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Pool Industry & Decades of Change

I hope everybody had a good evening last night. I know I did thank you all for being here, getting up early, and joining us for this first, you know, the presentation. We have a great day of sessions ahead of us I thank all the presenters to start us off for being here and breaking into the programs for us to continue our education [Music]

Right now I’m absolutely thrilled to be able to introduce our keynote speaker this person’s been in the pool stream for over you know say 20 years 30 years you want to say 30. okay spent the industry for over 30 years Kentucky training sessions worldwide he’s the owner of Aquatic Facility training and Consultants swimming pool education and Consulting programs is the also the owner of the post of the talking pools podcast.

How many of us listen to talking pools podcasts? that is amazing!

The podcast series is geared towards the Google service professional Rudy has also contributed dozens of Articles of the pool industry trade Publications over the last decade and has certified several thousand pool operators and health officials and he is a New Jersey environment and public health instructor at Rutgers State University he lives in Florida with his wife childhood friend Joy not talking pools crawling through pump rooms or teaching CPO he’s a proud grandfather horror movie buff an avid traveler please join me welcoming, Rudy Stankowitz [Applause]

1:55[Music] [Applause] you know I brought index cards with me

2:03and it’s kind of deja vu because the last time I got index cards to

2:09speech was in high school. I was

2:15I the senior class council member and somehow by drawing straws they

2:23decided that I was going to speak. But, I was handed the stack of index cards as I went up onto the stage because they were

2:31afraid of what I was going to say. My advisor Mr Raptis just sat at a

2:37table right in the front, fearful of what I was going to say.

Hi Sabina!

2:46 So, the deja vu instance [Music]

2:51The first the thing I want to say is welcome and thank you.

2:57I appreciate everybody being here. This is the first

3:02world aquatic Health conference in three years

3:14It’s just nice that everybody could be here. I do appreciate you. It’s kind of humbling for me because

3:21I’m standing in front of not hundreds of years of experience in this industry.

3:30I’m standing in front of thousands of years, collectively.

3:36That’s a lot of swimming pool knowledge in this room.

3:41And the knowledge we have spans

3:47Generations. In the 1950s we saw a change. We saw the

3:56introduction of stabilized chlorine tablets come about.

The San Bernardino County Sun
San Bernardino, California
Sat, Oct 24, 1959 · Page 19

Do we have anybody that was in the pool industry in the 60s?

4:08This generation of pool pros e saw bronze pumps come out. They said it would end corrosion to the Wet End Forever!

The Miami Herald
Miami, Florida
Mon, Apr 24, 1967 · Page 28

What about the 70s?

4:26just you okay what was your name, everybody?

4:32 Do you remember the

4:38Arneson Pool Sweep when that came out? That drive gear in the head with the left hand

4:45thread?

Arizona Republic
Phoenix, Arizona
Sun, Jun 29, 1975 · Page 208

right okay 80s

5:01it was the 80s, and it’s early and

5:06the coffee.. I get it okay so in the 80s salt water generators started to

5:14rear their heads, and the ads said you would never have to

5:20buy chlorine or acid again?!

5:33Starting to see where they get it right? Because we all know

5:40they don’t use chlorine – they have a saltwater pool!

The Naples Daily News
Naples, Florida
Sun, Sep 21, 1986 · Page 27
Home – Natural Chemistry

The Robotic 90s

5:52the 90s knows where it’s at, even at nine o’clock in the morning. One more time show them how it’s done.

5:59 The 90s brought about robotic cleaners.

6:07Phosphate removers that started to become a thing about that time.

6:13All the people from the 80s are remembering saying

but we didn’t use that for 10 years why do we need it now

people from the 80s
The Herald-News
Passaic, New Jersey
Mon, Jul 17, 1995 · Page 8

6:21but there’s been, you know, that changes inevitable. New things come about.

The double otts

6:35A couple of people. A few. A handful. You guys got to see the First Federal pool

6:41code go into effect.

6:47The Virginia Graham Baker Act

The Atlanta Constitution
Atlanta, Georgia
Sun, Jun 21, 2009 · Page B1

Similar Article PRESS RELEASE – VGBA Unblockable Drain

AquaStar Pool Products VGBA Compliant Drain

what did the teens bring about

7:05right in your face. The APSP and NSPF merger.

