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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.
Lucas Underwood [00:00:08]:
Brandon Jones. What's up, dude?
Brandon Jones [00:00:11]:
Not much, man. How are you guys?
Lucas Underwood [00:00:13]:
Fantastic. Introduce yourself. I mean, I obviously just introduced yourself by name, but tell us who you are and what you do.
Brandon Jones [00:00:19]:
Not a problem. My name is Brandon Jones. I'm the vice president of limitless leadership. And we are a coaching company in particular and training company for the automotive repair repair industry.
Lucas Underwood [00:00:32]:
And you, like, came out of nowhere, right? Like I'd never heard of you. Never seen anything about it. What, like, where did it come from? How did this all happen?
Brandon Jones [00:00:42]:
I like to say it didn't come out of nowhere, but, yeah, we did.
David Roman [00:00:45]:
That's an insult. It's like, has even been working and grinding and.
Lucas Underwood [00:00:49]:
I didn't say that.
David Roman [00:00:51]:
You implied it.
Lucas Underwood [00:00:52]:
No, I did not. I'm saying, like, I had never heard of them and then all of a sudden they're everywhere.
David Roman [00:00:57]:
I don't know you, so I'm just gonna give you a heads up. This is the last recording of the day. And Lucas gets incoherent and pissy.
Lucas Underwood [00:01:12]:
I was like that already. I don't think I got this way. I think I was that way.
David Roman [00:01:17]:
It gets worse.
Lucas Underwood [00:01:19]:
That's probably true. I could see that.
David Roman [00:01:24]:
Anyway. Limitless leadership.
Brandon Jones [00:01:27]:
Yeah, we did kind of come out of nowhere, I guess you could say. So me and my business partner, Josh Parnell, we kind of have a different perspective when it comes to coaching in this space. So we're both former folks from Christian Brothers Automotive. Yeah, we both worked on that training department there and created a lot of the stuff that they do to this day.
Lucas Underwood [00:01:51]:
Right.
Brandon Jones [00:01:52]:
So to say we came out of nowhere. Yeah, we did, kinda. But we've been both been in the industry for a long time.
Lucas Underwood [00:01:58]:
Right. So give us a rundown of how we got here. Give us a rundown of what made you wanna start this and what's different about it.
Brandon Jones [00:02:09]:
Yeah. So about a year and a half ago, Josh started with just leadership coaching. And he was doing well, just wasn't business industry specific. He was taking this to a lot of different industries. When I came on board, we just evaluated things. And I've only been on board three months now, so we're brand new. And we shifted focus on the company to, obviously, what I'm passionate about, and that's automotive. There's such a great need for just not only coaching and training, but we're both very passionate about getting people to level up, get them to the level that they want to get to.
Brandon Jones [00:02:56]:
And how we go about doing that is we do a lot of coaching, one on one coaching and what that looks like is he focuses one week on leadership. So if you signed up for our coaching programs, you'd have four calls, one. One per week. He's going to focus on the leadership skills, leadership aspect of it. I'm going to focus on what we call performance, which is a lot of people think it's just metric based and it's not. We focus on workflow, operations, sales, all of those things that encompass, but we're really gearing this towards service managers. That's kind of what we like to focus on. We can absolutely speak to P and ls and how to influence and how to grow that stuff.
Brandon Jones [00:03:38]:
I'm a former shop owner myself. Okay. I saw the light and I'm a big fan of the podcast. So I hear lots of great things about the shops. So, so.
Lucas Underwood [00:03:53]:
And Josh was really taking more of a, as you mentioned, a leadership, but a personal coach. And let's develop you as a human being type approach on that. And that's unique to, to this. I mean, the other coaches do it as well, but the focus has always been on just business. Where did Josh come from? And tell us a little bit about him, because. And he's going to be on the show soon, right. Like I talked to him about coming on and talking. What's different about this, you think?
Brandon Jones [00:04:25]:
Well, I think we're focusing on creating a very well rounded team member at the end of it, because we all know when the leadership get or the leader gets better, everyone else gets better. And we focus not only on in depth, industry specific skills, you know, that's the part that I work on, but Josh is working on leadership skills. And what's really neat about that is we've gotten feedback from some of the clients that he's worked for prior that we both worked for together. That said, this has not only helped me be the best version of myself during my nine to five or shop, if it's really 14 hours days, they said when I take this home, I apply this to my family and this has saved my marriage. Like, we've gotten that a couple times, which is just, you know, from, from somebody, from just a human being perspective. That's powerful.
Lucas Underwood [00:05:16]:
That's huge, dude. That's huge. So tell us a little bit about your history. Shop owner.
Brandon Jones [00:05:21]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:05:21]:
So how that, how did that happen?
Brandon Jones [00:05:23]:
Well, so I'm an industry guy. I started off in the parts stores, worked my way to field sales leadership, worked for NGK, spark plug, snap on, and that some of, some of the leading industry guys in that industry, and I'll be completely honest. Like, I was in and out of shops ten plus a day, from my days early in the parts side of it to the aftermarket parts, and then the oe parts. And I saw the same things in shops every single day. And one of the story that I always like to tell, it's actually from Kansas City. I was in a shop in Kansas City, and I'm waiting my turn to go up to the front counter. This lady is right at the front counter doing her thing with the service team up there. And the lady comes, leaves.
Brandon Jones [00:06:19]:
I go up, do my thing, do my training, and then I walk out that door. About 30 minutes later, she's sitting on that park bench right outside the shop, and she is just upset. She's crying her eyes out and just visibly upset. And I don't know what it was, but I just went up to next door and said, is everything all right? And she goes on to tell me that she came in for a simple oil change, and they gave her a bill for, like, $4,000. And I think that's something that we see on our end from a shop perspective all the time. But I don't think we realize sometimes how that makes other people feel, you know, that weight of that, because they came in expecting, let's just say, 70, $80 for an oil change, and we turned around and gave them an estimate for thousands and thousands of dollars.
David Roman [00:07:03]:
Should we feel bad about that? Or were they trapped in a world of delusion?
Brandon Jones [00:07:12]:
Yeah, you're on the right path.
David Roman [00:07:13]:
Burst that bubble just because you can present and go, hey, it looks like you think cars don't degrade every second that they exist, and they do anyway. You need $5,000 worth of work on your shipbox. Sorry.
Brandon Jones [00:07:32]:
Yeah. And she might have gotten to that point and might have been like, okay, let's do it. But nobody explained that to her. They just said, here's what it is. This is what you need. Peace.
Lucas Underwood [00:07:44]:
Right?
Brandon Jones [00:07:44]:
Are you gonna do it, yes or no? And it's like, where's the education? Where's the explanation?
Lucas Underwood [00:07:48]:
Where's the compassion?
Brandon Jones [00:07:50]:
Yeah, 100% compassion.
David Roman [00:07:52]:
And anyways, I got your compassion for you, buddy.
Lucas Underwood [00:07:56]:
That's the smallest compassion I've ever seen. Doesn't even count as a compassion.
David Roman [00:08:05]:
It has its fans.
Lucas Underwood [00:08:08]:
You can take the s off the end of that. He did say it was the end of the day. You heard that, right? So you ended up in a shop.
David Roman [00:08:25]:
Right?
