Why Airport Stress is a Fool’s Errand… (Building BuildWitt 63) DT 464

Summary

Podcast Summary: Dirt Talk Podcast

Episode: Why Airport Stress is a Fool’s Errand… (Building BuildWitt #63)
Host: Aaron Witt (BuildWitt)
Co-host: Adam
Date: July 27, 2026

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Main Theme / Purpose

This episode blends behind-the-scenes updates from BuildWitt with host Aaron Witt’s reflections on international travel, cutting-edge construction technology, business discipline, and the importance of keeping a cool head—especially in stressful situations like airports. With the addition of newcomer co-host Adam, the episode also explores podcast evolution, the layperson’s view of construction, and the ongoing journey of growing a niche media business in the “Dirt World.”

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Podcast Evolution and New Co-Host (00:09–04:16)

• Adam joins as Monday co-host:
  • Adam brings podcasting experience but is new to construction. Aaron wants more texture and energetic conversation for Monday episodes.

    “I don’t know nearly a lot at all about construction … I could be the layman in the room.” (Adam, 01:01) “We don’t need you to know a bunch about construction. We need you to know podcasting.” (Aaron, 01:14)

• Podcast origin stories:
  • Aaron started recording interviews from his apartment. Over time, various team members helped, but it was always something to “figure out.”
  • Aim now is to get more serious about podcasting.
• Upcoming guests and episode excitement:
  • Bookings are scheduled months in advance, with growing diversity in construction-related guests (e.g., specialty furniture makers for construction companies).

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2. Aaron’s Recent Europe Trip – Construction & Culture (04:27–17:06)

• Travel recap:

  • Hague, Netherlands → Belgium (Lux company) → France (Normandy, nuclear power plant site) → Paris → US via Iceland.

• Construction site visits:

  • Belgium: Visited Lux, a family business building a Hitachi 2000 triple boom excavator—among the world’s largest custom machines.

    “Two owners … were there on a Sunday. They showed me everything. They wanted me to stay the whole day.” (Aaron, 05:51)

  • Triple boom excavators explained: Used mainly for marine work to increase reach and workspace flexibility.

    “It gives the machine more reach than a standard excavator … not a digging machine … mostly marine construction.” (Aaron, 06:33–06:57)

  • France:
    • Visited the expansion of a nuclear power plant on the English Channel—requiring huge earthworks and advanced machinery.
    • Describes mixing site-prep for new reactors and coastal engineering (strong focus on preventing erosion via rocks and precast concrete blocks).

• Nuclear power in Europe v. US (09:07–11:54):

  • France is heavily invested in nuclear energy, supplying most of its electricity, while the US relies more on natural gas and coal.

    “France … is the top nuclear producer in the world. Majority of their power comes from nuclear.” (Aaron, 09:33)

• Behind the scenes of site access and security:

  • Aaron shares the bureaucracy and security needed to visit these sites, especially near nuclear plants.

    “You kind of go through a metal detector and you put your stuff through an X-ray … but to get into the nuclear power plant was a whole different level.” (Aaron, 13:34)

  • Couldn’t fly a drone due to the paperwork but managed to take extensive photos.

• Historical side trip to Normandy (15:15–16:51):

  • Visited Omaha Beach and WWII memorials; describes the emotional gravity and contrast between past horrors and present-day beauty.

    “There’s been few places that have had, like, a weight to it. You could feel where you were in a way.” (Aaron, 16:06)

• Paris visit:

  • Quick sightseeing of major landmarks, mostly running through the city.

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3. Airport & Travel Stress—The “Fool’s Errand” (17:21–19:54)

• Observations on airport stress:
  • Describes the chaos of tight connections, long customs lines in Iceland, and Americans panicking about missing flights.

    “Everybody was so stressed out … acting like they’re the only ones trying to make a flight.” (Aaron, 17:58)

• Aaron’s approach to travel stress:
  • He now refuses to get worked up—missing flights is an inconvenience, not a catastrophe.

