Latest / Fractional Frequency / Hardcore Inventing: Resilience, Survival, and the Science of Life
Transcript
- Billie Tienda: Well, we are so excited to dive into a candid conversation with Rob Janover, a distinguished scientist, inventor, and adventurer. With a PhD in volcanology and geochemistry, Dr. Janiver's background spans deep sea exploration, extreme sports, and high-stakes innovation. Leading him to invent military approved survival gear now used on all manned SpaceX flights and international fighter jets. His technology content has generated over fifty-seven million views on YouTube, and he was featured on Shark Tank season eight. So this conversation will be candid and we will explore his philosophy of hardcore inventing, his unique business strategy, and some stories of personal resilience. So without further ado, welcome Rob. Hi. Thanks, Aaron. Thanks, Amy. Great to be here. Yeah. Great to be here. We are so excited to get into your story. We had a ton of fun in our discovery meeting. So hopefully that can carry through into the conversation today. To kick us off, tell us a little bit about who you are and most importantly, what is that orange plastic sheet in the background? Okay, I'm Doctor Rob Yonover. I'm a scientist and inventor. I'm from Honolulu, Hawaii. And I worked on ⁓ my PhD's on submarine volcanoes off Galapagos. I got to go down in the man's submersible two miles deep. I surf big waves, I fish in rough water, so I found myself always on the edge of dying. So I invented some survival gear. And what you see behind me is my sea rescue streamer, a locating device when you're lost at sea. 'Cause when you're lost or in the mountains, 'cause your head's so small, if you're lost in the sea, you're like a floating coconut or in the mountains you're a rock. And they have flares and smoke and sea dye, but it all goes away. This is a good way to mark your spot. It's just a little orange line right to you. Rolls up and fits in your pocket. And the military, the navy loved it 'cause it was passive and discretionary. You put it out, you can go to sleep while it's working for you. Like unlike a flare, smoke or die which goes away. And if the wrong guy comes around, if the enemy comes around, you can pull it in and then redeploy it. I don't know if that's your listeners, but for the civilian people. And We're always gonna out of trouble in corporate America. Exactly. And just you wanna be lost. I always tell people it's don't give it to someone if you care for them and want ⁓ to come home. If you don't want ⁓ to come home, don't buy it. So and it's just you know, it's just a simple device. I'm a I'm really big on innovation. I'm really big on thinking like a child and being creative and biomimicry, mimicking nature, 'cause nature has all the ideas after evolution. Assuming you believe in evolution, which is statistically likely. So anyway, it's been a a crazy ride. I mean, I invented it before you guys were alive, so in the eighties. So it's been a long ride. But my whole strategy is to play the long game, you know, because a lot of people try to rush to build businesses, but the truth is if you rush to build it, it most likely will fail. You'll put put too much money in and you won't get the traction you need and and to get that traction it takes twice as long, I mean, and twice as much money. So my game is the long game, which is don't quit your day job so you can quit your day job. So you keep keep just chipping away, chipping away, knowing that I don't have to make money in this because I do something else for money. And and in the background, and a lot of people don't understand how much time you really have. If everyone would just put their phones down and stop scrolling and take out their calculator and times twenty four by seven, it's a hundred and twenty eight. That's how many hours a week. So if you work forty hour job, you still have eighty eight hours left. If you sleep forty hours a week, that's still forty eight hours left. So you have a whole nother job to do a job on the side. So that is of value. And of course you need time to do recreation and relax, but still. There's plenty of time if you really want to go for it. Well, first of all, thank you so much for saying that I wasn't born in the eighties. That's very nice. Thank you. And second of all, do you think when you are creatively minded and inventing is something that you're passionate about, do you think the balance of having like a job so you don't have to worry about the money helps with creativity? Or do you think people should Like and I think I I can tell what you were gonna say, but do or do you think they should just like throw themselves into inventing if they're just really passionate about something? When's the cut off question. I think in terms of creativity, you wanna be relaxed and open. So the actual inventing, you should not have any pressure on you. I mean I like pressure. I do what I call flash inventing and I give myself five minutes to invent a solution to something. It may lead to something or not, but I do that a lot when I'm in Like if I'm twenty miles out fishing really rough water, I start thinking about contingencies. What if this happens and this happens? What do I have at hand in the boat? What can I do? So that's an exercise for me, but it's still relaxing. I don't have to make it work because I'm not in the emergency situation. I'm just fantasizing. Yeah. But on the business side, it may be y you want to be serious and focused. People get me wrong, I think, that they think I just go la di da, la di da, kind of skipping through the natural world, thinking about inventing. That that may be true for a while, but when it comes down to work, I feel like I outwork everyone. And I mean and the longevity, I outwork everyone forever. And I'm still doing it. I'm gonna do it till I die. So it's kind of a mixed question, but I think clearly for the creativity part, you want your mind open and and even for the business to succeed. Why put the pressure on yourself? You know, and some people it takes longer to do certain tasks. You never wanna be up against the clock. Unless you're a pressure performer and I I do like pressure, I like tests my whole life. But most people aren't really like that. It becomes your passion, you know. If you like to invent or create, you really shouldn't have to make money from it, right? 'Cause if it's kinda like if you mix the two, it might not become fun anymore. And that's why you have to kind of keep that leisurely pace and openness and inquisitiveness and open in nature to trying to think of solutions. And and even business solutions. It doesn't have to be just an invention. You have to invent your way out of problems. We're all inventors. Every problem we have every day, you're using your mind to think of creative solutions to solve it. We just don't call ourselves inventors necessarily. But I think I absolutely and I mean it it's critical. And even in the military, if you read their number the survival manual in the military, you know what the number one tool is for any any survival mission? Guys, you're carrying it right now, your brain. So that that's the most important thing. So a lot of people rush to do work and to think of things, but it's sometimes it's good to just relax and kind of think first. I like to make lists. I'm very much analog style, you know. I'm on I'm into a piece of paper and writing. I think there's something about creating your connecting your mind to your pen, to the brain, you know, when you're writing and touching things. So I think that that really helps me. So I like to make lists. So if I have a great idea, I just put I just put it down on a piece of paper. Then I didn't lose it, but then it's in the vault and I can keep going to the next thing. I don't want to keep having to keep track of things. So that that's another thing I think is very useful for me at least. Yeah. I mean for for you guys in the phone generation, you know, maybe send an email to yourself or something. I mean I don't know. It's funny 'cause like I'm the eld gal on the team and I'm the only one that doesn't use a notebook. Like everybody else loves their little notebooks and writing things out. Not me. I it honestly it's bad. It's bad. Like if when I have to write birthday cards or thank you cards or something, I'm like I gotta practice writing. Like this I know. ⁓ you probably didn't take we took cursive in elementary school. no, just even but I can't write and my my writing's horrible and it's just you can't even read it. It's almost like a code to myself. I have a overlapping security system built into all my writing is which is no one can read. Privacy screen high tech. Yeah. Take take us through the you have the idea for life saving invention. Sure. W how long between like, okay, I've got this idea when you're like, okay, this this was a good one. Okay, well I could just give you the in the year. Nineteen eighty five, I thought of it, flying on a little plane in between the islands here. But I didn't know how to make I knew I wanted a long piece of plastic. I knew I wanted plastic. Because I knew that they're not gonna see it. So I need to make my head a bigger target if this little plane goes down. A couple of weeks later I flew to Florida and Christo, the artist, have you heard of him? Mm hmm. He wrapped these islands in pink plastic. And we banked a turn before we landed at the airport and I saw him from the air, I'm like, ⁓ my God. That's it. Took me years to figure out I don't know if you can see it, there's a little white spreader bars in here. So and again, mimicking nature, it's like a centipede or a caterpillar. It's segmented, so it's strong. It won't twist up or curl up in the water or the wind. And that was the breakthrough. And I was actually teaching ⁓ oceanography a few years later and I stole some of the pipettes from my lab class and I glued them to a piece of plastic. That was the first one. So that not right there is a couple of years. But then it wasn't until like five years later that I was working for this other inventor that invented the smoke in the cockpit system and he ran out of money, couldn't pay me anymore. And I said, Let's bring this in, the C rescue streamer and goes, I don't even like that idea. Okay. So he freed me to go work on it. And then I was just scrambling with day jobs, but continually working on it and Back in the old days, yeah, I don't know if you guys have heard of a fax machine, you know what that is? Well, the other funny thing about it was in Hawaii the long distance calls were cheaper after eleven. So eleven ⁓ one every night I would send mass faxings. I I I it was like a because I'm a fisherman, I would send out a hundred faxes. And I had again back to the non internet days, there was a thing called Bacon's Publicity Checker. It had the list of all the editors of all the magazines and newspapers all over the country. And also there was the ⁓ World Aviation Directory, which had a list of all the militaries and generals and congressional people and companies. I'm pretty sure I think it it's probably online now, but these were these massive books and I would go to the library and just write fax numbers. Wow. I didn't even care who was mean or a name. I had a name. So maybe I didn't even have a name. I just So I go at eleven o'clock, I would just start going one page. Send the same page over and over. A true press release. It's like an old timey newspaper. So I sent out a hundred and the Miami Herald took a nibbled on it and they wrote me back and then I happened to be going to Miami for a family visit and they wrote an article about it. And That was the first article. So what did I do? I took that article and I sent that out a hundred times. And I keep doing that. Now thirty years later, forty years later, I'm doing it with you guys. I'm sending out a release to get a podcast to get more free press. My brother was a marketing advertising guy. He goes, Listen, editors are sitting on their ass every day wondering what to write about. You need to tell them. And it's true, but it's not now, it's more like what are you gonna podcast about or what are you gonna write about online or social media. It's not truth into the magazines. Truthfully, in the early days, to impress people, I would take my book. Because I got I got on every magazine almost in the world outside magazine, men's journal. I even got it in Playboy. I mean my my book was so fat I couldn't even take it around. But it was impressive. And you know this and on the military side I would send it to guys and they were kind of interested. And then one aide of the Coast Guard, he worked for the Navy, I think. He was a he was a Coast Guard rescue swimmer that worked for the Navy. And he goes, This looks interesting. Send me a sample. So I sent it to him and ended up in the Navy testing it and approving it. That was the first approval. The Navy approved it, called it only passed the discretionary system. I took that approval and sent that for years to everyone until I got all the military to approve it. And even now I just came back from our big trade show. I'm part of an international survival group from all over the world. These guys come over and part of my pitch is showing all the approvals. Because, you know, there's nothing better than third party endorsement. I mean, first of all, I didn't have any money for advertising anyway. But it was free and someone else, a third party, wrote about it that isn't like my cousin or someone I paid. So it was like a greatest endorsement you can have. Yeah. So it's been tested all over the world and it just keep going. And then my whole strategy was licensing back in the old days. And I did it. I pulled it off. I licensed it for fifteen years and got guaranteed royalties for a company here in Hawaii. And they flew me all over the world and we built the company. We we had a lobbyist, that was another angle we used that was good, and it led to the fighter pilot version that pops out automatically in case the fighter pilot didn't. injured or unconscious. I that's in some of the F sixteens now all over the world. And it just the the license ended like after a year fifteen. That in itself. If you ever talk to people that have licensed ideas, ask them how long the license end lasted. Mine lasted fifteen years, which is unbelievable. Most of them last like a year or two. Why why don't they last very long normally? Well, because neither party is happy. The sales aren't big enough To generate money for the company and the royalties aren't big enough for the inventor. The way I wrote it, another thing is I invent within inventing. So I invented with my attorney, she helped me write this profit sharing licensing agreement, which w paid me guaranteed royalties and and gave them virtual ownership. So it became like we were partners, even though we weren't technically. We were as long as they kept paying the royalty. So they were always incentivized to keep paying the royalty and I was living I mean, it all coincided with my wife getting sick, which is a whole other story. But what happened is I was getting the inventor's dream mailbox money. And you go to the mailbox, there's the check every month. It was awesome. They we kept building the company and they didn't want to back out because they were sixty forty percent owners if we sold the whole thing. That's how it was designed. So We kept building it, then by year fifteen I I offered them an extension, but they didn't want to keep paying the royal the guaranteed royalty. And I figured out that no one likes paying guaranteed royalties. I mean it's very rare because they want to pay on performance. But the problem with performance is then it's up to them to perform and not just sit on it. What's their incentive if they just don't have to pay me in unless they sell a thousand units? If they sell a hundred units It's a negligible payment. So by having to pay a guaranteed minimum, it put us both on notice. That's why it lasted fifteen years. And then when it ended, I tried to find another license. This is like ten years ago. And I was not having luck. People want everyone wanted a license, but no one wanted a guaranteed license. So finally the guy that makes my big wave surfboards on the North Shore said to me goes, I was telling him my dilemma and he goes, you know. Do you know how to make ⁓ I go, Yeah, I invented how to make ⁓ He goes, why don't you make ⁓ yourself and keep all the money? Ding ding ding. So I I you know, I did that. I mean I contract people when I need ⁓ but I'm very hands on. I have to sign off on everyone anyway. I 'cause this is a piece of survival gear. This can't be a shoddy piece of equipment. It has to work every time. Someone's life is on the line. So I've been running it myself now and it's really it's really fun. I mean and the other thing is for fifteen years everyone thought I owned the other company. 'Cause they sent me all over the world which it well it was still my technology, but they thought I owned the company. So now thirty years in, I'm like an old guy with the military. They just gave me a life member award for the survival group I'm with, you know. I'm a fellow with them too, which is all this cool stuff. Yeah. Because I'm playing the long game. I'm I'm the tortoise versus the hare. So it it's really It's been a crazy journey and I think that you know, I don't know how useful is that is for other people, but at some aspects of it, it's strategically good things. Yeah. So where in that journey did Shark Tank pop up? Very much near the end. It's only seven or eight years ago. That was like three years into having a license myself having the license come back. If I'm running it myself, they got a cattle call in Waikiki at a hotel. You know, people think I knew someone to get on the show. No. I went I I ⁓ pursued it like a surf trip, which is a surf like go to the north shore, get up early, go. 'Cause I didn't want to sit in the parking lot with four hundred people in a line in the hot sun. So I got up at five in the morning. So I was seventh in line out of four hundred people. Not that that mat it doesn't matter for how No, but it's good for you that you don't have to wait there all day. I was fresh and my line was still in the hotel. So I got in there, I did my pitch. At this point I was a savvy inventor and speaker and I had all that military thing had already saved lives, it's very visual, I'm good on my feet, so I kept getting check, check, check. And then three months later you send ⁓ videos and keep I just made every hoop they put in front of me until I went to LA and it's ironic, but it's kind of what we're talking about, which is I don't like set pieces. And the original Shark Tank producer, my producer said you gotta memorize your pitch. I guess they do that because people get so nervous and they just freak out. So what I did was I did it and I pitched the producers the day before they were gonna film and then did my question and answer. They go, Yeah, we love the question and answer, but you were a little stiff on the you know on the pitch. I go, Yeah, that's because my producer made yes, she made me ⁓ memorize. I'm not a good memor. I I read the audience. I change on the fly. And they all forget that and she looked at me, she goes, You gonna have to, I go okay. And then they freed me up and that was very freeing. So and they knew right when they said that and they saw what I did in the question and answer, they're like, Okay, this guy's fine and it was a visual product, so it really it just all came together. So it was a crazy experience and I I don't know if you've seen the show but or the show or my segment, but it was it was just it was it was really fun. ⁓ I mean it was a lot of pressure. I wouldn't say it was totally fun. I mean I was older, I was as old as any of them, which was interesting. And I came in, I had certain strategies that I used, like Dr. Rob, I wanted a simple name with my PhD title first so they had respect for me. Just certain things I did were very strategic, just the way I presented it and I I unfurled the streamer down the hallway and they said, Who do you want to do that with? And you know, who do you want to demo with? Mr. Wonderful, you know, he's like the Simon Cowell of the show, right? Yeah, he's an asshole. So, you know, I mean he he's not in real life, but on the show. Right, and he's good at it. He's good at being an asshole. So I'm like, okay, I'm picking him. And I also knew he was short, I knew he was bald, and I knew when I took the streamer from him, when he took it from me, I knew I could look down on his bald head on national T V. I thought For all the people he gave shit to, that was a big deal. And then he rolls down the hallway and immediately going they're going, Keep going, get lost, they're making fun of ⁓ It just all worked out well and and that that was a good thing. And realistically, it's me against five people that are trying to appear smart. And I'm not selling cookies or some knickknack on Shark Tank. No offense to Shark Tank. And I'm friends with a bunch of people that were on there. We have a little group that we meet once in a while. And It it it just was I think they wanted to impress me with how smart they were, but they couldn't really they they were keeping up sorta. Mark Cuban was really into it. And he he heard I was a volcanologist and I worked on submarine volcanoes and that guy lit up like like he was bored out of his gourd talking to people about cookies and stuff on Shark Tank. So he just wouldn't leave me alone about my scientific background. And even Mr. Wonderful at one point said, Stop talking to him about volcanoes. Let's talk about the streaming rows. I can talk to this guy all day. So we kinda hit it off. And he he made me a little uncomfortable because I felt like he was flirting with me, but I don't care. And any at any attention is good attention. He kinda had a little he kinda had a little sparkle in his eye. I don't care. I I'm okay with my sexuality. It didn't really bother me, but it was But they all went out, which was a bummer. But they all liked it. This was the best they all liked it on national T V, all five sharks. This is a great idea, it's gonna save life. That was awesome. I was pissed 'cause I wanted to make a deal, 'cause I wanted to blow the thing up, right? And I just it's okay. And even back to my faxing to get free publicity, there's nothing better than Shark Tank. The way it worked out. I could have looked like an idiot and it would have been horrible. But they replay it on C N B C us Shark Tankers call it the gift that keeps giving. It's been on like a hundred times in the last eight years. And every time do you get calls? Yeah, I mean my ma my Amazon sales, yeah. All the time. Every time. I mean I I have an Amazon rep that takes big orders from me and they stock. So I don't really see every sale every day. I could if I asked them, but I don't want to be a pain in the ass. But I I defin and I get responses. People watch that show all over the world. C N B C is all over. And I've gotten military inquiries from it. Because I I came across professional, it wasn't like a toy. And then, you know, they did ask me at the end, this was really funny, and I I I was really pissed at the end 'cause I felt like they didn't give it a fair shot. They liked it, but in terms of and I made a low ball offer, I value valued it low because I wanted them to I I thought there would be a bidding war. So imagine going in thinking there's a bidding war and then leaving with no one even making an offer. So was really pissed. And they loved it. They take it into a separate room for the final filming and they say, Are you disappointed? I go, Yeah, I'm disappointed. They'd rather invest in cookies than saving lives. ⁓ they and the the crew went crazy. They laughed and dropped their camera. But of course they can't use that. They go, Let's do that again with something we can use. So I said something like, At least everyone will see it and know that it exists and maybe it'll save life. I don't know what I said. You can see it. Even since then I got picked up just randomly. There are people that just pick up Shark Tank clips. It's illegal for me. I signed a big agreement with Sony Pictures and ABC and S Shark Tank. I can't publish anything but one little picture they gave me. That's it. I can't even say as seen on Shark Tank because I didn't get a deal. So I mean I can say it, but I can't like advertise it on my booth. But these third party people, hacker types, they pick up my pitch. And they put it on TikTok like four years ago. And someone I said no said, Hey man, you're on TikTok. I go, I don't even have a TikTok account. I go on there, I got sixteen million hits, which was the funniest thing. And then two years later, my son in law goes, Hey, you're on YouTube. I go, What? I mean, I I'm on it for other things because yeah, your Shark Tank things on someone picked it up and sure enough it got fifty eight million hits. I just kept watching it, going, Okay, it's got six million, five, ten million, fifteen million And I kept copying it 'cause I knew I kept copying the screen and at first I said to my friend, ⁓ look, I got a million hits and they go, No, you idiot, that's a million likes. She got twelve million hits, twelve million views. I I don't know what I'm doing at least to some regard. So and it was funny, the stuff that was some people this one guy wrote, ⁓ this guy's my hero. He he made a million dollars with a fruit roll up which is funny. And at the time I was a widower and I was dating. And my w the one guy wrote, he goes, ⁓ man, this guy went out with my mother. And I'm like, What? Which I which was funny. And then the other the best comment was someone wrote, I should have kept these. He wrote, This is the most confident guy I've ever seen on Shark Bank. And that was my favorite one. It's not up anymore 'cause it's illegal, but there were like thousands of comments and it was fun to read through ⁓ They were mostly positive. I mean the fruit roll up was still my favorite one. Hilarious. Yeah. So so you know, but it was a risk. You get up there and these guys are trying to act smart and they they did go out, so I could have looked bad, but that was just a massive amount of pressure. The other thing that that was funny was right after the episode aired, I didn't know it was gonna air but till two weeks before and the season was almost over. They finally say, Okay, you made it, you're gonna be on the second to last episode. So and I went back to Florida just by chance I was going there, I was with my parents who and and my buddies and so were watching it, you wouldn't all the other three this is unbelievable. You know, in an hour they have four contestants. Yeah. And the other three all got funded. And okay, so you ready to hear what they were? It was like a it was like a cup with a top on it, like you put your coffee in. It was just a sippy cup for one. Yeah, it was like a tumbler. They were stupid. But they got funded. And then The guy that had a backpack that's hard to cut into. But you could still cut it. It was kind of like a secure you could go swimming and lock it somewhere. Like, I don't know. Have you tried a good knife? You know? He got fun he got funded. And then the end all of this shame that I had to live with still to this day. If you go watch the episode, season eight, episode twenty two. Okay. The final one that got funded, which was the ⁓ booty pants. These like yoga pants yoga pants that push your ass up. That all three of those got funded and I didn't. There was a little bit of an outroar on social media. You guys are in it. You didn't invent invest in saving lives, but you're investing in booty pants and wine sippy cups. It's in it's still embarrassing. But you know what? Yeah, it's fine. And you know what? In retrospect, first of all first of all, they won't let you on the show if they know you want to do it just for the press. Right? So And I didn't. I generally wanted a deal. But looking every day past and I didn't get a deal, I'm like, geez, I'm glad I didn't. Because the three months leading to the to the filming was so much paperwork and videos. They were just bugging the hell out of someone else was calling from Shark Tank. All it's all these aids that they have to make sure you filled out this form, that form. So what do you think? If Mark Cuban invested Mark Cuban's not calling me going, Hey man, let's party, come on my jet. It would be some thirty year old kid working in his office, bugging me about where my office is and why I'm not going to a trade show in in El Paso. Whatever. So in retrospect, I'm glad I didn't get funded, really. I don't want to move from Hawaii. I don't wanna go to any trade shows I don't wanna go to and and plus when you have an ⁓ owner investors, I tell this to a lot of start up people. Everyone's always looking for money. I think that's a bad idea. I'd rather do the day job, use your own money, your own time. Because once you have a partner, there's expectations, there's potential for fighting, infighting, and ultimately the worst part of all that is there's a large propensity to blow the whole thing up and say, We'll just sell the patents and I knew I have all these inventions, but I knew the streamer invention was the winner forever, the rest of my life, saving lives. meet people at saves, it's great. And I'm like, I'm not letting go of this. And even the license agreement that I wrote with my attorney had a provision that I used that says, at the end, it all comes back to me if you don't want it anymore. And that you see, that's why it keeps living. And that's an important thing. Once you take investors, even after Shark Tank, people are calling me, even now when it airs, I always get an email, hey man, I got money for you. I'm like, I don't want your money. And and my brother came up with a good line, which was I don't want your money. I want your Rolodex. And I mean, again, that may not go with the younger audience. Rolodex kids. But it's true. I mean, ⁓ Mark Cuban, that's what they said the the reason they went out was like, ⁓ you you know so much with the military, you have all this experience, we can't help you. I'm like, I don't need you to help me. I need you to call someone to get a meeting for me with a congressional or a he a general or an admiral or someone or or whatever high profile PR. I'm all about PR. They want to make money fast. And this wasn't going to make money fast and and that's where we were. So is that really like how they judge the deals on Shock Tank? They want that like quick profit turnaround? Well, quick andor large. And I have a couple friends that have become multi-millionaires and they're cool, they're still down to earth with me. But I still wonder, and even after meeting Mark Hugh and all these guys, how much is enough? I mean, what your kids, kids, kids are gonna be millionaires. What do you care? But it it's a game. It's not just the money. And and it's like they keep have to validate themselves as players. And you know, for me, I do that in other ways. I don't need to make a lot of money. And these guys I yeah, I just did I couldn't comprehend. This was a shock to me, how once I explained this to them And tell them we can save thousands of people's lives and how great it feels when they thank you that didn't register. They didn't care. And that is just such a sad indictment of the greedy, not that they're greedy, but just the mentality of money first, profit first. Yeah, it's the culture. It definitely. Yeah. And that's so that was disappointing. But it all worked out and it was a big risk because I they could have made me look bad. It was it was great and then like I said, it keeps paying off to this day. It's ⁓ and the only negative is now you look at my face. I mean it was eight years ago and I went I was in the hair and makeup trailer, you know, they made me pretty. I you know, I've never had makeup on or until that day. Yeah, glam scored to the best. I I couldn't believe it. ⁓ even afterwards I I I go back to the hotel I they send you to the Loser Hotel or the Winner Hotel. I went to the Loser Hotel. I still remember looking at myself in the mirror and then touching my hair like kind of stiff. What is this shit in my hair? I gotta take a shower. I don't know how you women do that. Yeah, it's like, what the hell? I mean I've had the little you know, the tapping to get the shape. Yeah. Yeah, the shine. So y shine. I I've had that my whole life. That I understand, but they went even further with the hairspray and just all no I mean it wasn't a lot of makeup, but you know, they were like cutting my nose hairs and I There's more than I've ever had. I you know you you ladies, I feel bad for you. You got lot of work. I mean you don't have to, but a lot ⁓ we have to. Well I have to. I have to. And just just as a little a little interlude in here, ⁓ as much as you say that I don't care about money, no no, you did make a lot of money. Like, let's be clear, like you did make a lot of money successful. Well ⁓ cumulatively, yes. Not not all. Yeah. No, i I mean if you look at the fifteen years of a license I mean yeah, yeah, I mean my licensee made more than I did for a while 'cause I was only getting seven percent of gross sales, whichever's greater. So it was only a couple of years where he's paid me more. But yeah, I I've made money. I I not a lot of money, but it depends h on your scale. But more than that, it bought me independence. I was my own boss, I worked for myself still, working for the my licensee. was able to invent other things. I wrote four books and then my wife became paralyzed with MS while the kids were seven and three in the middle of all this. In fact, right right as the license started really, right right around then, so I was able to take care of her. So that alone was worth having the mailbox money and someone behind me. So yes, I that was worth more than any money because it enabled me To parent my kids, care for my wife and keep running the business and be creative still. Invent other things and write books. So yes, on that scale I'm a multi millionaire more than my millionaire friends. More than Mark Cuban. I'm richer than Mark Cuban, I think, in terms of experience. I do too. And I and I might as well do it 'cause this I have a big announcement. I might as well do it now. It's it's hot off the press. Yes. I said it's awesome. He said it's I don't you may you guys may not know about it, but I'm in the same club that I'll give you the hint, maybe you can guess it. I'll I'll give you five names and you guess what club it is. Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Chuck Yeager, Theodore Roosevelt, Sir Edmund Hillary. You know what what club are you? Some of them are. Yeah. And Sir Edmund Hillary was the first to the North Pole. ⁓ You don't know, but it's called the Explorers Club. It's like one it it's this club in New York City and it's worldwide. It's really hard to get into. And someone called me because of my work, my research as a volcanologist with submersibles and then my invention technology and they called me and said, Hey man, you'd be a great fellow for this organization. I'm like, ⁓ you're kidding me. I'm not I didn't walk on the moon. So they asked me. I thought he was kidding at first, but he they were they were not kidding, and I just found out two days ago that I made it. So Very excited. Congratulations. Thank you. Very excited. I mean, there's one there's one negative, but I got over it, which is I'm very much an animal advocate person. I've been to India, seen tigers and lions and Africa. And the third floor of the clubhouse in New York City has like elephant tusks and leopard skins. You know, in the old days, these guys were on their expeditions, they would hunt and kill things, and I and I'd like to go there and take all the skins away, but I I wouldn't do that. But anyway, I I was I'm against that. Don't get don't get kicked out before you've even gone. ⁓ exactly. I'm not gonna I I I support that guys. If you're listening to me, I love it. They put it in the third floor. Like the public's allowed on the first two floors. It's in New York City. It's been in movies before. I don't know if I have to get a jacket and grow a beard and start smoking a pipe or something. The the third floor you can't go yeah. Anyway, it's a big honor for me. I for it's it's very much historical. I the club started in nineteen ⁓ four. You know, it's a it's a long time ago. And and it's a cool thing. And I think I'm in because they're looking at technology innovation. Bezos and Musk are in it now too. They brought them and yeah. Wow. I don't like they it's risky to mention their names 'cause they're so they political advised people. Yes, I know. They're still they're still innovators. You can't make a flavor of chips without somebody putting a political side. That's true. That's true. And crazy. Like we try we stay. We stay out of all that. Exactly. And me too. I work with the military. I meet all sorts of people from all over the world. And and again, I'm in the survival part of the military business. I save lives, no matter who it is. Our guys, their guys, whoever wants to be saved. So that actually brings me to something that I wanted to ask you, because you mentioned that you Have met some people that's lives have been saved. Yes. And so do you have like a favorite or Well, the problem is that in the military, they don't tell you. ⁓ of course. I don't know how many lives it saved, but two guys did come up to me at a trade show. It was during the Afghanistan war. They said, Hey, their stuff works great, man. It saved me. And I'm like, What do you you I and you could these are like special forces guy or something? I couldn't they're out of beards. I don't know. They go, Yeah, we had to get an extraction. The other thing that's useful, not just when you're lost at sea or in the mountains, you can signal for extraction. So, like in Vietnam, they taught the guys to go to a clearing and light a purple smoke signal. But the Viet Cong figured out that they saw purple, that means a helicopter's coming. So they would shoot the guys and the helicopter. This was better because the streamer can go to a clearing, unfurl it. They see you, get you, and they pull it back. So a couple of guys in Afghanistan got saved from it and they thanked me. And then a local ⁓ skin diver here. One of the big risks in diving is you go down, the boat drifts away. So when he came up, the boat was gone. And luckily he put it on his spear and they saw him. So he thanked me. I'm sure it's saved more people. It's just that and but in both cases I said, Hey, you know, I'm a PR guy. I wanna put I want to be on the news with these guys thanking me and the technology. Yeah. As soon as I said hey, I'm gonna put you on T V or they ran away. Yeah, yeah. Well it's macho too. You don't wanna admit you got lost. And even the male female thing is a tough one. That's why I think on Amazon a lot of our customers are women because they're more safety conscious, believe it or not. Men would rather buy a s extra six pack of beer for their boat or their hiking trip. Women are like What kind of gear do you have? What kind of height of gear? Is your phone chart? You they're they're just smarter. No offense to my male brethren, but I think women are a little more different things most of the time. Right, right. Okay, that's a good political way to say it. Yeah. So but that I truly, truly that was a great feeling when they thanked me for saving their lives. Because you think of an invention and you go through all this hard work for thirty years and You know, you wanna make money from it, but you also want it to work. Yeah. And in in this case, this invention isn't used all the time. It's ready to be used. The Canadian Air Force has it on all their flight jackets. It's ready, but it isn't used till there's an emergency. And when it's used, it's kind of a secret emergency. So it's I don't know how much it's used, like I've said, but it's nice to hear and nice to see that it actually is used. And I know it works, I've been testing it. Yeah, and just think like what are the odds that those guys were at that trade show? And think about how many people are in the secretary. I'm sure it's countless people. Right, and and they're much more ⁓ likely to come up to me and just tell me. Yeah. Instead of send me an email and say I was saved, they're not gonna put anything on paper. That's why they ran when I said, Let me talk about it to the press. They're like, No. No, no. Right. So I I understand that. But it's very very Could you tell me, like, so you've been running it yourself ⁓ now since twenty fifteen, right? So what does your working day look like these days? That's a good question. Well, you know, with the time difference, I get up at all hours of the day. My phone's always on. Your nine in the morning East Coast is my three in the morning. So having been in Hawaii for forty two years, it's just standard that I get three in the morning calls. Not from people I know, but people that I don't know and I and I typically look at the phone. So I do take in the phone calls. But the nice thing is I wake up in the morning at like six and it's already twelve on the East Coast, so I check emails. It used to be very phone centric, now it's