Unlocking Blue-Collar Brilliance With Ken Rusk

Skot Waldron (00:00.505)
I'm going to go ahead and launch that. if I get pixelated and I'm all like jumbly, don't worry. It's uploaded and high red is on your side. Hi, Riz on my side. And if you absolutely have no idea, you can't even fake it. If you don't hear what I say, then just. I can edit it afterwards. Just go, Scott. I have no idea what you said. we'll just go from there. I'll do an intro out Joe after the show. So you don't have to worry about that. I just come in cold Turkey and we just rocket from there. You good.

Ken Rusk (00:17.262)
Okay, you got it.

Okay, let's do it. Yup.

Skot Waldron (00:33.357)
Now is it, is it rusk? Okay. All right.

Here we go. Ken, how you doing, man? I am good. I don't have too many past blue collar, current blue collar people on my show, that have lived the life that have made it to where you've made it. And, I'm excited.

Ken Rusk (00:42.54)
Good Scott, how are you?

Yeah, let's do it. It is one of those unsung hero type of positions. the more people know about it, the more they're like, hey, why didn't anyone ever tell me about this when I was 18, 19, 20, 21 years old? Why did I do what I'm doing now? But yeah, it's good. My whole thing is about exposing how great that whole side of the industry is, which is something that needs to be talked about.

Skot Waldron (01:24.363)
It is. And, the more I got exposed to it in the past several years working in the AEC industry, architecture, engineering, and, construction was. That. I mean, it's this little pride thing about like construction or the people that make the world work. Like, you know, they build the roads and they build the infrastructure and they build the buildings and they build the everything that we use every day that we take for granted is because of those industries.

And you know, they are the unsung hero. So I appreciate that.

Ken Rusk (01:57.804)
Well, you know, it's amazing because I think the gravity is something that people aren't really aware of. If you think of 167 million people as fully employed in the United States today, you I looked at the Bureau of Labor Statistics when I wrote Blue Collar Cash, and I found that 77 million people still do something with their hands today. I mean, when you put your feet on the floor, to get out of your bed. By the time you hit the office or church or school or wherever you're going, you're crossing 10,000 jobs that are still viable today in the blue collar field, even if you live a mile from your house. I mean, it's insane the amount of things that we still need to do to improve, to fix, to create, to repair, maintain, whatever this whole thing we call our world, right?

And the great part about that is as more people shift towards these white collar paths, which schools and guidance counselors and colleges are really good at pushing, it creates an opportunity for those who are contrarian thinkers to maybe think, yeah, I'm going to go back into the good old fashioned blue collar world and make the killing that's currently happening out there.

Skot Waldron (03:21.053)
they are killing it. And, the construction industry has been really healthy here for a little bit. And it's just, I've just seen my clients thrive and it's been pretty interesting. I read this statistic, in 1970, and you can correct the statistic or kind of elaborate on it if you want, but I'm interested and do it and study and preparing for this. was looking, it was like 1970 blue collar jobs accounted for a third, right? Roughly a third of non-farm employment in the United States. And by 2000, I have stats up to 2016. You can update me on now. It had declined to like 13%. So it went from like 31 % to 13 % of those jobs being, you know, being accounted for in the world. So I don't know. If you want to update that, that's cool.

But my, my thought is whatever the number is, what does that mean?

Ken Rusk (04:16.822)
Well, I think first off, one of the things that drove that statistic was because of the stigma of blue collar jobs, a lot of jobs that were blue collar all of sudden weren't anymore. they kind of relabeled a lot of those jobs. mean, you could have a job that, believe it or not, being a pilot.

Skot Waldron (04:29.133)
They relabeled them, you're saying?

Ken Rusk (04:40.11)
is a blue collar job for an airline. mean, you didn't need a degree to be a pilot, okay? Flying in an F-16, which I've done. I just did it about a month ago. I flew in the backseat of an F-16. That's a blue collar job, but those things are kind of, the label changes to there's some type of more professional job. And so what happened in a lot of those cases, Scott, is they just kind of relabeled some of the things that they were doing.

Skot Waldron (05:07.845)
okay, okay.

