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. Good morning. Hey. Good morning from the Ogden studio. That's right. So we have a little bit of Jim set up the other cameras and kind of see a little bit about how all this stuff is set up. If you're watching this through video, if you are listening via our syndicated podcast. You're missing out. Go to YouTube and then you can see the disaster. Yeah, you can see the messy workstation here. Yeah, absolutely. No, it's all good. Welcome. Happy Wednesday. This is a White Hat Wednesday, of course. And so we have some fun stuff to talk about there. A couple updates. Shall I get to those? Absolutely. So news, we got the newcomer group of V8 meets tomorrow night. I would need to hear from somebody like today to get them in the group if they're not a member of that group. And then on the third, we have Tim Evans, who is one of the speakers at the NIADA conference. So I don't remember what the subject will be, but he'll be with us. On the 3rd and then on the 4th, we have our V8 Plus, kind of that virtual breakout session on CRM best practices. That's coming up. So that's for our V8 folks. But then I think that's really it, kind of near-term announcements. We got Gordy Tormolin coming on the 10th. So he's about to step out of, I mean, the conference will be the transition for, you know, his presidency at the board. Yeah. And I believe I'm working with the folks at NIADA to get Jeff Martin on the show before the conference. I got a couple other people that we're in discussion with that I look forward to bringing to the podcast soon. So just stay tuned for updates on who's coming next. Yay! Okay, so today we're going to be, this is the third and final of Green to Gray. I do. It's cute. And it's about, we saved the squiggly lines stuff for this. To talk about more of the heart piece. If we spent Friday and Monday talking about more of the straight line things, the things that you've learned. And today we were going to talk a little bit about, because it came from that question of what are the 10 things that you've learned? And that kind of is what spurred it. It's not necessarily there are 10 things, but that was a question that I was asked. um as I'm preparing for some things that I'm working on by one of my girlfriends when I was in mexico and I was like that is a really great question to sit back and go what are the 10 greatest lessons that I've learned and you know uh sure yeah Yeah, and I didn't bother to try to go into a top 10 or a count or anything like that. I just kind of, you know, listed quickly the things that come to mind for me. And I think our session on Monday was kind of heavy straight lines, but we certainly talked about some stuff. We watched it last night. Yeah. It was really good stuff. I mean, you know, that we were like, yeah, we're over here just patting ourselves on the back. But it was just, it was like, there are some really big lessons um that that you've learned and that we've we that you've learned we've learned and through your coaching um experience and being a dealer experience and I think we talked a lot about perspective you know that being a dealer was part of what we talked about and I i would encourage people to go back and find that episode because I think especially if you're newer to buy here pay here and you you kind of some days you feel like you're you're um you know on that hamster wheel or you feel like you might be out ahead of your skis a little bit then I think this would be a good topic that would be a good episode to go back the first one well the one from monday I think is good too and well the first one's good too but I just mean as far as people being in the buy here pay your space if they're newer to it then I think that would be a good one for people to just hear the perspective of somebody who's seeing yeah well there was one question in there or one you were talking about one of the dealers that said jim I've been doing this for 12 years and I have never missed a week. There's never been a week. There's never been a week that I wasn't in this building. Yeah. And, um, and that, you know, that, that right there is that, that, that could be something that'd be very beneficial for even dealers that are seasoned to listen to. So, and I think what we're going to cover today, we'll kind of tie back to that. So let me kind of recap. One of the things we talked about on Monday was, um, the Robert Kiyosaki quadrant. And I think as we think about that, one of the things I've started to talk about in certain settings recently is this idea that The Kiyosaki Quadrant is from the Rich Dad, Poor Dad book. It's pretty popular. And he's a really well-known entrepreneur, very successful in real estate and other things. And the book talks about the four quadrants where people move from being, you know, or you don't have to move. I mean, it's just kind of breaks down the stages. It's the journey. It's the journey that can be. Not everybody journeys, right? Some people just stay in one. We stay employee. And, you know, for a lot of people, that's like super safe. Yeah. It's just safe. Because I'd rather not have to worry about payroll. I'd rather not have to worry about any of the things and just be there to collect the benefits and the, you know, all of that. And there's nothing wrong with that. There's not. And for those who want to be self-employed, there's