JoinTheTrades.com

Join The Trades Interview Series Episode 24 - Rachel Greenwell, Motorcoach Operator & Host Driver

Find Us On Social Media! TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jointhetrades Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jointhetrades/ Facebook: https://bit.ly/3kZYCkl LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/jointhetrades-com/ Welcome back to the JoinTheTrades.com interview series! Today's episode features Rachel Greenwell, a skilled motor coach operator with 3.5 years in the trade. Dive into this compelling interview as Rachel unveils her unique journey into the trade industry. In this episode, you'll discover: - How Rachel embarked on her path as a motor coach operator. - A glimpse into the daily routines and responsibilities of her profession. - The essential role trade schools play in shaping successful careers. - The promising growth and stability in the world of trades. Rachel's insights are an eye-opener, demonstrating the vast opportunities that await those in various trade professions. Her story is not just about her passion for operating motor coaches but a testament to the fulfilling careers that trade professions offer. Our ongoing interview series aims to highlight the significance of trade schools and the diverse, rewarding careers they lead to. Whether you're considering a career in trades or simply curious about what it entails, don't miss out on this interview with Rachel. Please like, comment, and subscribe to stay updated with our series, and visit JoinTheTrades.com to explore available programs and support to kickstart your career in trades. The world of trades is rich with opportunities, and it's time you discovered what awaits you. Thanks for watching! Don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode. Full-length, Audio-only episodes available on your favorite podcast platforms - coming soon!

Join The Trades Interview Series Episode 23 - Mark Reed, Marine Transportation

Join The Trades Interview Series Episode 22 - Nicholas Leiden, Electrician

Join The Trades Interview Series Episode 21 - Ben Suiter, Heavy Equipment Operator

Join The Trades Interview Series Episode 20 - Edwin Marroquin, Truck Driver & Instructor

Join The Trades Interview Series Episode 19 - Elise Umstead, Farrier

Join The Trades Interview Series Episode 18 - Dan Hearing, Industrial Commercial Technician

Join The Trades Interview Series Episode 17 - Austin Laulainen, HV Electrical Journeyman Lineman

Join The Trades Interview Series Episode 16 - Katie Shonikis, Welding

Join The Trades Interview Series Episode 15 - Brian Thomas, Journeyman Lineman

Join The Trades Interview Series Episode 14 - TJ Scott, ISP Networks

Join The Trades Interview Series Episode 13 - Erik Salmon, Commercial Dive Medic

Join The Trades Interview Series Episode 12 - Joe DeLong, HVAC

Join The Trades Interview Series Episode 11 - Jerry Scamuffa, Masonry

Join The Trades Interview Series Episode 10 - Michael Anders, Commercial HVAC

Join The Trades Interview Series Episode 9 - Matt Coombs, Audiovisual

Join The Trades Interview Series Episode 8 - Cody Vaughan, Commercial Electric

Join The Trades Interview Series Episode 7 - Paulina Corpus, Wind Turbines

Join The Trades Interview Series Episode 6 - Robert Busby, Aviation

Welcome to the JointheTrades.com interview series, where we bring you inspiring stories of tradespeople who have carved out successful career paths in their respective fields. In today's edition, we have a very special guest - Robert Busby, an accomplished airline pilot with 19 years of experience in the trade. Robert's journey is a testament to the immense opportunities available in the trades, and we're excited to share his insights with our readers.

As the economy continues to evolve, there's a growing demand for skilled workers in various trades such as carpentry, welding, plumbing, electrical work, and aviation, to name a few. However, there's often a stigma attached to trade schools, and many young people are encouraged to pursue traditional four-year degrees instead. JointheTrades.COM is committed to changing that narrative by promoting the benefits of trade schools and vocational training programs.

In this interview, Robert will share his experience of working in the aviation industry and how trade school helped him achieve his goals. He'll also talk about the challenges he faced along the way, and how he overcame them. We hope that his story will inspire and encourage more young people to consider a career in the trades.

So, sit back, relax, and join us as we delve into the world of trades and learn from one of its most accomplished professionals.

Crew Wyard: Welcome back to the JointheTrades.COM interview series, where we talk to tradespeople and learn more about successful career paths. Straight from the source. Today I've got with me Robert Busby, an airline pilot with 19 years of experience in the trade. Hey, Rob.

Robert Busby: How are you? I'm good, man. How are you today?

Crew Wyard: I'm great. Thanks for joining.

Robert Busby: Us. Yeah, well, the least I can do, man, The pleasure's all on this side of the iPhone.

Crew Wyard: Yeah. I'm sorry. I was running a little late, but I just flew in, and boy, are my arms tired, right?

Robert Busby: Yeah. Next time, flap a little faster. Next time, we'll see if we can get you there on time Arrival.

Crew Wyard: Okay, man. I'll trust your expertise for sure. So you're an airline pilot. This is incredibly cool to have you here with us.

Robert Busby: Yeah, man. So it's a decent job. I don't mind. You know, if there's a way to pay the bills, this is certainly one of them. So it works for me.

Crew Wyard: Yeah, we all got to do that. And this is a cool way to do it. How did you get started?

Robert Busby: You know, I've been wanting to do this for a long time, ever since I was five years old. So I grew up in a potent town up in Massachusetts, if you're familiar with the area there, just outside of Worcester, it's about an hour west of Boston. We're just a small, small town, you know, And none of my family is in the trade. None of my family does the business or any friends of mine. That's it. So all I did was actually go to my high school guidance counselor and I said, Hey, I want to be an airline pilot. What do I need to do? And that was it. The ball was rolling from that, though. From that point on, I did exactly what he said and that was it. Man took off.

Crew Wyard: So this is since you were five years old, that you were determined.

Robert Busby: I was five years old. You know, Daddy lost his job down in Houston, Texas. He got another job in Massachusetts. The ground up. The family threw him on a Continental Airlines flight from Houston to Newark, I think. Right to connect. And then the pilot said, hey, come up to the cockpit, I'll give you some wings, I'll let you push some buttons. And that was it, man. I looked at my mom like, Hey, I want to be an airline pilot. That was like, Yeah, kid, Sure, sure, sure.

Crew Wyard: Yeah. We wish we had that pilot's name right now and phone number. We call him up.

Robert Busby: And it's right.

Crew Wyard: Now I'm like you.

Robert Busby: Honestly, You feel. I don't know.

Crew Wyard: Right? Yeah. Really? Yeah. You got to chip him in. That's right. All right. So it's been 19 years of experience. A long time when you got started, how do you get started in this career?

Robert Busby: I mean, there is there are so many different ways to get started in the aviation industry. You know, there's one way, you know, a lot of people think military, you know, back in the day, you know, the most of the majority airline pilots came from the military. That's where they all began. But nowadays, in my ear, you know, you go out there, you jump in a Cessna 172 or a Cessna 150, and boom, you get you instruction, you're instructing, you're risking your life every day. And I'm just kidding. You're not risking your life 100%. But no, but you know, but yeah. So there's a military route that way. Then there's other routes, of course, like I took, you know, I went to there's so many schools and so many programs that they have out there right now is that and I went to school was like, Hey, you know what? Do you want to be an airline pilot? Sure. Well, there's an aviation school down in Florida. Go down there. And it all started and it all started. Now they throw, you know, 172 is all right. Today's lesson is going to be rolling down a runway and pulling up. And that was it. The first thing I learned was how to take off. So, yeah, and that's one way of doing it. And then if like if you're not sure, you know, it's like, hey, wait a minute. That's I hear it's a lot of money to get started. You know, you're not sure you don't want to jump in, you know, sign a $40,000 student loan or something like that real quick, or you want to give your money away real quick. So what you do is you do something along the lines, as they call it a Discovery flight, and you can go to your local, a local airport, any kind of airport that's anywhere near you. They usually have these little outfits with a Cessna and say, hey, you want to do a discovery flight for 60, 70 bucks, They'll throw you in an airplane, take you up in the air like you do a couple of turns. And hey, if it knocks your socks off, well, you're meant to do the business. If it doesn't, well, you know, you're puking all over yourself. Well, then, you know.

Crew Wyard: Yeah. So if you reach for the what? I suppose the vomit bag, you know, that's a bad sign, right?

Robert Busby: That's right. Yeah. It's probably not. It's probably not your trade. Your trade of choice, that's for sure.

Crew Wyard: For sure. So that's how you got rolling. And then where did you go from there? You start working for a specific company or.

