014 - Table Talk w/ Trevor Williams

Cody Hill: you You're listening to the Engine House. My name is Cody. I'm your host. This is your first time here. Welcome. Grab some coffee. Pull up a chair. Right. Have a great conversation with ⁓ a pretty great guest. He's an entrepreneur. He's a fireman. He's also got a really intriguing story based around Haiti and the great earthquake that destroyed many lives. So we're going to dive in all of that. ⁓ and hear his story. But before we do that, I have to mention today's episode is brought to you by Engine House Designs. That's my company. We specialize in custom fire service apparel. So check us out at enginehousedesigns.com. Or also you can check out our social media platforms, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, we're on all that. ⁓ So you can kind of see our work, engage it for yourself. I also want to mention that if you have any ideas for the show or maybe you'd like to be a guest or see a certain guest, you can email me at engine house podcast at gmail.com. And of course, if you enjoyed the show or you, know, by the end of this, you enjoy this episode, you think somebody would get something from this, what we're doing here, share it with them. Make sure you subscribe, ring the notification bell. so that you can get notified every time a new episode drops. You don't want to miss anything. Right. We've got a lot of great guests lined up, especially now we're in season two and and we're excited. I'm excited about today. So let's get right into it. So you and I connected kind of organically through Instagram, social media. ⁓ I believe you came across some of my podcast content. I've seen your. some of your business content, one of your businesses as I've come to learn, which we'll dive into. But you sent me your bio before the podcast. And to say the least, I'm pretty intrigued. I think we're going to have a fun conversation. So just to kind of kick this off, like always, we'll start with our our size up. So if you could just give us your name, your years of service and your current position. Sure. Thanks for having me on the show. ⁓ My name is Trevor Williams. And I've been with the fire service. 10 years with LA County fire and five years with within LA County. before that with the city of Sierra Madre and then explorers and all that stuff beforehand. So, ⁓ 20 years, if you, know, if you're looking at how long I've been involved with the fire service and my, my current position is engineer, ⁓ which would. It translates differently. Department, the department, so lieutenant, wheel man, straw boss, whatever your department goes by. I drive the, I've drive the engine or the truck. So awesome. ⁓ What, what kind of brought your interest into the fire service? well, I grew up as a missionary, so I grew up doing emergency relief work. I lived in Africa during the Rwanda genocides, ⁓ in a country called Zaire. It's called Democratic Republic of Congo now the name changed during the war while I was there lived in South Africa lived in Haiti, Haiti was being overthrown with civil unrest and whatnot while I was living there. So my upbringing was very exciting and dynamic and active and we helped people as missionaries. did emergency relief work. So helping people when they're. toughest times and that kind of translated really well into firefighting. ⁓ I came out here to California when I was 15. We were escaping Haiti and everything going on there. once I realized I made it out alive, it was time to start thinking about my future. And ⁓ firefighting came up pretty quickly. like being active and helping people and ⁓ it translated really well. Uh, I started, um, looking into that and I went to my local fire department, started asking questions and they said they have an Explorer program, which is for kids who are interested in wanting to do ride-alongs and find out if firefighting is right for them. So I got involved with that. Did the Explorer Academy a couple of years later, you got to compete to be able to get into that. Once you do the Academy, at least with LA County, then you're allowed to do 24 hour ride-alongs. And started doing those and right away I knew, yep, this is it. This is what I want to do with my career, with my life. I love every part of it. So yeah, that's what kind of turned me on to the fire service. That that's a crazy, uh, childhood story, which kind of. It brings some insight to me as to, what you would send me in your bio, but you had mentioned that you're a 2010 Haiti survivor, earthquake survivor. ⁓ man, tell me about that. Sure. So you got to buckle up for this one because it's quite the ride. and I don't, I don't like boast the survival label, ⁓ other than it's a very interesting story. I just happened to be at the right place, ⁓ during the wrong time. And, so yeah, we'll back up a little bit. I'd ⁓ been living in LA for a little bit on my own. My family left me when I was 18. I decided to stay here pursuing firefighting and they went back to Haiti to continue their work as missionaries. ⁓ So I hadn't been back to Haiti in five years and I decided to go visit. Go visit my family, my old friends and ⁓ I was also working on my getting hired in my portfolio and my resume and whatnot. So I set up with the United Nations in Haiti to be able to come and teach at a new fire program that they were putting together. And I'd just gotten my EMT, I'd done some fire science classes. I've been an explorer, you know, I just, knew enough to help in a brand new program in a third world country, but no credentials otherwise. So, um, but I had that set up before going to Haiti. So that was kind of one of the goals, but also, yeah, go back to Haiti and visit. So I got to Haiti a week before the Haiti earthquake of 2010. And just to give your listeners some perspective, January 12th of 2010, Haiti had a 7.0 earthquake that was 39 seconds long. It killed over 300,000 people and left over a million people homeless and probably the biggest natural disaster in modern history. Yeah. Completely wiped 80 off the face of the earth. ⁓ for a little island with 7 million people. ⁓ so that's what we're getting into here. ⁓ that's crazy. Anyway, yeah. So the, day of the earthquake. ⁓ I'd never been in a significant earthquake even living out here in California. Maybe a little rumble here or there, but nothing that like made the hair on my neck stand up. And ⁓ Haiti had never had an earthquake either, nothing documented. ⁓ So I was on the second floor of an orphanage in Haiti and just helping out with the kids and visiting and stuff. And ⁓ I started feeling this rumble. And ⁓ it feels like a Big Mac truck is like going way too fast down a bumpy dirt road and hitting all the potholes. That's what it feels like initially. ⁓ after a few seconds, ⁓ it felt like a train was running into our building and everything started shaking very violently. And I still didn't know what was going on, but somebody yelled earthquake, an American. older than me and had lived in California. Yeah. And I was like, ⁓ shoot earthquake. All right. And I was like, okay, well I'm going to hold onto the railing. I was on the balcony on the second floor and I started looking around and there's houses like collapsing around the house that we're in. Yeah. ⁓ shoot. is for real. Yeah. And we're probably like 10 seconds in at this point, but it feels like an eternity. And I started getting ready to like jump off the balcony. I was like, I don't want to be in this house if it collapses. So I looked down and I see a truck, pickup truck down below. I was like, okay, I could probably jump on top of that truck and break my fall a little bit. But at the same time, like there's 110 kids in this orphanage. Like we gotta get these kids out and stuff. So I just kind of held on and hoped for the best and All the things fell off the walls and the cabinets fell over and there's cracks everywhere, but our building didn't collapse. Thank God. So, um, the floor I was on had all the special needs kids. I don't know why they put them on the second floor. But, um, all the kids who couldn't walk were on the second floor. And, uh, once after 39 seconds, once everything settled, um, we started grabbing all the kids, getting them out. And I knew there'd be aftershocks. Um, so I was like, okay, yeah, no. we need to get in a safe area, like away from the building. If it does come down