Welding the American Dream: How John King Built Success Without College or Connections
Welding careers, skilled trades, and welding apprenticeship programs take center stage as Andrew Brown sits down with John King of JK Welding at the FABTECH welding expo.
Host Andrew Brown explores how welding careers grow through passion, not just pay, and why Skilled Trades like construction, HVAC, plumbing, and carpentry remain the backbone of the Trades Industry. From welding apprenticeship programs to pipeline welding jobs, John King shares his real-world lessons on leadership, craftsmanship, and mentoring the next generation of tradespeople.
If you’re curious about trades careers, the Skilled Trades Advisory Council, or how to scale a fabrication business like JK Welding, this episode delivers practical guidance for aspiring industry experts, contractors, and hands-on creators.
IN THIS EPISODE:
- (00:00) – Welding Careers & Passion: Why passion fuels long-term success in the Skilled Trades and welding careers more than money ever could.
- (07:45) – Gen Z & Apprenticeship Programs: How to build a stronger welding apprenticeship pipeline and inspire new tradespeople through education.
- (16:20) – Is Welding a Dying Trade?: The truth about the Trades Industry shortage and how pipeline welding jobs offer growth opportunities.
- (24:05) – From Welder to Entrepreneur: John King on building JK Welding, scaling with craftsmanship, and leading skilled contractors.
- (33:10) – Career Growth Paths: How trades careers in construction, millwrighting, and electricians compare to pipeline welding jobs for earning potential.
- (42:30) – Skilled Trades Advocacy: How the Skilled Trades Advisory Council, Toolfetch, and industry experts strengthen education across the trades.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
● Welding careers begin with passion. The most successful tradespeople master craftsmanship, problem-solving, and creativity before chasing paychecks.
● Welding apprenticeship programs are the cornerstone of education in the Trades Industry, helping Gen Z build lifelong trades careers.
● Pipeline welding jobs and field work can lead to six-figure incomes—but balance matters for family life and stability.
● Collaboration among industry experts, contractors, Toolfetch, and the Skilled Trades Advisory Council drives advocacy and long-term sustainability for the Skilled Trades.
ABOUT THE GUEST:
John King, founder and CEO of JK Welding, transformed his love for welding into one of Texas’s leading fabrication shops. A self-taught entrepreneur, John built his company on craftsmanship, problem-solving, and mentorship—helping grow welding apprenticeship opportunities for the next generation of tradespeople. His leadership in the Trades Industry has made him a respected voice for education, advocacy, and Skilled Trades innovation showcased at the FABTECH welding expo.
Keywords
Welding Careers, Skilled Trades, Welding Apprenticeship, Pipeline Welding Jobs, FABTECH Welding Expo, Trades Industry, Construction, Carpentry, HVAC, Electricians, Plumbers, Millwrights, Contractors, Industry Experts, Craftsmanship, Problem-Solving, Creativity, Tradespeople, Education, Advocacy
Resource Links:
LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-king-15675117/
Website: https://jkwelding.net/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jkwelding/
SUPPORT THE SHOW:
If you’re getting value from these episodes and want to help keep the mics on, consider tipping the show here → https://andrewbrowntrades.kit.com/products/toolbox
Every dollar helps us keep bringing unfiltered insights from the trades, straight to your ears.
Transcript
He came to me at Christmas time two years ago, and he is like, dad, I wanna change.
Speaker:I said, well, what do you wanna do?
Speaker:He goes, I wanna be a welder.
Speaker:I said, okay, why?
Speaker:He said, well, I, I see what you do, and I see what you have.
Speaker:I said, that's the wrong answer.
Speaker:Why do you wanna be a welder?
Speaker:He says, for the money.
Speaker:I said, that's wrong.
Speaker:He's like, why?
Speaker:I said, son, you need to have passion for the trade.
Speaker:Because if you have passion for the trade, you like it and you love it,
Speaker:the money will come automatically.
Speaker:Hi, I'm Andrew Brown.
Speaker:You're listening to the Lost Star of the Skilled Trades Podcast,
Speaker:a show that shines the spotlight on careers in the skilled trades.
Speaker:That are high paying, honorable, rewarding, and fulfilling.
Speaker:The trades are the backbone of the economy that keep us running, and without
Speaker:them, our world would cease to exist.
Speaker:All right, welcome back to another podcast, A Lost
Speaker:Star of the Skilled Trades.
Speaker:I'm Andrew Brown.
Speaker:I'm sitting down with John King, the founder of JK Welding.
Speaker:This is the second time John that we're sitting down.
Speaker:How's Fabtech going for you so far?
Speaker:It's awesome.
Speaker:I Fabtech this year is, is better than ever.
Speaker:I, I, I love coming to Chicago, but I love coming to Fabtech, Fabtech and been coming
Speaker:for almost a decade now, and I love it.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It's, uh, for the people who don't know who are listening, I don't know.
Speaker:FABTECH is, it's probably one of the largest welding shows I would imagine
Speaker:in the US and they have robotics.
Speaker:Automation.
Speaker:I mean, you want, uh, like welding fever, like what, you know, welding is all about.
Speaker:The community is here.
Speaker:It is absolutely.
Speaker:Along with all kind of welding machines and fabrication tools and, you know,
Speaker:material handling, just, you name it, you know, anything to do with
Speaker:the welding and fabricating industry.
Speaker:And I think you're right, it is the largest quality and
Speaker:fabrication expo in the world.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And I remember coming here about two years ago, and I met you and I, you know.
Speaker:You're six foot eight or six foot Seven.
Speaker:Six foot eight.
Speaker:Six foot eight.
Speaker:So you were, uh, easy to find in the, in the show.
Speaker:We had, we had met on, on LinkedIn.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Connected.
Speaker:And, um, you said, look for the guy with the cowboy hat.
Speaker:And I found you a couple years ago.
Speaker:Um, but I remember coming to the show and it was just, you know, I was blown
Speaker:away with the excitement of just kind of what's going on here and just the
Speaker:community and, you know, being around other, the welders who are really
Speaker:passionate about the welding trade.
Speaker:I want to kind of get into this, and I, I said this to you.
Speaker:When we first spoke, and I wanna know if you feel the same way I had said
Speaker:to you, is welding a dying career?
Speaker:And you said the first time around you said yes.
Speaker:Do you still feel like it's a dying career or are we turning a corner?
Speaker:I don't know if it's necessarily a dying career.
Speaker:Um, just has a lot to do and I guess my answer to that, uh, has a
Speaker:lot of feedback from the fact of.
Speaker:Just finding skilled, dedicated employees, you know, um, it's dying in that essence.
Speaker:Does that make sense?
Speaker:Can you, I guess, expand on that a little bit?
