00:00:00 Kristin Davis
When I first came in, I thought to myself, you know, how do you train?
00:00:05 Kristin Davis
You know what?
00:00:06 Kristin Davis
How do you keep it going?
00:00:07 Kristin Davis
Because as technology changes and we’ve seen a lot in the last 22 years that I’ve been here, how do you keep up with the changes?
00:00:17 Kristin Davis
And so I, you know, as of the years kind of started rolling, I realized the need for training to keep everybody on par with what was coming out and what people would be utilizing.
00:00:31 Kristin Davis
So one, to train new people that were trying to come into the trades, but also to continue the knowledge of products that were coming out.
00:00:44 Kristin Davis
And so it’s been something that I’ve wanted to do for a considerable amount of time.
00:00:51 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Welcome to the Kooler Lifestyle Podcast.
00:00:54 Matthew Kuehlhorn
I’m your host, Matt Kuehlhorn, and I’m excited to have you join me as I interview community members and business leaders from the communities in which I live, work and serve through my business, Kooler Garage Doors.
00:01:05 Matthew Kuehlhorn
We’re going to bring you highlights on characters in our communities.
00:01:08 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Why?
00:01:09 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Because community matters, and I want to know more about who is behind our business and leadership in order to understand and support the community fabric that our relationships make up.
00:01:19 Matthew Kuehlhorn
And collectively, we can build stronger communities that support our lifestyles, our youth and our health.
00:01:31 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Kooler Lifestyle Podcast.
00:01:34 Matthew Kuehlhorn
I’m your host, Matt Kuehlhorn.
00:01:36 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Today I’m sitting down with my friend Kristen Davis, who is the president of Bishop Plumbing, Heating and Air Conditioning out of Glenwood Springs.
00:01:44 Matthew Kuehlhorn
That right.
00:01:45 Kristin Davis
That’s right.
00:01:46 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Awesome.
00:01:47 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Well, thank you so much for for joining me.
00:01:49 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Are you beaming in from your office?
00:01:51 Kristin Davis
I am.
00:01:52 Kristin Davis
And thank you for having me on the show.
00:01:54 Kristin Davis
I appreciate it.
00:01:55 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Yeah, I’m really excited to speak with you.
00:01:58 Matthew Kuehlhorn
We connected when was that?
00:02:00 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Was that in the springtime?
00:02:03 Kristin Davis
It was.
00:02:03 Kristin Davis
In September.
00:02:04 Kristin Davis
At vertical track it was.
00:02:06 Matthew Kuehlhorn
In the fall version, yes.
00:02:08 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Yeah.
00:02:08 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Are you planning, are you planning to go to that again, that’s happening in Orlando, FL.
00:02:13 Kristin Davis
I’ve heard possibly it’s.
00:02:16 Kristin Davis
I’m exploring it, trying to work out my schedule.
00:02:18 Kristin Davis
I’ve got quite a few things coming up in the fall, so we’ll see where I land.
00:02:22 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Yeah, right on.
00:02:24 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Well, cool.
00:02:27 Matthew Kuehlhorn
I’d like to start a conversation similar to how I start these.
00:02:31 Matthew Kuehlhorn
To build out a context of one’s life.
00:02:33 Matthew Kuehlhorn
So, Kristen, where did you grow up?
00:02:37 Kristin Davis
Well, I was born in Arizona, but I moved to Texas, just outside of Houston and an area called Missouri City, Sugar Land area.
00:02:48 Kristin Davis
So I I grew up there.
00:02:50 Kristin Davis
It’s a suburb of Houston.
00:02:53 Kristin Davis
Spent a lot of time, you know, back in the day.
00:02:56 Kristin Davis
I grew up in the 80s, and so we didn’t have the technology.
00:03:01 Kristin Davis
We only have cartoons on Saturdays.
00:03:03 Kristin Davis
And so you would just go out with your friends and you’d be gone all day long.
00:03:09 Kristin Davis
Your parents were off doing other things, and you’d get on your little biking and go around the neighborhood and explore and yeah, it was a good, good place to grow up.
00:03:22 Kristin Davis
Yeah, loved it.
00:03:23 Matthew Kuehlhorn
6:00 AM Mighty Mouse was my favorite Saturday morning cartoon.
00:03:26 Kristin Davis
Yeah.
00:03:27 Kristin Davis
Yeah, absolutely.
