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As builders, we pride ourselves on doing good work for our community. We build the places that raise families, foster small businesses and enrich the lives of those around us. That’s why we invest in equipment that gets the job done right.

That’s why it’s so bad when equipment gets stolen. It’s unfortunate, but thieves exist in every place. But with the right precautions, you can prevent theft and keep your equipment safe.

In this episode, you’ll find out how to prevent bad actors from stealing your equipment and staying safe.

Want to make sure you keep your equipment and do the best job possible? Listen now!

Show highlights include: 

  • Why creating your inventory from photos can keep your insurance from reimbursing them in case of theft (14:51)
  • The weird way putting a sticker on your tools can keep thieves’ hands off of them (18:32)
  • How giving up control and making less money per project grows your business in the long term (23:30)
  • Why integrity and passion is more important in team members than their specific skills. (28:07)

If you’d like to connect with Paul Bierman or learn more about Power Tool Safe you can visit https://powertoolsafe.com/

To get the most out of this podcast, or connect with Duane and Dave, head over to https://buildernuggets.com and join our active community of like-minded builders and remodelers.

Read Full Transcript

It's crazy how much you can do when you have information.

Welcome to builder nuggets hosted by Duane Johns and Dave young. Hey, our mission is simple. Build freedom, where a couple of entrepreneurs turn business coaches who have dedicated ourselves to helping our builder. Remodeler clients create the most rewarding businesses in the industry. My cohost Dwayne has been a successful builder and remodeler for over 30 years. He's seen the highs and the lows from the beginning though. Dwayne has been on a quest to find a better way to run a contracting business in 2016, he found that better way. That's how I met Dave, a lifelong entrepreneur and visionary who measures his success by the success of those around him. He reached out one day with a formula on how to transform my business. And the rest is history. Since then, we've teamed up to help hundreds of contractors like you build better businesses and better lives. And now we've decided to open up our network and share our secrets. So we can start moving the needle with you. It's collaboration over competition. Each week we bring together industry peers and experts who share their stories so that we can all build freedom together.

Today's guest was working on a project in Bozeman, Montana in the spring of 2015, when he had the delightful experience of showing up at work to find the back doors on his job trailer were wide open swinging in the breeze. And a few shells of tools were completely emptied.

(01:22): If you've ever experienced job site theft, you know how violating and frustrating this can feel. It's easy to become angry and to fall into the gap. But our guest showing true entrepreneurial spirit was able to turn this into an opportunity. He saw a problem, created a solution, and then worked to get the message out to the industry so that it wouldn't happen to you out of motivation. And some stubbornness. He spent the next four years trying to articulate an answer, a solution, different approaches, and finally perseverance paid off. It's my pleasure to welcome Paul Biman founder of end, CEO of power tools, safe to today's show. Welcome Paul, Thank you.

(02:00): Paul, having your, uh, having your stuff stolen is gut wrenching, but having the police tell you they can't do anything about it must have been even more frustrating or infuriating. Take us back to how this happened type of work that you were doing and why it became so motivating for you to, to do something about it. You know, unfortunately it's something most of us go through. It was, I think the hardest part for me, you know, we all go through losses and a lot of times it might be a drill here or something, but showing up to work and realizing right away, something's wrong and an entire job trailer's broken into. There's that immediate sense of violation. Like how dare somebody just break into stuff that belongs to me. But then I think even more importantness or, or more impactful is that feeling of knowing that your stuff is gone, you knew that this was a possibility you refused to record anything or organize your records. And when it came time to be proactive in that situation, you were absolutely unprepared to do anything. And I think that was probably the biggest insult to me was that realization like, man, am I an idiot? You know, It, it, it's almost like a sense of helplessness that you brought on, on your own.

