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My name is Jeff, and I'd like to welcome you on a journey of reflection and insight into the tolls and triumphs of a career in automotive repair.
After more than 20 years of skinned knuckles and tool debt, I want to share my perspective and hear other people's thoughts about our industry.
So pour yourself a strong coffee or grab a cold Canadian beer and get ready for some great conversation.
Lucas Underwood [00:00:05]:
If you don't stop that behavior pathway, if the parent doesn't take an action to stop this, then we have adults who act this way, who believe this way, who something happens, they believe they've been slighted. They go into a bank and shoot people up.
Jeff Compton [00:00:21]:
Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, to another exciting but rainy morning here in Raleigh, North Carolina at ASD Expo 2024. I'm sitting here with my brother, George Wilkins. George is a very special person to me. I met George right here last year. And to say it had an impact from the immediate. Him and I, we just clicked. It was like, because, you know, Forrest Gump, it's like peas and carrots. We just go together.
Jeff Compton [00:00:45]:
There's something about it. He just. George has a way, when you're around George of just making you feel just good, just making you feel at ease. I don't know where it comes from. Like, there's a lot of people here that have that effect, but George is just, it's. It's something different. And George, how are you this morning, man?
George Wilkins [00:01:03]:
I'm good, man. I am super good. Yeah. You know, we're getting about washed away in the mountains.
Jeff Compton [00:01:08]:
Yeah.
George Wilkins [00:01:10]:
You know, all you can do is rebuild.
Jeff Compton [00:01:12]:
Yeah, it's crazy here. Like, there's a lot of rain here that's. There's a hurricane that's obviously hitting the coast and then it's having an effect coming up here into North Carolina and stuff. Right. And what's amazing is people up here, yeah, they're a little bit worried about what's going on at home, but they're just. There's a. They're not worried. Like I guess what I would expect people to be worried.
Jeff Compton [00:01:34]:
It's like they're almost like they just know. Like we were talking last night with Lucas and Lucas's father and he just keeps saying it's gonna be all right. You know, you were talking just a minute ago what you've been up to. You were helping a gentleman out last week.
George Wilkins [00:01:48]:
Yeah, well, kind of telling you about our schedule. Me and Kamara, we're super busy, but we do a lot of volunteer work with the church. And once I was telling you Peace Mountain Ranch, and it's a ranch in, out in Tennessee and it's just beautiful country. And he's got like 8 or 10 acres, but the farmers around there has a total hundred acres and they've given access to like walk the trails and hang out on the land.
Jeff Compton [00:02:13]:
Yeah.
George Wilkins [00:02:14]:
And so Peace Mountain Ranch is a veteran owned ranch. Harvey, really great guy. He was in Iraq, and he had some ankle surgery. He's got a carriage house that needs to be finished with the tile and the trim and all that. And our church came together. I think eight or 10 guys went in there and done some work a couple months ago. That's when I met him and came back. And he needs some weeding done.
George Wilkins [00:02:36]:
So me and some guys done some weed eating around the farm, and then now he's got tile laid and we all came together and done the grout on the tile and got it looking good. And then me and my dad's going to follow up with some trim work. He said he'd like to have it done by Thanksgiving, and Tom was going to make that happen for him.
Jeff Compton [00:02:52]:
Yeah.
George Wilkins [00:02:53]:
So, yeah, it's. It's.
Jeff Compton [00:02:55]:
You stay busy. So you're still at Lucas's at all and then.
George Wilkins [00:02:58]:
Yep, I am. Lucas's. In the evenings, we go up on the mountain, the beach mountain. We serve as hot tubs. We need the yards this time of year. I'll start blowing the leaves off the driveways. And then in the winter, we'll start shoveling snow off the steps and putting salt down and Airbnbs.
Jeff Compton [00:03:15]:
We had a beautiful dinner, all of us, last night. Lucas at the chop house here. And I mean, just like, I'm sitting next to George, and it's just. I'm not like, it's so cool because when around here lately, a lot of people got a lot of things to say to me, and it makes me feel really good. So sometimes I want to hang out with Lucas because people want to talk to Lucas. And then it takes some pressure off me. But, I mean, pressure maybe isn't the right word, but it's just like, it's nice to see people, like, want to hear from Lucas instead of, what's the JD Mechanic doing?
Lucas Underwood [00:03:46]:
Right.
Jeff Compton [00:03:47]:
But it's so, you know, you talked about, like this morning, you said to me we had some good fellowship last night, and, you know, starting to sound like a broken record for me, but it's like, when I come to these events now, that's what I feel. I didn't really have a word for it before. Just, you feel good. But it's fellowship, man. Like, it really is. Like, I feel like I'm with family. And that's weird, right? Because I'm not related to any of them. But, you know, like, my brother George, you know, my brother Lucas, my brother Eric, like my brother Noah, like, it.
Jeff Compton [00:04:21]:
They're just. I come away from this feeling so much better. And not that my life's not bad. Not even close, man. Like, I'm blessed beyond for what. What I've been given and where people have pointed me. And I just kind of blindly go along and trust. Right.
Jeff Compton [00:04:38]:
And. But to be around these people that are so uplifting and positive, I come home completely, you know, recharged to go face the world, go face the job. Right.
George Wilkins [00:04:52]:
So we need the Asta like three or four times a year then, right?
Jeff Compton [00:04:56]:
Oh, yeah, exactly. Like, if we could do this every three months, dude, I think there'd be no limit to what we could achieve. How good, like everybody would feel. It is too bad that it's like so far away from where I live and that it is only once a year. But like.
George Wilkins [00:05:11]:
But it is an awesome thing, right, to have as a go cart track. They said it was like 300 and something people.
Jeff Compton [00:05:17]:
Yeah.
George Wilkins [00:05:17]:
Not. Not the first eel attitude. None whatsoever. The whole day yesterday, everybody smiles.
Jeff Compton [00:05:24]:
Yeah.
George Wilkins [00:05:24]:
And just happiness and it's. I mean, that's great, dude. Like, you just don't get that every day.
Jeff Compton [00:05:29]:
And that's you. You talk about. And I know Lucas's shop. I've never worked there, but I kind of know everybody pretty good now that works there. And. And I hang out there when I. When I can come and visit. And there's that vibe in that shop.
Jeff Compton [00:05:42]:
Right. Like that the culture there is just like you guys cut up on each other all day long. Right? You're talking about the modified fly swatters that like, Lucas had to make. It's like, you know, give somebody a paddle on the butt with a flash water and they get a good jolt. Yeah. Like the kind of we all face every day, a lot of stress of getting stuff done and figuring out these cars and making sure that they're perfect. Like, that's your job. You know, you're the quality control guy.
Jeff Compton [00:06:06]:
Right. But the fact that he makes time to just be like everybody's a bunch of brothers. Yeah. And. And ribbon on one another and everything. That's, you know, that's the kind of the way you treat your people like that. That'll be like, it wouldn't matter, you know, if he gets into hardship. We're all there together for him.
Jeff Compton [00:06:28]:
Right. We know what he's gone through in the last little bit there. Losing his mom and, you know, some other things going on and it's all family stuff. But I can see when we were talking last night how he feels like it's no big deal and I'm going to get through it because I'm sitting here with people that prop him up. And everybody is so anxious to prop him up and prop you up because of how good he is at it. Right. He lifts you up. Lifts me up.
Jeff Compton [00:06:58]:
It's amazing I. To meet people like that, that just every day wake up and that's their only goal for the day, to make somebody else's day better. Man.
George Wilkins [00:07:08]:
You genuinely feel it. It's not like a skit.
Jeff Compton [00:07:10]:
No.
George Wilkins [00:07:11]:
You genuinely feel it in your heart, not just. It's not just words.
Jeff Compton [00:07:15]:
Yeah.
George Wilkins [00:07:16]:
And then the actions on top of the words.
Jeff Compton [00:07:18]:
Yeah.
George Wilkins [00:07:19]:
Proof.
Jeff Compton [00:07:20]:
So things are going good at the shop? You're enjoying.
George Wilkins [00:07:22]:
Yeah. You know your update last year, I'd seen you when we was here. I'd been there. A hot month.
Jeff Compton [00:07:27]:
Yeah.
George Wilkins [00:07:28]:
And here I'm a year later, still single guy. Happy to death about that.
Jeff Compton [00:07:33]:
Yeah.
George Wilkins [00:07:34]:
Saving some money, like. But yeah, like the shop is, you know, we got. We got some changes coming up. We've got some new people that came in. Justin, you know how me and you connected. Like, we've not really got to sit and talk with each other since he started, but we rode together down here three hours, never stopped talking one minute.
Jeff Compton [00:07:55]:
Yeah.
George Wilkins [00:07:56]:
You know what I mean?
Jeff Compton [00:07:57]:
Just.
George Wilkins [00:07:57]:
Just like the connection. And he's just a down to earth guy.
Jeff Compton [00:07:59]:
Yeah.
George Wilkins [00:08:00]:
You know, and then we got a manager coming in in November and definitely gonna be a change, you know, for us, but it's for a good change.
Jeff Compton [00:08:07]:
Yeah.
George Wilkins [00:08:07]:
You know, Lucas definitely needs to take something away out of his life that helps help him to mellow out a little bit and just. And as he said, if something happened to him, he wants the shop to continue on.
Jeff Compton [00:08:22]:
Yeah.
George Wilkins [00:08:23]:
Like, no doubt about it, you know.
Jeff Compton [00:08:24]:
So I think he's had a real kind of realization about our own mortality, you know what I mean? With losing his mom. Because it kind of happened fast. God bless her. Right. And I got the chance to meet that lady and she just, you know, something of the way she carried herself, the smile, she just, you know, she touched my heart. And you can see it. She just would have had a birthday there a little while ago and like to be remembered the way she is and so fondly. And I think that was something for Lucas to realize that it's like it could all go away tomorrow.
George Wilkins [00:08:57]:
Exactly.
Jeff Compton [00:08:58]:
And what is going to be my legacy now? He's already built himself a legacy on how he is and who he's been, how he's treated people. But it's bringing that business up to where it's like, if something should happen to me, I want people and Key players in place for it to go on. And I think that's amazing, you know, and it's not a situation of like, he's struggling. It's just a situation of. It's like he knows at this point he can take some time away from it and let it do what it does. You know, he's guided everybody to be like, this is how it has to be and let them go. Because he, you see him, right. I tease him.
Jeff Compton [00:09:37]:
It's just like easily a micromanager. He's not a micromanager. But it's like he has such a passion for this industry and such a passion for his own business that. And I think we should all. But it's funny to me when I see other people are talk to other shop owners and it's like they work hard in it. They have built it from something. But I've seen lots of shovels. They don't have the passion for that business that they built anymore.
