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Welcome to the Deep end with Eric Triplett, the Pond Digger. This is the show for contractors, tradesmen and entrepreneurs who want more from their business and from themselves. Eric brings decades of experience as a seven figure contractor with expertise in leadership, sales systems and the discipline it takes to build something real. Shaped by years in the aquatics world, his insights are rooted in precision, craftsmanship and performance. If you're done skimming the surface and ready to go deeper, it's time to dive in. What is happening to all you contractors, entrepreneurs and people who want to build big, amazing things? It's Triplet here. Listen, contractors and business owners, your biggest problem isn't leads, it isn't marketing, it isn't pricing. It is is people. And this weekend we had a job fair and I disqualified 80% of the applicants with one question and I'm going to share that with you today. Today, this is story time with triplet and this one's called the teamwork test. So listen, here at the Pond Digger, we're building something special over here. Not just a company, not just some crews, not just jobs. We're building a kick ass team of high performance human beings. People who show up, who care, who take ownership and people who want to win. So if you're a contractor right now, you already know your biggest problem isn't leads. But maybe not a lot of you still think that it is. It really isn't marketing or pricing, isn't structure. You know, a lot of times it's money. There's all these things that are coming at you, but the biggest problem is is people having a team to help you build your dream and what you got going on. But this past weekend we ran a job fair. It's the second time we've done it. The first time was cool. It was about a year ago. We had over 50 people show up and apply. It was really, really cool. And. But this past weekend I ran a job fair and it completely changed how I look at hiring forever. It really, really did. And I want to jump right into it. It was, it was on Valentine's Day. And yeah, I got caught. I caught a bunch of grief for that. But here's the truth. People that are in love still need jobs too, right? And I'm not in business of just hiring warm bodies anymore. I'm in the business of building high performance team. And I've been getting coached by Brandon and Natalie Dawson through Cardone Ventures. And I've been studying Natalie's book. It's called teamwork. And going deep into mission statements and vision Statements. And I've. As I've had some of these over the years, there's just not enough clarity behind it. And that's helped me quite a bit to understand how I need those particular pieces to grow a team and going deep on this book and what it actually takes to build a real team, not just a staff, not just laborers, not just someone who fogs a mirror, but a team full of people who are aligned and committed to building something big, something so big that they can build their dreams under that big dream as well. Right. And so here's what happened. I walked into this job fair with a completely different mindset than I did at the last one, and completely different than all the, you know, all the people that I've interviewed and hired over the years. And because I didn't. Wasn't. It wasn't about, do they have the skills, but how do they behave? It's more of a behavioral thing that I did today, because when, you know, like, when we talk about how you do one thing is how you do everything, right? And I want to just clarify a couple things. In some of the training I did with Natalie, you know, it's one thing to read a book and watch a video, but to see her speak from stage and speak to you directly at, like, what needs to happen in your business, it's very different, powerful thing. And she helped me understand how I need to look at recruiting in a much deeper level. And I've listened to her for hours and read the books, so it's not like I can just explain it to you in this quick story time with triplet. But I do want to share with you one thing that changed everything for me. Okay? Now, there's three different interviews that someone has to go through to get onto our team. Now, in the past, you know, if they had some skills that maybe were deficient on our crew, you know, maybe they had some electrical experience, and we needed that on. On a team. So we would be like, okay, cool. They know electrical, but, you know, they have all these other flaws. And we're not hiring for just this skill anymore. We need to hire for culture and behavior before we hire for the technical parts of it. So, like, this job fair this weekend, it was only like, we. We asked five questions to all the people that came in and applied. And the first question was the most important, critical one. And I was shocked because when I. Natalie told me, this is what you have to do. This is the first question you ask. It's a flunk. It's a pass or Fail question. They either keep going on with the interview or you escort them out. And when I first heard it, I was like, wow, that's kind of heavy. It seems kind of, you know, abrupt, but, you know, I've never done it that way. And I almost didn't want to, like, take her advice on it. I wanted to just twist it a little bit, but I was like, nope. Natalie's built all these amazing businesses. She's hired thousands of people. She knows what she's doing, right? So I'm just going to do what she tells me to do. So I'm going to get to that. I'm going to get to that soon. But the first important thing is we need to make sure we have a clean driving record. They can take a background check and they can do drug testing. Like that's the most important thing. Like, if you can do that, then you have the opportunity to sit