(03:17): Yeah. It's and it was completely driven by my lack of actions. I knew better, but I just, you know, like everybody else you have that you have that feeling like, oh, this will never happen to me. You know, I've got a lock, my trailer's in a good place. We keep things secure. We live in a good, we live in a good town. This isn't something that will happen to me. I pick my job as well. And well, guess what, it's really not a matter of if it's a matter of when it's gonna happen to pretty much everybody in one form or another. So were you a builder trade, uh, contractor remodeler? What, what were you doing at the time? So I'm a general contractor and I focus mostly on custom homes and a little bit of commercial. I was actually building a brewery and for a guy whose last name is Biman. I mean, can you think of a better dream job than building the Beerman? So actually it was really cool, uh, was a fantastic project and still one of the best breweries in town by most accounts, but showing up and not having those records, you know, you go through, you kinda go through the process, like, OK, what am I missing? You try to figure out, well, you don't have, so you have to go by memory. What was on the shelves? What do I think I lost you start making a list and you include what you notice right away. But unfortunately for the next several months, you find yourself looking for tools that inadvertently went missing, that you, I mean, you spent a lot of time looking for things that you don't realize went missing. You still didn't have. So it's like, it just keeps at you like it it's there somewhere. Oh no, it's not that one's gone too, you know?

(04:57): But, uh, yeah. Going through that process, I, I think the biggest thing is, you know, you call the cops, you try to fill out a police report and they say, well, give us a, give us a list of what you're missing. Give us the information that, you know, the brand model, serial numbers, give us the specifics and you're going crap. I don't really have any of that. And you think, well, how can I expect these guys to do their job, but I don't have the information to give them. And I don't have a solid lead to give them. So did they have, did, did they ever figure out who it was or did you ever, did you ever get any resolution to any of that? You know, I did. And part of it was, I, I think the one thing that hit me is, you know, going through that process, the biggest thing is, you know, the police officers said, give us a list of everything you can, you know, and give us descriptions. So I knew I didn't have those records. I, first thing I did is I contacted my insurance and they said, oh yeah, you're inland Marine, your tool theft policy lapsed. And you chose not to renew it. I'm like, right. That sounds like something I would do. So then I called the local store, uh, where I usually buy my tools because they keep good records and they send me records. You know, I, they send me invoices. They, I was able to find a couple records of tools. I had serial numbers on it, but for the most part, what I did was, you know, I made a list of mental list of what I was missing.

(06:16): And then I started Googling those tools and I found images of the models that I had and I printed off those images. And then I put descriptions of the tools with the markings that either had paint on them or, you know, tools that you had replaced the cords, you know, the descriptions of the, the tools that I knew, the ones that were in cases, what they looked like, how beat up they were. And I gave that to the cops that didn't seem to help the cops so much, but took that record was a document I pawns around for. There were a, I found out in town, their job sites were at the same time going through the pawn shops. It was, I think the third pawn shop that I went to, and it was a mile and a half away from the job. And I gave him the list. I told him who I was. I said, my stuff got robbed. And I showed him my list. And he started flipping through the pages and he got to the third page and he instantly pointed, like I got, he pointed to six tools. He was like, I got this one, this one, this one, this one, this one. And it was like, for me, a light bulb went off in my head. It's like, wait a minute. Like I showed him a picture of what I had and he knew instantly. It was like, okay, there's a better way to do this. I didn't have the records. I didn't have the information, but I was able to create, you know, images and descriptions and communicate that. And, and that in conjunction with the combination of all the tools he knew right away, he knew right away, he had stuff.

(07:39): And you know, it took me a while to get it back. It was maybe it, it was just over half of what I lost and it took me a month and a half to get it back, but they ended up catching a guy. So this is, this is in Southwest Montana. There's a couple other towns north of us an hour and a half away. Um, I guess a couple of that are both an hour and a half away and two hours away. And they did find based on that description or the descriptions I was able to provide, they were able to get more tools back as well. So it really kinda hit me that, you know, the biggest thing is if we don't have the information to provide, how do we expect others to do anything for us? Yeah. And, you know, Paul, that was for me, you and I met at the international builder show back in Orlando earlier this year. And you were telling me a little bit about your story and you know, what I was struck by was in, in a sense, your reaction to this, you know, I mean, I've had tools stolen. I'm sure many of our listeners have, have gone through this at some point as well. And yeah, it sucks. But I think for the most part, we usually try to put something like that in the rear view mirror, maybe collect some insurance money, if you can, and then move on. But for you, you know, you kind of saw this as an opportunity. You said, Hey, here's, here's an, a problem that we've got in the industry. You know, it's likely to be pretty prevalent and you created a new business and created a solution for others. I mean, that's pretty impressive. How did that, how did that come to be? And I guess, what does it look

