[00:00:00] Speaker A: It tailors its learning style to each child's individual learning style. So how is that going to change education? How is this world going to change when every kid in the world has an Internet connection from Starlink and an iPad and a free education?
[00:00:21] Speaker B: Welcome back to innovate and overcome. I'm excited about the incredible story and the journey that we're going to walk through with our guests today. Now, this individual is recognized among accounting, today's top 150 CPA and financial advisors, managing over $200 million in client assets. He's an investor and entrepreneur in several innovative environmental projects. We're going to talk a little bit about those today. He's also the founder of Dean Owen, CPA. He's the only guy that I know with a flying car. And I'm excited to have Dean Owen on the show with us. Welcome, Dean, to the program.
[00:00:51] Speaker A: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for the introduction.
[00:00:53] Speaker B: Yeah. Now, Dean, we met recently. We're a member of a similar network. And, of course, I got the privilege to get to learn a little bit about this incredible flying car that you have. We're going to talk a little bit about that more as we get later in the show. But what most interested me, when we sat down and we were having breakfast one day, you started to tell me a little bit about your journey and your story and going all the way back to that childhood environment, the environment you grew up in, which led you to transition into the military. And when I say transition, it was more like running away to the military to some degree.
[00:01:26] Speaker A: So it was not transition. It was evolution.
Revolution. Evolution.
[00:01:32] Speaker B: And so what prompted that? What was the situation that was going on for you kind of early, at that early stage of life that caused you to need to kind of get away and that the military became the place where you could find a home again and. And move through life to the next. The next phase of your life, where we find you today.
[00:01:52] Speaker A: The JD Vance story of habiliology. It's on Netflix. It's a good story to watch. That was my life. I jokingly say JD Vance followed me around for 40 years, wrote a book and made a movie. Now yells me royalties.
But that was his story. Raised in rural western Kentucky, lots of drug issues, lots of hollowed out families, hollowed out communities.
My dad trying everything he could to get us out in desperate poverty. I mean, eventually he did. But a mom who now I understand, but at the time, I did not. And I couldn't understand the extreme emotionalism, and that was her weakness. We're all broken and that was how she was broken. And I didn't appreciate that until long after she was passed. But, yeah, the drugs, the alcohol, and I just knew that I had to run, and something about told me I had to run and get away, that there was nothing good was going to come out of that.
And the military saved my life. It really did. I went into that I was 18 years old and probably about a 14 year old maturity level, which I thought I was.
I jokingly said I was 15, thought I was going on 30, you know, so I had to figure stuff out on my own. And I did, you know, started learning figures, figure out how to navigate a crazy family.
We had a really bad snowstorm in 76, and I was. We were out of school for about two weeks, and I managed to make about $2,000 as a ten year old shoveling snow. And I learned that in my house, work was honorable. So you better be at dinner every single night at 05:00 unless you're working. Well, I'm running from a crazy family, so I just learned to work, you know? And so anyways, I got. I got towards the end of high school, and I knew that, yeah, it was going to go bad if I stayed. So I went to the national guard first because I was afraid of commitment. I grew up and matured probably three or four years over the course of about six months, nine months of training, came home, and then the situation was just worse. So I literally went around to all the different branches of the military, said, who will send me to school for the longest? Because I knew I needed an education. I knew I didn't have the skills I needed to make it in life. And the Navy said, you know, we'll send you to school for four years, sign a six year contract. Two years. You drop in, sign another six year contract, get a bonus. I'm thinking four years of schooling. Hey, why not?
So went and did that. Went, joined the submarine community. I didn't know at the time that 90% of the people who apply for the submarine community are washed out. It was hard, but I was so scared to death of having to go back home that no matter what it took, I was overweight kid. Whatever I had to do to get to the top of my class and stay there, I was going to do, and I did. The military, the people I interacted with were the absolute, ultimate, highest caliber people I have ever meth and watch how they interact with each other. They trust each other. They assume the best. They approach with curiosity, they approach with respect, the belief in each other.
That was just something I had never seen or experienced. But that's where I was emotionally. That's what I was raised around.
So really good stuff. Spent some time in a combat mesh zone, running in and out of Kuwait, some seals. I was not a Navy SeAL, but I ran with some, had some really interesting stories there, and some trauma.
You had to get through that.
And then it was the nineties, and I didn't realize it. I went back to school and then went to Cooper's and librarian, and six months later, they're going to lay off a third of the auditors.
So took one from a job I loved when I hated, so I took a job here locally. Their products got me back home. Six months later, they only offer third of their controllers. And I'm just like, man, I'm an unlucky penny. I went through the first, the downsizing in the early nineties, after the first Gulf war. Like everywhere I go, there's just big downsizings. What I didn't realize is it was a technology revolution. Cooper's in Libra and price waterhouse learned how to use laptops on audits, made everyone 50% more efficient. Their products, figured out how to do accounting on the Internet, made everyone 50% more efficient.
And I think we're going to go through that technology change again. I think we're going to live that very soon. It won't hurt. It'll just change.
So, thinking that I was just unlucky penny, I said, screw it, I'm gonna go back to school. And the graduate school at SiE made an unbelievable offer for me to come back to school. They actually paid me to go. And one other guy, Henry, Beverly and I, we were. We were teachers pet. My choice is just, we were combat veterans. We'd both been big six firms, we'd both been auditors. We both cpas. So we had a lot in common and really interesting. Last semester of grad school, we got told we had to take a class from that Arthur Andersen was teaching, and we called out the fraud that they were doing with Enron and almost got ourselves kicked out of grad school.
So at that time, I'm starting my accounting firm and trying to figure stuff out.
