From High School Dropout to Social Media Legend

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Heat.

All right. All right. This is going to be one of my favorite shows I think we've had in a long time. Um I I I normally sometimes will bring the guests on like a couple minutes in, but I couldn't do it. I'm too excited to have Gus here. So, uh, today is, uh, Susan, uh, substituting for Sasha, which is on the road. I just talked to him. He had a blowout on his, uh, trailer driving through Arizona. So, um, I would, uh, say that was a good excuse. Uh, sitting in 115, changing a tire is not anywhere, um, that I'd want to be. So, I'm sure he wishes he was here. Susan, thank you for coming on and substituting for him. I know you're normally in the background, so having you in the background and um, up on the front, it's going to be difficult for you, but we appreciate it. Of course. Um, without I'm excited to be here today. Gus Hernandez, what's going on, man? Oh, nothing much. I'm just here in the office getting some work done. Busy, busy, right? You're a busy man. I see you everywhere doing a thousand different things. Yeah, that's my problem. I like doing everything. Yeah, I think the last time I think I ran into you at Fence Tech um briefly on there. I think we typically run into each other at Fence Tech almost every time. So, you're Yeah. Yeah. With a cowboy hat. So, we we spot each other typically from around. But, um, for anybody that doesn't know who you are, and I think a lot of people do. I mean, the you know, the fence industry is big, but it's small, too. It's like I tell everybody, we're one degree apart. Um, you know, I mean, I guarantee you everybody we know, we're probably one degree away from them knowing somebody we know, right? So, um, so you're with um, Fence Pros of Texas. Yes, sir. you know, you you founded that um back in 2015, I believe. Yes, sir. So, 10 years of it, man. What were you thinking? Um, man, I was in my early 20s, you know. I think I was like 22 when I started fencing. And I just kind of always had that drive, you know, to to want more and uh just be different, right? I think that's the biggest thing. And uh I actually started in in 20 was it 2015 was like it was called Top Quality Fenting. It was it was a partnership with somebody else. And in that 2020 was when I launched, you know, Fence Pros of Texas, but it was a transition of of rebranding is what I called it, right? Um, but obviously I rebranded multiple times within those years and and uh integrated things into the business and and and uh slowly, you know, just just got better, right? Learned about business and and uh branding, you know, brand awareness is a big thing obviously for me. So yeah, you learned quite a bit. So you started in your 20s about 10 years ago. So, doing the math, you you were born back up back in the 1900s, but it wasn't uh so 90s, right? I would assume, correct? Yes, sir. 90s. So, uh yeah, you kind of missed the 80s, which we we a lot of us want to see say we wish we could get back, but uh so what what drove you to fencing? I mean, now you're a name in the fencing industry. You're not just um you know, you're not just the owner of, you know, fence pros. you're actually uh you have a name and a reputation and you know you you go far beyond just your normal uh you know San Antonio, right? Isn't it San Antonio? Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Based out of San Antonio. Um I think just just overall was uh I never really really I was never good with working with people, right? Like I was always um I was young but I was I would always end up in a leader position wherever I work. Um even and and even though the people, you know, especially in blue collar, right? A lot of people are are going to be a lot older than you, twice your age, and and so they might have somewhat animosity against you as far as um having a leader that's that's a lot younger than them. So, uh I would just have a lot of um my differences, right, or they would and and and just have, you know, disagreements and that would occur in the construction side and and I was kind of uh you know, I mean, I wasn't as patient as I as I am now, right? I was a little bit little bit uh shortfused and uh had to navigate those things. But that's what I started on my own. You

Know, I just felt like um um I was working in the oil field, you know, uh for about three and a half years and we got laid off. I was doing electrical and that's actually what helped me where I I was able to use my brain, you know, um figure out that I was actually pretty knowledgeable on on a lot of things. You know, as a high school dropout, I never paid attention in school, but anytime I actually hyperfocused on something, I did really good, right? So, uh, when I got into the fence industry, I was making I was on unemployment making like 500 bucks and then I was making $100 a day, you know, as a as a labor and I was running a truck, uh, pulling a trailer and I was like, man, I can't I can't survive off of this, you know. Um, and so that's how it all just just one thing after one thing led to another. Yeah. It's amazing. You were a high school dropout. Yeah, dropped out 11th grade. Wow. How did that shape you into who you became today? Sorry, Brian. I got I got excited. We're both curious. Yeah. So, um that's why like my license plate. Um it says no degree, right? So, um I think it's it it it's it's it was hard, you know, that's what I always tell people like it was um there was a lot of challenges, you know, throughout my my years of of working construction and and really not having an education. Um was doesn't mean I was dumb, but I was more like I wasn't books smart, right? So anytime I tried to get into a certain position, they're like, "Well, you are not, you know, educated enough to to work in this position." So I was always um, you know, kind of just being pushed away, you know, and I and and it it would hurt, you know, and and that's where I got that desire and that drive of like, I'm going to prove a lot of people wrong, you know, and I'm going to prove myself wrong. And and for people that maybe don't have an education or or um didn't take it as serious as I did, um there's there's ways around and there's ways to educate yourself on your own ways to to um exceed in life and be very successful. I love that pull yourself up from your bootstraps mentality. I mean, Brian, you have kind of the same story, right? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yeah, we're we're pretty similar in that. And it was the same kind of scenario. I mean, you you you have the the street smarts and you have the common sense and and uh you know, you've got the ability to do things except uh you sometimes you're missing that piece of paper. And even my kids when I'm talking to the kids and I'm like, you know, getting them to go to college and and school and stuff like that and and they're like, "Yeah, but you know, dad, you you know, you made it. Look how much look look how well you did and look, you got this guy." Well, yeah, don't get me wrong, you can do it and you can make good money, but you're going to have to work twice as hard to do it. And that's the difference. It's going to open up doors where, you know, we didn't take during during our hustle years. There was no week paid vacation somewhere, no two week paid vacation or no money wasn't going into a 401k. It wasn't I mean, it was you can do it, but it's a lot harder. You're going to work for it um you know, every bit of time. And time off is time off unpaid, you know, so it's a whole different it's a whole different way to make it. And uh it's good, but also at the same time, it wears you out and and sometimes you never get to retire, right? You can make good money your whole life and if you don't figure it out, you just never get to retire, right? There's no it's it's it's easy to not throw money into a retirement account when you don't have that structure of, you know, of a company like that in that background. Yeah. Especially um I think that was the other thing too is is is just being in a leadership role, right? I always tell people that like it's not even being an ownership role. It's just being a leadership role. I don't even know how to do that. I I was never structured. You know, I was a high school dropout. So, obviously, I did what I wanted in school. You know, that's why I dropped out. You know, I I was a class clown. I was uh you know, all the ladies love me. I was a freshman dating seniors, you know, like I was that troubled kid. I was skinny and baggy clothes and um you know, but I didn't have no discipline. I didn't have no structure.