down and talk to us. But still, it's important that we ask that question, even though it was, it was advertised as such. Right? Because in the past, I remember I hired this guy one time, I said, hey, do you have clean driving record? He's like, yeah, we went through everything. He fogged the mirror. He didn't show up drunk. I was like, okay, cool. Like, this guy, we're going to hire him and get him on the team, right? We need some bodies. And then a week or two later when we were like, okay, we gotta get this guy on the, on our. As a driver set up so we can drive a trailer and pull stuff to the jobs and help us, you know, get the crews out and come to find out he had a dui and I'm just like baffled. He just straight lied to my face. Yeah, I got a clean driving record. Like, what, what does that even mean? Right? Okay, so we, we ask them that again. Just I want to point blank look at you in the face and I'm gonna see their driving record before I hire them. Okay. I'm gonna get a printout from the DMV and make sure that it's accurate. Make sure they're not bullshitting me. But that's. Those are the three, you know, basic baseline questions, right? Are you a contractor looking for growth training and to level up your contracting business? If so, join the TWT Contractor Circle. It's our free Facebook group where like minded professionals go to share insights of success, strategies for growth and a place to find some accountability. In fact, we have a powerful accountability call every Friday with a live Q and A session at the end. And whether you're seeking advice, collaboration, or just a supportive community, this is a place for you. Request to join today and start building a valuable connection with me as well as our amazing network of contractors. Tango Whiskey Tango. That's TWT Contractor circle on Facebook. I'll see you on the inside. Now back to the show. But then the first real question. What research did you do on our company? And I am telling you right now that that one question literally disqualified most of everyone who showed up to the job fair. Oh, I didn't look you up. Oh, hey, I just saw the job fair thing, so I showed up. I figured I'd just come and check it out. You know, I heard you were hiring. My mom told me to come here. My. My wife said that you were hiring. So, you know, I came down here. But, bro, that's it. Done. Conversation over. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200 straight to jail. Like, it's, it's done. I mean, if you won't even research the place that you want to work for, you're not ready to work there. You're just not think about it. And, you know, it's interesting because even though Natalie told me this is so important, I didn't realize how incredible it would hit me. And I would just look across that table and see this person and go like, hey, these guys are checked out. I'd looked at it completely different, changed the way I hire. I have a new filter to look through, right? And here's what's interesting. So I had a. We had five people on staff ready to interview people because last time we had 50 people. We did it in a couple hours. We're trying to, like, get all this in. And we're, we're prepared to spend half an hour with each one of the applicants that come in asking questions about their behavior, like, do they fit for us? Right? And so it's interesting because I walked up to the sign in table. We had all the different job applications for ranch hands and salespeople and operations and admin and, you know, crews and apprentices. We had all these different places. So I walk up to the table and, and I was like, hey, who am I seeing? They're like, hey, go see Terry. I'm like, okay, hey, Terry, let's go. And so I'm walking from the area where all the applicants are sitting down and they've got chairs out and everything. And we are headed over to my spot where we sit down. It's like maybe 30, 40ft away. We walk over to the Table to sit down. But on the way there, I'm like, hey, Terry, what's up? Just to be clear, you got a clean driving record, right? Yeah, yeah, I got a clean one. That's cool. And then I'm like, do you, are you opposed to doing a drug test or a background check with us to work for us? No, no, I'd be fine. Okay. Oh, cool. And we go and we sit down. And as soon as we sit down, boom. First question, like, hey, can you just share with me what research you did on our company? And this is the very first person I'm interviewing the whole day. And we walked by all those people that were sitting there. We sit down, I asked him the question and he said, oh, I, I, I don't, did, I don't know anything about your company. My mom just told me to come on down here. And the guy's like a 25, 26 year old man. And I'm like, okay. And so here's, here's how I addressed it. I just want you to be clear on this. Natalie trained me to do this. I was like, hey, listen, Terry, I can appreciate you looking for a job. I just want to be clear that the interview's over currently. Right now I have a lot of people to interview today. And we're looking for team members that are excited to work for our company and know what they're getting into. In fact, when we hire someone, they're probably going to spend more time with us. They're going to see our faces probably more. They're going to see their spouse and their family. And so we want to make sure it's really a good connection. So the interview is over, but we have another job fair coming up in a couple of months and you're welcome to go check us out. And if you still think you want to work with us, then you can apply later. Okay. And we stood right back up. This took like 30, 40 seconds. So we literally, I got this guy's name, I walked over, grabbed him from, you know, in front of all the people. We walked over, sat down, and within