Robert Busby: Yeah, man. So I was down there, so I went to, went to Florida, I went to school down there and I did all my flight lessons down there. And you, you get you can get all your ticket, you know, your ticket, your private pilot estimate commercial, raise it a few days you need to get to the level that I'm at, for sure. But once you get all your tickets and ratings, you only have a few hundred hours. And that's just no, that's just nowhere. The experience of what you need to jump into an airline, a jet flying, you know, hundreds and hundreds of people across the pond. So your next thing is like, well, how am I going to go build time? Well, some people go and they drag you know, you're on a beach and you see those little tail draggers that eat at Joe's. Eat at Joe's right there, right? Yeah. Yeah. So some guy that's some guy like myself building time, he's flying like at 60 miles per hour, barely staying in the air building time, or he's flying around some cargo or he's actually a flight instructor. That's what I did. As soon as I got all my hours of my licenses, I actually started teaching kids how to. Lie. And I say, kids, but a lot of people are older than I was. But teaching kids how to fly, instructing people, and that's how I built my hours. And at the time it was 1500 hours, too, for the airlines to even look at you. So that's why when I went right into flight instructing, then after flight instructing, then your regional airlines, somebody else might have been on some of those, you know, a 50 seater jet to buy two seats. You know, it's kind of like, yeah, now you fly from Charlotte, so maybe like Fayetteville, North Carolina, or something, like a short hop like that. That was me back when I was 24 years old. You know, flying those shorts, and I did that for about ten years. And then finally, one of the big boys, they finally knocked on my door, said, Hey, come on, come fly with us. And now I've been doing that for now. That's what I've been doing now.

Crew Wyard: Wow, man, that's super cool. I mean, as a layperson, you have no idea how that really plays out, right? So 1500 hours at that point, just to get rolling. That's super fascinating that everyone just got to put in time one way or the other. Like either. That's such a funny thing because we've all seen those. Of course, we've all seen the banners being pulled and you think like, Oh, that's something you don't realize. Like, Nah, it's just some kid who's building up his hours.

Robert Busby: Yeah, that's exactly right. It's a kid that's a kid that's burning up in there because you're still close to the ocean, right? So it's not cool upstairs. He doesn't have AC. He's sitting up there, He's. He's sweating. He's drinking his water bottle. They just try that little thing that as a fuel gauge gets low, he has to hurry up and hightail it, drop the dragon land-free fuel, and jump back in the air. And so he can't stand it no more. All to build hours so he can come join me on the right seats.

Crew Wyard: Wow, That is fascinating, man. That's a trip. So you've been doing it long enough to have all kinds of ups and downs, I'm sure. No pun intended. And what do you find most rewarding about it?

Robert Busby: So most rewarding is like it's just flying the passengers, you know? It's all about having all those people, all those people back there. A lot of people think, Do you freak out when you're when you know that you have all those people that you're flying? You really never think about, you know, the door closes and things are happening fast. You're getting your papers, getting your dotting your don, your eyes are crossing your T's and you're pushing back and you really don't really think about it. But back there, but back there. And if you do think about it, you know, if you get the airplane, you fight the traffic in New York, you know, LaGuardia, you're your number 22 for takeoff. You're waiting, waiting, waiting. And then you finally take off. You do the turns to get out of there and they sequence you and all these other airplanes and you're finally, finally underway to Aruba or finally on the way to San Diego, and you're finally at cruise altitude. The temperature's right. You're seeing a nice sunrise or sunset. And now you start thinking like, oh, the autopilots on I'm relaxing here, maybe eating a little dinner. Then you start thinking about, well, yeah, wow, there are 180 people back here. There are 180 people. And everybody has a story. You have a story right now? I have a story right now. There are 180 stories back there. I've got people that are going for job interviews. People are going over for podcast interviews. People are going over that are flying to see a family friend, a girlfriend they met on Tinder, a funeral, a job interview or. Yeah, all everybody has a vacation or, you know, there are so many stories back there and you're a huge part of that. You're just a part of that. And you come in for a landing, you grease the landing, and you make it memorable for them. And as you're saying, goodbye, you know, you see the smiles and you see just all their facial expressions up while the day that they're happy. So the rewarding part is you took 180 people to their story. You know, you're assisting them, finishing up their story, or adding to their stories. So that's what I find the most rewarding part about it. But a lot of people, you know, choose to fly for airlines like FedEx, UPS, and they don't want to fly passengers. Their reward is they want to fly those boxes and their rewards, their paycheck. You know what I mean? So everybody has a lot of different flavors when it comes to the aviation industry. And being an airline pilot, you don't necessarily have to fly passengers. You can go fly boxes over to Asia. And a lot of people like doing that, too. So there are all kinds of good options for it.

Crew Wyard: Yeah, there are all kinds of crazy options for people. For pilots. Absolutely. Guide us through the day. At this point in your career. You get up, you're working how many hours a week you're doing, how many flights a week, that kind of thing.

Robert Busby: Yeah. So right now I live down in the southeast. Right. But the great thing about being the airline that I work for in any airline passenger service is that you know, we're allowed you can live anywhere in the world. I'm actually based in New York, but I live down in the southeast of about of the states, you know, So I don't actually start work until I actually get to New York. And the good thing about the airline pass, we all have a deal with all the airlines, as other pilots say from Southwest can fly on American absolutely free. I can go jump on an American Airlines flight. I can jump on a Delta flight. I can jump on a Southwest flight all for free. Because, you know, badge, you say, hey, I'd like a ride, please, to New York because my airline's full. Or someone goes, I always want to do a little vacation by myself. You know what I mean? So if there's a seat available, it's kind of like a little gentlemen's handshake. There's a seat available. It's all yours free of charge. So I'll jump on an airline, my, my airline or American, and I'll jump on and I'll fly to New York. Else I'll wake up in the morning and I'll wake up more at about three in the morning. I'll jump in the car. I'll thank god that I don't have to do it. They don't have to fight traffic like most 9 to 5 hours. You know what I mean? It's clear. It's clear runways, it's soon like getting to the airport. You're parking at one of those park-and-go-type things. You jump in a shuttle like everybody else. You go to security, you get on your airplane and you get on your airplane and you're the pastor in the back. And I'm commuting I'm commuting over to New York. I land in New York. Well, my showtime was showtime, but usually about an hour prior to your takeoff. It comes up in a couple of hours. So you get something to eat, you grab a coffee, and you go to one of the crew rooms or the crew lounge. Do you take a nap or you hang out watching TV, watching the football game? You chill with the fellows there maybe, or off your board to talk about airline stuff as you go in the passenger, you go up there in the airport, you see all kinds of entertainment. And I know if you haven't seen the news lately, but there are all kinds of entertainment going on right now. Yeah.

Crew Wyard: Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. Not a dull moment.

Robert Busby: No, it's not a dull moment. So you're sitting there and you're. And you're waiting for. And you're just waiting for your flight. Your flight to come up. Next thing you know, everything is done. Now, you know, back in the day, it was all done through in the weather rooms. Yeah. You have these big screens are all in these weather rooms and you be flight planning on the on all this paperwork plotting your course is finally on the phones. It was really, really busy. But now technology is so advanced that it's all done in a laptop now. So I'm sitting there sipping my coffee. I'll start getting notifications on the laptop. Then I start going through the paperwork. Okay. Are my passengers going to be safe from A to B? Does this route look good to me? Do I have enough gas? How's the fuel? You know, I can even spot out turbulence just sitting down here talking, you and I talking right now, like, oh, there's turbulence in this area. So I'm going to reroute ourselves around this area or fly at a different altitude. Wow. Yeah, we can all do that right now via the iPad. And I could talk to my dispatcher and say, Hey, we're going to do this instead. It might cost a little bit more fuel-wise, or you can or will do a short time. You can take off some gas. So by the time you actually walk to the airplane, it was about 45 minutes prior to departure. That airplane's already fueled up. That airplane's already ready to go. It's the right tail number. The maintenance is all taken care of. And you just it's almost like you sign in, drive, you get in there, you do your checks, you start, you go through all the buttons and there are about 8000 buttons to go through. And you go through all your buttons and your switches and there's two of us. It takes two to tango. But, and, and just talking to, like I said, the labor person out there talking is like, oh gosh, that's a lot. But I know doing what you've been doing this long. I close my eyes and the hand just goes, you know, just it. It's like your hair starts.

Crew Wyard: Glad to hear that.

