"You've never seen me sober."
For years, Justin built a respected name in the welding industry — sharp, disciplined, professional. But behind the scenes, there was something no one saw.
In this raw and honest conversation, we talk about high-functioning alcohol use in the trades, what it looks like when success masks a problem, and the moment Justin realized he hadn't been truly clear-headed in nearly a decade.
We cover:
What high-functioning drinking really looks like
The culture of alcohol in welding and blue-collar industries
Productivity after quitting drinking
Identity, reputation, and vulnerability
Financial literacy and long-term career planning in the trades
Why not hitting "rock bottom" can be the most dangerous place to live
If you work in welding, fabrication, construction, or any skilled trade, this conversation may hit closer than you expect.
This isn't about judgment. It's about ownership.
If you or someone you know is struggling with alcohol, help is available: Alcoholics Anonymous – aa.org SAMHSA National Helpline – 1-800-662-4357 (24/7 confidential support)
This is Blue Collar Talk — the real version.
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Justin (00:00.578)
We're just talking about technology.
Jason Becker (00:02.633)
All right, Justin, welcome back to the Art Junkies Podcast, man. How you been?
Justin (00:06.722)
Great swell.
Jason Becker (00:10.057)
take two. Had some technical difficulties earlier. Yeah. No, like I was saying, I looked it up last time you were on the podcast and it was 2022. But I could have swore it was like only 25 or yeah, 25, 24. But it's been a little bit.
Justin (00:11.148)
Yeah.
Justin (00:26.03)
Yeah, so I was originally trying to see if I could beat Dabbs Wellington or I think because he I think he had the record for most visits to our junkies. This one I think for me makes five. It was like two or three to your predecessor and I think once maybe twice with that. I can't remember, but I have not beaten the record. Yeah. Oh, that's right. Yeah, it was Nate. Yeah, I think it was.
Jason Becker (00:37.533)
Yes.
Jason Becker (00:42.909)
Yeah. Twice with me. think twice with Jimmy. Not yet. I think Nate Bowman's got the record now, if I'm not mistaken. I got to look that up. Bob was pretty hot and heavy there for a minute too. Bob Moffat. Yep.
Justin (00:55.091)
really? Wow. Geez, time flies man.
Jason Becker (00:58.427)
It does, dude. The weird thing is the older you get, the faster it goes.
Justin (01:02.658)
Yeah, God, yeah. You gotta, you gotta mention that, you know, because everybody says that. Remember when you were like growing up and you had like the old heads and especially in the industry or whatever. And they're just like, yeah, well wait till you get older. And then you're sitting there like, yeah, you know, whatever. I mean, just, you don't know what you're talking about. All that, you know, that young, that young mentality shit. Yeah. And then suddenly you're just like, wait a minute. I'm in my forties now.
Jason Becker (01:23.091)
Yep. Whatever boomer.
Justin (01:30.834)
And like here's all this shit that's going on around me and it's like it makes you feel all old and everything else that's like,
Jason Becker (01:36.553)
Oh, tell me about it, dude. I do these weld tests and these, these kids are coming in and I'm looking at their birthdays. And it's like, you know, July, whatever, like 2002. And I was like, Oh shit.
Justin (01:42.306)
BAAAM!
Justin (01:49.55)
My daughter just turned 21, she's my oldest, and I swear to God she was born yesterday. 43 this year. So, yeah.
Jason Becker (01:53.516)
wow.
Yeah. How old are you?
Okay, yeah, I'm 43. I'll be 40. Yeah, I'll be 44 in August.
Justin (02:04.91)
Yeah, I hit 43 in April. I don't even, yeah, I did. I'm actually really glad with that. So my youngest is 14, my oldest is 21, then I got a 19 year old in the middle. So, but yeah, I definitely did. And that was intentional. Well, I wouldn't say intentional. You don't sit there when you're like 21 years old being like, well, time to have kids.
Jason Becker (02:07.465)
Well, you started with the kids young.
Jason Becker (02:13.833)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Becker (02:21.309)
Okay.
Justin (02:30.67)
But was in my head, I was just like, you know what, if I start this early, then my whole retirement plan and, career and all that stuff, you know, I could be in my, I, you know, I assumed in my late forties, early fifties and I'm done, you know, it's like, cool. Now I get to go enjoy life. And if my plan in life actually worked, then I can, uh, I can go enjoy things. And, know, that was part of listening to those old heads at the same time, too, them frigging boomers that were like, Oh, when you get old and I'm like, well.
Jason Becker (02:30.673)
Right.
Justin (03:00.046)
You know what, when I get older, would hopefully, you know, be done and, you know, get to enjoy those times. Maybe that's, that was one of those things, I guess you could say that I took seriously from them about, you know, oh, get start early, save your money, plan for retirement, all that stuff, you know, maybe.
Jason Becker (03:15.049)
You on track with it?
Justin (03:20.022)
Maybe. I mean, I'm not gonna brag or anything, know, I'm financially comfortable, not stable. Like I can disappear and exist again like I did before I started TFS, but I'm not friggin' rich, you know, by any means.
Jason Becker (03:33.785)
Mm. Right.
I started investing later on in life. had Richard Roybal. He's good friends with Stephanie Hoffman. I had him on the podcast. But prior to that, I kind of got set up with him as like getting life insurance set up and being a financial advisor and like consulting and stuff like that. And that was probably one of the best decisions I ever made because like, you don't know what you don't know. Like I know how to weld and cut, fit, fabricate. I kind of half-assed know how to run a business, but like finances was never my strong suit. And I never had money growing up. So I didn't know how to, you know, like...
use it as I was getting older.
Justin (04:10.414)
That's certainly something that happens a lot within the industry. That's surprisingly a lot of people that I meet, they're all industry people, whether they're in trades, typical blue collar stuff. It's like, yeah, you can fix anything that comes up, but it's like, can you actually balance your checkbook? Do you know how money works? Or even people that get into a business, there's so many people that don't even know what an invoice is.
Jason Becker (04:32.201)
Mm-hmm.
Justin (04:39.214)
terms, net terms, know, somebody's like, you know, anything or how the whole thing works, know, estimate invoice or estimate purchase order invoice, you know, and then finally you get your check and what happens when they don't pay on time. A lot of things, simple stuff, know, basic business. A lot of people don't even know how that works. But you got anything broken, like literally anything broken, you could be a welder, but you also know how to fix cars. It's like, yeah, get somebody to fix it. They'll come out here and fix it. They certainly won't know how to get their money from you.
Jason Becker (05:08.413)
Yeah. tell me about it. That's the hardest part about running a business is chasing down net 15, net 30 clients. And it's like, Hey, the payment was due last Friday. yeah. We're, we're, we're, going to break that check. only write checks on Fridays. It didn't make last week's check run. Why is that? It was, it's due Tuesday, whatever, but it's like,
Justin (05:09.281)
That's kind of a problem.
Justin (05:28.736)
Learning to speak that corporate language or even better yet when you get like a net 90 and you forget about it. There's a couple of companies where they're super corporate. I can't talk about it obviously, NDAs and stuff, but you know, we supply them with stuff and it's like, yeah, well three months ago I sent you that. I'm like, you should pay your bill and they never do on time so they always pay the late fees.
Jason Becker (05:30.845)
Yeah.
Jason Becker (05:34.615)
yeah.
Jason Becker (05:50.983)
Yeah. Worst one I've ever had was net 45 and they paid it at like day 48. Geez, man. And it was a big one. I was like waiting on that. Yeah, you never know. Like nobody teaches you the business. You just got to kind of learn it yourself. And I think that's why so many businesses fold up within the first two years. I think it's like 50 % of businesses that start up are like closed within two years. And like only I think 20 % of them make it past five years.
Justin (05:57.058)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Justin (06:12.854)
It happens.
Justin (06:16.718)
Yeah, yeah, it happens a lot. It's, know, it's, I don't know, ignorance, I guess, to the way that things work. You know, not anything bad, but it's just, you know, it's just the way it is. You gotta know some stuff. Everybody's, you know, like, I hate to put the thing in there. Everybody's like, oh yeah, strictly blue collar, that's the way that I'm gonna work. It's like, no, you gotta wear some white collar there. You gotta learn that stuff. And that's why I almost famously always have a gray collar on, because I...
know, preach like, okay, I'm educated and very skilled at the same time. I know both sides of it. can, I can, you know, work both sides of it. You know, there's, there's no shame in that. You should, if you're a, you know, journey foreman, journeyman, whatever, you know, top of your game, go take some business classes, man, like learn it. Even if you're not going to go open your own business, go take some classes. So that way you can talk to the, you know, the admin side, you can talk to the white collar peoples. And when you're blue collar crew that you're in charge of is getting pissed off and whatnot.
Jason Becker (06:52.359)
Mm-hmm.
Justin (07:15.182)
because they can't speak the language of the white collar, now you're the translator and worth twice as much money.
Jason Becker (07:19.849)
Yeah, just like you know the the format that can speak between the engineer and the welder. Yeah, same thing.
Justin (07:23.64)
Big ya'll.
Justin (07:27.736)
So yeah, that's a big one.
Jason Becker (07:29.225)
There's a lot to it, And people don't tell you that when you're to everybody tells you, yeah, you're wilder. Go start your own business. just, I found it real quick, just because I can do the work doesn't mean that I can manage the work. Because you can't work. I've talked to Kevin Johnson about this several times. You can't work in the business and on the business simultaneously, as you know. It's like, I can't be the guy that's doing all the janitorial stuff, cutting the material, shipping everything out, administering the tests, cutting the tests.
Justin (07:49.186)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Jason Becker (07:57.885)
you know, doing all the destructives, teaching the classes, scheduling the classes, like you got to start outsourcing a lot of that stuff. And I kind of, I'm at a point now where I've started bringing people on to kind of assist me so I can take off some of the hats that I've been wearing.
Justin (08:11.694)
Yeah, it's nice when it happens and actually I got a lot of friends there also business owners themselves and they're in one of those phases right now where you're you have to like micromanage everything like where you can't let go and say, well I always do everything myself. It's like I'm gonna be the one to do this because I don't trust anybody else to do it. It's like well if you don't trust anybody why the hell did you hire them? You need to let them do their thing.
and be prepared for them to do whatever and then you step in and you train, you work them through it. They're gonna have their system, you're gonna have your system, you meet in the middle. You find out how you say how you want it done and if as long as it gets done properly, then it didn't matter how they did it as long as, like I say when I teach welding, it's like there's no right or wrong as long as the result is correct. So if you did it passing grade or whatever,
Doesn't matter how you got there.
Jason Becker (09:09.737)
Yeah, that's one thing that I came to terms with before I brought somebody on because I knew that was going to be a problem for me is letting go and trying to micromanage. was like, before I even brought somebody on, I was like, okay, if I bring somebody on, I'm going to train them how to do it. Same thing, like you said, as long as they get this task done correctly and safely, and it's efficient, however you want to get it done, whatever the best way. The guy now is like, hey man, do this, that and everything. Well, how do want me to do it? Well, how do you think it should be done? Like put the ball back in their court. Okay.
Justin (09:17.688)
Huff.
Jason Becker (09:39.293)
You want to do it that way? Yeah, that's fine. You want to use the cut off torch or the cutting torch? Do that. You want to use a of band? Whatever. As long as it gets done in a timely, safe fashion.
Justin (09:45.998)
Yeah, in my management style, it's accountability based, if you will. So my staff, know what needs to be done. I train them on here's like our plan of the day, you know, like military plan of the day, POD. So here's what needs to get done. Here's the allotted time that you have to do it in. You know what that is. So get it done. And that's, you I'll look here. If there needs to be an adjustment, then we discuss there needs to be an adjustment to like the amount of time it takes or whatever comes in and they get it done. And that's that's.
That's all that matters as long as it's you know in my case packaged metal like if it comes out in the right package package doesn't look like shit It's all nice and clean. You're good to go. That's all I care So, yeah
Jason Becker (10:24.263)
Yeah, and rightly so. No sense sweating the small shit. mean, as long as the work's getting done.
Justin (10:31.276)
Yeah, like you're not going to do it any different, like any better than anybody else's as long as it looks the same way. You're just going to exhaust yourself.
Jason Becker (10:36.539)
it's my way. It's my way. You got to do it exactly like I did it when I was when I was filling that position now.
Justin (10:42.56)
That's a miserable way to be.
Jason Becker (10:44.105)
Yeah.
Justin (10:50.382)
So I, you know what, it's weird. I originally reached out to you not too long ago. I guess I'll bring some context into here. But I originally reached out to you to discuss a really sensitive topic and unique topic, if you will. And now that that microphone is staring me in the face, it's like I feel vulnerable as shit. But I feel like it really needs to be discussed just the same as Steve, right?
brought this up before, but in the case of me, I have a really interesting or different position because I sat there and I guess you could say I chronicled almost the entire friggin time and
That's kind of what I wanted to bring up and it's all related to alcohol. And that was why I originally reached out and wanted to bring this up. Like we had this great start to everything. Now I already feel like it's just like, here we go. End of the podcast. But...
Justin (11:59.572)
Yeah, there's there's not an easy way to put it. nobody has ever really seen me sober. Like unless you watch the very first videos almost 11 years ago of TFS, nobody has ever really seen me sober. And the whole idea of the whole car, I mean, just drinking in general, there's there's a lot that goes a lot of thought that goes into it, I guess you could say.