7:11You got to see that in your first decade.

7:162020s you’re just starting if you’ve just planned, you came in with all this stuff

7:22existing and immediately the second

7:27Federal pool code pertaining to VSPs pops right

7:34so we’ve seen a lot of things change

Newsday
New York, New York
Fri, Jun 03, 2011 · Page A49

They said they would put the Pool Pro out of business

7:40and in that same time, there were a lot of things that came

7:47about described things quickly because I don’t want to make this that they said we’re going to put

7:55us out of business over that entire time span there were they kept coming up

8:00everything was a threat asked Merchants remember they’re gonna

8:06put the pool guy out of business how’d that work out

8:14and if some of you are here tough to get over it now, order companies

8:19who not happening YouTubers for the do-it-yourselfers

8:27did they put you out of business no, yeah big box DIY

8:35and I love to say Home Depot in Lowe’s, but they started carrying chemicals

8:41right and we were worried about that until somebody asked the clerk there how do you use them

8:57Amazon enough said

Tampa Bay Times
St. Petersburg, Florida · Thursday, March 03, 2016

9:02e-commerce in general, know the Great Recession of 2008

9:08did that kill you did that put anybody here up no stupid pandemic, and I have it

9:15written down as the stupid pandemic no, not only did we go out of business we

9:22grew 23 over the prior year

9:28we grew, we grew, and we grew because of you

9:34if you weren’t Who You Are, that wouldn’t happen

9:40so there’s something unique, there’s something special about you that enables you to thrive in the face of adversity

9:50the threats aren’t over yet; there’s more to come, and people will tell you that they need

10:00you to change you have to adapt you have to evolve all of these things

10:07that sound like you need to be somebody else in order to make it happen

10:14but that’s the absolute last thing we need I need you to be you, and I need you to

10:21be more you than you have ever been before. That’s how we get through these things

10:28now times are different times change, but I still need you to be healed

10:35and we’ve entered an age that’s a little bit different where we’re a little bit better at sharing

10:41information and helping one another we’ve seen that shift right because I

10:49remember when we didn’t want to talk to anybody because they’re our competitor and I’m not telling you cry

10:55kind of like giving somebody the wrong direction when you pull over and ask how do you get the circus yes

11:02we’re not like that anymore as a whole there are some that stick to their guns

11:07on it but we’re kind of helpful now and that’s good and that’s how we get

11:14through these we take the Eunice of you

11:20amplify it find your superpowers and then we all focus it on the common

11:28we all have that common goal anyway and then we look at the resources that

11:34we have around us even starting small look at the folks

11:40that are sitting at the table with me do you know everybody that’s sitting at your tables

11:46do you know her name okay it was a bad example I was just checking

11:55you know you could have you could have rolled with it a little bit help me out

12:01you know first came out up here I’m just saying I’m done with that side

12:06I’m not even asking him all right anyway

12:13but that’s the point no matter what you mean there’s somebody here who knows and I know we all speak a different language

12:21generation to generation and maybe somebody can help me

12:27eat anybody know what to eat means

12:35and she knows my youngest son used to a couple years ago but he’s used that it’s not used

12:42much anymore it’s actually too old yeah okay

12:50I actually this is kind of cool for me because I don’t know how many of you guys know this I born and raised on Long

12:57Island but I started in the pool industry in use in

13:03Texas I was in the military I got out I ended up here and I don’t think any of us

13:12sets out to join the pool industry I think the pool industry finds you and it

13:19sucks you in it is it’s like the black hole it’s a

13:24lot like the hotel California because you can check out you just cannot

13:32ever leave right has anybody tried to get away

13:39yeah let’s see look at that

13:44here you are so I actually started less than five

13:49miles from this location my first job in the pool industry over is are there used

13:54in people here yeah so do we know where Bel Air is the Bel Air area started over in the Bel Air

14:01area um I walked into the store there were floats hung all over the ceiling and hand written signs and I looked around

14:08and I thought I hit an all-new low and I filled out the application

14:15I was 21 something and because I like to eat so that was important and I swore up

14:21and down that I would keep looking for something else and and well here I am

14:26but it was there that I first learned that peoples don’t all speak the same

14:32language so I was maybe a year into it where I met one of my first soon to be

