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This podcast was born from a belief that meaningful growth doesn’t happen overnight. The things that really matter—in life, business, art, relationships—often take time, patience, and unseen investment. And yet, we live in a culture that constantly pulls us toward immediacy: fast food, AI, and overnight success stories.
But the reality is:
Anything truly worth building usually takes time. Success doesn't arrive in an instant.
We take the time to ask our amazing guests, what are the things that are worth putting in the time and investing in, even if we don’t see results for a long time?
8. Aaron - Main - Audio_- Loudness
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Speaker: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Bamboo Method, investing in the Unseen, a show about what it's like to play the long game with fast food, two-day shipping and so-called overnight success stories. We live in a world that tells us if you don't see results by tomorrow, maybe it's just not worth it. But anything worth building usually takes time.
So we're here to ask what are the things that are worth putting in the work? And investing in even if we don't see results for a long time. Today's guest is Aaron Ria, founder of il, a company shaking up the specialty windows and doors. Industry IL creates one-to-one installation guide templates that helps contractors install complex custom windows and doors accurately before cost and mistakes can be made.
Aaron shares what it's been like to leave a stable career and start a new business from his kitchen table. Balancing the tension between a. Ambition and presence as a father of five from [00:01:00] late night breakdowns to small wins worth celebrating. This conversation explores what it really means to invest in something before the results are visible.
Speaker 2: Thanks for being with us today, Aaron. Thanks for having me. Yeah. I'm excited to have our conversation and really excited to hear what we have to say. Uh, to begin thinking about the idea of nurturing things that take a long time to see the fruit of personally, what are you nurturing?
Speaker 3: I've been more focusing on growing myself, like personally.
That includes, you know, daily, uh, having devotions with my children in the morning. And then following up with a workout meditation and not quite, trying to just lead myself, leaning into, you know, what my family wants and what my wife wants. She's probably hearing this right now, and it's like, um, but it's, [00:02:00] it's been focusing on, you know, repairing, you know, focusing on myself a little bit.
Speaker 2: Yeah. You used the word repair. What are you repairing? I
Speaker 3: had a insane focus on work. Like it just seemed like I woke up, was thinking about work, walk out the door, go to work, come back home late, still have it on my mind, you know? I was present with my kids, but not, maybe not there. And really taking a step out of that has been like, whoa, I need to spend more time with my kids.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I'd be more intentional with my time. Yeah. It, it's still really challenging, even down to like what our activities are daily. That's, that's been hard. But yeah, just repairing that workaholic mentality.
Speaker 5: Hmm.
Speaker 3: Which it, it's hard because there's good fruits that come from it, but [00:03:00] man, there was a lot of time I just wasted.
Speaker 2: Mm.
Speaker 3: Yeah. And it wasn't worth it.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Well. Good things can be become a problem too. If, if it becomes more than it's supposed to be. You know, if we give too much or we're neglecting other good things because of it. Right. You know, and so work, I think we're created to work, we're created to create, we're created to do those things and work hard as well.
But I think that makes sense. If it becomes too much, um, I'm sure you saw some good fruit, but that can be attention. What, what, uh, have you were able to identify some of the driving factors to that? What drove me to work?
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah. And not just what drove you to work, but what drove you to work the extra,
Speaker 3: you know, the extra, yeah.
I have these visions of like a better future and it's always like, if I put a couple extra hours in today, you know, I'll get a couple hours tomorrow and, but then that just keeps getting transferred. I never pay my debt. Right. Like it just, I'm always [00:04:00] working towards this mission and I. And the mission when I was at, you know, at my last company was, you know, be the biggest and the best.
And it took a lot of work. Yeah. And there was a lot of bamboo growth there. Like, I felt like there's a lot of things I did that took years Yeah. Before they ate. But it just, it always seemed like I was searching for more. And once you hit a goal. Wasn't enough.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: But I like reading things where it's like, if you would see yourself now, you know, you've probably already achieved multiple goals.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: You know, you, I've never expected to be where I'm at now.
