Learn How to Prepare Your Family for Disasters

March 21, 2022
30.  Learn How to Prepare Your Family for Disasters 

Jason Perez and Wesley Long are first responders who got together to help educate, prepare and equip individuals, households, and families for disasters.

Here are some important moments with Jason and Wesley in the podcast: 

At 4:05 Jason talks about how we can go from being reactive to being more proactive when it comes to disasters.

At 8:21 Wesley talks about why people aren’t more prepared when it comes to disasters.

At 23:20 Wesley talks about some of the important things they teach in their classes.

There are a number of ways you can reach out to them:

https://www.instinctready.com 

https://www.facebook.com/Instinctready/

https://twitter.com/instinctready

https://www.instagram.com/instinctready/

https://twitter.com/disaster_class

https://www.instagram.com/disasterclasspodcast/

https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/80910129/admin/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCR5Y2KoAJRllcx0kPU-jP4Q

You can reach Jason and Wesley through their instinctready website.

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Important information from Homeowners Be Aware:

Here are ways you can follow us on-line:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/homeownersbeaware/

Website: https://homeownersbeaware.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/george-siegal/

If you'd like to reach me for any reason, here's the link to my contact form:

https://homeownersbeaware.com/contact

Here's the link to the trailer for the documentary film I'm making: Built to Last: Buyer Beware.

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Transcript

George Siegal: 0:00

Tell Us How to Make It Better is partnering with The Readiness Lab, the home for podcast webinars and training in the field of emergency and disaster services.

Wesley Long: 0:09

I think you're a hundred percent, right. Usually people walk around until something negative happens and then they realize, and that's our goals. Just try to, let's not wait till something bad happens if we can get ahead of that and educate them prior to that. So that when the thing happens, they're a little better prepared and they can serve themselves their families better. And then also be an asset to their community. Huge value in that

George Siegal: 0:32

I'm George Siegal and this is the Tell Us How to Make It Better podcast. Every week, we introduce you to people who are working on real world problems and providing actual solutions. Hi everybody. Thank you for joining me on this week's Tell Us How to Make It Better podcast. In my documentary film, The Last House Standing, we showed you different parts of the country the disasters that happen year after year and the consequences that it places on the lives of the people that live there. And the reality is that we can all do things to be better prepared for when that disaster strikes. My guests today are Jason Perez and Wesley long. They're the co-founders of Instinct Ready whose mission is to educate prepare and equip individuals, households, and families for disasters. They are active first responders with a passion for education. First off, thank you for being first responders. You guys don't get enough thanks from people and it's much appreciated what you do.

Wesley Long: 1:26

You are welcome. It is rewarding work though.

Jason Perez: 1:29

Thanks, George. Yeah, we're happy to be here.

George Siegal: 1:31

Yeah, it is. You risk your lives for for the rest of us. So guys, what is the problem or issue you have identified and that you're working on?

Jason Perez: 1:42

You wanna start Wesley or should I no, go ahead. Just go ahead. Yeah. I, in a nutshell, the, the problem that we've identified is an overall lack of community education in the emergency preparedness disaster preparedness realm. A lot of the, the initiatives, a, of the you know, solutions out there, the education is more for professionals, people in the industry. The everyday household, the everyday person is sometimes left out of the conversation and aren't really given the tools to be able to, to protect themselves so that that's that's in a nutshell, that's, that's the problem that we we've identified.

Wesley Long: 2:19

It's two things like Jason said, they can't protect themselves. And then they also, since they're not educated, they can't really participate in the emergency preparedness initiatives that are happening usually to them and for them, but not necessarily with them. And that's, that's our focus, help them understand that they play a role. The whole community is a, a specific thing that emergency managers understand, but the individuals and families, they play a role in that. So we're trying to help them understand that role so that they can be you know, better served themselves and also serve others.

George Siegal: 2:50

And no, I always like to ask how this affects other people's lives in, in the case of what you guys are doing. I think it's obvious that, you know, human nature is that people just don't think bad stuff is gonna happen to them. And so we all kind of just muddle along until something bad happens, and then we realize just how unprepared we are, you probably see that on a regular basis.

