#227 - Paul Streitz

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Hello and thanks for joining me
again today for Geeses of Gear

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Episode #227.
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Hello, We Are back Episode #227
and I say we're back because

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although we had podcasts launch,
or at least one launch, I think

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we only had one this past week.
But I was actually gone for a

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few days and I didn't record for
a week, and that's been a first

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in a while.
Sarah's got me slaving pretty

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good.
And I was actually in Los

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Angeles for the first time since
before COVID.

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I realized as I was landing
there, I was like wow, I haven't

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been here in a while.
And you know, so of course, like

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everyone, I've heard all of the
terrible stories about what LA

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is like right now, you know,
people defecating on sidewalks

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and sleeping on sidewalks and
everything else.

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And while I believe that there
is some of that going on, a lot

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of that going on, I wasn't
downtown.

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Lai was actually in Northridge
for meetings.

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And so, yeah, I was recently
invited to become part of a

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board of directors for a
company.

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It's actually a private equity
group who are buying up some

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companies and this is the first
one.

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And so the board meeting was
last week, got to meet some

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incredible people and shared
some knowledge both back and

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forth and really enjoyed the
process.

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And if you are not on any
boards, I recommend it.

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This isn't my first one, but
it's actually I think the first

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one that I've been on outside of
any of my companies.

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So you know outside of a a board
seat in a company that I owned a

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piece of at least a small piece
if not all of.

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And so great experience.
You know, it's it's a great way

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to share your knowledge and
benefit others with it in sort

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of a consulting kind of way.
But it's a very hands off or I

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should say arm's length type of
relationship or approach

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something very different for me
and very enjoyable experience.

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So I liked it.
I actually enjoyed being back in

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LA other than a few things.
I mean one, what the hell has

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happened to LAX?
Like, I mean, that place is a

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disaster.
And Uber.

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Oh my God.
You know what happened was I had

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a car rental reserved and then
the flight was late and I felt

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like I was gonna actually be
late cuz I was landing about two

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hours before the 1st board
meeting and I was thinking, you

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know, I'm gonna, I'm gonna be
late for this thing.

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If I go for the car rental, I'm
just gonna cancel the car rental

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and grab an Uber.
That'll be much quicker.

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Well, why didn't somebody tell
me I was wrong.

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You know, if you haven't been to
LA recently, you don't just walk

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out the door of the airport and
grab an Uber, you First of all,

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I'm trying to book it and I
didn't know the process there,

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cuz again, I hadn't been there
since, I don't know, 2018 or

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something.
And so I'm trying to book it and

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it kept saying go to this, go
outside and find a bus or

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something.
And I'm like, what?

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I don't want a bus.
I want an Uber.

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And it was just really
confusing.

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It wouldn't book.
My Uber, basically is what it

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came down to.
And so finally I I asked someone

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when I got outside and they
said, yeah, you got to go over

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there and and get on that bus.
And so I'm like, OK, what the

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hell is going on here?
So it took like 10 minutes for

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the bus to come.
So already I'm panicking,

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'cause, you know, now I'm, I've
got like maybe an hour and 15

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minutes or something to get to
this meeting on time.

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And so this bus takes you to a
parking lot that's, I don't

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know, 10 minutes from the
airport, let's say.

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And you go to this parking lot
and then you order your Uber.

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And so then it, it was raining,
by the way.

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So I'm standing outside in this
parking lot in the rain with my

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bag and so I finally get an Uber
ordered and it takes them.

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It said 3 minutes and it took
like probably 15 minutes.

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And Long story short, All in
all, I ended up about 20 minutes

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late for the first board
meeting.

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So I actually called in to zoom
from the car.

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And yeah, I mean it.
You can't necessarily blame

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politics or anything for that,
but they gotta fix that

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situation.
The whole Uber thing is so

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broken and the Uber driver was
just complaining like crazy, not

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just because of this parking lot
situation, but also because I

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didn't realize this, but I was.
I I complained because here was

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another thing.
Inside the airport it said that

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my Uber ride was going to be
$80.00.

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Then I kept trying to book it
and it wouldn't book it.

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So I tried 5 minutes later and
it was $82.

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I tried 5 minutes later it was
$86.

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Well, by the time I got in the
car it was $99.00 and so I said

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this to the driver.
I'm like, I'm trying to book it

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and it was $80.00 and now it's
99.

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It's 20 bucks more.
It's kind of a rip off.

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And he goes, yeah, the company
is ripping off the customers and

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the drivers at this point.
And I said really?

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And he said, yeah, he said do
you know, out of that $99, guess

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what I get?
And I said, I don't know, 80.

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Like I'm thinking Uber takes
20%, maybe 25% the pigs that

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they are.
Uber takes 60% and the driver

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gets 40.
I mean, can you even believe

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that that it to me like I own
and operate a marketplace and we

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take 7% and here's Uber taking,
you know 60% of the money from

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the driver for the fact that
they run the platform.

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To me that's just opening a a
door to competitors to another

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system because there's no way
that system is sustainable when

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when the company is taking 60%
of the money from the driver

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that to me just isn't
sustainable.

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So anyways, got to the meeting.
Meetings were great.

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Got back.
My flight was actually on time

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and it was an awesome flight
back.

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The airport, I don't know.
It's so big, so congested, so

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much traffic.
You can't get an Uber like that

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to me is just broken.
I I go to lots of other big

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cities, to New York and and
Chicago and Atlanta, etcetera.

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I've never had this much trouble
getting an Uber.

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It was crazy.
So what else did I want to

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mention?
Nothing really.

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So today's guest is a gentleman
named Paul Streitz.

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So many of you will know him.
Hopefully most of you will know

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him.
Paul's a great guy, been around

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for a long time and I'm gonna
read you his bio here quickly.

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So Paul established himself as
an industry visionary, one of

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the early leaders in fiber optic
lighting solutions and a go to

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source for high tech high touch
creative lighting solutions

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working with high profile jobs
including the Grammy Awards,

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Broadway shows and major concert
tours.

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After selling his first company
in 2007, Paul reinvented himself

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as a consultant, author and
motivational speaker.

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He wrote a book called Blue
Collar Buddha based on winning

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wisdom gained on a journey from
flight attendant to cancer

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survivor and finally
entrepreneurial millionaire.

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Very interesting dude and
someone who I think you'll quite

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enjoy.
So here you go Paul Streitz.

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How are you buddy?
I'm good.

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How you doing, Marcel?
I'm doing all right.

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I feel like we just had a whole
conversation before the

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conversation.
We did.

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We had the warm up.
We did pregame.

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It was fun.
We got into all the things that

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we're not allowed to talk about
now that we're actually on air

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and recording so.
So I gotta keep the edit button.

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Good.
OK, I'll behave.

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Yeah, yeah.
No, I think it's more me And

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sometimes Sarah, Sarah gets
really upset when she hears us

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say bad things.
So you know, she's got the edit

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button, she's got the beep
button that.

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That the three second delay.
Yeah, fortunately we don't deal

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with any of that shit, so.
That's right.

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Yeah, the nice thing about
podcasting is, you know, I leave

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it up to the guest, Whatever the
guest is comfortable talking

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about or whatever language they
want to use or whatever stories

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they want to tell.
I typically take the approach of

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as long as nobody gets hurt
outside of the two of us, you

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know this little group, you know
everything's fair game and and

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you know I don't.
I don't like when people talk

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shit about other people like
will generally either avoid that

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or or edit it out later.
Try not to get too political,

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you know.
Make a note.

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Do not make a note.
Do not talk bad about Gordon,

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OK?
No, Gordon is an exception.

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I was gonna read you the
exceptions next.

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Gordon, or anyone I dislike, is
fair game completely.

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So Ferrari bar is still OK?
Yeah, there you go.

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Ferrari bar and the Elvis guard,
yeah.

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Yes, OK, that'll work.
You've met Elvis a few times at

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very late moments of the evening
in very suspect places, I guess.

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I think so, yeah.
It's always an adventure.

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Yeah, you know, Gord, Gord with
that card was hilarious.

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I mean, it was just, you know, I
don't even know where to start

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on that story because there's
been so many epic adventures

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with with Gordon and Elvis.
And yeah, I mean, what a fun

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dude.
Always the life of the party.

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Yeah.
So, you know, first of all,

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thanks for doing this.
I appreciate you coming.

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And I saw you last summer, which
was fun.

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I hadn't seen you in years.
And I just happened to be

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driving through Minnesota.
And I'm like, who the hell do I

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know in Minnesota?
And I knew two people, and I

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called one of them on the way to
Canada and then called you on

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the way back.
And so, yeah, that was fun.

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It's so weird that literally
though you were driving under a

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matter of fact, you can see the
road you're on from our office

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and our our warehouse.
That's correct.

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I mean you were literally, I
could, if I had a slingshot, I

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could have got your car.
I mean it's.

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Well, I appreciate it if you
didn't.

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I appreciate it if you didn't do
that.

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But it but it was kind of cool,
you know?

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Yeah, no, it was nice to see
you.

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I, you know, with Zoom and all
of this stuff, this virtual

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stuff, you forget how long it's
been.

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Like I was talking in the, the
little intro here about I was in

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LA last week and I'm landing in
LA and I'm thinking, I haven't

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been here in like 6 years, you
know, like, really.

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And I used to go to LA almost
weekly when I was with Martin.

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So, you know, it's it's just
weird.

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Like, I mean, I've got really
good friends that I'll be like,

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I haven't seen you in 10 years,
you know, and and it's like

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Wiseman, I had dinner with John
Wiseman a couple weeks ago and I

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was like, you know, I haven't
seen you in person in probably

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five years.
And we're really close friends,

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you know.
So it's weird.

225
00:13:45,520 --> 00:13:48,680
I think for sure I get carried
away on this virtual thing.

226
00:13:49,680 --> 00:13:53,200
Yeah, I I need to do more of it
and probably keep up with a lot

227
00:13:53,200 --> 00:13:56,800
of my old, let's say,
entertainment industry friends.

228
00:13:56,800 --> 00:13:59,960
And I've been meaning to go to
LDI and I just haven't done it.

229
00:13:59,960 --> 00:14:02,000
And you know, you get busy doing
what you're doing now.

230
00:14:02,280 --> 00:14:04,680
Yeah.
And you don't forget about what

231
00:14:04,680 --> 00:14:08,160
you used to do and you think
about all those moments but you

232
00:14:08,160 --> 00:14:10,440
just get caught up in what
you're currently doing and and

233
00:14:10,440 --> 00:14:15,080
unfortunately I think I've need
to take some take some time go

234
00:14:15,080 --> 00:14:17,800
to LDI, you know next year and
and and.

235
00:14:18,480 --> 00:14:19,840
Yeah, go.
Say hi to everybody.

236
00:14:19,840 --> 00:14:23,400
Like me, you're a small business
owner and at the end of the day

237
00:14:23,400 --> 00:14:26,200
you look at it and you go, it's
10 grand no matter how I slice

238
00:14:26,200 --> 00:14:28,400
it.
And you know, do I really need

239
00:14:28,400 --> 00:14:30,800
to spend 10 grand to go to
another trade show that I've

240
00:14:30,800 --> 00:14:33,200
been to 25 years in a row or
whatever?

241
00:14:33,720 --> 00:14:36,800
And so sometimes it's easy to
brush it off.

242
00:14:36,800 --> 00:14:39,840
But I'll tell you what, this
this past year, LDI, I didn't go

243
00:14:40,280 --> 00:14:43,480
and I was dying.
Like during the show, I'm

244
00:14:43,480 --> 00:14:46,280
watching everybody's posts and
stuff and I'm like, God damn it,

245
00:14:46,280 --> 00:14:48,560
I should have gone.
That was so I know.

246
00:14:48,600 --> 00:14:50,880
And I see them, you know, I'm
still friends with so many

247
00:14:50,880 --> 00:14:53,720
people and you see their posts.
And I'm like, I need to go.

248
00:14:53,720 --> 00:14:57,080
And then I try to, I try to tell
people that are around me what

249
00:14:57,080 --> 00:14:59,520
it's like.
And it's, it's it's crazy.

250
00:14:59,640 --> 00:15:02,520
Yeah, yeah, crazy.
It's a crazy industry we're

251
00:15:02,520 --> 00:15:03,400
getting.
Let's both go there.

252
00:15:03,440 --> 00:15:05,320
We're not out.
Let's both go.

253
00:15:05,320 --> 00:15:06,800
Yeah, we should.
We really should.

254
00:15:06,800 --> 00:15:09,880
Because, you know, I remember
back in the day, I mean, you

255
00:15:09,880 --> 00:15:13,680
know, literally I'd be rolling
in from going out in Vegas and

256
00:15:13,680 --> 00:15:17,840
it's 6:00 AM and I'm just
showering and and I going, OK, I

257
00:15:17,840 --> 00:15:22,400
hope that you know all the
partying stink is off me and

258
00:15:22,560 --> 00:15:25,160
showing up in my booth going, I
hope people show up and if they

259
00:15:25,160 --> 00:15:28,600
don't I'll go sleep.
Well, I'll tell you.

260
00:15:29,200 --> 00:15:31,880
So you were probably out with
him actually, but going back to

261
00:15:31,880 --> 00:15:38,360
Gord one time in Orlando I which
is weird because Vegas you'd

262
00:15:38,360 --> 00:15:40,560
understand, but Orlando not so
much.

263
00:15:40,560 --> 00:15:43,600
But Orlando, I go down for
breakfast because I've got a

264
00:15:43,600 --> 00:15:45,720
sales meeting at the booth that
I'm doing.

265
00:15:46,920 --> 00:15:49,920
And so it's like probably 7:30
in the morning or something.

266
00:15:49,920 --> 00:15:53,080
Little early to be going to the
LDI show, but I'm, I'm down in

267
00:15:53,080 --> 00:15:58,360
the hotel breakfast restaurant
and I walk in to get breakfast

268
00:15:58,360 --> 00:16:00,560
with, I don't know, one of my
employees or something.

269
00:16:00,920 --> 00:16:05,640
And Gord is sitting there eating
steak and eggs and and I'm like,

270
00:16:05,640 --> 00:16:07,200
what the hell are you doing up
already?

271
00:16:07,200 --> 00:16:09,480
And he's like.
Oh, I'm just getting inmate.

272
00:16:10,080 --> 00:16:14,080
You know, eating steak and eggs
at like 7:30 in the morning.

273
00:16:14,960 --> 00:16:17,320
And what's even worse is his
body time.

274
00:16:17,720 --> 00:16:20,800
He's had a really long day
because his body time is like 6

275
00:16:20,800 --> 00:16:21,960
hours ahead.
So.

276
00:16:22,120 --> 00:16:24,360
It's like new for him,
Knucklehead.

277
00:16:25,560 --> 00:16:28,000
Oh, he's a lot of fun.
He's he's going to hear this and

278
00:16:28,000 --> 00:16:28,960
laugh.
That's great.

279
00:16:29,400 --> 00:16:30,960
No, I love it.
I I love the guy.

280
00:16:30,960 --> 00:16:35,680
I mean, he's he's such a a funny
guy and a a wonderful guy and he

281
00:16:35,680 --> 00:16:37,920
hugs better.
Like people who hug like that,

282
00:16:37,920 --> 00:16:39,960
you always know they're real
genuine people.

283
00:16:39,960 --> 00:16:42,520
You know, people who hug and
then kind of lean their face

284
00:16:42,520 --> 00:16:46,000
into yours, you know, it's like,
OK, that guy's a lovely guy,

285
00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:47,880
right?
And he's one of them.

286
00:16:48,400 --> 00:16:53,320
He's one of those guys.
So, yeah, you know, But I I

287
00:16:53,320 --> 00:16:55,000
agree with you on the whole LDI
thing.

288
00:16:55,000 --> 00:17:00,320
I have to, I have to do the same
thing and and just make sure,

289
00:17:00,800 --> 00:17:04,560
you know, at our age, like you
said, like none of us is gonna

290
00:17:04,560 --> 00:17:08,119
live forever.
And our friends, in my case, I

291
00:17:08,119 --> 00:17:11,520
know most, not most.
I will say a lot of my friends

292
00:17:11,520 --> 00:17:16,079
in the industry probably haven't
paid well enough attention to

293
00:17:16,079 --> 00:17:19,480
their health.
And, you know, I keep seeing

294
00:17:19,480 --> 00:17:23,240
people on Facebook and stuff.
Did you hear So and so is gone.

295
00:17:23,240 --> 00:17:25,960
And I'm like, no way.
I know.

296
00:17:26,040 --> 00:17:27,680
No.
Way not him.

297
00:17:28,319 --> 00:17:31,120
And so, yeah, you gotta, you
gotta see those people that

298
00:17:31,120 --> 00:17:33,320
matter that you know, as often
as possible.

299
00:17:33,320 --> 00:17:35,920
Yeah, yeah.
You know on the other side of

300
00:17:35,920 --> 00:17:39,000
this too is one of the reasons
why I don't think I go to LD is

301
00:17:39,320 --> 00:17:42,880
you know I think you could Take
Me Out of the entertainment

302
00:17:42,880 --> 00:17:45,760
business but you you know you
can't or what's the old adage

303
00:17:45,760 --> 00:17:48,240
you can't.
I I'm still there and and I'm

304
00:17:48,240 --> 00:17:51,160
going to go there and get ideas
for fixtures and you know me I'm

305
00:17:51,160 --> 00:17:54,040
a manufacturer at heart.
I'm going to start, I I think I

306
00:17:54,040 --> 00:17:57,400
could do this and now I get way
off track of what I'm doing now

307
00:17:57,400 --> 00:18:00,200
and it'll just, you know, but
I'm going to go, we'll go, We're

308
00:18:00,200 --> 00:18:02,320
going to have to make it a an
effort to go.

309
00:18:02,600 --> 00:18:04,400
Oh yeah, yeah.
Well, I look forward to it.

310
00:18:04,640 --> 00:18:07,760
And you know, I'm not driving up
to Canada this year because I

311
00:18:07,760 --> 00:18:11,160
learned my lesson last year.
But, you know, maybe, maybe

312
00:18:11,160 --> 00:18:13,440
we'll try and figure out how to
get together over the summer

313
00:18:13,440 --> 00:18:16,000
because I'll be, I'll be at my
house in Canada and you're not

314
00:18:16,000 --> 00:18:18,840
that far away.
So, you know, maybe maybe we'll

315
00:18:18,840 --> 00:18:21,840
figure out a fishing trip or
something.

316
00:18:22,680 --> 00:18:24,960
That would be awesome.
It's really good fishing here by

317
00:18:24,960 --> 00:18:28,000
the ways.
And yeah, well, I should.

318
00:18:28,040 --> 00:18:29,800
I shouldn't say that you're
Canada.

319
00:18:29,840 --> 00:18:32,680
The fishing's great there, but
we could fishing here as well.

320
00:18:33,280 --> 00:18:35,960
I'll still, you know, I know I I
made it to Fort Myers for a

321
00:18:35,960 --> 00:18:37,520
little while, but it was a quick
trip.

322
00:18:37,760 --> 00:18:40,440
Yeah.
I'm I I'm gonna be there more

323
00:18:40,520 --> 00:18:42,760
often next year.
Yeah.

324
00:18:43,080 --> 00:18:44,440
Yeah.
Cuz I'm looking for a winter

325
00:18:44,440 --> 00:18:45,160
place there.
Yeah.

326
00:18:45,320 --> 00:18:47,600
You know, I can still run my
business and be down there

327
00:18:47,760 --> 00:18:50,080
during the cold months, so.
You gotta hurry up, we'll.

328
00:18:50,080 --> 00:18:52,200
Have plenty of time.
Before the price is double

329
00:18:52,200 --> 00:18:55,120
again.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.

330
00:18:55,160 --> 00:18:57,600
It's.
Crazy what these, you know,

331
00:18:57,600 --> 00:19:00,320
especially New Yorkers that are
coming in with just pockets full

332
00:19:00,320 --> 00:19:01,880
of cash and buying everything
up.

333
00:19:01,880 --> 00:19:05,160
It's it's wild what's happening
to the pricing nuts.

334
00:19:05,160 --> 00:19:07,480
It's crazy.
If you go to the small towns and

335
00:19:07,480 --> 00:19:09,080
stuff, though, generally you're
OK.

336
00:19:09,080 --> 00:19:11,720
I don't know what Fort Myers is
like, but certainly this goes

337
00:19:11,720 --> 00:19:15,400
like I'm in Palm Beach and the
prices are, you know, more than

338
00:19:15,400 --> 00:19:17,760
double what they were just a
couple of years ago.

339
00:19:17,760 --> 00:19:20,600
You know, it's it's crazy,
crazy, crazy, so.

340
00:19:20,600 --> 00:19:23,240
Fort Myers still isn't too bad.
Yeah.

341
00:19:24,200 --> 00:19:27,440
You know I like to I like to
jump into the Wayback machine

342
00:19:27,440 --> 00:19:29,800
and figure out how people got
going.

343
00:19:29,800 --> 00:19:32,280
And and you know I I was
thinking about it before getting

344
00:19:32,280 --> 00:19:36,120
on this podcast and you know
from my viewpoint your life

345
00:19:36,120 --> 00:19:39,400
started probably about midway
through advanced lighting.

346
00:19:39,400 --> 00:19:44,960
Like I met you, you were at
Advanced and and I think you

347
00:19:44,960 --> 00:19:48,200
were just getting into the fiber
optic thing, which is a whole

348
00:19:48,200 --> 00:19:50,160
story that I want to get into as
well.

349
00:19:50,160 --> 00:19:55,520
But what led you?
Usually it's something really

350
00:19:55,520 --> 00:20:01,520
bad happened in life or somebody
was a musician and couldn't make

351
00:20:01,520 --> 00:20:04,720
it as a musician, or they were a
DJ and couldn't make it as a DJ

352
00:20:04,720 --> 00:20:06,200
and they end up in the lighting
business.

353
00:20:06,280 --> 00:20:14,040
So how did that go for you?
Well I actually was a flight

354
00:20:14,040 --> 00:20:16,560
attendant wanted to be an
entrepreneur.

355
00:20:16,560 --> 00:20:20,040
But my my, you know, my
background with my my father was

356
00:20:20,120 --> 00:20:24,800
a labor union organizer, auto
mechanic at 1st and you know, it

357
00:20:24,800 --> 00:20:27,400
was like union this union that
and I wanted to see the world

358
00:20:27,400 --> 00:20:29,800
and travel.
I wasn't super academic so

359
00:20:29,800 --> 00:20:33,280
college wasn't my thing.
I went into the military, got

360
00:20:33,280 --> 00:20:36,160
out, and I became, I thought,
you know, what?

361
00:20:36,160 --> 00:20:37,760
Can I?
Actually, I was selling cars for

362
00:20:37,760 --> 00:20:41,400
an uncle of mine.
And this super hot chick walks

363
00:20:41,400 --> 00:20:45,120
in with her husband who didn't
look like he could have that

364
00:20:45,120 --> 00:20:47,560
girl.
And she goes to the bathroom.

365
00:20:47,560 --> 00:20:49,680
I go, dude, how did you score
this girl?

366
00:20:50,040 --> 00:20:53,200
And he says, oh, I work at.
I'm the parking manager.

