there are six qualities that you must have or you
have no business being in the construction industry [Music]
all right there's more than six qualities that you should have to be in construction but I
think that these six really Encompass what a great Craftsman a great Tradesman should
have and honestly they're the ones that make our industry go the first of these is integrity so I
know Integrity is like one of those buzzwords that everybody puts on some kind of like motivational
poster right but what Integrity actually means is doing the right thing when nobody's looking
now the reason for this is the average Joe that doesn't really care about what they're doing
they're gonna try to get away with stupid things all the time and not tell anybody and that's where
a lot of the problems come from in our work so when I go to troubleshoot something a lot of the
times it's because somebody else did some hack work and didn't think anybody was ever going to
notice it so having integrity means you sitting there and you're doing something and it's not
right but instead of just being like at whatever and walking away you take it back down and you go
through the whatever you have to go through to fix it and make it good and there's this kind of like
putting your signature on things that I've always loved and I was trained this way when you're doing
something have a certain way that you do things so that every time when you do it somebody else
comes behind you and they know whose work it was and this may be folding conductors
in a certain way making things line up a certain way like when I rip out all my receptacles when
we're doing a rough-in I make sure that when I'm folding everything back in the boxes that I kick
everything at an angle y'all probably see me do that in my videos but I'm the only person that I
know that does that and so when people go into a room they're like oh Dustin did all of this
you know but it also allows some accountability I do that because I want people to know who did the
work that way if there's a problem they can come to me and tell me and I'm taking accountability
for that so I'm always doing work to a high standard and I always want to make sure that what
I'm doing that I'm doing it and it doesn't matter what other people think that I've put my all into
this and when I don't need to have congratulations I still have self-pride I still have something
inside myself that I'm impressing myself every day because of what I'm putting in the next thing
that you need to have is follow through so a lot of people like to talk big game and say they're
going to do this and say that they're going to do that but they don't actually ever do any of it
this kind of behavior is something that's tragic and just in general but in the trades you need
to have follow-through and so when you have a customer and they ask you to do something and
you say you're going to do something the make or break of whether or not you're ever going to get
future business or recommendations or anything is how well do you stick to the things that you
say you're going to do are you somebody of your word can a builder rely on what you're saying to
them can your team around you rely on you to show up and be there and when you say you're going to
do something you actually follow through in the construction we work as teams and so the weakest
link on a team is often the person that you can't rely on because their word doesn't mean anything
so to have a strong team you need people that show up on time that you can rely on that are
consistent that can be counted on and part of that is having follow-through and when you say you know
if you're late a lot and you tell the boss us like I'm sorry I'm going to start changing my alarm
clock and I'm gonna get up 30 minutes earlier do it you like actually have follow through with what
you say you're gonna do if somebody's like hey I need you to go over here and wire this room
and do this make sure that you fully understand everything and that you go do it and then when
you walk away and that journeyman comes up it's like all right hey did you do the thing that you
actually did all of it and that your word means something that's so crucial in the construction
industry number three is determination and what I mean specifically by determination is the ability
to suffer through something but continue to push through it you're going to have this a lot in the
construction industry where like it's crappy weather it's really hot out you're dehydrated
but the ability for you to keep pushing through to have follow-through that we just talked about is
super important to be able to go through suffering of some sort to be irritated to have changes
thrown at you and all of that instead of just losing your lid and like you know or flipping your
wig on somebody and getting pissed off the ability to just like maintain calmly accept changes take
things as they come and just push through and keep going and complete a task or complete a goal
that's crucial because nobody wants to work with somebody that just gets flustered and and can't
handle the environment and it's constantly complaining about everything left and right
I'll kick somebody out of a company if they're complainers if that's all they do is just sit
and complain [ __ ] and moan all the [ __ ] time I get it there's some days that you're just at your
worst and that's okay if 95 percent of the time you're at your best but this determination this
not letting [ __ ] get you down and get in your way and letting stupid little things knock you off
your path throughout the day be solid we all need mountains that we can lean on so if you're the
person the group that is the stable Mountain that people can lean on and rely on it's super helpful
for everybody involved but it's also helpful for a customer or a builder or somebody that needs to
be able to rely on you to know that regardless what happens you're gonna keep pushing through
and you're gonna make [ __ ] happen all right number four is creativity so doing electrical
work a lot of times you're gonna have to come up with some like creative solutions for things so
uh if you're kind of like the determination thing we just talked about if you let things get to you
to the point where you can't see a solution to get through something then you're not thinking
creatively there might be times where you've got an obstruction you've got something in the way
you have no clue how how you're going to make this thing happen the more creative you can think about
different ways of doing things the better off you're going to be because it's going to allow
you a whole range of solutions to problems that you would have otherwise just thrown your hands
up and like you know walked away from so having creativity is really important especially when
you get into the Aesthetics of what we do if you want things to look really nice if you want things
to function well and everything to work and you want to be looked at as somebody that does really
really quality stuff being creative is often the reason or the thing that allows people to get
there sometimes you might have some weird door in the middle of a room that's got a limit switch on
it you're like how the hell am I even gonna get wires to that I am here to tell you that there is
a way to solve every single problem and actually there's probably 27 ways to solve every problem
just comes to the the money right like if you want me to put a receptacle up on the top of a