Ken Rusk (05:09.706)
road builders didn't go away and bridge builders didn't go away and people that fixed streetlights didn't go away and plumbers and electricians and carpenters, none that has gone away. And what's interesting is the inflow of those positions is what's really concerning. So for the research for the book, for every 10 electricians that are retiring today, and their average age is 53. So for every 10 that are retiring, only five are coming online. So what does that tell you about the law of supply and demand? mean, Econ 101 in 10th grade says where supply is low and demand is high, that's where the money goes. And that's kind what you're seeing now. You're seeing a whole sector of the construction industry that's begging for people, that's looking for people, and it's causing things. It's causing prices to become higher. An outlet is now $500. It used to be $150, and you've to wait six months for it. So again, I think when it comes to the stigma of that.

What is amazing to me is when the editors were deciding on the final finish of the book and when my publisher came to me and made me the offer to do it.

They were like, you know, I can't believe this. I started walking around my neighborhood and all my rich friends are all, you know, blue collar entrepreneurs. They're all like big contractors. And yet they don't talk about it. And I said, that's because nobody asks them about it. So, you know, everything else is so publicized. If you're a lawyer, if you're a surgeon, if you're, you know, if you're a doctor, if you're an engineer or whatever, you know, those those white collar jobs are a lot more talked about, a lot more sought after, a lot more prestigious.

But when you talk about the earning potential of a blue collar person, it's a little known secret that people are killing it right now. it's just because nobody ever asked them the question. Well, you know, it's just I think it's just much more interesting for academic types to talk to other academic types. I think it's just that simple, you know.

Skot Waldron (07:10.425)
Why not?

Ken Rusk (07:21.998)
People that are entrepreneurs or solopreneurs, they just go about living their lives in quiet fashion and they're not really the subject of too many interviews. So yeah, it's funny because people said, oh my God, I never knew that you could make so much money doing these types of things. And I said, that's because nobody ever asked us, right? it's just they're busy talking about all that academia and all the things that that drives like, consulting and those types of more white collar careers. And we're just sitting here quietly making our money, doing our thing and loving life in the process.

Skot Waldron (08:03.353)
So let's shift a little bit to culture and building culture. And you've done this in the industry in which you, you know, grown in and, built a career in. and now you're helping other people do that. And you wrote the book blue collar cash, you know, with that industry in mind, but also other industries, it's not, I would assume it's not just for blue collar workers, right? I mean, give us the premise of the book real quick. And then I want to ask you a follow up to that.

Ken Rusk (08:32.494)
Well, you've heard all these weird terms coming out all of a sudden like quiet quitting and you know, know all these terms where You know, are those things even mean? I'm gonna go to work and I'm not really gonna work hard I'm just gonna show up and you know, like medium Mondays and all these weird terms that are coming out of you know, these these consultants and

I think to myself, where did all this stuff come from? If somebody can get away with being mediocre in your organization, that's not necessarily the fault of the individual as much as it is the culture of the organization that allow that to happen. When I hear about all these big corporations, these multi-state huge employers that are having these problems, I'm thinking, well, who's watching the store here?

Culture is something that, know, again, I started in 1986 with six people. We were ditch diggers and we still do that to this day. We have like 200 people now, but and we've had to work on culture the entire time because of the very nature of the job that we do. So we don't understand people that aren't thinking about or working on their culture because it's such an important part of trying to create momentum within your company and growth and that kind of thing. So I decided that, you know, since Blue Collar Cash was kind of the end user book, you know, how do I design my life? How do I fit into any one of these types of collars and make a great life doing it? People have been asking me for the last few years, can you write one from the ownership perspective or the boss or the manager's perspective on how to attract these people and keep them around? Because for a long time it was a market where the employee had all the stroke. He or she could walk into a building and say, hey man, what's in it for me to work here? Which is glaringly different than it used to be. So you still need to be able to answer that question to this very day because again, there's still people sitting on the sidelines not working and whatnot. So I think culture is something that's ultra important and that's what the next book's about.

Skot Waldron (10:47.779)
That's awesome. my, my, my followup question was about that is about the recruitment, about the culture, because I am hearing, and again, I don't work in the industry except for the clients that I serve that are in that industry. So, I hear it's really hard to find good people. it's really hard to find good people right now, in this industry and.

