SPEAKER_02: 0:24

What's going on, everyone? Welcome back to That's Delivered, the podcast that talks about all things trucking and beyond. I'm your host, Trucking Ray. And a few weeks back, I was at Barnes and Noble's and I ran into a great individual and a real conversation I did not plan for. But turns out the guy is an entrepreneur and he's making big strives out here in the Minneapolis St. Paul area. And uh wanted to have him on the show. He has his own podcast that he was doing, the next great mind. Now he also has another company that he's working on to make some changes and also to make some new innovation for the world to see. And we can't wait to see what he has in store. Now, you know, a lot of things start with trucking. You know, you got to put things on the truck to get going, but also the entrepreneur mindset, the vision, the discipline that you have to have nowadays, the long-term thinking. And that's what we're bringing here today, as our guest is all about that. Zachariah Copeland. Glad to have him on the show. Zachariah, glad to have you on the show, my man. How are you doing today?

SPEAKER_00: 1:31

Pretty good, pretty good. So, should I look at my computer camera or look at you?

SPEAKER_02: 1:35

Yeah, you can look right at me.

SPEAKER_00: 1:37

Okay, cool. Awesome. Awesome. I just want to I don't want to be cock-eyed out here.

SPEAKER_02: 1:41

It's okay. We like cock-eyed too. Yeah, we take all kinds of everybody. So, yeah, man. Thank you so much for being on the show, man. I'm glad to have you and um tell your story. I think it's great that we have a lot of people out there that are ambitious doing things to help the community right here locally. So, who are you and why should drivers care about what you got planned here? You just it's a lot of great things you're involved in.

SPEAKER_00: 2:04

Man, really, I don't really think I'm anybody to be honest with you. I'm just a hard-working individual. That's at my core. You know, I went to the University of Tennessee at Martin, didn't graduate with a high GPA, worked, started working for like$14,$15. It might have been$12 at Dell on a Boeing contract. So I was hustling back then, you know, staying in the studio apartment and then, you know, just kind of work my way up through the IT ranks. So, but you know, that's just that's just the work side. You know, at my heart, you know, I'm really a community, uh community-oriented guy. If I see someone in trouble, you know, I'll try to do the best I can. I I don't always donate to, you know, you go to McDonald's or you go to Staples or whatever it is. Do you want to donate? I don't always do that, but you know, if there's a homeless person, not able to feed them, and we're able to have a real conversation, and you know, maybe I could cheer them up, and they definitely impart some wisdom on me about to keep going. And you know, we'll chop it up and we'll do that. So that's really at my heart though for me. You know, everything work is work. No, I don't have a I don't have wife and kids, so I don't have that going on. But you know, right now it's just work and you know building the community.

SPEAKER_02: 3:21

That's amazing, and that's a lot of reasons why we have this podcast, not just trucking, but you know, all the people that get supported by the industry as well. And uh, you're going to school. I mean, software engineer, is that right?

SPEAKER_00: 3:33

No, no, no, no. I um I would like to be a software engineer because I mean a lot of people know that's a great profession. Right now, my official title is a knock analyst one at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, you know, making the big bucks, making the big bucks.

SPEAKER_02: 3:51

There you go.

SPEAKER_00: 3:53

But uh, but uh yeah, yeah. I just I I've always um wanted to be a a software engineer coming out of coming out of UT, but just never had really had the right opportunity. So, you know, just gotta keep grinding and you know, see what opportunities come available. But at the time, you know, I was no, just just to be honest with you, I built my company out of frustration because you know, I just didn't see the opportunities there available for me, and I was just like, okay, well, I could just keep waiting around or I just do my own thing. So I decided to do my own thing, and now that now the opportunities are coming, you know how that goes, you know. So I can I can quit the company and go through opportunities, or I can go to the company and quit the opportunities. I'm just gonna do everything. So, you know, about the podcast, so I kind of scaled that back a little bit so I can kind of focus my resources on on these couple of things I have going. I didn't want to spread myself too thin.