Speaker:Is it, are you talking about people standpoint?
Speaker:People standpoint?
Speaker:Is it, is it generational, do you think?
Speaker:I, I, I don't, I don't know if it's generational.
Speaker:I, I never have been able to, like, put my thumb on it, and I don't
Speaker:think anybody else really does or can either, you know, it's just,
Speaker:it's just there, you know, the, um.
Speaker:Skillset is lacking a lot in the industry, you know, and, um, I think that's why
Speaker:people like you and I, and a lot of other people just try to do inspirational
Speaker:speeches and motivate people all the time to try to get them into the trade,
Speaker:to understand it, you know, to, to become a professional welder, you know?
Speaker:Um, I just think it, it's a dying breed in, in such essence
Speaker:as lacking, lacking trade.
Speaker:Yeah, I, I like to focus on Gen Z and I'm doing this talk tomorrow.
Speaker:Fat Tech have a session and it's about attracting, inspiring the next generation
Speaker:or Gen Z. And Gen Z is 13 to 28 years old.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:That's more or less the target to bring those individuals.
Speaker:And somebody said something.
Speaker:I was at, uh, last month, the welding summit, which is the American Welding
Speaker:Society Summit, and I had spoke and somebody said, gen Z is lazy.
Speaker:And I, I, I kind of like.
Speaker:Smiled a little bit.
Speaker:I said, no.
Speaker:They have different motivators.
Speaker:They're different.
Speaker:They're not like us, like our, you know, gen X or baby boomers.
Speaker:What do you see?
Speaker:Gen Z being a little bit different.
Speaker:How do we connect with that generation?
Speaker:Because I, my assumption is at JK Welding your organization, you do have Gen Zs
Speaker:who are coming through your organization.
Speaker:How are you reaching them?
Speaker:We do have some.
Speaker:Skilled hands that are Gen Z. Um, there's no LAI about that.
Speaker:Um, there's a lot of the guys that work for me and girls, um, that
Speaker:are very dedicated and motivated.
Speaker:Um, I don't think that's a necessarily true statement for all of Gen Z.
Speaker:I think there's just a portion of that, you know, but I, I believe
Speaker:that there was a portion of that and Gen X two, but just not as much.
Speaker:If I had to put it all into one sum, I would have to believe that Gen Z is
Speaker:at times, various people are softer.
Speaker:Is that a nicer way to put that so softer.
Speaker:How?
Speaker:Because, and I guess you and I are maybe around the same age,
Speaker:or maybe I'm a little older.
Speaker:I'm not, I'm not sure.
Speaker:We're not gonna talk about ages.
Speaker:No, we're not.
Speaker:We're not gonna talk about ages.
Speaker:But you know, I remember as a kid, you know, there was nothing on demand for tv.
Speaker:Like we had to wait.
Speaker:If you wanted to see the next show, you would wait till next week.
Speaker:And that's the way we did it.
Speaker:You sat through a commercial?
Speaker:You played outside.
Speaker:There was no real, I mean, it was video games, there was no iPads.
Speaker:Like we just did that naturally.
Speaker:It's very different with Gen Z and the younger generation.
Speaker:They have a lot of distractions out there.
Speaker:I mean, do you think that's kind of pulling their attention somewhere else?
Speaker:I think your statement is running lines with my thoughts sometimes is into the
Speaker:fact of, I think there's more options.
Speaker:Hmm, there's more options.
Speaker:Tell me about that.
Speaker:What, what kind of options?
Speaker:I think there's more variety of options than versus the
Speaker:way it used to be used to be.
Speaker:There's not, there's very few options.
Speaker:I mean, you got down and dirty, you did what you had to do,
Speaker:and there was no other choice.
Speaker:You know, you had to make ends meet.
Speaker:I think there's a lot of other options now as far as like, uh, falling back
Speaker:on your parents or, uh, there's some other unique ways, uh, of trying to.
Speaker:Get a paycheck once a week.
Speaker:Um, I, I just think that there's just other options.
Speaker:You know, I feel with Gen Z, and this is just one man's perspective,
Speaker:gen Z, when, and I wanna expand on your options that Gen Z can be in it.
Speaker:They can be in tech, they can be in ai, they look at social media
Speaker:influencers like Mr. Beast, right?
Speaker:And they say, okay, well maybe I don't want to go down this trades path.
Speaker:I don't want to invest four or five years into an apprenticeship.
Speaker:Maybe the wages are not there.
Speaker:They, they tend to look at the wages and they say apprenticeship
Speaker:wages is 16 to $18 an hour.
Speaker:But I can make, and, and I'm only bringing this up because I saw this on
Speaker:social media and I brought this into my own channels as well, that they look
Speaker:at apprenticeship wages, but they also look at fast food like McDonald's or
Speaker:Chipotle, where they're making 2122.
Speaker:21, 20 $2 an hour, how can you push back on that and say, no?
Speaker:The trades, you make more money.
Speaker:It just takes time.
Speaker:It does take time.
Speaker:You have to invest in time and in time.
Speaker:When you start mastering something or becoming builder skill sets, say for
Speaker:instance as a welder or fabricator an artist, whatever that might be, in time,
Speaker:the money comes back to you to where if you worked at McDonald's or Chick-fil-A
Speaker:or whatever it is that you choose.
Speaker:There's really not a whole lot of advancement there for you as far as
Speaker:skill sets to advance to increase your monies that have that need
Speaker:that will come to you later in life.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:You're probably staying at 21, 22 unless you climb the ladder.
Speaker:That's right.
Speaker:Rich is probably a lower percentage, but somebody who is a welder.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:It's gonna start off slightly lower wages, but it's gonna work their way up.
Speaker:And I was, I was talking to Tyler Sassy, who we both know, um, and he was saying
Speaker:the money that kids make, especially coming out of his organization, I was
Speaker:blown away that kids are making 60, $70,000 right out of the academy, six
Speaker:months just doing, um, going through the program and then sometimes weigh into the
Speaker:six figures depending upon which path.
Speaker:That's correct.
Speaker:But why are kid saying that there's no money in it?
Speaker:What, what, what's going on out there that kids are saying that?
Speaker:I just think there's a lack of motivation.
Speaker:They don't wanna do the time, you know, they don't wanna do the time to see
Speaker:the results come back to them later.
Speaker:They, they, I think a lot of 'em find it is too difficult, too
Speaker:hard, and there are other options.
Speaker:That's what I think.
Speaker:So you think it's the other options and maybe the work
Speaker:ethic is a little bit different?
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:Not everybody, but not everybody.
Speaker:Not everybody.
Speaker:But there, there is some worth.
Speaker:Some work ethic that is definitely different now than it used to.