00:03:28 Kristin Davis
It was, you know, the one day that you wanted to get up early.
00:03:31 Kristin Davis
And I don’t know what that was.
00:03:35 Kristin Davis
Pardon me, but I’ll take care of that and you know, get down there and and beat the brother to the cartoon, so.
00:03:43 Matthew Kuehlhorn
It’s right, yeah, yeah.
00:03:45 Matthew Kuehlhorn
What’s the, what’s the short summary?
00:03:47 Matthew Kuehlhorn
I see that you know from your from your website.
00:03:51 Kristin Davis
You got into Bishop right around in the 2000s, yes.
00:03:57 Kristin Davis
Yeah.
00:03:58 Kristin Davis
The the story is that I, you know, I went to college and I have a college degree, but still trying to explore what I was going to be doing in life.
00:04:08 Kristin Davis
And my father kind of got me into or completely got me into the trades.
00:04:16 Kristin Davis
He had been one of the founders of Comfort Systems USA which is a national HVAC company.
00:04:26 Kristin Davis
And his role in that was to negotiate with small companies and it was a roll up.
00:04:33 Kristin Davis
And so he would go around and meet with small companies across the nation and purchase their business and roll it up into one larger business, Comfort Systems USA.
00:04:47 Kristin Davis
And his role in that was to be the negotiator.
00:04:53 Kristin Davis
And then once all that was completed, he ended up retiring, although he never really retired.
00:05:01 Kristin Davis
And so he then left Comfort Systems USA.
00:05:05 Kristin Davis
You know, it was a fun job for him because he loved going out, meeting with people or hearing about their businesses and so forth.
00:05:13 Kristin Davis
And so the story goes that, you know, he was in retirement and then, you know, he would still keep in contact with everyone.
00:05:21 Kristin Davis
And they mentioned that they were going to sell Bishop Plumbing, which had been acquired by Comfort Systems USA.
00:05:30 Kristin Davis
And he just really felt like it was such a great opportunity and great business.
00:05:35 Kristin Davis
I had been up with my dad in Montana for Thanksgiving visiting and he said let’s jump in the car.
00:05:43 Kristin Davis
We’re going to drive to Aspen and go check out the business.
00:05:45 Kristin Davis
So we jumped in the car, drove down to Aspen, spoke with everyone, toured the business, came back to Montana and ran Proformas, discussed it, how would it work?
00:06:00 Kristin Davis
And eventually he he purchased the business back from Comfort Systems, Gotcha with really little intention of of going there and doing much work, but to have me there to kind of you know run the business and and so that’s kind of where it all came about.
00:06:21 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Gotcha.
00:06:22 Kristin Davis
Yeah.
00:06:23 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Very cool.
00:06:24 Matthew Kuehlhorn
So did you, before this kind of transpired like were you interested in running a plumbing business?
00:06:36 Kristin Davis
So I would say not a plumbing business.
00:06:38 Kristin Davis
I knew I wanted to be in business growing up.
00:06:42 Kristin Davis
My dad was in various businesses and you know, both my parents were great.
00:06:48 Kristin Davis
My mom lives is an artist.
00:06:51 Kristin Davis
I missed that gene set completely and I was always kind of drawn towards my dad in business and asking him about his businesses.
00:07:00 Kristin Davis
He had his own business, he worked for other businesses.
00:07:03 Kristin Davis
So he like the role model when it came to that.
00:07:07 Kristin Davis
And when I went to college, I never wavered.
00:07:10 Kristin Davis
I always wanted a business degree, accounting and so forth.
00:07:14 Kristin Davis
So I knew I wanted to be in business.
00:07:18 Kristin Davis
I would not have guessed I would have been in the trades, but it has been a great place to land.
00:07:26 Matthew Kuehlhorn
What was what’s been the biggest surprise for you being in a trades business that you didn’t see prior?
00:07:36 Kristin Davis
The jumping end, I would probably say.
00:07:41 Kristin Davis
Just the skill set that everybody has to be able to perform repairs is quite amazing to me.
00:07:52 Kristin Davis
I never would have guessed how dangerous it can be if you don’t know what you’re doing.
00:08:00 Kristin Davis
And so I’m pretty impressed with what technicians, what kind of knowledge they have, how they they’re they’re dealing with things that are different every day.
00:08:13 Kristin Davis
And so it’s not a consistent, repetitive type business.