367
00:20:53,680 --> 00:20:57,560
I'm the parking manager at the
airport at MSP, Minneapolis,

368
00:20:57,560 --> 00:21:00,280
Saint Paul.
And she's a flight attendant.

369
00:21:00,280 --> 00:21:02,520
So I see her all the time.
And I ask her out and I go, wow.

370
00:21:02,520 --> 00:21:03,760
And now you're married and
everything.

371
00:21:03,760 --> 00:21:05,960
Yeah.
So he tells her this when she

372
00:21:05,960 --> 00:21:08,400
comes back.
And she says, well, what do you

373
00:21:08,400 --> 00:21:09,680
want to do?
I said, I don't know.

374
00:21:09,680 --> 00:21:11,760
I want to be an entrepreneur,
but I want to see the world.

375
00:21:12,120 --> 00:21:14,120
She goes and I want to meet good
looking girls like you.

376
00:21:14,240 --> 00:21:16,640
And she goes, well, why don't
you become a flight attendant?

377
00:21:16,640 --> 00:21:18,000
I said, well, I don't, I don't
know.

378
00:21:18,360 --> 00:21:20,760
She goes to tell you what, I'm
not going to buy the car unless

379
00:21:20,760 --> 00:21:23,640
you fill out this application
when they come or you know, when

380
00:21:23,640 --> 00:21:25,360
they come back in.
I won't close on it.

381
00:21:25,360 --> 00:21:28,640
She brought an application in.
I filled it out and three weeks

382
00:21:28,640 --> 00:21:31,800
later I was in Dallas, TX
training at American Airlines.

383
00:21:32,080 --> 00:21:37,040
And yeah, it was crazy and I
just totally knew that was the

384
00:21:37,040 --> 00:21:41,880
right move for me.
I, you know, stepped out if you

385
00:21:41,880 --> 00:21:46,160
will, from home and warmer
weather and all sorts of cool

386
00:21:46,160 --> 00:21:47,920
stuff.
And you know, it's a big city

387
00:21:47,920 --> 00:21:51,000
and amongst a very large airline
with a lot of flight attendants

388
00:21:51,000 --> 00:21:54,840
was good, probably a pretty.
Good way to meet girls too, I'm

389
00:21:54,840 --> 00:21:57,600
guessing.
Oh man, it was crazy.

390
00:21:58,760 --> 00:22:02,120
American Airlines has a a whole
campus.

391
00:22:02,120 --> 00:22:06,400
It's massive swimming pool,
nightclub and bar, game room,

392
00:22:06,880 --> 00:22:09,680
and they're all dorms and and
that's where they train.

393
00:22:09,680 --> 00:22:14,880
So literally I could go to
class, drink and go to the pool

394
00:22:15,520 --> 00:22:18,240
and like, no time.
It was just you're staying in

395
00:22:18,240 --> 00:22:19,880
dorms right there in their
campus.

396
00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:25,320
We called it the charm farm and
and it was great.

397
00:22:25,960 --> 00:22:28,680
I was like, wow, this is crazy.
You know?

398
00:22:28,680 --> 00:22:31,520
Why aren't more guys doing this
that are straight, you know?

399
00:22:31,520 --> 00:22:34,120
And and I got it and it was
fine.

400
00:22:34,120 --> 00:22:41,360
So yeah, I went through that and
was probably 6 months into my

401
00:22:41,360 --> 00:22:44,280
flying.
I'm in Reno, NV and I'm on a

402
00:22:44,280 --> 00:22:49,040
layover and I'm at the, oh man,
I think the El Dorado Hotel

403
00:22:49,040 --> 00:22:52,640
Casino and then look and they're
doing this cool thing in like

404
00:22:52,640 --> 00:22:56,520
the ceiling in a restaurant that
was closed down, like they were

405
00:22:56,520 --> 00:22:58,680
remodeling or something.
And they were like doing

406
00:22:58,680 --> 00:23:00,560
shooting stars and all these
little things.

407
00:23:00,560 --> 00:23:04,760
So I went underneath the do not
enter tape and tugged on the

408
00:23:04,760 --> 00:23:06,720
guy's shorts and go, hey man,
what are you doing?

409
00:23:07,160 --> 00:23:09,480
He goes, oh, it's startled them.
And he goes, this is my father's

410
00:23:09,640 --> 00:23:13,000
company and we're just a small
little lighting company here in

411
00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:17,240
Reno.
And we this is a side hustle.

412
00:23:17,240 --> 00:23:19,080
And he didn't use the word side
hustle then.

413
00:23:19,080 --> 00:23:23,560
But, you know it's a side gig
for us and we create these stars

414
00:23:23,560 --> 00:23:25,960
and we do these little things
out of the fiber optics and go,

415
00:23:25,960 --> 00:23:27,920
well, hey, I'm a flight
attendant.

416
00:23:27,920 --> 00:23:30,960
Can I have a job?
I'll I could do this in Dallas

417
00:23:30,960 --> 00:23:33,760
or wherever I fly to and he says
he's going to call my dad.

418
00:23:33,840 --> 00:23:35,120
So I did.
I didn't.

419
00:23:35,400 --> 00:23:39,680
I ended up working for him for
free for just a Commission.

420
00:23:40,160 --> 00:23:42,400
But I didn't know at all what I
was doing.

421
00:23:42,480 --> 00:23:45,320
I mean I was like so green.
So I said I'm going to take a

422
00:23:45,320 --> 00:23:47,600
couple months off and fly and
you can do that.

423
00:23:47,600 --> 00:23:51,680
And I went up in Reno stayed
with them and I learned how they

424
00:23:51,680 --> 00:23:54,840
were doing what they were doing.
And so then I took that back and

425
00:23:54,840 --> 00:23:59,320
I knocked on, you know, like the
little open sciences, open and

426
00:23:59,320 --> 00:24:02,440
fiber optic who changes color
and video stores.

427
00:24:02,440 --> 00:24:06,040
And you know, at any point and I
had six months later, I got no

428
00:24:06,040 --> 00:24:08,200
sales.
I was like, oh man, and maybe

429
00:24:08,200 --> 00:24:11,440
this isn't for me and maybe I'm
not good at this and you know,

430
00:24:11,440 --> 00:24:15,760
I'm a failure.
And then all of a sudden I had

431
00:24:15,760 --> 00:24:18,800
this flight and this guy was in
first class.

432
00:24:18,800 --> 00:24:22,080
It was often for me when I met
people in first class, I'd say

433
00:24:22,080 --> 00:24:24,800
stuff like why are you sitting
here and not in coach?

434
00:24:26,120 --> 00:24:27,280
And they look kind of weird at
you.

435
00:24:27,360 --> 00:24:30,080
So well, 'cause I paid for it or
I got upgraded and I go, no, no,

436
00:24:30,080 --> 00:24:32,200
no, why are you here instead of
coach?

437
00:24:32,440 --> 00:24:34,000
Like, what did you do right in
your life?

438
00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:35,880
What are you doing that puts you
here?

439
00:24:36,480 --> 00:24:39,640
And everybody likes to tell
their story and I get all these

440
00:24:39,640 --> 00:24:41,320
stories when I did that to one
guy.

441
00:24:41,760 --> 00:24:48,520
I think his name was Farshid.
Farshad is a cool guy engineer

442
00:24:48,800 --> 00:24:53,040
and he worked for Showbiz Chuck
E Cheese Pizza and he says I'm

443
00:24:53,040 --> 00:24:54,600
the show engineer.
If you show me this Chuck E

444
00:24:54,600 --> 00:24:56,320
Cheese pizza, I go what's that?
You know?

445
00:24:56,320 --> 00:24:59,200
And he goes, well, all the
animatronics and all that.

446
00:24:59,200 --> 00:25:00,880
I'm in charge of that.
I design it.

447
00:25:01,320 --> 00:25:04,520
We engineer it.
I said hey, what if I was to put

448
00:25:04,520 --> 00:25:06,360
and he showed me pictures.
I said what if I was to put

449
00:25:06,360 --> 00:25:11,560
stars behind your characters?
Well, that'd be really cool.

450
00:25:11,560 --> 00:25:12,920
I said, well, I think I could do
that.

451
00:25:12,920 --> 00:25:14,200
Well, what do you mean?
You're a flight attendant?

452
00:25:14,200 --> 00:25:18,720
I told him that my side gig and
how I I could not find any

453
00:25:18,720 --> 00:25:21,480
business.
Like I knocked out everybody's

454
00:25:21,480 --> 00:25:22,960
door and he goes, well you're
doing it wrong.

455
00:25:23,200 --> 00:25:25,800
He says they've already spent
their money in the stores open.

456
00:25:26,240 --> 00:25:28,320
They need to make money now.
You got to get people in the

457
00:25:28,320 --> 00:25:31,080
planning process when they have
a budget to spend.

458
00:25:31,080 --> 00:25:33,280
I went, oh OK And he goes now
us.

459
00:25:33,280 --> 00:25:38,120
We're always updating our stage
and our effects so why don't you

460
00:25:38,120 --> 00:25:40,000
come by.
So I came by and I even made I

461
00:25:40,000 --> 00:25:42,760
flew up to Reno.
I made a little sample fiber

462
00:25:42,760 --> 00:25:46,240
optic curtain and I'll never
forget this.

463
00:25:46,240 --> 00:25:49,040
I show up there and I have this
little rinky, dinky light source

464
00:25:49,040 --> 00:25:52,840
with the wheel on it and hung it
up in his office and he goes,

465
00:25:53,280 --> 00:25:56,880
this is great.
He says we have 1100 stores and

466
00:25:56,880 --> 00:26:01,200
I can see this in every store.
I said great and and and and he

467
00:26:01,200 --> 00:26:04,440
goes, but there's one thing,
your light source looks a little

468
00:26:04,440 --> 00:26:08,040
rinky dinky and I and it's fine
'cause it's off stage and

469
00:26:08,040 --> 00:26:09,880
everything.
But I need to know whether or

470
00:26:09,880 --> 00:26:12,240
not this thing will survive.
If in six months it's still

471
00:26:12,240 --> 00:26:16,800
working, we'll do, we'll we'll
do a roll out of like 200 stores

472
00:26:16,800 --> 00:26:20,080
at a time.
And I went, OK, so that happens

473
00:26:20,080 --> 00:26:25,440
in about 3 months, maybe four
months into me waiting and not

474
00:26:25,440 --> 00:26:28,240
having any success anywhere else
except for being a flight

475
00:26:28,240 --> 00:26:32,560
attendant.
I end up feeling a, a lump on my

476
00:26:33,040 --> 00:26:36,160
testicle.
And I went, oh shit, this is

477
00:26:36,160 --> 00:26:39,240
something weird, you know?
And and you know, I told my

478
00:26:39,240 --> 00:26:42,760
girlfriend, I said I'm going to
go fly home and see my urologist

479
00:26:42,760 --> 00:26:45,360
about this.
I went and saw my urologist and

480
00:26:47,120 --> 00:26:50,200
he's like an old guy, old
family, you know next to

481
00:26:50,200 --> 00:26:52,520
retirement you just got an
infection, no big deal.

482
00:26:53,480 --> 00:26:59,000
OK, gave me antibiotics.
OK, So then I flying again and

483
00:26:59,400 --> 00:27:02,640
about another month later I fly
with this guy and I credited him

484
00:27:02,640 --> 00:27:05,760
in my book.
I wrote a book later and and and

485
00:27:06,640 --> 00:27:09,600
his name was Joey English and he
had testicular cancer.

486
00:27:10,040 --> 00:27:13,680
And I said how did you find out?
And he said, well, I went in,

487
00:27:13,680 --> 00:27:15,840
they gave me an ultrasound and
the results were there.

488
00:27:15,840 --> 00:27:18,800
I said, well, I'm going, Why did
my doctor give me an ultrasound?

489
00:27:18,800 --> 00:27:21,800
You know, I'm thinking, so the
lump was still there.

490
00:27:21,800 --> 00:27:25,080
So I called back and I go in and
that doctor didn't retired.

491
00:27:25,320 --> 00:27:27,040
I must have been his last
patient.

492
00:27:27,480 --> 00:27:30,360
And so one of his associates
took over.

493
00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:35,040
I his name was doctor Abraham
Kern and super nice guy.

494
00:27:35,440 --> 00:27:37,560
And right away I didn't even see
him.

495
00:27:37,560 --> 00:27:40,400
He says, I read your file.
I'm going to have you go across

496
00:27:40,400 --> 00:27:43,760
the street to the hospital and
have an ultrasound, which is

497
00:27:43,760 --> 00:27:47,480
Metropolitan Medical Center, big
hospital downtown Minneapolis.

498
00:27:47,520 --> 00:27:52,280
And so I said, OK, so I go there
and some young guy that's, you

499
00:27:52,280 --> 00:27:55,280
know, 21 years old, just out of
ultrasound.

500
00:27:55,280 --> 00:27:59,240
School is like, OK And you know,
I'm like, this is kind of

501
00:27:59,240 --> 00:28:01,760
awkward because he's
ultrasounding, obviously that

502
00:28:01,760 --> 00:28:04,120
that area.
And then I'll send some guy,

503
00:28:04,120 --> 00:28:08,440
maybe about 30, comes in with a
few initials on his, you know,

504
00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:11,600
apron and it looks like it says
empty.

505
00:28:11,600 --> 00:28:15,200
And then after that an, a really
older guy comes in with a lot of

506
00:28:15,200 --> 00:28:19,480
initials and and I'm like, this
can't be good.

507
00:28:19,480 --> 00:28:21,120
And the guys, Oh no, it's all
bad.

508
00:28:21,120 --> 00:28:24,600
You know, just we like to double
check our work and you know, and

509
00:28:24,600 --> 00:28:26,040
I go, OK, great, well, I got to
go.

510
00:28:26,040 --> 00:28:27,520
I got a flight to catch at like
2.

511
00:28:28,640 --> 00:28:35,400
And he goes, so this older guy
says to me, you have a across

512
00:28:35,400 --> 00:28:36,640
the street is your doctor's
office.

513
00:28:36,640 --> 00:28:38,600
You can go right under the
tunnel of the road.

514
00:28:38,920 --> 00:28:42,240
I just bring them these, these,
this film, and then you can be

515
00:28:42,240 --> 00:28:43,040
on your way.
No big deal.

516
00:28:43,040 --> 00:28:45,080
It just makes it easier.
When I have to have somebody run

517
00:28:45,080 --> 00:28:48,920
it over, I go, OK, so I go into
the doctor's office and instead

518
00:28:48,920 --> 00:28:51,160
of I open a door and there's a
waiting room.

519
00:28:51,760 --> 00:28:54,600
And the nurse like, it's like
they had cameras that saw me

520
00:28:54,600 --> 00:28:57,640
coming.
She takes me, I'm opening the

521
00:28:57,640 --> 00:28:59,040
door.
She's standing right there she

522
00:28:59,040 --> 00:29:01,200
goes.
She puts me in some posh office

523
00:29:01,440 --> 00:29:03,880
with all the doctor's degrees
and all that, I go, oh, this

524
00:29:03,880 --> 00:29:07,400
isn't good.
The doctor comes back in and

525
00:29:07,400 --> 00:29:12,240
says your we got you scheduled
for surgery at 7:00 AM in the

526
00:29:12,240 --> 00:29:13,720
morning.
I says, what do you mean 7 AMI

527
00:29:13,720 --> 00:29:15,240
got a flight.
I'm going on a trip.

528
00:29:15,840 --> 00:29:20,040
No, you got a tumor and it's you
know, 90% or something like that

529
00:29:20,040 --> 00:29:23,840
is mostly likely cancer.
And I'm now you know you don't

530
00:29:23,840 --> 00:29:27,840
think you think I'm really white
now from the winter and I was

531
00:29:27,840 --> 00:29:31,200
really white and and he says,
hey these are really curable and

532
00:29:31,560 --> 00:29:34,640
and let's not don't get excited.
And I'm all by myself and I'm

533
00:29:34,640 --> 00:29:37,640
like, what the hell?
So I'm like, OK I got to make

534
00:29:37,640 --> 00:29:39,960
calls.
So I called my my girlfriend and

535
00:29:39,960 --> 00:29:43,080
said I'm not coming.
Call the American Airlines.

536
00:29:43,080 --> 00:29:46,160
Let him know what's going on.
She books a flight to come up

537
00:29:46,160 --> 00:29:50,440
and then my call my dad.
And my dad lived in Wisconsin on

538
00:29:50,440 --> 00:29:54,720
the lake at the time, but he
worked in Minneapolis.

539
00:29:54,720 --> 00:29:58,160
It's right on the border and he
happened to be really close.

540
00:29:58,160 --> 00:30:01,760
And so he he came and got me
'cause I was taking taxis.

541
00:30:01,760 --> 00:30:05,400
And it was actually one of the
most beautiful moments I have

542
00:30:05,400 --> 00:30:07,720
ever had with my father.
And get into that later.

543
00:30:07,720 --> 00:30:13,360
But so Long story short, I ended
up having cancer going through

544
00:30:13,360 --> 00:30:15,960
treatment.
And when I was done with my

545
00:30:15,960 --> 00:30:20,640
treatment, I got home and I
couldn't fly quite yet, excuse

546
00:30:20,640 --> 00:30:25,200
me.
And it it was my I had a fax

547
00:30:25,200 --> 00:30:27,720
machine because that's what we
used back then.

548
00:30:28,040 --> 00:30:30,320
And it went off and it never
went off because I never got

549
00:30:30,320 --> 00:30:33,080
orders from, you know, my fiber
optic thing.

550
00:30:33,760 --> 00:30:38,040
And here come like a $350,000
order And the end of it, it said

551
00:30:38,040 --> 00:30:39,240
it's been six months.
What?

552
00:30:40,840 --> 00:30:45,560
So I'm like, wow, I just got
done with cancer and it's been

553
00:30:45,560 --> 00:30:49,000
six months and I got the 1st 200
stores order or whatever.

554
00:30:49,400 --> 00:30:52,760
And what this is great because I
made I cut a deal where I made a

555
00:30:52,760 --> 00:30:57,760
15% Commission and I'm like I
make wow this is great.

556
00:30:58,200 --> 00:31:02,240
So now I now how can I, you know
not go back to work for a little

557
00:31:02,240 --> 00:31:06,520
while so I can enjoy this this
and get things going.

558
00:31:06,840 --> 00:31:10,880
So I fly to Reno and I and I,
you know we, I say we got to

559
00:31:10,880 --> 00:31:14,040
roll this out man.
You know, and we did and we got

560
00:31:14,040 --> 00:31:18,440
really good at it and we started
completing orders.

561
00:31:18,720 --> 00:31:21,960
Hang on a second though.
So going back to the cancer

562
00:31:21,960 --> 00:31:25,920
thing, so like, it was that easy
to get it gone.

563
00:31:27,440 --> 00:31:31,080
No, I mean I had they they they
what they call an orchiectomy

564
00:31:31,280 --> 00:31:34,560
and they removed to test.
Yeah.

565
00:31:34,960 --> 00:31:39,800
Yeah it was they removed it and
and then I had radiation

566
00:31:39,800 --> 00:31:46,320
treatment all throughout my body
for 30 days and it was

567
00:31:46,320 --> 00:31:48,880
emotional.
I mean it's it's nothing that

568
00:31:49,160 --> 00:31:51,760
especially as a young person,
you know it's like this is

569
00:31:51,760 --> 00:31:55,600
crazy.
You know, I'm 2027, I think at

570
00:31:55,600 --> 00:31:57,720
the time.
And it was crazy.

571
00:31:57,920 --> 00:31:59,440
Yeah, I mean, there's a moment.
Pause.

572
00:31:59,440 --> 00:32:02,360
Or is it just you're you're on
the dart board and it was your

573
00:32:02,360 --> 00:32:05,880
turn?
There's some thoughts back in

574
00:32:05,880 --> 00:32:10,480
the I was born in 63, so back in
those days there was I was my

575
00:32:10,480 --> 00:32:17,080
mother's third child is she had
had and they had developed I

576
00:32:17,080 --> 00:32:20,240
think a drug that helped with
morning sickness and they saying

577
00:32:20,240 --> 00:32:23,440
that could be the cause but also
undescended testicles.

578
00:32:23,440 --> 00:32:26,880
So a lot of times when boys are
born, their testicles are not

579
00:32:26,880 --> 00:32:30,240
descended, so they forced them
down and they found that that

580
00:32:30,240 --> 00:32:32,880
can cause problems, but I don't
think they really know.

581
00:32:33,200 --> 00:32:36,760
Yeah, like most things.
I mean, it's it's it's crazy

582
00:32:36,760 --> 00:32:42,680
that it's 2024 and there's still
so many of those mysteries, you

583
00:32:42,680 --> 00:32:45,840
know, medical mysteries, yeah.
Yeah, it's incredible.

584
00:32:46,760 --> 00:32:48,800
It was a life changing thing for
me.

585
00:32:48,800 --> 00:32:49,520
No.
Kidding.

586
00:32:50,200 --> 00:32:53,640
I I made a little bit of money
with this Commission and I knew

587
00:32:53,640 --> 00:32:57,360
that, OK, I know my approach.
I got to go to the, you know,

588
00:32:57,680 --> 00:33:00,760
planning stages and not
something that's already done.

589
00:33:01,360 --> 00:33:06,080
I became more involved with the
company I was working for and

590
00:33:06,080 --> 00:33:11,520
then Euro Disney started to
happen and the owner of the

591
00:33:11,520 --> 00:33:16,600
company, super nice guy but and
really had dreams and visions.

592
00:33:16,600 --> 00:33:20,960
But he didn't have solutions.
And I guess I was so stupid.

593
00:33:20,960 --> 00:33:22,600
I didn't know that there wasn't
a solution.

594
00:33:22,600 --> 00:33:28,320
I just you know ho hum and he
said well the the way the French

595
00:33:28,320 --> 00:33:32,280
government said you can't work
on Euro Disney unless you're a

596
00:33:32,280 --> 00:33:37,080
French company and I go well we
had did some stuff with Disney

597
00:33:37,080 --> 00:33:42,440
USA in between all this I didn't
mention but and I go they don't

598
00:33:42,440 --> 00:33:46,080
have all the technology yet.
I mean what special effects or

599
00:33:46,080 --> 00:33:49,560
Disney is a big deal.
I said that can't be true.

600
00:33:50,160 --> 00:33:51,800
No it is.
Read it here I said no.

601
00:33:51,800 --> 00:33:55,720
OK, it says in affiliation or
partnership too.

602
00:33:56,040 --> 00:33:58,560
I said I'll fly out to France, I
could fly for free.

603
00:33:58,840 --> 00:34:02,040
I'll fly out to France and I'll
just go find a partner And he

604
00:34:02,040 --> 00:34:03,360
laughed.
He says there's no way.

605
00:34:03,520 --> 00:34:07,160
So I went out there on my own
dime and I found some fresh

606
00:34:07,160 --> 00:34:10,840
speaking flight attendant friend
of mine that on that was over

607
00:34:10,840 --> 00:34:14,080
there.
And so I I said find me lighting

608
00:34:14,080 --> 00:34:17,239
companies and we called a few
and they were like whatever,

609
00:34:17,239 --> 00:34:22,480
screw off and found this one
that was very old, been around

610
00:34:22,480 --> 00:34:25,760
for years, very posh.
They were extremely rich.

