25 Minutes With Eric Becker & His Favorite Color

Ron Lyons (00:00):

Welcome to Celinaradio.com recorded right here in Celina, Texas, a quiet little dusty sleepy town that has absolutely nothing going on, Guys. I am so totally kidding about, of course, this is Texas and we have everything going on here. Now I'm Ron Lyons. This is Celinaradio.com and we intend to have a good time. So put on your seatbelt and let's get started.

Ron Lyons (00:43):

Hello, Celina, Texas, and welcome to the Celinaradio.com podcast episode four. Today we continue our pursuit of yet another of the candidates for Celina city council today. Eric Becker takes a little time sits and lets us kind of deep dive into Eric behind the scenes, not the Eric on the signs, not the Eric on the postcards and that sort of thing. And in other words, not Eric, the candidate, but Eric, the human being. So Eric Becker is a local business owner. He's been around Celina for some time. He has a well known name. He's got a well known business and he allowed me to come into his shop in Celina, sit down, take a little bit of his time and have a discussion. And it's interesting, quite a few things that I think you're gonna find fascinating about Eric, about his likes and dislikes and, and that sort of thing. And Eric has a tendency to just kind of speak his mind and I can certainly respect that. So guys sit back and let's find out a little bit more about Eric Becker. So I am here with Eric Becker and Eric is actually running for Celina city council. Eric, how are you doing? Doing

Eric Becker (02:11): Good. Good.

Ron Lyons (02:12):
Tell me, tell me a little bit about yourself. Tell me how long have you been in Celina? What do you do?

What, what, what what's Eric Becker's life look like?

Eric Becker (02:22):

So very active. The that's for sure. So we've actually lived here 17 years now. Stay heavily involved from church in the city and then work also. So I actually own and operate automation, integration. Many people recognize us around town from the actual green trucks. So we are the, we are those guys driving all over town. And so that keeps us extremely busy.

Ron Lyons (02:49):

So we are actually in a portion of your office right now and, and you've got quite the the, the, the, the bunch of cars out there with the wraps on them. So tell me what, what does automation integration do? What is that business?

Eric Becker (03:03):

Yep. So we do a little bit of everything. We started back in 1999 doing doing a pro sound. We now do home a home automation. So that's your your actual security cam under the house? Tvs, media room, speakers, shades, all that stuff on the actual commercial side of things. We also do high voltage work. So all your, all your plugs, lights, fixtures, and all that.

Ron Lyons (03:37):

So you stay really busy. We're right now, I would assume that in Celina there's a lot of work and you've probably got a lot more coming up. Is, is that, is that is that I, I love audio video stuff, but is that, is that really rewarding for you? Like, do you love doing that kind of stuff? Does it, is it kind of like your passion?

Eric Becker (03:55):

It is. I truly enjoy it. It's because every day is isn't the same since we're not doing the same cookie cutter alarm systems, we're not just a cheapo alarm system company every day is different. Every system is different, even if you use the same components, it never goes to the same. So every day is different. Every day is something new, new and fun. Right?

Ron Lyons (04:16):

And your name is well known around town. A lot of P people have a lot of respect for you. I, I have certainly known you for some time and, and what you do around here. And, and I just wanna say, thank you so much for coming on the show. Thanks, sir. It's it's much appreciated. And, and what we're gonna do is we're not gonna get all deep off into platforms and, you know, all that kind of stuff, all that stuff is probably out there. And so what I want to ask you right now is do you have, you know, maybe a Facebook page or a website or a phone number, anything like that you wanna share so that people can learn more about that aspect of your efforts for city council?

Eric Becker (04:53):

Yep. The overall easiest way we, yes, there's, there's a Facebook page, Eric Becker for Celina city council place one, but those are sometimes difficult and hard to find. So the easiest way to find out anything about me and get links everywhere else is, our site, which is be Becker for salon.com.

Ron Lyons (05:10):

Okay. That sounds awesome. So, and, and we'll add that into the show notes and stuff like that. So people can find that as well at the end, but gimme a quick idea. Are you loving, running for office or is it awful? What is it? I, I think it's, I think you kind of have, you know, one end or the other I've run for office a couple of times I've run a lot of campaigns and, and done political action committees. And I love it. I, I think it's fantastic, but what's your experience so far?