Jeff Compton [00:10:04]:
And he does. I don't think he'll ever not have it. And even when, if he starts to take time away from it, I think he'll always be, you know, it'll be right at the forefront of what he's doing every day is to make people have a better day and build that business up. So.
George Wilkins [00:10:22]:
Well, like we, I think I may have spoken yesterday a little bit about it, but like he, you know, he helps a lot of people daily. That phone stays ringing, people ask him questions, he helps with troubleshooting. That's, that's, that's, that's how he's wired to help. And so on top of a business owner has also a family business at Mystery Hill. He deals with that. Then all the people like. And that's what he chooses to do.
Jeff Compton [00:10:46]:
Yeah.
George Wilkins [00:10:47]:
Because that's who he is. But definitely having somebody, him be able to step away from the shop a little bit, that would free him up some time. And he really wants to get out with his family.
Jeff Compton [00:10:56]:
Yeah.
George Wilkins [00:10:56]:
And get a motor home and travel around. And he deserves that. His and his family deserve for sure, every bit of that.
Jeff Compton [00:11:02]:
And you're not going to see him dial back where I don't think he's going to be events like this, but he wants to get to where it's like the family can come along on a couple of them. Right. And that's what he needs that home, that motorhome for. And I mean, what a series that would be to watch them go up and down across the country.
Lucas Underwood [00:11:16]:
Right.
George Wilkins [00:11:16]:
Like it's going to happen. And you know, I'm excited for him and his family to do that because they, you know, he's put a lot into the business. A lot. And it. Well, he puts a lot. Everything.
Jeff Compton [00:11:27]:
Yeah, Everything in life, you know, like, it's. He, you know, you hear me talk. Like, he pours more into anyone. People. He pours more into people than I've ever seen anyone else do, you know?
George Wilkins [00:11:37]:
You know, he. He picks a different. There's one day, Wednesdays, we all go to lunch as a team. But during the week, he'll grab somebody from the shop. Hey, let's go to lunch, guy. You know, hey, let's go to lunch, George. And he'll talk. He said, hey, so what's the update? Or what.
George Wilkins [00:11:51]:
What are you doing? What's your plans? Yeah, you know, or why haven't you done this yet? You know.
Jeff Compton [00:11:56]:
Yeah.
George Wilkins [00:11:56]:
You know, and he really cares.
Jeff Compton [00:11:58]:
Yeah.
George Wilkins [00:11:59]:
And he'll give the best advice he feels on his heart and, you know.
Jeff Compton [00:12:04]:
Yeah.
George Wilkins [00:12:04]:
It's just a great thing. And, you know, just being there this year has really helped me. I was pretty broken last year. September. Still kind of fresh with the voice and all. And. Yeah, just being in that structure and, you know, I walk in the shop, everybody. Hey, Jorge.
Jeff Compton [00:12:20]:
Good morning. Yeah.
George Wilkins [00:12:21]:
And everybody just gets doing their thing. Even in the, you know, the moments when the cars are. Parts are not coming in or vehicles or everybody's, you know, getting frustrated, but not frustrated with each other.
Jeff Compton [00:12:32]:
Yeah.
George Wilkins [00:12:33]:
You know, and a week or two ago, I come in there and I got inside my head for a day or two about some things, my personal life, and I was, like, growling a little bit, and Eric's like, what's up, man? And I cussed a little bit and fussed and stormed off, you know, kind of venting. And then I went over whenever, and it was kind of in the morning, and I went out to wash your car or something.
Jeff Compton [00:12:51]:
I came.
George Wilkins [00:12:51]:
I said, dude, I'm sorry. He's like, what are you talking about, man? I said, dude, I don't need to bring. Start negative out this morning. Like, I don't need to be that. I don't want to be that guy. He, like, hugged me, dude. Yeah, and he hugged me. Really? He's like, no, man, you need to get it out.
George Wilkins [00:13:03]:
That's what I'm here for. But I was like, at the same time, I'm sorry, because I don't. I didn't mean to bring that, especially your first thing in the morning, you know, but, you know, he just hugged me, squeeze me, and, you Know, pat me in a button.
Jeff Compton [00:13:14]:
Yeah.
George Wilkins [00:13:14]:
You know, back to.
Jeff Compton [00:13:15]:
Back to doing it. Yeah.
George Wilkins [00:13:16]:
But it's helped that structure and just the friendship of everybody there. They don't even know how much that's helped me.
Jeff Compton [00:13:23]:
Yeah.
George Wilkins [00:13:23]:
You know, throughout the year, you know, my little young. And she's. She's doing really good. She likes to play softball. It's the only sport I try to get her. She likes softball.
Jeff Compton [00:13:33]:
Yeah.
George Wilkins [00:13:34]:
So, yeah.
Jeff Compton [00:13:36]:
And you take her out in the woods once in a while.
George Wilkins [00:13:37]:
Actually, this year's first time, she's been going with us. My nephew's 19. He's always hunting with me, but never was the hunter.
Jeff Compton [00:13:45]:
Yeah.
George Wilkins [00:13:45]:
So now he's got his hunt license. I gave him my crossbow and gave him a muzzle loader.
Jeff Compton [00:13:49]:
Yep.
George Wilkins [00:13:49]:
So we're going to hopefully get his first deer this year. But, yeah, they've been. She's been sent out in the woods and, you know, I just. That connection we saw about yesterday, fishing and hunting and the connection of mother Nature and God in the woods is if you haven't done it, it's hard to explain or understand it, but that peace and serenity you just can't get anywhere else. And I want my. My young and my nephew to see that and feel that and like, be able to release.
Jeff Compton [00:14:17]:
Yes.
George Wilkins [00:14:18]:
If they're, you know, like, ha. There's nothing, no responsibilities, but to sit there and be. Be still and quiet and maybe read a book and listen, you know, I was telling you, say, is al hooting one over here.
Jeff Compton [00:14:29]:
Over there.
George Wilkins [00:14:29]:
The woodpecker on the tree and the squirrels running, you know, rustling through the leaves. You think a deer might be coming, you get all excited. But Kamara done pretty good to sit still for a nine year old, you know. But it's really gonna get real November when we break out the muzzle loaders.
Jeff Compton [00:14:46]:
Yeah.
George Wilkins [00:14:46]:
So. And she's gonna. She wants a video. Billy getting his first deer. So she's gonna be a little video. That's awesome. But yeah. Yeah, she, you know, she comes to work with me every once in a while.
George Wilkins [00:14:56]:
She has a doubt for school. And she's all about cleaning cars, too. Now that kid right there, she wants her half and my half and I can't get on her side.
Jeff Compton [00:15:03]:
Right. Isn't that awesome?
George Wilkins [00:15:06]:
I was checking on. She won't learn how to do that, you know, And I, you know, you know, when she checked it, she'd pull it out and turn the dipstick up. I said, no, you got to keep it level or downhill, you know, accurately check it. Then after that Though I couldn't check those.
Jeff Compton [00:15:19]:
I had to do it.
George Wilkins [00:15:19]:
She's so independent. But it's good that, you know, they need to know these things, you know, I mean, we do hot tubs in the evenings. She knows what chemicals she knows. Put the test strip in and check. I don't let her do the chlorine because, you know, it could burn her. But, you know, she. She's like, dad, you stand right here and I'll go check. I'll flip the lid and check this hot tub, you know, so she's definitely skilled at different things for a young, young child.
Jeff Compton [00:15:41]:
And that's life skills, man. And it's work ethic and, you know, being reliable and being there for people and putting that day's sweat in. Right. To get the result. Like, that's all stuff that is being lost on a lot of people now, you know, And I think. I think you're raising an amazing little girl.
George Wilkins [00:15:59]:
Yeah. Church cookouts. She has to serve food, and they love it because the ladies, you know, just. Only kid that'll volunteer.
Jeff Compton [00:16:06]:
Yeah.
George Wilkins [00:16:06]:
And all the other kids play, and she'll. She wants to serve the food, and they love her. They just think it's the coolest thing.
Jeff Compton [00:16:13]:
Yeah.
George Wilkins [00:16:13]:
Yeah. I got. I got a great family, man. I got a great life, you know?
Jeff Compton [00:16:17]:
It's good, isn't it? Like, I mean, we were sitting there last night and kind of Scotty, you know, and his wife and things with what she's got, you know, cancer, it's not going to get better.
George Wilkins [00:16:29]:
Right.
Jeff Compton [00:16:29]:
And we're kind of rounding a corner with that situation. And you could feel it in the room how it was like, it wasn't a positive thing to talk about, but everybody. There was like a peace within there. Everybody. And I mean, Scotty's not here. Right. He's with her right now. But I could feel it in the room where everybody was just like, have acceptance.
George Wilkins [00:16:52]:
Yeah.
Jeff Compton [00:16:53]:
You know, and that's tough. It really is, because we hate to see people suffer. And it don't make sense. I was saying she's my age and has fought this battle now with cancer for quite a while. And I can remember being here last year, just before here, we were talking about how it had come back to her and it was not doing well because I'd seen her on the fourth. Right. I'd been there when Lucas did the celebration on the 4th, not last year, but 2022 and. Or 2023.
Jeff Compton [00:17:28]:
Excuse me, the 4th. And what a lovely lady she was and is. And. But that was the Last time I got to see her. And then to know that, like, she's struggling with what she is now, and you just, like, it doesn't make sense. Braxton. I had a good conversation last night. We were talking, and this is the first time I met Braxton in person.
Jeff Compton [00:17:49]:
Now Braxton's very involved in what goes on with this podcast and everything, but of course, we started having a conversation about faith, like. Like you and I had. And, you know, without getting into the deep, deep stuff, it's just like I'm asking. Well, there's a lot of things that don't make sense then from a faith standpoint, why is she. And then there's other people that have done way terrible things, and they don't seem to be stricken. And Braxton reminds me that it's like, we're not supposed to know why. We're not supposed to understand why.
George Wilkins [00:18:22]:
That was gonna be my. That would be my answer, too.
Jeff Compton [00:18:25]:
Yeah.
George Wilkins [00:18:26]:
And I ain't gonna lie. I think about that, too.
Jeff Compton [00:18:28]:
Yeah.
George Wilkins [00:18:29]:
I lost a. It was a lady that was a friend of my ex wife's family, which she looked out for my middle child when I was in prison and all that. And I got out, and within two years, she was diagnosed with some brain cancer, I think. Two years she was gone. And, like, I mean, this lady went hard for Jesus.
Jeff Compton [00:18:47]:
Yeah.
George Wilkins [00:18:48]:
In the church.
Jeff Compton [00:18:48]:
Yeah.
George Wilkins [00:18:49]:
And she walked that life. She lived it all the way. You know what I mean? And, you know, I had some questions about it. Still do, man. Because, like, you know, it's. It's. And that's exactly the correct answer that, know, even state in the Bible that you were not made to understand everything.
