Anna Reger, founder of FlipLok, is  the essence of resilient leadership. Anna shares her journey from growing up in adversity to building a business that saves lives. Overcoming personal challenges, including life-altering accidents and the weight of survivor’s guilt, Anna developed a deep sense of purpose that now fuels her entrepreneurial mission.

The conversation delves into FlipLok, a safety innovation inspired by a chilling realization during a school lockdown drill. Anna's commitment to child safety led her to create a solution that empowers students and teachers to secure classrooms in emergencies. Her tenacity shines as she navigates hurdles like fire codes and regulations, turning potential roadblocks into collaborations with fire marshals and safety experts.

Through her story, Anna reveals the heart of true leadership: acting with courage, adapting to challenges, and staying committed to a mission bigger than oneself. Her message is clear—leaders don't wait for change; they make it happen.

Want to learn more about Anna Reger's work? Check out her website at FlipLok.com.

Connect with Anna on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/annaregerofficial/.

Key Points with Time Stamps

• 00:51-01:32: Introduction to Anna Reger, highlighting her journey through adversity and success.
• 01:55-02:48: Anna's early life, overcoming poverty, and returning to education.
• 06:15-07:13: Life-altering accidents and how they shaped Anna's perspective on leadership and purpose.
• 12:10-13:40: The inspiration behind FlipLok and addressing school safety challenges.
• 18:00-20:00: Collaboration with fire marshals to innovate and meet safety codes.
• 23:04-24:45: Testing FlipLok for durability against real-world threats.
• 26:02-27:16: Anna’s advice: Take action, learn as you go, and validate your market.
• 28:03-28:50: Importance of kindness and collaboration in leadership.

Transcript

00;00;00;00 - 00;00;30;20
Craig Andrews
I was in a coma for six weeks while the doctors told my wife I was going to die. When I woke up, she told me the most fantastic story. My team kept running the business without me. Freelancers reached out to my team and said, we will do whatever it takes. As long as Craig's in the hospital. I consider that the greatest accomplishment of my career.

00;00;30;23 - 00;00;51;10
Craig Andrews
My name is Craig Andrews and this is the Leaders and Legacies podcast where we talk to leaders creating an impact beyond themselves. At the end of today's interview, I'll tell you how you can be the next leader featured on the show.

00;00;51;10 - 00;01;20;22
Craig Andrews
Today I want to welcome Anna Reger. She is the founder of FlipLok and kind of has just an amazing story of just overcoming adversity after adversity, launching a business, running in obstacles, overcoming those obstacles. And I think anybody that's in business will resonate with this. And one of the things that Anna said is,

00;01;20;22 - 00;01;22;05
Craig Andrews
life isn't going to wait for you.

00;01;22;11 - 00;01;32;14
Craig Andrews
You got to make things happen. And I think in the next few minutes, you'll realize Anna is one of these people that just makes things happen. And so, Anna, welcome to Leaders and Legacies.

00;01;32;20 - 00;01;35;09
Anna Reger
Thank you. Thank you for having me so much, Craig.

00;01;35;11 - 00;01;37;03
Craig Andrews
Yeah. So,

00;01;37;03 - 00;01;43;15
Craig Andrews
so I'm trying to figure out where to start. I mean, there's so much. I mean, there's so much to your life.

00;01;43;15 - 00;01;55;07
Craig Andrews
Why don't we start with the the accident? I mean, so first off, you never graduated high school, and here you're running this great business, and we're going to talk about that in a minute.

00;01;55;09 - 00;01;55;26
Craig Andrews
So,

00;01;55;26 - 00;02;01;27
Craig Andrews
what was the journey there? So you didn't graduate high school. Did you eventually get a GED or what? What happened?

00;02;02;00 - 00;02;02;25
Anna Reger
Yeah, actually,

00;02;02;25 - 00;02;07;27
Anna Reger
yeah, I moved out at a young age. I, we were very, very poor. And,

00;02;07;27 - 00;02;13;14
Anna Reger
I decided I need to go work, and I moved out. And when took care of special needs kids,

00;02;13;14 - 00;02;18;03
Anna Reger
in that time at a foster home, she kind of took me in so I can work and figure my way out.

00;02;18;03 - 00;02;33;15
Anna Reger
And then later on in life, I decided to go back to school, get a GED. I decided that, you know, I really wanted to have an education. And so I went, got a GED, and I went to the community college, like, okay, I don't know if I'm at college level and tested and I had no idea what college was.

00;02;33;16 - 00;02;48;21
Anna Reger
Nobody in my family actually went to college. And so I went in and I did this test at the community college here. And then they said I was at college level and everything except for English. I mean, except for algebra, I'm sorry, except for algebra. And oh my gosh, that was torture. But anyway, I go through I was going to be a nurse.

