940. What Paul Akers Taught Me About Lean, Waste, and Fixing What Bugs You

Summary

Fullerton Unfiltered Episode 940: “What Paul Akers Taught Me About Lean, Waste, and Fixing What Bugs You”
Host: Brian Fullerton | Guest: Paul Akers
Date: March 16, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this episode of Fullerton Unfiltered, Brian Fullerton sits down with Paul Akers—innovator, author of "2 Second Lean," and champion of the Toyota Production System—for a rich, no-nonsense discussion on the principles of Lean, the elimination of waste, and how intentional process improvement can revolutionize any business or life. Recorded live at the Leanscaper Operations Intensive in Cape Coral, Florida, the conversation is energetic, practical, and filled with actionable ideas for entrepreneurs, tradespeople, and anyone looking to improve efficiency and profit.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Paul Akers’ Background and FastCap Journey [01:09–04:00]

• Paul describes himself as “a carpenter, a simple guy,” who learned about Lean and the Toyota Production System 25 years ago and applied those principles to his cabinet-making business.
• FastCap, his company, began with a simple product (the FastCap screw-hole cover). Now, FastCap has 2,000 products in 40 countries.
• Paul’s business philosophy grew from solving small, real-world problems and grew as he listened to others’ ideas (paying inventors a 5% royalty).
• Memorable quote:

  “It's the simplest product in the world. But today, we have 2,000 products on the market.” — Paul [03:49]

2. What Lean Really Means [06:03–13:43]

• Lean is defined by Paul as “the elimination of waste.” He stresses there are eight major types of waste (overproduction, excess inventory, etc.).
• Paul calls Brian “the epitome of Lean” for his streamlined podcast setup:

  “You are Lean. I don't say that to people very often because most people are an effing disaster.” — Paul [06:09]

• Most workspaces are chaotic, filled with unnecessary items and over-processing. Lean is about simplifying, reducing steps, and removing anything that isn’t value-adding.
• Key Lean principle:

  “The only time there's value is when something is changing.” — Paul [10:51]

• The majority of people’s work lives are spent in “non-value” activities—even at the world’s leanest companies (Toyota, for example, estimates 95% of what they do is non-value add).
• Paul’s challenge:

  “99.9% of everybody's life is non-value.” — Paul [11:30]

3. The “Strike Zone” and Everyday Inefficiency [09:20–10:00]

• Paul introduces the “strike zone” concept: in work (and life), your most-used tools and processes should be within immediate reach, reducing wasted movement.
• Anecdote: “Most people are walking, turning, shuffling, bending over way outside the strike zone... Instead of having a hook right where you walk out the door, you grab the car keys, you get in the car.” — Paul [09:22]

4. The Mindset: Humility, Learning, and Continuous Improvement [12:54–14:39, 17:04–17:58]

• Paul values “learners” more than people who are just high performers:

  “There's something more important than a nine or a ten. In my mind. It's a learner. Someone who wants to change and learn.” — Paul [12:54]

• Humility and curiosity are the connectors; the “2%” of people who constantly ask why, seek discovery, and improve, are rare and valuable.
• Notable moment:

  “When the Japanese came into my plant 25 years ago... they told me, you have no clue what you're doing. I could have said ‘Do you have an airplane? I have two airplanes...’ Instead I said, ‘What am I doing wrong?’ and that changed everything.” — Paul [17:31]

• Paul asserts: Focus on those eager to learn; “You can’t save them all!” [18:11]

5. Common Waste & Practical Examples [15:28–16:27]

• Paul encourages listeners to start by noticing waste everywhere—not just the obvious business inefficiencies, but everyday things like food waste after a meal or cluttered presentations:

  “If you can just start to see waste everywhere... that's Lean thinking.” — Paul [15:28] “He put slides up... said, ‘I’m not going to read them.’ Why the hell did you put them up? The only thing should be the point you want to convey.” — Paul, referencing a speaker at the event [16:15]

6. Can Everyone “Get” Lean? [18:02–18:24]

• Paul is pragmatic: “No, I don’t bother with [the 98% who don’t want to learn]. All I do is focus on the people that want to learn and their success gets the interest of the other 98, and a couple more come on.”
• Memorable insight: “If you expend any energy towards these 98, you're wasting... your time.” [18:24]

7. Lean, Flow, and Intentionality [19:05–20:21]

• Lean isn’t robotic efficiency—it’s about “flow,” making every process smooth and frictionless.
• Intentionality alone isn’t Lean; you can be “intentionally organizing waste.”

