The following transcript is provided by YouTube. Mistakes are present. To hear the podcast episode, click HERE.
[Music]
Welcome to scaling up h2o the podcast
where we scale up on knowledge so we
don’t scale up our systems the podcast
where we’ve been doing that
for four years the podcast where we’ve
been doing that
for 200 episodes
folks my name is trace Blackmore i get
the incredible honor
of hosting this podcast and you heard it
it is episode 200.
actually, if you are keeping track and if
you have been a
listener of the show since the beginning
you’ll notice that we did some creative
probably some foolish things
when we first started titling the shows
and numbering the shows for example if i
would go to an event
i would have the show number and then
each day would be a 0.1.2.3
so if you really want to keep score we
are over
200 episodes however
as we title episodes today
this episode is titled the 200th episode
and we all love a reason to celebrate so
we are going to celebrate the fact
that we have 200 episodes of the scaling
up h2o podcast as i mentioned at the top
of the show
just a few months back we celebrated our
fourth
birthday and I have to say those two
things together the fact that we have
200 episodes
the fact that this show has been on
for four years is just
blowing my mind I cannot tell you
how unprepared I was as a
podcast host as a person
that makes content and sent it out on a
regular basis
on a person that even understood what a
podcast
was when I started four years ago
but folks people asked me to do it i
wanted to do it
didn’t exactly know what it was but i
didn’t let that stop me
i learned on the fly what i needed to do
to bring this show to you
and as i introduced or reintroduced on
episode
190 i asked sean our incredible audio
engineer to play back
episode one oh my gosh what an
embarrassing moment and no sean we are
not going to put that in this episode
if you want to listen to that you are
more than welcome to go back to episode
one
or you can go back to episode 190 where
we
already did that and folks i hope if
nothing else what that proves is
that you can do anything that you want
to do
and it’s not going to be pretty the
first time that you do it
the important part is is you take that
first step
that first step leads to a second step
which leads to a third step and i
hope everybody out there in the scaling
up nation will
agree that episode 200
is miles better than
episode one but you have to start with
one i hope you use that as motivation
i know i listen back at that and it’s so
difficult
at one time i couldn’t even listen to it
and again good friend of mine charlie
chichetti
he’s been on the show numerous times he
was one of my first guests he was on
episode four he’s been on throughout the
last
200 episodes charlie said go back and
listen to
your first episode after you do
20. he said don’t listen to it before
you do 20 and and i did that
and it was painful i think i did it
again after i did
50. it was still painful i did it again
after i listened to 100
still painful and folks today at 200 it
is still painful but i
i realize that you always have to start
somewhere
and that was my starting point and
there we go so i’m learning how to
celebrate that
and i hope that that motivates you to
whatever you want to start
get started because if it wasn’t for
that very first episode
i would not have discovered that i have
a
passion for this podcast i bring up my
dad a whole bunch
on scaling up h2o my dad was the one
that
introduced me into water treatment
he taught me what he knew about water
treatment
he encouraged me to always become better
he instilled in me to never be satisfied
with what i knew today
but always realized that what i knew
today was a starting point of what i
needed to learn tomorrow
and i know you’ve heard this on the show
before but he told me
that whenever i thought i learned
everything about this industry
was the day i needed to quit because
that was impossible and that meant i was
complacent and i
wasn’t learning anymore folks
congratulations
you’re an industrial water treater and
that means
you’re in a job that has endless
learning
you should never be bored you should
never
feel that you have reached a plateau
and if you have i’m here to tell you
you’re not
trying hard enough please do not fall
in that day-to-day rut that you wash
rinse repeat there’s always something
else to learn
there’s always something to get better
at and when you do that on a regular
basis
there is no better industry
to be a part of i just said that this
podcast has become
a passion of mine i had no idea i was
going to enjoy
a podcast i had no idea that it was
going to become
a part of my life and i had no idea what
this podcast was going to mean
to so many other people folks
i have met so many incredible people
because
i own this microphone and i put this
podcast out called scaling up h2o
from atlanta georgia i’ve met people all
over the world
and i’ve had people come up to me
in tears because of something they
realized something they did
because they listened to this podcast
now
i am always very leery to take credit
where somebody says they did something
because
of me or something that i said folks
that was
always inside you maybe i sparked
something
that got you to act on it but that’s all
i did
and i’m happy i can help but the credit
all goes to you and thank you so much
for all the people that have come up to
me
either at a conference a convention
they’ve sent me an
email they’ve sent me a voicemail
they’ve carrier pigeon i
haven’t gotten any carrier pigeons but
so many people have reached out to me to
say
what this podcast has meant to them
things that they’ve been able to do
because they’ve been inspired by the
podcast
and i have to tell you some days there’s
a lot going on and it’s very