Speaker:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker:And I, I see that as well.
Speaker:Hey, look, I see with my own kids, I have two young kids, same.
Speaker:They're on the iPad and I try to throw 'em off and then they
Speaker:just go onto another device.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And then they hide at like, it's just, it's just what it is.
Speaker:That's called other options, Andrew.
Speaker:Oh, they other options or they're just on their friends, uh, device.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Um, but it, it, it's a, it's difficult.
Speaker:There is so only so much that we can do.
Speaker:Take us back to your sort of upbringing act.
Speaker:Was there anybody in the trades in your family, or did you find,
Speaker:like, where did you find welding?
Speaker:Did someone say, go be a welder, or you just kind of found it?
Speaker:No, I, I actually had several scholarships to go to college, but I decided not to,
Speaker:and I went to go work in, uh, a weld shop and that little blue light just caught
Speaker:my eye and I had a great interest in knowing what it was about and how to do
Speaker:it, you know, and I just started working.
Speaker:With a lot of the guys in the shop and learning how to fabricate and
Speaker:learning how to weld, and I just ha found out that I had a natural knack
Speaker:for it and fell in love with it.
Speaker:So that just progressed on and on and on, and worked in the shop.
Speaker:Then I started running a welding rig and welding boulder tubes, working in
Speaker:boilers, traveling the us, traveling the world, doing different things,
Speaker:and got very exposed at a young age.
Speaker:By the age of 24, I was running a whole crew of 15, 20 guys.
Speaker:So not only a natural knack for just welding and fabrication,
Speaker:but also a natural knack for leadership and supervision.
Speaker:So I found that very early in age.
Speaker:So I was very, very, uh, blessed and uh, uh, very, had a skillset
Speaker:set for that kind of stuff.
Speaker:Now you said that you were thinking about college.
Speaker:You never, you never went or you did go?
Speaker:No, I never felt like I was college material.
Speaker:Why?
Speaker:Why is that?
Speaker:Why do you think certain people just.
Speaker:Obviously more so today with the amount of money, um, to go to college.
Speaker:You know, people going into six figure debt, their return
Speaker:on investment is not there.
Speaker:Why do you think some people, besides obviously the investment,
Speaker:why do you think some people are just not a fit for college?
Speaker:Um, for various reasons.
Speaker:First of all, the money aspect of it, you know, it's so expensive.
Speaker:Especially now these days.
Speaker:It's just ridiculous.
Speaker:Um, not only that, but I think just people are just not wired.
Speaker:To stay in school, uh, whatever the subject base is for that period of, for
Speaker:that period of long of time, you know?
Speaker:Um, I just felt like I was one of those, just did not enjoy school that much.
Speaker:I always felt like I was more of an on-hands guy and learning to
Speaker:build something with my own hands.
Speaker:In fact, when I quit my full-time job, uh, I had told my first
Speaker:wife, um, and she was like, why in the world did you quit your job?
Speaker:I said, look, I, I feel like I have gifted hands.
Speaker:I have a gifted mind, and I wanna show the world what I can do.
Speaker:I really do.
Speaker:I wanna show the world what I can do.
Speaker:I wanna set the world on fire.
Speaker:And I had inspiration inside of me.
Speaker:You know, I had drive, I had stamina.
Speaker:Where's that coming from?
Speaker:Is that instilled in you?
Speaker:Do you think you were born like that?
Speaker:Like, not everybody's like that.
Speaker:I, I agree.
Speaker:Not everyone's like that.
Speaker:It was just embedded in me.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I, I didn't have anybody that was a mentor or anyone that helped guide me.
Speaker:It was just.
Speaker:It's in my blood.
Speaker:It's in my blood To be a welder and be a a, a skill artist and to be a fabricator.
Speaker:And to design stuff and build things all through my life.
Speaker:That's just what I enjoy and I always felt like I was good at it.
Speaker:Do you think you're a problem solver?
Speaker:Oh yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And for any aspect?
Speaker:Just about, yeah, other than marriage problems, you have marriage problems.
Speaker:Don't come talk to me about that.
Speaker:That's a different podcast.
Speaker:Yes, it is.
Speaker:Yeah, I'm absolutely a problem solver.
Speaker:I get calls and emails all the time for people who have, um, situations where
Speaker:they need someone to come in to help.
Speaker:Figure something out, draw something or design something to get from
Speaker:point A to point B or, or pick something from from happening
Speaker:that's in a negative way, you know?
Speaker:And I, I love doing that.
Speaker:I love getting those calls and going out to see clients and.
Speaker:And, uh, just developing new projects, uh, to solve people's problems.
Speaker:Do you like being on the tech side or do you like to, 'cause we'll get
Speaker:into JK welding and, and in what the projects and things that you're doing.
Speaker:So I cut my teeth on being in the field.
Speaker:I love being in the field.
Speaker:Um, the tech side too though, I like, I like both sides of it.
Speaker:You know, there are times when I get emails from people that are having
Speaker:difficulty in this and trying to develop something and I love just sitting there.
Speaker:Just gears turning, not wanting to know how can I do this?
Speaker:And I sit there and draw something and I go meet with them and they're like, oh
Speaker:my gosh, that's exactly what I wanted.
Speaker:I just didn't know how to tell you.
Speaker:You know, I, I've gotten that out so many times.
Speaker:I, I love doing that.
Speaker:I think that's a skill you're kind of born with.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Not everybody has that.
Speaker:Nobody can kind of visualize that.
Speaker:I think that's a certain ti I think you're programmed like that.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I have great visualization, um, from taking problems and turning them into.
Speaker:Resolution, you know?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Talk to me a little bit about sort of the transition, 'cause you were more
Speaker:in the field and then you started your own fabrication shop or JK welding.
Speaker:When at what point did you shift over and we, were you nervous because maybe
Speaker:you didn't have the right skillset at that point to run a business?
Speaker:Because running a business is very different than being in the field,
Speaker:and not everybody can learn that.
Speaker:What was it you mentored or anything?
Speaker:'cause you said that you kind of, no one really helped you,
Speaker:but how did you make that shift?
Speaker:I think it has a lot to do with just street smarts and common sense, you know?
Speaker:Um, like I said, I didn't go to college, haven't taken any classes,
Speaker:haven't read any books about running a business, just school of hard
Speaker:knocks, just learning along the way.
Speaker:Um, you know, when I first started out, was I scared?
Speaker:Was I nervous?
Speaker:Yeah, a little bit.
Speaker:And I've always felt like.
Speaker:I've told people all the time, people that work for me and people
Speaker:I've met, if you ain't nervous, then you ain't doing it Right.
Speaker:You know, there's gotta be a little bit nervous in you just try not to show it.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You, you consider yourself an entrepreneur?
