Then you got the greatest gig going.
You know, that’s really.
What drives me just total happiness.
Anybody that knows me for any length of time knows that i’m probably the happiest person, that’s not medicated that you will ever meet in your life.
You know i just i’m all about the positivity yeah every once in a while.
We go a little off the rails, but then my wife pulls me back in, but but yeah i’m just that’s that’s what drives me just you.
We have two choices in the morning when we get up, you got the happy side or the unhappy and miserable side and the unhappy miserable side.
I don’t have time for that.
So that’s what drives me just striving for ultimate happiness.
I love that answer.
It’s that’s.
It you know, and like i love how you said that when you wake up, you do have a decision to make it’s very quick and very simple.
You can either get up out of bed and be a grouch all day or you can get out of bed and just be somebody who’s going to be positive and influence this world in whatever way they possibly can and and you’re definitely doing that and you do It with class man – and i appreciate that answer – that’s incredible, thank you and you also have to pivot.
You know because listen when, when the world stopped, when we went to groundhog day, which every day is the same right on march 16th, we had to pivot.
My wife’s business was a uh yarn to the people business, so they booked the bus.
She goes out and they deal in person.
We got a bunch of.
We got a bunch of um, you know yarn for an upcoming show, because the show was really successful and then they canceled the show.
So my wife’s like, oh, what are we going to do now? We’re stuck with all this yarn? We’re not we’re gon na go online.
We did four days of marathon shows every three hours we did a live.
Show it blew up so now we we, we do a monday night live a show on monday nights called twisted stitches on nitty gritty, yarn girl on facebook, and we reach people all over the world we ship to all.
But three states.
We ship the new zealand, australia, uk canada, the netherlands, all from online and my business going out training going to dealerships that kind of so we have to switch so now.
I’ve gone from live and in person to live online.
So we’ve literally gone from mobile to global.
I love that and that’s the power people don’t realize like a lot of people like.
Oh this whole situation, really! No, if you actually put the work in and you use the mind just like i love the way you thought about it.
The way you said, and i just had to switch the [ __ ] shift gears a little bit.
You had to go online.
You had to use you had to use social media.
You had to use video, that’s the future, though, but by doing so you were able to get global, not just regional yeah, and by doing that, it’s it’s crazy.
To think that, like how fast that happens, how you can reach the whole world to all the way on the other side of new zealand, australia area when you can reach the other side of the world in the nitty-gritties there? What is going on right and that’s it’s beautiful, because that is the power of this.
A lot of people were like man.
It’s a shame that this happened.
Don’t get me wrong.
I i think that it was a crazy time, but if you really put the work in during this time, you leaps and bounds of what you could be leaps and bounds of what anything could be this, like my podcast, your shows everything that i’ve been doing.
It’s it’s blown up because of this.
You know and i’m not trying to give praise to coronavirus.
I think it’s horrible that families lost lives.
People got sick.
I think that businesses, you know, got a lot of these small businesses in certain towns no longer around because they couldn’t stay together anymore, and i think it’s sad, but you know one thing that i know is that people who are successful even these small businesses, if They did it once they could do it again, yeah and they were terrible, but it all starts with when they get out of bed.
Every day, like you mentioned it’s about what the attitude they have, they can get out and have a grouch attitude or they can get out and be positive and move forward with life and if they choose the latter, they’re going to do so much better that this Business that they had in the past will seem like nothing if they just work in something new it’ll blow up even bigger, because they know how to get there.
They know that positivity working hard doing the right things every single day when you wake up, will make it all, and i i love that you talked about that and that’s a good point to make that during this time it was crazy, but it was crazy.
Only – and it was sad only if you didn’t put the work in only if you laid around – and you literally did nothing like a lot of the world did, and i i’m glad i didn’t i’m glad you didn’t talk.
I think your wife, i know your wife is happy that you guys did too that going online was huge for youtube with her.
Thank you huge.
What you have to remember is one thing: out of adversity comes opportunity, 100, all right, one door closes, but another door open.
So i also do marketing in the restaurant space, and i do i’ve done thousands of live videos, so many that people recognize me out out in the field people hi well.
I have no idea who they are, but they know me because we follow you on facebook right, so restaurants would hire me to go there to eat dinner and live stream the event because they know if i eat there, other people will go to eat there.
That’s right so again, you’ve got a shift right.
So when covet hit the out the you know the the dining piece kind of put the brakes on.
So that also helped me to be able to spend months and months and months to put together the website which is not taken off right.
That’s awesome! That’s uh, folks, amazing, a solutionary type of attitude, um, bruin solutions.
Being the key point that you go to anytime.
You run into a challenge.
I am a strong believer that if a giant is facing you, it’s going to do one of two things: it’s either there to destroy you or it’s there to get destroyed by you and in any case scenario in our life.
If we’re not winning, we understand it’s not over, because that giant is supposed to fall to us and when we actually live our life understanding that okay! Well now this mountain, this giant this problem this this issue, this relationship – this isn’t really attacking me because it’s gon na beat me.
This is only attacking me because somehow or another, i’m gon na be better because of me facing this type of a fire.