00;02;48;21 - 00;03;04;10
Anna Reger
I get associates in science, go to University of Houston, get a bachelors in science, I'm going to be a nurse. And then it comes time to go into the practical world of nursing. That's where you have to kind of like go and do clinicals. And I just didn't have the support to be able to go into that to do that.

00;03;04;10 - 00;03;10;29
Anna Reger
So I decided to take a minor in entrepreneurship and and marketing and here I am. Here I am now and,

00;03;10;29 - 00;03;12;13
Anna Reger
entrepreneur world.

00;03;12;16 - 00;03;15;26
Craig Andrews
Yeah. You know, when, when I was growing up,

00;03;15;26 - 00;03;18;19
Craig Andrews
there was just a lot of pressure to go to college.

00;03;18;19 - 00;03;21;07
Craig Andrews
I didn't go against my will. I went eagerly,

00;03;21;07 - 00;03;35;25
Craig Andrews
and, you know, got an undergraduate, an undergraduate degree. And when I look at the world today, I, you know, one, I just think the quality of the product that the universities are putting out is lower than it was when I went in.

00;03;35;28 - 00;03;51;01
Craig Andrews
I think the prices have gone through the roof and I don't think, you know, college, a university degree is the golden ticket that once was. I'm seeing more and more people like you that just kind of,

00;03;51;01 - 00;03;58;01
Craig Andrews
they just wake up in life and say, hey, I'm gonna make things happen. I see more and more people fitting that mold, right?

00;03;58;01 - 00;04;12;03
Anna Reger
I mean, I agree, I think, you know, I'm a mom, I have kids, so of course I want to encourage them to go to college. So with that, you know, I'm going to just say, you know, it did give me a perspective that I didn't have. Right? As somebody that lives on your own, you figure things out on your own.

00;04;12;03 - 00;04;17;00
Anna Reger
You make things happen on your own. College gave me a different experience of actually, you know,

00;04;17;00 - 00;04;27;05
Anna Reger
learning how to do research, learning. And, and I think that those kind of tools actually helped me to be able to go into business, to do research, to know what I'm looking for. Why am I, you know, why would I do this?

00;04;27;05 - 00;04;45;20
Anna Reger
Why would I take this even idea and go into make it a business? Is it a viable business? Right. Those kind of things you learn in school, they don't teach you entrepreneurship doesn't teach you entrepreneurship. That's a you got to go out. And I have a very expensive MBA, although I did not go to college for that. I can guarantee you that my experience,

00;04;45;20 - 00;04;54;02
Anna Reger
outweighs any MBA that a lot of people have in the world because I started and, you know, learn from several businesses and not all of them were successful, right?

00;04;54;04 - 00;05;15;19
Craig Andrews
Yeah. You know, and I, you know, and I think MBAs are MBA degrees are for people that want to run someone else's business, usually a very large business, and they have a certain mindset. You know, my wife used to work for a fortune 100 and fortune 500 company. I forget, you know, a very large company. And just this morning,

00;05;15;19 - 00;05;24;11
Craig Andrews
we were talking about LinkedIn and she said, well, the only reason I go to LinkedIn is to see which of my latest work, which of my former colleagues have been laid off recently.

00;05;24;13 - 00;05;26;19
Craig Andrews
And, you know, I feel like MBAs,

00;05;26;19 - 00;05;46;14
Craig Andrews
you know, they run businesses by spreadsheets. And what's missed in that is the heart. And I told her, you know, when that company when she worked for them, she said, hey, there's a rumor going around that they're going to be by, bought by private equity, as if they are. The very first thing they'll cut is customer service.

00;05;46;17 - 00;05;49;18
Anna Reger
Yeah. That's terrible.

00;05;49;20 - 00;06;01;08
Craig Andrews
But that's how they think. And that's that's what you learn in MBA school. I think you got a better education, probably more expensive. As you said. But, but before we go in the

00;06;01;08 - 00;06;08;04
Craig Andrews
FlipLok, you had an accident. I mean, and you are just, you know, for those that are listening, and I hope this isn't too forward, but.

00;06;08;04 - 00;06;12;01
Craig Andrews
And you're good. Yes. You're absolutely gorgeous.

00;06;12;01 - 00;06;15;26
Craig Andrews
But you had a life changing accident that threw that in jeopardy.

00;06;15;29 - 00;06;16;21
Anna Reger
Yes.

00;06;16;21 - 00;06;36;16
Anna Reger
I was 21. I just turned 21. I was, you know, I lived on my own. I didn't drink or anything and decided my boyfriend and Tom decided that we should all go out for birthdays. We all turned 21, and my cousin was with me, and we went to our club for the first time ever in my life, and he was designated and he really wasn't designated and I didn't know he was drinking.

00;06;36;18 - 00;06;43;07
Anna Reger
I had two strawberry daiquiris. I didn't, I was just because I could go order my first drink, you know, it was a whole thing. And so, yeah,

00;06;43;07 - 00;06;44;20
Anna Reger
leave the club and,

00;06;44;20 - 00;06;46;24
Anna Reger
end up in, you know, ICU,

00;06;46;24 - 00;06;49;11
Anna Reger
one of my friends actually died in that car accident.