Lucas Underwood [00:08:25]:
You ended up owning a shop. How did that work?
Brandon Jones [00:08:29]:
Yeah. So just to finish that story real quick, is all I did was explain the ro tour. I haven't touched the vehicle. I haven't seen the vehicle. All I did was just educate her on what everything was and what it did, and a visible weight to start with.
David Roman [00:08:43]:
See, ma'am, the problem is this is a 2009 Chevy Traverse. I can circle your problem right here in that. It's a 2009 Chevy Traverse. Now, what happens with 2009 Chevy Traverses is everything you've got listed here, plus another seven or $8,000 that they haven't found yet or has yet to break anyway.
Brandon Jones [00:09:06]:
Yeah, if I recall, it was a Ford excursion, the one with the 5.4 in it, the nice Triton engines. So I believe there was some.
David Roman [00:09:17]:
Was there, like, issues?
Brandon Jones [00:09:20]:
And you're testing my knowledge. I feel like it was like late 2000 ish, somewhere in that neck of the woods.
David Roman [00:09:26]:
I don't know. You get to a certain point where I had this gal come in. I think she was driving. She bought a suburban, 2007 suburban, and she had $5,000 and she had $5,000 and she needed a big vehicle, and she saw a 2007 suburban for $5,000. Now, what kind of vehicle do you think she got? $5,000. Not a good 2007 suburban.
Brandon Jones [00:09:55]:
Very reliable one.
Lucas Underwood [00:09:56]:
Yeah.
David Roman [00:09:56]:
And what I told her was, this vehicle needs like $12,000 worth of work. And she's like, she got upset. We went through the whole dog and pony show, needs this, needs this. And we did the Dvi thing. We did everything. And she's like, are you saying I bought a piece of shit? And I said, well, you bought a 2007 suburban for $5,000. That is a $15,000 truck. She's like, well, I see them online all the time for $5,000.
David Roman [00:10:28]:
I said, I'm sure you do, but they are in the condition that your $5,000 2007 suburban is in if you want one. That's nice. It's $15,000. I don't have $15,000. I'm sorry. Anyway, what do you want to do? I'm just going to take this vehicle somewhere else. Okay. Here's your keys.
David Roman [00:10:51]:
Goodbye.
Lucas Underwood [00:10:52]:
Yeah.
Brandon Jones [00:10:55]:
Yeah, yeah.
David Roman [00:10:59]:
That did not lead me to go, oh, she got dad voiced by the end because she was acting a fool in my shop. Like, don't get mad at me. I'm just telling you the condition of the vehicle. That's what you wanted me to do. I told you the condition of the vehicle. It's a piece of shit. And then I explained to you your mistake. Your mistake was you paid $5,000 for a vehicle that's worth 15.
David Roman [00:11:19]:
You thought you were buying a $15,000 vehicle for $5,000 that does not exist. That's like saying, hey, I got this Easter bunny, and it craps out golden nuggets. No, no, no. Those are just turds. No, no, no. They're made out of gold that doesn't exist. It's impossible. No, no, for real.
David Roman [00:11:39]:
I saw it online. Don't say stupid stuff at me.
Brandon Jones [00:11:43]:
YouTube told me.
David Roman [00:11:44]:
What's that?
Brandon Jones [00:11:45]:
YouTube told me.
David Roman [00:11:47]:
I don't think she'd been on YouTube. Somebody at some point in the algorithm would have popped them, said, hey, don't buy $5,000 2007 suburbans because they are junks. Junk piles. They are terrible vehicles. Everything's wrong with them. The reason why they're selling it for $5,000 is because if they go scrap it, all of the scrap metal put together is worth $5,000.
Lucas Underwood [00:12:09]:
No, it's not.
David Roman [00:12:11]:
They can part it out for $5,000. They can part it out piece by piece for $5,000 and eventually make the $7,000 for the $5,000? Yep. Like, door panel, fender wheels.
Lucas Underwood [00:12:25]:
So back to the shop owner story.
Brandon Jones [00:12:27]:
A lot of work for 5000.
Lucas Underwood [00:12:28]:
I know it is, man.
David Roman [00:12:29]:
That's what I'm saying. Like, that's the only way you're gonna get $5,000 out of the vehicle. Or I. They find the. The single mom that just got the check from the government, because that's what the situation was. I'm not stereotyping. I'm just saying this was a younger girl with a couple of kids, needed a vehicle to cart the kids around, and the cousins and all that piled up into the suburban. And she had $5,000, and she spent every flippin dime of that $5,000 not on a vehicle.
David Roman [00:13:02]:
And then some repairs and maintenance, because that's what I would have told her to do. Go buy a $1000 vehicle and dump four grand into it. You'll have a nice vehicle.
Lucas Underwood [00:13:10]:
So it's funny you bring that up talking about the waiting on the government check, right? I'm gonna tell you something. I was talking to Derek, one of my friends the other day, the one that bought the shop that I was telling the story about, like, hey, he won this much for it. And I said, you know, I went looked at it, whatever, okay? And so we were talking about the fact that there is, like, a string of people in our community that goes church to church to church and charity to charity to charity, saying, oh, I need help in my vehicle. And they just go from all of these churches to churches to churches begging somebody to pay to either fix their vehicle or. And here's the thing is, the problem's never solved. They always end up going to somebody else to need more money to fix the vehicle again. And I've got one in particular I'm thinking of and a real sweet human being, but it's all about, like. And they had a, they had a 90 year old lover, right? And what the 90 year old.
Lucas Underwood [00:14:10]:
The 90 year old lover was always paying to fish.
David Roman [00:14:12]:
There's no loving at 90 years old. At nine years old, you're just waiting to die.
Lucas Underwood [00:14:16]:
I'm just telling you that that's how she felt. Phrase this person. How she.
David Roman [00:14:20]:
This is my 90 year old lover.
Lucas Underwood [00:14:21]:
This is my 90 year old lover. He's not from here. He's from another state, and he calls and pays the bill, or he pays the bill online, or he transfers the money into my account. And it was a very unusual situation, because what it turned into was as he begins to question all the repairs on her vehicle. And it's like, well, we've been telling her for years, this thing is like junk. I understand it has sentimental value, but how far do you want me to go? I mean, we're $55,000 in this old, like, g van, and I'm like, you know, I've got. I've got repair orders from eight years ago saying, hey, we. This thing is not something that we should be trying to keep on the road.
Lucas Underwood [00:15:10]:
It's kind of worn out. And so, lo and behold, dude shows up crying her eyes out. He died. He died. I don't know what I'm gonna do. Two days later, shows up to get her car fixed and says that I've sold my 84 year old lover Newark, and he's transferring the money into my account so I can fix my car.
Brandon Jones [00:15:29]:
And I'm like, just going to the nursing home.
Lucas Underwood [00:15:32]:
Hold up. Like, seriously, I'm thinking about this. How does this work? How is it that he dies? You're upset because you don't know where you're gonna get money to survive. And so two days later, I mean, two days, dude's not even in the ground yet.
David Roman [00:15:51]:
That's because there was probably a backup or two. There's probably another one right behind him.
Lucas Underwood [00:15:57]:
I mean, do people, like.
David Roman [00:16:01]:
That's, like, old men get lonely, dude.
