welcome to a scrap life a podcast solely focused on the hustlers Grinders operators and business owners who live and breathe the scrap metal industry every day here is your host Brett eard all right guys I want to welcome everybody to another podcast another scrap live podcast but this one is kind of a recent series that I’ve been kind of hatching on for a while I think mostly because I’ve got two young boys and I get the question a lot and I say young because right now they’re 14 and 10 but I get the question a lot so are your boys going to be you know are they going to follow you into the industry and this and that and so not only that just a lot of questions on parenting and kind of how how do I want my kids to you know be raised and grow up and so thinking about that I’ve really thought about our industry um um and I thought you know because it’s so heavily multi-generation and I wanted to dedicate a series where we just interview multi-generation owners and operators and partly because out of my

own selfishness because I want to get their advice for raising my own kids and partly because I want to hear everybody else’s uh stories so the star of the new docu series repurpose everybody should know and if you don’t um his name is John Sako and John Sako is the one that got me into podcasting a few years ago so I’m honored I’m uh excited for this one this is a version two Divi or whatever you want to call it um the second iteration of generational courage so thank you Mr Sako for uh joining me sir I mean Brett anytime man you you sit when you text me say hey you want to do this heck yeah I want to do it I think the stories of our industry you know I’ve done a lot on the podcast with generational businesses I love what your idea here is because I as I was listening to you I get the same questions my kids are older but I get the same question so I love being here thanks for having me man so I’m gonna comeing Out Swinging all right first question sir what has

gardening taught you about being a father well if you don’t watch it and you don’t care for it um things don’t grow up right yeah and I think the garden when you out there and you’re working with your hands and you you you’re loving the garden it loves you back and you see the fruits of your labor I had we had the best crop of tomatoes this last summer because my wife and I we put so much love into our garden and and it’s so parallel with your kids you you’ve got to nurture them you got to you know you got to fertilize them you have to give your kids in the analogy of what you give your garden and let’s hope everything goes right let’s hope they make the decisions to do the right things you know I my kids are 20 uh javon’s gonna be 25 in May and John Carlo will be 22 in July um you know they’re they’re older than your kids but they’re great kids kids and I just think gardening and the is is Paramount you know you got if you don’t pay attention to something it

doesn’t grow right your business Brett look at you look what look what your business growth and the growth of your kids they’re parallel you got to watch it you got to be there for it you can’t just plan it and grow you can’t just tell your kid something and not follow up yeah so when you said the word fertilizer yeah right and and working working the working the garden and with let’s say the garden representing the industry as a whole right and maybe individual plants within the garden are the individual businesses that operate and reason I’m going with gardening is to out the gate is because you post your Sanctuary Sunday pictures of your garden so this isn’t all the way out of uh left field it’s it’s I’m guilty of sanctuary Sunday I’m guilty and the only reason I even know that is because you post stuff on social media and and you and you talk about it it’s it’s kind of one of your things that you discuss um not the primary but it’s it’s a piece of you so when I think about that I think about us as individual companies

fertilizing the industry right and we fertilize it in a multiple ways we fertilize it by us as individual plants you know taking the nutrients out and growing but also dropping seeds and trying to figure out how to get more of those plants right and more of those plants in in industry to grow up and be a part of the garden so when I you know and one of the reasons why I wanted to do this podcast is I wanted to piggyback on repurposed and what that’s bringing to the industry because it’s more than just a marketing Ploy for Sierra it’s a true fertilizer for an industry in my opinion to encourage other owner operators to cultivate their own piece of the industry is that how you’re looking at it or are you looking at it a different way no you know look I I think where you’re going with it is right because it doesn’t matter if it’s if it’s a mpaw organization or some of these you know much bigger publicly held companies that are in it to some of the big monster family businesses it’s the same thing if we are not

