thank you welcome to a scrap life a podcast solely focus on the hustlers Grinders operators and business owners who live and breathe the scrap metal industry every day we are the original recyclers no suits required just guts and hard work here is your host Brett Eckhart all right guys I’m back with another episode of a scrap life you guys know me man I I’m always on the the hot verse Hustlers entrepreneurs people out there that are just kind of like carving a path and doing their thing the way they want to do it and I feel like the guy I got on today is is a pretty good example of that um so Bob Emery knows recycling magazine I won’t give you a title seems though you didn’t want it really all the way give yourself a title so I’m not gonna do it to you either so I’m uh we’ve been talking about getting putting this thing together we finally got it done so uh thanks for taking the time man and uh welcome to the podcast thanks Brett um appreciate the opportunity to be on your podcast um I’ve watched it

many times paid attention to it love it love the way you go about work and I’m honored to be a guest thank you man I like I said I I kind of you kind of are who you surround yourself with is kind of the way I’ve always looked at it and I have a like an awesome you know team of people that help me do what I do I can by no means do it all sometimes I don’t think I can do any of it um but I I’d get up like everybody else put my boots on in my jeans and I just try to go make something happen for the day so you kind of strike me as that type of individual so I’ve been kind of poking at you trying to get you on the podcast for a while but uh for those of you that don’t know um much about Bob I’m gonna let him kind of give you a little bit of background now my goal is just to pick at him and see what information I can drag out and so how do you go from you know I

I was going through your bio like we were talking earlier you know you you worked on the app on the advertising marketing side with Israel you’ve been around the industry for a while on the equipment side and uh so give me a little bit of background on you Bob um yeah I actually started an advertising out of college and worked for a local newspaper and I was there and and within a short amount of time I really grew the territory loved it like dealing with people like dealing with the public um just just had fun doing it and I was there for I think four years out of college and realized that either if I wanted to make money I had to go elsewhere uh that the people there were lifers um a couple jobs in between but started with recycling today back in 1995 and I know you’ve had interviews with them and and do their show with the scrap Expo and everything and they did a great job last year in fact saw your podcast down there as well but I was with recycling today for almost seven years um left there

to go to construction equipment guide for about a year and a half when Israel Came Calling and then when Israeli you know we were able to strike up a deal and I had been with them for about 17 and a half years as a sales director and with Israel I handled basically all the advertising whether it be in print digital for the scrap magazine which um they’re no longer doing uh for their Israeli membership directory for their websites for their news emails and everything else that they sent out um they decided to go just digital in December of 20. um so from that perspective I wasn’t exactly sure what I was going to do yeah um I had customers contacting me regularly saying start up a magazine and we’ll support you and from my perspective I’m like guys it’s just not that easy it just don’t you don’t just fire up a magazine and start uh send it all over the world and say yeah I’m just uh what is that you know and we’ll go back into the story but what does it take I mean like you said I mean you say

it doesn’t just you don’t need to start up a magazine like there’s got to be so many components of putting a magazine together damn near from scratch I mean really I mean you gotta I mean you haven’t been in the industry but what does that look like for for a for a guy that like myself who who has never lived in that world and doesn’t understand I mean what is the what’s the you know what’s that process look like you know it it’s funny because today so many people like oh you don’t need to print magazine you just go digital you don’t even need a magazine just you know just do things online and that’s kind of what is where isri was heading there’s really a lot that goes into putting together or starting up a magazine but because of my background I’ve basically been in publishing for 30 some years so from that perspective I knew what I needed to do I just one I had to make sure I had the guts to go forward with it and too late to make sure I had a couple people that would come along

that would be able to fill their roles and and they sure have and it’s been phenomenal um so basically what it I guess to answer your question yeah yeah you had to have a designer up front uh somebody who would design the Magazine and there was a lot that went into that because they wanted to talk with me in my editor and find out what we wanted and they wanted to kind of build it around us um I wanted to make sure if if I was able to to bring along my production manager from scrap magazine for misery where I knew that if we could get this I knew I could handle the sales out of it I knew I could handle the management end of it but I’m not a writer um I’m not uh I’m I can I’m not in I’m not uh a director I’m not a production person so from that I really rely heavily I couldn’t have designed the magazine so the people who I brought along with us to get us going proofreader Ken Kaiser the old publisher of scrap magazine came on uh came with us to

proof the magazine Miriam Weiss our production director Ken mcinty our editor everybody has just done a heck of a job and made my job easy I just manage it so but that reminds me you know that that process sounds to me Bob kind of like the guy that has worked for a couple different uh scrap metal recycling companies and you’ve kind of seen all the processes you know from the office to the production to what it looks like you’ve seen behind the curtain you’ve kind of done most of the jobs at one point or another at least you kind of have a feel for what each job entails and then you’re like it I’m gonna put I’m gonna start my own scrap yard like I’m gonna do it I’m gonna put my own on so I think that was the way I understood I didn’t know all the the finite details of it but the way I understood your story was that way right so just the nature of the Beast for me I’m always like looking for individuals like that that kind of had the I I just use the word courage because