So when we apply hot water to good beans, guess what you get out of it! You get a good group of car guy coffee! You get a good cup of joe! You get a good, delicious invigorating elixir to help.
You actually go.
Do what it is that you’re called to do paul is is, is showing everybody that you can shift on a dime just like uh, our brothers and sisters from the think think uh tank.
They are in here right now, uh just saying: what’s up from the linkedin side of life, we’re so thankful that they’re here and uh, we love you all.
Thank you! So much for being here, we wan na uh.
Let everybody know that there’s so many other people that are like you that are that want to see success in other people and paul has been a solutionary doing this for years now, and the thing that corona did is it helped to just bring a welding to More people that were trying to find and didn’t have the time to find people that were like them guys we were.
We worked a lot of hours.
We work a lot of hours now and a lot of that that time was was focused on things that needed focus.
There was a release of that pressure remote for a moment for you to give way to the things you were dreaming of.
You were wanting to focus on.
Yes, you had to forgive other stuff.
You had to forget that you were told that you had to be home.
You had to forgive that you didn’t you weren’t allowed to go eat.
You had to forgive that your business had to be shut down.
You had to forgive that you couldn’t uh necessarily do the things you wanted to do anymore.
So then you got to focus on what it.
Where was that you wanted to grow? Many people did additions to their homes.
Many people uh learned how to cook new things.
Many people learned how to cook period.
You know what i mean because they couldn’t go, get food no more right so because of that there is a great victory that we all get to share, and most of it is inside of the relationships that we kind of were told get away from each other.
We were told to get away from each other, but we pulled in some great people and i’m very thankful for it.
But i encourage you all if there’s a big challenge in front of you, it’s really there because you’re supposed to conquer it.
So i don’t care what the trouble is.
I don’t care what the dilemma is or the problem is.
It found you because you’re a solutionary so go grew a solution just like paul and i’m so thankful that uh he’s actually been able to uh be a light on.
So many of the subjects that we’re talking about here.
But he got a whole house full of yawn and he found a way to brew a solution with that.
Folks, that’s what solutionaries do right! That’s what you got to do! Forgive focus on what you got to get done and fly, get it rocking and rolling.
I appreciate you waking up on this size.
Fine, find your passion.
Folks, let’s find your passion when you have your passion, don’t let anyone think don’t let anyone or anything get in your way.
You know, and i and i mean that with love like you, don’t push people out the way.
What i mean is that when people give you doubt that should be a moment where you should move forward.
The reason why people doubt people is because there’s because they wish they were doing what you’re doing and that’s what i’ve kind of noticed about things a lot of times.
People are telling.
Oh, that won’t work, even though you know when your heart is going to work.
They’re, like that’s not going to work, that’s because they just they’re jealous in a sense – and i hate to use that word – that’s a very strong word, but that’s basically the myth and it’s it’s because they wish they were doing something like that.
They wish they were being more productive in life.
They wish they were contributing to the world a little bit more, and so that being said, don’t ever let anyone discourage you folks if you truly believe in something just like paul just like lou, and i just like most people we have on our show, if you Believe in it just do it, because when you do it, you will find that it was a lot easier than you thought if you that, by the end of it all you’re, going to be extremely proud of yourself, proud of your company, proud of the people who Helped you come up in that it’s so much stuff that gets involved in that feeling that you get from doing something just accomplishing the impossible to other people right.
So, what’s the question number two, my friend look at this first question again: we’re gon na get you talking some more we’re just so amped up and pumped up that you’re in here.
So let me ask something: that’s uh more on the car guy related side.
Of course, folks uh: this is a solutionary inside of the shop uh to the front of the lot.
Okay, he is one that understands uh the car business, so paul meyer.
What got you in the car business itself? Well, i’ve always loved cars.
Since i was a little boy and i could hold my first pencil, i always drew cars.
Always i drew hot rods.
I drew custom cars.
I called them maya rotties, get it [, Laughter, ], so always through cars, so all through school, when other people are doodling cartoons, i’m drawing hot rods and and custom cars and james bond type cars with with tanks in them that go underwater and all kinds of Stuff, it was funny when i went to college years later this guy come up to me.
He says you know you look familiar somebody i went to like fifth grade with or fourth grade.
He says i wasn’t sure until i saw what you were drawing and what i was drawing in the drafting class.
I had.
I drew this custom car, this sports car and he’s like as soon as i saw that i knew it was you because he says nobody drew cars like you, so i’ve always had that passion in me um.
You know my father taught me at an early age.
You know how to work on cars conveniently afterwards he for everything he showed me.
He conveniently forgot how to do so.
I was the one fixing the cars.
You know.
I was the one you drive by the house and the hood is open and there’s somebody under the hood or there’s a cherry picker in the driveway yanking a motor out, so i’ve always loved that um and then one day you know my mother said hey.
You know they’re they’re, looking for a training mechanic at the shop, all right, yeah, okay, you know that the drawing bolts thing was getting really really boring.
So if you’re gon na all right i’ll go work in a shop, so i got promoted from uh.
