Show notes
00:00.00 Max Shank Welcome back everybody to Monday and mornings with max and Mike Today we were chatting before we hit record and Mike wisely suggested we hit record before we talk for an hour. We're talking about tools. We were talking about skills. Had an interesting experience where I was building a box but it wasn't any kind of box. It was actually a strongman pinata for a friend of mine and so I hung up this box in a tree. And had a sledgehammer that he had to go find as part of this scavenger hunt and when a box a wood box is not wedged against the ground if it's just hanging. 00:42.54 mikebledsoe Um. 01:52.60 Max Shank You can hit that thing pretty much as hard as you want if it's wellmade with a sledgehammer and it's really hard because the forest dissipates throughout anyway, it was a fun ah thing for my friend's birthday shout out Anders. You're the man did a great scavenger hunt. But it made me realize how little I know about the principles of woodworking construction in general and it also made me start thinking about the tools required to do certain jobs and I was talking Mike I was talking with you just a second ago. About how I breezed right past using the simple tools. Well and I just in None fell swoop I bought a friend's full set of tools when I didn't know anything I had basically just purchased a home. And I had a drill from before but I didn't really have any any tools so I bought this whole ah batch of tools and half of them I didn't even know what they were a quarter of them I knew what they were but I didn't know when to use them and the other quarter. Actually have learned how to use and it makes me wish that I had gone back and just started with a drill and a hammer and a saw or a chisel or something like that and I think um, the same thing is true for all types of education. 04:01.32 mikebledsoe Oh. 05:06.28 Max Shank I Think we fly right through so quick to ah, some end result before really understanding the principles involved. Ah I found myself having to use a little math for these projects which was very exciting but what I realized is so. Ah, cool is when you build something the the math is important but all of the geometry and stuff is very incomplete because I remember in math Class. You usually don't account for the thickness of a material so there are all these. Minor adjustments that you have to make so I think ah yeah I would ah I am doing it now I'm going back in time and relearning the the simple principles of using a saw and a drill and fastening. Pieces of wood together and cutting different types of angles and slots and it's It's been.. It's been really fun. 06:36.70 mikebledsoe Yeah, yeah, that that journey really resonates with me you were you were talking about the tools and ah everything that was happening over the weekend and and how you all this shit. You don't need and I had a very similar experience. Yeah I grew up I grew up in Construction. My dad had his own construction company and um, you know I witnessed him use a lot of tools that I didn't use that I never use because they were advanced So like I'd seen them and then I got a toolbox when I was a kid. I was like in my mid teens and that's that was my Christmas gift the most disappointing Christmas gift I ever received was a tool empty Toolbox I could put tools in it I would greatly appreciate that now at some it. He's like it's like like man. 08:56.90 Max Shank Sounds like the best gift ever now. 08:27.40 mikebledsoe My dad was just a little ahead of himself. Um, you know I think he was He did a good job of instilling the things that are important even if it wasn't the thing that was gonna make me the happiest in the moment. Ah, and yeah, what a good guide that guy was. 09:30.76 Max Shank Um, right I think that's called parenting. 09:06.60 mikebledsoe Ah, so um, but yeah I I spent years accumulating and losing tools and I moved around a lot so I didn't stay in one spot so something that did recently and you talked he said something you know about. 10:07.00 Max Shank Ah. 09:42.50 mikebledsoe Being able to go back in time or go back and do it over again is I I basically did that because I got I got rid of all my personal belongings in 2018 and got down to 2 bags and traveled nomatically and ah there was like None little box of tools that were. That were like they're they're good for vehicles like they're everything you would need in a vehicle to is something were to go wrong. You know, just ah, a socket set and and a few wrenches. Nothing. 11:10.40 Max Shank E. 11:21.20 Max Shank Would you know what to do I I would not know what to do ah with the perfect speaking of skills if you gave me the perfect car tool set and a car that wasn't working forget it I would have no idea how to apply that tool set. 11:09.44 mikebledsoe Yeah, well I was fortunate because my dad in his all of his foresight. He made sure I had classic cars growing up and so he made me pay for them but he really encouraged me to get classic cars because they are. 12:11.74 Max Shank Oh. 11:47.54 mikebledsoe Much easier to work on you know? Yeah, so if you anything before 1973 or 4 Yeah, everything is a hundred percent mechanical so right yeah the the electronics go as far as like the radio. 