Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Alrighty, guys, welcome back to the Drone on show. I'm Mike, we got Bryce and we have Jason on the podcast today. I'm excited to talk with Bryce about getting into a spray drone business because you've never done this, but you're like this close to pulling the trigger. This close. My fingers are like less than an inch apart on getting into this business.
[00:00:19] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. I've, I've never flown a spray drone. Not one time.
Virgin fingers.
[00:00:24] Speaker A: Okay, so have you flown any drone?
[00:00:28] Speaker B: A hobby drone? Yeah, I have a DJI phant that I used to fly around. Okay, that was it. I mean, as far as this scale, we're, we're fresh into it, but.
[00:00:37] Speaker C: So you're this close to buying a drone. What type of drone are you going to buy?
[00:00:40] Speaker B: DJIT 100.
[00:00:41] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:00:42] Speaker B: I've been waiting. I've been waiting on this conference to come and see it in person and solidify my decision.
[00:00:46] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, so, so what was what, what type of decision were you making? Was it as far as, like the other drones? What would have been an option for you?
[00:00:54] Speaker B: Yeah, so the, the XAG brand was one that has been pretty popular in my online research.
Um, and then the J150 was one that was also in there. So there's like three of the top runners. The, the T100, the J150 and the
[00:01:06] Speaker A: Xag P P1 50 max.
[00:01:10] Speaker B: Yeah. Yep, that one. Uh, so what I really wanted to do here was. Come here. Um, I, I've already done all the research, I've done the online specs, I've seen it. I watch your guys videos, I watch, uh, agri sprays videos. I watch them all. I do the online research. But what I wanted to do was come down and sit at a table and have lunch with somebody I've never met.
[00:01:26] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:01:26] Speaker B: And say, hey, you know, mind if I sit here and just have a conversation and openly ask, what do you, what do you fly? Why do you fly it? And I wanted to do that through the last couple days.
[00:01:37] Speaker A: Tell me how that went. Yeah, because like, how many of those people did you talk to that actually flew different brands?
[00:01:44] Speaker B: Yeah. So there's, there's. It was a good mixture. Honestly. There was several people who, who have flown dji. They're loyal to dji. That's what they currently fly.
But what I did find was that if they weren't currently flying a dji, the majority of those people started with the DJI and then they have kind of since branched out. It does seem like as for a First timer like myself.
One of the things that people said was like user interface, the dji, the smart farm, how everything goes together. You don't have to have multiple softwares, the way that the controller operates, it's just very user friendly. And that's one thing that I'm looking to do getting into this game is to make it where I'm taking out as many variables as I can, simplify the process and just get to work.
[00:02:26] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:02:27] Speaker B: So yeah, that's kind of where we're at.
[00:02:29] Speaker A: How old a Fella are you?
[00:02:30] Speaker B: 31.
[00:02:31] Speaker A: Okay, 31 years old. And what makes you want to get into the spray drone business?
[00:02:37] Speaker B: Yeah, so being, being very honest with you, I started out getting into the thermal drone stuff is what I wanted to get into.
Kind of found your guys videos, then I found the spray drones.
And then I have a pilot buddy or a friend who is a pilot, he is a crop duster. So I reached out to him and I said, hey, like are these drones? Is this a viable deal? Like, and he goes absolutely, it is. He said it's crazy how quick they're popping up, how many you're seeing across the country right now. And he said there's, he flies out of two different locations and he said there's places where he's not comfortable sending himself or his pilots to get their planes into.
[00:03:10] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:03:11] Speaker B: And he's like the drones are, they're coming. Like if, if this something you want to do, it's going to take some hard work, but I can help you out with that.
[00:03:18] Speaker A: Nice.
[00:03:18] Speaker B: Yeah. And so it's, it's interesting because he's, he has his reservations. I mean don't get me wrong, he's, he's a crop destined pilot. He has his reservation but he's like look, there's acres and I will help you. I, I want to get you started off on the right foot. He's, I'm a good in.
[00:03:30] Speaker C: That's cool.
[00:03:30] Speaker B: But you're going to have to do your work.
[00:03:32] Speaker A: Nice. So nice. Why were you looking for another side gig? Because is this a side gig or is this like something full time?
[00:03:39] Speaker B: Yeah, so it's, it's eventually going to be full time. So actually I'm moving back. So I started out, I live in southern Indiana. I met my wife and moved to northern Indiana about four years ago and we are moving back to southern Indiana to the house that I have down there. She's coming down in July and I'm going to come down in December. Whenever we come back down, I need, I Need work. Right.
I Currently, I sell RVs so that I love my job.
[00:04:03] Speaker A: Like, like motorhome drive, RV travel trailers,
[00:04:07] Speaker B: fifth wheels, destination trailers. I. I love my job. I make really good money with my job.
[00:04:11] Speaker A: Nice.
[00:04:11] Speaker B: But when I come back down, I don't want to have to start somewhere else again. You know, I've done the corporate life. I worked for General Motors. I've done things. I'm a machinist by trade.
[00:04:20] Speaker A: You're only 31. We're gonna have to get into that, brother.
[00:04:22] Speaker B: I've lived a busy life.
[00:04:24] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:04:25] Speaker B: Yeah. But the whole purpose is trying to find something that I can do and I can kind of work for myself. And I think if I can do the spray drones during that season of the year, and then if I can incorporate the thermal drones to fill out the rest of the months, I think we can make a go at it.
[00:04:39] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:04:39] Speaker B: And then I've got a buddy, one of my best friends, childhood best friends. He's wanting to get out of his current job. He's an automations guy.
His company sends him all across the country, down to Mexico, up into Canada, doing automations for robotic lines. And he's just tired of, you know, traveling all the time. I think with his. His expertise kind of in, like, the technological side, things of that nature. My expertise when it comes to, like, sales, being able to go out and recruit work, retain work, do some of the marketing sides of things. I think with Han and I coming together, I think we can make a go at it. So here we are.
[00:05:08] Speaker A: So you and I were chatting earlier, or you were chatting with Dennis. We literally sprayed some of those fields
[00:05:15] Speaker B: right close to where you're, like, right behind my house.
[00:05:18] Speaker A: This is so crazy.
[00:05:20] Speaker B: Like, right behind my house. He was showing me his map, and I'm like, hold on a second. Like, I know that guy.
[00:05:25] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:05:26] Speaker B: Like, so it's interesting, like, how far of a reach you guys have.
[00:05:29] Speaker A: Yeah. So for the guys that are watching and listening, we've gone to Indiana.
Well, since I started New ag, I had the opportunity to go to southern Indiana. It's just crazy to, you know, to be sitting here with you now and you're going to pick up those acres, which is. I'm fine with that.
[00:05:47] Speaker B: You're gonna try to.
[00:05:48] Speaker A: Yeah. It's just crazy that it's full circle. We're sitting here and.
[00:05:51] Speaker B: Yeah. And that's one thing that I've learned, too, just kind of talking to people here is I didn't realize. So when I've been doing my market research and I always try to make sure that I'm well educated in anything before I jump in, full, full steam ahead and trying to do my market research and find out who all was around me. I didn't find very many applicators in my area. One of them that I did find, the guy was nice enough to talk to me on the phone, and I actually met him here. I went to a couple classes with him. He's about an hour and a half away from me. But there wasn't very many other people that I found just doing like, Facebook searches and Google searches. But what I found is there's companies like who you guys work for, you get hired in, like, as a subcontractor, and they, they ship you out or like, like Apex. They're not too far from me. I didn't realize they hire like 30 interns in the summer to come in, and then they ship a farm of guys out. I didn't realize that. So it's going to be interesting.
[00:06:38] Speaker A: Yeah. Let's get into your background a little bit. 31 years old, you threw some jobs out there that you had. What, like, how that evolved?
