[00:00:00] Matt Lewis: We first wanna spend money with our customers. 

[00:00:03] Shelby Lewis: We have our Lewis guarantee. Most cars get a three year, 36,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty and a five year, 60,000 mile powertrain warranty. We want to do more. 

[00:00:12] Matt Lewis: Could I sell 

[00:00:13] Shelby Lewis: somebody a car in Dallas? Yes, but I'm not advertising in Dallas. On every new car that you get, we double that.

It's free cost, like it's free 99. This is no like hidden fees. It is free unless you get your year's worth of maintenance. 

[00:00:26] Matt Lewis: Before we advertise in Bentonville, before we advertise in Fort Smith, have we taken care of our PMA, the people in our backyard?

[00:00:43] Cameron Clark: Well, good morning Lewis Brothers. Good morning. Um, why don't y'all all give an, an intro here. Just, uh, you know, so we've got this going on, but thanks for coming on with me and Nick this morning. Yeah. Um, really excited to hear the Lewis Ford story. 

[00:00:55] Shelby Lewis: Yeah, absolutely. I'm Shelby, I'm the, uh, the middle brother and we are the Lewis brothers, uh, of [00:01:00] Lewis Automotive Group.

So hopefully you learn a little bit about us, but yeah, I'm the middle guy. 

[00:01:04] Taylor Lewis: Taylor, the youngest brother, um, in the middle. All of it and help keep everything rolling. Uh, 

[00:01:11] Matt Lewis: I'm Matt, the oldest of the Lewis Brothers. Um, and as, as they said, we're in a family business here in northwest Arkansas. We grew up in the area, grew up out there in Prairie Grove.

Uh, so we've been Fayetteville residents and part of our Fayetteville family for, for a long time. 

[00:01:25] Cameron Clark: Mm. 

[00:01:26] Matt Lewis: Yeah. 

[00:01:26] Cameron Clark: Well, before we dive in, one thing that really kind of stuck out before we were talking, talking about just like the, your, what is it, fourth generation now? Mm-hmm. And just like the amount of like work ethic that's instilled, you know, generation to generation to keep this thing going.

What does it take to be successful, hyper competitive in the car business right now? In today's market? 

[00:01:45] Shelby Lewis: I think one of the biggest things, it's an everyday business, right? Like, so everyday business, every day you're gonna wake up with new problems, new challenges, new struggles. It's the same business, it's just a new customer or a new issue, or maybe there's a new [00:02:00] competitor in town, Hmm.

Or maybe the closest competitor decided, Hey, I need to be X amount less, whether it's an oil change or the price of a car, or they change the way that they do something. And so it's one of those things of working in the business and working on the business. And so each day you have to wake up with a fresh slate and say, Hey, who's out there trying to steal what we're trying to accomplish?

And one of you guys are on site here every day, is that right? Absolutely. Yeah. It's pretty rare that you're not gonna find us here. That's, that's just how we were raised. Like, and, and it's funny we were talking about that, but we're generally going to show you. Mm-hmm. Like, we're not going to tell you, and I'm talking about like us two employees, we're gonna show you how and have clear expectations.

And so learning to work on the business is creating plenty of procedures and. Uh, processes, you know, so it's generally not like, where's Shelby? You gotta figure out how to do this. Or Hey, where's Taylor? I need to know how to do this. But yes, 100% hands on. And that's for the employees and that's for the customers as well, so [00:03:00] that it's different than corporate America.

Mm. Not that that's bad, but that's just not us. It's who you are. Yeah. And why is 

[00:03:06] Cameron Clark: that? 

[00:03:09] Matt Lewis: Um, one, it's been ingrained into us for generations, you know, of we grew up working 

[00:03:17] Cameron Clark: Yeah. 

[00:03:17] Matt Lewis: And we just worked. And if you study the most successful people out there, whether it's business or sports or you can take any category and, and behind all the success, and you rewind the years before the success happened, they were working.

[00:03:34] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. 

[00:03:35] Matt Lewis: They were putting in the work. Yeah. And, and I tell people this too, when I, when I speak at the university to try to give 'em a clear picture, you're gonna have to work. 

[00:03:44] Cameron Clark: Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:03:45] Matt Lewis: You know, you gotta put in the work today if you want the payout tomorrow. Too many people wanna not put the work out today in then moan and groan and complain that they're not getting the payout tomorrow, but they hadn't put the work in.

[00:03:57] Taylor Lewis: Sure. 

[00:03:57] Matt Lewis: Like, I don't care what AI tools and what [00:04:00] technology out there, you have to put the work in. And especially if you're starting up a business, you, you need to sit down with your spouse or your significant other and talk about, hey, these next three years at minimum. We're gonna have to make some sacrifices.

Mm-hmm. 

[00:04:14] Cameron Clark: Yeah. 

[00:04:15] Matt Lewis: We're reinvesting our money. We're not taking a salary, we're not doing this. We're not, we're not going on vacation. Our friends are gonna call. And if that doesn't sound appetizing to you, that's okay. You're probably not built to be an entrepreneur. 

[00:04:29] Cameron Clark: Yeah. 

[00:04:30] Matt Lewis: You know, 

[00:04:31] Cameron Clark: I mean, it's, it's funny how you say that though.

It's like, 'cause y'all are fourth generation. It's like you think no about that. Hey, it's, it's okay. Like we can put our foot off the gas finding in car business. But, but for, because of what, you know, our dad did, dad, dad did all, all, all, all of that. It, but you don't feel like, you don't feel like that, 

[00:04:52] Taylor Lewis: that that probably comes from the continued process that's put into place that, [00:05:00] and I have multiple friends, Shelby does Matt as well, that have been in multi-generational businesses and they forget A, B, C and they go straight to D whenever they come into the business.

And it's frustrating whenever you're in a family business 'cause you're growing up and this is what you want to do and you see all the great things about it and, and dream about it whenever you're growing up and you're like, I'm gonna move straight into that. And it. Nope. Here you go. Starting to wash bay.

[00:05:26] Cameron Clark: Yeah. 

[00:05:26] Taylor Lewis: Go ahead and start in parts. You're like, well, no, hold on. I'm, I'm family. Why, why am I starting here? Like, but no, that's what then makes you thankful. It helps you weather the storm of going through all that. So that's, yeah. That's gotta be what's, I 

[00:05:42] Shelby Lewis: think it was one of the things, and like if you ask my dad the most down to earth person you'll ever meet, right?

Like, you never pick him out of a crowd. He's the most humble guy in the world. And he'd park at the back of the parking lot, drive the most basic simple vehicle, just Sam Walton style person, [00:06:00] right? Mm-hmm. And um, if someone showed up on our new campus and said, this is amazing. Like the first thing he's gonna do is not take any credit for it, like zero credit for it.

He's gonna be like, the boys did this, right? And so it was a thing for us, it was opportunity when he gave us the green light that said that you're next generation right now. This was after we'd put 15 to 17 to 20 years into this, right? He gave us a little bit and said, what can you do with this a little bit more?

What can you do with that? And so we proved our worth that we weren't just gonna explode it. And, you know, uh, so then it was like, well, you know why we're not coasting because we'd gone this far with his direction. Right? But that was his direction and what he had done for us and my uncle's direction, what he had done.

So we didn't wanna stay the same, like sustainability was not the same. And so it's like, okay, we're at this level. How do we get to the next level, next level? You know? And that was, and if you knew us from the [00:07:00] old dealership to this dealership, you would visually see next level difference. And so when people see it and we give you a tour, and if it's a proper tour, it's two to three hours.

If it's Matt, really it could be a five, five hour tour. Um, it's hard to do a short 'cause we spent 10 years and a hundred different places that we went to research. How does traffic flow? Where did the employees go? How did the customers know how to do this? And it was like fully broken down. And so then we're so passionate.

'cause when it's time for next level, it had to be next level. If no one gave you a tour, you would be like, this is different. 

[00:07:36] Cameron Clark: Yeah. 

[00:07:37] Matt Lewis: Let me, let me jump on on one piece there about the cruise. 'cause I think that's important for everybody to understand. That's very easy when you're in a mature business like ours.

Yep, yep. You know, even though I've been in the business now for over 20 years, we'll rewind the tape from 79. Use 20. That's easy math. 59 years. I mean, a business is pretty established after 59 years. 

[00:07:58] Taylor Lewis: Mm-hmm. 

[00:07:58] Matt Lewis: But just because you've been in [00:08:00] business for 59 years, just because you're established does not guarantee your future.

And if you'll look at the stats. What you said makes a lot of sense with the stats. If you look at the stats, less than 5% of businesses made it to the fourth generation. 

[00:08:16] Taylor Lewis: Yeah. So when you 

[00:08:17] Matt Lewis: think about that, you're like, well, why is that Too many people hit cruise. 

[00:08:21] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. 

[00:08:22] Matt Lewis: Too many people hit cruise and then they were bought out by large corporations.

Mm-hmm. 

[00:08:27] Cameron Clark: Well, it's the, you know, what's the biggest, uh, enemy of future success? Current success. Right. Like it's cl clearly you all know that. Yeah. Clearly you understand that and believe it and live it. Um, 

[00:08:36] Matt Lewis: I think what we've really had to talk, you know, amongst the third generation in our board and ourselves, and even our managers that have been with us for a long time, is, is just because what we did in the past worked doesn't mean it's gonna get us to where we want to go in the future.

[00:08:51] Cameron Clark: Mm 

[00:08:52] Matt Lewis: mm Now it got us to where we were, everything we did across town, all that hard work that got us to this opportunity level. Mm-hmm. [00:09:00] It worked. We're in this amazing facility right now. We are, but that necessarily isn't gonna to get us to the business plan to make this amazing facility compute. 

[00:09:08] Cameron Clark: Yeah.

Well, let's, let's talk about the past. Let's, let's talk about what did, what did work? How did we get here? Um, so great grandfather was this first stepping stone. Yeah. About that. So I 

[00:09:18] Shelby Lewis: guess let's, and we'll just break it piece by piece, but, so 1946, uh, my great. Great, great. Whatever. How many ever that is Grandfather Buck.

Buck Lewis. Great grandma. Yeah. Um, they were at Lewis. Brother Hardware was established on the square and there was, uh, a good handful, I think five brothers. Mm-hmm. Um, square in Fayetteville, Fayville Square. Yep. And, uh, it was a business opportunity. It was Absu Bryant Ford at the time. And he had heard through the grapevine that they possibly would want to sell a portion of the business.

So, uh, they had their hands kind of in a little bit of everything and he said, Hey, this is good business opportunity. So, uh, at the time you could fit six cars. It was multi-level. You know, there was a basement you could drive [00:10:00] down into kind of the shop, uh, but parking lot, uh, you could fit six cars. And so that, that was kind of how it got started.

Uh, and then my grandfather and his brother quickly started working there. Um, they had much more interest in the end than he did. Uh, and so he said, okay, well here's your opportunity to start growing. Yep. Um, and that's kind of where it started. And then you bet grew from there. 

[00:10:24] Matt Lewis: It's kind of fun when you go, you know, if you're a native of Fayetteville or if you're going around the square, looking at history.

So what Shelby refers to at first, that Lewis Brothers Hardware, that was in the 1980s. 

[00:10:36] Cameron Clark: Yeah. 

[00:10:37] Matt Lewis: I, I'm sorry. The 1880s. 1880s. Eighties. 1880s. And it was Lewis Brothers Hardware. And that was the hardware store you used to go for your appliances. That was the Walmart of the time. And you know, your Christmas gifts that is now the Bank of Fayetteville.

Yeah. Right on the square. Which we'll get to that part of the story of where half the family stayed in banking and the other half went to automotive. Mm-hmm. But [00:11:00] that St. Louis Brothers Hardware is the bank of Fayetteville now. Wow. Yeah. You know? 

[00:11:04] Shelby Lewis: Yeah. So then Bank of Fayetteville, that was another brother, John Lewis that decided, Hey, I'd like to do this.

So he started that and I think it was one year before, I think it was 1945. It's one year before, or one year after. When he went to McElroy. When he went to McElroy. And so that, yeah. When he went to McElroy and then decided, Hey, I wanna build Bank of Fayetteville. Yeah. Um, yeah. So that was, so they started there and, yeah.

'cause his, you know, his 

[00:11:28] Matt Lewis: dad, um, buck, like Shelby was talking about, he was a banker. Yep. Mm-hmm. He, he was a banker. He bought the Ford business, rapture Bryant as a investment. 

[00:11:39] Cameron Clark: Okay. And then 

[00:11:40] Matt Lewis: two of his sons, he had four sons, two of his sons, Tom and Herb went into automotive, John f his footsteps in banking.

[00:11:47] Cameron Clark: And it's always been Ford from day day one. It was a, that was the original. Yep. Yep, 

[00:11:52] Matt Lewis: yep, yep. That was the original. 

[00:11:54] Cameron Clark: And talk about how, so how did the, so that was kind of iteration one. Yep. What, what happened next? What was the next domino that we, [00:12:00] we gotta talk about the move 

[00:12:00] Matt Lewis: next. 

[00:12:01] Cameron Clark: Yeah. And 

[00:12:02] Matt Lewis: in 69. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:12:03] Shelby Lewis: So in 69 they moved to where, like where Whole Foods is right now? Yeah. Um, just south of that. Uh, and it's funny, so originator, buck. Tom and Herb were ready to, they needed more space, right? Yeah. Six cars on the showroom were on the, was just not working. And so they saw opportunity and at that time it was a dirt road.

Wow. And they said, Hey, here's where we wanna move. It was the furthest north, I think they could go to be in Fayetteville without going down that hill. And it looked like a good vantage point. And the land was available and he said, you're moving out to the country this, because think where the square is.

I don't know how far that is. It was probably five miles probably. So, uh, you know, cars weren't moving as fast back then. The roads weren't all established and it's like, you're moving to the country, this is a bad move. Um, but it was kinda like, you know, probably the generational thing of like dad saying, Hey, if that's what you feel you need to do, let her rip.

Yeah. So that was in 69 and built a, built a humongous [00:13:00] store in comparison to where they were, you know, moved to, what was that store Ended up being just shy of 40,000, 30,000. And I guess it came in phases. Yeah. So 

[00:13:08] Matt Lewis: when we ended up, like before we moved, it was like 28,000, 28 changes. It was sub 30,000, but that had our collision center in it as well.

Yeah. Which we'll talk about the progression of that business to come. Um, but you know, when they moved out there in 69, it was just, it was just the Ford building. Mm-hmm. Then there was a little house next to it. Okay. So that little house next to it was where my parents grew up. Wow. You know? 'cause my dad was working, remember we talked about that working?

There's no trust fund, there's no allowance. He's working all right to pay for rent to live there. And that's where they washed the cars too. Yeah. Wow. So that's where they first started off. Mm-hmm. You know, so after 69 we moved there like Shelby. Large, large facility for back in the day, the mall was just being built there.

Okay. That's back when in northwest Arkansas when you drove from Fayetteville to Springdale or [00:14:00] Springdale to Rogers, there was actually country land in between. Yeah. 

[00:14:03] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. Yeah. 

[00:14:04] Matt Lewis: You know, it wasn't as consistent of welcome to welcome to Welcome to You actually hit some counties. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. You know, and some countries there, so, you know, they took a big leap of faith.

Yeah. You know, and it, it's fun to reflect back now 'cause we'll talk about where we're sitting, uh, farther in this podcast, but they took a big leap of faith. Yeah. Mm-hmm. 

[00:14:22] Cameron Clark: So, I mean, that was a good, was it 60 years of that location? I mean Yeah. From there to here? Yeah. That was 50 something. 

[00:14:28] Shelby Lewis: Yeah. 50. Yeah. 52 or something like that.

Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Okay. Yeah. So that, that, uh, as we said, that building didn't know us anything. Right. You know, we, we kept fresh paint on it and recoded the parking lot every five or six years, you know. Yeah. But it didn't know us anything, you know? Yeah. 

[00:14:44] Matt Lewis: So at that point in time, when they opened up the, the Ford and Fayetteville, Tom and Herb were the two that were running it.

So they were the two brothers. 

[00:14:51] Taylor Lewis: Okay. 

[00:14:52] Matt Lewis: So you see this theme of Lewis Brothers and why we bring up the hardware store is 'cause it was called Lewis Brothers Hardware. 

[00:14:58] Cameron Clark: Oh wow. Mm-hmm. 

[00:14:58] Matt Lewis: Okay. You know, so back in the late [00:15:00] 18 hundreds, it was Lewis Brothers Hardware. Mm-hmm. And then the Lewis brothers, Tom and Herb got into the business Yep.

Of automotive. Uh, so it's just continued in this Lewis Brothers of different business areas here in northwest Arkansas. 

[00:15:13] Cameron Clark: It's funny you say that as like a local, it's in kind of, it's ingrained in my mind. I don't know, Lewis Brothers Uhhuh like that. It's, yeah, I don't, it's like that's, there's a reason behind that.

Yeah. And, and that's kind of where we 

[00:15:24] Shelby Lewis: grabbed it from, was like, Hey, we need to rebrand. Yeah. You know, without getting away from current branding, but it's like, Hey, let's rebrand. Like, so, so there's connection to all the people that don't know us and then the people that do know us, here's what's different, right?

Mm-hmm. And so then that's where that connection from years ago came from. It's like, why not, you know, bring that back to surface and the Lewis Brothers, 'cause that's us now, you know? Sure. So that, that was a cool thing to be able to do, 

[00:15:50] Matt Lewis: I think, in any of these ventures of business as we keep stepping through the different years.

The common theme, the common theme besides the Lewis Brothers [00:16:00] is businesses right here in Northwest Arkansas. Then reinvesting and help people grow in northwest Arkansas. You know, my Uncle John, who then did the Bank of Fayetteville, you know, which a lot of talk's been about that lately because they're just now moving the train, the train mm-hmm.

Places. Yeah. That was his idea of being different. So he found these own train cars mm-hmm. To be different branches of the bank. Wow. Um, then, you know, through the building of, of the library and, and then the different fire departments and then, you know, helping with the, whether it be the chili pepper or uh mm-hmm.

McDonald doing the track. I mean, it goes on and on of how can we keep pouring into the city of Fayetteville in northwest Arkansas. In fact, I can't remember which year it was, but John Lewis was named Mr. Fayetteville. 

[00:16:46] Cameron Clark: Oh. Because of 

[00:16:46] Matt Lewis: all the philanthropy he had done, you know, with, with our family. Mm-hmm.

Growing. And that's the difference, and we'll talk about it, but that's the difference of a locally owned family business. Mm-hmm. 

[00:16:57] Cameron Clark: Yeah. 

[00:16:57] Matt Lewis: Is, is the revenue's generating as being [00:17:00] reinvested right back into the local community? 

[00:17:02] Cameron Clark: Hmm. Well keep, keep going. So we've got the, the North Faval location was established, it was country.

How, how did the business kind of evolve over the, over those years to get where you're now? So the next 

[00:17:15] Shelby Lewis: progression, 69 was when that Forded store was there. Probably the next is gonna be the CDJR, um, that, you know, and it was not Jeep at the time, it was Chrysler, Dodge Plymouth, I guess. Okay. That was in the early 

[00:17:26] Matt Lewis: eighties.

Yeah. So that was around 87, 88. 

[00:17:29] Shelby Lewis: Yeah. So they were able to get that built on that location. You know, that's where one of the houses was. And they'd still kept the house. They had a used car, uh, like a truck center that was in front of there. Um, so that was the next growth platform to have that. Um, and explaining for someone who's not familiar with the car 

[00:17:46] Cameron Clark: industry, you have, you have like a franchise.

The the 

[00:17:48] Shelby Lewis: territory. 