or like there's a walls around the house and stuff. So I helped find like the safest area for everybody to sit. And we got all the kids out. sat on the ground and just kind of sheltered in place. And yeah, before long aftershock, aftershock, aftershock. And these were like 5.0 aftershocks and 7.0 that's big, but like there's bigger ones out there. You know, you've heard of bigger ones and ⁓ But for this, was like really shallow in the ground and there's no infrastructure in Haiti. So it's like all unreinforced concrete. There's no steel in the structures and it's mountainous islands. So all these houses are built on top of each other and they just came down like dominoes. ⁓ So, and then this happened in the evening. So it was just starting to get dark ⁓ and all the cell phones went down. I couldn't. So I have a mom and dad and two sisters that were living in Haiti at the time that I was visiting. And I was pretty sure my dad knew where I was, ⁓ but I didn't know where anybody else was. had a phone, cell phone didn't work. All the cell phone towers went down and there's six to seven million people trying to make phone calls and texts all at same time. that like kind of jammed it up to it. If something was going to work, it just didn't. Nothing worked. And I didn't know how big this was either. I was like, no information. I was down in the city. I couldn't see what was around me. It was, it was nighttime. I didn't know if like, it was just my square block. If it was the city I was in, the whole, the whole country of Haiti or the whole world. Like I had no idea. ⁓ So I just waited and I could hear people screaming and like just chaos outside the gates. And the EMT in me, like I mentioned earlier, I just become an EMT. fireman's blood now, you know, I was on the route to be a fireman and ⁓ want to save people. I was like itching to get out there and help, know, it sounded like somebody like me could help out there. But I had to tell myself like, no, you gotta help the kids here, like they're understaffed. There's like chaos going on right now. We're in a dynamic situation that anything could change in a minute. Also, I'm going to go probably get lost out there. And I think my dad knows where to find me. So stay put. So I waited a couple hours and eventually my dad did show up and it took him a while to get to me. he, my dad's the national director of world vision in Haiti. So he has like a high status as far as the United States is concerned and their affiliation with Haiti. And he was the first point of contact that the United States had ⁓ after the the earthquake. So CNN called the World Vision headquarters. Wolf Blitzer was a famous anchor at the time. He was on the line and he talked to my dad and wanted all the facts. And my dad, same as me, like I wouldn't have done any better of a job. We have no idea. I think an earthquake happened, but that's all we know, you know? I'll call you back, I gotta find my family. ⁓ So that's who my dad is, very smart. ⁓ He was an attorney in a former life and just very smart, calculated guy, very wise. ⁓ now serving God as a missionary through World Vision. he ⁓ came and found me and he had this look on his face like I'd never seen before. And he pulled me aside, like, Trevor, we need to talk. And ⁓ he's like, I went back to the apartments where we were living. Your mom and your sisters had just gotten home from school and there's nobody alive in the apartment. And I was like, well, did you find them or what do you mean? And he's like, no, I couldn't find them, but they just completely collapsed. Like I called for a while. Like there's no nobody alive in that building. So. I didn't want to believe that. ⁓ But also no confirmation, I was like holding on to some hope. Right. Okay, maybe they got out or whatever, like they're gonna be okay, you know. That's what I was telling myself. And ⁓ he's like, I got a spot for us tonight at the pastor's house. He has a satellite phone. He's up in the mountains where it was like less devastating. We're gonna try and make our way up there. So I went with him. And it took a long time because the roads were already bad. They're all dirt roads, potholes and stuff. But now there's like stuff that's just collapsed into the street. ⁓ There's cars with walls that have fallen on top of cars. The cars are stuck. There's dead bodies in the street, people that got hit by stuff that fell. The bodies that have been getting dragged out of these houses that collapsed and there's parents digging for their kids by candlelight and kids doing the same thing for their parents. It's just a nightmare. it just is a scene I never thought I would see. And we're moving slow. It probably takes us two hours after that to navigate to the pastor's house. Meanwhile, aftershocks are still happening. yeah, I'm just taking it all in. I don't know what to think at this point. How you even process that much? Yeah, it's, it's, it's, yeah, it always seemed like a nightmare, like a dream, but not a good one, you know? Um, so yeah, your brain does crazy things. Like when, when you are in that scenario and hopefully people don't have to experience what I experienced, but, uh, we made it up to the faster's house and, the, did have a satellite phone. So we called the U S and we called my grandparents, my moms, parents, and we just told them like, hey, me and my dad found each other. we don't have much other news other than, you know, we need to reconnect with the rest of the family tomorrow. ⁓ just pray that like, that's all you can do is pray. And by now, you know, the U S is getting news, like crazy earthquake happened, but they still don't really have numbers and the military has been deployed and search and rescue teams are starting to head to Haiti, but it's going to take them some time. So I tried to go to bed that night, but definitely could not sleep, especially with the aftershocks hitting and me thinking about my family and hoping, you know, there's some sort of bad dream that I wake up from, you Yeah, so it was a rough night. The next morning, I wanted to go look for him right away. So as soon as the sun started to come up, I was up, I was like, dad, let's go, let's go find them. They need a, whatever, we gotta go find them at least or find out where they are. And he's slowed me down and he's like, no, you gotta eat, you're need your strength for today, it's gonna be a long day. Just like really with it, I guess, just very calm thinker. He'd be a good fireman. ⁓ But I was like, ⁓ man, he's so right, okay. Let's eat. Let's eat fast though. Cause you know, I want to get down there. getting anxious and ⁓ we're eating and during breakfast, he like starts talking about funeral plan. And I was like, ⁓ he really believes they're dead. Like he, and I know that he's seen more than I've seen. So like, like, does he know something? I don't know. Or like he really like believes without a doubt that they're gone. And that's when I had to get up. I was like, starting to get emotional. And I walked over to the, there's like a window and now we're up in the mountains in the morning time, in the daytime. And I hadn't seen Haiti in the light yet because we got there at nighttime and now we have a vantage. Like I'm looking down at Haiti ⁓ all the way to the ocean. And it's my first time seeing it after the earthquake and the daylight and the sun is just starting to rise and it's like orange and like dirty. There's fires everywhere. There's headers everywhere. Like. The earthquake created a bunch of fires and the sun is like piercing through the smoke and I can hear people like crying and wailing and singing and it was just like such a vivid memory and that's when it like became a lot more real to me. We're like, ⁓ man, like the whole country just got wiped out. And there's gotta be thousands of people who died from this, if not more. And that's when I started crying. I was like, oh my God, this is so bad. It really hit me hard at that moment. But yeah, so I still think about that image like almost every day. so, but that did, you know, we got to keep moving forward here. So we ended up packing up, heading down the mountain and on the way down, I saw people just covered in like debris and like bloody and stuff like with. couple pairs of clothes that they pulled out of their house or whatever. ⁓ Walking up the mountain, other people walking down the