Fire Protection Podcast

Rob Read - Into The Fire

Episode Summary

Drew sits down to chat with fellow podcast host Rob Read of the Into the Fire podcast. Rob has a different approach to his content focusing more on business acumen and other professionals. Rob also owns Bison Fire Protection a large fire protection contractor in the Winnipeg area.

Episode Notes

Full Transcript

Drew Slocum: (00:08):

This is episode 17 of the Fire Protection Podcast, powered by Inspect Point. Today my guest is Rob Read. Rob is the president and owner of Bison Fire Protection. He's also the host of the Into the Fire, uh, video podcast on YouTube. Um, soon to be coming out on all podcast channels, but wanted to chat with Rob a little bit about his experience in the, the Fire protection podcasting world. It's a small knit group with, uh, Chris Logan, myself. And, uh, there's a new life safety podcast out there by Ruben Garcia. I talked to him the other day, so wanted to share ideas, see what Rob's doing. Uh, he's got a kind of a different style doing a lot of video, um, out of his, uh, bison Fire Protection office in, uh, uh, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Um, yeah, had a great conversation with Rob. Um, again, his podcast is a little different, talking a little bit about fire protection, but more business, uh, processes, different things and challenges in the, in the business world, running a business, uh, handling your workforce and all sorts of things. So, great conversation with Rob and, um, yeah, hope everybody enjoys. I wondered even if you had any, uh, wet sprinkler systems there.

Rob Read: (01:29):

Oh, yeah. We've got a few, yeah. . Yeah. You know, I mean, we, we do heat the odd buildings, so, uh, and keep them warm all winter . That's true. Right. But there are lots of dry systems. Don't, uh, our, sometimes our challenges aren't so much with sprinklers, but with, um, systems, you know, suppression systems and different things. Like, you know, people bring in these new, uh, wet chemical suppression for off roads and, and Oh, this is gonna be all great and it'll be fine. And then you find out that it, it gels at like minus seven Fahrenheit, and we're going, okay, but we get like minus 45 here. Right. , you know, that's no good. It doesn't work for us. You gotta make sure you got something that gets really cold.

Drew Slocum: (02:11):

Yeah. Speaking of which, I saw, saw you did a lot of vehicle systems. Is that a, uh, um, is that a big, obviously it's probably a big mining and, uh, area up there.

Rob Read: (02:24):

There is a, a lot of it, uh, in Saskatchewan. Uh, we've got offices in Saskatchewan, and they produce a lot of potash, I think there, they're either the largest or second largest producer of potash in the world.

Drew Slocum: (02:37):

Wow.

Rob Read: (02:38):

Yeah. So there's a lot of that sort of stuff. But even, you know, we've got gold mines, we've got nickel mines, we've got, uh, zinc. There's all kinds of stuff.

Drew Slocum: (02:48):

That's great. Yeah. I, I, I, you know, working for Ansel back in the day, I was always intrigued on, on the vehicle suppression systems, and it, it seemed like the neatest, I guess you just don't, I never dealt it every day, so it was like mm-hmm. , you know, I was living in New York City. You never,

Rob Read: (03:03):

Yeah. There's not a lot of mines there, .

Drew Slocum: (03:05):

No, not a lot of mines there. So. Well, uh, let's get kicking. I, I, I've actually been, I, I'm recording right now. I, we had some good conversation going, so might as well, uh, hold, hold on. Yeah,

Rob Read: (03:15):

Let's get her

Drew Slocum: (03:16):

Going. But, um, thanks for coming on the podcast today. It's, try to keep it pretty informal. I know. Um, Rob, you know, I've known you for a few months now since Chris Logan, uh, introduced us. Chris seems to be introducing everybody these days.

Rob Read: (03:31):

Yeah. He's a real connector, that guy.

Drew Slocum: (03:32):

Yeah, he is. So, uh, he's doing a good thing. And I know you've got your, uh, into the fire, uh, podcast, which you, uh, when did you start that?

Rob Read: (03:42):

Well, into the fire? We actually kicked off back in last June, and it started off as a video, uh, presentation that we were doing on YouTube and then pushing out through all the, uh, different social media things like LinkedIn and places like that. And it's easily found that way. And last year, I'm gonna say towards October, we had enough material then to go to the iPods and get it out there on Apple Podcasts and Spotify and all that. So what we did is took all of the video and lifted the audio off, and are now doing that for everything that we're doing. So we got, you know, the videos for the people that, like the YouTube show, and then those that just have time to listen in their, their vehicles or, you know, enjoy the podcasts instead. They, they can still hear the show.

Drew Slocum: (04:29):

Yeah. And I, I think, you know, we, I found that out and it, it's funny, I, I don't travel as much for work anymore cuz all the, all the stuff I do for inspect point is, uh, is virtual. But even when I'm in the car, um, I used to have a se I still have serious xm, but I, I'm, I'm converting more over to podcasts, weirdly enough, because I don't know, it's, it's more of the content that you want to hear. And hey, if, if I've got 30 minutes an hour in the car, um, might as well educate up while I'm doing it. You know?

Rob Read: (05:03):

I, I hear you. And, and I'm the same way. I'm kind of, I'll say 50 50 between my ex Sam and the podcasts because you know, like you say, you wanna listen to something that speaks to you that's, uh, whether it's, you know, the fire industry that we're both very deeply involved in or, you know, just something of, you know, personal interest so we can grow a hobby and do all those sort of fun things. It's, you know, it, it's, you're able to zero in on what you truly want to hear.

Drew Slocum: (05:29):

Yeah, no, it is. And commercial free, well, semi-commercial theory sometimes, you know, sometimes you get a podcast with, with stuff in the middle of it. Um, yeah. So I guess what is, what is the main goal of, of, into the Fire?