Robert Busby: To hear that that button doesn't feel right. Sure enough, that button might not be in the right place, you know? So you do your flows and your checklists and you talk to your copilot or your captain, whoever you're flying with their first officer, should I say, And you get to know each other, you know, because you want to make you make sure you're molding well with the guy next to you so you can kind of wrap together should something bad happened type of deal. But everybody's on the same page. You know, I started from the same book from my airline. He started from the same book on my airline. So basically, I can say the sky is and he'll say blue. You know what I mean? We'll both be on the same page. So as we're doing our checks and we're getting to know each other and we're briefing each other and we start briefing each other, you know, we're talking, okay, this is how the flight is going to go. Do you agree, or disagree, those type of things. Well, then the boat then the passengers are getting boarded at the same time know they're starting to come in, they're starting to come in, and then problems arise, you know, and you kind of just take a slight a tennis column, say, hey, we got a passenger back there, he's smoking or hey, we got to see a duplicate seat. You know, it's just a typical day in the aviation industry or maybe we're not fueled properly. So you kind of got to put out these little fires as the airplane's being boarded. But it's all part of the excitement. You know, it actually just makes the air just makes time go by quicker. Then once all the T's across the I's are dotted, everything's ready to go. And you're approaching departure time. This like, all right, now I need to go do some customer service and I call it selling tickets. I'll go back there in the cabin. I'll walk the entire cabin. I'll hand kids out wings, you know, I'll shake babies, things like that. Talk to the first class pass. Yeah, sure. Say hi. You know, that's of things. And then you make an announcement. You know, you talk to the people, you know, and you talk to them one on like you're talking one on one. You know, there's all that stereotypical pilot stuff out there. Hey folks, the quagmire on that family guy.

Crew Wyard: Right?

Robert Busby: You can count a thousand others all the time. And most guys sound like that. Not so much myself. But you talk to your passengers, you brief your passengers. Then once it's all said and done, the gate agent kisses you goodbye, gives you your final paperwork, shuts that door, then it's go time. Then you have the ramp controls in. Are you ready to push back? And there you go then. Then it's off to the races and you fly. We'll fly, We'll go out there, we'll taxi out, then we'll fly you. Your typical day would be from New York to Denver. Then you'll do a two-hour layover there. You might switch airplanes, you might switch flight attendants, and then you'll fly Denver, too. You'll get something to eat over there, or you fly Denver and then you'll fly Denver to Seattle. Okay. Once you're in Seattle, boom, you'll have maybe 22 hours in Seattle. And Seattle's a great city. You know, a lot of people die. Yeah, I happen to like Seattle a lot. Great food, a great atmosphere, and great people out there. So you get out once you're done, now you're on aisle my time, You know what I mean? So here you are on my time. Well, there's a shuttle. There's either a van or there's a car service awaiting your arrival while your pilots head on down there. They get in the car service, they bring it down to a very, very nice hotel. You know, we said a. Gorgeous hotel right off of Pike's Market right there. They bring to the hotel, they check in, up, your crew up. This is you. They already have your rooms already pre. You're already pre-checked is almost here. You just kind of sign your name. Here he's kind of doing it to the side. You don't wait in line. Here's a case because we just that's just a job you know you go in there he's boom boom, boom, boom, boom. You get up to the room, you strip off your clothes, and you iron them, right? Then you get out, you get on your other guard there. This is not a nice time to be me, you know. So some people might lie in the bed and be exhausted. Some people might call the wife, some people might talk to the kid, and Some people might go out there and enjoy the town. They might go to a local bar, a local brewery or might go and have dinner somewhere by the water out there. Me, my personal favorites, they have an amazing pokey bowl over there. So I'm always going down there for a pokey bowl, then a little sushi and soccer afterward as well. So and then it's nighttime and you go to sleep and then you kind of like rinse and repeat. The next day, you fly Seattle down to San Francisco to our set. Then you go to San Francisco, you fly to Des Moines, and then you sit over there and you do almost the same thing. Yep. Car service, hotel. And a lot of people don't like money. They think it's small and small, quirky. But I tell you what, I love Des Moines. There happened to be this amazing German place that it actually a lot of Germans settled in Des Moines so the food is out of control. It's like you're in Frankfurt, Munich, or somewhere like Des Moines. Are you there? Yeah, yeah. Yes.

Crew Wyard: Shout out to Des Moines.

Robert Busby: Exactly. Yes, Shout out to Des Moines. You know, so there's so many there are so many places you talk about reward. It's like there are so many different places that you would never think to go to and that you can go all over the place and explore all these sad cities. But do you ever get out of the States? And I do. So the next day would be like Des Moines, Houston, Houston, Bogota, Colombia. And then you're flying down to South America, you know, Wow. Over there. And now I have a language barrier, so I hope you habla espanol. If not, you hope you hope you're with somebody. If not, you're like, you got your Google Translate in your phone.

Crew Wyard: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Robert Busby: And then and then the next day it's basically you go back to your base, you go buy you back from Bogota over to New York, You check out, you're done. Thank God you didn't bend any aircraft. Ba-boom. You don't need to talk. And that's another great thing about this job. I never see my boss. You never see your boss? Never. You never talk to your boss. You never see your boss. And you can actually go through your whole career never seeing your boss or even having a phone call from your boss, as long as you're like, Yeah, as long as you show up on time when you're supposed to show up, you don't bend an airplane, you're good, you go home, you don't take in the way. Another great thing about this job, is you don't take the home, the work home with you. Right now I'm sitting here just chit-chatting with you, talking aviation. But guess what I'm not thinking about? Oh, man, I got this meeting I got to attend. You know that time, right?

Crew Wyard: I've got a deadline looming.

Robert Busby: DEADLINE? All I know is February six is my next flight, so I got some time off in between. So that's all that time? Yeah.

Crew Wyard: Yeah. It sounds pretty extraordinary. Actually. Gives you a whole lot of freedom. Not to mention, as you say, I mean, you're just counting life experiences every time you go somewhere, I guess, right?

Robert Busby: Absolutely. You're absolutely right. Yeah. You meet so many different people. You. Yeah, you meet new people. If that's your thing, you know, you can be by yourself or invite people to come with you, but you can meet so many different people and so many different cultures and so many different places to see that you might not be aware that's out there and you might find someplace that, Oh man, I really like this joint. You actually end up with a lot of guys and girls. They end up going moving out of some of these places. You know, we have pilots that live in Spain, they live in Spain, and they commute to New York, do their routes, and they fly over to back to Spain.

Crew Wyard: Yeah, that's incredibly cool that you mention that. That's something that we don't consider at all. Just being a layperson. Like what? What an opportunity that is. What an what an opportunity that is that you can basically live anywhere you want in the world, for all intents and purposes, and still get to work without that much trouble. Right. I assume it's a little bit more isolated.

Robert Busby: Right.

Crew Wyard: But wow, that's something else. Wow, that's really sweet.

Robert Busby: Guys, I live in Australia.

Crew Wyard: Incredible. How is the business changed since you've been in? You've been in long enough. And technology obviously is changing rapidly even more rapidly, it seems, year to year, huh?

Robert Busby: Yeah. So, yeah. So the technology is starting to get, you know, starting to get up there, you know, like a long time ago, whenever, whenever I was coming up in the industry, usually there was three, there's three pilots sitting in the flight deck. You know, there's three paths yet. You had your captain, you had your first officer sit and face in the front. Then you had an engineer on the right side, kind of keep an art house, hydraulic levels. How is this levels? How the how's the fuel levels, those type of things. But with technology, they're able to shrink that down to two pilots. So that's a huge savings to companies. Obviously, that's not good for supply and demand. That's not good for pilots supply. But right now we are very much not a dime-a-dozen pilot. The pilot gig is certainly a hot one right now. Pilots are definitely in that demand right now, if you know what I'm saying. So technology-wise, just what you talk about with the iPads and things around those lines, also, it's the security. You know, everybody remembers September 11th or for that, it's a lot of learning onboard them, but they've heard of it type of deal. You know, before then as you taxi out, you'd have a door open behind you. You know, people come up to the cockpit during your flight hours. It's a great time, you know, So now you can't do that. You're behind a steel door, you know, And nobody gets near that whatsoever. Heck, if there's ever a disturbance back there in the cabin back there. You know, pilots are on strike. You just keep that steel door shut, locked, bolted, you know, and there is no by any means nobody's supposed to come up there. So that just has that in the back of. So that's an unpleasant change that had to happen, unfortunately, due to events. But that was a change there. And then, of course, it's the passengers. You know, a lot of people are flying. These airports are packed. A lot of these airports are built, you know, like they were built to handle like 90 passengers. So now they have these terminals that are flying these hundred and 80 passenger jets all the time. These terminals are packed, and people are all over each other. And you just see a lot of people having a bad day. Yeah, I don't blame the person. Everybody has a bad day, you know, what do you have? One person has a bad day and another person has a bad day. Guess what? Their bad days come up. Yeah. And everybody has a cell phone now, and next thing you know, they're on CNN. They're on Fox News. Yeah, that. And they are TikTok in aviation. Here we are laughing and watching it, you know, the type of deal. So when you got two bad days or and then people mail together, that's it's all over. So you get to see a lot more of that. That's for sure.