mountain, like people didn't know where to go. And I don't look the same as a Haitian person. Like I stand out a lot over there. ⁓ But at that moment, I felt like we were all brothers and sisters. Like we had all experienced the same thing and survived this thing. And I was like making eye contact with people. and I could feel that connection like, we're all going through it right now. So that was interesting. And made our way down the mountain and we were gonna stop at the World Vision headquarters, my dad's office, to get shovels and tarps and water and supplies to have a long day of digging. And we got to the office and pull in, there's a lot of people and they know, you know, they know my dad's the director is important and stuff. So they all rush over and they're like, ⁓ yeah, yeah, your family's here. And we're like, they're talking in a way like, it's just not like not a big deal. And so we're like, all right, maybe there's like a language barrier thing going on. Like, yeah, we're all family or whatever. Like good, we're here. And they're like, no, no, your family here is here. And as we're pulling in the front gate, my mom and one of my sisters comes like hobbling in the back gate and they're like holding each other and they're beat up or covered in debris, bloody and but alive. And I would run over to them, give them a hug. And but my youngest sister, she was like, see. I four or five at the time, I didn't see her. I was like, oh man, maybe she didn't make it. But she did. And somebody else was carrying her and she couldn't see, she had like a bunch of rubble and stuff in her eyes. so they all made it and we like held each other and cried and it was like, beautiful thing. Yeah, super powerful moment going from thinking you lost all the most important thing in your life to getting it back and getting a second chance. And, and they're all good now. Like they've all recovered completely, a hundred percent. but their story is, they should make a movie about their story because they were all in that apartment when it collapsed and they had just gotten home from school. It's a five story apartment, apartment hanging off the side of a mountain and they're on the bottom floor and they were all together. Normally they split up when they get home, but they were all together talking about the day when the earthquake started and. It just started top to bottom, pancaking down, boom, boom, boom. And right before it got to the bottom floor, the wall next to them broke open and they jumped out as it collapsed completely and then rolled down the mountain. The house was rolling behind them. My mom was barefoot. My other sister, she was like 12 at the time. She, she had shoes, but the youngest one didn't have shoes. And they spent the night. In a tree like he's really dangerous for women and children like normally. ⁓ but especially after something like this, like all the prisons broke open, looting started right away. There was like, rumors of a tsunami coming. Like it was just like all chaos. So, ⁓ our house got looted right away. ⁓ so was good. They didn't try and stay near there. ⁓ but yeah, they, they spent the night in a tree and hid and then. The next morning they got a ride to the office was nearby. So they got a ride to the office and we were all reunited. so that night we found a place to sleep on a mattress outside. Nobody wanted to be inside. ⁓ there's aftershocks still happening. And my mom, we thought my mom broke her arm and her leg and definitely scraped up and traumatized. ⁓ so we're trying to find a doctor for her and then my youngest couldn't see. So we needed a little bit of. eye drops or something at least, you know, for her. And ⁓ we found a doctor the next day and then we made our way to the United, U.S. Embassy, sorry, made our way to the U.S. Embassy to try and see if we could get them evacuated. And because they were hurt and they were like priority and the Air Force had just arrived and they took them and ⁓ I told my dad like, hey, I should stay, like I can help. Like I know the language, I have my EMT, fireman, I'm almost a fireman. I'm here for like something like this. And he did not question it for a minute. He was like, yeah, you're right. Here's the car keys. And he left with them on the Air Force plane. And now I'm on my own, no money, no cell phone, third world country, emergency scenario. ⁓ Just like go figure out what to do, right? ⁓ So that night I slept at the US embassy and nobody could take their bags. Everybody had to drop their bags and it was just like, body can fit on this plane and that's it. ⁓ So I put together like a little knapsack of like supplies that I thought would help. And I was sleeping on the ground. I woke up to somebody trying to steal my backpack. Went and got it back. I put it on the front of me and I slept on my stomach. And the next day, made my way back to the World Vision headquarters and I was looking for like, how can I be the most effective? And they looked at me as if I were my dad and they're like, oh, Mr. Frank. I was like, no, I was 19 at the time. I was like, I definitely am not capable like he is, but they put me in charge of food distribution on the ground. We had like these big trucks of food and water and we went out and almost died. complete chaos, like we got ransacked, people were on the truck, people were pushing, pulling me, fighting. And so we got maybe 10 % of the food and water out. And then I like, we gotta get out of here. Let's just leave before we die. ⁓ We left, regrouped. I was like, all right, we're gonna try this again, but like more organized. I want security. want access, like an entry and a exit. I want a clear exit for us if we need to leave. We'll do it on a big like soccer field. organized, let's go try it again. We try it again. Same. just got, there's too many people. It doesn't matter how much security you have. Like people just did mob mob mentality. It just gets out of control. So, ⁓ failed doing that twice. And then, ⁓ I decided to, I joined up with a private search and rescue team that had come down and, ⁓ we pulled body parts out, but nobody alive. I did that for a little bit. made some good connections at the airport, because we were at the airport a lot. the airport wasn't open to commercial flights or anything like that. It was just all Japanese military and US and the Marines and all these different countries that wanted to come and render aid. They were setting up their boo, their base of operations at the airport. And so I was there and I ended up making friends with a private helicopter team. They three helicopters. They're independently wealthy, came in from Utah and they were just trying to do the Lord's work in Haiti. And so I was like, Hey, I was here during the earthquake. I know the language. ⁓ Can I help? Like, I think what you guys are trying to do is very effective with your helicopters. So they're like, yeah, they brought me on board and we'd steal food from the airport because it wasn't getting out. It was just big mounds of food, MREs and stuff that everybody was afraid to distribute because of what I ran into. Sure. And we'd load up these helicopters and drop them all over the country. That was by far the most effective, like food distribution you could possibly do. And we got, ⁓ we got like pretty creative with it. We'd hover over like water and like throw it in the water and everybody would come out of the woodworks and be grabbing like non-perishable stuff like cans. Yeah. And ⁓ we'd land at the end of a pier and offload on the side that nobody was on and then take off and then they could go fight for it there. But at least we were out of there and there was like, yeah, they can, yeah, they can figure it out on their side. But ⁓ initially though, we were like jumping out with these 50 pound bags of beans and Rambo knives and like cutting them open so that people wouldn't just take the whole bag. They'd have to like kind of grab handfuls of beans. And this was in the beginning. where the helicopter would actually land and they come out of nowhere. It's crazy. Like there'd be nobody. And then all of a sudden there'd be like 200 people. That's insane. And so one of my most like fun memories was running back to the helicopter. All these people were rushing. I have a Rambo knife in my hand and the helicopter is starting to take off because they see all these