I think that’s the that’s what it is it a lot of people it’s it’s a it’s a tough pill to swallow to go from you know being employed and understanding that and you know getting the consistent paycheck from uh from a company to saying okay I’m gonna go out and put my own money where my mouth is I’m gonna you know make this happen and I think it takes a lot of guts to do that it I it there were a lot of sleepless nights when I made the decision or before I made the decision to go forward once I made that decision I was much more comfortable um we I think we stopped publishing scrap I you know stopped getting paid in December of 20 and we started our first magazine in July of 21 and I really didn’t I was looking at it in February I’m definitely considering it I think I pulled the trigger April 1st and it was too soon to do a May issue but um so we we targeted July and you know I borrowed money from my wife to basically start this business she was all behind

me from the beginning uh the kids were behind me I had customers that reached out to me who were like well if you don’t start a magazine come to work for us in sales we want you to work for us because I had obviously a lot of contacts both on the equipment and on the scrap dealer side yeah but and I obviously a heavy background in sales I have a very good under understanding of the equipment side of things too I don’t I don’t know a lot about any one piece of equipment but I have a general understanding of most everything and how they work in a yard so from that perspective I could have done a lot of things but once I made the decision to go forward it was a matter of you know starting to reach out to let customers know we were going to do it a lot of people were fairly skeptical up front and they were like Bob if this works we’ll join you but I’m going to give it a little time before we get 100 months away and we um I knew what my costs were

going into it we made money with issue one and never looked back so what was the biggest businesses don’t start yeah what was the biggest challenge for you like what was the the biggest maybe challenge that you knew was coming and what was maybe the biggest like unforeseen challenge that uh you didn’t really see some of the biggest challenge was really starting with time deadlines being able to put something together basically starting a business on April April 1st is when we officially kind of announced and let people know what we were doing and we basically had to have an issue together within two months because we’re we’re usually about a month before so it was a July August issue my deadline was probably June 1st June 15th at the latest and So within two months I had to put together a magazine that uh that made a good impression yeah that uh that red well that was uh error-free that the content was good um and hopefully a few ads in it to make a little money because because we’re not making it on the subscriptions we’re making out in the advertising side

of it um so it was the challenging the most challenging part probably would have been the deadline constraints of stuff do you know that going into it is that a foreseen challenge yeah without it without a doubt that’s I mean it’s it’s part of the industry it’s you go from issue as soon as you’re done with one you kind of move on to the next yeah then get into show season and you get behind a little bit because you’ve been traveling so you got to get work a little harder and so but yeah what about understanding is there anything that kind of caught you off guard that you were like huh I didn’t really see that one you know what what really I guess what really kind of caught me off guard was how much support I had from previous customers and from people that were like no Bob if you’re doing it we’re with you oh and and I yeah I mean I’ve been in the industry I was with Israel for over 17 years but been in this industry for 27 or whatever it was longer 29 and um I was I

was humbled I was honored um and I didn’t expect that I mean I I work with people but they know I care when I work I mean I work with people I’ve got you you could have a customer come up and say Mom I’m going to spend 10 grand I’m going to spend it up front this is what I’m gonna do and I’m like don’t do it yeah spread it out over the year it’s you’re gonna make you’re gonna do better with it it’s gonna benefit us both where a lot of people sales people special take their account take the money up front what are you talking about yeah Karen and people showed me that they care back it was amazing the support we had from customers and that was unforeseen to me you know one thing and and I I’ve met um Jim Keith probably a couple years ago and he had called me up one time he was coming to town for a a mining conference or something he said hey man sorry podcast let’s understand some of your stuff hey I’m gonna come to town and I didn’t I didn’t know

him from uh from Adam really I just was like yeah you know I’d love to meet you and like what I learned from you know our conversations and what I learned from you know developing relationship with him and guys like yourself is you guys are probably the most connected people in our industry like I and I didn’t I never really took that into consideration that how many people you guys knew just because of the nature of the Beast right and obviously you say having been with isary for was it 17 years and before that um gie Media or um recycling today for what’d you say seven almost almost seven years with them in seven years right and you know you make I mean talk about connected people in our industry and you know and and connecting the dots and who’s who in the zoo and you know and what’s going on I feel like between yourself and and Jim like you guys probably know and and know of more people in the in the recycling industry whether it’s scrap or wood waste or fiber or plastic I mean I I’d be I’d put you