Wesley Long: 3:11

I think COVID right. The world globally, things were kind of trucking along then all of a sudden, boom, we all hit this and we realized we're one community because this one sickness is literally spreading around the world because of our community. So I think you're a hundred percent, right. Usually people walk around until something negative happens and then they realize, and that's our goals just try to, let's not wait until something bad happens if we can get ahead of that and educate them prior to that. So that when the thing happens, they're a little better prepared and they can serve themselves, their families better and then also be an asset to their community. Huge value in that.

George Siegal: 3:45

Yeah. I think what you guys, you probably realize that better than I do. What you're up against is that we are in a reactive society rather than a preventative society. People don't wanna do the work up front. They'd rather have to play catch up later. And that's the whole attitude that's very difficult to change. How do you combat that?

Jason Perez: 4:05

That that's a really,, it's a difficult one to combat. And it's, you know, it's, it's unrealistic to, to think that we're gonna be able to get everybody on board with with this thinking. You're always gonna have a, a certain amount of people that are just gonna be resistive to these ideas. But trying to just, even if our, our goal is, even if we could just get a small portion of the population, finding those who are, who are, have more proactive thinking and who wanna learn, because there are a decent amount of individuals that when you present them the knowledge, they, they grasp it and they run with it. So it's, it's trying to make little inroads. And then that becomes contagious. When you have small portions, even just a small portion of the population that are, you know, getting involved in these preparedness behaviors, they're starting to take a different look at, at preparedness. They're just building that community capability and it can sometimes spread. So it's, it's, it's, it's hard to get everybody on board, but it's just trying to find those that where we can make little inroads.

George Siegal: 5:02

So gimme an example of how you work. So if somebody finds you on the website, is it usually an individual? Is it a family? Is it a business? What's the profile of the person that needs your services?

Wesley Long: 5:13

Yeah. So the profile of the person that needs our services is everyone. But the people that find us are the ones who are proactively looking for solutions. So they may find us by searching go bags or emergency preparedness or something like that. Cause we do sell products. And again, our disclaimer for everyone that's in the emergency preparedness realm, we get it right. The best possible go bag someone can have is when they build themselves. You. That meets a minimum survival standard. Totally understand that the problem we find is these individuals who are searching for us and find us online and they tell us time and time again, they get overwhelmed by what should be in my go bag? What should I put in it? How much stuff should there be? What things should I address? So, yes, the best option is build your own, but it's so overwhelming because there's no governing body that says here's what you need, that most people don't. And then they have nothing. So then they find us and they see a pre-made kit and they hear us talk and they connect with us and they like our product. They try it out generally. Then they'll take a class cuz we have a class online as well. Cause we feel preparing you or equipping you is less important than educating you. Right? So we educate preparing, equip. We'd rather educate first, don't buy a bag, get the education. They take, take the class and then usually what happens is now they want their friends and family to be safe also. So then they, they, they contact us and say, Hey, I got 10 or 15 people, a little pocket of this community. Can you put the class on for all of us. Yeah. No problem. Then that spreads. So usually that's what happens. It's very hard to sell someone on the idea of something that they don't know they need. Right. But once they do through one of our products or one of our initiatives, they usually love it, grasp onto it. And then that's when it grows. Yeah.

Jason Perez: 6:51

It's been like a word of mouth. Sorry, go ahead, Jason. No, I was just saying like, like Wesley said, it's really it it's, like you said, it's a hard concept to get people on board, but once one person gets it, they just start telling their friends and their family about it. One of our little pull quotes that we have from an individual has taken the class, our class multiple times that it's it's the, the class you didn't know you needed until you've had it. And so that's kind of, the mentality. People don't know they need it, but once they've had it, it was like, wow, this is really important. And then they start spreading it to their, their friends and family.