[00:17:49] Cameron Clark: Yep. 

[00:17:49] Shelby Lewis: And then, and Yep. So think about, uh, and that's one of the things in construction, there was so many things that we had to uphold standards on basics. So they give the territory that says, Hey, you're in [00:18:00] charge of this locality. 

[00:18:01] Cameron Clark: Hmm. 

[00:18:01] Shelby Lewis: Right. Uh, and so they've grown. To have more dealers and then they've shrunk it back down.

Okay. They like realize, hey, we need more, more, more. Then they realize more didn't equal more sales. Yeah. Uh, and then it was too much. Uh, and so like our locality for our Fayetteville store covers Fayetteville, east Fayetteville, and it goes south down to kind of West Fork Winslow, and then goes out to Farmington, Prairie Grove Weddington.

Uh, so that's our locality. Uh, so they give you that and you know, you, you pay the manufacturer, you know, for franchise and then you need to look to their standards. You know, McDonald's needs to look like McDonald's. Mm-hmm. Uh, those were much looser back then, you know. Sure. Um, and those, those changed and we went through that.

So yeah, you have to be within that, what they call a PMA of your locality. Um, so that's the franchise part to it. Okay. Just saying, you all pulled these standards, we'll send you the product and then you, you know, you do the rest of it from there and there's a million pieces [00:19:00] to that, but, um, and so you're bringing 

[00:19:01] Cameron Clark: on new brands.

Yep. And, um, just, Hey, we can, we can sell more, there's more opportunity. We can do more 

[00:19:08] Shelby Lewis: on the lot. Yeah. Um, it's one of those things, once you know how to do one thing, you're like, Hey, we've got this kind of figured out. What if we had another brand? And I think initially it was, I know eventually when the third store.

It was because of the people that were in there. It was like, Hey, what if they could all have their own store? Right. And so then that was where the CDJR store came, that was on the same property, uh, in the eighties. And then the, the Springdale Ford store, which is a norther further north locality, um, there was an opportunity to buy that.

Um, bought that from Bobby Hopper. Uh, Bobby Hopper Tunnel. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, that was an opportunity and investment, um, and said, okay, we know how to do Ford here. We know how to do CDJR. It's close enough. That's our, that's our main theme of being close. Mm-hmm. So we can still be in the store, be hands on, customer gets the fill, [00:20:00] employees get the fill, and it just makes sense.

So, and, and that was in the eighties as well, right? Yeah, 

[00:20:04] Matt Lewis: so Springdale Ford was in 83 when we got that from Bobby Hopper. And at that point in time, then there were the third generations and there were three of them that got in the business. 

[00:20:16] Shelby Lewis: Yeah. So that was Tommy, Tim, our dad, and Andy. Okay. 

[00:20:20] Matt Lewis: Yeah. So Andy was, was herb's son.

Yep. And then Tommy and Tim were, uh, Tom's sons. 

[00:20:27] Cameron Clark: Yep. 

[00:20:27] Matt Lewis: So at that point in time before then our management company evolved is, is our dad, Tim. He was over the Ford building in Fayetteville. And then our uncle then at that point in time, which was his older brother, moved over to the Chrysler store when we'd opened it up to run it.

Mm-hmm. That's Tommy. Uh, and then Andy was running the Springdale Ford store. 

[00:20:48] Cameron Clark: Yeah. 

[00:20:49] Matt Lewis: So those were kind of the three pillars before we started branching off into any of our other areas of business. And then our management company started. 

[00:20:56] Cameron Clark: Mm. And so, so y'all are growing up, your dad's got that, [00:21:00] that store uncle's got the other one you spread out.

Talk about growing up in the business, how did you, you know, each one of you made a decision to, to work in the business? Um, yeah. Other family members didn't like, why, why did you choose to be in the business and, you know, what's, what started that for you personally? 

[00:21:15] Matt Lewis: So let's, let's first start at just working in the business from an early age, and then let's come to that question.

Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, because there's, there's two stages there and there's a lot to talk about. So, um, you know, first, first just working in the business. You started on Saturdays or or after school, mom would drop us off, you know, just to be around. 

[00:21:33] Taylor Lewis: Mm-hmm. 

[00:21:33] Matt Lewis: To be around. And I can remember, you know, just some of the early, early jobs is back then, conversion vans were a big thing.

Y'all remember those? Yes. Mm-hmm. Yeah. You know, the conversion vans. So my job on a Saturday was I had the conversion vans all flared out, opened up air on, ready to go, you know, Nintendo playing on there so the kids could get involved, parents could see. I was like in charge of the conversion [00:22:00] van area. Wow.

And I would invite the kids when I saw them at parents, Hey, come try out this video game. Check out this. I'd have a movie playing on one and Nintendo playing on another. And you know, just, Hey, 

[00:22:11] Cameron Clark: you make sure the kids have a good time. We'll 

[00:22:12] Shelby Lewis: take care. We'll make sure they buy the car. Like merchandising one on one.

Yeah. So, I mean, that was one of those things there started. 

[00:22:18] Matt Lewis: And then we, you know, we all grew up. Driving way before we, it was legal to drive. Oh yeah. We were on private property. I mean, we're on a farm, 

[00:22:25] Taylor Lewis: so, you know, it was just like, that was always fun. Whenever there was a new employee that was like, Hey, hey, there's a kid in that vehicle out front moving.

What are they doing? Steering Well, uh, don't mess with him. He is 

[00:22:35] Matt Lewis: just fine. So it was that, you know, the other job was making sure you don't even see these anymore, but making sure all the brochure racks were filled with all the different literature. You, you think about that stuff that just goes by the wayside.

[00:22:49] Taylor Lewis: Yeah. 

[00:22:50] Matt Lewis: But you know, we were in charge of that, putting balloons up that the popcorn machine was ready to go. Jumping back, helping the wash 

[00:22:57] Taylor Lewis: bay. Yeah. I don't know why. It was probably something [00:23:00] weird, but we play, but it wasn't like I wanna play video games and sleeping and cartoons on Saturday. It was like, Hey mom, can I please go with dad to work?

I I, and you had to have chores or whatever else done because you knew what, if you got there. It was, you got to wash cars, you got to move cars. You got to be a part of all the madness of everything going on. And it was ultimately, that's what drove us into, Hey, we, we want to do this. I mean, we were genuinely excited about like, Hey, let's go to work.

Let's go to work with dad and figure out, we'd just, he'd say, Hey, go work on this. And then you would just be in your own. Whole little zone area, everything else. 

[00:23:38] Matt Lewis: Yeah. So how he ingrained into this, I'm just sitting here thinking about like, those days that we worked, you know, all day long and, and it was fun.

We were enjoying it, but then it was like, I don't know, every once in a while we'd get ice cream for working or something. Yeah, no, we, we, 

[00:23:51] Shelby Lewis: we weren't getting paid for those, you know, so 

[00:23:54] Matt Lewis: everybody out there that thinks, oh, it must be nice. Oh really? Yeah. 

[00:23:58] Shelby Lewis: But it was, it was, it was a thing. [00:24:00] So we talk about that, of having those conversations with your family and now us having kids is understanding that like you, you had to be there before everyone else and you had to be there after everyone else.

Uh, and so family time was not a lot. Right? Greatest family, greatest dad in the world, right? Mm-hmm. Uh, but you're ding to Don like Monday through Saturday. Uh, so if you wanted to hang out with dad, you're gonna work. You're gonna work, right? Mm-hmm. And you did, you know, like dad's your hero. So, but then I'm thinking now, like when my kids, 'cause my oldest is like, dad, can I go to work with you, dad?

Can I go to work with you? Um, all those things. And the funny thing the other day, he was like, dad, he came to work with me on a Saturday. And he's like, we just walked in the same circle three different times and didn't do anything different. I was like. Well, son, that's my job. Like I get to go around and check on all the people, make sure everybody's got a smile on their face, make sure [00:25:00] everybody's doing okay.

How's their family? Yeah. Are the brochure, you know, thinking of those things, that's what dad was doing and the things that no one else would do or didn't want to do. Mm-hmm. You know, he is like, oh, this would be great for my kid. Right. He'll have fun with it. This person hates it. Let her rips. So those were the days before we could drive.

Yeah. Uh, but then when it came time to like, Hey, I actually want to work intentionally. Not that those weren't intentional, I wanna work intentionally. I remember it and everyone has kind of the same story, but a different story. We all got hardships when we were 14 so we could drive, like, we'd been driving since we were little kids, like, felt like we could drive better than anybody.

Right. Probably couldn't. But, uh, so we had driver's license to drive to school to go to football. Yep. And it was like, Hey, can we have a job? And he's like, yeah, I think getting a job would be a great thing. I was like, okay, you know, where should I work? And he's like, I don't know, you just need to go apply and see.

I was like, okay, who should I go see? He's like, [00:26:00] I mean, like, you just figure out what you, you know, wherever you want to work. And I was like, I wanna work at Lewis. And he is like, oh, you need to go work somewhere else first. He's like. All right. So at the time our grandfather had bought a rock quarry and I was 14 years old, uh, didn't have a vehicle.

Um, I was saving up to buy a vehicle. 

[00:26:19] Cameron Clark: Yeah. 

[00:26:20] Shelby Lewis: You know, I know what you're thinking. Or someone out there is thinking is like, oh man, just go pick anything off the lot. No, dad said, Hey, you save up your money and whatever you save up, I'll double. Right. Yeah. Use nice stuff. Sale double, you know, so whatever we saved up before, that's what we could buy.

Um, but I remember 14 years old during the summer, I went and worked at the rock quarry and I've never worn through a pair of gloves or still toe boots so fast. 

[00:26:42] Cameron Clark: Wow. 

[00:26:43] Shelby Lewis: I worked there for two summers and I would get up, pack my lunch and leave the house at 4 45 to 5:00 AM on my four wheeler, and ride about six miles on dirt roads to get there.

And then got thrown up with, thrown into with a [00:27:00] bunch of grown adults out there, and it was literally with a forklift lifting the rocks outta the ground. And one year I worked in the field and stacked rocks. Here's the two inch rocks, here's the three inch rocks, here's the four inch rocks. And then the next year they bought this crazy machine that would cut rocks and it was so they were selling cut stone.

And so I worked there and I remember falling asleep on that assembly line like. About to get my hand cut off and they, you know, they would all holler at me and I was like, oh my gosh. And I remember first week or two I'd go home, find an AC event, take the register outta the ACCE event and fall asleep in my face on this thing.

No way. And I was like, dad, can I get a job at work? He's like, you're doing so good. And I was like, there's something else out there. This is awful. So there was, I did that for two summers, uh, riding my four-wheeler. Wow. You know, making, you know, not much money at all. But I was making money and I was a kid and it didn't matter, but I was like, I do not wanna work with my hands.

And we are hard worker and we [00:28:00] grew up on a farm and we had to clean the horse stalls and feed the horses before we went to school. But I was like, this is not how I see my future being. Yeah. So I was like, dad, I need another job. And he is like, yeah, go find you another job. I was just like, what in the heck dude?

Yeah. Uh, so through high school I worked at Lowe's. I worked in the lumber yard, so, uh, did all the things there. They had air conditioning, so that was an upgrade. Right. Uh, but it's still manual labor. So it wasn't until after I went to college the first summer, he's like, Hey, you can work in the dealership.

Lemme put you in the parts warehouse upstairs where it's 138 degrees. Yeah. Because it wasn't air condition like it is now. No. The parts manager had a thermometer up there so he could laugh about how hot it was up there. He is like, Hey, see those catalogs up there from 47 all the way to now. Will you reorganize those?

And a couple weeks later he's like, Hey, can you do those backwards? And it was like, yeah, whatever. Yeah, sure. So it was that. And then the next summer it was in sales, and then it was in service. And so that's how then we got in it. [00:29:00] But it was a school of hard knocks and not, 'cause my dad didn't love us, you know?

But it was just like, you need to understand that this is a privilege and you need to earn this. Mm-hmm. And you have to earn the respect of all the employees, and you also need to know how all this stuff works. 

[00:29:16] Taylor Lewis: Mm-hmm. That's, that's the biggest ticket that that can't be talked. And you look back at it now, we were talking about this the other day in the podcast.

It was like, okay, I appreciate it now. Sure. But as a young kid starting, he didn't tell us everything that we were gonna have to go through. No, no. Because we would've never started, we never knew. Step two or three people would've never started. We would've said, heck no. I'm, I mean, and we're grateful now.

Yes, we probably would've still went through it, but one, it's like running a long race. I don't really want to see what everything is down the road, because you would never wanna start it. Yeah, yeah. But once you get to the very end of it, you're like, God, I'm glad 

[00:29:54] Cameron Clark: I did that. Yeah. Mm-hmm. I'm 

[00:29:55] Taylor Lewis: glad I did that because on the flip of a switch, we can get [00:30:00] called from any department in this business and it's like, okay, I can fumble my way back through, even though it's been several years since I've done that.

I'm knowledge, I know what's going on. Yeah. Yes. And you have the respect from employees because any new ones that come on, I laugh when we're. Plowing the parking lot for him. They're like, what are they doing? And then employees that have been with us for years are like, oh, they do that every time it snows.

Mm-hmm. That that's what, and they said, well, why don't they have someone else do it? I said, well, that's just not their culture. 

[00:30:27] Shelby Lewis: Yeah. It is just one of those things laid by example. Right? Yeah. And we've had to work on scalability of that. 'cause you can't just do all things Sure. And lead by example in those.

But there's, there's trust and there there's respect earned there. And it's like, Hey, they're gonna show you how, you know, they're not just going to tell you. And so it was, I laugh all the time. So you think of the old school classic movie Tommy Boy. Yeah. You know where David Spade's, like, oh, look at the new guy.

He's been here for five minutes and he's got an office with a corner and a window view. Right. That was not, uh, that's [00:31:00] not the case. And he just got the fan like, la la la, la and just like playing with stuff that was not us. Yeah. Like, and we're super privileged. Uh, didn't seem like that at the time, but we were humbled pretty quickly and just kind of kept trudging along.

So I think that, yeah, each one of them had their stories, but 

[00:31:19] Matt Lewis: I think that was ingrained. Not, I think, I know that was ingrained into us early on, like, Hey, if you want to go into this business, you need to understand a couple things. You're gonna have to work and earn the respect of everybody. 

[00:31:33] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. 

[00:31:33] Matt Lewis: And the proof.

That you should go to the next position. 

[00:31:37] Cameron Clark: Yeah. 

[00:31:37] Matt Lewis: The next thing is you're gonna have to work twice as hard as anybody else, and you're gonna be under a microscope for everything you do. 

[00:31:46] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. 

[00:31:47] Matt Lewis: Everything, whether you signed up for it or not, it's part of being the family. 

[00:31:52] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. Except it. 

[00:31:52] Matt Lewis: And, and, and we saw that during school, even growing up too.

Even our, you know, our, our close friends that knew us and knew the journey that we had [00:32:00] gone through on cleaning the horse stalls and working summer jobs and not spending any of that money so we could afford to buy a car. They understood 

[00:32:08] Taylor Lewis: that. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. But 

[00:32:09] Matt Lewis: everybody else, the faculty, the teachers, the other students are like, oh, it must be nice.

Yeah. Oh, you go pick that one up from the dealership. 

[00:32:18] Cameron Clark: Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:32:18] Matt Lewis: And you know, it is funny 'cause like Shelby talked about, you know, we have kids now, so I'm now having that conversation with our kids. You know, my oldest the other day, somehow one of the faculty, uh, came around and said, it must be nice that you get your a thousand dollars allowance each week.

That's a thousand dollars allowance. You don't get any allowance. Zero. If you weed eat the entire yard, you'll get five bucks. I mean, that's what's on their charted chores. Yeah, yeah. You know, um, so it, it's something that you gotta grasp ahold of. And I was explaining to him, I said, you know, your actions speak louder than your words.

You just keep doing the work and people will see. 

[00:32:57] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. 

[00:32:57] Matt Lewis: And, and we, we talk about a bunch [00:33:00] in this business, you ask if one of us is here at all times, well really all of us is. Mm-hmm. That's, that's the correct way to say that. Yeah. And we go by the slogan of, you'll see the name Lewis on the building, but you all also find a Lewis in the building.

Mm-hmm. Wow. You know? And that's from a customer standpoint, that's from an employee standpoint. That's why we haven't expanded, and y'all haven't asked us this yet, but we haven't expanded into Oklahoma or Missouri or Texas because we want to be within a short drive. I wanna be home in to have our Yeah.

To have our presence there to support airplane. 'cause any business out there, something's gonna come up. A new variable's gonna come up. Yeah. 

[00:33:38] Cameron Clark: Yeah. 

[00:33:38] Matt Lewis: That you gotta work through. And we got story after story on those. But that's any business. And if you don't have your thumb on it and you're not engaged, you could miss the mark on how you're gonna adjust.

Mm-hmm. 

[00:33:50] Nick Beyer: So how are y'all balancing scalability with being extremely diligent in the business? How do those things for, for business owners who are, who are walking that [00:34:00] same path? Yeah. And they're like, I want to scale. Here are the goals I have in front of me. How do you balance those two things you 

[00:34:04] Matt Lewis: really have to do?

We're, we're constantly, we don't have a hundred percent of that figured out. Let me just tell you right now. But since we've moved for sure, we had to learn a lot. And I first gotta put this in a little bit of context, we're jumping ahead, but let me say this. We went from nine acres and about 36, 30 8,000 total square feet to 26 acres, and now over 160,000 square feet.

[00:34:28] Cameron Clark: Wow. Yeah. 

[00:34:29] Matt Lewis: We went from about four or 500 parking spots to 1,730 parking spots. 

[00:34:34] Cameron Clark: Hmm. 

[00:34:36] Matt Lewis: So that's exciting. Yeah. That's exciting. But with that, you are really pushing yourself out of a comfort zone. Mm-hmm. We're not on cruise control. 

[00:34:44] Taylor Lewis: Yeah. 

[00:34:44] Matt Lewis: And we've talked about this, it's almost like we've started over. Yeah.

Mm-hmm. Now we started over at a different level. Yeah. Yeah. Than my grandfather or great-grandfather. But it's back to, hey, we've gotta analyze every part of our scalability. Mm-hmm. What are we doing? How are we turning [00:35:00] the rains loose and letting other people and empowering them. And that's been the toughest part I know for me.

Oh 

[00:35:05] Taylor Lewis: yeah. And 

[00:35:05] Matt Lewis: y'all talked about it too, is just allowing somebody else to run with it. 

[00:35:10] Cameron Clark: Hmm. 

[00:35:11] Matt Lewis: And here's the trick. They may have a different path to get there. 

[00:35:15] Cameron Clark: Yep. Oh 

[00:35:17] Matt Lewis: man. And that's the frustrating part for an entrepreneur. 'cause as soon as like you let go, but you're like sitting there hovering over it.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. And they take a right turn where you would've taken a left turn, let 'em turn. No. 

[00:35:27] Cameron Clark: Yeah. But 

[00:35:28] Matt Lewis: they're gonna take another left turn where you had to take a right turn. Yeah. Then to get to the end goal up here, both of you got to where they were. Both of 'em were ethically, morally. You did it financially the right way.

It was just a different route. That's okay. And I'm telling myself that right now. That's okay. That's a, that's 

[00:35:46] Shelby Lewis: a big thing in our scale and we talk about this constantly, um, is we had to transition a good amount from working in the business of touching each piece to working on the business to be [00:36:00] able to push down to say, these people that are taking the left turns to the right turn.

Mm-hmm. And still understand our core values of treating people how you want to be treated. You know, taking care of everyone that they might go about it a different way, but we could take a person that's gonna do 70% of what you do and have three or four or five of those and you just three x or four x what you could do.

