30 Days on the Road and What Is Coming Next for FWA

Hey,

Hey.

All right, man. It has been a while. It has not a while since we've seen each other, but it's been a while since everybody seen us seeing each other. Yeah, that's that's we apologize to everybody. They're a little weird, right? Yeah, most of the stuff we say. Yeah, sorry. It's just fancying things. Yeah. So, it's been what? It's I bet you it's been a uh I know what they like to call it a minute now. They call it when it's means a long time. Australians will say a minute really means an hour. Yeah. It's been a while. So, it's been a good 30 45 days since we've actually on these podcasts. But that's that's because we've been busy. There's been a lot going on. I think your frequent here's the question I have for you tonight. It's my only question actually is how's your frequent flying points going at this moment? Well, you I have my own jet so they don't What are we doing wrong? Do you mean you're still flying on an airline? Okay. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's been busy. It's been busy. I mean, what I mean uh obviously there was stuff going on before Florida, so Florida was what the end of So, let's start there. Florida, you got us all to travel to Florida. Yeah. Can I say this? Sorry Floridaidians if I say this wrong, but like you started this had this thing going on in Florida. Tell us talk talk to me about it. Well, Florida was uh I mean it was something I always wanted to do this demo days. I mean we you know we we we did this a few years back or even two years back at uh at the fence show, right? And it was so many people loved it. The traction took off pretty quick, but reality is it's an event in itself. Yeah. I mean, it's not something that happens during another event. Uh, Demo Days itself was, you know, a beast of its own. I mean, it took the entire team to run the same show that we do in Las Vegas in Florida. Yeah. I mean, you have to have the uh the same right down to the management to the badging to the setup to the booths to exhibitor relations. I mean it was I think in a way even though it was say what 50 exhibitors or so it was as much work or more sometimes than running the 200 exhibitor one because we didn't have the hotel. I mean when you know we didn't have the Yeah. Ask me where I stay. Right. Yeah. Next to the alligator pond that there was an alligator. There was an actual alligator in the pond where people were fishing. Well, first off, let's just let's not forget there was a pond. So, when was last time you were sitting there at your booth and you saw kids pulling fish out and I mean people were out there and we had fishing poles and stuff. So, that was kind of cool. And then that train that was going around, the kids are riding the splash pond kicked up, right? I mean, we you know, we we hear kid-friendly and I, you know, I hate it when people say that. I mean, we've all got kids or a lot of us do and someone says, "Oh, that's kid-friendly." Well, I mean, you can walk through a casino with your kid. It doesn't mean it's kid-friendly, right? Trust me, apparently my wife knows about that, not me. Yeah. So, that was kind of cool. So, we we did that because it was something I thought the industry needed and you watch. I mean, if anything about FWA and what we're doing, I think we we set the pace for the rest of the industry and it's maybe and and maybe I don't know if that sounds bad or not, but maybe maybe not in how this is going to be done in the long set the pace and the new direction it's going to go. And I think you're going to see a massive, massive push. I mean, everything from your legacy groups and associations to uh legacy organizations that put on shows, you're going to see them now pushing for um massive outdoor events and events that include more children, include more um carnival stuff and stuff, you know what I mean? So, Brian, remember like the UK trip, right? There was like the one thing I love about our community, I don't know how much you beat the drum, is that international, worldrenowned, world um our industry is really the same.

Yeah. you know, we might do things a little different, but like our industry as a whole, we're very close like we're very closed niche family industry and I think coming away from UK there is yeah that outdoor feel and that but how do you make that do you remember that do you remember when we both walked outside we were at um we were at the event um it was AFI I think it was right puts on and it was in Birmingham in the UK so we if anybody was following us we went to we flew to London. Uh first Fence was nice enough to come pick us up and took us up to show us their branches and then um we went to Birmingham uh for the the event that they had going on there. Fence uh Yeah, it was just it was a really cool event. I mean, it was an indoor and they had the outdoor event. We both walked out and we're like, "This is awesome." Yeah, they Yeah, because it was like when you think of our industry, yes, we're doing stuff indoors, but I would say 90% of what we do is outside. And it's like too for me, I feel like the cool thing that I got to see is I got to see a lot of different parts of our industry, different machinery, different styles going at it. And I feel like that's what this is about is like how do we bring that together and we're better. I'm sorry that location. I told my wife we're moving to Florida until I got beat eaten by like 35,000 mosquitoes and I was like, "Oh, okay. This could be I didn't get a single mosquito bite anyway." Yeah. But my blood sweat, but it was uh it was pretty cool. It was it was unique. And by the end of it, we were tired. I mean it was different even than walking around because you're walking on uneven ground and things like that. So you're like uh you know maybe you're you're a little more used to walking on the expo hall but I think that uh we learned a lot from it. I mean um it was even the education we were able to go and do the get up training that we usually do at the events and this year obviously at the fence shows education's going through the roof with the full throttle you know experience but full throttle guys full throttle. No, are you doing a fast and furious sir? I don't like what's going on, babe. Everything in our lives. Everything Everything in FWA is fast and furious. Do anything we don't do anything unless it's fast and furious, right? So, but uh yeah, I think what was cool about that was we were able to not only do the gate operator training, we were able to go outside and and and start laying the loops out on the ground, installing, have people out in environment that we're used to and actually real kind of practical training. Hey, can we do a shout out for the owners of that facility? They made us not only did the FWA team make us feel really welcome. Well, let's not shout out too much. I don't want everybody in there. You know what I mean? But no, no, they were awesome. They were they were I don't think and we do shows obviously. We do events around the country and stuff. I don't think there's ever been anything like this. I mean, even the exhibitors felt it. I mean, it was from the golf carts to the uh Sean that went around with us and Bob that owns it. I I feel like we're family to that property now. And you know, I mean, we're we're close to South Point, you know, obviously we go in there and stuff. So, um yeah, it's it was a unique experience. It was something even even all of us, we were tired at the end of it, but we all looked back and said, "Wow, I can't believe we pulled that off." Yeah. Not just pulled it off, we I believe we we shifted the direction of the industry a little bit. Okay. and and the shows and how we include our industry is never going to be the same. And I think not just include the industry, but include the families that are the backbone. I feel like a lot of us can get lost and don't realize there's a whole support system behind us. Y and that was, you know, it was cool like seeing the kids run around and just having some fun. Mate, there was a kid that I tried to fish against and I can fish. I'm Australian. I love

