 Hello welcome to another episode of the Door Hardware Nerds. We've got a very special guest today. Very special. Yes, very special. Mr. Joey, how you doing? I'm doing great. How about you, Benji? Good, good. I've got one question for you to kick off the show today. All right. Are you a Door Hardware Nerd? My name is Joey Mayors and I'm an extremely judgy Door Hardware Nerd. Yes, and proud of it, right? Proud of it? Why not? Definitely, definitely. Everybody's judgmental. I might as well do it with Door Hardware. Yeah, might as well. So why don't you introduce yourself to the Nerds and tell us a little bit about what you do? Yeah, sure. My name is Joey Mayors. I am with the Centrios new brand with inside of Osa Abloy and been in the industry. Centrios. Centrios. Been in the industry for, I don't know, 20 plus years. 20 plus years? 20 plus years, man. You start when you're like four or something? Like 18? 18, okay. 40 this year, right? Actually before 18, but people say when you're a kid that don't count. Yeah. Well, I grew up in the company. I guess you grew up in the company. I think it counts. I think that counts. Let's count it. Okay. So my dad owned a locksmith company and I grew up in there and eventually ended up taking over the company from him. I earned that for 10 years and then I sold the company and what better place to come work than Osa Abloy? Hey, was there a question? We're glad to have you here. I appreciate it. What are you passionate about in this industry? Yeah. Still super passionate about the locksmith industry. I mean, I was sort of a hybrid, we call it. You know, a little bit of integration, a little bit of locksmith work. But just smart by the way. Yeah, for sure. I mean doors and locks aren't going anywhere. So might as well have some good locksmiths, right? But you know, the locksmith industry, a lot of people don't understand it. It can be very unique. You know, you can be working on a mechanical mortise lock right now in 30 minutes from now you're wiring up an automated door and tied it into a card system. You know, so it's kind of one extreme to the other. Yeah, it can get really dumb, not dumb, but like it can be really simple work. Right. Or very complex. And then very complex. In the same day. Yeah. So trying to find someone who like really can do both is hard. So I think it's a great industry and I hope to see it grow more. Okay, so you're passionate about the locksmith industry. The locksmith industry. Yeah. I mean doors and hardware in general, but locksmiths just they kind of hold dear to the heart. Yeah, I mean think of about our industry and how lost we would be without locksmiths, right? For sure. Such an important job. And unfortunately, we see less and less locksmiths nowadays, but it's such a big opportunity for these younger door hardware owners to step in and take over, right? Yeah, you wouldn't ever thought that it was so hard to talk people in teaching them how to break into stuff. Yeah. Yeah, if I was a teenager, like I was like, Hey, you want to teach me how to break into things? Oh, yeah. But there's this thing called integrity, right? Like locksmiths have to have integrity. That's right. There's always a caveat. Always a catch. Okay. So how long have you been a door hardware nerd? And was there a moment you like knew you were a door hardware nerd? So I've been a door hardware nerd my whole life. But I mean, if you grew up in a locksmith family, yeah, but it was like ingrained to you. But I thought I was weird. I'm like, why am I so judgy on doors and, you know, crooked panic bars and fingerprints on stuff? And, you know, when I came here, that was my aha moment. I'm like, I'm not alone. All right, Joey, what is one piece of advice you would leave someone that's just joining the industry? I don't know. It sounds kind of cliche, but like always listen to to what people want and be more of a solutions type person. I think that's great. You know, there's there's many, many brands out there. And obviously, I'm a huge fan of us. I'll blow it, but there may be times where we don't have the perfect fit. Yeah. And that's okay. That's that's one big thing. And then I kind of love standardization. You know, if you pick a product that you really love, as long as that works where you need it to, you can get really proficient at it and know it inside now. And that that's okay to be a nerd about it. Yeah, no, I think I mean, that's how you can really get to know something, right? Right. The hardware industry is so complex at times. So it's really hard to specialize in on something. So if you standardize on something, it gives you the the ability to really get good at that product. You become a craftsman, per se, you know, with your product and your installation. Yeah, for sure. Take pride in your work. Ooh, that's good advice, right? Take pride in your work. I can't tell you, I mean, you see my posts all the time, all the pictures that I post and like, that's very thoughtful. I take pride in my post. No. You see the lack of pride in the industry now, lack of integrity with behind their installs are standing behind their jobs. They're just like slapping it on. And I think the more pride you have in your work, the better of a job you're going to do and the lasting relationship you're going to build with that customer as well, right? For sure. Yeah, you know, locksmithing is a trade just like other trades. And I feel like hopefully we're all coming back around to really respect them the trades. Yes. And this is one that you should get into and trade revolution, right? It's happening. Yeah, yeah. And there's so much opportunity. I love it. I can't tell you how many stories I hear of these young professionals going in and buying these old lock shops. Yeah, they're like turning them around and like bringing them to the digital era and like just growing like crazy because there's so much opportunity because there's I mean, locksmith businesses are just dropping here and there. And so people still need keys, right? There's no lack of work. You're ready to work, you can make some money and have plenty to do. Yeah, no, I agree. Okay. Feel I'll last question. And I'll leave it with this and it's a fill in the blank. Oh, you might be a door hardware nerd if you do blank. I mean, I think your door hardware nerd is every time you walk through a bad door, you take a picture and your wife says send it to Benji. When you got your wife said that my wife like sends me pictures from work says can you send this to Benji? So yeah, that's a that doesn't say door hardware. Nothing does that doesn't get more dirty. When you bring the family into it. Yeah, when your family's involved. Yeah, that's awesome. I'm sorry for them. I can't help it. Yeah, actually, the support group that we have, we should actually create a support group for our family, right? They're the ones that need the real So you have all these door hardware nerds, but you don't think about the other 1000s of family members that they have drug into it. They have to deal with those door hardware nerds. That's right. That's funny. Joey, thank you so much for your time. It's always a pleasure. Appreciate it. Yeah, and we'll see you on the next episode. Thanks for watching.