian Peters]

Well, yeah, yeah.

[Scotty]

Like, I watched my dad do the American Dream. Run the fucking play, man. He went to higher education. He became very highly educated. He got a graduate degree after law school from NYU. Big deal. And then went and clerked in Washington D.C. and then went and worked for big law firms and then retired at Deloitte as a director. He's got this pension. He's got a 401k. He's bought a house in Paradise Valley, Arizona. It's appreciating like crazy.

[Brian Peters]

He's checked all, every box.

[Scotty]

He's checked every box. He's run the play to a fucking T. Yeah. And as has done it perfectly.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah.

[Scotty]

And then you see him later in life. He hasn't spoken to me in four and a half, you know, you know how this is. I've been there, brother. And he doesn't do anything. And so for me it's like, what was the point to all of that? What was the play? What, why, why do all of this? And, and for me as the next generation too, coming up, it's like, okay, congratulations, you have this house and you're making all this fucking money and it's appreciated so, so much. Great. Good for you. One, you're not even doing anything with it. And two, I can't even think of buying a house right now. Can't even think about it because real estate's just out of fucking control. Yeah.

[Brian Peters]

It's crazy.

[Scotty]

I'm 31 years old. I'm still renting above somebody's garage in their backyard. It's kind of my decision, but financially, I can't go buy a house right now. And people are like, oh, come on, you can. I'm like, no, I cannot afford to buy a house right now at 31 years old. Which is fine because I don't have a wife and kids yet, thank God. But if I do, if I did have two kids, if I wanted two kids, two kids, which isn't even the amount of kids needed to grow the population. That's three kids. So if I wanted two kids and a family and I wanted to go to Disneyland once a year and then maybe the beach once a year, I don't, I can't even think about skiing right now. But, but, and I, I wanted a single income household and I just Wanted, like, to drive a Honda with my. My spouse driving a Toyota.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah.

[Scotty]

Good luck.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah, it is. It's crazy.

[Scotty]

Good luck. And then you've got the boomers, like, well, we need more. No, don't. Don't think about cutting our Social Security. Don't think about cutting our benefit. We want more, more, more. And then let's. Let's do more war and let's just. Let's just go more. Let's just do more.

[Brian Peters]

Well, I feel like that goes back to. That goes back to what we were talking about earlier, right. Like, with our generation. I feel like we're seeing this and we're going, hey, this isn't. That's not the life that we want to live. Right. And, you know, I think my mom told me this the other day. She said that we were talking about just, you know, my wife and I trying to instill like the 90s era of growing up into our kids. Right. Like that. The good parts of it. Right. And, you know, the go play outside and not have to worry about things and, you know, go, you know, ride your bike and no devices and yada, yada, yada. Right. And we want that for our kids.

[Scotty]

Right.

[Brian Peters]

Cause we think it was great for us. But then I look at my mom and I'm like, well, she probably had something and then was trying to give that to me. Right. And so on. And so here we are, here we land in this collision zone of these different thought ideas when it comes to how we're raising our kids and what we value in life, et cetera. And. Yeah. And I think human history probably proves that there's always been people that want more and more and more and more. Right. And they can never get enough.

[Scotty]

Yeah.

[Brian Peters]

And what happened to them? And they end up alone or they end up dead or whatever. Right. The stories are always demise. Right. There's never a positive thing. And I think that's what I keep going back to is like, you know, and I've had a lot of thoughts about, you know, I remember growing up and it was. There was a count of tractors that we wanted to own. Right? Now I'm like, that's probably still somewhere in the back of my head. It's probably. That's probably something that's going to be hard for me to just completely cut out of my system.

[Scotty]

Sure.

[Brian Peters]

Right. But there's another side of me now that's like, hey, can we build a really good business with 50 machines and just be like, check the boxes that we want to check, pour into our employees Pour into our community, pour into the vendors and our customers, like you were saying, Right. How do we do that and do it really well? And Maybe that's at 1,000 machines, maybe it's at 50 machines. I don't know. Maybe it's at 38 machines. Right. But to me, I think the value is in something different. And that's where I think we have to go as an industry. Right. Because there's a lot of people. And you're right. I think construction presents an amazing opportunity for people to change the way and what things, you know, that folks value because you employ so many people. I mean, we're definitely not in that situation. But from a contractor's perspective, I think about the contractor that's doing 5, 6, 7, $10 million a year, they have a lot of people who work for them, Right. It's not a hundred, right? Probably, but it's still a big portion of people that you can impact and impact their lives in a positive way. And sure, I think that has a lot to do with money and being able to provide them a means to provide for their family, but it's also the way they're treated. And I think this is probably beating a dead horse. I think there's a lot of folks that have talked about this on your podcast, but there's a huge opportunity here, and. And I think that we have to kind of grab it.

[Scotty]

And that. That's what I'm trying to get back to. I've been. This was another thing I thought about for a few weeks now. Traveling by yourself is really nice because you can just think it's.

[Brian Peters]

It's great.

[Scotty]

I've been pretty negative. And even what I was just doing five minutes ago, 10 minutes ago, it's like, yeah, everything's locked.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah.

[Scotty]

And, but, but, but I think I've been complaining too much. And that's not really what I believe. I don't just believe everything's screwed. And I think that's the opportunity because I think, like, you, me, our generation has been shown this whole American dream kind of bullshit. And even now, it's crazy. Like, I'm sitting here, I'm like, I think the whole stock market's kind of just a sham. I think 401ks are actually mostly bullshit. Like, health care in the United States is horrendous. Like, the whole thing, I'm fighting with an insurance company right now. I'm like, this is the biggest scam in the world. Like, I think. But, but, but I think all of these things have kind of shown Their hand. And it's like, okay, society. I think the world can be a lot better. Like, I watched. I was driving by, I was in Zurich. It was in Zurich a week and a half ago. Schools getting let out and all these kids, they're like 6 years old, 7 years old, these small kids, they're all just leaving school and they're just walking home. They're just, they're all just leaving.

[Brian Peters]

And there's not a car line. No. A pickup line a mile long?

[Scotty]

No, there's no. Yeah. With a bunch of G wagons, you know, and Range Rovers.

[Brian Peters]

No G wagons in range. Well, no, not in my neighborhood. Yeah.

[Scotty]

Yeah, but in Dallas. Yeah, that's. That's the go to but. And some of them are getting on bikes and riding bikes. Some of them are walking. Some of them are going down the stairs into the metro system. Six, seven years old. And I'm just like, that's. That's beautiful. Why. Why don't we live in a world like this and maybe in small pockets within the States we do. But. But not necessarily. And I think. But that's the opportunity. And it's like the government is not gonna do it. I don't really have faith in the government doing it, but I don't think we need the government to do it. I think we can actually do it.

[Brian Peters]

Do you think it's because, like, in Europe everything is. And I guess just from my vantage point, Right. And the limited experiences that I've had in Europe, but that everything's closer together. Right. Like, and you have small part of countries. Right. Because like here you think about some of that stuff, like our education system and even like Dallas and Fort Worth, Right. These, you put them together and they're larger than several European countries. Right. So I wonder if like that space, like literal geographic space and the boundaries.

[Scotty]

Yes.

[Brian Peters]

That, you know, kind of allow you to live in an area where you feel connected to the community and it's a community that you want to be connected with.

[Scotty]

I just mean, like. Yes, I think that's part of it. Europe is twice as dense as America. So it's. And I don't want to be the guy, the American that goes to Europe and comes back to America. Like, we need to be a Europe. I don't, I don't want to be like Europe.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah.

[Scotty]

I just want to be better as America. And I see more of America than most people. From countryside to inner cities, from middle of nowhere, North Dakota to Manhattan. Within weeks, you know, just. Just few weeks, we can be better. We're better than this. And the point, like, with the kids is like, I don't. We don't need all the kids walking home. But like, we live in a society in which do we want our kids walking home in Detroit or even Nashville here?

[Brian Peters]

Well, we don't trust, right? There's like no trust, right. Because we don't trust other people whatsoever. Right. Like, so the fear, There's a fear aspect of it that if I let my kid walk home from school at 6 years old or 7 years old, right, the creepy man in the van's gonna drive by and offer my 7 year old son candy. Right. Or something like that, right? We always go worst case scenario.

[Scotty]

Statistically speaking, kids are far safer today than they were in the 90s in the US but it's far more isolated.

[Brian Peters]

That's right.

[Scotty]

Yes.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah. And so I think that's again, like, we go back to this community aspect, right? Where it's like, hey, we don't trust those around us. We don't, you know, we choose to only see the differences and push everyone away. Right? Like, I mean, that's. And I think Covid was a huge piece of that, at least from my vantage point, from what I saw, right? Cause I saw people that were like, oh, get your kids vaxxed, don't get your kids vaccine. Oh, you don't vaccinate.

[Scotty]

Yeah, fuck you.

[Brian Peters]

Exactly. Right? So it's like dividing lines. And then it's, you know, you don't, you know, you choose to say one thing, one social justice thing, and I choose to say another one. Well, now we can't be friends. Now you're a racist, right? Yeah, now you're a racist. And now we can't even have dinner with our own family members, right? So like, we just choose to focus on only the negative and push ourselves, divide ourselves, allow ourselves to be divided instead of seeing like, hey, you're a good person, right? Like, I want to be your friend. Right? Or and maybe it's not that we're even that close of a friendship, but we, you know, we can, we can be in community together, right?

