Dirt Talk Podcast

This week on Dirt Talk, Aaron and Alex check in on the joys of running and the utter terror of a bathroom emergency in the middle of a long run. Naturally, they transition to the topic of “Perseverance”. Later, they answer questions about staying in the Dirt World while striving for a healthy work-life balance and how to work through relational issues with difficult crew members.

Don’t forget to check out the video of this podcast on the Dirt Talk YouTube channel or on the BuildWitt app!

To connect with other people who listen to this show, use and search for the hashtag #betterdirtworld and join in on the conversation. Stay Dirty!

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This week on Dirt Talk, the DT crew has collected some of the most asked-about topics and combined them into one episode to answer YOUR questions about the importance of training and leadership in the Dirt World. Spanning over six months of conversations, we hope that every listener learns something new or sees a new perspective that they hadn’t considered before.

Questions/topics discussed include:

Thanks to all of the listeners of Dirt Talk. You’re the reason we get to do what we do. 

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This week on Dirt Talk, Aaron Witt and Alex Horton are back at it, catching up after another long stretch of travel for Aaron. The guys discuss the Appalachian Trail and the “time warp” of living on the road before diving into this week’s topic: Interns. They discuss the value of skipping the unpaid internship and just getting out in the field and working. Then, they answer a question about the value of outward-facing branding and why it works for some companies to paint all of their equipment. 

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George Marsh is a collector at heart. Recently, he’s begun hunting for and collecting chain saws. Why? “Why not?!” he says. But because this is a podcast about construction, George’s most obvious (and precious) collection is the armada of heavy equipment that he and his father have accumulated over the years. According to George, a self-proclaimed “old iron enthusiast,” they have something like 70 pieces on their property… and most of them still run! But in addition to the old equipment, he’s also quite the Dirt World historian and an old soul, especially when it comes to being a dragline operator.

This week on Dirt Talk, host Aaron Witt and George Marsh dig into why George believes in the power and education that operating only old equipment can provide. George also shares the history of earthmoving in his own family before laying out what drew him to draglines and why it’s such a good fit for the work he wants to do right now. Later, he and Aaron discuss some of the downsides of using and relying on GPS and the pride and level of expertise that can be gained by learning operator skills on older equipment. The guys also discuss the lack of tolerance for mistakes in the industry, the shortage of entry-level positions, and the fulfilling nature of manual labor. 

If you want to learn more about the equipment that George collects, he’s @oldschoolgeorge on IG.

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This week on Dirt Talk, host Aaron Witt is joined by Eric Jumper to talk equipment (of course), but the conversation quickly evolves into a conversation on how you approach valuing your work abilities and how to use certain tools to develop yourself and your career. The guys also touch on landfills, meat processing, and machine rental. Later, Aaron and Eric answer questions like “what is strip mining?” and “how do you determine how much you should be paid?”

Don’t forget to check out the video of this podcast on the Dirt Talk YouTube channel or on the BuildWitt app!

To connect with other people who listen to this show, use and search for the hashtag #betterdirtworld and join in on the conversation.

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If you’ve spent any time working in or around the Dirt World, you know this one thing to be true: there is a labor shortage. And if you’ve been listening to Dirt Talk for any length of time, you know that host Aaron Witt is very passionate about working with folks in the industry to fix that issue. 

Enter Tyler Robertson: CEO of Diesel Laptops. In addition to being a badass company name, it’s also precisely what the company sells. Diesel Laptops “originally set out to help clients with their diagnostic tool needs. As trucks and emission technology became more advanced, a demand was placed in the market for diagnostic tools to meet those needs.” It’s a fascinating technology and the Dirt Talk crew enjoyed chatting with Tyler.

This week on Dirt Talk, Aaron Witt is joined by Tyler Robertson of Diesel Laptops to talk diesel engines (insert Tim Taylor from Home Improvement’s grunt here) and the tricky diagnostics and maintenance that come with them. Tyler shares why he started the company in the first place, how it helps with the diesel tech shortage, and what, exactly, “predictive maintenance” is. Later, Tyler and Aaron dig into the disconnect between OEMs and dealers, the future of trucking, and why change starts with responsibility.

