welcome to bets on the future where we highlight the various career paths and the electrifying Metals World from the vehicle you ride in to the bridge holding it up metals are everywhere why not in your career too I’m Jennifer Betts a Metals industry veteran with almost 20 years experience here to highlight these incredible career paths As Told by the women who are living them today we have a true industry leader joining us please give a warm welcome to Megan fariello sales representative for a mass distributor in stainless aluminum and PVF products Megan Farrell brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the table with a background in behavior management counseling Communications and Hospitality they have achieved remarkable success in the metals industry building maintaining relationships and helping clients meet their goals get ready for an enlightening conversation about getting into the metals industry after starting down a very different path wanted to say thank you Megan I know we’ve had a few scheduling uh challenges trying to get together so I really appreciate it today for those that you know with the magic of editing this is a Sunday Sunday afternoon so I really

appreciate it you know you’re taking time out of your weekend to to do this so uh for those that are listening viewing online this is Megan fariello she is out of Canada she is a sales representative for a Metals uh for a mass medals distributor specializing in stainless extrusions pipes valves fittings specifically in the Canadian Market coast to coast and so I just wanted to welcome you and learn a little bit more about how you got into into this Metals world well thanks for having me it’s the first time I’m going to do something like this as well so uh you’ll have to bear with me and uh we’ll navigate this together uh it was it was an interesting Bridge into uh coming into sales and uh definitely the metals industry specifically I actually came from working in behavior management I did a lot of like child and youth work stuff I worked in the group homes for years I was bartended on the side because everybody needs a good side hustle and I and I do like the hospitality and sales side um that comes with that uh and then covet hits I

was one of those ones that had one of those stories where it did affect my employment and forced me to look at different Horizons and what other options are out there especially ones that were a little bit more structurally sound stable uh Recession Proof if anything uh and then I leans on actually a customer I used to service when I was bartending so everything comes full circle I just called them up I’m like Donnie I’m I’m freaking out man I I love working with the kiddos but working with the schools every time they shut down I was out of the gig so he’s like well why don’t you come work with me he um he’s in the belting industry so he’s like come with me I’ll help you out for a little bit just to kind of tie you over I’m a bit of a workaholic so I don’t do well being still either and not working so yeah we hung out I did some cold calls and did some sales stuff with him and he mentioned that there was an opportunity for sales um with the company I’m now with and they’re a

mass distributor so I don’t like to close the door so I just said why not let’s see where it takes me and two years later here I am that’s incredible it’s something that has been a recurring Trend that I’ve been seeing for those that had no idea about the metals industry the overlap between some of the soft skills that you’ve learned and the other you know Hospitality even with you know working with with children along those lines those skills translate um to the metals industry in a variety of different ways and it’s really quite fascinating to see how people get introduced to it because there are some people that are from family or they have friends in the industry and so that’s how they they find out similar to what happened with you but for me I I didn’t know about until after college right it was a career fair opportunity so it’s always very interesting to see how people wind up in this this industry that affects everyday life literally it’s all around us and yet we never think about it as a career choice no I actually I specifically said to myself

for years I’d say all the way up until the last maybe three to four I said I’m like I’ll never be in an office I don’t like to sit at a desk all day because that’s kind of what I Envision and being a salesperson is you’re doing the calls and you’re at the desk and you’re at the computer and there’s some fun elements to that and being in an office and sometimes you you build your little office family and so there’s lots of little highlights that way but I’m a bit of a busy body I like to move I’ve always worked on the farms worked with the kids this was my first time being in an office setting so that was probably for me personally was more of the obstacle than uh a lot of the product knowledge and stuff that stuff I knew I had to learn and I knew I was going to come into that a little green but I was most nervous for am I going to be able to sit for eight hours a day that’s seems so weird and how have you been adjusting to it in in