space needle like how much you want to pay like I will make that happen because I'm creative I can
come up with a lot of different ways of trying to think of things and troubleshoot through something
it's just how much do you want to pay to actually make it happen so creativity is huge and customers
love having a Tradesman that can be creative so when there's a problem instead of you being like
well you just can't do that we just can't do it oh and like walking away nobody wants to hire
somebody like that because that makes them be like oh Jesus now the problem's huge or like [ __ ] why
did I hire you I'm just wasting my money with you they want somebody that can deliver a couple of
solutions and what I recommend is when you have a problem and you're about to present a solution
give three solutions I would give the easiest and cheapest solution I would give another solution
that's going to cost a little bit more but that's kind of within their reach and then I would give
them the most expensive craziest solution and say these are some ways that we can solve
this problem so which way do you want to go the cheapest might not be the greatest way to go but
it's it's the cheapest and I can make this work but the middle of the road is usually the best
option but if you're presenting multiple options that's giving them a choice they feel like you're
really good at what you do and that you know a lot and in all reality that's the truth if you
can out-think problems and have multiple solutions to a problem you're creative and that means you're
really good at this and you've come across a lot of problems which means you've also come across
a lot of solutions all right number five is to be changeable and more specifically be changeable but
unwavering so there's a lot of times that you're going to come through the industry when you come
across some problems some kind of adversity and if you always think that your perspective is right
you're right you know more than everybody else but first off nobody wants to work with somebody like
that because you're wrong you're just wrong you don't know the most you're not the best uh even
if you've been doing this for 40 years there's people that are doing things nowadays with tools
you didn't even know existed that can do it in half the time you know and and like completely
avoid all these complex Solutions if you're a couple of years into this and you start having
a Helper and now all of a sudden you think that you know everything that helper might have been
a mechanic for a long time and now they know how to build a structure or how the mechanics of bolts
and nuts and washers and like building something works way more than you do and so not listening
to their solution just because you just want to be the right guy and you have a big [ __ ] ego you're
going to be the one that's the problem where there was a good solution a good fix and you didn't
allow yourself yourself to be changeable you're now creating a problem because you're [ __ ] ego
but that being said it's it's there's a difference between being wavering and not being stable
versus being changeable you can still be changeable and be unwavering and be who
you are to your core your character is solid but you can still take new thought in a new opinion
and you don't have to let your ego get all flared up because somebody oh found out you didn't know
something who gives a [ __ ] the more you're wrong the more [ __ ] you know now and you'll
never be wrong about that thing again because you exposed where your wrongness was and so now you
are right about it because you know the truth you know the actual answer so like be okay with being
wrong seriously Embrace when somebody tells you you're doing something wrong and they give you a
better solution and you actually sit and think like [ __ ] they're right thank them seriously
just be like dude thank you so much I [ __ ] I never would have known that unless you would
have told me and then be cool and solid and stable because now you know the thing for sure undeniably
that's the best way to approach and it takes kind of a little humble student mindset when
you go through this [ __ ] and I always say this it's time and time again always even if you're
a master electrician think of yourself as an apprentice think of yourself as a student of
this craft always your entire career but you can still be unwavering in every aspect of who you are
you can still be the leader on a job site and what you say goes and how you think and how you act and
how the job flows you can still be unwavering on that but taking input from people is really
important because it's going to make you look better when somebody else has a better solution
for something and somebody comes up they're like oh dude I would have never thought to do it like
that it's going to make you and your team look better anyways so allowing people's voice to
seep and allowing new ideas to come in is crucial and number six the last one is to anticipate need
this is something a term I've been using for years and years and years on these videos I usually am
speaking it in reference to an apprentice and apprentice's job is to anticipate need you're
supposed to be constantly aware of what's going on and if you see somebody needs help run over
and make sure that they got what they need that's your job it's like to to if you can
understand what's going on in your environment and be of value and be of help to anybody you're
solid and everybody's going to want you around but that's not just an apprentice characteristic
so anybody having the ability to anticipate need you know like I can be journeyman headphones in
sitting here like Landing you know service entrance conductors in a panel and I see
somebody over there that's got a lift and they're trying to lift a light pole and there's a bunch
of gaggle of apprentices underneath and you know there's a power line up high and it just like it
looks like I should go over there and just help if you can anticipate what could possibly go wrong or
what somebody might need you might see somebody like trying to bang on something with a wrench
but you got a hammer just run over real quick and be like hey man I got you use this they'll
use it grab it back and go you're anticipating the need of the others around you and this is huge for
solid teams for people that want to work together really well and be effective and they don't even
need to speak to each other throughout the day and everything gets handled that's a solid team
you got a whole bunch of All-Stars on you but if you notice these teams and I've been around
many of them they don't have to speak because they all are watching each other's backs it's the best
thing because there's not a lot that gets slipped when everybody's paying attention to everything
rather than each one person is just solely focused on what they're doing a lot of stuff
gets missed that way but if everybody is aware and making sure that everybody's good and they
got what they need it's just an extra set of eyes and it's everybody kind of taking accountability
for the entire job rather than it just being on one person that's like corralling running kittens
you know so those are my six let me know if you guys think of any more please leave some comments
I could probably do another six uh maybe I'll do one for like Masters and journeyman apprentices I
don't know leave some comments below I love you crazy [ __ ] and I'll see you in the next one