(08:57): Like? I, I mean, thank you. There, there is a lot there and it's taken a long time to get to where we're. And I think originally I looked at it as, OK, this is a problem that I struggle with. Most people struggle with. There's gotta be a better way. And I think mostly I looked at it from the standpoint of how can I create a system, you know, first and foremost, that works for me. But if this is a problem that everybody has, why is it a problem? And why does everybody have it from the standpoint of, you know, I looked at the problem from my perspective, how it impacted me, but then how law enforcement was impacted, how the insurance company were impacted by how this affected me and my situation and how that worked, how the retailers were impacted, how the pawn shops were impacted. And I, and I kinda broke it down from that standpoint. And to be honest with you, I think it just became something, we drank a lot of beer over and we just kind of scratched our heads. Like I know there's a better way. And it took a lot of iterations and it was kind of just, it, it was a kind of a burner project on, on the back burner. It wasn't, you know, first it wasn't front and center, but it was something that I just kinda worked on over time. And it just kind of solidified over time. You know, I went through some different iterations with different programmers. I came up with a couple different solutions, hiring some interns, and then I, um, moonlighted with a couple people, or I, I had a couple programmers. Uh, we have a big software company. Oracle has a hub out of Bozeman.

(10:25): So we have a lot of software industry people there. And I was able to connect with a few because I knew that, you know, I wasn't gonna get off myself. Solution was other help expression. And through some idea, backed know, then I found a guy and I actually hired a guy to build. He built the app. It took him almost a year. And I mean, obviously nothing happens overnight, but it took him about a year to build an app. And, you know, the funny thing is it's just the turn of events, a freak turn of events that it turns out, you know, I like to play hockey. I started when my kids started and he was a little, you know, he was a little overwhelmed because they grew up skiing and he wanted to get into hockey. And I said, all right, well, I'll play hockey with you. So I learned hockey the same time he did. And I jumped on a team locally and I got talking to some of my teammates and turns out one of the guys on my team is a senior developer for Oracle. Well, I showed him the app that I designed and he kinda looked at, and he's just kinda has this on and says, you're in construction. You houses. How in the, did you design? How did you not design an, but it like of the people who for 99% of the people who try to design an app, they fail. How in the hell did you get this to work? I, I don't know. Maybe it was just naivety. Maybe it was up. Maybe it was just being stubborn. Maybe it just wasn't knowing any better, but we were to app that kinda showed how this works. And we've been working on this ly and it just exploded into product.

(12:06): And we've from, and now we have tool tracking software program that helps you create records with your phone. You can catalog tools. All you have to do is take pictures of your tools, existing tools. If it's a, you can take pictures of the tool, make sure you capture the model in the serial number. And we can create a for we've created a way to actually create tool from a, so if you buy a brand new tool, almost all the manufacturers will serial numbers on the, so you take a of your receipt, you take a photo of the, on the, and the serial on the box and automatically create a record for whether it's a bear tool or it's a kit. We can create records. So, you know, it's just that process of evolution that's been fun to play with. And it was really, I, I never saw myself moving in this direction as a fulltime job, but over the last year and a half, I've stepped back from construction and now we're hitting the market. And I mean, technically it's construction. It's just a different level of construction. I don't Havers. And I don't, if my subs show up on the job on site and I don't is, you know, it's, it's just, it's still construction. It's just a different format.

(13:27): So when you use the app and you've got, you know, obviously your existing tools, it, it sounds like it's set up so that you can just, like you said, go take photos of it. And it'll automatically upload does the business owner just like layout all of their tools and one shot and just start snapping photos and upload it as one shot and done. And then once you got your current inventory in place, anytime you add something new or theoretically, can, can you have project managers or other teammates on the same account that when they pick something up, they're adding it to the, uh, to the list as well.

(13:59): How you laid it out is exactly how it works. If you've got your tools. Now, if you're in a trailer, you can take your phone, you can go from one tool to the next and you can upload all your tools. Um, we're working on a multiuser platform right now. So that will be one of the next things we come out with. But right now that's the whole goal. And, you know, looking at it from my own experience, I realize that I didn't have the records because one, I didn't have a good way to keep records. And two, I didn't three, I just assumed it was labor intensive consuming. I was worried, you know, to, to, to make sure I'm working is my number one priority than it, rather than actually understanding the fundamental, the fundamentals and having the necessary tools to run a business professionally. So yes, you can create records just from photos, but we've, we've stepped back and we've actually created a cataloging service. We have a team of specialists. So once you catalog your, once you create all your records, you can even have us go in on the back end and make sure that from your photos, we enter the brand, the model, the serial number, the tool type, the description, the MSRP. And we automate all your records for you just to save you more time as a, you know, builder, modeler myself. I it's something we struggle with for a long time. It's once in a while you get something, you capture it, you get it into a system. Chances are the next three things you bought, never got tracked. Oh my God. Thinking about trying to update some kind of inventory list. It that's just brutal.