00;06;49;11 - 00;06;53;20
Anna Reger
I was read my last rites, and, you know, it just gave me a different perspective, man.

00;06;53;20 - 00;07;13;12
Anna Reger
You get a different sense of what's important in that moment. I realized when I woke up, of course, like, I couldn't walk for, like, a month. I was in a wheelchair. It was really, you know, my liver was lacerated, a lot of things going on. But I realized in that moment I tell a lot of people that, and I think that's what helps me be resilient in business is, you know, they were my last rites, man.

00;07;13;12 - 00;07;22;29
Anna Reger
And when I was going, I looked to my left and I look to my right and guess what? Nobody was coming with me. Do not think too hard about what people think about me. Right?

00;07;22;29 - 00;07;30;26
Anna Reger
I looked down and man, nothing was coming with me either. Everything was cut off and I was naked. Like the way I came into the world, right?

00;07;30;26 - 00;07;56;21
Anna Reger
So it gave me this perspective of, you know, don't worry all the time what people think. Don't worry so much about material things. They're nice. They're great. Yes, but that's not what I want to be about in my life and my future. And so that's when I decided that I wanted my my dad had died. I went through a lot of things at that particular time, right around that particular time, and I just wanted to do something different for me and my family.

00;07;56;21 - 00;08;11;18
Anna Reger
As an oldest, I'm the oldest of seven, and so I wanted to do something different, and I thought, I need to go and set the example and go back to school. And that's really what drove me. And then not even a year later or two, I was in another accident cause I was having to work double night shifts and stuff.

00;08;11;18 - 00;08;13;22
Anna Reger
I took care of the kids at the home and,

00;08;13;22 - 00;08;18;14
Anna Reger
fell asleep at the wheel, and my face was crushed. And man, that was a tough time. And,

00;08;18;14 - 00;08;27;18
Anna Reger
it was really, really hard. And again, you know, it was like I had another epiphany. But in that time, I had to move in with my parents, and I hadn't lived there since I was like 14.

00;08;27;18 - 00;08;35;07
Anna Reger
And my dad took care of me. My dad was blind, and he would stay home with me, and he took care of me. And I thank God now for that, because,

00;08;35;07 - 00;08;41;14
Anna Reger
had I not had that accident, I probably wouldn't have had that time with my dad because he died shortly after that.

00;08;41;16 - 00;08;42;02
Craig Andrews
I got.

00;08;42;02 - 00;08;46;03
Anna Reger
To spend this time that I lost when I left home. Right. And,

00;08;46;03 - 00;08;56;23
Anna Reger
Yeah. So I had my father and and it just I look back now, I think it was horrible time for me, but I had so much good time with my dad, and I really am thankful for that. Now.

00;08;56;26 - 00;09;02;16
Craig Andrews
Wow. Oh my goodness. Yeah. And you know, I there's a lesson in that.

00;09;02;16 - 00;09;08;05
Craig Andrews
You know, there's so many hidden blessings and in tragedy,

00;09;08;05 - 00;09;11;15
Craig Andrews
you know, and it's funny, I was texting somebody this morning,

00;09;11;15 - 00;09;20;18
Craig Andrews
about that. He had written something about how do you want to be remembered? He publishes a weekly newsletter. I text them, I say, hey, I read that I really liked it and,

00;09;20;18 - 00;09;22;01
Craig Andrews
said, you know, I,

00;09;22;01 - 00;09;30;01
Craig Andrews
I so I, I had the rare privilege of being presumed dead and seeing how people respond.

00;09;30;04 - 00;09;36;00
Craig Andrews
And it's, it gives you a unique insight on the people around you.

00;09;36;02 - 00;09;37;21
Anna Reger
Yeah.

00;09;37;24 - 00;09;47;27
Craig Andrews
So oh my goodness. Well, I'm glad you made it. I mean, I that just had to be daunting that they're reading last rites and.

00;09;47;29 - 00;09;55;05
Anna Reger
That was interesting. And then I was like, no way, man, I'm not ready. I'm not one is not no way. I'm

00;09;55;05 - 00;10;07;16
Anna Reger
I'm a fighter. You know, this is not this is not the way I want to go. Oh, man. I was celebrating my 21st birthday. You know, this is crazy. But I did again. You know, one of my friends did go, and then I thought a little bit of guilt, you know?

00;10;07;16 - 00;10;24;13
Anna Reger
How come that person. Not me, you know? So I was not driving. It was not my fault in any kind of way. But, you know, you still have that, you know, if you have somebody that's there and you, you're there and you, you live and they don't, it's kind of a little sad. You know, it was a really sad situation for me.

