Wake up, Buy Here, Pay Here people. It's a beautiful day. Go grab yourself another cup of Joe and say hello to Jim and Michelle Rhodes on the Buy Here, Pay Here morning show. Take it away, you two. Hey, everybody. Good morning. So glad that y'all are joining us this morning. It's Memorial Day. So there's probably, I don't know, do most of the dealers, are they open on Memorial Day? I would say more are closed. More are closed? Okay. So if you catch this, it's probably a rerun. Yep. And yeah, as soon as we're done with this, I head out with my mom to spend the afternoon visiting... great grandma and great grandpa, grandma and grandpa, great grandma and great grandpa, dad, old neighbor. I mean, she's got a list of places to go and, and, uh, we need to go here. We need to go here. We need to go here. So it's kind of a family tradition and, and, uh, yeah. Yeah, and I want to take a moment to observe, you know, those who have been lost in, you know, defending this country. That's what it's about. Yeah, for sure. That's what the occasion is meant to mark. And so for many of us who, you know, are in that situation, you know, I actually have every one of my uncles and my father served. And thankfully, we didn't lose anybody. Any of them. Yeah. And more. Yeah, and four or five of them served, you know, in combat duty. So yeah, I feel really fortunate. I haven't lost any of them in service, but some of them have since passed on, you know. We kind of forget, especially in Utah, it seems like. They co-named Memorial Day Decoration Day. Oh, yeah? And it's because you go out and you decorate the graves. Okay. And it's kind of like Day of the Dead, except for... It's not a... Yeah. Okay. Day of the Dead is the day after Halloween, and that's the day a lot of our Hispanic friends will go, and they decorate graves, and it's a day where they... It's kind of a party atmosphere. Okay. Well, in Utah, it's like Decoration Day is Memorial Day, and you should see the cemeteries. It is just... People, flags, flowers, all of that kind of stuff. It's kind of like a big festival at every cemetery. I have not experienced that. One of them that we go to, one of my dad's buried out, they have bagpipe people playing during the afternoon too. So they, there's a local high school that has a bagpipe troop or core. I don't know what they call them. Um, and so they typically are engaged to play during the day. And it's just one, cause when my dad passed away, we did have a bagpipe player. Right. And, um, because it was one of my dad's like favorite sounds. So I'm kind of looking forward to going in and, um, visiting his grave and hearing the bagpipes and and uh yeah and I'm gonna stay behind and work on v8 data so yeah got some uh some problem data out there so I'm actually quite enjoy the opportunity to catch up on some stuff and and you know because you know come tomorrow tuesday the phone will start ringing again it's hard to get enough desk time and so this is a And I have a few for those of you that are out there in email land and are waiting for a response from me. I'm going to try to get to it before I go to visit graves with mom. So yeah, if you're listening. Yeah. Yeah. So I got a couple of quick updates. Some of these are only for our V8 dealers. One, we have our group. Two is getting a bonus meeting tomorrow where we can dig into data, give them a little more time to talk amongst themselves. And and then we've I moved the we had a CRM best practices, kind of a virtual breakout session that we postponed from tomorrow morning to the four V8 groups. Yeah. Push that back one week to Tuesday the 4th. And so that would give us strength. We've asked, Jim's already reached out to a few different people that work in that world and are planning on offering some content for that. Yeah, that's good. Yeah. So we got that coming up. And then I've got a group three. That's our beginners group. They meet on Thursday night of this week. So I think that's it from the world of V8. The rest of the announcements can wait. Oh, one other quick update. I would say that. This topic that we have for today is the second and what will probably be the three part. We'll probably finish it on Wednesday. And I'm kind of planning to save the squiggly lines part of, you know, coaching for Wednesday. So, you know, for those who missed the Friday episode, we started into the show, the photo of me as a young, green consultant. We didn't like download it somewhere. No, not for. Oh, man, we should because there are times that I would like to just like throw it up there. I don't know if I can find it quickly, but yeah. It's okay. It's totally okay. But it's one of those things that, yeah, so the picture of me in a, you know, jacket and tie from back in 2001. I looked so young. You looked so young. Of course, I'm clean shaven and slim and just looked, you know, but I'm in my late 30s by that photo. You know, you have, you are blessed, right? Am I? Yes, you are. And so many people, Jim turned 60 this last year, and so many people are like, you don't look 60. Well, that's good. I suppose if that's the blessing, yeah, I definitely feel fortunate in that regard. And I've watched my ancestors, many of them live a very long life, and so I hope that's going to be true for me as well. So green consultant, or just a young, even though you're in your late 30s, did you say? Yeah, I think in that picture I would have been about 38. Yeah, so in his late 30s and out teaching. Yeah, and so we talked in that episode on Friday more about kind of what I knew back then, like what served me as a young consultant. As a foundational piece. Yeah, and how it was that I was able to make a living as a consultant. Like why me and how did I manage to swim in an environment where you're working with a lot of dealers that are more experienced, right? Uh-huh. And so that was kind of my perspective on business back then. And then, you know, across these last 20 plus years, that photo again, 2001, so 23 years now of... coaching and consulting. I owned a dealership myself for seven years in the middle of that and finance company and finance company accounting and all the stuff and was a member of a 20 group. And so you meet all these dealers and, you know, you work with