The fish. He just pulled out. So, it was just a lot of fun

For um the fence games and the open house for CMM. And that was another amazing event. I mean, uh Sean's property is awesome. Well, Sean and Sean, I guess Sean from CM Sean from the two Sean. Two Sean. Yeah. So, they pulled off an amazing event over there. Um, and I went the year earlier for CMM's open house. Okay. And that's where kind of a lot of this stuff spurred up where he was going to do it again. And then, uh, Sean King just came in and killed it with the fence gangs. I mean, it you saw any of the pictures and the videos, it was amazing to watch. So, again, it's it the industry is coming together in different ways. And I think what what's changing is we're connecting to the actual fence companies. Yeah. This isn't just where only people with corporate credit cards can go and and sit in $400 hotel rooms and three $30 drinks at the bar. Those those are still needed. Those are important. I mean, I don't know if they're needed, but they're but we but anybody I don't know anybody that can afford a $400 room and $30 drinks, they're they're going to agree that it's still needed. Okay. So, we need those events, but but we need events for suppliers and manufacturers and stuff as well because not everybody, we forget that not every exhibitor at a show is there to meet fence companies. You know, and and it's easy for us to sit back and say, you know, we need to change these shows because they're not catering to fence companies. Well, not every exhibitor there is. Some are there because they want to they want to connect with um distributors, right? So, some manufacturers are there and they're not interested in fence companies. They want to sell to distributors. And some distributors are there because they want to connect with some of the manufacturers and you know they're not as as you know and maybe they're not trying to connect with new fence companies or or anything like that because they have set people they deal with or something. So um we need both shows. We need both um kind of shows the one that cater to fence and one's cater to the manufacturers and suppliers. So there was that was the great show that Sha one Sha 2 we call them B1 in Australia. There was a a cartoon B1 B2 that way. So that that was great. Then what happened next? And then you know what I mean? Because I was already gone for two events. You're an angel. Yeah. I I believe it. My attempt at at avoiding that was, hey, you know what? I'm going to go to Pennsylvania the week after. So yeah. So yeah, I could definitely write a book on on how to, you know, how to keep a marriage strong. He's got a book, by the way. It's coming out next week. Yeah. It's called Keep the Marriage Strong by Being Gone. ladies out there. That's just don't Yeah. Don't follow my advice. It's not gonna be successful. Don't follow my advice. But um so we went to Kenco was doing amazing they were doing an amazing training um up at their facility they invited me up to. So I got to stop by there. Yep. And that was really cool. So um that was a day where they were doing some a fence training and uh got to really you know uh got to really connect with some of them. And then Titan uh Post Drivers was out of their facility as well. So um spent the day with them. Um, and then I went to Bullbar. I don't know if you anybody saw some of those videos. I did. Like, so these guys are producing their own chain link. They're producing some weld like some farm like and I'm still um learning some of the um egg terms and stuff. It was like a it was farm wire, woven wire, things like that. So, they were they massive manufacturing facility. So, they were really cool. So, how long have I been in the business? I think it's been going on for like 10 years or so, but it's uh I mean they grew really really quick and they've got a massive facility. super nice people. while I was there, take a breath out there, have a drink, then walked it down and then he's there. And then Clint has got um his NAFTA event in Pennsylvania, which is closer to Pittsburgh. Um so I was up in Blursville was where the other ones

