Episode 251: Breaking Silence with Brendan Taylor

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In recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, today's guest is Brendan Taylor, creator of CrewConnect, to talk about the reality of job site culture and why workers often stay silent about what’s really going on. From mental health and psychological safety to harassment, burnout, and leadership accountability, Brendan shares how anonymous daily check-ins can help crews surface issues early before they turn into injuries, conflict, or people leaving the trades altogether. This conversation digs into the importance of trust on the job site and offers practical insights for welders, foremen, safety reps, and contractors looking to build stronger, healthier crews.

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Transcript

Mental Health Month And Brendan’s Story

SPEAKER_04 0:01

Welcome to the CWB Association Welding Podcast. I'm your host, Kevin Hoak. Let's flip up the lid and spark some conversation. Attention welders in Canada. Looking for top quality welding supplies? Look no further than Canada Welding Supply. With a vast selection of premium equipment, safety gear, and consumables, CWS has got you covered. They offer fast and reliable shipping across the country. And here's the best part podcast listeners get 10% off any pair of welding gloves. Use code CWB10 at checkout when placing your next order. Visit Canada Weldingsupply.ca now. Canada Welding Supply, your trusted welding supplier. Happy welding. Welcome to the CWB Association Welding Podcast. As always, I'm your host, Kevin Hua, and May is mental health month. And I have a special guest with me, Brendan Taylor. How's it going, Brendan? Good.

SPEAKER_01 1:04

How are you, Kevin?

SPEAKER_04 1:06

Not bad. Honestly, stressed out, feeling burnt out, but we gotta keep going.

SPEAKER_01 1:12

Really? I mean, yeah, it is it is mental health month, so uh definitely, definitely gotta care about that.

SPEAKER_04 1:20

Yeah, no one's giving up though, right? Yeah, no, definitely not. So, Brendan, before we get into the meat of things here, because you created an app called Crew Connect, that's right, right? Yep, yep, correct. So before we get into Crew Connect, I kind of want to know a little bit about your background. So uh when you were in elementary school or when you were a kid, what were you interested in?

SPEAKER_01 1:45

Um, well, I played soccer. I was into soccer, I played hockey as well, so definitely sports, hanging out with friends. Um, I've always loved cars. That's that's another thing. Um, and even a bit of business. Honestly, I had a few side hustles back then. Um, definitely, you know, weren't as cool as Crew Connect and didn't work as well. Um, but yes, you know, some some early stuff that uh definitely you know helped me to get where I am today.

SPEAKER_04 2:16

Cool. So speaking on that, when you when you got to high school, what were you kind of focusing on? Was it still sports? Was it on the business side of things, or what were you feeling like?

SPEAKER_01 2:27

Yeah, yeah. So I I would say when I started high school, it was kind of like you know, transitioning from sports to business. Um, so I was still playing soccer competitively. Um, but I I was kind of leaning more towards business. I I started up this uh this gymware brand because you know I I I was that's when I got into the gym as well. So I wanted to combine business, fitness, so of course made a gym wear brand. Um, and yeah, I kind of focused more on that, still held on to all the soccer and whatnot. Um, and yeah, that's when things really started transitioning over in my focus.

SPEAKER_04 3:08

Yeah, so being in sports and stuff, you must be a pretty competitive person. Like, do you have any siblings?

SPEAKER_01 3:15

I I have a younger sister, yeah. Yeah, she's two years younger than me.

SPEAKER_04 3:20

Okay, do you guys do you guys battle it out? Are you kind of friendly?

SPEAKER_01 3:24

Definitely, you definitely battle it out. A lot, a lot less than uh back in the day, but now uh still, yeah, still pretty competitive. Yeah, it's even even uh yes yesterday so for for Mother's Day, um my sister was trying to compete with me about what gift we got our mom. It's it was it was ridiculous, but uh I I guess she won this year. I'll have to try a bit more next year. You you have to give it to her, hey. Yeah, yeah. I'll give her the win there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 3:56

So what what do your parents do for a living?

SPEAKER_01 3:59

Yeah, so my dad, he's he's in business, so he's uh senior vice president at Pega, um, which is kind of a big tech AI company. Um, and then my mom used to do she did communications in uh in a hospital.