George Siegal: 7:24

Now, when I was making my documentary film, The Last House Standing, we went around to different places in the country where there were major disasters and the common theme was not being prepared, not understanding what the risks are and then not realizing the consequences of having taken that risk. And there were people in Malibu fleeing from fire that didn't know what to take from their house. You know that if you, somebody said you have 10 minutes to evacuate, that's not the time to make your plan right.

Wesley Long: 7:52

Or make that's not. Yeah.

George Siegal: 7:56

Yeah, we had one fire expert to say, nobody woke up on the day of the disaster and made their fire plan. It has to happen way in advance. So when you see these disasters and there's, they're different in each part of the country, what you experience in the Northeast is gonna be different than somebody in California. What do you sense is the common theme among people that are so not aware that things are gonna go wrong?

Wesley Long: 8:21

Hmm, this is a comment on human nature. So I hate to categorize it, you know, everyone, because every individual's a little bit different, but it's not from a lack of understanding that bad things happen. Right. Because we know bad things happen. We get inundated with the news. I think there's a disconnect when people then say, oh, it may not happen here. It may not happen to me or it may not happen now. They always kick it down the road and think, oh, it'll be later and I'll be ready then I don't have to prepare now. So I think that that type of procrastination is a big thing, because I think, and we found this when you talk to people as an individual, they get it right. Group think is, we'll be fine. But as an individual, they get it. It's usually just either I've researched it and it's too much, I don't know where to start or where my first bite should be. Therefore I'm just gonna not look at it and not address it cuz I can't wrap my brain around it. That's a lot of times what we find and they appreciate the fact that we take it in the bite size pieces. We give them a formal plan and a logistical approach to it that is palatable for them.

Jason Perez: 9:33

I, I think the other thing too is, is like Wesley said, they, they haven't been given the tools to know what to do, but I think the other thing is, is like, I think in our society, we, we've almost created like a dependency syndrome where it's like something bad happens. And then it's like the, the assumption is, is that someone's gonna come rescue me. Someone, you know, it's, it's not my responsibility to do something. It's like the responsibility of the first responders, the local state government to like, when something bad happens to come bail me out. And so I wonder if it's like, you know, that that mentality starts to, to creep in and, and they don't know what their responsibility

Wesley Long: 10:07

is. Or, or could be right. So Jason and I were just talking about this yesterday. We're almost gonna try to start changing the vernacular because yes, we are first responders, right? Jason and I are first you call EMS we will be there, but technically who is the first responder when somebody falls down has a seizure, bumps their head? It's the people that are there because if they don't respond first and call 9 1 1 we can't come. So getting that concept to people that the actual first responders are the people that you live with, the people in your community, you are the first responder because if you see someone fall and they hit their head, you're the first one there that grabs them, tries to keep their head still tries to wipe away some of the blood or tries to call 9 1 1. You are actually the first responder. Us trained professionals we come after the first responder has called us. So getting people to understand that you are already involved, whether you think you are or not. You're involved. And if we can just help better educate individuals, give them these tools so they can make better decisions everyone is gonna win.

George Siegal: 11:12

Yeah, you guys sum it up a lot nicer than I do. I mean, I used to work in the news business and we would have stories every time there's a big storm of the guy that tried to drive across the water crossing or the person who stayed in their house when they were told to evacuate, because they were gonna be flooding. And then guys like you are risking your lives going out there trying to save somebody who made a choice that they're now in endangering other people shouldn't have been there in the first place.

Wesley Long: 11:35

Yeah. Yeah. So that's what we're trying. We're trying to fight. And, you know, we have a work cut out for us, but we have you know, I happen to to run into Jason our lives, you know, we just intersected at a really, really good time and found each other kind of with the same path and visions. So we were able to collaborate and not only are we providing we think a very valuable service we're having a ton of fun working together, doing it. And we get to learn every single day by the experiences that we share. So for us, it's a win, win, win. If I were to cool, Michael Scott, you know,

George Siegal: 12:10

yeah. You know, I, I think it's it's amazing to see the amount of people. Like I live in Florida, the amount of people that don't have generators. Then they can go weeks without power. In Moore Oklahoma, where they had major tornadoes year after year. There's a small percentage of people that actually have storm sellers. So do you find where you are in the Northeast that there are people that may not even have a snow shovel? They might not have extra food in their house. They might not have blankets. They might not have firewood. I mean, so many things that they should just be part of your regular life.