14:40lifetime friends in the industry 1992 I met Mr Wayne ivesich

14:45here in Texas he was coming through with Taylor I think he had just just got the job

14:50now he just left good job so obviously he budgets better than I do

14:57[Music] um but I learned there that we don’t all speak the same language because I was

15:03standing there in a water test line and it was about three people deep and there was a lady standing there with her zip

15:09tie bag Ziploc bag full of water which I absolutely hate those you should bring it in a bottle every single time but she

15:14had this Ziploc bag and she’s coming to the front line I can see her face is red and it’s the same story I just didn’t

15:20know it because I was only a heavy ear under my belt but I was an expert because I knew

15:26everything right 12 months in but she’s standing there in the line she gets to the front

15:32and she starts with the story and she tells me you know I’ve been to five other cool places

15:37and I’ve spent hundreds and hundreds of dollars and all they’re doing is taking my money and nobody can clear this algae

15:43problem for me so I took the sample

15:50right obviously this is the preferred way to do this and pour it in testing

15:56her water and she’s talking and of course that she’s talking she tells me she has a party

16:02um because I come to learn that every pool

16:11owner has a party every Saturday especially when they need to get something done

16:16because that’s going to motivate me more their party that I’m not invited to

16:22if you really want to motivate me about this party on Saturday

16:31you got me an invitation but I went through the process for

16:37yellow outfit because I thought that would be the best way to go there’s a few steps involved

16:44but I found it to work well so I walked her through the steps and I’m a little

16:49out of practice so if I get something wrong please feel free to yell out and correct knocking back but if you’ll have

16:54to yell out correct the first thing you do raise your pH to

17:00eight or higher right so Dash the next thing we’re going to have her do was add

17:06two pounds of yellow alcohol fifteen thousand gallons of water pour half of the dose around the perimeter and

17:12broadcast the rest across the surface follow with an equal amount of calcium

17:17hypochlorite two pounds per 15 half the dose around the perimeter broadcast the

17:22rest across the surface the next day of course run the pump overnight the next day repeat the dose of cow Hydra

17:31right okay next day she doesn’t come in cool I

17:36wasn’t expecting her to the day after that she doesn’t come in I’m thinking all right the party’s gonna go good I’m

17:44still not going to be there but it’s going to be all right then Friday she comes in and there she

17:50is with her Ziploc bag of water and her purple face

17:56as they are she makes her way to the front of the line and you’re just like everybody else all you did was take my

18:02money and sell me crap that didn’t work and I couldn’t really understand because I’ve not had bad results before

18:10I went through my instructions with her line by line had her read back to me what she did

18:17line by line and it all sounded very good and she said I didn’t raise the ph I did the two pounds of yellow out half

18:25around the perimeter half across the surface of two pounds of cow hypo half around the perimeter and half across the surface ran it overnight and did the

18:32same thing the next day and now what am I going to do with all that chemical that’s left on my cool deck that I had

18:37to pour around the pool [Laughter] foreign

18:48[Music]

19:00because I think we’re kind of special not in a bad way but we’re kind of

19:06special and a lot of times we can hear folks talk about who is a cool professional

19:12you hear things like uh jack of all trades mechanic chemist

19:18plumber right those are the typical things but I want to tell you what I see

19:24I see a room full of risky takers I see Perpetual students

19:33people who understand that education is ongoing I see people who are patient

19:40attentive and people that are great communicators

19:47I see people that are persuasive

19:52people that are unflappable

19:58to add to their list you have to be a detective right we have to figure out what

20:04happened when your customers lying to you

20:10that’s not an easy job you also have to be fortune tellers

20:17you have to be able to look at the pool look at the yard and then look into the

20:23future based off of information now you know you have to take everything into account

20:29because you know it can’t just be about the water because there truly are no cookie cutter groups because there isn’t

20:36and there is no cookie cutter chemistry just as there is no cookie cutter mantra

20:42you’re all different you’re all unique we all have our own way of doing things

20:49but you have to take everything the environment and all of it into consideration if you’re going to do it

20:54correctly so I like to tell people remember my 90s people where are you at okay so the folks from the 90s during

21:02the 90s and expression really came to a Zone we would say you have to think outside the box now the expression came

21:08about in the 70s right Ben but but

21:15but in the 90s it really took off and you couldn’t see somebody safe think outside the box