  “You can organize waste and be proud of it too and feel like you're the best on the planet.” — Paul [20:19]

8. Resources and Paul Akers’ Work [20:25–21:13]

• Paul has written seven books, but “2 Second Lean” is the best-known and available for free (in 20 languages, video format, etc.) at paulakers.net.
• “Everything I do is free... all my books, voice message me on the app, ask me a question.”

9. Real-Life Transformations: Lean in Action [22:28–23:22]

• Paul shares his favorite Lean transformation: Tennessee Cheesecake, where 70 employees changed from “heads down doing their work” to “heads up, looking for improvements.” Now, the bakery uses standards, visual learning, and encourages curiosity and efficiency at every level.
• “It's like—it gives me chills when I think about it.” — Paul [23:15]

10. Legacy and Final Thoughts [23:30–24:26]

• Paul’s reach has affected “hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people’s lives.”
• His book is successful because it tells a real, practical story—“no theory, zero theory from Paul Akers.” [23:59]
• Brian notes firsthand seeing lean operations in major manufacturing plants versus inefficient ones.

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Memorable Quotes & Attributed Moments

• On Lean:

  “Lean is essentially the elimination of waste.” — Paul Akers [06:09]

• On Value-Added Work:

  “The only time there's value is, is when something is changing.” — Paul Akers [10:51]

• On Humility and Growth:

  “Humility. I don't know. You... People who are humble are curious people and full of non stop discovery.” — Paul Akers [17:04]

• On Legacy:

  “I'm humbled by it.” — Paul Akers, regarding the global impact of his work [23:30]

• On Focus:

  “If you expend any energy, zero energy towards these 98, you're wasting... your time.” — Paul Akers [18:24]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:09] — Paul’s background and first FastCap product
• [06:03] — Brian’s podcasting—an example of Lean in action
• [09:20] — “Strike zone” principle explained
• [10:51] — “Only time there's value is when something is changing.”
• [12:54] — Learners vs. high-performers: “There's something more important than a nine or a ten… a learner.”
• [15:28] — Noticing waste in all areas of life
• [17:31] — Humility: Key to adopting Lean
• [18:24] — Why Paul doesn’t expend energy on the “98%"
• [20:25] — Book recommendations and resources from Paul
• [22:28] — Tennessee Cheesecake: Favorite Lean transformation story

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Actionable Takeaways

• Start by noticing waste—physical, process, and even mental clutter—in your environment.
• Adopt the “strike zone” mentality: Arrange your workspace and routines so everything essential is immediately accessible.
• Focus on continuous improvement rather than perfection; celebrate learning and curiosity as core values on your team.
• Seek out and cultivate the “2%” who naturally question, improve, and adapt.
• Remember: Being Lean is about flow and improvement, not just being busy or organized for its own sake.

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Resources

• Paul Akers’ books & resources: paulakers.net (all free)
• 2 Second Lean (video and print in 20 languages)

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Final Thoughts

Brian’s energetic questioning and Paul’s forthright wisdom offer a masterclass in practical Lean thinking. Whether you're new to the concept or seeking ongoing improvement, this episode delivers actionable ideas, candid stories, and memorable advice—straight from the world’s preeminent Lean practitioner.

Transcript

[A]

Foreign. You're now listening to the Fullerton unfiltered podcast. Straightforward, no nonsense business advice, completely on filter. Grow your business, grow your life. Now here's your host, Brian Fullerton.

[B]

All right guys, we're recording here live at the leanscaper operations intensive down here in beautiful Cape Verde, Coral, Florida. Folks are really excited about having you guys listening into today's show. We've got a new guest on the show, somebody I'm making friends with. Very honored and privileged to have him joining us with us today. Mr. Paul, how are you doing this morning?

[A]

I'm doing great, Brian, and you're awesome, man. Just watching how you operate. Everything is so cool as we're trying

[B]

to be cool hand Luke over here. From what I understand, you're one of our VIP guests here at the intensive, so we are very honored to have you here. Uh, shout out to Benji Carlson for networking us together and making this happen. I'm not going to take any time away from you. You actually are going to be on stage next this afternoon. So we're going to make this short and sweet, but would you mind just giving us the, the whole ball of wax, maybe your the 50,000 foot on your background and who you are.