a minute we stand back up and I escort him out and I get a new name and I circled no on his application, gave it to the staff member there and then went, got to the next person. And I can just, I could just think like the people that were sitting there waiting were like, holy crap, that was a fast interview. What happened? Right? But I mean, let's be real. I mean, does it make sense? And you know, after today, I mean, after the weekend after this whole job fair, I realize beyond the shadow of a doubt, I need to interview like a hundred people to get to five killers, to get to five high performance human beings that really want to click with us and be involved. I know I got to interview a hundred to get to five. And, you know, I. I think about all the contractors that had their biggest problem is people. I mean, that's the number one I hear thing all the time when I talk to contractors. I can't find good help. Like, how many people have you interviewed? You know, I put an add on. Indeed. How many people did you interview? Well, I had a couple people, but nobody wants to work a couple people, bro. Come on. Like, the volume of people that you have to touch in order to get a couple of killers on your team is staggering. And I know this for a fact now because of this book, teamwork, because of being trained, and because of the. The job fair that we set up. So let's talk about the teamwork filter, because that's where it hit me. Teamwork isn't a feeling. It's. It's a filter. It's not, can you fog a mirror? It's. Look, here's what I'm looking for in this first interview process. It's. It's a behavior thing. Behavior over skill. Because I feel like I can teach a lot of the skill. You know, I can. We can do trade school. Like, I'm probably going to find someone who has some skills at what we need, but I'm looking for the behavior over and above the skill set at the moment. And clearly, you know, your father's like, you got to shake hands really good. You got to make contact. You got to speak clearly. You got to carry yourself well. And you should park your car nice, too, because when we were sitting there, I was interviewing someone, and some guy rolls in, and the cars are just boom, boom, boom, stacked up nice and clean and tidy, right? And this guy rolls in and just parks, like, in the middle of, like, why are you parking here? What is wrong with you? I'm like, maybe this person actually is just here to drop off a wild animal that's injured. And, like, it's kind of like disheveled a little bit. Like, oh, my God, I got this injured hawk. What am I going to do with it? And I could. I could give a little bit of grace for there, right? But I watched this person, he gets out of the car and he walks over to the table, signs the sign in sheet, and goes to sit down. I'm like, oh, God, this guy's not on my team. I promise you that. There's no way this guy's on my team. So I go on with my interviews. I go over, and he's being interviewed by someone. He kind of disappeared. I wasn't sure who was interviewing him. And I get someone else's interview resume, and I'm going to get. Get them right? And I see him walking away, like, headed towards his car that was parked completely random out of space. And I asked the staff member, I'm like, hey, see this guy behind me? I want to make sure I see that guy's resume. I want to know if he's got a second interview scheduled with whoever he talked to. And my staff was like, yeah, no problem. I'm not sure, but I'll find out. So I go interview with my next person, and then when I come back, she. She pulls the sheet out. She's like, hey, this is his sheet. And it says he's got a second interview. And I, like, circle it and said, Eric says no. And she's like, yes, sir. And she circles it and throws it back in the no pile. And. And then at the end of the day, a team member comes up to me and says, hey, what. How come you said no to that person? I said, because they parked their car like an idiot. I don't need. I don't like how you do one thing is how you do everything. If you're going to park your car like that in the middle of a job fair and be complete, you know, Moron. Yeah, that, that. There's no space for you on my team. You're not going to ride around in our blasted vehicles in our branded company, you know, and. And show up like a jackass. I want rock stars to show up. And the way you park your car says something about it. And so he's. He's a no. Hard no on the second interview. Not gonna happen. Because behavior is part of your culture when you're building that. And culture is so important to build a big team. When you have a big team, the culture has to be, you know, where everyone's aligned. And everyone was aligned in their parking lot except this jackass. So clearly he's not going to be aligned with us. So it's a hard no. Hey, rockstars. It's triplet. If you're a contractor who feels like you're doing everything right, but your income still hits the ceiling every damn year. Listen up. The reason you're stuck isn't your market. It's not your prices. It's not the economy. It's your brain sabotaging your sales, your confidence, and your ability to close deals that you should be winning. That's why every Thursday, I've committed to 4pm Pacific Standard Time to host the Contractor Conspiracy webinar, live, raw, and interactive. We break down hidden psychological traps that keep contractors broke. And I show you exactly how the top contractors break through. It's free, it's live, and I promise to shake you up in a good way. Register now. The links in the show notes. Stop guessing and start winning. Let's do an initiative test because did they show up early? Do they research the company as we told you? It's important, you know, do they even know what we do? Do they ask smart questions? If not, I