SPEAKER_04 4:17

Okay. So I read in the notes that there's there's someone in your family in the trades. Was it your grandfather?

SPEAKER_01 4:26

It is my grandfather, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 4:27

Yeah, yeah. So how how does that all work out? So your grandfather was in the trades, and then your parents went into the business communication side of things. So what kind of led you to where you are right now?

SPEAKER_01 4:39

Um honestly, I uh I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 4:46

Um, I mean I mean that's that's kind of what happens though, right? Like, yeah, yeah. The universe works in many mysterious ways.

SPEAKER_01 4:55

Yeah, I mean, yeah, my grandfather, so he had grown up in Ireland, he was a farmer there, and then came to Canada to to be a boilermaker. Um, and then yeah, my my parents had uh um, I I guess you know that had been their their platform careers like that. And on on the other side, on on my dad's side, his whole family was lawyers. Um, and he originally wanted to be a lawyer, actually, but he he didn't even get into law school. He was he was no good at it. So uh, but then he went over to business, and I guess it worked out for him. Um, me actually actually thinking back originally, I I wanted to be a uh gastroenterologist, like a stomach doctor. Yeah, but but then this is actually this is where it gets interesting. So my whole idea with that was to be a gastroenterologist and start opening up clinics, but not actually be the one who runs it, you know, hire like another gastroenterologist to run it and basically franchise it. Um, so really all along it was the whole business part of it, it wasn't as much the doctor side. Um, and I think that's kind of more when I realized that I wanted to get into business, but more specifically into entrepreneurship.

From Trades Stories To A Solution

SPEAKER_04 6:17

So going from that, so your grandpa was a boilermaker. Yeah. Uh so how we're we're gonna have to bust into this crew connect eventually here, but like yeah, yeah. So talking talking to your grandpa, what are some of the things that what are some of the stories that were coming out that kind of led you to to create this app called Crew Connect?

SPEAKER_01 6:41

He was he was probably the most humble person, you know, I'd ever met in in my life, and super, you know, hardworking, almost like stoic, I would say. Um like you you you wouldn't catch him complaining. Um, but I would kind of you you would see over time. My mom would tell me um even things about the trades career, like you know, he'd have to go away for uh a while, like months to go work on a project, which of course is hard. He he wouldn't he wouldn't talk about it though. Um, things like that, physical injuries, he had a lot of kind of lifelong injuries from the trades, um, which yeah, of course, get a lot more difficult as as you age and you really start to see them show up. Um, so yeah, I it it hadn't really been as much about talking to him about it, but hearing things secondhand, whether that be, you know, from my mom, from my grandma, things like that, and even seeing it, you know. So maybe um a few years back we we had gone on a trip back to Ireland and we had gone, we had seen his farm. Um, and his it that's when I started to notice, you know, the mobility issues from the trades and things like that, like having to be in a wheelchair at the airport and whatnot, so we could get there quicker. Um, and that kind of got me thinking more about, you know, in in the modern day, do we still see these issues in the trades? I mean, we've got so much technology, like there's, you know, there had to be some kind of solution. And there what I what I noticed when I first started speaking to people about it was um there's definitely a desire to fix issues like that. And along with that came the things about mental health, harassment, discrimination. Um, so there was a strong desire, but not as much actual, you know, systems put in place. Um and to, you know, what I I thought that they weren't the best systems. Um, so I wanted to kind of create something that that would actually, you know, make a change and put these things forward.

SPEAKER_04 8:55

You led into that. Great. So what what is crew connect?

SPEAKER_01 9:01

What is crew connect? Okay. Now we're on to that. Um so yeah, crew connect, the whole goal basically is um is to give you know trades companies insights into what's really happening on their job sites. So this is anything from you know mental well-being, physical well-being, harassment, discrimination, job site culture, psychological safety. It kind of covers it all. And basically how it works is um it's all like an anonymous feedback loop. So workers would hop on the Crew Connect app, fill out a quick anonymous survey, um, which would take a minute. A minute. They just go in, you know, swipe a few things here and there, um, and they've submitted about their well-being and how the site is for the day. And um, it being anonymous is what really helps people to speak out, especially a lot of those quieter voices and people who might fear all the retaliation. Um so that all gets uploaded, all the data is aggregated, it's summarized, put into trends, and it's even downloadable. So you could use it for any kind of audits. And I think especially some of them that you know deal with more things about mental health. Um, it's it's makes it a lot easier to track. And uh, I'm I'm definitely looking on expanding and and things like that, like all of the different audits and whatnot. Um, so yeah, it's some some big things coming soon, and even for the mental health portion, that's that's definitely a thing I'm I'm looking deep into.