611
00:34:26,320 --> 00:34:30,679
They had almost a whole block
right off the chance Elysee with

612
00:34:30,719 --> 00:34:35,440
like a staff of 13 servants and
somehow I got lucky.

613
00:34:35,440 --> 00:34:38,760
We met the main guy, he had a
kid that was a little bit

614
00:34:38,760 --> 00:34:44,000
younger than me but similar age
and he wanted him to venture off

615
00:34:44,000 --> 00:34:46,080
into a little project and learn
business.

616
00:34:46,719 --> 00:34:49,159
We signed a partnership and we
did a shit load of work with

617
00:34:49,159 --> 00:34:53,000
your old Disney and it was great
and I made a lot of money.

618
00:34:53,120 --> 00:34:55,239
And so then, finally, the
people.

619
00:34:55,239 --> 00:34:57,320
Hang on a SEC.
How, how did that partnership

620
00:34:57,320 --> 00:34:58,680
work?
Was it just like some kind of a

621
00:34:58,680 --> 00:35:01,640
profit share or something?
Like you guys do this part of

622
00:35:01,640 --> 00:35:04,200
the work we'll do this part of
the work, we'll split it.

623
00:35:04,200 --> 00:35:08,520
Here we we brought in this.
The guy that I tugged on the

624
00:35:08,520 --> 00:35:11,720
pants was the son of the owner
of the company.

625
00:35:11,960 --> 00:35:17,200
So he lived in in they got an
apartment, lived in La de Fonts

626
00:35:17,200 --> 00:35:20,360
which is a way a little ways
away from Chantilly say if you

627
00:35:20,360 --> 00:35:21,880
keep going more financial
district.

628
00:35:22,440 --> 00:35:25,840
And so we had like a company
apartment there and he moved

629
00:35:25,840 --> 00:35:30,360
there for like 6 months and he
taught the French people how to

630
00:35:30,360 --> 00:35:33,840
do what we what we needed to do
and we split the profit.

631
00:35:34,680 --> 00:35:35,640
Cool.
It was great.

632
00:35:36,000 --> 00:35:38,120
It was great.
It was about a year and a half

633
00:35:38,120 --> 00:35:40,960
long project and we made money
and and.

634
00:35:41,440 --> 00:35:44,200
I love that entrepreneurial.
I love the entrepreneurial

635
00:35:44,200 --> 00:35:46,280
approach though.
Like keep telling me how I can't

636
00:35:46,280 --> 00:35:49,960
do it, you know, and and let me
go find a simple way to get this

637
00:35:49,960 --> 00:35:52,760
done, you know?
And The funny thing is, Marcel,

638
00:35:52,760 --> 00:35:54,400
I don't even think I thought
that deep.

639
00:35:54,400 --> 00:35:56,520
I just didn't know that.
Well, what do you mean?

640
00:35:56,520 --> 00:35:59,560
This is hard, you know?
Now I look at something I want

641
00:35:59,560 --> 00:36:01,680
to do and I I think of every
reason why I wouldn't work.

642
00:36:01,680 --> 00:36:04,800
And, you know, I have too much
experience, good and bad.

643
00:36:04,800 --> 00:36:07,880
Well, back then I was just like
well what do you mean it?

644
00:36:07,920 --> 00:36:09,600
You can't do this, why can't
you?

645
00:36:09,640 --> 00:36:11,960
And so I think that really
helped me there.

646
00:36:11,960 --> 00:36:15,640
And you know, so we did that
project and then I was working

647
00:36:15,640 --> 00:36:20,800
on AI think it was called
Spectro Magic Parade for Disney

648
00:36:20,800 --> 00:36:23,800
in Orlando, which is a night
time parade.

649
00:36:23,800 --> 00:36:28,520
And we're going to do a bunch of
floats and and the owners of

650
00:36:28,520 --> 00:36:32,080
this company said, you know,
you're, I mean they did like

651
00:36:32,080 --> 00:36:35,040
100,110 thousand before they saw
me.

652
00:36:35,560 --> 00:36:38,520
And after the six months of that
I went through trying to figure

653
00:36:38,520 --> 00:36:39,600
out how I'm going to sell this
stuff.

654
00:36:39,880 --> 00:36:43,520
Also we're doing you know, a
million million for $2,000,000.

655
00:36:43,960 --> 00:36:46,000
So they said well you should be
part owner of the company and I

656
00:36:46,000 --> 00:36:48,720
thought wow, this is great.
I'm going to own a company

657
00:36:48,720 --> 00:36:51,800
that's doing something.
And so they gave me a small

658
00:36:51,800 --> 00:36:54,080
percentage, I think it was like
15%.

659
00:36:54,760 --> 00:36:58,720
And now we're starting to do
trade shows and and try to get

660
00:36:58,720 --> 00:37:01,880
ourselves out there.
I think we did the IPPA, which

661
00:37:01,880 --> 00:37:05,920
is the IPPA.
IPPA, yeah, in Orlando and

662
00:37:06,000 --> 00:37:09,880
that's always around LDI, Never
thought about LDI, but I'd see

663
00:37:09,880 --> 00:37:12,560
it going on because it was
around the same time frame back

664
00:37:12,560 --> 00:37:15,400
then.
And and So what happened was I

665
00:37:15,440 --> 00:37:19,080
did the show or excuse me, I did
these shows and we were working

666
00:37:19,080 --> 00:37:22,480
on Disney and they gave me part
ownership and I had probably

667
00:37:22,480 --> 00:37:24,960
$30,000 racked up on my credit
card.

668
00:37:25,360 --> 00:37:27,120
Yeah, get they would always pay
me.

669
00:37:27,520 --> 00:37:31,080
And then they, yeah, the owner
started making money and bought

670
00:37:31,080 --> 00:37:34,280
themselves some nice shit and
and actually, you know, they

671
00:37:34,280 --> 00:37:36,120
can't pay me.
And next thing you know, he

672
00:37:36,120 --> 00:37:38,520
says, well, you're an owner now.
That sometimes happens.

673
00:37:38,520 --> 00:37:41,800
And I'm like, wait a minute, I'm
not taking any money, only

674
00:37:41,800 --> 00:37:44,520
commissions.
And you pay my expenses, not

675
00:37:44,520 --> 00:37:47,760
even my sales expenses.
But trade show stuff like that,

676
00:37:48,160 --> 00:37:50,240
well, you know, it's just the
way it works.

677
00:37:50,720 --> 00:37:53,800
He left behind dry and I ended
up leaving that company.

678
00:37:53,800 --> 00:37:57,840
He got upset and I don't even
know what I really owned here.

679
00:37:57,840 --> 00:37:59,880
I think it was just words that I
owned the piece of it.

680
00:38:00,160 --> 00:38:03,160
Yeah.
And I had to work my way to pay

681
00:38:03,160 --> 00:38:06,840
off that 30 grand debt, cause of
course I was young and dumb and

682
00:38:06,840 --> 00:38:08,400
spent the money I made on
commissions.

683
00:38:08,400 --> 00:38:14,720
So took that and basically
started my own company in the

684
00:38:14,720 --> 00:38:17,800
living room of my townhouse.
Yeah, and.

685
00:38:17,960 --> 00:38:20,440
And we.
Were still in you were still in

686
00:38:20,440 --> 00:38:22,640
Dallas at this time or you were
back in Minnesota?

687
00:38:23,160 --> 00:38:23,920
Nope.
Dallas.

688
00:38:23,920 --> 00:38:27,120
Yeah, this is still Dallas.
And and I was still building

689
00:38:27,120 --> 00:38:29,280
some curtains.
I got the business away from

690
00:38:29,280 --> 00:38:35,200
them to come to me for showbiz
pizza and and so you know,

691
00:38:35,200 --> 00:38:38,600
building a few curtains here and
there and and it, you know, I

692
00:38:38,600 --> 00:38:42,040
didn't have enough room and I
really wasn't set up didn't have

693
00:38:42,040 --> 00:38:44,920
any labor except for myself and
the girlfriend I was dating at

694
00:38:44,920 --> 00:38:47,800
the time.
And you know, but we, you know,

695
00:38:47,800 --> 00:38:51,080
I took made some profit, bought
more materials, made some

696
00:38:51,080 --> 00:38:53,920
profit, bought more materials.
Next thing you know I went from

697
00:38:53,920 --> 00:39:01,320
having no inventory and I I had
maybe $30,000 and then TPR Tom

698
00:39:01,320 --> 00:39:06,480
Fay called me and wanted a fiber
optic curtain for I don't even

699
00:39:06,480 --> 00:39:08,720
know who Broadway show or
something.

700
00:39:09,280 --> 00:39:10,720
So I built that and made some
money.

701
00:39:10,720 --> 00:39:17,240
And then my first taste of real
entertainment was Miller Lite.

702
00:39:20,360 --> 00:39:22,720
This is going so far.
Do you remember Andy Akers?

703
00:39:23,400 --> 00:39:24,840
No.
In Nashville, TN.

704
00:39:25,400 --> 00:39:26,600
I believe that's what's coming
up.

705
00:39:26,640 --> 00:39:33,040
I think he had a Miller Lite
tour and he said that they want

706
00:39:33,040 --> 00:39:35,960
to make this curtain out of
fiber optics and and I said

707
00:39:35,960 --> 00:39:37,600
well, I can't do it.
It was a whole logo.

708
00:39:37,600 --> 00:39:40,600
I mean it was really detailed.
I'd never done that, but I'm

709
00:39:40,600 --> 00:39:43,760
like wow, I can do it.
And so there was a big job and

710
00:39:43,760 --> 00:39:46,840
and we did it and that was my
first taste of live

711
00:39:46,840 --> 00:39:49,120
entertainment.
And I said I gotta do more of

712
00:39:49,120 --> 00:39:50,480
this.
Then we did Garth Brooks and

713
00:39:50,480 --> 00:39:53,480
then we did then it just, I mean
it just grew from there.

714
00:39:53,800 --> 00:40:01,360
But one of our problems was this
light source, you know, people

715
00:40:01,360 --> 00:40:04,920
understand fiber optics, you're
piping light and we didn't have

716
00:40:04,920 --> 00:40:09,080
anything intelligent.
It was just either a a

717
00:40:09,080 --> 00:40:13,360
projection lamp or mercury
vapor, and we'd light it up and

718
00:40:13,360 --> 00:40:15,040
put colored filters in front of
it.

719
00:40:15,320 --> 00:40:17,760
But there was no intelligence to
it when live entertainment

720
00:40:17,760 --> 00:40:21,920
needed intelligence.
So then I think I saw the Martin

721
00:40:21,920 --> 00:40:25,080
people.
I went to the I I I went to the

722
00:40:25,240 --> 00:40:30,080
LDI show or something and one in
the Martin booth and I saw the

723
00:40:30,080 --> 00:40:35,240
Pro 400 and of course it wasn't
set up for fiber optics and but

724
00:40:35,240 --> 00:40:36,560
I said well I can make that
work.

725
00:40:36,560 --> 00:40:41,360
So I grabbed one, made an
adapter and that's when really

726
00:40:41,360 --> 00:40:43,080
the company started to take off
it.

727
00:40:43,520 --> 00:40:48,920
We shit load of Pro 400 sales
and then we ended it just it

728
00:40:48,920 --> 00:40:52,080
just exponentially grew.
We started doing a lot of live

729
00:40:52,080 --> 00:40:54,680
entertainment, lot of
restaurants and bars and.

730
00:40:55,240 --> 00:40:57,480
Yeah.
So I I was with Martin of course

731
00:40:57,480 --> 00:41:01,960
at that time and I think you
very quickly became the largest

732
00:41:02,320 --> 00:41:05,360
customer for Pro 4 hundreds in
the world.

733
00:41:05,360 --> 00:41:09,560
Because you know, like somebody
told me one time, anything with

734
00:41:09,560 --> 00:41:13,280
professional in the name usually
isn't or any company with

735
00:41:13,280 --> 00:41:14,920
professional in the name usually
isn't.

736
00:41:15,080 --> 00:41:19,200
The Pro 400 wasn't very pro, it
was, it was kind of a hokey

737
00:41:19,200 --> 00:41:20,880
fixture.
But at the time I mean there was

738
00:41:20,880 --> 00:41:24,960
nothing to really compare it to
you know the the track spot came

739
00:41:24,960 --> 00:41:29,880
out as an illuminator, a fiber
optic illuminator and was cool.

740
00:41:29,880 --> 00:41:32,640
But still the Pro 400 had a lot
longer lamp life.

741
00:41:32,640 --> 00:41:36,360
It had a 2000 hour lamp life
where the the track spot had

742
00:41:36,360 --> 00:41:41,360
like a 20 hour lamp life so.
It worked really, really well.

743
00:41:41,360 --> 00:41:42,800
And here's the interesting
thing.

744
00:41:42,800 --> 00:41:46,920
We bought a certain amount of
them, but we created an

745
00:41:46,920 --> 00:41:49,400
opportunity for.
Martin in industry, yeah.

746
00:41:49,800 --> 00:41:53,000
And and and other people bought
them that weren't even our

747
00:41:53,000 --> 00:41:55,080
customers and bought our
adapters.

748
00:41:55,080 --> 00:42:00,240
We were making hundreds and
hundreds of adapters for Pro 4.

749
00:42:00,240 --> 00:42:03,920
Hundreds and all over the world.
They went to and they came out

750
00:42:03,920 --> 00:42:06,960
of us, which was cool that I
mean Martin could have hammered

751
00:42:06,960 --> 00:42:10,240
that flat and and they didn't.
They were very respectful.

752
00:42:10,240 --> 00:42:13,720
And then we started to this is
actually a funny story.

753
00:42:14,480 --> 00:42:18,640
I was at LDI show with my
girlfriend.

754
00:42:18,640 --> 00:42:20,600
It might have been a different
one than the one I talked to

755
00:42:20,600 --> 00:42:23,960
before but it happens.
And we're checking into the

756
00:42:23,960 --> 00:42:28,680
Peabody Hotel and Christian
Colt.

757
00:42:28,680 --> 00:42:30,120
What was his name?
Christian.

758
00:42:30,440 --> 00:42:33,880
Yeah, him.
He's checking in with his wife

759
00:42:33,920 --> 00:42:36,520
and I'm checking in with my
girlfriend and he kind of knew

760
00:42:36,520 --> 00:42:40,000
who I was a little bit.
I was already gone, by the way.

761
00:42:40,360 --> 00:42:43,600
Oh, you mean Christian the the
American CEO guy?

762
00:42:44,520 --> 00:42:46,800
I left right when they put him
in Christian.

763
00:42:46,800 --> 00:42:48,640
Left.
Yeah, you left after Peter.

764
00:42:48,640 --> 00:42:50,080
What's it?
Peter Johansson, right.

765
00:42:50,440 --> 00:42:55,000
I left right before he was gone,
so I left and then he got in

766
00:42:55,000 --> 00:42:58,880
some trouble and and and.
They named the company Martin

767
00:42:58,880 --> 00:43:00,200
spelled backwards, which was
funny.

768
00:43:01,440 --> 00:43:05,840
So anyways, what happened was I
hear him them saying, oh, you're

769
00:43:05,840 --> 00:43:09,760
the only guest up at the top
floor, which is like 2 suites or

770
00:43:09,760 --> 00:43:14,000
something like that.
And I'm hearing this and I go,

771
00:43:14,240 --> 00:43:17,720
oh, well, I really want to get
closer to this company because

772
00:43:17,720 --> 00:43:19,960
there's an opportunity because
at that time there was an

773
00:43:19,960 --> 00:43:24,240
interest in maybe buying.
We also made and jacketed fiber

774
00:43:24,240 --> 00:43:27,880
optic cable as well.
So we weren't selling any of

775
00:43:27,880 --> 00:43:30,960
that to Martin or through Martin
and Martin's worldwide.

776
00:43:31,720 --> 00:43:33,800
So I leaned over.
I said how much for an upgrade

777
00:43:33,800 --> 00:43:35,680
to the top floor?
She told me.

778
00:43:35,680 --> 00:43:37,480
I said I'll take it.
My girlfriend looks at me like,

779
00:43:37,480 --> 00:43:40,680
dude, you crazy like that's an
extra 2 grand or whatever.

780
00:43:40,920 --> 00:43:42,680
And you know, I wasn't super
rich.

781
00:43:43,240 --> 00:43:48,600
And I said just shut up, you
know, And and every day, I swear

782
00:43:48,600 --> 00:43:53,280
at least twice a day we shared
the elevator and I said she just

783
00:43:53,280 --> 00:43:56,960
started talking to his wife or
whoever, and they became friends

784
00:43:56,960 --> 00:43:59,920
and I became friends with him.
And he one day he's like tell me

785
00:43:59,920 --> 00:44:02,320
exactly what you do because I
didn't tell him.

786
00:44:02,360 --> 00:44:04,320
I said I'm here for the show.
You know, no big deal.

787
00:44:04,760 --> 00:44:08,120
I said, well we do fiber optics
and we do oh, you're the ones

788
00:44:08,120 --> 00:44:11,200
that of the pro 4 hundreds.
And I said, yeah, he goes, well,

789
00:44:11,200 --> 00:44:13,840
I want to talk to you.
We we think that we should do

790
00:44:13,840 --> 00:44:15,640
something more with this.
It's selling a lot of our

791
00:44:15,640 --> 00:44:16,800
lights.
I said, OK, great.

792
00:44:17,200 --> 00:44:21,400
So I sent them a proposal and
they ordered a shit load of

793
00:44:21,400 --> 00:44:24,800
fiber optic cable without even
asking me suggestions.

794
00:44:24,800 --> 00:44:29,360
You know what should I order and
which I was OK, but I want

795
00:44:29,560 --> 00:44:32,320
wanted Martin to be successful
and they weren't super

796
00:44:32,320 --> 00:44:36,480
successful in selling raw fiber
optic cable and and that kind of

797
00:44:36,480 --> 00:44:38,880
stuff.
But the relationship was good

798
00:44:38,880 --> 00:44:42,880
because then we ended up hiring
Ricardo Paulson, who was one of

799
00:44:42,880 --> 00:44:45,880
their salesman for We had an
office in Denmark then and

800
00:44:45,880 --> 00:44:49,240
Ricardo kind of sold advanced
lighting systems in Europe.

801
00:44:49,760 --> 00:44:53,040
And it just made us grow, made
us bigger in the industry than

802
00:44:53,040 --> 00:44:56,200
probably we really were.
You know, it it got our name out

803
00:44:56,200 --> 00:44:59,480
there and it was really good.
And, you know, I couldn't

804
00:44:59,480 --> 00:45:02,200
complain, but I knew I needed
also during this time to

805
00:45:02,200 --> 00:45:04,320
diversify.
Yeah, so LED.

806
00:45:04,840 --> 00:45:08,960
I mean again I I love the
approach like that whole, you

807
00:45:08,960 --> 00:45:12,600
know, I never realized back then
certainly that you were this

808
00:45:12,600 --> 00:45:16,000
entrepreneurial like cuz I've
always either like that by the

809
00:45:16,000 --> 00:45:19,320
way and not very many people in
our industry do most people in

810
00:45:19,320 --> 00:45:23,600
our industry are are really more
doers like they're very good

811
00:45:23,600 --> 00:45:25,120
lighting people or they're very
good.

812
00:45:25,320 --> 00:45:28,560
I was never a lighting guy.
I was just always, you know, a

813
00:45:28,560 --> 00:45:31,520
very entrepreneurial thinker who
said there's got to be a better

814
00:45:31,520 --> 00:45:33,080
way to do this.
You know, there's got to be a

815
00:45:33,080 --> 00:45:36,280
way to sell more of this or
whatever it was, so.

816
00:45:36,280 --> 00:45:38,560
You know what?
I think some of that Marcel for

817
00:45:38,560 --> 00:45:41,320
me came out of desperation.
Me too, You know?

818
00:45:41,480 --> 00:45:44,520
I mean, and and also, I'm not a
lighting guy.

819
00:45:44,520 --> 00:45:47,400
I mean, I really am not.
I mean, I didn't go to school

820
00:45:47,400 --> 00:45:49,760
for lighting.
I didn't barely graduated high

821
00:45:49,760 --> 00:45:51,320
school.
Not because I was a bad kid.

822
00:45:51,520 --> 00:45:55,200
I struggled academically.
But what I learned, yeah, I hear

823
00:45:55,200 --> 00:45:55,840
you, man.
I.

824
00:45:56,120 --> 00:46:02,800
And what I learned was that, how
do I say this?

825
00:46:03,040 --> 00:46:05,840
A lot of times if you say an
insecurity you have, you think

826
00:46:05,840 --> 00:46:07,680
you're the only one that has it.
Yeah.

827
00:46:07,680 --> 00:46:09,920
But when you're open about it,
and this is something I learned,

828
00:46:10,000 --> 00:46:11,960
we can maybe talk about when we
get into the book.

829
00:46:11,960 --> 00:46:15,200
But I learned that when I start
being open about how I really

830
00:46:15,200 --> 00:46:18,800
feel or what's really going on
and there's shit loads of people

831
00:46:18,800 --> 00:46:21,880
like that me too.
And then realize that we're not

832
00:46:21,880 --> 00:46:26,840
really that different and and so
I started to come into myself

833
00:46:26,840 --> 00:46:31,160
and my talents as probably being
more of a a relationship person

834
00:46:31,160 --> 00:46:35,800
than a than a salesman.
I am never I I to this day, if I

835
00:46:35,800 --> 00:46:39,760
know my product isn't right or
not perfect for the customer, I

836
00:46:39,760 --> 00:46:42,960
tell them I said this guy's got
a better, better widget for you.

837
00:46:43,200 --> 00:46:46,160
But Remember Me when you needed
something else, because I'll

838
00:46:46,160 --> 00:46:47,920
give you the truth, I'll give
you the real answer.

839
00:46:48,400 --> 00:46:51,400
And that's always.
That's got me a lot further in

840
00:46:51,400 --> 00:46:53,680
life than trying to cram
something down somebody's.

841
00:46:53,680 --> 00:46:56,680
Throat in some weird way, you
and I have followed very similar

842
00:46:56,680 --> 00:47:01,480
paths, you know, both from the
the lack of any lighting

843
00:47:01,480 --> 00:47:04,160
education whatsoever.
I, you know, I never toured.

844
00:47:04,160 --> 00:47:07,200
I I know a lot of touring
people, but I never toured.

845
00:47:07,720 --> 00:47:12,360
And you know, to this day I
still barely know how to connect

846
00:47:12,360 --> 00:47:18,440
two lights together.
Well, I will tell you I've

847
00:47:18,440 --> 00:47:24,200
become very almost every product
we have now I'm at least 50 to

848
00:47:24,200 --> 00:47:28,120
60% of the design.
I've become that guy, 'cause we

849
00:47:28,120 --> 00:47:31,040
were a manufacturer, right?
I mean, Advanced Lighting

850
00:47:31,040 --> 00:47:33,880
Systems was we made stuff, you
know?