I didn't have um any guidance, you know. It was just it was just me. I did what I wanted, you know. So, then when I went to the real world, it was like, whoa, this is a whole new game, you know. It's a lot different out here. Um but what I mean over time you start getting experience you know what's you feed what you feed yourself right you can in in such a short amount of time you're able to to capture so much knowledge um without a degree right and I'm not saying that it's it's um you know I'm a fan of I hope some of my kids you know I hope my kids go to college right um and they get themselves degree like my goal and maybe this can be shared later but it's like I hope one of my kids go to UT Austin you know that that's a place that I have always um um been a fan of and so but ultimately yeah I do agree uh college you don't do you necessarily need a degree no you don't but does it help you know I think in your early 20s instead of uh living your life uh you know or trying to figure it out it kind of helps you keep disciplined you know it teaches you that you have somewhat of a nineto-5 right you have to be at school a certain time and you have to get good grades and that's what teaches you your work ethic you know and then from there you get a real job right yeah so we had to learn it by being yelled at by some guy on a construction site. Uh, you know, with a Yeah. with half his ass hanging out of the back of his pants. So, it's like, you know, you know, yelling and cussing and calling us names that we didn't know existed. So, it's a different but, you know, what was interesting you said, you know, you didn't really it's similar. I mean, because, you know, you didn't enjoy school sometimes because you didn't really like you didn't feel comfortable as much around all the people and and all this and you didn't fit in socially social wise and stuff. But I think what's interesting about that is we typically come become entrepreneurs though anyway, right? we you leave school and you become an entrepreneur, which you would think would be around people, but it goes back to what I always say, the higher you go, the lonelier it is. And maybe that's how we like it, right? So, it's like we can isolate ourselves now uh on purpose, right? Yes. You know, and it's so funny you say that because um a lot of people think that like I'm I I love I can talk with anybody, right? I love to give advice and to um um I like to teach people, right? I like to be better leader. don't really have I I I am I my biggest thing is that not everybody has to be a business owner. Not everybody has to to start up their own business. You can make really good money in the position that you're currently in or you just work on moving up, right? Um, so I tell my team that all the time, but what I get a kick out of is basically um telling them like you don't have to be like me where like people see on social media where they're like, "Man, you're so popular. You're this and that." I'm like, I don't like being at bar. I don't go to bars. I don't go to social settings. When I go to networking events, I'm like, I don't talk to anybody. When I go to the gym, I go to this gym and it's a small gym, but it's very busy. It's very active. and I just put my headphones on. I don't talk. And people are like, "Dude, you really don't talk to people." And I'm like, "No, I don't like to." Like, it's it takes a lot of my energy to do it, you know, and not because I hate people. It's just that's the way, you know, just how you said, you said it perfect. Like, that's the way we are, you know? We get lonely lonely. Um, and we just kind of just to oursel and we just figure things out, right? Like I'm going to put my head down and and I'm going to figure out what how I can I can get ahead in life, right? I can get through these do these rebuttals or these issues that we're having in the business. Yeah. Some people can't do that. Some people can't do that. They can't they can't, you know, they can't bury themselves into work for three days. They're just like they get depressed and you could sit there in an office and work on your stuff for three days with yourself and some 5-hour energy drinks and some coffee and you got the TV going and whatever news you're watching or a movie and you're like, man, this was the best day ever. I sat the whole day in the office and it was a Saturday and this was the best day ever.

I agree. Yep. I am on the same boat with you. I agree. Well, and you also said like throughout your life you found yourself in like leadership positions like consistently. I know you also have like four daughters, right? Yeah. I got one right here. Yeah. Those are those are the leaders, man. Make no mistake, he works for them. Correct. But how has being a dad um actually changed the way you lead your company? Um it it's changed a lot. You know, I always say I think my um you know, I had a when I turned 19 is when I had my first child, right? Um which now she's 13. She just turned 13 uh Sunday. And what I tell people is like I think she saved my life. Um you know, and and it's not just like jokingly. It's like no, I have I didn't have a purpose, you know, and I think, you know, I try to tell everybody like you have to have a purpose in life. And now my purpose is my girls. And even though it's like, yeah, I used to want a boy and and you know, it it it's tough, you know, like accepting the fact that like I have girls, like it's it's but they're amazing. They're all unique, but it holds me accountable as far as like I don't ones I don't really drink any I never really drink, but now I don't really drink. They have never seen me drunk. Uh all my kids, none of them ever seen me drunk. Um I don't um curse in front of them, you know. Uh I take them to church. I try to like I listen to I love music, right? Like if I'm in the office, I'm like, "Alexa, play like Young Dolph." And I'm like, "I need some rap music to get me pumped." When my kids around, I put like Christian music or I put music they like. Um, you know, and I think that's what that's what molded me into who I am today is because of them, you know. Um, because I've done a lot I've done a lot of wrongs in my life, you know. I used to I used to steal and Alexa Alexa, it actually turned on. Sorry. I had a feeling that was gonna happen. Like you campaigned that name in my house and something not happened. Sorry, I say that name again. But yeah, so they they have definitely changed my life. I've been blessed and uh you know slowly just just uh becoming a man of God. That was another thing too that's I implement the business, right? Like I think we have like scriptures on our fence pro cups and that's cool. Try to do uh it says uh whoever walks in integrity walks um securely. Uh it's pro uh Proverbs 10:9. So I just think um a lot of these things the person that I have became now is because of my kids. It 100% is because of that. Are you sure it wasn't because of Tik Tok? I mean uh come on. We're different people now after Tik Tok. We are we're we're all different. Tik Tok gives me other distractions. But I but I don't want to I don't want to forget that because you I mean you and I are I mean I even after hearing this conversation conversation we had in the past we do a lot of I think we see each other a lot on social media. We we always chitchat whenever we see each other somewhere. Um but it's a lot of in passing. There's always like a million people around us every time we've ever really kind of uh hung out. Super famous around the industry. So yeah, everybody always stops you. So yeah, I mean just in general you get people walk up to you all the time. It's like, you know what I mean? It's just literally there's crowd typically. It's just hard to have conversations about in groups of stuff and in those settings where you're trying to walk a whole expo hall and see things. But um forget like we don't we we think we know each other because of social media also like you forget that oh no I've never actually met Gus in person but because we have this social media relationship where I'm watching his videos and liking them and he's watching our videos and liking them like we're friends. Yeah. We're like best friends. We don't even like I'm talking to my best friend. You guys never even met. Okay. My best friend. I know all about him. It doesn't matter. You know, he calls me, I'm there, okay? I'm online. Okay. No, but um you know, so I'm a lot like you when it comes to that, you know. I mean, obviously I buried myself in work. I became an entrepreneur and I've started many businesses throughout the

