Bucket Talk

Overview

Very special guest this week. Jeremy and the Iron Mike Sharp, one of the most entertaining personalities in the space, have their long awaited meeting. Iron Mike is a seasoned trucker and has taken his larger than life personality and catchphrases to social media and has amassed quite a following in doing so. Mike gives us the quick life story while jumping into his trucking career and joking around with Jeremy. Tune in and don’t miss Iron Mike unapologetically be himself.

About

Iron Mike Sharp is a trucker hailing from North Carolina but originally grew up in New Jersey. By trade Mike is a heavy equipment hauler traveling all around the country hauling loads doing the lord's work. Mike does not hold back in this episode he tells us what’s on his mind pertaining to the trucking industry everything from drug testing to licensing.

Mike and Jeremy talk about unions and how the trucking industry has and always will have a mafia feel. Mike shows us first hand why his personality has gotten a major following online. We get an inside look into what it is like to work for a company similar to that of Mike’s.

Mike also lets us in on the sores of trucking with all of the regulations going on, even lets us in on some old trucker jokes. Trucking can be a lonely job and we all know these men and women have their own code. We get to hear some radio stories from both sides that will have you laughing. Enjoy this week’s episode and can't wait to have Mike back on.

Overview

Great episode this week. Jeremy takes a deep dive into the life of a hydraulic mechanic with Shane LaBedelle. Shane was raised in the shop that he runs now and was taught everything he knows from his father who started the shop decades ago. Kick back and listen to Shane and Jeremy joke around and talk shop. Stick around at the end of the episode for a tour of Shane's shop.

About

Shane LaBedelle, born and raised in the shop. Shane’s father introduced him to the world of mechanics when he started his own shop and taught Shane everything he knows now about hydraulic mechanics. Nowadays, Shane will be running the show soon, his way and has come into his own as one of the best in the trade.

Jeremy, being a former mechanic himself, is like a kid in a candy store bouncing questions off Shane looking for any wisdom he has. Shane gives us the inside scoop on being ready to assume the position of running the company and is eager for the future. 

The fellas laugh through the episode of the dangers and funny moments that come along with working in these trades. Everything from fun tools, how Shane learned the trade, what it is like to run a business in the blue collar world and even a tour through Shane's shop.

Overview

Jeremy and Garit meet again after a memorable time at Makers Camp in New York. Garit is a craft woodworker who makes custom pieces. Starting out just selling to friends and the product quickly picking up popularity Garit soon realized this could be a career. So he jumped at the opportunity and hasn’t looked back since. In today’s podcast we talk about building businesses, house hopping along the journey, maintaining family life and much more.

About

Garit Sullivan is a custom woodworker who has his own business crafting custom pieces and selling them. Along with being a woodworker by trade Garit works in the tech world and as a project manager with a few employees working under him for all of his endeavors. True entrepreneurial mindset mixed in with the trades.

Some of Garit’s most popular pieces include anything from tables to cutting boards being in high demand around the holidays; he stays busy with the plethora of occupations. Garit and Jeremy talk about the dangers of working in the shop and the rewarding experience surrounding teaching someone under you and having an apprentice, passing on knowledge.

Garit gives us a fresh perspective on how amateur some people may be starting out a job and the growing pains of having young struggling employees. Being a boss and learning yourself is a process and everyone learns at their own speed; some words Garit goes by.

Overview

In today’s episode we have a guest that could test the knowledge of our host Jeremy. @autotechmike is a mechanic who runs his own shop and has been in the trade for decades. Mike takes us step by step through his journey as a mechanic while cracking jokes and sharing crazy client experiences with Jeremy. We get to hear what it is like going from employee to employer and the hardships that come with being a mechanic and a business owner.

About

Seasoned mechanic @autotechmike is bursting with mechanic knowledge as is our host and former mechanic Jeremy Perkins. This week’s episode is a treat with these two chatting about anything and everything mechanic. The boys go on about all crazy problems mechanics deal with from disposing of hazardous waste, troubles of being a mobile mechanic, working in a shop after being mobile and much more.

Mike got his start as a trash picking mechanic finding anything on someone's curb and fixing it up for a resale. From here Mike became a mobile mechanic driving around helping those broken down on the side of the road to moving into a shop and eventually becoming the owner of said shop. 