851
00:47:33,880 --> 00:47:36,680
So we're now we're doing
curtains and we're doing them in

852
00:47:36,680 --> 00:47:40,640
a big way.
And I was like, we gotta grow,

853
00:47:40,680 --> 00:47:42,120
you know, something's gotta
change.

854
00:47:42,600 --> 00:47:46,080
And so we started making
fixtures back in the, you know,

855
00:47:47,440 --> 00:47:51,680
9899, we made a fixture that,
hell, you could buy them now for

856
00:47:51,680 --> 00:47:55,480
probably 50 bucks, but we were
selling them for five to six

857
00:47:55,480 --> 00:48:00,240
grand for live entertainment and
they worked really well.

858
00:48:00,240 --> 00:48:02,080
And that was what was cool about
it.

859
00:48:02,360 --> 00:48:04,480
And it's just that the
technology's come so far.

860
00:48:04,480 --> 00:48:08,080
It's a lot less expensive.
But that was, you know, me

861
00:48:08,120 --> 00:48:10,720
saying listening to the
customers and what they want.

862
00:48:10,760 --> 00:48:16,000
And then going with our engineer
Bill Little and saying, hey, you

863
00:48:16,000 --> 00:48:18,280
know, how can we do this?
And he'd come up with ideas, I'd

864
00:48:18,280 --> 00:48:20,680
come up with ideas.
And in the end we had a pretty

865
00:48:20,680 --> 00:48:23,080
cool fixture.
Yeah, yeah.

866
00:48:23,280 --> 00:48:25,640
Now that's that's really cool.
So you were gonna get into LED

867
00:48:25,640 --> 00:48:28,880
here, You were just talking
about, you know, then LED came

868
00:48:28,880 --> 00:48:32,560
out, which obviously changed
everything for for everyone in a

869
00:48:32,560 --> 00:48:34,600
sense.
It did.

870
00:48:34,640 --> 00:48:37,200
I mean, we started, you know,
before, you know, we went.

871
00:48:37,200 --> 00:48:40,960
We transitioned from doing pizza
places to to some live

872
00:48:40,960 --> 00:48:44,880
entertainment and shows and and
movies and anywhere they needed

873
00:48:44,880 --> 00:48:47,560
stars to.
Now we started doing color

874
00:48:47,560 --> 00:48:51,280
washing and you know the word
architect came out, you know I

875
00:48:51,320 --> 00:48:53,680
remember that and we were knee
deep in it.

876
00:48:53,680 --> 00:48:57,160
I mean we we started before you
know the color kinetics and all

877
00:48:57,160 --> 00:49:02,080
that but limited maybe by my
education and and financial

878
00:49:02,080 --> 00:49:05,960
savviness to raise money and we
just made product and sold it at

879
00:49:05,960 --> 00:49:11,000
a profit and you know grew it
that way organically and but we

880
00:49:11,000 --> 00:49:13,920
we did some really cool stuff
developed our own drivers.

881
00:49:14,640 --> 00:49:19,200
Nobody was doing that back then.
We all DMX and we did it all

882
00:49:19,200 --> 00:49:26,280
ourselves and in that process we
were growing the company and

883
00:49:26,280 --> 00:49:29,520
selling to I mean eventually we
sold a bunch of stuff to you

884
00:49:29,680 --> 00:49:33,200
know Cirque du Soleil and and
the Letterman's show on Saturday

885
00:49:33,200 --> 00:49:36,280
Night Live and again all the
live entertainment.

886
00:49:36,280 --> 00:49:41,520
But now you got hotels like the
W Hotel you know they they got

887
00:49:41,520 --> 00:49:45,800
the real cool atmosphere and and
now we started doing a lot of

888
00:49:45,800 --> 00:49:48,720
high end clubs and this is
really cool.

889
00:49:48,720 --> 00:49:53,320
So we we we started breaking out
into that and again now we had a

890
00:49:53,320 --> 00:49:58,200
Rep network as some of that gets
sold through some reps and and

891
00:49:58,200 --> 00:50:00,280
we had the entertainment
distributors and it kind of

892
00:50:00,280 --> 00:50:02,600
crossed over.
It was really hard to manage,

893
00:50:02,600 --> 00:50:04,360
but you know, we started
getting.

894
00:50:04,360 --> 00:50:08,840
You know what's really funny is
I don't remember exactly what

895
00:50:08,840 --> 00:50:14,000
year, but you know, I I was
friends with Steve Watts at at

896
00:50:14,040 --> 00:50:18,880
AVR Abstract and he came out
with that down light, that

897
00:50:18,880 --> 00:50:21,880
little MR16 down light with a
color wheel in front of it.

898
00:50:22,400 --> 00:50:26,680
And I saw that thing and I was
doing lots and lots of club

899
00:50:26,680 --> 00:50:29,640
stuff at the time, selling lots
of club stuff.

900
00:50:29,640 --> 00:50:32,320
And I said hey you know let me
import this thing into the

901
00:50:32,320 --> 00:50:35,200
United States and sell it in the
US And he said yeah sure why

902
00:50:35,200 --> 00:50:37,560
not.
And you know the problem was he

903
00:50:37,600 --> 00:50:40,680
he promised me that it was UL
and it never was to the moment I

904
00:50:40,680 --> 00:50:46,840
stopped selling them but so that
was that was like early 2000s I

905
00:50:46,840 --> 00:50:52,000
think and very quickly we went
from an MR16 with a color wheel

906
00:50:52,000 --> 00:50:56,680
in front of it to a multi color
color changing LED down light

907
00:50:57,120 --> 00:51:00,280
like instantly.
And I sold thousands of those,

908
00:51:00,360 --> 00:51:05,000
the MR16 ones, and I was like,
OK, this is the end of the

909
00:51:05,000 --> 00:51:07,200
earth.
Like this is the cat's meow.

910
00:51:07,200 --> 00:51:10,600
Everybody's gonna buy these.
And then all of a sudden it

911
00:51:10,600 --> 00:51:15,160
happened so quickly that LEDs
just completely took over.

912
00:51:16,120 --> 00:51:18,080
It's right around the time that
you're talking about.

913
00:51:18,720 --> 00:51:23,880
Yeah.
And as soon as the supply chain

914
00:51:24,200 --> 00:51:29,040
and the market grew, your cost
just went, your cost went down

915
00:51:29,040 --> 00:51:32,000
like this and your and the
supply went up like this.

916
00:51:32,000 --> 00:51:34,200
So we're able to start making
these things at reasonable

917
00:51:34,200 --> 00:51:36,680
prices.
But you know if you got a super

918
00:51:36,680 --> 00:51:39,040
expensive product that does
something really cool, the best

919
00:51:39,040 --> 00:51:42,440
industry to put it in is either
medical or entertainment because

920
00:51:42,440 --> 00:51:45,240
a lot of times in entertainment
the budgets are we don't care,

921
00:51:45,240 --> 00:51:49,960
we want this effect.
And so you're able to grow it

922
00:51:49,960 --> 00:51:52,840
that way and then go into more
of a mass market where we are

923
00:51:52,840 --> 00:51:56,240
now you're buying lights for
your house that could, you know,

924
00:51:56,240 --> 00:51:58,000
work with the Philips Hue, you
know, so.

925
00:51:58,160 --> 00:52:01,440
Well, plus that medical, medical
and entertainment I think share

926
00:52:01,440 --> 00:52:08,160
this, this, you know, passion
and optimism for new technology,

927
00:52:08,240 --> 00:52:11,880
you know and and curiosity for
new technology where a lot of

928
00:52:11,880 --> 00:52:14,200
industries are like if it ain't
broke, don't fix it.

929
00:52:14,560 --> 00:52:17,360
Entertainment always wants the
next thing, the next thing, the

930
00:52:17,360 --> 00:52:18,880
next thing.
And we're willing to pay for it,

931
00:52:18,880 --> 00:52:21,400
like you said.
I mean you'll go back to you

932
00:52:21,840 --> 00:52:26,520
know I I'm we're I think we're
similar age you go back and I

933
00:52:26,520 --> 00:52:29,520
remember in the 70s you know you
imagine just going to a Pink

934
00:52:29,520 --> 00:52:31,480
Floyd concert with no lights.
Yeah.

935
00:52:31,880 --> 00:52:34,320
You know what I mean?
I mean it's it's such an

936
00:52:34,320 --> 00:52:37,520
important part or if you ever
turned the sound off and

937
00:52:37,520 --> 00:52:40,880
watching a movie you know
something like Top Gun or you

938
00:52:40,880 --> 00:52:44,160
know something that's so action
related you need to sound with

939
00:52:44,160 --> 00:52:47,080
it you know and it all is part
of the experience and that's

940
00:52:47,080 --> 00:52:51,040
where entertainment is just so
cool and I love it still.

941
00:52:51,040 --> 00:52:55,400
But you know I, I, you know
moving along we started doing a

942
00:52:55,400 --> 00:52:57,480
lot of fixtures and then I got
in the way of one of my

943
00:52:57,480 --> 00:53:02,120
competitors in the fiber optic
world that was also doing trying

944
00:53:02,120 --> 00:53:05,400
to get into Inarchitement and
they made me offer I couldn't

945
00:53:05,400 --> 00:53:08,440
refuse to merge the company
which they were a public Brett

946
00:53:08,440 --> 00:53:08,960
Kingston.
Yeah.

947
00:53:08,960 --> 00:53:10,800
Yeah.
Then so I'm we merged.

948
00:53:10,800 --> 00:53:13,280
We merged the company.
What were they?

949
00:53:13,280 --> 00:53:14,880
Called originally super
something.

950
00:53:14,880 --> 00:53:16,600
Supervision.
Supervision.

951
00:53:16,680 --> 00:53:18,680
Supervision.
Yeah, I remember they did

952
00:53:18,680 --> 00:53:22,000
something interesting because
Color Kinetics was running

953
00:53:22,000 --> 00:53:26,200
around threatening everybody
with lawyers and stuff, right?

954
00:53:26,520 --> 00:53:30,840
And I did something really
interesting Tooting my own horn

955
00:53:30,840 --> 00:53:34,560
because I was bringing in AVR
LED stuff now, right?

956
00:53:34,560 --> 00:53:37,960
Cuz Steve Watts was really early
on LED stuff too.

957
00:53:38,480 --> 00:53:42,240
And so I was bringing in some of
his product and all of the

958
00:53:42,240 --> 00:53:45,600
European companies who were
creating LED product wanted

959
00:53:45,600 --> 00:53:48,400
nothing to do with the US
because oh, Color Kinetics is

960
00:53:48,400 --> 00:53:50,960
going to sue us because they
they had lawyers walking around

961
00:53:50,960 --> 00:53:54,000
LDI and light fare and stuff.
It was horrible.

962
00:53:54,160 --> 00:53:56,240
It was horrible.
They just, they wanted to

963
00:53:56,240 --> 00:53:59,520
betamax the industry.
Basically we are doing this by

964
00:53:59,520 --> 00:54:00,960
ourselves.
Nobody else can touch it.

965
00:54:01,440 --> 00:54:04,920
And so initially they didn't
even want a license and then

966
00:54:04,920 --> 00:54:06,480
they went, hey, we can make some
money here.

967
00:54:06,480 --> 00:54:09,640
So they opened up very few
licenses, but I don't know if

968
00:54:09,640 --> 00:54:12,000
you ever saw their early
licensing agreements like you

969
00:54:12,000 --> 00:54:14,960
couldn't be in any of their
competitive industries, you

970
00:54:15,080 --> 00:54:16,120
know, which was?
Pretty.

971
00:54:16,120 --> 00:54:20,800
Much everything, right?
And so So what I did is I went

972
00:54:20,800 --> 00:54:25,440
to them and I said, look, I'm an
importer, I want to be able to

973
00:54:25,440 --> 00:54:29,600
import European products and I
believe it's good for you to

974
00:54:29,600 --> 00:54:32,200
have some competition.
However, you should make some

975
00:54:32,200 --> 00:54:34,680
money.
So I said instead of getting,

976
00:54:35,080 --> 00:54:39,080
you know, pieces of all of these
different companies or blocking

977
00:54:39,080 --> 00:54:41,600
them and scaring the shit out of
them from coming here, take a

978
00:54:41,600 --> 00:54:44,280
piece and let them come in.
And they're all small companies.

979
00:54:44,840 --> 00:54:49,400
And so I negotiated a deal with
them that was basically I would

980
00:54:49,400 --> 00:54:52,360
pay them and I can't remember
the exact percentages otherwise

981
00:54:52,360 --> 00:54:54,760
I would actually share it.
But it wasn't huge.

982
00:54:54,760 --> 00:54:58,880
It was maybe 6% or something of
my revenue on these imported

983
00:54:58,880 --> 00:55:02,440
products.
I'll just pay you a blanket fee

984
00:55:02,960 --> 00:55:06,680
on on all of the sales.
And so regardless of where it

985
00:55:06,680 --> 00:55:09,240
comes from, who it comes from,
whatever, you're going to get a

986
00:55:09,240 --> 00:55:12,160
fee from me and they love that
idea.

987
00:55:12,280 --> 00:55:18,560
And so then Brett came along and
and Brett started challenging

988
00:55:18,640 --> 00:55:22,680
their patents and went around to
any companies, Mine was one of

989
00:55:22,680 --> 00:55:27,120
them who were in the LED space
and said hey give us X amount of

990
00:55:27,120 --> 00:55:30,000
dollars towards our legal fees
because we're going to go fight

991
00:55:30,000 --> 00:55:32,240
the good fight.
And I think I gave them a few

992
00:55:32,240 --> 00:55:36,680
grand or something initially,
but then I I didn't really agree

993
00:55:36,680 --> 00:55:38,480
with his approach on everything,
let's say.

994
00:55:39,680 --> 00:55:41,800
So I kind of backed away from
that.

995
00:55:41,800 --> 00:55:46,880
And yeah, so anyway, sorry.
From what I what what what I

996
00:55:46,880 --> 00:55:52,760
remember in that was actually
color kinetics was pursuing

997
00:55:52,760 --> 00:55:58,080
supervision and supervision then
was trying to line up a defense

998
00:55:58,880 --> 00:56:04,800
of we've been RGB lights since
halogen bulbs and and to be

999
00:56:04,800 --> 00:56:09,520
honest with you when I knowing
what I know and much deeper

1000
00:56:09,520 --> 00:56:12,400
conversation I don't know how
the hell they won that the way

1001
00:56:12,400 --> 00:56:16,600
they want it but they did you
know and and Brett tried to line

1002
00:56:16,600 --> 00:56:22,000
up I mean people all over the
world to help with this defense

1003
00:56:22,000 --> 00:56:26,440
which if he had won would have
been great for all of us guys

1004
00:56:26,440 --> 00:56:29,080
that were trying to do RGB
fixture but.

1005
00:56:29,560 --> 00:56:33,440
Color Kinetics had something,
you know, they had somebody on

1006
00:56:33,440 --> 00:56:35,960
the payroll or something.
I don't know what they had going

1007
00:56:35,960 --> 00:56:39,280
on, but they had something going
on because like you know, do you

1008
00:56:39,280 --> 00:56:43,080
know Fausto from Comar Fausto?
'S been a lighting.

1009
00:56:43,080 --> 00:56:45,120
Engineer.
He's been a lighting engineer

1010
00:56:45,120 --> 00:56:48,360
since the 70s.
Very, very smart guy.

1011
00:56:48,600 --> 00:56:52,560
And he said, you know, they've
got a patent on pulse width

1012
00:56:52,560 --> 00:56:56,120
modulation to control the LEDs,
he said.

1013
00:56:56,320 --> 00:57:01,560
I studied that in textbooks in
in the 60s and 70s, like that's

1014
00:57:01,560 --> 00:57:04,200
been around a very, very long
time.

1015
00:57:04,400 --> 00:57:06,600
How did they get a patent on it,
you know?

1016
00:57:07,040 --> 00:57:10,800
So yeah, it was pretty
incredible how the things they

1017
00:57:10,800 --> 00:57:13,800
got away with early on there.
That changed a lot.

1018
00:57:15,240 --> 00:57:20,640
We we never signed a license
agreement, but we never got big

1019
00:57:20,640 --> 00:57:23,120
enough to get in the way.
Yeah.

1020
00:57:23,880 --> 00:57:27,320
You know, we know that they
dropped in our booth and they

1021
00:57:27,320 --> 00:57:29,600
came and talked to us and we say
ah we're just a fiber optic

1022
00:57:29,600 --> 00:57:32,640
company and you know we do a
little bit of this we dabble and

1023
00:57:32,920 --> 00:57:35,800
and they just, you know we we
were probably far enough down

1024
00:57:35,800 --> 00:57:38,400
the list it didn't matter.
And then what happened though

1025
00:57:38,600 --> 00:57:43,080
ironically was as we were
alluding to earlier is we

1026
00:57:43,080 --> 00:57:47,280
started get in the way of
supervision big time on mixing

1027
00:57:47,280 --> 00:57:50,240
fiber optic and LED together.
And so they made me an offer I

1028
00:57:50,240 --> 00:57:53,640
couldn't refuse and merging the
company into supervision.

1029
00:57:53,640 --> 00:57:56,480
And then at that time they had a
president of the company.

1030
00:57:56,720 --> 00:58:01,400
Brett was just on the board and
I wasn't used to that kind of

1031
00:58:01,400 --> 00:58:03,960
atmosphere.
I'm again more entrepreneurial

1032
00:58:04,360 --> 00:58:07,480
and the guy that was the
president of the company was

1033
00:58:07,480 --> 00:58:10,320
never, as far as I know it never
owned a company.

1034
00:58:11,000 --> 00:58:15,800
And so he ran it like, you know,
Cooper Lighting.

1035
00:58:15,800 --> 00:58:18,320
You know, I think he came from
Cooper Lighting and that was

1036
00:58:18,320 --> 00:58:21,200
just so weird for me, 'cause we
were like, I mean, we used to

1037
00:58:21,200 --> 00:58:23,520
get our employees together and
go, let's invent something

1038
00:58:23,520 --> 00:58:25,160
today, you know, give me your
idea.

1039
00:58:25,160 --> 00:58:26,320
I don't care what it is, you
know?

1040
00:58:26,320 --> 00:58:31,000
And and it wasn't that way it
when I merged into the in that

1041
00:58:31,120 --> 00:58:35,480
supervision, we then became,
yes, yeah, we became, which was

1042
00:58:35,480 --> 00:58:37,920
good for me, 'cause this is
right before the crash.

1043
00:58:38,560 --> 00:58:40,480
I don't know whether or not
Advanced Lighting would have

1044
00:58:40,480 --> 00:58:43,800
survived the 2008 crash.
This is 2006.

1045
00:58:44,400 --> 00:58:53,600
And so we became Nexus Lighting.
And in that time I knew that all

1046
00:58:53,600 --> 00:58:58,160
they were was me, a little bit
bigger and they didn't do

1047
00:58:58,160 --> 00:59:01,080
everything.
We I think we did things better

1048
00:59:01,080 --> 00:59:03,920
than they did, and they may have
a different opinion, but I think

1049
00:59:03,920 --> 00:59:06,240
we did things.
What we did, we did really well

1050
00:59:06,520 --> 00:59:09,400
and they didn't do them as well
in my opinion.

1051
00:59:09,800 --> 00:59:14,680
So I'm like, where are we going?
So I had a guy, a friend of mine

1052
00:59:14,680 --> 00:59:20,200
that I've known since he came
into this country and he's the

1053
00:59:20,200 --> 00:59:22,120
lighting guy.
But he came to the United States

1054
00:59:22,120 --> 00:59:24,200
with $400.00 in his pocket and a
room.

1055
00:59:24,720 --> 00:59:32,560
And he he patented a bunch of
white light technology on

1056
00:59:32,560 --> 00:59:36,000
driving the LED a certain way.
And it's above my pay grade.

1057
00:59:36,280 --> 00:59:40,200
But he did down lighting, but in
a big way and pretty economical

1058
00:59:40,200 --> 00:59:43,960
for those times.
So I kept on saying to the

1059
00:59:43,960 --> 00:59:48,160
president of Nexus, he'd come
see us, hey, we got to go stop

1060
00:59:48,160 --> 00:59:49,720
by, see my friend.
I don't have time.

1061
00:59:49,720 --> 00:59:52,080
I don't have time.
So I kind of planned this.

1062
00:59:52,080 --> 00:59:55,280
I said to my friend, you have
everything ready.

1063
00:59:55,560 --> 00:59:57,240
I'm just going to be dropping
something off.

1064
00:59:57,240 --> 01:00:01,840
But I'll invite my, my, the
president of the company in and

1065
01:00:02,640 --> 01:00:06,360
and put us in a conference room
with these lights on on the

1066
01:00:06,360 --> 01:00:07,680
table.
Yeah.

1067
01:00:07,680 --> 01:00:10,200
And we went in there and I just
said, oh, I'm just, you know,

1068
01:00:10,200 --> 01:00:12,200
dropping out somebody, I'm going
to say hi real quick.

1069
01:00:12,640 --> 01:00:15,480
And he kept looking at these
lights and goes, what's this?

1070
01:00:16,320 --> 01:00:18,560
I said, Oh yeah, this is white
light technology.

1071
01:00:18,560 --> 01:00:21,440
You know, it's it's actually
pretty cool, but you're not

1072
01:00:21,440 --> 01:00:22,760
interested in it.
You told me you weren't

1073
01:00:22,760 --> 01:00:25,280
interested in it.
He's like, what do you mean

1074
01:00:25,280 --> 01:00:27,840
we're not interested in this?
I said, well, that's kind of

1075
01:00:27,840 --> 01:00:32,040
what I said to myself, but you
know, I'm new to this and and

1076
01:00:32,040 --> 01:00:33,720
you sis basically never had
time.

1077
01:00:34,000 --> 01:00:36,840
Well, what can we do?
How can we?

1078
01:00:37,040 --> 01:00:38,400
I said, well, he's coming in, in
a minute.

1079
01:00:38,680 --> 01:00:41,480
So we start talking.
We ended up buying his company.

1080
01:00:41,480 --> 01:00:44,720
He was a small company.
We ended up buying his company.

1081
01:00:46,000 --> 01:00:48,000
You know, it's public.
I think, you know, maybe $6

1082
01:00:48,000 --> 01:00:51,680
million with some some royalties
in the back end.

1083
01:00:52,080 --> 01:00:57,480
And I was quite proud of that
because it's just a simple, no

1084
01:00:57,480 --> 01:01:01,560
academic kid that now I'm you
know, Disneyland and all these

1085
01:01:01,560 --> 01:01:05,560
different places and now I'm
acquiring a company and I didn't

1086
01:01:05,560 --> 01:01:08,160
get anything for it, but I
thought my stock would go up and

1087
01:01:08,520 --> 01:01:12,200
and so we did do that and then
2008 happened and I mean it was

1088
01:01:12,200 --> 01:01:14,160
crazy.
I mean I was on a really high

1089
01:01:14,160 --> 01:01:17,680
salary from what I understand.
I was the highest salary, even

1090
01:01:17,680 --> 01:01:19,280
higher than the president of the
company.