dealers and there's just a lot. And I always say, you know, I probably said it on Friday that usually when I go out and do consulting visits and meet new people and work with, even if it's virtual, you know, I tend to learn as much as I teach. And I always say that that's true if we're just paying attention. And that's actually one of the things, if you're a good teacher and, That's actually something that happens. I mean, because teachers are about creating dialogue and discussion. I mean, there's a difference between a teacher and a lecturer. And as a consultant teacher, that's kind of, and then there's a lecture where you just come in and it's like, do this, do this, do this, do this, do this, and then fly out. There's also, yeah. So you're touching on the seagull scenario. Who was it that told us that? That was one of the guys. What is his name? Darn it. I can picture him and I can't think it was with a peach tree planting. Somebody that works with Mark Burkholder. You remember we met him at a booth and he told a story about how, so I'll tell it quickly that he asked us if we, if we knew how consultants were like seagulls and we weren't familiar. And so he said, we knew it was a joke because it's kind of like we're waiting for the punchline. And yeah, when he learned we were consultants, he said, you know, um, how are consultants like seagulls and uh I'll bite you know and he says well they they fly in they crap on you and they fly home fly home no all right can I share a joke that I heard and I'll see if I don't butcher it okay so a a um a priest a monk and a rabbit walk into a bar yeah And the bartender asks the rabbit, what are you here for? And he says, he says it was auto, it was autocorrect. It was an autocorrect rabbit instead of rabbi. It was funny. So I enjoyed it and I was like giggling. So yeah, I'm yeah. Yeah. Happy Memorial day to you too, Karen Barnett. Happy to have you here this morning. So yeah, we, um, so again, we covered that on Friday, kind of the early stages. And I think for today, I wanted to kind of stick to straight line stuff on the coaching that feel like things that I have learned. And then we'll wrap up with squiggly lines on Wednesday, but Today, I just wanted to kind of dig into and I'll put some banners in here so we can see kind of some of the pieces. But. Can I can I preface something on this is that, you know, we we talked quite a bit about this whole topic and how we wanted to approach it and why we wanted to approach it and the things we wanted to bring into the the the conversation. And it's about, it kind of stems from this idea of the 10 things that I learned, you know, or that I've learned. And so, you know, we, on Friday, we were talking about Jim's journey, getting to kind of where Jim is today. And we realized that there was some very rich, lessons absolutely um that that could be that could be given on the podcast over some time and we can just kind of talk about the things and break them down and uh just you know because it just it's it's letting you guys into our conversation I mean we have some very rich conversations about these kind of things and things that we've learned and and you know what, what it taught us good or bad and from mistakes and from observation and all that kind of stuff. So Jim wanted today to kind of talk about some of the very straight lines. And those of you guys that listen to us know we talk straight lines and we talk squiggly lines. And it's head and heart. And it's like the processes and the procedures and the balance sheets and the ACVs and all of that are straight line topics. And then the how you want to be known in your community. being subjective in decisioning with your underwriting. Those are squiggly lines, more topics. So he wanted to save some of the squiggly lines for Wednesday. And talk about some of the straight lines. Yeah, the straight lines. And I'm going to go more big picture today on straight lines. We're not going to talk about price of car and, you know, the kind of details. I mean, we talk about it all the day, all the time, but yeah. So for today, I wanted to cover kind of some kind of big picture stuff around straight lines. And let's start with this one. And you can, with most any of these, you can see it on the screen. This is something that... You can tie straight lines and squiggly lines into almost any of these things we're going to talk about today. But I would say that the thoroughbred... You can't love too much, honey. Or you can't love too much. So you can't... Well, you know, you said this thoroughbred lesson is straight lines and squiggly lines. And I'm like, I don't think that I would pull the reins on someone being caring. So go. Oh, well, no. Yeah. So the thoroughbred thing and the reason I choose thoroughbreds is... you know in in the work that I do um I meet lots of car dealers right so I mean they're they're dealer principals they're businesses and they're excited and while we certainly work with some general managers in addition to the dealer we our relationship is typically with the dealer and our responsibility is to the dealer principal check writer whose name appears on the building or the business that's how we I just want to uh notate something that's how we define a dealer yeah um and so you know there's a lot of a lot of people that we talk to it's like yeah I was a dealer and it's like okay so it's the person who has the license who ultimately is the one responsible for all the money that goes in and out of all the stuff yeah and like the ultimate decision maker for your business Yeah. I didn't really have a mind to talk about this today, but I think in the context of the thoroughbred thing, we can cover something that you and I talk about. We, we don't say it in a, in a, you know, public way very often, but that is that, you know, in advising and in really understanding the dealer's perspective, it's important to have been in that place. In other words, when you, when you think about being a, Working with a dealer. And you can take this to any kind of business, you know, take it outside of buy here, pay here. But unless you've been in the chair that has to make the decision, like it's your money at risk when you make these underwriting rules. And