You know.
I was a trainee, i went to a full-fledged mechanic.
I promoted the shop, foreman service manager and store manager, and i ran several shops in the aftermarket and i was you know it.
I’m always passionate about everything i do.
If i’m gon na sweep streets man, i’m gon na have the cleanest streets of anybody anywhere, because that’s just the way it is so when i, when i ran my shops, i ran people thought i owned them.
That’s what i put into it.
You know most aftermarket shops you’re, going to they’re, not clean my shops.
All the boxes were lined up like soldiers that before a car came down off the lift it was swept, the stuff was thrown in the garbage can and there were lids on the garbage.
Can right so i’ve i’ve loved it? I went from that.
You know, got got tired of working in in the aftermarket shops or figured.
Let me go work at a dealership.
You know it seems to be the next progression, so as i’m walking in through the dealership to interview for a service job, i see the sales guys hanging out.
Looking like they’re having fun.
I said i could do this, but at the time back then, unless you had sales experience in selling cars, it wouldn’t give you a job.
So, as i’m walking through the showroom and i meet with the owner, i said look, i know i’m here for the service job, but i’m really after a sales job.
So he says i’ll tell you what, in a year we’re going to split our dealership up and i’ll, give you i’ll have openings for sales jobs i’ll, give you the first sales job, then yeah.
I could do that.
Time goes fast.
So that’s how i got into car sales and then um.
You know i i got recruited to another place, didn’t work, a lot of dealerships just a few, but then i got recruited to the outside world and i went kicking and screaming you know.
I didn’t want to be a vendor.
I didn’t want to go on the road because i had keys to the building wrote my own deals.
I loved it.
It was really, as far as i was concerned, there’s no reason to leave, but this company they kept badgering me just over and over and over so finally, i gave in i said you know what i’m young enough.
I could try this.
If it doesn’t work, you can always go back to the store.
That’s like thinking you’re going to leave the car business.
It’s never going to happen.
So when i started with that company, then i got recruited by another company and after doing that for a number of years i decided that you know the companies are great because they train you, but when it comes right down to it, they fail you in support.
They just do they’re not going to put in the same passion that you do if i’m gon na work 120 hours for somebody else and they’re not going to be there.
When i need you know the last row was i’m not pennsylvania.
It’s a friday afternoon.
I got the dealers ready to sign up switching dms’s, they’re um.
You know it’s something that they always wait too long for and i’m trying to call my boss, because i needed some help to structure this deal.
No answer.
I text them.
Where are you so? I’m out to dinner with my wife, you know it’s gon na have to wait till monday.
No, no! No! You don’t understand i’m six hours from home.
This is going down now.
I had everybody else, jumping through hoops we’re gon na put this deal together and you’re telling me monday.
No, no! No! No! No! This has got to happen now.
Yeah just flat out refused to help said you know what clicked in here.
I said yeah, it’s not going to work for me.
I’m out, i called myself come get your car in two weeks because i’m out of here and i started my own gig, that’s when i went into restaurant marketing did that for about a year uh exclusively.
It’s a lot of fun, i mean it was a vicious cycle.
You got to show up at a restaurant, have dinner live stream? It they force all these drinks on you that was horrible, and then they pay you and then you have to go back again and do it all over again darn it such a cycle.
I know it sounds like a team job.
It really does, but you know it wasn’t, and then car people kept pulling me back hey, we want you to represent our product, so that’s how i got back into the car part of it and when, like i said when the covet thing hit me, i got Pivot, dealerbendermatch.
com, that’s right and you know and that’s a great story, and i love that you, you talked about that.
You took risks.
You rolled the dice a few times, but you knew in your mind, hey.
Why not you know and that’s the thing life is.
You mentioned in that one part where well one year goes by quick, that’s a that’s a quick time and it’s true people don’t realize that everybody wants to have instant gratification like instant, like it has to happen right now or i’m not going to do it.
Well.
That’s that’s tough and it’s in a lot of cases you can get into gratification, but sometimes when you’re risking something like that, you have to go through the the cycle and you did that and you did it with class man, and i love what you did.
I love your story talking about how you became a salesperson, then you went off you got recruited, then you got recruited with another company and then you were like you know what this company does not support.
Me they’re, not supporting me the way i’m supporting them.
So you know i love, i love fair deals.
This is not a fair deal here.
You know correct.
Both parties have to benefit from this.
Both parties have to put in the work from this right.
I agree with that 100.
You made the right move there.
So then you decided i’m going to do my own thing.
Well, i love that whole restaurant thing.
I know that it is work and no matter what we do, folks everything we do, whether it sounds worse.
This podcast has worked this everything that we do.
We put a lot of work behind the scenes.
A lot of people don’t see, but but at the end of the day it helps you grow.
You see what justin said he says i wish i could have smelled that polynesian beef stew ball.
E2.
Oh, my god, that stuff is nectar of the gods.
Vegetarians will eat that.
I believe that vegetarian certified vegan beef right there brothers, it’s some good vegan beef, but yes, it did look good.
I saw it.