nurturing fertilizing our companies fertilizing the message putting something behind the message other than a post look um let’s face it Brett you and I we’ve drank the Kool-Aid on social media and the power of it in promoting our industry promoting what we do and who we are has benefited us but the industry repurposed is a I don’t want to sound so arrogant to say it’s a gift to the industry but it’s a passion of mine because I just hate when people say we’re junk I hate when people say we’re waste it it it drives me crazy and in the EU all metal recycling all the Commodities copper aluminum brass stainless steel iron it’s all waste yeah and and nobody would call Gold waste why because it’s a commodity it has value and I like that analogy because what we do isn’t waste we are the raw materials we fill the supply chain because we can’t have what we have in our daily lives without what we do what our industry does and so I am hoping that repurpose gives the fertilizer the encouragement to everybody in this industry to to speak about what

we do to Showcase what we do but be a environmental Steward of their facilities to be a safety Steward you know you got to do the right things too just because you fertilize it doesn’t mean it’s going to grow properly you can over fertilize something under under waterer it or underwater it or over so but then that the so I kind of started then in when in ‘ 86 when we started the equipment company so I was my deal the equipment the equipment and then really Brett you talk about the passion for it changed when I got involved U with isri and being an officer uh and start seeing the getting inside and then it Dawns on me even though here I am thinking I’m a smart guy I’m not it took me a lot of years to realize hey without a strong recycled materials industry I can’t sell equipment so I better start fighting for us and then that’s where the passion grew and it grew to the point where you know repurposed this born a few years ago and the ideas because of all the negativity surrounded by what we do on

a daily basis but you saw the long tale of it right and I think where people get caught up in in business or even in like family business is like like you want your kid to love it or you you have dreams and visions of your kid loving it like you love it today and I’m not saying you but just people within our industry because we’ve been doing it for long right a long enough time where we wonder why hey why why isn’t my kid love it like I love it right well until they find their piece of it it feels like what you’re saying like you’re once you found your Niche it wasn’t maybe run a cutting torch or run a Shear or you know exporting scrap like you know I know your brother’s involved in that some of that on that side but you once you had to find your piece of it that was that you could find some passion and put it behind it and that’s when you really fell in love with the industry right that’s right I when when I started getting involved with the trade Association and

becoming an officer and and started seeing the things that were important and you know it was my dad who pushed me to do it because I told him well they kind of want me to run for secretary treasure and and he said I go I don’t know if I have the time I don’t know if I should he goes he goes you’re crazy he goes you need to be in the no he goes and by being involved you’re G to be in the no and that put us way ahead of the curve on like storm water here at Sierra um what year was that when he pushed you to how old were you roughly uh 2001 so how old am I 23 years ago 41 okay wait I don’t know 39 wait how old I can’t I was born 62 so what is 200 one uh 39 39 years yeah so yeah you weren’t you were just Shia of 40 but yeah so you weren’t necessarily like a young executive or like you know under 40 under 40 like you know like when some that someone in this 22 or 24 like it really

I mean by the time it kind of took really hold I mean and the reason I want to bring that up years in my career yeah yeah I want to bring that up is because like I hear it said a lot but I think it’s super important and I have to and I’m saying this for my own benefit as well is it may take your kid until he’s 30 or 35 to really understand the opportunity that we’re Pres presenting them right or understand like the opportunity that our industry has for them like we should be putting it into them you know we should have them come check out the facilities or do whatever but it may take a long time before they actually really understand the the opportunity that’s in front of them it may not be when they’re in high school or junior high or right colge you know I’ve tried to get my daughter to come run the be the head of our marketing department when we had a change of um back in August I don’t know yeah was in August and um she’s just not she loves Sierra she loves

going to the isra convention um but you know she’s just not ready she’s doing something now with her career that she’s really enjoying and and I think one of the things that I learned from my dad over the years you know I was destined to work for my dad it was predetermined no I think that it took me a while to fall in love what I do with what I do and I I’m I’m encouraging my kids to First follow what they love doing let’s let’s just start there I go Sierra will always be here should that be something you want to do and my daughter though you know uh I mean she turned down a hell of a package I offered her I’m like wow it isn’t about the money for her and I think that’s important it’s about the passion that she has for what she’s kind of doing now and if she grows into yeah now I’m GNA do this with Sierra Dad I think it’d be better because then she’s really wanting to do it then not being told you have to just let them come in naturally and I