Eric Becker (05:37):

I would say overall, I'm actually the actual met middle of it. So there are parts of it that are great and fun. I love, I love meeting new people, meeting old people, talking about things, talking about topics inside that actually matter to, to, to actually have everyone and having a good time doing it. Unfortunately, there are parts that actually are aren't fun. And I hope that those would just end and we could actually talk about, about things that, that matter.

Ron Lyons (06:04):

Right. And I understand politics, unfortunately always comes with two faces. You've got one where it's, it's exciting and fun and you do it for all the right reasons. And then you've got kind of that other side. That's just, well, it's kind of ugly sometimes. Yep. But thankfully, we're not talking about that. What I do have today is some questions that you're 100% unprepared for. I have not sent them to you in advance. You, you may have heard on some of the other interviews to get an idea, but I'm gonna change them just a little bit so that you don't get the exact same questions. So, so let's have a little bit of fun with this.

First of all. So I, I'm just gonna start with like the, the kind of the basic question that is real interesting to me. Probably nobody else probably cares about it, but if you could sit down with anyone in history and have a cup of coffee, who would you wanna sit down with and chat?

Eric Becker (06:57):

So that's a good one. It's hard to say there's so, so many people out there like to, you know, it's, I would say go back to when we actually founded the, the actual country, George Washington is, how did it all start? How did we really end up here? What does that, cuz that is building a business essentially from the ground up, did it start? How did we get there? What is it? You know?

Ron Lyons (07:21):

Absolutely. And let me ask you this, what do you think if you were able to sit down with him and he knows nothing about what's going on in today's world, you're, you're literally sitting at summer moon having a cup of coffee and, and he sees all these cars driving around and stuff, but what do you think he is about the world? What do you think he what's? What, what's his impression of the world today?

Eric Becker (07:43):

I think that think overall they'd like how it, so he like how it really has not, yes. The world's changed a whole lot at the end of the day. What they started is still here and is still actually functioning and May's governments across the world. Can't function. That this long, we take our same government system and try to put it somewhere else. It falls apart after years. And the fact that it's still still here today at the end of it and the, the documents and what they did is still here. And we're still actually using them now.

Ron Lyons (08:20):

I agree. So that would be a fantastic conversation. One that I would definitely be interested in listening to give me an idea right now, if you could about your favorite movie of all time, and then I'm gonna ask you, I'm gonna ask you some questions about it, but what's, what's your favorite movie. If you had to just pick one off the top, up your head, what would it be?

Eric Becker (08:41):
Oh, dear. I would say national lampoons, Christmas Vacation.

Ron Lyons (08:50):

I absolutely love that movie myself, so. Okay. All right. So if you could, this, this is gonna be an easy question then. Who would you be in the movie? If you could be anyone, would you, would you be Chevy chase character. Okay. Yep. Awesome. So, so that, and that's fun. That's, that's good. That's exciting. And I think that that's that yeah, that probably fits your personality and I think that's awesome. I think that's a good thing. I think that's a, a Testament to who you are in your sense of humor. So if, if you could write a book right now, do you have any idea what you would like to write a book about?

Eric Becker (09:27):

I would say I'm not sure if you'd be writing the book more of trying to learn more. It's just, I think I have some knowledge to pass on would be D dealing with actual employees and the process and running a company and trying to explain that it's not everything it's, it's not as easy as it seems. And almost trying to talk people out of it to a point it's, it's not, I mean, I think I'm doing good. I enjoy what I do every day,

but it's not the easiest road to take. Sometimes staying as the employee or manager are, is actual better option.

Ron Lyons (09:57):

Right. And, and that makes sense. That would be a really, really good book. Your favorite color green and, okay, so your favorite color's green. I, I, there's a big green wall sitting right next to me, so I probably could have guessed that there's, there's green things around the room, so I probably could have guessed that. What is, what does that say about you? What is, what does that, is there any connection to, like, what, what, what does green say about Eric Becker?

Eric Becker (10:21):

I don't know what it says, but I definitely live it through and through from green vehicles to green sunglasses, to green clothes to I I there's an actual green, green green, green bus parked outside. I went to college based upon the actual Coke. Cut call cut. Color green. So,

Ron Lyons (10:39):

So, so I'm taking it. You went to U N T? Yes, sir. Okay. All right. Me too. That's awesome. Good. And let me, let me, let me <laugh>, that's so awesome. I, I literally didn't even think about it. There is there's green cars, there's green walls, there's green, everything. So that's, that's really awesome. What is, what is probably one of your most, this isn't necessarily a fun question, but it, it rides on the coattails of what you're saying about basic leadership and in an organization what would you consider one of your most one of your strongest characteristics or, or, or personality traits or something like that? Like what, what is your strong suit?