(15:34): It is. It's hard. And that's something that, I mean, that's tough for so many people is how do we, how do we continue to add or implement a system? And, you know, there's a lot of tool tracking programs out there, but a lot of those are designed for big companies who have tool cribs who have hundreds of employees, and they have a checkout process. They use, you know, barcodes, scanners, things like that. This is more for the independent, for the small contractor, the guy who might have, you know, five, 10 employees, a workforce, but still doesn't know what to do or how to manage that. So, um, we're looking at it more from the standpoint of theft will always be a problem until we in the industry do something different. And we're all gonna feel the pain of that mistake when it happens to us.

(16:20): So how do we, how do we look at saying, you know, we have an industry where we know it's plagued. We know this is a problem. How do we simplify getting records to people? And when we realize that, um, when we realize that this is a system that everybody is impacted by, we were able to say, okay, well, if this is gonna be a solution, we have to offer a solution to everybody. So we have built power tools, safe as a database that law enforcement can search against. So when you register a tool, you're essentially putting a virtual name tag on your tool. If it has a brand model and a serial number, it can be looked up in our system and it can be tracked back to you. So having information, giving you, giving builders that information, and that gift alone does more to safeguard their equipment, you know, giving them the ability to instantly search online, search Craigslist, search eBay, online. The things that we do when we experience theft, it's like would like to see our being used. How would we like to have that information? Use it in that moment, wanna level up, connect with us to share your stories, ideas, challenges, and successes. the builder nuggets community is built on your experiences. It takes less than a minute to connect with us@buildernuggets.com, Facebook or Instagram, want access to the resources that can take you and your team to the next level. One call could change everything.

(17:54): Is there anything associated with your service or any, any markings that you put on the tools so that anybody who's even thinking about doing it? Like, do you have a sticker that goes on the back of a trailer that says these tools are cataloged or, or anything like that? Like, I've just got a whole bunch of things going through my head. Um, yeah, we do. We do. And we offer that right now. We don't, we're looking at it more from the kinda, we're trying to take more of an educational approach to say, Hey, you know, the best ways to protect your, your tools are lock them up to have a good record to mark your tools. Um, we don't have a way to physically mark the tools, but we do have stickers that say, Hey, warning, content's registered with power tools safe. And you know, sometimes that little warning on a sticker, what I can tell you is we can't say with certainty that nobody has lost anything that they've recorded, but from the people who have cataloged their trailers and put stickers on their trailers, none of them have reported theft. So I, I mean, at that point, that's a pretty good realization to say everybody that has stickers on their trailer has in a sense, safeguarded them because they've put the word out, Hey, don't mess with me. I'm organized. I know what's in here. I've got it. And I'm ready. I'm, I'm prepared.

(19:09): You got, you gotta think that some of this gives you peace of mind too, when you're dealing with, uh, an insurance agent that you've got your stuff well documented. Well, well, cataloged, I think of tax things. If you, if you have high value tools that you're depreciating or, you know, anything like that, like there's a myriad of other uses where this can, uh, can apply even tracking like you have multiple employees, where, where are they? You know, that kind of thing, because they may not all be in the same spot. They may not be locked in that trailer if you're over several different job sites. Absolutely. And, and really those were all discussions we've had over several pints of beer, trying to figure out if you have records, what can you do with them? And everything you just mentioned, we can do. We can, you can print off, you know, list of equipment. You can send it to your, you can email it directly to your insurance agent. You know, you can sort tools by employees or job sites. You can print off lists, you can give it to your employees and say, I know what you have. And now this is part of your, this is part of your annual, how well did you take of the equipment? How much did you lose? How much do you still have? It's crazy how much you can do when you have information. The amount of leverage you have with that information is insane.