Rob Read: (05:45):

Well, the main goal there is, you know, we, we talk to a lot of, um, um, these days presidents and CEOs of companies. The intent is to talk about, you know, business culture, business growth, um, team building, what's your purpose. Uh, they wanna talk about some of the challenges that they've faced and, you know, from our Winnipeg point of view. Anyways, we've got some pretty prominent people coming on. You know, one of them was the, uh, CEO of the Winnipeg Airport Authority and, and what great work they do. Uh, you know, we've got the president of the World Trade Center, Winnipeg coming up. Uh, we're actually recording tomorrow and Wow. So I'm looking forward to hearing what Marriott has to say about international trade and, and all the things that go with that. The, uh, you know, how the risks and the rewards that come with it.

(06:35)
And Mary is gonna have a great story to share with us. But, you know, it's the ability to talk and tap into those minds cuz a lot of people get into business and there's a growth cycle that they need to go through, especially the startups and that's so prominent these days. Yeah. That it's an opportunity for them to be able to listen and learn and understand that some of the struggles that they're facing have been faced by others and been overcome. And this is how, you know, if that, uh, so, you know, like I say, if I, I sat here and just talked specifically about bison and what we do, you know, for fire protection, I would lose a lot of listeners very quickly, but Right. You know, and, and you know, where you've done a great job with your show is you're, you're not focusing on inspect point. You're talking about a lot of product. You're talking about, uh, the, the services that are required to do it. And, and you keep it going that way as well. So it, it's, uh, you know, really strong that instead of us having a half hour infomercial on what we do, we're actually bringing good new content to people.

Drew Slocum: (07:36):

Yeah. It, it, it, you know, I I deal with it day in out. Same, same with you. You're up at bison day in, day out and I kind of wanna learn about things, new things as well. So, um, it was always, it was always tough to learn about new things in fire protection. I feel like you have to go to the trade shows, you have to, mainly, it was like a lot of trade shows or presentations mm-hmm. .

Rob Read: (08:00):

Well, and, and keep in mind for us too, I mean, trade shows are a lot of travel usually because, you know, we're Canadian, that means across the border and dollar exchange and hotels, it gets very expensive for us to get into these shows and see those products. So for me to be able to go into a podcast like yours and hear you talking about the different reps and being very specific about it, I, I learned a lot from that and it's really appreciated. And I'm sure a lot of your listeners are doing exactly the same thing.

Drew Slocum: (08:29):

Yeah, yeah. Hopefully. And I, I, I, I'd love to, uh, share some ideas too, to try to, and even with Chris, Chris Logan, you know, how to, how to get more listeners and get it out there. I, I think it's still a new, new platform for, for both of us, for all of us

Rob Read: (08:46):

Really. Mm-hmm. for all of us really.

Drew Slocum: (08:47):

Yeah. Yeah. And, um, I, I, you mentioned something to me yesterday that, that, um, that I like the term we we're, we're not competing, we're not competitors in the podcast. We're, uh, what, what did you call it yesterday? I

Rob Read: (09:03):

Called Yeah. Co competitors.

Drew Slocum: (09:04):

Co competitors, right.

Rob Read: (09:05):

Yeah. You know, cuz we can cooperate cuz we're, you know, we're, we're not gonna be out there cutting each other's grass, so. Right. You know, we're in the same industry. Why not support each other as co competitors?

Drew Slocum: (09:14):

Yeah. It's, it's, it's, it's interesting. And in the podcast world scenes like that, I, I listen to some, some, uh, golf podcasts. I list some comedy podcasts as well. And it seems like everybody has their own outlets, so they, they just join in on their other, the other outlets that talk about, you know, what whatever's, you know, pertinent that day, so. Right.

Rob Read: (09:36):

Exactly. Um, you know, just, um, with, with my show into the fire right now, one of the things I've started doing as a, uh, kind of a subsection on the YouTube page is a did you know, section? And it was interesting, I was listening to one of your recent shows, the Clear the Air episode. Yeah. And you started talking about internal investigations and how important they are. And I did the same thing. It was kind of a, did you know it's about a 45, second to a minute long? Did you know that? And, uh, you know, I I exactly the internal, um, obstruction investigations to make sure that the, the pipe is clear and working properly. Right. And I think it's so incumbent on us not to just talk about product or sell, but to be able to share with people at, on a layman's term, uh, you know, what they should be looking for from their fire protection and why it's so important. Because otherwise they're just looking at quotes on a page and they're going, this is gonna cost me a lot of money. Oh my God. And then they start learning that no, there's actually, you know, gravel or in one case as I shared a piece of two by four stuck inside their sprinkler system, preventing a valve from working like these tests and the things that we do are so important. But that's why I kind of walk through the did you knows, so that we can speak to the customers and educate them a little bit more.

Drew Slocum: (10:55):

Yeah. I think, I think education for the, the customer on whatever you're selling, you know, and especially in fire protection, cuz it, it, it is pretty confusing sometimes. So if you could

Rob Read: (11:05):

Well, and put that out there and it's so important. Right. You know, the, the life safety aspect of it. Cuz you know, I, I always push, you know, our purpose is to make the world a safer place. Well, education's a big part of that cuz we can sell all the sprinklers or all the fire alarms or extinguishers, you name it that we want. But if people don't know how to use them or, or why they're even in place, we're, we're missing the mark.

Drew Slocum: (11:29):

Sure, sure. Yeah. And unfortunately, uh, who I talked about them on the podcast yesterday, but, um, uh, you know, they're tapped into Hollywood, this new extinguisher that's coming out to the market, um, that, uh, anyway, they're tapped into Hollywood and,

Rob Read: (11:48):

You know, right. Yeah. It's that composite extinguisher.

Drew Slocum: (11:50):

Yeah. On the, on the sprinkler side of things, I wish we had some more people in Hollywood to, to help out with , just the vision of it. Cuz I feel, uh, uh, the media, media in Hollywood kind of run. Um, I don't know. They just, they don't understand, uh, fire sprinklers. They understand fire alarms to a certain extent, but,

Rob Read: (12:13):

Uh, yeah, they do. Yeah.