Speaker 2: Hmm. What about it did you not expect? I, what are some of those goals or type way your life is that you feel like is where you wanted it to be?
Speaker 3: The level of work that I'm doing now versus where we started. Um, like I'm [00:05:00] so blessed to work with amazing projects.
I'm a kid from Billings, Montana, and I'm working on some really large projects in bigger markets and like I never could dream. Like I just wanted to do really big things here in Billings, but been, I feel like I've been called to really spread the love.
Speaker 2: I love that.
Speaker 3: Yeah. So maybe there are some good things to.
Uh, workaholism, but. Mostly bad.
Speaker 2: Sure, yeah. No, I, I'm sure there's, again, I think there's, there's good things to what you were nurturing. I know some of, of, of what that looked like in the fruit that came of it, and I, it's not all bad, but recognizing those shifts that can, you know, bring better fruit, I think is a beautiful thing.
What does that look like in that transition? Um, obviously I know there was a, a big transition, which is your career, and that helped, probably did it. Do some of those mental shifts and create some structure adjustments, but [00:06:00] what has helped you shift from this like drive that? It's like, I need to, I need to hit the next thing.
I need to hit the next thing. I need to hit the next thing to, okay, there's actually maybe a little bit more of an appropriate pace and I wanna spend time with my family more. How's that? How do you do that?
Speaker 3: You have to be committed to it. Like this summer I had to be like, we're going fishing on Thursday and Friday.
Like we're just doing it. Um, I got work to do, but we gotta go fishing the summer's short and being intentional.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: With your time, not even thinking about right now, it's like there's more, there's even more time you could spend with your family.
Speaker 6: Mm-hmm. There's
Speaker 3: always time. My wife gives me a hard time.
She's like, we always like to sit and watch a movie, but you sit at the kitchen table, I can't watch movies, I just fall asleep. So instead I gotta go sit down with 'em and just hold my eyes away because it just means so much to them to be [00:07:00] together. Yeah. In that moment. But really, you gotta be intentional about spending time with your family.
It's, it's not necess, it's not always natural.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: And it should be, should be natural to spend time with your family.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's hard when you have a lot on your mind. Right? Yeah. And, and it can feel like there's a lot of, a lot of things to do. Are there things that you do, you know, tangibly daily or weekly that help you shift your mind to being present?
Speaker 3: I think the daily devotions with my kids. That's, I mean, that's something recently, the last few months, just spending time with my kids and reading with them. Mm-hmm. And. Talking about Bible verses that we discussed and you know, kind of asking them to get involved in it. Mm-hmm. I really thought it was something that they weren't into, but you know, every morning [00:08:00] they've been getting up out of bed and they make sure even one morning I was, I was working late, I was working till like two in the morning and they came into.
They came into the room and I'm like passed out and they're like, are we not doing devotions? And that was pretty cool. That was a pretty cool moment. Um, I didn't get up that morning and I see that. That work stuff will creep into. Yeah. What's important. That's been a big thing for me is just spending time.
Yeah. With them.
Speaker 2: Oh, they crave it, right? Yeah. They just crave, I mean, the couple things you mentioned with the movie and the devotions, it sounds like they just crave that time. Mm-hmm. And it's so important, and I don't think it has to be that, you know, big or significant. It can seem insignificant to just do devotions with them regularly, but clearly it was meaningful to them.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: That's cool. I love that. Well, I love the shift that you're making and, and being more present as a dad, you're a great dad and I know you being there [00:09:00] even more, uh, with him is a big deal. And, uh, just super excited about what you have ahead, even for your, uh, business as well as your family. And, uh, with that, I'd love to shift to the business side stuff.
Professionally. What are you investing in that's taken time to see any fruit for
Speaker 3: So right now, like on the Prove It Tour, call it, I've just. Daily call potential installers, dealers trying to get in the door with 'em. And I've kind of opened up a wide gate because I, I almost like absorb knowledge from everyone else.