people coming and jumping in the helicopter with a knife and we're pushing people off like over like five feet off. Nobody's getting hurt, but we're pushing people out of the helicopter that are trying to climb in as the helicopter's taking off. As I have my knife. I was like, ⁓ man, this is such an adventure. ⁓ So I was, yeah, I felt like I was being effective at that point and really doing some good work. These helicopters would land in the Dominican Republic, which ⁓ Haiti and the Dominican Republic are attached into one island and together they make up the island of Hispaniola. ⁓ Dominican is more ⁓ South American type of culture and then Haiti is more African culture. And ⁓ they don't like each other and there's a border and they don't let each other really cross. But for missionaries and stuff, it's okay. So we'd land these helicopters at a baseball field in the Dominican. These guys are rich, the helicopter dude. So they paid off the mafia to like, security around the perimeter and protect us at night. We'd sleep there and then 10 minute helicopter ride in the morning back over to Haiti and start all over again. ⁓ So I did that until they had to go home. I worked at a MASH hospital. It was like these three giant circus tents that had been set up at the airport by the University of Miami hospital. And they were taking in all of the people that were getting pulled out of these collapsed structures. So a lot of amputees and people who'd been buried for days, they were showing up there. And then, Like I mentioned earlier, the prisons broke open. So you got some really bad people out there on the streets. we're getting GST up gunshot wounds coming in like violent stuff. They like to use machetes over there. ⁓ Just like all sorts of normal, like normal for Haiti calls to coming into the, into the hospital. And when I showed up there, I, ⁓ I was like, Hey, can I help? Like I'm an EMT. and they're like, do you have your national registry card? Are you an EMT by chance or medical or anything? Okay. So you're familiar with national registry. You got to take that test and then you can work at least in the U S I think. But it's like the top tests you have to take. And they wanted that in Haiti in this emergency environment. And I lost everything I had. I didn't. So my wallet was in the apartment. during the collapse and I happened to go back a few days later to see if I could pull any of my things out of the, out of the apartment collapse and my wallet was right there. But because it had been looted, like somebody had gone in there deeper than I would have wanted to risk. my wallet had been like traumatized, like stuff had fallen on it, like big rocks and stuff. So was all beat up. ⁓ But my national registry, my national registry card was still in there. So I grabbed that, there was no credit cards or money or anything like that, but that card was in there. So I grabbed it and I presented that to this hospital tent and they looked it up and they were like, okay, come on in. You're a doctor now, you know, just do as much as you can. And I learned how to start IVs. I was pushing drugs under the supervision of doctors. I was helping with amputations. We took this one kid's eyeball out. Like I was doing all sorts of... crazy stuff I would never be able to get the experience to do in the States in a non-emergency. So that was interesting. I did that as long, like nobody slept. You'd go take naps, eat an MRE, get back to work. There was too much work to be done, not enough people. And it was a revolving door for doctors and nurses coming through there. So I stayed there for about a week and then I was burnt out too. So I moved on to the next thing. And I'm almost done here. Sorry. I'll give you a chance to respond. um, uh, one of the last things I did was rubble removal. Um, actually there's one more cool story involved. Um, so I used to go to high school in Haiti, um, before moving to California. one of the last things the helicopter team did for me was they're like, Hey, we're out of here, but we'll drop you wherever you want in Haiti. If you want to go somewhere, we'll drop you off in the helicopter. So was like, all right, cool. ⁓ There's a big field at my old church. Maybe we can go drop me off at my old church. And then at least I'll be near like some things where I know where to go next. And I couldn't find the church from the air. Like I was looking for it. ⁓ But I saw the basketball court at my old school and they had like this funky colored plastic, like purple and red and yellow, like basketball court. And I'm like, ⁓ that's my old school. And they also have a soccer field. So ⁓ I was like, okay, let's, ⁓ let's land in my school. Like I hadn't been back in five years. And, ⁓ this helicopter comes lands on the soccer field of my old high school. I hopped out, helicopter takes off right away. Rotor wash everywhere, like disrupts all there's tents there. The military is there. ⁓ they had set up camp there and, all the missionaries and people involved that were part of the school and hadn't left yet. They were like set up at the school. I didn't know this, but I was just like, yeah, I landed my school. I'm like, I'm back. No. So they, the helicopter left and I had a lot of angry people run up to me and like, I don't know who you think you are or whatever. And I like quickly explained myself and they're like, oh, oh, okay. All right, cool. Yeah. We know it. We know your family and stuff. Cause my sisters were going to school there actively, you know, at that time. So yeah, explain myself. I ended up sleeping there for a couple nights, but I got involved with a rubble removal team and we went and cleared out wells. Like these wells had gotten debris and rubble and stuff in them and nobody could drink. So there's like entire villages without water. So I had like my EMT stuff with me, but I'd go like put band-aids on and then also help like dig out these wells. So I did that for a little bit. And then I was like, all right, I've been here a month. There's a... unlimited amount of work to do always in Haiti before the earthquake. And now it's just a million times more. So I was like, OK, I need to like probably go home and like I've done I've done my time here for now, but I want to keep helping. But I got to get home eventually. I just can't spend forever in Haiti. So I was like, all right, I'm going to go to the airport. I know people and I'm going to get out of there. And everyone's like, I can't leave. Like airport shut down. There's not like commercial flights coming in and out. Nobody's going to America. I was like, okay, but I know in my heart, I need to leave. So I'm gonna see how far I get with no passport and no money and no phone and like nothing, right? So I get to the airport and I'm like, I'm just gonna walk until somebody stops me. I walk through security, I keep walking, nobody stops me. I walk through the airport, nobody stops me. I get out onto the tarmac and there's people that have been there for weeks trying to like, hit your private ride or I don't know, whatever, like trying to find a way out of Haiti. And almost immediately somebody comes up to me and they're like, Hey, we just had this extra spot on our plane. we felt like we should talk to you. Do you want to get on this plane? I was like, okay, where are you going? And they're like, ⁓ well we're going to the Bahamas, but we'll refuel there and then we'll, end up in Florida. It's like, perfect. ⁓ wait, I don't have any money or a passport. And they're like, no, don't worry about it. You can make a donation later. Okay. So within 30 minutes of getting to the airport, I was on a little huddle hopper to the Bahamas refuel, just like they said, I think I got a beer there and then went to Florida, but still, I was still worried because I'm like, I got to get through like customs and I have no ID, like nothing. Nobody knows. My family doesn't even know where I am. Yeah. And, ⁓ but like everything just was like, paved before me, like it was meant for me to go home at this point. So I get into customs in Florida, they're checking people's passports, asking questions. I put myself last in line, just cause I'm like trying to read the situation and figure out what to do. And I just like, like when it came to me, like the last person did their passport and I just like walked behind them and nobody stopped me. And so