The Restart: Fan Favorites Return and a New Voice Joins

Hello.

Man. All right, 2026, the very first episode of the year for the Trade Industry podcast. And I got a couple of my favorite people on here. And I'm not just saying that because you're my first guest of the year, but really are. I think I've talked to Michaela, you probably 10 times this week. Charlie, I talked to you today and yesterday. So, uh, I'm super excited to have you guys on here. Uh, let's all say Hello. Let's go. Happy New Year. Happy New Year. Happy New Year. So, um, everybody that's, uh, watching, and I'm sure you've seen everybody's faces on here already if you're watching this. U Michaela, we are so grateful to have you coming aboard this year. I know it was a it was a long time coming. Um, you are the social media manager slashdirector slashperson that tells us what to do online person now, right? So, uh, tell us about that. How was that? How is it going? It's been a couple months now. You've been kind of just wrapping your head around it. Have you completely wrapped your head around, um, the FWA, fence show, media, whatever that we got going on yet? No, it's a lot. Um, but I say that in the best way, right? it's just getting thrown in. But I think that's how I work the best, right? I just need to go head first, dive in, and figure it out. Um, I think we're still all trying to figure out, you know, how we all work together in a way, right? How we all mesh, but we're getting there, and I'm so so so excited for every other event that's to come that we still haven't even really marketed or planned yet, you know? Yeah. So, you've been cleaning it up, though. Um, I mean, I'm seeing the difference. So, I think we're all kind of seeing the difference. It's um no more just Brian posting 30 things at 9:00 p.m. while I'm watching TV. Um you're uh you're organizing that. And I saw some I saw I mean I don't know how many how many pending posts did we have backed up in these groups. There was so many. Every time I opened it, I got anxiety. This is what my email looks like, everybody. It looks like that, too. you see like how is it possible you have four 456,000 unread email messages in your in your Outlook? That's that it is possible. I'm telling you this. But uh that's kind of what our some of our groups were. So I tell me about the post you put out. You put a post out that was uh I I don't know. I was afraid to always put out and it said something about any any more than 30 days old or something. What was that? Yeah. So, I kind of put a post out just kind of saying, "Hey, for those of you who don't know me and kind of what was happening, but any post that was 30 days old, I deleted and got rid of, I'm so sorry. Don't come for me." Um, but just it's not relevant anymore, right? Um, we have so many posts coming in every day across all of the platforms and groups. So, just to keep everything kind of going smoothly, it had to be done. So, if you made a post and it was still pending and then it got declined, I I don't hate you. You just need to resubmit it so that I can get it posted. Fair enough. So, there you guys go. If you got some sort of decline message in your uh feed or I don't know, does it send people a message when you decline it? Yeah. So, it'll say that your post got declined. Um, if I respond with feedback, that's the only time that they would get a message. So, if that happened, just message me and we'll figure it out. Okay. So, there you go you guys. If you're mad at anybody, get mad at Michaela. Not me, not. So, we're super excited. So, um tell us about how you see everything going this year, 2026. How's it um how's it starting off for you with um the social media? What you got? Any plans going on on the social media stuff we got? Um what's what's exciting? I know I'm catching you off guard on this, but what I mean, it's all exciting, right? Um, I love and hate social media, but something that's coming up, we'll just get right into it, is the winter cruise, right? Um, so why would you want to spend your winter in snowy grossness when you could go on a cruise and I don't know, have some sun? I don't do cruises, so I'm not the best person for this. So, this is our second year doing that. So, and we'll recap some of that you

Guys later on and we'll get we'll we'll drop up um drop in the comments and and in the messages some of the information how to get more information on the fence cruise that's coming up. Um again, Michaela, we're super excited. We just wanted to make the announcement to everybody, let everybody know if you have any questions about anything social media related. I know um sometimes the responses were getting a little slow just because of how quick it grew and there's 16,000 active members in just one of the groups. And so sometimes it's like 12,000 interactions a month that go on. And I know you're going to do your best to um monitor and you know keep out the spam and so you're not just spammed with everybody trying to sell you logos and and uh tires. But yeah, right. There's a lot of that. I was like, "No, what is happening?" So, a lot of work goes into it. So, um we appreciate having you um Michaela. Um we will talk to you a little bit later. I'm sure everybody's gonna be hearing a lot more. Perfect. Thanks so much, Charlie. Having the right person in the seat of social media, man. I feel like 10 or 12 monkeys just got taken off of my shoulder, believe it or not. Yeah, it's a lot when she came on board. And nobody knew it because she's actually been running analytics and she's been uh you know going through everything and seeing what you know what what was working, what wasn't and and making sure everything's getting responded to quicker and just wrapping her head around it. We had groups with thousands of people in it that we hadn't even been didn't we forgot we even had. So she's kind of pulling that together and organizing. So it's really cool. So we're we're jazzed. But Charlie, you and I talk I mean you're you're probably one of the few people I mean we have regular dinners. We talk all the time and I think last time we were talking you said I mean you always say stuff that just makes me think um outside of the box. And I know I already think outside of the box when it comes to sales and things like that, but you said most businesses don't have a sales problem because we were talking about how um there was a little slow period for some companies and you know they're all trying to up their marketing and you said most businesses don't have a sales problem. They have an infrastructure problem and and you tried to explain some of that to me, but I'm going to ask you for everybody else what what is it what did you mean by that? Well, you know, basically here's what most companies believe. They they believe that deals are slowing down because you know of price or because uh their close rates are soft and lead quality has changed or um you know it's their people right because reps need more training. So they respond the way more you know most organizations do. They'll they'll buy more leads. they'll, you know, they'll script something else out that's different or they'll change their CRM or they might hire, you know, a sales trainer or they'll push on the deal harder. But most of them, they they never really stop to examine the moment where the sale actually is decided. And the sale is not decided when you present the proposal. And and for those that of your audience that don't know me, I've been in home home improvement. Now, I've never sold fences, right? But I've been uh I've been selling everything from, you know, marble, tile, shades, uh concrete, like you name it. Anything that is, you know, uh home service based, let's say, I have experience in selling. So, when I say the sale's not decided uh when you present the proposal, I'm I'm being sincere. It's not decided when the objections come up and it's not decided when the numbers are discussed. It's decided much earlier. And I believe and I know it's decided at the first point of contact because in high trust sales uh driven relationships, trust is not earned slowly over time. Yep. Right. You you've got to have impact and influence at the word hello. So, it's either established quickly or it's never, you know, never fully established at all. And when that moment of first contact, that that first initial impression is inconsistent across your team, revenue quietly leaks out of the business in ways that most owners never see, nor do they measure, and they rarely attribute this as a cause to their declining revenue. Right.