[A]

Sure. I'm a carpenter, very simple guy. I learned the Toyota production system about 25 years ago. I applied it to my business. My business blew up. I wrote a book about it. So people started following my methodology or my interpretation of two of lean production or the Toyota production system and I call it Two Second Lean. And that book is in 20 languages all over the world. And there are thousands and thousands, tens of thousands of companies across the globe everywhere that are practicing it. And that's basically what what I do.

[B]

So, so take it back from the very beginning. Have you always been an entrepreneur, a business owner you said decided to start a company.

[A]

I was pulling weeds and cutting grass. That was my first job when I was probably like 10, 11 years old. I was working for a couple neighbo and so yeah, it always was in my, my spirit to be a business person. You know why? Because I love pleasing people.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

I love the smile on people's face. Man, you did a great job on my lawn. Yeah, I don't know. It really turns me on. So that's where the entrepreneurship comes from.

[B]

And then it sounds like you're serial entrepreneur. It sounds like at this point. But what was your core business back then?

[A]

You mean when?

[B]

Before, before the manufacturing business. What did you do then? And then you had the manufacturing.

[A]

I was a very Good question. I understand. I was a cabinet maker.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

General contractor. Cabinet. I built custom home, but prim. Primarily custom furniture and custom cabinets. That was my main gig.

[B]

So funny story. Probably a whole nother podcast for a whole other time. I just got off the heels of building my home the last 18 months. Super exciting and fun project. I'm kind of a one and done kind of a guy.

[A]

Right.

[B]

That was a lot.

[A]

It's a lot of work.

[B]

Not for the faint of heart, but the cabinets. We put big money into our kitchen. Like the cabinets. The. The final finishings. The 100 grand plus.

[A]

Can I ask.

[B]

Oh, big money.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Oh, yeah. Like 2, 3x that. Yeah. Yeah. It's a little bit nicer home. It's our forever home. But floor to ceiling, everything. I mean, the Taj Mahal, you know, the blah, blah, blah. I'm sure you keep up on trends, but, man, like, what a. What an important decision that whole part of the house is because it anchors.

[A]

It's everything.

[B]

Yeah, the kitchen anchors for sure. At least ours does because we like the host. So. So take it again, for anybody who doesn't know your whole story, the. The cabinet finishing. What did you create and what did you design? And then I want to get into maybe the manufacturing side of this conversation.

[A]

Well, what I did is develop the simplest product in the whole world, called the fast cap. A simple. I'm sure they're in your house. So when cabinet makers install a cabinet, there's a hole or a penetration, and you don't really want to see that. When you open up your cabinets, you want it nice to look the surface to look right. So we developed a cap that's in all different wood shapes and finishes to cover those screw holes, depending upon what the interior or exterior of your cabinet would be. Did I answer your question?

[B]

I think so. So. So. So that's your claim to fame, as you claim a critic. I love it.

[A]

Yeah. It's the simplest product in the world. But Today we have 2,000 products on the market.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

All over the world, in 40 countries. So it didn't blow. It blew up.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Yeah. Because what happened. Interesting part of the story that I think your listeners will enjoy is when I went to a trade show to present that simple product, everybody heard the fact, the story that I was just a cabinet maker. I was a regular guy. I had three employees, I was nobody. And all of a sudden, my product is in all these hardware distribution places. They go, that's a cool story. And I. And they go, I have an idea. And I go, oh, well, what if I took your idea, paid you a 5% royalty, right. And then we put it on the market and I told people that they went crazy. So everybody blowing up my phone, I got this idea. I got this idea. And 2000 products on the market.

[B]

Wow. So now did you bring all this eventually in house for like manufacturing and distribution?

[A]

50% of all of our products are made in our Amazon amazing manufacturing facility. We sub out.

[B]

Sure. Wow. Okay. So funny story. Back in Michigan, we have an area up north called Bay Harbor, Michigan. Beautiful area. Was on the boat show on its yacht, 60 Footer. And the guy was selling it because he was rolling into like a 64 footer or whatever. Nice guy, Big dude. Big, you know, Greek guy. Had the gold chains.

[A]

Greek?

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

You know, no gold chains, no tattoos, no big belly. I'm thin and fat. But go ahead.