Like these ideas don't just come from me, but it comes from others and their challenges in the field. Mostly calling and trying to figure out how to get my. Get my product to make the most impact.
Speaker 5: Mm.
Speaker 3: Um, right now I could be working on a bunch of [00:10:00] smaller projects, but my focus is to really get this in the hands of bigger manufacturers, um, because I believe that'd be the biggest influence.
Mm-hmm. So it's been calling and also is designing. Every day I'm designing and working through solutions. Um, or people sending mockups to manufacturers, mockups to in installers. Mm-hmm. Getting their feedback.
Speaker 2: Wow. So a lot of calling, a lot of conversations. When you, those calls that you talked about, is that, are you trying to pitch or are you trying to get information?
Both.
Speaker 3: It's definitely a pitch and it's helped me craft my pitch. I don't think of myself as a salesperson, just a big window nerd, and. So I learn a lot from other people, and so when I'm explaining it to them, you know, over the phone, they're, they may be sitting at the job site and they may be like, you know, I'm explaining to 'em, trying to [00:11:00] graphically put my product in their, in their head and, and I'm like, Hey, go to my website or go to my Instagram to check it out.
And that's where I practice. Pitching to them, and then they, they're, they throw ideas back at me. Yeah. So that's really shaped a lot of, a lot of my product
Speaker 2: give you some input on like, Hey, this, what about this? What if it was like this? Yeah. This is how we do it. What if you shaped, you know, shaped it this way?
Okay. Do you have like a daily or weekly goal of people you want to call? What, what does that process look like? How do you keep yourself doing it? I'm sure there's a lot of rejection. How do you. How do you keep at it and is there a structure that you're following?
Speaker 3: I guess there's no, there's no structure for, for calling.
We're printing a lot, so I am, I'm constantly at the printer and like my cadence of printing is, is very different. So [00:12:00] when the opportunities that arise, you know, you talk to one guy and they're like, Hey, you gotta talk to these three people. And then you're, you're on the phone messaging 'em, LinkedIn, trying to get connected with those guys.
And it's like chasing a, chasing a rat or chasing a tail. Yeah. Um, it's, it's hard figuring out, I thought I was very knowledgeable in the window industry and then now I'm like, my knowledge has exploded from just calling. But every day I call. Every day in the morning I try to make. I should probably put a number down, but I try to make calls every morning, follow up on jobs, follow up on potential clients, and, and then usually, usually after lunch I'll, I'll dig in and start a new project.
Um, a lot of these are being done by drafts people, and then I come in and check it and clean it up. And for me in the [00:13:00] growth has just been calling and introducing myself too. To the, to the folks that need to hear this message.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Is that intimidating?
Speaker 3: I have been in some inti intimidating conversations, some people that are noticeably smarter than me.
Speaker 2: Sure.
Speaker 3: Um, they're asking me questions that are definitely above my pay grade. I don't, I don't find it hard to call people, but when I, when I start talking to a guy that is a really good salesman, it's, it's. It's tough. Yeah. 'cause I'm, I'm not a sales person and I know my product well, but I, if I had it all figured out by now, it would be bigger.
But yeah. The, the people who are, I just talked to a guy the other day, he's like, I was like, okay, it sounds like you're not my client. And he's like, no, I'm just being a devil's advocate. 'cause I've been pushing him really hard. He is like my [00:14:00] ideal client and I had to. He pushed back so much and I was like, you don't seem like my ideal client.
He's like, no, I just gotta be a devil's advocate man, and I gotta sell it to my uppers. Yeah. So, um, we're challenging you right now.
Speaker 6: Hmm.
Speaker 3: So that, that was, that's intimidating when you get all the questions and you want to act like you have it all figured out. But it's hard saying sometimes, like, I don't have that figured out yet.
Speaker 6: Mm-hmm.