    “Stressing does you no good whatsoever … it doesn’t help. It doesn’t help you get there faster.” (Aaron, 18:14–19:49)

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4. Business Updates: Sales & Budget Discipline (20:11–26:53)

• Sales momentum:

  • BuildWitt’s revamped sales strategies are starting to show positive trends, though results take time.

    “We’ve been working on sales … not necessarily seen the benefit of that yet, but … it’s looking good.” (Aaron, 20:48)

• Accounting and budgeting:

  • BuildWitt has stuck to strict budget discipline for three years, monitoring expenses closely, adjusting forward budgets mid-year.

    “If you don’t have a budget, it’s one of the best things we’ve done as a business.” (Aaron, 22:11)

  • Adam notes this also holds true for personal budgeting.

    “Even as an individual, that’s a great thing … you can see how quickly that adds up.” (Adam, 23:05)

  • Discussion of using AI tools like Claude for budgeting and financial tracking.

    “Within a few hours, you could have a killer budget prepared for you.” (Aaron, 23:36)

• Life and discipline:

  • “Discipline equals freedom,” quoting Jocko Willink.

    “Having a plan and sticking to a plan is actually freeing. You’re not stressing about it and you know the bounds.” (Aaron, 24:24)

• BuildWitt’s business restructuring & sale:

  • Sold creative business to Chase/Fieldwork Marketing in early 2025; both sides thriving after the sale, with faster payments and sharper focus for BuildWitt.

    “Not that we needed the confirmation that it was the right decision … but this is … 100%. It’s been great.” (Aaron, 26:53)

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5. Community Engagement & Looking Ahead (27:21–28:07)

• Open call for audience questions:

  • With Adam now co-hosting, listeners can email or comment for future episode topics.

    “If you want to send us an email: [e-mail]. That goes to Adam, it goes to me. And we’ll be incorporating that within the Monday show.” (Aaron, 27:48)

• Teasing more audience integration, YouTube tie-ins, and continued focus on industry insights and business lessons.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On triple boom excavators:

  “You have a boom, and then you have, like, a second boom. And then you have your stick. And you have a foot pedal on the floor that controls the triple function.” (Aaron, 07:32)

• On nuclear power’s changing role:

  “Germany … got rid of their nuclear program, whereas France has always been almost all in on nuclear.” (Aaron, 09:33)

• On airport stress:

  “I used to stress. Yeah, I got rid of that though, because stressing does you no good whatsoever.” (Aaron, 18:14)

• On budget discipline:

  “If you are not disciplined when it comes to a budget, I would do that as quickly as possible. It’s one of the best things we’ve done.” (Aaron, 22:47)

• On discipline and freedom:

  “Having a plan and sticking to a plan is actually freeing … you’re not stressing about it and you know the bounds.” (Aaron, 24:24)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | |------------|-------------------------------------------------------| | 00:09–04:16| Podcast structure, co-host intro, show evolution | | 04:27–08:27| European trip: Netherlands & Belgium construction | | 08:27–14:45| France: Nuclear power plant work and access | | 15:15–16:51| Normandy/Omaha Beach WWII reflections | | 16:51–17:21| Paris quick-tour | | 17:21–19:54| Airport stress and lessons on letting go | | 20:11–21:54| Sales updates at BuildWitt | | 21:54–25:34| Budgeting discipline in business & personal life | | 25:34–26:53| Sale of creative business, outcomes | | 27:21–28:07| Listener questions, engagement plans |

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Tone and Style

Conversational, insightful, and reflective—Aaron balances detailed exposition on technical or business topics with a sense of humor and practical wisdom. Adam plays the role of relatable layman, bringing curiosity and real-world perspective.

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For listeners: This episode provides not only a snapshot of BuildWitt’s current journey but also offers applicable life and business lessons, wrapped in travel stories and down-to-earth banter. If you’re curious about construction, business operations, or just want a reminder that stressing at the airport (or anywhere else) rarely helps, there’s valuable insight here.

Transcript

[A]

Foreign.

[B]

Well, I have a co host. You do this podcast for this one? Yes.

[A]

Let's see how long I last.

[B]

Adam's joining me. Yeah. For the Monday. Monday episodes. He came on board. What? This is week three.

