Shed Geek Podcast

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A U-Haul rental, a quick conversation, and a wide-open door into the shed industry, that’s how Ryan Jenkins ends up buying Blue Barn Outdoor Living in Bangor, Michigan. What follows is not a highlight reel. It’s the real story of a young family stepping into business ownership while life keeps throwing punches, long shifts at a nuclear power plant, a broken ankle, a house fire, and the kind of loss that rewrites your calendar and your heart.

We talk through what it looks like to keep showing up anyway. Ryan...

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Rent-to-own gets talked about like it’s a trick until you sit down with someone who’s lived it for two decades. We’re joined by Pete Shau from The RTO Show Podcast, and we go straight at the biggest misconceptions about rent-to-own in sheds, furniture, tires, and beyond. If you’ve ever heard “RTO is just financing” or “it’s taking advantage,” this conversation lays out what’s actually happening at the counter and why the details matter.

We unpack why rent-to-own is built around a relationship, not a FICO score, and how that...

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If you’ve ever bought “industry software” and then spent months inventing workarounds, you’ll get why this conversation matters. I’m joined by Carolyn Miller, the founder of Structure Studio Suite, to talk about what an all-in-one shed software platform should look like when it’s designed by someone with 18 years of shed sales and operations experience, not just a dev team building generic features.

We dig into the practical core: a simple drag-and-drop floor plan that generates a 3D view for customers, quote management that reflects what you’re actually selli...

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Three rent-to-own software companies walk onto the same stage at NSRA and do something you rarely see in tech: they compare notes, challenge assumptions, and admit where the hard parts really are. We’re sharing the VIP after-party panel featuring Jason Graber (RTO Suite), Ryan Carberry (RTO Smart), and Duane Burkholder (Ownly), with audience questions that get straight to the pressure points in the rent-to-own shed industry.

We talk about why RTO businesses can feel “busy” while growth still stalls, and how the culprit is often operational friction like slow follow-up, discon...

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AI is everywhere in business right now, but most shed dealers and manufacturers are still asking the only question that matters: where does it actually help without creating new risk? We sit down with Sneha Kumari, co-founder of Merlin AI, to unpack what “AI” means beyond email drafts and polished copy. We talk about the shift toward agentic AI, assistants that don’t just answer questions, but can take responsible action inside your systems to keep work moving.

We dig into what makes this useful for the shed and portable building indust...

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A portable building business can look “busy” and still be stuck, and that tension is exactly where this conversation goes. We’re joined by Randall Standifer, Director of Sales and Marketing at Lumberjack Portable Buildings and Structures out of Nacogdoches, Texas, to unpack what actually drives growth for shed dealers and manufacturers: tighter operations, faster follow-up, and a dealer partnership that feels real instead of transactional. 

Randall shares his path through the shed industry, along with a candid faith story that shapes how he leads, sells, and serves. From there, we get pra...

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PART 2

“They’re going to put me in business” can sound like a dream, but we’ve seen how quickly that promise turns into an ownership trap if the capital, terms, and data control aren’t crystal clear. Shannon and I break down what we’re hearing across the shed and portable buildings industry as manufacturers and dealers push harder for equity participation, better reporting, and real leverage in their rent-to-own programs.

We dig into access to capital on the right terms, why lump-sum private money can quietly burn you, and how...

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Interest rates are not just a headline, they are a daily sales obstacle and a daily opportunity in the shed industry. I sit down with Joel Oney, known by many as J Money, to make the moving parts simple: what drives variable rates, what drives fixed rates, and why waiting on rate cuts may not be a strategy at all. If you sell portable buildings, mini barns, garages, or larger build-on-site projects, you will feel these shifts first through one thing: the monthly payment your customer can live with. 

We get r...

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Rent-to-own in the shed industry used to feel straightforward: show up, explain the program, sign up the manufacturer, and help dealers close more portable building sales. That world is gone. Coming off NSRA Shed Expo week in Knoxville, we sit down and walk through the biggest shifts we’re hearing from manufacturers, dealers, and RTO operators who are trying to compete in a tighter economy and a louder marketplace.

We get honest about what’s changing on the ground. Trust still wins, but “be nice and follow up” is table stakes now that...

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Most shed businesses don’t stall because people stopped wanting sheds. They stall because the operation underneath gets loose: pricing isn’t clear, follow-up is inconsistent, delivery takes too long, and the customer experience breaks between the lot and the final set. That’s why this conversation with Lori Barnes hit so hard. Lori co-owns Barnes Buildings LLC, started selling sheds out of a feed store, and has built a reputation for big numbers and a steady, grounded approach that doesn’t rely on high-pressure tactics.