very online centric. And even Google you know ⁓ zooming, this has enabled me to have a better life because now I can wait and collect emails and respond as long as I respond in my night, which is three in the morning to them, they wake up to my response. So there's a lot of that and then, you know, fielding orders and I bring in people as I need, my kids help me in different ways. And it's just kind of it's very ⁓ it goes up and down, you know, big order. I'm very busy doing orders with my contracting people and then it ⁓ gets a little slow and I do more marketing and I'm just always kind of trying to stay in touch. The the way I built the business is through reps. So I have reps all over the world. And another great thing about email is the my rep in Singapore doesn't have to call me, they just send me an email. So it's much easier. And Amazon that was something that kind of really blew up a little more out of Shark Tank, which is I got a rep that reps me I'm on Amazon But my rep represents my Amazon. It's another cut, but I don't care. It's much better. And because I have a a trademark, C Rescue, I own that name, you're allowed to have an Amazon store. So I have a storefront so people can be shopping all day, all night, you know, as I sleep, which is an entrepreneur's dream. So I'm basically just putting out fires and seeing what people need. And, you know, it's it's really and again, it's gratifying because Something I created saves lives and people want it. And it's not just Americans, it's people all over. And and I get a kick out of it. And then once a year there's a big annual meeting for all our international military survival groups. I just got back, we were in Alabama, a safe association, it's called, and I'll be in Reno next year. And it's great 'cause I have a booth and I not only do I get to meet new people, but all my a lot of my reps are there. So it's like two birds with one stone. I get to meet with my reps are s on the front lines to sell for me. So it's really useful that way. And I still try to take a break in the middle of the day and surf or paddle. I again I still draw on the mental break in nature to to cleanse your mind and also reload to think of things creatively. And I still I'm trying to be very creative. I'm still inventing. I'm still writing a little and I just wrote a few years ago Like twenty years ago, I wrote all these stories about growing up in Miami. I was a pool boy, which is just funny in itself. And two of my friends out of my crew, one is a major rock star, the guy from Jane's Addiction and the started Lollapalooza. He was one of my he was like my little brother. And my other buddy is like the mayor of Golden Beach, the richest beachfront neighborhood in Miami. So I've got these mega millionaire buddies and I got these crazy stories. So I wrote and I have these books. I have Hardcore Inventing and Caregivers Survival Guide and a Kids Book, Brainstorm Islands, and a Health Book because Hardcore Health because I couldn't afford to get sick taking care of my wife. But the stories I really wanted to tell, I wrote twenty years ago before I wrote any of the books, but I never got ⁓ out 'cause people like, Well, you gotta my co writer said, Well, you gotta throw a murder in there. I'm like, I I don't write fiction. This is no one no one got killed, so Close, but no one got killed. So last year I released like the fifteen best sets of stories on my Facebook and Instagram for free. I don't know. So if you want to read, just go to Rob Yon over on Facebook or Instagram and you can read these crazy stories. And the beauty of this format is you get to use pictures. So each post I had a couple pictures with these stories that are they're like forty, fifty year old stories, but I wrote ⁓ twenty years ago, which which is interesting to read what you wrote twenty years ago. And people say, God, I can't believe you remember that. I go, Yeah, I remembered it not from forty years ago, but twenty years ago when I first wrote ⁓ And I reread them and it was just I still want to do something with those. More more than just that. I I still think that that's my last checkbox. I've got all all my dreams have come true, really. I'm really a fortunate guy. I'm living my dreams so being a surfer in Hawaii. a beautiful family and my kids I just got grandkids now. I really got a charmed life. But I busted ass, you know, and nineteen years of caregiving was in the in there too. Yeah. And the last thing I would like to do is do like a a T V or movie about our pool boy life, which was crazy. I mean you ask your parents or if you guys are parents, if your sixteen year old child you would lend them the car to drive from Miami to New York on a surf trip with three of my derelict. And and I you know, no cell phones. My parents, they really stressed responsibility. The more you show, the more you get. Yeah. And I realized like and I'm my brother, my older brother used to get in trouble all the time. I'm like, he showed me what not to do. I'm like, I don't hassle with my parents all the time. I'm not doing that. And then I had these friends who are really derelicts. I mean, Jane's addiction, the name of the band is heroin, basically. Yeah. My other friend, ⁓ Malali, he OD'd from opioids back in the day. My other friend's like still a pool boy. The other one's a big the hundred millionaires one in the rock star. But anyway, these were not like Harvard, they were not on track to go to Harvard, my friends. In fact, my parents didn't like my friends, but they trusted me because I was responsible, the responsible one. So they lent me the car and I took the one that OD'd, the Rockstar. and the pool boy to New York with with just a map. You know, for for a month. No. No phone. So wait, who is the navigator? You got the way to New York. Who did you trust with the map? Well, I drove back in the day you know what Triple A you know what Triple A is, right? But in the old days you'd go to Triple A and my parents, every every summer, my father built a box on top of the station wagon for all our luggage to go in. And me and my brother and sister were in the back and we drove across the country every summer. It was awesome. It really instilled a travel bug in us that we never got over. That was awesome. And so they taught us how to do it. And they go you go to Triple A back in the day and they had this thing called a trip tip. So you get a big map, but they also had this folding map. And as you go, it folds. You get to this part, you fold so you can see it as you drive. It was manual, it was just a little folder. Yeah. So I got one and they were proud of me because I'm like doing what they they taught us how to travel. I mean, I did it way earlier than I thought and I did it with my derelict friends, but it was I was only sixteen. And in fact, Perry, the rock star's buddy, our destination was Long Island, where his brother lived, New York, to surf. Miami has terrible waves. The waves were like an inch high because the Bahamas blocked the waves. We wanted to surf some real waves and go on an adventure. We drove two days, got to New York, found his house, and he wasn't home. We were gonna kill him. So it was crazy and and just just the whole thing. There's just so many killer stories and that was just one of a hundred crazy stories I've had and I I always wanted to share ⁓ and I've shared some of ⁓ but it's just it was a different time, first of all. But also I grew up with a bunch of characters. We were like cartoon characters. We were caricatures of ourselves. And even Perry, the rock star, before he was singing, he he used to play harmonica. I used to tell him to shut up. But he also could he could draw really well. He was a great artist. And he made this cartoon called Surf Rat. And he was a rat that was a surfer. Yeah. And he he showed us in the station wagon, my car going surfing and they would tie me down and take my surfboard wax. You know, all these crazy stories. Unfortunately he He lost the cartoon, but maybe you could recreate it. Yeah, that would be cool. He didn't like look like he does much surfing. He's still a little. He comes to Hawaii and surfs like little small waves in Waikiki. I used to tell people that I grew up with a rock star that he he took the drug thing further and I took the surfing thing further. He's good now. He you know, but he used to tell me in his heyday of drugging out, mosquitoes would bite him and die. He was pretty crazy. He was out there. But, you know, don't know if you know Jane's addiction or Pornocapyros, his other band. He also started Lollapalooza. He's a hundred millionaire guy himself, living the life deal. So yeah, he is. He's a big deal, and I'm real proud of him. That's awesome. So how often do you go back over to the mainland then? Like I used to go a lot till like COVID. My parents passed away during COVID in their in their nineties and late eighties, so and that was like the last hurrah for me from Miami just because that my sister's still there, but she comes out here I tell my sister that I've been there a hundred and eighty two times and you've been here five times. Okay, so you need to catch up. 