Gate Operators, Golden Nuggets and the Moat Around Your Business with Brooks

Hey,

Hey.

All right, everybody. Thank you all for coming back. Today's going to be a special episode. While um Sasha is actually out there, there people walking by. While Sasha is actually out today doing whatever Australians do, cooking shrimp on the barbie or drinking foster beer. Nobody really knows. But uh Sasha's out doing whatever he's doing today. So you just got me and Brooks today. But we got a returning fan favorite. We're talking about the madman, the myth, the legend. Brooks is in the house. Man, it has been forever since you've been here. How are you, man? Hey, what's up, man? I I know where I'm at. Where are you at when you say been here? Where are you? What state are you in these days? I'm down in California right now. Take me. I'm ready to go, man. I'm ready to go. Yeah, man. I'm doing good. Uh, I'm in I'm in Atlanta right now and uh just got done with work and was out on the middle of my walk. I was running just a tab up behind. So, uh uh excuse the the background and my my homies. I'll catch up with y'all. Um my dudes behind me. So, what's going on, man? What's going on, man? So, you leave Vegas. You got some new friends to hang out with. Is that what that is going on? Who is that? Let me see who that is. Yeah, they're all seven. Hey. Hey. No, he's he's dipping. He's got some girls he's talking to. Uh, so, uh, what's up with this full throttle thing that I see like maps and stuff like y'all are doing something and then are people coming and I'm trying to get a ride and all this stuff and I don't know who to talk to about getting a ride and Well, let's go back to you. Let's go back to you though. I mean, you're still in Atlanta. I mean, you're still in Atlanta and uh, yeah, you haven't left that area up there still, but there's been some uh, transitioning in what you're doing though, right? Yeah. Yeah, man. I uh um am selling stuff now uh and uh as opposed to being in the field every day and uh mainly inside and uh you know just doing what I doing what I do and uh um I'll probably be out of this area sometime soon. Just not sure whether I'm going back to Dallas or maybe some other place. But uh but yeah, man. And looking forward to uh teaching um and uh some more. Um, so I I'm going to be uh in Vegas teaching and uh uh anybody out there that wants to host any teaching, uh I'll be more than happy to travel to you, but right now for the next at least maybe till the end of the year or so, I'll be here in Atlanta. Yeah. So, um going back what you were saying about Full Throttle though, you are going to be an instructor coming up here. Um I mean, of course, you you've done you've been an instructor with Pence University for what, a half a decade now, doing stuff with us. So, um we're grateful to everything that you've taught us and and probably taught everybody else that came to the classes. But um are you excited to be back then fence university doing some stuff? Yeah, I am. I think you know you invited me last year and and Coyote and I were were you know as usual just like the class that we taught in California without him you know it would have been a lot a lot rougher. So uh having somebody else there that's excited and somebody else there that knows the equipment and stuff that was nice. So, uh, last year I did it and, uh, didn't put 1,000% into it like I've done before. So, I'm excited to come back and see all of those faces again and u help gate technicians create an environment where they can make a lot of money for very, very low pain and hopefully teach some fence guys uh, to either get into the gate business or not to get get into the gate business. It's a big complaint about gate fence guys rather get getting into the to gate business is um you know I just don't want phone calls on Friday night. So there's an answer for that as well too. And um uh I'm super excited. So yeah, I'm pumped and uh I'm glad to be on this tour. Yeah. So you said though you're doing inside sales, so you're not actually out in the field doing installations anymore? Not uh not uh as a full-time thing. I'm still doing consulting and I only do like one gig every couple of years. So, uh, a couple of, uh, le last month I was out in Manassus, Virginia, um, talking to, uh, a gay company about their fulfillment side of their business and,