But there's a lot of things that people don't realize about drinking. And it's in my situation, it's a little bit different than everything that I've ever heard anybody else talk about. And of course I was always like, you well, that's not me or whatever. So it's when I started like chronicling all of this, know, or, you know, either taking notes or actually have like my own secret folder of all the times where I had a little bit too much and I was walking home, I put the camera in my face and try talking to it.
I look back on it now and I realized where I was at at that point. I realized why I was there. I understand how I got there. And most importantly, I knew that there was absolutely nothing to stop me from doing it again the very, very next day. And that's kind of some of the stuff that I wanted to bring up because I accidentally let it slip that I recently quit drinking on a story, just a little story on my Instagram and
I got really excited because I'm renovating my shop right now. And I said, I've gotten a hell of a lot more done since I quit drinking. And just that one line alone, I got flooded with, you know, everything from extreme amounts of support from people around, you know, they're close to me that knew that I drank a lot. And people that were asking me how I stopped. That was a massive one. I did not expect.
you know, any of the support or anybody to even notice it, but more importantly, the people that asked how. And for me to bring this up and even let people know that the guy that they've been dealing with for, you know, a decade has never really been sober. That's like, that's like a career sushi slide, if you will, because I don't know if you can say suicide. It's a career sushi slide to let everybody know that the guy that they thought they knew was not the guy that they knew. And I
Justin (14:24.302)
Kind of wanted to come on here and try to discuss some of that stuff just to see if I can reach a few more people and maybe help them out in case they're in one of those interesting situations or like anybody else or not like anybody else, but maybe just try and help a little bit if I can.
Jason Becker (14:40.775)
No, I think it will. Cause we had, when I had Mike Myers on his, his story kind of resonated with a lot of people and there's, think there's a lot more people in that situation than we realize. Like, like you told me before we got on here and you just said it a minute ago, like you've never seen me sober. And I, that kind of hit me like a ton of bricks. Cause I mean, we've hung out a lot, you know, at fab tech and you know, other events and stuff like that, you know, we've chatted on the podcast. I've, I've watched a lot of your videos on YouTube.
Justin (14:59.182)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Becker (15:10.823)
That kind of hit me sideways. was like, holy shit. So I mean, you can mask it pretty well, but I think there's a lot of people that are dealing with that. And it may not be alcohol, maybe it's other substances, but they kind of realize that they've got those demons and they don't know how to get rid of them. And they don't know how to come out and talk about it or like who to talk to or how to stop.
Justin (15:30.798)
See, I never really hit it. I didn't. Well, what it did was it hit the real me. The real me is extremely energetic. I'm ADD as fuck, so my brain will go 6,000 different directions. I smile a lot more, and I'm a bit of a goofball. Now, I'm still extremely knowledgeable in what I do, but the guy on TFS, if you will, was the extremely polished
What's a good way to put it? Very well rehearsed in everything that I did, very, very serious about everything. And in person, that character often resonated. That was how I presented myself. And I mean, we can define sobriety, if you will, right? For one, I'm not a liquor guy. I just drink a lot of beer, a whole lot of beer, right?
I was blessed, I guess you could say, with a very high tolerance to begin with, but when it comes to drinking in general, I've always just been able to put down a whole hell of a lot and still keep my wits about me and whatever. And when I did have a few too many or I was considered very drunk or whatever, it's like I don't have blackouts, I don't have violent episodes, don't... Any of that. Well, actually, well, if I have like a margarita or two, something about tequila, I'd wake up and take a piss in the dryer or something.
Jason Becker (16:58.473)
Tequila's the devil. I've been there.
Justin (16:58.54)
You know, it's just one of those things, you know, it is. Yeah. But, know, I'm not I'm not a liquor guy at all. I just love beer and I drink a lot of beer, a whole lot of beer. But the point of sobriety, not to say that I was drunk every single place that I went or anything else like that, it's that I never stopped drinking enough to know the difference between having a very clear mind and and I said like, what's the word I'm looking for?
like detoxed. So the problem is, is I didn't know it. And you can, you know, I've met a lot of people that, you know, they had to hit some drastic thing in their life or whatever, to finally say, okay, that's enough. I'm not, I'm not going to drink anymore. I never did. I don't, I still, I still haven't hit anything, you know, never got a DUI. You know, I was always safe. So I feel like if I have, I know I have way too much.
you know, or if I am like stumbling or whatever and slurring my speech all the time, I get it right. You know, things like that. was just, I was always very responsible about it. But, you know, there was nothing that, there was no brick wall I had to hit or anything else like that, just to suddenly say, okay, well, gotta stop now. You know, it was, geez, I've already lost my train of thought. I think I'm trying to get too much stuff out at once.
But the point is the level of sobriety to say that I am 100 % clear in thought process, in action, in everything that I do, I haven't had that in probably almost 10 years now. Well, I'm going on to my 11th year of TFS. that's the most difficult part is to say that
Nobody's ever really seen me like completely clear-headed. So like every single day I would be out drinking. I would, you know, just lot of beer, a lot of beer. I can usually kill 12 to 14 in a night, just like that. So it would be no big deal, you know, but that's, yeah.
Jason Becker (19:14.494)
When did you start?
Justin (19:17.998)
Probably when I started getting notoriety on YouTube. That would probably be it. That was a shit situation. Because I think the biggest, well, were on YouTube when it was like the prime of everything. And before that, you were still kind of in that era where teaching and being serious on YouTube, you basically had two types. You had somebody who was showing you something.
Jason Becker (19:34.601)
Mm.
Justin (19:48.012)
Like that was back in the days where it was like, yeah, here's, you fix your washing machine. That's what you would go on a YouTube board. So there was the education side of it. And then there was the, the, the vlog side, the goofing around, the BS, the pranks and know, stuff like that. There was all of that shit. And then there was the education side. So you're, you were there for, know, one or two reasons that was it, or you could watch some clips of movies that, or illegally uploaded movies or whatever that, you know, that was, that was about all there was on there. So when I first got started,
Jason Becker (20:03.433)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Becker (20:12.509)
Hmm
Justin (20:16.141)
in that era in 2015 on YouTube, that's when it was like, that was the serious, that was the serious time. That was when if you were gonna get on there and teach anybody anything, you had to be super serious. You had to be, you know, knowledgeable. You had to have exceptional presentation and everything else like that. Once I started getting, being known for that, or that's how I was known, I started drinking. And it was to keep me from flying off the rails, if you will.
and to not be considered one of those goofball types of people because naturally that's my personality. Like I'm very animated and everything else like that. But then I was like super serious. That's the way you had to be. That's the way you had to present. And it was like, okay, so to keep this going, I think I'll just have to unwind at the end of the night, drink a few beers or whatever. And I didn't drink like every single night then, but it was just like, it would start to be more more common. And I remember a couple of times, some of my
you know, I would write an idea for an episode. I've always been very scripted in what I do and, you know, very well researched so that way I could have some sort of script and presentation of everything. So I would go out and it was just like, you know, at the end of the day, this is what we do. We go sit down at a bar somewhere. I got my laptop out or whatever. And, or I just scratched some notes down, write up an episode.
that episode just like, you know, get some million views and, overnight or whatever. It's like, that was the greatest idea I ever had. And I was drunk. So it's like, if I was drunk, I'd get 30 grand, you know, just because it was like, it was a great idea and it worked. And it's like, you put all these pieces together and then you realize you just keep on doing it. But the problem is, is a lot of people, mean, aside from, you know, there's, there's the stigma, the industry stigma, a lot of people talk about it all the time. It's like, you know, you're
you're expected to drink because you are in this type of industry, you know, and in my case, I was a mechanic. I was a U S Navy sailor and a, you know, welder fabricator, which I'm not really a welder. never really have been, but the internet thinks I'm a welder. So to keep that thing going, I drank some more, but
Jason Becker (22:17.245)
And.
Justin (22:33.748)
In all of those industries that I have worked in, it's always been you have to drink. That's part of the things. You drink, you drink, you drink. it's normalized, if you will. It's sensationalized, even in some cases. People are glorified.
Jason Becker (22:43.877)
It's glorified. Like, I mean, K KWI did a whole post on like the Monday morning after football when the students were coming in and they were breathalyzing all the students before as they were coming into the building and they caught a lot of shit for it because welder, you know, a lot of people are like, if you're not showing up to work on Monday drunk, are you really a welder? It's like, yeah, you can show up to work Monday sober and still be a welder. I hate to break it to you. You don't have to be drunk. You don't have to be high to do the job.
And I think it's just, it's been a stigma. It's been glorified. Same thing in the military. You know, you go into the military and like it's, it's a badge of honor. If you're the last one standing at the end of the night, you know, and everybody else's piss drunk land and you know, vomit and covered and all that stuff. And you're the last one standing and it's, it's a pride thing.
Justin (23:27.446)
I was really good at that, I was also the guy who was always giving everybody a ride home or dragging their ass across the quarter deck just to throw them back in their rack.
Jason Becker (23:35.591)
Yep. I fireman carried a lot of people in my day. Come on. We're done here. Let's go.
Justin (23:40.798)
Yep. Yeah, it's, you know, that, like I said, that that stigma or that glorification of it, that, you know, that's like they say, that's part of it. But again, you're absolutely right. There's no reason why there's nothing that says you have to do that. But a lot of people think that that's what you do. So it's like when you get immersed into all of that, that's how some people get led down that path. In my case, it was like, I'm not going to blame it, I guess you could say on fame or anything. But once I started getting a lot more known, I had to start
finding ways to keep that guy that everybody knew visible. And that guy is not me. Well, I mean, if I want to be serious about something, yeah, that guy's totally me. So I, you know, of course, and along with that comes, you know, a lot of money or whatever, you know, you start making a bunch of videos, you start getting, you know, more than some pocket change, you know, and you start building everything up. And then there's just, there's absolutely nothing to stop you.
from keeping on doing it again. Like you don't go broke because you're drinking. As long as you keep on doing this thing, you have this constant flow of money. I have some great friends, really supportive ones, those who do and those who don't drink. I can't name drop anybody, but I've had in my journey back to finally actually being sober, if you will, I've had a lot of...
fantastic support from a lot of people. Industry-wise and then, you know, not really in the welding industry or whatever, you know, but all over the place that have, you know, tried to help and they've been really great. They know who they are at least. but yeah, at the end of it, it's what ultimately led me to just keep on going is that there was nothing to stop me and I had to maintain that character. Like that's not going to be everybody's situation, but
It's another one of those things where when you do it, I think the biggest thing for me was not realizing what it was doing to me. So I would never show up to work drunk. I would never get drunk at work. I don't even like being drunk. Like I'll get to that point where you're like, you you're having a good time and it's like, you'll, say some dumb shit or you'll start slurring up a little bit, but getting drunk, like to where I have no motor skills or I can't move. I hate that.
Jason Becker (26:07.305)
Hmm.
Justin (26:07.534)
I absolutely hate that. So I would never really get to that point. You know, but obviously if I'm a little tipsy or whatever, it's like, yeah, that's kind of fun. And then I call for a ride, you know, call an Uber or whatever, call my wife, come pick me up or whatever. realizing what that does to you in the end, that's the part that a lot of people miss. And that's kind of where I was hoping to go with some of that conversation other than just saying, whoa, it was me. I got famous on the internet and it led me to drink.
Jason Becker (26:38.835)
Did that was was it affecting how was it affecting your life?
Justin (26:45.526)
What really ultimately happens, like, my problem was not that I needed it. My problem was that it just became habit. It became routine. Again, because there was nothing really to stop me. That's kind of like a dangerous curve in itself, like, because you just start to plan for it. I'm a man of habit. I'm a man of scheduling my life. I'm a, you know, I do a lot of things and it's all very strictly followed, if you will.
Jason Becker (27:09.609)
Well, you got ADD. mean, it's routines are like awesome when you've got ADD. I'm big fan of big fan of routine myself.
Justin (27:12.846)
Yeah, yeah. They're very helpful. Yeah, I love my calendars, I love my time slots, I love my, this is what I do. And every single day, once work was done, I go and I drink. Usually at the bar, which makes it very, very expensive. But you know, there I could like, okay, if I want to watch a hockey game, I'll watch a hockey game. If I want to get a plate of food, you know.
The bars here in Vegas, all compete for like best bar food in Vegas and you know, whatever. So it's like, I can always shut myself down when I would go out after work. And that's just the end of the day for me. But you do that so much. And you drink every single day, whether it's just beer or you know, whatever you got, know, liver killers and all kinds of other stuff. mean, whatever, whatever your, your vice is, your, your, your drink of choice. Slowly over the course of time.
