September 10, 2023 • 37 mins
Our tour of the Daniverse takes us to Dan Dietzen! Dan is a Destin, FL-based Dannovator & Dantrepreneur. Learn about his company ENCO Electronics and its patented Halo building-wide, commercial-grade water leak detection system — designed specifically for condominiums. Dan also talks about fatherhood, thinking outside the box and helping others even when it's someone else's job. And as always, we make a run through the lightning round.
www.encoelectronics.com
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Welcome to episode number five of the Dan Time podcast.
(00:09):
Hey, I'm your host, Dan McCardell.
I appreciate you listening wherever you are.
If you enjoy the show and you like the guests so far, tell a
friend or a coworker about it.
Talk about it.
Share a post on social media.
I'm trying to do something a little different here.
And for my devoted listeners, I feel like it's working.
(00:29):
I appreciate your feedback and interaction with the show.
We're continuing on our journey through the Daniverse.
Where this thing ends is anybody's guess.
Last week, we heard from Pensacola visionary, businessman,
and if you will, Dan-tre-pen-ew-er, Danny Zimmern or Danny Z.
(00:51):
A far reaching conversation with a very influential figure.
I enjoyed it.
I hope he did as much as I did.
Today, we arrive at Dan Dietzen.
Now Dan is an old contact of mine from my previous life in
Condominium Association Management on the Northern Gulf Coast of Florida.
Dan was, and still is a trusted vendor from ENCO Electronics, which
(01:15):
specializes in among many other things, the patented Halo building
wide water detection system.
Dan and I had a great time catching up, talking about ENCO, fatherhood,
and of course, the silly season stuff only found on this podcast.
One thing I think you'll enjoy about this conversation is we
get back to the topic of service.
(01:37):
Dan is a really interesting guy, really thoughtful guy.
He holds a law license in the state of Florida, has a very diverse background.
Interesting story about growing up, but I think you'll really appreciate
his wisdom and experience.
And remember, if you run a business or you've got a product or service or
(01:59):
an idea that you think the world needs to hear about, and particularly
if your name is Dan, reach out to me, come on the show.
And I'd love to talk about it with you and help you get the word out.
All right, let's go now to my conversation with Dan Dietzen.
Hey, Dan, how's it going today, man?
It's good to catch up with you again.
(02:20):
Yeah, good to be here.
Yeah, good to catch up with you.
You know, it's been kind of a strange day, it's a Sunday when we're recording this.
And, you know, I plan to have just star call today and nothing else.
So just kind of a lazy Sunday, but a little bit kind of out of the ordinary.
I work in an engineering firm that provides internet and water
(02:40):
leak detection systems to condos.
And overnight, one of our properties, it's real near my house, lost power.
So trying to save one of our on-call technicians a trip, I decided
to go over there and check it out myself.
You know, standard, the property didn't have power.
I got with maintenance.
We need the key into a room on the first floor.
First thing in the morning, we opened the door and someone had taken up
(03:03):
residence in this main kind of electrical meter and meter room.
You know, I'm still waking up, getting used to it.
And I am like 20 feet into this person's new home amidst like amongst electrical
meters before realizing there's like a half naked guy sleeping next to the
(03:25):
breaker that I needed to go in.
So, you know, that woke me up.
Like you, you don't expect to find, uh, you know, someone living in a mechanical
area first thing in the morning.
So, wow.
Yeah, definitely unplanned.
And then I got home to tell my, uh, wife about that story.
Like you're never going to believe this.
So as I'm walking in, my girls ambush me and our neighbor had just taken in some baby
(03:51):
deer.
So immediately from that, my girls want to go and check out these baby deers.
And they're in that phase where they're one, three, and six, where they're big in
the Disney movies and Disney princess things.
And they think that if they randomly break out into song that, you know, all
these animals are going to come up to them.
And sure enough, that's what they want to do.
(04:13):
So we go from being shocked to meeting someone in electrical room to meeting these
tiny baby deers with my girls singing and hoping they'll come to them.
So definitely unplanned Sunday so far, but
you were just planning for a little bit of Dan time on the podcast, hopefully a
lazy Sunday and wow, I have not heard a story quite like that.
(04:36):
Uh, we've all heard of squatters, you know, and even now, you know,
and even in my experience managing condominium associations, I know I never
encountered a squatter at one of my properties, never really thought that that
would be a viable option, but you know, if you leave an electrical room unlocked,
I guess anything's possible.
You know, people are resourceful.
(04:57):
They'll crawl into any little cubby hole.
Well, it's so funny, you know, technology has changed.
So no one ever comes out to read these like electrical meters anymore.
You know, they report wirelessly to the utility rooms.
So these rooms just go vacant for months.
And, oh yeah, it was set up.
There was a fan, there was unfortunately a place to use restroom.
There was everything.
(05:18):
So definitely surprising for sure, but you never know what you'll find
first thing in the morning at a property.
That is something else.
Well, guys, I'm just really excited to have Dan on the show today.
We had a good connection.
It's been three, maybe four years ago when I managed condominiums on the
Gulf coast in specifically Perdido Key.
(05:41):
One of the properties that I managed had a contract with Dan's company,
Enco Electronics, and it was such a robust product that you just kind of
wondered why everyone else didn't split away from, you know, MediaCom or Cox
Cable for their internet services.
And then it was, it was not just that.
(06:02):
I'll kind of let Dan get into this, but you guys invented a new technology.
Talk a little bit about that.
Yeah, of course.
Thanks.
So, you know, we do provide internet and TV services to condos, but kind
of our main focus and the main thing that gets us up in the morning is our
water leak detection system that's aimed solely at high rise, MDU,
(06:25):
condominium type of segment.
You know, it's funny how we got into that.
We, our founders were condo owners and both the founders of the company,
had water leaks and caused a lot of damage and they weren't just, you
know, two condos on the first floor.
One condo was on the fifth floor.
(06:45):
There was a guest lockout unit.
Heismaker flooded this unit plus everyone below them.
And then I was staying at one of our other founders' condos in the middle
of the night and there was like 10 other people in this condo.
A guest bathroom toilet broke off, the hose broke off and flooded the
entire condo and it didn't just like flood, it like filled the condo up
(07:07):
with an inch of water and then went all the way down to the first floor.
But there's 10 people in this condo.
It's occupied.
You'd think someone would have caught it, but it happened 3 AM.
And I remember, I'll never forget, I heard a knock at the door and it was maintenance.
First thing in the morning, just waking up, opening the door and the
maintenance guy said, you know, you have a water leak.
(07:30):
I looked at him and I go, you must be mistaken.
There's no water leak here.
He goes, are you crazy?
Turn around.
So I turn around and literally it is an inch of flooded water.
And somehow my path from bed to the front door, I managed to find little
dry islands and walk across without noticing.
That was kind of the first awakening for how much damage water leaks can cause.
(07:53):
And you know, that condo that I was in that had the water leak all of a sudden
the toilet hoses were the same age.
They were all getting to that age where they're, you know, breaking
and needed to be replaced.
So the condo replaced all of them.
Just took the initiative.
Hey, they're $2 a line.
Let's buy them in bulk.
Let's go to every toilet, sink, everything, replace these hoses.
(08:14):
And they did.
But the water leaks kept coming.
And as soon as they fixed those, you'd start seeing issues with air
condition units, the drain lines clogging.
So they'd blow out those lines, try to do their best, but water would start coming
in from another place, like the washer and dryers drain would clog up because
everyone uses fabric softener and fabric softener is known to clog drains.
