and here like I'm working I'm Blood
Sweat and Tears into Pizza Auto Parts
working all these hours I'm working so
hard sun up to sun down I'm working and
U for you know a pretty small celery
comparatively in my opinion right um and
I'm doing it because we keep saying that
this is Sweat Equity right um but
there's nothing in writing and like you
know like anything could happen you know
and so I I went to him and I said like
do you do you see me as the person to
take over this company to buy this
company what are the unique issues faced
in acquiring a third generation business
what are some of the unique challenges
you unintentionally create when an owner
doesn't want to talk about succession
and how do you balance the health of the
business and the assumptions of the
family relationship my name is Barrett
young and this is the AR of succession
podcast my guest today is Amber Kendrick
owner of Pete's Auto Parts an auto parts
Recycling yard near Grand Rapids
Michigan
today we're going to hear from Amber
about the unique and interesting
challenges of taking over a third
generation Auto Parts yard and growing
her team by providing customer service
and care for her team Amber welcome to
the artist
sucession thanks so much for having me
founded by your grandfather correct what
is an auto parts Recycling yard yeah
thanks for asking um because I think one
thing that we get a lot is like oh a
junkyard that's what people usually
think and um in the in the most basic
sense yes if you're imagining you know
automobiles that have been in an
accident um lined up in rows like that
that's right that's us it's a junkyard
but um it's not junk we don't sell junk
we sell quality used auto parts so U we
like salvage yard or Used Auto Parts
recycling facility you know better than
than junkyard but you we buy insurance
company total losses so we're not buying
end of life Vehicles you know if your
vehicle's worn out at the end of its
life then it's going to the Scrapper
right we're buying vehicles that were
fully insured were in a light accident
and so some of the parts are damaged the
insurance company totals the car out
that car goes to an auction we buy it
and then we sell the good parts and
recycle the metals um and all the rest
so yeah that's what we do okay and uh
when did your grandfather found this he
started in 52 and um I usually use 56 as
like the official date because I think
that's when we got like the the license
from the state of Michigan and all that
um but my grandpa was a farmer and he
was farming the land that petza is on
now and he was struggling to make ends
meat in the early 50s and so he put
together he kind of cobbled together a
homemade tow truck and started Towing
vehicles on the side at night after he'd
farm all day he' tow vehicles all night
and to make ends meet for his family and
he ended up with like this mly
collection of of old cars that you know
back in the early 50s like people didn't
even want to pay the 25 to 50 cents for
the toe to get these cars back they were
just abandoning them um and so the
township eventually said like hey you
can't have all these cars just sitting
around here and he was like what am I
supposed to do with them and that they
suggested you know maybe you should have
a salvage yard and so he um he asked the
state of Michigan to come in and help
him and they did they sent a sent a guy
who sat at the kitchen table with my
grandpa and grandma and kind of
explained how it worked and um got their
got their permits and everything um and
then kind of the rest is history he had
a towing operation um through the 7 s
and my dad grew up working for the
family business of course as so many of
us you know in a family business know
you know you get kind of get forced into
working for the family business whether
you want to or not and my dad years old
yeah yeah um I can remember going
through cars um picking all the change
out of cars and then rolling the change
you know in those oldfashioned they
didn't have Coin Star in the 80s you
know so we'd roll the change and then my
dad would let us keep 10% and looking
back that was kind of a small you know
for the change we roll but uh yeah so so
my dad he loved cars um but he he was
Towing you know from basically as soon
as he had a driver's license and so
while he was in high school you know
he'd be going to school during the day
and then at night you know Michigan
winners there'd be cars going in the
ditch his dad wouldd be getting him out
of bed to go tow cars all night and he
did not like the towing side of the
business so he bought half the business
um from my grandpa in the 70s and the
other half in the 80s and he closed down
the toy operation just about as soon as
he could to focus on the parts um and
that served has served us very
well gotcha okay so at the time I mean
was your grandfather looking to restore
these vehicles himself or was he
specifically he saw an opportunity to
sell parts to neighbors and other people
in the community yeah he saw the
opportunity to sell parts and like back
in the day you know the way things
worked is somebody would come by and say
like hey do you have you know Chevy
Caprice I need a tail light and he'd say
oh yeah go out back you know about five
rows back on the left and people would
go out themselves to pull parts um
that's not really how it works these
days there are self-service uh Auto
Recyclers out there there's pick and
pull yards where you can go pull your
own Parts but we're a full service Auto
Recycler so we have trained technicians
that remove all the parts um for you so
if you want a part these days you're not
allowed in the yard you just call or
text or email us and um we let you know
the part availability and then we'll we
go p P apart we um take pictures of it
we clean it inspect it um send you
pictures to make sure it's everything
you dreamed it would be you know and so
it it works a lot different than it did
back when my when my grandpa started
things and when my dad took over but
yeah okay interesting yeah I'm familiar
with the pick and pole model um used to
have classic Volkswagens and it would be
impossible to get parts except like a
pick and pole uh especially on the East
Coast here so so so your model then now
has evolved
to to to the order inventory I mean it's
just sitting out there it's not like you
guys are pulling it all off and putting
it on shelves until somebody says that
they need that part yeah there are parts
that we pull automatically so when when
the vehicle first comes in U my IM first
of all the first thing we do is we have
someone who cleans all the any and all
trash out of the vehicle and then takes
pictures of the vehicle and of all the
parts and uploads those pictures and
then we have a person who inventories
the vehicle they have a tablet and they
walk around the vehicle and they
identify every good part and then each
part that's good they identify what it
is so like you know a Volkswagen there
might be you know a door on a Volkswagen
Jetta the same Jetta sold you know from
Volkswagen in 2017 might have four
different doors depending on the trim
style there might be one that has
automatic up down Windows and one that
doesn't you know or there might be one
that has a molding and one that doesn't
so he identifies the exact part that's
on the vehicle and if it's good um all
the damage codes so like if there's a
scratch on the door we identify that and
we have a code for that that we save in
the description so that we can so that
we know if there's any issues with the
door we can describe those to the
customers and discount it yeah exactly
right um so then we once those parts are
in inventory they can be sold at any
time and then when a part is sold that
triggers dismantling the car is brought
into the building for dismantling and so
our dismantlers remove every engine they
remove every transmission they remove
like the compressor the alternator the
starter there's a whole bunch of parts
that they the wheels they remove every
on every car and those parts get
Warehouse like we put engines and
transmissions and axles and things into
our warehouses and then the rest of the
parts we leave on the vehicle we like to
use the vehicle as a warehouse so then
when a door is sold the door is on the
vehicle and we go remove it from the
vehicle we found that that's just like
the safest place for the door is on the
vehicle if we remove it there's there
and put it in a warehouse there's a
chance we're going to damage it every
time we handle it so we try not to
handle the vehicles more times than we
have to and we try not to handle the
parts more time than we have to but yeah
we we pretty much pulled order and a lot
of good parts um do end up recycled you
know because we don't sell every part on
the car but we do sell sell quite a few