[00:06:47] Speaker B: Started out in college working for a guy named, named Kyle Cummins. And that is actually where I met my crop dusting buddy, Chet. Kyle and Chet were buddies, and so that. That's the background there. Kyle owned a CNC shop. So I, I went and worked for him in his CNC machining shop. And he kind of helped me pay my way or got me into. I shouldn't say pay, but got me into CNC machining. So I graduated with a degree in CNC machining after I graduated with a degree in conservation law enforcement.
[00:07:14] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:07:15] Speaker B: So I was going. I wanted to go to school. I wanted to be a conservation officer while going for that degree is when I was working for Kyle. And then I was like, okay, I can make more money being a machinist than I can a co and I don't have to walk around in the woods. Like your trespassing video. You put up with the guy. You guys caught that guy trespassing. Those CEOs got to go in there.
[00:07:30] Speaker A: You know, we caught him, but he didn't show up for court. So we'll see how that whole thing pans out.
[00:07:34] Speaker B: Yeah, but. So, yeah, yeah. Went to school as a machinist. Got hired on directly out of college by General Motors. So got shipped up to Northern Indiana to work in their tool and die facility up there. Led their tool and die team on second shift for three years up there as A supervisor up there directly out of college. That was very interesting. Having guys who were my dad and grandparents age that were working for me.
It didn't go over very well some days, but it was okay. Yeah, Just didn't like the corporate life. When they said jump, you said, how high? But I really, I reached my salary by July, my first two years. The rest of the time was all overtime. Like that's how many hours we were working.
So it was crazy hours. Didn't like the corporate life and I didn't like being in northern Indiana. So then I found a job at a local machine shop back in my hometown, went to work for them.
[00:08:23] Speaker A: What don't you like in northern Indiana that you like in southern Indiana?
[00:08:26] Speaker B: So, number one, the wind never stops blowing. It's so flat. And I just cannot stand the constant wind blowing. I know it's a minute thing, but the wind never quits blowing.
Number two, the coon hunting is way better in southern Indiana. I'm a coon hunter and the timber is just by far way better in southern Indiana.
[00:08:44] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:08:44] Speaker B: So that's my two big things, Ken.
[00:08:47] Speaker A: I didn't know anybody coon hunting.
[00:08:49] Speaker C: So let's go back upon hunting.
[00:08:51] Speaker B: No, I didn't get into coon hunting until I was in college. I met a guy.
[00:08:53] Speaker C: Really?
[00:08:54] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, I met a guy who's like, hey, you want goon hunting? I'm like, well, what's that? And he was like, yeah, let's just go.
And now, now I'm consumed with it. I mean, I have a whole half sleeve tattoo of a coonhound. Like it's. It's Walker.
[00:09:08] Speaker A: Walker.
[00:09:08] Speaker B: Train Walker.
[00:09:09] Speaker A: Yeah. Nice, huh? Yeah.
Because there's different coon dogs, right?
[00:09:13] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:09:14] Speaker A: They're black and tan. Black.
[00:09:15] Speaker B: And you got, you got seven breeds. Yeah. You got Train Walkers, Black and Tans, Coon Hound, the Red Bone, American Leopard, English and Blue Tick.
[00:09:22] Speaker A: Well, it sounds like you know a lot for the little bit of time that you decided, okay, I want to be a coon hunter.
[00:09:28] Speaker B: Yeah, I've actually finished. I finished fifth in the world three years ago, and then I finished 14th two years ago.
[00:09:33] Speaker A: Okay. If you do your spray drone business like it sounds like you went into coons, you should be.
[00:09:38] Speaker B: I'm all in.
[00:09:39] Speaker A: I'm telling you, you should be dialed.
[00:09:41] Speaker B: Dialed, baby. Lock in this guy.
Yeah, we go head first, man.
[00:09:49] Speaker C: You know Tucker and Tyler Stein from Ohio?
[00:09:52] Speaker B: I don't think so.
[00:09:53] Speaker C: They've won the world a couple times.
[00:09:54] Speaker B: Yeah. I don't. The rain doesn't grew up with that. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We get. We're heavy into it.
[00:09:59] Speaker A: Okay. Walk me through a coon hunt. Like these. These competitions.
[00:10:02] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:10:03] Speaker A: Like, how do you win something?
[00:10:04] Speaker B: Yeah. So real, real basic. You've got. You got.
All the dogs come to the location, and they divide you out into what's called a cast. You have four dogs in a cast, and then you are judged based upon your point. It's a point system. You don't kill any coons. So the dog that strikes or barks first is going to get 100 points. 75. 50. 25.
[00:10:22] Speaker C: Take the dogs out in the woods.
[00:10:24] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:10:24] Speaker C: Four dogs loose at the same time.
[00:10:26] Speaker B: Yep. And so you're going to all these different woods. So if you have 100 dogs that show up to this event, you have 25 groups of four.
Okay.
[00:10:35] Speaker A: All your dogs.
[00:10:36] Speaker B: No, no.
[00:10:38] Speaker C: Hunter brings his own dog.
[00:10:39] Speaker A: Yeah, one. One.
[00:10:40] Speaker B: It would be like you. Like us. Us four here. We would turn loose together. We're competing against each other.
[00:10:46] Speaker A: Oh, okay.
[00:10:47] Speaker C: And then you turn all four. Four dogs lose. The same time. Dogs run out in the woods. First dog barks and you say, strike such and such.
[00:10:54] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:10:54] Speaker A: You get a point. Yeah, but how do you know if it actually was a true coon strike?
[00:10:58] Speaker C: You don't know.
[00:10:59] Speaker B: You don't. You don't.
[00:10:59] Speaker A: It's not.
[00:11:00] Speaker C: If he doesn't bark. Graph for a certain amount of time,
[00:11:02] Speaker A: you get deducted that point now.
[00:11:04] Speaker B: Yeah, Jason's on. He's got it. He's figured in. He's got it going on.
[00:11:07] Speaker A: He is a coon hunt.
[00:11:08] Speaker B: Yeah, but. Yeah, he's exactly right. You have to know your dog. You have to be very in tune with your dog. You have to know what your dog sounds like.
[00:11:13] Speaker A: That coon hunter guy wanted to buy a thermal drone because he was getting subtractions or something. He was going to physically show them the coon. Look, he. There's a coon there.
[00:11:22] Speaker B: Yeah. So I use a thermal every night when I hunt.
[00:11:25] Speaker A: That's what he's saying. He said they're thermaling it from the bottom, and then you can't hardly see it. And so he wants a thermal drone from the top and say. No, right. There he is. Like, it's truly a. Yeah.
[00:11:34] Speaker B: So. So you do. You can use a thermal. We. We run handheld thermal monoculars because you. You can find the coon. It cuts. Everything's done on a time system.
So you've got. You got to be quick about things. So the thermal cuts down looking for a coon and all these leaves and Stuff in the summer, you find it. But then you do have to physically see the coon with your eyes to, in order to score it. You cannot score off.
[00:11:54] Speaker A: Is there a judge with you?
[00:11:56] Speaker B: It depends on the situation.
[00:11:57] Speaker C: Sometimes usually has a judge.
[00:11:59] Speaker B: Yeah, that can be a hunting judge. So like I could be a judge and my dog is competing. But then it's a voting system.
[00:12:05] Speaker A: So it's like if it sounds like,
[00:12:08] Speaker B: listen, there's, there's a lot of crooks in there. It's so complicated. But there's so much money to be made in the sport.
[00:12:13] Speaker A: Well, yeah, but, well, if there's money involved, there's cheating happening. Because I'm already thinking like who's, who's holding people accountable.
[00:12:22] Speaker B: So when you get to the final rounds where the big money is, that's when you have a non hunting judge. But when you have a hunting judge, it's a voting system. So basically the hunting judge is just a placeholder for the scorecard. So if I make a call and you don't agree with it, you can call it to a vote and it takes three to one to overturn the vote.
[00:12:36] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:12:37] Speaker B: If it's two to two, it just gets deleted like it never happened.
[00:12:40] Speaker A: Huh.