So, let's talk about that for a second. I mean, going back to uh you you said your when's when's the sale decided? I mean, is it first impression or is it first point of contact? And I mean, let's let's before we get into it, let's explain to everybody how we met. We met and I'm going to pull it up here for a second. We met through Dan Blanc. And because Dan Blancc was using One Tap, right? And no, one No, as a matter of fact, Dan Dan was using a digital card. Uhhuh. I think he was using link or blink a link tree or something like that. Yeah, I think the product was called blink or something like that and and and uh you know now obviously Dan and I are friends. That's how we met. But he called me up and he was being a little curt with me on the phone and he always says, "Oh, I I wasn't being that dead." I go, "No, dude. You you you were you were pressing the pedal down on me and he said, you know, why should I buy your product and how you know how is this different than, you know, a digital card?" And I said, 'Well, let me show you. Let me show you, you know, why you're having revenue leakage within your your sales conversations, right? So, when when when I refer to revenue leakage, I'm talking about when people say, "Let me think about it. Send me the quote. We're getting other bids. Uh, you know, I've got to talk to my spouse, or you're a little expensive." That's because you didn't preframe the conversation out of the gate with impact and influence that ultimately build trust and certainty within that prospect's mindset. Right. Like for for example, did you ever did you ever meet somebody where you're like, you know, seems like a nice guy or seems like a nice gal, but I don't know. There's just something that, you know, that's a little off. We we've all we've all had those inter you know interactions. Yeah. It's like they don't have to go to the restroom and you're like I don't really care if they come back. Right. Right. Yeah. So So the crazy thing is is a lot of people think, you know, it's a lead problem or it's a training problem, but it's not. It's it's a certainty problem at the first point of contact because that prospect didn't feel structure. That prospect didn't feel authority. And that prospect really didn't feel guided or any form of certainty and tr or trust at the first point of contact. So that always goes back in the subconscious, right? Which is constantly playing, right? Everyone's always in fear mode. Is the contractor going to screw me? Are they going to, you know, are they going to show up for the job? And I say that respectfully because I've been in the business. So that that's where, you know, delay takes place. That's where sales stall or sales uh friction takes place. But if if you learn how to do that at the first point of contact, I think you not only level the playing field, but you elevate yourself in the eyes of that prospect and now they want what you have and and the price or other, you know, BS friction of I always get three bids gets taken out of the equation. Yep. Yeah. And and it's interesting because I've always went with uh first impression. I mean, I focused so hard for so many years on when the phone rings, pick it up and, you know, get those get those calls scheduled right away, the first one out there. I know there's a lot of strategies out there. They they they insist everybody's getting three quotes and you want to be, you know, some people say, "I I want to be the first." Some say, "I want to be the last." That way, you can you you've already you can, you know, you've already weeded through the other two and they're going to make a decision with you. I have always focused so hard on first impressions of right when they call up and get them on the schedule, get a sales guy out there um ask for the sale and you know things like that, but I never thought about um first point of contact impression and what that meant. Let me just touch on what you just said, right? You get on the phone, you're the owner. Now, I'm sure we have a lot of owners or a lot of managers or seuite people that that that are on this podcast. The owner always knows how to represent their brand because they're emotionally involved and they live it, breathe it, and that's their baby. Yep.

