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This podcast is dedicated to changing the automotive industry for the better, one conversation at a time.
Whether you're a technician, vendor, business owner, or car enthusiast, we hope to inspire you to improve for your customers, your careers, your businesses, and your families.
David Roman [00:00:00]:
Now, six.
Lucas Underwood [00:00:01]:
Six shows now.
David Roman [00:00:05]:
Sure. Five.
Lucas Underwood [00:00:06]:
Five or six shows. You need help doing it?
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:00:09]:
Yeah, for sure. Well, so handle it. There's gonna be me and my wife. We're gonna. So what we want to do, we want to do a podcast where we're gonna talk about the couples. You know, couples, dude.
Lucas Underwood [00:00:20]:
That's all.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:00:21]:
Yeah. Husband, wife. But I want to talk about the dynamic stuff, you know, talk about.
Lucas Underwood [00:00:25]:
Yeah.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:00:25]:
Being in business together, but everyone always hears about all the nice stuff. I want to talk about the struggles.
Lucas Underwood [00:00:31]:
Amen, buddy.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:00:32]:
Yeah. I feel like that's gonna be important.
Lucas Underwood [00:00:34]:
That that's a. That is a tough aspect of business ownership when you are working with a spouse. And, you know, a good friend of mine, we've been talking for a while now about having him own, and he has. We've been back and forth on whether he actually feels comfortable doing that or not, because it just about resulted in the end of a marriage.
David Roman [00:00:56]:
Right.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:00:57]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:00:57]:
And it was a situation where, um, he was stressed out, and things weren't always going, like, the way he envisioned.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:01:07]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:01:07]:
And so when he went home, he wasn't the husband or the father that he should be, and little by little, it eroded the relationship.
David Roman [00:01:17]:
Right.
Lucas Underwood [00:01:17]:
And he didn't realize that it was doing it, and she didn't realize that it was doing it, but they had kids.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:01:22]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:01:22]:
And so it eroded to the point that it created this massive blow up. Right. And I think about that all the time because I've just about done that a couple times.
David Roman [00:01:31]:
Right.
Lucas Underwood [00:01:32]:
And not realized it. Being in business with a significant other is hard work, dude, really hard. And I I'm gonna tell a. I'm gonna tell a personal story. She's gonna kick my ass if she ever listens to this episode. Um, and I feel terrible about it now, and I. She says she doesn't hold it against me, but I feel like she still, like, if we talk about it, it upsets her. My wife worked in the shop, and she always said that men treated her differently when it came to, like, buying service and things like that, and that didn't bother her.
Lucas Underwood [00:02:08]:
But there was this guy who had been a family friend for years, and he came in, and he was just coming by to, like, say hello or speak and, you know, say, hadn't seen you in years. You know, I've known this guy since I was a little kid, and he walked behind the counter, and he gave my wife a hug. Now, I didn't think anything about it. It didn't cross me as weird. It didn't seem anything like that. But later she said, the way that he hugged me and the way that that interaction felt, I felt extremely uncomfortable. And without thinking about it, I defended him, saying, nah, this guy's, like, a super christian guy. He would never do anything weird.
Lucas Underwood [00:02:52]:
He would never anything like that. And, dude, that one stupid little comment that I made, because the way it played out in her head, it sounded like I didn't believe her.
David Roman [00:03:02]:
Right?
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:03:03]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:03:03]:
And so you think about relationships, and now we're working together, those tiny little things make a huge impact, and you don't even realize you've done it.
David Roman [00:03:12]:
Hold on. What was she expecting you to do?
Lucas Underwood [00:03:15]:
I don't think that it. She did not have expectations for me to do anything because it was already over. Right.
David Roman [00:03:20]:
No, no, I get that. But, like, I'm trying to. I'm trying to, like, think, how would I react to that? And I'd be like, nah.
Lucas Underwood [00:03:29]:
Well, so it was, long story short, what happened with this guy was. Is shortly after this encounter, he died. And he had something in his brain, uh, like an embolism or something. And they suspect because he started acting, like, really crazy right around the same time he went to, like, all of these, um. Like, he went out west to some sort of festival, music festival, and he's acting completely different than he had ever acted before. So they suspect something changed in his brain before this happened. Right. But I think what she wanted was, is she wanted me to hear her say that made me feel uncomfortable.
Lucas Underwood [00:04:08]:
She didn't expect an answer from me. She didn't expect me to say something, but she also didn't expect me to defend him. She just wanted me to listen to her. Right.
David Roman [00:04:19]:
I get that.
Lucas Underwood [00:04:20]:
So what I did was, is I made. I invalidated the fact that she felt that way.
David Roman [00:04:24]:
Yeah, you're an ass. I get that part. I don't. Just don't know that I would. I would be like, what? No, really?
Lucas Underwood [00:04:33]:
Yeah. No, I didn't not believe in her.
David Roman [00:04:36]:
Right. But also, like, what was he doing?
Lucas Underwood [00:04:40]:
Yeah, well, and it was like, a super long embrace and was a very, like, he was saying things in her ear that wasn't.
David Roman [00:04:47]:
Oh.
Lucas Underwood [00:04:48]:
And like, whoa. But. And, you know, if he, like, if.
David Roman [00:04:56]:
He pulled in and it was an ass out, you know how you, like, you hug somebody, you stick your ass out, and if you pulled in and all of a sudden, you're. I mean, I probably would have noticed and, like, bro, like, you okay, what are you doing? Why are you squeezing so hard? Like. But if he was also, like, in the hurt, you're like, whoa.
Lucas Underwood [00:05:18]:
Yeah, it was definitely weird. It was. There was no doubt about it. It was the. I guess what I'm trying to highlight is my response to it.
David Roman [00:05:25]:
You're an idiot. That's what you're trying to highlight?
Lucas Underwood [00:05:27]:
Yeah, absolutely. I could have told you that. I don't know why we even have to establish.
David Roman [00:05:32]:
You handle that all wrong. I just. I didn't. You probably told this story before. I just don't remember it.
Lucas Underwood [00:05:38]:
No, I don't think I have.
David Roman [00:05:39]:
You should feel worse about it now that you told me about it than you did all the way up to this point.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:05:46]:
But the cool thing is. So, yeah, we're going to talk about that, but then as well, you know.
David Roman [00:05:52]:
Try to go right into the.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:05:53]:
The wife that stays at the house and, you know, business owners that come home at 10:00, 09:00, you know, long hours working six days, seven days a week, you know, those kind of struggles. That's. That's what we want to talk about.
Lucas Underwood [00:06:08]:
Well, I mean, think about. Think about how many in our trade are doing that right now. Think about how many in our trade that, that are technicians turned owners especially, that they think the way the business is going to be successful is by fixing all the cars.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:06:21]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:06:21]:
And that's not how it works.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:06:23]:
Right.
Lucas Underwood [00:06:24]:
You can fix all the cars in the world and not be successful. And so especially in the emphasis of the infancy of the business, I think that's really important to hear that. And I think you've got a massive platform. I mean, you'll get people to listen just because it's you. So I think that's an awesome idea.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:06:39]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:06:40]:
Before we dig all the way in, you've, like, done a lot of really cool stuff for a lot of people in this industry.
David Roman [00:06:49]:
Right. I'm gonna introduce himself because we're six minutes in and all we heard was your stupid story about you being an idiot.
Lucas Underwood [00:06:56]:
Well, I'm trying to do this. So you cut that part out so she never hears it and yells at us.
David Roman [00:07:01]:
Did you think she'd be upset by that story?
Lucas Underwood [00:07:03]:
She probably would.
David Roman [00:07:04]:
Really? Why, though?
Lucas Underwood [00:07:05]:
Well, because it just reminds her of what an ass I am.
David Roman [00:07:08]:
I think she knows it would probably make it worse.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:07:11]:
And this is funny because my wife tells me the same thing sometimes. I just need you to listen. That's it. Yeah, dude, just listen.
Lucas Underwood [00:07:17]:
Yeah, well, and we need a reminder fix because we're fixers.
David Roman [00:07:21]:
Yeah. Yeah, we're fixers.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:07:22]:
No, that's what we do. Yeah, that's what I tell her. I'm like, let's do it this way. I just want you to listen. I know you're trying to fix up stuff.
David Roman [00:07:28]:
Do you scream back at her, go, quit trying to change me.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:07:30]:
No, I'm the.
Lucas Underwood [00:07:33]:
No, because he's not trying to get killed.
David Roman [00:07:36]:
Anyway. I'm sorry. Introduce yourself.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:07:37]:
No. So my name is. Well, my actual name is Asael Sepulveda. And everyone nailed it. Yeah.
David Roman [00:07:44]:
Thank you. Boop. Can you.
Lucas Underwood [00:07:45]:
Can you show the world how you nailed it? Because I'm not gonna be able to say that ever. Like, I'm gonna. It's Oz.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:07:52]:
Yeah. That's why everyone calls me Oz. It's just easier. And it's kind of funny how I got that name. It was during, I think, high school.
Lucas Underwood [00:08:00]:
Yeah.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:08:00]:
There's a teacher that, every time that we had a substitute teacher, knew they were coming up to my name, because they just kind of looked at the role sheet, and they just. Yeah, they just stopped. And the funny thing is, they just called everyone by their first name. They tried my first name, butchered it, and they're like, let me try the last name. I'm like, go to the next person.
David Roman [00:08:28]:
That's me.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:08:29]:
No. Yeah. When I would see him struggle, that's when I raised my eyes hand. That's me. I'm Assad. And that is awesome. That was extremely funny. But there's this one substitute teacher.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:08:39]:
He was like, a rocker guy.