[00:12:40] Speaker B: So the cast members do have say in it, but there's big money in it. We hunt for trucks every month. There's $6,500 entry fees that are paying out 100,000 to win.
They're giving away side by side.
[00:12:50] Speaker C: Are you hunting in a case?
[00:12:52] Speaker B: So there's ukc. Pkc. PKC is your big money hunts pro sport is now your newest kennel club. It's your big money hunts. UKC is more title recognition type deal.
[00:13:04] Speaker A: Okay, yeah, that, that's over the top of my head.
[00:13:06] Speaker B: But yeah, you got the hunt inside, then you have the show inside. So just like people show cattle, they show dogs.
So we show too. My wife, when are you going to
[00:13:14] Speaker A: have time to spray?
[00:13:15] Speaker B: Brother, you don't understand. I got a busy life. I haven't even told you that. We've got seven kids.
Mind blown.
[00:13:24] Speaker C: No wonder you're always out in the woods.
[00:13:27] Speaker B: My kids hunt. They hunt, they show.
Like we've, we've got, we are, we're on the road. My wife is on the road every weekend. I work but she's on the road every weekend.
[00:13:36] Speaker A: So your wife, wait, wait, is your wife involved too? Oh yeah, like coon hun.
[00:13:41] Speaker B: Oh yeah. She knows the rules better than most men and she'll go out there and put them in their place.
[00:13:45] Speaker A: Let's go. Yeah, no, that's cool. You guys are doing it as a family.
[00:13:48] Speaker B: Yeah. So my kids are running the national youth race right now. My kids are actually leading the national youth series when it comes to the hunt and the show portion.
My youngest son won youth nationals this year. My sister in law won the world show last year, won the nationals a year before that. It's a whole family thing. Father in law, sister in law.
[00:14:03] Speaker A: Yeah, but you said you didn't get into it that long ago.
[00:14:06] Speaker B: I didn't. I was 21.
[00:14:08] Speaker C: So your sister then got into it as well?
[00:14:09] Speaker B: My sister in law.
[00:14:10] Speaker C: Oh, your sister in law.
[00:14:11] Speaker D: Okay.
[00:14:12] Speaker B: Yeah. So I married my wife.
She brought all the kids. They're all hers. I just married into it. But her, her sister and her dad were huge into it and all the kids are into it. And then I actually, I actually met her at a coon hunt. So that's how I met my wife was at the world finals. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. There's money in it, but yeah, we kind of.
[00:14:30] Speaker A: Well, there you go. That's a breakdown of coon hunting.
[00:14:34] Speaker B: Yeah. So that's that. But like I said, I was a machinist. I got tired, got tired of the corporate life, started working for a small, smaller machine shop, ended up running their shop. Then I got promoted to sales. So then I was doing the sales for all of the small machine shop all across the whole state of Indiana.
[00:14:49] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh. Okay. So I definitely think you, you have one of the most important parts to be a spray drone pilot, and that's talking. Being able to talk.
No, it's, it's. I'm serious. Like, so, you know, some guys get into this, just think that they're going to have a, you know, a new way trailer sitting out with spray drones on top, and then they just get business. That's not part of it. Right. You got to talk. And obviously you talk to a lot of people. Probably getting permission to hunt coon and stuff.
[00:15:17] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. That's kind of hard to do up north. It's way easier down south. That's why I'm down south. Bingo. Everything's real small and locked down and it is. The deer is. The white tail deer is king up there.
[00:15:28] Speaker A: You'll probably talk to farmers when you're out there trying to figure out where the coon are. Right?
[00:15:32] Speaker B: Yeah. Yes.
[00:15:33] Speaker A: Okay, so what's, what's your strategy there? You. You got this.
[00:15:37] Speaker B: Yeah. So when we move back down south, I have a lot of connections down there. I've never stopped Networking. Anybody who I've ever met, who's. I have their phone number. It resides in my phone. I've never deleted a phone.
I. I keep all my contacts.
[00:15:49] Speaker A: I tried to as well, and then my dog on phone started randomly deleting contacts because I wasn't using it. Like, this was a real thing. Yeah, it was a real thing, actually.
[00:15:58] Speaker B: I. I lied there. I did go through and delete some people who have since passed. I was like, well, they're dead. I'm not gonna talk to them, so I better delete their number.
[00:16:03] Speaker A: But.
[00:16:06] Speaker B: But, yeah, no. So I'm always networking. And in southern Indiana, like, I know a lot of the farmers. I know a lot of the big players. I know who. Who the number one and number two taxpayers in the county are. They own all the farm ground.
[00:16:18] Speaker A: Like, wow.
[00:16:18] Speaker B: So that's where I'm getting. Getting in and trying to make my moves.
[00:16:21] Speaker C: Well, you can help them on their yield. You can kill all the coon and you can spray their corn.
[00:16:25] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, but we've already.
[00:16:26] Speaker A: But he probably doesn't want to kill the coon, so he can go tree the coon.
[00:16:29] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, we don't kill much coons at all. Really?
[00:16:31] Speaker C: You don't kill them in the season?
[00:16:33] Speaker B: I don't know. My dogs don't need them that much. I don't.
I don't. I'm not a big fan of killing something just to kill it. The fur ain't worth nothing these days.
[00:16:40] Speaker A: No.
[00:16:40] Speaker C: Fur ain't worth it.
[00:16:41] Speaker B: No. So I just. Well, they're dog up and going.
[00:16:44] Speaker A: They eat the deer bait corn, the corn.
[00:16:47] Speaker C: They eat the farmer's corn. They probably do worse for the farmer than what deer do.
[00:16:51] Speaker B: They will. If you've ever seen a coon destroy a patch of corn.
[00:16:54] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:16:55] Speaker B: It's just decimated.
[00:16:56] Speaker C: I sprayed a. Well, there was a food plot there, and I went out to spray it. It was four acres. I had four acres planted in the food spot. And corn, dude, I'm not kidding you. There was probably less than 40 stalks left.
[00:17:06] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:17:07] Speaker C: Had ripped them down like they had planned. Or they had fenced it out. Like, electric fence around it.
[00:17:12] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:17:13] Speaker C: All the. All the corn was on the ground.
[00:17:15] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:17:15] Speaker A: Yeah. They do a lot of damage for sure. Starting with one spray drone.
[00:17:20] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. Just gonna start with one, because the way this has to work. So like I said, I. I currently sell RVs. I got out of the machining gig because, honestly, selling RVs is lucrative. As I'll get out. There is a lot of money to be made in there. It is a booming industry still right now. Oh yeah. Money maker. It's good.
[00:17:36] Speaker A: Tell me about it.
[00:17:37] Speaker B: I mean, yeah, I mean, so I work for a company called RV Dynasty. We're a one location dealership. We ship nation.
There's what we're mainly online sales. So 80% of my customers I sell over the phone via phone call, text message. I only get to meet 20% of my customers in person because we ship nationwide.
But like last year alone, it was my first year selling RVs. I came in in March and from March until December 31st I sold 141 like myself.
[00:18:01] Speaker A: Oh my gosh. Yeah. Wait, wait, I thought the economy is not doing that good.
[00:18:06] Speaker B: Like brother, the economy. I, I, I do not put any weight or stake in that stuff. I don't, I don't watch the news. I don't, I'm not into that. That's just not me. First off, we don't have TV in our house so I don't get to watch all that stuff.
[00:18:17] Speaker A: Like no YouTube.
[00:18:18] Speaker B: We have YouTube, but like no cable. So I don't keep up with any like the news.
[00:18:21] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:18:22] Speaker B: But I, I'm a firm believer that if somebody wants something, they're going to pay for it and they might, they're going to sell off whatever they need to or finance or they need to, to get whatever they want.
[00:18:29] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:18:30] Speaker B: The person's drive to want something doesn't end just because the economy is not doing great. But, but like RVs. So it's not just people who are like weekend warriors going out camping. There's people who are working remote and that their job will give them a stipend per day. So rather than buying a hotel room where they have to sleep in the sheets and use the toilets and showers that somebody else already has, they use their stipend to pay for their RV payment. So they just tow an RV with them. It's their stuff.