Speaker 3: Um. We're a year old. Yeah. I've really only been doing a key sale for two years and such a new concept. So much. This could go anywhere. This product could go anywhere. Yeah. And um, even the shape as a scroll, who knows what it. Yeah. That's just how it works best now.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So, yeah. But how often do you hear anyone say, I don't have it all figured out yet.
Right. I mean, that's a, can feel like you're, you know, everything's gonna fall apart if you even admit that. Yeah. [00:15:00] In any sort of professional setting. Uh, totally. Yeah. So I get that. Well, it's cool. I, I love the continued humble push to just have conversations. It sounds like it's. Paying off. Sounds like people are receptive to it and want to actually have a conversation back.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Um, to give input, ask questions, and give you some time in that. What do you feel like you've learned most in just that whole, like, I'm gonna call people, whether about yourself or about the product?
Speaker 3: I learned a lot about the industry and how it works. I thought I understood, but now I've got a much better understanding and there's probably so much more to learn.
I have learned that I'm resilient. Mm. Um, talk about that a little bit. I, you know, I've been doing this for a year, calling people and mm-hmm. Working on my pitch, and it's taken a long time to get people to be like, all right, send me a [00:16:00] mockup. Mm. You know, like, okay, we've been talking for a year. Send me a mockup.
It's taken a long time to get to that point. I feel like if I would've stopped. You know, it would've been years before they actually had one in their hands.
Speaker 2: Mm-hmm. So it's Why'd you keep calling?
Speaker 3: I believe in my product and I believe I'm solving a lot of problems for, for my customers and the industry.
Um, and that's a hard thing too, is not trying to communicate how many problems you're solving. 'cause I want it to be simple. Mm-hmm. You understood?
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: But I just kept calling 'cause. What's the other option? There's no other option. I've, I've gone in the door with some manufacturers where I'm like, okay, and I've had to back out because I'm like, your mission for your product is different than what I believe in, so I'm gonna take, kind of take back.
Like I was, [00:17:00] I was approaching you, and then I realized and had to take a second and be like, Nope, we're not the right fit. You're not the client I want. Bless this product with mm-hmm. That's been affirming. 'cause Right when I started this, I thought it was a get rich, quick, big, and it's not, it's not, nothing is.
I had to realize nothing is, maybe it'll seem quick, um, when it starts rolling, rolling out. But it's been a lot of work.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Um, to just get it, just get one mockup in the right person's hand.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: It's been a, it's been a long time.
Speaker 2: Oh, sure. I can imagine There's a lot of times you didn't want to keep going.
Yeah,
Speaker 3: yeah,
Speaker 2: yeah, yeah. What do you, what do you do when you get that feeling?
Speaker 3: There was one time I remember I was, I was working on a mock-up and this old, I was just trying to move a line, move a line in, in [00:18:00] AutoCAD, and I was so tired. It was like. It had to have been like one in the morning. And I remember I just like, just started weeping and I'm like, why can't I figure this out?
And like, I just like wake up my wife and I'm like, I, this is too hard. This is really hard. Like I am, I'm kind of kind of freaking out right now. It's, this is hard. And I just, she just stands up. She just gives me a hug and I'm like, I literally just feel like the heaviness mm-hmm. Come off of me. And then I'm like.
I figured it out, you know, like I just figured out my problem.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 3: And that was, that was a really cool moment for me.
Speaker 2: The power of a hug.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Wow.
Speaker 2: So that's cool. I like my wife.
Speaker 3: My wife has given me a lot of hugs.
Speaker 2: Yeah. We all need that right through this
Speaker 3: process.
Speaker 2: Oh, man. Oh, I mean, I, I can identify with that the amount of times I've needed a hug.
I mean, the, the journey of owning a business or leading heart, difficult, things like that. Yeah. [00:19:00] I think that's so cool though that that was what you needed to just like solve your own problem. Yeah, and, and the reality, I mean, I believe that there will come a day when this is just yeah, rolling out and it's super successful, but knowing that like it, this is the road it takes to get to that point.