guys up probably against anybody on that side it was pretty interesting because being with Israeli it I would I would bring a lot of businesses into the association from outside the business meaning I would do I do a ton of shows outside of scrap so I would do shows like demolition I would do shows like con Expo the biggest construction show the automotive recycler show I would do Iron and Steel I would do all these other trade shows and people go oh there’s a yeah there is an association for scrap or or isn’t that the Israel you know don’t you have a show I would bring so many people in from the outside because because of the knowledge I had I’d be able to look at a piece of equipment or something on somebody’s pooped and say do you actually Market that for the scrap industry well no but I do have a customer too is there is there a benefit do you think oh hell yeah you know I mean I’d look at it and next thing you know they’d come up and go oh my gosh thank you so much we didn’t

know they come and join the association and they do shows or meetings and they do all kinds of business and they’d like I get you know accolades for it so it’s kind of yeah did you I mean did you know I mean did when you were when you were doing that I mean obviously you’re when you’re with Israel Theory you’re part of scrap scrap magazine and I remember I haven’t you know I remember that magazine I’m just a kind of a junkie that way I guess like part of the reason why I do this podcast and whatever else is you know I do some other businesses but I mean there is a kind of a fondness like a a first love if you will you know to the scrap side to the of our business and um when you went from the construction magazine to isary was Israeli putting out a scrap magazine at that time yeah they were in fact there was a point where scrap magazine was was it was the Bible it was so big it was so thick uh Jim Fowler was publisher for I don’t know how many years

but uh actually when I worked with recycling today I went up against Jim Fowler and you had to be really careful in the way you tried to get business away from scrap because they you know there were two sales people for recycling today at the time and and you you better not bad mouth Jim or you better not saying and you couldn’t he was such a great guy and what he did with that magazine he would kind of he’d look at a scrap dealer and say you are going to advertise with us right you know with Israel right and yeah oh yes sir you know so he kind of like the he had the double-edged sword he kind of had to like yeah just so you know yeah yeah everybody knew Jim and Jim was publisher but he was also handled the sales and it like I said he did a great job um so when we were with recycling today we would tactically go after the accounts and try and pick up business and grow and we did we were very successful at it uh there was a time when then Jim

left and as soon as Jim left we started cleaning up yeah we were picking up all kinds of business with recycling today um the publisher at the time was really only there about four years um and I had left recycling today I don’t even remember when it was it was actually December 11th was the day I gave my two week notice but before everything hit and um and when I came on board with scrap magazine it was down to like 60 Pages an issue or something where it was probably averaging 200 or 180 or something yeah but when I started you know we started growing right away it was uh the same thing we grew grew grew and never looked back and we kind of plateaued out history made the decision to go let’s go that’s gonna be my next my next question was what what prompted that decision by isary to uh move off of the print print side I I don’t know if I can really answer that the only thing I can really say is that we had a magazine that probably averaged 130 pages 140 pages per issue when they

decided to go away with it um from that perspective they had a group there that wanted to go digital and which is fine I’ve got no issues with that but there were I had been pushing to do things differently digitally with the magazine for years but they didn’t want to put money into it so from that perspective that’s what I mean what they decided not to go forward with worked out best for me because then when I decided to do this our own magazine Metals Recycling um I knew I wanted a print magazine and I’ll explain why in a minute but I also had to make sure that we had a digital version and not just a flip book we’ll be making some more changes in the future as well but that I was able to incorporate video into the magazine as well so that we could actually we could actually you know we’ve got the podcast feature coming up in the Israeli convention issue I could have scrap light playing when you flip the page over to that feature and placing your picture and it could auto play it would start right up

it’s very cool some of the things that we’re doing with the magazine it’s so easy to do it’s cost effective and it’s something that I didn’t have the green light on before and now I’m I make a decision if I make a good one it’s good if I don’t it’s my fault my kids don’t think I’m an ass but my boss is an ass and that’s me so yeah um you know they’re like oh he’s so hard to work for yeah but uh so you so your kids are in the business then no they are they just uh they just love to razz dad twin boys that are 25 this month and my daughter’s 26. okay so you got three kids yeah three kids I mean you’ve got two I think I got two boys yeah they’re a handful but I wouldn’t have it any other way oh without a doubt and I’m glad to see I know family means a lot to you too I see the pictures from the trip from the trip and saw the picture the other day and I think I noted that your son is almost as tall

as you now you’re old man I tell you what you know I I always I kind of debate there’s there’s a lot of ways to skin the cat on like what you’re willing to post on social media and what you’re not some people I don’t want to you know post my family or I do or this or that you know and part of me I’ve I made it I’ve I told myself and I was always anti-facebook anti I mean I wouldn’t even really I didn’t like people even taking my pictures I just I just didn’t like my wife was like let’s do five pictures I’m like no I’m not doing it um and I just didn’t really like it and soccer was working on me years ago to try and get me to do a podcast and I was like and it was he had just started up his uh pile of scrap and I don’t know I’m good I don’t I don’t want to do it I you know I’d go tell somebody else he’s like no bro you have a good story I just tell the story and and so I