[00:18:55] Speaker A: So how many of those 140 units are financed?
[00:18:58] Speaker B: I would say actually our, our finance. I, I, I would, I'm just going to throw a round number. I'd say 80% probably.
[00:19:03] Speaker C: I figured you were going to say all of them.
[00:19:05] Speaker B: No, no, there's because, because there are people that, that, that save up cash. But that was just me. I mean we sold over 800 as, as one dealership in Indiana.
[00:19:13] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:19:13] Speaker B: Last year. Like the RV business is booming.
[00:19:16] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:19:16] Speaker B: So that's why we're starting with one drone is cuz actually my partner, he's going to be the one who's going to do everything this summer. I. I can't leave like. And you're making June, July. I'm. I'm making very good money and to support my family and. And I'm moving them down in July. That way they can be ready for school in August. And then I'm going to just work my tail off, sell as many RVs as I can, stack up on cash, come back down in December. And Ira is going to kind of run everything while for the first season. So one drone and then hopefully it pays off to where next year we can go to. And we can go full time.
[00:19:47] Speaker A: You're so much further ahead than we were when I started. Like, just on your equipment alone, the T100 with what it'll be able to get done, it's going to blow your mind. Well, you don't know what it is to get. I don't know, get done with T50s. What type of trailer system are you going to?
[00:20:05] Speaker B: Yeah. So we're actually going to run a truck rig.
Yep. So I've been scoping those out hot and heavy just for the simple use. It's just one drone.
Kind of where we're going. I don't personally, and it might change once I get out there, but I don't see the need to pull much more than the truck rig with it with a water tender behind it and drop the trailer if I need to. Like I said, I might. I might be wrong on this.
[00:20:25] Speaker A: No, you're not wrong. Yeah, you're not wrong. We're just freaking dialing ours in.
[00:20:31] Speaker B: Trust me. I've been waiting to see what new way was coming out with because I love your guys's trailer setups. But I'm like, for me, getting in the initial investment, it's just. It's a lot.
[00:20:40] Speaker A: Did you show them?
No, we'll show you after the fact. But the problem is you need it now. And that's a problem. Yeah, we just won't be able to do that. But you might want to cobble together just a trailer and wait on this unit. Because I'm telling you, there's nothing on the market like it. Right. It's custom. From the ground up to tanks of plumbing to the whole. The whole nine yards. So.
[00:21:02] Speaker B: Yeah. And the other reason I want to go with the truck skid is. Is thinking long term. Like I said, I try to. I try to weigh all my options and do all my research is okay. So long term, you go down the road and you're running two drones, you're running three Drones, whatever it is. Great. I'm going to keep that truck tender and then I'm gonna have a trailer, too. That way, if I need to, I can send a trailer one way and then I can take. I can send myself or whoever it is in the truck rig to get into those tighter places. I mean, you guys have flown southern Indiana sometimes where you got to get back into them fields. It's not the easiest place. I mean, it's not like the mountains like Preston. I think it's in Preston that you did videos.
Yeah, it's not like that, but it's tight lanes. It's. It's woods on both sides in there. So I think the truck rig has a place no matter what trailer system you have. Yep, yep, the truck has a place.
[00:21:40] Speaker A: So I wonder if we could just get you to squeeze by until the. The unit is here. I'm telling you, I know where you're running and that's. We were wanting this now truck rig
[00:21:52] Speaker B: down in the other problem. And maybe you guys can elaborate on. And maybe you might be divulging too much information, but what I have right now is a Chevy 2500 six and a half foot bed.
[00:22:01] Speaker A: So we have a system that'll fit in there, but you're. Once you fill it up with fluid, you're gonna be too heavy.
[00:22:07] Speaker B: Yeah, Yeah. I wonder if helper springs or something you can.
[00:22:10] Speaker A: Oh, we've done it.
[00:22:11] Speaker C: Get away with it.
[00:22:12] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:22:12] Speaker C: We have airbags in our one truck. And it'll do it.
[00:22:15] Speaker A: It's just technically you're overweight.
[00:22:17] Speaker B: I mean, I get it. And I'm also one who is. I just upgraded this 2500 like in October. I was using my 1500 as a 2500 and just.
[00:22:26] Speaker A: That's why. That's why. That is why I designed.
Between me and Jay, we designed it for a six and a half foot bed for the exact truck that you're explaining. But because of how it has to be engineered, the unit itself gets really close to being at the weight that the pickup truck can handle. But once you throw water in it, that's when you start going over. But if you're doing the tending thing, like you're saying you're gonna pull that trailer and then you just throw water in what you need and go in the back 40.
He might be the guy that, you know, 2.0 might be good for him because we're working on 3.0. 3.0 will be built for an eight foot pickup truck.
[00:23:04] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:23:05] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, we'll. We'll Talk more off the podcast and show you some pictures since you're this serious and obviously just, you know, chatting with you. I. I want to help you out as much as I can. And. And we got the unit. I know, I know. What we have is what you need because I was in that area. Running.
[00:23:21] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. Right behind my house. That was like, wait a second.
These.
[00:23:28] Speaker D: Yep.
[00:23:28] Speaker A: These guys?
[00:23:29] Speaker B: These guys.
[00:23:31] Speaker A: What do you think? You know, outside of figuring out what equipment you want to run, what. What type of issues do you see yourself having in the future?
[00:23:40] Speaker B: Yeah, number one, I think only having one drone. If something goes. Goes mad bad wrong, like, you're down, you're down. So I just left the class on, like, repairs and maintenance. Kind of trying to figure out what you need as far as, like, a toolkit essentials to have that you can try and repair in the field.
It doesn't. It's just like. It's just like in racing, right? If they wreck a car, as long as the driver can still get out and get out of the car, they're going back behind the wall, they're pulling the spare car down from the hauler, and they're getting back on the track. So having a backup drone would be ideal.
Now, obviously, I mean, you already heard me say, like, I got seven kids, I got a lot going on, so I don't have unlimited cash. So the upfront initial startup cost is something that is a concern.
You know, by the time you buy a truck tender, you buy the drone, you buy. You're 70 grand into this thing.
[00:24:29] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:24:30] Speaker B: So that's. That's just kind of where we're at. But that's the number one.
[00:24:32] Speaker A: You have the acres, though, and I know you got the acres down there. If you can get the acres, you'll pay it off easily.
[00:24:37] Speaker B: Yeah. And I fully believe that, you know, talking with Jessica and this is kind of a plug for you guys and not, you know, this is real world experience. Like, I've been working with Jessica at New Way for two months now. One thing that you guys do really, really well is set up a sales meeting and hey, here's what I want to do. Here's. Here's our plan. And then she went through and built a full business plan for us. I mean, it's. It. Who else is doing that? I mean, it's a full business plan from top to bottom. It says, okay, these guys, AKA Strata Works Drone Solutions is a company formed between two friends who are going to be using aerial application in southern Indiana. Here's their competitors here's the cost of the startup, here's the ROI for year one, year two, year three. You just print it off and you take it to your lender like it's done.
You know, you guys, it's a whole package and that's why I'm, I'm at this point and I realize that we're getting very close on time. Like we know that, you know, all of our licensing is going to take three to four months to get things done. So it's like, okay, I'd rather pay for convenience. Have it done. And yeah, down the road I go,
[00:25:38] Speaker A: you know, back to coon hunting. You go?
[00:25:40] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:25:41] Speaker B: I honestly haven't got to do that much lately. We've been so busy.
Yeah, my boy, he's going a ton.
[00:25:46] Speaker A: I'm just working, just selling, selling our
[00:25:49] Speaker B: dude, selling RVs, stacking cash, trying to get our house ready to sell. Because we also raised Texas longhorns. We have an online meat business, we have a full website. Man, it's wild.
[00:26:02] Speaker A: Tell me about the longhorns.
[00:26:03] Speaker B: Yeah, so I just discovered the longhorns about four years ago and I met my wife. They're actually my father in law's deal. He's been raising them since 1994. He's won 45 world championships. So he's.
[00:26:13] Speaker C: How do you win a world championship with longhorns?
[00:26:15] Speaker B: Horn measuring contests. So that's what it is. So it's like a futurity. They got age brackets, right. So so cows that are, you know, 0 to 12 months, 12 to 24 months, that kind of deal.
[00:26:27] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:26:28] Speaker B: So. And obviously you can enter more than one. So you know, he might take six cows to measuring in place with all of them. So that's how you accumulate so many in short period of time.
[00:26:36] Speaker C: Gotcha.
[00:26:37] Speaker B: But, but he had no market for whenever the cow was past its prime and it already, you know.
Yes.
What a lot of people don't realize is like in the longhorns, the females actually grow bigger horns than the males generally. Unless you, you castrate them and make them a steer. The females have the big horns. So when they've, they've gone through their cycle and they've produced a few calves and, and they're ready, you know, they're past their prime. Okay, then what? So he was just taking them to the butcher and having them grounded in ground beef and stuff. The whole cow, ground beef and sound. It's like $4 a pound.
[00:27:09] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:27:09] Speaker B: And I'm like, hold on a second. Like there's money you're leaving Money on the table.
[00:27:14] Speaker A: What about selling it to Longhorn Steakhouse?
[00:27:16] Speaker B: Yeah, you're literally, you're leaving money on the table. So I, I worked with another company, kind of like what you guys do. They're a whole all one stop shop. And they built a website, they did everything. It's a whole online inventory system. All we have to do, we're USDA certified. So we can ship, we can ship nationwide. We can do whatever we need to do. Now, we're not that big yet, but we do have the capabilities if we need to. But we sell to local grocery stores. I got two whole food markets that we sell to. People come to the farm and do on farm pickup. We do deliveries within surrounding counties. And we sell, we don't sell bulk. We don't sell quarters, halves and holes. We sell by the cut. Because most people in today's day and age don't have deep freezers to put all this stuff into. And they will pay for convenience. They are like, okay, I want to order my meat for two weeks. Great. Okay, you can get on the website, you can order a steak, 10 pounds of ground beef, and I don't know, two chuck roasts, and we'll deliver it to you.
[00:28:04] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:28:04] Speaker B: And they pay for that.
[00:28:05] Speaker A: Okay, and where can they find that?
[00:28:06] Speaker B: Yeah, so that's a raftere family farmstead.com rafter raftere familyfarmstead.com. yeah, my father in law used to build buildings, so that's where he got the rafter. His last name is E, so his brand is like a rafter with an
[00:28:20] Speaker A: E. And those longhorns are grown in Indiana?
[00:28:24] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, right there in Peru, Indiana. Everything's grown right there on our farm. And wow, it's delicious. It's the best meat you'll ever eat, in my opinion.
[00:28:30] Speaker C: So it's, it's a little leaner than Angus, right?
[00:28:33] Speaker B: Super lean. Yeah. So it's the, the leanest form of beef on the market right now.
[00:28:36] Speaker C: And it's good.
[00:28:37] Speaker A: I've never had it.
[00:28:38] Speaker B: It's delicious. So.
[00:28:38] Speaker A: But it has some fat on a steak or. No?
[00:28:41] Speaker B: Yeah, there's, there's some. So we, we don't do the whole grass fed deal. Our cows are grass fed up until about 60 days before butcher. Then we do a grain finish. It puts a little bit more meat or a little more flavor into them and it honestly helps hold it together a little better because they're so lean, they kind of just fall apart.
[00:28:57] Speaker A: So.
[00:28:58] Speaker B: Yeah, but I, I think it's delicious. I love, I love a longhorn when
[00:29:01] Speaker A: it comes to taste, I'm thinking of your children. Yeah, they're probably going to be flying your drones. Or are they too young?
[00:29:08] Speaker B: So the. I have a couple. Like, my oldest boy, he is 15, so, you know, he's real close to age. And my. My second youngest is 14, so they might be able to help down the road.
It's just their. Their interests are all over the place.
[00:29:22] Speaker C: Oh, yeah.
[00:29:23] Speaker B: It's hard to dial in something, you know, with them right now, whenever. Which is kind of like me, but
[00:29:28] Speaker A: they're all outdoorsmen or not really.
[00:29:29] Speaker B: Yeah. So most of them are. Yeah. Out of the seven, I'd say four of them are pretty outdoorsy. And three of them.
[00:29:35] Speaker A: Tell me how it is.
[00:29:37] Speaker B: Seven children, four girls, three boys. Like I said, they're all my wife's.
[00:29:41] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:29:41] Speaker B: But they're all hers as far as naturally. But I came into the picture about almost five years ago now. It's. It's. It's been amazing, but it's a lot to take on whenever you. You go from having no kids to having seven kids and trying to adjust.
[00:29:55] Speaker C: Like, I can't imagine.
[00:29:56] Speaker B: Like. Yeah. And it's like, you know, unfortunately, their dad's not still here. I'm not your dad, but I'm gonna be a father figure where I can, and I'm trying to help out.
[00:30:03] Speaker A: And what happened to their dad?
[00:30:05] Speaker B: Unfortunately, he passed away. He had a heart attack. So that was like, three years or two years ago. Wow.
[00:30:09] Speaker A: How does that affect them?
[00:30:10] Speaker B: I mean, it's kind of tough because it's like, so. So there's a big age gap deal here, too.
This is kind of like, not aggregated, but it's a part of me, which is fine. So, like, my wife is 10 years older than me, and then I'm 10 years older than the youngest or than the oldest kid, if that makes sense. It's like trying to step in as a guy who doesn't have.
[00:30:28] Speaker C: You're 25?
[00:30:29] Speaker B: I'm 31.
[00:30:30] Speaker A: 31.
[00:30:30] Speaker B: The oldest is. I guess the oldest is 20. Yeah. The oldest kid is 20.
[00:30:34] Speaker C: I thought you said it was 15.
[00:30:35] Speaker B: No, 10.
[00:30:37] Speaker A: What?
[00:30:37] Speaker B: My boy. Okay. There's. There's four girls, three boys. My oldest boy is 15, but the oldest kid is 20.
[00:30:44] Speaker C: Okay, that makes sense.
[00:30:45] Speaker B: Yeah. So. So, I mean, it has its challenges because it's like, okay, number one, like, you've never been a parent before, and now you're stepping into that role, like, trying to, you know, not overstep boundaries. And, like, hey, like, I know I'm not Your father. But I'm. I'm here, like, to be in that role in capacity if you need me to be. Just trying to, like. Okay. There's just a lot that goes into it. The complexity is tough.
[00:31:05] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, yeah. But that's interesting to me.
[00:31:08] Speaker B: But I. But I wouldn't change it, you know, like, I literally met my wife at a coon hunt and they'd had no idea she had that many kids.
And it just. It has worked. I don't know. I don't know how to explain it.
[00:31:17] Speaker C: Wow, that's pretty awesome.
[00:31:19] Speaker A: But as far as the children, like, they. They remember their dad that passed.
[00:31:23] Speaker B: Yeah, he just. He just passed two years ago. The youngest is 11, so he would have been 9 whenever he passed.
[00:31:28] Speaker A: Does. Do you see. Does it affect them? Are they sad that.
[00:31:32] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, it's. It's tough for sure.
[00:31:35] Speaker C: Have a relationship with him?
[00:31:36] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. For the majority of their lives. Growing up, he. He was in another state, like, running a business. But the last, I don't know, five or six years, I think it was. He was right there in the same town with them.
And yeah, like, they would go to his house. Like, there was no. It's her weekend or his weekend. They just kind of floated back and forth. And he and I had a pretty decent relationship together. And, you know, I mean, it was. It just worked.
[00:31:57] Speaker D: Wow.
[00:31:57] Speaker B: Yeah. And then he just. I just. Very unfortunate deal.
[00:32:00] Speaker A: How old was he?
[00:32:02] Speaker B: Let's see here. Well, he's 20. 20 years older than me, so he would have been 58.
[00:32:08] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:32:09] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. But extremely hard worker. I mean. Yeah, I mean, he. He taught the kids, you know, work ethics. That's what he did. He ran a recycling business.
[00:32:16] Speaker A: So.
[00:32:17] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:32:17] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:32:18] Speaker B: Hardworking dude.
[00:32:19] Speaker A: But I would say I am so curious to see where you're going to go with the spray drone business. Like, hearing everything that you've done, it's like, I don't know, you almost can't fail. No, the only way you fail is you decide you're not going to go out and spray. Because.
[00:32:36] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, I'm just. I'm. That I'm that guy. Like, once I put my mind to something like, that's where I'm going right now. I will say that my problem, and I know this about myself, is that I get into something super hard and super heavy and I take it to the max and I run as fast as I can and I go. And then I'm like, okay, I've done that. Now what? Like, I owned a laser business for A while. Like, laser engraving.
[00:32:58] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:32:59] Speaker B: I had a goal. I wanted to build it up to be this much. I wanted to pay this stuff off in life. Did it. And then I was like, okay, now what? I sold. Got rid of my. Sold everything. And. All right, now what?
[00:33:09] Speaker A: So that's interesting.
[00:33:11] Speaker B: But I'm trying. This is the first thing that I'm legitimately trying to do where I can work for myself. I am ready to be my own boss. As much as I love my job now, I. I hate that I have to, like, request for vacation time.
[00:33:25] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:33:25] Speaker B: I have to, like, request. Hey, I'm going. I'm going here. I don't. I don't like that.
[00:33:29] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. When I go to my boss and I know that I'm going to ask them for off, I just. I just tell them I'm going to take off.
[00:33:36] Speaker B: Yeah. And that's how my wife lives her life.
I've never met a woman who just marches to beat her own drum like she does, but. So I'm just. I'm just looking for something where it's like, okay, I'm not scared of hard work. I'm not scared of. Of learning something new, but I'm ready to do it. For me, like, if I succeed, it's on me and my partner, Ira. If we fail, it's on us. Like, it's nobody else to blame, you know?
[00:34:01] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:34:02] Speaker B: I'm looking. I'd like to have something where the kids, like, one day. Okay. Do you want to be a part of this? Okay, great. Here's. Here's an opportunity.
[00:34:09] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:34:09] Speaker B: Basically, you know, there's the interns that all these other people are doing.
[00:34:12] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:34:12] Speaker B: I mean, we're raising a small army. Why could they not all have a role in it at some point in time?
[00:34:16] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:34:16] Speaker B: I mean, just. It seems like an amazing time to get in. I wish I would have got in two years ago.
[00:34:22] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. But then you would have been spraying your own fields behind your house and not me.
[00:34:26] Speaker B: Yeah. Thank you.
[00:34:28] Speaker C: This is a good time to get into it, though. The equipment has gotten so much better in the past couple years that it's.
[00:34:33] Speaker A: It's crazy.
[00:34:33] Speaker C: Like, it's at a point now that it's good enough that it could. We could deal with what we have for the next, you know, five, 10 years.
[00:34:40] Speaker B: Yeah.
Yeah, yeah. 100. I don't know. I'm just. I'm super, super excited about it. And it's been. Just been. This whole conference here has been super cool. I came here by myself. I didn't know Anybody. When I got here, I'm like, I'm just gonna walk around, talk to people and just try and figure it out.
And just talking to people, hearing their stories and seeing operations where, you know, in the last three years, guys have just changed their lives.
[00:34:59] Speaker A: They've done all kinds of 100%. Like, we. We have folks on the podcast that literally, because of the spray drone business that they started up three years ago, two years ago, they are able to buy a house. It's crazy.
[00:35:12] Speaker B: Yeah. And it's like. And it's not even like the row crop side that gets me. I'll be very honest. Row crop is what gets me the least excited.
[00:35:17] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:35:18] Speaker B: I see the money. I see the money is there in the row crop.
[00:35:21] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:35:22] Speaker B: But I like the. The idea of being able, like, especially with the T100, being able to throw the seed and the seed up or attachment on and go out and do like, the whitetail deer is king right now. Go plant the food plots, things of that nature. If you needed to. At some point, you can throw the lifting attachment on like you guys kind of were talking about. At some point when part 108 comes out, and hopefully you can lift it. If I'm understanding it correctly, that's what the part 108 is. Right. Like, you can use some of that stuff. But anyways, yeah, you know, you can. You can use it to, I don't know, lift shingles onto a roof for a contracting company?
Like, just the drone in general gets me excited. But like, the row crop, I'm like, okay, cool. I love to mow, so it's got to be the same deal. You're just making lines, you know, it's therapeutic. Like.
[00:36:04] Speaker A: Like a little different.
[00:36:06] Speaker B: But you get the concept, you know, I see the money is there.
[00:36:10] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:36:10] Speaker B: But I'm like, okay, can I use the spray drone, like I said, in the summertime to do the stuff in the winter time, like with the thermal and stuff.
Can you make a whole business out of drones? That is what I'm trying to do. And it's like, totally, I'm going for it.
[00:36:22] Speaker A: Totally.
[00:36:22] Speaker D: For sure.
[00:36:22] Speaker A: Where you're at with doing thermal for deer recovery Indiana, I think it's number so on the drone deer recovery website, based on the pilots that we have and the requests and the clicks we get, we can see where people are. I think it's Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana is how it goes.
[00:36:40] Speaker B: Yeah. So. So this is actually kind of funny. Like I said, just another plug to the way that you guys are doing things.
I found drone Deer recovery based, like on a whim. I told you. That's kind of how I got into the whole thing. I was like, okay, this is a viable deal. An acquaintance of mine, I can't even call him a friend, an acquaintance that I have on Facebook killed a hammer of a buck down there this year and couldn't find it. Huh. And so he hired a guy to come in and do the drone, the thermal deal. And I was like, okay, this is like awesome. You know, you get in the rabbit hole, you go down the loopholes, right? So, okay, person A kills a hammer buck, he tags person B who owns the drone deal. And you're like, okay, how did they get into it? So you click on their deal and you're like, okay, what equipment are they using? So then you start figuring out, okay, where do I buy this equipment? And then you get on the Google and the Interweb and it takes you, okay, well you can buy the whole kit here. And I'm like, okay, so this is, Wait a second, this is the picture they put the deer in front of. And this is the same monitor, this is the same kit. Wait a second. This person bought this from here. And then I find.
And then I, and then I find the pilot locator map and I'm like, ah, dialed in.
There it is this.
[00:37:42] Speaker A: I'm like, I'm like full circle. You know what you remind me of? There's a comedian that does all the
[00:37:51] Speaker B: learn, but that's what it is. It's like, it's like, okay, hold on. Like, if you want to know something bad enough, you can figure it out.
[00:38:00] Speaker C: This day and age, there is. There's no reason not, not to know something 100%.
[00:38:04] Speaker A: And with AI now, dude, it'll help you so much on even your spray drone business. Like, you want to know how long something's going to take, Put the parameters, tell AI what you want it to figure out and it'll give you an idea.
[00:38:16] Speaker B: Yeah. So I just downloaded Grok recently, like I don't know, three weeks ago or something. Things awesome. It's crazy how it works, but even just like persistence in the interweb and this is a little off topic, but I find it hysterical. There was a person that we needed to know some information on the other day. A friend of mine and I were like, question like this, this. What's the scoop on this person? Within two hours. And he was doing the majority of the research within two hours. We knew where this person lived, how much they paid for their house, how many cell Phone number they'd had since they graduated high school. I mean, we knew everything about this person. It's like, that's kind of scary because they could do that to me a little bit.