Drew Slocum: (12:14):

But on the sprinkler side, I, I think there needs to be some more education and if they keep pumping, pumping advertisements or movies that, uh, show negative impacts of sprinklers, it's, it, it, it gets tougher and tougher for our industry to overcome. So,

Rob Read: (12:30):

And you're right. And it's funny, uh, I recorded a, just a whole series of did you knows earlier this week, and one of them was exactly that about how in Hollywood, when one sprinkler head goes off, they all go off. And, and how that's just not the reality because there's not the sprinkler pressure, water pressure, or even water supply to accommodate that right? Now I know when the movies are setting up, so it looks all great, it's a beautiful visual effect, but reality is that's not how they work. And people need to understand that, you know that Well, if they're getting concerned that you're putting a sprinkler head in and every time it goes, you know, this thing's gonna go off, my entire building's gonna flood. No, they're not designed that way.

Drew Slocum: (13:09):

Right. Yeah. There's a, um, I think I talked about this with, uh, Chris Logan at one point, but I forgot what it is. I'm looking it up right now. But on YouTube there's a, um, there's a YouTube page out there that goes over all of the, um, different, oh, it's called Films on Fire. Okay. So I'm giving them a free plug, check it out on YouTube or whoever's

Rob Read: (13:34):

Listening, I'm writing it done as we speak,

Drew Slocum: (13:35):

Films on fire. And it's every false kind of, uh, thing about fire protection in the movies. So it, it's pretty cool. Um, you know, he doesn't get too many, I don't even him or her, I don't even know who produces it, but it'd be, you know what, maybe I should reach out to them to, to have them on as well, cuz what, whatever they're doing, they're, they're kind of cutting clips of each movie to show the, uh, the inaccuracies in it. So.

Rob Read: (14:02):

Well, and, and I agree, and sometimes it's not even just the inaccuracies, but the danger, uh, I spoke a little bit about the using a fire extinguisher and people, you see it on TV all the time, blasting each other in the face. But can you imagine hitting someone or, or, or shooting a CO2 extinguisher, which is basically liquid dry ice into somebody's face, you'd blind them. Oh yeah. Yeah. And people don't know that they think it's a big joke or, you know, I don't know if they think it's confetti coming out there, just what they're thinking. But CO2 could be really damaging, but that doesn't take away how damaging dry chemical or, or any other agent coming out of an extinguisher can be.

Drew Slocum: (14:40):

I mean, most of them are dry abc, dry camm or BC dry camm these days. So what if somebody doesn't know that's the bulk of them. Yeah. Yeah. What if somebody doesn't know that and they, they just go up and hit somebody. They think it's a CO2 extinguisher. , yeah. Covered in yellow.

Rob Read: (14:55):

Well, or you get a lung full of that stuff. Oh yeah. And let's face it, it's, it's, it's not healthy. And, uh, it always bothers me when I see it on tv. Oh God. I hope nobody does that at home. .

Drew Slocum: (15:07):

Yeah. Well that's, that's good. I'm, I'm really excited what you're doing. You know, I I, I've watched a few of them. Um, I like how you're doing the video podcast. We've only done one video and that was the, the clearing in the air, actually, that was only, we did it Facebook Live, so we, we did it at a bar in, in San Antonio and, uh, you know, had a, had some tequila and, and beer flowing to, to

Rob Read: (15:31):

Hopefully

Drew Slocum: (15:31):

Open up some of the, uh, the guests there. So, uh, but I, you know, I probably should do some more video, video podcasting. So,

Rob Read: (15:40):

Well, we, we've thought about doing some of the live things like that, and I've often wondered, you know, what the sound, the noise in the background, all that sort of stuff, how, you know, what are the other challenges that come with it? I mean, what we're doing is pretty controlled, so, you know, we know what's gonna happen in the background. Uh, we, we know that the sound isn't gonna be interrupted and Yeah. And all that sort of stuff. But if we wanted to start doing something live like that, uh, how would it truly come out? And I guess at the end of the day, that's gonna be up to the producer to fix. So, uh, Brian, if you're listening out there, sorry, buddy .

Drew Slocum: (16:10):

Yeah. A lot of it, the funny part is, I'm, I'm the producer, I'm the editor, and I think Krista's the same, so mm-hmm. , I think the day before. Um, and Chris has got some pretty good technology with him. Mine, I, you know, I have a decent podcast, Mike, but I had to find a restaurant that was, that was quiet and it, you know, it was still loud mm-hmm. . But I feel like that's what made it a little bit more authentic. And, um, you know, you, you can't do everyone like that. But, um, I think that's what people are liking these days is, you know, the authenticity, the, you know, it's kind of, it's uncut as well, you know.

Rob Read: (16:47):

Well, and, and I like that because, uh, like you say, it's that almost that raw unpolished we're, you know, we're just some guys in the field that are working hard at what we're doing and trying to share, you know, our ideas and our thoughts. I mean, we're not professional, uh, presenters by any stretch of the imagination. And, and so I think it brings that sense of, of reality that we know of what we speak. We're not just, like I say, hired actors in a commercial.

Drew Slocum: (17:13):

Yeah, exactly.

Rob Read: (17:15):

You know, so, and I, I've heard a couple of your shows where you're, you know, at trade shows and, you know, it's, it is interesting to kind of hear that background noise cuz it kind of puts you in the building as you're talking about what's going on. Right. You're hearing those sounds and, and, and it kind of helps take you there.

Drew Slocum: (17:29):

Yeah, it does. And you know, you can't, not everybody can be there. So that you, you have a great point there. And I probably mm-hmm. We probably should do a few more of those. Um, do you have any plans, uh, uh, now you said you said you might do some live ones with yours. What, I guess, um, you seem to target a lot of local people, which I, I, I really, you know, you're getting out of the fire protection realm a little bit and you're focusing on the business. You're focusing on the area that, that you're, you're operating in and there's some really good lessons and, um, ideas that you have on there. Or do you continue, are you gonna plan on continuing to do that? Are you're gonna bring in more fire protection elements in there or it's evolving

Rob Read: (18:12):

It, it's, it's, you know, what do they call it? Uh, constant and never ending improvement. Right? So the plan for the next, you know, for the bulk of this season is gonna be to kinda continue with the presidents and the CEOs and build on actually, you know, helping people build a business. And as they're doing that, learning the importance of dealing with a bad culture or how important, um, mental health days are versus sick days. That was one of the episodes we did. Um, you know, we've talked about micromanaging versus blind trust and there's all kinds of different things that can be talked about. And that's why I like the idea of bringing in, you know, the local people that I have nearby and being a video show, it's not as convenient for me to be able to do like you and I are doing, I mean, across two different countries right now.