Other than problems we get to hear some hilarious stories about crazy clients who gave the guys some hard times. Although they could’ve gone all day with crazy personal stories, Jeremy and Mike finish it off with how to work through problems and the difficulties of having the responsibilities of a business owner. 

Overview

We have an amazing guest for you this week on Bucket Talk. Adam Anderson, the son of legendary monster truck driver Dennis Anderson, creator and operator of the Grave Digger. Take a listen as Adam walks us through the hectic lifestyle of a champion monster truck driver/entertainer. Jeremy and Adam talk about the toughness needed for action sports, the similarities between nascar and monster trucks, and what it is like being born into the spotlight and carrying on the legacy of a legend.

About

Adam Anderson, although being brought up in the shadow of his father, has made quite a name for himself in the monster truck industry. He became only the fourth person in history to win a monster jam world title in both freestyle and racing. Safe to say Adam can hold his own out there. 

We get an inside look at the start to his career being a mechanic on these big rigs and transitioning into driving, operating and entertaining in these massive machines. Adam explains his love for the shop and his addiction to being a mechanic and always working on something. 

Anderson has held about every position you can in this industry, even took a turn at the corporate level and just about logged into his business computer once or twice. Safe to say the office wasn’t for him. He preferred spending his time helping turn a wrench or give guidance wherever needed in the shop. Being born into something that became his passion, Adam gives Jeremy the inside scoop on staying the course, balancing family and career, and the wild life of a monster truck racer/entertainer.             

Overview

Bucket Talk is back this week with Evan Steger, metal polisher, out of the great state of Wisconsin. Evan talks about what it was like growing up in a family with two parents working blue collar jobs and how that inspired him in his life and career. The trials and tribulations of posting your work online and gaining success through that. Listen to what motivated Evan to build a successful company and how he built his legacy along the way. 

About

Evan Steger is a true entrepreneur with the spirit to prove everyone wrong. Raised by a mother who operated a forklift and a father who was a welder, Evan was primarily around his grandfather in his early childhood due to his parents constantly working. This attitude stuck with Evan and is a key pillar in his work ethic today. In the beginning of his career, after securing his work permit at 13, Evan started at a truck wash business which eventually led to him falling in love with the polish process. 

After working at the truck wash for years with no raise Evan put in his two weeks to start his own polish shop. His boss said some crucial words after this. He said, “When the metal polish business doesn’t work out, you can always come back and work for me.” That is all the motivation Evan needed to take over this space. On the contrast Jeremy and Evan talk about what makes a great boss and the dangers of the blue collar industry being scarce with employees.

Starting a new business isn’t always easy and with a family it’s even more difficult. The boys talk about the sacrifices the people in your family and yourself will have to make if trying to start a business. Evan will walk you through the ups and downs of the polishing life and show you how he looks back and smiles at his journey, still hungry for more.

Overview

Season 6 kickoff started with a bang with one of the top female influencers in the blue collar space. Going to school to become a plastic surgeon to taking welding classes at a vocational school Chloe the @arcweldingangel has mastered the 180° career change. In this season's premier Chloe explains to us what called her to become an industrial welder. Listen to Chloe and Jeremy talk about the difficulties of mastering a trade, the importance of the trades, and the perks to welding and working in the industry.

About

To start the new season and the new year of Bucket Talk we are sitting down with the one and only Chloe Hudson, TIG welder and fabricator. Chloe walks us through her path to falling in love with welding and the life decisions she made to get to where she is today. Growing up and in her high school days Chloe aspired to be a plastic surgeon. Needing to fill her class schedule with something Chloe chose a welding class. She grew up around welders and wanted to be of some assistance so she made herself useful.

Immediately, Chloe was hooked and enjoyed the gratification of getting better and better every time she picked up the torch. Right after high school it didn’t take long for Chloe to realize that her clinical job nursing was not her cup of tea, so she did what anyone would do and started working maintenance in a nuclear sector. Chloe took notes on the guys walking around the job site that seemed to be making the most dough and set out to hone her craft to get paid more. This became apparent in her first interviews with recruiters being called the jack of all trades yet master of none. This motivated her and she immediately enrolled in vocational school to master the craft.

Chloe began to excel and she found herself in some amazing welding jobs working on extremely impressive aircraft and even having the opportunity to work with nascar teams. Chloe has climbed the ladder of blue collar work and has come out on top while building an extremely strong social media presence without losing her identity as a woman. Take a listen to Jeremy and Chloe talk about the importance of the trades and blue collar work today and hear this amazing story of one welder's path to serious success.