I got in like no passport and stuff. But I'm still in Florida. My family lives in Connecticut. I live in California. I still like have some work to do, right? I'm still stuck in Florida. ⁓ So it's almost evening now. I get outside the airport. It's starting to rain. It's getting dark. I have no ride, no money, no phone. And I go up to somebody and I say, ⁓ I go up to a van. And I was like, Hey, can I hop in with you? It looks like one of those like shuttle vans, right? and those are free. And so I hopped in one of those and I asked to use somebody's phone. I called my dad, I was like, hey, I'm in the States, I made it. ⁓ Now what? And he's like, I'll get you a flight, show up at this airport tomorrow morning and we'll get you out of here. So I was like, all right, cool. So this van, like van doesn't stop to ask me where I need to go or anything like that, but it drives for a long way and it happens to drive towards. that next airport that I need to be at. And I make friends with the people on the bus. They're like, ⁓ yeah, we're, flying out of that airport tomorrow morning too. ⁓ if you want, you can sleep on the floor of our hotel room. Cool. Do that. Slip on the floor, free continental breakfast the next morning, free shuttle to the airport. Now I have one more obstacle to get through. No ID at this airport where I'm having to get on a plane, right? Show up the next morning. And now I have to really explain myself. Like I'm like, just got out of Haiti, like I survived it. I'm just like freshly in the United States. I have tickets, but no idea. Like I lost everything and they like let me do it. So then they let me get on the plane and, and go home. So I would create, right? Like crazy stuff. Especially this is a very long after nine 11 when they really crack down on all the security stuff. Yeah. Yep. So, yep. That's my Haiti story. That's crazy. That's wild, man. mean, really, like you said, they they need to make a movie about it. It's it's that it's that ⁓ it's unimaginable. You know, it's something that you'd have to to be there to know what it was like. Yeah, because we've had. We've had natural disasters, we always have the forest fires and, know, we have, like you said, little earthquakes or. But there's nothing other than 9-11, maybe that. that was even close to that crazy. So is that, and I know, kind of transitioning into your businesses, is this kind of where you had got the idea for some of your businesses? Cause I know you founded the, how do I say it right? Firm foundation? Firm foundation, yeah. So I can talk about that for a sec. In Haiti? Yeah. So once I got back to the States, at this point I'm 19 years old. I'm 36 years old now. ⁓ 19 years old and still trying to get on with the fire department. I'm working construction. I'm trying to make the bills out here in LA. Everything's expensive. ⁓ but I like, I'm passionate about Haiti and everything that I just went through. So I was like, how can I keep helping? So I figured out how to start a NGO. government organization or a nonprofit, 501C3. And I was like, I want to keep, I felt called to keep helping Haiti in the form of building houses for earthquake survivors. So that utilized some of my construction background and my connection with Haiti. So as a 19 year old with no help, it's, you gotta, it's hard. You gotta figure it out. And every day, emails, phone calls, This is before like chat GPT made things so easy for everybody and ⁓ you got to do your own research and stuff. ⁓ So I, but I did it and I started this nonprofit called firm foundation and I was talking at colleges and churches and sharing my story and raising money. And we, so far we built 39 houses in Haiti for earthquake survivors. That's awesome. last couple of years, it's been really tough because you really can't fly to Haiti right now. It's too dangerous. They're shooting at airplanes, forced country in the Western hemisphere, most kidnappings per capita. Even when I lived there, there was a hundred per week. had a lot of friends kidnapped while even I was living there. And it's worse now than it was then. So it's real hard to do work there. But ⁓ we kind of see ourselves as like a tactical nonprofit. Um, we have a guy right now who's getting like military escort, military escorted around to do like recon for us to see like where we're going to build next. And it's kind of neat being able to from here in LA, like we sent him a nice phone, uh, our point of contact right now, some of the nice phone and we can like FaceTime and into Haiti. Like you never used to be able to do stuff like that. ⁓ And we're getting like 4K video and pictures and stuff of the things that we need to see and that we're interested in. ⁓ So yeah, that's firm and ⁓ passionate about that and firmfoundation.org if anybody wants to look into it. ⁓ But yeah, that was kind of a byproduct of what I went through and how I thought I could give back. I'll share one real quick. One more story about Haiti. ⁓ that's significant. remember we talked about the United nations, me going to teach, right? ⁓ for their new fire program. ⁓ later I found out I should have died because I was supposed to have like a formality interview. ⁓ once I got there to like get my photo taken and the little ID badge and just get the blessing that yeah, I'm Trevor. met and I'm going to be helping get the t-shirt or whatever. So my interview was scheduled on the day of the earthquake, during the time of the earthquake. And the day before I called them and I was like, Hey, I'm not doing much today. Do you mind if I just come in a day early and do my interview? And they're like, yeah, come on in. So I did it and everything went well. Got the blessing, got the ID. Had I had done my interview when I was supposed to, that entire building collapsed. everybody in that building died and 300 people died. And I didn't find this out till later that like, just cause I made that phone call or I was like prompted in my soul to do so. ⁓ My, my life was spared. It's for sure. I would have would have been in there. ⁓ So that was another thing where I was like, ⁓ I got a second chance. Like I shouldn't be alive. ⁓ So yeah, even more so why I'm passionate about continuing to kind of big. give back a little bit knowing I'm on borrowed time and you know, just thanking God for each day of life. You know, when I wake up in the morning and thinking to him that I still have a family and my family is still alive and healthy. So absolutely, man. That's and what a story of resilience and and just like mental fortitude where, know, like you said, you know, you've you've done 39 homes and you're so passionate about it that even though it's a dangerous place to go to and almost impossible, you're still making it work. And that's, that's probably why you're so successful in everything that you do. I mean, cause I've seen, I've done a little research on the businesses, you know, our foundations. ⁓ Cause I wanted to know a little bit before I just started asking questions. But you know, it's, there's a lot of people that would just give up, you know, it's too dangerous to do this. we're done, you know, I mean, not you, you're just pushing through it and that's what it takes, right? ⁓ But man, that's awesome. ⁓ And then obviously being in California, we mentioned the wildfires that happen every year. So is that where this estate ⁓ fire defense came into play? Kind of that same want to provide a service for the community? For your listeners, you're talking about a business that I helped co-found about a year ago called Estate Fire Defense. And this spawned from the, they call them the Palisade fires that happened January 6th, about a year ago, a little over a year ago in 2025. And devastated the Palisades part of Malibu, city called Altenina just burned through thousands of homes out here. a hundred mile an hour flames, know, just fire we've never seen before. Sure. And in California, like we burn, like we burn a lot. So ⁓ that's saying something like we've had some really huge campaign fires over the years. ⁓ It seems like we're. It's fire season year round now where it used to actually be a season, but now it's just like there's always big wildfires and. but these, because of the wind factor, got out of control like we've never seen before. And yeah, it really affected Southern California in a new way that we, yeah, that we'd never