(19:05)
Uh, the beautiful thing about PO only is you can do that. Whereas I do restrict myself with the videos to where I can either drive to or have people pull up and come see me back and forth. Cuz a lot of it we do right here in my office or in, you know, in some cases if they have an office facility, we go out and see them. But I will be definitely stretching the show out. Uh, and into season two. We've already started some preliminary discussion about what we wanna even do there. And keep in mind we've only got three of 24 episodes out so far, or four of 24 episodes out for season two. So we've got a, you know, a long way to go and a lot of planning to do. But, you know, there's just, just so much to talk about just in the business world.

(19:50)
And, and I always think about how much more there is to do. Uh, and you may or may not know this about me, but I've spent a lot of time working with our, uh, as members of our chambers of Commerce. I've sat on two different chamber boards and been very involved with that. So I talk a lot of business with a lot of different people and you start hearing where their struggles are and that gives me a lot of information as to where we wanna go with the show and what we want to talk about. Cuz people wanna do, well, you know, they wanna give her a good product, they wanna give a good service. Right. You know, they just wanna run a good business. That's why they went into it and they wanna enjoy it. But there's anyone can go to a, uh, a college and take a business course that isn't running a business. Sure. You know, it's like, it's like saying you've read the cookbooks and now you're an expert chef.

Drew Slocum: (20:37):

Right.

Rob Read: (20:38):

, you know, sooner or later you gotta get the pots and pans out and you gotta start breaking the eggs and start frying and do what you gotta do. But, um, that's where talking to the people, especially these presidents, they, they've started in the tre trenches and they're working their way up or have worked their way up into some very strong roles and they have a lot to share. And I'm so appreciative of the fact that they take the time to do that.

Drew Slocum: (21:03):

Right. Yeah. I think I, I think you, you've kind of hit on something where it can go across, you know, not only fire protection, but other people can, can listen into some of the ideals and, uh, I guess some of the problems that some of these other presidents and CEOs and managers, whoever have, have solved and mm-hmm. or, or run into the same problems that you have. So, um, I listened, what was the one I listened to? The one on the Canadian shoe company, athletic shoe company,

Rob Read: (21:33):

Right? Yeah, yeah. Brian, Brian Sharpstein over Canadian footwear.

Drew Slocum: (21:36):

Yeah. Yeah. That was, that was interesting to to talk, you know, some of the leadership skills that he was, uh, kind of alluding to and, um, kind of the current conditions that he's, he's kind of going into as well.

Rob Read: (21:49):

Um, for sure.

Drew Slocum: (21:50):

What, what do you see, you know, what are, what are the big challenges? You know, cuz we get a lot of fire protection, uh, owners and other companies. What are, what are the big challenges that, that you see not only within the business, but within the fire protection realm

Rob Read: (22:05):

In general? Well, and, and I can probably almost touch both of these at the same time, because I'm gonna say historically our industry has always hired from within because it's such a small but important industry. So what happens is you have a really good technician, uh, then you bring them from technician into supervisor, you take them from supervisor to manager and, and you keep promoting them from within. Yet we don't take the time to invest in training them into those roles. Truly as management, they kind of get the title and then they're kinda trial by fire, you know, no pun intended here, but away you go. And either it is sink or swim. You either have a lot of success, uh, as a manager. Some people just are naturally that way, but we don't necessarily invest in those supervisors and, uh, managers the way we need to.

(22:59)
And, you know, get them the more, uh, I'm gonna say official training or push uh, professional development on them because they're, they're so caught in the trenches of what they're doing every day. And, and I kind of used the analogy not long ago. Uh, you know, my wife was complaining about how much laundry there was in the house and how come it never gets done. And I said, well, teach your kids to do it. They're old enough. No, no, no. They'll wreck with my washing machine. I I don't want the kids to touch my washing machine. . I said, I wish I could. Well, okay, it, your pile isn't gonna go down. And, you know, and, and it's almost the same thing with management. Like, these guys are so used to being on the tools that they have a hard time making that transformation, uh, from technician to supervisor. Sure. And then, you know, when they finally do make that transition and they've moved up a little, you know, have they truly back trained someone to come in and support behind so that they can move up to the next level? And how much are they taking on themselves to become a good, solid, strong manager? Right. And that is, I I I think a miss in not just our industry, but in many industries where you see people are just, they struggle in that middle area.

Drew Slocum: (24:10):

Yeah.

Rob Read: (24:11):

Yeah.

Drew Slocum: (24:12):

I could, I could see that in middle manager era where, um, you know, the, the C-suite, the execs are seem to be doing well. I, I know there is an issue in, in the US with finding qualified technicians just mainly cuz a lot of younger, younger generations don't wanna do a lot of that work. That's at least mm-hmm. , that's what's happening in the us. But, um, with that, you'd have that middle middle management if you, if you, um, if you don't have that background in the, uh, the technical field or in the field, it's, it's tough to, to be, you know mm-hmm. be a great middle manager.

Rob Read: (24:48):

So Yeah. Oh, for sure. Well, no, if you haven't got the tech technical expertise, you will never be a great supervisor. Uh, but you know what? A great supervisor isn't a great manager because it's a whole different skillset and, and requirements of the jobs because you've gone from directing, uh, the people in the field to looking at spreadsheets and understanding forecasts and all the good stuff that goes with all that, that becomes that management level thing. Right. So they are just, you know, like I say, different skill sets and I think where a lot of companies fail is in that training process. But you kind of touched on the, uh, you know, attracting technicians. And just yesterday actually, I was out at our local community college cuz I go in there on an annual basis and speak to the kids that are going through their electronic technology classes and talk to them about the fire protection industry.