[Scotty]

And we all, we all want the same thing.

[Brian Peters]

That's right.

[Scotty]

Like, even I was again, I'm. I'm gonna stop saying where I was because I don't want to be like, oh, well, you, we get it. You travel. I was in a city the other.

[Brian Peters]

You're gonna get those comments on this.

[Scotty]

Well, I was in a city one day and it's beautiful and it's clean, and then the next day I'm in a city and there's just fucking trash everywhere.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah.

[Scotty]

And I'm thinking about, like, how does this happen? Because no one really wants to live in a shitty place.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah.

[Scotty]

No one wants trash everywhere. Like, I think everybody would be if you were given the option, hey, do you want trash everywhere or no trash? You're going to choose no trash. But why. So why do some places have trash everywhere? Like, I was. I was just thinking through, like.

[Brian Peters]

But it's funny you mentioned that my wife is traveling and she's got her boys with her, and she was sending me some pictures of some places that we used to go to a lot. Right? And she's like, I just can't believe. Like, it's so. Everything is dead. Like, all of the. There's. There's no grass on the sides of the freeways or on the sides of the roads. And then there's just trash and just crap everywhere. Right? And she's like, I don't remember it being like this. Like, how did we get here?

[Scotty]

How did we get here?

[Brian Peters]

Because, like, are we that undisciplined or are we that, you know, just that we just don't value or don't give a crap about any of that stuff, that we're just going to allow ourselves to have communities that look like that?

[Scotty]

But how? Like, the question then goes, like, again, I'm trying to come at this, and I really genuinely have a very positive worldview. I think this is the craziest, coolest time to be alive, because we're aware of this. But I go to like, okay, there's trash everywhere. No one wants that. How do we. How do we get back on track?

[Brian Peters]

Yeah.

[Scotty]

How do we create a culture in which that's just not okay? How do you. How do you do that? Like, how does that. How do you even facilitate that? And one, it can and probably should come from the government, but I don't think that's happening anytime soon. Our government, we're. We're. We're way busier.

[Brian Peters]

We're far too focused on social. Other types of social issues that do a much better job of dividing.

[Scotty]

We have. We have to defy divide. So we can continue insider trading.

[Brian Peters]

Right.

[Scotty]

So we can continue investing in Boeing to go blow up the world, etc. Like, we want to. It's good. I'm king of the castle. I want to stay king, man. I don't want to leave this place.

[Brian Peters]

Sure.

[Scotty]

So I get it. If I was insider trading too, I would. Yes. I still want it to go away.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah.

[Scotty]

Of course I want. I want more net worth, not less. But. But I think. I don't think we, again, need the government to do it. I think you can do it through business, and I think you could do it through faith.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah.

[Scotty]

Like, those are the two things that I see in my life that I'm like, all right, I think I can actually make a difference in the world with business. And I think it starts with our business. Like, okay, if I want to create better community in the United States of America and the world, I just want

[Brian Peters]

to say one thing. Before you go down this path, it requires a departure from me.

[Scotty]

Yeah, well, right.

[Brian Peters]

I mean, think about it. The way that we get into these positions is we stay solely focused on ourselves and our own bubble, and we basically throw a middle finger to everything and everyone around us.

[Scotty]

I've done that.

[Brian Peters]

Oh, me too.

[Scotty]

I've done that for 10 years, dude.

[Brian Peters]

Me too.

[Scotty]

Maybe my whole life.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's how we're raised, right? We're again, like, we go back to this individualized. And I guess I'm kind of in a weird age because I was. I'm old enough to remember certain times without smartphones in hand, but I'm also, you know, young enough to have had a smartphone for now the majority of my life. Right. But I think about that, and I think about some of the, like, what that creates, right. In our lives. Right. It creates this, like, literal bubble that you can go into and you. Can. You. You get some sort of satisfaction, this feeling of community. Right. Because you're interacting with other people and. But you're not doing it like this. You're not doing it face to face. And so it just continues to promote that me, me, me, me, me mentality. And I think that in order to get what you want, what you're talking about, and to see true change, it has to be a departure from that.

[Scotty]

Yeah, I think that's the root. I think that's a beautiful point. And I think I've kind of done that, like, my whole life, because that's how I was raised. To your point, I was raised. My dad told me, my whole life, I'm raising you to be independent.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah.

[Scotty]

Because that was his play, which I get, and I'm grateful that he raised me that way. So I became 18 as an adult, quote, unquote, still a kid. You don't know what the hell is going on. 18. But I became an adult, and I just. I went, like, all in on being independent because one household was. My parents got divorced one Household was just chaos. And so I think when, by the time I got to 18 and I. And I got out of that, I just pulled the chute and I was just like, fuck this, I'm out, dude. Like, self preservation almost. And then I went full independent. I've always kind of been independent. It's part of, I think, just ingrained within me. But then I. I got to a point where it's like, dude, I'm on my own, man. I better figure this out. Which has served me in a lot of ways. But that is where a lot of friction was with my dad, ironically, was like, I became independent. And I think that was. That became a problem with him because it's like, well, I think he has issues with people leaving. And it's like, I'm leaving. You raised me to be independent. I'm independent. I don't really need what's going on here. I'm gonna go do my own thing. And that was a problem. And then for him, and then now I'm resentful because it's like, dude, I'm just, I'm running the play that you have trained me for two decades to run. And you're upset about that now? What. And now looking back on it, it's like, yeah, I. I mean, not. Probably not the best way to handle it, you know, and even with my family, my siblings and my mom, it's. I've 100% been super selfish, which you can argue it requires a lot of selfishness to go create anything substantial, which is, it's. It's weird. But then you also have to do it with other people, and it doesn't have to be one or the other. Like, it can be a dichotomy.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah.

[Scotty]

And even now.

[Brian Peters]

Well, I think it is a dichotomy. It has to be that.

[Scotty]

It has to be. Yes. But I'm like, I'm 31, I'm single. I've tried relationships many times over, hasn't worked out many times. I'm grateful for that. I've learned a lot. But you also have to be self aware enough to be like, yeah, they're all not crazy. Maybe I'm the asshole. Yeah, maybe I'm just.

[Brian Peters]

I think that as we. I think that as we go through life, you know, if you're not paying attention and you're not learning from, like, the past, your and your experiences as you walk through life, like, you're missing, you're missing the point. Right. Like, we're. I think we're all on a constant journey or an endless journey, rather, to. To. To be better. We're never going to be perfect, right? We're never going to be perfect. We're never going to achieve that. And so, you know, in my mind, it's, how can I wake up and be better today? Right? How can I, you know, how can I depart from me, right, and my selfishness and get more towards helping someone else do something? Maybe that's today helping my son swim, or maybe that's tomorrow helping the neighbor down the street that gets ill. Maybe that's. Whatever it is, but, like, remove yourself and don't do it. And this is where I think so many people, they go through life and they live this like, oh, I'm a philanthropist, right? And they have this idea that, you know, they do so much good for all these other people, but they're doing it. With something attached to it. Right. Like a desire to get something in return.

[Scotty]

Yeah. Or it's, I've made all the money by being a shit bag.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah. So now look at me. Look how good I am.

[Scotty]

I'm gonna go build a foundation. Yeah. Actually doesn't give money away and actually makes more money. It's kind of just a tax scheme, but makes me feel better with my money.

[Brian Peters]

So I think again, like, if you can truly depart from me, right, and that selfishness attitude and really do things because you genuinely care for other people and you want to pour into the people that are around you, I think you'll find a level of joy and happiness. Happiness is temporary, right. I don't think you. I think happiness is such a. I don't know. I think we all. It's an overused term in my opinion. Right. We all think that we want happiness. Right. I think what you truly want is joy. Right. You want to live your life in a constant state of being joyful for the situations that you're in. Happiness is an emotion that's going to pop up. And our pastor always says your emotions need to be in the backseat in car seats. They can't ever drive the bus. They got to be in car seats. So it's there, and it's there for a reason. It's God given. We're meant to enjoy that happiness emotion, but it's temporary. And so I think that as we go through life again, depart from that and focus on those around you and focus on how you can make them better. And I think business is a natural way to do that. Because, number one, I believe that I wasn't given this idea or that I didn't just wake up one day and was like, hey, I'm gonna do this. And it's all on Brian Peters shoulders. I believe truly that this is an idea that was planted in my head by our creator. Right. And to do what with it? Right. And so I think now it's what do I do with it? And how do we utilize the business to pour into those people around us and the people that we interact with? And to your point, business is a huge vessel for that because you interact with so many different people. And how easy is it? Like we've read. I still remember the stack of books that you sent me the first year that we were a customer of yours. And I remember reading through those and reading about these businesses that did things differently. They departed from me. They took that selfish, dare I say, capitalist mentality that so many business owners have. They departed from that and they poured into their people. They provided a different experience to their customers, to their vendors, and it changed things for them. It changed things for them, and it changed things for the communities around them.

[Scotty]

It definitely did. But then you can. I struggle. I struggle a little bit with business as well, because I feel like it can only get big enough. And if you really want it to become super big, you kind of have to join the evil empire to get there.

[Brian Peters]

Yes. It's like politics. Yeah, exactly like politics. There's. Yeah. You know how many people start off like on a school board and they're like, I'm doing this for the right reasons. They sure are at that point. Right. And then they get to mayor. Right. Or then they get to a state representative level or a U.S. congressperson. Right. Eventually there's a. You, you got to walk through that door and you, you got to be on that side or you got to be on the outside.