Crew Wyard: Yeah, I'll bet. Yeah, we definitely see a lot just, just here on the tube so. And youtube, of course so. Yeah, yeah. Luckily you get to close that steel door.

Robert Busby: Yeah. I'm a people person. I like to try to solve problems, but they, tell me to go stand and sit behind the door. I'm like, All right, fine.

Crew Wyard: I'll do it. No problem.

Robert Busby: He told you not to be like, they run the ship. They pay your checks. So you do as you're told.

Crew Wyard: Man, it sounds like such a cool gig. Sounds like such an awesome gig. I mean, I grew up, of course, a while ago and, you know, pilots were always, like, revered and, wow, you know, the pilots. And it always at the time when I was a kid, of course, we have that image of the sixties and like, you know, the cool image of the pilots during the royal baby. Yeah, right. Part of him. Right. But it's awesome to know that it's still just it still has all these, you know, positive aspects. Now, as far as someone getting into the field or is it difficult to get in the field, is there a whole lot of competition at this point or the airlines are really looking for people?

Robert Busby: Yeah. So so so that's the industry is kind of like Yes. Hills and valleys. Hills and valleys. Hills and valleys right now. Is it right now it's what would be positive? Would it be uphill or would it be downhill? I don't know what with the positive I'm trying to think I guess anyway, let's just say it's a great time to be a pilot, you know? I mean, okay. Yeah. So pilots are very much in high demand right now. A lot of these regionals, like I told you about the 50-seater jets. The 70-seater. When I started, my first airline job was in oh four. My first paycheck was 500 bucks. My next paycheck was 800 bucks. You do the math, 1300 bucks a month was horrible. It just was the way it is now. These cats fly in the same airplane, same deal, same because we're in we are in demand. These guys are making over 150,000 their first year or 100,000 their first their very first year, 24 years old, 23 years old, you know, young, dumb, and ready to rock. And they're coming out of class, coming out of school. They got their hours in their tickets and they're jumping in that plane like, here we go, baby. You know? So the supply is so supply is I mean, so the demand is on our side right now. So it's out there. Pilots are making a boatload of cash and you can go pretty much anywhere in this area and these airlines will sponsor you. You know what I mean? So there are ways to. Go to this place called ATP. They call them pilot factories, you know because you jump in there and within six months you have all your tickets and you have all your licenses and now you're instructing for them. And then I flew with somebody just the other day. They started from 0 to 0 and I'll say 0 hours all the way to the right seat of a 737 took them three and a half years. And that is lightning speed. Lightning speed. Like right now, if we took you through you in a cockpit tomorrow, three and a half years, you'll be flying with me making Wow, 200 plus. Yeah. So, so. So it's very, very easy to get into this industry right now. And there are all kinds of in and a lot of people think it's very, very expensive. And at a point it is expensive. However, a lot of these airlines, and there are so many programs out there that are giving they offer signing bonuses, you know, hey, you come, you come, you go ahead and you're about to start your training with X, Y, Z. Well, guess what? Where if you signed if you sign on the dotted line right now, as soon as you're done with your training, you come fly with us. We're going to give you a $60,000 bonus. We'll give you $100. But well, there's your student loans right there. You know what I mean? Or they'll say, hey, we're going to go ahead and float you a 50 grand right now, but you're going to come work for us and you're going to give us a guarantee. Three years. Well, there's just student loans, right? There are a good chunk of them, at least, you know.

Crew Wyard: Yeah, Yeah, absolutely. That's. It's a nice gig.

Robert Busby: Yeah. Not only do you get a lot of money, but right now people are interested or, you know, the next is interested. Ready to rock our hell. These 55-year-olds are starting to start a rocket right now. So it's definitely a good time if that's what you wanted to do to be a pilot.

Crew Wyard: Incredible. How would you suggest that someone go about that? If we had someone out there right now, this wasn't anyone who was like, no way, because I'm kind of getting pumped about it. Tell you the truth.

Robert Busby: Absolutely.

Crew Wyard: Yeah, not quite 55, but, you know.

Robert Busby: So, yeah, so I mean, hey, if, you know, if you got sat behind before you signed any dotted line and you go you do one of those discovery flights and that that's, that's as simple as going any kind of local airport you spend the day, you go drive to any kind of airport that you can Google Discovery flights. In my area, there are all kinds of things that will come up. You jump on that Discovery flight for 60 bucks, they let you mess with the controls. You can do a takeoff. Heck, I had brand spanking new students doing landings on their very, very first day. So you can actually do that. You can actually go up there and see if it's a see if if you why you whet your whistles there. See if it's for you. You know, I was like, hey, man, I really, really like this. And also I'm here, I'm here, I'm seeing dollar signs and I'm really enjoying what could be my life in the future. Yeah, I'll fly to Tennessee. Oh, my goodness. So here we go. So then at that point, then it's like, you know, you start looking at how do I want to go about it? You know, there are so many different options to do it. Okay. People jump on the military. They want to go fly an F-16 for a couple of years. So they go fly an F-16, They get that out of their system, then they jump into the aviation world. So that's option A, Option B, there's if they want to go to school for it, you know, there's college degrees. You can get that. For that. But the for the airline pilots as well. You know you got there are so many aviation schools out there. You can go out there and get your four-year degree as well. So that's for the youngsters or people that want to get in to get their degree. On a side note, they get that they get their take as well. Or if you're somebody like myself right now, here I am and I'm 42 years old, and if I'm starting fresh right now, I'm like, Man, I really want to do this. Here we go. I'm going to go ahead and go to school. One of it's an eight. So I think it's like airline training pilot or something like that. Oh, you research these regional airlines are about probably about ten or 15 regional airlines in the U.S. and they all are partnered with these aviation schools. You know, so you have ATP, United Airlines, they have their own now, they have their own aviation school called Aviate. They bought it from Lufthansa over in Germany. And they really the program is over there and it's over there. So aviate. And kids can just hey, I want to sign up. They go apply. Say, if you go apply to that aviate program, you're pretty much a united pilot at that point. And you do your training over there. Once you're all said and done, your instructor over there, you join one of the regionals at the regionals. Then you jump on their plane, too, so you can just go to one of those. As I said, in pilot factories where you are strictly doing the pilot, then you're getting all your tickets, your flight instructor after that, and then you are on the right seat of a C. RJ, Are you one of those regional jets? So there are a lot of different ways that you can get to where I'm at.

Crew Wyard: Wow. That's incredible. Yeah, It's awesome for people out there to know, like, how many opportunities there really are in this field. How exciting. I mean, after 19 years, for you to have the enthusiasm you have for it is still pretty. Not only contagious but pretty exciting for sure.

Robert Busby: Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's definitely me. It's one of those jobs where it's not the same thing that will never happen twice. You never do the same route and never go the same way. You'll never meet the same people. You never fly with the same exact person. They'll never be in that same exact mood that you were that day that they were in three weeks ago. When you're flying with them, you know, So it'll never you'll never fly the same type of day twice.

Crew Wyard: Sure. And so you wouldn't say that anyone specifically necessarily is more likely to be prone to succeed at this job. You have all kinds of different personalities. You mentioned people that fly packages and people that like to fly people.

Robert Busby: Absolutely. Yeah. There's so many I mean, I fly with probably about maybe five, six different pilots in a month, you know, 5 to 6 of them. And they all have a different personality. And some people are talking and they want to talk your ear off, you know, hey, hey, let's talk about my skin color. Let's talk about the cream I'm using right here, you know, gives me gives them nice. Give me a nice gives me a nice moisturizer. You're like, Oh my God, what type of moisture? And then you have the other person that just wants they want to keep to themselves and that's good for you. Respect you. Just respect the person that's sitting next to you. You know what I mean? It's like, hey, they're in their ways. You have your ways. And sometimes you guys get along great. Sometimes you're just professional and then sometimes obviously you have the 5% like, Oh, I wish I didn't have to work with him again. You know, those things happen too. But that's every that's in every industry, you know what I mean?

Crew Wyard: So it's any job.

Robert Busby: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you never talk in the cockpit. You never do it much like any job, really. You never talk about race, You never talk about politics. You never talk about, you know, personal beliefs and religion, things like that. You know, you keep that to everybody else. So to have him holler at me, I talk about where are we going to eat? Well, how we're we're flying to over here, you know, is Shirley are they going to be coming out with us and having a good time over at that Pokeball place over to Seattle? That's what I'm worried about. You know what I mean? So that's my main concern.