think by that organic feel like having It’s s but do you feel like that generation because you have experienced I’ve that there it’s less about money for them and it’s more about like maybe not a previous generation or two that where it was more like how much can I make right now there’s a lot little more like they want to like what they’re doing or love what they’re doing more than they want to make and what’s what do you think’s driving that it it’s it’s javana is a very strong well strong willed woman um and very passionate about what she does and and she was was when she told me she wasn’t ready to come here she says Dad I don’t need can I just chill and do something I’m enjoying yeah and she’s making really good money right now she got a hell of a raise because she started she’s worked with startup company a wine company and you know what she she’s really happy and as a parent what do you want from your boys right want to be happy man that’s why I just went on that cruise it’s not my

you know happy and it’s so great to see my daughter happy right now that should she choose it’ll be her decision let it be her decision and not my influence to her decision yes that’s what causes resent I think that’s what causes resentment is when there’s when that influence is there and you know there’s whe take the money it is what it is I mean but when you start creating that resentment where they’re like I really liked what I did but I could feel my feel pressure to come into the business then you’re taking away one of the greatest things about being a parent which is having your kids love hanging out with you we just we discuss before we push record is yes that’s one of the greatest things and you you can really take that away by pushing them to come in before they’re ready if they are ever ready and then there becomes that real nuance months of if my daughter worked here and we spend a lot of hours a day working together do you think she’s going to want to hang out with me on the weekend when it’s

like don’t be my boss can you be my dad yeah you know it’s it’s it’s um it’s an interesting Dynamic and so I I’m on the the my my path for my kids what where I pushing them is first find Chase your dream and your happiness whatever happens after that God bless you if it’s wanting to come work here great if it isn’t great I because they need to follow what they want because everybody’s different you know Brett you you you you know you I would like for you to hear a little bit about how you were saying you were you know you and I both were destined to work for Dad but you know all of a sudden when did it hit you that I no Brett Ecker it’s going to take United it’s time for me to take the bull by the horns and now you know you you’ve skyrocketed in the last few years since we sat down and did that very first podcast a few years ago and then where you are now your business has had an exponential growth is because it’s like all of a sudden you just

went it’s me it’s all me now yeah I think I always knew I mean I always knew what I was going to do I always knew I was going to work in the family business right so for me and I I’ve said this to multiple times I’ve never knew I’ve never knew thought about really doing anything different now that I think I was going to be able to you know find as many good people as i’ I’ve have and been able to you know recruit and and build like I don’t know I mean I’ve always been comfortable in like a leadership type position but I mean I think I always from a career standpoint I always knew and it would never was about how can I make my parents money it was never about like I’m not some like savior of my parents my parents have a great life they they were successful in their own right so I never felt like I had to build them something that they could retire on you know there was never that component for me it was more about my parents were young so um I always

had really young parents growing up I think my my mom was 21 she had me um and so so I always almost was a not necessarily like a sibling relationship but it was while they were parents they were and great parents at that it was we work beside each other and a lot of that because my dad gave me a lot of leeway you know to just do the way I wanted to do it and and not everybody is as lucky as I am in that regard right like you know and I know talking to a lot of people that not every dad has the ability to just loosen up the reins like that especially at 40 something right like I can only imagine at my age if I had a son that was 20 coming in trying to tell me how to do I’d be like yeah right you but my dad had that strange SE ability to just be like all right like you know he gave me some guard rails but he’s like just do what you think needs done um and not everybody’s is lucky that way and I I

so I have a lot of admiration for my dad in that regard and how he parented and how he fostered the I would call he fostered my courage right by allowing me to fail and that’s one of the reasons why this podcast you know this this series is important to me is because I’m not saying that our way was the right way because I know there’s a lot of different ways to go about it but how did your dad had Foster that courage within you to you know push you to where you are today I mean your dad had to you know put something into you to to create that fire well he gave me uh an incredible sense of responsibility and common sense um you know look my dad when he got out of World War II had 90 bucks in his pocket he was unafraid he went through World War II he was an immigrant World War too he lived he was unafraid every day was just a cherry really and he I I’m cautious um I’m very cautious on a lot of things that I do uh financially and and you