that. And that's the difference that we spent some time talking about the difference between being self-employed and being a business owner. And then the last, the fourth quadrant in the Kiyosaki thing is uh investor like you would move to the place where you own businesses and now you didn't really talk about that yesterday but it was yeah investors and so I think it's just uh the idea is what I want to add to that is that when I read that I think you know one of the things that's left out of that and it kind of ties back to you know when we had our meetings in vegas I shared something I had heard and I still remember our interim ceo jerry martinez laughing about this this idea you never see a u-haul trailer behind a hearse You know, and so I think it ties to... Wait, okay, hold on. You never see a U-Haul trailer behind a hearse. Right. We've all heard the expression. The visual, yes. And it's like, because you can't take it with you. Right. That's the expression we've all heard. But the visual of, you know, a U-Haul behind a hearse kind of drives home this idea for me that when I look at the Kiyosaki Quadrant, I feel like what's missing there is the idea of... positive impact. It's like the idea that we're going to have some sort of legacy associated with our business. And so that legacy, it might be wealth, it might be financial success. I think for today, what I wanted to introduce is this idea of owning a business that we can feel so good about that has done really great things in the community and that it also continues to sort of have an impact in the community and with my family after I'm gone. So I think when I think about that hearse element, I'm thinking, you know, what's going to be, what is my business going to look like after I'm gone? We spent time Monday talking about, you know, can you take that step from where you are to just being out of the building for a week or a month, you know, and now think about after you're gone, what kind of positive impact can come from a business that we have such a great opportunity in the buy here, pay here space because it's such a great wealth builder. And it's such an important service that those dealers provide in communities where the customer's in a difficult spot. They don't have a lot of options. There are a lot of, sadly, there are a lot of unscrupulous dealers in this segment, right? So many of the dealers that we work with, recognize and we sometimes help them recognize the opportunity to create that kind of a business that can really have a positive impact in the community, touch lives, and that can include our team, right? And I think for today, I also want to just introduce the family piece, like family life, just for dealers being able to, I talked to a dealer last night who was on the way to their kid's graduation, like It's like, that's the kind of stuff. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. It's baseball games. It's, or it's, or it's like, Hey, I want to coach my little league, my kids, little league baseball team. And I, cause I want to be involved in that way. And so I, um, you know, when we talk to the dealers that, that, that we work with and talk to other dealers that we meet, um, along the way at, at conferences or whatever, um, I recognize and I, and I respect the fact that so many of them as you're building, or if you're on that hamster wheel, I got to learn how to turn off all the notifications because I heard the last time. So, but that, that it's like, it's all I can do to keep my head above water. Then to be able to step into service and, Cause I, cause I kind of look at it as like, it's, it is, it is being able to step into also this legacy thing is to step into service and that's serving your family. And that can be serving your community that can be serving your, you know, serving your employees. But that's that to me, that, that part of that legacy, cause that legacy, especially if you're looking at it in your community is, That legacy, the foundation of that is serving your community. It's service. It's, you know, taking the time to, to, you know, if it's what a beautiful thing. Like if, if you, uh, you know, you don't want to be a hundred percent retired or whatever, but that you're out as a representative of your business, because remember, it's not, it's not your, your self-employment job because you're now out, but as a representative of your business. Yeah. out helping and volunteering and, and, you know, being the little league coach or, you know, finding ways in which you find such joy and to serve, serve your community, serve your family, serve extended family, serve your neighbors, serve and, and being good to yourself too. And I think, you know, I, I'm always thinking about so many of the dealers that we work with and I think I can picture them, you know, hearing this, conversation and thinking, you know, that's, that's a beautiful sentiment, Jim and Michelle. I think I'm just trying to get my recon costs down and get my cars out of the shop. And, you know, they're very focused on the stuff that is running the business. And I think what we're trying to say today is, let me rephrase that. What we're saying today is that, So it's possible to step away from that. Just, you know, for today, we're asking, take 20 minutes and let's talk about this thing that is not about buy here, pay here. Let's take buy here, pay here. And in my