Wesley Long: 12:43

Yeah. I mean, if anything, a few, what was that a few weeks ago? I, 95, right, Virginia. Now they're not necessarily used to ice storms, but think of all those people on that corridor that had literally nothing in their cars, li nothing to help them in any way, shape or form, no concept that I might need some emergency supplies with me. So I think in the Northeast, yeah, we face it because a lot of times when do with something like we have a snowstorm now, what people say is it's the Northeast. It's what we do, you know? Right, right. It's it's just the it's. Yeah, we have snow. We have Nor Easter to us is, is, is a word that we use all the time. Cause it happens. So because of that and the expectation that it happens, I don't know that there's always a preparedness for it because that's just the way things are here. So we always fight that.

Jason Perez: 13:26

Yeah. I think it's like a complacency where it's like, we've always been dealing with this and I've been okay all the other times. So every other time in the future is gonna be the same. So it, yeah.

George Siegal: 13:38

Yeah, that I, 95 thing was a mystery to me. Why were so many people on the road? That storm did not sneak up on anybody? It was talked about for days, right?

Jason Perez: 13:47

That was my question.

Wesley Long: 13:49

like, what are you doing? Right. So, and we talk about that in our class, in our class, we, you know, we have a three hour class where Jason and I had the privilege to develop and create basically an invent, a curriculum that doesn't currently exist. We created this community based. Curriculum. And in that we talk about alerts and warning systems. Most people don't even realize that there's a very, very integrated network of, of alerts and warning systems. They don't know that they don't, and since they don't know it, they don't know how to tune in. And they don't know the difference between a watch and a warning. That there's levels of intensity difference there. Right? So that's part of our education. And that's part of the thing that we're trying to help people understand when you hear these things, this is what you should be thinking, and this is what it should trigger. And it means don't leave your house or it means leave your house immediately.

George Siegal: 14:34

Yeah. Yeah. When I was in the television news business, I was a weather forecaster and it is not an exact science. And I tell people that now, even with all the computers we have, we've watched several hurricanes come right towards Tampa, and then they turn and people weren't prepared, but because the storm turned, they think, ah, it's not gonna happen to me. I'm safe. It'll turn every time. Yeah. Yeah. Did you guys see the movie, the world, according to Garp?

Wesley Long: 15:01

I haven't seen that yet.

George Siegal: 15:01

You need to see it. There's a, there's a, we have a scene from that in our film where Robin Williams is looking at a house with his wife. And while they're looking at it, a plane crashes into the house and he looks at her and goes, honey, we'll take the house. And she goes, you're crazy. And he goes, do you realize the odds of a plane ever hitting this house again? They're, they're astronomical. And I think that's people's mentality is that we just don't think it's gonna happen. And there's that look, and you probably see it when you're rescuing people that look of shock. Like how did this happen to me, it's obvious how it happened to them.

Wesley Long: 15:32

Drove here. That's how you got here. And it was sleeting out. That's Don't we get bill for those rescues, if I drive into a Creek and you have to come save me, are they getting charged for that? So there's different. There's different things. There are different levels of responsibility. There's different insurances, but ultimately, probably you're gonna get a bill for some level of that. Like for us when EMS, if we transport there's usually a bill associated with that and it's not a cheap bill. And yeah, if your insurance isn't gonna cover it, it's gonna get back to you.

Jason Perez: 16:04

Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm

George Siegal: 16:05

yeah. So what obstacles do you guys face when you're, when you're throwing this out there? How, how long has the website been up? How long have you been doing this and what are the obstacles that you think you're running into as you're trying to grow this thing?

