Behind the ToolBelt is a live, raw, and uncut podcast that brings real, unfiltered conversations about business, leadership, and the entrepreneurial mindset. Hosted by Ty Cobb Backer, CEO of TC Backer Construction, this live show features leaders, innovators, and experts sharing their experiences, strategies, and insights. From building successful companies to overcoming professional and personal challenges, each episode offers valuable perspectives for entrepreneurs and business owners and leaders looking to grow, and make an impact.
The fastest way to wreck a solid business isn’t failure. It’s success that turns into comfort, then complacency, then “don’t touch that, it’s always worked.” We get real about the hard leadership call behind every process, tool, and system: when does the old way still work, and when is it quietly holding you back?
We talk about why our culture worships “new” and how shiny-object syndrome shows up as new software, new dashboards, new trends, and even AI tools that promise speed but can add friction if you don’t have a clear reason to change. We break down the difference between experience and resistance, how pride stops leaders from listening, and why the best teams stay curious even when a process has “worked for years.” You’ll hear the questions we use to evaluate whether a system still serves the customer, supports the team, or just protects what’s familiar.
We also share a practical example from our own growth: moving from a single-person day planner that bottlenecked scheduling, ordering, billing, and production to a transparent shared calendar system that the whole team can see in real time. To make this actionable, we end with a simple three-part walk-through you can do this week at your job or in your company: what should you preserve, what should you improve, and what should you eliminate?
If this hits a nerve, share it with a leader who needs it, subscribe so you don’t miss what’s next, and leave a review so more builders can find the show. What’s one “old way” you’re still doing because it’s always worked?
Behind The ToolBelt has merged with the TC Backer YouTube Channel. Everything BTTB and TCB is now in one place. Go to the channel and subscribe.
We have a kind of a belief system that either we're gonna push you up or gonna push you out.
Ty Cobb Backer
I don't want to be around five other people that aren't pushing themselves to succeed.
SPEAKER_01
Success isn't about taking, but giving value first. Compensation follows contribution always. This is true authenticity. It's the truth every week. This is our story. We share with you our journey, we share with you our scars. Please welcome your host, Tycombacker.
Hey, hey, welcome back to another episode of Behind the Tool Belt, the podcast, where we talk about leadership, business, personal development, and the lessons learned from those of us who build things every single frickin' day. Man, I love the way the studio is coming. The studio has been set up, but but not the way that it is right now. We've bought some equipment when we were traveling, and and I believe Victor is is making his way over to storage and pulling some of the cool gadgets and toys and devices and technology and putting it all to good use. So if you see my eyes wandering every single way, it's because I got four monitors. I feel like I'm at the helm of a ship right now. And literally, I got my my YBA minutes over here. I got I got I could actually see what the comments are. Not that I couldn't see them before, but we had a monitor back against the wall that, you know, I would try to see what everybody was saying. And it seems like the the more episodes I do, the worse my eyes get. So, anyhow, I'm super pumped about today's show, and I'm super pumped about what is to come with TC Backer, and I'm super pumped about what is to become of Behind the Tool Belt.
And Vic and I and Baker, this goes back a long ways. We actually started to create what was called the Smash Lab, where we wanted to just break stuff, we wanted to do product reviews, we wanted to do, you know, how-to and and product knowledge and and test tools out and just do all kinds of cool stuff. And and uh we kind of shelf that for a minute. But where we're at right now in this season, I believe, as as we're halfway through August and then try to keep things you know moving forward for us, you know, mentally and and physically, and and to keep things, you know, interesting for you guys and our viewers, whether you're a homeowner, whether you're a business owner, whether you're a parent or a manager of a company, we try to keep our content relevant. We try to keep it with true authenticity and and only share our experience, strength, and hope with you guys. And we want to bring back the the Smash Lab, but but take it to a whole different level. We we want to do, you know, we want to take it on the road. We want to talk about, you know, break out like what is you know, shingle manufacturers warranty, what is a workmanship warranty, uh, do some some product, you know, material reviews, do some tool reviews, do, I mean, anything. We'll talk about safety, we'll talk about, we'll go maybe interview the guy that wraps our vehicles. And and because I know so many people see our trucks on the road and stuff like that, we'd probably really like to see how it's done and who we use and give them a plug over there in Impressive Signs because they do an amazing job on a lot of our things. They did the signs on our building, they did you know the vehicle wraps. We they've done, and we've we've gotten a lot of we have a lot of great partners that have helped us succeed over the years, and and it'll just get us out