Lucas Underwood [00:16:03]:
I understand what I'm saying. Like, is that not the same as, like, the vagrants on the street. I mean, is that of.
David Roman [00:16:09]:
She has to work for that. Kudos to her.
Brandon Jones [00:16:12]:
She's gotta do something for it. I mean.
Lucas Underwood [00:16:16]:
You'Re telling me. You're telling me if you had a sugar mama, you would just.
David Roman [00:16:22]:
What's.
Lucas Underwood [00:16:22]:
No, what, I mean, if you needed money and find.
David Roman [00:16:29]:
I don't think I'll ever put myself in that particular situation, I am perfectly okay going to go bag groceries. Grocery store.
Lucas Underwood [00:16:36]:
You'd bag groceries before finding a sugar mama?
David Roman [00:16:39]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:16:40]:
Yeah. I mean, I. That's my logic. I couldn't imagine what she did. Yeah. I don't have the looks or any of the traits that would make me valuable at all.
David Roman [00:16:54]:
There's a reel that goes around the guy. It was one reel, the guy shot it. And it's this, like, older lady. She's probably the, I don't know, late sixties, early seventies in like, this really tight black dress, like tons of makeup on, just like grooving to music. And the caption is the guy's like dancing, like filming her dancing. And he's like hanging out with the old lady. Cause she's got this like, mint c ten square body just waiting for the opportunity to get that inheritance. He's paying his dues.
Lucas Underwood [00:17:32]:
I want to be in, like.
David Roman [00:17:37]:
I'm.
Lucas Underwood [00:17:37]:
Gonna be entirely vile. There's a, there's an older woman who owns restaurants near us, and she would come in and she would flirt with the young men in the restaurant as they were eating, right. And that was like the whole thing. And I'll never forget, she came in one time and she told my dad that he needed to knock the scabs off of it for her or something like that. And we're all sitting there and I'm like, whoa, hold up now. I mean, the cobwebs maybe, but the.
David Roman [00:18:07]:
Scam, we're not even an hour in. You gotta wait till the last hour to tell those stories. What is wrong with you?
Lucas Underwood [00:18:13]:
Just telling you. I mean, we kinda got on the subject. Poor dude has not even been able to tell us how he started a shop yet.
Brandon Jones [00:18:21]:
I love this podcast. I'm just throwing that out there.
David Roman [00:18:23]:
Yeah, messed up.
Lucas Underwood [00:18:28]:
Do you want me to not tell it? I mean, like, you want me to go back? You can go back in time and take it back.
David Roman [00:18:34]:
Yes, take it back.
Lucas Underwood [00:18:37]:
I'll introduce you next time you're out.
David Roman [00:18:45]:
So, okay, so you're trying to help out the single mom who's crying?
Lucas Underwood [00:18:49]:
Whoa, whoa, whoa. We're not going that direction. Nobody said anything about. Nobody said anything about the casting couch.
David Roman [00:19:00]:
Well, I didn't see you. I didn't go there. I didn't go there.
Lucas Underwood [00:19:05]:
I thought that's where you were going. I'm sorry.
David Roman [00:19:10]:
No, she was just trying to help out the single mom. She was crying on the bench.
Brandon Jones [00:19:14]:
Yeah.
David Roman [00:19:15]:
Did she at some point say, I'm just a single mom?
Brandon Jones [00:19:19]:
She did not. And, like, had she been a single.
David Roman [00:19:21]:
Mom, that would have been the first thing that popped out of her mouth.
Lucas Underwood [00:19:26]:
You're trying to make me spit my drink on another guest.
David Roman [00:19:33]:
You've heard the song, right?
Lucas Underwood [00:19:36]:
No, I've not heard the song.
David Roman [00:19:37]:
Now you're a single mom. I'll play it for you. It's inappropriate for the podcast. We're trying to keep this professional. This is a business podcast. We have sponsors. We have to consider sponsors.
Lucas Underwood [00:19:50]:
You know, I don't know if you know this. Cecil is my business coach.
David Roman [00:19:54]:
Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:19:55]:
And he just shakes his head at me.
David Roman [00:19:59]:
He doesn't listen to the podcast. That's the thing. Thank God Kent does. Maybe sometimes I think we slip a few by him. He doesn't know. He doesn't need to know. Nobody tell him. Anyway.
Lucas Underwood [00:20:14]:
What were we talking about again?
Brandon Jones [00:20:16]:
I believe I was on the park bench with this lady. In a professional manner, though.
Lucas Underwood [00:20:27]:
It was purely a professional relationship. Yes, Bill Clinton said that once.
Brandon Jones [00:20:31]:
Yeah, Monica.
Lucas Underwood [00:20:36]:
Close, but no cigar.
Brandon Jones [00:20:42]:
But, you know, trying.
Lucas Underwood [00:20:44]:
Man, half of our listeners are too young to understand the reference.
David Roman [00:20:47]:
I know that's an old reference. That's for old people. Sorry.
Brandon Jones [00:20:51]:
So going back to how I got my shop, so all I did was explain the repair order to this lady, and she goes out and tells me that her husband is actually overseas fighting for our country. And he's the one that normally handles this. And it was a good reminder because it just let me know that, hey, we can't control anything outside of our box, outside of our four walls. And we had no idea what this lady was up against. And it had the shop and just probably explained all this to her. It would have saved her a whole lot of heartache. You know, at the root of everything, it was a communication breakdown. So I'd like to say that because that is something I saw daily going into 1015 plus shops a day.
Brandon Jones [00:21:40]:
And it was the same thing over and over again. So I just got to. Got to the point and I was like, hey, you know, I can do this. I can do this better. And, you know, I come from a technical background. My dad was a dealership mechanic, so I grew up in the, in the industry. Grew up in the, in the dealership world. And my dad always swore at me, like, you are not getting into this industry.
Brandon Jones [00:22:00]:
It is awful. And, you know, it just, you know, the whole nine yards, like, it broke his body down. But the industry in the nineties is not the same industry as it is today, and it's a lot more technology based. But anyway, so fast forward. So I opened my own shop. We're doing pretty good. Opened it just outside of Chicago. And Covid comes along January 2020.
Lucas Underwood [00:22:25]:
Oh, man.
Brandon Jones [00:22:26]:
So I bought my second shop January 1, 2020.
Lucas Underwood [00:22:30]:
Holy cow.
Brandon Jones [00:22:32]:
And a few months into that, we very quickly realized that two shops and not a lot of cash because, you know, we just spent all of our cash, was not a good solution, not knowing where this pandemic was going to go. So we ended up closing the one shop, merging it together, and we made it through. But, you know, it really cost us a lot. And at the end of 2021, me and my wife, at the time, we just decided that, you know, it was time to go south. And we, you know, we got. Got out of the shop, went south, and that's where I linked up with christian brothers. And then now I'm. I'm doing my own thing with.
Brandon Jones [00:23:13]:
With Josh. And, man, it's been great. It's been really great.
Lucas Underwood [00:23:17]:
Tell us about the christian brothers experience. I've got a guy who I messaged back and forth with some, and I want to say his name is pete Coleman, if I remember right.
Brandon Jones [00:23:26]:
I know Pete.
Lucas Underwood [00:23:27]:
Yeah. And so he, you know, he was big with that organization and big into their training group and, and whatnot, and he's had always had really positive things to say. I know David is not exactly a christian brothers fan, but you know, what. How did you end up at christian Brothers, and what was your perspective of that organization?
Brandon Jones [00:23:46]:
Yeah, so, Pete. Pete Coleman, great guy. Shout out to Pete. He's in central Iowa just killing it out there.
Lucas Underwood [00:23:55]:
Absolutely. Like, one of their top service advisors or service manager.
Brandon Jones [00:23:59]:
He was running a couple shops out there, and I know he's since left christian brothers, and he's doing some other stuff for another conglomerate out there.
Lucas Underwood [00:24:08]:
Right.
Brandon Jones [00:24:09]:
But, yeah, great guy. And, yeah, christian brothers as a whole, as a whole organization, you know, christian based, faith based, great company. They gave me an opportunity to really go in there and shine, do my thing, and it was great. And it's funny. So the story how I meth, my business partner, Josh, aligns very much with how I came to Christian Brothers. So I was selling parts in Louisiana, running a group of stores in that, and we took all of our field leadership team to a leadership conference in Houston. The only other company that was there from the automotive industry was Christian Brothers automotive.
Lucas Underwood [00:24:53]:
Really?
Brandon Jones [00:24:54]:
And that's how I met Josh, and we both just started talking. And to be honest, I wasn't looking for a job. I was very happy, very comfortable doing what I was doing. And he goes, I got this opportunity I think he'd be really good for. And next thing I know, a couple months later, I'm packing everything up, and we're moving to Houston, Texas. And, yeah, it was great. They let me do their thing, and, yeah, it was great. I got to make an impact on 300 plus shops, you know, pretty close to a thousand frontline service employees.
Brandon Jones [00:25:27]:
Yeah, it was. It was great. It aligned very much so with what. What I think is good business practice.
David Roman [00:25:35]:
Right.
Lucas Underwood [00:25:36]:
And so what, what kind of calls the leave from Christian Brothers, where that next part of the journey. How did we. How did we get there?
Brandon Jones [00:25:46]:
So I wanted to always go back into business for myself because I'm a crazy person like that. You know, just like I always say, I'm going to own another shop because I'm a crazy person like that.
Lucas Underwood [00:25:59]:
Right.
Brandon Jones [00:25:59]:
But, yeah, just me and Josh had been talking, and we kind of reconnected, linked up, and he goes, hey, what would this look like if I took my leadership and we paired it with kind of your performance and sales stuff, and we brought this to the industry? And I said, well, Josh, that would be something I don't think the industry's really seen before as far as pairing those two models together. And I go, I think we could really be a disruptor, and I love disrupting things, and I love positively impacting industry. And that's always been my mission for this, is to positively impact the automotive industry. And I love what we're doing now because we're focused on coaching, training, and really driving the industry forward. And, you know, like I said earlier, it's, man, we're really looking to get people to level up, to get them where they really want to go. And that's why we love focusing and working with service managers and high performing service advisors, because we want to give the shop owners the gift of time and money. And if you can have somebody, your right hand person really get poured into as far as they can run everything, and you can kind of take a step back and just truly be a business owner. I mean, I think that's a lot of folks.
Brandon Jones [00:27:18]:
That's their dream. That's a lot of. That's the model they want to go towards.
Lucas Underwood [00:27:21]:
What do you think the key things keeping them from being able to accomplish.
Brandon Jones [00:27:25]:
That are, well, it's hard to. Well, you go from working on the business to working, or from working in the business to working on the business. It's a different mentality. I think a lot of times delegation is a key component because they don't trust anybody else to do the job. And it's a lot easier to do something when you know you can do it better than that person that you are telling to do it. But in order for growth to happen, you have to empower them and let them do that.
Lucas Underwood [00:27:57]:
That's my biggest weakness as a shop owner, is needing to meddle and needing to be in the middle of it, and I prefer to just do it myself. Right.
Brandon Jones [00:28:06]:
Yeah. I think that's a lot of people's problem, you know, and that's something that we always need to be constantly working on. I can tell you, as a shop owner, I was probably an awful person to work for. I mean, I am a terrible person to work for.
Lucas Underwood [00:28:19]:
There's no doubt about that.
David Roman [00:28:22]:
I meant, is this like a story arc? Like, we started the day with him going, I'm not terrible to work for, and now we're like, Mandy, terrible.
Lucas Underwood [00:28:31]:
I'm not nearly as bad as you, but I'm still pretty terrible.
David Roman [00:28:34]:
Wonderful to work for.
Lucas Underwood [00:28:37]:
I've seen the videos.
David Roman [00:28:40]:
What videos?
Lucas Underwood [00:28:41]:
Uh oh, the ones your employees share. We have a secret chat group. You just don't know about that.
David Roman [00:28:47]:
I believe that. I 100% believe.
Lucas Underwood [00:28:52]:
What?
David Roman [00:28:54]:
Nothing.
Lucas Underwood [00:28:57]:
David doesn't believe in leadership.
Brandon Jones [00:28:59]:
No.
Lucas Underwood [00:28:59]:
David doesn't believe in coaching.
David Roman [00:29:03]:
No, that's not true. I think you have to. You have to have something pushing you, driving you. The shop is miserable, so I don't know why I would want to put my time and effort and energy into that. It sucks the life out of you.
Brandon Jones [00:29:18]:
I'd push back a little on you there. David and I know we just met each other, so let's get uncomfortable. Or let's get comfortable being uncomfortable. Right?
David Roman [00:29:27]:
All right.
Lucas Underwood [00:29:28]:
Okay, I'll look this way.
Brandon Jones [00:29:32]:
But is that. Is that you driving the culture, or is that letting you. The culture, influence you? Are you influencing culture or the culture influencing you?
David Roman [00:29:41]:
The cars. Oh, I'm sorry. If you end up with shaky cam, that's. I apologize. That is the cars influencing me. Yeah. The cars do not want to be fixed. I mean, you try, but then they don't fix, fix, and then something happens.
David Roman [00:30:06]:
You feel bad. I don't like feeling bad all the time, so that's what it is like. I want the car to be fixed and perfect. Drive away, and that customer be super happy. That's what I want. That instead, they drive away, and six months later, the axle blows out a ramp. Never seen an axle go out on a ram before. Not after we fix it.
David Roman [00:30:33]:
You know, they have that differential problem with the stubs. They explode. Okay, great. So we put new stubs in, put a new axle. The hd ones, big fat ones, right? And send it on its way. Comes back on a tow truck seven months later. Eight months later, Axel blew out. And I'm asking Ivan, I'm like, what do you mean the axle blew out? The hell's that mean? The axle's broken? I've never seen that.
David Roman [00:31:00]:
Now, hopefully, I get back, and she's older, she ran over something. There's maybe hair or something, like, all caught up in the axle. And it's very obvious that Fido got sucked up into the axle, and that's what happened.
Lucas Underwood [00:31:16]:
Why did it have to take such a grim turn?
David Roman [00:31:18]:
I'm just saying I want to see some. Some death in there. Something very obvious that I can go, yep, that's what happened. And then I'll feel great. But in the meantime, until I get back, this is eating me up. How do you get over that?