Speaker:I do.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:See, I'm an entrepreneur too, and we we're messed up in a good way.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Because we think differently.
Speaker:You are wired different.
Speaker:Wired completely differently.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:My wife says to me all the time, I don't know how you do what you do.
Speaker:I couldn't do that.
Speaker:I just can't do that.
Speaker:Um, but I think we're a little screwed up in a good way.
Speaker:Not screwed up in a CPA lawyer way.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Just car salesman.
Speaker:But we visualize, we see things a little bit different.
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:And we have big aspirations.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Entrepreneur.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:I've generated many companies over the years.
Speaker:Um, still have quite a few of 'em.
Speaker:Sold a few of 'em.
Speaker:So yeah, it's embedded in me to, you know, start businesses be successful.
Speaker:There's nothing like.
Speaker:Going to work every day and creating something on your own, and you go
Speaker:home every day or think throughout the years, man, look what I did.
Speaker:You know, I, I did something with my life.
Speaker:And just being so happy and proud about that.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And that's inspirational for the audience.
Speaker:Audience that's listening that maybe wants to go into entrepreneurship, maybe is in
Speaker:the field and wants to make that journey.
Speaker:What did you learn your first business that you sold?
Speaker:What did you learn?
Speaker:Things that you were supposed to do versus the things that
Speaker:you were not supposed to do?
Speaker:Did you, did you learn anything from that?
Speaker:Any, any sort of wisdom from that first business that you
Speaker:can share with the audience?
Speaker:The number one thing is taking care of the customer, period.
Speaker:If you take good care of the customer, you're gonna have a business.
Speaker:You know, there's a lot of things that follow in behind taking care
Speaker:of a customer as far as meeting deadlines, quality, um, just.
Speaker:Getting things right, getting things done on time and getting 'em done right.
Speaker:And just making the customer happy.
Speaker:That's, that's number one.
Speaker:Um, number two, taking care of the employees 'cause they take care of you.
Speaker:Absolutely, yeah.
Speaker:They are the heart and soul of the company.
Speaker:Um, I'm just the brain of it now.
Speaker:I physically sign a check, but I really don't sign the check,
Speaker:the customer sign the checks.
Speaker:So if we all work together and take care of the customer, then
Speaker:we'll all, we'll all have a job.
Speaker:'cause we come to work every day not worrying about if we're gonna
Speaker:get this job done, we're gonna worry about how we're gonna get all
Speaker:these jobs done each and every day.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Business has three Ps in it, and that's gonna be people, process and project.
Speaker:Sounds like the prophet.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:Is that, is it the prophet?
Speaker:So if there was anyone, if I could answer your question, if there was anyone
Speaker:that was ever a mentor to me, but it was later in life, it's Marcus Lemons.
Speaker:Uhhuh.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Tell us a, tell us who he is.
Speaker:'cause a lot of people don't know who he is.
Speaker:I, I love that guy, man.
Speaker:I'll tell you what, if, if you don't watch or know about Marcus
Speaker:Lemons, you need to watch this guy.
Speaker:Um, he's amazing.
Speaker:Absolutely amazing.
Speaker:Um, he takes businesses that are falling down or.
Speaker:They're on the, you know, they're on the back cuff of closing or
Speaker:shutting their business down.
Speaker:He comes in and revamps some invest money, puts in new policies and
Speaker:procedures, and gets things back up and get going again where they're
Speaker:successful and they American money again.
Speaker:So if there, like I said, if there ever was a mentor, it would be him.
Speaker:But yeah, exactly three Ps. That's where I actually get it from.
Speaker:It's from Marcus.
Speaker:And it's a true statement, you know, if you have a proven process.
Speaker:You have a proven product and you have good people, then there's, the only thing
Speaker:left is the fourth P, which is profit.
Speaker:That will come automatically if you get the first three Ps. Right.
Speaker:It's not as easy as, you know.
Speaker:I mean, it takes time.
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:It just, everything takes time.
Speaker:And it's funny that you said Marcus Long, I used to watch the profit or mm-hmm.
Speaker:He was on and, um, he's just, I think he's just naturally gifted in
Speaker:what he, he is what he does, but the people aspect is extremely important.
Speaker:How do you.
Speaker:For other business owners that are struggling with people, because
Speaker:that is always a challenge with most businesses, finding the right people
Speaker:to get on the bus because if you don't have them, you don't have a business
Speaker:and can't make customers happy.
Speaker:How do you find the right person for your organization?
Speaker:Like what's the right fit?
Speaker:How do you know?
Speaker:You know, immediately, uh, if someone is somewhat controversy with you or if
Speaker:they, if you don't confide trust in them.
Speaker:Or they do some things that are questionable, that are trustworthy.
Speaker:They need to be gone instantly.
Speaker:'cause you need to move on to the next one, to find the next one.
Speaker:If that one doesn't work out, then you have to move on to the next one.
Speaker:There's no right ingredients or, or right, uh, correct proper way to go
Speaker:about finding the exact person you need.
Speaker:First time, every time you have to go through a process to find the right one.
Speaker:And when you do better, take care of 'em.
Speaker:Take care of 'em very well.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:We gotta retain 'em somehow.
Speaker:But it's not all, it's not all wages, it's no, it's right, it's not.
Speaker:There's other pieces and parts.
Speaker:What other pieces and parts besides the money aspect do you think key people?
Speaker:You know, it's the little things to the big things.
Speaker:Um, benefits are a great factor, you know, in a business.
Speaker:Um, there's a lot of things I do for my employees, um, that other
Speaker:people may do and may not do.
Speaker:I, I find.
Speaker:There's a lot of things that I do that other people don't do because I read
Speaker:about it all the time on social media, you know, um, little things to big things.
Speaker:Like every July and August I have a snow cone truck come every Wednesday.
Speaker:You know, it's just a little treat.
Speaker:We have big Christmas parties, you know, we give out tens of thousands
Speaker:of dollars of Christmas gifts and bonuses, um, at Christmas every year.
Speaker:Um, there's times when we have a record month, I take everybody to lunch, or
Speaker:I have lunch brought in and catered.
Speaker:And not just ordering pizza, like something a little bit more than that,
Speaker:you know, to show your appreciation.
Speaker:Giving back to the, giving back to the, the employees.
Speaker:Um, that's important.
Speaker:Um, those are the important things that I like doing for my people.
Speaker:Uh, you know, we just had our 20 year anniversary, May 1st 20 years.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:I quit my job.
Speaker:May 1st, 2005.
Speaker:So May 1st, 2025.
Speaker:We had a 20 year anniversary and I picked the number eight.