SPEAKER_04 10:44

The whole so I was talking to Daryl Medusi. I think you know Daryl a little bit. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:49

Yeah, I know Daryl.

SPEAKER_04 10:50

So so his his episode's dropping very soon here. But you know, and when I was talking to him and he brought up this idea, this app, I thought it was a really good idea because the anonymity is pretty important. Like I'm a foreman, I'm also the safety representative at my workplace, right? We got about 20 guys, and we'll we'll have meetings. We don't have meetings enough, that's for sure. We'll we'll have meetings, and you know, like it's the odd person that brings one thing up, you know, and like okay, we we might have not have talked for like a whole month, and I'm only hearing one thing, so yeah. So I think this is a great tool to to to kind of bust through that, right?

SPEAKER_01 11:33

And even um to your point about you know, the meetings and whatnot, it was even something that I had thought of, you know, I had related it back to soccer and playing on a soccer team. So there'd always be you have the group meeting, you have it with the coach, manager, and whatnot. And then when you go leave with your buddies, they you know start talking shit about the coach or something and being like, hey, we you know, we don't like this, we don't like that, we don't like the way they're doing it. Um, so I thought that being anonymous definitely a good feedback loop. And I know for me, if you know I had something like this with my soccer team, maybe I'd I'd say a few more things like, Hey, coach, I don't like how you're doing this. Um, things like that.

SPEAKER_04 12:18

Matt, that is a great point. Honestly, the meeting af the meeting after the meeting is always better than the actual meeting.

SPEAKER_02 12:24

The meeting, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 12:26

I I say this too, like whenever I I'm done recording an episode, I always stay on and have a chat just to you know make sure everything's cool. And like so much more stuff comes out. I need to start like a podcast after the podcast.

SPEAKER_01 12:39

Yeah, yeah, you can make another edition, some kind of like after dark thing.

SPEAKER_04 12:46

Yeah, it might get a little dark. So you mentioned how this app works. Like, are workers doing this throughout the day? Is it daily? Or what what does it look like?

SPEAKER_01 12:59

Yeah, so the way I've been I had intended it was for it to be daily. So it would just you'd be go in, you submit it once. Um, but I've also seen strong results from the weekly as well. Um, and I'm even thinking of maybe putting one in morning and after the shift so that we can kind of see, you know, let's say somebody had poor well-being in the morning, and then that led to an injury. Um, I think from a preventative point of view, things like that can be very helpful. But yeah, right now it's kind of focused on daily, but depending on the crew, um, you guys can even do it once a week and it works fine.

SPEAKER_04 13:44

Which you bring up a great point is you know, how are people coming into work? And we're touching on mental health here. So, like you come, you cut you come in and you're already having a bad day, that can lead you to injuries or to making mistakes.

SPEAKER_01 13:59

Yeah, oh a hundred percent. I would say, yeah, if you know, if you're not feeling right in the head, then you're you're definitely not gonna be doing your best work.

SPEAKER_04 14:08

I've I've seen it. I've seen it in myself, I've seen it in the guys that work at my place, absolutely. Yeah, um, so on the other hand, of being anonymous and and having you know your mental health and your physical well-being reported, how do you think people can can focus on an actual problem? Like, you know, like can't can it be like this area of the job site or this trade is having this issue?

SPEAKER_01 14:35

So yeah, so within crew connect, we have it separated in different crews. So let's say you're working on a job site, um, and maybe you have plumbers and electrical workers. Um, so in in that case, you would probably split it into two different crews, and they'd be you know submitting directly in your own area. So you could spot where the problem is. So the whole platform, um, this this it's kind of hard to explain if the people listening can't see my camera, but imagine we've got the the overarching company, then you've got each individual crew, and they have you know their foremen, any kind of managers, you know, site supervisors who they're reporting to. Um, and yeah, they they can all see it there. It kind of would go to each individual crew, and you could see the insights from there.