Jeff Compton [00:19:10]:
Yeah. Braxton asked me, and he's like, well, what do you think it might be? And I said, I want to think that it's like, you know, because I'm getting older, you know, people around me, I'm losing them. And I see people's mortality coming. I see my stepfather, and it's like he's been my stepdad for a long time now. In my head, he's still what he was at, like, late 40s. He's 80 something now. You know what I mean? So it's like we don't update that mental picture sometimes of what? He's a little slower, you know, he don't hear me as well as he used to. Not that he ever did, but he hears even less, but there's still that fire.
Jeff Compton [00:19:52]:
But then, like Braxton said, he's like, what do you think it might be? What heaven Might be. And I said, what I hope it is is that everybody that's already gone before me, all of a sudden, they just see them again and reconnect with them again. And I can give them a hug and I can share the fact that it's like they're going to tell me how proud of what I am, what I've done, and, you know, I'm going to think about, like, they've already been watching what I've been doing, but to be able to hear them say, man, you turned it. Well, you did amazing things. I never thought you would get to where that's what I hope to be able to do. And then I said to Braxton, I said, if it's all like one second and then whatever, it goes dark or whatever and the room is done, and that's whatever it is. I'm good with that, man. To be able to see everybody that.
Jeff Compton [00:20:44]:
See my grandparents again, you know, to see my dad again, that it. I don't have to be streets of gold and, you know, I don't. Just to be able to hug them again, that would be heaven for me, you know, and that's. We get into some deep conversations when we come up here. Like, we're watching Go Karts running around the track and a Braxton are talking about that kind of stuff, you know, because it's like. I mean, people here are so comfortable to just talk about their faith and what they believe and everything else. And it's like. And I've told people before I'm a man, that I'm not really still sure what I believe.
Jeff Compton [00:21:22]:
I know I believe in him for sure, but can I put it into a little box and say that I fall within this religion and this is who I, you know? No, man, no. I just wake up every day now and I try to be a little bit kinder to people than I was the day before. People like you, people like Lucas have put that back into me. It's amazing. It's an amazing feeling. Some days I slip and I let. Like you said, I let. I get in my own head.
Jeff Compton [00:21:51]:
I get frustrated with things. I don't walk the line that I'm supposed to walk in terms of how I want to treat people and. Because it all. Life gets into us, right? And. But when I come down here, man, I feel again like I gotta go. And just like, sometimes. Bite that tongue. Don't lash out.
Jeff Compton [00:22:12]:
Keep your head on straight and think about, how can I make the situation better? How can I make that person's day better? You know, and in this industry, that's just really what it's all about. It's not about. Yeah, you want to make the customer's day better, for sure. It's already a crap day for them. Right. But if I can ease their mind and then show them that they're special to us, then the car thing doesn't even become all that important. You know, whatever's wrong with their car, it's the fact that it's like you're genuinely touching someone. You're genuinely showing interest and compassion and care.
Jeff Compton [00:22:51]:
Yeah. Yeah.
George Wilkins [00:22:53]:
So I get a little jealous seeing those bass you have on Facebook.
Jeff Compton [00:22:58]:
It's not been a good year for me. It does. Like. I mean, a good year is, like, it's not about the number. Right. It's kind of the size. And, like, we were and I were talking yesterday that we had some funky weather in the spring that kind of changed how the weed growth went. And then, you know, the fish are not where they're supposed to be, and they're not even if there's some fish there.
Jeff Compton [00:23:18]:
Last year, the big fish were there, and this year, it's like, you're fishing. We call all the time fishing in a nursery. We're just catching the little ones. Right. And, like, some days I get on myself where it's like, I've been out there all day, and I only caught 10, and they were all little. And then I talked to other people. I'm like, you caught 10.
George Wilkins [00:23:37]:
That's a pretty good night.
Jeff Compton [00:23:38]:
That's a pretty good day. But I'm always like, I want to catch 20 or 30, or if I.
George Wilkins [00:23:43]:
Want you to catch the lunkers, I.
Jeff Compton [00:23:46]:
Want to catch the great big mamas. But you got to remember, it's. Yeah, you can go out there and put your time in, but you can't make that big fish bite. You just have to be the right place, the right time. And that's what it is. It's telling me the big fish are a gift, you know, the big fish are not like. And, yes, the technology is there where we're learning that the fish don't really move around as a whole lot as much as we used to think. So if you go and catch that big one, like, there's a.
Jeff Compton [00:24:19]:
There's a spot along this one stretch. It's on a piece of property that my uncle owns, and it's not an island, but it's the shoreline on it. And there's a tree there that's been in that water for 25, 30 years. Easily probably closer to 40 years. That tree's falling in that water, man. Every time I go to that tree and throw my bait in, at least a three and a half or four pounder is caught off that tree every time. That tree. I literally can like, I can go there and I know I'm gonna catch one good one today off that tree.
Jeff Compton [00:24:50]:
And I joke because it's like my grandma, who. My grandmother had a stroke when I was nine and paralyzed and never spoke again. She lived another 30 years from that. She used to fish right around that tree when I was a kid.
George Wilkins [00:25:04]:
So it's even more special.
Jeff Compton [00:25:06]:
So when I, when you see me posting the built like grandma's tree had another good one on it. Right. And I just, I go past it because it wouldn't matter if the fish didn't bite there. I'm gonna go past that tree every time. Just because when I go past that tree there's the mental picture of her in our little paddle boat holding up a fish that she caught off that tree.
George Wilkins [00:25:25]:
That's awesome.
Jeff Compton [00:25:26]:
In like 1982. You know what I mean? So it's like that's the joke. Grandma's tree. And everybody that knows me knows exactly what tree it is because I've showed it to them. People that I've never bought and fished without lake with me. They're like, who's grandma's tree? What's that all about? I, I just look at it as like when grandma's putting that there for me. You know what I mean?
George Wilkins [00:25:47]:
Yeah.
Jeff Compton [00:25:47]:
She doesn't have to guide me there. But I put that fish back every time I take it home. And have I caught the same fish off that tree? Nope. It's a different fish every time. But somebody up there is making sure I think it's her is making sure there's always a good one on there for me.
George Wilkins [00:26:04]:
I look forward to this spring. I got me a little 14 foot John boat now. I call it my kayak.
Jeff Compton [00:26:09]:
Yeah.
George Wilkins [00:26:09]:
I'm big George. I needed something pretty good size. But fishing is fishing and hunting. But I really like to fish.
Jeff Compton [00:26:16]:
Yeah.
George Wilkins [00:26:17]:
And I've not gotten to do it in several years. And I promised Kamara we'd do it this year. We didn't make it. We fish a little bit on at the beach. But I'm looking forward to fishing season.
Jeff Compton [00:26:27]:
Yeah.
George Wilkins [00:26:28]:
Because it's been a while and you know, I just ready on the river and float. We got a river that's close by that we float.
Jeff Compton [00:26:35]:
So when you, when, when you say your fishing season, like what Is it ever actually closed up here or.
George Wilkins [00:26:40]:
Trout season?
Jeff Compton [00:26:41]:
Trout season.
Lucas Underwood [00:26:42]:
Trout.
George Wilkins [00:26:42]:
See, I think you fish in the river year round, right? But we have trout creeks that are hatchery supported.
Jeff Compton [00:26:48]:
Okay.
George Wilkins [00:26:49]:
Some of them are catch and release and some of them are. You can keep them. So. But we got a main river. It's called the New River. I think it's the oldest river in us. I think.
Jeff Compton [00:27:04]:
Maybe.
George Wilkins [00:27:04]:
I can't remember, but it's got a couple pretty good history facts about it.
Jeff Compton [00:27:09]:
Yeah.
George Wilkins [00:27:10]:
But. Yeah, we're looking forward to that. And taking Kamara. She's never like floated on the rivers.
Jeff Compton [00:27:14]:
Yeah. It's an amazing thing when you take a kid, eh? Like, it's absolutely what it does for kids. I. Sometimes I forget and it's like, I'm complaining. I only caught 10. They go and catch one and all of a sudden it's just like, you can see. And my mom was telling me last week they went to some friends cottage and they have a grandchild grandson. And the grandson's sitting there and he sits on that dock and fishes from when the sun comes up in the morning until they have to like, drag.
Lucas Underwood [00:27:43]:
Him off to bed.
Jeff Compton [00:27:45]:
And my mom just laughs because she goes, I had two that were like that.
George Wilkins [00:27:49]:
Yeah.
Jeff Compton [00:27:49]:
Couldn't keep him off the water.
George Wilkins [00:27:50]:
I see that kid, too.
Jeff Compton [00:27:52]:
Morning, Lucas.
Lucas Underwood [00:27:53]:
Don't let him lie to you. He's never caught a fish a day in his life. Listen, all those. All those pictures are some fish somebody else caught. Okay.
Jeff Compton [00:28:01]:
That's been an accused. But I mean, it's. Nobody's proven that.
Lucas Underwood [00:28:07]:
Okay. All right. I just want to make sure.
Jeff Compton [00:28:09]:
Now, have I been in a boat and the other guy caught it and I held it up. I might have, but I've extended the same.
Lucas Underwood [00:28:15]:
There's this guy, no Greg, and he said that all those fish. All those fish he caught.
Jeff Compton [00:28:20]:
So you're on your phone a lot. He's almost on his phone as much as you.
Lucas Underwood [00:28:28]:
And.
Jeff Compton [00:28:29]:
But he's got that innate luck where you're like, he's. He'll be out in the boat. Yeah. And he put his rod in the water and he'll just pick up his phone and you see the rock like that and it's like, you bugger.
Lucas Underwood [00:28:40]:
He said that you get really upset about it. He said you just really do not like it when he's really performing.
Jeff Compton [00:28:46]:
I can't help but be competitive with him.
Lucas Underwood [00:28:49]:
And he's got that look on his face now.
George Wilkins [00:28:52]:
He changed up.
Jeff Compton [00:28:54]:
We've talked about him, right? Like he's a big boy. Yeah. And like you don't want to tussle with him. Yeah, he'll hurt you bad. Right? So we don't ever do that anymore. But it's like if I have to, I'll take him out in the lake and put him back in his place.
Lucas Underwood [00:29:08]:
That's it. Just take him and threaten not to bring him back.
Jeff Compton [00:29:10]:
But I could be, I could catch 20 and he catch, might want to catch one. His is normally the biggest one we catch that day. And it's just, it's just shit luck and it drives you crazy because I'm.
Lucas Underwood [00:29:20]:
Like, that's not what he said. He said it's just really, he's, he's the more skilled brother.
Jeff Compton [00:29:24]:
He's using my friggin rod for God's sakes. I tied the bait on, I gassed the boat, I drove it, I backed it in. He's just on his phone and then all of a sudden it's like we go to the first spot. My arm will be already sore from flogging, trying to catch something. He'll just throw it over in there and then, oh, I got one. And then he goes right back to his phone. He, he is, he'll tell you that he is there all the time just to spend time with me. He don't care if he catches the fish or not.