You realize how it starts affecting your brain and you start making some really stupid decisions and then you start bringing people into your world that should not have been there to begin with. Like if you were of clear mind and sound mind and sober, you would never have brought them around. Like you find yourself making excuses to bring somebody in who likes to drink as well. Or, you know,
In my case, I mean at one point like nothing against the guy at all. He was great This town just kind of ate him up and spit him out. Unfortunately, but I at one point hired my bartender to come work for me and he ran One of the divisions of one of the companies that I have and he did great. He was amazing. All right Dude was just on it all day long He could always get some stuff done or whatever the case is but that man knew how to drink and he knew how to pour a drink and serve a drink and
Nobody in their right mind would hire their bartender and come run one of their companies unless they were also kind of dumb at the same time. But I was like, wait a minute, this guy's great with customer service. He's very organized. He's got management experience, the whole works and whatnot. So why would you do that? Why would you think, okay, let's go to the bartender? But when you're not of that sound mind, when I'm like in that foggy haze or whatever of constantly going out in the alcohols, long-term effects or longer term than the high you get from it,
Justin (29:35.298)
you know, that nobody would sit there and say, that's a great idea. Hire your bartender. And then after work you can go, yeah. And then after work you can go drink together or whatever. It's like, it just becomes this excuse, you know? Or, you know, I've had, how do I do this without, well, I hired some people that I shouldn't have hired, just regular, you know, employees, labor, whatever the case is. But I consider myself to be pretty nice, if you will.
Jason Becker (29:42.099)
Come run your shop.
Justin (30:05.102)
You know, so when somebody screws up or somebody makes a mistake You're like, okay Well, you got your disciplinary actions your talks whatever it is that you're gonna do But how many times are you gonna let them keep on breaking something screwing up every single job costing you money, etc? Before you realize and you need to get your ass out of here You need to you know, put foot to ass and kick them out and go find somebody else. But for some reason in my head I Pretty sure it was the alcohol
just didn't have me do it. So we had an audit where we went through one of the things that we went through and there was one employee alone cost me over 80 grand in one year.
Jason Becker (30:43.187)
Jeez.
Justin (30:44.67)
And I should have, I should have tossed him way before it got to that point, but I didn't. And it's just like something in my head wasn't, you know, was, was told me not to do it or didn't pay attention to it or something else. don't, I don't know exactly what it is, but at the time I never realized that was happening. I didn't realize that I wasn't upset. thought I was on top of her in control of everything. You know, I had all of my staff, everybody underneath me.
You know, they bring up, know, the classic saying, shit rolls downhill, right? So whatever needed to go uphill went to me, whatever didn't, you know, it all went downhill. So there was a lot of stuff that I wasn't paying attention to. There's a lot of stuff that I didn't really care about. All I knew was the, well, the day is done. And the next thing on my schedule is I go to the bar and I go drink. And that's, it's those, like I said, it's those little things that, you know, I had a guy work for me for years, screwed up every single job I ever gave him.
Jason Becker (31:16.617)
Mm.
Justin (31:43.522)
Like almost everything got messed up. Either I had to redo it or whatever. I just, was, I'm not going to say I was too drunk to do anything about it, but I certainly wasn't completely free and clear of sound mind. It's like I said, the lingering effects of it. If you're drinking every single frigging day, you don't realize what sober actually is, what that detox sobriety is. And as of recent, was,
You know, was off teaching a class or whatever and, you know, normally I would go out and I'd find a place to go have some drinks close to the hotel or wherever I'm at. Anytime that I go anywhere, like any of the Fab Techs, any of that stuff, I'd always find something of like, there has to be a bar close to where I'm at. So that way I can go out, eat, drink, whatever I need to do. And I decided not that night, I was like, well, I don't want to do that. So I went and I basically went into my hotel room, didn't have a single drink, you know, ate some Taco Bell and went to bed. It was pretty terrible. I couldn't sleep, but.
The next day came along and I was like, well, I should probably go find a place. I know there was that place over there or whatever. And then like it snowed and I was like, well, don't want to deal with walking back in this screw that I just go out, grab some Taco Bell, lock myself in my room. Four days later, I get back to Vegas and I realized I didn't really pay much attention to it. I was like, well, I haven't had anything to drink at all. I haven't had a single frigging drink. It's like my, energy level is up. I feel like I'm a lot more clear. Like I can.
Jason Becker (32:44.233)
Mm.
Justin (33:12.234)
Like, well, here's what I got to do today, whatever. But as soon as I got back here to Vegas, I was like, well, that's kind of cool. I haven't four days without a drink. I'm going to go have a beer after work. And literally it was like the first beer went down. Cool. No problem. The second beer, like I was just sitting there watching some YouTube, little corner of the bar drinking a beer and I could feel it like almost like it was like this numbness. I could literally feel like this numbing feeling.
about halfway through the second beer that's like coursing through my veins. I swear, it's like you could just, suddenly I am slowly sinking into the chair and I'm just going like, just down like this. And I'm like, what the fuck is that? Like that's crazy. Like I've never felt that. But that's where I realized I was never sober. Like to feel the difference between that point where...
the alcohol actually does kick in. I mean, I can still remember before where I'd have a few drinks or I'd go out with some friends and you know, before I really drank a lot, you know, you have one or two or whatever, or you have a strong cocktail or something like that. All of sudden it's like, you're like, there you go. that's crazy. I missed that almost 10 years. When you, when that point doesn't hit anymore, that's when you realize you got an issue. That's when you, when I've realized that those four days that I went and
Jason Becker (34:21.052)
Yeah.
Justin (34:36.246)
I realized that I never had that in forever. That feeling where it was like all of a sudden it started to kick in or you know you've had too much or you realize it or whatever. I never realized it. And it was that night when I went out and I had that, you know, those couple of beers. I was like, you know what, screw this, I'm going home. Because I guess I'm feeling it just slowly just like bringing me down, if you will, that feeling. And then I realized that I'd never had that feeling or I haven't had that feeling in almost a decade. Then I knew it was like, okay, yeah, it's time to quit.
you gotta stop. There's like, can't, you can't just keep on doing this, you know? So that's, for me, that was like the breaking point, I guess you could say. But a lot of people, like I mentioned, me included, myself included, I never realized that was happening. I didn't know. I just kept on going. And again, there was nothing to stop me. There was no financial situation to stop me. There was no, well, thankfully there was no, you know, DUI. There was no...
tragic situation or anything else like that that there have been in several people's lives when they finally hit a wall and say, shit, I gotta stop. that's your wake up call or whatever. I never had that. I have a very supportive wife. She knows that I was out and that's what I was doing, but she wouldn't sit there and nag at me all day long, I guess you could say. She would make it very obvious like, yo, you should probably come home tonight, maybe a little bit earlier or anything else like that.
but still supportive of me to let me kind of do my thing and go through it. And I had tried to stop for probably about four years where I'd really attempted to feel like, okay, I gotta stop drinking, but I just couldn't do it. Cause then that habit, that routine, that everything. And of course that lingering, if I'm gonna keep going on YouTube, I still gotta be that guy. I still gotta be that guy that everybody knows. That's such a hard thing to do.
Jason Becker (36:28.477)
Yeah.
Jason Becker (36:33.293)
Was it ever creating issues at home or work or anything like that or was it part of a routine and that's kind just what you did?
Justin (36:41.186)
That was just what I did, but that also, looking back on it, you know, that's like, there was, there was never a problem at home. Like I said, I'm not violent or anything. You know, I don't get that way. It was just that I, there's a lot of times where I would sit there and say, well, I'd rather be here because again, that's my habit. It's like, it's like, we can go do this. And I'd be like, well, I don't want to, I want to sit here and I want to do this. I want to drink. I want to, I want to do what I, what I do here.
You know, it's like it's not in the schedule. But if we wrote in the schedule or something like that, then I would be like, okay, well, I'm not going to drink at the bar tonight. I'm going to drink at that restaurant that we're going to tonight. And then when I get home, I'll grab some beers and I'll drink at home, which I rarely ever drink at home to begin with. Like when we have parties or something like that, you know, I would, you know, there'd be alcohol everywhere. I got a small bar at my house, got a little beer fridge. got this, you know, I got a really nice place.
all that stuff on it. It's cool to show it off, this expensive wines for my wife and all that stuff. you know, that that's like your normal. That's what you that's what you have there, you know, at parties and stuff like that. But I don't go home and just start drinking. Like I didn't want I don't want where I didn't want my kids to just know that that's what that's what I do. You know, I want them to think that that's that's the
that as soon as you get home, that's what you do. then, you know, again, you don't realize it. I'm kind of stupid, you know, in that regard, like, okay, well, instead of going home and drinking every day, you just go to the bar and you stay there until nighttime. Like, so maybe that's what they think that I do now, or that's what you're supposed to do. It's like, yeah, you never think about that stuff, you know? But no, there were never any problems or anything at home, no issues like that. Just, I always had full support. was just like, you know, this is what...
This is what my husband does. This is what dad does. This is what, this is, he's just not here. After work, that's where he goes. And like I said, he's just, you don't realize that it's actually happening when it's going on.
Jason Becker (38:44.103)
I mean, you're just completely numb to it. It's just part of the day. Yeah, it's part of the day. And you don't feel it creeping in on you either. Just because that becomes your new sense of normal.
Justin (38:46.572)
Yeah, numb is really the best word. that's, yeah, that is the day.
Justin (38:58.636)
Mm-hmm. And it does and it completely it completely friggin takes you over in that way You don't you just don't realize that it's happening when it's happening I know a lot of people that have been in worse situations and then I have as you know as far as their drinking habits and everything else like that are concerned and You know, I'd sit there and I'd look at it and be like wow, that's you know, that's jeez. That's crazy Don't know how you got there. I'm not gonna be that way
And then suddenly here I am, I'm like going down this path and I'm, know, all these things are happening and stuff. And it's just like, you just don't know it when it's going on. And it's like, I don't know.
Jason Becker (39:37.581)
Like, what was the point? I mean, other than that, when you went out and had Taco Bell and you didn't drink for four days, did you think you had a problem at any point prior to that and say, know, maybe this is not normal. Maybe I should like cut back or like maybe just quit all the... Maybe I should just go on like, you know, like a 30 day challenge or a cleanse or something like that just see if I can abstain for a couple of weeks.
Justin (40:01.004)
Yeah, there was a handful of times where that did happen.
Justin (40:07.054)
I can remember about four years ago, it probably about where I started to find a way to stop drinking. That's where I realized it was actually starting to hit, where I didn't really have the control over it. But at the same time, I talked myself out of it, or I talked myself into going out again. I'm like, well, you know, like, what is that old adage? Like, you know, procrastination meeting has been postponed. So.
Jason Becker (40:27.869)
That's it.
Justin (40:31.852)
That's what would happen. was like, well, tomorrow I'll figure it out. Tomorrow I'm going to focus in on tomorrow. I'll try not to go out. And there were, there would be days where, you know, I would buckle down and I would say, okay, well, tomorrow I'm not going out. I'm going to not drink a single thing. I'm going to go home and I'm going to find something else to keep my brain occupied. And really what it, what it ultimately did for me, what drinking in general does for me, just because of that personality, that ADD stuff is it does slow my brain down because without it, I am a billion miles an hour.
Jason Becker (40:33.651)
you
Justin (41:01.746)
And, you know, at nighttime, even right now, you know, even in the sober stages of my life now, I still can't sleep. I've talked to some friends that, you know, recovered alcoholics, whatever you want to call them. And they said, yeah, that's, that's probably never going to go away. It was that you probably never be able to sleep. You know, I get very restless. I got to constantly get up and move around and do something. But the alcohol was able to literally just shut my brain off to where I could just turn it off, go to sleep, wake up.
you know, blow a few too many farts in the middle of the night, but you know, whatever, it's what happens when you drink a bunch of beer, you know, but that was the only only offset to it, you know, and that that's what I would pretty much tell myself like, Okay, well, if I go a night or two without having anything, that's fine, but I'm gonna have to have something else after that, I've got to go to sleep, I've got to be able to, you know, I got so much work I got to do tomorrow.
I gotta be on camera tomorrow. I gotta get myself back into that character again. Any of those things. So any time that I would try, I ultimately would just fail because I'd talk myself back into going out again. It wasn't really a need or a want. I never really had cravings, but it's the routine. I wouldn't sit there, I wouldn't go.
I wouldn't be at work or at the shop or whatever and it'd be like, well it's three o'clock. You know, I still got three hours to go. Just get me these three hours. I got to have a beer. I was never that guy. not that, I don't have that issue. You know, I don't crave alcohol. never, never really have. It's just, I guess it's that, that, that knowing that at the end of the day, this is, this is my routine. This is my schedule. And ultimately this is the result. You know, I can, I can relax. I can go to sleep.
turn around and do it again. What really hit me about four years ago or so is that I just realized that nobody in my, nobody around me is doing this. Nobody that I looked up to, nobody that, you know, I work with or, anything was this way. Nobody did this, you know, people that I aspire to be or, you know,
Justin (43:25.036)
the goals that I have in my life or whatever, they none of them, anybody who has ever been successful that I've ever talked to or anything like that, they don't drink. They don't do what I did or what I was doing at the time. They just didn't. And it's like that started to hit me. was like, that's when it's like you start realizing that you're, really not making the smartest decisions here. You're not really doing a great thing by, by letting yourself continue down this path or whatever. It's like,
I'd sit there and I'd look at, you know, that was the dumbest thing. You get into, sorry, ADD. I started getting into watching reels and that's an addiction right there. Like when you're watching like Instagram reels, dude, they need to ban that shit. That was harder to stop doing. It was harder to stop doom scrolling than it was to stop drinking.
Jason Becker (44:07.326)
Yep.
Jason Becker (44:13.801)
I'm virtually convinced that they've got psychologists working on staff at Metta to figure out the best way to like, cause I'll, I'll pop onto Instagram just to do something. And like, I'm, I'm bad with it. And I know that I'm bad with it, especially with like my ADD. It's like, squirrel, squirrel, squirrel. And that's the perfect, because they're all eight to 22nd videos or whatever. So it's like, boom, boom, dopamine, dopamine. I'll go on to post something just because it's like, Hey, I've got a new episode out.