did it and then I bought a pipe company in Indiana and I was like man that podcast deal is pretty good so I’m gonna it kind of I was like it wasn’t bad so then I started my own podcast my first podcast had nothing to do with scrap I had everything to do with that I was trying to learn a realign business uh pipe relaying uh corgis corrugated steel pipe so I started this this podcast called Green Line unknown which means I’m like I’m new to the industry I bought a company in this industry I’m just trying to figure it out with the rest of you right it’s a very new industry so long story short that was my first podcast and I started to get more comfortable with talking to people and being in front of a camera and whatever else and then I was like you know um I ended up selling that I ended up selling that business um I still own a portion of it um I have a guy that that runs it and owns a big chunk of it now but uh I was like I’m gonna do

a podcast about like what I really know you know like what I really am passionate about and it was about scrap and about my life in general and I said okay I’m just gonna be very genuine about who I am like I am I am what I am like I’m not gonna pull any punches and because I don’t I’m not worried about sponsors I I’m just gonna do it the way I do it right and and so part of it is I am you know a family guy you know I’m a family business guy I’m a third generation so I’m like I’m gonna post if I want to post a picture of my family I’m gonna post it I’m not gonna think twice I’ve been like this is me you know I you know I do what I do but I’m pretty family oriented and so I was you know I know a lot of people decide do I do I go down that road do I not and I’m just like the genuinely me I’m just gonna do it and if I don’t like Bud Light for making some marketing move like I’m

just gonna call it out like I think it’s a shitty beer and I wouldn’t buy it but hey like if you like it by all means go drink the hell out of it you know like that’s just me I was outside the Indians game the other day and they had Budweiser and I almost got one and I’m like I’m sorry I can’t I’ll drink some I picked a beer I don’t even drink yeah but I’m like I can’t I can’t support Anheuser Bush right now yeah and you know you vote with your dollars you vote with your you know your comments you vote with you know and I’m not I don’t want to tell anybody else how to live their life I’m just saying like this is me either like no you don’t but like I don’t want to you know I’m not here to you know be a super political or anything like that just if I see something I read something and I’m like this here it is um but you know going back to you know on the marketing side and just and deciding for a magazine to decide we’re gonna

go digital is there a cost cutting component to that or is it just hey this is the direction we see the future and we we’re gonna move that way and try and be a first mover or is it a combination or I mean how do you see that it’s funny because there’s definitely a cost savings component of going digital but there our industry is so diverse and I know your third generation scrap I mean you what the way you will go about the digital you were there’s a couple people who do what you do and do it so well and I love your posts I love the way you go about things but for magazine so many times you get if you’re doing a story once it’s there it’s gone it’s not right in front of you again yeah um from a cost perspective are Printing and mailing for this issue for what will be our history convention issue I think probably forty thousand dollars just to print mail to magazine yeah so there’s definitely a cost savings to go digital over producing a printed and digital magazine the digital side hardly anything to

put together when you when you look at it um even adding video anything we do um to me that’s that’s that’s gravy I produce a printed Magazine with the digital supplement that I think we send out about 10 500 printed magazines I email out about 6 000 more and every issue is hosted on the website and the funny thing is it for people who subscribe on the website you can you’ve got the option of going print digital or both and if you add together both print only or print and digital I’m at 82 percent direct that still includes print yeah so so it’s there is still demand out there and when I was talking about the generational is you’ve got a lot of people I’m an old guy look at the grave beard that kind of stuff I do enjoy a printed magazine but I like the digital too I’ll flip through both but I like to put my YouTube on it I travel a lot so if I’m on a plane I’ll grab the magazine flip through it read it do whatever um you see them in showrooms at scrap or in uh

waiting rooms at a scrap yard uh lunch rooms break rooms that kind of stuff other places they end up but um there’s still a need for printing magazine in this industry if if there were if you were in a legal profession or a financial or medical there’s so many different Industries where digital you can go forward and everybody’s on board but in our industry a lot of people still get their hands dirty and a lot of those people are the ones that that have decision making processes in our industry a shop form and an operation supervisor you don’t have time to be on this while you’re working but you take a break you may find you’re in the lunchroom and flipping through it and so it’s just a whole different you can you know it’s a different animal yeah I I always try and look through the look through things from a lens of my kids I I this is how I balance it out in my own mind is I think about my dad and I think about my kids and obviously I sit in between and I’m um I’m an and person