(08:37):
So that would leak and the property would make changes, but water leaks kept coming.
So, you know, that really got us thinking about water and how much damage it can do.
And, you know, what can you do to protect against that?
Because, you know, we tried the simple approaches, fix the problem, fix this
(08:58):
specific thing, but we found that no matter how many things you did to fix it,
the leaks kept coming.
So, you know, we really wanted to install and offer leak detection systems to condos.
We didn't want to build their own system, but we quickly found is, you know, when we
start talking about condos, it's very different than residential.
(09:18):
Like if you were to go to Amazon right now and get a water leak detection system
for your house and whatever that may be, sensors, is it watching water flowing
into your home, you know, whatever method it uses to detect a leak, you know, you're
intimately familiar with that system because you're making a decision for your
home and you know what it's going to do, the ins and outs, but when it comes to the
(09:40):
condo market, there's so much turnover, so many new owners coming and going.
There's so many different stakeholders.
You know, is it your family and friends coming to stay in the unit?
Is it a housekeeper coming to clean the unit?
Is your unit on a rental program?
Is the unit being remodeled and your system gets disabled that all these
different people coming in and out of the condos really meant that a residential
(10:03):
grade water leak detection system wouldn't work, you know, it might work day one,
but you're not going to probably have that water leak day one.
You could have it two years from now, three years from now, but you know,
two years from now, three years from now.
So our sole focus with that system was making a system that worked great day
one and worked great day a thousand.
(10:24):
And that's where a lot of the technology and a lot of the things that we've
invested in to make our system unique has been is like, how do you make a system
that can be installed where the occupants of all these different condos can either
be extremely well informed, know everything about it or know nothing about it.
(10:44):
And it still works to protect that building.
So it's been a big engineering effort and that's kind of the focus of that
water leak system is for condos and all the different unique aspects and needs
that condominiums and high rises have.
Yeah.
Just like you said, the average person probably just travels down one lane in
(11:07):
their thought process about how water leaks occur, and especially if they, they
own an investment unit or a vacation unit and they think, well, we've got
something to worry about if a pipe burst, but they don't remember that there's
ice makers and like you said, so many different sources.
So I took notice at this condominium in Perdido Key that I managed that the
(11:31):
anxiety can be sky high on a number of issues when they're just not there very
often to protect their investment.
And that really, the halo product really seemed to just lower their
anxiety on a pretty major issue.
As you know, what I call stacked living, there's probably no bigger disaster
(11:52):
threat than what water can do and the havoc that it can wreak on not just
that unit, but, you know, man, if it's on anywhere from the third floor up or
I mean, second floor down to the first, but anything higher, it's a bad thing.
It's a bad day or a, or a bad month and it's very costly.
(12:12):
So yeah, I was really impressed with, with that product.
And, you know, for people who are listening that don't own a condo,
don't have an investment property and they're kind of curious about what you
guys do just on the residential side.
I guess tell me a little bit about ENCO as far as your residential service.
So ENCO, my wife hates it, but we describe ourselves as a diversified
(12:36):
engineering company, she's like, what does that mean?
But anyways, we have a couple of different divisions.
What we were talking about was a condo division or TV, internet,
our water league system.
And then when it comes to residential, that's a full AV smart home integrated
division that was kind of one of our first parts, we're talking from home
theaters to really integrated alarm systems, we kind of specialize in
(13:02):
very connected smart homes.
So now it's really easy to get a thermostat that you can control from an app.
We were doing that 15 to 20 years ago when it took a really big programming
effort, because those technologies like Google Nest and things like that didn't
exist.
So our bread and butter for that industry or that division is really specialized
(13:25):
custom smartphones that are looking for really unique capabilities.
So one of the properties that we do work for, they wanted to tie in their
generator system to where it was automatically testing, do some failover
things when storms came, and also it runs their entire bug misting system and
coordinates with their irrigation.
(13:46):
So as their irrigation and landscapers make adjustments, they're not trying to
run their bug spray or any of the other services around site at the same time.
So it's very centralized, very kind of bespoke division for that type of smart
home.
But it's very interesting.
I don't spend a lot of time on it, but it's neat when I do get to go check out
(14:08):
those properties because they almost feel like a Jetson type house or something.
I always grew up seeing cartoons of and actually get to see these kind of places
for real.
Now, when you're a kid, can you think back to your interest at that time?
Let's just say you're 15, 16, 17 years old and how you can tie back your early
(14:28):
interest as a young Dan to where you are today, what you were into back then.
Yeah, it's so funny.
I always wanted to be a part of a small company or own a small company.
I do have the small management stake in ENCO, but I wanted the ability to kind
of move to different things.
And that's not just focus on kind of one interest, whether it's networking or I
(14:54):
remember doing some computer programming back in the day.
I also love just building and making things.
And my role at ENCO has been that.
I've been on the front line of coming up with some of our innovations for the
halo system, but also getting a chance to build out our customer support systems,
(15:16):
being able to speak to like you back in the day, property manager, Google sales
calls, and also interact with users and customer support roles.
So, you know, I could build something, I could sell it, and then I could go and
talk to our customers to see how we're doing and how I can go back and tinker
with that product or service, you know, get that full life cycle of the product
(15:40):
and really make it better, you know, throughout teenage years and into college,
I was always good at finding places I could do that.
And during college, I was an event planner and I specialized in large outdoor
concerts, so, you know, we'd throw one concert, go through the planning, talk to
everyone, figure out what didn't work, what would work better, and then go talk
(16:01):
to attendees and figure out how to do a better job for next year or next concert.
You know, it was that kind of total involvement in all these projects.
I always found myself getting into.
And that's something that, you know, my current career and current
path is fit in for sure.
You know, and I really see a constant here with you and also with ENCO is
(16:23):
just this ongoing curiosity.
I'm willing to bet that you're constantly innovating or looking for ways to innovate.
Is that right?
We are, but it's very important when we look at those ways to innovate.
There's actually a need, you know, it's very easy to follow your
ideas that come to you in the shower.
Uh, come up during a team meeting.
(16:43):
We're always tried to make it very customer focused.
And that's kind of why we found so much success.
I mean, we're able to carve out a niche when we talk about internet, there's
these giant companies that I have nothing negative to say about Comcast,
MediaCom, uh, Cox, but we found their offerings often missed the mark when it
(17:05):
came to a condominium, you know, property managers and, you know, you're one of
them have this need to manage all these different owners that are coming to them
all the time with all of these different problems, and we found internet was a
major part of it just because a lot of these really great and respected companies
just weren't good at meeting the needs of a condo owner, you know, someone who
(17:28):
might not be there all the time, someone that might have differing levels of
familiarity with technology or someone who has guests and they're a hundred
miles away, the owner, and you know, they can't help the guest get online.
They can't reset a router or figure out why their device is stuck in airplane
mode and you know, that's something we focused on is just find that problem
(17:51):
that someone's having and, uh, figure out a solution.
And Enco has at least in my time dealing with, with you all has always gotten
pretty high praise from the customers that you serve.
It didn't take me long to realize that your reputation was pretty strong.
Even people that were hearing about you for the first time, I'd say it was
(18:12):
impossible for prospective clients not to say, well, maybe that's something
we need to think about even if it's not this year or next budget cycle, but
maybe three years from now, do you still find that that when you go and speak
to folks that you've won over at least maybe two out of five, if it's a board
of directors or you've definitely made an impression?