know I just don’t make moves at times because I I might be too cautious um but what he made sure that he instilled in me if if you think it through go for it and don’t be afraid you can’t be afraid at everything you do cut your losses when they’re not when it’s not a good decision don’t just keep throwing good money at bad but um he gave me that he was there he was the pillar I mean if I when I was undecided or you know or indecisive and having to make a decision dad what do I do dad what do I do yeah you know and I was blessed that he you know he lived to 87 and so I was 47 years old when he passed and you know that’s a lot of growing up with the with the man next to you to tell you what to do I mean he was always there to tell me what to do when I didn’t know what to do and and also point out the uh the things we weren’t doing right and he was really good at that um yeah but

it’s he instill don’t be afraid but your dad was more of a I mean you you you told me stories but your dad he he was involved almost until the day he died in your in the business right absolutely I mean absolutely I mean my dad was down here two months before he died he was you know he had the pancreatic cancer and he was coming down here and uh my dad in in the transition in time as my brother ran the recycling Demolition and I ran the equipment company my dad was the yard manager okay he went from whatever he was doing so he he could be out in the yard and he was our yard manager and that’s what he did and every time he’d go on vacation he’d come back and he’d say you know that vacation cost me an extra 50 Grand I go what are you talking about he goes well we didn’t do this and we didn’t do that and this you know I just but that’s what he was that he was the yard manager well you know I don’t want to say manager to to belittle

what he was but that was what he enjoyed doing he was such an organized guy you know his nickname was Mr Clean so and until really until he was too sick to work um he was here every day so what lessons are you trying to impart on your kids to because at the end of the day I’m my kids if I do things right like I’m gonna I’ll make enough money to live a pretty good life um I imagine your kids will do the same if but the at the end of the day it’s not about how much money can we make it’s about what kind of like are what kind of roots are we planting like in with with our kids so they can go live their life and and be happy and want to come see us on Christmas and New Year’s and hang out and go drink some beer and and and go fishing or whatever your hobby of choice is but how do we say it’s not about what can I give you it’s more about what can you go earn how do we implant that in our kids like

family business aside what does that look like from you and then in the conversations you have with your kids about that well okay I got afforded any and everything I needed growing up okay I like to say I was born with a copper spoon in my mouth not a silver but a good copper good value yeah my dad afforded me an education wherever you want to go you know whatever I needed I always had and and um but the Character Matters your word matters and and I think ultimately that’s the lesson all right kids here’s the deal I don’t care you know look I’ll give you all these things but it’s meaningless if you have no character it’s meaningless if you uh you know start doing things you know you shouldn’t be doing you all know the right and wrong you all know what’s right you know what’s wrong so if you start choosing the wrong you can’t expect me to support that I’ll support anything you’re doing good any idea you want to do to help you as long as you’re working hard and I’m blessed to to to to say that so

far those are the things my kids understand and and that’s what they’re doing they’re making the right decisions at I think it’s the toughest age right now the right decisions to not do things that will impede their uh ability to succeed and that’s you know showing up and they show up my kids you know college is a lot of fun they go to every class and even if they went out the night before they know they have to show up in class that’s the one hey you’re going to class and my son who’s not the most favorite fan of school has has every semester at TCU he’s got a 3.125 GPA and I’m like thrilled to death that that’s what he’s because he has that sense of responsibility and I think BR what is it the D the sense of responsibility do what you want to do go out and have fun but don’t skirt your responsibility and that is the most important thing do not skirt your responsibility and if you can do that I’ll support you whatever you’re doing kids that’s that’s my deal giving them some skin in the game