yeah okay interesting now now dad taking
over in the 70s and 80s I mean did he
immediately know this is what he was
going in too yeah you know my dad um
only very briefly worked for anyone else
like after he and my grandpa had gotten
into a fight he like went to work as a
mechanic very briefly but he came back
pretty quickly too um and he is a pretty
fiercely independent guy and uh and
worked for himself all those years um
and then when um I I came into the
family business I see I had originally
kind of ran screaming I I was given all
the most terrible jobs at Pete's Auto
Parts when I was a kid you know when I
first came in they'd say oh yeah you're
going to in you know you're going to go
through the inventory and check all the
parts you know so it'd be August and I'd
be in the third floor of the warehouse
just sweating buckets you know verifying
inventory just the most boring job you
can imagine hours after hours you know
and then or if they need all all of a
sudden they need a part delivered quick
stop what you're doing and go deliver
this part or you know this drain needs
to be shoveled out you know here's a
shovel shovel out the drain like who
would imagine you wouldn't want anything
to do with that business right um I was
just at what age yeah like 14 probably
was when I was shoveling drains you know
middle school high school age I guess
yeah yeah yeah and I can remember like
blasting my music in high school like
being real rebellious you know um not
not wanting to be there really and um
kind of kind of forced forced to do it
but um I so I went to college I got an
English degree and um I just didn't
imagine I would have anything to do with
the family business I was planning on
going to grad school but I had a lot of
student loans and I thought well I'll
work for a little bit and and then
figure out exactly where I want to go or
how I'm going to pay for this grad
school thing and I went to work in
condominium management and I was the
Financial Manager of a company that
managed managed condominium associations
and I helped that company grow and that
was so fun I had so much like so I had
actually I got the job from my
Quickbooks experience working for my
family business so ironically you know
here I go to college and get a degree
and then how do I get the job oh from my
experience working for the family
business I ran from you know um and I
was paying bill and one of those jobs no
nobody wanted to do while you were
growing up was the bookkeeping yeah
exactly yeah give it to Amber she could
figure it out yeah okay so so I was
working at this condominium Management
Group and I was paying the bills and
doing taxes for all these condo
associations 20 some condo associations
and my predecessor had done these little
cover letters that just said you know oh
this quarter this it was X number of
dollars income X number of dollars
expenses it was like a one paragraph
cover letter and if you haven't figured
it out yet I love to talk I and I I um
I'm verbos and so my cover letters would
be like two and three pages long and
they would go into great detail about
how oh we redid 17 decks this summer and
next year we'll redo 16 decks you know
and the condo association just ate that
up they just all these old people got
these you know got their financial
statements and for once they could
understand what was happening with the
numbers because I would do these long
descriptions of them and so my boss
started taking those um descriptions to
new cond of associations and picking up
new clients and we started growing the
business and I just thought that was
like the the most fun I was creating all
more work for myself but I thought it
was so cool and I it was so exciting to
grow the business and I enjoyed that so
much um and so I went to my boss about a
raise you know here I made made all this
new work for myself you know and he kind
of hemmed in hot about it and uh said
I'd get my raise at my one one year mark
I've been working there for like 10
months and we grow in the business like
crazy I'm like are you crazy I'm making
you all this money and I'm working all
these extra hours you know and and
you're not you're not going to like
reward me for my work um and I thought
that was just not to months right um
wait two more months and then we'll talk
about it so I quit and when I quit he
offered to my salary and then I I said I
was like No And he he offered to double
my salary and I was like well now it's
really a no because if you think I was
worth twice what I was making and you
just weren't going to pay me that like
you know I don't really want to work for
someone like that but that was such an
important lesson for me as a business
owner and as a manager later on to treat
to to give people what they're worth um
to not wait for a one-year anniversary
to reward someone for doing a job well
done you know like it was really key for
me to have that job because it made me a
different boss you know it made me a
different business owner today you know
so when when that all happened I went to
my dad's business manager at the time
because I knew him from working with him
and I said hey you know this is crazy
but if you ever have a spot open up at
Pete's that would be a good fit for me
like I'm looking you know I'm not I'm
not happy with the the compensation
situation at my at my job and he was
like well you're not going to believe
this but you know I just talked to your
dad about bringing somebody in in the
office so um I came in to Pete I was
your dad's not your dad's not running
the place then he's got an operator that
you got hired through then so at that
time um my dad was doing all the buy my
dad has been a great vehicle buyer and
he's not been a great manager he's um
okay and I I don't mean to like put him
down by any means that way it's just
like that was never his Forte um he was
much more um like so in in our industry
vehicle purchasing is one of the most
important jobs if not the most important
job in the company and that's where he
was focusing all his efforts and where
he felt like he needed to and then um as
the business grew he kind of recognize
that like management wasn't really his
thing he was more into yelling at people
um than he was into managing people and
that didn't always produce great results
you know so he he brought in a um a
business manager um to help him with
with the company and that's that's who
was um you know that's who hired me in
to pets um in 200 let's see
2006 yeah I gotch you yeah so that's I
mean that solves the problem of you know
a lot of people who are good at what
they do as an employee they think oh I
should run my own business and you find
out very quickly there's a difference
between being a CPA and a business owner
who's a CPA or you know buying parts and
owning a recy recycling center and
running a recycling center how many how
many people were you guys up to at this
point when you came on board in the
office I think we probably had 12 uh 12
or 14 employees in the company um at
that time yeah so um and you're up to
about what now
31 31 okay so triple almost triple the
size of the company yeah at what what
what year was this that you came in and
start working 2006 was when I first came
in um and worked in the office and um
realized that they were bringing all of
the books to the CPA a lot of things
that like should be done inhouse could
be done inhouse anyway they were just
like bringing Stacks and stacks of paper
to the CPA saying like here you go um
and there was a lot of like there was
just a lot of things going on like there
wasn't any daily reconciliation of like
the sales to the cash you know it was
just like here's how much money we took
in this month you know um and so you
know I really changed a lot in the front
office and in the you know I developed a
system of of daily reconciliation so
that every day you know all of our sales
and um monies were recorded into
QuickBooks like we have an inventory
management system um that we print
reports off and then and transpose that
into QuickBooks so that we could keep
track of all that and we just instead of
just writing checks out of a you know
paper checkbook and then handing the the
copies to the CPA started doing it all
through quick started I started doing
all the payroll on myself you know and
just like bringing us into the 21st
century you know back then and uh that
went pretty
well and what size Revenue roughly were
you because I know a lot of business
owners struggle with this our clients
struggle with it they think they can
just always continue to do things the
way they did when they were really small
versus bringing paying the salary and
bringing somebody internal into the
company like a controller um so what
size Revenue were you guys at when you
realized you needed to really focus and