seen before. So ⁓ me and some other firefighter buddies were like, hey, ⁓ we're losing, this is a losing battle for us. Like we need to change how firefighting is done. And it starts at the home hardening level of the homeowner. If you can prepare your house, like next level, prepare your house and your community can do that too. ⁓ You can prevent your city from burning down. Sure. So unfortunately we, we target the wealthy because they can afford to do it. ⁓ And, you know, if they can, you know, protect their cities and stuff, that's less resources that they're requiring from us. And then we can go. the people who can afford to do it. Because there's only so many of us and so many rigs and so much water. ⁓ California was not prepared for what happened and it's like, we're still not prepared. Like it could happen again, but now we're getting houses that are like fully fortified and home hardened ⁓ against these fires. so that's what the business does. consultation and then we, we provide, uh, contractors to go do the work and then we inspect it. We give you a score and then people have trouble getting home insurance out here. Um, like big time. It's a big deal. Yeah. And a lot of insurance companies are pulled out of here and everything is way more, three times as expensive if you can even get it. So we're hoping to help people, um, qualify for insurance again. And, uh, just give them an answer to this big problem that is getting worse. So yeah, that's where, ⁓ state fire defense, ⁓ came from and it's been a journey, you know, we're learning as we go. ⁓ but we can at least provide the firefighter perspective and what we, we know is safe and kind of go above and beyond that. Why do you think that the fire seasons become year round? Like what changed that made it so profound? Hmm. Well, people are living in areas that they probably shouldn't live. like fires, fires are a natural part of life. Um, you know, before anybody lived in California, the burn, it would rain as part of the fertilization process. It's just like circle of life. That's how the, the wilderness functions. And now we're putting people in these houses on these mountain sides and the brush still grows, you know, so, um, They have a beautiful view and a beautiful house, but yeah, it might burn down like at a moment's notice. ⁓ California is a nice place to live. It's sunny almost year round and beautiful and the beach and palm trees and stuff. yeah, it's just super dangerous if you start cramming all these people in the mountainsides and all these places that seem nice until a fire comes. So I think that's a big part of it. Bigger fire load now. more constant fire load to provide that environment for fires year round. Yeah. And we're preventing like that, that natural burn, ⁓ that would happen if nobody was living here. So we're like, we're making sure like the stuff keeps growing, but we're not allowing anything to burn, putting it out or whatever. And then eventually like, it just gets out of control and too much and there's too much fuel load and Not enough water, not enough firemen, not enough manpower. Yeah. And then I wanted to talk about the Williams key. Because obviously this is the first time I'd ever seen you and kind of how we connected was through that page on Instagram. And this is a respectful entry tool ⁓ for entering buildings for firemen, first responders. ⁓ And that's a growing thing that we're seeing in the fire service is more of a respectful entry approach, know, try before you pry. And then there's a bunch of kits and tools that are coming out. What made you decide that you needed to invent something different? What was different about this versus these other tools that are coming out? So I'll start with my background a little bit. We talked about, I did construction. It was specifically, door construction as a carpenter. So I was installing a bunch of doors and locks, thousands of them for years. So I got to know doors and locks really well and have a respect for them and know how expensive they are and how hard they are to install and the financial impact that they have on the homeowner or the business that is wanting them. During that time, I learned how to pick locks. I had all these specialty tools and ⁓ I, yeah, I would, I would like make my own tools if I couldn't figure out like a way to bypass a lock if I needed to with the thought that I would be a fireman one day and be getting into these doors. ⁓ Once I got hired, ⁓ as a rookie, I was at Firehouse 8 in West Hollywood. It's one of the biggest houses in LA County. We have almost 200 stations. They've got they got that first aerial truck back in 1950. A lot of tradition there. There's 13 people per shift, so 39 people total. And I was a rookie there and I didn't want to like bled on kind of like I had like these secret powers that I could get through these doors and stuff. And I was just trying to go low key at first. But I did have like my bag of tricks that I would keep with me. And every once in a while, I'd, you know, pull a tool out and. if a call is taken too long or whatever, I'd like, I would get us in. And whether it's picking a locker or whatever. So there's a time and place for kicking in a door or using the irons or using the rotor or the chainsaw. I love all that stuff too. But if we can get in nicely without doing damage, I would prefer to do that because we're, know, customer service side, we don't want to leave, you know, the sport person with a $2,000 door repair and ⁓ a security issue too. ⁓ and especially if we're at the wrong location, right? We're on the wrong side of the street and we kicked down their door and now, ⁓ falls over there. I'm sorry. ⁓ so the Williams key is something I'd made long time ago and a crude aversion. didn't have a name for it at the time, but it was something I used a lot and I was, ⁓ I was pulling it out on scene and Especially in West Hollywood, there's a lot of gates, outward swinging gates, and it works well on those sorts of doors. ⁓ Residential, not as much. It won't work on a deadbolt and stuff like that. But a lot of the outward swinging stuff is great for, and it's the quickest way to get in if it works. So you got to pick the right tool for the job, but that's part of the training too, knowing what you can and can't use it for. But yeah, people saw me use it and before long, They were like, hey, that stupid tool you keep pulling out, like, you mind making me one? And they can never give you a compliment, you know, but. Yeah, of course. I was like, yeah, yeah, okay. And it takes a long time to kind of, I cut it, you know, out of a framing square or whatever. And yeah, it's like labor intensive and I don't want to just be making these for people, you know, for, cause they want one. I tell people, make your own if you want, I'll show you how, but. Uh, eventually so many people were asking me that I was like, all right, I'm going to talk to a fabricator and see if he'll make like 20 of them or something and just give them to all the people on my shift. Sure. And so I started with that. And then after that, a lot of people coming in and out of our station and people in our station and go on working overtime, other places and people were seeing these tools and it was getting back to me. And now people like, Hey man, I'll pay you. Can you just make me one of those? And so then that 20. key order ⁓ turned into a hundred key order. And I was like, okay, this seems like a start of a business or something. So I made a logo. I had them powder coated. I learned how to laser engrave. I laser engraved the ⁓ logo on there, Williams key. And then the other side I left blank for custom engraving. And the custom engraving is what really like made it go off. Cause we love our custom stuff. And. Everybody likes to steal our stuff. So we want our names on it and it's great for gifts. It's good for rookie gifts or retired guys or whatever. And then I made social media and then it just took off like crazy. So it was off to the races at that point. ⁓ I've sold 63,000 of these things at this point ⁓ at 3000 more land today for a big order and every major fire department in I'm pretty sure at least somebody has ordered one I've sold to every state in the US and about 30 countries worldwide as well. That's awesome So and for your viewers you have a yeah, have visual So for your viewers, I brought a pink one because I like to wear black ⁓ Most people don't buy the pink one, but this has never been seen by the public before we just got a thing with a black logo, so There you go. saw it at the engine house first. You saw it here first folks. There's that one. I'll show you one more. The Valentine's Day special that we did not sell for Valentine's Day. It's got a red logo. So you'll be seeing some more colors coming out here ⁓ in the near future. ⁓ Traditionally, we've only done black keys. ⁓ But yeah, I'll just explain a little bit. It's very simple tool. ⁓ It has a blade side. This is about 12 inches long. And then you have the shove knife handle side and you can ⁓ use the blade side to slip behind the strike on an outward swinging door. This will reach behind an anti-vandal plate. So that's where it really earns its keep being able to go behind those plates that are meant to prevent people from getting into the locks. And then if you can visualize the strike, sometimes the shove knife end is good enough. We sell a folding version of this that a lot of guys keep on their belt and we sell a Mali style Kydex case that people keep them in and I carry it online and I use it all the time. And we're coming out with carbon fiber cases soon. So stay tuned for that. But yeah, these tools have been great and they can be bent. They can be used as a J hook on panic hardware, double panic hardware. ⁓ Yeah. They've been used for windows. They're, they're versatile. So however you see fit to use it. ⁓ get a lot of interesting videos from people who've found a new way to use it and get into a new type of lock, but there's thousands of types of doors and locks out there. So, ⁓ there's not like a one tool fits all ⁓ as far as like soft entry goes. Sure. Being forceful. Yeah. You can get into most doors with enough force. But yeah, we like to preserve the door if possible. So that's where the Williams key came about. And it's been a really fun journey. I get to talk to these guys like you and we get to talk shop. And I've talked to probably hundreds of fire chiefs and we've sold to three of the Navy SEALs teams. yeah, every major ⁓ department, like military department, we've sold to. Blacksmiths love it. repo guys, bounty hunters. I've heard ISIS bought it. I haven't, I haven't seen the videos, but you know, there's, if you're trying to do entry in a discreet stealth or respectful way, like this might be a tool you want to look into. So yeah, sure. Unless you're breaking the law, don't break the law. We have, we have disclaimers against that. So no criminals allowed. I'll put the, I'll put the link in the description too, for people that want to check out the website. Okay. Yeah. Appreciate that. Yeah. One of the questions I get a lot is like, ⁓ what if a criminal gets ahold of one of these? And I just say, like, honest people honest, like criminals get into stuff all day, every day with, without this tool. Right. Pro bar is cheaper. A brick is cheaper. ⁓ They're not trying to be respectful, you know, when they're breaking into your place. So I don't think they want to spend the money, this, the money on a Williams key. And I've never heard of anything. ⁓ like that, you know, please reach out to me if you you heard of a crime being committed with this tool, but ⁓ I've never heard of it and people love to let me know. So, yeah. The only example I have of that was ⁓ it showed up on the Bosch TV show without my knowledge and they called it the fireman's friend. And, but they had the story, right? They're like, yeah, this LA fireman, you know, made this tool for getting in without doing damage and ⁓ I think they use it as like either a murder weapon or like a break in and then a murder weapon on the show. But yeah, I have a, I saved the clip from it. was like, man, could he use my name? Like I would have given you permission. It's okay. But yeah. And you know what? We're not responsible for other people's actions either. So that's the, that's the big thing that I think sometimes we forget ⁓ if they want to do it, they're going to do it. Yeah. Exactly. It's like a gun company being responsible for like what you do with the gun is like, no, we just make guns and you're a responsible adult and you know that whatever you do is on you, you know? And being an entrepreneur. you know, working with these other organizations too, along with being a fireman. I mean, how do you manage your time? I know what it's like to run one business and be a fireman at a busy company. I can't imagine running three. Yeah. Well, that, you know, I run more than that. I can't talk about all of them, but more, more are on the horizon. I don't know. I, Yeah, I also am a dad and a husband and ⁓ all that stuff too. So balancing home life with work is one thing. ⁓ Balancing the fire service career with entrepreneurial businesses. It's tough. I definitely don't really have any days off. ⁓ the change of scenery and that sort of thing. ⁓ helps and also if you love what you're doing, you never work a day in your life, right? So that's the beauty of being a firefighter is like, I'm passionate about it. I love it. ⁓ I like to think I'm good at it. So I don't struggle through it. If I was struggling, I wouldn't be doing anything else. ⁓ And it all like is synergistic, I guess, like they all kind of help each other out and they're all related. ⁓ So. Yeah. I don't know where all the time comes from, but you know, I prioritize the, the things that are the squeakiest and work on those things. And then everything else kind of falls into place, but I'm not perfect things. ⁓ you know, things get messed up sometimes and you've got to deal with those problems too. Yeah, absolutely. ⁓ we got a guy in Memphis that, ⁓ he started a Instagram page. And it's grown pretty substantial, know, substantially. And he's like, man, I'm thinking about. Starting a brand, you know, or branding this social media page and selling products or whatever. And I helped him get set up with a Shopify store and he said, man, how do you how do you do it? Like, how do you find time to do marketing, customer service, you know? social media, all this. said, there's 24 hours in a day. So you decide how much you sleep and then you use the rest for your business. Yeah. You know, that's really it. mean, we're not like when we're at the fire station, sometimes you don't sleep for 24 hours because there's stuff that has to get done. Well, when you're in the heart of Christmas season, there's stuff that's got to get done. So, you know, it's all like you said, it's kind of what you want, you know. Do you want us to succeed? Do you want to be the best? Then you gotta maybe sacrifice some of that sleep. You want to be a good dad? you get done from a long day of work, you sacrifice some of that sleep to hang out with the kids or the wife, you know? Yeah. Or skip a meal or be more efficient. Like, yeah, better stuff. Right. Right. If you're like, I'm an, we spoke, I'm an engineer and this is kind of a new role for me. I recently promoted in and at first it took me forever to go through all my checks, checking out the rig. And it was like a long process for me in the morning, making sure everything's right. Now I do like three different things at the same time and like, it's just autopilot. And I know like all the numbers I'm looking for is all memorized and I'm thinking three steps ahead. Right. Or, or as like, I'm not stuck on like, okay, now what do I do next? And being super slow. ⁓ so as time goes on, you get more efficient and you get better at stuff and then you buy back some of your time and then. Yeah. I don't know, I'll give a meal or do a working lunch or... There's always ways, you know? Right. And eventually, you you get big enough, maybe hire someone to help with a task. Yeah, totally. You know, and then the next person and the next person and it becomes, it's just a different... there's a different level of hard that comes with that. That's kind of where we're at. We're getting to the point where we're about to hire somebody for our business and ⁓ we're learning that there's a learning curve when you start the business and that is how to run a business. And then you grow and there comes this next learning curve of how to manage people and how to manage a business while managing people. You know, so it's a, it's a fun journey. I think it's fun now that I figured out some of this game. It's kind of fun. Yeah. Out of scale. Oh, and if you like gambling, could be fun, I guess. Yeah. The environment are great. Great at liking that. Um, yeah. So I have a fulfillment facility that handles a lot of my orders and I got big enough to where, um, All my days off, I was just filling orders and it was taking up all my time and really, really hard to get out of that. So I hired ⁓ like a warehouse and they just do shipping for me. And when an order comes in, they see it on their computer. They have a bunch of my inventory, they fill it. And then they just send me a bill at the end of the month. And they do about 90 % of my orders. I still like to do all the custom stuff. So I've got laser engravers and stuff like that and I'll fill those orders. And then I have like, have some products that aren't like quite as popular that I've like lower inventory on that if the order comes in for that, I'll fill that cause I don't keep that stuff at the warehouse. Um, and then I, I have a fabrication company that handles all the building and like the product, um, fabrication. Right. So a lot of people on that team and they do big order shipping for me, like the 3000 key order. They fulfilled that for me completely. Um, And then I had a marketing team for a while and they were doing good. I got too big too fast though. So I had to like scale back down. And so I'm not doing that right now, but that was a whole team of like 10 people that I was having meetings with every week and, you know, ramping up the emails and the marketing and the video and the social media and all that stuff too. you have a lot of people work for you and manage a big company still like out of your basement if you want to, you know, I don't have employees, like these are all just outsourced work that I hired. So how did you find a marketing manager? Is that something we've considered before? I can connect you. It was word of mouth, you know, cause marketing is tricky. You can waste a lot of money trying to find the right type of advertising. Sure. And you know, Do you put your ad in a magazine or a newspaper or do you focus on emails or you just throw money at YouTube or there's so many different ways. ⁓ Or do you go to like conventions and shows and set up booths, do in-person stuff, do door hangers. There's a million ways to market, but you got to find out what works for you. So ⁓ there was a similar business that I'm friends with reached out to me and they're like, Hey, we've been using this marketing company. It's really changed things for us. in a good way, they're expensive, but if you trust them and let them work for you, I think you'll be happy. That's kind of like the confirmation I needed, because I didn't want to take a big risk with a lot of money without anything to show for it. Especially like, because I have so much stuff going on and so many businesses, I'm like spread pretty thin, because I have to figure out where to put the next dollar to make it count the most. So, but that's all I needed to hear. So I was like, all right, cool. Like that you've done the testing for me pretty much. And now the team is legit. They want what's best for you. And then they, they develop your strategy and it constantly changes week to week. Cause the algorithms change ⁓ all the time. And so you're, constantly fighting the algorithms and trying to figure out what is going to hit the best next and what your target audience is and where they are. how much money you want to spend. And it sounds funny, but the more money you spend, once you get your return on ad spend is called ROAS. For every dollar you spend, you get $2 back or whatever it may be. Once you can profit off of your dollar and get a positive return on ad spend, you put as much money into it and you scale it as big as you can. So at one point I was spending $1,000 a day on marketing. Yeah, like, but it started at like a hundred bucks, you know? Yeah. And then it's just like, okay, we're doing good. We're going to run with it. We're going to ride this wave up, up, up, up, up. But once that bubble pops and you're still spending a thousand bucks a day and it's not working anymore, then you're kind of in trouble. So you got to be careful with that. But yeah, I mean, we can talk off offline if you want, but there's definitely good companies out there that can help you with that. For sure. Well, before we wrap this up, Are there any tips or anything you want to say to ⁓ firemen that may also be looking into, you know, becoming business owners or everybody's got a side job. But if they want to turn it into maybe less of a hobby or side gig and more of a business, is there anything that you would say to them? Yeah, a lot. ⁓ You should probably reach out to me. You can find me on email, social media. ⁓ Instagram, Williams Key, The Williams Key on Instagram. I respond to most of that. But a couple quick tips to spark your interest. ⁓ If you have an idea, roll with it. Don't be afraid of it and get as far as you can ⁓ with the idea. Figure out if it's ⁓ something that you want to invest time and money into. Talk to people about it and then get it to market, even if it's not ready, because the market will tell you. how you can improve and then you come out with version 2.0 and sell those same people a whole new batch. And then they'll tell you again, like, no, we want this thing. Then you make it and now sell it back to them again. So the iPhone keeps making money because they keep coming out with new versions and those same people keep buying them. Same concept. You make a lot of money going to market when you're not ready. It sounds weird, but I'm on version like six of the Williams key. And the same people keep buying them, you know, Um, so do that. Don't get discouraged. Um, you never fail till you stop trying. So keep trying, keep getting back up, stay motivated. You're going to throw a hundred darts at the dart board and maybe one or two will stick. But the ones that stick could make up for all the, all the other failures. So, um, we're, problem solvers, right? We're firemen. We were, we're the guys and girls showing up. We're the last resort on somebody's worst day. We're the end of the line. We've got to make it work. So we're really good at figuring out problem and solving them. And that goes for like tools and like Gucci ideas too. So I know there's a lot of you guys and girls out there that like have this idea that it's just been bugging you or you think like, ⁓ maybe this could be something. It probably is something. So just pursue it and get as far as you can with it. And it could change your life. could change the life of the fire service too. You know, he, could have a disruptor that you end up inventing and it could be really good for everybody. So ⁓ yeah, don't be afraid of your ideas. Like definitely get out there and pursue them. If you can, you think you don't have time, you do. You will find ways to make time. Well, man, I appreciate it. I've really enjoyed this and we are going to talk some more. ⁓ Cause you've got a very, you've had a very interesting life so far and Like I said, you're really good at what you do. ⁓ Thanks again for taking the time to sit down and talk, be a part of the show. And yeah, I guess that's it. Well, we'll close out with that. I hope you've enjoyed this episode as much as I have a truly incredible story that we really only got to scratch the surface on due to time restrictions, obviously. And so keep your eyes peeled for part two. I'm definitely going to have Trevor back for more so we can dive a little deeper into each of the sections in this episode. If you've enjoyed this episode, make sure that you share with somebody. Subscribe, get notified so you can be notified as soon as a new episode drops. Like I said, you're not going to want to miss out on anything. If you've got some ideas for the show or want to be a guest, email me. at enginehousepodcasts.gmail.com. We are always looking for new guests. We're always open to new ideas or ⁓ constructive criticism on how we can be better. Because we do want to put out content that people enjoy. Also check out Engine House Designs. That's my company, like I said, ⁓ for all of your custom service, fire service apparel needs. If that's something that you're looking for, check us out, enginehousesigns.com. And as always folks, stay safe, ignite the pride.