don't think that they're serious. It takes initiative to do those kind of things. And literally, you could. You could Google the Pond Digger, and in, like, in two or three minutes, you could find out a lot about what we do. The name, it says the Pond Digger. We dig ponds. I'm not sure what you guys do. I think you do something with the ponds, you're done. Wind it up, get out, it's over. Let's talk about. It's a little bit about ownership testing here. So I want some ownership and some conviction and stuff. So we, you know, one of the questions we ask is, hey, what. What kind of salary expectations are you hoping for? So let's just get a gauge of where they're at, right? And I had this one. At the end of the day, this one person comes up, and I was in the middle of an interview, and my crew chief, who was new to this, and he was interviewing people, and I was kind of coaching him. At the beginning of the day, it was getting close to the end, and there was. People were, like, kind of thinning out, and I grabbed him. I'm like, hey, yo, Austin, I'll interview that guy with you. Just hang tight for a minute. I'm almost finished. When I finished my interview, I sent the guy away, took my notes, and then Austin and this member comes up and let's call him Dave. Applicant Dave. So Dave sits down, Austin sits down. And I said, austin, go ahead and do the interview. I am just taking some final notes here on my last interview. And Austin's all being professional. He's like, will you take a drive? Will you take the drug test? Will you take the background test? And do you have a good driving record? And he does the normal stuff, right? And then Austin says, hey, what research have you done on our company? And the guy's like, nothing, nothing. My girlfriend told me there was a job fair. So I drove down here. And so I'm watching this, and applicant Dave is looking at Austin, and Austin's looking at his paperwork, and he takes this deep breath, like, I gotta tell this guy the interview's over. But he's looking at the next question, and he wants to go to the next question. I could tell he's just going to go there. He starts to say something, and I said, excuse me, can we just stop right there? And they both stopped and looked at me, and I said, dave, I just want you to know, normally at this point, the job interview is over because you haven't done any research on us. And you know you're going to be spending quite a lot of time with us if we were to hire you, probably more than you're going to see your family. And if you haven't done any research on us, then you haven't really aligned with us. You don't. We don't even know if you want to work here or not because you don't even know what we do. So I don't mean to be rude, but I'm just trying to protect your time and ours. Does that make sense to you? He's like, yeah, no, I get it. That's straight. And I said, but it's. At the end of the day, maybe we'll find a diamond in the rough. I'm going to have Austin continue to ask you some questions, if you're okay with that. And he's like, yeah, I would like that. And I was like, okay, cool. So they go on with the rest of the questions, and they're going through it, and this comes to the ownership test. And I was like, I already knew that this guy wasn't going to work for us. I already knew Dave applicant Dave was a no for me. So I was going to excuse myself because a couple more people needed to be interviewed, and I was headed in that direction. So I get myself up, and I. As I'm getting up, Austin says, hey, what kind of salary expectations are you looking to land? Where do you want to land at this? And the words out of this Dave applicant's mouth was, let me get this right. Oh, I just. I just want to be treated fair. If you treat me fair, if you're fair with me, then I'll be fair with you. And I was like, wow, this is really what this guy said. That's his expectations. But I don't know what fair is to him. So how can I even know if we're aligned or not? Does this make sense to anyone? I mean, if you're a contractor, you know, and you. You heard what his skill set is, and maybe you're like, oh, I need this electrical for the gap, and I need someone who can drive a machine, and I need someone who knows how to back up a trailer and whatever it is that you need to fulfill your team. If applicant Dave had that ability to fill those gaps for you and be a body in quotation marks. Body to help you. But he says to you, as long as you're fair with me, I'll be fair with you. What does that say about culture? What does that say? And so to me, it's a hard no. So I don't even know what to expect. I don't know what his goals are. You know, if he doesn't have goals, then he doesn't have expectations. If you don't have expectations, you have no direction. So, like, what. What are we doing here? Right? So at the end of the whole kind of soiree here, and I see Austin walking back to give that application back to the staff member, and as I was walking over there, too, I see that he had circled a yes for a second interview. And I asked him, I thought this was a leadership moment as a teaching moment. And I said, hey, Austin, what's up with applicant Dave? It says, you want to see him again for the second interview? Tell me why. And he's like, oh, because he can fit this gap and he's got this skill. We don't. We know we could have an electrical person on the team. I think that would be a good fit. And I was like, okay, cool. I can see where you're coming from, But I just want you to know he's a hard no for me. So circle that. No, he's not coming back, period. And Austin looked at me. He's like, what did I miss? He wasn't mad at me. He wasn't like, come on, man. I interviewed him. I want him. What are you talking about? I need him on my team. He. He literally