SPEAKER_02: 4:47

Nice. I mean, from one podcaster to another, man, it takes a lot of ambition to do what you're doing. A lot of people out there listening are drivers, owner operators, small fleet owners. I'm sure they started out doing one thing, maybe had to end up doing another. So you gotta change, you gotta be able to pivot.

SPEAKER_01: 5:04

Yes.

SPEAKER_02: 5:04

Uh so yeah, I like that you have uh another dream of being a software engineer. I know there's a lot of software out there that needs to be done with AI, and autonomous trucks are coming, and so they're gonna need people out there to build these things and and make make them user-friendly, make them intuitive, very intuitive. Absolutely. So when you realize uh you aren't chasing a paycheck, but trying to build something that actually matters, I think that's really where the change happens. So, what keeps you consistent and keep you motivated for for your mind, you know, when your mindset? What what's some of the things that sleep?

SPEAKER_00: 5:43

Yes, I struggle with sleep coming out of college. Uh, you know, if I go to the doctor, they'll probably diagnose me with insomnia. Um so I I something I I work on constantly. I'm actually going to see a sleep uh doctor on the 13th. Because right now I'm taking sleep medications and that's fine, but I don't want to do that for like until I'm 50, because we all know that these medications, they they uh there's gonna be some side effects. There's gonna be some side effects. So right now I'm not experiencing anything. You know, I'm 37, I'm not experiencing anything, but that's not to say that 10-15 years down the line I won't experience something, you know, whatever it may be. I I don't I don't know. I I could do a whole bunch of research, but then I would take time, I would take time away from my stuff I'm doing.

SPEAKER_02: 6:29

So yeah, there's sorry about that. Yeah, there's a lot of truckers that are taking in medication. You know, there's sleep apnea, is huge, insomnia is huge. So a lot of truckers out there can relate to that, even if you're not pushing the big rig. So if you had to explain your work ethic to a room full of truckers, how would you describe it?

SPEAKER_00: 6:53

Insane. Insane. Now I haven't gone, I haven't gone like three days without sleep, but the most I've probably done is probably two or or at least in a in a in a three-day span, probably I probably got about 12 hours, you know, and that's not to say that oh you stay awake because you you could stay awake, but you could be unproductive, you know. So that doesn't mean anything. I'm just saying, like it, I I attribute like to me, I I have there's a couple things you do. You could either do focus work or you could do like kind of semi-work and kind of spread it out uh over intervals or whatever. This kind of depends on what you want to do. I I I kind of do a little bit of both. It depends on you know, I just kind of depend on how I'm feeling. If I if I want to spend an hour or two doing focus work, no distractions, then I'll do that. Or if I want to kind of like have my phone on music or whatever, and then vibe out while I'm doing work, then I'll do that. So, and I gotta say, shout out to my uncle Eugene Johnson. Uh, he really he really helped me develop my work ethic. He's a pastor in Madison, Wisconsin, the Madison Pentecostal assembly, and you know, he let me stay with him for you know like six months, six to eight months, and I really got to see his work ethic, in terms of his church. You know, obviously he had other stuff going on. He worked for, he actually worked for the state of Wisconsin. So I got to see that. Well, he retired by the time I stayed with him, but in terms of just like reading, being a voracious reader, um, which I think is important because that's a part of learning. If we don't read, we can't increase our knowledge on things, whether it's an article online or whether it's a book, whether it's or whether you consume it through Audible, you know, just keep getting information. So that's a part of the work ethic. Being a constant learner, you know, a lot of kids nowadays they think, Oh, okay, I went to school, got my 40 degree, now I'm chilling. Well, in the IT world, you're gonna become obsolete because the IT world moves, it moves, it moves, moves, and moves. So if you're not constantly learning, you're gonna be behind, and you're gonna you're not probably won't have a job.