right I’ve been reading this book lately it’s called Skin In the game and and it talks about you know you know what it talks about a bunch of different stuff but when I think about with my own kids and like the future is how do I you know give them some skin in the game and and make them really put skin in the game to be able to um be able to reap some of the rewards but they have to feel the pain they have to feel the the other side of it so when I think about you know courage and I think about you say you’re a conservative you know financially you you know you sometimes maybe you don’t pull the trigger you know because you you you lean a little bit on more on the conservative side I feel like that is kind of an anomaly when you start thinking about like repurposed right because you’re talking about putting real skin in the game and when you say when people say I don’t there’s two things that kind of annoy me and I’ll be straight up when somebody says I don’t have

enough time or I I’m not GNA I don’t want to commit the money right and and and not even whether it’s a thousand or 100 thousand or a million whatever that that number is they they’re unwilling to commit I feel like it’s a it’s a value judgment and a Time judgment and I think when you talk about being conservative and you’re talking about the future generations and fostering courage repurpose is like a your version of a not being conservative B fostering courage like for other owner operators or even even publicly traded companies encouraging them to get out there and put themselves out there and highlight what they’re doing doing a little bit of better job of of that so what effect do you plan or what effect do you feel like that can have on the next generation of owner operators or kids coming up and do you do you even think about that has that even come into your your mind when you’re putting these together well you know everybody has a different Talent some of us are total operators some of us are u a number I mean Finance Wizards who who

can understand every detail of a financial statement to their business and how it relates to everything I’m more on the creative side and so it’s interesting the way you said it because it’s the way you said it is you know I never yeah repurpose has been a good investment big investment uh not cheap but man it’s just something I love so much and I know there’s good coming from it so I guess ultimately if I’m so in love with doing something the money and the time you know people how do you have time to do it I go you kidding it’s my favorite time to do it you know tell me I gotta go get up on last Sunday I was up at 5:45 in the morning going over the final edits before we you know we had to release this week so I’m up at 5:45 on a Sunday morning that wasn’t work I was having fun so yeah you know I think Brett to your point there’s so much about our industry that has to offer and and I think in season two I I really get into that too

because there is so much this industry has to offer for people for people who don’t want to be owners you know that’s important too you don’t have to be an owner to be happy you know you you have maybe Electronics is what you’re digging or maybe you know there’s so much to what you can do in this industry that would lead to a great career and that’s important our industry you know everybody a lot of kids I want to work in Tech I want to work in it and all that well great you can do that in steel industry what do you mean our industry is as techy as it gets yeah about all the technology and all that new equipment and that tire shredding and your copper shredding lines and everything you’ve invested in this last year these last couple years since Brett you and I have gotten to know each other there’s a lot of Technology there yeah cool technology so to to to to those who see this there’s such a great opportunity for them to be able to succeed in so many different areas in our industry and I think

repurpose can open that door to look at that the young lady Sabra in um Sabra in uh uh who was the Melt Shop manager yeah she absolutely loves running the Melt Shop now it’s it is such a cool thing so our industry and repurpose can show Avenues of different areas to go from being if you want to be a metal recycler and you want to you want to run a shredder and you want to run a Shear great you want to be you want to own that great or maybe I want to work in a steel mill and I want to work I want to be that overhead crane operator that’s lifting that Ladle so yeah I think repurpose does give a vision of what we do and it gives a vision to those who see it where opportunity is because sometimes people don’t see it and I think it really does show that okay my last last question so you could look up on Tik Tok or Instagram or YouTube and find a a zillion answers for tax shelters how to hire your kid and paying $113,000 a year and they can

become a millionaire by the time they’re 20 or whatever the whatever the case may be and but what lacks out there is us talking about how do we Foster that courage within our kids and the Next Generation to go do their thing and put their Mark put their stamp on their industry their world their career their life what’s the what’s what do you want to tell everybody like what’s the what’s the one piece of advice that you feel needs to be said well I think as a parent you better lead by example you can’t tell these kids to do one thing and you’re doing the opposite they see right through that c there’s no doubt about it if you’re not leading by example if you’re not up and when you come home for lunch maybe and and some kid goes what are you doing home meaning they know you’re working you better lead by example I think Sports I’m sorry but I think getting your kids involved in sports dance music something that they have to be held accountable for helps Foster all of it because if they show if Mom and Dad are