the sales role I imagine that yes there is time in the office but is there time where you’re out visiting clients or seeing what they’re producing with your products I’m very fortunate um I’ve come into my position as an inside salesperson but I’m surrounded by a really great team and a great management team as well and they want to provide us with lots of opportunities I think they also know and being a little bit more green to the industry the more I see the more conversations I’m having the more client tells I’m meeting because our customer base is quite large and our product ends up in so many different places so for me because I am such a Hands-On person it’s cool to get out of the office have those types of conversations learn where everything’s ending up how they’re utilizing it and even just the the camaraderie of it all like I said I like to be out of the office so to get out and have a lunch and to meet them is is a bonus as well because you can chill have a more casual uh conversation it doesn’t have

to be work work work all the time so that’s a nice break and like I said I’m lucky uh that my place of work allows me to kind of branch in and out um some places you know you’re either inside or you’re outside um and that might play to your skill sets Some people prefer one or the other absolutely so I’m lucky I get a balance of both for those that are unfamiliar with where you fit in the supply chain if you will of the metals industry would you be able to elaborate on exactly you know from the mining raw materials steel mill you know onto the finished product side of it where do you fit in that supply chain so uh wear a mask distributor so we will sell and deal with other Distributors uh a big part of where we fit within the market is we alleviate a lot of pressure from the lead times that you sometimes get from offshore Mills so we will stalk and carry raw materials we don’t deal in manufacturing fabricating and things like that sometimes that’s where our material will end up when it goes to

the end user um but we deal with Distributors directly so our our clientele when it gets to them they eventually will deal with the end user and then so which is cool for me because it really can end up anywhere I never really know it could end up being cut into a piece uh for your exhaust because that’s who my distributor sells to or could end up being a pipeline uh in your city because my distributor works with uh with with the uh with the cities and on like more of a municipal level so it’s it’s really neat we just don’t deal with the end users directly and that allows our customers to also allow their place in the market to stay strong and healthy as well you mentioned a couple very unique specific items that your products have wound up in is there one in particular a favorite or something that really surprised you in terms of where one of your products wound up uh for me it was really cool actually um we deal because we do a lot with the PDF side of stuff um some of our customers do work

directly with the municipalities and do some of the pipelines and things like that so actually where I live it was neat to find out that all of our pipelines for all of our uh inner city stuff was all supplied by one of our customers so it was kind of cool be like oh I know where you get your stuff it’s really fascinating once you get into this industry to see how one email or one work order can suddenly go into something that affects your actual everyday life so now it’s very interesting for you to be able to see say you were a part of the infrastructure in your area yeah exactly yeah it is it is quite neat and to be able to actually have a fun conversation about you know pipes and plumbing is also kind of cool too right it’s not just talking about the material it’s talking about all of the little pieces that kind of led up to why you’re talking about the pipe and the and the material itself which is kind of cool absolutely we talked a little bit about the master distributor that you work for handles

stainless extrusions uh pipe Valves and fittings PDFs uh for those in the industry is there a way that you’d be able to explain to somebody that is not again inside this industry what exactly you know an extrusion is what I’m sure they’re probably pretty familiar with what a pipe or fitting is um but maybe what stainless products uh where that material goes into yeah so we’ve uh because we deal with uh raw materials um a lot of our stuff is very structural from like stainless round bars um it can be uh used for multiple different purposes um it can typically a lot of our stuff is structural so it can go into things like Bridges but we do do we’re in aluminum as well so our aluminum is not structural so typically uh you’ll see things on more of an ornamental side uh like so fancy so we get the boat rails um hospitals is where you’ll see like a lot of um uh stainless that has like a polished finish um so something like even just like the rails on the beds and things like that so uh that’s material that we would