And there might be times when you feel like, I don't wanna keep doing this. I don't even know if I can keep doing this, whether I want to or not. I feel like I've hit a wall.
Speaker 5: Mm-hmm.
Speaker 3: And
Speaker 2: it's a, it's a hug that gets you through the wall. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah. There's been a lot of walls we've had to hug through.
Speaker 2: Hmm.
It's a beautiful thing. I love that. Hey
Speaker: everyone, wade here. Before we get to the final question, if you like the show so far and wanna hear more, you can support the Bamboo Method on Patreon. There you can listen to the full director's cut of this conversation and help make this show possible.
Speaker 3: I didn't really have a good plan.
Um, my plan was just to not be in that business [00:20:00] anymore, and I remember sitting on the couch kind of sorry for myself, which my son, my oldest son, is not used to. I remember him walking in and being like, dude, you need to get a job. And I was like, well, what do you want me to do? And he's like, why don't you just run with one of your ideas?
I have a billion ideas running through my head. And this one was the most simple. I had the least barriers to entry in my opinion. I didn't even have a name yet, but I was calling people. I'd met, Hey, I got this idea. Do you wanna be my first? Mock up and this one guy, Corey was like, dude, that sounds awesome.
Like I would love to be your first guy.
Speaker 2: Well, finally, I'd love to ask you, what are you nurturing that you wish you weren't? What do you need to give up?
Speaker 3: I've been thinking about this, having expectations [00:21:00] for yourself that are. Unrealistic.
Speaker 6: Mm.
Speaker 3: Celebrating the small wins. In the past, I've always made progress, and you just keep going. You gotta win.
You're like, all right. Can't, can't revel on that win.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: You need to move forward just celebrating some of the small wins.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: It's been really tough when you don't have a lot of wins, it's, it's hard to celebrate.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So I mean, just celebrating, let me get better at celebrating. Yeah, like my time with my family.
Mm-hmm. Wins that my kids have wins that my wife have for friends and family. Just need to be better about celebrating the small things. And lowering my expectations, my expectations for others. I think about that till right now, Sam.
Speaker 2: I love it. That's a great answer. I mean, celebration's such a big deal.
We've, we've had this conversation before. [00:22:00] Uh, celebration's a big deal. Yeah. And, uh. It's one, it's a thing that is commonly missed, I think, in our society, but also just in leadership, right? There's always another thing.
Speaker 5: Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2: And it's a bit full circle with what you were talking about of the workaholism and just keep pushing, keep pushing, keep pushing.
And so I love the idea of lowering those expectations to see what is truly significant, the, the moments that you get spend with your family. So what do you, what comes to mind for the small wins that you, that are significant that you wanna celebrate or have been celebrating?
Speaker 3: I've had many small wins.
Where I almost celebrate. 'cause I'm like, this is it. This is my, these are my opportunities for them to just turn to dust. I've gotten better clarity recently. So the small wins is just getting it into the door of some manufacturers of some ideal clients. Those are some wins.
Speaker 2: Heck yeah.
Speaker 3: Um. Developing new processes and systems.
Mm-hmm. Um, or [00:23:00] small wins. Those are easy to just be like, okay, I got that figured out. I needed it, that I don't need to celebrate it. Move on. Yeah. Even just celebrating small wins with, with my children, you know, they, they're passionate about sports and right now hunting and. Uh, just celebrating those moments with them.
Speaker 2: So what does it look like to celebrate? I mean, it's a word. Yeah. But what does that, what do you do to celebrate? It's
Speaker 3: gotta be, it's gotta be verbal. I mean, here's some ideas that are probably like, even like a party, you know, like a like end of the season party. Like that's end of the season. We completed a season, we need to party.