when you, you know, make certain decisions around a repossession that could get you sued or whatever. How are you going to raise the money for making payroll? I was like, if you can get fired from your job, you're not the dealer principal, kind of. That's simpler, but I'm just trying to get inside the idea that once you're dealer principal, if it's your signature on that line of credit or if it's your signature, you know, it's backing up that floor plan audit or any of those kinds of things, then, you know, this is why to be, you just got to understand the kind of the pressures and the stresses and the, the wins and losses that is being a dealer and kind of that entrepreneurship, which entrepreneurship is, was not new to me. I was an entrepreneur before I was in buy your fare, but yeah, Yeah. I remember my dad owned his own business. And so part of that comes the burden of responsibility, of making payroll, of paying your bills, of, you know, being the one that has to make the really, really gnarly, rough choices. yeah and so I think this is why you know as an advisor just know that you know when you're talking to me you're talking somebody's been there I was a dealership before that I owned a couple businesses you know before that even so and of course now we own a business in a different way in a consulting business but I think in that part I just think it's important to stop and talk about that because these dealers are the decision makers and so now when you talk about the thoroughbred element this is something I've just observed and I started to refer to it that way you know when when when of course I'm a pretty easygoing level person right it's my nature um now when I meet car dealers who are often what is it that draws them to entrepreneurship to car sales to to all that stuff often this is not we're going to use some broad generalizations here today but I would just say that Often they're type A individuals. They're go, go, go, hit the wall, keep going. That's kind of the nature of what's drawn to being a car dealer. Now, they're not all like that, but certainly many of them that we meet, and especially the young people who are go, go, go, go get it, let's build a business. I find myself sometimes in an uncomfortable position as an advisor having to take the thoroughbreds and slow them down, pull back the reins and say, wait a minute, you know, because the phrase I use often is, you know, we have to understand about buy here, pay here, a couple of things. you can just race right off a cliff in this business. And the field, as I was telling somebody recently, a colleague is like, you know, in my career, just 20 plus years of the actual consulting side, we have seen, and you can even go back to the days I was managing in Oklahoma, late nineties, like, We've seen the money kind of cycle in and out. You've seen kind of different players come in and out of the space across decades. And you have to ask yourself why. In the post-COVID, we saw a number of dealerships, large dealership groups close up. We don't know exactly the story there, but we could certainly surmise certain things that likely were the contributing factors there. But I think what I'm always trying to do is ask the dealers to pause. Let's, let's, let's pause for a minute and let's talk about this piece because there are elements of this business that are tricky. And if we, if we allow ourselves to get carried away, and if we just think we're going to grow, grow, grow, build, build, build, and I, and I meet dealers and here's an example. You'll be working with a new dealer and they'll call and they're so excited because they did a deal. And especially those that are coming from franchise and retail. Man, we did a deal. We did three deals last week and we grossed X. Well, what does that mean? Well, and it's funny because when you hear people say that, you're like, oh, you worked franchise. Yeah. Or independent. Yeah. And those folks are typically thoroughbreds, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so that's okay. It's beautiful to be a thoroughbred. And there's a time to run. And, and there's, it's kind of like when you talk about a thoroughbred and like a horse, a horse that is in franchise is going to have a different, different playbook and a different jockey. Right. than a horse in uh you know if you did the buy here pay here it's going to have there are different there are different cues there are different things that that uh that you're going to be guided by if they're paying attention if they're coachable see that's another piece is like we we meet people we had a whole episode on coachability a while back and so you could find that find that on I don't remember what we titled it, but maybe we just find that and share it. But the thing about being coachable is, you know, those dealers have to be ready to adapt and accept that it's different. Because sometimes they come in with this idea that, you know, sales is sales. We're going to sell. We're going to close the deal. And they feel like there's somewhat of a feeling of, I failed, if they don't meet a quota they've set for themselves. Well, and I didn't put it in the list here, but the other thing that I've learned to navigate, and this is maybe we can talk about it more in a squiggly lines context is this thing about ego, right? I mean, I've touched, I've touched on it in the past and listen, I'll just say for today, ego is not a dirty word. It's not that, you know, we've had some conversations about that recently. Yeah. And so I think we can go into some depth on that and Wednesday, but ego itself is not a dirty word. It's just that when we, when we allow ego to cause us to push, push, push in a certain direction, and it clouds our judgment, because we're driven by ego to accomplish X or Y. And so when ego pushes us, sometimes it clouds our judgment and we don't listen to the stabilizing kind of elements that I think are, that's the kind of coach I try to be in Buy Here Payers. Like I just try to make sure our clients can count on me to be And to take a moment to think big picture, long game, you know, that's sort of, that's my nature anyway. But I think that's where some of our clients have learned to rely on that part of, for me, because I just, I think that they get tangled up in all the stuff. Right. So it's natural. Yeah. But I'm saying ego. So where does ego come into play? It's it's puffed my chest. I got a I sold more than you did or I have a I just opened my third thing. I just, you know, whatever. Right. It's all the stuff. So it's like when that's ego driven, it's dangerous. So ego, like I said, by itself is OK. But when in our business in particular. ego can really push us to a dangerous place. And so this is the part that I'm trying, obviously risk mitigation is a big part of what I try to do with dealers. Right. Yeah. And so I think I'm just trying to help them understand. So let's go into the next one, which would be, and these all kind of tie together in a way. Okay. And this is another one that's just, I think it's tied so closely to the last one. where it's, it's, it's more, more, more. Um, and it's about a need to be seen as successful too, that there's, that there's this, there's an intoxication to the cash and there's an in, in this business, once you hit your, your, um, you know, you've gotten past your first year and you've got things in a rhythm that it's like, it's becomes like, oh my gosh, this is, this is amazing. And think of how much more I could more. And because it's the intoxicated for me, when I see that I'm thinking the intoxication effect is I want more. yeah so so typically when dealers let's just let's just kind of walk through a scenario and this happened not long ago I had had a client that you know found themselves in that place and I'm I'm not as harsh about it as I once was like I used to really just take a moment to shut people down and make them think about you know and I'm not quite that that abrupt as you know as maybe I was before but it's um So dealer comes out of the franchisor independent space. They step over into buy here, pay here, and they see all this gross profit. And so what else happens? They sell, let's say they come out of the gate and they sell 20 or 30 cars in the first month. Okay. So they look at that. My gosh, look at our average gross profit. You know, look at our, look at the receivables on our balance sheet. We now have a, you know, 400, $500,000, you know, we create a half a million dollars in equity or whatever. Like you pick the numbers, but it's like, what happens there is that's what I mean by the intoxication effect. And so they get in there and they get excited about the gross profit. They get excited about those receivables and equity. And they say, I want more of that. I'm going to take focus away from my, I want, I want to, we're going to sell, sell, sell. Let's buy more cars for this. Let's hire some more salespeople. Let's build, build, build. And what most people who have a lot of experience in buy here, pay here would hear in that is, I didn't hear you say anything about collections. It's like, how's the underwriting work? And then more importantly than that even is how we're going to handle the collection side. Because that's the part that people that are independent, that's what's kept them out of the business to begin with, is they don't know how to collect those contracts. But they get in there and they get intoxicated by the opportunity and they say, oh, gosh, I could lose one out of three of those and still be good. You know, whatever. It's like it just gets to be intoxicating. I think if we can't manage that well, then we're back to being a thoroughbred and we're run, run, run. And that's why I say more than 10 years ago, I just started saying, look, you can you can race right off a cliff. in this business. And so that's why the whole tortoise and the hare thing comes around. And I always say, look, and buy here, pay here as a consultant advisor, I'm the tortoise. Every time I tend to be that way in our own business, like I'm building for the long game. I'm, you know, we're, we're not out to beat anybody today. And we're, you know, we're paying an infinite game, which is something else that we'll talk about probably on Wednesday is like, it's, it's important to really think about and, and shift the, away from this idea that we're going to sell, sell, sell, gross, gross, gross, build receivables, build receivables. And that's, that's only a sales mindset. Like that's, that's in your head. It's obvious that they haven't had that shift. Cause we taught, we've talked about, there's a shift, the paradigm shift that is, that is, well, and that's only if you're in franchise. Cause I think you could come out of a different sector and, into this and then get intoxicated by the things that you're experiencing too. Yeah, as well. Yeah, you could. I just think it's mostly in the context of the paradigm shift is mostly in the context of people coming from franchise and independent retail. They're used to fighting for gross profit. They're not used to enjoying all that interest income on the contract and so they're they're that's just it's it's an intoxicating thing for them when they shift in there and they just because they bring a sales mentality and you know you were present recently when we had a meeting with the dealer and we went through the SWOT analysis and I wrote one of the last things I wrote on the board and the threat category one of the biggest threats to you in as far as your buy your pay your success and experience is going to be this this retail mentality. If you bring that retail mentality into buy here, pay here, it's going to be a threat to your business. And so the sooner you can learn to manage that and treat this business differently, then the sooner you're going to have success. So this is why it kind of ties back in the intoxication pieces. People get under the ether, so to speak, of, all this gross profit. And they just think, man, we got it. We got to go get all of that. And it's like, you know, so, so when a dealer says to me, the part that I used to be abrupt about is dealer will call me and say, man, we just did a deal. We did, we had a $7,000 gross profit. And you're like, yeah, I've done anything yet. Yeah. All you did was finance a customer with poor credit. You agreed to put a customer with poor credit. How much risk do you have on the road? That's what you really did. Yeah. It's like it's a cash thing, right? And so I didn't even list it here separately like as a line item, but certainly cash flow. I'm heavy on cash flow. People who have listened to us for more than 10 minutes probably hear me talk about cash flow. Well, it's fun for me because when you talk about that, dealers that have been in this industry for a while, And get that stuff. They're like cash. It's that's what this is about. This is this. It's that is what it's about. Yeah, it's still interesting that some don't. And I really had a great meeting with the dealer last week where we're finally I've been working with this dealer for like a year and a half maybe. We're finally getting to the place where the bookkeeper can extract for us the cash flows, the direct cash flows going out of the business. We've been asking for it. We'll put aside and work on something else. Months go by and we still don't have it. And so, so the dealer was just grinning ear to ear whenever we finally got to the place where we could put it on a screen and show it on a single thing. Here's the cash coming in. Here's the cash going out. Like it's just crazy that it, but it's part of how I think as a coach, right? It's part of how I like to help the dealers think about their business in that way. And so, you know, the profit, we don't, we don't talk about profits and APRs on a daily basis in, in the buyer payer space with when we're coaching with somebody. we're looking at cash flows and you know how we're going to improve our cash flows how many contracts do we need to have on the books in order to stop drawing on our line of credit I mean that's the stuff we talk about and so this is where I think and yeah and I passed the intoxication thing yeah it's been fun to watch you with dealers you know when you talk about lines of credit and all that helping dealers navigate that the debt and and um you know in a really in a really solid sure in a really solid way yeah I think part of the thing too is you know as an advisor I i do the best I can to pull dealers off this next topic and again all this stuff kind of ties together is talking about the hamster wheel piece because it's, it's all part of the same thing, right? It's all. So dealers find themselves in this place and you see me, I have trouble getting some dealers to make it to their meetings. Like they can't find time to even go. So obviously when they're working with me, typically we're working on the business. Sometimes we're certainly working on things that are are you a week in a week out or month over month kind of numbers. But for the most part, I'm trying to get them to work on things that are bigger picture and, and kind of, you know, broaden us, broaden the scope a little bit and let's, let's let's work on these other pieces. But I just, I feel for them because they're so, and sometimes that's just, that's a control element. Like that's something that people could use a little help with, find some other coaching. I mean, I try to the best I can to work with them and they just struggle to, to, step away. And so I think this is where, you know, the advisor in me watches that and thinks, and I see it now because I was a dealer myself. Right. And even in businesses before I was a dealer, I think back to what I must've looked like as a manager, how I functioned as a manager and how I found it difficult to be away. You know, I found it difficult to train somebody else to do certain things, you know? And so this is, but this is kind of the control element. And this hamster wheel effect I think is a big threat to a lot of dealers out there that we see. It's certainly a limiting factor. It's certainly going to limit their ability to grow. And my fear is that they're going to be stuck in that routine, that kind of wheel that is the hamster wheel. They're going to be stuck there until they can find a way to step off just long enough to catch your breath and see things from a different perspective. I love that. There's a couple of things I really, really love about that. One is stepping away to see it from a different perspective, because that is probably one of the most valuable things you can learn and develop as a skill is being able to step away and observe from a different perspective. And it helps an awful lot to have a mentor coach, whatever that can, you know, as long as you're not going to get triggered by here's what I see, um, such, such, such a valuable thing. Um, and I, I also, it's like, uh, stepping off the hamster wheel is about, uh, to me is about, um, respecting your business enough to, to stop and learn. Because that's one element of the hamster wheel. And so, you know, it's kind of, it's like, it's really hard to focus and learn when you have someone interrupting you every, every 30 seconds, every five minutes, every whatever. It's really hard for you to stop and learn if you're the one answering the phone. It's really hard to stop and learn when you're the one handling the sales desk. And so I got to go. Someone's here and I got to do the deal. And we see that frequently. And I've watched dealers feel like they're stuck in that. And so it's like if you can carve out an hour a week to, to, to teach someone else to handle that during your education time, during the time that you're, that you're, I mean, and that's a great place to start. It's like from this time to this time. And I know when you've been coaching people, um, and I, you know, it's, it can be about a coach, it can be about a mentor. It can be about, you know, a class. It can be about just, you know, learning somehow, um, It's more effective when you are not on site. And that's the measure of whether or not you have learned to successfully get off the hamster wheel, even if it's just for two hours. Yeah, and I want to take a minute to go inside something we don't talk about enough. And this is, it's all kind of tied to the same thing. This hamster wheel thing is also part of this idea about, and most of this we'll save for Wednesday, but it's like, there's the family element. Oh, yeah. There's lifestyle. Forget about your buy here, pay here business for a minute. And this is the part that... all too rare I'm able to have a conversation with a dealer where I can take them away from the day-to-day grind that is their buy here, pay here business. And we have dealers that we ask them to, if we meet with you twice a week, let's start making at least one of those meetings offsite, away from the dealer. Wherever it is that you're not going to be disturbed. Because if you're at home, And you got a kid at home and you're now I'm home. So I'm watching the, I'm watching, you know, my kid right now. It's, it's important that wherever it is that you're getting away, that you are in an undisturbed setting so that you can, that you can focus and, and not, not have things. I don't know about you. I'm ADHD. Yeah. and so that's like crucial because if I have anything if I can see out a window if I can see it's like it'll take me off track really really quickly so it's like when I need to focus I need to go and be somewhere and learn how to just kind of and not pay it not be not be called upon by shiny things yeah And I think for me, I can say this now. I don't know that I've expressed this certainly in the podcast, but I think our clients can expect that I'm not going to be doing that kind of straight lines coaching much more. Well, we have people and we have a lot of colleagues that we can refer to. And I'm just saying, you know, Personally, it's like if I'm working with a dealer and they just kind of refuse to step off the hamster wheel, I kind of get to a place where I have to disengage because I'm not they might choose to stay on a hamster wheel. I'm not really interested in staying on the hamster wheel and working on the stuff that is. Day-to-day stuff. I mean, there are other coaches out there in 20 groups and places you can go to work on the straight line stuff. So I think if I've got a dealer who won't step on, because the next part of this, and again, it all kind of ties back is like this Kiyosaki. You just put up things. It's all right. Whenever you take it on the show. But the Kiyosaki quadrant thing is we've talked about this in the past too. And so I think this is why I think I got to, and I can either shake dealers to a new place. And if they want to stay in the same place, then I can't really get to a place where I can't really help you. I can't really help you if you're going to stay in this place. We've talked about this. We've run different. When we did the dealer roundup last spring, it was like this was a short video that we ran at the beginning of each segment. And it ties directly into this Kiyosaki quadrant thing. And it's like there are phases of your journey. Some people never make the whole journey. Well, and some people it's like you have a job. You're an employee. You're an employee. So the first one is employee. You work for someone else. Yeah. And, you know, yes, some people don't have the ability to really work for somebody else. I want to pause and just make sure people know this Kiyosaki Quadrant comes from the book Rich Dad Poor Dad. So you can find it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Great book. Great book. And then it goes from employee to self-employed. Mm-hmm. So self-employed, I am now master of my own day. I get to choose where I want to go and what I want to do. I may be starting, you know, some kind of a, of a, um, I, you know, what, what I want to create and, and that there's a lot of dealers out there that are self-employed. That are that it's because they are working in it. It's because they are without them. It all falls apart without them. It all falls apart. It's like I am self-employed. This is my job that I have to come to every day to put money on the art, to put money in the bank and food on the table. This is my this is my self-created job, my self-created employment. I'm self-employed. Yeah, and I think the way that... I forget the guy's name. He's a financial analyst or financial planner. And he said, basically, when you're self-employed, if your business can't function without you, then you've effectively just created yourself a job. You have income and you have a business that produces income and you make your living within that. But if you can't step away from the business... without it collapsing, then you've just really created yourself a job. And I think that's an important distinction. And this is why I think for many of our clients, I'm trying to ask them to think about, and I think what they can all expect to hear from me in the coming weeks is You know, how would your business run if this were one of many businesses that you own? Because if I push you to become a business owner, I'm going to challenge you to become a business owner, not a self-employed individual who happens to own a dealership. That's a different thing. It is a very different thing. It's a very different thing. And so I just want to challenge our dealers to take that step. And all of them listening today, like it don't have to be our client. I mean, obviously we're sharing with you the things that I have learned in working as a coach. And this is stuff that I did not know as a green consultant in the same way. Even though I'd owned businesses back then, I can say I was self-employed. I'd created myself a job and had a business that worked and it was profitable and paid me. And so that was nice. It's a nice situation. But when the business, so the word other word that I use is we see our dealers being tethered to their business. In fact, I want to share a story. I won't tell who it is, but I had a dealer tell me not long ago, he said, Jim, he said, one of the reasons I engage you, I'm hoping you can help me solve this thing. He said, I have been open in this location for 12 years. And in 12 years, there has never been a week that I wasn't standing on this lot. In 12 years, they've never had a week away. Oh, wow. So you can imagine the toll. Oh, on the family, on relationships, on just your ability to unwind and reset. And see beyond it. And see beyond it. Yeah. Wow. Right. Wow. Wow. You know, what's interesting though is that, is that, I think that there's a lot of dealers out there that, that, that, that what you just said is going to like, it's going to, it's going to pierce. It's going to sting. It's going to be like, that's me. That's me. There's too many. There are too many. Yeah. And you know, it's a natural progression with