September 26, 2025 – Daily Recap

I knew today was going to be a marathon, not a sprint. Four jobs on the calendar, a truck half-ready from the night before, and me trying to convince myself that meant I was actually prepared. Kind of.

Family First Stop
The day kicked off with a favor setup for my wife’s side of the family. Nothing too wild — just a small get-together. It reminded me of the early days when my wife’s nephew was grinding with me on the regular before his restaurant management life took over. He doesn’t jump in as often now, he’s still down for the cause.

Teamwork & Tight Schedules
I met my teammate at the warehouse and we hit the road for a 40-guest package with lighting and linens. I was running a little behind, so I told him we needed some extra hustle. We wrapped that setup in about an hour, which was solid.

But here’s the part I’ve been working on: communication. I realized I need to do a better job at laying out expectations and giving clear direction.

The Surprise Overlap
Next stop was a pickup from that last-minute pop-up tent job earlier in the week. Crazy thing — we pulled up just as another rental company was arriving for their pickup. And not just any company, but one of the big players in the industry.

I couldn’t wrap my head around why they’d send a three-man crew for such a small delivery: four tables, 32 chairs, and a handful of cocktail tables. Meanwhile, I was just glad I held firm on my rush fee. Margins were around 75%, not amazing, but at least I didn’t get burned.

The School Maze Job
Then came the heavy hitter: seven 10x20 pop-up tents at a school. I thought it would be straightforward. Wrong. Two sets of stairs, long hallways, and a setup that dragged into a two-hour grind.

I’d cut them discounts and waived the weekend pickup fee just to get close to their PTA budget, so when I realized what we were in for, the thought of charging a “stair fee” after the fact definitely crossed my mind. I’d never done that before.

What saved us was teamwork — even volunteers helped us haul weights up the steps. My teammate surprised me by pushing through strong, but man, that one tested us.

The Gut Punch
I wrapped the day scrambling. I had to call backup to get my kids because I grossly underestimated that last job. Once I got back to the warehouse, I finally sat down to catch up on emails — and that’s when I found out I lost a gig for a movie production because I took too long to respond. Nothing like salt in the wound to end the night.

Until next time
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