#266: How To NEVER COMPROMISE with Keith Daubmann
sweq 266 audio
Wed, 9/23 · 4:29 PM39:14
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
compromise business people question years podcast slash talking glass negotiation keith listening nap less how hockey linkedin shit opportunities scenario circumstance
Law Smith
0:03
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0:17
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1:06
Microphone there keep going, buddy.
Law Smith
1:08
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2:00
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2:35
know why? Why would I say? Yeah, I'm not doing anything wrong online. Why would I have something to say about
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Warby Parker where my God got my
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back about it dude, Warby Parker double time.
Law Smith
2:45
I'm wearing my Warby Parker's right now. Haven't six years. I can't speak highly of anything. I bought their disruptor in the eyeglass sunglass wear market. 97 Warby Parker, Warby Parker, Warby Parker, trial.com, Ford slash white, get you five free parents to try it at home? Fresh books. Go freshbooks.com forward slash white, get your 30 day free trial on accounting software that gets direct deposits next day, the next day. grasshopper try grasshopper.com. forward slash wet gets you $75 off an annual plan. 75 pounds off an annual plan. Don't be a jabroni with a Google Voice number or your own line picking your business Hello. Or if you're funny you say no limit studios because that's what I do. And that's it. We timed it out perfectly. Let's get this podcast started with my shower doors. Keith Dobbin, hi.
Law Smith
4:00
We hit that you can look at the screen but I'm looking at that too. I didn't know for hitting that. Look man. We're high tech and low tech at the same time. That's how we do it on sweat equity. Keith Dobbin my shower door.com anything else to plug before I forget, as we talk to you you know anything any website that we don't know about maybe you're you're big on LinkedIn, maybe that
2
Speaker 2
4:27
a lot of LinkedIn but my shower door is more than sufficient. I appreciate it.
Law Smith
4:33
Yeah, so we kind of got so I actually talked about you and I meeting on a previous episode a little bit ago about how and I think I told you I did. About I put a video out there getting over a little bit of vulnerable part of me to push it out there and said 50 any contacts I have online, need help just kind of spitballing for their business on how to pivot. You are one of the you know the handful of people that actually took up the offer. And you know, we started talking you're, you're an interesting cat. You're definitely cut from a different route. We're definitely a we see a lot of things similarly but you are you definitely got that motor I don't have naturally We're your he's what I would call a sales Hunter is not whereas I'm a sales farmer developing relationships long term, you might do both but hit the road much better I think at the hunter part of it. Whereas that may be applicable why I like the marketing side because it's a longer side longer thing where we're helping each other out. Tell us about yourself. You've been with him 17 years.
2
Speaker 2
5:42
Yep, 17 years this year. Just a quick backstory. I'm one of the principal owners along with my younger brother Douglas. Douglas and I are the children of Bill and Donna Dolman. what got us into the being entrepreneurs and growing up in a service oriented business was when I was 12 years old, living in western Massachusetts town called agawam. I was given the gift of cancer. And my parents didn't have much very blue collar town. My mother was a neighborhood beautician My father was a Semi Pro hockey referee at night, installed warm systems during the day and really didn't have much. They say a pot the piston or window to throw it out. It's fishy to get me the medical treatment I needed. So it really put their backs up against the rope. And literally in about a two month period, they found out what they needed to get where they needed to get me to get me cured. And they leveraged their home and started the business within about a two month window. And here my brother and I grow up in an entrepreneurial family. So I often tell people cancer was by far the best thing that ever happened to my family. That's where we are today's. So now you fast forward 30 years later, this my 30th year in remission. Were 17 years in the business here in Southwest Florida. we relocated in 2003. My brother and I told my parents to retire, kind of hang it up and my brother and I wanted to reinvent what we were kind of raised in. And we wanted to do that in Southwest Florida. We left Massachusetts like once to go on a family trip, I got to tell you what real blue collar family taught. So when we saw in Naples, we were awestruck of we've never been around money or the environment to make as much money as