Adventures of a Hockey Mom

Welcome to Conversations on the Edge with Tom and TJ, where Generation X and Millennial talk about Restoration, the Edge version 3 and the world. All right. We going back to hockey talk? What are we talking about? I love it. Narrow. Hey everybody. And maybe we'll tell you what we're laughing about. Maybe we will, but welcome to conversations on the Edge. It's Tom and TJ again. We're very honored this morning to have Michelle Levins with us. And so we're going to start out with something fun and exciting that's happening in our lives. And Michelle, since you are the guest of honor, want you rock and roll? What's something fun and exciting going on in your life right now? Well, you know, we're always waiting through hockey, parent, life over here. That's where we are at. So we've had a few tournaments. We've been to Nashville. So we live in Michigan for people that are not familiar. I live in Mechner's Detroit. So my older son is he's 11 and he's a goalie for a travel team. And then my younger one is six and he's still in like the might's half ice, whatever, which is also where TJ's son exists and kind of this half ice cute little like they don't know what they're doing yet, but they try very hard. And they can't stop skating. They put on the goalie pads because they're so big. They think that they're really good goalies because they save most of them simply for the sake that the net is this big and the pads are there is big as the net. And the pockets moving really slow. It's almost painful. You watch some. I don't know. Looking back though, how stressed out I was when Levi played at that level. And now I watch it. I'm like, this is so much fun. There's like pressure here. The further into it, Levi gets the more like we reached the point with hockey this season for him of realizing it was time to invest in a like actual goalie program like mentorship program. He's done private lessons and been part of a goalie program, goalie school for the whole time he's been a goalie. Which he started when he was six and he's 11 now. So he's done camps and lots of things. He has weekly goalie coaching, but he just started a more like intensive mentorship program. And that's an interesting place to get to in sports. So that's kind of what we're waiting through when it's like, oh, you're kind of at the level like middle school 11 12 years old of now if you want if he wants to play in college and wants to make it triple A. Now it is the okay, we got to work on the development and we're not the parents that are so like, you know, foggy. I that we think our kids going to be the next NHL pro. We're not like that. He just loves it. I was just lukega. And so it's fun to invest in what your kids love. And so they happen to pick hockey. Maybe could have picked something a little easier on the wallet, but. It is a that's worth it. It's worth it. It's so worth it. It is expensive. Like we were talking like my family up in Fargo North Dakota Minnesota. I mean, North Dakota Minnesota Michigan. You know, that's that's hockey world. You know, and. They're they're going. They have, you know, three of my three of my great nieces and nephews are all in hockey. And then one is in high school now and one is just about to get into high school. And it's so they're getting at that point where. You know, starting to drive, you know, so now they can start driving themselves to these events. I'm thinking that will help my my sister and her husband, you know, group on grandma. But they love going up. They, you know, they they will do three to five hockey hockey games in one. And then one day or matches or what do they call them? Is it a gamers match and I should know that I'm sorry. I'm sorry to my sisters in North Dakota. But. It works sunny and warm. It's okay. Even though there is hot. Yes. Yeah. I don't I I get to go visit them. I love it. And I love to go to the hockey games and watch the kids play. actually because they're like these, you know, when they get when they get you know into their like eight and ten They're like little, you know, they don't look little on the on the When they come up, but when they take their pads out there. They're like 40 pounds you know when they're out there putting you know Moving like you know big people and it's like wow look at that and it's cool. It's really cool It is we're at the we're at the point of like, you know, like puberty level so now Teams were like the other kids could have driven themselves there were a relatively small team But we look at some of these other kids that have hit puberty that are the same age or like maybe your older and it's like you're humongous you're And I guess we're gonna see how that goes and it Well, as he gets older, you know, they start checking into the into the into the side and stuff And you get they start getting violent so it's it's interesting as he that's the progression happens That's honestly where I'm glad I'm a goalie mom. I don't actually worry about But the checking and I mean he and goalies are so heavily protected by their team So so T.J. We talked about earlier your son doesn't have a position yet But do you have like a crystal ball of like I think he's going to be X or not yet? Oh, yeah, he loves playing like wing. I mean he he's all in the action. He wants to be All over the ice playing offense playing defense scoring goals. He's you know, he thinks he's going pro And so when he scores a goal, you know He's down on me Like banging on the glass and I'm like my dude You don't even know how to stop on your skates like talk to me then You either hit somebody or a wall His next celly or a celly. Yeah, all right. I'll get you about a cute celly because