do daily operations in accounting that's
a good question you know I don't
remember off the top of my head that's
something I could definitely like look
up and let you know you know um because
I don't BK though yeah I just hate to
throw a ballpark out there I don't I
don't think it was that many I think it
might have been two million you know I
feel like it it would have been you know
I think we were probably doing at least
$100,000 a month that'd be 1.2 million I
think you know but I'm not sure whether
it was you know 100,000 a month or
200,000 a month at that point you know I
just don't know I don't remember from
2006 but it's definitely a number I
could look up you know uh yeah no
problem my next step from the with the
company was we had a shipping manager at
the time that worked four days a week
and um we really needed someone that
worked five days a week and so instead
of hiring a shipping manager um I became
the shipping manager I replaced myself
with like a office assistant in the
office and became the shipping manager
and um I worked in the in the shipping
department for two years and that was a
that was a a really good experience for
me to work work in production work in
distribution um you know learn learn
some of the nuts and bolts of the
business you know um and and I started
actually during that time I started
managing the dismantlers as well sorry
go ahead what did shipping consist of
back then I mean were you guys selling
on the Internet or was it shipping to
local auto parts stores or what did that
look like yeah both you know so um
Automotive recyclers are incredibly well
connected to each other about half of
the time when people call us for parts
we have the part and about half we don't
but somebody else does and so we will
ship those parts in and my dad and some
other business owners started a trucking
system that would would go between the
yards and so like we would drive a one
of our box trucks to Chicago every night
full of parts for all these other yards
and and pick up and drop off all the
parts for the yards and pick up all the
parts that we had purchased from our for
our customer from those um and that at
the time was just a real local situation
not local but there was a there was
there were two yards in Ohio there was a
yard there were two yards in Illinois
and Chicago you know there were a couple
yards in Michigan it was just like a
small Network now it's Nationwide now
you know now we're shipping in you know
we can get aart from Maine or Texas or
Colorado or you know all over the all
over the country pretty much um on our
internal Trucking system for much
cheaper than what we could send at UPS
or you know a freight truck or whatever
um but back then
the shipping Department what that
consists of was after the parts Tex
would pull the parts and they'd bring
them up into our wash bay and then I'd
be responsible for power washing the
parts um with the large parts or like
wind indexing headlights and mirrors and
that kind of thing cleaning the small
parts um doing the quality control
taking pictures of anything that was not
up to standards and uploading those
pictures into our system um reporting to
the salespeople any problems so that
they could report those to their
customer see if they wanted to you know
take a headlight with a broken tab at a
discount or if that wasn't going to work
if they'd have to get them a different
headlight um and then like routing
delivery trucks at that time I think we
may have only had one one delivery truck
now we have four full-time delivery
drivers on the road all the time that
cover the whole West half of Michigan
and down into Southern Indiana um and so
and boxing up UPS Parts all that good
stuff yeah so yeah I did you know two
years working there and also trying to
improve improve things you know from on
the back end and I I do kind of have
like a heart for for production um I'm
technically the sales manager at pets
now but um I find myself like sort of on
the side of shipping sometimes you know
in those little like the in the push and
pull between uh sales a bit like I
always have a lot of empathy for the
shippers because that's kind of where I
I got my start yeah gotcha so you like
to work your way through the different
operations of a company clearly get get
in there get your hands dirdy figure it
out and then it sounds like going from
12 to 31 people then replace that
position with somebody else and move on
to the next thing is am I getting that
right yeah that worked really well for
me and I think part of that was does go
back to like my experiences you know
like with with my previous boss who you
know he couldn't do what I was doing you
know but I he he was he was my boss he
was making so much more money than me
that that kind of rubbed me wrong right
and so I wanted to able to do the things
and I always feel like I should be able
to do the jobs that I'm managing and so
I I did really like I know I can't
dismantle a car I can't pull apart there
are things there are limitations you
know there are things I can't do but um
you know in the Toyota way they call it
getting into the gima um and and I
really do believe in that like I believe
in hopping in a delivery truck and
delivering Parts when there's a delivery
driver out sick filling in for them
because I find that like it's the best
way for me to know like what the actual
problem are what the struggles are like
you know how can we make this better how
can we do things better is to actually
like do the job you know it served me
well and all my managers are that way
too um you know I hired Jimmy my
production manager I hired uh let's see
it's I think it's coming up on 12 years
now um so I hired him yeah 2011 maybe
coming up on 13 years um I hired him in
as like the lowest man on the totem pole
I found him working at a a dealership
doing doing like oil changes and I hired
him in in our shipping Department he was
like sweeping the floors cleaning out
the drain tables like doing all the
worst jobs you know that we used to give
Amber back in the day and he's worked
his way up and now he has more direct
reports than anyone else you know and um
he's the he's our um distribution
manager now um same Jesse my general
manager um she was hired in as the
shipping manager and then she was the
office manager and then the general
manager um Craig who's my buyer now
who's doing the job my dad used to do
and he manages our dismantlers he
started as a parts puller he was you
know literally pulling parts off of cars
in the yard and has worked his way up
and so you know when somebody calls in
sick we we all all of us know how to
fill in um you know when we when it
comes time to train a new person we we
know how to do the job that we're
training for you know and um Craig can
dismantle a car just as fast as our our
train dismantlers can and they all know
it you know he does it from time to time
and I think that there's a level of
respect there that has has been really
helpful you know I think almost
everybody's had a boss that like
couldn't have done what they were doing
you know and I know I just think that
there's a difference there and it it
feels good to to have a boss who knows
how hard your job is and respects it too
yeah yeah I mean it's a it's a good
reminder there's a you know there's a
lot of activity on the internet right
now about business acquisition and all
you need is a loan or SBA loan and a
funer or something like that and you can
step into anywhere and do anything but
it's like you might own the company but
you can't operate it you don't know
anything about it and you're riant on
those employees to continue to want to
continue working for you um so I mean
you came by it naturally this was a
company you grew up in but it's good to
see that you're also doing that with
with your employees that come in yeah
learn I think kind of thing and work
your way out yeah and I think it's good
for incoming people too to see that like
there is room for growth you know I
think that that's something a lot of
people coming in at an entry level
position want to know that there's room
for growth and we've got proof of it you
know right here so that's that's really
great too yeah yeah so I worked my way
up to sorry I was just gonna say I
worked my way up to general manager and
then um you know I had been growing the
company with my dad and um making it
profitable you know the the year before
I came into the business um they they
lost money the couple years before I
came into the business they lost money
and the first year I I joined the
company they lost money the second year
um we made money and pretty much made
money every year after that and I I was
that was really a big Drive of mine um
and then as the general manager you know
and as I kind of felt like the heir to