description for the show, I said, let's go off the balance sheet. Let's go. Let's talk about the stuff that is not about buy here, pay here. Let's talk about what it's like to create a business that can do exactly what we're talking about, that can position us to be a business owner and not be in the trenches. By the way, in our V8 meeting last night, we had an extra meeting with our group that is the largest dealers of 500 to 2000 accounts. And the question was asked, one of the members asked the whole group, how many of you are active in your business? And like you, you work with customers and only two out of the six in the group said, I don't, I don't work with customers. Like I'm, I've grown to a point where I have people. And so I'm, they're not the ones that are, that are doing the, the hard conversations for collections. They're not the ones anymore that are doing the closing the sale, that kind of stuff. is that they're not working with customers directly in the business. And it's not to say that they're not fully passive as owners of the business. They're active in the business, but they're in a position to be able to work on the business, as evidenced by the virtual meeting last night. They're working on the business and still engaged, but they're just not at a place where they're working with customers. So anyway, back to the idea that it is possible to get your business to a place where you can – Enjoy the income from it. Have that new perspective and be able to breathe a little bit. And then today I just want to introduce the ideas like what is it worth to a dealer, to a business owner? Forget by your payer for a minute. What does it work to a business owner to have some peace and have, you know, kind of stability in their business and the people in place and, To know that, you know what, if I'm gone for a week, if I'm sick for a week, if I just go on vacation for a couple of weeks, the business is going to continue to function and produce income for my family. And I positioned myself to be able to know that that business could produce income even after I'm gone. Yeah. What is that worth? You know, there's there's I would like I would love to have been at that meeting sometime. I mean, I always like say maybe because you invite me to all of them to have asked the question and clarify the question is, are you are you seeing customers in your part of the process? Because there's a difference, too. If you, you know, you're coming into the dealership to take a look at the stuff, have meetings with the higher level people, you know, you're in your office and, you know, there to monitor and, you know, you're working on building the thing. but being able to come out of your office and just greet people and, you know, Hey guys, it's, and, and, and because you now are the face of the dealership in the community. And so people, I just think that that would be, if you choose to be, that would be something that I, I could be just like really, really beautiful. And yeah, You know, I think about a lot of the dealers that we've, we've talked to that are like, I just, I'm wore out and I've been doing this a long time and I just, I don't know, I either need to sell it or, or, um, or something. I mean, you know, and that they're, they're looking at a liquidation kind of scenario. And, um, I just, I, I think to myself, if you could, and I asked dealers out there that are starting to feel this, this way, um, If if that business could be because it gets to a point where it's no longer fulfilling. Right. And so if you could like look at the businesses and work yourself through. or transition yourself into a place where you step in, you're part of the team, but you're not there working, but that you are now able to be and have like this really really whatever kind of balance that makes you feel good. Because I do know some dealers, we have a dealer that we work with that just really loves doing the sales process. And so it's like, I'm going to do that for an hour or two every couple of weeks or whatever, just because I really, really enjoy that. But being able to find all of the pieces of the business that you really find joy in, weave that into your day, and then be able to have the freedom to do all of the other stuff. And I wonder if, if a dealer could create that kind of scenario where, where they are They're, um, they're engaged and, you know, they're, they're kind of watching what's happening with, with the dealership. They're able to get away for a couple of weeks, go on a cruise. They're able to do that kind of thing. They can come in and they can do the little bits of things that they really find, you know, a lot of joy and they can come in for, you know, training if they want to all of that. How much longer they would be willing to keep in the business if they could find that kind of balance in their day-to-day? Because I know people that, well, I don't think that I'll ever retire fully. I mean, you just want something to do. And I've watched people when they've had a job their entire life retire. and they work work work work work work work I um I have a lot of friends that were in the railroad and so they work work work work work work they get retired and they're dead within two years yeah um because they just they don't know what to do with themselves and now they languish yeah and so if you can start to weave that and and you know for me I would be with the business that we're building right now I would love to just kind of be able to step in go to you know do do the things that we just find so much joy in like doing the podcast I first see this doing something like this for a very, very long time. And so a dealer, if what, what would you create? What would your perfect in the sunset of your career? What would that perfect balance look like? Well, I think you've taken me into something, you know, we've talked about in the past, something called the vision. Like this is something, and I think that title probably appears on our, you know, if you go to our YouTube channel and do the search on that, I think you'll find that podcast. But I think what you're touching on is kind of this idea that it's going to be a – a clear vision because I think some of what you're touching on there's kind of still falls in the straight lines category for me. Like it's how do I want to run my business? And I just know as a former dealer myself, like I, I had the good fortune of having a very capable manager when I opened my dealership, which was about 30 minutes from my home. So I had the good fortune of being able to start with the idea that somebody else is going to be running it. And so, you know, plan accordingly, set the, the, the, internal controls and some of those kind of things to to allow that to to work and it worked pretty well um but I think that the thing is I was always mindful when I passed through the building that I would be honest with people if I asked people asked me if I would you know the owner I would say yes but I just I tried not to undercut the manager like I wanted the manager to have the authority to you know be the decision maker to you know even though they might Which is part of that whole, you got to be willing to let go. Yeah. Yeah. We talked about that last Monday. I think, you know, that's kind of still in the straight lines category for me to a degree. It's like, you know, how my business is going to function. And I'm really trying to get today to, to the place where we ask dealers to think about, forget about buy here, pay here for just a minute. If you can allow yourself to do it, forget that you're a buy here, pay here dealer. And just take a few minutes to ask yourself, okay, how do I want my life to look in three years? Allow yourself to go there. And so this is the part that I think. So it's not just the sunset. It's like you can have it now. Yeah. You can start to create it now. And so the best way to create it, the way to have the most success in creating exactly what it is you want. And I would love for you to talk about some of the kind of the way that you and I even flow through our work you know in our work we talk about not retiring and we're not exactly digging ditches over here you know it's like we it's it's work we enjoy right so it's something that uh you know I enjoy digging ditches every once in a while you've seen me get my hands dirty I'm digging holes I was doing that yesterday still doing that at 85 you probably would but the uh but the idea is with dealers I want them to Forget about their business. And we challenge them. The purpose, the exercise that is a vivid vision is making time to get away from the business and really challenge yourself. And this is not easy for dealers. I mean, it's hard enough for us. And we don't have the same kind of day-to-day responsibilities that a dealer would have in a fast-moving business. But I would just say that we want to challenge dealers. business owners to make time to create a vision for yourself. Outside. That's for you. That's for your family. That's not just your, your straight lines business and trying to make your business bigger, more profitable, more efficient. I mean, all that stuff is, is, is important day to day work, but, but to what end? I mean, how does it serve you? you as the dealer principal to be able to be in the place that you want to be. And this is the part that I touched on earlier. It's like, we have the good fortune in our buy here, pay here segment that dealers can create a lot of wealth. There's a lot of opportunity in that business. Of course, they got to be smart and going to have access to capital and all the stuff that is straight lines of building a business. And when they do that, they can build a business that's very sustainable. And so if you think about that, building a business that is very sustainable and it can create for a business owner the kind of lifestyle that they want to enjoy. But we got to allow ourselves to get there and think about it, because once we get clear about that vision. then we have a chance to start to move in that direction. That everything we do is aligned with that clear purpose and that clear vision of what we're looking to create. And now it's easier to make the day-to-day decisions because we're so clear about where we're going and who we want to be and what we want our business to look like in the community. And I think the other piece of all this is, You know, I just – and the squiggly line is part of coaching for me. I have grown quite comfortable with this idea that we have to ask dealers, business owners, to think – about their business to learn to run things through their heart as they run it to their head. Business decisions are still going to be made in our head, right? But I'm simply saying when we think about kind