Eric Becker (11:15):

I would say I, it's a strength and of weakness at the same time, and that's not saying no, always, always out there to help, you know, wi wi wi wi with, with wi wi with anything out there, no matter what, what, what, what it is, but at the same time you can't overextend yourself. Right?

Ron Lyons (11:37):

Absolutely. And it is, you, you become kind of a, kind of a shepherd or kind of a helper. And before you know it, you know, it, it, it becomes burdensome, but if it's built into you, if it's in your DNA, you really can't, you can't help it. So tell me this favorite subject in school.

Eric Becker (11:55): Oh, dear.

Speaker 3 (11:56): <Laugh>

Eric Becker (11:58):
Definitely not English. As people have seen that online. Definitely not that probably science.

Ron Lyons (12:04):

Okay. Science. Wow. That's awesome. It kind of goes hand in hand with what you do now, professionally. There's, there's some connection there. I can kind of see that

Eric Becker (12:12):

It's that desire to understand things. And that's, my guys will say in anyone else in a lot, and it's even whether it's a city employee or another business or whatever, if someone's doing something, I'm the guy asking you, why are we doing like that? I'm not trying to quiz whatever. I'm not trying to trap you. I'm I am. I'm actually cur curious, why do we, why is it actual P PRAP for, for plumbing? That's been built, built like that. Why are we framing a wall like that? I want to know.

Ron Lyons (12:40):

Absolutely. Because you have a better understanding when you know these things. No, no, that makes perfect sense to me. What if you could, if you could go back, if I could go back right now and talk to one of your teachers, what would they say about you? What kind student were you, were you on a always in trouble? Were you a breakfast club at which one? Which one of the breakfast club kind of kids would you have been in school?

Eric Becker (13:00):
So I've definitely changed a lot. I was the very shy kid didn't really do a whole lot was in band and just

kind of hung out very small group, group, group of friends. And, yeah.

Ron Lyons (13:10):

So you were, so you were like the Ali Sheie character, basically. Just not a so, yeah, I gotcha. Okay. And, and do you have an idea right now, like with, with all the stuff going on in Celina, all the growth and that sort of thing, what are we missing right now? What do we need in Celina at this point in time?

Eric Becker (13:32):

It's an interesting one. So I think everything's coming at the right pace. Obviously, people want more, more big box and you've got these two sides of the actual coin. You have a group that wants the big box and all the chain restaurants and all that. I think we need small, smaller mom and pop stuff. Give it a chance to grow. And actually for, for flourish before all the big stuff comes summer, moon is a good example. Are they a small mom and pop anymore? No, the, the, it, it actually is, is a chain, but still a whole lot smaller than Starbucks. Let them get in here, get their actual feet, what gets set. And then we get something else. The two bakeries come coming down, down, out downtown are huge. Yes, it's two bakeries, but they do different things. Swirls. The actual Ole group is going into the old Hester space and then granny's sweet sweeties, Michaela eon, and they're opening up their actual space right next to council Chan chamber. So I think it's getting that smaller stuff in. We'll give it a chance, chance to grow right now.

Ron Lyons (14:40):
Give me an idea right now. If you buy some, you know magical turn of events, won the lottery tonight.

Okay. 10 million. What do you do tomorrow? Eric Becker (14:57):

So I've actually, we've actually had a lot of thought about this. I would probably, from a work standpoint, I would change what we, we do. I would be more selective in my jobs, but I'd still run, run the company. I need something to go to, go to go and actually do each, each day. And then we would remodel our house. I'm happy with where our house is. I've told my wife much to her degree. I am dying there. I have an acre lot in the middle of town. No, no HOA. You, you aren't gonna find it. That, that, that actually get anywhere. So I'm going to die that house. I might buy the house net next door to me if wants to sell so I can remodel both and make it a little bigger, but I'm staying right there. I like being in a neighborhood with people, but still ha ha ha having some, some actual space.

Ron Lyons (15:41):

Absolutely. And we all love Celina. Obviously we're all here. This that's, that's what, what we're doing right. Then it's Allina. But if you could live and maybe it goes hand in hand with that $10 million winning that, that you're gonna win tonight. Right. If, if you could live anywhere else in the world, in your ha and you had your choice of living anywhere, where would that be?