Mm-hmm. That's been something that we've been missing. Just acknowledging. Acknowledging them that moment, Hey, look at all the work you put in. Got you. This win or this, these grades, these, a lot of it is [00:24:00] connecting with them to understand what they really value.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: And that it could just come naturally when you're, you're connecting with your children, you're gonna see that.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: A lot better. And I like my eyes are opening daily to my kids. Hmm. They're teaching me a lot about themselves, what they want.
Speaker 6: Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2: How do you celebrate yourself or get celebration when you have one of those small wins?
Speaker 3: I think a lot of times I call my wife or you know, call a friend and say, dude, this just happened.
I'm stoked. Yeah. Um. So making that more frequent Yeah. Getting that verbal acknowledgement. Yeah. Yeah. Or taking a break. Sure. You know, you, you put a lot of time in and maybe just a day, haven't taken a week, but maybe it's a week.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: That we take off and just relax and enjoy progress.
Speaker 5: Mm-hmm.
Speaker 3: Because progress [00:25:00] has just been variable different.
Trajectories.
Speaker 2: Do you have any narratives that you have to fight in your head? You know, 'cause you had that narrative of like, keep going, keep going, and now you're trying to transition and so there's a bit of a mindset shift. What does that look like in the battle in your head as you're like, I'm gonna celebrate this small thing.
Is there still a voice that says, no, that's not, you gotta keep going. I'm a
Speaker 3: perfectionist, obviously, for a guy who's creating one-to-one alignment guides in the field. Um, just accepting that nothing's perfect, and sometimes the good stuff comes when it's, it's not perfect. I'm not a perfect person, and my kids aren't perfect.
And just, just accepting like, Hey, you gotta win. And not gonna even mention the, the, I'm not even gonna critique some of the other things that aren't necessary. Hmm, right now. So even in my work, I just [00:26:00] completed, just had a big mock up, go to a client and oh crap. Like as it prints out, I'm like, that's imperfect.
Speaker 5: Hmm. And
Speaker 3: it was just really hard, but it was a win 'cause we got it done and on time to the client and they didn't even recognize the imperfection. They were very proud of it. So just removing that perfectionist
Speaker 2: mentality. How many times do we hold off on shipping something? 'cause it's something that we care about, but in reality, no one else is, can even notice.
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3: And that's, that's part of the reason why there's, there's something to be said about making things good and right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3: But it, it has delayed, I mean, even down to selecting colors and like the tones and the. How it's gonna look when it prints. I focused heavily on [00:27:00] that stuff, and I mean, who knows If it matters, we won't know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it matters. I mean, it's that level of detail that I think will will matter as you continue to scale. Absolutely.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Awesome. Well, I'd love for you to share where do people find Keith Hill
Speaker 3: right now? We got a website, key sale.com, and we're on Instagram, the Key Sale, LinkedIn. Hopefully your manufacturers are providing it soon.
Uh, but those are, that's where you can connect with me.
Speaker 2: Heck yeah.
Speaker: I see it on your shirt. Can you spell it?
Speaker 3: K-E-Y-S-I-L-L.
Speaker 2: Well, I love it, Aaron. You're a good dude. Appreciate you taking time to chat with us here. Love everything you had to say. Had a lot of impact on impact on me and um, I'm sure the listeners and watches as well.
Got a good road ahead of you. You're a great dad and great business owner. [00:28:00]
Speaker 3: Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
Speaker: Thanks for listening and remember, anything worth building usually takes time. If you like the show, give us a follow-up. Wherever you're tuning in, it really helps us out to see more. Check out the links in the description and follow us on Instagram, and here's a sneak peek of the next episode.
Speaker 7: Nothing burns people out more than having to operate in a position where they are not passionate about it.
They're not passionate about the responsibilities. Or the responsibilities are draining to them. We can look at the strengths assessments and say, man, we really need, you know, this person, this person, and this person to work on. Yeah, initiative A, we really want to use these four people to work on initiative B.
It really has helped us align the work with the talent.