You know, as a kid, I was taught that God is always looking for a rule. Way to send you. He's looking for a reason to send you to hell. There's no law, there's no grace, there's no mercy. That's part that the rules based, fear based church I was raised with, that's kind of like, I don't think I want to know God, you know, I will never do enough to get him to pay a whole lot of attention to me. Just don't pay attention to bad people. They just leave me be.
And that worked for a long time. It worked for a long time. About 35 years.
And then there was a crisis.
My running and not hiding didn't work anymore, and I admitted a business coach, John, my pastor, and he started, kept leaning in, and finally one day I just broke and just said, okay, john, how will you do it? Your boy? I don't know. I don't know. And, man, that has been a journey. It has been a journey.
So now that helped me get past a lot of the traumas, helped me understand stuff, helped me understand the world, helped me understand my parents.
I didn't understand them when they were here, but I do know.
So, yeah, just.
And since that point with John, it's just been like rapid downloads of how to do things, why to do things, what to do, and just go start doing them.
Everything from. Yeah. Five years I've been fighting a staffing crisis in the CPF world. It's a true crisis. And now I own an international talent search firm to bring folks from Mexico to America. My first guy will be here probably next month.
[00:08:47] Speaker B: That's one way to solve a problem.
[00:08:51] Speaker A: Every. Every firearm I've got has been pointed at that problem and rapid fire and trying to kill it. But I think we solved that problem. And I'm increasing the quality of life for someone who I consider a brother in Christ and his wife. And I'm. I'm actually going to be able to prove their lives. And they live in an area that cartels recently taken over. And.
Yeah, and he. They know how to stay off the radar and not get in troubles, but, you know, that's just not an environment. Nobody wants to. They don't want to raise children in that environment.
Right. You know, Mexico go, cartels snatch the kids and use them as the drug mules because they won't get life in prison or executed. They've caught. And so, I don't know, there's a lot of boxes being checked there that. And a lot of them are bigger than my staffing problem. But. And just the way that all came about is I met a guy in Houston, and over the course of three days, I met him in person, got on a stage giving out awards to the 40 most influential tiktokers in the spanish speaking trucking tribe. And this guy Mondo is their chief. And after that, I slam again. We were down with Jen, a mutual friend in Houston. Saw him again the next Monday. Hes showing up in my new shop because hes on his way to the little truck show. He asked if we could help. I was only one free, my schedule and I needed to be at that show. So the next day im loading a hydrogen generator back in Mercedes and headed to little spend three days with him. He and his wife. He needs training because he wants a machine. So that Saturday I said, you know, I get you a machine, but you gotta have training. I cant let you go without training. And he said, okay, I'll stop in your shop, I'll be there Monday and for training. So over this, this is over three week period of time. And so the next Sunday he's at my house because I told him to stay at the house and got to know him at a very, very deep level. And he's the one that had this idea of the staffing firm. But he needed a couple of pieces that I could, that I, it was very easy for me to give him. Didn't cost me anything. And so, and it comes now. I found out that he's got several factories in Mexico. He's got an accounting firm in Mexico. This guy fixes semi trucks for a living. That's what he does. And he's, yeah, I still haven't figured him out, but unbelievable relationship.
So it's been a period just trying to figure out how did you just keep walking when you don't know where you're going to?
And I think that's what God teaches us to do things. He just tells you, start walking. And if you do that, good things happen.
[00:11:34] Speaker B: It's interesting that 35 years of running, as you indicate, to find that through all that running, things were still materializing, still happening for you. And now you're in a position where you can see and recognize a collaboration opportunity that shows up almost out of thin air to solve now a problem that you've been having in one business. We're solving some problems for another individual. A great relationship is created and the rising tide raises all boats to a large degree because it sounds like this new business venture, which really just recently thrust upon you, is something that is going to do much more than the problem you were seeking to solve a staffing issue. And it's going to craft that catalyst level effect for some of the good work that you want to do while you're here on this earth. Does that make sense, Dean?
[00:12:22] Speaker A: Yeah, it does.
I realize now to be December 22. My church was going on a mission trip, and my pastor's great, phenomenal friend, but he's about like pastor with money. Most of them. He's better than most. That didn't mean much. So he understands authority when he has it and needs it. He leads. When he doesn't need to have the authority, he finds someone else to lead. So he'd gotten us on a Zoom call about some business deal with an orphanage in Mayfield, army in Mexico. And talking through that and that. That night, I got on climbing to bed, my wife and I said, well, what did you think, babe? There's some money on table. She goes, I don't worry about it. That's your. That's your lane. It's money. You'll take care of it. Okay? So she goes, why don't you go down there with them on the mission trip? And I looked at her and I said, me, go to Mexico with. With a church, to a place where cartels are, and I can't carry a fire. You're crazy. She said, well, just sit on it and see what. See what happens. Okay. So the next Sunday, after lunch, we're going to dinner with Craig and Sarah.
He very much mentors to me. And when John needed, knew I need more help that he could get, give me credits he pulled in my life. And they. Craig and Sarah were talking about this mission trip. And I said, when is that? It was the exact same days my wife had booked a 50th birthday party with her sorority sisters in Key west. The exact same days.
Craig looks at me and said, guys talking to you, you can listen to him or not. You get hit by that two by four, you got to go all the way through.
But, yeah, that was life changing. It really was. I unbelievably glad I did that, because that put me in a whole different trajectory. And when we were there, women would come up and they ask for prayers so that. To keep their five, six year old child from being snatched by the cartel. And I'm like, who in the world am I to be? How can I honor that request?
Now I know. That's why I put on that mission trip. He put me in that room with Amanda.
[00:14:34] Speaker B: So there you go, asking, you shall receive to some degree. And with that in mind, we're going to be asking some more important questions of Dean when we come back after these important messages.
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So for segment two, we're going to talk a little bit about, I think it would be interesting to either piggyback and expand a little bit, either about some of your period of time, either in the military or more specifically, even if you wanted to talk and flush out more about the challenge of, you started your business, you started your firm, and things are growing. There were some bumps along the way. Probably this five year, like, staffing issue has been a real challenge. It sounds like that you're now on the cusp of solving. So is there some additional stories or information there that you think would be helpful for people who say staffing is a major issue for a lot of people right now, so maybe that's something we want to dig into a little bit.
[00:16:04] Speaker A: Right after we left Phoenix, I ended up going and getting on a panel with the Aircraft Insurance association because they wanted ensuring flying cars and they wanted an actual pilot there. So, and I leave there, make a speed run to Memphis with my peer, with a peer group of CPA tax people, and ended up being the Peabody duck master, and I ended up herding ducks through the Peabody Hotel.
So just the goofiest thing in the world, but true story, you know what the Peabody ducks that that is? No, there's a very, very, very high end hotel that goes back to the early 19 hundreds called the Peabody in Memphis, Tennessee. Well, in 1931, the hotel manager drank a little bit too much, and you could use live Mallards as decoys. Duck hunt. So he'd been out on river duck hunting. So he brings his ducks back to the hotel and leaves them in the fountain, and then probably a little bit too much Jack Daniels. But the next morning, he realized what he's done, and in a panic, he runs downstairs thinking he's probably going to get fired. And he's about to, he goes, wait a minute, wait. I'm experimenting. I think I could sell more drinks if I have ducks. And the owners hotel said him, if you don't sell more drinks, you're fired. So they had this huge production set. Every morning they go up on the roof where the duck pen is, and they herd the ducks down the elevator and then downstairs and then into the fountain. And then every night they do the same thing in reverse. And all these famous people have done this. It's like a big deal.
You know, talk. Marilyn Monroe, Johnny Cash, Ronald Reagan, you know, just all these huge names. I'd never heard of it. So we get down there, and we do our first day stuff, and then I find out, you know, I'm supposed to go on and help Peggy with something a few minutes before dinner. So I'm like, all right, just go downstairs. And this woman, obviously in costume, all dressed up and dolled up, she goes, Mister Owen, you must be a BFD. And I said, well, I guess that's an acronym for something. She goes, it's a big deal. The f is silent.
So she's telling me all this story about what it. What it is, and I'm like, okay, just go along. All of a sudden, some literally, I heard, started herding ducks that night, up and upstairs. So, craziest things in the world, you.
[00:18:37] Speaker B: Just never know what's going to happen. And so a lot of these interesting things begin to happen to you. But there's also a pull for you to research, to look at things. You're someone that's seeking to find some of the newest things, the newest innovations. You want to be on the cutting edge in a lot of areas, and I'm sure there's a lot that you're doing in your CPA firm around that. But I'm kind of curious. Let's talk a little bit about your flying car, because there's some reason, and maybe this has to do with some of your past military experience, where you realized you wanted to do this. What was the drive? What causes you to think, hey, I know there's this new technology coming out. There's people starting to bring these things online. They're not necessarily popularized. We don't look outside and see them flying around like you did on the back to the future movies. But it's something that really was pulling you forward. So walk us through what was the decision making process to get involved in the process of getting a flying car? And why is that important to you?
[00:19:36] Speaker A: I quit watching news. And most media, it's dark. It just subjects your soul and your mind to such negativity.
I honestly believe the enemy is taken over that, and that's what he uses to promote a very, very negative agenda. And so I just. I will not consume that stuff anymore. I used to be a news junkie, and I still need. I get a lot of news, but only if I pay for it. If I'm not paying for it, I'm not going to listen to it.
Well, then how do you maintain my optimism and the best way I know for me is to watch and look at all of the incredibly innovative things going on in this world.
You know, in another five years, we will probably cure cancer. We, you know, we are going to cure childhood blindness. There are diseases that know that have plagued mankind since the beginning of time that now we can fix with a shot.
And so I watch all that stuff and it's an amazement, the robotics, the AI, the way this world's going to change and how fast. I, and I believe mankind is basically good. There are some evil stuff, there always has been. But mankind is basically good. And we will use this AI and all these technologies for really, really amazing positive outcomes. So I watch that stuff and I intentionally am drawn to it. That's how I maintain optimism. And so this used to be called opener. Now it's called pivotal. The company, they're making this flying car and it's just the coolest thing I've seen in a long, long time. Some online one day and I poke over to your website and I just watch them, what they were doing. And then all of a sudden I got an email inviting me to be in the early adopters program and apply for that.
Okay, it didn't cost anything to apply, so apply. And about three weeks later, they called and said, we really want to talk to you.
We think we really want you in this program. Why don't you fly down? I said, they're in Palo Alto, California, said, plow here, spend a couple days with us. Let's see if you want to do this and we want to do this with you.
We'll pay for the trip and just see what you think. And it was amazing. It was back, I was dealing with the same caliber of people I had dealt with in the military and the way they operate, it reminded me so much of working with SEAL teams. Obviously a totally different application, but just really impressive. They said, okay, heres what this thing does. You make a down payment, you come out for two weeks of training. At the end of two weeks of training, if you want to look forward, you pay the balance due. If you dont, well give your money back. And I thought thats a pretty high confidence play.
These people know what theyve got and they know what theyre doing.
Im looking around and this companys been around since 2011.
Im totally guessing. I have no way of knowing these numbers, but I'm pretty good with math. I bet they've got a billion dollar investment.
And I'm thinking, okay, there is no way they're going to let me crash this aircraft, their billion dollar investment would go down the toilet. So people think I do risky things. I don't. I manage risk very carefully. But I knew they were not going to let me get stupid.
So I got home, thought about a couple days, said, okay, let's go do this. Um, went out and, uh, spent a week in a simulator, which is amazing. Uh, after the simulator, we went out to the airfield and flew it, checked all the boxes, got everything down. All good. Well, the next week, they called me and they said, dean, we didn't train you enough. You got to come back. I'm like, okay, go with that. With a good attitude. And they're talking about telemetry data, and I didn't know what that was at the time. I'm like, okay, whatever the people say, I need to come back. You know, respect that. So. And what they were looking at was, in California, there's no trees in Kentucky. Those trees everywhere. And I had learned to fly that because when you're flying it straight up and down, it's really hard on batteries and motors. That's hard on them. I had learned to take off very quickly, get into what I call airplane mode, and then land. You stay in airplane lowered as long as I could, and then just drop it on the ground. That don't work where you got trees. So, went back down a couple days in simulator. Everything's great.
Got out, and there was a problem with the aircraft. And while I was flying and my training kicked in, everything went great.
Walk. Walked away from it. But there was an aircraft, destroyed the process.
The.
So then it's had go back. It's tax season. I got everything. So I just put everything off until April and scheduled time to go back out. And it just so happened. A week of training, and then. And then Tuesday night, they wanted us back for an event and Wednesday, so we just stayed over. Didn't make sense to come home, so went out, got killed it in simulator nailed it. I got one flight in on Wednesday afternoon and then got windy. Too windy.
Thursday, went out, it's too windy. Friday went out, it's too windy. We took a quick hop to Las Vegas to see our son. Got back Sunday night. Monday, it's too windy.
Tuesday morning, we start at 06:00 a.m.
and there's another guy there, Ron, who's as much a brother to me as anybody's been.
Where he's taking his initial flights, I'm taking my final flights. So he gets up and does he? Yeah, he gets up and does he is everything's good. I get up and do mine. And they said they, when I landed Adam on the software, one of the engineers looked at, he's duo's guys, just watches the data, he's watching the aircraft. He said, we have never seen anybody do that as well as he just did, including our test pilots.
So Robert, my instructor, he went to Ron and said, hey, if you give them the balance of your flight time, he can get, we can get him done today. And he's like, yes, absolutely. Good, get him finished, get him finished, get him finished.
So, okay, I got seven more flights to do. So the first two, I said, all right, we're going to run out of time here, so I'm going to do two of these flights at once. He said, you think you're ready for that? I said, yeah, I'm ready. Let's go, let's go do this. So, got up, nailed it, perfect, go. Landed one, pull that aircraft off, put the other, put another one that's been charged back out getting it, go do two more flights.
It's about 1115 in the morning by the time we're done with that. And I said, can you do this? You got three more flight? I said, yeah, just give me all three of them at once. And what happens? You just go in like you're going to land, but you don't land, you just take it back off. I said, I can get those done so I can get those in. Let's, let's do this. And absolutely nailed all three of them in one flight and landed at 1205. We were supposed to be breaking down at twelve, so managed to check that last box.
So, yeah, so there. Craft, it's behind me, you can see it, so it stays over here. A couple of guys on my hydrogen crew, I may ask them to be my flight crew and they're all about it and they're guys I could trust in my life, so, amazing.
[00:26:52] Speaker B: Yeah, and so how often do you get a chance to take it out so. Cause basically you had to get all those test flights so you could be effectively certified to use the machine. And you're probably the first consumer person to have that machine now back. I mean, that's incredible. What an incredible feat. And, you know, roughly, you know, obviously it's, it's a new machine and there's improvements being made on these things all the time. What's your typical flight time that you would go out with the machine?
[00:27:17] Speaker A: Presently 20 minutes out of batteries. This thing's a toy right now, but battery technology is moving very rapidly. There will be new batteries. And I've seen the batteries that could replace in ten x the power on these, but they're $10,000 each and this thing's got 16 batteries. So until they start manufacturing in China or something, who knows? But the technology cost will always be downward, not upward. So technology drives deflation. So those batteries will come and then when you get ten x the power, it's now become a tool, not a, not a toy.
[00:27:50] Speaker B: Amazing. Well, I like talking about things that are ten x and ten x oriented. Innovation is one of those key areas. We're going to be back learning about some more innovation that's happening with Dean and his team after these commercial breaks.
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[email protected]. dot how on earth are we using hydrogen to impact dramatic change with the environment and with the current tools and technology that we use? Well, one of the people that's doing that on the forefront of that innovation is Dean. And dean of we just finished talking about your incredible flying car. Now were going to talk a little bit about one of the other business structures that you have. And being someone whos focused on modern technologies, you have a business model where you guys are heavily focused on utilizing hydrogen to create a real impact. And its happening in several different areas where I think people dont realize that its even possible. So lets start by talking about how did this business model even show up? How did it cross your desk and what was the decision to say, yeah, I need to be involved in this?
[00:29:38] Speaker A: I have to give Jared Ingalls credit. He's the technician, he's the engineer. He's basically an engineer in the automotive diesel engine space. I met him over 20 years ago. He's significantly younger than I am. He was just starting his auto repair facility and I put myself through college twice as mechanic. That's not my calling. I'll never be as good as those guys are. But I understand my way around the shop. And Jared was young, early mid twenties. And we got to talking, and we just became the best of friends instantly. Just something clicked there that there was just an instant brotherhood.