00:08:17 Kristin Davis
So it’s it’s incredible that they can address the multitude of issues that are presented to them.
00:08:24 Kristin Davis
So I think I was maybe underestimating what kind of skill set it was needed that was needed to to do this kind of business.
00:08:34 Kristin Davis
And then I think I when I first got into the business, I was probably a little fearful that I really didn’t have knowledge of the trades and you know, where where would I fit in.
00:08:45 Kristin Davis
You know, being a woman that was coming into the trades with another factor and maybe a little fearful one of how would I be accepted, where I’d be taken seriously and so forth.
00:08:57 Kristin Davis
So all things are navigated and yeah.
00:09:02 Matthew Kuehlhorn
That’s awesome.
00:09:03 Kristin Davis
Thank you
00:09:04 Luke Hylton
Hey everybody.
00:09:04 Luke Hylton
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00:09:05 Luke Hylton
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00:09:06 Luke Hylton
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00:09:43 Matthew Kuehlhorn
And so let’s talk about the trades and and before we started the camera recording, you know we had a conversation.
00:09:52 Matthew Kuehlhorn
I know you’re you’re putting together a training center and I want to give space to talk about that because that’s a big deal and it’s coming out of a need to be able to develop professional technicians.
00:10:06 Matthew Kuehlhorn
I’m assuming because A, there’s maybe less and less and I’m trying to identify exactly where the real trouble is because it’s not just in the Western Slope, Colorado.
00:10:17 Matthew Kuehlhorn
This is across the country and we don’t have people running into the trades.
00:10:21 Matthew Kuehlhorn
I want to be a plumber, and yet it can be such a great profession to support great lifestyles.
00:10:29 Matthew Kuehlhorn
And so I just want to open up that level of conversation like you’re building a training center.
00:10:35 Matthew Kuehlhorn
And what is that really going to do for the company, but also for the individuals that come in?
00:10:43 Matthew Kuehlhorn
And how is this a game changer?
00:10:46 Kristin Davis
Well, I guess going back to what you had said before were what were some things that were an air of eye opening to me when I first came in.
00:10:57 Kristin Davis
I thought to myself, you know, how do you train?
00:11:01 Kristin Davis
You know what?
00:11:02 Kristin Davis
How do you keep it going?
00:11:03 Kristin Davis
Because as technology changes and we’ve seen a lot in the last 22 years that I’ve been here, how do you keep up with the changes?
00:11:12 Kristin Davis
And so I, you know, as of the years kind of started rolling, I realized the need for training to keep everybody on par with what was coming out and what people would be utilizing.
00:11:27 Kristin Davis
So want to train new people that were trying to come into the trades but also to continue the knowledge of products that were coming out.
00:11:40 Kristin Davis
And so it’s been something that I’ve wanted to do for a considerable amount of time where we are it is expensive to find space.
00:11:52 Kristin Davis
I there’s not a lot available.
00:11:55 Kristin Davis
So we were able, we had the opportunity to purchase the building that we’re in back in November, which allowed us to acquire more space.
00:12:04 Kristin Davis
So it it’s it’s a very compounded thing.
00:12:08 Kristin Davis
One, there are more people retiring out of the trades than are entering into the trades and the need is still highly present.
00:12:22 Kristin Davis
If you have a home, you’re going to need services.
00:12:25 Kristin Davis
So it’s a very demanding industry, but we don’t have enough people that are interested in coming into the industry.
00:12:33 Kristin Davis
So how do you get people to recognize that it is a a worthy career?
00:12:40 Kristin Davis
And so my vision is to create this training Academy.
00:12:47 Kristin Davis
We’ve already started it, but the idea would be twofold.
00:12:52 Kristin Davis
One would be to be able to go around in our community to our schools and try and find candidates that are coming out of high school that may necessarily don’t want to go on the college path.
00:13:08 Kristin Davis
And get the message out that there is a a viable career where you can make a very nice income and have job security because it is an industry where you’re always in demand.
00:13:22 Kristin Davis
But also then to take our current employees that are out in the field and be able to train them on new products that are coming out and get up to date on the technology.
00:13:36 Kristin Davis
And you know in exploring this and talking to a lot of our vendors, what I’ve realized is that they are super supportive as well.
00:13:46 Kristin Davis
They recognize the issue in the industry that we are hurting for new people coming in.