Eric Becker (16:04):
A beach, a beach and actual hu on, on the beach. So

Ron Lyons (16:09):
You would, so, so you wanna do that off grid thing. One like lives out and through the, do the solar cells

and, and, and all that kind of stuff. That's yeah. That's

Eric Becker (16:18):
And leave Facebook behind.

Ron Lyons (16:19):

Well, there you go. Okay. That's I, and I wouldn't complain about that. I, I often say that if it wasn't for the connections that I have and the necessity for business and things like that, I wouldn't do Facebook. I think it, I think it absolutely steals your life in many, in many ways

Eric Becker (16:36):

That it's, it's all of it. It's the, it's the Facebook, it's the texting. It's people expecting an actual instant re re re re re response to stuff now. And that's, we all have lives, you know, yesterday we were there's there's we had a, a new project and salon working on it, and I was on an actual BA Baba and all day and in a ditch, knock on the phone, not doing anything. People are posting and ask me questions. I'm not responding. They're getting upset. Sorry. We have things to do. It's not an instant world.

Ron Lyons (17:06):

Yep. No, I understand. I I actually talked to a, a, a very wise gentleman one time and he, he was, he was saying something similar to what you said. He, his, his kids were getting upset with him. They were like, dad, how come you don't respond right away? And he was like, because I want you to learn patience. You need to learn this. So I'm not gonna respond right away. And I was like, wow. That's I mean, in a small way, that's pretty epic. And, and what a great lesson. I think that, I think that we've got a lot of different places in Celina to, to go and eat lots of restaurants. We've got loosies, we've got bongo bows. We've got the Papa GAO, you name it. We've got, we've got some places now, where do you like to go?

Eric Becker (17:51):

So I got three of them. Breakfast is actually Tender recently that when you're doing the actual breakfast tacos, you actually don't have to get them in a taco form in a bowl. So when you stop there in the morning, grab it and try to drive somewhere much easier to eat. One is probably toasted Walnut, some, Tender mixes in some there. And then where you'll find me and my family almost every Friday night is Papa GS.

Ron Lyons (18:20):

Okay. I like that. I like that. And so your, your, your patterns follow mine somewhat. I, I, I, you know, unfortunately my, my, my schedule is off so much. I'm typically doing the McDonald's because it's a drive through thing. But when I can, I love to go to one of these places. I haven't done Tinder breakfast

Eric Becker (18:39):
Yet. Me too. It's awesome. Okay.

Ron Lyons (18:41):

I will. I'm gonna take your advice and definitely check that out. Now. Now I love Tinder for, you know, other meals, if, as a matter of fact I probably go there too often. So, you know, I, as you can tell, I'm, I'm not missing out on any meals right now, but if, if you are at home and you're making dinner, okay, or let's say lunch or breakfast, it doesn't matter. Whatever you choose, what are you gonna make for the family?

Eric Becker (19:08):

So I actually cook EV cook. I wouldn't say all our meals, the majority of 'em barbecue a lot. I mean, it's, it's an assortment. We don't really have something that we go back to, but I'd say my fast one, easy one is probably spaghetti. My wife doesn't want it every day. See, she's someone that wants to eat something different. Not, whereas I'll eat the same thing for meals and meals and meals on end. So

Ron Lyons (19:29):

In other words, you're just a typical guy. Yeah. Right? Yeah. I understand that. Totally get that. I'm like, my wife's like, okay, what do you want for dinner? I'm like, I don't know, whatever, just anything. And she's like, don't you want something? And I'm like, no, anything I don't care. And that you're not gonna, you know, I'm, I'm a guy I don't care. So you're gonna make spaghetti. Yep. Okay. That sounds awesome. And what do you do for side with spaghetti?

Eric Becker (19:53):
We typically do a salad in French bread.

Ron Lyons (19:56):

Okay. That sounds awesome. That sounds good. If you could go back and talk to your 18 year old self and give yourself some advice based on what you know, now, what Eric Becker knows today, you're based on your experiences. What do you tell yourself at 18?

Eric Becker (20:11):

You don't know everything in, in in this world as much as you think you do. And even if you don't realize, as you go through it's to this day, it's asking for people's advice, asking for help constantly.