Is that because there is, there are less people coming into that field because they are choosing the more quote unquote other color color jobs. or what is accounting for that lack of finding good people.

Ken Rusk (11:31.266)
Well, everyone has so much to compare their jobs by. I mean, if you go from the highway, the expressway exit to my building, you're going to pass 20 health blended signs. So there's so much competition. There's a lot of comparison. It's almost like when you go on social media and try to compare yourself to what you see out there, it's like, my god. I mean, it's just crazy. yeah, when I think of the culture, you know,

When someone says to me, it's hard to find good people, the first thing I ask them is, what do you mean by good people? And then they start throwing off these characteristics. People that want to stay, people that are loyal, people that are goal oriented, people that want to build a life for themselves within my company, people that want to become entrepreneurial within my company.

Well, that's not, I mean, you don't just find good people, you create good people. And normally that's a partnership between you and them, whereas their personal goals are on the table, as day for you and everyone to see. And so are the corporate goals. So, you have these guiding principles for what your company wants. The individual has guiding principles for what he or she wants. And it's the intersection of those two that makes a good person.

You know what I mean? So, you know, if you can get somebody to look back at you and say, wow, Ken, based on what I see around here and the culture that I'm feeling, I think I can get what I want for myself with and through this company. Bam. Now you've got something there. OK, to to just hope that someone becomes good. Whatever good definition you have for that. That just doesn't happen anymore. There's way too many options for people. And so if they don't feel like, man, I can really rocket ship myself towards what I want for me, I like to look at it like selfish. In fact, there's a title of my next book called The World Needs More Selfish People.

I don't mean selfish at the detriment of others. mean, people that are truly working on themselves, that are conscious and aware and acting upon that. So I want people to work for themselves first and this company second. And it's real simple, Scott. These are linear creatures, these things we call companies. You have input from the left, you have work, you have creation, you have product development, you have a service, whatever you're going to build. Then you have a price tag, a deliverable, and then hopefully an accounts receivable and then profit.

Well, as the owner, you're always on the profit end of that side. You're always last in line. So why wouldn't you want everybody to first before you get there? Because if they're all winning within your organization, you can't help but win overall.

Skot Waldron (14:22.381)
What do you consider when you're thinking about building a healthy culture? So we're trying to retain the right people. We're trying to recruit the right people first. We find quote unquote good people. We bring them on board. Now we need to retain those people. the other stigma is people just aren't loyal anymore. Right. Right. So what do we, what do we say about that stigma?

Ken Rusk (14:45.73)
Well, the reason they're not loyal is because they're looking for something. They're looking to be in control. And that's why I say you have to create an atmosphere of control where someone can say, I control my input, and therefore I control the quality of that input and the quality of the output from that. I control my day, my time, my schedule. I can control my financial gain. That's what they're really looking for. They're looking for something that they can thrive in. And normally, thriving means they are in control of the future development of their perceived nirvana. I call it their comfort, peace, and freedom in the book. So if someone can see the pathway, you know,

When you build a puzzle, Scott, you lay all the pieces down on the table. But the most important tool that you have in building a puzzle is the puzzle box, right? You look at that box a million times as you're trying to figure out where to put these pieces. Employers don't develop the puzzle box for their employees. They just hope that they find the way to put the puzzle together.

Okay and on their own and they accidentally find pieces that connect. I'm saying start with the end in mind. See what that puzzle box i.e. your life what you want it to look like and then have the employer-employee relationship work such that they can put those pieces together at the same time. Because again, if people are winning within your organization, your organization, it's almost like if you get enough of this momentum going where people are chasing what they want for themselves within your company, get out of the way because your company is going to go to levels that you've never even imagined before.

Skot Waldron (16:25.219)
Where have you seen this? I don't know. I I'm sure you've seen examples where this didn't go so well or examples where it did. Do you have an example you can share of either one where like it really told the story of why this is a big deal.