[A]

Week three, yeah, week three.

[B]

But you've podcasted, hosted radio. You've done plenty of stuff on a microphone.

[A]

Yes, in this world, I have some experience.

[B]

And that's why you're here.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

To level us up.

[A]

We're trying, so.

[B]

But I told him I'm having a ton of fun with our Thursday episodes with our guests, but I think there's plenty of room for improvement on the Monday episodes, and so that's why I brought you in to provide a little bit more texture instead of me just talking at the microphone and people for 15, 20 minutes.

[A]

Yeah. Well, the thing is, is I think this will be interesting because I don't know nearly a lot at all about construction. So you can.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Teach me a few things. I could be the layman in the. In the room, but that.

[B]

That's why you're here. You know, we don't need you to know a bunch about construction. We need you to know podcasting.

[A]

I know the podcasting stuff.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

When it comes to the building of things, that's not my forte.

[B]

If you're editing the podcast, you're about to learn a lot about construction.

[A]

Well, I've been learning a lot, for sure. In two weeks. I've learned a lot, let's just say.

[B]

How. How do you. You listen to each episode at least twice.

[A]

At least twice. Yeah.

[B]

At least twice. That's a lot of me talking.

[A]

It's a lot. It's good, though. I really like the content. It's really good.

[B]

It's been fun.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I. The podcast has been. It's been an adventure. I've started in my apartment calling people on my phone with broadcaster.

[A]

Oh, yeah. Yeah. So it was just audio in the beginning.

[B]

Yeah, Just audio. And I would just call them and Bluetooth to the. To the board or whatever. To the board. And then I had some random contract company edit the episode. I don't even know what they did to it, but they give me an audio file to upload a megaphone. Uh, so I kind of just figured it out. And then we had Alex here for a while.

[A]

Yeah. I heard the. A couple earlier episodes with him.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

Which are cool.

[B]

Alex was here for a while, and then Harrison was here for a while, and then. It's kind of been a team effort for years now while we've been trying to figure out what to do with it all. I think we've spent a lot more time and energy on the vlog on other things.

[A]

I'm sure. Yeah.

[B]

But it's now time to get serious. I think about the podcast.

[A]

I think it. I think what you're doing is awesome. I mean, I love the content is great. I just edited the Rich Jones one.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Which is really, really good.

[B]

He's really.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So I'm excited to put that one out on Thursday. So.

[B]

Yeah, it's been. And we. I mean, we're scheduled out. We're sitting here in July. We're scheduled out into October right now.

[A]

Yeah. You got a ton. You got a bunch coming up, and

[B]

I'm excited about every one of them. Yeah. I just. I've really enjoying it.

[A]

Yeah. It's cool to hear, like, you're grabbing people from other. Like the guy that you had in the other day was like, he made furniture for construction companies.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

That's. So it's not like always people that are building, you know, massive buildings or whatever. It could be anyone that has to do with construction. No.

[B]

And that.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Sean, he said. Yeah. He's like, I'm. I'm a little out of the ordinary. And it. Yeah. But also not really. I think he's trying to. He's. He's. Ironically, he's a foreigner, but he's. He's living the American dream. But I think that is the American dream. Anybody from anywhere can come here.

[A]

Yeah. And go. Started, right.

[B]

Yeah. Now it's. It's like as American as it gets. Making furniture in the States by Americans for American construction companies. Building stuff.

[A]

Yeah. I love it.

[B]

It's really. Yeah. It's amazing.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So Monday episodes, we're still going to be covering what's going on at buildwit behind the Scenes. But you'll be joining me. This is the pilot episode, at least.

[A]

Yeah. Maybe I'll make it to next week. We'll see.

[B]

He asked me how I wanted to do this. I was like, I don't know. We'll sit down and we'll see what we get.

[A]

I think it'll be good.

[B]

But this one, this is Building build with number 63. So the week before this one I had. It was my second week traveling in Europe. This was my last little bit in Europe. And so to tie a bow on everything, the last visit I had when I was in Europe, I drove. I went from the Netherlands. I spent the weekend in the Hague, which is. It's gorgeous. I love it there.