of the whole squiggly lines and the white hat way piece and what is it like to be that kind of asset to your community to really you know, enjoy seeing your customers in the neighborhood and, you know, create that kind of atmosphere. Like I'm saying, when we can learn, and this is, look, these are what, 98% of the dealers we work with are men, right? And men traditionally have not been, you know, They're not touchy-feely, right? Well, we're not asking you to go out and hug everybody by any means. But it's about being not stoic. Yeah. But being softer. So it doesn't have to be about any one dealer. If I've got any dealer listening this morning, I can say, look, you don't have to show it. You don't have to use the words, but... i know you got a heart I know you got a heart in there yeah it's like you know when you start to really learn to make decisions for your business through your heart you're still gonna involve your head you know that's what that's what you know you're doing is thinking through the straight lines but when you factor in when you filter those decisions from a heart place and decide this is how I want my business to be known Yeah, this is how this is the kind of culture that I want to create. And so those decisions, I can promise you are best made by involving the heart. Yeah. So this is the part that I say that, you know, we just want to make sure that we start to do that. And then the other piece that I would try to bring forward is just this idea that we want to. And we can get to that. But it's just this idea that we start to shift out of how to do this stuff and we start to shift into who. So you brought up Vivid Visioning. This is a book that was written by Cameron Held. And the premise of the book is more in the business side. It's more creating the vision for your business, which is really, really important. It's very important because it's like, how do you want your business to to operate, to flow? What kind of culture, like you said, you know, what kind of what kind of asset to the community do you want your business to be? And so, you know, we ask when we talk to dealers, it's like there's actually two things that we were we were discussing with Vivid Visioning. One is what does what does what do you envision your business? um, your dealership looking like feeling like in, in, um, in a few years. Uh, cause you know, a lot of these things, you know, there's doesn't happen overnight because, uh, some of the, especially the heart stuff, it doesn't happen overnight. A balance sheet can be changed pretty quickly, but this is stuff that takes a little bit of time and, and, and, and intention too. And so what do you want your business to look like? And then we'll talk about that when we go do on-site visits. And then the other part, which is we usually ask the wife or the significant other. And I say wife, and I'm not trying to be sexist or anything, but like you said, most of the dealers are men. But your significant other, your partner, someone that knows you in all aspects. to sit down and, and talk about what do we want our life to look like? And there are so many wives that just, they light up when, when, when we start talking about, you know, it's possible to be able to attend the piano recitals. It's possible to, to be the little league coach. It's possible to go on a field trip with your kid as a chaperone. I mean, it's like all of these things are all possible. Let me give you one more that's possible. It's entirely possible to own a buy here, pay here dealership and have some peace in your life. Yes. And, and how many, how, and the, the, uh, and not be at the dealership all the time. And this, the, when I watched, um, the, the partner that they just like, oh my gosh, I've been asking, you're killing yourself. You're working too hard. We never see you. It's, you know, and, and you're, you it's, you're so stressed at home and I'm worried about you. We've even had dealers that have had a massive heart attack. And so their family is just that much more on guard. It's like, what do we need to do so that your health is protected and your place in the family is protected and that we're able to spend the quality time you know, moments and time and all of that with each other. So there's two real distinct, vivid visions that are both squiggly lines. One is how do you want your business to be to be known, viewed? What kind of culture do you want? You know, how, when you come into, when you come into the office, what do you want that experience? Because it's experiential. It's not balance sheet. It's experiential. You know, what do you want the feels to be? And, you know, gentlemen, gentlemen have feels too. We just don't, they just don't show it, but they still, they still feel things. And, you know, you just, you just got to sometimes just pay attention. It's like, I feel stressed the moment I walk through the door. Well, that's a problem. Yeah. And, you know, who wants to be stressed while they're this and this? And so it's like, what are the things that are causing stress? And so being able to fix, I want to walk into my business and feel stressed and have happy people. There's like, hey, Jim, how you doing? Good to see you. You're here today. You know, whatever. And then also, how do you want to navigate? How do you want to show up? What kind of experience do you want to have at home and your off time and with