Okay. But let me make something what I'm going to call painfully simple to every owner, manager, or high level executive that might be listening to this. If you've got two reps on your team and now you distribute those calls, right, and I went out with both those reps and let's say rep A shows up clean, confident, professional, and structured, right? Rep B might show up scattered, unprepared, no process, no proof, really doesn't know how to properly represent the brand, right? So, so they're saying things based upon their mood or their personality. And and that's the real issue. So, as a business owner, you're running one company, but the customer has experienced two totally completely different brands from that phone call you took with that owner to the to the person that you dispatched it to. And that's not a sales problem. It's an infrastructure problem because your brand is only as strong as your weakest first impression. So, they got you on the call, but now that guy's knocking on the door, right? And if he doesn't know how to properly introduce, build rapport, and gain credibility and follow the branding guidelines and verbage that you want to come out of his mouth or your mouth, I should say. Yep. Now that now that's where things start to to break down and that's where the revenue leakage starts to take place. Yeah. Yeah. And and again I mean our conversations always dive into stuff like that and it uh makes me rethink decades of how I've been doing things. And I guess that's why these conversations are good. That's why it's always good to surround yourself with people um you know in other industries and your own. And I think that's why the trade industry podcast exists because our industry is probably bigger than just the fence industry. We're also interlin, you know, with uh other trades and we can learn a lot from each other. Yeah. You know, there's there's no doubt on how it's done. And you you you do a lot not just in the fence industry. We're talking about roofing is a big one for you guys, right? Yeah. I do work with roofers, you know, all different types of home improvement. That's really been our our sweet spot because that's where we've evolved, but I work with, you know, chiropractors, attorneys, insurance, financial planners, and at the end of the day when they're looking to scale their business, right? and and and build team where they really fail is infrastructure. Yeah. And and infrastructure so so there's clarity is the system that makes trust within the sales process. Work right. It ensures every rep shows up with the same credibility. Every customer gets the same experience and every first impression builds certainty for lack of a term. Now, when I say this, everybody says, "Oh, it's it's my sales team." But it's your sales team. It's your project managers. Listen, if your bookkeeper leaves your office and goes out into the world, someone at church or at Starbucks is going to ask that individual, "What do you do?" Right. and and instead of that person saying, "I'm a bookkeeper," or "I'm a bookkeeper for a fence company," they should have that infrastructure to know exactly what to say, engage people, and get them involved if they're a prospect in some way, shape, or form into the sales process by getting their name, booking a potential appointment for a rep or or what have you. And and every first impression again is to build certainty. And you know, I was talking to um I was talking to someone else in our industry was asking about um OneTap Connect. And you know, because I'm always talking about you. I mean, obviously I use you guys. A lot of people at our company use you, you know, use the the actual One Tap. We have our our micro sites. We have all that stuff going on. And I was trying to explain to it and explain to them what it what it was. Like what is it? And I I literally had the phrase and I think I mentioned it to you. Um I go, "It's the handshake that keeps on shaking." And it's it literally does it's a handshake that just keeps on shaking even while you're gone. So you're not there, but it's easy for other people to pull it up and and and show uh someone else in their company or show you know someone's asking for a

Referral and things like this if they know anybody in the industry. So it really it really is. So um let's I do want to get into it before we pull in our next guest though. Um what exactly uh one tap is. Well, you just said it's the handshake that keeps on shaking it. It's it's something that helps you, as I said. It it helps it helps the customer do three things. Identify who you are and what you do. It positions you as an authority. And it shows that you have a process or an infrastructure for the way in which you do business. And and that's the big difference. And when and when that happens, right, you're you're standardizing trust at the word hello. So your close rates are going to go up, your price resistance goes down, your decisions happen faster, your brand becomes stronger, and your revenue becomes more predictable because you're no longer relying on one killer closer to carry the company, right? You're you're you're building a system just like if you go to Chipotle, right? You can walk into Chipotle in New Orleans, Las Vegas, Buffalo, New York, or Denver, Colorado. What's Chipotle? You mean Chipotle? What are you talking about? Mickey D's, Chipotle, our buckles. Like my my point is is that that's where I think we as a lot of small businesses miss it or start to drift. and and that's why, you know, I created the tool. So, going back to Dan, when Dan called me, Dan had a digital card. And I said and I said to Dan, Dan, if if if you're looking for another digital card, I'm not your guy, right? This is going to help you build infrastructure, rapport. It's it's going to be a little, you know, real life prospecting tool that essentially builds that infrastructure base where every rep says the same thing the same way, you know, essentially at the same time within the process and it makes your brand feel expensive, right at the first point of contact. And what I mean by that is there it's going to put you up here. Right. Like this is a first class operation versus the guy that's going to pull up pull out a paper card half torn with some writing on the back and he hands it to you and and and that's really not a first impression. So I like to say one tap connect is is a revenue infrastructure system that gives you identity, authority, proof, process and followup across your entire organization. So the customer experience is one brand every time. Yeah. And it's beautiful. You guys do one heck of a job. And then you've got some new platforms and stuff in the back. I mean a lot a lot of stuff happened last year um with your guys' stuff. So um how are people going to find out more about this? Um obviously they can come to any one of the fence shows. Um one of our events I mean if you go to if you go to onetapconnect.com um or I don't know if Susan has it handy if she has