Lucas Underwood [00:08:41]:
Yeah.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:08:42]:
And he looks at it, he's like, dude, I'm gonna call you Ozzy.
Lucas Underwood [00:08:47]:
Oh, dude, that's awesome.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:08:48]:
He's like, do you mind if I can call you Ozzy? I'm gonna be here for a whole week. And I just looked at him, and I was like, yeah, if you want to. So that's how Ozma started. Yeah, it was pretty cool. So from there, that's when my friends would call me Ozzy. And then when I finally opened up my shop, I sat down and I was trying to think of different names. My dad wanted Sepulveda automotive or Sepulveda shop or whatever, and I was just like, dad, if the teachers were struggling.
Lucas Underwood [00:09:19]:
Yeah.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:09:20]:
I can just imagine someone trying to look up my shop and, let's go to Sepultra. Like everyone.
David Roman [00:09:26]:
That's.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:09:26]:
That's what they say, right? I don't have a t in mind, but. So my friend came up to me, and I was like, hey, Oz. He would call me Oz. He's like, why didn't just call it Oz mechanics?
Lucas Underwood [00:09:37]:
Yeah.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:09:37]:
And it was just like.
Lucas Underwood [00:09:40]:
And it's. It's become a household name, especially for youtubers, right? Yeah. David did nail it. I'll give him credit. He absolutely nailed it.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:09:50]:
You did.
David Roman [00:09:50]:
I know I did. Anyway, let's move on past the name. You.
Lucas Underwood [00:09:56]:
Anybody ever tell you you get on my nerves? Do you get on everybody else's nerves, or is it just me?
David Roman [00:10:01]:
You gotta invalidate my feelings, too? Is that how this is gonna work?
Lucas Underwood [00:10:05]:
Pretty much. Absolutely.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:10:06]:
That's what you need in the podcast. You need that.
Lucas Underwood [00:10:09]:
Yes.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:10:10]:
Tom and Jerry kind of.
David Roman [00:10:11]:
Do you think that's a no?
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:10:12]:
Yes.
David Roman [00:10:13]:
No, that's not it.
Lucas Underwood [00:10:16]:
No, see, it can't be that, because Tom is the violent one and, you know, powerful and capable.
David Roman [00:10:24]:
Jerry is a smart one. You were. You were you late into that and you went, wait, hold on. Now. This analogy is not gonna work. I just threatened him on the last podcast recording. So I'm obviously the violent one, and then Jerry's the smart. That's not gonna.
Lucas Underwood [00:10:39]:
No, I was getting ready to say, and you're neither one of those things didn't let me get to the punchline.
David Roman [00:10:46]:
No, that fell apart is all I'm saying. That fell apart.
Lucas Underwood [00:10:50]:
And so tell us a little bit about what it is, who you are, because most of our listeners already know who you are, but. But you got pretty popular on this thing called YouTube. Tell us how that happened.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:11:02]:
Well, if everyone. Pretty much everyone knows of Paul Danner. Scanner Danner.
Lucas Underwood [00:11:08]:
Yeah.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:11:08]:
So, yeah, it was. It literally started off with. That was watching one of his videos, and that got to the point where I was like, dude, if he helped me out, let me see if I can help out one person out there.
Lucas Underwood [00:11:20]:
Yeah.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:11:21]:
So that's where I got, you know, got the idea to at least make one video. Did I butcher that video? Yes. I called ahead an engine block. So please, no one go over there. Watch that first video. Don't do that. And that was actually. It was putting time search in northstar engine a cadillac.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:11:42]:
So.
Lucas Underwood [00:11:43]:
Oh, man.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:11:44]:
Dude, I went just head first, just.
Lucas Underwood [00:11:47]:
Straight to, we're gonna. We're gonna drop that in. Can we drop that into this video? When we.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:11:57]:
I just remember just rewatching it. I'm calling it a block, and I'm just like, not a lot of people have been. They didn't bring that up on the video. Now they are.
David Roman [00:12:07]:
Right.
Lucas Underwood [00:12:07]:
They're gonna go back and watch it.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:12:08]:
Jesus, that was just a. Yeah, that was a horrible, horrible video. But going back to it. Yeah, it was just, uh. It was a snowball effect, man. Just, uh, getting those comments and, hey, thank you for the help advice. This isn't right. And, uh, it's just a wonderful thing, man.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:12:25]:
I really do enjoy it. Um, we could say there's videos out there that I would not recommend watching. Uh, Kilmer. There you go. Don't say that name three times, because it's like, he'll pop up. Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:12:38]:
He'll show up.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:12:39]:
Yeah, he'll pop up.
David Roman [00:12:40]:
He's in entertainment. He's not.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:12:43]:
He's a smart guy. Damn, I can't believe I'm. He's a smart guy. He's a smart individual youtuber. Because what he does. And this is every technician that I talked to, he tells the masses what they want to hear. Okay? So. And I didn't realize that until I was watching it when someone commented on my video, and they're like, why are you wasting my time? I don't have a scope.
Lucas Underwood [00:13:08]:
Yeah.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:13:08]:
You know, I don't have a $10,000 scan tool. I don't have this, this and that. I don't have all the fancy equipment.
Lucas Underwood [00:13:15]:
It's like, why does this matter to me?
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:13:18]:
Why does this matter to me? But Kilmer, he basically, everyone can relate to. Yeah. You know?
Lucas Underwood [00:13:26]:
Well, and I think you're right. As an entertainer, he's brilliant.
David Roman [00:13:29]:
Right.
Lucas Underwood [00:13:29]:
Because he's figured out exactly what to do. And I think, to a degree, a lot of it is just satire.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:13:35]:
Mm hmm.
Lucas Underwood [00:13:36]:
Right. Because isn't he. He's, like, on the Pico scope deal. Right? And he. On auto nerds.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:13:43]:
Dude, I haven't watched this.
Lucas Underwood [00:13:45]:
Isn't Scotty Kilmer, like, involved with auto nerds or something?
David Roman [00:13:49]:
Are you. Are you messing?
Lucas Underwood [00:13:50]:
No, I'm saying.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:13:51]:
I really don't know.
Lucas Underwood [00:13:52]:
I don't either. But people were bringing it up the other day. We were talking about it in a. In a chat, and it was that he's actually a very, very accomplished technician and that this is all just satire. That that's just how he rolls.
David Roman [00:14:05]:
I think that sounds like an Internet theory.
Lucas Underwood [00:14:07]:
I don't know. I don't know if it's true or not.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:14:11]:
No, the thing is, and this really ticked me off one time.
Lucas Underwood [00:14:15]:
Yeah.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:14:17]:
A customer showed up to my shop, and he rolls into my shop, and he's like, hey, you're Oz. And we introduced ourselves this net, and he's like, hey, I just want you to look at my car, see if you can fix it up. And I was like, for sure. And then he starts just bawling, just telling me stuff. He's like, dude. So I'm bringing my car over here because I took it to Scotty Kilmer. And he couldn't fix it.
Lucas Underwood [00:14:43]:
Do what?
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:14:44]:
And I was like, okay, they're both in Houston.
Lucas Underwood [00:14:46]:
Yeah, well, I know, but no, he.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:14:47]:
Well, he. Now he's in Tennessee. He left Houston. And so while he's telling me his whole story, he's like, dude, the messed up thing that he did is after I picked up my car, two days later, he makes a video about my car and basically just talking mess about it.
Lucas Underwood [00:15:06]:
Holy crap.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:15:07]:
Yeah. What kind of, what kind of dummies going to put, you know, spoiler. What kind of dummy is going to put an air intake, this, this and that, just bashing. And then the customers while. While he's telling me this whole thing, he's like, hey, I didn't put this. I didn't do this. I didn't do that. I didn't do none of that.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:15:24]:
So he's telling. He's telling me all this, and I'm like, dude, I don't care what you put on your car.
Lucas Underwood [00:15:28]:
Right.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:15:29]:
I'm just here to fix it up. That's it. I don't care what you have on there. I'm here to fix it up. So I did record the video, and it was just a mass airflow sensor, that's all. It was simple. Any technician can do this. Yeah, but Scotty, he got to the point where he was just like, I'd rather get a little bit more, you know, recognition.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:15:53]:
Well, more views. Just by making this video and talking mess about this car. Then.
Lucas Underwood [00:15:57]:
Then even working on the car, fixing the cars, that's screwed up.
David Roman [00:16:01]:
That's really. I mean, it makes. It makes sense. Like, you're gonna. They're just props.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:16:09]:
Yeah.
David Roman [00:16:09]:
You're not there to. It's not a shop. You can't be a shop. Like, you can't do what he does. The amount of editing. Do you do a lot of editing your videos? Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:16:20]:
David goes work.
David Roman [00:16:22]:
Yeah, I just hit, I post done.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:16:28]:
It's just YouTube is difficult, you know, to me, is really difficult. You have so many subscribers that you're trying, or so many people out there that you're trying to, you know, get that certain group. And especially in what we do, all the technical stuff, you have the small niche right there.
David Roman [00:16:54]:
It's a. Yeah, yeah. You're, I mean, you're a huge YouTube channel, but you're also, like, in a smaller. You're not Scotty Kilmer size, is it what I'm saying? Like, you're not donut media. Yeah, they're not. They're not making content for who you serve. Does that make sense?
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:17:14]:
Yeah.