1091
01:01:21,120 --> 01:01:25,360
Yeah, I did really well.
But they, you know, 2008

1092
01:01:25,360 --> 01:01:29,080
happened and everything had to
shrink And so they they they

1093
01:01:29,080 --> 01:01:31,560
basically gave up the lease on
the building that they.

1094
01:01:31,560 --> 01:01:35,040
I had a five year lease because
I didn't want them to move and

1095
01:01:35,040 --> 01:01:37,240
protect my employees.
So I had a five year lease on

1096
01:01:37,240 --> 01:01:40,960
the building that I owned in
Sauk Center and a really good

1097
01:01:40,960 --> 01:01:44,640
lease amount too, more like
cities, not rural leases, right.

1098
01:01:44,640 --> 01:01:49,560
So I had a really it was big
money and and you know this is

1099
01:01:49,560 --> 01:01:51,480
like a year and a half into the
merger.

1100
01:01:51,480 --> 01:01:53,720
So I still had two or 3 1/2
years left.

1101
01:01:54,200 --> 01:01:57,480
And I said, well, but you owe me
lease.

1102
01:01:57,880 --> 01:02:00,880
Well, you know, you know times
are tough and you're a

1103
01:02:00,880 --> 01:02:01,960
shareholder.
You should care.

1104
01:02:01,960 --> 01:02:04,960
I said I do care about it, but
I'm also a big shareholder

1105
01:02:04,960 --> 01:02:09,400
myself and and and I also you
owe me, I don't know, five,

1106
01:02:09,400 --> 01:02:12,200
$600,000.
Well, we can't do that.

1107
01:02:12,200 --> 01:02:14,640
I said well, OK, you're going to
hear from my attorneys.

1108
01:02:15,240 --> 01:02:17,640
And so I knew this was all
gentlemanly.

1109
01:02:17,640 --> 01:02:20,560
It wasn't like an evil thing.
We're still friendly today.

1110
01:02:20,560 --> 01:02:24,280
But and so I, we got on a
conference call and their

1111
01:02:24,280 --> 01:02:30,160
attorney said I don't know what
we're doing here and and I go I

1112
01:02:30,160 --> 01:02:32,720
don't know either.
I mean I got a contract you owe

1113
01:02:32,720 --> 01:02:36,880
me X rent and if you're moving
that's not my problem.

1114
01:02:37,640 --> 01:02:42,120
And well you know this is the
president said we need to figure

1115
01:02:42,120 --> 01:02:43,800
out something to get make this
go away.

1116
01:02:44,040 --> 01:02:48,680
And their attorney says,
remember we laughed that he was

1117
01:02:48,680 --> 01:02:52,960
using Dorsey Whitney such a
large firm on a small merger and

1118
01:02:52,960 --> 01:02:56,600
Mike Power goes, yeah, well This
is why.

1119
01:02:57,240 --> 01:02:59,720
Because guess what this thing's
so lock solid.

1120
01:03:00,680 --> 01:03:04,280
We can't get out of this pay em.
So.

1121
01:03:04,640 --> 01:03:07,440
So I ended up taking it in stock
because they didn't have the

1122
01:03:07,440 --> 01:03:10,360
cash and I sold it as quick as I
could.

1123
01:03:10,360 --> 01:03:14,960
But you know, I I did all right.
I mean I was super happy and and

1124
01:03:15,280 --> 01:03:18,400
and everybody did laugh at me
why I spent so much money in a

1125
01:03:18,680 --> 01:03:22,160
league law firm instead of using
you know somebody less

1126
01:03:22,160 --> 01:03:24,280
expensive.
But that paid off.

1127
01:03:24,440 --> 01:03:27,240
It worked out, yeah.
The one time paying lots of

1128
01:03:27,240 --> 01:03:30,760
legal fees made you happy, yeah?
Oh yeah, yeah.

1129
01:03:30,760 --> 01:03:34,720
I could tell you the flip side
of that 10 times, unfortunately.

1130
01:03:35,560 --> 01:03:38,720
I know, I remember we talked a
little bit about some other

1131
01:03:38,720 --> 01:03:41,440
situations when you were here
and I had those happen to me

1132
01:03:41,440 --> 01:03:43,680
too.
And it's, you know what I think,

1133
01:03:43,960 --> 01:03:45,680
like we talked about an
entrepreneur.

1134
01:03:45,680 --> 01:03:46,960
This is how we know we're
entrepreneurs.

1135
01:03:46,960 --> 01:03:50,160
We pick our your britches back
up man, and we just get back out

1136
01:03:50,160 --> 01:03:53,040
and get to work.
It's, you know it's a weird

1137
01:03:53,040 --> 01:03:55,600
life.
I don't, I don't think it's for

1138
01:03:55,600 --> 01:03:57,960
everybody, that's for sure.
Like I know a lot of people who

1139
01:03:57,960 --> 01:04:00,600
call themselves entrepreneurs
and they're, they're really

1140
01:04:00,600 --> 01:04:03,040
businessmen, like, or business
women.

1141
01:04:03,360 --> 01:04:05,320
They're not entrepreneurs like
entrepreneurs.

1142
01:04:05,320 --> 01:04:08,520
It's it's a bit of a disease.
Like we don't know when to stop.

1143
01:04:09,160 --> 01:04:12,520
You know, we're we're we're too
dumb to quit you.

1144
01:04:12,680 --> 01:04:14,680
Know when I was, when I was at
flight, Internet.

1145
01:04:14,680 --> 01:04:18,840
Before any of this happened, I
my mind would go at night.

1146
01:04:18,880 --> 01:04:21,080
I'd hop in my car.
I'm not kidding you.

1147
01:04:21,400 --> 01:04:24,080
I'm in Dallas, TX.
I drive around industrial parks

1148
01:04:24,400 --> 01:04:26,600
and read every sign of the
building and go wonder what they

1149
01:04:26,600 --> 01:04:28,760
do.
I wonder how they got here.

1150
01:04:29,120 --> 01:04:31,000
I wonder, you know, how does
this happen?

1151
01:04:31,040 --> 01:04:32,480
I want to own one of these one
day.

1152
01:04:32,480 --> 01:04:33,440
Crazy.
Curiosity I.

1153
01:04:33,440 --> 01:04:36,960
Just think it was built into me
somehow and I just still think

1154
01:04:36,960 --> 01:04:39,360
that way.
Yeah, no, it's, you know, it's

1155
01:04:39,360 --> 01:04:42,160
it's some days it's an amazing
thing.

1156
01:04:42,160 --> 01:04:45,480
Some days you're just like, you
know, like coming out of COVID,

1157
01:04:46,760 --> 01:04:49,360
you know, I, I've had so many
friends in the industry who work

1158
01:04:49,360 --> 01:04:52,520
for large companies and we're
collecting big fat paychecks all

1159
01:04:52,520 --> 01:04:54,480
the way through COVID after
COVID.

1160
01:04:54,480 --> 01:04:59,280
Since COVID and you know, I mean
I have a small business for me,

1161
01:04:59,280 --> 01:05:02,480
it's it's not been that easy.
You know, it's been a real

1162
01:05:02,480 --> 01:05:05,840
struggle at times and you put
your house on the line, you put

1163
01:05:05,840 --> 01:05:09,240
your own finances into it, like,
you know, deplete the hell out

1164
01:05:09,240 --> 01:05:12,080
of your bank account and hope it
works and that kind of stuff.

1165
01:05:12,680 --> 01:05:15,480
But when it works, it works
great.

1166
01:05:15,480 --> 01:05:19,400
When it doesn't work, it, it can
pretty much gut you, you know?

1167
01:05:19,960 --> 01:05:22,520
So.
And the key thing for me is, is

1168
01:05:22,520 --> 01:05:26,280
I have to remind myself that it
worked great and it works great

1169
01:05:26,640 --> 01:05:29,720
and sometimes doesn't.
But remember that it's only

1170
01:05:29,720 --> 01:05:32,880
temporary because this is what
happened when we're talking

1171
01:05:32,880 --> 01:05:36,080
about where I went.
So I sold the company and I I

1172
01:05:36,080 --> 01:05:42,000
remember I'm, you know, I've got
well over 1,000,000 of dollars

1173
01:05:42,000 --> 01:05:46,320
in my bank account at the time,
and I owned millions of dollars

1174
01:05:46,320 --> 01:05:50,000
of stock and I'm all alone at
that point.

1175
01:05:50,000 --> 01:05:53,200
I didn't have a girlfriend.
I didn't even have a place to go

1176
01:05:53,200 --> 01:05:57,440
to work anymore and I called my.
Nice house on the lake, though.

1177
01:05:58,200 --> 01:05:59,320
I did.
Yeah, I did.

1178
01:05:59,400 --> 01:06:02,600
And jet skis and boats.
And I remember seeing your

1179
01:06:02,640 --> 01:06:05,920
pictures all the time on
Facebook and stuff and and I'm

1180
01:06:05,920 --> 01:06:08,040
like, damn it, this guy has a
life.

1181
01:06:08,680 --> 01:06:10,680
Jesus.
Oh yeah, Well, some.

1182
01:06:10,880 --> 01:06:12,880
Great view pictures you know
off.

1183
01:06:13,080 --> 01:06:15,000
Your back Small town, though?
Yeah.

1184
01:06:15,240 --> 01:06:19,440
Small town with no food.
Well, so I, I, I remember I had

1185
01:06:19,440 --> 01:06:22,360
no place to go.
And I called my mom up crying in

1186
01:06:22,360 --> 01:06:26,400
downtown Minneapolis at the the
basement of the OR the the

1187
01:06:26,400 --> 01:06:28,760
ground floor of the big
skyscraper where Dorsey Whitney

1188
01:06:28,760 --> 01:06:32,320
was and just signed the
paperwork and and I'm crying and

1189
01:06:32,320 --> 01:06:35,200
my mom says, what's wrong, Paul?
You just, you just had

1190
01:06:35,200 --> 01:06:39,800
everything you dreamed of.
And I said, well, mom, I said I

1191
01:06:39,800 --> 01:06:42,400
don't have anywhere, anywhere to
go, anybody to share it with.

1192
01:06:43,520 --> 01:06:48,080
And I said, I think I like the
chase better and my.

1193
01:06:48,160 --> 01:06:50,680
And that's right.
Then when I realized it's not

1194
01:06:50,680 --> 01:06:52,000
the destination, it's the
journey.

1195
01:06:52,360 --> 01:06:56,600
And so I tried to remember.
I try to remember even when I'm

1196
01:06:56,600 --> 01:07:00,040
going through a hard time in my
current company.

1197
01:07:00,760 --> 01:07:03,600
Listen, you had these even worse
in advanced lighting.

1198
01:07:04,080 --> 01:07:07,840
This is fun.
Come on Paul, This is fun and

1199
01:07:07,840 --> 01:07:10,760
it, you know, And he tried to
pick herself up a little bit and

1200
01:07:11,000 --> 01:07:13,480
that's what we do.
We're problem solvers, you know,

1201
01:07:13,480 --> 01:07:16,240
if you have no problems, you get
bored and you go out and buy

1202
01:07:16,480 --> 01:07:19,360
sports cars and houses on the
water and stuff like I'm the

1203
01:07:19,360 --> 01:07:21,600
same way.
If I have nothing to do.

1204
01:07:21,840 --> 01:07:25,120
I do bad stuff.
I do very hurtful stuff to

1205
01:07:25,120 --> 01:07:28,840
myself, you know.
Oh God, I had the Bentleys of

1206
01:07:29,480 --> 01:07:33,840
Porches, the the Vipers and the,
you know, the house was actually

1207
01:07:33,960 --> 01:07:36,440
I built that.
I mean, I designed to build it,

1208
01:07:36,440 --> 01:07:39,040
so I actually had a lot of shit
load equity in that.

1209
01:07:39,040 --> 01:07:43,680
But yeah, so now I'm going, OK,
well, I can take some time off.

1210
01:07:43,680 --> 01:07:46,880
I did this for 17 years.
Take some time and.

1211
01:07:47,360 --> 01:07:53,440
And so this is what is this 2?
1006, well actually in 2006 I

1212
01:07:53,440 --> 01:07:55,200
was still an employee of the
company.

1213
01:07:55,360 --> 01:08:00,080
So I actually had a place to go
the in 2008 when I when they

1214
01:08:00,080 --> 01:08:03,840
said we got to, you know, we got
to eliminate some positions and

1215
01:08:03,840 --> 01:08:06,080
I understood and you're one of
the highest.

1216
01:08:06,080 --> 01:08:08,880
So, you know, we're doing that
and switching all the

1217
01:08:08,880 --> 01:08:11,680
manufacturing to Florida,
bringing it down, the

1218
01:08:11,680 --> 01:08:15,360
supervision.
And that's when the whole, you

1219
01:08:15,360 --> 01:08:17,200
know, rental lease thing came
up.

1220
01:08:17,560 --> 01:08:20,200
That's when I really felt I had
nowhere to go, 'cause I really

1221
01:08:20,200 --> 01:08:23,600
just sat at home, drank beer and
went out in the beautiful lake

1222
01:08:23,600 --> 01:08:26,200
and did the nice stuff.
But spent a lot of money and

1223
01:08:26,200 --> 01:08:28,880
then I went to making nothing.
Yeah, I mean.

1224
01:08:28,880 --> 01:08:31,200
Spending, I mean probably
spending more too, because now

1225
01:08:31,240 --> 01:08:34,920
you had time, I had no income
before, you had income in no

1226
01:08:34,960 --> 01:08:37,000
time and now you had done.
Jazz.

1227
01:08:37,120 --> 01:08:39,960
Income.
Yeah, when jazz got married.

1228
01:08:40,120 --> 01:08:42,399
You know jazz.
Yeah and yeah.

1229
01:08:42,960 --> 01:08:45,439
I flew out there with a
girlfriend, man.

1230
01:08:45,439 --> 01:08:48,640
I mean, I bet I blew 20 grand
that that those three weeks.

1231
01:08:49,120 --> 01:08:51,920
Yeah.
And we had fun but you know I

1232
01:08:51,920 --> 01:08:55,080
just yeah, I just pouring out
money and then and then the

1233
01:08:55,080 --> 01:08:58,640
market wasn't good because I was
still a major shareholder and I

1234
01:08:58,640 --> 01:09:01,840
couldn't sell shares but only at
certain points because I'd be

1235
01:09:01,840 --> 01:09:04,640
insider trader and I knew
nothing about that.

1236
01:09:05,240 --> 01:09:09,240
And so I lost.
I lost 60% of my net worth in

1237
01:09:09,240 --> 01:09:12,399
like 3 days because of the
market and there's not much I

1238
01:09:12,399 --> 01:09:15,120
could do.
But so I took eight years off

1239
01:09:15,120 --> 01:09:21,640
and I tried to focus on myself
and and was was just pouring out

1240
01:09:21,640 --> 01:09:25,000
money and ended up being to the
point where I'm like I need a

1241
01:09:25,000 --> 01:09:31,279
job like any job I'm broke and
and and and I'd written the book

1242
01:09:31,359 --> 01:09:33,960
and the book was doing really
well but I didn't like the

1243
01:09:33,960 --> 01:09:37,279
attention I.
Well, tell me about that.

1244
01:09:37,640 --> 01:09:42,000
Tell me, tell me about the book.
Tell me so, first of all, why?

1245
01:09:42,000 --> 01:09:46,840
Because most people learn
quickly that you don't get rich

1246
01:09:46,840 --> 01:09:52,359
from writing a book or selling a
book because most of them, I

1247
01:09:52,359 --> 01:09:55,120
don't remember the stats, but
the statistics are so bad.

1248
01:09:55,120 --> 01:09:58,640
Like, you know, 90 something
percent of books don't sell more

1249
01:09:58,640 --> 01:10:00,520
than 500 copies or whatever it
is.

1250
01:10:02,280 --> 01:10:05,040
But, you know, you have an
incredible story.

1251
01:10:05,040 --> 01:10:10,000
I mean, not just the story of
success, the story of, you know,

1252
01:10:10,000 --> 01:10:11,960
starting with nothing and
getting somewhere.

1253
01:10:11,960 --> 01:10:16,080
Like these are all really great
stories and you have them all

1254
01:10:16,080 --> 01:10:20,160
built in, but then you also have
the the survivor story, which

1255
01:10:20,160 --> 01:10:22,000
you know is probably the biggest
of them.

1256
01:10:22,000 --> 01:10:24,480
All, right.
So.

1257
01:10:25,640 --> 01:10:30,600
You know I think it's all blends
into each other of just, you

1258
01:10:30,600 --> 01:10:33,200
know, you can get knocked down
but it's how you get back up.

1259
01:10:33,280 --> 01:10:38,200
And I'll tell you again, you
know this is so cool because

1260
01:10:38,680 --> 01:10:41,360
you're making me realize
something about myself that I

1261
01:10:41,360 --> 01:10:43,720
did by you saying we just
problem solve.

1262
01:10:43,720 --> 01:10:46,120
We figured that out.
You know I you're or you're

1263
01:10:46,120 --> 01:10:49,640
reminded me at least.
So I was dating the girl that I

1264
01:10:49,840 --> 01:10:53,360
took to the Peabody Hotel where
we met Christian, that same

1265
01:10:53,360 --> 01:10:55,680
girl.
I dated her for nine years and

1266
01:10:56,240 --> 01:11:00,600
and I remember she was a server
at Morton's, but she made like

1267
01:11:00,600 --> 01:11:02,640
100 grand a year.
It was crazy money.

1268
01:11:03,080 --> 01:11:07,160
And she said that she gets these
high up people.

1269
01:11:07,360 --> 01:11:09,880
Carl Polad, who own He's dead
now.

1270
01:11:09,880 --> 01:11:14,680
But his family owns the twins
and big banker owned a lot of

1271
01:11:14,680 --> 01:11:17,120
stuff.
And him and with his security

1272
01:11:17,120 --> 01:11:19,720
guards, he had bodyguards,
looked like CIA people.

1273
01:11:19,720 --> 01:11:22,560
And she'd tell me these stories,
you know, professional athletes.

1274
01:11:22,560 --> 01:11:25,360
And there's one guy by the name
of Tom Gigas.

1275
01:11:25,360 --> 01:11:28,760
And.
And I knew the guy's name

1276
01:11:28,760 --> 01:11:33,320
because my cousin was kind of a
political lawyer and he was a

1277
01:11:33,320 --> 01:11:36,520
lawyer for Ted Kennedy.
You know how they always have

1278
01:11:36,520 --> 01:11:38,760
people draft their bills.
He was one of those people.

1279
01:11:38,960 --> 01:11:44,440
Then he moved back to Minnesota
and he was like a nonprofit

1280
01:11:44,440 --> 01:11:48,080
lawyer, You know, like, I don't
know what, But he said he played

1281
01:11:48,080 --> 01:11:51,520
tennis with this older guy that
was incredible shape, like just

1282
01:11:51,520 --> 01:11:55,040
ripped, named Tom Gigas.
And he owned all the businesses

1283
01:11:55,040 --> 01:11:57,840
called Tires Plus.
I don't know if they have them

1284
01:11:57,840 --> 01:11:58,800
down in Florida.
Yeah, yeah.

1285
01:11:59,120 --> 01:12:03,800
But he's.
So I I researched the guy and he

1286
01:12:03,800 --> 01:12:08,560
was really kind of a guru, like
like a Zen guy, like 6-6, but

1287
01:12:09,000 --> 01:12:12,400
like so ripped and and like
meditated.

1288
01:12:12,400 --> 01:12:14,360
And he did all these cool
things.

1289
01:12:14,800 --> 01:12:16,640
And I'm like, I want to be like
this guy.

1290
01:12:17,120 --> 01:12:20,160
And so I read a book he wrote,
and I can't remember the name of

1291
01:12:20,160 --> 01:12:24,200
it, but he said that he at a
point in his life, like his

1292
01:12:24,200 --> 01:12:27,160
company, was doing a few $100
million a year, but he was

1293
01:12:27,160 --> 01:12:32,880
barely making it, like no profit
trouble making payrolls.

1294
01:12:33,200 --> 01:12:36,160
He was going through a divorce
and he ended up with cancer.

1295
01:12:36,240 --> 01:12:40,960
And there's my hook, there's my
link in because he said he sat

1296
01:12:40,960 --> 01:12:45,160
down and called the president or
the founder of Best Buy, Dick

1297
01:12:45,160 --> 01:12:47,400
Schultz.
He, I think his name was and

1298
01:12:47,400 --> 01:12:50,560
another Minnesotan, right?
So he said, hey, I need help.

1299
01:12:50,560 --> 01:12:54,880
I need, I need to you know,
coached me here and what ended

1300
01:12:54,880 --> 01:12:58,800
up happening was Dick said if I
do this, you pay it forward.

1301
01:13:00,200 --> 01:13:04,360
So I read the book Chrissy was
telling me, my girlfriend, that

1302
01:13:04,600 --> 01:13:07,280
he was coming in to Morton's or
somewhere or whatever.

1303
01:13:07,520 --> 01:13:10,680
I basically called him out and
said, hey man, I'm your I'm your

1304
01:13:10,680 --> 01:13:13,840
pay it forward.
And my name is Paul Streitz.

1305
01:13:14,240 --> 01:13:16,160
He goes, do you know Tommy
Streitz?

1306
01:13:16,160 --> 01:13:18,440
I said, yeah, it's my cousin.
All right.

1307
01:13:18,440 --> 01:13:20,320
What's your number?
I'll have my assistant call you

1308
01:13:21,200 --> 01:13:22,400
the next day.
I get a call.

1309
01:13:22,680 --> 01:13:27,040
I now got coaching from a guy
that coached Al Gore, a guy that

1310
01:13:27,040 --> 01:13:30,200
worked with Lee Iacocca.
I mean, this is like, wow.

1311
01:13:30,200 --> 01:13:32,840
And I don't know what I'm going
to do with it, but I So I went

1312
01:13:32,840 --> 01:13:35,720
to his house in Minneapolis, You
know, Fast forward to when we

1313
01:13:35,720 --> 01:13:39,240
had a meeting and I sit there
and this guy's ripped.

1314
01:13:39,240 --> 01:13:42,560
I mean, he's like 6-6 and ripped
and 60 years old probably at the

1315
01:13:42,560 --> 01:13:44,360
time.
And I'm like, wow, man.

1316
01:13:44,760 --> 01:13:48,120
And he he says, OK, here's what
we're going to do.

1317
01:13:48,680 --> 01:13:51,920
We're going to breathe.
I said OK, I am breathing.

1318
01:13:52,640 --> 01:13:53,960
You know, I totally didn't get
it.

1319
01:13:54,080 --> 01:13:58,240
I was like 40 and and and and he
knows no, we're going to

1320
01:13:58,240 --> 01:13:59,840
breathe.
What I want you to do is sit

1321
01:13:59,840 --> 01:14:02,200
with me and get your posture and
we breathe for like 5 minutes

1322
01:14:02,200 --> 01:14:05,480
and he says, how do you feel?
I said I feel OK here's my

1323
01:14:05,480 --> 01:14:08,800
financials and no, no, tell me
about your life and I go, what

1324
01:14:08,800 --> 01:14:11,120
do you want to know?
He goes anything you want to

1325
01:14:11,120 --> 01:14:12,640
tell me?
I'd maybe I don't know what the

1326
01:14:12,640 --> 01:14:14,880
hell I said.
He says great, we're done for

1327
01:14:14,880 --> 01:14:16,120
the day.
It was like an hour.