(25:41)
And specifically for them fire alarms, because they're in that, they're, they're going through the classes, but they don't even know our industry exists. You know, so they're looking at getting onto the, the big hydro corporations, the, you know, the, the utilities or, or some big technology, uh, type of company not even knowing the opportunities that are in front of them in fire alarm. And what a great industry it is. And by the time I've done the presentation, there's, I got 25 or 30 people that are all lining up to come work for us because there's something going, wow. You mean I'm not in a cubicle day in and day out? You mean I get to problem solve, I get to do programming, I get to troubleshoot, uh, I get to work with engineers. Sure. I get to work with contractors, uh, every day's unique, all like, all that good stuff that they just don't even know exists. And that's why I go to the schools and I'm never struggling to find new young talent. Now they're trainees. So it takes, you know, I'm playing the long game here because, you know, I started this program, I'm gonna say seven, eight years ago, but now I've got some guys that are moving into senior technician roles because we started it then and we keep going, bringing in a new kid or two every year.

Drew Slocum: (26:53):

Yeah. That's a, that's a great success story. And I wish, you know, I think you gotta play that medium to long term game a lot of times. Mm-hmm. and not all of them are gonna stick around, you

Rob Read: (27:05):

Know? No, they're not, they're not

Drew Slocum: (27:06):

All gonna work out. But if you can grab, you know, a a handful of, of qualified, uh, technicians from that and eventually get into managers and whatever else, I think that's, that's important.

Rob Read: (27:18):

It absolutely is. I mean, I look at it and go, I'm bringing the right people in that have a desire to do electronic work. So they're working in an area of their expertise that they've been trained at college for versus, uh, you know, Jimmy's cousin that doesn't like cooking french fries at McDonald's and he wants to be a fire alarm guy. So he is taking five courses and out into the field. Right. You know, , they're just, they're, they're two different people. And I've always really thought, let's get the people with the desire to even work with electronics. It's so important. You know, cuz what we're doing, you know, and making the world a safer place, a big part of that's bringing the right people in for the right reasons.

Drew Slocum: (27:57):

Right. Yeah, no, you're right. It's, uh, and I think maybe there's more, more lessons to be learned and if that's the, the big issue in the us um, with technicians is just getting the message out, getting message out to, uh, high schools or technical schools that, you know mm-hmm. , you don't, there's a lot more opportunities out there and, and fire protection seems to be a, uh, definitely a needed one out there. So,

Rob Read: (28:22):

For sure. And, and I mean, like we were talking about yesterday, I just focused on the fire alarm guys, but the same thing on the suppression side of our industry where, you know, it's, it's industry schools, you know, we send them to Ansel, we send them to Keta or or wherever we're sending them, but we, it's not a trade. And because of that we have to make sure that the training that we're giving them, the time we're spending with them, you know, all those good things we are creating and developing good technicians in the field. And one week at a, you know, a restaurant kitchen course isn't gonna do the trick. I mean, it's definitely important, but we have to also invest in them ourselves in the field, you know, with, again, those good supervisors teaching them their job properly. Sure. But it, but it takes time to find these kids and, and find the right one. Cuz as you said, not every single one of them is gonna last.

Drew Slocum: (29:15):

Now, uh, in, in your, in your days as a, you've had bison fire protection since the early two thousands, correct?

Rob Read: (29:23):

That's right. Yeah. Yeah. We opened it up back in 2001. So have

Drew Slocum: (29:27):

You, have you had any, uh, technicians or managers go out and kind of did similar to what you, you kind of started from a, a bigger company, bigger corporate company, and you broke off, did your own thing? Um, I don't know the whole history there, but, um, well,

Rob Read: (29:41):

What we did was we bought a division from another company that was wanting to get out of the suppression business and then grew it from there. But, uh, you know, have I had technicians that thought, you know what, we're smarter than the boss, so we're gonna go out and open our own place. Yeah. I've had a couple of those. Um, and I, I look at, you know, what they're doing out there right now and, um, I don't know that they're, they, I don't know that they're bringing up the level of the industry.

Drew Slocum: (30:07):

Right, right. Yep. Now, and, and probably happens, uh, maybe not as successfully as obviously what you did, but there's, there's gotta be cases out there. And, and my point to that was, you know, there's these big, big companies out there, big corporate companies and, you know, sometimes you have to take the leap and if, if you think something's better out there, you know, start, you know, I came from a big corporate, two big corporate companies and started my own adventure up. And it's, uh, sometimes you have to take that big leap in order to, to kind of push yourself forward. Again, it's not for everybody,

Rob Read: (30:46):

But no, it's not definitely not

Drew Slocum: (30:48):

For everybody.

Rob Read: (30:48):

But it's, uh, and you know what I'm gonna say, um, you know, just my observations of course, but I, I think in some cases some of the bigger corporations have kind of lost their way. You know, we always talk about people, process and tools and the people being the, the most important part of that because if you invest in your people, good people will get you through bad process and poor tools. But a lot of the big co corporations have gotten so heavy with process and tools that they've forgotten about the people. Cause they believe that they can plug people in and out and they've forgotten who's building the relationships with the customers. Uh, they've forgot who's building the relationships with their internal customers, meaning their, their, their coworkers. And because of that, their cultures have gone downhill and they are losing traction where these, these big multinationals could truly be, uh, machines in a lot of cases, at least what I'm seeing here, they struggle because the people just are so dissatisfied Sure. That they work there for a short time and leave.

Drew Slocum: (31:48):

Yeah. And the same, same thing down here in the States. And um, you know, you see that a lot and I, I always hoped for the best for some of those big corporate companies, cuz they, they have the, the cash, they have the talent, they can really grow. But

Rob Read: (32:04):

They have the products, you're right. They, they are set up to be machines .

Drew Slocum: (32:08):

They for some reason struggle. And it's, um, it's really apparent maybe in, maybe that's just in the last, I don't know, 10, 10 or so years. But, um, sometimes they can't get out of their own way, which, uh, I dunno, it, it opens opportunity to others to mm-hmm. to, to get in there. So,

Rob Read: (32:28):

Um, it, it does. And then like I say it that in my mind is all culture and all people, you know, if you take care of your people and you fiercely protect your culture, you can do all kinds of great things.