SPEAKER_02: 9:06

So you don't want, yeah. So as a visionary shaping the minds of the new individuals coming in. I mean, you're talking a lot about that, the tech, the culture, your purpose and conviction. How do you personally define the great mind? Because that was also one of the reasons why you did your podcast. Yeah, how would you describe that?

SPEAKER_00: 9:26

Man, man, that was and when I read that question you sent me, I was I was like, man, that's that's tough, man. Because, like, that's to me, that's a subjective question. Because, like, everybody has their own definition. So, to answer it introspectively, to me, I define a great mind. You gotta have a high IQ. Like, that's just that's just that goes along with it. You gotta have a high IQ. Now, you can have that, doesn't mean you have to high IQ in engineering or whatever. You could have a high IQ in in design, you can have a high IQ in painting, you know. How do you find that out? Good question. Me Carson, yeah, uh discipline, but also too, like if you get a lot of people saying, Hey, your work is good, you need to put this out there to the world, I will say that's outward validation, and you can you can go off that.

SPEAKER_02: 10:20

Yeah, I got a friend of mine that does really well with numbers and learning about the stock market and investments and things like that. I think now he wants to learn more about options. So, yeah, I mean, there's there's a lot out there that you can dabble in and see, hey, is that something I'm gonna do?

SPEAKER_00: 10:36

No, no, no, now your friend is he is that a hobby or does he really want to? That's the thing. People have interest, but to take it to that next level, you can you could tell them, hey, you should do this, but they won't really take it seriously until it flips.

SPEAKER_02: 10:53

Yeah, it's a hobby.

SPEAKER_00: 10:55

Okay, okay. Well then that's and that that's also good too, because that hobby could become something serious. He just like you said, it just if he sticks with it. And he doesn't have to, if he has a family, he doesn't have to put in 20 hours a day or 20 hours a week, just consistency. Like, you know, there's a book that I didn't finish called Atomic Habits. One thing that stuck out to me is it was talking about just being consistent. And so, say, for example, you you you want to lose weight or build muscle, and you're tired from work or you're tired from having a family life or whatever, go to the gym, five minutes. Five minutes. I like the body bag. Do the body bag, do the do the body bag, five minutes, get that out, boom. Next day, you got 15 more minutes, boom, do 15 more minutes, boom. Next day, you got 30 minutes, boom, do 30 minutes, boom. That's consistency. So, why didn't you finish the book? I saw it on Instagram, that's why.

SPEAKER_02: 12:05

Uh, because I there's a lot of books I don't finish. I'll start out and I love the intro, and then I get lost in the body.

SPEAKER_00: 12:13

Um, yeah, so my friend told me a little tippy, my friend told me that may be boredom, and you gotta push through that. You gotta push through. All right, I gotta push through that myself. I got and all these books I gotta finish.

SPEAKER_02: 12:28

Yeah, that's how we met at the Barnes and Noble. Yeah, it's doing it, man. People buying books left and right, bookstores are doing well, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 12:36

We just we just gotta keep grinding because there's a lot of pages, yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 12:41

There's a lot to learn in a short period of time. Life goes by so fast, yeah. You know, so yeah, I mean, think about that. It's for a lot of people out there that want to learn something, they get started doing something right out of high school, and then they say, you know what? Man, I I wish I knew what I know now because I would do something different. Yeah, so yeah, there's a lot of truck drivers out there, they got a lot of time on their hands, and they can listen to audible books and they can learn things. So maybe there's a second wave that uh second thing that they're gonna be able to do.

SPEAKER_00: 13:10

So you know, I can I make a prediction for the truckers? Yeah, I believe so with trucking, I don't know much about the business, but I know from what we talked about, and uh so with uh automation and all that, obviously we have we have we have uh self-driving truck drivers, and then there's safety regulations and all that. So are you guys experiencing the the layoffs right now? Because it's it's gonna everybody every sector is gonna experience layoffs, but then there's gonna spirit there we're gonna come a time where we those who have upskilled are going to and who who are who have adapted to the change are gonna be able to pivot into the sector. Has that happened or what what's going on?