Um, the operations of it. So, uh, so yeah, not daytoday. I mean, that whole week I was out dayto day put in some Viking G5 and, uh, AI phone stuff and a couple other things that we worked on. Um, but yeah, no, not dayto-day inside shining a seat with my ass, you know, type things. So, um, looking at chairs like, "Oh, man, that chair will be comfortable." As opposed to looking at carts going, "Oh, that cart will help me out." Like, "Oh, yeah. I could see that desk being in front of my monitor. Oh, yeah." You know, that type of stuff. You know, you've been doing it. You've been doing it so well for the last few years. I'm sure uh you're used to that. No, I mean, you know, it's good to get on the field every once in a while, but once a tech, always a tech, man. It's in your blood, right? you can I mean you just you almost crave and enjoy troubleshooting and uh helping people when they have issues and just even over the phone and things like that but once a tech always a tech. I mean you've always got the tools and stuff and parts and stuff in your truck. What um you know right now how many even though you're an inside sales you're going to get fat and lazy just sitting inside and your hands are going to get soft. What um right now how many remotes do you think you got in your truck right now that uh you can you have no idea you're there for? Oh man, I was sitting there trying to think about who to give away because I've got some specific stuff that's geographical uh like uh specifically for Dallas, Dallas Fort Worth region, and I was like, "Oh man, I could give this away." And then, "Oh, I could probably sell this." No, this was still got my own logo on it. Do I want to keep it? Do I not want to keep it? Man, it's just like anything else. Uh for people like me, that's what I love and that's what I'm interested in. So, I just put it in a box and just keep it. But no, no, none right now. Surprisingly enough, none right now. I don't I don't look drive by gate and go I can break into that or oh I've got the the remote I'll just put back to the factory good switch settings and and see if I can get in there. So uh so none. So if anybody wants to get into a gate in Dallas I can uh help them out. But that's about it these days. H I think we I think you're out there on your walk. We're not getting the best uh connection. We're losing you a little bit, man. Hold your phone up a little higher. Point it towards one of the satellites or something. There you go. Sorry. Sorry about that. Sorry about that. So, uh, so yeah. Anyway, no remotes in the truck. I've got all those stored away for any of the gates or for training. Actually, that's what I was doing was building the kits out for training. Yeah. You know, um, you know, one thing you and I have always been passionate about since we met was um the education and why it matters and who we're educating matters, right? I mean, that's a big deal especially for, you know, you and I and we must have had a thousand thousand conversations and and not just conversations everybody, but arguments as well about about things. But one thing that you and I agree on is uh educating people in our industry. We can't complain people um aren't doing it right and we can't we can't drive around and say that's not done right. These guys shouldn't be doing it. These people shouldn't be doing it. And then not not have anything available to train them. So um I love that passion. But what that's for me. Why do you think education, you know, is is so important to uh the industry? Well, I've just recently shared this in the last couple of years, but why I got into training and started my own school, the Access Control Expert School, about 12 years ago, training my competitors, training them for free, you know, not asking for sponsorship money, always having a trade association involved, um, all of those types of things. I did that 12 years ago because this doesn't take a lot in order to be great at this business. You just have to be good. So in order to be good, 50% of that's just showing up. And the second the other 50% is just following what the manual says. And in order if you do those things and you could do those things and not get drunk on the job or, you know, or anything or wreck the truck or anything like that or put uh um unleted in a diesel or diesel unleted, you have the opportunity. You have the Oops. I feel that. I feel I feel like that was uh that was throwing throwing little

Daggers at me on that one. That's a little jab. And you know, as soon as I walked onto your property uh last October, I guess it was, I was like, you got to be kidding me. Um but when I saw all those unled fuel only on the side of your truck and you're like, "Nope." So anyways, if you could just do those basic stuff, just have pigheaded discipline, you don't have to be smart in order to make 70 or $80,000 a year. You just have to follow the list and that's all it is. And then the second thing obviously the more money that you make the less money that you can rely on the government. And I think that it's important and it's one of the things that you know the last few years have been tough because I've just put so much uh the effort into education. But prior to that in my own business um uh you know I only had to borrow one time money and one time in an emergency. I didn't have to get up and do foolish things with gate operators or do stuff to the lowest dollar um because I just didn't have any debt. Um and I think that that is uh personal those are the two personal reasons why I got into it and then I loved it. So that was the third reason. Uh but uh yeah, those were the main two reasons. Yeah, I think and again we've always kind of agreed on certain things. I mean there's so much money to be made in this industry u fencing, gate operators, access controls that it's it's amazing. So if you went if you if you get up every day and put the time in uh and you're not afraid to actually learn and and and things like that, you're going to you're going to succeed in it. But you know what you know what I found out and after even obviously we've talked to a lot of people you and I um smaller companies and even people outside of our industry that want to learn gate operators and access controls. Um but what I've been finding out is um it's one thing to teach them how to open up a box, bolt it down, hook up the photo eyes, which is what we train them how to do really well. Um, I think what was unique about what you always did was, um, you kind of taught them some of the programming and the troubleshooting as well. You always throw that in there, right? No matter what, I mean, a lot of your a lot of your, um, you know, instructions while you're doing it, like, hey, I'm going to teach you how to hook this uh, radio receiver up, but I'm going to show you how to hook it up so that the wires don't just slide out. You know what I mean? When when uh, you know, when the wind blows through or something or you can kind of tug and those little techniques. But um why do you think that most installers struggle though um with programming and troubleshooting? Uh no foundation. Uh the foundation the the training is um here's a board, here's a motor, here's a list of work orders. Um just call me at 5 and tell me how much you got done. And when you're intimidated, like I've been put in a lot of new scenarios over the last year, when you're intimidated, you don't perform at your best. You don't want to ask questions at 51 years old. You don't want to ask questions. You don't want to go, "Hey, how do you do this?" when you know it's just something simple. Um, and I think there's a big intimidation factor that makes it easier to go, you know what? We'll be back on Monday to check this out or this is a this is what we have in the truck or this is what my boss told me to do. I got to do this. Um, so I think that's a big reason why people struggle. There is the factor of not having the tools and there is not uh uh and not having the discipline to follow the list and all that stuff but I think you the biggest problem is is that we just don't have a foundation just to do the basic things and it gets really intimidating to go do I take off a motor do I test voltage here do I tell the customer that he can't park here yeah you do all of that crap um you're when you're out there your safety is the most important thing and you need to tell customers what to do you need to tell hey this is not you don't need to stand here. You don't need to put your hands here. You need to be behind the the uh uh cones. And that that intimidation factor can kind of really kill it for people and and not uh not want to go down the path of either figuring out or taking care of the customer. Yeah. And you know, um, you know what I think why I think people should get obviously go full throttle this year and even if you have an installer your company that's installed 10 15 gate operators for you. Um, they may not know some of those techniques and some of