SPEAKER_04 15:28

All right, this is not a multi-level marketing scheme. He did not form a pyramid with his hands.

SPEAKER_01 15:33

No, no, it is it is it is not a pyramid scheme. That's yeah, no, not not what I was getting at.

SPEAKER_04 15:41

No, and actually, so while you were describing that is okay, so you've got different tiers of employees, right? Because myself being a foreman and being, you know, somewhat in charge, but I still have someone up above me to rec to report to, is you know, like, do I have an outlet? Do I have a spot where I can say my stuff?

SPEAKER_01 16:03

Yeah, I I would so yeah, depending on on the crew, honestly. I mean, I I would think that you it it honestly depends on how how you guys would want to use it. I mean, it that's it's really about the case. I mean, um sometimes I guess maybe you might want to have the four men on Crew Connect doing their own reports um or viewing the reports as well. So uh it can it can really go both ways because you can have uh, I mean, basically unlimited amount of crew members and basically unlimited amount of admins who are looking at all the data. So all depends which way you want to put it.

SPEAKER_04 16:50

Yeah, I guess it, you know, if I want to be, you know, the person looking at this stuff or if I want to be part of you know presenting this stuff kind of deal.

SPEAKER_01 17:01

Yeah, yeah. And uh yeah, honestly, you could be both. If uh if if that's yeah, yeah, if that's what you want to do.

SPEAKER_04 17:09

I like that. And like it'll depend too on the size of the outfit and the size of the job site, of course, right?

SPEAKER_01 17:14

Yeah, definitely, yeah, yeah.

unknown 17:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 17:16

So throughout, you know, this process of building this app, what kind of what kind of stuff have you been seeing workers reports? Or what are what are people not saying out loud that they're saying on the app?

SPEAKER_01 17:31

I I would say uh a lot of it is about the comfort raising concerns on on the site. So um even that's that's kind of the whole point of Crew Connect, raising concerns. Um, and a lot of people are reporting. We we actually have a full part of it, which is kind of about comfort raising concerns. Um and I've I've seen a lot of reports of people, you know, not wanting to raise concerns at work. Um, maybe they feel that they would be judged, things like that. Um, so yeah, I would I would say that's that's mostly and and even uh poor poor mental health um being reported, that's that's something that I mean you nobody uh most people to be honest wouldn't go and be out there and be like, hey, I'm you know, my mental well-being is is terrible right now. A lot of them would not feel comfortable enough to go out and say that to their boss. Um, but I've seen, yeah, a surprising amount of of poor well-being, mental well-being reports come out. Um, so yeah.

SPEAKER_04 18:40

So when that happens, how how do you see supervisors typically react to that that honest feedback when it's yeah and when it's when it's you know like coming from nobody, it's coming from everyone but no one.

SPEAKER_01 18:55

I I think yeah, so so definitely when using Crew Connect, it's it's all about the reactions. So we can give you all the insights in the world, um, but it's how you really put those into action and what you do about it. Um and and I would say the most common kind of use case of that data is in things like toolbox talks and and stuff like that, um, kind of just being more open with the crew and being like, hey, we're here for all of you, if if you know, things like that, but but without outing a person, of course, um and thinking like, hey, I'm I'm guessing it's you, you seem sad, you know, something like that. Of course, of course, you don't want that. Um, but I think, yeah, if if depending on the reports they're getting, um, just taking that feedback and trying to create those loops and really pretending it was any of your crew members. I mean, the way the way I see it is that if if you have one person that's reporting poor mental health, you should treat all of your your employees like they're having poor mental health, just in case, you know, to be that support there.

SPEAKER_04 20:08

As you were talking, I was I was thinking that same thing. It's like, how do you focus how how do you find that one person or how do you focus on that one person? But you're right, it's like it should be them all. Yeah, it should should be them all. And if there's an issue, if there's an issue happening to one, well, then the whole team has to be looked at.

