This episode of the AG45 Soul Aligned Strategy Podcast, hosted by Katherine Breuss, features Brett Surinak, founder of Tech-Tastic. Brett shares his journey from growing up in a family manufacturing business to establishing an IT and cybersecurity company for manufacturers. He discusses how his experience and passion for manufacturing align with his business, his pivot from mechanical engineering to IT, and his commitment to being a supportive, non-sleazy salesperson. Brett also emphasizes the importance of understanding sales and marketing in business, the need to avoid thinking like an employee, and the significance of failing fast and strategically pivoting. Additionally, he shares personal insights about his commitment to scouting, community service, and aligning his work with his talents and values.

Contact Brett - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brettsurinak/

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Katherine Breuss: [00:01:00] Well, welcome to the AG45 Soul Aligned Strategy Podcast. I want to introduce Brett Surinak to the show. We are really excited to have you. Brett, I would love it if you could introduce yourself, tell the audience something about you that you want them to know about you as a human, and then also your business.

Brett Surinak: Okay. Well, we'll start with the professional side because that's always usually the easiest one that everyone practices, right? So I am the founder of Tech-Tastic and what we do is we provide IT services and cybersecurity for manufacturers. That's it in a nutshell.

We're a little bit different. I've been in IT for [00:02:00] gosh, 25 years, and over the years I found out that whenever we had a manufacturing client, the office was being taken care of really well. But all the equipment out on the shop floor—which nowadays has a lot of networking to it, a lot of analytics coming out of it—was really not being supported in the way that it should, or even protected from cyber attacks.

We're starting to see more and more things like CNC machines get locked down. Some of the attacks are even stopping emergency stop buttons, so now we run into safety issues from not being protected. And that really bothered me because, going back to my history, my grandfather was a tool and die maker—or owned a tool and die shop—and my father owns a stamping manufacturing plant. I grew up in those shops, [00:03:00] in that shop that they had.

At a very early age, you know, this is a small family business, so you can start your kid at a very early age—like eight—in there. And so I really started to understand what the different processes were. I did it all. I started obviously at eight doing menial duties, but I worked my way up through high school, working summers, weekends, all of that stuff. I got to be like a CNC operator and even went to school for a year to see, "Hey, do I want to go into mechanical engineering? Do I want to do CNC programming?" I decided it wasn't exactly for me and went into the IT world.

And that's really where I saw this gap happening whenever manufacturers were being serviced by an IT company. [00:04:00] They're only taking care of part of the business. They're not looking at the big holistic view into the plant as to how this stuff works. Because if you can't produce, you can't ship. If you can't ship, you can't invoice. If you can't invoice, you're not getting paid. And just how that kind of snowballs. Anytime one of those machines would go down, I saw exactly—being the owner's son—these are dollars flying out the door every minute this thing is down.

So when I went into IT and was working for other IT companies that were consultants, I just saw this big gap there. I thought, "Hey, you know, [00:05:00] there are ways we can help them get better analytics to see when a machine is going to fail, or can we protect it?" When the machine goes down, maybe it's not a cyber attack, maybe it's just a failure on the machine altogether. How can we get the programming for that backed up as quickly as possible and help that production line and production team out from an IT standpoint? So that's my professional thing in a nutshell.

Digging a little deeper into me personally, I do a lot. If anyone knows me, I can talk for hours and hours about scouting. I'm a big Scouter, Eagle Scout. I have four kids all in scouting. I've been a Cub Master for 10 years. [00:06:00] Really big there. What I really enjoy about that the most is actually seeing how it's helping kids become servant leaders for tomorrow—ways that not only can they be self-sufficient, but how they can give back to their communities and how they can be those servant leaders.

You know, servant leader is kind of a buzzword probably for the last five, ten years. But if you look back at it, scouting's had it for decades, even like a century. So that's what I enjoy there.

And the other side of me too, personally—I'm a husband and father obviously. But I also serve my church, which is St. Vincent Pallotti Catholic Church over on the far west side of Milwaukee. I'm on the parish council there, so I do a lot with helping the parishioners out.