Speaker:Anybody who had been at JK Weld for eight years or longer got a really nice
Speaker:watch, men's watch and the different values of, of bonuses that I gave out.
Speaker:And it really hit me when I went to get up on the mic to start
Speaker:introducing employees to come get their gift for service to the company.
Speaker:There were 16 of them and I was like, holy crap, you know?
Speaker:Like touching for me to have that many guys to be with me for that long.
Speaker:And I had one guy with me for 15 years.
Speaker:Um, so it's rather satisfying.
Speaker:Yeah, it's a good feeling.
Speaker:It's good.
Speaker:It's, it's a good feeling to, to give back.
Speaker:You know?
Speaker:It, it's very challenging to run a business.
Speaker:I ran a business for 25 years.
Speaker:I mean, it's, it's, most businesses fail within the first few years.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:You're lucky if you make it in the first five years.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:What do you think, where do you think, besides people, where else do you think
Speaker:people miss the mark in a business?
Speaker:In a, in a trades business?
Speaker:Because the trades can be very profitable, but if you're not running it right,
Speaker:what do you think is a couple misses besides people in their business?
Speaker:Well, there's a lot of things that people ask me, and the biggest thing I think
Speaker:people ask me is, Hey, what is the one thing that you've done that be successful?
Speaker:And I'll tell 'em, Hey, there's not one thing.
Speaker:There's not.
Speaker:It's a full variety of things.
Speaker:It's like a washing machine.
Speaker:You've gotta throw it all in there and mix it all together because there's, it comes
Speaker:from so many different directions from networking to being on social media, you
Speaker:know, having a, a good website, um, being, um, as far as interactive with your fans
Speaker:or followers or clients and customers.
Speaker:Uh, interaction with the customers is very important.
Speaker:Being involved with the community is one of 'em as well.
Speaker:And I think if you put in enough effort to go out to do each one of those things, it
Speaker:will come back to you tenfold every time.
Speaker:It's hard to scale a business right when you're doing everything, and
Speaker:especially if you're a technician.
Speaker:This is not everybody, but some people get caught up in the weeds
Speaker:like they like to be the technician.
Speaker:They don't want to be the business owner or the operator.
Speaker:Was it hard for you to make that shift from sort of
Speaker:technician to to business owner?
Speaker:Because you can't be everywhere.
Speaker:You can't do everything you need to rely on other people.
Speaker:Did that shift take you some time to get used to?
Speaker:It did.
Speaker:It did.
Speaker:And I think when we really advanced into our new facility, that's
Speaker:when I kind of drew more of a heavier airline than ever before.
Speaker:When you start realizing, man, we're coming, coming a, a, a
Speaker:bigger company, a corporation now.
Speaker:So there's some things that we used to do, or things we used to say before
Speaker:that we can no longer do anymore because we gotta get our stuff together.
Speaker:You know, we've gotta look more professional, act more professional,
Speaker:present ourself, more professional.
Speaker:Um, and I think there is just, there comes a point where you have to,
Speaker:and as an owner, you have to, um, start separating yourself somewhat.
Speaker:You can only do that when you start delegating orders to the right personnel
Speaker:and you have the right people in place having trust, knowing that they're
Speaker:gonna take care of the company.
Speaker:'cause they don't really don't work for me, they work for the company.
Speaker:You know, that's, I've always believed that.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And it's difficult as a business owner because you take it home with you,
Speaker:everyone else leaves, but you take it home with you and sometimes, you know,
Speaker:even when you're away or on a vacation.
Speaker:Take it with you.
Speaker:How do you sort of, you know, do you put down the phone or do you kinda get
Speaker:yourself out mindset outta that work mode?
Speaker:So, for many years I would always take the phone with me.
Speaker:You know, I still do to, um, but it doesn't go off or ring as much
Speaker:because I've delegated personnel into good positions with good people.
Speaker:So there's times where they know I'm away from the office.
Speaker:Don't call Mr. King.
Speaker:Don't, don't text him, don't call him.
Speaker:You know, he is busy and I don't really ask for that.
Speaker:It's just a respect thing.
Speaker:And 'cause everybody has jobs to do, they have duties to do, they
Speaker:have responsibilities, and they fulfill those responsibilities.
Speaker:And as long as you have trustworthy employees working for you, and they
Speaker:fulfill their responsibilities, then your phone will ring less.
Speaker:Now, don't get me wrong, my phone ring like crazy for the first
Speaker:10 years, uh, day and night.
Speaker:I still take it home with me now, but, and that's only because
Speaker:really no one's butts on the line.
Speaker:But mine, at the end of the day, we could close the company,
Speaker:everybody could walk away.
Speaker:But me, I can't walk away.
Speaker:This is my life.
Speaker:Not many people want to take that risk.
Speaker:That's why I call us like a little bit screwed up because we believe, we
Speaker:believe we can get to a certain place.
Speaker:One thing that was always instilled to me in, um, a lot
Speaker:of business, uh, groups that I.
Speaker:Frequently, uh, would go to is that always plan with the end
Speaker:in mind, meaning your exit.
Speaker:And a lot of new business owners don't think about that.
Speaker:They just, you know, I wanna just have my business.
Speaker:But thinking about what your exit plan is, do you think business owners
Speaker:should be thinking about what looks like, you know, a few years down
Speaker:the road or just kind of, some, some people may be thinking about that.
Speaker:I've never thought about that.
Speaker:I don't even think about that now, even at the age that I am, and even
Speaker:after 20 years, it's not, I'm not a thought that crosses my mind.
Speaker:Uh, I don't know why.
Speaker:You know, um, recently I, I, I guess I've thought about it once or twice,
Speaker:but it's not something that I focus on, and I was never that way in the
Speaker:beginning, in the middle or the end.
Speaker:Um, I'm always being concerned about the next client, the next job.
Speaker:Strategizing and, and seeing scheduling what we need to do next, you know, and
Speaker:just multitasking so far ahead to where things just fall in place so nicely that
Speaker:things is more like a well old machine.
Speaker:Yeah, I mean, that's what it's all about.
Speaker:You know, like you said, having the process and the people, you
Speaker:know, that's really what, that's really what it's all about.
Speaker:And as long as you have the, again, going back to the right people.
Speaker:And having the process in place, you know, you can get to a certain
Speaker:level that you want to, and it's great that you wanna stay in and you
Speaker:should, if you're passionate about it.
Speaker:You know, my, uh, my father was in hardware distribution
Speaker:for 55 years and retired.
Speaker:Didn't know the hell to do himself.
Speaker:Like he didn't know what to do himself.
Speaker:Like that was def, that was his de like who he was.
Speaker:And when he retired it was like, what am I gonna do?
Speaker:Play golf every day I wanna do something.