21:22anywhere it was everywhere every job application every interview right you want people to think outside the box

21:28that’s who we want to fill this position why should I hire you I think outside the box I smudged the box I crashed the box I burned Rock it’s all about the box

21:35it’s gonna pull just the Box filled with water

21:40so I need you guys to think outside the pool and take everything into consideration

21:48that those tools will get easier to take care of now here that you guys have the added

21:55responsibility of teaching people how to do that and I’ll tell you

22:02I was a harder student in high school

22:08I went to my guidance counselor one time in senior year it was when everybody was going to talk about what colleges they

22:14were applying to and he told me that he really couldn’t help me and I should have taken more shot classes

22:22mother father I’ll tell you I can say that again

22:27I have to check the list no no

22:32we’re good okay so but seriously I what now whose fault is that now I

22:39gotta admit you know I will give any of you will run for your money with your Teenage Dirtbag photos

22:46I promise but still isn’t a lot of that way I’m a teacher

22:52and I’m not looking for excuses now this is just something that I’m realizing now that I’m doing this is that it’s my job

22:59it’s my position to get these people engaged no matter what it is I have to do to get somebody’s attention I should

23:05do that

23:13but no matter what it is I should do something and I should find a way to get through to that person

23:19right and that’s what teachers didn’t do when we were growing up they taught everybody as a group and it works for some people not for other people and the

23:25people who didn’t work for well they we

23:31say but you have an opportunity to do it different because here in what you’re

23:36doing whether you’re a speaker here for a company or a CPO instructor or whatever you get to be the teacher that

23:43you always so think about that what teacher would have been best for you what traits of a

23:50teacher do you think would have most appealed to you and the other students who made

23:55it a little bit more fun to make it a little bit more engaging

24:01opportunity so cruel because there’s nothing better than when

24:07you see that lightfo moment when that aha moment that somebody knows

24:15that’s what we shoot for that’s the opportunity that we have that’s why we

24:21do what we do I haven’t always taught but I kind of have

24:27right I don’t know how many of you know my background but

24:34a lot of you have never seen me without a cane [Applause] before a lot of you have just plain

24:41never seen me before too I guess we have that here okay and I want to talk about that but

24:47before we talk about that I want to play a game and you get absolutely no credit and win nothing

24:53so it’s really it’s the best kind of game so because

24:59there’s a lot of stuff going on right now we’re coming off of a couple of bad years as far as supply chain goes I said

25:05a little more threats coming I said we weren’t out of the woods right now I do know that manufacturing those

25:12manufacturers that are doing what they do have beefed things up to better

25:17handle your needs but it doesn’t mean that there’s still not extra stress on the industry there is still a urea a

25:25shortage in Europe if you’re not familiar with what we get from Matt from synthetic urea

25:32cyanuric acid is a product that we make from that

25:38we’re not number one on their kids list we sit at the Kitty table the pool industry does because the main users of

25:45urea are agriculture so we have to be in line

25:52the stocks has anybody been following

25:57the stock from pool industry companies compared to 12 months ago we’re all down

26:05inflation is up they say the recession’s already started

26:12some say the recession is looming regardless all of that humans that I

26:18talked about and this great group that we have here that you can

26:25collaborate with if you need to talking about sharing again and how that’s again to be a better thing you can do that but

26:33I don’t want you to be afraid of the recession because what economic downturn

26:39does is expose opportunities

26:46you can see an underserved niche in that period of time and come up with a way to

26:53serve them in fact I want to I’m going to read a couple of slogans slogans here

26:58and I want you to tell me whose company this is

27:03simple personal real-time messaging

27:10nobody so much for my game

27:17that’s what’s happening move the way you want to

27:28Uber explore the incredible near you

27:39Groupon can I make it easier

27:45be long anywhere

27:51all right if it came with a house that’s what swiftly does Airbnb Airbnb yes

27:59all right here’s the last one and maybe these aren’t the easiest examples but they’re all great examples and I’ll tell

28:04you why so for let’s do this for we all grow together

28:11it’s a square these are all companies that are doing well these are all companies that were

28:19designed were developed that came to be in the 2008 recession

28:27that’s what makes these all good examples these are all companies that came about during a period of economic

28:35downturn so there are opportunities

28:41so I need you to keep that in mind so when you look at the things that things do turn first I do need you to realize

28:47look at this resource that you have I’ve used it

28:56and understand that the word impossible is only one space difference from the

29:04sentence I’m possible that’s true

29:12so 2007.