Katherine Breuss: [00:07:00] Very cool. There's a lot of really good nuggets of information that I was grabbing listening to you—very rich. And the first question that comes to my mind is… I thought it was pretty funny that you've been working in business since eight. You know, this was the eighties, and mom had to run out and do her shopping on the weekend. She didn't want us kids around, so it was "Go with Dad, go to work on Saturday morning!"

Hey, I think it's awesome. I really do. I mean, it's not like child labor and you were chained to a desk or anything like that. I mean, it's kind of how things worked, and I wish there was a little bit more of that—not necessarily saying sending our kids to work [00:08:00] at eight, but just understanding what hard work is and starting from the bottom and having to go all the way up.

But what I find interesting too is that you thought you were going to go down the route of mechanical engineering, and then you decided not to. So I'm really curious—what was it that made you go, "You know what, I don't want this. I want that"?

Brett Surinak: So interestingly enough, it was actually called Mechanical Engineering Technologist up at Michigan Tech. There are kind of three different levels when you look at engineering. There are engineers that actually do the paperwork, the plans, and all that. There are technologists, which is what I was going for—you do the setup of the production line and you get that going, you figure that all out and you keep it there. Then there are mechanical engineering technicians who make sure that product line keeps going. [00:09:00] I was in the technologist—the middle one. So it was a little bit more hands-on. I did enjoy it.

The thing I didn't like about it is when we started to get into stress points, materials, knowing how much—the tensile strength of different materials and the calculations and the math that goes with that—I was like, "I just want to build stuff!"

But I did like when we got into the CNC programming and that. So I flipped actually from that type of program to computer programming and then went into networking and so on from there.

Katherine Breuss: That's really cool. So, you know, it sounds to me that [00:10:00] you recognized that there was a bit of a misalignment in what you really wanted to do. And so would you say, you know, making that choice to go into IT and cybersecurity and all of the aspects—that is much more aligned to who you are and what you want?

Brett Surinak: Yes it is. And what I'm doing today is even more aligned, I think, because I still really like the manufacturing world. You know, I went out and got certified in Six Sigma, which is very much a manufacturing platform, because I love—and this is one of the things I absolutely love—I love looking at these production lines and being like, "How can we take steps out of here to still get it going?" I absolutely love that, and I actually apply that to my business in the different workflows too.

So, you know, Six Sigma started in the manufacturing world. [00:11:00] It's how can you still have really good quality going on and then do some lean where you actually remove a few steps in there too—be more efficient. And I absolutely love that.

Katherine Breuss: So you're really aligned because the IT side of it appeals to you, but then also the clients and who you're working with—the manufacturers.

Brett Surinak: Absolutely. And that's what I absolutely love—working with these clients, especially the ones that are manufacturers. At first, they're all like, "Yeah, yeah, this IT guy. He doesn't know production, he doesn't know whatever," and I start to talk to them and they're like, "You get us. You get us, you know?" And I'm like, "Yeah, I do. I get you. I feel your pain. I've been there."

Katherine Breuss: [00:12:00] I thought for a second you were going to say, "I see dead people!"

Brett Surinak: So that's really the fun part—or one of the many fun parts—when I'm having conversations with these manufacturers and I sit down and we get to know each other. They're like, "You're not like the standard IT person that comes in here. You understand that you can't do an update in the middle of our day. You can't take our machines offline. You understand too you need to make sure that these are backed up so that when a hard drive fails, when it gets wiped out for whatever reason, you can help us get this backup and running."

Katherine Breuss: So, yeah, that's really cool. And I love the nicheness, you know, being specific to manufacturing. Brett, in terms of—besides when there was a bit of misalignment, [00:13:00] you know, maybe not massive, but going down that mechanical engineering side—has there been a time in your business where you felt misaligned? And the impact that that has? And it may not even be with your business, it might be somewhere else.

Brett Surinak: Sure. So before I started this business, I felt misaligned a little bit with IT because of the way it was with manufacturers. And my bosses usually knew, "Hey, this guy's good with manufacturers, let's have him work with them." Right? And so the thing I didn't like though is that when you're going into that world, there are certain additional IT tools you need in order to do that, or things you need to worry about and things like that. And I had this happen a couple [00:14:00] of times where I was like, "Hey, you know, we really need to service these people better. We really need this tool, or we really need this plan." And I was being told, "No, we can't do that. That's not our job. Stay out of it." Sometimes rather forcefully.