Brandon Jones [00:31:34]:
Can you. I mean, we talking about Fido or the axel?
David Roman [00:31:38]:
Both. Not my fido. So it's whatever. I mean, you feel bad for him because innocent animal, but whatever. Maybe bit a child or something before that. I'm saying, like, I wanted that car to be fixed. Now, we torqued everything. The spec we used, quality parts.
David Roman [00:31:54]:
Never had a problem with any of these components before. I had a good, competent technician do the work. What else can I do?
Brandon Jones [00:32:02]:
I don't know that there is anything else you can do at that point.
David Roman [00:32:04]:
Okay, so how can I be okay with that and just be like, oh, you know what? I want more of this. I'm gonna go put a second shop. I want twice as many problems coming back.
Brandon Jones [00:32:16]:
Yeah, I don't have a solution for you.
David Roman [00:32:19]:
I thought you were the coach. What happened?
Brandon Jones [00:32:20]:
Well.
Lucas Underwood [00:32:23]:
Hey, we just took $11,000 worth of payments that I'd feel better if.
David Roman [00:32:29]:
I had $11,000 in payments today. I think we did $110 in payments today. You know what I'm really worried about? It's not that I have a. I hired a second person, and jury's still out. Also, this is gonna be, like, published, I don't know, three months from now, so.
Lucas Underwood [00:32:49]:
And he's either fired on, still working.
David Roman [00:32:50]:
There, or I don't know. We'll see. Maybe he did a fantastic job. What I'm worried about is that over two days, I should be seeing a stream of new appointments coming in. And it's hard to answer the phone if you're sleeping. And so I have not seen any appointments coming in. And so I know we're gonna show up Monday morning with no appointments, no cars, nothing. Now like the schedule fill up normally it does, but I don't know what the hell he's been doing.
David Roman [00:33:26]:
The phones barely range. I will say that the phone is barely ring because it goes through my thing and I can, like, it buzzes me. Now, I don't answer. I'm here. Normally I'll turn it off, but he's there by himself and, you know, just in case. So I just let it go. The phone's barely been ringing. Probably a third of the phone calls that we normally get.
David Roman [00:33:47]:
But I don't know, it's probably Juan scared him off. Like, hey, don't. Don't call Thursday or Friday. It's gonna be Madden, my shop manager. He was worried about the whole situation. He's like, hey, we should close. And I said, nah, it'll be fine. And he's like, we should close.
Lucas Underwood [00:34:07]:
Listen, if I'm going to trust somebody's intuition, it's going to be won's over yours.
David Roman [00:34:12]:
Okay? But he's not paying the bill for being closed for two days.
Lucas Underwood [00:34:15]:
I understand that, but I'm just telling you, like your intuition usually gets me in trouble.
David Roman [00:34:21]:
The fact that we were open and we'll see what we end up collecting today. Those two days worth of business was not worth me being open. Like, I should have just closed. I should have just closed.
Lucas Underwood [00:34:31]:
So you probably should have trusted Juan's intuition.
David Roman [00:34:35]:
I think I left the shop open with the hope that we would end up okay. I don't know. I don't know what goes on down there. I'm not there. I'm just telling you.
Lucas Underwood [00:34:48]:
He wonders why the shop stresses him out.
David Roman [00:34:51]:
The shop does not stress me out. I have fantastic employees. Not the new guy as a person. Loved the crap out of him. That's why I hired him. Fantastic person. He's funny, he's personable, he's friendly, tells jokes. He could take a joke.
David Roman [00:35:08]:
That's a big thing for me. You gotta be able to take a joke. If you can't take a joke, we can't get along. So he was cool. I've got fantastic employees. Fantastic employees. Love him to death. Every single one of them.
David Roman [00:35:18]:
Even the one that shows up late. Love him to death too. He's cute. That's why I was like, everybody. So tangent, sorry. He comes, he's late, and Juan's like, dude, you need to yell at him. Cause he didn't listen to me. I'm telling you, you need to yell at him.
David Roman [00:35:35]:
And I'm like, he's like. And he looks at me and he goes, you're not gonna yell at him, are you? I'm like, you know, it's. And he's like, he, as soon as he's gone, as soon as he walks in, he's gonna be like, hey, buddy. He's gonna start pinching his cheeks and stuff, aren't you? And I go, no, I wanna, I'm not gonna do that. No shit. I did. I complete, I didn't even think about it. He walks in late and I'm like, hey, buddy, how you doing? I started like.
David Roman [00:35:59]:
And Juan walks by and he's like, and I'm like, oh, crap. Hey, hey, dude, you can't be late. You can't be late like this anyway. Well, my employees, it's not the employees. And it's, you know, I can't go work for somebody. I'm a terrible employee. So that's not going to work. Right.
David Roman [00:36:20]:
So it's good that I own my own business.
Brandon Jones [00:36:22]:
Sure.
David Roman [00:36:23]:
And I have great employees. And, you know, I like the automotive industry and I like shops and all these cars and it's these junk vehicles. I'm just telling you, like, these junk vehicles. There's too many variables and there's no way to fix that. And I don't know how you people cope. I don't know how you coped. I don't know how you cope. I don't know how you do.
Lucas Underwood [00:36:45]:
I don't cope. I just tolerate, I don't know how.
David Roman [00:36:48]:
You can get over that. I just, I don't know. It still eats me up inside. I don't know how you get over it. I don't know. I need, I need like a pill or a shot or something I can take and go, hey, don't worry about that.
Lucas Underwood [00:37:01]:
Oh, they make that. They make that. Go to your doctor. Tell them, hey, I would like a prescription for Xanax. And just tell them. You want the ladder bars? Eat one of those a day.
Brandon Jones [00:37:13]:
Walk around with a smile.
Lucas Underwood [00:37:14]:
Yeah, exactly.
David Roman [00:37:18]:
Is Xanax the fix?
Brandon Jones [00:37:19]:
Yeah, that's actually how we go to market. We tell everybody. Is Xanax is the fix to be.
Lucas Underwood [00:37:25]:
In the, yeah, it's gonna, it's gonna just mellow everything out.
David Roman [00:37:28]:
It is a level. Every single shop owner. I'm not saying this about you. I don't know you. You're almost there. There's a level of callousness. There's a level of callousness of, like, really ultra successful shop owners. They say they care, but they take the I didn't build it, I didn't buy it, and I didn't break it mentality to cars.
David Roman [00:37:55]:
I cannot do it. I get that. I didn't buy it, I didn't break it, and I didn't build. I get that. I understand that. Logically, that makes sense.
Lucas Underwood [00:38:02]:
I only say it because I'm, like, trying to convince myself of that. I still feel it inside.
David Roman [00:38:08]:
I said, I didn't say you had that level of calling. I think that's holding you back considerably. You go down there right now, and I'll pull five extremely successful shop owners, and I'm telling you, I'll talk back and forth with them. And you're going to see that moment where they admit the callousness. They admit it, and they go, yep. And they'll never say that. I look, at the end of the day, it's. It's just a paycheck, and I don't really give a crap.
