Russ: This is The BusinessMakers Show, heard on the radio and seen, online, at thebusinessmakers.com. It's guest time on the show and I truly have a unique guest with me today. I guess they're all unique but this one's extra-special because, with me, I have Michael Fjetland, the Founder and President of Armor Glass. Michael, welcome to The BusinessMakers Show.

Michael: Thank you, Russ.

Russ: Why don't we start by you telling us about Armor Glass?

Michael: Well, Armor Glass is a company that I set up to, basically, provide security because the weakest link of every building is the glass and so it is a specialized security film that armors your glass from everything from a burglar, trying to break in, hurricane force winds, and even solar heat.

Russ: Okay and how long have you been doing this?

Michael: I started back in 2007.

Russ: Okay, so have you have it installed in buildings or homes and tested through tornado, hurricane, whatever?

Michael: Oh, absolutely. We had it actually installed on some houses on Galveston Bay before Hurricane Ike hit and those houses survived without even a cracked window.

Russ: Wow, impressive, okay.

Michael: Typically what happens in a hurricane is a piece of debris will break a window, the winds will get inside and pressurize the house and blow the roof off.

Russ: Right.

Michael: And this prevents that from happening.

Russ: Okay now what's so special about it? And I did enough homework to know that probably most, if not all, your customers are, kind of, a retro fit, is that right?

Michael: Absolutely. It goes on existing glass, so whatever kind of cheap glass that everybody has, it goes on the inside of that and, basically, what it's doing, it's a real thick, polycarbonate plastic that provides that extra security to keep that glass from blowing in, whether it's hit by someone deliberately or, again, hurricane force winds and, at the same time, it will even cut the solar heat that boils everybody during our triple-digit summers.

Russ: Okay, now I also did enough homework and have enough experience to know that it seems like it is an extra-strong film that you're actually putting on compared to all the others that I was familiar with.

Michael: Yeah, most people are actually familiar with the solar film, which is a real thin, paper-thin version of it that all that does is block the sun. It doesn't do anything about a breach. This is four times thicker than that, so what it's doing is providing a breach protection. It's the same film they put on all the federal buildings in Washington, after 911. It's even bomb-blast-rated, not that we expect any of that, so it's a real tough film. The clear version of it is invisible, when it's on your windows. The tinted version looks like regular tint and yet it really provides a level of security that you just don't have with typical glass.

Russ: Well, okay, and I wanna tell our audience members that we're get into your background after we cover Armor Glass because I find it very fascinating. It's with a lot international travel, international law and even, sort of, developing an expertise about terrorism, so - and I think all of those, sort of, played a role in your interest in this product when you started your company.

Michael: Oh, absolutely, yeah. I kinda had this eclectic career. I started off, got hired by a couple large companies in Houston, Brown & Root, and --

Russ: Right, as a lawyer, right?

Michael: As a lawyer. Dresser Industries is the other one. I ended up circulating around the world for them, in negotiating international deals, got laid off during the '80s bust, when the oil was $10.00, and that led to actually trying to write a fiction book about what it's like to be an international lawyer. My plot was a flash war in the Middle East and a terror attack on the U.S. and so, as a result, ironically, ended up going on television as a terrorism expert, during 911, and did that a for a couple years abut then someone introduced me to this product and I said, "You know, this would actually protect people, either me blowing gas all the time is not too fulfilling and this would actually provide that concrete thing," so I decided to retire from law and go into this full-time.

Russ: Became an entrepreneur and now, today, have your own company and, I assume, operating successfully.

Michael: Absolutely. It pays better than being a lawyer!

Russ: All right! Cool, cool! Now and when you sell to a customer, it's actually applied on the interior side, right?

Michael: Yes, it goes on the interior, so you don't have all the weatherization issues you do on the outside.

Russ: Right.

Michael: If you noticed, after Hurricane Ike, all the windows through downtown, that were covered with plywood?

Russ: Right.

Michael: That was because of the wind force. This would've prevented all of those damages. It would've literally saved hundreds of millions of dollars in damages, had this film been all the glass.

Russ: Okay now I know you have the name Armor Glass trademarked and - but you don't actually own the intellectual property. You're actually a licensee of the product itself, correct?

Michael: That's right. We're a dealer/installer basically. We've done everything from a Chase Bank, in Long Island, New York, to residential properties here.

Russ: Wow, okay, so theoretically you could have other competitors, other glass people that would do the same thing. Is that correct?

Michael: Theoretically but what I've found is that very few people are actually doing this. Most of 'em are doing the really cheap solar film that doesn't provide any breach protection or they're doing the real expensive shutters that cost ten times more and, you know, I - since I came at this from being a terrorism advisor, I was looking at the security element and not too many other people are actually in that part of it.

Russ: Right now you mentioned your product has already withstood the wind of Hurricane Ike. Have you had people that have glass that your product was on that Armor Glass was covered on where they tried break in?

Michael: Absolutely. Well, ironically, last summer, we put it on a lady's house on a Friday. Five days later, some guy tried to break into that window and could not get in.

Russ: Wow.

Michael: We've actually had a recent incident where a couple of - the former Mayor of Seabrook and a councilmember, on Galveston Bay, and where people tried to break in their houses and they didn't get through our film.

Russ: Okay, cool.

Michael: Yeah, absolutely.

Russ: All right, for those of you that are paying attention, on video, you'll notice we have a prop here, behind us, where Michael is gonna beat on it and you can tell it's already been beaten on a lot but that's pretty - that's fascinating so it seems like it works so well that it might be very expensive.

Michael: And that's the good part of it. It is not.

Russ: Yeah.

Michael: The only two choices for hurricane protection are impact glass or shutters and shutters, as we said, it's about ten times more impact. Glass is at least five times more expensive so it's a very economical way to get security.

Russ: Right.

Michael: Even though this same film is on the Pentagon but you don't have to pay a Pentagon price to have it on your house.

Russ: Okay but it's more expensive than just the thin, you know, normal shape, yeah.

Michael: It's probably about twice the expense of solar film but, again, if someone's beating on your window that's not gonna help you too much.

Russ: No, I know completely. Now what about people that are so worried about their architecture that they say, "Ahh, it's not - it's gonna look," can you see it, do you know it's on there?

Michael: If they're really worried about it, let's say we've done commercial buildings where they don't want the chains look to the building, then they can put the clear film on. It's invisible on your window.

Russ: And the clearer film, you really can't tell it's there?

Michael: You literally cannot see it. Once it's on there, it looks just like the window and the tinted version looks like tint.

Russ: Okay, talking with Michael Fjetland, the Founder and President of Armor Glass and we're gonna be back with him, with more, in a second. In fact we're gonna beat on this window back here. This is The BusinessMakers Show, heard on the radio and seen, online, at thebusinessmakers.com.

Russ: This is The BusinessMakers Show, heard on the radio and seen, online, at thebusinessmakers.com and continuing on, with Michael Fjetland, the Founder and President of Armor Glass. So it's time now for you to give your demonstration. I think you probably carry a hammer with you everywhere you go and --

Michael: Let me just set this up.

Russ: All right.

Michael: This is not a special trick window. This is a cheap, single-pane window. You can buy it from the usual Home Depot-type store. I put the film on it just because I was to show what that is and then I go to a trade show and I'll -

Russ: Wow.

Michael: beat on that thing. Now don't try this home!

Russ: Yes, right!

Michael: You'll be in big trouble with your wife.

Russ: Right, right. What if you have - now I'm not challenging but what if you didn't have a rubber hammer and you had a regular claw hammer?

Michael: Actually it's the same result.

Russ: Okay the glass still breaks but it just --

Michael: Glass is broken. As you can see, it's all shredded.

Russ: Right.

Michael: The only thing holding that together is the film.

Russ: And you mentioned you know that this was a regular single-pane, what double-pane glass wouldn't matter anymore because, theoretically, they won't ever get - well, though, if they hit the outside, they're coming in, they'll break that one and then they would get to the inside one and not be able to break it.

Michael: Yeah and the lady we talked about earlier, well, he broke the outer pane and then she said he managed about a two-inch hole on the inner pane that had the film on it and that was all he could do. He gave up.

Russ: Wow, interesting, all right, so but I'm still curious, though, a lot about you and your background. You went to law school, became a lawyer, right out of law school, you were hired by these international companies and I think, as you told me earlier, not that you were interested in international law, they were interested in you practicing international law, started sending you to all these places, and you sort of became an international expert, ultimately, also a terrorist expert, but, ultimately, chose this path in your life to be your own boss and run your own business. Do you miss the other life?

Michael: Yeah, I would confess that the most fascinating part of the legal career was the international because you were really having to create, you know? You're going through new, different legal systems, different cultures, different political set-up and you have to really be very creative to make things work.

Russ: Right.

Michael: Once I had left that during the oil bust when, again, oil was $10.00, domestic law was pretty boring and it's divorce work, it's litigation. It's a lot of things I don't like doing but when I got into this area, this is back to being creative and helpful and I like being an entrepreneur. In fact we get enquiries from around the world and around the country, every week, every day in fact. Today in fact people call me from Washington, DC, from Washington State, the Middle East.

Russ: Do you actually - if you - and I know you've done projects nationally and, I guess, some internationally as well. Do you send your installers do you teach somebody there how to do it?

Michael: On the international side, it would be just providing the product, at this point, you know, rather than sending via YouTube, Iran right now to --

Russ: Right!

Michael: They should've had the film on the embassy. They wouldn't have had all that glass breaking but it is possible to actually train the local people to do this.

Russ: Uh-huh.

Michael: It's a huge - there's a lot of interest in it because of all the violence in a lot of these countries, people getting broken into and almost everywhere you look the people had just regular glass, so they're very vulnerable and security is the big thing, especially now that we have an economic downturn, and it seems like burglaries are 24/7, 365-a-year, so that is probably the number 1 reason to really have it. We did a pharmacy that got broken into. They stole all the narcotics in 3 minutes and left. Once we put our film on there, that game is over.

Russ: Okay and so how many employees do you have at Armor Glass?

Michael: Basically I contract out all our labor so we don't have a huge number and I got independent sales representatives that also work for us that are scattered around but we don't need a whole lot of people to do this.

Russ: Okay, well, a great story, Michael, and I really appreciate you coming in and telling us about it.

Michael: Well, thank you, Russ. I appreciate it very much.

Russ: You bet. That's Michael Fjetland, the Founder and President Armor Glass and this is The BusinessMakers Show, heard on the radio and seen, online, at thebusinessmakers.com.