SPEAKER_02: 13:56

Yeah, we definitely can see it. There's a lot of automation if it's not just in the truck factor, it's in the building that gives us the goods. So, like self-driving forklifts. Saw a video about that the other day where they're got a bunch of forklifts, and so some CDL holders have a experience driving forklift. Okay, and so they load the trucks and things they may not drive, but they work in the warehouse, so maybe they gotta revisit going back into the truck. There's a lot of things that, like you said, you gotta expand your mind and make it stretch to see what the possibilities of what you'll be able to do. Because, like you said, maybe your company is one that's gonna be investing in some new changes, and you're just like, What do I do? You know, do I just you know just get upset? Well, you don't get a lot done when you're upset. So a lot of people out there worked hard to get to where they're at to be a truck driver, exactly. And then now you got this coming, you're like, what's going on?

SPEAKER_00: 14:56

Exactly, exactly. You know, it's like I spent four years in college just to have my job automated, you know what I'm saying? So, but this is a part of life, man. You know, yeah. What's your take on that? How do you feel about that? That's another thing you mentioned, you mentioned like what gets me going. These changes that get me going. I like challenges, you know. I like to challenge myself. You know, I took computer science courses at UT Martin and I failed uh, I couldn't tell you how many I failed, but I eventually I had to pivot because I had to get out with a degree, and so I just that that taught me not at a certain point, you can only take so many hits, and so you gotta say, okay, I gotta pivot. So that's what I pivoted. But what it told me is I do like challenges, and I don't think that's a bad thing. I don't think taking on challenges is a bad thing, but you you do have to learn how to pivot.

SPEAKER_02: 15:49

So mindset, adversity, wealth. I mean, we think about this uh a great month to think about black history and where we come from and where we're going. So I watched a couple of your episodes that stood out where you let people, you know, behind, you know, you don't let them hide behind clean answers, you know. Um you saw that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 16:15

I like the real man. Don't don't sugarcoat me.

SPEAKER_02: 16:19

Nice, don't sugarcoat you. Yeah. So what do you say uh for truckers who deal with a lot of adversities daily? You know, they got the weather, you got breakdown, there's time you're away from home. A lot of folks, and they make a decent amount of money, but they also feel like they're being left behind because they're constantly just stuck in that truck. What's one of the biggest misconceptions people have about wealth? What would you say?

SPEAKER_00: 16:43

Oh, man, I was hoping you asked me about the truckers, but you you pivoted to wealth.

SPEAKER_02: 16:47

Okay, so yeah, mix them together. I mean, they're building wealth for themselves. Maybe they're maybe they got a pension, maybe they got a 401k.

SPEAKER_00: 16:53

So to to to answer a little bit about because I really wanted to touch on that. I think having a support system is important. When we're in that foxhole by yourself, whether you have a friend, whether you have a wife, a husband, children, whatever you got. I think having I me personally, it's it's my my church. They're a great support system system. My uncle, my cousins, I have a good support system around me. I think that's important. Um, so that was kind of like that answer pivoted to the wealth part. So people get wrong about wealth is I think a lot of people think it's easy. I think a lot of people think like, you know, even for even for uh gifted people, they think it's easy. Well, you got a high IQ or you got connections or daddy's paying your tuition. All of these could be true, or none of them could be true. You know, I think at the end of the day, is like Kobe, like Jordan, like like Tiger Woods, nobody escapes hard work. Nobody, yeah. So I don't care how gifted you are, you're not gonna escape the hard work.

SPEAKER_02: 18:04

So yeah, that's uh a lot of companies they just want people to show up. You know, it's it's crazy how that is a huge requirement that if we just hope that you show up on time and put in the hard work, that dedication, that you that sets you above the rest right there. And they can work with the rest, they can try to train you and help you learn new things, and you can continue to build that wealth for yourself. When I think of wealth, I think of you know, maybe you get some real estate. But first of all, I think investing. I think a lot of people get it backwards, they think real estate, they think of business, but just learning to invest in something that's tangible, like the stock market or 401k for yourself. Uh, that goes a long way. I think that's the starter. I am that's the boring one.