of the daily routine of everything that we do, of just kind of showing up in the studio and and trying to come up with content and and keep it real and and not get off not get off track too much. But but I'm looking forward to it's it's it won't be broadcasted live. I'm not I shouldn't say that, but it it won't be technically like a weekly scheduled thing. It will be when Vic and I can carve out some time to record some stuff, which I know we already have a lot of stuff in the archives that he'll probably start rolling out in the next few weeks. So you guys can kind of get a taste of the Smash Lab presented to you by Behind a Toolbelt. So, anyhow, now on with our regularly scheduled show. If you don't know, I'm Ty Backer. And as always, I appreciate you spending part of your day with me, whether you're driving to a job site, you know, hanging out in your office, eating lunch, whatever, wherever you're at. Thank you for tuning in. And and I appreciate you guys. I appreciate the feedback that you give us. And I hope today's conversation challenges the way that you
think about things. And today's topic is one that I think every business owner, leader, and professional wrestles with, and and it's called when when the old way still works. You know, and I think we all know the the phrase, we've always done it that way. And sometimes, sometimes that's wisdom, sometimes it's an excuse. And and the difficult part, I think, is is knowing knowing the difference. It almost sounds like a prayer, doesn't it? Grant me the serenity to know the difference, the wisdom to know the difference. Yeah, anyhow. So today, today I'm gonna do my best to try to unpack that because not everything old should be replaced, and not everything new deserves to be adopted. So, you know, and this is the thing. Have you noticed that I think in our culture today that almost like we almost worship new, new technology, new marketing, new software, new leadership books, new trends, new this, new that. And sometimes I think we become convinced that if if something has been around for years, it it almost somehow becomes outdated. But but here's something that that I've learned after years of of doing this and killing myself, you know, age, age doesn't determine value. I believe, I believe results do. There are principles that have existed for years that still outperform the newest business strategies, okay? Like like integrity, like hard work, keeping your word, serving people, building relationships. Those things never go out of style, ever. Yet we often chase shiny objects because because change feels exciting, at least for me, it does. And sometimes, sometimes we can change simply because someone else is. But but here's the question, okay? The question I want you to think about today. If if something still produces exceptional results, why would we abandon it? Okay, not every process needs reinvented, not every system needs upgraded, not every tradition needs replaced. Good leaders don't change because it's fashionable, they change because there's a compelling reason to change. Okay, now let's look at the other side of this, okay, for a minute. Take a sip here. Okay. Let's look at the other side of this for a second. Experience is one of the greatest gifts a person can possess. Okay. Experience allows us to recognize patterns. We talk about them all the time around here, okay. We've we've seen difficult team members, we've lived through recessions, we've made hiring mistakes, and we've built winning teams, and we've built not so winning teams. And experience allows us to avoid mistakes. I think younger leaders haven't encountered yet. That's me kicking the kicking the stool over here a little bit. Got a little different setup over here. I'm trying to trying to figure it out. I'm at the helm. I got this. Okay. Rough C's don't make for a good captain. All right. Or smooth. I'm sorry, smooth C's. Smooth C's don't make for a good captain. Anyhow, but experience, experience has a dangerous friend. Okay. It's called resistance. Okay. I think I said that right. Yeah. Resistance. All right. I've I've given resistance. I've had team members give us resistance. And and this, the the the funny thing is that they look, they both look very familiar from the outside, but literally they're completely different. Okay. Experience. Experience says, I've seen
this before, but let's evaluate it. Resistance says, I've already made up my mind. Damn it. One is wisdom. The other one, I believe, is pride. One stays curious, the other one stops listening. I've been on both sides of that coin. I've experienced both sides of that coin. And it's not always easy. But I found I found that the best people never stop learning. The best leaders never stop learning. Okay. They they ask questions, they stay humble, they allow younger team members to challenge assumption.
unknown
Okay.
Ty Cobb Backer
Because the moment we believe we have nothing left to learn, our growth stops. And we've talked about that before. And I've done it. I've I've I've become very one way in in conversations. I shut down. I won't, I'll stop listening. And when that that moment starts to happen, I stop learning. Okay. And I'm not saying be a yes man. I'm not saying stop questioning things. I'm not saying stop giving pushback and things like that. I'm not saying that whatsoever. Hopefully the conversations, the other person that you're having with is open for, I don't want to call it conf conversational or conversational. Comp, comp, comp, comp shit. A difficult conversation. Okay, we'll leave it at that, but not necessarily difficult. But having an adult education, okay. And listen, this is the other side of it. Okay.