(20:22): Well, the out of prevention, pound of cure argument, and also awareness creates accountability as well, right? People are, are thinking about it more when they know you've brought, you've brought some focus and some intention and attention it so amazing. And no, you know, prior to this, really no other easy viable solution for it. So, I mean, I, all that goes through my mind, of course, moving to the entrepreneurial side of things is maybe your mindset shift of when, okay, I'm not gonna really be a builder anymore. I'm, I'm gonna really get behind this business. And I mean, what has that evolved to, what does that look like? I mean, this is a, is this a full time gig now? Are you out there, you know, traveling the country, doing trade shows, is this a shark tank moment? What is, what is this? Like, there is that, oh, shit moment of, oh, what am I gonna do? All right. Am I gonna jump in full time? And what does that look like? And what is that gonna entail? And, yeah, there's, I mean, there's a sense of, of overwhelmingness because you're navigating something you've never done and you're trying something new and there's no proven track record for what you're doing, but there's also that sense of, you know, how many times do we have that feeling of regret? Like, gosh, I wish I would've or I had this idea and I, I would've followed up or, you know, there is no regret. So I guess worst case scenario, I could always go back to building if I land flat on my face. But, um, trying something new and taking on new challenges is pretty awesome.

(21:51): Was there a, we'll call it a tipping point where you went from being, you know, went from being an idea and something that you were interested in to something that you committed to. Do you remember a particular moment where you're like, I'm going for it, I'm doing this, you know, there was, and, and that really comes back to it's. I think in construction, you know, you look at your project as a general contractor, always believe that, you know, building a house it's, it's a team effort and was never good at saying, Hey, you need to hire me because I'm the best. I, I always struggled with that sales pitch because I am the representation of an entire team. And for me to put my face on a name to me is it doesn't make sense because there's a whole team behind me. And so I am just a representation of that team as a contractor. And I realized that that perspective allowed me to realize when I met or when I started sharing this idea with my teammate on the hockey team, I realized at that point, this will never get off the ground if I don't have the expertise of the right programmer behind me.

(23:01): And if I can't build the right, this never, we, you know, looked at what we potential could be. And finally, he came back and he said, okay, if we can, you know, find an equitable position that shares, this shares the value of what we're doing, I'm in. And I thought, you know, why would you wanna be in a position of the entire pot over everybody? When some of the best projects I've ever been a part of are a success because of taking a collaborative approach and so skin in the game. Yeah, exactly. Skin in the game. And, and at that point, when he came board, you know, it, it took a while. It took us a while to get some traction, but then when we got a minimum viable product and MVP, and we started feedback, well, now we need to the next step. And now we need to go to the next step. And so I stepped back and was able to take that approach with him. And now we're the new approach and was just naturally time for construction and product there. Tell us about your team now, what does, what does that look like? And the other thing I can't help, but think is that what an advantage, not to be a programmer because business owners, construction, business owners, a lot of times they're focusing on the building of the, of the homes, instead of on the building of the, the business, you are able to focus. You, you didn't have that dual burden, you were able to focus on the building of the business and you got the expertise that you needed as, as, as you just said. So how does that, how does that progress do you feel, do you feel a different freedom that you're able to focus on the one piece and, and work on your creativity and, you know, really vision cast, what this thing is going to be and tap into some of those things that maybe you didn't get a chance to do as a builder?

(25:09): You know, I think there's a couple, I mean, there's pros and cons. I think that it's amazingly similar going from a general contractor tooially project manager on different, you know, you understand, as far as construction goes, you know, understand the, understand the budget, you know, lead time, you know, that is no different program, a, a programming team because you're reliant on them and, and input from them to how long will it take to build out this feature? And, you know, it's funny because they throw back in your face, the exact same thing that you tell your clients, you know, your clients will say, well, I'm gonna build this house. When is it gonna be done? And the first thing you tell them is, well, it depends on the level of finishes you choose. And how many times you change your mind, right? Like however much you throw at us is dependent on how quick we can provide those parameters for you.

(26:10): And so I really appreciated that because I, I knew what it was like to kind of throw that answer back. Building the team, I think, is so foundational to, to the product itself. And it was all those lessons in construction that I learned, hiring people, understanding how to, how to parse out the, the individuals that are qualified that have the credentials you need. And through my own experience, again, through the failures of starting with some interns and then starting with some programmers that, and then trying some programmers to midnight or midnight, the program, and build something to hiring somebody, to provide an app, taught me more about the programming through each of those failures. And so I, I guess it's still to this day, it's a learning curve. It it's a complete learning curve where every time we try something new, it's an opportunity to step back and say, OK, where did we not communicate effectively? Where did we not provide a full service? Where did we miss the boat? And how do we recalibrate that? And then go out again tomorrow and try it again.