00:13:53 Kristin Davis
And So what everybody’s been so responsive.
00:13:57 Kristin Davis
I’ve been getting deliveries of product because they want us to train their products and you know they’re just delivering them in for free.
00:14:06 Kristin Davis
And we’re finding that this is coming together as more of a collective effort rather than just our one idea.
00:14:14 Kristin Davis
I have, you know the Colorado Mountain College may be interested in it becoming a program.
00:14:22 Kristin Davis
I have other area leadership that work with students that are very interested in this as well.
00:14:29 Kristin Davis
I have our vendors that want to pitch in money towards it because they want us to be successful so that we can bring more people into the trades.
00:14:37 Kristin Davis
And So what I found is a lot of people are coming in to make this dream a realization.
00:14:45 Kristin Davis
And so it’s been quite an endeavor and pretty exciting.
00:14:50 Matthew Kuehlhorn
I love the collaboration component.
00:14:53 Matthew Kuehlhorn
I just made a note of that.
00:14:54 Matthew Kuehlhorn
I think that’s powerful and to have vendors see the importance of it is is incredible.
00:15:00 Matthew Kuehlhorn
That’s awesome.
00:15:03 Kristin Davis
I think I was a little surprised at how interested they were and it coming to fruition and it’s it’s been such a pleasant surprise to have the support from everyone to make this happen.
00:15:19 Kristin Davis
And so we are underway and we’ve we’ve got the room prepped and ready and a platform was built this past weekend and product is arriving.
00:15:30 Kristin Davis
So to couple that we have a curriculum, we work with the next Star, which is the kind of a professional organization that supports our industry that have collaborated with us to come up with the curriculum and training and have helped us design our training rooms.
00:15:53 Kristin Davis
So we have a lot of support around us to make this a success.
00:16:00 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Love it.
00:16:01 Matthew Kuehlhorn
I love it.
00:16:02 Matthew Kuehlhorn
And I would imagine actually, I know because I also trained in the trades.
00:16:07 Matthew Kuehlhorn
But that gives a homeowner A consistent experience and I think that you know what this is breaking the mold of.
00:16:17 Matthew Kuehlhorn
A bit is in some of the trades there’s a low barrier to entry.
00:16:24 Matthew Kuehlhorn
So we get different individuals with different skill sets delivering different levels of experience.
00:16:30 Matthew Kuehlhorn
You mentioned some of the components around safety and that goes for the homeowner as well as the trades person.
00:16:37 Matthew Kuehlhorn
And this is leveling up across the board so that we have more professional delivery of service.
00:16:47 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Providing a better experience, better value and there’s that real consistency piece to know that I would imagine if I called that Bishop and I got one technician versus the other, it’s going to be a very similar experience and it will be different than an individual that just picked up some tooling and is rolling around in it.
00:17:09 Kristin Davis
Yes, I think that it and if we want to be taken as professional, we need to be professional.
00:17:17 Kristin Davis
And what that means is that we have professional training, we have operation manuals, we have expectations and the consistency.
00:17:27 Kristin Davis
So when you do call Bishop or you know, whatever your choice may be, what I think a homeowner should expect is a professional to show up and be able to be mindful of their home and respectful.
00:17:44 Kristin Davis
You know that that’s probably one thing I think I I can probably bring to the plate is that I, being a woman owner, I feel like I can really kind of relate to having somebody come into my home.
00:17:56 Kristin Davis
And although, you know, it’s not consistently always a woman at home, there is that factor.
00:18:02 Kristin Davis
And I feel like I am able to, you know, deliver that respect out through our employees.
00:18:09 Kristin Davis
So yeah, it’s kind of the whole package.
00:18:10 Kristin Davis
You know, if you act like a professional, you’re treated like a professional.
00:18:16 Kristin Davis
And that’s what we train here, is to make sure that we further ourselves to be the best that we can be.
00:18:24 Matthew Kuehlhorn
I love that.
00:18:27 Matthew Kuehlhorn
What do you think the role is?
00:18:29 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Has this shifted?
00:18:30 Matthew Kuehlhorn
I guess you know the role of the employer and in nurturing or developing.
00:18:38 Matthew Kuehlhorn
As a team member and employee, have you seen that role shift kind of post COVID versus pre COVID?
00:18:50 Kristin Davis
Yeah, I mean, I think that COVID certainly was something that changed things and we had to adapt to something we’d never adapted to before.