12:34.48 Max Shank They're simpler machines. 12:49.78 Max Shank No No electronics. The dash or something. Yeah. 12:26.62 mikebledsoe The yeah the dash but like you don't you don't have fuel injection. There's nothing happening in the engine that's run electronically. There's no chips. 13:25.20 Max Shank There's no power being adjusted to individual wheels during a turn via some computer making 60000 ah calculations per millisecond and you're like oh I'll just fix the computer. 12:47.80 mikebledsoe Right? right. 13:09.92 mikebledsoe Ah, yeah, so there's um, ah I think it was 1974 it was due to the oil crisis at the time which there's a lot of similarities between the 1970 s and the 2020 s in regard to if you look at. 14:20.20 Max Shank Me. 13:44.62 mikebledsoe What's happening geopolitically and economically, there's exactly yeah yeah, a little bit of pushback is what we're starting to witness with that as well. Um, yeah, there's a lot of similarities. Ah but 1 of the things that happened was in 1973 or 4 14:34.34 Max Shank Psychedelic Resurgence currently too pretty cool. 14:24.36 mikebledsoe They basically made they they wanted fuel. They wanted vehicles to become much more fuel efficient because the cost of oil was going up because of some opec shit that was going on so that's where fuel injectors came in now before that was mechanically driven fuel injection through Carburetors. So The the cool thing is is. My dad I don't know if he did this on purpose or not but with ah with a older vehicle. It is Simpler So It's easier to learn how to work on the other thing is is I'm confident now because I I rebuilt everything on cars I'm confident that if you gave me a carburet like a car that had a carburetor I could figure it out. 16:24.78 Max Shank Qua. 15:43.32 mikebledsoe And so um I'm not saying I would like figure it out like Macgyver in 10 seconds but I could I would eventually figure it out. It's been a long time but you start throwing all these electronics in and yeah, now you have to plug a computer into it just to know what's going on. So um. 16:34.68 Max Shank Down. 16:22.70 mikebledsoe So I know the basics. 17:04.66 Max Shank It's a bit of an ego. It's a bit of an ego check too to go back and relearn the simple mechanics of things right? How how exact like how fluid passes through. Ah. 16:36.20 mikebledsoe Things you think you should have learned or I should know by it as a man I should know this shit. 17:37.88 Max Shank Pipe and what happens when it meets a junction and the pressure involved right? and the action of different things and just a really basic valve a very basic pump learning how these things work because I I realized I I mean I'm still not. Ah, educated in it. But you realize just what a tremendous amount of the world Around. You is only functioning because all of these parts are working exactly as they should and as soon as they would stop. You. At least I would at the time have no clue what's wrong or even how to ah track. Ah what might be wrong is wild. 18:28.24 mikebledsoe Yeah I I find myself I want to get back to the tools but I like this track we're on because it makes me think about None thing I notice out in the world is um and again I think a lot of this has to do with. Ah. What a good job. My dad did raising me is I understand I didn't know that I understood how things worked better than most people and what I witness in the world now is people I watched them doing something I'm like don't do it like that you're going to fuck that thing up. 20:21.78 Max Shank And it seems obvious to you it. It seems like I knew this when I was 8 But that's how I would be if I went to a farm the 10 year old kid would watch me doing something be like what are you? an idiot. That's not how you dig a trench like that's not how you drive a post. 19:40.66 mikebledsoe And then it's gonna be broken or it's not gonna It's so obvious I'm like why would they do that. 19:56.78 mikebledsoe Yeah, well. 20:13.20 mikebledsoe Yeah, yeah, but but when it comes down to and I look at something not not only was I taught how it's not just that I was taught how to do it. My dad did a good job in teaching me like end to end how it worked and why it worked like he was very big on the principles of like. 20:59.28 Max Shank Dumb ass. 20:50.50 mikebledsoe Yeah, when you do this at least this this is the end result we're looking for and so I think a lot of times people are so focused on the end result that they don't They don't take the time to understand the process of how it gets there and they don't appreciate it either. So There's like ah, a really great appreciation that I have for. Ah technology because I understand enough about the ins and outs of how this thing works that um that it's I appreciate more and I can fix it quickly if I needed if needed. Um, so something I got into young as well as I got into computers I got into building computers. 