difficult to get motivated to stop what
i’m doing
and get the material i need so i can
release
each and every week and what gets me
going
to that what motivates me to that
is when you share those stories
with me i will say the biggest thing
that this
podcast has created is community
and of course you all know that you are
the scaling up nation
and there are so many nation
members now so many people like i said
that are coming up to me
and i i just think that’s fantastic and
i i know it’s fantastic because i know
what it’s like
to be out there driving from account to
account
and it’s just you and it’s a lonely job
and then you go and you talk to a
customer and maybe you get to see that
customer or maybe
you’re just alone in the mechanical room
doing what you need to do to make sure
that customer is taken care of
folks i realize it’s lonely and my hope
was this podcast was going to be
your onboard companion as you’re going
from account to account
and then as you had a companion in the
car it was going to motivate you
to learn new things to do new things to
look at things a little bit differently
and i know
through your words to me that that has
definitely
happened now about a month or so ago i
started
asking in the podcast for people to let
me know
members of the scaling up nation to let
me know
how this podcast has affected you what
does it mean to you
i just finished telling you what it
means to me and i can probably go on
another hour about
talking about how much this podcast
means to me
but i really want to celebrate you the
scaling
up nation and i’ve asked what has the
past 200 episodes meant to you
several people have sent in voicemails
now how did they do that they went to
scaling up h2o.com
there’s a pop-up that says leave
voicemail you can use your computer
microphone you can use your mobile
device
you can leave me a voicemail i
personally listen to each
and every one of those voicemails
and i’ve selected a few that we are
going to play
here today so let’s go ahead and get
started
hey trace and scaling up h2o nation this
is reid hutchison
and just wanted to call in and share
what this podcast has meant to me
over the last four years this podcast
and trace is the host
has encouraged me with three really
important lessons uh
over the years the first is that my work
matters
when i started listening in 2017 as a
young professional in the water
treatment industry
they were difficult days and on a hard
day
it was natural to ask the question is
this really worth it
and the show and trace on it have
encouraged me that
this work really does matter it has an
impact and so
i should stick with it and continue to
work secondly
i heard from the show that we can get
better and
i have appreciated the encouragement
from trace and the podcast
that there’s always room for improvement
and that
not only as i get better we can all get
better together
and there’s a rising tide when one
person decides
to grow and improve and lastly i’ve
appreciated this message has taught me
that
i am not alone and you are not alone
it’s a big community out there
and just really appreciate trace and the
podcast for helping bring us together
i’ve grown so much uh over the last few
years listening to this show
as a professional and as a leader and as
a member of this community
and i can’t wait to see what happens in
the next 200 episodes
thanks trace for all that you do reid
thank you for that
listening to that i’m so humbled i met
reid
a couple of years ago he told me that he
learned about
the awt technical training from this
podcast
and then i got to meet reid and reid and
i have worked together
quite a bit he’s a member of the
mastermind group and i have to tell you
i
am so impressed with what he is doing
with how he is increasing his game
as a water treater it’s just really
impressive to watch just another example
of getting to meet so many people
because of this podcast but folks we’re
not going to stop there
the next person we’re going to hear from
is somebody you hear from each and every
week
and this is james mcdonald and of course
james mcdonald
is somebody that just does
so much for not only the scaling up
nation but the entire
water treatment community he of course
contributes with james’s challenge each
and every week
don’t worry we’re going to hear james’s
challenge as
we end the episode today but here are a
few words from james mcdonald
this is james mcdonald and as a
self-proclaimed number one super fan
i’d like to congratulate scaling up h2o
and trace on your 200th episode
seems like you just crossed 100
yesterday but time flies when you’re
having fun
keep up good work james there’s no doubt
about
it time has absolutely flown by
doing this podcast i look back and i
can’t believe it’s four years
i can’t believe it’s 200 episodes and i
i can’t believe
how large the scaling up nation is all
the topics that we covered
and i’ll tell you this this is my fear
that i’m going to run out of topics now
i thought i was going to run out of
topics at 20
and that didn’t happen i thought i was
going to run out of topics at 50
and that didn’t happen well folks we’ve
made it to 200
i still have some ideas but there is no
way that we are going to make it to
another 200 without your
help so please do what these fine people
did
you can record your own voice asking me
a question
has there something weird that you’ve
seen that you want
an answer to is there a topic you want
me to explore
you can record your voice i will play it
on the air and we will answer
your question go to scalinguph2o.com
and you can record that voicemail if you
don’t feel like recording your voice you
can go to the show ideas page and you
can
list out what you want us to talk about
i cannot tell you how much
that helps us out and that will
definitely help
us get to the next 200.