[00:38:51] Speaker A: I mean, wow.
[00:38:52] Speaker B: You follow the right channels, and it's like, everything's out there. But it's the same way with the, like, the spray drones, like you guys said, man, I've been on some rabbit holes. I mean, it's been two in the morning, and I'm like, you know, it's two in the morning. I'm sitting there in bed. I got this phone sitting here opened up, and I'm like, like, wait a. What are they doing? Reverse and rewind.
And then you're like, oh, it's two in the morning. I have to be up and go to work. Yeah, okay.
[00:39:16] Speaker A: You just pulled up.
[00:39:17] Speaker B: Oh, dude. Yeah. IPhone users, y' all ain't got nothing on the Galaxy the Z Fold six, man.
You want to watch videos? You just set that thing up right there.
You want to sell an rv, you just turn it around. You go through floor plans. You see what I'm saying?
You want to show somebody your awesome video of your spray drone? Here it is. It's a tablet in your pocket.
[00:39:35] Speaker A: I like it.
[00:39:36] Speaker B: You gotta have the tools, man.
[00:39:37] Speaker A: Oh, dude. Yeah. I like your energy. Like, you're just. You're high energy. Guys say, I. I got the energy. It's like, I think you're. You're right up there.
[00:39:47] Speaker B: You gotta have energy, and you got. You got to be able. I don't know. You just gotta have energy. You can't. That's what's killing me, is coming here, not knowing anybody. It's like, yeah, all right. I don't mind button into a conversation if I need to, but it's like, you're always just like, hey, man, do you mind if I ask a question? Like, man, but when you can sit down like this and just talk to somebody, and then you can just start going, yeah, and then I can go all day long. I don't know a stranger.
Just don't know one. Yeah, but it's fun. It's fun. I'm just super excited talking to the amount of people that are here that. That are in the same boat that I'm in. Never flown a spray drum. And they're here. Like, I can. I think I've talked to six people. I've got their contact information. Yeah, they've never flown. They're trying to figure they're doing the same exact thing I'm doing. Trying to dial in their decision, what are they going to use? What are like. Yeah, it's. This is crazy. This, this whole place.
[00:40:29] Speaker A: I assume if you're talking with Jess, the charging system that you're going to run is the 14, 000 generator.
[00:40:34] Speaker B: It is. Now, I do have my reservations on.
Maybe we can go into this. So I'm a very particular person. Right. I. I don't like loud noises.
Like, when I go feed my dogs at night, I wear ear muffs. Like, I don't like loud noises. And I've just heard and I Even on your videos and you almost crack me up with just like your straightforwardness and your blunt list. You're like, yeah, it's loud. If you don't like it, put some earplugs in.
[00:40:56] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:40:56] Speaker B: And it's like, I guess I'm gonna have like, that's what we're gonna have to do.
[00:40:58] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:40:59] Speaker B: But in order to get the charging
[00:41:00] Speaker A: efficiency that we need, it's. It's unfortunate.
[00:41:03] Speaker C: If you're gonna use a truck, that's what you're gonna have to use.
[00:41:05] Speaker A: Like just a truck bed system. Right, Right.
[00:41:08] Speaker C: Because otherwise it's a big diesel generator.
[00:41:10] Speaker B: Yeah. You just don't have room for it.
[00:41:11] Speaker A: Yep. Or you can spend right around 25, 000 to 30, 000 on battery packs.
[00:41:17] Speaker C: No, that, that, that crap there. So, okay, so that'll charge the battery 13 times.
[00:41:23] Speaker A: Is that it?
[00:41:23] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:41:24] Speaker A: Well, just put a multiple on them. So then 75, 000.
[00:41:27] Speaker C: That's what he's like. Yeah, just buy like five. I'm like gonna spend a hundred thousand to charge your battery 30 times.
[00:41:32] Speaker B: Were you guys in like the general session this morning when the guy from Australia was talking about the battery packs that they run? No. Yeah, so that's what they're running over in Australia.
[00:41:39] Speaker A: Oh, the Australians walking past.
[00:41:40] Speaker B: Yeah, right there.
[00:41:42] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:41:42] Speaker B: He was talking about the battery packs that they, that they run on the trucks.
[00:41:46] Speaker A: We literally. You should hop in and tell us about the, the battery packs. Give us a quick little like, how it works. This is so random. So we were talking about charging systems and he doesn't like loud noises. And I kind of laughed and it's like, oh, geez. You know, DJI Gener generator is loud, but it has the most power. And he's like, there's an Australian guy that was talking about battery packs.
[00:42:08] Speaker D: Yeah. So we've actually just started it in the last year using power banks. So what they are is Tesla power banks. It's a DC to DC charging system. So it's a 21 kilowatt system. So what it is is a lot of our. Few of our trucks have it now. Not all of them. Our guys definitely rather must take those trucks for. Yeah, 100 because it's quiet. It's.
[00:42:29] Speaker B: It's.
[00:42:29] Speaker D: There's no noise at all.
[00:42:30] Speaker C: So I have a question. So there's a guy over here, he's from Canada.
[00:42:34] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:42:34] Speaker C: It's the same system. 25, 000.
[00:42:38] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:42:38] Speaker C: And that thing only charged the T100 battery 13 times.
[00:42:41] Speaker D: I've never used it with T100, so I don't know exactly what. What the T100. But with our. We run the max. The P150 max. Not as battery hungry, I guess where. So our. What we're doing, we. I'm trying to work out in acres.
[00:42:55] Speaker A: They just give us hectares.
[00:42:56] Speaker D: We get about 60 hectares, which is 150 acres, maybe. Which for. It's not for everyone. It's not. You can't do thousands of acres in a day. For a lot of the guys, they're only doing smaller. Is it for council or golf courses or like smaller spot spraying, all those sort of things. Even in. When we do do big acres, we might do a thousand acres or something like that, they'll still take the battery because what they do is they'll run the battery, run it until it's 20, and then they have a smaller generator, like a 6 or an 8 kilowatt generator. They just turn that on and normally it's a little diesel one, so it's quiet and then that charges that battery while they're sucking.
[00:43:36] Speaker A: That's. That's what I'm saying, Jason. You could run a Honda 7000, I.e1 or whatever it's called. It's so quiet.
[00:43:42] Speaker D: Yeah, yeah.
[00:43:43] Speaker B: An inverter generator.
[00:43:45] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:43:45] Speaker B: To charge the battery pack.
[00:43:46] Speaker D: Yeah. And the benefit is. The main benefit, which I like about it is the faster charging. It's 20 to 30%, probably. 30. It is a lot faster. Faster because it's DC to DC. You're not going AC to DC. We're finding it unreal. Like, it's not. It's. You wouldn't put it on a big trailer like that or, you know, do thousands of hectares with. Or acres with it. It's not built for the big, but you can stack them as well. But they're quite expensive.
[00:44:13] Speaker A: That's the biggest problem.
[00:44:15] Speaker D: See, the problem is as well, China, America has some serious tariffs and that. Yeah, that.
That's why it's so expensive. In Australia, it's only 9,000 for us.
[00:44:26] Speaker C: We gotta maybe just go around the guy that's over here.
We.
[00:44:31] Speaker A: We have the source.
[00:44:33] Speaker D: Well, you would know in China, that's all they use.
[00:44:36] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yep.
[00:44:37] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:44:37] Speaker B: I've got two questions. Yeah. Number one, where in proximity that you're from? How. How close is that to, like Brisbane?
[00:44:44] Speaker C: Four hours.
[00:44:45] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:44:45] Speaker D: Very close.
[00:44:46] Speaker B: Yeah. About eight.
[00:44:46] Speaker D: Australia, that's just down the road.
[00:44:48] Speaker B: Yeah.
About eight years ago, me and five buddies got a wild hair one night, we said, we want to go to Australia, and we just booked a flight.
[00:44:55] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:44:55] Speaker B: And so we went to Brisbane for two weeks.