We get into what makes her sell...

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PART 2

If you’ve ever felt like your shed business is busy but not getting easier, the problem might not be production. It might be the numbers you’re not tracking. We sit down with Steve Byler to lay out the few KPIs that cut through the noise and instantly sharpen decision making: material cost as a percentage of revenue, labor costs, distribution cost, and the sales metrics that actually connect to profit.

We also dig into what “scalable marketing” really means in the shed and portable building industry. Cost per...

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Your lot can be busy and your pipeline can look full, yet the business still feels stuck. We sit down with Karry King of Lily and Sparrow Bookkeeping, a certified public bookkeeper and QuickBooks Live expert, to talk about what’s usually going wrong behind the scenes for shed dealers, shed builders, and shed manufacturers: messy data, missed matches, and financial reports you can’t fully trust.

We dig into the most important QuickBooks Online habit for real-world small business accounting, reconciling. Karry explains what reconciliation actually is, why it’s the mo...

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Growth in the shed industry can feel simple right up until the day it suddenly doesn’t. One minute you are riding momentum, the next minute you are stuck, tired, and wondering why more effort is not producing more results. We sit down with Steve Byler, longtime industry leader and certified EOS implementer, to get honest about the real turning point for portable building businesses: the shift from founder-driven hustle to an organization that runs with clarity.

We talk through what Steve sees on the ground as he travels and coaches le...

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A shed customer can be ready to buy and still walk away if your process feels confusing, slow, or hard to picture. That’s why I’m excited about this conversation with Marshall and Christopher from Volumetric Software, a new 3D shed configurator built with a simple goal: make the design experience clear enough that even grandma can use it, while still giving dealers and builders the detail they need to deliver the building right the first time.

We get into what makes a 3D configurator more than a “nice website featur...

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Part 2 with the Shed Geek Marketing Team.  

Your marketing invoice should never feel like a foreign language. We talk candidly about the real problem we keep hearing from shed dealers, manufacturers, and service providers: paying for “SEO” or “digital marketing” without knowing what you are buying, how it is measured, or whether it is actually driving leads and sales.

We dig into how search is shifting fast, especially with Google’s AI Overviews and the growing push toward AEO (answer engine optimization). Even strong organic rankings can lose clicks when AI ans...

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We sit down with the Shed Geek Marketing team and talk plainly about why growth flattens even when demand is real, plus what to fix first so your marketing starts producing measurable shed sales.

We dig into the most common problems we see in shed dealer marketing and shed manufacturer marketing: chasing shiny tactics without a plan, under-using Google Business Profile, not asking for Google reviews, and treating a website like a static business card instead of a lead engine. We also unpack what is happening inside ad accounts across Facebook...

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This is part 2 with Reuben Vollrath of Speedy Sheds in Laurinburg, North Carolina. We talk about what we’re seeing on the ground: customers walking in with plans for hobby rooms, finished pool houses, and tiny home or ADU style shells because traditional housing costs feel out of reach. We get honest about what buyers want, what they can afford, and why “custom” has become the new baseline in the portable building world.

We dig into the real blockers that separate a cool idea from a delivered building: permitting offices, inspections, coasta...

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With shed dealers popping up everywhere after the COVID surge, the real edge is no longer just location or demand. It’s response time, accurate answers, consistent follow-up, and the systems that keep your operation tight when the market gets crowded.

We’re joined by Josef Burroughs and Robert Hill to talk about what they’re seeing on the ground and what they’re building to help. Josef comes from the trenches of shed retail and marketing, and Robert brings the software and AI development side. Together, they explain why communication issues a...

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Big shed brands can feel unbeatable until you zoom in on what actually wins deals today: speed, trust, and a system that makes dealers successful. We’re joined by Reuben Vollrath, General Manager at Speedy Sheds near the North Carolina and South Carolina line, and he walks us through his path from selling sheds as a teenager to running operations through manufacturing growth, then making the leap from building for a national brand to taking Speedy Sheds’ own product directly to the market.

That transition sounds simple until you’re responsible for ev...

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Your lot can be packed and your phone can ring, yet growth still flatlines. We’re chasing the “why” with Tristan and Lance Nelson from Legacy Builders, a team that grew out of decades of Nelson’s Buildings experience and turned hard-earned lessons into a post-frame pole barn dealer program built for real-world selling. If you’ve ever watched a customer walk because you couldn’t offer the building they actually wanted, this conversation is for you. 