Yeah. Um, it makes sales a lot easier.
(18:34):
We don't spend any money on advertisement.
It's all word of mouth.
HOA and the condominium market is such like a closed knit community.
You know, it's very hard to target individual board members or get to that
decision-maker, so you have to just be really attentive to your customer.
(18:54):
I know, you know, one example of how that's worked out for us.
I remember late in the day, we got a call, someone was having some issues
with some TVs, just trying to get a Blu-ray player set up, not something
we really got involved with, we're internet, but he's a customer at a condominium.
Figured take an extra 10 minutes at the end of the day.
And, you know, that made all the difference.
(19:16):
That person walked out of his condo in Miramar Beach, went three doors
down to another condo, told his property manager about him and, you know,
he was really concerned about him and we ended up with a six-year contract
and it's still going on, not three weeks later, just from that one interaction.
(19:37):
And, you know, it really takes willing to take on problems that may not be yours.
It might be something you don't really want to get involved with, but you just
have to realize the person who's coming to you might not have another avenue.
Yesterday that a technician took, had a Roku streaming stick, got it on the
(19:58):
internet, got it all hooked up, but he was having an error and it was,
pertained to his HDMI cable.
So HDMI cables, the current video cables that connect your Blu-ray players,
Apple TVs, Firesticks, all the things to your current TV are very complicated.
(20:19):
They have little computer chips in them and if everything doesn't go right,
they just flat out won't work.
And the technician had to troubleshoot with them for about 20 to 30 minutes.
Even though this is something, you know, Roku or Sony should have handled,
he just plain couldn't get through.
So that's kind of what we've always taught our technicians to do.
You know, our founder, Ronald Murphy has this story and it's
(20:41):
something I tell new hires.
He was at home on a Saturday and an on-call technician passed him a
message saying, Hey, can you call this babysitter at one of our clients'
house in the residential division?
So he called the babysitter and the babysitter explained that she was
(21:03):
watching some kids, she went to the restroom and when she went to come out,
the door handle fell off the door to the bathroom and this babysitter is locked
in the bathroom.
The kids are on the other side of the bathroom and our founder, you know,
helped her out, convinced the kids to go find some pliers and was able to talk
(21:27):
to babysitter into getting the tool from under the door and getting the
pliers on the door handle and opening up the door and get her out.
And after that whole thing, he asked, you know, I'm glad you're out,
just out of curiosity, why did you call me?
It's like, well, we couldn't get ahold of the parents and then the babysitter
asked, I asked the kids, what would you do or what would your dad do in this
(21:47):
situation?
And the kid said, well, my dad would call Mr. Ronald.
We didn't sell doorknobs, we didn't do anything like that, but just being that
source that look, if all else fails, you need to call these guys and gals that,
you know, they're going to have an answer.
It might not pertain to them, but they'll figure something out.
And that's just been something, a value I hire around, that's been something we
(22:14):
praise when someone steps up and does something like that.
So just definitely one of our most valued principles at Ingo.
Well, you know, for a lot of businesses, regardless of the product or the
service that you're offering, a lot of people truly are in the customer service
business, and I guess that's the best way to win and keep customers.
(22:38):
You know, present day, do you find that it's harder than it used to be to
attract not just talented people, but people that do kind of have that service
mindset and have the full package or are you pleased with what's out there?
Yeah, I think it's very difficult to hire right now.
I think it doesn't matter where I go, restaurants, other condos, competitors,
(23:02):
just anyone I come across, it seems like we're all saying, where's all
the talented people gone?
It's definitely true.
And it's made me realize that when I look at resumes, I'm not really looking
for people that can do or have experience with everything that a job entails.
(23:24):
What we're really looking for is that stored customer service or just anything
that shows that they are a little bit more people-centric, an obvious sign
would be like work for Chick-fil-A for three years and you're like, oh yeah,
they're going to be great.
But those things don't stand out immediately on resumes, but you know,
(23:44):
when you start interviewing them, you just, you start the typical, you know,
what experiences are you have?
What are your things you're great at?
You just start asking, when something went wrong, what are you going to do?
When something went wrong, tell me about that.
And really quickly, you'll know if they're able to explain in detail how it went
(24:06):
wrong, were they able to fix it, or if they weren't the ones fixing it, what
they were doing to like keep people calm or make up for the really bad situation.
And it's kind of those stories I look for.
And yes, they might not have all the things we want, but at least they have
that guiding light in them that we're looking for.
(24:28):
And everything else you can train.
And ENCO is licensed in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama.
Is that correct?
Yes.
So low voltage license for Florida, Georgia, and Alabama.
We do cover a little bit broader.
My division covers from Louisiana to West Palm Beach, so New Orleans to West Palm.
(24:49):
So we do service outside this area for sure.
And then our Water League system, we can sign up dealers and, you know,
they handle the work outside of our normal service territories.
Well, and I'm sure you're always looking to attract new talent.
If there's somebody listening to this episode and they live in one of those
states, one of those areas, or they live across the country and they're thinking,
(25:12):
man, I kind of like to throw my name in the head, I'm able and willing to move.
How could they reach out to you guys?
That's just Dan at ENCO Electronics is my email address.
Just mentioned you heard me on this podcast.
And is the promo code Dan?
Yeah, promo code Dan.
Well, wow, Dan, I've just really enjoyed, I've known a little bit about the
(25:32):
technology that you use, but visiting the website again, I really encourage
everybody to go out, encoelectronics.com, especially on the halo system.
I mean, my gosh, one thing I don't think I mentioned was when a leak is detected
and you own one of these units and you're five or six or more hours away,
tell everybody how they're alerted.
(25:53):
Yeah, so alerts go out to all the stakeholders, whether you're an owner or
a property manager or maintenance staff.
So when you're five or six hours away and a leak is detected, you know, halo's
shutting off the water to your unit, but it's also letting your management company
know, Hey, this is something to check out.
So, you know, you don't have to worry about kind of being in the loop or, you
(26:15):
know, we've had customers who were traveling to Europe and their maintenance
staff has already gone in, checked everything out before they even had to
worry about trying to make a phone call from a plane over the Atlantic.
So peace of mind for sure.
Oh yeah.
And you have to imagine people that are traveling overseas or they're, you
know, on the West coast or the East coast and they're in the middle of a vacation
(26:39):
and they hear about something like this from their condo manager and they
don't have the halo system.
I mean, just the stress that goes on in those situations that goes on all the time.
So, wow.
I, you know, I'm a fan.
That's obvious.
I think everybody should check out ENCO and the services they provide.
Dan, now you mentioned in your family, when you're not plugging away at this stuff,
(27:00):
what do you like to do?
You know, when you do have a, a Sunday that didn't start like today, or you're
doing something with your children, what do you like to do in your spare time?
It was a huge skier. I love surfing, but now I have four kids.
So I just try to keep up with their hobbies and take time with them.
My son, who's 15 now, when he was eight, got into travel soccer.
(27:23):
You know, first it was, you know, travel.
We go to Pensacola, Panama City.
We live in Destin.
Not that big a deal.
What they don't tell you is they get older and they travel
further and further away.
So that's been interesting going to St.
Anna for a day and coming back.
So we got that going.
And then my girls, they love anything dance and Disney.
(27:46):
So, you know, we're just at that stage of life where it's just neat seeing my kids
enjoy their hobbies and then I'll get back to the golf course and out in the waves
and snow skiing again one day.
But right now I'm just trying to focus on them because my son's 15.