SPEAKER_01 20:26

That's that's a question that I actually get a lot. If I'm ever demoing for connect, it's you know, it's like, oh, it's but it's anonymous. How are we gonna know who's having the issue? It's I mean, it's kind of yeah, it should you should be treating it like everybody is. Um, and even with within the platform, we have um we we have kind of other feedback loops. So you could go in and you could say if you wanted to speak directly to someone in management, and you can choose directly who. So maybe it's like, you know, I don't feel too comfortable talking to this guy about it, but I'll talk to him about it. So um you can decide there, and then we're we've got we're gonna have some uh some other support systems coming soon directly into the platform.

SPEAKER_04 21:13

That is awesome, Brennan. Listen, we're gonna take a short break to listen to our podcast sponsors here, so hang tight.

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SPEAKER_04 21:34

And we're back with Brendan Taylor, creator of the Crew Connect app, which so far it's it's you know, it's opening my mind. It's actually, I'm thinking it's a gonna be a great tool. So, how do we get companies out of the tough it out mentality to actually listening?

SPEAKER_01 21:55

That's that's probably my biggest issue right now is trying to. kind of make that conversion over. You know what? I I think it's it's tricky. It's it's a hard thing to do, but I think as time goes on and more awareness for things like this come out come out, then they're they're gonna be forced to. I mean, think think about, you know, when the computer came out or whatever, internet. Everybody who wasn't using it before kind of like you're almost stuck in the past and you got to get on it. So uh I think it's one of those things where over time companies will be forced into it, especially with um a younger generation coming into the trades. I see, you know, a ton of my friends at school are going into the trades and I think yeah having younger people in it you're gonna get more technology um more mental health care things like that.

SPEAKER_04 22:53

What do you say to people that call the younger generation soft?

SPEAKER_01 23:00

I'd I I don't I don't know to be honest. I'd I'd I'd I'd say no I'd yeah I'd I disagree um yeah I don't know I'd I I would disagree with them though.

SPEAKER_04 23:16

That's okay yeah I'd a question that was made to put you on the spot that's for sure um on the other side of that do you think there is a time that toughing it out is good or toughing it out is necessary? Um I I mean neither of us are psychiatrists or psychologists here it's just yeah no yeah yeah yeah I I mean it depends on the scenario like are are we talking like on on a job site yeah you know like maybe you're focused on a deadline and you just gotta bear down and and get it done like think think about your sports days right like is there a time where all like you know it's easy to give up but if I just push you know oh yeah every every day yeah I I think um in in situations that aren't gonna harm you or anyone else then you should push to the limits that's that's how I see it.

SPEAKER_01 24:15

Absolutely man yeah so why do you think it's so hard uh for tradespeople to talk about mental health uh because of the stigma I mean there's been the stigma for generations of tradespeople you know being super tough guys and whatnot um but to to be honest I mean the real strong people are the ones who are able to talk about things like that and you know be vulnerable and talk to others about it as well and you know set an example. I think if if you're in an environment where everybody's all stuck up on being tough and whatnot then uh you're everybody's just gonna be in a negative kind of thing. But if on the other side of things if you've got you know strong people there who are willing to be vulnerable and be like hey I I went through this you know I can I can help you out I think that's the environment that brings people up and it's it's you know best case scenario what we're looking for.

SPEAKER_04 25:17

Yeah very true like I I came up at a time where you know you kept your mouth shut you kept your ears and your eyes open and that that's how you learn right and many yeah many times it was you know and this is a quote and a quote I still use to this day whether it's good or bad is there is no crying and welding. So that definitely speaks to to the older generation right of of how how how they grew up how they learned and what they transferred through so you're absolutely right if we can if we can be the change that we want in the trade that's going to be helpful.