David Roman [00:17:14]:
Like, your audience is technically minded. They're actually. Mechanics actually work on cars. They work in shops. These people just want entertainment. So Scotty's just putting. He just needs a prop. So it was just that guy's car.
Lucas Underwood [00:17:28]:
And we talked about that yesterday, is some content creators are trying to make that shift from funny and irrelevant content that gets tons of views to serious content. And I think that's a hard road to hoe. Right. Because, like, trying to switch to where you're providing that value and having, you know, people take you seriously, like, Scotty Kilmer tried to make the flip. That's never going to happen. Right. Nobody's going to watch it. All those subscribers that have signed up would never.
David Roman [00:17:53]:
He does those videos where he's, like, talking about cars, like he's answering subscriber questions.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:18:00]:
Those do pretty well. Most of his questions are just, well, he'll talk about a certain line or he'll say, oh, you know, GM is not doing good. Or this, this and that. He'll have one of those. But you know who's really doing good? Eric from south domain auto.
Lucas Underwood [00:18:20]:
Yeah, I love his channel.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:18:23]:
And so I did call him one time, and I was like, eric, how can I get to your level? And he's like, oz, you're doing good.
Lucas Underwood [00:18:31]:
Yeah.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:18:32]:
But he's like, just do what you're doing and it's gonna get there. But I went to this one event in Vegas, you know, Pat, Ben David and all them.
David Roman [00:18:41]:
Yeah, yeah.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:18:42]:
So they had an event aimed. Yeah, yeah. So they had an event. It was like a. It was like a mastermind event. But then they had youtubers as well.
Lucas Underwood [00:18:50]:
Oh, that's cool, dude.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:18:51]:
So, yeah, it was. It was really nice because I was going there for the financial purpose, but then I found out that the youtubers were there as well, and they're giving all these tips and so on.
David Roman [00:19:02]:
Right.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:19:03]:
And what really hit home, I was just like, the way this one guy, I think his name is Pat Flynn. Yeah, yeah. Pat Flynn.
David Roman [00:19:11]:
Smart, passive income.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:19:12]:
Yeah, yeah. So what he was talking about is whenever you have a channel, imagine watching the Simpsons and all you have is Homer Simpson.
Lucas Underwood [00:19:21]:
Yeah.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:19:22]:
How boring is that gonna get for, you know, ten years, right? Ten seasons. No, you have. You need to have those peripherals. You need to have that Barney, that.
Lucas Underwood [00:19:31]:
Lisa, the bar, that round it out.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:19:33]:
Yeah. And that's what Eric O is doing. Yeah. He brings his daughter the dogs there. Sheba, you got his wife. Different characters that come in. And then, as well, you have to be relatable to your audience. So what does Eric say? Oh, I love ice cream.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:19:50]:
What do people send him?
David Roman [00:19:51]:
Ice cream.
Lucas Underwood [00:19:51]:
Ice cream.
David Roman [00:19:52]:
Yep.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:19:52]:
You know, he has his hats. You know, people send him hats, that kind of stuff.
Lucas Underwood [00:19:57]:
That's a really good point. Super valid point.
David Roman [00:19:59]:
Are you trying to get free hats? Is that what the deal is?
Lucas Underwood [00:20:02]:
No, he was trying to get me to say something about bourbon, so I got free bourbon.
David Roman [00:20:05]:
You have gotten free bourbon.
Lucas Underwood [00:20:06]:
I know. It's awesome.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:20:07]:
It's fantastic.
David Roman [00:20:08]:
We're a pretty tiny channel compared to you, obviously, but we get free bourbon, dude.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:20:14]:
That's the thing. Just bring it up.
Lucas Underwood [00:20:16]:
Or he doesn't drink bourbon, so I'd get the bourbon. Actually. It's probably rolling around in the back of his van.
David Roman [00:20:21]:
He's rolling around the back of my van.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:20:22]:
Yeah. Well, everyone knows me as a tequila guy. We talked downstairs. It was really, really funny. So the first event I came to, I just had one shot at Tequila. They know I'm mexican, so they just. They just went along with it. So every time I would come to an event, everyone's like, oh, there's tequila guy.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:20:42]:
The first time I met Paul, yeah. So, first time I met Paul, it was at a big event, and, you know, he. I looked up to this guy.
Lucas Underwood [00:20:52]:
Yeah, yeah, we all did, man. Like, that. He was like the. The catalyst of so much of what's happening in our industry right now.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:20:58]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:20:59]:
The catalyst of this channel in a lot of ways, right? And so, like, so much of. Of what our industry is right now is because Paul had his hand in it. You know what I'm saying?
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:21:07]:
But the funny thing is, when I met him at the bar, I'm walking up to him, and he's like, no, I heard about you. But he said more words. He's like, I heard about you. Get away from me, Oz. And I was like, what are you talking about? He's like, no, dude, I heard about you. Please stay away from me. And I was just like, what'd I do? What's going on? He's like, you always tell everyone to drink tequila. And I was like, well, you're not gonna drink one with me.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:21:36]:
So, yeah, we took a shot.
Lucas Underwood [00:21:38]:
More than one.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:21:38]:
Just shot. So, yeah, it was a fun night, man. That is. Paul is an amazing person.
Lucas Underwood [00:21:44]:
He is. He really is.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:21:45]:
He is an amazing person. Just. I always tell everyone, when you meet Paul, just don't fanboy it. Just talk to him like a normal person. Yeah, yeah. He's really cool, man. When you just.
Lucas Underwood [00:21:57]:
Next level human being right there.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:21:59]:
For sure.
Lucas Underwood [00:21:59]:
I mean, absolutely. Next level human being, there's no doubt about it. And, you know, that brings us back around. You've done some. You've used your channel for good in a lot of ways, and you've done a lot of things for a lot of people, and you've had the giveaways, and you've done all that stuff. What's the catalyst for that? Like, what. What drives you to do that?
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:22:21]:
It's just this industry, man. Just the people I see here, the people I meet here, I don't know. They're not friends. They're just. They're family. Yeah. To me, every time I come to these events, I'm like a little boy either. Even my wife, she's like, she'll play around with me.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:22:35]:
She'll be like, all right, go play with your friends. Because it's just that connection that we have, man. It's just beautiful, man. Even right after COVID, I just remember when they finally opened it up, dude, I left my wife in the car. I just ran over here, just saw Tommy, saw everyone, just hugged him, and it was just amazing. I met, and that's what I just want more people to have that. Yeah. That kind of feeling, you know, the first time I.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:23:04]:
When I first came here, I was. I was kind of scared, man.
David Roman [00:23:07]:
I was.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:23:08]:
I didn't know who I was gonna meet. Mike Mileski was one of the first people I've met.
Lucas Underwood [00:23:12]:
Yep.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:23:12]:
And if he here, if he listens to this, just for sure.
Lucas Underwood [00:23:17]:
And, like, man, I'm with you because there's so many memories that I have at this show in particular, and as t e. And it's the. It is really the pathway to making our industry better by truly making it better for the technicians in the industry, making it better for the service advisors in the industry, making it better for the owners and everybody. And so you did something really cool, because when at a time. And I'll tell you the backstory behind this. So my good friend Ben reaches out. They were expecting, but they had a good while before the baby was due. He sends me a message, and he says, hey, guess I'm not coming to vision.
Lucas Underwood [00:23:57]:
And I said, I'm like. I see him typing on Facebook, and then all of a sudden pops up this picture of his new little girl, right? And she was born prematurely. And he's like, I can't leave. I have to be here. He's like, can you help me give this away? And I said, we'll go make a post on Facebook. And so what you didn't know is that Ben had just reached out to me and he said, I see why more people don't do scholarships. And I said, what do you mean? He said, all of these people are wasting my time. They're telling me that, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, I would love to go.
Lucas Underwood [00:24:28]:
I would love to go. And then I message them and they don't message me back. And then they finally do message where I'll answer, I'll call them, and they won't know who this person is working at this shop. I'll say, well, hey, you know, he applied to come to vision, and I was going to give a ticket away, and they're like, oh, there's no way that person could go. He said, I have literally spent 4 hours this morning trying to work through this. And then, like minutes later, you send me a message, and I'm like, ah. And so you facilitated somebody to come to vision. They got a free ticket, got a free trip to the, the dinner that Nathan's putting on.
Lucas Underwood [00:25:00]:
And that, that's phenomenal. Why did you do that?
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:25:05]:
So when we had the main giveaway, I worked with sherry. Wonderful person.
Lucas Underwood [00:25:12]:
She's amazing, for sure.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:25:14]:
And we had, I think it was like 250 entries for the, for the main giveaway and just all the entries, it was like, I think it was a thousand words or less just to write in. And I could just, and I could just see the passion. I can, the passion that all these technicians, I really wanted to make it to vision. So I got to that point where there's this, this one guy, he kept on messaging me. Please, I really want to go. And I was like, look, man, we, we have a panel that we have to go through. I just, yeah, I can't just, it's up to them.
Lucas Underwood [00:25:51]:
I can't override it.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:25:52]:
Right. That, and then we picked our winner. The first winner that got it, he, he backed out. Then I called this other guy. He made it, the one who kept on contacting me. He was third in place. So, so that day that you put that post, I called him and I was like, just like, jesse, if I, if I could tell you right now that you can go to vision, we can get you some tickets to the training event. Would you go? And he's like, are you serious? He's like, I have a, I'm gonna meet up with a realtor today.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:26:25]:
Are you joking with me? And I was like, no, I really need to know. It's not set in stone, but would you make it? He's like, give me about five minutes. I was like, all right, I will call you exactly in five minutes. And that's when we were texting.