Were. So then I went down to Pittsburgh and um I spent about a half a day. They were doing this amazing project. Big shout out to Clint IMS, all the fence companies that showed up. Must have been 20 or 30. I can't even count how many fence companies showed up, donated the material, the time suppliers donated material, and it was for this kid that had autism. Oh wow. And they had and he was a runner, I guess. And uh and if I'm wrong, Clint, fill me in. But um Clint, can you put a Brian? You completely screwed this one up. So So NAFA is the same people that do the Arlington Memorial Cemetery that project every year and stuff. So NAFA is an amazing project, you know, amazing projects they do. So, um, this kid with autism likes to run and I think he races or whether he likes to run or not. He, uh, has this massive backyard and they live on a busy road and they needed a fence to, uh, keep the kid from running into the road and something happening. So, everybody got together in like four or five hours built 400. So that

Uh you know I think I saw a letter that the the wife wrote or something saying uh that you know how how grateful she was and stuff. So that's pretty cool. I'd like to see more of that kind of stuff happen. I wish I could help arrange some of that stuff more. Maybe we'll get involved in something. Sure. You know and uh not in Pennsylvania. We'll get it closer to that. So hey where there's a need that's where you There you go. If you're in California, Nevada, reach out to us. uh we want to help you a project. We'll get uh hey maybe we can get founders fence don't expire panels or something and uh we'll see if we can do a project around. So let us know if you know somebody that's in need on that. So that kind of closed out that next week and then um and then I came back and I just met this was all been happening over a period of like 30 days though. So literally 30 days. 30 days. That's crazy. Oh and then I came back real quick and I uh right when I landed I had to rush up to uh I wanted to go to your racing event. What look I don't know. So there's a lot of talk sit if you can sit up. That's that's an inside joke. So AI is a very good tool. To make things seem bigger than they are. No, that's all. No, no, no, no, no. Don't kid yourself. So anyway, so that was really cool because you had your race team out there and uh what a bunch of amazing people. Fact, we're in your facility right now. Yeah. you know, in in California. And I can't wait to show everybody this place once you get it completely finalized. Um, it's it's like the clubhouse. We Speaking of Fast and Furious, this is like a Fast and Furious. This is FWA Fast and Furious

Do something. It doesn't matter what business is, you know, whether it's one employee yourself. It's like you've got to invest in whatever community you're involved in. So Founders has been blessed enough to you know try to fight the fight. We can say that in Vericcomas but you know I love that community and yes we got lucky enough to have a tricycle in a in a race and you know we haven't tricle talk about these beasts of vehicles. If you watch my if you went back and look at some of the pictures it's a it's a tricycle. Yeah. Yeah. Little four cylinders. I don't think so. Yeah. Yeah, these things these things are going through like I don't know how much gas they're going through in a second, but it must you know let's talk about Listen, you want to talk about gas? All you guys out there, whoever lives in California, let's talk about gas. What Brian? We're just two simple fencing people. What the hell is wrong with the gas prices? How in diesel it's so much money a gallon here right now. It's ridiculous. $7 a gallon minimum. So if you see some of the photos even from demo days, you'll see that Ram truck with the FWA head on it. Yeah, that's what I drive, right? I drive say look I I drive a Mini. Oh, he drives a big He truck bigger than mine. I think it's like that Ford. But nonetheless, uh it uh it gas guzzler obviously, right? 2500 stuff down here. It's like 200 bucks to fill it up. So, we went out and got a Toyota Camry. Do you see it's out front out there, dude? It's sucker. I'm like, "Hey, yeah, sorry. That car can't come into a fencing." I'm sorry. I know what you're talking about. No, no, dude. It was like 250 bucks and I got like 250 miles or something. Anybody that's out there, look, you know, we were talking about just before we got on air that look, it's hard right now. Like, gas prices are what they are. uh transporting everything is what it is. Manufacturers are struggling like it's just a hard time. So just you know everyone that's out there look just keep your head down keep that service going and just you know we'll work it out as a community. Buy a buy a Toyota Camry listen it. So I've been driving that around California now because I you know I'm out busy in fence companies everybody else. So, we saw this billboard that said it said 663 miles out of it. And of course, I'm coming from my truck and I still have my truck. I didn't get rid of it. So, I uh Oh, he's Do you notice he didn't get rid of his truck? No. No. This is just until the gas prices go. I'm like sold. So, anyway, so I bought it. I didn't put a fuel a full tank of gas in it yet. It's at like 400 miles or something. And then um it they but it only says like 80 miles left or something. So, I'm just going to run this thing until it completely runs out of gas. Then the battery will get you. If it's not out of six, if it's not at 660 miles, I'm going to call the dealership and it runs out. Make him come get me. False admir I'm going back to my truck. But it's it is it's like for you guys out there that, you know, I'm on the supply side. I know Brian, the team at FW, but also from the install side, it's it's not easy right now. It's it's it's a lot harder because what do you do with the costs? Everything's expensive. Food's expensive. Gas is expensive. Like it's just not the like it should be easier, right? And that's why I said the the one thing that I want to promote and really, you know, go back to Florida. We were enough to go to Florida. It's not necessarily cat territory, but watching demo days grow and just the community of people come together and try to work it out. That's that's what we got to do, right? We got to stick together and it we'll get through it. But it's it's Yeah. When Brian drives a Camry Toyota hybrid, you know where So, here's the deal. Every time I get in, I got to take my hat off and I got to go. I throw this hat off. He's got he's actually got hair though, so that's okay. You like you take your hat off, you think he's bald. I know. Everybody thinks it, right? Not only am I the president of WA, I'm also a member. No, it's not. But it's got grinding in the last few