[A]

See, I'm I'm so untraveled, dude. I've been. I lived in San Diego pretty like most of my life. And I went to Mexico a bunch

[B]

cuz it was more traveled than some Americans.

[A]

You could go across the border real quickly and come back. But I haven't been anywhere else, man.

[B]

So that's wild.

[A]

Yeah. I watch your videos. I'm like, you guys are going all over the world. It's the same.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah. So the Netherlands is one of my favorite places. I've been there a few times now. Spent the weekend in the Hague, just hanging out. Then from there I actually drove through Belgium and stopped in Belgium at Lux. I didn't actually write about it here, but they built a new Hitachi 2000 triple boom excavator, which is just a monster custom machine. Probably one of the biggest custom machines in the world. I had never heard of Lux before this, but they were the two owners of the company were there on a Sunday.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

They were so helpful, so gracious. They showed me everything. They wanted me to like stay the whole day, but I was just, I was just driving through. I wanted to stay the whole day though. So it was. It was an incredible family business. And saw a huge machine from Aertsen which is going. I think it might be headed to Singapore from Belgium.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

But they had. The week after I was there, they had a whole party to officially unveil it.

[A]

Oh, it's a brand new machine.

[B]

Brand new machine.

[A]

So no one's using scratch yet.

[B]

Wow. Yeah. So that was an absolute blast.

[A]

You said it's a triple boom excavator.

[B]

Well, in the France visit coming up ironically was also Hypati triple boom excavator. But the triple boom, it gives the machine more reach than a standard excavator.

[A]

Okay. So is the bucket bigger? That's scooping up the.

[B]

The bucket is smaller.

[A]

Oh, it's smaller.

[B]

So when you reach further, you have less of a payload.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

But you can do more with it.

[A]

Got it.

[B]

It's not a digging machine. So they build these machines for mostly marine construction. And in marine construction you have to reach far, but then you're also working close to you. And the geometry, if you make a giant long reach, which is just a long boom and stick.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

You don't have the geometry to really work close to the machine. Oh yeah, you can work.

[A]

Yeah, that makes sense.

[B]

But the closer you get, the weirder it gets.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And so that's why they did the triple boom. They split it instead of two into three.

[A]

So the arm can move closer.

[B]

Yeah. Well, you have a boom, and then you have, like, a second boom. And then you have your stick.

[A]

Oh, wow.

[B]

And you have a foot pedal on the floor that controls the triple function.

[A]

Oh, cool.

[B]

So you can roll out the two booms and make it one and. And have your long reach function, or you can essentially bend the boom in two. And then you have your third piece at the end, which allows you to work a lot closer to the machine.

[A]

Interesting. Okay.

[B]

Yeah. And so it was cool because I saw that one at the yard, and they're cool at the yard, but you really have to see them working. And so from there, I drove. I was driving through Belgium anyway, to then end up at France. And this was. They're expanding a nuclear power plant on the English Channel. So there's two. Two existing reactors. They're building two more next to the existing reactors.

[A]

They're adding to the nuclear power plant.

[B]

They're adding. Yeah. And it's. It's on the water because then you have your. Your water for cooling right there. And from a security standpoint, it's a. Maybe a little bit easier when it's on the water, but it's mostly for the sake of cooling.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

You need to pull water in to cool the process.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

So they're building two more. It's on like, it's in Normandy. So you have these beautiful white cliffs. They're cutting one of the cliffs back to then make room for the two reactors. And then all of that dirt they're placing into the ocean to create a new landmass in front of the new reactors.

[A]

I'm confused. Not confused, but I'm curious because they're building. I hear nuclear power plant, and I'm thinking, like, they're making something crazy. I don't know. It's pretty crazy, but, like, I don't know. I feel like we want to go. Do we want to go away from nuclear power or. Because. Do we use a lot of nuclear power here? I don't really know.

[B]

Well, it's interesting. In Europe, there's two schools of thought. Some have gone away from it, like Germany.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Which has really hurt them.

[A]

Oh, okay.