Drew Slocum: (32:42):

Yeah, no, I agree. I I I've seen a lot of kind of local, private, uh, contractors that, uh, that do right. For their employees, uh, promote within and you know, even, uh, educate, they educate more than more than a corporate company does sometimes and mm-hmm. , they, they hold onto those people. They probably have a higher profit than some of those big corporate companies. So, um, anyway, it is interesting. I mean, there, there's room for everybody, but, uh

Rob Read: (33:11):

Oh, for sure there is. Yeah. So, you know, and, and I always look at it and go, we need competition cause it forces us to be better.

Drew Slocum: (33:19):

Exactly.

Rob Read: (33:19):

Yes. You know?

Drew Slocum: (33:20):

Yep. You definitely need competition cuz that's what, that's what keeps me up at night. Uh, I want to be pushed forward and, you know, with our software and everything and whatever else we're doing, I, hopefully there's another podcast that comes out to, to push us along a little bit, right? Mm-hmm.

Rob Read: (33:35):

. Yeah, absolutely. Or you know what? We find another competitor out there and competitor, the product that we are creating online gets that much better and we're educating more people because as we said earlier, the more that the customer knows the, the safer they are. But in a lot of cases, the better conversations we can have with them about their fire protection cause they understand what they need and why they need it,

Drew Slocum: (33:59):

Right? Yep. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, more information the better. So, uh, yeah.

Rob Read: (34:05):

Uh, you know, just, uh, go

Drew Slocum: (34:08):

Ahead. Yeah, no, no, I, I uh, anything else that, uh, you wanna chat? I, I, I pretty much wanted to have you on to chat about, you know, what you learned with into the fire, kind of where you guys are going and, um, just learn a bit, little bit more about bison and, and Rob, you know. Yeah.

Rob Read: (34:27):

Well, um, I can tell you a little bit more about bison. Uh, that's the easy one to start with is, uh, like you say, we started back in 2001 and five of us with a, you know, lots of attitude and, and lots of enthusiasm and let's go. And in that amount of time, the company's grown from those five people to, uh, we're about 90 strong now. We have five or six branches spread out through, uh, Manitoba, Northwestern Ontario, and into Saskatchewan. And our business has gone from filling fire extinguishers and doing kitchen suppression systems to full on, uh, fire alarm contracts and service inspections as well as, uh, you know, sprinklers, you know, the contract service inspections, deficiency repairs. Yeah. All of the good stuff. And, you know, it's been an interesting growth path. It hasn't been without its challenges of course. Um, you know, and that's what keeps it interesting. Cause if it was easy, everyone would do it. . Yeah. But, uh, you know, we've had a lot of success, but, you know, it hasn't come without challenge for sure.

Drew Slocum: (35:29):

No, that's, that's great. I mean, I'm, I'm glad to, to see a nice success store and you guys are relatively, uh, uh, I say pretty young and medium, I don't know, maybe medium age company cuz there's a lot of old contractors out there, obviously have the big ones. So that's, that's good to see mm-hmm. , uh, that much growth in, in that, you know, 20 year timeframe.

Rob Read: (35:51):

Yeah. And you know, like I say, it's uh, it's an ongoing thing. We have a lot of plans for the future and um, you know, I would like to see that even when my time comes to retire, which isn't in the immediate future cuz uh, I'm just enjoying myself. I'm having a ball with, you know, the business, I'm having a ball with doing these, uh, the shows and you know, the podcasts and all that. And so I have no desire to go anywhere in the, the next while I, you know, I was talking to my wife, I said, nah, I'm not, I have no plans. I'm, I'm enjoying what I'm doing and it's not changing. Yeah. She, you know, I wanna go on more vacations. Well, that's okay , we can work that into, don't worry.

Drew Slocum: (36:32):

Yeah. Right. Yeah. Maybe we can combo it. You can go to a, you know, trade show and, you know, stay afterward to, to enjoy the vacation a little bit.

Rob Read: (36:41):

Yeah, exactly. We've been doing that, you know, and it's been nice, like you say, going to some of those shows and uh, you know, last year we were down in, uh, new Orleans and spent some time down there and, and just had a ball, you know, and, you know, those opportunities to kinda, like you say, combine the business with the pleasure cuz there's just a lot of great things to do in this business. And I'm sure a lot of businesses can say the same thing, but there's always something new to learn. There's always a new product. Uh, codes are always changing and trying to stay ahead of all of that and make sure that we're current. Cuz we have to be, you know, we, we are in a liability business so we have to make sure that what we're doing, we're doing, you know, not just for the right reasons, but we're also doing it correctly.

Drew Slocum: (37:23):

Right, right. Yeah. It's a big, it's fire and safety. So at the end of the day it is a business, but we're, we're saving lives.

Rob Read: (37:30):

Yeah. I mean, I take a lot of pride. You know, this, this may or may not resonate with, uh, you know, the people down in the States, but our, uh, the Winnipeg Blue bombers won the Great Cup, uh, this year. You know, for us that's our, that's our Superbowl sort of thing. Sure. And so they had it out in a, uh, smaller town and then, you know, the team was out there, some of the players were out with the Great Cup and showing it off and you know, building up the community and all the good stuff, you know, community involvement. But the hotel they were in caught fire and it was one of the ones that we've been servicing and supporting and you know, it took a lot of pride in the fact that not only did everybody get out of the building safely because the fire alarm did exactly what it was supposed to do mm-hmm. , the building was saved cuz the sprinklers did exactly what they were supposed to do. But I saved the Great Cup. Yeah,

Drew Slocum: (38:20):

You did

Rob Read: (38:21):

, you know.

Drew Slocum: (38:23):

Yeah. So, you know what, it's funny that I didn't even know about that story.

Rob Read: (38:29):

Yeah. It was, uh, yeah, just in a small city or, you know, outside of, uh, Manitoba here in northwestern Ontario called Kenora. And uh, yeah, we were just one of those really, you know, great little success stories. I'm sorry that the hotel had the fire. I truly am. But I take a lot of pride in the fact that our products did what they needed to do when they needed to do it because they were properly maintained and serviced.