Years. A little bit dry. Yeah, no doubt. No doubt. So, um, but prices may be expensive, but according to you, prices aren't that expensive on iron panels at Founders. We we look we're working out. We're working out. So, you need to save some money. Come and talk to us. We'll try our best. But but while we're talking about demo days, because I do want to come up uh in a minute and talk about uh the Fent show coming up because there's I mean I don't think we've had what what finish the What do you mean fail? You got like the full Was it full full throttle? Full throttle. Oh, I was checking. Okay. So, you because you've got like uh and we'll get back into I because I'm going to ask you because you never tell me really what you're going to do until you get to the show. Yes. But uh you expanded your time telling the day before, "Hey, Bron, can we just do this and these?" I feel like I I'm asking permission for what for what you're going to do there. So, we'll get into that. I'm going to ask you what's going on. But, uh before we before we move past demo days, let's talk about next year. Oh, let's do it. Okay. So, uh mark your calendars, everybody. February 5th to the 6th um in Asetula. It's out of Orlando. If And again, go look at the pictures. Go to feno.com. Look at the pictures in this one. Um, I think you're going to love it. Uh, we got uh Oh, we got Veronica trying to pick up. Oh, she's trying to come in. Is that what's happening? You Yes. Let's do it. What's It wasn't my fault, Veronica. It was Brian's fault. I'm going to bring her on. Hang on a second. What's going on, Veronica? You guys didn't think you were going to have a party without me tonight, did you? Now, you guys, this this is totally unexpected. So, she's going to try to hijack our our uh our podcast here. You already had yours yesterday at the Women of FWA podcast. This one's mine. So, that's actually why I'm jumping on. Let's talk about this retreat the Women of FWA have going on. 100%. Yes. You know what? I think their goal is to make this women's retreat uh and and and I'm gonna fight it. They're going to try to make it uh bigger and better than any of the events we're doing. So, look, everybody's on their Everybody's on their side. You know, we got Yeah, we got to keep you guys on your toes. So, let's talk about it. You know, there's teams all across this country and I heard you talk about like times are tough and right now is really the time to invest in your backbone of your organization and of your company. And we're here to help you guys do that and provide the education and provide the networking. And when you talk about $50 for this event and your education and your food and the experience and the networking, it's it's really priceless. But it's pennies on the dollar for your investment. Josh, did you know that at this women of FWA retreat that rooms for the entire event is like it includes what? I don't know what it includes, but it's includes food and all this education for $50. We're talking what is that like $15 a day? What? Is that intent? Is it? I know. So, we've got full-blown houses and a full-blown education schedule set up, which is where the sponsorship comes from. That's amazing. So, everybody out there that's listening to this, come on. That is an amazing So, Founders is going to throw a thousand bucks to it tonight and just say, "Hey guys, let's let's let's get in this and then come on." Like, that is Founders is going to help cover uh I know we talked about you're going to help cover somebody to come to this thing. So, yes, if you're out there, the first Veronica first person to reach out to Veronica or somewhere or comment in this thing can reach out to we're going to help you get to the uh women of FWA. No excuse. Absolutely. And it's like I said, it's about