1328
01:14:16,120 --> 01:14:17,000
What?
The heck?

1329
01:14:17,240 --> 01:14:18,800
I go, but don't you want to look
at my financials?

1330
01:14:18,800 --> 01:14:19,920
He goes.
Well, maybe next time.

1331
01:14:20,240 --> 01:14:23,520
See you next week.
Everybody says I want you to do

1332
01:14:23,520 --> 01:14:26,520
something.
I want you to journal something

1333
01:14:26,520 --> 01:14:31,320
about your life from the last,
you know, whenever you can think

1334
01:14:31,320 --> 01:14:35,960
of in your in your childhood
anytime and again that now it's

1335
01:14:35,960 --> 01:14:37,880
pressing on my academic.
I'm not a writer.

1336
01:14:37,880 --> 01:14:40,000
I'm not this, he says, I don't
care.

1337
01:14:40,000 --> 01:14:43,280
It's only between you and I.
So I wrote a story down, Get

1338
01:14:43,280 --> 01:14:46,240
there, show them the story.
We talk a lot about it.

1339
01:14:46,560 --> 01:14:51,000
And again, we had to breathe 1st
and meditate and at the end of

1340
01:14:51,000 --> 01:14:53,160
it goes great.
OK, Next week, I want to see the

1341
01:14:53,160 --> 01:14:55,720
next story.
And I said what about the

1342
01:14:55,720 --> 01:14:59,000
financials?
And he's like, no, no, we'll get

1343
01:14:59,000 --> 01:15:02,040
to it, don't worry about it.
This happened like 6 times and

1344
01:15:02,040 --> 01:15:05,360
they go, listen, Tom, I said I
really need help in my business.

1345
01:15:05,360 --> 01:15:09,080
He says what you're not seeing
is how much help you're helping

1346
01:15:09,080 --> 01:15:10,360
yourself.
I said, what are you talking

1347
01:15:10,360 --> 01:15:12,120
about?
Well, he said this story, this

1348
01:15:12,120 --> 01:15:15,000
story, this story, this story.
You see the pattern.

1349
01:15:15,640 --> 01:15:18,720
You see what the universe is
trying to tell you, and you're

1350
01:15:18,720 --> 01:15:24,360
so worried about what's going on
that you're not seeing the help

1351
01:15:24,360 --> 01:15:27,440
the universe is giving you.
And and it was true.

1352
01:15:27,640 --> 01:15:30,000
And so I kept going.
I end up writing, I think 29

1353
01:15:30,000 --> 01:15:32,800
stories.
And we never did look at my

1354
01:15:32,800 --> 01:15:36,360
financials.
But he told me, he says you

1355
01:15:36,360 --> 01:15:40,240
can't be a better boss unless
you're a better you.

1356
01:15:40,600 --> 01:15:44,680
And when you become better at
being you, you'll be way better

1357
01:15:44,680 --> 01:15:46,920
at all that other stuff.
And he said, I said, is this

1358
01:15:46,920 --> 01:15:48,720
what Richard Schultz did for
you?

1359
01:15:48,720 --> 01:15:50,680
He says, yeah.
He says he made me look really

1360
01:15:50,680 --> 01:15:54,720
long and hearted myself and
figured out that, you know, just

1361
01:15:54,720 --> 01:15:57,200
because you have employee
problems or this problem or

1362
01:15:57,480 --> 01:15:59,440
financial problems, it's all
about you.

1363
01:15:59,440 --> 01:16:01,680
Yeah, you were the leader of
your company.

1364
01:16:01,680 --> 01:16:03,080
You have to be the best you can
be.

1365
01:16:03,480 --> 01:16:04,800
And that was a really good
lesson.

1366
01:16:04,800 --> 01:16:08,160
So bottom line is I end up
having a book and I had to get

1367
01:16:08,160 --> 01:16:10,480
it edited twice.
Hang on a SEC though it wasn't a

1368
01:16:10,680 --> 01:16:14,560
did he ever invest in you or or
get become part of your business

1369
01:16:14,560 --> 01:16:18,760
or I mean the advice was.
I never, I never asked him to.

1370
01:16:19,720 --> 01:16:22,080
I never asked him to invest.
We never had investors.

1371
01:16:22,080 --> 01:16:25,560
Oh, you were asking for advice?
Yeah, it was just, it was just I

1372
01:16:25,560 --> 01:16:28,200
needed to be a better.
Well, at the end of the day, I

1373
01:16:28,200 --> 01:16:30,640
needed to be a better me.
But I just thought that you

1374
01:16:30,640 --> 01:16:32,880
know, what can I do to make my
company better?

1375
01:16:32,880 --> 01:16:35,280
But he gave me exactly what I
needed.

1376
01:16:35,640 --> 01:16:37,680
We ended up becoming partners in
a business.

1377
01:16:37,960 --> 01:16:40,640
We bought the rights.
When I was a flight attendant I

1378
01:16:40,640 --> 01:16:44,680
used to remember we were the
airline for the Oprah Winfrey

1379
01:16:44,680 --> 01:16:48,600
show and we carried her a lot
and she was flying to Amarillo,

1380
01:16:48,600 --> 01:16:55,240
TX during a big and in their mid
90s during a beef lawsuit.

1381
01:16:55,240 --> 01:16:59,360
She had a guest she had on her
show convinced her that beef was

1382
01:16:59,360 --> 01:17:02,160
bad.
This is mad cow disease and big

1383
01:17:02,160 --> 01:17:08,920
cattle ranching and feed, feed
lots and and she said I'll never

1384
01:17:08,920 --> 01:17:10,440
eat a hamburger again on her
show.

1385
01:17:10,760 --> 01:17:14,040
And the Texas Cattlemen
Association sued her for saying

1386
01:17:14,040 --> 01:17:19,240
that and sued Howard Lyman and
who's very famous for this, by

1387
01:17:19,240 --> 01:17:23,360
the way, He's very famous.
He's a third generation major

1388
01:17:23,360 --> 01:17:26,760
cattle rancher, went vegan.
And I remember having them on

1389
01:17:26,760 --> 01:17:31,480
the airplane all the time.
And so Tom told me he met Howard

1390
01:17:31,480 --> 01:17:32,640
Lyman.
That's, I met that guy.

1391
01:17:32,640 --> 01:17:33,640
I know what you're talking
about.

1392
01:17:34,040 --> 01:17:37,000
Well, he wrote a book.
He goes, let's buy the right to

1393
01:17:37,000 --> 01:17:41,040
make a movie.
I said OK, so we partnered in

1394
01:17:41,040 --> 01:17:45,280
something we call Mad Cowboy
Productions, and I was in charge

1395
01:17:45,280 --> 01:17:49,560
of trying to find agents and
writers, and I found a writer

1396
01:17:49,560 --> 01:17:53,880
that wrote a River Runs through
It, I think, yeah, River runs

1397
01:17:53,880 --> 01:17:59,960
through it.
And I started dating on a girl

1398
01:17:59,960 --> 01:18:04,320
in LA and and she got me hooked
up with all these producers.

1399
01:18:04,320 --> 01:18:06,600
I remember when you were doing
all that, yeah.

1400
01:18:07,280 --> 01:18:10,320
Yeah, and and we ended up, we
had a great thing.

1401
01:18:10,960 --> 01:18:15,280
But Howard had the writer of his
book was a personal friend and

1402
01:18:15,280 --> 01:18:18,160
'cause there's a book called Mad
Cowboy and he did not like the

1403
01:18:18,160 --> 01:18:21,160
story.
He didn't like the way we went

1404
01:18:21,160 --> 01:18:24,960
with it, which his way would
have been super boring and we

1405
01:18:24,960 --> 01:18:26,720
had to do some, some things to
make it.

1406
01:18:26,720 --> 01:18:30,080
I mean, it was cool in itself,
but we just never got it funded.

1407
01:18:30,080 --> 01:18:32,200
But we had huge actors side to
it.

1408
01:18:32,400 --> 01:18:35,080
It just never got funded.
And yeah, but so Tom and I,

1409
01:18:35,080 --> 01:18:37,960
we're in business together.
We're still friends and in that

1410
01:18:37,960 --> 01:18:40,760
process I became friends with
Bobby Kennedy Junior.

1411
01:18:40,960 --> 01:18:42,880
Used to go skiing with them all
the time.

1412
01:18:43,200 --> 01:18:47,080
And yeah, we went skiing like 5
different times.

1413
01:18:47,080 --> 01:18:49,480
In Deer Valley, UT you had this
thing called the Celebrity Ski

1414
01:18:49,480 --> 01:18:51,920
Fest.
He invited me out and he paid

1415
01:18:51,920 --> 01:18:54,840
for everything.
It was so gracious and it was

1416
01:18:54,840 --> 01:18:59,040
fun and that was kind of like
from O 9 to 13.

1417
01:18:59,720 --> 01:19:03,920
Back to the book.
So you know, through this this

1418
01:19:03,920 --> 01:19:07,320
guy who you met, this big
entrepreneur, you know,

1419
01:19:07,400 --> 01:19:11,000
successful guy, he basically
forced you to write a few

1420
01:19:11,000 --> 01:19:13,120
chapters or some stories
anyways.

1421
01:19:13,400 --> 01:19:17,280
And those stories I I'm
guessing, LED into what became

1422
01:19:17,280 --> 01:19:20,440
the book.
Yeah, I guess what I left out

1423
01:19:20,440 --> 01:19:26,200
was after the sixth time.
I had six stories and I'm like,

1424
01:19:26,200 --> 01:19:28,120
whatever.
And he told me the whole

1425
01:19:28,120 --> 01:19:31,080
universe.
He says no, you have 6 chapters

1426
01:19:31,080 --> 01:19:32,760
to your book.
I said I'm not writing a book.

1427
01:19:33,880 --> 01:19:36,360
What are you talking about?
There you are, he says.

1428
01:19:36,360 --> 01:19:38,480
I don't care if it ever gets
published, but you're writing

1429
01:19:38,480 --> 01:19:42,400
your book, you're writing your
guide, and you're going to read

1430
01:19:42,400 --> 01:19:44,480
through these stories when
you're done, however many you

1431
01:19:44,480 --> 01:19:47,760
do, and you're going to know
exactly what you need to do in

1432
01:19:47,760 --> 01:19:50,400
life.
And he was so right.

1433
01:19:50,480 --> 01:19:53,360
I'm not kidding you.
There was so many instances from

1434
01:19:53,360 --> 01:19:59,160
when I was a child to teenager,
because to this day I'm super

1435
01:19:59,160 --> 01:20:02,000
insecure.
I The book started doing really

1436
01:20:02,000 --> 01:20:04,680
well and I was invited on talk
shows and TV shows and.

1437
01:20:05,120 --> 01:20:07,080
And I would feel like I was
going to faint.

1438
01:20:07,080 --> 01:20:08,440
And you know, people say it's
stage fright.

1439
01:20:08,680 --> 01:20:10,400
Well, I got to the point where I
was fainting.

1440
01:20:10,520 --> 01:20:12,720
I mean, it wasn't like, wow, you
know, I don't see too many

1441
01:20:12,720 --> 01:20:15,360
people faint on stage.
I got up and started speaking

1442
01:20:15,360 --> 01:20:19,560
for people and paid.
And I I was so nervous and I

1443
01:20:19,560 --> 01:20:23,880
figured it out that I I didn't
feel like I I deserved it and I

1444
01:20:23,880 --> 01:20:26,080
wanted to give it away.
You know, and.

1445
01:20:26,640 --> 01:20:30,320
Imposter syndrome.
Yeah, I just like I can't do

1446
01:20:30,440 --> 01:20:32,320
this.
I have to give it away, but we

1447
01:20:32,320 --> 01:20:33,800
so.
Bouncer syndrome.

1448
01:20:34,520 --> 01:20:36,760
It's a it's a pretty common
thing, by the way, like people

1449
01:20:36,760 --> 01:20:39,680
just feeling I'm not worthy, you
know, Like, I I don't deserve

1450
01:20:39,680 --> 01:20:43,520
this success I'm having or I'm
not smart enough, I'm not tall

1451
01:20:43,520 --> 01:20:45,760
enough, I'm not good enough,
whatever it is.

1452
01:20:46,960 --> 01:20:49,840
But yeah, So what about the name
Blue Collar Buddha?

1453
01:20:49,840 --> 01:20:52,440
Where'd that come from?
Well, it was funny.

1454
01:20:52,440 --> 01:20:54,600
I was gonna call it the Naked
CEO.

1455
01:20:55,520 --> 01:20:58,640
There's a lot of cool chapters
that are that anybody can relate

1456
01:20:58,720 --> 01:21:02,320
to and but a lot of it's
business and and I basically

1457
01:21:02,320 --> 01:21:05,560
it's I've always imagined you
peeling the onion back you know

1458
01:21:05,560 --> 01:21:08,680
the onion and you're getting to
the core of what we think about

1459
01:21:08,680 --> 01:21:11,880
at night when we put our head on
a pillow what worries us but

1460
01:21:11,880 --> 01:21:18,320
right before that was a a book
had been claimed called the

1461
01:21:18,320 --> 01:21:22,360
Naked CEO So I'm like damn it
you know I is that gonna work?

1462
01:21:22,440 --> 01:21:26,400
So then my what, 'cause you kind
of peel in the onion.

1463
01:21:26,480 --> 01:21:28,960
You know, you're you're taking,
you're taking everything you're

1464
01:21:28,960 --> 01:21:30,320
looking under the hood kind of
thing.

1465
01:21:30,320 --> 01:21:33,600
And I get it.
And yeah, and it probably wasn't

1466
01:21:33,600 --> 01:21:36,240
a great name and I don't let
Blue Collar Buddha was a good

1467
01:21:36,240 --> 01:21:37,520
name either.
But it worked.

1468
01:21:38,360 --> 01:21:43,560
I grew up Blue Collar and I'm
giving life wisdoms, if you

1469
01:21:43,560 --> 01:21:46,480
will, of, you know, trials or
tribulations of my life.

1470
01:21:47,000 --> 01:21:50,280
And so to me, Blue Collar is
where I grew up in Buddha.

1471
01:21:50,560 --> 01:21:52,280
It's not really a spiritual
book.

1472
01:21:52,280 --> 01:21:55,160
It can be a little bit
universally, but it's just

1473
01:21:55,240 --> 01:21:59,000
Buddha to me was always the
wisdom wise and you know, and I

1474
01:21:59,080 --> 01:22:00,920
don't even know if that was
accurate, but I thought that

1475
01:22:00,920 --> 01:22:02,600
works so I made a blue collar
Buddha.

1476
01:22:03,120 --> 01:22:06,160
Yeah, I mean, I guess Buddha to
me said that there was some sort

1477
01:22:06,160 --> 01:22:09,160
of a religious sort of tone to
it or something.

1478
01:22:09,480 --> 01:22:11,520
But is it?
Is it available in audiobook

1479
01:22:11,520 --> 01:22:13,880
too?
I think so.

1480
01:22:13,880 --> 01:22:18,800
No, no, it's not Kindle and
paperback.

1481
01:22:19,080 --> 01:22:20,960
And.
And it's they're short.

1482
01:22:21,080 --> 01:22:24,600
Here's the thing, I've I've read
maybe four books in my entire

1483
01:22:24,600 --> 01:22:25,960
life, and none of them were in
school.

1484
01:22:25,960 --> 01:22:28,040
I cheated my way through that
It.

1485
01:22:28,040 --> 01:22:31,160
They're short chapters.
Yeah, they're short chapters.

1486
01:22:31,160 --> 01:22:33,880
And I did that on purpose.
So there might be only two or

1487
01:22:33,880 --> 01:22:36,960
three pages for a whole chapter.
And they're engaging.

1488
01:22:37,120 --> 01:22:39,560
I mean, I was in business with
the cartel, didn't know it.

1489
01:22:39,720 --> 01:22:42,440
I was in Russia and in a Russian
hospital.

1490
01:22:42,960 --> 01:22:47,880
I got military robbed in Brazil.
That's all in there.

1491
01:22:48,160 --> 01:22:51,640
I mean, it's some crazy shit in
there, but they read really

1492
01:22:51,640 --> 01:22:54,000
quick and then at the end of
each chapter I asked very

1493
01:22:54,000 --> 01:22:57,120
important questions about this
is what I did.

1494
01:22:57,120 --> 01:22:59,760
What would you do?
Would you handle this

1495
01:22:59,760 --> 01:23:01,840
differently?
So they're they're provoking

1496
01:23:01,840 --> 01:23:04,680
yourself to think about your
life and your trials or

1497
01:23:04,680 --> 01:23:09,000
tribulations or fun things.
Did you necessarily do it the

1498
01:23:09,000 --> 01:23:11,320
way you would if looking back,
would you have done something

1499
01:23:11,320 --> 01:23:13,040
differently?
So it's kind of fun.

1500
01:23:13,160 --> 01:23:15,360
That's a good statement, 'cause
I was actually gonna ask you,

1501
01:23:15,360 --> 01:23:18,920
looking back at writing this
book, are there any chapters

1502
01:23:18,920 --> 01:23:20,200
you'd change?
Is there?

1503
01:23:20,200 --> 01:23:23,040
Are there lessons in there that
you might change or tweak or

1504
01:23:23,040 --> 01:23:24,400
edit a little bit?
Or.

1505
01:23:25,960 --> 01:23:30,680
There's a group of chapters or a
section called Love and Money.

1506
01:23:31,240 --> 01:23:39,760
And I definitely realized that I
I struggled with identity a

1507
01:23:39,760 --> 01:23:42,480
little bit when we talked about,
you know, use cards, the money

1508
01:23:42,480 --> 01:23:44,200
you have, the money you have
this and that and

1509
01:23:44,200 --> 01:23:46,920
misidentifying.
Why is somebody with me?

1510
01:23:47,120 --> 01:23:51,280
And there's at least one
relationship in there that was

1511
01:23:51,280 --> 01:23:54,520
definitely more financial.
Meaning, you know, I don't know

1512
01:23:54,520 --> 01:23:57,240
whether she would date me the
way I am today, but I don't

1513
01:23:57,240 --> 01:24:00,560
think she would have dated me
before I had money and and I

1514
01:24:00,560 --> 01:24:03,560
don't have a lot of money now.
But I'm saying the old Paul

1515
01:24:03,560 --> 01:24:06,800
didn't know who he was.
The new Paul knows who he is and

1516
01:24:06,800 --> 01:24:09,960
he doesn't have a lot of money.
He's doing OK Would she date

1517
01:24:09,960 --> 01:24:12,200
that person?
But I think, you know, the

1518
01:24:12,200 --> 01:24:14,480
bottom line is I've learned some
valuable lessons and

1519
01:24:14,480 --> 01:24:16,480
relationships.
I've learned some valuable

1520
01:24:16,480 --> 01:24:21,200
lessons on partnerships and
trust and and it's not that I'm

1521
01:24:21,200 --> 01:24:24,160
less trusting, but I have so
much more experience now and and

1522
01:24:24,160 --> 01:24:28,880
going you can't just give a
company, a part of a company to

1523
01:24:28,880 --> 01:24:30,960
somebody they have to pay
something for IT.

1524
01:24:30,960 --> 01:24:33,840
People you know like waste lot
weight loss programs.

1525
01:24:34,120 --> 01:24:36,360
If it's giving it to you for
free, you don't even do it.

1526
01:24:36,520 --> 01:24:39,160
But if you pay for it, you're
probably going to go work out

1527
01:24:39,160 --> 01:24:40,600
for a little bit anyway.
Yeah, totally true.

1528
01:24:41,120 --> 01:24:46,040
Staying in the game.
So yeah, I just those are little

1529
01:24:46,040 --> 01:24:51,800
lessons I've learned and to
really not sweat, you know what

1530
01:24:51,800 --> 01:24:53,080
is it?
Don't sweat the small stuff.

1531
01:24:53,080 --> 01:24:55,040
Just let it go.
You know it's going to get

1532
01:24:55,040 --> 01:24:57,400
better.
You know it's it's you're having

1533
01:24:57,400 --> 01:24:59,160
a hard time now, but have some
faith.

1534
01:24:59,160 --> 01:25:02,480
Work hard, believe in yourself,
and it'll it just always be

1535
01:25:02,480 --> 01:25:05,600
positive.
Did did anything big come from

1536
01:25:05,600 --> 01:25:07,840
the book?
Like did did you get speaking

1537
01:25:07,840 --> 01:25:11,680
engagements or like you said you
got invited to be on television

1538
01:25:11,680 --> 01:25:13,160
and to be interviewed and all
that stuff.

1539
01:25:13,160 --> 01:25:16,840
But like did were there any
business spin offs that came

1540
01:25:17,040 --> 01:25:18,680
because of the book
opportunities?

1541
01:25:19,760 --> 01:25:23,760
Yeah, I, the speaking thing was
becoming big and I really hated

1542
01:25:23,760 --> 01:25:24,880
it.
Really.

1543
01:25:24,960 --> 01:25:28,400
Maybe state yeah, the I the
stage fright.

1544
01:25:28,600 --> 01:25:32,880
One of the things that I learned
to overcome that a little bit,

1545
01:25:33,440 --> 01:25:36,640
but the guests, the people that
invited me thought I was nuts.

1546
01:25:37,080 --> 01:25:39,200
I would go in before I was
supposed to go on stage and

1547
01:25:39,200 --> 01:25:43,440
speak and use it here like
anywhere from 10 people to maybe

1548
01:25:43,440 --> 01:25:47,840
100 people.
I would go and I would come in

1549
01:25:47,840 --> 01:25:51,040
through the where everybody's
seated and introduce myself to

1550
01:25:51,040 --> 01:25:53,480
every single person and say
thank you for coming.

1551
01:25:53,480 --> 01:25:56,440
They're.
Not I can't wait anymore and

1552
01:25:56,440 --> 01:25:58,920
that helped me, but I still felt
really weird.

1553
01:25:59,240 --> 01:26:01,480
I just felt like who?
Who am I to like you?

1554
01:26:01,520 --> 01:26:05,400
I you said it best, you know,
not worthy kind of thing and

1555
01:26:05,760 --> 01:26:09,080
impostor and and and I said I'd
rather give it away.

1556
01:26:09,080 --> 01:26:10,640
I didn't write this book to make
money.

1557
01:26:10,640 --> 01:26:15,600
I wrote this book to help people
that were like me and and and

1558
01:26:15,600 --> 01:26:18,360
and so I was invited on a Doctor
Phil's show.

1559
01:26:18,360 --> 01:26:21,080
If I had gotten that, that would
have been about 100,000 books.

1560
01:26:21,640 --> 01:26:25,360
But it was one of those where
they have a segment that could

1561
01:26:25,360 --> 01:26:28,560
go one way or the other.
And so you're in the audience.

1562
01:26:28,560 --> 01:26:30,440
I don't know if you ever watched
Doctor Phil's show.