let’s go ahead and hear from another
listener
hey my name is laith charles i’m
reaching out to say how scaling up h2o
has impacted me
i think it’s been a great way to get to
know some of the industry titans you get
experts on a wide variety of topics that
are
you know adjacent or directly involved
with the water treatment community you
can reach out to the people featured on
the show
get to know them ask them questions that
may have not been covered during their
interview
and it’s just a good way to keep a
strong pulse
on prevailing trends in the water
treatment community and refresh
some of the fundamentals well late i
have to tell you that was one of my
intentions when we started the scaling
up h2o podcast
that this was a conduit for you to meet
people
that do the same type of work that you
do you can meet
people that are experts in the question
that you have a question about
so i’m so happy to hear that that is
exactly
what it is doing for you and let’s go
ahead and hear
from adam sites hey trace and the
scaling up nation
this is adam seitz with cti water
treatment
just wanted to check in as we approach
the 200th episode and let you know some
ways the show has been able to help me
as an individual the podcast acts as a
constant reminder of the broad spectrum
the big and the small ways that we as
water treatment professionals are able
to be
impactful um you know from something you
know the daily grind of
running some tests and completing a
service call
some client relations all the way up to
the big picture of
environmental impact and business growth
strategies
the podcast touches on different
perspectives and
in areas of those things that keeps me
focused and is always a good reminder
another way the show helps is we can use
it as a training tool
if my team is facing a specific
situation or issue
and there’s a show that is discussed
that i can always reference that show
and
make that a learning opportunity for for
my team as well
and so for those reasons i just want to
extend my my thanks and appreciation
uh for yet another milestone reached
adam thank you for that
you were one of the first people that
called in to ask me a question and i did
an entire
episode around your question so you
answered the call
that i just asked the scaling up nation
before you came on so
thank you so much for that and and thank
you for those kind words
i’ve heard from so many people in in
management or owners of water treatment
companies
that they have their team listen to
episodes
and then on a regular basis that will
start dialogue
and they will start training discussions
based
on different episodes i hope that
it would encourage when i say it this
podcast would encourage
learning on how we can become better
water treaters but when i hear
stuff like that when i hear that you’re
using this content
and you are just making things better
you’re making
your people better you’re making the
water treatment industry better you’re
making customers
respect our craft better that is just
incredible to me thank you for doing
that i know there’s so
many people out there that are doing
that
in fact there was somebody that came up
to me at an awt convention
and he said yes my boss forces us to
listen to
every single one of your episodes and
then we talk about it
now hearing as the host that you’re
being forced to
listen to the podcast not sure what i
thought about that but i i understand
what you meant just in like the choice
words i love that people are
using this to learn more so again adam
thank you for doing that thank you for
all those people
that are raising the bar out there on
all the knowledge that we know as water
treaters and you’re trying
to learn more each and every day and
you are being the example
that our customers need to see
because let’s face it there are so many
bad examples
out there and that’s what a lot of
people think of when they think of what
a water treater
is so thank you one water treater at a
time
changing the minds of the people out
there that
this is a respected profession this is a
professional
profession this is something that if we
do correctly
that we can really enhance
how we use the equipment that we are
treating we can make sure that the
equipment is using the least amount of
power
possible to operate that means less
resources are going into that equipment
and
however you look at that where it is as
cheap as possible to run that equipment
and that customers getting the benefit
thereby more than paying for our water
treatment program
or that we are not using
valuable natural resources and creating
a larger carbon footprint because
we are running so efficient water
treatments got that covered however you
look at that
also water is a very
finite commodity on our
planet we are using water like we have
never
used water in the history of this planet
we have the same amount of water today
that we
had so many years ago but we’re using it
different
and the way we’re using it if we’re not