[B]

In a big way. Yeah. They decommissioned their nuclear power plants following Fukushima and so essentially got rid of their nuclear program, whereas France has always been almost all in on nuclear. So France, on a percentage basis, is the top nuclear producer in the world. A majority of their power comes from nuclear.

[A]

And then they're adding to that, too.

[B]

Well, they have to add to it because the reactors are actually quite old now, so they have to replace some, which means they have to add new capacity. And then it's a growing country, so you have to add. Add more.

[A]

Because of the people. Yeah, more people and everything.

[B]

More reactors.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

Okay, so they have, I think, eight planned, and these are the first two. And we'll see how it goes. Because building nuclear reactors nowadays is really hard for everybody but China.

[A]

Oh, is that right?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

China's very good at it.

[A]

They're good at it.

[B]

The Western, the modern, the. Not even modern. Just the west has a problem building nuclear nowadays.

[A]

Okay. How much do you know? I don't even know if you know this. How much nuclear power do we use

[B]

in America versus I think it's like 10 to 20%.

[A]

Oh, really? They're using 70%.

[B]

It's 70 plus percent.

[A]

So we're quite a bit.

[B]

Yeah, we have. We have a bit. We should have more, but we just. We have a lot of gas.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And that has taken over from coal.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

We have a lot of coal. We have a lot of gas. Gas has replaced coal because it's more efficient.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And just. It just makes financial sense. And it's, It's. It's cleaner. Well, it's.

[A]

Yeah. Debate.

[B]

And so gas has really been what's taken over the US power grid. That's a majority. And then we have renewables, which is a fair chunk. We still have coal, which is a fair chunk. And then we have nuclear.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And we've tried modern nuclear, but it hasn't gone very well.

[A]

Okay, so they're not. Not at all. Okay.

[B]

No.

[A]

So they're out there doing more. More nuclear power plants.

[B]

They're trying.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah. So the jury's out. But yeah, they're. They're all in the French government on building more nuclear power plants. So this is the site work. It's not super complex. It's moving dirt. So it doesn't really look like anything yet.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

I think there's only. Only a few thousand people on site. When it ramps up, It'll be like 10,000 people on site.

[A]

Oh, wow.

[B]

Yeah. Once the power plant starts to go, then it becomes a huge undertaking.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

But I was there before that started. It was just the site work, which is my cup of tea. I don't. Once it starts to get a little too complicated from a building standpoint, it's just not my thing.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

But I was there because of Van Tunen. They had their triple booms there. They built two Hitachi. They have a few of them, but they had two on site. Massive triple boom excavators. 250 plus ton machines. Huge, huge machines. I saw one of them at their yard when they had just built it to ship it then to this project. And I've been bothering the company, Ifage and Van Tunen to get on this project for a year.

[A]

Oh wow.

[B]

I got in. It was very cool because they're the triple booms, they're building this land mass but then you have to protect the land mass from erosion from the sea. So they're placing rock and then these huge concrete precast blocks.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Into the ocean so that when the waves beat up against diffuses the energy and it doesn't erode anything behind it.

[A]

Okay. Wow. Wow. That's awesome that you got to see the machine before it made it out onto the field too. And then you got to watch it working.

[B]

It was really cool. The only not cool thing was lots of paperwork. So I couldn't fly a drone, unfortunately.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. Was there like mad security clearance they have to go through for that type of stuff?

[B]

Kinda like you have to go through. Because I'm a visitor. I had to go through like airport security. Oh, but it customs type thing? No, it's just you kind of go through a metal detector and you put your stuff through an x ray. But it's, it's. I mean it's pretty secure. But the thing is you're on the nuclear power plant site, but to get into the nuclear power plant was a whole different level.

[A]

Oh yeah. Because you didn't go in the building. You were just on the outside of the.

[B]

Okay, you could see it. It was quite close. But there's this giant wall with ample security measures. Okay. Yeah. That is impassable.

[A]

That makes sense.

[B]

And so technically you didn't really have to go through security to get to where we were. But because we were so close. They treat it like a secured area.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

So we were in a secured area next to a very, very, very, very, very.

[A]

So yeah, you just didn't have the quite the next level clearance to get into the building.