(27:18): Do you feel like if you went, you know, if let's say somebody bought this out from you and, and you'd decide, I'm, I'm gonna go back to contracting, would your approach to your business be different now because of this experience, because of what you've learned here, are there things that you would implement? Like some of the things you just talked about, maybe you didn't have the time to think about in, in the exact same way before. I think that I would still stick with the same principles and I mean, luckily at least in construction now I'm not where I'm not, I have moved from Montana to Colorado, so I'm not currently, I wouldn't be blessed with having the same network of contractors. I would definitely use the same skill that construction taught me in building that team. I think it's just reinforced. And I think it it's reinforced what I probably subconsciously knew, but never really consciously recognized is the importance of building that team, the integrity of every team member, the level of professionalism and the passion that they bring to the table. And making sure that if you want the best you go after the best, if you want bottom dollar, you're gonna get bottom dollar. You know, it's, it's the lessons that we learned the hard way, trying to figure out running our business, that still stick with me. And, and I'm not sure that I've learned a whole lot from this process that I would bring back to construction. I think man, I made a lot of mistakes in construction and I, I learned a lot of lessons. Thankfully, I guess I learned a lot of lessons from paying those mistakes, right? So I, I was able to retain those lessons.

(28:48): So tell us about your team now, how many people are working on this project with you and what has the progression been like? Well, the hardest part was, you know, trying to figure out what our true market is, where do we fit in? Why don't people use tooling? Why don't people keep good? Why is theft a problem? And you know, when you step back and you start looking at those and you look at why didn't I do anything, why didn't I keep records? Having that perspective was really helpful and trying to understand where we fit, how we fit or having a novel approach to a new solution. We have tried, you know, building a team where we we've offered a service. We started with a service to say, Hey, we will send an ambassador to you. You can schedule a time where we will come to your job site and we we'll catalog your tools for you. We'll take the photographs, we'll upload them, we'll create the records and people who understand the importance of having records. They got it. And they got on board, but that was still such a small percentage of people that we thought, okay, well, this is not sustainable. We've gotta find a better approach. So we are now to the point where I, I have a development team of three programmers, I have a data team of three programmers. I have a marketing team and I have myself. So, you know, we're, we, we usually oscillate right around 10. Um, what we learned and I, I guess, you know, coming back to it is time is really an issue. And so making, making something that is simple to use and save time seems to be what the market is missing because there's programs out there. But it's a matter of, OK, well, how long does it take to create a tool record? Well, do I have to upload a photo? And then do I have to tell you what kind of tool that is and then what brand it is and then what model it is, and then what the tool type is and what that description is.

(30:39): That's kinda a pain in the ass. So we figured through our process, if we build a database where we can enter the brand and the model, we can use stock images to do that, we can fill in all the blanks. And so it was that evolutionary process where we kinda stumbled onto this. And now that we have a database, we've got over thousand lines in a database that tell us, you know, a model of a kit, all the Mo a retailer's model, like the UPC number on a kit, let's say you buy a Milwaukee kit, that's got a drill, an impact driver, you know, batteries and a charger. Now that we know that UPC, we know every member that's in that kit. So when we see a UPC, when you upload photo of that UPC, we use artificial intelligence to that photo, and we can automatically create the kit with all the models that are in it, and all the tool types of those models, the descriptions of those models, the warranties links to replacement parts, everything that you need. And through that process of evolution. Now we're to the point this Friday, we're working with Acme tools. I think I could say that. I'm not sure when this come out right now, Acme tools sees what we're. We can use our database to give an online retailer. We have an online retailer buy something online. They know that UPC the model of what they're buying, they have your email address, they know your mailing address. We can take that information automatically, create account, take the UPC of your information, that into all the tools and models that add a receipt and allow that retailer to give you free tool tracking as a marketing mechanism. That's,