using it responsibly
we’re not going to be able to continue
to use it
as we continue our futures now i cannot
think
of another industry that has
such an impact on how we use
water and how much water we can
save if you’re not keeping track of that
if you’re not up
on how much water you are saving your
clients
by optimizing your water treatment
programs
doing everything that you do on a
day-to-day basis
correctly you are missing a golden
opportunity and when you put water
savings together with
energy savings folks we
as water treaters are the most
inexpensive bill that our
customer will ever pay however they’re
not going to get
to that leap without you bringing them
there
you are the most valuable vendor that
they have
please make sure they know it
hey trace good morning russ baskin hope
all as well
listen i wanted to give you some
feedback that
i got from myself and some of the guys
you know scaling up has been really good
for us
and i just want to let you know this is
the place that we come to
to get industry insights uh some news
we’re always excited about find out what
leaders
are thinking and where our industry is
really going and the podcast has really
helped us
pinpoint those industry leaders i also
love that we can re-listen to episodes
that matter most to us and that’s an
individual thing
we at tower water use it as a way to
feel connected
to our industry and we encourage all of
our employees to listen to it
you know really there’s no other tool
like it out there
for water treatment and for especially
what we do
you know we sometimes feel alone out
there and when we hear
the podcast and scaling up we know
that um we’re on the right track we know
we’re pushing in the right direction
so do me a favor keep up the good work
and we’ll keep listening and keep
supporting you
so thanks so much and i’ll talk to you
soon bye-bye
well russ thank you so much for that uh
guys at tower water have been
so supportive of the scaling up h2o
podcast i know they’re one of the
companies that
listen on a regular basis and they have
conversations about it
and a lot of them have given me show
ideas thank you
so much for that you know something that
russ
mentioned that i am so proud of is
well let me back up one of the things
that we do
as providing this podcast to you is we
see
what’s working and what’s not working so
we try to track
analytics when we talk about something
or when we do something new
just to see how well it is received by
you
this scaling up nation and one of the
things that
is just incredible is the amount
of episodes that you out there in the
scaling up
nation share with each other
it is phenomenal when i look at other
podcasts
and see what the norm is for how
many shares they get of content we’re
like
10 times over that and and that tells me
a couple of things one that we’re
talking about the right things and you
like
what we’re talking about you find it
informative and helpful
but two you are sharing the knowledge
you are reaching out to people that you
think could use that
information and you are sharing that
episode
i want to thank all of you that have
done
that that continue to do that you know
that’s how we’re going to raise the bar
in the water treatment industry that’s
how we’re going to find
new scaling up h2o members that’s how
we’re going to find the topics that
we don’t know to talk about because we
found a new listener that needs
to hear something else on this show
so please keep doing that please keep
sharing content please keep telling each
other
about this podcast i am always shocked
when i go somewhere and somebody has no
idea that there is a podcast
out there that they could be listening
to
and learning as they’re driving to
their accounts so don’t think everybody
knows it because they don’t
and each water treater at a time
where we can educate that there is this
podcast it makes us all better
and if all of us get better that means
the
industry gets better and folks we all
get rewarded
when that happens well let’s listen
to the last selection of all the
voicemails that were submitted and
you’ve heard this guy before so i’m not
going to introduce him
here he is hello scaling up nation this
is mark lewis the most requested guest
on scalinguph2o.com
it’s hard to believe we’ve been scaling
up on knowledge for over 200 episodes
and we’re thankful that the scaling up
nation continues to provide
feedback questions topics that allow us
to continue
to scale up on our knowledge so that we
don’t scale up our customer systems
thank you trace blackmore
thank you scaling up nation from me and
my heart
thanks well mark thank you
and a nation you know i i have a special
place
in my heart for mark lewis uh mark lewis
is the story i think it’s the example
of there’s no need to be an island out
there as an industrial water treater
mark and i met
working at awt and when i say working i
believe it was 2003
it was at the general session jay
farmery asked us