that we could see. And so we decided to open a business and in 2003 in Naples, Florida. And that's just kind of continued to go up. Year after year. We're in our 17th year now we have nine brick and mortar locations off the west coast of Florida. During the last recession, we vertically grew, positioned ourselves even better come into 2010 by adding our own manufacturing facility. Yeah, that's the last couple years. It's huge. last couple years, we've been into a lot of training within the organization, especially on these downtimes like during COVID or wherever you want to call it. They instead of you know just laying people off of furloughing. We reinvested in our employees, why we're down and got into the the art of negotiating, if you will, more product knowledge, bringing in new product tightening up all of our processes that we currently have, because like every other disaster, there's going to be an end to it and we want to be positioned at thrive when we come out of that. So that's that's kind of where we're at. And so we specialize in heavy glass frameless shower enclosures. We hope you guys shower and squeegee every time we do
Law Smith
8:48
a lot to work with here. I mean, we're talking I'm just pulling a lot of different themes out that we've talked about a lot in this
3
Speaker 3
8:55
show. I did the math is 4242 I figured it out. That was a question you knew I was gonna ask all that hairline. I was like
2
Speaker 2
9:03
yeah, I keep it short. So you don't see all the gray. I look like uncle Polly's
3
Speaker 3
9:08
side. hairs about gray man. Yeah, what the hell about your hair, cut this sort of thing short,
Law Smith
9:14
a lot of themes in there that we could sprawl into a lot of different directions. I'm gonna ask one esoteric side note before I get into but your family business management, all that drama you brought or another topic as you brought in the manufacturing into your vertical, which is sometimes the reverse engineering way of doing it. You open more brick and mortar stores in a internet, more internet savvy world. That's another thing. You guys probably have the value of $1 coming from blue collar roots as you say, those kind of things where every dollar you make you, you really cherish a lot more than if it's given to you if something's just handed to you reinvesting in your Labor negotiation. And compromise was a weird, physical, philosophical conversation we had via LinkedIn messenger. Last week, I think
10:11
compromise was who?
Law Smith
10:12
He just asked me a very, you want to you ask it the way you probably, yeah, butcher how he asked it. But it was very like, Eric.
10:20
Eric, what is your feeling on compromise?
3
Speaker 3
10:24
It's usually necessary. You know,
10:28
really what makes this what makes it necessary? Oh, yeah. So
Law Smith
10:33
we talked a lot of business, right. So there's a context. So it's like, he just sends me a, let me ask you a question. And then since that question, I'm like, I think I said, I could either be very short like that. Or I could write about 20,000 words.
2
Speaker 2
10:48
Well, sure. What's it? What's that? some context, this conversation, I had really known you, we had a very nice conversation. I like to have a baseline on who I'm talking with. You know, it's like, you know, I stopped getting into fights when you underestimates, you know, you never know what you're going up against. And so I always like to ask a baseline question to see what I'm going up against it for me. I like to see when I'm talking to someone what your opinion is on the word compromise, I happen to think it's an extremely dirty word. I think under no circumstances compromise healthy for either side, you know, would you compromise your principles? Would you compromise your morals?
3
Speaker 3
11:28
Well, that word can have a very wide range of applications do you know, I'm not compromising my morals, but if there's a conflict between two businesses, or, you know, somebody's buying a business or whatever, you know, compromise is definitely going to come into play.
11:45
Really Give me an example,
3
Speaker 3
11:47
I would argue just the negotiation for the price of something.
2
Speaker 2
11:53
Let's draw a fine line between the word negotiation and bargaining, the big difference of bargaining was just be going, you know, I can't pay that I needed to pay this and you're gonna you're haggling back and forth, where, you know, negotiation is more of a fact finding mission. Um, you know, a lot of times people compromise, because it's the easy way out of an uncomfortable situation, because we're not used to trying to fight, you know, in any dealing that you do, whether you're talking to a spouse, or another business associate, both people come to the table with kind of the unknown unknowns, like right now I have secrets that maybe you guys want to ask me. And there's information
12:35
to stop right here.
Law Smith
12:37
Yeah, you dropped a bar fight? little thing? Yeah. Well, I don't think I forgot about that.