[B]

Fair enough. Fair enough. This guy was incredible. So we're on this boat. I'm basically loitering. My wife and I are there. We're just building the dream. And I asked the guy, I said, hey, do you mind if I ask you, like, what did you do to get to get wealthy? And he said, I made hinges. And I said, okay, like there's got to be more here. He goes, I just made hinges and I made millions of them. And he goes, and I sold the hinge factory. And I'm like, okay, cool. So like this, this manufacturing and lean, I'm from Michigan. When I was, you know, 15, 17 years old, we would go through different automotive suppliers and, you know, manufacturing plants. It's. It's automotive, it's Michigan. Right. And so this concept of lean, believe it or not, I hadn't heard it until I actually came to an environment like this. And from a guy like Mark Bradley on stage. So this Toyota way and this lean, and you know, we're trying to, you know, not over process our movements. Talk to me a little bit about what lean means to you and then how you incorporated it into your whole manufacturing business and the product that you even came up with.

[A]

Well, you're not going to believe what I'm going to tell you right now. You are the epitome of Lean.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

I have worked with so many people around the world and I walked up to this simple black table with a small little console. You put in a chip in the back, you have two headsets. You turned it on, Everything was adjusted perfectly. You made a small little tweak. The sound is incredible. The way you're operating this whole operation right now, this interview Is like, where the hell did this guy come from? Everybody would have Everywhere and have 10 people standing around helping them to manage it, and you've got nothing, right? You're sitting in a pair of shorts on a black table with one little console, and everything's going like, boom, boom, boom. You are lean, okay? And I don't say that to people very often because most people are effing disaster.

[B]

Why is that? What do you mean?

[A]

So lean is essentially the elimination of waste. There. There are eight ways, and there's overproduction, excess inventory, transportation defects. You haven't done any of that. There's no excess inventory here. There's no overproduction, there's no defects. Everything's just boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. We started. What are we. We sat down, and within two minutes, we started the podcast. You were right into it. You were in Heman and Han, you are the epitome of lean.

[B]

Well, I appreciate that.

[A]

I'm being honest with you, and I'm not blowing smoke up your ass. I don't do that. I'm brutal.

[B]

Here's my life right now. I've got three small businesses, three small kids, a wife, 20 people, and about 50 grand a month of payroll. So.

[A]

Right.

[B]

I ain't got time to waste, right? So when Benji says, hey, you need to meet this guy Paul. And he is like the godfather of lean over here, I'm like, all right, let's go. Let's not waste any time, okay? So. So most folks in general are the opposite, you're saying? Completely in their life, their business, everything, everything.

[A]

It's a disaster. I mean, I could walk into any company in the world, and my head just spins and I go, what the hell are you thinking?

[B]

What are you thinking when you walk into that environment? What does that mean? Quantify it. The eight types of ways you're explaining.

[A]

I think people are blind. Completely blind. First of all, generally, the work areas are in chaos. There's tons of crap in the work area that has nothing to do with the work area. You have nothing here. You don't even have a cup of. You don't even have a cup of coffee on the table. I've got one thermos. That's it. So here's a good example of lean. I've got a thermos. I've refilled it five times this morning. Everybody else has got cup after cup after cup, filling the trash, people emptying it, garbage trucks coming. Nobody's done anything for me. Right? Do you understand the concept of lean? So you Walk into a business and there's just tons of over processing. There's defects. You got piles of defects. They got people reworking it. The bosses communicate, hey, why the hell didn't you do that?

[B]

It's always so you have this unique.

[A]

Did I answer your question?

[B]

Yes. I love it. So what most people don't have the privilege is walking through these factories or walking through these automotive plants. They just, they're just going about their day. They're doing maybe a narrow range of tasks and activities. And then hopefully that rule has been designed with some intentionality behind it. But the reality. No, I want. That's, that's your tee up right there. So unfortunately, let's take manufacturing this. We'll just keep it really simple. A gentleman's at a stand or a facility or a station, and in an unlean environment, you can describe that versus one that is lean.

[A]

Oh, really? Great question.

[B]

There you go.

[A]

We have something called the strike zone. So as a, as a, as a batter gets up, the pitcher wants to pitch it, pitch the ball in this very small box, right? When you're working, you want the same thing. You want everything. Like with. You barely move your hand. But most people are walking, turning, shuffling, bending over way outside the strike zone. Their whole life is outside the strike zone. They go to get their car keys in the morning, hey, honey, where's my car keys? I thought I left them here. Instead of having a hook right where you walk out the door, you grab the car keys, you get in the car. Yep, right. The strike zone. There's no strike zone. I mean, one half a percent in the world understand the strike zone.