[B]

Yeah, got it. And so I didn't have the paperwork for drone. It would have taken months. They had a drone pilot out there. Haven't seen the footage yet. Hopefully it's good.

[A]

Did you get photos though?

[B]

I did, yeah. I got tons of fun.

[A]

That's awesome.

[B]

Haven't looked at them yet, but okay. Pretty excited too.

[A]

That's cool.

[B]

So that was that huge shout out to ifage Van Tunen and then the. Just the French nuclear authority for Being willing to even accommodate that.

[A]

Yeah. That's cool, though. That's really cool that you're able to go and do those things.

[B]

It was incredible.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Incredible. Yeah. And I hope it works out for them because I think it's a. It's a model for the, for the. For the world in a lot of ways. The big nuclear reactors, I think are still a very sound way to make power.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

So very exciting stuff there. After that, I transited back to America. I went to. I went to Normandy for the day.

[A]

Oh, cool.

[B]

I actually like Omaha Beach.

[A]

It was like where they stormed Normandy and all that stuff. Yeah.

[B]

It was wild.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

Part of it's a huge area, but I went to Omaha beach and they had this visitor center. They had the cemetery there.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

And then you could walk out. They had the. The old bunkers still that you could walk through.

[A]

Oh, wow.

[B]

And look down upon the beach. It was.

[A]

That's cool.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I love that stuff. Like the history stuff or like going even around. I mean, here in Nashville, there's a million battlegrounds.

[B]

Yeah. Civil War stuff. Yeah.

[A]

You can see the old fences that they built and just like the old bunkers and cannons. It's cool.

[B]

Cool. Yeah. Yeah, it was. There's been few places that have had like a weight to it. You could feel where you were in a way. And this was. Yeah. Definitely one of them.

[A]

I can imagine. Yeah.

[B]

You just sit there and feel it like, whoa. And it's so interesting because right now it's. I was there in June. It happened in June.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Many years ago, obviously.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

So same. Same time of year. It's beautiful. The sun's shining. The beach is gorgeous. The birds are singing. When I was there, there's obviously people playing in the water, dogs and everything like that. But just to imagine what it looked like.

[A]

What happened. Yeah. Back then. That's wild.

[B]

Yeah. 80 years ago or 80 something years ago now.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So that was special. And then I drove to Paris. I'd never been to Paris. I saw was fine.

[A]

How was. Was fine.

[B]

I'd go. I'd go back with like my future wife, but.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Yeah, I saw it.

[A]

By yourself?

[B]

It was whatever. I did a run. I saw the Arch. I went to the Louvre. I did the Eiffel Tower, I did Notre Dame.

[A]

Oh, so you did all the cool stuff. I mean, the big things out there

[B]

within a two hour run. Yeah. You can just get all the big stuff.

[A]

That's awesome.

[B]

Okay. I've seen it. So it was fine. But then from there I flew from Paris To. To the United States through Iceland. And it was funny because when you get off the plane in Iceland, you have to go through customs.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

To leave the eu, but then you have to go through US Customs. And when you reach.

[A]

Yes. The States. Sure.

[B]

So this was just the EU letting you out. And. And everybody there had this pretty tight layover of all different. Most everybody going to the States. It was almost all Americans. And everybody was so stressed out.

[A]

Really?

[B]

Oh, everybody was so worked up because it was a huge line. So it was already tight. When you get in, you had like an hour, and then you have to wait in this huge line and.

[A]

Are you worried about getting on your flight and everything?

[B]

I'm past that point. I don't worry anymore if I miss the flight.

[A]

You've traveled enough to where you're like, whatever.

[B]

Flight. Yeah, I'm gonna do my best to get there. But, yeah, if I miss it, yeah, I miss it. I've spent the night in other cities. I've missed plenty of flights at this point.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And there's always another one that's not like, that's the only one. You know, you miss the one flight

[A]

a year, you're stuck in wherever, and

[B]

then you're stuck in Iceland. Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

Like, oh, God, for the rest of your life. Yeah.

[B]

I'm so bound to be stuck in Iceland. So it was just funny watching everybody lose their minds. I used to stress. Yeah, I got rid of that, though, because stressing does you no good whatsoever.