Drew Slocum: (38:52):

Wow. Send, send me, send me that article. Or if you have any article or a publication, I would love to do that cuz I, I think it's, it's uh, you know, super Bowl weekend coming up. Yeah. And I think that's a nice story cuz that should get publicized more. Some of those sprinkler saves or fire alarm saves don't get publicized as much as mm-hmm. much as they should.

Rob Read: (39:12):

So Yeah, no, I'll definitely, uh, fire you a couple links and, and, uh, see where that all goes. But, uh, like I say, for me that's a point of pride that, you know, we did something, uh, special in my mind.

Drew Slocum: (39:25):

Yeah. No, that's great. That's great. Well, um, Rob, it's, uh, we're coming on the, the 40 or so minute mark here. I wanna ask you a few more questions. You've probably heard a few of my podcasts, so, uh, I have, I have , I always do something called the, the quick response round. It's never usually quick, but I, I try to, you don't know the questions coming, so, uh, uh, some of 'em are fun, some of 'em are technical, so, um,

Rob Read: (39:52):

Yeah. Okay. I'm nervous now, . Yeah. See

Drew Slocum: (39:56):

If, if I knew you better, I I would've, I would've really Got you. But, uh, you know, I know we've only talked a few times, so, um, uh, so what's your, all right. Out of these suppression methods, what, what's your, what's your most favorite to work on, I guess?

Rob Read: (40:13):

Uh, mobile suppress. Okay. I guess mobile suppression. I'm a suppression guy. Mobile suppression. Yeah. I'm a suppression guy. Well, mobile suppression's pretty cool. Uh, it, it really is. You know, the mines and all that. I mean, it is definitely up there. Um, you know, lately we've been putting in a lot of clean gas systems and foam systems. Uh, you know, we do, uh, you know, a pile of restaurants and, and paint spray booths. Uh, I don't know if there's a specific that I like, it's just, I've always said that, um, you know, suppression, you know, sprinkler has its place and it does exactly what it does, and it's, it's engineered to be there. Fire alarm's, the same suppression is the kind of the magical stuff that, uh, when I say, if you can make it burn, we can put it out.

Drew Slocum: (40:58):

Right. Yep.

Rob Read: (40:59):

And so, you know, there's so many different suppression, like I say, whether it's a, a big piece of, um, equipment in a mine or somebody's restaurant, everything's unique. And so, yeah. My, my heart's really kind of on the suppression side of it. Probably, uh, you know, my real background is in the restaurants and that sort of thing, but, you know, I've also done a lot of the off-road, uh, for the mines and forestry. So Yeah. That kind of in that area, if that answers your question.

Drew Slocum: (41:25):

Yeah, no, that does. I, it, it kind of, uh, makes me think I I, I probably should get more, uh, suppression or two podcasts down here to talk some of the, the new advancements there. So I'll, uh, maybe pick your brain after this.

Rob Read: (41:37):

Can I share a bit of a funny story with you? Yeah,

Drew Slocum: (41:39):

Go

Rob Read: (41:40):

For it. Okay. So I was out at one of our local airports not long ago where we were putting a foam system into a hangar. And so the question came back and said, well, why are you putting foam in here? You know, they're, they were afraid that, you know, if, if one airplane caught fire and we flooded the entire hangar with, uh, foam, it was gonna destroy the other airplanes and so on. And I started walking them through, well, you know, we could do this with, you know, dry chemical. The problem you're gonna run into is that dry chemicals gonna get into every part of that airplane. The engines are gonna have to be torn down whether they were involved in the fire or not. Right? I said, okay, yeah, no, no, we don't like that. And I said, we could put clean gas in here, but by the time we do all the air integrity testing and make sure that a hanger is sealed up tight enough to maintain the, uh, the levels of integrity for the clean gas, we're gonna have to put probably millions of dollars worth of, you know, Novak in here.

(42:37)
Sure. Oh yeah. No, we, no, no, we don't like that too much. Mm-hmm. , uh, I said we could put CO2 in here and would work really well, but if there's anyone in the hangar it's gonna kill 'em. And I, no, no. We really don't like that one. Right, right. . Right. You know, I said, so, you know, by the time we actually walked them through it, they came back and said, okay, you're right. Yeah. Phone was the right choice. Phone

Drew Slocum: (42:56):

Works. Yep.

Rob Read: (42:57):

Yeah, we're good with that. . That's funny. So yeah, phone, that's kind of the nice phone systems are fun. Yeah. But, but having that opportunity to kind of explain why we chose this product for this reason.

Drew Slocum: (43:08):

Yeah. No, that is nice. There's a lot of different protection schemes and those are, those are always the fun conversations to have as mm-hmm. , uh, going over that with the client and, and all that. So

Rob Read: (43:17):

Yeah, for sure. Um,

Drew Slocum: (43:20):

Curling or hockey

Rob Read: (43:23):

, my God. Okay.

Drew Slocum: (43:25):

. Sorry, I, I had to, I had to ask.

Rob Read: (43:30):

Alright, uh, where do we go with this one? I'm not old enough to curl yet, so when I get into my eighties, I'll think about it. Um, ah, that's funny. Um, and you know what? The Jets came back here a few years ago. Everyone loves the Jets and I love what the Jets do for the community, but I'm not a big hockey guy either. Yeah. Now, if you'd asked me ice fishing, we could have had different conversation snow wheeling. Yeah. Uh, but I, um, you know, not strong on either of those. Although I'll tell you, if my grandma's listening to me right now, uh, she's not gonna be too happy with me crapping on curling . And believe it or not, I've got a second cousin that was actually a gold medalist Oh, wow. Um, in the Olympics on the first year when it was still an introduction sport in, in the Olympics, and she was the alternative. Wow. And so, I mean, we've got curling into blood and, you know, a lot of cousins and, and people that have played hockey. It's, you know, it's a Canadian thing. Right. Um, either of those ice, but for me, honestly, put me on a snowmobile or put me on a lake, uh, trying to pull fish through the lake, that that's where I'd rather be.