Investing into the backbone of your organization. First person we can find because if you're you could be commenting on one of like 30 pages. So for We're on a budget. Like we're on a budget. Okay. Okay. We're $1,000 behind you. Um let's do this. the first person that I get to email from that emails me at veroniclo vegasfence.com is that's who is gonna do it. So, email me directly. We'll get you the information. We'll definitely add you to the women's retreat. Um we are 40 some odd days away and um it's epic. My phone outside, Veronica, I'm trying to text you right now. I'm coming. Yeah, I'm in. Yeah. Yeah. So, that's pretty cool. Well, um, so with everybody's listening, this house is amazing. I know you guys showed show showed me pictures. I know I'm not going to this thing because the women have got to be very retreat, but it's nice. It's way nicer than the way where they would ever put us. it's Branson in the dog house. Maybe in the trailer we all know. So, it's like Branson, uh, Missouri, right? Yes. Branson, Missouri. It is June 11th through the 14th, which is a Thursday, Friday, Saturday, come home Sunday. Um the first actual events that we have planned is actually Thursday afternoon. So Thursday's travel. So again, the women in the industry are not being asked to step away from their organizations for an entire week, especially during this time of year. Um it is a matter that you're miss Thursday, Friday, and you're going to go back to your organization, your cup's going to be overflowing. Yeah. So, I mean, when you say Branson, Missouri, it definitely sounds like a place that Sasha and I can't afford to go to, even though I don't I couldn't find it on a map. I don't know about you. Uh, is that is that state? Yeah. Yeah, that's next year's thanks to Founder Sense. We're gonna have to live through you guys and the pictures. That's all I know, right? Yes. Yes. No, it's awesome. You guys doing amazing work. Yeah. Let's support it. Yeah. So, so to find out more everybody, drop some comments in one of these places where you're watching this, um, tag Veronica, tag one of us, reach out to Sasha if you know Sasha, we'll put you in touch with the right people or me and, uh, or Veronica at Las Vegas Fence.com. Definitely, this is your first retreat, so you guys are going to hit it out of the park, right? Oh, yeah. It's it's going to be huge. I mean to touch base on the education platform that we have, we've kept this retreat small um to make sure that it is intimate and you're getting the networking and you're getting the conversations that usually mean more than just the education itself. And uh we've taken the full throttle education that people are going to see at the show this year and it's actually going to start at the women's retreat. So if you want to sneak peek into that full throttle experience, it's starting in June. I don't know what this full throttle stuff you guys are talking about. He keeps bringing it up. You keep bringing it up. I'm just I'm just trying to talk about the women of FW demo days and you guys just keep steer me in that direction. Full throttle sounds pretty amazing. Pretty lot of fun. Okay. Okay. So, let's talk about it then. Let's get into Full throttle. And people are asking what does this full throttle mean? We're talking about taking everything we've learned, you know, and we're a new organization and uh but we came out of the gates Fast and Furious like we were talking about and uh uh we, you know, with the intentions of connecting with the industry and more people and uh the education, we learned a lot from the education sessions we did, you know, that we did. We learned what went worked really well, what worked really well at demo days, what worked really well at our um shows that we had and what classes that instructors were sitting there going, "What? There's only five people here, right?" And then we have ones where people are standing in the back of the room because they couldn't get a seat. So, um, we're learning from all of that and we decided

That, uh, we're going full throttle. That's this event. I mean, it's education like we've never done. Uh, Veronica, you're you're obviously key to, uh, handling the education right now. You have taken this just by the uh, yeah, be careful 13 shel. So, you know, every class getting outlined, getting uh booklets. Yes. Um it's, you know, we're talking about instru I mean, today alone you had on my calendar to meet with you probably three or four different instructors. Did you know that? Yeah. So, I had a total of six meetings today with instructors in regards to what to bring. And the basis of the full throttle experience are lessons and things that I've experienced in this industry um since I joined um kind of what's missing where are the gaps in here what can we do to improve what can we really bring to contractors um that's vital and worth their time and their money to come and not only that but we also do keep you know the cost of attending the show and the cost of the education so minimal but we look at it that we're investing in the industry as a whole and we're investing into your organizations. Um, and we're going to give you 90-day action plans to take some of this and you're going to talk to some people in the industry that have been doing this for decades and decades and decades that can tell you every horror story and success story that there is out there and having those conversations and those outlines and those resources. It's not anything you get from anywhere else. Yeah. Yeah. In this in this classes I think um when we started this thing it was obviously to reach out we felt there was a gap there was a a need for and you come from the fence installation side to the manufacturing side and you know even distribution side you've been on all of it as well and there was a gap there was a a need for uh taking guys that or gals or guys whoever's in the industry always trying to be PC right but um and uh and that that aren't the biggest guys in the world. I don't have three, four, five trucks. And and and I think people ask me a lot. They're like, "What separates, you know, what separates FW? If I had a dollar every time somebody asked me, why do you need two associations or three associations or four associations? What separates you from everybody else?" Right? And I think it's fundamentally we're different. I mean, literally, I mean, we've had this mentality in our industry that if you if you bought a wheelbarrow and and and you had a a truck and you were bought your stuff at Home Depot, this that and you dug fence posts on the weekend and you uh went to your regular job during the week, we chased you off, right? And we didn't want you in the industry. We said you're we called you names trunk slammers, one Jack trucks, whatever we could think of to to make you less of a legitimate business even though you had a license or you had this because whether I'm a firm believer that whether you're in business for one day or 100 years, you got one truck or 100 trucks, you're just as legitimate. So I think um I knew that there was a need that if you're crazy enough to go dig holes with us on the weekends or installgate operators, then you're crazy enough to go full throttle. Yeah. Then then we want full throttle. We want you in. We want we want you. We want you and we want to turn that two-day installer into a five-day installer into one of your biggest customers, into one of merchants's biggest customer, one of Master's biggest customers, one of the distributor's biggest customers. And we're not going to do that by chasing them off. I felt like our industry did nothing, but we and we've talked about this. Our industry has spent decades chasing the same 500 customers. And I say go out and create new ones. And I think we and it's time to step up the it's time to step up the standard. If we're not providing the education and the resources, what are we doing to our industry? Because eventually, a lot of these generations and a lot of these fence installers that are out there are going to be gone. And so, does that mean that our trade disappears? We fight about being a legitimate trade in the construction industry. And to fight for that, but yet we're not doing anything