Speaker:So I even think like retiring is almost like, well, what, what now?
Speaker:That's been a thought, especially here in the last couple weeks.
Speaker:You know, like people are like, when are you gonna retire?
Speaker:I'm like, I don't know.
Speaker:You know?
Speaker:And, and when I do, I don't know what I'm gonna do.
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:I have other companies that I'll probably hold onto that are smaller
Speaker:that, uh, I guess will gimme a few things to do, you know?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Keep you busy.
Speaker:Keep you busy somewhat.
Speaker:But then again, I have employees that have responsibilities there too.
Speaker:You know, you can't always just butt in or show up and just start
Speaker:taking over, you know, then.
Speaker:You start discouraging employees, you know?
Speaker:'cause they have a job to do.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Has family ever taken interest in your business at all?
Speaker:No.
Speaker:No, it's not.
Speaker:I have one boy, my oldest boy, he's 24.
Speaker:Not a, not a welder?
Speaker:No.
Speaker:He's a welder.
Speaker:He is a welder.
Speaker:He works at the Trails West Gate Company.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:He's a welder.
Speaker:Um, I don't know what the future holds for him, but, uh, he's doing well.
Speaker:Uh, he's a welder and a fabricator.
Speaker:He went to a and m and, uh, he actually, um.
Speaker:He actually changed his, uh, major his last year of college, and he came to
Speaker:me at Christmas time two years ago, and he is like, dad, I wanna change.
Speaker:I said, well, what do you wanna do?
Speaker:He goes, I wanna be a welder.
Speaker:I said, okay, why?
Speaker:He said, well, I, I see what you do and I see what you have.
Speaker:I said, that's the wrong answer.
Speaker:Why do you wanna be a welder?
Speaker:He says, for the money.
Speaker:I said, that's wrong.
Speaker:He's like, why?
Speaker:I said, son, you need to have passion for the trade.
Speaker:Because if you have passion for the trade and you like it and you love
Speaker:it, the money will come automatically.
Speaker:So you need to worry about money last and worry about passion, passion first.
Speaker:And I think he understood.
Speaker:I think he understood.
Speaker:But he is, he's doing well.
Speaker:He's, he's manufacturing and welding gates and installing gates at ranches,
Speaker:and he's, he's having a good time.
Speaker:That's good.
Speaker:You know, it's interesting that you follow suit in what your,
Speaker:what your family does sometimes.
Speaker:So do you feel, just shifting gears, do you feel like we're turning a corner when
Speaker:it comes to the shortage of welders today?
Speaker:Um, again, I wanna go back to what we can do, um, as leaders in the community to,
Speaker:to reach really the younger generation.
Speaker:Where are we not, where, where, I guess where are we hitting the ceiling?
Speaker:Basically, what are we not doing that we should be doing as leaders?
Speaker:I don't, I don't know the answer to that, Andrew.
Speaker:I really don't.
Speaker:And I don't know anybody who really does, to be honest with you.
Speaker:If someone has an answer, I'd love to hear it.
Speaker:Um, I, I live in each week, every month.
Speaker:I live it all the time.
Speaker:I'll give you an example.
Speaker:Um, we put an ad out for, uh, welding position as we have done hundreds of
Speaker:times throughout the last 20 years, get 84 applications, and this just
Speaker:happened recently, 84 applications.
Speaker:I reviewed them myself.
Speaker:I pick 14.
Speaker:I call in 11 to come interview.
Speaker:Uh, seven show up.
Speaker:I hire six.
Speaker:Only one shows up and he lasted a day.
Speaker:That's shocking.
Speaker:That's shocking.
Speaker:Now is that shocking?
Speaker:But that happened twice.
Speaker:Yeah, week after week.
Speaker:Uh, just people showing up is a big problem.
Speaker:So just getting to the interviewer, just accepting the position and showing
Speaker:up the first day, it's a far larger problem than you could ever imagine.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:And I, I can tell you that 'cause I live it and that's happened many, many times.
Speaker:There's times where we just have two or three interviews.
Speaker:Nobody shows up and it ain't just me calling.
Speaker:I have general foremans calling, superintendents calling, scheduling
Speaker:the girl up front, the admin girl, scheduling interviews, you know, of
Speaker:course we do a screening with them.
Speaker:Hey, do you live in the area?
Speaker:'cause Houston's a big, big city, so if you live on the opposite side of town,
Speaker:we're probably not gonna hire you because the traffic and the toll fees and the gas
Speaker:is just too much to get to work on time.
Speaker:So we, you know, we, we do a screening.
Speaker:Where do you live?
Speaker:You know, do you do floss core welding?
Speaker:Can you read, you know, any kind of blueprints?
Speaker:Can you read a measuring tape?
Speaker:Because we get that.
Speaker:You'd be surprised.
Speaker:I'm surprised.
Speaker:Yeah, you'd be surprised.
Speaker:So we do a little screening and you know, if they pass all the questions that we
Speaker:ask, usually five or six questions and we, you know, we schedule an interview
Speaker:and I would say probably 65, 70% of the time they don't even show up.
Speaker:They don't show up.
Speaker:Nope.
Speaker:Not at all.
Speaker:That's a true fact.
Speaker:I'm still trying to get over the tape measure ion.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:Hey, I, I disapp apprentice.
Speaker:Don't, uh, I had five guys not naming any names.
Speaker:I had five guys working for me in the shop and there there's
Speaker:like 50 guys in the shop.
Speaker:And these particular five guys, younger guys, uh, all five of
Speaker:'em went to a welding school.
Speaker:Um, all five of 'em there were parents paid for their welding school.
Speaker:They went to their welding school vari from three months to a year, and they all
Speaker:graduated from all their welding schools.
Speaker:The one thing that all five of 'em could not do was read a tape.
Speaker:Even going to welding school.
Speaker:Even going to welding spot, I don't get it.
Speaker:I don't either.
Speaker:I don't either.
Speaker:I really don't.
Speaker:So instead of getting frustrated and mad as I've done, uh, over the
Speaker:years, like getting frustrated with that kind of thing, I just sat back
Speaker:for a minute and said, you know what?
Speaker:I'm gonna take the time to show and teach these guys.
Speaker:Even though they went to school and their parents paid all this money.
Speaker:I gathered 'em all up, brought 'em into the conference room.
Speaker:And I drew an inch on the board, really large, but I didn't put any numbers on it.
Speaker:And I would just point to a line and I did that four or five times.
Speaker:Nobody could tell me a measurement within one inch if it, whether
Speaker:it was three eighths or five eighths or whatever it was.
Speaker:So I said, look, I drew a dollar bill.
Speaker:I, I drew a gas tank, and then I drew a clock.