Ken Rusk (16:40.684)
Well, the examples, I mean, look at it this way. So you can go to any restaurant this weekend and you're gonna get either great service or terrible service, right? And you're gonna be disappointed because you're spending your money and the service just sucks and you're like, man, I can't believe I took my wife out to here or there or whatever and now we're getting this service. And on the way home, you're gonna drive by a Chick-fil-A and you're gonna go, my God, there are people standing in the rain and the cold in clear plastic foam booths that they can walk around with taking orders and the line is down the street to get their chicken nuggets, right? Well, they're doing it right. Somehow they're getting people to do impossible things like standing out in the cold.

Because there's so much demand to take orders for the drive-through. So when someone says, can't find good people, I usually say, you're right, you can't. But somebody is. So you just have to change the way you look at it. And in my mind, they care about the people, they care about the character of the person, they care about growing them. Why do they say my pleasure over and over over again? Because someone had to, it took the time to train them properly. So, what I'm saying is the companies that fail are the ones that don't provide a clear path to the individual's own perceived success, their own puzzle box, their own design for their own life. Those are the companies that just spin through people over and over and over at an average cost of $2,400 to $4,000 per person, by the way, to retire and replace somebody. And they spin their wheels and those are the people that give you those grief stories.

What I'm saying is get out of the way, allow your people to become entrepreneurial thinking in not only their own lives but within your organization and just watch what happens. It's a whole completely different way to run your company.

Skot Waldron (18:42.009)
So what else, what else are companies missing that is, that causes them not to fire on all cylinders, right? Like they, they're just, they're, they're limping along. They're complaining about, can't find good people or nobody's loyal anymore. Um, and they're trying to build their culture so that they retain and keep the right people and develop the right people. And these people stay with them forever. And then they build a thriving company. I mean, you've built your company up to 200 people. That's a.

That's some growth, man. and so what do you attribute that to? What are other people missing?

Ken Rusk (19:17.378)
So you drive down the street now and you see the Taco Bell says, we'll pay you $7.50 an hour. The McDonald's says, we'll pay you $18.50 an hour. And the other place says, we'll pay you $19.50. They're trying to solve this problem with money. Money isn't all of it, okay?

I want to be welcomed. want to have a colorful place to work. I want to have an energetic place to work. I want to have a place that that celebrates everything. My birthday, my anniversary, my next milestone growth within the company, my results of my work. I'm in control of the amount of money that I make. I might make 60 percent of my money in salary, but the other 40 is in some type of bonus or incentive program. There's music around. There's there's things that aren't normal, like, wow, these people actually have a chef that comes in and cooks lunch for everybody once a week. Well, yeah, Ken, that's really expensive. No, it's not because the culture that you create will create the results that will allow you to afford to do that. So sharing profits with people. I did this thing that it was was life changing for me. About 12 years ago, I took all my entrepreneurial candidates into a conference room and I said,

I want you all to write down on a piece of paper how far you think this company can go revenue wise next year and if we get there I'm gonna share a part of that with you. Wouldn't you know it Scott that every one of those numbers was two million dollars higher than my own number. So be very careful that you are not your own self limiter when it comes to these things. Drop the ego that you own this place or you run this place or you're the boss of this place and start building entrepreneurial people around you.

I didn't even want to show them my number, Scott. I didn't. I took the number and put it back in my pocket. I didn't even put it out there for them. I was like, yeah, that's good. Let's do this. And then they're like, wait a minute. So what you're saying is this revenue increase will allow us to get a piece of that?

Yeah, absolutely. All right, get out of our way. Let's rock and roll. And now all these ideas came out that I hadn't heard before and all these procedures and all these money saving ideas and sales increasing ideas came out. yeah, there's people around you that have brains. You just gotta allow them to use them.

Skot Waldron (21:34.015)
And allow them to feel invested. And, and part of it, think that a lot of companies miss out on that opportunity to there. And rightly so there's some things that we don't need to be over, you know, over communicative about, you know, certain issues, certain things that stop at leadership that, you know, they carry the brunt of that news. There don't need to be passed on. other things.

Helping people feel involved and included and like they are being communicated with and invested in the thing. Like that was investment, man. Like that mentality shift was like, hold on. I can make this thing happen. Like I'm in control of making this thing happen. That's control word again.