2
Speaker 2
12:42
Yeah. But what your, you'd be, you'd be surprised how many people wouldn't have to compromise if they were willing to ask the right questions. And, and get the other side comfortable and trusting you enough to open up to find out what you know, the best deal that could possibly mean by two people is having all the cards on the table. And more often than not somebody compromises. Because it's usually a con, no people, you know, the person that often has to meet in the middle is a poor Judge of distance. You know, if I'm going out to buy a piece of real estate with my wife on the side, and we only have a budget of no 175. And they're asking 200, I'm going to offer 150, and I'm going to go on to song and dance, so we don't have any money. And then I'm going to say, we shouldn't just compromise and meet in the middle. And that was really a con job. Instead of you know, the other person, if they were seasoned negotiator, they would have asked all these questions and got to find out that there actually probably wasn't a deal to be had in the first place, instead of just giving up 25,000 because they were conned into thinking that compromise was the right way out of the situation. So you know, it, each individual situation, I think lends itself to different circumstances. But I, I bet if you really look at it, very rarely is compromised. If you have good morals and integrity, because even lying will come back to bite you. You know, no deal is one off deal to put that whether it's with a car guy, whether it's a car guy or something, you know, during implementation, somebody feels like they've been burned. They're gonna want to get even with you. So yeah, I don't like the word compromise. So your husband, or that
3
Speaker 3
14:25
you feel like it's sort of a, an aim or an immoral like, usually when you're compromising you think it's because it's more of a lot because you're not asking the right questions and you're kind of just cutting out the work. I
2
Speaker 2
14:39
think it's a bit the lazy way out of that situation. Okay, it's a quick way.
Law Smith
14:43
Okay. Well, the scenario you gave, right? You went right into a business scenario. So when the, you're trying to give a Rorschach test, I think of asking this question to see Am I gonna go business or personal with this. I went for this Africa, which I tried to think was both without really strategizing on it. on the business side, I would say the context for a lot of people is the strategy. Right? People go into a car lot, and that in the example, on a personal side, they go into a car lie or you consider that a business transaction, the way you have to go about it, is they're going into it with a context and a strategy, right? Doesn't mean they want to compromise. The subnet, the business scenario you gave was like a Chutes and Ladders scenario where you went back and forth once each side, the other side, not your side, which I'm seeing a little ego, which is good. I don't think it's bad, but the ego to to get the job done, right? To have that conversation. That's Aikido a lot of people. But in the scenario you gave, you're talking back and forth, the other side relinquishes immediately to a compromise to meet in the middle as like a Chutes and Ladders like cheap. Let's just let's skip all this back and forth. And let's get to the middle, which you see is a weakness. That's fair to there's also, I think it's more strategy and philosophy. Were you the in a criminal defense situation is another way to look at this scenario. Where were my boy, mom to deal? Right? That's basically all they do is right?
16:25
And what's what they want to do,
Law Smith
16:27
or a family law attorneys, a lot of the scummy ones, that's the industry, it's pretty scummy. A lot of them say, you know, you have a good divorce agreement with both sides think they got fucked. And so there, it has to have context, or this could be wildly different. And I like you, I like I asked the question to see, I think you're trying to see where we're gonna answer it from. But it also tells us a lot about you, which is the exact reason you asked the question, right? So inherently, you're asking a flat question, which I think is flawed to see if we can understand you. But you want to understand us? Did I? Did I go Inception meta, meta level? keys, like No, not at all. You made.
2
Speaker 2
17:12
You made a lot of good points. But I yeah, there's multiple facets to small talk and questioning but it's not a fun question. Ask if I know the answer. Right. Yeah. Out of pointer cover. I still under zero circumstance believe in compromise? Yeah. under any circumstance.
17:30
Are you married?
2
Speaker 2
17:32
I am. You are? How's that mean? We should always both be on happy.
3
Speaker 3
17:37
No, no, I'm just curious. Are you gonna plead separate question? Well, I was just thinking about it.
Law Smith
17:41
Is it a mail order brides? airline 100% of like decisions are made by you.
2
Speaker 2
17:50
15 years? I, I have, I can tell you, never compromises. I have gotten better on not compromising by making sure that you just compromise and compromise.
18:08
On one scenario, hey, listen,
Law Smith
18:11
man, this is why you're great. I'm learning. This is why we immediately we had a bromance, when we talked on on zoom. First time, I was like, I like where you're coming from. Cuz you'll admit like, dude, I knew you're about to get flustered and just go. Fuck. Well,
3
Speaker 3
18:25
yeah. I mean, we we like to break it down. For sure. We break it right on down,
Law Smith
18:30
Eric. You know, like in the comedy scene, there's people you become fast friends with just through that. Yeah. You don't have to know their whole life story. And that's how I felt with Keith. I was like, I immediately like the dude and like talking shit with him. But I want to call it out too.
18:44
Yeah, I would hope Keith appreciates that.