my sick zero does the same thing No, that's awesome. You know for everybody out there if you don't know about hockey go to a live hockey You know if you have the NHL to town or if any if you you have a look a local hockey arena go check it out. It's so much fun live You know, especially the NHL or any you know right below you know any of those any of those league teams or anything It's it's just it's fun and it's you know, it's good time and you're not there for like three and a half hours Like you are with baseball or anything like that But you know baseball is kind of where you go to to drink beer and it just you know stare out at stuff and so they're not about a lot but you know for our baseball lovers I apologize, but it's where I go to I go to baseball stadium the baseball game to really just kind of chill Hang out with clients can have long conversation. Oh, like so you go to hockey. You're not usually gonna have a conversation Our kids don't make it through baseball games They're so used to hockey that we try to take them to other sporting events and they're like This is why is there no like Crazy pump it up music between everything and they're able to there's not Yeah, it's fun. It is different, but it's but it's it's a lot of fun It's a lot of fun and and it's fun to see the the kids, you know You know, they're they're they're emulating they're you know the guys that they see on TV And you know, they're pumped up. They're hearing the same music and everything so they're like all fired up and everything and But they do they do get a pretty big ego Then you get checked or ego ever once and so I alright so you're eight years old stop you know The Brits About Michigan is how we're not district did like like Minnesota is where it's like where you live is the Organization that you play for it you try out and you make whatever team you make based on your skill level Michigan is not like that It's like a free for all so you can try out for kind of anybody and there are out of district spots if you're out of district The amount of drama that happens every season around tryouts who's doing what who's going where What are you trying off or what are you doing? Oh who's gonna make this team? Oh, that kid's not gonna make triple a their parents are so dumb having them try out for like yeah Oh my gosh, I wish that it was literally and we do tryouts in this spring As we do like the full winter and then we do tryouts like at the end of March and then we do spring hockey and some kids play for their old team Some kids play for their new team in spring hockey even though we already had tryouts Then we have the summer off for two months and then we start fall with team that you try out for in March It is it is crazy. I think my my family and in Fargo I think I think they have like four weeks off where they're not traveling with hockey But you know it's they they love it, you know kids are only kids for so long and Day will come and they will be there anymore. They'll be on with their lives and then you will remember these times you know very Special times that you'll remember and I know that's how my mom looks at it and she's 97 and she's still she goes to the games and But she she cuts it off at three once once they've done with three. She's She's my mouth. I'm impressed you can make it through three because my parents cannot and my parents are in their mid 70s My in-laws can my in-laws come to everything and don't miss a thing The decade younger than my parents my parents are good for like a game tournament weekends wiped out They cannot they are exhausted by the even if they're just you know what I like Michelle You know what I love about hockey youth hockey games is most of the parents are drinking beer or have something hidden in a flask I'm like baseball and soccer Yeah, especially the stressful games sometimes. Yeah, you're the only way Man, it really is the parents you know you see those memes on They don't sometimes about how it really is sometimes you want to beat the other team simply because of the parents Yeah, yeah, I don't want to lose because of your parents your parents are crazy Down we are 11 we are not in the NHL everybody relax. Yeah, yeah, I'm gonna stop right there because I have hockey moms in my I'm gonna stay anymore So I probably already probably already said too much, but um So it's much easier from my out of T.J. Do you have anything fun and exciting going on? Yeah, we're just we're gearing up for Christmas my wife's parents are coming in town and she found out about our podcast So you know, I'm not gonna talk about about my mother-in-law because I just love her to death, you know, so she watches this and But you know we do some fun stuff at Christmas You know we get assigned a family member and this year we're doing tacky Christmas and I got my brother who's you know We're very close in age. She's 18 months younger than me and I got him some of the most ridiculous Tacky gifts that I could find like taco holders that are like the shape of you know a monkey Just crazy stuff, and I'm super excited to give it to him and mess with him That's awesome. What often stuff is the best so much work on I think than like I don't know being too serious about life What is going on with seeing our what are some of the highlights from 2025 and then what can we expect out of 26 and then okay update you on what TGA and I are working on also Love it I think our first exciting thing now that I've thought this through a little bit more our first exciting thing was launching the Emerging Leaders Award Which launched an RAA in 2025 and that recognized some of the Best of the best up-and-comers from a lot of the restoration companies that