Crew Wyard: Right? Right. Well, hey, man, that's a lot of information, a lot of awesome information. And I think people anyone who tuned in is going to be pumped up to know how many first of all, how many opportunities there are, how many options are for them. And then the fact that you're still so you're so jacked up about it is really cool, man.

Robert Busby: Absolutely. It's yeah, I have it's a good time. It's a good time. But again, that's me. You know, you might come over here, and you might not like it. Who knows? Everybody. As I said, everybody's got a different personality. But a lot of people like what they do around how you met.

Crew Wyard: You know what now, now that you touched on that, is there anything specifically that you think would be something that would be a deal breaker for certain? For certain people.

Robert Busby: I say deal-breaking. A lot of people have that is that it's the face of financial obligation to a lot of people. They put as they put a stop on that. But that's just their thinking. But there's so like I said, there's so many being in such demand, there are so many different programs, there are so many different ways to get you from here, from your there to here. You know, when I started, I had zero cash. I come from absolutely nothing. I had to do it 100% on student loans. Right. And it took me like so like we're talking about earlier, it took you about ten, ten damn years to pay those student loans off. You know, I did it. You know, I did it. And I like you. You love what you do. But again, deal breakers are a lot of people, if you don't have if you're sitting up there like, oh, man, a lot of people think that if you can't make it work in a lot of years, like what if you have a family? What what, what have your fiance I hear this a lot, every job has its ups and downs when it comes to how you're handling your family. You know what I mean? So if you have if you're a good spouse, if you're a dedicated spouse, if you're a good father, if you're a good mother, those types of things, you make it work for you. I mean, yeah, Daddy might be gone for five kids, you know, Daddy may be gone for three days, but guess what? Daddy's face time and on every single one of those days, when he gets to when he gets home, you know, Daddy's or whenever he's at the hotel, I'm doing a face time or I'm asking about school. I'm there, you know I'm there. I'm not there physically, but I'm there in the picture, right? Or daddy might have gone to certain airports where or in Vegas. You know, one of my kids like daddy, you go and you go to Vegas again because there's a big gummy bear about this big in the airport that I buy, that gummy bear I bring home for them. Like, here you go. That's the gummy bear you want, right? Yeah, that's the one I want.

Crew Wyard: Yeah, that's right.

Robert Busby: Yeah. Yeah. So things like that, you know, it's all about. So when people think again, it's like family-wise. But again, it's, it's, it's what works for you. It's how you make this job work for you. Like any job, it's how you make it work for it. I don't care if you're outside frickin sweeping, sweeping the streets, you know? I mean, you're out there sweeping the streets. What are you going to make? You're going to make that You're going to make that job work for you. You know, say, hey, you might be able to come home to your family every night, you know? I mean, are you going to sleep on the street or are you going to put headphones in? Listen, your favorite songs really sweep that street. You know, it's like it's how you take it. So it's really how you take it, you know? So it's the aviation world, the airline industry. It's like, I know I'm going to be gone three days. I know I'm going to be, but daddy will be back and I'll be back and I'll be home for days. You know what I mean? And when I'm home, I get to put you on the school bus When I'm home, that's for days off. And I'm not thinking. About work right off the hay. Hey, you got extra days off from school? Guess what? We're gonna go jump on a plane for free and we're going to fly down to Aruba. Guess what? Airline pilots and flight attendants, have airline deals where you get discounts on these hotels and you'll spend sometimes next to nothing for these hotels, and you'll be able to vacation more with your family. So it's a give and takes. It's a give-and-take.

Crew Wyard: Yeah, but that's a good give and take and that's a good rundown for people to understand. I mean, the fact of, yeah, you're working three days, you're out. But then if you have afforded full days with your family, you can really be there, You can really accomplish a lot of good times.

Robert Busby: Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

Crew Wyard: Thanks, man. This is awesome. Is there anything else that you'd like to add?

Robert Busby: Hey, man, no. If anybody's interested whatsoever, you know, you talk to me. I give a link type of thing, but it's a great world. And in the airline industry, in the aviation industry, it's not like the pilots get to enjoy rides like, oh, you're you only way you get to enjoy the airline industry as if you're a pilot. But now it's not so much you know, you take to save a lot of flight. It says they take the same pride in rampart mechanics, the gate agents, they the people who clean the airplane. It's really like that. It's really just this tight, tight, tight family way. And once you're in it, you really don't appreciate it until you actually end and you kind of feel, you know, but it's aviation world is certainly a special thing to get into. And if and if you're here, it is definitely a rewarding job and a rewarding career.

Crew Wyard: And thanks so much for the info, brother.

Robert Busby: Yeah, it was great talking to you, and good luck.

Crew Wyard: All right. Take care, man. Thanks for being here. Thank you, everybody, for being here. We'll see you next time on jointhetrades.com.

Join The Trades Interview Series Episode 5 - Ty Branaman, HVAC

Crew Wyard: Welcome back to The Join the Trades Academy interview series, where we talk to tradespeople to learn more about successful trades straight from the source. Today we're here with Ty Branaman, an educator with 27 years in the field. How are you?

Ty Branaman: I'm doing great. It's absolutely a beautiful day. It's a great day to learn something new.

Crew Wyard: Awesome. Where are you located at?

Ty Branaman: Well, right now I'm in Texas, but I travel all over the country and I've lived in multiple different cities and in states all across this beautiful country. We've lived in Australia for a little bit, so it's been around a time or two, and seen a lot of really cool stuff. And no matter how much you learn, there's always something new and something else to learn. So you just can't get enough of the education and all the things that make the world work. And there's so much science in everyday life that really apply to Vassy. And when you start looking at it, it's kind of like The Matrix where you start seeing how everything operates. It's like Willis Carrier. He invented the psychometric chart before he admitted the air conditioner. He first saw how air worked, and then he thought, I can manipulate this and control the temperature and humidity. And it's pretty cool, that fact. So everything about us, we think about, you know, fixing appliances or parts or helping people, but think about it like such a big, big career. What's crazy is the world is what, 8 billion people now? I can't remember the exact number that's somewhere but that's only possible because of refrigeration and transportation. We can grow food anywhere around the world, transport it and keep it at the right temperature. We wouldn't be able to sustain the population without a VCR.

Crew Wyard: Oh, that's so cool. Yeah, we don't you know, we don't think about that very often. We don't think about what a massive scale is needed to maintain 8 billion people all across the planet. That's interesting. How was Australia?

Ty Branaman: Oh, I loved Australia. I couldn't do direct HBC work because of their licensing and laws. Although I tried, I did work as a fugal mill operator. And understanding how humidity and moisture and stuff works operate at a fuel. And I was able to run the dryer and get the sugar. Just have the right texture and everything. Just understanding what I knew about ABC, applying it to a fugal operator, and it just, it was a great time, it was a great experience for some amazing people, and saw some amazing things. It was awesome.

Crew Wyard: Well, for those in the audience, including myself that don't know what is a fugal.

Ty Branaman: So a fugal is how they, they, they do the sugar. It's it's incredible. They have this whole farmland, they have train systems, they bring all this sugar in and they crush it and they use every part of the sugar. They even have this thing called bagasse, like all the stuff, this leftover, the junk, and they burn that through the generators to make steam. They run the plant and the cell electricity not only for the plant but back to the city. And then they use the leftover parts of all everything leftover to make biodiesel to run the trains in anyway. So I had the good part product, after all the service and done and grown. They have this thing called molasses or it actually had a different name, but it came down to me in this hot sticky stuff. But I had to separate and get the good sugar out of it and I was like a big washing machine. And then it dropped in this belt and I had to dry it. If you made it too dry, it was a fire hazard. It is too wet and it would spoil. And it was just I learned a lot really, really fast, but as just a really neat experience.

Crew Wyard: Yeah, that sounds like a really interesting experience, something that most of us never get to. All right. Well, you're located in Texas, and how did you get started in the field?