right I like Anne versus say you know the word or and I heard it said you know to garyvee one time and who’s a really great marketing guy and he’s like you don’t have to pick one lane like especially when it comes to stuff like that and I really thoroughly like I don’t really read anything digital even my books like when I travel I bring up I bring a real book right that’s just the way I am now my youngest son in my and my oldest boy their big book they read a lot of books and and and but they read the heart and nobody has a Kindle or anything in our house but I should I shouldn’t my son’s not here so his birthday is in like a you know a couple weeks and I got him a Kindle because he’s a various reader but I want him to see be able to travel a little bit with less but right you know but I read everything in a magazine like right or a book and that’s just me my dad you know he’s probably similar he reads stuff in a book my

kids they could probably go either way so I don’t feel like that transition has all the way happened is fast as people think it’s going to happen right and I think when you anticipate a technology moving faster than it actually does and I think of like for example the electric car right right everybody’s in a hurry to to bet on lithium in a hurry to bet on this in a hurry to bet on how fast this electric car transformation is going to happen I think if you take a few steps back and just look at the evolution like technology eventually does win there is no doubt technology wins all day twice on Sunday you can bet your ass right but I don’t think it wins as fast as a lot of people anticipated winning and I think that in any business you’re and if I’m wrong about yours then you know then tell me because I’m I’m often wrong um it feels like there’s a lot of money that can be left on the table when you exit too early because you anticipate it you know technology just enveloping everything really quickly and I

think that it does take a little more time than people think what are your thoughts I I knew what we brought in from a revenue perspective with Israeli I know they’re nowhere near that electronically today this um we were as I mentioned we’ve been around since it was July of 21 was our first issue we published six per year and we’ve done nothing but gross since we started this this one here is our convention issue um we’re 108 pages and we’re a new magazine I basically started with zero dollars when we started the business and that’s that’s kind of scary knowing you’ve got to have X amount to cover your not before you even earn a profit so we were 108 pages and that was in the midst of all the personal issues I’ve had with my I’m leaving for Demolition and find out my mom fell broke her hip you know I thought it was my wife calling at eight o’clock or seven o’clock in the morning on my way to the airport to say she loves me it’s not it’s mom fell she broke her hip and she’s going in for surgery

yeah so uh the next thing I know it goes from surgery to rehab to hospice to funeral and that’s all through the convention issue I could have been 150 Pages for this issue it just you know if I was around I thank God our staff my staff is incredible um Everybody picked up the pieces while I was busy taking care of the the items that I needed to do um The Family Matters and uh yeah I’m very fortunate where we’re at but I mean that it won’t tell you what we’re billing but it’s a lot of money that is yeah a lot of money to be made um still in print and and in this case it’s print and digital but yes it’s I would have to not knowing what other people’s revenues are we’re doing great as a new business I love it I love it so the decision was good to uh you know be with your decision I sleep a lot better than I did in February and March of 2021. was there a lot of Adventure was there a lot of pressure on that first issue did you feel a

lot of I mean obviously timeline and whatnot but did you did you I mean was that first issue where you’re like could you they feel saying you get one chance to uh you know make a first impression so you try to make a good one did you feel that going into it to a degree I mean I knew we did have to make a good impression but I knew we would continue to evolve and I I mean I even wrote in the first issue which again I’m I’m not somebody who who will do that it’s not my forte good talking to people I’m very comfortable with different types of people I’m selling the magazine does yeah I wrote in the first one basically saying you know welcome to the magazine here it is a lot of experience behind us we’re looking forward to covering the industry and hopefully you’ll never hear from me again it was basically what it was but when we started with the second issue my editor’s wife passed away due to covet and he basically said I and I told him he basically said I don’t think I can do

this I was like you take care of what you need to do yeah I’ll get take care of the magazine I’ll make sure so fortunately at the time my old publisher Kent Kaiser stepped up and said Bob don’t worry about it I’ll take care of the editorial for this issue you just make sure we’re on track with sales I had to write another column in the second issue that basically said okay I said I wasn’t gonna write anymore but sometimes you need to do things that are unplanned that you don’t expect to do yeah and here I am and without saying what happened is it’s basically life comes in at you fast and be ready to adapt and we grew with the second issue and Ken came back for the third one and you know we were back on track and continuing to grow ever since but so we had some pretty tough obstacles but to answer your question yeah we had to make a good impression but I knew we’d evolve and get better okay because I always wanted like you know with that first one if you feel if you feel that

pressure you know anytime you open a new business you have the grand opening you’re like okay like I wanna go off without a hitch even though in the back of your mind just because I’ve opened enough to know if you if you feel like you’re gonna get through without a hitch you’re crazy as well like I said we’ve we had hitches but you know what it’s it’s fun too there’s a there’s an excitement about starting something new about the nervousness that that you have that you overcome and and like I said to turn a profit out of issue one and not only that you know to pay back loans and everything else right off the bat it was very cool what do you I mean what do you enjoy the most about you know about putting out that magazine putting out your magazine I mean what is that what do you what do you get the most enjoyment fulfillment out of um uh realistically it’s probably to do it the way I want to do it you know to be to be in charge to to we and it’s not that I’m a control