And over the next 20 years, well, 18 years, he did for me what nobody else could or would, and I did for him what nobody else could or would. And there's just a serious connection.
He's the brother I never had and I always wanted, and he is, he's, when it comes to the automotive space, he's absolute genius.
So his shop burned in 2018.
Back early on, he basically said, dean, you know business. I know how to run a shop and fix cars. You run my business, I'll fix my. I'll fix cars and run my shop. So he gave me just wide berth to run a shop.
There's a point in time where there was a police car, a state trooper's car came in, and he called me and he said, dean, we did $800 for the work on this thing last time, and I haven't paid for it yet. State of Illinois doesn't pay their bills on time. And I said, I've got dollar 400 more in it. I said, just impound the car. You put the mechanics lien on it, don't let it leave. He said, you have that right.
So I'm telling this early, mid 20 year old guy that he's going to impound the state trooper's cardinal. I said, now, be very nice to the trooper, but be very belligerent and firm that you will not let that thing leave.
So he did. He listened to me, and about 4 hours later, the state controllers on, screaming, cussing him, if you do this, you'll never work for another state vehicle as long as you live. He goes, well, that was kind of my goal.
He got paid.
Yeah. And just, there's so many personal stories there. Just, yeah, just very, very, very good seasons in my life with him. Been all the world together to some extent.
But he is, he's the, he's an engineer type, more so than I am. And so 2018 is his shop burns. It takes until late 2019 to get going again. So 2020 rolls around and they're got no customers because of COVID And we're all basically a bunch of rednecks, very well educated rednecks, but we're rednecks. So he and Terry, who's our chief technic, our chief technical officer, they started deciding they're going to play with hydrogen, start blowing stuff up. And they did.
But Jared knew that this would work.
[00:32:29] Speaker B: This sounds like, a great way for every business to start. Well, they just started playing around and blowing things up.
[00:32:34] Speaker A: Yep, that's exactly what they did. They blew up a lot of stuff, too. But eventually, Jared engineered a machine and figured it out, figured out how to get them built, where to get them built, and got a couple of machines coming over so he could test his theories, and it worked. He's right. And I'm helping with this as he's going along and just thinking, my little brother's doing some really cool stuff. This is fun. This is the good stuff.
Well, he started a franchise model. I didn't think that was really all that wise initially, but I knew not to question his judgment on something like that. So I just kind of lean in. And then march of 22, he came to me and he said, dean, you know, I'm not big enough to do this by myself. He's 14 years younger than I am, so there's an age gap, and he hasn't had the 14 years to build wealth that I have. So he's very well off for someone his age, but he's still. He's not hit his peak earning years yet. And I'm in mine.
And we've talked through a lot of different models of using debt going to venture capital, you know, if. If private equity was interested. Jared's scared to death of debt like most people are. You know, he's. He's been very, very shrewd with his money and done well, but he's just like, I can't. I can't pull this off by myself.
He said, and I don't trust anybody else.
He said, I need you to help me. And buying half the company.
And for 40 years, I've been telling people that a marriage is a partnership. A partnership is a marriage. And God told you two men don't need to marry.
But there's a time and place for all things under the sun, and this is my little brother, and he needs me. So go on. Go all in.
And I knew it would be fun. I knew we would make it profit. I knew it was going to work.
Just what kind of struggles are we going to have to go through to get there?
Over that time, we had 17 more franchises. And then the crazy Covid stuff and the insanity, we were able to really hit the COVID stuff hard.
We had a lot of home runs. Even though it was real trauma in my office, it was extremely profitable years. And so I bid off on about a $6 million real estate project, which is a shop in now and then they earn from my CPA firm right next to it. We're still building on that.
And this Friday, this Friday, we're having an open house. And what this technology does at a molecular level, carbon is petroleum products push out carbon. That's why it will take a carbon. That's a vaporization, and under heat and pressure, it will turn it into a solid. It chemically changes. Well, hydrogen loves carbon. So as hydrogen is going through the air intake, it's turning that crystallized carbon back into a vapor. And then in the engine compartment or in the cylinders, it's cleaning everything into the engine compartment. And then hydrogen is such an accelerant, it causes the fuel to burn so hot, it changes that carbon into a microscopic ash, which will clean filters that's just leaving the exhaust. So, yeah, it's incredible technology for a cleaning agent. So American needs a paradigm shift. Hydrogen can do a whole lot more than just be a fuel. All four good stuff with fuel, all about it. But that's not the limits of it. It's an awesome cleaning agent when it comes to carbon. And the world needs a paradigm shift. We don't necessarily have to spend a truckload of money to clean up the environment. We can save money and clean up the environment because this technology will reduce your downtime and maintenance cost on the equipment and increase fuel economy and reduce gases. We just did a big study with a riverboat, and the reduction in emissions was material. And we're using the testers that the only testers the EPA will accept, we're using those to validate. So it's an incredible tool for cleaning.
It's also a credible tool to use as a torch. You know, the acetylene is a gas. Usually, that's what the gas you normally use if you're going to cut steel. It's very, very heavy. It's very nasty, very caustic. It burns terribly dirty, and acetylene will do the same thing, but it burns perfectly clean. And it costs about a dollar an hour to run with this machine, where it costs probably $400 a day to run a torch. I mean, run xylene torch.
With the hydrogen torches, you don't store gas. You don't store it. So you don't have explosive gases being stored like acetylene. So you've got big OSHA concerns, big EPA concerns. It's checking all of those boxes and saving money. So, yeah, I think we all know much of the environmental movement is about making more money and always having that big, expensive solution. Why don't we just start saving money and clean up the environment and just use the hydrogen in innovative ways.
So that's what we're trying to break into.