David Roman [00:26:38]:
Yeah.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:26:39]:
Then as soon as I called him, he's like, we're looking for plane tickets. We're ready to go. It's. That's what I want, those kind of people.
Lucas Underwood [00:26:46]:
I want the people who are fired up and ready to do it.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:26:49]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:26:50]:
And so I was, I was like, on the road to the airport, and I'm sitting there thinking to myself, I don't know if there's any way we have enough time to make this happen. Right? And so it was so crazy that it actually worked. Work, you know what I'm saying? And, and I. I will commit to, um, if you want to send somebody to vision or to a st, I guess it's Asta expo this year. I will, I will cover the attendance for one person to send them to the Asta exposome. And so I will, I will pay for that.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:27:32]:
Work something out, man, for sure.
Lucas Underwood [00:27:35]:
What, what do you hope that, when talking about that guy that was able to come, what do you hope that he walks away with?
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:27:44]:
Same thing. Same thing that we all did when we first came here. Yeah, yeah. That's what I'm really hoping for. Just, you know, just excitement. Excitement. I don't know that that's what I got out of it. You know, when I first came to this event, it was that excitement.
David Roman [00:28:01]:
Right.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:28:01]:
Just looking forward to all these training events. That's, that's the main thing. And some you can talk, you can talk to. If you talk to the regulars that come here a lot, sometimes they say, well, you know, we've already taken the same classes over and over, but it's just the people that we. And that's where we get excited as well.
Lucas Underwood [00:28:19]:
I think I get. For sure, I think I get the most value out of these events from the networking and sitting around and talking and, you know, I tell people all the time, the events are really to help you understand that you're part of something much bigger. And this is a much bigger industry than you think it is. And there's a whole lot more going on than you think is going on. And I think there's so much opportunity. You network with a lot of technicians, right? Your primary following is technicians? Our primary following is shop owners. And so a lot of the shop owners, especially ones that listen to the show, are the top of the top. They want to make things better, they want to improve the shops.
Lucas Underwood [00:28:58]:
What are you hearing from the technicians when you talk to them. Are there pain points that they're feeling right now that we're not covering? You know, we talk a lot about wages and we talk about benefits. We talk about paid time off. We talk about all these things. Are there areas that you think we're missing? Missing it in the industry?
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:29:14]:
Most of the technicians that talk to, the only thing that they really, you know, the only thing that they talk about is just, can we, can they pay for our training? That's pretty much it, yeah. You know, hands down, that's, that's the only thing that they really kind of complain about.
Lucas Underwood [00:29:31]:
Well, and you know what's so interesting about that is we had five or six shops in the changing the industry group that were talking about, hey, we've paid for their training. We're offering to take them to ast. We're offering to take them to vision. We're offering to take them to STX, and they won't go. And so, like, how do you. And is that just a case of the wrong technician?
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:29:52]:
I mean, I would say so because, look, I did go to. I'm not gonna say what training event I went to. It was over there in Houston.
Lucas Underwood [00:30:01]:
Yeah.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:30:01]:
The instructor was more. He's trying to just be more comical than anything. And after class, I went up to him and I was just like, a dude, I'm here to learn. And he's like, well, we have a contract with the city of Houston that brings us 90% of the students here.
Lucas Underwood [00:30:21]:
Right.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:30:22]:
So. So if I don't keep them entertained, we lose that contract.
Lucas Underwood [00:30:27]:
Oh, that's crazy. Dude.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:30:30]:
Dude, that's.
Lucas Underwood [00:30:32]:
That was an issue.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:30:34]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:30:36]:
The fact that they fact that they're.
David Roman [00:30:39]:
Too worried actually substance to this training, because, I mean, you can be entertaining and also teach something like, it doesn't have to be exclusive.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:30:51]:
Yeah, but most of the people are. They're going to that. Those training events are just, you know, knuckle busting, that kind of stuff. They don't want to know about all the technical stuff. It was kind of sad that one time we went, I went to this training event that SMP was offering those a lab scope class. That was my first labs class. Guess how many students were there?
Lucas Underwood [00:31:15]:
How many?
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:31:19]:
And when we see it in the second student, so is me. And this other guy, he went there because his wife made him go there. Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:31:28]:
Wow.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:31:28]:
And he was complaining the whole time, why am I gonna scope something if I can just change out this part?
David Roman [00:31:33]:
Yeah, he's not wrong. Interesting. Doubts. If it works. Fix this fit.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:31:38]:
It's cheap enough yeah, come on, man. We got roll out this car.
Lucas Underwood [00:31:43]:
But, but hold on, though, all right? We had this discussion in my shop the other day. I have a pickup in the shop. It's an 86 toyota, and it has no fire.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:31:54]:
Okay?
Lucas Underwood [00:31:55]:
And I said, look, I said, because this system is so simple, right? Instead of dragging on a scope card over here, 90% of the time, it's the pickup and the distributor that's bad. If not, like, you've got an igniter, a coal, and the pickup, that's all there is to this system. And the amount of time that we can actually test it. We can lie like, okay, you can. You can. And so we put a pickup in it, and because I did not have a pickup signal, right, put a pickup in it, doesn't fix it. And I was like, man, okay. So we, we gomed around with it a little bit, and I just.
Lucas Underwood [00:32:34]:
Just for poop sake, threw an igniter in it. I knew the coal was good, and it still didn't fix it. And so you enter into the world of automotive parts today. Guess what? The new parts were both bad.
David Roman [00:32:48]:
Well, you're talking about the eighties.
Lucas Underwood [00:32:50]:
I could swap parts all day long.
David Roman [00:32:52]:
You're getting the most, like, chinese parts ever. You're not going to get a quality part for an 86 Toyota. That thing should have been done.
Lucas Underwood [00:33:03]:
I mean, I guess my point is, is that as bad as parts have gotten right now, there is no chance that I'm going to do swaptronics because there's a good chance I'm not going to fix it with the new part.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:33:12]:
He.
David Roman [00:33:13]:
I had a. The location that I opened my first shop in, or I first opened in, there was a euro shop in there, and he, he was. He moved to, like, a couple doors down from me, and he would bring me cars, and he's like, hey, can you diagnose this? Okay, yeah, well, we'll give it a shot. We tinker around with it, and we're like, well, it looks like this thing here is power ground. It's not working. And he's like, well, okay, go ahead and we're gonna go ahead and send you one from World pack. If it doesn't fix it, just put it back in the box. We'll send it back to.
David Roman [00:33:50]:
That's how they dealt with their diagnostics. They just kept throwing parts at it. It put the part on. Hey, does it work? No. Take it back out. Put it back in the box. Ship it back to World bank. World pack took it back for.
David Roman [00:34:02]:
And this went on for years. Years. And years. Yeah. So that's how they managed it.
Lucas Underwood [00:34:11]:
Dude, you would not believe how many shops in my community do just that. And I have talked to a number of the other folks in my community, and they will openly tell you, like, yeah, that's what I'm trying to do. That's what I want to do. There's one particular shop. I won't say it's in my community. It's nearby. And all of their, all of their employees, none of their employees are paid on the books. They're all paid cash, right? None of them are technicians.
Lucas Underwood [00:34:41]:
And I'm asking him, like, hey, what's the logic behind that? Like, it's kind of hard to fix cars like that. You know what I'm saying? These aren't true professional technicians there. And he said, man, he said, I make all my money in tires and brakes. I have zero reason. I have zero need to do any of that. I'm not interested. I was like, right, but everybody in town calls you the best auto repair shop in town. He's like, man.
Lucas Underwood [00:35:05]:
He's like, we just. If it's something simple, he's. If it's complex, we send it to you. He said, if it's something simple, we, like, change a couple parts, and if it doesn't change anything, we send it to you. He's like, that doesn't bother me. Like you say, me guessing. Like, it's a bad thing, it's a good thing for me. I'm okay doing that.
Lucas Underwood [00:35:22]:
I'm happy doing that. I make money doing that. And I'm like, yeah, but. But, like, the industry as a whole, that looks bad for all of us now. The clients come to us, and they're completely content with what just happened. They don't have a problem with it. And I shared that thing this morning from a. From a client of ours who said that was the only time I felt like I actually paid a testing fee and got my money's worth.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:35:45]:
So does he charge diagnosing that one shop?
David Roman [00:35:48]:
No.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:35:49]:
Heavy car.
Lucas Underwood [00:35:50]:
They bring the car in and he changes parts, and if it doesn't run, then he bills them for the parts he put on it and sends it out.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:35:58]:
That's how he can't figure it out. He sends it to you. Right? Have you ever had it? Where this happened to me, actually, twice. Where a customer came over, I gave them my diagnosing price per hour. They said, no, they took it to a shop down the street, which I work for. And then that car came to my shop.
Lucas Underwood [00:36:16]:
Yeah.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:36:19]:
That'S the thing. I'm not. I'm not bringing the price down. I'm still charging that shop the diagnosing fee. But I don't know what he said to get him in the door or where he's gonna move the diagnosis fee and move it around. But that was kind of crazy. And. But, but the only other thing I don't like is that now he is a shop that everyone loves because, yes.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:36:43]:
Fixing the car in this other shop right here, Oz wants to charge me 150 an hour.
David Roman [00:36:48]:
You think that he. It's possible he got a break job and maybe a lower control arm, and he just. He maybe padded that a little bit to offset the.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:36:57]:
Oh, no, this was a, this was mainly diagnosed. It was a electrical problem.
David Roman [00:37:01]:
He wasn't doing anything else on the car.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:37:03]:
No, no. But sometimes they'll just make up stories and they'll say, oh, it was underneath the dash and we had to pull it out. That's 1200.
David Roman [00:37:13]:
This is what I'm talking about. Like, you can't. Like, it's the people so flippantly lie just to. You see what I'm saying? Like, well, it's not really hurting anybody. We get paid, the car's fixed. So who cares that we're telling them we pulled the dash out and you didn't pull the dash out. You didn't. You didn't do any of that.
David Roman [00:37:34]:
Like, you're lying to the customer.
Lucas Underwood [00:37:37]:
Like, and you're okay and that's wrong no matter how.
David Roman [00:37:40]:
You're okay with that. Well, I don't know. I just. I can't do it. I can't do it. Hey, I tell my employees, I'm like, like, I'll just tell him this. Like, don't tell him that. Do not lie.
David Roman [00:37:55]:
We don't lie. He's like, okay, I'll say it like this. I'm like, oh, you're okay there.
Lucas Underwood [00:38:03]:
We've seen so much of that move to, by a lot of these shops is the move to, we're not going to charge you to do testing. And so they bring the car in, they find the easy work on the car. They might actually do testing for one specific problem, but if it's complex, they just send it out. And so why is that? Well, it's because we're not in a model where we're charging enough for testing that it's profitable. Right? Does that make sense? In other words, like, because if you look at testing, let's say that, that, for instance, in my shop right now, is a car that got hit by lightning, okay? And it was a mess, and. Yeah, and it was a. It was a friend of ours car, and the sun had been driving it, so. Audi TT.
Lucas Underwood [00:38:52]:
And this was in a lot of turmoil in this family, and they were going through some real serious, really scary stuff. And I said, let me just buy the car. Right? We had played around with it a little bit. Eric initially thought that it was just the cluster, and the cluster was dead, no doubt about it. But once we put the cluster in it, we started finding, like, more and more and more. Once one's been hit by lightning, dude, it's all. All bets are all right. And so, as that plays out, Noah's been working on this weed, and Noah's spent better than 20 hours to get down to the point that he's got the dash out of the car, and he's found one connector with one wire in it.
Lucas Underwood [00:39:31]:
That was the whole root of the problem. When it got hit, it melted the connector together, and it melted two wires together in the connector. I'll show you a picture of it here.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:39:39]:
So, how would you charge that if a customer walked in?
Lucas Underwood [00:39:42]:
Right? And so even if you do, let's say that you charge $150 an hour and you work on it for 20 hours. Well, the problem is, is that a typical repair shops, like, a 1.85 to 2.0 parts to labor ratio. So, in other words, like, it's one to 150 somewhere right in there, it.
David Roman [00:40:00]:
Would have to be 300.
Lucas Underwood [00:40:01]:
It would have to be 300 to make up the same amount of money for doing.
David Roman [00:40:04]:
If it actually takes hours of shop time and, like, actual bay time, 20 hours, it's gonna have to be 300 or not exactly, like $285. Right.
Lucas Underwood [00:40:17]:
And so if you look at. Right, and so if you look at that and now you're saying, okay, well, so all of these technicians have built so much into their life of, I want to be able to do the most complex Diag and fix the most complex cars. And I think in training, a lot of this education system that we've built is trying to encourage them to learn this really complex task. And we said, well, we need a text that can do high end diet. But now the market is not really there to pay them, right, because most consumers are unwilling to pay for that testing. You got shops that are siphoning out the gravy work, and they're taking that. They're not even interested in doing testing. And then the shops that are doing testing are saying, well, I can't really pay that guy $150,000 a year to do my least profitable type of work.
Lucas Underwood [00:41:07]:
You see what I'm saying? And so David and I had a really in depth conversation about that last night and talking a little bit about how. And I. Maybe you best take the way you explained it. But he says, we're coming back from dinner. And he's like, I'm not saying anything about that on another podcast because people already hate me for.
David Roman [00:41:29]:
I literally said that to him. He's like, you know, I'm gonna bring it up on the very next podcast we do.
Lucas Underwood [00:41:36]:
No, this is your area.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:41:38]:
How many other shops actually charge for diagnosing?
Lucas Underwood [00:41:40]:
Like, I've got. I. I've got. I've got two other shops within 50 miles of me that charge for testing.
David Roman [00:41:48]:
Mine all do. They may not actually do any diagnostic testing, but they'll slap diagnostic fee on the, on the ticket for $100 or $150. But that's always been the mentality. The mindset's always been like, well, we're going to scan it. It's a crank sensor code. We're going to unplug it. The wires look, okay, we got power and ground, and then we're going to throw the sensor on there and it'll be diagnostic. $300 r and r.
David Roman [00:42:14]:
Crank sensor, crank sensor. And the car goes. So, okay, that's, that's been the majority of diagnostic work right up until like, maybe early two thousand and ten s. And then all of a sudden cars got stupid and they get getting stupider and stupider and stupider and now they are so stupid and I. The consumer doesn't know. The consumer doesn't understand. Hey, you know that Google thing that's on your dash? It's talking to 80 other things. Really? Yeah, they're all talking together.
David Roman [00:42:49]:
And guess what? That one there goes down. It takes down like, seven other ones, but we don't know which one because there's seven in the line. And by the way, we have four different networks on this one. Car networks. Yeah. Anyway, it's gonna be $600 for me to even look at the car. I don't understand. The shop down the street told me they could do it for 150.
David Roman [00:43:11]:
Okay, take it down there. See what happens. See what happens. Then he gets mad at me that I'm dad voicing the customer, because that's how I would say it. Go ahead and take it down there. See what happens. I'm just telling you right now, they don't have a flipping clue what I just said, just like you don't. I understand, but you're not the mechanic.
David Roman [00:43:30]:
They need to know this stuff. They don't. So what are you gonna do? I guess I'll just leave it there. Okay, then. $600. Go ahead and approve it. Make sure you click the yes on shopware, because I don't want to get in. Yeah, inside.
David Roman [00:43:43]:
I don't want to get into that mess.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:43:45]:
What really helped me out was I got to the point where I was the specialty shop. That's what really helped it out. Because if you're that normal mechanic shop or normal repair place, and you're going to tell them, hey, we're going to charge you x amount for diagnosing whether they put you in the same tier as the next shop down the street.
David Roman [00:44:04]:
Yes, sir.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:44:04]:
Regular maintenance place or mechanic shop, whatever. And they're like, well, they're not charging, so why the heck are you charging? But now, if you're that specialty shop and you're known for being a diagnostician, that's what they know. It's like, it's like going to the doctor and all that good stuff.
Lucas Underwood [00:44:21]:
You get the special and take a.
David Roman [00:44:23]:
Step back and look at it and go, if you didn't have, like, if you didn't have the name recognition, like, you're also the guy on YouTube. You're like, you're famous. And so.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:44:35]:
But not in my area. They don't know me as a youtuber, to be quite honest. They know me as the. The guy who's gonna get the guy who's.
Lucas Underwood [00:44:44]:
So here's the other side of that, right? Is that simple.
David Roman [00:44:48]:
Google search is gonna come up with it. You see what I'm saying? Like, it's not there. There's a guy named the. I think he calls mechanic OC.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:44:59]:
Okay. Okay.
David Roman [00:45:01]:
Do you know who I'm talking about? He's been on.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:45:06]:
Look him up right now forever. Okay.
David Roman [00:45:09]:
He's been on YouTube for. Anyway, he. He opened up a shop and he considers them, like, he does, like, 17 different things. It's not. I just own a shop because he's like a one man shop, but he's a 109 shop that also has, like, I've got a clothing line, and I do this and do real estate, and he's like, he's one of those kind of guys. Anyway, he. If you look up his shop.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:45:35]:
He'S.
David Roman [00:45:36]:
Got a Yelp review. This is in California, so. Yelp, right?
Lucas Underwood [00:45:39]:
Yeah.
David Roman [00:45:39]:
And the Yelp's like, no wonder my car took a month to get back. He's. He's on YouTube doing YouTube videos all this day long. And these seven other businesses, he can't get.
Lucas Underwood [00:45:55]:
I guess my question for you then becomes, as a specialty shop, you have to be comfortable charging those extra hours and charging those extra dollars.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:46:05]:
Yeah, I'm comfortable with that.
Lucas Underwood [00:46:08]:
But there's a lot who are saying, hey, I want to follow in these footsteps. And they were technicians turned owners, and then they don't, right. And they get to the point that they want to be heroes and they want to fix the car. And so now, guess what? They get this car, and it's a complex problem. Audi tt been hit by lightning and they spent 60 hours on it. And we don't fix the car or we spend 60 hours, we don't charge the client.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:46:33]:
You know what I mean?
Lucas Underwood [00:46:34]:
You know what I mean? And, like, so I think there has to be a step where we normalize, especially with the consumer, that modern automobiles are expensive to fix and there's a cost associated with that that we don't necessarily control. Yes, we could charge you less, but I still have to be profitable, right? The business still has to make money. I'm not doing this for my health, and I'm not doing it for good looks because God takes look at David. Handsome, handsome.
David Roman [00:47:01]:
Cardboard cutout on myself. Thank you very much.
Lucas Underwood [00:47:04]:
Thank God. They blurted out, did you see that? Did you? You notice that mine? Monique points out, like, midway through this thing, she's like, have you really looked at your cardboard cutout? And I was like, really looked at it. And she's like, come with me. Look really close. And so, like, when the picture was taken, there was like a shadow near my crotch. So it looks like there's this wet spot on my crotch. And she's like, do you know how many people have touched your crotch because of that tonight? And I'm like, oh, man. I kept turning around and looking, and people are pointing at my crotch.