And it allows you to see a little bit further down the tracks. Yeah. And, and prepare for an inventory shortage. You're prepare for when increased cost of things come up. 'cause you're working on that instead of Mrs. Smith who's right in front of you that wants to buy a car. Mm-hmm. And she's important. Yeah.

Yeah. She's so important. But if I can teach the team to handle them at the utmost level and make her feel super special, and remember that she likes her air conditioning at this and make sure she likes her radio at this and make sure that we always top off her fluids and this and this and this. She feels welcome.

And she doesn't feel like she's been passed off, off of you. Like, I'm no longer important. Yeah. Mm-hmm. If we can do [00:37:00] that, then that allows us to continue to sustain growth. It's good. Mm-hmm. 

[00:37:04] Matt Lewis: Let's back up just a little bit before we go into the next part. 'cause there's a, there's an important piece we need to talk about growing up, working.

How did we get the opportunities? 

[00:37:12] Taylor Lewis: Mm-hmm. 

[00:37:12] Matt Lewis: So we all kind of went through the, the entry stage of, Hey, here's what you did. You know, you, you are a porter, you washed cars, you restocked stuff. So now it's time to get in the real world. And my grandfather had a consulting, uh, agency that helped with successorship.

Okay. In succession planning there, there's, and I don't even have the accurate number now, but there's over 70 Lewises right here in Fayetteville. Mm-hmm. Wow. That's 

[00:37:40] Shelby Lewis: crazy. 

[00:37:40] Matt Lewis: Okay. 70. There's three of us that work in the business and they all 

[00:37:44] Shelby Lewis: had the opportunity. 

[00:37:45] Matt Lewis: They all had the opportunity. So my grandfather and his brother Herb, they went through this setting this up going, how do we plan that we can get a, 'cause they were second generation.

How can the third generation be sustained? Mm-hmm. How can we get to the fourth and beyond? Well, we gotta put some structure [00:38:00] in it. Uh, 'cause the biggest thing that runs a family business is cruise control, like y'all talked about. But then not having a plan and people are in positions that weren't earned, and then the animosity builds up and it just starts crumbling.

[00:38:13] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. 

[00:38:14] Matt Lewis: So the, the plan, and I'll just give you the vista gist overview, is you had to go work for somebody else. 

[00:38:20] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. Okay. 

[00:38:21] Matt Lewis: For at least a year. And then you had to come back and you went through about a two-ish year process where you worked in every single department in the dealership. 

[00:38:31] Cameron Clark: Hmm. 

[00:38:31] Matt Lewis: That's accounting, that's body shop, that's parts, that's service, that's washing cars, that's finance, that's selling, that's all of it.

After the two years, you're evaluated to figure out your strengths and your weaknesses. 

[00:38:45] Nick Beyer: By, 

[00:38:46] Matt Lewis: by, it depends upon different time, but it was at that point in time, we had a non-family member who was a board member as well. And they did the evaluation. Cool. You know, as we were coming. So as a non-family member going over that, and [00:39:00] then those department managers too.

[00:39:01] Taylor Lewis: Mm-hmm. 

[00:39:02] Matt Lewis: So then you figured out like, where do you contribute the most to the business? 

[00:39:06] Taylor Lewis: Mm-hmm. 

[00:39:06] Matt Lewis: You know, so then we can figure out their, and, and then the three of us are, are brothers, and we get along great, but we all have different strengths and weaknesses. Mm-hmm. And the quicker you identify that, the better you can collaborate together to be able to move the business forward.

So after that two years, then you're evaluated, and then you're placed in different positions if it's a good fit. We've had plenty of family members that have gone through the two year process like, Hey, this isn't, this just isn't for me. 

[00:39:34] Cameron Clark: All right. All right. Yeah. 

[00:39:34] Matt Lewis: And, and that's fine because what that equals is we still meet together once a month for birthdays with our family.

Mm-hmm. Well, it is, it's Mother's Day, it's Easter, it's Christmas, it's Thanksgiving, it's all the holidays, and we still get along. Mm-hmm. 

[00:39:48] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. 

[00:39:49] Matt Lewis: We've got a lot of friends that are in the business that have a, another sibling or an uncle or an aunt that are on the payroll or they're in a position, they're like, just leave them in their office, [00:40:00] write 'em their check.

And they're really frustrated with 'em because they're not helping generate any revenue. Yeah. Yeah. That's why businesses don't make it to the fourth generation. Sure. 

[00:40:09] Shelby Lewis: And so all of y'all went through that, all three all three of you guys? Yeah. In different stages. Uh, we're all five years apart. Um, and so we're, which was good, right?

That we were all able to phase through at different levels. Uh, but that was, and I'm glad Matt hit that, that that's such a big thing. So there's not, especially on our end, but I feel, you know, that they know what they know, but that there's not animosity of like, well they took that from us. Mm-hmm. That was our opportunity.

'cause it was their opportunity as well. And it is funny, my oldest son, who's 11, I don't know how he came up with this 'cause I don't go home and talk shop of like what's going on or the current struggles or the hurdles or how expensive something is. But he was asking, he's super curious and don't ask about anything.

And he was asking me and um, I don't know how he set it up, but he was like, said something about being part of the [00:41:00] dealership, uh, which I love that they wanna be part of it. Right now they're young, so they still have figuring out and growing to do and I hope they wanna be part of it. But he said something about like, getting the dealership and I was like, well, you have to buy it.

And he is like, well, what do you mean? And I said, well, we have to buy that from dad and Uncle Tommy. He's like, oh, you do? And uh, I said, well, yeah, they've worked all these years and built this business. And he said, yeah, I guess I just. I thought you grew into it and then it was, you know, something that you took over and I said, well, you take over responsibility.

You take over all the things and you help grow that. I said, but they need to be rewarded for that and paid for it. He's like, never really thought about that. That's really good. I was like, so it's very, very expensive. And he was like, he was like, yeah, I can imagine. I said, you can only imagine. 

[00:41:58] Matt Lewis: It's funny you say that because our uncle, who's [00:42:00] my dad's older brother, he tells a story all the time how his grandfather, you know, buck.

Yeah. He was the founder loaned him the money at first to be able to buy in. And he is like every Friday he was sitting in my office ready for me to write the check because knew it was payday back to him. He's Todd paid, come on and he goes, he would, he would bust me up and he said there was no missing, he was the first one to be paid.

That's funny. Wow. 

[00:42:26] Shelby Lewis: But I thought that was so funny from innocent eyes. But you also, it Oliver, my oldest is probably the closest to understanding, you know, everyone else out there is like, must be nice, right? And he's like. So they don't, you don't just like move into this. It's like, no. It's like you have to earn it and then you have to be in it, and then you have to buy it.

And it's like everyone else is just like, ah, it must be so good. That must have just like, if you only knew, like, we are so blessed and you know, if my dad says that once, he says it a million times. 'cause he is, we [00:43:00] are. Yeah. Right. But it's just like, oh yes. Back to my place. Like, uh, so blessed but so blessed to have the opportunity to work in the business, to be able to buy the business, to continue on the business.

Yes. But there's not days sometimes where you're just whacking your head up against the wall. Like, what am I doing? This is like the, like Mountain Everest looks small. Oh yeah. Compared to this, you know, it's just like, 

[00:43:23] Cameron Clark: whew. 

[00:43:25] Shelby Lewis: But we love a challenge and we love the business and, uh, we have the best crew in the world.

Uh, wouldn't trade 'em for anybody, and I put 'em up against anybody. And so that's what makes it worthwhile. That's awesome. 

[00:43:36] Nick Beyer: Yeah. Well, before we get into like, the meat of being on college for, and, and y'all's really involvement in the business, there was a couple things that I saw in a talk business politic article.

Okay. Um, about a budget. Rent a car. Yep. I know you and I talked about Lakeland Marine. 

[00:43:51] Shelby Lewis: Yeah. 

[00:43:51] Nick Beyer: Yeah. So kind of walk through a little bit of that history for someone who's not familiar with it. Sure. Where that's at now, where you know where it went, et cetera. 

[00:43:59] Matt Lewis: So [00:44:00] they, they started expanding to different businesses.

Let's talk about budget first. So, you know, then in the eighties they brought late eighties. They, they started working on rental cars, on budget rental cars. Uh, and we kind of had that internally at first. Then that grew to the location. Had Ben in Fayetteville. It went up to Springdale. 'cause then there was an open location next to our Springdale Fords store that we had budget there.

Uh, then we opened up at the airport as well. Mm-hmm. As the airport started to expand. At Drake Field. At Drake Field. Yeah. Be before, before we went to XNA. Mm-hmm. You know, then part of XNA, my grandfather was still involved at that point in time, but when XNA opened up, he helped them design, put together the whole reconditioning facility.

So all the rental cars, which you see them run through now, my grandfather designed, put that in place with budget up there. 

[00:44:50] Cameron Clark: Wow. 

[00:44:51] Matt Lewis: So we had that going on. Then the other budget stuff going on. We ended up selling the budget rental car. Um, that, that [00:45:00] whole thing as an opportunity really to free up some capital Sure.

To then invest in some land and some other future opportunities. 

[00:45:07] Nick Beyer: Mm-hmm. Yeah. And when was that? Was that recent? Was that a long time ago? No, that was a long time ago. 

[00:45:12] Matt Lewis: That was probably oh 3 0 4. Okay. In that timeline mm-hmm. In that time. So you were involved, you were kind of maybe Right. Um, so I was at that point in time just going into college.

Okay. Yeah. Cool. 

[00:45:22] Shelby Lewis: So then, so somewhere in there next to Springdale Ford, it's Bradford Marine now. Mm-hmm. We bought, uh, and built Lakeland Marine. We, we built like, yeah. We built a around, so built a and it made sense that it was next to, you know, these two stores were next to each other in college. Mm-hmm.

We're like, Hey, let's do that. You know, once again, we know sales, we know transportation. Here's another outfit that we can handle. So, uh, sold Bayliner and Tracker and a couple other brands along the way. Um, and that was so much fun. That was fun. Going to work with dads like, dad, are you going to the boat store?

I want to go with you there. Yeah. Right. We had tent [00:46:00] sails and. Every once in a while you'd have a party hut. Cool. Big boat. That's cool. Jet skis were a thing. Yep. Arctic cats, 

[00:46:07] Taylor Lewis: four wheelers. Then we had 

[00:46:08] Shelby Lewis: got four wheelers when they started carrying arty cats and was like, dad, you got any trade-ins? We can go up there and drive and there'd be a dirt mound out back and you can Well, we had a 

[00:46:18] Matt Lewis: backend testing kit.

I was gonna say that was, you never really 

[00:46:21] Shelby Lewis: got to go to the lake. I mean, it happened, but the, the testing pit, so like if there's something wrong with it, so you could back in. And so that was as close to being on the lake as we got one pulled. But you back your trailer into it. Back in the trailer so the motor could be in water.

And so you get with the service department, it's like, Hey, you got anything needs to be tested. And so we up there, we got to drive the tractors 

[00:46:40] Cameron Clark: and 

[00:46:40] Shelby Lewis: that was how you moved all the boats. You'd hook up to that thing and you'd move it around. It was like, Hey, do you want me to move the lot for you? And they're like, yeah, sure.

Junior, get out there and move the lot. So don't run it. So you'd back it down in there and they'd be like, all right, what do you need to test? It's like, well, let's just try this and be like, full throttle heads, like easy sun. You gonna shoot that thing off the trailer? Yeah. That's funny. Uh, [00:47:00] so there was a lot of great memories there.

Yeah. Um, they did amazing with it. Mm-hmm. Uh, that Matt worked there. That was one of his, uh, one of his first jobs 

[00:47:10] Matt Lewis: was, yeah. Um, yeah. I sold, I sold there. I was a porter there first before I sold, we opened up a location in Harrison as well. 

[00:47:18] Cameron Clark: No way. 

[00:47:19] Matt Lewis: Yeah. So we, so we had a, a satellite location of Lakeland Marine in Harrison.

Mm. At that point in time, I was just over 15, had gotten my hardship. 

[00:47:26] Cameron Clark: Yep. 

[00:47:27] Matt Lewis: I was in charge of. Shuttling the boats between Springdale and Harrison, if y'all have ever driven that road. I got really good at pulling a trailer at 15. Yeah. Because I was shuttle the boats back and forth road kid 

[00:47:42] Shelby Lewis: before phones.

Yeah. You know, before MapQuest or anything, any of that. That's unreal. So that 

[00:47:48] Matt Lewis: was back and forth from there, you know, as I was doing it during summer jobs and stuff like that. And then I started selling boats. Uh, I took a year off before I went to college and I was selling boats up there, you know, again, to just, I didn't [00:48:00] even know, but it was just developing each of these skill sets that our dad wasn't telling us.

You know, like, kinda like Taylor said it, you know, it was a long race. Mm-hmm. And he wasn't saying, Hey, there's 32 more miles till the goal line. He was like, this is what I need you to work on right now. Yeah. And it was just to the next aid station. So it was learning skill sets, learning accounting, learning parts.

Mm-hmm. Learning service, so on and so forth. Mm-hmm. So, uh, you know, that was exciting that, that then, and, and, and we went, you know, with Tracker, so y'all may not know this, but Johnny Morris owns Tracker, you know Jones Bass Own Pro Best Pro. Mm-hmm. 

[00:48:35] Cameron Clark: Yep. 

[00:48:36] Matt Lewis: So early on for all the new, the, uh, new boat releases, we'd go up to Big Cedar.

Yeah. And then that's where we did all the demos of the boats and that stuff. Um, for a while there we were top 10 Tracker dealer in the entire us. Oh, cool. So that was really cool. And you're like, okay, why don't you still have it? Well, what we found is the level of [00:49:00] management that was needed to make that seasonal business 

[00:49:04] Cameron Clark: Mm.

[00:49:05] Matt Lewis: Work at the caliper that we were working in the dealerships, we could do so much more in the dealerships with. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So then the opportunity came up in Bradford, who is, you know, they're in the hot springs, in the Little Rock area, um, that came up and we'd gotten to know them, you know, through different trips and stuff like that for us to sell.

[00:49:23] Cameron Clark: Yeah. 

[00:49:23] Matt Lewis: You know, so that was in the early two thousands that we, we, we sold that, uh, and then again started reinvesting at that point in time. So simultaneously, let's talk about two things here that happened. And we moved our collision center out of the Ford building to an independent, just had just built, it was Laney's Collision at the point, at that point in time where Louis Collision is now.

Yeah. Mm-hmm. Which is on, you know, on 71 it took, college turns into 71 just south of like outback there. Yeah. Mm-hmm. So we had moved our collision into a fully independent one. So by selling the boat store, that freed up capital [00:50:00] management to then go into this new venture of really doing body shop work, not just your own internal stuff.

[00:50:06] Nick Beyer: And talk about the significance of that for people who aren't car people. I mean, is is that those are big jobs, right. Those, those are 

[00:50:13] Matt Lewis: big jobs. And it's also an extension of something you're already doing. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. So one of the business, um. Test or we, we go through is we look at our accounts payable and we say, who are we regularly writing checks to every single month?

[00:50:29] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. 

[00:50:30] Matt Lewis: Could we self perform that? 

[00:50:32] Cameron Clark: Yeah. Mm-hmm. 

[00:50:32] Matt Lewis: Okay, well this is going to the city of Fayetteville for water. We can't self perform that. Okay, but this is going out for body repair. Well, we're doing enough of it. Why don't we have our own body shop there? 

[00:50:44] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. 

[00:50:46] Matt Lewis: So that's how that expanded out. And then we ended up being a, what they call dp, a direct provider for almost all the major insurance places.

And I mean, that, you know, that that's a 22,000 square foot place that just stays jam up. [00:51:00] 

[00:51:00] Cameron Clark: Oh, yeah. 

[00:51:00] Matt Lewis: You know, uh, and, and with the area growing, that's 

[00:51:02] Cameron Clark: what 

[00:51:02] Matt Lewis: I was about to say, with the area 

[00:51:03] Cameron Clark: growing, 

[00:51:03] Matt Lewis: they 

[00:51:03] Cameron Clark: just 

[00:51:04] Matt Lewis: happening more. They, they're, it is just gonna happen more. Mm-hmm. And, and I'm glad you identified that.

'cause on the campus we're on, we're building another collision facility. Mm-hmm. And at first it was just like, Hey, are we gonna move the other one here? 

[00:51:14] Cameron Clark: And 

[00:51:14] Matt Lewis: when we started looking at the data and they're like, okay, I think financially we can do this, plus the growth in the data supports that. 

[00:51:22] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. 

[00:51:23] Matt Lewis: You know, it just made more sense for what we were already doing.

Yep. It was a natural progression, basically an extension of automotive retail sales, of servicing it, but then repairing it. 

[00:51:34] Nick Beyer: That's great. And then y'all, do you, do you have a location in Farmington? We do. So we got a 

[00:51:38] Shelby Lewis: pre-owned location. What year was that? That we moved out there? That was in the nineties.

In the nineties. Uh. It, it's just used cars. Okay. Uh, and it works off of our CDJR store. Not that that makes any difference, but that's wherever the trade-ins come from. Mm-hmm. A lot of the vehicles come from. Um, so it's just sales out there. We've got a great crew and that, that Farmington market is continually [00:52:00] growing and growing and growing.

So they do a ton of business, uh, but was just an opportunity to still have that Lewis feel. Mm-hmm. Uh, but to be in that local community. So that, that, that's been a great business. 

[00:52:11] Nick Beyer: Mm-hmm. 

[00:52:12] Shelby Lewis: That's good. 

[00:52:14] Nick Beyer: Um, so why don't y'all share a little bit more about the car industry. I mean, I know Cameron, and, and y'all touched on it at the beginning, but what does it take to be successful in the car industry?

And I know you've talked about your values and what sets Lewis apart, but like it's a very competitive industry. It is. And prices are competitive. Yeah. There's more online stuff now than ever. Yeah. People can trade in their cars from their phone. Yeah. Just kind of talk about how the industry's changed and how y'all are staying 

[00:52:41] Shelby Lewis: competitive.

So I guess, let me set this just so if you didn't know this, uh, being a franchise, so if you're a new car franchise, whether it's Ford or Infinity or Nissan or whatever it is, everyone pays the same amount for a vehicle. By that I mean dealership from manufacturer. Yep. [00:53:00] Manufacturer builds a vehicle, they drop it off on your lot.

You owe them the money for that. Mm-hmm. 

[00:53:04] Cameron Clark: You, 

[00:53:04] Shelby Lewis: you, as soon as they drop it off. Yeah. Well actually it ships from the factory. They take it outta your account. Well, and everyone does it a little bit differently, but they take it outta your account. Um, so sometimes people say, and you say very competitive, it is, I'm might go to Dallas and get a better deal.

Uh, well they paid the same amount for that truck and you're gonna have to take your time. Now, if our market is competitive, Dallas's is really competitive and Northwest Circle SA has become hyper competitive. 

[00:53:31] Cameron Clark: Hmm. 

[00:53:32] Shelby Lewis: We're in this bubble. And so sometimes I'll shop, we do that all the time. I look in Oklahoma and Missouri, like, if a customer was to travel 300 miles, what does that look like for them?

'cause in a digital age, it's nothing to just scroll a little bit further and see what does that look like? Olden days the way you shopped was in a car dealership to dealership and then it was newspaper, so you got a little bit bigger, uh, and then it was TV and now it's at your fingertips. So, uh, the [00:54:00] automotive industry has a always has and always will have a very low margin percentage.

Like, so if you were saying, Hey, should I get an automotive business? I don't know. You're gonna really need to want it. And there needs to be, you know, the rental car thing, the collision thing that all those were saying, Hey, can that help us in months where. The profit and loss is red, right? Mm-hmm. So we're in the loss, you know, so the sustainability of a long time we had, we did have to sell this to be able to make payroll for this.

[00:54:33] Cameron Clark: Yeah. 

[00:54:33] Shelby Lewis: Right? Yeah. Uh, and there was more of those years than the other years, right. And it was just a long term sustainability and people propping me, propping him up, him propping me up of saying, it's all right. You know, it's gonna be okay. So the automotive industry is super cutthroat, super competitive, and that's our angle and that's what we love, is to say we are gonna be very competitive pricing wise, but we are [00:55:00] not gonna be your ultimately absolute lowest price.

We're not saying, Hey, go shop the world and come to us and we'll do a lower price. We have more value in ourself and our employees than that. Mm-hmm. Right? 

[00:55:10] Cameron Clark: Yeah. 

[00:55:11] Shelby Lewis: Like. We know that if you get here and allow us to experience, and I'm not just putting on a, a wig and a and a mask, when you show up to make a different, it's a real deal every day.

Mm-hmm. That you're gonna be like, this is different. And I, yeah. I'll say this probably every other week and my sales, uh, training, they didn't come here because your price is the crazy lowest and they didn't come here just to buy a car. They're coming here for the experience. Mm-hmm. No different than people that go to Disney World.

You couldn't find a place to ride a rollercoaster for cheaper. You can most certainly buy food cheaper somewhere else. Yeah. Right. But the experience that you get when you get there is just something you can't get anywhere else. Yeah. And people are okay to pay for that. Mm-hmm. And so I'm not saying I'm, we're price gouging by any means.

We are very, very, very, very competitive. Most people think I should go to a [00:56:00] corner oil change place. So take five or a Juy Lube or something like this. We are very competitive in those pricing and we do so much more mm-hmm. Like than, than what they do. Just 'cause we have higher trained technicians. Yeah.

And we have some more expensive tools and our prices are right on there. But the experience that we get to offer is just so different. So the automotive industry, you have to keep your thumb on it every single day. You know, whether it's the pay that you pay your people, or what the pricing looks like, or the inventory availability.

It, it changes daily. 

[00:56:32] Taylor Lewis: Yeah. Yeah. And I think the number one thing, because you see more and more people that want to go in the automotive industry 'cause they're like, oh, I love cars. I wanna be part of that. We love cars, but don't fall in love with a specific car. It is a, it's a, a piece of business that you're like, everyone always ask us what our favorite car is.

We have a lot of favorite cars that have been, but we always joke, our favorite car is the one that you're interested in. Hmm. Right? Yeah. [00:57:00] So, so many people go into this business and they're like, I wanna, I wanna stock this for out front. I want to have this 'cause this is what my customers want. No, this is what your customers want.

And it, for us, it's always been XLT F1 fifties or XL F1 fifties because if it's a budget is the features you want. Yes. The platinums are nice. Yes, the longhorns are nice, but it doesn't fit everyone's budget. So don't fall in love with it. Don't drive that all the time. Don't, um, just be fixated on that because it's not, it's what's gonna make you successful.

[00:57:34] Matt Lewis: Yeah. 

[00:57:35] Taylor Lewis: Yeah. 

[00:57:35] Matt Lewis: I think, you know, to go off of what both of them said, and I'll just put this in context 'cause I heard this once and it really resonated with me. If you're a customer, you, you wanna purchase something at a great value, you know, you worked hard for your money, so, so you want a great deal on it.

However, if you really peel the layers back, you want the company to make at least some money. Here's why. [00:58:00] If they don't make any money, how are they gonna be open in six months or three years when you come back and you need service? 

[00:58:06] Taylor Lewis: Mm-hmm. Yeah. If 

[00:58:07] Matt Lewis: they don't make any money, how are they gonna send their technicians to be better at repairing your vehicle?

[00:58:13] Cameron Clark: Yeah. 

[00:58:13] Matt Lewis: How are they gonna invest in this and that? I, if they're not making any money, how are they gonna sponsor your kids' t-ball team? 

[00:58:20] Taylor Lewis: Yeah. 

[00:58:21] Matt Lewis: How are they gonna help the nonprofits? So when you really like start thinking at the core and they, they talk about like, Hey, if you've got your friend over here, quit beating them up in price.

Mm-hmm. Don't you want them to be successful? 

[00:58:34] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. 

[00:58:35] Matt Lewis: So, so yes, we should give people a good deal, a great value, but we are a for-profit business. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And, and that should mean something to you as a customer because we're making sure that we're sustained and we're here in the future. That's why you're doing business with a dealer.

[00:58:50] Cameron Clark: Mm. Let's be 

[00:58:51] Matt Lewis: honest. 'cause you want somebody that's gone through the checks and balances to make sure the car's ready to go, that's trained, that can walk you through the [00:59:00] process, but also it's there when you need something in the future. 

[00:59:05] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. I know you said that, like car industries, industry-wide, low margin on the sales side is so service and then collision, is there a.

What's the highest industry-wide? Like what, what is that? 

[00:59:17] Shelby Lewis: So service and parts have much, much more, uh, profit opportunity than sales does. But also with that, our largest, our largest expense to date. Not even. I mean, you look at this building, that's a very large expense. Our largest reoccurring expense are people.

[00:59:37] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So 

[00:59:38] Shelby Lewis: parts and service, our service departments have so many people. Sure. And we want the best people and we continually train them. What, the other day we looked at, it was an average of like a hundred thousand dollars is what we were spending on training technicians. 

[00:59:51] Taylor Lewis: Yeah. We had a guy that we had trained, had him going down the whole process, and he ended up not being what we needed to be.

And they had [01:00:00] spent over a hundred and like $20,000 getting him to that point, and he ended up not being what we needed him to be. So 

[01:00:06] Shelby Lewis: there's a higher profit margin there. So if you just looked at a certain portion of the financial statement, be like, that looks good. Yeah. Mm-hmm. That's, but then if you roll all the expenses in, you're like, whew.

Wasn't as good as what I thought it would be. Right. And so to be successful in this industry, you have to be so good and so lucrative in all those areas, and then have to be so your thumb on expenses, you need to, I'm a super saver, like. How can I figure out how to do it less? And so then they encouraged me.

It's like, Shelby, that's something we're spending money. I'm like, ah, but I can do it like this. Right? Yeah. Uh, so it was like, Hey, we need to spend this money in advertising. Like, Hey, we should spend this for a mailer. Like, how much is that? That's gonna be 25,000. I'm like, ain't no way. Right? Like, it's so hard to make 25,000 selling new cars.

I'm like, no way. And it's like, no, it is for opportunity. And so it's one of those things and you have to just keep, you have to measure it. Like, okay, I'll spend 25 grand with [01:01:00] you mm-hmm. For this marketing piece or whatever it is. But I want KPIs and I want measurements. Mm-hmm. 'cause I need to be able to pull the cord quickly if that didn't work.

Yep. 

[01:01:09] Nick Beyer: So let's talk about a couple of those. 'cause I think your industry, the, the industry that y'all are in is very, there's two things. It's very capital intensive. Yeah. And then the second piece is it's very marketing heavy. I mean, every car dealership is doing a lot, spending a lot. I don't know your number, but I'm sure it's very high.

It's a lot. So those are two of the KPIs that y'all are looking at day in and day out for people who are, maybe they're new business owners Sure. And they're thinking about, man, I this a thousand dollars a month on marketing, what would you tell them? What are the things they need to be looking at? What are the things they need to be evaluating and, and how do you guys think about marketing.

So you have a unique perspective. 

[01:01:44] Matt Lewis: Hmm. 

[01:01:45] Nick Beyer: Marketing's a long-term play. 

[01:01:46] Matt Lewis: Long marketing's a long-term play. I'm gonna go back to where you were asking about the KPIs first and, and the word cash flow comes up and these guys know how intense I'll get about cash flow. So I'll let y'all do that direction there, eye roll [01:02:00] from, but I at least need to set up like what we're talking about here.

Yeah. Because what's even more important to entrepreneurs is understanding cash flow. 

[01:02:07] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. 

[01:02:08] Matt Lewis: Don't tell me how much profits you made today, tell me about your cash flow. Mm-hmm. Because cash flow is what'll keep you alive. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Okay. In our business, like they said, when we get a vehicle from the manufacturer, it comes out of our account like that.

There's zero returns, we can't return it. That's crazy. It's done. If the engine blows up, we can't return it. It's ours. We're one of the only businesses that takes trade-ins. Think about that. Go try to trade your bike in. Try to trade your house in on another house. Try to trade your old computer in on a new one.

We're one of the only businesses that takes trade-ins now. Done. Right. It's another business opportunity. 

[01:02:47] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. 

[01:02:48] Matt Lewis: Done wrong. It'll eat your lunch. Mm-hmm. 

[01:02:50] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. 

[01:02:50] Matt Lewis: So when you trade your vehicle to me, I've paid for the new one. Okay. We all love rebates. They came out in 1979. Okay. It's packed in there to make everybody feel [01:03:00] good.

The automotive business is one of the only businesses that gives you instant rebates. You buy tires, you buy a computer, you buy anything else. It's a mail-in rebate that's four to six weeks for you to get. Mm-hmm. People don't get this just like I see in y'all's eyes. You're like, oh, I didn't even think about that.

[01:03:14] Taylor Lewis: Yeah. 

[01:03:14] Matt Lewis: Our average rebate is five to $6,000. We take that off the finance contract. We have to then submit to wait the four to six weeks to be reimbursed by the manufacturer, 

[01:03:25] Cameron Clark: man. 

[01:03:26] Matt Lewis: So if we sell 10 cars, let's do easy math there. 10 cars at 5,000, that's $50,000 that we're floating the bill for. 

[01:03:33] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. 

[01:03:34] Matt Lewis: Okay.

Six 

[01:03:34] Cameron Clark: weeks. 

[01:03:35] Matt Lewis: That's that part. Yeah. You traded a vehicle in, guess what I told you during the process, we will pay off the loan on your vehicle and in good trust you owed $30,000 on your car. I write a check tomorrow for the $30,000 in payoff. 

[01:03:50] Cameron Clark: And you haven't sold that car yet? We're now 

[01:03:52] Matt Lewis: 35 grand into that.

Yeah. Okay. The new car that was $70,000 was on our floor plan. Soon as [01:04:00] I reported to the manufacturer, they pull $70,000 out of our account. They don't have to ask us anything else. It comes outta there. It's in the dealer agreement. So now we're at $105,000 in cash. Okay. 105,000 in cash. Now you signed a finance contract and it's gonna come to us anywhere from three to 10 days.

So we float all that. 

[01:04:22] Shelby Lewis: Wow. So then you have payroll, you know, so you paid a salesperson, you're gonna pay a porter, you're gonna pay a sales manager. So that all takes into account. So if you take a, an average month of 400 cars sold, or a weekend, like take a weekend, take a, yeah, take you take a weekend. So on a weekend, let's say on average of 45 to 50 cars, so as his example of $130,000 times 45 cars, cash management has never been more important because there's 

[01:04:51] Matt Lewis: four to 5 million like that.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. When, when 

[01:04:53] Shelby Lewis: you think, you know, so any profitability that we have in our business stays in accounts [01:05:00] to pay for weekend business. Mm-hmm. So if you have a weekend that happens to fall, we have so many commission based people, salespeople, or technicians, managers. Mm-hmm. So twice a month they'll get, or some of 'em once a month, some of 'em twice a month, they'll get their larger part of their check.

Mm-hmm. So if you have a payroll hit, then after a weekend you can eat up $10 million that was in your bank looking good 

[01:05:24] Matt Lewis: like that gone. That was just 

[01:05:26] Shelby Lewis: gone. And so then you also have, if a car comes in and they say your Tahoe needs a new transmission. Right. That's a eight to $10,000 job, but it didn't cost you anything, right?

Yeah. Guess what? I had to pay the technician. I had to pay the manager, and I'm waiting for payment back. So I'm $8,000 in the hole. Well, when you do 2000, combine 'em all. When you do 4,500 ROS a month, you have this warranty receivable from the manufacturer. That once again is three to eight weeks. In payment.

Mm. And when it [01:06:00] comes in, it's great. Yeah. But you got behind, it's, it's just a trickle. So we go over our cash report each week and it is millions upon millions that you know, and you think about that, and I'll just give you a number and average number. So on that $130,000 on that $70,000 car, the average PVR is gonna be $1,600.

[01:06:25] Nick Beyer: That's crazy. 

[01:06:25] Shelby Lewis: So to tie it, if I said, Hey, I wanna borrow 130 grand, I'll pay it back to you and you know, let's just average all the numbers, I'll pay it back to you in two weeks. I'm gonna give you 1600 bucks boot. Is that a deal you'd be super interested in? Probably not. Right. You gotta do a lot of 'em.

Then even better you say, Hey, I need to borrow five to 10 million at a one to 2% profit return. Yeah. And I don't know if all these regulations are gonna line up. I don't know if you actually get your military discount. I don't know if actually we did this [01:07:00] properly. So it it is a cash monster. Yeah. Yeah. So as soon as you think like, okay, yeah, we're we caught a, the problem is we've built this humongous business and so we have more people.

We have. We have $42 million in cars on the ground right now. Mm-hmm. $42 million in cars on the ground. And none of 'em can be returned. Can be returned. They're ours. Yeah. They depreciate daily. Yeah. They're really nice. They'll come by and see us and buy 'em. Uh, but they, they're really nice. Ev every, every day the manufacturer makes, I mean, I think they make a new car every two minutes or something, you know, but you gotta feel 

[01:07:35] Matt Lewis: like, you know, 17 million new cars are sold every year and that doesn't count fleet or government.

Mm-hmm. Stuff like that. Purchases. 

[01:07:41] Shelby Lewis: So each day those are depreciating. So we gotta sell those as quickly as possible. So it's one of those things like, you better, so the bigger we've built it, the more cash it eats. Like, Hey, we did a little bit better this month. Like, well, but did you trend higher than your expenses?

Like, well now that you say it that way, no, we got more work to do. You know what? You're not [01:08:00] going home. 

[01:08:00] Matt Lewis: And I think the reason I wanted to pause and like give everybody like an under the hood look. Yeah. Is when we talk to other business owners, doctors' offices can relate a whole lot to that. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Because they're claiming insurance all the time with patients, but they paid the doctors and they paid the nurses. So, you know, we have departments that are very similar like that, that are chasing cash flow. 

[01:08:21] Taylor Lewis: Yeah. They're 

[01:08:22] Matt Lewis: chasing claims. 

[01:08:23] Taylor Lewis: Yeah. 

[01:08:23] Matt Lewis: And the more mature and the longer we've been in this business, we've really seeing that business is, business is business.

People and processes just change the product. 

[01:08:33] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. 

[01:08:34] Matt Lewis: That's allowed us to learn from some outside businesses where we only studied automotive for the longest time and it's like, hang on, there's a really good construction company over there that can teach us something. 

[01:08:44] Taylor Lewis: Mm-hmm. 

[01:08:45] Matt Lewis: You know, there's a really good manufacturing company over here that can teach us something that we've been able to learn.

So, you know, I know we kind of went off track there, but our KPI there is what does the cash flow look like? Yeah. And if we communicated that to everybody [01:09:00] that's helping us with it. 

[01:09:00] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Because 

[01:09:01] Matt Lewis: if employees don't know, they see the same thing. They pull into this nice facility, everything must be good.

If they paying two or three more days, no big deal. I don't have to work that report today. Meanwhile, we're pulling our hair out, pacing up and down the hallway. 

[01:09:17] Shelby Lewis: You know it, it's funny, it's one of those things you said you, and I've seen it before 'cause I've researched it, but talk business. Mm-hmm The, and the, I think the most recent articles, our early two thousands and I was talking to my dad 'cause I was looking at research 'cause we were working on stuff for the new building and I was like, Hey, do you remember these articles?

He's like, yeah. He's like, I'm not a fan. You know, my dad's not politics. Simple, basic. Greatest guy in the world. And um, he's like, I always hated when they came around for all that information because they would always put in there and it was like a ranking thing that they were doing. Mm-hmm. And it was like this year's dealership.

And it would show your gross sales. Yeah. Which is totally irrelevant. And so it'd show, hey, this business was $75 million dollars. And he always [01:10:00] hated that because that had no expenses. And so then it was just a total brag. Yeah. But it was so empty. Yeah. And so he was like, I told them I would never do that again.

You know, because every person in the world was like, oh, you're making so much money. Meanwhile, he's like, let me show you how much we're not making. Right. Yeah. And so he was like, no, I'm not doing that. 'cause it was just, it was not a correct picture, you know? Yeah. It's, and we're not a public company and we'll tell you, we just told you a whole lot of stuff.

Mm-hmm. Right. And we would tell you anything. Right. But it's not one of those things that we have to put all those out there because it would blow your mind and you probably wouldn't want to be in it. Yeah. You know? 

[01:10:40] Matt Lewis: Alright. So all of that was to set the next part up. Yeah. Okay. Just so everybody had an understanding about to get you 

[01:10:45] Taylor Lewis: going.

[01:10:46] Matt Lewis: We're highly competitive, very mature, very transparent business. Mm-hmm. I'd put it up against any business in the us, not just ours, but the automotive business. Yeah. Yeah. That you can go online, you can look up costs. Yeah. You gotta float the cash flow. We take in used inventory. Mm-hmm. Yep. We do [01:11:00] all these things.

So, holy cow, Matt. Well then how do you make that work? Well, that's the challenge we really like. Yeah. Yeah. And the adaptability and the adjustments within our business. You know, you talked about the collision. Well, okay, that's a stream of revenue. Mm-hmm. And you get, and, and you guys have studied it, but you get the most successful businesses out there.

They don't have one or two streams of revenue. They got a minimum of five. Mm-hmm. A lot of 'em have seven and eight. 

[01:11:26] Taylor Lewis: Mm-hmm. 

[01:11:26] Matt Lewis: So when we looked within our business without trying to get out of our area of expertise, what other streams of income could we have so we can ride through the dips. Yep.

Manufacturers shuts off. Basically producing vehicles like COVID. We're not laying off any employees. We're proud to say we didn't furlough or put one employee on the street. In fact, we added employees. 

[01:11:48] Shelby Lewis: All right. Not only and guaranteed them their pay for the previous year. Wow. Wow. Yeah. We 

[01:11:52] Matt Lewis: didn't cut their pay.

We guaranteed them their pay. 'cause 80 plus percent of our workforce is on commission. Mm-hmm. We guaranteed their [01:12:00] pay from the year before. Wow. Because we had a gut feeling of this is just a storm. 

[01:12:04] Taylor Lewis: Mm-hmm. 

[01:12:04] Matt Lewis: We spent a hundred thousand dollars training this technician. 

[01:12:08] Taylor Lewis: Yep. Yeah. 

[01:12:08] Matt Lewis: You know what I mean? We've got a salesperson that's built a customer database to sell 20 plus cars a month.

We need to retain these employees. And I can remember sitting in front of the board going, this is a wild idea. Yeah. But I think it's gonna pay out. Mm. Because we'll come out of the storm. We might even pick up some more, more great employees from other companies. 

[01:12:27] Taylor Lewis: Mm-hmm. Yeah. 

[01:12:27] Matt Lewis: To be ready to rock and roll.

So what, let's take COVID, let's that happened. Well then how do we adjust to stay afloat? We gotta lean on parts. We gotta lean on service. We gotta lean on used cars. We gotta lean on repair. You know, we gotta lean on collision because if, if somebody's not buying a car, they still have a car, they need to spend some more money maintaining it so it stays on the road.