00:19:05 Kristin Davis
Yeah, I think in some ways I think we became a little closer with employees and how we took care of everyone.
00:19:14 Kristin Davis
I think that kind of opened up some avenues that weren’t there before.
00:19:22 Kristin Davis
Yeah, you know it’s it was oddly, you know COVID was something very different to navigate and how you handle a big problem that you’ve never faced before and finding solutions to it.
00:19:38 Kristin Davis
And we were able to figure out how to to remotely work for those that were in the office and how to be safe out in the field when you know where we’re at a business where we’re going into people’s homes all the time and and how do you treat that safely.
00:19:56 Kristin Davis
So it was definitely a game changer really, had you look at some areas in your company that maybe you weren’t as prepared as you thought you were.
00:20:04 Kristin Davis
But we are now.
00:20:05 Kristin Davis
Yeah, yeah.
00:20:07 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Pardon me.
00:20:08 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Yeah, it was definitely a big, a big change up and then you know it seems like the shift has been on ever since and you know I’m referencing population shifts.
00:20:21 Matthew Kuehlhorn
I’m sure you’ve seen it in your area.
00:20:23 Matthew Kuehlhorn
I mean I think it’s impacting all of Western Colorado and people are coming out here and and that’s impacting smaller communities.
00:20:32 Kristin Davis
The the whole remoting, you can work from anywhere now.
00:20:37 Kristin Davis
And so yes, I think the mountains became a popular area to move to.
00:20:41 Kristin Davis
You can work remotely or less people around and you can enjoy the outdoor space.
00:20:47 Kristin Davis
So yes, become a little more crowded.
00:20:51 Kristin Davis
Well.
00:20:51 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Yeah, that’s people it.
00:20:53 Matthew Kuehlhorn
It shifts the dynamics of housing and so we’re talking about trades folks being able to.
00:20:59 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Lock in housing for their family, right.
00:21:02 Matthew Kuehlhorn
And that has its own nuance and challenges for sure.
00:21:06 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Up in the mountain towns and even even the workforce, you know, we’ve seen this generational shift and the folks coming into the workforce now, I have different expectations than the ones that are exiting.
00:21:19 Matthew Kuehlhorn
And it’s just a interesting, dynamic, interesting time to be able to build and run businesses and communities.
00:21:29 Matthew Kuehlhorn
You mentioned, you mentioned the shift in technologies and I guess the question is, is forward thinking like from where you are now, what are you excited for?
00:21:41 Matthew Kuehlhorn
You’re going to have your training center up and running and a few weeks months.
00:21:45 Matthew Kuehlhorn
I don’t know what your time frame is on that, but looking at what’s developing in the industry within your community, what are we excited for?
00:21:56 Kristin Davis
I think we’re, I mean I am completely realizing a dream with this training center.
00:22:05 Kristin Davis
I think that technology is really making a big shift right now.
00:22:10 Kristin Davis
There is a big shift towards finding that we’re going to put in electric based equipment which is completely different.
00:22:22 Kristin Davis
There’s you know natural gas products have been at the forefront for a long time.
00:22:29 Kristin Davis
And so that what we’re seeing is that the industry is really gearing towards heat pump type styles, which is a difference from we we put in a lot of furnaces and boilers that are run off of natural gas.
00:22:46 Kristin Davis
And So what we’re going to be doing is adapting into a new product that’s and run off of electricity.
00:22:54 Kristin Davis
And so that’s a big shift in our industry.
00:23:00 Kristin Davis
And so that’s what we’ll be doing a lot of training on.
00:23:04 Kristin Davis
We already have a foundation to it, but it will be something we’ll be enhancing as the products become more commonplace in our area and of course across the nation.
00:23:14 Kristin Davis
So that’s definitely what we’re headed towards.
00:23:17 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Yeah, I didn’t even think about that, but I see that shift happening.
00:23:20 Kristin Davis
Moving away from the gases and moving towards electric, yes.
00:23:25 Kristin Davis
And and so I think as the communities want to go more green, those options are going to become more prevalent.
00:23:33 Kristin Davis
And so we’re going to adapt to that and learn the product and be able to represent it.
00:23:42 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Is Bishop looking for more technicians at the moment?
00:23:46 Kristin Davis
Yeah, we always are and you know the the complications at are to attract skilled technicians is challenging with the cost of living in our area.