freak or anything of the sort I’m far from it I want people to do what they want to do I want if they’re qualified to go forward and and if I think it reads well and and does well we we go with it so I I love having the decision-making ability But ultimately to control our expenses I mean I spend a lot of money on this to get it to grow whether it’s bonus distribution whether it’s like better stock whether it’s you know fine glossy this that whatever um I I can make that decision where in the past it’s like well it costs money to do that it’s like we want to produce a good product you have to spend money to make money and and so I’ve gone forward yeah I was I was supposed to be a con Expo it’s the first con Expo I missed and since 1998.25 years right yeah but I had friends that Steph I sent uh 3000 magazines out to town Expo for both the booth and the bins and then I never made it out there because of the funeral and everything but I

had people step up it’s it’s cool to run a business and some people go you can spend that much money to ship magazines cross country and you know overnight them or yeah absolutely it’ll pay dividends it’ll make me it’ll make us grow in the long run so there’s a certain amount of uh of pride in being able to make that decision and I don’t I’ve kind of noticed it’s like I’m a competitive guy when it comes to work I’m outside of work I’m other than like when I’m coaching my kids sports or like even watching them play sports like I am competitive like I’m not going to see him you and tell you I ain’t but right um and but after but when I’m at work like there’s a certain amount of just Pride and being able to put your stamp of of approval on something I’m saying like that’s mine that’s how I did it and it may not be the way you would do it but it’s the way I like to do it type it type of deal and and I and I often think like you you know if you

if you can’t start it yourself and this is just my read on you um I feel like you’re you and I have a similar poison I hate to give myself a title like I just I I’m here to remove everybody’s obstacles I used to call myself the chief obstacle remover like between the Slate for people to do so they can run it the way they want it right and then then I get to come back and say yeah like that’s I like it I like where you’re going with that right but like just like you like I’m here to move obstacles so you can get after it and I feel like you kind of have a similar uh mindset when you’re the way you run your magazine is that true yeah oh without a doubt without a doubt I I strongly believe in the stamp we have like I know I mentioned a few people I was very fortunate to bring on a couple writers for us that uh man put back I don’t know if you know Manfred or read anything from him but he started recycling International and he was very beneficial

when we started to just give me ideas he submitted a story for the first issue Bob don’t worry about it don’t pay me do whatever long and short we’re running his columns in our magazine Judy Ferraro who was with scrap she’s writing for us love what she does the cool thing is I have people come up at shows and say Bob I we love what you’re doing we love the content you know we love that you started a business we but people say I’ve got scrap guys who advertise who will come up and say thank they’re thanking me for spending money with me because they’re getting business from their ads that they’re running yeah I’m like I should be thanking you and they’re like no trust me it’s paying for itself yeah at a customer come up to me at St Louis at the Israel consumers night and said um he goes you’ll enjoy hearing this I had somebody call me today and said do I ship the stainless to the address that’s in the ad because you’re the only place we advertise and it’s a you know truckload of stainless coming yeah well

it’s pretty it’s pretty cool that’s cool those win-win situations what make it worthwhile very rewarding yeah so yeah it’s really cool I mean totally enjoying it and um so moving forward um I mean I you know I think of you know recycling today and and Jim Keith and that giu media and right I and that that’s like a full-on media company right I mean they’re putting on events they’re doing um they have obviously the magazine and the multiple magazines and kind of multiple business lines what do you is is there a next step for you or do you feel like you know doing what you’re doing right now is kind of your sweet spot and you’re really you’re really enjoying it you know what at this point I’ve had other people say well what’s your next venture it’s like that’s not happening I’m getting older um I did this more on a necessity you know it was like either I’m gonna go to work selling equipment for somebody yeah in the scrap industry because I have so many contacts or I’ll start a magazine and I just had to make a fairly

quick decision as to what to do um I when I worked at recycling today or gie media it was basically they really didn’t have any meetings when I first started there so it was they had three Publications at the time and then they started branching out into hosting meetings and stuff and and now with scrap Expo which was very excellently done last year yeah um you know they they’ve grown quite a bit on the event side of things uh for me you know right now this is what I’m gonna do we may have an addition in this or a little you know a couple things down the road but if if if it’s anything it’ll only be tied to recycling and to scrap um even with me when we were the even the name that came across when we did Metals Recycling it that was a tough decision because I’m limiting myself if I if I’m you know if I’m materials recycling and I knew some of the things that were going on within history and wanting to broaden out over the years they’ve been wanting to handle more materials and let people know