Jason Perez: 16:18

So I'll start with the when we started. So it was back in 2018. I originally got in, started the education component, which was then instinct education. At that time. I had started doing CPR and first aid education for the community. Just based off of my experiences., I'm like this needs more people need to know these skills. So I started doing that. And then me and Wesley we got together shortly after that. And then we officially created Instinct Ready. We incorporated in 2019? And since then we've been, we've been slowly and steadily growing, getting bigger. But as far as obstacles, you know, I, I think it's just the, the common obstacle that you have just with this industry in general, just the whole concept of preparedness is just getting people to understand the importance of it and that they need to be taking actions.

Wesley Long: 17:10

Yeah, I'm also, I also think one of the obstacles, I'm just gonna go ahead and say it cause I I'm, I'm this guy and I don't care about being this guy. The difference vendors we find is very interesting too. So what we have found is probably 80, 80 to 85% are better of our product sales are going to women and we just found that intriguing. And then when you talk to dudes, you start to understand why. And I hate to just classify people that way because how people identify and all that. Generally speaking, when a person that identifies as a guy looks at our bag, what they look at that as is a challenge. They look at the bag and say, oh, how much did it cost? What, what do you got in there? I can do better than that. It's like, oh right, man. Do better. Like, that's fine. Whereas we found the others look at it and say, okay, you've done all the work in the research. And I says, one stop shopping. I'll take two of them. Thank you. So that's part of the obstacle too, is people look at it and they don't always want help. Even though they need help and they don't understand the thing. They look at our product and they say, oh, that's a challenge I can do better. Why don't you have this in there? Why don't you have that in there? It's like, I'd love to sit down and talk to you. Like one of the controversial things is we took the knife out of our go bag. People are like, why would you take the knife out? Every, every single prep gotta have a knife and yeah. What do you need the knife for? Please explain it to me. Sit down and think about what you need the knife for. Do you know how to skin a rabbit? And so if you're gonna tell me that you need a knife in there, so you can skin a creature. So you can do you know how to do that because by and large, most people don't and then it's like, oh, well you could use it for batoning wood and, okay. So you're gonna use a knife to work wood. Well, we provided you a hand saw, cause that's gonna make your life a whole lot better when you're working wood.

George Siegal: 18:58

A gun might be good to have in there to keep your neighbors away from your go bag. Yeah. Well, that's a whole concept too. The gray man philosophy, right? If you wanna fit in and, and so our, our bags are, are gray instead of the tactical black, so that it draws less attention. There's a whole concept with that behind that as well, how to remain anonymous so that your goods don't become a target. Okay. Gimme the etiquette on this. I, I want a professional's opinion. So if I have a generator. My neighbors have all chosen, not to have them. The hurricane hits the powers out for two weeks. What is my obligation to all the people who chose not to have a generator? Am I the, the pig in the brick house that just invites everybody in. Or do I say, Hey, it's every man for themselves. You chose that path. What, what, what is the route the, the human route to take there?

Wesley Long: 19:43

I can't speak to that. I can't, I can't go ahead and make a blanket statement. There are gonna be a lot of factors in that though. A lot of factors in that, what relationship you have with your, if you become that guy who says everybody's step away, do you then become a target? Yeah, I'll say this. That is a very, very big real life situation that in our class, what we would talk about is plan that ahead. Right? So I would say this when you made the decision to go out and get your generator, did you tell your neighbors, give that word of mouth? Like, Hey guys, I'm going to get a generator because I feel it's important for where we live. Right. Share that knowledge, right? That's that's what we recommend in the class. Cause you have the forethought. That's fantastic. Not everybody does, not everybody's opposed to it. Some people just don't think ahead. They just don't have that capacity. Where if you had said, Hey, I'm heading over to home Depot to grab a generator. They're on sale because this is not the season for generators. I'm gonna get my now because it's gonna be a third cheaper than if I wait. You might want to get one too. Oh man, generators around selling they're cheaper now. Yeah. Great. Share that knowledge, right? That's that's what I would recommend. Always knowledge, share knowledge, share, knowledge, share so that you don't have to be in that situation when you're the only guy with it. And everyone's looking at you like we're cold and you've got heat.