I saw that last night when you had that posted it looked delicious.
I’m a big foodie.
My wife is one of the best cooks.
I’ve ever ever been a part of she every night.
She makes something that blows my mind and um, but she’s very she’s.
Very non-social media she does not want to post nothing.
I’ve always.
Let me take a picture of this meal and we have a local group here called the hardin county foodies shout out to luke to luke luke the food guy right and luke loves food too.
He loves to share it.
He loves to share different types of meals and things much like you.
You know he’s doing it here at a local level, but my i always tell my wife.
We should include your pictures of your food because you would crush it.
People would always ask you, i’m good, i don’t do it for them.
I’m a food pornographer yeah! I saw that.
I saw that post dude.
That was good and you are, and you do a damn good job of that paul dang good job.
So speaking of promotions, we want to make sure that everybody out there knows that these gurus have been brought to you by elite, fi partners and the think ad group.
That’s right.
We are excited to have solutionaries like these, that are always trying to find a way to cook something up, that’ll, be a solution for not just their vendors but for their friends.
Not just not excuse me not just their vendors, but their partners they’re the people that they actually do business with, but they do it also for their friends.
They help us all to enjoy uh doing what it is that we do, and the cohesion together is ultimately what has helped to brew this situation right now, we’re just so thankful that we get the chance to talk with great people.
But again, if you want some great solutions, you need to check out elite, fi partners and the think add, group simple is going to their name.
Is their website www.
elitefi partners.
com and then think ad group is think ad group.
com, very easy, very simple.
They make they make it that simple and they’ll make it that simple for you.
If you hire them, i promise so speaking of simple, simple speaking of keeping it simple.
Okay, there’s something that you said.
That was so big about the shops and the way that you would have the shops uh look inside of uh when wherever it is that you work right, and that’s that reminds me that the issues that i saw in the military were definitely not the issues that I saw in the the private sector on what a shop looked like um, if you, if i mean consider the maintenance bay looking in the military, the way that it does in the majority of dealership shops it, it would be out of control.
I mean, like everybody would be in trouble in there until it’s fixed until it’s perfect.
Until it’s seamless there can’t be a drop of oil on the ground.
It has, everything has to be perfectly dry.
Swept everything has to be dress right, dress where it needs to be.
I believe that most service shops should take a tour.
Take a field trip to a military motor pool where there are some of the biggest vehicles that break constantly constantly break okay, there’s so many parts that are constantly being interchanged with an endless supply of money.
It seems like to keep changing them out, but those shops operate seamless salute to all of those that make that happen.
You know we appreciate you all uh, but there’s something to be said about that.
Some great ase certified mechanics need to line up and go see what it is that they’re doing in those shops um it’s.
It was a great honor of mine.
The time that i was in to be inside, of a motor pool to be the person.
That’s running the parts all over the place to have fun uh doing that, but you bring up such a great point uh.
What is it that that made? You actually do that, and this is kind of a bonus ancillary question to to the first.
But what was it that made you so uh focused on seeing that type of precision inside of the shop? Why is that even good? Why does that benefit anybody? Well for one, you never get a second chance to make a first impression.
You everybody knows that saying right, do you know where that saying came from? Do you guys know where it came from because most people all right back in the day during colonial times, when the first printing presses came about and they had these big type set machines? Where they would put in the letters to put together the paragraphs and the and the the content for the newspaper that they would manually print out right, yep before they stamped out a few hundred or a few thousand of them, they had to test one and that One that they tested first was called a first impression because you got to make the impression print it and then look to make sure there are no misspellings there.
The letter didn’t fall off any of that stuff.
So that’s what’s called the first impression to make sure that before you go any further with printing anything.
That first impression has to be on point.
So in life we don’t get a second chance to make a first impression within the first few minutes of speaking with somebody, the first few sentences.
You know whether or not they know what they’re talking about if they’re, just bs in you or if they’re actually subject matter experts in their field and if that impression goes well, that’s when you want to further communicate with them.
If it does not that’s when you that’s, when you check out yeah, no, this guy’s [ __ ] yeah, yeah yeah.
So so that’s why so i, like everything, lined up perfectly right even like the dishwasher, sounds crazy, but there’s some stuff you don’t do you know.
I figure okay, so the rack for the the utensils is on the right.
I start stacking from the back to the front right.
That’s just how i do it and then the dishes i rinse them.
First, i know it’s gon na, do it so now it’s gon na clean it, but i wan na keep the filter clean as long as i can so i rinse them off, arrange them by height from fall to short cups, lined up a certain way, because i Want to maximize the efficiency with how everything’s lined up to get it as clean as possible and to get as much stuff in there as possible.
So that’s just, i very much believe in attention to detail if everything is put back where it was taken from you.
Never struggle to have to find it bing-bong, that’s it hello, you know, and that’s very it’s it’s that’s something that you know being out.
My dad was an army 20 years.
I was in the military four years myself, i was in the air force.
I worked on jets and um i fixed them.
I you know as a mechanic.
Basically i worked on the electronics part, so i wasn’t necessarily a mechanic.
I was more electronic mechanic, but the the cool thing about what you’re talking about.
That’s it’s very true.
It’s! It’s very good to do that.
It’s good to have your stuff organized the way we were trained in the military way.
My father raised me was to be much like that you had to be organized.
You do things in a very smart pattern.
Right you make sure you do it the right way like loading a dishwasher.
Even i love how you talked about that, i’m very much very similar to that.
I’m not i’m probably not that attentive to it, but i’m very close to that.
I do load from the back.
I do make sure all my cups are a certain way.
I you know even my forks, my for like in the handles the handle is going to be i’m very picky about that stuff, so it but it loads.
You load more.
By doing it.
That way, you can it’s very easy to find things in there and it cleans better and, like you said, rinse off your stuff before you put it in there, because it will keep things it makes it a lot easier, just a couple extra seconds.
So i agree with that.
So, let’s, let’s take that to the military side.
When i worked on aircraft, everything was dress.
Right, dress like like lou was talking about our bay like we brought an aircraft into a hangar after we were done.
That thing got.
We had this little like concrete zamboni you’d have to do the whole floor, clean that make sure there was not one spot of grease on it.
We, when the aircraft went out, we had to make sure everything on there.
We had books that were open every screw.
Has to be double checked.
We have you do it, then somebody else double checks behind you, because when it comes to aircraft when it comes to life folks little things make a difference.
So when you, when, like for us like in on an airplane people, don’t realize that one little itty bitty piece of loose wire.
If you cut a piece of wire and you leave it hanging inside the aircraft somewhere and where you open up a panel where all their like the electronics are, that one piece of wire can take down a billion dollar aircraft right, because that can literally short something Out which causes a you know, a problem which the aircraft can fall.
So it was such a big deal in the air force to everything was accounted for, our tool boxes.
They were like they had like cutouts for all the tools.
When you checked it out, you had to double check, make sure all tools were in there, even the little pieces pockets and all that, then you, when you turned it back in you, had you had to double check it and then somebody else was a higher rank.
Would go in there and they would double check every tool to make sure everything was good, because if there was one piece of tool missing, they would every aircraft that you touched.
That day could not fly until they found that piece everything had to be opened until they found that one itty-bitty piece like joseph says it takes no less time to do it right, yeah man, it’s got so right.
Now you find out that, whether it’s the dishwasher or it’s operating a maintenance bay or it’s operating a showroom and your process, the the redundancies create the actual efficiency.
What may look like you’re doing the same thing over and over is actually maximizing the efficiency that you’re actually getting out of the business.
It is all key that you do that, and that’s one thing that you you get inside of the military is that repetitive redundancy, until it’s absolutely programmed in you and some of us uh need the redundancies of our wife, correcting us yeah right.
You know scott says my wife randomly just puts, puts tissues everywhere.
I call her out on social media, which proves i’m an expert at loading, a dishwasher, but not encouraging relationships, i’m the one getting fixed on that part.
Yeah yeah.
You know, i think, i think in most relationships the wives are the real, the smart ones anyway, they’re the ones who understand the relationship better than we do they just coach us through them, and we just kind of get coached really.
Well, i think the ones who are the most coachable last in a relationship.
I got a question for scott, though i got a question for scott scott.
You ever open up the the door at the end of the wash cycle and see that cup or that measuring cup facing up still got water in it.
That’s the worst! Yes, no.
Why did i have to watch this? No yeah, absolutely scott joseph! You are correct, sir.
Yes, so you know, i love that and and being organized is huge and and having your shop is, show pride like what you’re, what you’re talking about that makes a difference when you have a client walk into a dealership and your showroom is a mess that shows That your whole dealership’s a mess earlier, who was it brian, had mentioned it, or somebody mentioned that you know it’s a it’s a direct reflection of the map of the leadership at the dealership.
The way it looks, the way a service department looks all that stuff is a direct reflect of the leadership there.
One fish thinks from the head.
Remember that and i agree because because when you, when you walk into somewhere, it looks like that you’re, like man, this place is not ran well.
When people take pride in what they do, they take pride in their in their workplace when they take pride in the way they look when they go to work their hair, they shave they do all these things that lets.
You know a lot about you’re clean.
Well, you got mr clean, but you know it’s, but you it does, there’s a lot something to do with that something about taking pride in your parents, your dealership, appearance, everything i mean to the point like even my vehicles that i drive, i can’t help.
I want my tires shined i want.
I want all the stuff polished up.
You know i even trying to teach my son that my son has a nicer vehicle and when he drives around like he takes it get clean and he gets that wheel shine on it.
Well, it’ll kick up on the cars.
If you don’t let it dry.
Well, it’ll kick up so when he gets home.
Sometimes i look at his car, i’m like dude.
You need to clean up all that wheel, shine! That’s all the downside of your car! I don’t like it wipe that down, you know, but so it’s very good to have those types of habits, because that lets you know what type of person they are that you when they, when you give them your product, like your vehicle, you know they’re going to Take care of it because they take care of their shop, they take care of themselves, they do all those things so they’re going to take pride in their work too.
They didn’t just take pride in the workplace, but their work.
It’s all that stuff here and it’s in here that’s what makes you different than everybody else be that person that stands out you know not everyone thinks that way, which is crazy.
They should all think that way.
It just takes like they said a few extra minutes to do it right and when you do it right, it makes it saves you tons, but it’ll make you tons too.
So i’m gon na get your question, but that was just question number two.
So, let’s get to question number three, so question number three for you since you’ve been in this business and i know you’ve been doing it for a long time been in different types of realms of the business you’ve been a vendor.
You’ve been on the on the dealer side.
You’ve been all this stuff.
You’ve you’ve ventured out to food.
You’ve done a bunch of things that are growing and you’re in a constant growth mode, but who’s been your biggest influence.
Who’s been that person.
I know it’s hard to name one person.
Sometimes you can name as many as you want, but you’ve got that person who’s been your biggest influence.
My dad yeah, my dad was my number one influence awesome.
You know he.
He always taught me that you don’t have to know everything, but you need to know a little bit about a lot of things so that you can speak intelligently with anybody about anything at any time and he always had time.
You know he struggled, but he always had time for us always no matter what no matter what we lived on the island of curacao and you know, opportunities on an island are limited, so he came to the u.
You know he got visa to come to the us.
He was here for two years to um get you know, visas for the rest of his family to come over so for two years he was here, barely knew the language he he looked at a map.
He took his finger closed, his eyes and he pushed down and he came to this country, not knowing anybody barely knowing the language to make a better life for his family, and he, two years later, we got visas to everybody to come.
I don’t know that that i would have the guts to do what he did at the age that he did it, but he did it for us um.
That was the ultimate sacrifice, and that taught me a lot about what you need to be in here and what you need to be in here to do and love what you do.
So he was the main influence in everything that guides me today, man, let’s honor your father man, that’s awesome that that is that’s a blessing that you had a father like that.
You know not everybody’s fortunate to have a father who has insight like that who, who did some did amazing things.
You know the thing about coming here to this country and not having any language, and it’s it’s it’s hard, because most people treat you like, like you’re ignorant, even though it’s like people don’t realize that, just because you can’t speak english doesn’t mean you’re, not smart, like They literally will talk down to them a little bit um.
That’s that’s the one thing about the american culture i don’t really like and why so a lot of right, so my mother she’s from you, know obviously she’s korean.
She came here to this country.
You know my mother’s one of my i mean if i was to put her up there on my list too, and it’s very similar reasons.
You know she left the country all her family.
She didn’t speak the language really well.
She came here because she knew that it was a better opportunity, but she also had children.
She wanted to be with the children.
Her husband was an american citizen.
That was, you know in the u.
s army, so she had to travel the world because of it.
You know and and go all kinds of places that she probably as a young person, never would have imagined you know, and but she did it with such class.
She raised three beautiful kids.
You know me my sister and my brother, and she did it with so much dignity and always with that korean culture with family and raising your kids, and you know she was always that don’t act like a fool, you know always look good.
You know she’s part of the reason why i always look.
I mean she used to wear me in kindergarten first grade.
I was wearing shirt and tie to school every day.
You know she was so big about that because she was just you know, like you talked about.
First, impressions to her still to this day are huge because she understands that you know when, when you’re dealing with people that people you know they got their first impression, is such a big deal.
So my mother was always like you got to look good.
You got to speak good.
She even the way i would stand like.
Don’t have slouch, don’t slouch, don’t sit.
She was like you know, there’s so many little things that she didn’t want us to appear to be like because she wanted us to have that extra step.
But my mother also believed because we were mixed culture, that it was tougher for us um, which i don’t agree with, that at all it was different.
Don’t get me wrong.
I dealt with my prejudice, one way or the other, but at the same time it was to me it’s still a benefit because i’ve learned so much, and i have so much culture in me, which made me open to other cultures which made me open to listening To other people and not prejudging them, it’s actually wanting to learn about it like i want to know about your culture teach me about it.
You know, like my wife, she’s part filipino, so i got to learn a lot about filipino culture which korean and filipino though so most people seem similar or way different right.
You have like an untrained eye.
Yeah filipino people, they’re they’re islanders.
They they come from a different world.
The way they their food is different, everything’s different, oh, my goodness, my wife’s lumpia is amazing.
She makes some of the best and she also makes really good adobo chicken just blow your mind.
Oh, i just had some two nights ago, so fire and she always had lumpia ready to go.
When i came here, i did not know one word of english.
My native language is dutch.
I still speak dutch yeah, but yeah.
I didn’t know one word of english.
So i remember my my oldest friend today, i’m still friends with uh we were neighbors.
I remember he was teaching me english, so i was all proud, i’m standing in front of the house, i’m i’m yelling my newly acquired english language.
Well, what i didn’t know was: maybe he wasn’t teaching me what i was supposed to learn.
It wasn’t the hello.
How are you type of stuff because my father came running outside screaming, like what are you? What are you? Why are you yelling at profanity? Well, that’s really choppy [ Laughter, ], that’s good stuff, though you know, and that’s and that’s solely true.