[01:12:49] Taylor Lewis: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. 

[01:12:50] Matt Lewis: So you start looking at all these different levers that you're constantly pulling. And that's part of the business that we really enjoy. Yeah. Is this the challenge? And it's [01:13:00] like, hang on, pause, adapt, pivot, what do we 

[01:13:03] Taylor Lewis: do? That's the thing that breaks a lot of people that come into the automotive industry.

That's, that's weird enough. But we love that it's whenever you're, especially in the sales side, putting a manager in there and you're walking through with them, teaching them of, Hey, how do I do this whole process? Well this is the guideline of what you want to go down, but it's gonna be a whole lot of, Hey stop.

Nope, go forward. Nope. Go do that. No, go over here. Go do that. Go do this. And a lot of people, it will break 'em of not knowing. Hey, this is exactly what I'm gonna do the whole month and go this way, which is fine to go and do. That's the hardest part about sales in a variable business, that it's, you're constantly changing.

[01:13:44] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. And you're always 

[01:13:45] Taylor Lewis: gonna stay true to that core value, but it's constantly going forwards, backwards, holding, going forward. So mm-hmm. That's the thing that we really love about it, that, that makes it exhilarating. That it's like, I wanna do more of that. That's fun. [01:14:00] That's awesome. 

[01:14:01] Nick Beyer: So, talk about a few of those businesses specifically.

It sounds like the Collision Center has had a ton of growth. Mm-hmm. Um, parts and service. I think I ca I think you and I were talking about it right before we started, but how do you get people to believe that, man, I own an Acura, I'm gonna take it to the Acura dealership, and, you know, how, how do you get over that for consumers?

Just kind. There's a lot 

[01:14:24] Shelby Lewis: of that and I think if it's Nontypical brand, uh, why in the heck would I come here? Um, a lot of times it's by selling that vehicle. Generally we sell one and a half used cars for every new car that we sell. Wow. Um, and we. Most, most places do this. Uh, so I'm not saying we're on our own, but we will keep anything that's safe to be on the road that we can help put in a driveway.

'cause then we get that opportunity to get you to Disneyland, right? Mm-hmm. You know, that's why they have so many different characters in those rides. It's like, Hey, you might not like Marvel, but you might like this. Or you might not be into the princess, but you might [01:15:00] like this. So those vehicles, uh, we're going to, we have our Lewis guarantees.

So it's above and beyond the manufacturer. Most cars get a three year, 36,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty and a five year, 60,000 mile powertrain warranty, brand new car. That's as far as they'll take it, that they take care of it. Some years back, probably about five years by now, we said we want to do more.

We spent a lot of time, and I won't fully break it down, but, so on every new car that you get, we double that. You get a 10 year, 120,000 mile powertrain warranty. Wow. Out of your pocket? Out of our pocket. It's free cost. Like it's free 99. This is no. Hidden fees, it is free. Plus you get a year's worth of maintenance and that's the most important thing.

And so you get a year of tire protection, key fob replacement. Um, those are all that could, that cost us, right? Yeah. Yeah. You have to prepay for all of that. But that was money invested. You say, how do I spend money on marketing? That's a really good thing that we said. If I can get them to show back up to the dealership [01:16:00] one time after they purchase it, they're 80% more likely to continue to keep coming back.

Mm-hmm. Maybe they didn't get the full Disneyland experience, the Disney World experience that they were looking for because they'd gone to five other stores and they were tired and worn out when they got here. And we did the best we could, but they, they didn't come here fresh. Right. So if I can get 'em back here, so in the pre-owned vehicles, I'm gonna sell anything of any brand that makes sense.

So, uh, you can get up to a five year, 60,000 mile, uh, powertrain warranty on a used car when the manufacturer says, we're done. We are not warrantying this. And we said, oh, okay. We'll do a five year 60 and we'll give you a year for your oil changes. So then if I can get 'em back to here and they're like. I don't care what you sell.

You guys are the best. Yeah. Right. You offer me cappuccino every time I show up. You got sparkling water, you tour me through the gym, you invite me out back for a pickleball game. Wow. You know? And then you wash my car and sometimes I just come by on a Friday 'cause I want my car wash and you guys do it for free for me.

Right. Those were the things that we could win in [01:17:00] to say very limited margins. But if I can get you back here, I can take care of you. I'll create, you know, you talked about Carl Sewell, a customer for life. We can recreate that. And then a customer's like, and I have really good friends, we have really good customers that'll say like if I need a car, I just shoot a text.

Like, Hey, can you get one of these? I'm like, absolutely. Tell me what you're looking for. If anyone can get it, we can get it. Like we can't get a new Acura, but Acura will sell stuff with a hundred, 200, 300 miles program vehicles that we can buy one of those and sell it to you. Yeah. Right. So if that's how we get those people and then we would put ourself against anyone that they experience here.

Is like no other. Mm Uh, it's not like a car dealership. And I think they put car dealerships with, not that these are bad, 'cause tar car dealerships aren't bad, but like going to the dentist or having to deal with a lawyer, not fun to do, right? Mm-hmm. And we said, I love that. Like if you really knew us, you would know that we love doing hard things and endurance events.

And like, okay, you're telling me that less than 1% of [01:18:00] people have ran a marathon? Well, how many people have ran a hundred miles? Like let's do that. Right? That those are the things that we love. So it's like, ah, there's not good margin. Okay, let's make Disneyland outta this. Right? Yeah. 

[01:18:11] Matt Lewis: So think back to your marketing question, and Shelby hit that in a roundabout manner, is how do we let an accurate customer know?

How do we let what we call a non-core customer know where they should come? We first wanna spend money. With our customers. 

[01:18:27] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. 

[01:18:28] Matt Lewis: Before we try to go to anything external. 

[01:18:30] Cameron Clark: Okay. 

[01:18:31] Matt Lewis: Okay. So, so follow me here. So we could spend more money in advertising, talking about we service all makes and models. 

[01:18:38] Cameron Clark: Hmm. 

[01:18:39] Matt Lewis: Or we can make sure that the people that buy non-core vehicles from us are the first ones that come into service with us.

Mm-hmm. 

[01:18:47] Taylor Lewis: Yeah. 

[01:18:47] Matt Lewis: So instead of spending the money on marketing in that aspect, we buy a maintenance package. 

[01:18:53] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. 

[01:18:53] Matt Lewis: So we can provide additional value to somebody that's already done business with us than to connect 'em to our service department. [01:19:00] And they'll talk about it. And they'll talk about it. 

[01:19:01] Taylor Lewis: Yeah. 

[01:19:02] Matt Lewis: So that's a different way to think about it.

And it's no different than, like, when we look at marketing and advertising, I'm like, okay, before we advertise in Bentonville, before we advertise in Fort Smith, have we taken care of our PMA, the people in our backyard? Because why would we spend another $500 to drag somebody from Bella Vista when there's somebody right across the road that we haven't marketed to?

[01:19:24] Taylor Lewis: Mm-hmm. 

[01:19:24] Matt Lewis: So you must, you know, in marketing and advertising, you must make sure that you have saturated and taken care of the circle right around your area. And then if you have great, start expanding out. But I'm not advertising in Dallas. Could I sell somebody a car in Dallas? Yes. But then are they gonna come back and service with me every time they need an oil change?

Tell their other coworkers and family members. Mm. So I think when you think about that and you're like, okay, well dang Matt, that does make sense. Buy a maintenance package for somebody that bought a used Acura from you. Mm. So then they're, that's the glue. Mm-hmm. The connection to the dealership for something in the [01:20:00] future.

[01:20:00] Nick Beyer: That's good. And I think, I mean, that's big. I mean, I've heard of the Lewis guarantee, but just so people hear that, I mean, if you buy a new car here, you have a 10 year warranty. Mm-hmm. And if you buy any used car off the lot, 

[01:20:12] Shelby Lewis: you have a Yeah. That goes out to 150,000 miles. So we sell stuff beyond that.

Sure. But it's scaled in three different tiers. Uh, so the, the biggest sweet spot is like a 50,000 to a nine, 9,000 mile car where those are just in no man's land. And that's our highest claim ratio, which is biggest value for the consumer that gets a three year, 36,000 mile powertrain, and then from a hundred thousand miles to 150,000 miles gets a six month, 6,000 mile.

Lets, you know, it's been fully inspected. Yep. It's ready to go for the road. Like, this thing is going to save you money versus I can't afford a new one. 

[01:20:46] Cameron Clark: Yep. 

[01:20:46] Shelby Lewis: And it gives you a little bit of peace of mind that I'm not just buying something that I have no clue about. Right. And that, just so it's publicly known, there's still things that go wrong.

Right. Yeah. And that the warranty won't cover. Like it's, [01:21:00] you just, you try to buy life insurance for your 78-year-old grandma. Right. You know, like. She, she's 78 years old and sweetest thing in the world. Mm-hmm. And makes the best pie. But you know, it's like this car's got 148,000 miles and is uh, uh, 2009, right?

Mm-hmm. But, but the best we can of best ability, it's, you know, we're fully gonna inspect it and say, Hey, at this time it is a really good car. Yeah. Mm-hmm. It's good. 

[01:21:26] Matt Lewis: And I think, you know, that, that's one of the examples, and, and y'all didn't know to ask this, but like, how long did that take y'all to develop?

Mm, it was years and years. Yeah. Because we studied it from a customer's point of view. 

[01:21:37] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. 

[01:21:38] Matt Lewis: We said, okay, there's plenty of people out there that have lifetime powertrain engines for life, transmissions for life. Well, when we dug into the details of, as a customer, what does that mean to me? You gotta be returned to the original dealership.

What happens if I move and I get a job somewhere else? It's void unless you come to the dealership. What if I'm 

[01:21:56] Shelby Lewis: traveling in oil change? Yeah. Yeah. Need a service. You [01:22:00] gotta go there 

[01:22:00] Matt Lewis: once a year and do an inspection at that same dealership. If you turn down any of the recommended items that have to do with the powertrain, avoid your warranty.

Like, 

[01:22:10] Shelby Lewis: plus it had to be a term. Yeah. You had to put a term on it, which was seven years, then had to put a term. 

[01:22:14] Matt Lewis: Wow. The insurance world won't let you say lifetime. And the bottom disclaim why guys we're reading contracts. Oh yeah. Going through stuff going, what's a, because we're in the long term play.

Mm-hmm. We're not gonna come out with something to the best of our ability that's just gonna give us a black eye. It needs to be a benefit. 

[01:22:29] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. And how do you stay in touch with your customer that well? Like what would you tell, I mean, across industry, what would you tell someone who's listen, who's trying to make sure that they're, you know, staying?

You know, one thing that we'll 

[01:22:39] Shelby Lewis: tell anybody and everybody, and we are not the best at one, we're men and two, uh, just we're people is communication. Yeah. Like, and we have all the services that we can get and we need a million more, but of just communication, of checking in on like, Hey, how's it going? Hey, how are you?

Because our best customers are our repeats and our referrals. [01:23:00] Mm. And if that's not, if you're not one of those, you're our next best customer. 'cause you're gonna be introduced into this whole Disneyland vibe. Yeah. And then you are a repeater referral. Yeah. Because think about that. If I ask either one of you guys like, Hey man, my roof's leaking.

Do you guys have a roofing guy? And if you do, you're like, Hey, this is James. He's the best. Yeah. Here's this number. And so there's already trust. Like I don't have to shop him anymore. 'cause I value your opinion and you say, Hey, James is good. Yeah. He came quickly, he was very friendly, he did a good job. He cleaned up well.

Mm-hmm. And he was fair on the price. And so I'm like. So you used him and you're like, yeah, I'm good. I'm like, Hey, I need a new washer and dryer. I need my yard mode. And you're like, Hey Larry, he's the best. 

[01:23:39] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. 

[01:23:39] Shelby Lewis: And so our best customers are repeats and referrals and we treat 'em good. Right? Like, you didn't just get good service on your part, then I'm gonna get good service.

You know? So I think that's, we, we continue to say, take care of those people. Yeah. So stay in front of 'em and keep communicating. You know, it's not always like, Hey, how you doing? You want a new car? Like, [01:24:00] that's not good communication. Mm-hmm. But it's just staying in front of people 

[01:24:03] Matt Lewis: and, and just by being present, there's so much value that we're in the dealership.

So then we're down in service and we're listening to warranty claims. 

[01:24:09] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. 

[01:24:09] Matt Lewis: We're listening to people that get frustrated. Okay. And we're going, okay, how do we remove those when we come out with our lowest guarantee? It won't be perfect, but if somebody does move to Chicago, it still needs to be valid.

[01:24:21] Cameron Clark: Yeah. 

[01:24:21] Matt Lewis: You know, because that's a value. We need to put something tangible that somebody can wrap their mind around versus lifetime. 

[01:24:28] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. 

[01:24:29] Matt Lewis: Most all the certified pre-owned programs out there from manufacturers, from Honda, from Toyota, from Ford, 

[01:24:35] Taylor Lewis: yeah. 

[01:24:36] Matt Lewis: They retro back to the original in-service state. So if it says 

[01:24:40] Shelby Lewis: it's a 70,000 mile warranty, but it has 36,000, you don't get 70,000 new.

You get a total of seven. Seven. 

[01:24:50] Matt Lewis: I mean, 

[01:24:50] Shelby Lewis: how do you 

[01:24:50] Matt Lewis: know what the original inservice date was? You don't, no. You can pull a Carfax, you can pull auto check, but that's work. Yeah. Yeah. We said let's just simplify it. And ours is a true term, true mileage [01:25:00] warranty. It starts day one of your ownership. Yep. Wow. So the three year 36 starts from today.

The 36,000 starts from today. Mm-hmm. 

[01:25:06] Nick Beyer: Wow. And y'all are just, y'all are purchasing those from other insurance companies, right? Yes, yes. Okay. Okay. I didn't know if that was like part of self-insuring or something. Yeah, it's, it's self-insuring. Yes. So we, 

[01:25:18] Matt Lewis: we own all that, which then gives us control of that.

Cool. But when we go to the underwriters and we go to the administration company, that helps us administer it all. Yeah. It's gotta be good 24 7, 365. Yep. It's gotta be good in all 50 states. Yep. Yep. It's so on and so forth. You know? So, which 

[01:25:33] Shelby Lewis: was an another thing, and Matt talked about that, of having multiple different aspects even in the same rooftop of levels of business.

Mm-hmm. So if sustainability, one of the benefits is that revenue comes back to you, the bigger benefit is you have more control over it. Mm-hmm. Right? So when you call to get window tint and they're like, well our schedule's three weeks out, but you know, you got somebody in a pinch about to leave town. If you can control [01:26:00] that, you can move some things.

Yep. Yeah. And then that's a better experience, right? Yeah. It's an experience. Uh, and so we talked about it, so with the reinsurance, and I said that that sweet spot for the customer is after 50,000 miles before a hundred thousand miles. We just had a call the other day. Our claim ratio and payout. Now you're like, this isn't good business Shelby, but averaged 135%.

So for income that we were, you know, if you look at that mm-hmm. Because it's on both sides, that's a free nine. Nine to a customer. It was 135% payout, which means that's good value to a customer. Yeah. 135% by anywhere else you'd be on your own. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Right. 130 out of a hundred customers would be on their own upset, angry, bad Google Review.

[01:26:46] Cameron Clark: Yeah. 

[01:26:46] Shelby Lewis: Even if they did their due diligence, just like I told you. But we get to say, you're in good hands. Come on back. We got you. 

[01:26:52] Cameron Clark: Yeah. 

[01:26:52] Shelby Lewis: Right. Come on back. I'm gonna get you some popcorn. Let's get this thing figured out. And who doesn't wanna be told that? You know? Right. You know, it's like, and [01:27:00] that's solution based we talked about.

Yeah. We have learned you don't have to give everything to everyone. Right. We are not the people, I don't know who is that can continue to do that, that pay for everything. But what we have learned is there should never be a reason that you can't not say no. Like, so it's not fun to say no. It's not fun to hear.

No. So if you're like, Hey, you need a new transmission, warranty's not covering it. Hey, is that covered? No. Would be the answer. Yeah. And so instead I'd be like, Hey, I've got a couple different options and solutions I want to go over with you. That'll give you some different options. Yeah. You know, I've got the manufacturer replacement warranty, uh, replacement transmission.

That's gonna be $9,800. But before you go ahead and tell me yes on that one, I wanna give you two other options. I found a reconditioned one. It's a Jasper. It comes with a three year, a hundred thousand mile warranty. And it's gonna be $6,800, so it's gonna save you almost $3,000. Or I can get you a used one here.

Now this thing is gonna have a six month warranty on it. Uh, and that's gonna cover the part [01:28:00] alone. So if it went out labor, but that's gonna be $4,800. So which one of those do you think works best for you? I did not tell you no. Mm-hmm. And I didn't say I'm gonna pay for it. 

[01:28:10] Cameron Clark: Yeah. 

[01:28:11] Shelby Lewis: But it allows you to say, okay, this dude kind of cares.

He's trying, he's trying. He's he's trying. Right. He's not, 

[01:28:17] Cameron Clark: he feels 

[01:28:17] Shelby Lewis: for me, he's not a Joel just whacking me. Right? Yeah. You know, they say These people are just whacking me. I ran through service and they just tried to sell me everything. And, and that's something we have to train and teach on constantly.

It's like, okay, if it's on back order, check downtown. Like can you get an aftermarket one can? Instead of just saying, you know what, it's on back order. Sorry dude. Like that's the story of every car dealership, it's on back order. Sorry dude. And it's like, no, no, no, no, no, no. And we've had so much time at the back counter of parts and it's just like, hang uh, Mrs.

Smith, I apologize. Lemme check this real quick. I think I've got an option. It's like, call O'Reilly's. 

[01:28:53] Cameron Clark: They 

[01:28:53] Shelby Lewis: sell parts too. Get on eBay, get on Amazon, get on and find a solution. Nine times [01:29:00] outta 10, you can do that. And, and then they're just like, oh my gosh. Thank you so much. Yes. Right. Thanks for caring. Yes, right.

Thanks for being in my shoes. So that's, that's one of those things. And so we built that into our Lewis guarantee of like. It's gonna be a different experience when you show up here. 

[01:29:14] Cameron Clark: Hmm. 

[01:29:15] Shelby Lewis: It's awesome. 

[01:29:16] Nick Beyer: Well, anything else kind of in the middle part before we we roll into like where we're sitting now, kind of what's to come.

Do y'all feel? I think that 

[01:29:23] Shelby Lewis: covers a lot of it, right? Yeah. There's a million different stories, but I think that you kind of understand kind our growth, where we were. Yeah. The things we sold to be able to do other things. And then, 

[01:29:34] Nick Beyer: and 

[01:29:34] Shelby Lewis: here we are now. 

[01:29:34] Nick Beyer: Yeah. So talk about this campus for people who haven't had the chance to drive by.

You're, we're sitting off I 49 West Fayetteville. Just talk about this piece. How long, you know, the vision for it years ago, acquiring the land, developing the land. I mean, that's all, it takes a ton of time. A t ton of resources. Just kind of talk about the vision there. 

[01:29:56] Matt Lewis: Um, so we, we knew, we had the vision of [01:30:00] we needed to take the leap forward and if we wanted to stay relevant in the automotive industry, in a thriving economy like northwest Arkansas, we had to do something.

[01:30:09] Taylor Lewis: Mm-hmm. 

[01:30:09] Matt Lewis: So this, I say 10 years, but we've been saying 10 years for a couple years. So I guess that's 12 or 13 years ago. It was, okay, we need to do something. We've got a building from 1969. We've got a building from 1988. 