I have my daughters who are two and three.
You are two, four and six.
(28:08):
And it's just amazing how fast that all goes.
So just trying to enjoy every ounce of that while I can.
Oh, I'm in the same boat.
And I was just running the basic math.
So I moved to Pensacola 10 years ago, which would have been 2013.
So when I first started my job in Perdido Key at the time, I guess your son would
have been five, you know, and it's like, wow, a decade is just peeled off.
(28:31):
And now I have a five year old and I'm sure 10 years are going to go by pretty
fast, but like you said, you, at least for me, it took a minute to realize, okay,
man, you just really can't do whatever you like to be doing or would prefer to
be doing with this afternoon.
You, you're going to be living through your children.
And when you get acclimated to it, you can really enjoy it.
(28:55):
I mean, you're spending time watching them having fun in the things that they
like to do.
I think it's just all in the approach, but.
Well, I like being, you get to be a superhero for just like a one minute.
My, it's the second week back at school for the kids at this time of the year
of having four kids and different school arrangements, three different schools.
You know, it's a little bit of a process in the morning to get them going.
(29:17):
And my six year old goes to school in Fort Walton and she woke up early last
Friday to go to school like way early.
And I didn't want her to wake up any of the other kids.
I'm like, all right, look, you've been asking for it forever.
She's been asking for going to waffle house for like three years.
It was like, we'll go to Waffle House this morning and just to see her light up
(29:40):
and be so excited to finally go inside a waffle house.
And, you know, as an adult, it's not one of those things that, you know, like,
oh, this is the day Waffle House.
Yeah, we'll get breakfast.
And, you know, she is beaming like skipping in the door.
She wants to sit right at the counter and watch him make breakfast.
And eat the waffle.
And, you know, you just, you just don't get to be that great with that little
(30:06):
effort that often in life, you know, to get the sort of the standing ovation
just for showing up for something minor.
And that's just been so cool about having kids.
It is a powerful thing.
And those of you listening who have children, you definitely understand.
If you don't have kids and you might, or you have some on the way,
(30:26):
you're about to find out you're a powerful figure in these little people's lives.
Whether you get frustrated with them sometimes and you think, oh, he's going
to be hating me the rest of the day, or he's crying or whatever, that child is
going to turn right back around and just about worship the ground you walk on.
So with it comes a big responsibility.
(30:48):
And Dan, I just, I just get excited hearing this kind of stuff because it
sounds like you're a really good dad and you're spending the time while you can,
while they're little, cause they won't be that age forever.
Well, I usually run into kind of a lightning round of bizarre
random questions if you're ready.
Let's do it.
What is your favorite dipping sauce for anything?
(31:11):
Now this could be fries.
This could be pizza crust.
What's your favorite thing to just dip and just eat it?
Chimichurri.
So the Argentinian steak sauce, parsley, garlic, red chili flake, and
typically red wine vinegar.
I just so good.
I love it.
Nice.
When the tooth fairy makes a visit, are you a big spender?
(31:33):
Are you leaving?
Actually, I shouldn't blow your cover.
The tooth fairy is real.
But when she does come, is she, is she leaving a Visa gift card or a $5 bill?
What's the, what's it like?
The Deetson house tooth fairy is, I imagine Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible,
like realize minutes before their alarm or they're getting ready to wake up.
(31:56):
And the tooth fairy maybe hasn't done his job and it's what's ever left in the tooth
fairy's bag and how smoothly they can get the tooth extracted and money put in.
I think a week ago, the tooth fairy grabbed $3 and put it under.
So, uh, really worried about how much future dental bills and tooth fairy fees are
(32:19):
going to cost in this house.
If that was the standard set last Thursday.
What are you more likely to do?
Take a full basket of clean laundry and fold and put away and just attack a
basket of laundry or attack a full sink of dishes?
(32:39):
Uh, dishes.
I'm not very organized, but definitely any mess that can attract like bugs or
anything like that gets handled first.
Clean laundry, you know, it has a little bit more of a, it has a longer
expiration date, especially with athletic fabrics that don't wrinkle.
So dishes.
What is a favorite vacation spot when you guys pick up and go somewhere?
(33:02):
Maybe it's somewhere you go every year if you can, but what's the favorite
place for the Deetson family?
I think my most favorite place I've ever been on a vacation to is Australia.
My wife and I went on a honeymoon and it's like the, I've been fortunate
enough to travel and be a lot of places.
It's one of the few places that I'm like, I have to go back there.
(33:22):
So sometime just, you know, hanging out around Sydney Harbor or
visiting some of the other parts.
I just, whenever I need a minute and want to get away, that's where my
mind wanders for sure.
Wow.
That's high on my list too.
I've heard it takes like a day and a half or feels like to get there,
but probably well worth it.
Yeah.
It's a commitment to get there, but yeah, it's a amazing country.
(33:44):
Now you mentioned music earlier.
Do you have a favorite band or a favorite genre or something that's, you
know, just really doing it for you right now or has for a long time?
So I like easy to listen to music.
My family typically dictates what's on the radio just because we have four
very opinionated kids, but the one that like everyone gravitates towards and
(34:06):
will like stop everything and listen to it, no matter what song it is, is
the artist's band's joy.
My kids, why everyone loves like every song he's ever done.
So second one of his songs comes on.
We get a rare moment of quiet for household to six.
So that's nice.
I love it.
One more, one more question that dads and moms understand.
(34:29):
Was there a period or my God, I hope it's not still going on, but was there
a period where everybody just piled up in your bed and you had a bed full of kids
and you could barely get into a comfortable position?
Has that happened or did all your kids basically stay in their own beds?
Oh, no, they're all so different.
My second child, Ray, she, if you were to compare kids to states,
(34:53):
she would be Alaska, amazing natural beauty.
But for the people that live and work there, you just have an appreciation
because you have to be tough as nails.
And she was miserable the entire time.
So she would be in our bed because she wouldn't sleep and she had ear
infections, but the rest they like, they like to wake up, do their own thing.
One of them just likes to sleep forever.
The other likes to wake up and immediately go explore.
(35:14):
And she was the only one that would ever stay in our bed for any length
of time in the morning, so on a lazy Saturday.
Dan, I've got one more question.
This is very important.
What would you rather have to just take the top off and take a big gulp of?
Would it be ranch or ketchup?
You got to take a big swig.
(35:36):
Ketchup.
I don't think I would feel like gross after the ketchup is the ranch.
Well, this has been fun.
I mean, we could keep going, but everybody please check out
enkoelectronics.com.
I think really highly of this.
Company and Dan in particular, I think I touched on service earlier, but that's
something that I noticed when we were involved a few years ago.
(36:00):
So I wish you the best.
Is there anything else that you'd like to plug?
No, I wish you the best.
It's good catching up with you again.
It's great to see you're doing well.
Thanks everyone for listening.
Thanks to you so much for having me, Dan.
Thanks for being here, Dan.
You guys have a great rest of the week.
And remember when you go to Walmart, when you have to go to Walmart,
you enter on the left and you exit on the right.
(36:23):
I probably sang that wrong, but they have a twisted system, but man, try to follow
it.
You guys take care of yourselves, take care of each other, look out for each
other, and we will see you next week on Dan Time.
Hey, if you liked that episode and you're really enjoying the show, please take a
(36:44):
minute to leave a five star rating for the Dan Time podcast.
I'd really appreciate if you download and subscribe.
And to keep up with Dan Time throughout the week, you can follow any one of our
social media pages.
There's at Dan Time pod on Twitter slash X Dan Time pod on Instagram and the Dan
Time podcast also has a Facebook page.
(37:05):
Thanks again, everybody.
We'll see you next week.
Welcome to episode number five of the Dan Time podcast.
(00:09):
Hey, I'm your host, Dan McCardell.
I appreciate you listening wherever you are.
If you enjoy the show and you like the guests so far, tell a
friend or a coworker about it.
Talk about it.
Share a post on social media.
I'm trying to do something a little different here.
And for my devoted listeners, I feel like it's working.
(00:29):
I appreciate your feedback and interaction with the show.
We're continuing on our journey through the Daniverse.
Where this thing ends is anybody's guess.
Last week, we heard from Pensacola visionary, businessman,
and if you will, Dan-tre-pen-ew-er, Danny Zimmern or Danny Z.
(00:51):
A far reaching conversation with a very influential figure.
I enjoyed it.
I hope he did as much as I did.
Today, we arrive at Dan Dietzen.
Now Dan is an old contact of mine from my previous life in
Condominium Association Management on the Northern Gulf Coast of Florida.
Dan was, and still is a trusted vendor from ENCO Electronics, which
(01:15):
specializes in among many other things, the patented Halo building
wide water detection system.
Dan and I had a great time catching up, talking about ENCO, fatherhood,
and of course, the silly season stuff only found on this podcast.
One thing I think you'll enjoy about this conversation is we
get back to the topic of service.
(01:37):
Dan is a really interesting guy, really thoughtful guy.
He holds a law license in the state of Florida, has a very diverse background.
Interesting story about growing up, but I think you'll really appreciate
his wisdom and experience.
And remember, if you run a business or you've got a product or service or
(01:59):
an idea that you think the world needs to hear about, and particularly
if your name is Dan, reach out to me, come on the show.
And I'd love to talk about it with you and help you get the word out.
All right, let's go now to my conversation with Dan Dietzen.
Hey, Dan, how's it going today, man?
It's good to catch up with you again.
(02:20):
Yeah, good to be here.
Yeah, good to catch up with you.
You know, it's been kind of a strange day, it's a Sunday when we're recording this.
And, you know, I plan to have just star call today and nothing else.
So just kind of a lazy Sunday, but a little bit kind of out of the ordinary.
I work in an engineering firm that provides internet and water
(02:40):
leak detection systems to condos.
And overnight, one of our properties, it's real near my house, lost power.
So trying to save one of our on-call technicians a trip, I decided
to go over there and check it out myself.
You know, standard, the property didn't have power.
I got with maintenance.
We need the key into a room on the first floor.
First thing in the morning, we opened the door and someone had taken up
(03:03):
residence in this main kind of electrical meter and meter room.
You know, I'm still waking up, getting used to it.
And I am like 20 feet into this person's new home amidst like amongst electrical
meters before realizing there's like a half naked guy sleeping next to the
(03:25):
breaker that I needed to go in.
So, you know, that woke me up.
Like you, you don't expect to find, uh, you know, someone living in a mechanical
area first thing in the morning.
So, wow.
Yeah, definitely unplanned.
And then I got home to tell my, uh, wife about that story.
Like you're never going to believe this.
So as I'm walking in, my girls ambush me and our neighbor had just taken in some baby
(03:51):
deer.
So immediately from that, my girls want to go and check out these baby deers.
And they're in that phase where they're one, three, and six, where they're big in
the Disney movies and Disney princess things.
And they think that if they randomly break out into song that, you know, all
these animals are going to come up to them.
And sure enough, that's what they want to do.
(04:13):
So we go from being shocked to meeting someone in electrical room to meeting these
tiny baby deers with my girls singing and hoping they'll come to them.
So definitely unplanned Sunday so far, but
you were just planning for a little bit of Dan time on the podcast, hopefully a
lazy Sunday and wow, I have not heard a story quite like that.
(04:36):
Uh, we've all heard of squatters, you know, and even now, you know,
and even in my experience managing condominium associations, I know I never
encountered a squatter at one of my properties, never really thought that that
would be a viable option, but you know, if you leave an electrical room unlocked,
I guess anything's possible.
You know, people are resourceful.
(04:57):
They'll crawl into any little cubby hole.
Well, it's so funny, you know, technology has changed.
So no one ever comes out to read these like electrical meters anymore.
You know, they report wirelessly to the utility rooms.
So these rooms just go vacant for months.
And, oh yeah, it was set up.
There was a fan, there was unfortunately a place to use restroom.
There was everything.
(05:18):
So definitely surprising for sure, but you never know what you'll find
first thing in the morning at a property.
That is something else.
Well, guys, I'm just really excited to have Dan on the show today.
We had a good connection.
It's been three, maybe four years ago when I managed condominiums on the
Gulf coast in specifically Perdido Key.
(05:41):
One of the properties that I managed had a contract with Dan's company,
Enco Electronics, and it was such a robust product that you just kind of
wondered why everyone else didn't split away from, you know, MediaCom or Cox
Cable for their internet services.
And then it was, it was not just that.
(06:02):
I'll kind of let Dan get into this, but you guys invented a new technology.
Talk a little bit about that.
Yeah, of course.
Thanks.
So, you know, we do provide internet and TV services to condos, but kind
of our main focus and the main thing that gets us up in the morning is our
water leak detection system that's aimed solely at high rise, MDU,
(06:25):
condominium type of segment.
You know, it's funny how we got into that.
We, our founders were condo owners and both the founders of the company,
had water leaks and caused a lot of damage and they weren't just, you
know, two condos on the first floor.
One condo was on the fifth floor.
(06:45):
There was a guest lockout unit.
Heismaker flooded this unit plus everyone below them.
And then I was staying at one of our other founders' condos in the middle
of the night and there was like 10 other people in this condo.
A guest bathroom toilet broke off, the hose broke off and flooded the
entire condo and it didn't just like flood, it like filled the condo up
(07:07):
with an inch of water and then went all the way down to the first floor.
But there's 10 people in this condo.
It's occupied.
You'd think someone would have caught it, but it happened 3 AM.
And I remember, I'll never forget, I heard a knock at the door and it was maintenance.
First thing in the morning, just waking up, opening the door and the
maintenance guy said, you know, you have a water leak.
(07:30):
I looked at him and I go, you must be mistaken.
There's no water leak here.
He goes, are you crazy?
Turn around.
So I turn around and literally it is an inch of flooded water.
And somehow my path from bed to the front door, I managed to find little
dry islands and walk across without noticing.
That was kind of the first awakening for how much damage water leaks can cause.
(07:53):
And you know, that condo that I was in that had the water leak all of a sudden
the toilet hoses were the same age.
They were all getting to that age where they're, you know, breaking
and needed to be replaced.
So the condo replaced all of them.
Just took the initiative.
Hey, they're $2 a line.
Let's buy them in bulk.
Let's go to every toilet, sink, everything, replace these hoses.
(08:14):
And they did.
But the water leaks kept coming.
And as soon as they fixed those, you'd start seeing issues with air
condition units, the drain lines clogging.
So they'd blow out those lines, try to do their best, but water would start coming
in from another place, like the washer and dryers drain would clog up because
everyone uses fabric softener and fabric softener is known to clog drains.
(08:37):
So that would leak and the property would make changes, but water leaks kept coming.
So, you know, that really got us thinking about water and how much damage it can do.
And, you know, what can you do to protect against that?