we all know very well I think the next generation of leaders in the industry so 40 under 40 is essentially what the award is and we Recognized five up-and-coming restores. We had a lot of entries and nominations for that and judges went through them and You know through all of that and telling things up and all of that We ended up with the top five which we got to celebrate an RAA which was awesome So we're doing that again in 2026 nominations and entries for that will open up at the end of January and go through February and again It'll be part of RAA and hopefully like a little party associated with it and some other things So I love that I got my start in the industry with the YPRC Which was the young professional restores committee through the RAA back in the day and that's how I met like Jeff Jones and Matt Hensley and Chris Galker from Buffalo and a lot of the people that I Like Nicole Humber a lot of people that I'm probably closest friends to in the industry. I met through The YPRC and so I'm excited that there's something new again to kind of help younger People in the industry the up-and-coming leadership of our industry Meet each other and get spotlighted and all of that so That was huge for 2025 And the other thing was launching clean magazine So it's my clean magazine.com is where you can find it But we have had a couple iterations of it We did a soft launch in October and I ended up not loving how the landing page kind of website looked We had it tied into the CNR site as kind of a subset and that didn't function the way I wanted it to so now we have the fully separate website that just launched this week and The idea between that is obviously CNR's cleaning and restoration magazines We cover the cleaning side but CNR really has established itself and it did before I even owned it I mean even when the RAA owned it and ran it It was truly like the high-level leadership magazine of the industry That's what it's always been so it's had leadership articles and you know, maybe financial stuff M&A updates Like the leadership stuff technology and AI those kind of things so I wanted a very clear distinct place for more technical content to live and so that's what the launch of this has been So more like what is cleaning the foundation roots of cleaning cleaning 101 is kind of what I say it so How to dry how to use your moisture meters how to? Know if a slab of concrete is dry how to dry Certain flooring how to get odors out and how to clean so it though, you know all of the tech contents cleaning that kind of technical content is where that's going to live So we're doubling down on that kind of content in 26 so that we can have more of that and more ongoing kind of continuing education I hear from restores all the time that they're like I love this article and I emailed it out to my team Or I liked this article that was in the magazine and we passed it around so the hope is that clean will give restores Even more resources to take into their training meetings or whatever to send to their team to help as they continue like ongoing education day-to-day in their companies because that's that's tough and I know that the good restores out there do try to keep that going and so Hopefully we can be a better resource for like the technician project manager level than I think we have been Yep, so is that a good resource for you know like a company like mine to get my technicians signed up for Yes, absolutely everything is still free We had another so we're in the process of we will probably get to the point where we'll offer IIC or CCCs as well for doing certain things on the website we used to have I Kind of system digital publication where people could read it and take a quiz at the end and if you passed you got three ECs for doing that so we will likely and that was all free so we'll likely do something like that with clean and get that going in 26 I know people I have people reach out to be all the time that you know need their CECs to keep their WRT or ASD or whatever that is current so We should have opportunities like that and everything's free so can't be free We just did a webinar a couple weeks ago with legend brands talking about Dehuitifiers and kind of best practices around those and and Desi can't drying those kind of things so all that kind of content lives there lots of opportunity Very good very good. I you know and for us, you know what we're TJ and I are working on is a little bit of a rebranding for large loss mastery Because one of the things that you know a lot of the you know because 75% of the industry is in residential and and then You know out of that that group, you know, they're what we what we focus on in a training at large loss mastery is now We're going to focus on it's been large loss has been large commercial now. We're going to add in elements of of Residential and small commercial which we always we always had small commercial in there But the residential piece will be will be a new piece. We're going to add into the same format of training that we do because it's so it's going to be loss mastery So it's still going to be under the banner of the solutions company and part in large loss mastery will be part of that so it's going to be loss mastery and so TJ is going to be helping me with the residential side since I've been a commercial guy all my life TJ is a residential expert and he's also an expert with with the edge estimating software and so we're As we grow the edge continue to grow the edge with in circle And circles also going to be more in plugged in also and so there will be a lot of residential elements and small restoration project elements that will be plugged into What what was just