my onetap you can put up my QR code and people can scan that. I don't know if that's possible, but and if you want, you can book um a briefing with with me or one of my my people and we'll we'll walk you through a complete, you know, one, two, three of what we would do and how we would really set you up with what we'll call, you know, an infrastructure deployment where we build everything out for you around your brand, your calls to action integrate with your CRM. So again, you you're reducing, you know, friction and you're making the sales process not only easier for your rep, but ultimately easier for your prospect, right? Because if you think about it, it's it's all about your it's all about your prospect or potential customer. That that's key. It's and I can tell you guys this by uh personal experience. It's the handshake that keeps on shaking and it's worth checking out. Uh, you know, I mean, Jason, what do you got to lose? Definitely, I've got um I think I've got one here. I've got profiles set up on a multiple different things I've got going on. And if you were at one of our if you were at the World Fence Federation booth um in uh Las Vegas this year, you probably have access to one of the onetaps right now. Just tap that card you picked up, that business card you picked up from the show. That's an

Actual onetap card as well. So, um you know, if you want to see a little bit more information, um I'm going to bring on Sasha in the background. This is kind of cool. Sasha, what's up? I'm still here. Speaking of the show, the man that's never left. So, never left. So, everybody that's listening, Sasha is actually is one of our new co-hosts. So, we're really excited to bring u bring you on Sasha, I know you probably people have probably seen you on I don't know probably 30% of all my podcasts already. So, we're we're just jazzed. Say hi to everybody, man, because we're we're we're excited to see you. Yeah, we see 2026 going to be a good year in fencing. 2025 was uh was a roller coaster. I think uh our last big trip together uh I mean last time we saw each other was uh probably New Year's Eve, right? But yeah, it was it was yeah New Year's Eve and we had a little bit of a layover in UK at some point. That was uh that was very interesting. It's very fun. Very fun. Charlie, you almost came with us. I did. I was very close to coming. Yeah, that it was interesting. It was fun. That was fun though. Yes. I mean, we got we were at FEX. If anybody's listening, you follow that. I don't know if you've watched any of the videos or seen anything. Fenc was pretty cool. It's pretty much the largest trade show going on for our industry over in the UK. So, there was a lot of cool stuff going on in that. A industry is pretty heavily involved in that. So, that was kind of neat to see. Um, you know, that. And then, um, types of fences are different though, huh? We went over there. Sasha and I went over there. We're like, man, uh, we're just going to come over here and, uh, we we could kind of kill the market over if we wanted really to in the UK. No, there's different fences. I mean, the fencing they build over there is different than the fence market here. So, uh, it was really cool to see it. What did you see wise that was that much different? Yeah. And it's it's it was awesome to see how different countries like we all do fans as a post and there's everything in between but it's it's definitely a different you know I think I think one of one of my uh very close mentors who's you know very big in the business he was saying Sasha the greatest fence ever built was a Chinese wall and I'm like you You know what? That is true because when you think of a wall like a fence, you think of you putting a barrier. Hey, this is my property. This is your property. And I'm like, you know, when you think of fence, we're very old when you look at it like as in not just, you know, iron or PVC or and so it's like, yeah, when you take a look and you go to other countries and see what they do, it's Yeah, it's it's interesting, right? But we had we had a lot of fun. We had a lot of trouble, me and you in the UK. We did. We did. But um yeah, it was awesome. It was a great time. It was. Yeah, it was. It was cool. Uh you would had a you would have had a good time, Charlie. It was something else, man. I mean, there's a whole And how they do the expos is completely different. They're all enclosed walls. I don't know if you've been to one of these in another country. Maybe that's how it is a lot in Europe. But it's not curtains. It's not like drapes. You know how we do the rods and the drapes? These are all actually enclosed. That sounds weird. Yeah, it's it's when you and then with a a trellis kind of above the top and it was like it's all modular walls they just must put together. I don't know. But hang on. Hang on. Let's let's just say one thing. What the Americans do better than any country in the world is put on a show. And what one of the best shows in the world is FWA. Like you you guys know how to put on a show. So us foreigners that come in like this is that's our show, right? It's like oh it's very blah blah, you know, it's very boxed. It's very Yeah. No, that's the one thing. I didn't mean it in a bad way. Don't get all defensive. No, I know. I said, well, hold on. Hold on. Let me defend uh Europe and Australia and stuff now. Man, it wasn't an attack on Australia. Relax. Hey, um attack Australia all you want. No, it was cool.

Hey guys, let's not get into politics. We're having fun. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. You don't want to get into that over there, man. Every cab driver was all over me. They saw the hat. Oh, man. This guy in his hat. Oh, there was a lot of conver. So I said to Brian, like we were traveling around and then one of my favorite parts of um of the UK, especially England, like right in the heart of England, Big Ben, all that was the cab drivers, especially the black caps. Suicide doors, right, Brian? You open the door, suicide doors. It's like the ugliest cab you've ever seen. You get in there and it's like, oh my goodness, it's like a limo. It was super comfortable. But there was a lot of cowboy hat conversations in those caps. Lots. And I was like, "Whoa, what's going on over here?" Yep. Especially when they said, "Sir, what's what's in the hat?" Yeah. Yeah. They were giving Brian some some lectures. Yeah. They were a couple of them, but man, a lot of them, they love the US. Oh, love the US. Yeah, they did. There wasn't really much uh negative feedback. It was uh it was it was pretty it was Yeah, it was definitely pretty interesting. Uh Sasha, so I know you've uh some of those that must be a picture because I was over at South Point. I didn't see your booth still there, but um what's still here? It's still here. Where where's that bar now? Is that at your house or uh No, I keep it's um it's a mobile bike. It's moving around. So, wherever the next party that FWA does, that's popping up. Yeah, pretty