I STOPPED CARING

I DIDNT CARE ANYMORE!

I loved my job before I started the company I have now, @Eagle Eye Productions. I loved what I did, I loved the learning, the challenge and the industry I was in.

I HATED working with people that lacked ambition, loyalty and integrity. It brought me down every day I was there. It was a constant battle, being excited to be working on some amazing projects but having to deal with people who didn't care as much about the work we were doing. They had no vision of what the company could be if they cared. Eventually, they grew like a cancer. Building that question in my mind. "If they don't care, why should I?" That was what I had to fight. Because that mentality is toxic. This happens automatically if you remain in the same environment for a long time. Eventually you will just lose the ambition that you once had, unless you have someone to help build it up and encourage you to keep it going. To keep your eye on the vision.

The last job I was on before I started this company full time was a small project with large complications. Nothing impossible but some people made tasks impossible. Luckily I had a good superintendent that I could rely on teaching and mentoring me. He and I had been on a few jobs together at this point with a small team that all got along and this was a new one we were starting together. Most people were not fond of him except for our previous team. That's because he had integrity. He didn't care what anyone said. If it was wrong it was wrong and he wasn't going to do it. I admired that about him. Some people would eventually shun the 5 of us from the company, acting as if we were the issue. That didn't bother us. We did our job and that was as simple as that. No matter what the rest of the company said, our group was tightly nit and ran as a well oiled machine. We debated about things and came to a conclusion or solution together. We trusted each other and knew we could lean on the team. however the team was split up of course. I remained with my super and enjoyed work. But it wasn't long before the same issues we had in the past with leadership would catch up with us. Most of them may be reading this. If they are, they know. They wanted us to be split up. They wanted us broken apart because we were dangerous to their jobs. We never made things easy. We weren't controlled by immoral decisions, safety issues and held them accountable when they said they were going to do something. They looked for every way to manipulate the situations we were in for the benefit of the company and not for the client. What they didn't realize is it hurt the company and the client. Enough was enough.

A NEW BEGINNING.

Eventually, I got tired of trying to do the right things and get burned for them. We were in a meeting and I texted my super "today". He looked at me kind of puzzled, then smiled. He knew what I meant. I sent that resignation email, left that day with my stuff and never looked back. I told them:

"I can no longer place 100% effort into your company and my own. I have the awesome opportunity to start a company and work for myself and I feel that I need to make that move. Please let me know if you would like me to work the next two weeks."

I was not asked to stay the two weeks. I got into my truck and played the song: Doubt me now - Cody Johnson on the way home. I felt free from stress, ambitious about the next step and anxious to get started.

I have been enjoying every single day since I left. I have traveled all over the country regardless of COVID and met some amazing leaders through some amazing companies. From coast to coast, we have partners now and we are eager to find more every day. I have visited 26 states in 8 months and seen large industrial jobs to natural gas to commercial construction projects that I would have never seen sitting on a job site here in TX.

When I left, I had no real plans. No firm clients, no way of making money. I had gotten fed up and leaned on my faith that God would provide. It wasn't worth being there any longer. Even though I knew what I wanted to do, I didn't really have a clue what I wanted to do. Over the course of this last year a large struggle has been to figure out our core values, mission and vision. Its something I preach to every one of my companies I work with. But it's something I have been trying to develop myself for a whole year. This year has taught me a lot of personal values I have always had, I just never put them to paper. With that being said, I have been working on this part of the company for a while now. I think I have found a good group of values to back our main vision of the company. I know they will only grow and evolve as experience continues.

Two things I knew immediately when I quit was:

1. I didn't want anyone feeling like their enthusiasm and ambition was a bad thing like I had.

2. I wanted to encourage everyone regardless of age, gender or situation to enter the industry if they have an interest and find a good company that will truly treat their people well.

These things have always been in my head every time I walk onto a site. I can tell that look in younger peoples eyes, and older workers also. The one of being complacent in their current situation. The look of giving up. Everyone reaches it if they aren't encouraged enough. It is natural to get to the point where you just don't care anymore. OSHA has this in their training programs. Becoming complacent is dangerous. It will kill you or others if you let it. NO ONE should be in this mindset on a jobsite. It is life or death. There is a way complacency can be fought.

THE VISION:

With all that was going on the first few months of starting a company, my mind kept coming to the same vision of what I wanted. I wanted a company that would ultimately encourage companies to grow and change their culture not because they had to but because they wanted to build a family or community of likeminded people. A family builds each other up, helps each other succeed and learns together. I wanted to help aid these companies through our main sources of services we offer:

1. Content - Photography and video

2. Graphic design

3. Web development

4. Media consulting.

5. Recruitment

6. OSHA and operator trainings

7. Paid ads and analytics

Through our services we are able to give our partners and clients the outcome that is built from our vision:

BUILDING UP THE BLUE COLLAR INDUSTRIES.

MISSION

How in the hell are we supposed to do that? How do we build up the blue collar industries? I had no idea, and still don't, but it's a long term vision I hope to accomplish. For a start, you begin with awareness. You show people that there are two things they need. You are either an employer in need of good people to join the team or you are a good human looking for a quality employer to work for. Those needs will always be the same. The problem is it is extremely hard to find either of those. Great companies are out there, but there are also a lot of bad companies. There are a lot of great humans ready to work hard, but there are also a lot of terrible workers out there too. Showing off good companies and bringing them quality people is important to the mission. But, you also have to recognize that some of those bad employees and employers may be like that because they don't know how to do it right. It is easy to learn the wrong way to do something and hard to grow out of that routine. We are here for that too. Finally, peer pressure. I know, you probably haven't heard that since grade school. Peer pressure can be a great tool in our industry to force bad companies to make changes. As we build a community of good companies and quality people, we start to change the outlook on the industry. We begin to show people that there is a way to treat each other and work together in our industries and there is a way of failure. Building a community is the goal. Bringing people to the knowledge of the correct way to use their culture is part of the community, through collaboration, discussion and education.

That's why we have the following mission:

To create a community lead by values that provide limitless boundaries.

VALUES:

As we evaluated the mission through time we found that certain foundational principles were standing out. The way we worked in the past stood out. The people we did work for now stood out. Our firm stance on the quality stood out. As we grew, more and more values emerged evident in everything we shot for. We all have values we hold dear to us. Sometimes we don't recognize that we have them until we stop, think and focus on what's truly important to us. Though we have countless values we learned through the last year, we have eight that really became evident. These are them:

1. Don't apologize for speaking the truth. 
2. Never allow your present to guide your future.
3. Don't be afraid to ask for help. 
4. Win as a team lose as a team.
5. Raise the blue collar industry.
6. Always shoot for perfection.
7. Consistency breeds results.
8. Be a leader.

Even though we can think of a lot more and these may change over our experience in this new chapter, this is a good starting point to guide us through our long term vision of the blue collar industries.

We noticed an issue with the construction industry. There is a massive culture problem in the construction industry. there is a massive disconnect from the people and the employer, and there was no one telling the stories of quality human beings. We are here to change that. We are here to genuinely give the industry growth but the only way that happens is through the people who continue to grow this community. To those out there already doing this, keep it up! To those who want to but don't know how to positively impact your workplace, don't hesitate to contact or ask. Lets build up the blue collar industries together.

Our solution is to work with the company's who want to change the industry's history of bad culture and broadcast their message and encouragement to the rest of the industry by our content, recruiting, rebranding and web development. We are here and ready to help anyone who wants to start that mission.

We are redesigning our website to reflect better who we are and our story. Keep an eye out as we will be launching it within the next couple weeks.

Learn more at: