Secure Home Advisors w/ Michael Lauer

We're here with Michael Lauer, folks, founder of Secure Home Advisors. And before we get the breakdown on what it is you offer, I wanted to ask you. A kind of a rhetorical question, but one I think your perspective will kind of set the tone for the show. Why do you think preparedness is blowing up the way that it is right now? Why do you think so many people are looking at it and going like, I want to do some stuff? What's your take on that, Michael? Thank you for joining us today, by the way. Yes, thank you very much, James, for having me. Excited to be here. I think that's an extremely important question. I'm glad you asked that right at the outset because I do think it's a topic that's, unfortunately or fortunately, depending on how you look at things, of a lot of people. So there, there's probably two camps of folks, you know, those of us in the community prepping community who have been, you know, at this for a while and just, you know, naturally have that mindset. And then, you know, another kind of group that's more recently come into this mindset. I think to answer your question, a lot of it, it's being driven by the new cycle events happening around the world and just an overall sense of uneasiness. And that's really why, you know, I'm, doing what I do through secure home advisors is to really help people have a little bit more confidence in their day-to-day life, right? Not, not doom and gloom. We're not trying to scare people, but I think, you know, now that folks are paying a little bit more attention and they are getting into that mindset, usually the first place they start is what do I do? I have to run out and buy a whole bunch of stuff. And so, you know, folks like myself and yourself, really what it comes down to is education and sharing information and about how to just be as prepared as possible for whatever might be coming. You know what I think people take for granted when I think about consultation at large in terms of preparedness is you mentioned information, you mentioned those kinds of things that a good advisor is going to have on hand for sure. But another thing that I think consultation is really necessary for, especially in the prepping world, is accountability. because I think people get high on prepping. You know what I mean? It reminds me a lot of like when a guy comes to you and he's like, I'm going to the gym this year and I'm going like three, four times a week, nonstop the whole year. I get that same vibe with new preppers. You know, they're like really impassioned about it. They probably overdo it in the beginning and then burn out. And like a service like you offer keeps people not only informed, but also accountable, right? Like we're going to talk again next week and let's see what you got done. That's a big deal, man. Absolutely. And we try to tell all of our customers, everyone we speak to that this is a journey, right? It's not like you could run out over the weekend and, you know, spend a couple grand and buy as much food and equipment as possible and then kind of wipe your hands on your set, right? This is an ongoing thing. Like I said earlier, many of us have been at this for years and years and years. And even still, we'll continue to be at it, whether it's new equipment, testing processes, what works and just constantly evolving. So why don't you tell us a little bit about your journey and how you wound up starting Secure Home Advisors? Absolutely. Happy to. So I think it really boils down to a mindset, like I mentioned earlier. And I think for me, that mindset was really shaped very early. I was heavily involved in the Boy Scouts at an early age. So I think their motto is be prepared. So I think right from the get-go, it was, equipping myself with the skills and kind of insights I need to navigate the world. So, you know, kind of taking that perspective, kind of bringing it into my younger years, especially when I entered the workforce. You know, I was in college when 9-11 happened. And because I'm in New Jersey, about an hour away, not even from New York City, you know, that kind of resonated really strongly with me on a personal level. And so, you know, I think seeing some of those events and then everything that's subsequently happened, you know, really did change my mindset as well. I fortunately had a neighbor who was part of the United States Capitol Police, and I was just happening to visit Washington, D.C. right around that time of 9-11, so early 2000s timeframe. And she encouraged me to apply, even though I had just graduated college and I had a career, aspiring career in broadcasting. I was like, this is maybe my chance to kind of give back to my country and do something a little different. It really resonated with me. So I applied. It took about nine months to get through the system, but I became a federal police officer with the United States Capitol Police. And that for me was a personal journey, but I was extremely proud to be working in Washington, kind of at the backdrop of the new kind of war on terror and everything that was happening at that time. So a lot of training, a lot of insights, and just real-world experiences I had further shaped how I look at everything. I moved back home a couple years later, started a family, and then Hurricane Sandy happened here in New Jersey, and that was another eye-opening event of, man, maybe I'm not as prepared as I need to be. My oldest child was a year and a half old at the time, and so that was difficult, as I'm sure many of the listeners can appreciate. Having a family, having a small child, going through a major storm like that, we lost power for 10 days. So there's been a lot of these events in my life that kind of has shaped the way I look at things. And it's just doubled down my thought process on being more prepared and just being ready for those unknown things that we all know are going to happen. It's just a matter of when, not if. And so curiosity, I don't want to interrupt, but I have to ask you because your story is just like my story so much because of that young child sort of motivating factor. But the question I have is everybody went through Sandy. You know what I mean? Like in New York and surrounding areas. But what do you think makes it stick for some people and not for others? I don't know if you've thought about this is my life. So I'm always thinking about these things and I like other people's perspective. Like, what do you, some people it sticks and it's like, Oh, I'm prepper now. You know what I mean? This is it till the end. And then some people, they go, that was terrible. What's on TV. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. It really is a mindset. I can't speak to the psychology behind it. I wish I could. And I probably should learn a little bit more of like how, how our brains interpret and process that, those events. I mean, the, the broader perspective is living in New Jersey. We kind of have a, and I've born and raised here. So the perspective is, you know, tornadoes happen out West and, Um, earthquakes happen in California. None of that stuff happens here. You know, hurricanes happened down in Florida. So I think the mindset was that'll never happen here. Um, and then when it did, you know, a lot of people were very unprepared, not only for the storm, but for the weeks afterwards. I mean, it was complete devastation around here. You know, 10 minutes. It was crazy footage, man. It was nuts looking. Yeah. And everything you saw in the news was about 10 or 15 minutes from my house. So luckily I was inland enough where I didn't get, you know, the full brunt of it. But it was enough to really open my eyes. And so I think there are people that was in 2012, I believe. So we're talking quite a while ago. A lot of people still remember that. But unfortunately, a lot of people do not remember that. And they're kind of slipping back into their old ways. It's weird, right? Isn't it weird? It is. It is. I wish I wish there was a way to subtly remind people of like, do you remember what it was like to be really, really cold and not have any gas generator? And, you know, subways flooded. That was the craziest footage for me was seeing the flooded subways. I didn't even that didn't even like pop into my head. And I even grew up in Philly with subways. But I just never imagined like they just fill up with water. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. It was it was. Well, speaking of Philly, I was working in Philadelphia at the time. So even though I lived at the Jersey Shore where I am now. Yeah. Muting into Philly, you know, just heading 45 minutes west. It was like it didn't happen. Right. Everything was okay. Guys, power's on. Yeah, that is it, right? Yes. So a lot of great stuff that led you to this idea of starting Secure Home Advisors, huh? Yeah, I just feel like this is maybe an opportunity for me to help my community, help others just be a little bit more prepared. I started this late last year, and I think to your earlier question, preparedness is now even more top of mind for folks. So I'm glad we're kind of all swimming in the same direction. I'm trying to be very mindful of not capitalizing on people's anxiety or certainly fear. Um, so that's not what we're trying to do. We're not trying to push gear. We're not trying to, you know, have them sign up for the latest and greatest, um, you know, kind of newsletters or whatever it might be. It's really at the curve at helping people feel more confident that if something happens, even a small scale, even, you know, the power's out for a couple hours, what do I do? Right. Uh, how do I keep my food from going bad? Just little things. It doesn't have to be, you know, Sandy level catastrophes. Um, that's really why we exist. And, uh, And then as I was building the company, the initial focus, just from my law enforcement background, was a little bit more heavy on the security side of it. So residential security, doors and locks and illumination and things like that. Makes a huge difference. It does. It does. And that goes, the security part and the preparedness part, as I see it, go very hand in hand. So you can't do you can't have one without the other. And so I kind of broadened the base a little bit. And I quickly found that the preparedness piece actually resonates a little bit more with folks. It's an area they typically don't think about. So if I can help them, that's what we're here to do. So, you know, when we started the business, tried to really look at it from a thoughtful approach, looking at best practices from organizations like FEMA. You know, the federal government spends a whole lot of money every year testing, practicing, developing processes. And so instead of recreating the wheel, we tried to look at, you know, what are those things that work at a government level and apply those to a residential and small business. I like it. Yeah, I