What I Learned From Mike Rowe

Welcome back to another episode of Cappuccino Chat. This time I'm going to talk about what I learned from Mike Row when I got to meet him at the Titans event this year. Welcome back to Cappuccino Chat. This time we're talking about what I learned from Mike Row. And let's be honest, Mike Row might talk about welders, plumbers, and linemen, but what he's really talking about are the small businesses, the backbone of this economy. Because small businesses are the dirty jobs of the economy. They're not glamorous. They don't get applause. And when they stop working, everything downstream breaks. But here's how this mindset applies directly to you in your business. First, someone's got to do the unsexy work. And that someone is usually the owner. You. So, in small business, there's no hiding behind a title. You're the sales team, the HR department, the janitor, the person rebooting the router at 6 a.m. Mike Row's whole message is about respecting the work that actually keeps things running, not the work that looks good on LinkedIn or on your marketing videos and that kind of stuff. If you don't value that work, who's going to? Now, second, the skills beat slogans every time. So culture posters are nice, mission statements sound great, but at the end of the day, customers don't pay for vibes, they pay for competence. Small businesses win when their people can actually do the job and solve the problems that need to be solved. Fix what's broken without calling three vendors and waiting a week. Rose's point, train for skills, not just credentials. Having a certificate or attending a training is great, but if they can't put those into actual action, they're not very good. Now, third, reliability is your real competitive advantage. Big companies can survive missed deadlines, but small businesses can't. Showing up, doing what you said you would do, and doing it consistently is how small businesses earn trust. Mike talked a lot about dependability because it's rare and because it compounds fast. be the business that answers the phone and that alone will put you ahead of half the market out there. His fourth point was ownership mentality isn't optional. Now, not everybody's an owner, that's for sure. But in small business, there's no room for that's not my job. Everybody's job is to protect the work, the customer, and the reputation of the business. Mike emphasized on personal responsibility applies here perfectly because one careless employee, one ignored system or one skip process can undo years of hard-earned trust. So, who's really watching the details in your business because it matters and not everybody is going to have that ownership mentality even though they should. Finally, respect the people who keep the lights on. Your best employees might not be the loudest or most polished. They're the ones who fix problems quietly in the background, learn the systems, and don't panic when things go sideways. You need to learn to treat them like gold. Keep training them, pay them fairly, and for the love of business continuity, don't assume they're easily replaceable. Because we all know it's not easy to replace a good employee. Now, this is my point. Small businesses don't succeed because of branding or buzzwords. They succeed because real people do real work every day, often without the recognition. Mike's lesson for us there was small b lesson for small business is simple. Respect the work, invest in skills, demand responsibility, reward reliability. Because when you strip everything else away, someone still has to do the job. And in small business, that someone is usually you and a very small team you can't afford to lose. So, if you ever get a chance to meet Mr. Mike Row, he is very down to earth. What you see on TV, how he talks, if you look at his YouTube videos uh between him and his mom, those ones are really funny when he gets his mom involved. He is that same person when you get to shake his hand and uh he's got a grip on him. So, he is down to earth and he's trying to bring back those trades to being important. So, again, when he talked about those skills, those skills are important. Yes, we all have to go to school. Yes, we need to graduate. Yes, we need some continuing education. But that continuing education may be very specific to the skills we need to do the job that we love and enjoy doing. Plumbers, electricians, they don't need to go to college, but this world can't run without them. So, treat them with respect when you use them. If you're a business that employs them, keep it up and thank you very much. If you have any questions about anything we do here at Southwest Networks, as always, please feel free to reach out to us at 760-7705200.