sell we’re not selling it cut and bent to make that product we’ll sell the initial large Extrusion that will be sold to our distributor they’ll toss it on to whoever their end user is and they may might be the ones who are making the material for the hospital but that’s kind of where it would all go through so you’ve been yes yes absolutely I’m sure there will be questions once this is uploaded and and sent out there it’s something that I’m trying to get individuals to recognize that Metals is a really interesting career path but most people are not familiar familiar with what we do where there are opportunities you could be in sales in your current role you could then start niching down into you know getting down to like some of your customers as well into some of those Productions you can switch it all the way to the other side you could be in sales on the raw materials like the the recycled material side of things even at the the Mills themselves and so finding this industry I mean essentially you’re going to be set up for life because you’re

going to get these skills this knowledge that metals are everywhere they’re local they’re they’re all around us and so you should be able to have a a really wonderful career track and and more people need to be aware of that and I think too like for me a lot of my excitement because as I said I am still new and I’m still learning so a lot of the same questions you know your audience is going to have I’m probably still having myself um so for me a lot of my excitement is coming in the learning new things but what drew me was um I saw a really good fit for my previous skill set coming in when working with the kids and working with families multi-disciplinary teams uh I loved building and maintaining relationships I love uh the idea of figuring out what your goal is and how to meet it so you know material aside uh that also comes a lot into play in your day-to-day as well and who you’re meeting and not just who you’re talking to those skill sets come into play when you’re in the office

as well so it’s you’re in a small little place it will you know politics and drama happen so it’s psychology is good to have in your background absolutely I it it seems like everyone should have taken a psychology course at least once in in their life just to understand uh the Team Dynamics that go into play in an office setting for sure is there in conflict resolution too I think is a big one too you know you’re going to deal with conflict all the time and for me I find that exciting like I like that challenge I’m like okay like how can we how can we make everybody happy or how can we just find a solution even if it doesn’t result in everybody’s happiness like we just got to resolve the conflict itself right absolutely that leads me into my next question in terms of what have you found most challenging about the metals industry the moment challenging actually for me is I went into when I started doing the outside sales piece and stuff um I went into it confident and excited and uh and it did and it does serve me

well still um but I because I’m so excited and so passionate um about working with the material and I’m like oh yeah we do this and all our trucks do that so from a sales perspective that’s not always uh well accepted you know when you’re out with the clients you know you’re we’re out of the office right now Megan like let’s chill for a second where I’m just like oh man like I just wanna I wanna tell you about everything though so for me the most challenging part was actually uh more of the outside sales piece and learning how to navigate some of those conversations and reminding myself that sales is doesn’t have to be all about what you’re selling a lot of it is building those relationships like I was saying before so interestingly enough um I have a heart I have had a hard time kind of figuring out where my balance is when I’m doing some of those face-to-face things um I’m it comes with enthusiasm um but it does you know need some some tweaking so that’s probably my personal biggest challenge uh but everybody I meet is

so accepting and so open armed with wanting to help you and wanting to give you advice and support you through it nobody’s overly critical uh they know that I’m relatively new to the industry one of the best pieces of advice um pieces of advice that I was given to what I was personally struggling with was when you are meeting somebody if you’re fortunate enough to do it in their office setting or in a setting that’s more personal to them take a look around the room you know what what’s what’s behind you like I can see that you’re into recycling I can see the book behind you I talk about that um like I can see that you have like the flower arrangements like are you uh are you in are you into um agriculture uh and like really drawing on that type of stuff we don’t have to you know get right into the nitty-gritty right away so that was cool for me because I consider myself an observant person but when I want to get in there sometimes you miss the background oh absolutely and I’m I’m glad that you touched on

that as well because that’s how we ended up meeting is I put something out on LinkedIn and somebody at another company that you have done business with was the one that recommended that I reach out to you and so it just shows that this industry is more supportive and and willing to help new individuals get into this industry and help educate because I’m I’m sure that individual uh recognizes that you’re you’re relatively new although two years I feel like you’re you’re going to be a lifer at this point oh yeah trust me I tell everybody and they told me this too when I started once you’re in the metals industry it’s like in your blood like so I got hooked up to whatever IV the rest of them are on it’s it’s a very cheesy joke but I like to joke around that my doctor thinks that I have too much iron in my blood right like it’s just once you get into this you cannot unsee everything like in your everyday life that is metal it’s and then you start thinking of the opportunities of huh I wonder where they manufacture that can