Jeff Compton [00:29:50]:
Yeah, that's how. And like we were talking about grandma's tree just before he walked in here every time. Like if he, he doesn't go much but if he's like, can we go fish that lake? Sure. Now I might fish that lake every weekend and I know that I'm just going to that lake because I can catch like 10. Yeah, but they're not, I don't catch quality on that lake. Yeah, but if he says, can we go fish that? Sure. Because then we're just going around that point and it isn't about like I'm going to catch a fish off this point. It's like we're going to have that conversation.
Jeff Compton [00:30:18]:
He's going to say, you remember when we used to do that? Yeah, yeah, yeah, sure.
Lucas Underwood [00:30:22]:
Those are powerful conversations and they're important conversations. And you know, I think is as we age we begin to see more and more that there's only a limited amount of time to have those conversations.
Jeff Compton [00:30:34]:
Well that's right. And you know, George and I were just talking about what you want to do moving forward. Right. And, and I wanted to ask you because like, how are you going to do that? Because like I joke with you all the time that it's like you, you're so invested every day. This is not just. You're not just a business owner in the sense that it's like, I built it and I take pride in and I want to make sure it's successful. You're like emotionally invested in everybody that you contact every day at such a level that I'm like, I'm not sure Lucas is going to be able to like, I'm dying to see how that works for you.
Lucas Underwood [00:31:14]:
You know, I don't, I don't plan to fully disconnect.
Jeff Compton [00:31:17]:
No.
Lucas Underwood [00:31:18]:
But in the same respect. And my parents, my parents were both happy. Right? But in the same respect, I watched them work. I mean, three weeks before my mom was put in the hospital, she was at work. Right.
Jeff Compton [00:31:30]:
Crazy.
Lucas Underwood [00:31:30]:
And my dad's still working every single day. And I respect that and I think that's a good thing. But in the same respect, I also know that I need to make time for my family right now. Jeff, here's the big thing is that. And I don't see this as necessarily a weakness, but I care so much that it weighs really heavy on me.
Jeff Compton [00:31:51]:
I know.
Lucas Underwood [00:31:52]:
And I have to put something between me and it for my own personal well being.
Jeff Compton [00:31:59]:
I sense that.
Lucas Underwood [00:32:00]:
Because if things aren't going well, it eats me up. Right. I wake up and I see, dude, it doesn't even have to be a bad Google review. It can be a five star. And I wake up and I see that Google review and I feel my heart beating out of my chest. Right. Because I care about each one of my clients and I don't want them to have a bad experience. And so I've found in the past I had somebody who kind of took this role in the shop in the past and I found that it allowed me the proper level of disconnect, that I could still enjoy life and I could, I could take off and go somewhere with my family without thinking about every second of the shop.
Lucas Underwood [00:32:37]:
Right. And that a. That's important because without me right now, I'm the wagon wheel hub of the shop again. Right Before I had it kind of spread out to where there were multiple people who could do the thing. And so I'm trying to get back to the point that if I'm not there, it's not destructive for them.
Jeff Compton [00:32:56]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:32:56]:
Because if right now, if I leave, the stress level has to go up because they're all trying to figure out where does the load go. Right. Remember the Billy Ray Taylor video I shared a while back? And he was talking about well, the bird lands on the branch. Does he trust his wings or did he trust his brain?
Jeff Compton [00:33:13]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:33:14]:
And said, well, I've never seen a bird die because the branch fell.
Jeff Compton [00:33:17]:
Right.
Lucas Underwood [00:33:17]:
He just flew off.
Jeff Compton [00:33:18]:
That's right.
Lucas Underwood [00:33:19]:
And so I need to make sure that they have their wings ready. I need to make sure that they're capable of flying on their own so I don't hang them out to drive. I have to go somewhere, something happens to me.
Jeff Compton [00:33:29]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:33:30]:
The other side of that is, is that while it is that important to me and I do care about the business very heavily, if something happens to me, I could pull out tomorrow and get hit by a car.
Jeff Compton [00:33:43]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:33:44]:
Right.
Jeff Compton [00:33:44]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:33:45]:
Well, my family has to depend on that business. My team has to depend on that business.
Jeff Compton [00:33:49]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:33:49]:
And so I can't set them up for failure and not have a contingency plan that there's other people in place because these people depend on this operation to make them whole.
Jeff Compton [00:33:59]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:33:59]:
And so the only reason that I would ever continue to do this and it just be me would be for selfish reasons.
Jeff Compton [00:34:05]:
Yep.
Lucas Underwood [00:34:06]:
It wouldn't be serving them. It wouldn't be serving my family. It would be because I'm selfish and I want complete control, and I'm unwilling to let somebody else look at it and say, maybe I see something better.
Jeff Compton [00:34:15]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:34:15]:
Right. And so if I just turn away from it and say, hey, I'm not. And look, the dangerous thing, the problem that happens in repair shops when. When this comes up, Jeff, is that the owner is so pressured and has so much stress on them that the moment that somebody who can halfway run the business comes in, that stress and pressure comes off of them. So what do they do? They say, here you go. Bye.
Jeff Compton [00:34:39]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:34:39]:
Right.
Jeff Compton [00:34:40]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:34:40]:
And it's a. It's an unhealthy relationship with the business. So now you look at the business like, no way, man. I'm just not even gonna go back over there.
Jeff Compton [00:34:46]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:34:47]:
I don't even want to see that.
Jeff Compton [00:34:48]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:34:48]:
I'm just let them do their thing. Meanwhile, they think that, well, this is how I ran the business. So therefore, that's how they're running the business. And the team's getting tortured and the things are falling apart, and then they end up right back where they started. Right. That's a dangerous scenario.
Jeff Compton [00:35:02]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:35:03]:
Whereas at least if you have a plan and you're involved with it and you're seeing what it's doing every single day right now, and George will tell you this. George has seen this, and it's going to hurt some feelings When I say this, I'm not afraid to hurt feelings. We are a very open team, and we talk about our weaknesses, we talk about our failures. We talk about things that don't go the way we want them to go. Right. We're blunt. And they tell me that I'm intense. Right.
Lucas Underwood [00:35:28]:
And it's taken Noah a while because Noah, for the longest time, when I would say something, he would, like, take it uber serious.
Jeff Compton [00:35:35]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:35:36]:
And it's taken no. A while to realize that, hey, I'm venting, or, hey, this is how I feel in this moment. Or like, hey, let's take all the badges off our uniforms, laying them in the middle of the table, and say, there is no rank here.
Jeff Compton [00:35:49]:
That's right.
Lucas Underwood [00:35:49]:
Let's fix the problem. Right. And so we just throw it in and say, let's go with it. But there is a component in the shop right now. And you know this because. We've talked about it. George knows this because he's seen it firsthand. There's a component where some people are comfortable.
Lucas Underwood [00:36:05]:
Right. And I'm. I'm happy to talk about it.
Jeff Compton [00:36:07]:
Right.
Lucas Underwood [00:36:09]:
They are comfortable, and they don't necessarily respect the opportunity. That's not coming from a place of arrogance.
Jeff Compton [00:36:17]:
No.
Lucas Underwood [00:36:17]:
That's not coming from, like, hey, it's. They're a problem. They're a bad person. I created this.
Jeff Compton [00:36:23]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:36:23]:
I did this.
Jeff Compton [00:36:24]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:36:24]:
Okay. And what scares me about that is not what it does to me.
Jeff Compton [00:36:29]:
Right.
Lucas Underwood [00:36:30]:
Okay. What scares me about that is what it does.
Jeff Compton [00:36:32]:
You and I have talked about that, though, because it's like, well, our good friend that they just had their technician in 20 years. That was. You know. And they love that man. Yeah, they loved him. He was a core person we talked about in the drive over last night. Yeah. The person that had to fire him.
Jeff Compton [00:36:49]:
Yeah. Was mentored by him.
Lucas Underwood [00:36:51]:
Yeah.
Jeff Compton [00:36:52]:
It would be very similar where. And I remind everybody we were talking about last night. There's a young lady here we were talking to 1:00. I said, right now, any one of us can. As a technician, you land on your feet. Yeah. You'll have another job tomorrow if you want another job. Yeah.
Jeff Compton [00:37:08]:
But you have to appreciate where you are at the time and see it for what it truly is.
Lucas Underwood [00:37:13]:
It's a.
Jeff Compton [00:37:14]:
It's a gift. That particular business. Not everyone is that way. Right. I have. I'm the shining example of people that have worked for people that didn't value me, didn't value themselves. Right. Didn't value what we did, didn't value what we offer to the people that see us every day, that's key.
Jeff Compton [00:37:31]:
It's just a job at that point. Yeah. But to really have what. What you provide for people, if they're not appreciating it, if they're not getting it, it makes me want to grab them and shake them and say, you're screwing it up.
Lucas Underwood [00:37:44]:
Well, you know, here's the thing, Jeff, is that. That I've watched my dad. Right. And, George, you speak to this. We've watched him over the years take people who did not deserve it.
Jeff Compton [00:37:56]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:37:56]:
Who shouldn't have had it.
Jeff Compton [00:37:57]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:37:58]:
And pour it all out for him. Right. We've seen it, what, hundreds of times.
George Wilkins [00:38:03]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:38:03]:
And so we've seen him do this. And the problem is, is that you can go too far with that because it becomes enabling.
Jeff Compton [00:38:10]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:38:11]:
Right.
Jeff Compton [00:38:11]:
Hundred percent.
George Wilkins [00:38:12]:
Very enabled.
Lucas Underwood [00:38:13]:
And it comes to the point that you've hurt them. Right. And, you know, there's a. There's a thing. It's Tony Dungy, the football coach. And I said this to Dutch a while back, and Dutch always brings it up.
Jeff Compton [00:38:25]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:38:25]:
Because Dutch was being really opinionated about something.
Jeff Compton [00:38:28]:
No, not Dutch.
Lucas Underwood [00:38:30]:
And he said. And I said to him, I said, let me tell you something. I said, well, I just want to tell you about this story. It was Tony Dungy, and he was talking about his father fought in World War II. And he said, my dad was a slave. My dad did not have opportunities. My dad sat in the back of the bus. My dad didn't use the same water fountain.
Jeff Compton [00:38:50]:
That's right.
Lucas Underwood [00:38:51]:
As the white folk in town. Right. But my dad signed up in World War II to fight in World War II because he loved his country. And he said he was fighting to make it better. He was fighting to do something better. He wasn't. He wasn't holding a grudge.
Jeff Compton [00:39:07]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:39:07]:
He was saying, hey, if I want to make this better, if I want to do something about this, I have to do it. Right. And he said, so fast forward to the 80s. And he said, there's this national outcry. And he said, my players all wanted to take a knee. And he said. I went to my dad and he said, dad, what should I do? He said, son, is what you're doing gonna help or is it gonna hurt? Now, that's a big thing. Right.