[B]

Yeah, right. So, so this is your strike zone.

[A]

This is right in front of you.

[B]

This is my happy place.

[A]

Look at you right here. Everything's right in front of you. This is your strike zone.

[B]

You know, I don't. I like to eat a lot of food, so I'm not going to burn all these energy. Calories. Calories off. You know, some people live to eat. I eat to live.

[A]

Right.

[B]

One of those deals. So most folks, life is a mess. Nothing's lean, nothing's efficient. I heard somebody say up to about 40% of most production in a business is just inefficiency or wasted inefficiency. Is that to be true with what you've seen out there from, from an assembly line, what was it?

[A]

Percentage? 40 plus percent, dude, 99%.

[B]

You think so? Really?

[A]

Listen to this. Why is that? Listen, Toyota, the leanest company in the world, okay, 95% of everything they do is non value. Add activity. Only 5% is value. Let me explain.

[B]

Okay. Yeah.

[A]

The only time there's value is, is when something is changing. So when the Toyota operator walks over and grabs a piece of weather stripping, walks back to the car, raises his hand up there, only at the second that that weather stripping's touching it and being pushed into play. And as soon as he's done, he's moving on to the next task. Non value when the car is moving down the line. Non value when the car is driving off the line. Non value when the car is being shipped to America. Non value. It's all non value. Only when you change something is there value. So 99.9% of everybody's life is non value.

[B]

Just busyness, idleness, distraction, inefficiency.

[A]

I'm going to challenge you right now. Yeah, when is there value? I'm asking you a question because I want your listeners to get this. When is there value?

[B]

When something is moving or changing?

[A]

No, no, no. Moving.

[B]

Not just moving. When it's a result. Changing, changing, changing.

[A]

So from one thing to listen, when you came in here and hooked me up and we came over here and you showed me the headset, was anything changing? No, no, nothing was changing. What is the purpose of your show is to convey information.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Only at the minute you pushed that button and said record was something changing. Were we actually recording something that could be transmitted to somebody else?

[B]

Wow.

[A]

Any time you spend processing this is non value, basically, right?

[B]

We have a producer. I hit start, I hit stop. He does the rest. Because I have to be lean in

[A]

my and his in. His production should be like super leaned out. So you have to think about your processes, what non value you're giving to him so he has less non value so he can do more value added work. I hope I'm not getting complicated.

[B]

No, this is great. I say we try to hire nines and tens in my life, right. You know, because I'm number one. Just practically speaking, I'm done with threes and fours. But, but the inefficiency people like, well, I want. I'm saving some money. Talk to me about that one. I'm saving some money. Maybe you're going with somebody who's maybe not as a 9 or a 10, but there are 4 or 5. But I'm saving some money. Are they really saving money?

[A]

Well, well, of course not. But I'm, I'm going to say something. There's something more important than a nine or a ten. In my mind. It's a learner Someone who wants to change and learn. I don't care if you're a 10, I don't care if you're a 9, I don't care if you'RE an 8. I just care that you have an attitude like, God, I never thought about that. Wow. Why don't I have a thermos with all the critical words that I have to learn in Japan instead of looking on my phone? No, I'm in front of it all day long. Oh, kanban hajunka schmed kaizen. This is my thermos I'm reading out of right now, right? So I want someone who's always like curious and wanting to learn. I don't care if you're a 9 or 10, because if you're curious and learn, you'll blow everyone away. You could give me a 9 or a 10. Someone who knows it all. I'll give you someone who's a three and developing into a lean thinker. Someone who's thinking and learning and improving. They'll blow that 10 away any day.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

Any day. Blow them out of the water.

[B]

There's so many things that when I have somebody of your caliber on a show like this that I could go down rabbit holes because everything I look around, I'm just by almost moniker, annoying to a lot of folks because I ask questions all day. I go, why do we do that here? Why is that the way it is?

[A]

And you're good at it too.

[B]

Oh, it drives a couple of my friends and peers bonkers. And I'm like, but there's so many questions in life. Why do we do this? Why are we here? What is going on over this? And not for this, like grand esoteric, but in a very practical sense. Hey, like we're only on this ball of mud for a little while. Let's get some stuff done.