a business. You start a business and it's natural that you're going to be in it and learn it and do all this stuff. But I think you, I would just ask dealers everywhere to ask themselves, what does my business look like if I'm away for a month? And then take it further. Just start with a month. Well, I mean, how about you just do a four-day weekend? Start there. I mean, it's like I want to not be there. I do not want to be at the dealership Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. That's not enough. But still, it's like it's like it's a baby step. It's like because that's that's a big time. Mondays are huge because Monday's the day that everyone's like collections or that's the big thing. And Fridays and Saturdays, that's those are those typically are pretty big days or they can be pretty big days. Yeah, look, I'm not saying that all of our dealers should own their dealership as one business and then they should go open a real estate business. And we're seeing many of them do that. But that's not really my point here. I'm not suggesting that dealers should have to have multiple businesses. But I do think that in order for this to become a real business. Uh-huh. that it has to be able to function in a way that it doesn't depend. So, so if I think of, so my favorite way, we talked about this back when we did our enterprise value. Yeah. That was the one I was talking about. Yeah. Our day long event. So we talked about this and the way I posed that back then is imagine if you went on a 30 day cruise and all you did was check in on email once a week, that's, that's the measurement that I want dealers to work towards. So that you're still keeping tabs because it's- You're available to answer the tough questions. Yep, yep, that kind of thing. And you have somebody, you don't have anybody on your team now who back at the building could execute your wishes according to protocols and policies and procedures that are well-established, create a good set of bumpers. Then if we don't have that, then our business is dependent on us We're tethered to the business in a way that we're really just self-employed and we haven't taken that step. And that's the nudge that I want. And as I start to move away from some of these client engagements, it's like I have to tell them, look, you know, we're being very selective. Yeah. Well, it's like, yeah, you're going to have to show me that you're willing to step off the hamster wheel. Otherwise, I can't really help you solve some of these problems. It's a reality. Well, and we've we've had clients in the past that it's just like, you know, you get a couple of weeks in and you're like, oh, They're just not, they're just not seeing there. And, and, and that you, that, that we've felt like, I don't know that we're going to be able to, to like make an impactful change. Yeah. And I think I have enough perspective now to say, I won't be able to help you until this shifts. So until I see that shift, i really I won't be a solution nor do I think you're going to bring anybody else in here and you know there's there's something about this um owning a business that it just it can go just a step further too and and um you know kiyosaki kind of talks a little bit about this but it was that when we did that enterprise value is if your business can grow and improve when when you're not there right That's, that's like the mark of I've really got this dialed in and that your business can grow and improve without you being there. Yeah. And I think one, one area we can cover quickly and then we can wrap up and save the rest. Yeah. And I think it's, it's worthwhile stuff for people to hear. Right. I think it's, it's certainly an example of where I've kind of landed as a coach and where I feel like, I know that I can offer as a business owner myself currently, as a former dealership owner, I think I can offer perspective to these folks who are in a spot where they just can't see their way off of this hamster wheel. and they can't see how they could ever own the business and have it function without them there, then I want to help them create those solutions. You know, I want to be part of helping them create that solution and grow that business to that place. And, you know, if some dealers may just be perfectly content to stay in a self-employed rhythm forever, Right. And be kind of attached to their business. And I think I shared with you that, you know, it occurred to me, I said, I can't remember where we were presenting, but for the first time I said to an audience as we wrapped up the session, kind of in this context of, you know, enterprise value is. You know, I want everybody to ask you. So this is your action item for the week. I'm going to start doing these BHBH actionables. Right. So I want the one takeaway for today. I want to ask dealers to ask themselves, do I own my business or does my business own me? That's a hard one. I'm going to say it again. Do I own my business or does my business own me? And I know that sounds, that's cutting, right? I think it's important for dealers to answer that question for themselves. So when you got a little windshield time, Think through that. How much does my business have me around the throat in a way? I mean, that's dramatic, but it's like, how much does my business have control of my life right now? And so if it's that kind of a beast, then probably we need to slay that beast and get you in a position where you own that thing and that thing is running without you standing in the building every day. And it's possible. That's the thing. I think every dealership that we've stepped into and done a site visit and met people and all of that, every single one of them, that type of freedom is possible. Yeah. And while folks can certainly reach out to us, I think this idea here is, look, Michelle and Jim will not be the ones who give you the answers. Give everybody listening to this thing. We won't be the ones to give you the answers for how you get from here to there. Some of you can find those answers yourself. Some of you will find other coaches. You can reach out to us and we'll put you in touch with other coaches and solutions and whatever it looks like to be the answer for you. But I think first, you just got to