the throne you know I wanted to know
where this was going you know and i' my
dad would take me to seminars we go to
Industry events like the automotive
recyclers Association and the United
recyclers group are the two big
Nationwide organizations in my industry
and we go to these events and people
would talk about succession planning and
I'd be like elbowing my dad like hey you
know
succession yeah um and it wasn't
something that he wanted to talk about
you know and at the time um that was
really hard for me you know and I I was
at a um we did some Consulting Group
meetings and those were huge those were
huge for me we did Consulting Group
meetings where we went twice a year met
with other Auto Recyclers from all over
the country all in non-competing markets
shared financials and um went around the
room and talked about our difficulties
and um what was going on in our business
and helped each other and that was like
hugely instrumental in my growth um
there were so many mentors in that group
that just taught me so much and I
learned so much from their mistakes and
from their wins you know and I really
found that that they that was a huge
resource for me and at one of those
meetings um I had a job
offer uh you know so I went to my dad
and I was like you know I don't I don't
want to leave Pete's Auto Parts but like
you know we we never talk about this
whole succession thing and here like I'm
working I'm blood sweating tears into
petza Auto Parts working all these hours
hours I'm working so hard sun up to sun
down I'm working and U for you know a
pretty small celery comparatively in my
opinion right um and I'm doing it
because we keep saying that this is
Sweat Equity right um but there's
nothing in writing and like you know
like anything could happen you know and
so I I went to him and I said like do
you do you see me as the person to take
over this company to buy this company
and and he couldn't say yes he was like
maybe and uh at the time that was really
really tough for me um looking back I
can I can see it a lot more now um you
know at that time I was in my 20s I was
work hard play hard so I was working
really hard but I was also drinking a
lot and I was coming in hung over you
know I was always I was always a
punctual on time person but I probably
smelled like Jack Daniels uh pretty
frequently if we're if I'm being
completely honest and um I can see
looking back that he thought like well
sure maybe you're the right person but
like you know you're in your 20s like
maybe not I don't know 15 years 20 years
from now kind of yeah and I think one of
his yeah one of his thoughts I think was
just like I'm not ready to deal with
this like I'm not ready to retire you
know and I I wanted to know that there
was a plan I wanted like okay we'll
transfer this much ghost stock to you
for this you know every year as a bonus
or you know I wanted some kind of like
concrete plan and he wasn't going to
give that to me and so I said well
that's fine but then I got this job
offer for like literally you know um so
much more than you're paying me like
that I'm GNA take it if you're if like
if you don't want to make a plan and so
he was like all right I guess that's
what we're doing so I left the family
business I moved to Omaha Nebraska
didn't know a soul nobody moves to Omaha
on purpose but it's actually a really
lovely city to live in in my opinion I I
really enjoyed my time there
um and the really cool thing was the guy
who had offered me the job Peter Fink um
he owns American Auto Parts in Omaha
Nebraska but he also owns Certified
Transmission and they're the third
largest Transmission remanufacturer in
the United States and so he owned this
big company with all these managers and
all these stores and American Auto Parts
is this tiny little drop in his business
bucket and um so I would I was 100%
responsible for the p&l of American Auto
Parts I would see my boss once a month
where I would be respon I would be held
responsible for my p&l numbers and I
would have access to all these other
managers at our management meeting and
that was it like I was not that I was on
my own he he was very responsive with
email if I needed to talk to him like I
I don't mean to say like that was it
like I was thrown to the wolves or
anything he was great I just mean like
um that what an incredible opportunity
for me to learn and grow and be like
really responsible for a business you
know and treat it like my own um that
that was really cool that was really
cool okay uh what what year was this in
so that was
2012 yes I moved to elaha in 2012 I've
had been working in my family business
for six years you'd been working with
Dad for six years and we're already
starting to wonder when's the succession
conversation come up yeah so I mean when
you you've always wanted to run your own
business then or at what point in there
did you I guess I mean I guess it's
Dad's company and so the back of your
mind you're always like well it's really
my company someday kind of thing but you
had to have switched at one point from
this is just a job to I want to run this
company I want I want to be responsible
for other people and for decisions and
stuff like that did that come did that
come through the the property management
company was that already in place when
you started working with Dad or is that
just something that developed working
your way up through Pete's Auto yeah I
think you know part of it was like when
I had that experience in the in the kind
ofia management I was like um I wanted a
piece of the of the pie or I wanted to I
wanted to have an impact and then to
like be rewarded for that impact you
know so that was part of it and then
after I started working at pets one of
the things that was kind of happening
was like my dad bless his heart would
not want me to throw things away and I
think this is like pretty common for
some older business owners with like a
lot of inventory you know um is they
don't see like the harm in keeping Old
Stock lying around right and I would
want to like clear out the old stuff
make room for have everything you know
know where everything is and have
everything NE neat and organized you
know so I'd like wait for him to go on
vacation and then like throw all the old
inventory away right and like I do we do
big cleanup projects like as soon as
he'd go fishing we'd all run out there
and start like doing a big cleanup
project because we like we knew if we
did it in front of him we'd get yelled
at you know but if did it behind his
back and it was all like for the good of
the business right like I never did
things behind his back like to get away
with something or like you know I don't
know it was always like because I
thought that was the best thing for the
business but it was like I'd rather ask
for forgiveness than permission kind of
a thing you know um and that I guess
that was where I was like I was always
all about Pete's Auto Parts like
furthering Pete's Auto Parts make
getting Pet's Auto Parts to make money
to to sell more parts to have customers
be happy with us to to make a name in
the industry and it didn't really matter
like what Dad thought about throwing
this old stuff away because that's what
my next step was you know um so I'm not
sure exactly when it shifted but you're
right it definitely did um to where I
did think of it as my company you know
and I still actually I'm technically the
sole owner of pizza Auto Parts now but I
think of it as our company like I think
of it like with me and my management
team I think of it as like just as much
their company as my company because
we've been building it together you know
since
200 I don't know I I guess I hired Jesse
in 2009 maybe um I like I I can't
remember exactly the year but um you
know we we've been building this
together for a long time and like when I
left in 2012 Jesse and Craig and Jimmy
were all working at pets and they all
stayed and continued to build the
business while I left
um and and uh and said you know I'll be
back I'll be back I'll be back and I was
eventually back you know um but like we
we've been a team for a long time and so
it definitely has always felt like this
is something that we're all doing
together okay all right yeah so how long
was so I mean it wasn't a detour in your
mind you you just said you're going to
be you're going to be back this is a
temporary thing that you're doing over
here in NE uh Nebraska
clearly grew you um but this was just I
mean this was a strategic move just to
wait until dad's ready to have this
conversation and then yeah I wanted to
make yeah I wanted to make more money
and I wanted to learn and grow and do
other things you know within the
industry but I thought like everything
that I learn I can take back with me you
know I wanted to learn how to sell