Lucas Underwood [00:39:30]:
Because often we get a trajectory, we get in our mind, and we think, this is the thing to do. We're going to do this, we're going to help, we're going to. But we don't really think about the whole Picture. We don't think about the consequences. We don't think about who we affect, how we affect them. We don't think about the long term. We think about. This is how I feel right now.
Lucas Underwood [00:39:50]:
And so we make a decision and then we do something for them. And we give and we give and we give and we give. And now we gave a little bit. Now I'm committed to making them successful. So I have to keep giving. And I have to keep giving. And I have to keep giving. And I have to keep giving.
Lucas Underwood [00:40:04]:
And guess what? I've made a monster. Because this person's been handed everything. This person's been given free reign. There's no consequence.
Jeff Compton [00:40:13]:
Yep.
Lucas Underwood [00:40:13]:
And when life has no consequence, buddy, let me tell you something, George, you've been through that. I'm just gonna call it.
Jeff Compton [00:40:19]:
Right.
George Wilkins [00:40:19]:
You talk this. We've had this talk, Right. A minute, lunchtime talks.
Lucas Underwood [00:40:23]:
And so, you know, you look at what George is going through, right. Really rough situation, marriage issues, all this other stuff going on. Right?
Jeff Compton [00:40:30]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:40:31]:
And I've said to George over and over again, this is not about hurting this person. This is not about not caring about this person. This is not about. This is about if you want to help them, you have to have accountability.
Jeff Compton [00:40:42]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:40:43]:
If you want to help them, you have to hold them accountable to right and wrong, because that's the only way they grow.
Jeff Compton [00:40:49]:
It's such a tough conversation, though. Like, it really isn't. And my brother and I have had. We have those talks where it's like. It's about choices.
Lucas Underwood [00:40:57]:
Yeah.
Jeff Compton [00:40:57]:
And it's about, like, keeping in control of. You want to do something and it probably is the right thing to do.
Lucas Underwood [00:41:05]:
Yeah.
Jeff Compton [00:41:05]:
It's. There's probably. There's factors that say that is the right thing to do.
Lucas Underwood [00:41:09]:
Yeah.
Jeff Compton [00:41:09]:
But we always have to look, what's the follow? What's the consequence of doing it?
Lucas Underwood [00:41:15]:
Every action has a reaction.
Jeff Compton [00:41:17]:
And if you're. If you're good with it, if you're comfortable with it, you go ahead and do it. You know, we don't see we. Not our emotions the way we were built.
Lucas Underwood [00:41:27]:
Right.
Jeff Compton [00:41:27]:
If we're not taking breath, think about what could possibly happen and always think for the worst. What could happen.
Lucas Underwood [00:41:33]:
The two things that I'll tell you about that. Right. Is the first thing that I'm always on the George about E plus R equals O. He doesn't equal. Right. The event doesn't equal the outcome.
Jeff Compton [00:41:41]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:41:42]:
The event plus the reaction equals our outcome. Right. That's where that comes from. And you know we talked last night. One of the things I learned from my dad was, is just because there's been an event doesn't mean that there's a required reaction.
Jeff Compton [00:41:55]:
Yep.
Lucas Underwood [00:41:55]:
Right. We talk about the house in the 2008 deal where, you know, this pastor comes to him and says, hey, I want you to take all the debt from all this. I'm freaking out, saying, what in the world? Like, dad, why would you do this? Son, calm down. It'll be all right.
Jeff Compton [00:42:07]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:42:08]:
Don't stress it. Let's just let it play out. It is what it is. We're going to figure it out. Right. And it played out and it worked out because he didn't. He didn't react. He didn't overreact.
Lucas Underwood [00:42:17]:
He didn't sway it in one direction or another. He just let things play out.
Jeff Compton [00:42:20]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:42:21]:
And so if we recognize that we've had an event, this thing has happened, and we recognize that our reaction changes the outcome, what does that mean? Means we better slow the fuck down and think about what our reaction is.
Jeff Compton [00:42:36]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:42:36]:
Right.
Jeff Compton [00:42:36]:
How many times I called you? Just a couple of times in the last couple weeks. And I say to you now, I'm like, you got to walk me back from the ledge here. Yeah. And you say to me. Because you know me a long time now. You know exactly when. When you can hear it in my voice. Yeah.
Jeff Compton [00:42:50]:
Where I am. And I'm frustrated, man. And I'm just like, I'm. And it. It is. It's all how I'm choosing most of what I'm contriving in the head. The way I feel is all me. Somebody isn't putting that into me.
Jeff Compton [00:43:02]:
I'm building it. But I've got to. I've got to talk to you and say, I got to come back from here because otherwise I'm going to go and make a mistake.
Lucas Underwood [00:43:09]:
Well, look, I learned this. So I went through the anxiety thing, and I went through the counseling for anxiety.
Jeff Compton [00:43:18]:
Right.
Lucas Underwood [00:43:19]:
And going through that, I learned some really important things. And I learned that just because something is happening in my head. Right. I remember when I was little, somebody would say something, and then I would think about what they were saying when they weren't in front. And I would think about how this person was acting. I was thinking about what. They'd walk across the room and they talk to somebody else. I'm talking about me, right?
Jeff Compton [00:43:41]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:43:42]:
And I'm looking at George because I've seen somebody get, like, mighty wound up. Mighty wound up.
Jeff Compton [00:43:48]:
It was coming.
George Wilkins [00:43:49]:
This is my weakness.
Lucas Underwood [00:43:50]:
Yeah. And get like, spun up into a ball of rage and frustration and fear and all of this stuff. And I'll sit him down, I'll say, george, is any of that real? What do you mean? Like, let's think about this.
Jeff Compton [00:44:04]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:44:04]:
Let's talk about each one of these things that you. You're saying in your head. Did that happen? No. But it could.
Jeff Compton [00:44:10]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:44:11]:
Buddy, let me tell you something. It could have, should have, woulda. I mean, like that. That mentality has got many people killed. Right. Because that person couldn't stop the emotional train.
Jeff Compton [00:44:24]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:44:24]:
Right. Now, that's what I learned in cognitive behavior therapy. That's what I learned when I was going through my anxiety mess. You can't take a medicine to fix that.
Jeff Compton [00:44:32]:
No.
Lucas Underwood [00:44:32]:
You have to retrain your brain to think differently, to see things differently, to hear things differently, and to learn to stop yourself. For God's sakes, it doesn't matter what somebody else is saying or doing.
Jeff Compton [00:44:41]:
Right.
Lucas Underwood [00:44:42]:
When you're young, your parents say to you, it doesn't matter what they think about you. It doesn't matter that you don't have what they have. Listen, this is not rocket science. It's not that your parents are effing brilliant.
Jeff Compton [00:44:53]:
No.
Lucas Underwood [00:44:54]:
It's just common sense.
Jeff Compton [00:44:55]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:44:55]:
And at the time, we don't listen to them. We're unwilling to hear what they have to say. But when we move into this role that we are out here on our own. Right. They've learned that lesson and they're trying to teach us before it becomes a thing.
Jeff Compton [00:45:07]:
But that scope, when we're so young, the scope. We haven't lived enough. We haven't seen enough, we haven't been enough, we haven't been through enough. And it's like, I need those same sneakers as what that kid's got on because they're teasing me about my sneaker. And if I don't get those sneakers, it's going to eat at me until all I can focus on is the sneakers. But it isn't about the sneakers.
Lucas Underwood [00:45:26]:
Right. But if you don't fix it.
Jeff Compton [00:45:27]:
Right.
Lucas Underwood [00:45:28]:
Right. If you don't stop that behavior pathway, if the parent doesn't take an action to stop this, then we have adults who act this way, who believe this way, who something happens. They believe they've been slighted. They go into a bank and shoot people up.
Jeff Compton [00:45:40]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:45:40]:
Right.
Jeff Compton [00:45:40]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:45:41]:
Like this thing happens because we couldn't regulate our emotion.
Jeff Compton [00:45:45]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:45:45]:
And at the end of the day, Jeff, look, if we can't get to a spot as human beings, that we can be okay. With whatever happens, we're in trouble. Right? I think about my daughter in the spelling bee. I think about the things that went wrong when building the building. I think about the things my dad's been through. I think about the things my mom went through. Right? Like I told you the story about my grandmother last night, that they irradiated her incorrectly. They came in and said, oh, she's gonna be dead.
Jeff Compton [00:46:13]:
I'm sitting there listening in the backseat going, that's amazing.
Lucas Underwood [00:46:17]:
Right? And my grandfather looks at my aunt and my dad and everybody else in the family and says, we're not gonna sue them. We're human beings. We make mistakes. Right? Now, here's the thing. I've thought long and hard about that conversation. Thought, why? What was the logic behind it? What he says, well, we're not the kind of people who do that. I think there was more. I think there was more intelligence to that.
Jeff Compton [00:46:41]:
We're not that people. Right?
Lucas Underwood [00:46:42]:
Because what happens is we build this little grudge inside us. We build this little emotion inside us. Oh, the industry sucks. Oh, my boss sucks. Oh, this thing happened, right? And we begin to ball it up, and it gets bigger and bigger and bigger. The ability to look at something and say, that sucks. Life is not fair. I need to let it go and keep trucking.
Jeff Compton [00:47:00]:
We poison ourselves. Like that old adage, right? If you keep wishing for somebody else, the bitter pill that you're is what will kill you. You'll poison yourself with that.
Lucas Underwood [00:47:08]:
Absolutely.
Jeff Compton [00:47:09]:
And that's. You know, I used to love the idea of karma. I used to. And what I realized with karma is, like, if you sit around hoping to see it happen, you're going to make yourself sick. Oh, yeah. But if you just, like, put faith in the fact that whatever it is is what it is, que sera, sera, and you go about it, it happens.
George Wilkins [00:47:26]:
You might.
Jeff Compton [00:47:27]:
All of a sudden, somebody says, remember that guy that you work for? Guess what happened? Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:47:32]:
Well, I mean, look, here's the thing, is that. That what. What is forgiveness has nothing to do with them.
Jeff Compton [00:47:38]:
No.
Lucas Underwood [00:47:39]:
Right. We'll lay in bed and ruminate over what somebody's doing, what somebody's thinking. I know somebody else that's been doing this. And so, like, we'll ruminate over what somebody's been thinking about us or what they might be saying, or I'm mad at them. They don't even know.
Jeff Compton [00:47:54]:
No.
Lucas Underwood [00:47:54]:
They're living rent free in your brain.
Jeff Compton [00:47:56]:
That's right.
Lucas Underwood [00:47:57]:
And so now all of a sudden, you're in this situation, like, oh, man, I can't believe I'm mad about this. I'm upset. What does it do? It stops you from being a productive human being.