recognize you got to be willing. And it's Memorial Day. A lot of dealerships will be closed. If they're not closed, the office may be open, sales department might be open, and the dealers are home flipping burgers. It's a perfect day to think about what would I have to do? First of all, does my business own me? And then start to think about what would have to change And I bet if you look in the mirror and ask yourself, one of the things that has to happen is you as a dealer have to decide. You have to look in the mirror and say, I probably need to let go of some things. I can't hear you. I said, I'm going to have to let go of some things. Look in the mirror and just say, in order for my business to go from where it is today to where I want it to be, I'm going to have to learn to let go of some things and practice that. And I'm hoping I'm not speaking out of turn. It's not that we're not taking clients. It's that we're being very, I mean, it's just, there's so much that we want to be able to put our time into. And as we're doing this shift from being self-employed to having an outright business. This thing is humming along by itself because we understand the thing, like if we're not available, I mean, we do get to travel anywhere we want to go. There is a sense of freedom and all of that. But if we're not engaged, our engagement is directly tied to the bank account. And, you know, a lot of dealers out there like that. And then we are, we're in the process of shifting that. And so join us. Yeah, for sure. I just think people ask sometimes, how can you guys give away so much information on a podcast, right? Okay. I can give you lots of reasons that we do that. One, we really want to make a difference. Two, when was the last time you heard somebody talk about this stuff that we're talking about today? That too, that too. So it's like, we're not going to reach, you know, we're not going to solve much in this industry by going one at a time, right? And meeting one dealer at a time and we can only serve so many of them. So I think this is a way for us to serve and reach more dealers and talk about the stuff that I feel like, you know, based on my perspective, because, you know, you could make it about Jim's ego and his knowledge base and all this stuff. And no, it's my perspective, folks. It's like the years of in the trenches and owning a dealership and working with dealers in these areas and being, you know, I've been in dealerships, buy here, pay here dealerships and finance companies in more than half of the states in the country. you learn some stuff yeah it offers me a perspective that I think you have yeah I got to bring that here to make sure we can get this information to the hands of people so that we can have a chance to really make a difference and I hope that you know coaches out there going to help you know solve some of this and find mentors who can help solve some of this yeah Well, and it goes back to a little bit to that conversation. It's like I have been tethered for 12 years and that same dealer, I'm pretty sure it's the same one, was like, oh, I've been listening. I've learned so much already. Not the same. This is a different dealer. Okay. Different dealer that I don't know how they're engaging with this right now. But the thing was, I have already learned so much. The difference is I want to learn how to apply it. And what are the things that you see or what are my blind spots? Help me see it from a different perspective. And that's super valuable, whether it be a mentor or a coach or whatever. is being able to take the things that you know, and they can help you apply and see your blind spots and see, you know, this, this is, this is, you know, how, how we're seeing it from this perspective. And here's your, your, like the SWOT analysis kind of thing. And then letting, shedding ego and get to work right and you know do the things that that are going to actually create just this beautiful strong business yeah and I think as we kind of transition toward wednesday and the more the squiggly line side I would just say that you know and looking at all these things I think one of the things I look forward to as a coach is working with dealers as an accountability coach but more on this thing about transitioning to a business yeah And so if, if I see that dealers are not going to be able, willing to take those steps, then I probably have to disengage. It's just because I can't, that's just not where. And there's so many people out there that we could refer to. So it's like, if you want to understand the basics and you want to understand the stuff, yeah, there's a lot of people out i just think there's so many great voices this is where our particular strengths are going to come into play and we need to certainly utilize our strengths you know and help dealers make these important pivots and so this is the part that I think we just gotta I gotta see them show that they're willing to do their part because if they're not it doesn't make sense for us to keep showing up it doesn't make sense for us to keep charging the dealer when the when the real problem is not going to get solved then that that doesn't serve either one of us yeah so um as as we're as we're wrapping up uh if you have um if there's something that we can help you with um I know that we were just like no we're not technically um if there is something that we can help you with uh the uh caller text 903-816-0216 we still have seats available in um in the seats at all levels we have seats at all levels in v8 and this is a great way of coming together with other dealers to connect and compare and um it's really it's cost effective it's only right now 129 a month and you meet once a month those that are finishing up the of the last four initial groups that we're we're doing we're doing supplemental meetings um which is something that we're going to be Just to kind of see how that can develop as we increase education through this Connect and Compare as well. So if that's something that's interesting to you, again, 903-816-0216. Thank you so much for joining us today on The Morning Show and including us in your Memorial Day. Happy Memorial Day, everybody. See you back here Wednesday. All right. Have a great day.