'Cause when we had little kids, my late wife's family was from there. We went to h the same high school, even though I I barely knew her. I met her in college. So we would go back two to four times a year. So If you times forty years times four, it's a hundred and six it was a lot of trips. They thought that it was okay to sleep on the floor of a plane. And when they got to college the plane would take off and they would go down and the flight tank goes, What are you doing? They go, We always sleep down here. They go, You can't sleep down there But so but I haven't been back in years really because it's ⁓ bittersweet. I don't want to go And our parents they my sisters they sold the house, so there's less and less to go back for. But I do have a big reunion coming up if they have it for fifty years, which is shocking. And will be very depressing with everyone in walkers and canes. See the funny thing is singer we were like low mid level guys at best in high school. Not even. My buddy that was that's still a pool boy, he was a year older than us and he had like a mustache and a hairy chest and he had a car. I had none of those things. Girlfriends. But we were like lame. So we love going back to the reunion 'cause all the girls come up, Hey, why didn't you ask me out? I go, Hey, you're full of it. You wouldn't even talk to me. So anyway, that was fun. So I'm looking for if it happens, I'm gonna go. I'm you know we're gonna have a little neighborhood reunion, then the high school reunion and then Singer, my buddy that's the mayor, the the the hundred millionaire guy. He's gonna he's got a plane or access and he's got a house in the Bahamas with that bougie Bakers Bay all the rock stars go and what a horrible life. Yeah, well we're gonna I'm gonna go over there. I'm gonna go do that a little. ⁓ you know, I went to his daughter's wedding in Aspen a couple of years ago. It's fun, but again, I don't envy rich people. I've met enough of ⁓ and I it's cool, but they live a very polished life, which is cool. But he also tells me he's got seven people working for him at his house. I'm like, what a hassle. You gotta manage all these people, they're in your face. And when I was doing the caregiving thing There were a hundred and eighty-three people in my house over nineteen years. I was sick of it. Every morning there's someone new in the house. It's just people in your face all the time. Yeah. So different strokes. But we're still all real tight and who's left on a couple of us have died, but we're still still going strong. And Hawaii forever, never leaving home. Absolutely. Forty two years. This is my forty second year. You know what? The the thing was growing up in Miami being a pool boy, everything was like tropical centric. And the irony it was my second pool boy job, but where I met Ken, my good buddy forever, the pool boy guy still. His father was the pool manager at the Waikiki Beach Hotel in Miami. That was one of my first jobs. I'm like and it was so tropical, the tiki hut. Great, I gotta go here. Yeah, it all fit. And then we when you're a surfer, you get surfer magazine. You're thirteen and I'm every picture's Hawaii, beautiful women and Miami was horrible. The waves were one inch and the women were mean. Like I gotta get out of here. And I came to Hawaii and it's the opposite. The women are not swimming in Miami. Don't get me wrong. I can't say that, especially with the reunion coming up, though give me shit. And also I I came to Hawaii married too. I I it's not like I was here looking for women. So but it was just it's just the And I was brought up to be a student of the world and cultures and education. I v that's stress. And Hawaii has all the real deal cultures. All the people live here. You know, every ethnicity lives here. We all pretty much get along. The waves, the trade winds, it's just such a I mean, there's problems here, of course, but I'm not going anywhere and I'm still surfing hard. I'm still totally into it. And the only thing that's slowing me up is just my aging, but I'm still going as much as I can and and I train. You know, it's just like my work. I have to compensate for being older, so I train harder. I paddle two miles a day on a lay down paddleboard. And when I get out a mile, I got a twenty foot string and I do fifty one breath free dives in a row, ten feet down, to train for getting worked on a north shore. I don't want to die surfing. So you have to keep training. So that's kind of where I'm at. And and it's great. Yeah, I'm not going anywhere. I mean I'm going. I I've traveled all over the world. I've been Iceland and India, southern Italy. I've been all over. And I'm still gonna I'm yeah, but yeah, absolutely home. Absolutely. And I'm again forty second year and I'm trying to make well, I'm sixty seven now, so I I figure I'd make a hundred, so I'll be here another thirty three years. So anyone looking for you remind me, Rob, of that s you know the song Don't Let the Old Man In by Toby Keith? I just I I don't think you ever will. I think you're gonna be coming up with ideas and working and just moving and shaking until the day you drop. I'm convinced of it. No, it's absolutely and even even surfing, you know, surfing is a free sport. Anyone can go anywhere. So people are like, ⁓ yeah, you it must be hard keeping up what it must what's it like surfing with guys your age? I go, I'm never with guys my age. They're all young guys. Or no one. I'm usually alone on the North Shore, but South Shore. I'm with my son and a bunch of buddies and now you know everyone calls me uncle and occasionally they'll throw me away just 'cause I'm old. But they have a lot of respect. That good. And but that I like that and and yes, I'm trying not to lose my energy in my head and just keep trying to have projects and keep staying engaged. I mean, use it or lose it across the board. Use it or lose it in your mind, use it or lose it in your body. You know, and l use it or lose it, your creativity. Use it or lose it, your energy level. So every day is full of you know, what's happening today. But I have learned to rest, you know, and and I'm basically even like today, I I didn't surf today or paddle because I wanted to have the energy. You know, I I like to do one big thing a day. So it takes a lot of energy to do what we're doing. Maybe not for you guys, but for me. ⁓ I know. I'm starting to wonder if I've already lost it. No way. You guys have the good energy, man. The other thing is laughing. I mean, laughter is the key. And even I love creativity and it's hard to make people laugh or have someone make you laugh. And that's what I'm always looking for. Interesting, creative people that can make you laugh or think. Anything that is engaging. are also a lot of bad things and the phone is my biggest pet peeve. I hate those things and I like to say that I went on record in two thousand six or seven when the first iPhone came out and everyone thought it was the cat's meow. Yeah. I was the only one I knew that said, no, this is horrible. And I was right, whatever, eleven years ago, I'm more right now. And AI is another thing that's an extension of horrible. Yeah. Even talking to my kid, he goes, Yeah, I go ask Chad. I go, Listen, idiot. Don't ever tell me you said you may have asked that idiot But don't tell me you asked them to talk to me. It's so embarrassing. And everything is make us fatter and lazier. That's my biggest problem. Right? Push a button, here comes the food. Push a button, it'll write something. Push a button. Did you ever see Idiocracy? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, that was ironically in O six also when the iPhone came out. And they nailed it. And it's scary how close they're getting. It is. So one thing I'm trying to do, my kid, my son had grandkids, so now I have grandkids. And I got this crazy dog who I didn't know was as crazy as he would be. But I had a my son had a rottweiler in college and I took it over. And then he passed away. And the day he passed away, my friend, while I was surfing on the North Shore, I said, Where'd you get your Rottweiler? And he told me, So I got this Rottweiler, but this Rottweiler's father has his own YouTube site, TK Gladiator. Just and the first Rottweiler was from America, from Colorado, when my son went to college. This one is like from Serbia. You know, he's the most beautiful, nicest dog to me. But he's ultra protective. To me, to the house, and anyone that gets nearer me. And so I I don't want to take these little grandkids around because even his tail could hurt them. Yeah. So what it forced me to do, ironically, is when I go and get ⁓ I don't take ⁓ to my house. My nickname used to be Uncle Punishment 'cause I'm I really don't like kids. They're assholes. But they like me. So and it's the same with these grandkids. It's like, okay, instead of Uncle Punishment, no electricity grandpa. I take to parks, the ocean, the beach, anywhere in nature and we just work with leaves, grass, dirt, whatever. And I just watch them from a distance play with other kids and it's fantastic. It's just I want to bring them up in the old school and I live in a little townhouse neighborhood where they can run around and just ride their bike. No phones. And I I really feel bad for kids today. And and it's not really their fault. It's not. The phones are horrible. It's so hard. It's hard work now for parents to give their children an authentic childhood. Because there's too much information, there's too many shiny things that keep them just staring at the screen. But we were just having this conversation the other day, Erin and I, 'cause Erin lives in this gorgeous little cul-de-sac. Like it's all your traditional like neighborhood kids running around. They're all covered in dirt, jumping in puddles, there's goats running around. And I was like, you know, you have done the impossible that in twenty twenty six you're giving your kids a real childhood. Yeah, that's that's awesome. Good for you. But but again They she still has middle school and teenage years to come. I'm assuming. I don't know what age they are, but it's all about the phone. And and fortunately in the world, people are catching on. They're starting to ban social media for certain ages. And hopefully that will really take off. And even when my kids were in luckily my kids are old enough that they didn't even have smartphones 'cause they got like out of college. So I never bought ⁓ a smartphone. I bought ⁓ a little flip phone. But now It's just a real bad thing and I think that someday people will recognize and even and even they're recognizing now that even iPads in school are bad. This whole electronic thing that they thought was gonna make us smarter and more creative has done the opposite. And even Apple the the early ads were like, ⁓ you use the Apple iPhone, you can make a movie or you can do this I'm like, Yeah, that's not what people are using ⁓ for and then the whole cyber bullying and Just to hold and for women it's even for girls, it's so bad. Yeah. And and the bottom line is and and I'm on social media, I follow people, but if you f if you follow idiots, you are an idiot. You know, so if you follow brilliant people, you can read some brilliant posts. But how do little kids discern who to follow versus their idiot friends, you know? So it's Yeah, no, it's true. It's true. It's a challenge. bad in the UK because bullying happens in school. I happen to think a little bit of it in moderation is character building. Sure. But like at least when I was at school, my generation, when you went home, you went home. You were done. You didn't have to deal with anybody else anymore. I know. Now they can't get away from anyone. I think the modern family should have a little basket at the front door where the phones go. And I actually I'm more extreme than that. I think phones should be cellular only, no Wi Fi. I think Wi Fi you have to be in your house or in a building. There should be no outdoor Wi Fi. Because people are just looking down their phones and even when I was, you know, in my little dating escapades early on, I was trying to meet people. And ⁓ you know, back in my day I was a pool boy. I would go down to the beach and walk around and see catch an eye. that came later. I I finally gave in but I did not want to do that, the whole app thing. But I tried to go down the Waikiki Beach and meet people, but guess what? Everyone's looking at their phone. You can't meet people. I know. It's just such a bad thing for socialization. I meet kids when I meet a kid today and when I go do this military meeting every year I invite college kids or or ⁓ high school kids to come see the technologies. What am I I do a lot of outreach so I meet a lot of kids and Occasionally you'll meet a kid that can look you in the eye, have a conversation, shake your hand, I'm like, Hallelujah. There's still hope. So that's the one bad thing in the world now. It is, but it's handed it on a positive note with hope. There's still hope Exactly. Total hope. I mean the problem is even if you take the phone away from your kids, their friends have ⁓ So it's like yeah. Yeah, it it's it's a tough that's a tough slope. Well, it has been so great to chat with you. Again, I'm kinda bummed out that we don't have another one booked now. But Okay. We'll have to do it in the future. Yeah. Yeah, let's see where you're where you're at what what ⁓ adventures you've found yourself in in the next year. Okay, that sounds good. And where can people find you, follow you? You've mentioned Yeah, I think the easiest thing is just my name, Rob Yawn over on anywhere like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, it's all the same. I have a unique name so it makes it easy. So if you spell it right, and even if you don't, you'll find me. But yeah, you you can find me all over. And I have a C rescue streamer. You can go to Amazon and type my name or type C rescue streamer and you'll see my streamer stuff or my books. Or you can go on social media and type my name and you'll see it. Yeah, I'm off to read those pool stories. That's what I'm going to Please. I enjoyed writing ⁓ and I I enjoyed living ⁓ there. It was still and yeah, if you know like anyone out there that's like no producers for Netflix or HBO that wants to do a cool show. Especially that a couple of us are quasi I'm not famous. But you know, you have you've got connections. Yeah. I've got Jason. Harry's famous, but so not but he's not he's only a he's a bit player in those stories. He's part of it. But that's the funny thing. He was not the superstar he was. You know, in fact I defended him. I brought him into the pool boy world and my friend said, Get rid of that idiot. I'm like, No, he's cool. No, they're they're fun. They're fun stories. You I think you'll get a kick out of them. They're they're fun. And and it's like they're like fifteen minutes to read. It's not like it's long. I released one every week, every Tuesday, for fifteen weeks. A couple summers ago. But they're up there and the beauty of The beauty of Facebook, which I love, and Instagram, there's no limit. Instagram has a limit on the text, but Facebook doesn't. So I could write a nice little short story and it's right there. Instagram I had to cheat it and write a third of it and then put the rest in a comment. Right. So but 'cause I know a lot of people, especially the younger people, don't have Facebook. But it's on Instagram too. I I only realized that about ten years ago that like Well, it wasn't cool. It wasn't cool. Yeah, the old people took over. Awesome. Well, it's ⁓ been so great. Thank you so much for joining us. My pleasure. That was a blast. Stay on the island. Okay. Thanks. Thanks a lot. Bye. See you guys later.