Justin (44:28.097)
Yeah.
Justin (44:32.142)
I'm
Justin (44:38.222)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Becker (44:42.441)
And now what they've done is when you post something, don't know if it, tell me if this happens to you. Well, no, it takes forever to fucking load. And if you close the app, it takes twice as long. So if you leave the app open, everything uploads a lot faster, but it's still slow, even on like good wifi. And that gives you time to just watch the first video and then the second video and then the third. And the next thing you know, your video has been posted for 20 minutes and you've been scrolling.
Justin (44:46.658)
Yeah, it starts playing. Somebody else's stuff while yours is uploading.
Justin (44:55.374)
Mm-hmm.
Justin (45:08.91)
Yeah, yeah that stuff is evil.
Jason Becker (45:12.457)
I've started I get in there I open it and then I'll just I'll post but whatever I got and I'll flip the phone upside down I'll come back check on it five minutes cool. It's loaded. Just lock the phone right then
Justin (45:21.55)
Yeah, I've had to learn how to stop watching friggin reels. But in that, obviously the algo knows more about you than you know about yourself. it would, it would toss those, you know, whatever you engage within, you know, I've watched everything for, you know, Instagram is horrible. I'm just gonna tangent on this one. First, it's like the most racist stuff you've ever seen. And you're like, why the hell am I watching this shit?
Jason Becker (45:34.057)
Mm-hmm.
Justin (45:45.292)
Then it's, you're the biggest piece of shit human that ever existed. Then you have some inspiring stuff come up on your feet and you're like, well, that's not so bad. I feel better about watching this stuff. And then, you know, it just cycles back. Again, well, then it's got to circle through some politics and you're just like, God damn it. Why I don't do this shit. I don't really care about it. You just keep on scrolling or you shut it off, right? And then you'll find yourself back on it again. You start scrolling and it resets again. It's like, here's the racist. Here's the piece. Here's the Europe piece of shit. Here's the, feel better.
Here's something that you don't have any interest in, shut it down, here it goes again. It's like, and everybody's, yeah, and it's so terrible. But I would get into like doom scrolling some of that stuff while I was drinking. And you'd see those fake ass influencer people, they're just like, know, oh yeah, here's what it's like to be rich, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then you'd see somebody like really successful and they're just doing like this little, you know, 30 second bio about, you know, this person or whatever. it's, you know, as strange as it sounds, I'm like,
Jason Becker (46:21.277)
rinse and repeat.
Justin (46:45.09)
they don't look like the type of person to drink. If they're that successful, they're probably not drinking.
Maybe I ought to consider that. Even though, you know, it might be a bullshit piece on, you know, scrolling through reels, but you realize that I'm like, wait a minute, if these people are all that successful, you know, like the stories like, wake up at five o'clock every morning, take a cold shower, all this other shit. None of them said that they went off to go drink a beer. It's like, you know, I'd sit there and think about these are just the weird things or weird directions my mind would go. But that's like, you know, it's about roughly four years ago or so. That's where I started.
And I started reaching out to some friends that I knew would be helpful and I'd call them, you know, I talked to them and I'm like, how do you, how did you stop? How do you get past this point? Of course they had their, you know, their, their advice or whatever. It was, it's helpful. It's always helpful to hear, you know, I always sat there and told myself, I was like, well, that's not my situation. Yeah. Thanks. But yeah, that's not me. You know, you just, you end up.
You just have to get to a point where you just gotta stop. Like there's nothing, there's nothing that you could have told me that would make me stop. There's nothing that you could say. There's no fear you could instill into me. There's no person you could have put above me to sit there and say, yeah, I'm gonna be exactly like them and that's gonna cause me to not drink anymore. There's nothing you could do. I was gonna do it if I was gonna do it. And it literally, it just,
took me wanting to stop. took four years for me to ultimately do it. I battled with it. That was always very silent or whatever. Nobody really around me knew the frustration. My wife did. I talked to her about it or whatever. I come home and I was like, went out and I didn't want to go out. I knew I didn't want to go out, but I went out anyway. There was this force, if you will. It was just like, I got it. Because that's my routine. I have to go do this. It becomes the habit.
Justin (48:50.542)
And they could show me how much I was spending. I don't know if I really want to say how much, but I spent people's the equivalent of some people's salaries every single year going out. It was because I went out. I'd average roughly 100 bucks a day for years.
Jason Becker (49:07.593)
I was going to say it.
Jason Becker (49:14.217)
It's gotta be pretty exorbitant drinking, you know, 12, 14 beers a night in Vegas.
Justin (49:19.266)
Yeah. Well, mean, there's ways around it, good sir. You hit happy hour at the right time, you get in good with the bartender, have him ring you up before happy hour's over. Yeah. God, you know, I'm not the most social person or whatever when I drink. mean, that's where it gets like really awkward too. Like, I guess you could say funny story. There's a lot of people that would recognize me from YouTube.
Jason Becker (49:20.593)
And then food on top of it and all that.
Jason Becker (49:31.721)
I'll take 12 now. Just give them to me slowly.
Justin (49:48.834)
You know, they're people in the industry. They come into the bar, whatever the case is, and I don't go up to the bar. I don't sit at the rail of the bar, know, because they all have like slot machines and video poker and stuff like that. That's what's in our bars here, right? So any vacant seat is, you know, reserved for people that don't want to gamble. But any seat at the bar that has a machine in it that's reserved for people to gamble and I don't gamble, right? That's just like pointless. So yeah, I always just sit.
Jason Becker (50:02.899)
Mm.
Jason Becker (50:15.507)
Good move.
Justin (50:18.314)
in the corner. Like I have my little isolated space, no matter which bar I was in, you know, because there's tons of them around my house. So I just got my little isolated space and I'd sit there and put my headphones in, watch my phone. And occasionally somebody would come around and be like, yo, Justin, love your videos, all this other shit. And I got like, you know, beer in my hand or whatever. And I'm like, yeah, thanks, man. That's, that's kind of cool. But you know, they'd come back and they'd see me again. And then all they saw was this guy that they knew from the internet hiding in a corner, just sitting there.
tuned out to the world drinking beers and watching the video. And I'm sure that they talked to the bartender and be like, well, how often is he here? What does he drink? What is this like then? And I'm sure that the bartender said, well, yeah, he just, just goes and goes and goes. You know, and it's funny, even for a while there, there was, there was like this, this reputation, I guess you could say we all had. Me more so than anybody else because most, you know, like you get together for a show or
You know, people from the industry, again, I can't name drop anybody, but different companies, different, you know, like, like say like a fab tech get together, you know, everybody's going to go out and have drinks and stuff like that. There was this, I don't know. I guess you could say we had a legacy, me and, you know, the crew that I brought or whatever that a lot of people ultimately learned. said, don't ever go drink with the guys from TFS. And it was, cause a lot of people tried and then.
If they come to Vegas, I take them to one of my local bars where I know the bartender or whatever the case is. The bartender has never asked if I want another one. They just bring one and they just, you know, as soon as I'm done, they know there's this much left in the bottle. They'll just bring another one, bring another one, bring another one. And I just keep going until I tell them to stop. So I'll either get a check with a whole lot of money or they were nice and rang me in a bunch of unhappy hour. But if I bring a friend there or whatever the case is, the friend is just sitting there trying to keep up. It's just like, you know.
the bartender is like, well, they're with Justin. So we'll just, we're not going to ask. We're just going to go, go, go, go, go. And they just keep on feeding the beers. That's what like this whole reputation, this legacy or whatever is like, don't ever go drink with the guys at TFS. So once that started circulating around with people, you know, in all the shows and everything else like that, then I realized I had people try to like, you know, jump up and, I don't know, like try to compete or try to keep up or catch me or whatever. You know, was like a couple of times I went out.
Justin (52:41.358)
That was actually, I can't talk about it without name dropping or anything like that, but there was another time, I don't want to get anybody in trouble or anything, but there was another time where a buddy of mine was in town for a show or whatever the case is. And he's always, we've always gone out and drank or whatever the case is every time we get together. And we ended up trying to find an open bar at like six o'clock in the morning, because we just kept on going.
So, and normally bars are 24 hours, but if you go into certain places around here, they're not. And it was literally like six or 6.30 in the morning. We had literally gone from bar to bar to bar to bar to bar and he could hang. But neither one of us realized at the end of the day, it's like, oh wow, shit, it's like six o'clock. I gotta be to work and shop opens in a couple hours. So yeah, talk, gotta go. So there would be those people that would eventually start coming around and wanting to like,
Jason Becker (53:32.317)
Damn, yeah.
That's
Justin (53:40.248)
take a jab or take a shot at the title. guess you could say like there was something to achieve or something to earn or whatever. But I realized in those years, that was before I really considered I had to stop. But I realized in those years, it was like those are the people that I'm really starting to invite into my world or into my space. I would try to make friends with people that would drink just so that way I had a reason.
had an excuse that was different than my, it's just what I do at the end of the day. It's like, well, so and so, you know, we're gonna go out and have some drinks. I find myself wanting to invite people over or just give somebody a random call be like, yeah, well, I know you drink you want to go get some drinks, you know, I'll buy it, whatever, you know, it's like you find yourself wanting to do that more. And it just, you just don't realize that it's actually happening.
It's like until you have the moment to actually stop and take a look back on it and say, oh wow, why the hell did I do that? You don't know it at the time. And like I said, I tried to chronicle a lot of that stuff while I was doing it. I have years worth of just, you know, folder full of footage that people will probably never see. Where I'd sit there and tell myself, like if I was too messed up to, like obviously if I'm too messed up to drive, I'm not gonna go drive. You know, I'd walk home. I'd always, you know, I always find a place that's within.
the walking distance of my place. I'm too messed up to walk, I'd call my wife or call an Uber or something like that. I would do a lot of walking. And while I'm walking, I'd pull the camera up on my way home and start talking to it just so I could have a memory of where I was at at that point in time. And I got years worth of that footage of just talking to myself, not intending to give it to any or show anybody else all that stuff, but just talking to myself that, you know, this is where you're at right now.
This is where your head is. This is what you're thinking. And this is what you look like. And if I watched that like the next day or like a week later or something like that, I would realize like over and over as I watched them, I'm like, God, I'm just, I look like an idiot. Like this is just foolish, but I still couldn't figure out how to stop. It just, it ultimately just took like one day where I was just like, you know what? I guess I won't anymore. And then when I got one day, I got two.
Jason Becker (55:58.909)
Did you?
Justin (56:00.91)
and got two, I got four, and then I got weeks.
Jason Becker (56:04.179)
Did you ever want to stop while you were drinking? Like, I mean, like in the moment while you're drunk, walking home, like, I got to put an end to this. This isn't good.
Justin (56:07.288)
Yes.
Justin (56:13.75)
A couple of those close friends, actually a few of them, I'd be having a really bad day. It was just really rough or whatever and there was nothing to really separate my brain or take my brain away from anything so the alcohol consumed me a little bit faster. Or it starts to hit a little bit and then I realize I'm pretty freaking messed up and I'm pissed off.
So I'd shoot a message to any of them, you awake? And most of them knew. If I was messaging them that late at night, they were like, they should probably call because they figured it was drinking related. So they'd call and thank God they sit there and just listen. They would listen. And I'd be so frustrated. I'd be sitting there being like, you know what? I gotta stop this. You gotta tell me how the fuck do I do this? How do I get out of this? do I?
get past this, there's gotta be something I'm missing, help me, get me through this. The answer at the end of the day, there isn't anything. It's just what they ultimately told me is, thing they tell everybody else, like you just gotta find that point where you're gonna stop. And yeah, I'd be pretty upset, verge of tears, whatever, just how do I get out of this shit? How do I stop this? Sometimes that would happen.
That's a shitty spot to be in because all you can really do is drink more. Hoping that it'll just disappear, go away, whatever. But it doesn't.
Jason Becker (57:52.157)
many how far are you into it like having having quit.
Justin (57:57.006)
four weeks yesterday. Yeah, I wish I would have had a bigger number, it's, you know.
Jason Becker (57:58.899)
Congratulations,
Jason Becker (58:05.293)
You got to fucking start somewhere. I mean, eventually it's going to be a bigger number. But mean, hell, even, even one day is like something worth celebrating. Not at the bar, but it's, it's worth celebrating in some way.
Justin (58:09.464)
Yeah, it will.
Justin (58:14.038)
It is. Yeah, well, a good friend of mine, you know, we've gone out and drank a whole bunch. He's really supportive or whatever. But there's, I got some friends that I've been out with, you know, we go somewhere and they don't want to drink because I'm around and I'm like, dude, drink all you want. I'm I'm just not, you know, it's I'm I'm I'm past that point. I'm I'm OK with it. Like it's you're not going to trigger me to suddenly be like, my God, you got to have alcohol, you know, or things that I associated with drinking.
you know, before like some of my favorite restaurants that have like my favorite beers, you know, doesn't bug me to go there. It doesn't bug me to look at it. It doesn't bug me to sit there and say, damn, I wish I could have that right now, but I won't let myself, you know, it's like I'm I've hit that point where it's like, you know what? I'm doing this and here we go. You know, I'm not going to say it's forever. It feels like it might be. But maybe one of these days I might might have a drink, but I'm not planning on it.