strictly large loss mastery and so we're trying to be more encompassing And but offering the same type of experience that we've been giving to our large loss guys. So now when you come to the class you'll have We'll have our training. We'll have case studies that are residential as well as Mid-level commercial commercial as well as large loss So the goal is so that even though you're residential because the thing about when you're doing residential The day is going to come and you're going to get that opportunity to do a commercial Large loss job that opportunity is going to be there It's my job to make sure when that moment happens when that you when you hit that intersection That you're ready that when that that intersection of opportunity and preparation We want you to be ready and this these classes will be able to do that for you And so I'm really excited. So in the case study breakout scenario where you know, we're still going to be at Kennedy We're still going to do these but what the the Attendee will find out in what TJ already knows. and what he's going to be able to teach them because he's you know a restore I'm a restore TJ's in the in a heat of the battle as with his with his restoration company and so if they're going to be learning you know not because like always tell people we whatever we teach we do and we do it every day it's not something you know teaching isn't something that I'm doing because I don't do anything else I'm very active in my consulting and everything else and everything that I teach I put into practice and TJ is going to show restores in the residential world how to do that and once you do that they will understand and it will start to open up their eyes as they go like okay maybe we maybe we should do some commercial and maybe we should do more you know outside of where we are outside of our current lane I hate it when people say we want guys to stay in their lane we don't want them to get over their head and I'm like when you're out of your lane and over your head is where you learn yes and grow and grow and and unfortunately I you know I won't mention any names or any organizations but I've heard that and I'm I'm I'm I'm members of these organizations and you know some of the older school and I think we want our guy staying in their lane we don't want them getting in trouble and all this I'm like you know you guys both have children are you trying to keep them in the lower lane so they don't get in trouble I mean you can't do that and be successful and and so very excited about lost mastery that's going to be launching we've already actually launched our schedule for for next year and all of our classes next year are going to include residential and small commercial elements I love that what I'm most excited for Tom is like this isn't a class where you show up to get your CECs and you might learn a couple you know tidbits and go home and not apply anything that's not how we structure this thing like I'm gonna be very blunt and honest with you and show you you know how I've applied what you taught me and you know what it's what it's got me to so this is this is actionable stuff that you can take home and implement I'm curious both of your perspectives on the residential side and so like tease this out a little bit and obviously this is gonna give everything away but what do you think is like the big thing that you see restores missing or that they could be doing better on the residential side of things obviously Tom you've been talking about large loss for years but on the residential side I'm curious what you both see as restores could be doing a lot better in this area oh I mean there's two things that stand out to me and that's onboarding the customer walking them through the journey and providing up front pricing instead of just doing the job taking all the risk for the company and seeing where you end up you know after the fact and so those two things right there you know can change your business if you focus on them with intent and get it right yeah how in depth should the onboarding process be there's a big spread of that in the industry right where there are some people that is like it should be like a day-long course for onboarding your customer and then there's the other side of like we don't onboard at all so what is good onboarding again don't give it all away but I'm curious like where your take is what is it look like? I think it's it's different for every restore right like we all do things a little bit different but for me like our methodology is do the hardship first and have the hard conversations first and so if you throw it all out there on the table uh and you're fully transparent it makes the entire process after that so much easier so I think we as people like to avoid the confrontation and having the hard conversation and talking about money and deposits and payments and holding people accountable so we avoid it but if you focus on it with intent and you're you're professional about it your customer understands and that it becomes a lot more relatable and it makes the whole project easier yeah absolutely I love that Tom I'm curious sorry I didn't mean to take over and start out and take over no no no I love it are you kidding me and oh thank you also for being um one of our sponsors and I'm very excited that we you know we're we're we're carrying that over into 2026 and there's gonna be some really cool things that we're gonna be doing and I want to get you in in in in more involved in in more of our classes too where you're and when you can pop in if you can pop in or or zoom in you know all of that stuff and so but my big thing with with all restores and because I