Year and I could start a business up and and Susan will tell you, I'm guilty of just sitting down for four or five days, even though I've got to now my team is getting bigger and bigger and bigger and I got to force myself to have meetings and team meetings and I'm bad at at delegating to people. like I just expect everybody to do it because that's the problem and then they're waiting for an answer from me and I kind of micromanage it and it's all in my head. So I'll just do it you know I'll spend three four days till till 2 three in the morning every night working on it and um and it's easier sometimes by myself. So but social media and I was shy same thing when it went to a like I was I hated house parties. Hated it dude. I mean, I would rather go meet you at, you know, out if I was if I'm going to meet up with somebody, I'd go meet up at a restaurant and have dinner or something and have a waiter, have I hated going to house parties, hated sit down dinners, uh social events, things like that. But I think what changed a lot of this was um for me was these podcasts, social media, starting the the fence show, and I realized that uh the lives, man, these lives change everything because you you just have to go and if you make a mistake, it's just how you normally talk, right? Yep. Yep. I think it's just also I think on social media is being um just being you, right? I'm a big believer. I I am like that, right? I'm just me, you know? I post the goods and the bads and and um and I think that's one thing about Brian that I always kind of uh um I always praise you on, right, for a long time, like you're always just you, you know? Um even if if uh even if you're wrong or you're right, you're you're and you you'll share it, you know? you're not um you're not scared to to speak up for what you feel is wrong. Um but also you're not going to hide it. Even if you're wrong, you you'll admit it in front of the world, you know. And I think that's one thing that I always liked about you and that's why I always follow you. I can get that that good energy, you know, the the the being being real, being yourself, and not being somebody that you're not. Yeah. Well, same. I appreciate that. Same way. I mean, same way. I I always enjoy um watching you and everything you're doing on there. Um, but social media changed that for me too because I mean I don't think I don't know if you know the story. Susan might barely know it. What got me really into the social media was I was on a vacation with uh my wife and my daughter. We were up in Oregon and everybody's doing this. They're in the front room and this is like this little town in the coastal thing and they're in this this Airbnb we rented with a bunch of us. They're all on the floor and they're jumping up. They're all standing in front of a phone. Never seen this Tik Tok thing before. And they're jumping up doing some weird dance where they're all like I don't know corrugated thing to some weird song music or something. What is that? I go, "What are you guys doing?" And it was like some whatever the whatever was big at the moment, right? Whatever they're all supposed to do where you turn around and do something silly. So anyway, and they're like, "Oh, you wouldn't understand. You wouldn't understand." It was my daughter, too. She's like, "You wouldn't understand. This is this is social med." I go, "I could do that. What are you talking about?" And then I So I go, "What is this?" I got on TikTok. They showed me what Tik Tok put on my phone and I started scrolling through. But for me, I was interested in all the funny [ __ ] not the uh not like the, you know, the music and the politics stuff. I was interested in the funny stuff. And then I I learned that button where I could just like mimic what somebody's saying and use me talk of words or whatever they call it. And I did the first video and it was like 20,000 views. Next thing you know, I've got like uh with a period of like two months I got like 27,000 followers and these videos are getting millions of views on TikTok. That's what started the whole thing, right? And then I'm but I was enjoying it, you know? I was just genuinely enjoying it making these funny videos and uh it was hilarious and that kind of it kind of broke me out of my shell. Um it was kind of like the first time you did karaoke. Do you do karaoke? Mhm. I probably never do kara I don't want to hear you do karaoke, but go ahead. No, dude. Dude, it was terrifying, dude. It was terrifying, you

Know, because I'm I'm really I'm afraid of what everybody thinks in front of a large crowd like that and singing and stuff. And then I hated it. Hated it by the end of the night. Dude, I was just like, give me the mic. I was just like Kenny Rogers and Gambler, whatever I can think of and Journey and you know, it was a blast. As long as you had a good time, right? I don't know what everybody else thought about you, but as long as you had a good time, that's all that matters. Yeah. So, what's your what's your go-to social media platform? Um, right. So, my Facebook is probably my strongest platform, but I also been active on it the longest. Well, I don't know. They're they're all pretty strong, but I I say I post more on Facebook. No, we know you're a big deal, but um which one? I don't know. Like I mean my I think my Tik Tok has like 8,000 followers. Instagram I had a couple viral videos um this year and last year. So I probably have like 11,000. Um but I I think if we're talking about social media, I think yeah, it it depends on your target, right? Your your target crowd. And I think that I'm a big I mean Tik Tok's gonna be all you know all across the board but I think that Facebook is gonna be more powerful um for our industry over Instagram. Um but I mean everybody can everybody's followers are different but for my um for what I have um the traction I have received it's definitely been more like Facebook that has has helped me out. You know, um I have this famous saying that I went zero to 1 million in revenue um just off of social media and it was just Facebook. Was it? Yeah. And I agree. I mean, that's where I spend most my time. I don't know why. You know what? Um and Susan, you're you're on Facebook mainly with all of us on there. And I think that us fencers, we're always one social media platform behind. And I tell people this all the time. I'm like, you know, when everybody went to, you know, when all the actual professional business stuff and it was like big deal went to Facebook, we were all still on MySpace. And then, you know, and then all of a sudden everybody, you know, everybody went to LinkedIn, so we went to Facebook. So, I I have this theory that as soon as everybody leaves uh LinkedIn, that's where we're gonna go. I just No, I believe it. But see, now I got really big on LinkedIn in the beginning because I was in B2B sales. So, for me, there was more power and value in in that platform because I didn't want to travel as much. So, I was like, "Okay, well, I'm going to invest a little extra time into the whole LinkedIn game." And, uh, that one really grew, but like now it's like, it's so serious. I feel weird posting a video of my kid doing an advertisement for the fence show on LinkedIn. So, like, yeah, I stick to the mostly just uh Facebook and Instagram and even Instagram sparingly. Yeah. I think it's all um so I try to utilize the platforms in different ways. Um I think each each platform is unique, you know. I think um I think Facebook you can just do like a broad video. Um obviously everybody likes the clips, right? Um but I think Instagram is more uh going to be clips or you got to target. So what what I'm big believer on is you got to target all crowds, right? So um it's kind of like going to church, right? I go to I go to uh two different churches, which is one is Pearl Street and CBC. I actually just started going to Pearl Street. But what what what it is the pastor, you know, those two pastors, they're really good, but they they speak, you know, cuz they're older, but they speak on his generation and then my generation and the younger generation. So, they kind of capture all that in a in a in a service. So, I kind of I kind of do the same thing, right? Because I see it as a business. Um, and so whenever I see people doing that, I'm like, we got to I got to capture everybody's the audit audience in order to get good exposure, right? Um because I'm pretty like lo I would say I'm like locally famous, you know. Anywhere I go, people are like, "Hey, you're the fence guy. Hey, you're the fence guy. I see your videos." You know, or they stop my guys and they're like, "Hey, we see those videos." So, it works. It works, you know. Um I think I I agree. It's fa what Susan was saying too. You you know on Facebook I can post a picture of like me in a Darth Vader outfit like playing the