[Scotty]

Well, not like one of. I think one of the books was Conscious Capitalism, written by John Mackey, started. Co founded Whole Foods and that sold Amazon. It's sold to Amazon.

[Brian Peters]

The Evil Empire.

[Scotty]

The Evil Empire. And. And I'm a customer of the Evil Empire. I. I love the Evil empire. Yeah, I'm. I'm right there.

[Brian Peters]

Very.

[Scotty]

Yeah, I'm a stormtrooper. Let's go. Yeah, I shop it. But it, but it's. It's not the business that he describes. It was back in the day.

[Brian Peters]

Like, it's not that today. No, that's exactly right. Yeah. So how. So, so how do we. And you know, maybe is it, you know, an esop. Is it. I mean, how do you maintain the culture that you want to that you build because you're inevitably, inevitably going to build that if that's, you know, what you're trying to achieve. Right.

[Scotty]

But that, that's where I think the construction industry is so special because we have the fragmentation.

[Brian Peters]

Yes.

[Scotty]

I think, I think, I think you have to be fragmented to do this. I actually think that's how it works. I think it has to be tens of thousands of businesses that can't, anyone can't get too big. Yeah. Or else you kind of become the evil empire. I think the problem is all of these businesses are trying to solve the same shit, which you've probably seen more and more and more in the equipment space because you get to spectate upon a lot of businesses like me. They're all trying to solve the same problems that a lot of other people have already figured out. And everybody's trying to do it their way. There's a lot of snowflake bias. I'm special because this, this, that. It's like, no, you're not. You're building on dot specs. You legally can't be special.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah. I mean we see this in the equipment space too. Like everyone wants to know, what's your differentiator? I'm like, I mean, honestly, I can sit here and be like, oh, we have low hour late model equipment. We have service.

[Scotty]

So is Caterpillar.

[Brian Peters]

So does whole cat.

[Scotty]

Yeah.

[Brian Peters]

So do you know the majority of our competitors? So that's not the differentiator. Okay. Well. And now I can't even afford to buy the stuff that I want to buy because it's so freaking expensive. Right. So. And it doesn't pencil. So it becomes this deal of like, what are we? Yeah. I mean really, it's about relationships. Well, and it's about finding people that enjoy doing business with you and you enjoy doing business with them. And how do we do more of that?

[Scotty]

It's about humans. It's about humanity.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah.

[Scotty]

And I think the construction industry. So the fragmentation has been a liability. I actually think it's an asset big picture if we can figure out how to become more productive. So the fragmentation has created this situation in which we're declining in productivity. So in the past 50 years, the construction industry has declined by about 30% in productivity. So we're doing less with more.

[Brian Peters]

Everyone got soft.

[Scotty]

Yeah, that's exactly it. Nailed it. But we're doing less with more. While US manufacturing, United States manufacturing, not global manufacturing, which is even better, has increased by 400%. The we've, we've invested how much time and Money in safety yet we haven't improved our safety record since 2007. You can argue, you can arguably say it's declined substantially. And profitability then is quite low. So S&P 500 averages between 8 and 10% constructions between 2 and 4% percent. When you have 2 and 4% margins. When you have, when you, when you have that little bit of profitability, you're. You're just. That's just enough to like, kind of squirrel it away for God knows what. Another 2008. Especially if you live through that. You're so scarred from that. Like, I'm going to go build the biggest nest egg I can, because I am terrified of that.

[Brian Peters]

Not me, man. Well, I heard someone say the other day, they said, I can go bankrupt at 100 with a hundred thousand dollars in debt or I can go bankrupt with $100 million in bankruptcy is an incredible thing. You know what? That's a. I really need to not be so worried about going bankrupt.

[Scotty]

But it just, it just leaves. It's human nature. I don't blame them. But it just leaves so little to actually put back into people. Because whatever they do have, they put into equipment because it's an asset. I can put it on a balance

[Brian Peters]

sheet and I get to, I get to write.

[Scotty]

I get to write it off. Yes. It's a. Oh, God forbid I pay taxes. Like, let's just buy more and more and more and more and more machines. Let's not go put anything into people. And then now we're sitting around like, why don't people want to work here? Come on. Like we. You can make so much money in construction. I'm like, where is it? I don't see it anywhere.

[Brian Peters]

So we had this conversation. I told you, I'm in town for this peer group, right. And so we had this conversation a few days ago about, you know, the people problem that the rental industry is having. And I think that it depends on. I think that if you look, there are certain people that are having a people problem.

[Scotty]

Yeah, not everybody.

[Brian Peters]

Not everyone's having a people problem because there's some people that have businesses that other people actually want to work at. And one person in the group was talking about they're just getting off the ground. And she was saying, she was like, I have people from Herc, United, Sunbelt, you name it. Every single place in town that is just waiting for us to get large enough to be able to support their book of business. But they call weekly to ask me where I'm at. How much closer are you to being able to hire me, right?

[Scotty]

Yeah.

[Brian Peters]

And so I look at that and I'm like, do we actually have a people problem or do we have a business problem? Do we have. Do we have an industry? And I think that's the point that you're making and have been making for the better part of almost 10 years now, right?

[Scotty]

Yes.

[Brian Peters]

Rapidly approaching. But we have a business problem, we have an operational problem within our industry and how we treat people. And the people that don't are the people who are doing it differently.

[Scotty]

Yes. And I think like to bring. I'm kind of thinking out loud here, but to bring home. Where I was at before was industry's fragmented. It results in low margins, which then is a low investment in people, which creates the situation we're in right now. We can't bring people in that we need because we kind of suck. That's just how it is. I'm sorry, it's just. I can't say it in a better way, but not everybody sucks. And I think, I think our position is to build an organization that helps companies become better, that keeps their independence. Like I think we keep the industry fragmented, but we help companies become more productive and more efficient, which gives them more money to invest in people, which then allows them to outpace those around them, which then forces those around them to either catch up or go out of business. And through that create this next generation of construction that doesn't necessarily have to give in to the evil empire that is actually rowing in the same direction, that can actually push back upon the evil empire. Because there's a lot of big forces getting pushed upon construction. From insurance, from bonding, from. From legal, from environmental banking equipment. Like we're just going to charge you 20% more. What are you going to do about it, buster? You know, it's. It's like there's almost that attitude materials. Same way. It's like, what are you going to do about it? Where else are you going to get the rocks? Sorry. Like, it's just tough economic conditions. Like, don't look at our quarterly reportings over here like we just did. I know. Another.

[Brian Peters]

I know.

[Scotty]

Record year. A record quarter. Like, ah, it's just so hard. But then, but then. Hey, but okay, the records over there. I know you see the record because we're a public company and we can't hide it. But it's really hard for us to. Okay, so we're going to rock it. $5 more a ton. Sorry. Here's your, here's your email saying it's $5 more. Yeah, I'm not even gonna call you.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah, we're not having a discussion about this yet. Equipment suppliers like me, right? If we dare say, hey, there's a 5% increase on rates because of how tough it is. Right. And the crazy thing is, is the contractors know how expensive the equipment is, right? Like, the difference in what I pay for a cat D6 dozer and what, you know, a contractor in our area pays, they're probably actually paying less for it, probably, to be honest, because. Because we're, you know, a competitor, so they're probably paying less for it. They know what it costs. And then we try to raise our rates, and it's like, no, can't do that.

[Scotty]

My point is, I'm. I don't even blame all these companies. That is, their job is to go make more money, increase shareholder value. Yeah, I understand the game, but we just can't indefinitely increase shareholder value without increasing value for the people actually doing the work, which is kind of what's happened right now. We've got to go increase value for the people doing the work and make them better, which makes the industry better, which actually make these. Makes these businesses more money, which actually makes them better in the grand scheme of things. But they're not going to do it on their own. And so I think we have to kind of organize the industry in a way, make them more effective, which allows them to kind of push back against those forces while still maintaining their integrity to allow us to then get the industry to a healthier place. If this industry is in a healthier place, we're defining where the country's going. We're employing, ultimately impacting tens of millions of people through direct employment, through indirect employment, through families. And we're quite literally building the fabric of our society and determining where our society goes. That, to me, is a pretty cool play. Now, that very. It's like, okay, bucko, you think you can go change the world? Congratulations. I actually think we can. Like. Yeah. I don't see why that's not possible.

[Brian Peters]

Well, I think what it requires and where you're gonna have people that board the bus and you're gonna have people who don't, right? Is it. That's not easy, right? Nothing that you just said is easy. No, and I think that's. But that's. I mean, again, like, we go back to me, right? And like you said, that's the root of it, right? It requires that departure from the infancy of business. Right. To be able to do that. And I think that the Good thing is that there's a lot of people that are younger that have gotten into this space that do want it to be different, right?

[Scotty]

Yes.

[Brian Peters]

They value work life balance, Right. They don't tell their employees or their potential future employee in an interview. You work seven days a week and you'll like it, right? So to me, I look at it, I think there's a lot of opportunity here because there is a lot of folks in the industry that are younger and want something different for themselves. They want it for their families and they want it for the people around them. But it requires that step away from. Because I think when you go back to like what you were saying earlier about what, at what point do we be like, yeah, we've made all this money and what have we done with it? Right? And I think that's the, I guess the self fulfilling prophecy at some point, right, is that it's going to get to a point where you have everything and the people around you have nothing.