I want to talk about the danger of success. Okay. This is something that that I've got to experience over the years. Right. And it might surprise you a little bit here because failure rarely destroys great companies. Success often does. And think about that. Okay. When something works, we naturally want to protect it. And we should. Okay. But but success can quietly convince us that we'll always be successful. And that's what's dangerous about that. Okay. Because I've done it, taken on the world. Success has has overran everything. And the thing that I've learned about success, comfortability starts to come in place. Okay. Complacent. Man, I am struggling here. Complacency starts to take place. What used to work stops working. Change stops happening. And all of those things, and it becomes very dangerous. Meanwhile, markets are changing, customers are changing, technology is changing, team members are changing, generations are changing, all of these things are changing. And if we don't continue, you know, we stop, it's almost like we stop evaluating our systems. Okay. And if we don't, we'll get left behind. Like that, like this whole AI thing. Vic and I were talking about AI earlier. And it's like if we're not evolving, don't think that your competition isn't going to adapt and and and learn how to use some of this new technology, which makes things a lot quicker. Things start speeding up. It starts alleviating gaps and and and speeding the process up. Not because they weren't great. The challenge isn't protecting the success. The challenge is protecting success while continuing to improve. Okay. The challenge is is protecting success while continuing to improve. Okay. I just wanted to make that clearer. And I wanted to hear myself say that because I've been in I've been in this vicious circle, this this vicious cycle. Okay. And I think I think there are there are a few questions everyone, you know, should be asking. Is this process, you know, and and the reason why I'm talking about this is because I I I I I stopped asking questions. I stopped, you know, in questions like, is this still serving our customers?
Okay. Is is this is this helping our team? Does does it create unnecessary frustration? Are people creating workarounds? Is technology solving problems we continue creating? Are are we holding on to this because it's effective or because it's comfortable? Okay, those are those are completely different questions. Okay. Are we holding on to this because it's effective or are we holding on to this because it's comfortable? All right. And I had to, this past winter, I had to ask myself that question a lot. Okay. And sometimes the answer that I found is is just to leave it alone.
unknown
Okay.
Ty Cobb Backer
And other times I've realized that we've been tech, we've been protecting comfort instead of greatness. I was we were holding ourselves back because it was just comfortable. It was, it was, it was familiar. Okay. Meanwhile, things are falling behind. We're not bidding jobs fast enough. We're we're you know, all of these things. We're we're not meeting people's needs, we're not exceeding their expectations anymore. We're we're it everything just becomes mediocre. And if we allow that to continue to keep happening, guess what? The phone stops ringing, people stop calling us, right? We're we're not exceeding the expectations or or changing the height of the standard. Okay.
And this is the other thing. Can change make things worse? Abso freaking lutely. I've seen businesses and we've done it, spend hundreds of thousands of dollars implementing software that actually slowed everybody down. We were creating our own KPI dashboard. For months, we worked on this thing and it we shelved it. It was like this is just it's not gonna work and it's not the right time, and it's not the thing to be spending money on right this second. And I've watched companies replace personal customer service with automation, okay, to only lose the relationships that built the business. And I've watched leaders change compensation plans, thinking that they were you know improving in uh performance. Instead, they were destroying morale. Change itself isn't progress, purposeful change creates progress strategic. Okay, that's why every decision should answer one question. Okay, what problem are we solving? If you can't clearly answer that, then don't change it. Okay, my mom used to say, if if you don't if you can't make a decision, sometimes the best one is not to make a decision at all. Okay, and this is something else too that I've that this is something that I had struggled with. Okay.
Hey, I've I've heard it, we've always done it this way, and and then having a fresh set of eyes look at something, and and one of I think my favorites, which used to really super annoy the shit out of me, but has become probably one of my most favorite things to do is is is hiring new people. Okay, and it's not necessarily because of what they know, it's what they notice. Okay, someone who who's been with our company for 30 days will often ask questions we've stopped asking after 10 years of doing it. Okay, why do we do this? Sometimes, sometimes our answer is brilliant, and then sometimes our answer is I don't know. That in itself is leadership gold. And I'm I'm gonna say this because I've gotten defensive. Don't be defensive, okay? Become curious. Some of our greatest improvements will come from people who haven't yet learned to accept our blind spots. Okay, fresh perspectives don't replace experience, they only sharpen them. Okay, and over the years, I'd say one of one of many lessons I've learned personally is that every every season of growth, okay, has required me to let go of something that once worked. Okay, there were systems that served us well when we were a small company, but they they couldn't support a larger organization. There were decisions I needed to stop making. Actually, over time, I there were decisions that I could stop making because our leadership team has grown. Okay. And then there has been like technologies that you know along the way that I resisted because I was comfortable with the old way. And one of those would be my day