your kids and with your, your significant other or with your, your parents? I mean, I, I look at, you know, you were talking about how have we done this and, and we've just, it's been amazing. It was a conscious decision in some ways to, you know, we do have the freedom to move about the country and all of that. But for instance, when we moved back here to Utah, we didn't think we would want to stay. It was just like, we'll be here for a year or so. And part of the reason why we moved back here was because my father passed away a couple of years ago and my mom died. is still kind of struggling and trying to find her footing of navigating this world without her husband of... 50 years at a late stage in life, at a late stage in life. And so, you know, I and and the funny thing is, is I didn't have the best relationship with my mom. And I was just like, I just I knew that I needed to do that. But when we got here, because we have that flexibility that I was able to carve out every Wednesday. Um, I go and dealers, you can do this too. If it's, it's every Wednesday, you don't have to come see my mom. Um, I'm just letting you know. I mean, she's, she is, she's great. But every Wednesday, um, that I spend half the day running errands, doing, you know, going to the bank, uh, going, she always takes me to lunch. I mean, she's like, I want to take you to lunch for tickets. Like mom, you don't have to pay. She's like, I want to. And it's always the same restaurant. Yeah. every week. And it's like, mom, can we go somewhere other than Costa Vida? I'm sure she's listening this morning. I'm sure. And Costa Vida is a fine restaurant. It's delicious. I love it. But having that freedom to be able to say I want to invest in relationships yeah yeah and and whatever it is or whatever it is but I do know I know from experience and so so deep down if you take the time to invest in those relationships they will pay dividends over and over and over and over again And that will not show up on the balance sheet. And that will not show up on a balance sheet, but that will bring joy and peace and, you know, just. And I know, look, there are going to be some dealers listening to this and they're driving down the road and they go, I can't even think that way. Like I, you know, I'm just so worried about meeting payroll on Friday or whatever. And that's totally fine. It takes time, but it's possible. It's not something you snap your fingers. But I think, I think that's the big takeaway that I would like to give people today is to know that it is possible to step from that self-employment into business ownership. Yeah. And it's entirely possible to create, like I would just ask people to think about, imagine a vivid vision. If I were to paint one for you and three years from now, you know, you're able to, you know, go to the car auction and be involved in the buying of the cars. That's a lot of dealers have fun with that. And they're able to, you know, go to sleep at night knowing that. Just think about this, that they're able to lay their head on the pillow knowing that I've created a better balance in my life, like I'm able to be available to my family. I've created a business that my family is proud of, not just me. like so when we think about creating a business that maybe my children are going to step into this business are we creating a business that they would want to be a part of like you know that's obviously a decision what kid wants to come and work at a dealership that their dad hates yeah yeah bad reviews yeah you know it's like or whatever yeah it's like ah I just can't wait to get out of there so stressful whatever yeah so I think that you know the idea is to create a vision where people can say okay I can see a path or I can allow myself to start to think that way about to think beyond where you are now see that's what we talked about with the hamster wheel sometimes it's hard for dealers to get enough time off the hamster wheel to be able to just take a break one of the things we challenged our dealers to do and some some did it some took advantage and and broke away from the dealership and went and created some time and quiet space and really have a chance to pause and and you know ponder the stuff and and this is really worthwhile because it allows us to think past the balance sheet Think past car sales. Think past all that stuff. And just for a little bit, step off the hamster wheel and say, okay, what do I want to create? How do I want to? And some of our dealers would just say, I just want a week out of the building. But that's pretty short sighted. And every Wednesday afternoon to go visit my mom. Yeah. It's possible. So in our, our industry, it may not happen tomorrow and we may not be the coaches to help you get there. We're simply saying as people who care about the success of dealers and business owners and having a chance to create some peaceful existence in their life and something that can really enjoy and that can, can have a really positive impact in their community and can, can, help them feel good about what they've created and they can continue to provide and be an asset to community even after they're gone. So this is the part that I talk about the legacy piece that is kind of, in my mind is missing from the Kiyosaki quadrant. I can, I can have the huge balance sheet. I can own all the real estate and all the big buy here, pay here