1563
01:26:30,480 --> 01:26:33,800
No.
So they're talking to somebody

1564
01:26:33,800 --> 01:26:36,120
and maybe had some trials and
relations in life or

1565
01:26:36,120 --> 01:26:38,120
relationship issues.
I mean I covered a few.

1566
01:26:38,240 --> 01:26:40,560
Or cancer.
Well, we just happen to have an

1567
01:26:40,560 --> 01:26:43,200
expert on cancer wrote a book
called Blue Collar Buddha and

1568
01:26:43,200 --> 01:26:46,160
they had panned to me and you
know, maybe I have a three

1569
01:26:46,160 --> 01:26:49,080
minute, you know, inter, you
know, interaction, cool

1570
01:26:49,360 --> 01:26:51,640
opportunity.
It ended up getting cancelled.

1571
01:26:51,640 --> 01:26:53,600
It didn't, it didn't ever go all
the way.

1572
01:26:53,840 --> 01:26:56,680
But everybody tells me in the
author world, that's 100,000

1573
01:26:56,680 --> 01:26:59,320
books.
And I negotiated to deal with

1574
01:26:59,320 --> 01:27:03,240
the publisher because I said why
would I have a publisher when

1575
01:27:03,240 --> 01:27:04,960
they, I'm nobody famous.
They're not going to be able to

1576
01:27:04,960 --> 01:27:07,920
help me.
So I started my own publishing

1577
01:27:07,920 --> 01:27:10,280
company.
And so I made all the profits.

1578
01:27:11,280 --> 01:27:14,920
So, you know, like I did.
Amazon was, you know, the

1579
01:27:14,920 --> 01:27:17,240
biggest seller.
So let's say the book was, I

1580
01:27:17,240 --> 01:27:20,600
don't know, 20 bucks.
Amazon only got like 5 of it.

1581
01:27:20,600 --> 01:27:22,520
I got 15 of it.
So you can even imagine if I

1582
01:27:22,520 --> 01:27:24,880
sold 100,000 bucks.
Wow, That would have been

1583
01:27:24,880 --> 01:27:25,480
something.
But.

1584
01:27:25,800 --> 01:27:27,440
But I did.
It never happened.

1585
01:27:27,800 --> 01:27:29,520
Yeah, real money.
I never had.

1586
01:27:29,520 --> 01:27:32,800
I never, I never went that far.
But I sold thousands of books.

1587
01:27:32,800 --> 01:27:35,560
I did pretty well, you know, and
and I enjoyed it.

1588
01:27:35,560 --> 01:27:36,760
I don't even think about it
anymore.

1589
01:27:36,760 --> 01:27:38,520
I don't even own a copy of it.
But.

1590
01:27:38,720 --> 01:27:42,320
Yeah, you know, I think I'm
gonna, I think I'm gonna put it

1591
01:27:42,320 --> 01:27:44,160
on my Kindle.
I'm gonna, I'm gonna check it

1592
01:27:44,160 --> 01:27:48,480
out, cuz I just think I relate
to so many of your stories, you

1593
01:27:48,480 --> 01:27:50,600
know?
And I mean The funny thing is,

1594
01:27:50,600 --> 01:27:54,400
like public speaking kills me.
Like I am nervous for two days

1595
01:27:54,400 --> 01:27:56,040
before it.
I get a stomach ache.

1596
01:27:56,040 --> 01:27:59,600
I'm sweating, shaking.
And for the first, like, I just

1597
01:27:59,600 --> 01:28:02,880
had to do it a few weeks ago.
I there's a software company

1598
01:28:02,880 --> 01:28:06,240
that I'm actually a customer of
and I just love the product.

1599
01:28:06,600 --> 01:28:10,800
And so I've become sort of a,
you know, just a power user of

1600
01:28:10,800 --> 01:28:13,040
their product.
And they asked me to come.

1601
01:28:13,040 --> 01:28:14,520
They were doing their big
launch.

1602
01:28:14,520 --> 01:28:17,400
I was using their beta product.
They invited me to their launch

1603
01:28:17,400 --> 01:28:21,120
thing in Miami.
And it was for like 300 people

1604
01:28:21,120 --> 01:28:24,560
that were billionaires, tech
entrepreneurs, you know,

1605
01:28:25,240 --> 01:28:27,480
gazillionaires.
Like the, the founder of

1606
01:28:27,480 --> 01:28:31,000
Shutterstock was there.
The, like a bunch of founders of

1607
01:28:31,000 --> 01:28:33,280
these really big tech companies
and stuff were there.

1608
01:28:33,520 --> 01:28:36,920
And I had to speak.
And, you know, so I was trying

1609
01:28:36,920 --> 01:28:39,920
not to sell, psych myself up.
I was like, ah, this is nothing.

1610
01:28:39,920 --> 01:28:41,480
These people don't know me and
all this stuff.

1611
01:28:41,760 --> 01:28:48,000
But the first few words that
came out were like, you know,

1612
01:28:48,000 --> 01:28:49,440
like I didn't know what I was
saying.

1613
01:28:49,800 --> 01:28:53,320
But after the first sentence or
two, I just, I go with it at

1614
01:28:53,320 --> 01:28:54,880
that point.
And it's easy, you know, and

1615
01:28:54,880 --> 01:28:58,120
then you can't shut me up.
But but I always wanted to be a

1616
01:28:58,120 --> 01:29:01,240
public speaker as part of my
thing.

1617
01:29:01,240 --> 01:29:04,720
So that means I always wanted to
maybe write a book, not because

1618
01:29:04,720 --> 01:29:08,160
I think I can make money selling
it, but because it legitimizes

1619
01:29:08,160 --> 01:29:11,080
you as a public speaker.
Right.

1620
01:29:11,080 --> 01:29:12,800
Like it.
It's something that you kind of

1621
01:29:12,800 --> 01:29:14,640
need to validate yourself,
right?

1622
01:29:15,080 --> 01:29:19,400
But here's the crazy thing.
I grew up a singer in a rock

1623
01:29:19,400 --> 01:29:25,520
band and would sing at the
center of the front of the stage

1624
01:29:25,520 --> 01:29:27,920
to 1000 people and I was never
nervous.

1625
01:29:28,520 --> 01:29:32,000
And yet, you know, have me go up
there and talk about a subject

1626
01:29:32,000 --> 01:29:36,240
that I know a lot about and all
of a sudden I'm like, shit in.

1627
01:29:36,240 --> 01:29:38,320
My It's so true.
I mean, you look at a lot of

1628
01:29:38,320 --> 01:29:40,160
famous people.
They have a really hard time

1629
01:29:40,160 --> 01:29:43,200
doing talk shows, but they were
great at acting and they can go

1630
01:29:43,200 --> 01:29:46,680
accept an award and no problem.
But I mean, it's getting

1631
01:29:46,680 --> 01:29:48,520
personal like that.
It's a little harder.

1632
01:29:48,920 --> 01:29:50,640
Yeah.
You know, and and and I'll tell

1633
01:29:50,640 --> 01:29:55,480
you that we just had that moment
when I said if you start talking

1634
01:29:55,480 --> 01:29:58,440
about things you're a little
nervous of, they'll say many

1635
01:29:58,440 --> 01:30:01,480
people say me too.
I mean yeah you know me you're

1636
01:30:01,480 --> 01:30:03,920
you're basically saying and I
remember you in the industry

1637
01:30:03,920 --> 01:30:06,040
when I was trying to crack in
the entertainment world.

1638
01:30:06,320 --> 01:30:09,160
I mean you were you know Martin
I mean huge.

1639
01:30:09,160 --> 01:30:11,480
And I'm like that guy seems
really cool.

1640
01:30:11,480 --> 01:30:12,560
I I'd like to know him.
I was.

1641
01:30:12,920 --> 01:30:16,120
And it you were.
I mean were is it?

1642
01:30:16,200 --> 01:30:17,160
No.
Yeah, yeah.

1643
01:30:17,640 --> 01:30:19,600
Exactly.
But you know and but we don't

1644
01:30:19,640 --> 01:30:23,320
always view ourselves the way
other people view us.

1645
01:30:23,440 --> 01:30:26,480
And and and that is another
thing to.

1646
01:30:26,600 --> 01:30:29,280
Well, usually the opposite way
that most people think, like

1647
01:30:29,280 --> 01:30:31,520
most people would think you're
an arrogant prick and I'm an

1648
01:30:31,520 --> 01:30:34,400
arrogant prick, but actually,
we're both probably pretty

1649
01:30:34,400 --> 01:30:37,880
insecure and we both think
pretty poorly of ourselves.

1650
01:30:37,880 --> 01:30:41,520
Like, we're we're our biggest
critic, our biggest enemy.

1651
01:30:41,520 --> 01:30:44,000
We're the people who beat
ourselves up the most.

1652
01:30:44,120 --> 01:30:47,280
When other people are praising
us, we're going, no, I'm shit.

1653
01:30:47,280 --> 01:30:49,360
I haven't accomplished anything,
you know.

1654
01:30:49,680 --> 01:30:51,440
So true.
It's so true.

1655
01:30:51,520 --> 01:30:53,880
But it's amazing, 'cause people
probably think you're just an

1656
01:30:53,880 --> 01:30:55,600
arrogant asshole.
And me too.

1657
01:30:55,920 --> 01:30:59,840
And I'm the opposite of that.
I'm literally the opposite of

1658
01:30:59,840 --> 01:31:02,200
that.
And I'll tell you what what I've

1659
01:31:02,240 --> 01:31:08,240
learned in my time with Tom and
since Tom Gigaks and the book

1660
01:31:08,240 --> 01:31:13,000
and just life in general.
If I have an approach that I

1661
01:31:13,000 --> 01:31:16,080
really truly just want to help a
human being.

1662
01:31:16,760 --> 01:31:19,360
You know, we have customers that
call us up because we haven't

1663
01:31:19,360 --> 01:31:22,400
talked about what I do now, but
customers that call us up and

1664
01:31:24,280 --> 01:31:27,440
and I really can help them and
like I really care and I really

1665
01:31:27,440 --> 01:31:31,520
want to help them.
Sometimes I have to tell them I

1666
01:31:32,040 --> 01:31:34,920
I don't want your business.
I'll help you with someone else

1667
01:31:34,920 --> 01:31:38,520
so they can really believe me or
go investigate others and come

1668
01:31:38,520 --> 01:31:41,200
back to me if we're still
worthy.

1669
01:31:41,560 --> 01:31:45,720
And and and really the more I
give the more I get back and and

1670
01:31:45,720 --> 01:31:48,720
it never would have thought that
ever, ever ever would have

1671
01:31:48,720 --> 01:31:49,960
thought that.
But it's true.

1672
01:31:50,200 --> 01:31:52,600
The more I help out.
Tomorrow I'm going to see a

1673
01:31:52,600 --> 01:31:55,000
great customer of mine become
great friends.

1674
01:31:55,240 --> 01:31:59,920
I just gave him 13 lights for
free but he also bought 6 of 1/6

1675
01:31:59,920 --> 01:32:02,040
of another light.
That's like 10 times the cost.

1676
01:32:02,240 --> 01:32:05,240
I gave him some ones that we
discontinued, but he still has

1677
01:32:05,240 --> 01:32:06,760
them.
And, you know, they've expired.

1678
01:32:06,760 --> 01:32:08,520
They're like 8 years old.
I said, well, I'll give you

1679
01:32:08,520 --> 01:32:10,320
some, but we still have some on
the shelves.

1680
01:32:10,320 --> 01:32:12,480
They're brand new.
We we took them out of, out of

1681
01:32:12,480 --> 01:32:16,080
the rotation and oh, no, I'll
buy them so you don't have to

1682
01:32:16,080 --> 01:32:18,560
buy them.
You know, you give me so much

1683
01:32:18,560 --> 01:32:20,120
business.
I'll just bring them up.

1684
01:32:20,280 --> 01:32:22,440
It's those little things.
I'm going out there tomorrow to

1685
01:32:22,440 --> 01:32:27,400
take a lot of meter readings on
on wavelength and you know all

1686
01:32:27,400 --> 01:32:31,440
that and his barns and make sure
we have the right recipe for the

1687
01:32:31,440 --> 01:32:36,160
animals, which is kind of what I
do now and we do that for free.

1688
01:32:36,160 --> 01:32:37,640
I mean, we do that because we
care.

1689
01:32:38,080 --> 01:32:40,240
So yeah, I want to get into
that, what you're doing now.

1690
01:32:40,240 --> 01:32:43,480
So I mean, you're again, another
neat thing about you is that

1691
01:32:43,480 --> 01:32:46,440
you've had like 5 different
careers or whatever, right?

1692
01:32:46,440 --> 01:32:50,480
So and I mean, there's a thread
between a lot of the last ones,

1693
01:32:50,480 --> 01:32:53,120
you know, lighting, LED,
etcetera.

1694
01:32:53,520 --> 01:32:59,240
But so, you know, tell tell us a
little bit about, you know, A

1695
01:32:59,240 --> 01:33:02,720
what you're doing, and B how the
hell you came up with this this

1696
01:33:02,720 --> 01:33:05,760
one.
Well, what happened was, you

1697
01:33:05,760 --> 01:33:09,320
know, as I mentioned, I was now
trying to make a movie.

1698
01:33:09,680 --> 01:33:12,880
Had a place in LA, had a place
in Destin, FL, and of course

1699
01:33:13,200 --> 01:33:18,720
Minnesota on the lake.
And I'm burning cash like crazy.

1700
01:33:19,040 --> 01:33:24,160
And the movie had it went
through, I think I would have

1701
01:33:24,160 --> 01:33:28,520
had a whole different path,
'cause I'm pretty, I figured out

1702
01:33:28,520 --> 01:33:30,400
one thing.
As a producer of a movie, you're

1703
01:33:30,400 --> 01:33:32,080
like a general contractor of a
house.

1704
01:33:32,360 --> 01:33:36,840
You're putting everything
together and and I think that I

1705
01:33:36,840 --> 01:33:39,560
was pretty good at that, but
unfortunately it didn't happen.

1706
01:33:39,760 --> 01:33:40,960
So I started running out of
money.

1707
01:33:40,960 --> 01:33:42,880
I said well what do I know?
I know lighting, I'm going to

1708
01:33:42,880 --> 01:33:45,440
start a lighting company and I
thought I was going to do

1709
01:33:45,440 --> 01:33:49,000
commercial lighting.
I thought pretty easy segue to

1710
01:33:49,000 --> 01:33:51,480
get into.
Yes, it's really polluted with

1711
01:33:51,480 --> 01:33:55,120
competition, but you know, I
I'm, I know how to run things

1712
01:33:55,120 --> 01:33:57,840
efficiently.
I think I can make it work, but

1713
01:33:57,840 --> 01:34:02,280
you know where I'm at because
you were here literally within

1714
01:34:04,000 --> 01:34:08,960
10 miles, there's probably 300
agricultural farms of animal,

1715
01:34:08,960 --> 01:34:12,320
either dairy, poultry or swine
within 10 mile radius here.

1716
01:34:12,920 --> 01:34:15,480
And so all these all these
electricians were saying, but

1717
01:34:15,480 --> 01:34:17,360
can you light up this Turkey
barn, can you light up this

1718
01:34:17,360 --> 01:34:19,840
dairy barn, Can you light up
this, this hog farm?

1719
01:34:19,840 --> 01:34:23,120
I'm like, I don't know.
So I started doing research on

1720
01:34:23,120 --> 01:34:27,200
it and there is a science to the
wavelength of light.

1721
01:34:27,200 --> 01:34:29,560
We give certain types of
production.

1722
01:34:30,520 --> 01:34:34,520
There's research that supports
long day lighting and dairy.

1723
01:34:34,520 --> 01:34:40,320
You can gain 8% in in milk
production which is huge in in

1724
01:34:40,320 --> 01:34:46,080
in stimulating their hormonal of
a of a chicken with red light

1725
01:34:46,080 --> 01:34:51,120
for certain amount of time in a
certain wavelength along with

1726
01:34:51,120 --> 01:34:53,440
2700 Kelvin.
And the other time will

1727
01:34:53,440 --> 01:34:57,840
stimulate the the egg quality
and the and the they might lay

1728
01:34:57,840 --> 01:35:00,240
one extra egg a month.
When you have farms that are

1729
01:35:00,240 --> 01:35:04,960
laying 20 million eggs a day.
Yeah, you got this shit load of

1730
01:35:04,960 --> 01:35:05,920
birds.
It's real profit.

1731
01:35:06,120 --> 01:35:07,600
An egg or so.
A month is huge.

1732
01:35:07,840 --> 01:35:08,520
Yeah.
So.

1733
01:35:08,920 --> 01:35:15,360
So you basically saw, you saw an
underserved market that the

1734
01:35:15,360 --> 01:35:18,800
science was something that you
understood quite well and you

1735
01:35:18,800 --> 01:35:20,560
did a bit of research on it and
went well.

1736
01:35:20,560 --> 01:35:22,120
This is no brainer kind of
stuff.

1737
01:35:22,360 --> 01:35:25,600
You already probably knew where
to get the stuff manufactured.

1738
01:35:26,680 --> 01:35:29,320
Yeah, I didn't want to be a man.
I wanted to be a manufacturer.

1739
01:35:29,320 --> 01:35:32,760
But I mean, let's face it, I
mean I'm 60 years old today so

1740
01:35:32,760 --> 01:35:34,360
they're not, it's not my
birthday today, but you know,

1741
01:35:34,360 --> 01:35:38,720
I'm 60 years old and and then I
lost in my, you know, mid 50s or

1742
01:35:38,720 --> 01:35:41,280
whatever.
And I'm like I don't want to do

1743
01:35:41,280 --> 01:35:43,880
all that.
Although ironically I'm looking

1744
01:35:43,920 --> 01:35:47,520
at doing it right now.
But because Made in USA thinks

1745
01:35:47,520 --> 01:35:50,000
it's a big deal, we if we can
and compete we will.

1746
01:35:50,280 --> 01:35:52,680
But yeah, I knew where to get
stuff made, all that stuff I'd

1747
01:35:52,680 --> 01:35:57,960
learned in prior life and and so
yeah, it was easy.

1748
01:35:58,120 --> 01:36:02,360
I I did call Bill who was our
CTO all the way up to the merger

1749
01:36:02,360 --> 01:36:05,240
of Nexus with Advanced Lighting.
I said you want to do it again.

1750
01:36:05,240 --> 01:36:07,960
He said heck yeah he just
happened to be in between

1751
01:36:07,960 --> 01:36:14,440
projects.
So Bill is super like famous in

1752
01:36:14,440 --> 01:36:18,720
the whole fixture design
especially optics and efficiency

1753
01:36:18,960 --> 01:36:23,240
and we have fixtures that are
190 lumens per Watt and our

1754
01:36:23,240 --> 01:36:26,400
competition just takes LED
fixture that's 100 lumens per

1755
01:36:26,400 --> 01:36:30,000
Watt, sticks a frosted bulb on
it and go here you go.

1756
01:36:30,400 --> 01:36:33,480
And flicker is extremely
important.

1757
01:36:34,160 --> 01:36:38,640
Birds see flicker above 120
Hertz and.

1758
01:36:39,360 --> 01:36:40,720
God, I never would have known
that.

1759
01:36:41,280 --> 01:36:44,160
And I know a little bit about
this stuff, yeah.

1760
01:36:44,320 --> 01:36:48,920
And so bottom line is Bill, Bill
hopped on board and we took some

1761
01:36:48,920 --> 01:36:51,240
time, it took us some time to
penetrate the market again.

1762
01:36:51,560 --> 01:36:54,440
How do I get into the market?
Well, I found one of the biggest

1763
01:36:54,440 --> 01:36:57,600
players and found out where they
hang out and you know where they

1764
01:36:57,600 --> 01:37:00,480
drink and you know, it's the
backdoor approach.

1765
01:37:00,480 --> 01:37:02,400
But it worked and it's done
really well.

1766
01:37:02,600 --> 01:37:06,040
And now we're expanding and we
got a few new products coming

1767
01:37:06,040 --> 01:37:09,160
out and and you know, are we
there yet?

1768
01:37:09,160 --> 01:37:11,800
No.
But you know, like I said and I

1769
01:37:11,800 --> 01:37:15,600
remind myself during the days
that are struggling, this is the

1770
01:37:15,600 --> 01:37:16,760
journey, man.
It's fun.

1771
01:37:16,960 --> 01:37:19,680
Challenges are fun.
This is what make make me who I

1772
01:37:19,720 --> 01:37:21,720
am.
And yeah, and it keeps me going.

1773
01:37:22,200 --> 01:37:24,840
Yeah, I mean that, but.
Let's go, lumen hyphen pros.

1774
01:37:25,760 --> 01:37:29,080
Lumen Hyphen Pros Yes.
OK.

1775
01:37:30,320 --> 01:37:35,760
So I know a little bit about
that company and and have

1776
01:37:35,760 --> 01:37:38,360
definitely watched what you're
doing and stuff and and I

1777
01:37:38,360 --> 01:37:41,360
commend you, you know, again,
just reinventing yourself every

1778
01:37:41,360 --> 01:37:43,200
time.
Like, you know, you get kicked

1779
01:37:43,200 --> 01:37:46,000
into the dirt and you just go,
well, you know what, I'm gonna

1780
01:37:46,000 --> 01:37:50,640
go find something else to do.
And this stuff is pretty easy,

1781
01:37:50,920 --> 01:37:54,280
You know, I I mean, it's funny
because everyone thinks all

1782
01:37:54,280 --> 01:37:57,040
these young kids now coming out
with all this technology and

1783
01:37:57,040 --> 01:37:59,600
stuff, and they're going to run
circles around me because

1784
01:37:59,600 --> 01:38:02,160
they're so much smarter.
And they were born with iPhones

1785
01:38:02,160 --> 01:38:04,400
and they were born with
computers and all this stuff I

1786
01:38:04,400 --> 01:38:06,400
didn't have.
And there's so much further

1787
01:38:06,400 --> 01:38:08,040
ahead.
But you know what?

1788
01:38:08,040 --> 01:38:11,200
They don't have what we have.
You know, people who were born

1789
01:38:11,200 --> 01:38:15,600
in the 60s, we're a bunch of
freaking stubborn old fucks, you

1790
01:38:15,840 --> 01:38:19,400
know, and we you can't kick us
and keep us down.

1791
01:38:19,400 --> 01:38:21,360
You can't stop us from doing
things.

1792
01:38:21,360 --> 01:38:24,240
You can't outwork us.
You know, we work harder than

1793
01:38:24,600 --> 01:38:26,600
you know.
People aren't willing to do the

1794
01:38:26,600 --> 01:38:28,840
things that we've done to get
where we've gotten.

1795
01:38:29,240 --> 01:38:32,080
And you know, at the end of the
day, that's that's just the

1796
01:38:32,080 --> 01:38:33,920
reality.
That's a generational thing.

1797
01:38:33,920 --> 01:38:37,440
And I tell it to my son all the
time, You know, I'm I'm like hey

1798
01:38:37,440 --> 01:38:41,280
you know you gotta keep up with
the old guys cuz you know we may

1799
01:38:41,280 --> 01:38:45,040
seem slow but we're we're we're
willing to do some stuff that

1800
01:38:45,040 --> 01:38:49,560
you might surprise you.
I think the hardest thing for us

1801
01:38:49,600 --> 01:38:54,760
older people and that you know
you're we're both entrepreneurs

1802
01:38:54,760 --> 01:38:57,680
we figure it out but the
difference is so we started

1803
01:38:57,680 --> 01:39:00,480
lighting company and I need to
get to my customer.