planner. And Jana, I see that you're watching, and she can relate to this, Jana and probably Kim. So I had a day planner that had every job that we had to schedule, to be scheduled, to order all all the everything. Ruby sighting, windows, gutters, everything was all in my day planner, and and and nobody had access to it. And this goes back eight, twelve years ago, and I still have. Have those day planners in a filing cabinet over my old office at the shop. And I'll break them out sometime and let everybody see them. We should probably actually have those things on the shelf. So somebody had mentioned, and it was it was somebody new, and man, it might have been Chris Baker. Had suggested Google Calendar. I know it sounds a little dated, you know, because there's so many other CRMs and softwares out there to, you know, you got your your your Apple Calendar and things like that, but back then it was it was Google Calendar. And I don't know if it just had come out. I resisted a little bit. But then quickly realized that first and foremost, I needed help. Okay. And we had the help, but I wasn't making things very transparent for everyone else to see. And I was holding up production, I was holding up billing, I was holding up invoicing, I was holding up so many things. I was I was holding up how quickly things could be ordered. I was just holding up everything. So when I personally adapted to Google Calendar, it opened up a whole world. The team had adapted, and myself adapted so quickly to Google Calendar that it ultimately turned into like RCRM. We shared it with distribution, we shared it with financing, we shared it with production, we shared it with everybody. In real time, they could see the changes being made. And then we color coded everything just like I did with the same colors that we still use today: green for Jemcraft, yellow for Ryan, blue for Lenar, so on and so forth. Okay. And that's what was cool about it was is that it it worked kind of the same way as my day planner, but was way more advanced and way more transparent. So I just wanted to share that that story. And you know, and the thing is, like almost every time when I finally embrace a system, I find myself asking myself this question why didn't I do this sooner? Okay, that doesn't mean every idea is is right. It it means every idea deserves an honest evaluation, okay? Because great leaders can be stubborn. We shouldn't be. What we should be is we we should be discerning. Okay. So, anyhow, this is a great topic. For me personally, I don't know if anybody's getting anything out of there. Who's on there? I see Kimber Kimberly. I see Zach. What's up, buddy? David Bruno. I can see the comments. Happy Wednesday, everybody. Okay.
So here's something I would encourage you to do this week. Okay. You don't have to be a business owner. Doesn't matter. Walk walk through your place of business, walk through the place that you work, okay? Walk through your department, walk through your daily routine and ask yourself, ask yourself these three questions, okay? What should I preserve? What should I improve? And what should I eliminate? Because I'm going to tell you something. Those three questions can completely, and I mean completely transform your organization. Because leadership isn't choosing between old and new, it's choosing what's best, not just for you, but for the people around you, okay, in your organization. So I want to hear from you what usually causes people, okay. I got a question. What usually causes people to to resist change? Okay. Is it is it comfort? Is it fear of failure? Or is it simply not seeing a reason to change? Shit. I'm gonna or or is it past successes? I'm gonna throw that in there because I know for us success, success almost destroyed us. Okay, I'd love to hear your thoughts. And as we wrap this episode up today, I want to leave you with one final thought, okay?
Tradition is value is valuable, okay. Experience is valuable, proven systems are valuable, but none of them should become untouchable, and that's probably something I learned this past winter season. Okay, tradition is valuable, experience is valuable, proven systems are valuable, but none of them should become untouchable because the best leaders protect principles while improving processes. They know that that value stays consistent while methods evolve. So here's today's closing question. What's one thing you're still doing the same way simply because it's always worked? Maybe it it's still the best way, or maybe it's it's time to ask whether there's a better way. Don't change something just because it's old. Don't keep something because it's familiar. Try your best to lead with wisdom, with humility, and remain teachable. Thank you. Thank you for joining us today for another episode, episode 346 of Behind the Toll Belt.
If today's conversation challenged your thinking, do me a frickin' favor, share this episode, like our page, share it with somebody that you think might get something out of it. These conversations become even more valuable when when they're discussed together. If you haven't already, be sure to subscribe so you never miss a new episode. And if you're joining the show, I would really appreciate it if you would leave us a review. I don't know. Has anyone ever left us a fricking review? We do? All right, maybe we'll pop them up there. It helps us reach more people who are committed to growing themselves, their teams, and their businesses. You can always, always, please connect with me on social media and let me know your answers to today's questions. Okay. I genuinely enjoy hearing your stories and learning from your experiences. So until next time, remember this leadership isn't about doing what everyone else is doing, it's about having the wisdom to know what to keep. Okay, the courage to change what needs changing, and the humility to keep learning along the way. Thank you for listening to Behind the Tool Belt. We'll see you next week.
SPEAKER_02
Thanks to our sponsors, TC Backer Construction, Hook Roofing Marketing, Roofal, and Project Map It. And thank you for watching. Subscribe to our YouTube channel and follow us on Facebook. We are streaming on all major platforms. See you next week for another episode of Behind the Tool Belt.