remanufactured product better which
American Auto Parts was great at I
wanted to learn how to broker more um
which American Auto Parts was great at
there were lots of things that I wanted
to learn and and get out of the you know
the situation as well so I saw it as a
huge learning opportunity and an
opportunity to make a bunch more money
and and I just felt like I If I had I
felt like if I had stayed my dad was
never going to give up the reins I felt
like I saw a lot of people in my
industry whose parents were still in
charge when they were in their 50s you
know or like when when the kids were in
their 50s and the parents are like in
their 70s the parents are still should
be thinking about succession planning
they still haven't even had a chance to
take over yet right and I was like
that's not happening to me I'm not doing
that you know and so yeah um you know I
went I I ran American Auto Parts for two
years and it was a great experience and
then I got a job offer to go um to
Colorado and I took that and I'm really
glad I did that because I met my husband
in Colorado uh so that that worked out
really well for me um and so I was
working in Colorado and I was at the
time when my dad called and said I'm
ready um to sell you the company I was
doing consulting work and I was one my
biggest um my biggest client was a a
core purchaser so they buy um Auto Parts
to be to be remanufactured so they could
be good or bad auto parts that they're
going to take apart and put new new part
new you know gears in and stuff and um
remanufacture those parts and so my job
was like to go all over the country and
into Canada to visit Sal V jards teach
them how to sell their cores to this
company um and and make more money by
selling cores um instead of just to a
local buyer to to companies You by
looking up the core values on the
internet and so I got to see so many
different setups and go into all these
different yards big yards small yards
self-service full service family
operations consolidators you know um
corporate owned places all you name it
I've been to so many facilities all over
the country and that was like an
incredible learning experience um and I
love to travel so that was really fun
too to see see a lot more of the country
and then my dad called up and said um
okay I'm ready to sell you know and in
retrospect I think it might have been my
mother that was more ready for him to
sell um it might have been like my mom
was like all right I'm ready for you to
sell you know um the way the way it all
went down um but my dad and I we worked
out a deal um we basically like emailed
back forth extensively um to to make to
make the deal happen um to for me to
purchase the company and then and I had
told him you know like you got to get
this drawn up by the lawyer like the
lawyer the lawyers need to be involved
the lawyers need to be evolved and I was
like begging for lawyers for months and
months um and still didn't have
paperwork we were supposed to close the
deal like January 1 and I bought a house
in December I bought a house in Michigan
and like we still didn't have paperwork
you know and I'm like pulling my hair
out going like Dad you're killing me
like we like this this need like we need
to get this done you know and you're not
GNA do it on a
handshake yeah well I mean it can't be
like when you buy a corporation with
shares like you can't that's not even a
thing you know um like we and we had
like we had emails with agreements but
then once the lawyers had the paperwork
um it was a totally different deal and
he had a whole he had a whole list of
Demands um that were not that we did not
agree to you know before I bought a
house and moved me and my husband across
the country you know um and it was that
part was really hard uh because you know
from I think from his perspective it was
all these were all things that like he
should get you know like um he it's not
too much for him to ask like he said
like oh I I want the company to pay for
my health insurance and your mother's
health insurance for the rest of our
lives and it's like well actually there
are laws about what the company can and
can't pay for and like I can't treat you
differently than other employees and
like um you know there was so there was
some like really sticky hard you know
issues and there were some things where
he would say like well fine then you
don't have to buy it and I'm like oh
okay well now that I've just moved
across the country I do kind of have to
buy it you know I've just bought a house
what else am I G to do you know and I
felt I felt very trapped you know and I
think um and I think he felt like he
wasn't asking for anything more than he
he deserved you know so that that was
hard um and we did we finally like
signed the paperwork in April and we
just backdated it all to January of
2016 and um so the and then basically it
just like all got a lot harder from
there um
because the um so one of the things was
like we had agreed in writing like that
he would have a salary of $75,000 a year
and I not like reduced his Sal like you
know I had not reduced his salary until
we signed the paperwork you know so his
he was making like 125,000 or 135,000 or
something a year and then once we signed
the paperwork I was like okay well you
know you had like here we go like reduce
his salary to the 75,000 year and he was
shocked and he was like this is right he
he he didn't like he just didn't he
didn't really realize like what he had
agreed you know like when he saw salary
of 75,000 he thought that was a lot that
was plenty of money and he didn't really
realize that he was used to living on a
lot more than that you know and there
were there were some other things like
that that um you know he was just like
it that was it was really tough um you
know he would he would yell at me like
oh you want me to live in a duplex and
drive a Volkswagen and it's like Dad I'm
writing you checks for like $48,000 a
month for this business like I'm pretty
sure you're like you're not going to be
living in a duplex like I'm pretty sure
you're going to be okay you know but um
just put a lot of strain on on our
relationship you know and at the same
time um his his performance he was still
buying all of our inventory and his
performance was going down and I started
getting getting him to train another
buyer Craig who's my current buyer I
asked my dad to start training Craig and
he was training Craig but buying is one
of those things that it's like kind of
an art and a science and like it takes a
long time to get good at it and there's
a lot of instincts involved you know and
um my dad was doing things like been
doing it for 40 years at this point
almost yeah yeah and so on the one hand
he's really good at it on the other hand
um you know he do things like he wanted
to go to his Cottage on Wednesday
instead of Friday so like on Wednesday
he'd just buy like $35,000 worth of cars
at the auction and be like see you and
then those car yeah and then those cars
would not perform because like he just
you know he just bought a whole bunch of
hhrs and we already had hhrs we didn't
need any more hhrs you know or whatever
it was like you know it was like dad you
can't do this stuff you know and like I
I don't think that he ever meant to hurt
the company like I don't believe he
would ever like buy a vehicle thinking
oh this car is gonna lose money haha you
know I'm just going I think like I don't
think he ever had any bad intentions but
I do think like when you don't own the
company anymore like you just don't have
the same level of caring you just don't
have the same level you know he was just
like peace out I'm going to my Cottage
like I it just wasn't the the the level
of investment wasn't there anymore you
know yeah especially now you're paying
him half what he was getting paid last
week right right so so other than his
assumptions of what would be fair how
did you guys get a value on the company
did you bring in evaluator and actually
do a full valuation or was it more of
a agreement of what you two thought
would was going to be reasonable how'd
that go well we had we had talked to
some industry Consultants that gave us
an idea of like a profit multiplier that
we should use and then what we did was
we used a profit multiplier and we added
back in some things like he did like a
big building Improvement project in 2015
the year before I bought the company and
so like we added all the building
Improvement expenses that were on the
p&l back into the profit um um and that
kind of thing we also I bought the
company separate than the land so I
bought the business and then I I had an
option to purchase the land once that
was like basically he had to sell me the
land the land for for the appraised
value once the business portion was paid
off so that kind of broke it up for us