SPEAKER_00: 18:50

Yeah, I I have a I have an acorns account, so shout out to acorns that do automatic investing. You know, I I've kind of fallen off because I I had other expenditures, but man, 2020, like we just talked about atomic habits,$20 here,$30, it goes a long way, trust me. Yeah, it does. Compound interest.

SPEAKER_02: 19:11

Yeah, the compound interest doesn't work until you have something in there. Yeah, it can't compound itself. So yeah, I think if you can get to a hundred thousand dollars, then you really start making some traction. But before that, it feels like you're not doing a whole lot, yeah. But but yeah, keep trying, keep don't give up, move on to the next thing, stay positive, yeah, for sure. Uh, is that what works for you and the mindset there for yourself, also personally?

SPEAKER_00: 19:37

Yeah, yeah, definitely. I'm probably I gotta be honest with you man, I'm probably one of the most positive people you're ever gonna meet in your life. I say that with confidence. So, you know, uh I don't know where I got it from, but just having a positive mindset. Now, that's not to say I don't have days where I'm like, you know, well, I may want to cuss somebody out. You know, it it it comes and goes. Yeah. So I think also too, this whole this whole wave about emotional intelligence. I don't really consider it a wave. I think that's the thing. I think emotional intelligence is big. I read this, I read another book I didn't finish. Is is emotional intelligence better than having a high IQ? I think it is. Because if you don't if you don't know how to manage your emotions, you're gonna be a detriment to your family, you're gonna be a detriment to your coworkers, you're gonna be a detriment to your roommates, you're gonna be a detriment to your church community, you're just gonna be a detriment. And so you we gotta learn how to manage our emotions, yeah. Cause uh you can be easy easily manipulated, yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 20:45

Yeah, so people like to exploit people, they like to prey on your emotions and get you worked up about certain topics. They may be important, it may be something valid, but how much do you want to let it control you? Thank you, thank you. Control your controllables is what I heard.

SPEAKER_00: 21:04

Control your controllables. I gotta write that down really quick. Control your controllables, okay.

SPEAKER_02: 21:11

Yeah, because some things are just out of our control. So what was another one we want to talk about? Is if you had a place to build one simple piece of tech to make a driver's life easy. I wanted to throw you a random one like that. Okay, what would you do? What would you do to make driver's life easy?

SPEAKER_00: 21:31

Maybe it's some tech that you yeah, I would I would say so. I just I just took a lift today to Menards and the streets were kind of crazy. I think you guys deal with that a lot. I think because there's budgets with cities and all that other stuff, and so I think you guys deal with that a lot. So I would I would create some tech that would say, hey, we got a pothole coming up, we got we got you know, we got this coming up, we got we got something coming up to to so you guys can pivot.

SPEAKER_02: 22:02

Man, like yeah, a little heads up.

SPEAKER_00: 22:05

Yeah, yeah. So that that's what I would do.

SPEAKER_02: 22:07

Especially sinkholes, huh? Sinkholes.

SPEAKER_00: 22:11

A tight curve, tight curve, you know. And I already know Google's probably already working on that. They they they have a little bit of that, but you know, it could always be better.

SPEAKER_02: 22:20

That sounds terrible. But A lot of piles, especially in the winter time up here, man. Those snow plows they really make them. So, how would you innovate without losing the human or safety side of work? You know, sometimes people forget about the human factor or the safety side of it, that it could be a little bit dangerous. Yeah. What would you say?