David Roman [00:47:35]:
Taking pictures. No, I gotta see those pictures. That's hilarious.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:47:42]:
No, but, so, like, if a customer brings his car to my shop and it's, let's say, pre 2004.
Lucas Underwood [00:47:50]:
Yeah.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:47:50]:
I'm gonna deny that job, to be honest. Know which jobs you're gonna take? Which.
David Roman [00:47:57]:
Very specific. Why?
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:47:59]:
Yeah, well, that's the year I grabbed. I went to school in zero five, and we worked on zero five and up. And I don't know, just older vehicles. I just don't feel as comfortable. I don't know why. Just older vehicles.
Lucas Underwood [00:48:11]:
I'm at 2000 generational, kind of where we get off.
David Roman [00:48:14]:
2000. Dakota comes in your. You stay away from that mother effort. You stay away from that vehicle. Have you had a bad experience distributor, 2000 Dakota. I don't care. It's a 2000. That's a no.
David Roman [00:48:27]:
But when they switch body styles and they go to the newer setup, it's like, okay, well, I'll do that. The Durango, when they actually made the first Durango, was also that. That second gen Dakota or whatever, that third gen Dakota. Yeah, but the older ones, the distributors, like, hell no. Because I've tried. They're not fixable. They've ghosts in the machine.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:48:52]:
Have you ever worked on, like, those eighties with all the evap lines everywhere?
Lucas Underwood [00:48:56]:
Those are fun, dude.
David Roman [00:48:57]:
You know.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:49:01]:
I can tell.
David Roman [00:49:02]:
I can tell. You went to school in the two thousands. I could tell. Just when you're like, what is all this? Those are vacuum lines. To do what? Everything. Why not run wires? We didn't have wires back then.
Lucas Underwood [00:49:19]:
You don't have defrost if that line's busted.
David Roman [00:49:23]:
I.
Lucas Underwood [00:49:23]:
Well, you know, those are. Those are valid points.
David Roman [00:49:27]:
Like eighties japanese car that, when they first got. Hell, yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:49:37]:
They can be cool cars. Okay, but. But it comes down to, why does the consumer own the car, right? If that consumer owns the car because they can't afford anything else, then they probably can't afford for me to solve its problems. If the consumer owns the car, because this was my wife's first car, and I really love it, and she's not with us anymore, and I want to. That's a different conversation. Right. I just. I see too many shops trying to be the hero.
Lucas Underwood [00:50:03]:
And we've put so much emphasis on this high end diag and all of the high end diag training that we do, that it may have created an illusion that in our current state, the way we're doing things, Diag is profitable. And that's where the money's at. We all need to train to be better diag tech, but if we don't either start charging more or come up with a different strategy for handling this, we're training techs for positions that don't exist.
David Roman [00:50:30]:
Now shops think they're training techs towards a skill that does not make any money. Right.
Lucas Underwood [00:50:38]:
Well, I mean, that's.
David Roman [00:50:38]:
Right.
Lucas Underwood [00:50:39]:
Well, I mean, that's why I'm saying the position doesn't really exist.
David Roman [00:50:43]:
And it's a. It's a high skill, it's a high skilled position. Takes a ton of education to get there. Doesn't make you a dime because the.
Lucas Underwood [00:50:53]:
Consumer doesn't see value in it.
David Roman [00:50:55]:
It's like having a double doctorate in dance theory. Lesbian dance theory.
Lucas Underwood [00:51:00]:
Now, now, that's an interesting.
David Roman [00:51:03]:
Now you can drop $150,000 in schooling to get your double doctorate in lesbian dance theory. But are you going to get your money back other than becoming an instructor in lesbian dance theory, or I'm going to get you your doctorate in lesbian dance theory.
Lucas Underwood [00:51:22]:
I talked to an instructor one time, and he said that liberal arts, that they had this program that was all liberal arts. And he said, do you know that approximately 98% of those that graduated with a liberal arts degree from that university ended up working in the fast food industry? I'm like, dude, what? He's like, swear to God, that's the number.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:51:44]:
This is what my dad told me. Told my brother. I know this sounds messed up, so my dad came from me first. You know, everyone's from Mexico. He's the. He's the only one that came over to United States.
David Roman [00:51:57]:
I'm not mexican, by the way. Lucas. I know you heard that. What are you like? Yeah. I knew it.
Lucas Underwood [00:52:02]:
I knew it is, too.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:52:03]:
So when he came over. When he came over, he told my brother, he's like, hey, what you need to do is go to the classes that the asian people and indian people are going to. I was like, that. That's kind of messed up. So I remember my brother, he graduated in an arts degree, and I think 98% of the names were Johnson.
David Roman [00:52:24]:
Yeah.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:52:26]:
And then when they had the graduating class for. For all the doctors and all that, it was all the indian and asian names, and I was like, holy smoke.
David Roman [00:52:35]:
He was onto something. No, he was a hundred percent onto something.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:52:38]:
He said, yeah, because the other, you know, from other nations that come over here, they see opportunity. They jump.
Lucas Underwood [00:52:46]:
Yeah, for sure. Well, they've never had opportunity like that. Now, I like, I don't know.
David Roman [00:52:53]:
Nuts. They have schools there, too. You know, they come over with their own doctors.
Lucas Underwood [00:53:00]:
So I watched this video the other day. I don't know how I came across it. And it's three indian guys, and they're sitting in front of the school that they attended in India, and they tell their story about this massive corporation that they started. And they came to the US, and they got their phds, and they all came together and they said, everybody else comes here, and they end up staying here in the US. And they work in their field, and they have all of these opportunities, all of these things, and they tell their story about why it was they chose to go back to India. It was extremely fascinating. And they started, like, a marketing company. It's unbelievable.
Lucas Underwood [00:53:38]:
Like, the story of how they got there and the work that they did to be able to get to the US financially, to be able to go to school here. Right.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:53:47]:
And he.
Lucas Underwood [00:53:47]:
I'll never forget, one of the things he said was he said I had to recognize that by me coming back to India that I would never make the amount of money that I would have made if I stayed in the US. He said I had six figure offers in the US that I will never have coming back here. I came back here because I love my country. And I thought, wow, that is a really insightful way to look at that education system. Because he talked about the pathway just to get to the US, to get that education was insane right now.
David Roman [00:54:25]:
It's just. Yeah, and then they'll give you a bus ride and a debit card, and you get dropped off somewhere in New York.
Lucas Underwood [00:54:33]:
That's only for the Chinese.
David Roman [00:54:35]:
Yeah, mostly chinese.
Lucas Underwood [00:54:37]:
That's really interesting.
David Roman [00:54:39]:
What is it? What else?
Lucas Underwood [00:54:41]:
These are wealthy chinese people coming across the border.
David Roman [00:54:44]:
Well, that's for a specific reason. They've got an agenda. Well, because they started. They started finding out what was going on in the universities because they were also coming in as exchange students, if you're familiar with this.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:54:57]:
No, like, I don't even watch the news. That's the thing.
Lucas Underwood [00:55:01]:
Oh, God.
David Roman [00:55:02]:
We don't. Hold on. We don't.
Lucas Underwood [00:55:04]:
Sorry.
David Roman [00:55:04]:
I don't watch the news. Who watches the news? But also you. Like, do you have any kids? Okay, so your kid is gonna be like, hey, I'm gonna go to University of Texas, Pasadena. I don't know what schools they have down there, but I'm just. You're okay, so you're gonna. You're gonna. And you're gonna have no idea why. The entire classroom is just chinese kids.
David Roman [00:55:26]:
And they're not native born chinese kids. They are chinese chinese kids from China. And you. Well, there's a thing. And they're infiltrating the universe with the state schools anyway. We won't go down that rabbit hole. It depends. It depends on what part of the country the.
David Roman [00:55:50]:
They emigrate to. Because your dad had he land. Is he from Mexico? Did he come over? Yeah.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:56:00]:
Everyone? Yeah. I was born in Mexico.
David Roman [00:56:01]:
Okay, okay.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:56:02]:
You're all born in Mexico.
David Roman [00:56:03]:
You guys are purebreds. That's why he's so successful. I don't like the mud.
Lucas Underwood [00:56:10]:
Should we point out that you have tonal privileges? This where we're supposed to say, I.
David Roman [00:56:13]:
Don'T think he knows, which is gonna freak him out a little bit because I'm gonna say super of racist stuff. And he's gonna be like, I don't think he's supposed to say that. It freaks people out. Anyway, it depends.
Lucas Underwood [00:56:24]:
You're sitting with the only country who's willing to walk into a restaurant and explain that he has total privilege.
David Roman [00:56:31]:
I explained that to Kerry. It freaked her out, too. Anyway, had he gone to a different part of the country, had he not gone to Mexico, to Texas. I'm just telling you right now, this is how it goes. Had he gone to California, that's where he started off at and stayed there and not gone anywhere else. How old was he? Maybe California's not a good for a little while. But then they ended up settling in the northeast there. You talk to anybody not born here but moved in.
David Roman [00:57:06]:
Right. What do you need to do? All of it. All of it is centered around going to college or university. All of it. You just got to get your degree in what they don't tell you. You just got to get your degree. Well, you got to make sure so you can do what? I can get a good job with really good benefits. Okay.