About the growth and support. So only thing we did was set up training classes for people that were already established, people that already had the money to for compliance, already had the stuff for this. So we we like you said, we we literally fight saying we're not a legitimate industry. We need to make it more professional. We need to do this. But then anybody in our industry, we don't want to get the resources out to them. We don't want to set trainings up for them. We're going to charge them thousands of dollars to do things safely. Yeah. And then it's like you can't I'm sorry. The greatest thing about America is you can't put people in boxes. Why are we putting people in boxes and saying hey you know know FWA women why you know founders just like the day you guys had that inception was so well because you guys are like we can't do things without the people that support us and as vice versa it's it's an actual what forget in our industry it's it takes a team you know we say it takes a village to raise the kids well that's rubbish but in fencing It literally takes the team to to start with the truck. Like we always start out somewhere. No one just oh I've got 50 trucks. Let's go. We start somewhere. And even automation. And here's here's the challenge that you guys have done really well from FWA to FW women's break the barrier. Like guys, you're automation. You need a gate. Farm guys, we're all in the same industry. Can we just get it on and learn from each other, you know? So Sasha, when you joined this industry, how many times did you wish that you had the resources that FWA is so passionate about today that you know you could spend the $89 a night for the room and spend $150 for the um full throttle pass and get a full weeks of like real education. These are not breakout sessions. These are not little glimpses. This is legitimate education um and plans for you to take back and it it really comes from a place of love and passion from all of us. Let's talk about the full throttle pass because we've been saying full throttle a whole lot, right? So at the fence show is that full throttle. You could go to you could go to fentshow.com obviously and register like always. I mean it's been like that for you know since the last three four shows, right? So um I can't wait to say the last 10 shows. It's gonna happen eventually, but right a decade. We're gonna have a decade pin or something, right? Yeah. So, so you can go there and you can register and get your pass, but you register for that full throttle pass. Now, there's nothing like this. There's nothing where um this many people come together to give real education and these I mean everything from a two-day gate operator course to uh right right down to networking, know your customers, uh how to make commercial. Um I mean, you could go on and on about these courses that we got going on. Yeah. They go um they go through a period of days for how much? Uh the uh full throttle pass right now I believe is on sale were 149. Um but that's actually getting ready to go up. So definitely register ahead of time. Um I pay more in fuel to fill my truck up than it takes to learn or to get not even learning. No one's telling you we're trying to tell you how to run your business. It's about learning. Hey, there's options. There's a community. There's like that is cheaper than gas. I'm sorry everyone out there, right? And it's an investment. So, what's the average? You go to a lot of Xbox. You've been to a lot of shows. You have What's the average? I've not been welcomed to a lot. I guess I think going back to all the shows you've been banned from. Okay. That's very So, what what does it usually cost to get a hotel room? Not just that, it's like how do you take your team out and like everyone forgets you start somewhere, right? There's a there's a a moment that we're not we're all trying to live the American dream, right? But it all I don't want to go to a place where I can't even afford to. And look, no disrespect to those places, but in so no because I'm going to I'm going to get banned. That's fine. Get banned. I remember your very FWA's very first show. And for those that know me know that I might like to gamble a little,

Just very little bit, right? Just I would drive past South Point every freaking time going into Vegas. And I remember when Brian said to me, "We're putting you in South Point." And I looked at him and I was like, "South Point? Are you crazy? That is guys out there in the UN. That is my favorite. When I go to Vegas, I only go to South Point now." And it's not because I want the chandelier. It was just man, it's where like it's family. It's like, "Hey, it's affordable because that is our industry." Did I ever tell you um why I picked South Point? I would I can say what I remember, but Okay. So, I'll say it anyway. So, okay. So, when when this crazy idea of starting FWA, it was in in my poor wife, man, she goes through so much on this stuff, right? Because if you know anything about me, it's like I'm just always thinking of something different that I'd like to do. There's just not enough time in the day, right? So, um I remember I I called around. I wanted to get involved in the industry and there really wasn't anything out there to do uh uh what I wanted. I wanted healthcare. We wanted better insurance. We wanted the education and seemed like everything out there was you just had to conform and it was designed so that nothing changed, right? So I'm like well that's not going to work. So I started the FWA and then um it wasn't but six months later I remember um some people that have been here for a while they weren't happy that we started another association and we were growing so fast, right? So, I went to a show and I'm like, man, feel like we could do something on a show and and uh so then we go back to Vegas and I went to a couple hotels and it didn't feel, you know why? Because me as a fence company didn't feel as welcome. I felt like I walked down the aisles. I felt like I walked into um and I know I'm going down a rabbit hole to to get to the point that I said earlier, but it's a deep rabbit, but nonetheless, I remember I remember walking and I'm like I'm like, you know, I'm Las Vegas fence. I'm uh I'm one of the maybe the main five you sell materials up there. One of the main five companies Las Vegas. Yeah. the guy who wouldn't let me walk in. He wasn't even allowed in there. But a year or two before I would even talk to him, but um but nonetheless uh I felt like nobody wanted to sell to me. And I'm like, man, is and this is how I feel in Las Vegas. I can only imagine a guy with one truck how it must feel. So then I went back and um I remember I mentioned something to my wife and she just kind of blew me off a little bit. So then I I I'm like I'm I'm I'm acting like I'm going to sales calls at Las Vegas Finch, right? Luckily going to the sound checking out the slumish. Oh yeah, I like this. Alcohol is affordable. Like we get this. Luckily I'm from outside of sales at my own company so I could drive around. So I'm like then I went to a couple hotels then I narrowed it. I I I visited South Point and then I went to Paris hotel if you're familiar with that. Oh yeah. Really? So I went and there was the only one that was probably uh the expo hall would have worked for us because of just the the you know where it was and to get in and the deal I could have made. So but the guy couldn't meet me. It's like I go there with um two people and the guy couldn't meet me to walk the expo hall with me. So I go to the bar and I'm like, "Okay, we got some time to waste." So we go down the local just the the area bar in the middle of the casino and it was like two or three drinks and it was 90 bucks. And I'm like, "This isn't going to work. This is this is not how you bring the fence industry to your I mean we'll go upstairs and we'll spend $50,000 on a truckload of material or we'll buy a Bobcat for $80,000. But if you go down and say it's $18 for a beer, $18. What are you talking about? You're out of your mind. Right. So then so I go to South Point and I already had kind of kind of built a relationship with him. I go down there and uh I remember I bought like a a round of drinks and now I'm curious. Right. It was like two, three, go down there. And it was like $18, right, for three drinks. God d and I'm like, you know, and not that it's about drinking, but it that's just But that's we people out there, we are not encouraging you drink. That's on your