SPEAKER_01 25:53

Definitely of course yeah so what are some of the the signals to look for then in in a struggle in struggling employee or a struggling crew I would say um the number one is that drop in motivation and in my opinion I think if you know your motivation to work is kind of dropping I think that that's kind of a key input that you know something's going wrong. So um that there's something else in your life that's driving you down. If you come to the site one day and you know you're you're super angry maybe you're just so tired you don't want to do anything you're getting mad at people I think that's a sign that something else is going on. Maybe you've got uh some well some mental health issues going on you've got stuff at home financial stress um even substance use sometimes can can do things like that um or maybe you've even just simply got an injury that's pissing you off. So yeah I would say that kind of drop in motivation is is kind of the key uh kind of key way to see yeah the key indicator so if people key indicator that's the word I was looking for if if people just don't want to be at work then there's a problem with the work. Basically yeah yeah yeah unless I mean unless they just hate their job but in in that case uh I think you know they that's that's that's an issue in itself you know you you should love it you should love what you're doing every day I'm glad that you said that because you know typically tradespeople are very proud and very passionate about their trade right and and yeah most most of them it you know for some people it's an identity you know like I I'm a welder I'm a boilermaker I'm an ironworker like this is who I am so the the pride do you do you think that pride sometimes gets in the way of of mental health or or even reporting yeah yeah a hundred percent I think that that's you know another thing that's uh a part of the stigma you know um maybe you've got some crazy pride in being the you know toughest guy on the site you you know you always want to just be you know be that guy you don't you don't want to you know kind of be open about uh things like that so yeah I think pride is definitely there and I think you know people gotta drop their pride man they gotta drop their pride and just be be helpful to one another I guess we've touched on a few you know awesome points here but you know what can a leader what can a foreman or even a boss or a general contractor whatever you want to call it in supervision what what can they do to to build a stronger crew to build a stronger workplace um I I would say leading by example is the number one thing to do because I mean usually you're you're kind of um you're you're you're looking up to your boss in a way you know you see the guy as the person who's you know running the show they've they they know how to do most of the stuff and um they're they're leading you guys and I think as a leader the best thing you you should be doing is setting that example so if we're talking mental health maybe that's putting in supports for everybody checking in on them making sure everybody's all right um and then I think that kind of spikes something that will have people checking in on each other doing things like that. So I think yeah it's it's kind of one of those things I I I forget I forget the quote but I something about you know you are who you hang around so I think the leader is definitely the one who can who can spark that and then really create that environment for the rest of their crew.

SPEAKER_04 29:57

Oh I agree with you 100% like again I gotta speak from my own you know experiences yeah I've been foreman for about five years now and like there was a period in there where like I don't even know what I'm doing and like I'm not really enjoying myself as well and that started to come out and like boy did you know the the crew suffered did you know the work suffered and stuff like that. So they you know and like and I'll be honest I'll be honest we're not we're not all perfect right I'm I'm a great welder I'm a great tradesperson but I I wasn't the greatest foreman in that point right so this would have been one of those situations so that is a great piece of advice for sure and it's the old uh here's another quote it's like do as I say not as I do right it it touches back to like oh you know like go just go do it go tough it out right yeah but you're right this doesn't it's not good it's not it doesn't leave it open ended for that person to be like well I have a different opinion I have a different process I have a different thought about this yeah yeah exactly yeah I honestly think though that that the app the app speaks for itself if people want to better their community and better their their workplace that any tool that they can have to do that is a great tool.