SPEAKER_00: 22:47

Working with humans is an intrinsic part of my personality. Like, you know, I know we got AI, but I really value the ingenuity of humans. AI can do a lot of stuff, but there's nothing like a human touch to a product. You know, I I followed Steve Jobs a lot when he came up, you know, ostensibly in his career. And even though he was an a-hole at times, from what I've heard, he knew how to make a good product. You know, he spent some time in India, you know, on drugs or whatever. And, you know, some say that could help him, helped him, you know, think creatively, but you know that's funny. I'm just talking about I like it. Keep going. But you know, I think that's just a part of who I am because you know, so that's not going to be for everybody. Some people would be like, well, I can I can have AI do 20 people's jobs. Okay, go do it. You know, me personally, I I may take I may want to work with five people, maybe build an automated system, and then want to work with two offshore people. So now, in terms of safety, when we built that product, everybody's gonna have their own mindset. So everybody's gonna have their own thought process. So it's as a as um as a leader, you know, a CTO or a CEO, whatever, it's up to me to say, hey, this is not a safe product. Because you're gonna if you if you build something fast, you're sacrificing safety. And you're sacrificing a good making a good product. But if you take too long, then you may miss, you may miss deadlines.

SPEAKER_02: 24:37

So yeah, you gotta be careful. So that goes into the next segment: purpose, discipline, and legacy. The great mind, you know, you did a lot of great work about the next great mind. For a lot of drivers out there, they're struggling with isolation, burnout. Purpose is what keeps people steady when the road gets long. Uh, what's the cost of living without purpose? What would you say?

SPEAKER_00: 25:02

It's everything. It is everything. Because if you don't have purpose, you don't have anything to keep you going. And we I think we touched on that. If you have kids, that's gonna keep you going. If you have a wife, a husband, that's gonna keep you going. If you have the work, if you just if you just want to be a workaholic, that's gonna keep you going. Because you're like, man, I love working. So I'm gonna keep doing it. I think a lot of the greats, you know, competitively, they were constantly work workaholics. But some of them, some of them, like Kobe, Kobe, for example, I think he was a family man, which which is great. I really valued that. You know, did he do everything perfectly? No. But I think he understood the value of family. So, you know, and that's something that I hope to make sure I keep in the forefront of my mind. I look at my uncle, as I mentioned before, he's been with one woman for for I mean, prior to getting married. I mean, yeah, well, well, you know, as he got married, he's been with one woman since he got married. And so me seeing that, even though even if I wasn't like I didn't see all the fights or all the all the all the conflict resolutions, I got I they're married, you know, they have kids, they have a successful church, so that tells me that can be done. So commitment, commitment that's pretty rare nowadays. That's very rare, very rare, especially for my generation. And it's only and it's only going down. It's only going down. What's that like for you?

SPEAKER_02: 26:44

It's scary, it's it's scary, but we just gotta stay positive, stay positive, you go, yes, stay positive, and do things to fight back, like speak out about it, like you're doing right now, so that other people know that they're not alone. And so, how do you personally define discipline? Is it freedom or a restriction?

SPEAKER_00: 27:13

Both you have the freedom to restrict yourself. So you have the freedom to say, hey, I'm not gonna eat a box of chocolates every single day. You know, and and I I probably say that because I last year I was like three, oh not three, I was like 275. I'm down to today, I weigh myself in like 227. So I'm you know, that's happy about my progress.

SPEAKER_02: 27:41

That's that's huge.

SPEAKER_00: 27:42

Yeah, yeah. If we're not able to stay healthy, we're gonna clock out. So with that goes along with truck driving, because we're we're you're sweating, you're sitting, you're sitting for hours and hours on end, right? You know, it's just like it. We're sitting on hours and hours on end. So we gotta watch our what we're putting in our bodies, you know. Like right now, I'm drinking water, you know, drink a lot of water, try to cut down on sweets, try to cut down on a lot of processed foods and whatnot. So pivoting back to your question, is it freedom or restriction? I think it's a little bit of both because it's your freedom to restrict yourself or not restrict yourself.

SPEAKER_02: 28:25

There you go. So, another question I wanted to get your opinion on is what does a legacy actually mean when you go beyond money and recognition?