And so I really didn't like that. And before I started this, you talked about soul aligned. I was actually sitting in church and wondering, "What am I going to do here?" You know, I was at a point where I was like, "I'm not liking this. I'm at a low place. I don't want to go to work every day." [00:15:00] I was sitting there, and the gospel reading that day was from Matthew, which was the Parable of the Talents.

Now, if you don't know what that is, it's basically about a master that gives his three servants some talents—which is a bit of money at the time—to take care of while he's gone. He said, "I have to leave. You take care of this." And he gave them these talents—different amounts. The first two went ahead and used those talents to do more with it. The third one sat there and buried their talent because they were afraid they were going to lose it. Well, the master came back and was very upset at this third one for burying their talent.

And so I sat there and I was just like, [00:16:00] "This is me right now. I feel like if I stay here—which I could do, I could tough it out, I could stay here—I am burying my talent. I am not allowing myself to thrive."

And so that's when things really, I would say, started to become soul aligned for me—at that time. I still remember where I was sitting in the church that day and everything. It just really spoke to me. And so I guess that's the thing that I have to say to everyone: make sure you're in a place where you can thrive, where you can use—you know, we are all given these talents, whether you believe it's from a higher power or just from society. We all have talents to give. Make sure you're giving them back. So, yeah, that was the big one for me.

Katherine Breuss: [00:17:00] I love that. And I would ditto everything in terms of what you said about the importance of this. We have all been given gifts, and even most of us who even access that, there's more we can access. There's more that we can get more in alignment with and give to the world, which ultimately does give back to us in some shape or form.

What's interesting too is when we think about our work and, you know, especially as business owners, the amount of time we spend in it. And if you're not truly aligned, man, I don't know. I just sit and think, "That's a lot of time wasted."

Brett Surinak: Yep.

Katherine Breuss: And, you know, wouldn't it be better if you enjoyed it?

Now, so on that aspect—soul aligned is one thing, and as we define it at AG45, and what you've said, it's really [00:18:00] knowing who you are and your talents and integrating it into everything that you do. And because we talk about business, it's about integrating that into the business. But I also see people who are soul aligned and they started their business, it's very much in alignment. But the piece that was missing is the strategy piece.

And for us, what we describe as strategy is that it's not only understanding the business strategy, but it's then the execution, the business acumen, and how to actually do it. And that's why I see sometimes, you know, if they're soul aligned, it's that piece that's missing. So how do you do that in your business?

Brett Surinak: So from an operations standpoint, no problem. Strategy is perfect there. [00:19:00] Efficiency—my clients are well taken care of. They get a great customer experience. All of that—score great.

The part that I wasn't prepared for, the part where my strategy is struggling, that I have been working on and I have been diving into head first, would have to be getting the word out. You know, that sales and marketing piece. Because I know the operations side—that sales and marketing piece, that's new to me.

And that has—that's where I am, where I would say that my strategy needs improvement, by all means, because it's just so new to me. And I'm trying to make sure too that while I'm doing this, you know, like you said, [00:20:00] to make sure that it's soul aligned. I don't want to be that guy that's just, you know, that smarmy salesy guy, because that's not me. I'm not going to do it.

I'm not going to do that. And, you know, that's not a knock on—I don't want to knock on legitimate true salespeople that do a fantastic job, that really take their customers through it. I'm talking about the ones that are just kind of like, "We're doing the sale and we're just moving on to the next one," and people are numbers. That's not me. And I don't want to be that. And [00:21:00] I hear this from a lot of business owners, too, about sales—unless they came from a sales background. If they didn't, I find that this is one of the hardest pieces, and financials, I find, are what a lot of business owners find difficult.

Katherine Breuss: And I don't know, I say that with sales—unless you're actually scamming somebody or selling something that somebody doesn't need—it's a lot of mindset shift in terms of going, "If you truly are providing value, then there's nothing to be"… And ashamed is maybe the wrong word, but frightened about a sale or thinking it's sleazy or whatnot. And I can't imagine that you would ever show up as sleazy.