Because, you know, we tried the simple approaches, fix the problem, fix this
(08:58):
specific thing, but we found that no matter how many things you did to fix it,
the leaks kept coming.
So, you know, we really wanted to install and offer leak detection systems to condos.
We didn't want to build their own system, but we quickly found is, you know, when we
start talking about condos, it's very different than residential.
(09:18):
Like if you were to go to Amazon right now and get a water leak detection system
for your house and whatever that may be, sensors, is it watching water flowing
into your home, you know, whatever method it uses to detect a leak, you know, you're
intimately familiar with that system because you're making a decision for your
home and you know what it's going to do, the ins and outs, but when it comes to the
(09:40):
condo market, there's so much turnover, so many new owners coming and going.
There's so many different stakeholders.
You know, is it your family and friends coming to stay in the unit?
Is it a housekeeper coming to clean the unit?
Is your unit on a rental program?
Is the unit being remodeled and your system gets disabled that all these
different people coming in and out of the condos really meant that a residential
(10:03):
grade water leak detection system wouldn't work, you know, it might work day one,
but you're not going to probably have that water leak day one.
You could have it two years from now, three years from now, but you know,
two years from now, three years from now.
So our sole focus with that system was making a system that worked great day
one and worked great day a thousand.
(10:24):
And that's where a lot of the technology and a lot of the things that we've
invested in to make our system unique has been is like, how do you make a system
that can be installed where the occupants of all these different condos can either
be extremely well informed, know everything about it or know nothing about it.
(10:44):
And it still works to protect that building.
So it's been a big engineering effort and that's kind of the focus of that
water leak system is for condos and all the different unique aspects and needs
that condominiums and high rises have.
Yeah.
Just like you said, the average person probably just travels down one lane in
(11:07):
their thought process about how water leaks occur, and especially if they, they
own an investment unit or a vacation unit and they think, well, we've got
something to worry about if a pipe burst, but they don't remember that there's
ice makers and like you said, so many different sources.
So I took notice at this condominium in Perdido Key that I managed that the
(11:31):
anxiety can be sky high on a number of issues when they're just not there very
often to protect their investment.
And that really, the halo product really seemed to just lower their
anxiety on a pretty major issue.
As you know, what I call stacked living, there's probably no bigger disaster
(11:52):
threat than what water can do and the havoc that it can wreak on not just
that unit, but, you know, man, if it's on anywhere from the third floor up or
I mean, second floor down to the first, but anything higher, it's a bad thing.
It's a bad day or a, or a bad month and it's very costly.
(12:12):
So yeah, I was really impressed with, with that product.
And, you know, for people who are listening that don't own a condo,
don't have an investment property and they're kind of curious about what you
guys do just on the residential side.
I guess tell me a little bit about ENCO as far as your residential service.
So ENCO, my wife hates it, but we describe ourselves as a diversified
(12:36):
engineering company, she's like, what does that mean?
But anyways, we have a couple of different divisions.
What we were talking about was a condo division or TV, internet,
our water league system.
And then when it comes to residential, that's a full AV smart home integrated
division that was kind of one of our first parts, we're talking from home
theaters to really integrated alarm systems, we kind of specialize in
(13:02):
very connected smart homes.
So now it's really easy to get a thermostat that you can control from an app.
We were doing that 15 to 20 years ago when it took a really big programming
effort, because those technologies like Google Nest and things like that didn't
exist.
So our bread and butter for that industry or that division is really specialized
(13:25):
custom smartphones that are looking for really unique capabilities.
So one of the properties that we do work for, they wanted to tie in their
generator system to where it was automatically testing, do some failover
things when storms came, and also it runs their entire bug misting system and
coordinates with their irrigation.
(13:46):
So as their irrigation and landscapers make adjustments, they're not trying to
run their bug spray or any of the other services around site at the same time.
So it's very centralized, very kind of bespoke division for that type of smart
home.
But it's very interesting.
I don't spend a lot of time on it, but it's neat when I do get to go check out
(14:08):
those properties because they almost feel like a Jetson type house or something.
I always grew up seeing cartoons of and actually get to see these kind of places
for real.
Now, when you're a kid, can you think back to your interest at that time?
Let's just say you're 15, 16, 17 years old and how you can tie back your early
(14:28):
interest as a young Dan to where you are today, what you were into back then.
Yeah, it's so funny.
I always wanted to be a part of a small company or own a small company.
I do have the small management stake in ENCO, but I wanted the ability to kind
of move to different things.
And that's not just focus on kind of one interest, whether it's networking or I
(14:54):
remember doing some computer programming back in the day.
I also love just building and making things.
And my role at ENCO has been that.
I've been on the front line of coming up with some of our innovations for the
halo system, but also getting a chance to build out our customer support systems,
(15:16):
being able to speak to like you back in the day, property manager, Google sales
calls, and also interact with users and customer support roles.
So, you know, I could build something, I could sell it, and then I could go and
talk to our customers to see how we're doing and how I can go back and tinker
with that product or service, you know, get that full life cycle of the product
(15:40):
and really make it better, you know, throughout teenage years and into college,
I was always good at finding places I could do that.
And during college, I was an event planner and I specialized in large outdoor
concerts, so, you know, we'd throw one concert, go through the planning, talk to
everyone, figure out what didn't work, what would work better, and then go talk
(16:01):
to attendees and figure out how to do a better job for next year or next concert.
You know, it was that kind of total involvement in all these projects.
I always found myself getting into.
And that's something that, you know, my current career and current
path is fit in for sure.
You know, and I really see a constant here with you and also with ENCO is
(16:23):
just this ongoing curiosity.
I'm willing to bet that you're constantly innovating or looking for ways to innovate.
Is that right?
We are, but it's very important when we look at those ways to innovate.
There's actually a need, you know, it's very easy to follow your
ideas that come to you in the shower.
Uh, come up during a team meeting.
(16:43):
We're always tried to make it very customer focused.
And that's kind of why we found so much success.
I mean, we're able to carve out a niche when we talk about internet, there's
these giant companies that I have nothing negative to say about Comcast,
MediaCom, uh, Cox, but we found their offerings often missed the mark when it
(17:05):
came to a condominium, you know, property managers and, you know, you're one of
them have this need to manage all these different owners that are coming to them
all the time with all of these different problems, and we found internet was a
major part of it just because a lot of these really great and respected companies
just weren't good at meeting the needs of a condo owner, you know, someone who
(17:28):
might not be there all the time, someone that might have differing levels of
familiarity with technology or someone who has guests and they're a hundred
miles away, the owner, and you know, they can't help the guest get online.
They can't reset a router or figure out why their device is stuck in airplane
mode and you know, that's something we focused on is just find that problem
(17:51):
that someone's having and, uh, figure out a solution.
And Enco has at least in my time dealing with, with you all has always gotten
pretty high praise from the customers that you serve.
It didn't take me long to realize that your reputation was pretty strong.
Even people that were hearing about you for the first time, I'd say it was
(18:12):
impossible for prospective clients not to say, well, maybe that's something
we need to think about even if it's not this year or next budget cycle, but
maybe three years from now, do you still find that that when you go and speak
to folks that you've won over at least maybe two out of five, if it's a board
of directors or you've definitely made an impression?
Yeah. Um, it makes sales a lot easier.
(18:34):
We don't spend any money on advertisement.
It's all word of mouth.
HOA and the condominium market is such like a closed knit community.