That troubleshooting or may not know the proper way to hook up a photo wire and things like this. And um, I think that as these operators they become more and more convenient and they have like when you started and I started installing gate operators, we didn't have as much plugandplay. It was a a circuit board. Everything had to be wired in. wasn't a lot of just plug plug and play and everything just kind of worked. Photo eye just snapped in and everything, you know, was a sealed board and all that stuff. We remember taking the boards out looking at the back and I know you like me, you look for burn marks, right? And you would have to abandon that relay and work from another relay or, you know, troubleshoot differently like that. So, we were able to maybe understand how the gate operator worked more, I think, you know, because that's how we we we had to hook all the devices up and we didn't have as much plugandplay. So, while it's convenient, I think that if you're really going to have a tech that's out there working for you as a fence company, they need to run through a couple courses. They need to run through this um some of our full throttle uh and quick start classes and then you get into some more of the advanced troubleshooting ones um with someone like yourself. Otherwise, they're going to come up with a a, you know, a service call or out on an operator that they can't fix and um they can't or they're going to try something or they're not going to, you know, they're not going to quite understand how to go on a board and and locate the three different spots that'll open the gate, you know, by by crossing wires and things. So, um I don't know what you think. I mean, you think that the that now more and more people are getting into it, but it is more of a plug-and-play situation. Well, I think it's actually the I think there's some of that. I think um when we think about the plugandplay and and not to put words in your mouth, it's we have something to tell us why this is not working or we have some way to actually document or look at over an app like why this didn't work. But you know uh back in the day um you know 20 years ago it was unplug everything and see if the gate runs and then just start plugging in things one at a time. And now with the um thank god it's been one of the things that have actually uh lowered the number of of uh lawsuits and therefore accidents um the inclusion of safety devices with gate operators. Photo eyes just you know way automatic does with two photo eyes is the way that I like to see it done. photo eyes are the easiest things to run. But I think that that is also made it a little bit more complicated because we haven't had that 20 or 30 year history of the right nomenclature. Now people have monitor open monitor close and we have uh different ways of doing that. Some devices is two wire install some are three some are four. So I I do see your your point to an extent, but there also is a little bit more complicated and I've said this for a long time. Not only is this the biggest opportunity in access control and that's turning over to IT, our gate operators, we're going to need to understand basic uh IP um addresses and understanding, you know, what 192.168.1 whatever is and understanding how that plays in uh dynamic addressing and all that stuff. So, I agree with you to a certain extent, but I think we're also getting more complicated with all those additional devices and knowledge that we have to have. Yeah. Or we just go old school. I mean, let's face it, how many how many problems do you think can be solved by turning it off and turning it back on? Oh, it's it's a it's a small percentage, but enough of the percentage to where you can not waste any more time just by doing that. And um that that is something documented and doing is sometimes just the right thing to do if it's right around the corner. If the gate operates safe after you turn it on and off. Sometimes you don't need to know why something happened. Sometimes just turning it on and off and figuring out how to get it back in service safely. That sometimes that's what you had to do. Yeah. Let's talk about that for a second though because I know, you know, I've been out on service calls when I was doing tech support stuff like that and you know that you really you're in a rush. You're going from jobs to jobs to jobs or something and and something definitely was was causing this thing to hold open. And you know, you could go in there and probably spend the 30 minutes

It's going to take to diagnose it. And if you're like me, I I I want them to leave it as it is. If it's if whatever state it's in right now when they call, I don't want them touching it. Don't turn it off. Don't power it off. Don't touch it. Don't do anything. I want to see I want to see what error codes are on there. You want to see what what what what LED lights lit up. Any anything you can see before you um try to figure out what's wrong. And I'm pretty sure you're the same, right? Yes, that is correct. We do have the advantage of [gasps] uh transactions in some gate operators. For instance, lift master has 20 transactions. Automatic has 4,000 transactions and so on. So high security's got transactions. So we have that advantage. But sometimes there are things that we see that aren't recorded in transactions. Sometimes there is something mechanical that is causing the failure, wires touching together or something like that. And you going in there taking off the cover and moving stuff around just to unplug it and turn it back on does us no good because you've now changed what the what's the fault is. and I've got to sit out there and recreate it to do some due diligence and there's 300 bucks out the window. Yeah. And you may not be able to reproduce it. I mean, you go out there and it's operating and you know, you just like going, "Well, I could uh you know, I could test a relay. I could uh you know, maybe it's a limit switch, maybe I mean something, right?" But I mean, other than that, it's really not, you know, once it once it solved itself, you're really you're kind of stuck. And they just got charged for a service call and they didn't get the full benefit of the service call. So, yeah. I I mean I I agree on, you know, we're kind of the same on that. Hey, what um what's what's an installer phrase? You know, you've worked with a lot of installers, not just uh new people coming up, but I know you get phone calls. I know you you go to fence companies where they've got installers. What's one phrase that you hear from them that immediately scares you? Uh I don't have a multimeter. Oh, yeah. No, my boss doesn't give us a laptop. uh or if you're doing access control that is not for gate operators but uh uh yeah we don't have multimeter and yeah we just have one megga ohm meter for the company or we don't have a time domain refletoter those are the things that scare me um because it hurts a technician and drives good technicians out yeah and I and I you know one of the things that gets me is when I'm doing a tech support call or anything like that or even one of those guys I'm like you're on the phone you're like hey uh tell me the voltage what's the voltage of that and uh they're like 12 volts and I'm like get your meter what's the volt oh it's 12 volts. I'm like, does the does the package say 12 volts? Is that why you're saying 12 volts? Because the odds of you having the only battery in existence that's exactly 12 volts that's been sitting in this operator is pretty low, right? So, that kind of stuff was always when someone tells you it's exactly 16 volts or 24 volts or something. What are you getting out of your solar panel? 12 volts. Yeah. Be hot, right? Well, or or when they go or when a solar panel is a perfect example when I say, "Hey, what's your what's your open voltage?" and they go 1843 and I'm just like, "Oh, so you already tested it?" "Well, I tested it yesterday." Uh, so I said, "Well, how do you know it's 18.43 now?" "Well, that's what it says on the back of the panel." Oh, okay. Well, so so yeah, you're absolutely right. And uh I put my phone number out everywhere because I want people to who don't have these answers to call me. So I still deal with these phone calls all day. And I spent 15 minutes with somebody uh last week. He called me again today trying to figure out a maglock. Um, and I spent 15 minutes with him and he was telling me stuff that he did before he left the job site. He was in his truck on the way home and I was like, "So, what's the voltage of the power supply?" He's like 12 point. It's like 12, it's 12.43. Um, enough to where I had confidence that he was testing it right then and he wasn't even on the job site. So, yeah, those types of things scare me. Oh, did I lose you? Oh crap. Did I lose you, Brian? We lost Brian. Oh, we lost Brian. Oh, sorry.