they’re there for everybody yeah a little bit of griping from the metals guys like oh you’re spending too much time on paper too much time on plastic rubber Electronics who this or that and and um so I was very concentrated very dis decisive about going forward with just Metals Recycling I knew we would lose some business but I didn’t need all that other business yeah and from that perspective I’m happy doing what I’m doing right now will continue to grow um I think we’re up 24 this year over last year and that includes what in last year was a good year yeah the delays I had early this year with the family issues so yeah it’s we’re doing great now something may change down the road but another Edition or product or something but right now we’re good with what we’re at you know I I I’ve heard it said and I’m a big podcast junkie um like listening to other people’s podcasts and just kind of um and and somebody who’s saying and I I I can’t remember which one but they were talking about Niche business moving forward and you know because

it’s it gets hyper competitive in anything you do right and so you know I was talking about when even when I started our my podcast I was like I’m just gonna do like whatever right like scrap stories anybody in the industry and I feel like there is a big opportunity in business in general whether it’s publishing or whatever is to find that Niche and just be really good at a niche right um and just be the be good at one thing really good at that and then just see what opens up down the road but I feel like by even naming the magazine Metals Recycling you’re pretty much saying like if your paper if you’re fiber if you’re whatever then um then you know maybe we’re not the best advertising forum for you right now but so many companies anymore they don’t just do Fiverr right they don’t just do metal they don’t just like right now you know so there is a I feel like there is you know a just an opportunity to be in that Niche because a guy that maybe is in the fiber business he’ll read Metals Recycling magazine

because he might do 500 or a thousand ton a month it happens fans you know and kind of wants to stay involved in the industry and pay attention without necessarily you know digging much harder yeah I I totally agree so the scrap Expo um you said that uh Jim they did a good job down at Louisville and I agree I I enjoyed that Expo I felt like it was built for the small and medium size recycling companies you know the and and misery I feel you know because it is a national International Organization it’s they cater a little bit more to the bigger you know the bigger companies um but both are important right I mean you got to have both in this industry the mom and pops have to have a place to sell their material right and and the bigger companies have to have a place for you know people out there collecting it and processing it and getting it uh and get it ready and that’s just my you know Layman’s point of view what is the difference when you look at the GO coming up on you know the Israel

event here in a week and then in Louisville in September what do you see as the as the differences positive positive negatives whatever in the two events it’s it’s funny because I I go back to 95 in this industry so I know virtually most any scrap show or recycling show that has that has taken place since I started in the industry I used to almost kind of put together a kind of a list of shows for people who were new to the industry whether they be scrapulars or whether they’re equipment people and I would I used to put together like ballpark numbers and where it was held whether they had an exhibit or component or not so I’m very well versed in in shows both within the industry and outside the industry and that’s why I said I brought a lot of people in now looking at Israeli you’re I totally agree with your assessment it is it’s obviously a very large show it’s it’s nothing at all like the scrap Expo show from a perspective of size I mean anybody who’s anybody as far as offering equipment is at this show and this

year in Nashville it’ll probably it should be recorded record-breaking attendance and there’s a lot of reasons for that um having said that Israel has a lot of regional meetings throughout the year that I go to many of them whether they be whether there’s an exhibit or component or not and that’s one of the things that I don’t think everybody always understands a lot of people will go to the National show but a lot of times you could do more business at a regional meeting then you can at a national show because you like oh you know you’ll be I know you’ll be in Nashville you’ll you’ll be there you’ll be a rock star people will come walking up they’ll want their selfie with you from that um from your podcast and everything I mean you really are just where am I America hat all right everybody America but the pro you can go to those shows but there’s a lot of businesses smaller businesses that can’t leave their business for a week or for five days but if the meeting is going on in Dallas and I’m in Texas and I’m two hours

away yeah I’ll go for a weekend show or I’ll go for a two-day two-day meeting with an Israel Gulf Coast or a Israeli Southeast show or an Empire empire chapter and I attend a lot of those meetings especially if there’s an exhibitor component the Israeli Nationals a whole different bird and it’s uh it’s a great show a lot of business it’s israely’s Unique from a perspective of there’s business that’s done on the show floor where people some of those are prearranged some are not people come up and look at a machines and say I want to buy that let’s get down to Brass Texas let’s let’s knock out a number where if you’ve I’ve been doing shows for years you wouldn’t you wouldn’t get that at so many other shows where people come at Israeli to buy you know they’re it yeah it’s it’s they may Decor a little on the prize but yeah they they’re ready because they don’t want to screw with it again when they go back to work they got to deal with the employee issues I’ve got a shipping issue I’ve got a rail and Chip insane

but you know there’s so many other things that come into play prices just went up they just went down they’ve got there’s so many other things that are involved in running your business when Jim did the scrap Expo last year he did it also it was the same time as he is Rick commodity round tables and there were people like I don’t know if you went to Chicago I know I screwed up to Chicago just because I was so close and I’m like right it didn’t cost me a lot to go up there for a day I got a really good buddy up there so I just went there and kind of said that it was great from uh it was Jim did a great job with that show it was really good to see the operation I mean having the equipment being operated and that’s something that uh really there’s other Industries who’ve done it but not really in our industry I mean Israel to a degree will have some separation limited Separation on the show floor uh with like any Aries magnetics or some of the other operational equipment but you were