Circle game or something, right? You know what I mean? And uh no no problem. You don't feel awkward or nothing at all. place the stupid stuff and then on LinkedIn it's like I would never post that same and I don't know why because it's not like it's not like there's some rule against me posting that same picture but you just don't do it because it's like you know that's where the president of Home Depot is and that's where the all the you know what I mean? Yeah, I agree. Yep. 100%. It's just different platforms which is you said it perfect right? You can't post that kind of picture on there. Nothing wrong with it just you wouldn't post it, you know. Speaking of being like kind of a Oh, sorry. Well, there you are. No, you broke up a little bit. I think you froze. Did I? I was going to say he's a he's a celebrity in his area, right? But I know recently he tra uh he had a free leadership course in San Antonio called Beyond the Trade, right? We you and I spoke just before the event, like the day of the event. How how did it go? It was good. It was about 40 people. Um 40. Yeah. So, it wasn't I mean just for posting on some platforms. I mean it was cool. It was a free event. Um I think for me it was a a lot of people messaged me on social media. They're like, "Hey, can you help me with this?" And and honestly, I I I would It's not feeling bad, but it's just um people would be like, "Hey, can I pick your brain and take you out for lunch?" And I'm like, "Yeah, I'm like, man, my lunch, if I do take one, I don't want to talk about I don't want to have my brain picked." And the people that do pick my brain all day long is the people that make me money, which is the guys that work in my company, you know, or the girls that work in this company. It's like, and I'm not trying to be rude. I was like, I just won't I can't do it. I don't I don't have time. I don't have the energy. And I was like, if I go do have a go have a lunch with someone or just by myself, I'm either working or I'm not working, right? It's like, yeah. So, I'm not going to work for someone. So, I was like, hey, you know what? let me come out with a an event that is free and try to give back to community, right? And I I think that's what it is. I think sometimes it's it's not all about money. It's just about um doing the right thing and and uh motivating or helping people because it's kind of like what um and I don't mean to get all like biblical, right? But it's like how they say like you never know that um you know, you talk to someone about God or you give them a Bible, you open a Bible with them, they might have never opened a Bible ever in their life um if it wasn't for you. And I think it's the same thing like someone might have never became a leader if it wasn't for my advice that I gave them or they maybe they wouldn't have became a better person if it wasn't for the advice. So that's why I did it, you know. I just um just trying to help people be better um find out their true identity and u make sure they can capture um what they're capable of doing. Yeah, I love that these I mean any kind, you know, I'm big on that. Anytime you can put together something and share some information and sometimes people like well what are you gonna teach? I'm like you don't understand. Sometimes it's not even anything that valuable. It's not something they haven't heard before. It's just you said it again and and it came from and and how somebody says this two different people saying the same thing resonates different with different people. So you you know you you may not even came up. It's not like you you had some secret formula that you've never shared with the public before. This is probably stuff they could go back and watch on almost all your videos. Anything that that I say you could watch on a video somewhere that I did already. So to have me speak would be the same as going back and watching my videos, but it means something. So you putting together something like that might have changed not it most likely did somebody went and it changed the direction of somebody's business you know most likely which is really cool and yeah and I'm sure it was some insightful stuff but like you said it's just being hearing something again and uh it's amazing. Yeah.

Yeah. I actually had a a friend of mine that went and they're millionaires, you know, they have a very successful business. They have a couple like three exotic cars and they went there and they before they left they're like, "We needed to be here. Like we're about to restructure this whole business starting tomorrow because everything you said about the issues we're having and the reason why is so true and we have just been letting it slide. So yeah, it's it's sometimes it's just they know, but it's like no, we need to change this right now, right? Like we have operation failures, we have sales failures, whatever the case is, right? We have people taking advantage of us on payroll and and a lot of people got comfortable. So yeah, sometimes it's just like you said, Brian, it's not we're not saying anything special. We're just saying what needs to happen. You know, what we struggle with on a daily base and we have to remind oursel, right? And we maybe we see videos of people saying the same thing. Yeah. And sometimes I give advice of things I wish I was doing. I'm like I'm like I don't I'm like literally I'm like I don't even do this but this is what you should do and I wish I had the guts to implement it at my own company. So I'm going to tell you and like and then there's people that go out and do what I wish I was doing and and they're successful at it. Yes. Yep. Yes. That is me. I am I am a living testimony of that. I 100% agree. I could coach somebody's business and by no means would I ever run my business that good. It's like like I can build someone else's business better than mine. This is what we're saying. Exactly. No problem. 100% agree. Yeah. Agree. So what was this um what was this on though? I mean was it mainly I mean from what I was getting out of it was leadership, branding, team culture, social media. So it wasn't like know your numbers kind of uh thing. was more of more of like the the front end kind of stuff and getting to know your team. Yeah. So, I'm a uh Yeah, because I'm I'm a big believer on like um I don't like I said, I don't like I don't think everybody should be a business owner, right? So, I don't like to speak on certain things because um then it gives your own team, right? Like, man, what am I doing if he's saying I should have a business and why am I working for him, right? So, I don't ever want my team to feel like I'm belittling them or I don't think that they're um capable of doing those things. No, I'm just saying that, hey, you can make, you know, 150 to 250,000 quarter million um in fencing, you know, as a sales rep and never have to do all the things that I had to do. Never have to um invest so much money that I had to invest or we had to invest, right? And that's where I have those events or anytime I speak, if you hear me, like I don't I talk about leadership. I talk about just finding the better you and and and that's what the event was about. Just just uh uh figuring out what you're capable of doing. If you're a laborer, try to figure out how you can be maybe a supervisor. If you're a supervisor, figure out how you can maybe move into sales, right? If you're in sales, figure out how maybe you can work right hand with the owner and see like, hey, can I um start another location? what can I do where it's like you already established the name and you already invested so much money into this brand that maybe I can I can go branch off somewhere else and I won't even take any money. I was just I just want you to teach me and I'll go under your name and you just give me some of of a portion of the business or whatever the case is, right? However you want to implement it. But that's what I was preaching. Yeah, it's always interesting. So, what um you do a lot of local stuff. I know Susan, I'm kind of hijacking this thing and I'm completely I'm completely out of sequence. I told you I I wander down these rabbit holes. So, we'll never get We're never going to get to back on track. Yeah. You have ADHD? I do. I do. I'm horrible. I'm horrible. So, I'm like I have this one question like something I want to ask and that's all I'm focused on. It's like my brain is just like I'm like how am I going to remember this question? How am I going to remember this question and still listen to what they're saying? Right.