throw us all in the same pot and and what everybody is missing is the two the two numbers that that everybody needs to know about their projects your square footage number and your production rate you need to know those on whether you're doing commercial residential whatever it is square footage number and production rate and most restores can't tell you either one um and that's unfortunate now the old school guys you know they've been around forever we all have square footage numbers on our head that we can put out there instantly but for most restores they they don't have that experience to where they have that that data in you know inside their that that AI in their head you know let's go um and so those would be the biggest things is pay attention to your performance not only on this job but all of your other jobs because what you did in the past affects what you're doing today and it affects what you're going to do tomorrow yes okay that's awesome and we teach you we teach we teach we teach them all of all of the above when they leave our class they're ready they're ready they can they can literally put everything that we teach them to work that day that's good that makes it more valuable it's you know going to classes and stuff is fun but it can be it's good when you go and you can take stuff out immediately so it's like okay now I have to like figure out how to implement this and then get everybody on board and doing it this way and I don't know if I could do that and yeah so well and that's why the evolution of of large loss mastery had to happen um because again you know this is this is year 10 this is the 10th year already which I can't believe in June it'll be our 10 years on the dot and uh and it was time for it was time for a change time for okay what's what is next you know because it's a great class great program but I didn't feel like we were reaching everybody and I want everybody to have the opportunity to go through the these these classes because they're put together with all of the best practices of of my 40 year career which has been with some amazing restores some amazing people most of them are still in the in the business I have you know my mentors are still in the industry and they're 40 they're 44 and 45 year veterans of restoration and mostly commercial and you know I've been very blessed it took me all over the world we've done projects and singing poor Kuwait Mexico Canada Costa Rica Mexican West Indies Virgin Islands I mean we've been everywhere because of restoration and so we plugged all of that information everything that we've learned over the years is all plugged in so that when you leave you you leave with things that work you know because we talk about what works and what doesn't and why it doesn't work or why it does work and why you should and so um it's more than just coming in and learning you do get your IRC or C credits you know most of our classes are 14 CEC so everybody you know they can come in and and and have some fun we usually feed you well and and we have fun we have fun with it too because I want it to be fun because I don't you know and we bring in guest speakers and we're gonna have more more guest speakers this year also and we just had a astronaut Clay Anderson at our December class which was really cool and and and awesome and so for you know that's that's that's kind of my that's my class that I that I that I love and I hate it when it's over I'm actually totally the the week after I were like last week I was just totally exhausted but but I couldn't I couldn't do it I had to fly to Detroit and and go through two days of meetings and Detroit and then and then back here for another another meeting and then I finally got some rest over the weekend I well it was nice and snowy in Detroit for you I'm guessing we've had great weather so it was it was nice and cold I was testing out my new ski jacket that I'm I went through three years and not being able to ski, 'cause I grew up out in Northern Nevada out in Reno, like Tahoe, Carson City. And I have both my hips replaced, and then I had to have one repaired. So I've had two hip replacements and three surgeries in three years. And so I wasn't able to ski, but I am training right now, and I'm getting back onto mountain in February. And so I had my new ski jacket, and I was testing it out. And it worked out great in Detroit. It was cold. So it was cold. And it did snow, but I got out of the airport, everything was good, and nothing to complain about. No, Detroit has, Detroit itself has come a long way. That can be a whole other podcast, but Detroit is so nice, and there's so much to do now. It's very fun. Great, great nightlife. Well, you saw that you and you were here for the core event as well, if you were up here. Yeah. Yeah, Detroit is having a resurgence, and which is great to see a renaissance or whatever you want to call it, but it's really, I've always liked Detroit, but it was just there. In the early 90s, it was a little, it was touching go. (laughing) - Here, there's a lot of areas in Detroit, where if the lake that it doesn't matter, you just keep going. - Yeah, you keep going. - Yeah, it does keep going. There's still areas like that, but they don't know how this. - No, they don't. The state of the, what is the state, they cost it to a business report. When does that come out for everybody that is waiting on that, and I don't know if we did an update on any of the changes that you guys did to that. - Perfect, thank you for the tee up. So, cost of doing business is the RAA's report that did just come out in the last few months. So, you can get that at costofroseration.com. That's free to download for everybody. - Mm-hmm. - And