[A]

Ball of mud. Okay, keep going.

[B]

I, I, I borrowed that from somebody.

[A]

I love it.

[B]

Let me, let me do this from a, from a, from a time sake and just from a respect of your calendar. And I know you're going to be up next here in like five or ten minutes. You've really championed this conversation of lean. You've been, you're in, in demand, sought after consultant. You've built it, you've done it. What is your heart's desire for people to know and understand about lean? Like if you had to summarize, what do you think?

[A]

So simple. Go ahead, improve the quality of your life. I want you to have the most incredible, robust, bitchin life in the World, A life where every day you walk in and you're full of discovery and oh my gosh, that works so good. Let's see what else happens. That's what I want for people. And that's why I teach Lane to change their life, to improve the quality of their Life. Not by 1x 2x, 3x, 4x, by 100x.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

And that's what happens to everyone that does this.

[B]

So. So when you're coming here today, what is your heart's desire for all the landscapers here, for all of us listening in, what can we take away? What can we improve? How can we, how can we make you proud that this same time next year, we followed your tutelage, your teachings. And what does that look like? Quantify that for me. Any low hanging fruit that speaks to you?

[A]

Well, the number one thing, if I just could wave a magic wand, everyone here can for the first time in their life, go look at the waste. You walk out here and you look at the plates. Everybody's turning in. My plate was spotless. There was nothing left. Tons of food scraping off, throwing in the trap. If you can just start to see waste everywhere. And it's not just food waste, it's everything you do, right? It's everything. And so I'll give you an example. Do I have a second?

[B]

We're good. You're on clock.

[A]

I just heard Dwayne speak. Yeah, right.

[B]

Incredible.

[A]

Awesome, right? He was awesome. And I love him. And he introduced himself to me and I love the guy, he was so cool, so down to earth. But he put slides up on there that were just huge long lists of things he said. Well, I'm not going to read to him. Why the hell did you put them up there?

[B]

Sure.

[A]

Do you follow what I'm saying?

[B]

I do see.

[A]

I see waste. The only thing that should have been on that slide is exactly the point that he wanted to convey. And everything else should have been stripped away. That's lean thinking. Do you understand what I just said?

[B]

Oh, I do. Trust me, brother. I think you and I are like kindred spirits here.

[A]

I. I can sense that. That's why. Look at your place, man. I'm like, what the hell's going on here?

[B]

I just look around, I go, why? Why are we doing what we're doing? Why? This isn't. I, it's a bug. I'll go out to you with my wife and I'm like, this, this is wrong. That's right. It's. I don't know why or what I. Before I even knew this language.

[A]

2% of the people in the world think like you. So first of all, you need to understand there's a very small group of people and those are the people you want. You say you want nines and tens. I want the 2%. I want the 2% that are like, what the hell's going on here? Let's. How can we fix this? Yeah, those people go to the moon.

[B]

What is that? What, what do you describe that? How have you quantified that? Have you been able to.

[A]

Humility. Humility. I don't know. You. Maybe you could talk about it in your own life. People who are humble are curious people and full of non stop discovery. And they want to know what that guy's doing. They want to know what that guy. People who are egos are. I'm the big guy on the block. Literally. You don't know what you. Excuse me.

[B]

No, yeah. No, it's unfiltered, brother.

[A]

Okay. So you know, that's how it is. You have no clue what you're doing.

[B]

I think, I think it's the. It is the humility because the gratitude.

[A]

I'll tell you a story to illustrate that. When the Japanese came into my plant 25 years ago, I was make. I was very young, 37 years old. I was making a million dollars a year. That's a lot of freaking money for a cabinet maker who's not an MBA in anything else. And they came in and basically told me, you have no clue what you're doing. Yeah, right. I had a choice at that point. I could have said, I know I make a lot more money than you. Do you have an airplane? I have two airplanes. I fly all over the world. What do you have? I could have said that, but instead I said, what am I doing wrong?

[B]

Wow.

[A]

Wow. And that changed everything. Wow.

[B]

Is there a way to communicate to the other 98% to get them to think like a 2 percenter?

[A]

No, I don't bother with them.

[B]

They're just.

[A]

I don't bother. I don't bother with it at all.

[B]

The reason I say this, because I have a saying. You can't save them all. No.

[A]

In my take is all I do is focus on the people that want to learn and their success gets the interest of the other 98. And a couple more. More. Come on. More.