Own. That's not full throttle. That's on your own. But but and the rooms, too, the rooms there were $300. I could a deal for less than $300 a night for the rooms, you know, at Harrison at the time, you know, it was. So then I go over here and we got rooms for anywhere from $65 to $85 I think it was. And I'm like this is And they're good rooms. Yeah. This is how we bring the industry together. We're not going to bring Remember my first the very first show. That's why I said I love the launch, right? Because Brian doesn't he was like do you I'm like yes we you were working on alcohol currency. So I was like that's what we talked about. I was like okay that makes sense. I'm Australian. I don't drink but you know I get their whole Okay. currency.

We're not going to tell the world, But the rooms are amazing. Yeah. And the cool thing about the South Point is walk in in your muddy boots. They have a full-blown arena there. Joe Bumgardner, um, who's actually a family friend, actually runs the arena, um, and the events there. And you can walk in there in muddy boots and you don't feel like you're shunned or you're anything less. And let's talk another huge part of a benefit of South Point is how many of us in the industry drive big trucks. You can't get those big trucks in the parking garages in downtown Las Vegas. You just can't. Oh, you can, but it's gonna be like 50 bucks a day or 75 bucks a day to park your And I'm going to scratch Big Blue as I'm driving it through my So, so then it went further. Then we did the show and uh this is what I think people don't realize about the fence show and I wish we could get that out there more to people that haven't been and I think we do bring a lot of people to our show that have never been to a show because again it goes back to mentality. We refuse to chase the same 500 uh customers in anything whether it be fence whether it be the fence show whether it be FWA. I mean we want everybody included. We want everybody to come but I believe we need to go out and and get more members. We need to find more members. We need to find more first-time people to go to the shows. And that's what we owe the distributors and the manufacturers and and the exhibitors that are coming to these shows. But then I remember sitting down with um exhibitors and I'm like going, "Hey, um here's the deal. I'm, you know, I want to help you. I want to help market you, but can you do me a favor? Can you bring somebody that's can sign accounts up?" And you'd be amazed. I mean, and now you're going to see that more across the show. I did open it up. They'd be like, "Oh, so what are we supposed to do? You know, we got to vet them and we got to do stuff like this and and I'm just like going, man." I go, "Here's the deal." I said, "If they went through all the work to join FWA, get an airline ticket, get a hotel room, register for the fence show, come inside, get a t-shirt, they're walking around, check, check, check. I just vetted them for you. They're in the fence industry. Okay? And if there's some homeowner out there that that that went through all that work to save $75 on his material, sell it to him, too. Kudos to that guy, right? He earned it. There's definitely not a bunch of that walking around. So, sign him up. And I'm like, if we're going to get people, but I think if we owe um to the exhibitors and the manufacturers and suppliers um to bring the people there, they owe it to us. And I and I and I'm I'm a I'm I'm a firm believer in that. You'll hear me say it a thousand times. I'm like, I mean, we just convinced a fence company, a small one maybe, to shut his company down for that three, four days. Fly, get airline tickets, get hotels, come here. It's a big commitment. You owe it to him as much as I owed it to you to bring him there. and don't make me look like a chump and I won't make you look like a chump. That's what I look like, right? And it's and it's definitely all support. Um, you know, without the installers, the manufacturers and suppliers wouldn't be where they're at. And without, you know, it it's this circle and we all need each other. And we really need to start coming together as an industry as a whole with the support, with the resources, and bring them to everybody. And we take all of this to heart like beyond what everybody else can even see out there and the things that we take into consideration and the things that we do and and the fights and the arguments and you know the controversy that's out there is because we live this life. This this is our industry too. It's not just we run an association and we have no idea. You know that's not the case. Yeah. And we don't turn it over. I mean, I know one day we're going to have to maybe it's just going to outgrow what we can handle ourselves, but um we're going to fight it. I mean, it's all ran by all of us and ran by fence guys that that work at Las Vegas Fence and stuff and like that. I think that if we turned it over to a management company today, people say it all the time. They're like, you know what, you could organize this, you could do this, you could do that. If you just turned it over to a management company, but I think we'd