29:19I’m guessing this is about when it started in 2008 I started having a little bit of trouble walking I had a

29:25Service Company in North Central Florida and I started to have trouble going across

29:33Lawns soft surfaces things along those lines so

29:39so I immediately started going to doctors because if you’re going to do pool service work walking is kind of

29:45important and I went to a private practice doctor he ran a bunch of tests wanted to run

29:51more with the insurance company

29:57let’s consider those things to be exploratory and they didn’t do any of them I was like okay

30:05I was gonna check my phone to see what time it is but I don’t have it um so but so I left there and I decided

30:12I would go to the VA because they’ll run it I’m a veteran why not take advantage of it so I went to

30:18the VA and they immediately started to diagnose me with things like Ms

30:24ALS the myelinated polymeropathy

30:31a whole bunch of things that you know took a long time for me to be able to pronounce and

30:38but they went back and forth back and forth and didn’t find anything inclusive proof of anything so the folks at the VA

30:43sent me to the University of Florida Shands Hospital so you have Shams so I

30:49went there and again I went through all the testing I went to

30:55every doctor appointment I didn’t skip any of them I wanted this solved and I wasn’t going to give up and this

31:01went on for about six years before the walking or the lack of walking got bad

31:09enough that I had no choice but to sell my service company

31:16which I loved doing so I I got good money for it and I was happy about that

31:22so I sold my service company I had a little bit of money in the bank and then I

31:27wanted to figure out what I was going to do but I didn’t want to change

31:33so I reached out to that time the nspf to talk about teaching the CPO classes

31:39because yes I loved doing pool service but I also liked talking about pools

31:45right so I reached out and went through the

31:51course and I started teaching there and I did my wife actually said oh he went out and got a job where you can

31:57talk about pools all day yeah so that doesn’t mean it took any of the

32:03weight off of it when I got home that still continued it was just different so I started teaching those classes and

32:09the walking still continued to get harder about

32:162016-16 I started carrying a paint because I couldn’t walk without one

32:24still now they’re thinking um Gulf War Illness

32:30so I guess sent to the war related injury Center in DC who says Nope

32:39who sent me to the Mayo Clinic I go to the Mayo Clinic

32:45ultimately they decide it’s all in my head conversion disorder that’s what they

32:51called it must be in your head so they want me to intend this intense 30-day

32:57program to rewire my brain with no other treatment options up so

33:06far I decided to go for it now luckily this

33:11time right at the beginning of the pandemic so none of you noticed that disappeared

33:17so I went for that and it was really a lot of brainwashing it

33:23would sit you down at a table you weren’t allowed to use the keyword pain

33:29you couldn’t use words along those lines it had exercise programs I went to pick up a pair of six pound dumbbells to do

33:37flies it freaked out too much weight anyway so 30 days of that and nothing

33:44about the time that I was leaving there I completely lost my ability to walk

33:50I could not walk without pain I could not in my mailbox I could not make it to my kitchen table

33:56and it didn’t matter how many payments I took to make that happen it just wasn’t

34:03so that’s probably the closest I came to quitting

34:08giving up but my wife wouldn’t let me my friends would

34:15let me Natalie was a huge driving course

34:21and I had another doctor appointment this time I was with a nurse practitioner at Shands and I went and

34:29saw her and I got there and I sat up on the edge of the table you know

34:35and we’re talking and she goes to check my reflexes and when she hits me in the knee with the hammer nothing moves

34:42hits me in the name of the rubber hammer on the other side nothing moves dead right

34:48she freaks out all the other doctors knew this they all ran that test and they were like kind of

34:54like huh look at that it’s like okay but her getting worried

34:59about it got me spanking because for as much as everybody’s looked at my

35:05symptoms nobody’s ever considered that to be a symptom so I went home and I did

35:10everything we tell our customers not to do YouTube I went on Google

35:17and I plugged in my symptoms and I plugged in that as a symptom and

35:23immediately the only thing that came up was peripheral neuropathy

35:30and peripheral neuropathy is caused by a problem in L3 L4 in your spine so I went back and I told