All right. Well, hey, so anyways, if you don't have a good multimeter on your truck, you need to have one. And uh we'll wait for Brian to come back on. But here's one of the things I always say about education that you guys have to remember. A lot of the classes that we do dayto-day don't have pre-qualifiers. So, when you're taking one of our classes, you're taking a class with somebody that's done it for 20 years and you're taking a class with somebody that's done it for uh 20 years and somebody that's only done it for two minutes or have never have done it. So, when you're taking an education class, like Brian was saying, you know, what's one of some of the stuff that scares you? Um, we're going to teach you to a certain level, but some people know more, some people know less, but it's your responsibility as a student to be on the lookout for that one golden nugget. So, education is an active process. Whether you think you know it or not, you're on the hunt at these classes for one golden nugget. We got you back, Brian. Yep. I know. I don't know what that was. That was That's so weird. I'm stable, too. can be but well not mentally stable but everything else but sorry about that everybody that was probably you got a break from me looks like you got Susan for a second there right? Yeah. Yeah. I thought I thought I thought I might have lost you. Anyways I I was just on one of my uh tangents but but anyways while you were gone I was just saying just on the break we were just talking about classes like it's a student's responsibility to find that one golden nugget. And for a $500 class that has no prerequisites you have a responsibility to find that golden nugget. and I can't tell you what it is. If I could tell you what it is, I would just sell it to you for 500 bucks and just stay home. So, everybody's responsible for the active process when they come to these classes. I call it a golden wire nut, but um you can call it a golden nugget if you want, but golden wire. There you go. Okay. All right. If you want to see that, go for it. But guys, we don't use we don't we don't use uh nobody uses wire nuts anymore. We were talking we were talking about the guys, you know, um, you know, what I love about what we're doing is is we're we're we're educating fence companies and uh, you know, and even some smaller gate companies and getting them to do the gate operators because I remember did I ever tell you the story about what got me to install my first gate operator? I don't think so. You know, it's it's because I mean, have you ever noticed how some guys uh, you know, especially if you're not in the industry or something, some guys they wire these gates like they're like they're building a bomb, right? And it's like you open it up and it's like they're, you know, like they're they're they're preparing for the bomb squad to come out and not be able to figure out what to do once they get in there. There's just it's just a bundle of wires in there, right? And you do a pretty clean job when you wire them up. But some not everybody does that, right? But because I mean because those little details uh you know mean something to you when you're walking away. But um I had a guy that worked for me and uh this was this must have been in the 90s and uh 80s 90s somewhere. It must have been 90s. And he uh I would pay him to come install operators for me and I just had a fence company and I was just doing my fence company and and I'd pay him to go out there and and whenever I went out there, man, it was just this it was Do you remember the old SL3000s? It had that plastic that plastic uh little screen right in front of it display. Yeah, good units. But anyway, so you couldn't even he put so much wire in there and you couldn't even see the circuit board. It was That's how much and and it was almost almost like a bubble of uh coming sticking out of it almost. it was pushing out on it. So then um I would have to call him for everything cuz I mean I didn't know what any of those thing I didn't know what that was. It looked like it was just like I said it was like he was wiring something up in there. I could had no idea what it was. Different color wires everything. So um one time there was a problem at one of the apartment complexes where we put the gate on and I I got a call from uh the property manager and I'm like they're like you