[Scotty]

Well, and that's where you see the, the older generation, they have everything and the up and coming generation has nothing. And I'm like, wait a minute, isn't that backwards? Isn't the previous generation supposed to pave the way for the younger generation? But they're the ones saying, you guys need to work harder, like you're spending too much money, that's why you can't afford shit. It's like, no, we can't afford shit because prices are out of control.

[Brian Peters]

Well, they latch onto these, they latch onto these very. I don't think I agree with you. I think that they latch onto the minority of the population when it comes to like our generation. And they're like, oh, look, these guys are lazy. Or these guys want this, right? And so that blows out their per, their perspective, right? And they're like, oh, well, see, it

[Scotty]

validates them and it does. It doesn't make them look in the mirror and be like, oh, how do we get here? Well, maybe I was lied to. Oh yeah, like, maybe I was sold a total false bill of goods. And because that, that would be hard, like to get to the end of life and be like, yeah, I was lied to. I was told retirement was the play. That was it. Man golf, nice community with a bunch of other old people living large in Florida. I was told this was it. This was, this was the game and I'm here now, damn it. Like, what have I done? And so I get, I, again, I get it. Like, I understand. I think there's a ton of opportunity I think the opportunity is in small business. I think people want community. The next generation wants community. I think community can be most effectively served within our society, within small business. I don't think a lot of people want to go work for Fortune 100 companies anymore. And even the S P 500, like, you couldn't pay me enough to go to work for one of these companies now. I wouldn't do it, man. I don't blame people that are. I, I'm not. I'm not demonizing everybody. I get it. We work with some of them. I'm sure it's great. Some places. You could not pay me enough to go to work for some of these big companies. I don't want it.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah.

[Scotty]

I don't. I don't want to not know who I work for. I don't want to just serve shareholders that do not have my best interest in mind. Do not have America's best interest in mind. Oftentimes.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah.

[Scotty]

And it's. It's not. The shareholders aren't Bill and Nancy down the road.

[Brian Peters]

No, you know, that's right. That's exactly right.

[Scotty]

Which is what we've been told. It's just shareholders. And you're. You're the shareholder. You're a shareholder. And it's like, wow, it's just a bunch of individuals behind this company trying to make the world a better place. No, it's not like that. And maybe it was back in the day. It's not like that anymore. It's these giant institutional investors. That's right. That are. That are controlled by a very small amount of people that are trying to dictate where the whole world is going. I don't know if I align with that. And I don't. I don't want to participate. I do know that.

[Brian Peters]

I don't.

[Scotty]

Yes. I don't want to participate in that world. And. And I don't think, again, we have to. That's why I fell in love with construction. I grew up seeing all of the blue chip options out there. I could go to work for this company, that company, whatever company. And. And then fell into construction and was like, wait a minute. This is the coolest shit in the world. I'm. I'm. I'm. It's just me and this crew out here. It was me and a bunch of Mexican guys. Phoenix, Arizona, summer. Sweating our nuts off. Miserable. Swearing at each other all day. Just having a blast.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah.

[Scotty]

And I was like, I don't need to see anything else. I don't need to look at the menu anymore. That's what I'm having. That's what I'm having the rest of my life. I don't need to go play in real estate. I don't need to go play in finance and banking and law and no, you can keep all of it. Congratulations. I want this. I want to go build with people.

[Brian Peters]

Well, I think it's real, it's tangible, right? Like, you perform a job, you know, you're laying pipe in the ground. You started here yesterday and you finished here yesterday afternoon, and you're picking up where you left off. And at the end of the job, you look at it and there's all of a sudden a Walmart on top of it or whatever else that you, that you've helped lay the groundwork for something, right? And in other cases, it's building bridges and roads that. To places that may not have even have had bridges and roads to them before. How cool. Amazing. And I think I've wrestled a lot. You know, my kids are young. I've wrestled a lot because I get this question, like, do you want the boys, like, what's your long term play with at? Do you, do you want the boys to be involved with it? And for the longest time I've been like, no, I don't want them to be involved with it unless they want to be involved with it, right?

[Scotty]

And, and it's thinking ahead, like, how old's your oldest?

[Brian Peters]

Like six, seven. Seven, yeah. So we're thinking very far down the road. But I guess in my defense, a little bit, like I was 14 when I saw, you know, my family start building a business. And I mean, they had a business prior to that, but I wasn't, I wasn't aware enough of what was going on. And at 14, you start paying attention to everything, right? Like you're watching every single thing happen. And that is where, like my entrepreneurial spirit was born, right? And that desire to go do something, you know, and there's so many parallels between our stories, right? Like, I think about, like being raised to be independent, being raised to have a work ethic, you know, so on and so forth and then getting there, right? And it being what it is now. But I think about my kids, right? I'm like, what do I want for them? And again, like, I feel like I'm here for a reason. Feel like I've got the business that we have for a reason and I want my kids to find that. Yeah, right. And if it's this, great, but if it's not this, that's Great, too. Right. Whatever it might be. So, yeah. I don't know. It's a. I definitely think that there's a huge opportunity. I think no one argues that. I think the biggest thing is we don't squander it. Right. And we find ways to utilize, you know, the tools at our fingertips to be able to do that well.

[Scotty]

And that's where I need to get better at instead of just like I've been looking at the previous generation to do it.

[Brian Peters]

Oh, yeah, they're not gonna do it.

[Scotty]

They're not doing it. And it's just. It's made me, in some ways bitter. But again, I'm. I'm trying to be a lot more positive because I. That that really is where I want to be and how I think. And it's like, okay, cool.

[Brian Peters]

Well, the problem is you guys live in the negative. Yeah. And if you live in the negative, you. Nothing ever gets done.

[Scotty]

No.

[Brian Peters]

Right.

[Scotty]

And I haven't been there. I haven't. Because we have been doing. But it's like, all right, cool. You guys aren't going to do this. I will. We will. Or we're going to die trying.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah.

[Scotty]

To me, it's binary. We either do it, we die trying.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah.

[Scotty]

That's it. But someone's got to do it. I've been waiting. I've been asking. Please. You guys are the ones with the money. You've got piles of it. Piles. All right, cool. You're not gonna do it, Jack. We will.

[Brian Peters]

But before you walk out the door, make sure you look at my core values on the wall.

[Scotty]

Yeah.

[Brian Peters]

Make sure you don't. Don't pass by those. Those are really important to me.

[Scotty]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Brian Peters]

As I stuff more cash in my pockets.

[Scotty]

Yeah. But again, I don't blame them. And good for you guys make even more money. I hope you guys make even more money and get more for your kids.

[Brian Peters]

Like, and it's easy. Sit here. It's easy to sit here and play the blame game, right? Yes. It's much harder. It requires a lot more discipline for us to say, okay, we've identified the problem. Let's solve the problem.

[Scotty]

And that. That's where we are. But that's what's so exciting, is like, holy shit. I actually think we know what the problem is now. And it sounds pretty simple, but it's like, it took us 10 years to figure this one out. I'm sorry. It took us a while, but we actually. We don't just understand the root here, but we actually have the ability to go create the Solution, in a way, we have the team to do it. We have the market position to do it. We have the desire, the need for it. It's, like, cool. And we're doing it. So I think people think I'm just running around, and it's my fault for. For them thinking this with a camera, talking shit on the podcast, which I do. I do talk plenty of. Yeah, I love talking shit. Who doesn't like talk shit? But we're also creating a. I think a business that's going to make a huge difference in the industry for. In a very positive way, and that's going to make a bunch of money. Like I told Randy this the other day, it's. We've needed a little bit more money to go do more stuff. We haven't always been the best stewards of the money that we've received. Not out of, not. Not. Not with bad intent. Yeah, never with bad intent. But looking back on it, ego was at play and ignorance was at play, and some other things were definitely at play. But we kind of have the ingredients now, and it's like, listen, if we had a little bit more money, like, to you, you wouldn't even know it was gone. To these people, we could go create so much difference. So much difference. And yet everybody's like, nope, I'm keeping my money. Like, okay, cool, fine, we'll figure it out. And we are. And then I'm gonna make a shitload of money myself. A shitload of money myself. And I'm gonna go do it. I'm gonna go do it. You guys aren't gonna go do it? That's fine. Keep your money. I don't need it. I'm gonna go create it, and I'm gonna go do it. And when I say I'm like, we're gonna go do it. Build it. But that's why, like, I do want a big, influential business, because I think that's the only way you do it. You have to fight fire with fire a little bit. You need. You need your own resources to go execute upon it, and you can't be beholden. Like, we kind of have to do it without raising institutional capital as well. Because, dude, you bring in institutional capital, you go sell a piece to a venture capital fund or to a private equity fund, to a growth equity fund, to any one of these companies.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah.

[Scotty]

The odds of it going wrong are really high.

[Brian Peters]

Well, I think, like you said earlier, right, like, who's backing those companies and what's there, exactly? Their end goal is to just flip it Right. They want to.

[Scotty]

That's it.

[Brian Peters]

Invest for a short period of time. They like. I mean, but I appreciate those that

[Scotty]

don't lie about it.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah.

[Scotty]

Oh, no, actually, some, some of them are honest. Some of them will wrap it in this bullshit wrapper that is like, well, we really like to create, you know, long term value. And we're really a partner in your

[Brian Peters]

success though, because like, I remember when we were getting going and you know, finding loans when you have no money and aren't making a ton of money is really challenging. Right. And I know you've lived it, but. Yeah. What's interesting though is you go and you talk to some of these firms and I'm like, oh, yeah, we're interested. You know, how much money do you do? Blah, blah, blah. Yeah. I ask you all these questions and at the end of it they're like, okay, well, what's your exit strategy? I'm like, dude, I'm just going start it.