think it's a good starting point. Then you have the ability to bounce off of that and, you know, I think one of the big things that most people don't get out of your standard preparedness fair or maybe your fear-driven preparedness content is it has to be customized, right? It's got to be customized to you and yours or else it's only going to help you so much. Absolutely. Absolutely. That's it. I mean, everyone's situation is unique, whether it's maybe you have your elderly parents living with you, maybe you have young children, maybe you're alone and you're living in an apartment and you don't have a lot of space. To prepare, even if you had, you know, the means to do so. So there's so many variables that we try to factor in. And yes, it's a very unique experience. The best way to equate it, a lot of people do ask me, you know, hey, what is this about? Since really it's a new category. I don't want to take credit that I'm creating the preparedness, you know, consulting category on my own, but it is very niche. And the easiest way I've found to explain it is like many folks who buy a new home, you automatically assume you're going to do that home assessment. Right. You want to know before you spend what's working, what's not, what's deficient, where can I make some improvements? And for, you know, a couple hundred bucks, it really gives you that peace of mind. And so we're trying to emulate that model in many ways. That's a good call. Home inspection. You liken it to insurance, dentistry, those kinds of things, right? Absolutely. I mean, you know, as I sat and started thinking about how do I explain this and market this business, I started looking around and there's so many things in our daily life. Going to the dentist is a perfect example. It's so simple, but most people don't wait to go to the dentist. I say most people, you know, not all. Don't wait until they're in agonizing pain or they have a severe issue to go to the dentist. It's preventative. You go every year. You do your assessments. You figure out what's what's going on. You do exams. You kind of learn. You get that baseline going. And then from there, with the guidance of your dentist, you make improvements. Right. You take care of your cavities, whatever you might do, even if it's just cleanings. And that's a journey. Right. Same thing. That's a journey. And then you go back and you reassess and you validate. So it's very cyclical in that sense. Home insurance and other insurances operate the same way. You can't buy insurance after the fact, right? You need it before the fact. And so to do that, you need to anticipate what may happen to me. What level of coverage do I need? How prepared do I want to feel? I can go on. There's so many parallels, but it's really that same mindset. I just think it's helping people connect the dots to say, if I do it in one area of my life, I really should be doing it in another area of my life as well. I like this cyclical take because it's uh that's i think where a lot of people lose out they they get started they go in real hot you know what i mean they make the purchases like you said maybe they got some fear that's backing them up and uh and then before long it starts to sort of you know peter off and that's that cyclical thing is what keeps at least the preppers that i know in the game you know that assess and reassess and all those kinds of things. Yes yes i mean is it uh you know Two is one, one is none. That's the mentality I think a lot of us in the preparedness community operate by. And so it's good to test the gear, to your point. Just because you bought it and own it doesn't mean it's going to function when you need it or how you need it to function. So it's cyclical. And then there's always new things coming out, new processes. And so, yeah, I think our focus can really help folks who have been at this for a little while and they maybe don't know how to take it to that next level. Or it could be for somebody brand new into preparedness and don't know where to start. And so we try to ease them into it. Yeah. Here in our community, I think we take that for granted a lot, that whole idea of where to start. And it's always fun to get a peek into the mind of someone who sat down and really thought this out. And you sent me over a great graphic about your nine pillars. You know what I mean? In the prepping community, we just always get off on this kind of stuff where Where we can look at it from a different way and see, like, what's number one, two, three, and should I change, and should I, is mine better, is his, you know what I mean, that kind of stuff. And I think putting something like this together is so important, particularly when you're explaining it to people who have, you know, no idea where to start, right? Absolutely. That was certainly the intent here is to, you know, approach it from a very kind of easy to understand baseline. And the good thing about this framework, and again, I'm not taking full credit that I created every of these categories, it just kind of naturally fell into these nine areas, which, you know, I think makes it that much easier. My core audience is not only residential customers, we're also looking to support small businesses and who have their own kind of unique sets of challenges as it relates to security and preparedness. Many of them do overlap with residential, but a lot of them are very unique in that sense, as well as large estates. Where I'm at in the metro kind of New York, New Jersey area, there's many estates that are secondary homes for folks, or they just have a really large operation going. They have, you know, housekeepers and children and, you know, people kind of in and out all the time and we're talking multimillion dollar beachfront houses that, you know, that we saw destroyed during Sandy. Yeah. And so, you know, for memories there. Yeah. Yes. I mean, if you have a $ 10 million house sitting on the beach, you know, it's probably a good idea to invest a little bit in the preparedness side of things just to keep operations running. If that is going to be where you're anticipating being. Yeah. I think we all have got a, we all got kind of a little up and in arms about, number four power continuity i think power continuity has a has a whole new meaning in the country at large even not just the uh fortress pete hagg said the announcement but i think at the onset of data centers really started to create the conversation around power continuity and how valuable it is i don't think before then most people understood like wait the power goes out yeah like without a thunderstorm like we can have we can run out of power right you know that's I think that's a big piece of something that's happening in America right now. A big need probably a business like yours can fill is let's talk about how we keep the power on no matter what happens. Absolutely. I think you're zeroing in on probably the most important pillar of the nine is power and continuity, just because that is the lifeblood of pretty much everything, of the supply chain, of being able to operate around the clock, especially at nighttime and just keeping critical processes running. There's so many contingencies related to power. And that power, I think a lot of us take for granted, right? You flip the switch and it's going to be there. But how do we ensure, you know, from a redundancy perspective that, you know, a lot of people do have home generators. So, but, you know, fortunately or unfortunately, sometimes they go to Lowe's, they buy a generator, they buy a can of gas and they think they're set. There's, you know, multiple ways that you should be thinking about power. Um, you know, one, one quick story. I, uh, I'm also a volunteer with my local township office of emergency management. And a lot of the calls that we get during storms when, when the town does lose power, um, are folks that are either on breathing machines or ventilators, um, things like that, where it's critical that they have power. And so our primary responsibility is taking our portable generators and bringing them to the community, um, to help aid them, uh, when, when they're unable to do it themselves. But that's just one quick example of, you know, how reliant some people are literally their lives rely on, on having power. And so it's, it's important to prioritize that. Oh, that's it. Yeah. I like you. I mean, I like your choice of the word, not because just so you know, we used to have a, we used to have a group that met on a regular basis. We haven't in a while. Sorry guys. We meet on all. Yes. We got to get the continuity back together, folks. But we used to meet together in a group called The Continuity. It started out as like a mock secret society where we used to play and have fun. And then it turned into sort of a preparedness scenario LARP, which is, it's actually really fun. We had a lot of fun with it. But different projects, different things, you know, have taken its place. But I like the use of the word continuity a lot. And I like that it's kind of at the core of your business, right? I mean, it is definitely sort of it's the question people don't know to ask, right? What am I really after? What I'm after is continuity of my lifestyle in the face of whatever, right? Absolutely. That's exactly it. And one of the challenges, just getting back to the genesis of why I started Secure Home Advisors in the first place was really around continuity. And as I was pressured testing a little bit of like, how do I show up? How do I present this business? The word alone, continuity, is a hard terminology for I think a lot of people who aren't in this world to grasp. And so I had to find alternate ways to describe what the essence of continuity means. And so I put together this framework here as a very simple kind of process flow of, you know, how we operate our mindset against those nine pillars. And really what we're trying to achieve as you're showing on the graphic here on the screen at the bottom is the classification system, getting people to feel and be more ready in their daily lives. And so taking that framework, using continuity as the backdrop to it, and really just helping people start thinking and acting a little differently. Yeah, I like it, man. And then number three here, you have the readiness classification system. What's going on there? So our process is unique in the sense that it's multi-phased and multi-stages. So similar to a home inspection report, as I mentioned earlier, we typically show up at someone's home. So it's an in-person experience. Although it does start with an initial set of intake questions just to get a baseline understanding of customers' needs. And then we show up on site. We do the physical inspection. We generate a report just like a home inspection with photos and here's what we found. And then we start prioritizing it. We assign a score and we identify what are the most priority remediation actions. That you need. And then we pause because we know it's a lot for people, even just going through that process alone to understand. And there is some personal feelings that come into it, that this is an emotional topic for a lot of people. So for me to show up at somebody's house and say, you scored a 35 out of 100, and they're kind of taken back a little bit. And I say, well, here's the proof. Here's some of the issues that we found. It really helps them to start getting into that mindset. So we do the assessment first. We pause. We give them time to digest. And then the second kind of bite at the apple is now that you understand what's wrong, let's start talking about how do we fix that? And, you know, it's not always just throw as much money at it as possible. It's rarely. I mean, it could be right. You know, money, money, you know, go a long way in the preparedness community. But it's what are those things? And it could be very simple things that you can do to really increase your your score, your preparedness. And so we sit with them and then we have that conversation and we start looking at, okay, you're deficient in power, right? You don't have any means to generate power when the utilities go off. Okay, let's start there. That's life critical. What do we need? Maybe you need a generator. Maybe you need a whole home generator. Maybe you need a solar setup. There's so many different options. A battery bank, even just getting some small chargers to charge your cell phone is a start. And so we serve up those options. We literally spell it out for our customers and say, here's all the things you can do from a remediation perspective. And then we try to also serve it up in a way that they can easily handle themselves. It's here's the options, right? Do it yourself. Here's a, as we call it, a guided service. So we can, you know, as you start embarking on that remediation journey, We can be there to help answer questions, make recommendations. There's always lots of questions around. What do I buy? How much is too much? How much is not enough? Right. So we can kind of guide them in that sense. Or we could do a full white glove concierge service where we go out and contract with folks in our community, plumbers, locksmiths, electricians, you name it, home security companies. And we say they are the professionals. Let me contract with them. They will show up and take care of your needs for you professionally. I love that. I love that sort of three-tier option for people because I think that varies. That really varies, right? And that's probably the biggest and scariest part of taking on a preparedness consult is, is this guy going to hit me with a $ 30, 000 bill? You know what I mean? Is what he. It's just the unknown. It's the unknown in the beginning. It's the unknown for the service. It's the unknown at the tail end. And then I think people's biggest concern is like, you know, how, how do I know I'm going to be ready, you know, in the face of it all. So I think you're doing a great job in terms of transparency, where people are falling short or could use improvement and then giving them that, particularly that DIY option, right? We figured this out. Now you can handle it if you want to handle it. Absolutely. Absolutely. And look, you know, across nine pillars, oftentimes what happens is customers are really strong and maybe one or two, they're kind of middle of the road and a few of the others, and then maybe one or two are really deficient. And so we try to look at it from that perspective as well. That's awesome. What do you have in terms of, maybe we could visit your website real quick. If people want to sort of get their hands on more resources about Cause you have a, you do have a free resource, right? On the resources page of secureadvisors.com, there's a pretty nifty calculator that's at the top of the page. And that was just, you know, again, another way for us to kind of give back to folks who are interested to answer some of those foundational questions. How much food do I need for me and my family? You know, including pets. How much fuel do I need? How much water do I need? You know, the good thing is the water examples is perfect. I'm kind of going back to FEMA, right? I think FEMA put out many, many years ago, one gallon of water per person per day. And I'm seeing that kind of pulling through the lexicon now. A lot of people have finally, after a decade or two decades, started to understand, okay, one gallon of water for me, one gallon of water for, you know, every other person in my house. So it's sticking it we're, we're getting there. Um, but that calculator is kind of meant to take it to that next level, um, where you can easily do a quick calculations on how much you need, what do you have and what should you go out and maybe procure? Very cool guys. So you have, you got water, food, power, fuel. Yes. Yes. Power, power can be tricky. Um, again, especially if folks are Um, maybe, you know, uh, in, in the aftermath of an event, they, they run out or they go on Facebook marketplace and they buy a generator and some gas and they think they got it. But if your generator is not sized appropriately, um, or if you plug in too many things, uh, it's, it's not going to work for you. Right. So just understanding, I have a fridge, I have a freezer, I have a couple of lights, cell phones, you know, whatever it might be. Um, this tool will help you determine what size, um, generator you might need just as one example. Yeah, this is nice, man. This is well done. The power is, it's a hard one for people to understand. You know, it's just like, these are the things that I want to be able to turn on. Right. And then to understand, you know, this is my need. That's really good. Yeah. Yeah, that's powerful. What else? The other one here, fuel. Fuel is going to be a big conversation piece, I think, going forward. I think products like Stabil and those kinds of things are going to be really, And, you know, what I would love to see the average person get into is kerosene more often. I think kerosene got a real bad name in the 90s. And, man, it's a way better product now. And as long as you take pretty small precautions, you can have an off-grid heating system that is, you know, the 18,000, 20,000 BTU floor stand heaters are, kerosene heaters are, I mean, they're amazing. The rooms that they will heat up. And I'm not saying it becomes your, your HVAC substitute day in and day out, but the power goes out, man, that thing works. You know, when your family is looking at you and going like the fireplace sucks, dad doesn't work because it doesn't, you know what I mean? It's not great or not as good as you think. Right. Yeah, absolutely. Even, even, you know, to simplify one step further from there, a good old fashioned wood burning stove or a pellet stove, just, something you can, you know, go in the backyard, grab some, you know, twigs out of, uh, or, or logs or firewood if you have it and, and keep yourself warm that way. Right. So, um, so sometimes it's about comfort and sometimes it really could be about survivability, life and death. We, we certainly don't want people. Um, and we saw this happen in Texas a couple of years ago when they got that ice storm down there, you know, people literally froze to death in their home. Yeah. That's silly. I mean, you shouldn't, you know, that's not something, like I said, these, You could probably get one of these PBN. I've talked about these for years. So if you're new, you're hearing about it now. But if not, you can get one of these heaters for under 200 bucks. You know what I mean? And go get your blue container, your kerosene filled up. And like I said, you don't want to huff kerosene fumes all winter long if you don't have to. But if the power goes out, there's just no reason not to crack the window, get everybody in a room, and warm the place up so you're not freezing to death. Absolutely. It's a huge difference maker. I mean, I've seen those things in action. You know, there's some, they're the best. Let's not confuse people. This tower kerosene heaters are put out, they have the most heat output. I mean, they're so powerful, you can't even... you could probably cook on the thing if you had to you know what i mean warm soup up they're so hot. I bet i bet i mean me personally i i uh i just went out um and got one of those mr buddy heaters um that connects to a propane tank right so to your point. Oh yeah yeah the multiple. Sources right having natural gas, having wood, having propane. That's really what this is all about. It's helping to build redundancy, increase confidence. So I know if the natural gas, God forbid, goes out to my house, I have alternate ways to heat my home and keep my family warm. Have you seen those diesel heaters? Diesel is too damn expensive right now, but I've seen the diesel units that sit, PBN family, if you haven't seen them, outside the outside the house and then the eggs not the exhaust the heat goes in into the window and uh i bet they work because diesel works oh yeah not probably not my first choice because of the price of diesel right now and they're not cheap but they'll get the job done i bet they look pretty cool they're worth looking into absolutely i don't know the whole story on the exhaust system so i don't know how clean what's coming into the house is i mean it's not like going to kill you but it might kill you if you don't vent it out properly i'm not sure so do your own research but i just saw those last week they sort of built for residential and i was like oh that's kind of cool i might look into one of those. Yeah yeah carbon monoxide uh detectors are your friends and. Oh yeah yeah highly and they're cheap man they're dirt cheap absolutely you know they're dirt cheap you can power them with the nine volt battery you don't even have to you know if the power's obviously if you got a That's one thing people probably make that mistake, right? They buy a plug-in carbon monoxide beater, and the only time you use it is when the power's out. Exactly. It's not beeping. Yeah, it's like having all the canned food and no can opener, right? There you go. That's it. Yeah, that's a good one. Yeah, so, I mean, I think we've entered a new phase, Michael. I really do. I think we've reached a point in American history where whether it's homes, I think what it is is there's just a lot of in-routes now. You know, when I first got into preparedness almost 20 years ago, it was like, didn't feel like there was a lot of in-routes. It felt like if you were, if you lived in the country, if you were former military, then you could settle into this sort of survivalist prepper thing. And maybe you can make a difference for your family doing it. I felt really weird not being a veteran, not having any, any experience outside of fishing. You know what I mean? With the woods at large. I felt real weird joining this group. And, uh, what