We do have our enemies. If I tell a fleet manager that I can lower his costs by up to 30% for maintenance cost and reduce his downtime, I'm telling whoever's currently providing that service, I can cut your revenue 30%.
So we have enemies and people that don't like us and people that say it don't work. And I just generally tell them, say, well, one of us is lying. Why don't I send my technicians out and prove which one of us is lying? I'll take the risk loss.
And that's our value proposition for prospective clients is let me show you. If you don't like it, don't do it. Don't do anything. Don't pay me. If it does what it says, then you pay me a very high confidence play. I believe enough in this technology. I'll send my team out to just show what we can do. And that's been worked. That works well.
[00:38:31] Speaker B: Well, the downtime alone for servicing vehicles, anyone in a fleet environment or anyone dealing with vehicles on a regular basis would certainly understand that anyone who's got a business that revolves around having a piece of equipment operating, I mean, that alone could be a huge savings. And then additionally, you had some fuel savings, some efficiency added to that. I mean, all those are great check marks. And so what, what are you finding from the torch? I mean, torch sounds very interesting. So what is it? What is it like when this torch is fired up? Is it. Is there much difference between using acetylene? Does it look different? I mean, the process is the same. At the end of the day, it's still gonna cut through steel, right?
[00:39:09] Speaker A: It does. It is different. You could hold onto the tip of the torch when it's running full speed because there's no backwards heat transfer, and hydrogen does not explode, it implodes. It's a little bit different than cutting with a torch. It takes, you know, the way you have to hold your hands a little bit. Um, it take 15 minutes to learn, but it's very, very trainable.
But literally, you plug it in, turn it on, put water in it, start making. Start making flame, and come steal with it. When you're done, turn it off. It's. There's just so many boxes that checks. And that one flashback issue where about 500 time you reuse it, you'd have that flashback. And it was pretty violent. But I think we finally got the check valve that's designed for hydrogen that we can use and we're still testing a little bit because we're down to do we use a disposable check valve or do we use a very expensive, expensive check valve that's supposed to be reusable? So we're walking through some stuff like that. But Terry and Jared, when they get to be, you know, techies, they, they're pretty amazing. They'll figure it out.
[00:40:17] Speaker B: So and so once that's implemented, I mean, obviously, you know, any welding shop and what have you, machine shop is going to be able to use that type of thing. How do you see this being used? Let's say on an on site location? Do you have a mobile truck that you kind of would run these with? Is that one of the ideas?
[00:40:35] Speaker A: Yeah. If you're a homeowner or own a shop that does welding of any kind and you see this, you're going to want. There's no question. I've had selling tanks in my shop my entire life. So I know suddenly I know the gases market know how to use it and this thing just replaces it. Now one thing is you can get, you know, it's still experimental technology, we're still developing it.
We're not making green hydrogens because we're using a diesel generator, I mean a gas generator to make power to run the hydrogen generator.
So there's a direct correlation between more voltage, more amperage, more hydrogen produced per hour. So our big machines are making about 1500 liters hydrogen per hour. That's a 220 volts. We recently developed it on 10 volts machine, which would be more like a shop. And we tuned it down a little bit towards making about 600 liters per hour. So that an average shop owner, there's very, very little chance that they're going to get in trouble with it. With our big machine, you can create a hydrogen bomb if you don't know what you're doing. But um, you know, so the little ones, much, much safer, much easier. It's dumbed down to about a 6th grade level. So the really nice thing about it is the shop owners, they can start this machine, start the vehicle or whatever equipment and walk away from it. It's got technology. If the engine stops and machine will stop, so get the safety stuff checked into it and so it allows them to a serious increase in labor realization rate.
Weve just within the last month brought those to market to where now that we can place machines either on a lease or a sale basis.
So thats just been within the last month. So its constant innovations, constant changing through just continuing to walk and go where im told.
Met Danielle McLean. She's charged with high sky, which is a aviation hydrogen space. And she's a serious, serious cat in that space. Love her like a sister.
But she's, you know, she couldn't understand what we were doing. She's a mechanical engineer by trade in the aerospace industry.
Got some really big stories and she couldn't understand it. So she's in Houston. Amando, the guy that helped me with the staffing firm, is in Houston. So I just screw it. I gotta go show her what I'm doing because she's not gonna get it if she didn't see it. And she's a girl, she's, she has to see it. She, you know, she, she said, I believe you, but I'm not putting my credentials behind something I believe I gotta see something. I got, I know. And I'm like, okay, I get it. You know, I wouldn't want to put my name on something I didn't believe in and I did not know was going to work. So just took off, went to Houston, had Mondo free up his day so that we could do data validation and testing. And so made a great new friend in Daniel. And she saw us do the same thing, significant reduction in emissions, which is they're more focused on emissions, we're more focused on maintenance, cost and downtime. But we're checking all the boxes. Um, and she saw it, you know, Mundo's very great technician, great grand unbelievable hospitality. And uh, so she's asked me to be on stage at Caesars next September to introduce this technology to the world and try to decarbonize aviation. And I just, I think, man, I don't know anything about jet motor jet engines. Um, how am I going to do this? We don't have the technology to do jet engines. And as soon as I got back from Houston, I got back on a Friday, on a Monday. Bruce, our economic development guide, put a guy on my schedule to go lunch. He's making drones that use small miniature jet engines in for the agricultural space. So now, another great friend, he spent some time with us. He saw that he's retired from the air force aviation space and mechanical engineer, you know, good people. So he came over and spent some time with a shop with us. And now he's, you know, we're, we're going to be able to figure out how to decarbonize jet engines. And at a scale that we can, that we can get to right now, our machines are not big enough to jet engines on major aircraft. On small aircraft, they are. You know, most aircraft engines are internal combustion engines. And if it's an internal combustion engine, it has got a carbon problem. So through the pivotal relationship and many of my flight instructors, they lived in other parts of the country, and they would fly in for the week when I'm there training. So. And I get deeply, deeply involved with these flight engineers and flight instructors and all these guys, and they're, they're interested in what we're doing with hydrogen. So, yeah, amazing bonds and relationships. And they're all telling me, you got to decarbonize aviation. I'm like, how in the world do I do that? Well, just all these pieces just keep getting put in place and they just keep falling. And you're right.