We dig into the crossover between portable sheds, metal buildings, and post-frame construction and why trying to...

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Your shed website can look great and still quietly lose sales. The real issue is usually simpler than people want to admit: the customer can’t tell what you offer, why it matters, or what to do next fast enough. We sit down with fan-favorite shed salesperson Jerald Rhodes of Creative Backyards and Chad Stolzfus of Life X Marketing to get painfully practical about StoryBrand messaging, homepage conversion, and what “clear beats clever” looks like in the shed industry. 

Jerald tells the story behind rebuilding his website, including the moment a cheaper...

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We tackle the ongoing debate in the shed industry: do you win with big inventory and instant gratification, or with custom builds and a tighter operation? We talk inventory turns, lead times, and why a mega lot can be both a magnet and a margin killer. Then we zoom out to digital marketing for shed companies and the real-world friction of selling online in local markets where people expect you to understand the region, the load requirements, and even the backroad directions. 

The heart of the conversation is customer service. When p...

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A trade show doesn’t become a must-attend “family reunion” by accident. We’re joined by Marty Boltres and Matt Poe from Shed Business Journal to tell the behind-the-scenes story of how the Shed Builder Expo grew from earlier customer events into a fast-scaling hub for the shed industry and portable building industry.

We dig into what makes this event different: real face-to-face conversations, a show floor that stays busy, and education sessions led by people who have actually built, sold, or advised shed businesses. Marty shares what growth looks like from the...

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A busy lot can still hide a stalled business, and that tension is where this conversation starts. We’re joined again by Sam Fawcett of Bitterroot Shedz in Montana to talk about what’s really changing inside the shed industry and what separates steady operators from shops that feel stuck. If you sell portable buildings, storage sheds, or custom backyard structures, you’ll hear why the problem is often not demand, it’s the small friction points in operations, follow-up, and how customers experience you before they ever call.

Sam shares what he’...

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Your shed business can have great inventory, fair pricing, and strong salespeople and still feel invisible online. That’s the problem we tackle with Raymond Freedlander and Hal Licht from Simple Shed Marketing: how shed dealers and portable building pros can stop relying on Marketplace posts and start generating steady leads with Meta ads that actually convert.

We get specific about what’s working now, including short, story-driven video marketing that builds trust before a customer ever steps on the lot. Ray and Hal explain why the “person on camera at the lo...

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Your shed lot can be packed and your phones can still feel quiet. That’s the tension we dig into with Cesar Castillo from Castle Metal Buildings, a 20-year veteran of the carport and metal building world who’s watched the industry grow from backyard operations into a multi-state machine. We talk about why adding steel carports and metal buildings can be one of the smartest ways for shed dealers to expand revenue, and why it can also become the fastest way to earn bad reviews if the partner behind you can’t execut...

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People hear “rent-to-own shed” and mentally translate it to “my building,” then bankruptcy hits and the paperwork suddenly matters more than every friendly phone call that came before. We’re joined by Melody Troutman, a longtime operator and recovery specialist who lives in the real world of delinquencies, filings, and hard conversations. She lays out why portable building RTO companies get burned when they deviate from their own agreements and accidentally teach attorneys and customers what they can get away with next time.

We get specific on the mechanics: checking PACER for repeat...

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Rent-to-own sheds have a reputation problem, and it’s costing the shed industry more than people realize. Today we talk with Nick Garrard, general counsel for the NSRA, about what rent-to-own actually is, why the “it’s a bad word” stigma sticks, and how better education can reduce customer confusion, dealer frustration, and the kind of viral stories nobody wants attached to their brand.

We dig into the practical reasons customers choose rent-to-own in the first place: flexibility in uncertain times, the ability to make a decision without draining savings, and options...

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A shed is not a casual cart checkout. It is a high-trust, high-emotion purchase, and the online experience either builds confidence fast or quietly pushes your best leads to the back button. We sit down with Ashish Roy and Chris Dodd from Sensei Digital to break down what actually makes a 3D shed configurator convert, from guided design choices to the tiny details that serious builders care about.

We talk about why “more options” can be the wrong move, and how an intuitive, guided flow helps very different buyers, from a tech...

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The shed lot can be packed and still feel stuck, and that’s where Rolando Castrejon brings a clear, grounded perspective. We talk with Rolando about building a shed business the hard way: starting in sales back in 2010 with no construction background, learning what customers truly care about, then taking the leap to launch his own operation in 2022 and growing it into three locations in North Carolina.