said, what did I miss? What happened? And I told him the, you know, if you're fair with me, I'll be fair with you story. And he's like, oh, I get it now. I get it. I said, you don't want that guy on your team. You do not want him. He'll just be cancer on your team. You'll always be dealing with that, right? He's like, yeah. And so we just went away with that. But let's talk about integrity, because integrity testing is important, too. And this is happening in this first behavioral interview. Okay, I'm walking to my spot. I asked someone if they have a clean driving record. They said, yes, we do this whole thing. And so this is kind of a joke that I'll throw out there because I want to bring a little bit of humor to this. I'm not just a hard ass. Just like, yes, no, get out. I'm trying to have a good time. I'm smiling. I'm being courteous. I'm being polite. I'm being respectful. And so do you have a clean driving record? Yes, sir, I got a clean driving record. Like, okay, cool. We sit down, and I'm like, how many DUIs do you have? And they look at you like, I just told you I have a clean driving record. What are you talking about? Right? I don't have any DUIs. Do you know something about me that I don't know? You know, like, it's this weird kind of break the ice moment. But the reason I say that is because I hired a guy in the past, and he said he had a clean driver record. And, you know, I come to find out, two weeks later, he's got dui. Like, it. It's. It's astonishing. So I just do this as a joke now because of that scenario. I told you already, right? Contractors, if you're sick and tired of not making enough money, you might suck at sales and you don't even know it. Or worse, you suck at sales and you actually think you're good. Before you get upset with me, I sucked at sales, too. And for a long time. Here's the difference. I pulled my head out of the the sand and I forced the change. That's why I know what you're up against and how you, too, can turn things around for you and your family. I'm not going to sugarcoat it. I got really uncomfortable. I trained hard. I studied books and podcasts, videos, courses, role playing, and I took guidance from mentors and coaches while spending thousands of dollars. But trust me, it was all worth it. I mean, I turned my struggling company into a profitable seven figure construction business. I put together a list of the critical sales techniques that I use to flip my business from surviving to thriving. And I call it my contractor sales secrets. I want to share the list with you with no, no expense, just to get you moving in the right direction. It's my way of contributing and Giving back to my community and the construction industry that I know and I love. The list is available to you at Contractor sales. I promise you, with these sales secrets, some grit and discipline, I know you can dramatically change your life. So stop what you're doing right now and go to contractorsale secrets.com. that's contractorsalesecrets.com. they're like, oh, no, no, I don't have any DUIs. I just have a couple of speeding tickets. And I'm like, oh God, like what? You just told me you had a clean driving record. Speeding tickets on your record is not clean driving record. You know, so I'm like, did you go to school to get those points taken off? No, no, but I probably could. I'm like, probably. He's like, well, you know, one was like two years ago. And I'm like, I don't think you can go to school on a two year old speeding ticket. I'm not sure that you can do that. He's like, oh, but it was like two years ago. And I'm like, you understand that when you get a speeding ticket, you get a point on your record. And so if you have two speeding tickets, you have two points on your record. That means it's not a clean driving record. I'll probably have a hard time getting you on our insurance, which means you're probably not a good fit, right? Like, and I have to be, I have to be polite, respectful about this and go like, hey, sorry, I can excuse you, right? But like this is an integrity thing, right? And integrity matters. Whether it's, you know, look at, we get tickets, we get speeding tickets. But you know, you have to realize that they are, they are something, a mark on your credit or your, your, your driving record, your credit for driving or whatever. But, and you, you can go to school and get them, get them expunged and taken off and you don't get the point. And it doesn't mess up with your insurance. But when you just like pay the ticket and say screw it, that's that matters. That matters when you are trying to get a job where, you know, we want to send you out into a team, we want to send you out in a vehicle that's blasted with our stuff. We want to train you up, you know, and get you at a high level performing installer and or service technician or inspector and go out and take care of business, right? I can't do that. If you got a bad driving record. That's just the way it is. So the commitment test is like do they want this job or do they want just any job? Because I'm not just looking for anybody. I'm not looking for someone who needs work. I've already done that. I've been there. I dug that. I don't do that anymore. I'm looking for people who want to build beautiful, awesome water features for amazing people. And I want them to want to be here every day. I want them to. Like. I remember when I first started this, I was like, I get paid to play with, you know, fish and build habitats for fish. I still feel that way. And if I can find people that feel that way and want to work with us, that's what I'm looking for. So contractors, I want you to. I want you to hear me clearly on this, okay? You don't have a labor problem, but labor is people. Eric, you just said that I need people. People's my