Ty Branaman: Oh, my dad is a sheet metal man, and I love my dad. I did not enjoy doing sheet metal work, but everything had to be written like a 16th of an inch. Everything had to be precise. And just sitting in a shop really wasn't what I like to do. So I got into doing installations and that was better because it out seeing stuff and doing stuff that was, you know, super hard on your knees. And the people I worked for, man, they were pretty rough, you know, the old school tradesmen and, you know, they throw stuff and yell at you. But then I saw this guy come by like several times a day in this van. He didn't get out of the van. He had this big old Slurpee cup and he would drink out of and ask questions and then he would leave and then he would occasionally come by and we might not see him for a couple of days. And I, I asked the lead is like, is that the owner is like, Oh, no, that's just a service guy. I'm like, that's a like, how do I get that job? And he says, Well, you have to like, read stuff and learn stuff and understand more about it. And I'm like, sold. And then so from then on, I just kept learning and learning and learning. And I have some learning disabilities, ADHD, and stuff like that that really not a disability. It's more of a superpower if you look at it, right? But I forced myself to read and study and I did. And then the more that I studied and learned, the more questions I had and people couldn't answer, I just had to read more and learn more. And still to this day, it's just fascinating when I learn something new or something that I thought I knew, somebody told me. And then I go and read into it and research and realize it's actually not exactly correct. And then you modify your ways and keep learning and keep changing. And the next thing you know, I'm, you know, traveling all over the world and like, seeing different things and doing differently. Often I get bored easily. So I've done commercial and residential and supermarket and education and like all different realms of it. And there's this industry so big people think HBC, they think of, you know, fixing an air conditioner or fixing a, you know, a freezer. But it's so much bigger than that. Even now, building science in a residential site, and how houses are built differently. They were built 100 years ago and how electricity plays a part in that. So building science is a whole other aspect of HPC that people don't think about. And I got electrification. Whether people like it or not, you can't just take a gas furnace out, but in a heat pump. I mean, you got to think about the whole house system, you know, in the air leaks and blower door testing and, you know, it's just amazing how much science and just the air around us. Everybody talks about being healthy and doctors and insurance plans, but we breathe in. I mean, think how many gallons of air we breathe every single day. The air that we're breathing in is huge but it's even more important than the food that we're eating as far as health goes because the poisons in the air can really affect the long-term gravity of our body. And so understanding that and sometimes it goes a little deep for people, and that's okay. But when you start thinking about the unlimited possibilities and how much is the learn and understand, the more you understand, the more questions you have and the more you want to learn. And, you know, I just think it's cool because I keep trying to learn more stuff, and the more I learn, the more I realize, the more stuff I don't know.

Crew Wyard: Yeah, you bring up several interesting things that I've never thought of. First of all, the air purity aspect, right? I mean, we all worry about diet. We worry about what we put in our body, but quite often we're not considering the fact that certainly what we're breathing in is just as important to our health as what we're putting in as far as food goes or what we're expanding as far as exercise, right?

Ty Branaman: Yep.

Crew Wyard: That's fascinating. And you mentioned A.D.D., of course, and I suppose it's probably a sliding scale that we all fit into this umbrella on some level, you know, you know, the difficulty to sit in and kind of focus on a boring task as opposed to moving around, learning something new, experiencing something new that's interesting as well. You know, I'm someone who's never had a proclivity for sitting at a desk, being in a dull job. I always like to be active, move around, and learn new stuff. So I think I'm probably somewhere in that gray area myself.

Ty Branaman: But I used to go to these office buildings and people would take the same route every day and their same car, the same parking lot, and it worked the whole life to get closer to the window. And, you know, and that's fine. Our biggest change was, you know, a new car. Maybe they moved to a different house. And I just think it meant I have an office with three windows. I got this big front window and two side windows, and my view changes every single day, just being surprised and driving around and the people you meet and some of the stuff in Texas, I had this one remote location and the guy had zebra. I'm driving my service van and there's Ziva running beside me and it's like, what is going on? And in South Beach, Miami, you know, when you're in that, you're on the very top floor. The person owns that whole entire penthouse and you're having views that nobody else can see, or you're meeting authors and famous people. And then, you know, then those people that, you know, barely making ends meet and you're able to help them out and get their system running a little bit longer, you know, or help a restaurant save their business. Because if your freezer went bad today, that's a big loss. But a restaurant, they lose their freezer, they have to shut down. You're talking about employees being out of pay, the money they lose for the freezers of money, of income. I mean, it's a big deal. So when we do this trade, it's great because we're not only working with our hands and making a decent living, we're also helping other people out, whether it's other businesses or people or the survival of the world or air quality. You know, it's really cool to be able to do stuff with your hands. And one thing is, no matter how bad life gets, because I've been through some tough times before, no matter how bad life gets and somebody tries to take everything from you, nobody can take away your skills. I had everything taken away from me and I was able to start over because I had skills. I moved to Miami and from Texas to Miami was a huge difference and a complete culture shock. But because I had these skills, I could apply them and learn and grow and I was able to start over. And then they're from continuing to travel. So no matter where I go, I have skills that nobody can take away from me.

Crew Wyard: Yeah, I'm glad you bring that up. I'm glad you mentioned that. That that seems very important. Certainly, many of us get stuck in one certain area because of the fact we're working for one certain company and that's all we can do there. As a matter of fact, I worked for a company for 15 years. It was fun. I rode horses, but my skills were limited to combat and riding horses, which is a very limited, useful skill. Very few places I can go with that. And quite often I found myself thinking, Gosh, it would have been great to learn a trade or learn a skill where I can move anywhere I want to be, whether it be the ocean, whether it be the woods, whether it be mountains, it be the desert. And I actually utilize that in a productive manner.

Ty Branaman: That's right. And. With these skills. Even if you get into the trades and realize, hey, you know, you don't like this, it's going can be a great stepping stone to something else. A great friend of mine, his whole passion was to be an actor. He got an AC that paved the way so he can actually move to New York and become an actor. Had another friend want to get into music. So he did it to build a studio. And another friend loved skateboarding and stuff. But you couldn't, you know, successfully, you know, pay for it as everything he liked in life. So it had to pay for these other things. And a cool thing is you always have something to fall back on. There's always that needed skill of being able to understand how to use tools and repair stuff and work with your hands, even if it's in your own house.

Crew Wyard: Yeah, I love that. I love that. I love the fact that you brought that up. I think that's something for people, especially young people, who are deciding what they want to do, even if they want to be creative, even if they want to have, you know, a creative lifestyle, they can not only do that within their trade itself, but having a skill does give them something to fall back on where they can head towards their ultimate goal in this creative field, but have some kind of stability in the meantime. That's a really good point. All right, so let's say you're day. You start your day. And how does it begin? What do you do?

Ty Branaman: Well, in my days in the field, I would ideally get the service van near the drive to the shop to get my list of calls for today. But then as time progressed, a lot of people had been dispatched from home and one company had. It was early on was way ahead of its time. There were dispatches straight from home, so I just left the house and went straight to my first service call and worked until I just really a lot of times in the summer, you couldn't work anymore. In the summertime. It was just, you know, as many calls you could possibly do as many hours, you could take it all. That was overtime and I would just put it in a bank. And in the wintertime things would slow down and I would go on vacations. I would go on ski trips or travel or whatever else I wanted to go do. And it was great to be able to have that freedom, to be able to, you know, make the money and do stuff. Now, what I loved is that, you know, being able to go talk to customers, going in and have my tools with me, whether it's a commercial building or residential, you know, going in and talk to the customer and you get that out of the way, that's a job in itself. And then going to the equipment and the customer gives you a little bit of information and then you look at the equipment and you kind of have to be a doctor, but the equipment can't talk to you. So you have to learn how to get the information from the equipment. And instead of just fixing that first problem, what caused this to happen? This may be an issue to get it running again, but it's going to be running correctly. A lot of people just want to replace that first part. But when you stop and think, let's look at the bigger picture, What causes the part to fail? What other things are happening with the system? Then you can go to the customer and say, Hey, we can do this to get your running. Let's really look at the bigger picture here and then you can solve bigger issues with them instead of us having to come back all the time. Let's all these bigger issues that solve these issues. Let's make the system where it's going to be dependable through the summer. So it didn't happen on the 4th of July, and it's really cool when people then want you. They don't just want your company. They say I want you to come back. And they call your company and request you by name. And that's a pretty cool feeling. It's called the superhero feeling. You know, when people like they trust you and they respect you and they want you to come back out, you know, that's awesome. On the downside, you know, there's there's some harsh working conditions we have to do. We have to crawl under houses. We have to crawl up in hot attics. Some days it's so hot that the sweat is running in your eye and it's burning and the tools are so hot they burn your hands. And some of them you have customers that are just had really bad days and they're sitting in a very hot house There have been waiting on you all day and you get there to help them and they're mad cause they know you're going to be expensive. They're waiting on you and you have to, you know, bite your tongue and you have to, you know, be considerate of their feelings and emotions, then get the equipment running. And then you, you know, then they start to usually calm down a lot after that, once. Is there some cooling going on? But there are some challenges in the trade. And that's one thing that's amazing is we don't just have to deal with all this technical, you know, tools and cool stuff and equipment. We also have to deal with the customer and do all that in extreme conditions because once it starts cooling, we leave. Once it starts heating, we leave. So, you know, it's sometimes, you know, be pretty rough being able to do all the technical stuff, all the customer service staff, and be able to work in these harsh environments. But that's the other reason that tradesmen, you know, get paid generally more and that's why they should get paid more because they have to understand the customer side, the technology side, and do it in those hot conditions.