00:24:02 Kristin Davis
So we can attract people around but once they are able to explore the living opportunities we often move the candidate.
00:24:11 Kristin Davis
So yes, that’s been a challenge for us.
00:24:13 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Yeah, I mean, we’ve seen that up in the Gunnison Valley, even with.
00:24:17 Matthew Kuehlhorn
PH D’s and everybody’s impacted at that level.
00:24:22 Kristin Davis
Yeah, Physicians and I, yeah, it’s it’s quite incredible the, the housing market, how much it’s spiked since COVID and making it just unobtainable for a lot of people.
00:24:35 Kristin Davis
Yeah, 20.
00:24:37 Matthew Kuehlhorn
It’s challenging and I don’t know what the real clear solution is to it either.
00:24:44 Kristin Davis
Well, I, you know I, I talked with other businesses and I had a conversation with the another business woman and I that we talk often about what our challenges are and how we’re finding solutions to them.
00:24:58 Kristin Davis
And you know she, she said and you gave me the kind of the idea that you know let’s try to push towards seeing if the government can assist in employee housing funding and whether that is I know low interest loans or some money that you know could be given out for that type of development or maybe some tax relief or something.
00:25:24 Kristin Davis
So that it would allow us to be able to establish employee housing.
00:25:30 Kristin Davis
When I purchased the building that came with some land, you know, can I put some housing on there?
00:25:36 Kristin Davis
Where how can I make that a reality?
00:25:39 Kristin Davis
So it’s fun to talk with other business leaders in the community and be able to bounce ideas off of each other and see how we can come up with solutions.
00:25:50 Kristin Davis
Because housing for employees is not just a Bishop problem, There is a problem for businesses in our area all across the board.
00:26:00 Kristin Davis
And how do you handle that?
00:26:02 Kristin Davis
How if you’re not, you know the big company like a skiing company which they do a lot for their employees, for employee housing.
00:26:11 Kristin Davis
How do the smaller businesses tackle that issue and make a difference?
00:26:18 Kristin Davis
And so it’s, you know, something we can reach out to one another and see what we can collectively come up with to try and get a solution to the to the issue.
00:26:28 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Yeah.
00:26:29 Matthew Kuehlhorn
And I think your point you know if I was to extract one out of there is is collaboration I think that’s.
00:26:36 Matthew Kuehlhorn
I mean when we get to these kind of challenging solutions, no one individual or entity can can solve it.
00:26:42 Matthew Kuehlhorn
And I think it is collaborating with local municipalities, government with other business owners, having a network being able to have the the trust and bring it up and be like you know this is, this is real and let’s try to come to the table.
00:26:57 Kristin Davis
Yeah, I think it’s not something I’m going to be able to resolve on my own.
00:27:02 Kristin Davis
And so when you get people together with the same challenges, a lot can come out of that conversation that can move you forward towards a solution.
00:27:12 Kristin Davis
And so it is great to have that collaboration and community in Perth so we can find a way to navigate these challenging times.
00:27:21 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Yeah, when folks are entering the workforce and you know, we’ll start summarying up our conversation here, but I wanted to extract a component around the four year degree.
00:27:35 Matthew Kuehlhorn
The trades, the opportunity that’s presented and you know what is in it for the young person entering the workforce who might be looking at trades for your degree.
00:27:51 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Is it an and or thing?
00:27:53 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Is it just a matter of timing, like what’s available in the trades that people might not see right now?
00:28:03 Kristin Davis
I think like the fouryear college and that’s obviously a great path for the right person, but it’s expensive and you may walk away with considerable student loan debts and and you know you may or may not find a job in that, whatever you might have majored in.
00:28:28 Kristin Davis
Whereas with the trades.
00:28:30 Kristin Davis
So let’s say we take somebody that’s coming out of high school and they decide to go into our program, they’re getting paid to train.
00:28:41 Kristin Davis
So instead of paying to go through the school, they are actually being trained while they’re going through the training.
00:28:48 Kristin Davis
And so they’re going to learn a set of skills that will serve them for the rest of their career and they’re not going to incur incur student loan debt.
00:29:03 Kristin Davis
They’re going to be out and making money within nine months of starting the program.
00:29:09 Kristin Davis
And so it I mean as far as you know moving up the the, the chain.
00:29:15 Kristin Davis
So they’re going to be paid to train.