Law Smith
18:48
He's still there. Everything is a learning situation like you're saying, but keep going with your wife.
18:56
Ah, you know.
2
Speaker 2
19:00
Let me give you an exact example. How I'm getting better. Yeah, I don't think so. She she's getting savvy. I'm, I'm a golf addict. I like to play golf. Every weekend, I play golf. In the past, I've been known to tell I make the tee time with my friends do I be asked and of course I oblige and say yes, I'll be there. And then I go ask my wife. And I feel like she already knows that I scheduled the tee time and she immediately gets irate and we go on this back and forth. And I used to compromise and you know, if I did that, that means that you get to do this and in all well. If I just asked her before, she all she wanted was the control of telling me it was okay. And so I didn't have to go into this reciprocity thing where if I do this, she gets to do this. Whereas if I just did it the right way. I and had this conversation With her, and asked her in a way with empathy, and she says, No, of course, I want you to go play, you go play. And all of a sudden, you know, I'm not doing this, you know, oh shit, I want to go talk to my boys like, dude, hurry up and talk to the wife. And I've started to get better on how to unwind these conversations, to really, you know, I think true negotiation is the art of letting the other person have your way. And, and when you can really either ask, asking the right way, or say no in a different way, that triggers them to kind of slowly let out these unknown unknowns, you can usually find a way to go through that door without having to compromise. Yeah, you got to be able to listen, you got to be a good listener. That's a good executive. Very good. Listen, that's a good example of putting in that
3
Speaker 3
20:51
awkward conversation at the beginning. And then you're not having to compromise. And that's, you know, I see that side of it.
Law Smith
20:59
It could be a way of dancing around the real psychology of what's going on to I'm going to play devil's advocate on that and say, you could be at she just might want to feel included in the schedule is another thing to look at. Right. And that's where that that's
2
Speaker 2
21:12
what that was the magic thing to not have this reciprocity, things like, hon, I know you're gonna kill me right now, you probably think that I already scheduled tea time and no, no, no, no, I don't want to kiss. Okay. I was hoping with your permission that I could go play golf, my friends. Yeah, of course, why are you even asking me. And now it's not a problem. But before if I just scheduled it and went to her, it's a big deal. I mean, that at the end of the day, I'm still gonna play golf, but it was the process and getting there. Whereas if I gave her the control, there was no problem. You know, when I tried to shove it, you know, hide it. It bit me in the ass every
Law Smith
21:51
time. So you find, you find that no compromise? No, no, no, no middle ground method to your your success. It's one of the keys to success, I would say, is that how you're going about your daily habits or work habits? Or what do you what do you want to call it routine?
2
Speaker 2
22:12
Um, there's always another way. There's always another way, you know, never be so sure of what you want that you're not willing to take something else. You know, again, sorry, I'd never be so sure of what you want. That you're not willing to take something else. Okay.
Law Smith
22:34
So we talking like barter.
2
Speaker 2
22:37
I go to my wife and say, you know, I, I got to play golf this weekend. And I'm expecting to play so I got to play. Would you be against me playing shoes? You know, we got that family thing. And she goes, but why don't you play Sunday in the next two weeks? Now? Normally, going into that conversation? I'm looking for a yes. On Saturday. Anything other than a yes, is a loss. But if she says no, what why don't you go play Sunday and both days next weekend? Well, geez, now that just free me never be so sure what you want, you're not willing to take something else.
Law Smith
23:08
And look, we're probably
23:09
given, let me give you an example. In business, I'm
Law Smith
23:13
gonna make a side note that we're probably using personal examples, because those are easier than Yeah, business ones that are exacting or precise to what you're doing. Because then let's say you have a previous client or current client or prospective client that actually stumbles upon this, because you're a LinkedIn horas I am in you'll probably promote this out there. Because it's another good thing you're doing everything you do well as a marketing opportunity, as you kind of do innately that you're not giving specific business examples, because you don't want to out yourself in any in any way. No, no, we're the list. Another listener could be like me, fuck me. No, I'm just saying that might be a side note to the audience listening?