so, the state of the industry, our 20, 20s, our next survey period launches the second week and it's the second week of January. So, you can go to stateofrestoration.com for that one. We do that in partnership with KnowHow. We did change things up a little bit. So, for people that are familiar with CNR, you saw that we just did an industry pulse check, which was like six questions, took people literally 90 seconds or less to fill it out. We're out. And then we provided in our last issue, kind of the data from that, just showing where the industry's at, how it's going, getting paid, what the claim time, what that's looking like, overall morale, AI usage. It was like six just big topics in the industry. So, we took a look at that for the pulse check. But in the past years, when we've done the full report, which is actually like a full book, if you've ever downloaded it, they're like 80 page books with actual action things that you can do at every chapter. It's a full report. In the past, our survey period has been like, July of one year to like March of the next year. So, you're getting weird data sets where you're not actually seeing what a year in the industry looks like, a calendar year, you're seeing, it was a weird like nine month window that you were getting this data from. So, we decided to pivot. So, now, the study that's going to launch the second week of January, we'll be asking about your 2025. We're going to take a look at the full 2025 calendar year and what that was like for the industry. And so, then the data you're going to see in the new full report that will come out at RIA at the end of April, will be a look at the 2025 calendar year. So, hopefully moving forward, you're going to be able to have the spines of this on your bookshelf if you get the print version of it that says 2022 state of the industry, 238, 24, 25. So, you actually have it by calendar year moving forward. And we're changing, we're because cost of doing business has gotten some legs through the RIA. And that has more kind of financial stuff on the industry. We're really focusing on making sure that the state of the industry compliment it and has different data points that are also helpful. So, this is going to be more qualitative. We've always done rankings of top software, top where people shop for their equipment, whether it was John Donne, gone now our ramps go, that we've had several other rankings that have been in there. So, we are adding more of that for the next survey, asking people to weigh in on the most respected restoration companies in the industry, maybe, and weighing in on consultants, weighing in on that kind of stuff. So, going beyond software to give more, like here's the best of the best in the industry across the board and other topics, talking more about AI and the best usage of that, more about digging into morale and burnout. We found that to be pretty interesting the last time around, because that was something new we added. So, that's more at. So, the more people that take it, the better the data will be, but the data set has gotten bigger and bigger every year. And it's definitely big enough to mean that the report truly is factual. We would not publish it if it was not. So, it's a big data set and what you see is truly a very good snapshot of the industry. - And what's cool too is now you have a few years, 'cause what is this, the third year? - This will be the fourth, so a lot of like four-year. So, now you've got a lot, we're down the road to where you're dialing it in and you're fine tuning in. And so, that it's really exciting because I think it's, it is crucial for everybody out there that's a restore that you understand the industry, that you understand where we've been, you understand where we're going, because remember we're always on that journey. Here's where we are today, here's where we're going tomorrow, and here's where we're gonna be in the end. And so, Miss Shell, it's been a pleasure. I don't know, you have anything else you wanna throw out there before we, I know we've, I forgot to push record and so we had the, we had the review. And so, I appreciate both of you hanging out in Alblayman on Zoom. They should, Zoom changed. It's, it's, literally since yesterday, I was on, I was on for three hours yesterday with the circle doing a big, they asked me anything so they, they literally asked me anything about large loss for three hours. And which was interesting, that is, that's on tape too, so it was really good. So, it's available through in circle, I do believe. So, if anybody's interested in that, it was, it was really good. There were some great questions in there. And for everybody, remember, the two things you need to remember, square footage and production rate. And in our lost mastery classes for 2026, we're gonna be focusing on all of that for both residential and commercial. And so, very excited about that. Very excited. - Well, thanks for having me, you guys. It was fun chatting about all the things. And I look forward to partnering with you guys more in 2026. Thanks for letting me. - I have you at one of the classes, Michelle. - Yes, I wanted you more than pop into one. I'm trying to be more strategic about travel. As I think everybody is, there's so many events and so much to attend. And it's also hard, T.J., you know, you get this in the area of having small children. - No. - We just need to tag team it. I'll bring my wife, you bring your husband, and we'll send them to, you know, wherever the, whatever water park is closest and while we're in class. - That'll be great. Perfect. - I look forward to seeing you both in 2026 for sure. - Very good. Thank you very much. Thank you guys. Cheers.