showing them self-accountability by showing up every day and doing the right things and making sure you know you’re doing you are their role model like it or not and they see everything you do they hear everything you say so you better be that role model because if you’re if you’re not they’re going to think that’s okay but I think you know look you you played football you play college ball you know the disciplines of sports and I think giving your kids an activity growing up pull that video game away they can play that video game after they’ve done a sport after they’ve done an activity that involves something physical or mental fine but I think those are the two things I would say you better lead by example and give the kid make sure the kids are active growing up and doing as many activities as they can do to help them shape what they think they what think you know I like that I don’t really like it but at least I tried it and that’s that’s that’s it Brett I think that’s the two important things lead by example and accountability

I think like you you sum it up and I think if if us as owner operators we Le we lead by example for our kids example in our industry which I think is exactly what you’ve you’ve done with this repurposed uh docu series you’ve led by example example and I think that if if we can preach that leading by example and creating accountability within you know if it’s something you’re passionate about if you want your business to exist 10 20 30 years from now you you you show your kids what’s possible you say this is how you this is what it takes to run one this is what it takes to operate one this is what it takes to be a part of one and let them find their way and create some accountability along that way absolutely and and like I said I was afforded everything growing up but I had to be accountable for passing my classes I had to be accountable to showing up I had to be accountable to all the things that I was afforded better show accountability or they’re going to be taken away from you and that

that that was the accountability my Dad held me to you know but I I knew what I had to do and and I think that’s it because I I didn’t want to let him down how did you argue with that guy it was hard to argue gotta show you real quick I love it let’s see it this is the story photo book of my Dad’s life and it it starts I want to show this real quick because I think pictures like this him in World War II as you can see guarding the gliders that were used to invade Europe uh letters home to his sister and you know you see this about his life and and to do that then you see pictures like this with him with his family how important family was to him that that’s that’s a legacy he left behind and if we leave a legacy for our kids Let It Be The Legacy that we meant something to them in a positive light that we help them be something whatever they want to be and that we were there for them and my dad was always there for me

no matter what and how does and how does not seeing a picture of your father you know in World War II like not does that not create courage within you to say what’s the worst that could happen right I mean you’re talking about a guy you said at the beginning of the the conversation was showed up with 30 bucks every day was a cherry because he was in a better spot than he was the day before or he at least had a fighting chance to fight his way through it right and I think that’s what we can encourage our kids the next generation is if you don’t fight for something if you don’t if you don’t get out there and and fight for it whether it’s your industry or whether it’s your family or your country or whatever it is like you gotta you gotta have something that you’re willing to fight for and I think that’s where the courage comes in and I think that’s where the discipline comes in because if you’re going to fight for anything you got to be in shape for that fight now that fight isn’t necessarily physical

that fight can be a lot of different things and um you know you’re right I mean you’re spot on what with what you said repurposed is your garden that’s how I view it just so you know that’s your garden you’re planted it you’re fostering it every day you’re fertilizing it and it’s a big part of it so I appreciate you taking the time and it’s awesome I encourage everybody to go watch it it’s not hard to find if you want to find it but you can find it on YouTube you can find it on um Amazon you can find it on I mean you can you can find it you just but you Amazon Prime season one um season two is just released YouTube um it’ll be on either Amazon apple or uh HBO Max probably within eight weeks we’re not real sure because we think season two has been already received on a different level than season 1 and so we’ll see where it ends up but within the next couple months it’ll be on one of the streaming services for sure I love it fight for fight for something you believe in

you sir I appreciate your time thank you sir God bless you you keep up the good word the messaging the fight that you put forth because I know you are a beacon and I know you’re an influencer and a positive life to a lot of people who understand hey show up and get it done and you are that guy really appreciate you and what you do and uh I look forward to seeing you here real soon my friend it takes a village takes a village it takes all of us in our voices to make make stuff happen so it goes both ways thank you thank you sir