able to go outside and see the you know the torching and see the you know the cutting the uh the bailing the The Lift Trucks everything that was out there it was it was neat to see you did a great job with it but if it wasn’t for the round table meetings it probably would have been doubling at attendance last year this year knowing their different dates there’s no reason why that show shouldn’t be double triple what it was last year from both in attendance and an exhibitor perspective uh including me I’ll have a boot there were last year I had I had magazines there but this year I’ll have a boot yeah so like I said it’s I’m looking forward to it he’s he did a nice job with it last year I think that show’s going to grow and there was a need for it and you know people at Israeli had asked for something like that for a long time but yeah well it goes back to like I feel like if you know if there’s a will there’s a way type of deal and you know you had the will

to create the magazine because you saw an opportunity just like Jim had the will to create that show because he saw an opportunity that wasn’t being met and you know or or by misery folding up scrap magazine not creative void or a potential opportunity so you’re like hey Now’s the Time you know to go uh go after it and I think that’s what business is about what entrepreneurship is about it’s looking around you know you may you may operate you may work quote unquote for somebody else for 30 years and then you see in an opportunity opens up and you’re like that’s the one like I’m gonna go at it right and maybe it’s a forest opportunity in your case like where it’s like I got I’m kind of forced my hand a little bit right but it’s still an opportunity nonetheless and I look at um I I look at it as when you’re talking about me going to isary and and there was a point and and I have nothing to sell really I’m in this scrap it’s like you know I got some couple Yards in Idaho and I’m very we’re

just a regional player I do what I do the only thing I’m selling to people is look for the opportunities recognize them and don’t be afraid to go after them right and I I don’t I don’t know about podcasting I don’t there’s a lot of I don’t know a lot about but I just was like Hey I want to build my business and I Want to Build a Better Network and I think misery for the longest time was about building a network like that was what they sold you on you know you join our trade Association we’ll help you network whether it’s regional or on a national level through these events right well I think when that was going on even that was before social media before podcasting before all these other opportunities so I I mean if you want to spend the money and go to isary it’s it’s a cool show whether it’s in Vegas or Nashville or whatever it’s cool to see the equipment but there is a ton of opportunity for people if they just are willing to um build their own network and put themselves out there a little

bit talk to their story about their business look for an opportunity to grow and I I truly believe that you don’t necessarily need to be part of an association to to build a network and can it help yeah if you’re not a you know on the marketing end you’re not strong that way or whatever like for sure but use those events for what they are you know get a good opportunity to see people shake some hands give your business an opportunity sales to somebody else see who’s out there see who’s buying see who’s who’s presenting you an opportunity to maybe advertise what you’re trying to buy in a magazine or whatever the case may be like you know I think that’s the good thing about the shows you know the downside is God damn they’re expensive I totally totally agree but as I said earlier you need to spend money to make money and that’s they I did more business at the demolition show this year than I’ve done probably any show ever and it I was in my booth I’m never in my booth I mean I’m always working the exhibitors and Bob

get away from me you know one of those things kiddingly yeah they’re expensive to do but unbelievable um the opportunities that are out there whether it be walking a show floor having a booth going to the functions at night you know I mean there’s there’s so many opportunities to to grow your name to grow your business to grow anything um at trade shows and and the opportunities are there take advantage of them I’m an advocate for the small medium-sized operators I want to show people what can be done um the national guys like I said they have their place the national show has its place I’m an advocate for the small medium-sized guys that got out there hustling it up Bob you’re one of them and I just you know I got a tremendous amount of respect for you I got tremendous amount of respect for guys that chase something and go after and are willing to kind of put their put their you know money in their time where their mouth is and so you got my respect man any parting words for uh the scrap industry and and you’d like

to put out there on the floor is yours and we’ll close our gun the only real party in words is if you’re going to be in Nashville you know look for me and I’ll look for you I’m looking forward to seeing everybody there Brett I appreciate this opportunity I respect you um I respect everything you’ve done from a business perspective of not just following in what your father did but you’ve grown in other businesses that most scrapyards wouldn’t even think of you know your converter reclaim taking converters from all around the country you do you I love the way you go about things and I like the way you represent yourself and again I appreciate the opportunity to be here thank you man I would say still sharpened steel right so put yourself on Steel Man and you’ll be sharp so thank you Bob and uh everybody go check out Bob go outside to Bob at the at the Israeli National if you make it if not he’s going to be on some of the Regionals and then it sounds like he’ll be down in Louisville in September so I’m sure we look forward

to seeing everybody there take care