Jeff Compton [00:48:04]:
You don't move forward.
Lucas Underwood [00:48:05]:
Yeah. It stops you from making choices that say, hey, I do not like where I'm at. Let's be somewhere different.
Jeff Compton [00:48:12]:
Put yourself in a box. And all of a sudden it's like, I'm in this box and I wanted to get just over there. And all of a sudden I can't get over there. I can't climb over this stupid wall. You. You.
Lucas Underwood [00:48:21]:
You are the wall.
Jeff Compton [00:48:22]:
You put the bricks in, dumbass. Like, right. You're the one that built that wall.
George Wilkins [00:48:25]:
I've tortured myself for years with exactly that. I mean, people, just strangers would might say a key word that just was off for me, and I would run that through my head for days. And like, I sit here and listen and see where I've came in the last year with some clarity and some maturity. And I have really tortured myself for some years worrying about that.
Jeff Compton [00:48:50]:
And yet when I meet you, I get a sense of peace off him. You and I have talked about this even after I met you, and I didn't know you before last year. And there's a piece around you that I don't even think, you know, you put off. Right. There's. And so, like, yeah, we're all going through things, but realize that just like that's your own piece coming out. Well, don't necessarily put it out there and let everybody else take it.
Lucas Underwood [00:49:14]:
Yeah, well, you ain't got it yourself.
Jeff Compton [00:49:16]:
That's right.
Lucas Underwood [00:49:16]:
Yeah.
Jeff Compton [00:49:17]:
You know, live in that. And that's what I mean. I've gone through some things. I got. I got it. I got a chip on my shoulder some days it makes me walk funny. And it's just a situation of. It's like.
Jeff Compton [00:49:28]:
But you, through your guidance, always is still saying to me, that's then and this is now. What are you gonna do about now? Yeah, you know, and take the lesson. I talk it all the time. Right. Lessons in this industry. Let other people do the hard ones. Let the. And take from them.
Jeff Compton [00:49:44]:
Learn it from them. Don't do it yourself. But so much we get in our own damn head. And it's not necessarily when we're following the same path that they went to make the same mistake, but we're gonna make the same mistake going down our own damn path.
Lucas Underwood [00:49:56]:
When you're. When you're 17, 18, 19 years old, that little thing feels like the biggest thing in the world.
Jeff Compton [00:50:04]:
Yeah, right.
Lucas Underwood [00:50:05]:
And until we begin to mature and maturity. Maturity does not happen automatically with age. Right. Maturity comes with experience. Maturity comes with making some hard decisions. Right. Maturity comes with saying, this is not working.
Jeff Compton [00:50:21]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:50:21]:
I need to do something different here. And so when we're 16, 17, 18 years old, the world seems like it's moving at a snail's pace. And it seems like everything is a big deal. Start getting into your 40s and you realize, holy shit, this bad boy is flying by. And time is finite, but my time is not.
Jeff Compton [00:50:39]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:50:39]:
I am not immortal.
Jeff Compton [00:50:41]:
No.
Lucas Underwood [00:50:41]:
I am going to run out of time.
Jeff Compton [00:50:42]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:50:43]:
If I'm going to run out of time, I better take every step in my power right now to start getting to where I want to go.
Jeff Compton [00:50:50]:
Yep.
Lucas Underwood [00:50:51]:
And if I don't know where I want to go. Right. We talk about technicians. Oh, I'm not getting paid what I want to do. I hate to hurt feelings. Right. Because that's not we're talking about.
Jeff Compton [00:50:59]:
Nope.
Lucas Underwood [00:51:00]:
At the end of the day, you are where you are because of a choice that you made. Okay. Now, let me tell you, I'll never forget. I was doing a webinar for Rick White one time, and I said, you are where you are today because of the choices that you made yesterday. Your decision, your best thinking got you here.
Jeff Compton [00:51:18]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:51:19]:
And some people got really upset.
Jeff Compton [00:51:20]:
Imagine your best thinking.
Lucas Underwood [00:51:22]:
You're in your best thinking in your.
Jeff Compton [00:51:24]:
Perspective, you in a year. I couldn't be in a worse spot. Yep, that's your best thinking. Got you there.
Lucas Underwood [00:51:28]:
That's your best thinking. Right. And so, you know, when I started coaching with Rick, one of the first things he ever said to me was, it's like, hey, I just want to point out to you that you've been doing this for a while and it ain't worked yet.
Jeff Compton [00:51:40]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:51:41]:
So if it ain't worked yet, I don't think it's going to. Can we try my way for a while? Like, let's do this different.
Jeff Compton [00:51:47]:
And that's real talk to. Cause it's the key word is my way there. Not your way, my way. Which is not to say that we're trying something different, though. Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:51:57]:
No, and here's the thing, though, right. Is when I talk about technicians and I say, you are where you are because of choices that you made. Look, I get it. We can't go back and fix those choices. And sometimes fate just fucking happens and it sucks. Right. Like, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that. Life doesn't throw bad things at you.
Lucas Underwood [00:52:15]:
The choice that you made was either to ruminate in that or take a step forward and get past it. Those are your options.
Jeff Compton [00:52:21]:
Yeah.
George Wilkins [00:52:22]:
Right.
Lucas Underwood [00:52:22]:
And one stops and one goes. Which do you want to be? And so if you don't like where you're at, you have to take steps to get yourself somewhere different. You cannot just sit back and whine and bitch and moan and talk about why it's not fair and it's not right.
George Wilkins [00:52:36]:
Right.
Lucas Underwood [00:52:36]:
Remember the story about my daughter in the spelling bee?
Jeff Compton [00:52:39]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:52:40]:
Why did we do what we did? Well, because life fucking sucks sometimes. You don't always get what the fuck you want. And it's not always going to be okay. You got to get used to that. You better understand that that is going to be life. And if you teach your kids and if you take the approach in life that it's not going to be okay. You're just selling yourself short because all that potential that you had, all the opportunity you had to do something big in life just went the out the window because you gave up like a little bitch. Right? Because you're going to die.
Lucas Underwood [00:53:16]:
Okay, let me be real with all of you. You're going to fucking die. There's going to come a day and a time and that time, every second you're alive is getting smaller and smaller and smaller. It could happen tomorrow, it could happen next week. It could happen 10 years from now. You don't have fucking time to waste on what somebody did and why. It's not fair and it's not right. And this industry sucks.
Lucas Underwood [00:53:38]:
If the industry sucks, for God's sakes, get the fuck out of it. Go the fuck on. Nobody cares. Right? Hate to hurt your feelings. Hate to tell you you're not the thing that's making or breaking this fucking industry.
Jeff Compton [00:53:47]:
And what a bitter pill to swallow because I've been in that chase was like, you know what? And I had to learn a long time ago that as good as I am, as good as I can be, it won't matter if I am too much for them. I'm gone and I'll go on in the next one. But I probably screwed it up really good when I was there because I couldn't see for what I had. And I. Our friend that we talked about at Frog Pond. Yeah. Like he tells me about how it's like he has been to the bank with that man and sat there and said, I don't understand where all your money's going. You live in a, like a double wide and on a little scratch hand piece of ground with your wife and your mother in law and where's the money going? We don't talk enough in this industry about now.
Jeff Compton [00:54:33]:
Not everybody gets to that level involvement in what their people are actually doing, trying to see to help them. Now he's not going to reach into his pocket and try to solve all that financial problems, but he's going to say, here's the guide. You've done it for your people. Yeah. If that person does not, is doesn't going to take it and use it, learn from it. You hit a point and that's what it is. You've hit a point.
Lucas Underwood [00:55:01]:
Well, you know, look, we, we've got, we've got some folks that have that, you know the story that I've coached through and hey man, why are you buying that? Like that's ridiculous. Lower my payment. No, you're not, you're, you're lowering your monthly investment. Yeah, but you're increasing the amount of money you owe.
Jeff Compton [00:55:16]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:55:17]:
Does it make sense? And, and look, if you knew how many years me and this little booger right here and I sit there and said, hey man, like something is off here. Something is not right. First time he worked for me, we had some heart to heart talks, man. And I was saying, I'll never forget, I'm going to spill you dirty laundry right here for everybody. We're here for. I'll never forget the conversation. My wife was still working in the shop. It was before little Lou was born.
Lucas Underwood [00:55:43]:
And she came to me and she said, hey, I just think you should know. George had been paying off a credit card because he wanted to buy his wife something nice for Christmas. And he came in really upset today because she had filled that credit card all the way to the brim and he didn't know it. And so day after day I listened to George say, I have no money, I have nothing to my name, I'm not earning enough. I need to get a different job so I can earn more and gets a different job and he earns more. And he says, I'm still just not making it. I can't get it together. And the whole time I'm sitting there saying, bro, something is wrong.
Lucas Underwood [00:56:15]:
Right. Something is off, something is not. And we go through life with people that we love and we don't have the hard discussions. Yeah, right. And if we love them, this is not gonna feel nice. If we love them, we have to have the hard discussions because we are their person.
Jeff Compton [00:56:38]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:56:39]:
And if something is wrong, we can't, you know, and what I saw with George was he was Constantly manipulated. Oh, no, it's not what you think it is. Oh, it's not this. Oh, it's not that. Oh, it's this. Oh, it's that. Oh, it's this. It's that.
Lucas Underwood [00:56:53]:
I'll tell you, everybody in your life is looking at you saying, hey man, you know your planes on fire, right?
Jeff Compton [00:57:00]:
Yep.
Lucas Underwood [00:57:01]:
You better. Damn.
Jeff Compton [00:57:02]:
Listen, the Runway, I can see the Runway. Yeah, it's on fire. But I could, I think I can. I just bank it and swerve and I'll be all right.
Lucas Underwood [00:57:10]:
Right. Well, I mean it's all about where your focus is at, right? We're focusing. Creatures. You think back about the story over The Everglades in 73, 740, I think it's 747, worst aviation crash in world history. He's coming over top of the Everglades. He lets his gear down one gear, light doesn't illuminate. And as he comes over top of the Air Everglades, they're looking and they're crawling down in the cargo compartment so they can see if the front gear dropped. And they don't understand.
Lucas Underwood [00:57:41]:
And the pilot is 100% focused on that 13 cent light bulb that's not illuminating and flies the fucking plane square into the ground. Because what was he focused on? He was focused on the fucking light bulb.
Jeff Compton [00:57:52]:
That's right.
Lucas Underwood [00:57:52]:
Not where he was going. And so at the end of the day, right, what was George's problem? What did George miss? George didn't have a destination.
Jeff Compton [00:58:01]:
Yep.
Lucas Underwood [00:58:02]:
George didn't know where the fuck he was going. It was day to day. I'm trying to survive. I'm just trying to make it. I'm just trying to. Oh, we'll see.
George Wilkins [00:58:10]:
What even surviving though.