Speaker:I said, you know what, all four of these have in common, and nobody knew.
Speaker:I said, they all have quarters, quarter, quarter of a tank of gas.
Speaker:How many quarters are in a dollar?
Speaker:Now you understand that we all have quarters and everything.
Speaker:Let's split the quarter in half.
Speaker:That's one eighth of an inch.
Speaker:And so we started making track and within 30 minutes they understood
Speaker:and they could read a tape, and they all shook my hand and we were
Speaker:so happy and went back to work.
Speaker:But now I have employees that can read measurement tapes.
Speaker:I left, very satisfied and very happy.
Speaker:The fact that I did that to help somebody.
Speaker:Well that's inspiring.
Speaker:Well, it's a little bit scary that they don't know how to coming out of like
Speaker:a, a welding school, are you seeing?
Speaker:And you, if you wanna gimme your honest take, like even though
Speaker:the kids are coming outta welding school, I'm not gonna name schools.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:Me neither.
Speaker:But, you know, are they not getting the, the right skillset?
Speaker:Are, are some of these schools pitching?
Speaker:Well, you'll definitely get a job.
Speaker:Come, you know, come to our school, invest this kind.
Speaker:'cause it's, some of it's a, you know, it's a hefty investment in.
Speaker:Are they, just because I see it on social media a lot and where a kid will go to
Speaker:a welding school but then will complain that they can't find a job and then they
Speaker:say they can't find a job, and then their pushback is, well, the employer's looking
Speaker:for three to five years experience.
Speaker:I don't have three to five years experience.
Speaker:Is that happening out there where employers are asking for too much
Speaker:experience where these kids don't and they don't want to train anybody up?
Speaker:That's all based upon the position they're trying to fulfill.
Speaker:You know, it's possibly they're trying to fulfill, because as you've stated
Speaker:many times in your post, there's guys that are retiring with 30, 40, 50 years.
Speaker:So they're trying to get someone who at least has three to five to even have a
Speaker:chance to fulfill one shoe of the guy who's retiring with 30 or 40 years to
Speaker:have, hoping to have some kind of skillset rather than just come in fully green and
Speaker:have to pay the guy and train him fully.
Speaker:So they don't wanna train them.
Speaker:Do you think They just, I, I, I, I don't, I don't know.
Speaker:I can only speak for myself.
Speaker:A a lot of the guys that I have are just, they're, they're old hands, not as in
Speaker:age, but as in, they're very seasoned.
Speaker:They're veterans.
Speaker:Most of my hands are like that.
Speaker:I have some young guys working for me.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:And they're learning, and we do show them the ropes.
Speaker:We don't necessarily sit with them and weld with them for eight hours.
Speaker:No.
Speaker:Like a welding school.
Speaker:That's not the case.
Speaker:They are learning as far as fabrication and welding in, in, in the company.
Speaker:Um, there's just a lot of guys, I think, I mean, a lot of companies I
Speaker:think that are just looking to fulfill those veterans that are retiring.
Speaker:You know, and we're short, what, 84,000 welders a year for what?
Speaker:330,000? Is that right?
Speaker:Yeah, almost.
Speaker:You got the numbers right?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker:That's what we're looking at.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:So, and what happens is these companies don't wanna hire somebody new.
Speaker:The newbies don't get the job.
Speaker:They complain, and then there's lost productivity because those
Speaker:people retire out of that company.
Speaker:So why don't organizations look at it?
Speaker:Where, and I I, I, I threw this out when I spoke last time at the, uh,
Speaker:welding summit, that, you know, what is your zero experience, uh, policy on
Speaker:people who are coming outta wellness?
Speaker:They just, they don't have the experience yet, but maybe they have the soft skills.
Speaker:You can teach them the technical skills.
Speaker:You know, it's like this push pull thing.
Speaker:It is exactly.
Speaker:Push pull.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:Um, you know, and it's, you can't really blame the company's
Speaker:all out a hundred percent.
Speaker:I mean, it's a liability hiring someone green and depending on what position
Speaker:you put 'em in, um, if you hiring someone at a skill level of two and
Speaker:you're putting 'em in a position to skill level eight, it's a liability.
Speaker:Um, get yourself in trouble later on, you know, bad products.
Speaker:Causes customers to go away.
Speaker:Customers go away.
Speaker:Downfall in business.
Speaker:Downfall in business means you close the doors.
Speaker:So it's, it's a happy medium.
Speaker:You gotta find that happy medium.
Speaker:You gotta find out where that's at and how to get there with the,
Speaker:with the people that are available.
Speaker:If they show up.
Speaker:If they show up.
Speaker:How important is mentorship?
Speaker:It's very important.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Um, at JK Wood we do a lot of cross training.
Speaker:Um, so.
Speaker:A lot of the younger guys are sometimes getting to spend some
Speaker:time with the veterans or the guys that are more seasoned.
Speaker:How quickly does that happen in your organization?
Speaker:So if somebody is onboarded on a Monday, do they start
Speaker:sitting with them right away?
Speaker:Or is it It's usually down the road.
Speaker:Down the road, yeah.
Speaker:It's usually down the road.
Speaker:Um, we need to get a feel.
Speaker:We need to capture a feel of someone, capture a feel of their skillset, their
Speaker:mindset, um, capture a feel of their, of their character, of who they are,
Speaker:if they care, if they wanna be there.
Speaker:There's times we hire guys and after a week we're like, this
Speaker:guy doesn't want to be here.
Speaker:It's very obvious, you know?
Speaker:So we've already invested that time.
Speaker:If we would've put them with the mentorship, and we lose that instant.
Speaker:So, you know, when we hire people, they come and get a check once a week.
Speaker:Well, you're getting paid for your services, but we're also paying you
Speaker:because we are investing money into you by paying you so you can learn.
Speaker:So you can learn more and more, so you can become more of an asset to the company.
Speaker:And I tell guys that all the time.
Speaker:If you're a welder, great, but become more, become a fabricator,
Speaker:be able to read blueprints.
Speaker:There's so many people I run across that know how to weld and they're
Speaker:very good welders and, and if they wanna be just a welder, it's fine.
Speaker:There's nothing wrong with being just a welder.
Speaker:But advance yourself, become an asset, become more valuable.
Speaker:Because when it comes time to, when they do layoffs, when there's
Speaker:a slowdown, they're not gonna lay you off because you become more
Speaker:valuable, because you know more.
Speaker:If you don't know your math, go back to school.
Speaker:Stay in school.
Speaker:Know your math, know your geometry.
Speaker:Know your trig.
Speaker:It go.
Speaker:It falls back to the same thing with measuring tapes.
Speaker:Learn your numbers.
Speaker:Learn your measuring tape.