And if I do, I'm certainly not going down that path that I did before because now I know better. Now I know what it was like. Now I remember. And that's ultimately in all of that rambling. I hope that there's somebody that maybe hears that and will find a way to say, hey, you know what? I'm going to find that point before it's
you know, something tragically happens or before you hit rock bottom or whatever, because I didn't, I didn't hit rock bottom. I haven't lost anything. I mean, other than, you know, a bunch of money I could have put into my account or back into my company again or something. you know, it's, it's, I had, mean, like I said, there was nothing to stop me before nothing happened. It was just, I just, just stopped. And if, if it helps anybody to know, you know, it's, can happen to anybody. You know,
Like a lot of people say that it's like you don't you don't realize that it's actually happening like that's how it happens to everybody like I didn't know that I didn't know that that's how it happens because you know everybody says it can happen to anybody well the way it happens is you don't realize it's happening you just you just do it and then suddenly it becomes life there was no there was no on off switch to all of this shit there was just suddenly forgetting that there was a difference between drinking and not drinking you know you don't realize that your brain is not is not wired the same way anymore you know
Justin (01:00:36.009)
It's all of that. I mean, if there was anything that triggers it or whatever, in my case, it was definitely trying to stay that, you know, that that that guy that everybody knows, you know, or, you know, I tell a joke all the time, you know, it's called the fabrication series, because I'm a fabricator. It's not called the welding series. I'm not I'm not the welder on Instagram. I'm the fabricator, you know, because I do a lot more than welding.
Jason Becker (01:01:01.586)
Mm.
Justin (01:01:03.958)
Like yeah, internet has blessed me with everybody knowing that I teach a lot of welding and I have no problem with that for whatever reason. I guess I was trying to stay that super serious guy for whatever reason. I still don't even know why. I would much rather just been me the entire time. It's so much easier. like, know, what they say about like, you know, trying to, you know, like if you,
lie about something, now you have to remember that lie. And, you know, that's like, that's why I can't lie because I can't remember shit. Yeah, like, it's so much easier to be me. And, you know, just have people accept that and instead of trying to run from, or I'm not gonna say run from it, but to be this person that they, you know, I think everybody wants me to be.
Jason Becker (01:01:35.496)
Yeah.
Jason Becker (01:01:41.033)
It's easier just to the truth at that point.
Justin (01:02:02.094)
You know, it's like, yeah, that's like I mentioned earlier, it's like, you know, the most profitable videos I ever did, you know, where I'd get 30, 30,000 a month or something like that, you know, just all this money coming in or whatever it was because I was I wrote it at a bar. wrote a script in the bar. I wrote a skit or I wrote something that, you know, the idea of something I came up with it because my brain was like hyper focused on that one thing.
you know, and I do it and then I get lots of money. Like that was the result of it, you know, it's, geez, I lost my train of thought, but it's like, you you just,
Justin (01:02:46.402)
Lost it.
Jason Becker (01:02:46.621)
you're saying kind of like just having a solid or having a facade and doing all your writing and stuff. I mean, like, I guess that would kind of entice you to keep going back to the bar and drinking if you were like, if I was going to the bar every night and writing a script, it was going to cash me out for 30 K the next, you know, at end of the month, like I'd probably be at the bar every night. Fucking I'm going to, I'm going to drink twice as much because I want 60 K the following month.
Justin (01:02:56.696)
There we go. Yes, thank you.
Justin (01:03:07.192)
There was motivation, you could say.
Justin (01:03:12.162)
Yes, but when you do drink twice as much, you realize that your ideas become shittier. Definitely don't get received. Yeah. yeah.
Jason Becker (01:03:16.317)
Yeah. Well, they sound it's like any other idea when you're drunk. It sounds like a great idea at the time.
Justin (01:03:25.07)
And I wrote some I wrote some scripts some episodes about doing some like just crazy ass shit and when I was drunk or I was talking to somebody or I had some friends around him like oh we need to do this and like blow this shit up or whatever I'm like they're like whoa where are you gonna get the money for like 20 welders I'm like fuck it I'll just buy 20 welders I don't give a shit I got you know whatever I mean because the video is gonna pay for it have another beer yeah it just
Jason Becker (01:03:47.099)
that's a bad idea.
Justin (01:03:51.894)
And there was no point to the video. was no structure to it. It was just like, you're just basing this whole idea of this concept around this grand finale of blowing up a bunch of welders. I'm like, that's not me, though. I'd much rather donate 20 welders to people that need 20 welders or 20 students that need that to get their get their shit started or whatever the case is. So thankfully, those ideas never really came into fruition. You know, but it's things like that. You know, that's kind of where the you know, there's the motivation, I guess you could say from it.
It's like the person, my wife actually said it really well, she was like, if you consider the person that wins the lottery and doesn't have any control over it, they're just gonna spend, spend, spend, they're just gonna do what they do and all of sudden it's gone. And then what?
Jason Becker (01:04:36.141)
yeah. My bus driver growing up, he won the lottery, took a year off and he was broke. He came back. took one year off, came back. was broke by the time he came back.
Justin (01:04:39.853)
Yeah.
Justin (01:04:46.666)
wow. That's gotta be tough.
Jason Becker (01:04:48.425)
him and his wife won the lottery and they were, I was like, damn, I mean, that's like, that's kind of a big deal to, to, win the fricking lottery. And you think you got it all set and you just go out there and spend, spend, spend. And next thing you know, it's, gone and you're back driving a fricking bus for the high school.
Justin (01:05:05.39)
Yeah, I've been really lucky in how a lot of things have gone as far as the channel and, like I said, the direction of everything. I've brought it up to some people and it's always been misinterpreted. like, you're super ungrateful. The internet blessed you with a career that pays exceptionally well and all that other stuff. And I'm like, yeah, I'm grateful for that. I am super thankful for that. And I love teaching. I really do.
And even welding, I back to teaching welding again. you probably heard before, like I had this wild direction to do a virtual teaching. was called Weld Coach. It was beautiful in how it worked and it actually did work. The problem was, you know, we've been teaching welding a hundred years the same way for a hundred years. And it's, you know, student, teacher, and there you are.
Jason Becker (01:05:56.713)
Mm-hmm.
Justin (01:06:01.272)
you're right next to each other, you're one in front of the other, you know as well as I do that you're not always watching every single student as they're welding. The students don't know that. So for me to be able to put onto a digital platform just like this, how to teach something that nobody's ever been able to really do or break that idea that there's, you you don't have to be in person to learn how to weld.
You know, took me years to write that system to get everything in place, to get all of this stuff together and whatnot. and we launched it and it was mildly successful, but, there was no way to, to get into somebody's head that you don't need to have somebody physically sitting there, you know, to teach you how to you know, that they could be remote or whatever. And probably what ended up, you know, I ended up shutting it all down or whatever the case is we.
The joke around here is that that was about a $320,000 idea that went whoopsie. I built the whole thing from scratch. It took years. There wasn't a lot of support or anything else like that that went with it. And then I was pretty much in the heavy stages of trying to quit drinking.
Jason Becker (01:07:04.509)
Jeez.
Justin (01:07:20.248)
drinking even more at the same time that I just basically gave up on it. was just like, you know what? All that money's gone. Screw it. I'm going to drink. You know, it's like I did it. We made it all happen, but we couldn't sell it. And I finally just shut it off. I was just like, yeah, this is done. It's like no more. So things like that. I don't remember what the...
Jason Becker (01:07:45.193)
And that's a hell of a lesson.
Justin (01:07:48.93)
I remember what the original point of that was. Like I told you, I'm a little...
Jason Becker (01:07:52.783)
Some of your users saying some of your best ideas came when you were drinking, but then some of the not so great ideas also came.
Justin (01:07:56.404)
yeah. Weld Coach is a great idea and it became not such great idea after I lost so much. But you could say that the drinking kind of fueled it but then again at the end of day the drinking saved me from it because I just finally was like screw it. You know? I don't know. Just trying to think of prime examples of things. This is what happens when I don't have a script.
Jason Becker (01:08:20.841)
I mean, that's perfectly normal too. It's perfectly freaking normal. And especially most of the people that come on the show, we've all got the ADD. I think we all have a touch of it. And I think that's what draws everybody into welding. It's weird. Most of the people that I talk to, they've got ADD. A lot of welders that I talk to have ADD. I would say by and large, the majority of them.
Justin (01:08:32.556)
Maybe.
Justin (01:08:36.942)
Mm-hmm.
Justin (01:08:43.982)
I've heard many people talk about it before, mention that, you know, the, the reason why it's, it attracts so many is that it gives you that one thing that you can hyper-focus on. And then as soon as, know, that hood drops, the rest of the world shuts off. It's, it's a blessing. Yeah.
Jason Becker (01:08:56.007)
Yeah, it's like it's just like a moth to a flame, man. It is. Because that's the only like really the only moment of clarity that I have.
Justin (01:09:03.52)
Well, the only thing I have that kind of compares to welding is racing. So or, you know, or shooting. I get really hyper focused when I'm shooting. I'm super focused when I'm shooting.
Jason Becker (01:09:09.149)
Yeah, I can see that.
Jason Becker (01:09:16.817)
Archery does that for me, long range shooting, all that stuff. Now, have you noticed other, obviously, but have you noticed other positive benefits since you quit drinking four weeks ago? Other than, mean, you said you got mental clarity, but like what else?
Justin (01:09:19.242)
really?
Justin (01:09:33.95)
Well, I mean the money I'm saving from going out I just did this massive shop renovation. It's almost finished I'm enjoying it. I like I like the idea of even thinking about doing something else again, you know, but you know, I mean already it's like I The mental clarity is good the being able to you know, even assign myself a task and get up and do it is a big thing
Because normally, you know, when I get into the office, it's like, well, the first hour and a half or so is coffee time. I drink my coffee when I get here. You know, get whatever couple things I need to get done and you know, that's fine. But literally in the first few days, that clarity started coming back that that shitty feeling that you're not drinking goes away. It disappears. It's different from everyone. I mean, I've heard everything from
You know, the first week is the most difficult. The first six months is the most difficult to everything. And it's like, no, for me, as soon as I, you know, yeah, I feel like shit that I'm not out there. I know I'm not going out tonight. And that was like, that's, that's the break in my schedule. It's like, I know I'm not going out tonight. That's the part that made me feel like shit. Not sleeping. Obviously I didn't feel very good about not having a good night's sleep, you know, but eventually that starts to kind of dither and, know,
and go away, then I realized that, you know, my skin started clearing up, probably because I wasn't sitting in a smoky bar all night. My voice was less hoarse and raspy in the morning because I wasn't sitting in a smoky bar all night. Now, we can smoke in all the bars out here. It's totally normal, you know, it's like, but.
I'm down a few pounds. I've always been a tall, lanky guy anyway, but obviously since all the years of drinking that beer's gotta go somewhere. But I'm starting to get a little bit more back to the lanky side. So a lot of those things, I've got a lot more energy, which is pretty crazy. So I finally built these stair railings, because I have a loft in my shop and some stairs that I built when I moved into this unit.
Justin (01:11:43.246)
And it's never had rails or anything up there. And it's always just been filled with overflow of stuff that I just I never had a, you know, never had a place for any of it. So I just throw it up in the loft or whatever. So I finally went through and cleared all that stuff out. So just getting that organization and everything else like that, that was motivating just to be able to do that. So it's like I got up off my ass. I cleared off my loft, painted the walls of my shop. I built those railings and even just, you know, if
Some people hate doing mundane stuff like building rails, know, 90 degree corner everywhere, just, you know, fill it, butt weld, grind it, whatever. And, you know, for a lot of people, it's super boring. And for me, building rails is exceptionally boring. I can't stand building rails, but I was excited to get up there and build those rails, you know, just to even design them. Sitting there just like, I'm finally excited about doing something again. And...
That was really cool. I mean, obviously, if I was going out and drinking every single night, no way in hell would I do that. I'd find way to excuse. Like, well, you know what? I'll think about something else to do tonight while I'm out drinking. Yeah. And it's, you know, like I said, it's, I hope in all of this, you know, this random
Jason Becker (01:12:51.57)
at the bar. This looks like a good good idea for tomorrow.
Justin (01:13:04.895)
rambling for me or whatever that it turns into something helpful for somebody else because I Like I said, I remember that there was there was a lot of people that just ended up asking me at the end of the day like how How do you stop like they didn't really go into stories or whatever that you know you could tell that there were some people that were probably caught up and Whatever it is in their own side of things and just maybe it's helpful to know that you know You'll find your place. You'll find your
you'll find your stopping point. Hopefully it's before something tragic happens. But as they say, you just gotta want it. Shit, actually I don't even know if I really wanted to stop, but I did. I wanted to think about it the next night.
Jason Becker (01:13:47.977)
Do you have like any, do you have anything that's like you've been using to help you cope with that or like kind of stay the course or like AA or pick up a new habit or anything like that to kind of keep you preoccupied, keep your mind off it or like support systems or anything like that.
Justin (01:14:05.42)
No. No, I, you know, it has been suggested. No, I didn't. Well, OK, I don't I got to choose my words carefully here. Obviously, things like AA and stuff like that have been suggested, but I'm nothing against anybody who finds that extremely useful or helpful to them, et cetera. I am not in any way talking bad about it. If I surround myself with people like that.