Yes. You are really active locally though and I'm sure in some of this training you were mentioning about you know staying active with your local community and and things like that. Um why is being involved locally do you think is so important on your brand? Not necessarily your company but why is it so important to your brand? Um as far as being involved to like local events and stuff. Yeah. Um I I just think that uh like what two is also on social media I and this is kind of roughly on what you're asking but I think I don't even I don't even do things for the business itself. You know, I I I I I I always tell people like if you're going to build a platform on social media, I think that you should just like people want to know you, right? Like I you know, like nobody knows Las Vegas Fence, you know, everybody knows Brian. You know what I mean? Like and and and you figure like he's built he's built his platform on himself, not because of his business. You know, if everybody in this industry, they don't know what you're they don't if you know, you know, right? But like you really don't know much about your business, right? You only know about you and what you have been um what you have created in this industry in such a short amount of time, right? But um and that's the same thing for me. So what I do is I I I create just ma mainly like I do um it's personal branding is what I would consider right that ties into the fence pros but also it'll tie into what if later on I decide to start another company. what's gonna my my brand is already my personal um brand is already built up and people trust me as a individual not as my like they trust my company but they trust me as operating the being the owner and president of the company and now whenever if I ever launch something else um they would support that business also which would help you know say for example right we do fences say if I was like hey you know I want to do outdoor pergolas and outdoor living right so then I started something else outside of fence pros Well, now people would support that because of the brand that I have built. Um, and then also I believe colors, right? Like people are like, "Your colors are so bright. Like I saw you from a mile away." I'm like, "Yeah, that's the point." Like, "Oh, why do you have this?" I'm like, "Well, did you remember this?" Like, "Yeah, the blue, orange, and the yellow." I'm like, "Okay, well, I did my job." You know? So, that's that's the whole thing of like brand awareness and how we kind of capture uh more customers. Yeah. Yeah. That's interesting. the um I mean I love I you know I'm I'm a big fan on the getting involved locally too and obviously I went national when I was doing all the association stuff and I think of like your company name is almost like if you had Facebook it allows you sometimes to put like an alias or a nickname so you're right you you are the identity almost but your nickname is your fence company almost right I'm you know your nickname becomes Las Vegas fence and sometimes your nickname changes maybe it's going to be uh some automatic gate company next or right you know what I mean but you're still you have to build your own identity up and I think you can get lost in that if you're not careful and you just build up the brand of the company. I didn't even think about that that you just mentioned that but um yeah that that's kind of a big deal. Susan, I'm hoping we pulled up one of our favorite quotes of Gus's uh out there and I don't know if she went over this with you what it is. You want to read that? Yeah. So um something I've heard you say on multiple occasions and seen on social media is I'm not trying to beat my competitors. I'm trying to minimize their presence on social media. That's a bold statement, man. Yeah. I just like throwing I throw sneak jabs at everybody. Um, so there's another company. I don't care. I'll call them out. Um, I don't I don't care for them. They do shitty work. Um, but I don't talk bad about people. I just, it's just honest truth, you know. And so they do these videos and and uh they're like, "We'll match anybody's fans." You know, we are discount fans. So then I that's what the company's called and I went on social media. I'm like, "Hey, we don't discount fences. We just give you a quality installation and and and you know, pretty much quality product and

Installation, right?" And that's where I kind of like I do and people know like they know locally they're like, "Ah, I see what he's doing there." And it's not that it just I I I um yeah, like I'm just here to to I'm here for the long haul, right? And that's what I tell people. Like I'm not here. Whenever we go on customers sites, I'm like, "Look, my my truck is wrapped and it's matching the same exact way my shirts look. When my guys come out here install, they have the same shirts on. Um, and entirely like when customers are like, "Well, we get been burned." I'm like, "Well, we have over 250 Google reviews. We have a matching website. All our brand matches." It's like, if you think that we're going to go anywhere and our plan was to shut down anytime soon, then we wouldn't invest so much money into this, right? So that's that's a um a big thing on our end. Yeah, those are the best videos. If you can make a video and you can counter something somebody else did without actually mentioning their name or doing this and with if one or two words makes them think of that other guy or that other thing, then it's they I I believe I'm a firm believer in that that they if somebody you know somebody I get this a lot. Somebody like, "Hey, you know, you're saying this and it's making people think this about me." And I'm like, "Look, man. I'm some guy that was making some Tik Tok videos a few years ago. You guys have been doing this or whoever it is, your company, whatever's been around for 10, 20, 30 years, whatever it is. And if if they're having this perception based off of something I'm doing, that's that's that's a perception you created. I mean, it had nothing to do with me. People didn't come up with it on their own. And maybe just me around highlights it. If I mention a couple words that are negative and they start thinking of you, that's on you, man. What was that saying? If the shoe fits, wear it. Yeah, to change your perception on your own. I'm not going to change it for you. That's the thing. You talk about companies like yourself, right, that have been around for how long you been in business, Brian? I think about 20 30 20 30 years almost. Two, was it uh 99 would have been the first uh for my first fence company right around there and then it kind of morphed into Las Vegas fence over years. So, uh yeah. So, it's been in Vegas. My first contra license in Vegas was 99 I think 98. Crazy. Yep. So over 20 years. And so you think about it, right? And I that's what I tell people. I'm like, "All right, Fence Brothers of Texas, I launched it even though it was around like I it was around around like 2018, 2019, but I officially launched around 2020." And I'm like, "So how do you you you go against companies that have been around 15, 20, 25, 30 years and especially in commercial, right? Not even just residential." And it's like, "How can I get in front of people with just a regular brand?" And it's like, no, I got to stand out more than everybody else that's been around because they already built this relationship. If they didn't build it, their dad did or someone in that company build that relationship and that reputation of a reputation of doing jobs for them. And so, how can we stand out and how can we get in front of them and that's how we do it, right? We do it by this brand and it works. It works. I've been trashing on you around the Las Vegas market for like four or five years just in case you decided you want to go there. You know what I So, the time you walk in, it's freaking hot down there. I'm not going. Yeah, you can have that desert. Yeah, you can have Yeah, don't worry about me over there. I know. Um I know we're going to get towards S Susan's going to start doing this to me in a second, saying, "Okay, come on." But um so, when did you realize and I want to get a few of these things out here because I think it's a big deal. Um I kind of told you when I realized social media for me when it was kind of, you know, when I thought it was a big deal. When did you realize social media wasn't optional anymore? Like when did you realize that hey if I'm gonna grow my business it's g I'm gonna have a business I'm gonna do this social media is not an option whether I'm shy or whether I don't want to make videos. When did you say this is not an option anymore we're doing it. Um and man honestly that's like what I started off with. Um like I went what I