[Scotty]

I need to go build something first, man.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah, like, what do you mean? What's my exit strategy? And they're like, well, are you building this because you want to sell it to Sunbelt? Do you want to sell it to Herc or whatever? And I'm like, no, that is not at all what I want to do.

[Scotty]

But that's the only.

[Brian Peters]

You've got to have a game. That's right.

[Scotty]

Why else would you build a rental company if you weren't going to go sell it to United Rentals?

[Brian Peters]

And it's. And I think there's a trap. Rental is very, is very interesting because there's a lot of people that have built general rental companies, you know, general tool rentals. And they're like, no, this is like my family's legacy. My great grandpa was in it, my grandpa was in it, my dad was in it. And now it's, you know, my turn. Right. And there's others that are just like, I kind of fell into this and it is what it is today, but it's very fragmented, like you said, kind of very similarly fragmented. And I find it fascinating because there are so many people that are like, I don't want to sell to the, you know, one of the big three, but then do something different.

[Scotty]

It's very fragmented. But then you also have, on the other side, more and more consolidation. Another, like, go on LinkedIn, you probably

[Brian Peters]

see it, it's hard to ignore every

[Scotty]

day on LinkedIn, it's hard to ignore another acquisition.

[Brian Peters]

That's right. And I think where I was going with that is that when, when you get called up and it's your turn, how do you walk? Yeah, how do you walk? If someone comes in and offers you 8, 9, 10 times EBITDA for a, for a rental company, how do you walk?

[Scotty]

Sure. Because you've got a family and all your money's tied up in the business.

[Brian Peters]

Yep. Man. And they say you're tired, you're worn

[Scotty]

out, you're worn out.

[Brian Peters]

It's a hard business.

[Scotty]

Come on.

[Brian Peters]

So, yeah, and.

[Scotty]

Oh, you don't want eight times.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah. And, and, and they, they promise you, oh, we're gonna take care of your people.

[Scotty]

Exactly. It's gonna be just as. Don't you worry. Just as it was before.

[Brian Peters]

Everything that you had. That's one thing we like about this. We like you because of your culture. So nothing's gonna change. And then meanwhile, I've talked to people who've done this and they're like, yeah, I had this family business for 40 years, you know, bought it from my dad, sold it to one of the big three, and everyone that worked there, one of the guys that had worked there, was a 25 year or 30 year employee, had left because they were miserable within a year of that transaction.

[Scotty]

And it's, it, I, I get. It's the system. It's the only way out. Like, I understand all of that. And succession planning is really hard. And so it's really hard. It's. It's really a hard position to be in. And I have seen it go well. I've seen acquisitions go great.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah.

[Scotty]

But I've seen more acquisitions regardless of the money and how much money people made. What I've watched, are the people doing the work better off at the end of the day afterwards? Are they any different? Did they benefit at all from it? And I've just seen too many times the person in the machine or with a wrench in their hand or driving the truck, they're not just the same. There's no financial benefit to them whatsoever in that sale. Zero. They're probably worse off. And it just happens gradually. Well, but they become a little worse off. Now we need a little bit more paperwork. And now we need just another rule. And now this truck's costing us too much money. You know, you've been driving around this F550. We're going to, we're standardizing the fleet to 350s. So. Sorry. And it just, you know, like, am I making this up?

[Brian Peters]

No.

[Scotty]

Chip away, chip away, chip away, chip away, chip away.

[Brian Peters]

And, and you're right, it's not Something that happens overnight. But. And I think so. So how do we prevent that from happening? Right. Because it. Eventually there's gonna come a point in time where, you know, we're not going to be here to continue the. Down the path. Right. So how do we, how do we tease something up? Right. And that's why I brought up Aesop earlier. And I know that that's a hot topic in construction, but so do you, you know, is that an avenue for us? I don't know. Is there another avenue where you can try to maintain culture and, you know, without being this business that eventually has to, you know, convert to an evil empire?

[Scotty]

You have to do something. I don't to say Aesop is the only way, I think is.

[Brian Peters]

I don't think that.

[Scotty]

Yeah, I'm not saying you say that. I would never say that. I think it is a great tool. I've also seen it done not well.

[Brian Peters]

Oh, yeah.

[Scotty]

Like, it's not this magic potion that is like, wow, we're just gonna go make, make, you know, our culture incredible. Like, it has to be really intentional. And when it is intentional, it's great. I've also seen bonus structures work out great. It just, it has to be something else. It can't just be a guy makes a bunch of money and everybody else works for a wage. Oh, by the way, we have great benefits. We have a 401k match and we have health care. It's like, great, but like, look on $85,000 a year single income household, how do you make it pencil? You can't make it pencil. You cannot make it pencil anymore. And I feel this as a business owner too. It's like, shit, dude. It's hard enough to be profitable. Like, we've spent years and years and years and years and years grinding away at our expenses and growing our revenue to get to this point of profitability. But I have to keep paying people more because they can't live, like, they can't have the families that they want to have, the lives that they want to have without more money. And I have to figure out how to get that for them. I have to pour more back into them, which then gets us more as a business, which then grows our business further. And so I think it's a great business model. I think it's a great way to do business. It's not why I'm doing it, but it's just like, to me, it's just what makes sense. Like this year, and thank God Randy and I are on the same page here. We created this bonus structure. I didn't even have to say anything. It's our first time as a business that we've been in a financial position to even think about something like this. But it's like, guys, we have the opportunity to make some good money this year. If we do, we are going to take a huge portion of that good money. We need to take a little bit and put it back into the company. Just. That's just smart business. We need to be a little bit safer. We've been on a knife's edge for too long. That's in everybody's best interest. So we're going to put some over here, but then the rest, it goes to you guys. And here's how we're doing it. Here's the structure, here's how it works. And if we make more, you get more.

[Brian Peters]

If we make less transparency.

[Scotty]

Yes, you make less.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah.

[Scotty]

And. But I didn't. I didn't even have to petition for it. I didn't have to argue for it. And then it was. It wasn't a discussion at the executive level, at the board level, nothing. It was just like, this is so obvious to do. This is so obvious. It's so obvious because I think it's the only way it works. I don't see another way.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah.

[Scotty]

I don't see another way. Yeah, I don't.

[Brian Peters]

It's. Yeah, I agree with you. I don't think that Aesop is the end all be all by any stretch of the imagination. But I. I think that when I look at tools that, you know, if. When it comes to succession planning, when it comes to, like, the next step, right. Like, how. How do you tee something up? And maybe it is through bonuses and, you know, other, other ways, but I think that's the, that's the big question is, like, how do you be disciplined and build this culture and then be disciplined when. When the, when someone knocks on the door and slides a check across the table or an offer across the table, and it's.

[Scotty]

It will happen to us one day.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah.

[Scotty]

Probably a lot of times over.

[Brian Peters]

Yep.

[Scotty]

And I mean, dude, I. I saw, like, lately there was an acquisition and I was looking at it, I was like, it was a shitload of money. Shitload of money. So I was very happy for them. Like, dude, like, good for you guys. Like, you really made it happen. He's long for the fences and you made a shitload of money and you're actually not going to go squander it. Like, you're pretty smart with this, but Then I'm like, what are the odds that the company that they sold to screws this whole thing up? And do they actually. I think they actually know that.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah.

[Scotty]

Well, that to me is like, how do you.

[Brian Peters]

In good faith, like, how do I.

[Scotty]

But if I was in their position, well, I would have probably done the exact same thing.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah. So it goes back to what do you do it?

[Scotty]

Well, yes, yes, yes, yes.

[Brian Peters]

I mean, honestly. So then it becomes easier.

[Scotty]

And sometimes the way like, sometimes the why is like, listen, I'm going to make a shitload of money. Okay. I'm fine with that. That's fine. But I just don't think. Personally, I'm not, I'm. I'm. I'm not trying to project upon anybody else. I don't want to tell people how to do business, even though that's what I've done a million times over. But for me, I personally could not sleep at night if I went and take. Took a huge fucking check and no one else at the company benefited from that.

[Brian Peters]

I totally agree with you.

[Scotty]

I could not. I, emotionally, logically, I could not reconcile that.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah.

[Scotty]

I just. I just couldn't.

[Brian Peters]

I have. It's very strange how life, you know, you. You go through life and you experience these crazy, you know, things, right, that happen to you and you worry about stuff and you get anxious about different things. And, you know, last year we had a big kind of. It was a big decision that we made to kind of depart from a business that we had been, you know, helping, working for for a long time and, you know, kind of going all in on advanced track. Right. This is no longer a side hustle. This is no longer a hobby. This is. This is it.

[Scotty]

Which is the only way to do it.

[Brian Peters]

And I walked away from a, you know, significant salary, something that provided my family with a lot of comfort, you know, and my wife and I looked at our savings account, we're like, well, okay, this is not going to be what it is. And now I look at my savings account and it's not much bigger than what it was. It's actually smaller, significantly smaller. But, like, I don't miss it.

[Scotty]

Yeah.

[Brian Peters]

And I don't. I don't know why, but, like, I've really thought a lot about this because my life has, like, similar to you. Right. I wasn't raised around people that had billions, but definitely raised around people who had millions. Right. And, you know, it was always like, that was the measure of success. You're gonna get to this point and you're gonna have all this money and then you're gonna be successful.

