Ed talks with Erik Rapp. Erik has been in tile and stone markets for over 20 years, with his latest position as the National Director for the Everest Stone Group, a US stone/slab distributor.

Erik shares with fabricators ways that they can enhance relationships with stone wholesalers – to make the relationship create greater profits for the fabricator. Tips and tricks follow!

Ed talks with Mark Meriaux, the Accreditation and Technical Manager at the Natural Stone Institute (NSI) about the current state of Silicosis in this industry, covering a few things you probably do not know - and what the NSI is doing, the resources they have made available to stone fabrication shops in the US, and more.

Links discussed include:

The link to the anonymous silicosis survey being conducted nation-wide:

https://yalesurvey.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eX5tvsDNElDpACq?Q_CHL=qr

or click the link at the top of this page: https://www.naturalstoneinstitute.org/silica/

It is really important that as many stone shops as possible take the 10 minutes to complete this survey.

Silicosis Info: https://www.naturalstoneinstitute.org/silica/

Silicosis Training: https://www.naturalstoneinstitute.org/safety/

Training Certification: https://www.naturalstoneinstitute.org/safetycertificate/

Mark can be reached at Mark@naturalstoneinstitute.org

From the Podcast Studio at the 2024 Coverings conference.

Ed on stage at Coverings and discussing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and your shop!

Ed met with stone shop owners during the Coverings conference in April 2024 on the topic of KPIs and followed this session with Q&A with these shop owners.

In this session, Ed references two articles:

https://fabricatorscoach.com/stop-counting-the-square-feet-you-produce/

and

https://fabricatorscoach.com/how-much-time-is-left-on-your-companys-game-clock/

Aaron Crowley, Chair of NSI’s Safety Committee, talks with Ed about safety topics in the stone fabrication industry. From the latest on Silicosis (Australia’s quartz ban, California’s emergency safety standards), to other key safety issues that are very prominent in daily operations of your countertop fabrication shops.

Whether it is heavy objects (slabs), wet environments/slip/trip, electrical safety, or dust – these are the realities of our industry. Does your insurance cover you?

National Stone Institute (NSI) offers free training on Silicosis, to members and non-members. And there are many safety courses, that are free to NSI members.

Ed sat down with Rich Katzmann, the Executive Director of the Rockheads Group to discuss your options for selling your fabrication business to private equity firms, or large strategic buyers, the individual investor, or to your employees. In this podcast, they discuss valuation and multiples, the upside and downside of each, and Rich’s 4 Key Strategies for Prepping to Sell. With the “Silver Tsunami” of retirees and the desire to sell very strong – what does this mean to you if you are planning to sell?

Ed sat down with Tim to talk about the impacts of AI, specifically some uses that can help in your countertop fabrication business. This is also online in video format, so you can see Tim's screen as he demonstrates the use of this “generation 1” AI tool. It is pretty amazing what you can do to use AI to make your business easier – and much more will be coming.

The Video from this podcast can be found at https://youtu.be/crCg3N9jdyg

NOTE: Tim encouraged you to sign up for ChatGPT4, and encouraged putting it on your iphone. It can be found at https://chat.openai.com/auth/login and the monthly cost is $20.

This podcast is taken from the December 2023 webinar "So, You Want to Sell Your Business". In this podcast, Chase Busenbark (Certified Business Broker) and Ed Young discuss what this process will be like - and opens the floor to the attending fabrication business owners for questions and answers.

You may be a long way from considering the sale of your business, but planning and doing the preparation work can put you way ahead, and can ensure you get the most from the sale.

The article that the webinar is based upon can be found in the December 2023 issue of Slippery Rock Gazette.

Ed Young talks with Stephen Alberts of Countertop Marketing Co about recommendations for marketing your countertop fabrication shop. Stephen and his team specialize in setting up websites, help with social media ads, and drive up lead volume for countertop fabrication shops.

If you would rather view the video from this interview, go to: https://youtu.be/8odNEiUh1AM.