Tell people is like I went zero to a million and I had I had a cheap website but I didn't have a Google platform. Um I didn't have any Google reviews. I just had Facebook reviews. Um that's literally all I had. I didn't use Instagram. Tik Tok wasn't really around, you know, at the time. It wasn't popping. Um, so it was just Facebook and I would go on pages and I was so hungry and it was like that's all I knew. I didn't know how to I didn't know what a Google profile was. I didn't know what Google Ads and Google AdSA is and and uh just I just knew Facebook and then I just kept posting and I'm like I got better at it, you know? And then I didn't do videos. I'll just post before and after. I don't know. I just if you look at my social media, you'll see where it it it it starts trending, right? like it starts pretty basic and then it gets better and it gets better and better and better. I didn't know none of that. That's all I just I was like how can I get in front of people? I don't freaking know. I guess Facebook and it worked. You know, it kept me busy and and and but then it gets to a point like I tell people it's like you want to get bigger when you got to think bigger and you have to look at the resources that you have because Facebook's only going to get you social media is only going to get you so big, right? It can help you. It can get brand awareness. that can get in front of people that maybe don't need offense now, but they might see your video and they'll call you two, three, four years later, right? Because of social media. That's how you're able to get in front of them because there's no longer like billboards. That's not a big thing anymore. You know, it's it's it's uh you used to see these TV ads. It's not a big thing. People don't watch TV anymore. They watch Netflix, they want Amazon Prime, they watch um um was it Hulu and you know, all these other platforms that are available. They're on TikTok scrolling all freaking day, you know, all night before they go to bed. So, nobody watches that. And how do you get in front of people is by social media. And it's even more powerful now. And that's why I think that's why I'm so known to in the fence industry is because I have figured out that recipe and people have seen it. And that's why they're like, "How do I how do I master it, right?" They're like, "This guy already figured it out." And I think that's why the that's the only reason why people know me around here, you know, in in the defense industry. Yeah. No, I mean, no, I mean, you're a nice guy, too. I mean, you if if somebody comes up to you and talks to you, I know you say you're, you know, you get awkward in those situations, but I I know you well enough to know if somebody walked up and wanted to get a picture with you or something or said hi, saw your videos. You take the time to acknowledge them and you you look at them in the eye. You're not, you know, you're not you're not standoffish or dismissive of them and things like that. And so that that goes a long ways that every interaction people have with you um is genuine to the videos and stuff you make. And um going on what you said though, I'm I'm a firm believer that you decide how big your company's going to be. Not the economy, not not where you are, not all that, not suppliers, not anything like that. And it's it's similar to what, you know, I I tell people when they're looking for jobs and my kids and stuff, I'm like, you know, if you go out and look for $15 an hour jobs, what are you going to find? $15 an hour jobs. You go out and look for $25 an hour jobs or $30 an hour jobs, what are you going to find? You're going to find those jobs. So, um, and same thing if you build your website around doing nothing but residential work, it's kind of like it's kind of like starting a car lot and filling it up with Toyotas and being mad that you're not selling Mercedes. Well, your car lot's full of Toyotas. So, that's that's why, right? So, um, you got to you got to take the chance and you got to put the energy in and you got to build your site around and you got to chase what you want to do and you'll figure it out. I mean, you know, I know people like to scare people away from commercial and this and that and and uh my idea of commercial is different than what most people are. Everybody thinks if you mention commercial, it's all general contractors. Well, for me, I do nothing but commercial and it's all directly for

The owners. So, you got to get out there and chase it. So, kind of what you said, um you know, when it comes down to that, you got to, you know, you decide how big it is, basically. Yep. Yep. I agree. You you um you know, there's there's a lot of resources these days, too, right? Especially like Chad GBT. Uh, I got an argument with someone. They're like, "You don't use that." I'm like, "You shouldn't use it." I'm like, "Well, you're not a business owner and I'm not listening to you and your advice." But I think that there's a lot of resources out right now that's able to that you can a able to help you maximize your business. It's just you just got to look. You got to ask. It's there, Oh, it'll help you fill stuff out. I mean, you can screenshot, share. It'll help you go through most applications on almost anything you want. If you wanted to submit your getyous.gov number you wanted to get anything. There's literally almost nothing you can't go and apply for now where if you take the time and you screenshot, send it over. Here's where I'm at. I'm at this page. I'm at this page. I'm at this page. And I'm I mean, it's not it's not an attorney. I'm not telling anybody to go do that. By the way, if you mess up on something, you know, that's telling you guys, but but it'll guide you through. And if you ask the right questions and you do this, it'll help you fill out these applications that maybe you couldn't fill out or you couldn't have filled out five years ago. Right. Correct. And the doors are wide open for everybody, whether you're one truck or 20, to chase anything you want. And there's, like you, there's resources, man. If you figure it out, find the right suppliers, they'll do pre-leans, they'll get you the materials, and you're just putting out the labor until you get paid. So, um, you know, you decide. Yeah. Will any of the vendors at the fence show be those kind of vendors that help you do that? Oh, yeah. Yeah. I mean, if you walk up, um, I like it. Yeah. Let's twist that over to the fence show. That's I don't know. You better get a ticket to Vegas and come on down. No, but No, but definitely, you know, one thing about our show is that that we really do cater to the small fence companies and and you know, going up into large. So, most of these suppliers and and manufacturers that come in here, they have a lot of conversations with us and and if I hit a dollar every time I said, "But you're going to you know, you're going to sell to everybody, right?" And it's like, you know, and you're like, "Yeah, you're going to have people there to help sign up accounts, right?" And I feel like why am I having this conversation with people that are spending all this money for a booth that hey, can you bring people to sign up accounts while you're there? Yes. Like all you got to do is you know it's it's like that that famous saying it's like your uh your net work is your net worth, you know, and it's not like it's not what you know, it's who you know, right? And it's like the the resources are in front of you. You know, I tell people all the time like, "Yeah, I go to the fence show." And they might tell me things I'm like, "I don't even know why I'm listening to this." Or it might be like in in the classes, right? Or it's like the same thing that I'm like, "We already know this, but now I'm writing it down. I'm like, I need to do this. Like he's telling me this, the person in front of me is telling me what to do." Um, but also I always tell people like when you go to the to to the fence show, any of them, what you're able you're able to network with um, everybody that's around you and maybe they're having the same issues that you're having and you guys are able to, you know, bring share knowledge and may and resources to help each other grow. or you meet people that like for example from this from from the fence show itself I have met people that have a $10 million fence company 20 30 40 50 100 and you're like I would have never had a chance to talk to these people and they're just like us they have came from nothing and they built something out of it and so they want to help us they want to help the smaller companies and and like for example I have you know Jeff out of Titan Fence from Dallas he's one of my big mentors you know, I mean, he he's really large fence company a lot of people know now, but uh I can text him and he'll I'll be