We get real about what’s changed since the pre-COVID years and why price perception is so weird right now. Customers still comment that carp...

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Google decides who gets seen, but your business decides whether the visibility turns into real sales. We’re joined by Christopher Sedlak, a longtime shed industry marketer from Lancaster County, to talk about what’s changing right now for shed manufacturers, dealers, and outdoor product retailers and what to do when the market feels tighter than it did in the post-COVID boom.

We dig into a simple idea that fixes a lot of wasted spend: a plan is what you do, but strategy is why you do it. From there, we walk...

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Someone messaged me saying ChatGPT claims I organize the National Shed Show. I do not. That awkward moment turns into a bigger conversation about what happens when AI, search engines, and online rumors reshape your brand without your permission and why clear communication and real brand protection matter in the shed industry.

I also use this mid-year monologue to share what we are seeing across sheds, steel buildings, carports, and portable structures: lots can be busy while growth still stalls. The culprit is often not demand, it is the quiet stuff...

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Housing feels like it is slipping away for normal families, but the hardest truth might be this: the “starter home” got redefined right out from under us. I sit down with Caleb Schmitt from Classic Buildings to unpack why affordable housing is not only about inflation, interest rates, or lumber costs. We get into how marketing shapes expectations, how bigger footprints and higher finish standards became the default, and why separating shelter from comfort and luxury is the first real step toward a lower monthly payment and less financial stress. 

Caleb share...

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Google still matters, but the way people search is shifting under our feet. More buyers are starting with AI search tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Gemini, then making decisions from the answer they get back. When that happens, ranking well is not the whole game anymore. The new question becomes: will an answer engine cite your business by name when someone asks where to buy a shed near them?

Kimberly Reynolds from AI Advantage Agency joins us to explain Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) in plain terms and connect it to...

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Your marketing can be modern and still miss the point. We’re talking with Chad Nall, Director of Sales and Marketing at Pine View Buildings, about why the shed industry is getting louder online while the real winners keep tightening the basics on the ground: lot presentation, consistent follow-up, and a culture that treats dealers like partners instead of accounts.

We get into the big shifts Chad has seen in just a couple years, from AI-generated ads to the nonstop fight for better leads and better close rates. Then we pivot to...

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Your lot can be packed and your calendar can be full, yet sales still feel stuck. We sit down with Joe and Brandan from Velocity360 to unpack why shed dealers and portable building businesses plateau, and why the fix is usually not “more leads,” it’s a better sales operation underneath. When follow-up is inconsistent, quotes go out with no call behind them, and online buyers can’t get what they need fast, you end up paying for marketing that never gets a fair shot.

We dig into the sales velocity formula...

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Google search is starting to look less like a list of links and more like an AI-built dashboard, and that shift raises a big question for every local business: how do you protect your leads when the way customers browse results changes? We bring back Jacob Broussard, our resident web doctor, to break down what’s actually happening with Google’s AI search experiences, what stays true about local SEO, and why being the most relevant answer in your market still wins, especially for shed dealers, portable building manufacturers, and service providers.

...

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Your lot can be busy and your growth can still stall and the cause is usually not “lack of demand.” It’s the small cracks underneath: missed calls, weak follow-up, stores that are not truly staffed, handoffs that confuse customers, and a culture that silently tolerates behavior that drives buyers away. I sit down with Jonathan Ulrich of Ulrich Structures to talk about what it really looks like to get back to the basics in the shed industry while the world races toward AI, online checkout, and agent-driven buying. 

We dig into wh...

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Your marketing team can track clicks all day, but your customers are drowning in digital noise. The mailbox, on the other hand, is basically empty, and that’s where today’s conversation gets interesting. I’m joined by Rick Elmore, a former NFL player who turned an MBA “lightbulb moment” into Simply Noted, a company that uses custom-built handwriting robots to send real handwritten mail at scale. 

We get into Rick’s journey from humble beginnings to Division I football, getting drafted by the Green Bay Packers, and then facing the hard reset th...

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Growth can stall even when the shed lot stays busy, and that’s usually a sign the problem is hiding underneath the surface. We’re recording from Iowa and sitting down with Glen and Chad from iFab as they share big news: iFab is transitioning to new ownership, with fabricator and problem-solver Eli Slabaughl stepping in to lead the next chapter while Glen and Chad stay on for a smooth handoff.

We talk about what iFab equipment actually changes inside a shed manufacturing shop, not just “faster,” but more consistent. When trusses...