[A]

Did you see any, like, what was that? Was there, like, a mate? Like, one person that was causing, like, a massive.

[B]

That was a bunch of people. Everybody's acting like they're the only ones trying to make a flight. And you're looking around at them like, so is. What do you think we're doing here? Like, we're just hanging out this way. Yeah. Why do you think I'm standing here? This guy's standing. Like, we all have flights to make, and they're all pretty tight connections, you know, like, come on. So it was just. Yeah, I kind of just chuckled as I watched people lose it. Lose their minds in line. And then once I got to my gate, the plane was boarding, so.

[A]

Oh, that didn't have to wait or anything. That worked out.

[B]

Wait. Which I like, but it's a little snug for an international connection.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But that was why I titled this newsletter, as I did. It's just don't stress out when you're traveling. It doesn't actually help the situation at all. It doesn't make anything more productive. It doesn't help you get there faster.

[A]

Nope.

[B]

It will not help you make your flight. It just gets you closer to you.

[A]

Just drives you. Yeah. You're just. I mean, yeah. It's like if you're late somewhere, though, I get that feeling. You're just like, trying to rush. It's like, well, you're already late.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Like, yeah, you're gonna cause an accident, driving like an idiot.

[B]

It doesn't. There's no benefit at that point. It doesn't do anything for you.

[A]

Exactly.

[B]

So that was my trip back. When it comes to business. Business, we. We've been working on sales, and we are moving in the right direction when it comes to sales. It's taken us a few months of getting everything back on track, working hard. We've not necessarily seen the benefit of that yet, but at this point in the journey, this was June, end of June. It's looking good.

[A]

That's awesome.

[B]

Yeah. It's really exciting to put in a ton of effort and to be a little nervous about it, but then it down the road starts to pay off.

[A]

You'll see the payoff. Sure.

[B]

Yeah. And for me, it's not really exciting. It's just more so relieving, like, okay, it's working. Yeah, it's working. So that's. From a sales standpoint. From an accounting perspective, we. We've been pretty disciplined from a budget standpoint for about three years, I think three years ago. This might be our third year on a pretty strict budget. And our accounting team is already getting ahead of next year's budgeting process by adjusting.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

We have six months of actual data, so we can go in and start noting the adjustments we need to make for 2027 budget. So when we get to budgeting, we already have our notes. We already kind of know what we have to do.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Whereas the previous years, it's always been rushing to try to get something to figure it out.

[A]

I mean, you got. Yeah, we're only in July, so that's nice to be that ahead, right?

[B]

It's really nice. Yeah. So for us, it's. Yeah, it's seven months into our fiscal year, which ends in December.

[A]

December.

[B]

End of November. So it's. It's really cool. And from a business standpoint, if you don't have a budget, it's one of the best things we've done as a

[A]

business was creating the budget.

[B]

Creating a budget and then sticking to the budget. And we've been. I think we've been within like a percent or two of the budget from an expense standpoint, especially each year we've done it, and right now we're halfway through the year and almost exactly on budget from an expense standpoint.

[A]

Wow, that's amazing.

[B]

It's really good.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. Usually you put a budget, and then you can start slipping back pretty quickly.

[B]

Right?

[A]

Well.

[B]

And we've slipped in some areas, but when you're disciplined, it's like, okay, if we push out over here, that money needs to come from somewhere.

[A]

Where does it come from? Elsewhere.

[B]

Yeah. And it's been really good for our business because we spent a few years just on a spending spree, which was in nobody's interest. So if you're in business, if you are not disciplined when it comes to a budget, I would do that as quickly as possible. It's one of the best things we've done.

[A]

I think, even as an individual, that's a great thing for me. You know, you look at what do you pay for this, that, and the other thing. And then if you start, you know, maybe you can't go out to eat every night, you can see how quickly that adds up.

[B]

Well, and now with. I know there's a bunch of financial specific tools, but even with Claude.

[A]

Oh, yeah, put it in there.