SPEAKER_00: 28:39

I think it's building something you're proud of. Whether it's company, whether it's foundation, whether it's family, saying, Hey, I'm proud of my two boys, they got on a roll. I'm proud of my daughter, she's a kickboxing champion, you know. Yeah, so whatever it is, those are things to be proud of. I'm proud of my brother. Like, I have a brother who's handicapped. I love him to death, you know. Not able to talk to him as much as I want to, but I'm proud that he's still here with me, you know. He he's had his own troubles, and so I'm proud that he's still here with me. He's always on my mind. So, you know.

SPEAKER_02: 29:26

Yeah, that's what's up. I got a brother as well. He's older than me. I'm the youngest, and it's nice to know that I have someone else here in the world that understands me. So, yeah, I mean that's that's huge. Family is great, may go through hard times together, but in the end, you know, you you only get one. You know, the ones you you don't really choose them either. So you were the fighter. Have you have you and your brother fought before? Uh, we didn't do too much actually. We did pretty good. Okay, okay. That's nice. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 29:57

Me and my brother had a couple fights. We had a couple fights, but uh he's he's hella. He's not he's in he's older now, but back in the day, man, that dude has some grown man strength at like 20 21 years old, man. God dog.

SPEAKER_02: 30:12

Wow, yeah, that's good. You know, people help you find your boundaries, help you understand where the respect needs to be, like said for safety and stuff. Well, yeah, strength, you know, you can hurt somebody. So, what belief do you have to unlearn to grow? What do what belief did you hold on to? And you say, you know what, I gotta let that go.

SPEAKER_00: 30:41

I don't know. I'm I don't think I'm there yet. Like with this company, I started doing everything, and and I now have a a business partner, an employee named uh Marquise uh Young, who's also a pastor. So he he's a CFO. I mean, so I had to let that go. Now I'm probably gonna be CTO for a little while, but there's gonna come a time where I'm gonna have to be like, okay, I gotta let this go. So I think it comes with discernment, it comes with practicality. Yeah, discernment and practicality definitely for me, and no, nobody can tell you when to let go except yourself, really.

SPEAKER_02: 31:30

You know, yeah, nobody can tell you. So is that Zach Gideon Systems Incorporated? It is, it is, it is all right. Yeah, so look those guys up and check them out, see what's going on there. So, for someone who's listening who feels invisible and not seen, or you know, but they show up every day. I'm sure you know, as a company owner, you're trying to see individuals and look at their qualities. What would you want them to hear right now?

SPEAKER_00: 31:57

You know, you said you say look at the qualities. Are you talking about just as a person or or for hiring?

SPEAKER_02: 32:03

Yeah, all above. Yeah, it's just you know, to go unseen. Maybe it's something that they've been trying to reach out towards and they're trying to get it done, but uh there's meant what I think.

SPEAKER_00: 32:14

I think the first thing, so there's two parts to that question. There's uh what they're doing in terms of how to get hired. I think they gotta look at why they're doing what they're doing. Are they doing it just for the money, or are they doing it because they really love it, or are they doing it because someone told them to, or are they doing it because they saw a commercial on an algorithm? Yeah, there's there's a lot, and and then the other thing is to get hired, you just gotta make yourself valuable, really. That's what I'm doing right now. You know, I had to scale back with some things. I had like I just mentioned I had to scale back on the podcast to focus on some things, but working on my resume. Yeah, even even as a CTO, I'm working on my resume. I'm working on the company, the company's resume. So, what does that mean? That means the brand. I'm working on the company brand. I I I want my company to be a brand that says we're about community. Yeah, we we don't so I got a little emotional because I've I've seen this in my career. We don't discard people, you know? Yeah, right. Some people, yeah, it's rough. I'm gonna move on. I'm gonna get emotional. We're gonna move on. Yeah, I know. That's a tough subject. That's a tough subject for me. Okay, that's a tough subject.

SPEAKER_02: 33:52

Yeah, I mean, you try your hardest, and then you kind of met with a lot of adversity, and people try to say, hey, you know, you should be doing it this way, and you're trying to do it that way. Or you're or you're not good enough, right? Or you're not good enough, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 34:05

Or you're worthless. Yeah, yeah. I've I've I've seen that. I've I've seen people, a lot of people discard people because they think they have no economic value, and that hurts the community.