00;10;24;16 - 00;10;35;11
Craig Andrews
Yeah, I bet. Yeah. And I don't think a lot of people understand survivor's guilt. And until they experience it. Right. And it's it's not rational.

00;10;35;11 - 00;10;37;08
Craig Andrews
But it's intense.

00;10;37;11 - 00;10;57;04
Anna Reger
But as a 21 year old, it's, it's it's hard, you know, you don't have that like, now I probably it'd be a different perspective. But at a 21 year old, it was really tough, you know, but I, I got through that and I'm thankful that I did come out, you know, stronger and not use that as an excuse to not be where I am today.

00;10;57;06 - 00;11;15;21
Craig Andrews
Well, I mean, I went through survivor's guilt when I woke up from my mom and my 50s and I know how hard it was for you, but it was hard for me. It just you. You feel like you got something you didn't deserve.

00;11;15;24 - 00;11;17;03
Anna Reger
That's true.

00;11;17;05 - 00;11;18;03
Craig Andrews
Yeah.

00;11;18;06 - 00;11;31;27
Anna Reger
But then I also feel that I'm supposed to do something. And that's part of what pushes me every day, too, you know, because of that situation, I am here and there's something bigger than I'm supposed to be doing because, man, that was tough.

00;11;31;29 - 00;11;46;15
Craig Andrews
Yeah, well, let's talk a little bit about FlipLok because you're making a big difference there. I mean, when talk about mission, what is FlipLok and and how did it come to be.

00;11;46;17 - 00;12;10;16
Anna Reger
So my mom, like I said, and I'm a step mom to five, I have a biological daughter with my husband, and she's now older, 13, and she was in elementary and I was sitting in my office and I got the alert that I never got with any of the other kids. So it was never realistic for me that there could be a lockdown active situation at in our area, much less our school, and it was a drill or something had happened and they had locked the school down.

00;12;10;16 - 00;12;26;18
Anna Reger
So when I got home, I asked my daughter what do you do? She said, oh mommy, I run in the classroom. My teacher, you know, get against the wall with my friends. Teacher locks the door, teacher turns off the light. And I thought, well, okay, how do you know if the door's locked? And she said, well, I don't.

00;12;26;18 - 00;12;28;10
Anna Reger
The teacher does that. Well,

00;12;28;10 - 00;12;43;16
Anna Reger
can you lock the door? And she was like, no, mommy, teacher. I said, okay, what do you do if your teachers are not with you? And I got deer in headlights? And I was absolutely. I mean, I saw it in her face. She was scared. She didn't know what to do if her teacher wasn't there.

00;12;43;16 - 00;13;04;01
Anna Reger
And I was scared. Of course, I started doing research and I started asking the people and asking the school, but they really didn't have a plan outside of that. And that's really what prompted me to think of our research, actually, what was out there for our kids at this at that moment, because surely somebody came up with a bunch of amazing solutions because this is not something new that's been going on.

00;13;04;01 - 00;13;12;22
Anna Reger
Right? And so that's where it was started. And I had been on my husband, my husband's a creator, inventor and always, you know, serial entrepreneurs since he was, you know, 15 and

00;13;12;22 - 00;13;23;15
Anna Reger
actually 14 as well. And so I just, you know, started talking to him about it and we started researching and looking and trying to find something to give to her, to kids like her, and then,

00;13;23;15 - 00;13;26;19
Anna Reger
asking around like I spoke to other kids because I'm an entrepreneur.

00;13;26;19 - 00;13;40;23
Anna Reger
They wanted me to speak, and I asked the Girl Scouts, you know, like, hey, you know, can I ask you this? And I asked them and same thing. They didn't know what to do if their teacher wasn't there. And this is mostly for elementary kids, which to me are the most vulnerable group. Right. And so that's where it came from.

00;13;40;23 - 00;13;52;21
Anna Reger
And then all of a sudden, you know, one night I was with my husband and the next morning he woke up and he was like, I got it. I got the I got what it is. Let's that's. And I was like, show me because I know I need this thing. And then, you know, over, you know, a couple,

00;13;52;21 - 00;13;54;00
Anna Reger
a lot of research and development.

00;13;54;00 - 00;14;06;26
Anna Reger
I was like, just call the office and get our guy in the office to put it on the 3D printer. I want to see it because I'm not a visual. I'm totally like, I need to see it. I'm not a creative person. I need to see, like, what is this thing? And then that was when it first started.

00;14;06;26 - 00;14;15;15
Anna Reger
And then it and it needs to be read. It needs to start going on what needs to do all these things. Because I'm a mom and I'm thinking about all the things that our kids need, and that's really where it came from, was,

00;14;15;15 - 00;14;23;29
Anna Reger
I was scared. And then I thought, oh my God, I can't unsee this. And then, you know, in the middle of us making it, doing patterns and all that,

00;14;23;29 - 00;14;25;01
Anna Reger
usually happen.