Got to open this gate. You got to do something. You know how it was back then. There wasn't as much on the battery backup battery then it was a battery backup was an actual like a a battery with an inverter that would open the gate once and hold it open. Remember? So, it wasn't like we have now where they're running on the batteries. So, the gate was stuck closed. So, I go, "Man, I'll see what I can do." So, I went out there and I opened it up and man, I see this this that plastic sheet right in front of it, that clear plastic. I I took I loosened the screws up. I slid that up. I pulled it over and these wires. I'm like, I don't know what to do. I'm going to try to fish through and see if any lights are on. See if I can hit a button or, you know what I mean? Something like I had no idea. So, I start pulling on wires and this one's loose. I pull this wire and a bundle of wires come out. Bundle. Nothing's hooked up. These wires that are just sitting in here aren't actually hooked up to anything. The guy just had all these different wires jumbed up and shoved in there. And I pull all these over there and then, you know, once I got in there, all it was was a photo I hooked up and the power coming in. So, you know, back then it was simple, right? We didn't even have all the all the different opening and close devices and things, right? And then I think I powered it down like they had old days powered it back up or it clips on. I don't remember what I did to to get it open. And then um that's when I found out the guy was just doing that so I wouldn't learn how to install gate operators. So then I ordered the next one up, looked in the manual, and that's how I learned how to do it. Yeah. Uh that's just the way they used to be. Um sometimes some people did it on purpose, sometimes people don't. It was just always fun when you go to HOA manager and they've got they've got the uh the the board of directors and all that stuff out there and they're like, "Hey, we've had five gate companies. Can't figure it out." And you just go in there and start cutting wires. That's one of the funnest thing ever. You just see him go. But yeah, that that's the way it just used to be, man. Uh people didn't people thought that that's the way that you built the moat around it. And I learned a long time ago that that's why I was training my competitors for free and having free classes and paying for it. I wasn't having free classes. I was paying to train my uh competitors. I bring I paid for the food. I paid for um the drinks and all that stuff. But yeah, that's people think that that's how you build the moat. You don't. you build the mo by building uh educated people out there because there's enough business for everybody from California up to New York. There's enough business for all of us. Yeah. You know, I I was just at an alarm association um meeting that they had and then I was at a locksmith one. I was at I mean I go to a lot of these other associations um especially as a smaller association um growing as fast as we are. You know, it's good to get it's good to go see what's like what it's like at the other associations and stuff, right? So, um I go there and they're all struggling with the same thing. I mean, it's uh you know, they're the the associations are getting a little older and some of these ones that are like that and they're they're it feels like they're stalling out, but they're not. It's just the young people aren't coming in and they're all saying the same thing. We can't find texts. We can't find texts. And of course, you know how I feel. Well, we're chasing them off, right? So, um but nonetheless, that's right. That's exactly what it is. You know, it's not that they're not out there. It's just we're not we we we now you're seeing it more. Now there's more of a push for education for everybody. But even when you and I first got together, it wasn't out there. I mean, it was, let's face it, unless you were an established company and had all the money um to fly and spend a week and spend $10,000 per employee, you weren't getting educated, you know? So, it's a it's a big deal. So, I love seeing that um what we've done, you know what I mean? What what we've kind of um set out there with Fence University and you involved in everything. Well, good. I I I'm glad to be uh a part of it in any way that I I can and uh help gate gate technicians be safer around gates and have their customers safer around gates and uh make sure that you guys don't go home, you know, like

This. It's it's not it's not a badge of honor to come home missing your finger or to have your finger caught in a gate operator. And you've taken my class before. You Brian, you've sat in the beginning of them and you see exactly what I show at the beginning of every class. Um, it's it's not something that I look proudly on when I get my finger caught in a gear. So, I want you guys to go home. Um, and gals, we need more women out here. Um, but need to bring some common sense out to these gate operator jobs. Uh, but yeah, I want you guys to go home safely safely. And I want you to guys go home and make a lot of money. There's plenty of money out here for all of us. And the moat around the business, just so everybody is aware, is physical labor. That's our moat around the business. is not stomping on your competitor's neck. You want an unfair advantage, but this education part of it, this is how you get your gate technicians out there profitable, and that's the moat, just making money because there's there's plenty of business out there for all of Yeah. I mean, you if let's face it, if you took a couple of your crews and you sent them to uh Vegas, get that full throttle gate operator experience, and then take the rest of the courses for the rest of the week, you already have the unfair advantage over everybody else because you're going to have something that that that the average fence company doesn't have. And that's people that understand gate operators a little bit better than the average person that's just opened up a gate operator box. So, um yeah, there's no doubt. But let's talk about that. Let's talk about that for a second. The education, the full throttle. This is our biggest education series we've ever done. I mean, it's it's now we've got um anybody that doesn't know Veronica, she's handling the education side. It's not just me and Susan, which were normally doing the expo and the education. And then Brooks, you were helping, you know, on some of the gate operator stuff, but we were um we were we were running a lot of it, you know, with with the staff that we had and stuff, but now we've got a person dedicated to these shows now that's just literally writing the courseware and and working with the instructors and getting the content out there, making sure these classes and the certificates and everything are exactly um what people should be getting out of it. But you are going to be there um like always, and we appreciate that. Um let's talk about some of the education segments you're going to be doing. you know, you're going to be there obviously assisting in the first two days on on most of it, but what are those two segments? Do you know what they are off the top of your head? You know, Veronica did uh send those to me um with the caveat of Brian is going to be handling a lot of the gate operator stuff. So, I just browse through it, but I would imagine it's going to be the stuff that I'm good at, which is complaining about distributors, complaining about manufacturers, complaining about trade associations, and how I do everything right and everybody else does everything wrong. But what I'm looking forward to doing is just showing you just in the first 10, 15 minutes of a job setup, how to set up your cart, how to put out cones, how to um use the box that the gate operator comes in for multiple things. If it's rainy, to use it as a knee pad, if it's not, to use it as a trash bucket, um, and how to put on a master link, how to use a chain brake. How many people out there do you think have you seen, Brian, still doing chain with cutting off chain with a grinder? I have never used a chain break and I know I've watched you do it and um I always grab it with my fence pliers and I I grind that sucker off and I I honestly What was that chain break we we got from We got some a chain break somewhere and remember it wouldn't even work or something. Yeah, we did get a chain break. Uh people have to know I mean I I can tell you where I've got my last couple automatic gate and equipment supply. They're not a sponsor. They're not um uh anything but they they have a chain break there. or whoever they buy it from. It's super reliable. Uh because of the pin, the way that the pin fits in there and the design of it. Uh but yeah, it wouldn't even You're absolutely right. And and I think I even brought that to your attention. I'm like, "Hey, Brian, you know, you just paid for two of these and they [ __ ] I know." So that was how you were going to introduce chain brakes to me and I'm