George Siegal: 21:02

Hey, you guys are much younger than me, but there was a show called the Twilight zone. You've probably seen the re boot, which isn't as good, but there was a bomb shelter episode on there where this family had a bomb shelter in their basement. There was a nuclear threat. And all the neighbors tried to break in because they thought it was everybody's bomb shelter. And I I've told my wife, this is a real situation that would happen because we're very, we care about our neighbors. I mean, I wouldn't want anybody dying from heat or, or having problems. But at the same time, people choose, well, maybe I'm gonna get the boat. Maybe I'm gonna go on a trip. I don't need that generator until they need it. And then it's a problem. And it's the same with building a house of concrete versus a wood house and your house gets wiped out. It's it's a tough call.

Wesley Long: 21:44

It is a tough call. And that's what we recommend is, you know, we'll talk offline, George, you, you get in contact with us. We'll go ahead and put on a class for your whole neighborhood. Right. So everyone gets all that information at the same time, in an open forum where they can ask questions and have this conversation and communicate together as a community. That's our solution to those types of things.

George Siegal: 22:04

Yeah. I, I think that's an important thing for people to think out in, in, in any situation because you see it. Every year, billions of dollars in damage and disaster problems. I had a gentleman on the other day, the former FEMA director who talks about all the places he went, where he shows up and people are just, you know, they didn't realize they needed flood insurance. They didn't realize their house was gonna blow away at a strong wind end. I mean, we're just so not ready for disaster.

Jason Perez: 22:32

Yeah. And that was funny. You say that, cuz we just were recording for our, we have our podcast disaster class and yesterday we are talking with some insurance experts. we're going over that very thing. Just even just something simple as insurance, ed, better educating people with the, with these topics. So it's, it's a, it's a big project. And that's like for us, it's not necessarily. With our class and in our podcast and everything, we're not necessarily providing a specific solution for every problem, but we're teaching these really important concepts. We're taking emergency management concepts, like identifying hazards, assessing risk, what your vulnerability, and then we're, we're teaching them these concepts so that they can apply it to their life and, and make them better informed decisions.

Wesley Long: 23:20

Yeah. Yeah. So the hazard identification risk assessment then leads to mitigation. Right? Cause if you, if you can assess those, those hazards, you you've seen these things now it's like, okay, I've got six hazards that I have to deal with where I live in my community. Let's rank them. What's most important. What's most likely now what are my answers and my solutions for each of those things. Right. We, we literally take individuals through that in our class cause we have, what's called an EAP emergency action plan. Every individual and family should have one. We walk them through and do it together as a class. So they build that muscle memory and they have that understanding of how to fill that document out. Then we give them the tools so that when they go home and they do this in depth as a family exercise and practice, they can really have a robust plan created for each of the hazards that they've identified and all of the risks that they've assessed. And then they have their mitigation plan in place for each of those things. So when something happens, literally, it's like, oh man, we're having a tornado page four. Here's what we do. We've already talked about it. Everybody let's go to page four and, and take care of it. So. That's literally why we do what we do. And it's extremely rewarding when we put people through the class because you know, they get it and they thank us for it. And they're so appreciative and they put, they put these things into practice and that's where we educate. We prepare them now to give 'em the mindset. And then we equip 'em you wanna buy some stuff from us? Buy some stuff to facilitate that if you don't buy it from me, I don't care. But I've given you the education.

George Siegal: 24:41

Yeah. There's so many simple things people can do. They think it's really complicated just from having a photograph of everything in your house. You just walk around with your cell phone and take pictures and, and also read your insurance policy. You know, there's a reason they make it 65 pages in small print because there's a lot of things they're not gonna cover that could cost you everything. And you know, it's not their goal to just pay you.