I can tell you as a kid living all over the world as a child being a military brat.
I always wanted to learn the profanity of every country.
You know i was a kid, though i wouldn’t say it in front of my parents, but of course i learned a lot of the cuss words and whatever country i was in, but but it was, it was funny.
I think you know it was just more of a hilarious thing, but now it’s it’s a beautiful thing.
I love that you honored your father like that um you know, he’s a great man and uh.
I appreciate that.
I know.
I know that you know he appreciates it too.
So yeah, that’s uh again.
Folks, there are fathers um in our lives, um, sometimes they’re, the physical ones, sometimes they’re spiritual, sometimes uh, they’re great mentors inside of the business uh.
We have few fathers in our life.
We have many brothers and sisters, but it’s key that you allow yourself to trust somebody enough to be able to give you the advice to be able to say things to you that may make you have to stop limiting your thinking may make you have to believe In yourself, when you don’t believe in yourself may make you have to uh choose the higher road when it’s definitely not the easier one.
It’s key that you have uh those people that can speak in your life.
It’s a great honor that you get to to do that for your father and for those that are out there yeah make sure that you, you uh, if you’re in the mode where you can be a father to somebody, i encourage you all mentor.
Somebody do it build somebody 28 years ago, 28 years ago, that i lost my dad and 28 years later.
It still brings a tear to my eye like it was yesterday when i, whenever i meet somebody that knew him back, then that’s oh you’re, matthew’s son, and they start talking about a story about how he impacted their life.
You know yeah, there’s that’s why, with my kids, i was always there.
You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression right.
There’s no do-overs in life like that kodak commercial, so you’re a dad out there today and you can do that for your kids.
Do it and you can start today, yeah, you can start right now, folks, it’s never too late.
Just do it, but every moment you waste goes by it goes by fast.
Next thing: you know the moments are gone.
So just do it now.
Folks, if you love and you and you have children, if you have people that you’re mentoring, do it with all your passion and heart, make sure that they understand give them every knowledge that you have you want them to be better than you.
Don’t worry about people being better than you, let people be better to you, help them grow there.
It’s a beautiful thing.
That is your legacy.
Folks.
Leave your legacy on this planet.
Leave your legacy with your family, your friends, your mentor, your people, your mentoring, that’s how you do it and do it with grace and do it with power.
How will you be remembered when you’re gone bam come on? No doubt come on? That’s! That’s! That’s! That’s! That’s everything to you know, and i honestly the older i get the more that’s how important that is to me and and and it’s not because i want to be like you know, left on a level of like you know, i’m the one of the greatest people Ever to live on this planet, no, it’s just i want my.
I want my future family to talk about grandpa or whatever.
I want them to say how grandpa was this and he did that because that’s what i want and i love it.
I love growing every day.
You know my whole mantra is keep growing and i love to do that and i’m doing that not in a in a good way.
I’m trying to do that to to encourage other people trying to encourage myself my family, my even my own wife.
I try to encourage her with these with this type of stuff.
You know my wife’s, an amazing person.
I know that if she used social media the way she could she could do some amazing stuff too.
She has a great heart, she’s, very smart, one of the smartest people.
I know – and you know so i i definitely would encourage her, but she’s she’s.
Also smart enough to be like you know, i’m good, i’m happy! I love you.
You have everything right so yeah, but she’s she’s, a great person um, i’m very lucky and uh so yeah great great, that’s a something that we all value right is these relationships that we get to have with our family with each other and uh and again the Mentorship key is, is a big component uh that we we want to make sure this culture is continuously uh breeding, uh people that are seeking out somebody to mentor them and people that are seeking the opportunity to mentor others, some something like an adoption right um, when, When you’re claimed by somebody um, that’s it they’ve claimed you they’ve been taking you and they’re going to commit to making sure that they raise you up in the way that you should go and and sometimes uh we get that we get the chance to actually reach Out to people to get that type of coaching and the culture right now is shifting so much to where everybody’s able to find a coach for whatever they want, even if it’s cooking, whatever you cooked last night or the day before or you’re going to cook tomorrow, You can get somebody to help coach you inside of that you can help get somebody to help coach you through what it is that you’re going to do on your physical uh fitness plan on your your business plan, right um from sales people to being car buying.
Coaches, yep right all of those things have happened, and it’s it’s incredible that that we’re inside of an age where you can get some real, in-depth, hands-on education without going to a university without going to a college right, you can go just like you said on the Phone yep i’ll take that right and that’s what you’re doing when on the side of finding a uh a dealer.
Uh a dealer vendor match connection point, but there’s also these things that have to happen where it’s you’re getting those people together.
That are able to say look.
I am weak in this area.
I need you to make me better right.
I need you to cut on me in a way that sharpens me right.
So the the reason why i’m asking that is uh.
What tools did you focus on to make sure that you found a way to grow on everything that you had to go forward and what what systems or what things did you primarily focus on getting uh when you would actually step out on a new venture on A new business plan or business idea.