2
Speaker 2
23:55
Absolutely not I I want to be fully transparent. You know, I want people to end up doing a deal with me and say, not only was that a good deal, I do business with that guy. Again. I am in under no circumstance trying to slave people or or tasteful event you know it, especially with the internet, it's very easy to get outed on being a snake oil salesman, that that's not the case. It's it's tactical, it's these are human being traits that
24:27
that we can use,
Law Smith
24:29
you can still be transparent, I just like to say translucent, you know, as your persona online, but because you're not going to give the whole everything away in your life, you know, to an online brand or persona or whatever, no matter who you are. We talk pretty, pretty openly on this show, but there's probably like 3% we're holding back, you know, because there's other people involved in a lot of things that's going on or other business decisions that Yeah, it'd be selfish to talk about everything so openly, but I was just saying to the audience listening, it's like, why are we getting into this So, this is kind of home dynamic. And it's a little easier to make an example. That's an
3
Speaker 3
25:05
easy example to look at, because it translate,
Law Smith
25:08
right? Because you know, already implicitly with your wife that she won't care if you're using that as an example, right? Whereas, anybody that you might be doing business with or have, they might be upset, but not really paying attention. Like we all kind of do now, right? You know, a lot of people, a lot of people think this shows a lot of different things without actually listening to it, which is funny to me. So it's that I kind of think in that terms, they see it. They see the impression of this going up the friends of friends that they're like, Oh, yeah, man. You guys got a dick for a tie his logo? I don't think I can come on there, Mike. If you want to go to that we've had allowed them right now. There's about three dozen but really, lawyers a lot of people that haven't even
25:56
that obvious ties optics you tell them it was a deck you did
Law Smith
26:01
didn't know they they bring it to me I just a deck in when you're not negotiating, I'm bringing it up. I'm not bringing it up. I just go you want to come on the show? Because why would I give away what I think would be a weakness in selling and then coming on the show? It creates more of a dick
3
Speaker 3
26:15
once in these negotiations. No, no compromise?
Law Smith
26:18
No, this is over five years of a student. Okay. So it's not like three desert people. It's like no big deal, right? But I'm saying like I'm saying that scenario is a lot easier, but your motor I'm interested give me a routine. I like asking people this that have a high motor like you do. You've got so you've got the inertia, I we know your why. And that's something I always like to find out and you kind of gave it to us in a great kind of origin story. You know, biography. By the way, timeout, this is what I wanted to ask. We were watching the Eastern Conference Finals last night. You said your dad was a hockey ref. And we were literally
27:01
talking about hockey refs last night,
Law Smith
27:02
we were watching the lightning playing the Islanders. And I was like, I bet. I don't know. I bet hockey refs get more shit from players than any other sport. Because they're probably made they do that jump where they have to jump in. It doesn't look cool ever.
27:20
Oh, that's what you meant because of the little
Law Smith
27:22
hop. So just stay there former I don't know if they're ever played hockey or they just got into Rael played hockey. I don't know. You see, okay. Awesome, but we talked about it for good five minutes. What's your opinion Keith?
2
Speaker 2
27:36
Every referee and linesman I've ever met start off playing hockey and each one of them will tell you I'll probably get in trouble for this especially for my phone. Those are the ones that couldn't make it to that level. So the next best thing would be a front row seat.
Law Smith
27:52
You know, they love rules like they love it.
2
Speaker 2
27:55
Yeah, I think they're good arbiters of the rules. Yeah. Like most football referees are attorneys.
Law Smith
28:01
Good call.
3
Speaker 3
28:03
No, we think hockey refs get more shit from the players than any other sport. I didn't think so. The whole players seem nice. I think most of the time they fight each other the
Law Smith
28:13
most underrated ref but get the most shit from players. And they're like nurses and nurses are the most overworked occupation in the country. And the least like, get least fun on you know, like,
28:26
well, not recently, but before that.
Law Smith
28:28
I still I still think the praise they get still pretty low. All things considered working 12 hour shifts, and I'm
3
Speaker 3
28:35
just saying football or I mean, really, I thought hockey would be like the last one baseball ops you don't think they don't get the most shit from players?
Law Smith
28:44
Baseball. I feel like it's lower barrier to entry. I feel like you could just be a sack of shit. to do with it, because you have to be you have to be athletic to do hockey rough. Okay, but why would they get more shit
28:59
for being athletic? What they get like is
Law Smith
29:01
the passion of the game and you're not so you know,
29:03
he's he doesn't know.