[B]

Come on.

[A]

But if you expend any energy, zero energy towards these 98, you're wasting. And we're all about weight. You're wasting your time.

[B]

Is there an appropriate time to not be Lean.

[A]

Well, or efficient in my opinion. No, there's. You should always be lean. But lean is not about being a robot. Lean's about making things flow. Be in a flow state. Everything just works. You were in a flow state when we walked in here. Why wouldn't you want to be a flow? Why would you want to be tripping over yourself? I mean, is there a time to trip over yourself? I don't know. I don't see it.

[B]

Now somebody's valuable as you, brother. Yeah, we'll go. We could go for another hour, but I'm trying to be lean here.

[A]

Yeah. So you see what I'm saying?

[B]

I do.

[A]

No, I mean my whole life is in a total flow state. I mean, I have the most incredible life in the whole world because I apply this to everybody. Everything, My health. You see, the way I look. Everything in my life is lean.

[B]

Would you say another synonym or word? Would it for.

[A]

For.

[B]

It would be intentional. Intentionality.

[A]

Well, definitely lean people are intentional. But you can be intentional and accumulate waste. So when I, for instance, my facility was the model facility, when the Japanese gave me their painted floors, it looked like an airplane hangar. Every shelf was perfectly faced off, all the materials faced off all the tools. Everything was put away. Everything was flawless. I can show you pictures. You go, that's the best factory in the world. Matter of fact, the bank came into my factory and loaned me a quarter of a million dollars the week before. Non secured. And they don't give quarter million dollar loans to non secured business who don't have an mba. And they said it's the best run business they'd ever seen. And the Japanese came in a week later and told me I was a piece of shit. Okay, so the answer is I was very intentional. But then being intentional is not laying.

[B]

Good lord.

[A]

Because you can organize waste and be

[B]

proud of it too and feel like

[A]

you're the best on the planet.

[B]

This is an incredible conversation. You wrote a book. Two second lean.

[A]

Give me, give me seven books.

[B]

Seven books.

[A]

Seven books.

[B]

Efficient. All right, here we go. So give me, give me the 90 second synopsis. If people want to learn more, follow along. Where can they get it? What was it about? And was that your claim to fame or was that the whole process?

[A]

No, no, no. Two second leads to claim to fame. That's where people got to know me for sure. And you can get it up. My website's paulacres.net everything I do is free.

[B]

Okay?

[A]

I give away everything. I spend millions of dollars helping people all over the world. I Have an app. The app's incredible. You can actually voice message me on the app, ask me a question. All my books are there in 20 languages now. My book's now in video format. You can go on YouTube and you can click 2 second lean video and then 5 minute sections of every chapter. You watch it in your morning meeting. Teacher team. No cost to anything. Everything's free. Did that answer the question?

[B]

Yes, sir. Last question I have. So. So how do you know Benji and Mark and all these guys are. You're sharing, obviously, here this week?

[A]

I have no clue. They called me up one day and said, we want you to be on the podcast. They said, sure.

[B]

Landscape guys are happy to help. When Mark taught lean last year over the winter, he did these things called masterminds. You do these, like training sessions across the country. And I plugged in and he was talking about the eight tenets of lean and waste and all this mess. And we took it home like, I'm the guy you're going to teach. I'm going to do it. I'm a psychopath. And we started implementing that into our business. We went from about a 1%, 15% growth, 1% net to about a 15 to 17% growth and a 15 to 17% net in less than a year.

[A]

Way to go.

[B]

And we've got another 5% on both that we could easily take care of. So I'm like, this stuff works. It's exciting, it's incredible. And it's one of the things like you don't know what you don't know.

[A]

And it's every day for me. So think about that.

[B]

So I can only imagine going to dinner with you.

[A]

Yeah. 20 years I've been doing this and I'm still in total discovery.

[B]

That's incredible. That's incredible. Give me a crazy. Give me your craziest Lean store. I don't know if it's a company that made more money, more efficiency. You found a way to increase more romantic time to get. I don't care. Give me. Give me your. Your favorite Lean. Lean story or Lean Takeaway or something that blows your own mind.