Ron Lyons (20:24):

I love it and I love it. I would, I would probably, and, and this is gonna to sound really bad, but I'd probably walk up to my 18 year old self and punch me. That'd probably be my first thing. And then when I knew I had my attention, then I would probably go ahead and impart some wisdom. So I, I I think it's interesting what we would all do and, and, and it, and it just explains how far we've come. Right. Cause we're all growing, Celina's growing. And, and, and I wanna wrap this up, but I want to ask you this. What do you love about Celina? Like what, what, what just does it for you with Celina? Because clearly you're invested. Like I am. Why do you love Celina?

Eric Becker (21:02):

So it's interesting. So we moved here. We moved here looking for an natural acre land. No, no HOA hadn't even heard of salon. Didn't even know it existed. And we went north till we ended up here and within the first year or so, fell in love with it's the, it's the true small town field, the love of everyone, the, the helpfulness just everyone's got the same attitude, the same goals. And we're all just after trying to make, make this place the best it can. And no matter what happens is keep the small town feel.

Ron Lyons (21:33):

I love it. And, and, and I'll, I'm gonna ask you this win loser draw. Do you know when, when is the actual election? I think early voting starts on Monday. So we're, we're right on the edge of that. We're, we're really, really close. We have what basically almost full week of early voting. Yep. And then election day is the following week, is that correct?

Eric Becker (21:53):
Yep. So early voting is a week in an actual co

Eric Becker (21:58):

Couple days. Then we take 3, 3, 4 days off. And then the day is actually May 7th. So it's two Saturdays same day as sink go to mile, which will be a big change for salon elections, fallen on Syco de Mayo pretty much all the time for the last, a few, few, few actual years, at least, but voting's been downtown forever, and now it's not, it's the biggest thing I'm, I'm running into and talking to people. Oh yeah. Make sure, you know, it's a Colin col college now, so that's gonna play thing. The other piece is it's a big thing in slime for everyone to all the candidates to set up tents in the parking lot, hang out all day with your friends and spores and talk to everyone. Colin college doesn't allow that you can walk around the lot by yourself. You're allowed three to three to five something, small signs and that's it. So I think it's, it's gonna be a change. That

Ron Lyons (22:47):

Is, that is very, very interesting. And, and I did not know that I, I did realize when we just voted here recently that it was at the college, cuz I actually went over to the old ISD building and didn't see all the signs and didn't see the line of people walking in. So I was like maybe I'm on the wrong day, but it wasn't, it was the wrong place. So that's, that's very helpful. Good information. And, and, and will you come back the show and can we talk about other things down the road, regardless of how the election turns out? I'd love to have you back on and talk to you. I I'd love to talk to you all about your business

and the, all the AV and the, all, all of those things, because I find it obviously fascinating and I'd love to do a whole show with you just about that.

Eric Becker (23:26):

Yep. Yeah. When, when, when, when lose, or I guess not really draw in this case, there will be a winner and a loser, but I'm here on. I said, I'm not go, go going at any place. So I'll, I will continue to serve and continue, continue to do, to, to actually be, be here. So. All

Ron Lyons (23:41):

Right, Eric cool. So that guy, guys, that is Eric Becker and thank you buddy so much for coming on the show. I appreciate it more than you can possibly know. And I look forward to meeting up with you again, down the road. Maybe we'll run into each other in one of these restaurants. There we go. Me too.

Eric Becker (23:54): All right. Sounds good

Ron Lyons (24:00):

Guys. That was Eric Becker a little bit. It of who he is behind the political signs and behind all of the postcards and yeah. Kind of even behind some of the gossip and stuff like that, that's going on right now. And, and you know what, it's not exclusive to Celina. It is unfortunate, but it's not exclusive to Celina. And if you're able to fly above that at stuff, while you're trying to make up your mind about these candidates, then you're doing good. If you get down in the mud and you read all the gossip and it's just messy and nasty and none of that stuff serves Celina well, but it's out there. So I'm hoping that this is a little bit of a counterbalance to some of all of that, just that mess nastiness out there. I hope that you can come to Celinaradio.com and, and get a better understanding of who these people are kind of in their own words.

Ron Lyons (25:04):

I'm gonna tell you what it would be. Just an amazing blessing to me. If you would share Celinaradio.com with your friends, share it on your social media, tell other people about it, help us get this thing launched and then realize that you're actually a part of building something amazing. So that that's it guys that's it for today. We've got more candidates coming up, more episodes. We're we're, we're getting closer to the finish line on going through the different candidates for the different positions. So definitely tune in for those episodes. I think you're gonna like them a lot. And as always guys, God bless, And I'll see you On the next show.