I sell them any of the products that I that I’m working with do they have any recycled materials that are coming off their line that I might be able to help out with another company on that it just starts to get these wheels turning that up until my first job out of school in the metals industry I had zero idea about I I was fortunate um my father was in uh it was still in the tool and die industry and he was great growing up you know if we were of the age where we should you know be working in the summer and we couldn’t find her job perfect you can come work for me in the factory there’s always a gig for you over there so I’m the oldest of four and all four of us uh worked with my dad at one point in time uh and it was motivating and and also at the time you don’t really think much of it like either sweeping the floors and working on a couple machines um but now it’s so cool to be able to have conversations about the injection molds that he’s

doing they have to use you know 300 series stainless to do all their stuff I’m like oh cool like which one I’m like what do you sell 300 series and most people don’t even know what that means but and neither did I there are some really interesting ways to get in now that you’ve been in the industry for two years you had some experiences with your your family growing up introducing you into the metals industry what advice would you give to individuals that are thinking about a career in the metal space uh don’t don’t make assumptions definitely I think it’s so important to go into it open-minded um sometimes people go into it thinking that and maybe even knowing that customer service is where their skill set lies and maybe that’s the job that you get hired for but then all of a sudden you’re in there and you’re like okay I’m sorry what’s her role and what or what is her his role like what are they doing because that looks cool uh or what what what are you guys talking about and because that’s been it for me uh getting to

really listen in on and watch other people like even though I’m in sales I deal with purchasers um I still deal uh closely with like the warehouse guys and I uh I I love Logistics I love uh talking about all that type of stuff so it’s it’s cool to kind of see what other avenues you can take so definitely don’t make assumptions and never sell yourself short that’s always a big one yeah absolutely there are so many opportunities in this industry and I’m very excited to see where you’re gonna go it’s been ex it’s been wonderful seeing individuals uh from a variety of experiences and variety of backgrounds through this process of interviewing them for the the podcast because it’s just it gives me such great hope and optimism for our industry as we get new individuals into it there are a lot of experienced individuals in the metal space that are going to start retiring in the next five ten years which is somewhat and anxiety written for me because they contain so much knowledge and we haven’t really fully passed that on yet so it’s wonderful to to hear stories like yours

getting introduced getting excited realizing it’s going to be the lifelong career choice and and hopefully we can get more individuals like yourself excited about the metals industry and come join yeah we definitely will I feel like personality is like ours we’re just gonna we’ll get them hooked up to that IV don’t worry yes yes exactly I’m sure we’ll use a little bit of recycled materials in there it’ll be fine it’ll be great see we already got an action plan yes is there anything that you want to share about what you’re working on in particular or anything that’s of interest that you and your company are are working on that you just want to share in terms of you know unique projects that might be of interest to folks not in the metals industry I think what’s cool about especially working at a mass distributor level all of our Distributors are also growing so it forces us almost to be continuously adapting uh always being aware of what’s happening in within the industry so you know being just just actively involved not just with what’s happening so with the economy and things like that but

definitely with what our customers are doing and what new projects they have going on and how we can accommodate that so when we’re watching them grow it indirectly causes us to grow which is kind of neat so like I wouldn’t say there’s any one specific project we’re just always uh working with our customers actively so whether it’s trying to figure out what new products to bring in uh that’s probably the most active conversation we’re having right now around the office is learning that there’s a bunch of other stainless products that are within our wheelhouse and most certainly within our customers wheelhouse so how can we accommodate those needs um so that’s kind of cool it opens up new conversations new connections um but yeah I feel like every day we’ve all of a sudden have a project that pops up on our desk like hey how can you guys do this not to share but I will figure this out for you the the rabbit holes you can go down in this industry are really quite interesting from that perspective it never seems like a dull day in the office and it definitely is