David Roman [00:38:37]:
They won't say it like that, but that's really what it is. They care right up until where it interferes with the vacation house or not. Hey, I if I care too much, I'm not gonna get that boat, and I don't want to care that much. I need that boat. That's. I can't cross that line. What do I do?
Brandon Jones [00:38:59]:
I wouldn't want you to cross that line. I mean, that's. That's keeping that relationship very personal.
David Roman [00:39:04]:
I mean, no, no, not with the customer, I didn't. The customers, you know, I feel bad for the customer. It's just, it's a. It's a personal insult to me. Like, I may not even meet these people. I don't think you understand. I never talked to these customers. I don't have the.
David Roman [00:39:18]:
What's your dog's name? Fido? I don't have any of that. None of that. These are just customers that come in. Juan takes care of them. They have an interaction. They do the DVI. They send it off. They get the estimate.
David Roman [00:39:29]:
They fix it. Six months later, I see it on the tow truck, and because that vehicle has, like, left a mark on me or just, ugh. I just remember it not because it was a bad experience. Maybe we got the repair done, everything went smooth. But, like, I see the name, and then I'm like, what's leaking on that? Oh, something leaking, cooling. We did a water pump on that car six months ago. I remember stuff like that. I don't know why, but I do.
David Roman [00:39:53]:
Can't remember names, so I'm gonna forget your name five minutes after you leave. I'm sorry. No insults against you. It's just the way I am. But I'm gonna remember that water pump. We put that water pump in there. Tell me that water pump isn't leaking. I don't think so.
David Roman [00:40:06]:
I still feel bad, like, it comes back with a coolant leak. It's not the water pump. Our water pump held. And we tell the customers, hey, once we restore pressure, other leaks could happen. Do you understand? Uh huh. Great. Sometimes we put that flipping phone call on the ticket. We put the phone call on the ticket so they can't be like, tell me.
David Roman [00:40:26]:
Yeah, we did. We told you. We do everything we're supposed to do. That car still go straight? Why? Just stay fixed. Don't you want to do what you do? You drive. That's what you do. They get in you. You drive.
David Roman [00:40:43]:
Just do that instead. You're leaking. Why? I get upset. That bothers me. There's no fixing that. I can't get over that. I don't know. Why am I broken? Is this just me? I'm broken?
Lucas Underwood [00:40:56]:
There's plenty of reasons I can give you for being broken. Where should I start? I guess I understand. And I'm going to tell you something. I have a very unhealthy relationship with the cameras at the shop. And so I watch them, and, like, I get an alert about something pulling in. And, buddy, if I zoom in, I see that tag, license plate, and I'm like, man, I can read it. I guess I have to search it now. Oh, man.
Lucas Underwood [00:41:26]:
We worked on that car, right? And they say, I know, I'm looking it up. I will spend the whole weekend fretting over that car. And then I show back up at the shop, and it was something completely different.
David Roman [00:41:37]:
Yeah, something benign.
Lucas Underwood [00:41:38]:
The best one was assumed the worst. The best one was the one that was like the same kind of truck, but he'd moved the tag from one to the other. And old one, I'm like, oh, no, not that.
Brandon Jones [00:41:48]:
But you think that has something to do with you guys names on the building? Like, that's your baby. Everything that happens inside those four walls is for me at the end of the day. Like, it's us, right? You know, it's you guys for me.
Lucas Underwood [00:42:02]:
Probably because, you know, I've so closely tied my self worth and what, in other words, like, for me, I think it's bigger than just a repair shop, right? Because, like, I take a lot of pride in my parents reputation and the legacy they've left. And they didn't have a shop, but in our community, everybody knew them. And so I want people to know that I'm doing what's right, and I want people to know I'm taking care of them. Things that bother me is like, I know I'm the most expensive in town, and so I want to make sure I'm providing the value for that. And so, like, when I don't provide the value for that, that bothers me. Like, those are the things that really.
David Roman [00:42:41]:
You feel like you didn't provide the value?
Lucas Underwood [00:42:43]:
Yeah, that hurts me deep down in my soul. Like, I can't. I can't shake that somebody, somebody has bad or negative feedback. I'm getting better at it, but for the longest time, I mean, it would make me physically unwell for a few days.
David Roman [00:42:55]:
It's. Look, we have this podcast, right? I love doing the podcast. It's a lot of fun for me. Right. That's what I do most of the day. I don't really work at the shop. I do the podcast stuff. Okay.
David Roman [00:43:06]:
We have vendors, we have sponsors, right. I want the sponsors to feel, though, like we are over delivering on what they pay us. That's what I want to feel like. Okay. And so if we recommend, hey, go sign up with shop marketing pros or go pick up Shopware and they don't like Shopware or Shopware didn't give them the kind of experience that they wanted or whatever. That bothers me.
Lucas Underwood [00:43:31]:
Yeah, I have.
David Roman [00:43:32]:
Bothers me to no end.
Lucas Underwood [00:43:33]:
Yeah, same, same.
David Roman [00:43:35]:
And until I find out that the person is plumb crazy or mentally challenged, intellectually challenged, let's call it that way, that they don't still get it and they can't work the program until we reach that point, which sometimes happens. It bothers me. Yeah.
Lucas Underwood [00:43:53]:
I'll spend hours with somebody trying to resolve.
David Roman [00:43:55]:
Yeah. Like, I want to fix this for you because one, I don't want you to think that we're just going around because they pay us to tell you, no, we use the program like we like the program. We wouldn't be saying it if we didn't like it. Right. And then, two, I want them to deliver a great product to you and then you recommend it. And I want lots of people being happy with everything, the whole situation. But it's still, it's not the same with the cars. The cars are worse.
Lucas Underwood [00:44:23]:
Yeah. I think it's because it has such an impact on the consumer. Right.
Brandon Jones [00:44:28]:
Like, it's their livelihood. Yeah, could be, yeah, yeah.
David Roman [00:44:31]:
But this is somebody's business. Like, they get hooked up with shopware and it's an absolute disaster. Like, I just jacked up their business. Right. So it's a big deal, that shopware being able to deliver on what it is that we need them to do.
Lucas Underwood [00:44:44]:
And so I have only, I think I've only filled it, like, a handful of complaints. And I've always been able to pinpoint, like, oh, this is a you problem, sweetheart. I'm sorry.
David Roman [00:44:57]:
Yeah, yeah. I'm not saying that happens. It doesn't happen. It's very rare. Mostly I get complained to, like, they're.
Lucas Underwood [00:45:04]:
Like, I don't know, where's the green button on the left?
David Roman [00:45:07]:
Yeah, where's the green button? Or parts tech doesn't have this vendor hooked up to it, and therefore I don't, like, just order everything else through partstack. It'll be fine. It's free. What are you doing anyway? Don't get me started on that. Anyway, I'm just saying I think a little bit is the fact that, hey, I. Parts tech is like, it's great. I love it. I use the crap out of it.
David Roman [00:45:31]:
I order almost everything. I go out of my way to find the thing in parts tech and order. I order oil through parts tech if I can. Like, though other websites, like, it's easier if I type in the. No, no. I find the part number and I stick that sucker on part second. That's where I, because I want there to be uniformity in the way it transfers over into shopware and everything. Just so I do everything through part stack, but at the same time, like, I didn't design it.