too so um we did uh he he held the note
on the business and he's holding the
note now on the land so um you know I I
didn't come to the table with cash he um
he held the note and we we determine the
value and set the rent rate and all that
but yeah we did we used an industry
consultant for some of it and then I I
would take like our email negotiations
and forward them to my business owner
friends that also own Salvage Arts you
know and say like what do you think
about this what do you think about that
you know and um and get feedback on it
to in order to come up with our you know
our
Arrangement yeah gotcha okay yeah I
wasn't sure if there was a process
involved in getting an appraiser on the
Recycled parts or anything like that so
you
guys M about a couple things ated in
yeah gotcha yeah yeah that usually is
going to be dependent on the size of the
on the size of the buyout too so for
sure for sure so also did some creative
things 201 yeah yeah and we did some
creative things like we um built some of
the value of the business into the rent
agreement which is like tax deductible
for me so that um that was very helpful
you know um call it like prepaid rent
did some some interesting things with
that yeah so um I paid off the business
in at the end of 2021 we had I had a
10-year note and I paid it off
early um yeah so we I had a 10year note
but we we paid it off early we just
reinvested the profits into into paying
off the business early and uh had the
had the land appraised and went to BU
the land and then that was a nightmare
because um as we moved to cloes on the
land it was discovered that we have like
seven different Parcels of land that
pizza is on and like three had my my
dead grandpa's name attached and one had
my dead grandpa and my dead grandma's
name attached and one had um you know an
old uncle and one had a bank that the
bank no longer existed and all of those
like all the notes and all the like it
had all been paid and taken care of but
just the township or the county had
never been updated and so uh my dad had
to have like all these Wills or all
these um Estates
reopened and have all this all these
properties unin snarled from each other
and or unin snarled from the the names
that were attached to them and
it was a it was a 2-year
process um and it was it was uh it was
really extra nerve-wracking for me
because you know what happened between
2022 and 2024 is interest rates kept
going like this right and my dad and I
had an agreement you know in writing
that he would match the interest rate I
could get from the bank and I got the
interest rate from the bank and like he
had he had agreed to this interest rate
but I was just sure based on how the
interactions have gone with me and my
dad that what was going to happen is he
was going to want a new interest rate
you know and as I so every month that
went by you know and the interest rates
are climbing climbing climbing I'm just
going like I'm not even gonna be afford
to buy I'm not gonna be able to buy the
land for this business at the interest
rates you know but um thankfully I I was
able to buy the land for the apprais
value at the interest rate that we had
agreed upon we closed down the
property yeah yeah so February of
2024 um I closed on the closed on the
land okay yeah yeah so I would advise
anyone who is buying a business to
before you before you buy the business
you know find out who owns the land and
um exactly what it would take for you to
buy the land um because even with an
option to purchase it may not be as as
easy as you think so back when your dad
bought the company he bought it in two
rounds 5050 in the 70s and the 80s was
it just done more of a back of the you
back of the napkin handshake kind of
agreement is that what you ran into or
did he actually it sounds like your
grandfather passed while owning the land
so the land never really changed tit no
my my um the land did change titles it
was just like um the I'm trying to think
how this went there was a there was a
whole deal between my dad and my grandpa
with their purchase agreement too
because they had my dad and my dad
purchased half the business from my
grandpa and then when he went to
purchase the other half my grandpa had
the business reappraised and he wanted
half of what it was worth now and my dad
felt like oh I'm the one who grew the
business and made it worth this much
more and now you're charging me for that
you know um but and and so that there's
another thing to you know look out for
but um my dad had purchased all the land
he had just purchased it like slowly in
peace meal and like my grandpa had um
had held the notes for him and that was
more of a back back H handshake deal um
where like basically when my Dad paid
off the property then my dad and my
grandpa didn't go to the county and say
like oh okay now the property is paid
off it's free and clear so it's more
like my grandpa was like still listed as
like a guarantor or whatever you know
what I'm saying on the property a lean
holder on the property and then my
grandpa and grandma on one and my other
like my other Grandma had died and my
grandpa had remarried and there was like
uh one of the pieces of property had
like my step grandma and my grandpa on
it and so were just like all these you
know moving pieces and all these
different people involved and the
Estates that had to be opened and and
the bank situation too there was a they
they paid off the bank but then that was
never proven and then the bank like went
out of business and so now you have to
like somehow get the receipts from the
1980s and 1990s showing you paid off
like what you owed on the this land or
the the county won't let you transfer it
you know um so it was a it was a real
mess yeah I think that's one of the
unique challenges of a generation going
into the third third generation I think
it's like only 10% of businesses go from
the second generation to the third
generation and when you're buying stock
in a business you inherit all those
problems along the way and you know one
of the biggest issues just a a business
being solved from one person to another
is documents and record keeping and
making sure that's all cleaned up and
this in this case had just spanned over
60 plus years and it was never urgent
enough to pay attention to it until it
was and you were and you know at this
point getting the land repr praised yeah
you've got to be going crazy because
you'd already started the purchase
completed the purchase of the business
that was on the land so it's not like
you could easily pick it up and move it
to a different lot so yeah how's how's
how's your relationship ship with Dad
now it's not great um he doesn't really
talk to me um I uh I I did fire him you
know and nobody wants to fire their
father but with the way that the buying
performance was going it was just like
we the business couldn't afford to keep
buying the cars he was buying and um at
the time Craig my my buyer now had a
really good relationship with him as
well um we would often go up to his the
my parents Cottage you know um with
Craig and Jesse and and um you know
spend time up there and and Craig and my
dad had a really good relationship and
then when Craig did not want me to fire
my dad he was like I'm not ready I need
six more months like I need six more
months before I can possibly you know um
do this job and I was like Craig the
business can't take six more months of
round buying at at a at a loss like you
know we got to do it so um my dad had
gone on like a two we vacation and when
he came back we let him go and I really
thought he would have seen it coming
from mile away because I'd been talking
to him about the buying you know and
about how the numbers were bad um but he
was really blindsided and I I do feel
really bad about that and so after after
I let him go we did some family therapy
sessions um and I was really hopeful
that we could we could work work it out
um and he basically at the third session
my dad was just like you know what I
don't want to do this like I don't want
to rehash any of this I don't want to
deal with this like I'd just rather see
a couple times a year pretend like
everything's okay you know see at
Christmas and Easter and smile and
pretend like everything's fine and I was
like I don't know why we'd spend
Christmas together if that's the case
you know um and at that time like I was
really hurt I felt like he was he didn't
want a relationship with me he didn't
want to like work on it he didn't want
to I don't know like that that was
really hurtful to me and so like I
stopped talking to him um that was in
2017 I believe um oh wow and then and um
I can't I I've definitely come around to
like I'm very open to having a
relationship with him you know I send
him happy birthday
texts um you know and send him a
Christmas card and when I see him like I
try to be try to be nice to him and kind
to him and like give the vibe that like
I'm I'm it's I'm here I'm open to it you
know but um he's just very both my
parents are pretty much just like they
just don't seem to want to have much to
do with me and I think they were just
like really hurt um you know that I that
I first cut him out of the business and
then I kind of cut him out of my life
you know um and I and I get that I do
it's it is it's too bad I think that you
know at the end of the day you know
family family is more important than
business you know is easy to say um but
when your business is your livelihood
and like you're you're worried that
you're going to be able to make the next
payment you know like a c and you've got
30 families depending on you I guess at
the time it was more like 22 families
depending on me uh but you know when you
got all these families depending on you
you know you you do you do make choices
and I I made the choices that I have
that I have to live with now you know I
love my parents I pray for them every
morning um that's good for me that I
helps me to not be resentful you know I
know I know in my heart that I have this
business because of my dad and my
grandpa and like I wouldn't have it if
it weren't for them not that I couldn't
have worked hard and gone out and bought
a different business you know um I could
have and I have I like you know with my
connections in the industry I have lots
of opportunities but I didn't want
another business I wanted this business
I like I love the people that I work
with I love the place that I work I love
that it's my grandpa's Legacy uh my
grandpa was a really special person and
I love that I get to do this here with
his name on my shirt yeah that's hardart
I'm so sorry thanks are you an only
child also or did you have siblings no I
have three siblings I have three I have
one younger brother who I also
fired starting to see a pattern here huh
yeah unrelated no I fired him much much
before much earlier he and you know what
my brother is awesome he was doing
inventory for Pete's and he was bored to
tears he's a super smart guy and
inventory is like a very detail oriented
task that's boring you do the same stuff
over and over and over again and um
he was miserable it wasn't the right for
him set him free and now he owns his own
company and actually I can see him from
where I sit he um his business is right
next door um to my office I have a sales
and business office that's across the
street around the corner from Pete's now
and his business um Scotty's auto
service is right next door to mine and
he's a great customer of mine because
he's a mechanic and so he buys lots of
engines and transmissions and axles and
computers and things um and yeah so so I
think too back to the when you know when
my dad wasn't sure if I was the right
person to to buy pets he might have been
thinking in the back of his mind that
his son might might buy pet you know and
I do kind of get that like there's
something about a father thinking that
their son will be the one to take over
for them not their daughter you know um
the world is changing that I think that
there's a lot more daughters who are
carrying on the family Legacy than there
used to be um but I could see where that
might be you know he might have been
thinking maybe Scotty will come back
back you know um Scott loves what he
does and he's happy with his own
business you know but then I have two
little sisters and um one sister uh
she's a FedEx driver and the other is
actually in the big truck parts world
she works um for Valley truck parts in
Grand Rapids and she's she is in like
shipping and she does eBay and a bunch
of stuff with with large truck parts and
I might rope her into the family
business someday eventually but I'm also
a big um I'm a big fan of having to work
for other people and be successful other
places and I had told her before I
thought she'd be a great salesperson but
I wanted her to do sales somewhere else
to be successful before she came to work
at Pete's um and so yeah but it sounds
like with your siblings you were able to
separate the disagreement and the
the what was between you and your
parents from your relationships yeah I
have I have great relationships with my
siblings for sure yeah yeah and I have
some great relationships with my uncles
and aunts and stuff too so that's
helpful okay um to that issue that you
just brought up when you were traveling
with your dad to trade shows around
200920 how many women would be at these
trade
shows a lot less than there are now yeah
okay so yeah what's that demograph
what's that demographic shift looked
like it's interesting there's a the
automotive recyclers Association has a
ladies group Lara ladies about of
recycling and I can't believe how many
women show up to the mixers now like at
the most
recent um National event there were
probably like 90 women there and um I
would say in the beginning it was
probably I don't know 12 or maybe 20 you
know that would come to the come to the
Lara breakfast um and you know when I
when I start how many at that conference
how many at that confence a thousand
1200 just under just under 10% now yeah
they come to the breakfast I think that
there are probably more women um more
women at the shows you know but yeah
probably 10% that come to the the ladies
event you know um when I first started
in the industry you would see women
working you know in the front office
like doing the books that would be
really common um you wouldn't that like
you wouldn't necessarily see women
delivery drivers or shippers you know um
and that's really common now and I love
to see that I've had some great female
delivery drivers and it's you know it's
funny it's like
um I I I guess I should be careful of um
how I say this because it could come off
as like sexist or you know something but
when I fill when I fill in as a delivery
driver it's wild to me how um when I
pull up to a shop and I have a large
part to unload you know the guys come
rushing out to help me oh let me get let
me get that door out of the back of the
truck for you you know whereas like if
one of my guy delivery drivers rolls up
it's like oh put it in the back you know
they're not helping him at all and so
like there's some there are some
advantages to being a female in the
industry in terms of like people help
you more um there and I think as a like
in sales I have a female salesperson and
I think sometimes like guys are on the
phone with guys all day and then
sometimes it's nice to hear a friendly
female voice um to talk Parts with you
know especially when they realize that
she knows what she's talking about and
she can help them um just as much as as
the guys can but um now I often see
women running Salvage Arts I see
managers you know controllers
dispatchers you know there's so many
more women in the industry than there
used to be and I love to see
that yeah it sounds just from our our
talk here on this on this episode you've
outworked everybody wherever you go and
you kind of you've proven yourself it's
not ever it doesn't sound like it's ever
been well dad runs the place and so you
have to listen to me you've stepped into
every role and you've outworked it and
improved it so how do you you did say
that you did want to talk about work
life balance uh on the podcast so here
at the end when you are a workaholic
when you do outwork everybody around you
um and you've built that into the
culture of your team what does work life
balance look like for you then well it's
changed a lot for me you know I alluded
to working day in and day out earlier
and I really I really was a workaholic
and when I met my husband in
2014 um that changed that changed pretty
much everything for me he was just like
you know there are other things to life
besides work right you know like you
know there are lots of other things to
do besides work you know there are other
things that are important besides work
you know um and I really like I was just
everything work was everything to me all
my best friends were people I worked
with and people in the industry and like
I just didn't really have a life outside
of work
um and that that's changed that's
changed dramatically and drastically and
um the reason why I like to talk about
it now is because I do think that I have
found some work like balance I I
generally work like a eight or nine hour
day I generally do not work a 12-h hour
day anymore and I work five days a week
there are times I like will pick up my
laptop on the weekend and work but it's
that's rare um and I used to work you
know 12 hour days six days a week and
then also work on the seventh day
sometimes you know and I think it's like
I I thought I was doing my company such