You know, it's very hard to target individual board members or get to that
decision-maker, so you have to just be really attentive to your customer.
(18:54):
I know, you know, one example of how that's worked out for us.
I remember late in the day, we got a call, someone was having some issues
with some TVs, just trying to get a Blu-ray player set up, not something
we really got involved with, we're internet, but he's a customer at a condominium.
Figured take an extra 10 minutes at the end of the day.
And, you know, that made all the difference.
(19:16):
That person walked out of his condo in Miramar Beach, went three doors
down to another condo, told his property manager about him and, you know,
he was really concerned about him and we ended up with a six-year contract
and it's still going on, not three weeks later, just from that one interaction.
(19:37):
And, you know, it really takes willing to take on problems that may not be yours.
It might be something you don't really want to get involved with, but you just
have to realize the person who's coming to you might not have another avenue.
Yesterday that a technician took, had a Roku streaming stick, got it on the
(19:58):
internet, got it all hooked up, but he was having an error and it was,
pertained to his HDMI cable.
So HDMI cables, the current video cables that connect your Blu-ray players,
Apple TVs, Firesticks, all the things to your current TV are very complicated.
(20:19):
They have little computer chips in them and if everything doesn't go right,
they just flat out won't work.
And the technician had to troubleshoot with them for about 20 to 30 minutes.
Even though this is something, you know, Roku or Sony should have handled,
he just plain couldn't get through.
So that's kind of what we've always taught our technicians to do.
You know, our founder, Ronald Murphy has this story and it's
(20:41):
something I tell new hires.
He was at home on a Saturday and an on-call technician passed him a
message saying, Hey, can you call this babysitter at one of our clients'
house in the residential division?
So he called the babysitter and the babysitter explained that she was
(21:03):
watching some kids, she went to the restroom and when she went to come out,
the door handle fell off the door to the bathroom and this babysitter is locked
in the bathroom.
The kids are on the other side of the bathroom and our founder, you know,
helped her out, convinced the kids to go find some pliers and was able to talk
(21:27):
to babysitter into getting the tool from under the door and getting the
pliers on the door handle and opening up the door and get her out.
And after that whole thing, he asked, you know, I'm glad you're out,
just out of curiosity, why did you call me?
It's like, well, we couldn't get ahold of the parents and then the babysitter
asked, I asked the kids, what would you do or what would your dad do in this
(21:47):
situation?
And the kid said, well, my dad would call Mr. Ronald.
We didn't sell doorknobs, we didn't do anything like that, but just being that
source that look, if all else fails, you need to call these guys and gals that,
you know, they're going to have an answer.
It might not pertain to them, but they'll figure something out.
And that's just been something, a value I hire around, that's been something we
(22:14):
praise when someone steps up and does something like that.
So just definitely one of our most valued principles at Ingo.
Well, you know, for a lot of businesses, regardless of the product or the
service that you're offering, a lot of people truly are in the customer service
business, and I guess that's the best way to win and keep customers.
(22:38):
You know, present day, do you find that it's harder than it used to be to
attract not just talented people, but people that do kind of have that service
mindset and have the full package or are you pleased with what's out there?
Yeah, I think it's very difficult to hire right now.
I think it doesn't matter where I go, restaurants, other condos, competitors,
(23:02):
just anyone I come across, it seems like we're all saying, where's all
the talented people gone?
It's definitely true.
And it's made me realize that when I look at resumes, I'm not really looking
for people that can do or have experience with everything that a job entails.
(23:24):
What we're really looking for is that stored customer service or just anything
that shows that they are a little bit more people-centric, an obvious sign
would be like work for Chick-fil-A for three years and you're like, oh yeah,
they're going to be great.
But those things don't stand out immediately on resumes, but you know,
(23:44):
when you start interviewing them, you just, you start the typical, you know,
what experiences are you have?
What are your things you're great at?
You just start asking, when something went wrong, what are you going to do?
When something went wrong, tell me about that.
And really quickly, you'll know if they're able to explain in detail how it went
(24:06):
wrong, were they able to fix it, or if they weren't the ones fixing it, what
they were doing to like keep people calm or make up for the really bad situation.
And it's kind of those stories I look for.
And yes, they might not have all the things we want, but at least they have
that guiding light in them that we're looking for.
(24:28):
And everything else you can train.
And ENCO is licensed in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama.
Is that correct?
Yes.
So low voltage license for Florida, Georgia, and Alabama.
We do cover a little bit broader.
My division covers from Louisiana to West Palm Beach, so New Orleans to West Palm.
(24:49):
So we do service outside this area for sure.
And then our Water League system, we can sign up dealers and, you know,
they handle the work outside of our normal service territories.
Well, and I'm sure you're always looking to attract new talent.
If there's somebody listening to this episode and they live in one of those
states, one of those areas, or they live across the country and they're thinking,
(25:12):
man, I kind of like to throw my name in the head, I'm able and willing to move.
How could they reach out to you guys?
That's just Dan at ENCO Electronics is my email address.
Just mentioned you heard me on this podcast.
And is the promo code Dan?
Yeah, promo code Dan.
Well, wow, Dan, I've just really enjoyed, I've known a little bit about the
(25:32):
technology that you use, but visiting the website again, I really encourage
everybody to go out, encoelectronics.com, especially on the halo system.
I mean, my gosh, one thing I don't think I mentioned was when a leak is detected
and you own one of these units and you're five or six or more hours away,
tell everybody how they're alerted.
(25:53):
Yeah, so alerts go out to all the stakeholders, whether you're an owner or
a property manager or maintenance staff.
So when you're five or six hours away and a leak is detected, you know, halo's
shutting off the water to your unit, but it's also letting your management company
know, Hey, this is something to check out.
So, you know, you don't have to worry about kind of being in the loop or, you
(26:15):
know, we've had customers who were traveling to Europe and their maintenance
staff has already gone in, checked everything out before they even had to
worry about trying to make a phone call from a plane over the Atlantic.
So peace of mind for sure.
Oh yeah.
And you have to imagine people that are traveling overseas or they're, you
know, on the West coast or the East coast and they're in the middle of a vacation
(26:39):
and they hear about something like this from their condo manager and they
don't have the halo system.
I mean, just the stress that goes on in those situations that goes on all the time.
So, wow.
I, you know, I'm a fan.
That's obvious.
I think everybody should check out ENCO and the services they provide.
Dan, now you mentioned in your family, when you're not plugging away at this stuff,
(27:00):
what do you like to do?
You know, when you do have a, a Sunday that didn't start like today, or you're
doing something with your children, what do you like to do in your spare time?
It was a huge skier. I love surfing, but now I have four kids.
So I just try to keep up with their hobbies and take time with them.
My son, who's 15 now, when he was eight, got into travel soccer.
(27:23):
You know, first it was, you know, travel.
We go to Pensacola, Panama City.
We live in Destin.
Not that big a deal.
What they don't tell you is they get older and they travel
further and further away.
So that's been interesting going to St.
Anna for a day and coming back.
So we got that going.
And then my girls, they love anything dance and Disney.
(27:46):
So, you know, we're just at that stage of life where it's just neat seeing my kids
enjoy their hobbies and then I'll get back to the golf course and out in the waves
and snow skiing again one day.
But right now I'm just trying to focus on them because my son's 15.
I have my daughters who are two and three.
You are two, four and six.
(28:08):
And it's just amazing how fast that all goes.
So just trying to enjoy every ounce of that while I can.
Oh, I'm in the same boat.
And I was just running the basic math.