David Roman [00:57:26]:
Who's going to hire me and what degree and what exactly? Like, what am I supposed to be doing here? They don't tell you, you just got to get a degree. Everybody obsessed with getting degrees. My cousins, they all have degrees. Why? Because their parents settled in the northeast and they all got told, you got to go to school, you got to get a great degree. And what, I don't know. Anyway, get a good job so you can have some good benefits. That was it. That was.
David Roman [00:57:53]:
Everything was centered around there. At no point did the words maybe start a business, figure out what you're really good at and that you get up every single morning excited to do, go do that. Figure out a way to make money doing that. It's a thousand opportunities. Now we have the Internet. It's great. Internet's cheap and devices are cheap. You can figure something out.
David Roman [00:58:15]:
Those words never came out. And then also, we're in like eighties and nineties. That wasn't a thing. But it wasn't like, it wasn't like, hey, go down to the library and figure out what you're good at. I used to love to draw. That was my thing. Like, I used to. And I told my parents, I'm like, I'm going to be a comic book artist.
David Roman [00:58:31]:
That's what I wanted to do. And it wasn't like, okay, let's figure this out. Let's make you a comic book artist. Who do we need to, like, practice this many hours a day? Send your work in. Let's figure out who we need to send it to the big studios. Maybe you can get a small, small publication to pick you up so you can do some art. Maybe you send them different things. No, no, it was that you need to go to college so you can get a good job with those Benny's.
David Roman [00:59:01]:
You know what my mom did? She went to college. She got a good degree. An absurd degree that she.
Lucas Underwood [00:59:10]:
What was it?
David Roman [00:59:12]:
Sociology. She's a master's in sociology. You know what sociologists make? Social workers make nothing. They make nothing. I pay everybody in my shop more than the average social worker makes. She has a master's from Boston University. Do you know how much it costs for one flipping year of Boston University? Yes, one year. She's got two years in there because it was a master's degree.
David Roman [00:59:48]:
She had her bachelor's, and then she's like, I'm gonna get a master's degree because I gotta get good degree so I can get a good job with benefits. And then she became a social dude.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [00:59:57]:
It's because everyone has a mentality. You have to go to college. You have to have to go to college. It was kind of funny, actually. I took a psychology class, I think second or third year in college. And then I changed my degree. And then I came back that next year to my psychology teacher. I ran into her and I was like, hey, just want to let you know that I'm actually going to change my degree to psych major.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [01:00:24]:
And she's like, don't do that. Please do not do that. And I was like, why? It's like, you changed my life. This is. I want to do this. And she's like, honey, please, if you can do me a favor, go over there and change your degree and find something that you love. Unless you want to become a teacher or someone that's getting paid me minimum wage.
Lucas Underwood [01:00:46]:
Right, right.
David Roman [01:00:48]:
Like, what are you gonna do? I can make money, right? It's like, yeah. Teaching other people to do this. Like, that's it. There's nothing else. It's such a scam.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [01:00:58]:
Like schools, man. And they teach you some classes that just don't make any sense. Art appreciation. I'm sorry if I'm offending someone that really loves art, but you know, all those other classes, finite. This and that. Show us some taxes.
Lucas Underwood [01:01:14]:
Yeah, dude, for real.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [01:01:16]:
That should be a course, man.
David Roman [01:01:18]:
No, David wants you to teach the.
Lucas Underwood [01:01:20]:
History of the tea party. And David needs some. Some explanation of all this because this just doesn't jive with him.
David Roman [01:01:29]:
I don't. I don't want. I don't want to teach how to do taxes. That's a terrible.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [01:01:37]:
I'm just talking about learning a little bit about taxes. We don't know anything about taxes. And they're expecting that they're going to throw us out and then just say, okay, here, do this.
David Roman [01:01:45]:
No, that's not how they want us, though. They want you to go, hey, you don't need to know how to do this. Just take this little piece of paper down to that office that says h and r block, and they'll give you back money. What? Yeah, you worked all year. You need your refund. Oh, okay. So you go down there and, like, I got $4,000. $4,000 for what? Oh, I went down there and got my taxes.
David Roman [01:02:14]:
Like, do you understand that you just. That means you overpaid by $4,000? You just gave him an interest free loan for $4,000.
Lucas Underwood [01:02:23]:
They're probably gonna come find us at some point. You know that, right?
David Roman [01:02:27]:
Let them come.
Lucas Underwood [01:02:28]:
The IR's people gonna be knocking on the door.
David Roman [01:02:31]:
You know what's fascinating? So I'm from the northeast, right? And we went up there. We went up there. And you can resonate with this because of what you went through with the whole, like, parking lot thing. That was you, right? That was your.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [01:02:43]:
Still dealing with it.
Lucas Underwood [01:02:44]:
Oh, man. Really?
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [01:02:46]:
Still dealing with it.
David Roman [01:02:47]:
I'm just. I don't. You're a better man than I. Because I would have definitely calmed down the kil dozer route. I'm just saying. That would have been me. That would have been Killdorzo 2.0. Dave Roman, parking lot situation.
David Roman [01:03:05]:
Are you familiar with the kill Dozer? His eyes glazed over when I said Kildozer, because he was like, okay. I'm like, I don't think he knows. No, no, we will let you. We'll let you research that one on your own. Anyway, we'll talk after.
Lucas Underwood [01:03:21]:
Anyway, so David doesn't want to give up his plans.
David Roman [01:03:25]:
What are you talking about? There's no plans. It is the saddest and also the most inspiring story in modern american history. But we go up to Boston, and my wife surprised me with some tickets to go see this big Celtics fan. And so we were up there, and I love museums and history and stuff like that now. Like warships. Those are stupid, but I love fire.
Lucas Underwood [01:04:04]:
A man backed into the corner. How many times am I going to have to say that? This one.
David Roman [01:04:09]:
So we went and visited where the first shots of the American Revolution, like, where it actually happened, the field we were in the field walking around taking pictures of rocks because they had on there at this place, at this date, you know, this happened. It was absolutely fascinating. But they have an entire exhibit, which is the most absurd thing that this is in Boston, in Massachusetts. Like the nickname of the state was Taxachusetts. Like, that was the thing because everybody just kind of knew if you go into Massachusetts, they're going to tax the living crap out of you because they nickel and dime you over every little thing. Everything is higher in Massachusetts because of the taxes. So a lot of people just go shopping in New Hampshire or whatever. Anyway, we go in there and I'm walking through the old state house and there's just all these displays about how the Revolutionary War was set off and the things that they would do, these people just for showing up at their door going, hey, so the king across the ocean said, you need, need to pay taxes on those paper goods that you just.
David Roman [01:05:21]:
So we're going to need this money. And what they would do to those people just for asking. And they did it out in the open and perfectly public. And totally everyone was cool with it going, yeah, screw that guy. Go hang him from a tree.
Lucas Underwood [01:05:36]:
And now we're in this world where we've, like, created something worse than what would have been if it never happened.
David Roman [01:05:46]:
Not only did we, we backtracked to now that it's like, oh, okay, well, you know, we copy my fair share. You just whip, whip, whip. And then now it's like you're seen as evil for not, like, for following the tax code and avoiding as much as you can. You're seeing this. Why aren't you paying your fair share? They need to pay more.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [01:06:16]:
And you know where. Okay, so you need to run for.
David Roman [01:06:19]:
Mayor of that town. That's what you need to do.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [01:06:22]:
Hey, someone actually brought that up and they're like, we will endorse you. And I was just like, so much on my plate.
David Roman [01:06:28]:
I will. I will contribute to that.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [01:06:31]:
I have so much on my plate right now. It's just crazy.
David Roman [01:06:34]:
We will drop it in the Facebook group. And so it's like small $25 donations. We need to make sure this man wins.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [01:06:41]:
Yeah, they brought it up. It was actually last year. I went to one of the counts. Someone brought it up. Someone brought it up. And he's like, we will endorse you and all that. And he's like, think about it. Get back to me next week and we'll talk.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [01:06:59]:
And it's just with the newborn and shop and YouTube and all that good stuff is.
Lucas Underwood [01:07:07]:
So where do we stand right now? What? Give. Give a little bit of the background, because I think we need to at least. Since you brought up, how does everybody.
David Roman [01:07:15]:
Not know this story already? I guess he didn't know Kil Dozer.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [01:07:18]:
Yeah. Yeah.