Thanks to Tyler for coming on the podcast. Go check out Diesel Laptops at diesellaptops.com. 

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 This week, we’ve got a special edition of Dirt Talk: host Aaron Witt and producer Alex Horton are joined by BuildWitt Co-President Dan Briscoe to discuss what’s been going on lately on the business side of BuildWitt. 

Suppose you’ve been following along with the BuildWitt story for the last few months. In that case, you know that we’ve been working on rolling out BuildWitt Training, a software platform built for the Dirt World to address the “people problem”: how can our industry better attract, train, and retain our people? BuildWitt Training was built to make training content easily accessible and easily digestible. We’ve been building the software AND the content and partnering with industry experts to ensure the training content is valuable and first-class. 

Aaron and Dan discuss why it made sense to go this route as a business and why it’s becoming a rallying cry throughout the industry to get other folks to step up to the plate and double down on training their people. 

There’s a lot of good information here, whether you’ve been following BuildWitt for years OR you’re new to the BuildWitt story and are just learning about everything the BuildWitt crew is working on.

Remember that you can watch/listen to episodes on the BuildWitt app and on our Dirt Talk YouTube Channel.

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Reilly Sasse gives a sh!t about the blue collar world. You can see it on his company Red River’s website, you can see it on his LinkedIn, and you’ll pick up on it quickly when you chat in person… and luckily, Reilly was kind enough to come hang with the Dirt Talk crew at the BuildWitt HQ last week. Reilly is CEO of Red River, a company in Wyoming that does manufacturability and fabrication for the oil and gas industry. 

This week on Dirt Talk, host Aaron Witt and Reilly Sasse dig deep on the state of oil and gas in America. Reilly shared why he wanted to go to work at such a young age, his background working for Tapani for many years, and why he places such an emphasis on humility in his own life. Later, he and Aaron chat about the disconnect between the blue collar world and the folks who think blue collar workers don’t care about the environment and why it’s important to not reject emotion for the sake of business. 

Don’t forget to check out the video of this podcast on the Dirt Talk YouTube channel or on the BuildWitt app!

To connect with other people who listen to this show, use and search for the hashtag #betterdirtworld and join in on the conversation.

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This week on Dirt Talk, Aaron gives a preview of his upcoming trip to Canada. Among other things, he’s pumped to go see the oil sands at Fort McMurray. Later, he and Alex discuss public work vs private work and the complications and opportunities that come with each. They then speak a little about joining a union before addressing BuildWitt’s future plans regarding getting involved in government. 

Don’t forget to check out the video of this podcast on the Dirt Talk YouTube channel or on the BuildWitt app!

To connect with other people who listen to this show, use and search for the hashtag #betterdirtworld and join in on the conversation.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Senior year, I made a million dollars.”

When the BuildWitt crew is universally pumped to have a guest in the studio for Dirt Talk, you know you’ve got a good one.

Will Schuler is CEO of Will Power Excavation, based near Indianapolis, IN. He’s only just entered his 20s, but had already built a great business. From the beginning, Will has made it clear that taking care of his employees and ensuring everyone is well-trained are very high on his priority list. He was kind enough to travel down I-65 to Nashville to record a podcast at BuildWitt HQ, and we’re sure it won’t be the last time! Will shared how and why he got started in the Dirt World at such a young age, how he started pricing work when he was just getting started, and he was very open about the challenges of balancing high school and work. 

This week on Dirt Talk, Aaron Witt and Will Schuler weigh in on what being young in the Dirt World means (and what opportunities that creates), how the Dirt World can better attract more young folks and the challenge (and benefits) of being a young leader. 

Don’t forget that you can watch the Dirt Talk podcast on the Dirt Talk YouTube channel. 

Stay Dirty!

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