Like, "Hey, man. I'm having this issue, you know, and he'll send me a paragraph. He'll send me a paragraph." Yeah. He he sent and he's like this this this and and and so you think about it, if you build a good relationship with these with people that are doing better than you, they will take the time out of their day, even though they're worth a lot of money or they're super successful, they will teach you. But it's like you got to get in front of them. You're not just going to go on social media and be like, "Hey, Jeff, can you help me on this?" He's like, "Dude, I don't even know you," you know? So, that's why I go to these shows. Yes, ma'am. Well, when I when I called you and asked you to come out and teach a class, like that was almost your response. Like, I'm I'm prepared to give back to our community in any way I can. And if you call me and ask me to help share any knowledge, even if it's no knowledge, it's going to have an impact on somebody. And that that's powerful. That's a big deal. Yeah. And and one thing I will share about Brian um that I do like about the fence show um is you're you're bringing different cultures. Um I always um we we you we see what it is, right? We know what the leaders and stuff that are in um certain industry or certain um um uh I guess shows and and and leaders in the group. And I was always like, how if you guys only have one race in here, how do you expect to have other cultures or other races come out? And um listen, you know, it's like you got to you got to you got to be a a blended um um race or culture, right? And it's not about being racist. It's just about blending it because people will feel a certain way. So, like now with me um going out, I'm excited and I hope that it brings awareness so that people start coming out. U maybe the Hispanic or the the the Latin community starts coming out more for that reason, right? I hope we can this can be the start of something great because what's the workforce? What's the labor is is the Hispanic and the Latin uh community, right? It's that's what we do. That's what we're good at, you know? It's physically working. It's in our blood, you know, it's in our DNA. So, I'm I'm hoping that I can we can do this and and and it can blow up to something greater. Um and and bringing in all kinds of cultures and and and by the time you know it's so diverse in in the f show. That's why I married my wife. You met you saw her, you know, my wife. And I'm like, you know, since I married her, I haven't had to do any yard work. I don't have to mow the lawn anymore. I mean, it's just it's just it's nice, you know. Yeah. She probably even digs fences for you, too. I love it. I think that's amazing. I agree. I think it's time to kind of bridge the gap. It's time to all come together, teach people, the next generation, the next set of business owners, share our knowledge, and just it's not easy. It's not easy because it's really hard unless you have people that have been through that. people that have been in the field and they're in the industry and they they've they've been held back a little bit to maybe just do smaller residential work because they didn't have uh what they thought was the access or the experience to big commercial work or to do these kind of things. So, you have to develop it in a way that they that they sit down and, you know, and take the classes and and you can't just say, "Oh, we're doing a Spanish uh table or a Spanish." It just doesn't work. That's not I mean, you're never going to get a bunch of people to come because you're willing because and then it looks like you're just trying to get numbers and you know and and increase it. But then you go inside and there really isn't anything different inside the expo hall. There's not any Spanish literature. There's not this, there's not training and like if you go to our show and a lot of people don't realize that the sometimes the guy at the door, everybody that loaded all of our stuff in and out and everybody that's working the floor and all this stuff, they're all fencers. They're all our employees, our welders, our shops. And and it's and maybe that's why it feels different is, you know, it's it's the same thing. We're over there going, "Hey, you hey, you know what, man? Put you can't smoke in here. Hey, you can't." Same thing we do in our trucks, right? Except we're telling them now in the X ball.

True. Yeah. But I agree. I I I see the the way you operate and I think it's great. I think even just bring It's not like I'm going in like, "Hey, I'm Mexican." No. Or Hispanic. Like, no. It's not like that. just saying, "Hey, Gus is coming up to speak and if you guys want to see um someone speak on behalf, not on behalf, but from the Latin culture and how he was able to transition transition from being physically physical labor to now being in the leadership role that I'm in, right?" Yeah. And I think it's nice to have somebody like even our you know what I learned was um like a lot of times even we do our gate operator classes and stuff like if you go to our walls we have like the literature like the how to hook up a say a radio control we have it in English and we have it in Spanish even though we teach the class in English and that was because a lot of the people that came uh they could speak real well but they read better in Spanish. So we're like okay while we're explaining it they're reading the Spanish part. So I guess you got to learn on you can't just you know if you just teach it in Spanish they don't really necessarily want you just to teach the whole thing in Spanish. Y we like the Mexican you know community or the the the Latin they they understand right. They're like no we get it. We just want you to at least try to do something that can help us you know read or or because I mean a lot of these guys can't even read. That's a problem, too. But they can understand, you know, they don't can't read it, but if as long as you're speaking, they can understand it. As long as they feel like you guys are trying, then that just n that just that just makes you feel that makes these guys feel more at peace, right? Because like at least they're trying, you know, you know, trying to be diverse and trying to to It's hard. It's hard. Yeah, it's hard. I mean, and that's why I mean, we appreciate what we're doing. We appreciate the acknowledgement that we're trying, too. Um, and every year we try something different and some stuff works and some stuff doesn't work. And I guess, you know, we're just not afraid to throw it at the wall and and if it doesn't, you know, we'll throw something at it. If it doesn't work, we just don't do it again. It's like, and we don't even we don't even like we're not making an announcement. Hey, you know what? We're making a complete shift because it's don't we're just not going to do it again. Okay. Nobody showed up for that class. So, the class doesn't exist We're just not doing that. Like, nobody's in here. Yeah, for sure. That's [ __ ] Man, you were boring. I don't know. We'll try someone else next year. Yeah, you thought you're gonna do good, but this [ __ ] suck. But anyways, yeah, I get it. I am with you. I 100% get what you're doing and and you see the changes, but you're not scared of it. You know, you're not scared of failure. And I think that's still what sets you apart. You do something well. You do something long enough and you know, it becomes normal. So, you fail enough times and it just becomes you become comfortable with it, right? Before uh I know did we have our we had a rapid fire once, right? still you didn't have that. So, um I did want to I I did want to ask though, um now that you have more people on your Sorry, Susan, now that you have more people doing your videos with you, you know what I mean? And employees and stuff like that. Um and I have a hard time with this sometimes. I get some of mine to do it, but it's like uh it's like they don't want to be in it. Sometimes they do, but they're really kind of awkward and uncomfortable. How do you make your employees comfortable? Or maybe they're not comfortable. How do you get them comfortable with being on camera? Question. So, not everybody goes on camera, right? Um, you know, I had recently hired um a buddy of mine, but he he likes he likes it, right? So, it kind of worked. So, I'm like um but also I if you look at my videos, you'll see that like I put, you know, like videos of different people that go in my where I'm talking and it's like a a script of somebody else. Um, and then you'll see like the transition of different individuals because those people no longer work here, right? So,