[01:30:22] Taylor Lewis: Mm-hmm. 

[01:30:22] Matt Lewis: The business has changed. The way interaction, the way people pull up to service, the whole thing's changed.

Um, we can't just keep repainting the building. We had acreage across town over there. We were only on nine acres of it. And it's, do we mow the buildings, mow 'em down? Do we move 'em back? Do we purchase some other land? You know. To each side of us to make this work. 

[01:30:43] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. 

[01:30:44] Matt Lewis: So we started doing all that. We hired some companies that helped us with some market research.

We talked to the manufacturers also have to approve when you move. Okay. Oh wow. It's gotta be in your PMA, like Shelby explained earlier, and we were in our PMA, which is our primary market area, but it's, uh, do we move Ford [01:31:00] and CDJR turned us down to move. They were sitting in Detroit in their research area.

They took our dealership there on college. Mm-hmm. They drew a circle around it. What they're looking for is traffic count and average household income. Yep. Traffic count was fantastic. There's not hardly any apartments over there. They're all mature single family homes. Yep. Mm-hmm. If you think about that area.

So the average household income was great. They're like, you do not need to move. Mm-hmm. I'm like, you need to get on a plane and come down here. Yeah. 

[01:31:30] Cameron Clark: Yeah. And both of 

[01:31:31] Matt Lewis: them separately we're driving up and down the interstate. We don't have this land yet. We're driving up and down the interstate. We're trying to pull out of the old one.

They're like, you're landlocked. 

[01:31:40] Shelby Lewis: Yeah. It was a zoo, you know, it's chaos. Like you couldn't get outta chaos there. Chaos. There was this stuff piled on top of stuff, like when we got big months of inventory, there was stuff parked in a field outback mm-hmm. On hillsides, like, so not good. 

[01:31:51] Matt Lewis: So they're like, okay, you do need to move.

Mm-hmm. There's almost 80,000 people on the interstate driving by every day. Yeah. Mm-hmm. What we found too, and, [01:32:00] and Shelby just talked about this a little bit, you know, one of our, one of our hobbies is we're into an endurance, endurance events. Well, anybody that's been in an endurance event, you know, like the race doesn't start till the end.

[01:32:10] Cameron Clark: Yeah. 

[01:32:10] Matt Lewis: You know, so at first you're just pacing, having great conversation. And we would go around the same talk, you know, we would split up and talk to different people and it's like, Hey, what do you do? Where do you work? And all these people would be like, oh, where's that located? Hmm. Where are you located?

And I'm like, we've been there for 79 years. Yeah. We're on every billboard. We're on your TV so much. We're on your radio, we're on your kid's shirt. You talking me right now? Yeah. How do you not know? But it, but it was an awakening for us because we were in the early stages of do we move or do we rebuild?

Mm-hmm. Yeah. And we're like, okay. The vision that our grandfather had and his brother when they moved college was the main throughput of Northwest Arkansas. 

[01:32:52] Taylor Lewis: Yeah. 

[01:32:53] Matt Lewis: So if you were coming to a Razorback game, even from Rogers or Springdale, you were driving past the dealership. 

[01:32:58] Taylor Lewis: Mm-hmm. 

[01:32:59] Matt Lewis: If you were going [01:33:00] north, you're driving past the dealership, there was no 49.

[01:33:03] Cameron Clark: Yep. 

[01:33:04] Matt Lewis: So when you start thinking about that and we start talking to people, they're like, now if they don't live in Fayetteville, even if they're coming to a Razorback game, they're driving past us to the next exit. 

[01:33:13] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. 

[01:33:13] Matt Lewis: In fact, we would talk to people that lived on Weddington that would never, they didn't know where the dealership was located.

Yeah. 

[01:33:20] Cameron Clark: Yeah. 

[01:33:21] Matt Lewis: So that again is like, okay, now we gotta look for somewhere to move. 

[01:33:24] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. 

[01:33:25] Matt Lewis: Um, and then we had identified a bunch of different land, and I won't go into all that. Those stories. But, um, fortunately we had a long standing relationship, uh, with the Williams family. 'cause this used to be Williams tractor, the main portion of it.

Then we bought six other parcels that go with it. Um, so manufacturer said, okay, we'll approve this area, that area. There was only like two of them. And we sat down and we sat down and we told our story and knocking on all the doors. And one day I, I get an email from, um, from Doug Williams' son, and he said, Hey, I think it's time to call [01:34:00] mom and dad because I'd been asking for a while to sell the land.

And so I called mom and dad. We were probably probably in their eighties. 

[01:34:06] Taylor Lewis: Yeah, 

[01:34:07] Matt Lewis: yeah. Mom and dad. And he said, yeah. He said, we're down here getting some lunch. He said, I'll come see you. You know? 

[01:34:14] Cameron Clark: Yeah. 

[01:34:15] Matt Lewis: So I, uh, I was over at the Ford building at the time and I went down and told Taylor and Shelby. I was like, I don't know where this meeting's going, but y'all need to come sit in this.

Don't say anything because I don't know where it's going, but just sit there and be ready. So we come into our, in, in the office and we're all sitting there talking. And, and she looks, she looks at Donald, uh, the dad and she said, I told Donald we need to sell y'all our land over there where the tractors are, because I can't get in and out of this place 

[01:34:44] Shelby Lewis: because 

[01:34:44] Matt Lewis: they're our customers.

[01:34:46] Taylor Lewis: Before we had even said anything, know when you walked out, she's 

[01:34:50] Shelby Lewis: like, you don't have any parking around here. It is a zoo to get outta here. Oh. And you know, you're just sitting there on your hands like. Because this land wasn't for sale. We couldn't [01:35:00] find optimal land that we wanted. Yeah. And we were like, because, because 

[01:35:03] Matt Lewis: you need five to seven acres per dealership at minimum to operate.

Is that a 

[01:35:08] Nick Beyer: requirement or that's like, that's, that's the, that's the guide you generally what they see. That's 

[01:35:11] Matt Lewis: the guide. Unless you have some sort of big structure that you can store vehicles and so on and so forth. So if you take just three, you know, this pre-owned and those two, that's 21 without any expansion.

[01:35:21] Shelby Lewis: Yeah. 

[01:35:21] Matt Lewis: To find that on the interstate with an exit you can get off of with proper zoning and all the things. All all the stuff. So we're sitting in that meeting and I'm wanting to go done, you know, but I'm like, okay, poker face, poker face, here we go. And I'm like, you know, I'm like, you know, we'd have to discuss that, but you know, that might be an option.

We really want it. Please don't call anyone else. It might work. So they're like, okay, you know, what are you thinking? And uh, they're like, oh, just put us an offer together. And we're like, okay. I like God. That's dangerous. Um, so then we meet, we go over and, okay, no, this is it. This is it. We gotta act. So we put an offer in, [01:36:00] we meet back with 'em.

They're like, Hmm, ah, that's close. You know, we, we kind of go back and forth just a little bit. Just in person like we are today. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Finalize the deal. Handshake it. One of their sons that wasn't in the tractor business was in the title business and she was like, he'll do our title work and don't worry, I'll make sure the fee's right.

And he is like, and then this other son that's in legal, he'll send you over the document, but our words good. Your words good. And we hand shook over 20 acres on the interstate here. Wow. When we signed the buy sell, it was all compact on one sheet of paper. No real estate agent, nothing. No, no. Anything. 

[01:36:43] Cameron Clark: Wow.

[01:36:43] Matt Lewis: And so that's the power of networking. Yeah. And that's the power of building trust through two longstanding Fayetteville businesses. They can still do business, which is refreshing. Mm-hmm. Yeah. You know, it really is because the other six parcels we bought, some of 'em were 200 page longs of legal [01:37:00] documents and two lawyers for half an acre.

Mm-hmm. And I'm like, I just bought whatever you need to do, whatever comfortable, I'm gonna pay you. Yeah. 

[01:37:10] Shelby Lewis: Um, so there's the land part. So, so that's how we ended, landed here, right? Mm-hmm. The, they were still, they had sold the business, but they'd kept the land. Mm-hmm. Um, and so then they went to them and were like, Hey, we sold the land.

You guys need to go find a new spot. Uh, and they were still in kind of partnership, but not so much. Um, and so that was kind of like delayed gratification that we were just like, we bought new land, let's start construction. And it was couple year, it was a year and a half to two years before they ever found land.

And then they had to build and it was large scale for them. Mm-hmm. Yeah. They built two humongous facilities. Uh, so that was like four years. Mm-hmm. Before we just had the ability to go on the land and start tearing stuff down. Yeah. All the old business. So [01:38:00] we started this, what we call our 10 year process.

Mm-hmm. Started where Matt was talking about. So we started this grand tour of like, all right, if we're gonna do our 50 year, it's gonna be 150 to maybe 400 years. I don't know, hopefully. Right. For what we've done and what we've invested. My poor kids don't even understand, um, what they've got coming for 'em.

But, um, we started touring. Um, so when we told Ford and STIs that we were moving, they said, okay, send us to the area. And they're like, okay, we approve of that. But you know how now have to look exactly how you're supposed to look anytime you move. The surrounding dealers had to sign off that we were moving, even though we were staying in our PMA, which is like, what?

Well, because we're the next Ford dealer, we just signed off and, you know, but CDGR was different, so we got that approved. We had to hire their architects. CBRE is STIs and Ford Land is Fords. We had to buy their plans and then just kind of like nicely put 'em in the trash can. It's like, [01:39:00] we're gonna build this, how we're gonna build this.

Yeah. That was expensive. It was like. Let's make the really, like, we gotta think, not today, not tomorrow, but like 30, 40, 50, a hundred years down the road, you know? 'cause the forecast is that northwest Arkansas will soon be over a million people. 

[01:39:13] Cameron Clark: Yeah. 

[01:39:14] Shelby Lewis: So we need to have capacity, we need to have room and space.

So we start touring everywhere. 

[01:39:20] Matt Lewis: Hey, but before we toured, we bought those plans. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Why would you throw those plans into place? 'cause surely the manufacturer's paying for part of the building. 

[01:39:28] Shelby Lewis: No manufacturer does not pay any doll hairs. No. $0. Yes. Um, but they say exactly what it needs to look like.

Yeah. Paint on the wall, grout lines in the ground, the towel. The most ridiculous furniture, which is just, they've created these partnerships. Yep. And you gotta buys, uh, you gotta buy from them. So we figured our way through that. So we hired an architect who's built over 300 dealerships. And we knew that because they would know the, um, we picked them, uh, they in Benton, Arkansas, because they would know where [01:40:00] there was a little bit of bending at.

Mm. 

[01:40:02] Cameron Clark: Yeah. 

[01:40:02] Shelby Lewis: Because we wanted this to be ours, right? Mm-hmm. And to look different. And we learned that when we toured these places. So we toured a hundred different places. Real deal. And like Matt would just like give us the what's for and just like you're not, don't go in and find somebody you like. Don't go find a cool car.

I want you just look at the signs. If you're a consumer, you've never been here, do you know where to go? Mm-hmm. And so a hundred different places, we would take notes and it would be like, some of 'em were five hours and some of 'em were two hours. Mm-hmm. There was not one under an hour. Mm-hmm. Any vacation that somehow we'd, uh, figured out how to go on a vacation or any meeting that we would go to.

Like we flew down to a meeting in, uh, Austin, Texas, and they canceled our flight. Mm-hmm. We had a rental car and so we just drove all the way to the connector in Dallas and it was like, oh, look cool. Like, you know, Tommy, boy look, prehistoric forest. We pulled over and, and so there was a [01:41:00] couple, I would say 10% that we had a connection that someone had told us, Hey, go ask for Bill.

And the rest of 'em, we would just walk in as a consumer and it's like, I love your store. Do you guys give out tours? And they're like, 

[01:41:11] Cameron Clark: yeah, 

[01:41:11] Shelby Lewis: yeah. You know, or be like, Hey, uh, you know, what's your service department look like back there? And you know, any good business be like, yeah, lemme show you. And so we would not go ask the leader, but we would ask the doer, the foreman, the manager of this, and like, Hey.

I love your story. We joke, give Matt such a hard time. He'd walk in and this store, I don't know, was like 15 years old. He is like, congratulations on your new facility. I was like, ours is from 69. You can tell. The guy looked at me like, 

[01:41:38] Taylor Lewis: what are talking about? I was like, Matt, 

[01:41:39] Shelby Lewis: like what? And so we would all, we wouldn't even, didn't even go together.

Like we would park the car and everyone go their separate ways. We were like ants and like we didn't need 

[01:41:48] Matt Lewis: to be together. And I think we learned that from our dad early on. We would go to this big convention at NADA, just to digress, just a minute. And we would go to this big convention and the rule was we would meet for [01:42:00] breakfast, talk about what we were gonna go over, but then we were never allowed to be with each other going through demos 

[01:42:05] Shelby Lewis: because that was a waste of talent and a waste of time.

Right? So we would all 

[01:42:08] Matt Lewis: go look at different ones, meet up at lunch, and then be like, Hey, of the ones you looked at, which are other ones that we should go take a second look at? 

[01:42:15] Cameron Clark: Yeah, that's good. So we 

[01:42:16] Matt Lewis: learned that. And then now when we go into place, the three of us don't need to all be going through the parts at the same time.

One go service, one go parts, one go get behind the sales manager. 

[01:42:26] Shelby Lewis: Mm-hmm. It was a little recon. So then it'd be like, Ooh, I like that. And so then once everyone did their thing be like, Hey, I need to show you something in parts. And it wasn't like, Hey, look at this. It was like, this is really cool. Mm-hmm.

And so we would say, Hey, if you redid this whole thing, what would you change? And the guy, the foreman would be like, I never really thought about that. He's like, well, what's a pain point? Every day? He's like, the way that they built, the way this door comes in and how you park this way. And so it was notes and notes.

Wow. And notes. And then we. Interviewed and got our general contractor. That was the whole process. Not worth talking about, but we got it. And then we said, Hey, of all your buildings [01:43:00] you've built, we want to go tour 'em all that. Were non automotive. Right. If it's gonna be di Disneyland, a great experience, we need to know.

All right. So JB Hunt, you know, it was like, Hey, let's be employee focused. We've been customer focused. Let's be employee focused, like mm-hmm. And we've got our 2000 square foot gym with a sauna and a cold plunge and a cycling studio, and a T Rx studio and a yoga studio and pickleball court. And so then we would look at this and then we'd be like, Hey.

And then Blue Cross Blue Shield, like, Hey. And we went to all these places and learn so much of just, 

[01:43:33] Matt Lewis: yeah. And I think, you know, when you're, if you're listening out there and you're like, okay, why would you go look at non-automotive? Well then we were looking at spaces for employees. Yeah. It's not that we were going to look at Tyson and their process.

Mm-hmm. We were looking at their spaces because if we can give our employees the right tools and the right culture, they'll take better care of our customers. Mm-hmm. Yep. But you gotta start there. 

[01:43:54] Cameron Clark: Hmm. Yep. 

[01:43:54] Matt Lewis: So when we were at Tyson, we were like, Hey, why are they ripping out those, all those cabinets, they're installing more [01:44:00] microwaves.

Why are they installing more microwaves? 'cause people were having to wait in the line during lunch, like, okay, add more microwaves at a hundred bucks a pop. Yeah. Mm-hmm. You know what I mean? Because if we could create places for employees to actually take a break and have lunch with other fellow colleagues, they would actually emotionally connect.

And then if they ever got a call from somebody else, which it happens. There's headhunters everywhere. They would have a feeling and emotion before they just jumped ship for a dollar an hour. Yeah. 

[01:44:27] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. 

[01:44:28] Matt Lewis: So then what we learned too is all of our employee break areas, they're all on the second floor. We have zero on the first floor.

And that's by design. Mm-hmm. The reason that's by design is we're in the retail business. Blue Cross Blue Shield had an amazing employee area on the first level. 

[01:44:45] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. 

[01:44:45] Matt Lewis: Amazing. We couldn't put it on the first level. Why? Because if a customer or another employee sees that employee sitting there, they'll go ask 'em a question.

[01:44:54] Cameron Clark: Yep. 

[01:44:55] Matt Lewis: They don't mean any harm by it. Mm-hmm. But then the employee ends up sitting in their car during lunch 'cause they're like, [01:45:00] I deserve a break. Just give me a minute. Yeah. So now all their outdoor balconies, all their areas, they're on the second floor. 

[01:45:07] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. 

[01:45:08] Matt Lewis: You know, where they can still connect, but in a relaxing way.

[01:45:13] Cameron Clark: Yeah. 

[01:45:13] Matt Lewis: And tell her, you might just tell 'em, you know, I mean, we did, we literally went through every place, didn't we? 

[01:45:18] Taylor Lewis: We went through every single place, every different area of, of um, you know, going through JB Hunt, going through Blue Cross Blue Shield, the. Every adventure was an adventure of its own of, of over five to six hours that drive from Austin to Dallas.

We drove from Austin to Dallas, started at 5:00 AM and then went, and we caught the plane finally at 5:00 PM that afternoon. Mm-hmm. But it was, we went through 10 different businesses going there, and I had to tell 'em, sometimes I was like, stop. We're not by the last guy we were in. I'm like, yeah, yeah, this looks great.

I'm, I'm walking to the airport, we're five miles down the road and I'm [01:46:00] just like, we get one more in. Yeah. It's like, Hey, I looked at 

[01:46:03] Shelby Lewis: Google. There's a, it looks like a new store up here. We're not 

[01:46:06] Taylor Lewis: doing it. I've booked my flight and I'll see 

[01:46:09] Shelby Lewis: Allall at the airport. 

[01:46:10] Taylor Lewis: So we thoroughly, 

[01:46:12] Shelby Lewis: thoroughly researched Oh, oh, we were in Vegas for a, a dealer meeting.

Yeah. And, uh, said, Hey, before 

[01:46:17] Taylor Lewis: the 

[01:46:17] Shelby Lewis: flight, 

[01:46:18] Taylor Lewis: let's go hit this 

[01:46:19] Shelby Lewis: real quick. Yeah. It's like, you know, we're not going to the bars, we're not going to any entertainment. It is like, we're pretty basic simple. Like, we've been to Vegas 20 times. 'cause dealer meetings always seem to be there. And it's like, I can tell you I've spent less than a hundred dollars gambling and not been to, I never seen the inside of a sphere.

The sphere, I've ran past it plenty of times early in the morning, but it was just like, work on the business, work on the business, work on the business. And then it was like, Hey. And then they put up on the screen, it was like, oh, look at this, uh, future of Bronco. Bronco just started coming out. The idea of it, it was like, we might build this Bronco.

Barn. It's like, actually there's a dealer here in Vegas that's working on it. It's like, are you [01:47:00] taking notes? I was like, well, I don't have my phone. I can't take any notes. Ford's like, they locked our phone away, won't give you our phone. So it was like writing in your hand, you know? So then we were like, uh, they were like, Hey, there's a meet and greet.

You can hang out in the area and just get to know your dealers. We're gonna have drinks and they'll have a, you know, some are performing. It's like, yeah, real cool. See ya. We're outta here. Like, let's go to that Bronco barn. 

[01:47:21] Cameron Clark: Yeah. And 

[01:47:21] Shelby Lewis: so it was like, what else do you guys own? And they're like, well, we have a quick lane.

He's like, can we go look at that? And the guy was like, sure buddy. And it was like, Hey, let's go look at that. And so then we're asking all those people's like, well, store is this Connected was like, it's a Ford store across town. It's like, how late are they there? Like, will they'll be there until nine o'clock tonight?