00;14;25;01 - 00;14;40;23
Anna Reger
And my husband told me prior to that, you know, the next big one is the next shooting, and I just couldn't hear it. I didn't want to believe that there would be another one. To be honest, I thought I didn't want I don't know why, I just didn't want to accept that. And when that happened, it really, really like, man, I was sick for

00;14;40;23 - 00;14;42;23
Anna Reger
for a couple of weeks.

00;14;42;26 - 00;14;44;16
Anna Reger
Just knowing that.

00;14;44;19 - 00;14;49;15
Craig Andrews
And for those not familiar with the geography of Uvalde is, what, two, three hours from you?

00;14;49;17 - 00;14;52;05
Anna Reger
Yeah. Yeah. Really close.

00;14;52;07 - 00;14;52;28
Craig Andrews
Yeah.

00;14;53;01 - 00;15;04;03
Anna Reger
But it's like, man, I don't care if these kids are in another country, man. These are people's kids. You just sent your baby to school. That's your heart running around outside of your body. And for me, it's just was so,

00;15;04;03 - 00;15;06;01
Anna Reger
just.

00;15;06;03 - 00;15;18;14
Craig Andrews
So the concept is, you know, I I've seen it again. We we go out primarily of our audio. So I'm going to try to describe it. It basically looks like a giant hinge. It looks like you went to the grocery store and bought or to the,

00;15;18;14 - 00;15;27;11
Craig Andrews
hardware store and bought a gigantic hinge and painted it red. And it's something that the kids can flip when the doors closed.

00;15;27;11 - 00;15;28;15
Craig Andrews
The hinge,

00;15;28;15 - 00;15;33;07
Craig Andrews
it's like the lock that we wish they put in the hotels, but they don't put no hotels.

00;15;33;09 - 00;15;48;20
Anna Reger
Yes. So you just flip it in the patent, it drops and locks into place. Right. And then, you know, to your point. Yeah, we made one for the jacket for our daughter that moved into our first apartment, like, oh my gosh, we need a home. One of these things. So we made a smaller version because I was like, somebody has a key to her apartment.

00;15;48;20 - 00;16;02;04
Anna Reger
And they didn't let her put it at the front door. I said, put it in your bedroom. I'll pay for it. I don't care, because I need to know that you're going to be safe. And we have kids all over. We have kids in Oregon. He's a dog. We have, you know, daughter that lives in Thailand. I mean, our kids are everywhere.

00;16;02;04 - 00;16;13;11
Anna Reger
And we can only do so much as a parent, but we worry about them. What can we do when they're not with us? And this was a way for us to feel better about where our kids are and not being with us.

00;16;13;13 - 00;16;26;03
Craig Andrews
So and I think it's really hard for people to picture what this thing does. I mean, so yeah, it looks like a hinge, but the you've tested it with what, battering rams.

00;16;26;05 - 00;16;44;23
Anna Reger
Yeah. So it's, it's a, it's like a hinge. It attaches to the frame of the door on the side that opens. And then all they do is shut the door. They flip it, it drops, it locks into place. And then we had it tested. It holds over 2,500 pounds of pressure for that. And to give a little background, you know, most deadbolts are 100 to 200 pounds of pressure.

00;16;44;25 - 00;16;52;26
Anna Reger
And then when you lock it for the schools, there's an unlocking mechanism because you need to be able to get in a school classroom right. So we were

00;16;52;26 - 00;17;09;26
Anna Reger
asked to do that. The fire marshals asked us we needed to make a one motion to to get in. There was a lot of things that we had to do to continue this journey of my mission to put these in schools, and so I've just been able to pivot and reevaluate and work with, you know, fire people and things.

00;17;09;28 - 00;17;27;14
Anna Reger
But I think it gives if you think about it, it's a big red lock that sits on the door when the kids go into the classroom and even the teachers, they see this big red lock and they go, oh my gosh, I know what I'm going to do if this situation comes up. They're no longer thinking about, what do I do if somebody comes in?

00;17;27;14 - 00;17;42;24
Anna Reger
Because this is the world our kids live in, whether we want to admit it or not, five years old and up, I've talked to them all and they see it. They know what they're going to do. The teacher is no longer the only one that can walk the classroom. Now everybody can go back to learning and teaching, which is really the goal here.

00;17;43;01 - 00;17;44;03
Anna Reger
But even with that,

00;17;44;03 - 00;17;46;21
Anna Reger
we've had our lock tested. We've actually just had it shot.

00;17;46;21 - 00;17;51;27
Anna Reger
And it's withstood really, really, really well. There's a video out that just came out and,

00;17;51;27 - 00;18;01;18
Anna Reger
you flip it, you, it drops, it locks, and the kids know they can get away from the door really, really quick. But when it's in the lock position, it says call 911 on it because it reminds the kids for the next action step.