Wesley Long: 25:05

Right. And they're trying to figure, like, it's funny. So Jason was talking, we just had this segment that we were taping yesterday for our podcast and we have these insurance team on with, cause we are all about collaboration, right? We're not subject matter experts for every subject we, we can't possibly be, but we're trying to use our connections to bring that information to people through our podcast. So they were just talking about how people just go through, they click, they try to get the cheapest thing possible. And at the end, because they have their insurance policy, they think they're great. They gave us the example of, of, of some people that did that I think in Colorado, cause they were in Wyoming. So in, in in Colorado and it was hail damage for their roof and the way they had selected the property setup or the insurance claim setup was they did it on a percent deductible of total value of your property because they thought that that was the cheapest thing. Their property was assessed at like $350,000. So at 10%, that was their deductible. Just to get their roof fixed. Right? Like, and it's just they and the, and the insurance adjusters are saying like, we have a flat rate, $1,500 deductible. You just ask us for, we can do that. Would you rather pay the $1,500 deductible or would you rather be hit with a bill for $35,000 to get the process started? They had no clue. They hadn't looked at their policy. They, they hadn't thought it through. They hadn't talked to anybody. It's like, yeah. So they're all, we're, we're safe. We're covered. We have insurance. Are you really? George Siegal: Yeah, we, we found out in to one of the local disc jockeys there who had to talk to radio hosts, who talked to all the people that would call in that had never read their policy. They didn't understand that if it's a named storm, they didn't have coverage for it. They had absolutely no coverage. And it's there's, these are such simple things that when you're, you know, if you live in a, a Southern state, this is the time of year to be making your preparations. They always have hurricane preparedness month in May. I think that's a little late to start preparing. Yeah. Yeah. Agreed. And that's. And that was one of the, the recommendations of the insurance adjusters that we talked about. Every single, they said, it's, it's their goal in their office. Cause they're very proactive to get every single person that has coverage from them in their office and have a discussion at least every 12 months. Because even though it's set once doesn't mean things haven't changed in your life and insurance coverages haven't changed. So not just have it, but then be proactively every 12 months, go in there and reassess your coverage to make sure it's still custom tailored to fit you perfectly.

George Siegal: 27:38

Yeah. Yeah. And you probably want to talk people off of thinking well, I had a year where I think I overpaid for insurance because we didn't have anything go wrong. So maybe they lower their insurance or they cancel it and then it goes bad. The next year. Correct? Correct.

Wesley Long: 27:51

There's we could talk for hours just about insurance, right? Like and that's why our class, it has turned out to be three hours, which is funny because initially when we did it, it was a one hour class. We're like, all right, let's just bug 'em for an hour. Get 'em outta here. And the feedback overwhelmingly from the people that took the class, which we were flabbergast by, they were like, wow, it's a really good course. We love it. It should be longer. It should be twice as long, at least we're like, you want more class who goes to class and see, they want more class. So we knew we were onto something, Jason and I aren't the most boring people in the world. So we have found that, and it it's translated through to the class where the people like, like it and they wanted more of it. So we're like, all right, let's make a more robust. So we connected with someone that has their masters in they're a New York educator and we got our curriculum up to be as robust as possible. And now it's about a three hour course that we put individuals through. We have, 'em take a test. We send 'em a certification at the end, so they know what they know and it's making some people's lives a little better.

George Siegal: 28:50

Yeah. I mean, that's such an important thing to do because people are just living with that, you know, a couple lines from our film that just stick with me, hope is not a strategy. Because people hope nothing bad's gonna happen, but, and that ends up being their strategy.

Wesley Long: 29:04

And now what . Oh.

George Siegal: 29:08

And then the other one from Brock Long who was the former FEMA director said if it rains where your house is, it can flood. And most people don't think if they, I don't live in a flood area, flood insurance. Isn't very, expensive if it's not supposed to flood. So, what advice would you guys have for somebody who is entrepreneurial? You guys have started a business. You seem to be having some success with it. What would you say to somebody who has an idea? They think could go somewhere, but they're just not doing anything with it. What, what kickstart or motivation would you, what would you say to them?

Wesley Long: 29:40

Well, Jason, if you wanna go first I'll, I'll, I'll go after. Cause I have a lot to say on that.