One thing pivotal taught me when we first started talking about this aircraft. I said, how do we get insurance? You don't. There's nobody going to insure it, not for a while. We're working on it. Okay. And I'd ask a few other questions before I bit off. And they said, dean, those are problems that we're going to have in the future, and we know it, but we don't have them today. I gotta solve today's problem today. I'll deal with tomorrow's problems tomorrow. We're not gonna focus on tomorrow's problem. We're gonna solve this problem that we have today. And that was really insightful. Just focus on what you can do today. Tomorrow's gonna be another day.
Deal with tomorrow's problem tomorrow. Yesterday's past is gone. We don't live there anymore.
So that's been a real, a real eye opener. And through that series of events, I've learned to just focus on whatever I've got to for the next five minutes and make that decision and do that right, and then five minutes later, I'll have something else to deal with. And that's been just, that's been incredible to learn to see that in them and see and then be reminded of what I learned that when I was working that those SeAL teams and on the submarines. But then, you know, you get a 30 years of in between and you forget that stuff. And then just to be totally immersed in that world again, its an absolute godsend. That is a blessing that I cannot measure, Trey.
[00:47:03] Speaker B: Well, speaking of thinking about the next few minutes, were going to be back in a few minutes with Dean and were going to hear more about upcoming innovations happening in his world that we can all participate in. And think about as we build a bigger and brighter future for tomorrow. Are you looking for a great book to read? Turns out I have one for you. It's called cash follows the leader. It's available anywhere books are sold. But if you want to get a free copy and you can download it right to your inbox, you can go to coachcanfield.com cashfollows.
We are back with Dean Owen. We've been learning all about the incredible hydrogen technology that he's developed and working with, with his team, his partners. Unbelievable technology innovation that we're hearing about what incredible game changing aspects it has for the world as we know it. My curiosity as dean, as you think about what you've been up to and obviously seeing this rapid technological advancement happening in real time in your own life, if you were to cast a vision a little bit forward into the future and thinking about what's the, whats coming, whats happening outward into the near and distant future, and we were to relate that back to the people watching today, and an entrepreneur is watching us. Theyre in business.
Maybe theyre a little bit fearful or scared of some of these rapid changes that were seeing. What would you share with them? What advice would you give them about the changes that you see happening?
[00:48:28] Speaker A: Trey they are going to change the world for the betterment of humanity in ways that we cannot imagine at this point.
AI has killed some jobs. The first jobs it killed was online tutors because kin Academy is free and it tailors its learning style to each child's individual learning style. So how is that going to change education? How is this world going to change when every kid in the world has an Internet connection from Starlink and an iPad and a free education? And that is tailored custard tailored for them. How many more Elon Musk are there in the world that never got a chance to go to school?
There's more than a few. He's not the only one. There's only one guy that made one of everybody else has got.
Every rest of us are common.
What's that going to do for people in countries like Iran and China, where there's heavy censorship because Elon musk doesn't let people censor?
You think we'd live in a day age where one guy can give an order and change the outcome of a war in another continent by simply changing the coordinates on some satellites?
What's happening in the biospace is absolutely incredible. We're probably going to see life expectancy at 130 years by the end of this decade. And I have some very, very serious people that I would not cross have said, that's what's gonna happen.
AI will be largely a force for good, just like some of the stuff on the Internet's bad. Mostly it's a force for good. And that's the human condition. That's how we live.
You either believe in the goodness of mankind or you don't. And if you do, then you have to be optimistic, because the stuff that I've seen when I'm deep in the bowels of Silicon Valley, behind locked gates and closed doors and privacy fences, is absolutely amazing. I have met someone who their cholesterol problem is gone because of a shot, met someone else who their high blood pressure is gone because of a shot. Those technologies, they had to get through the testing and all that stuff, but now there are thousands of drugs today we did not have two years ago because of AI. And, you know, if you've got an extremely, extremely, extremely rare disease, nobody will study it. There's no money there. You can't pay for the research. You can't pay for the development.
Now we can. You know, it used to take a billion dollars to get a drug to market, and through FDA testing, that's going to come down to about $10,000. So how many drugs, how many people are going to be cured of insanely small number of victims?
Yeah, there's going to be career change, just like when the nineties, you know, I had to bounce from Coopers and then Pricewaterhouse to something else, and then I've had to bounce from our products to something else.
And I was fearful, man, but this doesn't have any fear. There's no fear in me about this.
This I just wildly curious amazement at the just beautiful, wonderful things that are coming. And how does that relate to an entrepreneur? You know, if you're getting started, you know, one, I praise you. Yes, absolutely. Whatever I can do to help you, I will. But you got to believe in yourself. You got to believe in your teams. You got to believe the best of your customers and what's going on. There's going to be hard times. There's going to be competition. That's how we make each other better as we compete.
So welcome competition, welcome new technology, welcome new things. Don't be afraid to ask a question. Well, we always did it this way. Okay. You need to still always do it that way, maybe not. And just approach things from a position of positivity and with respect and curiosity, and then the whole new world opens up. You start to see things. You would not have seen the other day.