biggest problem. And isn't that labor? Well, it. Yes, but it's a standard problem. If your standards is the problem. If you only interview 3, 4, 5, 5 people to try and find a killer on your team, you're way off. You probably need. You probably need to interview 30 plus people to find one person that is really a true fit for you. Really a true fit for you. Okay? You can't just interview three people and then you say there's no good help out there because then you're just creating these own conspiracies in your head. And then you're telling your churches and your communities and your peer groups that there's no good help out here. And when, when Generation X is gone, that we're going to be left with all these terrible gener millennials and the alphas and all the like. They're all the. No one wants to work like that. They broke the mold when they made us. And now it's like, that's all bullshit conspiracy in your head. That's all bullshit. That's lazy leadership on your spot. Listen, if you want to build a team, plan on interviewing 100 people to find the five killers. You have to filter these people. You don't just hope. You don't just settle. You don't just fog the mirror and hire. That's when they say you should be hire slow and fire fast. This is the slow method to hire. It's in the book Teamwork. It's labeled out and spelled out by Natalie Dawson. High performance teams are built through standards, not through sympathy. Not through, like, oh, well, that's all this will do. That's not how it Happens. So if you're listening to this and you want to get hired anywhere, especially with us or anywhere across the country, write this down and you will be light years ahead of most of the people that are going out there for the application. Show up early. Park like you fucking care. Don't park like a jackass. Look people in the eye. Have some salary expectations and be specific. Have some specificity in the way you speak to them. Have goals. Don't be afraid to share them. Don't be able to. Don't be afraid to talk about, you know, what you can do to help that company achieve their goals. Know why you want the job. Be decisive. Because if you want to be a killer, you have to act like one before you get hired. You have to show up like a killer. Teamwork is not about being nice. We do have to be nice to people, right? But it's not about being nice. It's about being aligned. Because core values over the years have changed a little bit for me. I've had the same core values for almost 18 years. 18 years? Yeah, 15 years. And I started to think about them because I missed alignment for the past 15 years. I missed alignment because my core values in the past, you could have those same core values from everyone in the group, but you can still not be aligned. So after. After being trained by Brandon and Natalie, I realized how critical having that word alignment in my core values is so critically important because, you know, we don't have to all love each other, but if we're aligned, then we are like the Navy SEALs, the SWAT team to get shit done and take over and do awesome stuff, right? So teamwork is not about being nice, but it is very, very much about becoming aligned. The standards, the ownership, people who want to win, warm bodies and those bodies that fog mirrors and you hire. They build average companies and the average company goes broke and doesn't make it past a decade and never breaks a million dollars. Killers, however, killers build elite teams, and high performance teams are not built by accident. They're built by filtering. And me as the pond digger and with Helix life support and all my love and fascination and passion for filters, you know that this new filter work that I learn from Natalie is like fire for me. I'm living by it. So, all right, if you're a contractor listening to this, you're struggling with hiring. Remember, it's not the market, it's not the economy, it's not the kids these days. It's the filter that you're using now inside the TWT contractor circle over on Facebook. This is the work we're doing every single week. From leadership to hiring, from sales to culture, from standards and growth. Elite performance. We're building contractors into these high performance leaders so they can build high performance teams and then go out in there and crush it. So if you want to stay close to the epicenter of that type of commitment to growth, get connected, get in the room, get around people who are raising the bar because average companies talk about labor shortages. Elite companies go out there, there and build these teams and we're building something elite here at the Pond Digger. This is the teamwork test. Let's get out there and go build. Hey, it's Tripla here. Let's be real. In a world of reals, swipes and virtual trends, it's easy to forget what really moves the needle. Pond Trade magazine isn't chasing clicks, it's preserving the craft of water features, arguably the last stronghold of long form education in our industry. Where real pond builders, koi pros and innovators share their knowledge unfiltered and unrushed, you won't find gimmicks or clickbait in pond trade. You'll find find depth, detail, strategy, story. From advanced filtration systems and aquatic plant care to retail strategies and contractor spotlights, Pond Trade is where the best in the business speak freely and where the next generation of pond builders learn what it really takes. If you build ponds for a living, maintain them, design them, or dream about doing it all better, this is your magazine. Delivery free. Written by professionals, respected by the entire industry. This isn't just content for the algorithm, it's content for legacy. Subscribe now@pond trademag.com Stay connected to the heart of the pond world. Now back to the show.