to hand out the notes from the previous
meeting
and he said hey mark trace meet each
other
hand this stuff out that’s how mark and
i met and then the following year
i think the convention was in charlotte
mark and i really got to know each other
that year
and we have just been the best of
friends ever since
and and folks i hope you have somebody
out there
that when you see something and
you’re just thinking what the heck is
going on here in this water treatment
program that you can reach
out to i’m so lucky that i have so many
mentors
and marx mark’s one of those guys that i
can just call on a regular basis
and he could say you know what i’ve seen
that this is exactly what’s going on or
good luck with that i have never seen
that before in my life let me know how
it turns out
i think i’ve gotten both of those
answers depending on what the question
was
but the fact is i have people
that i can talk to that instantly know
what it is that i’m talking about and i
don’t have to
preface what it is that i do how i do it
what a cooling tower is
what a boiler is whatever type of water
treatment that you’re in you don’t have
to say all of that
you can just go into what you need
help with and i think that’s the scaling
up nation
i know that’s mark i know that so many
of my mentors
it’s my hope that this podcast has
brought you that community that this
podcast has helped
introduce you to people that do what you
do
and i don’t know if i would wish having
a mark
in your life but i do hope that you
can find a friend as i do in mark lewis
that i can
share so much stuff with
and get so much help from
out there with water treatment questions
so
there we have it thank you so much for
all the people
that called in let me know what this
show has meant to them
and i know there’s way more out there i
know that
many of you wanted to call in but you
didn’t get a chance to do that
i appreciate the thoughts that you send
and i hope that
you do have some questions and you will
eventually call in for that
200 episodes we made it without your
question but
i’m here to tell you we’re not going to
make it to an additional 200 without you
and yes i’m talking to you calling in
and letting me know
what your question comment concern or
guest you want me
to talk to is one nation a tradition
this year is each and every episode we
are trying to
make you a better water treater by
trying something
different each and every week of course
we call that james’s challenge
this week is going to be no different so
here’s another installment of james’s
challenge
[Music]
hello scaling up nation the next james’s
challenge as we grow as an industrial
water treatment professional
drop by drop is
run a jar study on a wastewater sample
or learn how to do one
many industrial water treatment
professionals are strong in cooling and
boiler systems
but may have little to no experience in
industrial wastewater treatment
it’s a different animal can take
patience and can require a different way
of thinking
it can even be intimidating a good way
to start is by finding an opportunity to
do a jar test
that way you can see up close and
personal what’s really happening
at the very least take this week to
learn how to do one
be sure to share your experience on
linkedin by tagging it with hashtag jc21
and hashtag scalingup h2o this is james
mcdonald and i look forward to seeing
what you share
nation in celebration of our 200th
episode and also
in celebration that this is our 25th
james’s challenge james mcdonald
created five bingo
game cards that we are sharing with you
the scaling up nation
now you can play those on facebook
so you need to go to our scaling up h2o
facebook page and spin the carousel
of five unique bingo cards
and then select that card you’re going
to play bingo
which means you’re going to check off
the ones that you
have completed and the first five
people to complete that challenge get
that information to me
we are going to send you a scaling up
h2o t-shirt nation i want to thank you
for celebrating
200 episodes with me i want to thank you
for listening because i think
so many people out there have started
from episode one
listening to 200 episodes of this voice
i have certainly been honored to
be your host for scaling up h2o
i can’t wait to bring you another 200
episodes
so for everybody out there that is part
of the scaled up nation
thank you for making scaling up h2o
what it is today have a great week folks
[Music]
one of the things i hear so often about
the rising tide mastermind is about
how well the members in the rising tide
mastermind
listen to other people folks we are
programmed to give
quick advice even if we don’t have
all the information through the issue
solving track that we practice in the
rising tide mastermind
you will learn how to ask better
questions
so you can give better advice and that
will
shorten the road for whatever issue
you’re trying to solve
to find out more go to scalinguph2o.com
forward slash
mastermind
you