Jason Perez: 29:45

Yeah. I know. We both have a lot to say in this, you know I have found. And I think what me and Wey, both have found is like, if you have an idea and you want to get something going it's hard to do it by yourself. You need a team and you need somebody behind you who believes in your vision. But more importantly, I'm sure Wesley's gonna speak to this too is surround yourself with people who are, aren't just yes, men, but people who think differently and who challenge you. Because me and Wesley are very different people. We have very different personalities, but each of our, like where, where my strengths are or where my weaknesses are, Wesley fills that gap. And likewise, so it's like, we, we we're really good balancing act and we don't always agree on everything, but we, we challenge each other. And, and I think because of that we've been able to make some, some really cool stuff happen. And and I think that's you know, when you have everybody who thinks just like you, I feel like you're not, you're you're gonna be missing a lot and you're not gonna be getting to where you wanna go.

Wesley Long: 30:44

Yeah. And for me, I am probably a serial entrepreneur. I am pro entrepreneurship. I say, if you have an idea, first thing I say is, go for it, do it. There's no better time than today, except maybe yesterday, but that's already gone. So do it. Because you might have the best thing that the world needs. So go for it. First of all, believe in yourself and go for it. Second of what Jason said. Absolutely. You gotta have a team. I'm the type of person where I've had multiple businesses. I've been in operations. I've been the right hand, man. I've done it myself a few times with Jason in particular. And I tell this story because. I like to, even in our podcast, I get on Jason a lot and we go back and forth, cuz we're very, very close, but I have to give him his props. He's the first person that I really think ever out visioned me. That doesn't happen to me very often now. Really it doesn't. I usually have all these plans and grand schemes and I'm coming up with business ideas all the time. I sat down and talked with Jason at a time where I was about to start a business doing this in this industry. I had legitimate job offers to work with three other people that had money and they were ready to back me. Because I had a little thing called go bag Wesley prior to meeting up with Jason and I was literally taking offers, looking at my options. And then I met Jason. He was the one that represented the biggest learning curve for me. I knew I could learn the most by working with him and he's a hundred percent, right. We don't think the same way all the time. And we have very, very aggressive discussions from time to time, passionate. It was one time, one time where it like his wife was like, no, you. You guys. Okay. Right. But we needed that. And because we look at things differently and come at the answers from different directions it forces us to really prove the validity of an idea and sell it before the company moves forward. And as a result, it allows us to hopefully make continually really good decisions because we're coming at it from two different angles. So I, I second with Jason says don't have, yes, men don't have people around you that are just gonna say, oh, it's a great idea. No. Quantify that qualify it. Why is it a good idea? How could it be better? Help me tweak it. My goal isn't to sit there and pontificate and just have people tell me, I sound good, I don't care about that. I wanna make progress. I wanna do something I want there to be purchased in those decisions. So having a team around you that can challenge you is so valuable, so valuable.

George Siegal: 33:08

Right? Great advice. So how do people find you guys? How do they find your podcast? What's the best way to reach out to you?

Jason Perez: 33:15

Yeah. So people can find us by going to our website instinct ready.com and also our podcast disaster class, which is part of The Readiness Lab. So if you can go to The Readiness Lab dot com and find our, our podcast there, we're on all the major podcast platforms. So there on our website instinct ready.com. You can find more information about our community emergency planning class. In addition, our social media accounts, we on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, all that. So you can connect with Wesley and I.

George Siegal: 33:43

Excellent. Well, Hey guys, again, thanks for your work as first responders. I mean, that is you're literally lifesavers and you know, that's, that's held in very high regard. We appreciate the, the work that you do and continued success with the website and with the podcast. Thanks for coming on today.

Wesley Long: 33:58

George. Thank you very much, George.

George Siegal: 34:00

Thank you for joining me for this week's episode to Tell Us How to Make It Better podcast. If you enjoyed what you were listening to, please like the episode, there's a link in the show notes, so you can share it with your friends. And we hope you subscribe and become a regular listener of the podcast. And if you have any ideas for future shows, there's a contact form on our website Tell Us How to Make It Better dot com. I'd love to hear what you thought about the show, or if you have any ideas for future guests. Thanks again for listening. See you next time.