Law Smith
29:05
I got two pieces all spun up. I'm all spun out. He doesn't know I'm just excited. You're here. No. So I just had to ask cuz we literally we've never talked about hockey. refs ever Yeah. Weird and you brought it up and I was like, Oh man. Yeah. So you you've been doing this 17 years you've got a motor I'm interested what's the daily routine What's something someone listening can take away? You know, what do you have a normal time you get up? You know what's what are you eating for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I want to know some minutia.
2
Speaker 2
29:40
I get up at 530 every morning and I take a piss. Oh,
Law Smith
29:47
yeah, no, I love it. Keep on.
2
Speaker 2
29:50
Going through my LinkedIn, I try and fire off 100 connection requests. I go to the gym every day, a quarter to six. out of the gym at quarter is seven Back home startup the shower sent out another hundred LinkedIn connections. Wow. Jump it jump in my scooter and head down in Naples. That's our original brick and mortar store in North Naples.
Law Smith
30:13
Every time you there
2
Speaker 2
30:15
I'm getting there I'm rolling in after Dunkin Donuts cars have to get my coffee rolling at about a quarter after eight.
Law Smith
30:22
You've got a Dunkin Donuts fetish like I do. It's bad.
2
Speaker 2
30:25
Yeah. And then I've been listening to a lot of podcasts lately. Of course, this is my latest craze. So just try to consume as much a business oriented sales oriented a podcast on the way in so I got about 20 minute commute every day.
Law Smith
30:43
On your scooter.
2
Speaker 2
30:45
In my scooter, my, my Chevy Avalanche, okay. And
Law Smith
30:50
then are you really you know, from the time you get in, you settle in maybe nine to 11 you're making calls or something what's what's the average day?
2
Speaker 2
30:59
Yeah, so I'm, I can't, I kind of act like a hype man. I'm at our at our facility, other six other sales people to inside. For their exterior, we go over all the appointments, they have that week, any possible opportunities in the pipeline that anybody wants me to touch, or you're trying to work a new community or a new client that we're trying to get in with. So we're game planning. You know, we have each one of our stores is commission based, relative to the store. So we got nine teams. They have 12 games a year, these bonuses are paid monthly. So we're kind of trying to maximize our time every day. So it's the same routine every day it's and meetings going over all the opportunities coaching up for a little bit, we do a little roleplay
31:50
because we we do as regrowing a daily
Law Smith
31:52
stand up meeting, as they call it. Like 15, I guess? Yeah, tops. Yep, just enough to keep everybody's attention, get them fired up and get them out of there. It's an agile work methodology. You're not having meetings that bore people, you've got salespeople that don't have that attention span, nor do you maybe leading it,
32:10
nor do I actually hate it,
Law Smith
32:13
right. But you know, it's necessary. It's like going to the gym. Yeah, keep going.
2
Speaker 2
32:19
Then I get into my day, I'm still actively chasing opportunities for architecture of the vision. And growing that it's a subset of our factory that we started about six years ago. So we have our, my showers are standalone brand. And we've kind of branched off into the architectural world, which would encompass glass wine cellars, glass railings, office partition, podcast boots, if you are a lot of heavy frameless glass, basically glorified showers on an architectural level.
Law Smith
32:51
You've been pivoting so because you meet your manufacturer, like a lot of manufacturers I talked to for my day job, which is they're going okay, what else can we make? Right? And sometimes you figure it out before something like COVID happens. Sometimes you do it with like, a little bit of contingency panic mode, but either way. Great, great. That's awesome. Yeah, that's it. Honestly, I need because I see a lot of people kind of arguing about the interior design of offices lately. And I feel like if you could kind of go, Hey, we got this thing that can double as this thing over here. That might be a whole other brand for you. That is low risk, but high reward, you know, spinning,
2
Speaker 2
33:31
especially if they know that that investment could end up bringing more dollars and profitability to their bottom line. You know, they used to call him. Alan Californias, everybody said I want my office to be like Google, I want to be like Google, which meant all glass. But what Google actually found out was taking somebody out of a forced sheet rock office cubicle now turning three walls in glass, what's in a lot more light, it triggers some chemical that is more beneficial to the human being puts them in a better mood. Consequently, if you're in a better mood, you're more likely to come up with more collaborative ideas and be more efficient or proficient at your job. And so now that's kind of found its way to Florida. We're really capitalizing on that as people start remodeling and, and looking in places to invest their money back into their business.
3
Speaker 3
34:22
Keith, do you guys do anything with where you flip a switch? And the glass goes from regular to opaque?