Watching you and you're just like, "Oh, no. This is definitely the way to do it. You should stop, put down your grinder." And I'm just like, "What? What do you" And then Well, these are bad ones. Okay. But uh you know normally yeah you know that's that's right because that's before I think I moved out to Las Vegas and then when I was out in Las Vegas I had I had my own and I think you just recently put out a video of me doing the chain break uh in California when we taught in California and I was doing the chain break with Edge. I was like all right do you feel it? Do you feel it? Do you feel it? You hear it pop? That's it. Now you're through. Now do the other side. It's just so much easier to do that. And we all know that uh angle grinders, they're probably like uh you know, OSHA's best friend to hunt us down with the way we use angle grinders. But uh uh you know, they're just it's just so much easier to do it with no sparks, no fuss, no mus. Just put it on there. It's just easy to do. So that's the type of stuff that I'll be helping teach. Um and that's what I want the students to look for. I can't tell you whether you'll get knowledge from that or not. I just want you to be on hunt down that golden nugget. Um, so yeah, that's the stuff I'm looking forward to teaching, but I'll keep it, you know, PG. No, you know, and I I would I think everybody'd like a link to that. So, when you get a chance, let's go back and drop a link to that chain break um that you do that you did find. I know they're not a sponsor or anything, but if it's a quality chain break and we want to we want to give that information, let's drop that in the comments later or something or maybe Susan can help so that when people are watching this um they can actually go and try to take a look at what So, you know what we're saying? Chain break. I guarantee there's people out there don't even understand what we're talking about on that. So, um, we'll explain to them and, uh, I'll drop a link maybe to that chain break video in there, too. I know Susan's listening. She's like, great. She goes, "It's already like nine o'clock at night here." So, uh, she goes, "I would love better to research a chain break right now, a video, and a link. Don't worry about it. Just put it in the notes and I'll I'll take care of all that stuff." But yeah, those are the gold golden nuggets. I can't tell you that's what you're gonna find. So, the last class I did here in Atlanta, I had Chuck McDonald and I had a couple of guys, I think from Tennessee, um, that came down who had been installing it and it was actually a lift master class that I was teaching LA400. Why not to put the why don't you put the LA 500 in and how to install a CSL and a CSW and um, I was uh, I was uh, in a room full of people that knew those gate operators better than I did. So, what I had them do was do stuff that they had never ever done. And that was the golden nugget for those guys, even though they have been doing it longer than me and knew a lot more stuff about these particular gate operators. So, it's your job to find that golden nugget. Yeah, that's a boo boo one. Take that down. Take that down. That offends my eyes. Uh, so anyways, um, but anyway, so yeah, it's it's your job to find that gold nugget. Is it a chain break? Is it how I do the box? Is that how I do the cart? I know guys that are just interested on how I have the truck set up. Uh so it's your responsibility to find those. You know, if you want to spend um uh 10 grand and have a guy come out for the week and just train your guys on the stuff that they don't know, you can. Or you can come to Vegas, talk to all the manufacturers and talk to multiple people that install this and steal all of their ideas. It's just that much easier. And go out and have a beer after the after the uh well and in some of the major segments because this is going to be a two full day. If you get there for the full throttle gate operator experience, it's the Monday, Tuesday, and then we've got some quick start versions of it going on on Wednesday, Thursday, and then I think breaching into Friday a little bit. But, uh, the main obviously if you're really trying to learn about gate operators, the Monday, Tuesday before the expo, which is the 5th, um, and the 6th are the are the main days for that. It's going to be two full days. And some of the segments you're going to be teaching is going to be radio controls and