Lucas Underwood [00:58:12]:
Yeah, but, but here's the problem. And here's what everybody fucking keeps doing that pisses me off. To no avail. Right, let's think about this. What are they doing? I can't survive. I can't make it. This won't work. It'll never work.
Lucas Underwood [00:58:23]:
I don't know what to do. Well, if all you can do is think about that and you don't have a destination, well, it doesn't matter. I don't need a destination. I'm never going to make it like this. Well, goddamn, with that attitude you're not fucking.
Jeff Compton [00:58:34]:
That's right.
Lucas Underwood [00:58:34]:
Yeah, but if you don't have a destination at all, if you don't know where you end up, then you're never going to get there, Right. It's like flying blind. You're just Going around in circles.
Jeff Compton [00:58:44]:
Yep.
Lucas Underwood [00:58:45]:
But, but so we talk about pay and we talk about benefits and we talk about this and we talk about that. Technicians plight has nothing to do with fucking money.
Jeff Compton [00:58:53]:
No.
Lucas Underwood [00:58:54]:
It has to do with vision and destination and where are you going in life. Yeah, right. Well, just always be a technician. Great. You could be a fucking trainer. You could be an educator. You could be. But you're so fucking short sighted that all you can do is blame the industry that you can't get the fuck out of your own goddamn way.
Lucas Underwood [00:59:10]:
No, fuck you, man. Sorry. I hate it for you. That's your fault.
Jeff Compton [00:59:14]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:59:15]:
That's not anybody else's fault.
Jeff Compton [00:59:16]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:59:16]:
And so if you, if you don't imagine where you're going, if you don't sit down and plan out your life and say, here's where I want to be, you got nobody to blame but yourself.
Jeff Compton [00:59:24]:
Yeah, sure.
Lucas Underwood [00:59:25]:
Our bosses shitty. Yeah, sure. Or shop shitty. Yeah, sure. Mine can be shitty. I don't pay what I should pay. I don't always treat my employees the best they should be treated. I don't always get it right.
Jeff Compton [00:59:35]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:59:36]:
But every day I wake up and try and do a little bit better than I did yesterday.
Jeff Compton [00:59:40]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:59:40]:
You know, Tim Kite says that the definition of excellence, the definition of great is just a little bit better than you were yesterday.
Jeff Compton [00:59:49]:
Yeah. Yeah. When you talk about you weren't even surviving. We're all surviving. But now the goal for me is like, I don't want to just survive. I want to thrive. Yeah. And thrive is still just perception.
Jeff Compton [01:00:01]:
If I one thing better happened today than. Than it did yesterday. I'm thriving, man. And everyone else, you might not even see the difference. You just. It's the same. Another day for me. For me.
Jeff Compton [01:00:12]:
If it's like I finally got over that difficult thing that was. I had a truck that was kicking my ass of the shop. Kicking my butt. Not because like it was hard to solve. I created the problem when it was done. It was my rushing to try and get the job done. Then I put a pry bar in there to push a line in and I cut a wire and the wire was in a spot that after it was all done, I had to take the front diff back out. I had to take the engine mount out.
Jeff Compton [01:00:38]:
I had to take the all to get the starter motor wire fixed. It took me longer to fix what I broke or caused then what the original repair was supposed to be. Now I can sit there and say that I got in there with a pry bar and tried to do it. Because somebody. It was a six and a half an hour job. And after two hours on Thursday afternoon, with the shops about to close, they're asking me if it was going to be done that day. And I can make that excuse that that guy spun me into a situation of headspace. That all isn't his fault.
Jeff Compton [01:01:07]:
No, it's my fault. I still was the one that he wasn't working on the truck. It was me. But that plays in my head. Yeah, on repeat, you dumbass.
Lucas Underwood [01:01:19]:
Oh, me too, man. Me too. If you knew the conversations I had had with myself where I was upset over somebody else, I was upset over what somebody said or did. And I said to myself, dude, you were being such a little bitch because, like, if you wanted to win, if you really wanted to be successful, if you wanted to make this work, you'd quit being a little bitch and letting them run the show because they don't even know they're running the damn show.
Jeff Compton [01:01:41]:
But the baggage that I carry is I'm contriving as my. In my mind, as I'm trying to fix that truck, is this is going to be it. He's going to come and talk to me. He's going to say what happened? And I'm going to either lose my cool and get upset and defend myself, or what I'm thinking I'm defending myself, or he's going to sit me down and say that shit can't happen.
Lucas Underwood [01:02:00]:
I mean, but we have those conversations all the time. And their words. Yeah, they're conversations.
Jeff Compton [01:02:07]:
It's not.
Lucas Underwood [01:02:08]:
You know, I think about. I think about Rodney Carrington, and he talks about the. Where It's a. It's a skit he calls hypochondriac. And he talks about his grandpa. He says, hey, Grandpa, what's that on your ear? He said, oh, it's just a little cancer. Right? Yeah, whatever. Right.
Lucas Underwood [01:02:23]:
And he says, well, you can't just have a little cancer. Like, that's a. That's a big deal. Nah, man. Like, when you learn that the things that happen in life and how we respond to them or what dictates your trajectory. Yeah, buddy. You stop making these dumbass decisions to get emotionally wound up.
Jeff Compton [01:02:42]:
Yeah. And a decision is a response to what we contrive in our head. Yeah, that's what it is. All the things that I've been struggling with, with you and talking about, it's in my head. He hasn't sat me down and said, you're screwing up. You got to stop. I'm creating that all in my Head. Because of the pressure that I put on myself.
Lucas Underwood [01:02:58]:
Yes. But in the same respect, what is success and how is it defined? And so. So for you, yeah, the big thing is. Is like, okay, as a shop owner, what do I have to do? I have to. I have to be successful. Okay? Because that's how I pay my people more. That's how I devise a business plan that's sustainable, that works, that takes care of the clients, that takes care of the people. Right.
Lucas Underwood [01:03:22]:
Takes care of the employees. And so I have to have a plan that's sustainable. Okay? And to do that, the business has to make money. Now, it's really, really simple, okay? Like, when you finally figure the numbers out and you lay it out, you can pay your technician 30% of the labor rate. Now, it's not the door rate. It's the effective labor rate. If you don't understand what that means, you need to figure it out. And people say, well, we used to get paid 50%.
Lucas Underwood [01:03:47]:
Oh, you poor thing. Let me tell you something. You're getting paid 50 right now.
Jeff Compton [01:03:50]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [01:03:50]:
Okay? Because if you're getting 30 at the shop that you're at, that means you're getting 50% of the labor rate. Okay, well, how is that? Did you not know that your employer pays taxes for you on top of the part that you pay? Did you not know that they had to pay a payroll company? Did you not know that they had workers comp. Did you not know? Because of all the penalties and all the things that are placed on businesses today, if they pay you 30% of their labor rate, they're taking 50% of everything they make for every dollar that you generate, and they're giving it to you, okay? One way or another. Now, on the other side of that, obviously, we have service advisors and managers, and all that money has to come out of that pie. So I have to have technicians who can produce a certain amount of hours to be able to pay my bills. And it's not just about me. And it's not about me taking money and stuffing it in my pocket. It's about.
Lucas Underwood [01:04:44]:
It takes this much money for the business to survive, to continue to give you these opportunities so you can make what you make or more. And we're constantly trying to go in this direction to give you more.
Jeff Compton [01:04:53]:
Yeah. Yep.
Lucas Underwood [01:04:55]:
But if all you can focus on is how it's not fair and it's not right and it's this and it's that, or, hey, he might come and yell at me and tell me I did this thing wrong, and this and that. No, man. It's because you're focused on the wrong things, because you're not focused on the desired outcome. Now, if you don't know what the desired outcome is, that's your boss's fault. If you know what the desired outcome is and you're not focused on it, that's your fault. Because if your focus is, hey, they've told me I need to produce eight hours a day. Okay, how do I get there? Well, I'm not there. This isn't working.
Lucas Underwood [01:05:24]:
Hey, there's an issue with the shop. Okay? Let's have a meeting. Let's start talking about how we can resolve this one thing, and let's fix this one thing. Cease on the bricks. Let's pull this one brick out of the wall, and let's start tearing this wall down one by one. Have to deal with one thing, get rid of it, fix it. Speed things up, make things more profitable. Okay? Now let's go to the next brick.
Lucas Underwood [01:05:42]:
And step by step by step, we're part of the solution, and we stop feeling like we're part of the problem. But if you don't have a destination, if you don't know the shop's destination, you don't have a personal destination. Because that end point. You know, when I started coaching with Rick, one of the first things he did is he kept saying, hey, you need a destination, you need a destination. You need a destination, you need a destination, you need a destination. And he kept making me, like, write it down. And time and time again, he would be like, no, that's not it. The fuck you talking about, man? You said you want my destination.
Lucas Underwood [01:06:16]:
I'm telling you what my destination is. And he says, no, it's wrong. What? Are you effing serious? He's like, no, you got to be able to smell it. You got to be able to hear it. You got to be able to taste it. You got to be able to see it. And so now this trajectory is. This is where I'm going.
Lucas Underwood [01:06:33]:
Takes years to plan. It's not something that happens overnight. I just want to be this takes years to plan.
Jeff Compton [01:06:38]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [01:06:39]:
And then you begin to understand the steps you have to take to build the stairs and tear down the wall to get where you're going in life.
Jeff Compton [01:06:48]:
It's hard, though, eh? It's really hard. Like, I fight and struggle every day to not let the voices in my head, you know, this just for talking about. To drown out the voices that are telling me to keep going to where my destination.
Lucas Underwood [01:07:06]:
It is hard, but we have to remember that much of that is emotion. Right. And emotion does not do any good for anybody ever. Right. We have to be able to slow the emotions down, have to be able to slow the thoughts down, have to be able to have focused. And so if you don't have the destination, it becomes exponentially harder to focus on the long run. It becomes exponentially harder to focus on the long game because all you can focus on is right now.
Jeff Compton [01:07:41]:
Yep.
Lucas Underwood [01:07:42]:
Right. And so I might take 10 steps back in one day. Okay. My shop is a giant shit show right now. My. Do you know my effective labor rate for service hour is like, in the 90s right now. Right. For available hours, the number of hours that are in the shop.
Lucas Underwood [01:07:58]:
My labor rate right now is in the 90s. Right. My door rates in the 150s. And because our production is in a mess right now. But you know what? It's going to be okay. It's going to be fine. We know we took steps back and we're going to start taking steps back, forward. We're going to start going in a different direction.
Lucas Underwood [01:08:16]:
We're going to start climbing back up.
Jeff Compton [01:08:18]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [01:08:19]:
But if I didn't know what that direction was, if I didn't know where I was going, guess what I wouldn't be doing and be freaking the fuck out. Oh, my God. It's all falling apart. But no, I mean, like, that's not an option. Sorry. Like, I'm going to live or I'm going to die. The business is going to thrive or the business is going to fail. I choose to say, failure is not an option.