Speaker:You know, you don't have to be a mathematician, but
Speaker:understand your numbers.
Speaker:That's important and then, then that's the only important at
Speaker:work that's important at home.
Speaker:You get married and have kids and they buy a dog who's gonna build a doghouse.
Speaker:It ain't the guy who can't read a measurement tape.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I mean, these are basic skills that you can use.
Speaker:Basic life skills.
Speaker:The basic life skills.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:And not everybody knows.
Speaker:That's right.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:For the audience that's listening that is interested in welding, but really
Speaker:wants to excel and make a lot of money.
Speaker:What are some of the paths that, uh, that I guess yield the biggest
Speaker:result wage wise out there that you can recommend that you've seen?
Speaker:Well, that has a lot to do with the fact if you have a family at home,
Speaker:because some of the bigger, larger wage factors of making money has to
Speaker:do with you being away from home.
Speaker:Um, if you've got a family at home, you got kids and a wife,
Speaker:it's gonna be hard and difficult.
Speaker:I get a lot of messages weekly.
Speaker:From guys who want to get off the road.
Speaker:'cause they got kids at home and it was great and fun, but when they
Speaker:were single and it was probably okay when they were just married.
Speaker:But when you have kids that throws a whole nother wrench in the fire and they wanna
Speaker:be home with their kids because they start missing birthdays, they start missing
Speaker:Christmas, they're out making that money.
Speaker:And that's the biggest money maker.
Speaker:There is a lot of pipeline and welders are like that, you know?
Speaker:And there's a lot of guys I know that still do it.
Speaker:They're not at home as much and they're okay with it.
Speaker:Everybody's wired different.
Speaker:Everybody has different arrangements within their own
Speaker:marriage and their own family.
Speaker:But as far as the big money factors, pipelining and doing shutdowns,
Speaker:being away from home, that's where the guys make their money.
Speaker:Um, if you're wanting to stay at home with family and the wife, but make good
Speaker:money, you know, aerospace, welding is.
Speaker:Really good being a pipe welder at a, at a company, uh, especially running,
Speaker:you know, alloys, running tig on, on different alloys and being on
Speaker:top hand and stainless pipe welding.
Speaker:There's a lot of money in that.
Speaker:You know, you make up well over six figures doing that stuff.
Speaker:And the guys that go remote at, at leave home, what, what can they see?
Speaker:What, you know, weigh into the six figures?
Speaker:Oh, yeah.
Speaker:I mean, you don't even have to be a pipeliner, but the pipeliner
Speaker:guys make really good money because it's a skillset that very few have.
Speaker:Um, being slick, being slick, Rick throwing them beads down in that
Speaker:pipeline, you know, and, and laying down in the mud and in, in the rain.
Speaker:That's not easy work.
Speaker:That's not easy work.
Speaker:That's not easy work.
Speaker:No, it's not.
Speaker:Not at all.
Speaker:Um, those guys running shutdowns and doing pipelines and uh, doing
Speaker:all that kind of stuff out of town work is where it pays, you know,
Speaker:with the per diem and the overtime.
Speaker:Well, uh, anytime I worked outta town, I don't wanna work eight hours and
Speaker:I wanna work 12 to 16 hours a day.
Speaker:That's what I want to do because I wanna get the job done.
Speaker:I wanna make as much money as I can in the shortest period of time as possible.
Speaker:That's really not easy for someone, like you said, who has a
Speaker:family, and it changes the game.
Speaker:And, you know, being out there and, you know, traveling and it's, it's
Speaker:not easy on the home life unlike you unless you have something arranged
Speaker:that it, it works out for you.
Speaker:But for most people it's, it's challenging, especially with kids.
Speaker:If you're single, give it hell.
Speaker:That's all I can tell you.
Speaker:Give it.
Speaker:Hell make all you can, you know, because more than likely you're
Speaker:not gonna be single all your life.
Speaker:You know?
Speaker:There's nothing like, uh, getting old and being by yourself.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Always need a plus one.
Speaker:You always do.
Speaker:John.
Speaker:Um, is there anything else that we have not covered that you'd wanna talk about?
Speaker:Something workwise or anything that we haven't, uh, touched upon?
Speaker:Tell you, be good to your family and make as much money as you can and
Speaker:embrace and praise the the Lord above us.
Speaker:That's all I can tell you.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Um, if you're gonna go do something, do it well, do it the best you
Speaker:can and, uh, money will come automatically to you later in life.
Speaker:I like the advice that you gave with your, your son and the
Speaker:passion, you know, not the money.
Speaker:First.
Speaker:The money will come.
Speaker:Passion.
Speaker:Passion, you know, and that goes for anything.
Speaker:It ain't, that doesn't just pertain to welding.
Speaker:You know, if, if you like being a carpenter, then you, you should
Speaker:be, and you better be good at it.
Speaker:Because when's the last time you knew of someone that did
Speaker:something they don't like doing?
Speaker:They don't do it very long.
Speaker:I can't remember the last time I did something bad or something
Speaker:that I didn't like doing, and I kept doing it and doing it.
Speaker:You, you find something that you're good at, that you enjoy, then you
Speaker:never work a day in your life.
Speaker:You double down on that if you can.
Speaker:As long as you can make money with it.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Double down.
Speaker:Double down on it.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Become better at it, you know, just become a professional.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You know, master it, you know, and it will come easier to you.
Speaker:And so with that paycheck every Friday.
Speaker:John, this has been, uh, a great conversation.
Speaker:If people wanna find out more about JK Welding online website, where do they go?
Speaker:Uh, JK welding.net.
Speaker:Um, you can check us out on any social media as far as Facebook, TikTok,
Speaker:Instagram, all the social media platforms catch me and JK welding on LinkedIn.
Speaker:We have a great LinkedIn, uh, appearance and a lot of followers and, uh.
Speaker:Social media.
Speaker:Mark, a marketing guy, I have to tap my hat to him.
Speaker:He does a, a great job for us.
Speaker:Yeah, and definitely check out, uh, JK Welding's, uh, LinkedIn.
Speaker:You have some really, uh, interesting photos that in the work that you
Speaker:do, so definitely check that out.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:John, it's been a blast having you on the show.
Speaker:Enjoy Fabtech and thank you so much for being on the show.
Speaker:Thanks for having me, Andrew.
Speaker:Alright.
Speaker:Appreciate it.
Speaker:Thanks.
Speaker:Thanks for listening to The Lost Art of the Skilled Trades.
Speaker:Visit us@andrewbrown.net for more resources and tips.
Speaker:Join us next time for real stories and meaningful initiatives.
Speaker:As we celebrate our men and women in the skilled trades
Speaker:and shape the future together.