[A]

As you're asking me that question, my mind is racing through a thousand companies. I can only imagine completely transfer. I'll tell you the one that's cool. I don't know that it's the best, but it's one of the best. Tennessee cheesecake. They're in Tennessee. They make cheesecakes. They have 70 employees. Will Wilson is actually in my company right now, spending a week in my home. And at my company, learning from us, he's been at it for two years. The company just completely transformed. You know, everybody's got their heads down doing their work now. Everyone's got their heads up looking, how can I improve this? How can I improve? They have standards everywhere. There's flow in the organization. People are making videos. They have. They have a learning club where everyone's learning and studying books together. This is in a bakery. You don't do this.

[B]

You know what I mean?

[A]

Everybody's like, mix the flour, mix the flour, mix the flour, get the cake out right?

[B]

Yep.

[A]

Everything's the opposite now. Everyone's going, how do I do that better? How do I do that better? It's like. It gives me chills when I think about it.

[B]

That's incredible. That's incredible. Your legacy has, I guarantee it, obviously have touched hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people's lives, directly or indirectly.

[A]

I'm humbled by it.

[B]

What an incredible story. What an incredible story. Paul, for time's sake, I think we're gonna land the plane here.

[A]

No problem.

[B]

We could easily go for another two hours. I know that especially. I'm a story guy at this stage of my life. I just love buying and finding stories.

[A]

Stories are sticky.

[B]

They, they, they do. And they, they've been translated for. Since the dawn of time. You know, if you guys want to get rich, a good way to do it is to start learning how to tell stories.

[A]

So, you know, my whole book is my story. It's not a bunch of theory. It's actually all this that I went through to figure out what lean was.

[B]

I love it.

[A]

Chapter by chapter. Everything, everything I did, they go, oh, wow, this. That's why it's so popular, because it's practical, it's real. No theory. Zero theory from Paul Akrin.

[B]

You know what? It's funny. Last quick thing I'll say, as I've been able to go on a couple factory tours with a couple of brands in our industry. Kawasaki Steel, Red Max Echo, you know, Husqvarn. Different people and brands. Ex Mark Toro. And you can see the, the, the operations that are very efficient and lean and the other ones that are very wasteful, if you will.

[A]

Right.

[B]

No judgment on any of the above. I'm not naming names, but I've seen where people are in Kawasaki and they, I mean, they're like T Rex, you know what I mean? I mean, everything's right there. And the, the parts are loaded. Yeah. Strike zone. The parts are loaded. Filled robots, Japanese. It's Incredible. It's incredible. I love this. Hey Paul, thank you so much for the time. I know we're going to get more conversations on the shows. I'm sure you got some other folks here to interview as well. Where can people find you? And thank you so much for the time.

[A]

Paul acres.net Type it into YouTube. Type it in Google. Just type in my name. A K E R S Paul Akers. Impossible not to find me.

[B]

Paul, you're the man. Thank you so much brother.

[A]

My pleasure.

[B]

All right guys. Well, this is the episode of fully Unfiltered Podcast guys, live from the leanscaper Operations Intensive. Hope you guys enjoy this show, go back and relisten to it again as as efficient we are as listening. Sometimes we got to go back through five or seven times they say to actually get it and have it seep into your subconscious. But my gosh, take what Paul's share with us, implore it, import it into your business and watch things continue to explode. Guys, we love you. We appreciate you. Have a great day and we'll catch up with you guys here on the next one. Accurate Budgeting and Estimating Start with accurate accounting data to ensure you are hitting your profit and cash flow goals. It's crucial to know your numbers and adjust throughout the year based on your financials. The accounting firm CycleCPA currently helps hundreds of green industry businesses throughout the country through a solid bookkeeping foundation, monthly reports and continuous advisory meetings. Visit their website cyclecpa.com and mention Brian's podcast to receive $200 off on bookkeeping, tax and CFO services.

[C]

Thanks for taking the time to listen to the Fullerton Unfiltered Podcast with Bryan Fullerton. We hope you enjoyed this production. If so, please consider leaving us a five star review for the show. While the techniques and ideas presented here are designed to help you grow a more successful and profitable business, no one can guarantee these results for you. We want to emphasize that entrepreneurship is not easy and the ideas presented here are just the opinions of Bryan Fullerton and his respective guests. No one can guarantee success for you. That being said, we hope the ideas presented here help you and motivate you to go on out there and crush it with your own business.

[A]

Fullerton Unfiltered Podcast thanks for listening and

[C]

we hope to see you on the next episode.

[B]

This has been a Brian Fullerton and Mr. Producer Production.