00:29:19 Kristin Davis
And what we would say in the trades is when you’re out in a van and able to run calls then either taking it up that tier and so you have potential to really get into a good salary pretty quick.
00:29:31 Kristin Davis
The turnaround time is so much quicker than a fouryear degree and you’re going to be doing things.
00:29:38 Kristin Davis
You know, there are people that are really great at school and taking tests and being able to kind of fit that role.
00:29:47 Kristin Davis
And then you’re going to have other people that work better handson and you know so you might be it it and maybe you’re a mechanic and you want to work on cars or you know and this case you’re working with your hands around the field.
00:30:01 Kristin Davis
Like I personally could not fix anything.
00:30:04 Kristin Davis
Like that’s not me.
00:30:05 Kristin Davis
You know, I’m, I’m good at the opposite side and I recognize that.
00:30:10 Kristin Davis
But there’s just this whole big opportunity to do things where you can learn quickly, You can do it debt free.
00:30:20 Kristin Davis
And even if you didn’t stay with Bishop Plumbing and you, you and your family moved away, you went somewhere else.
00:30:27 Kristin Davis
That set of skills goes with you, and you’re going to be able to find employment anywhere.
00:30:31 Kristin Davis
And it’s needed all across the United States, not just here in our town.
00:30:36 Kristin Davis
And so it’s something that you you’re going to give yourself an opportunity for the rest of your life?
00:30:42 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Yes, yes, I agree with that.
00:30:44 Matthew Kuehlhorn
And I would imagine, knowing a little bit of who you are, Kristen.
00:30:49 Matthew Kuehlhorn
The folks that are coming in in gauging with your training, yes we’re learning hard skills, but with the adaptation of technologies and the way that the trades are playing in the home, services like there is a high level of of soft skills, of emotional intelligence, of personal presentation of you know how we carry ourselves and communicate with another human and and that to me.
00:31:17 Kristin Davis
Is as valuable if not more valuable than that hard wrenching skills and that’s one of the shifts I’ve seen in in trades and we do train on those types of skills as well and that’s I’m glad that you brought that up and zeroed in on that because it is when you’re going into someone’s time you want to have the ability to have good communication, understand the customers needs and finding out what those are.
00:31:45 Kristin Davis
I think a lot of you know historical or in the trades are you need to do this or you need to do that.
00:31:53 Kristin Davis
And what we’ve shifted to is what is it that you need, what is it that you desire, what are the things that you’re wanting, what is lacking and finding out those situations and addressing those issues.
00:32:05 Kristin Davis
So it is a big IT there.
00:32:09 Kristin Davis
There’s the technical side and there’s the communication and people side and we do train on both for sure.
00:32:16 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Yeah, yeah, beautiful.
00:32:19 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Well, for those that are listening that have an interest of jumping onto your team or maybe know of somebody that has an interest or just wants to get in touch with you or Bishop, how do we do that?
00:32:32 Kristin Davis
Well, you can jump on our website bishopplumbing247.com as in 24/7 and we we’re available all the time or give us a call, you can reach us, you can Google us I’m sure, but our number is 970-945-9910.
00:32:52 Kristin Davis
Love to talk to you.
00:32:54 Kristin Davis
Love to give you an opportunity to start a new career.
00:32:57 Kristin Davis
Or if you already are in it, come join our team.
00:33:00 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Yeah, love it.
00:33:01 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Well, Chris, and thank you so much for your time.
00:33:03 Matthew Kuehlhorn
I look forward to the next time you and I get together.
00:33:06 Matthew Kuehlhorn
And if it’s that’d be great later in the fall at a conference, that’s awesome.
00:33:09 Kristin Davis
Otherwise I’ll make it by sooner than later and that sounds good.
00:33:13 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Yeah.
00:33:13 Matthew Kuehlhorn
I really appreciate it.
00:33:14 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Thank you so much.
00:33:16 Kristin Davis
Thank you too.
00:33:16 Kristin Davis
Thanks for having me on.
00:33:17 Kristin Davis
I appreciate it.
00:33:18 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for listening to the Kooler Lifestyle Podcast.
00:33:22 Matthew Kuehlhorn
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00:33:27 Matthew Kuehlhorn
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00:33:30 Matthew Kuehlhorn
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00:33:32 Matthew Kuehlhorn
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00:33:34 Matthew Kuehlhorn
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00:33:35 Matthew Kuehlhorn
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