Brett Surinak: Well, thank you. Thank you. You're an Eagle Scout!

Well, and too, like I said, that's something that, you know, [00:22:00] I've unfortunately read some of these books—and apparently I might be reading the wrong ones or doing the wrong research or whatever—and they tell me to do something and I'm like, "This isn't me. No, no, no. I'm not going to do that." I truly want to go out there and help and be helpful through the whole process. Otherwise, I won't be aligned.

Katherine Breuss: Yeah. And I would say too, and just even a little bit of a challenge, maybe, or maybe not, because I do hear this from business owners as well, and I think it's this whole thing of, "Well, what is helping and what is actually starting to be detrimental to the business?" And so it's that kind of balance of, you know, staying true to you, but also there's a business to run. And so [00:23:00] ultimately people are in business—well, not all, but the ones that we work with—to make an impact. But also, you've got to make money. I mean, we're not talking about necessarily being greedy billionaires or anything, but, you know, we've got to have our own personal wealth too. Right?

So Brett, in terms of advice—your experience in your business to date, which has been—is it three years? Has your business been open for three years?

Brett Surinak: We're coming up on three years here this month—in August.

Katherine Breuss: Nice. Okay. So what advice, if any—like if there's, I'm sure there's a lot, but if there is one piece that you could share to someone else that might be in the [00:24:00] early stages of business—what would that be?

Brett Surinak: I would say really, my biggest thing would be making sure—my thing, maybe because it's my struggle—would honestly be figuring out what your sales and marketing look like. Really figure that out. And two, don't think like an employee. You can't be thinking like an employee.

I've seen—I didn't do this, but I've seen enough people do this and fail—where they're like, "Oh, I've got to have an office and I've got to have [00:25:00] all this other stuff," or, you know, all this delivery kind of stuff figured out. I'm like, "You don't need it figured out exactly, perfectly." You know, you do have to figure it out. At some point you are going to have to do that delivery, and you might have to have some things lined up, but people spend too much time on that side and not enough on filling the pipeline on the beginning.

Make sure that you're going to have that constant flow coming in—of leads, of customers coming in. So that's a big thing.

The other thing is don't be afraid of failure. Absolutely not. You're going to stub your toe. You are going to fall down. Get back up, keep going. [00:26:00] The important thing is you need to fail fast. And so what I mean by that is if you're going to fail, you need to be able to know exactly when, "Hey, this isn't working. I need to stop dumping my time, my money, my team's time, whatever, into this, and I need to change and I need to pivot."

That is something that I did a little bit with my business early on. I was kind of going one direction, and I found out, "You know, there's not, unfortunately, a market for it yet." So I pivoted slightly—workflow automations and things along that line with IT for manufacturers. We still do that. We do that on the side. But we found out really there's a bigger need in keeping these machines safe and cybersecurity. So we had to pivot actually at that point.

Katherine Breuss: [00:27:00] So the couple things that I hear—I love that. Don't think like an employee, because you're not. It's a very different mindset, and I do see corporate people who've been in corporate their entire lives, and then they just decide to build a business and they think it's the same. And it's a really rude awakening. They're like, "Whoa." I mean, normally they're buying a business, they're buying a franchise or something like that. But, you know, so that's really important, that mindset.

And the fail fast—absolutely. And to that whole piece of failing fast, I would say: here's where I see business owners, and particularly entrepreneurial business owners, they pivot too quickly and they're squirrel—or they're changing too quickly [00:28:00] without trying something. And this is where being strategic is so important, because when you are strategic and you've got a really clear plan for today, as well as five years down the road, you know when and how to pivot. It becomes so much clearer on that. So I think that is really, really good points.

Brett Surinak: Yeah. And in that strategic plan that you make, know what your metrics are, or your KPIs are, for that strategic plan so you know when you see these starting to fall—okay, now we have to pivot. It's not just a gut feeling kind of thing. You continue on with it, and now's the time. Yeah. You know?

Katherine Breuss: Brett, it has been a real pleasure to have you here with us. I want to thank you so much for your time and everything you shared. There's so much that I really enjoyed about our conversation.

Brett Surinak: Great. Excellent. Thanks for having me on. I really appreciate it.