[00:44:57] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:44:58] Speaker B: It was all. We went to the Gold coast, did all that stuff.
[00:44:59] Speaker D: Gold coast is unreal.
[00:45:00] Speaker B: It was beautiful. My other question was, I couldn't help but notice in your presentation this morning, you just very nonchalantly was like, yeah, me and my family, we own a couple million acres in Australia. And I'm like, hold the phone. Like, where did you guys acquire like multiple millions of acres?
[00:45:17] Speaker D: They don't. Like, they own like a few, a million or more, but they also lease a lot of it as well. So they have like 100 year leases with the government. Really own it, but they don't own it, if that makes sense. They own, okay, the big ones, but they also lease a lot as well. So equals a couple million, but like their main one is a million. Yeah.
[00:45:37] Speaker B: So I was just thinking like, like the. The people that I know around here that own the most acreage, like, okay, they own 30, 000 acres.
[00:45:43] Speaker A: Like.
[00:45:43] Speaker D: Yeah, yeah.
[00:45:44] Speaker B: They're on a ton. And you're like, just throughout. Millions.
[00:45:46] Speaker D: Plural.
It's very popular in Australia. Well, not popular, but like out in the central of Australia. Yeah, that's.
[00:45:55] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:45:55] Speaker D: It's. But because it's not like your farming land.
[00:45:57] Speaker A: It's desert, right?
[00:45:58] Speaker D: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you want me to leave you to it?
[00:46:01] Speaker A: No, unless you got something to go do.
[00:46:05] Speaker D: I already did the podcast.
[00:46:07] Speaker A: Yeah, no, unless you got something to go.
[00:46:10] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:46:10] Speaker A: So he's completely new.
[00:46:12] Speaker B: Brand new.
[00:46:13] Speaker C: That doesn't have a spray drone yet.
[00:46:14] Speaker A: Does not even have a spray drone.
[00:46:16] Speaker D: I was. You're probably the. I've talked to so many people like that.
[00:46:19] Speaker B: What did I just say?
[00:46:20] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. You can just.
[00:46:21] Speaker C: I just.
[00:46:22] Speaker D: On the way up here, I think I had two guys stop me. I mean, what do you recommend? Like, what do you. Yeah, not dji. And I honestly said it doesn't.
[00:46:32] Speaker A: For.
[00:46:33] Speaker D: If I was to buy here, I wouldn't go on a brand. I would pick the support, like, pick someone in your area, like they. Who care. They might sell anything. Just pick someone in your area that you know that supports you. Because that matters a lot more than the brand for what we've found.
[00:46:48] Speaker B: Yeah, I was just telling them, I said, it's amazing how many guys I've talked to who are just like me here. Yeah. They've never flown a spray drone, but, like, they see an opportunity, they, they see a chance. Like, all right, let's go for it.
[00:46:58] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:46:58] Speaker B: Everybody's got to start somewhere.
[00:46:59] Speaker A: This guy is a go getter, so I don't, I don't think he's gonna have to worry about. Not too much time will tell.
[00:47:07] Speaker B: Right.
[00:47:07] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:47:08] Speaker D: I've talked to a lot of people, angry people as well here that have purchased a drone. Their dealer is now disappeared, and they're stuck with something that no other dealer wants to support because they didn't.
[00:47:19] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:47:19] Speaker B: So we were, we were having that conversation at lunch.
[00:47:22] Speaker D: Picking a reputable dealer.
[00:47:24] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:47:24] Speaker D: Is key.
[00:47:25] Speaker B: I told Mike, I said I could.
[00:47:26] Speaker A: Is it new aag?
[00:47:27] Speaker D: It depends where you are.
[00:47:30] Speaker B: But I was telling Mike I could not believe how many people I've just sat down because I came by myself. Like, I didn't come with anybody.
[00:47:35] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:47:36] Speaker B: So the last three days, all I've done is insert myself into conversations and like, hey, do you mind if I have lunch with you?
[00:47:40] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:47:41] Speaker B: And. And just talking to people. And how many people are dealers?
[00:47:44] Speaker D: Yeah, yeah.
[00:47:45] Speaker B: I just can't wrap my head around it. It's like everybody's a dealer.
[00:47:47] Speaker D: You can be a dealer if you're an operator. For most. Well, yeah, for most. Most. If you buy enough drones, I'll say you want to be a dealer.
[00:47:55] Speaker A: Yeah, but that, that's why Jamon's saying, like, you know, pick somebody that has the support.
[00:47:59] Speaker C: Yeah, that's why I was telling you sell your drone.
[00:48:02] Speaker D: Yeah, everybody's doing.
[00:48:03] Speaker A: Support it. Exactly. Yep. That's what I was saying at lunch. Like, yeah, you can buy a drone for any one of these guys, but when you try to call him, he's probably Alice Ray, so.
[00:48:13] Speaker D: Yeah, exactly.
[00:48:13] Speaker A: I mean, I have nothing against that, but just have. Hopefully that guy gives you a backup option.
[00:48:19] Speaker D: Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely.
[00:48:20] Speaker A: Because we're, you know, we're launching our dealer network. We're kind of picking and choosing. We want to make sure it's critical. Yeah, yeah.
[00:48:28] Speaker D: Not just, just throwing it out there and saying, yeah, you fly a drone, you should be a dealer.
[00:48:32] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:48:33] Speaker D: Because you need.
[00:48:33] Speaker C: Is that how it is in Australia too?
[00:48:35] Speaker D: Dji. Yeah. XAG is pretty strict on who they allow, which is good.
[00:48:40] Speaker C: Yeah, no, I think it should be more.
[00:48:43] Speaker B: That's what I was telling them.
[00:48:44] Speaker D: It can ruin a company's name quite quickly.
[00:48:46] Speaker B: I told them, I said, I can't believe that there's not like a dealer radius, like a dealer protection program where if a person is within X amount of miles or kilometers from you.
[00:48:54] Speaker D: Yeah. Your neighbor can really start a dealership down the road. Yeah, it depends. You could probably shut them down, but. Yeah, it depends, huh?
[00:49:02] Speaker B: Yeah, it's interesting.
[00:49:03] Speaker A: Wow. I feel like we could. We could ramble on. What? What? What words of wisdom would you give a guy that hasn't started yet?
[00:49:10] Speaker D: Oh, that's a tough one. Tough one. Like I said, support is key.
[00:49:14] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:49:14] Speaker D: Definitely. Support is far superior than the drone, I think. But carry parts. Don't try and cheap out on. You're not getting any parts. Yeah.
[00:49:24] Speaker A: And what I would suggest as well
[00:49:26] Speaker D: is, well, what we find in Australia might not be as bad here, but some people go and spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on setting up everything like the greatest, the best, and then they realize six months later they're not even going to specialize in that sector that required that setup or something like that.
Probably not very good for you guys
[00:49:45] Speaker A: because you sell the whole kit.
[00:49:46] Speaker C: But we don't want to sell people stuff that they don't need.
[00:49:48] Speaker D: Exactly. It depends on where you are.
[00:49:49] Speaker A: If you are a big.
[00:49:50] Speaker D: A big customer, they're spraying, you're going to spray big areas, you will need that. Otherwise you can't get over the land. But yeah, we see people get like two or three drones and then only ever use one.
[00:50:02] Speaker A: I'm gonna have to run to that panel.
[00:50:04] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:50:04] Speaker D: Oh, yeah, yeah, that's now is it that time?
[00:50:06] Speaker B: Oh, it is that time. How about that?
[00:50:08] Speaker A: Alrighty.
[00:50:09] Speaker C: Very good.
[00:50:10] Speaker A: Let's cut her down. Hey, I appreciate you guys tuning in this week. Make sure to subscribe to the channel, give it a thumbs up and we'll catch you guys later.
[00:50:17] Speaker D: Thank you.
[00:50:19] Speaker A: Sorry that was a little abrupt ending there, guys, but thanks for being on for real.