[B]

You can put your bank statements in for the past 12 months and start talking to it. You know, here's, here's. Here are my assets. Here are my liabilities. Here's my spending. Tell me my trends.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

If I'm trying to save this next year, say I want to save $14,000.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Am I on track? Am I off track? Where could I cut back? I mean, within a few hours, you could have a killer budget prepared for you.

[A]

Yeah, I started, actually started using Claude to do that. When I got this job, I was like, okay, this is what I can make like. Like, and here's my expenses. Like, what am at here? And it's been real helpful to just kind of see, okay, I need to save this much money. I could put this much away. I could spend this much. Instead of stressing about, like, trying to balance your checkbook or whatever every month, you're like, oh, yeah, Is the whatever going to come out? I'm going to overdraw my account. Like, you know, those. All that. It's having that weight on you is so, like, it adds so much stress.

[B]

Well, and that's Jocko's book. Discipline equals freedom. I think that's the main point, is that having a plan and sticking to a plan is actually freeing 100%. You're not stressing about it. And you know the bounds. So it's like, all right, I have $300 to spend on say dumb shit this month.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And I've only spent. It's getting towards the end of the month. I've only spent $170 on dumb shit. So I can go spend $130 on more dumb shit. This is great. Or it's. Well, I've already spent the $300 and it's the middle of the month. No more.

[A]

No more dumb shit.

[B]

Yeah. It creates these very clear boundaries. Like right now I'm tracking my food too. And it's awesome. It's like, cool. I know exactly what I need to eat this today. So there's no guessing. And then even today it was like, oh, cool. I actually need more food here. So I'm free to have another piece of toast.

[A]

Yeah. And then you could probably make your. Well, you could probably plan your meals. And then, you know, you're not like getting home from work and you're like, what am I gonna for? You know, you already kind of have that all organized.

[B]

It's been really good.

[A]

That could be very freeing.

[B]

I'd imagine so from a dollars and sense standpoint. I mean, it works in business, but

[A]

it works personal life. Yeah.

[B]

And then final note here for the week. We sold our creative business at the beginning of 2025 to Chase, which then became fieldwork marketing for not just civil construction companies after we sold it. I think they do heavy industry, blue collar type trades type businesses, which is cool to see them branch out a little bit. We sell or finance the deal essentially to make it go as quickly as possible. It wasn't a giant deal in the grand scheme of things. I am just as broke today as I was before you sold it. Yeah. I think the benefit was to get the business focused and then the both businesses to allow them to run in their direction, to allow us to run in our direction. And it's been awesome. The. They're paying their note back a little bit faster than planned, which is. It's. It's a win for both sides. That means they're doing well. Yeah, it was a great, great. It's been great for them, which it has been. They're doing excellent. Their best work ever. And then it's great for us as well. You know, a little bit of extra cash flow sure has never hurt anybody.

[A]

That's awesome.

[B]

If you squirrel it away. If you don't go spend it. So it's just a little thing that I think is not that we needed the confirmation that it was the right decision. We knew it was the right decision before we did it, or else we wouldn't have done it. But this is. Yeah, it's 100%. It's been great.

[A]

That's good. They're happy. You're happy. Yeah, perfect.

[B]

Yeah. Very cool. So that was the. That was the week.

[A]

That's a good week.

[B]

Busy week.

[A]

That's a busy week.

[B]

Every. Every week's busy around here. So that's it for. Yeah, the bill would update everybody. Um, I think now that Adam is joining me, we have room for questions.

[A]

Yeah, I think it'd be cool. Yeah. Listener questions. We can. Yeah, comments. Stuff like that. You can comment on the. I know on Spotify and stuff. You can comment there or send an email. Was a dirt talk at.

[B]

@billboard.com.

[A]

yeah.

[B]

Yeah. So if you want to send us an email. Dirt [e-mail]. any questions? That goes to Adam, it goes to me. And we'll be incorporating that within the Monday show.

[A]

Yeah, that'd be great.

[B]

From here on out, maybe even we can incorporate some of the YouTube stuff we're doing. There's a lot of opportunity.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So, as always, thanks for listening, and we'll see you on the next one. Stay dirty, everybody.