00;18;01;18 - 00;18;16;03
Anna Reger
Because when I was doing my research, the kids were recording the person on the other side of the door, which was like, oh my God, you guys need to get away from the door. So this is a way for them to flip it, tell them to get away, and then it reminds them of call for help. You know, you need to call for help.

00;18;16;03 - 00;18;23;05
Anna Reger
You don't need to be recording the person on the other side. So that way we can get help into that classroom. And that's really what this is about for me.

00;18;23;05 - 00;18;38;03
Anna Reger
I believe if we can lock every classroom down, we can save numerous lives. And actually, I believe if we put flip locks in schools, then the person that's come in there to do that type of situation probably won't want to go to that school because they're not going to get what they want, which is mass casualties.

00;18;38;06 - 00;18;58;00
Craig Andrews
Yeah. So you were telling me, you know, you have this great idea and you're like, okay, I'm going to go do this. And all of a sudden you start finding all the hurdles. You got a fire marshal to deal with what we're what were the hurdles? I mean, because it seems really simple in the face of it. We're going to add a lock to the classroom, but it's not that simple.

00;18;58;03 - 00;19;00;04
Anna Reger
No. There's codes. There's,

00;19;00;04 - 00;19;11;16
Anna Reger
So in some states, the fire codes are different. I don't know why, but they are. And so in some states, my lock the way it is with an unlocking mechanism works perfect for those schools. But in,

00;19;11;16 - 00;19;13;12
Anna Reger
in Texas and Texas,

00;19;13;12 - 00;19;17;20
Anna Reger
that is not the fire code that they go by. So in Texas, you have to have a one motion egress.

00;19;17;20 - 00;19;33;00
Anna Reger
So the fire marshal met with me and I said, look, you know, and she said, you know, you can't I'm not going to allow this in. It's not a one motion. I said, ma'am, you know, can you do me a favor and can you? She goes, I was like, what is one motion egress? You said, where you turn the handle and it lets everybody out of the classroom at one time.

00;19;33;00 - 00;19;48;07
Anna Reger
And I said, okay, it opens the door at once. And I said, okay, well, can you do me a favor and can you Google desk against the door? And can you talk about can then we talk about, you know, egress situation because I think moving desks away from the door after they've stacked them up is,

00;19;48;07 - 00;19;51;14
Anna Reger
a bigger fire hazard than having a flip lock on a door.

00;19;51;17 - 00;20;02;18
Anna Reger
And so a couple days later, we heard back from her and she said, you know, I have grandkids in school. And, you know, if you guys can make this a one motion egress, I will absolutely write you a letter. And I said, well, okay, well,

00;20;02;18 - 00;20;06;16
Anna Reger
can you tell us if this is a good motion or not? And so we went into

00;20;06;16 - 00;20;15;12
Anna Reger
research and development on that, and we created something along with them to say that this would meet code, because the my whole thing was, I don't want to work against the fire people.

00;20;15;12 - 00;20;20;20
Anna Reger
They want to save lives, too. How can we work together? And for me, that was very important. And so now

00;20;20;20 - 00;20;34;27
Anna Reger
moving forward and every school that I go into, please contact your fire marshal and ask them which one meets your code. I do not want you guys to get in trouble for anything. And so that's really something that I've had to take and go into my business, which I never thought about.

00;20;34;27 - 00;20;40;25
Anna Reger
I just thought schools are going to want it. Schools need it. They can do it, not the way it works.

00;20;40;27 - 00;20;47;23
Craig Andrews
Yeah. And then isn't there a requirement to be able to unlock it from the outside?

00;20;47;26 - 00;21;06;25
Anna Reger
Yes. So that was my original. I did not have an unlocking mechanism. So I had to create an unlocking tool for emergency personnel and first responders to be able to get inside, or even security or administrators in the case of somebody, I, one of the kids in the classroom, which we did, and we wanted to make sure that it was, you know, something reasonable that,

00;21;06;25 - 00;21;11;01
Anna Reger
security and everyone could be able to have access to that particular key.

00;21;11;03 - 00;21;31;13
Anna Reger
There's an inward and an outward. So some doors push out some doors, and we had to make an an outward version of this lock because we did not have one. And that was another thing. Now that I'm thinking about it, that we had to come up with another issue to a solution, a solution that we needed to create, because schools, a lot of schools, the doors push out and not every school has inward.

00;21;31;13 - 00;21;49;16
Anna Reger
So we wanted to do that and then also have the same unlocking mechanism. And we wanted it to be the same key for those particular schools, because we didn't want the security officers having to look for another key, not knowing which lock it was. So we make that standardized across the school. So there was a lot of thinking that you have to think about, right.

00;21;49;16 - 00;21;51;10
Anna Reger
How big is this key? Is it going to fit on

00;21;51;10 - 00;21;51;17
Anna Reger
a

00;21;51;17 - 00;22;01;16
Anna Reger
bill? Is it going to be something easy to use? Is it quick to get into the classroom? A lot of things you have to think about when you're going into a school situation.