1804
01:39:00,480 --> 01:39:04,480
We're a 20 year old's gonna go,
OK, no problem.

1805
01:39:04,480 --> 01:39:06,680
I can do all that.
He's gonna sit all day long and

1806
01:39:06,840 --> 01:39:11,480
and tweet or or create tik toks
and Instagrams of how great his

1807
01:39:11,480 --> 01:39:14,240
company is and that's his
marketing and it gets somehow

1808
01:39:14,240 --> 01:39:16,560
gets to the customer.
Well, we're still knocking on

1809
01:39:16,560 --> 01:39:19,480
doors and taking them out to
dinner, but yeah, but your.

1810
01:39:19,480 --> 01:39:21,960
Customers.
Your customers respond to the

1811
01:39:21,960 --> 01:39:23,760
knock on the door and they're
taking them to dinner.

1812
01:39:24,040 --> 01:39:27,560
His customers might respond to
the Tik toks and Instagram

1813
01:39:28,120 --> 01:39:31,200
things and whatever.
So different, different business

1814
01:39:31,200 --> 01:39:33,600
and all that stuff.
But yeah, I mean, you know,

1815
01:39:33,600 --> 01:39:36,560
people say it all the time, you
know, like I, I see guys like

1816
01:39:36,560 --> 01:39:38,960
Gary Vee and and these guys say
it all the time.

1817
01:39:38,960 --> 01:39:42,720
You know, I'd love to be
starting a business right now

1818
01:39:42,720 --> 01:39:45,240
because you can run circles
around a lot of these young

1819
01:39:45,240 --> 01:39:48,560
people right now because, you
know, they just, they have a

1820
01:39:48,560 --> 01:39:50,880
different way of doing things
and I'm not putting them down,

1821
01:39:50,880 --> 01:39:53,120
you know?
We raised these kids.

1822
01:39:53,120 --> 01:39:55,120
To be that way.
You know we put them in bubbles

1823
01:39:55,600 --> 01:39:59,800
and and you know we raised them
to be a certain way and we've

1824
01:39:59,800 --> 01:40:03,720
coddled them and maybe over
coddled them and stuff and you

1825
01:40:03,720 --> 01:40:04,960
know it's just a whole different
thing.

1826
01:40:04,960 --> 01:40:06,960
Like you and I had to hustle to
get anywhere.

1827
01:40:07,600 --> 01:40:11,200
Nowadays there's so much
opportunity and and there's so

1828
01:40:11,200 --> 01:40:12,560
many different things they can
do.

1829
01:40:12,560 --> 01:40:16,000
Everybody can be a a YouTube
phenom and make millions of

1830
01:40:16,000 --> 01:40:18,000
dollars making YouTube videos or
whatever.

1831
01:40:18,640 --> 01:40:21,040
So yeah, I mean, it's just a
different world.

1832
01:40:22,360 --> 01:40:23,680
But we're still having fun in
it.

1833
01:40:23,720 --> 01:40:26,560
I mean like, you know, we circle
back to you know, I can't wait,

1834
01:40:26,600 --> 01:40:30,320
I really can't wait to go to LDI
and and you know, only

1835
01:40:30,320 --> 01:40:32,360
difference is you know you still
look the same.

1836
01:40:32,360 --> 01:40:36,000
But I put on a few pounds, which
I will do and say well, but my

1837
01:40:36,000 --> 01:40:40,080
hair's gotten grayer and at
least I still have some and and

1838
01:40:40,280 --> 01:40:45,920
and and but you know what it I
remember Louis Martin Lewis

1839
01:40:45,920 --> 01:40:48,360
Long.
We're at LDI and we're out to

1840
01:40:48,360 --> 01:40:51,400
like four or five in the morning
and you know, just eating

1841
01:40:51,400 --> 01:40:54,880
breakfast, you know, at The MGM
Diner and drunk as shit.

1842
01:40:54,880 --> 01:40:57,920
And you know, I can't wait to
see those people again because

1843
01:40:57,920 --> 01:41:00,960
there's so many memories.
Most of them are still doing it.

1844
01:41:01,080 --> 01:41:04,760
Most of them are still doing it.
But The thing is like 11:00 at

1845
01:41:04,760 --> 01:41:07,160
night usually.
I'll be at the bar with some

1846
01:41:07,160 --> 01:41:09,880
people and I'll be like, hey, I
gotta go to the bathroom.

1847
01:41:09,880 --> 01:41:10,920
I'll be right back.
Boom.

1848
01:41:10,920 --> 01:41:13,960
I'm in my room, sound asleep by
11:15.

1849
01:41:13,960 --> 01:41:14,840
You know what I mean?
Like.

1850
01:41:14,840 --> 01:41:16,520
Yeah, no more I.
Just don't do it anymore.

1851
01:41:17,360 --> 01:41:20,040
No more expense account at the.
It's not even.

1852
01:41:20,080 --> 01:41:21,440
Across there, whatever those
strip.

1853
01:41:21,560 --> 01:41:23,520
No, those strip clubs.
And Oh yeah, that's.

1854
01:41:23,680 --> 01:41:27,040
It somebody, I remember had a
really bad night at a strip club

1855
01:41:27,040 --> 01:41:29,080
with like 5 grand on the card or
something like that.

1856
01:41:29,080 --> 01:41:31,600
Oh, it was more than five grand.
Yeah, it was more than five

1857
01:41:31,600 --> 01:41:33,080
grand.
It was me and Eric Loder.

1858
01:41:34,240 --> 01:41:36,840
Me and Eric Loder got to split
the check at the end of the

1859
01:41:36,840 --> 01:41:39,880
night, and neither one of us
knew how much the check was

1860
01:41:39,880 --> 01:41:43,400
until it came and we signed it.
And I was like, what?

1861
01:41:43,720 --> 01:41:46,000
I mean it.
I don't even want to mention the

1862
01:41:46,200 --> 01:41:50,640
the amount.
It's so sickening and and so I

1863
01:41:50,640 --> 01:41:53,680
was my own company.
Eric had to go and explain that

1864
01:41:53,680 --> 01:41:58,120
to his boss, you know and it was
it was not good.

1865
01:41:58,120 --> 01:42:00,360
I mean, it was it was a tough
one for him.

1866
01:42:00,840 --> 01:42:03,040
But yeah, we've had a lot of
fun, Marcel, man.

1867
01:42:03,320 --> 01:42:05,200
Oh, hell yeah.
And I'm still having fun.

1868
01:42:05,200 --> 01:42:06,560
It's just different fun, you
know?

1869
01:42:06,560 --> 01:42:08,200
It's.
Yeah, exactly.

1870
01:42:08,440 --> 01:42:12,320
The things that used to be fun
sitting like I can only do the

1871
01:42:12,320 --> 01:42:15,840
bar at night at LDI to a certain
point where it's the same

1872
01:42:15,840 --> 01:42:20,520
stories with the same people
drinking insane amounts of

1873
01:42:20,520 --> 01:42:22,000
alcohol and I can't do it
anymore.

1874
01:42:22,000 --> 01:42:25,120
Like, you know, I hate to say
it, but for me now a heavy night

1875
01:42:25,120 --> 01:42:28,720
of drinking is like maybe 3
glasses of wine.

1876
01:42:28,720 --> 01:42:31,360
Usually I stop.
Well, I know that, yeah.

1877
01:42:31,400 --> 01:42:34,160
When you stop by, you're like,
man, I, you know, I barely even

1878
01:42:34,160 --> 01:42:37,240
have a drink nowadays and I'm
like, yeah, that's OK And you

1879
01:42:37,240 --> 01:42:38,640
still had the long ways to
drive.

1880
01:42:38,640 --> 01:42:42,000
I only had a few blocks but.
Yeah, we went to.

1881
01:42:42,200 --> 01:42:45,520
We had to get to a hotel.
But yeah, no, it's it's cool.

1882
01:42:45,520 --> 01:42:48,800
I mean, it's it's, you know,
this is all just a stage of

1883
01:42:48,800 --> 01:42:51,200
life, right?
And I'm enjoying the hell out of

1884
01:42:51,200 --> 01:42:53,600
it.
Like, I I turned 60 this year

1885
01:42:53,600 --> 01:42:56,640
and I'm not looking forward to
that.

1886
01:42:56,640 --> 01:42:59,680
But, you know, it's just
another, it's just another

1887
01:42:59,680 --> 01:43:02,200
thing, right?
Like, I'd rather turn 60 than

1888
01:43:02,200 --> 01:43:04,560
not turn 60.
I know a lot of people who go

1889
01:43:04,600 --> 01:43:09,800
turn 60, you know, So, you know,
I mean, it's just, yeah, it's a

1890
01:43:09,800 --> 01:43:14,120
thing.
But so, I mean, that's amazing

1891
01:43:14,120 --> 01:43:17,920
seeing you.
Yeah, I'm gonna get down there.

1892
01:43:18,120 --> 01:43:21,920
I promise.
Be most likely you're going.

1893
01:43:22,040 --> 01:43:23,520
Are you spending the whole
summer in Canada?

1894
01:43:23,720 --> 01:43:28,600
Yeah, I'll be going early June.
My birthday's June 8th, so I

1895
01:43:28,600 --> 01:43:32,520
wanna get there before my
birthday so that I can celebrate

1896
01:43:32,520 --> 01:43:35,560
with my family.
You're near Calgary, right?

1897
01:43:35,960 --> 01:43:38,760
Yeah, just like an hour outside
of Calgary in the mountains, so.

1898
01:43:38,800 --> 01:43:43,360
We've we've got a potential new
customer that is near Calgary as

1899
01:43:43,360 --> 01:43:45,960
well and.
It's probably between Calgary

1900
01:43:45,960 --> 01:43:48,120
and me, you know, there's loads
of farms around there.

1901
01:43:48,320 --> 01:43:52,800
Yeah, And and you know, these
things take time in my world, so

1902
01:43:53,000 --> 01:43:55,520
it probably won't be the summer.
Maybe I'll end up up there.

1903
01:43:55,760 --> 01:43:58,120
That'd be amazing.
Come out and spend a few days

1904
01:43:58,120 --> 01:44:00,480
and and hang out and we'll do
some fun stuff.

1905
01:44:00,480 --> 01:44:04,960
And yeah, go to sleep at 9:00
every night like old people do,

1906
01:44:04,960 --> 01:44:07,400
but.
Wake up at 6:00 AM for for

1907
01:44:07,840 --> 01:44:10,080
breakfast.
I wish I could sleep till six

1908
01:44:10,080 --> 01:44:12,400
most days, you know?
Some days it's four.

1909
01:44:12,800 --> 01:44:15,280
I mean, I just get up so damn
early and I like it.

1910
01:44:15,280 --> 01:44:17,440
I actually enjoy the mornings.
I get a lot done in the

1911
01:44:17,440 --> 01:44:19,760
mornings.
It's sort of me time, you know.

1912
01:44:20,560 --> 01:44:23,880
That's my problem if the the few
times I do stay up super late.

1913
01:44:23,880 --> 01:44:26,960
Which small town you saw Whiskey
Alley.

1914
01:44:26,960 --> 01:44:28,240
I took you down that road with
six.

1915
01:44:28,320 --> 01:44:31,560
Bars.
So you get caught up sometimes,

1916
01:44:31,560 --> 01:44:33,600
even at my age, SO2. 30 in the
morning.

1917
01:44:34,320 --> 01:44:36,120
I still get up in there with
you.

1918
01:44:36,520 --> 01:44:38,280
I enjoyed five or six in the
morning.

1919
01:44:38,560 --> 01:44:40,120
I enjoyed being in that place
with you.

1920
01:44:40,120 --> 01:44:42,640
Everybody knew you.
You knew everybody.

1921
01:44:42,880 --> 01:44:46,000
Like it was just like everybody
was busting each other's balls

1922
01:44:46,000 --> 01:44:49,640
and stuff.
I mean, it was that made me miss

1923
01:44:49,640 --> 01:44:51,920
being in a small town because
like here, I could go to the

1924
01:44:51,920 --> 01:44:54,600
same bar every night for the
next two weeks and I'd meet all

1925
01:44:54,600 --> 01:44:58,680
different people, you know, It's
just not a small town thing here

1926
01:44:58,680 --> 01:45:00,960
at all.
I always tell the people that

1927
01:45:00,960 --> 01:45:04,000
come see me because I do know
everybody in this town.

1928
01:45:04,360 --> 01:45:08,600
I'm the mayor after dark.
That's funny, that's.

1929
01:45:08,600 --> 01:45:08,920
Great.
Yeah.

1930
01:45:10,160 --> 01:45:13,960
Well, Paul, I have to move on to
other things as you do, I'm

1931
01:45:13,960 --> 01:45:16,840
sure.
And but I really, really, really

1932
01:45:16,840 --> 01:45:20,240
appreciate you doing this.
I'm so happy we were able to

1933
01:45:20,240 --> 01:45:23,360
pull it together.
Yeah, we talked about it and I

1934
01:45:23,360 --> 01:45:24,840
just, you know, I forgot about
it.

1935
01:45:24,840 --> 01:45:29,000
And then I then then your
producer Sarah Sarah messaged

1936
01:45:29,000 --> 01:45:34,040
me, and I was in Fort Myers,
ironically, and I forgot to book

1937
01:45:34,040 --> 01:45:35,760
a time.
And then she did.

1938
01:45:35,760 --> 01:45:37,680
The little nudge went, yeah, OK,
OK.

1939
01:45:38,000 --> 01:45:39,840
And so, yeah, I'm glad that we
made it happen.

1940
01:45:40,040 --> 01:45:46,640
So to reach you lumen-pros.com,
go to Amazon, buy the book Blue

1941
01:45:46,640 --> 01:45:49,000
Collar Buddha.
I'm gonna go put it on my.

1942
01:45:49,760 --> 01:45:51,600
Let's make it a best seller
again.

1943
01:45:52,000 --> 01:45:54,240
I'm gonna put.
It on it was a best seller, was

1944
01:45:54,360 --> 01:45:58,080
it?
I was #1 under the category cuz

1945
01:45:58,080 --> 01:46:00,040
there's a lot of travel in it.
Travel.

1946
01:46:00,480 --> 01:46:05,520
Was it was the category lighting
guys with one testicle a bit of

1947
01:46:05,520 --> 01:46:11,560
a drinking problem and you know.
Actually, all that would be

1948
01:46:11,560 --> 01:46:14,920
correct except for, you know, we
condensing a life in a couple

1949
01:46:14,920 --> 01:46:17,120
hours.
I end up having cancer again

1950
01:46:17,120 --> 01:46:19,840
exactly a year after the first
time I lost a second testicle.

1951
01:46:20,080 --> 01:46:24,160
I produced no testosterone.
I have to inject it every day.

1952
01:46:24,480 --> 01:46:28,120
I can't have kids.
It's why I didn't get married.

1953
01:46:28,520 --> 01:46:32,040
I couldn't have kids.
But so maybe maybe another time

1954
01:46:32,040 --> 01:46:34,560
we'll talk about that.
But so yeah, your.

1955
01:46:34,560 --> 01:46:40,640
Body doesn't produce any
testosterone 00 My God, so you

1956
01:46:40,680 --> 01:46:43,080
injected?
Are you able to get up to a

1957
01:46:43,080 --> 01:46:44,680
normal level by injecting?
It, yeah.

1958
01:46:44,680 --> 01:46:46,880
Oh yeah, I've got testosterone
of an 18 year old.

1959
01:46:46,920 --> 01:46:50,760
OK, cool.
But, but I I've been doing that

1960
01:46:50,760 --> 01:46:54,720
since 1990.
Wow, I did not know that that

1961
01:46:54,720 --> 01:46:55,560
is.
Crazy.

1962
01:46:56,480 --> 01:46:57,880
And before I knew you.
Yeah.

1963
01:46:57,880 --> 01:46:59,720
And I, you know and and nothing
to hide.

1964
01:46:59,720 --> 01:47:03,320
A matter of fact, if anybody out
there knows anybody, has any

1965
01:47:03,320 --> 01:47:07,440
friends, needs to talk to
somebody, especially about

1966
01:47:07,440 --> 01:47:09,440
testicular cancer, please reach
out to me.

1967
01:47:09,440 --> 01:47:12,560
I do it for a lot of people all
over the world.

1968
01:47:12,560 --> 01:47:15,160
And it's way more common than
people think, you know?

1969
01:47:15,160 --> 01:47:17,040
I mean, it really is.
You know what's funny though?

1970
01:47:17,160 --> 01:47:21,800
And I hate to poke fun at
anything, but I was talking to

1971
01:47:21,800 --> 01:47:24,640
my girlfriend yesterday and she
said who do you have on the

1972
01:47:24,640 --> 01:47:26,760
podcast this week?
And I said remember Paul from

1973
01:47:26,760 --> 01:47:29,320
Minnesota And she goes, oh the
guy with no balls.

1974
01:47:30,480 --> 01:47:33,360
That was the first thing she
remembered about you.

1975
01:47:33,360 --> 01:47:35,560
And I was like, what?
And she said, you don't remember

1976
01:47:35,560 --> 01:47:38,400
that story, I said.
You know what I didn't know?

1977
01:47:38,400 --> 01:47:41,720
He doesn't have any balls.
Like, I didn't remember, but you

1978
01:47:41,720 --> 01:47:45,640
had told us the story at the bar
there and and she's like, oh,

1979
01:47:45,640 --> 01:47:48,160
the guy with no balls.
And I was like, what?

1980
01:47:48,160 --> 01:47:48,680
I.
Really.

1981
01:47:49,400 --> 01:47:52,200
I really really loved you 2
together.

1982
01:47:52,400 --> 01:47:55,280
Really great energy.
Great.

1983
01:47:55,520 --> 01:47:59,120
Like, you know, just the whole
back and forth, you guys are

1984
01:47:59,120 --> 01:48:02,120
great and I think you're, you're
really found a good person there

1985
01:48:02,360 --> 01:48:05,760
and I can't wait to see her
again and and you guys and and

1986
01:48:05,920 --> 01:48:08,080
let me just say something about
the, yeah, I will.

1987
01:48:08,080 --> 01:48:10,160
I'm going to something about the
website.

1988
01:48:10,440 --> 01:48:13,000
We're in the process that
website's like 6 years old.

1989
01:48:13,360 --> 01:48:16,520
There's a whole other products.
And you know how this goes.

1990
01:48:16,880 --> 01:48:19,280
You know, you keep forgetting to
do your website.

1991
01:48:19,440 --> 01:48:21,000
We're actually developing it
now.

1992
01:48:21,000 --> 01:48:23,800
There's somebody working on it.
It'll be about four weeks.

1993
01:48:23,800 --> 01:48:26,560
There will be a more in depth,
better website.

1994
01:48:26,560 --> 01:48:29,560
But you know, they're
apologizing for my appearance

1995
01:48:29,560 --> 01:48:32,440
again.
But the the website doesn't look

1996
01:48:32,440 --> 01:48:35,280
the greatest but.
Please message how to It's how

1997
01:48:35,320 --> 01:48:36,720
to get in touch with you, you
know.

1998
01:48:37,480 --> 01:48:42,360
Yeah, info@lumenhyphenpros.com
or P strikes at

1999
01:48:42,360 --> 01:48:45,520
lumenhyphenpros.com.
And again, I really mean that If

2000
01:48:45,560 --> 01:48:48,640
you know anybody or anybody out
there listening to this that's

2001
01:48:48,640 --> 01:48:52,240
struggling with maybe testicular
cancer, I've done a lot.

2002
01:48:52,240 --> 01:48:54,480
I'm, I'm.
But as far as I know and what I

2003
01:48:54,480 --> 01:49:01,400
was told in 1987, I think 88,
no, 89, I was the first person

2004
01:49:01,400 --> 01:49:03,680
to have this twice in the way I
had it.

2005
01:49:03,840 --> 01:49:07,240
I literally had two primary
cancers of testicular.

2006
01:49:07,240 --> 01:49:10,160
It was no matassation, nothing.
It didn't spread.

2007
01:49:10,160 --> 01:49:13,920
It was as if I just drew that
lottery ticket twice and it had

2008
01:49:13,920 --> 01:49:16,400
never happened before and they
had a lot of meetings with

2009
01:49:16,400 --> 01:49:20,080
doctors all over the world.
I'm very fortunate and lucky

2010
01:49:20,440 --> 01:49:24,080
that I had it because it taught
me a lot in life, but I'm here

2011
01:49:24,080 --> 01:49:27,840
to help anybody I am.
Please don't forget to call me.

2012
01:49:27,960 --> 01:49:31,160
So the second time, the second
time, weren't you Just like,

2013
01:49:31,240 --> 01:49:33,440
what the hell?
Yeah, it is.

2014
01:49:33,560 --> 01:49:36,800
Well, I told my girlfriend.
We were in a a pilot used to

2015
01:49:36,800 --> 01:49:39,760
rent this roller skating rink
and had these parties called

2016
01:49:39,760 --> 01:49:42,960
Dong and thong parties.
The men were supposed to wear

2017
01:49:42,960 --> 01:49:46,200
speedos, the women and thongs
and I wasn't going to go there,

2018
01:49:46,200 --> 01:49:49,680
but you know, I just wore
regular shorts, BT kind of

2019
01:49:49,680 --> 01:49:51,120
thing.
And we roller skate.

2020
01:49:51,400 --> 01:49:55,480
And that night I cancelled and
my girlfriend went and I said

2021
01:49:55,520 --> 01:49:56,920
why?
She says why are you cancelling?

2022
01:49:57,200 --> 01:49:59,720
She was also a flight attendant
and I said because I'm sick

2023
01:49:59,720 --> 01:50:01,880
again she goes, what do you mean
she goes, I don't know, I'm

2024
01:50:01,880 --> 01:50:05,280
just, I'm sick again.
So the next day I flew up to

2025
01:50:05,280 --> 01:50:09,680
Minnesota Ultrasound.
Sure enough, next day, exactly a

2026
01:50:09,680 --> 01:50:11,600
year later, I'm having the left
one taken.

2027
01:50:11,600 --> 01:50:13,240
Out.
Oh my God.

2028
01:50:13,600 --> 01:50:16,640
Wow.
So when people always say come

2029
01:50:16,640 --> 01:50:19,720
on, grow a pair or you know.
Yeah, I wish I could.

2030
01:50:20,640 --> 01:50:22,720
I always say if I had the balls,
I'd do.

2031
01:50:22,720 --> 01:50:25,880
It Oh my God.
And that's a perfect ending.

2032
01:50:26,720 --> 01:50:29,080
Yeah, see, if I had the balls,
I'd do it.

2033
01:50:30,120 --> 01:50:31,960
All right, buddy.
I'd look forward to seeing you

2034
01:50:31,960 --> 01:50:33,760
soon.
Right on, man.

2035
01:50:34,560 --> 01:50:49,800
Bye.
Yeah.