22:30.32 Max Shank Oh my God yeah. 22:04.60 mikebledsoe And I got into running networks and yeah I can see. 22:49.22 Max Shank You can follow the flow of energy. Basically you understand the flow of energy which is about relationships like the thing that blows my mind is there's no such thing as a thing which sounds Silly. So I'm gonna say it Again. There's no such thing as a thing because it's. Only describable in relation to other things. So if you have all of these end results and you have no idea how to track the energy flow of what's going On. It's like you're just in an ocean of darkness where you have no Clue. You're just kind of being ah, bounced around. 23:22.40 mikebledsoe Yeah, there's I've had us. Ah, my most recent experience of this is um, for 14 years of entrepreneurship I never did my books I always had a bookkeeper I I outsourced it heavily and one of the reasons. 24:06.12 Max Shank By these forces. 24:35.52 Max Shank Me too still. Do. 23:59.26 mikebledsoe None of the reasons. Yeah what what? I stopped doing that recently one of the reasons I outsourced it heavily is because my none business partner ever what he had a ah master's in finance so he didn't even. He didn't even share I didn't even bother to look and he didn't share the profit loss the balance sheet like I really had no idea he would just tell me a thing. It was basically a thumbs up or thumbs down system and I was flying in the dark and um. 25:20.12 Max Shank Right. 25:34.32 Max Shank Right. 25:47.36 Max Shank Um, which has its advantages I think has its advantages. Yeah. 25:08.74 mikebledsoe At the end of the there were oh it. It allowed me to move really fast. So because of that business partner I was able to run barbell shrug with I didn't understand how I didn't understand the all the reporting but we were making millions of dollars a year. So. 26:23.36 Max Shank The. 25:46.70 mikebledsoe You know there there was a benefit now. The drawback was was when I no longer had that person and I found another I found another Cfo who also did an amazing job. But what I understood was when when that existing system ceased to be. 26:40.28 Max Shank Right. 27:07.98 Max Shank Her. 26:25.62 mikebledsoe And I didn't have all the same people. It required me to understand learn things and I felt like and and this was accurate I had to go back and learn some really fundamental things about bookkeeping about accounting about ah cash flow cause really it comes down to cash flow and Cash Flow. Management and so I mean if you look at Accounting. It's I mean it's a big scam because the whole point of accounting is so you know how much to pay in taxes at the end of the day. But if you that's what that's what modern day accounting is yeah the majority of. 28:06.26 Max Shank True True true. Yeah. 27:40.34 mikebledsoe You know I wouldn't have to spend thousands of dollars a year on accounting if cut. Yeah, exactly yeah go. Um. 28:26.16 Max Shank Is it counting kind of like cutting your switch for the Taxman You know you? you know if you're in trouble you have to like in your parents a real thug. They're like go cut a tree branch so I can beat you with it and that's what accounting is like. 28:11.22 mikebledsoe Yeah, go go pick out. Go pick out your switch. Yeah, ah so ah, so the way I look at it now is look I gotta count I handle the tax ship but my job is cash flow management and the way I see it. 29:14.22 Max Shank That's the. 29:30.28 Max Shank Which is energy management right? which comes back to relationships you got to be able to track the energy flow and the relationship from 1 point to the next just the same way you got to be able to track the gasoline from the fuel tank. 28:51.16 mikebledsoe Is if energy management and if I. 29:11.92 mikebledsoe Yeah, yeah. 30:09.76 Max Shank All the way to the exhaust can you track that gasoline all the way through you're probably going to have a decent idea of how this system is working together and actually cash is really good symbol for fuel or vice versa actually like fuel and cash. 29:59.16 mikebledsoe I Think it's a great. Ah. 30:49.80 Max Shank And a motor is like ah you you could also think of it like a cell instead of something man-made. But actually you know an organization can be looked at as a motor or as a cell or a creature or as an ecosystem I Think the motor analogy is a little bit more. Ah, tool-based and cold and the cell analogy or like a tree or something like that. But you're still tracking the flow of energy just the same Way. You could track the flow of gasoline through a car you could track the flow of Photon Photosynthesis. Ah, through a tree and you can understand the water and how the carbon dioxide from the air is converted into sugar through this process like you can understand the energy flow and transformation and cash flow is kind of the same thing you're understanding. How energy is transformed through that organism or organization which is your business. 32:10.50 mikebledsoe Yeah, and and um, you're spot on I mean I like the the classic car mechanical analogy because it is so much simpler and so that's a great place to start if you start with the complexity of a cell. You know, now there's ah it exactly? Yeah, not. That's that…
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