So I moved to Pensacola 10 years ago, which would have been 2013.
So when I first started my job in Perdido Key at the time, I guess your son would
have been five, you know, and it's like, wow, a decade is just peeled off.
(28:31):
And now I have a five year old and I'm sure 10 years are going to go by pretty
fast, but like you said, you, at least for me, it took a minute to realize, okay,
man, you just really can't do whatever you like to be doing or would prefer to
be doing with this afternoon.
You, you're going to be living through your children.
And when you get acclimated to it, you can really enjoy it.
(28:55):
I mean, you're spending time watching them having fun in the things that they
like to do.
I think it's just all in the approach, but.
Well, I like being, you get to be a superhero for just like a one minute.
My, it's the second week back at school for the kids at this time of the year
of having four kids and different school arrangements, three different schools.
You know, it's a little bit of a process in the morning to get them going.
(29:17):
And my six year old goes to school in Fort Walton and she woke up early last
Friday to go to school like way early.
And I didn't want her to wake up any of the other kids.
I'm like, all right, look, you've been asking for it forever.
She's been asking for going to waffle house for like three years.
It was like, we'll go to Waffle House this morning and just to see her light up
(29:40):
and be so excited to finally go inside a waffle house.
And, you know, as an adult, it's not one of those things that, you know, like,
oh, this is the day Waffle House.
Yeah, we'll get breakfast.
And, you know, she is beaming like skipping in the door.
She wants to sit right at the counter and watch him make breakfast.
And eat the waffle.
And, you know, you just, you just don't get to be that great with that little
(30:06):
effort that often in life, you know, to get the sort of the standing ovation
just for showing up for something minor.
And that's just been so cool about having kids.
It is a powerful thing.
And those of you listening who have children, you definitely understand.
If you don't have kids and you might, or you have some on the way,
(30:26):
you're about to find out you're a powerful figure in these little people's lives.
Whether you get frustrated with them sometimes and you think, oh, he's going
to be hating me the rest of the day, or he's crying or whatever, that child is
going to turn right back around and just about worship the ground you walk on.
So with it comes a big responsibility.
(30:48):
And Dan, I just, I just get excited hearing this kind of stuff because it
sounds like you're a really good dad and you're spending the time while you can,
while they're little, cause they won't be that age forever.
Well, I usually run into kind of a lightning round of bizarre
random questions if you're ready.
Let's do it.
What is your favorite dipping sauce for anything?
(31:11):
Now this could be fries.
This could be pizza crust.
What's your favorite thing to just dip and just eat it?
Chimichurri.
So the Argentinian steak sauce, parsley, garlic, red chili flake, and
typically red wine vinegar.
I just so good.
I love it.
Nice.
When the tooth fairy makes a visit, are you a big spender?
(31:33):
Are you leaving?
Actually, I shouldn't blow your cover.
The tooth fairy is real.
But when she does come, is she, is she leaving a Visa gift card or a $5 bill?
What's the, what's it like?
The Deetson house tooth fairy is, I imagine Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible,
like realize minutes before their alarm or they're getting ready to wake up.
(31:56):
And the tooth fairy maybe hasn't done his job and it's what's ever left in the tooth
fairy's bag and how smoothly they can get the tooth extracted and money put in.
I think a week ago, the tooth fairy grabbed $3 and put it under.
So, uh, really worried about how much future dental bills and tooth fairy fees are
(32:19):
going to cost in this house.
If that was the standard set last Thursday.
What are you more likely to do?
Take a full basket of clean laundry and fold and put away and just attack a
basket of laundry or attack a full sink of dishes?
(32:39):
Uh, dishes.
I'm not very organized, but definitely any mess that can attract like bugs or
anything like that gets handled first.
Clean laundry, you know, it has a little bit more of a, it has a longer
expiration date, especially with athletic fabrics that don't wrinkle.
So dishes.
What is a favorite vacation spot when you guys pick up and go somewhere?
(33:02):
Maybe it's somewhere you go every year if you can, but what's the favorite
place for the Deetson family?
I think my most favorite place I've ever been on a vacation to is Australia.
My wife and I went on a honeymoon and it's like the, I've been fortunate
enough to travel and be a lot of places.
It's one of the few places that I'm like, I have to go back there.
(33:22):
So sometime just, you know, hanging out around Sydney Harbor or
visiting some of the other parts.
I just, whenever I need a minute and want to get away, that's where my
mind wanders for sure.
Wow.
That's high on my list too.
I've heard it takes like a day and a half or feels like to get there,
but probably well worth it.
Yeah.
It's a commitment to get there, but yeah, it's a amazing country.
(33:44):
Now you mentioned music earlier.
Do you have a favorite band or a favorite genre or something that's, you
know, just really doing it for you right now or has for a long time?
So I like easy to listen to music.
My family typically dictates what's on the radio just because we have four
very opinionated kids, but the one that like everyone gravitates towards and
(34:06):
will like stop everything and listen to it, no matter what song it is, is
the artist's band's joy.
My kids, why everyone loves like every song he's ever done.
So second one of his songs comes on.
We get a rare moment of quiet for household to six.
So that's nice.
I love it.
One more, one more question that dads and moms understand.
(34:29):
Was there a period or my God, I hope it's not still going on, but was there
a period where everybody just piled up in your bed and you had a bed full of kids
and you could barely get into a comfortable position?
Has that happened or did all your kids basically stay in their own beds?
Oh, no, they're all so different.
My second child, Ray, she, if you were to compare kids to states,
(34:53):
she would be Alaska, amazing natural beauty.
But for the people that live and work there, you just have an appreciation
because you have to be tough as nails.
And she was miserable the entire time.
So she would be in our bed because she wouldn't sleep and she had ear
infections, but the rest they like, they like to wake up, do their own thing.
One of them just likes to sleep forever.
The other likes to wake up and immediately go explore.
(35:14):
And she was the only one that would ever stay in our bed for any length
of time in the morning, so on a lazy Saturday.
Dan, I've got one more question.
This is very important.
What would you rather have to just take the top off and take a big gulp of?
Would it be ranch or ketchup?
You got to take a big swig.
(35:36):
Ketchup.
I don't think I would feel like gross after the ketchup is the ranch.
Well, this has been fun.
I mean, we could keep going, but everybody please check out
enkoelectronics.com.
I think really highly of this.
Company and Dan in particular, I think I touched on service earlier, but that's
something that I noticed when we were involved a few years ago.
(36:00):
So I wish you the best.
Is there anything else that you'd like to plug?
No, I wish you the best.
It's good catching up with you again.
It's great to see you're doing well.
Thanks everyone for listening.
Thanks to you so much for having me, Dan.
Thanks for being here, Dan.
You guys have a great rest of the week.
And remember when you go to Walmart, when you have to go to Walmart,
you enter on the left and you exit on the right.
(36:23):
I probably sang that wrong, but they have a twisted system, but man, try to follow
it.
You guys take care of yourselves, take care of each other, look out for each
other, and we will see you next week on Dan Time.
Hey, if you liked that episode and you're really enjoying the show, please take a
(36:44):
minute to leave a five star rating for the Dan Time podcast.
I'd really appreciate if you download and subscribe.
And to keep up with Dan Time throughout the week, you can follow any one of our
social media pages.
There's at Dan Time pod on Twitter slash X Dan Time pod on Instagram and the Dan
Time podcast also has a Facebook page.
(37:05):
Thanks again, everybody.
We'll see you next week.
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