Lose it. You'd end up with people at the registration that that aren't in our industry that don't understand and they don't care that you just been waiting in line for 20 minutes. they're they're not upset over your experience that you had, you know what I mean, at the expo. They don't care about the opening ceremonies. And I think that that's um you know, and I think that's what sets us aside. I mean, nobody goes to one of our shows and doesn't say that was amazing. Right. And I think too from the outside looking in, you know, cuz you guys are so vested, you know, FWA, Veronica and all the team in FWA women, you know, FWA Brian, you know, from your inception to to where you are today. It's like, but looking from the outside in, our community is starving for one, that that community feel, but two, look, at the end of the day, let's just have some freaking fun. Like, if I'm going to take my team and take them away, can we just have some fun? Put everything aside. Yes. Gas in California, by the way, is an absol freaking ripoff. go do the education because it's going to save you gas money and take advantage of what you guys are trying to do and keep it affordable. But in order to keep it affordable, we need to support it as a community. You know, our job for all of us out there is to help you guys keep it going so that it is not outrageous, that it is affordable because you know what you guys have taught me. by the way and what you guys are doing out there and the people that I've got to meet. I've got to meet some of the most amazing people that started fancy company and did not know how to buy product. Me and you will talk about this the day we die. Yeah. I've never thought in 50 years in which it's not 50 because I'm young and good-looking unlike Brian but like who says as a fencing person they can't buy material? That was mindblowing to me. But you guys it's changing. I mean it's it's changing. It's not the same industry it was I don't believe than the day we started FWA. It's um the the suppliers don't act the same. There was there's now a a race to take care of small fence companies. There's a race to get them to your events. There's a race. It's no longer a race to get each other's customers. um that's still there I'm sure but it's not common it's not it's not what it used to be now they realize that if you don't take care of these small companies we will customer service the customer service itself from manufacturers and suppliers I can tell you from when I came from the install world has totally changed since FWA has come around and Sasha I really want to touch base on the let's get together and have a good time I do want to make the announcement that founder Spence and women of FWA They are right next to each other on the showroom floor. So it is unstoppable to have a good time within that area. We need security there to stop the party from out of control. Might see security around there. Listen, so I'm glad you brought it up. Let's talk about this. So you you expanded your booth. Now you haven't told me what you're doing yet. And uh I know at some point you're gonna if you're going to be asking, are we allowed to do something? Yeah. the three days before he's going to ask for permission for something that we're going to have to get from the hotel property and we don't know what it is but it's going to require some permit or something. So this so this founders has had to like you know because I can only speak for founders but all I can say is that because of FWA and FWA's women and the support that we've got it's helped our business. So this year FWA and FWA women and full throttle. Yeah, it's going to be interesting. I don't know if Brian could pull off. Give us a little me. What do you mean pull? See, he hasn't even told me yet. So So yeah. No, no, no, no. Sasha, we're going to keep that a surprise. So So we've got a really good idea of what Sasha's up to. Um, and we're going to help him keep that under wraps. So people are just going to have to come to the show and see what crazy crap Sasha has come up with this year. From a 20 by 20 booth. Yes. Which was awesome by the way if you went I mean it was the center point of the expanded a little bit further out. 20 by 50. Now what do you mean a little bit? He went from a 20 by 20 to a 20 by

50. Yes. Now what the heck are you doing there? So we're going to have some entertainment. The FWA women and us are going to throw some some cool parties and then there might be an odd things in certain places. Don't know what they are yet but just think of the full throttle thing. I'm right in. I'm right in. So, we're Yeah, we're super stoked. So, what what So, on the fence about uh Veronica, how do we how do how do people get registered for the fence show? Go to fenhow.com. Um it will show up on the main page or you can go to the top, go to events, and you click on the 2026 FS show and security expo. It'll give you a full rundown. Click register. There's an actual countdown timer on there as well. really super super easy. If you're interested even in purchasing um one of the full throttle t-shirts, you can pre-order. You can also get your FWA t-shirts right then. We will have them all ready for you at registration. So, if you go ahead and add that to your registration at that time, you're guaranteed to get that merch um and be proud of the industry that we're in. So, really, really easy. If you're interested in or have a woman in the industry um to go to the retreat, same thing. Go to fentshow.com, click on events, it'll all be listed there. That's Yeah, that's awesome. So, um, I know that I crashed your guys' party and I'm really sorry. It is actually pool league night, but I couldn't resist an opportunity to jump on. So, I've got to go shoot some pool, but thanks for letting me crash the party, man. I thought she would crash at any tone. I thought she would never leave, Nonica should take it. All right. All right. Throw one for us. Bye, guys.