(32:33): That's amazing. I, I was just about to ask if that's where it was going. And, and also if even as new tools being produced, if you can get access to capturing the inventory, like even before it goes, it goes out so that you have a, all the imagery of every new tool produced automatically into your database. And then it's even simpler for somebody to find something. And that is our long term goal. Right now, we do have Stanley black and Decker. We're working with them. So we have all their stock images. We have access to all their marketing material and their, and so part of my kinda coast tour right now is stopping in two weeks ago, I was at Nikita USA headquarters trying to set up an eCommerce account so that we can represent their product as well. And as we grow our user base, we're BR you know, we're bringing on more manufacturers, but the reality is we're making it easy for the manufacturers to give this information to their end users. And so I think our novel approach from being in the construction industry has allowed us to look at something with a new perspective and not having any experience in this has giving us, it's been a blessing. We have the naive of no expectations. So every meeting is a new meeting. I can't go in and say, Hey, I know exactly what we're gonna do, and we're gonna nail this and we're gonna come away with this contract and we're gonna do this. It's like, well, let's see what works today. And yeah, it's a pretty cool approach.

(34:03): It's it's very cool. And what has the contractor response been? Like? You mentioned that earlier on, it was, you know, it was not going as quickly as you would've liked, obviously on shows like this and, and you were at the international builder show and, and you're promoting it. What has a contractor response been? How are they finding out about it? We're gonna post all the links and everything and, and get that information from you in a second. But it strikes me as a no brainer that this is something that any contractor would want to have. You're making it easier. You're probably getting a ton of feedback. How often are you hearing from the contractors that are using it and how do you continue to speed that up or, or get greater adoption? We're trying work that out with social media right now and out what that format is. Our contractors, our response now is universal, and it's the same response that we had. And it's that, it's the same response I had is like, Hey, it's a great idea. Uh, right now I gotta worry about getting these windows in. I got this window package. I gotta get this house dried in because I've got my electrical crew coming, you know, it's, it's that same mentality like, oh, this is a great idea. I gotta do this. Yeah. But I got a job that's waiting for me. You know? So I, I dunno what it's gonna take to break through for people to realize, Hey, this is actually a priority that I need. It can save me money and it can save me time. The response that I get is exactly, like you said, Dave, you said at the beginning is there is a peace of mind that comes with this when people are cataloged and I, and or when people have their accounts.

(35:36): And I say, you know, when you see that sticker, what do you think? And I think, man, I feel good. I know what's in there. I'm I know of is a mind that that organization, it's just that organization is not something the construction industry has ever focused on. It's like DJ, we were the, and even at the, had a, um, I had a, from different universities taught construction technology to is question, how do asset management, what part of your program is allocated to teaching asset management? And the universal response from them was, yeah, we don't touch it. What do the insurance companies say when you like, I'm, I'm sure you've gone out and approached insurance companies and said, Hey, listen, there's another level here of protection and insurance companies and, and banks, or anybody who assesses risk is looking at this, is this an issue? Or is this something that they're paying attention to? Is it a high enough dollar value for them to get their attention? It does get their attention. It's not most inland Marine policies are not money makers for the insurance companies, but they're writers, they're individual policies that they can attach to like your general liability policy. Um, we do have some underwriters that are really paying attention to us, and they're looking at us saying, Hey, when you, you know, when you get up to 10,000, 20,000 users, we can come up with a group policy and prorate a specific policy for your users, because all your information is cataloged. It's in a database. You're giving our asset team a way to go after stolen goods. So yes, they're paying attention. We're not quite there yet, but ultimately if we can get enough users, there's no reason we can't bring specialized insurance rates for inland Marine policies to power safe users. There's absolutely no reason we can't do that.

(37:42): Paul it's been, um, you know, I think the journey is what's impressed me the most, like I said, from my initial conversation for you, just what you've gone through, found a challenge dove in. I've turned that into a, a new business that obviously has tons of tons of growth and upside, and then also provides a huge, uh, solution piece of mind to the, to the industry. So, I mean, kudos for what you're doing and, um, thank, you know, all, all, all your best in, in growing this and continuing this. So for, for folks that have listened and, and wanna learn a little bit more or learn more about you about the product, how can they, how can they find you, uh, the best way to www powering and all the resources there available to Thanks again, man. So go sign up everybody. It's easy. Just go sign up and, uh, support a brother here. Cool. Thanks man. Hey, thank you guys. Thank you.

Hey, thanks for listening, Duane and I love hearing from you. Your stories are inspiring and your challenges can be overcome. Got a cool tip idea for a show problem that you haven't been able to solve, or maybe just struggling to figure out what you need next and where to get it. We can help hit us up@buildernuggets.com and start building freedom.

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