I was like, oh, can we go over there? Yeah. He's like, who should? And it was just constant because what that morphed into, you're like, well do all that. Did, did you not figured out after four or five? No. There was a store in Prosper, Texas, new Point, STIs. We walked in, it was just like, oh, let's check this out.

And it looked nice from the outside. Brand new store paint was still wet and asked the guy, there was a, [01:48:00] an office right off the front. Showroom was like, what the heck is going on in there? He's like, I don't know dude, I just picked Plan B. Remember we had to buy those plans? He is like, I picked Plan B.

'cause I like the layout. He's like, this flows awful. 

[01:48:12] Cameron Clark: Mm. 

[01:48:12] Shelby Lewis: Where the customer, how they flow, how a deal processes. And I'm just grinning ear to you like you fool. But that everyone's done that, right? Mm-hmm. I mean, you have to pay a lot of money for these planes. You have to. And so then we were learning that and it was just like, okay, that makes sense.

That makes sense. And so when we learned of all those things, it's like, okay, now let's put this whole thing together. So like when you drive into our dealership, there's vehicle displays. We got that from a Sam Pack store that no matter what, no matter how many cars are here, you're always gonna be able to see those feature vehicles.

Yep. Those 10 or 12 vehicles you're talking about. That line right there. Yep. That line right in front. So we can put our hot unit or something that has great incentives or something that's brand new, we can put it there. And that's what the customer sees. The first thing that you can get to is our service drives.

There's not any parking in front of the [01:49:00] stores. Theoretically it's on the other side of it. So you always had a clear view of what was going on. Uh, so that was something that we learned from another store. 'cause most stores will have parking right in front of their store. So then it got clogged and you couldn't figure out where the front door was.

Uh, and so each one of those things, we implemented the way that they lay it out. So you pull in our service drives and both of our stores forged onto us are within a hundred square feet of each other. And they're identical. Except what one says Arby's and one says McDonald's, right? Mm-hmm. And I use that metaphorically, and they're flipped.

And so the customer experience, we just came up with this grand scheme of this is why this flows and this makes sense. And then delivery base. We're designed to be outside. Yep. Uh, and we said, no, let's put 'em inside. And then what if we put 'em right next to finance? They could see their car when they were buying it.

And so the five or six hour tour, you can see how like we'll show you everything like, oh, we did this and then we cut these windows out. 

[01:49:56] Matt Lewis: And even though like we had looked at, you know, 40 Ford [01:50:00] stores, then we're at a, a Jeep store out in Phoenix, Arizona. And, and then we looked at they had built those, sold 'em, and then built some more in Vegas and they had the delivery base inside.

We're like, Hey, we can integrate that in. Yeah, that's really cool glass that you could see your vehicle while you're signing. That's really cool. Mm-hmm. And we took Sam P's idea from the front and then from another guy that I know, he worked on control of the dealership on where you could pull up and down the inventory.

And if you'll notice when you pull in here, you can't shoot up and down the, the rows of cars until you come around in front of the building. 

[01:50:31] Taylor Lewis: Mm-hmm. 

[01:50:31] Matt Lewis: That allows us to control when we need somebody outside. 

[01:50:35] Taylor Lewis: And 

[01:50:36] Matt Lewis: because, uh, customer's point of view, they'll be like, nobody was out there and help me. Well, we couldn't see you.

[01:50:41] Taylor Lewis: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Because 

[01:50:42] Matt Lewis: you were in between all the inventory. Mm-hmm. And you turned as soon as you came in. And do I wanna have the salesperson sitting out there for seven hours? 

[01:50:49] Cameron Clark: Yeah. Or 

[01:50:49] Matt Lewis: do I want 'em, have 'em making phone calls, answering emails. So we put them at the very front of the showroom in a glass area where a car drives by, by the sales manager.

So we can do a better job [01:51:00] managing the flow of that. 

[01:51:01] Taylor Lewis: Mm-hmm. 

[01:51:01] Matt Lewis: Shelby talks about the dealerships being within a hundred square feet of each other. They are, and they're identically laid out different colors, but identically laid out. That comes from Walmart's book. 

[01:51:12] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. So 

[01:51:12] Matt Lewis: if you go to Supercenter, think about this.

Mm-hmm. If you're in Destin, Florida, or if you're here or in Oklahoma City, it might be switch which side the groceries are on. Mm-hmm. Yeah. But you know where to go. You feel confident. 

[01:51:24] Cameron Clark: Yep. Mm-hmm. 

[01:51:24] Matt Lewis: So a customer, if they have an F-150 and they buy a Jeep Wrangler from us, they can go to either store, they know what the way out is.

Yeah. They feel comfortable. 

[01:51:33] Taylor Lewis: Mm-hmm. If 

[01:51:33] Matt Lewis: we've gotta take an employee from one store to the other because somebody's sick 

[01:51:37] Taylor Lewis: or 

[01:51:37] Matt Lewis: somebody to be out on vacation, they don't spend half the day learning, well, where's this? Where's that? What's that office do? 

[01:51:44] Cameron Clark: Yeah. 

[01:51:45] Matt Lewis: Yeah. You know, we standardized it. 

[01:51:46] Cameron Clark: Yeah. 

[01:51:47] Matt Lewis: You know, so all those things came and I, I'll tell you a couple quick stories.

But we were in Taliqua Oklahoma. Qua Oklahoma. Yeah. And this guy has got a really cool layout with a vehicle like [01:52:00] our display pads, but it's got water all around it. 

[01:52:02] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. 

[01:52:03] Matt Lewis: And I was like, oh man, that's cool. It looks good. But we asked the questions and what the general manager tell us, he 

[01:52:09] Shelby Lewis: is like, I would never do that again.

He said, I'm the one out here every single morning when they come to mow the grass, they blow all the grass in there. He said, all the highway trash gets blown in there. He's like, never again would I do that. It looks good. 'cause I just cleaned it. Yeah. He's, and, and so then that was kinda like, that was one of our earlier tours.

It's like, look, there's two ways to learn something. You can experience it yourself. That's what he was doing. The delivery bay is not on the first store, but in the second store. Or you can find someone that's already experienced that and learn from them and learn from them. You can save yourself a lot of time and a lot of money.

And in a low profit, low margin industry, you can be that much better just by taking notes and learning from other people. 

[01:52:50] Matt Lewis: The, the, the, I'm gonna use the word mistake. The mistake that a lot of the other dealers took when they were building is they use the manufacturer [01:53:00] plants. Mm-hmm. And we got a great relationship manufacturer.

But you always have to, it's no different than any other business or, or life advice is, is you gotta look at who you're taking advice from. Mm-hmm. 

[01:53:10] Taylor Lewis: Yeah. 

[01:53:11] Matt Lewis: So the manufacturers are fantastic at manufacturing vehicles. They're great at getting 'em to the dealership. They're not in the retail business. Mm-hmm.

No, that's why there's a dealer network, the furthest 

[01:53:21] Nick Beyer: person from the customer. 

[01:53:22] Matt Lewis: Right. They, they are the furthest person. So why would I listen to them on how the flow needs to be for traffic? 

[01:53:28] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. How, 

[01:53:28] Matt Lewis: why would I listen to them on how the offices need to be set up? 

[01:53:31] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. 

[01:53:32] Matt Lewis: Now, if it was manufacturing and, and lean production.

Yep. Absolutely. 

[01:53:36] Cameron Clark: Yeah. 

[01:53:37] Matt Lewis: It doesn't mean they're bad people. You just always have to remember who you're taking advice. Are they at a level higher than you in the same, you know, chapter? Mm-hmm. And if so, yes. They're great to listen to. If not, wait and use 'em for some different advice. Yeah. Yeah. That's good.

[01:53:52] Nick Beyer: Talk about the tower out here. 

[01:53:53] Shelby Lewis: We haven't talked about that yet. The tower. Um, yeah. It's multifaceted, right? And our a hundred different dealership tours, we [01:54:00] never actually saw it in person, but the power of online and social media, we, we've seen 'em in areas, right? Seen 'em in Florida. You see 'em in areas where space is a constraint.

In Texas, a lot of Texas dealerships, you can't see the whole dealership because you get like the mix master when it's six stories of interstates that emerge. Mm-hmm. 

[01:54:16] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. 

[01:54:16] Shelby Lewis: They needed to have something. One, they needed more space. 'cause space is so expensive. Two, they needed to be higher so people could see what was going on.

Uh, a little bit of a carvana feel to it. My theory there, it's, it is multifaceted. So I found a Ford dealer in Tennessee that had one, and I called him and asked the same question, Hey man, I love your tower. I think it's amazing. I'm not trying to sell you something. I just need five minutes of your time.

And he was like, yeah, absolutely. I was like, love your tower. What'd you do it again? He's like, well, it's non revenue generating, you know? Mm-hmm. There's no money, he said, and it's very expensive to build, but the amount of traffic and attention that it's brought to me, if I could build five more and it five Xed it, I would do it again.

Uh, so it was one of those things [01:55:00] like people aren't as brand loyal. They used to be like, you know, people used to always say, Hey, my dad drove a Ford. My grandpa drove a Ford. I'm gonna drive a Ford. 

[01:55:07] Cameron Clark: Yep. 

[01:55:08] Shelby Lewis: Well, if Nissan comes out with a truck that has better tech, saves a little bit of money, and has good fuel economy, and all their buddies are driving it.

Mm-hmm. Guess what? They're a Nissan guy now. Yeah. Right. And then six years later, when Toyota comes out with something different, they're a Toyota guy, people aren't as brand loyal and people aren't as dealership loyal. So multifaceted, I said, and pitched to them was like, Hey, look at this. I think we should do this.

I know this is a more expense, but there's a, uh, a flower shop down on Joyce in college. Mm-hmm. And for the longest time, they've painted their horse a different color. I don't know their cadence, but every month or something. Right. And so as a kid, you always grew up wondering, like, I wonder what color the horse is painted.

Right. You don't remember the name of the flower shop, but just remember they sell flowers and they paint their horse a different color. Yep. It's like, if I can recreate that, if we can recreate something that the kids are like, man, I wonder what's in the tower. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. [01:56:00] And they're like, Hey, I'm gonna go look at a car.

Uh. To purchase. 'cause someone in some cycle of life needs a car. Let's go to that place with a tower. They seem like they got a lot going on. I don't even care if they don't remember the name, Lewis. Yeah. I just want them to realize that. And then the last thing was maybe the most important is in the city of Fayetteville, they have a very, very strict, and I could say very not enough times sign policy, uh, which has its benefits, right?

Mm-hmm. The, the town is not littered with billboards and marquees and signs everywhere. But the, the silly stupid thing about signs of marquees or the manufacturer is you don't own them. You lease them. And so when we tore down our building over here, we didn't tear it down, but when they were tearing down from 1969, we had been leasing that Ford emblem on the front of the building since 1969.

No way. And we, and it was cracked down the middle of it, and we had to pay them something like $6,500 to come and take that down. And they [01:57:00] wouldn't even let us keep it. They had to go destroy it. Wow. Right. It was like, what are you kidding me? Uhhuh? So we said, no, we're not going to lock that in again. Yeah, right.

Yeah. They Ford said, Hey, more reoccurring revenue. Right. And because if you look at the end of the other stores of Fayetteville, it's a small, like four foot tall is all that the city will allow. There's 90,000 people each day driving by, if they're doing the speed limit, 70 miles an hour, maybe 90 miles an hour, they're not gonna notice that.

So don't spend the money or the effort on it. So we said if we could build this tower, put fun cars in it and put our name on it, that's better branded. And that was a process in its own, but that's generally where it came from. It's cool. 

[01:57:43] Nick Beyer: I'm sure there's more to that story, but that's there. There always is.

There always is. Another podcast. Podcast. Well, talk us through. Um, I, I think one of the interesting things is you probably, and I'm not, not trying to get too personally, but you probably, you were operating a place, you've been there [01:58:00] since 69, probably had the land paid off, dealership paid off. I think there are a lot of businesses, a lot of business owners that are like, why would I do this?

Why would I go take on more debt? Why would I go expand? And I think y'all just did that. And so I think there's a lot to be learned from, you know, are you selling three time more of the cars than you were at your old location? Sure. Like how do you justify an expense like that? How do you justify planning for 50 years down the road?

Talk to someone who's actually working through that right now. What would you say to them? 

[01:58:30] Matt Lewis: You know, there's a couple things to look at there. Um, and that's, that, that's such a true statement and I can tell you, uh, it is very vivid in my brain on, after the three of us spoke and we would put the ideas together and the estimates together, and then I would go sit and talk to the board.

And, um, same thing. They were, they were in reti, semi-retired or moving into retired, and they're like, we have things paid for. Mm-hmm. It's, you know, it's computing. Yep. You know, no. [01:59:00] Yeah. No. Like, okay, y'all go saddle up and get loan for that. But no. And then as we talk more, they didn't say it that, that abruptly, but no, as we started looking at it more, it's like, okay, well yeah, that works today, but if the goal is to keep the business in the family, we must stay relevant.

Mm-hmm. And to stay relevant, just us and our employees and what we do is a vital part of it. But it's not the end all be all. 

[01:59:27] Cameron Clark: Mm. 

[01:59:28] Matt Lewis: We are in an area, we're not in a mom and pop area anymore. 

[01:59:32] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. 

[01:59:32] Matt Lewis: We're in a, a metroplex now that we're going to a million people by 2040. We might even hit that before then.

[01:59:39] Cameron Clark: Mm. 

[01:59:40] Matt Lewis: You know, and, and if we're going there and if all the trend in the automotive business is the large corporations, the Penskes and the Auton nations and the lithiums buying up family owned dealerships. Yep. I mean, there's, there's less and less and less of them. Mm-hmm. Okay. Mm-hmm. So it's, if we wanna stay relevant, we have to make the next [02:00:00] big jump.

And it skipped a whole generation. My dad and my uncle, they took, when they moved in 69, they added the CDJR store, but they didn't move again. 

[02:00:09] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. Yep. 

[02:00:10] Matt Lewis: So it's like, yeah, this is a huge undertaking. Now let's run their numbers. And if we sell X amount of more cars and we generate X amount of more ros, can we make this compute?

And will it position not the fortune, it wasn't about even about us. We could have made across town work. You know, we couldn't have grown as much as we had, but we could have made it work. But what about the fifth and the sixth generation? 

[02:00:30] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. 

[02:00:30] Matt Lewis: Are we doing, are we paving the way they're still gonna to work hard and run it right?

But are we paving the way to give them a fighting chance in the industry? This, the, uh, family business is, is starting to go extinct. 

[02:00:43] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. Yeah. So why not sell? Like what's the, I mean, I, I know you're, you're, you're talking about paving the way for the next, next few generations. Like what makes y'all different?

You want the 

[02:00:51] Matt Lewis: simple answer? Gimme whatever, answer. So here's why. It's it, it's more than the money. Yeah. It's more than the [02:01:00] money. It's that we are doing our part to provide people a great place to make a living for their family. And then we get our thumb on control, on making sure the money's reinvested right back into our local community that's supported us.

[02:01:17] Shelby Lewis: Mm-hmm. 

[02:01:18] Matt Lewis: That's what it's about. 

[02:01:19] Shelby Lewis: I think that's, that's one of the biggest things of, you know, if you really sit back and look at it when we moved over here, you're like, okay, numbers like. We saw, I remember the first weekend we were up and rolling and I was like, we've never seen this level of clientele.

Not like more, there was definitely more. Right. But it was just a different clientele. It looked different, right? Mm. Our other store was not bougie. It was old. Yeah. Right. Yeah. And we, in our mind it was like, dang, this thing's nice, but when you walk into grandma's house and you hadn't been there while you're like, smells weird.

Right? That couch is old and she's like, I've had plastic on it since 87. Yeah. Probably 

[02:01:52] Taylor Lewis: only after we moved and we saw it empty and we looked at each other and 

[02:01:55] Shelby Lewis: we're like, whoa. But, so initially after we moved, within the first [02:02:00] two months, we hired a hundred more employees. Um Wow. And so then the really look at that of the impact, it's like that's the cool thing.

'cause we mm-hmm. We do our very best to know as many employees as we can and is why we hire so many. I'm not gonna sit here and lie to you and tell you that I know every single one and every single story, but we try every day. Uh, but it's so cool allowing to know that we can control that. And I don't mean like control like a weird evil sorcerer way, but it's like when COVID happens and these people don't care about people or whatever it may be, we have the ability to control and say no.

Like, we're gonna take some of that sustainability of long term. Profitability to be able to say, no, let's hold onto these people. These are good people. 'cause you get to get know their families. Mm-hmm. Like any of our company events are family events. We're not like saying, Hey, this is an open barge. Come drink it up.

We're saying, bring your kids. Yeah. Like, let's go, let's rent out top golf and you bring your family and let's have so much fun. Uh, that, that is one of the greatest [02:03:00] feelings. And then being able to pass that to the next generation, uh, and allow them to do that, that that's one of the cool things there. So have we seen triple the numbers?

No. Uh, we're on our way. We're on our way. Most definitely. But, um, and it will need to be triple, you know, but we're definitely seeing that growth. That's good. 

[02:03:20] Nick Beyer: So what do you, what do you really focus on? What, what parts of the business are growing right now that you're maybe you're really excited about or things that you're like, I don't know, this isn't working.

We need to focus more on this. 

[02:03:30] Shelby Lewis: It's a cycle. Um, so I tell you that, and that's a left-handed answer, you know, to say not exactly, but it's a cycle. So the new car generates everything. The new car generates a person, a person coming here, whether they bought a car or not, and then it generates that used car trade-in.

Mm-hmm. That is another level of clientele that used car. Let's say even if it's, uh, revenue, is that 1600, $2,000 going through its whole process of reconditioning, you know, parts has a hand in that [02:04:00] service, has a hand in it, and then we have our recon department that cleans it, details it, and if there's window tin or if there's bedliner, if there's paintless dent repair, if the collision center, that's like a fourex, uh, and so then that circle completely goes around.

So that feeds the whole machine. So the new car does that, but then that puts that customer with that maintenance package that we do, and we're giving away secrets. But the good news is most people won't review things, so we're gonna be okay. Um, and then if we're not, we'll figure out the next thing. But, uh, is if I can get 'em in the cycle, get 'em to show up here, then we can continue that sustainability and growth for service and impart.

And so there's plenty of areas we'll be like, whew, that is not working. It was like, okay, well is it still worthwhile? Even if it's not profitable, is it a vital part? Yep. Uh, we'll figure out how to try to make it profitable, but is it vital? Do we count on it? Is it necessary? Those employees, so forth and so on, so they all grow at a different level.

Service has been growing crazy, which when service grows, parts grows. Um, sales has grown a good [02:05:00] amount. Um, so I'd say it's pretty close and growth. It, it is, 

[02:05:04] Matt Lewis: and it's in different stages. And I'll let Taylor talk about the units in operation. 'cause he's really, he was headhunting and helping us focus on increasing units in operation, which is where it starts, like what Shelby talked about.

But I'll tell you one variable that we weren't prepared for, but we shifted really quick is the amount of additional employees that came in. And we knew we were gonna have to hire a bunch of them. Mm-hmm. And it was over a hundred. Okay. When that happens, and you gotta remember we were at 150 that put us at two 50, now we're getting close to 300.

If you take a hundred of 150 and integrate them in, that could change your culture overnight. 

[02:05:43] Taylor Lewis: Mm-hmm. 

[02:05:44] Matt Lewis: So we had to rapidly say, we see this happening, we have to inject ourself back. And that has to be our main focus. We're in every meeting, we're around talking, they're seeing how we talk, they're seeing how we lead, they're [02:06:00] seeing how we take care of people, so on and so forth to make sure that we protected our culture.