SPEAKER_02: 34:21

Nicely said, Yeah, I like that. You said it nice and simple for people to get, and instead of, like you said, takes the emotion out of it, you hit it right nail on the head there, man. You don't nobody should feel that way. Yeah, so we all have something we can contribute. And with a lot of the changes with technology and everything, they're great and exciting, but we want to be careful we're not uh discarding people and just creating voids for people to feel worthless. So if we can add that value, I think it's a win.

SPEAKER_00: 34:56

So I I like you, I like your Ray. I like you.

SPEAKER_02: 35:01

Thank you. Yeah, man, that's all what it's all about. Is we can find that common ground with everyone. Uh, we may see things differently, but uh, if we can come together for something, then uh we're gonna be able to deliver something great. And uh that's why I started this podcast is to get that out there for a lot of people to see. Yeah, a lot of people to hear that and their ear that hey, this is you're not alone out here. No matter what you're doing, even if you're not driving the truck, you're contributing in some way. So appreciate that, man.

SPEAKER_00: 35:26

Now I and I appreciate you doing this in Minneapolis, man. Right now, you know, we we've had a we're we we've had a lot of trouble with Trump and ICE and this, that, and the other. But people like you, man, that are doing it and putting the city on, like like you have a lot of episodes out, man. I I didn't look at subscribers, I didn't look at any of that. I just said this dude's putting in work. I want to be a part of that. Can I be a part of that?

SPEAKER_02: 35:54

Trying to get me now, huh? You are a part of it. Thank you. Yeah, thank you. And yeah, no matter what side of the aisle you're on or what you believe, if we come together and find something that we can we can agree on, I think we'll go to a better place. Like you said, the city has been through a lot.

SPEAKER_01: 36:11

So yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 36:13

But that's something we can agree on. Yeah, I think it no matter where you're you're from or what you do, that's you you could just turn on TV and yeah, Minnesota's popping up. So, where can they find you? Where do we want people to look for you if they want to learn more about what the great things you're doing? And give me so.

SPEAKER_00: 36:30

Right now, my website is down. I'll get that back up when I get that back up. But uh, you can go to uh gideonsis.ai. So that'll be back up soon. You can find me. You you can look me up on University of Wisconsin. On LinkedIn, on LinkedIn. I'm on LinkedIn. So Zachariah Copeland Z-E-C-H-A-R-I-A-H-C-O-P-E-L-A-N-D. Look me up. I'm the one with I forgot, I forgot. I changed my picture. I may be doing this. There you go. Gotta have time. Something important. I was saying something important. So, so yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 37:12

I like that platform. I think it's a good platform for professionals to come together, yeah, and see each other's strengths. So exactly. All right, well, uh, to end it up with you know, this episode, I think it's a great episode. We get this put out for people to listen to. Uh, big thanks to you, Zachariah. And appreciate you guys doing all that hard work over there yourself, too, for the city. You're putting on a lot of great work. So putting in that that hard work that you need that you mentioned. You know, you can't can't substitute it. Can't substitute it.

SPEAKER_00: 37:40

No, you can't.

SPEAKER_02: 37:40

No, you can't. All right. So appreciate your ready, man.

SPEAKER_00: 37:44

And whatever you're doing, keep going.

SPEAKER_02: 37:46

Thank you. All right, appreciate it. If anyone at home likes what they see, like what they hear, please give a shout out to us, bring uh support, subscribe in any way you can, or leave a review. If you have a question you want us to bring on the show, be sure to do so. We'd love to hear from you. And if you're thinking of uh anything long term, a big shout out to Zach Gideon Systems. Uh, reach out to those guys, give the support that they need. I'm glad they have them on the show. And for me to Truck and Ray, thanks for listening, and that's delivered.

SPEAKER_00: 38:14

God bless y'all.