Mentors, Pilots, And Five-Year Vision

Wrap-Up And Listener Calls To Action

SPEAKER_01 31:20

Right yeah I I definitely agree I I think that yeah I mean it's it's the way the platform works is one of those things where um you have to be the one who's you know you're you're the one who makes that decision to make the change we give you all that we can um but it's ultimately about you and what you do to to change your site and improve it. Absolutely so we we mentioned Daryl too Daryl Medusi great instructor um how did you get in touch with him do you have any other mentors as well that that are helping you along with this yeah I I I have oh my god I could go on for days um but yeah Daryl specifically um I honestly I I can't even remember how I ended up getting in touch with Daryl but we had we had a phone call one day and uh he had told me you know all about his story um and whatnot but also the fact that he had never told anybody you know he had he had lived with this through you know forever um and was just kind of starting to speak up about it and then later a few months uh or maybe even I don't know a year had gone past um and he he invited me up to Fleming to do um to kind of be there for one of their events that they had going on where I could set up crew connect and he gave a talk to a bunch of people about his story and I was you know really impressed um in that from you know one year of going to just like you know starting off um speaking out about it to then speaking to a bunch of people about his story and being vulnerable I think huge step congrats to Daryl yeah yeah his episode was really cool I even found out way way more about him you know like just from like we followed each other uh each other on Instagram and like you know met up one time at a skills event but like to to get to know someone on a personal basis and letting them voice you know everything that that is going on with their lives right is it's huge. Yeah I mean the the the talk that he gave almost had me tearing up I told him I told I told him like five times after I'm like wow that was like you know that that hit deep that was that was great. But yeah awesome guy man and incredible story yeah so yeah you you saw Daryl he gave that talk and and you already had crew connect going at this time right I did yeah yeah originally uh initially I talked to Daryl when it was just kind of uh in the works and developing but yes when when I actually met him uh in person it it uh it was official so right now are you live is this app working do you have customers so to speak so yeah right right now we are we're just we're piloting it right now um mostly out in Manitoba um and then yeah looking to roll it out more we've we've really right now we're in a stage where um there's a new update every few weeks so it's uh it's it's pretty early and just trying to find that exact place or product um that that we want to be at so yeah I mean nothing's perfect the first time around and you'll never please everybody you know even even if it's perfect to you somebody's gonna be you know angry about it yeah yeah but that that's really cool man so where do you see yourself where do you see the app in let's say five years five years from now okay so um I'll just be finishing off university i'd i i'm going uh next year i'm not too sure where yet i've got about 20 days to make a decision so that's that's that's a bit stressful um but but yeah i'll i'll be i'll be finishing off university and by then i i hope to have crub connect uh all across canada i i hope to have it as something that you know is truly of value to not only the companies but the workers themselves so i want to have for the companies a way that they're able to help their people and at the same time help them make more money and do their jobs better so just ultimately um be great and i want for the workers themselves i don't want it to be something where they're like ah i gotta fill out this stupid thing again you know i i want it to be something that they can go in and they get value of and not just something that you know their managers making them do um so yeah something that has true value you know companies end up saving this amount of money um this amount of people's well-being improved um and yeah no that's that's great actually you know you're hitting on all the points that I was gonna bring up like you know when I asked you like do you do you do it daily do you do it weekly morning noon night it's like you know it it's hard to fill out all these things like the the yeah the feet the field level risk assessment you know the the the the hot work permit the you know like the scaffolding guys gotta do their thing like it just gets monotonous in a way right but it piles up yeah yeah but at the same time it's like that that monotony and that kind of whatever whatever you want to call it it's it makes you kind of you know lazy it makes you kind of ignore the bigger picture or the safety or all that so that's really good that you're gonna make it special and and and kind of exciting for the crew and see real results not only is the crew going to see real results but the company is as well definitely yeah yeah that's that's the whole goal here so at any point in your career like you're going into university at any point were you ever interested in a trade do you ever want to get your hands dirty uh I I'd say I definitely I'd probably do yeah I mean like for in in the future I mean what what I I I can't really see myself doing one thing my entire life I I think definitely um things in entrepreneurship but definitely not you know the same business the whole time um I think yeah totally I what one thing that I I've actually been thinking about is once I get you know crew connect working well maybe maybe I open up my own construction or trade company um and do some work myself we all use crew connect um and then really put it to test and maybe maybe while I'm using it myself that's when you know it can become something uh some something crazy even or even for a for a summer job what I was thinking um uh I I'm gonna work at one of my buddies they they have a farm um I'm gonna work there and get my hands a bit dirty in the summer and I think I think that'll help me teach me a thing or two of what I could add into crew connect. Oh for sure yeah there's there's nothing like farm work to really humble a guy yeah yeah yeah I wanted to humble me that's for sure so I guess we'll wrap it up here Brennan this has been a really great episode I think crew connect is going to be an amazing tool for people um is there something in your life like let's say you could go back to younger you is there something that you would tell yourself something that you would change not at all I I think that you know that the way the way I see how life works um is that you just have to trust in the process and go with everything and you know it'll it'll work out um so yeah I don't I don't regret any of the past business fails uh personal fails things like that not none of it I don't regret any of it um and I'm glad where I I am now and where I hope to go so just just going with the flow onwards and upwards man I want to thank you very much for being my guest tonight awesome episode man and I wish you the best yeah thank you so much for having me it's it's been tons of fun so um yeah thanks you're welcome and everyone out there listeners if you like this podcast please share like and you know send it to your friends send it to your family we're trying to do big things here thank you very much you've been listening to the CWB Association Welding Podcast if you enjoyed what you heard today rate our podcast and visit us at cwbassociation.org to learn more feel free to contact us if you have any questions or suggestions on what you'd like to learn about in the future.

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