So that was a pivot. We had to say, hang on, slow down on the marketing, slow down on this. We got a hyperfocus on making sure we protected our culture and those new hundred people, we've instilled those same values in them. 

[02:06:18] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. 

[02:06:19] Matt Lewis: So I'd say that was one of the first things after like the dust settle just a tad, because we did that.

And then Taylor, I know you really started working on helping us headhunt the units in operation. 

[02:06:28] Taylor Lewis: Mm-hmm. That was a big, and that was a struggle in itself because I knew we needed to, uh, expand that, grow more in that area, but we didn't want to get to a corporate level that was saying, Hey, I wanna lose absolutely on every single opportunity.

I wanna just be the one that's putting the most out there. Because there's nothing necessarily, you know, in context you get some service back, but just from saying, Hey, I sold the most, there's not really anything in that besides of, of bragging. Right. Then you move to the next [02:07:00] month. So there's nothing to hang your hat on long term wise for long time, uh, sustainability in business.

So it's really been of, hey, growing your sales force, knowing that your x factor of, I've gotta have more salespeople. So in that huge hundred that we had had grown before, whenever we had 10 salespeople, 15 salespeople per house, it's grown to 20 to 25. So it's really staying in the middle of making sure you're working with those managers and knowing, hey, this is what, this is what we need to do.

Finding that happy medium spot because I've come to meetings with Shelby and Matt and said, Hey, we've pushed farther. I don't want to push any farther right now. 'cause it's almost at the threshold of we need this all to catch up. We need them to kind of learn our culture and still continue to be able to share our values.

'cause we can't do that. Mm-hmm. Anymore there, there's too much going on. Um, we've had to hire people to [02:08:00] be able to do that, but we've had to instill all of that in them to really continue to grow, but keep our culture around. Mm-hmm. 

[02:08:07] Nick Beyer: That's good. Yeah. Yeah. Well, many of the founders that we've talked to have had the same problem.

You're hiring so many people, it's like you, half your employees are new or a hundred percent of your employees are new. So, um, it's, it's cool to hear about how much pride y'all take in your culture and mm-hmm. It's, yeah. You can 

[02:08:25] Shelby Lewis: tell from the people who work here, culture's one of those things. You, you can't buy, right?

You can spend your money in a lot of different ways. You can't buy a culture and if you lose your culture, it is so hard to 

[02:08:36] Taylor Lewis: get back. I was talking to a, a good, uh, buddy of mine that's in business in north of Arkansas and he is asked me how everything was going and, um, they've grown and a bunch of different businesses.

He stopped and I told him a couple pain points. He said, Taylor, never lose y'all's culture. He said. I wish we had that culture. I wish we could, we could get that [02:09:00] back in. He said, y'all have grown so much from that. He said, just keep fighting and don't lose that. He said, no one else has that. 

[02:09:08] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. 

[02:09:08] Taylor Lewis: So it, it's rewarding to hear from businesses outside and then that helps to continue to push you of moving forward, Hey, this is why we do it.

This is why we do it. 

[02:09:19] Cameron Clark: Well, it's real. I mean, we, we probably talked to three different, four different employees here as we were walking in, and like, every single one was like, just super intentional, you know, ask like very kind, like embodied, kind of the same. Yeah, same thing. That's good. Love 

[02:09:34] Taylor Lewis: that. 

[02:09:34] Shelby Lewis: That's good.

That's, that's total. That's the hope. That's what you dream for. And we talked about that before of like, you know, how many people are reaching directly out to you. Yeah. And like there was, you know, some fulfillment in that and scaling away from that. And I'll tell you, for example, I had, you know, we've attracted so many more customers, but there's a, a local customer that had a really high end car, a Ford gt, and he was like, Hey, can you guys work on this?

I was like, yeah, no doubt. Absolutely. Uh, he's like, I need to get this worked [02:10:00] on. He said, and I, I'm gonna be weird here. And this was via Instagram. It was so funny. Like, we've learned to communicate through the channel that they speak to you with. Right. Okay. I don't care what it is. Let's go. And he was like, I'm really weird but I'm super protective of my car.

Would it be okay if I pull it in the service bay? I said, you can do whatever you want. Right. Our team is really good. So I gave him necessary information and I said, whenever you're ready to do that, let me know. Well, then I got an Instagram, I don't even have his phone number. I got an Instagram message from a photo of his car in the Service Bay.

He's like, your team is amazing. Wow. He said, they treated me at the up and I hadn't even made it to service to tell them, Hey, when this guy comes in, let him drive his car, because I told him he would. 'cause why not? Right? Yeah. Like very expensive car. Very nice car. Just make sure you take really good care of him.

When you create a culture that says take care of every single person and you know, meet them at their needs and what's important to them. They had already done that. Yeah. And so he was in the waiting [02:11:00] area already halfway through the process. Like, your team is outstanding. Right. And he has choices. Mm-hmm.

Right. He's had people pick up his car and take it across the state to get worked on. And I was like, dude, can I save you some time and money next time? Can you just, and he's like, yeah, I guess if you guys can do that. I was like, we hadn't found much we can't do yet. Right. We'll figure it out. So I loved that.

Yeah. And you saying the same thing, like people greeted you and you know, made you feel special's real. Yeah. Right. Yeah. So good. Yeah. 

[02:11:24] Nick Beyer: Well, let's look forward. What does looking forward look like for y'all? What does growth look like? I mean, I'm thinking Springdale, is there, is there something there with where the, where the location is currently?

Or what else? Like, has y'all doubled down on this footprint? What, what, what are you guys looking for for growth? You're 

[02:11:40] Matt Lewis: really wanting in the playbook, aren't you? Alright, let's first talk here 'cause we're not finished. Yeah. Okay. Even though it looks like it. Um, so, so going on behind us here, uh, we've got a new collision center going up.

That's right. Yep. So our new collision center there, it'll be just over 25,000 square feet, fully air conditioned, fully certified, all the [02:12:00] stuff. And, and why I talk about in that collision we're so excited about is we have built it ground up for today's collision business. Now today's collision business is different than last decades.

Aluminum for example, that's a whole lot different. All the sensors on vehicles, we've got a 3000 square foot area that all it does is calibrate sensors in it. 

[02:12:23] Taylor Lewis: Mm-hmm. 

[02:12:23] Matt Lewis: So if you think about self-driving, if you think about adaptive crews, if you think about all those alarms, anytime you get in a crash, they all have to be recalibrated.

Wow. In fact, if you do not have them recalibrated, your insurance will not cover you on a future claim. 

[02:12:40] Cameron Clark: Wow. 

[02:12:42] Matt Lewis: So we've been able to build it ground up because cars are just have more and more tech in 'em. Well, how can we position ourself versus the body shop up and down the road? We're one of the only certified to do X, Y, and Z.

[02:12:54] Taylor Lewis: Mm-hmm. 

[02:12:55] Matt Lewis: So not only will we be able to self perform a lot of our own work, we'll then become a hub [02:13:00] for the other collision centers that'll have to sublet their work to us to get that recalibrated. 

[02:13:05] Cameron Clark: Mm. So 

[02:13:05] Matt Lewis: that's pretty exciting. 

[02:13:06] Cameron Clark: Yeah. 

[02:13:07] Matt Lewis: Um, and then right behind the Chrysler building, it's open, but we really haven't even publicly talked about it.

No. We've got a commercial repair facility. We identified this and studied a place over in Tulsa at a Ford store. Ford is the number one producer of RV chassis, but there's nowhere to get it worked on because it's too big to go in a normal shop. But an 18 wheeler shop, those are up and down. They're not certified to work on that.

5,500 or a five 50 that you see. They, they, uh, all the different cooperatives, the utilities and the cities use, they're too big for a normal shop. 

[02:13:43] Taylor Lewis: Mm. 

[02:13:44] Matt Lewis: But they're not big enough for an 18 wheeler shop. So that commercial building, that's what that does. That's a niche market force we're really excited about.

And then behind there, we're getting ready to start renovating and adding onto another building back there. That's gonna be our whole reconditioning [02:14:00] facility. That facility will have new age technology on cleaning your car, steam cleaning. We'll also do upfit of all accessories, so spraying liners and lifts and tires and wheels and tents.

Mm-hmm. All of that stuff. Again, we'll be able to self perform internally. Mm-hmm. So there's three more pieces just on this campus. Yeah. You know, when they ask you like, how do you maximize, in the city of Fayetteville, you can only have 80% of your surface can be covered by building or a hard surface. Okay.

Which is great. Okay. I'm not balking that because we don't want to just be a concrete city. We're at 79.99 of the 26 acres. Wow. You know, and, and we look at parking spots, either working on a vehicle or selling a car that's like the shelf at Walmart. 

[02:14:50] Cameron Clark: Yeah. How many parking 

[02:14:51] Matt Lewis: spots and how fast can you turn over that parking spot?

Mm-hmm. Yep. So this, and I hope you guys have gotten this from us. This isn't a hobby for us. No, no. This is [02:15:00] business. 

[02:15:00] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. 

[02:15:01] Matt Lewis: That's how you can tell a real founder and entrepreneur is are they operating a business or is it a hobby that they liked? 

[02:15:08] Cameron Clark: Yeah. 

[02:15:08] Matt Lewis: Do we like cars? Yes. But we buy the cars that people are buying.

[02:15:12] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. 

[02:15:12] Matt Lewis: Yeah. Okay. That's what we sell. That's what we work on. Um, I'll go to Springdale for you. All right. So Springdale, we have land out on the interstate. Uh, so that was one of those acquisitions I talked about early on that we bought a long time ago. So, uh, at some point in time Yes. That will expand. We gotta finish this, this up here.

[02:15:30] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. 

[02:15:31] Matt Lewis: Uh, and then Farmington, we've got enough room to, to grow out there with additional land as that area goes. Sure. But what does that look like? You know, is it sales? Does it morph into sales and service? 

[02:15:41] Taylor Lewis: Yep. Mm-hmm. You 

[02:15:41] Matt Lewis: know, what is that area demanding. But we're sitting in a really good position that we can adapt and expand mm-hmm.

To an area that we know about. Mm-hmm. You know, that, but can provide more services. Yeah. Hmm. That's awesome. 

[02:15:54] Nick Beyer: Well, it's, it's, it's been really cool being here, doing the tour with Shelby, you know, a few weeks ago, and then being here [02:16:00] today, just getting to see what y'all have built. And my wife and I live on the west side of town.

Okay. So we drove past this for the couple years that it was being built. It's been fun to watch the progress. Yeah. 

[02:16:10] Cameron Clark: That's cool. Yeah. Well, kind of wrapping up here, we ask all guests, same kind of two questions at the end. Mm-hmm. Um, first one, you've kind of gave different answers to this throughout the interview, but why build a business in northwest Arkansas?

[02:16:25] Shelby Lewis: Well, it's, it is all we knew. Right. You know? Um, so if you're saying why should they, well, 

[02:16:30] Cameron Clark: I mean, I guess for y'all, why, why are you not growing outside northwest Arkansas right now? Why are, why are you doubling down on northwest Arkansas? And then maybe why would you someone else sitting here, why, if they've got another business, why, why come build it here.

[02:16:43] Shelby Lewis: Northwest Arkansas is in like, its own hyper economy. Right? Like when, when you see national news, uh, and, and see areas of trend down northwest Arkansas somehow continues to shake that. Like when we saw that in construction of like, everyone's like, Hey, this [02:17:00] is down, this down. And like, well, we can't get anybody to pour concrete.

Yeah. Right. You know, it's like, or we can't get anybody to perform the metal work on this. So it, it's in its own hyper bubble. Mm-hmm. And it's so refreshing and new and each city kind of has its own feel, but uh, it's new and refreshing and the growth pattern, you know, if United States is this, we we're this, right?

Uh, and it is totally like new revolutionary of what about this, what about that? Right. I think it's open to almost anything. Right. And so I think no matter what your business is, if you put enough time and effort to make sure that you're relevant, that your price is where it needs to be. And then most importantly, like I've always said, your experience is above all else.

Mm-hmm. I don't know how, as long as you put the time in and don't look for initial withdraw. How a business wouldn't succeed in northwest Arkansas. It's, it is, it is just an amazing place to be. Mm, thank you. 

[02:17:57] Matt Lewis: I, I would say on that, I'm just gonna give you a [02:18:00] couple because I worked on all the research, yeah's, and we had to invest the huge amount of money for here and Yep.

Of course Northwest Arkansas was always new. But when you look at it, just from an economic standpoint mm-hmm. You've got three really big pillars and then a bunch of smaller ones. You've got three really big pillars that help the economy up here to continue to grow. So you take Walmart, you take JB Hunt, you take Tyson.

[02:18:22] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. You 

[02:18:22] Matt Lewis: take those three. Now there's plenty other ones. I'm not saying they're the only ones that add to the community and the entire metroplex, the Fable, Springdale Rogers. Mm-hmm. Bentonville. Yeah. Alright. And then you look at the stats of the growing, we talked about before the podcast that we will get to a million people.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. So when you look at that and you got three huge engines pouring in, reinvesting, moving people here, caring about the trails, caring about the area, you know, it really poises to a great place. Mm-hmm. You still gotta put the work in, like Shelby said. 

[02:18:55] Cameron Clark: Yep. 

[02:18:56] Matt Lewis: But it gives you really good ground to start something.

[02:18:59] Cameron Clark: Yeah [02:19:00] man. So last question here. How do you define success? 

[02:19:09] Shelby Lewis: Well, the first thing I'll say, 'cause it's funny, and this is, I was trying to figure out whose it was. Um. But an early quote of success was, success is dressed up in overalls and resembles hard work. Right. And so that's all we knew for the longest time was just dress up in overalls and resembles hard work.

Yeah. Uh, I think it's a million different things and so it's different to each person, but I think it's being able to help. And we didn't really spend hardly any time on this 'cause we could have talked forever, but there's no more, we don't write any checks to anybody for sponsorship without saying we want to be at that event.

[02:19:46] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. 

[02:19:46] Shelby Lewis: And one of the main questions is, where is your event at? 

[02:19:51] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. 

[02:19:51] Shelby Lewis: And who is the recipient of this? And if it's not in our circle, not like what we like to do, but in our circle of location, it's [02:20:00] very rare that we're gonna give money to 'em. And we, we pour out so much money, you know, if you see in a football field, it's got our name on it or all the little leagues or the, you know, any of the places that we can, that's where we would put our money.

And it, it is so much fun to be able, success to me is not so much about money. It's about all the lives that you can affect with your employees and all the people out there that you can say, Hey, we were able to help here and we were able to boost this so they could have a better level of something.

Yeah. That in my mind, that's what success is. 

[02:20:32] Taylor Lewis: Yeah. We talked about that the other day in the, in the podcast. But really gotta see of. Falling on what you were talking about there, but your employees, whenever you get to see employees that growing up, that they're growing in their career and they get to buy their first house, they get to buy that car they've always wanted, they get to go on that vacation.

Like we talked about this, that us three, especially I know as brothers, we don't really [02:21:00] want a pat on our back besides if we're giving it to each other, we don't really want to be recognized for anything. We want to see our employees have success. Mm-hmm. Because we know then that's gonna pour into us that we're gonna have success, continued success down the, uh, next generations that are gonna come.

But nothing brings me more joy and knows that we're successful. Whenever I have an employee say, look, we went on this vacation. Look, I just bought this car. I just got my first house. I'm like, yes, yes, yes. I love it. So I love seeing that and ultimately think that's a huge, um, gauge of success. Yeah. 

[02:21:38] Matt Lewis: The quote that Shelby talks about, the reason he remembers it so much is because my dad sent it over the fax machine multiple times, every word, and we get printed out.

He would the other one, and it goes off of what Taylor says, but you know, when you ask about define success, Zig Ziglar said it really well. He said, if you help enough others get what they want in life, you'll get what you want. [02:22:00] And in our management and our leadership meetings, we talk about, it's like you focus on helping your employees hit their goals.

Mm-hmm. If you'll focus on that, your goal will take care of itself. Mm-hmm. You know, we're going into football season, if you'll get enough first downs, you know, you'll, you'll end up on the scoreboard. 

[02:22:17] Cameron Clark: Mm-hmm. Yeah. 

[02:22:17] Matt Lewis: You know, so it's the same thing to us as just help 'em get their goals. Yeah. Now everybody's goal is not money, but money is the currency exchange for whatever they're trying to achieve.

[02:22:30] Taylor Lewis: Yeah. Whether 

[02:22:30] Matt Lewis: it's being able to retire earlier, support community, go on vacation, buy a house, it's the currency 

[02:22:36] Taylor Lewis: Yeah. 

[02:22:37] Matt Lewis: Of exchange. So we help 'em achieve the money, but this over here is really the driving force of the fire. 

[02:22:42] Taylor Lewis: Yeah. And 

[02:22:42] Matt Lewis: once you identify that in an employee, you get a whole different level out of them.

[02:22:46] Nick Beyer: Mm-hmm. Yeah, man. So good. Thank you guys. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks for having us, us. Absolutely. Well, one of the last things we do on every episode is we just kind of highlight the biggest things we learn from, from our guests. So for, for y'all three today, I think [02:23:00] the, the, one of the really cool things that's very unique to y'all is this blend of like your work ethic and being strategic.

And I think most of us can fall into one of those camps, like, I'm just gonna do it myself. Mm-hmm. Or thinking through like, I'm gonna have someone, someone else do it, or I'm gonna teach someone else to do it. You guys blend those really well. I think it's, you know, the, the few examples that I have written down, um, learning every piece of the business.

Mm-hmm. Like that's strategic, but then going out to do snow because we're gonna do it. We're just gonna knock it out. Like, that's just your work ethic. And when those things collide, it can unlock really special things in your business. And so I think even thinking through coming up with the Lewis guarantee and, and how long it took you guys to get there, the intricacies of the building.

Like that's all very strategic. So really cool to see, um, that come to life. I think the second piece is just being super passionate about the community. Mm-hmm. We're both from here and love northwest Arkansas. It's part of why we started the podcast. And so [02:24:00] to see other founders of local businesses be passionate about pouring back into the community, pouring back in their employees, pouring back into different events, little league games, like, it's just, it's who we want to be and it's who we love seeing other people be in the business world.

So thank you for that. Thank you for all you do in our community. And then the last piece, and I, this won't surprise any of you, but is you're obsessed with your customer. Mm-hmm. And it goes through how you laid out the buildings. Mm-hmm. How you threw that plan in the trash can and drew your own plan. It was for the customer.

It was so that when they pulled in to Lewis, they could have an experience that wasn't like an experience they'd had before. And you talked about car washes, you talked about just little things that, you know, the coffee, um. And then on the flip side of that, how you take care of your employees with having a, a gym, it's over the top.

A cold plunge of sauna is over the top. But you did that for your employees because you care about them. And [02:25:00] you know, and we just talked about it. We just ended with that. It's gonna go back and it's gonna impact the customer experience. And so seeing people who are obsessed with their customer, they seem to always have success.

And so thank y'all for teaching us that. I think people are gonna get a lot of value from this episode. Um, Matt, Shelby Taylor, thank you guys for coming on. 

[02:25:19] Shelby Lewis: Yeah. Thanks for having us. Thank you. I appreciate it. Absolutely. 

[02:25:21] Cameron Clark: Thank you. Thank you for listening to this episode of NWA Founders, where we sit down with founders, owners and builders driving growth here in northwest Arkansas.

For recommendations are to connect with us, reach out at nwa, founders@gmail.com. Lastly, if you enjoyed this episode, then please consider leaving a rating, a review, and sending it to someone who you think would benefit from it. We'll see you in the next episode.