35:37my physician’s assistant just like when your customers tell you I hear I found this on Google right

35:45but she was cool right so she sends me for an MRI guess what L3 L4 L5

35:51completely crushed in my spine

35:58and she asked if I had medical training I said no because we get that stuff done

36:07it’s on the list so we get stuff done but yeah so that’s what happened so then I had to go

36:14um they set it up for surgery but in order to get the surgery I have to get the shots first it’s some insurance thing and we’ll give you the surgery

36:20they won’t pay for the surgery until you get the shots do they go through the shots and they can’t get the needle in

36:27between the vertebrae because it’s all

36:33they do the surgery I’m laid out what am I going to do

36:40within a month I can walk without it it’s not perfect

36:46but I can walk without a cane and I can go pretty good distance before I need to take a rest

36:53I am still left with nerve damage so I fall sometimes but not a lot only

37:00twice since the surgery it’s a heck of a lot better than things used to be

37:06so I still needed to work I’m laid up I

37:12need to heal so I like to talk about pools so I wrote a book about algae

37:18right about black algae specifically but I don’t know everything and I need help and this is where I was talking about

37:25the sharing of information and how this room has such a wealth of knowledge

37:31for you to pull from if you would only use it there are people here who are happy to help I’m happy to help if I can

37:39so I need somebody to edit this book so I reached out to my friend Richard

37:45who took care of everything except for the

37:52and for that I reached out to Dr Darla doors is she here

37:58from Montana and she helped me by setting me up with one of her people to go through those things I reached out on

38:06seven occasions for different presentations that I’ve done microbiological with my friend Mr Roy

38:12Moore who’s always been nothing but helpful

38:17when I needed help getting materials and things for CPO

38:23have had Natalie and Ashley is she still out of the front desk

38:28okay well you’ll tell her she’s my hero

38:34so but the thing is there’s people that can help you now before the pandemic the

38:40last trade show I went to was the Florida show which I know they don’t call it that anymore but tough that’s

38:47what I call it so I went to this isn’t there repent so

38:52I went to the Florida shown if you’ve ever been to the Florida show from the parking lot to the actual show there’s

38:58this five mile long hallway right I made it halfway down the hallway

39:04and I couldn’t move so I called a couple of friends that were there Andrew and the Nini and Todd

39:11uh Derek Todd and they came and carried me back to my

39:16vehicle where I sat until I was able to drive back home I never met again

39:22but you see when I fell I had people there that were particular right

39:28and that’s what we do for one another when somebody Falls we need help to pick them back up and that’s how the industry

39:35gets better because I truly believe that this sharing of knowledge thing the way

39:40the industry is not that everybody has to follow the same path and make the same mistakes and

39:46reinvent the same Wheels but what should happen is it should be more like a relay race

39:51and I’ve made it this far and I’m old so you should be eyeing me up

39:57but right now I’m standing here with the Baton and I’m ready for you to grab it and I want to see how far you can take

40:03it I don’t want you to have to hack through the same weeds I had to hack through to get here I want you to start

40:08where I am because that’s how we truly move forward now last week I was at the aqua Show in

40:17Charlotte and I was talking with David Gilbreth and Eddie Lopez

40:24Terry are you here okay so I was walking and talking with them we actually great people I’ll tell you

40:31we were trying to get some of the people at the aqua Show to take selfies with your jugs telling them they were the

40:36actual ones in the back of Jamie Foxx’s truck so we all haven’t seen in that movie but

40:45as believing the presentation as I was leaving the show at the end of the day I started walking back to the building and

40:52that was the last time my legs had given out recently and I did the sidewalk so for them it must have been like they were walking alongside me and I stepped

40:58in a hole he just disappeared but they immediately helped me back up

41:05and so I was okay and they made sure that I got to the hotel and everything was fine and the cool thing about whatever it is that I have going on is

41:11that it only takes about a minute before everything is just perfectly fine again

41:17it’s weird but it’s mine I can walk I’m happy I don’t care so but that’s what we

41:22do for one another and all of these people are here you have these resources if you have a

41:28question so you know what there are people here new to the pool industry

41:34there are people here that are into teaching there’s people here that are new to everything reach out to somebody