Yeah, my mentality is that like I can't fully trust someone to be on video. So, I'll put them in clips, but I just kind of change it up. Um, but also it's it's very difficult to perfect being on camera. Like, I can be on camera right now, but if you bring a camera and you're like, "Hey, I want you to read these two sentences." I got to do it like 10 times. Like, I am on the fly guy, right? like I am, you know, like how how I am right now. But, um, what I do is I write scripts out, you know, and I'm like, "All right, this is like I just come up with ideas, you know, if I'm I'm like, you [snorts] know, ADHD, like I'll be talking right now about something and I'm like, oh shit." And I'm like, you know, before I forget, let me just we should do this kind of video. And then that's my video, you know? Or like I'll just see something like on the I'm like, "I should do that." And I'll write it down. And what I do is I just do small clips of like different people and then my video guy is just amazing. He helps um you know he helps do the the record the the video side of it and I just do the speaking. So but I have like so it's like a what do you call it? A teleprompt. Um so we don't have one but like what I'll do is like get my like the iPad and I'll just put in big lettering and I'll go above his look. I promise you he's like this recording right? He's like this. He's there with we have the mics on and like if I'm speaking I'll tell my guy like put it right over his camera and I'm like just follow him and so I'm kind of if you look at my videos I'm kind of I'm like reading it and I'm like and then once I see the end and I kind of can go off without looking but yeah I'm I am we are not good at this. I just make it work you I wish we had a big telepromp because it'll be a lot better. But uh I just and I do it with the guys, you know, I'm behind him holding the camera and or holding the phone and I'm following him with the camera and stuff and that's how it works. And we do it three, four or five times. So we never perfect our videos. It's very rare that we do it the first time. Perfect. Um so never think that it's easy. It is not. But I have the script ready for the guys. So it's not like, oh, what do I say? Like here, you know, here. That's funny. I couldn't read a script, man. If I wrote a script, it'd be like this. Hi, Gus. I think you do a really good job on your videos. How do you make people feel comfortable? That that's that's what I would look like in a script. Yes. And then I have to tell them like, hey, act like you're not reading. And it's like, how? And I'm like, just talk, you know, like we have I have to like, hey, move your hands. Like, how are you doing things? You know, I am not reading this from a script. Yes. Yes. Pretty much. And it's like pause like because our our problem is we can't see it. So we're like reading too quick. We're like you know hey this is custo fence of Texas and we're like whoa hold up slow down a little bit. It's like I can't because I can't remember the script. I just looked at it. So I get it. It's very difficult. I'm not a pro. We're fencers. We are not um news you know we're not on the news uh channels. You know this is not what we do for a profession at all. But I make it work. You know um watch at your own risk. Watch at your own risk. We are not professionals. attempt this at home or on the job site. Yeah, we do construction. This is not what we're supposed to be good at at all. If you sat through an hour of us, that's on you. No refunds. Okay. No refunds. Yep. 100%. Yeah. Well, guys, I appreciate you coming on, man. I know. thank you. I know it's getting later for you back east. What's uh I say back by the way, anything Texas on over is the east coast to me. I've said this a hundred times. It's valid. Did you hear they're they're I think they just passed something about the um they're not going to do daylight savings is going to be frozen or something. They're not gonna They've been trying to pass that for a while. So, y have that down there.

We have daylight savings, but I guess they're talking about it not changing. So, you're in an area where the day does it change where you're at? Well, like in the season it does get dark though, so like Yes, I Well, now they're not changing the time. I guess they're trying to pass that bill. I mean, Arizona is the only state that doesn't uh acknowledge daylight savings in the continental US. When I first heard that, I'm like, "So, we all going to be on the same time zone?" I'm like, then I was like an idiot, too. I'm like an idiot. So literally that it was the dumbest thing I in my brain I I spent so for some reason I was fixated on this for an entire 30 minute car ride to the office about how I won't have to have some people come in early to call people back east anymore and then I even like made a phone call to say how great is this going to be and they're like you're a dumbass. Okay that doesn't mean moment yeah you are not going to be in the same time zone as New York City doesn't mean that we're all going to be the same. Okay but yeah just for anybody that's listening that Not happy. It stays the same. There's still potential over here because I think you guys are an hour behind. Four o'clock here. Is it? Oh, it's six over here. Yeah. So, we're two twoour. Oh, you're on the same as Susan then. Yeah. So, we're on the Pac I say the Pacific time zone. The only one that counts. So, uh I guess most people don't count. Anybody that wants to uh come meet Gus in person, if you haven't, it's definitely worth um it's definitely worth the chance. come up, shake his hand, ask a question, and hey, if you have a question in Spanish, ask them in Spanish, too. So, um that's what's unique about um these classes. So, uh come and uh you know, sit in one of the one of the educational classes, say hi to Gus, walk around as well. Um and how can they find you on your social media channels? Um Instagram is Gus_theence Guy and then Facebook is Gus Hernandez Jr. Um Tik Tok is Gus the Fence Guy. So, pretty much Gus the Fence Guy. You can't find me, I don't know what to tell you. type guy and we're going to drop it in the comments here. So, if anybody wants to go and see what all the videos we're talking about is um and hey, you don't have to like it, but uh you know, you can follow him anyway, but we're not professionals. We've said this, but you're going to be entertained by it. There's no doubt. You know, we all are. So, I appreciate it. Um go to uh fenceshow.com and get registered. Um it's I mean, you're not going to beat the deal um to go see all these educational classes in one place. I think there's up to like 30 40 instructors over a period of five days. The first two days is obviously um a couple um kind of longer courses where you can get certified in gate operators and some um some know your customers and things like that. But then we're going to have a series of them throughout the rest of the week uh for the expo hall. And the expo hall is Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, October 5th to the 9th. Go to fencow.com, get registered, come say hi to us all. We appreciate it. Gus, thank you um for coming on. Susan, thanks for filling in on uh the show for Sasha today. All right, you guys for having me. Thank you. Thank you for watching everybody. Thanks. FWA, it's time to go full throttle fence show October 7th through 9th. Go to fence show. Go to fenceshow.com to register now. Make sure to check out our podcast FWA.