[Scotty]

Yeah.

[Brian Peters]

It's like, what the heck is successful, right? Like, what is that? And is it a dollar? Is it a what? You know, what is it? And so I look at it now and I'm like, I just don't. And it's probably. I know so many people be like, oh, yeah, you don't have any. It's easy to be that way. Right. Or you're just saying that because you're trying to make it feel better, you know, make it feel better for you. I guess maybe that's true. I don't know. But for me, I don't miss. I don't look at that and long for that. Like I once did.

[Scotty]

Well.

[Brian Peters]

And I think it's. I would rather see the people around me, see the people in our business, see our customers and our vendors be successful and not then me be successful, but as a part of it, like, share in the success.

[Scotty]

Yeah. And if you do that, you'll be taken care of. I think that's the belief I have, is like, if I do this stuff right, I'll be okay.

[Brian Peters]

I don't necessarily disagree, but I think that your heart needs to be postured properly.

[Scotty]

Yes.

[Brian Peters]

Because it's very easy to get in a trap where you slide a $100 bill across the table to someone in and you are expecting $200 in return from someone down the road. And so your heart has to be postured properly, in my opinion. And, dude, I struggle with that. I struggle with that a lot because I think that it's easy to be like, well, you know, I'm going to give this away and I'm going to expect something in return.

[Scotty]

But I think that's why a lot of people in business are so fucking stressed out, I think. And I've been there, dude. I had years. It was just miserable, miserable, miserable, miserable, miserable. And last year was miserable beyond other years, but it wasn't as heavy because I think last year I figured out, wait a minute, this whole thing's not actually about me. Stop worrying about you. Just go do what's right. That's it. And like, that took a lot of weight off me. Was like, wow, holy shit, this thing isn't about me. And I was gonna. Before I went on, before I started talking more about me with you, though, you gave up that. But then years ago, when you started advanced track, that was, I think, a much bigger decision was you were at a family business. You were the next generation at a family business. At a family Equipment company, doing what you're doing, right?

[Brian Peters]

Yeah.

[Scotty]

And, like, I think it took you a while to process even leaving.

[Brian Peters]

Oh, it took me. So when I was 14, my. My life changed when that business started. Like, the, the course of my life changed at that point in time because I fell in love with the entrepreneurial. Like I said that that entrepreneurial spirit just really wrangled me in, and I fell in love with the equipment. I fell in love with the whole idea of the business. Like, I just. And I don't know what it is about it. I mean, I really don't. Like, I look at it now and, like, nothing excites me more than buying and selling equipment and renting equipment. Like, when it comes to work, Right. If I'm going to earn a living, this is a heck of a way to do it for me. Right. I love it. I love it.

[Scotty]

And.

[Brian Peters]

And. And I was 15, sitting in, you know, English class, and, you know, the. The phone rings and, hey, my stepdad's here. We're, you know, you got to go to the front. And he's picking me up, and we're driving to Stockton to go to a Richie Brothers auction, and he's showing me all about the equipment. And then we're running over to Murray trailers, and we're looking at a Murray trailer, and then we go look at a truck. I mean, it was just fascinating, the whole thing. So fascinating to me. And as I progressed through high school, you know, we got to a point where it was like, hey, go out, go to school, go to work for someone else, and then we'll have a conversation about you coming back to work here, right? Because, I mean, I knew at that point in time, like, I didn't want to do anything else, right? Like, I did not want to do anything else. And I think if, you know, it's easy to play armchair quarterback, it's easy to, you know, look in the rear view mirror and say what you would have done differently or whatever else. But from the time that I started working out of college, I immediately started seeing opportunity for business, right? Like, at first it was like, oh, maybe I'm gonna start a trucking company. Then I, you know, went to the work for the family business, and, you know, that didn't end up panning out, so went to work for another contractor. The entire time I was working for that contractor, I was trying to figure out, how do I do my own thing, right? But it was always this entanglement with comfort and, and me, right? This entanglement with like, hey, I don't want to be uncomfortable. I have a great job. I have a 401k. I have the American dream. We own a home. You know, all these different things. I was checking the boxes, but I was unfulfilled, like, so unfulfilled. And it wasn't until. And like, I look back on that and I know that, you know, I don't have any ill will towards my family or that business or anything like that, but I knew that I had to do something on my own. And I was never going to get to the place of. Even if it fails, and there's still a high likelihood that that could happen, but I was never going to feel that fulfillment if I hadn't done that. And so I wrestled with that feeling for a long time. And you talk about a weight being lifted. The day that I was able to muster up the courage to tell my family, hey, peace and blessings, let me tell you, it was like I went home and it was like an elephant off my chest. It was unreal. It was unreal. And I don't. Again, like snow, ill will. Nothing like them against me. Nothing like that. It just was like I needed to do this for myself. And thank God for my wife, who I was actually reading Conscious Capitalism, right? Because I'm like making all these notes. I'm like, this is so amazing. This is how I feel about people. This is what I want to do. And she flat out looked at me, this is on a Saturday. And, you know, we had a real young one at home at the time, so he was down for a nap. And so we're just sitting there and I'm reading and she looks and I tell her about this and she's like, what are you doing then? Like, how long are you gonna wait?

[Scotty]

Sure.

[Brian Peters]

And I was like, okay.

[Scotty]

And once you. If it's there in you, it doesn't go away. Like the toothpaste doesn't go back in that tube.

[Brian Peters]

No, it doesn't. I have told. I have some friends that. That have exhibited some of that similar entrepreneurial spirit, but they're so well paid and compensated for the work that they do that they can't ever envision them leaving, but they're freaking miserable. You want to prove how money does absolutely nothing for you, Go get paid a whole bunch of money and be doing something that you don't want to do.

[Scotty]

But it does just enough.

[Brian Peters]

It does what we think because of what society has told us we need to think. That's right.

[Scotty]

Yeah.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah.

[Scotty]

I man, 3,000 square feet.

[Brian Peters]

Not In Texas. Not in Texas. If it's not 4,000 square feet, you. And you gotta have a movie theater because it gets hot.

[Scotty]

Starter home. I need my movie theater. I couldn't live without a movie theater. Where am I going to watch my movies?

[Brian Peters]

That's right. Where am I going to be comfortable? Yeah, I need to be comfortable.

[Scotty]

Yeah, exactly. But. But, yeah, I don't. I don't. I. And I think people give me way too much credit for what I've done, because it's like, I didn't really have to give up a lot. I didn't. Because I didn't. I didn't get to that position. I didn't have a family. I didn't have a family business. I had, like, no real liabilities, no debt, nothing.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah.

[Scotty]

So it's like, there wasn't real risk in doing this. And so people are like, wow, good for you. It's like, it wasn't that risky. It was getting a normal job and making a bunch of money, that was risky. And thank God that didn't happen, because I don't know if I'm too good to leave that. Like, I don't blame people in that position, but you. I mean, we know way more people in that position than not.

[Brian Peters]

That's right.

[Scotty]

Way more people in that position.

[Brian Peters]

And I think, like, it's not that I'm uncomfortable. Like, that's the. That's the thing of it.

[Scotty]

Right.

[Brian Peters]

Like, I live comfortably. Like, I don't live uncomfortably. I think some people might look at our situation because we have a lot of debt with the business we have, you know, And I know some people for sure, at this peer group are like, he's definitely uncomfortable. So I'm sure that some people could look at it and be like, yeah, you're uncomfortable. Or you. I could see how you'd be uncomfortable. But, I mean, I don't find my comfort in that. Like, my comfort doesn't come from a number in a bank account. Yeah. And. And. And to each their own. Right. Some people it does, and it's part of it. It's part of it. Right. But for me, it doesn't. And so I. I just feel like, you know, what? It's. It is what it is. It's. What's gonna happen is exactly what's supposed to happen. My comfort comes elsewhere. And. And I think that's the. That's the thing that, you know, has given me, I guess, you know, rest, you know, or the ability to rest, if that makes sense.

[Scotty]

Yeah. And even in business, I know A lot of miserable people that are in business for themselves.

[Brian Peters]

Oh, yeah.

[Scotty]

Because I think it can. It can. It's the similar. It's a similar game that is like, I just need more. More revenue, more growth. More, more, more, more, more, more, more. And then they just have this monster that they have to keep feeding that they just grow to resent.

[Brian Peters]

I think it's that. I think it's also, again, like, this is why I think, like, nothing. And I don't, you know, maybe you're interested, maybe you're not, but I think for me, this is why your joy cannot come from anything on Earth. Right. Because it doesn't matter what it is. You are going to be trying to fill a void that is not fillable with anything earthly.

[Scotty]

Yeah.

[Brian Peters]

Right. And so, like, until you can truly get to that place, you're going to be. And I think it's an. I really do think, for our time on Earth, it is a time that we spend battling the. The forces that try to keep that away from us. Because.

[Scotty]

Because I think that's a lifelong battle.

[Brian Peters]

Totally.

[Scotty]

You don't just find it.

[Brian Peters]

We're never going to be perfect.

[Scotty]

I'm enlightened. Let's.

[Brian Peters]

That's exactly right. You're never going to get to that point. You're going to struggle with it your entire life. And I think we all struggle with it. The truth of it is, though, is that it's like when you, like. Because I would be lying if I sat here and was like, I don't want a Porsche GT3. I want a Porsche GT3, dude.