portfolios, and I can have tremendous wealth, but there won't be a U-Haul trailer behind my hearse, which means what's left. What did I really create that, what am I leaving behind that is going to, for my loved ones, you know? So, so, you know, it's morbid to think about. Dealers don't want to think about that stuff. In reality, I'm just saying it's, when we find time, you're going to find a lot of peace in that. You know, if you can make time to really think about build the thing in a way that I can have this kind of peace and navigate life in a way that is comfortable and beautiful and I can have the kind of business I can be proud of and my family can be proud of and my community, my chamber of commerce loves me. Like, you know, this is, this is what we can create. And of course, many of the dealers who would hear this are doing that, right? It's not that this, but we're just saying for those who are, We can't see that currently. We just want to introduce the idea that, one, let's get comfortable with the idea of running business decisions through our heart first. Let's involve the heart and the decisions that we make in our business. And when we do that, I think you're going to find, one, the decisions are going to be more consistent with your own vision of how you want your business to be now. And we're not talking heart as in push over bleeding heart. No, it's just, it's like how that, that, that bringing kindness, bringing, yeah, the heartbeat. It's all the intangible and the warm and fuzzy. Yeah. Right. There's two things. One, I just wanted to circle back with, with this spending time with my mom. Okay. Um, of being in service, taking, you know, taking that time out to be of service to my mom. She is like my best buddy. When I go out of town, I miss her. And, and we've talked about because I invested the time, um, in a relationship that was not really awesome. Um, and, and I, and I really strongly believe that this is true of all relationships, um, is I had to be the one to invest the time to be of service, to be the one that made the change. And I just fricking love her now. I mean, I, and my brothers are like, mom doesn't bother you anymore. It's like, no, she doesn't. I love her. She's, she's, she's, she's got her quirks. She's got, and I see her through a different lens. Um, then, then two, cause I just, I wanted to wrap that up cause I started with, I didn't really, you know, um, I don't, didn't want to spend time with mom. Um, But it's like, I'm going to give this. I'm going to give this. And now I love going and spending time those Wednesdays with my mom and just remembering she's not going to be around for an awful lot longer. But one of the other things that I wanted to talk about for just a second is that Jim and I, When I decided to step in to the business and then we were like in build mode, we were just discussing this last night. We worked seven days a week and usually it was like... I remember some beach days in there. There were a couple of beach days in there. Yeah, that's true. But I mean, for the most part, when we were out, because those of you who don't know, when COVID hit, we bought a travel trailer or RV. And sold or gave away all of our furniture and, you know, had a small storage unit. Actually, it was a big storage unit. And I was so grateful to get rid of the stuff. But so and just went on the road and we traveled all along the mostly the southern half of the U.S., And because we just were chasing spring, we didn't want to get cold. And that we spent a lot of time working. We worked and we worked and we worked, but we had a vision of what we wanted our life to be like. at the end of that. And we're now, I mean, that was, that was four years ago, three years ago, three years ago, three years ago of working really, really hard to create this life, this way that we balance so many things. And that it just, it feels like, you know, when we, we, we've been working on our backyard and all of that. So at the end of the day, we can sit out there and it's just like, Oh my goodness. Yeah. I just, you know, I, at the end of the day, we're done working for the end of the day. And we just, we've built this thing that we can, we can, you know, when it hits five o'clock, it's like, we're not working anymore. And there were years that at five o'clock we were still working. Um, and you know, just, just grinding to try to build all of the things. So it's possible we, you know, even though we are, we don't have a dealership, I'm just where I'm going with that is that even though we don't have a dealership, we have a business, right? that we have grown and we have put a lot, sunk a lot of thought and work and grind into. And so we're now seeing the real benefits from that. And it's taken time. So this is not something, like we said, you make a little shift and your balance sheet changes. But this is something that takes time. Have your vision. Do your vivid vision. Mm-hmm. And then filter all decisions through those visions. Does this take me away from my vision of my family? Does this take away from the vision of how I want my business to be known and seen in my community? So a couple of things. We can wrap up with this idea that I want to put on the screen there, something new. We're going to start to socialize this hashtag a little bit because I think one of the things we want to bring to the morning show is this idea