00;22;01;18 - 00;22;05;19
Craig Andrews
Yeah. So how many schools are you having to manage?

00;22;05;21 - 00;22;14;01
Anna Reger
Right now I have well, in the school side I only have two locks. And then I have the unlocking mechanisms, the keys and the,

00;22;14;01 - 00;22;24;04
Anna Reger
one motion is we have to have one motion for inward. And what motion for outward? Because that's an attachment, right? They you need it or you don't need it. Some schools don't need it.

00;22;24;07 - 00;22;26;01
Craig Andrews
Wow. Okay.

00;22;26;03 - 00;22;36;02
Anna Reger
And then the home version I have three colors of the same size. And then the outward a smaller outward because we didn't have that either. But people were like, I would love this for my home. But my doors open out and

00;22;36;02 - 00;22;39;19
Anna Reger
I was like, just make it. I was like, I don't know, let me think about it. Let me think about it.

00;22;39;19 - 00;22;57;15
Anna Reger
And then finally we made one and people wanted, I guess coastal homes have to have it because their doors are outward swinging, which we live in Texas. We didn't think that, so we made that as well. And so that's another thing that came out of this with people calling and asking us if we could really make something better than what was on the market.

00;22;57;15 - 00;23;04;07
Anna Reger
Apparently there's not very many locks that are, strong enough for people that they felt they wanted us to make one. So we did.

00;23;04;10 - 00;23;14;05
Craig Andrews
Yeah. Well, in the in the ratio that we were talking about, you know, your average deadbolts good for would you say 100, 200 pounds? Right. And yours is 2500.

00;23;14;07 - 00;23;27;12
Anna Reger
The red lock is 25 and the school lock is 2500. The home one was tested by QVC because I went on there and they said 1,669 pounds of pressure is what the home lock does. But we actually had both of them shot and both of them,

00;23;27;12 - 00;23;28;05
Anna Reger
stood up to,

00;23;28;05 - 00;23;29;16
Anna Reger
an AR 15 bullet.

00;23;29;16 - 00;23;31;14
Anna Reger
And several of them actually.

00;23;31;16 - 00;23;43;29
Anna Reger
So I was told it was going to bust apart when they shot it, and I was totally prepared to have to scrap the whole deal. But when it didn't, I was so excited to show that what I say, because people would ask me, and what happens if this what

00;23;43;29 - 00;23;45;23
Anna Reger
this is what it's made for. Have you tested it?

00;23;45;23 - 00;23;57;23
Anna Reger
And I don't I don't shoot guns. I don't know anything about that. So I met somebody that interviewed me a year ago about it. And so I went on, asked him for six months, like, can you please? He was like, I'm just going to tell you, I think it's going to burn,

00;23;57;23 - 00;23;59;18
Anna Reger
blow apart. And I said, well, I really want to see that.

00;23;59;18 - 00;24;04;14
Anna Reger
Like, if it does and I have a problem. So and it didn't. So I was really happy to see that it

00;24;04;14 - 00;24;06;01
Anna Reger
held up.

00;24;06;04 - 00;24;06;29
Craig Andrews
You know, I

00;24;06;29 - 00;24;17;20
Craig Andrews
one of the things I admire is the way that you worked with the with the fire marshal. Instead of seeing him as an adversary, you enlisted them as an advocate. And, you know, I remember back, I live in a,

00;24;17;20 - 00;24;31;16
Craig Andrews
suburb of Austin called Big Cave, and there was this guy that was working on this big development, and I went to a chamber of commerce meeting, and he's talking about the development, but when he's talking about he's just ripping into the city council, left him right.

00;24;31;18 - 00;24;43;17
Craig Andrews
And these are the people that have to approve this project. And I there were council members in the meeting. I went up to one of them afterwards and said and said, Chris has an interesting method of persuasion. And they laughed and they,

00;24;43;17 - 00;24;53;03
Craig Andrews
they said, yeah, you know, it was interesting. There was someone else who was applying the PNC at the same time to have a building.

00;24;53;05 - 00;24;57;29
Craig Andrews
That building has been open was actually two buildings.

00;24;57;29 - 00;25;21;24
Craig Andrews
It's been built open and had filled with tenants for at least five years, at least five years. And the other project that, Chris, they just started working on it in the last six months. And, you know, we run into these barriers, we run into fire marshals. I love your approach of working with them, turning them into advocates.

00;25;21;27 - 00;25;23;04
Anna Reger
Right. I even went to,

00;25;23;04 - 00;25;37;18
Anna Reger
Door Hardware Institute person. They're like a nonprofit. And I said, can you tell me if this meets code? Because it's got a hole in this and this? And the guy went through the code book, I said, and just tell me, you know, privately, if I need to fix something before you blast it.