Law Smith
34:27
That's a good question. Yeah. Do you do
2
Speaker 2
34:29
winch light? Yeah, wait, not only do we do it, we manufacture it and it's a it's called switch light class. It's electrified glass. A lot of opportunities for that. That's it's really
3
Speaker 3
34:39
cool. Yeah. Yeah. What's in it? Can I add it to super complicated or is it Can Can you get it? No, it's actually
2
Speaker 2
34:46
really easy. So it's actually two pieces of glass with a laminate film in between but the film is made of a silica that is triggered by a low voltage less electricity that brings everything into line. So when they're watching He's not on, it's kind of scattered. And when the electricity hits it, everything straightened down. It makes it transparent, you know, on a microscopic level, for those listening,
Law Smith
35:08
you've got your hands over each other, the fingers are flush with each other, like you're doing a prayer but separating the fingers together, and then you're saying, like, almost like an aperture of some sort. The electricity Yeah, it just lines up. Yeah, yep. Yeah, that's, that's awesome. Yeah, I saw that. Dude. I saw that on David tells Insomniac, the show on Comedy Central, like, like 20
35:31
years ago. 25.
Law Smith
35:32
Maybe? And I was like, that's the coolest shit. Why isn't that everywhere? Like every bathroom stall door? I thought in the future, we'll have this. So you don't know. But But figured, why would those ever need to be? Because then you never have to look underneath like it like an office environment where it's really nice. All right, we have to like, I used to work in a mutual fund company with like, literally one guy won a Nobel Prize for economics. And I'm like, oh, sorry, like knocking on the doors taking. God damn. Like, this is a, we can't figure this shit out in here, literally. But like, I always thought that was cool. I think as offices are going to become more multi purpose or home offices. Like, man, think about having a home office where, like, I was telling you, I had to watch my kids. The standup desks. I don't watch my kids in the same room. But if I could just like flick it on to a little like partition that's like, when that's on they know dad's on
3
Speaker 3
36:34
every wall in your houses like that. You can make it right in all these different iterations of rooms.
Law Smith
36:38
Giant open rooms. Yeah.
36:40
Coming out of the floor, the ceiling, whatever you want.
Law Smith
36:43
In the old studio, and we wanted to do that too. But yeah, man.
36:48
We'll send we'll send you the royalties. Yeah,
Law Smith
36:50
well, I want to I maybe can introduce you to eye office, we interviewed the CEO A while back. She was awesome to come on the podcast. And that's all they do is is the real corporate interior design like that. Same with advantages. dotnet the CEO over there, Fran Peterman. Hi, Fran Biederman. I think I'm going to screw or last name now. But uh, what's it called? Those are two introductions I might be able to make for you. Because I didn't know you're doing that. We didn't get that far in this, bro. Do bromance.
37:24
Thank you for the opportunity.
Law Smith
37:25
Well, look, man, I want to have you back on because we just kind of hit the tip of the iceberg with some of this. We try to keep it to about 33 minutes. We always ask everybody the same question that comes up for the first time. What advice would you give your 13 year old self?
37:44
Is? The listener answered? Yeah, maybe?
37:49
Before
2
Speaker 2
37:50
I would be I would be a better listener by far. better listener listener? For sure. Okay. And not only would I listen to the advice that was given, you know, it was given to me so often, people ask for advice. I see this a lot. Now as I'm getting older and younger people are coming in underneath and asking certain questions, and they take the time and most stirrup to come ask you for advice. And then you give it gentlemen it's it falls on deaf ears. And I think that happens a lot. And some of my greatest successes that I've had in growing through our businesses, when I've taken somebody advice, especially somebody that I respected, you know, would never take anybody advice. I wouldn't be willing to trade places with.
Law Smith
38:30
Yeah, we find I be a better listener, we find that when people ask for advice, they're not really asking for advice. They're asking for you to
38:38
reinforce their ideas.
Law Smith
38:40
Yeah. So that that's a constant kind of theme we see from that question. But uh, look, I mean, I want to have you on another time this month. And yeah, you got some interesting stuff going on. It might be a longer pod,
38:53
if we might sweat
Law Smith
38:53
it, but we did schedule a live one right after this. We need that.
2
Speaker 2
39:04
Absolutely. I'd be happy to share it. I appreciate both of you for
39:09
thanks for coming on.
39:12
All right. Have a good one.