Drew Slocum: (44:37):

No, that's great. I, I, I probably, I, I gotta get back in. I used to snowmobile when I was a kid and haven't done, there's not much snow here this winter. But, uh, anyway, I got, I used to love it. But, um, uh, final question. What, uh, okay. In, you know, I know you, you do your own podcast, you listen to a bunch. Um, what podcasts are in your queue that you wouldn't, you wouldn't think to, to mention to anybody or, or, uh, any books in your queue? What, what are you listening to? What are you reading?

Rob Read: (45:10):

Okay. What am I listening to right now? Um, you know what, I, I've been doing a lot of, uh, you know, listening to both yours and Chris's. Uh, I listen to a lot of Terry O'Reilly's, uh, podcast because he's a, a marketing guy and he tells just great marketing stories. And as I'm always trying to think about how I can be doing things differently with, with my show and what I wanna do, I'm always gleaming little nuggets out of what he's sharing. So I really enjoy Terry's podcasts. Um, what am I reading? Uh, I just finished actually, um, Victor Frankl's book, uh, kind of the, the, uh, what is it? Uh, man's, uh, search for Meaning, which was a good one. And I don't know if you're familiar with that particular book, but No. Uh, Victor, uh, spent a number of years in a Nazi concentration camp Oh, wow.

(46:01)
And how he managed to maintain his, um, inner strength, I guess, going through the, the challenges that that presented and, and things that like we would never even be able to imagine in our lives and the resilience that he created for himself doing that. And so when you're going through business challenges, you know, the opportunity to think, well, you know what, it's not that bad. That was, today we've dealt with it. We can move on and, and move on to tomorrow. And so, you know, that was a great book. Uh, right now, what am I currently pounding through is the Toyota Lean Management. Uh, wow. Boy. And, and it was kind of funny because when I was talking with, um, Barry Rempel over at the airport, he was talking about how they took lean manufacturing and, and applied it to the service that they provide. And so they use service as a product Sure. And think of it in, in, in that way, and how they've applied a lot of lean principles to that. And the other thing with the Toyota book, of course, is a lot of, uh, management development, um, uh, cis or continuing improvements Yep. And all the different things that Toyota does to remain one of the, the biggest forces out there in, in business.

Drew Slocum: (47:14):

They do. Yeah. I don't get me started on that. I, I, uh, that's, that's my, that's my degree. I have a, a six Sigma black belt, so, uh, my wife always makes fun of me, cuz I always say Six Sigma Black belt. But, uh, I had to read all those Toyota books mm-hmm. , all the, uh, lean manufacturing and actually that's what, funny enough, come, come full circle. That's, that's what Inspect Point actually provides at the end of the day. Mm-hmm. , we're trying to lean out the business to get a, a better product out to the, to the consumer. So, uh, that's interesting. You're, you're, you're, it's a pretty wide variety of, uh, of books there. That's, that's great.

Rob Read: (47:51):

Yeah. And my, my biggest problem in life, honestly, drew, is I'm interested in everything . So I sometimes suffer from, uh, shiny ball syndrome. Right. You know, someone brings in that nude toy and I go, I don't wanna play with that. I can't, you know, pass that over here, .

Drew Slocum: (48:09):

Oh, that's great. That's great. Well, um, you got any questions for me? I've, I've, I'm pretty wrapped up here. I got the quick response round done. I wanna thank you for being on, um mm-hmm. , is there any, uh, actually let the listeners know where, where to find you.

Rob Read: (48:25):

Okay. Well you can find us, uh, our website, you know, is bison fire.com mm-hmm. , or, uh, you know, if you wanna search us up on, you know, the social media, whether it's my name, uh, Rob Reed and it's r e a d, most people spell, you know, four letters and they get it wrong. So R e a d or, uh, you know, into the Fire with Rob Reed, you can find that, uh, online or you know, the Bison Fire YouTube page. We're out there, you know, a couple quick searches and you found us. It's not that in this day and age, uh, you know, similar to yourself, if I put, uh, drew locum into a search engine, you're popping up all over the place.

Drew Slocum: (49:03):

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It is crazy that you type your, your own name in and you pop.

Rob Read: (49:09):

Yeah. It gets a little creepy actually, . It does, it does. But

Drew Slocum: (49:12):

That's

Rob Read: (49:12):

Fine. But you know what I mean, that's why we're doing it. I want people to, to learn from what we're doing and the lessons that I'm providing. And the best way to do it is in a social media format. And that's why I want people to be able to find the end into the Fire show or, you know, if they have questions about, uh, fire protection, you know, come at us, uh, through the Bison Fire website and, and all the different things that we do out there. So, you know, if people want a new know more or learn more or just engage in the conversation. And I always talk about this, uh, you know, at the end of our shows is, you know, like share and comment cuz I just love the conversation where it can go, uh, some of the direct messages that I get and I'm sure you get the same thing. Just that ability to have that conversation after the fact. And, and I just absolutely love doing that.

Drew Slocum: (50:00):

No, it is great social and, and, uh, you know, you're getting yourself out there into the fire. So that's, I I, I, uh, hopefully everybody gets a chance to check it out on, on YouTube and, and on any podcast channel. So, uh, mm-hmm. . Yeah. Thanks Rob for coming on today. I really appreciate it. I, I'm glad we got to finally connect doing this.

Rob Read: (50:21):

Well, thank you and I really appreciated you, uh, having me on. I, I, uh, just think that the, the time that you give up for your show for me is, uh, is absolutely appreciated and you have yourself a great day. Yeah.

Drew Slocum: (50:33):

Yeah. Thanks. Thanks Rob.

Rob Read: (50:35):

Take care. Take care.

Drew Slocum: (50:37):

I want to thank Rob Reed again for joining me on today's podcast. You know, the podcasting world is, uh, coming faster and faster. A lot of new podcasts out there. I'm glad, uh, there's more people getting into it in the fire protection space and, uh, look forward to listening more, uh, ones like Rob's, Chris Logan's, and, uh, the new life safety one out there. So again, thanks for subscribing. Please pass this along, share it with, uh, other colleagues, other industry folk, and, um, yeah. See you here again soon. Thanks.