David Roman [00:45:59]:
And so you're like, hey, I love the crap out of this. It's like a nice restaurant. Like, I love their food. Oh, like the week they made my steak, it's like, okay, well, I don't know what to tell you. You obviously don't know how to order steak. You're wrong. That's how I feel. Like you're wrong in not liking this.
Brandon Jones [00:46:16]:
Isn't that. That's an integrity thing, though, right? You're putting your name on that recommendation?
David Roman [00:46:21]:
Yes. But I'm saying, though, if they don't like it, I think it's the them problem, because it is. It's a them problem. If they are not happy with my repair, I cannot throw that back on the customer and go just wrong. I don't know how to do that. In other words, everything that I like about the podcast and the way I can, you know, deal with the podcast and its challenges, not that there are that many, but I'm saying, like, the challenges we have with the podcast, I can't transfer that over.
Lucas Underwood [00:46:54]:
That feeling that the shot definitely feels much heavier than the podcast. The shop feels substantially heavier. And maybe it's because this isn't our only business. This isn't our only livelihood. If we were, like, karm or something, I'm sure, like, we'd be way more stressed out about it. But really, you think he seems stressed out about it?
David Roman [00:47:14]:
Karm?
Lucas Underwood [00:47:15]:
Yeah.
David Roman [00:47:17]:
You think he's stressed out? I think he's just relaxing, doing his thing.
Lucas Underwood [00:47:20]:
Maybe.
David Roman [00:47:21]:
Maybe.
Lucas Underwood [00:47:22]:
I miss Red.
David Roman [00:47:23]:
I don't know. I don't think he's stressed out. You think he's stressed out?
Brandon Jones [00:47:26]:
I don't know. I don't think so.
David Roman [00:47:27]:
No.
Brandon Jones [00:47:28]:
Yeah.
David Roman [00:47:29]:
When are you guys gonna start a podcast?
Lucas Underwood [00:47:31]:
They have one.
Brandon Jones [00:47:31]:
We have one.
David Roman [00:47:32]:
Do you really do? I don't listen to your podcast. I'm sure.
Brandon Jones [00:47:34]:
No, but you should. It's really good.
David Roman [00:47:36]:
Is it? Yeah.
Brandon Jones [00:47:37]:
It's called the limitless leadership.
David Roman [00:47:38]:
How long is it?
Brandon Jones [00:47:40]:
Half hour.
David Roman [00:47:43]:
Is there food talk in it?
Brandon Jones [00:47:44]:
There can be.
David Roman [00:47:46]:
Are there references to testicles?
Brandon Jones [00:47:48]:
Uh, not lately, no.
David Roman [00:47:51]:
What the. If it's a no, then what are we doing? Doesn't sound fun at all.
Lucas Underwood [00:47:56]:
I mean, I don't know. I mean.
David Roman [00:48:00]:
Sounds like it's serious and.
Brandon Jones [00:48:01]:
Heavy, and it's got information. It's leadership focused in the industry as well. What it is.
David Roman [00:48:07]:
So is it full of platitudes? You know, I got to the point now that I cannot listen to, like, business books. I want to come through listening to that audiobook. I want to come through and choke the living life out of that author. Like, what I really want to do, I don't want to physically attack him. What I want to do is I want to ingrain the nihilism that I feel. I want. I want to give that to you. Let me give this nihilism to you, and I just let me share this gift.
Lucas Underwood [00:48:41]:
Why is it bothering you so much?
David Roman [00:48:44]:
They're delusional. I'm sorry? They're delusional. Not you guys. But these people writing these books. You are nuts. Nuts. Tried to listen to this customer service book. I'll give you the name of it because it's trash.
David Roman [00:48:58]:
I tried. I really, I got in like 6 hours into it. I mean, that's quite a bit of time to put into a book. Yeah. Just to find out. It's not that I found it. I was just trying to muscle through it. I really was trying to give it a chance.
David Roman [00:49:11]:
Never lose a customer again. Joey coleman. I'm sorry. I have 6 hours left. That's what I meant. I just. The guy just. Customers love, you.
Brandon Jones [00:49:25]:
Know, talking books and customer service. I love taking references outside of our industry and pouring them back like excellent wins by Horace Schultz. He's the co founder of Ritz Carlton. And how that. Now I can't afford the state of Ritz Carlton. But.
David Roman [00:49:42]:
They have a few knockoffs. You stay at the knockoffs.
Brandon Jones [00:49:45]:
That one ties really well, I think, to how we serve our people. Right. Serve our guest, because we're both in the service industry at the end of the day. And there's another one. Good one for you. David is Will Goodaro. And it is unreasonable hospitality. He was one of the best restaurateurs.
David Roman [00:50:03]:
I think that one's been. I think that one's been recommended to. I think that was Kim Walker. The walkers, I don't want them to change. I don't want to share my nihilism with them because they like, they get into the whole books thing and they're sharing back and forth and stuff like that. It's everybody else they can say the way they are. Happy go lucky, sweet people. Everybody else, no, I gotta.
David Roman [00:50:25]:
I gotta ingrain this as you are deluding yourself. I just. Maybe I'm looking for a product that I can just. There you go. And they're happy to buy. That's why I was sitting Mac and cheese truck. But ice cream. Ice cream's good.
Brandon Jones [00:50:40]:
So tell you a quick story. Back in the day, I thought ice cream shop would have been the perfect because you tell me one person that leaves an ice cream shop that's not.
David Roman [00:50:49]:
Yeah.
Brandon Jones [00:50:49]:
Doesn't happen. But then, you know, when I was up in Chicago, they raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour. And I was like, how are you gonna be profitable?
David Roman [00:50:57]:
Right?
Lucas Underwood [00:50:57]:
Yeah.
David Roman [00:50:58]:
You call it artisan ice cream is what you do. And then you do like weird flavors.
Lucas Underwood [00:51:03]:
Oh, that.
David Roman [00:51:04]:
And then you're charging $17 for a little thing. Ice cream. Come on, let's do it like it's artisan.
Lucas Underwood [00:51:10]:
Is it? Where? Next to table in Kansas City. In that didn't table. The one that's on the corner where I stayed when I was in Kansas City last time, plate plate. That was it. There's a little ice cream shop right there. That place is insane.
David Roman [00:51:26]:
Was $17 for a little cup of ice cream.
Lucas Underwood [00:51:28]:
Like $24 for a little cup of ice cream.
David Roman [00:51:30]:
Yeah, it was good, though. You get into an affluent area, and it's hot all the time. Like, you wouldn't want to open one in Chicago. That's. That'd be miserable.
Brandon Jones [00:51:38]:
Houston, where I'm at now.
David Roman [00:51:39]:
Yeah, Houston. Houston be a great place for an ice cream shop. But you. You want to even call his ball something.
Lucas Underwood [00:51:45]:
Be like, yo, man, I think I'm out, dude.
David Roman [00:51:47]:
I think there's. There's a custard joint in Kansas City. They make the best ice cream. Andy's frozen custard. It is so flippin good. And the best thing they have. I don't. I avoid it entirely.
David Roman [00:52:03]:
Cause there's too many calories. I can't eat it. It's just. I'd rather eat a steakhouse. Right? They have one that they make out of biscoff cookie.