a service by working so hard but what I
found is that when I um step back and I
do have good work life balance when I'm
going to yoga and I'm taking time with
friends and family and I'm going on
walks with my dogs um I have so much
more to give when I'm at work and I get
so much more done in my eight and 9h
hour days than I did when I was like
exhausted in my 12-hour days like I
think I come up with better ideas and
I'm fresher and I respond to people with
more kindness when you know I take good
care of myself and I'm and I'm not be
being a workaholic like as is my my
nature you know and I I used to set my
company up to be very work hard you know
like everybody work work a million hours
you know and it's just not that way
anymore we I I have very few people who
work overtime um not because I don't
want to pay for it or anything but just
because like I don't think that you
should have to work overtime to take
home a good wage you know I think you
should be able to live on a 40-hour work
week and you shouldn't have to work you
know 60 hours to to make a good living
um and I think that we all benefit from
that you know right so has that just
that ability now just come from capacity
you're at 31 people now you're at you
know low 20s when you took over was it
just a matter of we have way too much
work for a small crew and we've just got
to grow the business is that well I
don't know we know we have grown the
business like crazy there is also sweet
spots you know one thing that happened
like right after I bought the business I
was like all right we're going to grow
you know and the way that we've always
traditionally grown is just buy more
cars buy more cars so we made a plan and
we bought more cars you know we went to
six dismantlers and we we're um just
turning and burning you know and what
that meant was that the cars could stay
on our property that much less we only
have eight Acres we can only hold so
many cars so if you're buying 200 Cars a
month you got to crush 200 Cars a month
like you can't you know you can't keep
them for very long and then you're
crushing a lot of really good parts and
what we found as as we had increased
capacity so much is that even though we
were all working so much harder we
weren't making any more money you know
or we were making a tiny bit more money
it wasn't in relation to how much more
we are doing you know so we kind of
scaled back and said okay let's work
smarter not harder you know and so we've
it's we've steadily increased our buying
budget but we don't necessarily increase
the number of cars we're buying in fact
we've we've strategically decreased the
number of cars we've bought um several
years in a row now this year I think
we'll actually buy more cars than we do
out last year but for several years in a
row we bought less cars but for more
money with more expensive Parts with
higher projected sales our sales numbers
were higher but we we had to um you know
dismantle less Vehicles so like in that
sense like I'd rather have two you know
high output dismantlers who are
averaging two and a quarter cars a day
than four dismantlers who are each
averaging a car in a half a day you know
um but again my dismantlers are allowed
to go home when they hit 10 cars in a
week if they want to they don't have to
and so they almost always hit their 10
cars by Thursday so they don't have to
work on Friday and then they get a
three-day work week weekend you know a
lot of the weeks of the year um I don't
I don't know that I even answered your
question but I think that the culture
shift has been has been gradual as we've
shifted our focus and as we've said like
we're going to choose to um to work hard
when we're here but to not be here so
long and the pandemic actually helped
that as well we used to be open 8:00 am
to 5:30 pm. and we had people coming in
at 7 so we had people here from 700 am
to 5:30 p.m. during the pandemic we
changed our customer pickup hours to
from 9:00 am to 4:00 p.m and we never
went back so we still have people that
come in like 7:30 um almost everybody on
site leaves by 4 :30 but we keep sales
people on the phones till 5:30 mostly
because like we have later time zones
like central time zones mountain time
zones they'll still be calling in at the
end of the day but salespeople can still
pick up the phon while the guys at the
back are gone anyway so we just the the
pandemic taught us a lot too about you
know being efficient and putting our
efforts where we really want the to see
the
output yeah know that did help I was I
was just wasn't sure if it was just a
matter of scaling but it sounds like you
also realized you know well you know you
focused on quality in your inventory
rather than you you freed up capacity by
processing fewer cars higher quality
cars getting better Parts out of them so
that's that's interesting
so um well Amber this has been a great
podcast thank you so much for being a
guest I know we can do another one on
this in the future um but our time is up
for for this episode unfortunately okay
um I do have a lightning round of uh hot
take uh questions that I like to ask and
so if you're ready for that we can get
into these
questions okay so these are just uh a
list of questions one to one to two
sentences each no real context uh but
just to give my guests a chance to get
or give my audience a chance to get to
know the guest a little more so uh first
question coffee or tea and how do you
like it
prepared uh coffee Splash a heavy cream
I only drink coffee on vacation I can't
be trusted with it dayto day
all right um pie or cake and do you have
a specific type you like chocolate cake
I'd say Okay um what is a common belief
among entrepreneurs that you would like
to
challenge I'd say um that like people
won't help you or that you can't let
people in I've gotten a lot of my best
ideas from people would be considered
competitors I think there's a lot of
mentors and people that you could find
in your industry Maybe not next door you
know but I think we can we have a lot to
learn from each other and people will
share with you the specifics of how
they're successful in their business you
just have to ask and people are dying to
tell you about their
business yeah that was interesting and
you said you and your dad were in this
these groups these Mastermind groups how
many people would be in a group uh when
you go through it depends on the group a
lot of them were probably um like 12
yards 8 to 12 yards yeah okay yeah
awesome that's what I that's kind of
what I was expecting a little bit bigger
than that not everybody gets a chance to
share so um what is your favorite
holiday and
why uh I love Christmas because it's
cozy and you get to give people gifts
and see their faces light up all right
um would you consider yourself a morning
person or a night person and do you have
a favorite routine I'm definitely a
morning person and I get up extra early
every morning and I take my dogs on a
walk and then I read some literature and
I do um I practice two-way prayer and
meditation uh every morning before work
and that is uh a routine that just makes
me feel so good gotcha okay um what is
one thing that you would want your
successor to remember you for from your
time at Pete's Auto
Parts I'd say that I was fair um being
fair is a big part of our like company
values I always try to be like fair to
the company fair to the customer fair to
the employee like being fair is like
it's real big to me goes back to that
condominium that first job at the
Condominium Association right so our
manager um where do you where are you
finding creativity right
now um probably nature walks and Hikes I
love to get outside and and hike and um
I love music but I think sometimes
silence is is golden too I some some of
my best ideas come when I'm when I'm
just
quiet okay
awesome uh and what do you have coming
up this year at petza Auto Parts that's
got you really
excited well I was asked to be the
recyclers keynote speaker at the
automoto recyclers Association
conference in Reno this fall and so I'm
pretty psyched about that I haven't been
to Reno and I get to go and be a fancy
speaker so that'll be fun wow keynote
that's pretty impressive good luck to
you on that
uh and uh last thing where can everybody
find more information about you and
about Pete's Auto
Parts yeah you can follow me on the
socials you know um pets auto.net is my
business website and um facebook.com PS
Autoparts is the Facebook page and they
post on there regularly but I promise we
won't you know fill your newsfeed it's
like three times a week so if you want
to follow us there okay great well thank
you so much Amber for being a guest on
the artistic session it's been great
my pleasure thanks so much for having me
Barrett
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