Crew Wyard: Yeah, that's a good point. There are so many facets to the job actually. It's not just tactical aspects of the h VAC per se or any other trade. There are just so many aspects. Certainly working with people is a big one. I imagine that's a pretty rewarding feeling once you've succeeded and people are so grateful for the fact that you were able to take care of them. I mean, when it's hot and the AC is not working, it's miserable, right? I mean, it really is horrific and it affects us in so many negative ways. So people have to be incredibly grateful when you can come in and solve the problem.

Ty Branaman: Especially when they've called five or six other companies and nobody cared to solve it or, you know, they just tried to do the quick solve, and then you're actually solving the whole issue. They get very happy. Then they tell their friends and then and then your reputation grows.

Crew Wyard: That's super cool. That's super great. Okay, so we've touched on what a day is sort of like. And we touch on some of the pros and cons. Is there anything specific as far as a pro or con that you think is really important to get out there to people?

Ty Branaman: I think the most important thing is you have to keep learning. And there are several aspects because if I told you a story and you told five other people that story and they told other people the story, would the story be the same? And in fact, there are a lot of people from whom we learn from people. There's a lot of people that I trust that are good friends. And so I've learned I have to double check some things. And even now, I'm still learning stuff. But I realized when I told them I did the wrong thing. Technology is changing and some of the reasons behind doing stuff, you know, kind of somebody made a shortcut or found this little shortcut solution. But as time changes, we get new refrigerants and different types of housing that some of those old rules don't work anymore. And we have to go back to either the original science to it or the technology is changing. And what worked 30 years ago doesn't work today. And so sometimes we trust the person we're working with and we'll do it however they say to do it. But we have to be able to go beyond that. So in our own time reading the installation manual, there is so much information in the installation manual. People say, What do you recommend for the installation manual? Because there is so much stuff in there. And if somebody starts getting defensive about the installation manual, it tells me that they probably don't know. I've learned when there's something I don't know, I'm like, Hey, show me, teach me, let me learn it. Let me, let me drive to be more. A lot of people, we had that initial pride and we don't want to say that we don't know something. And a lot of people get upset when you're reading the installation manual and you say something. So as a tradesman coming in, you have to be very careful because you want to upset, you know, somebody you're working with. But at the same time, you want to continuously learn. And I tell my students, I want everybody to be beyond what I know. I don't want people to, you know, just come up to my level. I want them to exceed me. And I'm so, so thankful I've had that. I've had students come back and they're working on equipment. I've never got the work done. When I started in the trade, ammonia was going out. They said, don't even bother with ammonia. Now ammonia is coming back for supermarkets. And I have students that are working with ammonia, students that are working with magnetic bagless compressors and like all this really cool stuff and they're teaching me things and that's I love that. I love seeing that growth and being successful. You know, we can just come in and just do the minimum or what somebody said to do but to have that drive because you just learn more. That's what's going to set you set you apart from the rest. That's what's going to have, you know, that next job lined up. That's what's going to have those customers calling you back. And that's some of the stuff that's important is making sure that we continually learn. And it's not fun reading those insulation panels. It's sometimes really dry reading, but it's so valuable. It is extremely valuable.

Crew Wyard: Yeah, that's awesome. That's a good another good point you bring up. We don't think about the fact that I mean, technology is changing so rapidly overall and of course, it affects the HPC business as well. And I assume that can be a bit of a daunting and scary thing to some people. And you have to, as a teacher, the fact that you're able to, I don't know, excite young people to be thrilled that there are opportunities to learn more and that as things change, it actually, you know, keeps your brain occupied. You learn you can move forward. I assume it leads to other opportunities in general. As far as experts in the field go.

Ty Branaman: That's exactly right. And it's unlimited. You know, people say, oh, I get bored of the fact and you need to be looking for that next level, that there's something else to do because it's this amazing trait. There's so much to learn and it's right now with technology coming out, it's changing every single day. There's new stuff coming out. I got one of my mentors that's been in forever and he said he is getting ready to retire because these things are changing. And he just does he just to the point he doesn't want to learn anything new. And he said that's not right. So it's time for me to retire because I don't want to learn anything new and have such respect for him because he knows so much stuff. But to be able to admit that, hey, I'm I don't want to learn anything new, it's time for me to retire, to have, you know, the forethought to think that I have so much respect for him. And I hope he doesn't retire. I hope he shares his information, what he does know because it's so valuable. But, you know, to say, hey, it's you know, I don't want to learn anything new. It's time for me to retire. That, to me, was just huge. And I hope where the point where I get there, I don't wanna learn anything more that I can be able to say, You know what? I'm going to step out and let somebody else come in. But it's a great trade. I love it. I love it more than anything when I see a student be successful, when they call me back and say, Hey, I got this new job, I got this new promotion, I'm now working with this new cool thing that to me pays everything. Or when a technician in the trade comes in and says, I understand I've been doing super for all these years and I didn't know why this. I was just told to do it. But now I understand why I'm doing it and it makes my job so much more fun. Oh, that's the greatest feeling when you see people, you know, seeing that that new layer of what we do every day because there's so much science involved in what we do and it's, you know, it's great and it's continually learning like science is. I learn something new constantly and it's so cool understanding the refrigeration and the technology and sometimes it. Technology goes backward like we found a way to use what was once out of date. CO2 was an old refrigerant. Now it's coming back. Ammonia is an old refrigerant coming back, Propane, it is an old refrigerant and it's, you know, coming back. So it's cool. And as flammable refrigerants, people get all scared about it. But if you understand you take the safety precautions in it and that's an opportunity for new people in the trade you get people to say, oh, I don't want to I will refuse to work with flammable refrigerants. Well, hey, somebody new said, Hey, if I do it safely, I can do that. I can do that job nobody else wants to do. And that opens up more opportunities. I'm back in the day. I had an old 1978 Ford pickup with a car rated for 60, but I could pass anything but a gas station. And my mechanic friend, he told me, never get fuel injection well in the nineties he ended up retiring because by that point everything was fuel injected and by the time that he had actually passed away, he was driving a fuel-injected pickup truck with power windows like it was, Oh, the devil. Anthony But, you know, the technology is going to change whether we like it or not, it's going to be changing. So the new generation coming in, they're already used to using the apps and the phones and digital equipment and the stuff that's required now. So it's huge opportunities for them to where, you know, I grew up in the analog days, the analog age that days, you know, and for me, I'm learning and adapting to the new stuff. But for the newer generation coming in tons and tons of opportunities because that's our natural environment.

Crew Wyard: That's a good point. You bring up that we haven't touched on before as far as the fact that there's so much technological advancement coming. Sometimes we are concerned that maybe that's going to take more work away from people. Right? There are not going to be as many opportunities because technology is going to take over on that level. In this field, you find that if anything, there's just more need for individuals to learn this.

Ty Branaman: Yes, absolutely. So technology will remove some jobs and that's natural through time, But it also builds different jobs. It's just a progression of time. You know, we could fight to say that we hang on to the horse and buggy if we wanted. But, you know, technology is there and there are other jobs created, people that used to break horses all the time for a living now do other things. And so really the need for HPC is growing massively. And the environmental impact is changing. And people are aware of this and having to make modifications and changes. So there are more people needed and there's more people needed now to do the technology than ever before. Because I had somebody that day working on a gas furnace and they had to program the control board and said, I didn't sign up to be an IT person. And they were so angry that this technology had changed because they like the old boards, you know, from back in the day. And and it was sad. On one hand, you know, wasn't adapting the technology, but the other hand I was thinking, well, there's an opportunity for somebody else coming in that says, oh, I can do that, not a problem. And so as the technology changes, it actually creates more of a need, more of a need for people and people to diagnose it differently and understand what's happening.

Crew Wyard: Interesting. Yeah. Yeah, that's fascinating for sure. Okay. So you work with kids all the time or. Well, younger people generally who are getting educated in the field and you teach them very noble. And what are some of their biggest concerns when they're getting started? What are they most concerned about that you have to assuage their worries.