David Roman [01:07:19]:
If anybody listening to this doesn't know Kildosa, then you.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [01:07:21]:
Look, I'm still. I want to hear that story. So after this. Yeah, buddy. So, yeah, I've been leasing, what was it? Two shops. So my first shop was a one bay garage. Only two parking spots. Then after a couple of years, I moved to an actual shop shop because this one was in a business center.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [01:07:46]:
Yeah. So my dad was always helping me out. He would find the shop, and finally we got this one shop that I'm actually in right now. It's a two bay garage, and it has, like, maybe four parking spots. I've always wanted to own those shops myself, not just rent one out. I want to own one. And finally, the owner, he raised the rent. And I just told my dad, hey, let's just go drive around, and let's see what we can find.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [01:08:18]:
And we're driving around the Pasadena, and right at the last moment, I was about to say, let's go back home. Just, well, we'll do it. We'll do it tomorrow. Once we were about to turn, he's like, just go straight. We just went straight for maybe less than 20 seconds. And right on the left hand side, I see a building right there. For sale. For sale.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [01:08:44]:
Hundred. So we walked in, just looked at it. My dad's like, you need to get this machine shop. Machine shop. Walked in there, talked to the guy, hey, how much are you looking for? He's like, uh, 100 grand. And I was just like, would you do 90? And I was like, yeah, let's do this. We shook. Shook hands, and I was just like, dad, I just bought a shop.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [01:09:10]:
And I was like, what do I do now? And he's like, let's go get a loan. So I went to the bank. The only thing they could offer me was a home equity loan. So my house is already paid off, so we use that. And they only offer. They could only give me 86,000. So I went back to the owner, and I was like, only have 86,000? He's like, okay, you're good. So I talked to everyone else, and they're like, dude, I think you only bought the building.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [01:09:33]:
You didn't buy the land. There's something going on, or maybe he might be owing something or something's going on. No. What's a title? Place was clean. It was legit. But then once we got the location. Location. Like I said, I've already moved two different locations.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [01:09:50]:
So when we got the location in there, it was pretty easy. Did my certificate of occupancy and then did all my inspections and so on. So we move into this, we're getting ready to, you know, start doing our certificates and so on. And they denied the. The co. So they denied that. And I was like, what's going on? What's going on? And she was like, because the change of ownership. But the thing is that they didn't treat the machine shop as an automotive shop.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [01:10:25]:
So they said there are two different entities, and the machine shop was an office job. Yeah. So at that point, that's when they. They just had a new ordinance that they put in that year. And that new ordinance was for every hundred square feet of the actual building, you got put one parking spot, and that was 27, 58, something like that. So that was 28 parking spots. And if you heard. And you heard me before, how many spots I have? On my first location? Two.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [01:10:55]:
And then my second location? Three. And now you want me to have 28.
Lucas Underwood [01:10:59]:
Yeah.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [01:11:00]:
And I'm all a pavement appointment base only. So specialty shop? No, I'm turnaround. So that happened. We went. We went to court. You know, lawyers just try to manhandle me, you know, try to scare me and all that.
David Roman [01:11:22]:
The city's lawyers.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [01:11:23]:
Lawyers. But, yeah, listening to a lot of Tony Robbins and all that kind of. Really.
Lucas Underwood [01:11:28]:
Yeah.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [01:11:29]:
Helped me out on that, dude. I got to the point when we, we went to. I forgot what it's called, the first meeting where you sit down with them and all that. And I remember driving over there, and I was just. I was scared, and I just remember, watch. I actually turned on Tony Robbins at that moment. And he was talking about, you know, never veer away from what's in front of you. He's.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [01:11:55]:
You gotta look at straightforward and go for it. Face ahead on. He said, there's one that he was talking about. He said he was doing a drifting class. And every time, he would always turn his head when he's going straight to the wall to drift. And he said, the instructor will actually pull his head forward to just, you gotta. The demons in front of you, you gotta go. You gotta go through them.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [01:12:16]:
So that. And that's what got me going through that after hearing that, you know, we went through all the court cases, but now dealing with the city, they just have infinite amount of money. Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [01:12:29]:
And you've kicked the Hornets nest now. So they're kind of.
David Roman [01:12:32]:
How big is pestle?
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [01:12:33]:
Pretty huge. Yeah. Yeah. It's put it this way. They have the largest volunteer firefighters, you know, in the whole United States. So this is a pretty big city, and they have a lot of funds. The public information that I've seen, they have a lot of fun. So someone small like that, me in stature, too, but dealing with the city of Pasadena, you know, that's.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [01:13:00]:
But what I'm. What I'm trying to do is, you know, as, since I was little, I've always been smaller, and everyone has always tried to push me, but I've never let that, you know, visit Boli or visit big city of Pasadena. We're gonna keep on going.
Lucas Underwood [01:13:19]:
Yeah.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [01:13:20]:
And the thing is. So my dad passed away last year. Yeah. So it was. It was a day after vision where I flew back over there and got to be with him for the last day. And that was one of his main things. He wanted that shop to open, and now that's my goal, just. Just for him.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [01:13:42]:
Right. And we. We have a picture over there, little kind of mural of him at the shop, because he was always open over there from the day that we bought the shop to the day that we finished painting it. Any contractor that was there, he was there making friends, talking to them, doing this, this and that, and, you know, now we're doing it for him and those kind of crazy. The last couple of months, he knew something was. Something was wrong, and he was like, son, we got to get this going. Come on. Come on, come on.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [01:14:11]:
Let's just. Let's just open it up. Litigation, we can. I'll get fined and so on. Yeah, but, yeah, it was just. I knew something was up. He really wanted to open it up. Like, he was pretty lenient the whole time through the process of, you know, fixing it up, doing all the repairs and so on.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [01:14:32]:
But the last couple of months, he was just like, come on. And he was there. I remember doing the floor. He was on his knees trying to put some rebar in, and I was like, dad, get up, man. Come on. But, yeah, it was just. We're gonna keep on fighting. That's.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [01:14:49]:
That's. That's all I can say. I'm not gonna give up. But the thing is that the city, what they're trying to do, they're trying to make sure that I am done with my funds. They're gonna keep on pushing it. This might be another two, three years. Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [01:15:05]:
Holy cow, dude.
David Roman [01:15:07]:
I'm trying to starve you out now.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [01:15:09]:
But right now it's awful. And that's the thing.
David Roman [01:15:12]:
Who, who's, who's the ultimate. Who's the, you're trying to sue them and override the co, the code enforcer. Right.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [01:15:22]:
Like I said and every other shop that moved into. I'm not moving into an ice cream parlor. You know, the, my location looks like an automobile. I was not moving into a place. McDonald's or something like that. We're not making crazy changes.
David Roman [01:15:41]:
Who's making the decision, though, to not give you the exemptions?
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [01:15:48]:
Yeah. Code's office.
David Roman [01:15:49]:
Code's office. Right.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [01:15:50]:
She's been given.
David Roman [01:15:51]:
So you're trying to sue them for a judge to override her decision. Who is she elected? Who puts her into place then? It's the, yeah. So you're gonna have to, you're gonna have to. How often are the mayors getting turned around?
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [01:16:10]:
Before you mistaken.
David Roman [01:16:13]:
Have you looked into, have you looked into that side of it and gone, okay, who's gonna be running for mayor? I need to, I need to make contact and be like, hey, we need to make this. I've had some part of your campaign.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [01:16:30]:
Come up to me and talk to me about it. I'm remaining. I'm running for mayor. You know, if I get elected, I'm gonna help you out. It's just everyone in that city loves that mayor, but it's really crazy because the way that he was promoting himself, he's there for, he was there for the small businesses.
David Roman [01:16:49]:
Okay. So why not. Why not go after him?
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [01:16:52]:
I just have a lot of front of me right now. I just don't know.
David Roman [01:16:56]:
Yeah, I feel like someone needs to be doing this for you.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [01:16:58]:
I got to the point where I was gonna put all my energy towards that, but right now, this is what I've told everyone. Right now, I am treating that location as a savings account. That's all I'm kind of doing because I'm just kind of putting money there. I'm building equity. Yeah. The builders are working a lot more than what I paid, so that's why I'm not free as much. I have. I have other stuff that's right in front of me.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [01:17:22]:
And then I'm putting all my energy towards that, which is gonna keep me safe. If I keep on focusing over here on that building, which is not gonna define. You're not gonna, I don't know.
Lucas Underwood [01:17:32]:
Yeah, you're gonna, you're gonna lose your focus. You're gonna be distracted, and you need.
David Roman [01:17:37]:
To be our freedom fighter.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [01:17:38]:
No, trust me. Really? Looking into it, but, yeah, it's just, it's a crazy road, man. My attorneys did call me about a month ago and I was like, hey, so what's next? He says, like, maybe about ten months from now we'll get an answer. Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [01:18:00]:
Holy cow. That's crazy. Ten months. They don't care. It's not their money.
David Roman [01:18:06]:
They don't care. It isn't their money.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [01:18:08]:
Attorneys are wonderful. They're doing this pro bono, so. Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [01:18:12]:
Really?
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [01:18:13]:
That's awesome. That's awesome. They're amazing people. But they did call me last year and they just told me, look, Oz, if you want to, we can stop now. We just don't want you to be hurting so much financially. And I was just like, I'm doing okay. They're like, are you sure? Yeah, trust me, I'm doing okay.
Lucas Underwood [01:18:33]:
Yeah, we'll be alright.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [01:18:35]:
I've been taking other ventures and all that and it's been helping out a lot. So, you know, you know, I'm just, I'm okay. That's why I tell everyone.
Lucas Underwood [01:18:46]:
It's the, it's the principle of it.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [01:18:48]:
Yeah, pretty much. And like I said, now I'm not. I just want to do it for my dad.
Lucas Underwood [01:18:53]:
That's buddy.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [01:18:54]:
I'm pretty. That, I'm pretty sure he's looking down right now. The day that we open is going to be an emotional day for the whole family and everyone around.
Lucas Underwood [01:19:03]:
Sure, yeah. Is there something our listeners can do to help?
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [01:19:08]:
I don't know. You know, I'm not a person that asks for stuff. I don't know. I'm that person. Christmas comes up, I'm just give me a pair of socks, I don't care. I don't know. I just don't ask for stuff. Yeah, I understand.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [01:19:26]:
I feel like this is my battle. I feel like this is my battle and, yeah, I'm ready for it. I'm not going to give up on it.
Lucas Underwood [01:19:35]:
That's awesome.
Azael "Oz" Sepulveda [01:19:37]:
Thanks for inviting me.
David Roman [01:19:38]:
Thanks for.
Lucas Underwood [01:19:39]:
Yes, sir.
David Roman [01:19:42]:
That was all.