much. Yeah. And you're up in Arizona right now, I heard. Right. Yep. Arizona. Sunny Arizona at the moment. It was 80 82 today. Yeah. Was not too bad. Yep. Yeah. So, um, going off what me and Charlie were saying, um, did that make you think a little bit different about the first impression slash, uh, first point of contact, how do you handle it? I mean, what do you focus on at Founders Fence? Uh, say, you know, Founders Fence, what, you know, when you're sitting there thinking about sales and what, you know, what's important, what part of it do you focus on? Do you focus on just getting more leads? Do you focus on the the when you answer the phone or do you focus on all of it? You know, I mean, the point of contact out in the field. I I like what Charlie was saying about so I have outside sales guys, we have inside guys and ladies and like not one is the same, right? And why I love my team is I think over the years you try to cookie cutter everybody into a box. You go, "Hey, we're going to do this. with him. But there's certain certain people like I have one sales guy that is just he's amazing and he's just him, right? So, it's like how do you how do you put him in a box when he's doing such a good job and they're very different. So, I like what Charlie was saying about you got, you know, a sales guy walks in or woman and then you got B sales guy or woman walks in and they're very different. So, how do you manage that? Like what do you do? How do you how do you have that point and that first initial point of contact? And I think for me over the years, I've realized you have to have a system in place. You do. Yeah. you there has to be some sort of system in place to sort of try to that funnel effect but at the end of the day there's certain sales teams that you know A and B is they could be so different and they do a great job on a very different level um and that's been my lesson I've had to I'm a guy that likes to bring everybody in on the same track let's go like which is what we have to do anyway like here's this is our point of reference. This is where we're going. But I don't know. It's been I have one that I'm with right now in Arizona. Right now in Arizona. And he's probably watching the podcast and going to be mad at me, right? But why I love him is because he's just different. Like I necessarily that's not my tactic, but he just the way he works. But the the key underlying factor is that first point of contact, right? I was listening to you and Charlie talking about, okay, you have that first point of contact. And I think price should never be the first conversation, right? It's that first what's my impression. Look, price is going to come up. That's just life, right? we were in. It doesn't matter

What you do in construction, price is going to end up coming up, right? But if you can um and it's hard too, I don't know. I don't know, Charlie, like you've had a lot of experience in different industries. I've been in a fair few different industries before I came into fencing. I think the common the common issue is the same in every in I feel like in construction it's very similar. Um, but it's like I don't know. How do you take a person that has one style of selling and a person that has another style and they're both nearly as effective as each other. It's it's hard to rein that in. Well, and that's and and and excuse me for interrupting, but I wanted to touch on this that that's that's the whole point of the infrastructure, right? like um you made a point of you went to an event uh in the UK, right? That was very that was very different than the event that Brian put on. But if you walked into Brian's event in the UK, you're going to immediately know that it was put on by Brian's brand. Mhm. And that's all I'm trying to suggest. I'm not looking to change people's personalities, right? But what does the word personal personality mean? It's that particular person's reality of how they see life or the sales process. Right? What I'm talking about is infrastructure that before the sales process starts, this is how Sasha, the CEO of the company, wants his brand, products, and services represented. So once you go in and do this, Brian, right, if you want to wear a cowboy hat or you want to wear a ball cap, if you want to put your beard to a peak or you just want to let it, right, I'm I'm cool with either way, but this is the brand and this is how Fence Show Vegas is So that that's what I'm trying to impress upon people, right? But what most companies do is they say, "Well, yeah, we sell X, Y, and Z." And, you know, as long as Brian goes out and maybe, you know, brings a piece of sales collateral that talks about how the fence has a 30-year warranty, I'm I'm cool with that, and you might not even show up with that. So I wanted to create one source, one infrastructure to where when that person went in, the customer sees the credibility stack. Do do you understand? You you've heard about tech stack. Now in business, Sasha, do you have a standardized proposal? Well, for us as a on the supply side, yes, we do because we have a Yeah. You have you have a CRM that everybody uses. Right. So, what I'm what I'm saying is every every company has certain standards, right? But no one let me rephrase that. Most people that I found don't have what I call a credibility stack. Your proof of who you are and what you do at hello, your your reviews, your before and after shots, your process, right? Your next step language. Yeah. Right. So, so again, I met Dan Blancc over the telephone. Dan Blanc saying, "Oh, it's a digital card." I'm telling him, "No, Dan, it's not a digital card. It's it's it's an infrastructure play." Well, I don't understand. Well, then he understood he bought. As soon as he bought because I took him through, right, a a structured initial format. I took a doubting Thomas or a doubting Dan in this case, right, to a guy that's like, "Here's my credit card. By the way, do you know Brian Frederickson?" No, I don't. You need to meet him. He's doing a fence show. You need to go show your product at the fence show. Now, if I was selling fences, I could have just went and sold, you know, a guy that owns a ranch. He's a sexy man, bro. He's a sexy man all damn bunk. Yeah. Look at him. That's all that's how I'm trying to impress upon everybody, right? It's it's not a tool. It it becomes an infrastructure play. And this becomes how you start to engage people in your sales process. It drops their guard because you've set that foundation. Yeah. So, there you go. I mean, that answered your question you had right there. What do you do when you've got uh different personalities and different sales people? And I think that's a battle that we all try to deal with. I mean, it's you've got one person sales uh one person focuses solely on he's