Programming, which is the basics of radio controls, why programming. Um, you're going to be getting into why sometimes this programming intimidates the installers. Common programming mistakes, receiver setups, remote troubleshooting. Let's face it, that is an issue sometimes. You know, troubleshooting those remotes when you're going to get phone calls. If you're doing gate operators, you're going to get these phone calls from a property owner or a manager or something saying, "Hey, my remotes aren't working." Or, "Three people's remotes aren't working. We're getting some residents complaining because remotes aren't working." And maybe it's because that receiver only allowed for 50 remotes to be programmed and they kept reprogramming new ones in. and kicking out the old ones or something, right? There's lots of stuff that can go wrong um with programming a receiver, especially if it's a programmable remotes and things. So, frequency interference problems, you know, a little bit about radio controls, that's for sure. Radio interference, uh range issues because I mean that comes into frequency interference problems and stuff, too. And you know, when do you go from 300 to 350 to 315 to 433 MHz? There's I mean this is there's there's there's times and places for all this when you may think you need 433 but you you'd be better off in another frequency and I think that's important for you to teach people you know and uh you there's no one better for that than you. Yeah, because it cost so much money, you know. It cost so much money to fix this. Dele at the beginning of the year. The guy goes out there, uh, one of the techs at the last company I was working for, uh, tech went out there and, uh, here's here's what, and I know this drives you up a wall. Here's what the office took down. Um, so they're having radio issues. So, uh, um, the office takes down, you know, so and so got a door king gate operator and, um, uh, having radio issues. So the first question is first question is well what kind of receiver do they have? It's a dorking they'll say or it's a liftmaster and you're like okay yeah can we get can we get a picture of it? So anyways, it happened to be a dorking receiver, a dorking gate operator with a liftmaster receiver or vice versa. And the the guy goes out there with no ex relocation kit, no new receiver and no uh remotes that have been tested and we send him out there an hour away and um uh he's given suggestions before he even gets there. It's like it's oh like it's a good is he goes it's a good likelihood it's your receiver. just like, "Dude, you haven't seen it. You haven't touched it." None of that stuff. So, yeah, that's a big deal with me because it's such an easy fix to go to 433 or 900 megahertz or um what's been really a good staple is uh uh the uh LiftMaster 850 LM or uh There you go. Now, you got it, Big Poppy. Uh so anyways to do that all security equipment um who's get they've got a good receiver uh out that's right now that's 29 bucks and good three button remotes for 14 bucks. So shameless [ __ ] So uh um they've got that right there. But anyways yeah it's so easy to do that but it's so easy to have that cost you so much money. That right there could have made us 500 bucks, but it cost us 500 bucks. And you got a pissed-off customer. In this day and age where somebody can go on and just complain about the smallest thing and make it the biggest deal, you got to be careful with those. You got to make sure that the the the techs are prepared before they go out there. So radio, if I could get involved in solar as well too. Kind of been one of my passions. Solar and batteries as well. I like to complain and [ __ ] about that. So yeah, if I could do that, too. Veronica's watching. Put me on that. Do you did you hear there and I wish I would have looked this up prior, but it just now that we're talking about receivers, it just kind of, you know, pops into your head. So, um, the 900 megahertz that whole spectrum that there's a company, it's Nova, Neva, something like that. It's like four letters with a E or a N where they're they're they're working on trying to take over that entire spectrum right there. that whole range up to 900 megahertz which will wipe out a bunch of controls, radio controls and things for other devices. We're talking about for alarms, for security, for gate operators, all of that if they get it. And then they're talking about maybe leasing some of that that back out or something. But um did you hear about

That? You have to research it. No, I haven't heard about that. Um yeah, that takes out that takes out wireless. That takes out transcore that takes out infinity RFID and on and on and on. 900 MHz, 890 to 912 or whatever it is is just it's there. It is um uh synonymous with access control as of right now. Um no no I haven't heard that and and I have my uh a lot of people don't know this because I talked I talked about it in class um most all the time because it's an easy way to get education for really cheap and um get free license plates and other cool benefits. But I have my radio license and I know that there's a lot of people out there that get real particular about that when big people come in and try to buy a whole range. So, I'll reach out to some of my friends and and ask them about that. But yeah, I look forward to teaching that. Uh cheap to fix. I wanted to jump on the bandwagon and try to put our support for blocking that. They're trying to get a bill passed right now on that. I believe that's the stuff we should work on to protect our industry. So, that's why. But, uh you know, that kind of stuff. But, nonetheless, yeah. So, I know I'm getting like uh Susan's telling me uh in the back. I wish other people could see her in the background. I try to block it out as much as I can, but she's like, "Hey, what's going on you guys?" Nobody wants to listen to you guys talk about radio controls, but you know, nobody wants to see her in the background. Here you go. I know. So, anyway, that's just one gate operator quick starts. You're going to be doing that and then Photoise because um I don't know too many people that know as much about Photoise as you. um when it comes into obviously your photoreflective, your through beam um and obviously there's just there's and the photoey industry has changed a lot. We've got photo eyes out there that that you know have five year, eight year long batteries in them now. I mean it's optics. Yep. Yep. It's a whole different ballgame than it used to be. So you're going to be doing some of that stuff. Um good. While we got you here though, while you let's and hopefully this will be some golden wire nets that we can throw out here. I'm gonna try to make that golden wire a thing by the way. So, you know, but uh just it sounds sounds kind of creepy, but I I'm with you, man. You know, when has that stopped you? Oh, that's a good point. Well, or you But I got to push you one way or the other. I'm going to get that one in the morning. I'm going to get that one in the morning message. I got your golden wires right here. Yeah, there you go. Uh, so yeah, if uh if um if uh Letty's listening, uh the next uh t-shirt order, uh can we get golden wire nut? Do you have a golden wire nut on the t-shirt? That'd be great. She just texted me and said she wants you to tell you calm down, bro. Oh, calm down, bro. Yeah, she can calm down. She kiss my Yeah. What else? She was right. I use that one all the time now. Yeah, I got I Hey, man. Just like everybody else, I get too big for my britches all the time. So push check. She may be a little girl, but she'll check you quick. She don't play, man. When you're in trouble. I've been f I've been hired. I've been fired. I've been yelled at by her. And I'm good with all of them. I I don't need to hear that no more. So I'm sorry. Sorry to bring your name up. Let's give them something here. Do some golden wire nuts here. What's What's the most common reason photo eyes fail? um uh improper um uh I guess you would say uh it's twofold, but the not picking the right photo eye for the job. Um, so if you're up north and you don't pick a photo eye with a heater, if you're in a dusty or dirty environment and you don't put a throughbeam photo eye like a IRB uh, EMX IRB, um, or you pick a photo eye that doesn't have the right range. Um, typically it's that and in a through beam it's the secondary side. The secondary side is always the problem because they run the wire through the track. They don't use the right wire. they run the wire through an expansion joint and it just turns out to be a bad wiring problem. Uh so, but those are the common things. Wrong wrong wrong product