[Scotty]

Yeah, I want a Porsche GT3.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah, exactly. Right. So, like, I'm not. I'm not saying that, like, I don't like that. I think it would bring me joy. I'd like to think it bring me joy.

[Scotty]

It would definitely bring me joy, at

[Brian Peters]

least for a few minutes. But, yeah, with launch control, of course. Yeah. My Instagram algorithm is very unhealthy when it comes to the amount of Porsche content.

[Scotty]

Yeah.

[Brian Peters]

But I think to myself about that, right? And it's like, if the more that I value the things here, the less, the more miserable I am, is really what it is. Right. Because it's like the next thing, the next milestone, the next this, the next that, and it doesn't fulfill you. It won't fulfill you. And I. And I. It doesn't mean that I haven't stopped trying. Like, I mean, like I said, like, I struggle with this daily. Right. But I know that that's the path that I want to get on. And I want to get closer to that, whereas I'm laying less of those, you know, treasures here and trying to figure out, like, how do I get closer to finding more fulfillment in the people around me? The opportunity to invest in our community, the opportunity to, you know, in my opinion, glorify God. Right. That is how we get that joy and experience more fulfillment. Not in the things that are, you know, the GT3 or whatever it is. Right.

[Scotty]

I think. I think things can be motivating. I think things can help in motivation because, like, I think about GT3s all the time. Like, dude, I'm gonna get a GT3. And it's. It is very motivating.

[Brian Peters]

Totally.

[Scotty]

But that can't be the thing. If that's the thing, that's when you get it and you find that disappointment because it's just. It's not gonna do it for you. But I think things can be motivating as well. Like, I do think it's a dichotomy,

[Brian Peters]

and I totally agree with you. I think for a long time, I've been thinking about cars, right? Because I've just been a gearhead since I was a kid, and I've always loved cars. And so I've, you know, and for a long time, I had, you know, a third vehicle. And we, you know, we. The Jeep, and then, you know, whatever. Right. Something always to mess around with, tinker with, whatever. And I've always kind of, you know, I've always enjoyed that, so I've wanted to do that again. But then the opportunity came along to now, it's like, okay, we might be closer to actually being able to do that than we've ever been. And then another opportunity comes along that I think is a better investment. And I was. And that is, like, so far out of. I mean, it's so distant in the rearview mirror now, and because I'm like, well, this is a way better option. This helps us provide something different for our employees. This helps us, you know, so it's like. I don't know. It's like, it's on the board. Right. And I'll probably measure myself to that one day, right? Wrongfully so. But, I mean, it's definitely on the board, and it's definitely a motivation. I feel like when you finally get to that point, it's like, are you actually going to spend the money on it? Because I know for me, that's. I'm all talk when it comes to that stuff. I've been that way for a long time. It's Like, I just. It looks cool. They sound amazing. They drive amazing. My wife, for my 40th birthday, took me to the Porsche experience in Atlanta. It was phenomenal. It was an amazing experience. Highly recommend. And I loved it. And it did not make me want a Porsche any less. It only just furthered the passion there. But I guess my point is that it's like that's, that's not the end goal, right?

[Scotty]

No.

[Brian Peters]

And it can't be because. Because if it is, you're gonna get it and then you're gonna want the next thing and the next thing and the next thing and the next thing.

[Scotty]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I, Yeah, it's, Yeah, I, I, I, and I try to remain conscious of that as well. But you're still in the building phase as well. Like.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah.

[Scotty]

You're not stacking up cash. Whatever cash you get, it just goes right back in. I mean, you started with. What year did you start?

[Brian Peters]

2020. We bought our first rental machine in October of 21.

[Scotty]

Okay, so you bought your first rental machine October 21st. And it was a 259 skid steer. Was it new or used?

[Brian Peters]

It was used. At that time, you couldn't get.

[Scotty]

Okay, new. So you got a used 259.

[Brian Peters]

I gotta use 259. It had 100, 103 hours on it or something like that. Yeah.

[Scotty]

So it wasn't like. Yeah, it wasn't like you had this giant pile of money and like, let's go buy 657 spread and start renting that out.

[Brian Peters]

That sounds really cool, though.

[Scotty]

That's really cool. Yeah, it is cool. If you ask David Pete. Yeah, it's as cool as it. Yeah, well, until they snap bales off and catch on fire and run into each other, which never happens with scrapers, but. And now you're. I mean, you said you bought a 690.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah.

[Scotty]

Which is, I mean, big tractor.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah, it definitely is. I think that, yeah, we've been very blessed. We've been very blessed over the last few years especially, I feel like the growth. We were experiencing a lot of growth in 2024, which is kind of partially the reason that, you know, I felt like it was time for me to go all in and not have this deal on the side. And so we were experiencing all this growth and then, you know, the beginning, I would say the first six months of 2025 were. There was a lot of question marks. Right. A lot more than I expected. I expected to kind of be like, hey, we're cruising now. We're Just going to get better and better. We're going to find little ways to get better. And it did not happen that way.

[Scotty]

Yeah. Because you, you went and bought your machine, but then you were working full time at a company.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah. So we.

[Scotty]

So you had a full time gig,

[Brian Peters]

full time salary from 2022-20, the first part of 2025. Yeah, I had a full time job and my thought throughout that entire process was, hey, this person and this company is paying me. My first priority is this. My first priority is not advanced track. Right. And so we, it actually has worked out remarkably well because that experience teed up something that I was. And listen, I'm not going to sit here and play blame game or anything like that when it comes to different management styles, but I was exposed a lot throughout my entire career to micromanagement. Right. Like that's how a lot of the people that managed me managed me. Right. And I had always thought to myself, like, I don't want to be that person. Right. I don't want to be that person. And so because I was working

[Scotty]

full

[Brian Peters]

time, I couldn't micromanage the people that worked for me. And so it was an amazing, like, it kind of like forced me into something different. And for that I'm very, very grateful because now there's a strong level of trust. And there, it's like we know that we're all rolling in the same direction. And so that has been a huge thing that's happened over the last 18 months or so. But in the last year, specifically from about June of last year to now, like it's been, it's been crazy. It's been a lot of growth.

[Scotty]

Every time I go on LinkedIn, it's. You guys have a new machine going out.

[Brian Peters]

Well, that's why, that's why I only post like every six months.

[Scotty]

Wow.

[Brian Peters]

So that way when you see your

[Scotty]

new machine, but they're not nothing. It's like I watched you get, you know, skid steers and then you got. I don't know. What'd you get next? Dozers and a 470 maybe or something.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah, we, we went, we, you know, we water truck at the beginning, you know. Yeah. And then I think now it's blades and.

[Scotty]

Yeah, we've got dozers and.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah.

[Scotty]

Big excavators and trucks.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah. All kinds of trucks now. Yeah, it is, it's kind of crazy. We have a mixer too, which is kind of exciting. A mixer, A soil stabilizer.

[Scotty]

Oh, whoa. That's so.

[Brian Peters]

That's pretty cool.

[Scotty]

That's a pretty cool machine. Yeah. You kind of need one in Texas. Got to have them so much.

[Brian Peters]

They're everywhere.

[Scotty]

They're everywhere. Every job. Okay.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah.

[Scotty]

Yeah. But it's been fun.

[Brian Peters]

It definitely has. And it's been. Like I said, it's been a huge blessing to. To. To be a part of and to experience it, because I've learned a ton about myself, and, you know, really, I feel like it's. It's helped kind of shape me. Right? So, I don't know. It's been. It's been a lot of fun. The last couple of years have been really cool.

[Scotty]

Yeah. Well, you're. You, like, just watching from the stands in a way, like, you. You. You. You seem so much better off, really, like. And it. Because I met you 2018. 2019, I think.

[Brian Peters]

2018. Yeah.

[Scotty]

Pretty early on. Yeah, pretty early on. And it was. Yeah, I came out. It might have been.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah, I think.

[Scotty]

I think I came out to Texas in May of 2019. I think it was May of 2019.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah.

[Scotty]

I could look it up. My phone.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Scotty]

But, yeah, we came out to Midland, and we just roamed the West Texas oil patch for a few days. With you and Johnny. Yeah, it was you and Johnny. Yeah, I think.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah, it was either Johnny or Blake. I can't remember. There was two of us the first time, and then the second trip when we stayed, like, kind of more in Central Texas, I think it was the three of us.

[Scotty]

Yep, yep, yep, yep. And, yeah, it was just me and angel on that first trip. I think I was by myself on the second trip, and we were just trying to make something of what we were doing. And you were. Yeah, at the family business with siblings, and. And then I was grasping at straws.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah, you were doing 75 hard. And this is. Was 75 hard before pre app, which I think is like. I've only done 75 hard with the app.

[Scotty]

Yeah.

[Brian Peters]

And I've never had that. I think it's a little bit of a cheat code, to be honest with you, because there's, like, reminders, like a system. Andy Frisell's face pops up on your phone and. Yeah, I really wanted to yell at me, though, like, when I fail, you know? But he would be good at that. Yeah, he'd be really good at that. But. But, yeah, I remember you were on, like, day 200 and something or whatever it was you had, like. You're like, yeah, I forgot to read, so I had to start over. I'm like, good Lord.

[Scotty]

Yeah, the.

[Brian Peters]

The app is Definitely a little bit of a game changer, in my opinion.