Going to spend, you know, four hours on trying to get the quote perfect, right? the other person's going to spend four hours talking to the customer and then he's going to spend 10 minutes on the quote, right? So, it's uh different different ways people sell. So, maybe this is a way to help kind of tie that together. Um you guys though um you may be somewhere where it's really hot uh Sasha, but it's not hot everywhere else around the country. So, definitely not. Not by any means. But there is a place if you're somewhere where it's cold, you're tired of the snow, the ice, your car's not starting because it's too cold and you forgot to plug it in last night. Oh man. Meet us down there in Florida because this is coming up March 26th, 27th and we need your support. This is our first event going to the East Coast. So I'm nervous. I'm I'm as nervous about this as I was about the very first show we ever put on because uh obviously this isn't down the street. I don't have all my fence trucks and stuff that can drive over there. We're uh we're going mobile obviously with um some of the experience that we've gained. Uh Charlie, thank you again for saying earlier that uh if you go to a show that we put on, you know, already when you walk through the door, it was put on by uh one of our brands, our brand, right? It's a it's the kind of event that we put on and we're going to try to bring that all the way to Florida and uh I think we're going to pull it off. It looks like it's going to be pretty cool. So, uh this is right outside of Orlando. Uh, it's not going to be um a big huge expo hall, but it's 23 acres of property. It's going to be more of an outdoor event. We've got um we've got some barn areas inside, but we've got um popup tents. I don't Hey, I got my I went I went out and bought two fishing poles. And bass fishing. So, I'm there. I'm in. I'm 100% in. And when we reserved this a while back, they started stocking these things for us. Yeah. There's trike racings. There's playgrounds. is that definitely we wanted um I mean we're all about including everybody and that includes your family, you know, and uh you know because your family is a big part of your fence company. If you're a small fence company, odds are your wife or one of your kids or your brother or your uncle, your cousin, uh if not all of them, the odds are one of them's involved in your company. Um you know, somewhere along the line. So um this is a family event. Bring the kids because most likely those kids are going to be in the fence business because if you're in it, it gets passed down. It's just I don't know. It gets in the blood. Yes, we're living that life, me and you, right now. It's in the blood. I mean, the first I I learned to drive a truck on a fence job site. I mean, it's like, you know, some of the first wounds and almost every bit of uh every bit of bullying, abuse I ever took as a child happened on a fence uh fence job site, you know, from uh my uncle or something. So, it's uh literally a right of passage. But, nonetheless, we've got all kinds of exciting stuff here. um you're going to get and take the take the family to um Disney World or something after that because we're going to be right here near it and uh lots of hotels and things um going on, activities and it's going to be a blast. So, we're super jazzed about that. Um Sasha, you're going to be down there. I know I'm going to get you down there. Yes, absolutely. Where would I want to be in that time of the year anyway? But there, you know, it's not going to be freezing, that's for sure. It's going to be perfect weather. It's uh March 26th, 27th. Um, I mean, you know, it's it's supposed to be just the ideal time of year to be down in Florida. So, if you're up there in the cold, you want to take a break from it, uh, stop chasing the snow, come down and visit us in Florida. So, Brian, what do we got to do to register? How do we go about making sure that, uh, you know, we're all set from a supplier side to an in, you know, to everyone that's needs to be part, what do we got to do? Yeah. So, we're going to put, um, Sasha's cell phone number on here, and everybody just give him a call. I'm just gonna pass it to my wife and she's just gonna get You're an idiot. Yeah. So, so you go to fencow.com, same place you'd register for um it's a fence show

Event. So, um go to fenceshow.com and you're going to be able to register for um the upcoming fence show in Las Vegas um October uh 6th and 7th or you can uh register for the next I'm already here. I'm ready. I've got it. I'm already here. He thinks he's saving money by not having to tear it down and put it back up. But yeah. Yeah, it's not. I think it's working. My bill is pretty ridiculous. I think, uh, our company's going to be in a bit of trouble, but suck, I guess. So, we're pretty jazzed. Um, so if you want to get away from that, you guys, thank you for coming on. Um, I appreciate it. We're super excited, you guys. I know I know we've been disconnected the last couple months. Um, hey, can I ask you a question, Brian? Like, there was a little bit of a pause, you know, from last year. Talk to me. What happened? What was going on? And I I think I made one post about it. You know, my wife was uh having some issues with her cancer. So, we uh it was a really How's she doing? How's your deer doing? Good. She had her surgery. Um last week they uh put a rod from her shoulder into her arm and cancer had issues. And so, it was just a couple months of I got a little You know what, guys? Between you and I, I got a little depressed. I I mean, I talked to both of you guys a little bit. I was disconnected and I don't that never happens to me. I was literally I wasn't I mean, I didn't check my email. I didn't I I wasn't on the So, I mean, any social media was kind of forcing them out. I wasn't replying. It was I wasn't going anywhere. I wasn't visiting people. I think I went to the office two days in two months. It was just I was in a hole I guess myself. So once she got the Nobody wants to see you know your wife or someone you family member you care about in that much pain all the time. So it was uh it was a rough I feel like last year Brian last year last year was an interesting year period. like besides personal stuff like businesses like I can only talk about our industry. It was a rough year, right? It was a lot of and I know nothing about politics, so I don't want to talk about politics ever because I'm I'm a [ __ ] about puppet when I look at my business and you know the sacrifices we all make especially and it doesn't matter whether you run a business or own a business but especially when you go to the owner side you know last year was just tough. It was just a it was a very interesting year and then what do you do when you you know you get through December cuz I can't imagine what you went through in your year and as a as a unit then as a company as you know you own a fence company as well besides running you know FWA and then everything that you're trying to impede and everybody's like the the negativity that goes with what we do in our industry. I feel like tell me what was your what where are you at today? Like so you you disappear and I tell