For the wrong job and then the wiring being crappy. Nice. Yeah, I agree. I mean, yeah, it's not not installed correctly. And actually, nothing will make your operator fall apart quicker than a bad photo wire if it's not hooked up properly. So, you can get that gate to move when you're leaving, but if it took you just barely moving the photo eye a little bit to get that thing to work, and all it's going to take is a wind blowing it a little bit and that gate's going to get stuck open or something, you didn't you didn't install it correctly. You should be able to almost walk up and tap that photo eye and have that post shake and have that gate still operating. So, yeah. Well, that is the test. Yeah, you should be able to not just tap it. You should be able to walk it and pull it uh pull on it, put some force on it. I think that uh that that LiftMaster and EMX probably got the two best designs for that cuz they got the set screws in them. Um and uh there's some other good products out there. Optics is just killing it with their um their through beam one because it's got a battery a long battery on the other side. Robert just told me he put one uh DJ Evers just he puts those in all he puts in. He say he replaced the batteries for the first time in like uh six years of those gate operators. So, poor installation and the product the not right the the wrong product uh for the uh for the job the requirements. Okay, we got it. Um I know Susan wants me to get these rapid fire questions out to you, Brooks. So, I'll rapid fire. All right, we're gonna we're gonna do these rapid fire I know my my internet might be going in and out. I don't know what that is, but uh we're gonna do these rapid fire questions. Tech support nightmare rapid fire questions. Are you ready? Okay. God. Yeah. Go. The first thing that pops into your head. Don't Yeah. Don't be googling it on your phone or nothing like that or whatever you're doing. Okay. What? It's Are you ready? You're ready. Okay. Question number one. Liftmaster or nice? Liftmaster. Okay. Hardwired or wireless? Uh, hardwired guaranteed? Oh, are you lo am I losing you or I said hard hardwired guaranteed. Okay. Worst weather to troubleshoot in. man, it it's just got to be it's got to be rain. Um but uh but that's that Las Vegas heat was no joke, man. Ah, did you lose me? Susan rapid. Susan, am I getting lost or is is Brian getting lost? Brian. Oh, okay. So, so the next question one tool you can't live without? What? Uh, go ahead. What was the next question? One tool you can't live without. Multimeter. Most annoying tech support calls for me is my solar panel is underneath the tree. Why won't my gate operator work?

Were y'all saying something in the background? See, that's one of the reasons why I left Las Vegas because y'all was always ganging up on me. Were y'all laughing about me in the background? All right, come on out. We never stopped. What? That's a good point. You almost got You're going to get num trucks the next time I feed you. Okay. What's your favorite gas station snack? Damn. [snorts] Uh, Snicker Bar. The king side. I don't mess with anything other than kingsize Snicker. Kingsize Snicker Bar. You know what? You've been a good sport, Brooks. You've been a good sport like always. What? What are you jogging? How come you're walking instead of jogging, man? Oh, I'm not jogging. Oh, Susan, we still see you. Yes, we'll wrap it up. Uh, yeah, thank you for letting me be on here and I'm I'm glad to be a good sport and uh next time I'll be in the studio. All right, you guys, everybody that's listening, as you can see, this isn't going to be a sit down and fall asleep education. It's a real world stuff. You can take back Monday mornings to wherever you're um working or maybe it's you not working for somebody, you're working for yourself. So, um what's the call to action here, Susan? What what do we want people to do? There's always a call to action to everything in our lives. You want to go to fenceshow.com and register today. Full throttle passes are $150 until June 1st. Uh showroom floor passes are free until June 1st. Prices increased on June 1st and then on September 1st again. So get your passes now. That's it everybody. Go full throttle with us. We need you there. The industry needs you there. Brooks, there you go. We'll be talking to you soon. Now, go sell some gates. Go sell some operator for you. See you guys.