Ty Branaman: Well, with Generation Z, there are a lot of differences. And I get so upset when I hear the new generation doesn't want to work because that's been being said all the way back to the twenties. Like, it's just a chore. Every generation says it about the next and people are saying that new generation and they don't even understand there's a difference between millennials and Generation Z. Like, they don't even understand there's a difference in concepts. Sure. But I find that Generation Z are very hard-working people. They really have the drive. They want to learn this stuff. One of the biggest things are afraid of is getting stuck in one position and being, you know, they're the whole time they want to move up. And so there are some differences on the employer side that we can make to bridge these gaps, such as, Hey, I need the grunt work, then I need somebody to run to the attic and pull this ductwork. But how about you do that four days a week and then on one day a week, have you write to the service technician or the maintenance person and start learning those duties? So now you're learning stuff while you're also getting the grunt work done. And the cool thing is if that person leaves the company, well now you already have somebody halfway trained to take that position. So you're not, you know, not in a bind. So it's a great way to help bring people up into the trade and fill the needs they want. Being able to learn and grow in the same way is protecting your company. So it's a win-win situation. Some of the other concerns that people have are how they're being treated. They have people that come in and want to yell at them and you know, Hey, you have to do this and you don't talk back and you just do what I say. And that's really been going on for, you know, a long time. And it's how we were treated. That's how I was treated. So we have to be conscious of, hey, I need to break that. This generation, they're not used to that. You know, they're used to, you know, understanding things differently. So having the respect to say, look, I will explain why I'm telling you all this stuff, but we have to get this job done, so let's get the job done. And then on the way home, then we'll talk about it on the drive back. We'll talk about it or maybe tomorrow. So that way you can meet the needs of having to get stuff done, but still, understand that it's a human on the other side. And they grew up in a different area the digital world, the digital age, and things change a lot. And yeah, so today, I mean, things are changing weekly and we're used to getting an evaluation once a year. Like, yeah, I'm going to work hard that one month for my evaluation. So I get the raise, which never really worked honestly back then. So now if we make some changes, such as giving monthly or even weekly updates, you know, hey, you learn this, you get the certification, I'm going to give you a ten cent raise, a 20% raise, whatever it is. And then now they feel that progress and then they're continuously working hard to learn more because they're continuously getting that feedback. And a lot of people say, Well, I shouldn't have to baby them. Who doesn't like positive feedback? Like everybody I know, if you tell them, Hey, you did a good job, did they thank you for that? Or Hey, you get the certification and I'm going to give you a little acknowledgment for that. As a human, people generally respond well to that. So the new generation is a great way to keep them engaged, keep them motivated, keep them making more money, and the company's winning and the new generation is winning. So that's a way that some of the things I find people are scared about. At the same time, being able to turn that into a profit.

Crew Wyard: Now, who of the young people or anyone actually who wants to get started in the trade, would you say is best suited for HBC?

Ty Branaman: Well, I, once upon a time, used to say you needed to have mechanical aptitude, being able to work with your hands and do stuff. And I've realized that that wasn't true because I've had some students for that I really needed more time because they didn't understand. They didn't grow up using screwdrivers and taking the lawnmower apart because, you know, we don't have that generational, you know, connection like we used to. So the point is a little bit longer for some people to understand that I've had employers get mad. Oh, they didn't know which way to turn a screwdriver, a yell at them to get all mad instead of being like, hey, we end up with a generation now that grew up on phones and computers instead of working with Dad's tools. So it takes them a little bit longer sometimes for people to start understanding that. And what somebody will do is focus on one mistake somebody made not knowing how to use a tool that we use every day for the last 30 years and we just take it for granted and now yell at them, and then now all the things that they can accomplish and can do that we can't now they feel bad about it and then they will look to go someplace else. Yeah. So that understanding, a little bit of empathy in it, and giving the time to have that mechanical aptitude. Yeah. Actually, if somebody has the mechanics to adapt it, it's easy to grow in that, but it still takes time. I got a good friend that's been in refrigeration for a long time, a well-respected man, and he told me that he didn't have any mechanical aptitude when he started and he learned a lot. He said working a screwdriver was actually new to him. And now he's one of the leaders in refrigeration work. So, you know, it's easy to say, well, you need to have this, you need to have that. What you need is a growth mindset and a drive. You need to have goals. You got to have those goals. What are your goals? Because you don't have goals. You're not going to get there. So you got to have goals. What do you want to be in five years? In ten years next month, have these goals lined out and then focus on them, and then have that growth mindset. We want to learn new things, continue to grow, and do new things, and if you have those two things, then you can be successful. And I've had students that I thought, I don't know about this guy, and then I got to see and they're rocking it. They were one of the top leaders in their company. So I've learned over time to not prejudge people. That's one of the blessings of being an educator. So many different ethnic backgrounds and personalities and things that people have and understanding and being introduced to see people that I preconceived that wrongly, that they are being very successful. So now I don't judge anybody new as long as they're willing to listen and learn. I mean, I'm super excited about that.

Crew Wyard: That's. That's awesome, man. That's awesome. How do you feel about trying to bring it? I assume that the majority of your students are men. Is that correct?

Ty Branaman: Are you sure you're men? There are a lot of women that are getting into the trade. I'm a big supporter of women in VC who actually have scholarships to help women get into the trade and not just get women into the trade, but also keep, and retain them. And sometimes it takes a few changes on the employer side. But the women in a trade I grew up with my mom working with my dad, doing sheet metal work and climbing on roofs, and we grew up on a ranch. And so my mom was, you know, breaking horses and all that stuff. So for me, like, a woman could do anything a man could do. I just grew up with that. And then later sort of traveling people would say, Well, a woman can't do air conditioning work. And I thought they were joking and some people were serious about that. I was just appalled. So I've learned now to talk to women and say, hey, look, just let you know that there may be some jerk men. It's an old mindset, you know, and they're stuck in their ways. I want you to be prepared for that. But I do not want that to stop you. I want it to prepare you for it. But I want you to know that you can succeed and you will eventually move beyond that person and you will help other people get in the trade. But don't forget how you were treated. So you never treat anybody else that same way. And it's unfortunate that I have to have to teach that. It's unfortunate are some mindsets out there for that. So it's just a matter of time before we you know, we make those changes, we get that transition through. And I've had some of my first students, my first female student, my very first class, she's running her own HVAC company now. And, you know, that's. Wow. Yeah.

Crew Wyard: Oh, that's super cool. Yeah, we're definitely seeing changes over time and I think we're headed in a positive direction that way. I was curious about how much you're seeing in the classroom as far as that goes.

Ty Branaman: In do education also. And I'm seeing more and more women come to the classes and being right there and asking great questions and, you know, doing all that work. It's I love it that it's definitely exciting for me.

Crew Wyard: Oh, that's super cool. Yeah, we need to break those boundaries in general. So that's these are good things. Well, is there anything else specifically that you would like to add that we missed out on?

Ty Branaman: The main thing is to keep an open mindset. Never stop learning there. I don't I don't know if you do, you know, promotion. I mean, reading this book called Unlocking Generation Z and I have learned a lot in this book and I've been on chat rooms, stuff, and younger generations learning, and that book's been a really an eye opener for me to help understand how the new generation thinks there. I am saying the new generation. The biggest thing is never to stop learning. There are so many resources out there. I do have a YouTube channel with free educational stuff out there. Some people like it Civil don't. Whatever it is, find out what it is that you need, what fits best for you, and be successful.

Crew Wyard: What is your YouTube channel?

Ty Branaman: It's just my name. It's Ty Branaman. I didn't know it was going to be a thing at the time. It was just watching videos and I recorded some of my classes for students and it blew up. So Tai Brannaman was an odd name. But if you also search on social media for L-O-V-E, the number two AC, you'll find me on TikTok and Instagram and Facebook and all those other things which I'm trying to break my boundaries is that's not natural. So I've been trying to spread the information and a love for VAC by learning how to use some of these new platforms and stuff, whatever it takes to help people learn. And so people that aid tradespeople are successful, people with great careers and they're happy with what they do for the most part.

Crew Wyard: Yeah. It's nice to see you out there with such an open mind, with such an open mindset about where we can head, about the different generations, about different genders working in this field. That's what we need in general, and it's always exciting to see people who are that positive and ready to move in whatever direction we had last time.

Ty Branaman: Thank you very much. Never stop learning.

Crew Wyard: That's we'll stop there. Never stop learning. Take it easy Ty.

Ty Branaman: Thank you very much.

Crew Wyard: Bye-bye.

Join The Trades Interview Series Episode 4 - Joe Sampier, Finish Carpenter