everyone that's listening to this I've known Brian for a little bit and I know that guy if he's not posting and he's not at your like something's not right. And I don't mean it in a bad way. I think we all have to recheck, right? So for me personally with founders as one of the owners, it's like last year was rough and at the end of the year, not putting everything that you went through, Brian, but what's the outlook for this year for you? Yeah. Well, we had a great year. I mean I mean that that the show the the show was amazing. We had a great time. Um obviously then we had that issue after that. But you know, now I'm starting to question um I either here here's two things, Sasha. I either built an amazing team or I'm starting, you know, to run the fence company or I'm questioning my leadership skills because December was the best year we had all year. So, and I was and I don't think I went into the office. So, So, either either I built a really good team or I was just a really bad leader. I don't know. So, but December was December was amazing and this year coming up um we're starting off right out of the gate pretty good. So my prediction obviously this is just our you know what we and we're all in different regions. So I I can it's easy for me to say because I'm not in an area where um we shut down for three months out of the year and everybody has to either go on unemployment or find other

Jobs and you know what I mean things like that during those three months. So um we live in an area where it's it's busy all the time. So um you know al we can work all year but um I predict 2026 is going to be probably one of the best years we've had in two three years. I I mean just as as as a as as a whole for the industry, I think you're going to see everything just start to spike. I know we've all went through, you know, whether it be political, whether it be our businesses, whether it be whatever that is going on, you know, for the last year or so, but I think you're going to see everything just start to climb back up. And I know a lot of people had rough December, um, you know, November, Decembers, but I think you're going to see things just go crazy, you know, in the next two, three months. And then, um, we're expecting even the fence show to be the biggest show we've had, you know, coming up and and this year. And you know what, I'm going to push for it myself. And and I think partially that is because of friends like you guys, you know, outside of just what we're doing here on this podcast. Uh you know, the three of us are actually friends, you know. I mean, I'm friends with both of you guys on a real personal level. So our you know, our wives all talk, you know, I mean it's it's we're we're close. So um I'm I'm thinking this is going to be a phenomenal phenomenal year. Sorry. No, I'm in. Let's go. I think we're lucky. I think we're lucky to be in it and and I look at like, you know, I think we sat back for a long time in our industry and you wonder where, you know, what I do, the energy behind what I'm doing. It's and and obviously a lot of it spurred up because uh we needed healthcare and stuff for industry. I I felt like we needed that not not for me too, for my family and for my wife and my you know, everything that that I've got going on, my employees, the companies and everything, but um also because I didn't like the direction I saw it going. I saw the industry going. We're slowly we're slowly losing market share on our um some of our industry. Some of it, you know, and and I'm all for an open open trade back and forth. I'm here across the pond, back and forth. I want their products coming here, but I think if we're going to lose 10% of market, you know, 10% of uh the market share on on products being built here. I'm all for it, but we need to get 10% of the products going that direction, too. So, but I think Go ahead. I think for for me personally, the challenge is, you know, we're real, right? Like we're just we're we're trying to promote our industry for everyone, right? And go guys, look, it's tough out there and you know, you you talk about health insurance, right? Like you guys are one of the leaders of bringing health insurance. And now remember, I'm Australian. Health insurance is technically free technically, right? So you get T but it's like there's certain things that I don't think people understand how much FWA FWA women F the whole organization has tried to be a voice to go okay look you need this let us help you right so I feel like that's the struggle when you're you know when you personally go through things Brian and I and I don't think people will ever understand what you and your dear have gone gone through cuz it's been you run an organization, you run your fence company, you guys are going through and to be where you are today and and to to see 2026 I really feel with you that 2026 going to be a great year. People can say whatever they want. Great's only in the value that you look at it, right? So, you know, whether it's in sales, whether it's with one tap, like this is the year to go, hey, what what can we do? As personally me, I'm an owner now. I'm not just a manager. So, it sucks a little bit, right? Because you're just like, okay, what can we do? What we can't do? And you know, you look at cash flow, especially from a small business. We're not a private equity company. Um, you know, that's why we need Charles. We need all this help to go, hey guys, like come on, look at this. Don't look at it as a cost. Yes, everything costs something. But what I'm excited about in 2026 is like, look, we got demo days coming up. We got like just get involved, guys. Like everyone out there that's listening to this podcast, like you've got you've got the tools. You've got you've got one

Tap right at you. Like use it. like like we're not like everyone has to make money but you got to use the tools and don't be scared you know we're talking about you know Dan and what you know what this whole walk through like you've got to use the tools that you have access to and that's the crazy thing 2026 I think is going to be I'm with you like me and you have debated this for a long time 2026 I've got you know we can go back and forth on podcast about what I think 20 but at the end of the day who cares because I believe you can have a successful company in doesn't matter what the markets are doing and yeah okay there's certain market but if you follow the principles just like you two were talking about tonight and if you use the tools that are at your beckoning but you can have a successful company you can have you can take what we've tried to do in fencing I know you know me and you've talked about this a long time. We got to keep it real. Real is real. It is what it is. We're all going through our things and as the company is, you know, we we're trying to work out where do we what's our identity? And at the end of the day, we've got a community. Use it. Like this great community we have around us, great leaders, like