[Scotty]

Just doing. It's a game changer. Well, I know, but it rewired my ass, man. I haven't had a problem. Once I found it, I'm like, this is my thing. This is my jam. I've exercised every day since I've been sober for two and a half years. It kind of just got me to the point where it's like, why. Why am I even drinking this? I don't know. I've read every day since. Yeah, I read every day.

[Brian Peters]

I. I'm one of the failures. I've done it three times, and I always. But I always treat it as a temporary. And I think that's my problem. Right. Is it's like, oh, I'm gonna do this because I want to get to here, and then once I get there, I'm gonna just go back.

[Scotty]

Yeah.

[Brian Peters]

And that's always been my problem.

[Scotty]

Yeah.

[Brian Peters]

It's like needing that sticking power.

[Scotty]

And with discipline, too. You're either building it or you're losing it.

[Brian Peters]

It.

[Scotty]

Yeah, it doesn't. You don't get it, and then it stays.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah.

[Scotty]

And so that's why I'm.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah, you get.

[Scotty]

You have to say about it, because it's like, dude, I'm either getting more or I'm getting less. Yeah, it's. And today is it. So whatever I do today, I'm either doing more or I'm getting less today. Did I do more today? Cool. I did more today. I won the day. Let's go to bed. Clock starts again tomorrow. Everything starts over.

[Brian Peters]

Do you feel like that you like? Because to me, the first. The first go through 75 hard for me was huge. And I went right into phase one, and I felt phase one was, like, more impactful than 75 harden, I think, like, having.

[Scotty]

Because I think you have the tools to do something with it.

[Brian Peters]

Absolutely. And I started, like, finding areas of my life that, like, outside of just whatever is prescribed in the program, because it really leaves, you know, with the power list, it leaves it up to you to come up with something that's gonna improve your life. And to me, that was pretty powerful because you start to go, like, all right, I'm gonna change this. Right? And it becomes a simple action. But again, like, if I think you hit the nail on the head, if you don't continue with the discipline, if you don't keep investing, like, you will lose it. It. And I think that's a. I'm a testament to that, for sure.

[Scotty]

Yeah, it's But. But. But it is a little easier for me too, because I don't have anything else to do. So it's like, what else would I be doing? You know, I don't have kids to worry about. So it. I. And if I had. Dude, if I had cheez it sitting on my counter, it's goldfish for me.

[Brian Peters]

Keep me away from goldfish. Okay.

[Scotty]

It's just a handful. Yeah. And then by the end of the day, you've had eight handfuls.

[Brian Peters]

So anytime I'm like, ultra, like, busy or stressed, like, I'm a stress eater. Right. Like, I'm like, oh, comfort. Yeah, let's do this.

[Scotty]

And it's easy for me again, because it's not in my house. But yeah. If I open up the cupboard and there's. Take your pick of snack.

[Brian Peters]

That's right.

[Scotty]

I'm snacking.

[Brian Peters]

The key is, is whenever you do have kids, don't bring that stuff into the house. That's the key.

[Scotty]

That's the key.

[Brian Peters]

It'll be hard, but let them go

[Scotty]

crazy at their friend's house.

[Brian Peters]

That's right. Yeah.

[Scotty]

But what.

[Brian Peters]

Or grandmas.

[Scotty]

Or grandma. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that'll. Oh, yeah, that'll get you too. No, for them, it's all fun. No. No consequences.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah.

[Scotty]

They feed them fruit roll Ups, get them wound up, and then take them down.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah. Before we bring them home, we're gonna go take them to get ice cream. You know, I'm like, perfect. That's just what our kids need.

[Scotty]

Yeah.

[Brian Peters]

But that's. That's their job.

[Scotty]

Better.

[Brian Peters]

They better do it. Yeah. It's like, listen, I'm gonna be mad. I'm gonna be mad.

[Scotty]

They.

[Brian Peters]

It. If. Yeah. If they. If they're not doing that. Like, I want my boys to. To just love that.

[Scotty]

So that's what. And. And going back to the dad thing, it's like, I hope my dad's around for that and wants to be part of that, because if he's not, it's like, man, that would suck. Like, come on. And not that I'm close to it. I better hurry up. But that is plenty of time.

[Brian Peters]

There's plenty of.

[Scotty]

No for me. But he's in his 70s, and I don't want to be. Yeah. He's just gonna live forever. Average age in the US for a male is like 75, 74. It's crazy. It's. And it's. And that's real. And so, like, that's been the big bummer is like, my life's really cool and I wish that he could see it and participate in it, because it's like, dude, this is pretty cool. Like, you teed me up to do this. I couldn't have done this without you. And it's amazing. I'd love for you to, like, be here, be a part of it. Like, just. Just enjoy it with me. But then. All right, if you don't want to do that, I get it. But once I have kids, I hope you want to do that. Yeah. Because I think that would be.

[Brian Peters]

I think it's hard.

[Scotty]

Bummer. I think it's.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah, I think it's hard when anyone that has had a significant impact on your life is not. Like, I. I don't know. I guess for me, that's part of what it's been. Right. It's like. Like someone that had a very significant impact on me, you know, arguably helped mold me and gave me a lot of the tools necessary to be in the place that I am today. Like, I'd be crazy if I was sitting here and was like, yeah, it's exactly how I want it to be. Right. That's not the case.

[Scotty]

Yeah.

[Brian Peters]

But it's. You know, it's also. Life is also. And family especially, be. It can be hard.

[Scotty]

It is, and very hard. Something I saw yesterday was some guy saying, if you don't. If you don't deal with your demons, you basically just pass them on.

[Brian Peters]

Oh, yeah.

[Scotty]

Which 100. I've read, like, a lot of psychology books around that. It.

[Brian Peters]

That is even people who don't deal with them properly and, like, they don't want to pass them. They still pass them because they just don't handle them properly.

[Scotty]

Or it can jump generations, too, which is why it can come from your grandparents. But it's been a good lesson in, like, I'm not gonna do this. I'm gonna deal with this. I'm gonna figure out what's going on here. I'm gonna figure out what's. What's wrong within me or what I have to figure out and deal with, and I'm gonna deal with it because my kids will be screwed up in some way. I don't think kids escape childhood not getting screwed up.

[Brian Peters]

No. I think that that's part of.

[Scotty]

Just part of being a kid, part of life, part of humanity. But this is. This is brought to the forefront of, like, ooh, I need to figure this out.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah. I feel very similar to that. Like, I think. And again, I go back to, like, the previous generation. Like, I don't. I don't blame them. I think it's easy to sit around and play the blame game, but the reality of the situation is, like, they. They raised us in a way that they saw fit. And now I'm seeing that, and I'm going, okay, I want something different for my kids. Yeah. And so, like, when I look at, you know, the folks that are like, you know, you're soft or, you know, you're part of the generation that's soft and whatever else, I'm also looking at, like, are we soft or do we just value different things?

[Scotty]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Brian Peters]

Because I value the immense time that I get to. Or I value immensely the time that I get to spend with my kids. I value immensely the time that I get to spend with my close friends and with my wife and with my, you know, with, you know, my family. Right. Like that. That means a lot. A heck of a lot more to me than a number in a bank account.

[Scotty]

Yeah. And, like. Okay, so being. Not being soft is being a bitter asshole.

[Brian Peters]

That's right.

[Scotty]

I don't want to be a bitter asshole. So. Okay, I'm soft. Guilty as charged.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah.

[Scotty]

Cool, man. Yeah, you're right. You got me. I'm out in the open. Ah, dang it. Yeah. All right, cool. Yeah, we'll be soft.

[Brian Peters]

That's right. I feel the same way, man.

[Scotty]

Yeah. Well, I. I love what you're doing. Love following along, love catching up.

[Brian Peters]

Likewise, man. I know.

[Scotty]

We see. I see every few years, at least.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah.

[Scotty]

Talk to you every once in a while.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah, definitely.

[Scotty]

But it's. Yeah. Really cool. It's just amazing. It's been awesome. I think you're a great example for a lot of other people that are stuck in situations that they know is not for them yet whatever force, forces, is acting upon them.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah.

[Scotty]

Guilt, comfort, fear.

[Brian Peters]

Fear's big one. Fear and comfort. I think those are the biggest ones. Yeah. I. I wish I could say it was like something super eloquent and, you know, like I was saying earlier, just reading a book, sitting on the couch, going, today's not the day. We're not going to keep doing this

[Scotty]

and have your wife boot you in the ass. Do something about it.

[Brian Peters]

Yeah, there's. Yeah. I. I would, like. I know it's like, cliche to say, like, you know, I'd be lost without her, but I'm legitimately, like, I would be lost without her. Like, I'm not. I don't. I don't say that from a cliche perspective. Like, it's.

[Scotty]

That's what I need because I'm lost.

[Brian Peters]

Lost.

[Scotty]

I need a map. I need to. Where the hell am I going?

[Brian Peters]

Dude, there's days where. Yeah, I look at her and I'm like, hey, I need. Right. The ship here, where I think we're a bit off course. We're a bit off course. And luckily she smacks me with it and tells me, here's where we're going. Remember what you said? So cool. Yeah.

[Scotty]

Well, thanks for stopping by.

[Brian Peters]

Thanks for having me.

[Scotty]

Always enjoy it. Yeah. And we'll. I guess you keep doing your thing, I'll keep doing mine.

[Brian Peters]

Sounds good, man.

[Scotty]

We'll catch up again another two years.

[Brian Peters]

All right, Sounds good.