it feels like now is like, it's a party and all the doors are open. So you might as well come in, you know, and get to know it, get to know some people. You had a good time, I think. Yeah, it's, it's a good time. I'm happy people are taking this a little bit more seriously. The, uh, you know, the, the, um, halo, I guess you would say, or the stigma is probably the better word, the stigma around preparedness and being a quote unquote prepper isn't what it used to be, you know, even. Yeah, definitely not. And so I'm glad to see it's in the mainstream. There's, you know, daily coverage about preparedness. I just, you know, with the backdrop of everything happening in the world and how fragile I think our grid system is, our supply chain systems. There's so many things that are interdependent on each other. And it's very fragile. And I think once people, and they are starting to wake up to the realization that, that it might not take much for life to change pretty substantially, you know, in a very, uh, very quick manner. Yeah, no doubt about it, man. Yeah. It is, uh, we're in a moment of immense change, you know, it's what it is. I mean, we might be in the, the most, the most change in any moment in history is unfolding right now, but it's hard to see it because you're in it. You know what I mean? It's like, when we look back on it, we'll be like, oh, that was all happening, you know what I mean, at the same time. And this is what happened on the other end. We don't know what happens on the other end. So it's still kind of hard to, you know, diagnose. But, yeah, and everyone should understand that and reckon with that. I think that's what the preparedness peak is right now. I think it's people understanding, like, I need some stability underfoot because the old stuff is getting a little rickety, you know. What we used to stand on don't seem like it might hold me anymore. That's right. It's a new world. I mean, we saw the Pentagon come out just a couple of weeks ago and their fortress program. So that is, you know, I think a key indicator that, you know, certainly the government's had plans in place for a while. But the fact that they're undertaking what they they're trying to do with fortress publicly announcing it, you know, that's encouraging individuals to really think about being self-reliant, untethering yourself from some of these networks, um, power, water, whatever it might be, um, for when, if, and when it does fail, uh, that you have a plan. And so again, similar to when, when secure home advisors was started and we tried to apply some of those, uh, FEMA principles. Yeah. Fortress is another, you know, really recent tangible example of, you know, them looking at where are they deficient, where are they vulnerable and some of those vulnerabilities. Yeah. That's huge. And, you know, I think that, you know, for long-term happiness, folks, and sort of long-term prosperity in a time like this, you probably should, and I say it on this show all the time, you probably should be slowly making your way off the grid to a level that is comfortable for you and your family. You know what I mean? But as Dave Jones says, establish a position and improve upon it daily because that'll get you there. You know, little steps will get you there and you'll be able to say to yourself, like, okay. We have X amount of kilowatts of energy coming into the house that we don't need the grid for at all. But we didn't have to invest, you know, $ 35, 000 in solar panels. You know, you can get there incrementally. And Michael Lauer from Secure Home Advisors can help you, right? We'd love to help. We'd love to help. If any of the listeners are in the Metro New York, New Jersey area, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Delaware, you know, I'm happy to take a trip out. We'll spend a day together. I'll walk around your property. we'll have a conversation about preparedness and security. And it's really all to help you and your family just feel more confident when the times come. That's great, man. And if people want phone consultation around the country, around the world, you'll take that too, I'm sure. Absolutely. Absolutely. I'm available. Our model is consultative, right? So it's tapping into me, tapping into folks, including yourself, James, right? And the broader community, I I do think that's one of the great things about the preparedness community is there's so much camaraderie. There's ownership, but it's not like, you know, I'm competing with 90,000 other people and it's all about money. You know, I think we're all in it together to just lift each other up together. So, you know, with that mindset, absolutely happy to help. Beautiful, man. Well, thank you so much for joining us this morning and best of luck out there. PBN family. If you're looking for somebody to trust on the consulting side, Somebody who has clearly thought this thing out. Hey, even if you want to hop on the website and check out the free calculator, give it a run. And that is securehomeadvisors.com. And go to the resources section to get that. Michael, thank you so much, man. You were great. Thank you, sir. It's a pleasure. And look forward to talking again soon. Thank you. Definitely. See you, man. Bye-bye. EBN family, when's the last time you thought about reparentness? Not preparentness, but reparenting. Repair it-ness. That's what YouFixedIt.ai is all about. Repair it-ness. 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