great programs, great systems. Like one, use it. Like don't be scared of it. like use it because at the end of the day, we're all successful together, not against each other. So, yeah, 2026 is going to be fun, man. Fun, fun, fun. It is. I mean, it's uh Charlie, how'd you close out this year? Good. Yeah, we had a you know, we've been we've been blessed. We had a great year. And I'm I'm one that, you know, yesterday's history. You know, as they say, tomorrow's a mystery. Today's the present. So, love it. Yeah. That's, you know, I'm just looking forward to what comes next. I'm a dumb I'm a I'm a dumb fencing guy. So, I just say, "Hey, don't worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow hasn't even come. Just deal with today. And yesterday is yesterday, you know, like it's like you said, it's like perfect. It's You guys have And USA, if you watching my post, the US is open for business. We we closed it and uh I believe over the last decade or two we closed it trying to protect what we had and we're slowly losing a little bit of market share. The US is open for business and I'm going to do my best to make sure that we can start doing more cross trading back and forth. That's my goal. My goal is to obviously grow the industry. So, um when it comes down to the sales, the only advice I can give people is, you know, if if you're spending $1,000 a month in Google Adwords and you think that those results are always going to be the same as new companies are opening up into your market, it's not. So, um, you got to you got to you got to figure out you got to go into new markets. You got to figure out new ways to sell. If you just sit there if you sit there long enough, whether you're a manufacturer, supplier, or a fence company, you're going to slowly lose customers. And um, you're going to your leads are going to slowly dwindle down if you stick with the exact same thing you're doing. So, if uh, you know, if you're not growing, you're shrinking. Everybody's heard that. I I believe in today's day and age, times, you know, times aren't changing, they've changed. Yeah, that's that's number one. And they're continuing to change at a rapid pace. So, you know, I I'm no youngster. Um, you have to definitely get uncomfortable with your discomfort. You know, I was with my uncle who's in the insurance business in Buffalo, New York last week. And as we're talking, you know, he's 10 years older than me. Entrepreneurship and business is not for the faint of heart. And you need to be prepared. you know, talking to my uncle and his son's in the business and my uncle's telling his son, I don't, you know, I don't want to do this. You just do it. I looked at him, I said, "Un, you're at the point where if you don't want to do it, great. Then don't do it. But if you don't want to learn how to do it, right, then either pay someone to do it or or don't be but don't be the bottleneck." Right. So, so you just can't take the approach of this is the way, you know, I want to do it because that might not work or this is the way I've always done it. So, I like to say you use, you know, I use every road, you know, tip, technique, uh,

Credibility stack, software stack, like how do I how do I go down that road that's going to lead me to a prospect that's going to turn into a revenue relationship? There you go. What's amazing about what you're saying is that you try to build, you know, I love this industry like and I could talk about fencing, right? I didn't come from fencing either, but I like how do my kids, how does the future gener Oh, dude, this is a great industry to be in, right? So, how do we show the world, hey, could be plumbing like you're doing, PL, roof, who, whatever it is. There is an industry in construction that is amazing for families and and life, but how do we bring that all together? You know, that's that's the passion that I feel like we need to just as a group and and and in this moment, it's fancy, but who cares? It doesn't matter. It is I'll take a plumber. I'll hire a plumber tomorrow and not they're too expensive of course because you know they're very well but you know what I mean. It's like we just I feel like we've we've we're in a little bit of a rut right now and it's got like put all the noise aside. Who cares what you might not think and what I think and pol at the end of the day you have to build homes. You have to build buildings. you have to do. And I'm like, we're in a great time of history in the greatest country in the world. Like, let's just focus back on that. Let's And I feel like that's the platform, right? If we can get more people to go, hey guys, I don't really care. You might think this and I might think that. At the end of the day, we're all trying to make money for our families. Let's get back to the basics, you know? And I like what you and Brian were talking about, you know, getting the infrastructure correct because that's very important. And I think somewhere along the line, small business, I don't care what anyone says. I really believe small business is a backbone of this country. I'm not saying that the big business is not. That's not what I But that's what we got to get back to. And we got to get we got to encourage small businesses like Founders Fence. like we're a nobody but like get back to the basis of like okay sash I can help you over here one tap go see Charlie like resources right like I feel like that's where we got to get back to bunch of people that just want to do well and we're all going to make money from the install side to the manufact fact to whatever. But that's what I'm excited about in 2020. I feel like that's it. That's the key and that's what we got to build to. And look, not everyone will get it. But the main thing is that there's resources and I want everyone that's listening to this podcast, I want to encourage you 100%. There are resources that you have access to. You you met if you met Charlie for the first time, use one tap. You got FWA, you got FWA like you've got all these resources. Use them because if you use them, it will help you grow to whatever level you want. You know, who's here to judge whether you need to have 10 trucks, one truck, what are we calling them back in the day trying when people are saying, "Oh, you're a truck." No, no, no. You are a professional. Use the resources, you And remember you guys, if you're listening, if you're in the fence business or the gate business, as long as there's women, dogs, and children, you're going to be okay. We're not going anywhere. They forgot about truck drivers. Truck driver. And I heard somebody once say, if you're not sitting there tonight like this, or at least at some point with your your head between your hands going, I don't know what I'm going to do next, you're not even in the game yet. Okay, so thank you guys for coming on. Uh we will see everybody next week. Uh this was really fun. I'm excited to be back. Um, this year is going to go to the moon. We'll see you guys. Thanks. Thanks for having me.