Ken Rusk (22:15.416)
Yeah.

Well, not only that, there also has to be, and this is the one that's a little more theoretical, but it still works. When we started, were, these guys are, they're riding jackhammers all day long, breaking up concrete floors and hauling gravel. I mean, it's crazy. We're up to our knees in mud.

Not only are they focused on what they want out of that, that F-150 pickup truck or I want to go to Scotland to play golf or I want to start building my house or I'm to put a new deck in the back or build a swimming pool. Not only are they focused on what they want to do for themselves, but they're also focused on what really your core mission is. And you could say, well, what do you do for a living? I water proof basements. Well, no, you're actually creating increased square footage for a family that can now use that. And also you're increasing the health of that home by bunches. you know, we've had kids get off of breathing machines, off of asthma treatments, because we're removing mold and removing, you know, contaminants from the house. People can walk downstairs, they can turn into a, you know, a football game room or a craft room or a workout room, whatever. So they're focused on what it is I really do here. I wonder how many people in companies know what the point of their company is. They know the mechanics of it, but what's the point of the overall thing? Because if they knew that, that's where the intersection of the core value of the company and the core value of the individual exposed in... promoted and motivated and shared, that's where those things intersect. And if you want to create momentum, man, you find a hundred people within a building all chasing something really, really serious for themselves, working within the framework of your company. That's the very definition of momentum.

Skot Waldron (24:16.939)
I think you're involving a little bit of story into what you're doing too, because if I think of my job as going out swinging, swing the hammer or digging a hole or whatever it is, or I think of my job as I just sit on that assembly line and I put arms on dolls all day. And that's kind of the way you think of your job. You probably aren't going to be there very long.

Right. and I think it's up to the culture and the leadership to help instill a story into what you were doing. And the story comes in the impact of what that thing does. Like what is the impact of putting the arm on that doll? Well, it's that smiling face of that kid that gets that doll one day. And like, if they were able to take part in that vision of that ability to create something for a family for a person for a company for a whatever. Like I think people would feel more invested. I just think people are too far away from that.

Ken Rusk (25:17.654)
You know, if I was giving advice to the guy putting arms on dolls, I would say either get a 30 foot by 30 foot video screen of kids receiving these dolls, whether it's in a hospital or they buy it under the Christmas tree or whatever, and the look on their faces as they're getting these dolls. I'd be piping that right into the factory or...

I'd be marching families through that factory constantly thanking people for this little doll and the little girls there holding it. mean, that's the whole point is what I'm saying. When we're out there fixing a wet, sloppy, dirty, smelly old rotten basement, we talk to the families as to why they're doing this. And we get all these cool reasons my husband wants to build an Ohio State football room down there or I want to build a gym for my kids because they want to play sports or my husband's a carpenter or I want a clean place to do the laundry. I want to find a way to escape my kids so I can start a book library that I can have a book club with my girlfriends. We get involved in those things and that to me, you're correct. That to me is the ultimate story of what's the purpose. Because if you can align your own self purpose, the puzzle box with the of the company boom that's that's the energy that you need.

Skot Waldron (26:38.003)
love it, man. What a formula. Okay. So, blue collar cash, it, it, it's out. People can get their hands on it. but you also have a course that you've developed with the book.

Ken Rusk (26:53.216)
Yeah, so.

I've been on a lot of podcasts. I've been on probably 300 of them. And there's a lot of times where I'll see behind the host, there'll be books all over the wall, know, well-read people. And it's funny because sometimes I'll ask them off camera, pick a book there and tell me what you got out of it. And they'll say, oh yeah, I got this book, really good book, awesome. And then I'll ask them, well, what did you use? Like, is there something specifically you use from that book? And sometimes that's where the story ends, which I never wanted that to happen. I never wanted mine to be one of those books that would just the shelf collecting dust even though they read it. So I thought you know what I'm gonna put a course out there it's a real simple course it's eight sessions they're 45 minutes a session it's all online and it comes it coincides with the book.