Lucas Underwood [01:08:48]:
Death is not an option. I'm going somewhere.
Jeff Compton [01:08:51]:
Yep.
Lucas Underwood [01:08:53]:
No emotion to be involved. It's a single decision. This is where I'm going. Let's go. Well, that didn't work. Fuck.
Jeff Compton [01:09:01]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [01:09:02]:
Right?
Jeff Compton [01:09:02]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [01:09:03]:
Do you. I mean, do you seriously, like, once you. Once you put yourself in the boat compared to the shop.
Jeff Compton [01:09:09]:
Yeah, Right.
Lucas Underwood [01:09:10]:
Oh, my God, he's gonna yell at me. Okay. Well, you cast your line into the water and the fish doesn't bite or snaps the hook off the end of the line. You just turn around and go back to the shore and get out of the boat and say, fuck it, I'm never doing this again.
Jeff Compton [01:09:24]:
No, I don't.
Lucas Underwood [01:09:25]:
Right. It'd be stupid because it doesn't accomplish what you're coming to accomplish. It doesn't make sense. But how often do we do that in life? Because we don't have a pathway. We don't know where we're going every.
Jeff Compton [01:09:37]:
Day because I know that, like, if I'm just. I'm just gonna gear back up again. I'm gonna. That fish lives there. It's still there, that opportunity still sitting right there.
Lucas Underwood [01:09:45]:
Mm.
Jeff Compton [01:09:46]:
But in my own head, all I can think about is that up. I screwed that up.
Lucas Underwood [01:09:53]:
No. Oh, you ever, George. Tell me, have you ever felt that way before?
George Wilkins [01:09:57]:
Lots of times. And, you know, he's talking about the shop, and, you know, we have. We have two or three meetings day. And what I.
Jeff Compton [01:10:06]:
What I would stress really, like, about.
George Wilkins [01:10:08]:
Him is, you know, he asks for any ideas or changes that they want to try, he's open to do any of that. Like, it's not just, oh, this is my way, or, you know what I mean? He's all about correcting it whatever way everybody feels.
Jeff Compton [01:10:26]:
See, meetings stressed me.
Lucas Underwood [01:10:28]:
Why?
Jeff Compton [01:10:31]:
Because it's not a case of being challenged. It's a situation of. It's like I'm an immediate. I want immediate change. I want immediate reaction when I bring you an idea, but I want to see it implemented.
Lucas Underwood [01:10:45]:
Now, I have no issue with that. Okay. I have no issue with that. But if. If we simply jump in and make a decision and move in a direction, and we say, hey, this was Jeff's idea. Let's do this. Okay, well, we have to vet thy idea, have to develop a process. We have to put some stuff on paper.
Lucas Underwood [01:11:10]:
We have to understand how it affects other people. We have to consider a lot of things, and then we talk about it, and then we try it. Okay, we try it five times. It takes five to 10 times just to figure out if it's going to even remotely be viable. Right. And so here we go. Oh, no, it's Braxton. This just turned into a giant.
Lucas Underwood [01:11:32]:
I mean, since Princess is here, do I have to stop cussing?
Jeff Compton [01:11:36]:
It's. That's entirely between you and him.
Lucas Underwood [01:11:38]:
Lucas, did you talk to the AV guy? No. You things figured out?
Jeff Compton [01:11:42]:
No.
Lucas Underwood [01:11:43]:
You were supposed to be there. You're supposed to be talking to them. I'm not supposed to be talking. No, he's four, I think. Yeah, he's four pushes. Push for. Actually. What are you doing in it? You're supposed to be doing other things, not talking on a podcast.
Lucas Underwood [01:11:56]:
Jesse is asking you to come down there right away, please. She didn't talk to me. Well, she does. How do you know? You're on a podcast right now? Checking my text messages. Are you? Yeah, it's kind of the sure thing. I can tell you don't have headphones on, but you don't realize There's a proximity effect issue. Oh, yeah. How about now? That's much better.
Lucas Underwood [01:12:12]:
Much better. For a radio. For a radio. We don't have headphones.
Jeff Compton [01:12:15]:
No, no, no.
Lucas Underwood [01:12:15]:
This is not. This is not a radio issue. This is a. Let's turn the microphones really low and. Because it'll pick up other stuff.
Jeff Compton [01:12:23]:
What a sassy little.
Lucas Underwood [01:12:25]:
Oh, man. He is a he. Between Bougie. He's like our little Bougie and our little princess. Okay. He's our little. He's our little princess. He's very emotional.
Lucas Underwood [01:12:35]:
We're working on him. Like, he's growing. He's growing.
Jeff Compton [01:12:38]:
You know, that skin's getting thick.
Lucas Underwood [01:12:40]:
I'm stay. I'm stubborn. I'm stubborn. We'll see where he gets. I'm telling you, I'm good with stubborn.
Jeff Compton [01:12:47]:
I'm familiar with stubborn. Well, I want to thank everybody for sitting down here and.
Lucas Underwood [01:12:52]:
Hey, how many minutes do we have in. We have to do at least an hour.
Jeff Compton [01:12:55]:
We're 112 right now.
Lucas Underwood [01:12:57]:
No wonder he's coming in fussing. Yeah. I mean, what's going on in here? Yeah. Jeff has another podcast to record in, like 15 minutes.
Jeff Compton [01:13:05]:
My busy day sitting here in Jimmy Lee's borrowed jacket.
Lucas Underwood [01:13:08]:
I don't want to know what you did in that jacket last night.
Jeff Compton [01:13:11]:
I didn't get it till this morning. I tried it on yesterday, and we decided Jimmy Lee.
Lucas Underwood [01:13:16]:
I mean, I knew he had some real funky hair gel, but I didn't know we were talking about something about Mary. I mean, I'm just gonna tell you, I didn't know.
Jeff Compton [01:13:23]:
I looked at that. He sat down here yesterday morning. I complimented him on the jacket. I said, that's a good looking jacket. I should really borrow that for tomorrow. And he. I was just joking. He's like, you want to? Yeah.
Jeff Compton [01:13:33]:
So I let him have it the rest of the day because it was part of his ensemble, and he brought it to me this morning.
Lucas Underwood [01:13:37]:
I guess the good news is, is the pages won't be sticking together when he gets it back.
Jeff Compton [01:13:41]:
Yeah. So when I get up there for the roundtable happening in a very short period of time from now.
Lucas Underwood [01:13:47]:
Oh, I gotta introduce you, don't I?
Jeff Compton [01:13:49]:
Yeah, I'm excited about that.
Lucas Underwood [01:13:53]:
The introduction?
Jeff Compton [01:13:54]:
No, the roundtable.
Lucas Underwood [01:13:55]:
I am, too.
Jeff Compton [01:13:55]:
Yeah. Everybody's like, you nervous? I'm not nervous. Look at what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna get up there and talk about this the way I always talk about it.
Lucas Underwood [01:14:03]:
You know what I'm nervous about? I'm nervous about having to stand in the back of the room with George and Braxton waving my arms, trying to say, it's past two hours and these people have been sitting here the whole time. This is not a jaded mechanic podcast. You got to stop at some point, Jeff.
Jeff Compton [01:14:18]:
They'll come over.
Lucas Underwood [01:14:18]:
People are hungry.
Jeff Compton [01:14:19]:
It's dinner time.
Lucas Underwood [01:14:20]:
Well, you know, Braxton calls me sometimes and he's like, hey, listen, I've got a situation. Okay. Jeff recorded for four hours, and I don't know how to break this up. Like, I can get the two hour thing down. How do I break a four hour podcast up?
Jeff Compton [01:14:34]:
Oh, gosh.
George Wilkins [01:14:35]:
Yeah.
Jeff Compton [01:14:36]:
I don't know. Is it ever gone for.
Lucas Underwood [01:14:37]:
No, listen, listen.
Jeff Compton [01:14:39]:
Okay, kicking close to three.
Lucas Underwood [01:14:41]:
Every time Lucas says something, you can divide it by two.
Jeff Compton [01:14:45]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We met, him and I, for 40 years. Yeah, yeah, we met on Facebook.
Lucas Underwood [01:14:51]:
That's exactly every time I talk to and Lucas about their relationship. The first time I ever heard your story, oh, this is 10 years ago. Two weeks later you said, oh, 20 years ago we met. So now it's been 30. No, here's the thing is, like, you're exactly right. Because when we talked about that, I'm like, 10 years is right, right. Like 10 years is right.
Jeff Compton [01:15:15]:
No, it's long.
Lucas Underwood [01:15:15]:
And so I went and I looked it up, and the first message I got from him was almost 16 years ago. And so I'm like, round up with 20. Just round it up.
Jeff Compton [01:15:23]:
Yeah, four years.
Lucas Underwood [01:15:24]:
Who cares? Almost 20 years.
Jeff Compton [01:15:26]:
Always round up. We don't round up.
Lucas Underwood [01:15:28]:
Yeah, exactly. Especially on our hours.
Jeff Compton [01:15:30]:
That's right. Well, I'm excited. I got to thank you all for bringing me here again.
Lucas Underwood [01:15:35]:
Yeah, of course.
Jeff Compton [01:15:36]:
This has been pretty sweet. So George is always, man, I love you.
Lucas Underwood [01:15:40]:
Look, I even hired a little princess to take care of.
Jeff Compton [01:15:42]:
And he's a fantastic young man. He really is.
Lucas Underwood [01:15:44]:
Here we go. About time.
Jeff Compton [01:15:45]:
Somebody, I mean, what's the first thing I said to me said, shit, he's taller than I thought he would be. And I'm like, he's a good looking man. I can say that.
George Wilkins [01:15:55]:
That's right.
Jeff Compton [01:15:55]:
But like, we had a good talk, him and I, last night, and it got really deep, really quick.
Lucas Underwood [01:16:00]:
Yeah, I did.
Jeff Compton [01:16:00]:
And because just like George, he comes out with the big topics right away. Yeah. You know, and it's like, I feel better now talking to him like I do when I talk to you, because it's like I'm always in my head. I gotta understand how something works. I gotta understand what. And you remind me we're not to know it all. Yeah, that's right.
Lucas Underwood [01:16:20]:
You can't know it all. Can't exactly. You blow up if you knew it all.
Jeff Compton [01:16:23]:
Yeah. All right, everyone.
Lucas Underwood [01:16:24]:
All right.
Jeff Compton [01:16:24]:
I love you all. We'll talk you soon. Thank you. Hey, if you could do me a favor real quick and, like, comment on and share this episode, I'd really appreciate it. And please, most importantly, set the podcast to automatically download every Tuesday morning. As always, I'd like to thank our amazing guests for their perspectives and expertise, and I hope that you'll please join.