00;25;37;18 - 00;25;57;16
Anna Reger
And he was like, absolutely. And he did. And he was like, thank you for bringing it to us. And so I shifted to them and it met everything. And he even quoted the code. So when schools or people like building, people try to tell me it's not. I send them the codes and I get the expert guy that he has nothing who goes, I can not endorse it, I can not, I can just tell you if it meets codes.

00;25;57;23 - 00;26;02;15
Anna Reger
And I said, that's all I want because I have no clue what these people are talking about. Right.

00;26;02;15 - 00;26;15;05
Anna Reger
And so I think it's good, like you said. And I always say you can get more BS with honey than you can with vinegar. So you should always practice being kind. Kindness is just a theme for me. I believe it doesn't cost anything to be kind.

00;26;15;11 - 00;26;19;17
Anna Reger
You can change somebody's life by smiling at them, saying something nice.

00;26;19;17 - 00;26;30;09
Anna Reger
You never know what people are going through in their life when you're passing by, and if they're angry, they may be dealing with something that you don't know about. And so you should really just practice being kind. That's important for me.

00;26;30;11 - 00;26;32;16
Craig Andrews
Yeah. Well, in,

00;26;32;16 - 00;26;42;06
Craig Andrews
in your journey, if there is one piece of advice that you would share with other business owners, something you've learned in the process, what would that be?

00;26;42;08 - 00;26;58;24
Anna Reger
That you don't always have to have an exact plan to go into action, that you're going to learn as you go. You shouldn't just try to go for it and you're not going to get it right. Right. I went to go, I was going to do speaking and I was going to get in front and I was like, oh, I need to do, I need to do, I need to do.

00;26;58;24 - 00;26;59;10
Anna Reger
And then,

00;26;59;10 - 00;27;16;07
Anna Reger
my friend was like my actually my mentor and coach. She said, Anna, you don't need to do anything. You need to get up there. You need to share your mission, and you need to share what you're trying to do. And you're going to learn along the way. And then my friend who was a TV reporter, channel 13, I called her, you know, for some information, and she was like, Anna,

00;27;16;07 - 00;27;18;01
Anna Reger
you won't make the same mistake twice.

00;27;18;01 - 00;27;34;20
Anna Reger
And I was like, okay, I got that. So there you go. I think you won't make the same mistake twice. You try to minimize your, you know, your losses. You know, try to be realistic. If you're if you're looking to take something to market, let's say, for example, you have an idea, you want to take it to market.

00;27;34;20 - 00;27;35;28
Anna Reger
My husband is really, really,

00;27;35;28 - 00;27;50;26
Anna Reger
aware about this. He says, can you take it to market and sell it to 100 people? Can you take it to market and sell it to a thousand people? If you can, then you really don't have a business because research and development is a big investment not only in your time but financially.

00;27;51;03 - 00;27;57;13
Anna Reger
Right. And once you get it made. So you need to make sure that you have a market that you can sell to that's going to continue to give you,

00;27;57;13 - 00;28;03;18
Anna Reger
an ROI, or else you really don't have a viable business that's going to really get you to where you believe you should be.

00;28;03;18 - 00;28;07;12
Anna Reger
And I think that's something in any business you go into.

00;28;07;15 - 00;28;16;13
Craig Andrews
Well, Anna, this has been amazing. I appreciate your mission. I think I think kids will be safer because of your work. And,

00;28;16;13 - 00;28;18;24
Craig Andrews
how can people reach you?

00;28;18;27 - 00;28;24;20
Anna Reger
They can find me at an I flip, like, dot com. They can find me on social media and trigger,

00;28;24;20 - 00;28;31;04
Anna Reger
official or flip lock. They can contact me anyway at flip lock.com, and that's flip al.com.

00;28;31;04 - 00;28;37;18
Anna Reger
And you can call me. I'm always available. I'm never too busy for anybody and no one person. No school is too small for me.

00;28;37;18 - 00;28;39;01
Anna Reger
If you have one student,

00;28;39;01 - 00;28;40;12
Anna Reger
there.

00;28;40;15 - 00;28;42;17
Craig Andrews
All right. Well, thanks, Hannah.

00;28;42;20 - 00;28;45;15
Anna Reger
Thank you.

00;28;45;15 - 00;29;12;11
Craig Andrews
This is Craig Andrews. I want to thank you for listening to the Leaders and Legacies podcast. We're looking for leaders to share how they're making the impact beyond themselves. If that's you, please go to Alize for me.com/guest and sign up there. If you got something out of this interview, we would love you to share this

00;29;12;11 - 00;29;14;06
Craig Andrews
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00;29;14;08 - 00;29;37;18
Craig Andrews
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00;29;37;20 - 00;29;45;25
Craig Andrews
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00;29;45;25 - 00;31;47;28
Craig Andrews
It means a lot to my team. If you want to know more, please go to Alize for me.com. or follow me on LinkedIn. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time.