Lucas Underwood [00:52:13]:
Oh, man.
David Roman [00:52:15]:
You like biscoff cookies?
Brandon Jones [00:52:17]:
100%. That's one of the.
Lucas Underwood [00:52:18]:
That's the only reason I fly american.
Brandon Jones [00:52:20]:
Yeah. I was just gonna say. Come on.
David Roman [00:52:22]:
Okay, well, it is. It is their cookie butter, which is. Have you seen the jars of their cookie butter? It's kind of like peanut butter, but it tastes like biscoff cookies. Okay, so they. They make a hole in the middle of the custard, and they fill that entire section up with the cookie butter, and then they mix it with the crunchy bits of the biscoff cookie. It is so good. It is insane. It is freaking delicious.
Lucas Underwood [00:52:52]:
So let me tell you a funny story about that. We were in the keys, and it was right around Christmas, and we're down there for something. World pack or something advanced auto parts. I can't remember what it was. And here we are. And we go to Dairy Queen, and they had this, like, sugar cookie blizzard. And I said, oh, I want one of those. So I got one.
Lucas Underwood [00:53:17]:
I was like. I was telling my wife, I said, you know, I said, it is so rare for them to, like, mix one of these thoroughly and, like, get the mix in whatever they put in it, all the way through it, and, like, get it all the way to the bottom. I was like, they did such a good job on this one. It is so good. And then when I got to the end of it, I realized, like, the whole bottom of the cup was literally frosting. And she just, like, went, smooched it in and put ice cream on top of me? You're sucking frosting through the straw. I was like, dude, I think I'm getting a headache from this. This is, like the sweetest blizzard ever.
Lucas Underwood [00:53:58]:
You know how hard it is to get frosting up a straw? It's pretty tough.
David Roman [00:54:02]:
Anybody's gonna do it, it's you, big boy.
Lucas Underwood [00:54:05]:
That's right.
David Roman [00:54:11]:
If I had been smarter in a different life, I would have been the liquid death guys.
Brandon Jones [00:54:18]:
Oh, right. Charging, like, $7 for a can of water.
David Roman [00:54:21]:
For a can of water. But it's all marketing. It's all like, hey, cool design cans. Call it liquid death, and then run a sink. You're just selling, flipping water. Nothing else. It's just water. How do you get upset? Like, they see it on the shelf, they buy it.
David Roman [00:54:40]:
It's whatever looks cool. Done. It looks cool.
Lucas Underwood [00:54:43]:
You walk around, it goes into things that people want to do versus things that people don't want to do, and they. They will be far more comfortable paying for something that they want to do. Well, you know, you go to a stadium, and you look at a hot dogs, 25, $26, and they just fork that money out. Yet they come to my shop, and they're worried about the extra $10 for an air filter that's not made out of foam rubber and falls apart and gets sucked into the engine. You know what I'm saying? And they don't want to do that, but they'll go buy a $24 hot dog, and they'll buy all of this other stuff. You know, that. That's substantially more. And, you know, the family business has that dynamic as well, because it's about having fun.
Lucas Underwood [00:55:27]:
And so people go in there and spend substantial amounts of money. As long as my brother doesn't contribute at all to an 80% payroll, it works out pretty well. But Christ, I shouldn't have brought that up. Now I've got a headache.
Brandon Jones [00:55:44]:
But I think that goes to, what? Instant gratification. Like, you. You can taste and see a hot dog, right?
Lucas Underwood [00:55:50]:
Yeah.
Brandon Jones [00:55:51]:
And if it's from Chicago, it's probably really good.
Lucas Underwood [00:55:53]:
I don't know about that. I mean, maybe. Maybe there was some good food in Chicago.
David Roman [00:56:00]:
Chicago's got a. Before. Before you guys voted in beetlejuice and ruined the city. Even. Even when what's as nuts was running it, it was. I love Chicago. I love Chicago.
Lucas Underwood [00:56:15]:
That science museum is awesome.
David Roman [00:56:17]:
The sites, the restaurants. The best restaurants are in Chicago. All the best restaurants are in Chicago. The best pizza. I'm sorry, New York pizza. Crunchy. Whatever. No fantastic pizza in Chicago.
David Roman [00:56:33]:
Best hot dogs. Best italian beef. Chicago's fantastic. I love Chicago.
Lucas Underwood [00:56:38]:
Yeah, sports are.
David Roman [00:56:40]:
Sports teams are garbage. But I love.
Brandon Jones [00:56:42]:
I'm a White Sox fan.
David Roman [00:56:43]:
It's been a hot minute.
Brandon Jones [00:56:45]:
It's been a couple years. It's tough.
Lucas Underwood [00:56:48]:
Yeah. You definitely don't want to watch Bears games or Chicago.
David Roman [00:56:55]:
But they did. They just won.
Brandon Jones [00:56:56]:
I got a glimmer of hope. Come on.
David Roman [00:56:58]:
They won.
Lucas Underwood [00:56:59]:
It's been a while. I want to say Alex's grandfather is a huge fan. I think they think for the first time, they've done decent ranting and raving.
David Roman [00:57:13]:
Anyway, anyway, I just feel like you didn't fix us or me.
Lucas Underwood [00:57:17]:
Yeah, he wants a refund.
Brandon Jones [00:57:20]:
You know, I'd be more than happy to provide a refund right there. I'll refund you the entire cost.
Lucas Underwood [00:57:26]:
Hey, listen, I just need you to give him one piece of advice. Stop wearing the seventies jogger shorts over here. It's really uncomfortable. It's a really bad situation for all involved.
David Roman [00:57:38]:
Oh, they hike up. I don't know. They hike up.
Brandon Jones [00:57:42]:
Got some Daisy dukes going on over there.
Lucas Underwood [00:57:44]:
Luckily, there's nothing that's gonna show. But I mean, still.
David Roman [00:57:51]:
These are normal lens.
Lucas Underwood [00:57:52]:
I'm just saying, when they get up here and, like, you're seeing the white, tender thigh, you know, I.
David Roman [00:57:59]:
And really, it's because I needed him sun on the. I needed some sun on them. On them legs. They were getting a little pasty. I was gonna be in Florida. I'm like, wear some shorts. I did bring one pair of pants just to help you. I'm not gonna wear them, but because balls out there.
David Roman [00:58:16]:
It's terrible.
Lucas Underwood [00:58:18]:
So what did we accomplish with this recording?
Brandon Jones [00:58:22]:
I had a couple good laughs.
Lucas Underwood [00:58:23]:
Yeah, I got a couple good laughs, too. Did you get a couple good laughs?
David Roman [00:58:27]:
No. I feel, like, dead inside. It's terrible.
Lucas Underwood [00:58:31]:
Well, I mean, you are dead inside, so, I mean, I guess, like, it shouldn't. Isn't that how you're maybe kind of supposed to feel?
David Roman [00:58:38]:
I'm trying to spread it to everybody.
Lucas Underwood [00:58:40]:
It's not working.
David Roman [00:58:41]:
No, it's not.
Lucas Underwood [00:58:43]:
No, no. We can smell it, though. Oh, so you're telling me I should have waited to tell all the nasty stories until right now I don't want.
David Roman [00:58:57]:
To hear any nasty stories. Yeah, good.