Jason Becker (01:14:09.875)
So no plan whatsoever.
Justin (01:14:34.572)
I'm never gonna stop. Because it's just that's, if I gotta, all, if, if, let's just say, okay, you know when you smash your finger and it hurts like a motherfucker, and you're sitting there being like, my God, somebody says, don't think about it? Well, now you gotta sit there and think about the thing you're not supposed to be thinking about. To me, that's an AA meeting. So I'm not gonna do that. If I'm surrounding myself with, okay, yes, we all have the like-mindedness thing of going and we're all on this, you know, the same
idea, whatever. But if I'm surrounded by people that are like that, that also have those issues, those problems, whatever, I'm not going to get better. I'm just not, you know, it's going to be, it's just, I know it's not going to be for me. It's not, know, again, it's not to discredit that or say that it doesn't work in any way, shape or form at all. I know it has helped so many people. And I think it's amazing for that. For me, it's definitely not a fit. If I'm surrounded by what I'm supposed to be,
You know, I don't know, I don't have the right words, but basically like the, you know, like not thinking about the finger that you just smashed, you know, it's kind of like that for me. So I don't, I, you know, I don't go that direction with it. I don't do that to, I mean, my brain works a billion miles an hour and I do a lot of work like 24 seven, 365 kind of thing. Like that's, you could almost think that that's how, how everything goes. Really my motivation to get up and start doing something.
is getting more shit done, which is, I'm not gonna say it's taking my mind off of it, but I also think all the time that I spend doing that, I'm not worried about it. I'm not sitting there thinking about what's gonna happen tonight or whatever. probably know that at the end of doing whatever it is that I did today, which is more work that I've done in who knows how many years, that I'm probably gonna be super exhausted.
when I get home and I'm just gonna crash the hell out. So like I don't rely on that or anything. I don't really have any support or anything else like that. I've got my close friends that have all been through everything and I've told them about my levels of sobriety across this checkpoint or whatever the case is. They're all super supportive. They're awesome. They're good people. Yeah.
Jason Becker (01:16:57.737)
I mean, it's good you got a supportive network.
Justin (01:17:00.654)
But we don't sit there and drone about it. Drone is really the wrong word. I don't do it for praise. Yesterday was the fourth week and even today I was just like, wow, shit. Last night was four straight weeks. Like, damn, I did it. My buddy was like, congratulations, cool. We're off to whatever we're doing next.
Don't sit there and talk about it forever. like, wouldn't make a difference if we did. Like we could sit there and talk about it all day long, you know? But it's, for me, I guess you could say my personality, how everything goes, it's like it's, I don't need a substitute, you know? Like some people have suggested, you know, herbal remedies, you know, smoking weed or whatever. It's like, dude, I haven't smoked weed since I was a...
high school and all it ever did was make me fall asleep and they're like, no, there's these new strains and all this shit. like, I don't, I don't, I don't need it. Thank you. But no, yeah, I'm not going to take one for the other one. Yeah. I mean, it's bad enough that I smoke as it is, but it's like, you know, I, I'm not, I'm just going to just substitute one thing for another. It's like, shit's gotta go. It's gotta go. You know, that's, that's all it is. And it's just, it's, it, to me, it was just, I just stopped.
Jason Becker (01:17:58.857)
Swap out one habit for another. probably not very productive.
Justin (01:18:20.566)
I don't know if that's gonna help somebody or not, but that ultimately, for a while, I was sitting there trying to chase that answer, trying to chase that one thing or whatever. That's kind of like welding, right? When you first start welding, or TIG welding specifically, you're looking for that one setting. It's gonna make you stack dimes. It's like, what am I missing? It's like, no, you're missing practice. You just gotta do it. And in my case, when it was drinking, I was trying to find that one setting that's gonna turn.
Jason Becker (01:18:44.371)
Yeah.
Justin (01:18:49.55)
turn this whole consumption off and it's like, no, just gotta do it. So yeah, that was, it's tough, but it is what it is, know? And like in my brain, it's just like, is what it is.
Jason Becker (01:19:02.409)
was gonna ask if you...
Have you found it to be difficult going through? mean, do constantly think about like holding yourself back and like having to just stay the course and be disciplined about it?
Justin (01:19:07.918)
There's times.
Justin (01:19:17.524)
It's kind of like losing an old friend, I guess you could say. the struggle is there. I don't think it's ever really going go away because it's habit. It is. God, yeah. So, yeah, even...
Jason Becker (01:19:33.021)
And it's everywhere, especially in Vegas.
Jason Becker (01:19:38.887)
And then all the events you've got pry and fab tech and like all that stuff. It's after power after parties every frickin night.
Justin (01:19:44.686)
That probably won't be too bad. I'll go to the parties and stuff like that, but I'll just have a Pepsi or something. There's non-alcoholic beers. I don't think if I had a sip of alcohol, I'm going to suddenly relapse and go down this rabbit hole or whatever. I don't think I'm the personality or that type to have that issue. I've never really had an addiction problem with anything. I'm not gonna.
Jason Becker (01:19:56.809)
Mm.
Jason Becker (01:20:10.311)
I wouldn't test it.
Justin (01:20:13.198)
But you know, I said, you know, there's there's other drinks that I can consume. There's other, you know, things that I can do to have a great time. And I think it actually would be kind of cool because if I run into one of those parties or something like that and somebody wants to tell me a story, I'm to sit there and remember it. If somebody is going to say, hey, you know, you can't believe it. You taught me how to weld. I started my business. I did all that shit. I'm not going to be like, dude, whatever. Yeah, no, I'm to be like, awesome.
Jason Becker (01:20:42.985)
Yeah. And remember the next morning. Like you remember me, we met last night. Did we? I don't know. It was dark. It was late.
Justin (01:20:44.174)
And I'll remember that story. I'll remember that person. Yes. And I think it'll be a great thing. Yeah. Okay. You've probably experienced that, you know, a handful of times when you're somewhere in the, you know, and people may line up or everybody knows who you are or whatever. And it's like, you shake a lot of hands and, you know, whatnot. And somebody will come up to you months or years later and be like, Oh, we met at so and so at this one place, whatever. I'm like, yeah.
couple thousand people in that hour. Yeah, good to see you again.
Jason Becker (01:21:16.039)
yeah. my my my yeah my my greatest moment is when I when I'm you know talk somebody and they walk up to me like hey Jason hey what's up man you know my name is Jason this and everything you know it's like nice you know what's your name nice to meet you're like we met last year. shit. that's right. Yeah. That's because you go to these things you meet so many different people and like you've got like these 30 seconds with this person a minute with this one two minutes with this one you like you can't.
Justin (01:21:31.744)
that sinking feeling.
Justin (01:21:42.637)
Yeah.
Jason Becker (01:21:43.721)
Even if you're 100 % sober, you can't comprehend all that. it's like, it's a lot, man.
Justin (01:21:47.598)
Yeah. So like I had a couple of appearances that I'm like, oh shit, even in my own booth, I think at PRI, I had a line of people like they were trading my booth like it was a meet and greet for me, even though I was there all day long. So people started lining up and then the line got longer, longer, longer. And, you know, I didn't realize that a whole line was forming or whatever. And then I go out and take a break real quick. And then I come back and there's still people waiting for me to come back. And then I think it was like a
maybe it was like the next year or something like that. So was like, yeah, I met you at your appearance at the weld metal's booth. And I'm like, oh. He's like, yeah, I stood in line for like frigging minutes, like 30 some odd minutes. And all of a I'm like, wow. All right, well, good to see you again. That's great. So that happens.
Jason Becker (01:22:39.379)
Yeah, but I mean, honestly, dude, I think it'll help people because they need to hear that they're not alone. Because I mean, like, you probably struggled in silence for that. It's not like you went to anybody for help that, it was probably very difficult to notice that you had a problem initially.
Justin (01:22:55.682)
That was, yeah, was tricky to recognize it.
Jason Becker (01:23:01.181)
Well, that's the thing, because I've got a lot of friends and family that come from a long line of substance abuse, alcohol and other stuff. And the thing about alcoholism and being an addict is you're always the last one to know.
Justin (01:23:16.693)
Yeah
Jason Becker (01:23:18.151)
Like everybody else knows, you just haven't admitted it to yourself.
Justin (01:23:23.758)
But probably like a lot of other people that, know, alcoholics and whatnot, you probably couldn't tell them.
Jason Becker (01:23:30.441)
Yeah, no, you couldn't. They wouldn't listen. No, I got this under control. It does work good. You know, I'm not drinking at work. I don't drink and drive. I just go like to God every night and have a couple beers. Well, I mean, but I'm like, I'm back to what I saying is, I think it's going to help somebody recognize or realize, oh, shit, maybe I do have a problem. Or maybe they know and they're kind of like on the verge of do I have a problem? No, I don't have a problem. I got this under control. Okay, well, shit, maybe I don't, you know, and I think it'll help people to kind of
to realize that. Like I said, you the episode when I had Mike on at the beginning of the year, a couple of years ago, that resonated with a lot of people. I had a ton of positive feedback from people that I talked to all the time and I had no idea that they had a problem. And I think, I honestly think, so, I mean, I really appreciate you coming out here and sharing your story. You put yourself in a very vulnerable spot, but
Justin (01:24:14.798)
Yeah.
Justin (01:24:22.926)
Yeah, it was tough. I mean, it still is to sit there and talk about it, because I didn't...
Jason Becker (01:24:25.885)
I mean, could see it when as soon as we hit the record button, could see it. But I appreciate you doing that because at the end of the day, I think it will help. So just like you've made an impact on the welding and fabrication community and people setting up their own businesses and all the positive impacts you've made on people, I think that them seeing like, he's got his shit together, but he also had that same issue that I'm dealing with right now. I think it's going to help people. I think it's going to help people.
Justin (01:24:30.018)
Yeah.
Justin (01:24:50.99)
There was something lingering. There was something definitely in the background. Like I said, I never, I mean, I'm not going to say I didn't acknowledge it as a problem, but I never really looked at it like, you know, well, maybe I did. I don't know. I don't know. Maybe I'm trying to talk myself out of it. know what? Ultimately the other day, I think, I think I kind of, the really where, where my head is at with this or even trying to bring it up. Ultimately, I want to do it to help people.
Jason Becker (01:25:04.317)
You got a bunch of videos to say.
Justin (01:25:20.814)
I want somebody to, because like I said, in that one little tiny fraction of a second in that story where I said I got a lot more done after I quit drinking, in the amount of response I got from it, was, geez, I think it was over 100. I don't normally get that many responses off of stories at all. between the congrats and the whole, even the people that didn't even know that I drank.
And they're like, holy shit, like, wow, that's crazy. Congratulations or whatever, you know, and the people that were asking how, you know, or what did you do? What's your secret? You know, how, you know, any of that stuff that was like, well, maybe I could talk about this on an episode of my own channel, but like, it's not going to go anywhere. Nobody's going to want to hear that. You know, because in the YouTube world would be like, oh, what was me? You know, but I really, I guess you could say to like the fans or whatever for those that didn't know or.
that knew me as the... as the, you know, that welder guy from YouTube or whatever or that character that I was, like, please don't be disappointed. I'm still that guy. But not really that guy. I may be a little more goofy or less polished, less numb, less serious about everything that I did before. I still remember, you know, all that stuff, like, don't think...
the episodes and everything that I said and the stuff that I teach and the shit that I do now or whatever. It's like I'm just a little bit less polished than I used to be because I'm not afraid to be me anymore. I'm not, I'm not, I don't have anything to help me run from the, you know, the, guy that the internet made me, I guess you could say, you know, so I don't think it is. Like I said, it could be like a channel or career sushi slide sitting there talking about this. That's, know, that's where it's a little awkward for me, but
Jason Becker (01:27:04.347)
That may not be a bad thing at the end of the day.
Justin (01:27:15.618)
You know, like I said, ultimately, the end of the day, the only reason I really reached out and why I wanted to, you know, do this is just to see if I can help. If somebody needs something, if the words of wisdom or any of this jabbering that I, you know, have been throwing out here, God, I'm interesting to hear this playback.
Jason Becker (01:27:37.657)
you like, I tell everybody else. It usually turns out better than you think it's gonna.
Justin (01:27:41.164)
Well, you know, you've said that before on the previous episodes that I've been on and it's like, yeah, but I don't think I was ever this unorganized.
Jason Becker (01:27:50.013)
Well, no, but I mean, I'm honestly never really organized when I do that. I hit record and it just, goes, the conversation flows and you people are like, man, like you did an awesome job editing that. And it's like, really? The only thing I did was put my intro and ads in there. Other than that, like pretty much everything in the episode stays.
Justin (01:27:55.82)
Yeah.
Justin (01:28:04.204)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, actually it's one of the reasons why I really like your format, your style. It's like it just, is what it is. I know that going into it too, it's just like, well, that's, hey, what's said is what's said. That's just the way it is. you know, and if I guess I could, you know, be like, this is the real me. This is a great place to demonstrate that, I guess. It sucks when I'm in the middle of trying to like answer a question for like a student or something where I got a class going on.
hand all tangent. I'll just like start running off into something. You know, I had a clip that I put up there about acetone, you because everybody is still to this day, they bet you people are going to start buying 55 gallon drums of acetone when they've never laid down a well before. I bet you they're start doing that now because everybody is like acetone, acetone, acetone. And actually you're partially to blame for that. Good sir.