not a dull day when you go and visit clients on site to see what their their manufacturing facilities are like yeah absolutely and it’s super cool too like we deal with the Mills directly so when we get customers that bring us specialty items or specialty lengths and sizes and things that you know just aren’t on the market and maybe it’s cut it’s very Project Specific um that’s really neat to see what type of capabilities our Mills have and what they can and can’t accommodate and how they can accommodate it a lot of times they need to make those changes and what that’s going to look like so it’s uh nothing happens overnight which is also kind of cool because there’s just so many moving pieces um but it keeps you on your toes all the time you’re like okay so what’s my answer from this person I’m just like okay we got this piece all right now we gotta get this piece yes you gotta help them essentially get the full full scope of everything that they’re going to need for their their projects into one order basically so it probably is uh kind

of like playing detective yeah like I put the Hat on whenever oh I love it is there anything that surprised you about this industry for me I think the biggest surprise was myself definitely um going into it and knowing that maybe some things like don’t want to admit that you know numbers are not haven’t always been my strong suit so that was probably where some of my nerves came in the most I was like oh goodness I’m like I’m a very numbers driven industry so so that’s allowed me to be like again and I suppressed myself I I still uh I’m not like some of my colleagues like I swear they’ve got a calculator in their head I don’t know how they do it uh kudos to them though because if a computer and the internet goes down they’re fine but um but for me I can I can get her done we are going to slow down a little bit so that’s uh but I got it done and I figured things out so that for me was cool to to learn things about myself uh for sure but as far as the

industry is concerned I didn’t know a lot going into it so a lot of things surprised me in and around what not to say what to say um uh what we what we sell what we don’t sell uh why we don’t sell it was probably some of the other things as well is really kind of learning how to navigate the market that way and um being a mass distributor there’s a lot of things that we don’t do um mostly just because there’s other people within the market so we got to be respectful of where they are and we there’s a chain so you want to make sure the chain is is intact other than that somebody’s losing we want everybody to win which is also what’s cool about the industry everybody really is looking out for each other in some form or fashion whether you’re all bidding for the job or not at the end of the day it’s a relatively small industry that affects a large population and so everyone has either worked with somebody else in the industry they’ve either worked together at the same company 30 years ago and then you

know five companies later you know they’re they’re back together and so there isn’t really a common burning of bridges right you there are a few great stories about those but generally speaking folks in this industry understand that you’re going to do business with your competitor one day your customer the next it it’s all of these opportunities and you don’t always know who is going to be the next client but you do know that you need to be respectful help make sure everybody is winning together because we want to keep a lot of these industries alive and well in North America absolutely and like and because it’s such a small industry and everybody is in some form or fashion really working unilaterally when you’re going to also these massive events like I’m sure yours in Nashville I’m sure a lot of those players like they’re all probably also the same time competitors at the same time all in the same room um and we’ve been through um to a couple of events like that for uh with our workplace and it’s neat to see them all there and it’s just like you know that they’re

all competitors but they’re all shaking hands like oh hey buddy oh I remember back in the day are we we’re golfing this weekend right yeah so it’s it’s really at the end of the day a lot of fun um and is as important as the business side of things are everybody just really wants to do do well for themselves and to watch others do well too absolutely on on that note I do want to say thank you so much for coming on here I want to be respectful that it is a Sunday it’s a weekend for you so that you can have more time with you know your your loved ones this weekend but I I do want to say it’s been very interesting get to getting to know you your background how you found this industry and I I’m looking forward to seeing what what you know watching your career grow over the years oh well thanks Jennifer I really appreciate you giving me the opportunity to do it too like I said it was the first time doing something like this and uh it was nice getting to do it with yourself

because yeah uh you have a great way about you and I do enjoy what you’re trying to do and how you’re doing it and I feel the same way I’m excited to watch you and and your growth in your career as well thank you I truly appreciate that