Join us on Bucket Talk’s final episode of the season, where our hosts are joined by someone you may have heard of, the namesake of our marquee boot, Matt Marin. After growing up playing hockey and taking on odd jobs across a handful of trades, Matt joined the carpenter’s union at 20 years old, which is where he still is today. Listen in as he chats with Eric and Jeremy about getting into the trades, joining a union and moving up in the ranks.

Join us on Bucket Talk this week as Eric and Jeremy catch up with Rob Rojas, a carpenter based just outside of New York City. After growing up with an abundance of creativity and curiosity about how things are made, he left college and took up the carpentry trade, working for one of the top names in the game. Listen in as he chats with our hosts about the merits of college vs. the trades, what he wants to do with his education and how he sees his future in carpentry.

A true maker at heart, Rob Rojas has had a creative spirit since he was young. This curiosity led him to carpentry class in high school, which he ended up studying three times a day by the time he was an upperclassman. He ended up moving on to college to study emergency preparedness, cyber security and homeland security, though he felt the pull right back to carpentry once he graduated. 

“My entire life I was always involved in creating things whether it was when I was younger with Legos and clay or wanted to smash that old toy apart and figure out how it worked. And really, the whole carpentry thing started actually in high school.”

While he is interested in getting into hazard mitigation and natural disaster work in the future, he’s found that he truly enjoys the trades. Not only that, but he’s found himself working under one of the top makers in the game right now, Jimmy Diresta — a dream job for most folks in the maker community. 

“So I thought about reaching out to Jimmy and just saying, hey, you know, can I work for you? I'll work for free, pick up the dog shit, whatever you want to do. And he just texted me the next morning and he's like, come on by and you know the rest has been history.”

Today, he’s focused on being a sponge, learning from Jimmy and others in the industry, like Anne of Anne of All Trades who works in Tennessee. He’s got a ton of options ahead of him, but he’s leaning toward fine carpentry, where he can really perfect his craft and design skills all under his own New York-based business, Rojas Carpentry LLC. 

This week on Bucket Talk we chat with Kevin Martinez, an electrician who you might know as @_ksparky on social media. Hailing from San Diego, he’s long been an aspirational guy. After a frightening car accident turned his world upside down, Kevin bounced around a few different gigs before getting a job as a delivery driver at a San Diego electric company. After a while, Kevin worked up the guts to ask for an apprenticeship role, and the rest is history. Now, he’s a foreman and a testament to what hard work and perseverance can do for any tradesperson.

Kevin’s family moved to San Diego when he was in sixth grade and he lived the life most kids live through high school: he played soccer, got into graphic design and had to figure out what to do with his life. He decided to go to community college, where he wanted to major in Business Administration and minor in graphic design. However, after a tragic accident and some devastating injuries, he was forced to change his path. He takes this in stride, though, knowing that he learned a lot from the adversity.

“I don't feel like a lot of people have gone through anything close to that and I don't wish them to but it made me really realize and grow up as fast as I did, and mature as fast as I did. And you know, just start thinking about the way life is and all those things, right?”

After recovering, he linked up with a temp agency, he bounced around to businesses like Bose and Ashley Furniture. He did this for a while, but eventually he landed a gig working for an electric company in San Diego, delivering equipment to Northern California each week. He worked around the warehouse for a while, but then, thanks to some encouragement from his cousins, he got the guts to ask for a way into something bigger.

“So I got the guts, I went and asked them like, Hey, so what's up with the apprenticeship? And he just looked at me with a smile. He's like, Oh, so you're ready.”

Well, he landed the apprenticeship. Turns out having some gumption works. After patiently working his way through the apprenticeship, he was finally at the job site, like he wanted. This is where _ksparky was born. He was seeing people posting about the trades on Instagram and he decided he wanted to put his hat in the ring, too, sharing his day-to-day life in the electrician world.

“But it got me thinking, too, if I'm doing this every day, all these crazy job sites, you know, why not share my journey.”

This past April, Kevin got his certificate and was able to join his local union in San Diego — a huge step after a five year apprenticeship. Not only that, he’s already made it to foreman. He’s come a long way very quickly, but he knows he needs to keep growing and working hard every day to ensure he continues to be someone people can look up to, be it someone on social media or a lifelong tradesman who works for him.