Jason Becker (01:28:59.451)
What?
Justin (01:29:01.516)
The whole concept of cleanliness of a weld. pretty sure it was during your tenure or your it might have been you specifically in that episode where you brushed it a one damn direction and you were zoomed in this far away from the friggin weld. You're like, look at the stuff that's floating in that well pool without cleaning it.
Jason Becker (01:29:19.218)
yeah. That was, well, that wasn't me that zoomed in. I'll thank the camera guy on that. I don't know which end of the camera to use.
Justin (01:29:20.748)
Was that? Well, no, no, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, but. I think that was your episode, though, where you talking about the cleanliness of metal and then using the wire brush only in one direction. And I remember when I watched that, I was just like, God, this is not good. Yeah, no, no, no. Hey, it's good to clean, right? But that's like that's one of those things where it's taken way too seriously. What's what's the name of that game we used to play like it was like telephone, right? You know, and.
Jason Becker (01:29:33.405)
Yep. Who's this asshole?
Jason Becker (01:29:48.958)
yeah, telephone game. Whisper something into the first kid. Yep.
Justin (01:29:49.762)
The teacher, yeah, the teacher would say something to the first person. Yeah. And by the time it got around to the other side, it's something completely different. That's, that's where your wire brush episode went, right? It got taken way too literally. And now it's like, you you got to, you got to brush your teeth with it afterwards. You know, you got to friggin, you know, all this other people have gone ape shit on the concept of acetone wire brushing cleanliness, what it actually means, et cetera, et cetera. So
Jason Becker (01:29:56.425)
Hmm
Jason Becker (01:30:00.619)
Okay.
Justin (01:30:15.374)
In the middle of one of my lectures in my class, because we always start out the class with a bit of lecture and theory, answering questions, et cetera, somebody asked me about acetone or asked me about, I don't remember what it was, and I tangented it. I just did this total friggin' right turn off into just going nuts about everybody and their whole concept of using acetone, thinking it's gonna make them weld better. Like, oh yeah, I acetoned everything. It's like I dumped acetone inside the welder.
Jason Becker (01:30:21.406)
Mm.
Justin (01:30:44.13)
Just how far this has traveled or how far it's stretched. Yeah. It'll fix everything. You know, I took a bath in acetone.
Jason Becker (01:30:44.965)
I don't need coolant. I put acetone in there. If it makes you feel any better. I used to be so anal with it that I would scotch-brite my filler metal before I would weld with it and wipe it down with acetone. I'm not even kidding. No, the reason I got so big on that is because my students would come up and wouldn't do any prep. Especially when we get into aluminum, they'd try to weld something up and they'd bring it and they're like, hey, know,
Justin (01:30:57.772)
Yeah.
Justin (01:31:08.12)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Becker (01:31:13.031)
I can't figure this out. Like, why doesn't mine look like yours? I'm doing everything you're doing. I was like, well, did you clean your material? Well, no, I wanted to get to, I wanted to really focus on the welding part. I understand how to clean it. I just, really want to focus. It's like, why do we clean it? Because you're going to get better results. So like, I would take it above and beyond because if they started cutting corners, they'd still come up with a pretty decent weld. And like, and especially in the testing industry, like doing weld tests, like I'm
Justin (01:31:34.254)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Becker (01:31:40.521)
super anal with it because guys will come in want to just slap their place together and start welding it. I'm like, whoa, whoa, pump the brakes, bud. I give them the whole wire brush demonstration and we use, I got a Dynaflux cleaner that I'll use to get rid of the aluminum oxide before they weld on it because it's like a test. And if you've ever done like spool gun X-ray testing, that thing will pick up microporosity every single time. And it was, I couldn't figure it out. And I talked to Mark Winchester. So not only is it, you know, cleaning, but it's also a little bit of preheat.
Justin (01:31:46.072)
Yes.
Justin (01:31:59.534)
Mm-hmm.
Justin (01:32:05.582)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Becker (01:32:10.781)
Just a little bit, just enough to get like, you know, that chill out of the air off of it.
Justin (01:32:14.796)
Yeah, just that little moisture barrier, if you will, off of it, that lingering stuff. Yeah, certainly never hurts. When you say preheat, somebody's going to be on there like, you got to stick it in the oven for like 600 degrees for an hour. Like, no, bro. Hit it with a torch or something, you know? Fuck it. Hit it with a heat gun. Yeah.
Jason Becker (01:32:16.807)
Yeah. Yeah.
Jason Becker (01:32:24.029)
Yeah. Yep.
Jason Becker (01:32:28.839)
Yep. People take things a little too literal. And then if it's, if it's on the internet, man, it's got to be true. Yep. That is true. I've learned that.
Justin (01:32:34.112)
yeah, and it's forever. I've actually used that episode that you guys had in lecture because somebody was like, what's the history of the whole cleanliness thing? Because when I tangented it off and went out of that rant about acetone or whatever the case is, I put a clip of that up on my reels and shorts and stuff. I was just goofing or whatever. lot of people didn't really understand that. So I think the next class, they're like, why do you hate acetone so much? And I'm like, I don't hate acetone.
Jason Becker (01:32:42.461)
Ha ha.
Justin (01:33:03.404)
I know there's nothing wrong with acetone, there's a there's something wrong with everybody thinking that acetone is what you use to Like you know and I'm like, okay the first person I really cover Thoroughly the use of acetone to clean apart was Jody He made mention of it and I can't remember which episode it had to have been like 15 years ago at this point that he
I think did like a breakdown or something like that of you know what it does how this that you know can't remember it specifically that was a long time ago you know and the whole concept of using acetone really carried and Funny enough. I don't use acetone to clean my stuff with actually people see it in videos like I got a can of acetone sitting there But I only use that as a prop because that's what people usually see what's inside of it is actually methanol I use methanol to clean my material off it evaporates faster, and it cleans more It doesn't leave streaks and shit like that, and it certainly doesn't stink
The only problem is, is if it lights on fire, you can't see it. So that's why I don't tell people to bleep that out. But, I know, know. But yeah, for anybody, don't use methanol. Yeah.
Jason Becker (01:34:04.188)
Nope. yeah. just told you I don't edit shit.
Jason Becker (01:34:11.025)
Yeah, don't use methanol. I mentioned on the podcast before, I can't remember if I put it in that episode or not, but dechlorinated brake clean. want to stress that dechlorinated brake clean is usually my go-to, especially on like stainless, but not chlorinated. Make sure it is not a can of chlorinated because it'll turn into phosgene gas.
Justin (01:34:22.262)
I don't think it's that either. Yeah.
Justin (01:34:31.258)
I mean, I obviously tell people just not to use Breitkline at all, but then there's ones that say, well, use the non-chlorinated stuff. It's like, great. But, you know, even though there's no chlorine and you're not going to like, you know, die from asphyxiation or whatever, you also don't want to be breathing in all of the other 62 chemicals that are inside of that thing versus like one out of whatever else, you know? So like I Breitkline works wonders, but yeah, I still don't. It's beautiful how it works.
Jason Becker (01:34:34.601)
Mm.
Jason Becker (01:34:50.684)
Yeah.
Jason Becker (01:34:55.921)
Never use methanol.
No, I'm gonna have to try it.
Justin (01:35:00.15)
like it dissolves everything and it also takes moisture away with it. So, but yeah, just make sure it's in a...
Jason Becker (01:35:05.093)
acetone is usually like the safest kind of like general go-to.
Justin (01:35:09.718)
It is, it is. That's why said, I don't tell people that I use methanol for, for cleaning stuff just because it's like, it's very dangerous. If it lights on fire, you're not going to know until everything's on fire. The stuff that is visible when it's on fire, that's when you're going to know that you lit it on fire.
Jason Becker (01:35:23.753)
Why is that plastic melting?
Justin (01:35:26.006)
Yeah. So he's like, where the hell that come from? it's a friggin methanol. So yeah, you got to be a little extra cautious. Yeah, you'd be really cautious with that. I explained like the quick history about, you know, where the acetone concept came from or who glorified, not glorified it, but pushed it the most. And that was originally Jody. So naturally all the other ones that come onto YouTube, we mentioned using acetone. Well, I always did because I, you know, I wouldn't say I used methanol and, know, go from there, whatever.
Jason Becker (01:35:30.761)
I'm on a preheat in this table.
Justin (01:35:52.928)
your episode comes up about the whole cleanliness, wire brush, whatever. And I swear to God, that is the most exaggerated episode of everything. And it's only because, I mean, you got some great arc shots, right? You know, I'm in that game where we're trying to get the arc shots, right? But literally how it was edited, if that close up is this big on the screen, you know, I know you were super zoomed in or, you know, think it was Todd that was filming there, whatever, super zoomed in. Exactly.
Jason Becker (01:36:03.177)
I gotta go back and watch it now.
Jason Becker (01:36:17.085)
Yeah, Todd, he'd use a doubler on there, man. But the funny, he'd be standing 30 feet away when he was getting these arc shots. I didn't realize how close he or how close it would zoom up. Yeah.
Justin (01:36:25.582)
There's a lens that'll do that, right? This is one of those that I use for an arc shot. It'll be pretty far away. But then, you know, I shoot in 4K on a full frame rig anyway when I'm doing arc shots and I can zoom in like eight times on that and make it as big as the whole screen or whatever the case is. And I'm like, yeah, when you're zoomed in that close, you're gonna see a bunch of little particles.
Jason Becker (01:36:40.243)
Yeah.
Jason Becker (01:36:47.955)
Well, that's what used to piss me off because I'd do a video and people were like, they could see things on screen that you can't see with your eyes under a hood. It's like you realize that camera's filming in higher depth than you can actually visually see, especially under a welding hood looking at an arc and this, and everything. And you got all this shit laying around you like, no, I could not see that floating in the puddle or I could not see that situation while I was under the hood. But at the end of the day,
Justin (01:36:53.518)
That you can't. Yeah. Uh-huh.
Justin (01:37:04.973)
Mm-hmm.
Justin (01:37:15.0)
Yeah.
Jason Becker (01:37:16.103)
I came out with it. It's a passing result. So it doesn't matter how you get there. We got the same result. So go back the way back machine there. But yeah.
Justin (01:37:20.878)
There's no right or wrong as long as the result is correct. Yeah, well, but once, yeah, well with the combination of the acetone and that wire brush episode, that's where like the whole, this whole roller coaster of what clean metal actually is. And yeah, it's people like you. Yeah. So I'm...
Jason Becker (01:37:38.371)
my bad. I'm teaching that same class again tomorrow, so I'm making more of them.
Justin (01:37:43.906)
I'm one the weirdos here. It's like I didn't make my impact or I don't have that impact or that staple episode that is, well actually I did the stainless episode that changed the industry. But I don't have that other one thing that contributed to how people think they have to weld now. Well, at least like that.
Jason Becker (01:38:00.893)
I think if mine would have been any, I wouldn't have picked that one. I would say the grinder safety video. I've had more comments on the grinder safety video than any video that I... And the funny thing was they didn't want to do it. They did not want to do that episode because I was like, it's going to be... Well, because it took us two days to film and it was a 45 minute episode. And at the time, 10 minutes was like the mark. Like you remember what the YouTube algorithms back then, like you had to have this specific...
Justin (01:38:07.074)
That was a good one. Yeah.
Justin (01:38:13.006)
That was just funny. Really?
Justin (01:38:25.838)
you
Jason Becker (01:38:29.321)
know, time points and this, that and everything. Like 10 minutes was the mark. And I came in and I wanted, with this harebrained idea that I want to do a 45 minute video. I didn't know it was going be 45. I just knew it was going be longer format. But that one, the OxyFuel video, the blueprint videos, like those all did way better than we anticipated because it went against everything that YouTube was pushing at the time.
Justin (01:38:48.802)
Right? Or actually, think one of your most, one of the ones that I actually liked that I was like, I was pissed that I, I think I told you this before, but I was like, I was mad because I didn't think of it was the tape measure video. I was like, why the hell didn't I come up with that? You know, I'm sitting here building shit, just rattling stuff off. And I'm like, I wonder how many people don't know what the hell I just said or how I got that number or what that even meant. Or I have a shot of it on the camera. And I'm like, cause after you put that one out, I was like, God, I wonder how, how much of my audience.
Jason Becker (01:39:00.123)
yeah.
Justin (01:39:18.99)
would have been affected by that one. That got a lot of good reach on it, didn't it? I think it went over, yeah.
Jason Becker (01:39:24.435)
Yeah, that one in the blueprint one. It's funny because every time August comes around, I get like my Instagram just starts blowing up big time. It's because all the new welding classes are in session and it's like just photos of me on somebody's classroom board with the backs of a bunch of students heads and it's me with a tape measure or holding a grinder or something like that. Like damn, that thing's still going around.
Justin (01:39:37.006)
yeah.
Justin (01:39:45.678)
That's awesome Yeah, I haven't been tagged well, I mean Instagram and social media as a whole is completely changed but I used to get tagged and stuff all the time where I was like some some Teacher instructor or whatever was playing one of my videos in class like that was crazy So yeah, my biggest impact I guess you could say that changed the industry was my stainless video or
Jason Becker (01:39:57.385)
Mm-hmm.