41:39that’s been doing it for a while or reach out to somebody on your same level because you know what a second set of

41:45eyes definitely never hurts that’s how we get through these things that’s how

41:50we get through economic downturn that’s how we get through recession that’s how we get because like I mentioned you know

41:56what we don’t speak the same language and I will tell you point blank I don’t do my best work advertising to

42:03Millennials or gen Z but you know why you need Gen X

42:10I gotcha the Untouchable generation

42:15but seriously if you need help marketing to that group I need help marketing to the

42:23others and we can work together with that if you run out of product

42:29if you can’t get what you normally need find an old person because half the

42:35stuff you’re using didn’t exist when we started in the industry anyway and there is other stuff that’ll do something

42:41similar right it’s out there it’s it’s a gap

42:47that’s how we get through this sharing being a team

42:52competition is only bad if your competition is

42:57undercutting doing things along those lines as long as everything’s a Level Playing Field it’s okay to collaborate

43:07right as long as everybody’s on the same team as long as everybody has the same goals we can get there together now I’m going

43:15to give you time for questions if you have any I don’t know if you do but the holidays are coming up and I did want to

43:20leave you with a holiday story when I had my service company

43:26I had a handful of guys that were working for me and I always remembered when I first

43:32started in the industry that you know things were done a little bit differently

43:37we always would have a bonus at Christmas time write some days off but

43:43they used to also give us like a turkey at Thanksgiving or at least a gift certificate or something they do nice some remember in the 70s right they do

43:51something nice and Thanksgiving time also so I wanted to relive that and I

43:56wanted my employees to experience that I know

44:01so I’m walking through the grocery store heading to the register my wife calls

44:07and I tell her what I’m doing and she says all right look before you get to the register do me a favor and I

44:13said what’s that she goes we get them store brand turkeys out of your cart put butterballs in there chew

44:20cheap so I did because that’s what I had but I brought the butterballs home and I stuck it in the freezer we got to the

44:26Friday before the week of Thanksgiving and I’m excited that’s when I was going to give them to them so that way they’d have time to thaw it out they didn’t

44:32have to buy one if they didn’t already have one I was going to give them a turkey for Thanksgiving so the end of

44:38the day Friday that’s exactly what I did and everybody seemed really happy about it thank you so much I really appreciate

44:45it this is great and I felt good because that’s what I was trying to do right I wanted everybody to be happy

44:53then Monday morning came one of my best guys didn’t show up

44:59he’s like okay it’s kind of weird I gave him a little bit of time he’s been there and

45:07I reached out which if he wasn’t a good guy I wouldn’t have even reached out you know no close show you’re gone but I

45:13called him and I got nothing an hour later

45:18I started getting text messages that covered almost every word on the list of words I’m not allowed to say here

45:25you after this you piece of crap and I just like okay what is this what’s

45:31going on and everything started responding again it took another hour and came back the only reason you gave me a turkey is

45:38because you know you don’t pay me well enough to feed my family

45:45true story so I don’t hear from him again I get home I go on Facebook because you

45:53know I don’t have it on my phone because this would drop my brain but I get home I go on Facebook and he left a comment on my

46:01Facebook page the only thing it says is hashtag you Butterball me bro

46:10two days later his wife starts calling wanted to know why I fired him they have a baby at home they have to

46:17feed he needs this job why did I fire him and I was huh

46:24anyway I’m guessing he didn’t want to work and he needed an excuse to not work with the baby I don’t think it’s a good

46:30one but yeah some Happy Thanksgiving all right

46:36if you do not listen to the talking pools podcast

46:43listen please listen we appreciate you guys it’s definitely a podcast for the cool professionals we are not a typical

46:50interview style podcast so you will not be bombarded with infomercial after infomercial we do interviews but they

46:57are very limited check it out we have three different shows every week the goal is sharing of information like we

47:04talked about the goal is to get that information across on another platform that’s a little bit more broader than

47:10the ones we’ve been doing we can definitely hit me up on Facebook Instagram hit me up on take taxes that’s a scary

47:17place a bunch of wild children on that

47:23anyway welcome to The Watch

47:29[Applause]

47:36[Applause]

English (auto-generated)

Rudy

Rudy Stankowitz is a 30-year veteran of the swimming pool industry and President/CEO of Aquatic Facility Training & Consultants