that I want to start giving dealers takeaway and action items. And, you know, if you caught the episode last Friday where my green stage of being a consultant when I was brand new. You just looked so young. Yeah, so young. Oh, my gosh. So it's the late 30s. I met Jim with a beard and with gray already starting. So it's just like, you look so young. Oh, look, you were young once. Yeah. What's that? No, I think the thing that we want to start to have people think about is some steps. So something that you can take away, an actionable item from today. And if I picked an action item, it would be a couple of things. I'm going to ask dealers to, at their convenience, go find a couple of pieces of material. Go to YouTube and do a search for... start with why if you just do if you just do type in into google search or youtube start with why you're going to find simon cynics I love him and there's there's like a full 20 minute thing but maybe start with there's a five minute video we've played it on the podcast in the past we've talked about it actually at conferences We have. And I would say this really ties into where I think that, you know, and dealers are going to say, well, there's no real why and purpose behind my buy here, pay here business. I bet there is. If you just really break it down. And I think you'll see when you hear that, you'll understand why some of the companies that have the greatest success are balance sheet measurements or otherwise start with why. Okay. So I want dealers to just understand the concept. So start with a five minute video and then at a weekend, make time to watch the full 20 minutes and understand the whole context. Yeah. Yeah. So that's one. And the other one would be another piece from Simon Sinek is infinite mindset. Same thing. If you type in infinite mindset, Simon Sinek is going to come up. And I'm going to ask dealers to start to think about that because it's going to. If there's any one ingredient that I could offer to dealers from my perspective as a coach and business owner is like, that is something that I think when you can, when you can develop that infinite mindset, it's going to change the way you measure your success. It's going to change the way you feel stress and pressure in your life is that you just begin to realize, Oh, I've been putting a lot of pressure on myself to win at this finite game and And that's my own self-imposed pressure. That's a really, really great one to watch. And I think that the why is also the golden circle. There's also another book out there that is called Leaders Eat Last that Simon Sinek wrote. And it's about being a leader in your business. And the title should say an awful lot. It's like, because when you take care of your people, your people take care of you. And that's the whole premise of leaders eat last. And one of the reasons I personally refer to Simon Sinek frequently in the podcast and my great influencer. And I think what he does well is he articulates quite well. I mean, he's a, he's a global speaker and he speaks very clearly about trust, like which for white hat way, this is something that, you know, we're certainly going to speak about trust. We're going to be talking to use car dealers and buyer payer dealers about trust in the coming years. And so I think Simon Sinek is somebody who's out there, uh, I mean, Simon Sinek, go listen to what he talks about, about trust inside the Navy SEALs. Yeah. You know, just listen to that part. Forget about buy your pair for a minute and just talk about trust in teams and in how you create trust and what can be accomplished through that. He's, he is very well known for team building and, um, and like your mindset and it's just really, yeah, great stuff. So if you haven't already gone into YouTube and after you've liked and subscribed to, um, to the morning show. Um, go in and look for Simon Sinek and like, and subscribe there because you're just gonna, you'll get notifications and you'll get things that, that show up on your YouTube. And, and for a lot of people, YouTube is how they watch TV nowadays. Um, but yeah, I would, he's, he's, he's a great one. Absolutely. Great one. And then again, if any of y'all need help, please feel free. Call or text 903-816-0216. Go to our YouTube channel, like and subscribe. And then you'll hear when the things are coming up and get your alerts and all of that. Just text me to... Say hello. I just love getting a text message from a dealer who wants to show me a picture of his award-winning pumpkin. You know, whatever. Well, last time I said something about cat videos, Scott Shanrell from Neo immediately sent you a cat video via text, which was really, really fun. But yeah, we were really grateful. very grateful that you all make us a part of your of your day and um you know it's wednesday and it's middle of the week and and we know a lot of you are probably on your way or at an auction or whatever right now so thank us thank you for listening um whether it's recorded or live we really really appreciate uh your support and um and just yeah thanks for hanging in with this story of green to gray and kind of whatever, whatever the things I've learned and observed and we didn't get them all, but we just, yeah, we'll learn more. We'll teach more. Um, thanks you guys, everybody so much again for joining and we hope you have a great week and we'll see you on Friday. Thanks so much.