References the book. So don't even have to read the whole book. You can just reference it. But this thing's $179. It's not one of those $2,000 courses that is so theoretical you don't know how to apply it. This is hands-on plug-and-play stuff that you can use this afternoon to change your life. And I guarantee it. mean, when you do this, you will be moved. Your life will be different from the minute you finish this course. And yeah, I offer it on my website at kenrusk.com. And the good news is I donate that money to charity anyway.

So if you're fortunate enough to help yourself, know that you're help somebody else who can't maybe afford it as well. So I encourage people to go, again, go to kenrusk.com and you can see the book and the course there.

Skot Waldron (28:23.417)
That's cool. What, what, am I going to learn in the course? Like, why would I take that?

Ken Rusk (28:27.5)
Well, first off you're to learn how to how to settle your mind and clear all the garbage that you have that's preventing you from taking a step forward. You're going to lose some words. You will not be able to use the word hope, dream, wish, or goal anymore. That will be removed from your vocabulary. And it'll be replaced with timed pathways. Okay? There's a timed pathway to everything. And if you're going to achieve it, there must be a timed pathway or it never ever happens. I'm not saying that you shouldn't be dreamy and hopey and wishy, but if you're going to make something happen, you've got to put it on a pathway. And so we teach you how use time pathways to bring almost anything you want into your life in a for sure way. Everything that you had that was an if goal is now going to be an a when goal which is completely different than one to the other. So you're gonna learn how to draw a little bit about your future, you're gonna learn to think about life in its totality, you're gonna learn to build your puzzle box cover and you'll walk away with it going, oh okay, so I am in control of my life. It's not what everyone else or society expects of me, it's what I want to do. And that's kind of the whole point of this thing.

Skot Waldron (29:39.193)
That's awesome. I love that. That's this word control keeps on. keep using that a lot too. And some of my coaching with my clients and, talking with them and, they're wondering about anxiety from their themselves, their own lives or their kids or their employees or their team members or whatever. And it's, all comes back to this idea of control and like us feeling out of control with certain things, whether it's our life or a project or whatever.

The more in control we can feel, whether it's giving language to something in particular or a reasoning why or a guide or a map or something.

Ken Rusk (30:12.526)
Isn't it wild, Scott, that for an entrepreneur, the more control he or she gives up, the more control they get? Which is, it's bizarre. mean, you can work 70 hours a week and come home and beat your chest and say, honey, I did this and I fixed that and I yelled at these people and I created that and I motivated these people and I changed that. And you forgot your kid's first name. You don't know what sport they play in. know, their birthdays are when?

Skot Waldron (30:21.272)
Hmm.

Ken Rusk (30:40.558)
You have high blood pressure, diabetes, but you're making money, so that's cool, right? Wrong. mean, the best entrepreneur in the world is the one that becomes irrelevant to his company in the day to day. And that's a hard pill to swallow for people, but if they only learn that giving up control is the ultimate control, they would live much happier lives running their companies, that's for sure.

Skot Waldron (31:07.161)
Hmm. That's big. That's a big idea. Love it, man. Um, so kenrusk.com people can go there and get ahold of you and get ahold of the book and get ahold of anything else. Anything else you want to drop there?

Ken Rusk (31:19.19)
No, just, again, you know, I'm a big believer in charity. I do give a lot back. I started my own foundation called the Comfort, Peace and Freedom Foundation after the book.

And in that particular endeavor, we help sons and daughters of the fallen and first responders and whatnot. We give them free courses. So that's at veteransuccess.org. it's just for me, if you're willing to walk into a fire or walk into a domestic abuse with your gun in your hand or dodge bullets in Afghanistan, you should have all the trappings that life can give you from the rest of us. That's just my opinion. And so I'm just trying to do my little part in helping people figure out what they want their life to look like after that kind of thing.

Skot Waldron (32:09.025)
Amen, man. Thank you. Thank you for doing that. I appreciate you appreciate your words, your thoughts, your ideas, all that stuff has been really valuable for me. I learned something for every time I'm on, on with the people, know, that's most selfish thing I get to do is this podcast and it's, it's pretty awesome. thanks for being on.

Ken Rusk (32:21.699)
Yeah.

While you're working on stuff, that's good.