What were the things that you keep focused on when trying to find coaching when trying to find somebody to trust? What were the key elements that you were looking for inside of somebody to help mentor you the short version of that i said i didn’t ask it in a short way at all.
You know, there’s nothing.
You can’t figure out today between youtube and google.
There’s nothing.
You can’t figure out so no it’s true i had i’m not.
Maybe i was a little late coming to the party on the computers, but i vividly remember one sunday afternoon i spent hours and hours on the helpline hours until finally, this this uh tech support guy.
He just says you know: i’ve got ta go so you got ta go.
What do you mean? You got ta go we’re here.
We’re done yet! Oh, don’t worry about it, because when the download finishes just reboot, your computer and you’ll be all set.
No! No! No! No, don’t go, don’t go, please stay with me.
I need your help.
The guy says no i’ll call you back you’re not going to call me back.
You know so that day i said you know, i’m not going to be in that position ever again.
So i went out i and i learned how computers worked, and i taught myself not only how to fix computers but how to build them.
So now i build my own pcs.
It’s really easy.
It’s a handful of components and some software that you you make together.
It’s simple: the only problem is when you build your own computers, you don’t have any tech support to call you’re the tech support, but any error message you get you just put it into google, like a question and it’ll, give you all of the relevant answers.
I had one guy’s computer, i was fixing he thought his house was possessed because words would just appear on his screen randomly.
So i typed that in in the google search, come to find out that there was a software glitch in his particular make and model of computer where the the the microphone would pick up outside noises, the television and whatnot and then transcribe that onto the screen.
So he thought his house was possessed.
I was able to fix the problem so that that’s that’s early on now.
In anything you do you have to.
You have to have a vision right.
You have to have a plan you have to.
You have to think of a product that everybody needs, and then you have to figure out the road map to get there.
Okay, you have to you have to look at the problem.
You have to look at what are the answers to that problem? What are the steps? What are all the roadblocks that you need to eliminate and you need to know that front side back every possible way and you engineer to get to the end result.
Any job will seem insurmountable until you actually map it out.
You know for a while i did a bunch of home improvements and i’ll never forget.
There was a house, i was doing a floor in and i’m looking at that house it was old.
The the linoleum was glued to to the floor.
They must use crazy glue on every square inch of that and i’m thinking, oh my god, i’m going to be here all summer.
I under bid on this job, it’s going to be the death of me, but i took it one piece at a time and next thing you know i’m 20 in next.
You know i’m halfway done and then i was done.
It came out beautiful.
So it took me less time than i thought, because i didn’t let i didn’t let myself psych myself out.
So the key is: do the research of anything that you’re going to do and have a road map on how you’re going to get there? Because all of the tools that you need are on google and youtube fact: that’s right.
It’s so factual! I mean and you’re so right, and i love that you talk about that um because it is true, you know everything that you do and in projects that seem giant may seem overwhelming.
Once you start next thing, you know you get a percentage gets done.
I love how you break that down.
I love i break down things and percentages like that too.
I like to like when i start something like okay, i’m gon na just do this, because i don’t knock out this much of it right and then, but once i do that, then i’m gon na do a little bit more next thing.
You know you’re.
Fifty percent, like you, said fifty percent done, then you’re completely done and you did it faster than you ever thought, but it’s hard to focus on a big thing.
Just got to focus on the little thing focus what’s in front of you, when you have the thing you have control over right, so once you have that control you just do it.
You know what the big picture is going to be, but you got to start here even if it seems overwhelming start here.
Just start everything is overwhelming folks, when you think about it too deeply.
It can really be that way.
Sometimes you have to just do and he’s right you got to be prepared.
You got to be ready.
You got to have the tools once you have all those things do just do it and when you do it i’ll give you amazing things will happen.
I’ll give you an example, okay, so the nav system on my lexus went it.
I i kept.
I had a communication error message on the nav screen so because i taught myself how to fix computers, i’m thinking okay.
So, what’s really in a nav system, there’s a screen: there’s a dvd drive that reads the data off a disk and there’s a processor and those three things are married together.
So if any one piece of it’s broken, if the display’s malfunctioning you’re not going to see anything so the display was, was showing me an error code.
So i know the display was good.
The i figured the processor is telling me there’s an error code.
Read disk error, so i’m thinking okay, so there’s there’s got to be a dvd drive in that system that maybe the dvd drive is no good.
So i started at the top.
The dealer wanted three grand for the nav system, like i’m, not spending that no way not happening so then i go online.
I find i find uh rebuilt ones and use ones, and now i’m at two grand okay, so three grand two grand that’s not so bad, but yeah, i’m not spending that either.
So now i figure okay.
So if the dvd drive is bad, maybe i could just replace the dvd drive myself, so i find this place in cincinnati ohio that rebuilds dvd drives.
So i’m thinking, oh great, all right.
Well only problem is, i don’t know how to take that stuff apart.
So now i look at the youtube video and i watch some guy.
Take the dashboard apart and take the dvd drive off yeah.
I could do that.
I have to buy some plastic pry tools.
I take the dash apart.
I take the dvd drive out.