Justin (01:40:12.14)
I told people, it's like, no, you don't have to turn the amps way down. You need to turn them up to the normal pace and move. You got to actually stop going. Yeah. And it's like, you got to commit to it. Keep the arc tight, move as fast as you can. And there was a lot of pushback in the beginning, but now literally everybody who posts up something like, my stainless welds suck. It was like, keep the arc tight, move as fast as you possibly can. Cause they're, yeah, they're trying to do like 16 gauge or, know, 065 material with like 20 amps. I can't turn it down any further.
Jason Becker (01:40:18.473)
Move faster. Yeah, move faster.
Jason Becker (01:40:40.135)
Yeah, and going super slow.
Justin (01:40:42.07)
Yeah, it's like, well, turn it up to something normal and get moving.
Jason Becker (01:40:48.013)
I tell, I use the little Caesars, it's like hot and fast or hot and ready. It's like you want to get, you want to get stainless, you want to, you want to get it up to temp quick and just start running that filler metal. You want to get from A to B as fast as, as fast and efficient as possible. Otherwise you're to start cooking out the chromium and the nickel.
Justin (01:40:53.177)
there you go. Yeah.
Justin (01:41:02.926)
In out, hello, Yep. Yep. Like I say, in out, hello, goodbye. This is the best way to run stainless for me. Well, everything I weld is pretty much like that,
Jason Becker (01:41:18.505)
it's with that rapid arc and rapid exit Lincoln has. mean, you're running 800 inches a minute on your wire feed speed and you can do it on gauge thick material and there's no distortion whatsoever because it's just like you get a six inch coupon you're done in like one and a half seconds. It's it's literally like it's like spool gun.
Justin (01:41:36.748)
Mm-hmm. used to see demos with... Usually it's the younger guys that would come into a class or whatever and they finally nail an awesome weld after the first hour or so and then they start getting really cocky. I give them a piece of eighth-inch steel, just regular cold rolled steel, two coupons or whatever, set up a lap joint, put a number four cup on it. I make them pretty well with that or whatever.
And they cook it, they tear it up or whatever, like, well that's impossible, there's no way, that's bullshit or whatever. So I'd get on there and I'd turn up to about 160, 165, maybe 170 if I was doing really good. And I'd haul ass through it. And literally there would be almost no heat signature. I mean just barely, just barely past the friggin', the actual bead itself. So the actual heat tinted effectant zone, almost none from a number four standard cup.
Just because it's like it proved the point. If you can get in and out of it, the faster you get in and out of it, the cooler it stays. It's science. There's no way around it.
Jason Becker (01:42:38.973)
I gotta try that. I've never messed around with a small cup on stainless. But now I gotta give it a shot. That'll probably be tomorrow on Friday.
Justin (01:42:42.718)
yeah, give it a shot. Yeah, well, do it on carbon steel if you got it, especially if you got like regular cold-roll steel, because then your heat signature is going to be a lot more prevalent. So if you do it on stainless, sometimes you can get away with it, sometimes not. But it's more obvious if you were running a little bit slow on that. So the fastest I was ever able to do it, I think it was 168 amps was the fastest I could run it. But dude, there's no way that you're not going to be able to do it practically.
Jason Becker (01:42:55.368)
Mm.
Justin (01:43:12.206)
You're gonna be so exhausted after like the sixth or seventh inch. But that's literally, it's just like, as fast as I possibly can, you're just like jab, stab, move as quick as possible. You gotta like take a practice swing like you're golfing or something. like, yeah, it's so hard to do, but I could usually get it at like 150, 560 amps, but I think I was like 168 was the most I ever successfully got. That's back when I had other instructors with me and we were just BSing around in the shop all day.
Jason Becker (01:43:25.341)
Super Focus.
Jason Becker (01:43:40.381)
Mm-hmm.
Justin (01:43:40.408)
So yeah, see how far you can turn it up and like see how fast you can accurately, we're talking accuracy, right? So it can't just be like a whole bunch of lay wire, you know, and then a couple of dabs here and there. It's like, no, you gotta have, it's gotta look like your regular bead, but you gotta go as fast as humanly possible through it. you'll see the results of how much heat soaks into it based on how fast you're going. There's probably some old ass pictures on Instagram, like from,
Jason Becker (01:43:43.177)
I'm going to try that. Yeah.
Jason Becker (01:44:06.759)
Okay.
eighth inch lap joint. Okay, yeah, I got that. I'll try that tomorrow. While the students are back there messing around once I once I do my demo and kind of turn them loose. I'll I usually run back to my table and just just keep my skills up to date, you know, not give it a shot. I'm banging out.
Justin (01:44:10.114)
back in the day. Yeah.
Justin (01:44:22.946)
Yeah, just do a few couple warm up rounds or whatever, you know? Like, it's crazy. I got a class this weekend and I sit there and think about it. I'm like, well, I haven't welded in a couple of weeks since I've been redecorating the shop and getting everything all set up or whatever. We got tons of space in here now. It's just crazy. And like new stations set up for all the classes and stuff. And I'm like, you know, it's been a few weeks since I welded. Like I got to, I need to sit down and, you know, do some practice myself just to make sure that I can make it through this weekend's class, you know, without.
Jason Becker (01:44:52.233)
Get dialed back in.
Justin (01:44:53.326)
Yeah, exactly. Not that I'm afraid that I'm gonna screw up or anything. It's just like, well, know, never hurts to be make sure that you're on top of your game. You're comfortable, you loosen up, you know.
Jason Becker (01:45:04.105)
Yeah. You'd be surprised how fast he comes back. Like I've laid some stuff down doing a demo and it's like, shit, man, I haven't done this in like six weeks. You lay it down. You're like, you lift up your hood and it surprised you. It looks so good. And then you're like, so this is what it's supposed to look like. Like no doubt whatsoever in your mind. It was going to look any different. You're like the whole time out of the hood, you're like, Oh, this doesn't feel right. Doesn't look right. You pick your head up you're like, Oh shit. Yeah, that's it. It looks pretty damn good.
Justin (01:45:07.266)
Yeah. yeah.
Justin (01:45:28.494)
Yeah, I got one that I've always consistently never really gotten great, but that's because I can't see half of it. When I demo it for the students, I'm actually hanging over the top of it, so I can't see the bottom side of the pool or the subsequent bead that follows. I can't look through or see anywhere around it because it's not a position butt joint, and I always come in over the top of it. My students can see it. It would be from their point of view, but I can't. It's always like a 50-50. It's either going to...
be amazing and I did it all just from muscle memory or it's gonna look like shit. But it demonstrates the point clearly. It's not easy to do so don't expect great results and sometimes they just like seeing me not lay down in a beautiful well.
Jason Becker (01:46:13.257)
Well, hopefully we can get Harry to Orlando to do a class. It'd be kind of neat to have you at Underground.
Justin (01:46:17.184)
I'd love to do it, man. I would absolutely love to do it. we'll kind of be in touch about that one, see if we can schedule something up. Because I know that there's, you know, as soon as I opened up the courses in New Jersey, people are flocking from all over. But I've also had, you know, I've had tons of requests to set up courses and, you know, other areas or whatever. My goal actually pretty soon here, I'm going to start working towards see if I can do it as a
see if I can get my pilot's license actually and see if I can buy an airplane. I've been looking at a few of them just to buy it to say that now I have to go get my license so can buy my plane or to fly my plane. But I was thinking about getting one and if I can get these classes set up in all the right places, now I have a reason to go fly. Just go hopscotch from one place to the other.
Jason Becker (01:47:03.817)
Yeah. And planes, planes are not expensive. Planes are relatively cheap. I remember I was, I wasn't pricing them out or I wasn't in the market, but I was doing a lot of work at an airplane hangar. And so I asked this dude one time, was like, Hey man, what's just out of curiosity? Like, what's that airplane cost? He's like, this one here. And it was like a nice ass Cessna. He's like 30 K. And I was like, dude, I just paid 30 K for my truck. And this is, this was back in like 2005, 2006, right? And
Justin (01:47:13.506)
Mm-hmm.
Justin (01:47:27.566)
Yeah.
Justin (01:47:31.822)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Becker (01:47:33.479)
I was like, dude, I can own an airplane. Now I just need to get my pilot's license. And then he proceeds to tell me the plane's the cheap part. It's the storage, the fuel, having to have it gone through by, you know, a mechanic or what the FAA certified mechanic every year, like all that stuff. I was like, okay. He started breaking those numbers down. was yeah, I'll just stick with my truck and my, you know, eight miles to the gallon.
Justin (01:47:48.962)
Yep.
Justin (01:47:56.63)
Yeah, so buying the plane is the cheapest part. It always will be. Actually, I like helicopters more, I, jeez, I can't afford that. No.
Jason Becker (01:48:07.069)
Those things are not meant to be in the air. They defy every freaking rule of physics that there is. Yeah. Get you a plane.
Justin (01:48:12.93)
Mm-hmm.
But yeah, I'm not that YouTuberish. I could get a decent plane.
Jason Becker (01:48:20.489)
I was gonna say talk to Chloe. She just got her pilot's license a year ago. Think it's been about a year. Yeah, Chloe Hudson. She bought one because I guess her and her fiance, she flies them to all the racing events and stuff that he does. Yeah, that was kind of neat. She's going to lot of her school.
Justin (01:48:27.264)
really?
Justin (01:48:36.476)
sick. I thought about it. My my youngest is my youngest is in civil air patrol. So he's hopefully if he gets it just right in the next two years, he'll actually have his license. So I think it'd be a really awesome dad of me if I was like, well, congratulations. Here's here's an airplane. Except, you know, not literally, but, you know, yeah. But, know, have a one that we can.
Jason Becker (01:49:00.457)
That'd be kind of a cool present.
Justin (01:49:05.474)
we could solve a couple problems with and be really awesome. I mean, yeah, if I could do it, I could probably do it. A lot of it could be, it depends. There's deep into other stuff.
Jason Becker (01:49:08.231)
Yeah, hell of a tax write-off too.
Jason Becker (01:49:20.948)
Well, dude, it's been an absolute pleasure having you back on the podcast. I'm hoping, I'm sure I'll see you this year at Fabtech because it's in your backyard. I know last year you had a bunch going on. You weren't able to make it out, but you should be there this year, I would imagine.
Justin (01:49:29.262)
Yeah, it was I'm definitely gonna be here this year. I'm hoping I could probably organize something get a little party going or something a little get-together here at the shop I'm not sure yet, but we'll see Like said, I got this I got this tremendous amount of space that we can do stuff in now I even got a nice sound system that I got going on here. I could hire a DJ Got a VIP section in my loft Yeah
Jason Becker (01:49:51.795)
Sweet. There you go. With a handrail now.
Justin (01:49:57.134)
Obviously I gotta talk to the property manager see if see if I can even be permitted to have a gathering like that But let's see if she lets it if she lets it happen that I'll probably you know See if we can make that happen if not, it'd be like a small gathering, but I'll definitely be at Fabtech this year for sure
Jason Becker (01:50:05.363)
Okay.
Jason Becker (01:50:13.545)
Okay. Well, once again, man, thanks for coming on the show. I'm sure that this is going to help a lot of people out. It's going to be really impactful. You'll probably hear a lot of good things about it.
Justin (01:50:22.102)
I truly hope it is. know that it I mean, like I said, at the end of the day, I just I put it out there just because I want I wanted to hopefully reach people and help them out and understand. Look, there's, know, you may not know that you're in that situation and it is possible to get out. I mean, I may or may not have the answer. It may or may not have been helpful, but maybe at least you just know that this is the way that it should happen sometimes. Or just, you know, classic shit happens and you'll be OK. You.
You'll get out of it. mean, I made it out of it. Anyone can make it out of it, I guess. It's, you know, some things are kind of cliche, but yeah, it does happen. You'll just, one of these days it'll just happen. You'll find your way and it'll happen. And if somebody needs to chat, whatever, needs some help, I'll do my best to respond. But you know, sometimes the, you know, an hour and only an hour or two, like, you know, something goes to page two of the, the, the email or the.
or the comments box or whatever and I'll miss it completely. So don't feel offended if I don't always get back to you.
Jason Becker (01:51:25.277)
Yeah. Well, where can people find you? Obviously, I'm sure most everybody knows where you're hanging out. if they're new, you know, where can people find you at?
Justin (01:51:34.752)
Yeah, sure. I I run the Fabrication Series YouTube channel. So if you ever look up the Fabrication Series, you know, that's where you can find me. Instagram at the Fabricator, or it's the dot fabricator, but the Fabricator, you'll pretty much find me. Same as Facebook, the Fabrication Series. I'm in Vegas. Shops always open. usually, you know, people are always asked to come by, do tours, check things out because they want to see what it looks like in the, just like it was in the episodes. you know, I'm always around. So there's a million ways to get a hold of me.
Just gotta, just gotta look.
Jason Becker (01:52:07.561)
Awesome, man. Once again, I appreciate you coming on the show and sharing that with everybody.
Justin (01:52:11.627)
Yeah, well, thanks for giving me the place to do it. I trust that it will probably get to more people than I'd be able to even on my own, through my outlet.
Jason Becker (01:52:20.349)
Yeah, I mean, as soon as you reach out and ask, I was like, hell yeah, definitely. We'll schedule it right now.
Justin (01:52:27.414)
i truly appreciate that man i really do
Jason Becker (01:52:29.213)
Yeah, man. Anytime.