You're here in my backyard is a guy named Jim Defue. He's one of the world's best motorcycle builders and painters. I adopted him and Pat as my parents 20 years ago. But you got one of the best motorcycle builders in the world right here in my backyard. And you've got him in your backyard, too. You've got people that are incredibly innovative. You've got people who are just changing the world and they're in your backyard. You're not going to see that on local news. You're not going to see that on national news. Those people don't go out here and do stuff to get on tv. They go to work, they network, they trust, they lean in, they keep walking when they don't know exactly what they're supposed to be doing.
But go out and find those people, find them locally, find them nationally, get on thought leaders and who are optimistic and positive. Follow them. Let them be the ones that are putting stuff in your head and not the negative stuff. And enough of that happens and you do that enough and man, the world just changes. It becomes a wonderful, beautiful place.
But you do have to believe in yourself. You got to believe in your teams. You got to believe that one. You're not all that. None of us are. But with faith, he says that he will answer our dreams if answer our prayers, if they're asked with honor and dignity, ask, believe. You know, I tell people, and because I've got. Every person on my team is a human being and we all have the feelings of human beings, but whatever we seek, we find good or bad.
When we knock, doors are open. Good or bad, when we ask, we're given good or bad. What are you seeking? What doors are you knocking on? What are you asking for? Because that's what you're going to get one way or the other. So make sure to be very conscientious about what you seek, what doors you knock on and what you ask for.
And it really is that simple. And yet, I know it's got to be terribly complex and how all that stuff works, but it's really just that simple. I don't have to understand it. You know, a lot of people get upset because they don't understand something. And who are we to think that we're entitled to understand everything?
Thinking I'm entitled to understand everything is the most arrogant idea I could ever possibly imagine. I don't get an understanding. You know, maybe one day I'll get it, maybe I won't. But just because I don't understand something doesn't mean I don't, I can't lean into it. When Jared started with this hydrogen, I didn't understand it.
But I trust him. You know, he's, I know he's a serious enough professional that he's not going to bite off on something that's not going to work. And when he tells me something's going to work, I know he's telling the truth. So. Trust you, Danielle, I get it. She, she had to have verification because she's, she's leading other people and they're going to need validation. So. Okay, get them validation. You know, do what you do your part to show what you can do. And, yeah, it's a beautiful place.
We do have a major labor shortage, so if you're willing to do, you're willing and able to go do something, there will be customers, be it. Every trade in the world's looking for more help, or at least America.
You know, when we talk about Mexico, there's so many, there's two thirds as many accountants in Mexico as there is in America. And our economy is twelve times the size, so. But they don't abort their babies. In Mexico, we've aborted 60 million babies out of a workforce of about 200 million. This is what that looks like. There's a spiritual price for that, but there's also an economic price.
Nowhere else in the world has any nation ever aborted their babies like we have in America. So we've got some things to think there.
[00:56:19] Speaker B: It's interesting you mentioned, of course, that you can't possibly know it all. And it reminds me of my mentor, R. Nelson Nash, who says that there's no such thing as having arrived in knowledge. There's always something new to learn. And as soon as you think that you know it all, you might as well pack it in, because you've basically decided to give up at that point and you've lost the inspiration to learn. And what you've demonstrated for us in your conversation, what you've shared with us on all the innovations that you're presently working on, Dean, is that you are an advocate for that curiosity, because you've demonstrated curiosity taking place in your life at various stages and moving you forward, moving you forward, always putting 1ft in front of the other. And I think that's an important lesson for our listeners to take away. What is also interesting is you talked about some of the health things that you've seen, you know, behind closed doors, things that you've witnessed and the changes that are happening. Of course, there's NDAs, or sometimes we can't talk about the things that we're aware of. But I know I was at an event recently in, uh, in Nashville, and I got to see some images of someone who'd had their knee cartilage regrown, uh, someone in their, you know, early eighties, and they've basically regrown a knee that almost had nothing left in it. So they're going to be able to now start to run again, relive a joy that they used to have. I also saw a disc in a spine that had been regrown, where spinal area had been fused together, essentially. And so these are the types of technologies that are coming available. Are they en masse availability for the general population? No, not yet, but it's only a matter of time as they begin to become more and more popularized, and there's more energy and technology and brainpower working on these initiatives.
[00:57:58] Speaker A: We live in mankind's golden age, and it will only get better from here. And you got to believe that now is everybody. Do people have tough situations? Absolutely. We all do. Anybody says we don't have tough situations is lying, but you get through those, you know, and get on the other side of it and keep moving and make the right decision right now, and that's all you need, you know, and just keep your head down. Have faith, and approach with curiosity, respect, and amazement. And the world is a wonderful place if you'll take time to stop and see it.
[00:58:32] Speaker B: The idea of turning off the news, I think, is something that I hope people really take away from our discussion today. Like you, I've gotten rid of the news. I focus on certain aspects, and I listen to a lot of great podcasts. Of course, being someone who hosts a podcast, maybe there's a draw for me there. I'm not sure I really do find that, especially in environments that are focused on those newer technologies, and not just newer technologies, the curious mindset of people, the entrepreneurs of tomorrow, fundamentally, the entrepreneur, is here to solve problems. They find problems, and they figure out ways to solve them, and then new things are created that otherwise wouldn't be. And with what you're doing, you're in that space of creating new things with your teams, and you've shared some of those with us today. And for that, I'm very grateful. And for our listeners, I hope you're going to take away some of the incredible, powerful innovations that are happening in real time in our world and how dean and people like Dean are out there making it happen, and you can make it happen as well. And with that in mind, stay tuned for next week's episode of Innovate and overcome.
